<![CDATA[Sunday Sermons]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/ https://api.thechurchco.com/v1/media/119612/crop/hugesquarejpg/redirect Sunday Sermons https://www.fellowshipsj.org/ RSS for Node Thu, 28 May 2026 20:15:08 GMT A Community of Hope in Christ Fellowship Community Church Ben Panter bpanter@fellowshipsj.org false <![CDATA[If You Forget Everything Else... Remember This]]> Pastor Jared concludes a 19-week series in Ecclesiastes, emphasizing that the book’s repeated “vanity” describes life “under the sun” (without God) and the endless cycle of desire, obstacles, temporary possession, and dissatisfaction. The sermon highlights the book’s final message: true meaning is found in fearing God (awe, reverence, running to Him) and keeping His commandments, which the speaker describes as the most fulfilling, freeing way to live. He stresses coming judgment for every deed, then points to justification in Christ and invites listeners to surrender to Jesus, repent, confess sin, and examine what holds their attention and where they miss God’s commands.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/if-you-forget-everything-else-remember-this a0aa2a4f-5af1-4c92-95b5-8ba0fe64595a Sun, 24 May 2026 15:15:56 GMT <p><span>Pastor Jared concludes a 19-week series in Ecclesiastes, emphasizing that the book’s repeated “vanity” describes life “under the sun” (without God) and the endless cycle of desire, obstacles, temporary possession, and dissatisfaction. The sermon highlights the book’s final message: true meaning is found in fearing God (awe, reverence, running to Him) and keeping His commandments, which the speaker describes as the most fulfilling, freeing way to live. He stresses coming judgment for every deed, then points to justification in Christ and invites listeners to surrender to Jesus, repent, confess sin, and examine what holds their attention and where they miss God’s commands.</span></p> false no 2733 <![CDATA[Living Wisely in Uncertain Times]]> Pastor Mike preaches from Ecclesiastes 9:11–11:6 teaches that life “under the sun” is uncertain: the swift, strong, and wise do not always succeed because time and chance affect everyone, and trouble falls suddenly like fish in a net or birds in a snare, so believers should number their days. Solomon’s example of a poor wise man saving a city shows wisdom is better than force, yet wisdom is often forgotten and can be undone when “one sinner destroys much good.” Ecclesiastes 10 develops how folly spoils good, corrupts leadership, ignores danger, multiplies reckless words, and weakens a nation, while calling for calm under rulers and submission to Scripture even on uncomfortable topics like authority. Ecclesiastes 11 urges faithful risk, avoiding decision paralysis, and active trust in God’s sovereign, unknowable work, concluding with a prayer to fix anxious eyes on the Lord.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/living-wisely-in-uncertain-times e5962ba1-c9d4-42cf-9ff1-41cb5e295f5f Sun, 10 May 2026 18:29:45 GMT <p><span>Pastor Mike preaches from Ecclesiastes 9:11–11:6 teaches that life “under the sun” is uncertain: the swift, strong, and wise do not always succeed because time and chance affect everyone, and trouble falls suddenly like fish in a net or birds in a snare, so believers should number their days. Solomon’s example of a poor wise man saving a city shows wisdom is better than force, yet wisdom is often forgotten and can be undone when “one sinner destroys much good.” Ecclesiastes 10 develops how folly spoils good, corrupts leadership, ignores danger, multiplies reckless words, and weakens a nation, while calling for calm under rulers and submission to Scripture even on uncomfortable topics like authority. Ecclesiastes 11 urges faithful risk, avoiding decision paralysis, and active trust in God’s sovereign, unknowable work, concluding with a prayer to fix anxious eyes on the Lord.</span></p> false no 2485 <![CDATA[Have a Blast While You Last]]> Pastor Emeritus Mark preaches from Ecclesiastes 9:1–10 that death is certain, so people should live fully with joy under God’s sovereignty. He explains Solomon’s lesson: recognize what you can’t control (life’s circumstances, other people’s love or hate, and the inevitability of death) and embrace what you can control. He urges listeners to let God be God by forgiving those who wrong them, praying for those who reject them, and giving thanks for those who love them. He then calls for celebrating God’s daily blessings, intentionally pursuing joy even in mundane routines, enjoying relationships, and doing every task wholeheartedly for God because there is no work in the grave.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/have-a-blast-while-you-last 00922b9f-b270-4d56-bb6b-7d92dd213ad8 Sun, 03 May 2026 15:38:37 GMT <p>Pastor Emeritus Mark preaches from Ecclesiastes 9:1–10 that death is certain, so people should live fully with joy under God’s sovereignty. He explains Solomon’s lesson: recognize what you can’t control (life’s circumstances, other people’s love or hate, and the inevitability of death) and embrace what you can control. He urges listeners to let God be God by forgiving those who wrong them, praying for those who reject them, and giving thanks for those who love them. He then calls for celebrating God’s daily blessings, intentionally pursuing joy even in mundane routines, enjoying relationships, and doing every task wholeheartedly for God because there is no work in the grave.</p> false no 2700 <![CDATA[Life is Out of Control and Unfair]]> A sermon on Ecclesiastes 8:2–17 explores how life can feel unfair and beyond control. Walking through five sections, Solomon teaches living under authority, the limits of human control over the future and death, the apparent prosperity of the wicked, the righteous receiving what the wicked deserve, and the inability to fully understand God’s work. The message then revisits each section through Christ’s completed work: Jesus as King calls believers to wise submission and prayer for authorities; God is sovereign over tomorrow; God’s delayed justice reflects His patience and desire for repentance; the gospel shows the righteous Christ receiving sinners’ punishment; and like Job, God may not give answers but gives Himself, calling sufferers to trust His goodness, justice, and sovereignty.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/life-is-out-of-control-and-unfair 80ba1fb7-6db4-4dc7-9c91-ec48c918a965 Sun, 26 Apr 2026 18:18:03 GMT <p><span>A sermon on Ecclesiastes 8:2–17 explores how life can feel unfair and beyond control. Walking through five sections, Solomon teaches living under authority, the limits of human control over the future and death, the apparent prosperity of the wicked, the righteous receiving what the wicked deserve, and the inability to fully understand God’s work. The message then revisits each section through Christ’s completed work: Jesus as King calls believers to wise submission and prayer for authorities; God is sovereign over tomorrow; God’s delayed justice reflects His patience and desire for repentance; the gospel shows the righteous Christ receiving sinners’ punishment; and like Job, God may not give answers but gives Himself, calling sufferers to trust His goodness, justice, and sovereignty.</span></p> false no 2664 <![CDATA[The Beginning of the End]]> Pastor Tim preaches the start of Ecclesiastes’ “second act,” where Solomon shifts from declaring life “under the sun” as vanity to calling for realignment under God. He contrasts worldly wealth with a “good name” and the “highest good,” emphasizing presence in suffering and mourning as moments where God often meets people. Tim urges believers to stay focused amid distractions like oppression, bribes, pride, anger, and regretful “what if” thinking, and to “consider” God’s sovereign work in both prosperity and adversity. He highlights wisdom’s strength yet human limitation, warns about sin’s traps, and concludes that the chief end is to glorify and enjoy God, living daily in submission to Christ and learning to “die well” in faith and forgiveness.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-beginning-of-the-end cef84f1e-4ee8-4015-83c0-4f855e4f87ef Sun, 19 Apr 2026 19:02:44 GMT <p><span>Pastor Tim preaches the start of Ecclesiastes’ “second act,” where Solomon shifts from declaring life “under the sun” as vanity to calling for realignment under God. He contrasts worldly wealth with a “good name” and the “highest good,” emphasizing presence in suffering and mourning as moments where God often meets people. Tim urges believers to stay focused amid distractions like oppression, bribes, pride, anger, and regretful “what if” thinking, and to “consider” God’s sovereign work in both prosperity and adversity. He highlights wisdom’s strength yet human limitation, warns about sin’s traps, and concludes that the chief end is to glorify and enjoy God, living daily in submission to Christ and learning to “die well” in faith and forgiveness.</span></p> false no 2515 <![CDATA[The First Conclusion to the Matter]]> Pastor Ben finishes the first half of Ecclesiastes, concluding that fulfillment, pleasure, and the good life cannot be found without God. He outlines five vanities from the chapter: wealth without the power to enjoy it, giving much in life yet having no guarantee at death, working hard yet remaining unsatisfied, the monotony of trying to create something new, and the inability to know how to get or keep the good life. He then contrasts these with Christ offering goodness, design, satisfaction, discovery, and purpose, and closes with a testimony of finding peace in Jesus and an invitation for prayer and commitment.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-first-conclusion-to-the-matter 281859b6-b647-4cc4-87b6-84501bbabae1 Sun, 12 Apr 2026 13:14:54 GMT <p><span>Pastor Ben finishes the first half of Ecclesiastes, concluding that fulfillment, pleasure, and the good life cannot be found without God. He outlines five vanities from the chapter: wealth without the power to enjoy it, giving much in life yet having no guarantee at death, working hard yet remaining unsatisfied, the monotony of trying to create something new, and the inability to know how to get or keep the good life. He then contrasts these with Christ offering goodness, design, satisfaction, discovery, and purpose, and closes with a testimony of finding peace in Jesus and an invitation for prayer and commitment.</span></p> false no 2855 <![CDATA[Easter Baptisms - April 2026]]> Pastor Mike celebrates Easter as the climax of Holy Week and reflects on walking through the church cemetery, noticing how tombstones compress whole life stories and raise questions about meaning, death, and what lasts. He explains that the early church established rhythms to remember Jesus’ death and resurrection, including baptisms, which symbolize what God has already done in a Christian’s life rather than making someone a Christian. Citing Ephesians 2, he contrasts spiritual death in sin with being made alive by God’s mercy and grace, and cites 1 Corinthians 15 that Jesus died for sins, was buried, and rose on the third day. Returning to the cemetery image, he emphasizes the one grave with a rolled-away stone and an empty tomb, declaring Jesus’ victory over death and inviting listeners to believe, as in John 11, while baptism participants share their stories of receiving new life in Christ.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/easter-baptisms---april-2026 084842db-dfc9-46dc-b278-21aae7e28668 Sun, 05 Apr 2026 20:11:12 GMT <p><span>Pastor Mike celebrates Easter as the climax of Holy Week and reflects on walking through the church cemetery, noticing how tombstones compress whole life stories and raise questions about meaning, death, and what lasts. He explains that the early church established rhythms to remember Jesus’ death and resurrection, including baptisms, which symbolize what God has already done in a Christian’s life rather than making someone a Christian. Citing Ephesians 2, he contrasts spiritual death in sin with being made alive by God’s mercy and grace, and cites 1 Corinthians 15 that Jesus died for sins, was buried, and rose on the third day. Returning to the cemetery image, he emphasizes the one grave with a rolled-away stone and an empty tomb, declaring Jesus’ victory over death and inviting listeners to believe, as in John 11, while baptism participants share their stories of receiving new life in Christ.</span></p> false no 5490 <![CDATA[Financial Advice from the Richest Man in the World]]> Drawing on Solomon’s teaching, Pastor Ben describes six outcomes when money occupies the heart: oppression of the poor, money becoming the object of love, strained relationships, loss of sleep, wealth’s instability through loss or death, and suffocated joy. He contrasts this with the “good and fitting” way of handling wealth as God’s gift: enjoying food and drink, accepting one’s lot with contentment, reducing worry by trusting God, and stewarding resources without obsession. He offers applications (enjoy gifts, cultivate good, live below means, stop fixating), and highlights a financial curriculum by late Pastor Andy Wallin.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/financial-advice-from-the-richest-man-in-the-world 10c1f52e-283c-423d-8f0c-bc34abad6f29 Sun, 29 Mar 2026 18:04:47 GMT <p>Drawing on Solomon’s teaching, Pastor Ben describes six outcomes when money occupies the heart: oppression of the poor, money becoming the object of love, strained relationships, loss of sleep, wealth’s instability through loss or death, and suffocated joy. He contrasts this with the “good and fitting” way of handling wealth as God’s gift: enjoying food and drink, accepting one’s lot with contentment, reducing worry by trusting God, and stewarding resources without obsession. He offers applications (enjoy gifts, cultivate good, live below means, stop fixating), and highlights a financial curriculum by late Pastor Andy Wallin.</p> false no 2470 <![CDATA[How Meaningless Living Looks in Church Folks]]> Ecclesiastes 5 marks a transition to practical teaching and addresses a final pursuit: “church-going” religion that can still be meaningless. Solomon warns temple worshipers to guard their steps and identifies three dangers that keep spiritual people from contentedness: many words but little listening to God, much activity but little quietness (restless striving), and many promises but little follow-through (unkept vows). The antidote is God-centered living summarized as “God is the one you must fear,” understood as awe of God’s greatness and grace that draws believers to trust him. The sermon applies this by emphasizing listening to God, obeying God, and measuring growth by increased trust.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/how-meaningless-living-looks-in-church-folks d48f0ba1-de23-4fec-bc08-2cfd9785b9e4 Sun, 22 Mar 2026 15:09:05 GMT <p><span>Ecclesiastes 5 marks a transition to practical teaching and addresses a final pursuit: “church-going” religion that can still be meaningless. Solomon warns temple worshipers to guard their steps and identifies three dangers that keep spiritual people from contentedness: many words but little listening to God, much activity but little quietness (restless striving), and many promises but little follow-through (unkept vows). The antidote is God-centered living summarized as “God is the one you must fear,” understood as awe of God’s greatness and grace that draws believers to trust him. The sermon applies this by emphasizing listening to God, obeying God, and measuring growth by increased trust.</span></p> false no 2395 <![CDATA[Why Do You Work?]]> Pastor Mike preaches from Ecclesiastes 4, asking why people work and describing “under the sun” motivations that make work feel like vanity: comparison, selfishness, and applause. He connects these themes to modern metrics and cultural individualism, including social media’s promised connection that often yields isolation. He ends with “above the sun” Christian antidotes: work for treasure in heaven, bear one another’s burdens as God’s people, and seek God’s fame rather than human approval.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/why-do-you-work 807f435d-2642-464e-b084-aaa44a683a83 Sun, 15 Mar 2026 15:38:17 GMT <p><span>Pastor Mike preaches from Ecclesiastes 4, asking why people work and describing “under the sun” motivations that make work feel like vanity: comparison, selfishness, and applause. He connects these themes to modern metrics and cultural individualism, including social media’s promised connection that often yields isolation. He ends with “above the sun” Christian antidotes: work for treasure in heaven, bear one another’s burdens as God’s people, and seek God’s fame rather than human approval.</span></p> false no 2455 <![CDATA[When Humans Act Like Beasts]]> Pastor Ben's sermon from Ecclesiastes 3:16–4:3 explains “life under the sun” as life without God, where wickedness appears even in justice and righteousness, power is misused, and oppression leaves people without comfort. Solomon’s observations include that humans can act like “beasts,” die, and be forgotten, and that power dynamics combined with selfishness produce ongoing systems of oppression that can make death seem preferable to life. The message contrasts this with Jesus’ kingdom mission (Luke/Isaiah) to bring good news to the poor and liberty to the oppressed, calling believers to notice and interrupt oppression, avoid participating in oppressive systems (including through employment), focus on their own power, and use attention, voice, spending, and relational sacrifice to care for the vulnerable.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/when-humans-act-like-beasts bcb3b0cd-e714-4e24-ba39-32a92366e79f Sun, 08 Mar 2026 14:10:02 GMT <p><span>Pastor Ben's sermon from Ecclesiastes 3:16–4:3 explains “life under the sun” as life without God, where wickedness appears even in justice and righteousness, power is misused, and oppression leaves people without comfort. Solomon’s observations include that humans can act like “beasts,” die, and be forgotten, and that power dynamics combined with selfishness produce ongoing systems of oppression that can make death seem preferable to life. The message contrasts this with Jesus’ kingdom mission (Luke/Isaiah) to bring good news to the poor and liberty to the oppressed, calling believers to notice and interrupt oppression, avoid participating in oppressive systems (including through employment), focus on their own power, and use attention, voice, spending, and relational sacrifice to care for the vulnerable.</span></p> false no 2401 <![CDATA[In His Time]]> Pastor Jerry Costolo focuses on Ecclesiastes 3:1–15 and its famous “a time for everything” poem. He notes the book’s unsettling, repetitive tensions and explains the poem’s 14 paired contrasts as a comprehensive picture of human experience under God’s sovereignty over time and seasons. Addressing Solomon’s question about the gain from toil, he offers three responses: God gives busyness and beauty in time yet withholds full understanding; God’s gift is joy, doing good, and enjoying food, drink, and labor; and God’s work endures, repeating life’s cycles. He then contrasts Solomon with Jesus, ending with Matthew 6’s call to consider birds and lilies, confronting anxiety and urging seeking God’s kingdom.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/in-his-time 5f281e6c-4d92-4d97-af48-6fa41b9c75c7 Sun, 01 Mar 2026 18:41:42 GMT <p><span>Pastor Jerry Costolo focuses on Ecclesiastes 3:1–15 and its famous “a time for everything” poem. He notes the book’s unsettling, repetitive tensions and explains the poem’s 14 paired contrasts as a comprehensive picture of human experience under God’s sovereignty over time and seasons. Addressing Solomon’s question about the gain from toil, he offers three responses: God gives busyness and beauty in time yet withholds full understanding; God’s gift is joy, doing good, and enjoying food, drink, and labor; and God’s work endures, repeating life’s cycles. He then contrasts Solomon with Jesus, ending with Matthew 6’s call to consider birds and lilies, confronting anxiety and urging seeking God’s kingdom.</span></p> false no 2503 <![CDATA[Satisfaction Can Be Found in This Life]]>

Pastor Mike's sermon on Ecclesiastes 2:24–26 teaches that people should eat, drink, and find enjoyment in their work because this enjoyment comes from God. It contrasts the repetitive, dissatisfied cycle of pursuing happiness “under the sun” with a “with God” life that receives wisdom, knowledge, and joy, warning against treating God’s gifts as ultimate sources of fulfillment. The speaker offers practical encouragement to enjoy everyday meals and daily work with gratitude and worship. An interview with Olympian Kelsey Worrell illustrates processing disappointment, finding joy in ordinary faithfulness, and grounding identity in Christ rather than achievements. The message concludes with instructions and reflection on communion as remembrance of Jesus’ once-for-all sacrifice.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/satisfaction-can-be-found-in-this-life 2b061ea4-6634-4aeb-9d50-196fb75a98d3 Sun, 22 Feb 2026 17:03:34 GMT <div><span><span><div><div><p>Pastor Mike's sermon on Ecclesiastes 2:24–26 teaches that people should eat, drink, and find enjoyment in their work because this enjoyment comes from God. It contrasts the repetitive, dissatisfied cycle of pursuing happiness “under the sun” with a “with God” life that receives wisdom, knowledge, and joy, warning against treating God’s gifts as ultimate sources of fulfillment. The speaker offers practical encouragement to enjoy everyday meals and daily work with gratitude and worship. An interview with Olympian Kelsey Worrell illustrates processing disappointment, finding joy in ordinary faithfulness, and grounding identity in Christ rather than achievements. The message concludes with instructions and reflection on communion as remembrance of Jesus’ once-for-all sacrifice.</p></div></div></span></span></div> false no 2222 <![CDATA[I Hate My Life]]> A sermon on Ecclesiastes 2:12–23 explains Solomon’s reflection on wisdom and folly, his despair that both the wise and the fool die and are forgotten, and his frustration that everything he worked for will be left to a successor who may ruin it. Pastor Emeritus Mark Willey frames Ecclesiastes as addressing the inner life and exposing the emptiness of living “under the sun,” meaning life without God as the foundational reality. The message applies Solomon’s struggle by identifying three common heart attitudes that feed dissatisfaction and a sense of hating life: believing satisfaction is just one missing thing away, feeling entitled to better outcomes, and craving control over the future. It concludes that true contentment and peace come through Jesus Christ, who offers forgiveness, relationship with God, and relief from deep restlessness, calling listeners to repent and trust God.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/i-hate-my-life 06221f2d-2b7c-49c5-814f-4e5311d0bd4a Sun, 15 Feb 2026 18:52:51 GMT <p><span>A sermon on Ecclesiastes 2:12–23 explains Solomon’s reflection on wisdom and folly, his despair that both the wise and the fool die and are forgotten, and his frustration that everything he worked for will be left to a successor who may ruin it. Pastor Emeritus Mark Willey frames Ecclesiastes as addressing the inner life and exposing the emptiness of living “under the sun,” meaning life without God as the foundational reality. The message applies Solomon’s struggle by identifying three common heart attitudes that feed dissatisfaction and a sense of hating life: believing satisfaction is just one missing thing away, feeling entitled to better outcomes, and craving control over the future. It concludes that true contentment and peace come through Jesus Christ, who offers forgiveness, relationship with God, and relief from deep restlessness, calling listeners to repent and trust God.</span></p> false no 2891 <![CDATA[The Good Life]]> This sermon focuses on Solomon's exploration of the question 'What is the good life?' Pastor Ben recounts how Solomon pursued wealth, pleasure, and accomplishments yet concluded that these pursuits were ultimately meaningless. The sermon contrasts a life of constant chasing ('under the sun') with a life recognizing God's gifts ('the given life'). Various philosophical perspectives on the good life, including those from Aristotle, Epicurus, Nietzsche and Prison Mike, are discussed. The message encourages acceptance of life's limitations and gratitude for what has been given, ultimately suggesting that true pleasure and a fulfilling life come from aligning one's pursuits with God's will.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-good-life 9c6376bc-7705-449f-9324-85920901c9f8 Sun, 08 Feb 2026 16:17:53 GMT <p>This sermon focuses on Solomon's exploration of the question 'What is the good life?' Pastor Ben recounts how Solomon pursued wealth, pleasure, and accomplishments yet concluded that these pursuits were ultimately meaningless. The sermon contrasts a life of constant chasing ('under the sun') with a life recognizing God's gifts ('the given life'). Various philosophical perspectives on the good life, including those from Aristotle, Epicurus, Nietzsche and Prison Mike, are discussed. The message encourages acceptance of life's limitations and gratitude for what has been given, ultimately suggesting that true pleasure and a fulfilling life come from aligning one's pursuits with God's will.</p> false no 2930 <![CDATA[The Burden of Wisdom]]> The sermon is a detailed examination of Ecclesiastes Chapter 1, focusing on Solomon's pursuit of wisdom. Pastor Mike outlines Solomon's exploration of life's meaning through wisdom, ultimately finding it to be 'vanity' or meaningless. The sermon draws a parallel between Solomon's experiences and modern-day pursuits of wisdom and knowledge, emphasizing that while wisdom can reveal the brokenness of life, it cannot fix it. Concluding with reflections on Christ's invitation to a life under divine guidance rather than human wisdom, the sermon implores listeners to turn to Jesus for true meaning and rest.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-burden-of-wisdom 382ed7d5-6fce-45f5-a619-a01724a72417 Sun, 01 Feb 2026 17:43:06 GMT <p>The sermon is a detailed examination of Ecclesiastes Chapter 1, focusing on Solomon's pursuit of wisdom. Pastor Mike outlines Solomon's exploration of life's meaning through wisdom, ultimately finding it to be 'vanity' or meaningless. The sermon draws a parallel between Solomon's experiences and modern-day pursuits of wisdom and knowledge, emphasizing that while wisdom can reveal the brokenness of life, it cannot fix it. Concluding with reflections on Christ's invitation to a life under divine guidance rather than human wisdom, the sermon implores listeners to turn to Jesus for true meaning and rest.</p> false no 2297 <![CDATA[Is This All There Is?]]> This sermon focused on Ecclesiastes 1:1-11, exploring themes of vanity, the cyclical nature of life, and the pursuit of satisfaction. It highlights three key phrases from Ecclesiastes—'all is vanity,' 'under the sun,' and 'chasing after the wind'—to emphasize the futility of seeking contentment in worldly pursuits. Pastor Emeritus Mark Willey references Solomon's extensive experiences and questions the ultimate gain from human toil. The sermon contrasts life 'under the sun' with a life oriented towards God, suggesting that true fulfillment and change come only through a relationship with the transcendent God. He concludes with a call to embrace Jesus Christ for lasting satisfaction and purpose.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/is-this-all-there-is cef3f26a-41c2-413f-9673-43d3eefee86c Sun, 25 Jan 2026 19:09:55 GMT <p>This sermon focused on Ecclesiastes 1:1-11, exploring themes of vanity, the cyclical nature of life, and the pursuit of satisfaction. It highlights three key phrases from Ecclesiastes—'all is vanity,' 'under the sun,' and 'chasing after the wind'—to emphasize the futility of seeking contentment in worldly pursuits. Pastor Emeritus Mark Willey references Solomon's extensive experiences and questions the ultimate gain from human toil. The sermon contrasts life 'under the sun' with a life oriented towards God, suggesting that true fulfillment and change come only through a relationship with the transcendent God. He concludes with a call to embrace Jesus Christ for lasting satisfaction and purpose.</p> false no 1950 <![CDATA[A Tour of the House]]> Pastor Ben delves into the themes of Ecclesiastes, contrasting the futile pursuit of worldly possessions and accomplishments (referred to as 'chasing the wind') with the idea of a 'given life' endowed by God. It emphasizes the inevitability of dissatisfaction when seeking happiness through material or worldly means and proposes that true contentment comes from a life oriented towards God. Key topics include Solomon’s historical context, the dark and honest reflection of life's struggles in Ecclesiastes, and the book's relevance across cultures and time. The sermon concludes with an emphasis on finding satisfaction through God, citing Psalms for further reflection.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/a-tour-of-the-house b5e64fdc-ff63-47bd-aca6-85ac5df51ca3 Sun, 18 Jan 2026 15:36:12 GMT <p>Pastor Ben delves into the themes of Ecclesiastes, contrasting the futile pursuit of worldly possessions and accomplishments (referred to as 'chasing the wind') with the idea of a 'given life' endowed by God. It emphasizes the inevitability of dissatisfaction when seeking happiness through material or worldly means and proposes that true contentment comes from a life oriented towards God. Key topics include Solomon’s historical context, the dark and honest reflection of life's struggles in Ecclesiastes, and the book's relevance across cultures and time. The sermon concludes with an emphasis on finding satisfaction through God, citing Psalms for further reflection.</p> false no 2843 <![CDATA[Historical Background to Ecclesiastes]]> This sermon kicks off a new series titled 'Is This Really It?' by focusing on the book of Ecclesiastes. This initial sermon provides a historical background leading up to Ecclesiastes, covering 1,140 years of biblical history starting from Genesis, tracing the journey from Abraham to Solomon. Key points include Abraham's call and covenant with God, the Israelite's enslavement in Egypt, their exodus led by Moses, the wanderings in the wilderness, the arrival at the Promised Land under Joshua, and the establishment of the Israelite monarchy under Saul, David, and Solomon. Pastor Ben emphasizes God's grace, the centrality of the human heart, and the disenchanted nature of human striving.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/historical-background-to-ecclesiastes 7555817e-bce3-49b0-93ce-665eef9c84e5 Sun, 11 Jan 2026 17:14:43 GMT <p>This sermon kicks off a new series titled 'Is This Really It?' by focusing on the book of Ecclesiastes. This initial sermon provides a historical background leading up to Ecclesiastes, covering 1,140 years of biblical history starting from Genesis, tracing the journey from Abraham to Solomon. Key points include Abraham's call and covenant with God, the Israelite's enslavement in Egypt, their exodus led by Moses, the wanderings in the wilderness, the arrival at the Promised Land under Joshua, and the establishment of the Israelite monarchy under Saul, David, and Solomon. Pastor Ben emphasizes God's grace, the centrality of the human heart, and the disenchanted nature of human striving.</p> false no 2902 <![CDATA[Baptism Sunday - January 2026]]> Fellowship's New Year celebration centered around Baptism Sunday, highlighting the transformative journeys of several congregation members. The celebrants share their personal testimonies, marked by struggles with faith, addiction, mental health, and significant life changes before finding redemption and commitment to Christ. Pastor Ben emphasizes the significance of baptism as a public declaration of faith and commitment to a new life in Christ, distinguishing it from the act of salvation itself. Drawing from Romans 6:4 and 1 Corinthians 13, he underscores the importance of living a life of love as the essence of the Christian faith. 

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/baptism-sunday---january-2026 36ffef49-d3b1-4747-812d-e17aba5947ea Sun, 04 Jan 2026 19:00:02 GMT <p>Fellowship's New Year celebration centered around Baptism Sunday, highlighting the transformative journeys of several congregation members. The celebrants share their personal testimonies, marked by struggles with faith, addiction, mental health, and significant life changes before finding redemption and commitment to Christ. Pastor Ben emphasizes the significance of baptism as a public declaration of faith and commitment to a new life in Christ, distinguishing it from the act of salvation itself. Drawing from Romans 6:4 and 1 Corinthians 13, he underscores the importance of living a life of love as the essence of the Christian faith. </p> false no 3681 <![CDATA[One Church, Many Expressions]]> Pastor Mike delivers the last sermon of 2025, discussing key questions for personal reflection on the past year and highlights major events and accomplishments within the church community throughout 2025. These include mission trips, local outreach, structural changes, and various ministries. The sermon shifts to exploring the biblical definition of the church, emphasizing four realities: a people who confess Jesus as Lord, a diverse people under Jesus' headship, a Holy Spirit-filled people devoted to one another, and a people sent on God's mission. The pastor shares insights from global churches, emphasizing unity, passion, generosity, counting the cost, and following the Spirit's guidance. The sermon concludes with a call for radical hospitality and unity aligned with the global church's mission.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/one-church-many-expressions 1a7795df-be4d-416d-839a-8ff1ea733f83 Sun, 28 Dec 2025 20:53:52 GMT <p>Pastor Mike delivers the last sermon of 2025, discussing key questions for personal reflection on the past year and highlights major events and accomplishments within the church community throughout 2025. These include mission trips, local outreach, structural changes, and various ministries. The sermon shifts to exploring the biblical definition of the church, emphasizing four realities: a people who confess Jesus as Lord, a diverse people under Jesus' headship, a Holy Spirit-filled people devoted to one another, and a people sent on God's mission. The pastor shares insights from global churches, emphasizing unity, passion, generosity, counting the cost, and following the Spirit's guidance. The sermon concludes with a call for radical hospitality and unity aligned with the global church's mission.</p> false no 2894 <![CDATA[Hospitality: the Resulting Practice]]> This sermon was delivered on the final Sunday of Advent, focusing on hospitality as the concluding theme of the 'Rhythms' series. Pastor Ben reflects on the importance of hospitality framed by the life and teachings of Christ. The message outlines the series' trajectory from 'home' to 'hospitality.' Key Biblical references include Jesus' washing of the disciples' feet in John 13, demonstrating love and service. Principles of Christian hospitality such as vulnerability, sacrifice, and life-sharing are discussed, emphasizing that true hospitality extends beyond mere physical space to include sharing one’s life and God’s love with others. The sermon concludes with a call to practice this divine love and hospitality in one's daily life.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/hospitality-the-resulting-practice 40f78db0-59e0-4403-810a-d3633d244d8a Sun, 21 Dec 2025 18:41:44 GMT <p>This sermon was delivered on the final Sunday of Advent, focusing on hospitality as the concluding theme of the 'Rhythms' series. Pastor Ben reflects on the importance of hospitality framed by the life and teachings of Christ. The message outlines the series' trajectory from 'home' to 'hospitality.' Key Biblical references include Jesus' washing of the disciples' feet in John 13, demonstrating love and service. Principles of Christian hospitality such as vulnerability, sacrifice, and life-sharing are discussed, emphasizing that true hospitality extends beyond mere physical space to include sharing one’s life and God’s love with others. The sermon concludes with a call to practice this divine love and hospitality in one's daily life.</p> false no 2655 <![CDATA[Sabbath]]> Pastor Emeritus Mark Willey discusses the concept of the Sabbath in his sermon, focusing on Mark 2:23-28. He emphasizes that the Sabbath, which was originally ordained by God during creation, is designed to provide physical and internal rest. It is meant to be a blessing, not a burden, enabling human flourishing and deeper spiritual connection. Jesus, as Lord of the Sabbath, teaches that its practices should be beneficial and life-enhancing, rather than restrictive. Pastor Mark encourages practical ways to incorporate Sabbath principles into daily life, highlighting the importance of rest, worship, and trust in God. The sermon underscores the need for intentionality in living out the Sabbath, especially in a culture that often prioritizes constant activity and productivity. Pastor Mark concludes by urging the congregation to ask themselves honest questions about their lifestyle and to strive for restful hearts through intentional Sabbath practices.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/sabbath 5ad989dd-575c-4c5c-ac7c-c3ec1af3b1bc Sun, 07 Dec 2025 19:05:22 GMT <p>Pastor Emeritus Mark Willey discusses the concept of the Sabbath in his sermon, focusing on Mark 2:23-28. He emphasizes that the Sabbath, which was originally ordained by God during creation, is designed to provide physical and internal rest. It is meant to be a blessing, not a burden, enabling human flourishing and deeper spiritual connection. Jesus, as Lord of the Sabbath, teaches that its practices should be beneficial and life-enhancing, rather than restrictive. Pastor Mark encourages practical ways to incorporate Sabbath principles into daily life, highlighting the importance of rest, worship, and trust in God. The sermon underscores the need for intentionality in living out the Sabbath, especially in a culture that often prioritizes constant activity and productivity. Pastor Mark concludes by urging the congregation to ask themselves honest questions about their lifestyle and to strive for restful hearts through intentional Sabbath practices.</p> false no 2995 <![CDATA[Don't Waste Your Waiting]]> David Faith preaches a sermon on the concept of waiting, as part of the 'Rhythms' series focusing on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. He highlights the universal struggle of waiting and explores its underlying causes: unmet desires and limitations. David illustrates how waiting shapes individuals depending on their relationship with God, using biblical examples such as Elijah, Job, and Jesus. Elijah's story is detailed to show his journey through fear, divine sustenance, and the ultimate realization of his limitations. David emphasizes reflection, revealing focus, and providing opportunities for spiritual growth during waiting periods. He encourages people to request, repent, and renew their spirits through communion with God and references resources for further reading. The sermon concludes with a prayer for spiritual alignment and openness to God's guidance during times of waiting.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/dont-waste-your-waiting d1c28db7-93a2-4507-843e-cfe9f2554d39 Sun, 30 Nov 2025 19:44:05 GMT <p>David Faith preaches a sermon on the concept of waiting, as part of the 'Rhythms' series focusing on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. He highlights the universal struggle of waiting and explores its underlying causes: unmet desires and limitations. David illustrates how waiting shapes individuals depending on their relationship with God, using biblical examples such as Elijah, Job, and Jesus. Elijah's story is detailed to show his journey through fear, divine sustenance, and the ultimate realization of his limitations. David emphasizes reflection, revealing focus, and providing opportunities for spiritual growth during waiting periods. He encourages people to request, repent, and renew their spirits through communion with God and references resources for further reading. The sermon concludes with a prayer for spiritual alignment and openness to God's guidance during times of waiting.</p> false no 2237 <![CDATA[Living Sacrifices]]> Pastor Mike anchors the sermon in Romans 12:1-2, emphasizing the importance of presenting our bodies to God as a form of worship. Key points include the creation and fall of man, the incarnation of Jesus, and the role of our bodies in God's redemptive story. Practical applications are provided, focusing on physical worship, stewardship, and loving actions through bodily presence. The sermon also touches on themes like aging, suffering, work, and desires, encouraging believers to steward their bodies for God's glory while maintaining an eternal perspective.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/living-sacrifices 5bbe1999-f8f1-47c8-b6f9-cf7ccd63578c Sun, 23 Nov 2025 19:47:34 GMT <p>Pastor Mike anchors the sermon in Romans 12:1-2, emphasizing the importance of presenting our bodies to God as a form of worship. Key points include the creation and fall of man, the incarnation of Jesus, and the role of our bodies in God's redemptive story. Practical applications are provided, focusing on physical worship, stewardship, and loving actions through bodily presence. The sermon also touches on themes like aging, suffering, work, and desires, encouraging believers to steward their bodies for God's glory while maintaining an eternal perspective.</p> false no 2616 <![CDATA[Resentment to Gratitude]]> Pastor Ben engages the audience in a discussion from John chapter 11, focusing on the transformative power of gratitude in shaping a faithful life. The speaker highlights the neurological, emotional, and spiritual benefits of gratitude, encouraging the congregation to incorporate gratitude practices into their daily lives. John 11 is analyzed, detailing Jesus’s reaction to Lazarus's death and his gratitude in the face of imminent crucifixion. The sermon also delves into themes of servanthood versus entitlement, the importance of being heard by God, and the necessity of receiving divine guidance. The congregation is prompted to reflect on ways God has heard and responded to their needs, paving the way for a deeper, more grateful engagement with their faith.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/resentment-to-gratitude f3b90fa1-91da-4a8e-b91b-dd6f173d1224 Sun, 16 Nov 2025 16:46:44 GMT <p>Pastor Ben engages the audience in a discussion from John chapter 11, focusing on the transformative power of gratitude in shaping a faithful life. The speaker highlights the neurological, emotional, and spiritual benefits of gratitude, encouraging the congregation to incorporate gratitude practices into their daily lives. John 11 is analyzed, detailing Jesus’s reaction to Lazarus's death and his gratitude in the face of imminent crucifixion. The sermon also delves into themes of servanthood versus entitlement, the importance of being heard by God, and the necessity of receiving divine guidance. The congregation is prompted to reflect on ways God has heard and responded to their needs, paving the way for a deeper, more grateful engagement with their faith.</p> false no 1627 <![CDATA[Resentment and Forgiveness]]> This sermon is centered on Luke 15, discussing the challenges of arranging one's life around Christian practices and the issue of resentment. Pastor Ben covers how resentment impacts relationships with others and with God, emphasizing the necessity of forgiveness. Luke 15's parable of the Prodigal Son is revisited, highlighting the resentment of the older brother. Ben outlines key characteristics of resentment and how it separates us, ending with practical steps to identify and manage resentment, emphasizing the father's role in healing these feelings. The message concludes with a call to recognize and address resentments, bringing them to God for transformation.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/resentment-and-forgiveness 2f68ef92-bf4f-4bf8-92a3-dbe5d5ee827d Sun, 09 Nov 2025 19:26:15 GMT <p>This sermon is centered on Luke 15, discussing the challenges of arranging one's life around Christian practices and the issue of resentment. Pastor Ben covers how resentment impacts relationships with others and with God, emphasizing the necessity of forgiveness. Luke 15's parable of the Prodigal Son is revisited, highlighting the resentment of the older brother. Ben outlines key characteristics of resentment and how it separates us, ending with practical steps to identify and manage resentment, emphasizing the father's role in healing these feelings. The message concludes with a call to recognize and address resentments, bringing them to God for transformation.</p> false no 2727 <![CDATA[If You Love Me]]> In this sermon by pastor Jared, the focus is on how scripture confronts and helps to dismantle strongholds in our lives. Jared revisits teachings from John 14:15-21 and 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 to distinguish between physical and spiritual battles. He shares personal stories of his own struggles with strongholds, illustrating how identifying and confronting these is vital. He emphasizes that strongholds can be both positive (like relationships) and negative, stressing that anything replacing God as the ultimate provider can be a stronghold. Pastor Jared advocates for confronting these through obedience to God's commands, empowered by the Holy Spirit. He underscores that scripture is the key offensive weapon in this spiritual battle, and obedience to God's commands enhances our relationship with Him, resulting in more profound experiences of God's love and presence. The sermon concludes with practical applications for identifying and destroying strongholds in our lives, and calling others to repentance.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/if-you-love-me 89efb8cd-7911-48c9-aba5-e17cc9598534 Sun, 02 Nov 2025 16:38:09 GMT <p>In this sermon by pastor Jared, the focus is on how scripture confronts and helps to dismantle strongholds in our lives. Jared revisits teachings from John 14:15-21 and 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 to distinguish between physical and spiritual battles. He shares personal stories of his own struggles with strongholds, illustrating how identifying and confronting these is vital. He emphasizes that strongholds can be both positive (like relationships) and negative, stressing that anything replacing God as the ultimate provider can be a stronghold. Pastor Jared advocates for confronting these through obedience to God's commands, empowered by the Holy Spirit. He underscores that scripture is the key offensive weapon in this spiritual battle, and obedience to God's commands enhances our relationship with Him, resulting in more profound experiences of God's love and presence. The sermon concludes with practical applications for identifying and destroying strongholds in our lives, and calling others to repentance.</p> false no 2323 <![CDATA[Making Prayer a Real Conversation]]> Pastor Mark, the emeritus pastor, preaches on the importance of prayer as a conversation with God, focusing on Hebrews 10:5-7. He emphasizes that prayer should include listening, reflecting, and responding to God's word, as demonstrated by Jesus. Pastor Mark illustrates how Jesus immersed himself in scripture and communicated with the Father by referencing and meditating on biblical passages. Through personal anecdotes and quotes from Christian leaders, Pastor Mark underscores the significance of integrating Bible reading and meditation into prayer. He shares insights on making prayer an intimate, dynamic conversation with God, advocating for a practice where one listens to God's words in the scriptures, reflects on their meaning, and responds in prayer.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/making-prayer-a-real-conversation d97fe558-cfbc-4956-9be7-4d19c88e74b1 Mon, 27 Oct 2025 15:37:15 GMT <p>Pastor Mark, the emeritus pastor, preaches on the importance of prayer as a conversation with God, focusing on Hebrews 10:5-7. He emphasizes that prayer should include listening, reflecting, and responding to God's word, as demonstrated by Jesus. Pastor Mark illustrates how Jesus immersed himself in scripture and communicated with the Father by referencing and meditating on biblical passages. Through personal anecdotes and quotes from Christian leaders, Pastor Mark underscores the significance of integrating Bible reading and meditation into prayer. He shares insights on making prayer an intimate, dynamic conversation with God, advocating for a practice where one listens to God's words in the scriptures, reflects on their meaning, and responds in prayer.</p> false no 2550 <![CDATA[Teach Us to Pray]]> Pastor Mike's sermon emphasizes the importance of prayer, drawing from two passages in Luke (chapters 11 and 18). Key points include building a 'theology of prayer' and adopting various 'postures of prayer' such as intimacy, dependence, persistence, shamelessness, childlikeness, perseverance, relentlessness, expectancy, and watchfulness. Jesus' teachings and parables serve as a guide for how to pray effectively. The congregation is encouraged to actively engage in prayer, trusting in God's timing and wisdom, while also praying for specific needs and broader missional opportunities.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/teach-us-to-pray-2 669e5a72-7caa-4c60-b0ed-81831d7a6306 Sun, 19 Oct 2025 17:56:30 GMT <p>Pastor Mike's sermon emphasizes the importance of prayer, drawing from two passages in Luke (chapters 11 and 18). Key points include building a 'theology of prayer' and adopting various 'postures of prayer' such as intimacy, dependence, persistence, shamelessness, childlikeness, perseverance, relentlessness, expectancy, and watchfulness. Jesus' teachings and parables serve as a guide for how to pray effectively. The congregation is encouraged to actively engage in prayer, trusting in God's timing and wisdom, while also praying for specific needs and broader missional opportunities.</p> false no 2491 <![CDATA[Prayer (as withdrawal)]]> Pastor Ben's emphasis is on 'withdrawing to pray'—spending extended, intentional time in solitude and prayer, as modeled by Jesus. The sermon highlights Jesus's frequent practice of withdrawing to solitary places for prayer, which was a prioritized spiritual discipline in his life. Ben also addresses common hindrances to this practice, such as the busyness of modern life, discomfort with silence, and fear of solitude. Practical advice is given for planning and committing to the practice, handling distractions, and focusing on God’s love. Finally, the speaker stresses the importance of individuals in the congregation engaging in this discipline to deepen their spiritual growth.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/prayer-as-withdrawal 2a492413-3e6c-4738-8d63-9dccfb193782 Sun, 12 Oct 2025 19:11:48 GMT <p>Pastor Ben's emphasis is on 'withdrawing to pray'—spending extended, intentional time in solitude and prayer, as modeled by Jesus. The sermon highlights Jesus's frequent practice of withdrawing to solitary places for prayer, which was a prioritized spiritual discipline in his life. Ben also addresses common hindrances to this practice, such as the busyness of modern life, discomfort with silence, and fear of solitude. Practical advice is given for planning and committing to the practice, handling distractions, and focusing on God’s love. Finally, the speaker stresses the importance of individuals in the congregation engaging in this discipline to deepen their spiritual growth.</p> false no 2562 <![CDATA[Home: What it Means to be Lost and Found]]> Pastor Ben preaches week two of the rhythm series on the life and teachings of Jesus, specifically targeting spiritual growth and inner transformation through the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15. The speaker emphasizes key moments of realization for the prodigal son, demonstrating what it means to be 'at home' with God—freedom to leave, acknowledging mistakes, the unconditional love of the Father, and the true status of believers as sons and daughters, not servants. He contrasts the reactions and hardened hearts of the Pharisees and scribes, drawing parallels to the lost elder brother. The sermon concludes with practical steps to cultivate trust and intimacy with God, encouraging believers to adopt spiritual disciplines like the Ignatian Examen to recognize God’s presence in their daily lives.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/home-what-it-means-to-be-lost-and-found 2fe27616-236e-445d-93d3-d3dbc3b4a782 Sun, 05 Oct 2025 14:32:29 GMT <p>Pastor Ben preaches week two of the rhythm series on the life and teachings of Jesus, specifically targeting spiritual growth and inner transformation through the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15. The speaker emphasizes key moments of realization for the prodigal son, demonstrating what it means to be 'at home' with God—freedom to leave, acknowledging mistakes, the unconditional love of the Father, and the true status of believers as sons and daughters, not servants. He contrasts the reactions and hardened hearts of the Pharisees and scribes, drawing parallels to the lost elder brother. The sermon concludes with practical steps to cultivate trust and intimacy with God, encouraging believers to adopt spiritual disciplines like the Ignatian Examen to recognize God’s presence in their daily lives.</p> false no 2924 <![CDATA[Story: Joining in the Movement of God Already Happening]]> Pastor Ben introduces a new series called the 'Rhythm Series,' focusing on shaping daily lives around the life and teachings of Jesus. The series emphasizes the importance of personal stories and the concept of spiritual rhythms that connect individuals' lives with God. It aims to help people experience deep contentment, joy, and confidence in their everyday relationship with God. Ben highlights the role of individual stories in understanding and displaying God's glory, referencing a conversation between John Ortberg and Dallas Willard, and discussing Jesus's encounter with a blind man in John 9. The sermon encourages participants to be conscious of and share their spiritual stories, emphasizing that God’s work in their lives is holy and miraculous, and that spiritual formation often occurs through community and shared experiences.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/story-joining-in-the-movement-of-god-already-happening 7ec7eb72-555e-46a8-b16e-2b21b78266c8 Sun, 28 Sep 2025 14:39:57 GMT <p>Pastor Ben introduces a new series called the 'Rhythm Series,' focusing on shaping daily lives around the life and teachings of Jesus. The series emphasizes the importance of personal stories and the concept of spiritual rhythms that connect individuals' lives with God. It aims to help people experience deep contentment, joy, and confidence in their everyday relationship with God. Ben highlights the role of individual stories in understanding and displaying God's glory, referencing a conversation between John Ortberg and Dallas Willard, and discussing Jesus's encounter with a blind man in John 9. The sermon encourages participants to be conscious of and share their spiritual stories, emphasizing that God’s work in their lives is holy and miraculous, and that spiritual formation often occurs through community and shared experiences.</p> false no 2577 <![CDATA[Vision Sunday]]> This sermon centers around 'Vision Sunday' at Fellowship. Pastors Mike and Ben emphasize small groups, whole-life discipleship, and increased mission work. Drawing from Mark Chapter 5, they discuss Jesus's attention to individuals and his unhurried ministry. The church is in a period of transition with a new lead pastor and is experiencing growth in attendance and giving. They stress community involvement through small groups, spiritual practices, and participation in local and international missions, aiming to deepen personal connections and faith practices within the congregation.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/vision-sunday d2d3ffcc-8fb3-4a2c-b851-42db100a07f5 Sun, 21 Sep 2025 14:18:12 GMT <p>This sermon centers around 'Vision Sunday' at Fellowship. Pastors Mike and Ben emphasize small groups, whole-life discipleship, and increased mission work. Drawing from Mark Chapter 5, they discuss Jesus's attention to individuals and his unhurried ministry. The church is in a period of transition with a new lead pastor and is experiencing growth in attendance and giving. They stress community involvement through small groups, spiritual practices, and participation in local and international missions, aiming to deepen personal connections and faith practices within the congregation.</p> false no 2631 <![CDATA[Smell Like Jesus]]> Pastor Jared speaks about a Bible passage from 2 Corinthians 2:12-16, emphasizing the importance of 'smelling like Jesus,' which means embodying Christ's love and values. He explains that believers are seen as the aroma of Christ to God and that this is a sweet, pleasing scent. Jared also shares a personal anecdote about his spiritual journey and urges listeners to reflect on whether their lives project the fragrance of Jesus to others. The sermon concludes with a prayer asking God to work in their lives, reminding them of their worth and encouraging them to embody Christ's presence in the world.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/smell-like-jesus 82682731-41a2-4e27-82f1-0d4e8227099f Sun, 14 Sep 2025 18:11:42 GMT <p>Pastor Jared speaks about a Bible passage from 2 Corinthians 2:12-16, emphasizing the importance of 'smelling like Jesus,' which means embodying Christ's love and values. He explains that believers are seen as the aroma of Christ to God and that this is a sweet, pleasing scent. Jared also shares a personal anecdote about his spiritual journey and urges listeners to reflect on whether their lives project the fragrance of Jesus to others. The sermon concludes with a prayer asking God to work in their lives, reminding them of their worth and encouraging them to embody Christ's presence in the world.</p> false no 1472 <![CDATA[The Quiet Waters of Ordinary Life]]> The sermon focuses on Psalm 23, emphasizing the importance of living a life anchored in God. Pastor Ben shares personal anecdotes and reflections on how the psalm reveals a life of quiet contentment and trust in God rather than constant pursuit of extraordinary achievements. Highlighting the Psalm's themes of God's guidance, provision, and comfort, Ben encourages slowing down and finding peace in daily life. The key points discussed include the commonness of most life experiences, the temptation of preoccupations like accumulation, fear, and conflict, and the importance of contentment and trust in God. The script concludes with a call to evaluate what truly belongs in one's life, symbolized as fitting into a 'mitten,' and to arrange life around God’s presence.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-quiet-waters-of-ordinary-life 47002d01-99b0-4f5a-9b35-6f002a396480 Sun, 07 Sep 2025 14:37:45 GMT <p>The sermon focuses on Psalm 23, emphasizing the importance of living a life anchored in God. Pastor Ben shares personal anecdotes and reflections on how the psalm reveals a life of quiet contentment and trust in God rather than constant pursuit of extraordinary achievements. Highlighting the Psalm's themes of God's guidance, provision, and comfort, Ben encourages slowing down and finding peace in daily life. The key points discussed include the commonness of most life experiences, the temptation of preoccupations like accumulation, fear, and conflict, and the importance of contentment and trust in God. The script concludes with a call to evaluate what truly belongs in one's life, symbolized as fitting into a 'mitten,' and to arrange life around God’s presence.</p> false no 2151 <![CDATA[Love Your Enemies]]> Pastor Ryan introduces preaches on loving one's enemies as taught by Jesus in Matthew 5:43-48. He emphasizes the importance of selfless, unconditional 'agape' love, which is foundational to Christian teachings. Ryan elaborates on how to practically apply this love towards enemies through prayer, showing no partiality, meeting their needs, and greeting them. He highlights that Jesus' command to love our enemies is countercultural and challenging but rooted in the heart of the Christian faith. The sermon underscores the notion that all life change begins in the heart and exemplifies the grace, power, and mercy of God. He concludes by urging the congregation to embrace the transformative power of God's love.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/love-your-enemies bc86ac56-f7ff-477a-8c67-c4a0a81d05b9 Sun, 31 Aug 2025 14:13:38 GMT <p>Pastor Ryan introduces preaches on loving one's enemies as taught by Jesus in Matthew 5:43-48. He emphasizes the importance of selfless, unconditional 'agape' love, which is foundational to Christian teachings. Ryan elaborates on how to practically apply this love towards enemies through prayer, showing no partiality, meeting their needs, and greeting them. He highlights that Jesus' command to love our enemies is countercultural and challenging but rooted in the heart of the Christian faith. The sermon underscores the notion that all life change begins in the heart and exemplifies the grace, power, and mercy of God. He concludes by urging the congregation to embrace the transformative power of God's love.</p> false no 2727 <![CDATA[Who Rules Your Heart?]]> Pastor Mike revisits the biblical account of the rich young ruler from the Gospel of Mark, explaining its significance and lessons. The story prompts reflections on eternal life, the nature of true discipleship, and the condition of one’s heart. Various scriptures are cited to highlight the meaning of eternal life and the pitfalls of relying on one's own righteousness. The sermon concludes with an invitation to surrender one's heart to Jesus, stressing that true satisfaction and eternal life come from this surrender and relationship with Christ.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/who-rules-your-heart a209dd12-a265-4dfe-bdb7-591888c966a7 Sun, 24 Aug 2025 16:03:47 GMT <p>Pastor Mike revisits the biblical account of the rich young ruler from the Gospel of Mark, explaining its significance and lessons. The story prompts reflections on eternal life, the nature of true discipleship, and the condition of one’s heart. Various scriptures are cited to highlight the meaning of eternal life and the pitfalls of relying on one's own righteousness. The sermon concludes with an invitation to surrender one's heart to Jesus, stressing that true satisfaction and eternal life come from this surrender and relationship with Christ.</p> false no 2592 <![CDATA[Your Church Makes Me Want to Throw Up!]]> Pastor emeritus Mark Willey provides an in-depth analysis of Jesus' message to the church at Laodicea in Revelation 3:14-22. The Apostle John, exiled on the island of Patmos, records this message revealing Jesus' harsh rebuke towards the Laodicean church for being lukewarm in their faith. This spiritual complacency makes Jesus feel spiritually nauseous, akin to vomiting. Although prosperous and self-sufficient, the Laodiceans are spiritually impoverished, blind, and naked. Jesus offers them counsel to seek genuine spiritual riches, righteousness, and true vision. Despite the harsh critique, Jesus' message is rooted in love and a desire for the Laodiceans to repent and renew their commitment. Pastor Mark emphasizes self-reflection for modern believers, urging them to assess their spiritual zeal, avoid cultural assimilation, and seek genuine transformation by inviting Jesus into their lives through humility and reliance on Him.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/your-church-makes-me-want-to-throw-up 0989a656-9a8b-4b11-ac5e-eefd7c48a1fa Sun, 17 Aug 2025 14:55:50 GMT <p>Pastor emeritus Mark Willey provides an in-depth analysis of Jesus' message to the church at Laodicea in Revelation 3:14-22. The Apostle John, exiled on the island of Patmos, records this message revealing Jesus' harsh rebuke towards the Laodicean church for being lukewarm in their faith. This spiritual complacency makes Jesus feel spiritually nauseous, akin to vomiting. Although prosperous and self-sufficient, the Laodiceans are spiritually impoverished, blind, and naked. Jesus offers them counsel to seek genuine spiritual riches, righteousness, and true vision. Despite the harsh critique, Jesus' message is rooted in love and a desire for the Laodiceans to repent and renew their commitment. Pastor Mark emphasizes self-reflection for modern believers, urging them to assess their spiritual zeal, avoid cultural assimilation, and seek genuine transformation by inviting Jesus into their lives through humility and reliance on Him.</p> false no 2989 <![CDATA[Remember Who You Are]]> In his final sermon on the book of Philippians, Pastor emeritus Mark Willey delves into the closing verses (Philippians 4:21-23). He discusses the importance of how Paul signs off his letter, emphasizing Christians' identity as saints. He clarifies that in the New Testament context, saints are believers set apart for God, differing from the Roman Catholic tradition of canonized saints. Pastor Mark highlights four key points: our different identity as belonging to God, our altered life goals focusing on knowing Christ, the changed response to suffering and hardship, and the unique grace and guidance we receive from Jesus. He ties these points to the overarching message of Philippians about living out the Christian life and concludes with an invitation to communion, urging reflection on the transformative grace of God.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/remember-who-you-are e1bb0077-0524-48f1-8eb4-262a5c756956 Sun, 10 Aug 2025 14:33:47 GMT <p>In his final sermon on the book of Philippians, Pastor emeritus Mark Willey delves into the closing verses (Philippians 4:21-23). He discusses the importance of how Paul signs off his letter, emphasizing Christians' identity as saints. He clarifies that in the New Testament context, saints are believers set apart for God, differing from the Roman Catholic tradition of canonized saints. Pastor Mark highlights four key points: our different identity as belonging to God, our altered life goals focusing on knowing Christ, the changed response to suffering and hardship, and the unique grace and guidance we receive from Jesus. He ties these points to the overarching message of Philippians about living out the Christian life and concludes with an invitation to communion, urging reflection on the transformative grace of God.</p> false no 2425 <![CDATA[The Underwater Wallet]]> Pastor Ben emphasizes the historical legend of the 'unbaptized arm' to illustrate partial submission to Christ, tying it to modern-day financial reluctance. The main discussion covers Paul's commendation of the Philippian church for their financial support and generosity, relating this to the broader Christian ethic of money management. Ben stresses that money, while often seen as problematic, can demonstrate beauty, be used for holy endeavors, and bring joy to God. Additionally, the wise and content stewardship of money is crucial, as it is deeply tied to the heart and spiritual practices. Pastor Ben concludes by encouraging the congregation to trust God with their financial needs, assuring them of God's promises to provide and highlighting the joy that comes from generous giving. 

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-underwater-wallet 29c14218-dbfd-4109-91f6-2b943b740784 Sun, 03 Aug 2025 13:41:11 GMT <p>Pastor Ben emphasizes the historical legend of the 'unbaptized arm' to illustrate partial submission to Christ, tying it to modern-day financial reluctance. The main discussion covers Paul's commendation of the Philippian church for their financial support and generosity, relating this to the broader Christian ethic of money management. Ben stresses that money, while often seen as problematic, can demonstrate beauty, be used for holy endeavors, and bring joy to God. Additionally, the wise and content stewardship of money is crucial, as it is deeply tied to the heart and spiritual practices. Pastor Ben concludes by encouraging the congregation to trust God with their financial needs, assuring them of God's promises to provide and highlighting the joy that comes from generous giving. </p> false no 3351 <![CDATA[Baptism Service - July 2025]]> Pastor Tim preaches on Baptism, answering what it is, who it is for, and why it is commanded for believers. Then hear 11 people share their testimonies and be baptized.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/baptism-service---july-2025 dcd2636d-7ac3-49b3-906e-2fe82d90461a Sun, 27 Jul 2025 17:26:50 GMT <p>Pastor Tim preaches on Baptism, answering what it is, who it is for, and why it is commanded for believers. Then hear 11 people share their testimonies and be baptized.</p> false no 4045 <![CDATA[The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment]]> This sermon explores the concept of true contentment through biblical teachings, specifically focusing on Philippians 4:10-13. Pastor Ben delves into the Apostle Paul's message of finding unbreakable contentment in all situations, contrasting it with the philosophy of Stoicism. Using golfer Scotty Scheffler's public remarks about the fleeting nature of satisfaction, Ben emphasizes that true, enduring contentment can only be achieved through a relationship with Christ. The sermon closes with a prayer for the congregation to find joy and contentment in Christ amidst life's challenges.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-rare-jewel-of-christian-contentment 0044bc46-2dab-4051-8e73-5374795c7c7f Sun, 20 Jul 2025 16:24:30 GMT <p>This sermon explores the concept of true contentment through biblical teachings, specifically focusing on Philippians 4:10-13. Pastor Ben delves into the Apostle Paul's message of finding unbreakable contentment in all situations, contrasting it with the philosophy of Stoicism. Using golfer Scotty Scheffler's public remarks about the fleeting nature of satisfaction, Ben emphasizes that true, enduring contentment can only be achieved through a relationship with Christ. The sermon closes with a prayer for the congregation to find joy and contentment in Christ amidst life's challenges.</p><p></p> false no 2087 <![CDATA[The Nativity Encounter - Stephen Khoury]]> The sermon begins with an introduction of Pastor Stephen Khoury, who leads Holy Land Missions in Israel. Pastor Khoury speaks about his experiences and challenges of preaching the Gospel in Israel amidst persecution. He emphasizes the importance of holding a positive mindset, based on Philippians 4:8-9, and shares stories of resilience and faith under duress. Pastor Khoury outlines the vision for the Nativity Encounter, an immersive, non-threatening Bible discovery center in Bethlehem aimed at educating and engaging both believers and non-believers. He details the project's progress, including significant support and partnerships, and calls for further contributions to continue this initiative. The time concludes with a prayer and a call for community support.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-nativity-encounter---stephen-khoury c8a4a664-d5df-4202-b846-615e18638e88 Wed, 16 Jul 2025 01:20:48 GMT <p>The sermon begins with an introduction of Pastor Stephen Khoury, who leads Holy Land Missions in Israel. Pastor Khoury speaks about his experiences and challenges of preaching the Gospel in Israel amidst persecution. He emphasizes the importance of holding a positive mindset, based on Philippians 4:8-9, and shares stories of resilience and faith under duress. Pastor Khoury outlines the vision for the Nativity Encounter, an immersive, non-threatening Bible discovery center in Bethlehem aimed at educating and engaging both believers and non-believers. He details the project's progress, including significant support and partnerships, and calls for further contributions to continue this initiative. The time concludes with a prayer and a call for community support.</p> false no 2843 <![CDATA[An Antidote to an Anxious Mind]]> In this sermon, Pastor Josiah preaches on sermon focusing on Philippians 4:5b-7, addressing the universal struggle with anxiety. He emphasizes the importance of replacing anxious thoughts with prayer, approaching God with neediness, thankfulness, and faith. Using real-life anecdotes, he encourages the congregation to trust in God’s near presence and promises. He highlights the distinction between pursuing personal peace and finding true peace in God's presence. The sermon concludes with a prayer and a call to embrace God's peace through continuous prayer and trust.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/an-antidote-to-an-anxious-mind 1b1d6c52-9b41-4321-8fc1-804610d69d95 Sun, 06 Jul 2025 14:31:46 GMT <p>In this sermon, Pastor Josiah preaches on sermon focusing on Philippians 4:5b-7, addressing the universal struggle with anxiety. He emphasizes the importance of replacing anxious thoughts with prayer, approaching God with neediness, thankfulness, and faith. Using real-life anecdotes, he encourages the congregation to trust in God’s near presence and promises. He highlights the distinction between pursuing personal peace and finding true peace in God's presence. The sermon concludes with a prayer and a call to embrace God's peace through continuous prayer and trust.</p> false no 2274 <![CDATA[Joy and Gentleness in Christ]]> Visiting missionary Dave Merkh shares his journey of understanding true joy through Philippians 4:4-5, emphasizing the profound impact of finding joy and gentleness in Christ. Using personal stories, particularly an example from his time in Brazil and reflections on his grandchildren, he contrasts happiness, which is fleeting and circumstantial, with joy, which is stable and rooted in Christ. He challenges the audience to reevaluate their pursuit of happiness and embrace the inalienable responsibility of joy in the Lord, explaining that true joy results in a gentler, more approachable demeanor. 

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/joy-and-gentleness-in-christ 4d2756f4-36e6-4c95-8f89-018cbe59324c Sun, 29 Jun 2025 15:37:08 GMT <p>Visiting missionary Dave Merkh shares his journey of understanding true joy through Philippians 4:4-5, emphasizing the profound impact of finding joy and gentleness in Christ. Using personal stories, particularly an example from his time in Brazil and reflections on his grandchildren, he contrasts happiness, which is fleeting and circumstantial, with joy, which is stable and rooted in Christ. He challenges the audience to reevaluate their pursuit of happiness and embrace the inalienable responsibility of joy in the Lord, explaining that true joy results in a gentler, more approachable demeanor. </p> false no 2201 <![CDATA[Conflict in the Community]]> Pastor Emeritus Mark delivers a sermon on Philippians 4, emphasizing the deep affection Paul had for the Philippian church. Despite their strong faith, Paul addresses an underlying conflict between two influential women, Euodia and Syntyche. Paul calls for them to 'agree in the Lord' and to resolve their differences, highlighting the importance of unity and harmony within the church. The sermon stresses the necessity of setting one's mind in alignment with Christ—particularly in not grasping onto personal desires but rather serving others. Pastor Mark provides practical principles for resolving conflicts, emphasizing the importance of belonging to Jesus, thinking like Jesus, listening to wise counsel, and speaking truth in love. The overarching message is that conflicts often arise from grasping at personal preferences, and overcoming them requires embracing a Christ-like mindset of humility and service.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/conflict-in-the-community 2158d158-b9fe-4ab2-8aac-6cd1f082166b Sun, 22 Jun 2025 19:07:41 GMT <p>Pastor Emeritus Mark delivers a sermon on Philippians 4, emphasizing the deep affection Paul had for the Philippian church. Despite their strong faith, Paul addresses an underlying conflict between two influential women, Euodia and Syntyche. Paul calls for them to 'agree in the Lord' and to resolve their differences, highlighting the importance of unity and harmony within the church. The sermon stresses the necessity of setting one's mind in alignment with Christ—particularly in not grasping onto personal desires but rather serving others. Pastor Mark provides practical principles for resolving conflicts, emphasizing the importance of belonging to Jesus, thinking like Jesus, listening to wise counsel, and speaking truth in love. The overarching message is that conflicts often arise from grasping at personal preferences, and overcoming them requires embracing a Christ-like mindset of humility and service.</p> false no 2500 <![CDATA[Spiritual Mentorship]]> Pastor Ben preaches about mentorship within the Christian faith, focusing on Philippians chapter 3. Through Paul’s letters, Ben highlights mentorship as a crucial component for personal and spiritual development, asserting that no one in the faith has 'arrived' in their maturity. He correlates this to the need for mentorship, emphasizing that it is impossible to live out discipleship to Christ alone. He uses the metaphor of bison facing storms head-on to illustrate the need for confronting life's challenges with the help and example of mentors. Several practical opportunities for mentorship within the church, including men's, women's, and youth ministries, are introduced, inviting congregation members to engage in these programs. The sermon concludes with a call to action to seek mentors and to also be willing to mentor others, reinforcing the message that mentorship allows individuals to experience the love and transformative power of Christ more fully.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/spiritual-mentorship 2a33ed49-eacc-4072-bfa6-e5b5fc45d491 Sun, 15 Jun 2025 14:39:00 GMT <p>Pastor Ben preaches about mentorship within the Christian faith, focusing on Philippians chapter 3. Through Paul’s letters, Ben highlights mentorship as a crucial component for personal and spiritual development, asserting that no one in the faith has 'arrived' in their maturity. He correlates this to the need for mentorship, emphasizing that it is impossible to live out discipleship to Christ alone. He uses the metaphor of bison facing storms head-on to illustrate the need for confronting life's challenges with the help and example of mentors. Several practical opportunities for mentorship within the church, including men's, women's, and youth ministries, are introduced, inviting congregation members to engage in these programs. The sermon concludes with a call to action to seek mentors and to also be willing to mentor others, reinforcing the message that mentorship allows individuals to experience the love and transformative power of Christ more fully.</p> false no 3201 <![CDATA[The Joyful Pursuit]]> Pastor Mike preaches on Philippians chapter 3, exploring Paul's letter to the Philippians written around 30 years after Jesus's death and resurrection. The focal passage emphasizes Paul's humility, his pursuit of Christ, and the tension between the 'already' and 'not yet' aspects of spiritual maturity. The sermon highlights key principles, including recognizing that spiritual life begins with Christ, maintaining focus on the heavenly goal, and understanding that maturity involves continuous effort and grace. It also critiques cultural tendencies like screen addiction, attendance inconsistency at church, and misdirected passions, urging reflection and commitment to mature Christian living. Mike concludes with a call to embrace true joy in the pursuit of Christ, supported by humility, perseverance, and a focus on eternal goals.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-joyful-pursuit 19b014c3-6f54-4293-9d68-7f5a12bd88bd Sun, 08 Jun 2025 18:37:44 GMT <p>Pastor Mike preaches on Philippians chapter 3, exploring Paul's letter to the Philippians written around 30 years after Jesus's death and resurrection. The focal passage emphasizes Paul's humility, his pursuit of Christ, and the tension between the 'already' and 'not yet' aspects of spiritual maturity. The sermon highlights key principles, including recognizing that spiritual life begins with Christ, maintaining focus on the heavenly goal, and understanding that maturity involves continuous effort and grace. It also critiques cultural tendencies like screen addiction, attendance inconsistency at church, and misdirected passions, urging reflection and commitment to mature Christian living. Mike concludes with a call to embrace true joy in the pursuit of Christ, supported by humility, perseverance, and a focus on eternal goals.</p> false no 3058 <![CDATA[Right Side Up in the Upside Down]]> Jerry Costello, a Collingswood campus pastor, preaches on Philippians 3:1-11. He discusses the value of repeatedly examining the same scripture from different perspectives. Costello highlights the importance of knowing Christ, describing how Paul counted all his achievements as loss compared to the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus. He contrasts living according to the flesh with living in faith and emphasizes that believers are already 'in Christ' and assured of their future resurrection. The sermon concludes with a call to live according to God’s kingdom values, regardless of personal gain.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/right-side-up-in-the-upside-down e35802d0-2e8e-4d2d-b585-3e6318954484 Sun, 01 Jun 2025 15:32:19 GMT <p>Jerry Costello, a Collingswood campus pastor, preaches on Philippians 3:1-11. He discusses the value of repeatedly examining the same scripture from different perspectives. Costello highlights the importance of knowing Christ, describing how Paul counted all his achievements as loss compared to the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus. He contrasts living according to the flesh with living in faith and emphasizes that believers are already 'in Christ' and assured of their future resurrection. The sermon concludes with a call to live according to God’s kingdom values, regardless of personal gain.</p> false no 2676 <![CDATA[There is No Resurrection Without Death]]> Philippians 3:1-11 is linked to the concept of dying to oneself daily and understanding the importance of loss in the spiritual journey. Pastor Ben shares a personal experience of loss and describes how Paul in the scripture regards his accomplishments as 'rubbish' compared to knowing Christ. Practical guidance on facing frustrations, grieving, and accepting suffering is provided, emphasizing that true joy and resurrection come through these life challenges. The sermon concludes with a reflective prayer on trusting God through suffering and finding new life in Him.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/there-is-no-resurrection-without-death d3c72aad-cea2-46fd-b301-852133f04205 Sun, 25 May 2025 15:31:21 GMT <p>Philippians 3:1-11 is linked to the concept of dying to oneself daily and understanding the importance of loss in the spiritual journey. Pastor Ben shares a personal experience of loss and describes how Paul in the scripture regards his accomplishments as 'rubbish' compared to knowing Christ. Practical guidance on facing frustrations, grieving, and accepting suffering is provided, emphasizing that true joy and resurrection come through these life challenges. The sermon concludes with a reflective prayer on trusting God through suffering and finding new life in Him.</p> false no 2386 <![CDATA[Honor Such Men]]> This sermon focuses on Philippians 2:25-30, discussing the example of Epaphroditus as a model of humility, servitude, and obedience, much like Jesus and Timothy. Pastor Emeritus Mark explains Epaphroditus' journey as a messenger and caregiver sent by the Philippian church to assist Paul, highlighting his near-death experience and dedication. Mark stresses that true honor comes from living a Christ-centered life. He concludes by encouraging the congregation to follow Epaphroditus' example of selflessness and to examine their own lives as they prepare for the Lord's Supper.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/honor-such-men 380adfd6-330b-43b5-9dc2-daa15b9ae8a8 Sun, 18 May 2025 14:20:22 GMT <p>This sermon focuses on Philippians 2:25-30, discussing the example of Epaphroditus as a model of humility, servitude, and obedience, much like Jesus and Timothy. Pastor Emeritus Mark explains Epaphroditus' journey as a messenger and caregiver sent by the Philippian church to assist Paul, highlighting his near-death experience and dedication. Mark stresses that true honor comes from living a Christ-centered life. He concludes by encouraging the congregation to follow Epaphroditus' example of selflessness and to examine their own lives as they prepare for the Lord's Supper.</p> false no 1768 <![CDATA[Good 'ol Timothy]]> Pastor Jared preaches on Philippians chapter 2, focusing on Christian virtues such as unity, humility, and unconditional love. He emphasizes the importance of having a physical Bible and guides the congregation through Paul's letter, particularly highlighting Timothy as an exemplary model of these virtues. He shares personal anecdotes, including his experience taking over a membership class and learning from Pastor Mark, to illustrate the practical application of the scripture. The sermon also calls for the congregation to engage in discipleship, emphasizing that serving others selflessly and walking in humility are crucial for advancing the Kingdom of God.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/good-ol-timothy e34370f6-d2dc-4ddd-af95-b8502816c51e Sun, 11 May 2025 14:37:27 GMT <p>Pastor Jared preaches on Philippians chapter 2, focusing on Christian virtues such as unity, humility, and unconditional love. He emphasizes the importance of having a physical Bible and guides the congregation through Paul's letter, particularly highlighting Timothy as an exemplary model of these virtues. He shares personal anecdotes, including his experience taking over a membership class and learning from Pastor Mark, to illustrate the practical application of the scripture. The sermon also calls for the congregation to engage in discipleship, emphasizing that serving others selflessly and walking in humility are crucial for advancing the Kingdom of God.</p> false no 2365 <![CDATA[A Life That Shines]]> Pastor Mike's sermon focuses on a passage from Philippians 2:14-18, emphasizing the importance of living without grumbling or disputing and instead, embracing joy and faith. The speaker reflects on personal experiences and urges the congregation to see God’s sovereignty in all circumstances. Ginny Owens, a blind singer-songwriter and author, shares her story and performs songs that illustrate the power of praise and God's faithfulness. The session encourages reflection on past faithfulness, present praise, and future hope in God to combat grumbling and shine as lights in a crooked and twisted generation.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/a-life-that-shines 65b2f33a-7024-46a5-a1e1-fad02a5359cd Sun, 04 May 2025 14:43:07 GMT <p>Pastor Mike's sermon focuses on a passage from Philippians 2:14-18, emphasizing the importance of living without grumbling or disputing and instead, embracing joy and faith. The speaker reflects on personal experiences and urges the congregation to see God’s sovereignty in all circumstances. Ginny Owens, a blind singer-songwriter and author, shares her story and performs songs that illustrate the power of praise and God's faithfulness. The session encourages reflection on past faithfulness, present praise, and future hope in God to combat grumbling and shine as lights in a crooked and twisted generation.</p> false no 2738 <![CDATA[A Balanced View of Sanctification]]> Pastor Emeritus Mark Willey leads through a sermon on Philippians 2:12-13, focusing on the theme of sanctification. The passage emphasizes both the believer's responsibility to 'work out' their salvation and God's role in working within them to will and act according to His purpose. Mark offers a historical context of Christian movements like Pietism and Quietism, highlighting their imbalances in emphasizing only human effort or divine action. The need for a balanced approach is stressed, where believers actively pursue godliness while recognizing God's enabling power. Key concepts such as personal responsibility, effort, and the fear of God are discussed alongside practical advice for spiritual growth and maintaining a big view of God.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/a-balanced-view-of-sanctification 9bc18a80-9cc6-4b59-b39b-540acb163bc7 Sun, 27 Apr 2025 20:57:01 GMT <p>Pastor Emeritus Mark Willey leads through a sermon on Philippians 2:12-13, focusing on the theme of sanctification. The passage emphasizes both the believer's responsibility to 'work out' their salvation and God's role in working within them to will and act according to His purpose. Mark offers a historical context of Christian movements like Pietism and Quietism, highlighting their imbalances in emphasizing only human effort or divine action. The need for a balanced approach is stressed, where believers actively pursue godliness while recognizing God's enabling power. Key concepts such as personal responsibility, effort, and the fear of God are discussed alongside practical advice for spiritual growth and maintaining a big view of God.</p> false no 2404 <![CDATA[The Whole Ham - Easter Sunday]]> Pastor Ben shares an Easter sermon about the transformative power of Jesus Christ, emphasizing that while human nature and the physical world tend to decay from new to old, Jesus reverses this process, making old things new. Using personal anecdotes and biblical references from Genesis to Revelation, he illustrates how the scripture narrates humanity's fall and God's covenantal promise of redemption through Jesus's life, death, and resurrection. The sermon underscores that Jesus continues to make old things new, restoring broken relationships with God, others, ourselves, and creation. Pastor Ben invites the congregation to embrace this renewal, particularly in areas of their lives that feel hopeless or beyond repair.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-whole-ham---easter-sunday e3b699d5-ea32-4d29-8c6d-7dae53c85a5a Sun, 20 Apr 2025 15:15:35 GMT <p>Pastor Ben shares an Easter sermon about the transformative power of Jesus Christ, emphasizing that while human nature and the physical world tend to decay from new to old, Jesus reverses this process, making old things new. Using personal anecdotes and biblical references from Genesis to Revelation, he illustrates how the scripture narrates humanity's fall and God's covenantal promise of redemption through Jesus's life, death, and resurrection. The sermon underscores that Jesus continues to make old things new, restoring broken relationships with God, others, ourselves, and creation. Pastor Ben invites the congregation to embrace this renewal, particularly in areas of their lives that feel hopeless or beyond repair.</p> false no 2171 <![CDATA[Emptied, Exalted, Invited]]> This sermon focuses on the exalted Jesus, based on Philippians 2:1-11. Starting with a hymn of adoration, pastor Mike discusses the humility and obedience of Jesus, who emptied himself and was obedient to death on a cross. He elaborates on the exaltation of Jesus by God, who raised him from the dead, ascended him to heaven, and placed him at the right hand of the Father. Mike explains the Greek term for exaltation and contrasts Jesus' humility with Satan's pride. The sermon underscores the theological importance of Christ's submission and glorification, emphasizing practical application for believers to live in unity and humility, looking to Jesus as their example. It culminates in an invitation to observe Holy Week and reflect on Jesus' sacrificial journey.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/emptied-exalted-invited 4b0c19aa-f6c3-49ff-bcf2-13af23eaf078 Sun, 13 Apr 2025 14:57:06 GMT <p>This sermon focuses on the exalted Jesus, based on Philippians 2:1-11. Starting with a hymn of adoration, pastor Mike discusses the humility and obedience of Jesus, who emptied himself and was obedient to death on a cross. He elaborates on the exaltation of Jesus by God, who raised him from the dead, ascended him to heaven, and placed him at the right hand of the Father. Mike explains the Greek term for exaltation and contrasts Jesus' humility with Satan's pride. The sermon underscores the theological importance of Christ's submission and glorification, emphasizing practical application for believers to live in unity and humility, looking to Jesus as their example. It culminates in an invitation to observe Holy Week and reflect on Jesus' sacrificial journey.</p> false no 2407 <![CDATA[The Mind of Jesus]]> Pastor Emeritus Mark Willey invites the congregation to study Philippians 2:1-11, emphasizing the humility and servanthood of Jesus Christ. Revisiting themes previously addressed by Pastor Ben, he highlights the importance of believers adopting the mind of Christ, which involves humility, unity, and service to others. Mark contrasts human pride with the humility demonstrated by Jesus, who, despite being equal with God, took on the role of a servant to accomplish humanity's redemption. The sermon concludes with a call for spiritual dependence and alignment with God's will, encouraging listeners to reflect Christ's light in their personal interactions.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-mind-of-jesus a2d3b5b1-09c1-497e-8164-d969e25697a2 Sun, 06 Apr 2025 18:01:28 GMT <p>Pastor Emeritus Mark Willey invites the congregation to study Philippians 2:1-11, emphasizing the humility and servanthood of Jesus Christ. Revisiting themes previously addressed by Pastor Ben, he highlights the importance of believers adopting the mind of Christ, which involves humility, unity, and service to others. Mark contrasts human pride with the humility demonstrated by Jesus, who, despite being equal with God, took on the role of a servant to accomplish humanity's redemption. The sermon concludes with a call for spiritual dependence and alignment with God's will, encouraging listeners to reflect Christ's light in their personal interactions.</p> false no 2365 <![CDATA[Inside the Mind of Christ]]> This sermon delves into Philippians chapter 2, exploring the desire to understand the mind of Christ and its implications for Christian living. Pastor Ben emphasizes that Philippians 2 provides not just a narrative but a glimpse into the mindset of Jesus Christ. The sermon highlights the importance of humility and self-sacrifice as exemplified by Jesus, who emptied himself and took the form of a servant. It urges believers to embody the mind of Christ in their community to reflect genuine Christian living, not through human effort alone but through the indwelling of Jesus within them. The speaker contrasts the performative aspect of faith with authentic transformation that comes from embracing the servant-hearted nature of Christ. The message concludes by focusing on the significance of truly knowing and living out the humility of the risen Savior.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/inside-the-mind-of-christ 8e5f4b90-93d0-4c54-a2ca-c0752af64b31 Sun, 30 Mar 2025 14:24:51 GMT <p>This sermon delves into Philippians chapter 2, exploring the desire to understand the mind of Christ and its implications for Christian living. Pastor Ben emphasizes that Philippians 2 provides not just a narrative but a glimpse into the mindset of Jesus Christ. The sermon highlights the importance of humility and self-sacrifice as exemplified by Jesus, who emptied himself and took the form of a servant. It urges believers to embody the mind of Christ in their community to reflect genuine Christian living, not through human effort alone but through the indwelling of Jesus within them. The speaker contrasts the performative aspect of faith with authentic transformation that comes from embracing the servant-hearted nature of Christ. The message concludes by focusing on the significance of truly knowing and living out the humility of the risen Savior.</p> false no 2583 <![CDATA[Baptism Sunday - March 2025]]> Watch people's stories highlighting the power of Jesus to change lives.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/baptism-sunday---march-2025 9fe4670d-c32a-4643-b20b-92be2821a450 Sun, 23 Mar 2025 17:44:22 GMT <p>Watch people's stories highlighting the power of Jesus to change lives.</p> false no 3963 <![CDATA[How We Come]]> Pastor Ben's sermon is based on Philippians Chapter 2, which parallels Paul's speech on Mars Hill in Acts 17, emphasizing the human longing for unity and community. Ben outlines how Paul connects this longing to Christ and exhorts the congregation to complete his joy by being of one mind, showing humility, and considering others above themselves. Ben includes various cultural references, including John Lennon, Rocky IV, and the movie Zootopia, are used to illustrate the universal desire for peace and unity. He acknowledges the challenges and 'porcupine' difficulties of living in communal harmony. The service concludes with an interactive Communion ceremony where church members serve one another, reinforcing the message of unity and community in Christ.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/how-we-come 6144f853-9116-405a-8823-d63823876166 Sun, 16 Mar 2025 16:17:10 GMT <p>Pastor Ben's sermon is based on Philippians Chapter 2, which parallels Paul's speech on Mars Hill in Acts 17, emphasizing the human longing for unity and community. Ben outlines how Paul connects this longing to Christ and exhorts the congregation to complete his joy by being of one mind, showing humility, and considering others above themselves. Ben includes various cultural references, including John Lennon, Rocky IV, and the movie Zootopia, are used to illustrate the universal desire for peace and unity. He acknowledges the challenges and 'porcupine' difficulties of living in communal harmony. The service concludes with an interactive Communion ceremony where church members serve one another, reinforcing the message of unity and community in Christ.</p> false no 2613 <![CDATA[Allegiance to Jesus]]> This sermon discusses the importance of living a life worthy of the gospel of Christ. Pastor Mike begins with an analysis of the Apostle Paul's life, his conversion, missionary journeys, and letters, particularly focusing on Philippians. Using historical context and geographic references to Jerusalem, the speaker illustrates Paul's background and how his experiences shaped his teachings. The core message urges believers to give their full allegiance to Christ, live unified in spirit, and strive side by side for the gospel, even in the face of opposition. Mike also touches on the concept that both faith and suffering for Christ are gifts from God, encouraging the congregation to remain steadfast and united in their mission.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/allegiance-to-jesus c81299d1-748b-4172-915f-2f5e5839cc81 Mon, 10 Mar 2025 19:22:26 GMT <p>This sermon discusses the importance of living a life worthy of the gospel of Christ. Pastor Mike begins with an analysis of the Apostle Paul's life, his conversion, missionary journeys, and letters, particularly focusing on Philippians. Using historical context and geographic references to Jerusalem, the speaker illustrates Paul's background and how his experiences shaped his teachings. The core message urges believers to give their full allegiance to Christ, live unified in spirit, and strive side by side for the gospel, even in the face of opposition. Mike also touches on the concept that both faith and suffering for Christ are gifts from God, encouraging the congregation to remain steadfast and united in their mission.</p> false no 2628 <![CDATA[Showing Jesus' Greatness in Life and Death]]> Mark Willey, Pastor Emeritus at FCC, delivers a sermon on Philippians 1:18-26, reflecting on Paul's confidence in showing the greatness of Christ whether in life or death. He emphasizes that Paul rejoices in Christ being proclaimed despite his imprisonment, where he has even preached to the elite praetorian guard. Paul’s confidence is rooted in dependence on Christ, the prayers of believers, and the help of the Holy Spirit. Pastor Mark further explains Paul's burning desire to show Jesus' greatness through his life and death, devotion to Christ as his ultimate life, and prioritizing Jesus over personal comfort. In conclusion, he encourages believers to be transparent in their struggles and rely on prayer and the Holy Spirit to exalt Christ in their lives.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/showing-jesus-greatness-in-life-and-death e872a1ed-2151-4177-9841-ad04e59cb633 Sun, 02 Mar 2025 16:16:27 GMT <p>Mark Willey, Pastor Emeritus at FCC, delivers a sermon on Philippians 1:18-26, reflecting on Paul's confidence in showing the greatness of Christ whether in life or death. He emphasizes that Paul rejoices in Christ being proclaimed despite his imprisonment, where he has even preached to the elite praetorian guard. Paul’s confidence is rooted in dependence on Christ, the prayers of believers, and the help of the Holy Spirit. Pastor Mark further explains Paul's burning desire to show Jesus' greatness through his life and death, devotion to Christ as his ultimate life, and prioritizing Jesus over personal comfort. In conclusion, he encourages believers to be transparent in their struggles and rely on prayer and the Holy Spirit to exalt Christ in their lives.</p> false no 2473 <![CDATA[The Gospel Advances in Rome]]> Pastor Jared introduces the passage from Philippians 1:12-18. He explains how Paul's imprisonment has unexpectedly served to advance the gospel, both through his constant witness to the Imperial Guard and by inspiring other believers to preach with boldness. Jared emphasizes that Paul, despite his dire circumstances, rejoices because Christ is proclaimed. He interprets Paul's message to mean that there are no setbacks with God, only opportunities. Jared also uses personal anecdotes and biblical references to illustrate that suffering can help believers find joy and encourages the congregation to proclaim the gospel in good times and bad. The talk concludes with a prayer for the Holy Spirit's guidance and transformation of lives through God's word.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-gospel-advances-in-rome a9901ec4-02fb-4cbc-9726-38bfc5d576f0 Sun, 23 Feb 2025 15:31:34 GMT <p>Pastor Jared introduces the passage from Philippians 1:12-18. He explains how Paul's imprisonment has unexpectedly served to advance the gospel, both through his constant witness to the Imperial Guard and by inspiring other believers to preach with boldness. Jared emphasizes that Paul, despite his dire circumstances, rejoices because Christ is proclaimed. He interprets Paul's message to mean that there are no setbacks with God, only opportunities. Jared also uses personal anecdotes and biblical references to illustrate that suffering can help believers find joy and encourages the congregation to proclaim the gospel in good times and bad. The talk concludes with a prayer for the Holy Spirit's guidance and transformation of lives through God's word.</p> false no 2661 <![CDATA[Paul Teaches us to Pray]]> Pastor Ben preaches on the importance of joy found in the midst of sorrow as well as joy from prayer, specifically intercessory prayer, as taught by Apostle Paul in Philippians. The sermon covers Paul's prayers for the Philippian church, stressing the importance of praying for others to grow in love and discernment. He emphasizes praying with affection and confidence, building community through prayer, and understanding the broader impact of such prayers. Practical advice is given on how to pray for others, followed by prayers for specific individuals and a team going to Guatemala, underscoring the communal and expansive power of prayer in the Christian faith.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/paul-teaches-us-to-pray 94eb764e-25cb-4335-9b22-5b10a8702007 Mon, 17 Feb 2025 18:28:21 GMT <p>Pastor Ben preaches on the importance of joy found in the midst of sorrow as well as joy from prayer, specifically intercessory prayer, as taught by Apostle Paul in Philippians. The sermon covers Paul's prayers for the Philippian church, stressing the importance of praying for others to grow in love and discernment. He emphasizes praying with affection and confidence, building community through prayer, and understanding the broader impact of such prayers. Practical advice is given on how to pray for others, followed by prayers for specific individuals and a team going to Guatemala, underscoring the communal and expansive power of prayer in the Christian faith.</p> false no 2702 <![CDATA[A Philippian Theology of Joy]]> This sermon is centered around the theological and spiritual concept of joy, as explored in the biblical book of Philippians. Pastor Ben elaborates on two key Greek words—'Cairo' (joy) and 'freno' (mindset)—highlighting their significance throughout the book. He shares a personal anecdote about a challenging morning to illustrate the fragility and pursuit of joy amidst daily struggles. It is emphasized that the search for joy is universal and designed by God, touching upon teachings of notable theologians like John Piper and Blaise Pascal. The sermon underscores the idea that joy and suffering are complementary, not oppositional, and that true joy is found in Christ despite life's hardships. The message concludes with a call for the congregation to fight for each other's joy and trust in the enduring presence of Jesus Christ for deep, lasting joy.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/a-philippian-theology-of-joy 1913433b-1b92-471d-b1e3-6d476c803f4e Sun, 09 Feb 2025 17:18:25 GMT <p>This sermon is centered around the theological and spiritual concept of joy, as explored in the biblical book of Philippians. Pastor Ben elaborates on two key Greek words—'Cairo' (joy) and 'freno' (mindset)—highlighting their significance throughout the book. He shares a personal anecdote about a challenging morning to illustrate the fragility and pursuit of joy amidst daily struggles. It is emphasized that the search for joy is universal and designed by God, touching upon teachings of notable theologians like John Piper and Blaise Pascal. The sermon underscores the idea that joy and suffering are complementary, not oppositional, and that true joy is found in Christ despite life's hardships. The message concludes with a call for the congregation to fight for each other's joy and trust in the enduring presence of Jesus Christ for deep, lasting joy.</p> false no 2361 <![CDATA[Pathways of Joy]]> This sermon begins a new series on Philippians. Pastor Ben's focus is introducing the book of Philippians and its key themes, including a handout provided to the congregation, outlining ten important background points. These points cover the historical context of Philippi, its founding by Philip II, the transition from the Greek to Roman Empire, the Macedonian vision, the establishment of the first European church, and the significance of Paul writing this letter while in Roman custody. It emphasizes Philippians as a letter of joy and the importance of community in the text. The sermon concludes with the celebration of communion, contrasting the Roman Emperor Nero with Jesus Christ, illustrating the differences in their lordship and the sacrificial nature of Jesus.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/pathways-of-joy 893ee95c-dadb-437b-8897-27a87c18a5d6 Sun, 02 Feb 2025 17:04:32 GMT <p>This sermon begins a new series on Philippians. Pastor Ben's focus is introducing the book of Philippians and its key themes, including a handout provided to the congregation, outlining ten important background points. These points cover the historical context of Philippi, its founding by Philip II, the transition from the Greek to Roman Empire, the Macedonian vision, the establishment of the first European church, and the significance of Paul writing this letter while in Roman custody. It emphasizes Philippians as a letter of joy and the importance of community in the text. The sermon concludes with the celebration of communion, contrasting the Roman Emperor Nero with Jesus Christ, illustrating the differences in their lordship and the sacrificial nature of Jesus.</p> false no 2592 <![CDATA[Paul's Signature Move for People He Loved]]> Pastor Emeritus Mark Willey preaches the final sermon in this series on Ephesians 6:20-24, discussing the role of Tychicus in delivering Paul's message to encourage the Ephesians about his well-being despite being in prison. The sermon reflects on the importance of community and emphasizes Paul's 'signature moves': encouragement, prayer, and challenges. Mark explains how Paul's concluding messages in his letters express his deep care for believers, praying for peace, love, and grace in their lives, and calls them to live out their faith through obedience and love for Christ. It concludes with a prayer asking for God's guidance and presence in everyone's lives. 

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/pauls-signature-move-for-people-he-loved d0ceffa0-05a9-40bb-af9f-c4bb2070d170 Sun, 26 Jan 2025 16:04:16 GMT <p>Pastor Emeritus Mark Willey preaches the final sermon in this series on Ephesians 6:20-24, discussing the role of Tychicus in delivering Paul's message to encourage the Ephesians about his well-being despite being in prison. The sermon reflects on the importance of community and emphasizes Paul's 'signature moves': encouragement, prayer, and challenges. Mark explains how Paul's concluding messages in his letters express his deep care for believers, praying for peace, love, and grace in their lives, and calls them to live out their faith through obedience and love for Christ. It concludes with a prayer asking for God's guidance and presence in everyone's lives. </p> false no 2640 <![CDATA[Paul in Two Verses]]> Pastor Mike reviews some key themes and statistics over the past 11 months, noting its relevance to current global and local events. The breakdown of Ephesians is presented using a nesting doll analogy, emphasizing the importance of both orthodoxy (right belief) and orthopraxy (right practice). Mike discusses Paul's identity, mission, and the power of prayer, using personal and biblical examples to illustrate the points. He stresses the importance of knowing Jesus experientially, living as ambassadors of Christ, boldly speaking about Christ, and maintaining spiritual focus even in adversity. The sermon concludes with a call to prayer and deeper engagement with the scripture.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/paul-in-two-verses f9bc6cbe-5602-424c-bf5f-b39d0a920005 Sun, 19 Jan 2025 21:28:16 GMT <p>Pastor Mike reviews some key themes and statistics over the past 11 months, noting its relevance to current global and local events. The breakdown of Ephesians is presented using a nesting doll analogy, emphasizing the importance of both orthodoxy (right belief) and orthopraxy (right practice). Mike discusses Paul's identity, mission, and the power of prayer, using personal and biblical examples to illustrate the points. He stresses the importance of knowing Jesus experientially, living as ambassadors of Christ, boldly speaking about Christ, and maintaining spiritual focus even in adversity. The sermon concludes with a call to prayer and deeper engagement with the scripture.</p> false no 2592 <![CDATA[We Didn't Get Dressed Up for Nothing]]> This sermon discusses the critical role prayer plays in spiritual warfare based on Ephesians 6:18. Pastor Tim explores the conclusions to the 'Armor of God' passage, emphasizing that prayer is essential for spiritual battles. He uses personal anecdotes about dressing up to illustrate how Christians must 'dress up' in spiritual armor and, importantly, incorporate prayer to be truly prepared for spiritual conflicts. Various types of prayers are discussed, including prayers of supplication, intercession, and adoration. Key Biblical references and examples from both Old and New Testaments are used to stress the need for constant vigilance and perseverance in prayer. The sermon culminates in a call to build strong prayer habits and communities that support each other in faith.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/we-didnt-get-dressed-up-for-nothing b03b6f3f-3317-4522-a73e-5a6324022fdc Sun, 12 Jan 2025 15:04:19 GMT <p>This sermon discusses the critical role prayer plays in spiritual warfare based on Ephesians 6:18. Pastor Tim explores the conclusions to the 'Armor of God' passage, emphasizing that prayer is essential for spiritual battles. He uses personal anecdotes about dressing up to illustrate how Christians must 'dress up' in spiritual armor and, importantly, incorporate prayer to be truly prepared for spiritual conflicts. Various types of prayers are discussed, including prayers of supplication, intercession, and adoration. Key Biblical references and examples from both Old and New Testaments are used to stress the need for constant vigilance and perseverance in prayer. The sermon culminates in a call to build strong prayer habits and communities that support each other in faith.</p> false no 2060 <![CDATA[Helmet and Sword]]> Pastor Ben preaches on the themes of spiritual warfare and the armor of God as outlined in Ephesians 6:10-17. The speaker emphasizes that the battle Christians face is spiritual, not physical, and requires them to stand firm against the devil's schemes by putting on the full armor of God, including the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit. The importance of understanding the nature of the spiritual battle and the necessity of each piece of armor, particularly the helmet of salvation, is highlighted. The sermon concludes with an encouragement for the congregation to reflect on areas of their lives where they might be spiritually attacked and to seek prayer for those struggles, stressing communal prayer and support as essential in the fight against spiritual foes.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/helmet-and-sword db8a1faa-4fa9-4863-8066-610f2204caf8 Sun, 05 Jan 2025 15:50:18 GMT <p>Pastor Ben preaches on the themes of spiritual warfare and the armor of God as outlined in Ephesians 6:10-17. The speaker emphasizes that the battle Christians face is spiritual, not physical, and requires them to stand firm against the devil's schemes by putting on the full armor of God, including the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit. The importance of understanding the nature of the spiritual battle and the necessity of each piece of armor, particularly the helmet of salvation, is highlighted. The sermon concludes with an encouragement for the congregation to reflect on areas of their lives where they might be spiritually attacked and to seek prayer for those struggles, stressing communal prayer and support as essential in the fight against spiritual foes.</p> false no 2416 <![CDATA[Bearing Fruit by Abiding in the Vine]]> Mark Meyers, a visiting pastor, delivers a sermon focusing on Jesus' teachings from John 15. Mark begins by reading John 15:1-13, where Jesus describes himself as the true vine and his followers as the branches. Meyers explains the importance of bearing fruit as a disciple of Jesus, highlighting three key aspects: a priority, a picture, and a pathway for discipleship. He emphasizes that the essence of discipleship is a life laid down in love, illustrated by Jesus' life and actions. Meyers challenges the common pursuit of self-actualization and optimization, urging followers to live a fruitful life that glorifies God. He stresses that discipleship is not something done for Jesus but a transformation Jesus works within individuals. Meyers concludes with practical advice on abiding in Jesus daily and preparing to come to the Lord's Table, reinforcing the need for a continual, living connection with Christ.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/bearing-fruit-by-abiding-in-the-vine 8114df57-1d8b-4fa9-895c-fb50a4d018df Sun, 29 Dec 2024 15:15:29 GMT <p>Mark Meyers, a visiting pastor, delivers a sermon focusing on Jesus' teachings from John 15. Mark begins by reading John 15:1-13, where Jesus describes himself as the true vine and his followers as the branches. Meyers explains the importance of bearing fruit as a disciple of Jesus, highlighting three key aspects: a priority, a picture, and a pathway for discipleship. He emphasizes that the essence of discipleship is a life laid down in love, illustrated by Jesus' life and actions. Meyers challenges the common pursuit of self-actualization and optimization, urging followers to live a fruitful life that glorifies God. He stresses that discipleship is not something done for Jesus but a transformation Jesus works within individuals. Meyers concludes with practical advice on abiding in Jesus daily and preparing to come to the Lord's Table, reinforcing the need for a continual, living connection with Christ.</p> false no 2332 <![CDATA[Christmas Eve Service 2024]]> A service of singing and a retelling of the Christmas story.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/christmas-eve-service-2024 fb7f93b1-7819-44b8-8914-25752b5452c6 Tue, 24 Dec 2024 23:03:44 GMT <p>A service of singing and a retelling of the Christmas story.</p> false no <![CDATA[Simeon - Waiting and Trusting]]> Pastor Mark leads a sermon focused on Luke chapter two, emphasizing the story of Simeon and the concept of waiting and trusting God during the Christmas season. He delves into Simeon’s story, highlighting Simeon’s God-centered life and the fulfillment of God’s promise to him. As an old man, Simeon waited for the Messiah and was rewarded by seeing baby Jesus, whom he recognized as God’s salvation. The sermon extends to discuss the dual nature of Christ’s coming, both uniting and dividing people, and the importance of maintaining faith and trust in God despite waiting and sorrow, reflecting on personal and communal experiences of faith.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/simeon---waiting-and-trusting 631e2156-d979-4578-b36b-eded688fe69a Sun, 22 Dec 2024 14:49:22 GMT <p>Pastor Mark leads a sermon focused on Luke chapter two, emphasizing the story of Simeon and the concept of waiting and trusting God during the Christmas season. He delves into Simeon’s story, highlighting Simeon’s God-centered life and the fulfillment of God’s promise to him. As an old man, Simeon waited for the Messiah and was rewarded by seeing baby Jesus, whom he recognized as God’s salvation. The sermon extends to discuss the dual nature of Christ’s coming, both uniting and dividing people, and the importance of maintaining faith and trust in God despite waiting and sorrow, reflecting on personal and communal experiences of faith.</p> false no 2643 <![CDATA[Joseph's Heart Posture of Sacrificial Obedience]]> Pastor Jared sermon focused on Joseph, the earthly father of Jesus, and his role in the Christmas story. he explains how Joseph, despite having no recorded words in the Bible, exemplified sacrificial obedience. The sermon outlines four key principles of Joseph's obedience, demonstrated through his responses to divine dreams: giving up social reputation, waiting on the Lord, surrendering personal plans, and performing unremarkable tasks. Emphasizing that true obedience to God often requires significant personal sacrifice, the sermon concludes by comparing Joseph's sacrificial obedience to the ultimate example set by Jesus Christ.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/josephs-heart-posture-of-sacrificial-obedience f4eeeaa4-fe8d-4835-83e7-a16bfe35448a Sun, 15 Dec 2024 19:53:35 GMT <p>Pastor Jared sermon focused on Joseph, the earthly father of Jesus, and his role in the Christmas story. he explains how Joseph, despite having no recorded words in the Bible, exemplified sacrificial obedience. The sermon outlines four key principles of Joseph's obedience, demonstrated through his responses to divine dreams: giving up social reputation, waiting on the Lord, surrendering personal plans, and performing unremarkable tasks. Emphasizing that true obedience to God often requires significant personal sacrifice, the sermon concludes by comparing Joseph's sacrificial obedience to the ultimate example set by Jesus Christ.</p> false no 2425 <![CDATA[Grateful Shepherds]]> Ryan Anderson shifts the focus from Zechariah to the often overlooked shepherds, highlighting their humble and grateful reaction to the angels’ announcement of Jesus' birth in Luke 2:8-20. The sermon draws parallels between the shepherds’ humility and gratitude with figures like Moses and David, emphasizing the significance of the good news being delivered to ordinary people. He encourages viewers to embrace a posture of gratitude, recognizing that being chosen by God should inspire humility and joy. The sermon concludes with a benediction from Isaiah 9, urging the congregation to confidently celebrate the birth of Christ and live with a grateful heart.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/grateful-shepherds 0f7f737c-8acb-4911-a9b6-d6ac8a4d0b19 Sun, 15 Dec 2024 14:30:06 GMT <p>Ryan Anderson shifts the focus from Zechariah to the often overlooked shepherds, highlighting their humble and grateful reaction to the angels’ announcement of Jesus' birth in Luke 2:8-20. The sermon draws parallels between the shepherds’ humility and gratitude with figures like Moses and David, emphasizing the significance of the good news being delivered to ordinary people. He encourages viewers to embrace a posture of gratitude, recognizing that being chosen by God should inspire humility and joy. The sermon concludes with a benediction from Isaiah 9, urging the congregation to confidently celebrate the birth of Christ and live with a grateful heart.</p> false no 2433 <![CDATA[We Have Come to Worship]]> The sermon is a detailed exploration of Matthew chapter 2, focusing on the story of the Magi who followed a star to find and worship Jesus in Bethlehem. Pastor Mike emphasizes the importance of seeing and reading God's Word firsthand. The narrative covers the Magi's journey, their encounter with King Herod, and their ultimate act of worship by presenting gifts to Jesus. Mike contrasts the hostile reaction of Herod and the indifference of the religious leaders with the faithful pursuit of the Magi. Important themes include the invitation to worship starting with God, radical obedience, and intentional, costly worship. This sermon also connects the Magi's story to broader biblical teachings and encourages believers to prioritize worship in their lives.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/we-have-come-to-worship 3ecf7a3a-58c6-475b-aab7-97669fb49697 Sun, 08 Dec 2024 10:43:15 GMT <div data-html="true">The sermon is a detailed exploration of Matthew chapter 2, focusing on the story of the Magi who followed a star to find and worship Jesus in Bethlehem. Pastor Mike emphasizes the importance of seeing and reading God's Word firsthand. The narrative covers the Magi's journey, their encounter with King Herod, and their ultimate act of worship by presenting gifts to Jesus. Mike contrasts the hostile reaction of Herod and the indifference of the religious leaders with the faithful pursuit of the Magi. Important themes include the invitation to worship starting with God, radical obedience, and intentional, costly worship. This sermon also connects the Magi's story to broader biblical teachings and encourages believers to prioritize worship in their lives.</div> false no <![CDATA[The Attentiveness of Mary]]> Pastor Ben begins the Advent series focusing on Mary, mother of Jesus, highlighting her attentiveness to God amidst the chaotic first Christmas. He explores Mary's life, her experiences raising Jesus, and how she managed to stay spiritually focused during stressful times. Various biblical events involving Mary are recounted, illustrating her unique relationship with Jesus and her ability to discern God's movements. Ben encourages the audience to adopt Mary's posture of attentiveness to spiritual matters, despite the busy and expensive nature of December. Practical advice is given for cultivating this attentiveness, such as being aware of one's inner life, recognizing divine moments in others, and expecting God's presence in all situations.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-attentiveness-of-mary d320f4ed-b17c-44bf-bcdd-ddbe358b645c Sun, 01 Dec 2024 10:38:36 GMT <div data-html="true">Pastor Ben begins the Advent series focusing on Mary, mother of Jesus, highlighting her attentiveness to God amidst the chaotic first Christmas. He explores Mary's life, her experiences raising Jesus, and how she managed to stay spiritually focused during stressful times. Various biblical events involving Mary are recounted, illustrating her unique relationship with Jesus and her ability to discern God's movements. Ben encourages the audience to adopt Mary's posture of attentiveness to spiritual matters, despite the busy and expensive nature of December. Practical advice is given for cultivating this attentiveness, such as being aware of one's inner life, recognizing divine moments in others, and expecting God's presence in all situations.</div> false no <![CDATA[What Do We Do Now? Pt. 2]]> Pastor Ben focuses on moving forward with recently installed lead pastor, Pastor Mike, after Pastor Mark's 43-year tenure, discussing the feelings and challenges of succession. The sermon emphasizes understanding and embracing the church's identity in Christ, asking crucial questions about the community's purpose and actions. Key themes include spiritual maturity, team preaching, small group ministry, and the importance of staying rooted in the collective mission of growing closer to Christ. The sermon encourages bringing physical Bibles for collective study and promotes various engagement methods within the church community.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/what-do-we-do-now-pt-2 b919366d-665d-40eb-8d10-4cf65b0c1b59 Sun, 24 Nov 2024 10:50:35 GMT <div data-html="true">Pastor Ben focuses on moving forward with recently installed lead pastor, Pastor Mike, after Pastor Mark's 43-year tenure, discussing the feelings and challenges of succession. The sermon emphasizes understanding and embracing the church's identity in Christ, asking crucial questions about the community's purpose and actions. Key themes include spiritual maturity, team preaching, small group ministry, and the importance of staying rooted in the collective mission of growing closer to Christ. The sermon encourages bringing physical Bibles for collective study and promotes various engagement methods within the church community.</div> false no <![CDATA[What Do We Do Now? pt. 1]]> Pastor Mike expresses gratitude for the support and love received during this succession transition, and honors Pastor Ben for his humility and leadership. His sermon emphasizes that the church's focus is on long-term faithfulness rather than short-term changes. Mike encourages the congregation to embrace key principles and values such as prayer, discipleship, and community. A detailed walkthrough of the Lord's Prayer highlights the importance of authentic, intimate, and trusting prayer. Upcoming initiatives, including a month of prayer in January and the creation of a dedicated prayer room and prayer walk, are presented as steps to deepen the congregation's communal and individual prayer lives.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/what-do-we-do-now-2 377b68ba-d093-4cde-b1f9-fb68a0fd3c3c Sun, 17 Nov 2024 14:23:15 GMT <div data-html="true">Pastor Mike expresses gratitude for the support and love received during this succession transition, and honors Pastor Ben for his humility and leadership. His sermon emphasizes that the church's focus is on long-term faithfulness rather than short-term changes. Mike encourages the congregation to embrace key principles and values such as prayer, discipleship, and community. A detailed walkthrough of the Lord's Prayer highlights the importance of authentic, intimate, and trusting prayer. Upcoming initiatives, including a month of prayer in January and the creation of a dedicated prayer room and prayer walk, are presented as steps to deepen the congregation's communal and individual prayer lives.</div> false no <![CDATA[Installation Service for Pastor Mike Candy]]> This service details a significant moment at Fellowship Community Church. J.R. Briggs, addressing the congregation, marks a pastoral installation service, highlighting God’s faithfulness to the church over the years. The service honors the dedication of those involved in the leadership transition and culminates in an official charge to the newly appointed lead pastor, Mike Candy. J.R. emphasizes the importance of remembering God’s faithfulness and extends special challenges to Mike and the congregation. Mike is encouraged to stay faithful to his initial call to ministry, remember the day of his salvation, and understand the significant responsibility he carries. The congregation is likewise charged with supporting Mike and the new pastoral leadership through grace, prayer, and active participation in the church’s mission. The service ends with a reading from the congregation, pledging their support, followed by a communal prayer, blessing Mike and his family.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/installation-service-for-pastor-mike-candy 22bdb3cf-def2-4b11-bd74-08658965146e Sun, 10 Nov 2024 20:23:10 GMT <p>This service details a significant moment at Fellowship Community Church. J.R. Briggs, addressing the congregation, marks a pastoral installation service, highlighting God’s faithfulness to the church over the years. The service honors the dedication of those involved in the leadership transition and culminates in an official charge to the newly appointed lead pastor, Mike Candy. J.R. emphasizes the importance of remembering God’s faithfulness and extends special challenges to Mike and the congregation. Mike is encouraged to stay faithful to his initial call to ministry, remember the day of his salvation, and understand the significant responsibility he carries. The congregation is likewise charged with supporting Mike and the new pastoral leadership through grace, prayer, and active participation in the church’s mission. The service ends with a reading from the congregation, pledging their support, followed by a communal prayer, blessing Mike and his family.</p> false no 2870 <![CDATA[The First Thing is the Whole Thing]]> The service includes a reflection on Colossians 1 and 2, emphasizing the centrality of Jesus Christ. The church community is encouraged to uphold the faith and remain devoted to Christ’s teachings. It concludes with a prayer and a video celebrating Jesus’ attributes and significance.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-first-thing-is-the-whole-thing a3f163d3-25a7-4b4f-b283-b2397cb9bf61 Sun, 03 Nov 2024 20:16:41 GMT <p>The service includes a reflection on Colossians 1 and 2, emphasizing the centrality of Jesus Christ. The church community is encouraged to uphold the faith and remain devoted to Christ’s teachings. It concludes with a prayer and a video celebrating Jesus’ attributes and significance.</p> false no 1693 <![CDATA[What God Taught Me in 43 Years...]]> The video explores pastor Mark's personal and spiritual journey, emphasizing the transformative power of God's guidance and the importance of inner self-awareness. He shares various personal anecdotes, including struggles with public speaking, faith, and self-doubt, and a mission trip to Paraguay that shaped his outlook. Mark highlights a period of depression and reflection brought on by workaholic tendencies, and subsequent growth through embracing failures and understanding idolatry. Key themes include the importance of expository preaching, finding identity in Christ, and recognizing God's sovereignty. Finally, Mark underscores living a Christ-centered life, teaching the comprehensive view of God, and expressing gratitude for His guidance and presence.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/what-god-taught-me-in-43-years a8986f71-1ecc-4bcb-9f37-62ebf8eb3731 Sun, 27 Oct 2024 10:24:00 GMT <div data-html="true">The video explores pastor Mark's personal and spiritual journey, emphasizing the transformative power of God's guidance and the importance of inner self-awareness. He shares various personal anecdotes, including struggles with public speaking, faith, and self-doubt, and a mission trip to Paraguay that shaped his outlook. Mark highlights a period of depression and reflection brought on by workaholic tendencies, and subsequent growth through embracing failures and understanding idolatry. Key themes include the importance of expository preaching, finding identity in Christ, and recognizing God's sovereignty. Finally, Mark underscores living a Christ-centered life, teaching the comprehensive view of God, and expressing gratitude for His guidance and presence.</div> false no <![CDATA[Missions Sunday - Rejoicing in Everything]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/missions-sunday-rejoicing-in-everything 36d163fc-795d-4735-b5b0-163ec6ab2b92 Sun, 20 Oct 2024 11:37:04 GMT false no <![CDATA[Shield of Faith]]> This sermon focuses on the biblical concept of spiritual warfare as outlined in Ephesians chapter 6. Pastor Mark emphasizes the importance of understanding and wearing the 'armor of God', particularly focusing on the 'shield of faith' as a protection against the devil's flaming arrows, representing trials and spiritual attacks. Using allegories from movies and biblical stories, Mark highlights the significance of faith in overcoming fear and chaos, encouraging the audience to trust in God as their ultimate protector. The sermon also discusses the emotional and spiritual effects of such trials and reinforces the idea that faith, community, and love are essential in standing firm against evil. He concludes with a prayer for strength and protection for those facing spiritual challenges.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/shield-of-faith 4d6b0f8b-b2a8-43c4-ad21-4c9613395e97 Sun, 13 Oct 2024 11:39:05 GMT <div data-html="true">This sermon focuses on the biblical concept of spiritual warfare as outlined in Ephesians chapter 6. Pastor Mark emphasizes the importance of understanding and wearing the 'armor of God', particularly focusing on the 'shield of faith' as a protection against the devil's flaming arrows, representing trials and spiritual attacks. Using allegories from movies and biblical stories, Mark highlights the significance of faith in overcoming fear and chaos, encouraging the audience to trust in God as their ultimate protector. The sermon also discusses the emotional and spiritual effects of such trials and reinforces the idea that faith, community, and love are essential in standing firm against evil. He concludes with a prayer for strength and protection for those facing spiritual challenges.</div> false no <![CDATA[War in Peace]]> This sermon explores the concept of peace in the context of spiritual warfare, as described in Ephesians 6. Pastor Ben discusses the metaphor of the 'armor of God,' specifically focusing on the 'gospel of peace' as the foundation for spiritual readiness. He emphasizes that the battle is not against people but against spiritual forces, and the role of peace in withstanding these challenges. The sermon draws parallels with historical and literary references, such as Leo Tolstoy's 'War and Peace,' and quotes from biblical scripture, discussing the internal nature of the spiritual battle and how the gospel provides a firm foundation to stand upon. The speaker concludes with practical advice on maintaining peace, encouraging the congregation to practice daily devotion, recognize attacks, and stay close to God for spiritual support.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/war-in-peace 90328653-54d1-4849-969b-bab8436a60b8 Sun, 06 Oct 2024 12:50:12 GMT <div data-html="true">This sermon explores the concept of peace in the context of spiritual warfare, as described in Ephesians 6. Pastor Ben discusses the metaphor of the 'armor of God,' specifically focusing on the 'gospel of peace' as the foundation for spiritual readiness. He emphasizes that the battle is not against people but against spiritual forces, and the role of peace in withstanding these challenges. The sermon draws parallels with historical and literary references, such as Leo Tolstoy's 'War and Peace,' and quotes from biblical scripture, discussing the internal nature of the spiritual battle and how the gospel provides a firm foundation to stand upon. The speaker concludes with practical advice on maintaining peace, encouraging the congregation to practice daily devotion, recognize attacks, and stay close to God for spiritual support.</div> false no <![CDATA[The Breastplate of Righteousness]]> This sermon is focused on Ephesians 6:10-14, specifically on the 'breastplate of righteousness.' Pastor Mark discusses the spiritual armor that Christians must wear to protect against Satan's accusations and condemnations. Using illustrations from Albert Camus' 'The Fall' and historical figures like General Patton, the Mark emphasizes the inherent human struggles with feelings of inadequacy and the need for God's righteousness. He argues that true protection and acceptance come from Christ's righteousness rather than personal achievements or religious zeal. Practical applications include recognizing the insufficiency of secular and spiritual breastplates, relying on Christ's righteousness, and embracing grace amidst personal failings and hardships.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-breastplate-of-righteousness 2f631f7b-7765-4140-aaf3-edf1a40c1a14 Sun, 29 Sep 2024 14:40:55 GMT <div data-html="true">This sermon is focused on Ephesians 6:10-14, specifically on the 'breastplate of righteousness.' Pastor Mark discusses the spiritual armor that Christians must wear to protect against Satan's accusations and condemnations. Using illustrations from Albert Camus' 'The Fall' and historical figures like General Patton, the Mark emphasizes the inherent human struggles with feelings of inadequacy and the need for God's righteousness. He argues that true protection and acceptance come from Christ's righteousness rather than personal achievements or religious zeal. Practical applications include recognizing the insufficiency of secular and spiritual breastplates, relying on Christ's righteousness, and embracing grace amidst personal failings and hardships.</div> false no <![CDATA[Youth Sunday]]> The service begins with several of the youth from the churching sharing testimonies of how God worked in and through them during the summer ministries. Jared, the youth pastor, addresses the congregation after the youth segment, emphasizing the challenges faced by young participants. He introduces a sermon focused on John 20, the story of Thomas, the disciple who doubted Jesus' resurrection until he saw Jesus' wounds himself. Jared conveys key themes: God’s sovereignty, His welcoming of our doubts, His invitation to experience Him, and the blessing of believing without seeing. He encourages honesty in faith struggles, reassuring that God’s rebuke is loving and that He invites us to deepen our belief and reliance on Him.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/youth-sunday 714fe324-825b-47a5-bcec-580aac97676f Sun, 22 Sep 2024 11:26:38 GMT <div data-html="true">The service begins with several of the youth from the churching sharing testimonies of how God worked in and through them during the summer ministries. Jared, the youth pastor, addresses the congregation after the youth segment, emphasizing the challenges faced by young participants. He introduces a sermon focused on John 20, the story of Thomas, the disciple who doubted Jesus' resurrection until he saw Jesus' wounds himself. Jared conveys key themes: God’s sovereignty, His welcoming of our doubts, His invitation to experience Him, and the blessing of believing without seeing. He encourages honesty in faith struggles, reassuring that God’s rebuke is loving and that He invites us to deepen our belief and reliance on Him.</div> false no <![CDATA[The Belt of Truth]]> This sermon is focused on a deep dive into Ephesians chapter 6, specifically examining the Armor of God. Pastor Mike begins with a reading of Ephesians 6:10-18 and a prayer, emphasizing the strength and love of God. The speaker then elaborates on the challenges of discerning truth in a world filled with misinformation and half-truths, illustrating this with humorous lies parents tell their children. The main focus is on understanding the belt of truth, which represents preparedness and standing firm in God’s truth. Historical and philosophical evidence is presented to demonstrate the reliability and coherence of the Bible as God’s true word. The message stresses the importance of community in standing against spiritual deception and encourages believers to live in truth both individually and collectively. In a reflective moment, Mike shares various lies that people may believe about themselves and urges the audience to counter these lies with the truth found in God's word.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-belt-of-truth-2 2e909562-a89f-4681-b5b8-2194af93ecac Sun, 15 Sep 2024 11:48:42 GMT <div data-html="true">This sermon is focused on a deep dive into Ephesians chapter 6, specifically examining the Armor of God. Pastor Mike begins with a reading of Ephesians 6:10-18 and a prayer, emphasizing the strength and love of God. The speaker then elaborates on the challenges of discerning truth in a world filled with misinformation and half-truths, illustrating this with humorous lies parents tell their children. The main focus is on understanding the belt of truth, which represents preparedness and standing firm in God’s truth. Historical and philosophical evidence is presented to demonstrate the reliability and coherence of the Bible as God’s true word. The message stresses the importance of community in standing against spiritual deception and encourages believers to live in truth both individually and collectively. In a reflective moment, Mike shares various lies that people may believe about themselves and urges the audience to counter these lies with the truth found in God's word.</div> false no <![CDATA[The Invisible War]]> This sermon is on Ephesians 6:10-13, which emphasizes the theme of spiritual warfare and the necessity for believers to 'put on the whole armor of God' to stand against the forces of evil. Pastor Mark explains Paul's perspective on battling not just against physical adversaries but against spiritual rulers and forces of darkness. He draws parallels with popular cultural references like the movie 'Hook' and 'The Silence of the Lambs' to illustrate the nature of evil and deception. It addresses common objections to discussing spiritual warfare, clarifies the hierarchical structure of demonic forces, and underscores Satan's strategies of lying and murdering. The teaching concludes with a call for believers to rely on God's strength and the metaphorical armor provided by Christ for protection and victory in spiritual battles.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-invisible-war c48f74eb-86da-41ad-8ac8-e15e4869c475 Mon, 09 Sep 2024 15:09:31 GMT <div data-html="true">This sermon is on Ephesians 6:10-13, which emphasizes the theme of spiritual warfare and the necessity for believers to 'put on the whole armor of God' to stand against the forces of evil. Pastor Mark explains Paul's perspective on battling not just against physical adversaries but against spiritual rulers and forces of darkness. He draws parallels with popular cultural references like the movie 'Hook' and 'The Silence of the Lambs' to illustrate the nature of evil and deception. It addresses common objections to discussing spiritual warfare, clarifies the hierarchical structure of demonic forces, and underscores Satan's strategies of lying and murdering. The teaching concludes with a call for believers to rely on God's strength and the metaphorical armor provided by Christ for protection and victory in spiritual battles.</div> false no <![CDATA[Salvation Belongs to Our God]]> Pastor Mike's sermon is an in-depth discussion about Revelation, specifically chapter 7, describing John's vision of a great multitude from every nation worshipping before God's throne. The vision includes a detailed description of heavenly worship and emphasizes the diverse representation of people who were saved during the Great Tribulation. The pastor explains the symbolic language of Revelation and encourages the congregation to understand its message of hope and ultimate victory in Christ. A quote from Lewis Talbot highlightsthe importance of studying Revelation despite its complexities and potential fear. The sermon concludes with a call to participate in communion, symbolizing the body's unity through the sacrifice of Jesus, and a reflective prayer asking for God's guidance and forgiveness.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/salvation-belongs-to-our-god e7731a3d-1c28-49d3-b78d-55e4d8ee16f6 Sun, 01 Sep 2024 11:31:04 GMT <div data-html="true">Pastor Mike's sermon is an in-depth discussion about Revelation, specifically chapter 7, describing John's vision of a great multitude from every nation worshipping before God's throne. The vision includes a detailed description of heavenly worship and emphasizes the diverse representation of people who were saved during the Great Tribulation. The pastor explains the symbolic language of Revelation and encourages the congregation to understand its message of hope and ultimate victory in Christ. A quote from Lewis Talbot highlightsthe importance of studying Revelation despite its complexities and potential fear. The sermon concludes with a call to participate in communion, symbolizing the body's unity through the sacrifice of Jesus, and a reflective prayer asking for God's guidance and forgiveness.</div> false no <![CDATA[The Cosmic Grandeur of the Mundane]]> Pastor Jerry Costolo from Collingswood campus reflects on the importance of family relationships as depicted in Ephesians 6:1-4. The message, intended for both adults and children, emphasizes obedience and honor towards parents, and the responsibilities of parents, especially fathers, to raise their children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Costolo shares updates from the Collingswood summer camp, highlighting outreach and community building efforts. He concludes by connecting the grand theological themes of Ephesians to everyday family life, stressing that the way Christians live at home is of cosmic significance.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-cosmic-grandeur-of-the-mundane 2e896267-0432-43c6-9f46-7a7a8d5ec5b3 Mon, 26 Aug 2024 15:32:54 GMT <div data-html="true">Pastor Jerry Costolo from Collingswood campus reflects on the importance of family relationships as depicted in Ephesians 6:1-4. The message, intended for both adults and children, emphasizes obedience and honor towards parents, and the responsibilities of parents, especially fathers, to raise their children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Costolo shares updates from the Collingswood summer camp, highlighting outreach and community building efforts. He concludes by connecting the grand theological themes of Ephesians to everyday family life, stressing that the way Christians live at home is of cosmic significance.</div> false no <![CDATA[The Christian Goes to Work]]> Pastor Ben's sermon in on Ephesians 6:5-9. The sermon links these biblical instructions to contemporary workplace relationships, urging Christians to integrate their faith at work. Key themes include working with sincerity, respect, and love while employers are called to treat employees with fairness and compassion, reflecting Christ’s teachings. The pastor emphasizes a theology of work, highlighting it as a designed good where joy and worship should be present.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-christian-goes-to-work c958b293-ba93-4641-86bf-06d3229469af Sun, 25 Aug 2024 16:09:19 GMT <div data-html="true">Pastor Ben's sermon in on Ephesians 6:5-9. The sermon links these biblical instructions to contemporary workplace relationships, urging Christians to integrate their faith at work. Key themes include working with sincerity, respect, and love while employers are called to treat employees with fairness and compassion, reflecting Christ’s teachings. The pastor emphasizes a theology of work, highlighting it as a designed good where joy and worship should be present.</div> false no <![CDATA[God's Purpose in Marriage]]> Pastor Mark continues his series on the book of Ephesians by discussing Ephesians 5:22-33 on the theme of marriage. He explains the biblical concept of marriage as a divinely designed institution aimed at companionship and personal growth. He emphasizes four key characteristics of a fulfilling marriage: meeting the gender-specific need for companionship, committing to a future together, sharing a common vision, and making the relationship a priority. The sermon encourages married couples to grow together, support each other, and reaffirm their commitments, while also providing insights for those outside of marriage. Pastor Mark integrates biblical references, personal anecdotes, and practical advice, concluding with a prayer for varied congregational needs related to marriage and personal burdens.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/gods-purpose-in-marriage fee82062-869e-4ac7-aa7f-91e377e88e94 Sun, 11 Aug 2024 15:27:41 GMT <div data-html="true">Pastor Mark continues his series on the book of Ephesians by discussing Ephesians 5:22-33 on the theme of marriage. He explains the biblical concept of marriage as a divinely designed institution aimed at companionship and personal growth. He emphasizes four key characteristics of a fulfilling marriage: meeting the gender-specific need for companionship, committing to a future together, sharing a common vision, and making the relationship a priority. The sermon encourages married couples to grow together, support each other, and reaffirm their commitments, while also providing insights for those outside of marriage. Pastor Mark integrates biblical references, personal anecdotes, and practical advice, concluding with a prayer for varied congregational needs related to marriage and personal burdens.</div> false no <![CDATA[Fear, Dread and Conspiracy]]> Pastor Joe's sermon revolves around a passage from Isaiah 8:11-15, addressing the theme of fear and conspiracy theories. He shares his personal experience of encountering this passage during his vacation and how it brought him both conviction and comfort. He reflects on how conspiracies are compelling, consuming, and controlling, drawing parallels with modern times characterized by overwhelming information and anxiety. He emphasizes that conspiracies have been a human problem for centuries and advises the congregation to redirect their fear to the Lord of hosts who promises to be a sanctuary. Pastor Josiah concludes by leading the congregation into prayer and communion, encouraging them to examine their hearts and place their trust in God for peace and security.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/fear-dread-and-conspiracy f1151cf8-9da6-4f54-86e6-60d971eae005 Sun, 04 Aug 2024 14:13:00 GMT <div data-html="true">Pastor Joe's sermon revolves around a passage from Isaiah 8:11-15, addressing the theme of fear and conspiracy theories. He shares his personal experience of encountering this passage during his vacation and how it brought him both conviction and comfort. He reflects on how conspiracies are compelling, consuming, and controlling, drawing parallels with modern times characterized by overwhelming information and anxiety. He emphasizes that conspiracies have been a human problem for centuries and advises the congregation to redirect their fear to the Lord of hosts who promises to be a sanctuary. Pastor Josiah concludes by leading the congregation into prayer and communion, encouraging them to examine their hearts and place their trust in God for peace and security.</div> false no <![CDATA[Walk in Wisdom]]> This message emphasizes walking wisely according to God's perspective, contrasting with worldly folly. Mark includes practical advice on eliminating negative behaviors like bitterness, lying, and lust, replacing them with forgiveness, truth, and love. He underscores prioritizing time wisely and seeking God's will actively. To live wisely, believers should be filled with the Holy Spirit, leading to self-control, clarity, and contentment. Finally, the sermon calls for intentional living aligned with Scripture, regularly asking, 'Lord, what do you want me to do?']]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/walk-in-wisdom 50f1705e-c78f-4444-a569-496393a09757 Sun, 28 Jul 2024 17:06:59 GMT <div data-html="true">This message emphasizes walking wisely according to God's perspective, contrasting with worldly folly. Mark includes practical advice on eliminating negative behaviors like bitterness, lying, and lust, replacing them with forgiveness, truth, and love. He underscores prioritizing time wisely and seeking God's will actively. To live wisely, believers should be filled with the Holy Spirit, leading to self-control, clarity, and contentment. Finally, the sermon calls for intentional living aligned with Scripture, regularly asking, 'Lord, what do you want me to do?'</div> false no <![CDATA[Relationships Matter]]> Michael Chance preaches a study of the Book of Philemon, emphasizing its brevity and depth, especially regarding relationships. He provides historical context around Philemon, highlighting his role as a successful businessman and church leader in Colossae. The main focus of the sermon is on the broken relationship between Philemon and his runaway slave, Onesimus, who meets Paul and converts to Christianity. Paul appeals to Philemon for reconciliation, stressing the importance of restoring relationships for the health and growth of the church. Michael draws modern parallels, underscoring that strong relationships are crucial for spreading the Gospel and maintaining a supportive Christian community. He concludes with a personal anecdote from a mission trip to China, illustrating the power of prayer and relationships in overcoming challenges.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/relationships-matter 458917cb-8fa7-4740-b474-7708bda95370 Mon, 22 Jul 2024 10:49:28 GMT <div data-html="true">Michael Chance preaches a study of the Book of Philemon, emphasizing its brevity and depth, especially regarding relationships. He provides historical context around Philemon, highlighting his role as a successful businessman and church leader in Colossae. The main focus of the sermon is on the broken relationship between Philemon and his runaway slave, Onesimus, who meets Paul and converts to Christianity. Paul appeals to Philemon for reconciliation, stressing the importance of restoring relationships for the health and growth of the church. Michael draws modern parallels, underscoring that strong relationships are crucial for spreading the Gospel and maintaining a supportive Christian community. He concludes with a personal anecdote from a mission trip to China, illustrating the power of prayer and relationships in overcoming challenges.</div> false no <![CDATA[Embracing God’s Love & Rejecting Sexual Immorality]]> Pastor Mark emphasizes living out the love of Christ as described in Ephesians 5:1-7. It highlights the importance of embracing God's love, avoiding sexual immorality, and reflecting God's communicable attributes like mercy and faithfulness. Mark showcases the teachings of Dr. Francis Schaeffer, emphasizing love as the essence of Christian life. It also underscores the need for Christians to live as beloved children of God, accepting His love and letting it transform their relationships and actions. Practical applications include making active choices to love others and avoiding behaviors like sexual immorality and harmful speech.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/embracing-gods-love-rejecting-sexual-immorality e554d2cd-54fd-4bd8-bfae-19dd7178f750 Sun, 14 Jul 2024 16:01:35 GMT <div data-html="true">Pastor Mark emphasizes living out the love of Christ as described in Ephesians 5:1-7. It highlights the importance of embracing God's love, avoiding sexual immorality, and reflecting God's communicable attributes like mercy and faithfulness. Mark showcases the teachings of Dr. Francis Schaeffer, emphasizing love as the essence of Christian life. It also underscores the need for Christians to live as beloved children of God, accepting His love and letting it transform their relationships and actions. Practical applications include making active choices to love others and avoiding behaviors like sexual immorality and harmful speech.</div> false no <![CDATA[Responding Like Jesus]]> Ephesians 4:31-32

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.



Pastor Mark preaches on the importance of forgiveness, kindness, and tenderheartedness in Christian life, countering negative responses like anger, clamor, and slander. A historical narrative is shared about a community torn by conflict and how Ephesians 4:31-32 helped mend relationships.He emphasizes that although Christians face wrongs and hurts, reflecting Jesus' responses—by subtracting anger and bitterness and adding kindness and forgiveness—can lead to personal and communal healing.
]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/responding-like-jesus c237e89a-a06e-486a-bed6-42d707baa12c Mon, 08 Jul 2024 16:48:48 GMT <div data-html="true">Ephesians 4:31-32 <br /><br /> Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> <div><span>Pastor Mark preaches on the importance of forgiveness, kindness, and tenderheartedness in Christian life, countering negative responses like anger, clamor, and slander. A historical narrative is shared about a community torn by conflict and how Ephesians 4:31-32 helped mend relationships.He emphasizes that although Christians face wrongs and hurts, reflecting Jesus' responses—by subtracting anger and bitterness and adding kindness and forgiveness—can lead to personal and communal healing.</span></div> <div></div></div> false no <![CDATA[Baptism Service June 2024]]> Baptism is an outward sign of an inner reality. Watch the stories of these 10 people who's hearts were forever changed through the power of Jesus, and who are declaring their love for Him through Baptism.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/baptism-service-june-2024 26fd3612-17df-4905-be25-21202b19b85d Sun, 30 Jun 2024 15:12:59 GMT <div data-html="true">Baptism is an outward sign of an inner reality. Watch the stories of these 10 people who's hearts were forever changed through the power of Jesus, and who are declaring their love for Him through Baptism.</div> false no <![CDATA[Talking Like Jesus]]> Ephesians 4:29-30 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up



This sermon is discussing the importance of controlling one's speech, as guided by Ephesians 4:29-30. Emphasizing that words have the power to uplift or harm, it draws parallels with the Old Testament book of Proverbs, addressing deceptive and destructive speech while promoting encouraging and truthful words. Pastor Mark uses examples from history, personal anecdotes, and scriptural insights to underscore how speech can grieve the Holy Spirit and affect both the speaker and the listener. The message concludes with practical advice on living out a life of integrity and transparency through the guidance of the Holy Spirit.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/talking-like-jesus ce87efb5-d706-4835-a076-c38860640537 Sun, 23 Jun 2024 10:56:16 GMT <div data-html="true">Ephesians 4:29-30 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> This sermon is discussing the importance of controlling one's speech, as guided by Ephesians 4:29-30. Emphasizing that words have the power to uplift or harm, it draws parallels with the Old Testament book of Proverbs, addressing deceptive and destructive speech while promoting encouraging and truthful words. Pastor Mark uses examples from history, personal anecdotes, and scriptural insights to underscore how speech can grieve the Holy Spirit and affect both the speaker and the listener. The message concludes with practical advice on living out a life of integrity and transparency through the guidance of the Holy Spirit.</div> false no <![CDATA[The Way]]>
Ephesians 4:28
Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.



Pastor Ben emphasizes the shift from the theological concepts in Ephesians chapters 1-3 to practical living in chapters 4-6. The core message includes a call to stop stealing, work productively, and share with those in need, while also exploring the broader concept of living as apprentices to Jesus Christ. Ben introduces the historical context of Christianity referred to as 'The Way,' and suggests a 'Rule of Life' as a structured approach to integrating spiritual practices into all aspects of daily life. The sermon concludes with reflections on the holistic commitment to living out one's faith intentionally and joyfully.
]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-way 73610d69-e09a-4362-b33e-9f14a784e669 Sun, 16 Jun 2024 15:49:32 GMT <div data-html="true"><div>Ephesians 4:28</div> <div>Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> </div> <div><span>Pastor Ben emphasizes the shift from the theological concepts in Ephesians chapters 1-3 to practical living in chapters 4-6. The core message includes a call to stop stealing, work productively, and share with those in need, while also exploring the broader concept of living as apprentices to Jesus Christ. Ben introduces the historical context of Christianity referred to as 'The Way,' and suggests a 'Rule of Life' as a structured approach to integrating spiritual practices into all aspects of daily life. The sermon concludes with reflections on the holistic commitment to living out one's faith intentionally and joyfully.</span></div> <div> <div> </div></div></div> false no <![CDATA[The Addition and Subtraction of Anger]]> Ephesians 4:26-27

“In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.



Pastor Mark explores how the Apostle Paul distinguishes between godly and ungodly anger, emphasizing the need for Christians to practice righteous anger while avoiding sinful anger. The sermon includes a prayer, an illustrative story about a gas station's stress relief method, and insights from the book of Ephesians on putting off old behaviors and adopting new ones in Christ. The speaker also shares the story of a missionary's struggle with anger over stolen pineapples and how surrendering his rights to God brought peace. The sermon highlights the importance of remembering one's identity in Christ, facing personal anger honestly, and responding with humility to overcome godless anger.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-addition-and-subtraction-of-anger 192fcfdf-c56e-4ffb-a2f5-5a82410bcd16 Sun, 09 Jun 2024 17:51:49 GMT <div data-html="true">Ephesians 4:26-27 <br /><br /> <span>“In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry,</span> <span>and do not give the devil a foothold.</span> <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Pastor Mark explores how the Apostle Paul distinguishes between godly and ungodly anger, emphasizing the need for Christians to practice righteous anger while avoiding sinful anger. The sermon includes a prayer, an illustrative story about a gas station's stress relief method, and insights from the book of Ephesians on putting off old behaviors and adopting new ones in Christ. The speaker also shares the story of a missionary's struggle with anger over stolen pineapples and how surrendering his rights to God brought peace. The sermon highlights the importance of remembering one's identity in Christ, facing personal anger honestly, and responding with humility to overcome godless anger.</div> false no <![CDATA[Truth-Telling]]> Ephesians 4:25

Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.



Pastor Jared delves into Ephesians 4:25, encouraging us to embrace a life of truthfulness as part of our Christian walk. He provides an overview of Ephesians, emphasizing the importance of walking in holiness. Jared articulates why lying is harmful, rooted in fear and selfishness, and contrasts this with the Godly characteristic of truthfulness. He discusses how truth should be spoken in love, reflecting maturity in Christ. Through practical examples and candid reflections, Jared calls for an honest Christian community that confesses sins openly and experiences God's grace and healing.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/truth-telling 350049c3-fdac-40cb-a183-bd6be9668a01 Sun, 02 Jun 2024 11:55:51 GMT <div data-html="true">Ephesians 4:25 <br /><br /> Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Pastor Jared delves into Ephesians 4:25, encouraging us to embrace a life of truthfulness as part of our Christian walk. He provides an overview of Ephesians, emphasizing the importance of walking in holiness. Jared articulates why lying is harmful, rooted in fear and selfishness, and contrasts this with the Godly characteristic of truthfulness. He discusses how truth should be spoken in love, reflecting maturity in Christ. Through practical examples and candid reflections, Jared calls for an honest Christian community that confesses sins openly and experiences God's grace and healing.</div> false no <![CDATA[The Addition and Subtraction of the Christian Life]]> Ephesians 4:17-24

Put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.



Pastor Mark discusses the concept of transformation in the Christian life, emphasizing the need for both subtraction (putting away former ways of futile thinking and actions) and addition (embracing new thinking and living in righteousness and holiness). His personal anecdote about renovating his kitchen illustrates the comprehensive nature of this transformation. The sermon further delves into the challenges of changing old patterns and the importance of a renewed identity in Christ, explaining how true change starts with a change in thinking and relies on Christ for both the subtraction of old ways and the addition of new, righteous living.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-addition-and-subtraction-of-the-christian-life a14ebf27-7919-45cf-bf2c-1464b6b710d3 Sun, 26 May 2024 11:10:01 GMT <div data-html="true">Ephesians 4:17-24 <br /><br /> Put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Pastor Mark discusses the concept of transformation in the Christian life, emphasizing the need for both subtraction (putting away former ways of futile thinking and actions) and addition (embracing new thinking and living in righteousness and holiness). His personal anecdote about renovating his kitchen illustrates the comprehensive nature of this transformation. The sermon further delves into the challenges of changing old patterns and the importance of a renewed identity in Christ, explaining how true change starts with a change in thinking and relies on Christ for both the subtraction of old ways and the addition of new, righteous living.</div> false no <![CDATA[Walking in Unity: Part 2]]> Ephesians 4:7-16

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,



Pastor Jerry emphasizes the importance of unity, maturity, and growth within the church. He highlights the dangers of deceitful teachings and the need to rely on each other in addition to Christ. The church is presented as God's answer and a powerful force in the world, growing in love to make a significant impact.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/walking-in-unity-part-2 c7636c9c-aba7-45dc-9087-4e5c544683c7 Sun, 19 May 2024 11:19:26 GMT <div data-html="true">Ephesians 4:7-16 <br /><br /> And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Pastor Jerry emphasizes the importance of unity, maturity, and growth within the church. He highlights the dangers of deceitful teachings and the need to rely on each other in addition to Christ. The church is presented as God's answer and a powerful force in the world, growing in love to make a significant impact.</div> false no <![CDATA[Walking in Unity: Part 1]]> Ephesians 4:1-6

Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.



Pastor Mike discusses the importance of unity, humility, and patience in the context of the church community.He emphasizes the need to walk in a manner worthy of God's calling, focusing on maintaining unity, humility, and patience while anchored in the teachings of the Bible. It encourages reflection on one's own walk with Christ and the significance of being part of a unified body of believers.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/walking-in-unity-part-1 de867f4c-ba28-46f1-a5aa-c36a79d13d9c Sun, 12 May 2024 13:18:22 GMT <div data-html="true">Ephesians 4:1-6 <br /><br /> Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Pastor Mike discusses the importance of unity, humility, and patience in the context of the church community.He emphasizes the need to walk in a manner worthy of God's calling, focusing on maintaining unity, humility, and patience while anchored in the teachings of the Bible. It encourages reflection on one's own walk with Christ and the significance of being part of a unified body of believers.</div> false no <![CDATA[A Prayer for Spiritual Strength and Love]]> Ephesians 3:14-21 And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.



Sermon Synopsis:

Pastor Jared’s sermon discusses the importance of having spiritual strength to understand God's love and how Christ dwells in our hearts. It emphasizes the need for deep comprehension and personalization of God's love, encouraging prayer for oneself and others to have this spiritual strength. He concludes with a call to dive deep into the never-ending pool of God's love, urging believers to experience the fullness of His love and presence.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/a-prayer-for-spiritual-strength-and-love 43bd1c69-f4a8-41cd-91fb-4a718ee55a20 Sun, 05 May 2024 15:35:34 GMT <div data-html="true">Ephesians 3:14-21 And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Synopsis: <p>Pastor Jared’s sermon discusses the importance of having spiritual strength to understand God's love and how Christ dwells in our hearts. It emphasizes the need for deep comprehension and personalization of God's love, encouraging prayer for oneself and others to have this spiritual strength. He concludes with a call to dive deep into the never-ending pool of God's love, urging believers to experience the fullness of His love and presence.</p></div> false no <![CDATA[What the Gospel Says to Discouraged Christians]]> Ephesians 3:1-13

This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.



Sermon Transcript:

All right. Thank you. I would have stepped on it. All right. Ephesians chapter three, going to read verse one through 13. Really interesting passage. For this reason, and this reason, I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, on behalf of you Gentiles, assuming that you heard of the stewardship of God's grace that was given to me for you, how the mystery was made known to me by revelation as I have written briefly.

When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ. Which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations, as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

Of this gospel, I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace. which was given me by the working of his power. To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things, so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.

This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus, our Lord. in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him. So I ask you not to lose heart. over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory. Lord, we come to you. We love the scriptures. We love even in this portion of scripture, which is sort of a rambling digression of Paul, that it speaks so extraordinarily practically into our lives.

Lord, teach us as we, we seek to understand what the gospel says to discu, discouraged and confused Christians. In Jesus name. Amen. Last week, Pastor Ben highlighted the astounding relational healing that the cross can do in his message walls of hostility versus unity in the rubble on verses 11 to 22 of Ephesians two.

In that passage, there are three metaphors of the church that are presented. That we are a kingdom, that we're subjects together, that we are a family, we are siblings together, that we are a temple, we are stones fitted together. Now in verse 13, excuse me, in chapter 3 verse 1, a very interesting thing happens.

in this section we just read. Paul starts a conversation and then almost immediately stops it. He seems to get distracted, almost to start rambling. He leaves verse 1 after saying, For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles, And then he, then he goes off script. He doesn't pick up the script again until verse 14, where he again says, For this reason, I, Paul, and then he says, I'm praying for you.

This is what I'm praying. I bow the knee to you. But in verses 1 through 13, what he actually does is he gives this explanation because he is concerned about how what he has said He's just said, I, Paul, I'm a prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles. And it's like Paul says, shoot, I know I just said something that caused them pain.

It has potential of discouraging them. Before I go any farther, I need to emphasize some things to you guys. And in verses 1b through 13, he says those things. to help them be encouraged. Now we do this all the time. You'll start an email or you'll be writing an email or you'll be writing a text to somebody.

And all of a sudden you go, I can't see their face. I don't know how they're hearing this. So we have a way of resolving this to try to take the sting out of the words or to make sure it's not coming across too heavy or too serious. We will do something like this. We'll pop that baby in and if we're really worried about it, we'll do something like this.

And then if we're really concerned, we come up with a big time emoji, something like this, to really make sure, yeah, it's all good, man. It's all good, dude. Verses 1 through 13 are his long emoji. He's saying, guys, he bookends it. He says, I'm a prisoner of, Here in Rome, for you Gentiles, ah, I got to explain something.

And so he explains this stuff, and then he comes in verse 13, and look at what he says, how he concludes the whole thing, the other bookends. He says, So I ask you not to lose heart. Over what I'm suffering for you, which is your glory. He doesn't want them to lose heart. The word is translated in the New Testament, often be discouraged.

He says, I don't want you to be discouraged. I want to tell you what the gospel says to Christians. What it says, particularly to you Christians there in Ephesus, he says. Now, we think of the gospel as for nonbelievers, right? I mean, a person has to embrace the good news of Jesus Christ, the gospel of Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord in order to enter the family of God.

Absolutely. We proclaim the gospel, but the gospel also speaks to those that are a part of the family of God. And this passage is a reminder that the gospel has a message for believers, particularly So I'd like to look at three things here, more time we'll spend on the first two. Three things he reminds them of about the gospel that speak to their lives.

Number one, he reminds them that they are recipients of God's plan of grace. He says this in verses one through nine, and he tells them it's a plan that only God could see coming. In verses one through six, he keeps using this word. It is a mystery. Matter of fact, in these first few verses, in this section, he mentions the word mystery four times.

There's no other passage in the New Testament that is even close to the density of emphasis on mystery. Now, when we think of a mystery. We think of something that it is our job to discover. You know, we spend our time trying to figure out whodunit. We expect at the other end to say, yes, I should have been able to put that together if we didn't put it together.

My wife and I love mysteries, and we do that like you do. We try to figure out who did the crime. We're disappointed if we don't get it right, or we get mad at the story writer if the clues were misleading. And well, nobody could have figured that out. But we've also learned with some of our mystery writers that we know we've begun to to to get a read on them.

And we know that they're going to deliberately choose the most obscure, unexpected person to be the perpetrator of the crime, the murder, or whatever it is. So we are on to them. So now we guess who? It must be that person because that's the last person we would think of. So even that we expect to be able to figure out the mystery.

We just got to get a read on the writer's style. That's how we think of the word mystery. That is not what the biblical writers meant by the term mystery. A divine mystery is different. It is something so extraordinary no one could figure it out. A mystery is something you could never figure out. Only God could even know it.

Utterly, unexpected, counterintuitive, never guessed it in a thousand years. The great mystery that the New Testament talks about is the gospel of grace, the good news of God to humanity. In this passage, verse four, he says, it is the mystery of Christ. It's all centered in Christ, in what he came to do and who he is.

In verse nine, it's been hidden for ages. in God. He's the only one that knew it. In verse, in chapter six, in verse 19, he's going to call it the mystery of the gospel. It is God's plan to draw people together, to rescue them from sin and its penalty, to make them a people one in unity and oneness. And here in verse six, then, he highlights one element of that gospel when he says this, This mystery, this particular part of the ministry, is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus.

A mystery is utterly unexpected, counterintuitive, nobody could see it coming. Do you know the Ten Commandments are never called a mystery? We get it. Don't lie. Don't commit adultery. Don't murder. They all make sense. Nobody says, Wow, I didn't see those coming as commandments. We do see it coming. Nobody says about the golden rule.

Wow, that is, I never would have imagined that. Well, yeah, it makes sense. Nobody says about the judgment of God. Wow, that's a, that's a, wow, that was, didn't see that one coming. No, we understand it's a holy God that's a creator. We understand there is judgment. But the gospel out of nowhere, no philosopher, poet, theologian comes up with the story of God the judge, the creator becoming the victim to pay the penalty for rebels.

No one saw that the son of God would triumph by death, that God wins by losing. No one could have designed a religion this way. Paul said it's a mystery. Secondly, he says something about the gospel. He says, secondly, it is a plan that only God could pull off again. Remember, he's saying all this for a reason to speak to discouraged Christians, which will will highlight in a moment in verse seven through nine of this gospel.

He says, I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace. He's given me by the working of his power. To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things.

He said, I, me, Paul, I was given the mystery, more than anyone else, Paul says, I was the one that was given the mystery of the gospel, particularly as it pertains to the Gentiles being grafted into the tree of grace. He says those first three years after I became a Christian, when I was all alone in the wilderness to study in the Old Testament, listening to the Spirit of God, who is newly entered my life.

He said this whole mystery. was revealed to me and then to the other apostles and prophets. He said, I'm the one God gave it to me, the guy who pushed my way into the homes of Christian families and dragged away parents who were beaten and tortured. And some died. I'm the guy who even the apostles dreaded to be around and didn't believe that I actually could have become a Christian.

As he says in these verses, guys, I'm the very least of all the saints. To me, Saul of Tarsus, the pitbull of the religious leaders, the hitman of the people that crucified Jesus against the Christians, Verse 8, This grace was given. He said the whole thing of the gospel is about God and His grace. Every part of it, even, even the receipt, even, even the, the proclaimers of it.

He says, look at me, I'm the guy. He says, guys, I'm in prison, but I'm representing a big, glorious God, proclaiming a breathtakingly glorious gospel. And I was sent to you. with this message because you are part of God's cosmic plan. He says the mystery is that God's son, God himself, would come and be the Messiah the Jews waited for.

But he would not come to overturn an empire and establish the throne of David in Jerusalem. He would bring a gospel of deliverance and forgiveness and reconciliation with God. And the gospel, the gospel had your names on it. It isn't just spoken of people who have Jewish sounding names, like Simon and Saul and Joseph and Andrew and Mary and Martha, but Greek sounding names like Tychicus and Theophilus and Apollos and Lydia and Jodeas.

The Lamb's Book of Life includes those names. And he says, you're part of this thing. You're part of this reality. And, and my imprisonment is part of the plan of a God that is, that is superintending His gospel going forth for people just like you. Whose names are written in the Book of Life. But he tells them something more.

He reminds them secondly that they are players in God's plan of grace. Verse 10, So that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him.

He says, you guys are part of the cast. There is a great theatrical production that God is putting on in the arena of the cosmos. And on the stage are cast members. He says, My job as a preacher of grace is to make plain to everyone God's plan. In verse 11, he talks about it being according to God's plan.

Eternal purpose. Well, what was God's eternal purpose? Well, he tells us in chapter one, verse 10, he says this, God's purpose was to unite all things in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth in the world. Everything is falling apart. Everyone falls apart. There's sickness. Your body falls apart. I remember reading an extract from a, a book that was speaking, I actually got to know him because Marian's dad was a, biologist, and they had a big, consortium, and they invited in this guy, Jeremy Ripken, and he spoke, and it was, the title of his book was Entropy, and it was fascinating, reading the extract, basically he was talking about, that entropy, which literally is saying, and, and this is a scientific, endorsement by everyone because it is basically according to the second law of thermodynamics, which is saying all of the universe is moving naturally toward disorder and chaos.

But one day that will change. The purpose of God is that bodies will stay together. That relationships will stay together, that everything will be brought together. And what that word is called in the scripture is shalom. God's glorious cosmic extending shalom, oneness, connectedness, the beauty of all of that, the ultimate harmony to which all things are leading through Christ.

C. S. Lewis depicts The antithesis of this in his book, one of my favorite books, his fabulous allegory called The Great Divorce. In this, he depicts both heaven and hell. Hell, he doesn't give as much time to, but his picture of it is fascinating to me. He doesn't depict hell, as a place of fire, as a place of physical suffering.

I, I personally don't believe that's the focus of hell either. I mean, it's primarily designed for the devil and his angels and their spirit beings. So what does he depict there? He depicts hell as a place. of apartness. It's a place where people keep moving away from each other because they can't get along.

They're moving their habitations, and it's just more and more sad to look at because people are filled with conflict and tension. Shalom is the opposite. God is directing through Christ a universe of shalom, of oneness and wholeness. God's purpose is to bring together all things through Jesus. In verse 10 he says that In this world now, God is displaying his intended future by reflecting it in the church.

He takes people of all different backgrounds, ethnicities, social status, and personalities, people with deep hurts, deep mistrust, deep wounds, multiple emotional triggers, and somehow blends them together in some level of oneness in Christ. So he does this in Ephesus. He says slaves who hate their position in the world and masters who saw themselves as the haves and believes it was their right and natural superiority are brought together.

As F. F. Bruce says about this passage, he says, chapter three, verse 10, which is the one that pictures believers as the cast before it. audience. He makes his statement. The church here in verse 10 is God's pilot plan for the reconciled universe of the future. The diverse community will be cast on stage before those watching.

So who is the audience? Well, he tells us in verse 10, the audience that watches is described here

as those that are the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This is truly one of the most remarkable verses in the New Testament. He says God is displaying his wisdom. He is displaying his himself by putting the church. I don't mean a church, the church, those that have embraced Christ, been, been embraced by Christ,

that they are living life together and depicting life in such a way that angels are looking on and saying, you got to be kidding me. How did God ever come up with this? God took that guy, that girl, that situation, those people groups, and that people group. I mean, these are Israelis and Hamas people. These are Jews and Gentiles, and they're thrown them together because of one reality centered in Christ.

And he says the, the ability to begin to have oneness, to work through stuff together, to forgive one another. is absolutely stunning to the audience. This audience is depicted here as the authorities and rulers in heavenly places, elect and holy angels, probably millions of angels. If you include the fallen evil angels, which the scripture calls demons.

For the elect angels of God, it is a source of joy. It says in Luke 15 10, they, they, they rejoice when one sinner repents. In first Peter, it says they, they desire, they're looking, they desire to comprehend and understand this, this message of grace. To the others that are looking on in this theater environment, of the church stumbling along, broken people somehow learning to grace each other and, and, and screwing up, but then having to come back and making it right and, and realize there's only one reason we're together.

It's Christ. It's who He is in our lives. It's what we share, different backgrounds, different social structure, everything.

And it is the declaration to the powers of darkness that they will be saved. That Satan's primary weapon against God is to throw chaos and brokenness, discord and conflict into the face of God's beloved Shalom. The church, the people of God, are a trophy that Satan's aim will fail. It's Shalom will come in places.

It comes in its infant portrayal. The gospel of grace, liberating broken, wounded, scarred sinners, to forgive enemies, to embrace aliens, to live at peace with each other, broken, marred people whose backgrounds, personalities, animosities, seemingly guaranteed it could not be so. But the gospel will win, Christ, grace will conquer, and even today, elect Israel.

And evil angels marvel at its power and beauty. It is why the New Testament highlights so much the power of oneness, the power of working through stuff and, and that relationships in the body are so powerful. Why? Because it isn't just your neighbor will say, Oh, that's a neat church. They, they get along.

It's a loving environment. No, there are millions of, of audience That are watching and saying, how in the world can that work? We know that guy. We know where he stands. We know this girl. We know. How does it happen? The gospel of grace somehow unites people. Now Paul gives us the so what of all this in verse 13.

He reminds them then to be practitioners of God's plan of grace. Here's what he said. So I ask you not to lose heart over what I'm suffering for you, which is your glory. Let me just try to present what I think he's saying. He says, be practitioners in confusion. Why, why did they need this? Why do they care that much that Paul is in jail?

Here's why I think the imprisonment of Paul for five years has really been a struggle for them. Paul had been with them for three years. And those that were in the Ephesian church when he was there know that they know of Paul. But just a few weeks after he left Ephesus, he's arrested in Jerusalem because he has taken in, among others, a member, two members of their congregation and people in Jerusalem have assumed that those Gentile believers have gone into the temple with him.

We've talked to you about this and they've arrested Paul and they thought he was desecrating the Jewish temple. He wasn't, but they assumed that. Well, it's all because he had their people with him and he got arrested and then he got held in Jerusalem. Then he got taken to Caesarea. Then he got sent on a ship to Rome and he's sitting in Rome.

He's been five years in jail since he left Ephesus. But Paul's their champion. And during those five years, there were Jewish Judaizers that keep coming to their churches and they keep saying, you gotta, you know, maybe, maybe you've embraced our Messiah, but you now have got to embrace the other parts of our faith.

You've got to be circumcised. You've got to follow all the religious practices. And they're confused. The perception that they're continually getting is you guys are second class. And they're looking and saying the one guy that's our champion sits in jail. And honestly, what does that say about our faith?

I mean, can't God get him out of jail? I mean, we're, we need some wins. And the guy that can perp that can most portray our wins is sitting in a Roman prison, as far as we know, awaiting execution. So Paul says, guys,

remember a couple of things. Remember, first of all, that God is the one that has designed this cosmic plan that you are a part of this eternal plan of salvation. I want to talk to you about God, that God has not abandoned you, that God needed you. He needed people like you to be participants in this plan.

It isn't just grace that he chose you and brought you into the family. He needed people like you. You show the diversity. You show the glory of the gospel. It's because of people like you, Gentiles, totally different ethnicities and backgrounds than the Jews of Jerusalem, that God declares his wisdom and the glory of his gospel.

God needs you. God chose you. God rescued you. God pursued you.

God takes us into seasons of discouragement and confusion. These people had real questions. These people were struggling with being second class. They were less than even in their faith. They didn't know what it meant. They didn't know how to get answers. They couldn't just check into the website and get some of Paul's old sermons.

They can't write them. They have no contact. There's nothing. This is the second letter we know that he wrote to the Ephesians in five years. What he says is, guys, remember what's true about you in the plan of God, in the gospel of grace. That, yeah, there are some of you this morning watching here in Collingswood, watching here in Mount Laurel, watching online.

Where things have not turned out as you expected in your faith, personal situation wise, family wise, relationship wise, finance wise, career wise, marriage wise, confused, discouraged. Paul says, remember the cosmic eternal plan you're on. Remember the grace of God that God that what is going on in your life is God's working in your life.

He's doing stuff you never would have thought. I mean, all these mysteries are happening. Nobody could have seen it coming, but he says, I'm looking back and I see all of this is part of what God had purposed to glorify himself through my life, which leads us to the second thing. Paul says in times of affliction, Remember these truths.

Johnny Erickson Tata. Many of you know, she'll actually be speaking at the Global Leadership Summit, which we're hosting again this, summer. She'll be on video. I don't want you. I don't want to over promise. but Johnny Erickson Tata as a 17 year old, had a swimming accident that left her, a paraplegic in a wheelchair from the neck down.

And soon after she had had the accident, she attended a group of young people that had had life altering accidents. And one of the girls that was there was a 17 year old high school cheerleader, named Denise Walt, Denise Walters. Denise Walters was a Christian, as Johnny was, and she had been at her high school, and one day going up the steps, running up the steps at her school, her legs just gave out, and she fell, and she went home, and by the next day, she woke up, and she was paralyzed from the waist down.

A week later, she was paralyzed from the neck down. A few weeks later she was blind and they found out that she had a, progressive, rapid progressive multiple sclerosis. She died five years later. She was a gentle, God loving, Christ centered believer. Very quiet, very content in her faith. And Johnny did life with her.

The more she did life with her friend, the more she admired her, but the more she struggled with God. And she said, how did this make any sense? And she said, you know, I'm, I'm an outgoing personality. I, I, you know, I, but this girl, how did this help anything? How did this benefit anything? And Johnny tells the story of being in a Bible study and she was expressing her own anguish after Denise's death.

And a friend of hers read to her Ephesians 3 10. that Denise was living her life with an audience all the time. She then read to her Luke 15 10, where angels are rejoicing over one sinner that repents. She read her the story of Job, Job 1, where angels are so actively involved in the process of Job's situation and are actually talking about Job before God.

And Johnny looked at that and reflected on those passages and realized that all that was happening in her life, Denise's life, and everyone's life, happens in front of a council of angels and devils, maybe millions. And if you were to tell somebody today that, man, if I could just before I die, if I could just go on, you know, get before a camera and declare my faith and my love for Christ and what Jesus means to me and impact, well,

brother or sister, you're on camera today, and the camera isn't just before your neighbors or friends or even all Americans. It's angelic beings, myriads, millions, pros and cons towards God and His grace. And our response is this. reflecting

how great a God we really have. How I respond. I've thought about this many times. How I respond to temptation, which no one will ever know when I'm sitting in front of a computer. How I respond to worries, which nobody would know are actually eating my lunch. And there have been those seasons where I didn't win the victory.

But how precious are those moments when I've been able to say, Lord, Right now, I want to honor you before the audience and say, he's better. He's better than this thing. He's better than my giving way to my worry. He's trustworthy. I can give it to him. John Erickson, after reflecting on this passage, went to the mother of Denise Walters, and she wrote this statement.

She said, I am sure that the angels and demons looked on with amazement and awe as they watched your daughter honor her savior by praise, trust, and contentment.

You're never too alone. You're never too abandoned. You're never in too lone, too much lonely darkness to not be bringing glory to the one who rescued you, who wanted you. Paul says to these believers, guys, I know I probably sort of, I hit a trigger here when I mentioned that I'm in prison for you Gentiles.

But it was true. It was because of his identifying with them that he had been hated by the Jews and was ultimately in jail. But he said, I love this. It's for your glory. And my theater stage is a little nine by nine or whatever it is. That's the cell that in Rome, they actually associated with where Paul was.

My little place. is where I am declaring your grace. You're there in Ephesus. You're part of a cosmic plan. You're not only a part. You're not only recipients of grace. You are participants in grace declaring the wonder and the greatness of God. He said the gospel made all this happen. The gospel speaks to discouraged people.

It speaks to people that feel alone, that feel confused, that feel second class, that feel less than. And he said, Man, it's not how God looks at this at all. Remember who he is. Remember who you are. And he says, I hope that you will then not lose heart. Because of heavy things that you're hearing about my situation, Lord

is going to come stuff today, certainly tomorrow, where we're going to have an opportunity to remind ourselves that we're living before a celestial audience. Lord, help us by your grace to remember the joy. of trusting you, of glorifying you. An audience infinitely bigger and wider and more prominent than we'll ever have in a human arena.

Lord, thank you for the tapestry of grace you've created in the body of Christ, that the very people whose triggers are so different from ours and make it hard to do life together are also there to declare this thing only works because of God. All glory, is only God's. Lord, may we find encouragement in that gospel today.

In Jesus name. Amen.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/what-the-gospel-says-to-discouraged-christians 623eba9c-cc57-41f4-96d6-df2973408542 Sun, 28 Apr 2024 11:50:20 GMT <div data-html="true">Ephesians 3:1-13 <br /><br /> This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus. <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> All right. Thank you. I would have stepped on it. All right. Ephesians chapter three, going to read verse one through 13. Really interesting passage. For this reason, and this reason, I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, on behalf of you Gentiles, assuming that you heard of the stewardship of God's grace that was given to me for you, how the mystery was made known to me by revelation as I have written briefly. <br /><br /> When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ. Which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations, as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. <br /><br /> Of this gospel, I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace. which was given me by the working of his power. To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things, so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. <br /><br /> This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus, our Lord. in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him. So I ask you not to lose heart. over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory. Lord, we come to you. We love the scriptures. We love even in this portion of scripture, which is sort of a rambling digression of Paul, that it speaks so extraordinarily practically into our lives. <br /><br /> Lord, teach us as we, we seek to understand what the gospel says to discu, discouraged and confused Christians. In Jesus name. Amen. Last week, Pastor Ben highlighted the astounding relational healing that the cross can do in his message walls of hostility versus unity in the rubble on verses 11 to 22 of Ephesians two. <br /><br /> In that passage, there are three metaphors of the church that are presented. That we are a kingdom, that we're subjects together, that we are a family, we are siblings together, that we are a temple, we are stones fitted together. Now in verse 13, excuse me, in chapter 3 verse 1, a very interesting thing happens. <br /><br /> in this section we just read. Paul starts a conversation and then almost immediately stops it. He seems to get distracted, almost to start rambling. He leaves verse 1 after saying, For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles, And then he, then he goes off script. He doesn't pick up the script again until verse 14, where he again says, For this reason, I, Paul, and then he says, I'm praying for you. <br /><br /> This is what I'm praying. I bow the knee to you. But in verses 1 through 13, what he actually does is he gives this explanation because he is concerned about how what he has said He's just said, I, Paul, I'm a prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles. And it's like Paul says, shoot, I know I just said something that caused them pain. <br /><br /> It has potential of discouraging them. Before I go any farther, I need to emphasize some things to you guys. And in verses 1b through 13, he says those things. to help them be encouraged. Now we do this all the time. You'll start an email or you'll be writing an email or you'll be writing a text to somebody. <br /><br /> And all of a sudden you go, I can't see their face. I don't know how they're hearing this. So we have a way of resolving this to try to take the sting out of the words or to make sure it's not coming across too heavy or too serious. We will do something like this. We'll pop that baby in and if we're really worried about it, we'll do something like this. <br /><br /> And then if we're really concerned, we come up with a big time emoji, something like this, to really make sure, yeah, it's all good, man. It's all good, dude. Verses 1 through 13 are his long emoji. He's saying, guys, he bookends it. He says, I'm a prisoner of, Here in Rome, for you Gentiles, ah, I got to explain something. <br /><br /> And so he explains this stuff, and then he comes in verse 13, and look at what he says, how he concludes the whole thing, the other bookends. He says, So I ask you not to lose heart. Over what I'm suffering for you, which is your glory. He doesn't want them to lose heart. The word is translated in the New Testament, often be discouraged. <br /><br /> He says, I don't want you to be discouraged. I want to tell you what the gospel says to Christians. What it says, particularly to you Christians there in Ephesus, he says. Now, we think of the gospel as for nonbelievers, right? I mean, a person has to embrace the good news of Jesus Christ, the gospel of Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord in order to enter the family of God. <br /><br /> Absolutely. We proclaim the gospel, but the gospel also speaks to those that are a part of the family of God. And this passage is a reminder that the gospel has a message for believers, particularly So I'd like to look at three things here, more time we'll spend on the first two. Three things he reminds them of about the gospel that speak to their lives. <br /><br /> Number one, he reminds them that they are recipients of God's plan of grace. He says this in verses one through nine, and he tells them it's a plan that only God could see coming. In verses one through six, he keeps using this word. It is a mystery. Matter of fact, in these first few verses, in this section, he mentions the word mystery four times. <br /><br /> There's no other passage in the New Testament that is even close to the density of emphasis on mystery. Now, when we think of a mystery. We think of something that it is our job to discover. You know, we spend our time trying to figure out whodunit. We expect at the other end to say, yes, I should have been able to put that together if we didn't put it together. <br /><br /> My wife and I love mysteries, and we do that like you do. We try to figure out who did the crime. We're disappointed if we don't get it right, or we get mad at the story writer if the clues were misleading. And well, nobody could have figured that out. But we've also learned with some of our mystery writers that we know we've begun to to to get a read on them. <br /><br /> And we know that they're going to deliberately choose the most obscure, unexpected person to be the perpetrator of the crime, the murder, or whatever it is. So we are on to them. So now we guess who? It must be that person because that's the last person we would think of. So even that we expect to be able to figure out the mystery. <br /><br /> We just got to get a read on the writer's style. That's how we think of the word mystery. That is not what the biblical writers meant by the term mystery. A divine mystery is different. It is something so extraordinary no one could figure it out. A mystery is something you could never figure out. Only God could even know it. <br /><br /> Utterly, unexpected, counterintuitive, never guessed it in a thousand years. The great mystery that the New Testament talks about is the gospel of grace, the good news of God to humanity. In this passage, verse four, he says, it is the mystery of Christ. It's all centered in Christ, in what he came to do and who he is. <br /><br /> In verse nine, it's been hidden for ages. in God. He's the only one that knew it. In verse, in chapter six, in verse 19, he's going to call it the mystery of the gospel. It is God's plan to draw people together, to rescue them from sin and its penalty, to make them a people one in unity and oneness. And here in verse six, then, he highlights one element of that gospel when he says this, This mystery, this particular part of the ministry, is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus. <br /><br /> A mystery is utterly unexpected, counterintuitive, nobody could see it coming. Do you know the Ten Commandments are never called a mystery? We get it. Don't lie. Don't commit adultery. Don't murder. They all make sense. Nobody says, Wow, I didn't see those coming as commandments. We do see it coming. Nobody says about the golden rule. <br /><br /> Wow, that is, I never would have imagined that. Well, yeah, it makes sense. Nobody says about the judgment of God. Wow, that's a, that's a, wow, that was, didn't see that one coming. No, we understand it's a holy God that's a creator. We understand there is judgment. But the gospel out of nowhere, no philosopher, poet, theologian comes up with the story of God the judge, the creator becoming the victim to pay the penalty for rebels. <br /><br /> No one saw that the son of God would triumph by death, that God wins by losing. No one could have designed a religion this way. Paul said it's a mystery. Secondly, he says something about the gospel. He says, secondly, it is a plan that only God could pull off again. Remember, he's saying all this for a reason to speak to discouraged Christians, which will will highlight in a moment in verse seven through nine of this gospel. <br /><br /> He says, I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace. He's given me by the working of his power. To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things. <br /><br /> He said, I, me, Paul, I was given the mystery, more than anyone else, Paul says, I was the one that was given the mystery of the gospel, particularly as it pertains to the Gentiles being grafted into the tree of grace. He says those first three years after I became a Christian, when I was all alone in the wilderness to study in the Old Testament, listening to the Spirit of God, who is newly entered my life. <br /><br /> He said this whole mystery. was revealed to me and then to the other apostles and prophets. He said, I'm the one God gave it to me, the guy who pushed my way into the homes of Christian families and dragged away parents who were beaten and tortured. And some died. I'm the guy who even the apostles dreaded to be around and didn't believe that I actually could have become a Christian. <br /><br /> As he says in these verses, guys, I'm the very least of all the saints. To me, Saul of Tarsus, the pitbull of the religious leaders, the hitman of the people that crucified Jesus against the Christians, Verse 8, This grace was given. He said the whole thing of the gospel is about God and His grace. Every part of it, even, even the receipt, even, even the, the proclaimers of it. <br /><br /> He says, look at me, I'm the guy. He says, guys, I'm in prison, but I'm representing a big, glorious God, proclaiming a breathtakingly glorious gospel. And I was sent to you. with this message because you are part of God's cosmic plan. He says the mystery is that God's son, God himself, would come and be the Messiah the Jews waited for. <br /><br /> But he would not come to overturn an empire and establish the throne of David in Jerusalem. He would bring a gospel of deliverance and forgiveness and reconciliation with God. And the gospel, the gospel had your names on it. It isn't just spoken of people who have Jewish sounding names, like Simon and Saul and Joseph and Andrew and Mary and Martha, but Greek sounding names like Tychicus and Theophilus and Apollos and Lydia and Jodeas. <br /><br /> The Lamb's Book of Life includes those names. And he says, you're part of this thing. You're part of this reality. And, and my imprisonment is part of the plan of a God that is, that is superintending His gospel going forth for people just like you. Whose names are written in the Book of Life. But he tells them something more. <br /><br /> He reminds them secondly that they are players in God's plan of grace. Verse 10, So that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him. <br /><br /> He says, you guys are part of the cast. There is a great theatrical production that God is putting on in the arena of the cosmos. And on the stage are cast members. He says, My job as a preacher of grace is to make plain to everyone God's plan. In verse 11, he talks about it being according to God's plan. <br /><br /> Eternal purpose. Well, what was God's eternal purpose? Well, he tells us in chapter one, verse 10, he says this, God's purpose was to unite all things in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth in the world. Everything is falling apart. Everyone falls apart. There's sickness. Your body falls apart. I remember reading an extract from a, a book that was speaking, I actually got to know him because Marian's dad was a, biologist, and they had a big, consortium, and they invited in this guy, Jeremy Ripken, and he spoke, and it was, the title of his book was Entropy, and it was fascinating, reading the extract, basically he was talking about, that entropy, which literally is saying, and, and this is a scientific, endorsement by everyone because it is basically according to the second law of thermodynamics, which is saying all of the universe is moving naturally toward disorder and chaos. <br /><br /> But one day that will change. The purpose of God is that bodies will stay together. That relationships will stay together, that everything will be brought together. And what that word is called in the scripture is shalom. God's glorious cosmic extending shalom, oneness, connectedness, the beauty of all of that, the ultimate harmony to which all things are leading through Christ. <br /><br /> C. S. Lewis depicts The antithesis of this in his book, one of my favorite books, his fabulous allegory called The Great Divorce. In this, he depicts both heaven and hell. Hell, he doesn't give as much time to, but his picture of it is fascinating to me. He doesn't depict hell, as a place of fire, as a place of physical suffering. <br /><br /> I, I personally don't believe that's the focus of hell either. I mean, it's primarily designed for the devil and his angels and their spirit beings. So what does he depict there? He depicts hell as a place. of apartness. It's a place where people keep moving away from each other because they can't get along. <br /><br /> They're moving their habitations, and it's just more and more sad to look at because people are filled with conflict and tension. Shalom is the opposite. God is directing through Christ a universe of shalom, of oneness and wholeness. God's purpose is to bring together all things through Jesus. In verse 10 he says that In this world now, God is displaying his intended future by reflecting it in the church. <br /><br /> He takes people of all different backgrounds, ethnicities, social status, and personalities, people with deep hurts, deep mistrust, deep wounds, multiple emotional triggers, and somehow blends them together in some level of oneness in Christ. So he does this in Ephesus. He says slaves who hate their position in the world and masters who saw themselves as the haves and believes it was their right and natural superiority are brought together. <br /><br /> As F. F. Bruce says about this passage, he says, chapter three, verse 10, which is the one that pictures believers as the cast before it. audience. He makes his statement. The church here in verse 10 is God's pilot plan for the reconciled universe of the future. The diverse community will be cast on stage before those watching. <br /><br /> So who is the audience? Well, he tells us in verse 10, the audience that watches is described here <br /><br /> as those that are the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This is truly one of the most remarkable verses in the New Testament. He says God is displaying his wisdom. He is displaying his himself by putting the church. I don't mean a church, the church, those that have embraced Christ, been, been embraced by Christ, <br /><br /> that they are living life together and depicting life in such a way that angels are looking on and saying, you got to be kidding me. How did God ever come up with this? God took that guy, that girl, that situation, those people groups, and that people group. I mean, these are Israelis and Hamas people. These are Jews and Gentiles, and they're thrown them together because of one reality centered in Christ. <br /><br /> And he says the, the ability to begin to have oneness, to work through stuff together, to forgive one another. is absolutely stunning to the audience. This audience is depicted here as the authorities and rulers in heavenly places, elect and holy angels, probably millions of angels. If you include the fallen evil angels, which the scripture calls demons. <br /><br /> For the elect angels of God, it is a source of joy. It says in Luke 15 10, they, they, they rejoice when one sinner repents. In first Peter, it says they, they desire, they're looking, they desire to comprehend and understand this, this message of grace. To the others that are looking on in this theater environment, of the church stumbling along, broken people somehow learning to grace each other and, and, and screwing up, but then having to come back and making it right and, and realize there's only one reason we're together. <br /><br /> It's Christ. It's who He is in our lives. It's what we share, different backgrounds, different social structure, everything. <br /><br /> And it is the declaration to the powers of darkness that they will be saved. That Satan's primary weapon against God is to throw chaos and brokenness, discord and conflict into the face of God's beloved Shalom. The church, the people of God, are a trophy that Satan's aim will fail. It's Shalom will come in places. <br /><br /> It comes in its infant portrayal. The gospel of grace, liberating broken, wounded, scarred sinners, to forgive enemies, to embrace aliens, to live at peace with each other, broken, marred people whose backgrounds, personalities, animosities, seemingly guaranteed it could not be so. But the gospel will win, Christ, grace will conquer, and even today, elect Israel. <br /><br /> And evil angels marvel at its power and beauty. It is why the New Testament highlights so much the power of oneness, the power of working through stuff and, and that relationships in the body are so powerful. Why? Because it isn't just your neighbor will say, Oh, that's a neat church. They, they get along. <br /><br /> It's a loving environment. No, there are millions of, of audience That are watching and saying, how in the world can that work? We know that guy. We know where he stands. We know this girl. We know. How does it happen? The gospel of grace somehow unites people. Now Paul gives us the so what of all this in verse 13. <br /><br /> He reminds them then to be practitioners of God's plan of grace. Here's what he said. So I ask you not to lose heart over what I'm suffering for you, which is your glory. Let me just try to present what I think he's saying. He says, be practitioners in confusion. Why, why did they need this? Why do they care that much that Paul is in jail? <br /><br /> Here's why I think the imprisonment of Paul for five years has really been a struggle for them. Paul had been with them for three years. And those that were in the Ephesian church when he was there know that they know of Paul. But just a few weeks after he left Ephesus, he's arrested in Jerusalem because he has taken in, among others, a member, two members of their congregation and people in Jerusalem have assumed that those Gentile believers have gone into the temple with him. <br /><br /> We've talked to you about this and they've arrested Paul and they thought he was desecrating the Jewish temple. He wasn't, but they assumed that. Well, it's all because he had their people with him and he got arrested and then he got held in Jerusalem. Then he got taken to Caesarea. Then he got sent on a ship to Rome and he's sitting in Rome. <br /><br /> He's been five years in jail since he left Ephesus. But Paul's their champion. And during those five years, there were Jewish Judaizers that keep coming to their churches and they keep saying, you gotta, you know, maybe, maybe you've embraced our Messiah, but you now have got to embrace the other parts of our faith. <br /><br /> You've got to be circumcised. You've got to follow all the religious practices. And they're confused. The perception that they're continually getting is you guys are second class. And they're looking and saying the one guy that's our champion sits in jail. And honestly, what does that say about our faith? <br /><br /> I mean, can't God get him out of jail? I mean, we're, we need some wins. And the guy that can perp that can most portray our wins is sitting in a Roman prison, as far as we know, awaiting execution. So Paul says, guys, <br /><br /> remember a couple of things. Remember, first of all, that God is the one that has designed this cosmic plan that you are a part of this eternal plan of salvation. I want to talk to you about God, that God has not abandoned you, that God needed you. He needed people like you to be participants in this plan. <br /><br /> It isn't just grace that he chose you and brought you into the family. He needed people like you. You show the diversity. You show the glory of the gospel. It's because of people like you, Gentiles, totally different ethnicities and backgrounds than the Jews of Jerusalem, that God declares his wisdom and the glory of his gospel. <br /><br /> God needs you. God chose you. God rescued you. God pursued you. <br /><br /> God takes us into seasons of discouragement and confusion. These people had real questions. These people were struggling with being second class. They were less than even in their faith. They didn't know what it meant. They didn't know how to get answers. They couldn't just check into the website and get some of Paul's old sermons. <br /><br /> They can't write them. They have no contact. There's nothing. This is the second letter we know that he wrote to the Ephesians in five years. What he says is, guys, remember what's true about you in the plan of God, in the gospel of grace. That, yeah, there are some of you this morning watching here in Collingswood, watching here in Mount Laurel, watching online. <br /><br /> Where things have not turned out as you expected in your faith, personal situation wise, family wise, relationship wise, finance wise, career wise, marriage wise, confused, discouraged. Paul says, remember the cosmic eternal plan you're on. Remember the grace of God that God that what is going on in your life is God's working in your life. <br /><br /> He's doing stuff you never would have thought. I mean, all these mysteries are happening. Nobody could have seen it coming, but he says, I'm looking back and I see all of this is part of what God had purposed to glorify himself through my life, which leads us to the second thing. Paul says in times of affliction, Remember these truths. <br /><br /> Johnny Erickson Tata. Many of you know, she'll actually be speaking at the Global Leadership Summit, which we're hosting again this, summer. She'll be on video. I don't want you. I don't want to over promise. but Johnny Erickson Tata as a 17 year old, had a swimming accident that left her, a paraplegic in a wheelchair from the neck down. <br /><br /> And soon after she had had the accident, she attended a group of young people that had had life altering accidents. And one of the girls that was there was a 17 year old high school cheerleader, named Denise Walt, Denise Walters. Denise Walters was a Christian, as Johnny was, and she had been at her high school, and one day going up the steps, running up the steps at her school, her legs just gave out, and she fell, and she went home, and by the next day, she woke up, and she was paralyzed from the waist down. <br /><br /> A week later, she was paralyzed from the neck down. A few weeks later she was blind and they found out that she had a, progressive, rapid progressive multiple sclerosis. She died five years later. She was a gentle, God loving, Christ centered believer. Very quiet, very content in her faith. And Johnny did life with her. <br /><br /> The more she did life with her friend, the more she admired her, but the more she struggled with God. And she said, how did this make any sense? And she said, you know, I'm, I'm an outgoing personality. I, I, you know, I, but this girl, how did this help anything? How did this benefit anything? And Johnny tells the story of being in a Bible study and she was expressing her own anguish after Denise's death. <br /><br /> And a friend of hers read to her Ephesians 3 10. that Denise was living her life with an audience all the time. She then read to her Luke 15 10, where angels are rejoicing over one sinner that repents. She read her the story of Job, Job 1, where angels are so actively involved in the process of Job's situation and are actually talking about Job before God. <br /><br /> And Johnny looked at that and reflected on those passages and realized that all that was happening in her life, Denise's life, and everyone's life, happens in front of a council of angels and devils, maybe millions. And if you were to tell somebody today that, man, if I could just before I die, if I could just go on, you know, get before a camera and declare my faith and my love for Christ and what Jesus means to me and impact, well, <br /><br /> brother or sister, you're on camera today, and the camera isn't just before your neighbors or friends or even all Americans. It's angelic beings, myriads, millions, pros and cons towards God and His grace. And our response is this. reflecting <br /><br /> how great a God we really have. How I respond. I've thought about this many times. How I respond to temptation, which no one will ever know when I'm sitting in front of a computer. How I respond to worries, which nobody would know are actually eating my lunch. And there have been those seasons where I didn't win the victory. <br /><br /> But how precious are those moments when I've been able to say, Lord, Right now, I want to honor you before the audience and say, he's better. He's better than this thing. He's better than my giving way to my worry. He's trustworthy. I can give it to him. John Erickson, after reflecting on this passage, went to the mother of Denise Walters, and she wrote this statement. <br /><br /> She said, I am sure that the angels and demons looked on with amazement and awe as they watched your daughter honor her savior by praise, trust, and contentment. <br /><br /> You're never too alone. You're never too abandoned. You're never in too lone, too much lonely darkness to not be bringing glory to the one who rescued you, who wanted you. Paul says to these believers, guys, I know I probably sort of, I hit a trigger here when I mentioned that I'm in prison for you Gentiles. <br /><br /> But it was true. It was because of his identifying with them that he had been hated by the Jews and was ultimately in jail. But he said, I love this. It's for your glory. And my theater stage is a little nine by nine or whatever it is. That's the cell that in Rome, they actually associated with where Paul was. <br /><br /> My little place. is where I am declaring your grace. You're there in Ephesus. You're part of a cosmic plan. You're not only a part. You're not only recipients of grace. You are participants in grace declaring the wonder and the greatness of God. He said the gospel made all this happen. The gospel speaks to discouraged people. <br /><br /> It speaks to people that feel alone, that feel confused, that feel second class, that feel less than. And he said, Man, it's not how God looks at this at all. Remember who he is. Remember who you are. And he says, I hope that you will then not lose heart. Because of heavy things that you're hearing about my situation, Lord <br /><br /> is going to come stuff today, certainly tomorrow, where we're going to have an opportunity to remind ourselves that we're living before a celestial audience. Lord, help us by your grace to remember the joy. of trusting you, of glorifying you. An audience infinitely bigger and wider and more prominent than we'll ever have in a human arena. <br /><br /> Lord, thank you for the tapestry of grace you've created in the body of Christ, that the very people whose triggers are so different from ours and make it hard to do life together are also there to declare this thing only works because of God. All glory, is only God's. Lord, may we find encouragement in that gospel today. <br /><br /> In Jesus name. Amen.</div> false no <![CDATA[Walls of Hostility vs Unity in the Rubble]]> Ephesians 2:11-21

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility



Sermon Transcript:

We're going to be in chapter two,

and as you get there, just want to make an observation that ants make tunnels, birds make nests, humans make walls. This is a poor image of the Great Wall of China. Joke's on you, the Great Wall of China actually is pixelated. Um, no, I just gave the wrong image. But, uh, the Great Wall of China took over 2, 000 years to complete, dating back to the 7th century B.

C. It is arguably the greatest man made feat in the history of the world. stretches over 5, 500 miles on its northern border. The Berlin Wall separated East and West Germany. Although the wall covered just over a hundred miles, it became a worldwide symbol of the struggle and fight between communism and democracy for the whole world.

One of the most famous statements in the last hundred years came from Ronald Reagan when he said about this wall,

Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall. Exactly. In the ancient and powerful city of Troy, there was this seemingly impenetrable wall. The Greeks tried for 10 years to take this Turkish city, but could not get through the wall. And history debates whether the Trojan horse was true or not, as far as them finally getting past the walls.

Walls are for one reason. They're for protection. People groups will spend hundreds of years, tremendous amount of effort and capital to protect our people from those people. Walls are made to keep the invaders out. We come to this passage in the book of Ephesians and it's An incredibly personal one to Paul.

He's writing this letter to the Ephesians, and, uh, he is talking about an actual, historical, well known wall that was in the ancient Near East. A wall that had with it life and death, protection and consequence. It's one of several walls that Jesus tears down. Humans make walls often for good reasons.

Jesus tears down walls. We need to learn to live and love one another in the rubble. Will you pray with me?

Lord, there are so many things that, uh, divide us. So many points of, uh, frustration we can have with one another. So many things and bits of dissension that the enemy of our souls wants to rise up and well up within us. Dearest God as Paul pleaded for the Ephesian church. So do we plead for hours and the churches around us?

May we be atmospheres of grace. May our children grow up in places where they know. The people of the church love each other, root for each other, have hope for each other, and care about other people around the world who claim the same name of Jesus. We give our time to you this morning, in Jesus name, Amen.

Okay. We're going to go through the text. It is, uh, chapter two, starting in verse 11, starting very simply with the word, therefore, now you've probably heard this. Whenever you see the word, therefore you ask, what is it? Therefore, I actually can hear your boredom when you say that. Okay. Therefore. Right. So why is the word there for what's the argument?

What's the hinge? My shoelace is untied and that's going to bother me. What's the hinge on which this, therefore, is pulling on, like, is, is transitioning? Last week, Pastor Mark talked about this incredible passage in the beginning of Ephesians 2, For it is by grace you've been saved, it's not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.

In this gift of grace that we have in the vertical dimension, that we don't, no longer have to live before Christ, but can live after Christ. After Christ transitioning from B. C. to A. D. and we have reconciled back to God. That is a big argument to hinge. That is a big argument to leverage. He says, because of this great grace you are given, therefore, therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh called the uncircumcision by which is called the circumcision which is made in the flesh by hands.

This passage is specifically talking to Gentiles. Now the Ephesian church. Is made up of both jew and gentile the ephesian letter that paul sends is written to both jewish And gentile christian it would be distributed to churches around the asian community of churches that would include churches that are jewish and gentile some more majority jewish some more more majority gentile, but in this specific passage That we have in 2, starting in 11, Paul takes in a target specifically to the Gentile believers.

Verse 12, he says, Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ. Okay, here's what I want to do. In Collingswood, you have to do this too, all right? So you over here, you're going to be separated. Let me hear separated. Separated, good. Okay, that you can make that the Ralph section in Collingswood, okay?

You right here, you're going to be alienated. Let me hear alienated. Alienated. I'll show you where that is. Alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and you guys right here, you're strangers. Yeah, that fits. Okay. All right. I want to hear strangers. Strangers. Okay. And then goes on having no hope without God.

You guys are going to be without God. Let's hear it. Without God. Yeah, you're not awake yet. Okay, you need God. Um, but now in Christ Jesus you were once far off and have been brought near by the blood of Jesus. Okay, by the blood of Christ. Alright, so where are we again? You guys remember yours? Separated, you're alienated, strangers and, Without God.

Good. Alright. So this is the diagnosis. This is the situation that the Gentile people found themselves in. And he goes on to verse 13, but says, Now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ, for he himself is our peace, who made us both one, and has broken down in his flesh, for The dividing wall of hostility dividing wall of hostility.

Do we have that image to put back here? Okay, so dividing wall of hostility now, this is a this is an image of the temple This is a second temple built. This is the temple that was around in the time of jesus It was built by herod and it is a giant temple. See this right here That's a football field.

This is 450 acres. This is a tremendously large temple. Now in the temple, you ever hear Solomon's portico, it's talked about an axe, that's like these things, the hallway things, you can get out of the rain, out of the sun, it's like Go underneath there. Then there's the courtyard. This is where a lot of the sacrifices would take place both Jew and Gentile could offer sacrifices in the Courtyard there was however an inner place that was not allowed for the Gentiles There was a wall built about a five foot wall Stone wall the called the sore egg or the Gentile wall that would keep out You Anyone, any of the Jewish people trying to, or any of the Gentile people trying to get in, there was 13 different openings, but you could not enter past that place unless you were an Israelite.

And there's other walls that you see within the walls. And some of them are for priests. Some of them are for high priests. Some of them are for different people groups. But all of the people within that section would have to be Jewish people. The walls were dividing who could do what. Who could enter and who could not.

Where verse 15 says this, by abolishing the law of the commandments expressed in ordinances that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two. So making peace and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing, here's our word again, the hostility, this wall of hostility.

At the entrance of each of the 13 spots going into that where Israel only was allowed to enter, there was an inscription. In 1871, we found one of these, and since we found another one of these, Josephus talks about these as well. Here is the inscription. If you would read that aloud with me. It says this, No foreigner is allowed to enter within the balustrade surrounding the sanctuary and the court.

Whoever is caught will be personally responsible for his ensuing death. If a Gentile walked in to this area, that Gentile was to be put to death. Now here's the interesting thing. This letter was written by who? Paul. Do you know where Paul was when he wrote the letter? He's in jail. Exactly. In Ephesians 4, 1 says, I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus.

You know what he says? For the sake of you Gentiles. So what does that mean? He's in prison when writing the letter to Ephesus because in Acts 21 while in Jerusalem this happens fellow Israelites This is the man who teaches talking about Paul who teaches everyone against our people in our law and place and besides He has brought Greeks who are Gentiles into the temple and defiled this holy place They had previously seen trophimus the Ephesian Okay, lots of points of connection.

In the city with Paul and assumed that Paul had brought him into the temple. So in Acts 21, what happens is Paul brought some Greeks, how dare he, some Gentiles to Jerusalem and was explained to them about Jesus and because they were simply with Paul and they knew Paul was buddies with them, they figured not only did he bring them, but he brought specifically Trophimus.

All the way in to where only Israel, so not only should Trophimus be put to death, but Paul himself is imprisoned, falsely, because there's no evidence that he actually did that. But Paul is being accused of taking an Ephesian Gentile. Into this place and he's writing to the Ephesian church Wally's in jail looking back who knows how many days distance that was Writing this letter and saying listen, i'm here because I believe this I'm here because I brought Greeks to the city, and then they even accused me of more than what I did.

17 says, And he came and preached peace to you who were far off, talking about Jesus, and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father. Okay, this is cool. Access to the Father. Um, so, we know that there are more walls that Jesus broke down. Right? Access to the Father. What does that mean?

Where does that go? Right? The sense of we have access to the Holy of Holies. So this right here. Can you see when I point there, or am I just like, yeah, okay. One person in blue shirt, Ken, that was awesome. Okay. In the Holy of Holies, that's where only the high priest could enter how often? Once a year. Okay.

So he gets once a year. Then the high priest can hang out out here with also in the court. This is the court of the priest. Now if you're not a priest or Levite, you can't hang out in the court. If you're not a high priest, you can't hang out in there. And even if you're a high priest, you can only get there one time.

And what's separated in here was called the most holy of holies. It's separated by an 18 inch thick curtain, which when Christ died was rent in two. It was the wall that Jesus broke down. He broke down the holy of holies to the high, to the priests. But then there's another wall, because we see in 1st Peter, where Jesus, where, where, um, Peter says to the church, he says, you are now a royal what?

Priesthood. He's breaking down that wall. So not only could, is the wall to the priest eliminated, the wall to the holy, holy is eliminated. Now Paul is also saying the wall from Gentile to Jew was eliminated. That's two things, super awesome and super hard to digest. You're telling me Trophimus, that Greek from Ephesus, the one who was lucky to hang out here, gets to waltz right in, right past every wall.

That's a lot for a Jewish believer to swallow. So Paul doubles down. He says this. You guys were, uh, you. Which one? Were you separated? Yeah. Okay. Alright, so he says you are no longer, wait, which one were you? See, I'm just testing you. You are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens and saints, no longer separated but members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple in the Lord.

In Him, you are being built together, okay, those of you, the tired people over here, without God people. Being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. Jesus takes down the walls. Five questions that I want to take from the text this morning. The first question is, in order to apply this, we don't have some of the, uh, we, we live in a different culture than when this letter was written.

Our walls of hostility look a little bit different, as they would in different times in history. So, so important where Paul is directly writing to, to these Gentile believers, with these Jewish people reading, He's identifying that which creates hostility and speaking of Christ, bridging the gap. But to look at this text in our own life, in our own church context, we have to ask this question.

Who was on the other side of my wall? And what I'd like you to do, if you got a pen and you're writing notes, please take out your pen. I'll give you a second to do this because I, I don't believe in preaching if it's not going to, we're not going to apply it, right? So if you got, if you're like, I don't have a pen, well get a note on your phone.

That's fine. But we'd like you to get out, take a second to get something you can write down and like you'd identify who might be on the other side of your wall. Maybe it's someone from your experience that you were hurt by a type of Christianity. And so you want to celebrate how you found freedom. And maybe throw shade on those people that, from which you felt bondage.

Maybe the people on the other side of their wall have to do with how they live out their faith. Faith, maybe you feel their faith is dry and stuck in their head, elite and ivory, towerish, arrogant maybe. Or maybe you feel like it's the type of people who, who think experience, are all about experience and you feel they cheapen the depth of riches with their, uh, simple K love and bumper stickers.

Or Facebook posts that say, share if you love Jesus seven times and He'll bless you. Like, you're like, I can't stand how cheap that is. Maybe the people on the other side of your wall are political. You just can't seem to understand how a person who follows Jesus could possibly think that way. Could lean that far right.

Could lean that far left. Could lean that far not caring. Maybe it's a secondary theological issues. You You agree with them about Jesus, that he is the way to God, but you have such a hard time with some of the other ways that they interpret the scriptures. Maybe you have people on the other side of your wall might be personal, might be part of your family you just don't like, might be a person that you, you can't stand them, and you really hate that they have Jesus too.

Because the association of that with me with Christ is painful for you. And maybe you are here and you're like, I don't know much about this Christian thing and I didn't even know y'all fought ever. We do. We have a lot of judgements towards each other. Um, we have a lot of thoughts against each other at times.

We usually gather in groups that think similarly. And then often take the worst arguments from the other group to prove how smart that we are. We do do that. We often make really big things out of things that aren't that big. We do. We're sorry for that. If, if you're from the, on the outside looking in, It is because we care a lot, and we really want to live well, but in the midst of that we can, uh, lose sight of the blood bought importance of unity.

It's why a lot of Ephesians was written, actually, because since the history of forever, the church is getting a bunch of difference. To come together in the same Christ, but the closer that they get, the more they bump into each other. In chapter 3, which we'll get to, which is the transition of practicality in this book, simply Paul will say this, transition into practicality, we're still in theology, we'll move to practicality.

In 3, he says this, for this reason, I Paul, prisoner, oh I'm sorry, chapter 4, I already read that one. Chapter 4, in the transition after the first three chapters of theology in Ephesians says, I therefore, prisoner of the Lord. Urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling i've been you have been called with all humility And gentleness with patience bearing with one another in love eager to maintain The unity of the spirit and the bond of peace yearning eager Looking to maintain that well in this hostility So first questions who is on the other side of the wall really would like you to write that down You Whether that's a person, a group, a type of Christian.

Secondly, who brings the hostility, right? Where does the hostility come from? Okay, there's a wall, but the wall is named Sarag. It wasn't named hostile, right? Why is a wall, an inanimate object, hostile? Walls don't have weapons, right? Where does the hostility come from? Well, first, it comes from the circumstance.

It comes from the circumstance that some are allowed in and some are not allowed in. Some are, some are allowed to walk right through without even thinking about it and some have to stop and say I never can go there. Immediately that creates an us and them, right? The circumstances of being different well up hostility.

Circumstances do. But secondly, we do. As soon as someone I know is different than me, my next question is, well, who's better? Who's more right? Oh, you think this, and this, I think this. How can I convince myself that I think better? Or join you, right? But it's always, we, we have these valuations and ways of, of, uh, elevation.

And when we're different, we don't, we have a hard time just saying, okay, we're different on that. We want to be able to say we're better on that. We do. And the other answer is they do. Whoever they are, right? The, the nature of division is both groups on a different, on different size and issue are doing the same thing.

It both, both the we and the they. Um, remember the show Lost? This is probably Dating Me. Wow, that's what old people say. That's Dating Me. Okay, I'm in the Dating Me category. But, there's a show called Lost and they like, somehow weirdly, mystically found themselves on an island and they're like learning to survive.

These people didn't know each other at all. But they were all on the same plane. That's what they had in common. And then, There was another group of people that were on the island, and they didn't know who they were, or what they were like. Immediately, because these strangers were on a plane, they found out that these people existed, and you know what they called them?

The Others, right? They're not us! What'd you have in common? I don't know, that guy was in 46B. Like, the, the com, thing in common was just that we were on a plane, but then there was this little bond, so, so that we could create an us. And then we found out that they existed, and we weren't in us. That was enough difference to make them of them.

And much of the show is the rival between these groups. Why? Because one of them's us, and one of them is them. Hostility comes from us, and it comes from them. My guess is whoever you wrote on that sheet, whatever group you write on that sheet, You know how they can make hostility. It's a little tougher sometimes to know how we make it, but you can tell hostility comes.

Okay, who breaks down the walls? In the text, where the walls come down? The circumstances don't break down the walls. There's no circumstance that we see break down the walls of, um, this wall hostility that Paul's talking about. Also, it's not the Christians that would, would, um, or the Jewish Christians that would say, you know what, we welcome you in.

It's not the Gentile Christians say, you know what, we're going to waltz right in. And that's going to somehow figure this out. Paul says this in his argument for unity for he himself is our peace. He who has made us both one and has broken down in the flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances That he might create himself one new man in place of two so making peace and might reconcile us Stay with me here both to God in one body through the cross there by killing hostility So what happens?

It's Jesus that walks through the wall. It's Jesus that lays down and says, You want to kill somebody? Kill me. And it says, through one body, He put to death hostility. And I love this, I love this, what Paul says. It doesn't say he gives us peace. He makes peace. He supplies peace. It says he himself, not was our peace, is our peace.

Peace is animate. Peace is alive. It's a gift of a living being. That's what bridges the hostility. Christians and Christian groups will only find peace together if he's around, among us, around us. And, and, because you know what? Walls have a good reason. I'm not sitting here in judgment of China, like, how could you build that wall?

You were scared of those people because they wanted to kill you. Right? Troy, don't build a wall. Let the Greeks take over your city. Well, no. Right? The reason we build walls is because there's threat. The reason why Christians can love one another without fear is because we have a king who's bigger than the threat.

And he can fight his own battles. In the Ephesian church, where this will be read, we'll go on to talk about husbands, wives, kids, um, masters, servants. You know who it's being read to? That master who's sitting next to that servant, that servant, who's really hoping it says overthrow that master. That's hope really open saying, get in line.

That husband that's really hoping to say, do this, that woman who wants this, this, this, this child who wants to hear this. They're all together in one room trying to figure it out. They got all kinds of different opinions, all kinds of different perspectives. The only way forward is if He Himself is there and is our peace.

Fourth question, I think it's four, somewhere like that. Um, why do we build back up? Why do we build back up walls? And we could say we don't, but come on, this is human. We do this. And it's not, this, Christians don't have the corner on this, right? You like doctors and you'll be like, the other doctors are so dumb because of this, this, and this.

I don't know why I'm typing. But like, like, whatever group of people, they're often throwing shade on the people like them. And you're like, well, they've always thought this, but the real thing is this, right? People disagree when they care so much about stuff and we build up walls between each other.

Humans do that. Yeah. But why do we do that? That's one of the things I was thinking this week. It's like what, what, what mobilizes us? What, why do we, why do we like to fight so much? Someone, a neighbor, a non christian neighbor talked about, um, in our, in our colleagues with campus, they talked about if they were an alien species.

And I'm like, well, I don't know if I believe in you, but no, I didn't go there, but you're the aliens, right? Wasn't that right? Um, but talking about if they were an alien species and they come look at the earth, said, you take this really, really big picture. uh, intelligent species, this human species. And again, this is not they're in the image of God.

It's just an argument of like, wow, how smart people are. But then you say, but they fight all the time. Yeah. This, this, this part hates this part. This part loves this part, this part. And they, why, why, if we're so smart, do we fight so much? What do we get out of it? Now, I do want to say that when we're talking about the church throughout our history, We've had to take stands to define what is orthodox and what is not.

We have a doctrinal statement for our church to say, hey, if you want to be a part of our church, this is what we believe. In constructing that doctrinal statement, we're, we're saying there are load bearing walls. There are walls that help define what is true, what is orthodox. This has happened throughout the history of the church.

This is why the creeds and the councils has happened. There are, there are edges to what we believe and that are taught in this church. There are times in history, there'll be times for this church, when those walls have been threatened and they need to be upheld. But after being in church leadership for 23 years, I can tell you that the vast amount of hostility that Christians have with other Christians are not about load bearing walls.

The problem is that we erect walls between ourselves and the house of God that are about smaller things. Convenient things. Cosmetic things. Partition walls. But why? I think first is it's help us. It helps us to be less messy. When we are similar and agree with everybody in the room. I think the early church would have been less messy too.

If it's like, okay, wow, Jewish Gentiles, your whole framework, your whole habits, your whole, like, viewpoints on a million things are different. Let's create a Jewish church. Christian Church and a Gentile Christian Church. That's not what happened. Or, you know what? There are some people who are higher on the socioeconomic, some people are on the lower socioeconomic, some people are a lot more intelligent, a lot of people can't read.

Let's just divide them up to like, have this group here and that group there, so that there's not that messy. See, when Jesus breaks down walls, there's rubble. It's tough. All of a sudden, we're seeing people who are different than us, or representing Jesus in a way that's like, Oh, I don't know. And it's uncomfortable.

I remember when I moved back from, um, Chicago, and I was there for ten years, and I told my wife, Babe, I'm gonna take you to Wawa. And you know what she said? What is Wawa? And I'm like, It's not Wawa. I'm gonna take you to Wawa. It's my people, right? And I take her in, and don't judge her too much, judge her a little.

She went in and said, Oh, it's like a 7 Eleven. A 7 Eleven? That's beef jerky to filet mignon, like you don't say 7 Eleven, it's like wah wah. It's my people. It's easier when people have similar backgrounds to you. People different than us. The first thing is they feel like threat. They scare us. And I think this is something true for me.

I really wanna seem smart. It's important to me, and it feels good when I can really figure out in my mind that other people are wrong.

It feels good to be able to take maybe their worst argument and poke holes in it.

And then lastly, I think we react stronger to what we disagree with than what we agree with. Um, I didn't experiment this. Last week, where I wrote, like, 20 incendiary extreme statements. And I had different staff members walk in and read the statements. I, I mean, I was talking about guns, social media, child raising, 2020 election, racism, COVID, vaccine, social media, like, anything that people fight over, I was, like, just putting it, it, lots of statements.

And I had people read it. Jared literally just like laughed through the list, like, Oh, ho, ho, ho, are you gonna read these? Ryan, like, had a little breakdown, like, Oh, why? No, no fighting. But different people, different reactions. But I asked the question to the staff, Do you react more to the statements you more agree with?

Or to the statements you more disagree with? Whatever side of whatever issue that I could think of that you were on. Not one person said, why I reacted more than what I agreed with. We react more strongly to what we disagree with, and that's definitely true for me. Things that I disagree with bother me more than the things I agree with make me happy.

There's just something in us, and some of that, right, is our natural wiring to look for safety. And that's natural, and that's what, I don't think, I think that's just part of being a human. But, but see, part of being a Christian is to say the threat of hostility was taken out on that body, leading to our last question of why should we leave these walls that are torn down.

Ephesians 4 that we just read, make every effort, make every effort.

You know what, look at the group on your phone or your page, over that I read, make every effort to keep the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace. Why should we leave the walls torn down? Because broken walls demonstrate the power of a Savior who can break them. Broken walls keep us needing the Savior to stay around because He Himself remains our peace and the only way we can do community well.

And lastly, broken walls testify to a unity, not a uniformity that we agree on everything, but that unity is possible. Because his love is greater than our fear and tribalism. We live in a pretty divided time and, and that's historically in our country we're pretty divided. And we've been divided through many, many points of history throughout the world.

But I wrote this statement and I want one to read it specifically. Our testimony to the world is not bringing them, the world, into narrow closets of theology. explaining why our particular version of Christianity is better than the other versions. It's bringing them into seeing a Savior who loves and helps us live out unity in the rubble of broken down walls.

This world does not need more arguments and othering. This world needs to see people who are different from each other, disagree on some things, and still live together in love. Our unity, dear church. Is our testimony living in unity will always take Tremendous courage peacemaking is always bloody. You know, why because it's walking into conflict all the time

Last question for you on your notes this morning. What is my plan for dismantling? This wall of hostility with jesus's help again. We can't just leave it in theory We're about to go through an election season. Man, was that rough last time. Boy, does it look just as rough this time. No matter where you line up.

What is your plan for dismantling the walls of hostility that you will face? And I just, one thing as you think of a plan, I would like you to write it if you would. It should include relationship. Get to know someone who can give the best arguments for why they think the other thing is right. Put a face on it and things change.

The Amazon River has no bridges. It's over 4, 000 miles long. They just recently built a bridge over one of the tributaries as it comes into the Amazon River. But in the Amazon River, um, which produces more water than any river in the world, there are zero bridges. The factors of the Amazon River make bridge building really hard.

During dry seasons, it's just, there's very narrow waterways comparatively. And during rain, rainy seasons, there can be miles and miles wide. Also, there's something about the sediment that flows in the Amazon river that moves the ground around quite a bit. The ground is always shifting. So it's difficult, um, environment to build bridges on.

Whoever builds the first bridge over a significant portion of the Amazon, it will be a remarkable testament to their engineering.

We live in a time where there is quite a bit of division. There's a lot of division even within the church. It's not an easy time to build bridges. There's some factors that work against that. We can bemoan that. And we can also say, wow, what an incredible time for the Christian testimony of the unity of the church.

Our opinions are not our testimony. Our unity is. Lord, we thank you. Guys, thank you for Paul, sitting there in jail. And not grumpy, railing against the people who stuck him there for falsely accusing him. Not, not frustrated at what's wrong with those Jews that they didn't let people in. Not yelling at the Gentiles of how come you don't do this.

Not even starting a free Trophimus campaign. Just saying, please, recognize the gift of Jesus, because in Him, peace and unity, though found in rubble, though often bloody, is possible, because our peace is alive. In that living peace, we pray. Amen.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/walls-of-hostility-vs-unity-in-the-rubble 2108640b-440a-4be1-92ce-df234ecae69d Sun, 21 Apr 2024 13:08:53 GMT <div data-html="true">Ephesians 2:11-21 <br /><br /> But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> We're going to be in chapter two, <br /><br /> and as you get there, just want to make an observation that ants make tunnels, birds make nests, humans make walls. This is a poor image of the Great Wall of China. Joke's on you, the Great Wall of China actually is pixelated. Um, no, I just gave the wrong image. But, uh, the Great Wall of China took over 2, 000 years to complete, dating back to the 7th century B. <br /><br /> C. It is arguably the greatest man made feat in the history of the world. stretches over 5, 500 miles on its northern border. The Berlin Wall separated East and West Germany. Although the wall covered just over a hundred miles, it became a worldwide symbol of the struggle and fight between communism and democracy for the whole world. <br /><br /> One of the most famous statements in the last hundred years came from Ronald Reagan when he said about this wall, <br /><br /> Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall. Exactly. In the ancient and powerful city of Troy, there was this seemingly impenetrable wall. The Greeks tried for 10 years to take this Turkish city, but could not get through the wall. And history debates whether the Trojan horse was true or not, as far as them finally getting past the walls. <br /><br /> Walls are for one reason. They're for protection. People groups will spend hundreds of years, tremendous amount of effort and capital to protect our people from those people. Walls are made to keep the invaders out. We come to this passage in the book of Ephesians and it's An incredibly personal one to Paul. <br /><br /> He's writing this letter to the Ephesians, and, uh, he is talking about an actual, historical, well known wall that was in the ancient Near East. A wall that had with it life and death, protection and consequence. It's one of several walls that Jesus tears down. Humans make walls often for good reasons. <br /><br /> Jesus tears down walls. We need to learn to live and love one another in the rubble. Will you pray with me? <br /><br /> Lord, there are so many things that, uh, divide us. So many points of, uh, frustration we can have with one another. So many things and bits of dissension that the enemy of our souls wants to rise up and well up within us. Dearest God as Paul pleaded for the Ephesian church. So do we plead for hours and the churches around us? <br /><br /> May we be atmospheres of grace. May our children grow up in places where they know. The people of the church love each other, root for each other, have hope for each other, and care about other people around the world who claim the same name of Jesus. We give our time to you this morning, in Jesus name, Amen. <br /><br /> Okay. We're going to go through the text. It is, uh, chapter two, starting in verse 11, starting very simply with the word, therefore, now you've probably heard this. Whenever you see the word, therefore you ask, what is it? Therefore, I actually can hear your boredom when you say that. Okay. Therefore. Right. So why is the word there for what's the argument? <br /><br /> What's the hinge? My shoelace is untied and that's going to bother me. What's the hinge on which this, therefore, is pulling on, like, is, is transitioning? Last week, Pastor Mark talked about this incredible passage in the beginning of Ephesians 2, For it is by grace you've been saved, it's not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. <br /><br /> In this gift of grace that we have in the vertical dimension, that we don't, no longer have to live before Christ, but can live after Christ. After Christ transitioning from B. C. to A. D. and we have reconciled back to God. That is a big argument to hinge. That is a big argument to leverage. He says, because of this great grace you are given, therefore, therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh called the uncircumcision by which is called the circumcision which is made in the flesh by hands. <br /><br /> This passage is specifically talking to Gentiles. Now the Ephesian church. Is made up of both jew and gentile the ephesian letter that paul sends is written to both jewish And gentile christian it would be distributed to churches around the asian community of churches that would include churches that are jewish and gentile some more majority jewish some more more majority gentile, but in this specific passage That we have in 2, starting in 11, Paul takes in a target specifically to the Gentile believers. <br /><br /> Verse 12, he says, Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ. Okay, here's what I want to do. In Collingswood, you have to do this too, all right? So you over here, you're going to be separated. Let me hear separated. Separated, good. Okay, that you can make that the Ralph section in Collingswood, okay? <br /><br /> You right here, you're going to be alienated. Let me hear alienated. Alienated. I'll show you where that is. Alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and you guys right here, you're strangers. Yeah, that fits. Okay. All right. I want to hear strangers. Strangers. Okay. And then goes on having no hope without God. <br /><br /> You guys are going to be without God. Let's hear it. Without God. Yeah, you're not awake yet. Okay, you need God. Um, but now in Christ Jesus you were once far off and have been brought near by the blood of Jesus. Okay, by the blood of Christ. Alright, so where are we again? You guys remember yours? Separated, you're alienated, strangers and, Without God. <br /><br /> Good. Alright. So this is the diagnosis. This is the situation that the Gentile people found themselves in. And he goes on to verse 13, but says, Now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ, for he himself is our peace, who made us both one, and has broken down in his flesh, for The dividing wall of hostility dividing wall of hostility. <br /><br /> Do we have that image to put back here? Okay, so dividing wall of hostility now, this is a this is an image of the temple This is a second temple built. This is the temple that was around in the time of jesus It was built by herod and it is a giant temple. See this right here That's a football field. <br /><br /> This is 450 acres. This is a tremendously large temple. Now in the temple, you ever hear Solomon's portico, it's talked about an axe, that's like these things, the hallway things, you can get out of the rain, out of the sun, it's like Go underneath there. Then there's the courtyard. This is where a lot of the sacrifices would take place both Jew and Gentile could offer sacrifices in the Courtyard there was however an inner place that was not allowed for the Gentiles There was a wall built about a five foot wall Stone wall the called the sore egg or the Gentile wall that would keep out You Anyone, any of the Jewish people trying to, or any of the Gentile people trying to get in, there was 13 different openings, but you could not enter past that place unless you were an Israelite. <br /><br /> And there's other walls that you see within the walls. And some of them are for priests. Some of them are for high priests. Some of them are for different people groups. But all of the people within that section would have to be Jewish people. The walls were dividing who could do what. Who could enter and who could not. <br /><br /> Where verse 15 says this, by abolishing the law of the commandments expressed in ordinances that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two. So making peace and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing, here's our word again, the hostility, this wall of hostility. <br /><br /> At the entrance of each of the 13 spots going into that where Israel only was allowed to enter, there was an inscription. In 1871, we found one of these, and since we found another one of these, Josephus talks about these as well. Here is the inscription. If you would read that aloud with me. It says this, No foreigner is allowed to enter within the balustrade surrounding the sanctuary and the court. <br /><br /> Whoever is caught will be personally responsible for his ensuing death. If a Gentile walked in to this area, that Gentile was to be put to death. Now here's the interesting thing. This letter was written by who? Paul. Do you know where Paul was when he wrote the letter? He's in jail. Exactly. In Ephesians 4, 1 says, I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus. <br /><br /> You know what he says? For the sake of you Gentiles. So what does that mean? He's in prison when writing the letter to Ephesus because in Acts 21 while in Jerusalem this happens fellow Israelites This is the man who teaches talking about Paul who teaches everyone against our people in our law and place and besides He has brought Greeks who are Gentiles into the temple and defiled this holy place They had previously seen trophimus the Ephesian Okay, lots of points of connection. <br /><br /> In the city with Paul and assumed that Paul had brought him into the temple. So in Acts 21, what happens is Paul brought some Greeks, how dare he, some Gentiles to Jerusalem and was explained to them about Jesus and because they were simply with Paul and they knew Paul was buddies with them, they figured not only did he bring them, but he brought specifically Trophimus. <br /><br /> All the way in to where only Israel, so not only should Trophimus be put to death, but Paul himself is imprisoned, falsely, because there's no evidence that he actually did that. But Paul is being accused of taking an Ephesian Gentile. Into this place and he's writing to the Ephesian church Wally's in jail looking back who knows how many days distance that was Writing this letter and saying listen, i'm here because I believe this I'm here because I brought Greeks to the city, and then they even accused me of more than what I did. <br /><br /> 17 says, And he came and preached peace to you who were far off, talking about Jesus, and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father. Okay, this is cool. Access to the Father. Um, so, we know that there are more walls that Jesus broke down. Right? Access to the Father. What does that mean? <br /><br /> Where does that go? Right? The sense of we have access to the Holy of Holies. So this right here. Can you see when I point there, or am I just like, yeah, okay. One person in blue shirt, Ken, that was awesome. Okay. In the Holy of Holies, that's where only the high priest could enter how often? Once a year. Okay. <br /><br /> So he gets once a year. Then the high priest can hang out out here with also in the court. This is the court of the priest. Now if you're not a priest or Levite, you can't hang out in the court. If you're not a high priest, you can't hang out in there. And even if you're a high priest, you can only get there one time. <br /><br /> And what's separated in here was called the most holy of holies. It's separated by an 18 inch thick curtain, which when Christ died was rent in two. It was the wall that Jesus broke down. He broke down the holy of holies to the high, to the priests. But then there's another wall, because we see in 1st Peter, where Jesus, where, where, um, Peter says to the church, he says, you are now a royal what? <br /><br /> Priesthood. He's breaking down that wall. So not only could, is the wall to the priest eliminated, the wall to the holy, holy is eliminated. Now Paul is also saying the wall from Gentile to Jew was eliminated. That's two things, super awesome and super hard to digest. You're telling me Trophimus, that Greek from Ephesus, the one who was lucky to hang out here, gets to waltz right in, right past every wall. <br /><br /> That's a lot for a Jewish believer to swallow. So Paul doubles down. He says this. You guys were, uh, you. Which one? Were you separated? Yeah. Okay. Alright, so he says you are no longer, wait, which one were you? See, I'm just testing you. You are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens and saints, no longer separated but members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple in the Lord. <br /><br /> In Him, you are being built together, okay, those of you, the tired people over here, without God people. Being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. Jesus takes down the walls. Five questions that I want to take from the text this morning. The first question is, in order to apply this, we don't have some of the, uh, we, we live in a different culture than when this letter was written. <br /><br /> Our walls of hostility look a little bit different, as they would in different times in history. So, so important where Paul is directly writing to, to these Gentile believers, with these Jewish people reading, He's identifying that which creates hostility and speaking of Christ, bridging the gap. But to look at this text in our own life, in our own church context, we have to ask this question. <br /><br /> Who was on the other side of my wall? And what I'd like you to do, if you got a pen and you're writing notes, please take out your pen. I'll give you a second to do this because I, I don't believe in preaching if it's not going to, we're not going to apply it, right? So if you got, if you're like, I don't have a pen, well get a note on your phone. <br /><br /> That's fine. But we'd like you to get out, take a second to get something you can write down and like you'd identify who might be on the other side of your wall. Maybe it's someone from your experience that you were hurt by a type of Christianity. And so you want to celebrate how you found freedom. And maybe throw shade on those people that, from which you felt bondage. <br /><br /> Maybe the people on the other side of their wall have to do with how they live out their faith. Faith, maybe you feel their faith is dry and stuck in their head, elite and ivory, towerish, arrogant maybe. Or maybe you feel like it's the type of people who, who think experience, are all about experience and you feel they cheapen the depth of riches with their, uh, simple K love and bumper stickers. <br /><br /> Or Facebook posts that say, share if you love Jesus seven times and He'll bless you. Like, you're like, I can't stand how cheap that is. Maybe the people on the other side of your wall are political. You just can't seem to understand how a person who follows Jesus could possibly think that way. Could lean that far right. <br /><br /> Could lean that far left. Could lean that far not caring. Maybe it's a secondary theological issues. You You agree with them about Jesus, that he is the way to God, but you have such a hard time with some of the other ways that they interpret the scriptures. Maybe you have people on the other side of your wall might be personal, might be part of your family you just don't like, might be a person that you, you can't stand them, and you really hate that they have Jesus too. <br /><br /> Because the association of that with me with Christ is painful for you. And maybe you are here and you're like, I don't know much about this Christian thing and I didn't even know y'all fought ever. We do. We have a lot of judgements towards each other. Um, we have a lot of thoughts against each other at times. <br /><br /> We usually gather in groups that think similarly. And then often take the worst arguments from the other group to prove how smart that we are. We do do that. We often make really big things out of things that aren't that big. We do. We're sorry for that. If, if you're from the, on the outside looking in, It is because we care a lot, and we really want to live well, but in the midst of that we can, uh, lose sight of the blood bought importance of unity. <br /><br /> It's why a lot of Ephesians was written, actually, because since the history of forever, the church is getting a bunch of difference. To come together in the same Christ, but the closer that they get, the more they bump into each other. In chapter 3, which we'll get to, which is the transition of practicality in this book, simply Paul will say this, transition into practicality, we're still in theology, we'll move to practicality. <br /><br /> In 3, he says this, for this reason, I Paul, prisoner, oh I'm sorry, chapter 4, I already read that one. Chapter 4, in the transition after the first three chapters of theology in Ephesians says, I therefore, prisoner of the Lord. Urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling i've been you have been called with all humility And gentleness with patience bearing with one another in love eager to maintain The unity of the spirit and the bond of peace yearning eager Looking to maintain that well in this hostility So first questions who is on the other side of the wall really would like you to write that down You Whether that's a person, a group, a type of Christian. <br /><br /> Secondly, who brings the hostility, right? Where does the hostility come from? Okay, there's a wall, but the wall is named Sarag. It wasn't named hostile, right? Why is a wall, an inanimate object, hostile? Walls don't have weapons, right? Where does the hostility come from? Well, first, it comes from the circumstance. <br /><br /> It comes from the circumstance that some are allowed in and some are not allowed in. Some are, some are allowed to walk right through without even thinking about it and some have to stop and say I never can go there. Immediately that creates an us and them, right? The circumstances of being different well up hostility. <br /><br /> Circumstances do. But secondly, we do. As soon as someone I know is different than me, my next question is, well, who's better? Who's more right? Oh, you think this, and this, I think this. How can I convince myself that I think better? Or join you, right? But it's always, we, we have these valuations and ways of, of, uh, elevation. <br /><br /> And when we're different, we don't, we have a hard time just saying, okay, we're different on that. We want to be able to say we're better on that. We do. And the other answer is they do. Whoever they are, right? The, the nature of division is both groups on a different, on different size and issue are doing the same thing. <br /><br /> It both, both the we and the they. Um, remember the show Lost? This is probably Dating Me. Wow, that's what old people say. That's Dating Me. Okay, I'm in the Dating Me category. But, there's a show called Lost and they like, somehow weirdly, mystically found themselves on an island and they're like learning to survive. <br /><br /> These people didn't know each other at all. But they were all on the same plane. That's what they had in common. And then, There was another group of people that were on the island, and they didn't know who they were, or what they were like. Immediately, because these strangers were on a plane, they found out that these people existed, and you know what they called them? <br /><br /> The Others, right? They're not us! What'd you have in common? I don't know, that guy was in 46B. Like, the, the com, thing in common was just that we were on a plane, but then there was this little bond, so, so that we could create an us. And then we found out that they existed, and we weren't in us. That was enough difference to make them of them. <br /><br /> And much of the show is the rival between these groups. Why? Because one of them's us, and one of them is them. Hostility comes from us, and it comes from them. My guess is whoever you wrote on that sheet, whatever group you write on that sheet, You know how they can make hostility. It's a little tougher sometimes to know how we make it, but you can tell hostility comes. <br /><br /> Okay, who breaks down the walls? In the text, where the walls come down? The circumstances don't break down the walls. There's no circumstance that we see break down the walls of, um, this wall hostility that Paul's talking about. Also, it's not the Christians that would, would, um, or the Jewish Christians that would say, you know what, we welcome you in. <br /><br /> It's not the Gentile Christians say, you know what, we're going to waltz right in. And that's going to somehow figure this out. Paul says this in his argument for unity for he himself is our peace. He who has made us both one and has broken down in the flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances That he might create himself one new man in place of two so making peace and might reconcile us Stay with me here both to God in one body through the cross there by killing hostility So what happens? <br /><br /> It's Jesus that walks through the wall. It's Jesus that lays down and says, You want to kill somebody? Kill me. And it says, through one body, He put to death hostility. And I love this, I love this, what Paul says. It doesn't say he gives us peace. He makes peace. He supplies peace. It says he himself, not was our peace, is our peace. <br /><br /> Peace is animate. Peace is alive. It's a gift of a living being. That's what bridges the hostility. Christians and Christian groups will only find peace together if he's around, among us, around us. And, and, because you know what? Walls have a good reason. I'm not sitting here in judgment of China, like, how could you build that wall? <br /><br /> You were scared of those people because they wanted to kill you. Right? Troy, don't build a wall. Let the Greeks take over your city. Well, no. Right? The reason we build walls is because there's threat. The reason why Christians can love one another without fear is because we have a king who's bigger than the threat. <br /><br /> And he can fight his own battles. In the Ephesian church, where this will be read, we'll go on to talk about husbands, wives, kids, um, masters, servants. You know who it's being read to? That master who's sitting next to that servant, that servant, who's really hoping it says overthrow that master. That's hope really open saying, get in line. <br /><br /> That husband that's really hoping to say, do this, that woman who wants this, this, this, this child who wants to hear this. They're all together in one room trying to figure it out. They got all kinds of different opinions, all kinds of different perspectives. The only way forward is if He Himself is there and is our peace. <br /><br /> Fourth question, I think it's four, somewhere like that. Um, why do we build back up? Why do we build back up walls? And we could say we don't, but come on, this is human. We do this. And it's not, this, Christians don't have the corner on this, right? You like doctors and you'll be like, the other doctors are so dumb because of this, this, and this. <br /><br /> I don't know why I'm typing. But like, like, whatever group of people, they're often throwing shade on the people like them. And you're like, well, they've always thought this, but the real thing is this, right? People disagree when they care so much about stuff and we build up walls between each other. <br /><br /> Humans do that. Yeah. But why do we do that? That's one of the things I was thinking this week. It's like what, what, what mobilizes us? What, why do we, why do we like to fight so much? Someone, a neighbor, a non christian neighbor talked about, um, in our, in our colleagues with campus, they talked about if they were an alien species. <br /><br /> And I'm like, well, I don't know if I believe in you, but no, I didn't go there, but you're the aliens, right? Wasn't that right? Um, but talking about if they were an alien species and they come look at the earth, said, you take this really, really big picture. uh, intelligent species, this human species. And again, this is not they're in the image of God. <br /><br /> It's just an argument of like, wow, how smart people are. But then you say, but they fight all the time. Yeah. This, this, this part hates this part. This part loves this part, this part. And they, why, why, if we're so smart, do we fight so much? What do we get out of it? Now, I do want to say that when we're talking about the church throughout our history, We've had to take stands to define what is orthodox and what is not. <br /><br /> We have a doctrinal statement for our church to say, hey, if you want to be a part of our church, this is what we believe. In constructing that doctrinal statement, we're, we're saying there are load bearing walls. There are walls that help define what is true, what is orthodox. This has happened throughout the history of the church. <br /><br /> This is why the creeds and the councils has happened. There are, there are edges to what we believe and that are taught in this church. There are times in history, there'll be times for this church, when those walls have been threatened and they need to be upheld. But after being in church leadership for 23 years, I can tell you that the vast amount of hostility that Christians have with other Christians are not about load bearing walls. <br /><br /> The problem is that we erect walls between ourselves and the house of God that are about smaller things. Convenient things. Cosmetic things. Partition walls. But why? I think first is it's help us. It helps us to be less messy. When we are similar and agree with everybody in the room. I think the early church would have been less messy too. <br /><br /> If it's like, okay, wow, Jewish Gentiles, your whole framework, your whole habits, your whole, like, viewpoints on a million things are different. Let's create a Jewish church. Christian Church and a Gentile Christian Church. That's not what happened. Or, you know what? There are some people who are higher on the socioeconomic, some people are on the lower socioeconomic, some people are a lot more intelligent, a lot of people can't read. <br /><br /> Let's just divide them up to like, have this group here and that group there, so that there's not that messy. See, when Jesus breaks down walls, there's rubble. It's tough. All of a sudden, we're seeing people who are different than us, or representing Jesus in a way that's like, Oh, I don't know. And it's uncomfortable. <br /><br /> I remember when I moved back from, um, Chicago, and I was there for ten years, and I told my wife, Babe, I'm gonna take you to Wawa. And you know what she said? What is Wawa? And I'm like, It's not Wawa. I'm gonna take you to Wawa. It's my people, right? And I take her in, and don't judge her too much, judge her a little. <br /><br /> She went in and said, Oh, it's like a 7 Eleven. A 7 Eleven? That's beef jerky to filet mignon, like you don't say 7 Eleven, it's like wah wah. It's my people. It's easier when people have similar backgrounds to you. People different than us. The first thing is they feel like threat. They scare us. And I think this is something true for me. <br /><br /> I really wanna seem smart. It's important to me, and it feels good when I can really figure out in my mind that other people are wrong. <br /><br /> It feels good to be able to take maybe their worst argument and poke holes in it. <br /><br /> And then lastly, I think we react stronger to what we disagree with than what we agree with. Um, I didn't experiment this. Last week, where I wrote, like, 20 incendiary extreme statements. And I had different staff members walk in and read the statements. I, I mean, I was talking about guns, social media, child raising, 2020 election, racism, COVID, vaccine, social media, like, anything that people fight over, I was, like, just putting it, it, lots of statements. <br /><br /> And I had people read it. Jared literally just like laughed through the list, like, Oh, ho, ho, ho, are you gonna read these? Ryan, like, had a little breakdown, like, Oh, why? No, no fighting. But different people, different reactions. But I asked the question to the staff, Do you react more to the statements you more agree with? <br /><br /> Or to the statements you more disagree with? Whatever side of whatever issue that I could think of that you were on. Not one person said, why I reacted more than what I agreed with. We react more strongly to what we disagree with, and that's definitely true for me. Things that I disagree with bother me more than the things I agree with make me happy. <br /><br /> There's just something in us, and some of that, right, is our natural wiring to look for safety. And that's natural, and that's what, I don't think, I think that's just part of being a human. But, but see, part of being a Christian is to say the threat of hostility was taken out on that body, leading to our last question of why should we leave these walls that are torn down. <br /><br /> Ephesians 4 that we just read, make every effort, make every effort. <br /><br /> You know what, look at the group on your phone or your page, over that I read, make every effort to keep the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace. Why should we leave the walls torn down? Because broken walls demonstrate the power of a Savior who can break them. Broken walls keep us needing the Savior to stay around because He Himself remains our peace and the only way we can do community well. <br /><br /> And lastly, broken walls testify to a unity, not a uniformity that we agree on everything, but that unity is possible. Because his love is greater than our fear and tribalism. We live in a pretty divided time and, and that's historically in our country we're pretty divided. And we've been divided through many, many points of history throughout the world. <br /><br /> But I wrote this statement and I want one to read it specifically. Our testimony to the world is not bringing them, the world, into narrow closets of theology. explaining why our particular version of Christianity is better than the other versions. It's bringing them into seeing a Savior who loves and helps us live out unity in the rubble of broken down walls. <br /><br /> This world does not need more arguments and othering. This world needs to see people who are different from each other, disagree on some things, and still live together in love. Our unity, dear church. Is our testimony living in unity will always take Tremendous courage peacemaking is always bloody. You know, why because it's walking into conflict all the time <br /><br /> Last question for you on your notes this morning. What is my plan for dismantling? This wall of hostility with jesus's help again. We can't just leave it in theory We're about to go through an election season. Man, was that rough last time. Boy, does it look just as rough this time. No matter where you line up. <br /><br /> What is your plan for dismantling the walls of hostility that you will face? And I just, one thing as you think of a plan, I would like you to write it if you would. It should include relationship. Get to know someone who can give the best arguments for why they think the other thing is right. Put a face on it and things change. <br /><br /> The Amazon River has no bridges. It's over 4, 000 miles long. They just recently built a bridge over one of the tributaries as it comes into the Amazon River. But in the Amazon River, um, which produces more water than any river in the world, there are zero bridges. The factors of the Amazon River make bridge building really hard. <br /><br /> During dry seasons, it's just, there's very narrow waterways comparatively. And during rain, rainy seasons, there can be miles and miles wide. Also, there's something about the sediment that flows in the Amazon river that moves the ground around quite a bit. The ground is always shifting. So it's difficult, um, environment to build bridges on. <br /><br /> Whoever builds the first bridge over a significant portion of the Amazon, it will be a remarkable testament to their engineering. <br /><br /> We live in a time where there is quite a bit of division. There's a lot of division even within the church. It's not an easy time to build bridges. There's some factors that work against that. We can bemoan that. And we can also say, wow, what an incredible time for the Christian testimony of the unity of the church. <br /><br /> Our opinions are not our testimony. Our unity is. Lord, we thank you. Guys, thank you for Paul, sitting there in jail. And not grumpy, railing against the people who stuck him there for falsely accusing him. Not, not frustrated at what's wrong with those Jews that they didn't let people in. Not yelling at the Gentiles of how come you don't do this. <br /><br /> Not even starting a free Trophimus campaign. Just saying, please, recognize the gift of Jesus, because in Him, peace and unity, though found in rubble, though often bloody, is possible, because our peace is alive. In that living peace, we pray. Amen.</div> false no <![CDATA[BC to AD]]> Ephesians 2:1-10

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.



Sermon Transcript:

Invite you to take your Bibles to the book of Ephesians, which the young people were just directing us to. I know many of you are using this journal. If you're not, we just got a whole new order this week and you want to pick one up, you're welcome to there in the, at the, Nook this morning, and in it, you will find an outline right to the right, which is what they just followed in depicting the book as we're trying to help everybody think their way through the book of Ephesians as we're going through this study together.

I'm going to read Ephesians chapter 2, verses 1 through 10, which is what we'll be reflecting on this morning.

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work, and the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead and our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved, and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing. It's the gift of God, not a result of work so that no one may boast for we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Let's pray together.

Lord, we come with the thoughts of the psal we've just sang. There's nothing better than you reminded of the psalmist who said, Lord, apart from you, I have no good thing that you're the one that makes all the things in our lives able to be good. And Lord, this passage just reminds us of the incredible grace that you express to enable our lives to be changed and transformed.

Lord, I pray you teach us this morning. I pray that all of us here in Mount Laurel, all of us here in Collingswood, all that are watching online this morning. Lord, You would dissipate the distractions and enable us to just hear Your Word. In Jesus name, Amen. Modern world history divides itself into two periods.

Historically, it's known as B. C. and A. D. Recently, non religious folks have tended to call this the, what we call B. C. would be B. C. E., before the Common Era, and then C. E. would be the Common Era. But, Whatever you call the letters, it's still centering on the entrance of Jesus Christ into the world. And all history is divided before and after.

We are looking at a passage this morning in which Paul is talking to people about their before Christ time, B. C., and their after Christ time, the anti domini, the year of our Lord, the coming of our Lord. That it is after that and, and he's talking about the distinction between those two seasons of life.

The context of this is Paul, of course, is the guy that had started the church in Ephesus. He had stayed there three years, longer than he stayed anywhere else. And during his time that was there, God used him and others to do an amazing work. They birthed new congregations. They saw the power of Christ not only in Ephesus.

impact this metropolis of Ephesus, but also the whole area surrounding them. So it was not only a city that was influenced, but it was entire region, the whole area was known as Asia. He wants what was started to flourish and grow now in his absence. And he sends him this, this very significant letter in the New Testament, the book of Ephesians.

And as he does so, he is writing about the life that Jesus gives people. In chapter one, we saw how God views the whole plan of deliverance, of salvation from an eternal perspective. And in the verses before this, leading up to the prayer at the end of chapter one, what he's talked about is the work of each member of the triunity of God involved.

God the Father is the one that has designed the whole plan of rescue for humankind. It is God the Son that accomplished that plan. He's the one that took on flesh, that became human, that came to earth, that suffered and died as the A Savior for sinners on the cross and rose from the dead. And God, the Spirit, is the one that applies that in the lives of people.

He does so, verse 13 and 14 remind us in chapter 1, by entering their lives, taking up resident within them and changing them from the inside out. In chapter 2, Paul starts to explain what this new life looks like from the human side. He tells the story of one's pre Christ, B. C. life situation and then contrast it with the change that Christ makes in the A.

D. season of life in verse 4 through 10. I'd like to look at those two seasons of life that he presents here. First, verses 1 through 3. Our B. C. life. And as you look at that, you find that he uses a number of phrases and he gives four characteristics of this life. First of all, he says it is a season in which you were disconnected from God.

You were dead in trespasses and sins. I've done this before, but I think it's important to understand when Paul talks about death, what, what he means by, by death, because death here is a significant theological concept. All kinds of death actually could be translated by the term separation. If I died on the platform this morning, what has happened is my material part has stayed, but my immaterial has separated.

My soul spirit is gone. I'd give up the ghost, as they used to say, or the spirit has left him, whatever. His soul's departed. It's all true. The immaterial physical death is the separation of one's material from immaterial part. Now, in our, our lives, We have this material part. It's called the soul and the spirit.

It's actually there's two actually elements, two orientations, if you will. Both terms are used throughout the scripture. The soul is talking about the horizontal orientation of life. It's why the word psuche is used. Psuche is actually the word we get psychology from. It is the study of the soul. It is our soulish life.

It is our soulish orientation, how we relate to others. How we relate to ourselves, how we work through things within ourselves. It is the soul ish life, the horizontal dimension of our life. But humans are not only created horizontally, we are given a spirit. This is the vertical dimension. And in this vertical dimension, it is our relationship with God, our creator to the creatures.

That God has created us with the capacity of relating to him, of knowing him, of doing life with him. And Paul is saying here, he's now speaking about this secondary sense of death, not physical death. But what is known in the Bible constantly as spiritual death. He says, there is a separation in your relationship to God.

There is a, there is a disconnect in the, in the vertical relationship between your spirit and God as spirit. It is a, it has happened, he says, for the whole human race. It happened when forefathers representing us turned away from God originally, and in that sense, we participated in it. Romans chapter 5 verse 12, it says this, Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man and death through sin.

In this way, death came to all men because all sinned. In Genesis 3, talking specifically about Adam, it says the day you ate of the free, you will surely die. Well, actually, he didn't die physically. He continued to live. So he was talking about there's going to be a change in the vertical dimension of life.

There is going to be separation, and it is a separation that manifests itself in the life of all people. And Paul is referencing that here. He says there's Disconnection with God as you live in your sins and trespasses. Now, historically, there's been different views of human, even among theologians, of what it means that we're, you know, how are we relating to God?

Why are there problems in our relationship with God? And back in the fourth century, there are a couple of famous theologians. One is the most famous in the church, a guy named St. Augustine. But There was a guy named Pelagius who came along and he had the definition and explanation of what was going on with humans.

And he says, basically, people are fine. They're fine. There's no real issues, particularly when a child is born, we don't get a bad nature. We just get bad models. And if we get the right models in our lives, because we're born neutral, sin will only be a problem to us if we choose it from our models and, and what we see.

We can, will to do good lives in ourselves. Augustine was horrified by this view for him. It made no sense. It in no way explained the horrific problems among humans he saw in the world, but also completely negated the need of Jesus work on the cross. Pelagius was eventually barred from and branded a hurricane.

But his view of human nature was people are fine. There came along a few people after them and they were sort of wanting to balance, well we hear what Pelagius is trying to say and we certainly hear what Augustine's trying to say. And they took what is known as a semi Pelagian view or a quasi Pelagian view.

And their view was this, that they acknowledged, and they, my terms would be that people are sick. people will, are spiritually ill, they're sick. They definitely believe that. The idea that people were inclined to sin. They saw it in people's lives. Their natures were obviously impacted by sin. But though they're sick, there's a spark of spiritual life in them that enables them to embrace Christ and find his salvation.

This actually is the perspective of a significant portion of evangelical Christians today. The perspective, it is not what Augustine believed, and I would suggest to you it is not what Ephesians 2 is saying. Ephesians 2 is taking this Augustinian perspective that says this. People are not fine spiritually.

People are not just sick. spiritually. And if you just, you know, just throw them, you know, they're sort of, or they're drowning in the water, throw them a life preserver. What they are is dead. That they are incapable of saving themselves or even grasping. That Augustine was saying, we're not just drowning and need a life preserver, we're dead.

The vertical dimension in our lives is disconnected, and there is no relationship with God. And the result is, what he's going to show us in verse 2 and 3, that we're in a state of separation and disconnection with God, proven every day by the choices we tend to make, or in our talking, our acting, what we pursue.

There is a disconnection with God, and Paul says you're spiritually dead, you're separated. The second thing he highlights in this is that we are unresponsive then to God. There's a disease that I heard about a number of years ago, I actually did some studying, I was really fascinated by it, I'm sure some of you here are Myasthenia Gravis.

It basically is from three words. Moose, which is the word for muscle. Thinia, which means weakness. And Gravis, we mean serious. It's a serious muscle weakness. That's the disease. Basically, the signals come from the brain. It says, pick up that pen or lift that, that weight and the signal goes through the nervous system.

It goes all the way down to the muscle group, but the muscle group has a disconnection and it is not able to be a receptor for the nerve impulse. So the muscle does not operate and the, the danger of myasthenia gravis is muscles will atrophy because they're not appropriately getting the impulse. This is exactly what happens.

Paul is saying in Ephesians two, he says, when we're dead, when we're separated from God, we don't get the impulses. He may be sending the messages. Maybe you've done life with people and they keep talking about this relationship with God, that God speaks to them, that that they have this vital walk with God and they go to the Bible and God just talks and you say, It doesn't happen to me.

I, I don't understand this. I, I, I hear the same thing. I mean, I'll listen to a sermon and think, Oh, that was cool. Great illustration. whatever. I don't really sense. That there is the, the, the messaging, the reality, God, I believe in God, but do I know him? Well, no, he's God. And I mean, I'm just me, but God says, I am imminently knowable.

There's a disconnect that results. There is an unresponsiveness that results from this. God tends to feel distant, impersonal, maybe not even real. We make all of our choices without any sense of what God is really saying to us. Personally, again, I'm just presenting here the bad news in verses one through three of what Paul is saying this is the state of all of us ultimately in our lives before what happens in verse four.

Disconnection, unresponsiveness. Number three, under the sinful and under the influence of evil. He lists three spheres of evil in our lives in verse two and three. Number one, he says, you're, you're under the influence of an evil world. You're following the ways of this world. And we might respond, I mean, is that so bad that I'm following the ways of the world?

I mean, I'm not E. T. I'm not a space alien. I'm I'm a world ling. This is my place. These are my people. Why is it wrong to follow the ways of the world? Well, the world that he's talking about here is the sense of the perspective of life that is natural to people that are disconnected from God, which is our initial way of entering life and living life apart from what he's going to talk about.

Paul is saying that you live your life with an orientation that is normal and universal for people in that spiritual condition. The general inhabitant of the world is in this spiritually dead condition. What happens in that state is you seek to find your fulfillment in something other than God. Makes sense, right?

Because, you know. There's a disconnection with God. You may know about him. You may believe he exists. You may have been taught. You may have been taught. for years. Truth about him. But actually, your life orientation is not influenced by God because there's disconnection there. The world elevates then other things to God like status and offers them to us.

It appeals to us with very off various offerings to bring fulfillment and meaning to your life. It could be thousands of things, a new car, a new nicer home, a new relationship through eHarmony, a new baby, a new body through the local fitness center, a future for your child, a new church, a new job. One or many of these are pursued, hoping they will bring real fulfillment and meaning.

But ultimately, Paul's saying to us here, it's a false promise. Because what it is offering is a substitute for the real article. And the real article is God himself. That when disconnected from God, when we're basically dead men walking, these are the best we can come up with to try to provide what God has designed to be offering through himself.

In this dead state, we are not only influenced by the world around us, and its offerings to us, and its pursuits, but there is an unseen power at work. Number, verse two, it says there's an evil master. that influences. There's a ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work and those who are disobedient.

He says there's an organizing. Now this is, you know, you may be out there here in Mount Laurel or Collingswood, you may be online and you say, wait a minute, you're not going to go there. I mean, you're not going to be saying, There's a real devil, and he's doing real stuff. I mean, come on, Mark. I mean, sometimes you seem to have a degree of intellectual, competency.

I do believe in a literal devil. I believe there is the only, it is the only explanation for the astonishing evil that is in the world. There is a power behind the power. There is an influencer behind the evil that we see. There is an organizing force. And the Bible says this force is actually a person.

And when we are still spiritually dead, we do not intentionally serve Satan. Most of us are not sacrificing animals on Halloween, or Wicca, or witchcraft participants, which would be more, at least to some degree, for many involved in that, intentionally, pursuing that supernatural world. But we participate in a world system that is energized and influenced by Him, aiming to keep us from connection with God.

It's described, I think, in a, in an interesting way in one of the Sherlock Holmes book. It's called The Final Problem, if you've ever read Sherlock Holmes. And Sherlock Holmes is talking to his sidekick, Dr. Watson, and he's describing this thing that was going on in the world of crime. And here's how he describes it.

As you are aware, Watson, there is no one who knows the higher criminal world of London as well as I do. For years past, I have continually been conscious of some power behind the malfactor, some deep organizing power which forever stands in the way of the law and throws its shields over the wrongdoer.

Again and again, in cases of the most varying sorts, forgery cases, robberies, murders, I have felt the presence of this force. And I have deduced its actions in many of those undiscovered crimes in which I have not been personally consulted. For years I have endeavored to break through the veil which shrouded it, and at last the time came when I seized my thread and followed it until it led me, after a thousand cunning windings, to ex professor Moriarty of mathematical celebrity.

Watson, he is the Napoleon of crime. He is the organizer of half that is evil and nearly of all that is undetected in this great city. He is a genius, a philosopher, an abstract thinker. He is a brain of the first order. He sits motionless like a spider in the center of its web. But that web has a thousand radiations, and he knows very well every quiver.

of each of them. He does little himself, he only plans. But his agents are numerous and splendidly organized. Is there a crime to be done? A paper to be abstracted? We will say a house to be rifled? A man to be removed? The word is passed to the professor. The matter is organized and carried out. The agent may be caught.

In that case, money is found for his bail or his defense. But the central power which uses the agent is never caught. Never so much as suspected. This was the organization which I deduced Watson and which I devoted my whole energy to exposing. That is a perspective in a history, different situation, but basically context of this is what is going on.

behind evil in our world. But then he tells, and he says, man, you were living in, that was influencing ways you didn't even know. Just by imbibing the cultural perspective and outlook. And then third, it also, you were influenced by your own evil nature. He says this in verse three, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature.

It's our very nature to pursue the false offerings of happiness the world offers in which Satan promotes. These God's substitutes appeal to us. I mean, why would they not? They do not satisfy, but they are seemingly satisfying. They certainly satisfy for a time, some of them a lengthy period of time, but ultimately they are not that which brings ultimate meaning and satisfaction to our lives.

They don't satisfy because we were all created with a God shaped vacuum. As Augustine said it, God, our hearts are restless until they find rest in you. We sense there should be more to life. We sense life without God, it's not how it ought to be. And the consequences of spiritual death are even more reaching, far reaching.

And I was just going to touch the last one. The fourth thing that is said in these verses about our B. C. state is this. We are under the sentence of God. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. Wrath here is talking about God's eternal judgment and eternal separation from him. So here's the scenario.

He says, B. C. Here's what we've got three primary things. You're disconnected from God. You're trying to milk the world for a contentment that only God can give and you're facing an ominous future eternity because of your choices. That's where we're left at the end of verses one through three. And he's saying, this is where you all are.

This is where everybody lives in their lives and would live forever, except for two words that may be the most precious words in the entire Bible. They start verse four, but God, God saw that state. And he who is rich in mercy, it goes on to say the things that he does as he offers now this A. D. Life. And he talks about things that he provides.

First of all, he provides connection to himself in verse five. He makes you alive with Christ. Spiritual death. is our disconnection. There is no relationship. We know about God, but we don't know God intimately, personally, as a father, as a friend. We're told in first Peter 3 18, it says, For Christ died for sins, one for all the righteous for the unrighteous to bring you to God.

He says it this way in John chapter 14 verse six, Jesus talking, I am the way. I'm the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, but through me. I'm the one that has come to bring connection, reconnection to God that's been lost because of sin. Secondly, he says, we have a whole new orientation on earth.

He says in verse 6, You've been raised with Christ and seated with him in the heavenly places. When we are spiritually made new, we find ourselves responsive to God, we can get the signals. We go to the Bible and in our own spirits we sense God speaking to us. Sometimes in life experiences we just sense God is leading, directing, speaking.

God makes himself known and the beauty is we're no longer on the, on the other side of the glass looking in. I get it. I get it now. It's nothing I did, nothing I deserve, nothing I merited. It's that God brought me into a relationship with him. He's connecting me again. He's bringing in the place of death and separation.

He's bringing life and connection and did it all through Christ. Becoming a Christian does not mean that something is added to your life like a supplement. Becoming a Christian

is a complete change. It's not a new file you download into your computer. It's an entire new operating system for the hard drive. There is utter transformation inside when God himself comes into your life. So last part of my sermon, I want to talk about what are the marks of being spiritually alive. And I'd like to share four.

I'm going to try them quick. Number one, there are some practical things, and now I'm going broader than this passage just to speak. Okay, what does it mean that we're alive? Okay, we get that, that sense that now we're, we're connected with God, there's a relationship with God. But what are some practical evidences of that?

Well, number one, there is a different view of the scripture. The moral person, a person that's read the Bible, is familiar with the Bible, May admire the Bible, may applaud the Bible. And I say this quite honestly, this may be many of us that are in church all the time. But the person that is genuinely alive in Christ doesn't just laud the Bible, appreciate it, maybe even believe it.

He or she feeds on it. There's a hunger for that all of a sudden you're realizing God It's speaking to me that I hear him get it. This this is this is not just Paul writing to a bunch of Ephesians 2000 years ago. As I read this text, I sense God is saying, Mark, this is this is about tomorrow. This is about how you're going to live with your, your, your family today.

I'm speaking into you. This is my answer to you as you're struggling with these questions. There's just a hunger to hear the scriptures. You want to be, you want to be fed. You know, when you're hungry and your wife says, Hey, Saturday morning, let's go out to breakfast. You don't say, Hey, I did breakfast Tuesday.

I'm good. You're hungry again. There's a, there's a, there's a desire. You're hungry to hear the truth of the Bible. Why? Because there's connection. It's, it's not just words. It's, as God describes in New Testament, it's living words. Secondly, when you're spiritually alive, there's a different view of failure.

I love this one. All other religions and philosophies say pull yourself together, get a grip. That is what salvation is to a Muslim, a Jew, a Buddhist, and I'm not disparaging them, I'm just trying to draw the distinction. Christians know we are failures. We embrace failure. Every other religion says you can't reach perfection as a means of reaching God, but you must be very high up in the class rank to make it.

Good must certainly significantly, overwhelmingly away the bad to earn this relationship with God. It's all about you. Biblical Christianity pushes the standards, quite frankly, even higher. It says a perfect God has said only those that have achieved sinlessness, perfection, can enter into relationship with him forever and can do life with him in the world to come.

The difference in biblical Christianity is this, you get accepted on someone else's perfection. Jesus did that for you. Because you utterly fail. We utterly fall short. This compelling reality in the spiritually alive, in the compelling reality, in the spiritually alive individual is this, the mercy of God.

It is the but God, in verse 4, that God provided a way that, that a dead, separated, Judgment deserving person like me could enter relationship with him, could share his life, his glory, his heaven eternally. It's all mercy. He doesn't say, okay, you've been a failure now. If you want to get in straight now, get it right.

I mean, go to church, read the Bible, do this. No, he says, No, my standard has only been met by one who came in your place, lived righteously. He bore the punishment for your failures. Paul has already shown what's true of our lives, dead, disconnected, controlled by desires and cravings which don't satisfy souls in a feeding frenzy for worth, fulfillment and rest.

operating in a world system that is ultimately empowered against God. But believers know that our misery prompted God's mercy. And it is our only hope. A number of years ago, there was a guy named Lee Outwater. Lee Outwater was the, he was called the Happy Hatchet Man, the Darth Vader of the Republican Party.

He perfected the art of reputation destroying rumors. This is by his own acknowledgement. He did, Reputation Destroying Things of Michael Dukakis. And when Lee Atwater got cancer and he was forced to look at his own life, his life was transformed by the gospel, the message of Christ. And he began to try to make things right.

From his deathbed, he wrote letters. He had been writing them prior to that time. He wrote to Michael Dukakis and asked his forgiveness. Ted Bundy was a man who apologized at his deathbed in prison after murdering at least 30 women. In both cases, the world says this, who does this guy think he is trying to get forgiveness?

The world has nothing to say to sleazeballs, to ax murderers, to degenerates, to failures. It cannot believe there's mercy for failures. But when you come alive, when you embrace Christ for your sins. You realize this, that God looks at your sins and does not see that yours needs salvation any less than those guys do.

You see yourself as failure. I didn't measure up. I'll never measure up. I see the sins of every known sin in my own heart if I'm honest about it. And I realize I embrace failure. I embrace the fact that I stand as a recipient of mercy. Spiritual live person lives in the glory and the freedom of that reality of God.

The third thing, and I'm just gonna touch here for time. There's different views of God. Spiritually renewed person is drawn to God. They sense His presence, His guidance in their lives. They see real answers to their prayers. They trace His hand in the circumstances of their lives. They hear Him speak through His word.

They're, they're, they're, they're finding answers to life by a God that is living within them and speaking into them. And it's all of grace. It's all of mercy. But there's this whole new sense that God is not a heavenly policeman. I got to measure up to. God is my father. God is my friend. Christ is my brother, as he describes himself in the book of Hebrews.

And then there's a different view of living with God. The spiritually alive person finds their motivation to live with God is one of joy, not ultimately of obligation. I'd just like to read an excerpt from a book that I deeply enjoy. It's called Hope Has Its Reasons by Becky Pippert. And then I'm going to wrap up.

Here's what she said. I was living in Israel. I took the bus to go home from downtown Jerusalem, but I inadvertently got off at the wrong stop and was promptly lost, lost. Not an unusual state of affairs for me. I began peering around at street signs to discover where I was. Suddenly I heard a voice behind me saying, slightly halting English, Can I help you?

I turned around and, to my astonishment, saw an Orthodox, Hasidic Jew. He was a vision in black, dressed in the attire of typical of the Orthodox community of his 18th century Polish predecessors, a long black cloak, over black trousers, a long white fringe hanging from his belt, bearded with ear locks that came down to his chest, pale skin reflecting the Hasidic male's devotion to the intense daily indoor study of Torah.

It is hard to convey to Western Gentiles how extraordinary it is for a Hasidic man from the ultra Orthodox neighborhood to speak to a woman, particularly a Western woman. I probably could not conceal the amazement on my face and he said, sometimes we are permitted to help people in distress. Where do you need to go?

To my further astonishment, he accompanied me on the street and told me his name and that he lived in ultra orthodox community in Jerusalem, although he was raised in Chicago. His accent indicated that he spoke more Yiddish and Hebrew than English. I tried to establish some common ground, but found that our worlds were so dramatically different that small talk was impossible.

I decided to try a different tact. We do share something in common, I said. What is that, he asked. We're both religious. That's wonderful, he shouted in reply and immediately began a discourse on one of the tractates from the Mishnah, Jewish writing. Then he noticed that I had paused and he said, Are you Jewish?

No, I'm a follower of Jesus, I answered. He said, Are you serious about your faith? I assured him I was. This is fascinating, he said. I have never talked with a religious Christian before. There is much that I would like to ask you, but it is so difficult. If anyone in my community saw me holding a long conversation with you, it could be very awkward.

I have to be so careful. Yet, when will I have this opportunity again? Well, I don't expect you to understand. You, Goyim, that's named for Gentiles, wouldn't understand our ways. But would it interest you to have a religious dialogue? He asked nervously. I would love to talk to you, I answered, sensing how sincere he was.

But I could also see his discomfort as he constantly peered over his shoulder to see if we were being watched I took a deep breath and I said I would be honored to have you as a guest in my home He hesitated glanced around and said in a cloak and dagger manner. Let us go quickly So off we went to my apartment, my ultra Orthodox friend, with his earlocks flying in the breeze, and me.

Once we were seated in my living room, he began to pepper me with questions about what it means to be a follower of Jesus. His questions were theologically astute and probing. There were two things that interest him the most. First, he wanted to know what happened to human nature as a result of being in relationship with God through Christ.

I explained that when we come to put our faith in God, he gives us his spirit, who transforms us day by day and enables us to live as new people with a new power. What is the essence of this new nature, he asked. So I quickly went over the list of the fruit of the spirit from Paul's letter to the Galatians.

And I started to go on. And he said, wait! Say those words again. So I recited them again. Say them again, he asked. I did. What beautiful, beautiful words, he said. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. Imagine it. All of these qualities come into your heart as a result of being in relationship with God.

Just think to receive the very nature of God as a gift. No more beating down the evil inclinations with negatives, but rather fighting evil with positives with the very attributes of God himself. Ah, what a precious gift you have inherited, Becky. Do not take it lightly. He was doubly right. They are a precious gift and we do often take them lightly.

I went on. Please don't think I'm suggesting that all of these qualities are mastered by us overnight. Living the resurrection isn't magic. We don't turn to God in faith and suddenly plug into all these qualities. They're cultivated over time through obedience and through God's grace. Of course, I know it can't happen quickly, he mused.

We're still human beings who by nature are self centered and self absorbed. But what hope it must give to have God's power working in you, to enable you to forgo the old ways and live the new way. Becky said, I could not remember when I have heard a simpler or more eloquent explanation. of the meaning of Christian conversion than from this orthodox Jewish friend sitting in my living room.

What also interested him was how I sensed the presence of God in my life. Then I told him a story of how God had helped me through a recent time of crisis and fear by giving me just the right word from scripture. I had awakened one morning feeling overwhelmed in a time of crisis, sorry, overwhelmed by fear, but then I had, I read the appointed Bible verses for that day in my devotional.

Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified. Do not be discouraged. For the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. Joshua 1, 9. Suddenly he clapped his hands together, stood up, and to my amazement shouted, That's it! That's it! That is what it is all about! My daughter, you have it! Only God could have given you those words at just that time.

It was an indescribably joyful moment. The only sad note in our conversation was the ending, Becky said, because he told me that we could never meet again. He instructed me that if I should see him on the street, I was not to acknowledge him, for it would endanger his stance in the community. But he said this to me, imparting, We have begun a friendship of faith, Becky.

I will not forget what we have talked about. Not ever. And he left, leaving me far richer for the experience. To be spiritually alive is to live with God in a personal, vital relationship. It's what A. D. world is in Christ.

&nbsp;]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/bc-to-ad f2e7ddcb-99fb-4907-9134-a020550479e3 Sun, 14 Apr 2024 12:12:46 GMT <div data-html="true">Ephesians 2:1-10 <br /><br /> But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> Invite you to take your Bibles to the book of Ephesians, which the young people were just directing us to. I know many of you are using this journal. If you're not, we just got a whole new order this week and you want to pick one up, you're welcome to there in the, at the, Nook this morning, and in it, you will find an outline right to the right, which is what they just followed in depicting the book as we're trying to help everybody think their way through the book of Ephesians as we're going through this study together. <br /><br /> I'm going to read Ephesians chapter 2, verses 1 through 10, which is what we'll be reflecting on this morning. <br /><br /> And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work, and the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind. <br /><br /> But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead and our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved, and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. <br /><br /> For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing. It's the gift of God, not a result of work so that no one may boast for we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Let's pray together. <br /><br /> Lord, we come with the thoughts of the psal we've just sang. There's nothing better than you reminded of the psalmist who said, Lord, apart from you, I have no good thing that you're the one that makes all the things in our lives able to be good. And Lord, this passage just reminds us of the incredible grace that you express to enable our lives to be changed and transformed. <br /><br /> Lord, I pray you teach us this morning. I pray that all of us here in Mount Laurel, all of us here in Collingswood, all that are watching online this morning. Lord, You would dissipate the distractions and enable us to just hear Your Word. In Jesus name, Amen. Modern world history divides itself into two periods. <br /><br /> Historically, it's known as B. C. and A. D. Recently, non religious folks have tended to call this the, what we call B. C. would be B. C. E., before the Common Era, and then C. E. would be the Common Era. But, Whatever you call the letters, it's still centering on the entrance of Jesus Christ into the world. And all history is divided before and after. <br /><br /> We are looking at a passage this morning in which Paul is talking to people about their before Christ time, B. C., and their after Christ time, the anti domini, the year of our Lord, the coming of our Lord. That it is after that and, and he's talking about the distinction between those two seasons of life. <br /><br /> The context of this is Paul, of course, is the guy that had started the church in Ephesus. He had stayed there three years, longer than he stayed anywhere else. And during his time that was there, God used him and others to do an amazing work. They birthed new congregations. They saw the power of Christ not only in Ephesus. <br /><br /> impact this metropolis of Ephesus, but also the whole area surrounding them. So it was not only a city that was influenced, but it was entire region, the whole area was known as Asia. He wants what was started to flourish and grow now in his absence. And he sends him this, this very significant letter in the New Testament, the book of Ephesians. <br /><br /> And as he does so, he is writing about the life that Jesus gives people. In chapter one, we saw how God views the whole plan of deliverance, of salvation from an eternal perspective. And in the verses before this, leading up to the prayer at the end of chapter one, what he's talked about is the work of each member of the triunity of God involved. <br /><br /> God the Father is the one that has designed the whole plan of rescue for humankind. It is God the Son that accomplished that plan. He's the one that took on flesh, that became human, that came to earth, that suffered and died as the A Savior for sinners on the cross and rose from the dead. And God, the Spirit, is the one that applies that in the lives of people. <br /><br /> He does so, verse 13 and 14 remind us in chapter 1, by entering their lives, taking up resident within them and changing them from the inside out. In chapter 2, Paul starts to explain what this new life looks like from the human side. He tells the story of one's pre Christ, B. C. life situation and then contrast it with the change that Christ makes in the A. <br /><br /> D. season of life in verse 4 through 10. I'd like to look at those two seasons of life that he presents here. First, verses 1 through 3. Our B. C. life. And as you look at that, you find that he uses a number of phrases and he gives four characteristics of this life. First of all, he says it is a season in which you were disconnected from God. <br /><br /> You were dead in trespasses and sins. I've done this before, but I think it's important to understand when Paul talks about death, what, what he means by, by death, because death here is a significant theological concept. All kinds of death actually could be translated by the term separation. If I died on the platform this morning, what has happened is my material part has stayed, but my immaterial has separated. <br /><br /> My soul spirit is gone. I'd give up the ghost, as they used to say, or the spirit has left him, whatever. His soul's departed. It's all true. The immaterial physical death is the separation of one's material from immaterial part. Now, in our, our lives, We have this material part. It's called the soul and the spirit. <br /><br /> It's actually there's two actually elements, two orientations, if you will. Both terms are used throughout the scripture. The soul is talking about the horizontal orientation of life. It's why the word psuche is used. Psuche is actually the word we get psychology from. It is the study of the soul. It is our soulish life. <br /><br /> It is our soulish orientation, how we relate to others. How we relate to ourselves, how we work through things within ourselves. It is the soul ish life, the horizontal dimension of our life. But humans are not only created horizontally, we are given a spirit. This is the vertical dimension. And in this vertical dimension, it is our relationship with God, our creator to the creatures. <br /><br /> That God has created us with the capacity of relating to him, of knowing him, of doing life with him. And Paul is saying here, he's now speaking about this secondary sense of death, not physical death. But what is known in the Bible constantly as spiritual death. He says, there is a separation in your relationship to God. <br /><br /> There is a, there is a disconnect in the, in the vertical relationship between your spirit and God as spirit. It is a, it has happened, he says, for the whole human race. It happened when forefathers representing us turned away from God originally, and in that sense, we participated in it. Romans chapter 5 verse 12, it says this, Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man and death through sin. <br /><br /> In this way, death came to all men because all sinned. In Genesis 3, talking specifically about Adam, it says the day you ate of the free, you will surely die. Well, actually, he didn't die physically. He continued to live. So he was talking about there's going to be a change in the vertical dimension of life. <br /><br /> There is going to be separation, and it is a separation that manifests itself in the life of all people. And Paul is referencing that here. He says there's Disconnection with God as you live in your sins and trespasses. Now, historically, there's been different views of human, even among theologians, of what it means that we're, you know, how are we relating to God? <br /><br /> Why are there problems in our relationship with God? And back in the fourth century, there are a couple of famous theologians. One is the most famous in the church, a guy named St. Augustine. But There was a guy named Pelagius who came along and he had the definition and explanation of what was going on with humans. <br /><br /> And he says, basically, people are fine. They're fine. There's no real issues, particularly when a child is born, we don't get a bad nature. We just get bad models. And if we get the right models in our lives, because we're born neutral, sin will only be a problem to us if we choose it from our models and, and what we see. <br /><br /> We can, will to do good lives in ourselves. Augustine was horrified by this view for him. It made no sense. It in no way explained the horrific problems among humans he saw in the world, but also completely negated the need of Jesus work on the cross. Pelagius was eventually barred from and branded a hurricane. <br /><br /> But his view of human nature was people are fine. There came along a few people after them and they were sort of wanting to balance, well we hear what Pelagius is trying to say and we certainly hear what Augustine's trying to say. And they took what is known as a semi Pelagian view or a quasi Pelagian view. <br /><br /> And their view was this, that they acknowledged, and they, my terms would be that people are sick. people will, are spiritually ill, they're sick. They definitely believe that. The idea that people were inclined to sin. They saw it in people's lives. Their natures were obviously impacted by sin. But though they're sick, there's a spark of spiritual life in them that enables them to embrace Christ and find his salvation. <br /><br /> This actually is the perspective of a significant portion of evangelical Christians today. The perspective, it is not what Augustine believed, and I would suggest to you it is not what Ephesians 2 is saying. Ephesians 2 is taking this Augustinian perspective that says this. People are not fine spiritually. <br /><br /> People are not just sick. spiritually. And if you just, you know, just throw them, you know, they're sort of, or they're drowning in the water, throw them a life preserver. What they are is dead. That they are incapable of saving themselves or even grasping. That Augustine was saying, we're not just drowning and need a life preserver, we're dead. <br /><br /> The vertical dimension in our lives is disconnected, and there is no relationship with God. And the result is, what he's going to show us in verse 2 and 3, that we're in a state of separation and disconnection with God, proven every day by the choices we tend to make, or in our talking, our acting, what we pursue. <br /><br /> There is a disconnection with God, and Paul says you're spiritually dead, you're separated. The second thing he highlights in this is that we are unresponsive then to God. There's a disease that I heard about a number of years ago, I actually did some studying, I was really fascinated by it, I'm sure some of you here are Myasthenia Gravis. <br /><br /> It basically is from three words. Moose, which is the word for muscle. Thinia, which means weakness. And Gravis, we mean serious. It's a serious muscle weakness. That's the disease. Basically, the signals come from the brain. It says, pick up that pen or lift that, that weight and the signal goes through the nervous system. <br /><br /> It goes all the way down to the muscle group, but the muscle group has a disconnection and it is not able to be a receptor for the nerve impulse. So the muscle does not operate and the, the danger of myasthenia gravis is muscles will atrophy because they're not appropriately getting the impulse. This is exactly what happens. <br /><br /> Paul is saying in Ephesians two, he says, when we're dead, when we're separated from God, we don't get the impulses. He may be sending the messages. Maybe you've done life with people and they keep talking about this relationship with God, that God speaks to them, that that they have this vital walk with God and they go to the Bible and God just talks and you say, It doesn't happen to me. <br /><br /> I, I don't understand this. I, I, I hear the same thing. I mean, I'll listen to a sermon and think, Oh, that was cool. Great illustration. whatever. I don't really sense. That there is the, the, the messaging, the reality, God, I believe in God, but do I know him? Well, no, he's God. And I mean, I'm just me, but God says, I am imminently knowable. <br /><br /> There's a disconnect that results. There is an unresponsiveness that results from this. God tends to feel distant, impersonal, maybe not even real. We make all of our choices without any sense of what God is really saying to us. Personally, again, I'm just presenting here the bad news in verses one through three of what Paul is saying this is the state of all of us ultimately in our lives before what happens in verse four. <br /><br /> Disconnection, unresponsiveness. Number three, under the sinful and under the influence of evil. He lists three spheres of evil in our lives in verse two and three. Number one, he says, you're, you're under the influence of an evil world. You're following the ways of this world. And we might respond, I mean, is that so bad that I'm following the ways of the world? <br /><br /> I mean, I'm not E. T. I'm not a space alien. I'm I'm a world ling. This is my place. These are my people. Why is it wrong to follow the ways of the world? Well, the world that he's talking about here is the sense of the perspective of life that is natural to people that are disconnected from God, which is our initial way of entering life and living life apart from what he's going to talk about. <br /><br /> Paul is saying that you live your life with an orientation that is normal and universal for people in that spiritual condition. The general inhabitant of the world is in this spiritually dead condition. What happens in that state is you seek to find your fulfillment in something other than God. Makes sense, right? <br /><br /> Because, you know. There's a disconnection with God. You may know about him. You may believe he exists. You may have been taught. You may have been taught. for years. Truth about him. But actually, your life orientation is not influenced by God because there's disconnection there. The world elevates then other things to God like status and offers them to us. <br /><br /> It appeals to us with very off various offerings to bring fulfillment and meaning to your life. It could be thousands of things, a new car, a new nicer home, a new relationship through eHarmony, a new baby, a new body through the local fitness center, a future for your child, a new church, a new job. One or many of these are pursued, hoping they will bring real fulfillment and meaning. <br /><br /> But ultimately, Paul's saying to us here, it's a false promise. Because what it is offering is a substitute for the real article. And the real article is God himself. That when disconnected from God, when we're basically dead men walking, these are the best we can come up with to try to provide what God has designed to be offering through himself. <br /><br /> In this dead state, we are not only influenced by the world around us, and its offerings to us, and its pursuits, but there is an unseen power at work. Number, verse two, it says there's an evil master. that influences. There's a ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work and those who are disobedient. <br /><br /> He says there's an organizing. Now this is, you know, you may be out there here in Mount Laurel or Collingswood, you may be online and you say, wait a minute, you're not going to go there. I mean, you're not going to be saying, There's a real devil, and he's doing real stuff. I mean, come on, Mark. I mean, sometimes you seem to have a degree of intellectual, competency. <br /><br /> I do believe in a literal devil. I believe there is the only, it is the only explanation for the astonishing evil that is in the world. There is a power behind the power. There is an influencer behind the evil that we see. There is an organizing force. And the Bible says this force is actually a person. <br /><br /> And when we are still spiritually dead, we do not intentionally serve Satan. Most of us are not sacrificing animals on Halloween, or Wicca, or witchcraft participants, which would be more, at least to some degree, for many involved in that, intentionally, pursuing that supernatural world. But we participate in a world system that is energized and influenced by Him, aiming to keep us from connection with God. <br /><br /> It's described, I think, in a, in an interesting way in one of the Sherlock Holmes book. It's called The Final Problem, if you've ever read Sherlock Holmes. And Sherlock Holmes is talking to his sidekick, Dr. Watson, and he's describing this thing that was going on in the world of crime. And here's how he describes it. <br /><br /> As you are aware, Watson, there is no one who knows the higher criminal world of London as well as I do. For years past, I have continually been conscious of some power behind the malfactor, some deep organizing power which forever stands in the way of the law and throws its shields over the wrongdoer. <br /><br /> Again and again, in cases of the most varying sorts, forgery cases, robberies, murders, I have felt the presence of this force. And I have deduced its actions in many of those undiscovered crimes in which I have not been personally consulted. For years I have endeavored to break through the veil which shrouded it, and at last the time came when I seized my thread and followed it until it led me, after a thousand cunning windings, to ex professor Moriarty of mathematical celebrity. <br /><br /> Watson, he is the Napoleon of crime. He is the organizer of half that is evil and nearly of all that is undetected in this great city. He is a genius, a philosopher, an abstract thinker. He is a brain of the first order. He sits motionless like a spider in the center of its web. But that web has a thousand radiations, and he knows very well every quiver. <br /><br /> of each of them. He does little himself, he only plans. But his agents are numerous and splendidly organized. Is there a crime to be done? A paper to be abstracted? We will say a house to be rifled? A man to be removed? The word is passed to the professor. The matter is organized and carried out. The agent may be caught. <br /><br /> In that case, money is found for his bail or his defense. But the central power which uses the agent is never caught. Never so much as suspected. This was the organization which I deduced Watson and which I devoted my whole energy to exposing. That is a perspective in a history, different situation, but basically context of this is what is going on. <br /><br /> behind evil in our world. But then he tells, and he says, man, you were living in, that was influencing ways you didn't even know. Just by imbibing the cultural perspective and outlook. And then third, it also, you were influenced by your own evil nature. He says this in verse three, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature. <br /><br /> It's our very nature to pursue the false offerings of happiness the world offers in which Satan promotes. These God's substitutes appeal to us. I mean, why would they not? They do not satisfy, but they are seemingly satisfying. They certainly satisfy for a time, some of them a lengthy period of time, but ultimately they are not that which brings ultimate meaning and satisfaction to our lives. <br /><br /> They don't satisfy because we were all created with a God shaped vacuum. As Augustine said it, God, our hearts are restless until they find rest in you. We sense there should be more to life. We sense life without God, it's not how it ought to be. And the consequences of spiritual death are even more reaching, far reaching. <br /><br /> And I was just going to touch the last one. The fourth thing that is said in these verses about our B. C. state is this. We are under the sentence of God. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. Wrath here is talking about God's eternal judgment and eternal separation from him. So here's the scenario. <br /><br /> He says, B. C. Here's what we've got three primary things. You're disconnected from God. You're trying to milk the world for a contentment that only God can give and you're facing an ominous future eternity because of your choices. That's where we're left at the end of verses one through three. And he's saying, this is where you all are. <br /><br /> This is where everybody lives in their lives and would live forever, except for two words that may be the most precious words in the entire Bible. They start verse four, but God, God saw that state. And he who is rich in mercy, it goes on to say the things that he does as he offers now this A. D. Life. And he talks about things that he provides. <br /><br /> First of all, he provides connection to himself in verse five. He makes you alive with Christ. Spiritual death. is our disconnection. There is no relationship. We know about God, but we don't know God intimately, personally, as a father, as a friend. We're told in first Peter 3 18, it says, For Christ died for sins, one for all the righteous for the unrighteous to bring you to God. <br /><br /> He says it this way in John chapter 14 verse six, Jesus talking, I am the way. I'm the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, but through me. I'm the one that has come to bring connection, reconnection to God that's been lost because of sin. Secondly, he says, we have a whole new orientation on earth. <br /><br /> He says in verse 6, You've been raised with Christ and seated with him in the heavenly places. When we are spiritually made new, we find ourselves responsive to God, we can get the signals. We go to the Bible and in our own spirits we sense God speaking to us. Sometimes in life experiences we just sense God is leading, directing, speaking. <br /><br /> God makes himself known and the beauty is we're no longer on the, on the other side of the glass looking in. I get it. I get it now. It's nothing I did, nothing I deserve, nothing I merited. It's that God brought me into a relationship with him. He's connecting me again. He's bringing in the place of death and separation. <br /><br /> He's bringing life and connection and did it all through Christ. Becoming a Christian does not mean that something is added to your life like a supplement. Becoming a Christian <br /><br /> is a complete change. It's not a new file you download into your computer. It's an entire new operating system for the hard drive. There is utter transformation inside when God himself comes into your life. So last part of my sermon, I want to talk about what are the marks of being spiritually alive. And I'd like to share four. <br /><br /> I'm going to try them quick. Number one, there are some practical things, and now I'm going broader than this passage just to speak. Okay, what does it mean that we're alive? Okay, we get that, that sense that now we're, we're connected with God, there's a relationship with God. But what are some practical evidences of that? <br /><br /> Well, number one, there is a different view of the scripture. The moral person, a person that's read the Bible, is familiar with the Bible, May admire the Bible, may applaud the Bible. And I say this quite honestly, this may be many of us that are in church all the time. But the person that is genuinely alive in Christ doesn't just laud the Bible, appreciate it, maybe even believe it. <br /><br /> He or she feeds on it. There's a hunger for that all of a sudden you're realizing God It's speaking to me that I hear him get it. This this is this is not just Paul writing to a bunch of Ephesians 2000 years ago. As I read this text, I sense God is saying, Mark, this is this is about tomorrow. This is about how you're going to live with your, your, your family today. <br /><br /> I'm speaking into you. This is my answer to you as you're struggling with these questions. There's just a hunger to hear the scriptures. You want to be, you want to be fed. You know, when you're hungry and your wife says, Hey, Saturday morning, let's go out to breakfast. You don't say, Hey, I did breakfast Tuesday. <br /><br /> I'm good. You're hungry again. There's a, there's a, there's a desire. You're hungry to hear the truth of the Bible. Why? Because there's connection. It's, it's not just words. It's, as God describes in New Testament, it's living words. Secondly, when you're spiritually alive, there's a different view of failure. <br /><br /> I love this one. All other religions and philosophies say pull yourself together, get a grip. That is what salvation is to a Muslim, a Jew, a Buddhist, and I'm not disparaging them, I'm just trying to draw the distinction. Christians know we are failures. We embrace failure. Every other religion says you can't reach perfection as a means of reaching God, but you must be very high up in the class rank to make it. <br /><br /> Good must certainly significantly, overwhelmingly away the bad to earn this relationship with God. It's all about you. Biblical Christianity pushes the standards, quite frankly, even higher. It says a perfect God has said only those that have achieved sinlessness, perfection, can enter into relationship with him forever and can do life with him in the world to come. <br /><br /> The difference in biblical Christianity is this, you get accepted on someone else's perfection. Jesus did that for you. Because you utterly fail. We utterly fall short. This compelling reality in the spiritually alive, in the compelling reality, in the spiritually alive individual is this, the mercy of God. <br /><br /> It is the but God, in verse 4, that God provided a way that, that a dead, separated, Judgment deserving person like me could enter relationship with him, could share his life, his glory, his heaven eternally. It's all mercy. He doesn't say, okay, you've been a failure now. If you want to get in straight now, get it right. <br /><br /> I mean, go to church, read the Bible, do this. No, he says, No, my standard has only been met by one who came in your place, lived righteously. He bore the punishment for your failures. Paul has already shown what's true of our lives, dead, disconnected, controlled by desires and cravings which don't satisfy souls in a feeding frenzy for worth, fulfillment and rest. <br /><br /> operating in a world system that is ultimately empowered against God. But believers know that our misery prompted God's mercy. And it is our only hope. A number of years ago, there was a guy named Lee Outwater. Lee Outwater was the, he was called the Happy Hatchet Man, the Darth Vader of the Republican Party. <br /><br /> He perfected the art of reputation destroying rumors. This is by his own acknowledgement. He did, Reputation Destroying Things of Michael Dukakis. And when Lee Atwater got cancer and he was forced to look at his own life, his life was transformed by the gospel, the message of Christ. And he began to try to make things right. <br /><br /> From his deathbed, he wrote letters. He had been writing them prior to that time. He wrote to Michael Dukakis and asked his forgiveness. Ted Bundy was a man who apologized at his deathbed in prison after murdering at least 30 women. In both cases, the world says this, who does this guy think he is trying to get forgiveness? <br /><br /> The world has nothing to say to sleazeballs, to ax murderers, to degenerates, to failures. It cannot believe there's mercy for failures. But when you come alive, when you embrace Christ for your sins. You realize this, that God looks at your sins and does not see that yours needs salvation any less than those guys do. <br /><br /> You see yourself as failure. I didn't measure up. I'll never measure up. I see the sins of every known sin in my own heart if I'm honest about it. And I realize I embrace failure. I embrace the fact that I stand as a recipient of mercy. Spiritual live person lives in the glory and the freedom of that reality of God. <br /><br /> The third thing, and I'm just gonna touch here for time. There's different views of God. Spiritually renewed person is drawn to God. They sense His presence, His guidance in their lives. They see real answers to their prayers. They trace His hand in the circumstances of their lives. They hear Him speak through His word. <br /><br /> They're, they're, they're, they're finding answers to life by a God that is living within them and speaking into them. And it's all of grace. It's all of mercy. But there's this whole new sense that God is not a heavenly policeman. I got to measure up to. God is my father. God is my friend. Christ is my brother, as he describes himself in the book of Hebrews. <br /><br /> And then there's a different view of living with God. The spiritually alive person finds their motivation to live with God is one of joy, not ultimately of obligation. I'd just like to read an excerpt from a book that I deeply enjoy. It's called Hope Has Its Reasons by Becky Pippert. And then I'm going to wrap up. <br /><br /> Here's what she said. I was living in Israel. I took the bus to go home from downtown Jerusalem, but I inadvertently got off at the wrong stop and was promptly lost, lost. Not an unusual state of affairs for me. I began peering around at street signs to discover where I was. Suddenly I heard a voice behind me saying, slightly halting English, Can I help you? <br /><br /> I turned around and, to my astonishment, saw an Orthodox, Hasidic Jew. He was a vision in black, dressed in the attire of typical of the Orthodox community of his 18th century Polish predecessors, a long black cloak, over black trousers, a long white fringe hanging from his belt, bearded with ear locks that came down to his chest, pale skin reflecting the Hasidic male's devotion to the intense daily indoor study of Torah. <br /><br /> It is hard to convey to Western Gentiles how extraordinary it is for a Hasidic man from the ultra Orthodox neighborhood to speak to a woman, particularly a Western woman. I probably could not conceal the amazement on my face and he said, sometimes we are permitted to help people in distress. Where do you need to go? <br /><br /> To my further astonishment, he accompanied me on the street and told me his name and that he lived in ultra orthodox community in Jerusalem, although he was raised in Chicago. His accent indicated that he spoke more Yiddish and Hebrew than English. I tried to establish some common ground, but found that our worlds were so dramatically different that small talk was impossible. <br /><br /> I decided to try a different tact. We do share something in common, I said. What is that, he asked. We're both religious. That's wonderful, he shouted in reply and immediately began a discourse on one of the tractates from the Mishnah, Jewish writing. Then he noticed that I had paused and he said, Are you Jewish? <br /><br /> No, I'm a follower of Jesus, I answered. He said, Are you serious about your faith? I assured him I was. This is fascinating, he said. I have never talked with a religious Christian before. There is much that I would like to ask you, but it is so difficult. If anyone in my community saw me holding a long conversation with you, it could be very awkward. <br /><br /> I have to be so careful. Yet, when will I have this opportunity again? Well, I don't expect you to understand. You, Goyim, that's named for Gentiles, wouldn't understand our ways. But would it interest you to have a religious dialogue? He asked nervously. I would love to talk to you, I answered, sensing how sincere he was. <br /><br /> But I could also see his discomfort as he constantly peered over his shoulder to see if we were being watched I took a deep breath and I said I would be honored to have you as a guest in my home He hesitated glanced around and said in a cloak and dagger manner. Let us go quickly So off we went to my apartment, my ultra Orthodox friend, with his earlocks flying in the breeze, and me. <br /><br /> Once we were seated in my living room, he began to pepper me with questions about what it means to be a follower of Jesus. His questions were theologically astute and probing. There were two things that interest him the most. First, he wanted to know what happened to human nature as a result of being in relationship with God through Christ. <br /><br /> I explained that when we come to put our faith in God, he gives us his spirit, who transforms us day by day and enables us to live as new people with a new power. What is the essence of this new nature, he asked. So I quickly went over the list of the fruit of the spirit from Paul's letter to the Galatians. <br /><br /> And I started to go on. And he said, wait! Say those words again. So I recited them again. Say them again, he asked. I did. What beautiful, beautiful words, he said. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. Imagine it. All of these qualities come into your heart as a result of being in relationship with God. <br /><br /> Just think to receive the very nature of God as a gift. No more beating down the evil inclinations with negatives, but rather fighting evil with positives with the very attributes of God himself. Ah, what a precious gift you have inherited, Becky. Do not take it lightly. He was doubly right. They are a precious gift and we do often take them lightly. <br /><br /> I went on. Please don't think I'm suggesting that all of these qualities are mastered by us overnight. Living the resurrection isn't magic. We don't turn to God in faith and suddenly plug into all these qualities. They're cultivated over time through obedience and through God's grace. Of course, I know it can't happen quickly, he mused. <br /><br /> We're still human beings who by nature are self centered and self absorbed. But what hope it must give to have God's power working in you, to enable you to forgo the old ways and live the new way. Becky said, I could not remember when I have heard a simpler or more eloquent explanation. of the meaning of Christian conversion than from this orthodox Jewish friend sitting in my living room. <br /><br /> What also interested him was how I sensed the presence of God in my life. Then I told him a story of how God had helped me through a recent time of crisis and fear by giving me just the right word from scripture. I had awakened one morning feeling overwhelmed in a time of crisis, sorry, overwhelmed by fear, but then I had, I read the appointed Bible verses for that day in my devotional. <br /><br /> Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified. Do not be discouraged. For the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. Joshua 1, 9. Suddenly he clapped his hands together, stood up, and to my amazement shouted, That's it! That's it! That is what it is all about! My daughter, you have it! Only God could have given you those words at just that time. <br /><br /> It was an indescribably joyful moment. The only sad note in our conversation was the ending, Becky said, because he told me that we could never meet again. He instructed me that if I should see him on the street, I was not to acknowledge him, for it would endanger his stance in the community. But he said this to me, imparting, We have begun a friendship of faith, Becky. <br /><br /> I will not forget what we have talked about. Not ever. And he left, leaving me far richer for the experience. To be spiritually alive is to live with God in a personal, vital relationship. It's what A. D. world is in Christ. <br /><br /> &amp;nbsp;</div> false no <![CDATA[Praying for Christians]]> Ephesians 1:15-23

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people,



Sermon Transcript:

Morning, everybody. I invite you to take your Bibles. You're looking at the book of Ephesians, and if you wondered what was going on up there, um, We are going through a series in the book of Ephesians, um, in your journal, if you've got a black journal, which you can get at the hub this morning. Um, basically it is of the book of Ephesians, and in the cover of that is an outline of the sermon series, or of the topics in the book of Ephesians, which we're following in our sermon series.

And the young people are basically doing symbols to remind us as we go through the book of Ephesians. That outline. So you're gonna be looking this morning at Ephesians chapter 1 verse 15 to 23. A really Practical passage a passage that really talks about if you ever wonder what what really should I be praying for other people?

Especially for people that are that are followers of Jesus Christ. Well, Paul is going to tell us here in Ephesians chapter 1 Here's what we read Verse 15. For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and of revelation and knowledge of him.

Having the eyes of your hearts enlightened that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you. What are the riches of his glorious inheritance and the saints. And what is the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His great might, that He worked in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come.

And He put all things under His feet and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness. of him who fills all in all. Lord, we ask you to be our teacher. We thank you that all the things Paul prays for these Christians in Ephesus are also the things that you would have us embrace in our own lives and to pray for ourselves and for others to know.

Lord, thank you for how these very truths have been the foundation for many of our lives, my life. Um, the confidence, the contentment, the capacity to live that are all founded through the work of God of you in our lives. And Lord, I pray that you would teach us about that today in Jesus name. Amen. We've just left off, as we looked at verses 3 through 14, a few of us have taught through that the last handful of weeks.

In verses 3 through 14 of chapter 1, basically it is the work of the three members of the Godhead in the work of the story of grace. God the Father is mentioned in the first verses, in verses 3 through 6, as being the architect of the whole thing. He designed the whole rescue plan of grace. God the Son is the agent of it.

He accomplished that rescue plan of grace through coming and being born and taking flesh and living his life but ultimately going to the cross and being raised from the dead. God the Spirit. is the applier of it. He is the one that applies the rescue plan of grace into people's lives, even taking resident of their, in their lives, and is therefore giving us the down payment in this life of all the riches of glory that will be ours in a day to come.

But all members of the Godhead are involved in this, this amazing rescue plan the story of grace. We now come, Paul is now prompted as an outgrowth of that, of hearing about God's investment in the lives of Christians. He prays for these Christians in Ephesus. We notice an interesting thing as we look at this passage.

We prayer we just read, and we'd also notice is we've looked at all the prayers of Paul. Paul doesn't pray anything about circumstances. He don't see him praying for protection from financial setbacks or for surgeries or for the emperor to leave them alone. And then we might wonder, does this mean that we don't pray that way?

Do we not pray specifics? Do we not pray circumstantially? Well, of course we do. The Lord says in the Lord's Prayer, um, to pray, uh, God your will be done in our lives. Give us guidance. Uh, we pray for daily bread in the Lord's Prayer. We're praying for practical necessities. But what we are finding in this prayer, and in other prayers of the Apostle Paul, and in John 17, Jesus prayer for his followers, we are seeing those things of ultimate importance.

What we find here are what every believer needs, regardless of circumstances. It is the stuff that flows out of the work of the three members of the Godhead involved in our lives. This is going for the jugular praying. This is three great prayer requests that he is going to pray for every believer. And the degree to which these three things are developed in your life is the degree to which your spiritual life prospers and flourishes.

The circumstances actually won't really matter. They will enable you to thrive regardless of those circumstances. And quite honestly, if you don't have those three things involved in your life, you will process things in such a way that you will be spiritually and psychologically shallow and weak. Even if you are in a time of relative ease and prosperity.

These three things supersede circumstances. They are the things that change our lives. They are the things that he wants us to pray for one another, whether wealthy or impoverished, whether healthy or infirmed, whether surrounding by loving relationships or struggling with loneliness. These are things that are the source of spiritual health and joy.

Now, the interesting thing about this prayer is that Paul didn't know many of the people he's praying for. He says this in verse 15, he says, I have heard of your faith. And if you mentioned before this, this letter, the book of Ephesians is actually a circular letter. It wasn't only sent to the church at Ephesus, that was a hub for Christianity in that part of the world, modern day Turkey.

And as the church, uh, had, had grown and started other churches, This letter would be read and Paul says, there's lots of you guys I don't know by name. I don't know personally. I can't put a face to it, but I've heard about you. And even though he did not know them, he knew how to pray for them because he knew the three things.

That he wanted them as any Christian to be able to rise above whatever circumstances they're in are these three realities. And all of them are things he wants us to know. That they would be grounded into our psyche. Vital realities. And he says this in these verses in 16, 17. He says, I'm praying you'll have a spirit of wisdom and revelation.

I'm praying you'll know. I'm praying that your eyes will be in line. To what? To these three prayer requests, number one, he wants them to know and hold with a rock solid grasp and to continually grasp that the hope to which God has called them, secondly, the riches of God's inheritance in them, and third, the greatness of God's power for them.

I want to look at these three things that he prays for Christians. But first, I want to just clarify what he means, or what I mean, by the term Christian. Because he's saying, I'm praying these things on the basis of this reality. I know, even though I don't know you personally, I have heard that you are in Christ because of two evidences in your life.

So what are those two evidences? Well, that's what verse 15 is about, and I'm just going to try to touch on this. First of all, they have faith. in the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith comes first. Faith is foundational. It is what you believe primarily that makes you a Christian. It is not the group you're a part of.

It's not the church you attend. It is not even if, if you, uh, uh, participate with it, with the right movements in any way. Now, this speaks immediately to the concept that it, well, it doesn't matter what you believe as long as you live a good life. That's not what Paul's saying. He's saying, being a Christian is not a Christian in name.

It's a person that has placed their faith in Jesus. Faith is primary. It's not faith in a church, in a dogma. It's not even faith in the Bible. It's faith in a person, faith in Jesus Christ, and it's different from intellectual faith. You know, if I had a chair up here, and I brought this up here, and I said, this chair absolutely can hold my weight.

Um, uh, I have confidence you can hold a matter of fact, probably hold two of us, but I'll just say it'll hold me, but I don't really exercise faith in the chair until I do something. I sit in the chair. This faith that is being presented here is not faith that. Yeah, I believe Jesus did this. I believe I believe this.

I believe I have believed into Christ. I have entrusted the weight of my spiritual destiny into the chair of Jesus Christ. It's really likely that there are a number of people here this morning, or here, here in Mount Laurel, or here in Collingswood, or here watching online. that would affirm all the faiths, all of the dogmas of Christian faith that have not entrusted themselves into Jesus Christ, that have not said, in this moment, I realize that Jesus Christ died for me.

He died for my sins, that he rose from the dead as a demonstration that, that that, that offering had been satisfied, that it had satisfied the payment for my sins, and that I am personally, it's not just I think it, it's not just I intellectually embrace it, it's not just a cognitive reality to me. In this moment, I am believing into Jesus Christ.

I am receiving him as my Savior. That's why in Romans 10, it says, those who call on the name of the Lord are saved. They entrusted themselves into the chair of his grace. Have you done that? Have you personally embraced Jesus Christ as your Savior? It doesn't matter what church you're a part of. It doesn't matter how many services you come here.

It doesn't matter anything. It doesn't matter. Other than, have you sat in the chair of grace? Have you placed your faith in Jesus Christ? And Paul is saying here, uh, you guys have done this. And, and, and that's foundationally why I'm praying for you the way I am. Because I'm praying for you. as a member of the, of, of God's family, as one who is in Christ in relationship to Christ.

But he says something else here. He says, you have faith in the Lord Jesus. He doesn't say you have faith in Jesus. Why add Lord in verse 15? Because when a person puts their faith in Jesus, they are entrusting him to be their Savior and their Lord. to be the Lord of their lives. Romans 10 says this. If you declare with your mouth, Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

This was a key reality in Ephesus. Number of years ago, Marian and I had the chance, um, church sent us on the 25th anniversary of us are being here on a, on a, Wherever we wanted to go in the world. We went to the Mediterranean, we actually went with a few other people, but we, uh, went on this cruise in the Mediterranean, and probably, certainly my favorite site, and we went to some great sites.

Rome, and, and Istanbul, I mean it was awesome. Athens, but my favorite was actually the, the city of ruins. It was Ephesus. It was awesome because there's so much still you could see the grandeur of the city of Ephesus and you could walk through the streets and there's so much that has been restored. As you go into the city of Ephesus, you find in, it was a harbor city and, and there was a long quarter mile harbor road that I've told you before, had lit up lanterns.

It's just gorgeous. It ended at the end of the, you're coming from the harbor and as you go down this road, you get at the end and there is the hill that, that the whole city was built around. The side of that hill is this giant stadium and you can see the stadium and, and the, and the theater seats. But as you made a right right after the Harbor Road, and now you started to go down into the main district of the whole city.

There's this giant mall called the Agora. 2, 000 shops. It's where everybody shopped in the entire city of Ephesus and the surrounding areas. And to get into it, it was actually surrounded by wall. You had to go through these two gates. And as you went through these gates, on the left side there, Up above is this statement, Caesar is Lord.

It was striking. Caesar is Lord. This is our belief. This is what unifies us as a people here in Ephesus. And Jesus said, I know you guys have declared Jesus is Lord. Faith in Jesus is not just a question of addition. You don't just add Jesus to your life when you embrace him as your Savior. There's subtraction.

There's, there's changes that take place. They had to separate themselves from the cultural mentality. No, for us, it's the same thing that happened in Nazi Germany when Hitler was moving. And it was Heil Hitler, which meant, basically, Hitler is Lord. And the true Christians said, We can't. No, we don't do it.

We don't. We can't say he is our Lord. So for the Ephesian believers, for them, there was a decision made. They were subtracting cultural idols. They were saying we have chosen to live differently as we have embraced Jesus Christ as our savior. The second reality in their lives, how that was manifested was that they showed love to all the saints.

They showed faith in Jesus and love to all the saints. Faith is primary, but practice is essential.

A guy believes, all women are out to get me. All women are out to get me. And finally, this has become such a, a, a controlling reality in his life. He finally goes to a therapist. And of course, the therapist helps him to see all women aren't out to get him. And he goes through the whole process, talks about his background, his situation, what's going on in his life.

And basically the guy comes out and says, I realize not all women are out to get me. Just one woman's out to get me. But it's affected his life, right? His whole life is dominated by thinking, Oh, all women are, no, you just, I mean, but now he has to live it out. It's going to change his behavior. It's going to, it's going to make him, Able to date.

It's going to make him able to not be mad at his co workers, or be guarded, or be worse, be antagonistic. Because it isn't just faith, it is practice. And the practice that is focused on here is this. That you can have love for all the saints.

Why do artists struggle with engineers? Why does one ethnicity struggle with another or one political party struggle with another? Because all of us tend to group. All of us tends to try and, uh, try to find our identity in other people. The beauty of the body of Christ is Jesus came along and completely broke down every barrier.

In chapter 2, he's going to talk about he broke down the wall of hostility between people.

That the greatest calling of Christians is to love people that are utterly different than you, except they are united in a foundational love for Jesus Christ. We love across political parties. We love across races. We love across ethnicities. We love across denominations, reconciliation of cultures and races and different perspectives is at heart of Christian experience.

And Paul says, I see this in you guys. I mean, Jews, former practicing Jews, actually Jews now who have become Christians who are still practicing many of the Jewish practices. Which we Gentiles believe we have been freed from are not responsible to do. But he says, I see you guys coming together and loving each other and doing church together and even allowing your your your kids to get married and all these things that would have been so hard.

And he says, I just see this change. And he says, You know, these are the ways I know you guys are Christians. And so what he prays now is he's praying for people that are doing that. So what does he pray we should they would know here are the three things he prays first of all and this is verse 16 23 that we he prays they would know the confidence God's calling can give them I pray that you will know the hope to which he has called you.

In the New Testament, there are three particular things that Paul is talking about when he says the hope that is theirs because of their calling. Number one, and I want to say that I, I want, I wish I could be more skilled at helping you to see the practicalness of this. He says, Find your confidence in these three things that God has called you to himself, made you a part of his family.

He's given you hope. And there are three things that's hope focus in. One, number one, you have hope because you know God. Ephesians 2 verse 12, you were without hope. And without God. He's talking to the same people. You didn't have the hope. I'm talking about because that hope is in a relationship with God that God filled that God shaped hole in your life as he called you into salvation.

You have been given a personal relationship with God that you have come to know God, the one who is the safest person in your life. What do I mean by that?

People feel dangerous. When they're on the line, when they're discontent. It's why we tend to condemn other people. We tend to be judging of other people when we're most beating ourselves up. We tend to share the wealth. God is never on the line. God never is struggling with feeling inadequate. Or feeling like a less than.

Or feeling afraid. Or feeling angry. Or feeling worried. God is utterly content. Because he is utterly content in himself, he is utterly free to love. When we're given to fear, we can't love, because fear is controlling, it's absorbing, it takes everything. But God is able to love. He is then the safest person.

Well, if you get with an individual, you go to the gym and you're working out with a guy next to you, And, uh, he's so, you know, he's just everything, you know, he's talking about this and talking about this and he looks great and it's working and, and, and, but he's obviously on the line that man, I got to be here every day, every day.

I got to put in a couple of hours, you know, I come, I do this. You don't want to be next to that guy when you work out. He's not safe. What he does is make you think. Man, I don't, come on, buddy. You know, you're just saying, he's not safe to me. I want, I want somebody else that's relaxed. You know, they're just here, you know, and it's okay.

We'll work out together. It's the comparison. God never is. He's not having to prove himself. He's not saying, Oh man, I gotta get here today. You know, he's not in the line. He's safe and he's in. He's willing to life with us. He's willing to come alongside. And Paul says, Find your your Hope in this. You know, God, this God, the safest person you will ever know.

Secondly, you know your reason for living. Romans chapter five verse two. We boast in the hope of the glory of God. It goes on to say it was therefore we can glory and suffering because we know it has a purpose. There's a purpose in what is allowed into our lives. God is determined to use it all for good that God is purposing in our lives that he's he's at work in our lives.

The Purpose Driven Life was written by Rick Warren a number of years ago.

It has sold 50 million copies. It has been translated into 137 languages. Now, a very large percentage of those people were not Christians. Why'd they buy this book? Because there is this hunger in the heart of humans to have meaning to my life. I was talking with a girl who was an avowed atheist once a young adult, and she was going through some hard times.

We had talked about her atheism, and she made the statement to me. She said, I just I just want to know that all these hard things going on in my life have purpose, have a meaning. There is no purpose or meaning. If there isn't a purposer, if there isn't a designer, But we can live with our lives saying, I'm trying to live my life to the glory of God.

That God is arranging circumstances of my life to help me grow in Christ. There's purpose. And I can even embrace the, the, the hard things, the confusing things, the, the, the major issues in my life, because I know there's a, there's a purpose that God is, is intending in my life. The third thing he says, you can have confidence, you can have hope because you know your future.

Throughout the New Testament, our hope is talking about the future to come. That this is not your ultimate home. And Paul says, I'm praying that you guys will remember these realities. That you know God. That you, you know you have a reason for living. That you know there's life beyond this. That you will embrace these realities and drink at the well of these truths over and over again.

I'm at the age of my life where I'm thinking of the next one more than I used to when I was 30 years old. I now watch movies and, uh, and it's a movie that a guy loses his spouse and I cry every time. I can't imagine it. And it's caused me to think about heaven in a way I never thought about it before.

And I've said probably on I don't know, six or seven times probably feels like a thousand to Marianne, but because I tend to do With things I'm thinking about I've said this to her babe. I can't wait to do heaven with you I believe that I can't imagine doing life without my bride,

but what gives me hope in it is the It's a temporary separation. It's not over. And I can't wait to be in a place where I leave all the stuff behind that I'm leaving behind when I go to heaven. The me. The, the, the self part. The self centeredness. The self absorption. The selfishness. The self promotion.

The self ambition. This, uh, all that stuff that I have to deal with continually with the Lord and only He gives the grace to overcome because it's so prominent. Leave it all up behind. She's leaving all that behind. He says you can be confident because of what you have been Called to you've been called to hope, you know your future, you know your reason for living, you know your God Okay, I got a step up to pace Second thing here is he's praying for the contentment God's appraisal can give them I love this one.

That you will know in verse 18 what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints. Imagine trying a Christmas shop for Bill Gates or Taylor Swift. They both have yachts, they have jets, they have innumerable homes, most of them mansions, and recently they both own a car. Islands. What do you buy for a person that buys islands?

And you get with him at Christmas and you give him your, your present, which you for, and, and, and of course it's going to go like this. Oh my goodness, this is just what I've been waiting. No, you didn't. This is what I've been looking for. No, they didn't. They would have bought it.

In this passage, In this phrase, God is saying something incredible. You see, it could be rendered that the inheritance that's being talked about here, the glorious inheritance in the saints, is an inheritance that we receive from God. But that's not what it's about. That's not the way the wording is, and it's not what has been historically understood.

That's not what it's about. It's talking about the inheritance that God receives in us. And he says, this is your riches, your riches. Are God's inheritance in you? Saints, the word saints here means Christian set apart ones. God needs nothing, right? I mean, he's got more than islands, but he finds his great inheritance in those he called and justified and made a part of his family.

Now, Jesus was convinced of this in John 17. He says, Father, I'm not praying for the world, but for those whom you have given me for their yours. They belong to you. They matter to you. Pursued them. You drew them. Now, what is an inheritance? An inheritance is what is passed on as a legacy, a gift, a gift to others.

God's gift to himself

is believers. People he chose, rescued, forgave, gave his spirit to, he says, This is my inheritance. This is what the whole work, the whole story of grace and redemption was about. That what I will inherit as a result are these who have been embraced by Christ, who have entrusted themselves to my son. The ones that I have drawn, the ones that I have sent my son for, He finds his pleasure in you.

Your riches are in the fact that you are God's inheritance. Martin Lloyd Jones, great preacher of Scotland days past, said this, about this phrase. The degree to which you understand this passage, is the degree to which you will find strength not to sin. The degree that we imbibe this reality that God looks at us as his gift to himself,

his legacy, his inherited gift. is the degree that you will find self control, is the degree to which you will find that that sin is not as powerful an enticement. J. I. Packer, in his classic book, Knowing God, says that those who know God have four characteristics. Number one, great energy for God, great thoughts of God, great boldness for God, and great contentment in God.

If you haven't read that book, you really need to. And our great contentment ultimately comes in knowing that God delights in his children.

I was listening to a song this, uh, this week or last week. It's by the sidewalk prophets. It's called Chosen. The cadence of it is not going to do really well being read, but I'm going to do the best I can. Here's what, how it goes. What do you see when you look in the mirror? A loser? A failure? Does every scar determine who you are?

Maybe don't look, just turn away. If every day is like yesterday. Winds are gonna change. What do you hear when you're all alone? Stranded at sea on a stepping stone. There's a cloud inside you, it's welling up. You're not worthless, you're precious. You're not left out, you're wanted. You're not invisible with your shining soul.

Lord has spoken. You are chosen. You sat on the side and you tried to hide it, but deep in your heart there's a burning fire. Whoever told you that you're not strong, today's the day you're gonna prove them wrong. You're not worthless. You're precious. You're not left out. You're wanted. You're not invisible with your shining soul.

Love has spoken. You are chosen. Your fear is courageous and your weakness is strong. Hold on to faith and you'll more than overcome. This is your identity. Your call to be your royalty. You're chosen. You are chosen. Your fear is courageous and your weakness is strong. Hold on to faith and you'll more than overcome.

This is who you're made to be. Come and see your destiny. You're chosen. You are chosen. You're not worthless. You're precious. You're not left out. You're wanted. You're irreplaceable with your shining soul. Love has spoken. You are chosen. You didn't make yourself that way. God did. God says, this is my prize.

This is my glory. This is my inheritance. This is my legacy to myself. That I've reached out and taken a sin for broken people and I've drawn them to my son and they've embraced his work and for all eternity. They're going to be my joy. They are my glory. And Paul says, guys, I want you to see yourselves this way.

I want, I'm praying that you will see yourself because the more you see that is your identity, the freer you are from all the other things that are trying to identify, trying to determine your identity. The last thing, the capability God's power can give them. He's prayed three things here. Hope to which he's called you, the inheritance they are to God, and now the capability God's power can give them.

He says this in verses, um, 18 and following, about his power, verse 19 and following, about his power that is manifested. I'm not going to take time to go through all that. I just want to highlight the practicality of it. In Ephesus, there was tremendous demonic opposition. This is the book where he's going to talk about spiritual warfare and lay out the whole reality of it.

This is the book where he's going to talk more about principalities and powers and authorities of dark places than any other book in the New Testament. This is a city that was filled with opposition. If there's one thing I've learned in doing my life with God for a number of years, The enemy is utterly, incomparably more powerful than I am.

In a moment of time, he could snuff me out. He could snuff you out. He could shut down this service in a second. There's only one reason he doesn't. We are protected by the shielding, circling power of God. That's the reality. That is the reality. And Paul is reminding these people who felt the hot breath of the enemy every day living in Ephesus.

He says, I want you to be, I want you to, I'm praying that you will, you will be consumed with the fact that God is on your side, the power of God. Reading recently, uh, writing by Tim Keller, and I was just struck by a little story he was telling. And he was talking about God at work. in circumstances and how we tend to not be aware of just the big things that God is doing all around us every day.

He told the story when, when he was, um, in seminary. During that time, hap the Watergate break in happened with Richard Nixon, the president, wiretapping into Democratic headquarters. And as a result of that, Richard Nick Nixon was removed from office in disgrace, and Gerald Ford took over. And at that same time, uh, uh, Tim Keller was at, at seminary and there was a speaker that was supposed to come to the school.

And he said, and he was not able to get here from Britain because of some political issues. And it was a guy they, they had wanted to hear speak. And so a guy was on the board of the school and his, his, I can't remember his first name, but he was the son of Gerald Ford. He was on the board of Gordon Conwell.

And so he pulled some strings because his father was after in a pretty important position in the world at this moment as the president. And he got some strings pulled and this guy was able to come to speak at Gordon Conwell. And he spoke at Gordon Conwell and, and Tim Keller tells the story of how sitting out there, this guy absolutely changed my life.

As a matter of fact, he's the reason I became a Presbyterian, talking with him and, and, and, and realizing I, I embrace what he's saying and, and where he's coming from. Tim Keller then left Gordon Conwell and he went down to a small rural church in Virginia. Amazing church, diversity, amazing things he did there.

But he's in a little country church there, nobody knows him. But some Presbyterian leadership, because he was a part of their movement, reached out to him and they said to Tim, would you be willing to consider starting a church in downtown Manhattan? And so Tim Keller was called to go to this church in, in, in Manhattan, and, and in the story, Tim Keller's talking to the people of the congregation in, in Manhattan at Redeemer Church, and he said, if you today can look back and there's any way that God has, has brought good out of your life through Redeemer Church.

You owe it all to the Watergate break in. And he traced it. He did it. Basically saying, why? Because God is at work all the time. That's happening in your life right now. God isn't wasting stuff. God isn't, oh, how did that happen? No, He's moving. Because He's big. And He's powerful. And He's constantly thwarting, The enemy, you know, we're looking right now to move on to our next lead pastor, right?

We've only had one I'm, sorry for that, but that We've only had one in all these years 43 years brown hair mustache Turn into this

But I am absolutely certain that god cares more about this church than any of us And as godly leaders are crying out with a prayer of jehoshaphat. Oh god, our eyes are on you You I am absolutely positive God is going to, to orchestrate this thing to his own glory and grace. I've prayed for the last 20 years.

That the years after me would be the time when God did his greatest work in this church. I believe he's gonna do that. I, I'm absolutely positive he's gonna do it. Why? Because he's a God of power. And we can pray and embrace the power of God. Okay, so here we come. And, and in Sixers terminology, in regards to succession, they may trust the process.

We're trusting the processor. Okay, conclusion. Let's put some shoes on the bottom shelf. Here we go. Okay. Number one, pray this prayer for yourself. Ephesians chapter one, pray through it and pray it for yourself. Secondly, really meditate on these truths

that your confidence is in you know God and you know there's a purpose for your life and you know your future. There's a contentment that you have in that you are God's inheritance that he has deeded to himself and there's a capability that is found in God is working for you. And as you reflect on those things, I encourage you, and I'd encourage you to write this down.

Ask this question, how would my life be different if I really knew this in my life? If I really knew this, how would my life be different in the way I do life with my wife or husband, with my kids in my job, with my coworker, with my finances? How would my life be different in my school if I really knew this?

Number three, remember that Jesus Christ prayed these truths for you. He prayed that they would know the Father. He prayed that they would experience the Father's love for them. He prayed that they would be protected and empowered, all three parallel Paul's prayer here. And last, pray this for others. The next time you feel prompted to pray for somebody and you don't know what to pray, well, pray this way.

God, help them to know the hope to which He's called. Help them to remember who they are in your sight. Help them to embrace and experience and remember your power. Amen. Your creative power to work in their lives. Lord, we come to you now.

We glory in the work of grace that was done by you, Father, Son, and Spirit. Lord, now we pray that we might have our eyes open to these truths, that we might embrace them, sit in them.

Lord, we glory in Christ, praise you for who he is and what he's done for us. In Jesus name, Amen.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/praying-for-christians d173aa4d-d3ba-4ff2-810e-694b8c6785f3 Sun, 07 Apr 2024 11:58:49 GMT <div data-html="true">Ephesians 1:15-23 <br /><br /> I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> Morning, everybody. I invite you to take your Bibles. You're looking at the book of Ephesians, and if you wondered what was going on up there, um, We are going through a series in the book of Ephesians, um, in your journal, if you've got a black journal, which you can get at the hub this morning. Um, basically it is of the book of Ephesians, and in the cover of that is an outline of the sermon series, or of the topics in the book of Ephesians, which we're following in our sermon series. <br /><br /> And the young people are basically doing symbols to remind us as we go through the book of Ephesians. That outline. So you're gonna be looking this morning at Ephesians chapter 1 verse 15 to 23. A really Practical passage a passage that really talks about if you ever wonder what what really should I be praying for other people? <br /><br /> Especially for people that are that are followers of Jesus Christ. Well, Paul is going to tell us here in Ephesians chapter 1 Here's what we read Verse 15. For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and of revelation and knowledge of him. <br /><br /> Having the eyes of your hearts enlightened that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you. What are the riches of his glorious inheritance and the saints. And what is the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His great might, that He worked in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come. <br /><br /> And He put all things under His feet and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness. of him who fills all in all. Lord, we ask you to be our teacher. We thank you that all the things Paul prays for these Christians in Ephesus are also the things that you would have us embrace in our own lives and to pray for ourselves and for others to know. <br /><br /> Lord, thank you for how these very truths have been the foundation for many of our lives, my life. Um, the confidence, the contentment, the capacity to live that are all founded through the work of God of you in our lives. And Lord, I pray that you would teach us about that today in Jesus name. Amen. We've just left off, as we looked at verses 3 through 14, a few of us have taught through that the last handful of weeks. <br /><br /> In verses 3 through 14 of chapter 1, basically it is the work of the three members of the Godhead in the work of the story of grace. God the Father is mentioned in the first verses, in verses 3 through 6, as being the architect of the whole thing. He designed the whole rescue plan of grace. God the Son is the agent of it. <br /><br /> He accomplished that rescue plan of grace through coming and being born and taking flesh and living his life but ultimately going to the cross and being raised from the dead. God the Spirit. is the applier of it. He is the one that applies the rescue plan of grace into people's lives, even taking resident of their, in their lives, and is therefore giving us the down payment in this life of all the riches of glory that will be ours in a day to come. <br /><br /> But all members of the Godhead are involved in this, this amazing rescue plan the story of grace. We now come, Paul is now prompted as an outgrowth of that, of hearing about God's investment in the lives of Christians. He prays for these Christians in Ephesus. We notice an interesting thing as we look at this passage. <br /><br /> We prayer we just read, and we'd also notice is we've looked at all the prayers of Paul. Paul doesn't pray anything about circumstances. He don't see him praying for protection from financial setbacks or for surgeries or for the emperor to leave them alone. And then we might wonder, does this mean that we don't pray that way? <br /><br /> Do we not pray specifics? Do we not pray circumstantially? Well, of course we do. The Lord says in the Lord's Prayer, um, to pray, uh, God your will be done in our lives. Give us guidance. Uh, we pray for daily bread in the Lord's Prayer. We're praying for practical necessities. But what we are finding in this prayer, and in other prayers of the Apostle Paul, and in John 17, Jesus prayer for his followers, we are seeing those things of ultimate importance. <br /><br /> What we find here are what every believer needs, regardless of circumstances. It is the stuff that flows out of the work of the three members of the Godhead involved in our lives. This is going for the jugular praying. This is three great prayer requests that he is going to pray for every believer. And the degree to which these three things are developed in your life is the degree to which your spiritual life prospers and flourishes. <br /><br /> The circumstances actually won't really matter. They will enable you to thrive regardless of those circumstances. And quite honestly, if you don't have those three things involved in your life, you will process things in such a way that you will be spiritually and psychologically shallow and weak. Even if you are in a time of relative ease and prosperity. <br /><br /> These three things supersede circumstances. They are the things that change our lives. They are the things that he wants us to pray for one another, whether wealthy or impoverished, whether healthy or infirmed, whether surrounding by loving relationships or struggling with loneliness. These are things that are the source of spiritual health and joy. <br /><br /> Now, the interesting thing about this prayer is that Paul didn't know many of the people he's praying for. He says this in verse 15, he says, I have heard of your faith. And if you mentioned before this, this letter, the book of Ephesians is actually a circular letter. It wasn't only sent to the church at Ephesus, that was a hub for Christianity in that part of the world, modern day Turkey. <br /><br /> And as the church, uh, had, had grown and started other churches, This letter would be read and Paul says, there's lots of you guys I don't know by name. I don't know personally. I can't put a face to it, but I've heard about you. And even though he did not know them, he knew how to pray for them because he knew the three things. <br /><br /> That he wanted them as any Christian to be able to rise above whatever circumstances they're in are these three realities. And all of them are things he wants us to know. That they would be grounded into our psyche. Vital realities. And he says this in these verses in 16, 17. He says, I'm praying you'll have a spirit of wisdom and revelation. <br /><br /> I'm praying you'll know. I'm praying that your eyes will be in line. To what? To these three prayer requests, number one, he wants them to know and hold with a rock solid grasp and to continually grasp that the hope to which God has called them, secondly, the riches of God's inheritance in them, and third, the greatness of God's power for them. <br /><br /> I want to look at these three things that he prays for Christians. But first, I want to just clarify what he means, or what I mean, by the term Christian. Because he's saying, I'm praying these things on the basis of this reality. I know, even though I don't know you personally, I have heard that you are in Christ because of two evidences in your life. <br /><br /> So what are those two evidences? Well, that's what verse 15 is about, and I'm just going to try to touch on this. First of all, they have faith. in the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith comes first. Faith is foundational. It is what you believe primarily that makes you a Christian. It is not the group you're a part of. <br /><br /> It's not the church you attend. It is not even if, if you, uh, uh, participate with it, with the right movements in any way. Now, this speaks immediately to the concept that it, well, it doesn't matter what you believe as long as you live a good life. That's not what Paul's saying. He's saying, being a Christian is not a Christian in name. <br /><br /> It's a person that has placed their faith in Jesus. Faith is primary. It's not faith in a church, in a dogma. It's not even faith in the Bible. It's faith in a person, faith in Jesus Christ, and it's different from intellectual faith. You know, if I had a chair up here, and I brought this up here, and I said, this chair absolutely can hold my weight. <br /><br /> Um, uh, I have confidence you can hold a matter of fact, probably hold two of us, but I'll just say it'll hold me, but I don't really exercise faith in the chair until I do something. I sit in the chair. This faith that is being presented here is not faith that. Yeah, I believe Jesus did this. I believe I believe this. <br /><br /> I believe I have believed into Christ. I have entrusted the weight of my spiritual destiny into the chair of Jesus Christ. It's really likely that there are a number of people here this morning, or here, here in Mount Laurel, or here in Collingswood, or here watching online. that would affirm all the faiths, all of the dogmas of Christian faith that have not entrusted themselves into Jesus Christ, that have not said, in this moment, I realize that Jesus Christ died for me. <br /><br /> He died for my sins, that he rose from the dead as a demonstration that, that that, that offering had been satisfied, that it had satisfied the payment for my sins, and that I am personally, it's not just I think it, it's not just I intellectually embrace it, it's not just a cognitive reality to me. In this moment, I am believing into Jesus Christ. <br /><br /> I am receiving him as my Savior. That's why in Romans 10, it says, those who call on the name of the Lord are saved. They entrusted themselves into the chair of his grace. Have you done that? Have you personally embraced Jesus Christ as your Savior? It doesn't matter what church you're a part of. It doesn't matter how many services you come here. <br /><br /> It doesn't matter anything. It doesn't matter. Other than, have you sat in the chair of grace? Have you placed your faith in Jesus Christ? And Paul is saying here, uh, you guys have done this. And, and, and that's foundationally why I'm praying for you the way I am. Because I'm praying for you. as a member of the, of, of God's family, as one who is in Christ in relationship to Christ. <br /><br /> But he says something else here. He says, you have faith in the Lord Jesus. He doesn't say you have faith in Jesus. Why add Lord in verse 15? Because when a person puts their faith in Jesus, they are entrusting him to be their Savior and their Lord. to be the Lord of their lives. Romans 10 says this. If you declare with your mouth, Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. <br /><br /> This was a key reality in Ephesus. Number of years ago, Marian and I had the chance, um, church sent us on the 25th anniversary of us are being here on a, on a, Wherever we wanted to go in the world. We went to the Mediterranean, we actually went with a few other people, but we, uh, went on this cruise in the Mediterranean, and probably, certainly my favorite site, and we went to some great sites. <br /><br /> Rome, and, and Istanbul, I mean it was awesome. Athens, but my favorite was actually the, the city of ruins. It was Ephesus. It was awesome because there's so much still you could see the grandeur of the city of Ephesus and you could walk through the streets and there's so much that has been restored. As you go into the city of Ephesus, you find in, it was a harbor city and, and there was a long quarter mile harbor road that I've told you before, had lit up lanterns. <br /><br /> It's just gorgeous. It ended at the end of the, you're coming from the harbor and as you go down this road, you get at the end and there is the hill that, that the whole city was built around. The side of that hill is this giant stadium and you can see the stadium and, and the, and the theater seats. But as you made a right right after the Harbor Road, and now you started to go down into the main district of the whole city. <br /><br /> There's this giant mall called the Agora. 2, 000 shops. It's where everybody shopped in the entire city of Ephesus and the surrounding areas. And to get into it, it was actually surrounded by wall. You had to go through these two gates. And as you went through these gates, on the left side there, Up above is this statement, Caesar is Lord. <br /><br /> It was striking. Caesar is Lord. This is our belief. This is what unifies us as a people here in Ephesus. And Jesus said, I know you guys have declared Jesus is Lord. Faith in Jesus is not just a question of addition. You don't just add Jesus to your life when you embrace him as your Savior. There's subtraction. <br /><br /> There's, there's changes that take place. They had to separate themselves from the cultural mentality. No, for us, it's the same thing that happened in Nazi Germany when Hitler was moving. And it was Heil Hitler, which meant, basically, Hitler is Lord. And the true Christians said, We can't. No, we don't do it. <br /><br /> We don't. We can't say he is our Lord. So for the Ephesian believers, for them, there was a decision made. They were subtracting cultural idols. They were saying we have chosen to live differently as we have embraced Jesus Christ as our savior. The second reality in their lives, how that was manifested was that they showed love to all the saints. <br /><br /> They showed faith in Jesus and love to all the saints. Faith is primary, but practice is essential. <br /><br /> A guy believes, all women are out to get me. All women are out to get me. And finally, this has become such a, a, a controlling reality in his life. He finally goes to a therapist. And of course, the therapist helps him to see all women aren't out to get him. And he goes through the whole process, talks about his background, his situation, what's going on in his life. <br /><br /> And basically the guy comes out and says, I realize not all women are out to get me. Just one woman's out to get me. But it's affected his life, right? His whole life is dominated by thinking, Oh, all women are, no, you just, I mean, but now he has to live it out. It's going to change his behavior. It's going to, it's going to make him, Able to date. <br /><br /> It's going to make him able to not be mad at his co workers, or be guarded, or be worse, be antagonistic. Because it isn't just faith, it is practice. And the practice that is focused on here is this. That you can have love for all the saints. <br /><br /> Why do artists struggle with engineers? Why does one ethnicity struggle with another or one political party struggle with another? Because all of us tend to group. All of us tends to try and, uh, try to find our identity in other people. The beauty of the body of Christ is Jesus came along and completely broke down every barrier. <br /><br /> In chapter 2, he's going to talk about he broke down the wall of hostility between people. <br /><br /> That the greatest calling of Christians is to love people that are utterly different than you, except they are united in a foundational love for Jesus Christ. We love across political parties. We love across races. We love across ethnicities. We love across denominations, reconciliation of cultures and races and different perspectives is at heart of Christian experience. <br /><br /> And Paul says, I see this in you guys. I mean, Jews, former practicing Jews, actually Jews now who have become Christians who are still practicing many of the Jewish practices. Which we Gentiles believe we have been freed from are not responsible to do. But he says, I see you guys coming together and loving each other and doing church together and even allowing your your your kids to get married and all these things that would have been so hard. <br /><br /> And he says, I just see this change. And he says, You know, these are the ways I know you guys are Christians. And so what he prays now is he's praying for people that are doing that. So what does he pray we should they would know here are the three things he prays first of all and this is verse 16 23 that we he prays they would know the confidence God's calling can give them I pray that you will know the hope to which he has called you. <br /><br /> In the New Testament, there are three particular things that Paul is talking about when he says the hope that is theirs because of their calling. Number one, and I want to say that I, I want, I wish I could be more skilled at helping you to see the practicalness of this. He says, Find your confidence in these three things that God has called you to himself, made you a part of his family. <br /><br /> He's given you hope. And there are three things that's hope focus in. One, number one, you have hope because you know God. Ephesians 2 verse 12, you were without hope. And without God. He's talking to the same people. You didn't have the hope. I'm talking about because that hope is in a relationship with God that God filled that God shaped hole in your life as he called you into salvation. <br /><br /> You have been given a personal relationship with God that you have come to know God, the one who is the safest person in your life. What do I mean by that? <br /><br /> People feel dangerous. When they're on the line, when they're discontent. It's why we tend to condemn other people. We tend to be judging of other people when we're most beating ourselves up. We tend to share the wealth. God is never on the line. God never is struggling with feeling inadequate. Or feeling like a less than. <br /><br /> Or feeling afraid. Or feeling angry. Or feeling worried. God is utterly content. Because he is utterly content in himself, he is utterly free to love. When we're given to fear, we can't love, because fear is controlling, it's absorbing, it takes everything. But God is able to love. He is then the safest person. <br /><br /> Well, if you get with an individual, you go to the gym and you're working out with a guy next to you, And, uh, he's so, you know, he's just everything, you know, he's talking about this and talking about this and he looks great and it's working and, and, and, but he's obviously on the line that man, I got to be here every day, every day. <br /><br /> I got to put in a couple of hours, you know, I come, I do this. You don't want to be next to that guy when you work out. He's not safe. What he does is make you think. Man, I don't, come on, buddy. You know, you're just saying, he's not safe to me. I want, I want somebody else that's relaxed. You know, they're just here, you know, and it's okay. <br /><br /> We'll work out together. It's the comparison. God never is. He's not having to prove himself. He's not saying, Oh man, I gotta get here today. You know, he's not in the line. He's safe and he's in. He's willing to life with us. He's willing to come alongside. And Paul says, Find your your Hope in this. You know, God, this God, the safest person you will ever know. <br /><br /> Secondly, you know your reason for living. Romans chapter five verse two. We boast in the hope of the glory of God. It goes on to say it was therefore we can glory and suffering because we know it has a purpose. There's a purpose in what is allowed into our lives. God is determined to use it all for good that God is purposing in our lives that he's he's at work in our lives. <br /><br /> The Purpose Driven Life was written by Rick Warren a number of years ago. <br /><br /> It has sold 50 million copies. It has been translated into 137 languages. Now, a very large percentage of those people were not Christians. Why'd they buy this book? Because there is this hunger in the heart of humans to have meaning to my life. I was talking with a girl who was an avowed atheist once a young adult, and she was going through some hard times. <br /><br /> We had talked about her atheism, and she made the statement to me. She said, I just I just want to know that all these hard things going on in my life have purpose, have a meaning. There is no purpose or meaning. If there isn't a purposer, if there isn't a designer, But we can live with our lives saying, I'm trying to live my life to the glory of God. <br /><br /> That God is arranging circumstances of my life to help me grow in Christ. There's purpose. And I can even embrace the, the, the hard things, the confusing things, the, the, the major issues in my life, because I know there's a, there's a purpose that God is, is intending in my life. The third thing he says, you can have confidence, you can have hope because you know your future. <br /><br /> Throughout the New Testament, our hope is talking about the future to come. That this is not your ultimate home. And Paul says, I'm praying that you guys will remember these realities. That you know God. That you, you know you have a reason for living. That you know there's life beyond this. That you will embrace these realities and drink at the well of these truths over and over again. <br /><br /> I'm at the age of my life where I'm thinking of the next one more than I used to when I was 30 years old. I now watch movies and, uh, and it's a movie that a guy loses his spouse and I cry every time. I can't imagine it. And it's caused me to think about heaven in a way I never thought about it before. <br /><br /> And I've said probably on I don't know, six or seven times probably feels like a thousand to Marianne, but because I tend to do With things I'm thinking about I've said this to her babe. I can't wait to do heaven with you I believe that I can't imagine doing life without my bride, <br /><br /> but what gives me hope in it is the It's a temporary separation. It's not over. And I can't wait to be in a place where I leave all the stuff behind that I'm leaving behind when I go to heaven. The me. The, the, the self part. The self centeredness. The self absorption. The selfishness. The self promotion. <br /><br /> The self ambition. This, uh, all that stuff that I have to deal with continually with the Lord and only He gives the grace to overcome because it's so prominent. Leave it all up behind. She's leaving all that behind. He says you can be confident because of what you have been Called to you've been called to hope, you know your future, you know your reason for living, you know your God Okay, I got a step up to pace Second thing here is he's praying for the contentment God's appraisal can give them I love this one. <br /><br /> That you will know in verse 18 what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints. Imagine trying a Christmas shop for Bill Gates or Taylor Swift. They both have yachts, they have jets, they have innumerable homes, most of them mansions, and recently they both own a car. Islands. What do you buy for a person that buys islands? <br /><br /> And you get with him at Christmas and you give him your, your present, which you for, and, and, and of course it's going to go like this. Oh my goodness, this is just what I've been waiting. No, you didn't. This is what I've been looking for. No, they didn't. They would have bought it. <br /><br /> In this passage, In this phrase, God is saying something incredible. You see, it could be rendered that the inheritance that's being talked about here, the glorious inheritance in the saints, is an inheritance that we receive from God. But that's not what it's about. That's not the way the wording is, and it's not what has been historically understood. <br /><br /> That's not what it's about. It's talking about the inheritance that God receives in us. And he says, this is your riches, your riches. Are God's inheritance in you? Saints, the word saints here means Christian set apart ones. God needs nothing, right? I mean, he's got more than islands, but he finds his great inheritance in those he called and justified and made a part of his family. <br /><br /> Now, Jesus was convinced of this in John 17. He says, Father, I'm not praying for the world, but for those whom you have given me for their yours. They belong to you. They matter to you. Pursued them. You drew them. Now, what is an inheritance? An inheritance is what is passed on as a legacy, a gift, a gift to others. <br /><br /> God's gift to himself <br /><br /> is believers. People he chose, rescued, forgave, gave his spirit to, he says, This is my inheritance. This is what the whole work, the whole story of grace and redemption was about. That what I will inherit as a result are these who have been embraced by Christ, who have entrusted themselves to my son. The ones that I have drawn, the ones that I have sent my son for, He finds his pleasure in you. <br /><br /> Your riches are in the fact that you are God's inheritance. Martin Lloyd Jones, great preacher of Scotland days past, said this, about this phrase. The degree to which you understand this passage, is the degree to which you will find strength not to sin. The degree that we imbibe this reality that God looks at us as his gift to himself, <br /><br /> his legacy, his inherited gift. is the degree that you will find self control, is the degree to which you will find that that sin is not as powerful an enticement. J. I. Packer, in his classic book, Knowing God, says that those who know God have four characteristics. Number one, great energy for God, great thoughts of God, great boldness for God, and great contentment in God. <br /><br /> If you haven't read that book, you really need to. And our great contentment ultimately comes in knowing that God delights in his children. <br /><br /> I was listening to a song this, uh, this week or last week. It's by the sidewalk prophets. It's called Chosen. The cadence of it is not going to do really well being read, but I'm going to do the best I can. Here's what, how it goes. What do you see when you look in the mirror? A loser? A failure? Does every scar determine who you are? <br /><br /> Maybe don't look, just turn away. If every day is like yesterday. Winds are gonna change. What do you hear when you're all alone? Stranded at sea on a stepping stone. There's a cloud inside you, it's welling up. You're not worthless, you're precious. You're not left out, you're wanted. You're not invisible with your shining soul. <br /><br /> Lord has spoken. You are chosen. You sat on the side and you tried to hide it, but deep in your heart there's a burning fire. Whoever told you that you're not strong, today's the day you're gonna prove them wrong. You're not worthless. You're precious. You're not left out. You're wanted. You're not invisible with your shining soul. <br /><br /> Love has spoken. You are chosen. Your fear is courageous and your weakness is strong. Hold on to faith and you'll more than overcome. This is your identity. Your call to be your royalty. You're chosen. You are chosen. Your fear is courageous and your weakness is strong. Hold on to faith and you'll more than overcome. <br /><br /> This is who you're made to be. Come and see your destiny. You're chosen. You are chosen. You're not worthless. You're precious. You're not left out. You're wanted. You're irreplaceable with your shining soul. Love has spoken. You are chosen. You didn't make yourself that way. God did. God says, this is my prize. <br /><br /> This is my glory. This is my inheritance. This is my legacy to myself. That I've reached out and taken a sin for broken people and I've drawn them to my son and they've embraced his work and for all eternity. They're going to be my joy. They are my glory. And Paul says, guys, I want you to see yourselves this way. <br /><br /> I want, I'm praying that you will see yourself because the more you see that is your identity, the freer you are from all the other things that are trying to identify, trying to determine your identity. The last thing, the capability God's power can give them. He's prayed three things here. Hope to which he's called you, the inheritance they are to God, and now the capability God's power can give them. <br /><br /> He says this in verses, um, 18 and following, about his power, verse 19 and following, about his power that is manifested. I'm not going to take time to go through all that. I just want to highlight the practicality of it. In Ephesus, there was tremendous demonic opposition. This is the book where he's going to talk about spiritual warfare and lay out the whole reality of it. <br /><br /> This is the book where he's going to talk more about principalities and powers and authorities of dark places than any other book in the New Testament. This is a city that was filled with opposition. If there's one thing I've learned in doing my life with God for a number of years, The enemy is utterly, incomparably more powerful than I am. <br /><br /> In a moment of time, he could snuff me out. He could snuff you out. He could shut down this service in a second. There's only one reason he doesn't. We are protected by the shielding, circling power of God. That's the reality. That is the reality. And Paul is reminding these people who felt the hot breath of the enemy every day living in Ephesus. <br /><br /> He says, I want you to be, I want you to, I'm praying that you will, you will be consumed with the fact that God is on your side, the power of God. Reading recently, uh, writing by Tim Keller, and I was just struck by a little story he was telling. And he was talking about God at work. in circumstances and how we tend to not be aware of just the big things that God is doing all around us every day. <br /><br /> He told the story when, when he was, um, in seminary. During that time, hap the Watergate break in happened with Richard Nixon, the president, wiretapping into Democratic headquarters. And as a result of that, Richard Nick Nixon was removed from office in disgrace, and Gerald Ford took over. And at that same time, uh, uh, Tim Keller was at, at seminary and there was a speaker that was supposed to come to the school. <br /><br /> And he said, and he was not able to get here from Britain because of some political issues. And it was a guy they, they had wanted to hear speak. And so a guy was on the board of the school and his, his, I can't remember his first name, but he was the son of Gerald Ford. He was on the board of Gordon Conwell. <br /><br /> And so he pulled some strings because his father was after in a pretty important position in the world at this moment as the president. And he got some strings pulled and this guy was able to come to speak at Gordon Conwell. And he spoke at Gordon Conwell and, and Tim Keller tells the story of how sitting out there, this guy absolutely changed my life. <br /><br /> As a matter of fact, he's the reason I became a Presbyterian, talking with him and, and, and, and realizing I, I embrace what he's saying and, and where he's coming from. Tim Keller then left Gordon Conwell and he went down to a small rural church in Virginia. Amazing church, diversity, amazing things he did there. <br /><br /> But he's in a little country church there, nobody knows him. But some Presbyterian leadership, because he was a part of their movement, reached out to him and they said to Tim, would you be willing to consider starting a church in downtown Manhattan? And so Tim Keller was called to go to this church in, in, in Manhattan, and, and in the story, Tim Keller's talking to the people of the congregation in, in Manhattan at Redeemer Church, and he said, if you today can look back and there's any way that God has, has brought good out of your life through Redeemer Church. <br /><br /> You owe it all to the Watergate break in. And he traced it. He did it. Basically saying, why? Because God is at work all the time. That's happening in your life right now. God isn't wasting stuff. God isn't, oh, how did that happen? No, He's moving. Because He's big. And He's powerful. And He's constantly thwarting, The enemy, you know, we're looking right now to move on to our next lead pastor, right? <br /><br /> We've only had one I'm, sorry for that, but that We've only had one in all these years 43 years brown hair mustache Turn into this <br /><br /> But I am absolutely certain that god cares more about this church than any of us And as godly leaders are crying out with a prayer of jehoshaphat. Oh god, our eyes are on you You I am absolutely positive God is going to, to orchestrate this thing to his own glory and grace. I've prayed for the last 20 years. <br /><br /> That the years after me would be the time when God did his greatest work in this church. I believe he's gonna do that. I, I'm absolutely positive he's gonna do it. Why? Because he's a God of power. And we can pray and embrace the power of God. Okay, so here we come. And, and in Sixers terminology, in regards to succession, they may trust the process. <br /><br /> We're trusting the processor. Okay, conclusion. Let's put some shoes on the bottom shelf. Here we go. Okay. Number one, pray this prayer for yourself. Ephesians chapter one, pray through it and pray it for yourself. Secondly, really meditate on these truths <br /><br /> that your confidence is in you know God and you know there's a purpose for your life and you know your future. There's a contentment that you have in that you are God's inheritance that he has deeded to himself and there's a capability that is found in God is working for you. And as you reflect on those things, I encourage you, and I'd encourage you to write this down. <br /><br /> Ask this question, how would my life be different if I really knew this in my life? If I really knew this, how would my life be different in the way I do life with my wife or husband, with my kids in my job, with my coworker, with my finances? How would my life be different in my school if I really knew this? <br /><br /> Number three, remember that Jesus Christ prayed these truths for you. He prayed that they would know the Father. He prayed that they would experience the Father's love for them. He prayed that they would be protected and empowered, all three parallel Paul's prayer here. And last, pray this for others. The next time you feel prompted to pray for somebody and you don't know what to pray, well, pray this way. <br /><br /> God, help them to know the hope to which He's called. Help them to remember who they are in your sight. Help them to embrace and experience and remember your power. Amen. Your creative power to work in their lives. Lord, we come to you now. <br /><br /> We glory in the work of grace that was done by you, Father, Son, and Spirit. Lord, now we pray that we might have our eyes open to these truths, that we might embrace them, sit in them. <br /><br /> Lord, we glory in Christ, praise you for who he is and what he's done for us. In Jesus name, Amen.</div> false no <![CDATA[Words from the Empty Tomb]]> Mark 16:1-8

“You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’”



Invite you to take your Bibles to Mark chapter 16. This morning, Mark chapter 16. We're gonna be looking at verses one through eight. Words from the empty tomb. Here's what we read as we come to Mark chapter 16, verses one through eight. When the Sabbath was passed, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome brought spices so that they might go and anoint him.

And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. And they were saying to one another, who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb? And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back. It was very large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed.

And he said to them, do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who is crucified. He has risen. He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you. And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized him.

And they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. Let's pray.

Lord, we gather on this beautiful Easter morning. And God, we come to celebrate your Son. Lord Jesus, we come to you. And we desire to see you fresh. The beauty of what you have done the glory of what this day is commemorating That the grave is empty that you are not there that you are the living christ The son of the living god that you are our lord and living savior Lord teach us today from your word in these moments.

We spend together in jesus name. Amen It was march Harold Davis, a missionary of our church who had been a part of our ministry for a whole summer together as he'd been involved in ministries, wilderness camps, hiking camps, various, soccer programs, had returned to Bogota, Colombia and emails had alerted us here in the church office.

That harold was missing he had been on a pastoral visit in downtown bogota columbia He had gone on a thursday evening and he had not returned home It was well into the early morning hours That the missionaries had gone to all the places that they could think of where he might have gone Eventually, Friday morning, the police were pulled in and began a search for him.

By Friday afternoon, the missionaries and people from the church were looking at hospitals, even morgues, trying to find out where he might be. Eventually, late Friday afternoon, and we received an email that explained what happened. Bob Trout, a missionary. on the missions team there had gone into the very, inner city, the, the, the, some of the most difficult areas of Bogota and had gone to a morgue there and had immediately phoned to his wife who passed the word through the missionaries and they then on to people like us here in the States.

And here was his response. I'm at the morgue in downtown Bogota, Colombia. He is here. The word came forth as we had ensuing emails that he had met a tragic, brutal death, that he would not be coming home to his family and friends. He is here. Surely the more, most tragic words possible at the moment. Your loved one has been found in the place of death.

Two thousand years ago, some women gathered at the place of death, a tomb. They had come to visit a grave. When they arrived, they too were greeted with a message, almost an identical message, a three word message. But with one tiny, tiny change, three letters, he is not here. Those three letters changed the entire messaging.

Those three letters changed the entire environment from despair to hope. Those three letters changed the entire lives of these three women. Those three letters not here. Change the entire course course of human history in the place of death. Jesus is not here. Mark records the angels words to these women in Mark 16 and as he does so and as we participate in the words of their message, there are three things we find.

First of all, we find a word of challenge. To our minds their statement in verse six to the women was this he is not here This statement, of course Is pregnant with significance? And also it is something that takes deep intellectual Gymnastics, what do you mean? He's not here. What do you mean? He's alive Mark twain famously described faith As believing what you know ain't so Is that what it is?

Is it true that we look at the data and said, this is not intellectually credible, that one has to turn their mind off to embrace the reality of what these, in these mess, these individual angelic messengers are saying, many would argue that the angels message is not found on data that is credible. It's a challenge to our minds.

So there's the attempt to dismiss it. Some claim it is popular legend. This word is a challenge to our mind. But interestingly, in the time of Jesus, during the first century and into the second century, there were, there were a number, some would say dozens, of messianic movements. Invariably, every one of them collapsed quickly after the death of the leader.

This one, after 200 years, it had spread through the entire Roman Empire. It is now, by far, the largest religious faith on the earth. It is preeminently because it is founded on what that message was of the angel. He is not here. There is a living Messiah, a living Christ. That is the foundation now if you look at these verses we're looking at this morning It talks about mary magdalene mary the mother of james and salome brought spices Bought spices so that they might go and anoint his body three times in eight verses In chapter 15 verse 40 in chapter 15 verse 47 in chapter 16 verse 1 These women are mentioned and you want to say okay.

I mean Mark we get it The women were there. Why keep highlighting these witnesses were there? It's an interesting practice of ancient history that the primary way of verifying A historical event as opposed to something that moved its way simply into popular legend was eyewitness account. Richard Balcombe, ancient historian, highlights this fact in highlighting that this was how ancient histories were written.

There was more trust in personal testimony than even documentation. If you had witnesses, they could be interviewed and their testimony could be corroborated. When you see these women's names being written down repeatedly, you have the earmarks not of legend, but of history. They are basically the citations, the footnotes, of saying these women were there, these women would testify to it.

But more than this, there is something unique in the fact that the New Testament and these gospel writers are taking these particular witnesses. Celsus, a Greek pagan, wrote about 80 years after Jesus death. He was one of the most powerful and vociferous voices against the Christian faith. His preeminent argument against the veracity, the credibility of the gospel account of Jesus resurrection was this.

It was women that testified for them. The whole concept was that women would not have the, the, the social standing, the cultural, creds to have their voice heard. This could not be history, but the very fact that the gospel writers emphasized and the very fact that the witnesses to Jesus resurrection were women is argument that this was not falsified.

If you wanted to have credible witness in that day, you would always have men. But they were saying in this time, no, these were women. These were, these were followers of Jesus. The gospel God obviously verified, authenticates and approves of them as his ultimate messengers. But basically this was not popular legend.

It was historical reality. If Christians were making this up, this is not the eyewitnesses they would have chosen. Also, some would argue this is intellectual naivety. Some say, oh, they were ignorant people back then. They were superstitious people. Jesus says, I'll rise on the third day. Well, okay, fine. But that's not how it played.

People didn't say, oh, just fine. Constantly, Jesus said that he would rise from the dead. Not one of his followers Is there and wakes up sunday morning and says huh? By jewish reckoning friday would be the first day saturday would be the second day sunday would be the and nobody woke up and said Huh?

Today's the third day I wonder if this is gonna if this you know, jesus kept talking about this is the day this the day is going to rise Nobody did that the women are astounded. The guys are astounded. Everybody's astounded. No one expects this to happen You The angel even says to the women here, he basically says, it happened just like he told you it was going to.

No one anticipated it. No one was expecting this. No one tended to look at this superstitiously. C. S. Lewis says we tend today to have chronological snobbery. What he means by that is we tend to look back and think everybody back then didn't have the brain power, or the intellectual orientation that we have.

But these individuals let the evidence challenge what they would have expect was possible. It's interesting, there is historical data for the New Testament in a way that no other ancient writings have, including the resurrection of Jesus Christ. On March 15th, 44 BC, the Ides of March, dozens of Roman senators gathered together and put to death.

Julius Caesar, nearly 77 laters, on or about Sunday, April 5th, A. D., Jesus Christ was raised from the dead. That was authenticated in the New Testament. The death of Julius Caesar was recorded by Plutarch, a Greek writer, in what he called, Plutarch's lives. It's come down. It's even where, when Shakespeare wrote his great play about Caesar's death, he was actually building it on the ancient records of Plutarch's lives.

In Plutarch's lives, we have today fewer than 10 manuscripts. of parts of Plutarch's lives. And yet no one questions the veracity of it. The New Testament has 23, 986 ancient manuscripts from the first centuries, the same time period. As a matter of fact, if you took all existing manuscripts from antiquity of all classical Greek works, Plutarch, Aristotle, Socrates, Plato, and you took all the ones that we have from, from antiquity, back in those first couple of centuries, and piled them up, you would have a pile about four feet high.

If you took, The record of manuscripts that we have in that same amount of time of the New Testament, you would have a stack taller than the Empire State Building. There is so much historic data. There is no record. So we can say, well, I don't, I don't believe that this happened. Well, that may be, that's certainly your choice to believe that Jesus is not there.

But to say, well, it's just because it was just a bunch of superstitious people who, who would have believed anything. It's just a bunch of, of, of, of hearsay that we don't really have any historical data is utterly intellectually ignorant. Of the of the reality and of course when plutoc wrote his lives about Julius ceasar He wrote nothing controversial or politically dangerous that would harm his reputation or social standing as a matter of fact He had little to lose and much to gain by putting his historical claims in writing Gaining the ancient equivalent of a sweet book deal,

but the author of the new testament had no such benefit You The earliest disciples of Jesus inciting the resurrection of Christ and recording it in their writings and in their teachings were making audacious claims that were controversial and politically dangerous and for their eyewitness account, many of them lost status, wealth, freedom, and for some their lives, they didn't testify to the resurrection because it was profitable.

They testified to the resurrection. Because they were utterly convinced it was true. There is a a challenge to our minds when we reflect upon the resurrection of christ

There is secondly it challenges it speaks a word of grace to our hearts.

I'm, sorry I just okay Sorry, I put my paper in upside down And that's why i'm sounding like i'm standing upside down up here Okay, it's a word of grace to your heart. The angel said to these women, don't be alarmed. Tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. It's a word of grace to people with fears.

These women in these verses in Mark 16, 1 through 8 are recorded in a variety of ways. It says they're anxious. In verse one and two, who will roll in the stone away? They're alarmed. When they got there, they found that the stone was rolled away, and they encounter the angel. And the result is, in verse five, they were alarmed.

They're afraid. The angel tells them, don't be afraid, for I know that you're looking for Jesus who is crucified. He's not here. He's risen, just as he said. Verse eight, trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid. And verse eight adds, So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to his disciples.

There are strong emotions going on here. And it is on the emotional level of life, Jesus continually makes himself known. In this passage, it is speaking to people with fear. Jesus conquers death. He leaves the tomb. And he never goes back.

And it is because of the living Christ that these women Will find peace in the midst of their anxiety and fear that he brings word of grace These angels bring a word of grace in the context of resurrection But they also bring a word of grace to people Who have failed tell his disciples and peter that jesus is going into galilee ahead of you It would have been so easy For the angels to pass on this messaging from jesus to these guys You Look, you tell these faithless backstabbing cowards that if they can adequately grovel in penance and mourning for leaving me high and dry with the Sanhedrin and the Romans, I might be willing to meet with them at some point to consider allowing them to be back in the movement.

But the whole tenor is a tenor of grace. He's forgiving them before they even repent. He's forgiving them so they can repent. And then he makes the statement, go tell his disciples and Peter, if you know the story, you know, that Peter was the primary screw up in this whole thing. He's the one that denied him three times after with great braggadocio saying that, you know, he defend him to the death.

He's the one that had the sword, tried to swipe the Malchus, the, high priest servants head off missed and just got his ear. And yet in every way, he was the ultimate denier. If a general invitation was given to the disciples to join Jesus in Galilee, there's every reason to believe that at this moment that Peter would have said something like this.

You guys go, I'm, I'm good. I got no place. I I'm out. I'm a failure. I'm a denier. I'm unworthy, but Jesus makes sure the angels pass on this messaging to the women. through the women to Peter. Tell the disciples and highlight Peter by name to meet me in Galilee. If you've embraced Jesus Christ as your Savior, you saw yourself the way Peter came to see himself.

We failed in our own attempts to measure up to God's righteousness. We've seen ourselves as screw ups. The amazing thing in the Christian life as we journey with Jesus is the more you go on in the Christian life, the more you see how much a screw up you really are. The more you see the self centeredness of your own heart, the more it becomes about grace.

The more you really do embrace, with Samuel Rutherford who said, I see the seed of every known sin in my own heart. It's grace. It's the sense that this is all of God. The more you come to realize the astounding work that Jesus did in dying for us and suffering for us, and then ultimately affirming the freedom that has been purchased by rising for us.

This past Monday night, we were, we had a board meeting and Doug Linda, our chairman. showed, as he often does to start our meeting, a worship video. And, and this was, he taken a video clip of the passion Mel Gibson's movie and the brutality of the depiction of Jesus being beaten and lashed and scourged by the Roman soldiers.

And the song was being played in the background, the Via Dolorosa. And the voiceover was just Down the via dolorosa the the way of suffering and you're just watching and most of us in the room Had tears down our face Doug had us then get into groups of two or three and we're praying and as we're praying this this This guy's crying with cry.

Why? Because when you know christ And you journey with him the more you see your own heart and the more you realize He did that For a guy like me, he rescued me. He brought me into relationship with God. And the more we go grow in our, our understanding of our own hearts, the beauty is that God only shows you your heart.

So you will understand his. The more you see yours, the more you see his for you.

The message of grace at the tomb is

He's risen. Go tell the disciples and name Peter by name. He names your name. He makes you an object of grace. He says, I did this for you. The work of Friday, the cross, the scourging, all of it. I rose. I left the grave and I'm never going back because I am the risen Christ who's declared by my resurrection.

That the work that I did on the cross and dying in the place of sinners that they could be forgiven

Will never fail they are eternally forgiven and accepted And so peter the biggest screw up the biggest mess up jesus could say this to him On you i'll build my church and i'm giving you a new name Your name's been simon now. It's peter petra. You're my rock You That I'm going to build my church on.

Peter, you will have the biggest resurrection of all. It's a word of grace to our hearts. It's a word of mission to your life. The angels say to these women, this don't be alarmed. Go, go to the end of the earth. Go. I am with you to the end of your rope. I'm with you to the end of the age, because I am risen when it looks like it's over.

It is only the beginning. Circumstances seem like a death, but they are the way to life. There's purpose in all that comes. There are no dead ends. I want you to think with me about that for a moment. Because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and his presence now in your life, there are no dead ends going on.

Whatever's going on in your life right now feels like a total dead end. I don't see where I am. God says, No, I am superintending your life. I am working in your life. There are no dead ends. You may say, Well, this one is. It's a total rock face. He says, Not for me. There are no dead ends. Death could not hold me.

There's no places that can hold my work in your life. God will not necessarily protect you from the things that will perfect you. There are things that would say, well, how can this be? Well, God's using it. How can this hard God will use it. God is changing us. All of it's being done because he is continually bring being bringing life out of death.

It is so hard for us to face limitations and loss and cost.

First of all, because we don't believe that there are no dead ends. But second of all, we don't remember that we are not living with this place as all that we have. Johnny Erickson Tata was a young woman who had a tragic diving accident in her late teens. She became a believer in Jesus Christ. She, afterwards, she was completely paraplegic, has remained that way her entire life, and she tells the story of, of how the hardest part of dealing with her limitation, which was acute from her neck down, that she could, she would go to church and she went to an Episcopalian church where they would kneel down every week.

And she couldn't kneel down and she said, I am in the place of hope and safety and even here I am confronted with my limitation. And then she said this, then I suddenly realized that when I get to heaven, I'll get there on glorified legs. And the first thing I'll get to do is to drop down on them on my knees and kneel quietly before the feet of Jesus.

And then I'm going to get on my feet and I'm going to dance. Can you imagine the hope that the resurrection gives to someone whose spinal cord was injured like me? Can you imagine someone who is manic depressive? No religion, no other philosophy promises us new bodies along with new minds and new hearts.

Only in the gospel of Jesus Christ do people hurting like me find such enormous hope to live. It enables us to go. It enables us to go forward in difficult and overwhelming circumstances. Because there are no dead ends. There is nothing that contains the work of God and the purposes of God, not a grave, not a dead end.

Jesus left the graveyard on Easter Sunday. He left it 2, 000 years ago and he isn't going back. It's a word of challenge to your mind. It's a word of grace to your heart. It's a word of mission to your life. Lord, I pray you take these simple words. Speak them into our hearts as you see the need. Apply them to us, I pray in Jesus name.

Amen.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/words-from-the-empty-tomb b155d728-692d-45ea-aaf6-b45cf4825402 Sun, 31 Mar 2024 15:44:27 GMT <div data-html="true">Mark 16:1-8 <br /><br /> “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’” <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Invite you to take your Bibles to Mark chapter 16. This morning, Mark chapter 16. We're gonna be looking at verses one through eight. Words from the empty tomb. Here's what we read as we come to Mark chapter 16, verses one through eight. When the Sabbath was passed, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome brought spices so that they might go and anoint him. <br /><br /> And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. And they were saying to one another, who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb? And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back. It was very large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. <br /><br /> And he said to them, do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who is crucified. He has risen. He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you. And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized him. <br /><br /> And they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. Let's pray. <br /><br /> Lord, we gather on this beautiful Easter morning. And God, we come to celebrate your Son. Lord Jesus, we come to you. And we desire to see you fresh. The beauty of what you have done the glory of what this day is commemorating That the grave is empty that you are not there that you are the living christ The son of the living god that you are our lord and living savior Lord teach us today from your word in these moments. <br /><br /> We spend together in jesus name. Amen It was march Harold Davis, a missionary of our church who had been a part of our ministry for a whole summer together as he'd been involved in ministries, wilderness camps, hiking camps, various, soccer programs, had returned to Bogota, Colombia and emails had alerted us here in the church office. <br /><br /> That harold was missing he had been on a pastoral visit in downtown bogota columbia He had gone on a thursday evening and he had not returned home It was well into the early morning hours That the missionaries had gone to all the places that they could think of where he might have gone Eventually, Friday morning, the police were pulled in and began a search for him. <br /><br /> By Friday afternoon, the missionaries and people from the church were looking at hospitals, even morgues, trying to find out where he might be. Eventually, late Friday afternoon, and we received an email that explained what happened. Bob Trout, a missionary. on the missions team there had gone into the very, inner city, the, the, the, some of the most difficult areas of Bogota and had gone to a morgue there and had immediately phoned to his wife who passed the word through the missionaries and they then on to people like us here in the States. <br /><br /> And here was his response. I'm at the morgue in downtown Bogota, Colombia. He is here. The word came forth as we had ensuing emails that he had met a tragic, brutal death, that he would not be coming home to his family and friends. He is here. Surely the more, most tragic words possible at the moment. Your loved one has been found in the place of death. <br /><br /> Two thousand years ago, some women gathered at the place of death, a tomb. They had come to visit a grave. When they arrived, they too were greeted with a message, almost an identical message, a three word message. But with one tiny, tiny change, three letters, he is not here. Those three letters changed the entire messaging. <br /><br /> Those three letters changed the entire environment from despair to hope. Those three letters changed the entire lives of these three women. Those three letters not here. Change the entire course course of human history in the place of death. Jesus is not here. Mark records the angels words to these women in Mark 16 and as he does so and as we participate in the words of their message, there are three things we find. <br /><br /> First of all, we find a word of challenge. To our minds their statement in verse six to the women was this he is not here This statement, of course Is pregnant with significance? And also it is something that takes deep intellectual Gymnastics, what do you mean? He's not here. What do you mean? He's alive Mark twain famously described faith As believing what you know ain't so Is that what it is? <br /><br /> Is it true that we look at the data and said, this is not intellectually credible, that one has to turn their mind off to embrace the reality of what these, in these mess, these individual angelic messengers are saying, many would argue that the angels message is not found on data that is credible. It's a challenge to our minds. <br /><br /> So there's the attempt to dismiss it. Some claim it is popular legend. This word is a challenge to our mind. But interestingly, in the time of Jesus, during the first century and into the second century, there were, there were a number, some would say dozens, of messianic movements. Invariably, every one of them collapsed quickly after the death of the leader. <br /><br /> This one, after 200 years, it had spread through the entire Roman Empire. It is now, by far, the largest religious faith on the earth. It is preeminently because it is founded on what that message was of the angel. He is not here. There is a living Messiah, a living Christ. That is the foundation now if you look at these verses we're looking at this morning It talks about mary magdalene mary the mother of james and salome brought spices Bought spices so that they might go and anoint his body three times in eight verses In chapter 15 verse 40 in chapter 15 verse 47 in chapter 16 verse 1 These women are mentioned and you want to say okay. <br /><br /> I mean Mark we get it The women were there. Why keep highlighting these witnesses were there? It's an interesting practice of ancient history that the primary way of verifying A historical event as opposed to something that moved its way simply into popular legend was eyewitness account. Richard Balcombe, ancient historian, highlights this fact in highlighting that this was how ancient histories were written. <br /><br /> There was more trust in personal testimony than even documentation. If you had witnesses, they could be interviewed and their testimony could be corroborated. When you see these women's names being written down repeatedly, you have the earmarks not of legend, but of history. They are basically the citations, the footnotes, of saying these women were there, these women would testify to it. <br /><br /> But more than this, there is something unique in the fact that the New Testament and these gospel writers are taking these particular witnesses. Celsus, a Greek pagan, wrote about 80 years after Jesus death. He was one of the most powerful and vociferous voices against the Christian faith. His preeminent argument against the veracity, the credibility of the gospel account of Jesus resurrection was this. <br /><br /> It was women that testified for them. The whole concept was that women would not have the, the, the social standing, the cultural, creds to have their voice heard. This could not be history, but the very fact that the gospel writers emphasized and the very fact that the witnesses to Jesus resurrection were women is argument that this was not falsified. <br /><br /> If you wanted to have credible witness in that day, you would always have men. But they were saying in this time, no, these were women. These were, these were followers of Jesus. The gospel God obviously verified, authenticates and approves of them as his ultimate messengers. But basically this was not popular legend. <br /><br /> It was historical reality. If Christians were making this up, this is not the eyewitnesses they would have chosen. Also, some would argue this is intellectual naivety. Some say, oh, they were ignorant people back then. They were superstitious people. Jesus says, I'll rise on the third day. Well, okay, fine. But that's not how it played. <br /><br /> People didn't say, oh, just fine. Constantly, Jesus said that he would rise from the dead. Not one of his followers Is there and wakes up sunday morning and says huh? By jewish reckoning friday would be the first day saturday would be the second day sunday would be the and nobody woke up and said Huh? <br /><br /> Today's the third day I wonder if this is gonna if this you know, jesus kept talking about this is the day this the day is going to rise Nobody did that the women are astounded. The guys are astounded. Everybody's astounded. No one expects this to happen You The angel even says to the women here, he basically says, it happened just like he told you it was going to. <br /><br /> No one anticipated it. No one was expecting this. No one tended to look at this superstitiously. C. S. Lewis says we tend today to have chronological snobbery. What he means by that is we tend to look back and think everybody back then didn't have the brain power, or the intellectual orientation that we have. <br /><br /> But these individuals let the evidence challenge what they would have expect was possible. It's interesting, there is historical data for the New Testament in a way that no other ancient writings have, including the resurrection of Jesus Christ. On March 15th, 44 BC, the Ides of March, dozens of Roman senators gathered together and put to death. <br /><br /> Julius Caesar, nearly 77 laters, on or about Sunday, April 5th, A. D., Jesus Christ was raised from the dead. That was authenticated in the New Testament. The death of Julius Caesar was recorded by Plutarch, a Greek writer, in what he called, Plutarch's lives. It's come down. It's even where, when Shakespeare wrote his great play about Caesar's death, he was actually building it on the ancient records of Plutarch's lives. <br /><br /> In Plutarch's lives, we have today fewer than 10 manuscripts. of parts of Plutarch's lives. And yet no one questions the veracity of it. The New Testament has 23, 986 ancient manuscripts from the first centuries, the same time period. As a matter of fact, if you took all existing manuscripts from antiquity of all classical Greek works, Plutarch, Aristotle, Socrates, Plato, and you took all the ones that we have from, from antiquity, back in those first couple of centuries, and piled them up, you would have a pile about four feet high. <br /><br /> If you took, The record of manuscripts that we have in that same amount of time of the New Testament, you would have a stack taller than the Empire State Building. There is so much historic data. There is no record. So we can say, well, I don't, I don't believe that this happened. Well, that may be, that's certainly your choice to believe that Jesus is not there. <br /><br /> But to say, well, it's just because it was just a bunch of superstitious people who, who would have believed anything. It's just a bunch of, of, of, of hearsay that we don't really have any historical data is utterly intellectually ignorant. Of the of the reality and of course when plutoc wrote his lives about Julius ceasar He wrote nothing controversial or politically dangerous that would harm his reputation or social standing as a matter of fact He had little to lose and much to gain by putting his historical claims in writing Gaining the ancient equivalent of a sweet book deal, <br /><br /> but the author of the new testament had no such benefit You The earliest disciples of Jesus inciting the resurrection of Christ and recording it in their writings and in their teachings were making audacious claims that were controversial and politically dangerous and for their eyewitness account, many of them lost status, wealth, freedom, and for some their lives, they didn't testify to the resurrection because it was profitable. <br /><br /> They testified to the resurrection. Because they were utterly convinced it was true. There is a a challenge to our minds when we reflect upon the resurrection of christ <br /><br /> There is secondly it challenges it speaks a word of grace to our hearts. <br /><br /> I'm, sorry I just okay Sorry, I put my paper in upside down And that's why i'm sounding like i'm standing upside down up here Okay, it's a word of grace to your heart. The angel said to these women, don't be alarmed. Tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. It's a word of grace to people with fears. <br /><br /> These women in these verses in Mark 16, 1 through 8 are recorded in a variety of ways. It says they're anxious. In verse one and two, who will roll in the stone away? They're alarmed. When they got there, they found that the stone was rolled away, and they encounter the angel. And the result is, in verse five, they were alarmed. <br /><br /> They're afraid. The angel tells them, don't be afraid, for I know that you're looking for Jesus who is crucified. He's not here. He's risen, just as he said. Verse eight, trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid. And verse eight adds, So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to his disciples. <br /><br /> There are strong emotions going on here. And it is on the emotional level of life, Jesus continually makes himself known. In this passage, it is speaking to people with fear. Jesus conquers death. He leaves the tomb. And he never goes back. <br /><br /> And it is because of the living Christ that these women Will find peace in the midst of their anxiety and fear that he brings word of grace These angels bring a word of grace in the context of resurrection But they also bring a word of grace to people Who have failed tell his disciples and peter that jesus is going into galilee ahead of you It would have been so easy For the angels to pass on this messaging from jesus to these guys You Look, you tell these faithless backstabbing cowards that if they can adequately grovel in penance and mourning for leaving me high and dry with the Sanhedrin and the Romans, I might be willing to meet with them at some point to consider allowing them to be back in the movement. <br /><br /> But the whole tenor is a tenor of grace. He's forgiving them before they even repent. He's forgiving them so they can repent. And then he makes the statement, go tell his disciples and Peter, if you know the story, you know, that Peter was the primary screw up in this whole thing. He's the one that denied him three times after with great braggadocio saying that, you know, he defend him to the death. <br /><br /> He's the one that had the sword, tried to swipe the Malchus, the, high priest servants head off missed and just got his ear. And yet in every way, he was the ultimate denier. If a general invitation was given to the disciples to join Jesus in Galilee, there's every reason to believe that at this moment that Peter would have said something like this. <br /><br /> You guys go, I'm, I'm good. I got no place. I I'm out. I'm a failure. I'm a denier. I'm unworthy, but Jesus makes sure the angels pass on this messaging to the women. through the women to Peter. Tell the disciples and highlight Peter by name to meet me in Galilee. If you've embraced Jesus Christ as your Savior, you saw yourself the way Peter came to see himself. <br /><br /> We failed in our own attempts to measure up to God's righteousness. We've seen ourselves as screw ups. The amazing thing in the Christian life as we journey with Jesus is the more you go on in the Christian life, the more you see how much a screw up you really are. The more you see the self centeredness of your own heart, the more it becomes about grace. <br /><br /> The more you really do embrace, with Samuel Rutherford who said, I see the seed of every known sin in my own heart. It's grace. It's the sense that this is all of God. The more you come to realize the astounding work that Jesus did in dying for us and suffering for us, and then ultimately affirming the freedom that has been purchased by rising for us. <br /><br /> This past Monday night, we were, we had a board meeting and Doug Linda, our chairman. showed, as he often does to start our meeting, a worship video. And, and this was, he taken a video clip of the passion Mel Gibson's movie and the brutality of the depiction of Jesus being beaten and lashed and scourged by the Roman soldiers. <br /><br /> And the song was being played in the background, the Via Dolorosa. And the voiceover was just Down the via dolorosa the the way of suffering and you're just watching and most of us in the room Had tears down our face Doug had us then get into groups of two or three and we're praying and as we're praying this this This guy's crying with cry. <br /><br /> Why? Because when you know christ And you journey with him the more you see your own heart and the more you realize He did that For a guy like me, he rescued me. He brought me into relationship with God. And the more we go grow in our, our understanding of our own hearts, the beauty is that God only shows you your heart. <br /><br /> So you will understand his. The more you see yours, the more you see his for you. <br /><br /> The message of grace at the tomb is <br /><br /> He's risen. Go tell the disciples and name Peter by name. He names your name. He makes you an object of grace. He says, I did this for you. The work of Friday, the cross, the scourging, all of it. I rose. I left the grave and I'm never going back because I am the risen Christ who's declared by my resurrection. <br /><br /> That the work that I did on the cross and dying in the place of sinners that they could be forgiven <br /><br /> Will never fail they are eternally forgiven and accepted And so peter the biggest screw up the biggest mess up jesus could say this to him On you i'll build my church and i'm giving you a new name Your name's been simon now. It's peter petra. You're my rock You That I'm going to build my church on. <br /><br /> Peter, you will have the biggest resurrection of all. It's a word of grace to our hearts. It's a word of mission to your life. The angels say to these women, this don't be alarmed. Go, go to the end of the earth. Go. I am with you to the end of your rope. I'm with you to the end of the age, because I am risen when it looks like it's over. <br /><br /> It is only the beginning. Circumstances seem like a death, but they are the way to life. There's purpose in all that comes. There are no dead ends. I want you to think with me about that for a moment. Because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and his presence now in your life, there are no dead ends going on. <br /><br /> Whatever's going on in your life right now feels like a total dead end. I don't see where I am. God says, No, I am superintending your life. I am working in your life. There are no dead ends. You may say, Well, this one is. It's a total rock face. He says, Not for me. There are no dead ends. Death could not hold me. <br /><br /> There's no places that can hold my work in your life. God will not necessarily protect you from the things that will perfect you. There are things that would say, well, how can this be? Well, God's using it. How can this hard God will use it. God is changing us. All of it's being done because he is continually bring being bringing life out of death. <br /><br /> It is so hard for us to face limitations and loss and cost. <br /><br /> First of all, because we don't believe that there are no dead ends. But second of all, we don't remember that we are not living with this place as all that we have. Johnny Erickson Tata was a young woman who had a tragic diving accident in her late teens. She became a believer in Jesus Christ. She, afterwards, she was completely paraplegic, has remained that way her entire life, and she tells the story of, of how the hardest part of dealing with her limitation, which was acute from her neck down, that she could, she would go to church and she went to an Episcopalian church where they would kneel down every week. <br /><br /> And she couldn't kneel down and she said, I am in the place of hope and safety and even here I am confronted with my limitation. And then she said this, then I suddenly realized that when I get to heaven, I'll get there on glorified legs. And the first thing I'll get to do is to drop down on them on my knees and kneel quietly before the feet of Jesus. <br /><br /> And then I'm going to get on my feet and I'm going to dance. Can you imagine the hope that the resurrection gives to someone whose spinal cord was injured like me? Can you imagine someone who is manic depressive? No religion, no other philosophy promises us new bodies along with new minds and new hearts. <br /><br /> Only in the gospel of Jesus Christ do people hurting like me find such enormous hope to live. It enables us to go. It enables us to go forward in difficult and overwhelming circumstances. Because there are no dead ends. There is nothing that contains the work of God and the purposes of God, not a grave, not a dead end. <br /><br /> Jesus left the graveyard on Easter Sunday. He left it 2, 000 years ago and he isn't going back. It's a word of challenge to your mind. It's a word of grace to your heart. It's a word of mission to your life. Lord, I pray you take these simple words. Speak them into our hearts as you see the need. Apply them to us, I pray in Jesus name. <br /><br /> Amen.</div> false no <![CDATA[The Role of the Holy Spirit in the Story of Grace]]> Ephesians 1:13-14

In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,



Sermon Transcript:

Good morning, everyone. I made sure to turn that off right before I came on. I want to say good morning to those of you here in Mount Laurel, those of you online, those of you here in Collingswood. It's great to be with you as we continue in our series. There's a show on Netflix called Brain Games. Anyone ever see Brain Games?

It's a little docu series about what I believe is the most complex, created thing in all the universe, the human mind. It's fascinating the way the mind operates and in this, this docu series they do little anecdotal experiments on what, on what they're doing. On how the mind operates and what ways it's, you know, can have distortions if it looks, you know, they show those kind of pictures and you figure out what you think the picture is and then you find out, oh, it's not that.

But, one of the shows that they did, we just watched this last Wednesday, they came to people and they, they studied the, the effect of religion on the mind, was their desire. And what they did as a little experiment is they would go to people in a cafe with a bunch of money. And they would first ask them questions on, First they'd say something simple like, What's your favorite color?

Purple. Okay, purple's your favorite color. If I give you five dollars, Will you say that purple's not your favorite color? No, I'm not going to lie for 5. If I give you 10, ah, my morals are higher than that. I'm not going to lie. If I give you 20, I hate purple. Give me the money. Right? So this happened over and over with a whole bunch of different questions, and, and at each time, as the money went up, so did the willingness to be like, all right, okay, on this issue, I'm willing to bend.

Then they asked a final question. They said, what do you believe about God? They say, I believe in God, say with you 5 to say you don't. How many of you think took the money? None. Ten dollars. Twenty dollars. The money went up and up until they're literally in the show waving this cash in front of people's faces.

Not one of the people they interviewed that believed in God was willing to take the money to say they didn't. They did it also with people who did not believe in God. How many people do you think took the money? To say actually I do believe in God for the sake of the money. None. None. Because what we believe about God is very personal to us.

It's very core. For people who do believe in God, for people who don't believe in God, it's not a decision or thought people take lightly. When we come to this Ephesians letter that we're looking at, And we're coming to, to realize that these are people, both Jew and Gentile, that would be in Ephesus, but then the letter distributed to people scattered throughout Asia.

These are people who have changed their opinion about God. Nobody grew up from when they were two and now that they're 70 in the church. These are people who are relatively new believers, people who have gone a different way than what they have learned. People who have been willing to change because they encountered something worth a lot more than cash waved in front of the face.

They've encountered God. And so when we read the New Testament, when we read from people like this church in Ephesus, We're reading of hungry people, people who, who have said, yes, I believe, yes, I'm willing to change because of this encounter I've had with this Christ. Tell me more. And in this letter that we have in Ephesians.

Paul tells them more. This letter that we've been looking at, we've been looking the last three weeks at verses 3 through 14. This, this 3 through 14 in English, if you look at your English Bible, has a lot of different sentences. It does not in the Greek. It is one sentence, the longest theological sentence in the New Testament.

When you do work with Greek, the Greek language and do this in seminary and stuff, you start with English, we'll do this, but this is kind of how you start graphing sentences. She swims. How does she swim? Well. What type of well? Very well. Okay? Then you're going to add verb, you're going now, verb, no object in this sentence.

But this is how you begin graphing. Here is a picture of Ephesians 3, 3, or Ephesians 1, 3 through 14. I know you have that in your notes. You had already figured it out. This sentence is the most complex and theologically dense sentence in the entire New Testament. Paul is writing to hungry people and is giving them food.

What we have looked at as we've looked at this sentence is the three persons of God that have a role in this incredible story of grace that Paul is describing. Pastor Mark talked about God, the father as the architect, the one with the plan. Talk to Pastor Jared talked about set Christ, the second person of the Trinity as the agent, both the agent in creation that spoke the universe into existence, the agent in the gospel, whose very life and body were the ones who created the gospel story.

And today, in verses 13 and 14, we're gonna look at the Holy Spirit. The one who applies this message to his people and and truth be told throughout this long sentence in Ephesians 1 3 through 14, you have the Holy Spirit dancing all over it as you do the father and the son. In this incredibly, I'm going to use the word mysterious idea of the Trinity.

One author I appreciate says, the mystery of God is not something you can't know. The mystery of God is something you endlessly know. It's something that you never solve, but it's something you're always finding more about. This sentence, As much perhaps as anywhere in the new testament gives us a view into the dance of the trinity I'm going to read verses 13 and 14 of ephesians 1 then we'll pray together in him You also and that's speaking of christ in christ you also When you heard the word of truth the gospel of your salvation Believed in him again speaking of christ We're sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it.

To the praise of his glory

father son, holy spirit We we come to submit ourselves to you this morning. We come here in mount laurel Here in collingswood to hear your voice We believe if we are to take your scripture seriously That you are here right now

We pray you would speak and we would hear and we would enjoy The reality of what it means to know this spirit and his role In the greatest story ever told in jesus name. Amen four things. I want to mention about the spirit from the text this morning The first is our relationship with the spirit is not extractable From our relationship with the father And the sun we're only looking at two of the verses of the very long sentence But if you look at the the first first person that we're looking at in here, you can pop that on the screen The image on the screen is there's a couple pronouns.

Okay. There's actually eight pronouns in this or personal pronouns in this sentence in this part of the sentence I should say the first is in him You also, when you heard the Word of Truth, the Gospel, your salvation, believed in Him. The in Him is used often from 3 to 14. It's used to describe Christ.

This story happens. This story is taking place. This story only happens. The party is only thrown. Of the gospel because it is in christ the one who died and resurrected, but that's not the only person Mentioned in the text go ahead to the next slide We also have the holy spirit and then refer back to as who we're talking about this morning Okay, so we have in him meaning christ and then we have the holy spirit in the next slide It finishes the praise of his glory.

If you look back to the context of this long passage with 3 to 14, it is speaking about the blessings and praise of the glory of the father, the father, son and Holy Spirit. Jared, maybe he's not. He's probably a later service guy, but Jared and I were complaining last week of like, Hey, we're supposed to only talk about one member of the Godhead, but you know, he's here, he's here, he's here.

How do we get this here? And as we're talking about today, the Holy Spirit. We can't talk about him, not in light of the father and the son. You cannot have one without the other. In Galatians 4, 6, Christ speaks of, it's of his spirit, and because you are sons, God has sent the spirit of his son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father.

But Christ himself in John 14 writes this, But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you many all things and bring your in remembrance. That I have said these things to you. The, the spirit is from the Father, the spirit primarily. That's what we see in your testament, but it also says the spirit is of the son from the son.

There is in this a parsing out of who does what to some degree, and there is some that we see in this text, but there is not one without another. We cannot uphold one without upholding the other. In fact, we cannot speak of one correctly. Without, as it says in our passage, the glory of one another.

Secondly, we have, we do have a unique relationship with the Holy Spirit. While it's not extractable from the Father and Son, we have a unique, unique relationship with the Spirit. First things, the text says we are sealed in Him. We are sealed in Him. Eric Raymond notes this when he writes, we read in Revelation 7 verse 3 that God places a seal on his people to identify them and protect them from wrath.

There is a seal placed on it and in the text, it's past tense. You were sealed with the Holy Spirit, a finished work. We belong to him also about being sealed. We're under a binding contract. The text goes on to say a guarantee. Of our inheritance a part of this seal. We have partial blessings The word is said that we have a down payment Or an earnest basically a partial part of the inheritance and the text will go on to say until we acquire Full possession of it.

We have part of this inheritance What I believe that means is we have part of the blessings of god primarily Through the holy spirit now the future inheritance of god's people will also be in in full physical Relationship with God, the father, God, the spirit and God, the son. But we right now have a partial possession of that in our full communion, primarily with the spirit.

The spirit is sealed. Secondly, another past tense verb. The spirit has been promised. Who promised the spirit? Well, the father and the son did there's Old Testament prophecy that has promised this and then Jesus himself Said that this is blend the plan the whole time I will go and I will give you something better a better situation when the Spirit comes After I am gone few Holy Spirit Implications our relationship our unique relationship with the Spirit I believe will change the least eternally.

When we look at the relationship with the father and the son, actually being physically present with them, our communion with them will change more than our uninhibited communion right now. with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the primary agent of God on Earth. Christ went up and sent Holy Spirit down.

Secondly, our communion with the Spirit is not inhibited by time and space in the same way as we are with the son and father. This in no way means what we can't know the son. We can't know the father. When Christ was here, what did he say? He said, Oh, you already know the father. Because you know, the son, the spirit was, he speaks as not speaking words on his own, but only that has been told to him to say.

So to know the spirit is to know Christ is to know the father. But our relationship with the spirit is unique. Our communion with the spirit is unique. Lastly, our communion with the son and the father is through the spirit, unlike it will be in heaven.

Third, the Christian life happens by the Spirit's work in us. We've talked about in this giant sentence, Ephesians 1, 3 14, God as the architect, God the Father as the architect, God the Son as the agent, and God the Spirit as the applier of this gospel work. We cannot live the Christian life without the Holy Spirit.

I, let me say that simpler. There is no Christian life without the Holy Spirit. Our relationship with the Spirit is crucial for our relationship With god our church tradition falls in line. There's lots of different church traditions in church history Our church tradition we have Would be called the word centered tradition as in we're really really big on the bible.

It's on our sign out there We spend At least half of our worship services talking about the bible Most of the programs that we do as a church Include teaching the bible. We are big bible people. We are from the word centered tradition. We want to take seriously That God wrote a book and he gave it to us to understand that is a beautiful thing about our faith tradition in following What the bible teaches?

We must take the real tangible And beautiful relationship with the holy spirit Seriously in james. It says oh you believe in god. That's cool. So do demons Belief and cognitive understanding of God is, is not what the Bible itself is after. The Bible itself is pointing towards communion.

A. W. Tozer writes this, sound Bible exposition, there's no way you can read that. Can you read that? You can? You're all lying. You're like, Oh yeah, I can read that. But my wife couldn't read that, but I could read that. I'll read it to you just in case. Sound Bible exposition. is an imperative must in the church of the living God.

Amen. Without it, no church can be a New Testament church in any strict meaning of that term, but exposition may be carried on in such a way as to leave the hearers devoid of any spiritual nourishment, whatever, for it is not mere words that nourish the soul. Hear this church, but God himself and unless and until the hearers find God in personal experience, they are not the better for having heard the truth.

You cannot say. What I wanna do is honor the Bible. What I wanna do is learn the Bible. What I want to do is be all about the Bible and have that be the end of the sentence. Why? What we want to do is is to honor God, and in that process, we realize he speaks to us through his word in the process. We are.

Our main focus is to understand. This miraculous dance of Father, Son and Holy Spirit and how we have in His grace and power in the architect of the Father, the agency of the Son and the application of the Spirit are included in that the scripture points us to a reality. It is not the reality itself. If you want to look at a point to what we're talking about today, the point to the passage as we looked at the father and son.

Today we look at the spirit simply. Get to know the Holy Spirit in your life because he is real. He really does talk. He really is personal and available

and a little bit wild. He doesn't always conform to what we think he would do or doesn't always speak the way we think he should or when we should but to follow the spirit of to to follow the Christian message. There is no other way but through the Spirit of God. Amen.

Lastly, don't worry, you're not leaving yet. I know you're like, lastly, oh yes. I see you, Matt. I'm just kidding, I saw you walk in earlier.

The trinity includes his people in the dance. There are more pronouns in the text. If you flash up the image that we had of Parsing out some of these personal pronouns. We've got Christ, Holy Spirit, and the Father, but there's more pronouns. Go ahead to the next slide. Thank you. There's more arrows, lots of arrows.

Aren't you glad we didn't do all three through 14 at one time? All these other arrows in him, you, Ospel, the gospel of your salvation, our inheritance, we acquire possession of it. There's more going on than the Trinity. There's the involvement of God's people in the Trinity, Father, Son, Spirit. Our role in the story of grace is also included in this passage.

The reason we are given the scripture, the reason why we are sent the Holy Spirit, Is there something bigger than just salvation? There's something bigger than just understanding and being brought, into a clean relationship with God. There is deep communion, the very purpose for which the scripture, the spirit, and salvation have happened.

I'm going to do something a little weird. I'm going to read something like an allegory. I'm going to do this. The reason I'm doing this is because like we're talking about the dance of the trinity. It's a, it's a word Pastor Mark used three weeks, three or four weeks ago when he spoke. And it's a word we use fairly often about it.

And, and, and some of you had dancers and some of you, that word means a lot. Some of you are less so. but I wondered if I could, if we're talking about this in both, it's intellectual Understanding of parsing out and drawing circles and and things but also How that connects with the soul. I wonder if I could just ask you to close your eyes if that helps And I'm just gonna read something over you and ask you to be part of a little exercise So we talk about what this looks like.

Imagine that you are at a dance. Go into your mind, into your high school gym, or wedding reception hall, or wherever a dance was gathered in your history. Yes, I'm serious. Pick a place. Put your soundtrack to the moment. Whether your era was Sinatra, Carpenters, Bee Gees, Cha Cha Slide, Black Eyed Peas, or Taylor Swift.

Whatever your era was, YMCA probably sneaks its way into the list. It's true. But put yourself there, in that place, hearing the music, hearing your music. Somehow every song is hitting you perfectly. The songs are each an invitation to the dance floor, like a pull to nostalgia, an uncomplicated joy. But there's a problem.

You don't really know how to dance. You don't dance. There's another problem, too. This one feels like a bigger one. It's a giant punch stain you just acquired on your carefully selected yellow sweater. Punch mixed with some gloppy pieces of raspberry sherbet that you were made sure you got into your cup that didn't stay in your cup long.

This stain can only be partially covered by your folded arms in this dark corner of the reception hall. You thought about going to the bathroom and cleaning it up, but how would you get it clean anyway? It's a chance others would see you. You knew you came to the dance already with a hole in the armpit of this sweater and you're convinced that you could keep it cleverly hidden.

Punch gate, however, too much. Yet the music, it pulls on you. The joy on the faces of the dance floor, they kind of make you frustrated, but you know you want to be smiling like that. Resentment and frustration get mixed in too. Some good old fashioned cynicism. Look silly to be out there and you convince yourself that you wouldn't want that even if you could Even with a clean sweater and some dance experience You send some sarcastic friend the text to your friends about those idiots on the dance floor All of which you have carefully typed and sent with your arms folded in sweater disguise But all around that you couldn't shake what was most true You wish you could dance at the center of the floor covered in smiles laughter and joy is the dance circle You Three people are equally running it.

They're weaving and waving and pulling others in. They're having so much fun. They're so alive, so fully here. They take a break and come over to the punch bowl to drink the now sherbert less punch. They come over and smile. The younger one starts serving the other's punch. He asks if you need a refill. No, I'm good.

You say how do you like the music? The older one looking one asks It's okay. I guess you say they wait a bit clearly. They're letting you fill the empty space. I actually Love it. You stammer out You should dance the wild the wilder looking one says while his feet were already going to the next song that one embodied dance But you stare him down with one of your classics.

Are you kidding me looks and say You I don't dance. The younger one asked one more time, and you were just irritated enough to wag a finger back at him to keep him quiet. No, you say. But when the finger came out, so did the viewing angle. All three had seen the stain. None of them looked surprised. Fine, you say, pulling out your arms.

See? No way I could go out there. I've ruined this sweater this night, and I'd like to hold on to the final threads of my dignity. The older father looking one asks with a sense of expectation, if we could help you dance, would you be willing? All right, this is a little weird. You know, the popular crowd, the dance circle people.

There's no way they would want you out there, no matter what you were wearing, but you do you want to go? How many more dances are you going to sit back and watch anyway? I need your help you say with a small but still courageous voice They look at each other. They somehow defer to each other And yet act as one at the same time.

Who are you? I asked the older one. He said, Oh, I came up with the party and picked the music. He gets more serious and he says to you, You may not have known but I designed this whole thing with you in mind But even more than that he says if you can believe it, I actually designed you for this party Somehow you do believe it the look on the wild one's face somehow confirms.

It's true They are more than the ones who just shut set up this shindig It's just so them and somehow it's so you too the wild one was beaming now You He loved to smile. He had a clever look on his face that said, huh, now you're getting it. You realize you're starting to move with them. You're not a good dancer yet, but starting to matter a little less.

Now the dance is somehow more important than your skill at it. Being with them, being there, being together, you're out of your own head and you're into your right mind all at the same time. Soon your hands are up and you remember the armpit hole. Moment is immediately gone. How could you let yourself get swept away in this?

We do need to do something about this outfit, says the younger one. Him saying we need to do something somehow made this a team effort. He didn't cause the stain, but was willing to help. That one loved to heal. He was the one who threw the whole party and yet had time to help. In a moment, he grabbed his hoodie and hands it to you.

He wanted you to put it on, but he stops you. I don't want to just hide that nasty stain. I want to replace it, he said. He holds out his hands and says, Can I have the sweater? Moments later, you are in the most comfortable hoodie you have ever worn, a perfect fit. The act was a simple transaction, but it was filled with such deep compassion, such knowing.

You look at the older one, well, you designed the party and that the younger one, you're the one who made the party happen and made it possible for me to be part of it. And with a little bit of smile, you look at the wild one who's still moving and laugh and say, well, what do you do around here? He laughs back and says, people ask me that all the time.

What do I do? He says with grand gesture. I am the one who's going to teach you how to dance. With that, he grabs your hand and you are swept away to the floor in the middle of the circle. You never thought you could enter. You're still a bit of a lousy dancer. But it just doesn't matter. He's teaching you and you are both laughing at the process it takes.

Some of the steps are weird and awkward and even painful. But soon the music starts to take over more than just trying, you trying to get the steps right. You look up, the father, he's dancing now too. And then the craziest part of all this happens. You look up and see the younger one. You cannot believe what he is wearing.

He has on your sweater, his arms in the air, and the torn armpit hole is in full glory. Sherbert and Punch are still dripping off the outfit. He laughed and said, I do this all the time. You should see some of the wardrobe things I've worn at these parties. You can't believe what happened to you. What is happening to you.

What you are seeing and a part of at the same time. How could you describe? Such an experience of of design of joy Of healing of hope of community with these three you are whole you are home You are part of something so much bigger than yourself You are part of the dance a dance that has everything to do with them A dance you have been made for the younger one looks at you and says And winks and he says explaining something like this Would take a very long complicated sentence at that you smile You You heard him, you knew it was true.

But somehow, more importantly, you were just simply caught up in the dance. You look at the father one, you look at the younger one, you look at the wild one. You see them as separate, but as one at the same time. And as you lock in that gaze of love, you know all of you are thinking the exact same thing. Oh man, you just can't wait for the next song.

Father, Son, Holy Spirit. We don't pretend to understand

the whole of who you are. We want to understand all that you've told us, but we want to understand, yes, theologically, but also understanding this is relational. I pray particularly for people sitting here saying I'm comfortable with Jesus dying for my sins. I'm comfortable with trying to understand God's, the Father's design for my life.

But I just, if I'm honest, I'm uncomfortable with what feels like the wild one, the Holy Spirit. I don't know what to do. Spirit of the living God, our prayer fall fresh on us.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-role-of-the-holy-spirit-in-the-story-of-grace d24b875e-5355-449d-bbd4-b37fdd5d7934 Sun, 24 Mar 2024 13:38:40 GMT <div data-html="true">Ephesians 1:13-14 <br /><br /> In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> Good morning, everyone. I made sure to turn that off right before I came on. I want to say good morning to those of you here in Mount Laurel, those of you online, those of you here in Collingswood. It's great to be with you as we continue in our series. There's a show on Netflix called Brain Games. Anyone ever see Brain Games? <br /><br /> It's a little docu series about what I believe is the most complex, created thing in all the universe, the human mind. It's fascinating the way the mind operates and in this, this docu series they do little anecdotal experiments on what, on what they're doing. On how the mind operates and what ways it's, you know, can have distortions if it looks, you know, they show those kind of pictures and you figure out what you think the picture is and then you find out, oh, it's not that. <br /><br /> But, one of the shows that they did, we just watched this last Wednesday, they came to people and they, they studied the, the effect of religion on the mind, was their desire. And what they did as a little experiment is they would go to people in a cafe with a bunch of money. And they would first ask them questions on, First they'd say something simple like, What's your favorite color? <br /><br /> Purple. Okay, purple's your favorite color. If I give you five dollars, Will you say that purple's not your favorite color? No, I'm not going to lie for 5. If I give you 10, ah, my morals are higher than that. I'm not going to lie. If I give you 20, I hate purple. Give me the money. Right? So this happened over and over with a whole bunch of different questions, and, and at each time, as the money went up, so did the willingness to be like, all right, okay, on this issue, I'm willing to bend. <br /><br /> Then they asked a final question. They said, what do you believe about God? They say, I believe in God, say with you 5 to say you don't. How many of you think took the money? None. Ten dollars. Twenty dollars. The money went up and up until they're literally in the show waving this cash in front of people's faces. <br /><br /> Not one of the people they interviewed that believed in God was willing to take the money to say they didn't. They did it also with people who did not believe in God. How many people do you think took the money? To say actually I do believe in God for the sake of the money. None. None. Because what we believe about God is very personal to us. <br /><br /> It's very core. For people who do believe in God, for people who don't believe in God, it's not a decision or thought people take lightly. When we come to this Ephesians letter that we're looking at, And we're coming to, to realize that these are people, both Jew and Gentile, that would be in Ephesus, but then the letter distributed to people scattered throughout Asia. <br /><br /> These are people who have changed their opinion about God. Nobody grew up from when they were two and now that they're 70 in the church. These are people who are relatively new believers, people who have gone a different way than what they have learned. People who have been willing to change because they encountered something worth a lot more than cash waved in front of the face. <br /><br /> They've encountered God. And so when we read the New Testament, when we read from people like this church in Ephesus, We're reading of hungry people, people who, who have said, yes, I believe, yes, I'm willing to change because of this encounter I've had with this Christ. Tell me more. And in this letter that we have in Ephesians. <br /><br /> Paul tells them more. This letter that we've been looking at, we've been looking the last three weeks at verses 3 through 14. This, this 3 through 14 in English, if you look at your English Bible, has a lot of different sentences. It does not in the Greek. It is one sentence, the longest theological sentence in the New Testament. <br /><br /> When you do work with Greek, the Greek language and do this in seminary and stuff, you start with English, we'll do this, but this is kind of how you start graphing sentences. She swims. How does she swim? Well. What type of well? Very well. Okay? Then you're going to add verb, you're going now, verb, no object in this sentence. <br /><br /> But this is how you begin graphing. Here is a picture of Ephesians 3, 3, or Ephesians 1, 3 through 14. I know you have that in your notes. You had already figured it out. This sentence is the most complex and theologically dense sentence in the entire New Testament. Paul is writing to hungry people and is giving them food. <br /><br /> What we have looked at as we've looked at this sentence is the three persons of God that have a role in this incredible story of grace that Paul is describing. Pastor Mark talked about God, the father as the architect, the one with the plan. Talk to Pastor Jared talked about set Christ, the second person of the Trinity as the agent, both the agent in creation that spoke the universe into existence, the agent in the gospel, whose very life and body were the ones who created the gospel story. <br /><br /> And today, in verses 13 and 14, we're gonna look at the Holy Spirit. The one who applies this message to his people and and truth be told throughout this long sentence in Ephesians 1 3 through 14, you have the Holy Spirit dancing all over it as you do the father and the son. In this incredibly, I'm going to use the word mysterious idea of the Trinity. <br /><br /> One author I appreciate says, the mystery of God is not something you can't know. The mystery of God is something you endlessly know. It's something that you never solve, but it's something you're always finding more about. This sentence, As much perhaps as anywhere in the new testament gives us a view into the dance of the trinity I'm going to read verses 13 and 14 of ephesians 1 then we'll pray together in him You also and that's speaking of christ in christ you also When you heard the word of truth the gospel of your salvation Believed in him again speaking of christ We're sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it. <br /><br /> To the praise of his glory <br /><br /> father son, holy spirit We we come to submit ourselves to you this morning. We come here in mount laurel Here in collingswood to hear your voice We believe if we are to take your scripture seriously That you are here right now <br /><br /> We pray you would speak and we would hear and we would enjoy The reality of what it means to know this spirit and his role In the greatest story ever told in jesus name. Amen four things. I want to mention about the spirit from the text this morning The first is our relationship with the spirit is not extractable From our relationship with the father And the sun we're only looking at two of the verses of the very long sentence But if you look at the the first first person that we're looking at in here, you can pop that on the screen The image on the screen is there's a couple pronouns. <br /><br /> Okay. There's actually eight pronouns in this or personal pronouns in this sentence in this part of the sentence I should say the first is in him You also, when you heard the Word of Truth, the Gospel, your salvation, believed in Him. The in Him is used often from 3 to 14. It's used to describe Christ. <br /><br /> This story happens. This story is taking place. This story only happens. The party is only thrown. Of the gospel because it is in christ the one who died and resurrected, but that's not the only person Mentioned in the text go ahead to the next slide We also have the holy spirit and then refer back to as who we're talking about this morning Okay, so we have in him meaning christ and then we have the holy spirit in the next slide It finishes the praise of his glory. <br /><br /> If you look back to the context of this long passage with 3 to 14, it is speaking about the blessings and praise of the glory of the father, the father, son and Holy Spirit. Jared, maybe he's not. He's probably a later service guy, but Jared and I were complaining last week of like, Hey, we're supposed to only talk about one member of the Godhead, but you know, he's here, he's here, he's here. <br /><br /> How do we get this here? And as we're talking about today, the Holy Spirit. We can't talk about him, not in light of the father and the son. You cannot have one without the other. In Galatians 4, 6, Christ speaks of, it's of his spirit, and because you are sons, God has sent the spirit of his son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father. <br /><br /> But Christ himself in John 14 writes this, But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you many all things and bring your in remembrance. That I have said these things to you. The, the spirit is from the Father, the spirit primarily. That's what we see in your testament, but it also says the spirit is of the son from the son. <br /><br /> There is in this a parsing out of who does what to some degree, and there is some that we see in this text, but there is not one without another. We cannot uphold one without upholding the other. In fact, we cannot speak of one correctly. Without, as it says in our passage, the glory of one another. <br /><br /> Secondly, we have, we do have a unique relationship with the Holy Spirit. While it's not extractable from the Father and Son, we have a unique, unique relationship with the Spirit. First things, the text says we are sealed in Him. We are sealed in Him. Eric Raymond notes this when he writes, we read in Revelation 7 verse 3 that God places a seal on his people to identify them and protect them from wrath. <br /><br /> There is a seal placed on it and in the text, it's past tense. You were sealed with the Holy Spirit, a finished work. We belong to him also about being sealed. We're under a binding contract. The text goes on to say a guarantee. Of our inheritance a part of this seal. We have partial blessings The word is said that we have a down payment Or an earnest basically a partial part of the inheritance and the text will go on to say until we acquire Full possession of it. <br /><br /> We have part of this inheritance What I believe that means is we have part of the blessings of god primarily Through the holy spirit now the future inheritance of god's people will also be in in full physical Relationship with God, the father, God, the spirit and God, the son. But we right now have a partial possession of that in our full communion, primarily with the spirit. <br /><br /> The spirit is sealed. Secondly, another past tense verb. The spirit has been promised. Who promised the spirit? Well, the father and the son did there's Old Testament prophecy that has promised this and then Jesus himself Said that this is blend the plan the whole time I will go and I will give you something better a better situation when the Spirit comes After I am gone few Holy Spirit Implications our relationship our unique relationship with the Spirit I believe will change the least eternally. <br /><br /> When we look at the relationship with the father and the son, actually being physically present with them, our communion with them will change more than our uninhibited communion right now. with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the primary agent of God on Earth. Christ went up and sent Holy Spirit down. <br /><br /> Secondly, our communion with the Spirit is not inhibited by time and space in the same way as we are with the son and father. This in no way means what we can't know the son. We can't know the father. When Christ was here, what did he say? He said, Oh, you already know the father. Because you know, the son, the spirit was, he speaks as not speaking words on his own, but only that has been told to him to say. <br /><br /> So to know the spirit is to know Christ is to know the father. But our relationship with the spirit is unique. Our communion with the spirit is unique. Lastly, our communion with the son and the father is through the spirit, unlike it will be in heaven. <br /><br /> Third, the Christian life happens by the Spirit's work in us. We've talked about in this giant sentence, Ephesians 1, 3 14, God as the architect, God the Father as the architect, God the Son as the agent, and God the Spirit as the applier of this gospel work. We cannot live the Christian life without the Holy Spirit. <br /><br /> I, let me say that simpler. There is no Christian life without the Holy Spirit. Our relationship with the Spirit is crucial for our relationship With god our church tradition falls in line. There's lots of different church traditions in church history Our church tradition we have Would be called the word centered tradition as in we're really really big on the bible. <br /><br /> It's on our sign out there We spend At least half of our worship services talking about the bible Most of the programs that we do as a church Include teaching the bible. We are big bible people. We are from the word centered tradition. We want to take seriously That God wrote a book and he gave it to us to understand that is a beautiful thing about our faith tradition in following What the bible teaches? <br /><br /> We must take the real tangible And beautiful relationship with the holy spirit Seriously in james. It says oh you believe in god. That's cool. So do demons Belief and cognitive understanding of God is, is not what the Bible itself is after. The Bible itself is pointing towards communion. <br /><br /> A. W. Tozer writes this, sound Bible exposition, there's no way you can read that. Can you read that? You can? You're all lying. You're like, Oh yeah, I can read that. But my wife couldn't read that, but I could read that. I'll read it to you just in case. Sound Bible exposition. is an imperative must in the church of the living God. <br /><br /> Amen. Without it, no church can be a New Testament church in any strict meaning of that term, but exposition may be carried on in such a way as to leave the hearers devoid of any spiritual nourishment, whatever, for it is not mere words that nourish the soul. Hear this church, but God himself and unless and until the hearers find God in personal experience, they are not the better for having heard the truth. <br /><br /> You cannot say. What I wanna do is honor the Bible. What I wanna do is learn the Bible. What I want to do is be all about the Bible and have that be the end of the sentence. Why? What we want to do is is to honor God, and in that process, we realize he speaks to us through his word in the process. We are. <br /><br /> Our main focus is to understand. This miraculous dance of Father, Son and Holy Spirit and how we have in His grace and power in the architect of the Father, the agency of the Son and the application of the Spirit are included in that the scripture points us to a reality. It is not the reality itself. If you want to look at a point to what we're talking about today, the point to the passage as we looked at the father and son. <br /><br /> Today we look at the spirit simply. Get to know the Holy Spirit in your life because he is real. He really does talk. He really is personal and available <br /><br /> and a little bit wild. He doesn't always conform to what we think he would do or doesn't always speak the way we think he should or when we should but to follow the spirit of to to follow the Christian message. There is no other way but through the Spirit of God. Amen. <br /><br /> Lastly, don't worry, you're not leaving yet. I know you're like, lastly, oh yes. I see you, Matt. I'm just kidding, I saw you walk in earlier. <br /><br /> The trinity includes his people in the dance. There are more pronouns in the text. If you flash up the image that we had of Parsing out some of these personal pronouns. We've got Christ, Holy Spirit, and the Father, but there's more pronouns. Go ahead to the next slide. Thank you. There's more arrows, lots of arrows. <br /><br /> Aren't you glad we didn't do all three through 14 at one time? All these other arrows in him, you, Ospel, the gospel of your salvation, our inheritance, we acquire possession of it. There's more going on than the Trinity. There's the involvement of God's people in the Trinity, Father, Son, Spirit. Our role in the story of grace is also included in this passage. <br /><br /> The reason we are given the scripture, the reason why we are sent the Holy Spirit, Is there something bigger than just salvation? There's something bigger than just understanding and being brought, into a clean relationship with God. There is deep communion, the very purpose for which the scripture, the spirit, and salvation have happened. <br /><br /> I'm going to do something a little weird. I'm going to read something like an allegory. I'm going to do this. The reason I'm doing this is because like we're talking about the dance of the trinity. It's a, it's a word Pastor Mark used three weeks, three or four weeks ago when he spoke. And it's a word we use fairly often about it. <br /><br /> And, and, and some of you had dancers and some of you, that word means a lot. Some of you are less so. but I wondered if I could, if we're talking about this in both, it's intellectual Understanding of parsing out and drawing circles and and things but also How that connects with the soul. I wonder if I could just ask you to close your eyes if that helps And I'm just gonna read something over you and ask you to be part of a little exercise So we talk about what this looks like. <br /><br /> Imagine that you are at a dance. Go into your mind, into your high school gym, or wedding reception hall, or wherever a dance was gathered in your history. Yes, I'm serious. Pick a place. Put your soundtrack to the moment. Whether your era was Sinatra, Carpenters, Bee Gees, Cha Cha Slide, Black Eyed Peas, or Taylor Swift. <br /><br /> Whatever your era was, YMCA probably sneaks its way into the list. It's true. But put yourself there, in that place, hearing the music, hearing your music. Somehow every song is hitting you perfectly. The songs are each an invitation to the dance floor, like a pull to nostalgia, an uncomplicated joy. But there's a problem. <br /><br /> You don't really know how to dance. You don't dance. There's another problem, too. This one feels like a bigger one. It's a giant punch stain you just acquired on your carefully selected yellow sweater. Punch mixed with some gloppy pieces of raspberry sherbet that you were made sure you got into your cup that didn't stay in your cup long. <br /><br /> This stain can only be partially covered by your folded arms in this dark corner of the reception hall. You thought about going to the bathroom and cleaning it up, but how would you get it clean anyway? It's a chance others would see you. You knew you came to the dance already with a hole in the armpit of this sweater and you're convinced that you could keep it cleverly hidden. <br /><br /> Punch gate, however, too much. Yet the music, it pulls on you. The joy on the faces of the dance floor, they kind of make you frustrated, but you know you want to be smiling like that. Resentment and frustration get mixed in too. Some good old fashioned cynicism. Look silly to be out there and you convince yourself that you wouldn't want that even if you could Even with a clean sweater and some dance experience You send some sarcastic friend the text to your friends about those idiots on the dance floor All of which you have carefully typed and sent with your arms folded in sweater disguise But all around that you couldn't shake what was most true You wish you could dance at the center of the floor covered in smiles laughter and joy is the dance circle You Three people are equally running it. <br /><br /> They're weaving and waving and pulling others in. They're having so much fun. They're so alive, so fully here. They take a break and come over to the punch bowl to drink the now sherbert less punch. They come over and smile. The younger one starts serving the other's punch. He asks if you need a refill. No, I'm good. <br /><br /> You say how do you like the music? The older one looking one asks It's okay. I guess you say they wait a bit clearly. They're letting you fill the empty space. I actually Love it. You stammer out You should dance the wild the wilder looking one says while his feet were already going to the next song that one embodied dance But you stare him down with one of your classics. <br /><br /> Are you kidding me looks and say You I don't dance. The younger one asked one more time, and you were just irritated enough to wag a finger back at him to keep him quiet. No, you say. But when the finger came out, so did the viewing angle. All three had seen the stain. None of them looked surprised. Fine, you say, pulling out your arms. <br /><br /> See? No way I could go out there. I've ruined this sweater this night, and I'd like to hold on to the final threads of my dignity. The older father looking one asks with a sense of expectation, if we could help you dance, would you be willing? All right, this is a little weird. You know, the popular crowd, the dance circle people. <br /><br /> There's no way they would want you out there, no matter what you were wearing, but you do you want to go? How many more dances are you going to sit back and watch anyway? I need your help you say with a small but still courageous voice They look at each other. They somehow defer to each other And yet act as one at the same time. <br /><br /> Who are you? I asked the older one. He said, Oh, I came up with the party and picked the music. He gets more serious and he says to you, You may not have known but I designed this whole thing with you in mind But even more than that he says if you can believe it, I actually designed you for this party Somehow you do believe it the look on the wild one's face somehow confirms. <br /><br /> It's true They are more than the ones who just shut set up this shindig It's just so them and somehow it's so you too the wild one was beaming now You He loved to smile. He had a clever look on his face that said, huh, now you're getting it. You realize you're starting to move with them. You're not a good dancer yet, but starting to matter a little less. <br /><br /> Now the dance is somehow more important than your skill at it. Being with them, being there, being together, you're out of your own head and you're into your right mind all at the same time. Soon your hands are up and you remember the armpit hole. Moment is immediately gone. How could you let yourself get swept away in this? <br /><br /> We do need to do something about this outfit, says the younger one. Him saying we need to do something somehow made this a team effort. He didn't cause the stain, but was willing to help. That one loved to heal. He was the one who threw the whole party and yet had time to help. In a moment, he grabbed his hoodie and hands it to you. <br /><br /> He wanted you to put it on, but he stops you. I don't want to just hide that nasty stain. I want to replace it, he said. He holds out his hands and says, Can I have the sweater? Moments later, you are in the most comfortable hoodie you have ever worn, a perfect fit. The act was a simple transaction, but it was filled with such deep compassion, such knowing. <br /><br /> You look at the older one, well, you designed the party and that the younger one, you're the one who made the party happen and made it possible for me to be part of it. And with a little bit of smile, you look at the wild one who's still moving and laugh and say, well, what do you do around here? He laughs back and says, people ask me that all the time. <br /><br /> What do I do? He says with grand gesture. I am the one who's going to teach you how to dance. With that, he grabs your hand and you are swept away to the floor in the middle of the circle. You never thought you could enter. You're still a bit of a lousy dancer. But it just doesn't matter. He's teaching you and you are both laughing at the process it takes. <br /><br /> Some of the steps are weird and awkward and even painful. But soon the music starts to take over more than just trying, you trying to get the steps right. You look up, the father, he's dancing now too. And then the craziest part of all this happens. You look up and see the younger one. You cannot believe what he is wearing. <br /><br /> He has on your sweater, his arms in the air, and the torn armpit hole is in full glory. Sherbert and Punch are still dripping off the outfit. He laughed and said, I do this all the time. You should see some of the wardrobe things I've worn at these parties. You can't believe what happened to you. What is happening to you. <br /><br /> What you are seeing and a part of at the same time. How could you describe? Such an experience of of design of joy Of healing of hope of community with these three you are whole you are home You are part of something so much bigger than yourself You are part of the dance a dance that has everything to do with them A dance you have been made for the younger one looks at you and says And winks and he says explaining something like this Would take a very long complicated sentence at that you smile You You heard him, you knew it was true. <br /><br /> But somehow, more importantly, you were just simply caught up in the dance. You look at the father one, you look at the younger one, you look at the wild one. You see them as separate, but as one at the same time. And as you lock in that gaze of love, you know all of you are thinking the exact same thing. Oh man, you just can't wait for the next song. <br /><br /> Father, Son, Holy Spirit. We don't pretend to understand <br /><br /> the whole of who you are. We want to understand all that you've told us, but we want to understand, yes, theologically, but also understanding this is relational. I pray particularly for people sitting here saying I'm comfortable with Jesus dying for my sins. I'm comfortable with trying to understand God's, the Father's design for my life. <br /><br /> But I just, if I'm honest, I'm uncomfortable with what feels like the wild one, the Holy Spirit. I don't know what to do. Spirit of the living God, our prayer fall fresh on us.</div> false no <![CDATA[God the Son’s Role in the Story of Grace]]> Ephesians 1:7-12

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us...



Sermon Transcript:

Here's a quick summary for Ephesians. Salutations, a unique Christian greeting for both Jews and Gentiles. Adoration, praising God for our spiritual blessings in Christ. Intercession, prayer to understand the blessings we have received. Salvation, by grace through faith, not by our own doing. Reconciliation, to God and between Jews and Gentiles.

Proclamation, of the mystery revealed that Jews and Gentiles are co heirs in Christ. Intercession, for love and power through Christ. Walking in unity. Walking in holiness. Walking in love. Walking in light. Walking in wisdom. Walking in family. Walking in the workplace. Standing in the victory. Final greetings of grace and peace.

Good morning, how we doing? Here's a quick summary for, oh, run it back, okay, one more time. Good morning. It's good to see you. My name is Jared. I want to say a special good morning to those watching in Collingswood. I'm the youth pastor here at Fellowship. My name is Jared and I just wanted to say a warm, happy St.

Patrick's Day. we're going to be talking about the Trinity a little bit today. And if you don't know why we celebrate St. Patrick's Day, or maybe you're like, I don't celebrate St. Patrick's Day, it's not to wear green. And to go on a bar crawl, even though that happens sometimes. St. Patrick is actually known to be the first person to bring the gospel to Ireland.

So, he did a pretty cool thing, and he's, he's worthy to be celebrated as well. And, and actually, He described the Trinity using a three leaf clover, which isn't a perfect illustration, but he used what he had to, convey truth, which is pretty cool. So a couple of fun facts about St. Patrick. We're actually, we'll be starting a prayer with him, of his, and we'll be ending, our time here with a prayer of his as well.

But So, before we jump in, if you have no idea what that video was, we are going through a series, for the past couple weeks in Ephesians and we came, well, we didn't come up with these motions, actually Dave Merck did, but we've been doing these motions and we've been doing it in youth group and it's a really awesome way to kind of remember, the book of Ephesians.

It's sliced up really neatly and cleanly. So. So, if you would, we're going to learn some of the motions today, okay? Leave it up to the youth pastor to get everyone up and moving. So you can stand. Go ahead. We're going to stand. Go ahead. I know you just got your Bibles out and your notebooks. So we're going to learn a couple of the motions.

And if you look at, in your, if you have an Ephesians journal as well, afterwards, you can see that these are section by section, the journals. So the first opening, couple of verses here in Ephesians Can you do that? Salutations. Come on, get involved people. Wake up. Here we are. Salutations, right? It's a unique Christian greeting to both Jew and Gentile, right?

He says grace and peace to be you. That would be a unique Christian, greeting to both Jew and Gentile Christians. So I have salutations and then we have adoration. So we're going to praise. Praise, hands up. Adoration, right? We're praising God for our spiritual blessings in Christ. And then we're going to intercession, right?

We, we, we've just praised, so we're gonna go to prayer to understand these blessings we have received. Then salvation, right? By grace you have been saved through faith, this is not your own doing. And salvation brings reconciliation, right? So we go from salvation, reconciliation, that is between God and us, and also between Jew and Gentile.

And then after reconciliation, you're gonna proclamation, Yeah, thank, thank you. Proclamation. Man, we are, whoo, loosen up a little bit guys. We're having fun today. It's okay. and you're proclaiming of the mystery revealed that Jews and Gentiles now are co heirs in Christ, and then we're going back to intercession, right, for love and power in Christ Jesus.

Okay, we're going to do it one more time through the top. Okay, so salutations, adoration, intercession, salvation, reconciliation, proclamation, that was way better, intercession. And then after that, you get into the walking, all the different parts. So we'll just, we'll just start there this morning. Give yourself a round of applause.

Good job. Good job. You didn't know you're participating. You can take a seat. Thank you for humoring me with that. Notice how Pastor Mark put me up to that. He didn't want to do the motions, you know, so. I just want to read our passage this morning. If you have your Bibles, you can flip to Ephesians. if you have your journals, you can flip there as well.

looking in chapter 1, and we're gonna be reading in verses 7 through 12. If you don't have your Bibles or you can't find it, it's gonna be on the screen too, don't panic. It says this in Ephesians chapter 1 verses 7 through 12. It says, In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of His grace.

Which he lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will According to his purpose which he set forth in christ as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things In him things in heaven and things on earth in him. We have obtained an inheritance Having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will So that we who were the first to hope in christ might be to the praise Of his glory let's pray together this morning.

I just want to start off my prayer with a prayer of saint patrick May the strength of god pilot us May the wisdom of god instruct us May the hand of god protect us may the word of god direct us Be always are be always ours this day and forever more lord. We look to you This morning on this day god, and we're trying to come and understand Just what your son has accomplished for us

God, and I know firsthand this knowledge cannot be revealed by me, Lord, but only an outpouring of your Spirit and your Father calling us to him, God. This is a supernatural thing. Lord, we can hear words and hear knowledge, Lord, but you're the one who impacts the heart. You're the one who prepares the soil God and I just pray I just pray that you'd open up our hearts lord even if there's people here who've heard this message a hundred times that you would just they would You'd bring them to a greater knowledge and understanding of who your son jesus is and what he has accomplished for them Lord, if there's anyone here this morning That just doesn't know you As a personal friend and savior god that they'd come to know you as their rescuer As their accomplisher this morning god we pray That you'd shut my mouth and speak through me, Lord, and bless our time here.

In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Well, this morning we're going to be talking about Jesus's role in the story of grace, and I just want to give a disclaimer up front. Pastor Mark talked about the Father's role in the story of grace, right? The Trinity is hard to understand. The idea that God can be Father, Son, and Spirit is, is difficult to understand, and And you know what?

It's even harder to explain, and be the guy up here explaining it. So, but I think we don't have to fully understand the Trinity. I don't think God ever has required that of us, but it is important to know and believe what each member of the Godhead does and has accomplished for us. And, I took a class in, in Bible college by Professor Dozle.

I love Professor Dozle, but the name doesn't give him a lot of justice, you know, a little dozing, you know, like sounds sleepy. And he taught a class called Triune God. And Dr. Dozle is like one of the leading speakers on the Trinity. And I sat in the back of that class and he talked for about an hour and a half.

And every single word he said went like this. He was one of those professors that you're like, dude, you are too smart. to be teaching us. Like you need to write a book and then you, we need to find someone a little dumber than you that can translate that book, but say it to us plainly. So I just sat in the back of the class and I just wrote poetry.

That's what I did in this class to try and go, I'm telling you. And then, and then I'd start like looking up the words. I'm like, he used 37 different words that I didn't even know existed before today. So the Trinity is hard to understand, but we're going to, we're going to do it together, this morning.

So we're, we're going to give it a go. So I believe the God, the son's role in the story of grace is he's the accomplisher, right? He's the accomplisher. The father we saw last week. He is the willer, right? He has willed all things forward from the beginning of time. He set these things in motion. It was his plan.

It was the father's purpose. But it was through Jesus Christ that His plan is revealed and actualized. Jesus is the accomplisher of the story of grace. You might be asking, well, what did He accomplish? What did Jesus the accomplisher, actually accomplish? We're going to look at three different ways that Jesus has accomplished the story of grace and we're, these three different ways will go in order of what He's done, what He's doing.

and what he will do. And firstly, we're going to look at what he has done. Jesus redeemed us. Yeah, yeah, yeah, come on, right? What he has done, Jesus has redeemed us. Verse 7 says this, In him we have redemption through his blood. This word redemption literally means to ransom someone, to purchase, to make a purchase, to set someone free.

Oftentimes it was, used in, A slave trade that you'd actually buy someone's ransom to take them from an ownership to another ownership, right? Well, why did we need to be ransomed? Why did we need to be bought? Because we were enslaved by sin and under the law of the covenant. Since the beginning, right?

Sin has separated us from God. If you remember the story of Adam and Eve in the garden, they lived in harmony with God. Perfect union. It says the scripture actually says that they walked around the garden with God. But they chose the sin and what happened when they sinned was they were separated from the presence of God, right?

And you might say that's not fair. That's not nice. Well, God is a holy God, right? Holy literally without sin. He's righteous. God cannot be in the presence of sin. So when Adam and Eve chose sin, they were separated from God. They left the garden and started to live life on their own, separated from God.

Right? It's because of His holy and blameless and righteousness. And, and God introduced the law of the commandments, right? Through Moses. And this law, summed up in the Ten Commandments, you've probably heard some of them before. Thou shalt not steal, kill, murder, commit adultery, all these different things, right?

They were to expose that we weren't righteous, right? If we could live a righteous life and follow all these commandments perfectly, then we wouldn't need to be redeemed. Amen. Right? The price to get into heaven is righteousness, right? That's why God is in heaven, but we are separated from him because none of us is righteous.

Galatians 4, 4 through 5 says this, But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption, as sons, right? At the fullness of time, Jesus lived a perfect righteous life on earth. He came and he fulfilled the law.

He did everything. They couldn't, the Pharisees and Sadducees tried to get him. They tried to say, Oh, are you breaking the law here and all here? And he says, no, I haven't come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it, right? He lived a perfectly righteous life. And he came to redeem those who were still under this law of commandments, that we would receive adoption as sons.

And I love this idea of adoption comes from the Roman understanding of adoption, which actually attributes full rights. It's really cool that we got to see, the rentals up here today and see a beautiful picture of that. Right? When you adopt someone into your family, especially in this context, you, they had full rights as a heir.

You actually would take on their debts, their former debts as they're adopting. You take on them as you adopted this child. This is exactly what Jesus did for us. He redeemed us. He paid the price for us. Scripture says the wages of sin is death. That's the price of our sin. And how did he pay it? How did he pay for this price of sin?

Verse seven of our passage says, with his blood. He paid our price for redemption with his blood. Jesus lived a perfectly righteous life, fulfilling the law completely. And when he died on the cross, he took our sin on him. As if it was his second Corinthians 521 says this for our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

This is good news. The price was high and Jesus took it because that's how much he loved you. That's how much he loved you and I. See the idea that Jesus lived a perfect life, a perfectly righteous life and went on that cross, a substitution happened, right? That we were supposed to be there. The penalty for our sin was supposed to be paid out on the cross by us and Jesus took our place.

The price had to be paid, and instead of God pouring that price and that, his wrath out on that, he poured it on his son, Jesus. Colossians 2, 13 through 14 says this, And you who were dead in your trespasses of your flesh, God made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses by cancelling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands.

This He set aside, nailing it to the cross. The debt has been cancelled. Your sins have been forgiven, past, present, and future. The price has been paid, and paid in full. If you ask a bunch of people, you know, what, what, how do you get into heaven? And they'll probably say, well, you know, you, you live a righteous life, you do good things and as long as you, your good things outweigh the bad things, then God says, all right, you beat the cosmic scales, come on in.

That's not what happens, right? God says the wages of sin is death. The price to heaven is perfect, complete righteousness. I can't achieve that. You can't achieve that. So God made a way through His Son, Jesus, to redeem us, to pay that price, and actually take on our sin on Him. And the exchange was, He took on our sin, and He gave us His righteousness.

So when we go, those of us who believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, when we go before heaven, God the Father is going to go in there, and He's going to look, Okay, Jared Hacking, here He is, and He's going to go, and He's going to try to find my track record, and my, and my, and my report card, and He's going to pull it out, And it's going to be covered in the blood of Jesus, and it's going to say paid for in full.

Right? It's not anything I could do. The Son, Jesus, He's accomplished it. He's already done the work. He's not asking me to pay for any of my sins. He's done it. He's redeemed me. The price has been paid. There's no change to be said. It's done. It's full. He has redeemed us. And I wanted to put this first and foremost, and in the past tense.

Because it's done already. This is what Jesus accomplished for us in the story of grace. But what is he doing now? What is he accomplishing now for us? What he is doing is Jesus is interceding for us. It's a really cool thing. Jesus is literally going to the Father and interceding on your behalf. Jesus did not just die on the cross.

He was resurrected from the grave. Three days later, he literally was resurrected and went into heaven. And when he went into heaven. Right? Sometimes we have a picture of this, like, Jesus, like, did all his things. He died on the cross, lived the perfect life. And then he's like, man, I just want a break. Kick the feet up, get a glass of water, something like that.

No! He didn't retire into heaven. He went right back to work. And he's interceding for us to the Father. He's not in heaven with his feet kicked up enjoying retirement. He's working overtime, 24 7, reminding God the Father of what has already been accomplished for us. See, the idea that God is perfect and holy and righteous, right, created a separation.

Jesus fixed that separation because of his righteousness. So his inter, him interceding for us, I see the picture of him in front of the Father as the Father looks at us as we're just trying to get by and we're broken and we're trying to do things right or whatever. Jesus is jumping in front of him saying, Hey, remember, remember what I did for these people?

Remember? Remember? And when God sees us now, He doesn't say, man, look at that broken, sinful Christian just trying to get it right. When God the Father sees us, He sees the completed work of His Son, Jesus. He sees the completed work of Jesus, the Accomplisher. There's no more charges to bring against us.

There's no more accusations. Romans 8, 33 through 34 says this, Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies, who is to condemn. Christ Jesus is the one who died. More than that, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. I love this truth that Jesus is interceding and mediating for us.

Makes you think of a time we used to go to this place, whenever it snowed, to go, to go sledding, right? Who, who, who loves to go sledding? It's an awesome time. Adults can go sledding too now. You know, you don't have to give it up. Don't do anything crazy because you do have to work in the morning. You have to think that through now.

But we used to go to this place as kids. And we'd sled and there was like, people would build ramps and do all kinds of crazy stuff. And there was a group of kids there that were kind of just like punks and they kept picking on me. And for some reason, I was, I was just like in my own world trying to sled.

I was sledding down one time and these kids like literally laid me out. Like, like as I'm sledding, like ran right into me. And I kind of fall and my lip was bloodied and I'm like looking up and there's, I see these couple kids approaching me and I'm like, dude, this is it. This is it for me. Right? This is how I die.

These kids are approaching me and I'm like, I'm like looking down and then I look up again and all four of my older brothers have stepped in between and are standing in front of me. And I'm like, they're taller and bigger than those guys. I think I'm going to be good, right? I think I'm going to be good.

This is the picture of Christ interceding for us. He stepped in front of us and saying, I got you. Stay behind me. Stay behind what I've already accomplished for you. What I've already done. I am the go between. I am the mediator. I will work for you. I will talk to the father. I will intercede for him. This is what Christ is doing for us.

And he's the only one who does this. 1 Timothy 5, 1 Timothy chapter 2, verses 5 through 6, it says, For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. No one else, no one else but Jesus is our mediator.

No former saint, or loved one, or angel, or Mary, or anybody else. God the Son alone is doing this for us, and He's actively doing it. He's actively doing this. Jesus has redeemed us. Jesus is interceding for us. And third, what he will do, Jesus will restore us. Verse 11 says, We have obtained an inheritance in Jesus.

The restoration is partial now, but one day will be fully complete. 1 Corinthians 13, 12 says, For now we see only as a reflection, as in a mirror. Then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part, then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. We live right now in a state of already, not yet. We have been redeemed, purchased by Jesus, has made it so we no longer have to be slaves to sin, but we can actually resist sin, yet we are still wrestling with our flesh, right?

The price has been paid. Jesus, by His power of resurrection, has actually given us the ability to resist sin. He's given us the ability to say no to sin. Before Christ, before, in Ephesians, it actually talks about, In chapter two, it says, you were dead in your trespasses. You were dead in the trespasses of your sin.

You were dead, separated from God, enslaved to sin. Now that we are in Christ Jesus, we've been redeemed by Christ Jesus through his resurrection. He has given us resurrection power over our sin to actually say, No, to actually say no to our sin. And some of you know this in your life, through your process of sanctification and getting closer to God over years, sin that you used to have an issue with or whatever.

You're like, you know, that used to be an issue and God's just taking that from me and as real as that is, You know, it's just as real that this is a partial restoration right now that we are still wrestling. I am still wrestling with my flesh, right? I'm still wrestling with, do I really need the second and third donut?

Right? I'm not like, oh, yeah, that's an easy answer for me. No, it's a still wrestling that if I'm going to choose myself, my selfishness, my flesh, or am I going to choose God's way for me in my life? But this is future sense that He will restore us fully. We'll be, one day we'll be fully dead to sin and fully alive in Christ.

When we are fully raised with Christ in the fullness of His glory in His presence. Not only will Jesus fully restore us, but he will actually fully restore all of creation. Romans 8 21 says that creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

Creation is groaning as we groan with it to be fully glorified in Jesus. The accomplisher, Jesus Christ, will one day make all things Right again, right? This is a already not yet. We're dead to sin, but one day we're gonna be fully dead to sin. We're alive in Christ, but one day we're gonna stand in the fullness of his presence.

This is something that should give us hope. This is something that we should long for, that Jesus the Accomplisher will one day fully restore us. This may have been new to you this morning. This may have been, reviewed for you this morning. But I just want to talk about how we respond to the Son's role in the story of grace, right?

Because it's, it's great to know things, but how do we respond to the Son's role? And first I want to talk about how we shouldn't respond, but often how we do respond. I think in one way we respond to the Son's story of grace is legalism. I think in one way we respond to the Son's story of grace is legalism.

Right. My definition of legalism, you've never heard that term. Term is, is, is trying to pay for something that's already been paid for. The Pharisees were guilty of this, right? They would see God's law as this circle, these are God's commandments. And then they draw a smaller circle and say, you know, if you, if you do these things, you're even a, a better Christian.

You're even holier, you're even more righteous, right? But legalism is trying to pay for something that's already been paid for. Like we just went over earlier, it was the perfect work of Jesus Christ that redeems us. Nothing we can do ourselves. But what happens is, we try to self righteously earn God's favor or forgiveness ourselves.

I remember Many, many times in college, and I was just, I was wrestling, and I had a period of, of, of wandering, and I was just, I was messing up a lot, and whenever I'd mess up a lot, and just do something that I knew I shouldn't have done, and, and, and I was regretting, I'd get so guilty, and I'd get, I'd start feeling condemnation, and I knew that what I did was a sin against God, I knew He wanted me to repent of these things, I knew all these things, But I wouldn't go to him.

I wouldn't pray. I want to open up my Bible and read it because in my mind I believe I got to clean myself up a little bit before I can appear before God Almighty, right? I got to clean myself up. I got I got a button my shirt I got to do all these things just so I can get into his presence again. So I would literally I would literally try to live out, like, two, three, four days of righteousness.

Like, this is a real thing. And I wouldn't read my Bible because that was going into the presence of God. I couldn't do that. So I'd try to live out. I'd try to be kind. I'd try to be loving. I'd try to do my homework on time. I'd try to do all these things. And then I would come at the end of that day, three or four, and I'd beg God for His forgiveness.

I'd beg God, please take me back. Please, please help me repent of these things. I was believing a false gospel. I was believing a false gospel. God the Father was waiting. Jesus Christ was waiting with arms open saying, Son, please return to me. He wanted me to turn from my sin. He wanted me to repent of my sin.

But he was saying, Please come into my presence again now. Don't wait. The price has been paid. It's accomplished already. Legalism is like trying to earn your dinner when someone just paid for your dinner. Right? You're at a restaurant. Someone says, yo, I got this. You're arguing over the bill. And they say, no, I got it.

Don't worry. I got it. You're like, okay. And then you get up from the table and you go back to the kitchen staff. You're like, hey guys, you mind if I just wash a couple dishes? They're like, why? They're like, I just want to pay for my meal. I just want to, I just want to earn a couple of wages so I can pay for the meal.

And they said, sir, your, your bill's been covered. Yeah, well, maybe I can just mop the floors or sweep the floors. Or you have any toilets I could clean? Is there, is there something I could do that would pay for my bill? And they said, sir, your bill's already been paid for. You're free to go. Legalism is trying to earn your dinner when someone's already been paid for.

Legalism focuses on what we can do for God and loses sight of what God has already done for us. Legalism is arguing with Jesus and telling him his sacrifice wasn't enough.

Hebrews 9 24 through 26 says this, As for Christ has entered not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself. Now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own.

For then he would had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Jesus sacrifice is the perfect one and done sacrifice. There's no need for any more atonement. There's no need for any more payment.

The work is finished. This is different than any other form of religion. Any other religion says, what can you do to appease that God? Christianity says, Jesus has done the work, just receive it. You see the difference in that? The work has been paid for. Don't cheapen his sacrifice. The opposite side of this spectrum of legalism is a fancy word I learned in college.

I did retain some things from college. It's called antinomianism. It's a fancy word that literally means no laws, right? This is the belief that since God covers us and the price has been paid and grace covers us, let's do whatever we want, whenever we want. This is no better than legalism. This is cheapening the sacrifice of Christ as an excuse to do what we want.

You may have heard some of your friends talk like this before. Well, the Bible says we just need to have faith. You know, yeah, yeah, I believe in Jesus, but so what if I get drunk? So what if I watch porn? So what if I scream at my wife? So what if I flip people off in traffic? So what? It's all covered by the grace of God.

In the book of James, he says, Faith without works is dead. It's not real. Jesus didn't die so that you could have an excuse to sin. He died and rose again so we could have power to resist sin and turn to him. Good works don't save you. But real faith bears fruit. I think this is perfectly summed up in Ephesians two, eight through 10.

It says, for by grace you have been saved through faith and this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God, not a result of works so that no one may boast for we are his workmanship. Create it in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Good works don't save us, but we, who were created in Christ Jesus for good works, that we should walk in them.

And we can't even take credit or boast for these good works, because it says God prepared them beforehand. He already prepared and went ahead of us and prepared them for us, right? This is no better than legalism. It's cheapening the sacrifice of Jesus. I don't know where you are this morning, but my prayer for this sermon was that all who heard it would come to a deeper understanding, a deeper knowledge of what Jesus did for you.

My hope is that we wouldn't sway to either side of the spectrum, but we would stop trying to do things for God. And embrace what he's already done for us. Jesus accomplished us. Jesus accomplished it for us so that we could live it out with him. My hope is that we would do all things to the praise of his glory.

That we'd embrace the perfect work of Jesus Christ and live it out. I want to end, this morning with a prayer of St. Patrick. And if you guys just want to read it with me, this is prayer of St. Patrick. It says this, Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me. Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left, Christ where I lie, Christ where I sit, Christ where I arise, Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me, Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks to me, Christ in every eye that sees me, Christ in every ear that hears me, salvation is of the Lord, salvation of the Christ.

May our salvation, Lord, be ever with us. Lord, thank you so much for the story of your grace. Thank you, God, for your Son who accomplished all things for us, that we might walk in them. God, please help us to respond to this, Lord, that you would convict hearts and turn us away from sin. And to you, Lord, we pray in Jesus name.

Amen. Amen. You guys can stand.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/god-the-sons-role-in-the-story-of-grace 08fb6d86-260a-4aed-8e54-3c25bfaafd18 Sun, 17 Mar 2024 11:57:17 GMT <div data-html="true">Ephesians 1:7-12 <br /><br /> In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us... <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> Here's a quick summary for Ephesians. Salutations, a unique Christian greeting for both Jews and Gentiles. Adoration, praising God for our spiritual blessings in Christ. Intercession, prayer to understand the blessings we have received. Salvation, by grace through faith, not by our own doing. Reconciliation, to God and between Jews and Gentiles. <br /><br /> Proclamation, of the mystery revealed that Jews and Gentiles are co heirs in Christ. Intercession, for love and power through Christ. Walking in unity. Walking in holiness. Walking in love. Walking in light. Walking in wisdom. Walking in family. Walking in the workplace. Standing in the victory. Final greetings of grace and peace. <br /><br /> Good morning, how we doing? Here's a quick summary for, oh, run it back, okay, one more time. Good morning. It's good to see you. My name is Jared. I want to say a special good morning to those watching in Collingswood. I'm the youth pastor here at Fellowship. My name is Jared and I just wanted to say a warm, happy St. <br /><br /> Patrick's Day. we're going to be talking about the Trinity a little bit today. And if you don't know why we celebrate St. Patrick's Day, or maybe you're like, I don't celebrate St. Patrick's Day, it's not to wear green. And to go on a bar crawl, even though that happens sometimes. St. Patrick is actually known to be the first person to bring the gospel to Ireland. <br /><br /> So, he did a pretty cool thing, and he's, he's worthy to be celebrated as well. And, and actually, He described the Trinity using a three leaf clover, which isn't a perfect illustration, but he used what he had to, convey truth, which is pretty cool. So a couple of fun facts about St. Patrick. We're actually, we'll be starting a prayer with him, of his, and we'll be ending, our time here with a prayer of his as well. <br /><br /> But So, before we jump in, if you have no idea what that video was, we are going through a series, for the past couple weeks in Ephesians and we came, well, we didn't come up with these motions, actually Dave Merck did, but we've been doing these motions and we've been doing it in youth group and it's a really awesome way to kind of remember, the book of Ephesians. <br /><br /> It's sliced up really neatly and cleanly. So. So, if you would, we're going to learn some of the motions today, okay? Leave it up to the youth pastor to get everyone up and moving. So you can stand. Go ahead. We're going to stand. Go ahead. I know you just got your Bibles out and your notebooks. So we're going to learn a couple of the motions. <br /><br /> And if you look at, in your, if you have an Ephesians journal as well, afterwards, you can see that these are section by section, the journals. So the first opening, couple of verses here in Ephesians Can you do that? Salutations. Come on, get involved people. Wake up. Here we are. Salutations, right? It's a unique Christian greeting to both Jew and Gentile, right? <br /><br /> He says grace and peace to be you. That would be a unique Christian, greeting to both Jew and Gentile Christians. So I have salutations and then we have adoration. So we're going to praise. Praise, hands up. Adoration, right? We're praising God for our spiritual blessings in Christ. And then we're going to intercession, right? <br /><br /> We, we, we've just praised, so we're gonna go to prayer to understand these blessings we have received. Then salvation, right? By grace you have been saved through faith, this is not your own doing. And salvation brings reconciliation, right? So we go from salvation, reconciliation, that is between God and us, and also between Jew and Gentile. <br /><br /> And then after reconciliation, you're gonna proclamation, Yeah, thank, thank you. Proclamation. Man, we are, whoo, loosen up a little bit guys. We're having fun today. It's okay. and you're proclaiming of the mystery revealed that Jews and Gentiles now are co heirs in Christ, and then we're going back to intercession, right, for love and power in Christ Jesus. <br /><br /> Okay, we're going to do it one more time through the top. Okay, so salutations, adoration, intercession, salvation, reconciliation, proclamation, that was way better, intercession. And then after that, you get into the walking, all the different parts. So we'll just, we'll just start there this morning. Give yourself a round of applause. <br /><br /> Good job. Good job. You didn't know you're participating. You can take a seat. Thank you for humoring me with that. Notice how Pastor Mark put me up to that. He didn't want to do the motions, you know, so. I just want to read our passage this morning. If you have your Bibles, you can flip to Ephesians. if you have your journals, you can flip there as well. <br /><br /> looking in chapter 1, and we're gonna be reading in verses 7 through 12. If you don't have your Bibles or you can't find it, it's gonna be on the screen too, don't panic. It says this in Ephesians chapter 1 verses 7 through 12. It says, In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of His grace. <br /><br /> Which he lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will According to his purpose which he set forth in christ as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things In him things in heaven and things on earth in him. We have obtained an inheritance Having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will So that we who were the first to hope in christ might be to the praise Of his glory let's pray together this morning. <br /><br /> I just want to start off my prayer with a prayer of saint patrick May the strength of god pilot us May the wisdom of god instruct us May the hand of god protect us may the word of god direct us Be always are be always ours this day and forever more lord. We look to you This morning on this day god, and we're trying to come and understand Just what your son has accomplished for us <br /><br /> God, and I know firsthand this knowledge cannot be revealed by me, Lord, but only an outpouring of your Spirit and your Father calling us to him, God. This is a supernatural thing. Lord, we can hear words and hear knowledge, Lord, but you're the one who impacts the heart. You're the one who prepares the soil God and I just pray I just pray that you'd open up our hearts lord even if there's people here who've heard this message a hundred times that you would just they would You'd bring them to a greater knowledge and understanding of who your son jesus is and what he has accomplished for them Lord, if there's anyone here this morning That just doesn't know you As a personal friend and savior god that they'd come to know you as their rescuer As their accomplisher this morning god we pray That you'd shut my mouth and speak through me, Lord, and bless our time here. <br /><br /> In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Well, this morning we're going to be talking about Jesus's role in the story of grace, and I just want to give a disclaimer up front. Pastor Mark talked about the Father's role in the story of grace, right? The Trinity is hard to understand. The idea that God can be Father, Son, and Spirit is, is difficult to understand, and And you know what? <br /><br /> It's even harder to explain, and be the guy up here explaining it. So, but I think we don't have to fully understand the Trinity. I don't think God ever has required that of us, but it is important to know and believe what each member of the Godhead does and has accomplished for us. And, I took a class in, in Bible college by Professor Dozle. <br /><br /> I love Professor Dozle, but the name doesn't give him a lot of justice, you know, a little dozing, you know, like sounds sleepy. And he taught a class called Triune God. And Dr. Dozle is like one of the leading speakers on the Trinity. And I sat in the back of that class and he talked for about an hour and a half. <br /><br /> And every single word he said went like this. He was one of those professors that you're like, dude, you are too smart. to be teaching us. Like you need to write a book and then you, we need to find someone a little dumber than you that can translate that book, but say it to us plainly. So I just sat in the back of the class and I just wrote poetry. <br /><br /> That's what I did in this class to try and go, I'm telling you. And then, and then I'd start like looking up the words. I'm like, he used 37 different words that I didn't even know existed before today. So the Trinity is hard to understand, but we're going to, we're going to do it together, this morning. <br /><br /> So we're, we're going to give it a go. So I believe the God, the son's role in the story of grace is he's the accomplisher, right? He's the accomplisher. The father we saw last week. He is the willer, right? He has willed all things forward from the beginning of time. He set these things in motion. It was his plan. <br /><br /> It was the father's purpose. But it was through Jesus Christ that His plan is revealed and actualized. Jesus is the accomplisher of the story of grace. You might be asking, well, what did He accomplish? What did Jesus the accomplisher, actually accomplish? We're going to look at three different ways that Jesus has accomplished the story of grace and we're, these three different ways will go in order of what He's done, what He's doing. <br /><br /> and what he will do. And firstly, we're going to look at what he has done. Jesus redeemed us. Yeah, yeah, yeah, come on, right? What he has done, Jesus has redeemed us. Verse 7 says this, In him we have redemption through his blood. This word redemption literally means to ransom someone, to purchase, to make a purchase, to set someone free. <br /><br /> Oftentimes it was, used in, A slave trade that you'd actually buy someone's ransom to take them from an ownership to another ownership, right? Well, why did we need to be ransomed? Why did we need to be bought? Because we were enslaved by sin and under the law of the covenant. Since the beginning, right? <br /><br /> Sin has separated us from God. If you remember the story of Adam and Eve in the garden, they lived in harmony with God. Perfect union. It says the scripture actually says that they walked around the garden with God. But they chose the sin and what happened when they sinned was they were separated from the presence of God, right? <br /><br /> And you might say that's not fair. That's not nice. Well, God is a holy God, right? Holy literally without sin. He's righteous. God cannot be in the presence of sin. So when Adam and Eve chose sin, they were separated from God. They left the garden and started to live life on their own, separated from God. <br /><br /> Right? It's because of His holy and blameless and righteousness. And, and God introduced the law of the commandments, right? Through Moses. And this law, summed up in the Ten Commandments, you've probably heard some of them before. Thou shalt not steal, kill, murder, commit adultery, all these different things, right? <br /><br /> They were to expose that we weren't righteous, right? If we could live a righteous life and follow all these commandments perfectly, then we wouldn't need to be redeemed. Amen. Right? The price to get into heaven is righteousness, right? That's why God is in heaven, but we are separated from him because none of us is righteous. <br /><br /> Galatians 4, 4 through 5 says this, But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption, as sons, right? At the fullness of time, Jesus lived a perfect righteous life on earth. He came and he fulfilled the law. <br /><br /> He did everything. They couldn't, the Pharisees and Sadducees tried to get him. They tried to say, Oh, are you breaking the law here and all here? And he says, no, I haven't come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it, right? He lived a perfectly righteous life. And he came to redeem those who were still under this law of commandments, that we would receive adoption as sons. <br /><br /> And I love this idea of adoption comes from the Roman understanding of adoption, which actually attributes full rights. It's really cool that we got to see, the rentals up here today and see a beautiful picture of that. Right? When you adopt someone into your family, especially in this context, you, they had full rights as a heir. <br /><br /> You actually would take on their debts, their former debts as they're adopting. You take on them as you adopted this child. This is exactly what Jesus did for us. He redeemed us. He paid the price for us. Scripture says the wages of sin is death. That's the price of our sin. And how did he pay it? How did he pay for this price of sin? <br /><br /> Verse seven of our passage says, with his blood. He paid our price for redemption with his blood. Jesus lived a perfectly righteous life, fulfilling the law completely. And when he died on the cross, he took our sin on him. As if it was his second Corinthians 521 says this for our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. <br /><br /> This is good news. The price was high and Jesus took it because that's how much he loved you. That's how much he loved you and I. See the idea that Jesus lived a perfect life, a perfectly righteous life and went on that cross, a substitution happened, right? That we were supposed to be there. The penalty for our sin was supposed to be paid out on the cross by us and Jesus took our place. <br /><br /> The price had to be paid, and instead of God pouring that price and that, his wrath out on that, he poured it on his son, Jesus. Colossians 2, 13 through 14 says this, And you who were dead in your trespasses of your flesh, God made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses by cancelling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. <br /><br /> This He set aside, nailing it to the cross. The debt has been cancelled. Your sins have been forgiven, past, present, and future. The price has been paid, and paid in full. If you ask a bunch of people, you know, what, what, how do you get into heaven? And they'll probably say, well, you know, you, you live a righteous life, you do good things and as long as you, your good things outweigh the bad things, then God says, all right, you beat the cosmic scales, come on in. <br /><br /> That's not what happens, right? God says the wages of sin is death. The price to heaven is perfect, complete righteousness. I can't achieve that. You can't achieve that. So God made a way through His Son, Jesus, to redeem us, to pay that price, and actually take on our sin on Him. And the exchange was, He took on our sin, and He gave us His righteousness. <br /><br /> So when we go, those of us who believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, when we go before heaven, God the Father is going to go in there, and He's going to look, Okay, Jared Hacking, here He is, and He's going to go, and He's going to try to find my track record, and my, and my, and my report card, and He's going to pull it out, And it's going to be covered in the blood of Jesus, and it's going to say paid for in full. <br /><br /> Right? It's not anything I could do. The Son, Jesus, He's accomplished it. He's already done the work. He's not asking me to pay for any of my sins. He's done it. He's redeemed me. The price has been paid. There's no change to be said. It's done. It's full. He has redeemed us. And I wanted to put this first and foremost, and in the past tense. <br /><br /> Because it's done already. This is what Jesus accomplished for us in the story of grace. But what is he doing now? What is he accomplishing now for us? What he is doing is Jesus is interceding for us. It's a really cool thing. Jesus is literally going to the Father and interceding on your behalf. Jesus did not just die on the cross. <br /><br /> He was resurrected from the grave. Three days later, he literally was resurrected and went into heaven. And when he went into heaven. Right? Sometimes we have a picture of this, like, Jesus, like, did all his things. He died on the cross, lived the perfect life. And then he's like, man, I just want a break. Kick the feet up, get a glass of water, something like that. <br /><br /> No! He didn't retire into heaven. He went right back to work. And he's interceding for us to the Father. He's not in heaven with his feet kicked up enjoying retirement. He's working overtime, 24 7, reminding God the Father of what has already been accomplished for us. See, the idea that God is perfect and holy and righteous, right, created a separation. <br /><br /> Jesus fixed that separation because of his righteousness. So his inter, him interceding for us, I see the picture of him in front of the Father as the Father looks at us as we're just trying to get by and we're broken and we're trying to do things right or whatever. Jesus is jumping in front of him saying, Hey, remember, remember what I did for these people? <br /><br /> Remember? Remember? And when God sees us now, He doesn't say, man, look at that broken, sinful Christian just trying to get it right. When God the Father sees us, He sees the completed work of His Son, Jesus. He sees the completed work of Jesus, the Accomplisher. There's no more charges to bring against us. <br /><br /> There's no more accusations. Romans 8, 33 through 34 says this, Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies, who is to condemn. Christ Jesus is the one who died. More than that, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. I love this truth that Jesus is interceding and mediating for us. <br /><br /> Makes you think of a time we used to go to this place, whenever it snowed, to go, to go sledding, right? Who, who, who loves to go sledding? It's an awesome time. Adults can go sledding too now. You know, you don't have to give it up. Don't do anything crazy because you do have to work in the morning. You have to think that through now. <br /><br /> But we used to go to this place as kids. And we'd sled and there was like, people would build ramps and do all kinds of crazy stuff. And there was a group of kids there that were kind of just like punks and they kept picking on me. And for some reason, I was, I was just like in my own world trying to sled. <br /><br /> I was sledding down one time and these kids like literally laid me out. Like, like as I'm sledding, like ran right into me. And I kind of fall and my lip was bloodied and I'm like looking up and there's, I see these couple kids approaching me and I'm like, dude, this is it. This is it for me. Right? This is how I die. <br /><br /> These kids are approaching me and I'm like, I'm like looking down and then I look up again and all four of my older brothers have stepped in between and are standing in front of me. And I'm like, they're taller and bigger than those guys. I think I'm going to be good, right? I think I'm going to be good. <br /><br /> This is the picture of Christ interceding for us. He stepped in front of us and saying, I got you. Stay behind me. Stay behind what I've already accomplished for you. What I've already done. I am the go between. I am the mediator. I will work for you. I will talk to the father. I will intercede for him. This is what Christ is doing for us. <br /><br /> And he's the only one who does this. 1 Timothy 5, 1 Timothy chapter 2, verses 5 through 6, it says, For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. No one else, no one else but Jesus is our mediator. <br /><br /> No former saint, or loved one, or angel, or Mary, or anybody else. God the Son alone is doing this for us, and He's actively doing it. He's actively doing this. Jesus has redeemed us. Jesus is interceding for us. And third, what he will do, Jesus will restore us. Verse 11 says, We have obtained an inheritance in Jesus. <br /><br /> The restoration is partial now, but one day will be fully complete. 1 Corinthians 13, 12 says, For now we see only as a reflection, as in a mirror. Then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part, then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. We live right now in a state of already, not yet. We have been redeemed, purchased by Jesus, has made it so we no longer have to be slaves to sin, but we can actually resist sin, yet we are still wrestling with our flesh, right? <br /><br /> The price has been paid. Jesus, by His power of resurrection, has actually given us the ability to resist sin. He's given us the ability to say no to sin. Before Christ, before, in Ephesians, it actually talks about, In chapter two, it says, you were dead in your trespasses. You were dead in the trespasses of your sin. <br /><br /> You were dead, separated from God, enslaved to sin. Now that we are in Christ Jesus, we've been redeemed by Christ Jesus through his resurrection. He has given us resurrection power over our sin to actually say, No, to actually say no to our sin. And some of you know this in your life, through your process of sanctification and getting closer to God over years, sin that you used to have an issue with or whatever. <br /><br /> You're like, you know, that used to be an issue and God's just taking that from me and as real as that is, You know, it's just as real that this is a partial restoration right now that we are still wrestling. I am still wrestling with my flesh, right? I'm still wrestling with, do I really need the second and third donut? <br /><br /> Right? I'm not like, oh, yeah, that's an easy answer for me. No, it's a still wrestling that if I'm going to choose myself, my selfishness, my flesh, or am I going to choose God's way for me in my life? But this is future sense that He will restore us fully. We'll be, one day we'll be fully dead to sin and fully alive in Christ. <br /><br /> When we are fully raised with Christ in the fullness of His glory in His presence. Not only will Jesus fully restore us, but he will actually fully restore all of creation. Romans 8 21 says that creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. <br /><br /> Creation is groaning as we groan with it to be fully glorified in Jesus. The accomplisher, Jesus Christ, will one day make all things Right again, right? This is a already not yet. We're dead to sin, but one day we're gonna be fully dead to sin. We're alive in Christ, but one day we're gonna stand in the fullness of his presence. <br /><br /> This is something that should give us hope. This is something that we should long for, that Jesus the Accomplisher will one day fully restore us. This may have been new to you this morning. This may have been, reviewed for you this morning. But I just want to talk about how we respond to the Son's role in the story of grace, right? <br /><br /> Because it's, it's great to know things, but how do we respond to the Son's role? And first I want to talk about how we shouldn't respond, but often how we do respond. I think in one way we respond to the Son's story of grace is legalism. I think in one way we respond to the Son's story of grace is legalism. <br /><br /> Right. My definition of legalism, you've never heard that term. Term is, is, is trying to pay for something that's already been paid for. The Pharisees were guilty of this, right? They would see God's law as this circle, these are God's commandments. And then they draw a smaller circle and say, you know, if you, if you do these things, you're even a, a better Christian. <br /><br /> You're even holier, you're even more righteous, right? But legalism is trying to pay for something that's already been paid for. Like we just went over earlier, it was the perfect work of Jesus Christ that redeems us. Nothing we can do ourselves. But what happens is, we try to self righteously earn God's favor or forgiveness ourselves. <br /><br /> I remember Many, many times in college, and I was just, I was wrestling, and I had a period of, of, of wandering, and I was just, I was messing up a lot, and whenever I'd mess up a lot, and just do something that I knew I shouldn't have done, and, and, and I was regretting, I'd get so guilty, and I'd get, I'd start feeling condemnation, and I knew that what I did was a sin against God, I knew He wanted me to repent of these things, I knew all these things, But I wouldn't go to him. <br /><br /> I wouldn't pray. I want to open up my Bible and read it because in my mind I believe I got to clean myself up a little bit before I can appear before God Almighty, right? I got to clean myself up. I got I got a button my shirt I got to do all these things just so I can get into his presence again. So I would literally I would literally try to live out, like, two, three, four days of righteousness. <br /><br /> Like, this is a real thing. And I wouldn't read my Bible because that was going into the presence of God. I couldn't do that. So I'd try to live out. I'd try to be kind. I'd try to be loving. I'd try to do my homework on time. I'd try to do all these things. And then I would come at the end of that day, three or four, and I'd beg God for His forgiveness. <br /><br /> I'd beg God, please take me back. Please, please help me repent of these things. I was believing a false gospel. I was believing a false gospel. God the Father was waiting. Jesus Christ was waiting with arms open saying, Son, please return to me. He wanted me to turn from my sin. He wanted me to repent of my sin. <br /><br /> But he was saying, Please come into my presence again now. Don't wait. The price has been paid. It's accomplished already. Legalism is like trying to earn your dinner when someone just paid for your dinner. Right? You're at a restaurant. Someone says, yo, I got this. You're arguing over the bill. And they say, no, I got it. <br /><br /> Don't worry. I got it. You're like, okay. And then you get up from the table and you go back to the kitchen staff. You're like, hey guys, you mind if I just wash a couple dishes? They're like, why? They're like, I just want to pay for my meal. I just want to, I just want to earn a couple of wages so I can pay for the meal. <br /><br /> And they said, sir, your, your bill's been covered. Yeah, well, maybe I can just mop the floors or sweep the floors. Or you have any toilets I could clean? Is there, is there something I could do that would pay for my bill? And they said, sir, your bill's already been paid for. You're free to go. Legalism is trying to earn your dinner when someone's already been paid for. <br /><br /> Legalism focuses on what we can do for God and loses sight of what God has already done for us. Legalism is arguing with Jesus and telling him his sacrifice wasn't enough. <br /><br /> Hebrews 9 24 through 26 says this, As for Christ has entered not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself. Now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own. <br /><br /> For then he would had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Jesus sacrifice is the perfect one and done sacrifice. There's no need for any more atonement. There's no need for any more payment. <br /><br /> The work is finished. This is different than any other form of religion. Any other religion says, what can you do to appease that God? Christianity says, Jesus has done the work, just receive it. You see the difference in that? The work has been paid for. Don't cheapen his sacrifice. The opposite side of this spectrum of legalism is a fancy word I learned in college. <br /><br /> I did retain some things from college. It's called antinomianism. It's a fancy word that literally means no laws, right? This is the belief that since God covers us and the price has been paid and grace covers us, let's do whatever we want, whenever we want. This is no better than legalism. This is cheapening the sacrifice of Christ as an excuse to do what we want. <br /><br /> You may have heard some of your friends talk like this before. Well, the Bible says we just need to have faith. You know, yeah, yeah, I believe in Jesus, but so what if I get drunk? So what if I watch porn? So what if I scream at my wife? So what if I flip people off in traffic? So what? It's all covered by the grace of God. <br /><br /> In the book of James, he says, Faith without works is dead. It's not real. Jesus didn't die so that you could have an excuse to sin. He died and rose again so we could have power to resist sin and turn to him. Good works don't save you. But real faith bears fruit. I think this is perfectly summed up in Ephesians two, eight through 10. <br /><br /> It says, for by grace you have been saved through faith and this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God, not a result of works so that no one may boast for we are his workmanship. Create it in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Good works don't save us, but we, who were created in Christ Jesus for good works, that we should walk in them. <br /><br /> And we can't even take credit or boast for these good works, because it says God prepared them beforehand. He already prepared and went ahead of us and prepared them for us, right? This is no better than legalism. It's cheapening the sacrifice of Jesus. I don't know where you are this morning, but my prayer for this sermon was that all who heard it would come to a deeper understanding, a deeper knowledge of what Jesus did for you. <br /><br /> My hope is that we wouldn't sway to either side of the spectrum, but we would stop trying to do things for God. And embrace what he's already done for us. Jesus accomplished us. Jesus accomplished it for us so that we could live it out with him. My hope is that we would do all things to the praise of his glory. <br /><br /> That we'd embrace the perfect work of Jesus Christ and live it out. I want to end, this morning with a prayer of St. Patrick. And if you guys just want to read it with me, this is prayer of St. Patrick. It says this, Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me. Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left, Christ where I lie, Christ where I sit, Christ where I arise, Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me, Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks to me, Christ in every eye that sees me, Christ in every ear that hears me, salvation is of the Lord, salvation of the Christ. <br /><br /> May our salvation, Lord, be ever with us. Lord, thank you so much for the story of your grace. Thank you, God, for your Son who accomplished all things for us, that we might walk in them. God, please help us to respond to this, Lord, that you would convict hearts and turn us away from sin. And to you, Lord, we pray in Jesus name. <br /><br /> Amen. Amen. You guys can stand.</div> false no <![CDATA[The Battle of Temptation]]> Matthew 4:1-8

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.



Sermon Transcript:

good morning guys. My name is Pastor Josiah, and I promise that video is going to be relevant, to what we talked about. this morning we're going to be opening up to the Gospel of Matthew chapters one through eight. You didn't mishear me. We're taking a break from our study in the book of Ephesians, and we're just going to take a one week pit stop here in the Gospel of Matthew.

Pastor Mark gave me free reign to choose any passage as long as it was in the Bible. So I chose this passage here in Matthew 4. It has been, a whirlwind of a week and a half in this passage. really excited for what I believe God has for us, certainly what he had for me. Excited to share it with you all this morning.

But let's begin our time, or continue our time of worship with, with God's Word and the reading of God's Word. Again, Matthew four chapters one through eight. Then Jesus was led up by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after 40 days and 40 nights, he was hungry and the tempter came and said to him, if you are the son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.

But he answered, it is written, man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. And then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, If you are the son of God, throw yourself down for it is written he will command his angels concerning you.

And on their hands they will bear you up lest you strike your foot against a stone. Jesus said to him, Again, it is written, You shall put the Lord your God not to the test. And again the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, All these I will give to you, if you will but fall down and worship me.

And then Jesus said, Be gone, Satan! For it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve. And then the devil left him, and behold, the angels came and were ministering to him. This is God's word, church. Let's pray.

Lord, the words of that last song are just coursing through my mind. Holy forever. Lord, this is your word. This is your truth. This is your beloved son. Lord, I don't have the ability to bring the truth to hearts. Only you have that ability. And no amount of knowledge, or study,

or time spent practicing a sermon can change. That fact only you Lord have the power to open up your word to us Lord, I pray in Jesus name that you would take the sword of the Spirit that you would cut us deep That you would open up and expose the hidden parts of us that we have yet to bring to you Lord that you would work in us and that through that working new fruit would grow and That all the growth would be out of the love You That comes from the true and one gospel of grace.

We thank you lord And we dedicate this time to you this morning In your name we pray amen So I began our time with a silly video, i was trying to think of a way to kind of illustrate our topic this morning and maybe for some of you the light bulb's going off a little bit. Maybe all of you are like, yeah, joe, we get it but I think this week when I first watched this video, I found it entertaining for all the obvious reasons.

I mean, watching these poor kids locked in a room, they're staring down the barrel of a marshmallow. They're just, you can see them, their whole gaze, one kid tries looking away, but he's like holding it. And, you can see the silent battle. This, they're locked in this sort of fierce and silent battle against this irresistible draw of the marshmallow.

And that's hilarious, but I think Beyond being hilarious, I think there's a deeper thing that resonates, at least with me when I watched it. And I think if you're honest this morning, there's a part of you as well that resonated with it. Because if I'm honest, I relate to the child in that room. No, I don't have an obsession with marshmallows.

my kids do, but, and maybe, I'm not insinuating that you, haven't grown out of your, or that you have grown out of this passion for marshmallows or sugar, but there is something that I think you and I have not grown out of, and that's the battle that raged on in that small room. We have not outgrown it, that being the battle with temptation.

For many of us, as we walk with Jesus, maybe for many years, maybe just for a few short weeks or months, the realization slowly dawns on us that the battle with sin doesn't end after we become believers, but rather it begins in earnest. For many of you, this may have led to some discouragement, frustration, even doubt, am I even a Christian if I struggle with this sin?

C. S. Lewis, addressed this point beautifully in his famous work, Mere Christianity. He put it like this, No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good. A silly idea is current that people who do not know what temptation means, Good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie.

Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. After all, you find out the strength of the German army by fighting against it, not by giving in. And you find out the strength of a wind by trying to walk against it, not by laying down. A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it means, what it would have been like an hour later.

Temptation is not the battle of unbelievers, church. It is the battle of the church. And the more that we resist, the more we learn the full strength and scope of the battle which we are fighting. That's the bad news. The comfort and the conviction that I am so excited to bring this morning, and what the Lord brought me this week is that, while you and I are no strangers to this battle that we call temptation, our passage this morning in Acts, sorry, not Acts, we're not in Acts anymore, Matthew chapter 4.

We're not strangers to this battle, but neither was Jesus. And what I believe from the passage this morning that's going to bring so much hope and conviction is that Jesus, though he was tempted on a scope that you and I can't even imagine, being tempted by the devil himself, being offered the world in all its glory, he was yet victorious on every single battle.

occasion. Hebrews 4. 15 says that Jesus was attempted in every way as we have been, and yet was without sin.

My hope this morning is to stir up in us a desire to fight this battle well.

Undoubtedly, there are many of us of which I have been one feeling like we are surrounded on every side and we are losing the battle.

But using C. S. Lewis's line of logic, far from being oblivious to the true nature of the battle, Jesus, in him, we have an expert. And in our passage this morning, what we're going to see, church, is that Jesus is offering us a battle strategy. One that we can take, that we can use practically to fight this battle.

And even as Jesus did to find victory, not in our own strength or in our own knowledge, but in the knowledge and power of Jesus. I'm not, I'm not suggesting that we're gonna bat a thousand like Jesus did. But I am telling you that, that it works. And many of you are living testimonies to this. We can't fight this battle alone.

We will lose over and over again. But the good news of the Gospel of Jesus is that we don't have to. We have an advocate who understands this battle better than any of us could even imagine. But we don't just have somebody who understands, we have somebody who has overcome. And so what I'd like to do is just spend the next 25 minutes We don't have a ton of time to go through this, but just quickly go through, the truth of this passage, and hopefully some practical applications for us as we do our best to walk, not only to come to Jesus, but also to follow after Jesus.

I'm going to give you a quick roadmap to our study this morning. In journalism, now I'm sure there's any journalists here, because I'm probably going to butcher this, but in journalism there's an old adage, I believe, Every good journalist asks the same six questions. Anybody know what they are? Yep. Who, what, when, where, why, and how.

Did I miss one? I always miss one when I was practicing this. There's six of them. And those six questions really do a good job of getting you started and asking the right questions. Don't worry, we're not doing all six, I promise. But what we are doing is three. We're going to do what? We're gonna do why, and we're gonna do how.

What I want to do this morning is start with the simplest of the questions. What is temptation? Once again, many of you, we watched that video and, and we, we saw it, right? We, we saw it in that room. But I think, if I'm honest church, I really do believe that there's a bit of a confusion in the church about what temptation is and what it is not.

So before we go into the passage and what, what it shows us about both how the enemy attacks and how we resist, first we need to know what are we resisting, what are we being attacked with. What is this religious word, what is this word, temptation? All of us have our own ideas, but I'd like to go to the best possible source for the definition, that being the Word of God.

First, I want to tell you a little bit of what it isn't though. Temptation is not the same thing as sin. And here's why I'm gonna walk through this really quickly. Because I think in our minds, unfortunately church, we're so used to losing this battle, that we start associating sin and temptation as one and the same thing.

At least that's happened in my life. And where this can sometimes cause problems, and certainly has caused problems in my life, is it gives me an out. Now, what I start to do is I start to make excuses for the sin in my life by calling it simply temptation.

Let me give you a quick example, and we're going to move quickly here.

Maybe there's somebody here who's battling with the battle of lust. And on one particular day, you've had these images in your mind running through your mind all day long. And you let them in. and you think about them, and you let them fill your mind, and then you get to the end of the day, and you succumb to those thoughts.

And what you might be tempted to think is that, I, I sinned in the evening, and I was tempted during the day. That's not what happened. You were letting sin in here, and you called it temptation. I think this is because there's a simple Explanation for this it's because we have this sort of misunderstanding that Temptation is the mental struggle and sin is the bodily action Jesus is really clear in his word.

That's not the case. You don't believe me Just keep reading in this for one chapter later in the written Jesus's revolutionary sermon on the mount chapter 5 He says, You've heard it said you shouldn't commit adultery, but I tell you, if any of you look with, look at a woman with lust in your heart, you've already committed the sin of adultery.

To Jesus, sin could happen in your mind or in your body. It was a matter of the heart. Sin and temptation are not the same thing. Now, I'm not telling you this to shame you. I'm telling you this from personal experience. But I am telling you this because I want to give us all an awareness of the true scope of the battle that we are fighting.

If you're not desperate, then you're not really fighting enough. The Lord wants us humble and desperate. He wants us crying out to Him for help and humility and desperation.

All right, so I told you what it isn't. What is temptation? And we're going to move quick, I promise. Temptation is this, and I believe this definition comes out of the scriptures, it's, it's my own definition, based off of my understanding, but I'm going to give it to you anyway. I believe it's, it's best defined in two ways.

It's first, temptation is the test of trust between me and God. And it's the battle of choice between my way and God's way. The test of trust between me and God and the battle of choice between my way and God's way.

Some of you are here and you're like, Joe, I really don't need a whole definition of what temptation is, brother. I know what it is. Like we don't need to spend this much time on a definition. What I want to know is, Look, I'm a believer. I'm surrounded on every side. I'm fighting this battle all over the place, and I'm not looking for a definition.

It's all around me. What I'm looking for is, is a why.

Why do we experience this battle with temptation? Why does God allow this battle of temptation in our lives? What possible reason could he have? Well, now we're going to start looking more at the passage itself. for some of our answers. I think the first and simplest reason why God is allowing temptation in the battle of temptation in your life

is there are two, actually, there's actually two reasons. The simplest is, I just said it, is that God is allowing it. We see here in verse one that Jesus isn't driven into the wilderness by Satan. What does it say there in verse one? The Holy Spirit drove him into the wilderness. And the enemy could not have gotten near Jesus without the will of God allowing it.

That's not very comforting. Some of you are like, I don't want to hear that. Tell me why God allows it. And this is where the comfort starts to come into play here. I believe that God is allowing temptation in our lives first to test our trust in Him.

Let me explain. If we go back to the very, verse one of that passage in Matthew chapter 4, and actually verse 2 and 3, we see some interesting words used. When it says, the Spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted, that word that's used there, in the original Greek, the first manuscripts that were found for this, the word is paratso.

The Greek word, paratso. And that word, most scholars believe and recognize, that word actually really means to be put to the test.

And you could be saying, well, that's a one off, Joe. That's just talking about Jesus. Well, if you go to the Old Testament, the Hebrew word is masah, which also means to be tested or put to a trial.

The question then becomes, what is being tested?

Is it Jesus strength of endurance? His ability to go without food? No, it's pretty clear from our passage that it's to trust the will of God over his own will, to trust God.

And the second part is, God allows a temptation in your life, first, to test your trust in him, and secondly, to prepare your heart for his plans, purposes, and promises. To prepare your heart for his plans, purposes, and promises. And I get this from a little detail in the beginning of the passage. Do you notice the number given?

Anybody? How many days was he in the wilderness? Now, anybody, is that ringing a bell for anybody? Yeah? Yeah? Noah? Come on, call another one out. Say it out loud, come on.

Yep, 40 years in the wilderness. Noah. Moses on the mountain. Fasting before receiving the Ten Commandments. Noah floating over the chaos waters of the flood for 40 days and nights before resting on Mount Ararat and receiving the covenant that I will never again flood the land.

Moses receiving the Ten Commandments after fasting. The people of Israel wandering for 40 years before coming into the land of promise. You starting to see a theme here? Now we see Jesus Wandering driven by God into the wilderness to wander for 40 days You know what happens right after that wandering church

His public ministry He was being prepared his heart was being tested. I don't know what battle you're facing this morning, but I know you're facing one and if you think the only reason that you're facing it is because You're a bad Christian. Or because God is unfair. Or because life is just hard. That's not going to cut it.

But you know what will? Recognizing that a sovereign and good God has ordained that you would walk through this battle to test your heart of faith in Him Amen. And to prepare you for His plans, for His purposes for you, and for His promises for you.

He wants children who trust Him.

And suffering and temptation are the ways that He does it. Learning to trust God's way over my way. Learning to submit to His will over my will. Not my will, but Thy will be done.

It was the same with Noah, with Moses, and with the people of Israel. God was preparing them. Their hearts weren't ready. They needed to be tested and prepared. There's a second reason, though, aside from God allowing it in your life for those reasons. The second reason why this suffering is in the life of a believer is that, simply to put it, there is an adversary.

Now, many of you, the moment I said the word adversary, immediately thought of the devil. And I'm glad, because that is who we're going to focus on this morning. But I don't want you to rush past this fact. There's actually a triumvirate. There's a, a set of three allies that work together to draw you and me away from God.

Away from his plans, away from his purposes, and away from his promises. And they were present even all the way back in Genesis 3 At the first moment of sin, you know what they were the world the flesh and the devil Let me explain just really quick track with me here church, please. This is so important If the devil came down in the form of a serpent to even to Adam And he, he gave all of his wise schemes to try to draw her away.

If her flesh didn't desire what he was offering, would it have worked? No. If he didn't have the fruit of the tree to offer her, would it have worked? He needed her flesh to desire it and he needed the testing fruit to offer.

The temptation is to blame all of our temptation battle on the enemy and not to take culpability in our flesh. And say, no, there's a part of me that wanted that. You And I took it. I took the fruit. If it's always the devil's fault, we don't take action in ourself, take steps in ourself to let the Lord in to that area and to make it new, to the transforming of our mind.

But I do want to focus on the devil this morning because he's the main character in our passage. One of the reasons why that is is because he's the intelligence behind the operation. He's the one orchestrating it. He's the general of the other side of the battle. It's a cosmic battle that's been raging since Genesis 3.

And though this enemy has had many names, the serpent, the satan, Beelzebul,

his purposes and goals have never changed, church. He wants to sever that relationship of trust between you and God. He wants to stop the plans and purposes and promises of God in your life. That's his goal. It's never changed. You Don't believe me look at look at the goal. What did he want to do in the garden?

He wanted to separate adam and eve from one another. He wanted to separate adam and eve from god He wanted to separate adam and eve from creation

He wanted to put a stop to what God was doing there,

the beautiful relationship of trust between Adam and Eve and God.

Guess what? Even as his goals have never changed, church, his strategies haven't changed either. If it ain't broke, why fix it? They work.

And we see the self same strategies used by Jesus in, used by the enemy against Jesus in our passage as he uses in Genesis 3. Hear me when I say this. I want you to really hear me. You know what my main goal this morning is to do? It's to, it's to expose his works. I don't want you to be left in doubt. Is this the enemy or is this God?

Is this just me or is this the enemy? No, I want to expose his works and bring them to light so that you know the enemy that you're fighting and that you cry out to the Lord Jesus and you use what he has given, his battle strategies to fight this battle. So here's what we're going to do. This is the meat and potatoes of our passage.

the how section. This is where we really dig into what the scripture says in this passage about temptation. We're going to look at two things. How does the enemy attack, and how do we resist? You guys ready? It's a lot really quick, but I think it's really worth it. Let's start with the enemy's strategies to attack you and to attack Jesus.

The enemy attacks when and where we are weak. Notice in our passage, Jesus has been wandering in the wilderness for 40 days, without food. He's at the absolute limit of his human capacity. I don't know how many doctors are in the room, but you probably know better than me, the state of somebody after 40 days without food.

I, it's at the absolute limit. You're pretty much at starvation at that point. And to be wandering in the wilderness, it's a pretty much a miracle that he's even upright. And the enemy chooses this time to sweep in with temptation. There's a, there's a helpful point in this church. The enemy is a predator.

He doesn't attack you where you're strongest. He attacks you where you're weakest. Now, some of you might be like, Well, pride's my problem, because I'm so good at everything. Well, there's your weakness.

Where you are weak is where he will go. You ever watch those, those nature specials where the wolves, they're my favorite animal? They, they, they chase for, just for hours and hours until the, the whole herd is exhausted and then the, the youngest or the weakest is slowly Starts to straggle and then the wolves pounce.

That's the enemy. Is your marriage struggling right now?

Are you really struggling with the battle of lust? Are you tired and exhausted because you're overworked? Watch out. He's coming for that. And if you're not on your knees, and if you're not using the things that I'm going to talk about at the end of our sermon this morning, watch out. He's coming for where you're weakest.

I'm not saying this out of fear. We don't need to fear him. But we need to be ready when he attacks. I wish I could explain more about what that looks like, but I believe the Holy Spirit's gonna interpret that into your heart. Ask him, where am I weak and where is, where, where is, is there a weakness in my defenses?

Because I know he's coming after me.

He might offer you any number of things. What he's gonna do though, when he attacks, in that weak point, is he's going to offer you a way out. Look what he does to Jesus. Jesus has been wandering for 40 days without food. What does he do? What does he offer him? He says, take, take what you need. Take the bread.

Turn the stones into bread. Use your power to take what you need. Sound familiar? You hungry? Eat. You want sex? Take it.

The bottle? Take it. That piece of cake? Take it. Whatever it is. That marshmallow? You want it? Take it. You need it. Take it for yourself. Don't wait for God to give it. Don't, don't take it in God's timing. Take it your way. Take it now. Eat the fruit.

You're stressed out from work? Take the edge off. Take it now. You deserve it. When and where we are weak. Okay, the second way the enemy attacks, he attacks by twisting the Word of God. This is really important. We see multiple times the enemy is quoting from the Scriptures. He's quoting from the Word of God.

Here is the problem, church. We so often are shocked when we open up our Bible and we're reading a little bit And all of a sudden we might feel condemned. All of a sudden we read one passage and our heart begins to coil within us. And we think this must be God.

Genesis 3, what does he do? Did God really say? that you shouldn't eat of a tree. He goes right to God's words and starts to twist them. Because he knows, as a believer, you follow the Word of God. So if he can take it, twist it, maim it, and still get you to follow it, well, it's no longer the Word of God, but it might be drawing you astray.

The enemy does use it. He uses it multiple times here in our passage to Jesus, and he will use it against you as well, if you're not on guard. We're going to keep moving. Thirdly, the enemy attacks with doubt as a weapon. This goes hand in hand, hand in hand, with the twisting of God's word. Did you notice the language almost in every time that the enemy addresses Jesus here?

If you really are the Son of God. You hear that language? That is the language of doubt. The language of doubt. You know what he said in the garden? Did God really say?

Are you struggling under a haze of confusion and doubt this morning? The enemy is not far off. He's attacking. And he's using doubt as a weapon.

This has an interesting impact on us. Remember, the whole goal of the enemy is to sever your trust with the Lord. To start doubting his goodness. To start doubting his love for you. To start doubting his gospel. To start doubting who he is. Start doubting him as a good and loving father. If he can sever that relationship of trust, he can get you to run the other way.

From the thing that you really need. God's presence.

And rather than being an obedient son, you're a terrified slave.

We have to choose the trust instead of listening to his lies, instead of listening to the doubt. Notice what he does in one of his temptations with Jesus. He says, using doubt, if you really are the son of God, prove it, right? Throw yourself off this high pinnacle. Throw yourself down and the angels will raise you up.

Prove that God loves you. Make God prove that he loves you. That sound familiar to you?

Friend, it's the language and weapon of the enemy. Amen.

We do not work in a gospel of striving, but of overflow. A security and identity in who we are as His children. And the enemy hates that trust. He's coming after it. He's coming after that relationship of trust. He attacks when and where you are weak. He attacks by twisting the Word of God. He attacks with doubt as a weapon.

And lastly, he attacks with offers of wealth, power, and glory in exchange for worshiping Him. Now, some of you are like, Joe, I was tracking with the intel now. Now you lost me. I have never in my life had the devil come up to me and offer me the world and all its power, wealth, and glory. Never happened to me.

I don't know about you, but it's never happened to me. Let me ask you a different question. Has there been a time in your life where you could seek a promotion at work, but all you needed to do was throw somebody else under the bus? Maybe there was an opportunity to make some easy money, but it was. done by breaking the law.

Maybe popularity at your school, but you needed to gossip and put down others. Maybe it's social media followers, but you needed to dress a certain way and act a certain way in order to get that.

Now, do I think that the devil specifically is assigned to your case? Probably not. He's not omnipresent, he can't be everywhere. He's concerned with maybe some bigger fish to fry than me or you. But one of his little underlings is probably assigned to you. You And you know what? They're offering their own little mini version of what the devil offered Jesus.

They're off they're offering you Wealth, power, glory in exchange for worship. You're like, I've never been offered worship in in the enemy. Maybe some of you have, but most of you probably haven't. Guess what? You worship yourself? You worship the world? The same thing. The flesh and the world, they're allies of the enemy.

And if you worship them, you're worshiping him.

We cannot be drawn in to the devil. Okay, those are the four ways the enemy attacks, and we've got about four minutes here to close this up. He attacks when and where we are weak by offering us a way out to gratify our flesh. He attacks by twisting the word of God. He attacks with doubt as a weapon. And he attacks with offers of wealth, power, and glory in exchange for worshiping him.

Now, I hope most of you now are sufficiently desperate to hear this last part. How do we resist? Joe, how on earth do we fight this guy? This cosmic battle that's been going on for thousands of years, how can I possibly fight? The beautiful reality is that Jesus lays out for us in this passage a battle strategy that is not inaccessible to you and me.

Jesus could have, right off the bat, the moment the enemy came up to him, be like, Be gone, Satan. Guess what would have happened? Satan would have been gone. But instead, He trusted God's will, and the Spirit's leading, and instead He showed us, you and I, the way. The beauty of Jesus earthly ministry is He didn't just tell you what to do.

No, of course not. He showed you how to do it. And this passage is perhaps one of the best examples of this. Alright, quickly, but if you, if you haven't been taking notes the whole time, that's okay. Take them now. And I'm not saying because my words, this is, this is from His Word. But I want you to hear this and hear this well.

How do we resist? How do we take victory in this battle? Here is how. First, by being filled with the knowledge of the Bible. Now some of you are rolling your eyes. You're like, oh, the Bible again. Yes, I know, I need to read the Bible because of what good Christians do. That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying that the Word of God is your weapon.

And if you don't take it up, you cannot win. You, you cannot win. Not that you might not, you will not. You will not win. Jesus was overflowing with the Word of God. You know how he answered back every time? Not with his own words. With quotes, it is written, it is written, it is written, over and over again.

Jesus didn't need to reinvent the wheel. He was filled and overflowing with the living Word of God. And it's so important for us. I have, I have a quick just, I want to speak directly to you. I wrote this down. I knew, because I knew I needed to say it just how it was written. Men and women of God, this is your call.

This is your battle strategy. Listen to this. Be filled with the word meditate on it with your minds speak it with your lips sing it out with your voice Live it out with your life cover yourself with a blanket of his truth. Is it any wonder you're losing the battle your sword is dull Sharpen it every day until it can cut through even the toughest of lie and most twisted deception Does it not stir you that the enemy is taking your sword and stabbing you with it?

Does it not goad your spirit that he's taking the word of god and twisting it and you don't even You Have yours out. You've got to be filled with this word Morning devotionals. It's not a it's not a checklist people But in the same way that a warrior has to sharpen his sword each morning to be ready for battle So you need to sharpen your knowledge of the word of god not as a works thing But as a battle that we must fight but now here's the warning and the second thing we need to do First in our battle.

We need to be filled with the knowledge of the scriptures Second we need to be led by the spirit now. Listen to me here You All the sharpening the world will do you no good if you don't know where to stick and to swing.

You could have the sharpest sword in the battle, but if you don't know how to use it, what good does it do you? Here is the truth in Ephesians, we're later gonna come to a section that says the The Armor of God. And in that section it's gonna talk about the sword of what, which is, what the word of God is it the sword of Joe.

No, is it the sword of you? It's the sword of the Holy Spirit. It's not my sword. I don't know how to use it, only he does. Why was Jesus in the wilderness in the first place? Who led him there? The Holy Spirit. Church, you could be filled with the knowledge of the word. The enemy's filled with the knowledge of the word, believe it or not.

He's a theologian, not a very good one, but he has all the knowledge in the world and it puffed him up.

The Pharisees were filled with the knowledge of the word, but without the knowledge that comes from the Holy Spirit, or rather the understanding. What good is a sharp sword? Sharpen it, learn how to use it by being led by the Holy Spirit. You have Him. If you are a Christian, it's a guarantee. You are filled with the Holy Spirit, now be led by Him.

Be filled with the knowledge of the Word, be led by the Holy Spirit. And lastly, be filled with faith. Remember, church, the enemy's goal is to sever your trust in God the Father. Hold on to it, though. He can't take it unless you give it to Him.

The final thing I want to point out to you is that if In all his strategies with Jesus, in everything he offered. Did you notice, that every single thing he offered, Jesus would one day have? In God's timing. Did you notice that? I'll give you, I'll just real quick play it out for you. The stones turned to bread, he would eat again, just in the Father's timing, not in his own.

Jesus did not eat for the rest of his life, he ate again. He broke his fast, but in God's timing. Secondly, and this might be the one where you guys have a hard time tracking, the whole pinnacle of the tower thing, it's like, well, Joe, he never did that. Yes, he did. He would go to Jerusalem. He would go to the hilltop.

He would cast himself upon the cross and down into the pit of hell and be raised up again and shown to be the Son of God in truth. But he didn't prove it to put God to the test. God put Jesus to the test. And he was raised up and shown to be the Son. In God's timing. Amen. Amen. And lastly, the glory, the authority, and the power.

What does it tell us at the end of the Gospel of Matthew? What does Jesus say as a comfort to the believers? All authority in the heavens and on earth has been given to me, go therefore. He received it, everything that the enemy pretended to have, God really had, and offered it to him in his timing. We watched, we began our time this morning, as we close, we began our time this morning with a video, a silly video of kids looking at a marshmallow.

But you know the key of that video? What was the, what was the whole premise? Why would, why would the kid wait? To get a double portion, right? It's no different here, Church. What God has for you is so much better than what the enemy has for you. It's so much better. It's not just being obedient and, and, you know, you never really see the results.

It's God's way is better. This isn't a prosperity gospel. It's the truth. I'm not talking about money or possessions. I'm talking about Him.

All right, we've got to close. Amen. I just want to end with just a simple word to you as we close. If temptation is a test of trust, trust in God the Father and His Son. You can't win this battle alone, but you can with Jesus, by being filled with the knowledge of His scriptures, by being led by the Holy Spirit, and by being filled with faith.

And when you are, you respond to the enemy, not in an argument, but in a final statement, a finality of faith. Jesus didn't argue with the devil. He just rebuked the lie with truth, and then moved on.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-battle-of-temptation 93ebdf8f-f913-4379-b39e-2c249ed214cc Sun, 10 Mar 2024 15:41:50 GMT <div data-html="true">Matthew 4:1-8 <br /><br /> Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> good morning guys. My name is Pastor Josiah, and I promise that video is going to be relevant, to what we talked about. this morning we're going to be opening up to the Gospel of Matthew chapters one through eight. You didn't mishear me. We're taking a break from our study in the book of Ephesians, and we're just going to take a one week pit stop here in the Gospel of Matthew. <br /><br /> Pastor Mark gave me free reign to choose any passage as long as it was in the Bible. So I chose this passage here in Matthew 4. It has been, a whirlwind of a week and a half in this passage. really excited for what I believe God has for us, certainly what he had for me. Excited to share it with you all this morning. <br /><br /> But let's begin our time, or continue our time of worship with, with God's Word and the reading of God's Word. Again, Matthew four chapters one through eight. Then Jesus was led up by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after 40 days and 40 nights, he was hungry and the tempter came and said to him, if you are the son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread. <br /><br /> But he answered, it is written, man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. And then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, If you are the son of God, throw yourself down for it is written he will command his angels concerning you. <br /><br /> And on their hands they will bear you up lest you strike your foot against a stone. Jesus said to him, Again, it is written, You shall put the Lord your God not to the test. And again the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, All these I will give to you, if you will but fall down and worship me. <br /><br /> And then Jesus said, Be gone, Satan! For it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve. And then the devil left him, and behold, the angels came and were ministering to him. This is God's word, church. Let's pray. <br /><br /> Lord, the words of that last song are just coursing through my mind. Holy forever. Lord, this is your word. This is your truth. This is your beloved son. Lord, I don't have the ability to bring the truth to hearts. Only you have that ability. And no amount of knowledge, or study, <br /><br /> or time spent practicing a sermon can change. That fact only you Lord have the power to open up your word to us Lord, I pray in Jesus name that you would take the sword of the Spirit that you would cut us deep That you would open up and expose the hidden parts of us that we have yet to bring to you Lord that you would work in us and that through that working new fruit would grow and That all the growth would be out of the love You That comes from the true and one gospel of grace. <br /><br /> We thank you lord And we dedicate this time to you this morning In your name we pray amen So I began our time with a silly video, i was trying to think of a way to kind of illustrate our topic this morning and maybe for some of you the light bulb's going off a little bit. Maybe all of you are like, yeah, joe, we get it but I think this week when I first watched this video, I found it entertaining for all the obvious reasons. <br /><br /> I mean, watching these poor kids locked in a room, they're staring down the barrel of a marshmallow. They're just, you can see them, their whole gaze, one kid tries looking away, but he's like holding it. And, you can see the silent battle. This, they're locked in this sort of fierce and silent battle against this irresistible draw of the marshmallow. <br /><br /> And that's hilarious, but I think Beyond being hilarious, I think there's a deeper thing that resonates, at least with me when I watched it. And I think if you're honest this morning, there's a part of you as well that resonated with it. Because if I'm honest, I relate to the child in that room. No, I don't have an obsession with marshmallows. <br /><br /> my kids do, but, and maybe, I'm not insinuating that you, haven't grown out of your, or that you have grown out of this passion for marshmallows or sugar, but there is something that I think you and I have not grown out of, and that's the battle that raged on in that small room. We have not outgrown it, that being the battle with temptation. <br /><br /> For many of us, as we walk with Jesus, maybe for many years, maybe just for a few short weeks or months, the realization slowly dawns on us that the battle with sin doesn't end after we become believers, but rather it begins in earnest. For many of you, this may have led to some discouragement, frustration, even doubt, am I even a Christian if I struggle with this sin? <br /><br /> C. S. Lewis, addressed this point beautifully in his famous work, Mere Christianity. He put it like this, No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good. A silly idea is current that people who do not know what temptation means, Good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. <br /><br /> Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. After all, you find out the strength of the German army by fighting against it, not by giving in. And you find out the strength of a wind by trying to walk against it, not by laying down. A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it means, what it would have been like an hour later. <br /><br /> Temptation is not the battle of unbelievers, church. It is the battle of the church. And the more that we resist, the more we learn the full strength and scope of the battle which we are fighting. That's the bad news. The comfort and the conviction that I am so excited to bring this morning, and what the Lord brought me this week is that, while you and I are no strangers to this battle that we call temptation, our passage this morning in Acts, sorry, not Acts, we're not in Acts anymore, Matthew chapter 4. <br /><br /> We're not strangers to this battle, but neither was Jesus. And what I believe from the passage this morning that's going to bring so much hope and conviction is that Jesus, though he was tempted on a scope that you and I can't even imagine, being tempted by the devil himself, being offered the world in all its glory, he was yet victorious on every single battle. <br /><br /> occasion. Hebrews 4. 15 says that Jesus was attempted in every way as we have been, and yet was without sin. <br /><br /> My hope this morning is to stir up in us a desire to fight this battle well. <br /><br /> Undoubtedly, there are many of us of which I have been one feeling like we are surrounded on every side and we are losing the battle. <br /><br /> But using C. S. Lewis's line of logic, far from being oblivious to the true nature of the battle, Jesus, in him, we have an expert. And in our passage this morning, what we're going to see, church, is that Jesus is offering us a battle strategy. One that we can take, that we can use practically to fight this battle. <br /><br /> And even as Jesus did to find victory, not in our own strength or in our own knowledge, but in the knowledge and power of Jesus. I'm not, I'm not suggesting that we're gonna bat a thousand like Jesus did. But I am telling you that, that it works. And many of you are living testimonies to this. We can't fight this battle alone. <br /><br /> We will lose over and over again. But the good news of the Gospel of Jesus is that we don't have to. We have an advocate who understands this battle better than any of us could even imagine. But we don't just have somebody who understands, we have somebody who has overcome. And so what I'd like to do is just spend the next 25 minutes We don't have a ton of time to go through this, but just quickly go through, the truth of this passage, and hopefully some practical applications for us as we do our best to walk, not only to come to Jesus, but also to follow after Jesus. <br /><br /> I'm going to give you a quick roadmap to our study this morning. In journalism, now I'm sure there's any journalists here, because I'm probably going to butcher this, but in journalism there's an old adage, I believe, Every good journalist asks the same six questions. Anybody know what they are? Yep. Who, what, when, where, why, and how. <br /><br /> Did I miss one? I always miss one when I was practicing this. There's six of them. And those six questions really do a good job of getting you started and asking the right questions. Don't worry, we're not doing all six, I promise. But what we are doing is three. We're going to do what? We're gonna do why, and we're gonna do how. <br /><br /> What I want to do this morning is start with the simplest of the questions. What is temptation? Once again, many of you, we watched that video and, and we, we saw it, right? We, we saw it in that room. But I think, if I'm honest church, I really do believe that there's a bit of a confusion in the church about what temptation is and what it is not. <br /><br /> So before we go into the passage and what, what it shows us about both how the enemy attacks and how we resist, first we need to know what are we resisting, what are we being attacked with. What is this religious word, what is this word, temptation? All of us have our own ideas, but I'd like to go to the best possible source for the definition, that being the Word of God. <br /><br /> First, I want to tell you a little bit of what it isn't though. Temptation is not the same thing as sin. And here's why I'm gonna walk through this really quickly. Because I think in our minds, unfortunately church, we're so used to losing this battle, that we start associating sin and temptation as one and the same thing. <br /><br /> At least that's happened in my life. And where this can sometimes cause problems, and certainly has caused problems in my life, is it gives me an out. Now, what I start to do is I start to make excuses for the sin in my life by calling it simply temptation. <br /><br /> Let me give you a quick example, and we're going to move quickly here. <br /><br /> Maybe there's somebody here who's battling with the battle of lust. And on one particular day, you've had these images in your mind running through your mind all day long. And you let them in. and you think about them, and you let them fill your mind, and then you get to the end of the day, and you succumb to those thoughts. <br /><br /> And what you might be tempted to think is that, I, I sinned in the evening, and I was tempted during the day. That's not what happened. You were letting sin in here, and you called it temptation. I think this is because there's a simple Explanation for this it's because we have this sort of misunderstanding that Temptation is the mental struggle and sin is the bodily action Jesus is really clear in his word. <br /><br /> That's not the case. You don't believe me Just keep reading in this for one chapter later in the written Jesus's revolutionary sermon on the mount chapter 5 He says, You've heard it said you shouldn't commit adultery, but I tell you, if any of you look with, look at a woman with lust in your heart, you've already committed the sin of adultery. <br /><br /> To Jesus, sin could happen in your mind or in your body. It was a matter of the heart. Sin and temptation are not the same thing. Now, I'm not telling you this to shame you. I'm telling you this from personal experience. But I am telling you this because I want to give us all an awareness of the true scope of the battle that we are fighting. <br /><br /> If you're not desperate, then you're not really fighting enough. The Lord wants us humble and desperate. He wants us crying out to Him for help and humility and desperation. <br /><br /> All right, so I told you what it isn't. What is temptation? And we're going to move quick, I promise. Temptation is this, and I believe this definition comes out of the scriptures, it's, it's my own definition, based off of my understanding, but I'm going to give it to you anyway. I believe it's, it's best defined in two ways. <br /><br /> It's first, temptation is the test of trust between me and God. And it's the battle of choice between my way and God's way. The test of trust between me and God and the battle of choice between my way and God's way. <br /><br /> Some of you are here and you're like, Joe, I really don't need a whole definition of what temptation is, brother. I know what it is. Like we don't need to spend this much time on a definition. What I want to know is, Look, I'm a believer. I'm surrounded on every side. I'm fighting this battle all over the place, and I'm not looking for a definition. <br /><br /> It's all around me. What I'm looking for is, is a why. <br /><br /> Why do we experience this battle with temptation? Why does God allow this battle of temptation in our lives? What possible reason could he have? Well, now we're going to start looking more at the passage itself. for some of our answers. I think the first and simplest reason why God is allowing temptation in the battle of temptation in your life <br /><br /> is there are two, actually, there's actually two reasons. The simplest is, I just said it, is that God is allowing it. We see here in verse one that Jesus isn't driven into the wilderness by Satan. What does it say there in verse one? The Holy Spirit drove him into the wilderness. And the enemy could not have gotten near Jesus without the will of God allowing it. <br /><br /> That's not very comforting. Some of you are like, I don't want to hear that. Tell me why God allows it. And this is where the comfort starts to come into play here. I believe that God is allowing temptation in our lives first to test our trust in Him. <br /><br /> Let me explain. If we go back to the very, verse one of that passage in Matthew chapter 4, and actually verse 2 and 3, we see some interesting words used. When it says, the Spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted, that word that's used there, in the original Greek, the first manuscripts that were found for this, the word is paratso. <br /><br /> The Greek word, paratso. And that word, most scholars believe and recognize, that word actually really means to be put to the test. <br /><br /> And you could be saying, well, that's a one off, Joe. That's just talking about Jesus. Well, if you go to the Old Testament, the Hebrew word is masah, which also means to be tested or put to a trial. <br /><br /> The question then becomes, what is being tested? <br /><br /> Is it Jesus strength of endurance? His ability to go without food? No, it's pretty clear from our passage that it's to trust the will of God over his own will, to trust God. <br /><br /> And the second part is, God allows a temptation in your life, first, to test your trust in him, and secondly, to prepare your heart for his plans, purposes, and promises. To prepare your heart for his plans, purposes, and promises. And I get this from a little detail in the beginning of the passage. Do you notice the number given? <br /><br /> Anybody? How many days was he in the wilderness? Now, anybody, is that ringing a bell for anybody? Yeah? Yeah? Noah? Come on, call another one out. Say it out loud, come on. <br /><br /> Yep, 40 years in the wilderness. Noah. Moses on the mountain. Fasting before receiving the Ten Commandments. Noah floating over the chaos waters of the flood for 40 days and nights before resting on Mount Ararat and receiving the covenant that I will never again flood the land. <br /><br /> Moses receiving the Ten Commandments after fasting. The people of Israel wandering for 40 years before coming into the land of promise. You starting to see a theme here? Now we see Jesus Wandering driven by God into the wilderness to wander for 40 days You know what happens right after that wandering church <br /><br /> His public ministry He was being prepared his heart was being tested. I don't know what battle you're facing this morning, but I know you're facing one and if you think the only reason that you're facing it is because You're a bad Christian. Or because God is unfair. Or because life is just hard. That's not going to cut it. <br /><br /> But you know what will? Recognizing that a sovereign and good God has ordained that you would walk through this battle to test your heart of faith in Him Amen. And to prepare you for His plans, for His purposes for you, and for His promises for you. <br /><br /> He wants children who trust Him. <br /><br /> And suffering and temptation are the ways that He does it. Learning to trust God's way over my way. Learning to submit to His will over my will. Not my will, but Thy will be done. <br /><br /> It was the same with Noah, with Moses, and with the people of Israel. God was preparing them. Their hearts weren't ready. They needed to be tested and prepared. There's a second reason, though, aside from God allowing it in your life for those reasons. The second reason why this suffering is in the life of a believer is that, simply to put it, there is an adversary. <br /><br /> Now, many of you, the moment I said the word adversary, immediately thought of the devil. And I'm glad, because that is who we're going to focus on this morning. But I don't want you to rush past this fact. There's actually a triumvirate. There's a, a set of three allies that work together to draw you and me away from God. <br /><br /> Away from his plans, away from his purposes, and away from his promises. And they were present even all the way back in Genesis 3 At the first moment of sin, you know what they were the world the flesh and the devil Let me explain just really quick track with me here church, please. This is so important If the devil came down in the form of a serpent to even to Adam And he, he gave all of his wise schemes to try to draw her away. <br /><br /> If her flesh didn't desire what he was offering, would it have worked? No. If he didn't have the fruit of the tree to offer her, would it have worked? He needed her flesh to desire it and he needed the testing fruit to offer. <br /><br /> The temptation is to blame all of our temptation battle on the enemy and not to take culpability in our flesh. And say, no, there's a part of me that wanted that. You And I took it. I took the fruit. If it's always the devil's fault, we don't take action in ourself, take steps in ourself to let the Lord in to that area and to make it new, to the transforming of our mind. <br /><br /> But I do want to focus on the devil this morning because he's the main character in our passage. One of the reasons why that is is because he's the intelligence behind the operation. He's the one orchestrating it. He's the general of the other side of the battle. It's a cosmic battle that's been raging since Genesis 3. <br /><br /> And though this enemy has had many names, the serpent, the satan, Beelzebul, <br /><br /> his purposes and goals have never changed, church. He wants to sever that relationship of trust between you and God. He wants to stop the plans and purposes and promises of God in your life. That's his goal. It's never changed. You Don't believe me look at look at the goal. What did he want to do in the garden? <br /><br /> He wanted to separate adam and eve from one another. He wanted to separate adam and eve from god He wanted to separate adam and eve from creation <br /><br /> He wanted to put a stop to what God was doing there, <br /><br /> the beautiful relationship of trust between Adam and Eve and God. <br /><br /> Guess what? Even as his goals have never changed, church, his strategies haven't changed either. If it ain't broke, why fix it? They work. <br /><br /> And we see the self same strategies used by Jesus in, used by the enemy against Jesus in our passage as he uses in Genesis 3. Hear me when I say this. I want you to really hear me. You know what my main goal this morning is to do? It's to, it's to expose his works. I don't want you to be left in doubt. Is this the enemy or is this God? <br /><br /> Is this just me or is this the enemy? No, I want to expose his works and bring them to light so that you know the enemy that you're fighting and that you cry out to the Lord Jesus and you use what he has given, his battle strategies to fight this battle. So here's what we're going to do. This is the meat and potatoes of our passage. <br /><br /> the how section. This is where we really dig into what the scripture says in this passage about temptation. We're going to look at two things. How does the enemy attack, and how do we resist? You guys ready? It's a lot really quick, but I think it's really worth it. Let's start with the enemy's strategies to attack you and to attack Jesus. <br /><br /> The enemy attacks when and where we are weak. Notice in our passage, Jesus has been wandering in the wilderness for 40 days, without food. He's at the absolute limit of his human capacity. I don't know how many doctors are in the room, but you probably know better than me, the state of somebody after 40 days without food. <br /><br /> I, it's at the absolute limit. You're pretty much at starvation at that point. And to be wandering in the wilderness, it's a pretty much a miracle that he's even upright. And the enemy chooses this time to sweep in with temptation. There's a, there's a helpful point in this church. The enemy is a predator. <br /><br /> He doesn't attack you where you're strongest. He attacks you where you're weakest. Now, some of you might be like, Well, pride's my problem, because I'm so good at everything. Well, there's your weakness. <br /><br /> Where you are weak is where he will go. You ever watch those, those nature specials where the wolves, they're my favorite animal? They, they, they chase for, just for hours and hours until the, the whole herd is exhausted and then the, the youngest or the weakest is slowly Starts to straggle and then the wolves pounce. <br /><br /> That's the enemy. Is your marriage struggling right now? <br /><br /> Are you really struggling with the battle of lust? Are you tired and exhausted because you're overworked? Watch out. He's coming for that. And if you're not on your knees, and if you're not using the things that I'm going to talk about at the end of our sermon this morning, watch out. He's coming for where you're weakest. <br /><br /> I'm not saying this out of fear. We don't need to fear him. But we need to be ready when he attacks. I wish I could explain more about what that looks like, but I believe the Holy Spirit's gonna interpret that into your heart. Ask him, where am I weak and where is, where, where is, is there a weakness in my defenses? <br /><br /> Because I know he's coming after me. <br /><br /> He might offer you any number of things. What he's gonna do though, when he attacks, in that weak point, is he's going to offer you a way out. Look what he does to Jesus. Jesus has been wandering for 40 days without food. What does he do? What does he offer him? He says, take, take what you need. Take the bread. <br /><br /> Turn the stones into bread. Use your power to take what you need. Sound familiar? You hungry? Eat. You want sex? Take it. <br /><br /> The bottle? Take it. That piece of cake? Take it. Whatever it is. That marshmallow? You want it? Take it. You need it. Take it for yourself. Don't wait for God to give it. Don't, don't take it in God's timing. Take it your way. Take it now. Eat the fruit. <br /><br /> You're stressed out from work? Take the edge off. Take it now. You deserve it. When and where we are weak. Okay, the second way the enemy attacks, he attacks by twisting the Word of God. This is really important. We see multiple times the enemy is quoting from the Scriptures. He's quoting from the Word of God. <br /><br /> Here is the problem, church. We so often are shocked when we open up our Bible and we're reading a little bit And all of a sudden we might feel condemned. All of a sudden we read one passage and our heart begins to coil within us. And we think this must be God. <br /><br /> Genesis 3, what does he do? Did God really say? that you shouldn't eat of a tree. He goes right to God's words and starts to twist them. Because he knows, as a believer, you follow the Word of God. So if he can take it, twist it, maim it, and still get you to follow it, well, it's no longer the Word of God, but it might be drawing you astray. <br /><br /> The enemy does use it. He uses it multiple times here in our passage to Jesus, and he will use it against you as well, if you're not on guard. We're going to keep moving. Thirdly, the enemy attacks with doubt as a weapon. This goes hand in hand, hand in hand, with the twisting of God's word. Did you notice the language almost in every time that the enemy addresses Jesus here? <br /><br /> If you really are the Son of God. You hear that language? That is the language of doubt. The language of doubt. You know what he said in the garden? Did God really say? <br /><br /> Are you struggling under a haze of confusion and doubt this morning? The enemy is not far off. He's attacking. And he's using doubt as a weapon. <br /><br /> This has an interesting impact on us. Remember, the whole goal of the enemy is to sever your trust with the Lord. To start doubting his goodness. To start doubting his love for you. To start doubting his gospel. To start doubting who he is. Start doubting him as a good and loving father. If he can sever that relationship of trust, he can get you to run the other way. <br /><br /> From the thing that you really need. God's presence. <br /><br /> And rather than being an obedient son, you're a terrified slave. <br /><br /> We have to choose the trust instead of listening to his lies, instead of listening to the doubt. Notice what he does in one of his temptations with Jesus. He says, using doubt, if you really are the son of God, prove it, right? Throw yourself off this high pinnacle. Throw yourself down and the angels will raise you up. <br /><br /> Prove that God loves you. Make God prove that he loves you. That sound familiar to you? <br /><br /> Friend, it's the language and weapon of the enemy. Amen. <br /><br /> We do not work in a gospel of striving, but of overflow. A security and identity in who we are as His children. And the enemy hates that trust. He's coming after it. He's coming after that relationship of trust. He attacks when and where you are weak. He attacks by twisting the Word of God. He attacks with doubt as a weapon. <br /><br /> And lastly, he attacks with offers of wealth, power, and glory in exchange for worshiping Him. Now, some of you are like, Joe, I was tracking with the intel now. Now you lost me. I have never in my life had the devil come up to me and offer me the world and all its power, wealth, and glory. Never happened to me. <br /><br /> I don't know about you, but it's never happened to me. Let me ask you a different question. Has there been a time in your life where you could seek a promotion at work, but all you needed to do was throw somebody else under the bus? Maybe there was an opportunity to make some easy money, but it was. done by breaking the law. <br /><br /> Maybe popularity at your school, but you needed to gossip and put down others. Maybe it's social media followers, but you needed to dress a certain way and act a certain way in order to get that. <br /><br /> Now, do I think that the devil specifically is assigned to your case? Probably not. He's not omnipresent, he can't be everywhere. He's concerned with maybe some bigger fish to fry than me or you. But one of his little underlings is probably assigned to you. You And you know what? They're offering their own little mini version of what the devil offered Jesus. <br /><br /> They're off they're offering you Wealth, power, glory in exchange for worship. You're like, I've never been offered worship in in the enemy. Maybe some of you have, but most of you probably haven't. Guess what? You worship yourself? You worship the world? The same thing. The flesh and the world, they're allies of the enemy. <br /><br /> And if you worship them, you're worshiping him. <br /><br /> We cannot be drawn in to the devil. Okay, those are the four ways the enemy attacks, and we've got about four minutes here to close this up. He attacks when and where we are weak by offering us a way out to gratify our flesh. He attacks by twisting the word of God. He attacks with doubt as a weapon. And he attacks with offers of wealth, power, and glory in exchange for worshiping him. <br /><br /> Now, I hope most of you now are sufficiently desperate to hear this last part. How do we resist? Joe, how on earth do we fight this guy? This cosmic battle that's been going on for thousands of years, how can I possibly fight? The beautiful reality is that Jesus lays out for us in this passage a battle strategy that is not inaccessible to you and me. <br /><br /> Jesus could have, right off the bat, the moment the enemy came up to him, be like, Be gone, Satan. Guess what would have happened? Satan would have been gone. But instead, He trusted God's will, and the Spirit's leading, and instead He showed us, you and I, the way. The beauty of Jesus earthly ministry is He didn't just tell you what to do. <br /><br /> No, of course not. He showed you how to do it. And this passage is perhaps one of the best examples of this. Alright, quickly, but if you, if you haven't been taking notes the whole time, that's okay. Take them now. And I'm not saying because my words, this is, this is from His Word. But I want you to hear this and hear this well. <br /><br /> How do we resist? How do we take victory in this battle? Here is how. First, by being filled with the knowledge of the Bible. Now some of you are rolling your eyes. You're like, oh, the Bible again. Yes, I know, I need to read the Bible because of what good Christians do. That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying that the Word of God is your weapon. <br /><br /> And if you don't take it up, you cannot win. You, you cannot win. Not that you might not, you will not. You will not win. Jesus was overflowing with the Word of God. You know how he answered back every time? Not with his own words. With quotes, it is written, it is written, it is written, over and over again. <br /><br /> Jesus didn't need to reinvent the wheel. He was filled and overflowing with the living Word of God. And it's so important for us. I have, I have a quick just, I want to speak directly to you. I wrote this down. I knew, because I knew I needed to say it just how it was written. Men and women of God, this is your call. <br /><br /> This is your battle strategy. Listen to this. Be filled with the word meditate on it with your minds speak it with your lips sing it out with your voice Live it out with your life cover yourself with a blanket of his truth. Is it any wonder you're losing the battle your sword is dull Sharpen it every day until it can cut through even the toughest of lie and most twisted deception Does it not stir you that the enemy is taking your sword and stabbing you with it? <br /><br /> Does it not goad your spirit that he's taking the word of god and twisting it and you don't even You Have yours out. You've got to be filled with this word Morning devotionals. It's not a it's not a checklist people But in the same way that a warrior has to sharpen his sword each morning to be ready for battle So you need to sharpen your knowledge of the word of god not as a works thing But as a battle that we must fight but now here's the warning and the second thing we need to do First in our battle. <br /><br /> We need to be filled with the knowledge of the scriptures Second we need to be led by the spirit now. Listen to me here You All the sharpening the world will do you no good if you don't know where to stick and to swing. <br /><br /> You could have the sharpest sword in the battle, but if you don't know how to use it, what good does it do you? Here is the truth in Ephesians, we're later gonna come to a section that says the The Armor of God. And in that section it's gonna talk about the sword of what, which is, what the word of God is it the sword of Joe. <br /><br /> No, is it the sword of you? It's the sword of the Holy Spirit. It's not my sword. I don't know how to use it, only he does. Why was Jesus in the wilderness in the first place? Who led him there? The Holy Spirit. Church, you could be filled with the knowledge of the word. The enemy's filled with the knowledge of the word, believe it or not. <br /><br /> He's a theologian, not a very good one, but he has all the knowledge in the world and it puffed him up. <br /><br /> The Pharisees were filled with the knowledge of the word, but without the knowledge that comes from the Holy Spirit, or rather the understanding. What good is a sharp sword? Sharpen it, learn how to use it by being led by the Holy Spirit. You have Him. If you are a Christian, it's a guarantee. You are filled with the Holy Spirit, now be led by Him. <br /><br /> Be filled with the knowledge of the Word, be led by the Holy Spirit. And lastly, be filled with faith. Remember, church, the enemy's goal is to sever your trust in God the Father. Hold on to it, though. He can't take it unless you give it to Him. <br /><br /> The final thing I want to point out to you is that if In all his strategies with Jesus, in everything he offered. Did you notice, that every single thing he offered, Jesus would one day have? In God's timing. Did you notice that? I'll give you, I'll just real quick play it out for you. The stones turned to bread, he would eat again, just in the Father's timing, not in his own. <br /><br /> Jesus did not eat for the rest of his life, he ate again. He broke his fast, but in God's timing. Secondly, and this might be the one where you guys have a hard time tracking, the whole pinnacle of the tower thing, it's like, well, Joe, he never did that. Yes, he did. He would go to Jerusalem. He would go to the hilltop. <br /><br /> He would cast himself upon the cross and down into the pit of hell and be raised up again and shown to be the Son of God in truth. But he didn't prove it to put God to the test. God put Jesus to the test. And he was raised up and shown to be the Son. In God's timing. Amen. Amen. And lastly, the glory, the authority, and the power. <br /><br /> What does it tell us at the end of the Gospel of Matthew? What does Jesus say as a comfort to the believers? All authority in the heavens and on earth has been given to me, go therefore. He received it, everything that the enemy pretended to have, God really had, and offered it to him in his timing. We watched, we began our time this morning, as we close, we began our time this morning with a video, a silly video of kids looking at a marshmallow. <br /><br /> But you know the key of that video? What was the, what was the whole premise? Why would, why would the kid wait? To get a double portion, right? It's no different here, Church. What God has for you is so much better than what the enemy has for you. It's so much better. It's not just being obedient and, and, you know, you never really see the results. <br /><br /> It's God's way is better. This isn't a prosperity gospel. It's the truth. I'm not talking about money or possessions. I'm talking about Him. <br /><br /> All right, we've got to close. Amen. I just want to end with just a simple word to you as we close. If temptation is a test of trust, trust in God the Father and His Son. You can't win this battle alone, but you can with Jesus, by being filled with the knowledge of His scriptures, by being led by the Holy Spirit, and by being filled with faith. <br /><br /> And when you are, you respond to the enemy, not in an argument, but in a final statement, a finality of faith. Jesus didn't argue with the devil. He just rebuked the lie with truth, and then moved on.</div> false no <![CDATA[The Role of God the Father in the Story of Grace]]> Ephesians 1:3-6

even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless



Sermon Transcript:

We're going to be looking at Ephesians chapter one verses three through six. I'd like to read them for you this morning. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.

In love, he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace with which he has blessed us in the beloved. Father, we come to you this morning, we're overwhelmed with this portion of scripture and the perspective that is presented there of a God that pursued us.

Lord, I pray as we reflect on this passage that we might fall more in love with you. More awed with what grace really extends to in our lives. In Jesus name I pray, Amen. In his classic book, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, author C. S. Lewis presents a world, a magical, mysterious, animal world held in the grip.

Of an individual called the White Witch of Narnia. She has cast a spell over the whole land, which means it is, the result has been that it is in permanent winter time. And Aslan, the lion, the savior king, appears. And ultimately, as he appears, he is brought to a place called the, the, the stone table and offers himself at that place and is brutally slain by his enemies and then rises victorious.

The stone table is broken. he rises victorious over death. And he explains later that his resurrection fulfilled a magic that the white witch was unaware of. He says this, there was, there is a deeper magic from before the dawn of time. It is not only in Narnia that there is operating a deeper magic from before the dawn of time.

In the Bible we learn that before creation, before the dawn of time, God's wisdom and love was designing a plan that would be ultimately for his glory. But also the gathering of a people to himself forever. Chapter 1 verses 3 through 14 are presenting that picture that was designed before the dawn of time.

It's one sentence in the original Greek. It is a building upon building upon building presentation in which all three Godhead are featured players in the drama. Father, Son, Spirit, the Triune God, three persons in one being. As I've regularly mentioned, I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, God existing as a community for all eternity is the picture of eternity past.

God was not lonely, God was not struggling, God was not missing something, but God as a three person being determined that they wanted to share the relationship that they shared as a community with others. So he created humans. He wanted then to make a way for humans to share in that community, that dance, as they had rejected him as the Lord and sovereign in their life.

In this passage, in verses 3 through 14, all three participants in that drama are talked about. In verses 3 through 6, we will see the first of those, God the Father. And in two great Earth shattering scenes of recorded history, God is presented in his three person being involved. One is creation. Creation, when God created the cosmos, he created the Milky Way, he created, and all of the, the billions of galaxies that are similar to our Milky Way, he created the Earth as the center of that.

enterprise as he placed those that were made in his own image, humans. In the creation account, father, son, and spirit throughout scripture are recorded as playing a part. The second great endeavor in human history, in world history, in cosmic history, is the work of salvation of human beings. In which all three members of the Godhead are involved.

This passage in Ephesians 1 tells the story of that salvation experience from God's perspective. And what it does in verses 3 through 6 is talk about God the Father. In verses 4 through 7, in verses 7 through 12, it talks about God the Son. In verses 13 and 14, it talks about God the Spirit. But I want to just, by way of introduction to this passage, which is going to take us three sermons to get through, give a snapshot at the different roles of each member of the Godhead.

It is true in creation, and it is true in salvation history. First of all, God the Father is the one who authors the story. Both, He is the one that designs creation, He is also the one that designs the plan of salvation. He is the architect. He is the designer, the one who initiates it all. It's God who so loved the world.

And they're talking about the Father. God so loved the world that He sent Secondly, the son accomplishes the story of grace, even has he accomplishes and, and, and is the, agent. of creation. He pulled it off. Jesus spoke creation into existence. Jesus created the cosmos. There were New Testament passages that make it clear it was God the Son that did that.

It was the Father that designed, the architect. But Jesus is the agent in both the work of creation and in the recreation of salvation. Third, there is God the Spirit. He applies the work. He applies the story of grace. He utilizes the grace that has been provided. He utilizes. The creation that is there in the creation work.

He is the one that that, is the one that is described in Genesis one as moving on the waters. It says the world was without form and void. Jesus had created the spirit came and brought order to it. And he's the one that utilizes that. He does this in salvation, bringing shape to people's lives where the work that God, the father ordained of the cross, the work that God, the son did.

And being incarnated and coming and being one of us and dying and rising. The Spirit then applies it, utilizes the work of the cross and the resurrection and applies it in people's lives. God the Father, God the Son, God the Spirit. Involved in these great eternity shaping experiences of creation and salvation.

This morning we're looking at God the Father's role in the story of grace, in that salvation experience. And I'd like to look at three things we find in this passage related to that. First of all, God the Father designed the plan of grace. It began with his desire to extend grace. He says this in verse 1, in verse 3, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.

He says, It's God that started it all and these are some phrases as we bring up this visual There are some phrases here that talk about what God the Father did throughout these verses He blessed us with all spiritual blessing in Christ He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world in love.

He predestined us. He lavished grace upon us It was all according to his purpose. It was all according to his plan for the fullness of time It was according to the purpose of him The father who works all things according to the counsel of his own will. Sometimes when we talk about salvation, which is simply the term that refers in the scriptures to a person being rescued, delivered from the bondage of sin and the ultimate penalty of sin, of separation from God, and being brought into a relationship with God through what Jesus did on the cross for us.

It, it, we talk about, it, it's almost as if God the Father is, is on one side, he's the judge, and Jesus is the one that's placating and that is, that, that is, trying to remonstrate with him and trying to, to overcome what the Father's will is. It's not that picture at all. Years ago, when Pastor Ralph and I were younger, and we're the only guys on staff, I guess we had a couple other guys, Jim had joined us by then, but, but Ralph and I would play one on one basketball.

We had the gym. And we were both, and are, very competitive. We had both played basketball in high school and college, and we, we, we, it, it was pretty, intense. And I came up with the idea, it happened after, I had won one day, that I got, we had just had a, a Red Cross blood drive where we got a trophy.

And I took the, if you're a Red Cross person, I apologize for this, but, I took the, the, you know, the, The plate that celebrated our church off and I put my own plate on it and it said FCC one on one champion. And I put it in a very prominent place on my bookshelves just waiting for the time that Ralph came in my office.

It was a great moment, until he stole it, but, which he literally did. But, so we had this relationship that, that was going on, and went on for years, and, and various things competing, and it sometimes moved into the realm of pranks. And one of mine, that I look at very fondly, although my wife still says it wasn't, anyway, it was a great idea.

well we did. Back in the gym, we used to have a stage, temporary stage, and when we had baptism services, we wheeled out a, portable baptismal tank, which, which sat there and actually was above the platform. Here would be the platform. It was about this high. And so, one Sunday morning, Ralph was doing the announcements.

Now, Ralph didn't do the announcements the way Mike does, or Jared do, where they sort of are wandering all around, you know, just, and ad libbing effectively. Ralph wrote out every announcement, and read his announcements, and he had done a couple of pranks, and so I, we were pretty big into puppet ministry at that time.

And so, I got two people to go into the baptismal tank, which was void of water. And one was a 65 year old woman named, Gail Davis, the nicest, godliest woman. I don't know how I got her to do it, but, but she did. So they're down in the baptismal tank, waiting for Ralph to come up to do the announcements.

And Ralph starts doing the announcements and the puppets. are going on in back of him. And he'd say something, and they'd both nod their head no. And, and, and of course, everybody is out there laughing. And poor Ralph, which I didn't really feel poor Ralph at the moment, but. So there's this, this, this.

euphoric moment for me. Everybody's in hysterics. Finally, he discovers somebody just can't take it anymore, and they're gone. So he finally turns around, and there are the puppets. Now, of course, he retaliated later, but, but, Ralph, afterwards, came to me and said, I'm after you and I responded, I said, Ralph, I was not involved.

I mean, I wasn't, I wasn't in the, I didn't, I didn't do the puppets. I, you know, I just, and he said, I know you masterminded this whole thing. And of course he was, he was right and he, he, he knew I knew. I was culpable. I was responsible. Here's the reality of the work of Jesus Christ. The father is culpable.

He masterminded the whole thing. It was his idea. That he is not in conflict. That it was the father's motivation to have this. He was the architect of everything. And the God who sits on the throne of heaven. The God who sees every sin. Knows every thought of whom he's described in Hebrews. The book of Hebrews, it's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

This God, it says, is a consuming fire. It's His idea. This whole plan of God rescuing people through the cross of Jesus Christ. It's the Father's design. Secondly, it not only began with His desire to extend grace. It brings glory to Him for His grace. You notice what it says in this little box that comes up in verse 6.

It's to the praise of His glorious grace. To the praise of His glory. To the praise of His glory. It's all His glory. Until Copernicus came along in 1543, we earthlings held center stage in the universe, at least in our minds. For centuries, fathers had been able to put their son, their arms around their sons and look out at the starry sky at night and say, Here on Earth, we're the center of everything.

Everything goes around us. And then Copernicus shows up. And Copernicus, later in his life, actually he wrote it in the middle of his life, but he never published until he was almost dead. He published a book, and the book was entitled On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres. In it, he argued that the sun Not the Earth, was actually the center of our solar system.

He delayed, having the book published, and actually, there is a story of, he was on his deathbed, that they finally had the manuscript, and they brought it to him. Of course, everything was handwritten in those days, because they didn't have the printing press yet. But they brought him this, his copy, and he held it in his hand, and, and there's this thing, it's the first time that he's seen it.

And then he died. And, it, it's to me, it's the perfect example of the old maximum. Speak the truth, and leave immediately afterwards. Because he, he knew if he, if, if, if it was known, a matter of fact, Galileo, 50 years later would be thrown into prison when he would echo the same sentiments. The earth is not the center of the universe.

We still have a hard time not being the center of the universe. It's natural for us to want it to be all about us. God in the dock is a book that was written by CS Lewis. And in the book, CS Lewis is saying this is what has shifted in modern history. In this series of articles, he says we have changed from the historic position that we are on trial before God and now he is on trial before us.

We expect our wants and desires to be fulfilled. We expect God to answer for it. If he allows suffering and hardship. If he does not do as we assume he should. If he acts in a way that does not fit with what I think is good or fair or appropriate. We even want God to explain elements of grace to us and perhaps Nowhere is that more true than in the next role of God the Father in the story of grace.

The second role of God the Father in the story of grace is that God the Father chose the recipients of grace. Here's what it says in verse 4. He blessed us in Christ, even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world. In the scriptures, there are three groups of people that God is highlight as choosing.

One is the nation of Israel. He chose them to be His people. In Deuteronomy chapter 7, it says this,

For you are the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you. He chose you. There's nothing meritorious in you. There was nothing unique about you. There was nothing special except that God chose to set his love upon you. The second thing that God chose, a group of people that God chose, are individuals for specific acts of service.

There are many of these, the Levites were the, of the twelve sons of Jacob. The sons of Levi were called to be the priests, nothing special about them at all. It wasn't because Levi was the most godly man on earth, as a matter of fact he was far from it. But, but, God chose them to be the priests. God chose 12 disciples.

They were certainly not the greatest, the sharpest tax in the box, but God chose them. And there are many other individuals that God chose to specific acts of service in the scripture. And then the third group is the one that's mentioned here, people to be a part of Jesus kingdom in salvation. Now this of course, is dicey for us, right?

It's challenging, I mean, where are you going with this? Can we jump to number, can we jump to point three? We can't. Because it's right here, in verse four. In the book of Acts, it says this in chapter 13, verse 48. When the Gentiles heard this, the gospel being shared, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord, and all who were appointed for eternal life believed.

The word appointed means that they were specifically chosen out for that. In John chapter 6 verse 37 and 44, Jesus is talking and says, All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I'll never cast out. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. The word draws here is the same word that's used in the Gospel of John of a fisherman with his net.

And he sends his net out in the water and he pulls it back. And he's pulling this, this, this group of fish, the catch of fish into the boat. Now none of those fish are in that net saying, Oh good, oh good, oh good, oh good. Pick me, pick me, pick me. No, they're being dragged into the boat and the picture of, he says, my father drags people to me.

My father draws them and nobody comes except my father draws them to them. They're trying to get away, but the fishermen relentlessly draws them to the boat. In John 17, Jesus talks about all those that are believers are those whom the Father has given me. This is, of course, a challenging concept for us.

It doesn't seem fair. One of the hardest concepts to embrace and trust God with. So, what is God saying with this? Well, you'll notice that it says in verse 3, All spiritual blessings to those who are in Christ. And if I asked you today, if you're, if you have believed in Jesus Christ as Savior, and I asked you,

why do you think you are in Christ? Why are you in relation with Christ? And I think we would appropriately give the answer, well, because I put my trust in Jesus Christ as my only hope and received him as my Savior. I chose Jesus. And that's true. That's absolutely true. But what Ephesians 1, 4 and other passages in the New Testament is saying, you chose Christ.

Because the Father chose you. Now, here is why that makes sense. Although it is difficult for us to embrace. And I understand the journey, the questions, the, the, the arguments. Years ago, I was wrestling with this concept of God choosing people to choose Him. And my thinking, ultimately, went something like this.

And this was over time.

I thought, Mark, why are you a Christian today? Because I received Christ as my Savior. Okay? Why did you receive Christ and other people don't? Because I saw the sin in my heart. I saw my need of Jesus forgiveness. Why did you do so and other people don't? Because I was just broken with my need and the emptiness of my life without Him.

Why were you broken and not other people? I don't know. I guess they, I guess there's something in them, they were hardened, they're proud just like I had been. They chose not to face themselves, but for me, I couldn't avoid the reality of it. Mark, why did you come to the place of humility and desperation and others didn't?

Were you more humble? Was there a spark of goodness in you that others didn't have that made them harder, prouder, less desperate? Was there a sliver of inclination in you that others didn't have? Were you a tiny bit less dead in your sins? Maybe mostly dead, maybe terminally so, but sick, seriously sick.

The more I went through that question, the deeper I got. Ultimately, I had to indicate that either God totally enabled me to believe, or there was something in me that was a little more God oriented, a little more righteous seeking than the guy that rejects Christ his whole life. But there was no difference in me.

I wasn't clamoring on my own to get in the boat. I wasn't thinking, well, yeah, you know, God dragged. And look back over the circumstances of my life, I realized I was headlong trying to do life without Him. And God just dragged and brought circumstances, and I came to the conviction that is rock solid in my soul today.

That I chose Jesus because the Father chose me to do so. And my father in law, who is a college professor in biology, but actually his lifelong gift is storytelling and humor. He is, my father in law was dying and seemingly totally incoherent. And the last day or two of his life he would come out of it a little bit.

And would catch snippets of a conversation and somehow would immediately come back with a story that was perfect in its humor. It's just, it was, it was, he was brilliant at this. But he always had lines, he always had one liners or something. And he had, to me, the best description of this whole concept.

Theologically of talking about God's part and our part and salvation and he did it by a story that he met up in the north woods of Michigan and a guy had lived there for many years. But this guy was explaining how he came to Michigan. And here's what he said. He said to my father in law, God brought me here, but I wouldn't be here if I hadn't come.

Who's going to argue with that one? And my father in law would say, That's how I view salvation. I had to come, but God brought me. That's what Paul's saying. Do you have to believe on Jesus Christ? Yes. Is there any other way to experience salvation? No. But as Spurgeon once reminded us, It's all of God. It's all of grace.

And he said it this way, If God didn't choose me before creation, He certainly would not have done so afterwards. It's about God. The third thing is God the Father determines the destiny of grace. Verse 5 he says this, verse, the end of verse 4 of the phrase, In love, he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose

He destined us to full rights of adult heirs. He said, you were predestined for adoption. The word predestined is just how it sounds to us, but from the original, it's a little, a little richer. It's, it's the word pre, which means before. And the word destined or destiny is actually the word portion. It was used of boundary lines in property.

And he says, Your portion was pre assigned. That portion of anyone who embraces Christ as Savior is that they are destined to the full rights of an adult heir through adoption. Paul talks about this throughout the book of Galatians, which he's trying to say to believers, Man, embrace who you are. Embrace what your destiny is.

What your portion is as adopted children. He says this in Galatians to 7, God sent his son to redeem us. To redeem us that we might receive the full rights of sons. So you're no longer a slave, but a son. And since you're a son, God has also made you an heir. He says the new heavens and new earth which are coming, the, the entire Garden of Eden being, the entire cosmos.

He says that's your inheritance. That's just your, your physical inheritance.

You're God's kids, he said. And all he has is and will be yours to enjoy. This is a rock solid reality. It is your predetermined portion. And so Paul's saying, count on this. Hold on to this. Live with the security of this in your lives. And yet, we all as Christians struggle, how does God really view me? God seems distant.

He's scary. And Paul is constantly saying in the book of of Galatians, man, you're living, sweating the small stuff. You think I got to get it right. I got to get it right. And he says it's not about getting it right. It's enjoying God. It's enjoying the God that says my portion for you is that you're Inheritors!

You are my children! I remember reading this story many years ago. I was reading, it was back in the late 1800s. It was out in the far part of the Midwest, where a farmer was there and his wife was sick. And the only way he could get the medicine that she needed here in the heart of winter was he had to cross a river.

And to get to the closest town, he had a long walk, then he had to cross this wide river. And he got to the wide river, and he was very nervous as he got to the river, because he wasn't sure if the river could hold his weight. At times it was a pretty fast moving river, strong current. And so he got the largest board he could find.

And he got on the board to distribute his weight as far and wide as he could. And he started slowly sliding, laid down on it, and started sliding this thing along. Step by step, or it wasn't step, slide by slide to get across. And all of a sudden he's in the middle of the, the, the, the river. And he hears this, this roaring sound.

Well, this is the ice. It's gonna break open. I mean, this is it. He's done. And he's, he's there just frozen in fear. A wagon drawn by two horses goes zooming past him. And that was the roaring noise. That's how I live my Christian life a lot. I'm acting like, man, I, I gotta get it right. I gotta do this. I, I, I, God's waiting to just say, Mark, you're not And I could be racing across the river, enjoying life that We are God's kids.

If we've been brought to Jesus Christ, we stand in a standing that He is saying My inheritance for you ultimately is in a life to come. He's going to talk in the latter part of what it means that the spirit is the down payment of that. But he says, enjoy this reality because I've destined you to the full rights of adulterers.

Secondly, he says, he has destined them to be conformed to the image of Jesus. When the term predestination is used And a lot of people think that's the problem issue. It's not. I would say none of you have a problem with predestination if you understand it. It's just saying, this is what we are destined to as God's children.

We are destined to be conformed to the image of Jesus. If you look down at verse 11 in this passage that we're looking at this morning. In Him, we have obtained an inheritance having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His own will. Here's what He's saying.

We've been predestined to the one that's working in all things in our lives. This is what he says. And many of you that are believers and have been for a number of years, I'm going to quote one of the most well known verses in your life. Romans 8 28 to 30. Listen to what it says. And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good.

For those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknow, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son. He says this is the purpose. That everything that God is allowing in your life has the purpose of conforming you to the image of Jesus. To change you into the likeness of Jesus.

That God is not wasting experiences. That he's got, using all those life experiences, which means that everything that is going on in your life is what you would pray for if you knew everything that God knows. That he's conforming us to the image of Jesus. He says, God's not wasting stuff in your life.

The stuff that you would say, please, erase this part. It's all part of this process of designing you. Your portion is to be like Christ and to be Jesus life within you. So why does all this matter? These truths we're looking at this morning, why do they matter? I want to say three quick things as I close.

Number one, these truths matter because they give us incentive to know all three members of the Godhead. Father, Son, Spirit. To speak to them in the awareness of this is the role, this is the role, this is the role. Well, Mark, you talk like they're completely three different guys. Well, they are, but they're all one.

I know! Figure it out! I haven't! But to know all the remembers of the Godhead and do life with them. Secondly, it matters because it is encouragement to you in your lowest times.

God the Father is crazy about his kids. He wanted you. A number of years ago, we didn't have this building. we did have the gym. It was probably the lowest point of my life to that point. I was very aware of myself. I had received, I've talked about this before, the letter from my wife at our 10 year anniversary.

It was calling me out appropriately for my own self centeredness and pursuit of She said, if you were a, if you were a businessman, you'd just be called a workaholic. But because you're a pastor, you get a pass. And I was just overwhelmed with the failure of my life as a pastor. Pastor as a husband, as a man of God.

And I remember wandering this property and just going back there. And one reality was what I cling to. I said, God, I feel failure in every part of my life.

But you wanted me. You chose me. I wouldn't choose me. I'm not sure my wife would choose me. I'm not sure anybody should choose me. But you wanted me. Verse 4, to me, is a precious doctrine. And I understand the issues and the tension and struggles with how does this But there is also an incredibly precious side of knowing that God wanted you.

The third thing, it is motivation to turning to Christ. Harvey Kahn, a missionary to Korea, tells of sharing the gospel with young prostitutes in Korea. And he could not get them to accept Jesus because they were overwhelmed with their lives had become, what they'd done. And finally, he told them about God choosing people.

And he said this, Do you know that the Christian God has chosen people from out of the world to be His very own before the creation of the world? And they said, you must be kidding. How can a person know if they are one of those he chose? And he said this to them, Well, do you want that gift of forgiveness?

And they said, more than anything. And he said, then you must be chosen, because only a person who is chosen by God has that desire, and draws to God in his salvation your desire. is evidence of the fact that God has chosen you. They gratefully received the gift of God's grace. Maybe you're here in the same place and you say, Ah, this, this whole thing is kind of confusing to me.

I'm a sinner. Yeah, need forgiveness. But he could never want a person like me. I've done too much, too far down. Then I would ask you this question. Do you want His forgiveness? Would you long for the life and inheritance that Jesus came to provide? If your response is yes, it's because God is at work in your life.

It's because God is drawing you. The beautiful reality is, we do that. We respond because God is at work in us. It is a supernatural work of grace in our lives. God the Father is the architect of salvation. He got this whole thing running in eternity past. He's the one that designed it. He's the one sovereign even in the Godhead by their choice of, of, the structure, the chain of command, if you will.

But he is also a beautifully, preciously, approachable being. He's our Father. He's your Father if you belong to Him. And if there's a hunger this morning to want to belong to Him, understand that you don't have that of yourself. It is the Lord speaking into your life this morning. Lord, we come to you today.

We sit back and we say, Lord, man, there's things in this message that are hard to figure out. I don't understand how you're a three person, one being God,

but I want to worship you as you are.

And there's parts of us that really are confused by this concept of verse four and a God that chooses. But Lord, I want to wrestle through and say, I want to worship you and I want to love you and I want to bow the knee to you to how you say you are and to worship what you say you do. For me, Lord, you know how these truths have been in some ways a bulwark in my own journey with you in life.

I pray that your spirit would draw us to a deeper awe, a deeper love, a deeper longing for the God that pursues us in your grace. In Jesus name, Amen.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-role-of-god-the-father-in-the-story-of-grace 0175ad31-0fdc-46d5-8b4b-3118d240b55d Sun, 03 Mar 2024 11:43:46 GMT <div data-html="true">Ephesians 1:3-6 <br /><br /> even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> We're going to be looking at Ephesians chapter one verses three through six. I'd like to read them for you this morning. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. <br /><br /> In love, he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace with which he has blessed us in the beloved. Father, we come to you this morning, we're overwhelmed with this portion of scripture and the perspective that is presented there of a God that pursued us. <br /><br /> Lord, I pray as we reflect on this passage that we might fall more in love with you. More awed with what grace really extends to in our lives. In Jesus name I pray, Amen. In his classic book, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, author C. S. Lewis presents a world, a magical, mysterious, animal world held in the grip. <br /><br /> Of an individual called the White Witch of Narnia. She has cast a spell over the whole land, which means it is, the result has been that it is in permanent winter time. And Aslan, the lion, the savior king, appears. And ultimately, as he appears, he is brought to a place called the, the, the stone table and offers himself at that place and is brutally slain by his enemies and then rises victorious. <br /><br /> The stone table is broken. he rises victorious over death. And he explains later that his resurrection fulfilled a magic that the white witch was unaware of. He says this, there was, there is a deeper magic from before the dawn of time. It is not only in Narnia that there is operating a deeper magic from before the dawn of time. <br /><br /> In the Bible we learn that before creation, before the dawn of time, God's wisdom and love was designing a plan that would be ultimately for his glory. But also the gathering of a people to himself forever. Chapter 1 verses 3 through 14 are presenting that picture that was designed before the dawn of time. <br /><br /> It's one sentence in the original Greek. It is a building upon building upon building presentation in which all three Godhead are featured players in the drama. Father, Son, Spirit, the Triune God, three persons in one being. As I've regularly mentioned, I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, God existing as a community for all eternity is the picture of eternity past. <br /><br /> God was not lonely, God was not struggling, God was not missing something, but God as a three person being determined that they wanted to share the relationship that they shared as a community with others. So he created humans. He wanted then to make a way for humans to share in that community, that dance, as they had rejected him as the Lord and sovereign in their life. <br /><br /> In this passage, in verses 3 through 14, all three participants in that drama are talked about. In verses 3 through 6, we will see the first of those, God the Father. And in two great Earth shattering scenes of recorded history, God is presented in his three person being involved. One is creation. Creation, when God created the cosmos, he created the Milky Way, he created, and all of the, the billions of galaxies that are similar to our Milky Way, he created the Earth as the center of that. <br /><br /> enterprise as he placed those that were made in his own image, humans. In the creation account, father, son, and spirit throughout scripture are recorded as playing a part. The second great endeavor in human history, in world history, in cosmic history, is the work of salvation of human beings. In which all three members of the Godhead are involved. <br /><br /> This passage in Ephesians 1 tells the story of that salvation experience from God's perspective. And what it does in verses 3 through 6 is talk about God the Father. In verses 4 through 7, in verses 7 through 12, it talks about God the Son. In verses 13 and 14, it talks about God the Spirit. But I want to just, by way of introduction to this passage, which is going to take us three sermons to get through, give a snapshot at the different roles of each member of the Godhead. <br /><br /> It is true in creation, and it is true in salvation history. First of all, God the Father is the one who authors the story. Both, He is the one that designs creation, He is also the one that designs the plan of salvation. He is the architect. He is the designer, the one who initiates it all. It's God who so loved the world. <br /><br /> And they're talking about the Father. God so loved the world that He sent Secondly, the son accomplishes the story of grace, even has he accomplishes and, and, and is the, agent. of creation. He pulled it off. Jesus spoke creation into existence. Jesus created the cosmos. There were New Testament passages that make it clear it was God the Son that did that. <br /><br /> It was the Father that designed, the architect. But Jesus is the agent in both the work of creation and in the recreation of salvation. Third, there is God the Spirit. He applies the work. He applies the story of grace. He utilizes the grace that has been provided. He utilizes. The creation that is there in the creation work. <br /><br /> He is the one that that, is the one that is described in Genesis one as moving on the waters. It says the world was without form and void. Jesus had created the spirit came and brought order to it. And he's the one that utilizes that. He does this in salvation, bringing shape to people's lives where the work that God, the father ordained of the cross, the work that God, the son did. <br /><br /> And being incarnated and coming and being one of us and dying and rising. The Spirit then applies it, utilizes the work of the cross and the resurrection and applies it in people's lives. God the Father, God the Son, God the Spirit. Involved in these great eternity shaping experiences of creation and salvation. <br /><br /> This morning we're looking at God the Father's role in the story of grace, in that salvation experience. And I'd like to look at three things we find in this passage related to that. First of all, God the Father designed the plan of grace. It began with his desire to extend grace. He says this in verse 1, in verse 3, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. <br /><br /> He says, It's God that started it all and these are some phrases as we bring up this visual There are some phrases here that talk about what God the Father did throughout these verses He blessed us with all spiritual blessing in Christ He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world in love. <br /><br /> He predestined us. He lavished grace upon us It was all according to his purpose. It was all according to his plan for the fullness of time It was according to the purpose of him The father who works all things according to the counsel of his own will. Sometimes when we talk about salvation, which is simply the term that refers in the scriptures to a person being rescued, delivered from the bondage of sin and the ultimate penalty of sin, of separation from God, and being brought into a relationship with God through what Jesus did on the cross for us. <br /><br /> It, it, we talk about, it, it's almost as if God the Father is, is on one side, he's the judge, and Jesus is the one that's placating and that is, that, that is, trying to remonstrate with him and trying to, to overcome what the Father's will is. It's not that picture at all. Years ago, when Pastor Ralph and I were younger, and we're the only guys on staff, I guess we had a couple other guys, Jim had joined us by then, but, but Ralph and I would play one on one basketball. <br /><br /> We had the gym. And we were both, and are, very competitive. We had both played basketball in high school and college, and we, we, we, it, it was pretty, intense. And I came up with the idea, it happened after, I had won one day, that I got, we had just had a, a Red Cross blood drive where we got a trophy. <br /><br /> And I took the, if you're a Red Cross person, I apologize for this, but, I took the, the, you know, the, The plate that celebrated our church off and I put my own plate on it and it said FCC one on one champion. And I put it in a very prominent place on my bookshelves just waiting for the time that Ralph came in my office. <br /><br /> It was a great moment, until he stole it, but, which he literally did. But, so we had this relationship that, that was going on, and went on for years, and, and various things competing, and it sometimes moved into the realm of pranks. And one of mine, that I look at very fondly, although my wife still says it wasn't, anyway, it was a great idea. <br /><br /> well we did. Back in the gym, we used to have a stage, temporary stage, and when we had baptism services, we wheeled out a, portable baptismal tank, which, which sat there and actually was above the platform. Here would be the platform. It was about this high. And so, one Sunday morning, Ralph was doing the announcements. <br /><br /> Now, Ralph didn't do the announcements the way Mike does, or Jared do, where they sort of are wandering all around, you know, just, and ad libbing effectively. Ralph wrote out every announcement, and read his announcements, and he had done a couple of pranks, and so I, we were pretty big into puppet ministry at that time. <br /><br /> And so, I got two people to go into the baptismal tank, which was void of water. And one was a 65 year old woman named, Gail Davis, the nicest, godliest woman. I don't know how I got her to do it, but, but she did. So they're down in the baptismal tank, waiting for Ralph to come up to do the announcements. <br /><br /> And Ralph starts doing the announcements and the puppets. are going on in back of him. And he'd say something, and they'd both nod their head no. And, and, and of course, everybody is out there laughing. And poor Ralph, which I didn't really feel poor Ralph at the moment, but. So there's this, this, this. <br /><br /> euphoric moment for me. Everybody's in hysterics. Finally, he discovers somebody just can't take it anymore, and they're gone. So he finally turns around, and there are the puppets. Now, of course, he retaliated later, but, but, Ralph, afterwards, came to me and said, I'm after you and I responded, I said, Ralph, I was not involved. <br /><br /> I mean, I wasn't, I wasn't in the, I didn't, I didn't do the puppets. I, you know, I just, and he said, I know you masterminded this whole thing. And of course he was, he was right and he, he, he knew I knew. I was culpable. I was responsible. Here's the reality of the work of Jesus Christ. The father is culpable. <br /><br /> He masterminded the whole thing. It was his idea. That he is not in conflict. That it was the father's motivation to have this. He was the architect of everything. And the God who sits on the throne of heaven. The God who sees every sin. Knows every thought of whom he's described in Hebrews. The book of Hebrews, it's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. <br /><br /> This God, it says, is a consuming fire. It's His idea. This whole plan of God rescuing people through the cross of Jesus Christ. It's the Father's design. Secondly, it not only began with His desire to extend grace. It brings glory to Him for His grace. You notice what it says in this little box that comes up in verse 6. <br /><br /> It's to the praise of His glorious grace. To the praise of His glory. To the praise of His glory. It's all His glory. Until Copernicus came along in 1543, we earthlings held center stage in the universe, at least in our minds. For centuries, fathers had been able to put their son, their arms around their sons and look out at the starry sky at night and say, Here on Earth, we're the center of everything. <br /><br /> Everything goes around us. And then Copernicus shows up. And Copernicus, later in his life, actually he wrote it in the middle of his life, but he never published until he was almost dead. He published a book, and the book was entitled On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres. In it, he argued that the sun Not the Earth, was actually the center of our solar system. <br /><br /> He delayed, having the book published, and actually, there is a story of, he was on his deathbed, that they finally had the manuscript, and they brought it to him. Of course, everything was handwritten in those days, because they didn't have the printing press yet. But they brought him this, his copy, and he held it in his hand, and, and there's this thing, it's the first time that he's seen it. <br /><br /> And then he died. And, it, it's to me, it's the perfect example of the old maximum. Speak the truth, and leave immediately afterwards. Because he, he knew if he, if, if, if it was known, a matter of fact, Galileo, 50 years later would be thrown into prison when he would echo the same sentiments. The earth is not the center of the universe. <br /><br /> We still have a hard time not being the center of the universe. It's natural for us to want it to be all about us. God in the dock is a book that was written by CS Lewis. And in the book, CS Lewis is saying this is what has shifted in modern history. In this series of articles, he says we have changed from the historic position that we are on trial before God and now he is on trial before us. <br /><br /> We expect our wants and desires to be fulfilled. We expect God to answer for it. If he allows suffering and hardship. If he does not do as we assume he should. If he acts in a way that does not fit with what I think is good or fair or appropriate. We even want God to explain elements of grace to us and perhaps Nowhere is that more true than in the next role of God the Father in the story of grace. <br /><br /> The second role of God the Father in the story of grace is that God the Father chose the recipients of grace. Here's what it says in verse 4. He blessed us in Christ, even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world. In the scriptures, there are three groups of people that God is highlight as choosing. <br /><br /> One is the nation of Israel. He chose them to be His people. In Deuteronomy chapter 7, it says this, <br /><br /> For you are the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you. He chose you. There's nothing meritorious in you. There was nothing unique about you. There was nothing special except that God chose to set his love upon you. The second thing that God chose, a group of people that God chose, are individuals for specific acts of service. <br /><br /> There are many of these, the Levites were the, of the twelve sons of Jacob. The sons of Levi were called to be the priests, nothing special about them at all. It wasn't because Levi was the most godly man on earth, as a matter of fact he was far from it. But, but, God chose them to be the priests. God chose 12 disciples. <br /><br /> They were certainly not the greatest, the sharpest tax in the box, but God chose them. And there are many other individuals that God chose to specific acts of service in the scripture. And then the third group is the one that's mentioned here, people to be a part of Jesus kingdom in salvation. Now this of course, is dicey for us, right? <br /><br /> It's challenging, I mean, where are you going with this? Can we jump to number, can we jump to point three? We can't. Because it's right here, in verse four. In the book of Acts, it says this in chapter 13, verse 48. When the Gentiles heard this, the gospel being shared, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord, and all who were appointed for eternal life believed. <br /><br /> The word appointed means that they were specifically chosen out for that. In John chapter 6 verse 37 and 44, Jesus is talking and says, All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I'll never cast out. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. The word draws here is the same word that's used in the Gospel of John of a fisherman with his net. <br /><br /> And he sends his net out in the water and he pulls it back. And he's pulling this, this, this group of fish, the catch of fish into the boat. Now none of those fish are in that net saying, Oh good, oh good, oh good, oh good. Pick me, pick me, pick me. No, they're being dragged into the boat and the picture of, he says, my father drags people to me. <br /><br /> My father draws them and nobody comes except my father draws them to them. They're trying to get away, but the fishermen relentlessly draws them to the boat. In John 17, Jesus talks about all those that are believers are those whom the Father has given me. This is, of course, a challenging concept for us. <br /><br /> It doesn't seem fair. One of the hardest concepts to embrace and trust God with. So, what is God saying with this? Well, you'll notice that it says in verse 3, All spiritual blessings to those who are in Christ. And if I asked you today, if you're, if you have believed in Jesus Christ as Savior, and I asked you, <br /><br /> why do you think you are in Christ? Why are you in relation with Christ? And I think we would appropriately give the answer, well, because I put my trust in Jesus Christ as my only hope and received him as my Savior. I chose Jesus. And that's true. That's absolutely true. But what Ephesians 1, 4 and other passages in the New Testament is saying, you chose Christ. <br /><br /> Because the Father chose you. Now, here is why that makes sense. Although it is difficult for us to embrace. And I understand the journey, the questions, the, the, the arguments. Years ago, I was wrestling with this concept of God choosing people to choose Him. And my thinking, ultimately, went something like this. <br /><br /> And this was over time. <br /><br /> I thought, Mark, why are you a Christian today? Because I received Christ as my Savior. Okay? Why did you receive Christ and other people don't? Because I saw the sin in my heart. I saw my need of Jesus forgiveness. Why did you do so and other people don't? Because I was just broken with my need and the emptiness of my life without Him. <br /><br /> Why were you broken and not other people? I don't know. I guess they, I guess there's something in them, they were hardened, they're proud just like I had been. They chose not to face themselves, but for me, I couldn't avoid the reality of it. Mark, why did you come to the place of humility and desperation and others didn't? <br /><br /> Were you more humble? Was there a spark of goodness in you that others didn't have that made them harder, prouder, less desperate? Was there a sliver of inclination in you that others didn't have? Were you a tiny bit less dead in your sins? Maybe mostly dead, maybe terminally so, but sick, seriously sick. <br /><br /> The more I went through that question, the deeper I got. Ultimately, I had to indicate that either God totally enabled me to believe, or there was something in me that was a little more God oriented, a little more righteous seeking than the guy that rejects Christ his whole life. But there was no difference in me. <br /><br /> I wasn't clamoring on my own to get in the boat. I wasn't thinking, well, yeah, you know, God dragged. And look back over the circumstances of my life, I realized I was headlong trying to do life without Him. And God just dragged and brought circumstances, and I came to the conviction that is rock solid in my soul today. <br /><br /> That I chose Jesus because the Father chose me to do so. And my father in law, who is a college professor in biology, but actually his lifelong gift is storytelling and humor. He is, my father in law was dying and seemingly totally incoherent. And the last day or two of his life he would come out of it a little bit. <br /><br /> And would catch snippets of a conversation and somehow would immediately come back with a story that was perfect in its humor. It's just, it was, it was, he was brilliant at this. But he always had lines, he always had one liners or something. And he had, to me, the best description of this whole concept. <br /><br /> Theologically of talking about God's part and our part and salvation and he did it by a story that he met up in the north woods of Michigan and a guy had lived there for many years. But this guy was explaining how he came to Michigan. And here's what he said. He said to my father in law, God brought me here, but I wouldn't be here if I hadn't come. <br /><br /> Who's going to argue with that one? And my father in law would say, That's how I view salvation. I had to come, but God brought me. That's what Paul's saying. Do you have to believe on Jesus Christ? Yes. Is there any other way to experience salvation? No. But as Spurgeon once reminded us, It's all of God. It's all of grace. <br /><br /> And he said it this way, If God didn't choose me before creation, He certainly would not have done so afterwards. It's about God. The third thing is God the Father determines the destiny of grace. Verse 5 he says this, verse, the end of verse 4 of the phrase, In love, he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose <br /><br /> He destined us to full rights of adult heirs. He said, you were predestined for adoption. The word predestined is just how it sounds to us, but from the original, it's a little, a little richer. It's, it's the word pre, which means before. And the word destined or destiny is actually the word portion. It was used of boundary lines in property. <br /><br /> And he says, Your portion was pre assigned. That portion of anyone who embraces Christ as Savior is that they are destined to the full rights of an adult heir through adoption. Paul talks about this throughout the book of Galatians, which he's trying to say to believers, Man, embrace who you are. Embrace what your destiny is. <br /><br /> What your portion is as adopted children. He says this in Galatians to 7, God sent his son to redeem us. To redeem us that we might receive the full rights of sons. So you're no longer a slave, but a son. And since you're a son, God has also made you an heir. He says the new heavens and new earth which are coming, the, the entire Garden of Eden being, the entire cosmos. <br /><br /> He says that's your inheritance. That's just your, your physical inheritance. <br /><br /> You're God's kids, he said. And all he has is and will be yours to enjoy. This is a rock solid reality. It is your predetermined portion. And so Paul's saying, count on this. Hold on to this. Live with the security of this in your lives. And yet, we all as Christians struggle, how does God really view me? God seems distant. <br /><br /> He's scary. And Paul is constantly saying in the book of of Galatians, man, you're living, sweating the small stuff. You think I got to get it right. I got to get it right. And he says it's not about getting it right. It's enjoying God. It's enjoying the God that says my portion for you is that you're Inheritors! <br /><br /> You are my children! I remember reading this story many years ago. I was reading, it was back in the late 1800s. It was out in the far part of the Midwest, where a farmer was there and his wife was sick. And the only way he could get the medicine that she needed here in the heart of winter was he had to cross a river. <br /><br /> And to get to the closest town, he had a long walk, then he had to cross this wide river. And he got to the wide river, and he was very nervous as he got to the river, because he wasn't sure if the river could hold his weight. At times it was a pretty fast moving river, strong current. And so he got the largest board he could find. <br /><br /> And he got on the board to distribute his weight as far and wide as he could. And he started slowly sliding, laid down on it, and started sliding this thing along. Step by step, or it wasn't step, slide by slide to get across. And all of a sudden he's in the middle of the, the, the, the river. And he hears this, this roaring sound. <br /><br /> Well, this is the ice. It's gonna break open. I mean, this is it. He's done. And he's, he's there just frozen in fear. A wagon drawn by two horses goes zooming past him. And that was the roaring noise. That's how I live my Christian life a lot. I'm acting like, man, I, I gotta get it right. I gotta do this. I, I, I, God's waiting to just say, Mark, you're not And I could be racing across the river, enjoying life that We are God's kids. <br /><br /> If we've been brought to Jesus Christ, we stand in a standing that He is saying My inheritance for you ultimately is in a life to come. He's going to talk in the latter part of what it means that the spirit is the down payment of that. But he says, enjoy this reality because I've destined you to the full rights of adulterers. <br /><br /> Secondly, he says, he has destined them to be conformed to the image of Jesus. When the term predestination is used And a lot of people think that's the problem issue. It's not. I would say none of you have a problem with predestination if you understand it. It's just saying, this is what we are destined to as God's children. <br /><br /> We are destined to be conformed to the image of Jesus. If you look down at verse 11 in this passage that we're looking at this morning. In Him, we have obtained an inheritance having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His own will. Here's what He's saying. <br /><br /> We've been predestined to the one that's working in all things in our lives. This is what he says. And many of you that are believers and have been for a number of years, I'm going to quote one of the most well known verses in your life. Romans 8 28 to 30. Listen to what it says. And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good. <br /><br /> For those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknow, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son. He says this is the purpose. That everything that God is allowing in your life has the purpose of conforming you to the image of Jesus. To change you into the likeness of Jesus. <br /><br /> That God is not wasting experiences. That he's got, using all those life experiences, which means that everything that is going on in your life is what you would pray for if you knew everything that God knows. That he's conforming us to the image of Jesus. He says, God's not wasting stuff in your life. <br /><br /> The stuff that you would say, please, erase this part. It's all part of this process of designing you. Your portion is to be like Christ and to be Jesus life within you. So why does all this matter? These truths we're looking at this morning, why do they matter? I want to say three quick things as I close. <br /><br /> Number one, these truths matter because they give us incentive to know all three members of the Godhead. Father, Son, Spirit. To speak to them in the awareness of this is the role, this is the role, this is the role. Well, Mark, you talk like they're completely three different guys. Well, they are, but they're all one. <br /><br /> I know! Figure it out! I haven't! But to know all the remembers of the Godhead and do life with them. Secondly, it matters because it is encouragement to you in your lowest times. <br /><br /> God the Father is crazy about his kids. He wanted you. A number of years ago, we didn't have this building. we did have the gym. It was probably the lowest point of my life to that point. I was very aware of myself. I had received, I've talked about this before, the letter from my wife at our 10 year anniversary. <br /><br /> It was calling me out appropriately for my own self centeredness and pursuit of She said, if you were a, if you were a businessman, you'd just be called a workaholic. But because you're a pastor, you get a pass. And I was just overwhelmed with the failure of my life as a pastor. Pastor as a husband, as a man of God. <br /><br /> And I remember wandering this property and just going back there. And one reality was what I cling to. I said, God, I feel failure in every part of my life. <br /><br /> But you wanted me. You chose me. I wouldn't choose me. I'm not sure my wife would choose me. I'm not sure anybody should choose me. But you wanted me. Verse 4, to me, is a precious doctrine. And I understand the issues and the tension and struggles with how does this But there is also an incredibly precious side of knowing that God wanted you. <br /><br /> The third thing, it is motivation to turning to Christ. Harvey Kahn, a missionary to Korea, tells of sharing the gospel with young prostitutes in Korea. And he could not get them to accept Jesus because they were overwhelmed with their lives had become, what they'd done. And finally, he told them about God choosing people. <br /><br /> And he said this, Do you know that the Christian God has chosen people from out of the world to be His very own before the creation of the world? And they said, you must be kidding. How can a person know if they are one of those he chose? And he said this to them, Well, do you want that gift of forgiveness? <br /><br /> And they said, more than anything. And he said, then you must be chosen, because only a person who is chosen by God has that desire, and draws to God in his salvation your desire. is evidence of the fact that God has chosen you. They gratefully received the gift of God's grace. Maybe you're here in the same place and you say, Ah, this, this whole thing is kind of confusing to me. <br /><br /> I'm a sinner. Yeah, need forgiveness. But he could never want a person like me. I've done too much, too far down. Then I would ask you this question. Do you want His forgiveness? Would you long for the life and inheritance that Jesus came to provide? If your response is yes, it's because God is at work in your life. <br /><br /> It's because God is drawing you. The beautiful reality is, we do that. We respond because God is at work in us. It is a supernatural work of grace in our lives. God the Father is the architect of salvation. He got this whole thing running in eternity past. He's the one that designed it. He's the one sovereign even in the Godhead by their choice of, of, the structure, the chain of command, if you will. <br /><br /> But he is also a beautifully, preciously, approachable being. He's our Father. He's your Father if you belong to Him. And if there's a hunger this morning to want to belong to Him, understand that you don't have that of yourself. It is the Lord speaking into your life this morning. Lord, we come to you today. <br /><br /> We sit back and we say, Lord, man, there's things in this message that are hard to figure out. I don't understand how you're a three person, one being God, <br /><br /> but I want to worship you as you are. <br /><br /> And there's parts of us that really are confused by this concept of verse four and a God that chooses. But Lord, I want to wrestle through and say, I want to worship you and I want to love you and I want to bow the knee to you to how you say you are and to worship what you say you do. For me, Lord, you know how these truths have been in some ways a bulwark in my own journey with you in life. <br /><br /> I pray that your spirit would draw us to a deeper awe, a deeper love, a deeper longing for the God that pursues us in your grace. In Jesus name, Amen.</div> false no <![CDATA[Baptism Service: February 2024]]> Titus 2:11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.



Sermon Transcript:

All right. You can continue worshiping because, um, you're going to get like a six and a half minute sermon here this morning. Okay. Nobody's celebrating that. Okay. Okay. Yeah. No, the preaching of God's word is very important. And we've talked about this, um, as a staff, it is a joy that there are 16 people this morning getting baptized.

Um, you're only going to hear.

You're only going to hear eight of those stories in this service, and if you want to stay for the next one, you can get the other eight, uh, but we'll encourage you, you can also watch their testimonies online, but I'm going to just share with you a little bit, kind of set the stage for where we, are going this morning.

baptism as many of you may know, some of you may not know is really a symbol. It's a symbol of what God has done in the lives of those that know him. Baptism does not make you a Christian. It declares that you already are. That's why you'll see each person that comes into the tank this morning, wearing one of these shirts that says forgiven.

they're wearing it before they enter the tank because it's a declaration that God has already done something in their lives. And so when each person goes under the water, you'll hear us say, in the likeness of his death. And as we bring them back up out of the water, we'll say, in the likeness of the resurrection of Jesus.

In the same way that he died and rose again, baptism displays this union that we have with him, this connection to him. We too have died to an old way of life and have been raised to a new way of life. And now, reborn, we get to live out that faith. Joe mentioned each person is going to testify and share in their own unique way of ways that God has drawn, them to himself.

However, there's one specific thread that runs common throughout, and that's what I wanted to share with you this morning. We're really all telling small parts. Of the big story of what God has been doing all along, God's story. and I want to read to you just a, a passage this morning that is really a summary, of the whole gospel in one short section.

So, if you want to turn with me, we're going to be in the book of Titus. Now, I realize Titus might take you all of my entire sermon to find. It's one of those difficult books. as the Spirit of God would have it, if you go Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, we get to the T books in the New Testament.

First and second, Thessalonians, then first and second, Timothy, and then on to Titus. They're in alphabetical order in the T's, okay? The T's are in alphabetical order, so check them out. it is page 938. If you got one of the Bibles in the pew, you're like, why didn't you just say that at the beginning?

That's all I needed to know. But I'd like you to look at the, at the passage, click it on your phone, find it. We're going to be in Titus chapter 2 just for a minute here this morning. I want you to see these words because there are no slides, but I want you to also hear them this morning too. We're in Titus chapter 2 verse 11.

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people. Training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self controlled upright and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

Father, this is a dense portion of scripture. And I pray, Lord, with, the power of your spirit, might you allow us to comprehend how, how incredible your love is, how intentional your plan is. And Lord, as we hear stories this morning of, of ways that you have delivered people out of sin and, and their own darkness and brought them into a new relationship with you.

Lord, convince us that this saving power is still available today for those that do not know you. God, I pray, you would teach us this morning in many ways this morning. We pray in your name, amen. So I just want to walk verse by verse really quickly through this here. I only have like two minutes left, right?

So you're, you're going to, it's going to be quick for the grace of God has appeared. Bringing salvation for all people. That means Jesus, the grace of God, has appeared. Jesus sent to earth, that is, God with skin on. He came down and lived among us. Full of grace, bringing salvation for all people. And though it is available for all people, we know from the scriptures that not all will be saved.

That it's for only those who surrender in their faith to Jesus. And what does this surrendered life look like? How does it practically work out? Well, we walk in this grace. Look at verse 12, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age.

This is the work of Jesus. This is the work of grace in our lives. He gives grace, not just for a new identity, but for a new way to live. We're not just saved from the penalty of sin. We are reprogrammed to, to want and desire his way of life. We're delivered from the power of sin now, not just eternally, but now here living godly lives in this present age.

That is the training ground of grace. And you might notice in some of the stories this morning and in your own life, you and I have not graduated from this Institute of Grace yet. We are all in process. And so as you hear stories this morning, you might still pick up that they don't have all of the finer points of theology figured out and everything.

You and I probably are still growing in that as well. And so as we follow Christ. We're living to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, living new lives because of grace. Here's what it says though. We're, we're training and living in this world, but we're also waiting, verse 13, for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and savior, Jesus Christ.

Our eyes are fixed, not just here, but also on a time to come, a return of Christ to dwell among us. A recreation of this world, fully glorified beings we will be for those that have a relationship with him. And for this we wait, for this we wait. But in this waiting process, we don't just gather here, hide and, and live as, we, we might call it the holy huddle.

We're sent out to live on display waiting for this return. How is this all possible? Verse 14. Remember this, Jesus gave himself for us in his death on the cross to redeem us, to buy us back from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works by his death in our place.

Through faith, we are redeemed, bought back from the power of sin. Made new in his image, purified and given to do good works in his name. Not as a way to earn, but as a way of worship. We live this out. Man, if, if you ever want to just present the gospel in, in, in full, go to Titus 2, use this passage. It's got it all.

Jesus, the rescuer, came to buy us back. So, as you come this morning and as we hear stories of people and their testimony of what God has done in their life, we say this each time, I want you to look, to listen, and respond. Look, there, there's something visible happening this morning. This is not just testimony, but it's actually displaying, again, that buried with him and raised to new life, this is baptism.

I want you to listen carefully to the words spoken and also to respond, knowing that as people share their stories, there will be things that potentially you hear that connect to your story. Possibly, it's through adoption, maybe a connection that you've made. Maybe it's through, struggles with parents, or things that you've, wrestled with through your lives.

Maybe there's, someone that, sensed the stage of a midst of confusion, that they were just unsure about where to go, or they were pursuing darkness, and God rescued them. Might I suggest that you're here this morning because God wants to encourage the body of Christ. That God wants to do something specific in these baptisms, that might speak to you.

So if you're here and maybe you feel triggered by someone's story or, or things that they have gone through, we want to walk through this with you. God is drawing you in and he'd love to, build a relationship with you. But can I ask you, uh, take out a pen. There's a, there's a pen in the back of, uh, the seats there.

Maybe you have one already. And if you grab a bulletin this morning. There's some blank space because I didn't give you any notes this morning. But I'd like for you to maybe write down names of people and things that people have walked through in their testimonies that you're going to hear. Maybe you just pray for them in their journey.

Maybe there's a connection that you make and you want to encourage them after the service and just say, Hey, I'm praying for you by name. This is a way that we can take baptism and be encouraged, but also be an encouragement to those being baptized. Lastly, um, this is a celebration. Uh, there are no good testimonies and like sort of good testimonies and bad testimonies.

Everyone, everyone, everyone is only saved because of God's light shining onto their hearts. Not because of anything good that they have done. Each time is a miracle. Each time is a sinner turning from death to life, and that's the work of God. So we're gonna cheer. We're gonna have some fun this morning.

We're gonna clap. We're gonna support, okay? So, don't be quiet golf clappers this morning. Uh, be excited, because God's done an incredible work. Um, we're gonna, uh, start our time this morning. Pastor Ben is going to lead us in our first baptisms. And I should say, I'm sorry. Collingswood, you are watching online.

Hi, welcome. And I'm so glad that you get to join us this morning, uh, in baptisms as well. So, Ben.

Number one question you all have, is it cold in there? It's very nice in here. I'm going to invite Beth Burr to come out here. Excited to celebrate with Beth and her giving of testimony this morning.

Beth, is it your desire this morning to testify of your relationship with Christ? Yes. We're going to have a video that shows a little bit about Beth's faith journey. Hi, my name is Beth Burr. I was raised in a Christian household, but when I was young, my family left the church due to hurts. When I was a teenager, I asked to go back.

I immersed myself in the church, attending youth group and youth choir. I learned that being a Christian meant you did things. At some point, I accepted Christ, but I don't remember exactly when. I thought being a good girl was being what it was meant to be Christian. I never realized that you needed a relationship with Christ.

When my husband and I joined Celebrate Recovery a few years ago, we were surrounded by Christians in that relationship. At one point, I decided to recommit my life and my heart to Jesus. I was a good girl, but I was still a sinner. I had to confess my sins of codependency. food issues, and allowing myself to be led astray in an effort to people please.

I thought God was my, like my earthly parents. That if I didn't toe the line, I would be out of the family. Jesus loves us warts and all. He doesn't love our sin, but understands that we are not strong enough to resist it on our own. During CR, I made the decision to turn my life back over to Jesus. I confess that I had hurts, habits, and hang ups that only Jesus could help me with.

I am making better choices about food and am less codependent. I am becoming my own person with Jesus help and what He has called me to do. I am a leader in Celebrate Recovery, even though it's out of my comfort zone, but I believe that's what Jesus is calling me to do. I share my struggles with depression and anxiety, which He has not taken away from me since I was a teenager.

Both to be a beacon to those who have the disease and to break the stigma. God has shown me how faithful he can be. The more I believe in him, the more I see it. And the more easier it is to believe it. My life first is Ecclesiastes 4, 9 through 12. Two are better than one because they have a more satisfying return for their labor.

Where if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and does not have another to lift him up. Again, if two lie down together, then they keep warm. But how can one be warm alone? And though one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

I believe this is important during recovery and our Christian faith. We need to have people come alongside us. To help us on this journey. Are you ready for that? Yes.

Beth, is it your desire to in front of these people in Mt. Laurel and these people in Collingswood this morning testify of this faith in Christ through baptism? Yes. It is my great delight to baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son And of the Holy Spirit, and the likeness of Christ's death, and the likeness of his resurrection.

Good. I'd

like to invite Megan Heaney down. This is Megan. Megan, have you personally accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? I have, yes. We have a video to tell a little bit more about Megan's faith journey. My name is Megan Heaney and I've declared, and I've decided to get baptized as an adult because I'm going to declare myself to the Lord.

My life before Jesus was a life of sin and unhappiness, and the moment I gave myself to Jesus, I felt immense happiness and I can't be mad at God and not believe in him at the same time. I've dealt with Self harm since I was 13 and my depression has kicked me my whole life and my life has been terrified by suicidal thoughts.

Before Celibate Recovery, I had nothing to live for. I've, God has called me to write poetry and this is one I've been really, really proud of. I tremble not because I'm afraid, but because I'm fiercely made. You are with me when I stand tall and I feel like I may fall at any minute. I have continuously pushed you away, but you are always here to stay, defying you at all costs.

I'm finally safe in the faith that I thought I lost. This world is as fast paced, stuck in a shoe that is laced the wrong way. My smile is a facade. I feel like a fraud. I run from the pain inside. I run from the happiness I cannot explain. I run to my God, cause he has never left my side. I had to lose you before I was allowed to choose you.

You have always been with me. Especially every minute I run from you. I want to yell surprise at every sunrise. Cry secret tears while I face fears. You will be ahead of me by 28 feet and behind me to capture each feet ahead of every thought of self harm and use these things to disarm the broken suffer faith through anger, anger through laughter, smile through pain and pain through grace.

John 3 16 has brought me joy through times of suffering for God to love the world. He gave his only begotten son to believe in him shall not perish, but have, have ever after life.

Megan, is it your desire to testify to these people this morning of your faith in Christ through baptism? It is. Yes. It is my joy to baptize you in the name and the delight. of the Father, of the Son, of the Holy Spirit, in the likeness of Christ's death, and in the likeness of his resurrection.

Morning, everybody. I'm going to have Malia McGinley join me.

Malia, I've had a chance to do this with a number of McGinleys, and I'm really excited to have you up here. Malia, have you received Jesus Christ as your Savior? Yes. All right, we're going to hear about that. Hi, my name is Malia McGinley. I was born in semi Kazakhstan. I was told I was the youngest of eight siblings.

When I was seven months old, I was taken from my family due to severe neglect, starvation, and abuse. I was placed in an orphanage and lived there until I was three and a half years old, until I was finally adopted by a woman from New Jersey. And after living with her and her partner for several months, they decided I wasn't a good fit for their family.

I was then placed in a several private foster care system until I was brought to my true and forever home, one with six older siblings. My biological mom drank a lot of alcohol while I was growing up inside her. And because of that and the traumatic experience during my early years, I learned differently from the other kids my age.

I struggle in school and in social situations and in other areas of my life. I have a difficult time trusting people and I often withdraw, hide. Hide behind books, embellish the truth, and sometimes I say silly things at the wrong time. I know I have said and done so many things to hurt people, but especially my parents, and they still love me.

And I am so thankful for that. My family introduced me to Jesus. They showed me a love that I could never have imagined. I accepted Christ a few years ago when I was at a class at church in the summer, but I didn't fully understand it. My father meets with me every morning and For Bible reading and devotions.

Something I did not like at first, but I've grown to love. Because of me and my father's time together, I have learned so much about God and his love for me. My mom prays for me constantly, and when she drops me off at school, she says to me, Remember, Malia, you are never alone. Jesus will never leave you or forsake you, and you are a princess warrior of Christ.

As time has gone by, I've been able to look backwards and see that there's no coincidence that I was brought 7, 000 miles from Kazakhstan to New Jersey. It was all God and His kindness to me. I know I will never be happy or at peace trying to live for myself. I only want to, but I need Jesus to be my best friend.

I am being baptized today to be obedient to the Lord and to publicly declare my faith to God and to show Him how thankful I am for rescuing me. I know my story is not over, but what I do know is what Psalm 139. 13, John and Joshua 29. 11 say. I am created by God, He designed me. So I am not a mistake. The Lord picked me to be His own, so I am wanted.

And He has a future for me because He loves me. Flaws and all. Thank you. Malia, it's my

joy to baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, in the likeness of his death, and in the likeness of his resurrection.

Okay, up next we have Nicole Curtis, who's going to join me.

Nicole, have you received Christ as your Savior? Yes. Alright, we're gonna hear a little about that. My name is Nicole, and this is my baptism testimony. I have always believed in Jesus Christ, but I have never truly lived for Him. I've lived a very sinful life the past ten years, in search of love and happiness in all the wrong places, and that just resulted in more pain and more suffering.

I've been through a lot of things, some things that were a matter of life or death. And in those times, I had strength that I had. I knew that it was God in those times. And two years ago, I turned my life around. And during that time, I had a bond that became undoubtedly real with God. So today, I am giving myself and my life to the Lord and claiming Him as my I want to repent my sins and live for, for God.

Nicole, is it your desire to be baptized today to testify about this relationship with Christ? Yes. Alright.

Alright, Nicole, it is my joy to baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, in the likeness of His death, in the likeness of His resurrection. You're welcome.

John Pepitone is gonna join us, uh, here this morning.

All right, John, have you received Christ as your Savior? Yes. All right, we're gonna hear about that. Hi, my name's John. I'm 23. I'm, uh, kind of new to the Christ thing, kind of not. Um, I was raised in the church, but I walked away for a long time. I had found myself in a place where I didn't know what to turn to, who to look after, and couldn't take care of myself, let alone anybody else.

Uh, I was engaged. I was making a lot more money than I A lot of 23 year olds my age, and it led me down a really dark road. Uh, when my, my fiance had left me, I, uh, I broke. The, the world brought me to my knees. And, I didn't know what to do, other than turn to God. Because that's what I was raised with. I had started, uh, reading the Bible.

praying as much as I could possibly. Um, the only way that I could put it is that I felt like I had been starving for my entire life and And when I finally started indulging in God and reading, looking after his word, searching for him, it was the only thing in my life that I found that satiated my hunger.

That's that's the best way I can put it.

John, it's my joy to baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, in the likeness of his death, and the likeness of his resurrection.

Up next we have Courtney Hutchins that's going to join me. Alright, Courtney, have you received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? Yes. Alright, let's hear about that. Hi, I'm Courtney Hutchins. Uh, I grew up in a house where Jesus was present. Um, my mom was the youth director and so my brothers and I were church rats, basically. Um, from vacation Bible school to church potlucks, um, to late night finger rockets in the sanctuary.

You name the church activity and we were there. It was really in middle school where I started to understand the love that Jesus has for me. I was at a camp called The Great Escape for middle schoolers, and that's just where the gospel was really shared in a more tangible way. Um, the theme of that week was Matthew 7 7, um, so it's kind of ask, seek, knock.

Um, and I'll I'll be really honest, um, my mom remembers this better than I do, but I said to her, I think I get it, meaning I really just started to understand what Jesus did by dying on the cross for me. So from there, I just, I started to just scrape the surface of what walking with Jesus looked like. Um.

He was kind of a part of all of our routines, um, our day to day, our summer trips. Um, Jesus was just kind of a priority and, um, through the ordinary and the opportunities, I just grew to become more and more a follower of Christ. But what I think was valuable, kind of looking back on just that season, um, was the community of people surrounding me, um, and that wasn't just my immediate family.

Uh, I just didn't really realize how meaningful or impactful that was on my walk with the Lord, but it's something I grew to know and, um, something that I just really wanted more of. And so that kind of led me into, um, just my college years. And so I'm just really grateful that going to church, um, growing up was initially my parent's choice, but then it grew to be more and more of my choice.

And so during those years, I, um, my faith really grew to became my own. I sought out friendships that were rooted in Christ and a Bible study that was challenging and encouraging and just really strengthening of my walk with the Lord and my understanding of who His character is. Um, I was able to spend two summers during college with Sun Servants as part of their summer staff.

Um, And so I would say both of those summers were just really incredibly influential and enriching and, um, my trust and hope in Jesus. Really, the fear of unknown was a pretty crippling during that season of life and, um, a lot of big decisions happening during those years and, um, but just because of the people the Lord put in my life and my knowledge of And, um, I gained in just the Lord's favor and faithfulness.

I just learned those different things and really learned how to surrender my plans and my wants and my desires to Jesus. Allow myself to let him work in and through me. And so I just, I feel like there's just a lot of seasons and themes of, um, a faithful trust in surrounding. myself with rich community.

Um, those were really just gifts, honestly. Um, after marrying my husband, we both desired and longed for being part of community again. Um, we yearned for the communities we both had prior to marriage and, um, wanted that together. Um, and since I was a part of the FCC family, um, prior to meeting him, um, When we decided to move back to New Jersey, we knew that this is where we wanted to root ourselves, um, and just dive in together, dive in serving together.

Uh, we really wanted to come under the authority of this church as members and serve alongside the community of, Believers and walk through life together. Um, and that really, that meant choosing to be baptized. So I, I kind of wrestled with this concept for a little bit. Um, Got to talk to Mike a lot, but, and my husband, but, so I was baptized as an infant, and I was a member prior, or a member of a church prior to all of this.

My wrestling was really with my own fear of, I'm doing this because I want to be a member of a church. It felt kind of selfish. Um, I was afraid that my motive wasn't honoring of the Lord. Um, but I really came to realize that it's, it's not selfishness, but an act of obedience and a proclamation of what God has done and continues to do in my life.

Uh, I've been faithfully serving the Lord now for much of my life and what a beautiful thing that is, but my faithfulness to the Lord now looks like confessing that I'm a sinner and in need of a savior. Um, and just taking a step and coming under the authority of this church and being baptized. Funniest question I'm going to ask you, but.

Courtney, is it your desire to

testify to this relationship with Christ through baptism? Yes. Alright. Courtney, it's my joy to baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In the likeness of his death. In the likeness of his resurrection.

And Sam Hutchins now is going to join us in the tank this morning.

Sam, have you received Christ as your Lord and Savior? Yes. Alright, we're going to hear about that. Good morning, uh, my name is Sam Hutchins, and I want to tell you just a little bit about, uh, my story. Uh, growing up in our family, God was not really the central animating, um, You know, part of our family life growing up, there was definitely love in our family, but there was also, uh, strife.

And so, uh, for me, what that meant was, um, kind of looking for different avenues of escape. Uh, and if you kind of asked me growing up, it, um You know, I was trying to maybe find my own way. Well, what practically what that looked like was just kind of following what a lot of everybody else was doing.

Growing up I had a lot of doubts about God and You know, that was just kind of a difficult part of my life. I had, you know, some peripheral interest and involvement in different church related things, but was really kind of on the outside, um, and me being on the outside and not kind of diving and not learning more about God, you know, I kind of.

I would probably say it was a lot of doubts, but it was a lot of just, you know, selfishness as well. And, um, and kind of wrestling through some of the dynamics with my family growing up. I had familiarity with a missions organization, and so, um, In, in kind of the early part of my college years, I decided to apply for, um, to work with sun servants, uh, for a summer, and, and I really didn't know what I was getting into, and, uh, you know, on their part, they didn't know what they were getting into with, uh, me, and thankfully they were really gracious and, and loving towards me in a, in a season of, you know, of doubting, of, um, Selfishness and different things like that.

And so, um, I spent the summer with them and it was really uh, beautiful of being involved with the Christian community and um, you know, God before that was really impersonal to me. Uh, which when God is impersonal He's also Um, and throughout the summer, God just became much more personal. We read through the book of John.

Um, and it's really fitting that we kind of ended the summer culminating when Jesus is talking to Thomas. And Jesus says to Thomas, Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed. And so, really throughout the summer that was kind of That really just struck me. It was life giving and convicting of the sense of, you know, I'm, I, yes, I, there's things maybe I haven't seen.

I do have doubts and yet it is. ultimately good to see Jesus and to believe in him. And so, um, I, I have, you know, of thinking of that time of really kind of coming to faith. Uh, there's a quote from Tom Skinner, the late evangelist, that really just puts into words better than I can. This is what he says about his own testimony.

I spent a long time trying to come to grips with my doubts. When suddenly I realized I had better come to grips with what I believe. I have since moved from the agony of questions that I cannot answer, to the reality of answers that I cannot escape. I love that line. The agony of questions that I cannot answer, to the reality of answers that I cannot escape.

And it's a wonderful relief. And ultimately For, for me, for us as Christians, our ultimate answer is the person and work of, of Jesus. Um, our relief ultimately is the person and work of Jesus. And not that there aren't, you know, uh, good answers to different kinds of questions, but ultimately it is Him. And over that summer, that's really what I discovered was Jesus.

The, the personal God who loves and cares for me and knows me. And so Um, that was kind of, you know, that process really began in the first part of college. And, uh, there's been, you know, a lot of life that has happened since that point. Um, you know, I've gone through moving a lot, uh, you know, in soon after I became a believer, my parents divorced and that was really unsettling for our family.

And so, um. Ultimately, in all of those things, uh, you know, there's a quote from Spurgeon that says, you know, um, I have a great need for Christ, and I have a great Christ for my need. And so, in all of those things, really kind of finding that, uh, finding that to be the case. You know, all of this kind of leads to baptism today.

And so, you know, there's been a couple points in, you know, the past couple years where I've been more and more convicted. Um, In the sense of, of the need for baptism as my response to what, uh, God has done and so, um, you know, in, in being a part of this church of, you know, moving here, um, in the past year and a half and, and being more and more involved, I've just seen more and more, um, my response to be baptized, um, as something that I need Need to do and joyfully, uh, get to do in front of the congregation and a group of believers.

And, and so, uh, yeah, excited to, to be here and to ultimately to know, uh, to know Jesus.

Sam, is it your desire to testify to this relationship with Christ through baptism? Yes. Sam, I baptize you. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, in the likeness of his death, and in the likeness of his resurrection.

And our final one this morning is Maria Nolan.

All right, Maria, have you received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? I have. All right, we're going to hear about that. My name is Maria Nolan, and the time that I realized that I was lost and needed saving was two years ago in the fall of 2021. I was 16 years old, and I was going through one of the darkest times in my life at the time.

Um, my parents had just recently gotten divorced, and the back and forth of going from home to home brought back a lot of past trauma from when I was in foster care as a child. Um, I was in foster care from about one month old to three and a half, and then I was adopted at four and a half. And so that resulted in me unfortunately being exposed to a lot of abuse and trauma.

So as I got older, I just, I struggled a lot in school and just, I had a lot of family issues going on as well. So when I was 14, I actually had a therapist that introduced me to witchcraft and she promised me that it would bring all these things to my life that I was looking for, including security and peace and love.

And so. Between the ages of 14 and 16, I acquired hundreds of dollars worth of sorcery things. And throughout it all, everything she told me was a lie, and the only thing that I was doing to myself was being myself, digging myself a deeper grave. Um, literally inviting Satan right into my life, and just getting more depressed, more anxious.

So when my parents were getting divorced, Um, it just, it made things so much harder. I also was like setting myself up for a future of just solely gratifying myself, solely gratifying the world. And so, um, at the time I had just gotten Tik Tok and I lot, my for you page was very dark, it had a lot of dark videos, but throughout every video I would see videos about Jesus.

Um, I just thought they were silly. I thought I was taken too seriously, but gradually I started listening to them and I started realizing that all the things that people were saying about Jesus was what I needed. And so eventually in the fall, the early December of 2021, I decided that I wanted to learn more about Jesus and I wanted to learn what it meant to be a Christian.

So around that time, my mom also decided that she wanted. to have a better relationship with Christ as well. So that's how we came to FCC. And around that time, I started studying my Bible, I started reading my Bible. I started realizing and starting learning about all the things that I was doing, how dangerous that was to myself, to my spirit.

And so I took all things I had, sorcery, I threw it into a fire pit and I burned it all. So since then, everything that Jesus has done in my life, he's done a 100. A complete 180 on my life. I mean, all of my goals for the future have completely transformed. There's so much more fulfilling and they mean so much more.

My life has purpose and being able to look back on times where I didn't see him in my life at the moment, like being able to see him now is just so wonderful. Um, and he's placed me on the, the West Virginia mission trip that the youth group does two times in a row, which has led me to meet so many great Christian mentors.

And, um. From the sun servants group that runs them, which has led me to the opportunity to serve with them this entire summer on all their trips, which I'm very excited about. And so I would like to be baptized because I want. I was baptized when I was five, but obviously I didn't know what I was doing. I didn't know what it meant.

So now that I truly understand, like, what it means for Jesus to have died on that cross, and what it, you know, what it means to be a Christian, I just want to have that public declaration of, you know, my love for Him and my gratitude towards, you know, declaring my new life in Him because of His grace only.

And, yeah.

Maria, thank you for sharing your story. This is the joy of baptism is that we hear of God's rescue in ways that, uh, encourage the church and I pray that it does even more this morning. Maria, is it your desire to be baptized this morning to testify to this relationship with Christ? It is. Yes. All right.

Maria, it's my joy to baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. In the likeness of his resurrection. Death. In the likeness of his resurrection. Great.

This is Joe Osharu. Uh, friend and a guy that I'm very excited to be in the baptismal tank this morning. Joe, have you received Jesus Christ as your Savior? I absolutely have, Mark. We're going to hear about that on your testimony this morning. Hi, I'm Joe Oshiro, and I want to share my testimony with each and every person in the congregation.

Last July, uh, my wife and I had another fight, but this one was even worse than most. I got very ugly with my words, and by the time we had stopped, I have felt very down. I was contemplating things that I did and should have, should have done and the words that I said that were just so ugly and I thought I was really, really low until shortly thereafter when my boys confronted me.

Now I have four boys who I absolutely cherish and when they told me how Our fights had affected their lives so negatively. I thought I was low. I now hit rock bottom. Shortly thereafter, I called a dear friend of ours, Karen Jones, who goes to this church, and talking with her, and very emotionally talking with her, I asked her if I could go to church with her that Sunday.

Um, not only did she say yes, but she was very happy. She had been praying for my wife and I for ever since we met about 25 years ago to find God. So I went to church that Sunday and she introduced me to Pastor Mark and I felt so comfortable with him and he seemed so nice and so kind. Um, we got together the following Friday and we got into families and he told me about his family, his beautiful family.

And then he told me he had a A toddler that had drowned in his own pool, and I realized at that time that I couldn't have handled that, I wouldn't know how to get through that, and I needed something to lean on and to fall back on for strength, and I didn't have that in my life. Immediately when I got in my car, a dear friend, George, gave me a call, and when George heard the desperation in my voice, he immediately said that we gotta get together tonight.

We had a late lunch. Um, before our lunch, I had seen the movie, Sound of Freedom, and the movie is religious based in some way, but more importantly, the trailers that I saw before the movie, three straight, were all fraught with religious overtures, and When I met with George, I told him about that, and as I was breaking up, I told him what had happened with my wife and how I was feeling.

And I realized, shortly thereafter, when I sat back and thought, I said, This isn't a coincidence. From calling Karen, to meeting Pastor Mark that following Sunday, to seeing him the following Friday, to George calling me the second I got in my car. And then seeing the movie just a day later with, with the three trailers, I realized that, that Christ was calling me.

And that he was there to help me. Well, since then I've been blessed so much. The weight of the world has come off my shoulders. I'm feeling like I can handle anything. Whatever problem comes up, I'm comfortable with. I pray for it and I find an answer. Um, I've prayed for being able to not fight with my wife.

And with the Lord's blessing, we've gone seven months and not even an argument. With his strength, I know that I can avoid a fight with her ever, ever again. Um, another one of the blessing, uh, Pastor Mark introduced me to Bill McKinley. Who has not only become my mentor in Christ, but also a dear friend.

Everything that's happened since the time I went to church has shown me that Christ is in my life and that I love Christ. Um, my testimony is very simple. I, I don't know exactly when faith hit me. But I know exactly when I turned to Christ, like Nathaniel and John 1 and 21. I was under my fig tree at my very bottom and Christ came to me.

So hopefully with this story, if I can help anybody find Christ in their, in their lives, I would be just thrilled. And I'm here to say that Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior, and I love him.

Joe, is it your desire to publicly testify of that relationship to Christ by being baptized? Absolutely is, Mark. Okay.

Joe, it's my privilege to baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, in the likeness of His death, in the likeness of His resurrection. so much.

All right, up next we have Lexi Holba, who's going to join me in the tank this morning.

Lexi's a little bit shorter, so we're going to move over this, like, little stool thing we have in here. Okay, now you can see Lexi. Okay, great.

Lexi, have you received Christ as your Savior? Yes, I have. All right, we're going to hear about that. Um, hi, I'm Lexi. And, um, in 2022 is when I was saved and, um, it was a particularly bad year. I felt pretty worthless and, um, unloved a lot. And, uh, in the late summer, I, um, chose to follow Christ. I started getting involved in the church.

Um, And joining Bible studies, I started to read the Bible, which I had never done. And, um, I had completed it. And, um, joining in the church and fellowship with other Christians. Uh, I had decided to change certain things that I was doing, um, that was dishonoring the Lord. And chose to change the way that I live and he has brought me so much joy and peace and Even though I still struggle with anxiety sometimes I do still I know that I have him With me in that time.

So it makes the struggle a little bit easier One verse that has always stuck with me, once I, once I had read it, I couldn't get it out of my mind, and, um, that's Romans 14, 8. And, uh, it says, for if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So whether we live, or whether we die, we are the Lord's.

And, in reading that, I, um, I know who I belonged to, and I know that He, He loved me beyond measure. And I didn't need. Um, the love of people and the acceptance of people necessarily, because I knew that, um, that I was the Lord's. I have seen the way that he has changed my life and how he's changed other people's lives too, in learning their stories and their testimonies.

And, um, just the people that I, I speak to daily and just watching him work in their life and in mine has just, um, Completely changed, changed my life and I want to continue to know him. I had such a hunger to, to just know his heart and know who he is and who he is in my life. And, um, you know why I wanted to follow him was to be like him and I want to be more and more like him every single day.

Um, that's what I strive for. And, uh, I just Such a want to be a, a daughter that pleases him. And, um, that is why I want to be baptized.

Lexi, is it your desire to testify to this relationship with Christ through baptism? Yes.

Lexi, it is my joy to baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In the likeness of his death. In the likeness of his resurrection.

Alright, we're going to have Steve Caporelli join us next.

Steve said, uh, I'll just take my glasses off, and I won't see anybody out there. And I said, nobody's here, Steve. No, it's just me and you. Steve, is it? Um, have you received Christ as your Savior? I have. All right, we're going to hear about that. Hey everybody, my name is Steven Capparelli, and I would say my testimonies start when I was young.

I attended church, I went to CCD, and I learned who Jesus was and what he did for us through my aunt. I would say that I always had faith, um, but I think that The church that I attended was not very welcoming and it wasn't until my aunt was diagnosed with cancer that I really started to question my faith.

My aunt was the most kindest, sweetest person and Christ like person that I knew and I just couldn't understand why something like that would have happened to someone like her. In high school, I met my now wife who always used to pray that one day I would find my way back to God. And she would periodically ask me if I wanted to go to church, but I would always come up with the excuse not to go.

In college, I never really knew what I wanted to do with my life, and I felt like I was falling behind compared to the people around me, and I started to develop some intrusive thoughts and depression. I then turned to heavily drinking and partying to kind of cope with that and never really knew what I wanted to do in life.

It wasn't until I got married when my wife Periodically continued to ask me if I wanted to attend church, but I always came up, still came up with excuses to not go. And it wasn't until Christmas of 2022 that I finally decided to say yes. I was doing that service. I was filled with so many years of emotion that I've started to break down and cry and felt like this is where I belong.

The few weeks after I started to study my Bible and pray that one day I would die to my old self and be born again. About six months later, I went to a Flyers game with my friends with no intention on slowing down or quitting drinking. And something in me that day decided that this was my last drink, and by the grace of God, I haven't drank since.

I continued to read my Bible and pray, and slowly my intrusive thoughts and depression kind of diminished. I decided to be baptized today as a public display and commitment to fully give my life to Jesus and finally give it all to Him.

Steve, is it your desire to testify to this relationship with Christ through baptism? Yes, it is. Alright. Steve, it's my joy to baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, in the likeness of his death, and the likeness of his resurrection.

And Steve's wife, Rebecca, is going to join us now. All

right, Rebecca, have you received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? Yes. Okay. We're going to hear about that. Hi, my name is Rebecca. I started attending fellowship a little over a year ago, but my journey with my faith started when I was really young. I grew up a believer and I did go to a Catholic school and church growing up.

I did feel like however, I had a lot of questions growing up and I felt like they weren't always the most welcome. So that kind of started my journey when I was. I saw a lot of other people have a really deep relationship with God, and that was something I really longed for. So as I got older, I wanted to start that on my own, and also, um, find a church that I felt was welcoming and would help foster that.

When I was young, I really struggled a lot with anxiety and, um, struggled with intrusive thoughts, and that was something I kind of fouled throughout my life. As I got older, once I was in middle school, I started having, um, Body disorder issues. Um, so, that kind of manifested and I felt like at the time it was helping me with not feeling like I could, um, control my, like, thoughts and my anxiety.

So I felt like by controlling my body it was something I did have control over. I now know that it was just me finding something else to put it into and it didn't actually help. Started controlling my eating habits and just excessively working out. And it really ended up doing more bad than it did good.

When I was a freshman in college, I experienced the unexpected loss of my brother. And at the time that was really difficult. Um, I went through a lot of grieving and ended up suffering from really bad depression. I didn't turn from God, but I definitely didn't lean into Him. And I really used school as a distraction at that time in my life.

I remember, um, talking to my then boyfriend but now husband when I graduated school. And because I put so much of myself into school and used it as such a distraction for myself, once I graduated I felt really lost. Um, and just like really did not know what my purpose was. And then fast forward to once I was in my career, I had the first withdrawal of one of my patients, and that really affected me more than I ever thought it would.

I later, the things I was going through, when I talked to a fellow medical professional, she explained what I was feeling. I was going through PTSD from what I had felt, like what I've done at work. And that really set me into, I struggled from the PTSD, and then I had, struggled from really bad depression after that.

I remember talking to my mom, and I would like, look at a photo of myself, or look at myself in the mirror, and I really felt like I did not know who I was looking at, because I was just in such a dark place. I felt so disconnected from myself. That last, that was like my longest season, I felt like, and I went through times where I felt like I would think about self harm a lot, my anxieties were really high, um, I feel like my intrusive thoughts were like at an all time high, and I just did not know how to escape it.

Eventually, I found an anxiety study, actually it was a Bible study, and I started doing that slowly every day. And then I started listening to worship music a lot and just really starting to get into my bible. And every day, slowly, I felt like things were starting to feel a little bit better. And then it was probably a year and a half.

After that, I was faced with the same thing at work. Um, and I knew going into a shift that that's what my shift was going to be. So that was extremely difficult. I felt like I was just coming out of a period that was so, so dark and really, really difficult for me. And I didn't know if my heart could go back to that place and how I would handle it.

So that was honestly the night that I feel like I was saved. I was driving into work, listening to my worship music, and I was just crying out and praying to God the entire time. Um, in that moment, I really just asked Him to be with me, and I, throughout my life, Before that, a lot of it I feel like I tried to do on my own and I knew I couldn't do it on my own anymore.

I needed him. I just needed his own strength, not mine. I needed him to be with me no matter what I was going to go through because I didn't know how it was going to go. And I, I just asked him to be with me the whole time in the car and it's so unexplainable, but the feeling that I had in the car, I can't describe it as anything else, but feeling the Holy Spirit.

I just felt, I was like nervous to go into the shift, but just felt so reassured. It was just a really amazing feeling. It's something I always tell my husband, that I just want everyone to experience it because I just did not feel alone. It just felt so reassuring to me. That was a really big turning point in my life.

Um, I really just owe everything to God and to Christ. I feel like I have a renewed life after that. Um, of course still face struggles, but I'm not alone with them. And I just turned to my Bible and look for the truth because anything that I try to tell myself that my mind tells me, it's usually just.

From the enemy and lies and I just look to truth and it's so reassuring. Um, I just, I want to be baptized because I just want to display what I feel internally. I just feel new from before and I have a new life and I'm so grateful for it. Um, so that's why I want to be baptized. Well,

Becca, is it your desire to testify to this relationship with Christ through baptism? Yes.

Alright, Rebecca, it's my joy to baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, in the likeness of his death, and the likeness of his resurrection.

We're going to have Dash Musig come and share this morning.

Right, Dash, have you received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? Yes. All right. We're going to hear about that. Hi, my name is Dash and I am 16 years old. I have been regularly attending church for as long as I can remember. So, sin is also a term. Like, I've learned, I've known about sin for as long as I can remember.

And, though I don't know the exact date as to when I realized I was a sinner or, or learning about sin, I know it happened when I was very young. And, as soon as I pretty much learned about repenting for your sins and going to heaven, I am pretty much, I knew, alright, I have to do this. And pretty much right then and there, I did it.

I still remember the moment I just looked up after it was like, wow, this is done. It was a big moment for me in my life. Jesus has also made some differences in my life. And one, one example of this is when I was around five years old, I was diagnosed with a really mild form of autism. But God has managed to help me through that and actually turn that, that difficulty, that challenge into a gift.

Actually helped me to pull through with it. And I know that I am saved through Jesus, which means that I know that when I die, I will go to heaven. Because I was at such a young age when I learned about being saved, I believe that God may have saved me from some really bad situations. And I sometimes think that my relationship with Christ may have guided me to the right place.

And I hope that that continues to happen. God can continue to take me to the right place. I want to be baptized because I remember I learned about baptism when I watched my Aunt Stephanie get baptized when I was like 6 something like that. It was an idea that it was something that we should do more recently, but it's something we've been considering for a while since I It's something that God calls for all of us to do.

So it's just something I decided to do today

Dash is it your desire to testify to this relationship with Jesus through baptism? Yes, it is All right, Dash, I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit in the likeness of his death, and in the likeness of his resurrection.

All right, joining me up next is Sophia Keitlinger.

All right, Sophia, it looks like you have a fan club in the front row. Sophia, have you received Jesus Christ as your Savior? Okay, we're gonna hear about that Hello, my name is Sophia and this is my story for the past 13 years. My life hasn't been perfect We struggled to get by with little food and money and I grew up without a father in my life That's been really challenging Especially because I haven't had two parents to be able to like turn to and I'm not gonna be able to learn anything from my dad I also had a lot of troubles in school Because I'm autistic.

Kids used to make fun of me every day, and they used to call me names, and even physical violence, which has made my life so much more difficult than it had to be. But I had Jesus in my life, and that was what was the most important thing. I think with Jesus, it really made my life a lot more easier, because without him, I don't think I would have made it.

To where I am today when Jesus first came into my heart. I really felt Good. It made me realize that there's good things in the life, especially today. He's made a lot of things happen that I never thought were going to happen. I'm at a new school and have made amazing friends. And, um, even though I did do, I had a lot of bad things that went in my life, I still made it because of Jesus.

And today I'm being baptized because. I want to show everyone that this is who I am and that nobody can change me. And that you can also do this and become a follower of Jesus as well. Thank you. Alright. Down from there. And I'll move this over. Okay.

Sophia, is it your desire to testify to this relationship you do have with Jesus through baptism this morning? Absolutely. Alright. Alright, Sophia, it's my joy to baptize you in the name of the Father. The Son and the Holy Spirit in the likeness of his death, the likeness of his resurrection. All

right, up next is Kayleen Negron.

All right, Kayleen, have you received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? Yes. All right, we're going to hear about that. Hi, my name is Kayleen. Um, I'm going to be sharing my testimony with you all today. I was raised Catholic, um, had my baptism, my communion, my confirmation growing up. Um, I kind of looked at church and prayer more so out of like an obligation or of like a chore.

I didn't really have a personal relationship with God. I didn't really seek him. I kind of. rejected him and turned away from him for the majority of my life. As a child, I had a lot of chaos in my head. I was a very highly sensitive child. Um, I struggled with intrusive thoughts growing up and was diagnosed with depression and anxiety at a really young age.

Later, I was diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder, which is a major part of my story. My emotional suffering really came to a head when I was in high school. Um, and I started struggling with suicidal ideations. I had my first suicide attempt in high school. And I remember as a teenager, um, I was very impulsive.

I was very angry, very rebellious. Um, constantly searching for answers everywhere, but, but in God. Throughout all of my efforts to solve things on my own and throughout my limits here, I kept hitting constant brick walls. It was like I kept searching for answers, but I was coming up empty. Um. And I was never able to really find the peace and the comfort that I was looking for and all the books that I read and everyone that I spoke to and therapists and And, you know, and everything here, um, I, I wasn't finding what I was looking for.

Um, I never thought that I was going to make it to 30 years old. My outlook on life was very grim and very, um, miserable. And that kind of bled out to every aspect of my life. Throughout most of my early 20s, my identity was rooted in earthly things, um, rooted in what kind of job I had or in my mental illness, in my diagnoses.

I never really stopped to consider that I was a child of God and that I am a child of God. Um, never stopped to consider that I was living a sinful, sinful life, that I didn't have to carry this burden, these burdens by myself. Um, that I couldn't carry them by, by myself, I underestimated God's faithfulness, um, in my life and his presence in my life.

Um, and looking back even throughout all my struggles, I realized how he was there, how he pulled me out of the darkest times in my life. And, um, saved me. Things balanced out for me emotionally as I approached my mid twenties. Um, and then in 2020 I received one of my biggest blessings and I had my son Leo.

Um, motherhood presented a new set of challenges for me, some foreign and some familiar. Um, it was completely unknown territory. I Wanted to do the best job that I could do, but realized that I was very limited in my own strength. Um, I moved away from family and friends. COVID was alive and well. And my OCD Um, skyrocketed.

A lot of my intrusive thoughts got really bad postpartum, and I struggled with really bad postpartum anxiety. I was also experiencing a resurfacing of my childhood traumas. And I just wanted to be the best mother that I could possibly be, um, for this little boy. But this is where I found Christ. In the season of isolation, um, that I was in.

And all of the challenges and victories. of motherhood, um, and all of the pain and emotional suffering. That is when I found God. That is when I turned to Christ. Um, I came to a point in 2023 where I was just so desperate that I cried out to God. I started praying relentlessly every day, um, and decided to fully surrender all of my.

All of my problems, all of my struggles, little and small, to Christ. I felt this really deep pull to start reading scripture, to start reading the Bible, and I started in the New Testament, I started in the Gospel, and there, there it was. All of the, the peace and the comfort and the consolation that I was looking for, um, was there, um, through Him and in Him.

So through coming to know him and through a total surrender and through accepting him as my lord and as my savior, I felt this burden kind of be lifted off of my chest and that is why it's my deep desire to get baptized today. Um, to proclaim my love and devotion to him, to accept the Lord as my Lord and Savior, Christ as my Lord and Savior, and just to start this new chapter of full dedication to Christ.

Amen.

Kaleen, is it your desire to testify to this relationship with Christ through baptism? Yes. Alright Kayleen, I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, in the likeness of his death, and in the likeness of his resurrection.

Jared Rapka is gonna come next.

We're not short, it's just deep in here. Jared, have you received Jesus as Lord and Savior? Yes. I'd love to hear about that. Hello, my name is Jared Robka and I'm here to get baptized. I grew up in a Christian household. I, um, grew up here at this church for lifer, you know. Um, always went to youth group and, you know, went for the games, stayed for the friends, you know.

Um, it wasn't until I want to say my freshman year of high school when my mom, uh, forced me to go to a FCA soccer camp is that when I really understood who Jesus was and what a relationship meant with him, um, I really, uh, there, I, I really like prayed about it and I realized that, you know, my counselor, their struggle with some things that I struggle with.

And, um, you know, we're all not perfect, and I think that's really a big thing to understand. And, so, at that soccer camp, I gave myself to the Lord, you know. And it was all great, I want to say. Fantastic. A lot of emotions. Um, but I think from there, um, From freshman year to junior year, you know, I was all in.

It was good. It was great. I, I was on that spiritual high, you know? That spiritual high, you know? It was a great, fantastic feeling. But, um, you know, I really didn't understand, you know, What it really meant to be in a relationship with God. So I want to say, senior year is really when I like started questioning my relationship with Him.

And questioning, you know, is this like, is this for me, is this um, Is this really what I want, you know? But, um, going to Liberty University, um, it was a good thing. It was, going to a Christian university was great, but I think, in the back of my mind, I really struggled with, you know, my thoughts of my relationship with God and where I was.

I really questioned Him, and I was like, Well, God, where are you in my life? You know, where Where are you at this moment, you know, and I, I really had to step back and, you know, thankfully COVID happened and I had, I came home and really, you know, really thought about it and, you know, and I, I, I realized that I never, I didn't have a great community there.

I mean, I had great friends, but I didn't have, I wasn't all in, you know, I wasn't, I learned that it was a, I guess I treated God as a one way street. You know, always taking, taking. I was never giving, you know, in the sense of, you know, I never put effort into my relationship. I, uh, at first I was like, alright, I just gotta get through school and everything, and, you know, Mark and Tracy, um, every time I saw them they were like, Come to, come to Young Adults.

You'll like Young Adults. And I was like, alright, you know, I'll come to Young Adults and, you know. Well, you know, I end up liking young adults, you know, love Joe, love the people there. Um, I really, uh, started to grow in my relationship with him because I, I felt like I was doing something, you know, I felt like I was, uh, you know, putting in effort.

I, I just want to dive right in and that's why I'm getting baptized. You know, I just want to show to the entire church that, you know, I'm on fire, you know, I want to, I want to be in this and I want to be with God.

Jared, is it your desire to publicly testify to that relationship, that two way street relationship with Jesus now? Yes. Alright. It's my joy to baptize you in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, in the likeness of His death. In the likeness of His resurrection.

There's nothing like that. Throughout, um, this morning and the rest of the, just the, The service before this just hearing how Jesus shows up in pain and in brokenness over and over again. It's such a privilege. We're going to close the service now with a final song, an opportunity for us all to respond in worship.

Um, and also for any of you who might be fully feeling the pull on your heart, uh, to respond to some of these things. Maybe you don't know, um, if this two way street relationship between you. And Jesus exists, maybe you, maybe you do know, um, but you want to publicly declare that before an assembly, um, that you are following Christ.

Um, so whatever your reason this morning, we are going to have people up front who are offering prayer to you. If you'd like to receive prayer, um, during the music or afterwards, um, either are fine. Um, but now we're just going to pray, um, thank the Lord for this time and close in worship. Lord, we, we give you praise for your great glory, um, for your persistent and continual pursuit of our hearts, Lord, for the unbelievable humility that you showed by sending your only son who did not consider equality with God, something to be grasped, but rather took on the nature of a servant.

Living the life we could never live and dying the death that we could and should have died. Instead, rescuing us from the pit. All for the sake of your great love. Lord, thank you for this time. May we respond and worship our God.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/baptism-service-february-2024 5e7fc0f6-a936-40f4-b7a4-2141c8be597d Sun, 25 Feb 2024 13:36:52 GMT <div data-html="true">Titus 2:11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> All right. You can continue worshiping because, um, you're going to get like a six and a half minute sermon here this morning. Okay. Nobody's celebrating that. Okay. Okay. Yeah. No, the preaching of God's word is very important. And we've talked about this, um, as a staff, it is a joy that there are 16 people this morning getting baptized. <br /><br /> Um, you're only going to hear. <br /><br /> You're only going to hear eight of those stories in this service, and if you want to stay for the next one, you can get the other eight, uh, but we'll encourage you, you can also watch their testimonies online, but I'm going to just share with you a little bit, kind of set the stage for where we, are going this morning. <br /><br /> baptism as many of you may know, some of you may not know is really a symbol. It's a symbol of what God has done in the lives of those that know him. Baptism does not make you a Christian. It declares that you already are. That's why you'll see each person that comes into the tank this morning, wearing one of these shirts that says forgiven. <br /><br /> they're wearing it before they enter the tank because it's a declaration that God has already done something in their lives. And so when each person goes under the water, you'll hear us say, in the likeness of his death. And as we bring them back up out of the water, we'll say, in the likeness of the resurrection of Jesus. <br /><br /> In the same way that he died and rose again, baptism displays this union that we have with him, this connection to him. We too have died to an old way of life and have been raised to a new way of life. And now, reborn, we get to live out that faith. Joe mentioned each person is going to testify and share in their own unique way of ways that God has drawn, them to himself. <br /><br /> However, there's one specific thread that runs common throughout, and that's what I wanted to share with you this morning. We're really all telling small parts. Of the big story of what God has been doing all along, God's story. and I want to read to you just a, a passage this morning that is really a summary, of the whole gospel in one short section. <br /><br /> So, if you want to turn with me, we're going to be in the book of Titus. Now, I realize Titus might take you all of my entire sermon to find. It's one of those difficult books. as the Spirit of God would have it, if you go Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, we get to the T books in the New Testament. <br /><br /> First and second, Thessalonians, then first and second, Timothy, and then on to Titus. They're in alphabetical order in the T's, okay? The T's are in alphabetical order, so check them out. it is page 938. If you got one of the Bibles in the pew, you're like, why didn't you just say that at the beginning? <br /><br /> That's all I needed to know. But I'd like you to look at the, at the passage, click it on your phone, find it. We're going to be in Titus chapter 2 just for a minute here this morning. I want you to see these words because there are no slides, but I want you to also hear them this morning too. We're in Titus chapter 2 verse 11. <br /><br /> For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people. Training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self controlled upright and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. <br /><br /> Father, this is a dense portion of scripture. And I pray, Lord, with, the power of your spirit, might you allow us to comprehend how, how incredible your love is, how intentional your plan is. And Lord, as we hear stories this morning of, of ways that you have delivered people out of sin and, and their own darkness and brought them into a new relationship with you. <br /><br /> Lord, convince us that this saving power is still available today for those that do not know you. God, I pray, you would teach us this morning in many ways this morning. We pray in your name, amen. So I just want to walk verse by verse really quickly through this here. I only have like two minutes left, right? <br /><br /> So you're, you're going to, it's going to be quick for the grace of God has appeared. Bringing salvation for all people. That means Jesus, the grace of God, has appeared. Jesus sent to earth, that is, God with skin on. He came down and lived among us. Full of grace, bringing salvation for all people. And though it is available for all people, we know from the scriptures that not all will be saved. <br /><br /> That it's for only those who surrender in their faith to Jesus. And what does this surrendered life look like? How does it practically work out? Well, we walk in this grace. Look at verse 12, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age. <br /><br /> This is the work of Jesus. This is the work of grace in our lives. He gives grace, not just for a new identity, but for a new way to live. We're not just saved from the penalty of sin. We are reprogrammed to, to want and desire his way of life. We're delivered from the power of sin now, not just eternally, but now here living godly lives in this present age. <br /><br /> That is the training ground of grace. And you might notice in some of the stories this morning and in your own life, you and I have not graduated from this Institute of Grace yet. We are all in process. And so as you hear stories this morning, you might still pick up that they don't have all of the finer points of theology figured out and everything. <br /><br /> You and I probably are still growing in that as well. And so as we follow Christ. We're living to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, living new lives because of grace. Here's what it says though. We're, we're training and living in this world, but we're also waiting, verse 13, for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and savior, Jesus Christ. <br /><br /> Our eyes are fixed, not just here, but also on a time to come, a return of Christ to dwell among us. A recreation of this world, fully glorified beings we will be for those that have a relationship with him. And for this we wait, for this we wait. But in this waiting process, we don't just gather here, hide and, and live as, we, we might call it the holy huddle. <br /><br /> We're sent out to live on display waiting for this return. How is this all possible? Verse 14. Remember this, Jesus gave himself for us in his death on the cross to redeem us, to buy us back from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works by his death in our place. <br /><br /> Through faith, we are redeemed, bought back from the power of sin. Made new in his image, purified and given to do good works in his name. Not as a way to earn, but as a way of worship. We live this out. Man, if, if you ever want to just present the gospel in, in, in full, go to Titus 2, use this passage. It's got it all. <br /><br /> Jesus, the rescuer, came to buy us back. So, as you come this morning and as we hear stories of people and their testimony of what God has done in their life, we say this each time, I want you to look, to listen, and respond. Look, there, there's something visible happening this morning. This is not just testimony, but it's actually displaying, again, that buried with him and raised to new life, this is baptism. <br /><br /> I want you to listen carefully to the words spoken and also to respond, knowing that as people share their stories, there will be things that potentially you hear that connect to your story. Possibly, it's through adoption, maybe a connection that you've made. Maybe it's through, struggles with parents, or things that you've, wrestled with through your lives. <br /><br /> Maybe there's, someone that, sensed the stage of a midst of confusion, that they were just unsure about where to go, or they were pursuing darkness, and God rescued them. Might I suggest that you're here this morning because God wants to encourage the body of Christ. That God wants to do something specific in these baptisms, that might speak to you. <br /><br /> So if you're here and maybe you feel triggered by someone's story or, or things that they have gone through, we want to walk through this with you. God is drawing you in and he'd love to, build a relationship with you. But can I ask you, uh, take out a pen. There's a, there's a pen in the back of, uh, the seats there. <br /><br /> Maybe you have one already. And if you grab a bulletin this morning. There's some blank space because I didn't give you any notes this morning. But I'd like for you to maybe write down names of people and things that people have walked through in their testimonies that you're going to hear. Maybe you just pray for them in their journey. <br /><br /> Maybe there's a connection that you make and you want to encourage them after the service and just say, Hey, I'm praying for you by name. This is a way that we can take baptism and be encouraged, but also be an encouragement to those being baptized. Lastly, um, this is a celebration. Uh, there are no good testimonies and like sort of good testimonies and bad testimonies. <br /><br /> Everyone, everyone, everyone is only saved because of God's light shining onto their hearts. Not because of anything good that they have done. Each time is a miracle. Each time is a sinner turning from death to life, and that's the work of God. So we're gonna cheer. We're gonna have some fun this morning. <br /><br /> We're gonna clap. We're gonna support, okay? So, don't be quiet golf clappers this morning. Uh, be excited, because God's done an incredible work. Um, we're gonna, uh, start our time this morning. Pastor Ben is going to lead us in our first baptisms. And I should say, I'm sorry. Collingswood, you are watching online. <br /><br /> Hi, welcome. And I'm so glad that you get to join us this morning, uh, in baptisms as well. So, Ben. <br /><br /> Number one question you all have, is it cold in there? It's very nice in here. I'm going to invite Beth Burr to come out here. Excited to celebrate with Beth and her giving of testimony this morning. <br /><br /> Beth, is it your desire this morning to testify of your relationship with Christ? Yes. We're going to have a video that shows a little bit about Beth's faith journey. Hi, my name is Beth Burr. I was raised in a Christian household, but when I was young, my family left the church due to hurts. When I was a teenager, I asked to go back. <br /><br /> I immersed myself in the church, attending youth group and youth choir. I learned that being a Christian meant you did things. At some point, I accepted Christ, but I don't remember exactly when. I thought being a good girl was being what it was meant to be Christian. I never realized that you needed a relationship with Christ. <br /><br /> When my husband and I joined Celebrate Recovery a few years ago, we were surrounded by Christians in that relationship. At one point, I decided to recommit my life and my heart to Jesus. I was a good girl, but I was still a sinner. I had to confess my sins of codependency. food issues, and allowing myself to be led astray in an effort to people please. <br /><br /> I thought God was my, like my earthly parents. That if I didn't toe the line, I would be out of the family. Jesus loves us warts and all. He doesn't love our sin, but understands that we are not strong enough to resist it on our own. During CR, I made the decision to turn my life back over to Jesus. I confess that I had hurts, habits, and hang ups that only Jesus could help me with. <br /><br /> I am making better choices about food and am less codependent. I am becoming my own person with Jesus help and what He has called me to do. I am a leader in Celebrate Recovery, even though it's out of my comfort zone, but I believe that's what Jesus is calling me to do. I share my struggles with depression and anxiety, which He has not taken away from me since I was a teenager. <br /><br /> Both to be a beacon to those who have the disease and to break the stigma. God has shown me how faithful he can be. The more I believe in him, the more I see it. And the more easier it is to believe it. My life first is Ecclesiastes 4, 9 through 12. Two are better than one because they have a more satisfying return for their labor. <br /><br /> Where if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and does not have another to lift him up. Again, if two lie down together, then they keep warm. But how can one be warm alone? And though one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken. <br /><br /> I believe this is important during recovery and our Christian faith. We need to have people come alongside us. To help us on this journey. Are you ready for that? Yes. <br /><br /> Beth, is it your desire to in front of these people in Mt. Laurel and these people in Collingswood this morning testify of this faith in Christ through baptism? Yes. It is my great delight to baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son And of the Holy Spirit, and the likeness of Christ's death, and the likeness of his resurrection. <br /><br /> Good. I'd <br /><br /> like to invite Megan Heaney down. This is Megan. Megan, have you personally accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? I have, yes. We have a video to tell a little bit more about Megan's faith journey. My name is Megan Heaney and I've declared, and I've decided to get baptized as an adult because I'm going to declare myself to the Lord. <br /><br /> My life before Jesus was a life of sin and unhappiness, and the moment I gave myself to Jesus, I felt immense happiness and I can't be mad at God and not believe in him at the same time. I've dealt with Self harm since I was 13 and my depression has kicked me my whole life and my life has been terrified by suicidal thoughts. <br /><br /> Before Celibate Recovery, I had nothing to live for. I've, God has called me to write poetry and this is one I've been really, really proud of. I tremble not because I'm afraid, but because I'm fiercely made. You are with me when I stand tall and I feel like I may fall at any minute. I have continuously pushed you away, but you are always here to stay, defying you at all costs. <br /><br /> I'm finally safe in the faith that I thought I lost. This world is as fast paced, stuck in a shoe that is laced the wrong way. My smile is a facade. I feel like a fraud. I run from the pain inside. I run from the happiness I cannot explain. I run to my God, cause he has never left my side. I had to lose you before I was allowed to choose you. <br /><br /> You have always been with me. Especially every minute I run from you. I want to yell surprise at every sunrise. Cry secret tears while I face fears. You will be ahead of me by 28 feet and behind me to capture each feet ahead of every thought of self harm and use these things to disarm the broken suffer faith through anger, anger through laughter, smile through pain and pain through grace. <br /><br /> John 3 16 has brought me joy through times of suffering for God to love the world. He gave his only begotten son to believe in him shall not perish, but have, have ever after life. <br /><br /> Megan, is it your desire to testify to these people this morning of your faith in Christ through baptism? It is. Yes. It is my joy to baptize you in the name and the delight. of the Father, of the Son, of the Holy Spirit, in the likeness of Christ's death, and in the likeness of his resurrection. <br /><br /> Morning, everybody. I'm going to have Malia McGinley join me. <br /><br /> Malia, I've had a chance to do this with a number of McGinleys, and I'm really excited to have you up here. Malia, have you received Jesus Christ as your Savior? Yes. All right, we're going to hear about that. Hi, my name is Malia McGinley. I was born in semi Kazakhstan. I was told I was the youngest of eight siblings. <br /><br /> When I was seven months old, I was taken from my family due to severe neglect, starvation, and abuse. I was placed in an orphanage and lived there until I was three and a half years old, until I was finally adopted by a woman from New Jersey. And after living with her and her partner for several months, they decided I wasn't a good fit for their family. <br /><br /> I was then placed in a several private foster care system until I was brought to my true and forever home, one with six older siblings. My biological mom drank a lot of alcohol while I was growing up inside her. And because of that and the traumatic experience during my early years, I learned differently from the other kids my age. <br /><br /> I struggle in school and in social situations and in other areas of my life. I have a difficult time trusting people and I often withdraw, hide. Hide behind books, embellish the truth, and sometimes I say silly things at the wrong time. I know I have said and done so many things to hurt people, but especially my parents, and they still love me. <br /><br /> And I am so thankful for that. My family introduced me to Jesus. They showed me a love that I could never have imagined. I accepted Christ a few years ago when I was at a class at church in the summer, but I didn't fully understand it. My father meets with me every morning and For Bible reading and devotions. <br /><br /> Something I did not like at first, but I've grown to love. Because of me and my father's time together, I have learned so much about God and his love for me. My mom prays for me constantly, and when she drops me off at school, she says to me, Remember, Malia, you are never alone. Jesus will never leave you or forsake you, and you are a princess warrior of Christ. <br /><br /> As time has gone by, I've been able to look backwards and see that there's no coincidence that I was brought 7, 000 miles from Kazakhstan to New Jersey. It was all God and His kindness to me. I know I will never be happy or at peace trying to live for myself. I only want to, but I need Jesus to be my best friend. <br /><br /> I am being baptized today to be obedient to the Lord and to publicly declare my faith to God and to show Him how thankful I am for rescuing me. I know my story is not over, but what I do know is what Psalm 139. 13, John and Joshua 29. 11 say. I am created by God, He designed me. So I am not a mistake. The Lord picked me to be His own, so I am wanted. <br /><br /> And He has a future for me because He loves me. Flaws and all. Thank you. Malia, it's my <br /><br /> joy to baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, in the likeness of his death, and in the likeness of his resurrection. <br /><br /> Okay, up next we have Nicole Curtis, who's going to join me. <br /><br /> Nicole, have you received Christ as your Savior? Yes. Alright, we're gonna hear a little about that. My name is Nicole, and this is my baptism testimony. I have always believed in Jesus Christ, but I have never truly lived for Him. I've lived a very sinful life the past ten years, in search of love and happiness in all the wrong places, and that just resulted in more pain and more suffering. <br /><br /> I've been through a lot of things, some things that were a matter of life or death. And in those times, I had strength that I had. I knew that it was God in those times. And two years ago, I turned my life around. And during that time, I had a bond that became undoubtedly real with God. So today, I am giving myself and my life to the Lord and claiming Him as my I want to repent my sins and live for, for God. <br /><br /> Nicole, is it your desire to be baptized today to testify about this relationship with Christ? Yes. Alright. <br /><br /> Alright, Nicole, it is my joy to baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, in the likeness of His death, in the likeness of His resurrection. You're welcome. <br /><br /> John Pepitone is gonna join us, uh, here this morning. <br /><br /> All right, John, have you received Christ as your Savior? Yes. All right, we're gonna hear about that. Hi, my name's John. I'm 23. I'm, uh, kind of new to the Christ thing, kind of not. Um, I was raised in the church, but I walked away for a long time. I had found myself in a place where I didn't know what to turn to, who to look after, and couldn't take care of myself, let alone anybody else. <br /><br /> Uh, I was engaged. I was making a lot more money than I A lot of 23 year olds my age, and it led me down a really dark road. Uh, when my, my fiance had left me, I, uh, I broke. The, the world brought me to my knees. And, I didn't know what to do, other than turn to God. Because that's what I was raised with. I had started, uh, reading the Bible. <br /><br /> praying as much as I could possibly. Um, the only way that I could put it is that I felt like I had been starving for my entire life and And when I finally started indulging in God and reading, looking after his word, searching for him, it was the only thing in my life that I found that satiated my hunger. <br /><br /> That's that's the best way I can put it. <br /><br /> John, it's my joy to baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, in the likeness of his death, and the likeness of his resurrection. <br /><br /> Up next we have Courtney Hutchins that's going to join me. Alright, Courtney, have you received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? Yes. Alright, let's hear about that. Hi, I'm Courtney Hutchins. Uh, I grew up in a house where Jesus was present. Um, my mom was the youth director and so my brothers and I were church rats, basically. Um, from vacation Bible school to church potlucks, um, to late night finger rockets in the sanctuary. <br /><br /> You name the church activity and we were there. It was really in middle school where I started to understand the love that Jesus has for me. I was at a camp called The Great Escape for middle schoolers, and that's just where the gospel was really shared in a more tangible way. Um, the theme of that week was Matthew 7 7, um, so it's kind of ask, seek, knock. <br /><br /> Um, and I'll I'll be really honest, um, my mom remembers this better than I do, but I said to her, I think I get it, meaning I really just started to understand what Jesus did by dying on the cross for me. So from there, I just, I started to just scrape the surface of what walking with Jesus looked like. Um. <br /><br /> He was kind of a part of all of our routines, um, our day to day, our summer trips. Um, Jesus was just kind of a priority and, um, through the ordinary and the opportunities, I just grew to become more and more a follower of Christ. But what I think was valuable, kind of looking back on just that season, um, was the community of people surrounding me, um, and that wasn't just my immediate family. <br /><br /> Uh, I just didn't really realize how meaningful or impactful that was on my walk with the Lord, but it's something I grew to know and, um, something that I just really wanted more of. And so that kind of led me into, um, just my college years. And so I'm just really grateful that going to church, um, growing up was initially my parent's choice, but then it grew to be more and more of my choice. <br /><br /> And so during those years, I, um, my faith really grew to became my own. I sought out friendships that were rooted in Christ and a Bible study that was challenging and encouraging and just really strengthening of my walk with the Lord and my understanding of who His character is. Um, I was able to spend two summers during college with Sun Servants as part of their summer staff. <br /><br /> Um, And so I would say both of those summers were just really incredibly influential and enriching and, um, my trust and hope in Jesus. Really, the fear of unknown was a pretty crippling during that season of life and, um, a lot of big decisions happening during those years and, um, but just because of the people the Lord put in my life and my knowledge of And, um, I gained in just the Lord's favor and faithfulness. <br /><br /> I just learned those different things and really learned how to surrender my plans and my wants and my desires to Jesus. Allow myself to let him work in and through me. And so I just, I feel like there's just a lot of seasons and themes of, um, a faithful trust in surrounding. myself with rich community. <br /><br /> Um, those were really just gifts, honestly. Um, after marrying my husband, we both desired and longed for being part of community again. Um, we yearned for the communities we both had prior to marriage and, um, wanted that together. Um, and since I was a part of the FCC family, um, prior to meeting him, um, When we decided to move back to New Jersey, we knew that this is where we wanted to root ourselves, um, and just dive in together, dive in serving together. <br /><br /> Uh, we really wanted to come under the authority of this church as members and serve alongside the community of, Believers and walk through life together. Um, and that really, that meant choosing to be baptized. So I, I kind of wrestled with this concept for a little bit. Um, Got to talk to Mike a lot, but, and my husband, but, so I was baptized as an infant, and I was a member prior, or a member of a church prior to all of this. <br /><br /> My wrestling was really with my own fear of, I'm doing this because I want to be a member of a church. It felt kind of selfish. Um, I was afraid that my motive wasn't honoring of the Lord. Um, but I really came to realize that it's, it's not selfishness, but an act of obedience and a proclamation of what God has done and continues to do in my life. <br /><br /> Uh, I've been faithfully serving the Lord now for much of my life and what a beautiful thing that is, but my faithfulness to the Lord now looks like confessing that I'm a sinner and in need of a savior. Um, and just taking a step and coming under the authority of this church and being baptized. Funniest question I'm going to ask you, but. <br /><br /> Courtney, is it your desire to <br /><br /> testify to this relationship with Christ through baptism? Yes. Alright. Courtney, it's my joy to baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In the likeness of his death. In the likeness of his resurrection. <br /><br /> And Sam Hutchins now is going to join us in the tank this morning. <br /><br /> Sam, have you received Christ as your Lord and Savior? Yes. Alright, we're going to hear about that. Good morning, uh, my name is Sam Hutchins, and I want to tell you just a little bit about, uh, my story. Uh, growing up in our family, God was not really the central animating, um, You know, part of our family life growing up, there was definitely love in our family, but there was also, uh, strife. <br /><br /> And so, uh, for me, what that meant was, um, kind of looking for different avenues of escape. Uh, and if you kind of asked me growing up, it, um You know, I was trying to maybe find my own way. Well, what practically what that looked like was just kind of following what a lot of everybody else was doing. <br /><br /> Growing up I had a lot of doubts about God and You know, that was just kind of a difficult part of my life. I had, you know, some peripheral interest and involvement in different church related things, but was really kind of on the outside, um, and me being on the outside and not kind of diving and not learning more about God, you know, I kind of. <br /><br /> I would probably say it was a lot of doubts, but it was a lot of just, you know, selfishness as well. And, um, and kind of wrestling through some of the dynamics with my family growing up. I had familiarity with a missions organization, and so, um, In, in kind of the early part of my college years, I decided to apply for, um, to work with sun servants, uh, for a summer, and, and I really didn't know what I was getting into, and, uh, you know, on their part, they didn't know what they were getting into with, uh, me, and thankfully they were really gracious and, and loving towards me in a, in a season of, you know, of doubting, of, um, Selfishness and different things like that. <br /><br /> And so, um, I spent the summer with them and it was really uh, beautiful of being involved with the Christian community and um, you know, God before that was really impersonal to me. Uh, which when God is impersonal He's also Um, and throughout the summer, God just became much more personal. We read through the book of John. <br /><br /> Um, and it's really fitting that we kind of ended the summer culminating when Jesus is talking to Thomas. And Jesus says to Thomas, Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed. And so, really throughout the summer that was kind of That really just struck me. It was life giving and convicting of the sense of, you know, I'm, I, yes, I, there's things maybe I haven't seen. <br /><br /> I do have doubts and yet it is. ultimately good to see Jesus and to believe in him. And so, um, I, I have, you know, of thinking of that time of really kind of coming to faith. Uh, there's a quote from Tom Skinner, the late evangelist, that really just puts into words better than I can. This is what he says about his own testimony. <br /><br /> I spent a long time trying to come to grips with my doubts. When suddenly I realized I had better come to grips with what I believe. I have since moved from the agony of questions that I cannot answer, to the reality of answers that I cannot escape. I love that line. The agony of questions that I cannot answer, to the reality of answers that I cannot escape. <br /><br /> And it's a wonderful relief. And ultimately For, for me, for us as Christians, our ultimate answer is the person and work of, of Jesus. Um, our relief ultimately is the person and work of Jesus. And not that there aren't, you know, uh, good answers to different kinds of questions, but ultimately it is Him. And over that summer, that's really what I discovered was Jesus. <br /><br /> The, the personal God who loves and cares for me and knows me. And so Um, that was kind of, you know, that process really began in the first part of college. And, uh, there's been, you know, a lot of life that has happened since that point. Um, you know, I've gone through moving a lot, uh, you know, in soon after I became a believer, my parents divorced and that was really unsettling for our family. <br /><br /> And so, um. Ultimately, in all of those things, uh, you know, there's a quote from Spurgeon that says, you know, um, I have a great need for Christ, and I have a great Christ for my need. And so, in all of those things, really kind of finding that, uh, finding that to be the case. You know, all of this kind of leads to baptism today. <br /><br /> And so, you know, there's been a couple points in, you know, the past couple years where I've been more and more convicted. Um, In the sense of, of the need for baptism as my response to what, uh, God has done and so, um, you know, in, in being a part of this church of, you know, moving here, um, in the past year and a half and, and being more and more involved, I've just seen more and more, um, my response to be baptized, um, as something that I need Need to do and joyfully, uh, get to do in front of the congregation and a group of believers. <br /><br /> And, and so, uh, yeah, excited to, to be here and to ultimately to know, uh, to know Jesus. <br /><br /> Sam, is it your desire to testify to this relationship with Christ through baptism? Yes. Sam, I baptize you. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, in the likeness of his death, and in the likeness of his resurrection. <br /><br /> And our final one this morning is Maria Nolan. <br /><br /> All right, Maria, have you received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? I have. All right, we're going to hear about that. My name is Maria Nolan, and the time that I realized that I was lost and needed saving was two years ago in the fall of 2021. I was 16 years old, and I was going through one of the darkest times in my life at the time. <br /><br /> Um, my parents had just recently gotten divorced, and the back and forth of going from home to home brought back a lot of past trauma from when I was in foster care as a child. Um, I was in foster care from about one month old to three and a half, and then I was adopted at four and a half. And so that resulted in me unfortunately being exposed to a lot of abuse and trauma. <br /><br /> So as I got older, I just, I struggled a lot in school and just, I had a lot of family issues going on as well. So when I was 14, I actually had a therapist that introduced me to witchcraft and she promised me that it would bring all these things to my life that I was looking for, including security and peace and love. <br /><br /> And so. Between the ages of 14 and 16, I acquired hundreds of dollars worth of sorcery things. And throughout it all, everything she told me was a lie, and the only thing that I was doing to myself was being myself, digging myself a deeper grave. Um, literally inviting Satan right into my life, and just getting more depressed, more anxious. <br /><br /> So when my parents were getting divorced, Um, it just, it made things so much harder. I also was like setting myself up for a future of just solely gratifying myself, solely gratifying the world. And so, um, at the time I had just gotten Tik Tok and I lot, my for you page was very dark, it had a lot of dark videos, but throughout every video I would see videos about Jesus. <br /><br /> Um, I just thought they were silly. I thought I was taken too seriously, but gradually I started listening to them and I started realizing that all the things that people were saying about Jesus was what I needed. And so eventually in the fall, the early December of 2021, I decided that I wanted to learn more about Jesus and I wanted to learn what it meant to be a Christian. <br /><br /> So around that time, my mom also decided that she wanted. to have a better relationship with Christ as well. So that's how we came to FCC. And around that time, I started studying my Bible, I started reading my Bible. I started realizing and starting learning about all the things that I was doing, how dangerous that was to myself, to my spirit. <br /><br /> And so I took all things I had, sorcery, I threw it into a fire pit and I burned it all. So since then, everything that Jesus has done in my life, he's done a 100. A complete 180 on my life. I mean, all of my goals for the future have completely transformed. There's so much more fulfilling and they mean so much more. <br /><br /> My life has purpose and being able to look back on times where I didn't see him in my life at the moment, like being able to see him now is just so wonderful. Um, and he's placed me on the, the West Virginia mission trip that the youth group does two times in a row, which has led me to meet so many great Christian mentors. <br /><br /> And, um. From the sun servants group that runs them, which has led me to the opportunity to serve with them this entire summer on all their trips, which I'm very excited about. And so I would like to be baptized because I want. I was baptized when I was five, but obviously I didn't know what I was doing. I didn't know what it meant. <br /><br /> So now that I truly understand, like, what it means for Jesus to have died on that cross, and what it, you know, what it means to be a Christian, I just want to have that public declaration of, you know, my love for Him and my gratitude towards, you know, declaring my new life in Him because of His grace only. <br /><br /> And, yeah. <br /><br /> Maria, thank you for sharing your story. This is the joy of baptism is that we hear of God's rescue in ways that, uh, encourage the church and I pray that it does even more this morning. Maria, is it your desire to be baptized this morning to testify to this relationship with Christ? It is. Yes. All right. <br /><br /> Maria, it's my joy to baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. In the likeness of his resurrection. Death. In the likeness of his resurrection. Great. <br /><br /> This is Joe Osharu. Uh, friend and a guy that I'm very excited to be in the baptismal tank this morning. Joe, have you received Jesus Christ as your Savior? I absolutely have, Mark. We're going to hear about that on your testimony this morning. Hi, I'm Joe Oshiro, and I want to share my testimony with each and every person in the congregation. <br /><br /> Last July, uh, my wife and I had another fight, but this one was even worse than most. I got very ugly with my words, and by the time we had stopped, I have felt very down. I was contemplating things that I did and should have, should have done and the words that I said that were just so ugly and I thought I was really, really low until shortly thereafter when my boys confronted me. <br /><br /> Now I have four boys who I absolutely cherish and when they told me how Our fights had affected their lives so negatively. I thought I was low. I now hit rock bottom. Shortly thereafter, I called a dear friend of ours, Karen Jones, who goes to this church, and talking with her, and very emotionally talking with her, I asked her if I could go to church with her that Sunday. <br /><br /> Um, not only did she say yes, but she was very happy. She had been praying for my wife and I for ever since we met about 25 years ago to find God. So I went to church that Sunday and she introduced me to Pastor Mark and I felt so comfortable with him and he seemed so nice and so kind. Um, we got together the following Friday and we got into families and he told me about his family, his beautiful family. <br /><br /> And then he told me he had a A toddler that had drowned in his own pool, and I realized at that time that I couldn't have handled that, I wouldn't know how to get through that, and I needed something to lean on and to fall back on for strength, and I didn't have that in my life. Immediately when I got in my car, a dear friend, George, gave me a call, and when George heard the desperation in my voice, he immediately said that we gotta get together tonight. <br /><br /> We had a late lunch. Um, before our lunch, I had seen the movie, Sound of Freedom, and the movie is religious based in some way, but more importantly, the trailers that I saw before the movie, three straight, were all fraught with religious overtures, and When I met with George, I told him about that, and as I was breaking up, I told him what had happened with my wife and how I was feeling. <br /><br /> And I realized, shortly thereafter, when I sat back and thought, I said, This isn't a coincidence. From calling Karen, to meeting Pastor Mark that following Sunday, to seeing him the following Friday, to George calling me the second I got in my car. And then seeing the movie just a day later with, with the three trailers, I realized that, that Christ was calling me. <br /><br /> And that he was there to help me. Well, since then I've been blessed so much. The weight of the world has come off my shoulders. I'm feeling like I can handle anything. Whatever problem comes up, I'm comfortable with. I pray for it and I find an answer. Um, I've prayed for being able to not fight with my wife. <br /><br /> And with the Lord's blessing, we've gone seven months and not even an argument. With his strength, I know that I can avoid a fight with her ever, ever again. Um, another one of the blessing, uh, Pastor Mark introduced me to Bill McKinley. Who has not only become my mentor in Christ, but also a dear friend. <br /><br /> Everything that's happened since the time I went to church has shown me that Christ is in my life and that I love Christ. Um, my testimony is very simple. I, I don't know exactly when faith hit me. But I know exactly when I turned to Christ, like Nathaniel and John 1 and 21. I was under my fig tree at my very bottom and Christ came to me. <br /><br /> So hopefully with this story, if I can help anybody find Christ in their, in their lives, I would be just thrilled. And I'm here to say that Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior, and I love him. <br /><br /> Joe, is it your desire to publicly testify of that relationship to Christ by being baptized? Absolutely is, Mark. Okay. <br /><br /> Joe, it's my privilege to baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, in the likeness of His death, in the likeness of His resurrection. so much. <br /><br /> All right, up next we have Lexi Holba, who's going to join me in the tank this morning. <br /><br /> Lexi's a little bit shorter, so we're going to move over this, like, little stool thing we have in here. Okay, now you can see Lexi. Okay, great. <br /><br /> Lexi, have you received Christ as your Savior? Yes, I have. All right, we're going to hear about that. Um, hi, I'm Lexi. And, um, in 2022 is when I was saved and, um, it was a particularly bad year. I felt pretty worthless and, um, unloved a lot. And, uh, in the late summer, I, um, chose to follow Christ. I started getting involved in the church. <br /><br /> Um, And joining Bible studies, I started to read the Bible, which I had never done. And, um, I had completed it. And, um, joining in the church and fellowship with other Christians. Uh, I had decided to change certain things that I was doing, um, that was dishonoring the Lord. And chose to change the way that I live and he has brought me so much joy and peace and Even though I still struggle with anxiety sometimes I do still I know that I have him With me in that time. <br /><br /> So it makes the struggle a little bit easier One verse that has always stuck with me, once I, once I had read it, I couldn't get it out of my mind, and, um, that's Romans 14, 8. And, uh, it says, for if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So whether we live, or whether we die, we are the Lord's. <br /><br /> And, in reading that, I, um, I know who I belonged to, and I know that He, He loved me beyond measure. And I didn't need. Um, the love of people and the acceptance of people necessarily, because I knew that, um, that I was the Lord's. I have seen the way that he has changed my life and how he's changed other people's lives too, in learning their stories and their testimonies. <br /><br /> And, um, just the people that I, I speak to daily and just watching him work in their life and in mine has just, um, Completely changed, changed my life and I want to continue to know him. I had such a hunger to, to just know his heart and know who he is and who he is in my life. And, um, you know why I wanted to follow him was to be like him and I want to be more and more like him every single day. <br /><br /> Um, that's what I strive for. And, uh, I just Such a want to be a, a daughter that pleases him. And, um, that is why I want to be baptized. <br /><br /> Lexi, is it your desire to testify to this relationship with Christ through baptism? Yes. <br /><br /> Lexi, it is my joy to baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In the likeness of his death. In the likeness of his resurrection. <br /><br /> Alright, we're going to have Steve Caporelli join us next. <br /><br /> Steve said, uh, I'll just take my glasses off, and I won't see anybody out there. And I said, nobody's here, Steve. No, it's just me and you. Steve, is it? Um, have you received Christ as your Savior? I have. All right, we're going to hear about that. Hey everybody, my name is Steven Capparelli, and I would say my testimonies start when I was young. <br /><br /> I attended church, I went to CCD, and I learned who Jesus was and what he did for us through my aunt. I would say that I always had faith, um, but I think that The church that I attended was not very welcoming and it wasn't until my aunt was diagnosed with cancer that I really started to question my faith. <br /><br /> My aunt was the most kindest, sweetest person and Christ like person that I knew and I just couldn't understand why something like that would have happened to someone like her. In high school, I met my now wife who always used to pray that one day I would find my way back to God. And she would periodically ask me if I wanted to go to church, but I would always come up with the excuse not to go. <br /><br /> In college, I never really knew what I wanted to do with my life, and I felt like I was falling behind compared to the people around me, and I started to develop some intrusive thoughts and depression. I then turned to heavily drinking and partying to kind of cope with that and never really knew what I wanted to do in life. <br /><br /> It wasn't until I got married when my wife Periodically continued to ask me if I wanted to attend church, but I always came up, still came up with excuses to not go. And it wasn't until Christmas of 2022 that I finally decided to say yes. I was doing that service. I was filled with so many years of emotion that I've started to break down and cry and felt like this is where I belong. <br /><br /> The few weeks after I started to study my Bible and pray that one day I would die to my old self and be born again. About six months later, I went to a Flyers game with my friends with no intention on slowing down or quitting drinking. And something in me that day decided that this was my last drink, and by the grace of God, I haven't drank since. <br /><br /> I continued to read my Bible and pray, and slowly my intrusive thoughts and depression kind of diminished. I decided to be baptized today as a public display and commitment to fully give my life to Jesus and finally give it all to Him. <br /><br /> Steve, is it your desire to testify to this relationship with Christ through baptism? Yes, it is. Alright. Steve, it's my joy to baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, in the likeness of his death, and the likeness of his resurrection. <br /><br /> And Steve's wife, Rebecca, is going to join us now. All <br /><br /> right, Rebecca, have you received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? Yes. Okay. We're going to hear about that. Hi, my name is Rebecca. I started attending fellowship a little over a year ago, but my journey with my faith started when I was really young. I grew up a believer and I did go to a Catholic school and church growing up. <br /><br /> I did feel like however, I had a lot of questions growing up and I felt like they weren't always the most welcome. So that kind of started my journey when I was. I saw a lot of other people have a really deep relationship with God, and that was something I really longed for. So as I got older, I wanted to start that on my own, and also, um, find a church that I felt was welcoming and would help foster that. <br /><br /> When I was young, I really struggled a lot with anxiety and, um, struggled with intrusive thoughts, and that was something I kind of fouled throughout my life. As I got older, once I was in middle school, I started having, um, Body disorder issues. Um, so, that kind of manifested and I felt like at the time it was helping me with not feeling like I could, um, control my, like, thoughts and my anxiety. <br /><br /> So I felt like by controlling my body it was something I did have control over. I now know that it was just me finding something else to put it into and it didn't actually help. Started controlling my eating habits and just excessively working out. And it really ended up doing more bad than it did good. <br /><br /> When I was a freshman in college, I experienced the unexpected loss of my brother. And at the time that was really difficult. Um, I went through a lot of grieving and ended up suffering from really bad depression. I didn't turn from God, but I definitely didn't lean into Him. And I really used school as a distraction at that time in my life. <br /><br /> I remember, um, talking to my then boyfriend but now husband when I graduated school. And because I put so much of myself into school and used it as such a distraction for myself, once I graduated I felt really lost. Um, and just like really did not know what my purpose was. And then fast forward to once I was in my career, I had the first withdrawal of one of my patients, and that really affected me more than I ever thought it would. <br /><br /> I later, the things I was going through, when I talked to a fellow medical professional, she explained what I was feeling. I was going through PTSD from what I had felt, like what I've done at work. And that really set me into, I struggled from the PTSD, and then I had, struggled from really bad depression after that. <br /><br /> I remember talking to my mom, and I would like, look at a photo of myself, or look at myself in the mirror, and I really felt like I did not know who I was looking at, because I was just in such a dark place. I felt so disconnected from myself. That last, that was like my longest season, I felt like, and I went through times where I felt like I would think about self harm a lot, my anxieties were really high, um, I feel like my intrusive thoughts were like at an all time high, and I just did not know how to escape it. <br /><br /> Eventually, I found an anxiety study, actually it was a Bible study, and I started doing that slowly every day. And then I started listening to worship music a lot and just really starting to get into my bible. And every day, slowly, I felt like things were starting to feel a little bit better. And then it was probably a year and a half. <br /><br /> After that, I was faced with the same thing at work. Um, and I knew going into a shift that that's what my shift was going to be. So that was extremely difficult. I felt like I was just coming out of a period that was so, so dark and really, really difficult for me. And I didn't know if my heart could go back to that place and how I would handle it. <br /><br /> So that was honestly the night that I feel like I was saved. I was driving into work, listening to my worship music, and I was just crying out and praying to God the entire time. Um, in that moment, I really just asked Him to be with me, and I, throughout my life, Before that, a lot of it I feel like I tried to do on my own and I knew I couldn't do it on my own anymore. <br /><br /> I needed him. I just needed his own strength, not mine. I needed him to be with me no matter what I was going to go through because I didn't know how it was going to go. And I, I just asked him to be with me the whole time in the car and it's so unexplainable, but the feeling that I had in the car, I can't describe it as anything else, but feeling the Holy Spirit. <br /><br /> I just felt, I was like nervous to go into the shift, but just felt so reassured. It was just a really amazing feeling. It's something I always tell my husband, that I just want everyone to experience it because I just did not feel alone. It just felt so reassuring to me. That was a really big turning point in my life. <br /><br /> Um, I really just owe everything to God and to Christ. I feel like I have a renewed life after that. Um, of course still face struggles, but I'm not alone with them. And I just turned to my Bible and look for the truth because anything that I try to tell myself that my mind tells me, it's usually just. <br /><br /> From the enemy and lies and I just look to truth and it's so reassuring. Um, I just, I want to be baptized because I just want to display what I feel internally. I just feel new from before and I have a new life and I'm so grateful for it. Um, so that's why I want to be baptized. Well, <br /><br /> Becca, is it your desire to testify to this relationship with Christ through baptism? Yes. <br /><br /> Alright, Rebecca, it's my joy to baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, in the likeness of his death, and the likeness of his resurrection. <br /><br /> We're going to have Dash Musig come and share this morning. <br /><br /> Right, Dash, have you received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? Yes. All right. We're going to hear about that. Hi, my name is Dash and I am 16 years old. I have been regularly attending church for as long as I can remember. So, sin is also a term. Like, I've learned, I've known about sin for as long as I can remember. <br /><br /> And, though I don't know the exact date as to when I realized I was a sinner or, or learning about sin, I know it happened when I was very young. And, as soon as I pretty much learned about repenting for your sins and going to heaven, I am pretty much, I knew, alright, I have to do this. And pretty much right then and there, I did it. <br /><br /> I still remember the moment I just looked up after it was like, wow, this is done. It was a big moment for me in my life. Jesus has also made some differences in my life. And one, one example of this is when I was around five years old, I was diagnosed with a really mild form of autism. But God has managed to help me through that and actually turn that, that difficulty, that challenge into a gift. <br /><br /> Actually helped me to pull through with it. And I know that I am saved through Jesus, which means that I know that when I die, I will go to heaven. Because I was at such a young age when I learned about being saved, I believe that God may have saved me from some really bad situations. And I sometimes think that my relationship with Christ may have guided me to the right place. <br /><br /> And I hope that that continues to happen. God can continue to take me to the right place. I want to be baptized because I remember I learned about baptism when I watched my Aunt Stephanie get baptized when I was like 6 something like that. It was an idea that it was something that we should do more recently, but it's something we've been considering for a while since I It's something that God calls for all of us to do. <br /><br /> So it's just something I decided to do today <br /><br /> Dash is it your desire to testify to this relationship with Jesus through baptism? Yes, it is All right, Dash, I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit in the likeness of his death, and in the likeness of his resurrection. <br /><br /> All right, joining me up next is Sophia Keitlinger. <br /><br /> All right, Sophia, it looks like you have a fan club in the front row. Sophia, have you received Jesus Christ as your Savior? Okay, we're gonna hear about that Hello, my name is Sophia and this is my story for the past 13 years. My life hasn't been perfect We struggled to get by with little food and money and I grew up without a father in my life That's been really challenging Especially because I haven't had two parents to be able to like turn to and I'm not gonna be able to learn anything from my dad I also had a lot of troubles in school Because I'm autistic. <br /><br /> Kids used to make fun of me every day, and they used to call me names, and even physical violence, which has made my life so much more difficult than it had to be. But I had Jesus in my life, and that was what was the most important thing. I think with Jesus, it really made my life a lot more easier, because without him, I don't think I would have made it. <br /><br /> To where I am today when Jesus first came into my heart. I really felt Good. It made me realize that there's good things in the life, especially today. He's made a lot of things happen that I never thought were going to happen. I'm at a new school and have made amazing friends. And, um, even though I did do, I had a lot of bad things that went in my life, I still made it because of Jesus. <br /><br /> And today I'm being baptized because. I want to show everyone that this is who I am and that nobody can change me. And that you can also do this and become a follower of Jesus as well. Thank you. Alright. Down from there. And I'll move this over. Okay. <br /><br /> Sophia, is it your desire to testify to this relationship you do have with Jesus through baptism this morning? Absolutely. Alright. Alright, Sophia, it's my joy to baptize you in the name of the Father. The Son and the Holy Spirit in the likeness of his death, the likeness of his resurrection. All <br /><br /> right, up next is Kayleen Negron. <br /><br /> All right, Kayleen, have you received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? Yes. All right, we're going to hear about that. Hi, my name is Kayleen. Um, I'm going to be sharing my testimony with you all today. I was raised Catholic, um, had my baptism, my communion, my confirmation growing up. Um, I kind of looked at church and prayer more so out of like an obligation or of like a chore. <br /><br /> I didn't really have a personal relationship with God. I didn't really seek him. I kind of. rejected him and turned away from him for the majority of my life. As a child, I had a lot of chaos in my head. I was a very highly sensitive child. Um, I struggled with intrusive thoughts growing up and was diagnosed with depression and anxiety at a really young age. <br /><br /> Later, I was diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder, which is a major part of my story. My emotional suffering really came to a head when I was in high school. Um, and I started struggling with suicidal ideations. I had my first suicide attempt in high school. And I remember as a teenager, um, I was very impulsive. <br /><br /> I was very angry, very rebellious. Um, constantly searching for answers everywhere, but, but in God. Throughout all of my efforts to solve things on my own and throughout my limits here, I kept hitting constant brick walls. It was like I kept searching for answers, but I was coming up empty. Um. And I was never able to really find the peace and the comfort that I was looking for and all the books that I read and everyone that I spoke to and therapists and And, you know, and everything here, um, I, I wasn't finding what I was looking for. <br /><br /> Um, I never thought that I was going to make it to 30 years old. My outlook on life was very grim and very, um, miserable. And that kind of bled out to every aspect of my life. Throughout most of my early 20s, my identity was rooted in earthly things, um, rooted in what kind of job I had or in my mental illness, in my diagnoses. <br /><br /> I never really stopped to consider that I was a child of God and that I am a child of God. Um, never stopped to consider that I was living a sinful, sinful life, that I didn't have to carry this burden, these burdens by myself. Um, that I couldn't carry them by, by myself, I underestimated God's faithfulness, um, in my life and his presence in my life. <br /><br /> Um, and looking back even throughout all my struggles, I realized how he was there, how he pulled me out of the darkest times in my life. And, um, saved me. Things balanced out for me emotionally as I approached my mid twenties. Um, and then in 2020 I received one of my biggest blessings and I had my son Leo. <br /><br /> Um, motherhood presented a new set of challenges for me, some foreign and some familiar. Um, it was completely unknown territory. I Wanted to do the best job that I could do, but realized that I was very limited in my own strength. Um, I moved away from family and friends. COVID was alive and well. And my OCD Um, skyrocketed. <br /><br /> A lot of my intrusive thoughts got really bad postpartum, and I struggled with really bad postpartum anxiety. I was also experiencing a resurfacing of my childhood traumas. And I just wanted to be the best mother that I could possibly be, um, for this little boy. But this is where I found Christ. In the season of isolation, um, that I was in. <br /><br /> And all of the challenges and victories. of motherhood, um, and all of the pain and emotional suffering. That is when I found God. That is when I turned to Christ. Um, I came to a point in 2023 where I was just so desperate that I cried out to God. I started praying relentlessly every day, um, and decided to fully surrender all of my. <br /><br /> All of my problems, all of my struggles, little and small, to Christ. I felt this really deep pull to start reading scripture, to start reading the Bible, and I started in the New Testament, I started in the Gospel, and there, there it was. All of the, the peace and the comfort and the consolation that I was looking for, um, was there, um, through Him and in Him. <br /><br /> So through coming to know him and through a total surrender and through accepting him as my lord and as my savior, I felt this burden kind of be lifted off of my chest and that is why it's my deep desire to get baptized today. Um, to proclaim my love and devotion to him, to accept the Lord as my Lord and Savior, Christ as my Lord and Savior, and just to start this new chapter of full dedication to Christ. <br /><br /> Amen. <br /><br /> Kaleen, is it your desire to testify to this relationship with Christ through baptism? Yes. Alright Kayleen, I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, in the likeness of his death, and in the likeness of his resurrection. <br /><br /> Jared Rapka is gonna come next. <br /><br /> We're not short, it's just deep in here. Jared, have you received Jesus as Lord and Savior? Yes. I'd love to hear about that. Hello, my name is Jared Robka and I'm here to get baptized. I grew up in a Christian household. I, um, grew up here at this church for lifer, you know. Um, always went to youth group and, you know, went for the games, stayed for the friends, you know. <br /><br /> Um, it wasn't until I want to say my freshman year of high school when my mom, uh, forced me to go to a FCA soccer camp is that when I really understood who Jesus was and what a relationship meant with him, um, I really, uh, there, I, I really like prayed about it and I realized that, you know, my counselor, their struggle with some things that I struggle with. <br /><br /> And, um, you know, we're all not perfect, and I think that's really a big thing to understand. And, so, at that soccer camp, I gave myself to the Lord, you know. And it was all great, I want to say. Fantastic. A lot of emotions. Um, but I think from there, um, From freshman year to junior year, you know, I was all in. <br /><br /> It was good. It was great. I, I was on that spiritual high, you know? That spiritual high, you know? It was a great, fantastic feeling. But, um, you know, I really didn't understand, you know, What it really meant to be in a relationship with God. So I want to say, senior year is really when I like started questioning my relationship with Him. <br /><br /> And questioning, you know, is this like, is this for me, is this um, Is this really what I want, you know? But, um, going to Liberty University, um, it was a good thing. It was, going to a Christian university was great, but I think, in the back of my mind, I really struggled with, you know, my thoughts of my relationship with God and where I was. <br /><br /> I really questioned Him, and I was like, Well, God, where are you in my life? You know, where Where are you at this moment, you know, and I, I really had to step back and, you know, thankfully COVID happened and I had, I came home and really, you know, really thought about it and, you know, and I, I, I realized that I never, I didn't have a great community there. <br /><br /> I mean, I had great friends, but I didn't have, I wasn't all in, you know, I wasn't, I learned that it was a, I guess I treated God as a one way street. You know, always taking, taking. I was never giving, you know, in the sense of, you know, I never put effort into my relationship. I, uh, at first I was like, alright, I just gotta get through school and everything, and, you know, Mark and Tracy, um, every time I saw them they were like, Come to, come to Young Adults. <br /><br /> You'll like Young Adults. And I was like, alright, you know, I'll come to Young Adults and, you know. Well, you know, I end up liking young adults, you know, love Joe, love the people there. Um, I really, uh, started to grow in my relationship with him because I, I felt like I was doing something, you know, I felt like I was, uh, you know, putting in effort. <br /><br /> I, I just want to dive right in and that's why I'm getting baptized. You know, I just want to show to the entire church that, you know, I'm on fire, you know, I want to, I want to be in this and I want to be with God. <br /><br /> Jared, is it your desire to publicly testify to that relationship, that two way street relationship with Jesus now? Yes. Alright. It's my joy to baptize you in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, in the likeness of His death. In the likeness of His resurrection. <br /><br /> There's nothing like that. Throughout, um, this morning and the rest of the, just the, The service before this just hearing how Jesus shows up in pain and in brokenness over and over again. It's such a privilege. We're going to close the service now with a final song, an opportunity for us all to respond in worship. <br /><br /> Um, and also for any of you who might be fully feeling the pull on your heart, uh, to respond to some of these things. Maybe you don't know, um, if this two way street relationship between you. And Jesus exists, maybe you, maybe you do know, um, but you want to publicly declare that before an assembly, um, that you are following Christ. <br /><br /> Um, so whatever your reason this morning, we are going to have people up front who are offering prayer to you. If you'd like to receive prayer, um, during the music or afterwards, um, either are fine. Um, but now we're just going to pray, um, thank the Lord for this time and close in worship. Lord, we, we give you praise for your great glory, um, for your persistent and continual pursuit of our hearts, Lord, for the unbelievable humility that you showed by sending your only son who did not consider equality with God, something to be grasped, but rather took on the nature of a servant. <br /><br /> Living the life we could never live and dying the death that we could and should have died. Instead, rescuing us from the pit. All for the sake of your great love. Lord, thank you for this time. May we respond and worship our God.</div> false no <![CDATA[Faithful Saints]]> Ephesians 1:1-2

To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus



Sermon Transcript:

I invite you to take your Bibles this morning to the book of Ephesians, or if you're using your Ephesians journal, which is what I brought up this morning, you can turn. It'll be easier to turn than that, baby. we're going to show a video that we showed last week. It was put together by Pastor Jared and the young people.

it basically it is taking you through. the outline of the book of Ephesians by using, hand motions. If you have a journal, and if you don't have one, you can, you can get one this morning out in the lobby. But inside the cover, there is the outline of the book of Ephesians, and you can sort of follow along as they are going through the various parts of the book of Ephesians, trying to help us remember our way through the book.

By these, hand motions

Salutations a unique christian greeting for both jews and gentiles Adoration praising god for our spiritual blessings in christ Intercession prayer to understand the blessings we have received salvation by grace through faith not by our own doing reconciliation To god in between jews and gentiles proclamation of the mystery revealed that jews and gentiles are co heirs in christ Intercession Love and power through Christ Jesus walking in unity, walking in holiness, walking in love, walking in the light, walking in wisdom, walking in family, walking in the workplace, standing in the victory, final greetings of grace and peace.

They did a great job. I'm going to have you turn in your Bible this morning to the book of Ephesians, and I'm going to read the first two verses. I'm going to do something a little different this morning. I'm going to actually do a two parter this morning. Basically, what I'm going to do is I'm going to first try to present what I think are ten facts you need to know.

in your reading in the book of Ephesians. As we launch into this series, what are 10 facts you should know that are in your sermon outline, in the back of the journal, or somewhere else. If you want to write them down, these would be things to refer to because they are things that are always going to be true as you read the book of Ephesians.

And then I'm going to look at verses 1 and 2 of Ephesians, chapter 1, but I'd like to read those verses this morning. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Let's pray.

Lord, we've gathered today. Because we want to know you. We want to worship you. We want to do what some of the songs talked about that we've already sung. Lord, we want to surrender to you. And Lord, there's people here in Collingswood and Mount Laurel at each of our campuses. Some watching online. There's all different life circumstances.

There's all different relationships with you represented in those individuals. Lord, it's my prayer that you, who know the heart of every person, that your spirit would draw each person to a deeper knowledge and awareness of God in Christ. So Lord, teach us today, in Jesus name, Amen. Alright, ten facts you need to know in reading the book of Ephesians.

Number one, you need to know it's a major city. This was a major metropolitan center. One of the major cities of the Roman Empire, and it was located strategically as a port city in the province of Asia. And it is right there to the right. You can see it. It was actually At the end of what was known as the Silk Road, which was the trade route that went all the way to the, to China.

all of the trade that came from Eastern part of the empire came through Ephesus and then was sent on to Rome or other parts of the city. This was a major metropolitan area. Marin and I, a number of years ago, had the chance to go to the ruins of Ephesus. If, if you ever get the chance, I mean, I, I was just telling Marianne this week, I would love to go back.

I was reading it again, they've done some new things, it, it's just a phenomenal, ruin, but they've, they've uncovered so much of the city, you really can understand the city layout. It was a city of 250, 000 people, and When a visitor arrived at Ephesus via ship, he walked, as we can pull up that slide, he walked on a half mile, a quarter mile road.

As he came in, the water is in the distance, that's where the port was, and as you came in, if we could go to the next slide please,

or not, nope, that's not, nevermind, can you go back to that one? Where? Oh, there's the water. I couldn't find the water. Here's the water right here. That's the water. That's the harbor This is a beautiful harbor that came four miles in from the Mediterranean Sea. And as you came, you, you entered in, and even today you see all these columns as you walk this quarter mile in.

So here's the picture as you enter the city, you come to this, this gigantic city, you've come down the river, you're looking at it, and here's this, this majestic city that's all built. At the base and on the sides of a mountain, a significant mountain, the city went all around. Actually, the temple of Artemis was in the back side of the mountain.

But as you came in, you're looking and you walk down this quarter mile, what was called the Harbor Road. And on every side of you are columns. And statutes and it was one of the only Only streets in the entire empire that was lit up every night. It had a beautiful. hundreds of beautiful ornate lanterns It was just and what you saw at the end of the road as you looked at the road You saw there was the mountain but carved into it was a, a, a theater with 25, 000 seats that was carved in and you're walking in and it just, it was a, a, a humbling scene as you came into this majestic city of a quarter million.

People there. It was a city that had five universities, which were basically graduate schools. There was a medical school, a school of theater, a school of philosophy, a school of rhetoric and a school of architecture. The city had an outdoor forum like Ben Hur. You know, the horseshoe, the racist. They had those chariot races here in emphasis.

There was an outdoor mall called an Agora. As you went into the city from the harbor immediately to your right was this giant many, many acre A marketplace of 2, 000 stores, 2, 000 shops. Houses that were downtown were three stories tall. They all had running water. They had, of course, then a, a, an effective septic system.

And they also had in their walls heated water because the, the, climate would get below 40 degrees in winter season. Sometimes below freezing. And they had a heated system in their walls. It was a cosmopolitan, commercial center, a thriving, affluent, urban center. Second characteristic is the word Artemis.

Artemis was the goddess of the city. She was called, Diana by the Romans. The temple, Fort Artemis, actually was built four centuries before this, but it had been burned by fire. Just tell you a quick story about it, because I, if you like history, you'll like this one. If you don't like history, you might even like this one.

Alexander the Great came to the city around 340, 350 BC, and he was mocking the people in the town, because their, their goddess's temple had been burned down. And he said, and it actually was an arson that came. It was a wooden structure at the time and burned the city. And he, and he said, what kind of a goddess is this that she can't even protect her own temple?

And they said to him, actually, she was away on the day that it happened, attending to a, a special birth in another part of the empire, the day that the, that the temple was burned in. And in in in Ephesus, Alexander himself had been born. So these guys sucked up Alexander brilliantly said, well, the goddess left just for one day because this this heroic figure, he was so taken by it.

And in typical egotistical dictator status and response, he provided the funds to rebuild the temple. And from 386, well, about 340 on, they built this majestic temple. This temple, that is artist's rendering of what it looked like. Those columns, of which there were 120. 66 feet tall to put that in perspective if you've ever been in our gym look up into the highest peak It's 32 feet high double that and throw on a few extra spare feet.

That's how high all those columns. It was a Humbling structure. It was a structure. That was the the centerpiece of worship throughout that entire Part of the world, it was considered, it was one of the seven ancient wonders of the ancient world. It was located on a plain on the back side of the mountain.

And every April, when they had the annual feast festival to Artemis, over a million people came to Ephesus to be a part of the celebration. It was also a city whose religion, this is still on number two, practiced magic and sorcery. There's a passage in Acts chapter 19, verse 19. Were people that had responded to the message of the apostle paul brought brought there It says their magic books and their incantation their books of spells And when they when they turned away from paganism and demonic worship and to christianity They actually burned their books and in contemporary currency Acts 19.

19 says that they burned six million dollars worth of magic spell books. And this was a prominent thing in this city. Number three, it was filled with idolatry. Idols always take the form of something that brings people something they want. In this particular city, their idolatry was centered on On Artemis or Diana to the Romans, but basically their idols were power and sex and money.

Power was a big part of the letter to the Ephesians. Paul will continually talk about the power that God has. This is something that was highly esteemed and admired by the Ephesians. We'll talk about why and what that meant. Possessions, the city's commerce was directly influenced by the trade and business that the temple of Artemis erected.

It wasn't just that she's our girl, if you will, she's our God. It was all that it brought to the city. As a matter of fact, in Acts chapter 20, when Paul, excuse me, Acts chapter 19, when Paul again is seeing all these people turn to Christ, they're turning away from the worship of Artemis. It's the, it's the guys that run the business that come after him, the idol makers, of which they made 50, they sold 50, 000 a year, by reports of the, of those days.

And they were the ones that brought them into that large 25, 000 stadium to bring accusations against. It was, it was. It was focused on the loss of income and the the serving of money Pleasure in sex when you go through the city There's a fascinating thing as you're going again around this giant mountain you come around the side on the marble stones, which are huge pieces of stone which form the the roads There's one that has carving in it and the carving actually is the picture of a foot And it's pointing a certain direction And at the top of the foot is a picture of a woman.

It's all carved, actually, into the marble. And it was in, in, in ancient Near East, it's known as the first, example of public advertising that anyone has ever found in archaeological studies. And basically, it was advertising. The brothel, a brothel that was seated that was seated at the corner of the two main streets.

It was directly across the street from the mall of 2, 000 stores. And this multi story brothel was the place that was, publicly affirmed without the availability of internet driven porn, sexual promiscuity in Ephesus. Was richly available in the large brothels publicly accepted and promoted number four This was a church with deeply taught believers as you

sorry As you I think I messed you guys up because I think I brought one of your papers It was a city that Paul arrived here and he had come here originally in 1853 and when he had come he had begun to preach he actually stayed there over three years Over twice as long as any city he had ever gone to.

In this book, in the book of Ephesians, there are lofty theological concepts, but they're never really developed in this book like they are in the book of Romans. Concepts, he uses the word justification, election, predestination, redemption, God's mysteries. And there's no explanation. It's obvious that he felt people knew what he was talking about in this church.

It's a church where he has deeply trained them. Ephesians is not really a theological treatise. It is a practical application of that theological truth. And we'll talk about that truth, because we don't all understand those things the way that they did. But this was a deeply taught group of people in Ephesus.

Number five, the biggest who's who of Christian heroes is found in Ephesus. Along with Paul, who spent more time there than any other cities he ministered in. Apollos, who is a great, they call him Golden Tongue, a great teacher was there. Timothy, the, the, the associate of the Apostle Paul, came there, and as a matter of fact, when Paul wrote to Timothy, his two letters on how to structure a church and how to have the leadership and oversight of the church, 1st and 2nd Timothy, both of them are sent to Timothy while he's serving in Ephesus.

Later on, the Apostle John will settle in Ephesus, and tradition has it when you visit Ephesus, there's actually a lot of church history, support. that actually John, who we know was given the care of Mary, the mother of Jesus, they went and lived in Ephesus. And they actually have a stone house there that's a sacred space so you can go and see.

John from, at Ephesus wrote 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John. He's addressing, churches around them. But John was there, Paul was there, Apollos was there, Timothy was there, Mary the mother of Jesus was there. There's a who's who history of this city. Number six, it was the center for Christian mission. It is the center of Paul's ministry.

He spent more time there than any other church by far, but he also kept swinging back to it, doing visits. He wrote other letters, at least one we're certain of. Most people believe there were two others by things Paul infers, but the one that made it to the scriptures is the one that we have known as the letter to the Ephesians.

But Paul here had, on his, on his missionary journeys, on both the second missionary journey and the third had come here. This particular map is talking about when Paul, when, when John was on the island of Patmos, which is to the left of that red up there, it's a little island, that red area, Is the area where the seven churches that are addressed in Revelation 2 and 3 happen.

They were churches that had been started out of the church in Ephesus. And now John is writing to them. This was the center of the spiritual growth and the spiritual sending forth of mission in the early church. Ephesus became the epicenter of church mission in the latter part of the first century.

Number seven, Ephesus is the reason Paul is in jail, as he writes. If you remember in Acts chapter 20, Paul visited the Ephesian elders on his way when he was going to Jerusalem. And he's going to Jerusalem, he's taking, he had this group, this entourage of eight buddies. And they were actually individuals from all of the churches, the main churches that Paul had started throughout the empire.

And as he had, he's got one from Corinth, he's got a couple from Thessalonica, he's got one from Philippi, he's got one from Ephesus, he's got, he's got a group, and they're all gathered together because they're bringing a financial gift to the believers in Jerusalem. And as they go there, As they're on their way, Paul stops at Ephesus, or a city called Miletus, near Ephesus.

The ship harbors there for a day, he's able to meet with these elders, pray with them, cry with them. And then he goes to Jerusalem. And he gets to Jerusalem, and he's got this entourage of eight people. One of whom is from Ephesus, a guy named Trophimus, who's a Gentile. And Paul is with them in the city.

And they are observed by Jews from Jerusalem that know Trophimus and had seen Paul. And when they see Paul go into the, the, the holy place in the temple in Jerusalem, which only Jews can go to, they assume that he has taken Trophimus there. And they may, if you remember when we went through the book of Acts, there's a tremendous riot that takes place.

They're trying to kill Paul, literally, the Roman soldiers rescue him. From that moment on, Paul is imprisoned. For the next five years, Paul is imprisoned in Jerusalem, then he's sent up to Caesarea, then he's finally sent all the way to Rome. He's now in Roman jail. He's not gotten out. It was just a couple of weeks.

Before he had started his imprisonment, he was with the Ephesian elders. And it's actually because of their guy, and it's actually because of their people, the Ephesian Jews in Jerusalem, Paul is in prison. And so you'll notice as we go through the book, he keeps referring to the fact that I'm a prisoner of God, but it's, it's by purpose, God's got a plan for this.

Don't feel bad. God's at work, even in the midst of this. The sixth, seventh thing is that one. And the eighth is a circular letter. This is addressed to the church at Ephesus. But it is clearly a letter that is broader than the church of Ephesus. There's an interesting thing. he does not address any specific people in Ephesus.

Very unusual. He doesn't, most of his letters he talks to people. Say hello to so and so, you know. Remember me to so and so. In the Philippian church he says tell these two ladies, Jodis and Syntyche. Which some people, because they had a conflict, I heard one preacher call them odious and soon touchy.

But the idea is, he's writing to people in those churches, not in Ephesus. He doesn't, it's clear, he doesn't have any specific situations in this church that he addresses. No doctrinal concerns, no concern, you know, do this, a little more of this. He is clearly writing a letter that is not just specific to the Ephesian believers.

He is writing a letter that is more of a Circular letter to be read in the other churches. Colossi even talks about read the letter that's from the church of Laodicea, which a lot of people think was this, this letter as well. Number nine template for the Christian life. This letter. This letter is not just written to the people in Ephesus and their particular situation.

It is more than any other of Paul's letter, a template for the Christian life for people. In chapters 1 through 3, he talks about what you need to know about who you are in Christ and what you have in Christ. In chapters 4 through 6, he talks about how to live the life, how to, how to, how to live out the practical realities of the Christian experience.

It is a template for the Christian life. And the last thing I'll mention, it is the fullest teaching in the New Testament on a host of subjects. Marriage, spiritual warfare, our personal identity in Christ, unity, personal relationships, purity are just some of the doctrines that are most fully, and issues that are most fully discussed here.

Okay, those are just some things. Now, I want to come to the, the first couple of verses because here he's, he's introducing us to the people that he's addressing in Ephesus and it's striking the way he addresses them. He actually says to them this statement, to the saints who are in Ephesus. And are faithful in Christ Jesus in verses one and two.

Paul sets the table for the next six chapters in the way he identifies these Christians. First of all, he identifies them as saints, and I would argue he is alluding to the reality of what he's going to talk about in chapters one through three, the wealth, the riches that they have as believers in Christ and like just highlight a few of the things he's going to say.

But first of all, what is a saint? Well, in New Testament, all believers in Jesus Christ are identified as saints. It technically means holy ones. It is those that are, the same word holy is put in a noun form here, and they are the holy ones. The word holy means to set something apart for a specific purpose.

These are the ones that have been set apart to God. They are the ones that are set apart from the world. They are special. They are set to God and from. The world's influence. It is talking about all believers and in Ephesians 4 12. Actually, the word Saints is used a number of times in Ephesus. It says this statement, pastors are responsible to quote, equip the Saints to do the work of the ministry.

All the Saints. This is not just a special class that this is all believers that he's talking about. So what is true of Saints? Well, this is what I'm going to talk about in Chapter one through three. And again, I'm just trying to get a I want to give you a snapshot here. What is true of saints? What is the wealth that these called out ones, these holy ones, if you will, set apart to God?

What is it that they have been given? What's true of them? And there are three things I'd like to highlight. First of all, they are people who were pursued by the commu commu community of God. In chapters 1, chapter 1, verse 3 to 14, one of the most powerful passages in the New Testament is presented about the unique role of Father, Son, and Spirit.

It is a passage that talks about God's pursuit, His pursuit of those that are the called out ones, that are the set apart ones, that all three members of the Godhead are involved and are being connected with God. We'll see that in the next couple of studies as we look in chapters chapter 1 verse 3 through 14 the role of the Father, the role of the Son, the role of the Spirit in calling out his people to be his own.

There is an incredible picture in the scriptures that God is one being but is manifested in three persons. Now, we don't know how three persons can be one essence, but we're not God either, so we don't have to figure it all out, but we do have to bow the knee before the truth and the reality. But there are some incredibly practical.

Things to learn because in the creation, there is a different role that the father plays that the son plays that the spirit plays in salvation. There's a different role that the father plays and the son plays and the spirit plays in the Christian life. There are different roles that the father plays and the son plays and the spirit place.

And one of the beauties of Christian growth is to come to know God in his triune nature. And one of the beauties of Christian growth is to come to know God in his triune nature. My mother in law lives in an apartment with us. She's 95 years old. I didn't ask her permission to share that part, but I did ask permission to share the rest.

My mother in law is a believer of many years in Christ, and she regularly spent, and I'm not exaggerating in this, hours, reading her Bible, studying it. She's got books open, and, I went in recently, and I was talking with her. And mom was emotional, just talking about her time with the Lord. And she said, you know, I'm trying so hard to understand the Father and the Son and the Spirit.

And she said, she said, and I'm finding as I pray, that I actually get kind of mixed up. Because I'm talking to, to each one. And, and I'm, I'm not sure what I should say to the one. But, but, but, and she's describing, it's so emotional. What she was describing was extremely meaningful to me. I said, Mom, you're describing the fact that you have not only been brought into a relationship with God you have been brought into a Community that the community of the Godhead.

It's what theologians and I've said this before to you have have often described as the dance of God, this sense that the father and the son and the spirit have lived eternally together, completely joyful in each other's presence, but that he desired to expand the community and include humans that he made that you are invited in the gospel to join the dance.

I remember the story, well I saw this, I was at a wedding a number of years ago, and it was, people were dancing, and it was, I remember one scene, there was a, a man and his wife, that were dancing together, they were older, and it was a relaxed dance, and their adult daughter came over, and, She kind of moved your way in.

And all of a sudden, the three of them are dancing together. And it wasn't real vibrant, but it was beautiful. This beautiful acceptance. They're laughing and you can just see the love. They have, they're vibrating together in this dance together. This is God eternally. And he, and, and, and the Godhead says.

Let's make man, humans, in our image. Let's let them join in the communion that is ours. The book of Ephesians portrays this picture, in chapter 1 in particular, of the triune God, all of them, coming after you, to say, we're going to call out some to be ours, to join the dance. This is the picture of the called out ones.

The first characteristic of the called out ones will be this. They are people who were pursued by the community of God. I was praying a while back. And something really heavy was on my heart. I was really, I really needed God's leading in it. And I found myself just praying to each member of the Godhead.

In light of what I theologically know is their role. Asking for their help in particular ways and again, I know God is one but I got done It was a very meaningful prayer time for me And I talked to Marianne and I said I just I just came away from the presence of God and just talking to him intimately father son, would you spirit would you and and her response was Yeah, well, I understand.

You're looking for all the help you can get. Well, that's sort of how I felt. You know, I'll take everybody! Guys! Not guys. That's probably disrespectful, but anyway. You get the feel. This is it. You've been invited to the dance. If you're a called out one, if you're a set apart one, if you're a saint, a believer in Jesus.

You've been invited to the dance that will last eternally because God wanted you the second thing That's true is there are people who have passed from separation to connection With God in chapter 2 verses 1 through 10. He's going to talk about you were dead dead dead not sick Not sort of sore throat spiritually.

You're dead. It's lifeless

I've used this illustration. Death in the scripture is always the picture of separation. We actually use it the same way. Physical death is your immaterial part is separate from your material part. If I drop dead right now, what it means is my material part would still be here, but the me, the immaterial, the soul spirit would be separated.

We talk about giving up the ghost that the spirit has left his soul has departed That's all pictures of this of what spiritual death is Spiritual death which is what Paul is talking about in Ephesians 2 is the vertical dimension We have two parts to our immaterial. We have a soul sukkahs. We get psychology from it.

It's how we relate On the horizontal level with others and also how we relate to ourselves. The study of psychology is to try to figure that stuff out. You know, what's going on? Why are you agitated? Why can't you get along? But there is also a dimension that is vitally significant. There is the vertical relationship.

Animals are said in the scripture to have a soul. They are never said to have a spirit. They do not have the vertical dimension. Spiritual death is that our vertical dimension has been separated. We have been, it's been disconnected. It's what the fall of sin into sin did to humanity. We have been severed and we now have to have reconnection.

In Ephesians two, he's going to talk about how these individuals that that have been set apart to God have been reconnected through what Jesus Christ did on the cross through salvation is basically reconnecting you with God, which was lost because of sin. The third thing, they are people who form a new community in the world.

There's a mystery in chapter 2, 11, all the way to the end of chapter three, he's going to talk about it. He said, and he says twice, he says, there's a mystery. Nobody saw this baby coming. Nobody saw this one. The Jews and Gentiles would be brought together on the same footing as a way of approaching God.

And it would be done through the Jewish Messiah, Christ. Nobody saw it, but he says, Here's what's happening. He's going to use these visuals like there's a wall of partition. It's just fabulous pictures that are there that are going to be taken away. And there's this oneness that takes place so that You can go anywhere in the world, and you can immediately sense a relationship with people as you get to know them and find out that they, too, are a believer in Jesus Christ.

It doesn't matter their gender, their ethnicity, their background, their social class, anything. Because you have been brought into this community

about a year after the, maybe six months after the Eagles won the Super Bowl. I was over in Western PA at a hotel, and I, I got on the elevator. It was a pretty good sized elevator, and the room probably had, the elevator probably had eight, fairly exuberant, enthusiastic African American women that were there on a, on a, some outing.

I don't know what it was. And I noticed that they were talking a little bit. About the Eagles. Now, I have two jackets. I have an Eagles jacket, which I wear all the time. I just, we were in Florida this past week. I wore it there. I also have a jacket that was given to me when the Phillies won the World Series, and it's a fabulous jacket.

It's the most comfortable jacket I own, but I honestly don't feel worthy to wear it. I'm just not a giant baseball fan. And I feel awkward when people come up and say, Oh, Philly, you know what, I'm like, Yeah, yeah, yeah, go, go, Phil, you know, but I don't root for anybody else. But, but I love the Eagles, and so I wear my jacket is comfortable, too.

But, well, so, of course, what? You know what happened in this elevator? So. So, I immediately feel this bond with these women and I did something that's quite honestly outside of my comfort zone. This is more of a Pastor Jared type of thing. But I was so excited with these ladies that all of a sudden I started doing the Eagles fight song.

Fly Eagles. And the whole elevator is singing. I mean by the time we hit the floor, you know, You know, what happened there? There's a community. These are my people. There's something. I don't know him and I oh, what we even got better was at the end They're saying they're saying Oh bless you bless number.

Oh and Christians, too This is awesome.

If you're a saint if you're set apart to God You're also set apart to a community of people all over the world

And it's all because of the work of the Godhead in your life But he says something else here. He says this. He says to the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus. He says you'll know them because they're the faithful ones. And this is really what he's going to talk about in the last three chapters of the book.

Their walk. I there, this is how chapter 4 begins, verse 1. I therefore, prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called. Their walk, we will find in the book of Ephesians, is a whole life thing. There's no option given to compartmentalize your life.

He's going to talk about, these are just topics that he's going to talk about when he says, Live worthily. He's just basically saying, man, be who you are. Be what you've been made to be in Christ. He's going to talk about our money. He's going to talk about our eating. This is all in here. He's going to talk about our marriages, our jobs, our way of talking with people, our way of treating people, our calling to forgive people.

He's going to talk about our emotional lives. He's going to talk about our sexual purity. Matter of fact, he's going to make this statement. Among you, there must not even be a hint of sexual immorality. Well, I've told you about the brothels that were at every major street corner. Hundreds of people available to you.

They had their own form of

promiscuity, just like our culture does. Our culture maybe is scarier, because it can be done in total anonymity behind a screen. But he says, if you're one of these that has been set apart to God, Here's what he says again in chapter four and five. Among you there must not even be a hint of sexual immorality.

The followers of Jesus must have an entirely different standard of sexual purity than the culture in which we live. Their walk, our walk, is not compartmentalized. The walk is a whole life thing. The old theologians had an expression, it's a Latin term, It's Coram Deo. Deo means God. Coram means in the presence of.

Coram Deo was what they called believers to live. And it literally meant to be continually conscious of God's presence. To see God's involvement and live for God's glory in all parts of our lives. This is Coram Deo. That our lives are not compartmentalized. Yeah, this is, this is God's part. But, I'm not ready to have him over here.

Sylvia Fraser, well known novelist, wrote a book, My Father's House. It tells of the tributes paid at her father's funeral. He was a man of proper and regular habits. A Christian man, who didn't smoke or drink, who helped people with their grocery shopping, who never took the Lord's name in vain. A polite and neighborly man, Mr.

Frazier, and these are quotes, kept his snow shoveled, his leaves raked, and his bills paid. He also sexually molested his daughter Sylvia from age 4 to 12, threatening her first with the loss of her toys, he'd throw them in the furnace. Then with killing her cat, then with sending her away to an orphanage if she were to disclose their secret.

Mr. Fraser was able to live by compartmentalizing his life. He could seal off one part of his personhood from another just like an ocean liner can sometimes keep afloat, even when damaged, if the crew seals off the flooded compartments. Mr. Fraser is an extreme case of our ability to compartmentalize. But the Bible's repeated admonition to be wholehearted and to be undivided in our pursuit of God reminds us of the challenge to Coram Deo through compartmentalize in each one of our lives.

When Paul wrote Ephesians, he's saying, guys, It's a whole life thing I'm talking about. It speaks to every part. The second thing is, their walk is foundationally an internal thing, ultimately. The focus of chapter 4 through 6 is practical Christianity, but it isn't just behavioral. It's heart driven.

Motives, underlying pride, envy, selfish ambition, bitterness, is actually influencing our best actions. As we grow in Christ, and I do believe we need to change habits when we come to Jesus, we need to be continually letting the Lord, redirect us and change our behavior, our responses, whether it's emotional, whether it's our relationship, of course He's changing us all the time.

But what you find out, and those of you that have walked with the Lord for a number of years know exactly what I'm going to say. When I say it, you will. You begin to understand That your own capacity to grow in Christ is limited by your own self deception. That we want to hide what is ugly, and shameful, and embarrassing to us, even to ourselves.

But God is determined to free us from that part of ourselves. He is determined to turn us into transparent, vulnerable people that say, I'm really struggling with fear. I'm really struggling with lust. I'm real. I need I need brothers and sisters to come alongside of me. I've got issues, some of which I'm deceiving myself to the reality of it.

I'm reading a book that I just love the book. It's by Rebecca Pippard. It's called Hope has his reasons with the subtitle. Our search to satisfy our deepest longings. She tells the story of being in a Bible study that she had really enjoyed and I'll read it to you. There was a delightful woman in the group, someone who taught me a great deal about living for God.

However, she was of the school, though she may not have realized it, that it is a sin to admit one is a sinner. She would, of course, say she believed in the doctrine of sin, but she never spoke of anything but victory. One day, the leader of the study asked us, What do you think controls you that shouldn't?

Insightful question, actually. We knew one another well by then, so there was enough trust to really be able to speak openly. But the victorious woman spoke up at once. The besetting sin of my life, she said, is that I just don't write as many letters as I should. There was a long silence. Not surprisingly, no one shared after that.

The lid on the discussion had been clamped shut. Mind you, I did say and believe she was a delightful woman. Yet I wanted to ask her though. I didn't is that why Christ died because we didn't write enough letters That seems like a stiff price to pay just because we lacked enough stamps What happens as you grow in Jesus?

You're able to say I see the seed of every known sin in my own heart I see how much fear has influenced my life. I see how how What I thought was was just strong getting it doing it the right way has so much pride in it I see so many areas that I just deceive myself and God just keeps taking back another layer of the onion and So you grow in the Christian life?

And if you're really growing the Christian life sometimes you say, you know I think I'm a worse person than when I started this thing You're not. I mean, I don't think you are. No, you're not. You're just being allowed to see more that Jesus died for, and more that Jesus wants to say, Let me in there. Let me in there!

And watch what I'll do through my spirit. Paul is saying their work is an internal thing, and last, their war is a real thing. In Ephesians, Paul knew of shopkeepers, town officials, tradesmen, and slaves who had experienced this new life in Christ. In his mind's eye, he saw them throughout the city and the countryside, the saints in Ephesus.

In the X Men series, X Men series, Charles Francis Xavier, also known as Professor X, is the one that has this, this thing called Cerebro. It's a database, but it's connected when you put this, like, helmet like thing for X Men fans. I apologize right now. but This thing enables him to see in the whole world, and it shows up on like a planetarium ceiling all over the world where there are mutants, people that have these special powers that are a little different from humans, and, but it'd be very dangerous if people, if, if people from the evil side, evil mutants, evil humans, were able to see where these people were.

He's able to see them because he wants to help them, invest in them, some of them get into his school.

We're like that as believers. We're scattered. We're those lights that are all over the world.

The frightening thing is our enemy does know where we are. He can identify all the lights

and his hatred of God is tangible and it's real and there's not a lot he can do against God. So he goes to his next option, which is the people that God has set apart for himself. In the book of Ephesians, Paul isn't going to mince words on the fact that there's a war going on. There's an enemy that in this life that Jesus gives us, which is the whole theme of this series, there is opposition.

There is adversary. There will be suffering. You will suffer in ways you would not suffer if you didn't know Christ.

Paul writes this letter to help us live out the life Jesus gives us. Those doing so live as faithful saints. As those who see the uniqueness of their position in Christ separated to God and from the world as those who are seeking to align their lives under Christ, to glorify him in every part of their lives.

They're, they're, they're trying to live out as faithful, set apart ones. This is the life that Jesus gives us. Lord,

thank you for setting the table in these first couple of verses. They give us a, an intro to all the richness that's ahead in this book.

Father, I worship you for authoring it all.

I worship you, Lord Jesus, that you accomplished it all. You're the Redeemer, you're the Rescuer, you're the one who took on flesh to become one of us,

and God the Spirit, I worship you as the Applier of it all. That you're the one that enables us to live out the Gospel today, to face our sin, to be vulnerably telling other people, I don't have it together. I'm more screwed up than any of you really know. And our prayers become different for each other because we pray with what's real.

Father, Son, and Spirit, thanks for inviting us to be a part of the community of the Godhead. To be a part of the dance.

Lord, we love you. We love to do life with you. We love living in this life that Jesus gives us. We praise you for it, in Jesus name. Amen.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/faithful-saints 08a6b484-2d87-4065-95e1-12e0fc24c90b Sun, 18 Feb 2024 12:48:40 GMT <div data-html="true">Ephesians 1:1-2 <br /><br /> To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> I invite you to take your Bibles this morning to the book of Ephesians, or if you're using your Ephesians journal, which is what I brought up this morning, you can turn. It'll be easier to turn than that, baby. we're going to show a video that we showed last week. It was put together by Pastor Jared and the young people. <br /><br /> it basically it is taking you through. the outline of the book of Ephesians by using, hand motions. If you have a journal, and if you don't have one, you can, you can get one this morning out in the lobby. But inside the cover, there is the outline of the book of Ephesians, and you can sort of follow along as they are going through the various parts of the book of Ephesians, trying to help us remember our way through the book. <br /><br /> By these, hand motions <br /><br /> Salutations a unique christian greeting for both jews and gentiles Adoration praising god for our spiritual blessings in christ Intercession prayer to understand the blessings we have received salvation by grace through faith not by our own doing reconciliation To god in between jews and gentiles proclamation of the mystery revealed that jews and gentiles are co heirs in christ Intercession Love and power through Christ Jesus walking in unity, walking in holiness, walking in love, walking in the light, walking in wisdom, walking in family, walking in the workplace, standing in the victory, final greetings of grace and peace. <br /><br /> They did a great job. I'm going to have you turn in your Bible this morning to the book of Ephesians, and I'm going to read the first two verses. I'm going to do something a little different this morning. I'm going to actually do a two parter this morning. Basically, what I'm going to do is I'm going to first try to present what I think are ten facts you need to know. <br /><br /> in your reading in the book of Ephesians. As we launch into this series, what are 10 facts you should know that are in your sermon outline, in the back of the journal, or somewhere else. If you want to write them down, these would be things to refer to because they are things that are always going to be true as you read the book of Ephesians. <br /><br /> And then I'm going to look at verses 1 and 2 of Ephesians, chapter 1, but I'd like to read those verses this morning. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. <br /><br /> Let's pray. <br /><br /> Lord, we've gathered today. Because we want to know you. We want to worship you. We want to do what some of the songs talked about that we've already sung. Lord, we want to surrender to you. And Lord, there's people here in Collingswood and Mount Laurel at each of our campuses. Some watching online. There's all different life circumstances. <br /><br /> There's all different relationships with you represented in those individuals. Lord, it's my prayer that you, who know the heart of every person, that your spirit would draw each person to a deeper knowledge and awareness of God in Christ. So Lord, teach us today, in Jesus name, Amen. Alright, ten facts you need to know in reading the book of Ephesians. <br /><br /> Number one, you need to know it's a major city. This was a major metropolitan center. One of the major cities of the Roman Empire, and it was located strategically as a port city in the province of Asia. And it is right there to the right. You can see it. It was actually At the end of what was known as the Silk Road, which was the trade route that went all the way to the, to China. <br /><br /> all of the trade that came from Eastern part of the empire came through Ephesus and then was sent on to Rome or other parts of the city. This was a major metropolitan area. Marin and I, a number of years ago, had the chance to go to the ruins of Ephesus. If, if you ever get the chance, I mean, I, I was just telling Marianne this week, I would love to go back. <br /><br /> I was reading it again, they've done some new things, it, it's just a phenomenal, ruin, but they've, they've uncovered so much of the city, you really can understand the city layout. It was a city of 250, 000 people, and When a visitor arrived at Ephesus via ship, he walked, as we can pull up that slide, he walked on a half mile, a quarter mile road. <br /><br /> As he came in, the water is in the distance, that's where the port was, and as you came in, if we could go to the next slide please, <br /><br /> or not, nope, that's not, nevermind, can you go back to that one? Where? Oh, there's the water. I couldn't find the water. Here's the water right here. That's the water. That's the harbor This is a beautiful harbor that came four miles in from the Mediterranean Sea. And as you came, you, you entered in, and even today you see all these columns as you walk this quarter mile in. <br /><br /> So here's the picture as you enter the city, you come to this, this gigantic city, you've come down the river, you're looking at it, and here's this, this majestic city that's all built. At the base and on the sides of a mountain, a significant mountain, the city went all around. Actually, the temple of Artemis was in the back side of the mountain. <br /><br /> But as you came in, you're looking and you walk down this quarter mile, what was called the Harbor Road. And on every side of you are columns. And statutes and it was one of the only Only streets in the entire empire that was lit up every night. It had a beautiful. hundreds of beautiful ornate lanterns It was just and what you saw at the end of the road as you looked at the road You saw there was the mountain but carved into it was a, a, a theater with 25, 000 seats that was carved in and you're walking in and it just, it was a, a, a humbling scene as you came into this majestic city of a quarter million. <br /><br /> People there. It was a city that had five universities, which were basically graduate schools. There was a medical school, a school of theater, a school of philosophy, a school of rhetoric and a school of architecture. The city had an outdoor forum like Ben Hur. You know, the horseshoe, the racist. They had those chariot races here in emphasis. <br /><br /> There was an outdoor mall called an Agora. As you went into the city from the harbor immediately to your right was this giant many, many acre A marketplace of 2, 000 stores, 2, 000 shops. Houses that were downtown were three stories tall. They all had running water. They had, of course, then a, a, an effective septic system. <br /><br /> And they also had in their walls heated water because the, the, climate would get below 40 degrees in winter season. Sometimes below freezing. And they had a heated system in their walls. It was a cosmopolitan, commercial center, a thriving, affluent, urban center. Second characteristic is the word Artemis. <br /><br /> Artemis was the goddess of the city. She was called, Diana by the Romans. The temple, Fort Artemis, actually was built four centuries before this, but it had been burned by fire. Just tell you a quick story about it, because I, if you like history, you'll like this one. If you don't like history, you might even like this one. <br /><br /> Alexander the Great came to the city around 340, 350 BC, and he was mocking the people in the town, because their, their goddess's temple had been burned down. And he said, and it actually was an arson that came. It was a wooden structure at the time and burned the city. And he, and he said, what kind of a goddess is this that she can't even protect her own temple? <br /><br /> And they said to him, actually, she was away on the day that it happened, attending to a, a special birth in another part of the empire, the day that the, that the temple was burned in. And in in in Ephesus, Alexander himself had been born. So these guys sucked up Alexander brilliantly said, well, the goddess left just for one day because this this heroic figure, he was so taken by it. <br /><br /> And in typical egotistical dictator status and response, he provided the funds to rebuild the temple. And from 386, well, about 340 on, they built this majestic temple. This temple, that is artist's rendering of what it looked like. Those columns, of which there were 120. 66 feet tall to put that in perspective if you've ever been in our gym look up into the highest peak It's 32 feet high double that and throw on a few extra spare feet. <br /><br /> That's how high all those columns. It was a Humbling structure. It was a structure. That was the the centerpiece of worship throughout that entire Part of the world, it was considered, it was one of the seven ancient wonders of the ancient world. It was located on a plain on the back side of the mountain. <br /><br /> And every April, when they had the annual feast festival to Artemis, over a million people came to Ephesus to be a part of the celebration. It was also a city whose religion, this is still on number two, practiced magic and sorcery. There's a passage in Acts chapter 19, verse 19. Were people that had responded to the message of the apostle paul brought brought there It says their magic books and their incantation their books of spells And when they when they turned away from paganism and demonic worship and to christianity They actually burned their books and in contemporary currency Acts 19. <br /><br /> 19 says that they burned six million dollars worth of magic spell books. And this was a prominent thing in this city. Number three, it was filled with idolatry. Idols always take the form of something that brings people something they want. In this particular city, their idolatry was centered on On Artemis or Diana to the Romans, but basically their idols were power and sex and money. <br /><br /> Power was a big part of the letter to the Ephesians. Paul will continually talk about the power that God has. This is something that was highly esteemed and admired by the Ephesians. We'll talk about why and what that meant. Possessions, the city's commerce was directly influenced by the trade and business that the temple of Artemis erected. <br /><br /> It wasn't just that she's our girl, if you will, she's our God. It was all that it brought to the city. As a matter of fact, in Acts chapter 20, when Paul, excuse me, Acts chapter 19, when Paul again is seeing all these people turn to Christ, they're turning away from the worship of Artemis. It's the, it's the guys that run the business that come after him, the idol makers, of which they made 50, they sold 50, 000 a year, by reports of the, of those days. <br /><br /> And they were the ones that brought them into that large 25, 000 stadium to bring accusations against. It was, it was. It was focused on the loss of income and the the serving of money Pleasure in sex when you go through the city There's a fascinating thing as you're going again around this giant mountain you come around the side on the marble stones, which are huge pieces of stone which form the the roads There's one that has carving in it and the carving actually is the picture of a foot And it's pointing a certain direction And at the top of the foot is a picture of a woman. <br /><br /> It's all carved, actually, into the marble. And it was in, in, in ancient Near East, it's known as the first, example of public advertising that anyone has ever found in archaeological studies. And basically, it was advertising. The brothel, a brothel that was seated that was seated at the corner of the two main streets. <br /><br /> It was directly across the street from the mall of 2, 000 stores. And this multi story brothel was the place that was, publicly affirmed without the availability of internet driven porn, sexual promiscuity in Ephesus. Was richly available in the large brothels publicly accepted and promoted number four This was a church with deeply taught believers as you <br /><br /> sorry As you I think I messed you guys up because I think I brought one of your papers It was a city that Paul arrived here and he had come here originally in 1853 and when he had come he had begun to preach he actually stayed there over three years Over twice as long as any city he had ever gone to. <br /><br /> In this book, in the book of Ephesians, there are lofty theological concepts, but they're never really developed in this book like they are in the book of Romans. Concepts, he uses the word justification, election, predestination, redemption, God's mysteries. And there's no explanation. It's obvious that he felt people knew what he was talking about in this church. <br /><br /> It's a church where he has deeply trained them. Ephesians is not really a theological treatise. It is a practical application of that theological truth. And we'll talk about that truth, because we don't all understand those things the way that they did. But this was a deeply taught group of people in Ephesus. <br /><br /> Number five, the biggest who's who of Christian heroes is found in Ephesus. Along with Paul, who spent more time there than any other cities he ministered in. Apollos, who is a great, they call him Golden Tongue, a great teacher was there. Timothy, the, the, the associate of the Apostle Paul, came there, and as a matter of fact, when Paul wrote to Timothy, his two letters on how to structure a church and how to have the leadership and oversight of the church, 1st and 2nd Timothy, both of them are sent to Timothy while he's serving in Ephesus. <br /><br /> Later on, the Apostle John will settle in Ephesus, and tradition has it when you visit Ephesus, there's actually a lot of church history, support. that actually John, who we know was given the care of Mary, the mother of Jesus, they went and lived in Ephesus. And they actually have a stone house there that's a sacred space so you can go and see. <br /><br /> John from, at Ephesus wrote 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John. He's addressing, churches around them. But John was there, Paul was there, Apollos was there, Timothy was there, Mary the mother of Jesus was there. There's a who's who history of this city. Number six, it was the center for Christian mission. It is the center of Paul's ministry. <br /><br /> He spent more time there than any other church by far, but he also kept swinging back to it, doing visits. He wrote other letters, at least one we're certain of. Most people believe there were two others by things Paul infers, but the one that made it to the scriptures is the one that we have known as the letter to the Ephesians. <br /><br /> But Paul here had, on his, on his missionary journeys, on both the second missionary journey and the third had come here. This particular map is talking about when Paul, when, when John was on the island of Patmos, which is to the left of that red up there, it's a little island, that red area, Is the area where the seven churches that are addressed in Revelation 2 and 3 happen. <br /><br /> They were churches that had been started out of the church in Ephesus. And now John is writing to them. This was the center of the spiritual growth and the spiritual sending forth of mission in the early church. Ephesus became the epicenter of church mission in the latter part of the first century. <br /><br /> Number seven, Ephesus is the reason Paul is in jail, as he writes. If you remember in Acts chapter 20, Paul visited the Ephesian elders on his way when he was going to Jerusalem. And he's going to Jerusalem, he's taking, he had this group, this entourage of eight buddies. And they were actually individuals from all of the churches, the main churches that Paul had started throughout the empire. <br /><br /> And as he had, he's got one from Corinth, he's got a couple from Thessalonica, he's got one from Philippi, he's got one from Ephesus, he's got, he's got a group, and they're all gathered together because they're bringing a financial gift to the believers in Jerusalem. And as they go there, As they're on their way, Paul stops at Ephesus, or a city called Miletus, near Ephesus. <br /><br /> The ship harbors there for a day, he's able to meet with these elders, pray with them, cry with them. And then he goes to Jerusalem. And he gets to Jerusalem, and he's got this entourage of eight people. One of whom is from Ephesus, a guy named Trophimus, who's a Gentile. And Paul is with them in the city. <br /><br /> And they are observed by Jews from Jerusalem that know Trophimus and had seen Paul. And when they see Paul go into the, the, the holy place in the temple in Jerusalem, which only Jews can go to, they assume that he has taken Trophimus there. And they may, if you remember when we went through the book of Acts, there's a tremendous riot that takes place. <br /><br /> They're trying to kill Paul, literally, the Roman soldiers rescue him. From that moment on, Paul is imprisoned. For the next five years, Paul is imprisoned in Jerusalem, then he's sent up to Caesarea, then he's finally sent all the way to Rome. He's now in Roman jail. He's not gotten out. It was just a couple of weeks. <br /><br /> Before he had started his imprisonment, he was with the Ephesian elders. And it's actually because of their guy, and it's actually because of their people, the Ephesian Jews in Jerusalem, Paul is in prison. And so you'll notice as we go through the book, he keeps referring to the fact that I'm a prisoner of God, but it's, it's by purpose, God's got a plan for this. <br /><br /> Don't feel bad. God's at work, even in the midst of this. The sixth, seventh thing is that one. And the eighth is a circular letter. This is addressed to the church at Ephesus. But it is clearly a letter that is broader than the church of Ephesus. There's an interesting thing. he does not address any specific people in Ephesus. <br /><br /> Very unusual. He doesn't, most of his letters he talks to people. Say hello to so and so, you know. Remember me to so and so. In the Philippian church he says tell these two ladies, Jodis and Syntyche. Which some people, because they had a conflict, I heard one preacher call them odious and soon touchy. <br /><br /> But the idea is, he's writing to people in those churches, not in Ephesus. He doesn't, it's clear, he doesn't have any specific situations in this church that he addresses. No doctrinal concerns, no concern, you know, do this, a little more of this. He is clearly writing a letter that is not just specific to the Ephesian believers. <br /><br /> He is writing a letter that is more of a Circular letter to be read in the other churches. Colossi even talks about read the letter that's from the church of Laodicea, which a lot of people think was this, this letter as well. Number nine template for the Christian life. This letter. This letter is not just written to the people in Ephesus and their particular situation. <br /><br /> It is more than any other of Paul's letter, a template for the Christian life for people. In chapters 1 through 3, he talks about what you need to know about who you are in Christ and what you have in Christ. In chapters 4 through 6, he talks about how to live the life, how to, how to, how to live out the practical realities of the Christian experience. <br /><br /> It is a template for the Christian life. And the last thing I'll mention, it is the fullest teaching in the New Testament on a host of subjects. Marriage, spiritual warfare, our personal identity in Christ, unity, personal relationships, purity are just some of the doctrines that are most fully, and issues that are most fully discussed here. <br /><br /> Okay, those are just some things. Now, I want to come to the, the first couple of verses because here he's, he's introducing us to the people that he's addressing in Ephesus and it's striking the way he addresses them. He actually says to them this statement, to the saints who are in Ephesus. And are faithful in Christ Jesus in verses one and two. <br /><br /> Paul sets the table for the next six chapters in the way he identifies these Christians. First of all, he identifies them as saints, and I would argue he is alluding to the reality of what he's going to talk about in chapters one through three, the wealth, the riches that they have as believers in Christ and like just highlight a few of the things he's going to say. <br /><br /> But first of all, what is a saint? Well, in New Testament, all believers in Jesus Christ are identified as saints. It technically means holy ones. It is those that are, the same word holy is put in a noun form here, and they are the holy ones. The word holy means to set something apart for a specific purpose. <br /><br /> These are the ones that have been set apart to God. They are the ones that are set apart from the world. They are special. They are set to God and from. The world's influence. It is talking about all believers and in Ephesians 4 12. Actually, the word Saints is used a number of times in Ephesus. It says this statement, pastors are responsible to quote, equip the Saints to do the work of the ministry. <br /><br /> All the Saints. This is not just a special class that this is all believers that he's talking about. So what is true of Saints? Well, this is what I'm going to talk about in Chapter one through three. And again, I'm just trying to get a I want to give you a snapshot here. What is true of saints? What is the wealth that these called out ones, these holy ones, if you will, set apart to God? <br /><br /> What is it that they have been given? What's true of them? And there are three things I'd like to highlight. First of all, they are people who were pursued by the commu commu community of God. In chapters 1, chapter 1, verse 3 to 14, one of the most powerful passages in the New Testament is presented about the unique role of Father, Son, and Spirit. <br /><br /> It is a passage that talks about God's pursuit, His pursuit of those that are the called out ones, that are the set apart ones, that all three members of the Godhead are involved and are being connected with God. We'll see that in the next couple of studies as we look in chapters chapter 1 verse 3 through 14 the role of the Father, the role of the Son, the role of the Spirit in calling out his people to be his own. <br /><br /> There is an incredible picture in the scriptures that God is one being but is manifested in three persons. Now, we don't know how three persons can be one essence, but we're not God either, so we don't have to figure it all out, but we do have to bow the knee before the truth and the reality. But there are some incredibly practical. <br /><br /> Things to learn because in the creation, there is a different role that the father plays that the son plays that the spirit plays in salvation. There's a different role that the father plays and the son plays and the spirit plays in the Christian life. There are different roles that the father plays and the son plays and the spirit place. <br /><br /> And one of the beauties of Christian growth is to come to know God in his triune nature. And one of the beauties of Christian growth is to come to know God in his triune nature. My mother in law lives in an apartment with us. She's 95 years old. I didn't ask her permission to share that part, but I did ask permission to share the rest. <br /><br /> My mother in law is a believer of many years in Christ, and she regularly spent, and I'm not exaggerating in this, hours, reading her Bible, studying it. She's got books open, and, I went in recently, and I was talking with her. And mom was emotional, just talking about her time with the Lord. And she said, you know, I'm trying so hard to understand the Father and the Son and the Spirit. <br /><br /> And she said, she said, and I'm finding as I pray, that I actually get kind of mixed up. Because I'm talking to, to each one. And, and I'm, I'm not sure what I should say to the one. But, but, but, and she's describing, it's so emotional. What she was describing was extremely meaningful to me. I said, Mom, you're describing the fact that you have not only been brought into a relationship with God you have been brought into a Community that the community of the Godhead. <br /><br /> It's what theologians and I've said this before to you have have often described as the dance of God, this sense that the father and the son and the spirit have lived eternally together, completely joyful in each other's presence, but that he desired to expand the community and include humans that he made that you are invited in the gospel to join the dance. <br /><br /> I remember the story, well I saw this, I was at a wedding a number of years ago, and it was, people were dancing, and it was, I remember one scene, there was a, a man and his wife, that were dancing together, they were older, and it was a relaxed dance, and their adult daughter came over, and, She kind of moved your way in. <br /><br /> And all of a sudden, the three of them are dancing together. And it wasn't real vibrant, but it was beautiful. This beautiful acceptance. They're laughing and you can just see the love. They have, they're vibrating together in this dance together. This is God eternally. And he, and, and, and the Godhead says. <br /><br /> Let's make man, humans, in our image. Let's let them join in the communion that is ours. The book of Ephesians portrays this picture, in chapter 1 in particular, of the triune God, all of them, coming after you, to say, we're going to call out some to be ours, to join the dance. This is the picture of the called out ones. <br /><br /> The first characteristic of the called out ones will be this. They are people who were pursued by the community of God. I was praying a while back. And something really heavy was on my heart. I was really, I really needed God's leading in it. And I found myself just praying to each member of the Godhead. <br /><br /> In light of what I theologically know is their role. Asking for their help in particular ways and again, I know God is one but I got done It was a very meaningful prayer time for me And I talked to Marianne and I said I just I just came away from the presence of God and just talking to him intimately father son, would you spirit would you and and her response was Yeah, well, I understand. <br /><br /> You're looking for all the help you can get. Well, that's sort of how I felt. You know, I'll take everybody! Guys! Not guys. That's probably disrespectful, but anyway. You get the feel. This is it. You've been invited to the dance. If you're a called out one, if you're a set apart one, if you're a saint, a believer in Jesus. <br /><br /> You've been invited to the dance that will last eternally because God wanted you the second thing That's true is there are people who have passed from separation to connection With God in chapter 2 verses 1 through 10. He's going to talk about you were dead dead dead not sick Not sort of sore throat spiritually. <br /><br /> You're dead. It's lifeless <br /><br /> I've used this illustration. Death in the scripture is always the picture of separation. We actually use it the same way. Physical death is your immaterial part is separate from your material part. If I drop dead right now, what it means is my material part would still be here, but the me, the immaterial, the soul spirit would be separated. <br /><br /> We talk about giving up the ghost that the spirit has left his soul has departed That's all pictures of this of what spiritual death is Spiritual death which is what Paul is talking about in Ephesians 2 is the vertical dimension We have two parts to our immaterial. We have a soul sukkahs. We get psychology from it. <br /><br /> It's how we relate On the horizontal level with others and also how we relate to ourselves. The study of psychology is to try to figure that stuff out. You know, what's going on? Why are you agitated? Why can't you get along? But there is also a dimension that is vitally significant. There is the vertical relationship. <br /><br /> Animals are said in the scripture to have a soul. They are never said to have a spirit. They do not have the vertical dimension. Spiritual death is that our vertical dimension has been separated. We have been, it's been disconnected. It's what the fall of sin into sin did to humanity. We have been severed and we now have to have reconnection. <br /><br /> In Ephesians two, he's going to talk about how these individuals that that have been set apart to God have been reconnected through what Jesus Christ did on the cross through salvation is basically reconnecting you with God, which was lost because of sin. The third thing, they are people who form a new community in the world. <br /><br /> There's a mystery in chapter 2, 11, all the way to the end of chapter three, he's going to talk about it. He said, and he says twice, he says, there's a mystery. Nobody saw this baby coming. Nobody saw this one. The Jews and Gentiles would be brought together on the same footing as a way of approaching God. <br /><br /> And it would be done through the Jewish Messiah, Christ. Nobody saw it, but he says, Here's what's happening. He's going to use these visuals like there's a wall of partition. It's just fabulous pictures that are there that are going to be taken away. And there's this oneness that takes place so that You can go anywhere in the world, and you can immediately sense a relationship with people as you get to know them and find out that they, too, are a believer in Jesus Christ. <br /><br /> It doesn't matter their gender, their ethnicity, their background, their social class, anything. Because you have been brought into this community <br /><br /> about a year after the, maybe six months after the Eagles won the Super Bowl. I was over in Western PA at a hotel, and I, I got on the elevator. It was a pretty good sized elevator, and the room probably had, the elevator probably had eight, fairly exuberant, enthusiastic African American women that were there on a, on a, some outing. <br /><br /> I don't know what it was. And I noticed that they were talking a little bit. About the Eagles. Now, I have two jackets. I have an Eagles jacket, which I wear all the time. I just, we were in Florida this past week. I wore it there. I also have a jacket that was given to me when the Phillies won the World Series, and it's a fabulous jacket. <br /><br /> It's the most comfortable jacket I own, but I honestly don't feel worthy to wear it. I'm just not a giant baseball fan. And I feel awkward when people come up and say, Oh, Philly, you know what, I'm like, Yeah, yeah, yeah, go, go, Phil, you know, but I don't root for anybody else. But, but I love the Eagles, and so I wear my jacket is comfortable, too. <br /><br /> But, well, so, of course, what? You know what happened in this elevator? So. So, I immediately feel this bond with these women and I did something that's quite honestly outside of my comfort zone. This is more of a Pastor Jared type of thing. But I was so excited with these ladies that all of a sudden I started doing the Eagles fight song. <br /><br /> Fly Eagles. And the whole elevator is singing. I mean by the time we hit the floor, you know, You know, what happened there? There's a community. These are my people. There's something. I don't know him and I oh, what we even got better was at the end They're saying they're saying Oh bless you bless number. <br /><br /> Oh and Christians, too This is awesome. <br /><br /> If you're a saint if you're set apart to God You're also set apart to a community of people all over the world <br /><br /> And it's all because of the work of the Godhead in your life But he says something else here. He says this. He says to the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus. He says you'll know them because they're the faithful ones. And this is really what he's going to talk about in the last three chapters of the book. <br /><br /> Their walk. I there, this is how chapter 4 begins, verse 1. I therefore, prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called. Their walk, we will find in the book of Ephesians, is a whole life thing. There's no option given to compartmentalize your life. <br /><br /> He's going to talk about, these are just topics that he's going to talk about when he says, Live worthily. He's just basically saying, man, be who you are. Be what you've been made to be in Christ. He's going to talk about our money. He's going to talk about our eating. This is all in here. He's going to talk about our marriages, our jobs, our way of talking with people, our way of treating people, our calling to forgive people. <br /><br /> He's going to talk about our emotional lives. He's going to talk about our sexual purity. Matter of fact, he's going to make this statement. Among you, there must not even be a hint of sexual immorality. Well, I've told you about the brothels that were at every major street corner. Hundreds of people available to you. <br /><br /> They had their own form of <br /><br /> promiscuity, just like our culture does. Our culture maybe is scarier, because it can be done in total anonymity behind a screen. But he says, if you're one of these that has been set apart to God, Here's what he says again in chapter four and five. Among you there must not even be a hint of sexual immorality. <br /><br /> The followers of Jesus must have an entirely different standard of sexual purity than the culture in which we live. Their walk, our walk, is not compartmentalized. The walk is a whole life thing. The old theologians had an expression, it's a Latin term, It's Coram Deo. Deo means God. Coram means in the presence of. <br /><br /> Coram Deo was what they called believers to live. And it literally meant to be continually conscious of God's presence. To see God's involvement and live for God's glory in all parts of our lives. This is Coram Deo. That our lives are not compartmentalized. Yeah, this is, this is God's part. But, I'm not ready to have him over here. <br /><br /> Sylvia Fraser, well known novelist, wrote a book, My Father's House. It tells of the tributes paid at her father's funeral. He was a man of proper and regular habits. A Christian man, who didn't smoke or drink, who helped people with their grocery shopping, who never took the Lord's name in vain. A polite and neighborly man, Mr. <br /><br /> Frazier, and these are quotes, kept his snow shoveled, his leaves raked, and his bills paid. He also sexually molested his daughter Sylvia from age 4 to 12, threatening her first with the loss of her toys, he'd throw them in the furnace. Then with killing her cat, then with sending her away to an orphanage if she were to disclose their secret. <br /><br /> Mr. Fraser was able to live by compartmentalizing his life. He could seal off one part of his personhood from another just like an ocean liner can sometimes keep afloat, even when damaged, if the crew seals off the flooded compartments. Mr. Fraser is an extreme case of our ability to compartmentalize. But the Bible's repeated admonition to be wholehearted and to be undivided in our pursuit of God reminds us of the challenge to Coram Deo through compartmentalize in each one of our lives. <br /><br /> When Paul wrote Ephesians, he's saying, guys, It's a whole life thing I'm talking about. It speaks to every part. The second thing is, their walk is foundationally an internal thing, ultimately. The focus of chapter 4 through 6 is practical Christianity, but it isn't just behavioral. It's heart driven. <br /><br /> Motives, underlying pride, envy, selfish ambition, bitterness, is actually influencing our best actions. As we grow in Christ, and I do believe we need to change habits when we come to Jesus, we need to be continually letting the Lord, redirect us and change our behavior, our responses, whether it's emotional, whether it's our relationship, of course He's changing us all the time. <br /><br /> But what you find out, and those of you that have walked with the Lord for a number of years know exactly what I'm going to say. When I say it, you will. You begin to understand That your own capacity to grow in Christ is limited by your own self deception. That we want to hide what is ugly, and shameful, and embarrassing to us, even to ourselves. <br /><br /> But God is determined to free us from that part of ourselves. He is determined to turn us into transparent, vulnerable people that say, I'm really struggling with fear. I'm really struggling with lust. I'm real. I need I need brothers and sisters to come alongside of me. I've got issues, some of which I'm deceiving myself to the reality of it. <br /><br /> I'm reading a book that I just love the book. It's by Rebecca Pippard. It's called Hope has his reasons with the subtitle. Our search to satisfy our deepest longings. She tells the story of being in a Bible study that she had really enjoyed and I'll read it to you. There was a delightful woman in the group, someone who taught me a great deal about living for God. <br /><br /> However, she was of the school, though she may not have realized it, that it is a sin to admit one is a sinner. She would, of course, say she believed in the doctrine of sin, but she never spoke of anything but victory. One day, the leader of the study asked us, What do you think controls you that shouldn't? <br /><br /> Insightful question, actually. We knew one another well by then, so there was enough trust to really be able to speak openly. But the victorious woman spoke up at once. The besetting sin of my life, she said, is that I just don't write as many letters as I should. There was a long silence. Not surprisingly, no one shared after that. <br /><br /> The lid on the discussion had been clamped shut. Mind you, I did say and believe she was a delightful woman. Yet I wanted to ask her though. I didn't is that why Christ died because we didn't write enough letters That seems like a stiff price to pay just because we lacked enough stamps What happens as you grow in Jesus? <br /><br /> You're able to say I see the seed of every known sin in my own heart I see how much fear has influenced my life. I see how how What I thought was was just strong getting it doing it the right way has so much pride in it I see so many areas that I just deceive myself and God just keeps taking back another layer of the onion and So you grow in the Christian life? <br /><br /> And if you're really growing the Christian life sometimes you say, you know I think I'm a worse person than when I started this thing You're not. I mean, I don't think you are. No, you're not. You're just being allowed to see more that Jesus died for, and more that Jesus wants to say, Let me in there. Let me in there! <br /><br /> And watch what I'll do through my spirit. Paul is saying their work is an internal thing, and last, their war is a real thing. In Ephesians, Paul knew of shopkeepers, town officials, tradesmen, and slaves who had experienced this new life in Christ. In his mind's eye, he saw them throughout the city and the countryside, the saints in Ephesus. <br /><br /> In the X Men series, X Men series, Charles Francis Xavier, also known as Professor X, is the one that has this, this thing called Cerebro. It's a database, but it's connected when you put this, like, helmet like thing for X Men fans. I apologize right now. but This thing enables him to see in the whole world, and it shows up on like a planetarium ceiling all over the world where there are mutants, people that have these special powers that are a little different from humans, and, but it'd be very dangerous if people, if, if people from the evil side, evil mutants, evil humans, were able to see where these people were. <br /><br /> He's able to see them because he wants to help them, invest in them, some of them get into his school. <br /><br /> We're like that as believers. We're scattered. We're those lights that are all over the world. <br /><br /> The frightening thing is our enemy does know where we are. He can identify all the lights <br /><br /> and his hatred of God is tangible and it's real and there's not a lot he can do against God. So he goes to his next option, which is the people that God has set apart for himself. In the book of Ephesians, Paul isn't going to mince words on the fact that there's a war going on. There's an enemy that in this life that Jesus gives us, which is the whole theme of this series, there is opposition. <br /><br /> There is adversary. There will be suffering. You will suffer in ways you would not suffer if you didn't know Christ. <br /><br /> Paul writes this letter to help us live out the life Jesus gives us. Those doing so live as faithful saints. As those who see the uniqueness of their position in Christ separated to God and from the world as those who are seeking to align their lives under Christ, to glorify him in every part of their lives. <br /><br /> They're, they're, they're trying to live out as faithful, set apart ones. This is the life that Jesus gives us. Lord, <br /><br /> thank you for setting the table in these first couple of verses. They give us a, an intro to all the richness that's ahead in this book. <br /><br /> Father, I worship you for authoring it all. <br /><br /> I worship you, Lord Jesus, that you accomplished it all. You're the Redeemer, you're the Rescuer, you're the one who took on flesh to become one of us, <br /><br /> and God the Spirit, I worship you as the Applier of it all. That you're the one that enables us to live out the Gospel today, to face our sin, to be vulnerably telling other people, I don't have it together. I'm more screwed up than any of you really know. And our prayers become different for each other because we pray with what's real. <br /><br /> Father, Son, and Spirit, thanks for inviting us to be a part of the community of the Godhead. To be a part of the dance. <br /><br /> Lord, we love you. We love to do life with you. We love living in this life that Jesus gives us. We praise you for it, in Jesus name. Amen.</div> false no <![CDATA[The Life Jesus Gives You]]> Ephesians 1:1-3

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing gin the heavenly places,



Sermon Transcript:

Morning everybody invite you to take your bibles to the book of Ephesians if you have one of these little babies Uh, you can use that i'm going to be using that this morning. It is as as Roland already mentioned the scripture journal of the book of Ephesians And as many of you did during our series through the book of acts Hope you'll get a hold of one of these And be reading through Ephesians writing down your notes in the margin um Really looking forward to this series.

Um, it is a new series and today we're going to look at the theme of the letter uh next week, uh, we're going to be going back and Giving us some historical context of what's going on what's happening Um why that matters but today I just would like to introduce the book's theme and the book's theme is the life Jesus gives you Um in the scripture journal There is a an outline here.

I think we can bring up that slide that is in each of these that we put together It basically leads you through the three sections of the book of Ephesians Which talk about the life that Jesus gives us first of all the wealth It talks about the riches that we are given as believers. It talks about our wealth in chapters 1 through 3 Who you are and what you have Because of Jesus Christ, of being in Jesus.

Then we're going to look at the walk. And that is chapter 4, down to the middle of chapter 6. How we should live in Jesus. It actually begins in chapter 4, verse 1. It says, now in light of who you are, live like it. Now, uh, live these realities out in your life. And gets into the very practical part of the book and day to day experience.

And then the last part of the book of Ephesians talks about the war. The opposition that we face. In Jesus. And we're going to be following that through. Dave Merck, uh, who did a family life seminar here about a month ago, Um, is a missionary to Brazil. He's also a Bible teacher there. And, excuse me, when he was here, he taught us some hand motions that, uh, he has used in teaching through the book of Ephesians.

And they were, they were really good. And Pastor Jared has been teaching the book of Ephesians in youth groups. and has taught the youth these motions. In a moment, we're going to have Jared and the students present those to us. We're going to be trying to teach you those as we go through the series.

Today, we're just using the video to introduce them to you, but if you look also at the logo, logo, logo, logo, I wanted to say logos, uh, the logo that is associated with this series. All of those hand motions are there. But I'd like to have you watch this little video put together by our young people, most of whom are on the winter retreat this weekend, so we can't rave on them, but they did a super job presenting an overview in 60 seconds of the book of Ephesians using hand motions to help us remember it.

Here it is. Here's a quick summary for Ephesians. Salutations, a unique Christian greeting for both Jews and Gentiles. Adoration, praising God for our spiritual blessings in Christ. Intercession, prayer to understand the blessings we have received. Salvation, by grace through faith, not by our own doing.

Reconciliation, to God and between Jews and Gentiles. Proclamation, with the mystery revealed that Jews and Gentiles are co heirs in Christ. Intercession, for love and power through faith. Christ Jesus, walking in unity, walking in holiness, walking in love, walking in life, walking in wisdom, walking in family, walking in the workplace, standing in the victory.

Final greetings of grace and peace. They did good, didn't they? And I forgot to mention. If you had been, if you had had this outline, they led us right through the outline, all the scripture text is there. We'll see that again as we go through the series, I'm sure. The theme of the letter is Paul is writing to this church and actually local churches around them.

It is a general letter, which means, though it is addressed to the church at Ephesus, it clearly was designed to be a letter that is used in other churches. As well. And in this letter he talks about the life that Jesus gives us, and I'd like to read verses one through three of chapter one by way of introduction this morning, and look at what he introduces us right out of the gate about this life that is found in Jesus.

Ephesians chapter one verses one through three. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God. To the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus. Grace to you and peace from God, our father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.

We're gonna stop there, and that's what we're gonna talk about this morning, but first I'd like to, to pray.

Lord, we do come to you, the Holy One. Even as we sang about earlier. We come to you, the one that is unique, spectacular, set apart, and God we come delighting to hear you speak into our lives the truths of what we have in this life that Jesus has given to us. So, Lord, as we embark on this series, I commit this series to you, of all the pastors that will be preaching, of all the studies and sermons that we present, Lord, may ultimately they cause us to fall more in love with Jesus Christ.

We might adore you more. That we might worship you more, Lord Jesus, for the life that you came to provide for us, in which now we are allowed and enabled to live out through you. Guide us to that truth this morning, I pray in Jesus name. Amen.

Paul starts his letter after introducing himself in verse 3 with this statement, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. It's an interesting way to start a letter, right? I mean, it's an interesting way to say, uh, God has blessed us with all spiritual blessings, more than you could ever imagine.

And so it begs the question, what is a blessing? What does that mean? Because, founded in this, is going to be these three chapters, talking about this life that we have been given. And he says, these are blessings that I'm going to be talking about. And these are going to be the blessings that you are empowered then, to live out your life on the horizontal level in chapters four through six.

So what is a blessing? Well, we use the word blessing in a variety of ways. We use it to wish somebody, in the sense of wishing somebody well. Somebody sneezes and somebody says, bless you. You know where that comes from? It actually comes, most people believe, from the, um, Seasoned in the Roman era with the bubonic plague as it swept through when people would sneeze it was a sign that they probably had caught the disease and someone would would say Bless you and the sense of it was may God help you may God protect you that it was a well wishing statement We use the word, this is more, um, probably in the South.

A term of empathy. Well, bless your heart. Why you really tried out there, bless your heart. It's like someone giving a big hug. You know, here it would be God looking down on people and saying, Why, they're just a mess. Bless their heart. Uh, poor pitiful things. There's a third way we use it. You hear athletes say this all the time.

After having a good game, how are you able to play? Well, I'm just blessed, man. Just blessed. You know, God's blessed me. That's actually the closest of the three, but it actually means much more than that. The word bless, and it's used three times in verse three, is a combination of two words in the original.

The word well, And the word, to speak. It is speaking well. To, when it says, first of all, Blessed be God. It means, praise be God. Speak well of God. I see God's glory is all in this. But then it says, God has blessed us with all spiritual blessings. God gives us things that are well spoken of, that are good things, that are profitable things.

As a matter of fact, what he says is We are blessed with all things that are good, and that are profitable. It is an absolute statement. Everything your soul could need and long for, every single blessing imaginable is given to you in this life that I am going to remind you of in this letter, Paul says. I want you to know right at the beginning, this God that we bless, that we speak well of, has given you every spiritual blessing that you need.

These blessings are a description of the life that Jesus gives to us. And there are three things about this life that I'd like to just highlight here in this intro sermon. Where this life is found, what this life is, and how you know if you have this life. Where this life is found, well in verse 3 it makes it clear, these blessings are found in Jesus.

It says in That phrase is used 35 times in the book of Ephesians. It's used in verse 3, in Christ. In verse 4, it says, in him, talking of Christ. In verse 6, in the beloveds, talking of Christ. In verse 7, in him, and 31 other times. Our connection in Jesus is the focus. It is not just when you receive Jesus, you get Jesus as your King, that you get Him as a King to obey, as a Lord to follow, as a Savior to love.

He says, you are actually put into Him. You are in Jesus. That means two things. Number one, it means that you are in Jesus legally. In Romans, excuse me, in 1st Corinthians chapter 15, verse 22, it says this, For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. There are two spiritual families on planet Earth.

It's always been that way, ever since the Garden of Eden. The family of Adam and the family of Christ. Whatever is true of your ancestor, Adam, or your ancestor, Christ, is true of you. In Romans chapter 5, it says if you are united with Adam, you are united with him in his spiritual death. You also are separated from God.

That all the realities that were true of Adam in his, his, his post, uh, rebellion state. That's where we are, but then he says in Romans chapter 6, but there's another identity you can be in Christ your lineage your ancestry spiritually now is taken from Adam to Jesus and Romans chapter 6 says you now share and are united with Jesus in his resurrection.

That he experienced spiritual eternal death for you, and you are now in him as you have been raised from judgment and condemnation. Here's what it means to be in Christ. God treats you as just as free from condemnation as if you died on the cross. As if you experienced eternal punishment for your sins.

And now stand in complete acceptance with God, just as Jesus does. He says, in Jesus, all Jesus medals are pinned to your chest. That you stand in Him. And what is true of Jesus is true of you in your standing with God. If you haven't embraced Jesus as your Savior, you are in, where all humanity begins, you are in Adam.

In a state of separation from God, under condemnation of sin. We are in Jesus legally, he says. And so you have all the blessings that come because of this life that you now have experienced in Christ. But you are also in Jesus vitally. Every spiritual benefit is in you by His Spirit dwelling in you. The Holy Spirit is living within you.

The very life of Jesus is within you through His Spirit. You'll spend your whole life, your eternal life, living out these benefits that He's talking about here. As He says, every spiritual blessing is yours because you are in Christ.

This transpired, not as a process, but as a moment of time. Many people today, if you ask them, are they a Christian? Or, uh, uh, uh, do you know God? Well, I'm trying to be a Christian. I'm trying to get there. I'm doing my best. Doing these things. But the issue is, you are either in Jesus, or not. You're either in Jesus, Or you are in Adam, in that state of separation.

You are in Jesus, you are either adopted into God's family through Jesus, or not. You are either forgiven, or not. You are either justified, or not. You are either born again, or not. It is not a, a process. It is a moment of time in which this takes place. Now, of course, this doesn't mean it's necessarily a spectacular moment.

It doesn't, it actually doesn't mean that there isn't, for some people, a, a, a seeming journey. But there is still that moment of time. I remember reading the story of C. Everett Koop, the, the Surgeon General of the United States. And at the time he was a doctor at Children's Hospital in Philadelphia. And when he was there, his wife would drag him on Sunday nights, that was his word, to church, um, at the 10th Presbyterian Church, where a great preacher was named Donald Gray Barnhouse.

And Everett Koop tells the story of going week after week, and he said, I found myself disagreeing with virtually everything the man had to say. But then he recounts that after a year, a year and a half, he said, I found myself saying, I agree with everything he's saying. He said, intellectually, I became convinced and began to acknowledge that my own life reflected the condition of humanity that was being portrayed.

Eventually, he says, at some point, and he says, I can't remember when. I don't remember which sermon series I was listening to. I don't remember the circum, but I, there was this moment when it all became clear to me and I knew that I had embraced, and he says this, I stopped trusting in myself to be able to earn my way to God at some point.

I trusted in what Jesus did for me, and I accepted Jesus as my Savior and my Lord. The point is, that there was a point, there was a moment when, when it came clear to him. He wasn't sure when that was. He just knew that he had passed from being, if you will, in Adam, to being in Christ. That he now belonged to Christ, that God's forgiveness was his, and he had experienced that reality in his life.

There is a point. You are either in or out. At some point, that may change. But becoming in Christ is a moment in your life, and at that moment, Life is received by grace and what he's saying here all these spiritual blessings I'm going to talk about are for the individual that has changed their standing some of them may have been very religious very dogmatic in their going to church and zealous But they still have never embraced Christ as Savior and Lord.

They still are in Adam. But there's that point when they cross over and it is then that these spiritual blessings become available in Christ. The second thing is, the second question is, what this life is. And here, verse 3, looks ahead. Now, remember who's writing this letter, right? This is a guy named Paul.

Here's his heritage. Paul was an individual who had, in his religious fanaticism, killed people. He would later, after embracing Jesus into his life as Savior, he would spend lots of times, and a lot of time with relatives and friends, of people. Whose relatives and friends he had seen executed and had been part of making that happen or had seen them financially socially Devastated he spent time with those people the self loathing and guilt must have been deep and excruciating for Paul He did not exaggerate when in one of his letters he said I am the, literally, number one, it's actually the word protost, I am the foremost of sinners.

Some versions say I am the chief of sinners. It actually means, literally, I am number one sinner. Nobody could be worse than me. So how is Paul able to, to live with and deal with that reality in his life? It is the blessings, it is the identity, it is the sense of what it means to stand in Christ and to imbibe the, the, the drink of, of this standing that I have in Christ.

illustrate to you a couple because what Paul is going to do in verse 3 through 14 He's going to do in a few other passages in this book and he does many times in the New Testament But here is one of the lengthiest ones He is going to talk about some of those every blessing that are available to the child of God.

And I just want to sort of whet your appetite. I'm just going to mention two of them that he talks about here. Just to try to say, this is just two of the blessings. There are blessings that he describes in this passage. There are other blessings he will describe in the remainder of the book. There are other blessings he will talk about in the New Testament.

There are other blessings, undoubtedly, that are not in the Scripture, that God knows are ours, that Maybe we couldn't comprehend them right now. But he says, every blessing has been given to you that your soul could possibly desire or need. Here's just a couple. He says in verse 4, He predestined us for adoption to Himself as sons.

Through Jesus, being in Jesus, God adopted us into His family as His kids. Well, that means some amazing things. It means, first of all, we have access to God that we didn't have before. Jesus makes God your father. You're his child, not just a servant or a worker or a citizen of his kingdom, but his child.

With the intimacy of the access that you have, a claim on him as your father that you never had before, he becomes your dad, your Abba, if you will, as scripture describes it. We have access to God. There is investment from God as his adopted child. He talks about how He disciplines his kids how he shows his love.

He says in a variety of passages by bringing things into their lives to change us, to train us, to shape us. He does that because we've been adopted into his family, and then he gives us an inheritance. You'll notice in verse 4, he makes an interesting statement. He says, God the Father adopted us to himself as sons.

Now, why did Paul say this? As sons? I mean, is it a sexist statement? Why not use a neutral general gender statement? Neutral gender statement. Why emphasize it as sons? He does it intentionally. In the Roman Empire at this time, women had almost no capacity to inherit. There were some exceptions, but in the overwhelming majority of cases, it is why many, uh, fathers, if they didn't have a son, they would adopt one.

So they had one, they could be sure they could pass on their, their inheritance to And Paul is emphasizing, God adopted us as ones who are guaranteed his inheritance. He even go, he talks about the fact that, that those who enter his family, enter as full heirs. The new heavens and the new earth that are one day coming, they're yours.

If you stand in Christ, you'll be able to walk on a cosmos that is the Garden of Eden, extended throughout the entire cosmos. He says that's part of your inheritance, but you've already got a down payment. It's described in verse 14. That down payment is the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life. He says the Holy Spirit, what is He?

He's the down payment of the inheritance you're going to get. Just a picture of what God is willing to give to us. That's just, we're adopted. He also says in verse 7, as just a second example of these blessings, we're redeemed. In Him we have redemption through Jesus blood. I read recently of a guy that was in New York City, and he was telling the story of how he didn't know the city too well, and he left his car, In a place that he thought was okay to park, and it turned out it wasn't okay to park.

And he went back to get his car, and his car had been, uh, towed and was now impounded. And I was reading the story, and the guy was, right, sharing it in a humorous way, but the thing that caught my attention was he talked about where he went to. And he went to a place that was called the Redemption Center.

You actually had to pay your fine. To get your car out of the enslavement, captivity. It's held there, it's impounded. He couldn't get his car back without paying the price. Jesus Christ provided a way that people could be free from the enslavement. Of sin in its penalty and its power now the interesting thing is almost every religion of the world perceives humans as in Enslavement, I remember reading of gandhi talking about this and he was actually commending.

christianity Even though he, he, he was a practicing Hindu. But he, he talked about how Christianity really helped with the enslavement of people. And by that he was saying, you know, he said both Eastern and Western religions agree at this point. That there is this enslavement. We're slaves to selfishness.

We're slaves to our ego. And Gandhi felt that Christianity provided a way for us to overcome our enslavement through Christ. But it was in this way. It was by way of example. That Jesus Christ came, and he said he was the great example of living a selfless life, an egoless life. That Jesus showed us how to be freed by forgiving others, by loving others, by serving others, even dying for others.

And Gandhi basically said, if you follow Jesus You'll be free. The problem is it doesn't work. Matter of fact, the more you come alongside of Jesus Christ And look at his life and say the man was not ruled by selflessness of selfishness The man wasn't ruled by self absorption and pride and unkindness and ego It doesn't make you say therefore.

I'll be that guy. It makes you feel I can't be that guy it actually reveals How enslaved we are. We don't find liberation from our enslavement. By looking at the life of Jesus, we see it by embracing the death of Jesus. What liberates us is what He did for us in His death. That He paid the penalty for us.

He redeems. He adopts. And countless other blessings are provided to help the child of God see God has been about this process, even from eternity past, to place you in this new standing in Jesus Christ. See who you are. See what you have. See the life, the blessings. So how do you know if you have received this life?

It's an interesting phrase that's mentioned in verses 3 through 14. As the person is looking at these blessings that have been provided for us, Paul keeps saying this at the end of each section, to the praise of God's glory, to the praise of God's glory. You see all of this with The lens that Paul did, if you have embraced Christ as your life.

You don't just believe in grace, you're stunned by it. You are enthralled by grace. You know you are getting what you don't deserve in grace. You know that you are enslaved, separated. Set apart from God, you know it's your own fault and your own sins. But the story of someone sacrificing themself for you is mesmerizing.

Because it's not earned or deserved, it's to the praise of His glory. Within us there is the awareness that such action is the greatest expression of love and grace. There's no more powerful moral messaging, no more impactful story than to hear of someone loving others enough to die for them. Someone like Harry Potter's mom, Lily, who gave her life to protect her boy and then later when Harry is talking to Dumbledore and saying, why can't the enemy Voldemort, why can't he destroy me?

And he says, your mother's love rescued you. You're reading through the book as a 60 year old and say, yeah, that's right. That's right. Desmond Doss was a conscientious objector in World War II. They made a movie about him called Hacksaw Ridge. Great movie, actually. And it's the story of a guy that was a conscientious objector, but he felt compelled to go to World War II.

And he ended up getting in a company, which is a company of 130 to 150 soldiers. Captain is over it, and as a conscientious objector, he was unwilling to carry a rifle, certainly would not use a rifle. And so he went in the medical corps, but they still wanted them to carry rifles, and he would not. And so, everybody in his company were angry with him, were frustrated with him.

Even his captain, the one that was over the company, was constantly belittling him, because he thought, this is not the guy that's going to have our back. He's a wimp, he's not strong, he's fearful, and all these things. And Desmond Doss stood his ground, and they actually went to the island of Okinawa, and it's a true story, the movie depicts it.

There was a cliff called Hacksaw Ridge. It was almost straight up and down, and on top of it was a plateau where the enemy were encamped, and they had to take the plateau because it gave them, elevated ground for all of the areas on the island, so they had to take this ridge. So the company was taken up, they were, they were on the ridge, and they were decimated by the enemy.

They were just overwhelmed. And so the ones that could escape back down the ridge got ropes, but many of them had been riddled to pieces. And one of those that was still there that could have escaped but did not escape was a guy named Desmond Doss. And Desmond Doss, Corporal Doss. began to go after soldiers that were wounded and incapable of getting to the edge, getting some of them hundreds of yards in.

there was enemy fire all the time. There was mortar fire. And he went back and would drag people, as some he carried on his back. He would take them to the edge, he was the only one ambulatory at the moment, and he got 75 soldiers over the course of 12 hours, that he got to the edge of this large precipice, tied him with a rope, dropped him down, and then they would bring, he would bring the rope back up and do it with another one.

At the end of the 12 hours, he, he finally went down. He couldn't find anybody else. His body was riddled with wounds, shrapnel from mortar fire. And one of the guys that he saved was his captain. We look at a story like that of a man that is willing to rescue others at the cost to themselves. We say this is the ultimate picture of, of, of, of human beauty.

sacrifices oneself for others. What Paul is saying to us is this, Jesus Christ did that for you to secure for you eternal glory and love. He does not ask you to renovate your life or earn his grace. The life he offers is to those who say, I see my sin, my guilt, my rebellion, my pride. I see my brokenness. I see my connection to Father Adam.

I'm no different from him. A rebel living apart. I see myself lying on the battle torn plateau and I see my rescuer come. I don't know where you are this morning, but I really felt prompted this morning as we start this series that is going to present in such beautiful, a beautiful portrayal of the Christian life as it is designed.

The life we're given in Jesus to say to you these realities, this life that Jesus offers to people. Is found for in those that have turned from being in Adam separated from God and have embraced Jesus Christ and seen I'm a broken soldier on the field, helpless to earn my way out to get away from everlasting destruction.

My rescuer came for me. Embracing Jesus Christ moves one in a moment of time from in Adam separated. To in Christ, eternally blessed by His grace. When I received Jesus Christ as my Savior in college, was the easiest thing I ever did, and it was the hardest thing I ever did. Easy because it's a gift, right?

I don't have to do anything. It was offered to me, but Jesus Christ did it all for me. But I had to say, God, I come to you with, with empty hands. I come with brokenness. I come with desperation. I come as a sinner, separate. I come as one who needs a rescuer. One who would adopt me into his family. One who would, Pay the price for me to be delivered from my captivity in my lifestyle and brokenness I don't know where you are today We're launching into a really cool series in a really cool book

But the messaging here is ultimately for those that are in jesus. Let's pray together lord You look in every person's heart here in mount laurel here in collingswood Others watching online. Lord, this life that Jesus offers us is staggering in its beauty, in its grace. God, I ask as you look into the heart of each person here that your spirit would even now be prompting people saying, I had you in this room.

I had you listening to this sermon because I want to be your rescuer. I sent Jesus for you. Lord, those that you look at and see their hearts in that state, my cry is that you would draw them into surrender this morning to Jesus Christ. To say, Lord, yes, today I want to embrace Jesus Christ as my Savior.

To stand forgiven, to stand redeemed, adopted, to embrace the life that Jesus died, that I could live. With every head bowed, every eye closed this morning, maybe you hear and God is speaking into your life right now. You say, God, I want that life that Jesus Christ came to provide. I don't deserve it? I'll never earn it, but I humbly embrace the gift that Jesus came to die and to offer me through his death and resurrection.

If you're like that this morning with nobody looking around but me and God, I'm just going to say, Pastor Mark, I'm lifting my hand just to say, would you pray for me that I will embrace, I want to embrace Jesus Christ as my Savior. If you're like that this morning, would you just lift up your hand? Say yes, would you pray for me?

Lord, I pray for these hands that are raised for the souls and the lives they're connected to. Lord, how I pray that your spirit might bring the truth of embracing Jesus Christ as Savior into their lives. That this life that Jesus gives would be theirs. In Jesus name, I pray. Amen. Every Sunday we close our service with a song and every Sunday we have people standing up from our prayer team that are here To just pray with you, anything you want to come and share, as simple or as profound a request as it might be, they would love to pray with you.

It may be that some of you that raised your hands this morning said, I'd like to have somebody pray with me about my receiving Christ as your Savior. If He prompts you to come, won't you come as we close our service together? Thank you. Let's stand.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-life-jesus-gives-you 8e539b8c-10d7-4904-8c6d-963aa64a4155 Sun, 11 Feb 2024 13:02:16 GMT <div data-html="true">Ephesians 1:1-3 <br /><br /> Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing gin the heavenly places, <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> Morning everybody invite you to take your bibles to the book of Ephesians if you have one of these little babies Uh, you can use that i'm going to be using that this morning. It is as as Roland already mentioned the scripture journal of the book of Ephesians And as many of you did during our series through the book of acts Hope you'll get a hold of one of these And be reading through Ephesians writing down your notes in the margin um Really looking forward to this series. <br /><br /> Um, it is a new series and today we're going to look at the theme of the letter uh next week, uh, we're going to be going back and Giving us some historical context of what's going on what's happening Um why that matters but today I just would like to introduce the book's theme and the book's theme is the life Jesus gives you Um in the scripture journal There is a an outline here. <br /><br /> I think we can bring up that slide that is in each of these that we put together It basically leads you through the three sections of the book of Ephesians Which talk about the life that Jesus gives us first of all the wealth It talks about the riches that we are given as believers. It talks about our wealth in chapters 1 through 3 Who you are and what you have Because of Jesus Christ, of being in Jesus. <br /><br /> Then we're going to look at the walk. And that is chapter 4, down to the middle of chapter 6. How we should live in Jesus. It actually begins in chapter 4, verse 1. It says, now in light of who you are, live like it. Now, uh, live these realities out in your life. And gets into the very practical part of the book and day to day experience. <br /><br /> And then the last part of the book of Ephesians talks about the war. The opposition that we face. In Jesus. And we're going to be following that through. Dave Merck, uh, who did a family life seminar here about a month ago, Um, is a missionary to Brazil. He's also a Bible teacher there. And, excuse me, when he was here, he taught us some hand motions that, uh, he has used in teaching through the book of Ephesians. <br /><br /> And they were, they were really good. And Pastor Jared has been teaching the book of Ephesians in youth groups. and has taught the youth these motions. In a moment, we're going to have Jared and the students present those to us. We're going to be trying to teach you those as we go through the series. <br /><br /> Today, we're just using the video to introduce them to you, but if you look also at the logo, logo, logo, logo, I wanted to say logos, uh, the logo that is associated with this series. All of those hand motions are there. But I'd like to have you watch this little video put together by our young people, most of whom are on the winter retreat this weekend, so we can't rave on them, but they did a super job presenting an overview in 60 seconds of the book of Ephesians using hand motions to help us remember it. <br /><br /> Here it is. Here's a quick summary for Ephesians. Salutations, a unique Christian greeting for both Jews and Gentiles. Adoration, praising God for our spiritual blessings in Christ. Intercession, prayer to understand the blessings we have received. Salvation, by grace through faith, not by our own doing. <br /><br /> Reconciliation, to God and between Jews and Gentiles. Proclamation, with the mystery revealed that Jews and Gentiles are co heirs in Christ. Intercession, for love and power through faith. Christ Jesus, walking in unity, walking in holiness, walking in love, walking in life, walking in wisdom, walking in family, walking in the workplace, standing in the victory. <br /><br /> Final greetings of grace and peace. They did good, didn't they? And I forgot to mention. If you had been, if you had had this outline, they led us right through the outline, all the scripture text is there. We'll see that again as we go through the series, I'm sure. The theme of the letter is Paul is writing to this church and actually local churches around them. <br /><br /> It is a general letter, which means, though it is addressed to the church at Ephesus, it clearly was designed to be a letter that is used in other churches. As well. And in this letter he talks about the life that Jesus gives us, and I'd like to read verses one through three of chapter one by way of introduction this morning, and look at what he introduces us right out of the gate about this life that is found in Jesus. <br /><br /> Ephesians chapter one verses one through three. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God. To the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus. Grace to you and peace from God, our father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. <br /><br /> We're gonna stop there, and that's what we're gonna talk about this morning, but first I'd like to, to pray. <br /><br /> Lord, we do come to you, the Holy One. Even as we sang about earlier. We come to you, the one that is unique, spectacular, set apart, and God we come delighting to hear you speak into our lives the truths of what we have in this life that Jesus has given to us. So, Lord, as we embark on this series, I commit this series to you, of all the pastors that will be preaching, of all the studies and sermons that we present, Lord, may ultimately they cause us to fall more in love with Jesus Christ. <br /><br /> We might adore you more. That we might worship you more, Lord Jesus, for the life that you came to provide for us, in which now we are allowed and enabled to live out through you. Guide us to that truth this morning, I pray in Jesus name. Amen. <br /><br /> Paul starts his letter after introducing himself in verse 3 with this statement, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. It's an interesting way to start a letter, right? I mean, it's an interesting way to say, uh, God has blessed us with all spiritual blessings, more than you could ever imagine. <br /><br /> And so it begs the question, what is a blessing? What does that mean? Because, founded in this, is going to be these three chapters, talking about this life that we have been given. And he says, these are blessings that I'm going to be talking about. And these are going to be the blessings that you are empowered then, to live out your life on the horizontal level in chapters four through six. <br /><br /> So what is a blessing? Well, we use the word blessing in a variety of ways. We use it to wish somebody, in the sense of wishing somebody well. Somebody sneezes and somebody says, bless you. You know where that comes from? It actually comes, most people believe, from the, um, Seasoned in the Roman era with the bubonic plague as it swept through when people would sneeze it was a sign that they probably had caught the disease and someone would would say Bless you and the sense of it was may God help you may God protect you that it was a well wishing statement We use the word, this is more, um, probably in the South. <br /><br /> A term of empathy. Well, bless your heart. Why you really tried out there, bless your heart. It's like someone giving a big hug. You know, here it would be God looking down on people and saying, Why, they're just a mess. Bless their heart. Uh, poor pitiful things. There's a third way we use it. You hear athletes say this all the time. <br /><br /> After having a good game, how are you able to play? Well, I'm just blessed, man. Just blessed. You know, God's blessed me. That's actually the closest of the three, but it actually means much more than that. The word bless, and it's used three times in verse three, is a combination of two words in the original. <br /><br /> The word well, And the word, to speak. It is speaking well. To, when it says, first of all, Blessed be God. It means, praise be God. Speak well of God. I see God's glory is all in this. But then it says, God has blessed us with all spiritual blessings. God gives us things that are well spoken of, that are good things, that are profitable things. <br /><br /> As a matter of fact, what he says is We are blessed with all things that are good, and that are profitable. It is an absolute statement. Everything your soul could need and long for, every single blessing imaginable is given to you in this life that I am going to remind you of in this letter, Paul says. I want you to know right at the beginning, this God that we bless, that we speak well of, has given you every spiritual blessing that you need. <br /><br /> These blessings are a description of the life that Jesus gives to us. And there are three things about this life that I'd like to just highlight here in this intro sermon. Where this life is found, what this life is, and how you know if you have this life. Where this life is found, well in verse 3 it makes it clear, these blessings are found in Jesus. <br /><br /> It says in That phrase is used 35 times in the book of Ephesians. It's used in verse 3, in Christ. In verse 4, it says, in him, talking of Christ. In verse 6, in the beloveds, talking of Christ. In verse 7, in him, and 31 other times. Our connection in Jesus is the focus. It is not just when you receive Jesus, you get Jesus as your King, that you get Him as a King to obey, as a Lord to follow, as a Savior to love. <br /><br /> He says, you are actually put into Him. You are in Jesus. That means two things. Number one, it means that you are in Jesus legally. In Romans, excuse me, in 1st Corinthians chapter 15, verse 22, it says this, For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. There are two spiritual families on planet Earth. <br /><br /> It's always been that way, ever since the Garden of Eden. The family of Adam and the family of Christ. Whatever is true of your ancestor, Adam, or your ancestor, Christ, is true of you. In Romans chapter 5, it says if you are united with Adam, you are united with him in his spiritual death. You also are separated from God. <br /><br /> That all the realities that were true of Adam in his, his, his post, uh, rebellion state. That's where we are, but then he says in Romans chapter 6, but there's another identity you can be in Christ your lineage your ancestry spiritually now is taken from Adam to Jesus and Romans chapter 6 says you now share and are united with Jesus in his resurrection. <br /><br /> That he experienced spiritual eternal death for you, and you are now in him as you have been raised from judgment and condemnation. Here's what it means to be in Christ. God treats you as just as free from condemnation as if you died on the cross. As if you experienced eternal punishment for your sins. <br /><br /> And now stand in complete acceptance with God, just as Jesus does. He says, in Jesus, all Jesus medals are pinned to your chest. That you stand in Him. And what is true of Jesus is true of you in your standing with God. If you haven't embraced Jesus as your Savior, you are in, where all humanity begins, you are in Adam. <br /><br /> In a state of separation from God, under condemnation of sin. We are in Jesus legally, he says. And so you have all the blessings that come because of this life that you now have experienced in Christ. But you are also in Jesus vitally. Every spiritual benefit is in you by His Spirit dwelling in you. The Holy Spirit is living within you. <br /><br /> The very life of Jesus is within you through His Spirit. You'll spend your whole life, your eternal life, living out these benefits that He's talking about here. As He says, every spiritual blessing is yours because you are in Christ. <br /><br /> This transpired, not as a process, but as a moment of time. Many people today, if you ask them, are they a Christian? Or, uh, uh, uh, do you know God? Well, I'm trying to be a Christian. I'm trying to get there. I'm doing my best. Doing these things. But the issue is, you are either in Jesus, or not. You're either in Jesus, Or you are in Adam, in that state of separation. <br /><br /> You are in Jesus, you are either adopted into God's family through Jesus, or not. You are either forgiven, or not. You are either justified, or not. You are either born again, or not. It is not a, a process. It is a moment of time in which this takes place. Now, of course, this doesn't mean it's necessarily a spectacular moment. <br /><br /> It doesn't, it actually doesn't mean that there isn't, for some people, a, a, a seeming journey. But there is still that moment of time. I remember reading the story of C. Everett Koop, the, the Surgeon General of the United States. And at the time he was a doctor at Children's Hospital in Philadelphia. And when he was there, his wife would drag him on Sunday nights, that was his word, to church, um, at the 10th Presbyterian Church, where a great preacher was named Donald Gray Barnhouse. <br /><br /> And Everett Koop tells the story of going week after week, and he said, I found myself disagreeing with virtually everything the man had to say. But then he recounts that after a year, a year and a half, he said, I found myself saying, I agree with everything he's saying. He said, intellectually, I became convinced and began to acknowledge that my own life reflected the condition of humanity that was being portrayed. <br /><br /> Eventually, he says, at some point, and he says, I can't remember when. I don't remember which sermon series I was listening to. I don't remember the circum, but I, there was this moment when it all became clear to me and I knew that I had embraced, and he says this, I stopped trusting in myself to be able to earn my way to God at some point. <br /><br /> I trusted in what Jesus did for me, and I accepted Jesus as my Savior and my Lord. The point is, that there was a point, there was a moment when, when it came clear to him. He wasn't sure when that was. He just knew that he had passed from being, if you will, in Adam, to being in Christ. That he now belonged to Christ, that God's forgiveness was his, and he had experienced that reality in his life. <br /><br /> There is a point. You are either in or out. At some point, that may change. But becoming in Christ is a moment in your life, and at that moment, Life is received by grace and what he's saying here all these spiritual blessings I'm going to talk about are for the individual that has changed their standing some of them may have been very religious very dogmatic in their going to church and zealous But they still have never embraced Christ as Savior and Lord. <br /><br /> They still are in Adam. But there's that point when they cross over and it is then that these spiritual blessings become available in Christ. The second thing is, the second question is, what this life is. And here, verse 3, looks ahead. Now, remember who's writing this letter, right? This is a guy named Paul. <br /><br /> Here's his heritage. Paul was an individual who had, in his religious fanaticism, killed people. He would later, after embracing Jesus into his life as Savior, he would spend lots of times, and a lot of time with relatives and friends, of people. Whose relatives and friends he had seen executed and had been part of making that happen or had seen them financially socially Devastated he spent time with those people the self loathing and guilt must have been deep and excruciating for Paul He did not exaggerate when in one of his letters he said I am the, literally, number one, it's actually the word protost, I am the foremost of sinners. <br /><br /> Some versions say I am the chief of sinners. It actually means, literally, I am number one sinner. Nobody could be worse than me. So how is Paul able to, to live with and deal with that reality in his life? It is the blessings, it is the identity, it is the sense of what it means to stand in Christ and to imbibe the, the, the drink of, of this standing that I have in Christ. <br /><br /> illustrate to you a couple because what Paul is going to do in verse 3 through 14 He's going to do in a few other passages in this book and he does many times in the New Testament But here is one of the lengthiest ones He is going to talk about some of those every blessing that are available to the child of God. <br /><br /> And I just want to sort of whet your appetite. I'm just going to mention two of them that he talks about here. Just to try to say, this is just two of the blessings. There are blessings that he describes in this passage. There are other blessings he will describe in the remainder of the book. There are other blessings he will talk about in the New Testament. <br /><br /> There are other blessings, undoubtedly, that are not in the Scripture, that God knows are ours, that Maybe we couldn't comprehend them right now. But he says, every blessing has been given to you that your soul could possibly desire or need. Here's just a couple. He says in verse 4, He predestined us for adoption to Himself as sons. <br /><br /> Through Jesus, being in Jesus, God adopted us into His family as His kids. Well, that means some amazing things. It means, first of all, we have access to God that we didn't have before. Jesus makes God your father. You're his child, not just a servant or a worker or a citizen of his kingdom, but his child. <br /><br /> With the intimacy of the access that you have, a claim on him as your father that you never had before, he becomes your dad, your Abba, if you will, as scripture describes it. We have access to God. There is investment from God as his adopted child. He talks about how He disciplines his kids how he shows his love. <br /><br /> He says in a variety of passages by bringing things into their lives to change us, to train us, to shape us. He does that because we've been adopted into his family, and then he gives us an inheritance. You'll notice in verse 4, he makes an interesting statement. He says, God the Father adopted us to himself as sons. <br /><br /> Now, why did Paul say this? As sons? I mean, is it a sexist statement? Why not use a neutral general gender statement? Neutral gender statement. Why emphasize it as sons? He does it intentionally. In the Roman Empire at this time, women had almost no capacity to inherit. There were some exceptions, but in the overwhelming majority of cases, it is why many, uh, fathers, if they didn't have a son, they would adopt one. <br /><br /> So they had one, they could be sure they could pass on their, their inheritance to And Paul is emphasizing, God adopted us as ones who are guaranteed his inheritance. He even go, he talks about the fact that, that those who enter his family, enter as full heirs. The new heavens and the new earth that are one day coming, they're yours. <br /><br /> If you stand in Christ, you'll be able to walk on a cosmos that is the Garden of Eden, extended throughout the entire cosmos. He says that's part of your inheritance, but you've already got a down payment. It's described in verse 14. That down payment is the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life. He says the Holy Spirit, what is He? <br /><br /> He's the down payment of the inheritance you're going to get. Just a picture of what God is willing to give to us. That's just, we're adopted. He also says in verse 7, as just a second example of these blessings, we're redeemed. In Him we have redemption through Jesus blood. I read recently of a guy that was in New York City, and he was telling the story of how he didn't know the city too well, and he left his car, In a place that he thought was okay to park, and it turned out it wasn't okay to park. <br /><br /> And he went back to get his car, and his car had been, uh, towed and was now impounded. And I was reading the story, and the guy was, right, sharing it in a humorous way, but the thing that caught my attention was he talked about where he went to. And he went to a place that was called the Redemption Center. <br /><br /> You actually had to pay your fine. To get your car out of the enslavement, captivity. It's held there, it's impounded. He couldn't get his car back without paying the price. Jesus Christ provided a way that people could be free from the enslavement. Of sin in its penalty and its power now the interesting thing is almost every religion of the world perceives humans as in Enslavement, I remember reading of gandhi talking about this and he was actually commending. <br /><br /> christianity Even though he, he, he was a practicing Hindu. But he, he talked about how Christianity really helped with the enslavement of people. And by that he was saying, you know, he said both Eastern and Western religions agree at this point. That there is this enslavement. We're slaves to selfishness. <br /><br /> We're slaves to our ego. And Gandhi felt that Christianity provided a way for us to overcome our enslavement through Christ. But it was in this way. It was by way of example. That Jesus Christ came, and he said he was the great example of living a selfless life, an egoless life. That Jesus showed us how to be freed by forgiving others, by loving others, by serving others, even dying for others. <br /><br /> And Gandhi basically said, if you follow Jesus You'll be free. The problem is it doesn't work. Matter of fact, the more you come alongside of Jesus Christ And look at his life and say the man was not ruled by selflessness of selfishness The man wasn't ruled by self absorption and pride and unkindness and ego It doesn't make you say therefore. <br /><br /> I'll be that guy. It makes you feel I can't be that guy it actually reveals How enslaved we are. We don't find liberation from our enslavement. By looking at the life of Jesus, we see it by embracing the death of Jesus. What liberates us is what He did for us in His death. That He paid the penalty for us. <br /><br /> He redeems. He adopts. And countless other blessings are provided to help the child of God see God has been about this process, even from eternity past, to place you in this new standing in Jesus Christ. See who you are. See what you have. See the life, the blessings. So how do you know if you have received this life? <br /><br /> It's an interesting phrase that's mentioned in verses 3 through 14. As the person is looking at these blessings that have been provided for us, Paul keeps saying this at the end of each section, to the praise of God's glory, to the praise of God's glory. You see all of this with The lens that Paul did, if you have embraced Christ as your life. <br /><br /> You don't just believe in grace, you're stunned by it. You are enthralled by grace. You know you are getting what you don't deserve in grace. You know that you are enslaved, separated. Set apart from God, you know it's your own fault and your own sins. But the story of someone sacrificing themself for you is mesmerizing. <br /><br /> Because it's not earned or deserved, it's to the praise of His glory. Within us there is the awareness that such action is the greatest expression of love and grace. There's no more powerful moral messaging, no more impactful story than to hear of someone loving others enough to die for them. Someone like Harry Potter's mom, Lily, who gave her life to protect her boy and then later when Harry is talking to Dumbledore and saying, why can't the enemy Voldemort, why can't he destroy me? <br /><br /> And he says, your mother's love rescued you. You're reading through the book as a 60 year old and say, yeah, that's right. That's right. Desmond Doss was a conscientious objector in World War II. They made a movie about him called Hacksaw Ridge. Great movie, actually. And it's the story of a guy that was a conscientious objector, but he felt compelled to go to World War II. <br /><br /> And he ended up getting in a company, which is a company of 130 to 150 soldiers. Captain is over it, and as a conscientious objector, he was unwilling to carry a rifle, certainly would not use a rifle. And so he went in the medical corps, but they still wanted them to carry rifles, and he would not. And so, everybody in his company were angry with him, were frustrated with him. <br /><br /> Even his captain, the one that was over the company, was constantly belittling him, because he thought, this is not the guy that's going to have our back. He's a wimp, he's not strong, he's fearful, and all these things. And Desmond Doss stood his ground, and they actually went to the island of Okinawa, and it's a true story, the movie depicts it. <br /><br /> There was a cliff called Hacksaw Ridge. It was almost straight up and down, and on top of it was a plateau where the enemy were encamped, and they had to take the plateau because it gave them, elevated ground for all of the areas on the island, so they had to take this ridge. So the company was taken up, they were, they were on the ridge, and they were decimated by the enemy. <br /><br /> They were just overwhelmed. And so the ones that could escape back down the ridge got ropes, but many of them had been riddled to pieces. And one of those that was still there that could have escaped but did not escape was a guy named Desmond Doss. And Desmond Doss, Corporal Doss. began to go after soldiers that were wounded and incapable of getting to the edge, getting some of them hundreds of yards in. <br /><br /> there was enemy fire all the time. There was mortar fire. And he went back and would drag people, as some he carried on his back. He would take them to the edge, he was the only one ambulatory at the moment, and he got 75 soldiers over the course of 12 hours, that he got to the edge of this large precipice, tied him with a rope, dropped him down, and then they would bring, he would bring the rope back up and do it with another one. <br /><br /> At the end of the 12 hours, he, he finally went down. He couldn't find anybody else. His body was riddled with wounds, shrapnel from mortar fire. And one of the guys that he saved was his captain. We look at a story like that of a man that is willing to rescue others at the cost to themselves. We say this is the ultimate picture of, of, of, of human beauty. <br /><br /> sacrifices oneself for others. What Paul is saying to us is this, Jesus Christ did that for you to secure for you eternal glory and love. He does not ask you to renovate your life or earn his grace. The life he offers is to those who say, I see my sin, my guilt, my rebellion, my pride. I see my brokenness. I see my connection to Father Adam. <br /><br /> I'm no different from him. A rebel living apart. I see myself lying on the battle torn plateau and I see my rescuer come. I don't know where you are this morning, but I really felt prompted this morning as we start this series that is going to present in such beautiful, a beautiful portrayal of the Christian life as it is designed. <br /><br /> The life we're given in Jesus to say to you these realities, this life that Jesus offers to people. Is found for in those that have turned from being in Adam separated from God and have embraced Jesus Christ and seen I'm a broken soldier on the field, helpless to earn my way out to get away from everlasting destruction. <br /><br /> My rescuer came for me. Embracing Jesus Christ moves one in a moment of time from in Adam separated. To in Christ, eternally blessed by His grace. When I received Jesus Christ as my Savior in college, was the easiest thing I ever did, and it was the hardest thing I ever did. Easy because it's a gift, right? <br /><br /> I don't have to do anything. It was offered to me, but Jesus Christ did it all for me. But I had to say, God, I come to you with, with empty hands. I come with brokenness. I come with desperation. I come as a sinner, separate. I come as one who needs a rescuer. One who would adopt me into his family. One who would, Pay the price for me to be delivered from my captivity in my lifestyle and brokenness I don't know where you are today We're launching into a really cool series in a really cool book <br /><br /> But the messaging here is ultimately for those that are in jesus. Let's pray together lord You look in every person's heart here in mount laurel here in collingswood Others watching online. Lord, this life that Jesus offers us is staggering in its beauty, in its grace. God, I ask as you look into the heart of each person here that your spirit would even now be prompting people saying, I had you in this room. <br /><br /> I had you listening to this sermon because I want to be your rescuer. I sent Jesus for you. Lord, those that you look at and see their hearts in that state, my cry is that you would draw them into surrender this morning to Jesus Christ. To say, Lord, yes, today I want to embrace Jesus Christ as my Savior. <br /><br /> To stand forgiven, to stand redeemed, adopted, to embrace the life that Jesus died, that I could live. With every head bowed, every eye closed this morning, maybe you hear and God is speaking into your life right now. You say, God, I want that life that Jesus Christ came to provide. I don't deserve it? I'll never earn it, but I humbly embrace the gift that Jesus came to die and to offer me through his death and resurrection. <br /><br /> If you're like that this morning with nobody looking around but me and God, I'm just going to say, Pastor Mark, I'm lifting my hand just to say, would you pray for me that I will embrace, I want to embrace Jesus Christ as my Savior. If you're like that this morning, would you just lift up your hand? Say yes, would you pray for me? <br /><br /> Lord, I pray for these hands that are raised for the souls and the lives they're connected to. Lord, how I pray that your spirit might bring the truth of embracing Jesus Christ as Savior into their lives. That this life that Jesus gives would be theirs. In Jesus name, I pray. Amen. Every Sunday we close our service with a song and every Sunday we have people standing up from our prayer team that are here To just pray with you, anything you want to come and share, as simple or as profound a request as it might be, they would love to pray with you. <br /><br /> It may be that some of you that raised your hands this morning said, I'd like to have somebody pray with me about my receiving Christ as your Savior. If He prompts you to come, won't you come as we close our service together? Thank you. Let's stand.</div> false no <![CDATA[The Greatest News of the GOOD NEWS]]> Romans 8:31-34

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?



Sermon Transcript:

Morning, everybody. I invite you to take your Bibles to the book of Romans, Romans chapter 8. God willing, as Mike mentioned, next Sunday we're going to begin a brand new series on the book of Ephesians. Really very much excited about it. You'll be hearing more about it and we've got some things we're going to be doing to introduce it, next week.

But this morning I wanted to, as we have a chance to celebrate the Lord's Supper, Go to Romans chapter eight, and we're going to read together verses 31 to 39. I'd like to read that for you. One of the great passages of the New Testament. Romans 8 verse 31. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies, who is to condemn. Christ Jesus is the one who died, more than that who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, for your sake we are killed all the day long. We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Father, we come to you this morning.

Lord, we gather in this room with so many different Needs represented here in mount laurel here in collingswood to those that are watching online lord We come to this mountain peak Passage and think of the things that are told to us because of the gospel of jesus christ lord Speak into our lives this morning.

There are those that feel condemned others that feel isolated others that feel overwhelmed with opposition. Lord, you know each heart. God speak truth into our lives today as only you can. In Jesus name, Amen. Pastor Ben just finished a fantastic series of three messages on the subject of Christian suffering.

And while I considered the series deeply impactful and a powerful presentation of both the rawness of suffering and the beauty of its place in our lives as we seek to know God. I did regret one unfortunate. Ben shared his belief that John 17 was the most important portion of Scripture. Even going so far as to denigrate my belief that Romans 8 is the mountaintop passage for the believer.

Well, the gauntlet, the gauntlet has been thrown down, or the compete tab on the Apple Watch has been engaged. This morning I'd like to share with you the final section of Romans 8, Romans 8, 31 to 39. And find Paul in his joyous conclusion. To his teaching of chapters 1 through 8 of Romans chapters 1 through 8 have talked about begun with our our State because of sin and our separation from God and the brokenness of our lives and of our world because of it He's gone on to depict the triune God, Father, Son, and Spirit engaged in the process of rescuing us, of entering our lives in this grand rescue mission of deliverance.

It is arranged by God the Father. It is accomplished by God the Son in His work on the cross. And it is applied by God, the Holy Spirit, as we have seen, even in chapter six through eight. And now we come to verse 31 to 39, and he's summarizing the confidence that we can have because of the gospel. I've called this sermon, The Greatest News.

Of the good news. It's the application that he's giving to us in these verses and I want to have these thoughts of reverberating through our minds and souls as we come to the Lord's table this morning. It is a passage where he depicts four great truths that are results of the work that God has done in this rescue mission and that speak to four basic fears in our lives.

The fear of opposition, the fear of limitation, the fear of condemnation, and the fear of isolation. I'd like to look at those quickly, briefly this morning. The first thing we find is in verse 31, God is for you. It speaks to the issue of opposition in our lives. He says, if God is for you. And literally in the original.

The, the, class condition actually that is used here is assumed reality. It better is translated since. God is for you. God is for you. To have God for you means a couple of things. First of all, it means God has a special interest in you. He's speaking here to people that have imbibed the truths that he's presented in the book of Romans and have embraced personally Jesus Christ as their Savior for their sins.

That they have been declared righteous through his work because of what he's done on the cross. And he says God is for you. God has a special interest in you because of that relationship to Jesus Christ. To have a special interest means that he wants them to succeed, to do well. It doesn't mean he's, he's against other people.

It just means there is a special identification that you have in God's sight. God is for some people in a unique way. This is a reality that we can cling to when times are tough and disappointing. The, the, the reason that Romans 8, 28 says what it does, that all things are working together for good, for those people.

Because God is uniquely and specifically for them, for you. If you've embraced Christ into your life. Years ago, Marianne was at a baseball game, I was there too, and she was in a conversation with the lady next to her. And they were engaged in this conversation, and Marianne, both, both, both Marianne and the woman had a boy that was playing on the team.

And as Marianne looked past her shoulder, as the lady is animatedly talking to Marianne, she said, Your, your son's coming up to bat. And so, of course, the mother turned. She's watching her boy. Now, later on, the mother was, was talking to somebody else. And our son came to bat. Now, Marian did not turn to the mother and say, My son's coming up to bat.

Because she did not assume that this woman would have the same degree of identification with our boy. We certainly did. As her boy we get this and God is saying For my kids I am for them in a unique sense I have a special interest in their lives. Secondly, if God is for you, it means He's on your side.

He said if God is for you who can stand against you the obvious implication implication is that Some people are but they don't matter he's saying if God is for you The other side doesn't have anything that can really stand against him Paul reminds them Look, there are going to be times when you feel overwhelmed.

You're going to be overwhelmed by darkness You're going to be overwhelmed by pain. You're gonna be overwhelmed by by people's treatment of you You're gonna feel alone in your faith You're gonna need some wins and you're gonna cry with the psalmist. Lord, I just need to show me a sign of your favor. I need you to stand with me.

And the Lord says, I want to remind you in this verse. I am for you. I stand with you. All that I am is available to you. Psalm 124 says it this way, If the Lord hadn't been on our side when people attacked us, they would have swallowed us alive when their anger flared against us. The flood would have engulfed us.

The torrent would have swept over us. The raging waters would have swept us away. But God was for us. The psalmist is saying

we for a number of years had a Pastors area pastors meeting of lead pastors in the area that would gather here on Wednesday mornings and one of the guys that was there Terrell person over here from Jacob's Chapel a great friend and brother and Terrell one time and Terrell had what we called Terrellisms There were things he would say that he would, he just had a way with the words.

And he could say, I remember, I wrote it down. here's what he said. He was praying. And he says, Lord, we're in a battle. We're in a fight. But we know it's a fixed fight. You're gonna win. And I remember all the, yeah. Paul's saying yeah, you need some of the yeah, but God's for you God's with you and there's times when you just feel I don't know if anybody is for me the people I I just I feel opposed.

I feel broken. I feel misunderstood I the opposition seems big it seems hurtful. It seems confusing And God comes along and He says, I'm for you. There is a special interest I take in my children. There is a special sense in which I line up on their team, on their side. The first thing we find speaks to the fear of opposition, the reality that God is for us.

The second thing He says, and this is all related to the, the first eight chapters of stuff. The second thing He says is God will Supply. He said he that did not in verse 32, he did not spare his own son, but delivered him up for us all. How will he not with him freely give us all things? He says. God is the one that did not spare his own son now We use the word spare in a couple of different ways.

One of the ways is you know Somebody might be on a street corner and say hey, mister Can you spare a dollar and the idea is do you have enough to share out of your abundance? You know, you can can you spare me one out out of what you have? That's one sense of we can use the word spare but another one and I think it's the one that is used here Is the way we would talk if you've seen like a horrible accident and bodies are mangled and you just say I'm gonna spare you the details.

I'm just sparing you a description of the scene. Meaning is I'll withhold something horrible from you.

God didn't do that with Jesus. God did not spare his own son. As a matter of fact, it says he let the full weight. Of the penalty for sin be poured out on his own son He did not keep jesus from the torment of the garden where he's crying out and has that you know, all of us Look back at things in our lives and we just say god.

Thank you so much. You didn't tell me about that in advance Well, jesus knew in advance The horror of the cross and that's why the garden was what it was He knew it was coming. God did not. God, the Father did not spare him, though he cried out in anguish on the cross. My God, why have you forsaken me?

Literally, at that moment, Jesus, God, the Son, is bearing hell for sinners, where he has experienced the separation in a moment as an eternal being. What it would take us, as temporal beings, eternity to experience. He bore hell. He bore separation from the Father. And the Father did not spare him from doing that.

He allowed the worst to happen to Jesus, to secure you, to rescue you. And it says, but he didn't spare him, but he gave him up. Other versions have, he delivered him over. The idea is an active verb. And the question, who put Jesus on the cross, has lots of answers. Well, Judas, out of greed Well, Jewish leaders, out of envy.

Well, Jewish people, out of anger. He didn't do what they expected him to do quick enough. Pilate, out of fear. Washed his hands of the whole thing. But the ultimate answer is God the Father put Jesus on the cross out of love. He did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us. It was the Father's choice.

And he says, if he didn't spare his own son from that, How will he not freely give you everything you could possibly need? God gave up the most treasured possession he had for you. Why would he withhold anything of less importance? Now, we've got to think about this for a minute. Paul says, how will he not freely give you all things?

You want to say, Paul, what are you talking about? What do you mean? All things will be given. I mean, look at you! You've lost almost everything. You've lost money. You've lost reputation. You've lost standing and popularity. What all things have you gotten along with Jesus Christ? He's talking about all the spiritual realities that God promises all the things that we're hoping money and standing and population popularity and reputation will bring to us.

He's talking about peace, he's talking about forgiveness, he's talking about hope, he's talking about encouragement, he's talking about protection, he's talking about life mattering and meaning something, and he says God will not abandon you in spite of the difficulties on the outside, he will give you all things that you need.

Three passages in the Old Testament, just gonna read them quickly, where the word every where the word every is used. In Lamentations 3 verse 22 and 23, His, meaning God, His mercies are new every morning. First Peter chapter 1 verse 3, this is the New Testament, His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness.

Philippians 4, 19, And my God will supply Every need of yours, according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus, every morning, everything, for every need, is what God is saying. He is making available to us in Christ. He gave up His most treasured possession for you.

How can we think He would withhold something of lesser value that He considers will bless and help our lives? The second thing we find is that God helps us in those seasons, which some of you are in right now, where you are overwhelmed with your limitations. I'm not enough. I don't have enough. I feel lack.

I see lack. And God says, I will take care of you. May not be exactly how you would design it. But I gave you my own son. I didn't spare him. I will not be stingy with my blessings, with what you need in your life. There will be, as Ben pointed out, there will be suffering. There will be hardship. But there will be a reality of God's provision and presence with us in those seasons that is richer than the very things that we feel the loss or the limitations from.

He that spared his own son, how will he not freely give us all things? Third,

God accepts you. Verse 33 and 34. This speaks to our fear of condemnation. Who will bring, verse 33, who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus, who died, more than that, who was raised to life, is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.

You hear verdicts every day. Sometimes you hear dozens of them. They're verdicts that condemn you're not enough. When you see your sales report and compare it with some of the others in the office. When you compare your body shape. When you compare the attention you get from others. When you compare your people skills, your intellectual capacity, your athleticism, your beauty, your car, your house, your job, your kids athleticism, intelligence.

Your social skills, etc. You hear the verdict. I'm on the less than side not the greater than side We feel the condemnations Where does that come from? Why are we so constantly? Evaluating ourselves and and and seeking the verdict to be okay It came through the fall the fall into sin the rejection of god the fall in sin was the fall from the position of acceptability and worthiness to feeling shame and unworthiness.

All of our fear of condemnation is ultimately the longing for the verdict of God that we are acceptable. And so we look forward in a thousand other lesser places. But the one place that can ultimately quiet our soul is when we rest in the verdict of the one whose opinion matters more than anyone else, the one who knows us best, the one who designed us and created us, the verdict of acceptability, the verdict of acceptance.

Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It's God who justifies, the word justifies means to declare acceptable, righteous, standing in God's sight. Psalm 110 verse 1, it says this. that Jesus is now seated at the right hand of the Father. It doesn't say He was there before, but that He has this particular position now, through His cross, His resurrection, His return to Heaven, where He is now seated at the right hand of the Father, interceding for us.

Psalm 110, verse 1. 110 verse 1 is quoted 20 times in the New Testament. It is the most often repeated Old Testament passage in the New Testament. Why? They're constantly having this thought Jesus has gone into the presence of the father. He is my Assurance that I have a place there that I am accepted there and he says he is ever living.

He is constantly Interceding the idea is that Jesus who is victorious over his enemies because in psalm 110 verse 1 It says two things on the one hand. It says that he is there And he has made his victories, his footstool, he has defeated his enemies. But the other thing it says is he has made, he is making intercession for us.

Jesus death, resurrection, victory showed that he is victorious over his enemies. And shows that he was victorious for his friends. The verdict is in. You are declared eternally acceptable to God. You don't have to prove one thing. You don't have to measure up in one way. People's opinion, he says, ultimately, if you can allow the opinion of God to permeate your soul, the opinion of people are going to be quiet.

You can silence To the degree that your mind is saturated with how God views you, how He has made you in Christ, you can silence the voices that are so loud in your head, saying, You're not enough. You're not this. You're not that. You're just a less than. You'll never measure up. You're godless. You're, you're, you're this.

You're that. You're that. The fear of condemnation is overcome by verse 33 and 34. God accepts you through Christ. And fourth, God sticks with you. It speaks to the fear of isolation. What shall separate us, in verse 35, from the love of Christ? And he basically goes down and says, There's, there's not a thing.

There's nothing. He goes through this unbreakable chain of God's love for us. And he says, in verse 28, All things work together for good, for those who have been brought into the purpose of God in Christ Jesus. Now, in verse 37, he says again, Where did I put my glasses? All these, there it is. This is a black lectern, and these are black glasses, I'm not as crazy as you think I am.

Alright, 37. No, in all, verse 37, no, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. What are the all things? What are the all things of verse 28? In everything that's coming into our lives, we can be conquerors because we are loved by God. It is the motivation. You see, I was in a Bible study, and, and we were reading how in Proverbs, it says, God is talking about how do you live the, the, the path of wisdom.

And it says what you do is you take the reality of God's love and faithfulness. Those are the two words. It's actually how God revealed himself originally to Moses. He said, I am the, the loving and faithful God. It's, it's in, it's in the book of Psalms over and over. It is the characteristic. God is a God of love and faithfulness.

And he says, he says, write this on your heart. That God is faithful that God is crazy about you the degree to which we live that out The security of that, the safety of that, is the degree to which we are not in captivity to the opinions of others, the affections of others. If you want to be a better husband, find your security, not that my wife's got to love me perfectly.

No, I'm loved by God. If you want to be a better husband, a better wife, live your life in the reality of God's acceptance of you, God's love for you, God is for you. And the basis of this love is, it says, that God God chose us, God pursued us, God wanted us, and nothing can separate you from Him. Eugene Pat Peterson has written, it's a paraphrase of, of the, the scriptures, but it's a beautiful one.

And I would like to just read how he Expresses Romans 8 verse 31 to 39. I think it is a beautiful depiction and, and I want to just read it now. Verse 31. So what do you think? With God on your side like this, how can we lose? If God didn't hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own son, is there anything else he wouldn't gladly and freely do for us?

And who would dare tangle with God by messing with one of God's chosen? Who would dare even to point a finger? The one who died for us, who was raised to life for us, is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ's love for us?

There's no way, not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in scripture. They kill us in cold blood because they hate you, it says. We're sitting ducks. They pick us off one by one. None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us.

I'm absolutely convinced that nothing, nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable, absolutely nothing can get between us and God's love. Because of the way that Jesus, our master, has embraced us. The glory of the gospel message reached its crescendo moment in Romans 8.

You're free then to see your own failures, your own ugliness, your own self centeredness. To hear criticism, to be rejected, to feel alone. To face the holes and the lacks in your life Because if you belong to jesus christ god is for you and it doesn't matter who's against you God supplies you with all the things that you need god accepts you And ultimately no other verdict matters god loves you with an unconditional No expiration date love this morning.

We're going to come to the lord's table And I hope these truths are ringing in our ears At this point, I'm going to ask the section host and ushers to come, and I'd like to pray for us as we prepare for the Lord's Supper.

Lord, it is amazing to me. How often I need to be reminded of these truths voices are loud in my head

and father I pray this morning for the people that are listening to my voice to whom the verses are just a siren It just seems to be a megaphone that's louder than anything else. God may these truths begin to drown out The lies, the false verdicts, the sense of isolation that comes, condemnation that comes, the sense of our own limitations that, Lord, we might find in you and through you.

These truths reminding us of what it really means to be called the son or the daughter of the living God, purchased. Through the life's blood of Jesus Christ, your beloved son. Lord Jesus, we come to this table this morning, which you've asked us to do. To do it so we remember you. Sorry how easy it is to forget.

Lord Jesus, we do remember now that you wanted us enough to come, to rescue us, to bring us into a place of

The verdict being acceptable because we stand not in the life that we lived, but in the righteousness life that Jesus lived. That we stand not facing eternal death, but you lived the life we should have lived, and you died the death that we should have had to die. Lord Jesus, we just love you for it. In your name, amen.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-greatest-news-of-the-good-news 72e0db20-60f2-4da7-bf64-1ed57420c956 Sun, 04 Feb 2024 12:32:52 GMT <div data-html="true">Romans 8:31-34 <br /><br /> What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> Morning, everybody. I invite you to take your Bibles to the book of Romans, Romans chapter 8. God willing, as Mike mentioned, next Sunday we're going to begin a brand new series on the book of Ephesians. Really very much excited about it. You'll be hearing more about it and we've got some things we're going to be doing to introduce it, next week. <br /><br /> But this morning I wanted to, as we have a chance to celebrate the Lord's Supper, Go to Romans chapter eight, and we're going to read together verses 31 to 39. I'd like to read that for you. One of the great passages of the New Testament. Romans 8 verse 31. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? <br /><br /> He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies, who is to condemn. Christ Jesus is the one who died, more than that who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. <br /><br /> Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, for your sake we are killed all the day long. We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. <br /><br /> For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Father, we come to you this morning. <br /><br /> Lord, we gather in this room with so many different Needs represented here in mount laurel here in collingswood to those that are watching online lord We come to this mountain peak Passage and think of the things that are told to us because of the gospel of jesus christ lord Speak into our lives this morning. <br /><br /> There are those that feel condemned others that feel isolated others that feel overwhelmed with opposition. Lord, you know each heart. God speak truth into our lives today as only you can. In Jesus name, Amen. Pastor Ben just finished a fantastic series of three messages on the subject of Christian suffering. <br /><br /> And while I considered the series deeply impactful and a powerful presentation of both the rawness of suffering and the beauty of its place in our lives as we seek to know God. I did regret one unfortunate. Ben shared his belief that John 17 was the most important portion of Scripture. Even going so far as to denigrate my belief that Romans 8 is the mountaintop passage for the believer. <br /><br /> Well, the gauntlet, the gauntlet has been thrown down, or the compete tab on the Apple Watch has been engaged. This morning I'd like to share with you the final section of Romans 8, Romans 8, 31 to 39. And find Paul in his joyous conclusion. To his teaching of chapters 1 through 8 of Romans chapters 1 through 8 have talked about begun with our our State because of sin and our separation from God and the brokenness of our lives and of our world because of it He's gone on to depict the triune God, Father, Son, and Spirit engaged in the process of rescuing us, of entering our lives in this grand rescue mission of deliverance. <br /><br /> It is arranged by God the Father. It is accomplished by God the Son in His work on the cross. And it is applied by God, the Holy Spirit, as we have seen, even in chapter six through eight. And now we come to verse 31 to 39, and he's summarizing the confidence that we can have because of the gospel. I've called this sermon, The Greatest News. <br /><br /> Of the good news. It's the application that he's giving to us in these verses and I want to have these thoughts of reverberating through our minds and souls as we come to the Lord's table this morning. It is a passage where he depicts four great truths that are results of the work that God has done in this rescue mission and that speak to four basic fears in our lives. <br /><br /> The fear of opposition, the fear of limitation, the fear of condemnation, and the fear of isolation. I'd like to look at those quickly, briefly this morning. The first thing we find is in verse 31, God is for you. It speaks to the issue of opposition in our lives. He says, if God is for you. And literally in the original. <br /><br /> The, the, class condition actually that is used here is assumed reality. It better is translated since. God is for you. God is for you. To have God for you means a couple of things. First of all, it means God has a special interest in you. He's speaking here to people that have imbibed the truths that he's presented in the book of Romans and have embraced personally Jesus Christ as their Savior for their sins. <br /><br /> That they have been declared righteous through his work because of what he's done on the cross. And he says God is for you. God has a special interest in you because of that relationship to Jesus Christ. To have a special interest means that he wants them to succeed, to do well. It doesn't mean he's, he's against other people. <br /><br /> It just means there is a special identification that you have in God's sight. God is for some people in a unique way. This is a reality that we can cling to when times are tough and disappointing. The, the, the reason that Romans 8, 28 says what it does, that all things are working together for good, for those people. <br /><br /> Because God is uniquely and specifically for them, for you. If you've embraced Christ into your life. Years ago, Marianne was at a baseball game, I was there too, and she was in a conversation with the lady next to her. And they were engaged in this conversation, and Marianne, both, both, both Marianne and the woman had a boy that was playing on the team. <br /><br /> And as Marianne looked past her shoulder, as the lady is animatedly talking to Marianne, she said, Your, your son's coming up to bat. And so, of course, the mother turned. She's watching her boy. Now, later on, the mother was, was talking to somebody else. And our son came to bat. Now, Marian did not turn to the mother and say, My son's coming up to bat. <br /><br /> Because she did not assume that this woman would have the same degree of identification with our boy. We certainly did. As her boy we get this and God is saying For my kids I am for them in a unique sense I have a special interest in their lives. Secondly, if God is for you, it means He's on your side. <br /><br /> He said if God is for you who can stand against you the obvious implication implication is that Some people are but they don't matter he's saying if God is for you The other side doesn't have anything that can really stand against him Paul reminds them Look, there are going to be times when you feel overwhelmed. <br /><br /> You're going to be overwhelmed by darkness You're going to be overwhelmed by pain. You're gonna be overwhelmed by by people's treatment of you You're gonna feel alone in your faith You're gonna need some wins and you're gonna cry with the psalmist. Lord, I just need to show me a sign of your favor. I need you to stand with me. <br /><br /> And the Lord says, I want to remind you in this verse. I am for you. I stand with you. All that I am is available to you. Psalm 124 says it this way, If the Lord hadn't been on our side when people attacked us, they would have swallowed us alive when their anger flared against us. The flood would have engulfed us. <br /><br /> The torrent would have swept over us. The raging waters would have swept us away. But God was for us. The psalmist is saying <br /><br /> we for a number of years had a Pastors area pastors meeting of lead pastors in the area that would gather here on Wednesday mornings and one of the guys that was there Terrell person over here from Jacob's Chapel a great friend and brother and Terrell one time and Terrell had what we called Terrellisms There were things he would say that he would, he just had a way with the words. <br /><br /> And he could say, I remember, I wrote it down. here's what he said. He was praying. And he says, Lord, we're in a battle. We're in a fight. But we know it's a fixed fight. You're gonna win. And I remember all the, yeah. Paul's saying yeah, you need some of the yeah, but God's for you God's with you and there's times when you just feel I don't know if anybody is for me the people I I just I feel opposed. <br /><br /> I feel broken. I feel misunderstood I the opposition seems big it seems hurtful. It seems confusing And God comes along and He says, I'm for you. There is a special interest I take in my children. There is a special sense in which I line up on their team, on their side. The first thing we find speaks to the fear of opposition, the reality that God is for us. <br /><br /> The second thing He says, and this is all related to the, the first eight chapters of stuff. The second thing He says is God will Supply. He said he that did not in verse 32, he did not spare his own son, but delivered him up for us all. How will he not with him freely give us all things? He says. God is the one that did not spare his own son now We use the word spare in a couple of different ways. <br /><br /> One of the ways is you know Somebody might be on a street corner and say hey, mister Can you spare a dollar and the idea is do you have enough to share out of your abundance? You know, you can can you spare me one out out of what you have? That's one sense of we can use the word spare but another one and I think it's the one that is used here Is the way we would talk if you've seen like a horrible accident and bodies are mangled and you just say I'm gonna spare you the details. <br /><br /> I'm just sparing you a description of the scene. Meaning is I'll withhold something horrible from you. <br /><br /> God didn't do that with Jesus. God did not spare his own son. As a matter of fact, it says he let the full weight. Of the penalty for sin be poured out on his own son He did not keep jesus from the torment of the garden where he's crying out and has that you know, all of us Look back at things in our lives and we just say god. <br /><br /> Thank you so much. You didn't tell me about that in advance Well, jesus knew in advance The horror of the cross and that's why the garden was what it was He knew it was coming. God did not. God, the Father did not spare him, though he cried out in anguish on the cross. My God, why have you forsaken me? <br /><br /> Literally, at that moment, Jesus, God, the Son, is bearing hell for sinners, where he has experienced the separation in a moment as an eternal being. What it would take us, as temporal beings, eternity to experience. He bore hell. He bore separation from the Father. And the Father did not spare him from doing that. <br /><br /> He allowed the worst to happen to Jesus, to secure you, to rescue you. And it says, but he didn't spare him, but he gave him up. Other versions have, he delivered him over. The idea is an active verb. And the question, who put Jesus on the cross, has lots of answers. Well, Judas, out of greed Well, Jewish leaders, out of envy. <br /><br /> Well, Jewish people, out of anger. He didn't do what they expected him to do quick enough. Pilate, out of fear. Washed his hands of the whole thing. But the ultimate answer is God the Father put Jesus on the cross out of love. He did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us. It was the Father's choice. <br /><br /> And he says, if he didn't spare his own son from that, How will he not freely give you everything you could possibly need? God gave up the most treasured possession he had for you. Why would he withhold anything of less importance? Now, we've got to think about this for a minute. Paul says, how will he not freely give you all things? <br /><br /> You want to say, Paul, what are you talking about? What do you mean? All things will be given. I mean, look at you! You've lost almost everything. You've lost money. You've lost reputation. You've lost standing and popularity. What all things have you gotten along with Jesus Christ? He's talking about all the spiritual realities that God promises all the things that we're hoping money and standing and population popularity and reputation will bring to us. <br /><br /> He's talking about peace, he's talking about forgiveness, he's talking about hope, he's talking about encouragement, he's talking about protection, he's talking about life mattering and meaning something, and he says God will not abandon you in spite of the difficulties on the outside, he will give you all things that you need. <br /><br /> Three passages in the Old Testament, just gonna read them quickly, where the word every where the word every is used. In Lamentations 3 verse 22 and 23, His, meaning God, His mercies are new every morning. First Peter chapter 1 verse 3, this is the New Testament, His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness. <br /><br /> Philippians 4, 19, And my God will supply Every need of yours, according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus, every morning, everything, for every need, is what God is saying. He is making available to us in Christ. He gave up His most treasured possession for you. <br /><br /> How can we think He would withhold something of lesser value that He considers will bless and help our lives? The second thing we find is that God helps us in those seasons, which some of you are in right now, where you are overwhelmed with your limitations. I'm not enough. I don't have enough. I feel lack. <br /><br /> I see lack. And God says, I will take care of you. May not be exactly how you would design it. But I gave you my own son. I didn't spare him. I will not be stingy with my blessings, with what you need in your life. There will be, as Ben pointed out, there will be suffering. There will be hardship. But there will be a reality of God's provision and presence with us in those seasons that is richer than the very things that we feel the loss or the limitations from. <br /><br /> He that spared his own son, how will he not freely give us all things? Third, <br /><br /> God accepts you. Verse 33 and 34. This speaks to our fear of condemnation. Who will bring, verse 33, who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus, who died, more than that, who was raised to life, is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. <br /><br /> You hear verdicts every day. Sometimes you hear dozens of them. They're verdicts that condemn you're not enough. When you see your sales report and compare it with some of the others in the office. When you compare your body shape. When you compare the attention you get from others. When you compare your people skills, your intellectual capacity, your athleticism, your beauty, your car, your house, your job, your kids athleticism, intelligence. <br /><br /> Your social skills, etc. You hear the verdict. I'm on the less than side not the greater than side We feel the condemnations Where does that come from? Why are we so constantly? Evaluating ourselves and and and seeking the verdict to be okay It came through the fall the fall into sin the rejection of god the fall in sin was the fall from the position of acceptability and worthiness to feeling shame and unworthiness. <br /><br /> All of our fear of condemnation is ultimately the longing for the verdict of God that we are acceptable. And so we look forward in a thousand other lesser places. But the one place that can ultimately quiet our soul is when we rest in the verdict of the one whose opinion matters more than anyone else, the one who knows us best, the one who designed us and created us, the verdict of acceptability, the verdict of acceptance. <br /><br /> Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It's God who justifies, the word justifies means to declare acceptable, righteous, standing in God's sight. Psalm 110 verse 1, it says this. that Jesus is now seated at the right hand of the Father. It doesn't say He was there before, but that He has this particular position now, through His cross, His resurrection, His return to Heaven, where He is now seated at the right hand of the Father, interceding for us. <br /><br /> Psalm 110, verse 1. 110 verse 1 is quoted 20 times in the New Testament. It is the most often repeated Old Testament passage in the New Testament. Why? They're constantly having this thought Jesus has gone into the presence of the father. He is my Assurance that I have a place there that I am accepted there and he says he is ever living. <br /><br /> He is constantly Interceding the idea is that Jesus who is victorious over his enemies because in psalm 110 verse 1 It says two things on the one hand. It says that he is there And he has made his victories, his footstool, he has defeated his enemies. But the other thing it says is he has made, he is making intercession for us. <br /><br /> Jesus death, resurrection, victory showed that he is victorious over his enemies. And shows that he was victorious for his friends. The verdict is in. You are declared eternally acceptable to God. You don't have to prove one thing. You don't have to measure up in one way. People's opinion, he says, ultimately, if you can allow the opinion of God to permeate your soul, the opinion of people are going to be quiet. <br /><br /> You can silence To the degree that your mind is saturated with how God views you, how He has made you in Christ, you can silence the voices that are so loud in your head, saying, You're not enough. You're not this. You're not that. You're just a less than. You'll never measure up. You're godless. You're, you're, you're this. <br /><br /> You're that. You're that. The fear of condemnation is overcome by verse 33 and 34. God accepts you through Christ. And fourth, God sticks with you. It speaks to the fear of isolation. What shall separate us, in verse 35, from the love of Christ? And he basically goes down and says, There's, there's not a thing. <br /><br /> There's nothing. He goes through this unbreakable chain of God's love for us. And he says, in verse 28, All things work together for good, for those who have been brought into the purpose of God in Christ Jesus. Now, in verse 37, he says again, Where did I put my glasses? All these, there it is. This is a black lectern, and these are black glasses, I'm not as crazy as you think I am. <br /><br /> Alright, 37. No, in all, verse 37, no, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. What are the all things? What are the all things of verse 28? In everything that's coming into our lives, we can be conquerors because we are loved by God. It is the motivation. You see, I was in a Bible study, and, and we were reading how in Proverbs, it says, God is talking about how do you live the, the, the path of wisdom. <br /><br /> And it says what you do is you take the reality of God's love and faithfulness. Those are the two words. It's actually how God revealed himself originally to Moses. He said, I am the, the loving and faithful God. It's, it's in, it's in the book of Psalms over and over. It is the characteristic. God is a God of love and faithfulness. <br /><br /> And he says, he says, write this on your heart. That God is faithful that God is crazy about you the degree to which we live that out The security of that, the safety of that, is the degree to which we are not in captivity to the opinions of others, the affections of others. If you want to be a better husband, find your security, not that my wife's got to love me perfectly. <br /><br /> No, I'm loved by God. If you want to be a better husband, a better wife, live your life in the reality of God's acceptance of you, God's love for you, God is for you. And the basis of this love is, it says, that God God chose us, God pursued us, God wanted us, and nothing can separate you from Him. Eugene Pat Peterson has written, it's a paraphrase of, of the, the scriptures, but it's a beautiful one. <br /><br /> And I would like to just read how he Expresses Romans 8 verse 31 to 39. I think it is a beautiful depiction and, and I want to just read it now. Verse 31. So what do you think? With God on your side like this, how can we lose? If God didn't hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own son, is there anything else he wouldn't gladly and freely do for us? <br /><br /> And who would dare tangle with God by messing with one of God's chosen? Who would dare even to point a finger? The one who died for us, who was raised to life for us, is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ's love for us? <br /><br /> There's no way, not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in scripture. They kill us in cold blood because they hate you, it says. We're sitting ducks. They pick us off one by one. None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. <br /><br /> I'm absolutely convinced that nothing, nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable, absolutely nothing can get between us and God's love. Because of the way that Jesus, our master, has embraced us. The glory of the gospel message reached its crescendo moment in Romans 8. <br /><br /> You're free then to see your own failures, your own ugliness, your own self centeredness. To hear criticism, to be rejected, to feel alone. To face the holes and the lacks in your life Because if you belong to jesus christ god is for you and it doesn't matter who's against you God supplies you with all the things that you need god accepts you And ultimately no other verdict matters god loves you with an unconditional No expiration date love this morning. <br /><br /> We're going to come to the lord's table And I hope these truths are ringing in our ears At this point, I'm going to ask the section host and ushers to come, and I'd like to pray for us as we prepare for the Lord's Supper. <br /><br /> Lord, it is amazing to me. How often I need to be reminded of these truths voices are loud in my head <br /><br /> and father I pray this morning for the people that are listening to my voice to whom the verses are just a siren It just seems to be a megaphone that's louder than anything else. God may these truths begin to drown out The lies, the false verdicts, the sense of isolation that comes, condemnation that comes, the sense of our own limitations that, Lord, we might find in you and through you. <br /><br /> These truths reminding us of what it really means to be called the son or the daughter of the living God, purchased. Through the life's blood of Jesus Christ, your beloved son. Lord Jesus, we come to this table this morning, which you've asked us to do. To do it so we remember you. Sorry how easy it is to forget. <br /><br /> Lord Jesus, we do remember now that you wanted us enough to come, to rescue us, to bring us into a place of <br /><br /> The verdict being acceptable because we stand not in the life that we lived, but in the righteousness life that Jesus lived. That we stand not facing eternal death, but you lived the life we should have lived, and you died the death that we should have had to die. Lord Jesus, we just love you for it. In your name, amen.</div> false no <![CDATA[Even Here - Part 3]]> Genesis 16-21

She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.”



Sermon Transcript:

Good morning, it's great to be here with you. This is the last installment on, the series we're in about Christian suffering. As Pastor Mark mentioned, I realized that doing a three week series means I'm the suffering guy. So, as I see people in the lobby, like Matt Howard, he's like, Oh, again. More suffering.

I won't preach on suffering the other times I'm preaching upcoming, but, we are going through this series, and we're trying to end this series, even here, with final thoughts on Christian suffering, and we have some notes for you to follow along, but as a part of the series, we first talked about the weight of Christian suffering, and the purpose of Christian suffering, and last week we talked about the stewardship of Christian suffering.

And if you're keeping along, there's three left, all of which are called today. So we're going to move quick today. The treasures of Christian suffering, the partnership in Christian suffering, and lastly, the end of Christian suffering. When I was about eight years old in Marlton, New Jersey, I was bored.

And I went outside of Cam in the Cambridge Park House, 21 Concord Drive. And, I went out with a shovel that was just like this one. Probably having to do weeding because my parents just love making their children weed and so And not wanting to weed because their children hated to weed but I was out there with this shovel and thinking I'm bored.

I have a shovel And so being the ever creative type, I thought, I'm going to try to shove this shovel as far into this Marlton soil as I possibly can. And I didn't really, couldn't really get it in because this is not a spade, which cuts in deeper when you like step on it. So this particular shovel, I thought I could get the furthest in.

By lifting up the shovel and smashing it down and I did it but this particular shovel wasn't as sharp as I wanted it to be and I was rather discouraged my eight year old self that I couldn't put the shovel as far into the dirt as I wanted and I remember thinking I am going to do it one more time.

And I'm going to do it as hard as I can. I literally had this thought and so I lifted up the shovel. One detail I haven't mentioned is I was barefoot at the time. Yep, it's exactly going there. And I lifted up shovel came right down, bam, right on the nail of my big toe. And I didn't know what happened and I'm like, I thought nothing happened and then I grabbed my foot And then the blood started leaking through a new crack in my big toenail And then I started, you know handling like a man Or screaming like a small child.

However, you want to interpret that my fear. With what we're doing and suffering as I enter come to the pulpit each week Is that I'm the shovel and you're the big toe and I realize that this is asking you to go through a lot And I'm very thankful for the chance to go through the text that we've gone through and to finish up this week We're gonna be in Genesis 16 in Genesis 21 Two different stories of a woman named Hagar, a single mom named Hagar.

What we're going to do is go through the stories and then we're going to rocket through the remaining principles as we look at this story. Hagar is, is was a servant of Sarah and Abram. They were going to be called Abraham and Sarah. Sarah, and we'll just call them that for now. Even as we go through the stories, even though in Genesis 16 they didn't technically get that name yet, but what happened was Abraham and Sarah, Abraham was given a promise.

And the promise was through you, all nations will be blessed. And we know that from the seed of Abraham ultimately came this, the coming of Christ, all nations, all these promises were given for major promises given through the era of Abraham. But Abraham and Sarah realized we, this is not happening.

And it didn't happen after a few months after getting the promise, they weren't able to have a child then, then wasn't able to happen after a few years. And then decades went by and God did not come through. On the promise that he made and those days and months and years and decades began to add up And eventually Sarah and Abraham got to talking that if God is not going to come through on his word Perhaps we will have to find another way and Sarah said well I do have a servant her name is Hagar as you know Abraham Why don't you take her, have a child with her, and so at least through your line, then we can have a child.

An incredibly painful decision for Sarah, which would ultimately become an incredibly abusive decision for Hagar. The trust muscles that we see Abraham and Sarah wrestle with throughout Genesis, we're, we're developing. But they weren't quite there yet to believe that Sarah could have a child. So what happens is, Abraham and Hagar have a child.

And Hagar now is with child and is becoming a major part of the story. Becoming the one through which the line will continue. And the other people, because they travel with a lot of people. Abraham and Sarah had a lot of people with them. They were looking and seeing towards, how is she feeling? What's going on today?

Did the new line kick in your stomach? Did this new line of descendants that is going to start with this child and Hagar, who was a, a servant girl is now thrust to center stage, but Sarah was having trouble backing up from the mic. It was difficult for her to realize that her part was becoming less in the story.

And eventually Sarah deals so harshly with Hagar. That Hagar runs away, and runs away not to someone, runs away not to somewhere, but just runs away. And ends up in the wilderness. Says this in Genesis 16. Saradette harshly with Hagar, and she fled from her. The angel of the Lord, and we talked about this like a month and a half ago, so I'm sure you all remember.

The angel of the Lord, the angel of Yahweh, is actually a Christophany. It is actually a coming of Christ in the Old Testament. And there's a lot of theological reasons that we looked into of why this phrase, the angel of the Lord, was a particular manifestation of Jesus himself coming in the Old Testament.

So Jesus comes to her. By a spring of water in the wilderness the spring on the way to sure and then this happens the The angel of the lord said to her behold you are pregnant shall bear a son You shall call his name ishmael because the lord has listened to you in your affliction. She's like, okay, I got that So she called him the name of the lord and god spoke that he would fulfill and look after Her and eventually says she responds with this statement So she called the name of the Lord again Christ himself who spoke to her.

You are a God of seeing Anybody know the Hebrew word for that El Roy you are the God of seeing Because you have seen me What's interesting is this is now not the God of Abraham and Sarah Right even further descendants would say you are the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob be by identification point But not for Hagar.

Hagar was running from all of that God thing out into the wilderness. She did not run to God. God ran to her. And now this God did not just become an idea put on her by Abraham. And Sarah, this was the God who saw her. The story continues. And after Hagar gave birth to Ishmael, who is now the heir to the new nation, the child begins to grow.

And now, what happens with Abraham and Sarah. Is that now Sarah gets pregnant because God was going to fulfill his promise all along because God doesn't promise something that he doesn't fulfill. And so now Sarah is pregnant with the rightful heir to the nation as promised by God. Well that does not mean good things for Hagar and Ishmael.

And this single mom who has this child who everyone thought would be the center of the story. Now Sarah goes to Abraham again and eventually has her removed and Abraham gives her a donkey, a skin of water, and a piece of bread. For her and the child says this, When the water in the skin was gone, she put the child under one of the bushes.

Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off about the distance of a bow shot. For she said, let me not look on the death of the child. And she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice, and in a sound only a mother could know, she wept. Not even able to see her child die of starvation. But God does not quit on Hagar, like his people did.

He shows himself again and the text continues. Sorry. I have the clicker So like I get happy with the clicker, but I don't think I put the text in there says and God heard the voice of the boy and the angel of God called the Hagar from heaven and said to her What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is.

And the story goes on of how God provides and gives provision and looks after Hagar and Ishmael. Hagar and God is the God, if you hear in the text, He is the God who sees the El Roy. And He is the God who hears the child crying. The God who sees and the God who hears in the midst of suffering. Pray with me this morning.

The worship team led us this morning. There will be a day when the burdens of this life will be no more.

It's a lot of burdens represented in this room.

We thank you that there's an end. We give you ourself this morning and pray for wisdom. We thank you that the story of suffering isn't just bad news. And what we can relax a little bit into today is some of the joy and treasures That are found in the dark in jesus name. Amen Okay, so some treasures found in Christian suffering.

We're going to go through nine points this morning, okay? So we're going to be rifling through what I intended to do shorter, but based upon like some, some of the responses and conversations had just wanted to add a few in there about how to partner with people who suffer because so many of you. are doing that right now.

So, first thing about the treasures of Christian suffering is, is, is, is this statement, is found in this statement in Isaiah 45, 3, I will give you the treasures. Of darkness the hordes and secret places that you may know that it is I the lord the god of israel who calls you by name Number 12 because we're doing this in a full list of 20 What you're starting with today is number 12 is he is the primary Treasure of christian suffering that there's suffering is not unique to christianity Suffering is not is something that's not during this time or just bible times suffering is a universal human experience the difference between christian suffering and just Normal suffering is not the suffering.

It's the Christian part and the part that's unique and the part That's the primary treasure of Christian suffering is Christ himself. I love what God did with with Hagar, right? So Hagar is there and and it doesn't just you she's not just given a well although she would be given a well where she could get water she wasn't just given more bread or traveler a passing by companion to relieve her who comes who comes to this single mom who's now so little a part of the story of the rest of the Bible you Jesus himself.

Jesus himself comes to this woman. She needs more than just provision. She needed more than just a bailout of an impossibly difficult situation. Hagar needed a God who sees. She needed a God who hears. And for the rest of Hagar's life, for whatever she faced, she knew she faced it with one who saw. And heard her needs, J.

I. Packer says this communion between God and man is the end To which both creation and redemption are the means it is the goal to which both theology and preaching must ever point It is the essence of true religion. It is indeed the definition Of christianity union with god is literally the definition of what it means to be a christian So seasons of blessing and seasons of suffering Are all serving the same purpose serving to unite us to companion us with this god He is the primary treasure of christian suffering Second second treasure another treasure of christian suffering is the freedom from the illusion of control Hagar is whipped around in this story between chapters.

She is promoted, she is greatly demoted, and she is eventually abandoned. She has all of these things happening to her where she feels powerless and is in a powerless position. That's a dreadful spot to be. There's no formula to predict the future. God's never done this with a nation. All the things being told to her can't be like, Oh, I remember, that's This is totally unheard of.

Her life is whipped around and now she and her child are in an impossible situation. So, so what does she gain from that? Not control. But she gains an incredible gift. The gift that she is free from the illusion of control that the rest of us pretend like we have. All of us, no matter what your profession or what you're doing, whether you're a parent, a teacher, a preacher, a plumber, an engineer.

A nutritionist, we're used to setting up systems. One of the remarkable things about being a person, we can set up systems and rhythms. And within that, there is some sense of imago Dei, God's image control, right? If you do A, you get B. If you do B, then you do C, and you do C and D, and then eventually you'll get through.

But suffering has this way of blowing up that alphabet. Suffering has this way of saying, hey, you know what? I'm trying to do the right things at the right time, but i'm not always getting the thing. I thought I would get C. s lewis says this god has been trying to experiment God has not been trying to experiment on My faith or love in order to find out their quality.

He knew it already. It was I who didn't In this trial, he makes us occupy the dock, the witness box, and the bench all at once. He always knew that my temple was a house of cards. His only way of making me realize the fact Was to knock it down and as he talked about in the problem of pain He also says this the creature's illusion of sufficiency Must for the creature's sake be shattered No one feels good when their house comes crushing down when their image of what life should or could be Gets destroyed Or damaged but those who sit in some of the rubble No, they need a foundation that is someone bigger than themselves.

Being freed from the illusion of control is terrifying and it's a gift. Third thing I just want to mention in Treasures, an aversion to depersonalized religion. That might be the most big words I've ever tried to put in a sentence right there. Hagar is run over by the machine, right? This whole idea and this whole movement that we have in Genesis 12 That will take us right to the manger this whole promise that's been made and this is a beautiful promise full of incredible fulfillment And and full of incredible stories of redemption But thanks to abraham and sarah it Did not start out that way for Hagar.

That beautiful movement of God through the nation of Israel begins by running over this woman. It begins by one of the most textbook examples of spiritual abuse that we have in all of history. of Christianity and when Christ himself comes to her, the language that she uses is different than many people will use in the story.

It's not depersonalized language. It's actually a unique name that she gives. She is titling and seeing senses of God, the sight and the sound. That she will be the first to chronicle. Christ, for her, was not a banner to be raised, a story to be told, a cause to be won. He wasn't a brand. And since forever, we have been trying to make Jesus about a cause we think should be won.

And what we, what people did with Jesus, what we still do with Jesus, is say, you know what? Jesus must be on this side of the argument. Because I actually heard someone, they were having a political argument, and they said, You know what? If Jesus were here, he would do this. They're like, well that's a Trump card right there, you know what I mean?

Like, that's, can't argue with that one, if you have Jesus on your side. But that's what we do, right? We get in an argument, you know what? If he were here, he would do this. But what are we really about? We're probably much more about our argument than we are about the living. Person of Jesus, Jesus must be on this side of this movement.

Why? Because what I really care about is this movement Jesus must be cornered into to blessing my church or my nation Why? Because I really care about my church and my nation. We can Depersonalize Christ and it marked so much of Jesus's ministry People were like, hey, it's cool you did that miracle for that one guy over there.

What are you gonna do with Rome? Hey, it's really cool you let the little kids come to you and you bless them. That's a nice story. Let's get some important things done for the whole nation here. We're about to enter into election cycle. It's gonna be super fun. We're all looking forward to it. You know, it's gonna be easy.

It's just like, you know, Jesus is on this political party side. And, and, and, and if the wrong person gets into office and does the wrong thing, boom! Everything's destroyed. All down at, well, we've all said since for like, I've heard this for every election in a million years, well, I'm just going to go to Canada.

You know, like that's what everyone says, and then they're not in Canada. Why? But we have this thing of like, oh, if the wrong things happen, it all falls apart. And we can talk more about America than what Jesus is doing in our own lives. Right? We're going through different seasons as a church. We want to know what it, okay, well, Jesus wants this, or Jesus wants that, and we can get all wrapped in, but now we're more talking about church than we are about Him.

We can be so preoccupied with what the church in America, with the church universal, what the church in South Jersey should do and be, and focus less about what Jesus Himself Is doing and being in me a general cause movement or organization is not enough for the one who suffers. We need more than an army general or a celebrity.

We need direct contacts with contact with Christ himself. We need him to be personally involved in our lives. A depersonalized religion says that Jesus is heading up this thing and I'm going to line up underneath him. The one who suffer knows, My God, I need you now. Be whoever you actually are. Suffering teaches us eternal life.

Is about knowing him and letting him be himself 15 resiliency suffering brings us resiliency produces resiliency that comes one revolution At a time, the next chapter is Genesis 22 and in the story of Abraham and Sarah, you see Sarah's particularly loud and Abraham goes along with it, but you could see before that in stories where Abraham was more the coward and he would be loud and Sarah went along with him.

And then you can see other stories in Abraham and Sarah's life where they showed tremendous trust and tremendous faith. But through their faith development for Abraham and Sarah, eventually Abraham comes to a place where God says, Okay, now Isaac is full grown. Take your boy and sacrifice him a bigger request than he has ever made in all the times Leading up to it, but God had taught Abraham through some of the failings Some of the times of trust that eventually Abraham gets to this place where it says in Hebrews 11 looking back on this story Abraham's like I'll do it because I believe that God can even raise the dead which is amazing because God Never had until that point But eventually, Abraham's faith grew to that point.

One of the things I believe about spiritual formation, God's life being formed inside of us, is that it's slow and it's downward. My favorite image of it is the, screw going into a piece of wood. We are the screw, the piece of wood is God himself. And we eventually, more and more, rotate and go deeper in.

Now in my life and yours we face the same seasons the same man I've been in these insecurities before I hit some of these sufferings before and we face some of the similar Things of our life some of the things I journaled about when I was 16 I still face those but by God's grace a little bit deeper in a little bit closer When I do pre marriage counseling and what we're able to identify.

Okay, this is an issue We say you know what? This will probably be an issue if you're both 80 together Because this is identifying an issue, but the goal is to face this issue, this, this crosses you carry, these things that you're facing, a little bit deeper in, into the love of God. Resiliency comes through suffering, it does.

Resiliency, if you have suffered, and you have suffered with Christ, the next time it doesn't free you from suffering, and the suffering looks a lot the same as it did before, but the treasure of, of Christian suffering, is that each time we go through it, We know a little bit more. He is love. This will end In him all is well, those are some of the treasures and many of you Are are going through different times of suffering and have shared your journey such Such an honor for me.

In fact I I said this to someone last week like hey, we're supposed to talk about the treasures of christian suffering all I want to do is put an open mic in that sanctuary and say Where has anyone seen God in suffering? Because that's, a lot of those responses have come to me. And, and, and then just sit down afterwards and say, That, that is the treasure.

Because, in such a real way, you. You are the treasure of christian suffering and you live it out better than we can quickly in a sermon But many of you are are walking alongside of people who are suffering trying to make sense From the outside of someone going through a difficult time. And so I just wanted to share a few points on that as we go.

So the partnership of christian suffering number six or sixteen And for those of you dealing with people in pain, don't belittle pain. This is exactly what Abraham and Sarah did. You know why? Because Abraham and Sarah, they knew pain. They knew barrenness. They knew what it was like to leave, like, like, their whole nation, their family.

And to tell everyone at every party they ever went to, Well, God's gonna give us, there's a blessing, you just need to believe it. And then people will watch Sarah turn 30, and 40, and 50, and 60. And, and they knew that the pain of those days, and never having a child, they knew pain. But what can happen when we know our version of pain?

is we become hurt people who hurt other people. And we don't see that Hagar can be hurt too. It's very easy when people share our type of pain to be like, hey, I get that. Right? It is for me. But when they have a different type, for me, sometimes I'm jealous. I was talking to somebody, one of the pastors this week, he's like, oh man, I just wish I had a different cross.

And I'm like, dude, I've wished I've had your cross. Guess what? They're both pretty rough. But, what we can do is belittle pain if we're not careful. This is something that Jesus did not do. Christ's pain identifies him with us, not preoccupies him with himself. Dane Ortlund said this, The cumulative testimony of the four gospels is that when Jesus Christ sees the falseness in the world about him, his deepest impulse, his most natural instinct, Is to move toward that sin and suffering, not away from it.

Spurgeon said it this way. Especially judge not the sons and daughters of sorrow. Also no ungenerous suspicions of the one afflicted, the poor and the despondent. Do not hastily say they ought to be more brave and exhibit a greater faith. Ask not why are they so nervous and so absurdly fearful. No, I beseech you, remember you understand not your fellow man.

Seventeen. Because suffering is unique, loving someone, is always a journey into complexity. This is the problem with suffering is we want it to be simple and it's just not. It's like, hey, tell me, tell me about your suffering. How long do you have? Because it's complicated and it, and it ties into relational and it ties into, to physical and it ties into emotional.

And when we go through suffering, it inevitably is something that's so confusing and complex. And if we think we have all the right answers, we're probably at the most dangerous we could be. 14 says this, We urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the faint hearted, help the weak, be patient with them all.

Okay, here's, here's the deal. Where'd it go? It's not on that one. Okay, over here. I can't reach that. We urge you, brothers, admonish the idle. That's right. That's what we do with those who are idle, encourage the faint hearted when we're talking about spiritual abuse and where we can cause great harm is when we mix these up.

We admonish the faint hearted or instead of helping the weak, we're admonishing them. And I, and I know sometimes when we're a hammer, everything looks like a nail, right? And we're like, well, there's a problem and the God doesn't like problems. Let's just, you know, you should confess or whatever you need to do.

And we, we jump into suffering with simple answers. When we realize, you know what? This might not be a sin issue. You know what? God hasn't answered this question yet. Maybe you shouldn't try either. To embrace complexity, Proverbs 18, 13 says, if one gives an answer before he hears, it is his folly and shame.

And lastly, just, I'll just say this. Curiosity and compassion make far better friends than lessons to those who suffer. This word curiosity, I've shared, I've struggled with obsessive compulsive disorder, and most of my friends don't. So if you struggle with obsessive compulsive disorder, I need friends, so.

But most of my friends do not. But curiosity means the most to me. There are some people like, hey, I read this article, and I saw this here, and you know, if the obsessive compulsive disorder, and this is actually this. Or they see a therapist for two weeks, and they're like, my therapist one time said this about obsessive compulsive, have you applied this to your life?

And I'm like, thank you so much. Let's not talk for a while, you know. But my friends who've come and said, hey, I have no idea what that's like. Honestly, it sounds a little weird to me. What's that like? And I get to tell them. That means the world to me. People don't have to identify with my type of suffering.

But they probably shouldn't act like they're an expert in it. We're not experts in each other's type of pain. We need to listen, ask honest questions. Curiosity and compassion are far better friends than lessons to the sufferer. Eighteen. We're almost there. What changes someone's life during suffering is love.

And if you love someone who suffers, and I mean this phrasing intentionally, You become, and you are, the power of God. 1 Corinthians 13 collects all kinds of virtues, all kinds of things of the faith, and says, but let me tell you what matters the most. It's love. Love for someone who suffers. My wife is a therapist, and we were talking, and she said, You know what, Ben?

Like, psychology has helped us so much to identify problems. To categorize problems, to help explain complexity of pain. But she said, you look even at modern psychology theories. What changes a person's life is love. It's relational. That's what creates change in a life. It can be a love from others. It can be learning to, in a godly way, love yourself.

And she said this to me and she said, But there's no love like the love of God. If you can become and love someone and become a part of God's love fitting into the life of a sufferer, you are. The power of God in a life and you think if I only had the right things to say as soon as you think that Say this probably shouldn't say it, right?

I don't know how many times I've heard people say like I I don't know what to say and I just want to say Thank you. Just don't say it. Just be present be a non anxious presence in Suffering you won't solve the suffering but guess what if God hasn't solved it. You're probably not going to either Just be there, and your non anxious presence, Jane Davison Hunter, wrote a book on how to change the world.

How do you change the world? How do you actually create change? And this whole premise is this, by faithful presence.

When you love someone who suffers, you are the power of God. Lastly, oh wait, this is a great quote. Eugene Peterson said this, spiritual formation not only should not be, but also cannot be professionalized. It takes place essentially in the company of friends and peers. And if Jesus had his whole story go into the hands of the church through the Holy Spirit, which is his miracle, he didn't just say, hey, pastors, counselors, you guys have to figure it all out.

He gives the power, all of us, to be the very agents of his formation of love into a sufferer's life. The end of Christian suffering. Oh man, I've looked forward to seeing those words. Couple of things as we close. Christian suffering normally has relief this side of heaven. Nowhere in scripture do I believe that is fully promised.

It is often spoken of, and it is the normative thing that happens to sufferers in scripture. I don't think we can say, hey, we know that this suffering will always be lifted, but suffering normally finds relief. It normally has at least somewhat of an exp exp expiration date that is not just eternal. It is normally here.

Suffering is often, as we mentioned, the screw going into wood. Something we go through cyclically. But I do not believe that misery is the normative state of a Christian. God will bring you through. Almost always on this side of heaven. But lastly Number 20, even if it is in heaven or not till heaven, suffering is a very brief part of the Christian experience.

Of following Christ, being with Christ, even if the suffering lasts far longer, even if it's not as it normally is, relieved on this side of heaven, healing is promised, ultimate healing, in paradise forever, in union with Him forever. And in those days, and in those years, and in those decades, and in those centuries, and in those millennium, we'll be able to look back and say, you know what, that suffering was so painful.

But it was brief compared to what we get to have.

I'm gonna do something that literally could not be more narcissistic. I'm gonna read a part of my book to you. I just want to tell you what happened as I, as I wrote. And I'm just gonna conclude with a couple of paragraphs. I started writing about, Spurgeon, Nowin, Mother Teresa, C. S. Lewis, and I dove somewhat deep into their stories and understanding a lot of their pain, and it is dark.

It is really intense. It was more intense than I was ready for. I thought, hey, this is going to be an easier chapter when I did this. And then it became my longest and most difficult chapter because of the amount of sorrow that they had in their own lives, these heroes of the faith. And, and when I did this, we were in Columbia, we were seeing a lot of poverty.

There was, there was a lot of. Things that we were facing that just felt really painful and and as I was writing this book on Christian suffering I just became Overtaken is the way it felt on three levels. The first I felt this personal sense of fear. I Don't want to suffer. I Use the words of C. S. Lewis.

I'm a coward when it comes to suffering I don't want to suffer the extent of some of the worst times that I have had in my past I never want that again. I also felt as I was reading of these saints, the sense of like, injustice, of like, how come they had to suffer? Like, these people led us to the foot of, feet of God, told us about His love.

Why did they have to go to hell to find it? And then third, as I got like, universal and pretty dark, I like, just felt the sufferings of other people. Part of that was being in Columbia and seeing some real poverty and hearing about some dark, dark things. Part of that is just being a pastor of you all and, and having walked through some different stories.

Don't want anymore. I don't have the stomach for it. It's too much. And in that moment, like, I almost didn't want hope. As I was writing this chapter, like, you know what? Hope is too painful. Let's just turn off all the lights and call it a day. But what held me through was this image of heaven. And I'm just going to read you this little bit as we conclude.

I felt close to Spurgeon, Lewis, Mother Teresa, and now, and I felt close to those who know the suffering that they knew. I felt close to you, the Fellowship of the Tormented. I do mean this. You are heroes of mine. We make up a hobbled army. At times we feel like we're just like every other person. At times we feel like we are blessed to know our way of Christ, even in the dark.

At other times, we are begging that Christ would take this cross from us. We know lots of times, but we keep going. With plenty of limping, second guessing, laughing at ourselves and crying when it is just too much. I want to end this chapter with a view of heaven. In that place, Spurgeon knows no more physical or mental torture.

He no longer gazes into the abyss of the English Channel, clinging to his last bits of weathered hope. He now stares into the glory of Christ, eyes lit with joy and mirth. I think of Louis who's no longer reduced to the feelings of a coward in the face of his grief and anxiety. He doesn't have to wrestle with pain, theologically or philosophically, for himself or for us anymore.

He's reunited with his wife. Mother Teresa knows unbroken fellowship with the Christ she married on earth. There are no more lessons to be taught or learned by the teacher of silence. She's fully with him and he with her. Think about you and me who are not yet there yet our questions are not resolved.

Our uncertainties remain uncertain. Our timeline of the seasons of pain do not have an end date that we can see. We travel this world of faith and suffering on its precarious path, and don't always know how much more we can take. I cannot wait for heaven with you. I can't wait to see what we will gain there and what we shall leave behind.

I long to speak to you there of how he got us through the very times we thought were too deep, too wide, too long, and too high for us to endure. I long to hear how he showed us then, and for forever, that his love was deeper, wider, longer, and higher still. Dear weary traveler, You won't be weary long.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/even-here-part-3 f5176d5c-3a5f-4783-b40e-8e16e8eaae67 Sun, 28 Jan 2024 11:27:19 GMT <div data-html="true">Genesis 16-21 <br /><br /> She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.” <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> Good morning, it's great to be here with you. This is the last installment on, the series we're in about Christian suffering. As Pastor Mark mentioned, I realized that doing a three week series means I'm the suffering guy. So, as I see people in the lobby, like Matt Howard, he's like, Oh, again. More suffering. <br /><br /> I won't preach on suffering the other times I'm preaching upcoming, but, we are going through this series, and we're trying to end this series, even here, with final thoughts on Christian suffering, and we have some notes for you to follow along, but as a part of the series, we first talked about the weight of Christian suffering, and the purpose of Christian suffering, and last week we talked about the stewardship of Christian suffering. <br /><br /> And if you're keeping along, there's three left, all of which are called today. So we're going to move quick today. The treasures of Christian suffering, the partnership in Christian suffering, and lastly, the end of Christian suffering. When I was about eight years old in Marlton, New Jersey, I was bored. <br /><br /> And I went outside of Cam in the Cambridge Park House, 21 Concord Drive. And, I went out with a shovel that was just like this one. Probably having to do weeding because my parents just love making their children weed and so And not wanting to weed because their children hated to weed but I was out there with this shovel and thinking I'm bored. <br /><br /> I have a shovel And so being the ever creative type, I thought, I'm going to try to shove this shovel as far into this Marlton soil as I possibly can. And I didn't really, couldn't really get it in because this is not a spade, which cuts in deeper when you like step on it. So this particular shovel, I thought I could get the furthest in. <br /><br /> By lifting up the shovel and smashing it down and I did it but this particular shovel wasn't as sharp as I wanted it to be and I was rather discouraged my eight year old self that I couldn't put the shovel as far into the dirt as I wanted and I remember thinking I am going to do it one more time. <br /><br /> And I'm going to do it as hard as I can. I literally had this thought and so I lifted up the shovel. One detail I haven't mentioned is I was barefoot at the time. Yep, it's exactly going there. And I lifted up shovel came right down, bam, right on the nail of my big toe. And I didn't know what happened and I'm like, I thought nothing happened and then I grabbed my foot And then the blood started leaking through a new crack in my big toenail And then I started, you know handling like a man Or screaming like a small child. <br /><br /> However, you want to interpret that my fear. With what we're doing and suffering as I enter come to the pulpit each week Is that I'm the shovel and you're the big toe and I realize that this is asking you to go through a lot And I'm very thankful for the chance to go through the text that we've gone through and to finish up this week We're gonna be in Genesis 16 in Genesis 21 Two different stories of a woman named Hagar, a single mom named Hagar. <br /><br /> What we're going to do is go through the stories and then we're going to rocket through the remaining principles as we look at this story. Hagar is, is was a servant of Sarah and Abram. They were going to be called Abraham and Sarah. Sarah, and we'll just call them that for now. Even as we go through the stories, even though in Genesis 16 they didn't technically get that name yet, but what happened was Abraham and Sarah, Abraham was given a promise. <br /><br /> And the promise was through you, all nations will be blessed. And we know that from the seed of Abraham ultimately came this, the coming of Christ, all nations, all these promises were given for major promises given through the era of Abraham. But Abraham and Sarah realized we, this is not happening. <br /><br /> And it didn't happen after a few months after getting the promise, they weren't able to have a child then, then wasn't able to happen after a few years. And then decades went by and God did not come through. On the promise that he made and those days and months and years and decades began to add up And eventually Sarah and Abraham got to talking that if God is not going to come through on his word Perhaps we will have to find another way and Sarah said well I do have a servant her name is Hagar as you know Abraham Why don't you take her, have a child with her, and so at least through your line, then we can have a child. <br /><br /> An incredibly painful decision for Sarah, which would ultimately become an incredibly abusive decision for Hagar. The trust muscles that we see Abraham and Sarah wrestle with throughout Genesis, we're, we're developing. But they weren't quite there yet to believe that Sarah could have a child. So what happens is, Abraham and Hagar have a child. <br /><br /> And Hagar now is with child and is becoming a major part of the story. Becoming the one through which the line will continue. And the other people, because they travel with a lot of people. Abraham and Sarah had a lot of people with them. They were looking and seeing towards, how is she feeling? What's going on today? <br /><br /> Did the new line kick in your stomach? Did this new line of descendants that is going to start with this child and Hagar, who was a, a servant girl is now thrust to center stage, but Sarah was having trouble backing up from the mic. It was difficult for her to realize that her part was becoming less in the story. <br /><br /> And eventually Sarah deals so harshly with Hagar. That Hagar runs away, and runs away not to someone, runs away not to somewhere, but just runs away. And ends up in the wilderness. Says this in Genesis 16. Saradette harshly with Hagar, and she fled from her. The angel of the Lord, and we talked about this like a month and a half ago, so I'm sure you all remember. <br /><br /> The angel of the Lord, the angel of Yahweh, is actually a Christophany. It is actually a coming of Christ in the Old Testament. And there's a lot of theological reasons that we looked into of why this phrase, the angel of the Lord, was a particular manifestation of Jesus himself coming in the Old Testament. <br /><br /> So Jesus comes to her. By a spring of water in the wilderness the spring on the way to sure and then this happens the The angel of the lord said to her behold you are pregnant shall bear a son You shall call his name ishmael because the lord has listened to you in your affliction. She's like, okay, I got that So she called him the name of the lord and god spoke that he would fulfill and look after Her and eventually says she responds with this statement So she called the name of the Lord again Christ himself who spoke to her. <br /><br /> You are a God of seeing Anybody know the Hebrew word for that El Roy you are the God of seeing Because you have seen me What's interesting is this is now not the God of Abraham and Sarah Right even further descendants would say you are the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob be by identification point But not for Hagar. <br /><br /> Hagar was running from all of that God thing out into the wilderness. She did not run to God. God ran to her. And now this God did not just become an idea put on her by Abraham. And Sarah, this was the God who saw her. The story continues. And after Hagar gave birth to Ishmael, who is now the heir to the new nation, the child begins to grow. <br /><br /> And now, what happens with Abraham and Sarah. Is that now Sarah gets pregnant because God was going to fulfill his promise all along because God doesn't promise something that he doesn't fulfill. And so now Sarah is pregnant with the rightful heir to the nation as promised by God. Well that does not mean good things for Hagar and Ishmael. <br /><br /> And this single mom who has this child who everyone thought would be the center of the story. Now Sarah goes to Abraham again and eventually has her removed and Abraham gives her a donkey, a skin of water, and a piece of bread. For her and the child says this, When the water in the skin was gone, she put the child under one of the bushes. <br /><br /> Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off about the distance of a bow shot. For she said, let me not look on the death of the child. And she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice, and in a sound only a mother could know, she wept. Not even able to see her child die of starvation. But God does not quit on Hagar, like his people did. <br /><br /> He shows himself again and the text continues. Sorry. I have the clicker So like I get happy with the clicker, but I don't think I put the text in there says and God heard the voice of the boy and the angel of God called the Hagar from heaven and said to her What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. <br /><br /> And the story goes on of how God provides and gives provision and looks after Hagar and Ishmael. Hagar and God is the God, if you hear in the text, He is the God who sees the El Roy. And He is the God who hears the child crying. The God who sees and the God who hears in the midst of suffering. Pray with me this morning. <br /><br /> The worship team led us this morning. There will be a day when the burdens of this life will be no more. <br /><br /> It's a lot of burdens represented in this room. <br /><br /> We thank you that there's an end. We give you ourself this morning and pray for wisdom. We thank you that the story of suffering isn't just bad news. And what we can relax a little bit into today is some of the joy and treasures That are found in the dark in jesus name. Amen Okay, so some treasures found in Christian suffering. <br /><br /> We're going to go through nine points this morning, okay? So we're going to be rifling through what I intended to do shorter, but based upon like some, some of the responses and conversations had just wanted to add a few in there about how to partner with people who suffer because so many of you. are doing that right now. <br /><br /> So, first thing about the treasures of Christian suffering is, is, is, is this statement, is found in this statement in Isaiah 45, 3, I will give you the treasures. Of darkness the hordes and secret places that you may know that it is I the lord the god of israel who calls you by name Number 12 because we're doing this in a full list of 20 What you're starting with today is number 12 is he is the primary Treasure of christian suffering that there's suffering is not unique to christianity Suffering is not is something that's not during this time or just bible times suffering is a universal human experience the difference between christian suffering and just Normal suffering is not the suffering. <br /><br /> It's the Christian part and the part that's unique and the part That's the primary treasure of Christian suffering is Christ himself. I love what God did with with Hagar, right? So Hagar is there and and it doesn't just you she's not just given a well although she would be given a well where she could get water she wasn't just given more bread or traveler a passing by companion to relieve her who comes who comes to this single mom who's now so little a part of the story of the rest of the Bible you Jesus himself. <br /><br /> Jesus himself comes to this woman. She needs more than just provision. She needed more than just a bailout of an impossibly difficult situation. Hagar needed a God who sees. She needed a God who hears. And for the rest of Hagar's life, for whatever she faced, she knew she faced it with one who saw. And heard her needs, J. <br /><br /> I. Packer says this communion between God and man is the end To which both creation and redemption are the means it is the goal to which both theology and preaching must ever point It is the essence of true religion. It is indeed the definition Of christianity union with god is literally the definition of what it means to be a christian So seasons of blessing and seasons of suffering Are all serving the same purpose serving to unite us to companion us with this god He is the primary treasure of christian suffering Second second treasure another treasure of christian suffering is the freedom from the illusion of control Hagar is whipped around in this story between chapters. <br /><br /> She is promoted, she is greatly demoted, and she is eventually abandoned. She has all of these things happening to her where she feels powerless and is in a powerless position. That's a dreadful spot to be. There's no formula to predict the future. God's never done this with a nation. All the things being told to her can't be like, Oh, I remember, that's This is totally unheard of. <br /><br /> Her life is whipped around and now she and her child are in an impossible situation. So, so what does she gain from that? Not control. But she gains an incredible gift. The gift that she is free from the illusion of control that the rest of us pretend like we have. All of us, no matter what your profession or what you're doing, whether you're a parent, a teacher, a preacher, a plumber, an engineer. <br /><br /> A nutritionist, we're used to setting up systems. One of the remarkable things about being a person, we can set up systems and rhythms. And within that, there is some sense of imago Dei, God's image control, right? If you do A, you get B. If you do B, then you do C, and you do C and D, and then eventually you'll get through. <br /><br /> But suffering has this way of blowing up that alphabet. Suffering has this way of saying, hey, you know what? I'm trying to do the right things at the right time, but i'm not always getting the thing. I thought I would get C. s lewis says this god has been trying to experiment God has not been trying to experiment on My faith or love in order to find out their quality. <br /><br /> He knew it already. It was I who didn't In this trial, he makes us occupy the dock, the witness box, and the bench all at once. He always knew that my temple was a house of cards. His only way of making me realize the fact Was to knock it down and as he talked about in the problem of pain He also says this the creature's illusion of sufficiency Must for the creature's sake be shattered No one feels good when their house comes crushing down when their image of what life should or could be Gets destroyed Or damaged but those who sit in some of the rubble No, they need a foundation that is someone bigger than themselves. <br /><br /> Being freed from the illusion of control is terrifying and it's a gift. Third thing I just want to mention in Treasures, an aversion to depersonalized religion. That might be the most big words I've ever tried to put in a sentence right there. Hagar is run over by the machine, right? This whole idea and this whole movement that we have in Genesis 12 That will take us right to the manger this whole promise that's been made and this is a beautiful promise full of incredible fulfillment And and full of incredible stories of redemption But thanks to abraham and sarah it Did not start out that way for Hagar. <br /><br /> That beautiful movement of God through the nation of Israel begins by running over this woman. It begins by one of the most textbook examples of spiritual abuse that we have in all of history. of Christianity and when Christ himself comes to her, the language that she uses is different than many people will use in the story. <br /><br /> It's not depersonalized language. It's actually a unique name that she gives. She is titling and seeing senses of God, the sight and the sound. That she will be the first to chronicle. Christ, for her, was not a banner to be raised, a story to be told, a cause to be won. He wasn't a brand. And since forever, we have been trying to make Jesus about a cause we think should be won. <br /><br /> And what we, what people did with Jesus, what we still do with Jesus, is say, you know what? Jesus must be on this side of the argument. Because I actually heard someone, they were having a political argument, and they said, You know what? If Jesus were here, he would do this. They're like, well that's a Trump card right there, you know what I mean? <br /><br /> Like, that's, can't argue with that one, if you have Jesus on your side. But that's what we do, right? We get in an argument, you know what? If he were here, he would do this. But what are we really about? We're probably much more about our argument than we are about the living. Person of Jesus, Jesus must be on this side of this movement. <br /><br /> Why? Because what I really care about is this movement Jesus must be cornered into to blessing my church or my nation Why? Because I really care about my church and my nation. We can Depersonalize Christ and it marked so much of Jesus's ministry People were like, hey, it's cool you did that miracle for that one guy over there. <br /><br /> What are you gonna do with Rome? Hey, it's really cool you let the little kids come to you and you bless them. That's a nice story. Let's get some important things done for the whole nation here. We're about to enter into election cycle. It's gonna be super fun. We're all looking forward to it. You know, it's gonna be easy. <br /><br /> It's just like, you know, Jesus is on this political party side. And, and, and, and if the wrong person gets into office and does the wrong thing, boom! Everything's destroyed. All down at, well, we've all said since for like, I've heard this for every election in a million years, well, I'm just going to go to Canada. <br /><br /> You know, like that's what everyone says, and then they're not in Canada. Why? But we have this thing of like, oh, if the wrong things happen, it all falls apart. And we can talk more about America than what Jesus is doing in our own lives. Right? We're going through different seasons as a church. We want to know what it, okay, well, Jesus wants this, or Jesus wants that, and we can get all wrapped in, but now we're more talking about church than we are about Him. <br /><br /> We can be so preoccupied with what the church in America, with the church universal, what the church in South Jersey should do and be, and focus less about what Jesus Himself Is doing and being in me a general cause movement or organization is not enough for the one who suffers. We need more than an army general or a celebrity. <br /><br /> We need direct contacts with contact with Christ himself. We need him to be personally involved in our lives. A depersonalized religion says that Jesus is heading up this thing and I'm going to line up underneath him. The one who suffer knows, My God, I need you now. Be whoever you actually are. Suffering teaches us eternal life. <br /><br /> Is about knowing him and letting him be himself 15 resiliency suffering brings us resiliency produces resiliency that comes one revolution At a time, the next chapter is Genesis 22 and in the story of Abraham and Sarah, you see Sarah's particularly loud and Abraham goes along with it, but you could see before that in stories where Abraham was more the coward and he would be loud and Sarah went along with him. <br /><br /> And then you can see other stories in Abraham and Sarah's life where they showed tremendous trust and tremendous faith. But through their faith development for Abraham and Sarah, eventually Abraham comes to a place where God says, Okay, now Isaac is full grown. Take your boy and sacrifice him a bigger request than he has ever made in all the times Leading up to it, but God had taught Abraham through some of the failings Some of the times of trust that eventually Abraham gets to this place where it says in Hebrews 11 looking back on this story Abraham's like I'll do it because I believe that God can even raise the dead which is amazing because God Never had until that point But eventually, Abraham's faith grew to that point. <br /><br /> One of the things I believe about spiritual formation, God's life being formed inside of us, is that it's slow and it's downward. My favorite image of it is the, screw going into a piece of wood. We are the screw, the piece of wood is God himself. And we eventually, more and more, rotate and go deeper in. <br /><br /> Now in my life and yours we face the same seasons the same man I've been in these insecurities before I hit some of these sufferings before and we face some of the similar Things of our life some of the things I journaled about when I was 16 I still face those but by God's grace a little bit deeper in a little bit closer When I do pre marriage counseling and what we're able to identify. <br /><br /> Okay, this is an issue We say you know what? This will probably be an issue if you're both 80 together Because this is identifying an issue, but the goal is to face this issue, this, this crosses you carry, these things that you're facing, a little bit deeper in, into the love of God. Resiliency comes through suffering, it does. <br /><br /> Resiliency, if you have suffered, and you have suffered with Christ, the next time it doesn't free you from suffering, and the suffering looks a lot the same as it did before, but the treasure of, of Christian suffering, is that each time we go through it, We know a little bit more. He is love. This will end In him all is well, those are some of the treasures and many of you Are are going through different times of suffering and have shared your journey such Such an honor for me. <br /><br /> In fact I I said this to someone last week like hey, we're supposed to talk about the treasures of christian suffering all I want to do is put an open mic in that sanctuary and say Where has anyone seen God in suffering? Because that's, a lot of those responses have come to me. And, and, and then just sit down afterwards and say, That, that is the treasure. <br /><br /> Because, in such a real way, you. You are the treasure of christian suffering and you live it out better than we can quickly in a sermon But many of you are are walking alongside of people who are suffering trying to make sense From the outside of someone going through a difficult time. And so I just wanted to share a few points on that as we go. <br /><br /> So the partnership of christian suffering number six or sixteen And for those of you dealing with people in pain, don't belittle pain. This is exactly what Abraham and Sarah did. You know why? Because Abraham and Sarah, they knew pain. They knew barrenness. They knew what it was like to leave, like, like, their whole nation, their family. <br /><br /> And to tell everyone at every party they ever went to, Well, God's gonna give us, there's a blessing, you just need to believe it. And then people will watch Sarah turn 30, and 40, and 50, and 60. And, and they knew that the pain of those days, and never having a child, they knew pain. But what can happen when we know our version of pain? <br /><br /> is we become hurt people who hurt other people. And we don't see that Hagar can be hurt too. It's very easy when people share our type of pain to be like, hey, I get that. Right? It is for me. But when they have a different type, for me, sometimes I'm jealous. I was talking to somebody, one of the pastors this week, he's like, oh man, I just wish I had a different cross. <br /><br /> And I'm like, dude, I've wished I've had your cross. Guess what? They're both pretty rough. But, what we can do is belittle pain if we're not careful. This is something that Jesus did not do. Christ's pain identifies him with us, not preoccupies him with himself. Dane Ortlund said this, The cumulative testimony of the four gospels is that when Jesus Christ sees the falseness in the world about him, his deepest impulse, his most natural instinct, Is to move toward that sin and suffering, not away from it. <br /><br /> Spurgeon said it this way. Especially judge not the sons and daughters of sorrow. Also no ungenerous suspicions of the one afflicted, the poor and the despondent. Do not hastily say they ought to be more brave and exhibit a greater faith. Ask not why are they so nervous and so absurdly fearful. No, I beseech you, remember you understand not your fellow man. <br /><br /> Seventeen. Because suffering is unique, loving someone, is always a journey into complexity. This is the problem with suffering is we want it to be simple and it's just not. It's like, hey, tell me, tell me about your suffering. How long do you have? Because it's complicated and it, and it ties into relational and it ties into, to physical and it ties into emotional. <br /><br /> And when we go through suffering, it inevitably is something that's so confusing and complex. And if we think we have all the right answers, we're probably at the most dangerous we could be. 14 says this, We urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the faint hearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. <br /><br /> Okay, here's, here's the deal. Where'd it go? It's not on that one. Okay, over here. I can't reach that. We urge you, brothers, admonish the idle. That's right. That's what we do with those who are idle, encourage the faint hearted when we're talking about spiritual abuse and where we can cause great harm is when we mix these up. <br /><br /> We admonish the faint hearted or instead of helping the weak, we're admonishing them. And I, and I know sometimes when we're a hammer, everything looks like a nail, right? And we're like, well, there's a problem and the God doesn't like problems. Let's just, you know, you should confess or whatever you need to do. <br /><br /> And we, we jump into suffering with simple answers. When we realize, you know what? This might not be a sin issue. You know what? God hasn't answered this question yet. Maybe you shouldn't try either. To embrace complexity, Proverbs 18, 13 says, if one gives an answer before he hears, it is his folly and shame. <br /><br /> And lastly, just, I'll just say this. Curiosity and compassion make far better friends than lessons to those who suffer. This word curiosity, I've shared, I've struggled with obsessive compulsive disorder, and most of my friends don't. So if you struggle with obsessive compulsive disorder, I need friends, so. <br /><br /> But most of my friends do not. But curiosity means the most to me. There are some people like, hey, I read this article, and I saw this here, and you know, if the obsessive compulsive disorder, and this is actually this. Or they see a therapist for two weeks, and they're like, my therapist one time said this about obsessive compulsive, have you applied this to your life? <br /><br /> And I'm like, thank you so much. Let's not talk for a while, you know. But my friends who've come and said, hey, I have no idea what that's like. Honestly, it sounds a little weird to me. What's that like? And I get to tell them. That means the world to me. People don't have to identify with my type of suffering. <br /><br /> But they probably shouldn't act like they're an expert in it. We're not experts in each other's type of pain. We need to listen, ask honest questions. Curiosity and compassion are far better friends than lessons to the sufferer. Eighteen. We're almost there. What changes someone's life during suffering is love. <br /><br /> And if you love someone who suffers, and I mean this phrasing intentionally, You become, and you are, the power of God. 1 Corinthians 13 collects all kinds of virtues, all kinds of things of the faith, and says, but let me tell you what matters the most. It's love. Love for someone who suffers. My wife is a therapist, and we were talking, and she said, You know what, Ben? <br /><br /> Like, psychology has helped us so much to identify problems. To categorize problems, to help explain complexity of pain. But she said, you look even at modern psychology theories. What changes a person's life is love. It's relational. That's what creates change in a life. It can be a love from others. It can be learning to, in a godly way, love yourself. <br /><br /> And she said this to me and she said, But there's no love like the love of God. If you can become and love someone and become a part of God's love fitting into the life of a sufferer, you are. The power of God in a life and you think if I only had the right things to say as soon as you think that Say this probably shouldn't say it, right? <br /><br /> I don't know how many times I've heard people say like I I don't know what to say and I just want to say Thank you. Just don't say it. Just be present be a non anxious presence in Suffering you won't solve the suffering but guess what if God hasn't solved it. You're probably not going to either Just be there, and your non anxious presence, Jane Davison Hunter, wrote a book on how to change the world. <br /><br /> How do you change the world? How do you actually create change? And this whole premise is this, by faithful presence. <br /><br /> When you love someone who suffers, you are the power of God. Lastly, oh wait, this is a great quote. Eugene Peterson said this, spiritual formation not only should not be, but also cannot be professionalized. It takes place essentially in the company of friends and peers. And if Jesus had his whole story go into the hands of the church through the Holy Spirit, which is his miracle, he didn't just say, hey, pastors, counselors, you guys have to figure it all out. <br /><br /> He gives the power, all of us, to be the very agents of his formation of love into a sufferer's life. The end of Christian suffering. Oh man, I've looked forward to seeing those words. Couple of things as we close. Christian suffering normally has relief this side of heaven. Nowhere in scripture do I believe that is fully promised. <br /><br /> It is often spoken of, and it is the normative thing that happens to sufferers in scripture. I don't think we can say, hey, we know that this suffering will always be lifted, but suffering normally finds relief. It normally has at least somewhat of an exp exp expiration date that is not just eternal. It is normally here. <br /><br /> Suffering is often, as we mentioned, the screw going into wood. Something we go through cyclically. But I do not believe that misery is the normative state of a Christian. God will bring you through. Almost always on this side of heaven. But lastly Number 20, even if it is in heaven or not till heaven, suffering is a very brief part of the Christian experience. <br /><br /> Of following Christ, being with Christ, even if the suffering lasts far longer, even if it's not as it normally is, relieved on this side of heaven, healing is promised, ultimate healing, in paradise forever, in union with Him forever. And in those days, and in those years, and in those decades, and in those centuries, and in those millennium, we'll be able to look back and say, you know what, that suffering was so painful. <br /><br /> But it was brief compared to what we get to have. <br /><br /> I'm gonna do something that literally could not be more narcissistic. I'm gonna read a part of my book to you. I just want to tell you what happened as I, as I wrote. And I'm just gonna conclude with a couple of paragraphs. I started writing about, Spurgeon, Nowin, Mother Teresa, C. S. Lewis, and I dove somewhat deep into their stories and understanding a lot of their pain, and it is dark. <br /><br /> It is really intense. It was more intense than I was ready for. I thought, hey, this is going to be an easier chapter when I did this. And then it became my longest and most difficult chapter because of the amount of sorrow that they had in their own lives, these heroes of the faith. And, and when I did this, we were in Columbia, we were seeing a lot of poverty. <br /><br /> There was, there was a lot of. Things that we were facing that just felt really painful and and as I was writing this book on Christian suffering I just became Overtaken is the way it felt on three levels. The first I felt this personal sense of fear. I Don't want to suffer. I Use the words of C. S. Lewis. <br /><br /> I'm a coward when it comes to suffering I don't want to suffer the extent of some of the worst times that I have had in my past I never want that again. I also felt as I was reading of these saints, the sense of like, injustice, of like, how come they had to suffer? Like, these people led us to the foot of, feet of God, told us about His love. <br /><br /> Why did they have to go to hell to find it? And then third, as I got like, universal and pretty dark, I like, just felt the sufferings of other people. Part of that was being in Columbia and seeing some real poverty and hearing about some dark, dark things. Part of that is just being a pastor of you all and, and having walked through some different stories. <br /><br /> Don't want anymore. I don't have the stomach for it. It's too much. And in that moment, like, I almost didn't want hope. As I was writing this chapter, like, you know what? Hope is too painful. Let's just turn off all the lights and call it a day. But what held me through was this image of heaven. And I'm just going to read you this little bit as we conclude. <br /><br /> I felt close to Spurgeon, Lewis, Mother Teresa, and now, and I felt close to those who know the suffering that they knew. I felt close to you, the Fellowship of the Tormented. I do mean this. You are heroes of mine. We make up a hobbled army. At times we feel like we're just like every other person. At times we feel like we are blessed to know our way of Christ, even in the dark. <br /><br /> At other times, we are begging that Christ would take this cross from us. We know lots of times, but we keep going. With plenty of limping, second guessing, laughing at ourselves and crying when it is just too much. I want to end this chapter with a view of heaven. In that place, Spurgeon knows no more physical or mental torture. <br /><br /> He no longer gazes into the abyss of the English Channel, clinging to his last bits of weathered hope. He now stares into the glory of Christ, eyes lit with joy and mirth. I think of Louis who's no longer reduced to the feelings of a coward in the face of his grief and anxiety. He doesn't have to wrestle with pain, theologically or philosophically, for himself or for us anymore. <br /><br /> He's reunited with his wife. Mother Teresa knows unbroken fellowship with the Christ she married on earth. There are no more lessons to be taught or learned by the teacher of silence. She's fully with him and he with her. Think about you and me who are not yet there yet our questions are not resolved. <br /><br /> Our uncertainties remain uncertain. Our timeline of the seasons of pain do not have an end date that we can see. We travel this world of faith and suffering on its precarious path, and don't always know how much more we can take. I cannot wait for heaven with you. I can't wait to see what we will gain there and what we shall leave behind. <br /><br /> I long to speak to you there of how he got us through the very times we thought were too deep, too wide, too long, and too high for us to endure. I long to hear how he showed us then, and for forever, that his love was deeper, wider, longer, and higher still. Dear weary traveler, You won't be weary long.</div> false no <![CDATA[Even Here - Part 2]]> Luke 9:22-24

And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.



Sermon Transcript:

Good morning everybody. Great to be here with you this morning. We are on week two of a series on suffering. I'm calling the series Even Here and just want to take a moment to to review what we talked about last week and we'll jump into what we're talking about this week.

If you have your handout right here, I put extra words on there to make it harder for you to see. All you baby boomers, just go ahead. I love this thing you do. You know, I like, it's like trying to get it into the right focus, so let us know when you got the right distance. Here what we talked about last week.

The first is, God is intimately aware of our suffering and still allows it to happen. Second, the suffering that God allows to happen is often agonizing. Third, there are endless types and levels to suffering. Fourth, there is rarely a timetable given to the sufferer. Fifth, suffering feels barely spiritual.

And then on the purpose of Christian suffering, sixth, the purpose of all Christian suffering is union. If you were not here last week and wonder why the people that were here last week ever came back, I'm sort of with you on that question. we want what is most true. Suffering, unfortunately, is true.

Something that truly happens. I'm thankful to be a part of a community that acknowledges the existence of suffering and wants to understand Christ in the midst of it. Today we're going to be talking about the stewardship of Christian suffering, wanting to, last week talk about just what is the weight of it, what does it mean, and then also why do we undergo suffering in our lives, and then last, and then here we go through the treasures of Christian suffering.

So the weight of Christian suffering last week, the purpose of Christian suffering. And today we're talking about the stewardship of Christian suffering. Next week we'll get to the treasures of Christian suffering. That sounds better, right? And then by God's grace and mercy, the end of Christian suffering.

But today we sit in the stewardship of Christian suffering. anxiety and depression, as I've talked to you about, and I've told you about some of my own story, they run deep in the veins of, my, the extended family on my mom's side. My grandpop, who was an instrumental person in my life, was the chairperson of the science department at Taylor University, and went through Decades of a long fight with, severe anxiety himself.

And when I was going through, as I talked about some last week, some of the throes of the darkest parts of my story, I went and visited he and my grandmom. Up in Northern Michigan, and I went to go see my grandpop's therapist, my grandpop's psychiatrist. He's a person who's been working with our family for a little while.

I had never met him, but he had met many people who shared my bloodline and genetics. When I talked to this guy, it did not take me long to have him feel pretty confident in what I was going through. And as I spoke with you last week, I've suffered for most of my life with obsessive compulsive disorder.

Didn't really know what that meant at that time, but he, was a pretty textbook case when I came in and he basically said, Ben, this is what you have. This is what you're dealing with. And I can still remember just sitting there looking at him, just kind of like, Are there other options that we could have here?

There's a, a show, Parks and Recreation. Anyone ever see Parks and Recreation? There's this scene in Parks and Recreation where Leslie and Ben, who are the two of the main characters, are finding, they found out they're pregnant, so they go get the ultrasound. And the, the guy, the, who's the Happy Days Fonzie, Fozzie, whatever his name is?

That guy? He's, that actor? I know some of you are like, Oh, he was so handsome, but that just shows you're like 90. Okay. So this, so he's, the doctor, that fozzy guy, whatever doctor is with them doing the ultra ultrasound. And he's going through and he's like, Oh, there's the baby keeps going, goes, there's another baby.

And then there's a third baby. Then he goes, Oh, and there's a fourth. He says, Oh, no, wait. That was a cream cheese smudge on the screen. Just three. That's how I felt very much when I got my diagnosis for the first time. I was really hoping for a cream cheese smudge on the screen, wondering if it could be anything else.

I at that point had become used to using the term depression or anxiety with my friends. Did not enjoy using it. did not enjoy experiencing it, but a diagnosis sounded much more like a life sentence to me. In that moment, I looked across at this psychiatrist who I don't even remember his name, and he knew that my faith was important to me.

I have no idea if this person is a Christian or just a good psychiatrist. But he looked at me and as I was saying like well, maybe it could be this this that he goes back And he just says Ben This is the cross that Jesus is asking you to carry It is your choice to carry it or not But as loud I can hear it now as I could that day.

He said but this is your cross That statement Literally set up the rest of my Christian formation of understanding suffering. But that cross as well as other crosses that I carry is not something to just be endured. It is not something to just be escaped. It is something to be stewarded. You see, suffering does not bring about growth.

on its own. Suffering is not special, noble, or interesting, and it does not produce growth by itself. Because suffering does not bring growth on its own, we must ask, how do I steward my suffering? One of the most important questions we will, we will deal with in our lives is how do we use our gifting? How do we use our resources?

Such incredible questions. But there's another question, of how will we use our suffering? In Luke 9, Jesus says words that go down in the category of things that we sometimes wish He didn't say. But He says this to His disciples, The Son of Man must suffer many things. He said He must be rejected by the elders, chief priests, scribes, and He must be killed on the third day and be raised to life.

Then Jesus said to all of them, If anyone wants to come after Me, He must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. Pray with me this morning.

Father, thank you for the stories in this room. It's not lost on us that while we sit together for these minutes. These minutes are not the whole of our life. We're coming from different places, and there's some dark places we're coming from today. I ask you, Lord, please, for those who are specifically looking for help in the storm, I pray you'll speak to them this morning.

If my words be an agitation, To anyone suffering, please remove those words from the ears of those who listen. We ask you teach us, help us, in a place we don't want to learn. In Jesus name, amen. The goal today, the goal last week was to describe the weight and what suffering is, talk about the purpose a little bit.

The goal today is to be very practical. And so, So, if you got your notes as you came in, this sheet of paper, I'm gonna, I'm gonna walk down through you with your, I'd encourage you to have a pen if you don't have the sheet of paper and want to grab it, that's great too, you can do that. If you want to just take a note on your phone, but I would ask if you'd be willing, to write some things down.

You don't have to fill in all the blanks or write it down, any of my words, but I have some. questions to ask you because when we are talking about suffering, Christian suffering is not just for those poor people who suffer, it is for the Christian who Jesus said will suffer. so a few things to help us as how do we carry, how do we walk this road of suffering and steward it according to the way our Christ designed it.

First, our, our, our seventh, because I want to do all these in number, seventh, our cross of suffering is unique and assigned and must be identified. Look 23 in Luke 9. He says, not take up a cross. Not even take up the cross. But if someone would come and follow me, must take up his. It's a possessive pronoun.

His unique cross. Our cross of suffering for each of us is unique. The cross of suffering for us is in a mysterious and painful way designed by our King to bring about something good. And because it is unique, and we can't just say we all carry the same cross, and because it is assigned specifically to us, We must then have the skills and the relationship with God such and relationship with others such that we can understand and identify what is my cross.

And if you follow God, you don't have just one, right? This is the nature of this Aspergian speaks of this in the morning and evening that we are given these crosses that ultimately will do something good, but we must identify what they are. The first step to how we steward our cross of suffering is to identify it.

One of the greatest allegorical works ever penned is, Hinds Feet in High Places by Hannah Hernard. A missionary who is both to Palestine and Israel for over 50 years. And this allegory is a beautiful and a tough read. The main character is called Much Afraid, and it's the story of how much afraid goes from the valley of fear to the kingdom of God.

of love. And, and the chief shepherd, who's, who's Jesus in the story, comes to much afraid right about when she's about to start her journey. She's decided to start her journey up to the mountain, up to go from the valley of fear to the kingdom of love. And, and the chief shepherd comes to her and says this, he's going to give her companions.

And she is gleeful at the thought of not traveling alone. The chief shepherd presents her companions and says this. They're good teachers. Indeed. I have few better. This said he motioning to the first of the silent figures is sorrow and the other is her sister suffering. These are tough words from Jesus.

This is before the disciples knew that Jesus would hang on a cross, but whether is before or after the cross. The cross meant the same thing to those people. The cross wasn't just a symbol of good things. The cross was a, was two sticks put together constructed for intentional painful death. Jesus turned to his disciples and said, If you follow me, you must take up your electric chair.

Your electric, your, your, your, your very agency of death. And follow me. How do we identify a cross of suffering? Just again, trying to be p practical here. a cross of suffering is not sin or needless suffering. we don't say, Hey, you know what? I just keep screaming at my wife and I feel guilty about that, and that's my cross.

Right. A cross could be you have such a smoldering inside of you and you don't know what to do with this sense of this temptation to lash out in anger. But sin is not a cross. Sin can be handled and dealt with and often can be overcome quicker than your cross is actually. There's also needless suffering, for me when I talk about my OCD, if I am not willing to submit myself to, to different therapists and a psychiatrist, psychologist, as I've had to do in my life and not, and learn about what I struggle with, it's needless suffering.

That's part of my stewardship is to say, okay, what, what out of this do I, is, is part of the experience that I am going to have and what out of this. Can I work through and not have needless suffering? Second, a cross of suffering comes in different sizes. Jesse Hacken and I were talking at soccer yesterday, and he's like, I know, it's not about suffering Olympics.

And I'm like, that is a good phrase. When we're talking about suffering, it's not the suffering Olympics. It's not, well, how big is this, or how does it compare to that? The reality is, is each one of us has, and we mentioned last, last week or two weeks ago if you're in Collingswood this morning, the the cross of suffering, the, the lies that we are told to by hell about suffering are two lies that come so often.

One, our suffering is too big for God to handle, or two, it is too small for Him to be trifled with. A cross comes in different sizes, and third, as we try to identify our individual cross of suffering, a cross is something that causes death. This is the only way to understand what a cross meant in ancient Near Eastern culture.

Suffering causes death. Death to a dream, death to fulfilling a temptation that we want. Death to a way of life that we thought that life should be or would be, death to reputation, death to how you thought your marriage, family, or church should behave towards you, death to ability to function in the way we thought we should be able to.

Suffering is an intended, difficult design for death in our life. And here's what I want you to do to write down. Simply, under point seven. Just the word, what, what is your cross of suffering? So that when we are talking about suffering, we're not just talking about Ben's issues. That's kind of what I'm a little afraid of, right?

We're talking about something that we carry each one of us. For some of you, that comes real easy and it is singular. It is, this is my cross. For some of you, it's like, well, I don't, I guess maybe this, I guess maybe that. Pick a cross, something that you can tell is doing death to some part of, of you.

Something you can identify. It does not need to be a certain size. But as we are talking about how do we carry our cross, it needs to be identified. This happened to me yesterday. I was talking through with my wife, we were sitting by the fire and I was going through something that had nothing related to like some of the bigger things I'm talking about in suffering.

It was just something I was processing through and I felt dumb about and, and like felt insecure and was worried how people would view me and I just was like, it just came to me like, dude, what, you know what to do with this. Identify it. Recognize what this is. Take it to your Christ and, and walk through this in the way you're meant to.

Number eight. It will get better after eight, I promise. Our cross of suffering must be experienced.

Jesus says in verse 23, don't observe your cross. Don't just recognize that it's there. Don't just stop at identifying it. But pick it up every day and carry it. We're in a part of the world that, we don't want to do this. It's a quote by Henry Nouwen. How can we embrace poverty as a way to God when everyone around us wants to become rich?

Poverty has many forms. We have to ask ourselves, what is my poverty? Is it a lack of money? Lack of emotional stability? Lack of a loving partner? Lack of security? Lack of safety? Lack of self confidence? Each human being has a place of suffering. That's the place where God wants to dwell. How blessed are the poor Jesus says this means that our blessing is hidden in our poverty We are so inclined to cover up our poverty and ignore it that we often miss the opportunity To discover God who dwells in it Let's dare to see our poverty as the land where our treasure is hidden I understand Deeply, the desire to, to be positive and like, to be like, it's going to be okay.

I understand and still to this day speak in terms of, whoa, this is really hard, but then want to hook really right onto it, but, but this, this is why it's good. And I need to get to this is why it's good. Why? Because it gets me out of why it's so hard. But we can try to at times be so upbeat about our pain, so positive about, about no, it'll be okay.

Try to hold our breath for so long and to act like things are okay, even to ourselves. This positivity culture though can truly be dismissive and tell people to miss the chance to experience God who dwells not after the pain. But in the pain, we paint silver linings on storm clouds and call it brave. It is not brave.

Entering the storm is brave.

God called me to do a lament during a really difficult season of ministry a while ago. It was horrible. Oh my goodness And I don't know if you've ever had a chance to write a lament a lament is basically a cry out to God About what is going on and without latching on the bottom of it, and this is why it's good Laments are found all throughout the Psalms much if not most of David's Psalms include lament And I remember writing down, just going through this lament and wanting to find, well, but this is why it's good.

This is why it's good. And just going through the discipline of just saying, God, this is not what I thought would happen. And here's what happened. God, this hurts more than I thought it would. And here's why it hurts. The strain of people in relationships, they feel like it's tearing me apart. Here's exactly how it feels.

And God, I can't fix this. And you don't seem to be fixing it either. Lament over. God does not need us to button up or tie up or fix what is in the process of pain. My fear for us and my fear for particularly like our place in time, culturally speaking. I know that a lot of us, we can, we, we can probably wallow in pain, but actually think more culturally, like where we are at our place and time in the world, that we're more quick to dismiss it and miss God who lives within it.

Here's what I want you to write down on our suffering must be experienced. Just the word when. It should have written down what, the cross you carry, and then this one is under when. And I want you to write down, if you would, a time within the next seven days when you can do a lament. Say, you know what, Tuesday morning I've got a little while, or Thursday night, or whenever you think that you have some space to not just recognize your cross, but to feel the weight of it.

During a lament, we don't need to write about what feels spiritual, we simply ask where does it hurt, where am I afraid, and what pain makes no sense to me.

Points one through eight are thick. I'm thankful to be done them. And thank you for your presence in them. we talked about in point six that our cross of suffering directs us to union. Here is a way that we really can experience that with God. How we experience union with God with suffering, I want to go to John 17.

John 17, I believe is the, is the most important, chapter in the Bible. Actually, Pastor Mark and I go back and forth on this. I've told you before that Pastor Mark and I, we agree on most things, and occasionally he is wrong, and he believes that, that Romans 8, and I believe John 17, even though they both are really, really good, are the greatest chapters in all of scripture.

The reason I love John 17, since he's not here to defend Romans 8, is because John 17 gives the why. the why of the whole gospel. It's Jesus going before he receives the cross. He goes and he prays to the Father and he prays and and he says, Declaring that that what the true gospel is what eternal life is This is eternal life.

He says that they may know you the one true God in Jesus Christ whom you have sent He concludes the prayer by saying righteous father though. The world does not know you I know you And they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them and will continue to make you known. In order that the love you have for me may be in them, and I myself may be in them.

It is this story, this dance of union, the very purpose for which Christ came. And when we talk about suffering and union, suffering is not unique. any season in the Christian life, seasons of blessing and flourishing and suffering are all intended for the same purpose. To bring us into deeper union, how, what's a way that suffering does that?

One of the beautiful ways we're directed in scripture is to understand our story and connect with Christ's story on life on earth. What do I mean by that? Those of you who are, Are in physical pain and I do with physical pain you have this precious painful Example of Christ experiencing pain on the cross and there is there's a way that you can in ways that other of us can't identify with what it took and what it was like to experience pain on the cross Those of you who have estranged parents or, or siblings or, or children, you can identify with Jesus as, as he, with tears coming down his eyes right into, everyone's praising him right into Jerusalem.

He's got tears in his eyes, turns around and he says, Oh, Jerusalem and Jerusalem, how I long to gather you. As a hen gathers her chicks in that moment, those of you who have painful, estranged relationships that you long to be reunited. You can connect with Christ and say, Jesus, I know what that feels like.

And you know what I feel like. Those dealing with loneliness. I was reading a passage not that long ago, my wife and I were reading, and Jesus in Gospel Matthew over and over tells His disciples, I'm going to die on the third day, rise again. Over and over. And like one of the last times, He spells out like everything that's going to happen about how I'm going to be crucified.

And all of a sudden, they just kind of ignore Him in the text and start fighting over who's the best among them. How lonely is that? For Jesus among His best friends to say, guys, this is going to happen to me. This is going to happen to me, it's just days away, just to be ignored or neglected. Those of you who know relational pain, know what it's like to feel as Christ felt being betrayed by Peter, or being praised by many of the same people that crucified Christ.

How can the exact suffering that you're experiencing, the exact thing that you wrote under point number seven, how can that connect you with Christ? And this is why I ask you to write just the word where, colon. Where in scripture do you see that Christ experienced a similar type of pain as you are? And I would say, that passage, that story, you have the ability to know Christ in that story in a way that people who have a different cross can't.

But, but to, to understand, to read that story, re read that story, go into it, go into like what it must have felt like because you've identified somewhere. And as you, as you are experiencing what Christ experienced and realizing, Oh my goodness, He gets what I experiencing, there, there's a, there's a knitting of soul that's done in the classroom of sorrow that is, it's other, it's union.

That's why I'd ask you to write down where, specifically where in scripture do you see Christ carrying the same type of cross you are carrying. And I know I'm being probably over practical, but suffering can get so fuzzy, wanting to be as specific as possible. Number ten, there's not many things that I believe about suffering more than this.

Our cross of suffering provides an opportunity to unite or separate us from each other. Every single person who suffers knows that it's not smart to isolate when you're suffering. There's no one in here that needs to be talked into the fact that it's not the best idea to isolate. But the thing is, it's attractive.

Because it's really hard to be misunderstood. It's really hard to, to, when you tell somebody of what you're going through, and they make light of it, or they act like it's not that big of a deal. And anyone who has suffered, and who has shared with another person, has probably experienced that in your life.

There's not much worse than feeling awful and having someone say, you probably shouldn't feel that bad. It's really hard to trust after that. In the passage of John 17, and we're talking about Christian union, Christian union does not stop with the individual and their God. Jesus says that the oneness experienced by the Father and the Son, that that kind of oneness would be experienced amongst His disciples.

That the same oneness that exists in the Godhead. Is what should exist in relationships with other people. And, and our suffering has to be with the right people. I, I remember as, as, At, my seminary, I was doing my master's, and we had to do this assignment where you, you write out some of your story, and like, go through some of your story, and, and you write it out, and you get, got in groups of four people.

I share this, I know I shared it with you guys in Collingswood, but I, I got in a group of like four people, and, I, they read their story, and, and then all of a sudden, like, I was reading my story, and, and I had, in my group of people, the four people, I had two, what I would call, bless your heart guys, Just like, wow, Ben, that sounds tough and weird, what you went through, kind of thing.

Like, trying to lean in and nod and still be like, what are you talking about? And then I had a sleeper in a group of four. I started reading my testimony, telling my story, diving into the throes of my mental health. Tears are coming down my face as we sit in this sterile classroom, and I read, page by page, my story.

I look up. The man in front of me is dead, knocked out of sleep. And I wanted to make sure he never woke up. Not a good feeling. We have to find the right people to carry suffering with. And here's the deal. I know there are people in here that have done, I remember hearing someone say, like, We were asked by someone, like a, a question.

They said, I just can't go there. I just can't go there. I can't, I can't go there with other people. I can't even go there with myself. To which I would say if you don't, Christ will never get in there. A lot of the ways that Christ will get in is through his people and, and there is not a one of you that's gone through suffering and shared, and that hasn't been hurt.

But guess what? It did not change your very construction as a human. You were designed by God to be in community with one another. If you have been hurt, if you have been hurt 10 times, I don't know anything kinder to say, try 11. And you might have to get to 16 or 19 too, but it is the way you have been made.

You are not made to suffer alone. for the care ministries here at fellowship. The Lord gave me a vision of what the care ministries would be, and it was simply this. Our care ministries exist so that no one would suffer alone. We are not here to end suffering. It is not going to happen. It's not even something God designs to happen here on this place.

But we are here by God's grace so that we may not suffer alone. I'm going to have you put down the word who. On your sheet of paper or in your phone

And for some of you that's a painful word to write because you're not sure what to write after I Want to just mention three things here if they can be a service to you at all in your story first Stephen ministry Is a one on one care ministry. It's some of the most incredible people. I know because they are people who are trained to and desire to run towards needs.

And this is a one on one ministry. If you are interested in getting a Stephen Minister, a person to meet with you, once a week for an hour, it's a person just come alongside. It's not a therapist. It's someone just to be there with you who has gone through suffering themselves and has by God's grace made room for yours to in their life.

You can find out more information at the hub about that or online. Secondly, when I mention Celebrate Recovery, Celebrate Recovery, what we always say is for hurts, habits, and hang ups, so many people who come to Celebrate Recovery come for hurts. And I know that, there's an idea out there, it's like, Celebrate Recovery, isn't that about alcohol?

Well, sure. That's there. But so much of what Celebrate Recovery also is, is dealing with hurts. Our, our biggest groups in Celebrate Recovery we call life issues. And they're dealing with people with, mental health. Dealing with people with, difficulty and going on in marriages. And issues in their life.

And that can be a place of, joined cross bearing. If that might be a place that serves you. Lastly, is anchored in hope. It's a women's group that meets for those physically suffering and some other ways of suffering. Holly McIntyre. Again, more information you can find out about it. And those might not make your who list.

But I really hope someone does. Because you're not made to be an island. And some of you are just sitting there saying, you know what? I'm tough enough, and I would say if you believe you're tough enough to not be in community,

you're being a coward. True strength is reflected in Paul's prayer, I therefore as a prisoner for the Lord urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling which you have been called with all humility and gentleness with patience bearing. with one another. That bearing sounds a whole lot like cross carrying, doesn't it?

Eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace. One of the most amazing things about the journey of Christ, when He bore a cross, when He carried a cross, He Himself needed help. He did not carry it alone. Of course. The story could have been written that he carried the cross up to Golgotha.

But the story was intended to show that crosses were made to be carried together.

Number 11 and lastly,

our cross of suffering can only be carried one day at a time. For a lot of us that can feel like one moment at a time. Cause a day is too big of a timestamp to worry about. One of the chief things of, of, of being able to walk through daily suffering is to not carry tomorrow's cross. Tomorrow's cross is unnecessary suffering.

And honestly, tomorrow's cross is too heavy. It's too much. All we can do is get through today. Only today's crosses are allowed. What did Jesus say in the passage? Take up your cross daily and come after me. There are days that are not made for strategy or deep process. There are days when the greatest thing you can do is simply keep going.

Simply make your next meeting, eat your next meal, parent the next need of your child, return in the next assignment. There are days that cannot contain the weight of all the processing of your feelings and thoughts about those, what you're going through. Those days we need to simply take just the next step.

We know life is beautiful and it's a gift, but it does not always feel that way. And sometimes the way we interpret what we're going through can be extremely dark. And all that we can do is just keep going. There are times that God seems to be absent, lost in the gray of pain and confusion. Your prayers barely make it out of your mouth and you feel like you don't even make it to the top of your bedroom ceiling.

On those days, all we can do is just today keep going. There are days when you wonder if you're making up the fact that God could use this type of suffering. You don't need to prove to yourself that he will, or convince all of your emotions that he's coming soon to make sense of it all. All you can do is for this day, keep going.

And for those here, or for those who are loving someone close to them that are in the deepest throes of suffering, honestly the best thing a suffering series can do is maybe just let you know you're not alone. But if you're in the agony of the worst part of suffering, you're not here to write down all the points and get all the finer details.

I just, we just want to tell you, we love you. We, we, we don't understand what you're going through. But we will not run from you.

I'm going to conclude by, anybody ever heard of Warren Wiersbe? He's one of those guys that I've heard about for a long time, and then one day realized, Wiersbe is a weird last name. Warren Wiersbe was a pastor and an author, and he wrote a book, called Why Us? Why Do Bad Things Happen to God's People?

I think it's the title, and he reflected a story of, coming up to a lady, I think it was after a church service, and this lady's, her husband had gone blind recently, and she had, and then he came down with a really difficult disease, and so she had basically become like a seeing eye wife, needing, she needed to leave her job, they did not have any children, and it was an incredibly difficult circumstance, and he walked up to this woman, and he just said, I just want you to know, I'm praying for you.

And I love this lady, spicy lady, and she comes up and she says, she says, what are you praying for? And like, Warren Rearsby got all his pastoral back on and said like, well, I'm praying God help me. You know, all that stuff, right? That you hear when pastors talk. and, she said, waved him off, said, this is what I want you to pray.

Pray that I won't waste this time of suffering.

It sounds terrible to be up here and telling you all to do any work at all while you're suffering unless there's real treasure to be found in it. And I know sometimes when we think of like Surrendering ourselves to God. We usually mean that in terms of sin because we often have a lot of it. I want to surrender our sin And sometimes it's surrendering our will both of those deeply biblical and meaningful But there's also a sense of sometimes we need to surrender our suffering Say god i've spent all my energy trying to escape this I am dog tired of trying to endure it Teach me a new and living way.

The messy process of stewarding it, which takes identifying what am I carrying? What is left? What is not been worked through? To experience it, to join with God and Christ specifically in his story with it, to join with other people and to simply do it one step at a time. I'm going to close by praying what we pray, every week in Celebrate Recovery.

God grant us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change, the courage to change the things we can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Living one day at a time, enjoying one moment at a time, accepting hardship. as a pathway to peace, taking as Jesus did this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it, trusting you will make all things right.

If I surrender to your will, then I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with you forever in the next. Amen.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/even-here-part-2 94b3c994-2b51-4fd7-b893-c76a5226e41b Sun, 21 Jan 2024 13:14:39 GMT <div data-html="true">Luke 9:22-24 <br /><br /> And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> Good morning everybody. Great to be here with you this morning. We are on week two of a series on suffering. I'm calling the series Even Here and just want to take a moment to to review what we talked about last week and we'll jump into what we're talking about this week. <br /><br /> If you have your handout right here, I put extra words on there to make it harder for you to see. All you baby boomers, just go ahead. I love this thing you do. You know, I like, it's like trying to get it into the right focus, so let us know when you got the right distance. Here what we talked about last week. <br /><br /> The first is, God is intimately aware of our suffering and still allows it to happen. Second, the suffering that God allows to happen is often agonizing. Third, there are endless types and levels to suffering. Fourth, there is rarely a timetable given to the sufferer. Fifth, suffering feels barely spiritual. <br /><br /> And then on the purpose of Christian suffering, sixth, the purpose of all Christian suffering is union. If you were not here last week and wonder why the people that were here last week ever came back, I'm sort of with you on that question. we want what is most true. Suffering, unfortunately, is true. <br /><br /> Something that truly happens. I'm thankful to be a part of a community that acknowledges the existence of suffering and wants to understand Christ in the midst of it. Today we're going to be talking about the stewardship of Christian suffering, wanting to, last week talk about just what is the weight of it, what does it mean, and then also why do we undergo suffering in our lives, and then last, and then here we go through the treasures of Christian suffering. <br /><br /> So the weight of Christian suffering last week, the purpose of Christian suffering. And today we're talking about the stewardship of Christian suffering. Next week we'll get to the treasures of Christian suffering. That sounds better, right? And then by God's grace and mercy, the end of Christian suffering. <br /><br /> But today we sit in the stewardship of Christian suffering. anxiety and depression, as I've talked to you about, and I've told you about some of my own story, they run deep in the veins of, my, the extended family on my mom's side. My grandpop, who was an instrumental person in my life, was the chairperson of the science department at Taylor University, and went through Decades of a long fight with, severe anxiety himself. <br /><br /> And when I was going through, as I talked about some last week, some of the throes of the darkest parts of my story, I went and visited he and my grandmom. Up in Northern Michigan, and I went to go see my grandpop's therapist, my grandpop's psychiatrist. He's a person who's been working with our family for a little while. <br /><br /> I had never met him, but he had met many people who shared my bloodline and genetics. When I talked to this guy, it did not take me long to have him feel pretty confident in what I was going through. And as I spoke with you last week, I've suffered for most of my life with obsessive compulsive disorder. <br /><br /> Didn't really know what that meant at that time, but he, was a pretty textbook case when I came in and he basically said, Ben, this is what you have. This is what you're dealing with. And I can still remember just sitting there looking at him, just kind of like, Are there other options that we could have here? <br /><br /> There's a, a show, Parks and Recreation. Anyone ever see Parks and Recreation? There's this scene in Parks and Recreation where Leslie and Ben, who are the two of the main characters, are finding, they found out they're pregnant, so they go get the ultrasound. And the, the guy, the, who's the Happy Days Fonzie, Fozzie, whatever his name is? <br /><br /> That guy? He's, that actor? I know some of you are like, Oh, he was so handsome, but that just shows you're like 90. Okay. So this, so he's, the doctor, that fozzy guy, whatever doctor is with them doing the ultra ultrasound. And he's going through and he's like, Oh, there's the baby keeps going, goes, there's another baby. <br /><br /> And then there's a third baby. Then he goes, Oh, and there's a fourth. He says, Oh, no, wait. That was a cream cheese smudge on the screen. Just three. That's how I felt very much when I got my diagnosis for the first time. I was really hoping for a cream cheese smudge on the screen, wondering if it could be anything else. <br /><br /> I at that point had become used to using the term depression or anxiety with my friends. Did not enjoy using it. did not enjoy experiencing it, but a diagnosis sounded much more like a life sentence to me. In that moment, I looked across at this psychiatrist who I don't even remember his name, and he knew that my faith was important to me. <br /><br /> I have no idea if this person is a Christian or just a good psychiatrist. But he looked at me and as I was saying like well, maybe it could be this this that he goes back And he just says Ben This is the cross that Jesus is asking you to carry It is your choice to carry it or not But as loud I can hear it now as I could that day. <br /><br /> He said but this is your cross That statement Literally set up the rest of my Christian formation of understanding suffering. But that cross as well as other crosses that I carry is not something to just be endured. It is not something to just be escaped. It is something to be stewarded. You see, suffering does not bring about growth. <br /><br /> on its own. Suffering is not special, noble, or interesting, and it does not produce growth by itself. Because suffering does not bring growth on its own, we must ask, how do I steward my suffering? One of the most important questions we will, we will deal with in our lives is how do we use our gifting? How do we use our resources? <br /><br /> Such incredible questions. But there's another question, of how will we use our suffering? In Luke 9, Jesus says words that go down in the category of things that we sometimes wish He didn't say. But He says this to His disciples, The Son of Man must suffer many things. He said He must be rejected by the elders, chief priests, scribes, and He must be killed on the third day and be raised to life. <br /><br /> Then Jesus said to all of them, If anyone wants to come after Me, He must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. Pray with me this morning. <br /><br /> Father, thank you for the stories in this room. It's not lost on us that while we sit together for these minutes. These minutes are not the whole of our life. We're coming from different places, and there's some dark places we're coming from today. I ask you, Lord, please, for those who are specifically looking for help in the storm, I pray you'll speak to them this morning. <br /><br /> If my words be an agitation, To anyone suffering, please remove those words from the ears of those who listen. We ask you teach us, help us, in a place we don't want to learn. In Jesus name, amen. The goal today, the goal last week was to describe the weight and what suffering is, talk about the purpose a little bit. <br /><br /> The goal today is to be very practical. And so, So, if you got your notes as you came in, this sheet of paper, I'm gonna, I'm gonna walk down through you with your, I'd encourage you to have a pen if you don't have the sheet of paper and want to grab it, that's great too, you can do that. If you want to just take a note on your phone, but I would ask if you'd be willing, to write some things down. <br /><br /> You don't have to fill in all the blanks or write it down, any of my words, but I have some. questions to ask you because when we are talking about suffering, Christian suffering is not just for those poor people who suffer, it is for the Christian who Jesus said will suffer. so a few things to help us as how do we carry, how do we walk this road of suffering and steward it according to the way our Christ designed it. <br /><br /> First, our, our, our seventh, because I want to do all these in number, seventh, our cross of suffering is unique and assigned and must be identified. Look 23 in Luke 9. He says, not take up a cross. Not even take up the cross. But if someone would come and follow me, must take up his. It's a possessive pronoun. <br /><br /> His unique cross. Our cross of suffering for each of us is unique. The cross of suffering for us is in a mysterious and painful way designed by our King to bring about something good. And because it is unique, and we can't just say we all carry the same cross, and because it is assigned specifically to us, We must then have the skills and the relationship with God such and relationship with others such that we can understand and identify what is my cross. <br /><br /> And if you follow God, you don't have just one, right? This is the nature of this Aspergian speaks of this in the morning and evening that we are given these crosses that ultimately will do something good, but we must identify what they are. The first step to how we steward our cross of suffering is to identify it. <br /><br /> One of the greatest allegorical works ever penned is, Hinds Feet in High Places by Hannah Hernard. A missionary who is both to Palestine and Israel for over 50 years. And this allegory is a beautiful and a tough read. The main character is called Much Afraid, and it's the story of how much afraid goes from the valley of fear to the kingdom of God. <br /><br /> of love. And, and the chief shepherd, who's, who's Jesus in the story, comes to much afraid right about when she's about to start her journey. She's decided to start her journey up to the mountain, up to go from the valley of fear to the kingdom of love. And, and the chief shepherd comes to her and says this, he's going to give her companions. <br /><br /> And she is gleeful at the thought of not traveling alone. The chief shepherd presents her companions and says this. They're good teachers. Indeed. I have few better. This said he motioning to the first of the silent figures is sorrow and the other is her sister suffering. These are tough words from Jesus. <br /><br /> This is before the disciples knew that Jesus would hang on a cross, but whether is before or after the cross. The cross meant the same thing to those people. The cross wasn't just a symbol of good things. The cross was a, was two sticks put together constructed for intentional painful death. Jesus turned to his disciples and said, If you follow me, you must take up your electric chair. <br /><br /> Your electric, your, your, your, your very agency of death. And follow me. How do we identify a cross of suffering? Just again, trying to be p practical here. a cross of suffering is not sin or needless suffering. we don't say, Hey, you know what? I just keep screaming at my wife and I feel guilty about that, and that's my cross. <br /><br /> Right. A cross could be you have such a smoldering inside of you and you don't know what to do with this sense of this temptation to lash out in anger. But sin is not a cross. Sin can be handled and dealt with and often can be overcome quicker than your cross is actually. There's also needless suffering, for me when I talk about my OCD, if I am not willing to submit myself to, to different therapists and a psychiatrist, psychologist, as I've had to do in my life and not, and learn about what I struggle with, it's needless suffering. <br /><br /> That's part of my stewardship is to say, okay, what, what out of this do I, is, is part of the experience that I am going to have and what out of this. Can I work through and not have needless suffering? Second, a cross of suffering comes in different sizes. Jesse Hacken and I were talking at soccer yesterday, and he's like, I know, it's not about suffering Olympics. <br /><br /> And I'm like, that is a good phrase. When we're talking about suffering, it's not the suffering Olympics. It's not, well, how big is this, or how does it compare to that? The reality is, is each one of us has, and we mentioned last, last week or two weeks ago if you're in Collingswood this morning, the the cross of suffering, the, the lies that we are told to by hell about suffering are two lies that come so often. <br /><br /> One, our suffering is too big for God to handle, or two, it is too small for Him to be trifled with. A cross comes in different sizes, and third, as we try to identify our individual cross of suffering, a cross is something that causes death. This is the only way to understand what a cross meant in ancient Near Eastern culture. <br /><br /> Suffering causes death. Death to a dream, death to fulfilling a temptation that we want. Death to a way of life that we thought that life should be or would be, death to reputation, death to how you thought your marriage, family, or church should behave towards you, death to ability to function in the way we thought we should be able to. <br /><br /> Suffering is an intended, difficult design for death in our life. And here's what I want you to do to write down. Simply, under point seven. Just the word, what, what is your cross of suffering? So that when we are talking about suffering, we're not just talking about Ben's issues. That's kind of what I'm a little afraid of, right? <br /><br /> We're talking about something that we carry each one of us. For some of you, that comes real easy and it is singular. It is, this is my cross. For some of you, it's like, well, I don't, I guess maybe this, I guess maybe that. Pick a cross, something that you can tell is doing death to some part of, of you. <br /><br /> Something you can identify. It does not need to be a certain size. But as we are talking about how do we carry our cross, it needs to be identified. This happened to me yesterday. I was talking through with my wife, we were sitting by the fire and I was going through something that had nothing related to like some of the bigger things I'm talking about in suffering. <br /><br /> It was just something I was processing through and I felt dumb about and, and like felt insecure and was worried how people would view me and I just was like, it just came to me like, dude, what, you know what to do with this. Identify it. Recognize what this is. Take it to your Christ and, and walk through this in the way you're meant to. <br /><br /> Number eight. It will get better after eight, I promise. Our cross of suffering must be experienced. <br /><br /> Jesus says in verse 23, don't observe your cross. Don't just recognize that it's there. Don't just stop at identifying it. But pick it up every day and carry it. We're in a part of the world that, we don't want to do this. It's a quote by Henry Nouwen. How can we embrace poverty as a way to God when everyone around us wants to become rich? <br /><br /> Poverty has many forms. We have to ask ourselves, what is my poverty? Is it a lack of money? Lack of emotional stability? Lack of a loving partner? Lack of security? Lack of safety? Lack of self confidence? Each human being has a place of suffering. That's the place where God wants to dwell. How blessed are the poor Jesus says this means that our blessing is hidden in our poverty We are so inclined to cover up our poverty and ignore it that we often miss the opportunity To discover God who dwells in it Let's dare to see our poverty as the land where our treasure is hidden I understand Deeply, the desire to, to be positive and like, to be like, it's going to be okay. <br /><br /> I understand and still to this day speak in terms of, whoa, this is really hard, but then want to hook really right onto it, but, but this, this is why it's good. And I need to get to this is why it's good. Why? Because it gets me out of why it's so hard. But we can try to at times be so upbeat about our pain, so positive about, about no, it'll be okay. <br /><br /> Try to hold our breath for so long and to act like things are okay, even to ourselves. This positivity culture though can truly be dismissive and tell people to miss the chance to experience God who dwells not after the pain. But in the pain, we paint silver linings on storm clouds and call it brave. It is not brave. <br /><br /> Entering the storm is brave. <br /><br /> God called me to do a lament during a really difficult season of ministry a while ago. It was horrible. Oh my goodness And I don't know if you've ever had a chance to write a lament a lament is basically a cry out to God About what is going on and without latching on the bottom of it, and this is why it's good Laments are found all throughout the Psalms much if not most of David's Psalms include lament And I remember writing down, just going through this lament and wanting to find, well, but this is why it's good. <br /><br /> This is why it's good. And just going through the discipline of just saying, God, this is not what I thought would happen. And here's what happened. God, this hurts more than I thought it would. And here's why it hurts. The strain of people in relationships, they feel like it's tearing me apart. Here's exactly how it feels. <br /><br /> And God, I can't fix this. And you don't seem to be fixing it either. Lament over. God does not need us to button up or tie up or fix what is in the process of pain. My fear for us and my fear for particularly like our place in time, culturally speaking. I know that a lot of us, we can, we, we can probably wallow in pain, but actually think more culturally, like where we are at our place and time in the world, that we're more quick to dismiss it and miss God who lives within it. <br /><br /> Here's what I want you to write down on our suffering must be experienced. Just the word when. It should have written down what, the cross you carry, and then this one is under when. And I want you to write down, if you would, a time within the next seven days when you can do a lament. Say, you know what, Tuesday morning I've got a little while, or Thursday night, or whenever you think that you have some space to not just recognize your cross, but to feel the weight of it. <br /><br /> During a lament, we don't need to write about what feels spiritual, we simply ask where does it hurt, where am I afraid, and what pain makes no sense to me. <br /><br /> Points one through eight are thick. I'm thankful to be done them. And thank you for your presence in them. we talked about in point six that our cross of suffering directs us to union. Here is a way that we really can experience that with God. How we experience union with God with suffering, I want to go to John 17. <br /><br /> John 17, I believe is the, is the most important, chapter in the Bible. Actually, Pastor Mark and I go back and forth on this. I've told you before that Pastor Mark and I, we agree on most things, and occasionally he is wrong, and he believes that, that Romans 8, and I believe John 17, even though they both are really, really good, are the greatest chapters in all of scripture. <br /><br /> The reason I love John 17, since he's not here to defend Romans 8, is because John 17 gives the why. the why of the whole gospel. It's Jesus going before he receives the cross. He goes and he prays to the Father and he prays and and he says, Declaring that that what the true gospel is what eternal life is This is eternal life. <br /><br /> He says that they may know you the one true God in Jesus Christ whom you have sent He concludes the prayer by saying righteous father though. The world does not know you I know you And they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them and will continue to make you known. In order that the love you have for me may be in them, and I myself may be in them. <br /><br /> It is this story, this dance of union, the very purpose for which Christ came. And when we talk about suffering and union, suffering is not unique. any season in the Christian life, seasons of blessing and flourishing and suffering are all intended for the same purpose. To bring us into deeper union, how, what's a way that suffering does that? <br /><br /> One of the beautiful ways we're directed in scripture is to understand our story and connect with Christ's story on life on earth. What do I mean by that? Those of you who are, Are in physical pain and I do with physical pain you have this precious painful Example of Christ experiencing pain on the cross and there is there's a way that you can in ways that other of us can't identify with what it took and what it was like to experience pain on the cross Those of you who have estranged parents or, or siblings or, or children, you can identify with Jesus as, as he, with tears coming down his eyes right into, everyone's praising him right into Jerusalem. <br /><br /> He's got tears in his eyes, turns around and he says, Oh, Jerusalem and Jerusalem, how I long to gather you. As a hen gathers her chicks in that moment, those of you who have painful, estranged relationships that you long to be reunited. You can connect with Christ and say, Jesus, I know what that feels like. <br /><br /> And you know what I feel like. Those dealing with loneliness. I was reading a passage not that long ago, my wife and I were reading, and Jesus in Gospel Matthew over and over tells His disciples, I'm going to die on the third day, rise again. Over and over. And like one of the last times, He spells out like everything that's going to happen about how I'm going to be crucified. <br /><br /> And all of a sudden, they just kind of ignore Him in the text and start fighting over who's the best among them. How lonely is that? For Jesus among His best friends to say, guys, this is going to happen to me. This is going to happen to me, it's just days away, just to be ignored or neglected. Those of you who know relational pain, know what it's like to feel as Christ felt being betrayed by Peter, or being praised by many of the same people that crucified Christ. <br /><br /> How can the exact suffering that you're experiencing, the exact thing that you wrote under point number seven, how can that connect you with Christ? And this is why I ask you to write just the word where, colon. Where in scripture do you see that Christ experienced a similar type of pain as you are? And I would say, that passage, that story, you have the ability to know Christ in that story in a way that people who have a different cross can't. <br /><br /> But, but to, to understand, to read that story, re read that story, go into it, go into like what it must have felt like because you've identified somewhere. And as you, as you are experiencing what Christ experienced and realizing, Oh my goodness, He gets what I experiencing, there, there's a, there's a knitting of soul that's done in the classroom of sorrow that is, it's other, it's union. <br /><br /> That's why I'd ask you to write down where, specifically where in scripture do you see Christ carrying the same type of cross you are carrying. And I know I'm being probably over practical, but suffering can get so fuzzy, wanting to be as specific as possible. Number ten, there's not many things that I believe about suffering more than this. <br /><br /> Our cross of suffering provides an opportunity to unite or separate us from each other. Every single person who suffers knows that it's not smart to isolate when you're suffering. There's no one in here that needs to be talked into the fact that it's not the best idea to isolate. But the thing is, it's attractive. <br /><br /> Because it's really hard to be misunderstood. It's really hard to, to, when you tell somebody of what you're going through, and they make light of it, or they act like it's not that big of a deal. And anyone who has suffered, and who has shared with another person, has probably experienced that in your life. <br /><br /> There's not much worse than feeling awful and having someone say, you probably shouldn't feel that bad. It's really hard to trust after that. In the passage of John 17, and we're talking about Christian union, Christian union does not stop with the individual and their God. Jesus says that the oneness experienced by the Father and the Son, that that kind of oneness would be experienced amongst His disciples. <br /><br /> That the same oneness that exists in the Godhead. Is what should exist in relationships with other people. And, and our suffering has to be with the right people. I, I remember as, as, At, my seminary, I was doing my master's, and we had to do this assignment where you, you write out some of your story, and like, go through some of your story, and, and you write it out, and you get, got in groups of four people. <br /><br /> I share this, I know I shared it with you guys in Collingswood, but I, I got in a group of like four people, and, I, they read their story, and, and then all of a sudden, like, I was reading my story, and, and I had, in my group of people, the four people, I had two, what I would call, bless your heart guys, Just like, wow, Ben, that sounds tough and weird, what you went through, kind of thing. <br /><br /> Like, trying to lean in and nod and still be like, what are you talking about? And then I had a sleeper in a group of four. I started reading my testimony, telling my story, diving into the throes of my mental health. Tears are coming down my face as we sit in this sterile classroom, and I read, page by page, my story. <br /><br /> I look up. The man in front of me is dead, knocked out of sleep. And I wanted to make sure he never woke up. Not a good feeling. We have to find the right people to carry suffering with. And here's the deal. I know there are people in here that have done, I remember hearing someone say, like, We were asked by someone, like a, a question. <br /><br /> They said, I just can't go there. I just can't go there. I can't, I can't go there with other people. I can't even go there with myself. To which I would say if you don't, Christ will never get in there. A lot of the ways that Christ will get in is through his people and, and there is not a one of you that's gone through suffering and shared, and that hasn't been hurt. <br /><br /> But guess what? It did not change your very construction as a human. You were designed by God to be in community with one another. If you have been hurt, if you have been hurt 10 times, I don't know anything kinder to say, try 11. And you might have to get to 16 or 19 too, but it is the way you have been made. <br /><br /> You are not made to suffer alone. for the care ministries here at fellowship. The Lord gave me a vision of what the care ministries would be, and it was simply this. Our care ministries exist so that no one would suffer alone. We are not here to end suffering. It is not going to happen. It's not even something God designs to happen here on this place. <br /><br /> But we are here by God's grace so that we may not suffer alone. I'm going to have you put down the word who. On your sheet of paper or in your phone <br /><br /> And for some of you that's a painful word to write because you're not sure what to write after I Want to just mention three things here if they can be a service to you at all in your story first Stephen ministry Is a one on one care ministry. It's some of the most incredible people. I know because they are people who are trained to and desire to run towards needs. <br /><br /> And this is a one on one ministry. If you are interested in getting a Stephen Minister, a person to meet with you, once a week for an hour, it's a person just come alongside. It's not a therapist. It's someone just to be there with you who has gone through suffering themselves and has by God's grace made room for yours to in their life. <br /><br /> You can find out more information at the hub about that or online. Secondly, when I mention Celebrate Recovery, Celebrate Recovery, what we always say is for hurts, habits, and hang ups, so many people who come to Celebrate Recovery come for hurts. And I know that, there's an idea out there, it's like, Celebrate Recovery, isn't that about alcohol? <br /><br /> Well, sure. That's there. But so much of what Celebrate Recovery also is, is dealing with hurts. Our, our biggest groups in Celebrate Recovery we call life issues. And they're dealing with people with, mental health. Dealing with people with, difficulty and going on in marriages. And issues in their life. <br /><br /> And that can be a place of, joined cross bearing. If that might be a place that serves you. Lastly, is anchored in hope. It's a women's group that meets for those physically suffering and some other ways of suffering. Holly McIntyre. Again, more information you can find out about it. And those might not make your who list. <br /><br /> But I really hope someone does. Because you're not made to be an island. And some of you are just sitting there saying, you know what? I'm tough enough, and I would say if you believe you're tough enough to not be in community, <br /><br /> you're being a coward. True strength is reflected in Paul's prayer, I therefore as a prisoner for the Lord urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling which you have been called with all humility and gentleness with patience bearing. with one another. That bearing sounds a whole lot like cross carrying, doesn't it? <br /><br /> Eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace. One of the most amazing things about the journey of Christ, when He bore a cross, when He carried a cross, He Himself needed help. He did not carry it alone. Of course. The story could have been written that he carried the cross up to Golgotha. <br /><br /> But the story was intended to show that crosses were made to be carried together. <br /><br /> Number 11 and lastly, <br /><br /> our cross of suffering can only be carried one day at a time. For a lot of us that can feel like one moment at a time. Cause a day is too big of a timestamp to worry about. One of the chief things of, of, of being able to walk through daily suffering is to not carry tomorrow's cross. Tomorrow's cross is unnecessary suffering. <br /><br /> And honestly, tomorrow's cross is too heavy. It's too much. All we can do is get through today. Only today's crosses are allowed. What did Jesus say in the passage? Take up your cross daily and come after me. There are days that are not made for strategy or deep process. There are days when the greatest thing you can do is simply keep going. <br /><br /> Simply make your next meeting, eat your next meal, parent the next need of your child, return in the next assignment. There are days that cannot contain the weight of all the processing of your feelings and thoughts about those, what you're going through. Those days we need to simply take just the next step. <br /><br /> We know life is beautiful and it's a gift, but it does not always feel that way. And sometimes the way we interpret what we're going through can be extremely dark. And all that we can do is just keep going. There are times that God seems to be absent, lost in the gray of pain and confusion. Your prayers barely make it out of your mouth and you feel like you don't even make it to the top of your bedroom ceiling. <br /><br /> On those days, all we can do is just today keep going. There are days when you wonder if you're making up the fact that God could use this type of suffering. You don't need to prove to yourself that he will, or convince all of your emotions that he's coming soon to make sense of it all. All you can do is for this day, keep going. <br /><br /> And for those here, or for those who are loving someone close to them that are in the deepest throes of suffering, honestly the best thing a suffering series can do is maybe just let you know you're not alone. But if you're in the agony of the worst part of suffering, you're not here to write down all the points and get all the finer details. <br /><br /> I just, we just want to tell you, we love you. We, we, we don't understand what you're going through. But we will not run from you. <br /><br /> I'm going to conclude by, anybody ever heard of Warren Wiersbe? He's one of those guys that I've heard about for a long time, and then one day realized, Wiersbe is a weird last name. Warren Wiersbe was a pastor and an author, and he wrote a book, called Why Us? Why Do Bad Things Happen to God's People? <br /><br /> I think it's the title, and he reflected a story of, coming up to a lady, I think it was after a church service, and this lady's, her husband had gone blind recently, and she had, and then he came down with a really difficult disease, and so she had basically become like a seeing eye wife, needing, she needed to leave her job, they did not have any children, and it was an incredibly difficult circumstance, and he walked up to this woman, and he just said, I just want you to know, I'm praying for you. <br /><br /> And I love this lady, spicy lady, and she comes up and she says, she says, what are you praying for? And like, Warren Rearsby got all his pastoral back on and said like, well, I'm praying God help me. You know, all that stuff, right? That you hear when pastors talk. and, she said, waved him off, said, this is what I want you to pray. <br /><br /> Pray that I won't waste this time of suffering. <br /><br /> It sounds terrible to be up here and telling you all to do any work at all while you're suffering unless there's real treasure to be found in it. And I know sometimes when we think of like Surrendering ourselves to God. We usually mean that in terms of sin because we often have a lot of it. I want to surrender our sin And sometimes it's surrendering our will both of those deeply biblical and meaningful But there's also a sense of sometimes we need to surrender our suffering Say god i've spent all my energy trying to escape this I am dog tired of trying to endure it Teach me a new and living way. <br /><br /> The messy process of stewarding it, which takes identifying what am I carrying? What is left? What is not been worked through? To experience it, to join with God and Christ specifically in his story with it, to join with other people and to simply do it one step at a time. I'm going to close by praying what we pray, every week in Celebrate Recovery. <br /><br /> God grant us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change, the courage to change the things we can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Living one day at a time, enjoying one moment at a time, accepting hardship. as a pathway to peace, taking as Jesus did this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it, trusting you will make all things right. <br /><br /> If I surrender to your will, then I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with you forever in the next. Amen.</div> false no <![CDATA[Even Here - Part 1]]> Why Talk about Suffering? The Weight of Christian Suffering The Purpose of Christian Suffering



Sermon Transcript:

Good morning. It's, beautiful to be with you this morning. It's, I'm going to do a three week. Series mini series before we head into our next series and be this week next week in the week after on Christian suffering and I'm sitting there Watching this beautiful morning. Tim you notice was up here with a shirt tucked in Jesse Andrew and Doug were up front.

Of course, two of them are gone by now

But it's a good morning a beautiful time and now I'm coming up and starting a series on suffering. Dude, read the room, right? When we talk about suffering, we're gonna look at some different people within scripture, and then also, oh, there's Jesse. Say hi to Jesse, he came back. Different people in scripture and also through church history, but when I thought about how do we talk about suffering, I went to my go to, Michael Scott, who's the boss in the office.

Michael Scott went through, he's, he lost his old boss and at first he didn't care much until he realized the amount of sympathy he could get from caring that, this person had died. And so he went through and, had his own grief and then wanted everyone else to experience their grief. And so what he did is went online and looked through the, the pop psychology stages of grief, which he read were denial, anger, bar bargaining.

Depression and acceptance and then he said this he said and right now They are all denying the fact that they are sad and that's hard and it's making them all angry And it's my job to get them all the way through to acceptance And if not acceptance then just depression if I can get them depressed then I have done my job So my job over these next three weeks is to get you nice and depressed a couple things I do want to say before we enter I'm going to do a longer introduction today And then we'll get to two of our topics of suffering but we'll get there in a minute, but I deeply want this place to be a place where You are seen it's very important to me.

And the second is we're When we talk about suffering, we're not going to talk about it in cheerful terms because if you've been through suffering, it is just not cheerful. And so, I genuinely mean this. This is the Surgeon General's trigger warning, if this is too dark for you. If this is too much for you, I, I understand and feel free, to, to go now or to go later.

we're, I'm not willing to talk about suffering in a way that's light because it's dark. And so in that, I understand if, if people need to get some space or distance from this topic. Three things of why we do a series on suffering. Why? Why talk about suffering? There's a lot of good things in the Bible.

There's a lot of good things in life to talk about. God is a good thing. Why talk about a bad thing? First, suffering describes much of our human experience. A lot of us thought of new ways to enter this next year. And we thought of a lot of different ways we could advance towards flourishing. Flourishing of body, flourishing of mind, flourishing of relationships.

But the reality is, is even though that is our goal and our good goal for this upcoming year, there is also going to be a tremendous amount of suffering that we don't even know that will come our way. It's a book by Alan Noble who writes extremely honestly. about the suffering condition from a Christian perspective.

He writes, Despite the comforts of contemporary life and its promises of even greater peace and self mastery, life is terribly hard. A comfortable, pleasant life is not normal. And while we may hesitate to call getting out of bed courageous, it is undeniably true that day to day life demands a great deal of courage.

Suffering describes much of our human experience. And we don't, so we need to talk about it. Secondly, suffering will develop much of our Christian faith. Charles Spurgeon who will be in and out of this series, experienced depression most of his adult life for most of his time in ministry. He wrote this, says, I'm afraid that all the grace I have got of my comfortable and easy times and happy hours might almost lie on a penny, but griefs is altogether incalculable.

Affliction is the best book in the minister's library. C. S. Lewis, another person we'll sit with, says this. Pain insists on being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world. If we don't understand and have a theology of suffering, we're simply dishonest about what it means to live life as a Christian.

Suffering is involved in the Christian faith. The people who populated scripture The people who wrote scripture experienced suffering, predicted suffering, and found Jesus through the messy process of suffering. Third, why talk about suffering? If our faith cannot handle suffering, it does not deserve to exist.

There's a profound book by Elie Wiesel. who lived, through, in a prison camp through the holocaust. He, he wrote that, if someone in the prison camp was having a nightmare, don't wake them up, because what they'll wake up to is worse than the nightmare itself. Our faith must make eye contact with holocausts, with traumas, with mental disorders, with poverty and estrangement.

Disease and death because they are a part of what Christians experience. They are a part of experiencing the Christian life. And if our faith cannot handle that, the gospel isn't for everyone. I'd

like to share just a little bit of my story, snapshots that I've shared with you. At different times. I've spoken here about, use words like depression and anxiety, which have described different moments of my experience. And if you're in Celebrate Recovery ministry I work with, or if I know I've had a chance to talk to you personally, I might have shared with you that for the majority of my life, I've struggled with obsessive compulsive disorder.

And I know for many of you that means like he must wash his hands and love vacuuming his car Not as much my experience Ocd is something that has racked my body Tortured my mind and taken me at different times past where I knew pain and despair could travel. If you look, if you're neurologically normal, and you look at your brain under a CT scan, a brain scan, You'll see the beauty of the human mind that the human mind is the most complex and beautiful organ in creation And the human mind is so tremendously powerful And and you can see how the mind creates how it finds order and you can see different parts of it light up under a CT Scan and that's a normal neurological process of different parts figuring out different things different areas of the mind communicating to different areas of the mind If you look at somebody's mind who has obsessive compulsive disorder, it looks a little more like Mario's Rainbow Road, or a laser light show.

It's very lit up. A lot of things happening. According to the World Health Organization, OCD is one of the top ten reasons people go on disability. Forty percent who have it are not able to work, and people who have it are ten times more likely to commit suicide. Anxiety, is often described as gnats or mosquitoes flying around the head, you know, that might, that, that distract and, and confuse and sometimes can, zap or zing you, making it difficult to sleep or experience, and anxiety is definitely something I experience.

But with OCD, when it gets real bad, those gnats and mosquitoes turn to angry, fire breathing dragons

threatening to destroy my family. My home, my children, our church. And OCD also has this, crazy theme of guilt. So, it feels like I'm responsible to slay every one of those dragons or answer the questions they are putting, screaming in my ear. Or all the harm that they do will be my fault. It can be utterly, utterly exhausting.

and torturous to live with. I've spent thousands of hours of my life feeling guilty for things I have not done. Tens of thousands of my hours confronted with thoughts of financial ruin or something bad happening to my family and it being my fault. I've created, these are not exaggerated numbers, thousands of ways in my mind that I could let the church down.

My family down, God down. I go through spikes, is what we call them, or episodes in the obsessive compulsive disorder world where things get much worse. And then there are times in between. During the spikes, life can be utter misery. And then there can be often times in between which aren't, I'm not as affected by it at all.

This has been the greatest curse and the greatest grace of my life. It has remained, and I want you to hear this, unhealed. I am not here to talk about suffering in a past tense way. It may remain that way to the grave if he desires, and if I don't come out of dealing with this. But through this unhealed mental disorder, God has taught me the meaning of Of living in his presence of needing his presence some of these, so this what happened this last summer I had pretty significant spike and or episode And during that time I reached out to actually many of you and I wrote an email to I don't know 20 different people and I said hey I know you know god and i'm going to tell you a little bit what's going on with me Can you talk to him about it?

And I ask for simply the word power. Can you pray for power for me not to experience this anymore? God less gave me the grace of deliverance this summer, but he more gave me the grace to write and to study about Christian suffering. And some of the deliverance would come later, but these thoughts that I'm going to share, I, I've recently written a book which is coming out soon.

And, these are some thoughts from the book. I went to Pastor Mark and I said, I, I can do a series. I did all this work already. so if you ever need a series, so I got popped in here in January. But some of these thoughts are from the book that I've written, although in a different format.

If I get them depressed, I have done my job. How we doing? This is heavy. This is going to be a heavy week. Forgive me if this topic or my own story burdens you. This is what has been on my heart right here. The last thing I want to do is to burden you. But the first thing that we must do is to not pretend that suffering is not a real part of our human experience and Christian faith.

In John 16, Jesus, eyeball to eyeball with his disciples, said, In this world, you will have suffering. Pray with me.

Lord, suffering sounds so much better when we explain it after it's over. When the sun comes out and is shining, it's so much easier to talk about storms. God of goodness, you have let, and you will let, us suffer. And we are not here to pretend that it does not hurt like fire. It is built on zings and zaps of anxiety.

It is filled with deep sense of loss that is not easy to shake or to slake. It has overwhelming memories of the past confusion, which is so close to suffering about the present and often despair about the future. It is not something that clothes our body. When we suffer, it is wrapped into our very bones.

For these three weeks, with my friends here, for myself, we don't want to suffer anymore. If and when we do, help us to know what it means to be close to you. Teach us the treasures that are only found in the dark. In Jesus name, the suffering servant, amen. Okay, we're gonna do five things as we go through this series on suffering today We're going to talk about the weight of Christian suffering and the purpose of Christian suffering and then next week We'll look at the stewardship of Christian suffering and then January 28th If any of you come back at that point We will talk about the treasure of Christian suffering and by God's grace the end of Christian suffering Psalm 139 is where we're gonna launch out of today.

Psalm 139 It is a precious psalm of David. Many of David's psalms were, were written in lament. They are psalms of grief. They are psalms where we look and saying, How in the world did this one make its way into the Bible? Psalm 139 is a loud declaration, I believe, a biographical declaration of David.

Finding God's presence even here in suffering. Psalm 139 says, Oh Lord, you've searched me and you've known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up. You discern my thoughts from afar. You searched out my path and my lying down. You're acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, Behold, O Lord, you know it all together.

You hem me in behind and before. You have laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is high. I cannot attain it. Where shall I go from your spirit? O where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you're there. If I make my bed in Sheol, you're there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell on the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.

If I say, surely the darkness shall cover me. And the light about me be night Even the darkness Is not dark to you the night as bright as the day for darkness is as light with you Five things I want to share about the weight of christian suffering first God is intimately aware Of our suffering and still allows it to take place There is this declaration of David is beautiful, you know, my thoughts from afar before word is on my tongue, you know it completely.

Oh, Lord, you know, my going out and my lying down. You are familiar with all my ways. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It's too much. What God knows what God is aware of in our life is overwhelming. And we say if God is aware of everything that has such a comfort with it, but it also comes with a back end question if you know how much it hurts sometimes.

Why do you still allow it to take place? We cannot be just nice, put together church people that put on the right clothes to come in a climate controlled room with beautiful music and sound and they'll crack open the scripture and say it's all good when honestly, a lot of times, it's not.

Christian suffering is real. And if we're going to look into the face of scripture, We look into the eyeballs of a God who is sovereign. Who knows it all, and still allows, and even at times assigns, suffering to happen. There's a prosperity gospel which, um, what we put it up as at least, is often like, if you follow God, follow all his wills, then God will financially bless you.

And that's just not really In the new testament story a whole lot and and many of you would say yes, I don't believe that if you follow god He's an automatic blessing, you know, it's not like well if you tithe 15 Then he will give no it's not we understand. It's not that transactional But there are times where we can make an inner prosperity gospel Of of if we do all the right following things Then we're guaranteed to have peace and happiness and I don't think it always works that way Anyway, second the suffering that god allows is often Agonizing and beyond what we thought he would second corinthians.

Jared spoke about this a couple weeks ago It's one of the main passages of of someone in the new testament passages of someone in the throes of suffering Paul in second corinthians 11 goes through a list that I don't think Anyone in history that I know of have read of can match this list. He goes through I've been shipwrecked this so many times.

I've been beaten this many times left for dead I've gone through and basically he's like I almost died almost died almost died almost died It's like a hardy boys episode, you know, like I almost died a million different times But God carried me through the language Paul used to describe that is almost objective like here It was boom.

Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. You get the second Corinthians 12 when it's not just hey this happened and God rescued me He uses language of torture. He said I was given I was assigned the thorn in the flesh to Torment me three times. I cried out to God deliver me But God said my grace was sufficient. This person who had a very high threshold for pain, the thorn in the flesh overtook him.

C. S. Lewis, this quote means the world to me. C. S. Lewis is someone who I've always appreciated his mind. This, he speaks more biographically in this book, The Problem of Pain. He writes this, You would like to know how I behave when I'm experiencing pain. He's saying, alright, I'll talk about myself. Not just writing books about it.

You need not guess, he writes, for I will tell you, I'm a great coward. But what is that purpose? When I think of pain, of anxiety that gnaws like fire, and loneliness that spreads out like a desert, and the heartbreaking routine of monotonous misery. Or again, of dull aches that blacken our whole landscape.

Or sudden nauseating pains that knock a man's heart out at one blow. Of pains that seemed already intolerable and then are suddenly increased. Of infuriating, scorpion stinging pains that startle into maniacal movement. A man who seemed half dead with his previous tortures. It quite or crows my spirit.

Then he writes this. If I knew a way of escape, I would crawl through the sewers to find it. But what is the good of telling you about my feelings? You know them already. They are the same as yours. I'm not arguing that pain is not painful. Pain hurts. That is what the word means. I'm only trying to show the old Christian doctrine of being made perfect through suffering is not incredible.

To prove it palatable is beyond my design. C. S. Lewis is the godfather of explaining everything, but does not have words to make pain itself palatable. There are journal entries, I'm a journal guy. When you have a lot going on in your brain, writing things down is helpful. A lot of journals where I've talked to God about a lot of different things.

But going through my journals, there's a word that's often repeated. And it's simply the word, please. And there's often times where, over and over on the page, Please. Please. Please. Please no further down. Please no further hard. I know you are aware. I know you can heal. Dear God, please.

Some of the most powerful lessons and graces, and I mean that graces of my life, is when I cried out, please, and he said, not yet. third, There are many way types and levels to suffering. I, I, I know I'm just knocking you one at a time, but I'm not willing to talk about the weight of Christian suffering and to do in a cheap way.

There are many light types and levels to pain. There are different things people experience. Beth Moore, who is a more of a cheerful person, and, she's just written a memoir. It's phenomenal. And she came out recently. and with her husband, they, they talk about how he experienced some PTSD, some major PTSD from an event that happened in his childhood and it has, it continued to impact them and their marriage into adulthood.

And her husband said this to her, he told me once, Elizabeth, life is harder for some people than others. I wanted to argue with him. I wanted to say how everyone had the same opportunity to be happy in Jesus. I want to ask him why the blessings of the present couldn't make up for the curses of the past.

Life is harder for some people than others. Shadows follow me. Again, this is Beth talking. Often enough, but not incessantly. Not everywhere I go, I deal with bouts of anxiety and depression, but they don't chase me down, like, constantly, like ravenous wolves after a bleeding sheep. Two wounds can cause the same amount of stitches and yet cause varied levels of pain.

There's various levels of pain. I know when people read that there are some of you that are like Interacting with my own story and digesting that and then you do what we all do. We say well, where does the pain? I'm thinking of match up against Beth Moore's husband or The pain I feel where does it match up against what Ben is describing?

I want you to hear this, please. Each person's pain matters, and not one of us truly knows where our story ranks on the human misery scale. Please know that wherever you are, you and your story matter. When we're talking about pain, it does not fit into clean categories, causes, or amounts of pain that can be put on a linear scale.

Two of the greatest lies of hell to those who suffer are these. Your suffering is too big for God to handle. Your suffering is too small for him to be bothered Number four

there is rarely a timetable given to the sufferer. There's no aspects of time mentioned in this David is going through lots of different dimensions here. He's talking about space. He's talking about location. He's talking about experience He's talking about up and down and darkness light. He's talking about all kinds of things, but he doesn't speak of How fast how long?

And if you look at other psalms, you will hear him not speak of how long suffering is but beg God because it's longer than he wanted. There's a story in John 6 that I treasure, and it's a story of a blind beggar who's waiting beside the side of the road who's a man. And the disciples come with Jesus, and they're walking by, and the disciples see a blind beggar.

And they want to give Jesus a little theological shakedown, and they said, Is this because of his sin or his parents sin that he suffers in this way? It's such an arrogant question. Sometimes you're like, why did you ask that, you know? Like, it's like calling into Dave Ramsey and saying, I'm thinking about going into 500, 000 in debt, what do you think?

So, is this his sin or his, that he suffers in this way? And Jesus says it's not because of his sin or his parents sin. He's blind because on this day, The glory of God can be revealed. And I read that two ways. I'll be honest. The first I read that is like, dude, that guy's been blind for decades, having spiritual people walk by thinking it's his fault for decades just for this moment.

And then you read and say, but it is the unique glory of God that he would meet him on that day. One of the things that I talk about this with my wife like in our own versions of suffering We say what every one of us says I want to suffer in a different way. I'll take a different cross, please Something this summer.

I said to my wife was like You know what? If I have this OCD cross and various other ones that I accumulate in my life, tell, tell the grave. And my only testimony is that God is still real to people with a mental disorder. If that is to His glory, then that is the best way that I can live. Hebrews 11 speaks of incredible promises of God to incredible people of God.

And it also says But it didn't come when they thought.

Mother Teresa spent time with a bunch of different Christian saints. Mother Teresa and Charles Spurgeon were by far the darkest to me as I wrote the book. Mother Teresa, who had a deep desire and love for Christ. Faith built on Jesus Christ. Salvation on Christ alone. I really believed that about Mother Teresa.

But she went through decades of her life in ministry where she found it incredibly difficult to experience, the presence of God. And for her, there were long seasons of what saints have called the dark night of the soul or the cloud of unknowing. These works that she wrote didn't come out till after she died because she didn't want to discourage other people by how hard her faith was.

She wrote this to Father Joseph Neuner. It's an undated letter, but believes to be written in April of 1961. She says this, The place of God in my soul is blank. There is no God in me. In the darkness, Lord my God, who am I that you should forsake me? The one you have thrown away is unwanted, unloved, I call, I cling, I want, and there is no one to answer.

No one on whom I can cling, no, no one, alone. The darkness is so dark, and I am alone. She also wrote this, after experiencing a long season. Of blank for the first time in this 11 years. I have come to love the darkness for I believe That is a part a very small part of jesus's darkness and pain on earth You have taught me to accept it as a spiritual side to your work Five.

Suffering, and this is the most irritating of all suffering things, Suffering doesn't feel very spiritual. Like you look at what David's talking about. He's not like, in the temple you are there! He does say on the good parts on the wings of the dawn. Yep can see God there He goes in describes these places the uttermost parts of the sea in Sheol You're like, I'm not really sure what Sheol is But it sounds like a really bad thing what God wouldn't want to be at right but in the most guttural Places that feel like God has no business there.

That part has nothing to do with God And suffering when it happens, it's not If you're walking through and you're like, oh this is so hard, but I am so blessed What I would say is you're not really suffering if like the blessing is so happy. It's probably It gets worse than that. I promise It's when we can't make sense And there's this marriage of of of confusion and suffering that often sit together for seasons of time my my friend, came up to me once and he and he said He had, he talked to me, talked to somebody else who's experienced a bunch of depression in their life and he said you know I've never been I've never really been depressed, but he said I think I'd like to have a season of depression Just to like understand it and get all the spiritual insight that comes from it I wanted to punch him in the throat like are you kidding me?

I've shared that with a few people who know depression they always answer with one word Why? Why would anyone want to experience depression? It doesn't feel noble, or interesting, or spiritual. We don't need to glorify various levels of suffering as if there's something so good about them. God does good with them, but they themselves are incredibly painful, and we can allow it to sit just like that.

The difficult parts of suffering as a Christian is it doesn't feel very Christian. It just feels like a senseless death of a loved one. It just feels like a terrible sickness or diagnosis. It just feels like psychological torment or mental fatigue. It just feels like insecurity that cannot be satisfied with enough love.

It feels like an estranged son. It feels like an unresolvable relationship. It feels like joblessness and bankruptcy. Suffering is human. It is guttural. It is mental, physical, relational. When we talk about Christian suffering and those who have suffered, it doesn't even feel very spiritual at all. And at times, with all that pain and seeming no spiritual reason, it takes a great deal of courage to get out of bed.

I'm going to move on to, very simply, the purpose of Christian suffering. And I want to be honest with what we've just done. We've talked about how bad it is. A lot. And I only have one point to say how God can use all of that bad and do something good. And I don't have much time to do it.

Very simply, and we'll touch on this each week. The purpose of Christian suffering is this, it's union, it's union with God. David says, where can I go from your spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? David wrote Psalms that were in deep suffering and confusion. How does he know that even here your presence is?

It's because he had to go there. He had to go to Sheol. He had to go to various levels of Christian suffering and high points to find out that he can experience God even there too. In my own journey with darkness, here's what I simply want to say. I fell past places I couldn't see the light anymore. He brings something, at times, that's different than light.

He brings companionship in the dark. He is God of the dark, too. When we find ourselves in the darkness of suffering, there is still the same God there. There's not a new Lord that reigns. Even here in that place, He is present. He holds us fast.

I wrote about an experience in, in the book, and it's one I, I never intended to talk about publicly, but then I'm like, yeah, but you're writing it in a book, and I'm like, yeah, that feels like you're just writing it to one person, I don't know. But it's an experience I had, last October, and I was processing a lot, and I like, was worried about it quite a bit.

It's pretty normal for me. and went and spent time with God for a couple of days down in Spring Lake, New Jersey, which is a place where he often meets me. And I went down there for a couple of days just to pray and process and hear. And I just walked. And I walked and waited to hear from God. As I walked, clear as day, louder than audible, God said to me, Ben, what do you want?

I don't remember God asking me a question ever. Like, he knows the answers, why would he ask, you know? Like, but he And I was sort of like, well, that sounds like you're asking a genie question. I know you're not a genie. Let's go on. This is probably not God. But again, Ben, what do you want? What do you want?

And then I realized he was serious, and I'm like, whoa, this is, you know. Could I pray for the end of my OCD? Salvation of my children? The stability of my church that's about to go through succession? All of these things came to me. But they weren't the ultimate, young want of my soul.

And I'm sure he did this exercise just for me. But I told him, I said, I just want to be with you.

I'm willing to go to Sheol again. And I hate it there. I'm willing to experience whatever I need to experience. I'm just not willing to not be with you. If there's anything Christian suffering has taught me is that he's better than the rest. And it's only when the cheap answers really stop working and all the ways we thought he would behave really, he doesn't,

takes me to that guttural place of what do you want? Well, I really don't want to suffer. But even deeper than that I want you

Paul says this I want to know christ Yes, even to know the power of his resurrection and the participation in his sufferings Becoming like him in his death and my goodness It feels like death and so somehow to attain the resurrection from the dead

God

There's people in this room who have spent much time praying for me And seasons of suffering

I pray lord For those that are in suffering right now Who have tried to put good answers And apply goodness and stick thumbs ups But honestly, no, it is not that way right now My prayer Meet them Even here in Jesus name. Amen.

We're going to close.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/even-here-part-1 5fd4e60b-52dc-4c8d-a7be-08577d3b4d43 Sun, 14 Jan 2024 13:13:05 GMT <div data-html="true">Why Talk about Suffering? The Weight of Christian Suffering The Purpose of Christian Suffering <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> Good morning. It's, beautiful to be with you this morning. It's, I'm going to do a three week. Series mini series before we head into our next series and be this week next week in the week after on Christian suffering and I'm sitting there Watching this beautiful morning. Tim you notice was up here with a shirt tucked in Jesse Andrew and Doug were up front. <br /><br /> Of course, two of them are gone by now <br /><br /> But it's a good morning a beautiful time and now I'm coming up and starting a series on suffering. Dude, read the room, right? When we talk about suffering, we're gonna look at some different people within scripture, and then also, oh, there's Jesse. Say hi to Jesse, he came back. Different people in scripture and also through church history, but when I thought about how do we talk about suffering, I went to my go to, Michael Scott, who's the boss in the office. <br /><br /> Michael Scott went through, he's, he lost his old boss and at first he didn't care much until he realized the amount of sympathy he could get from caring that, this person had died. And so he went through and, had his own grief and then wanted everyone else to experience their grief. And so what he did is went online and looked through the, the pop psychology stages of grief, which he read were denial, anger, bar bargaining. <br /><br /> Depression and acceptance and then he said this he said and right now They are all denying the fact that they are sad and that's hard and it's making them all angry And it's my job to get them all the way through to acceptance And if not acceptance then just depression if I can get them depressed then I have done my job So my job over these next three weeks is to get you nice and depressed a couple things I do want to say before we enter I'm going to do a longer introduction today And then we'll get to two of our topics of suffering but we'll get there in a minute, but I deeply want this place to be a place where You are seen it's very important to me. <br /><br /> And the second is we're When we talk about suffering, we're not going to talk about it in cheerful terms because if you've been through suffering, it is just not cheerful. And so, I genuinely mean this. This is the Surgeon General's trigger warning, if this is too dark for you. If this is too much for you, I, I understand and feel free, to, to go now or to go later. <br /><br /> we're, I'm not willing to talk about suffering in a way that's light because it's dark. And so in that, I understand if, if people need to get some space or distance from this topic. Three things of why we do a series on suffering. Why? Why talk about suffering? There's a lot of good things in the Bible. <br /><br /> There's a lot of good things in life to talk about. God is a good thing. Why talk about a bad thing? First, suffering describes much of our human experience. A lot of us thought of new ways to enter this next year. And we thought of a lot of different ways we could advance towards flourishing. Flourishing of body, flourishing of mind, flourishing of relationships. <br /><br /> But the reality is, is even though that is our goal and our good goal for this upcoming year, there is also going to be a tremendous amount of suffering that we don't even know that will come our way. It's a book by Alan Noble who writes extremely honestly. about the suffering condition from a Christian perspective. <br /><br /> He writes, Despite the comforts of contemporary life and its promises of even greater peace and self mastery, life is terribly hard. A comfortable, pleasant life is not normal. And while we may hesitate to call getting out of bed courageous, it is undeniably true that day to day life demands a great deal of courage. <br /><br /> Suffering describes much of our human experience. And we don't, so we need to talk about it. Secondly, suffering will develop much of our Christian faith. Charles Spurgeon who will be in and out of this series, experienced depression most of his adult life for most of his time in ministry. He wrote this, says, I'm afraid that all the grace I have got of my comfortable and easy times and happy hours might almost lie on a penny, but griefs is altogether incalculable. <br /><br /> Affliction is the best book in the minister's library. C. S. Lewis, another person we'll sit with, says this. Pain insists on being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world. If we don't understand and have a theology of suffering, we're simply dishonest about what it means to live life as a Christian. <br /><br /> Suffering is involved in the Christian faith. The people who populated scripture The people who wrote scripture experienced suffering, predicted suffering, and found Jesus through the messy process of suffering. Third, why talk about suffering? If our faith cannot handle suffering, it does not deserve to exist. <br /><br /> There's a profound book by Elie Wiesel. who lived, through, in a prison camp through the holocaust. He, he wrote that, if someone in the prison camp was having a nightmare, don't wake them up, because what they'll wake up to is worse than the nightmare itself. Our faith must make eye contact with holocausts, with traumas, with mental disorders, with poverty and estrangement. <br /><br /> Disease and death because they are a part of what Christians experience. They are a part of experiencing the Christian life. And if our faith cannot handle that, the gospel isn't for everyone. I'd <br /><br /> like to share just a little bit of my story, snapshots that I've shared with you. At different times. I've spoken here about, use words like depression and anxiety, which have described different moments of my experience. And if you're in Celebrate Recovery ministry I work with, or if I know I've had a chance to talk to you personally, I might have shared with you that for the majority of my life, I've struggled with obsessive compulsive disorder. <br /><br /> And I know for many of you that means like he must wash his hands and love vacuuming his car Not as much my experience Ocd is something that has racked my body Tortured my mind and taken me at different times past where I knew pain and despair could travel. If you look, if you're neurologically normal, and you look at your brain under a CT scan, a brain scan, You'll see the beauty of the human mind that the human mind is the most complex and beautiful organ in creation And the human mind is so tremendously powerful And and you can see how the mind creates how it finds order and you can see different parts of it light up under a CT Scan and that's a normal neurological process of different parts figuring out different things different areas of the mind communicating to different areas of the mind If you look at somebody's mind who has obsessive compulsive disorder, it looks a little more like Mario's Rainbow Road, or a laser light show. <br /><br /> It's very lit up. A lot of things happening. According to the World Health Organization, OCD is one of the top ten reasons people go on disability. Forty percent who have it are not able to work, and people who have it are ten times more likely to commit suicide. Anxiety, is often described as gnats or mosquitoes flying around the head, you know, that might, that, that distract and, and confuse and sometimes can, zap or zing you, making it difficult to sleep or experience, and anxiety is definitely something I experience. <br /><br /> But with OCD, when it gets real bad, those gnats and mosquitoes turn to angry, fire breathing dragons <br /><br /> threatening to destroy my family. My home, my children, our church. And OCD also has this, crazy theme of guilt. So, it feels like I'm responsible to slay every one of those dragons or answer the questions they are putting, screaming in my ear. Or all the harm that they do will be my fault. It can be utterly, utterly exhausting. <br /><br /> and torturous to live with. I've spent thousands of hours of my life feeling guilty for things I have not done. Tens of thousands of my hours confronted with thoughts of financial ruin or something bad happening to my family and it being my fault. I've created, these are not exaggerated numbers, thousands of ways in my mind that I could let the church down. <br /><br /> My family down, God down. I go through spikes, is what we call them, or episodes in the obsessive compulsive disorder world where things get much worse. And then there are times in between. During the spikes, life can be utter misery. And then there can be often times in between which aren't, I'm not as affected by it at all. <br /><br /> This has been the greatest curse and the greatest grace of my life. It has remained, and I want you to hear this, unhealed. I am not here to talk about suffering in a past tense way. It may remain that way to the grave if he desires, and if I don't come out of dealing with this. But through this unhealed mental disorder, God has taught me the meaning of Of living in his presence of needing his presence some of these, so this what happened this last summer I had pretty significant spike and or episode And during that time I reached out to actually many of you and I wrote an email to I don't know 20 different people and I said hey I know you know god and i'm going to tell you a little bit what's going on with me Can you talk to him about it? <br /><br /> And I ask for simply the word power. Can you pray for power for me not to experience this anymore? God less gave me the grace of deliverance this summer, but he more gave me the grace to write and to study about Christian suffering. And some of the deliverance would come later, but these thoughts that I'm going to share, I, I've recently written a book which is coming out soon. <br /><br /> And, these are some thoughts from the book. I went to Pastor Mark and I said, I, I can do a series. I did all this work already. so if you ever need a series, so I got popped in here in January. But some of these thoughts are from the book that I've written, although in a different format. <br /><br /> If I get them depressed, I have done my job. How we doing? This is heavy. This is going to be a heavy week. Forgive me if this topic or my own story burdens you. This is what has been on my heart right here. The last thing I want to do is to burden you. But the first thing that we must do is to not pretend that suffering is not a real part of our human experience and Christian faith. <br /><br /> In John 16, Jesus, eyeball to eyeball with his disciples, said, In this world, you will have suffering. Pray with me. <br /><br /> Lord, suffering sounds so much better when we explain it after it's over. When the sun comes out and is shining, it's so much easier to talk about storms. God of goodness, you have let, and you will let, us suffer. And we are not here to pretend that it does not hurt like fire. It is built on zings and zaps of anxiety. <br /><br /> It is filled with deep sense of loss that is not easy to shake or to slake. It has overwhelming memories of the past confusion, which is so close to suffering about the present and often despair about the future. It is not something that clothes our body. When we suffer, it is wrapped into our very bones. <br /><br /> For these three weeks, with my friends here, for myself, we don't want to suffer anymore. If and when we do, help us to know what it means to be close to you. Teach us the treasures that are only found in the dark. In Jesus name, the suffering servant, amen. Okay, we're gonna do five things as we go through this series on suffering today We're going to talk about the weight of Christian suffering and the purpose of Christian suffering and then next week We'll look at the stewardship of Christian suffering and then January 28th If any of you come back at that point We will talk about the treasure of Christian suffering and by God's grace the end of Christian suffering Psalm 139 is where we're gonna launch out of today. <br /><br /> Psalm 139 It is a precious psalm of David. Many of David's psalms were, were written in lament. They are psalms of grief. They are psalms where we look and saying, How in the world did this one make its way into the Bible? Psalm 139 is a loud declaration, I believe, a biographical declaration of David. <br /><br /> Finding God's presence even here in suffering. Psalm 139 says, Oh Lord, you've searched me and you've known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up. You discern my thoughts from afar. You searched out my path and my lying down. You're acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, Behold, O Lord, you know it all together. <br /><br /> You hem me in behind and before. You have laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is high. I cannot attain it. Where shall I go from your spirit? O where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you're there. If I make my bed in Sheol, you're there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell on the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. <br /><br /> If I say, surely the darkness shall cover me. And the light about me be night Even the darkness Is not dark to you the night as bright as the day for darkness is as light with you Five things I want to share about the weight of christian suffering first God is intimately aware Of our suffering and still allows it to take place There is this declaration of David is beautiful, you know, my thoughts from afar before word is on my tongue, you know it completely. <br /><br /> Oh, Lord, you know, my going out and my lying down. You are familiar with all my ways. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It's too much. What God knows what God is aware of in our life is overwhelming. And we say if God is aware of everything that has such a comfort with it, but it also comes with a back end question if you know how much it hurts sometimes. <br /><br /> Why do you still allow it to take place? We cannot be just nice, put together church people that put on the right clothes to come in a climate controlled room with beautiful music and sound and they'll crack open the scripture and say it's all good when honestly, a lot of times, it's not. <br /><br /> Christian suffering is real. And if we're going to look into the face of scripture, We look into the eyeballs of a God who is sovereign. Who knows it all, and still allows, and even at times assigns, suffering to happen. There's a prosperity gospel which, um, what we put it up as at least, is often like, if you follow God, follow all his wills, then God will financially bless you. <br /><br /> And that's just not really In the new testament story a whole lot and and many of you would say yes, I don't believe that if you follow god He's an automatic blessing, you know, it's not like well if you tithe 15 Then he will give no it's not we understand. It's not that transactional But there are times where we can make an inner prosperity gospel Of of if we do all the right following things Then we're guaranteed to have peace and happiness and I don't think it always works that way Anyway, second the suffering that god allows is often Agonizing and beyond what we thought he would second corinthians. <br /><br /> Jared spoke about this a couple weeks ago It's one of the main passages of of someone in the new testament passages of someone in the throes of suffering Paul in second corinthians 11 goes through a list that I don't think Anyone in history that I know of have read of can match this list. He goes through I've been shipwrecked this so many times. <br /><br /> I've been beaten this many times left for dead I've gone through and basically he's like I almost died almost died almost died almost died It's like a hardy boys episode, you know, like I almost died a million different times But God carried me through the language Paul used to describe that is almost objective like here It was boom. <br /><br /> Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. You get the second Corinthians 12 when it's not just hey this happened and God rescued me He uses language of torture. He said I was given I was assigned the thorn in the flesh to Torment me three times. I cried out to God deliver me But God said my grace was sufficient. This person who had a very high threshold for pain, the thorn in the flesh overtook him. <br /><br /> C. S. Lewis, this quote means the world to me. C. S. Lewis is someone who I've always appreciated his mind. This, he speaks more biographically in this book, The Problem of Pain. He writes this, You would like to know how I behave when I'm experiencing pain. He's saying, alright, I'll talk about myself. Not just writing books about it. <br /><br /> You need not guess, he writes, for I will tell you, I'm a great coward. But what is that purpose? When I think of pain, of anxiety that gnaws like fire, and loneliness that spreads out like a desert, and the heartbreaking routine of monotonous misery. Or again, of dull aches that blacken our whole landscape. <br /><br /> Or sudden nauseating pains that knock a man's heart out at one blow. Of pains that seemed already intolerable and then are suddenly increased. Of infuriating, scorpion stinging pains that startle into maniacal movement. A man who seemed half dead with his previous tortures. It quite or crows my spirit. <br /><br /> Then he writes this. If I knew a way of escape, I would crawl through the sewers to find it. But what is the good of telling you about my feelings? You know them already. They are the same as yours. I'm not arguing that pain is not painful. Pain hurts. That is what the word means. I'm only trying to show the old Christian doctrine of being made perfect through suffering is not incredible. <br /><br /> To prove it palatable is beyond my design. C. S. Lewis is the godfather of explaining everything, but does not have words to make pain itself palatable. There are journal entries, I'm a journal guy. When you have a lot going on in your brain, writing things down is helpful. A lot of journals where I've talked to God about a lot of different things. <br /><br /> But going through my journals, there's a word that's often repeated. And it's simply the word, please. And there's often times where, over and over on the page, Please. Please. Please. Please no further down. Please no further hard. I know you are aware. I know you can heal. Dear God, please. <br /><br /> Some of the most powerful lessons and graces, and I mean that graces of my life, is when I cried out, please, and he said, not yet. third, There are many way types and levels to suffering. I, I, I know I'm just knocking you one at a time, but I'm not willing to talk about the weight of Christian suffering and to do in a cheap way. <br /><br /> There are many light types and levels to pain. There are different things people experience. Beth Moore, who is a more of a cheerful person, and, she's just written a memoir. It's phenomenal. And she came out recently. and with her husband, they, they talk about how he experienced some PTSD, some major PTSD from an event that happened in his childhood and it has, it continued to impact them and their marriage into adulthood. <br /><br /> And her husband said this to her, he told me once, Elizabeth, life is harder for some people than others. I wanted to argue with him. I wanted to say how everyone had the same opportunity to be happy in Jesus. I want to ask him why the blessings of the present couldn't make up for the curses of the past. <br /><br /> Life is harder for some people than others. Shadows follow me. Again, this is Beth talking. Often enough, but not incessantly. Not everywhere I go, I deal with bouts of anxiety and depression, but they don't chase me down, like, constantly, like ravenous wolves after a bleeding sheep. Two wounds can cause the same amount of stitches and yet cause varied levels of pain. <br /><br /> There's various levels of pain. I know when people read that there are some of you that are like Interacting with my own story and digesting that and then you do what we all do. We say well, where does the pain? I'm thinking of match up against Beth Moore's husband or The pain I feel where does it match up against what Ben is describing? <br /><br /> I want you to hear this, please. Each person's pain matters, and not one of us truly knows where our story ranks on the human misery scale. Please know that wherever you are, you and your story matter. When we're talking about pain, it does not fit into clean categories, causes, or amounts of pain that can be put on a linear scale. <br /><br /> Two of the greatest lies of hell to those who suffer are these. Your suffering is too big for God to handle. Your suffering is too small for him to be bothered Number four <br /><br /> there is rarely a timetable given to the sufferer. There's no aspects of time mentioned in this David is going through lots of different dimensions here. He's talking about space. He's talking about location. He's talking about experience He's talking about up and down and darkness light. He's talking about all kinds of things, but he doesn't speak of How fast how long? <br /><br /> And if you look at other psalms, you will hear him not speak of how long suffering is but beg God because it's longer than he wanted. There's a story in John 6 that I treasure, and it's a story of a blind beggar who's waiting beside the side of the road who's a man. And the disciples come with Jesus, and they're walking by, and the disciples see a blind beggar. <br /><br /> And they want to give Jesus a little theological shakedown, and they said, Is this because of his sin or his parents sin that he suffers in this way? It's such an arrogant question. Sometimes you're like, why did you ask that, you know? Like, it's like calling into Dave Ramsey and saying, I'm thinking about going into 500, 000 in debt, what do you think? <br /><br /> So, is this his sin or his, that he suffers in this way? And Jesus says it's not because of his sin or his parents sin. He's blind because on this day, The glory of God can be revealed. And I read that two ways. I'll be honest. The first I read that is like, dude, that guy's been blind for decades, having spiritual people walk by thinking it's his fault for decades just for this moment. <br /><br /> And then you read and say, but it is the unique glory of God that he would meet him on that day. One of the things that I talk about this with my wife like in our own versions of suffering We say what every one of us says I want to suffer in a different way. I'll take a different cross, please Something this summer. <br /><br /> I said to my wife was like You know what? If I have this OCD cross and various other ones that I accumulate in my life, tell, tell the grave. And my only testimony is that God is still real to people with a mental disorder. If that is to His glory, then that is the best way that I can live. Hebrews 11 speaks of incredible promises of God to incredible people of God. <br /><br /> And it also says But it didn't come when they thought. <br /><br /> Mother Teresa spent time with a bunch of different Christian saints. Mother Teresa and Charles Spurgeon were by far the darkest to me as I wrote the book. Mother Teresa, who had a deep desire and love for Christ. Faith built on Jesus Christ. Salvation on Christ alone. I really believed that about Mother Teresa. <br /><br /> But she went through decades of her life in ministry where she found it incredibly difficult to experience, the presence of God. And for her, there were long seasons of what saints have called the dark night of the soul or the cloud of unknowing. These works that she wrote didn't come out till after she died because she didn't want to discourage other people by how hard her faith was. <br /><br /> She wrote this to Father Joseph Neuner. It's an undated letter, but believes to be written in April of 1961. She says this, The place of God in my soul is blank. There is no God in me. In the darkness, Lord my God, who am I that you should forsake me? The one you have thrown away is unwanted, unloved, I call, I cling, I want, and there is no one to answer. <br /><br /> No one on whom I can cling, no, no one, alone. The darkness is so dark, and I am alone. She also wrote this, after experiencing a long season. Of blank for the first time in this 11 years. I have come to love the darkness for I believe That is a part a very small part of jesus's darkness and pain on earth You have taught me to accept it as a spiritual side to your work Five. <br /><br /> Suffering, and this is the most irritating of all suffering things, Suffering doesn't feel very spiritual. Like you look at what David's talking about. He's not like, in the temple you are there! He does say on the good parts on the wings of the dawn. Yep can see God there He goes in describes these places the uttermost parts of the sea in Sheol You're like, I'm not really sure what Sheol is But it sounds like a really bad thing what God wouldn't want to be at right but in the most guttural Places that feel like God has no business there. <br /><br /> That part has nothing to do with God And suffering when it happens, it's not If you're walking through and you're like, oh this is so hard, but I am so blessed What I would say is you're not really suffering if like the blessing is so happy. It's probably It gets worse than that. I promise It's when we can't make sense And there's this marriage of of of confusion and suffering that often sit together for seasons of time my my friend, came up to me once and he and he said He had, he talked to me, talked to somebody else who's experienced a bunch of depression in their life and he said you know I've never been I've never really been depressed, but he said I think I'd like to have a season of depression Just to like understand it and get all the spiritual insight that comes from it I wanted to punch him in the throat like are you kidding me? <br /><br /> I've shared that with a few people who know depression they always answer with one word Why? Why would anyone want to experience depression? It doesn't feel noble, or interesting, or spiritual. We don't need to glorify various levels of suffering as if there's something so good about them. God does good with them, but they themselves are incredibly painful, and we can allow it to sit just like that. <br /><br /> The difficult parts of suffering as a Christian is it doesn't feel very Christian. It just feels like a senseless death of a loved one. It just feels like a terrible sickness or diagnosis. It just feels like psychological torment or mental fatigue. It just feels like insecurity that cannot be satisfied with enough love. <br /><br /> It feels like an estranged son. It feels like an unresolvable relationship. It feels like joblessness and bankruptcy. Suffering is human. It is guttural. It is mental, physical, relational. When we talk about Christian suffering and those who have suffered, it doesn't even feel very spiritual at all. And at times, with all that pain and seeming no spiritual reason, it takes a great deal of courage to get out of bed. <br /><br /> I'm going to move on to, very simply, the purpose of Christian suffering. And I want to be honest with what we've just done. We've talked about how bad it is. A lot. And I only have one point to say how God can use all of that bad and do something good. And I don't have much time to do it. <br /><br /> Very simply, and we'll touch on this each week. The purpose of Christian suffering is this, it's union, it's union with God. David says, where can I go from your spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? David wrote Psalms that were in deep suffering and confusion. How does he know that even here your presence is? <br /><br /> It's because he had to go there. He had to go to Sheol. He had to go to various levels of Christian suffering and high points to find out that he can experience God even there too. In my own journey with darkness, here's what I simply want to say. I fell past places I couldn't see the light anymore. He brings something, at times, that's different than light. <br /><br /> He brings companionship in the dark. He is God of the dark, too. When we find ourselves in the darkness of suffering, there is still the same God there. There's not a new Lord that reigns. Even here in that place, He is present. He holds us fast. <br /><br /> I wrote about an experience in, in the book, and it's one I, I never intended to talk about publicly, but then I'm like, yeah, but you're writing it in a book, and I'm like, yeah, that feels like you're just writing it to one person, I don't know. But it's an experience I had, last October, and I was processing a lot, and I like, was worried about it quite a bit. <br /><br /> It's pretty normal for me. and went and spent time with God for a couple of days down in Spring Lake, New Jersey, which is a place where he often meets me. And I went down there for a couple of days just to pray and process and hear. And I just walked. And I walked and waited to hear from God. As I walked, clear as day, louder than audible, God said to me, Ben, what do you want? <br /><br /> I don't remember God asking me a question ever. Like, he knows the answers, why would he ask, you know? Like, but he And I was sort of like, well, that sounds like you're asking a genie question. I know you're not a genie. Let's go on. This is probably not God. But again, Ben, what do you want? What do you want? <br /><br /> And then I realized he was serious, and I'm like, whoa, this is, you know. Could I pray for the end of my OCD? Salvation of my children? The stability of my church that's about to go through succession? All of these things came to me. But they weren't the ultimate, young want of my soul. <br /><br /> And I'm sure he did this exercise just for me. But I told him, I said, I just want to be with you. <br /><br /> I'm willing to go to Sheol again. And I hate it there. I'm willing to experience whatever I need to experience. I'm just not willing to not be with you. If there's anything Christian suffering has taught me is that he's better than the rest. And it's only when the cheap answers really stop working and all the ways we thought he would behave really, he doesn't, <br /><br /> takes me to that guttural place of what do you want? Well, I really don't want to suffer. But even deeper than that I want you <br /><br /> Paul says this I want to know christ Yes, even to know the power of his resurrection and the participation in his sufferings Becoming like him in his death and my goodness It feels like death and so somehow to attain the resurrection from the dead <br /><br /> God <br /><br /> There's people in this room who have spent much time praying for me And seasons of suffering <br /><br /> I pray lord For those that are in suffering right now Who have tried to put good answers And apply goodness and stick thumbs ups But honestly, no, it is not that way right now My prayer Meet them Even here in Jesus name. Amen. <br /><br /> We're going to close.</div> false no <![CDATA[How Can I Be Healed From Sin?]]> Our problem comes as a result of denying the role of sin in our life.

---

Excerpt from the sermon "A Dissection of Sin and What it Tells Us About God" by Pastor Mark Willey

https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/a-dissection-of-sin-and-what-it-tells-us-about-god/

Video Transcript:

Our problem comes as a result of denying the role of sin in our life.

Let me just try to play this out practically. Worry is a result of some danger being more central in your life than God. It's bigger to you than God. You're more in awe of a danger than you are of God's power and presence. When you engage in self pity, you're more in awe of some benefit you have lost than you are of God. When you yield to lust, you are more in awe of some visual stimulation than you are of God. When you are angry, you are more in awe of some offense done against you than you are in awe of God's forgiveness of your offenses. When you are filled with guilt, you are more in awe of your failure than you are of God's grace and his plans for bringing good from your failure.

Sin is our problem. It's the root of all the struggles in our life. But sin is not so much looked at by God. As your acts, or your words, your failures, or your screw ups, but as betrayal. You're turning away from Him as the true life giving fountain for your life. We're looking to other broken cisterns, cheap substitutes, to give us what God wants to give to us.

So what does this tell us about God? What does it tell us about God that God's primary metaphor of sin is adultery? That it is Going to other things, to other mistresses of, if you will, of, of a deity style. It tells me two things. It tells us that God takes sin seriously. He is holy. He's set apart from sin.

He's completely different. He's never motivated by greed or maliciousness or vindictiveness. So what does that mean about how He views your sin? Well, it means He takes it seriously. But why? It is not ultimately because it's an affront to Him.

But it is ultimately Because it is poison to you.

You may react, well, no, God cares most about his glory. I agree with that. God created us for his glory, to bring him glory.

But until you understand this reality of living with God, you won't understand what I'm trying to say this morning. And this statement is this, God is most glorified in you when you are most satisfied in him. When that begins to, I remember when God, and John Piper is one, made that statement probably clearest to me, began to permeate my soul, and I began to think, wait, you mean God's ultimate.

Pleasure is that and his design is that he would be glorified in my life, finding joy and satisfaction and contentment and my life purpose in him that that brings him more glory. And all the things I think, well, I'll do this for God, or I'll be this way for God. He says, no, Mark. The more you live, as Jared talked about last week, and embracing your brokenness, your need of me, your need of drinking at my cistern, the more you're able to live.

to my glory. His glory and your joy somehow follow parallel tracks. And the more that we understand that reality of God, that yes, He is holy. He is the holy other, W H O L L Y. But He is also holy, H O L Y, different, set apart.

But in his holiness, the visual is not of God's responding to your sin as a strict schoolmarm waiting to smack your hand with a ruler, but of a loving mother grieving over the destructive choices of her child. That's one metaphor of a heavy hearted mother. Another one is this passage. It tells us that God loves sinners tenderly.

A grief stricken husband here whose wife betrays him in an adulterous affair. And he says, that's what's happened when you've turned from drinking at my spring and you turn to another cistern. He said, you've spurned my love. You've spurned what I want to give you. I have the real water.

And sin is betrayal. It's spurning it. And he said, no, no. I'll find it here. I'll find it here. I'll find it here. I'll find it here. I'll be the great one and find out the emptiness of living that way.

So how can we be healed because here we are in the desert and he's saying to people, you know you got lots of stuff going on lots of struggles lots of emptiness lots of conflict in your life and Most of all you've got conflict in you and he says you're never gonna really be okay When you're drinking at the wrong water source You're never really going to fill up the the drought that you feel inside the thirst that My life is not how it ought to be.

It doesn't mean you won't have overt struggles and conflicts. I'm not saying that at all. But what I'm saying is, that internal anger, that internal turmoil, that internal stuff. He says, you gotta drink at the right cistern. He says, I've got to be central. And he says, sin is not so much, you did this, and you didn't do this.

No, it's that you turn and so you turn to all different as all kinds of things you live out because of that But he says ultimately you're just not drinking at the right place You're not allowing me to be the center of your life How did Jesus Christ make you and how does he make you what you have been trying to make yourself all these years?

First of all, he gave his life for you He accepts you who is rejected that you could be accepted. There is not another religion like this on earth. All religions say, do this, fail, and you're out. Jesus Christ says, fail, and I will die for you. I will be here for you, and I will never leave you.

Today, as we start January 24,

I think what God says to us is, turn away from these lover gods. Turn away from these other things you're depending on, you're obeying, you're loving, and he says come to me Sin is not, you, you, you messed up, you did this, you, come on, come on You don't really hear God speaking to your sin until you hear it in the voice of lament.

Until you hear it in the broken hearted mother who with, Augustine. His mother Monica would follow him around. At the time he was probably the most renowned philosopher in the world. He was just a brilliant, brilliant man. And he, and he probably slept with more women than anyone in his generation.

Every city, every place, he was into everything. And his mother would, would, would use her life savings and would follow him. and pray for him, plead with God for him. And eventually, when Augustine, Augustine was dramatically changed by the gospel of grace, he always pointed to his mother's prayers. You don't really see God until you see him in the mother's heart of Monica, until you see the father looking at his prodigal and running out of his house.

Not a word of a rebuke rain, just. This is God. He is most glorified in you when you are most satisfied in Him. He sees sin not ultimately as you didn't get it right. He sees it as you turned from me. You spurned what I want to give to you. I mean, could there be any more powerful visual of God's love than that the way He describes sin is adultery.

Adultery is pain. Adultery is loss. Adultery is rejection.

And all of that is sourced out of a partner who loves the person that has turned, turned from them. My greatest prayer for the people that are most close in my life, my greatest prayer for you as, as the church family that I am a part of,

is that you will find God the safest person in your life. You see that? The person you feel most comfortable with. The person you delight being with the most, because you know, I don't know everything about God, hardly, but I know this. He's crazy about me. When we begin to grasp that, we begin to say, Why in the world?

Would I choose this? Why in the world would I choose pornography? Why in the world would I choose these other addictive behaviors? I have this. I have him.

To me, that's a bit of a dissection of sin, and I love what it shows me about God.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/how-can-i-be-healed-from-sin a150b37c-762b-4c8c-8cc9-b341bc4f2a1b Sun, 07 Jan 2024 15:55:28 GMT <div data-html="true">Our problem comes as a result of denying the role of sin in our life. <br /><br /> --- <br /><br /> Excerpt from the sermon "A Dissection of Sin and What it Tells Us About God" by Pastor Mark Willey <br /><br /> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/a-dissection-of-sin-and-what-it-tells-us-about-god/ <h2>Video Transcript:</h2> Our problem comes as a result of denying the role of sin in our life. <br /><br /> Let me just try to play this out practically. Worry is a result of some danger being more central in your life than God. It's bigger to you than God. You're more in awe of a danger than you are of God's power and presence. When you engage in self pity, you're more in awe of some benefit you have lost than you are of God. When you yield to lust, you are more in awe of some visual stimulation than you are of God. When you are angry, you are more in awe of some offense done against you than you are in awe of God's forgiveness of your offenses. When you are filled with guilt, you are more in awe of your failure than you are of God's grace and his plans for bringing good from your failure. <br /><br /> Sin is our problem. It's the root of all the struggles in our life. But sin is not so much looked at by God. As your acts, or your words, your failures, or your screw ups, but as betrayal. You're turning away from Him as the true life giving fountain for your life. We're looking to other broken cisterns, cheap substitutes, to give us what God wants to give to us. <br /><br /> So what does this tell us about God? What does it tell us about God that God's primary metaphor of sin is adultery? That it is Going to other things, to other mistresses of, if you will, of, of a deity style. It tells me two things. It tells us that God takes sin seriously. He is holy. He's set apart from sin. <br /><br /> He's completely different. He's never motivated by greed or maliciousness or vindictiveness. So what does that mean about how He views your sin? Well, it means He takes it seriously. But why? It is not ultimately because it's an affront to Him. <br /><br /> But it is ultimately Because it is poison to you. <br /><br /> You may react, well, no, God cares most about his glory. I agree with that. God created us for his glory, to bring him glory. <br /><br /> But until you understand this reality of living with God, you won't understand what I'm trying to say this morning. And this statement is this, God is most glorified in you when you are most satisfied in him. When that begins to, I remember when God, and John Piper is one, made that statement probably clearest to me, began to permeate my soul, and I began to think, wait, you mean God's ultimate. <br /><br /> Pleasure is that and his design is that he would be glorified in my life, finding joy and satisfaction and contentment and my life purpose in him that that brings him more glory. And all the things I think, well, I'll do this for God, or I'll be this way for God. He says, no, Mark. The more you live, as Jared talked about last week, and embracing your brokenness, your need of me, your need of drinking at my cistern, the more you're able to live. <br /><br /> to my glory. His glory and your joy somehow follow parallel tracks. And the more that we understand that reality of God, that yes, He is holy. He is the holy other, W H O L L Y. But He is also holy, H O L Y, different, set apart. <br /><br /> But in his holiness, the visual is not of God's responding to your sin as a strict schoolmarm waiting to smack your hand with a ruler, but of a loving mother grieving over the destructive choices of her child. That's one metaphor of a heavy hearted mother. Another one is this passage. It tells us that God loves sinners tenderly. <br /><br /> A grief stricken husband here whose wife betrays him in an adulterous affair. And he says, that's what's happened when you've turned from drinking at my spring and you turn to another cistern. He said, you've spurned my love. You've spurned what I want to give you. I have the real water. <br /><br /> And sin is betrayal. It's spurning it. And he said, no, no. I'll find it here. I'll find it here. I'll find it here. I'll find it here. I'll be the great one and find out the emptiness of living that way. <br /><br /> So how can we be healed because here we are in the desert and he's saying to people, you know you got lots of stuff going on lots of struggles lots of emptiness lots of conflict in your life and Most of all you've got conflict in you and he says you're never gonna really be okay When you're drinking at the wrong water source You're never really going to fill up the the drought that you feel inside the thirst that My life is not how it ought to be. <br /><br /> It doesn't mean you won't have overt struggles and conflicts. I'm not saying that at all. But what I'm saying is, that internal anger, that internal turmoil, that internal stuff. He says, you gotta drink at the right cistern. He says, I've got to be central. And he says, sin is not so much, you did this, and you didn't do this. <br /><br /> No, it's that you turn and so you turn to all different as all kinds of things you live out because of that But he says ultimately you're just not drinking at the right place You're not allowing me to be the center of your life How did Jesus Christ make you and how does he make you what you have been trying to make yourself all these years? <br /><br /> First of all, he gave his life for you He accepts you who is rejected that you could be accepted. There is not another religion like this on earth. All religions say, do this, fail, and you're out. Jesus Christ says, fail, and I will die for you. I will be here for you, and I will never leave you. <br /><br /> Today, as we start January 24, <br /><br /> I think what God says to us is, turn away from these lover gods. Turn away from these other things you're depending on, you're obeying, you're loving, and he says come to me Sin is not, you, you, you messed up, you did this, you, come on, come on You don't really hear God speaking to your sin until you hear it in the voice of lament. <br /><br /> Until you hear it in the broken hearted mother who with, Augustine. His mother Monica would follow him around. At the time he was probably the most renowned philosopher in the world. He was just a brilliant, brilliant man. And he, and he probably slept with more women than anyone in his generation. <br /><br /> Every city, every place, he was into everything. And his mother would, would, would use her life savings and would follow him. and pray for him, plead with God for him. And eventually, when Augustine, Augustine was dramatically changed by the gospel of grace, he always pointed to his mother's prayers. You don't really see God until you see him in the mother's heart of Monica, until you see the father looking at his prodigal and running out of his house. <br /><br /> Not a word of a rebuke rain, just. This is God. He is most glorified in you when you are most satisfied in Him. He sees sin not ultimately as you didn't get it right. He sees it as you turned from me. You spurned what I want to give to you. I mean, could there be any more powerful visual of God's love than that the way He describes sin is adultery. <br /><br /> Adultery is pain. Adultery is loss. Adultery is rejection. <br /><br /> And all of that is sourced out of a partner who loves the person that has turned, turned from them. My greatest prayer for the people that are most close in my life, my greatest prayer for you as, as the church family that I am a part of, <br /><br /> is that you will find God the safest person in your life. You see that? The person you feel most comfortable with. The person you delight being with the most, because you know, I don't know everything about God, hardly, but I know this. He's crazy about me. When we begin to grasp that, we begin to say, Why in the world? <br /><br /> Would I choose this? Why in the world would I choose pornography? Why in the world would I choose these other addictive behaviors? I have this. I have him. <br /><br /> To me, that's a bit of a dissection of sin, and I love what it shows me about God.</div> false no <![CDATA[A Dissection of Sin and What it Tells Us About God]]> Jeremiah 2:1-13, 19

And I brought you into a plentiful land to enjoy its fruits and its good things. But when you came in, you defiled my land and made my heritage an abomination.



Sermon Transcript:

Morning everybody. I invite you to take your Bibles. We're going to be looking at the book of Jeremiah this morning. I've got a one off sermon this morning, which i'm excited about, which means we're not in the middle of a series right now. And as we take our first Sunday in January, I have a message which probably isn't going to feel particularly edifying when you hear the title.

A dissection of sin, but the second part of the title, and what it says about God. It's actually a sermon I'm very excited about. We're gonna look at Jeremiah chapter 2, verses 1 through 13, and then down to verse 19.

And this is actually a sermon, the first of a series of sermons that Jeremiah the prophet is presenting to people who are trying to figure out what's wrong. Everything was going wrong with the country, they're in danger of enemies coming, there's famine, there's a variety of things. And Jeremiah is presenting an opening sermon to them.

Which is kind of what I'm doing here in 2024. Jeremiah chapter 1, excuse me, chapter 2, verse 1. The word of the Lord came to me saying, Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem. Thus says the Lord. I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed me in the wilderness in a land not sown.

Israel was holy to the Lord, the first fruits of his harvest. All who ate of it incurred guilt. Disaster came upon them, declares the Lord. Hear the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all the clans of the house of Israel. Thus says the Lord, What wrong did your fathers find in me that they went from me and went after worthlessness, and became worthless?

They did not say, Where is the Lord who brought us up from the land of Egypt, who led us in the wilderness, in a land of deserts and pits, in a land of drought and deep darkness, in a land that none passes through, where no man dwells. And I brought you into a plentiful land to enjoy its fruits and its good things.

But when you came in, you defiled my land and made my heritage an abomination. The priests did not say, Where is the Lord? Those who handle the law did not know me. The shepherds transgressed against me. The prophets prophesied by Baal and went after things that do not profit. Therefore I still contend with you, declares the Lord.

And with your children's children I will contend. For cross to the coast of Cyprus and see, or send to Kedar and examine with care. See if there has been such a thing. Has a nation changed its gods, even though they are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit. Be appalled, O heavens, at this.

Be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the Lord. And then this key verse. For my people have committed two evils. They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters. And hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water. And I'm going to dump down to verse 19, so to the conclusion.

Your evil will chastise you, and your apostasy will reprove you. Know and see that it is evil and bitter for you to forsake the Lord your God. The fear of me is not in you, declares the Lord God of hosts. Lord, we come to you this morning. And first off, Lord, I just, I want to agree with the songwriter. You are worthy.

You are worthy of all blessing and honor and glory and power. Lord, it's such a privilege to gather this morning among people the vast majority of whom would say, yeah, he's worthy of praise and honor and adoration. He is worthy of my devotion. He is worthy of my love. He is worthy of my yielding all that I am.

And Lord, I pray that this morning We might more fully see your worthiness. Speak into us through this passage, I pray, in Jesus name. Amen. 1973, Carl Menninger, at the time one of the leading premier psychiatrists in America, wrote a book, which was entitled, Whatever Happened to Sin? It's an interesting book, of course, with the very question.

And it wasn't written by, a Bible thumping preacher from the South. This guy was a prominent secular, psychiatrist. And, he was unhappy about an environment he saw in Western culture, which he described as everything I do that's wrong is someone else's fault. He lamented the fact that American society seemed to be rejecting the concept of personal accountability.

The word sin, Menninger argued, was disappointing from the American vocabulary. For him, even if the concept was ignored, he believed that individuals as well as society would still suffer the negative consequences of ignoring some absolute direction of life, the will of God, if you will, for people's lives.

In the years since Menninger wrote his book, this has of course continued in our culture. The idea that turning away from God is the root. Of the problems in my life can seem out of touch Archaic, it's hard to imagine tomorrow that we are going to turn to Social media and find in instagram posts that that will be the way that There is a self description of LeBron James, or Johnny Depp, or Lady Gaga, or the Kardashians.

Yeah, my sin is the root of all the struggles that I'm facing in my life. Yet the entire teaching of the Bible and church history is founded on this reality. Sin is the root of our problem. It plays a part in all of our problems. But what is sin, actually? Is it breaking a rule? Is it falling short of a standard?

Is it rebellion against divine authority? In a broad sense, all of those things are involved. But it is not the ultimate perspective of sin. And this morning, in this passage, I want to join Jeremiah and try to dissect what sin actually is. And then I want to show what that shows about God. Frankly, I hope, and I think, what we're going to find is going to surprise you.

Jeremiah chapter 2, as I mentioned earlier, is the first of a series of sermons. That jeremiah is giving to the people and it's really an answer to the question Why is everything falling apart? Our culture is crumbling our family structures are Are collapsing and in this passage he is presenting to them A sermon a series on sin what it is and what its effects are

here. The lord gives the answer Through his prophet to his people notably in verse 13 and 19 He tells them a dissection of sin, and in it, he shows us about our sin, and he shows us about our God. I want to turn here and now look at a couple of things he says. First of all, the dissection of sin. And in chapter 2, and I'm going to focus here on verse 13, he presents the nature, first of all, of sin.

He says, For my people have committed two evils. They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters and hued out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water. The nature of sin is betrayal. Here's what he says. They have forsaken me. They have turned from me. They forsake forsook God. In verse eight, verse 13, they left God for other things, other gods small Gs.

Sin is more like the act of a traitor. than of a criminal A criminal breaks the law of his country. A traitor betrays his country. A criminal violates the law. A traitor violates a trust, a relationship. What they betrayed was God had been their source of living water. And it says, My people have turned to cheap substitutes.

There were three ways you could get water at this time. One was you could get it from the ultimate source, would be a spring of continually life giving, healthy water that was clean, that came from the depths, and it was a pure water. source of water. The second was you could dig a shallow well and actually you would fill it with water.

Sometimes it would be some that would steep in, but it usually was a well that was basically a holding tank. And then there was this thing called a cistern, which were basically things that were constructed usually above the ground to hold the water. And they, they tended to, the water in there tended to get hot.

It tended to be a, a, a place where mosquitoes swarmed. It tended to get cracks. It was the worst place to get your water. The best place was this stream of bubbling life giving water that was, that was from the depths and would bring healthy water, cool water, refreshing water. God says, I'm that water and I want to be that water.

But my people have turned to these broken cisterns and they're trying to drink. This faulty,

perverted water that's warm and rancid. They went to other places, other things, to quench their thirst, to meet their need. They replaced God. They not only forsook Him, but it says they have turned to these other systems. In verse 19 it says, They no longer fear Me, but they fear these other things. Now, awe in the scriptures is a term that is used to translate fear.

There are two types of fear in the Bible. One is the fear of you're in danger. You feel fear of potential harm. You're in a room. You're talking to a friend and, spiders are not your thing. And a spider crawls the floor across the floor. I'm sorry, right now you're all weirded. Some of you're weirded out already, but this spider goes across and you, you, you miss this thing and it's gone.

And, and so you and I are sitting there and, and, and, and the spider's going somewhere. I don't know where it is. You can't get your mind off this spider. You know, just where did it go? Where is it? And I try to help out. I said, don't worry, it won't eat much. I mean, it'll be fine. But you've got to find out where that spider is.

Because who knows where it's going to show up and what it's going to do. Who knows what kind it is. The spider has become central. To everything that's going on in that individual's life at that moment. There is fear of danger and harm There's another sense of fear in the old testament and the new testament And that is the sense of a fear not of something that we dread but of something that is Dominant to us It is something powerful But that is the sense that we could translate by the word all it is big To us, it is powerful, perhaps even dangerous, but there is delight in the object that we are drawn to the object.

We are not trying to get away. We are drawn to, to the object of our awe. And God is talking about I I was that to you? I was the one that, yes. Am I dangerous? Yes, but you know, I'm not dangerous to you. Am I for you? Yes. Do you know I'm big and powerful? Yes. There is a sense of awe, but the common denominator of these two fears is that this thing becomes a preoccupation.

Can become almost an obsession. That the thing we fear or the thing that we're in awe of becomes central to us. It's the dominating reality in our life. And God says, I want to be this to you. I want to be the one that you look to for your water. I want to be the one that, that, that is control center of your life.

But you've turned to this bro, these broken cisterns, to these other small g gods, these other things to provide that satisfaction in your life. And in that sense, you have sinned. You have betrayed me. You have turned from me a while back. I was really trying to, trying to think of a handle for the. What an idol is and I'd studied for Few years ago.

I did a study of Idolatry and did a whole series a 12 week series on American idols And I was trying I did two sermons on an anatomy of an idol. What is an idol? I was fascinated to find that there were three words that were constantly used in the scriptures to describe an idol and I realized recently that That those three words are the exact words that can fit into, a formula.

And here's the formula. Idle is simply this. I D I O N I L An idle is something I depend on, or it is something I obey. Or it is something I love, and in that context, all of them are more than God. And in the scripture, the word depend on is sometimes called, trust in. But, The sense of depending on, obeying, and loving is throughout the scripture, the description of something that I have idolized in my life and have displaced God from that position of central in my life.

And here's what he says, he says, you don't fear me. You're not looking to me. You're not depending on me. You're not ultimately. And ultimately, you've made these other things your love gods. And he says, this is the sense of what sin is. It is turning to something else. Something is more awesome, more captivating, more dynamic to God.

And at that moment, you will tend to live out sins. But the reality of sin is betrayal. And I'm going to come back to that because that says some very compelling things about God. The second thing that's true in this, this, dissection of sin, we not only see its nature, but he also tells us the life support of sin.

And that is denial. It's found in verse 19. God pulls the people together and he says this to them. Know and see that it's evil and bitter for you. He says, look at what you're doing. Look at know it. See it. See the result of the choice you're making in turning from me. That it's bitter for you. This is bad water.

This is not gonna satisfy you. It'll give momentary thirst quenching, but ultimately, this is crummy water to build your life in and on. It's a, it's the language of intervention, right? It's the wife who pulls in her husband's friend and says, look, I can't get through to him. Would you join us in this little gathering in our living room, where we're just gonna speak into him and say, Hey, Fred.

Look at what you're doing. Look at what these choices are accomplishing in your life. We're here because we love you. Well, that's what God's doing here. In verse 19, it's an intervention meeting. And why do you need an intervention? Because we deny reality. The problem is people deny that sin is really the issue.

That it's wandering from God. That they have betrayed God and turned someone else, somewhere else for their sinner. It is not fatal. It is fatal to deny the significance of it. There is something about alcohol that puts out a force field of denial. It's fatal to deny you're an alcoholic. Lucy, he wasn't an alcoholic, but he, she called him out in this cartoon.

I think we have it. You know what your problem is, Charlie Brown? The problem with you is Charlie Brown. No, I don't want to know. Leave me alone. If you know Lucy, you understand that response. The whole trouble with you, Charlie Brown, is you won't listen to what the whole trouble with you is. She's speaking the language of intervention to a guy that's denying.

I don't want to, I don't want to hear it. I don't need to face it. I, I don't need to hear from you. I don't want to know. Denying that sin is the problem keeps us from finding a solution. The answer to Meninger's question, whatever became a sin? Of sin is that we are choosing to think it's not that consequential People don't want to hear it's a betrayal of god.

Yeah, I don't do everything right but You know, it's not really I I there's people that live a lot worse than I do There's people that have a lot bigger stuff going on in their life than I do. I mean that that that's

And god wants to break through And show us the pervasiveness of sin In the context that we have turned away from God's centrality and at the control center of our lives. I'm gonna jump, past this next illustration just for time. Ernest Becker, an author that I really have appreciated. I've read most of his stuff.

He's a, again, a psychiatrist of days past, but he wrote, he won the Pulitzer Prize. one of his books was a book that was entitled The Structure of Evil, and in that he said the structure of evil, the real problem in the world, war, poverty, violence, et cetera, are a result of social structures. That they correct the social structures in a society, the educational system, the family structure, and how it's designed.

Institutional structures, you will be able to correct the problems that people are having. It was a very contemporary perspective post World War II and the decades that followed. Later in his life, he wrote another book, and this was his Pulitzer Prize entree. It was called, Escape from Evil. And in the preface of the book, he had changed completely.

Here's what he says in the preface. I'm now looking at humanity full in the face for the first time. In my previous works, I had failed to see how truly vicious human behavior is. This is a dilemma that I have been caught with along with many others who have been trying to keep alive the enlightenment tradition.

This enormous problem to see that humanity is so evil causing now requires some third alternative beyond bureaucratic science changing the social structure or just despair. We believe that third option is the option that is declaring himself the source of living waters. Our problem comes as a result of denying the role of sin in our life.

Let me just try to play this out practically. Worry is a result of some danger being more central in your life than God. It's bigger to you than God. You're more in awe of a danger than you are of God's power and presence. When you engage in self pity, you're more in awe of some benefit you have lost than you are of God.

When you yield to lust, you are more in awe of some visual stimulation than you are of God. When you are angry, you are more in awe of some offense done against you than you are in awe of God's forgiveness of your offenses. When you are filled with guilt, you are more in awe of your failure than you are of God's grace and his plans for bringing good from your failure.

Sin is our problem. It's the root of all the struggles in our life. But sin is not so much looked at by God. As your acts, or your words, your failures, or your screw ups, but as betrayal. You're turning away from Him as the true life giving fountain for your life. We're looking to other broken cisterns, cheap substitutes, to give us what God wants to give to us.

So what does this tell us about God? What does it tell us about God that God's primary metaphor of sin is adultery? That it is Going to other things, to other mistresses of, if you will, of, of a deity style. It tells me two things. It tells us that God takes sin seriously. He is holy. He's set apart from sin.

He's completely different. He's never motivated by greed or maliciousness or vindictiveness. So what does that mean about how He views your sin? Well, it means He takes it seriously. But why? It is not ultimately because it's an affront to Him.

But it is ultimately Because it is poison to you.

You may react, well, no, God cares most about his glory. I agree with that. God created us for his glory, to bring him glory.

But until you understand this reality of living with God, you won't understand what I'm trying to say this morning. And this statement is this, God is most glorified in you when you are most satisfied in him. When that begins to, I remember when God, and John Piper is one, made that statement probably clearest to me, began to permeate my soul, and I began to think, wait, you mean God's ultimate.

Pleasure is that and his design is that he would be glorified in my life, finding joy and satisfaction and contentment and my life purpose in him that that brings him more glory. And all the things I think, well, I'll do this for God, or I'll be this way for God. He says, no, Mark. The more you live, as Jared talked about last week, and embracing your brokenness, your need of me, your need of drinking at my cistern, the more you're able to live.

to my glory. His glory and your joy somehow follow parallel tracks. And the more that we understand that reality of God, that yes, He is holy. He is the holy other, W H O L L Y. But He is also holy, H O L Y, different, set apart.

But in his holiness, the visual is not of God's responding to your sin as a strict schoolmarm waiting to smack your hand with a ruler, but of a loving mother grieving over the destructive choices of her child. That's one metaphor of a heavy hearted mother. Another one is this passage. It tells us that God loves sinners tenderly.

A grief stricken husband here whose wife betrays him in an adulterous affair. And he says, that's what's happened when you've turned from drinking at my spring and you turn to another cistern. He said, you've spurned my love. You've spurned what I want to give you. I have the real water.

And sin is betrayal. It's spurning it. And he said, no, no. I'll find it here. I'll find it here. I'll find it here. I'll find it here. I'll be the great one and find out the emptiness of living that way.

This statement is by Brennan Manning. It's called A Glimpse of Jesus. Here's what he says. God's compassion enables us to be compassionate toward ourselves. It's the divine compassion that Jesus embodies in human history and in his own compassionate life and death. Before I am asked to show compassion to my brothers and sisters in their suffering, I'm asked to accept the Father's compassion in my own life.

To be transformed by it, to become caring and compassionate toward myself and my own suffering and hurt in my own failure and need. The Father's loving graciousness is not in any way conditioned by or dependent upon what we are or do. He will be gracious and compassionate toward us no matter what we are or do.

He will be gracious and compassionate toward us because that's the kind of father he is. He's Abba, the intimate form, term, for Father in the Scriptures. We should never speak of losing the state of grace in this sense, for God never stops being gracious and faithful to us. His being gracious does not depend on us.

He will be unfailingly loving. In another book of his, he says this. It's called Abba's Child. It's a short one. One of the most shocking contradictions in the American church is the intense dislike many disciples of Jesus have for themselves. They're more displeased with their own shortcomings than they would ever dream of being with someone else's.

They're sick of their own mediocrity and disgusted by their own inconsistencies. I read a while back Karl Barth, a German theologian during World War II, brilliant theologian. He was analyzing Adolf Hitler's view of God. I don't know if you know this, I've said this before in a seminar I taught, but, Adolf Hitler, in his writings, talked about God a lot.

It was what caused the, the, the churches of Germany actually to be among some of his main supporters originally. He would have book burnings of pornographic books. He was a hero to the church. It was, it was people like Barnhofer and others, Karl Barth, that saw, you gotta look beyond the verbiage. But he always talked about God.

But interestingly, he always called God the same title. He called him the Almighty. Now, God is Almighty. But as Karl Barth said, Perhaps you recall how when Hitler used to speak about God, he called him the Almighty. But it is not the Almighty who is God. We cannot understand from the standpoint of a supreme concept of power who God is.

And he certainly was denying that God was that power. And the man who calls the Almighty God, misses God in the most terrible way. For the Almighty can be bad, as power in itself is bad. The Almighty can mean chaos and evil. The Almighty could be associated as the devil. We could not better describe and define the devil than by trying to think this idea of a self based free sovereign ability.

The reformer Martin Luther knew well how the, the, the fatherhood of God changes His concept of God he talked about how he said and he was a devout practicing quote Christian He was a monk. He was giving his life to the service of God, but he made this statement. He said I did not love, yes, frankly, I hated the righteous God who punished sinners, and secretly, if not blasphemously, certainly, murmuring greatly, I was angry with God.

Luther goes on to talk about, it wasn't until I understood. A God of compassion, a God of forgiveness, a God who says in Romans 1, in verse 17, where he talks about the just shall live by faith, not by their works. But then later in that passage, he talks about this God being for us. And he says many of us turn to transferring our affections to Mary and the saints, because it was them that we could love and to them that we would find ourselves praying.

So how can we be healed because here we are in the desert and he's saying to people, you know you got lots of stuff going on lots of struggles lots of emptiness lots of conflict in your life and Most of all you've got conflict in you and he says you're never gonna really be okay When you're drinking at the wrong water source You're never really going to fill up the the drought that you feel inside the thirst that My life is not how it ought to be.

It doesn't mean you won't have overt struggles and conflicts. I'm not saying that at all. But what I'm saying is, that internal anger, that internal turmoil, that internal stuff. He says, you gotta drink at the right cistern. He says, I've got to be central. And he says, sin is not so much, you did this, and you didn't do this.

No, it's that you turn and so you turn to all different as all kinds of things you live out because of that But he says ultimately you're just not drinking at the right place You're not allowing me to be the center of your life How did Jesus Christ make you and how does he make you what you have been trying to make yourself all these years?

First of all, he gave his life for you He accepts you who is rejected that you could be accepted. There is not another religion like this on earth. All religions say, do this, fail, and you're out. Jesus Christ says, fail, and I will die for you. I will be here for you, and I will never leave you.

Today, as we start January 24th,

I think what God says to us is, turn away from these lover gods. Turn away from these other things you're depending on, you're obeying, you're loving, and he says come to me Sin is not, you, you, you messed up, you did this, you, come on, come on You don't really hear God speaking to your sin until you hear it in the voice of lament.

Until you hear it in the broken hearted mother who with, Augustine. His mother Monica would follow him around. At the time he was probably the most renowned philosopher in the world. He was just a brilliant, brilliant man. And he, and he probably slept with more women than anyone in his generation.

Every city, every place, he was into everything. And his mother would, would, would use her life savings and would follow him. and pray for him, plead with God for him. And eventually, when Augustine, Augustine was dramatically changed by the gospel of grace, he always pointed to his mother's prayers. You don't really see God until you see him in the mother's heart of Monica, until you see the father looking at his prodigal and running out of his house.

Not a word of a rebuke rain, just. This is God. He is most glorified in you when you are most satisfied in Him. He sees sin not ultimately as you didn't get it right. He sees it as you turned from me. You spurned what I want to give to you. I mean, could there be any more powerful visual of God's love than that the way He describes sin is adultery.

Adultery is pain. Adultery is loss. Adultery is rejection.

And all of that is sourced out of a partner who loves the person that has turned, turned from them. My greatest prayer for the people that are most close in my life, my greatest prayer for you as, as the church family that I am a part of,

is that you will find God the safest person in your life. You see that? The person you feel most comfortable with. The person you delight being with the most, because you know, I don't know everything about God, hardly, but I know this. He's crazy about me. When we begin to grasp that, we begin to say, Why in the world?

Would I choose this? Why in the world would I choose pornography? Why in the world would I choose these other addictive behaviors? I have this. I have him.

To me, that's a bit of a dissection of sin, and I love what it shows me about God. Lord, we come to you this morning.

Lord, you're the pursuing God because you're a God of grace. God, how I pray.

That you would bring into our lives the things that are necessary to show us the emptiness of the things that we're Holding on to so dearly that are keeping us from really drinking at your well God I trust you to do that and I ask you to do that only because I know that the alternative is to love in the the subhuman lives that we so often live in That our false idols offer to us, Lord, may we, we come to the, to the well

in Jesus name. Amen.

You guys can stand, we're going to sing one more song.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/a-dissection-of-sin-and-what-it-tells-us-about-god 2da8dbc3-61de-4cab-a8aa-177e7c480e5d Sun, 07 Jan 2024 14:42:58 GMT <div data-html="true">Jeremiah 2:1-13, 19 <br /><br /> And I brought you into a plentiful land to enjoy its fruits and its good things. But when you came in, you defiled my land and made my heritage an abomination. <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> Morning everybody. I invite you to take your Bibles. We're going to be looking at the book of Jeremiah this morning. I've got a one off sermon this morning, which i'm excited about, which means we're not in the middle of a series right now. And as we take our first Sunday in January, I have a message which probably isn't going to feel particularly edifying when you hear the title. <br /><br /> A dissection of sin, but the second part of the title, and what it says about God. It's actually a sermon I'm very excited about. We're gonna look at Jeremiah chapter 2, verses 1 through 13, and then down to verse 19. <br /><br /> And this is actually a sermon, the first of a series of sermons that Jeremiah the prophet is presenting to people who are trying to figure out what's wrong. Everything was going wrong with the country, they're in danger of enemies coming, there's famine, there's a variety of things. And Jeremiah is presenting an opening sermon to them. <br /><br /> Which is kind of what I'm doing here in 2024. Jeremiah chapter 1, excuse me, chapter 2, verse 1. The word of the Lord came to me saying, Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem. Thus says the Lord. I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed me in the wilderness in a land not sown. <br /><br /> Israel was holy to the Lord, the first fruits of his harvest. All who ate of it incurred guilt. Disaster came upon them, declares the Lord. Hear the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all the clans of the house of Israel. Thus says the Lord, What wrong did your fathers find in me that they went from me and went after worthlessness, and became worthless? <br /><br /> They did not say, Where is the Lord who brought us up from the land of Egypt, who led us in the wilderness, in a land of deserts and pits, in a land of drought and deep darkness, in a land that none passes through, where no man dwells. And I brought you into a plentiful land to enjoy its fruits and its good things. <br /><br /> But when you came in, you defiled my land and made my heritage an abomination. The priests did not say, Where is the Lord? Those who handle the law did not know me. The shepherds transgressed against me. The prophets prophesied by Baal and went after things that do not profit. Therefore I still contend with you, declares the Lord. <br /><br /> And with your children's children I will contend. For cross to the coast of Cyprus and see, or send to Kedar and examine with care. See if there has been such a thing. Has a nation changed its gods, even though they are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit. Be appalled, O heavens, at this. <br /><br /> Be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the Lord. And then this key verse. For my people have committed two evils. They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters. And hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water. And I'm going to dump down to verse 19, so to the conclusion. <br /><br /> Your evil will chastise you, and your apostasy will reprove you. Know and see that it is evil and bitter for you to forsake the Lord your God. The fear of me is not in you, declares the Lord God of hosts. Lord, we come to you this morning. And first off, Lord, I just, I want to agree with the songwriter. You are worthy. <br /><br /> You are worthy of all blessing and honor and glory and power. Lord, it's such a privilege to gather this morning among people the vast majority of whom would say, yeah, he's worthy of praise and honor and adoration. He is worthy of my devotion. He is worthy of my love. He is worthy of my yielding all that I am. <br /><br /> And Lord, I pray that this morning We might more fully see your worthiness. Speak into us through this passage, I pray, in Jesus name. Amen. 1973, Carl Menninger, at the time one of the leading premier psychiatrists in America, wrote a book, which was entitled, Whatever Happened to Sin? It's an interesting book, of course, with the very question. <br /><br /> And it wasn't written by, a Bible thumping preacher from the South. This guy was a prominent secular, psychiatrist. And, he was unhappy about an environment he saw in Western culture, which he described as everything I do that's wrong is someone else's fault. He lamented the fact that American society seemed to be rejecting the concept of personal accountability. <br /><br /> The word sin, Menninger argued, was disappointing from the American vocabulary. For him, even if the concept was ignored, he believed that individuals as well as society would still suffer the negative consequences of ignoring some absolute direction of life, the will of God, if you will, for people's lives. <br /><br /> In the years since Menninger wrote his book, this has of course continued in our culture. The idea that turning away from God is the root. Of the problems in my life can seem out of touch Archaic, it's hard to imagine tomorrow that we are going to turn to Social media and find in instagram posts that that will be the way that There is a self description of LeBron James, or Johnny Depp, or Lady Gaga, or the Kardashians. <br /><br /> Yeah, my sin is the root of all the struggles that I'm facing in my life. Yet the entire teaching of the Bible and church history is founded on this reality. Sin is the root of our problem. It plays a part in all of our problems. But what is sin, actually? Is it breaking a rule? Is it falling short of a standard? <br /><br /> Is it rebellion against divine authority? In a broad sense, all of those things are involved. But it is not the ultimate perspective of sin. And this morning, in this passage, I want to join Jeremiah and try to dissect what sin actually is. And then I want to show what that shows about God. Frankly, I hope, and I think, what we're going to find is going to surprise you. <br /><br /> Jeremiah chapter 2, as I mentioned earlier, is the first of a series of sermons. That jeremiah is giving to the people and it's really an answer to the question Why is everything falling apart? Our culture is crumbling our family structures are Are collapsing and in this passage he is presenting to them A sermon a series on sin what it is and what its effects are <br /><br /> here. The lord gives the answer Through his prophet to his people notably in verse 13 and 19 He tells them a dissection of sin, and in it, he shows us about our sin, and he shows us about our God. I want to turn here and now look at a couple of things he says. First of all, the dissection of sin. And in chapter 2, and I'm going to focus here on verse 13, he presents the nature, first of all, of sin. <br /><br /> He says, For my people have committed two evils. They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters and hued out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water. The nature of sin is betrayal. Here's what he says. They have forsaken me. They have turned from me. They forsake forsook God. In verse eight, verse 13, they left God for other things, other gods small Gs. <br /><br /> Sin is more like the act of a traitor. than of a criminal A criminal breaks the law of his country. A traitor betrays his country. A criminal violates the law. A traitor violates a trust, a relationship. What they betrayed was God had been their source of living water. And it says, My people have turned to cheap substitutes. <br /><br /> There were three ways you could get water at this time. One was you could get it from the ultimate source, would be a spring of continually life giving, healthy water that was clean, that came from the depths, and it was a pure water. source of water. The second was you could dig a shallow well and actually you would fill it with water. <br /><br /> Sometimes it would be some that would steep in, but it usually was a well that was basically a holding tank. And then there was this thing called a cistern, which were basically things that were constructed usually above the ground to hold the water. And they, they tended to, the water in there tended to get hot. <br /><br /> It tended to be a, a, a place where mosquitoes swarmed. It tended to get cracks. It was the worst place to get your water. The best place was this stream of bubbling life giving water that was, that was from the depths and would bring healthy water, cool water, refreshing water. God says, I'm that water and I want to be that water. <br /><br /> But my people have turned to these broken cisterns and they're trying to drink. This faulty, <br /><br /> perverted water that's warm and rancid. They went to other places, other things, to quench their thirst, to meet their need. They replaced God. They not only forsook Him, but it says they have turned to these other systems. In verse 19 it says, They no longer fear Me, but they fear these other things. Now, awe in the scriptures is a term that is used to translate fear. <br /><br /> There are two types of fear in the Bible. One is the fear of you're in danger. You feel fear of potential harm. You're in a room. You're talking to a friend and, spiders are not your thing. And a spider crawls the floor across the floor. I'm sorry, right now you're all weirded. Some of you're weirded out already, but this spider goes across and you, you, you miss this thing and it's gone. <br /><br /> And, and so you and I are sitting there and, and, and, and the spider's going somewhere. I don't know where it is. You can't get your mind off this spider. You know, just where did it go? Where is it? And I try to help out. I said, don't worry, it won't eat much. I mean, it'll be fine. But you've got to find out where that spider is. <br /><br /> Because who knows where it's going to show up and what it's going to do. Who knows what kind it is. The spider has become central. To everything that's going on in that individual's life at that moment. There is fear of danger and harm There's another sense of fear in the old testament and the new testament And that is the sense of a fear not of something that we dread but of something that is Dominant to us It is something powerful But that is the sense that we could translate by the word all it is big To us, it is powerful, perhaps even dangerous, but there is delight in the object that we are drawn to the object. <br /><br /> We are not trying to get away. We are drawn to, to the object of our awe. And God is talking about I I was that to you? I was the one that, yes. Am I dangerous? Yes, but you know, I'm not dangerous to you. Am I for you? Yes. Do you know I'm big and powerful? Yes. There is a sense of awe, but the common denominator of these two fears is that this thing becomes a preoccupation. <br /><br /> Can become almost an obsession. That the thing we fear or the thing that we're in awe of becomes central to us. It's the dominating reality in our life. And God says, I want to be this to you. I want to be the one that you look to for your water. I want to be the one that, that, that is control center of your life. <br /><br /> But you've turned to this bro, these broken cisterns, to these other small g gods, these other things to provide that satisfaction in your life. And in that sense, you have sinned. You have betrayed me. You have turned from me a while back. I was really trying to, trying to think of a handle for the. What an idol is and I'd studied for Few years ago. <br /><br /> I did a study of Idolatry and did a whole series a 12 week series on American idols And I was trying I did two sermons on an anatomy of an idol. What is an idol? I was fascinated to find that there were three words that were constantly used in the scriptures to describe an idol and I realized recently that That those three words are the exact words that can fit into, a formula. <br /><br /> And here's the formula. Idle is simply this. I D I O N I L An idle is something I depend on, or it is something I obey. Or it is something I love, and in that context, all of them are more than God. And in the scripture, the word depend on is sometimes called, trust in. But, The sense of depending on, obeying, and loving is throughout the scripture, the description of something that I have idolized in my life and have displaced God from that position of central in my life. <br /><br /> And here's what he says, he says, you don't fear me. You're not looking to me. You're not depending on me. You're not ultimately. And ultimately, you've made these other things your love gods. And he says, this is the sense of what sin is. It is turning to something else. Something is more awesome, more captivating, more dynamic to God. <br /><br /> And at that moment, you will tend to live out sins. But the reality of sin is betrayal. And I'm going to come back to that because that says some very compelling things about God. The second thing that's true in this, this, dissection of sin, we not only see its nature, but he also tells us the life support of sin. <br /><br /> And that is denial. It's found in verse 19. God pulls the people together and he says this to them. Know and see that it's evil and bitter for you. He says, look at what you're doing. Look at know it. See it. See the result of the choice you're making in turning from me. That it's bitter for you. This is bad water. <br /><br /> This is not gonna satisfy you. It'll give momentary thirst quenching, but ultimately, this is crummy water to build your life in and on. It's a, it's the language of intervention, right? It's the wife who pulls in her husband's friend and says, look, I can't get through to him. Would you join us in this little gathering in our living room, where we're just gonna speak into him and say, Hey, Fred. <br /><br /> Look at what you're doing. Look at what these choices are accomplishing in your life. We're here because we love you. Well, that's what God's doing here. In verse 19, it's an intervention meeting. And why do you need an intervention? Because we deny reality. The problem is people deny that sin is really the issue. <br /><br /> That it's wandering from God. That they have betrayed God and turned someone else, somewhere else for their sinner. It is not fatal. It is fatal to deny the significance of it. There is something about alcohol that puts out a force field of denial. It's fatal to deny you're an alcoholic. Lucy, he wasn't an alcoholic, but he, she called him out in this cartoon. <br /><br /> I think we have it. You know what your problem is, Charlie Brown? The problem with you is Charlie Brown. No, I don't want to know. Leave me alone. If you know Lucy, you understand that response. The whole trouble with you, Charlie Brown, is you won't listen to what the whole trouble with you is. She's speaking the language of intervention to a guy that's denying. <br /><br /> I don't want to, I don't want to hear it. I don't need to face it. I, I don't need to hear from you. I don't want to know. Denying that sin is the problem keeps us from finding a solution. The answer to Meninger's question, whatever became a sin? Of sin is that we are choosing to think it's not that consequential People don't want to hear it's a betrayal of god. <br /><br /> Yeah, I don't do everything right but You know, it's not really I I there's people that live a lot worse than I do There's people that have a lot bigger stuff going on in their life than I do. I mean that that that's <br /><br /> And god wants to break through And show us the pervasiveness of sin In the context that we have turned away from God's centrality and at the control center of our lives. I'm gonna jump, past this next illustration just for time. Ernest Becker, an author that I really have appreciated. I've read most of his stuff. <br /><br /> He's a, again, a psychiatrist of days past, but he wrote, he won the Pulitzer Prize. one of his books was a book that was entitled The Structure of Evil, and in that he said the structure of evil, the real problem in the world, war, poverty, violence, et cetera, are a result of social structures. That they correct the social structures in a society, the educational system, the family structure, and how it's designed. <br /><br /> Institutional structures, you will be able to correct the problems that people are having. It was a very contemporary perspective post World War II and the decades that followed. Later in his life, he wrote another book, and this was his Pulitzer Prize entree. It was called, Escape from Evil. And in the preface of the book, he had changed completely. <br /><br /> Here's what he says in the preface. I'm now looking at humanity full in the face for the first time. In my previous works, I had failed to see how truly vicious human behavior is. This is a dilemma that I have been caught with along with many others who have been trying to keep alive the enlightenment tradition. <br /><br /> This enormous problem to see that humanity is so evil causing now requires some third alternative beyond bureaucratic science changing the social structure or just despair. We believe that third option is the option that is declaring himself the source of living waters. Our problem comes as a result of denying the role of sin in our life. <br /><br /> Let me just try to play this out practically. Worry is a result of some danger being more central in your life than God. It's bigger to you than God. You're more in awe of a danger than you are of God's power and presence. When you engage in self pity, you're more in awe of some benefit you have lost than you are of God. <br /><br /> When you yield to lust, you are more in awe of some visual stimulation than you are of God. When you are angry, you are more in awe of some offense done against you than you are in awe of God's forgiveness of your offenses. When you are filled with guilt, you are more in awe of your failure than you are of God's grace and his plans for bringing good from your failure. <br /><br /> Sin is our problem. It's the root of all the struggles in our life. But sin is not so much looked at by God. As your acts, or your words, your failures, or your screw ups, but as betrayal. You're turning away from Him as the true life giving fountain for your life. We're looking to other broken cisterns, cheap substitutes, to give us what God wants to give to us. <br /><br /> So what does this tell us about God? What does it tell us about God that God's primary metaphor of sin is adultery? That it is Going to other things, to other mistresses of, if you will, of, of a deity style. It tells me two things. It tells us that God takes sin seriously. He is holy. He's set apart from sin. <br /><br /> He's completely different. He's never motivated by greed or maliciousness or vindictiveness. So what does that mean about how He views your sin? Well, it means He takes it seriously. But why? It is not ultimately because it's an affront to Him. <br /><br /> But it is ultimately Because it is poison to you. <br /><br /> You may react, well, no, God cares most about his glory. I agree with that. God created us for his glory, to bring him glory. <br /><br /> But until you understand this reality of living with God, you won't understand what I'm trying to say this morning. And this statement is this, God is most glorified in you when you are most satisfied in him. When that begins to, I remember when God, and John Piper is one, made that statement probably clearest to me, began to permeate my soul, and I began to think, wait, you mean God's ultimate. <br /><br /> Pleasure is that and his design is that he would be glorified in my life, finding joy and satisfaction and contentment and my life purpose in him that that brings him more glory. And all the things I think, well, I'll do this for God, or I'll be this way for God. He says, no, Mark. The more you live, as Jared talked about last week, and embracing your brokenness, your need of me, your need of drinking at my cistern, the more you're able to live. <br /><br /> to my glory. His glory and your joy somehow follow parallel tracks. And the more that we understand that reality of God, that yes, He is holy. He is the holy other, W H O L L Y. But He is also holy, H O L Y, different, set apart. <br /><br /> But in his holiness, the visual is not of God's responding to your sin as a strict schoolmarm waiting to smack your hand with a ruler, but of a loving mother grieving over the destructive choices of her child. That's one metaphor of a heavy hearted mother. Another one is this passage. It tells us that God loves sinners tenderly. <br /><br /> A grief stricken husband here whose wife betrays him in an adulterous affair. And he says, that's what's happened when you've turned from drinking at my spring and you turn to another cistern. He said, you've spurned my love. You've spurned what I want to give you. I have the real water. <br /><br /> And sin is betrayal. It's spurning it. And he said, no, no. I'll find it here. I'll find it here. I'll find it here. I'll find it here. I'll be the great one and find out the emptiness of living that way. <br /><br /> This statement is by Brennan Manning. It's called A Glimpse of Jesus. Here's what he says. God's compassion enables us to be compassionate toward ourselves. It's the divine compassion that Jesus embodies in human history and in his own compassionate life and death. Before I am asked to show compassion to my brothers and sisters in their suffering, I'm asked to accept the Father's compassion in my own life. <br /><br /> To be transformed by it, to become caring and compassionate toward myself and my own suffering and hurt in my own failure and need. The Father's loving graciousness is not in any way conditioned by or dependent upon what we are or do. He will be gracious and compassionate toward us no matter what we are or do. <br /><br /> He will be gracious and compassionate toward us because that's the kind of father he is. He's Abba, the intimate form, term, for Father in the Scriptures. We should never speak of losing the state of grace in this sense, for God never stops being gracious and faithful to us. His being gracious does not depend on us. <br /><br /> He will be unfailingly loving. In another book of his, he says this. It's called Abba's Child. It's a short one. One of the most shocking contradictions in the American church is the intense dislike many disciples of Jesus have for themselves. They're more displeased with their own shortcomings than they would ever dream of being with someone else's. <br /><br /> They're sick of their own mediocrity and disgusted by their own inconsistencies. I read a while back Karl Barth, a German theologian during World War II, brilliant theologian. He was analyzing Adolf Hitler's view of God. I don't know if you know this, I've said this before in a seminar I taught, but, Adolf Hitler, in his writings, talked about God a lot. <br /><br /> It was what caused the, the, the churches of Germany actually to be among some of his main supporters originally. He would have book burnings of pornographic books. He was a hero to the church. It was, it was people like Barnhofer and others, Karl Barth, that saw, you gotta look beyond the verbiage. But he always talked about God. <br /><br /> But interestingly, he always called God the same title. He called him the Almighty. Now, God is Almighty. But as Karl Barth said, Perhaps you recall how when Hitler used to speak about God, he called him the Almighty. But it is not the Almighty who is God. We cannot understand from the standpoint of a supreme concept of power who God is. <br /><br /> And he certainly was denying that God was that power. And the man who calls the Almighty God, misses God in the most terrible way. For the Almighty can be bad, as power in itself is bad. The Almighty can mean chaos and evil. The Almighty could be associated as the devil. We could not better describe and define the devil than by trying to think this idea of a self based free sovereign ability. <br /><br /> The reformer Martin Luther knew well how the, the, the fatherhood of God changes His concept of God he talked about how he said and he was a devout practicing quote Christian He was a monk. He was giving his life to the service of God, but he made this statement. He said I did not love, yes, frankly, I hated the righteous God who punished sinners, and secretly, if not blasphemously, certainly, murmuring greatly, I was angry with God. <br /><br /> Luther goes on to talk about, it wasn't until I understood. A God of compassion, a God of forgiveness, a God who says in Romans 1, in verse 17, where he talks about the just shall live by faith, not by their works. But then later in that passage, he talks about this God being for us. And he says many of us turn to transferring our affections to Mary and the saints, because it was them that we could love and to them that we would find ourselves praying. <br /><br /> So how can we be healed because here we are in the desert and he's saying to people, you know you got lots of stuff going on lots of struggles lots of emptiness lots of conflict in your life and Most of all you've got conflict in you and he says you're never gonna really be okay When you're drinking at the wrong water source You're never really going to fill up the the drought that you feel inside the thirst that My life is not how it ought to be. <br /><br /> It doesn't mean you won't have overt struggles and conflicts. I'm not saying that at all. But what I'm saying is, that internal anger, that internal turmoil, that internal stuff. He says, you gotta drink at the right cistern. He says, I've got to be central. And he says, sin is not so much, you did this, and you didn't do this. <br /><br /> No, it's that you turn and so you turn to all different as all kinds of things you live out because of that But he says ultimately you're just not drinking at the right place You're not allowing me to be the center of your life How did Jesus Christ make you and how does he make you what you have been trying to make yourself all these years? <br /><br /> First of all, he gave his life for you He accepts you who is rejected that you could be accepted. There is not another religion like this on earth. All religions say, do this, fail, and you're out. Jesus Christ says, fail, and I will die for you. I will be here for you, and I will never leave you. <br /><br /> Today, as we start January 24th, <br /><br /> I think what God says to us is, turn away from these lover gods. Turn away from these other things you're depending on, you're obeying, you're loving, and he says come to me Sin is not, you, you, you messed up, you did this, you, come on, come on You don't really hear God speaking to your sin until you hear it in the voice of lament. <br /><br /> Until you hear it in the broken hearted mother who with, Augustine. His mother Monica would follow him around. At the time he was probably the most renowned philosopher in the world. He was just a brilliant, brilliant man. And he, and he probably slept with more women than anyone in his generation. <br /><br /> Every city, every place, he was into everything. And his mother would, would, would use her life savings and would follow him. and pray for him, plead with God for him. And eventually, when Augustine, Augustine was dramatically changed by the gospel of grace, he always pointed to his mother's prayers. You don't really see God until you see him in the mother's heart of Monica, until you see the father looking at his prodigal and running out of his house. <br /><br /> Not a word of a rebuke rain, just. This is God. He is most glorified in you when you are most satisfied in Him. He sees sin not ultimately as you didn't get it right. He sees it as you turned from me. You spurned what I want to give to you. I mean, could there be any more powerful visual of God's love than that the way He describes sin is adultery. <br /><br /> Adultery is pain. Adultery is loss. Adultery is rejection. <br /><br /> And all of that is sourced out of a partner who loves the person that has turned, turned from them. My greatest prayer for the people that are most close in my life, my greatest prayer for you as, as the church family that I am a part of, <br /><br /> is that you will find God the safest person in your life. You see that? The person you feel most comfortable with. The person you delight being with the most, because you know, I don't know everything about God, hardly, but I know this. He's crazy about me. When we begin to grasp that, we begin to say, Why in the world? <br /><br /> Would I choose this? Why in the world would I choose pornography? Why in the world would I choose these other addictive behaviors? I have this. I have him. <br /><br /> To me, that's a bit of a dissection of sin, and I love what it shows me about God. Lord, we come to you this morning. <br /><br /> Lord, you're the pursuing God because you're a God of grace. God, how I pray. <br /><br /> That you would bring into our lives the things that are necessary to show us the emptiness of the things that we're Holding on to so dearly that are keeping us from really drinking at your well God I trust you to do that and I ask you to do that only because I know that the alternative is to love in the the subhuman lives that we so often live in That our false idols offer to us, Lord, may we, we come to the, to the well <br /><br /> in Jesus name. Amen. <br /><br /> You guys can stand, we're going to sing one more song.</div> false no <![CDATA[Boast in Your Weakness]]> 2 Corinthians 12:1-10

he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that lthe power of Christ may rest upon me.



Sermon Transcript:

I'll tell you what, I would not suggest preaching on boasting in your weakness because the Lord just might allow you to be sick the whole week leading up to preaching. It's like, okay, Lord, I get it. I will boast in my weakness in this as well. good morning. It's really good to be with you guys. this morning.

It feels really strange to be in this room. Actually, last time I preached, I was on a very small stage in the gym and now the light's beaming on me and yeah, it's a little strange, but I'm, I'm, I'm glad to be here. if you don't know who I am, my name is Jared and I'm the youth pastor. And I got an email this week, this past week, and I literally started like actually laughing out loud, not like LOLing, like actually laughing out loud.

And it's from this, this youth ministry resource I use a lot for like a bunch of games. It's called Download Youth Ministry. They send like weekly emails out and I get this email this past week and I just I had to start off with it It says this The week between Christmas and New Year's the office is eerily quiet Emails vanish into a black hole of delayed responses and you find yourself doing odd weird jobs that you put off all year and eating a questionable amount of assorted fine cheeses and If you're one of the chosen ones You've been tapped on the shoulder to participate in the Sacred Holiday National Youth Pastor Preaches and Main Service Weekend.

We salute all of you who celebrate. So, I'm one of the chosen ones this morning that gets tapped on the shoulder. No, I only share that as a joke. I'm very excited to share what the Lord's put on my heart. honestly, this message has put on my heart for probably the past year or so. So, I'm very excited to say that, so.

I want to say Happy New Year's to everyone and I wanted to start off and bring some fireworks on stage But I figured the sanctuary is still reeling from the wax from the Christmas Eve service. So sorry Tim if we messed it up But when I say New Year's What comes to your mind? You can say it like New Year's.

New Year's resolutions. Who said that? Oh, hey, David. That's my cousin. yes, New Year's resolutions. I didn't even place him there. He just knew the answer. See, I knew that. when I, New Year's resolutions is always what comes to mind, right? And I love like all New Year's resolutions. I love thinking about it and looking at them.

And I just did a quick. Google search. Maybe you're one of those people that wants to start an annual Bible plan for your New Year's resolutions And you'll quit once you get to Leviticus, but you tried and like so good on you. It's a tough book to get through I'll be honest. Maybe you're trying to do something some fitness goals or whatever But I kind of noticed thinking about New Year's resolutions is The more I thought about them, the more I realized that most of them are really self centered.

They're all about us. And I just did a quick Google search about New Year's resolutions, and can you read that? Because I can't read. Okay. You know, improve fitness, improve finances, improve mental health, lose weight, improve diet. I don't know how those things are different. make more time for loved ones, stop smoking, learn a new skill, make more time for hobbies, improve work life balance, travel more, meditate regularly.

Drink less alcohol. Perform better at work. See how those three, those bottom three percent, that's what they least care about? If you kind of just glance at the scale here, you kind of realize, like, all of these are about me, right? These aren't my New Year's resolutions, just to let you know. These are the most popular ones of 2024.

But they're all about us, right? Improving me, improving how I might Perceived to someone else, how someone can see me. Wow, did you, have you been going to the gym? Wow, have you, have you lost weight? Wow, are you doing better at work? Have you improved your finances? I saw you got a new car or a new house.

It's all about me and looking good. And I know some of these things aren't necessarily bad, right? Like wanting to get healthy and lose some extra pounds. That's not a bad thing, but if what, where are, where our heart is for it. Where, where's our heart in that? Is it about us and, and wanting to get healthier?

Or is it about wanting to look a certain way because the world says it? And I know I'm guilty of this, right? I'm guilty of setting these own standards for myself. Well, this morning we're going to be looking at someone that doesn't boast or brag about the impressive things he does, but he actually does the opposite.

He boasts about the embarrassing weaknesses he has, even though the culture he was in was hyper focused on appearance and status. Would you turn with me to 2 Corinthians chapter 12, and me reading, in this passage. And I've just kind of been going through Corinthians in my own quiet time, the past couple months, and I just love these books.

They're really fun.

2 Corinthians chapter 12, starting in verse 1, says this. I must go on boasting, though there is nothing to be gained by it. I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up into the third heaven. Whether in the body or out of the body, I do not know.

God knows. And I know that this man was caught up into paradise, whether in the body or out of the body, I do not know. God knows. And he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter. On behalf of this man, I will boast, but on my own behalf, I will not boast, except of my weaknesses. Though if I should wish to boast, I would not be a fool, for I would be speaking the truth, but a refraining from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me.

So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from being conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me, but he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.

Therefore, I'll boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest on me. For the sake of Christ, then, I'm content with weaknesses. insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I'm strong. Would you pray with me this morning?

Lord, I thank you for who you are. God, I thank you that you're a God who specializes in weakness.

Lord, and I just pray that you'd give me the strength and energy to get through this sermon. Lord, I pray that you'd open up our hearts. To your word, Lord, that you'd open up our hearts and minds, Lord, to your spirit to work through me, Lord. God, I pray that, uh, at the end of this, Lord, that you'd be glorified, Lord, and even in the midst of my own weakness that I feel, God, with my body right now, being sick, Lord, I just pray that you would, overcome that.

God, there's nothing, special or catchy I could say that could change anyone's hearts, Lord. It's only by your spirit. And only by your word that these things are done, Lord. And I know if I was up here alone, Lord, it would just be noise. Lord, so I just ask that you'd come down, Lord. That you'd be with us and just reveal yourself this morning, God, and that your word would cut through our hearts.

Thank you for what this scripture has done in my own life, God. Thank you what it's taught me and continues to teach me, Lord. We pray that you'd bless our time this morning. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.

Thank you. Yeah, when I preach, I forgot to, you guys can always talk like it's like you want to shout something out. Don't, don't, don't do anything crazy, Gene. Okay, I'm watching you. I also forgot to mention, I wanted to shout out Collinswood. So thank you, Collinswood for tuning in. We love you. We're thinking about you.

but I love 1st and 2nd Corinthians. they're great books. They're one of my favorite epistles. There's a couple of epistles that Paul writes that are like. are more, like, generalized, like they're more, like, like I love Ephesians, that's a great book, but it's, it's more, like, he's not specifically, like, coming at the Ephesians for, like, specific things.

In Corinthians, like, it seems like he's almost got, he's got some beef with these people, like, and if you're over 40, beef just means, like, he's got conflict with them, you know what I mean? That's all I mean, sorry. I did say I was a youth pastor, right? So he's got like some like specific conflicts. He's calling out like specific people's sins.

Like I would love to like been in the house that they're reading this letter in and Paul's like yeah And such and such is doing what? Wait, with who and what? Like he's calling out specific things, right? He had a he had a deep relationship with the Corinthian people. He mentioned specific problems in their church.

Sexual immorality, marriage, food sacrifice to idols, unity, generosity. boasting and weaknesses is what we'll be looking at. but Paul was in Corinth. You go back to Acts chapter 18. He was there for a year and a half. He spent a long time there. he had a lasting relationship with the church in Corinth.

And he actually wrote more than the two letters that we have in our scripture. some of the letters were lost, so the letter we're studying today most likely wasn't actually the second letter. but it's just categorized that way in our Bibles. But like in many of the places Paul went, there was a lot of growth, but also a lot of resistance.

In 1st Corinthians, Paul calls out the Corinthians for a myriad of sins that they are willfully committing. This letter was not received well by the church and many rejected the letter so Paul decided to go and visit him and actually in his letters he calls this the painful visit with much tears. And then we get to 2 Corinthians where he'll be mainly looking, Paul writes this letter to assure the Corinthians of his love for them because most, most of them had repented of their sins, they've turned away.

And he's kind of just, he's affirming them of his love and commitment to them, but also kind of sharing up some of these people that still have not repented of their sins. And that's where we kind of land. this morning, the last three chapters, Paul's addressing this small group of individuals that still reject him.

They don't respect him and his leadership or his right as an apostle. And this is kind of, when it gets messy. Paul's addr addressing these self titled super apostles. It's a pretty good name, you know, like it'd be pretty cool to be a super pastor. I don't know what that looks like. I don't, I don't think I fit the bill, but you know, who knows.

But these were Jewish leaders that had come in and were preaching a false gospel. Paul makes that clear and to fully understand The city of Corinth. We kind of have to, understand what these apostles were doing and what they were like. Well, Corinth was a prominent city. it actually had two harbors.

So it had open waters on either side, which kind of made it a prominent trade and destination route. Corinth, Corinth was known for its educated speakers and philosophers. There were men known as sophists. which literally means wise ones. They were obsessed with rhetoric and would host events where speakers would debate one another.

They would actually charge people to come and listen to them and their speeches. They'd argue against one another and talk about different topics. And they had this whole, pride to them where they looked down on people who actually did, like, manual physical labor because they thought they weren't educated enough to do what they could do.

And this is the culture Paul is entering in. Alright, people obsessed with education, status, appearance, intelligence, and wealth. So in the early stages of the church's growth, they were lured away to these super apostles that were impressive in speech, and in conduct, and in their appearance. And they were preaching a false gospel that was attractive to these listeners.

We don't know exactly the specifics of what that looked like, but we know it's false because of what Paul says. And this is what Paul is up against in Corinth. And you wonder like, how does he handle this, right? Like he's going into a city where these people are obsessed with intelligence and appearance and education and these people that are really wise and can speak really well.

Well, you'd think he'd go in and he's like, Alright, I'm going to present my degrees. I'm going to let these people know, you know, I studied under Gamaliel. He's the rabbi of rabbis. He's the teacher of teachers. He's that guy. He's him. If you're over 40 again, that means, like, he's the top guy. You know, he's really good.

Right? He might, so, he might say, well, I was a Pharisee. I have most of the Old Testament memorized. You know, says all these things. I'm a citizen of Rome. I have Jewish heritage. No, he doesn't do any of these things. This is how Paul initially comes to the Corinthians. In 1st Corinthians 2, 1 through 5, he says this.

And when I came to you brothers, I did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and much trembling. And my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

I mean, think about this with me for a second. This is completely backwards to what me or you would have done. We would have shown our best hand, made ourselves look the best we could. Right? If I was going in and I knew these people were, were, were focused on speech and dialect, I would have came up with something crafty and, and, and so I could have a argument to all their arguments and, and win this debate.

No, Paul came in his weakness and fear and much trembling. This is how he came. This is how he wanted to come that I would know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. For the very purpose that they would not put their faith in man. But in God alone, and even when he does list some of his credentials to compare himself to these super apostles He states that those things are actually meaningless 2nd Corinthians 11 21 B through 30 says this right before our passage here.

It says but whatever anyone else dares to boast of I am speaking as a fool. I also dare to boast of that. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they offspring of Abraham? So am I. Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one. I am talking like a madman. With far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death.

Five times I received at the hands of the Jews, the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. A night and day I was adrift at sea on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers.

In toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure, and apart from other things, there is the daily pressure I feel from my anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant? If I must boast, I will boast of all the things that show my weakness.

I mean, man, that just says it all right there. Paul says he would, he's a fool to even compare the things that he does to these super apostles because it's all meaningless. Then he goes on to boast about the sufferings he has endured for Christ that really show not him to be strong or impressive or influential, but it shows him to be weak, vulnerable, and fragile.

And verse 30 sums up the whole thing. If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. He even admits in verse, 6 of chapter 11 that he's not even a good speaker. He talks about, I'm, I'm, if I was gifted in speech, which I'm not, right? That is why this passage in chapter 12 is so powerful and so important for us to understand.

Paul's character is attacked. His leadership skills, his appearance, his profession, his calling from God is all attacked. They basically say to Paul, you're ugly, poor, unimpressive, a terrible leader, a terrible preacher, and you suck at your job. And the craziest part, Paul doesn't defend himself. He says, yeah, you're right about most of those things, but I have a God who told me that His grace is enough for me.

That His power is made perfect in my weakness. He doesn't defend himself. He says, yeah, I'm gonna boast of my weakness so that the power of Christ may rest on me. So give me your best shot, hurl the insults, and bring the persecution. My God works best when I'm at my lowest. Amen. I hope you guys are getting this.

This is really good news for you and me. This is really good news. I was just up here with the worship team, and I'm like, man, aren't you guys glad that God decides to use broken, messed up people like us? They're like, yeah, dude, we're so glad, especially for you. No, they didn't say that.

This is really good news for us, and I just can't help but think that this is so countercultural of what I would have done in Paul's situation. I mean, it is like the, the last thing you would ever think to do as a leader. To go into a situation like this and you're like, you know what? I'm gonna make myself look weak, and vulnerable, and fragile, and helpless.

That'll, that'll win hearts for people. Right? Like, who, who would even think to do that? Paul does. See, because he knew that God is willing to meet us in our weaknesses, in our brokenness. God is not requiring us to be impressive. He is requiring us to be reliant on Him. This is the way of Christ. It's the way down.

It's the path of humility. God uses common, ordinary people to do extraordinary things because He's an extraordinary God. In chapter 4 of Acts, Peter and John are put on trial for healing a man. And if you remember from our study in Acts, they're put on trial. They, they heal this man. And they're, they're kind of interrogating him.

And Peter's just filled with the Holy Spirit. And he's just like, just spitting like straight truth facts. And like, these, these guys are just like blown away. They're like, what the heck is going on? Like, who are these? Like, we remember these guys. They weren't nearly this impressive. And Acts 4, 13 says this.

When they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished, and they recognized that they had been with Jesus. Can

you imagine your, your Luke, like, your penance, and your, and Peter and John are like, You sure you want to keep the part about the common, uneducated? Like, I don't, it may sound a little better if you just, you just scratch that part out, right? But the special part about Peter and John had nothing to do with them.

But everything to do with whom they had been with. All right. This is what our God does. He specializes in common, uneducated, weak, broken, fragile, trauma ridden. This is what he decides to make his specialty in.

I just want to ask us this question this morning. When people look at you, do they think of how talented you are? Or how intelligent you are? Or how attractive you are? How effective you are? Or do they look at you and see a broken person with a big God?

I don't know if you can tell, but I, I know I'm not, I'm not being as excited as I normally am. I'm trying to conserve my strength, but I love this passage. I've, I think one of the first times I read this passage, I was 14 years old. I remember, like, it felt like scales were falling off my eyes, like, I was like, cause I was just getting, like, I had the gospel all wrong, like, I thought I had to do something for God.

Like, I had, I thought I had to, like, bring something for Him to use, you know, like give Him some investment and He'd give me, like, a return. And when I read this, I just remember, I mean, like, whoa, He actually works best in my weakness? That doesn't, I don't even know how to comprehend that, but I like it because I feel really weak right now.

This, this passage is so powerful and I think for so long I focus so much about the whole, weakness part and I think I left out the boasting in the weakness part because no one really does that, right? Like you don't do that. People don't actually do that. but I think in the past year or two, God has really drilled home what it looks like to boast in my weakness, um, and just really through that has really exposed some idols that I had in my life.

And I just want to share a couple. If you don't mind, it's kind of hard to talk about boasting your weaknesses and, and, and not boasting your weakness while you're preaching on it. You know what I mean? That's a joke, guys. It's off crowd, I'll tell you what. These lights are so bright. I'm so tired. Okay. I want to tell you guys a story.

So my senior, after my senior year of high school, after my, yeah, after my senior year of high school, I interned for the first time at FCC. And for some reason I let Pastor Mike shave my head. And I, I thought it would be like one less thing to worry about. I knew I was going to be like going to camps, like week after week.

So I was like, alright, if I, if I don't have to worry about like washing my hair, like that's one less thing I have to worry about. So I let Pastor Mike, shave my head. And I don't know if he did something, like I'm not sure to this point, but my hair never grew back the same. Okay? I knew this was gonna happen.

I told JC this, I was like, I'm gonna tell this story, I'm gonna tell it as a joke. But it's not a joke, it's really embarrassing. can I sit down? Can the camera still see me if I sit down? I'm serious, I'm just a little tired. but, so, I shaved my head. And, my hair never grew back the same. So, I don't know if you know anything about genetics and hair loss, but it goes from your mom's dad.

And my mom's dad started losing his hair at 17, so I was screwed from, like, the beginning of time. so, my hair never grew back the same, and kind of from that point on. It just started getting like less and less. They're trying to figure out what to do with the lights. Sorry Randy I'm just gonna I'll stand up eventually I will But yeah, where was I?

So yeah, so never grew back the same and over the next couple like many years It just kind of started getting thinner and thinner and you know that sayings like you don't know like what you got until it's gone That's how I felt with my hair. I didn't realize like that How much, like, I cared what my hair looked like until I started losing it.

And, oh, it's, it sucked so bad. And, I thought it's not funny, I'm being for real here. yeah, just, it really sucked. And, I, and, you know, the past year or two specifically. You know, working with teenagers is a nightmare sometimes because they, they will find your weaknesses and insecurities and exploit them.

And they could, they could care less and they don't have the perspective to feel bad for you, even if you tell them. Anyway, Um, but so my, my high schoolers were absolutely ruthless with me. They're like, call me Baldy and all this stuff. And I'm like, you know what happened to, you know, those kids who called Elijah Baldy, right?

The bears came out. I'm like,

If you know what I'm talking about, it's funny. If you don't, you're like, what is going on? But basically a bunch of bears ate a bunch of kids. I love the Bible. but, yeah. So, and, but the worst, you know, the most embarrassing part about it was it's like it genuinely like. Like I, like, killed me. Like it, like, I genuinely was insecure about it, and it hurt so bad.

But you can't act like it hurts you, you like, then you're like this weak dude, you know, that cares so much about his hair, and that's like girly and feminine or whatever. I don't know what it is, but it just sucked. And I remember, like, anytime I would like play soccer or do something like that, it would always get worse because my hair would get sweaty.

And I was coming home one night from playing soccer, and this kid, though he's not here, he doesn't go to our church or anything, I love, I love the kid, he's a really good kid, he doesn't mean anything, but he was, it's really me bro, he was going in on me, and just, I was like, man, you better be careful, like, you know, like, you might lose your hair one day, like, I'm trying to be like, super calm, and act like it's not bothering me, And he's like, he's like, nah, my genes are good, man.

My, my, my, my mom's dad's got a full head of hair. I'm like, okay, cool, good, good. And I remember driving home that day. I was like, so sad. And I was like, I was like, man, like, I was like, why does this bother me so much? Like, why does this affect me so much? And, and I remember God just like really putting a microscope on my heart.

It's so hard when he does that. And he just, and I, I realized there's, there's idols in my life. And I, I realized that. I cared so much about my appearance. I cared so much about what people, like, thought of me. I wanted to be attractive, and I wanted to be young, actually. Like, I think I was idolizing my appearance and my youth.

You know, like, when you're the youth pastor, and you're young, and you're on a staff that's, like, triple your age, mostly, like, you kind of identify. Like, with your youth. Like, you, because you're played into the youth guy already. Like, I'm the youth pastor. I'm young. My, my, my pants are tighter than theirs.

Like, I, like, I, it's like, you get played into the role. So it's like, I might as well play into the role. And I was just, like, I was struck with that. Like, I'm idolizing these things in my life. Like, it, it hurts so bad to realize this. And that God just really exposed my heart to That I was, I cared so much and I was just processing it with my wife and I just realized like this was something I needed to let go and to give to God and I was like soon after, I decided to like shave my head and just be like screw it, whatever, like I'm done paying for haircuts, you know, if it's not gonna look good.

And then I started getting compared to my oldest brother Josh who's eight years older than me, you know what I mean? So it's just like doubled down on me. That was a joke actually, you can That one's both. That's a sad and a joke. all right, I'm gonna stand up now. but I wanted to share that this morning, um, because in the strangest way, I'm really thankful for my hair loss because without it, I don't think I would have ever realized how vain I was.

It really was a hidden idol in my life and, um, I didn't realize like how much it had a hold on me And I didn't even want to share it this morning because It genuinely feels like pathetic and I want to like to I don't want you guys to come up to me afterwards Please don't do this because every time I share this to something they're like Jared you look so handsome Like what you don't need your hair.

I'm literally not looking for that. Like that's not healthy Like I don't want that I like so just tell my mom that if you want her to tell my wife that they'll take it I don't want to hear that

But I didn't realize How much it had a hold on my heart until the Lord took that from me And I'm really grateful for that and because of God's grace in my life verse 10 says this I never I never saw this before This point because there's something about this is like a grown up thing when you when you have like size You're like taller and bigger than most people.

Most people don't say bad things about you. It just kind of works that way out. Like, I kind of was like blessed in that way. It's like you're taller than most. Most people aren't going to insult you because there's a, there's a taller, shorter thing going on. But I never realized in verse 10, it says this, you know, I'll be content.

Hold on, I'm gonna read it again. You know, it says for the sake of Christ and I'm content with weaknesses. Right after it says, it says insults, and I never picked that up until this, this period of my life. But because of God's grace in my life, I actually can be content in insults. Like, I actually, like, like, they don't have to hurt me.

Like, I don't have to feel insecure about it. I don't, like, because I know what God has done for me. I know who Jesus is in my life, and I have this crazy idea. That like, the uglier I get, like, the more I look like Jesus, right? And I might almost sound like blasphemous, but like, stay with me. Like, like, my desire to be young and attractive or care about my appearance was not from Jesus at all.

You know, actually in Isaiah 53, 2, it says, for he grew up before him like a young plant. And like a root out of dry ground, He had no form of majesty that we should look at Him. And no beauty that we should desire Him. I love the Chosen, but that guy is way too attractive to be Jesus. Like, I'm sorry, the luscious locks and everything, I don't think that's what Jesus looked like.

I think He looked like an ordinary dude. You wouldn't have been able to choose Him from a crowd. And I just realized that the less attractive I am, the more people will see Christ in me. The less they'll want to be around me because I'm funny, or good looking, or charming, or whatever like that. Not that I had any of those things before.

But, the more they'll see Christ in me. And I think Paul really understood this. And, and what I hope, and I'm getting to understand this, and I hope I continue to understand this, that the weaker and more pathetic I look, the more Christ can shine through me. Because people aren't going to look at me and say, Wow, Jared has this gift, or wow, Jared's impressive in this way.

They're going to say, Wow, God had a lot of mercy on Jared's life. And that's what Paul wanted these Corinthians to understand. That it's not me who's impressive. It's not me who's talented. Or even the gifts I have come from the gift giver. It's Him. It's Him. It's all about Him. Christ be magnified, not me.

And one of the most beautiful things about boasting your weakness is that you are constantly reminded of God's grace in your life. And how much you need it. Christian, Christian communities should be known for being open and honest about our weaknesses. About our sins and about our idols. We've been reading a book together as a staff called Lead by Paul Tripp.

And I can honestly say like, I love this book. Like, this book is one of the best books I've ever read. It's literally changed my life. And it talks about leaders in the church and how a lot of them have fallen and different things. And, just the epidemic of that, of spiritual falls for pastors and leaders in the church.

And it talks about how we can stop this, and it's about how it's not just the leader, it's the leadership community that surrounds them, right? Like, what if these leaders had people around them that cared for them, and that they were willing to be honest and open with, and, and, and complied in? What, what would the difference be?

And it's an incredible book. You don't even have to be in leadership to read it. I think you should just read it. But, um, one of the quotes here I love. It says this, I write convinced that we, the community of believers, can be the most honest community on earth. Because there's nothing that could be known, revealed, or exposed about us that hasn't atoning work.

That's pretty powerful, right? Like, what if we lived our lives like that? Like, we're the worst at doing this, Christians. Like, we love putting on masks. We love pretending like we're, we're okay. That we're not struggling with sin. That we're not struggling in our families. Like, what if we actually realized that the atoning work of Christ covered anything and everything in our lives?

What if our conversations were guided by this principle? What if our community groups Instead of saying, yeah, I need accountability for reading the Bible more. What if it was like, something real?

What if it was like, man, yeah, I actually need accountability when I go on my phone at night. What if it was like, yeah, I actually need accountability of how I'm speaking to my co workers. Yeah, what if it was like, man, I just yelled at my wife last week. And I just wanted to confess that to you. What if our conversations looked like that?

And this is why we can be comfortable in our weaknesses and be willing to boast in it because of what Jesus has accomplished for us. His perfect atoning work. It's got the five minute warning. Look, not from people, it's just like a timer back there if you want to look. I like bringing you guys in, you know.

Alright, I think on the notes page you guys have a spot for like warnings and takeaways. Yes? Okay. Yeah, okay, cool. We're entering into that phase now. I want to start with the warnings. There's one warning, but it has like two, like an A and B, if you're taking notes. First warning is just don't be like the Corinthians, and it has A and B.

A is Don't be like the Corinthians in the way that they desired the things of this world. Fame, appearance, talents, intelligence, money, sex. Have you ever read the book of Ecclesiastes? It's one of my favorite books in the Bible. Has this repeated phrase, chasing after the wind, vanity of vanity, meaningless, meaningless.

It's pretty depressing. Maybe that's why I like it. I don't know. But it talks about the idea of, you know, this guy in Ecclesiastes. He's chasing after everything the world could offer him. All these things, hard work, money. He has like a thousand different wives, you know, all these things. And he just comes up short every single time, meaningless, meaningless, vapored.

The word is actually used, hevel. It just means smoke, vapor. It's like, here, here, there, and gone. And that's what the Corinthians are after, and this is honestly what we prioritize a lot. That's the culture Paul was going to, and this is our culture. We want to elevate these things, and we think that if we somehow attain them, right, if we just get that raised, if we just get this car, if we just get that, if we just have that person to marry, or that person, or whatever, that somehow we'd feel rest.

But Paul really plays into this hand when he starts boasting about the things that he's done. But he says it's utter foolishness. The things that he's accomplished that the world would think is impressive is foolishness, actually. So don't be like the Corinthians in the way that they desire the things of this world.

Secondly, don't be like the Corinthians in how they wanted a leader. They wanted the best and brightest and the most talent and the most attractive and the most famous. Sound familiar? This is the same sin of the Israelites in 1 Samuel chapter 8. They asked God, they said, God we want a king to be like the nations.

So God gave him a king like the nations. They got Saul. He was taller than everyone else. He was more attractive than anyone else. He was a great war leader. You know what sucked about Saul? His heart. His heart was far from the Lord. They wanted a king like the nations and they got one. It wasn't until David, a man after God's own heart, where they got a king like God intended.

But we do this exact same thing with our leaders. We want our celebrity pastors on the, on the bright stages, and they look good, and they dress cool, and they're whatever. But we could care less of their heart. We could care less about their relationships. As long as they just give a good sermon, I'll listen, and I'll walk out happy.

Now for the

takeaways. Two takeaways. First, God's grace is enough for you. No matter where you're at, no matter what your weaknesses are, or what the thorn in your flesh is, God's grace is sufficient for you. And that word sufficient is actually, the Greek is archeo. Sounds sufficient like it's just enough, like it's just like barely enough.

That word literally means to be possessed of unfailing strength. It's not just barely enough, it's overabundant of all that you need enough. So no matter what you're dealing with, whatever hardships or difficulties or sin you have in your life, God's grace truly is enough for you, I believe that. And I, I believe there's a reason why Paul doesn't name the thorn in his flesh.

Because we'd probably be like, I don't have that! So, God's grace is not sufficient in me. Right? But he leaves it open, I think, because so we can identify what the Lord has placed in our lives to remind us of our, Dependability on him and our weaknesses secondly because of Christ you can be content in weaknesses insults hardships Persecutions and calamities see preaching is not that hard.

I'm just I'm just rewriting the verse It's just and this is the verse that we've studied the whole time. That's my point. It's pretty easy because of Christ You can be content in weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. This is the promise this passage gives us, that we can be content people.

I'm running out of time, but I have this quick story. We're on, my work site on Sun Servants Missions Trip, and we have all of these different students from different churches and stuff like that, and I had a student I won't name her, but I, I, you have like, the Holy Spirit gives you this sense as a youth pastor, like when you see like a troubled kid, you're like, okay, what's going on?

And I knew she was on my worksite, and I just, like, she had loads, like buckets of attitude, like buckets of them she just had, like stored up. And I was like, yo, I was, I just straight up asked her, I'm like, are we gonna get along this week? I just, like, are we gonna get along this week? And she, like, started, like, going at me and, like, insulting me, and I just straight up was like, I want to let you know, you can't hurt my feelings.

She's like looking at me like, what do you mean I can't? I'm like, I'm like, I know who I am. I know what Christ has called me to be, who He is and who He says I am. She's like, what are you talking about? Like that doesn't even make any sense. But this is the reality of God's promise to us that we can be content people and insults and hardships and persecutions.

There's nothing people can say about us if we really know who Jesus is, if we know who he's called us to be, and we know that he's interceding with us, we can be content people. We can. One of my favorite declarations of Jesus is when he's talking to Peter at the Last Supper, and Peter's trying to convince him that he's not gonna betray him, and Jesus knows he's gonna betray him, and Jesus stops him and says this in Luke 22, says, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demandeth to have you, that he might sift you like wheat.

But I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers. What an incredible idea that Jesus is fighting for us because of what we can be content. And because of that, we can be content in weaknesses, and insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities.

Jesus is our go before. He goes before us to the Father, is interceding for us, fighting for us. I just want to give us the last minute or so here. It goes back to thinking about our New Year's resolutions. And I just, you have some space on your notes, and I just want you to jot down maybe like one. Maybe you have a couple of New Year's resolutions that are really good.

But maybe just jot down one or two. And just, instead of thinking about something that can make you look really good, think about something that could practice boosting your weakness. Alright, so maybe it's, you know, go out of the way to boast of your weaknesses to your coworkers this year. Or maybe it's, you know, give ample time to confess to your family and friends of sin.

Or maybe it's, uh, directly exposing idols in your life and laying them at the feet of Jesus. Or maybe it's intentionally looking for spaces in your life that are outside of your comfort zone, or, or outside of your strengths, so that you can rely on the Lord. take some time to jot it down, and we're gonna pray.

Lord, I thank you so much for who you are, and your goodness. And I thank you for giving me the strength to, preach that sermon, Lord. I just pray that your word would seep deep into our hearts. I pray that you would minister to us, and that you'd give us strength. And, Lord, that you'd speak to us even now, Lord, as we go before you in worship and song and praise.

God, I thank you for your specialty in working in people of weakness, Lord. Namely me. And I thank you for your love. That covers a multitude of sins, Lord, we pray. In Jesus name, amen.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/boast-in-your-weakness 1c2a3feb-0e7b-4a4e-9d57-7debeecdde82 Sun, 31 Dec 2023 10:57:35 GMT <div data-html="true">2 Corinthians 12:1-10 <br /><br /> he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that lthe power of Christ may rest upon me. <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> I'll tell you what, I would not suggest preaching on boasting in your weakness because the Lord just might allow you to be sick the whole week leading up to preaching. It's like, okay, Lord, I get it. I will boast in my weakness in this as well. good morning. It's really good to be with you guys. this morning. <br /><br /> It feels really strange to be in this room. Actually, last time I preached, I was on a very small stage in the gym and now the light's beaming on me and yeah, it's a little strange, but I'm, I'm, I'm glad to be here. if you don't know who I am, my name is Jared and I'm the youth pastor. And I got an email this week, this past week, and I literally started like actually laughing out loud, not like LOLing, like actually laughing out loud. <br /><br /> And it's from this, this youth ministry resource I use a lot for like a bunch of games. It's called Download Youth Ministry. They send like weekly emails out and I get this email this past week and I just I had to start off with it It says this The week between Christmas and New Year's the office is eerily quiet Emails vanish into a black hole of delayed responses and you find yourself doing odd weird jobs that you put off all year and eating a questionable amount of assorted fine cheeses and If you're one of the chosen ones You've been tapped on the shoulder to participate in the Sacred Holiday National Youth Pastor Preaches and Main Service Weekend. <br /><br /> We salute all of you who celebrate. So, I'm one of the chosen ones this morning that gets tapped on the shoulder. No, I only share that as a joke. I'm very excited to share what the Lord's put on my heart. honestly, this message has put on my heart for probably the past year or so. So, I'm very excited to say that, so. <br /><br /> I want to say Happy New Year's to everyone and I wanted to start off and bring some fireworks on stage But I figured the sanctuary is still reeling from the wax from the Christmas Eve service. So sorry Tim if we messed it up But when I say New Year's What comes to your mind? You can say it like New Year's. <br /><br /> New Year's resolutions. Who said that? Oh, hey, David. That's my cousin. yes, New Year's resolutions. I didn't even place him there. He just knew the answer. See, I knew that. when I, New Year's resolutions is always what comes to mind, right? And I love like all New Year's resolutions. I love thinking about it and looking at them. <br /><br /> And I just did a quick. Google search. Maybe you're one of those people that wants to start an annual Bible plan for your New Year's resolutions And you'll quit once you get to Leviticus, but you tried and like so good on you. It's a tough book to get through I'll be honest. Maybe you're trying to do something some fitness goals or whatever But I kind of noticed thinking about New Year's resolutions is The more I thought about them, the more I realized that most of them are really self centered. <br /><br /> They're all about us. And I just did a quick Google search about New Year's resolutions, and can you read that? Because I can't read. Okay. You know, improve fitness, improve finances, improve mental health, lose weight, improve diet. I don't know how those things are different. make more time for loved ones, stop smoking, learn a new skill, make more time for hobbies, improve work life balance, travel more, meditate regularly. <br /><br /> Drink less alcohol. Perform better at work. See how those three, those bottom three percent, that's what they least care about? If you kind of just glance at the scale here, you kind of realize, like, all of these are about me, right? These aren't my New Year's resolutions, just to let you know. These are the most popular ones of 2024. <br /><br /> But they're all about us, right? Improving me, improving how I might Perceived to someone else, how someone can see me. Wow, did you, have you been going to the gym? Wow, have you, have you lost weight? Wow, are you doing better at work? Have you improved your finances? I saw you got a new car or a new house. <br /><br /> It's all about me and looking good. And I know some of these things aren't necessarily bad, right? Like wanting to get healthy and lose some extra pounds. That's not a bad thing, but if what, where are, where our heart is for it. Where, where's our heart in that? Is it about us and, and wanting to get healthier? <br /><br /> Or is it about wanting to look a certain way because the world says it? And I know I'm guilty of this, right? I'm guilty of setting these own standards for myself. Well, this morning we're going to be looking at someone that doesn't boast or brag about the impressive things he does, but he actually does the opposite. <br /><br /> He boasts about the embarrassing weaknesses he has, even though the culture he was in was hyper focused on appearance and status. Would you turn with me to 2 Corinthians chapter 12, and me reading, in this passage. And I've just kind of been going through Corinthians in my own quiet time, the past couple months, and I just love these books. <br /><br /> They're really fun. <br /><br /> 2 Corinthians chapter 12, starting in verse 1, says this. I must go on boasting, though there is nothing to be gained by it. I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up into the third heaven. Whether in the body or out of the body, I do not know. <br /><br /> God knows. And I know that this man was caught up into paradise, whether in the body or out of the body, I do not know. God knows. And he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter. On behalf of this man, I will boast, but on my own behalf, I will not boast, except of my weaknesses. Though if I should wish to boast, I would not be a fool, for I would be speaking the truth, but a refraining from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me. <br /><br /> So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from being conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me, but he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. <br /><br /> Therefore, I'll boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest on me. For the sake of Christ, then, I'm content with weaknesses. insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I'm strong. Would you pray with me this morning? <br /><br /> Lord, I thank you for who you are. God, I thank you that you're a God who specializes in weakness. <br /><br /> Lord, and I just pray that you'd give me the strength and energy to get through this sermon. Lord, I pray that you'd open up our hearts. To your word, Lord, that you'd open up our hearts and minds, Lord, to your spirit to work through me, Lord. God, I pray that, uh, at the end of this, Lord, that you'd be glorified, Lord, and even in the midst of my own weakness that I feel, God, with my body right now, being sick, Lord, I just pray that you would, overcome that. <br /><br /> God, there's nothing, special or catchy I could say that could change anyone's hearts, Lord. It's only by your spirit. And only by your word that these things are done, Lord. And I know if I was up here alone, Lord, it would just be noise. Lord, so I just ask that you'd come down, Lord. That you'd be with us and just reveal yourself this morning, God, and that your word would cut through our hearts. <br /><br /> Thank you for what this scripture has done in my own life, God. Thank you what it's taught me and continues to teach me, Lord. We pray that you'd bless our time this morning. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. <br /><br /> Thank you. Yeah, when I preach, I forgot to, you guys can always talk like it's like you want to shout something out. Don't, don't, don't do anything crazy, Gene. Okay, I'm watching you. I also forgot to mention, I wanted to shout out Collinswood. So thank you, Collinswood for tuning in. We love you. We're thinking about you. <br /><br /> but I love 1st and 2nd Corinthians. they're great books. They're one of my favorite epistles. There's a couple of epistles that Paul writes that are like. are more, like, generalized, like they're more, like, like I love Ephesians, that's a great book, but it's, it's more, like, he's not specifically, like, coming at the Ephesians for, like, specific things. <br /><br /> In Corinthians, like, it seems like he's almost got, he's got some beef with these people, like, and if you're over 40, beef just means, like, he's got conflict with them, you know what I mean? That's all I mean, sorry. I did say I was a youth pastor, right? So he's got like some like specific conflicts. He's calling out like specific people's sins. <br /><br /> Like I would love to like been in the house that they're reading this letter in and Paul's like yeah And such and such is doing what? Wait, with who and what? Like he's calling out specific things, right? He had a he had a deep relationship with the Corinthian people. He mentioned specific problems in their church. <br /><br /> Sexual immorality, marriage, food sacrifice to idols, unity, generosity. boasting and weaknesses is what we'll be looking at. but Paul was in Corinth. You go back to Acts chapter 18. He was there for a year and a half. He spent a long time there. he had a lasting relationship with the church in Corinth. <br /><br /> And he actually wrote more than the two letters that we have in our scripture. some of the letters were lost, so the letter we're studying today most likely wasn't actually the second letter. but it's just categorized that way in our Bibles. But like in many of the places Paul went, there was a lot of growth, but also a lot of resistance. <br /><br /> In 1st Corinthians, Paul calls out the Corinthians for a myriad of sins that they are willfully committing. This letter was not received well by the church and many rejected the letter so Paul decided to go and visit him and actually in his letters he calls this the painful visit with much tears. And then we get to 2 Corinthians where he'll be mainly looking, Paul writes this letter to assure the Corinthians of his love for them because most, most of them had repented of their sins, they've turned away. <br /><br /> And he's kind of just, he's affirming them of his love and commitment to them, but also kind of sharing up some of these people that still have not repented of their sins. And that's where we kind of land. this morning, the last three chapters, Paul's addressing this small group of individuals that still reject him. <br /><br /> They don't respect him and his leadership or his right as an apostle. And this is kind of, when it gets messy. Paul's addr addressing these self titled super apostles. It's a pretty good name, you know, like it'd be pretty cool to be a super pastor. I don't know what that looks like. I don't, I don't think I fit the bill, but you know, who knows. <br /><br /> But these were Jewish leaders that had come in and were preaching a false gospel. Paul makes that clear and to fully understand The city of Corinth. We kind of have to, understand what these apostles were doing and what they were like. Well, Corinth was a prominent city. it actually had two harbors. <br /><br /> So it had open waters on either side, which kind of made it a prominent trade and destination route. Corinth, Corinth was known for its educated speakers and philosophers. There were men known as sophists. which literally means wise ones. They were obsessed with rhetoric and would host events where speakers would debate one another. <br /><br /> They would actually charge people to come and listen to them and their speeches. They'd argue against one another and talk about different topics. And they had this whole, pride to them where they looked down on people who actually did, like, manual physical labor because they thought they weren't educated enough to do what they could do. <br /><br /> And this is the culture Paul is entering in. Alright, people obsessed with education, status, appearance, intelligence, and wealth. So in the early stages of the church's growth, they were lured away to these super apostles that were impressive in speech, and in conduct, and in their appearance. And they were preaching a false gospel that was attractive to these listeners. <br /><br /> We don't know exactly the specifics of what that looked like, but we know it's false because of what Paul says. And this is what Paul is up against in Corinth. And you wonder like, how does he handle this, right? Like he's going into a city where these people are obsessed with intelligence and appearance and education and these people that are really wise and can speak really well. <br /><br /> Well, you'd think he'd go in and he's like, Alright, I'm going to present my degrees. I'm going to let these people know, you know, I studied under Gamaliel. He's the rabbi of rabbis. He's the teacher of teachers. He's that guy. He's him. If you're over 40 again, that means, like, he's the top guy. You know, he's really good. <br /><br /> Right? He might, so, he might say, well, I was a Pharisee. I have most of the Old Testament memorized. You know, says all these things. I'm a citizen of Rome. I have Jewish heritage. No, he doesn't do any of these things. This is how Paul initially comes to the Corinthians. In 1st Corinthians 2, 1 through 5, he says this. <br /><br /> And when I came to you brothers, I did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and much trembling. And my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. <br /><br /> I mean, think about this with me for a second. This is completely backwards to what me or you would have done. We would have shown our best hand, made ourselves look the best we could. Right? If I was going in and I knew these people were, were, were focused on speech and dialect, I would have came up with something crafty and, and, and so I could have a argument to all their arguments and, and win this debate. <br /><br /> No, Paul came in his weakness and fear and much trembling. This is how he came. This is how he wanted to come that I would know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. For the very purpose that they would not put their faith in man. But in God alone, and even when he does list some of his credentials to compare himself to these super apostles He states that those things are actually meaningless 2nd Corinthians 11 21 B through 30 says this right before our passage here. <br /><br /> It says but whatever anyone else dares to boast of I am speaking as a fool. I also dare to boast of that. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they offspring of Abraham? So am I. Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one. I am talking like a madman. With far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. <br /><br /> Five times I received at the hands of the Jews, the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. A night and day I was adrift at sea on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers. <br /><br /> In toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure, and apart from other things, there is the daily pressure I feel from my anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant? If I must boast, I will boast of all the things that show my weakness. <br /><br /> I mean, man, that just says it all right there. Paul says he would, he's a fool to even compare the things that he does to these super apostles because it's all meaningless. Then he goes on to boast about the sufferings he has endured for Christ that really show not him to be strong or impressive or influential, but it shows him to be weak, vulnerable, and fragile. <br /><br /> And verse 30 sums up the whole thing. If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. He even admits in verse, 6 of chapter 11 that he's not even a good speaker. He talks about, I'm, I'm, if I was gifted in speech, which I'm not, right? That is why this passage in chapter 12 is so powerful and so important for us to understand. <br /><br /> Paul's character is attacked. His leadership skills, his appearance, his profession, his calling from God is all attacked. They basically say to Paul, you're ugly, poor, unimpressive, a terrible leader, a terrible preacher, and you suck at your job. And the craziest part, Paul doesn't defend himself. He says, yeah, you're right about most of those things, but I have a God who told me that His grace is enough for me. <br /><br /> That His power is made perfect in my weakness. He doesn't defend himself. He says, yeah, I'm gonna boast of my weakness so that the power of Christ may rest on me. So give me your best shot, hurl the insults, and bring the persecution. My God works best when I'm at my lowest. Amen. I hope you guys are getting this. <br /><br /> This is really good news for you and me. This is really good news. I was just up here with the worship team, and I'm like, man, aren't you guys glad that God decides to use broken, messed up people like us? They're like, yeah, dude, we're so glad, especially for you. No, they didn't say that. <br /><br /> This is really good news for us, and I just can't help but think that this is so countercultural of what I would have done in Paul's situation. I mean, it is like the, the last thing you would ever think to do as a leader. To go into a situation like this and you're like, you know what? I'm gonna make myself look weak, and vulnerable, and fragile, and helpless. <br /><br /> That'll, that'll win hearts for people. Right? Like, who, who would even think to do that? Paul does. See, because he knew that God is willing to meet us in our weaknesses, in our brokenness. God is not requiring us to be impressive. He is requiring us to be reliant on Him. This is the way of Christ. It's the way down. <br /><br /> It's the path of humility. God uses common, ordinary people to do extraordinary things because He's an extraordinary God. In chapter 4 of Acts, Peter and John are put on trial for healing a man. And if you remember from our study in Acts, they're put on trial. They, they heal this man. And they're, they're kind of interrogating him. <br /><br /> And Peter's just filled with the Holy Spirit. And he's just like, just spitting like straight truth facts. And like, these, these guys are just like blown away. They're like, what the heck is going on? Like, who are these? Like, we remember these guys. They weren't nearly this impressive. And Acts 4, 13 says this. <br /><br /> When they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished, and they recognized that they had been with Jesus. Can <br /><br /> you imagine your, your Luke, like, your penance, and your, and Peter and John are like, You sure you want to keep the part about the common, uneducated? Like, I don't, it may sound a little better if you just, you just scratch that part out, right? But the special part about Peter and John had nothing to do with them. <br /><br /> But everything to do with whom they had been with. All right. This is what our God does. He specializes in common, uneducated, weak, broken, fragile, trauma ridden. This is what he decides to make his specialty in. <br /><br /> I just want to ask us this question this morning. When people look at you, do they think of how talented you are? Or how intelligent you are? Or how attractive you are? How effective you are? Or do they look at you and see a broken person with a big God? <br /><br /> I don't know if you can tell, but I, I know I'm not, I'm not being as excited as I normally am. I'm trying to conserve my strength, but I love this passage. I've, I think one of the first times I read this passage, I was 14 years old. I remember, like, it felt like scales were falling off my eyes, like, I was like, cause I was just getting, like, I had the gospel all wrong, like, I thought I had to do something for God. <br /><br /> Like, I had, I thought I had to, like, bring something for Him to use, you know, like give Him some investment and He'd give me, like, a return. And when I read this, I just remember, I mean, like, whoa, He actually works best in my weakness? That doesn't, I don't even know how to comprehend that, but I like it because I feel really weak right now. <br /><br /> This, this passage is so powerful and I think for so long I focus so much about the whole, weakness part and I think I left out the boasting in the weakness part because no one really does that, right? Like you don't do that. People don't actually do that. but I think in the past year or two, God has really drilled home what it looks like to boast in my weakness, um, and just really through that has really exposed some idols that I had in my life. <br /><br /> And I just want to share a couple. If you don't mind, it's kind of hard to talk about boasting your weaknesses and, and, and not boasting your weakness while you're preaching on it. You know what I mean? That's a joke, guys. It's off crowd, I'll tell you what. These lights are so bright. I'm so tired. Okay. I want to tell you guys a story. <br /><br /> So my senior, after my senior year of high school, after my, yeah, after my senior year of high school, I interned for the first time at FCC. And for some reason I let Pastor Mike shave my head. And I, I thought it would be like one less thing to worry about. I knew I was going to be like going to camps, like week after week. <br /><br /> So I was like, alright, if I, if I don't have to worry about like washing my hair, like that's one less thing I have to worry about. So I let Pastor Mike, shave my head. And I don't know if he did something, like I'm not sure to this point, but my hair never grew back the same. Okay? I knew this was gonna happen. <br /><br /> I told JC this, I was like, I'm gonna tell this story, I'm gonna tell it as a joke. But it's not a joke, it's really embarrassing. can I sit down? Can the camera still see me if I sit down? I'm serious, I'm just a little tired. but, so, I shaved my head. And, my hair never grew back the same. So, I don't know if you know anything about genetics and hair loss, but it goes from your mom's dad. <br /><br /> And my mom's dad started losing his hair at 17, so I was screwed from, like, the beginning of time. so, my hair never grew back the same, and kind of from that point on. It just started getting like less and less. They're trying to figure out what to do with the lights. Sorry Randy I'm just gonna I'll stand up eventually I will But yeah, where was I? <br /><br /> So yeah, so never grew back the same and over the next couple like many years It just kind of started getting thinner and thinner and you know that sayings like you don't know like what you got until it's gone That's how I felt with my hair. I didn't realize like that How much, like, I cared what my hair looked like until I started losing it. <br /><br /> And, oh, it's, it sucked so bad. And, I thought it's not funny, I'm being for real here. yeah, just, it really sucked. And, I, and, you know, the past year or two specifically. You know, working with teenagers is a nightmare sometimes because they, they will find your weaknesses and insecurities and exploit them. <br /><br /> And they could, they could care less and they don't have the perspective to feel bad for you, even if you tell them. Anyway, Um, but so my, my high schoolers were absolutely ruthless with me. They're like, call me Baldy and all this stuff. And I'm like, you know what happened to, you know, those kids who called Elijah Baldy, right? <br /><br /> The bears came out. I'm like, <br /><br /> If you know what I'm talking about, it's funny. If you don't, you're like, what is going on? But basically a bunch of bears ate a bunch of kids. I love the Bible. but, yeah. So, and, but the worst, you know, the most embarrassing part about it was it's like it genuinely like. Like I, like, killed me. Like it, like, I genuinely was insecure about it, and it hurt so bad. <br /><br /> But you can't act like it hurts you, you like, then you're like this weak dude, you know, that cares so much about his hair, and that's like girly and feminine or whatever. I don't know what it is, but it just sucked. And I remember, like, anytime I would like play soccer or do something like that, it would always get worse because my hair would get sweaty. <br /><br /> And I was coming home one night from playing soccer, and this kid, though he's not here, he doesn't go to our church or anything, I love, I love the kid, he's a really good kid, he doesn't mean anything, but he was, it's really me bro, he was going in on me, and just, I was like, man, you better be careful, like, you know, like, you might lose your hair one day, like, I'm trying to be like, super calm, and act like it's not bothering me, And he's like, he's like, nah, my genes are good, man. <br /><br /> My, my, my, my mom's dad's got a full head of hair. I'm like, okay, cool, good, good. And I remember driving home that day. I was like, so sad. And I was like, I was like, man, like, I was like, why does this bother me so much? Like, why does this affect me so much? And, and I remember God just like really putting a microscope on my heart. <br /><br /> It's so hard when he does that. And he just, and I, I realized there's, there's idols in my life. And I, I realized that. I cared so much about my appearance. I cared so much about what people, like, thought of me. I wanted to be attractive, and I wanted to be young, actually. Like, I think I was idolizing my appearance and my youth. <br /><br /> You know, like, when you're the youth pastor, and you're young, and you're on a staff that's, like, triple your age, mostly, like, you kind of identify. Like, with your youth. Like, you, because you're played into the youth guy already. Like, I'm the youth pastor. I'm young. My, my, my pants are tighter than theirs. <br /><br /> Like, I, like, I, it's like, you get played into the role. So it's like, I might as well play into the role. And I was just, like, I was struck with that. Like, I'm idolizing these things in my life. Like, it, it hurts so bad to realize this. And that God just really exposed my heart to That I was, I cared so much and I was just processing it with my wife and I just realized like this was something I needed to let go and to give to God and I was like soon after, I decided to like shave my head and just be like screw it, whatever, like I'm done paying for haircuts, you know, if it's not gonna look good. <br /><br /> And then I started getting compared to my oldest brother Josh who's eight years older than me, you know what I mean? So it's just like doubled down on me. That was a joke actually, you can That one's both. That's a sad and a joke. all right, I'm gonna stand up now. but I wanted to share that this morning, um, because in the strangest way, I'm really thankful for my hair loss because without it, I don't think I would have ever realized how vain I was. <br /><br /> It really was a hidden idol in my life and, um, I didn't realize like how much it had a hold on me And I didn't even want to share it this morning because It genuinely feels like pathetic and I want to like to I don't want you guys to come up to me afterwards Please don't do this because every time I share this to something they're like Jared you look so handsome Like what you don't need your hair. <br /><br /> I'm literally not looking for that. Like that's not healthy Like I don't want that I like so just tell my mom that if you want her to tell my wife that they'll take it I don't want to hear that <br /><br /> But I didn't realize How much it had a hold on my heart until the Lord took that from me And I'm really grateful for that and because of God's grace in my life verse 10 says this I never I never saw this before This point because there's something about this is like a grown up thing when you when you have like size You're like taller and bigger than most people. <br /><br /> Most people don't say bad things about you. It just kind of works that way out. Like, I kind of was like blessed in that way. It's like you're taller than most. Most people aren't going to insult you because there's a, there's a taller, shorter thing going on. But I never realized in verse 10, it says this, you know, I'll be content. <br /><br /> Hold on, I'm gonna read it again. You know, it says for the sake of Christ and I'm content with weaknesses. Right after it says, it says insults, and I never picked that up until this, this period of my life. But because of God's grace in my life, I actually can be content in insults. Like, I actually, like, like, they don't have to hurt me. <br /><br /> Like, I don't have to feel insecure about it. I don't, like, because I know what God has done for me. I know who Jesus is in my life, and I have this crazy idea. That like, the uglier I get, like, the more I look like Jesus, right? And I might almost sound like blasphemous, but like, stay with me. Like, like, my desire to be young and attractive or care about my appearance was not from Jesus at all. <br /><br /> You know, actually in Isaiah 53, 2, it says, for he grew up before him like a young plant. And like a root out of dry ground, He had no form of majesty that we should look at Him. And no beauty that we should desire Him. I love the Chosen, but that guy is way too attractive to be Jesus. Like, I'm sorry, the luscious locks and everything, I don't think that's what Jesus looked like. <br /><br /> I think He looked like an ordinary dude. You wouldn't have been able to choose Him from a crowd. And I just realized that the less attractive I am, the more people will see Christ in me. The less they'll want to be around me because I'm funny, or good looking, or charming, or whatever like that. Not that I had any of those things before. <br /><br /> But, the more they'll see Christ in me. And I think Paul really understood this. And, and what I hope, and I'm getting to understand this, and I hope I continue to understand this, that the weaker and more pathetic I look, the more Christ can shine through me. Because people aren't going to look at me and say, Wow, Jared has this gift, or wow, Jared's impressive in this way. <br /><br /> They're going to say, Wow, God had a lot of mercy on Jared's life. And that's what Paul wanted these Corinthians to understand. That it's not me who's impressive. It's not me who's talented. Or even the gifts I have come from the gift giver. It's Him. It's Him. It's all about Him. Christ be magnified, not me. <br /><br /> And one of the most beautiful things about boasting your weakness is that you are constantly reminded of God's grace in your life. And how much you need it. Christian, Christian communities should be known for being open and honest about our weaknesses. About our sins and about our idols. We've been reading a book together as a staff called Lead by Paul Tripp. <br /><br /> And I can honestly say like, I love this book. Like, this book is one of the best books I've ever read. It's literally changed my life. And it talks about leaders in the church and how a lot of them have fallen and different things. And, just the epidemic of that, of spiritual falls for pastors and leaders in the church. <br /><br /> And it talks about how we can stop this, and it's about how it's not just the leader, it's the leadership community that surrounds them, right? Like, what if these leaders had people around them that cared for them, and that they were willing to be honest and open with, and, and, and complied in? What, what would the difference be? <br /><br /> And it's an incredible book. You don't even have to be in leadership to read it. I think you should just read it. But, um, one of the quotes here I love. It says this, I write convinced that we, the community of believers, can be the most honest community on earth. Because there's nothing that could be known, revealed, or exposed about us that hasn't atoning work. <br /><br /> That's pretty powerful, right? Like, what if we lived our lives like that? Like, we're the worst at doing this, Christians. Like, we love putting on masks. We love pretending like we're, we're okay. That we're not struggling with sin. That we're not struggling in our families. Like, what if we actually realized that the atoning work of Christ covered anything and everything in our lives? <br /><br /> What if our conversations were guided by this principle? What if our community groups Instead of saying, yeah, I need accountability for reading the Bible more. What if it was like, something real? <br /><br /> What if it was like, man, yeah, I actually need accountability when I go on my phone at night. What if it was like, yeah, I actually need accountability of how I'm speaking to my co workers. Yeah, what if it was like, man, I just yelled at my wife last week. And I just wanted to confess that to you. What if our conversations looked like that? <br /><br /> And this is why we can be comfortable in our weaknesses and be willing to boast in it because of what Jesus has accomplished for us. His perfect atoning work. It's got the five minute warning. Look, not from people, it's just like a timer back there if you want to look. I like bringing you guys in, you know. <br /><br /> Alright, I think on the notes page you guys have a spot for like warnings and takeaways. Yes? Okay. Yeah, okay, cool. We're entering into that phase now. I want to start with the warnings. There's one warning, but it has like two, like an A and B, if you're taking notes. First warning is just don't be like the Corinthians, and it has A and B. <br /><br /> A is Don't be like the Corinthians in the way that they desired the things of this world. Fame, appearance, talents, intelligence, money, sex. Have you ever read the book of Ecclesiastes? It's one of my favorite books in the Bible. Has this repeated phrase, chasing after the wind, vanity of vanity, meaningless, meaningless. <br /><br /> It's pretty depressing. Maybe that's why I like it. I don't know. But it talks about the idea of, you know, this guy in Ecclesiastes. He's chasing after everything the world could offer him. All these things, hard work, money. He has like a thousand different wives, you know, all these things. And he just comes up short every single time, meaningless, meaningless, vapored. <br /><br /> The word is actually used, hevel. It just means smoke, vapor. It's like, here, here, there, and gone. And that's what the Corinthians are after, and this is honestly what we prioritize a lot. That's the culture Paul was going to, and this is our culture. We want to elevate these things, and we think that if we somehow attain them, right, if we just get that raised, if we just get this car, if we just get that, if we just have that person to marry, or that person, or whatever, that somehow we'd feel rest. <br /><br /> But Paul really plays into this hand when he starts boasting about the things that he's done. But he says it's utter foolishness. The things that he's accomplished that the world would think is impressive is foolishness, actually. So don't be like the Corinthians in the way that they desire the things of this world. <br /><br /> Secondly, don't be like the Corinthians in how they wanted a leader. They wanted the best and brightest and the most talent and the most attractive and the most famous. Sound familiar? This is the same sin of the Israelites in 1 Samuel chapter 8. They asked God, they said, God we want a king to be like the nations. <br /><br /> So God gave him a king like the nations. They got Saul. He was taller than everyone else. He was more attractive than anyone else. He was a great war leader. You know what sucked about Saul? His heart. His heart was far from the Lord. They wanted a king like the nations and they got one. It wasn't until David, a man after God's own heart, where they got a king like God intended. <br /><br /> But we do this exact same thing with our leaders. We want our celebrity pastors on the, on the bright stages, and they look good, and they dress cool, and they're whatever. But we could care less of their heart. We could care less about their relationships. As long as they just give a good sermon, I'll listen, and I'll walk out happy. <br /><br /> Now for the <br /><br /> takeaways. Two takeaways. First, God's grace is enough for you. No matter where you're at, no matter what your weaknesses are, or what the thorn in your flesh is, God's grace is sufficient for you. And that word sufficient is actually, the Greek is archeo. Sounds sufficient like it's just enough, like it's just like barely enough. <br /><br /> That word literally means to be possessed of unfailing strength. It's not just barely enough, it's overabundant of all that you need enough. So no matter what you're dealing with, whatever hardships or difficulties or sin you have in your life, God's grace truly is enough for you, I believe that. And I, I believe there's a reason why Paul doesn't name the thorn in his flesh. <br /><br /> Because we'd probably be like, I don't have that! So, God's grace is not sufficient in me. Right? But he leaves it open, I think, because so we can identify what the Lord has placed in our lives to remind us of our, Dependability on him and our weaknesses secondly because of Christ you can be content in weaknesses insults hardships Persecutions and calamities see preaching is not that hard. <br /><br /> I'm just I'm just rewriting the verse It's just and this is the verse that we've studied the whole time. That's my point. It's pretty easy because of Christ You can be content in weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. This is the promise this passage gives us, that we can be content people. <br /><br /> I'm running out of time, but I have this quick story. We're on, my work site on Sun Servants Missions Trip, and we have all of these different students from different churches and stuff like that, and I had a student I won't name her, but I, I, you have like, the Holy Spirit gives you this sense as a youth pastor, like when you see like a troubled kid, you're like, okay, what's going on? <br /><br /> And I knew she was on my worksite, and I just, like, she had loads, like buckets of attitude, like buckets of them she just had, like stored up. And I was like, yo, I was, I just straight up asked her, I'm like, are we gonna get along this week? I just, like, are we gonna get along this week? And she, like, started, like, going at me and, like, insulting me, and I just straight up was like, I want to let you know, you can't hurt my feelings. <br /><br /> She's like looking at me like, what do you mean I can't? I'm like, I'm like, I know who I am. I know what Christ has called me to be, who He is and who He says I am. She's like, what are you talking about? Like that doesn't even make any sense. But this is the reality of God's promise to us that we can be content people and insults and hardships and persecutions. <br /><br /> There's nothing people can say about us if we really know who Jesus is, if we know who he's called us to be, and we know that he's interceding with us, we can be content people. We can. One of my favorite declarations of Jesus is when he's talking to Peter at the Last Supper, and Peter's trying to convince him that he's not gonna betray him, and Jesus knows he's gonna betray him, and Jesus stops him and says this in Luke 22, says, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demandeth to have you, that he might sift you like wheat. <br /><br /> But I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers. What an incredible idea that Jesus is fighting for us because of what we can be content. And because of that, we can be content in weaknesses, and insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. <br /><br /> Jesus is our go before. He goes before us to the Father, is interceding for us, fighting for us. I just want to give us the last minute or so here. It goes back to thinking about our New Year's resolutions. And I just, you have some space on your notes, and I just want you to jot down maybe like one. Maybe you have a couple of New Year's resolutions that are really good. <br /><br /> But maybe just jot down one or two. And just, instead of thinking about something that can make you look really good, think about something that could practice boosting your weakness. Alright, so maybe it's, you know, go out of the way to boast of your weaknesses to your coworkers this year. Or maybe it's, you know, give ample time to confess to your family and friends of sin. <br /><br /> Or maybe it's, uh, directly exposing idols in your life and laying them at the feet of Jesus. Or maybe it's intentionally looking for spaces in your life that are outside of your comfort zone, or, or outside of your strengths, so that you can rely on the Lord. take some time to jot it down, and we're gonna pray. <br /><br /> Lord, I thank you so much for who you are, and your goodness. And I thank you for giving me the strength to, preach that sermon, Lord. I just pray that your word would seep deep into our hearts. I pray that you would minister to us, and that you'd give us strength. And, Lord, that you'd speak to us even now, Lord, as we go before you in worship and song and praise. <br /><br /> God, I thank you for your specialty in working in people of weakness, Lord. Namely me. And I thank you for your love. That covers a multitude of sins, Lord, we pray. In Jesus name, amen.</div> false no <![CDATA[What Jesus' Genealogy Tells Us About Jesus]]> I invite you to take your Bibles to the book of Matthew, chapter one. Matthew, chapter one. We're going to be reading verses one through 17. We're in the last of a series on Advent. Advent means the coming of Jesus Christ into the world. And in each of those Sundays, we have focused on One particular benefit of Jesus coming into the world, four words that are, regularly associated with Advent historically.

the first week we looked at hope, Pastor Mike, couple of weeks ago looked at, peace. Last Sunday, Pastor Ben talked about joy. This morning, I'm focusing on love. When Pastor Ben spoke last week, he talked about Jesus and what Jesus was doing before his birth in Bethlehem. The statement he made, his question, was before the manger, what was pre baby Jesus like?

today we're going to look at the human ancestry of Jesus. We're going to look back at his biological family tree, and we're looking at what really is the forgotten chapter. of the Christmas story. there's a reason it's forgotten. We choose to forget it because it doesn't really seem that exciting.

We tend to zip through this thing. We skip it in order to get to the good stuff. But the Jews of the first century would be quite surprised by that reaction to the ancestral genealogy that is presented of Jesus. Because to them, it was absolutely essential. To the story of an individual, for instance, whenever land was bought or sold, you had to prove your ancestral background through your genealogy because in Israel, land had to be sold at this time in history.

Land had to be sold within the tribal ancestry that one had. So you had to be able to go back to show all the way back to a guy named Jacob, who was one of the patriarchs. It was Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. And Jacob then had 12 sons. And those 12 sons with the 12 tribes of Israel. You had to go back hundreds and hundreds of years to demonstrate that you were, had legitimate claim to own your property.

If you were going to be a part of the priesthood, you had to be able to prove your family tree, that you were of the tribe of Levi. If you were going to make a claim to the throne of David, to be the king of Israel, you had to be able to trace your lineage all the way back through the tribe of Judah.

through David and other specifics in that. The emphasis on one's genealogy is front and center in the Christmas story itself. It's interesting that in Luke chapter 2 it says, In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. And everyone went to his own town to register.

This meant that even in the Roman Empire, what they were doing was they say, you got to go back to your ancestral home. Now, I know that I was born in Mineola, New York. I know that because my parents told me, and it was verified by my birth certificate. But I have no idea where my father was born. I know I don't know where my grandfather was born.

And to be able to establish one's ancestral, Lineage is just fathomless for us today. The ancestry of Jesus that is presented in Matthew chapter one goes back over 2, 000 years. It is taking it all the way back to Abraham and such was necessary to prove one's heritage and in his case, particularly his claim to the throne of Israel.

I'm going to read this passage in a moment, but genealogy was not just a genealogy in Jesus day. It was a resume. It was how you presented yourself to the world. And Jesus genealogy will declare two giant things about him. First, he is the center of God's love story for humanity. And secondly, he is the revealer of God's love for all people.

I'd like to look at this now. I'm going to read through the genealogy, in chapter 1 of Matthew chapter 1, down through verse 17. The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers.

And Judah the father of Perez, and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram. And Ram, the Father of Ammenadab and Ammenadab, the father of Nation and Nation, the father of Salmon and Salmon, the father of Boaz by Rahab and Boaz, the father of Obed by Ruth and Obed, The father of Jesse and Jesse, the father of David, the King.

And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, and Solomon the father of Rehoboam and Rehoboam, the father of Abijah and Abijah, the father of Aesop, and Asaph the father of Jahashophat. There's a lot of names here you might want to consider if you're pregnant. And Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of Josiah, and Josiah the father of Jeconiah.

And after the deportation to Babylon, Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, and Zerubbabel the father of Abiad, and Abiad the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliad, and Eliad the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Mathan.

And Matham, the father of Jacob and Jacob, the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ. So all the generations from Abraham to David. were 14 generations. This is how the passage is divided up. And from David to the deportation to Babylon, 14 generations. And from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ, 14 generations.

Let's pray.

Lord, I thank you for this passage. I thank you for this genealogy. I thank you for the theology in it, the theology of God. It points to your character, it points to your love, and Lord, I pray as we gather on this Christmas Eve morning and speak to a group of people in this room and those watching online.

And God, I pray that the truth of the love that was Manifested in Christ might seep into the pores of our lives this morning, or there are people to whom Christmas is is confusing, is lonely, is painful. There's all kinds of stories that we bring to this little sermon today. And Lord, you know them all.

And I ask you to speak into our lives this morning truth. In Jesus name. Amen.

Jesus is the center of God's love story for humanity. All biblical history is pointing the way toward Jesus. Luke is here tracing the line of Christ all the way back from Abraham. Somewhere 2, 000, maybe 2, 200 years before. He is doing so to show that Jesus is the legitimate Air to the throne of Israel in verse one, he sort of summarizes the whole thing.

He says the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham, and actually laying out that he is the seed of Abraham. He is a true Jewish claimant. He goes all the way back, but also that his ancestry flowed through David, the line of the chosen Kings. There are three central moments in this.

In the first section, it talks about from Abraham to David. And then the second section talks about David to the exile in Babylon, where Babylon, conquered Israel and, and took, deported many of the people to Babylon for 70 years. And then from the exile in Babylon to Jesus birth, from 600 B. C. down to literally 0 A.

D. There are 14 generations that are listed in each period, but there were many other generations. If you look, there's over a thousand years. There's way more than 14 generations of people. But these 14 are highlighted. So we immediately are tipped off that this is a select genealogy. But this genealogy fulfills something was that was said to Abraham back in Genesis chapter 12.

And Paul talks about it. And I'd like you to look at this verse in Galatians chapter 3 verses 8 and following. Scripture announced, sorry, still learning my screens, announced the gospel in advance to Abraham and Paul says this, All nations will be blessed through you. Christ redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus.

The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. Scripture does not say and to seeds, meaning many people, but and to your seed, meaning one person. Who is Christ, Paul says the promise to Abraham that all peoples of the earth will be blessed. was talking about one guy, one person, and who would be that blessing?

He says, Jesus Christ, Jesus, the Christ, the anointed one, the Messiah. We see that in the promise of the statement that was made to Mary, Jesus mother. It says this in Luke chapter 1, verse 33, and the first part of how he would bless all peoples. Was told to her and behold you will conceive in your womb and bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus he will be great and will be called the son of the Most High and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David and he will reign over the house of Dave of Jacob forever and of his kingdom There will be no end first of all he is promised to be the king it says His kingdom will have no end.

That was a specific promise that was made to David's heir in 2 Samuel 7. And Jesus is the promised king to her husband, the adoptive father of Jesus, a man named Joseph. The angel said this in Matthew 1 verse 20 and 21. Joseph, son of David, don't fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. He will be a savior to Mary. He will be a king. And then listen to what the angel says to the shepherds out on the hillside. After he has been born or he had just been born Luke chapter 2 verse 10 and 11 I bring you good news of great joy That will be for all the people for unto you is born this day in the city of David A savior who is Christ, the Lord.

Christ was the messianic name, the title, it means Messiah, the anointed one, the king. He will be the savior king. This is how he will bless all peoples. Was promised to Abraham thousands of years before, two full thousand years before. And now has been fulfilled, Paul says. As Jesus ancestry leads down through those years to a little hovel in Bethlehem, to a babe lying in a manger, his genealogy has given him the credentials to be this Savior King.

A king who would deliver his people from their sins, from their enslavement and bondage, a king as well as a savior. All human stories of heroic rescue and love are shadows of this story. God gives a story which is the story. I could go through, I was just thinking of some this morning, I mean this week, of, of talk about the myths and fables, even the storylines that are being written today, of great Great stories, great fable, great myths regularly portray people in bondage.

They've been tyrannized by the Empire and Star Wars. I mean, we could go on and on under the Dark Lord and Lord of the Rings and all of the contemporary Marvel characters in some way or another come in to be rescuers. They're superhuman out of our cultural experience. They come to help individuals trapped and enslaved under tyranny or slavery.

They're supernatural beings that are beyond our finiteness. The expectation is of a deliverer who will make things right. And Christmas is a story about this. Someone from out of space who can defeat death, who wields supernatural power, who promises to make all things right one day. I mean, it looks like the gospel is just one more myth, right?

One more story pointing to an underlying reality. But Matthew says that is not so. This story has been written over these millennia of time. It is THE story. Which all other human myths are stories are finding their underlying reality. Those stories are just reflected shadows of THE story. He does defeat death.

He does rescue. He does come to make all our hopes true and real. He is the heroic prince, the conqueror of injustice. The king is our savior. And Jesus Christ is the one who brings that message. that gospel of grace and love. And he is the revealer that God's love is for all people. There are two shocking things about this genealogy.

One is very simply that God chose these ancestors for Jesus. He designed it, he orchestrated it, the whole thing was done, and his choices are surprising. He has an unusual cast of characters. One thing that's surprising about it in the way it is delineated is that it includes women. Because in the ancient Near East, genealogies of this day never included women.

And it is a focus on these women. Now people argue, and I'm just going to digress for a second. People argue the Bible is culturally repressive because of its views on women. The Bible in its day was shockingly progressive. The Bible's principles will never line up culturally as relevant with any culture in any day.

All cultures are made up of fallen humans. Some are much more conservative and repressive than the Bible. Some are more progressive and liberal. The Bible presents a supracultural view. It transcends human cultures. Offering a way of life that is real humanity. Humanity as it is designed to be. We'll see that as we go into in February, a study in the book of Ephesians, which is a fascinating discourse on the way of life that God is advocating for people.

And interestingly, he is addressing two groups of people. One are the Jewish Christians who come from a culture that had become overly repressive and conservative. Gentiles who were liberal and progressive and he says to them I'm outlining for you a way of life That's going to sound really new really alien to you It is however utterly human as God Intended humanity to build it is to be it is built on timeless principles of what is true, virtuous, joyous, holistic human experience.

Now, in putting women in this genealogy, Jesus, Luke is already going counter cultural with this, but it is the story of these women and what they are associated with that makes it remarkable because they represent some of the most not necessarily their behavior, but they were associated with the most sordid, nasty incidents in the whole Old Testament scriptures.

And they're a part of it. The other thing that's shocking here is God chose to highlight these ancestors. Remember, I mentioned to you that they skipped over countless generations in Matthew chapter one. These individual stories were included for a reason. They were highlighted. for a messaging. And God shows individuals that were not the ones you would usually highlight in your ancestry.

Because everybody has ancestors who would embarrass us. I remember watching, the TV show, Who Do You Think You Are? a couple of times, and I know they've had Sarah Jessica Parker, Spike Lee, Brooke Shields, Emmett Smith, and countless others. Joseph, those are just ones I was aware of. And basically they trace their, their, their genealogy.

Their ancestry and they find out they find out they're related to royalty and all kinds of cool things a lot of times But they also find out there was some pretty Sorted characters scoundrels and criminals in their background of most of them Everybody has stuff somewhere and sometimes your family tree can be very unsettling I remember reading this story.

It was actually an account. I read it in a periodical about a guy named Craig Cobb, 62 year old man, white supremacist who was trying to form a new neo, uh, a neo Nazi town in North Dakota. Very outspoken, obviously anti any other race, and had the surprise of his life. when he received the results of his DNA test on the Tricia Goddard show.

He'd agreed to let them research his bloodlines through DNA testing, and he was being interviewed by Tricia Goddard, who is African American. And she presented his genetic makeup as having approximately 15 percent of his bloodline was black African American, black African. And she, she then proceeded to refer to him throughout the remainder of the interview as bro.

It's striking that when God had Jesus genealogy mentioned, He does deliberately leave out stages. He is intentionally underline, underlining certain people. Now people, of course, today, we play with our resumes. Today, if you left your first college, you just leave it out, and just write the college, you know, it's, it's a, it's a mulligan, it's a false start, you know, a do over.

But God leaves out the heroes, the glory makers, and includes the shocking stories in the lineage of Jesus. There are four of them. There are four surprising people. And I'm going to highlight, there are others, I'm going to highlight just the women this morning. And the stories associated, I'm going to summarize them very quickly and say why I think it matters.

First of all, is in verse 3, a woman named Tamar. Tamar was married to a guy named Judah, one of the sons of Jacob, goes all the way back 2, 000 years. And it's interesting that both Judah and Tamar are listed to make sure you, you get the story straight of who this Tamar is. Judah was Tamar's father in law.

Tamar's first husband died, and in Jewish law, the idea was that she would then be given his brother to carry on the family line within her family. She went to her father in law Judah and asked for the younger brother. He postponed it, held off, and eventually it was obvious he was not going to give her the older son.

He was not going to encourage this. So she set a trap for him. she actually posed with a veil as a, as a prostitute. He went into her, didn't know it was his daughter in law, conceived, they had a child, and basically it's this sordid, awful story. The child from that immorality is a part of Jesus lineage.

The story of Tamar. There's a story in verse five of Rahab. She was a prostitute in Jericho, and Rahab ran a brothel in the red light district of Jericho. And a phrase that most of us that know Old Testament history is this phrase, Rahab the harlot. That's her designation. That's how she is known. But that's not all.

Rahab was also a Canaanite, and a Canaanite were the people that were trying to wipe out the Israelites at this time. Her background is one that this is her story. And when you say the name Rahab in the scriptures, this is your association, but it is also That she was the great great great great great great great grandmother of Jesus Christ.

And for some reason, God wanted her name highlighted in the story. There's a woman named Ruth in verse 5. She was a godly woman, but she was a Moabitess, came from a tribe of people that were continually trying to harass and restrict. The Israelites wouldn't allow them to go through their land where most of the others would.

If nothing else, Ruth was an outsider.

And fourth, there's a woman named Bathsheba, verse six. She's associated with probably the worst moment in Old Testament history. Uriah, her husband, was a One of the mighty men of David, associated with David, one of his closest associates, and David's army is out fighting. And David, while the guys are out fighting, David's staying back at the palace, looks down, sees this beautiful babe, takes her, sleeps with her.

She gets pregnant. Her name's Bathsheba. And in order to hide the fact that it's his child, He brings Uriah home from the battlefield, hoping he'll sleep with his wife, and then she'll apparently be pregnant by him. But he's too committed. He won't sleep with his wife. How can he do that when all his troops are in the field?

So he sleeps on the front steps of the palace. Doesn't work. He tries to get him drunk. He still doesn't go home and sleep with his wife, Bathsheba. And then David actually has Uriah, one of his own guys, one of his buds, killed in battle. To hide the whole thing and try to make people think, well, obviously it was Uriah's son because Uriah, excuse me, yeah, Uriah isn't there to, to renounce such an accusation because he wasn't there.

Bathsheba's there and it's through her line that Jesus is born. Bathsheba's the reminder of adultery and betrayal of one of the most godly men that ever lived named David. Now David had other wives. Why this one for the line of the throne? Why include the story? Well, the genealogy does establish Jesus as the rightful heir, the promised Savior King.

But the people chosen to highlight it are at least unexpected, right? So why does it matter? Why are they listed? What's this about? What's God saying to us? Two things. This genealogy is a message to self righteous people. Matthew was written especially to the Jews. These were the people that had the heritage, they had the lineage, they had the background, the ancestry themselves.

Many of them put their confidence in the fact of their heritage as Jews, that they did the right things, that they deserved life and grace. And what a shock it would be to read this giant genealogy which is associated with liars. murderers and thieves and adulterers and prostitutes. I think it's the reminder that Jesus came to for people that recognized they were unworthy of grace.

The story of Christ coming to the world is God's love message that my gospel, my grace, It's for everyone that is willing to see their own brokenness, their own need, that is willing to see themselves as not deserving,

but as undeserving, and yet graced. This genealogy is a message to highlight that grace and love. Jesus identified with people who didn't appear righteous and moral. He came for such people. That's why Paul summarizes as he's talking to the church in first Corinthians, and he says this in verses nine through 11.

Guys, don't be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you, and you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

What he's saying is, we could put in there the self righteous, the liars. He does that in many other passages. He's got the greedy. Well, that covers most Americans. Most of us find ourselves in this list. There are certainly others that include us there. But what he's saying is Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, prostitutes and pastors, religious insiders and outsiders, moral and immoral, all sit down together, utterly broken in their sin, utterly deserving of a Christless separation from God's Heaven, eternity, and it doesn't matter what you've done or where you've been or how you failed.

Jesus says, in my church, those things don't matter. Sin cannot halt God's grace. There is more grace in Jesus Christ than there is sin in your life. There is more grace in Jesus Christ than there is sin in your life. It's why Paul said this in the book of Romans. Where sin abounds, grace super abounds.

Maybe you're a Ruth today, an outsider. Christmas can remind you of that canon. I look at all those commercials, all the hallmark, that's not my life. It's not my family. Maybe you're a Tamar, a person who's been deeply wronged, mistreated, took things into her own hands, tries to fix it because her father in law is not doing what he should do by obligation.

Your life is one of trying to work things, trying to make it okay. There's pain, there's stuff you're trying to work off. God says to you, I've got people like you in my son's story because I wanted you to be reminded that he came for you.

Or you're a Rahab or Bathsheba, a Rahab particularly, and you say, Ha, you don't know what I've done. You don't know where I've come from. You don't know what I bring to this room or to this TV set as I watch this morning. You don't know. I don't know. And I don't care. I know the one who does know. And where sin abounds, grace super abounds.

There is more grace in Jesus Christ than sin in your life.

And God threw on Rahab's in order to say, My Jesus came for you. And then there's Bathsheba's. Well, really, the story of Bathsheba is really the story of David.

The horror of that story is a man after God's own heart, God described him that way, could do such horrible sin. And God includes this story for the Davids in the Bathsheba stories of life that have said, Mark, I know Christ, but what I've done and where I've been and how I've wandered, God says, you know, my son gave grace not only at the cross.

When you believe me, my grace continues to super abound. for my Children that have turned from me. This whole genealogy not only affirms the claimant to the throne, it affirms the love that Advent is all about to broken people, to needy people, to wronged people, the people that are manipulating the people that are struggling, the people who feel like outsiders.

It's a beautiful genealogy. It's actually a shocking one. But God seems to never grow tired of shocking us with his grace, right? That's what this story is about. Lord, we come to you this morning.

There's not a person in this room or a person that's watching on their phone or their computer or wherever they are. You are not sitting with them, seeing them, knowing them,

and loving them. Lord, whether it's Ruth we identify with, or David in Bathsheba's story, or Tamar, or Rahab,

we glory in grace. We glory in the love that is your very character. God is love. Lord, let us lean into that this morning, I pray, on this Christmas season. In Jesus name, Amen.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/what-jesus-genealogy-tells-us-about-jesus 6cef6ccc-2853-4c0f-9aac-39dab90a724c Sun, 24 Dec 2023 10:40:38 GMT <div data-html="true">I invite you to take your Bibles to the book of Matthew, chapter one. Matthew, chapter one. We're going to be reading verses one through 17. We're in the last of a series on Advent. Advent means the coming of Jesus Christ into the world. And in each of those Sundays, we have focused on One particular benefit of Jesus coming into the world, four words that are, regularly associated with Advent historically. <br /><br /> the first week we looked at hope, Pastor Mike, couple of weeks ago looked at, peace. Last Sunday, Pastor Ben talked about joy. This morning, I'm focusing on love. When Pastor Ben spoke last week, he talked about Jesus and what Jesus was doing before his birth in Bethlehem. The statement he made, his question, was before the manger, what was pre baby Jesus like? <br /><br /> today we're going to look at the human ancestry of Jesus. We're going to look back at his biological family tree, and we're looking at what really is the forgotten chapter. of the Christmas story. there's a reason it's forgotten. We choose to forget it because it doesn't really seem that exciting. <br /><br /> We tend to zip through this thing. We skip it in order to get to the good stuff. But the Jews of the first century would be quite surprised by that reaction to the ancestral genealogy that is presented of Jesus. Because to them, it was absolutely essential. To the story of an individual, for instance, whenever land was bought or sold, you had to prove your ancestral background through your genealogy because in Israel, land had to be sold at this time in history. <br /><br /> Land had to be sold within the tribal ancestry that one had. So you had to be able to go back to show all the way back to a guy named Jacob, who was one of the patriarchs. It was Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. And Jacob then had 12 sons. And those 12 sons with the 12 tribes of Israel. You had to go back hundreds and hundreds of years to demonstrate that you were, had legitimate claim to own your property. <br /><br /> If you were going to be a part of the priesthood, you had to be able to prove your family tree, that you were of the tribe of Levi. If you were going to make a claim to the throne of David, to be the king of Israel, you had to be able to trace your lineage all the way back through the tribe of Judah. <br /><br /> through David and other specifics in that. The emphasis on one's genealogy is front and center in the Christmas story itself. It's interesting that in Luke chapter 2 it says, In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. And everyone went to his own town to register. <br /><br /> This meant that even in the Roman Empire, what they were doing was they say, you got to go back to your ancestral home. Now, I know that I was born in Mineola, New York. I know that because my parents told me, and it was verified by my birth certificate. But I have no idea where my father was born. I know I don't know where my grandfather was born. <br /><br /> And to be able to establish one's ancestral, Lineage is just fathomless for us today. The ancestry of Jesus that is presented in Matthew chapter one goes back over 2, 000 years. It is taking it all the way back to Abraham and such was necessary to prove one's heritage and in his case, particularly his claim to the throne of Israel. <br /><br /> I'm going to read this passage in a moment, but genealogy was not just a genealogy in Jesus day. It was a resume. It was how you presented yourself to the world. And Jesus genealogy will declare two giant things about him. First, he is the center of God's love story for humanity. And secondly, he is the revealer of God's love for all people. <br /><br /> I'd like to look at this now. I'm going to read through the genealogy, in chapter 1 of Matthew chapter 1, down through verse 17. The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers. <br /><br /> And Judah the father of Perez, and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram. And Ram, the Father of Ammenadab and Ammenadab, the father of Nation and Nation, the father of Salmon and Salmon, the father of Boaz by Rahab and Boaz, the father of Obed by Ruth and Obed, The father of Jesse and Jesse, the father of David, the King. <br /><br /> And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, and Solomon the father of Rehoboam and Rehoboam, the father of Abijah and Abijah, the father of Aesop, and Asaph the father of Jahashophat. There's a lot of names here you might want to consider if you're pregnant. And Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of Josiah, and Josiah the father of Jeconiah. <br /><br /> And after the deportation to Babylon, Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, and Zerubbabel the father of Abiad, and Abiad the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliad, and Eliad the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Mathan. <br /><br /> And Matham, the father of Jacob and Jacob, the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ. So all the generations from Abraham to David. were 14 generations. This is how the passage is divided up. And from David to the deportation to Babylon, 14 generations. And from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ, 14 generations. <br /><br /> Let's pray. <br /><br /> Lord, I thank you for this passage. I thank you for this genealogy. I thank you for the theology in it, the theology of God. It points to your character, it points to your love, and Lord, I pray as we gather on this Christmas Eve morning and speak to a group of people in this room and those watching online. <br /><br /> And God, I pray that the truth of the love that was Manifested in Christ might seep into the pores of our lives this morning, or there are people to whom Christmas is is confusing, is lonely, is painful. There's all kinds of stories that we bring to this little sermon today. And Lord, you know them all. <br /><br /> And I ask you to speak into our lives this morning truth. In Jesus name. Amen. <br /><br /> Jesus is the center of God's love story for humanity. All biblical history is pointing the way toward Jesus. Luke is here tracing the line of Christ all the way back from Abraham. Somewhere 2, 000, maybe 2, 200 years before. He is doing so to show that Jesus is the legitimate Air to the throne of Israel in verse one, he sort of summarizes the whole thing. <br /><br /> He says the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham, and actually laying out that he is the seed of Abraham. He is a true Jewish claimant. He goes all the way back, but also that his ancestry flowed through David, the line of the chosen Kings. There are three central moments in this. <br /><br /> In the first section, it talks about from Abraham to David. And then the second section talks about David to the exile in Babylon, where Babylon, conquered Israel and, and took, deported many of the people to Babylon for 70 years. And then from the exile in Babylon to Jesus birth, from 600 B. C. down to literally 0 A. <br /><br /> D. There are 14 generations that are listed in each period, but there were many other generations. If you look, there's over a thousand years. There's way more than 14 generations of people. But these 14 are highlighted. So we immediately are tipped off that this is a select genealogy. But this genealogy fulfills something was that was said to Abraham back in Genesis chapter 12. <br /><br /> And Paul talks about it. And I'd like you to look at this verse in Galatians chapter 3 verses 8 and following. Scripture announced, sorry, still learning my screens, announced the gospel in advance to Abraham and Paul says this, All nations will be blessed through you. Christ redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus. <br /><br /> The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. Scripture does not say and to seeds, meaning many people, but and to your seed, meaning one person. Who is Christ, Paul says the promise to Abraham that all peoples of the earth will be blessed. was talking about one guy, one person, and who would be that blessing? <br /><br /> He says, Jesus Christ, Jesus, the Christ, the anointed one, the Messiah. We see that in the promise of the statement that was made to Mary, Jesus mother. It says this in Luke chapter 1, verse 33, and the first part of how he would bless all peoples. Was told to her and behold you will conceive in your womb and bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus he will be great and will be called the son of the Most High and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David and he will reign over the house of Dave of Jacob forever and of his kingdom There will be no end first of all he is promised to be the king it says His kingdom will have no end. <br /><br /> That was a specific promise that was made to David's heir in 2 Samuel 7. And Jesus is the promised king to her husband, the adoptive father of Jesus, a man named Joseph. The angel said this in Matthew 1 verse 20 and 21. Joseph, son of David, don't fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. <br /><br /> She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. He will be a savior to Mary. He will be a king. And then listen to what the angel says to the shepherds out on the hillside. After he has been born or he had just been born Luke chapter 2 verse 10 and 11 I bring you good news of great joy That will be for all the people for unto you is born this day in the city of David A savior who is Christ, the Lord. <br /><br /> Christ was the messianic name, the title, it means Messiah, the anointed one, the king. He will be the savior king. This is how he will bless all peoples. Was promised to Abraham thousands of years before, two full thousand years before. And now has been fulfilled, Paul says. As Jesus ancestry leads down through those years to a little hovel in Bethlehem, to a babe lying in a manger, his genealogy has given him the credentials to be this Savior King. <br /><br /> A king who would deliver his people from their sins, from their enslavement and bondage, a king as well as a savior. All human stories of heroic rescue and love are shadows of this story. God gives a story which is the story. I could go through, I was just thinking of some this morning, I mean this week, of, of talk about the myths and fables, even the storylines that are being written today, of great Great stories, great fable, great myths regularly portray people in bondage. <br /><br /> They've been tyrannized by the Empire and Star Wars. I mean, we could go on and on under the Dark Lord and Lord of the Rings and all of the contemporary Marvel characters in some way or another come in to be rescuers. They're superhuman out of our cultural experience. They come to help individuals trapped and enslaved under tyranny or slavery. <br /><br /> They're supernatural beings that are beyond our finiteness. The expectation is of a deliverer who will make things right. And Christmas is a story about this. Someone from out of space who can defeat death, who wields supernatural power, who promises to make all things right one day. I mean, it looks like the gospel is just one more myth, right? <br /><br /> One more story pointing to an underlying reality. But Matthew says that is not so. This story has been written over these millennia of time. It is THE story. Which all other human myths are stories are finding their underlying reality. Those stories are just reflected shadows of THE story. He does defeat death. <br /><br /> He does rescue. He does come to make all our hopes true and real. He is the heroic prince, the conqueror of injustice. The king is our savior. And Jesus Christ is the one who brings that message. that gospel of grace and love. And he is the revealer that God's love is for all people. There are two shocking things about this genealogy. <br /><br /> One is very simply that God chose these ancestors for Jesus. He designed it, he orchestrated it, the whole thing was done, and his choices are surprising. He has an unusual cast of characters. One thing that's surprising about it in the way it is delineated is that it includes women. Because in the ancient Near East, genealogies of this day never included women. <br /><br /> And it is a focus on these women. Now people argue, and I'm just going to digress for a second. People argue the Bible is culturally repressive because of its views on women. The Bible in its day was shockingly progressive. The Bible's principles will never line up culturally as relevant with any culture in any day. <br /><br /> All cultures are made up of fallen humans. Some are much more conservative and repressive than the Bible. Some are more progressive and liberal. The Bible presents a supracultural view. It transcends human cultures. Offering a way of life that is real humanity. Humanity as it is designed to be. We'll see that as we go into in February, a study in the book of Ephesians, which is a fascinating discourse on the way of life that God is advocating for people. <br /><br /> And interestingly, he is addressing two groups of people. One are the Jewish Christians who come from a culture that had become overly repressive and conservative. Gentiles who were liberal and progressive and he says to them I'm outlining for you a way of life That's going to sound really new really alien to you It is however utterly human as God Intended humanity to build it is to be it is built on timeless principles of what is true, virtuous, joyous, holistic human experience. <br /><br /> Now, in putting women in this genealogy, Jesus, Luke is already going counter cultural with this, but it is the story of these women and what they are associated with that makes it remarkable because they represent some of the most not necessarily their behavior, but they were associated with the most sordid, nasty incidents in the whole Old Testament scriptures. <br /><br /> And they're a part of it. The other thing that's shocking here is God chose to highlight these ancestors. Remember, I mentioned to you that they skipped over countless generations in Matthew chapter one. These individual stories were included for a reason. They were highlighted. for a messaging. And God shows individuals that were not the ones you would usually highlight in your ancestry. <br /><br /> Because everybody has ancestors who would embarrass us. I remember watching, the TV show, Who Do You Think You Are? a couple of times, and I know they've had Sarah Jessica Parker, Spike Lee, Brooke Shields, Emmett Smith, and countless others. Joseph, those are just ones I was aware of. And basically they trace their, their, their genealogy. <br /><br /> Their ancestry and they find out they find out they're related to royalty and all kinds of cool things a lot of times But they also find out there was some pretty Sorted characters scoundrels and criminals in their background of most of them Everybody has stuff somewhere and sometimes your family tree can be very unsettling I remember reading this story. <br /><br /> It was actually an account. I read it in a periodical about a guy named Craig Cobb, 62 year old man, white supremacist who was trying to form a new neo, uh, a neo Nazi town in North Dakota. Very outspoken, obviously anti any other race, and had the surprise of his life. when he received the results of his DNA test on the Tricia Goddard show. <br /><br /> He'd agreed to let them research his bloodlines through DNA testing, and he was being interviewed by Tricia Goddard, who is African American. And she presented his genetic makeup as having approximately 15 percent of his bloodline was black African American, black African. And she, she then proceeded to refer to him throughout the remainder of the interview as bro. <br /><br /> It's striking that when God had Jesus genealogy mentioned, He does deliberately leave out stages. He is intentionally underline, underlining certain people. Now people, of course, today, we play with our resumes. Today, if you left your first college, you just leave it out, and just write the college, you know, it's, it's a, it's a mulligan, it's a false start, you know, a do over. <br /><br /> But God leaves out the heroes, the glory makers, and includes the shocking stories in the lineage of Jesus. There are four of them. There are four surprising people. And I'm going to highlight, there are others, I'm going to highlight just the women this morning. And the stories associated, I'm going to summarize them very quickly and say why I think it matters. <br /><br /> First of all, is in verse 3, a woman named Tamar. Tamar was married to a guy named Judah, one of the sons of Jacob, goes all the way back 2, 000 years. And it's interesting that both Judah and Tamar are listed to make sure you, you get the story straight of who this Tamar is. Judah was Tamar's father in law. <br /><br /> Tamar's first husband died, and in Jewish law, the idea was that she would then be given his brother to carry on the family line within her family. She went to her father in law Judah and asked for the younger brother. He postponed it, held off, and eventually it was obvious he was not going to give her the older son. <br /><br /> He was not going to encourage this. So she set a trap for him. she actually posed with a veil as a, as a prostitute. He went into her, didn't know it was his daughter in law, conceived, they had a child, and basically it's this sordid, awful story. The child from that immorality is a part of Jesus lineage. <br /><br /> The story of Tamar. There's a story in verse five of Rahab. She was a prostitute in Jericho, and Rahab ran a brothel in the red light district of Jericho. And a phrase that most of us that know Old Testament history is this phrase, Rahab the harlot. That's her designation. That's how she is known. But that's not all. <br /><br /> Rahab was also a Canaanite, and a Canaanite were the people that were trying to wipe out the Israelites at this time. Her background is one that this is her story. And when you say the name Rahab in the scriptures, this is your association, but it is also That she was the great great great great great great great grandmother of Jesus Christ. <br /><br /> And for some reason, God wanted her name highlighted in the story. There's a woman named Ruth in verse 5. She was a godly woman, but she was a Moabitess, came from a tribe of people that were continually trying to harass and restrict. The Israelites wouldn't allow them to go through their land where most of the others would. <br /><br /> If nothing else, Ruth was an outsider. <br /><br /> And fourth, there's a woman named Bathsheba, verse six. She's associated with probably the worst moment in Old Testament history. Uriah, her husband, was a One of the mighty men of David, associated with David, one of his closest associates, and David's army is out fighting. And David, while the guys are out fighting, David's staying back at the palace, looks down, sees this beautiful babe, takes her, sleeps with her. <br /><br /> She gets pregnant. Her name's Bathsheba. And in order to hide the fact that it's his child, He brings Uriah home from the battlefield, hoping he'll sleep with his wife, and then she'll apparently be pregnant by him. But he's too committed. He won't sleep with his wife. How can he do that when all his troops are in the field? <br /><br /> So he sleeps on the front steps of the palace. Doesn't work. He tries to get him drunk. He still doesn't go home and sleep with his wife, Bathsheba. And then David actually has Uriah, one of his own guys, one of his buds, killed in battle. To hide the whole thing and try to make people think, well, obviously it was Uriah's son because Uriah, excuse me, yeah, Uriah isn't there to, to renounce such an accusation because he wasn't there. <br /><br /> Bathsheba's there and it's through her line that Jesus is born. Bathsheba's the reminder of adultery and betrayal of one of the most godly men that ever lived named David. Now David had other wives. Why this one for the line of the throne? Why include the story? Well, the genealogy does establish Jesus as the rightful heir, the promised Savior King. <br /><br /> But the people chosen to highlight it are at least unexpected, right? So why does it matter? Why are they listed? What's this about? What's God saying to us? Two things. This genealogy is a message to self righteous people. Matthew was written especially to the Jews. These were the people that had the heritage, they had the lineage, they had the background, the ancestry themselves. <br /><br /> Many of them put their confidence in the fact of their heritage as Jews, that they did the right things, that they deserved life and grace. And what a shock it would be to read this giant genealogy which is associated with liars. murderers and thieves and adulterers and prostitutes. I think it's the reminder that Jesus came to for people that recognized they were unworthy of grace. <br /><br /> The story of Christ coming to the world is God's love message that my gospel, my grace, It's for everyone that is willing to see their own brokenness, their own need, that is willing to see themselves as not deserving, <br /><br /> but as undeserving, and yet graced. This genealogy is a message to highlight that grace and love. Jesus identified with people who didn't appear righteous and moral. He came for such people. That's why Paul summarizes as he's talking to the church in first Corinthians, and he says this in verses nine through 11. <br /><br /> Guys, don't be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you, and you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. <br /><br /> What he's saying is, we could put in there the self righteous, the liars. He does that in many other passages. He's got the greedy. Well, that covers most Americans. Most of us find ourselves in this list. There are certainly others that include us there. But what he's saying is Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, prostitutes and pastors, religious insiders and outsiders, moral and immoral, all sit down together, utterly broken in their sin, utterly deserving of a Christless separation from God's Heaven, eternity, and it doesn't matter what you've done or where you've been or how you failed. <br /><br /> Jesus says, in my church, those things don't matter. Sin cannot halt God's grace. There is more grace in Jesus Christ than there is sin in your life. There is more grace in Jesus Christ than there is sin in your life. It's why Paul said this in the book of Romans. Where sin abounds, grace super abounds. <br /><br /> Maybe you're a Ruth today, an outsider. Christmas can remind you of that canon. I look at all those commercials, all the hallmark, that's not my life. It's not my family. Maybe you're a Tamar, a person who's been deeply wronged, mistreated, took things into her own hands, tries to fix it because her father in law is not doing what he should do by obligation. <br /><br /> Your life is one of trying to work things, trying to make it okay. There's pain, there's stuff you're trying to work off. God says to you, I've got people like you in my son's story because I wanted you to be reminded that he came for you. <br /><br /> Or you're a Rahab or Bathsheba, a Rahab particularly, and you say, Ha, you don't know what I've done. You don't know where I've come from. You don't know what I bring to this room or to this TV set as I watch this morning. You don't know. I don't know. And I don't care. I know the one who does know. And where sin abounds, grace super abounds. <br /><br /> There is more grace in Jesus Christ than sin in your life. <br /><br /> And God threw on Rahab's in order to say, My Jesus came for you. And then there's Bathsheba's. Well, really, the story of Bathsheba is really the story of David. <br /><br /> The horror of that story is a man after God's own heart, God described him that way, could do such horrible sin. And God includes this story for the Davids in the Bathsheba stories of life that have said, Mark, I know Christ, but what I've done and where I've been and how I've wandered, God says, you know, my son gave grace not only at the cross. <br /><br /> When you believe me, my grace continues to super abound. for my Children that have turned from me. This whole genealogy not only affirms the claimant to the throne, it affirms the love that Advent is all about to broken people, to needy people, to wronged people, the people that are manipulating the people that are struggling, the people who feel like outsiders. <br /><br /> It's a beautiful genealogy. It's actually a shocking one. But God seems to never grow tired of shocking us with his grace, right? That's what this story is about. Lord, we come to you this morning. <br /><br /> There's not a person in this room or a person that's watching on their phone or their computer or wherever they are. You are not sitting with them, seeing them, knowing them, <br /><br /> and loving them. Lord, whether it's Ruth we identify with, or David in Bathsheba's story, or Tamar, or Rahab, <br /><br /> we glory in grace. We glory in the love that is your very character. God is love. Lord, let us lean into that this morning, I pray, on this Christmas season. In Jesus name, Amen.</div> false no <![CDATA[Before the Manger: Christ in the Old Testament]]> Sermon Transcript:

Thank you to so many of you. I think Pastor Mike said there was over 500 volunteers for the Mount Laurel Living Nativity this year. It's just incredible.

And I don't even know if that counts the true hero. The true hero of the Living Nativity this year is whoever made the lemon cookies that are in the lobby right now. That might be the single greatest cookie I have ever had in my life. There is a lemon cookie that's still in the lobby. Yes, you can.

You're excused if you want to grab one. That is absolutely phenomenal. We do this. You give your time 500 over 500 people. Many others of you have brought friends or come through yourself. We do this. We gather on Sunday mornings. All because of an answer to a question. That simple question is, who was this baby who came in a manger over 2, 000 years ago?

Who was this person? There's some kids that have asked deep theological questions about this God, this Christ who came. Lucy asked this question, are you invisible? Or is that just a trick? Nan asked this existential question. Says, I bet it's hard to love everyone in the whole world. There are only four people in my family and I can never do it.

It's a practical question from a kid. If Jesus doesn't have to, if Jesus doesn't have a sister. Why do I need to have one? And a parent wrote this. When my oldest was about three, we found a baby bird in the yard. It had fallen from its nest. When I went to check on it in the morning, it had died. When I took the kids out to play, I discreetly, every parent knows what this is like, discreetly scooped him up, put him in a bag, and in the trash.

When we came in, my son said, Mama, what happened to that baby bird? Trying to skirt the issue, I said, Oh, you don't have to worry about the baby bird. He lives with Jesus now. He looked at me thoughtfully and for a few moments and said, Jesus lives in the trash? The majority of the questions about the Christian faith, the reason why so many of the creeds are written Is over this question of who is this Jesus?

We've been going and lighting advent camp candles and talking about Jesus as the hope as the peace and this morning as this Jesus who brings joy. And what I'd like to do this morning is to tell the origin story to tell the prequel to the manger that we have. Who was Jesus? Before the manger. What was pre baby Jesus like?

Was that his name? Was he in human body form before coming to earth? What was the second person of the Trinity doing? What was his role in the Godhead? Was he waiting his turn like God the Father had the Old Testament? Tagged, Jesus, he had the Gospels and Jesus tagged the Spirit and he had the rest of the New Testament.

Where do we see the unique role in the Godhead? Before he became a human on earth, before he taught and ministered, before he died for the sins of the world and rose to defeat death. Who was this Christ for the majority of the scriptures you have in front of you this morning? So we're going to look simply at the first 39 books of the Bible.

We're going to start with Genesis 1. I'd like a volunteer to read. No, just kidding. We're going to go through a survey of looking at this Jesus, this, this Christ of joy that came all the way and we're going to trace him to the manger. Pray with me this morning.

Lord, there's countless ways where our life has been impacted by the incarnation of you coming to earth.

Jesus, you are our King. You are our hope and our peace and our joy. And, and as the song we sang, as we open your scriptures, we pray they would unfold. But even more than that, I pray for myself, I pray for my, my friends here, that our hearts might unfold like flowers before Thee. Opening up to the sun above in Jesus name.

Amen. Four things we're going to look at of Christ's role that we see in the Old Testament. The first was his role in creation. Where was the second person of the Godhead? The second person of the Trinity in creation? What was Christ's job in the time of creation? Colossians 1, 15 through 17 says this, The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

For in Him, All things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authority, all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. John begins his gospel talking this way, In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

He was with God in the beginning through him. All things were made. Without Him, nothing was made that has been made. The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. The, the role of Christ in creation is a significant one.

He was not a bystander while the Father or the Spirit were the agents of creations alone. It, says in Colossians 1, 16 we said, For in him all things created, John 1, 3, Through him all things were made. Now there's agency in the whole Godhead, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, in the creation of the world. Genesis 1, 26 said, Then God, singular said, Let us, plural, make man in our own image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over.

Who is making says let us make. In Genesis 1 2 it says the spirit hovers over the waters of the deep, over the surface of the waters. So we see that multiple, that all of the God has, it is involved in creation. However, there is a unique role. That this manger dwelling second person of God had in all of creation.

He is listed as the primary agent in the Godhead. He made, Christ made, all the stuff. Atoms, molecules, cells, nuclei. 118 that we know about, chemical elements. Place and spacing of the planets, the exact dimensions in which existence itself takes place, time and space. And he didn't just make the stuff, he also organized how the stuff interacted.

Macro and micro ecosystems. He made the stuff between the stuff. Emotion, reason, morality, consciousness. And made the rules of how the stuff itself behaves. Gravity, heat, vacuum, laws of motion. Jesus Christ, the second person of the Godhead, is Creator. Not only is, is He a Creator, He is a Sustainer. In, in the text we just looked at, it says, All things were created in Him, and all things, in Him, all things, You catch it what it said?

Are held together. Creation itself is not a clock that was wound up and set. It is a creation that is held. It is a creation that is held together by Christ himself. There was a belief in the 17 hundreds called deism. This was after the scientific res revolution, and we realized as we look around and saw all of this stuff.

Mankind had an ability to do things with this stuff, to be like their creator in creating new things with this basic stuff he had given them, right? We have learned to facilitate, manipulate, operate this stuff, this created stuff, so we can make cars and pizzas, telescopes, frisbees. And what people looked around, and obviously they didn't make cars by then, I know the person's looking, But looked around and we're like, Hey, we can make a lot of stuff.

Maybe God just started this thing and let it go. And John Locke was a big influencer in this belief of deism. I think it's a belief system that we can Think pretty often maybe not explicitly but at least in our day to day that God made all the stuff and that okay I mean even understanding Christ himself second person of the Trinity was involved in the making of all things But he didn't just make it didn't just send it forward in Christ all things hold together atoms and molecules cells and nuclei Macro micro ecosystems.

All things were made by him and are sustained by him. He is before all things and in him all things hold together. Hebrews 1 3 says this. Jesus upholds the universe by the word. Of his power now when we think of jesus in and we under and in christmas there's So much beautifully appropriately understanding of the humanity When Jesus was a baby, he did not know language.

He did not control his own bowels. He did not have a sense of, Oh, I'm not gonna cry because I am filled with the joy of the Spirit. Right? Like this was a normal baby who had to learn to walk and talk like a normal baby. That means the very maker of language, the very holder together all things, had to learn a first word.

Had to move a first step. This is the mystery that we hold at Christmas. But more, when we talk about Christ, the second person of the Godhead, we're not just talking about the most influential man in history. Not just talking about the person around which we shape our calendars. Those things are small news.

On the resume of Christ himself, we are talking about the one who's created and holds together all that we know. Second thing, in the Old Testament, the coming of this Christ, and we see what's called Christophanies. Now, can you guys say, say Christophanies? That's okay. you guys say Christophanies. Yeah, that's good.

You guys get more lemon cookies. Christophanies. Okay, so a Christophany is the appearing of Christ in the Old Testament. There are several moments in the Old Testament where the person of Christ came and appeared to people. Not someone like Christ, not an angel sent by Christ, but actually Christ himself.

Jonathan Edwards wrote this, when we read in sacred history what God did from time to time toward his church and people, how he revealed himself to them, we are to understand it especially in the second person of the Trinity. Now you're not going to open up your Old Testament and see a whole lot of, and then Jesus came because in the second person of the Trinity, that was not the title that was given to him.

What we see. In the Old Testament is the angel of Yahweh or the angel of Jehovah. Now there's many different angels talked about in the Bible, including the Old Testament. Jacob saw angels, Balaam had an angel, Isaiah had visions of an angel, angels, Zechariah, Ezekiel talk about angels. They are angels from the Lord.

But there is this special title given to this Yahweh, and he's talked to as it would talk to with the title of God or Lord. This angel of the Lord is, angel of the Lord, a divine entity, and this was his name, primarily where you see the name. of Christ in the Old Testament. It is this title, the angel of the Lord.

I'm just going to mention, there's a number of passages where we see this character. I'm going to just mention three. One is the story of Hagar. Hagar, is one of the most prominent, uh, painful examples of spiritual abuse we have. And what happens is Abraham, Abram and Sarai were promised they were going to have a child.

Nothing's happening. And so, Sarai says, Sarai says to Abram, go, go, have a baby with Hagar. So he does that. Then all of a sudden Hagar has a baby. And who would guess, Sarai is now jealous and wanting to, and casts her out. And she eventually goes and she's out, in the, in the wilderness and God comes to her.

The angel of Yahweh comes to her and they have this back and forth and this angel of Yahweh, this Christ himself was given a new name by Hagar, says now I will call you the God of Israel. Who sees that then eventually Hagar goes back to Abraham and Sarai they become Abraham and Sarah Then they have their own child Isaac at this time There's Isaac here and then there's Hager's Hagar's kid Ishmael and then Sarah and Abraham were like, okay We're gonna do the Isaac thing.

They kick out Hagar and she becomes a single mom. She's sent with a piece of bread And a little bit of water into the desert to die all because of this plot of Abraham and Sarah. And then she goes in Genesis 21. She says that she's cast out dying in the desert. She puts the baby down because she cannot bear the sound of him dying, says God.

God heard the angel of the Lord, Christ himself, heard the boy crying. The angel of God called Hagar from heaven and said to her, what is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid. God has heard the boy crying as he lies there, lift up the boy, take him by hand, I will make him into a great nation. God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water, so she went and filled the skim with water and gave the boy a drink.

This Christ is the one who sees and the one who hears the little boy crying. Another example of Christ himself Got Christophany in the Old Testament is in the burning bush or the not burning bush Moses who's finally gotten out of the drama of Egypt and all this going on he goes and he's in the wilderness He's on Mount Sinai and he's walking around and he sees a bush that's on fire.

Not that unusual incredibly arid climate, and he goes and sees this bush. It's on fire, but it's not burning. That is unusual. What is on fire? What is on fire is the angel of the Lord. There the angel of the Lord, the angel of Jehovah, appeared to him in flames with fire from a bush. And Moses thought the bush was on fire.

It did not burn up, so he thought, I will go over and see this strange sight. When the Lord Saw that he had gone over to, look, God called to him from the bush, who's in the bush? God's in the bush. Angel of the Lord's in the bush. It's the same person, the same person of Christ. And then there's this interchange between Moses and Christ at the bush.

And basically Christ says, I want you to go and rescue my people. And Moses says. I don't want to and then God says you need to go rescue my people and he basically goes back and forth Is there anyone else and then he says well, who am I even gonna say who am I even gonna say is sending me? Do you know what he says?

He says I am who I am tell him I am has sent me that is the word Yahweh the angel of Yahweh is Yahweh So, if we can say things like, you know what, God seemed a certain way in the Old Testament. I don't really love all that stuff, and so I like the Jesus parts in the New Testament. It's the same Christ.

Christ as a part of the Godhead is Yahweh, and we see him in the Old Testament. The Old Testament. One more story. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego won't bow before Nebuchadnezzar. And so they get thrown into a fire. It's lit extra hot. And the people even throwing them into the fire get burned and die.

And, and they go and look to see these burned up guys that wouldn't bow before the idols. And they look in and what do they say? They say there's people walking around. And how many people did they say? There's four people walking around. There's an extra person in there. Somebody gave birth, right? There's four people in the furnace.

It is the angel of Yahweh, Christ himself, being with his people. One of the questions I ask myself is, well, when did he show up? Looking at these and other Christophanies, when did he show up? Jesus showed up then just as he came at Christmas, just as he comes today. He came to be with his people and to save them from their distress.

Third thing we see, and it does say two, but it really means three, prophecies, right? Over 300 prophecies about Christ or prophecies in the Old Testament. And, just want to. I'm going to say a few that pertain directly to his life. First his conception prophesied Isaiah 714. His birth, Isaiah 9 6. His birthplace, Isaiah 714.

His mission on earth, this is a real cool one, because Isaiah 61 1. In Luke 4, Jesus goes and he reads the Isaiah scroll and undoes a very long scroll of 66 chapters and comes to chapter 61 of the Isaiah scroll. And he says this in Luke 4. He reads this. He has sent me to heal those who are broken hearted to announce the captives will be set free and prisoners will be released.

Reading from Isaiah. And then he said, rolled up the scroll and said, Today the scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. His physical appearance is prophesied in Isaiah 53, 3. We have an idea of what Jesus looked like. Jesus did not have glowing blue eyes that just pierced your soul, right? Or the long hair and the thing of like, Whoa, he didn't stand out.

He wasn't a king that was a head taller like Saul. It says in Isaiah 53, that he had no beauty. Or majesty to attract us to him nothing in his appearance that we should desire him Jesus was not a particularly good looking man He was not an unusually, attractive man in the way he was, or came across, or looked.

Isaiah 11. 2 includes his, the inclusion of the Gentiles. Isaiah 53, his manner of death. Isaiah 53. 9, his burial. Isaiah 55. 3, his resurrection. Isaiah 11. 11, the second coming. These are just some of the prophecies about Jesus. Does anyone notice? for an extra lemon cookie. I'm telling you, they're so good. Okay, Anybody notice anything about these prophecies we just went through?

They're all from the book of Isaiah. And not all the prophecies about Christ are from Isaiah. But the reason I chose Isaiah is In 1947, there was what I believe the most important discovery, archaeological discovery that we have in terms of Biblical history. In 1947, a nomadic Arab shepherd It was wandering around and came across some scrolls.

It was on the west side of the Dead Sea. And then through about 14 more years of excavation, they have all these different scrolls. Now the reason why this is important is that our Old Testament that we have is prim was primarily based on texts that were copied and copied and copied and copied and copied.

And the, the most original texts, or most significant original texts that we were dealing with was 1000 A. D. Now there's something you can say about the prophecies if you only have texts from a thousand AD you can say well maybe they saw what Jesus did and then Prophesied it in a thousand AD and made it sound like it was before him in 1947.

These were found they're dated between 100 AD but most of them before Christ came as early as 300 BC they contain parts of of all of the new, all the books of the New Testament, except for Nehemiah and, and Esther. And the most significant discovery was the Isaiah scroll. All 66 chapters dated back to 125 before BC, before Christ.

If you think, well, 125 years may not seem that long. 125 years ago, Utah became the 45th state in the union. We were in the Spanish American War with William McKinley as president and Henry Ford had just built a quadricycle That was the forerunner to his Model T that didn't come for nine more years 125 years before This Isaiah scroll speaks of the coming of this Christ.

Luke 24, 14 says this, or 24, 44. This is Jesus speaking. Then he said to them, These are my words I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written to me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms, Must be fulfilled. Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures. Fourth, we see Christ in the Old Testament in what's called types of Christ.

Types of Christ, types of Christ where it wasn't necessarily Christ himself, but it was an example of what Christ would do. Adam is one. If you look at, you take the book, the first three chapters of the book of Genesis, and then the 16 chapters of the book of Romans, you see this connection of how Jesus is the second Adam.

Jesus came to do, Jesus came to represent. The way that Adam failed to represent a people or just as the way that Adam took a people to death. Jesus takes a people to life. There's a serpent in the desert where, in the old Testament, they're wandering around the desert and there's a time when they raise up the serpent.

If you looked upon the serpent, you were saved and, and Jesus is in, in right before he gets to the famous John three, 16, he's talking to Nicodemus and John three, four. 14. And he says, just as the snake was lifted up in the desert, so the son of man is lifted up. And he's using that as an example, saying that was a type that wasn't, that wasn't me, but it was just like me, just, I'm just like Adam.

If you take a Moses, and this is so often when we went through the book of acts, right? So many of the sermons in the book of acts that Paul and Peter gave went back. to Moses, right? And they went and explained this has been a story of Jesus all along. Moses himself was a type of Christ. 400 years silence.

Israel was in the bondage of Pharaoh in Egypt. After 400 years, God finally raises up a deliverer. There's 400 years right before the coming of Christ. And after 400 years, God raises up the second Moses to fulfill the sacrificial system is a type of Christ, a forerunner to Christ. You take the book of liticus and marry it to the book of Hebrews and understanding that this were a type, these were a type of Christ.

As I went through, the Old Testament, I really, Testament and really enjoyed this exercise of just saying, Okay, Christ, what were you like then? Right? not just in the Gospels, not just in revelations that coming again. We see images of Jesus. What were you like before the manger? What were you like?

There are five things that as I looked at this that stood out to me. In these four, uh, ways of the coming of Christ. How, or the way he was, I'm sorry, the coming of Christ in the Old Testament. His creation, Christophanies, prophecies, and types of Christ. What was Jesus like in the Old Testament? Here are the macro themes that I, I found myself.

You can, it's these five things. One, power and capacity. When, when Jesus in the Old Testament came, he wasn't just a buddy that, that joined in the, in the fight or helped out. There was power and capacity to who he was. There was personal connection. Not a removed Christ, but an involved Christ. Personal sacrifice.

Delivered his people. He delivered his people when Christ came in the Old Testament. Delivered his people from their distress. And lastly, brought his people joy. The presence of Christ in the Old Testament was not an encumbered thing. It was a joyful thing. It wasn't a thing of burden. It was a reality.

The deliverance had come and just want to run through them real quick. Where do we see these? First off, what was he like in creation? In particular, we see one, two, and five of those. The authority. Christ had the authority to, out of nothing, ex nihilo, speak and create all that we know. That's power and capacity.

But when he created, he didn't just stand back and watch like a clock. No, he sustained. He was involved. At Christophany in the Old Testament, we didn't have time to get to is Jesus. Walking in the garden when it says he was walking in the cool of the day, believe that is Christ himself. what we see, what is he like?

He also came to bring his people's joy, but what was he like in the Christophanies? Well, Christophanies and the way he behaved in the Christophanies when he came on earth, we see his power and capacity being able to do everything that he said he would do when he came. It was personal connection. It was almost always to a small group of.

people or to one person. When Christ came in the Old Testament, it was deeply intimate and personal. Third or fourth, he delivered his people from their distress. When Christ came as a Christophany, it was almost always with a direct activity in mind saying this person of mine is in trouble and I'm coming to pull them out.

And when he came, his people were left with statements like that. God sees me at God. Here's me. That God walks in the fire with me. The presence of Christ brought people joy in the prophecies, who Christ would be. We see all five of these seams. He is. He is to come with a He is to come to rule and be a king.

He was, he's coming to capably do what no one else can do. He's coming to be personally connected to the plight of his people. Isaiah 53 is just this intimate prophecy of this, this, this God who would be with who not this God who would be around, not this God who would just lead, but the God who would be with and walk with his people.

And the God who would have ultimate personal sacrifice that prophecy started as early as Genesis three and is punctuated throughout your entire Old Testament that this God would come to have victory, but would do so at his own sacrifice. He would also successfully deliver his people from distress.

This is the promise of the coming Messiah. And when, remember when Christ eventually came, actually got in the manger and it says there's an angel on the hillside, he appeared with a great light and said this, behold, do not be afraid. I bring you, this is the type of news I'm bringing you. I bring you good news of what of great joy.

It's prophesied joy and the joy had finally arrived. Lastly, the, the type of what were the type of Christ's like these hit on four of those themes authority, capacity, personal connection, extra probably five. The personal sacrifice also is seen in the different types of Christ delivering his people from distress and giving joy.

So asking the question, Jesus, who were you before you came in the manger? Who were you in the old Testament? And I felt this week, you ever see the movie hook? That's a great movie, alright? Hook is like, Robin Williams. He's Peter Pan. Only he's older and chubbier. And he comes back to Never, Neverland?

Did I get that right? Okay, alright. So he goes back there and he's, there, he's She's trying to convince the people that he's Peter Pan and he's not quite sure either But finally he's convinced that Peter Pan and they're like that's not Peter Pan couldn't be Peter Pan Until this kid who's literally cutest human being of all time walks up to Peter Pan's face and he starts Moving away the wrinkles, peering it back and looking in his eyes.

Anybody remember what he said? He said, There you are, Peter. There you are, Peter. That's what it felt like when I was going through the Old Testament. I'm used to talking about Jesus from a New Testament perspective. But just looking at who he was in the Old Testament felt like uncrinkling some of those Old Testament pages and saying, There you are, Christ.

It felt like what it says in Hebrews, that Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. That this Christ is who he always has been. And this Christ who came in a manger, came to be who he already was. And this dead and resurrected Christ. Best thing about Easter is Jesus Christ is not dead right now. Is the same on this day and will be the same tomorrow and forever to come.

This is news of joy. And I thought just by way of application, a lot of times applying passages. It's like, okay, here's what we need to go do. Here's what we're called to do, commanded to do. Here's what we're called to think. I think this, this question, to apply who Christ was, who Christ really was, is to ask the question that is personal.

To say, what do I need from Christ? Peter had a big problem with that question, right? Jesus, eventually, after he goes and, and he's, he goes and washes his disciples feet at the end of his ministry before the cross. And he comes to Peter, and Peter's like, dude, do not wash my feet. And Jesus said, unless I wash your feet, you will have no part of me.

Because Christ came to seek and to save and to serve. So a question just this morning for us, and we're gonna sing a final song. Is what do you need from Christ right now? Because this, how is the pre incarnate Christ different than the one that came at resurrection? The answer is he's not. What is different is his availability.

What's different is the clarity of which he comes, and that he doesn't just come and again in Christophenes. Is that his presence, his personal connection with people, has, doesn't have the veil that it had before then. He is available today, and I just want to again say, Ask the question, what do you need from this Christ?

Number one is authority, power. Number two, his personal connection. This Christmas finds a lot of people lonely. Number three, to understand his sacrifice. Because to understand his sacrifice is to understand the very definition of love. Number four, do you need to be saved from your distress? Whether that is your sin, that is your fear.

In this season, number five, you need help because you're fighting for joy. And you need the coming of this Christ who was the same before, came as the same again, rose as the same again, and remains the same today. Dear people of God, this is the foundation of why we exist. Jesus, we come before you, we acknowledge our need of you, we thank you for your power.

Your closeness, your unimaginable sacrifice, your deliverance from our distress, and we walk this moment and this day into joy in Jesus name. Amen.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/before-the-manger-christ-in-the-old-testament 302aec6a-608b-4fbd-a760-0d50e1dddc45 Sun, 17 Dec 2023 10:36:21 GMT <div data-html="true">Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> Thank you to so many of you. I think Pastor Mike said there was over 500 volunteers for the Mount Laurel Living Nativity this year. It's just incredible. <br /><br /> And I don't even know if that counts the true hero. The true hero of the Living Nativity this year is whoever made the lemon cookies that are in the lobby right now. That might be the single greatest cookie I have ever had in my life. There is a lemon cookie that's still in the lobby. Yes, you can. <br /><br /> You're excused if you want to grab one. That is absolutely phenomenal. We do this. You give your time 500 over 500 people. Many others of you have brought friends or come through yourself. We do this. We gather on Sunday mornings. All because of an answer to a question. That simple question is, who was this baby who came in a manger over 2, 000 years ago? <br /><br /> Who was this person? There's some kids that have asked deep theological questions about this God, this Christ who came. Lucy asked this question, are you invisible? Or is that just a trick? Nan asked this existential question. Says, I bet it's hard to love everyone in the whole world. There are only four people in my family and I can never do it. <br /><br /> It's a practical question from a kid. If Jesus doesn't have to, if Jesus doesn't have a sister. Why do I need to have one? And a parent wrote this. When my oldest was about three, we found a baby bird in the yard. It had fallen from its nest. When I went to check on it in the morning, it had died. When I took the kids out to play, I discreetly, every parent knows what this is like, discreetly scooped him up, put him in a bag, and in the trash. <br /><br /> When we came in, my son said, Mama, what happened to that baby bird? Trying to skirt the issue, I said, Oh, you don't have to worry about the baby bird. He lives with Jesus now. He looked at me thoughtfully and for a few moments and said, Jesus lives in the trash? The majority of the questions about the Christian faith, the reason why so many of the creeds are written Is over this question of who is this Jesus? <br /><br /> We've been going and lighting advent camp candles and talking about Jesus as the hope as the peace and this morning as this Jesus who brings joy. And what I'd like to do this morning is to tell the origin story to tell the prequel to the manger that we have. Who was Jesus? Before the manger. What was pre baby Jesus like? <br /><br /> Was that his name? Was he in human body form before coming to earth? What was the second person of the Trinity doing? What was his role in the Godhead? Was he waiting his turn like God the Father had the Old Testament? Tagged, Jesus, he had the Gospels and Jesus tagged the Spirit and he had the rest of the New Testament. <br /><br /> Where do we see the unique role in the Godhead? Before he became a human on earth, before he taught and ministered, before he died for the sins of the world and rose to defeat death. Who was this Christ for the majority of the scriptures you have in front of you this morning? So we're going to look simply at the first 39 books of the Bible. <br /><br /> We're going to start with Genesis 1. I'd like a volunteer to read. No, just kidding. We're going to go through a survey of looking at this Jesus, this, this Christ of joy that came all the way and we're going to trace him to the manger. Pray with me this morning. <br /><br /> Lord, there's countless ways where our life has been impacted by the incarnation of you coming to earth. <br /><br /> Jesus, you are our King. You are our hope and our peace and our joy. And, and as the song we sang, as we open your scriptures, we pray they would unfold. But even more than that, I pray for myself, I pray for my, my friends here, that our hearts might unfold like flowers before Thee. Opening up to the sun above in Jesus name. <br /><br /> Amen. Four things we're going to look at of Christ's role that we see in the Old Testament. The first was his role in creation. Where was the second person of the Godhead? The second person of the Trinity in creation? What was Christ's job in the time of creation? Colossians 1, 15 through 17 says this, The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. <br /><br /> For in Him, All things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authority, all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. John begins his gospel talking this way, In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God. <br /><br /> He was with God in the beginning through him. All things were made. Without Him, nothing was made that has been made. The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. The, the role of Christ in creation is a significant one. <br /><br /> He was not a bystander while the Father or the Spirit were the agents of creations alone. It, says in Colossians 1, 16 we said, For in him all things created, John 1, 3, Through him all things were made. Now there's agency in the whole Godhead, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, in the creation of the world. Genesis 1, 26 said, Then God, singular said, Let us, plural, make man in our own image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over. <br /><br /> Who is making says let us make. In Genesis 1 2 it says the spirit hovers over the waters of the deep, over the surface of the waters. So we see that multiple, that all of the God has, it is involved in creation. However, there is a unique role. That this manger dwelling second person of God had in all of creation. <br /><br /> He is listed as the primary agent in the Godhead. He made, Christ made, all the stuff. Atoms, molecules, cells, nuclei. 118 that we know about, chemical elements. Place and spacing of the planets, the exact dimensions in which existence itself takes place, time and space. And he didn't just make the stuff, he also organized how the stuff interacted. <br /><br /> Macro and micro ecosystems. He made the stuff between the stuff. Emotion, reason, morality, consciousness. And made the rules of how the stuff itself behaves. Gravity, heat, vacuum, laws of motion. Jesus Christ, the second person of the Godhead, is Creator. Not only is, is He a Creator, He is a Sustainer. In, in the text we just looked at, it says, All things were created in Him, and all things, in Him, all things, You catch it what it said? <br /><br /> Are held together. Creation itself is not a clock that was wound up and set. It is a creation that is held. It is a creation that is held together by Christ himself. There was a belief in the 17 hundreds called deism. This was after the scientific res revolution, and we realized as we look around and saw all of this stuff. <br /><br /> Mankind had an ability to do things with this stuff, to be like their creator in creating new things with this basic stuff he had given them, right? We have learned to facilitate, manipulate, operate this stuff, this created stuff, so we can make cars and pizzas, telescopes, frisbees. And what people looked around, and obviously they didn't make cars by then, I know the person's looking, But looked around and we're like, Hey, we can make a lot of stuff. <br /><br /> Maybe God just started this thing and let it go. And John Locke was a big influencer in this belief of deism. I think it's a belief system that we can Think pretty often maybe not explicitly but at least in our day to day that God made all the stuff and that okay I mean even understanding Christ himself second person of the Trinity was involved in the making of all things But he didn't just make it didn't just send it forward in Christ all things hold together atoms and molecules cells and nuclei Macro micro ecosystems. <br /><br /> All things were made by him and are sustained by him. He is before all things and in him all things hold together. Hebrews 1 3 says this. Jesus upholds the universe by the word. Of his power now when we think of jesus in and we under and in christmas there's So much beautifully appropriately understanding of the humanity When Jesus was a baby, he did not know language. <br /><br /> He did not control his own bowels. He did not have a sense of, Oh, I'm not gonna cry because I am filled with the joy of the Spirit. Right? Like this was a normal baby who had to learn to walk and talk like a normal baby. That means the very maker of language, the very holder together all things, had to learn a first word. <br /><br /> Had to move a first step. This is the mystery that we hold at Christmas. But more, when we talk about Christ, the second person of the Godhead, we're not just talking about the most influential man in history. Not just talking about the person around which we shape our calendars. Those things are small news. <br /><br /> On the resume of Christ himself, we are talking about the one who's created and holds together all that we know. Second thing, in the Old Testament, the coming of this Christ, and we see what's called Christophanies. Now, can you guys say, say Christophanies? That's okay. you guys say Christophanies. Yeah, that's good. <br /><br /> You guys get more lemon cookies. Christophanies. Okay, so a Christophany is the appearing of Christ in the Old Testament. There are several moments in the Old Testament where the person of Christ came and appeared to people. Not someone like Christ, not an angel sent by Christ, but actually Christ himself. <br /><br /> Jonathan Edwards wrote this, when we read in sacred history what God did from time to time toward his church and people, how he revealed himself to them, we are to understand it especially in the second person of the Trinity. Now you're not going to open up your Old Testament and see a whole lot of, and then Jesus came because in the second person of the Trinity, that was not the title that was given to him. <br /><br /> What we see. In the Old Testament is the angel of Yahweh or the angel of Jehovah. Now there's many different angels talked about in the Bible, including the Old Testament. Jacob saw angels, Balaam had an angel, Isaiah had visions of an angel, angels, Zechariah, Ezekiel talk about angels. They are angels from the Lord. <br /><br /> But there is this special title given to this Yahweh, and he's talked to as it would talk to with the title of God or Lord. This angel of the Lord is, angel of the Lord, a divine entity, and this was his name, primarily where you see the name. of Christ in the Old Testament. It is this title, the angel of the Lord. <br /><br /> I'm just going to mention, there's a number of passages where we see this character. I'm going to just mention three. One is the story of Hagar. Hagar, is one of the most prominent, uh, painful examples of spiritual abuse we have. And what happens is Abraham, Abram and Sarai were promised they were going to have a child. <br /><br /> Nothing's happening. And so, Sarai says, Sarai says to Abram, go, go, have a baby with Hagar. So he does that. Then all of a sudden Hagar has a baby. And who would guess, Sarai is now jealous and wanting to, and casts her out. And she eventually goes and she's out, in the, in the wilderness and God comes to her. <br /><br /> The angel of Yahweh comes to her and they have this back and forth and this angel of Yahweh, this Christ himself was given a new name by Hagar, says now I will call you the God of Israel. Who sees that then eventually Hagar goes back to Abraham and Sarai they become Abraham and Sarah Then they have their own child Isaac at this time There's Isaac here and then there's Hager's Hagar's kid Ishmael and then Sarah and Abraham were like, okay We're gonna do the Isaac thing. <br /><br /> They kick out Hagar and she becomes a single mom. She's sent with a piece of bread And a little bit of water into the desert to die all because of this plot of Abraham and Sarah. And then she goes in Genesis 21. She says that she's cast out dying in the desert. She puts the baby down because she cannot bear the sound of him dying, says God. <br /><br /> God heard the angel of the Lord, Christ himself, heard the boy crying. The angel of God called Hagar from heaven and said to her, what is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid. God has heard the boy crying as he lies there, lift up the boy, take him by hand, I will make him into a great nation. God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water, so she went and filled the skim with water and gave the boy a drink. <br /><br /> This Christ is the one who sees and the one who hears the little boy crying. Another example of Christ himself Got Christophany in the Old Testament is in the burning bush or the not burning bush Moses who's finally gotten out of the drama of Egypt and all this going on he goes and he's in the wilderness He's on Mount Sinai and he's walking around and he sees a bush that's on fire. <br /><br /> Not that unusual incredibly arid climate, and he goes and sees this bush. It's on fire, but it's not burning. That is unusual. What is on fire? What is on fire is the angel of the Lord. There the angel of the Lord, the angel of Jehovah, appeared to him in flames with fire from a bush. And Moses thought the bush was on fire. <br /><br /> It did not burn up, so he thought, I will go over and see this strange sight. When the Lord Saw that he had gone over to, look, God called to him from the bush, who's in the bush? God's in the bush. Angel of the Lord's in the bush. It's the same person, the same person of Christ. And then there's this interchange between Moses and Christ at the bush. <br /><br /> And basically Christ says, I want you to go and rescue my people. And Moses says. I don't want to and then God says you need to go rescue my people and he basically goes back and forth Is there anyone else and then he says well, who am I even gonna say who am I even gonna say is sending me? Do you know what he says? <br /><br /> He says I am who I am tell him I am has sent me that is the word Yahweh the angel of Yahweh is Yahweh So, if we can say things like, you know what, God seemed a certain way in the Old Testament. I don't really love all that stuff, and so I like the Jesus parts in the New Testament. It's the same Christ. <br /><br /> Christ as a part of the Godhead is Yahweh, and we see him in the Old Testament. The Old Testament. One more story. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego won't bow before Nebuchadnezzar. And so they get thrown into a fire. It's lit extra hot. And the people even throwing them into the fire get burned and die. <br /><br /> And, and they go and look to see these burned up guys that wouldn't bow before the idols. And they look in and what do they say? They say there's people walking around. And how many people did they say? There's four people walking around. There's an extra person in there. Somebody gave birth, right? There's four people in the furnace. <br /><br /> It is the angel of Yahweh, Christ himself, being with his people. One of the questions I ask myself is, well, when did he show up? Looking at these and other Christophanies, when did he show up? Jesus showed up then just as he came at Christmas, just as he comes today. He came to be with his people and to save them from their distress. <br /><br /> Third thing we see, and it does say two, but it really means three, prophecies, right? Over 300 prophecies about Christ or prophecies in the Old Testament. And, just want to. I'm going to say a few that pertain directly to his life. First his conception prophesied Isaiah 714. His birth, Isaiah 9 6. His birthplace, Isaiah 714. <br /><br /> His mission on earth, this is a real cool one, because Isaiah 61 1. In Luke 4, Jesus goes and he reads the Isaiah scroll and undoes a very long scroll of 66 chapters and comes to chapter 61 of the Isaiah scroll. And he says this in Luke 4. He reads this. He has sent me to heal those who are broken hearted to announce the captives will be set free and prisoners will be released. <br /><br /> Reading from Isaiah. And then he said, rolled up the scroll and said, Today the scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. His physical appearance is prophesied in Isaiah 53, 3. We have an idea of what Jesus looked like. Jesus did not have glowing blue eyes that just pierced your soul, right? Or the long hair and the thing of like, Whoa, he didn't stand out. <br /><br /> He wasn't a king that was a head taller like Saul. It says in Isaiah 53, that he had no beauty. Or majesty to attract us to him nothing in his appearance that we should desire him Jesus was not a particularly good looking man He was not an unusually, attractive man in the way he was, or came across, or looked. <br /><br /> Isaiah 11. 2 includes his, the inclusion of the Gentiles. Isaiah 53, his manner of death. Isaiah 53. 9, his burial. Isaiah 55. 3, his resurrection. Isaiah 11. 11, the second coming. These are just some of the prophecies about Jesus. Does anyone notice? for an extra lemon cookie. I'm telling you, they're so good. Okay, Anybody notice anything about these prophecies we just went through? <br /><br /> They're all from the book of Isaiah. And not all the prophecies about Christ are from Isaiah. But the reason I chose Isaiah is In 1947, there was what I believe the most important discovery, archaeological discovery that we have in terms of Biblical history. In 1947, a nomadic Arab shepherd It was wandering around and came across some scrolls. <br /><br /> It was on the west side of the Dead Sea. And then through about 14 more years of excavation, they have all these different scrolls. Now the reason why this is important is that our Old Testament that we have is prim was primarily based on texts that were copied and copied and copied and copied and copied. <br /><br /> And the, the most original texts, or most significant original texts that we were dealing with was 1000 A. D. Now there's something you can say about the prophecies if you only have texts from a thousand AD you can say well maybe they saw what Jesus did and then Prophesied it in a thousand AD and made it sound like it was before him in 1947. <br /><br /> These were found they're dated between 100 AD but most of them before Christ came as early as 300 BC they contain parts of of all of the new, all the books of the New Testament, except for Nehemiah and, and Esther. And the most significant discovery was the Isaiah scroll. All 66 chapters dated back to 125 before BC, before Christ. <br /><br /> If you think, well, 125 years may not seem that long. 125 years ago, Utah became the 45th state in the union. We were in the Spanish American War with William McKinley as president and Henry Ford had just built a quadricycle That was the forerunner to his Model T that didn't come for nine more years 125 years before This Isaiah scroll speaks of the coming of this Christ. <br /><br /> Luke 24, 14 says this, or 24, 44. This is Jesus speaking. Then he said to them, These are my words I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written to me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms, Must be fulfilled. Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures. Fourth, we see Christ in the Old Testament in what's called types of Christ. <br /><br /> Types of Christ, types of Christ where it wasn't necessarily Christ himself, but it was an example of what Christ would do. Adam is one. If you look at, you take the book, the first three chapters of the book of Genesis, and then the 16 chapters of the book of Romans, you see this connection of how Jesus is the second Adam. <br /><br /> Jesus came to do, Jesus came to represent. The way that Adam failed to represent a people or just as the way that Adam took a people to death. Jesus takes a people to life. There's a serpent in the desert where, in the old Testament, they're wandering around the desert and there's a time when they raise up the serpent. <br /><br /> If you looked upon the serpent, you were saved and, and Jesus is in, in right before he gets to the famous John three, 16, he's talking to Nicodemus and John three, four. 14. And he says, just as the snake was lifted up in the desert, so the son of man is lifted up. And he's using that as an example, saying that was a type that wasn't, that wasn't me, but it was just like me, just, I'm just like Adam. <br /><br /> If you take a Moses, and this is so often when we went through the book of acts, right? So many of the sermons in the book of acts that Paul and Peter gave went back. to Moses, right? And they went and explained this has been a story of Jesus all along. Moses himself was a type of Christ. 400 years silence. <br /><br /> Israel was in the bondage of Pharaoh in Egypt. After 400 years, God finally raises up a deliverer. There's 400 years right before the coming of Christ. And after 400 years, God raises up the second Moses to fulfill the sacrificial system is a type of Christ, a forerunner to Christ. You take the book of liticus and marry it to the book of Hebrews and understanding that this were a type, these were a type of Christ. <br /><br /> As I went through, the Old Testament, I really, Testament and really enjoyed this exercise of just saying, Okay, Christ, what were you like then? Right? not just in the Gospels, not just in revelations that coming again. We see images of Jesus. What were you like before the manger? What were you like? <br /><br /> There are five things that as I looked at this that stood out to me. In these four, uh, ways of the coming of Christ. How, or the way he was, I'm sorry, the coming of Christ in the Old Testament. His creation, Christophanies, prophecies, and types of Christ. What was Jesus like in the Old Testament? Here are the macro themes that I, I found myself. <br /><br /> You can, it's these five things. One, power and capacity. When, when Jesus in the Old Testament came, he wasn't just a buddy that, that joined in the, in the fight or helped out. There was power and capacity to who he was. There was personal connection. Not a removed Christ, but an involved Christ. Personal sacrifice. <br /><br /> Delivered his people. He delivered his people when Christ came in the Old Testament. Delivered his people from their distress. And lastly, brought his people joy. The presence of Christ in the Old Testament was not an encumbered thing. It was a joyful thing. It wasn't a thing of burden. It was a reality. <br /><br /> The deliverance had come and just want to run through them real quick. Where do we see these? First off, what was he like in creation? In particular, we see one, two, and five of those. The authority. Christ had the authority to, out of nothing, ex nihilo, speak and create all that we know. That's power and capacity. <br /><br /> But when he created, he didn't just stand back and watch like a clock. No, he sustained. He was involved. At Christophany in the Old Testament, we didn't have time to get to is Jesus. Walking in the garden when it says he was walking in the cool of the day, believe that is Christ himself. what we see, what is he like? <br /><br /> He also came to bring his people's joy, but what was he like in the Christophanies? Well, Christophanies and the way he behaved in the Christophanies when he came on earth, we see his power and capacity being able to do everything that he said he would do when he came. It was personal connection. It was almost always to a small group of. <br /><br /> people or to one person. When Christ came in the Old Testament, it was deeply intimate and personal. Third or fourth, he delivered his people from their distress. When Christ came as a Christophany, it was almost always with a direct activity in mind saying this person of mine is in trouble and I'm coming to pull them out. <br /><br /> And when he came, his people were left with statements like that. God sees me at God. Here's me. That God walks in the fire with me. The presence of Christ brought people joy in the prophecies, who Christ would be. We see all five of these seams. He is. He is to come with a He is to come to rule and be a king. <br /><br /> He was, he's coming to capably do what no one else can do. He's coming to be personally connected to the plight of his people. Isaiah 53 is just this intimate prophecy of this, this, this God who would be with who not this God who would be around, not this God who would just lead, but the God who would be with and walk with his people. <br /><br /> And the God who would have ultimate personal sacrifice that prophecy started as early as Genesis three and is punctuated throughout your entire Old Testament that this God would come to have victory, but would do so at his own sacrifice. He would also successfully deliver his people from distress. <br /><br /> This is the promise of the coming Messiah. And when, remember when Christ eventually came, actually got in the manger and it says there's an angel on the hillside, he appeared with a great light and said this, behold, do not be afraid. I bring you, this is the type of news I'm bringing you. I bring you good news of what of great joy. <br /><br /> It's prophesied joy and the joy had finally arrived. Lastly, the, the type of what were the type of Christ's like these hit on four of those themes authority, capacity, personal connection, extra probably five. The personal sacrifice also is seen in the different types of Christ delivering his people from distress and giving joy. <br /><br /> So asking the question, Jesus, who were you before you came in the manger? Who were you in the old Testament? And I felt this week, you ever see the movie hook? That's a great movie, alright? Hook is like, Robin Williams. He's Peter Pan. Only he's older and chubbier. And he comes back to Never, Neverland? <br /><br /> Did I get that right? Okay, alright. So he goes back there and he's, there, he's She's trying to convince the people that he's Peter Pan and he's not quite sure either But finally he's convinced that Peter Pan and they're like that's not Peter Pan couldn't be Peter Pan Until this kid who's literally cutest human being of all time walks up to Peter Pan's face and he starts Moving away the wrinkles, peering it back and looking in his eyes. <br /><br /> Anybody remember what he said? He said, There you are, Peter. There you are, Peter. That's what it felt like when I was going through the Old Testament. I'm used to talking about Jesus from a New Testament perspective. But just looking at who he was in the Old Testament felt like uncrinkling some of those Old Testament pages and saying, There you are, Christ. <br /><br /> It felt like what it says in Hebrews, that Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. That this Christ is who he always has been. And this Christ who came in a manger, came to be who he already was. And this dead and resurrected Christ. Best thing about Easter is Jesus Christ is not dead right now. Is the same on this day and will be the same tomorrow and forever to come. <br /><br /> This is news of joy. And I thought just by way of application, a lot of times applying passages. It's like, okay, here's what we need to go do. Here's what we're called to do, commanded to do. Here's what we're called to think. I think this, this question, to apply who Christ was, who Christ really was, is to ask the question that is personal. <br /><br /> To say, what do I need from Christ? Peter had a big problem with that question, right? Jesus, eventually, after he goes and, and he's, he goes and washes his disciples feet at the end of his ministry before the cross. And he comes to Peter, and Peter's like, dude, do not wash my feet. And Jesus said, unless I wash your feet, you will have no part of me. <br /><br /> Because Christ came to seek and to save and to serve. So a question just this morning for us, and we're gonna sing a final song. Is what do you need from Christ right now? Because this, how is the pre incarnate Christ different than the one that came at resurrection? The answer is he's not. What is different is his availability. <br /><br /> What's different is the clarity of which he comes, and that he doesn't just come and again in Christophenes. Is that his presence, his personal connection with people, has, doesn't have the veil that it had before then. He is available today, and I just want to again say, Ask the question, what do you need from this Christ? <br /><br /> Number one is authority, power. Number two, his personal connection. This Christmas finds a lot of people lonely. Number three, to understand his sacrifice. Because to understand his sacrifice is to understand the very definition of love. Number four, do you need to be saved from your distress? Whether that is your sin, that is your fear. <br /><br /> In this season, number five, you need help because you're fighting for joy. And you need the coming of this Christ who was the same before, came as the same again, rose as the same again, and remains the same today. Dear people of God, this is the foundation of why we exist. Jesus, we come before you, we acknowledge our need of you, we thank you for your power. <br /><br /> Your closeness, your unimaginable sacrifice, your deliverance from our distress, and we walk this moment and this day into joy in Jesus name. Amen.</div> false no <![CDATA[Prince of Peace]]> Scripture: Isaiah 9:6

For to us a child is born,

to us a son is given;

and the government shall be upon his shoulder,

and his name shall be called

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.



Sermon Transcript:

Well, good morning to you again, everybody. if you want to take your Bibles with me to Isaiah chapter 9, verse 6. We actually sang some of these words just a few minutes ago. page 537. If you have one of these Bibles that you find in the seat in front of you there, you can turn to 537. God speaks in many different ways throughout the Bible.

One of those ways is through prophets. God choosing specific men and women to communicate to mankind. And Isaiah specifically prophesied 700 years before the birth of Christ. Messages that he shared full of terrifying warnings and judgment. of destruction, uplifting promises of future hope and prosperity.

If only God's people would return to him, humble themselves, and allow God to be the Holy One of Israel. Isaiah is one of the most quoted prophets in the New Testament of the 260 chapters we find in the New Testament. Isaiah is either alluded to or quoted in, 235 of them. And so it is a significant prophecy that we find happening here in Isaiah chapter 9, verse 6.

Let's read that together. For to us, a child is born. To us, a son is given. And the government shall be on its way. His shoulder and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Jesus, we thank you for coming, coming to earth to dwell among us. God, we pray this morning, you know, I've gathered some thoughts here from your word, but Lord, it is only you as, as Paul prays, who can allow us to comprehend the things in the scriptures. How wide and how high and how deep is the love of Christ.

God, we're. We're just only able to scratch the surface on our own. You alone are the one that can open our minds and our hearts this morning. And so I pray Lord, as we gather around this passage and the hope that you are peace among us. that you would speak this morning, we pray these things in your name.

Amen. Okay, you just opened your eyes, but I'd like you to close your eyes again for a minute. I'm going to ask you to, just visualize for a minute here. What do you think of when you hear the word peace? When the, the idea of peace is talked about, what comes to your mind? Okay. So with your eyes closed, see if you can think of something that comes to mind, peace.

Okay, you can open your eyes. Let's see if any of these match with, what your idea of peace looks like. Possibly, you visualize, or maybe you thought about, or maybe you've experienced before a serene lake reflecting the beauty of surrounding nature, maybe in such a way that the, the reflection of the bottom and the top, you can almost not tell the difference between the two.

Possibly for you, a piece is a certain kind of music, maybe an orchestra music or, or a symphony, all the pieces playing together in, in perfect harmony, each instrument contributing one to another. This is not my version of peace, this next one, but maybe it is for you. If you're a puzzle person and you like putting puzzles together, this is absolute chaos to me.

I cannot stand puzzles. I don't know why, they're just not ever been a thing for me. But putting that last piece in Where everything as it was designed comes together. Possibly peace is the warm embrace among family, or friends together coming, one to another. Possibly for you, peace is the, the sense of cultures joining.

Where there is harmony among people of different backgrounds joining together in unity. I don't know about for you, but gardening again, not typically my favorite thing, but after you've weeded the garden and things look really well and you're, you're able to put it all together. There's a sense of peace.

If you've ever been to Longwood Gardens, that is like the Garden of Eden. It's crazy there. it's just incredible. Maybe for you, it's the stage of life that you're in, but peace is just your child sleeping at night, just to have a little bit of peace. Or for you, maybe the stage of life that you're in, the, the idea of peace takes you back a few years and you remember peace, what it looked like on this, the second week of advent, we come in focusing on Jesus, the prince of peace.

And rather than looking to a dictionary definition, or maybe what we just did, developing concepts in our mind of what we thought peace looked like, we're going to go to the scriptures this morning and have that kind of unpack some of the definitions of peace that we find in the scriptures. So how does the Bible define peace?

We're gonna look at these different illustrations all the way from beginning to end. So from the beginning, we're gonna start there in Genesis one. In the beginning, God created. The heavens and the earth, it was good. And in Genesis 1, 27, God created Adam and Eve, planted them in the Garden of Eden in a state of shalom.

This is the Hebrew word for peace, shalom. Comes with the idea of wholeness or completion, things functioning as they were designed to be. Genesis 1. 28, God gave plants and animals to Adam and to Eve, all created to enjoy those things. There was harmony among creation. Again, things functioning as they were designed.

There was total satisfaction. Genesis 2. 25, man and his wife were naked and had no shame. They were vulnerable and without fear. God walked among his precious creation. There was peace, shalom, at the beginning. I want to go to the end because that was just the very first page of our scriptures. And if you go all the way to the very last page in the last few chapters of Revelation, here is kind of the vision that John describes as we have recorded in the book of Revelation 21.

John is describing a vision from God of a, a new heavens and a new earth. The dwelling place of God is again with men. There's no more tears, no more suffering, no more pain or mourning death. The old order of life has passed away. Revelation 22, Eden will be restored. The, this whole idea in the new Testament, the Greek word for peace is Irenaeus.

There is no more curse. We will see God's face. The Lord will be our light. This is recorded the last page of the Bible that we have this morning. He will reign forever and ever and there will be rest, restoration, well being, peace. But if you're like me, there's a couple of pages between the beginning and the end and where is the peace in between?

Well, let's look at what illustrations are some peace in, in between. The first and the last page of our scriptures in the middle in Deuteronomy chapter 20 verses 10 through 12 It says this when you draw near to a city to fight against it offer terms of shalom That's the Hebrew word peace And if it responds to you peaceably and it opens to you then all the people who are found in it shall do Labor and you shall and shall serve you but if it makes no peace with you, but makes war against you Then you shall besiege it.

We're building out this definition of peace. It is the opposite of war, as we have here in the scriptures. 1 Kings 5, we'll look here in verse 12. And the Lord gave Solomon wisdom. As he promised him and there was Shalom again, peace between Hiram and Solomon and the two of them made a treaty, not just again the absence of war, but also there is a sense that we're coming together to agree among two people this treaty of peace.

Maybe you're familiar with the passage in Ecclesiastes 3, as Solomon is writing. There's a time for this, a time for that, a time to love, and a time to hate, a time for war, and a time for peace. So what is peace? All relationships at rest. Relationships at rest among people, civilizations, cultures.

Relationships at rest. Maybe you have, have seen or walked through the nativity or maybe you've been in the scene where, you know, the words spoken by Jesus in the New Testament when he is there with his disciples and Mark 4 39, there's a great storm that is happening and Jesus stands up and rebukes the wind and the waves and says, peace, peace, hey, peace.

Be still and the wind ceased and there was a great calm, peace, calm Leviticus 26 6 I will give shalom, God says, peace in the land and you shall lie down and none shall make you afraid. And I will remove harmful beasts from the land, and the sword shall not go through your land. This idea of Shalom, peace, the creation is come.

Isaiah 55, 12, For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace. Again, this is the prophet Isaiah. The mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress. Instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle.

And it shall make a name for the Lord, an everlasting sign that shall not. Be cut off peace. Instead of these thorns and thistles, things are growing and flourishing designed and operating as intended creation at rest in john chapter 14. We continue this idea of peace all throughout the scriptures. 14 27.

Jesus is teaching his disciples right before he is about to go and be crucified Betrayed. Well, actually first arrested and then crucified and among people, among the people that are there, the gathering of the brothers there, he wants to give them an anchor, an anchor for their souls. And he says this, my peace.

I leave with you my peace. I give to you not as the world gives. Do I give to you? Let not your hearts.

So that the sense of fear and the sense of our hearts being troubled, Jesus brings a peace to even our inner sense of our, our turmoil and conflict in our world. Philippians 4, 6 through 7. Paul's writing here, do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving.

Let your requests be made known to God and the peace of God, the peace of God. That's that Greek word again, which surpasses all of our understanding. We'll guard your hearts and your minds in Christ. Jesus again. What is this sense of peace? Our internal world again at rest God in the midst of our chaos.

So this is a really robust sense of peace. Maybe we flip back through those pictures. Some of those things might be peace in one area or a sense of peace, but not in total like we're seeing here. Shalom. Everything working as it was designed. Creation at rest. Relationships at rest. Our internal conflict.

No more. If we could bottle this up and sell it, I bet we'd be rich. If we could give out this kind of peace, wouldn't we want to offer it to others? But where's all the peace, right? Because we live in the tension that this is not always how life operates, at least for me. Maybe you're here and you've, you've heard this argument before.

It's why people can't stand Christianity, right? They bury their heads in the sand and they talk about peace as if it's something that we can even achieve. I mean, if God defines peace, if God created humanity in peace, And seeks to bring a peaceful end. That's the last page of the scriptures. Why all the chaos right now?

Why is God allowing an incredibly broken world? To exist in the middle. It must mean he is either not real in questions of his existence or that he doesn't care. Possibly he's just indifferent to humanity, or he's really not able to keep the peace. Maybe he exists, but Sovereignty, not so much. Colonialism and imperialism displacing indigenous people, wiping out empires.

World wars claiming the lives of millions over time. Hate fueled genocide wiping out entire people groups. Terroristic organizations sweeping our world with agendas to conquer people. That they don't agree with families living at odds struggles among coworkers and violence among neighbors, tremendous upheaval in human relationships on every front.

This is far from Shalom. This is far from peace that we are described here in the scriptures. Natural disasters happening all the time, creation in turmoil. We are contributing in the way that we treat creation. Thorns and thistles and weeds in droves choking out things that are healthy and growing.

Animals fighting for their lives in, in less than perfect environments all the time. Creation longs, cries out. For peace and what incredible counsel Paul right from the scriptures. Don't be anxious about anything easy for you to say, yeah, right, don't be anxious about anything. How many of us lie awake late into the evening or in the middle of the night with anxious thoughts that just keep spinning around and around and around?

We can't allow this inner world to come. Sometimes those fears are irrational. Sometimes it's just a fear that we know. An endless battle of the mind. Don't feel trouble. Don't feel chaos. I wish. Maybe you're a person who hasn't ever really known any sense of the word peace. Life has been chaotic from beginning even now.

You see, there's this thing that's happened. Between the first page and the last page, a cosmic interruption to peace back in the garden, Adam and Eve were there, and in the first two chapters, things are going okay. And by Chapter three, there's a problem. Satan, the enemy of God, slithers into the garden, tempting God's precious creation.

And sin entered the world through Adam and Eve's disobedience. And what did they do? They first covered themselves in shame and hid from God. Listen to the account in Genesis chapter three, verse 14 and following the Lord. God said to the serpent, because you have done this cursed. Are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field on your belly?

You shall go all. The days of your life, I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring, he will crush your head and you shall bruise his heel to the woman. He said, I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing in pain. You shall bring forth Children, your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.

It's conflict and to Adam, he said, because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded to you, you shall not eat of it. Cursed is the ground before you because of you, sorry, in pain, you shall eat of it all the days of your life, thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you and you shall eat the plants of the field by the sweat of your face.

You shall eat bread till you return to the ground for out of it you were taken. For you are dust and to dust you shall return. There's this rift between God and mankind and the fig leaves. All the fig leaves in the world could not cover the brokenness and shame and sin that they felt disconnected from the source of life.

Destined to die and everything is off. Conflict among husband and wife. Creation in turmoil. Pain in childbirth. The ground is cursed. Thorns and thistles. Shame, secrecy, failure, plague their internal lives. Romans 5. 12 illustrates this dismal picture here even more. Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, Adam, and death through sin, so death spread to all mankind.

Where's all the peace? It's gone. There's no hope. There's no life. There's only conflict. Conflict existing between us and God today, filled with sin. Mankind is without hope. We cannot save ourselves. So we zero in on Jesus. The prince of peace to answer the question, how in the world are we to have peace?

The answer is why we celebrate Christmas, the banner outside that we have hung for many years. Hope has come. This is Jesus. This is the glory of Emmanuel, God with us. Isaiah prophesied, and we read this earlier, For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God.

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. This is who we celebrate at Christmas time. Jesus, the Prince of Peace. I want to look to another part of Isaiah's prophecy this morning. As we think about how we have this peace. Because Isaiah 53 is a passage, that we'll look to here in a second. That is really Fulfilled in the life of Jesus in the book of Acts and even beyond in many of Isaiah's prophecies.

We see Jesus coming out here. Look at Isaiah chapter 53 verse four. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace.

And with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way. And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and he was afflicted. Yeah, he opened not his mouth like a lamb led to the slaughter and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent.

So he opened not his mouth. Verse 9. And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence and there was no deceit in his mouth. Yet, it was the will of the Lord to crush him. He has put him to grief. When a soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring.

He shall prolong his days. The will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul, he shall see and be satisfied. By his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous. And he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore, I will divide a portion with the many and he shall divide the spoil with the strong.

Because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors. Yet he bore the sin of many and makes intercession for the transgressors. This, this passage, tells the whole gospel story. Tells the picture of who we have fulfilled in Jesus. The first part here, we have all gone astray.

Verse six. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, full of sin, iniquity, transgression, unrighteous. We, like Adam and Eve, have missed this mark. God's holy standard, our mess, laid upon Him. We also find here in Isaiah 53 that this separates us from God. God loves us. But must punish sin. He is a just God. After all, the punishment is death.

And that was laid upon Jesus. The punishment that brought us peace was upon Him. Innocent Him. Guilty us. By His death, we are saved. He's made intercession between us and God. The, the peace that we once had that was interrupted by sin. Jesus cancelling our debt of sin, healing us totally, giving us the righteous record that he had.

And we find something else that maybe, if this interrupts your theology, I'll say this. It's because your theology is wrong, not God's theology. This was God's plan. Jesus coming to die in our place is on purpose. There wasn't some accident that happened. It was the Lord's will, it says in Isaiah 53, to crush the Son.

It pleased Him to pour out all of the sin onto Jesus. Remember, in Genesis 3, Adam and Eve, sin entered the world, but there would be a promise that one day a rescuer would come and through Satan, I'm sorry, and though Satan would strike in the death of Jesus, Satan's plan would ultimately be crushed in the death and the resurrection of Jesus.

Jesus came willingly. Humbly, knowing that he would not just preach about the need for a sacrifice for sins. He would come to be. himself, that sacrifice, a substitute, justifying, forgiving, reconciling, setting everything right again, restoring, renewing. That is the sacrifice of Jesus. In Romans chapter five, we, we find that therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God.

We have peace with God through our Lord, Jesus Christ, by grace, through faith is the way. How do we have ultimate peace? What does peace look like? By grace, through faith, we trust in Jesus. Our vertical relationship with God can be restored, making peace between us and our maker, our creator. By faith in Jesus, our horizontal relationships with others can be restored peace with others.

By faith in Jesus, the turmoil within us that is carried can be made whole. We are filled with the peace that surpasses all understanding. C. S. Lewis, says a quote that, I love. We put first things first, and we get second things thrown in. But should we put second things first, we lose both the first and second things.

You see, we cannot go on a search for peace, chasing after things, to embrace in this world that maybe only offer peace for a moment. We can't do that without embracing the maker of peace. We cannot find lasting peace in this world without the one who is eternal peace. We cannot muster up peace filled lives in our internal world without knowing the rescuer who is the prince.

I want to take us on a journey this morning as we close our time because oftentimes we hear good thoughts. We read God's word, but we don't actively go and do anything with it. And so this morning in a few areas, I want to guide us through a time to just offer your heart before the Lord. And so I'll ask you to pray with me as we embrace Jesus.

As our peace this morning,

Jesus, we come to you, we come to you as the one who is the prince of peace. And this morning, maybe Jesus, you know, gathered here today are, are those who first and foremost don't have peace between you and God. We don't have peace because our sin has separated us from the father. So we ask this morning, Jesus, would you make yourself known to those here this morning who do not know you as Savior rescuer?

And if that's you, take the space just for a few minutes to talk and reach out to the one who came to be your substitute. If you do know Christ, take this moment to celebrate. The way that Jesus stood in your place and thank him for that. Now,

Lord, we confess our inability to live as peacemakers. Apart from you, you ask us to live as people of peace, build one another up, forgive, show grace. We can't do this apart from you, Jesus, the prince of peace. And so now, Lord, we take this moment to offer the relationships in our lives. Where there is no peace, but conflict,

Lord, our vision of what you will do is clouded our ability to, to mend so weak, but Jesus, you, the prince of peace and your spirit among us, you alone can rescue pray this morning. Lord, for those relationships just came to mind for us. God, the people who we need to reach out to, might your peace allow us to have peace in our relationships?

Finally, Lord, we offer you our internal world, often the thoughts that plague our minds in the middle of the day or at the middle of the night. Lord, we know this world is in turmoil and one day for those that love you, the story culminates in a new heavens and a new earth, all things restored. And God, we long for that peace, not just a sense of it, but that you would be our anchor amidst the anxieties and fears that you ask us to cast upon you.

So, Lord, the things coming in our week, the things even in our world that cause internal strife and struggle, Lord, we offer them to you now in this time,

Lord, I thank you that you came to make peace between us and God, that you would be the prince of peace, that it was on purpose, your plan, your way. To deliver us from our world, God, this morning, as we gather to worship you, we want to surrender our hearts, knowing that you come to bring peace, make in us a home where you might live and be a peacemaker, that we could God represent you in our world as ambassadors of that peace, ministers of reconciliation in our relationships.

With our neighbors, our friends, our family. God, we ask these things in your name. Amen.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/prince-of-peace ef030465-f5dc-4993-8569-fcc99cf80a20 Mon, 11 Dec 2023 10:13:16 GMT <div data-html="true">Scripture: Isaiah 9:6 <br /><br /> For to us a child is born, <br /><br /> to us a son is given; <br /><br /> and the government shall be upon his shoulder, <br /><br /> and his name shall be called <br /><br /> Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, <br /><br /> Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> Well, good morning to you again, everybody. if you want to take your Bibles with me to Isaiah chapter 9, verse 6. We actually sang some of these words just a few minutes ago. page 537. If you have one of these Bibles that you find in the seat in front of you there, you can turn to 537. God speaks in many different ways throughout the Bible. <br /><br /> One of those ways is through prophets. God choosing specific men and women to communicate to mankind. And Isaiah specifically prophesied 700 years before the birth of Christ. Messages that he shared full of terrifying warnings and judgment. of destruction, uplifting promises of future hope and prosperity. <br /><br /> If only God's people would return to him, humble themselves, and allow God to be the Holy One of Israel. Isaiah is one of the most quoted prophets in the New Testament of the 260 chapters we find in the New Testament. Isaiah is either alluded to or quoted in, 235 of them. And so it is a significant prophecy that we find happening here in Isaiah chapter 9, verse 6. <br /><br /> Let's read that together. For to us, a child is born. To us, a son is given. And the government shall be on its way. His shoulder and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. <br /><br /> Jesus, we thank you for coming, coming to earth to dwell among us. God, we pray this morning, you know, I've gathered some thoughts here from your word, but Lord, it is only you as, as Paul prays, who can allow us to comprehend the things in the scriptures. How wide and how high and how deep is the love of Christ. <br /><br /> God, we're. We're just only able to scratch the surface on our own. You alone are the one that can open our minds and our hearts this morning. And so I pray Lord, as we gather around this passage and the hope that you are peace among us. that you would speak this morning, we pray these things in your name. <br /><br /> Amen. Okay, you just opened your eyes, but I'd like you to close your eyes again for a minute. I'm going to ask you to, just visualize for a minute here. What do you think of when you hear the word peace? When the, the idea of peace is talked about, what comes to your mind? Okay. So with your eyes closed, see if you can think of something that comes to mind, peace. <br /><br /> Okay, you can open your eyes. Let's see if any of these match with, what your idea of peace looks like. Possibly, you visualize, or maybe you thought about, or maybe you've experienced before a serene lake reflecting the beauty of surrounding nature, maybe in such a way that the, the reflection of the bottom and the top, you can almost not tell the difference between the two. <br /><br /> Possibly for you, a piece is a certain kind of music, maybe an orchestra music or, or a symphony, all the pieces playing together in, in perfect harmony, each instrument contributing one to another. This is not my version of peace, this next one, but maybe it is for you. If you're a puzzle person and you like putting puzzles together, this is absolute chaos to me. <br /><br /> I cannot stand puzzles. I don't know why, they're just not ever been a thing for me. But putting that last piece in Where everything as it was designed comes together. Possibly peace is the warm embrace among family, or friends together coming, one to another. Possibly for you, peace is the, the sense of cultures joining. <br /><br /> Where there is harmony among people of different backgrounds joining together in unity. I don't know about for you, but gardening again, not typically my favorite thing, but after you've weeded the garden and things look really well and you're, you're able to put it all together. There's a sense of peace. <br /><br /> If you've ever been to Longwood Gardens, that is like the Garden of Eden. It's crazy there. it's just incredible. Maybe for you, it's the stage of life that you're in, but peace is just your child sleeping at night, just to have a little bit of peace. Or for you, maybe the stage of life that you're in, the, the idea of peace takes you back a few years and you remember peace, what it looked like on this, the second week of advent, we come in focusing on Jesus, the prince of peace. <br /><br /> And rather than looking to a dictionary definition, or maybe what we just did, developing concepts in our mind of what we thought peace looked like, we're going to go to the scriptures this morning and have that kind of unpack some of the definitions of peace that we find in the scriptures. So how does the Bible define peace? <br /><br /> We're gonna look at these different illustrations all the way from beginning to end. So from the beginning, we're gonna start there in Genesis one. In the beginning, God created. The heavens and the earth, it was good. And in Genesis 1, 27, God created Adam and Eve, planted them in the Garden of Eden in a state of shalom. <br /><br /> This is the Hebrew word for peace, shalom. Comes with the idea of wholeness or completion, things functioning as they were designed to be. Genesis 1. 28, God gave plants and animals to Adam and to Eve, all created to enjoy those things. There was harmony among creation. Again, things functioning as they were designed. <br /><br /> There was total satisfaction. Genesis 2. 25, man and his wife were naked and had no shame. They were vulnerable and without fear. God walked among his precious creation. There was peace, shalom, at the beginning. I want to go to the end because that was just the very first page of our scriptures. And if you go all the way to the very last page in the last few chapters of Revelation, here is kind of the vision that John describes as we have recorded in the book of Revelation 21. <br /><br /> John is describing a vision from God of a, a new heavens and a new earth. The dwelling place of God is again with men. There's no more tears, no more suffering, no more pain or mourning death. The old order of life has passed away. Revelation 22, Eden will be restored. The, this whole idea in the new Testament, the Greek word for peace is Irenaeus. <br /><br /> There is no more curse. We will see God's face. The Lord will be our light. This is recorded the last page of the Bible that we have this morning. He will reign forever and ever and there will be rest, restoration, well being, peace. But if you're like me, there's a couple of pages between the beginning and the end and where is the peace in between? <br /><br /> Well, let's look at what illustrations are some peace in, in between. The first and the last page of our scriptures in the middle in Deuteronomy chapter 20 verses 10 through 12 It says this when you draw near to a city to fight against it offer terms of shalom That's the Hebrew word peace And if it responds to you peaceably and it opens to you then all the people who are found in it shall do Labor and you shall and shall serve you but if it makes no peace with you, but makes war against you Then you shall besiege it. <br /><br /> We're building out this definition of peace. It is the opposite of war, as we have here in the scriptures. 1 Kings 5, we'll look here in verse 12. And the Lord gave Solomon wisdom. As he promised him and there was Shalom again, peace between Hiram and Solomon and the two of them made a treaty, not just again the absence of war, but also there is a sense that we're coming together to agree among two people this treaty of peace. <br /><br /> Maybe you're familiar with the passage in Ecclesiastes 3, as Solomon is writing. There's a time for this, a time for that, a time to love, and a time to hate, a time for war, and a time for peace. So what is peace? All relationships at rest. Relationships at rest among people, civilizations, cultures. <br /><br /> Relationships at rest. Maybe you have, have seen or walked through the nativity or maybe you've been in the scene where, you know, the words spoken by Jesus in the New Testament when he is there with his disciples and Mark 4 39, there's a great storm that is happening and Jesus stands up and rebukes the wind and the waves and says, peace, peace, hey, peace. <br /><br /> Be still and the wind ceased and there was a great calm, peace, calm Leviticus 26 6 I will give shalom, God says, peace in the land and you shall lie down and none shall make you afraid. And I will remove harmful beasts from the land, and the sword shall not go through your land. This idea of Shalom, peace, the creation is come. <br /><br /> Isaiah 55, 12, For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace. Again, this is the prophet Isaiah. The mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress. Instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle. <br /><br /> And it shall make a name for the Lord, an everlasting sign that shall not. Be cut off peace. Instead of these thorns and thistles, things are growing and flourishing designed and operating as intended creation at rest in john chapter 14. We continue this idea of peace all throughout the scriptures. 14 27. <br /><br /> Jesus is teaching his disciples right before he is about to go and be crucified Betrayed. Well, actually first arrested and then crucified and among people, among the people that are there, the gathering of the brothers there, he wants to give them an anchor, an anchor for their souls. And he says this, my peace. <br /><br /> I leave with you my peace. I give to you not as the world gives. Do I give to you? Let not your hearts. <br /><br /> So that the sense of fear and the sense of our hearts being troubled, Jesus brings a peace to even our inner sense of our, our turmoil and conflict in our world. Philippians 4, 6 through 7. Paul's writing here, do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. <br /><br /> Let your requests be made known to God and the peace of God, the peace of God. That's that Greek word again, which surpasses all of our understanding. We'll guard your hearts and your minds in Christ. Jesus again. What is this sense of peace? Our internal world again at rest God in the midst of our chaos. <br /><br /> So this is a really robust sense of peace. Maybe we flip back through those pictures. Some of those things might be peace in one area or a sense of peace, but not in total like we're seeing here. Shalom. Everything working as it was designed. Creation at rest. Relationships at rest. Our internal conflict. <br /><br /> No more. If we could bottle this up and sell it, I bet we'd be rich. If we could give out this kind of peace, wouldn't we want to offer it to others? But where's all the peace, right? Because we live in the tension that this is not always how life operates, at least for me. Maybe you're here and you've, you've heard this argument before. <br /><br /> It's why people can't stand Christianity, right? They bury their heads in the sand and they talk about peace as if it's something that we can even achieve. I mean, if God defines peace, if God created humanity in peace, And seeks to bring a peaceful end. That's the last page of the scriptures. Why all the chaos right now? <br /><br /> Why is God allowing an incredibly broken world? To exist in the middle. It must mean he is either not real in questions of his existence or that he doesn't care. Possibly he's just indifferent to humanity, or he's really not able to keep the peace. Maybe he exists, but Sovereignty, not so much. Colonialism and imperialism displacing indigenous people, wiping out empires. <br /><br /> World wars claiming the lives of millions over time. Hate fueled genocide wiping out entire people groups. Terroristic organizations sweeping our world with agendas to conquer people. That they don't agree with families living at odds struggles among coworkers and violence among neighbors, tremendous upheaval in human relationships on every front. <br /><br /> This is far from Shalom. This is far from peace that we are described here in the scriptures. Natural disasters happening all the time, creation in turmoil. We are contributing in the way that we treat creation. Thorns and thistles and weeds in droves choking out things that are healthy and growing. <br /><br /> Animals fighting for their lives in, in less than perfect environments all the time. Creation longs, cries out. For peace and what incredible counsel Paul right from the scriptures. Don't be anxious about anything easy for you to say, yeah, right, don't be anxious about anything. How many of us lie awake late into the evening or in the middle of the night with anxious thoughts that just keep spinning around and around and around? <br /><br /> We can't allow this inner world to come. Sometimes those fears are irrational. Sometimes it's just a fear that we know. An endless battle of the mind. Don't feel trouble. Don't feel chaos. I wish. Maybe you're a person who hasn't ever really known any sense of the word peace. Life has been chaotic from beginning even now. <br /><br /> You see, there's this thing that's happened. Between the first page and the last page, a cosmic interruption to peace back in the garden, Adam and Eve were there, and in the first two chapters, things are going okay. And by Chapter three, there's a problem. Satan, the enemy of God, slithers into the garden, tempting God's precious creation. <br /><br /> And sin entered the world through Adam and Eve's disobedience. And what did they do? They first covered themselves in shame and hid from God. Listen to the account in Genesis chapter three, verse 14 and following the Lord. God said to the serpent, because you have done this cursed. Are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field on your belly? <br /><br /> You shall go all. The days of your life, I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring, he will crush your head and you shall bruise his heel to the woman. He said, I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing in pain. You shall bring forth Children, your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you. <br /><br /> It's conflict and to Adam, he said, because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded to you, you shall not eat of it. Cursed is the ground before you because of you, sorry, in pain, you shall eat of it all the days of your life, thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you and you shall eat the plants of the field by the sweat of your face. <br /><br /> You shall eat bread till you return to the ground for out of it you were taken. For you are dust and to dust you shall return. There's this rift between God and mankind and the fig leaves. All the fig leaves in the world could not cover the brokenness and shame and sin that they felt disconnected from the source of life. <br /><br /> Destined to die and everything is off. Conflict among husband and wife. Creation in turmoil. Pain in childbirth. The ground is cursed. Thorns and thistles. Shame, secrecy, failure, plague their internal lives. Romans 5. 12 illustrates this dismal picture here even more. Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, Adam, and death through sin, so death spread to all mankind. <br /><br /> Where's all the peace? It's gone. There's no hope. There's no life. There's only conflict. Conflict existing between us and God today, filled with sin. Mankind is without hope. We cannot save ourselves. So we zero in on Jesus. The prince of peace to answer the question, how in the world are we to have peace? <br /><br /> The answer is why we celebrate Christmas, the banner outside that we have hung for many years. Hope has come. This is Jesus. This is the glory of Emmanuel, God with us. Isaiah prophesied, and we read this earlier, For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God. <br /><br /> Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. This is who we celebrate at Christmas time. Jesus, the Prince of Peace. I want to look to another part of Isaiah's prophecy this morning. As we think about how we have this peace. Because Isaiah 53 is a passage, that we'll look to here in a second. That is really Fulfilled in the life of Jesus in the book of Acts and even beyond in many of Isaiah's prophecies. <br /><br /> We see Jesus coming out here. Look at Isaiah chapter 53 verse four. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace. <br /><br /> And with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way. And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and he was afflicted. Yeah, he opened not his mouth like a lamb led to the slaughter and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent. <br /><br /> So he opened not his mouth. Verse 9. And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence and there was no deceit in his mouth. Yet, it was the will of the Lord to crush him. He has put him to grief. When a soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring. <br /><br /> He shall prolong his days. The will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul, he shall see and be satisfied. By his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous. And he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore, I will divide a portion with the many and he shall divide the spoil with the strong. <br /><br /> Because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors. Yet he bore the sin of many and makes intercession for the transgressors. This, this passage, tells the whole gospel story. Tells the picture of who we have fulfilled in Jesus. The first part here, we have all gone astray. <br /><br /> Verse six. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, full of sin, iniquity, transgression, unrighteous. We, like Adam and Eve, have missed this mark. God's holy standard, our mess, laid upon Him. We also find here in Isaiah 53 that this separates us from God. God loves us. But must punish sin. He is a just God. After all, the punishment is death. <br /><br /> And that was laid upon Jesus. The punishment that brought us peace was upon Him. Innocent Him. Guilty us. By His death, we are saved. He's made intercession between us and God. The, the peace that we once had that was interrupted by sin. Jesus cancelling our debt of sin, healing us totally, giving us the righteous record that he had. <br /><br /> And we find something else that maybe, if this interrupts your theology, I'll say this. It's because your theology is wrong, not God's theology. This was God's plan. Jesus coming to die in our place is on purpose. There wasn't some accident that happened. It was the Lord's will, it says in Isaiah 53, to crush the Son. <br /><br /> It pleased Him to pour out all of the sin onto Jesus. Remember, in Genesis 3, Adam and Eve, sin entered the world, but there would be a promise that one day a rescuer would come and through Satan, I'm sorry, and though Satan would strike in the death of Jesus, Satan's plan would ultimately be crushed in the death and the resurrection of Jesus. <br /><br /> Jesus came willingly. Humbly, knowing that he would not just preach about the need for a sacrifice for sins. He would come to be. himself, that sacrifice, a substitute, justifying, forgiving, reconciling, setting everything right again, restoring, renewing. That is the sacrifice of Jesus. In Romans chapter five, we, we find that therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God. <br /><br /> We have peace with God through our Lord, Jesus Christ, by grace, through faith is the way. How do we have ultimate peace? What does peace look like? By grace, through faith, we trust in Jesus. Our vertical relationship with God can be restored, making peace between us and our maker, our creator. By faith in Jesus, our horizontal relationships with others can be restored peace with others. <br /><br /> By faith in Jesus, the turmoil within us that is carried can be made whole. We are filled with the peace that surpasses all understanding. C. S. Lewis, says a quote that, I love. We put first things first, and we get second things thrown in. But should we put second things first, we lose both the first and second things. <br /><br /> You see, we cannot go on a search for peace, chasing after things, to embrace in this world that maybe only offer peace for a moment. We can't do that without embracing the maker of peace. We cannot find lasting peace in this world without the one who is eternal peace. We cannot muster up peace filled lives in our internal world without knowing the rescuer who is the prince. <br /><br /> I want to take us on a journey this morning as we close our time because oftentimes we hear good thoughts. We read God's word, but we don't actively go and do anything with it. And so this morning in a few areas, I want to guide us through a time to just offer your heart before the Lord. And so I'll ask you to pray with me as we embrace Jesus. <br /><br /> As our peace this morning, <br /><br /> Jesus, we come to you, we come to you as the one who is the prince of peace. And this morning, maybe Jesus, you know, gathered here today are, are those who first and foremost don't have peace between you and God. We don't have peace because our sin has separated us from the father. So we ask this morning, Jesus, would you make yourself known to those here this morning who do not know you as Savior rescuer? <br /><br /> And if that's you, take the space just for a few minutes to talk and reach out to the one who came to be your substitute. If you do know Christ, take this moment to celebrate. The way that Jesus stood in your place and thank him for that. Now, <br /><br /> Lord, we confess our inability to live as peacemakers. Apart from you, you ask us to live as people of peace, build one another up, forgive, show grace. We can't do this apart from you, Jesus, the prince of peace. And so now, Lord, we take this moment to offer the relationships in our lives. Where there is no peace, but conflict, <br /><br /> Lord, our vision of what you will do is clouded our ability to, to mend so weak, but Jesus, you, the prince of peace and your spirit among us, you alone can rescue pray this morning. Lord, for those relationships just came to mind for us. God, the people who we need to reach out to, might your peace allow us to have peace in our relationships? <br /><br /> Finally, Lord, we offer you our internal world, often the thoughts that plague our minds in the middle of the day or at the middle of the night. Lord, we know this world is in turmoil and one day for those that love you, the story culminates in a new heavens and a new earth, all things restored. And God, we long for that peace, not just a sense of it, but that you would be our anchor amidst the anxieties and fears that you ask us to cast upon you. <br /><br /> So, Lord, the things coming in our week, the things even in our world that cause internal strife and struggle, Lord, we offer them to you now in this time, <br /><br /> Lord, I thank you that you came to make peace between us and God, that you would be the prince of peace, that it was on purpose, your plan, your way. To deliver us from our world, God, this morning, as we gather to worship you, we want to surrender our hearts, knowing that you come to bring peace, make in us a home where you might live and be a peacemaker, that we could God represent you in our world as ambassadors of that peace, ministers of reconciliation in our relationships. <br /><br /> With our neighbors, our friends, our family. God, we ask these things in your name. Amen.</div> false no <![CDATA[Hope Has Come]]> Isaiah 9:2-7

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light;



Sermon Transcript:

Morning, everybody. Invite you to take your Bibles. We're going to be looking at the book of Isaiah. The Old Testament, Isaiah chapter 9 verses 2 through 7. I encourage you to join me there. Grab a Bible in front of you. and there's a table of contents. I didn't get the page number this morning, but it's Isaiah chapter 9 verses 2 through 7.

I'm going to go ahead and read that passage while you're turning there.

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Those who dwell in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone. You have multiplied the nation, you have increased its joy. They rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as they, as they are glad when they divide the spoil. For the yoke of his burden and the staff for his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian.

For every boot of the trampling fire warrior is in battle tumult and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of his government and of peace, there will be no end. On the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. Let's pray.

Lord, we gather this morning and we come to this season we call Advent. Lord, even as we've celebrated the Advent. Candle this morning as we have joined near to remember this first of gifts of the coming of Jesus to our world, the gift of hope, Lord, I'm conscious that in this room, in the homes of people that are watching online, there are certainly people to whom life does not feel filled with hope.

And Lord, I pray that you would be our teacher, that you would instruct us into truth this morning in Jesus name, Amen.

If we have no hope, if we are hopeless, basically life is not worth living. Viktor Frankl, an Austrian psychiatrist, did some of the most profound work in this topic. As a result of his time in the Nazi prison camp, he was there taken with many other prisoners, many of them Jewish, prisoners. And it was his study that actually entitled Man's Search for Meaning that brought the issue of hope in prominence.

And the subtitle of his book actually is the classic tribute to hope. It was his belief that when people lost hope, they had lost any sense of purpose for living. And those were the individuals that tended to die in the prison camps, even if they hadn't faced the horrific death of the ovens, that they just expired over time.

Hope in his book he was presenting gave meaning to life. That you are able to exist and keep going. Shows you are finding hope in something. You may feel it is a flickering hope, but you are entrusting your hope in something. It might be your abilities. It might be your relationships. It might be your resources.

It could be hope in your accomplishments. It could be hope that things are, in fact, going to get better, or something's going to, in fact, end. Christmas is the reminder of God's hope, his way of people to find hope. God had promised to his people in the Old Testament that there would be a hope. As a matter of fact, Paul refers to it a few times in his letters.

He calls it the hope. of Israel. This is the promised hope, the hope that, that ultimately gave people a sense that yes, there's a future, there's something that God has promised to us, this is what we cling to, will one day happen for us. Paul identified where that hope was fulfilled when he said this.

Again, in his New Testament letters, we have hope. In our Lord Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ came to earth to bring hope, hope in life, hope in death. It is the first gift of Advent. And this morning from this passage in Isaiah chapter nine, which actually is one of the prophetic statements that they called the hope of Israel, we find four, five characteristics about this hope.

The first of those is the hope is for people. Living in darkness. Verse two describes it that way. It makes the statement, the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. The concept of darkness in scriptures takes on a variety of nuances, but some of those are summarized in these statements.

In the book of Job, it talks about, it says this, those who walked in darkness constantly were shrouded. In darkness. Those that lived in darkness, it says they grope in darkness with no light. Darkness is, is portrayed as a state of hopelessness, a state of confusion and or fear. Jesus' favorite book of the Bible was the book of Isaiah, and he and verses there said statements like this.

Isaiah 42 7, as he prophesied about himself. To open the eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison, and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness. In Isaiah 43, 9, to say to the captives, come out, and to those in darkness be free. Darkness is portrayed in the scripture as a prison. It's a, it's a state in which one is in captivity.

It's a life that is not as God designed human life to be. As a matter of fact, when mankind, humankind, rejected God as the centralizing, influencer in their lives and wanted to live their own lives, as all of us have, it is described as the fall. That what took place was we descended from the state that God had designed for us.

And, and the result is this, this portrayal of this new way of life. This life without God central to us as, as darkness, as subhuman. It debases, distorts, disfigures the beauty of humanity. It's aberrant. All of the things we look at as maladies in our world today, racism, terrorism, religious radicalism, discrimination, genocide, self absorption, self centeredness, hatred, pride, cruelty are all distortions of God designed human experience.

It is the result of, of darkness that has entered our world as the world has, of mankind has fallen. Christmas is the most. unsentimental, realistic way of looking at life. This is what Christmas declares. It acknowledges that humans are in darkness. It acknowledges that it is not saying that what we need to do to remedy the problem, cheer up, we'll all pull together and we can fix this.

The message of Christmas is this. Things are really this bad. They're dark. And we can't do anything to resolve that in ourselves. Nevertheless, there is hope for those in darkness. Which leads to the second point. This hope is from outside of themselves. If you look at verse 2, it says this here. In this prophetic statement, the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.

It's interesting that the hope that is offered is portrayed as light. And the idea is that in the darkness, light is coming. As a matter of fact, at the end of chapter eight, it says this, the problem is the people will look to the earth in verse 22, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish End 1 And they will be thrust into deep darkness.

Now we come to verse two of chapter nine. The people walking in that darkness have seen a great light on those living in the land of deep darkness. A light has dawned. The emphasis of light into darkness comes from the Christian belief that the world's hope comes from outside. That's why in John chapter one, the Apostle John talking about Jesus coming to the world says this, the true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.

He was in the world and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. One of the most thoughtful world leaders of the last handful of generations was actually the first elected president. of the Czech Republic. When communism was broken, this individual, Václav Havel, Havel, if you're his relative, I apologize, he's the first elected president, and he's a remarkably, insightful man, good president, and he came with a unique perspective.

His perspective offered, first of all, an individual that had lived much of his adult life in socialism, communism. And now he was the first democratic president of the Czech Republic. He had seen socialism. He now saw capitalism. He had seen, a total, tyrannous environment. He saw a democratic environment.

He brought the perspective of an individual that knew that science, unguided by moral principles had given us the Holocaust. He had been alive during those times. He concluded that neither technology, nor the state, nor the financial markets could save us from what he saw as the greatest dangers to humanity, nuclear conflict.

Ethnic violence, just overall destruction. And he made this interesting statement, pursuit of the good life will not help humanity save itself, nor is democracy alone enough. A turning to and a seeking of God is needed. The human race constantly forgets. That it is not God. He's saying there's something outside of ourselves that needs to deliver us from this darkness, this sub human state, if you will, that is a result of the fall.

That life is not as God designed it to be, as it ought to be. So where does the remedy come? It does not come from within ourselves. It comes from outside. It is light coming into the darkness. I saw this in a more personal experience many years ago in a unique way when I had the chance to befriend an older man named Richard.

Richard actually, I had met him because he, he had known my dad and my dad actually introduced me to him. And they had been associates many years before in business, and Richard had gone on. Richard actually was the vice president of a company called Remington Rand, later merged with Sperry Rand, but it was a very large, corporate entity.

And Richard had become the executive vice president and was in line for the CEO position. At that time of his life, literally had his own private jet, a lovely wife, obviously all the wealth one could envision. He had everything. In the midst of the time, waiting to see if he was going to be the heir to the throne of Remington Rand and become the CEO, he just bagged everything.

He was tired of the corporate life, he was tired of the world, and he bought a giant plantation in Virginia. He described it to me once, just this massive, with massive, multiple buildings, houses, and literally an old plantation. And Richard, for three years, I guess it was two and a half years, bought a big, beautiful tractor, and he Green Acre did, if you ever heard of it, El Abreu, Jaja Gavur, he just got off the carpet thing and he drove tractors, done his own property.

He thought, I just, I got to be out of the rat race, I just got to be a human again, and so he did this for two and a half years and was completely bored to death.

So they returned and came back up to this area. Actually got a job, as a, what was for him, a low level executive position for many people, a very high executive, but for him, much lower. And he thought, I, I, I miss the corporate world, I miss the, the energy, I miss the strategy, I miss the game. But I don't want to be the top dog.

I don't, I don't want to be there. I don't want that kind of pressure. My family doesn't want that kind of, that kind of pressure. So he thought I'm going to come in and I'm going to take a moderating position. And so he did and it didn't work. He began to turn to alcohol. And when I met Richard, Richard had just been, doing a DUI.

Richard, had been in a car accident in which he should have been killed, but God spared him. He was in a hospital room and was there trying to think through the direction of his entire life. God in his mercy enabled Richard to face two things. Number one, he discovered something about himself. He discovered that In terminology of this sermon that he had placed his hope in himself and that his life was lived therefore in the pride that we all have, that I'll be enough.

I can do it. I can be self sufficient. And he found out it didn't work. He literally had tried everything he knew to find satisfaction, light. To get out of the darkness and just the emptiness of it all. The meaninglessness of it all. Just one thing after another didn't satisfy. He learned something about himself.

Secondly, he learned something very special about God. He learned that God, even though he had had some degree of religious background and had learned about God. It turned from God, tried in His words a dozen different things to find satisfaction in His life. And now in the first time in His life when He was really wholeheartedly wanting to turn to God, when He cried out to God, God in His grace showed up.

He was struck as I shared with him the statement that C. S. Lewis, C. S. Lewis calls this the humility of God. And we'll try everything else until finally there's just no curtains left except God. And we turn to him and in his astonishing humility as his, as our creator, he says, I delight to show mercy.

That's the book of Micah said. Richard received God's forgiveness through Christ. He experienced light that had come into his life. That he had discovered that going to the plantation, the problem was he took himself with him wherever he went. You know, that happens. Wherever you go, whatever you got.

Whatever you are, whatever darkness has seeped in and is influencing the way it's manifesting itself, it goes with us. We need light to penetrate our lives. And so Richard, like Paul did in 1st Timothy 4 when it says, we have put in 1st Timothy 4 verse 10, Paul said, we have put our hope. In the living God,

we all tend to have faulty gods we put our hope in. Our health, our accomplishments, our abilities, our perfectionist ways, our intelligence, our religiosity, our skills, our ability to make friends, our drive, our tenacity. But they're all false hopes. They can work for a while, but eventually that sense of emptiness, of tediousness, of being trapped, begins to settle in.

And that's when we often learn the mercy of suffering. Suffering is one of God's greatest gifts. You may say, I'd be happy to have him try something else. Suffering shows you the poverty of your gods. Suffering causes us to see we need something outside of ourselves, not something we can design or we can choose.

It makes us see our insufficiency. Our desperation, our hopelessness, it's designed to point us to the living hope that is found only in the living God, that we need light from outside to come into our darkness. This is what is being portrayed in Isaiah chapter 9 when it says, this is what Christmas is all about.

Light comes into darkness. The hope came from outside of ourselves. And we learn radical faith in the living, merciful God, usually in times of desperate situations of darkness. The hope came from outside. The hope brings light. Light of course reveals the incarnation. The entrance of Jesus in karnas means in flesh.

Jesus coming. In bodily form as a human is the message that brings light. It's a light that dispels darkness. It's a light that brings hope that the light reveals. It gives a picture of a mega narrative to large words, mega, which means big. And, or great, even, a narrative, the story. It gives a picture, Jesus coming as, as light, is giving us light to the big story that's going on.

That, that there is meaning in life. That there is a, a, a story above all other stories. Of every human story is just a part of this giant story that's going on. The story that begins with creation. And then goes into what is called the fall. And then ultimately comes to what is known as redemption. Jesus coming and leads to future glory.

That this is the mega narrative that is going on throughout world history. And Jesus coming is the light. Sheds light on that story. It enables us to see there is something going on. Where God is drawing people to himself. And it's accomplished through Jesus. Just coming into the world, there is a united big story that makes sense of my little life in the middle of it.

That I, that I'm not just a random being that climbed out of the, climbed out of the primeval swamp and I just sort of happened and I evolved my way up and, and really, it's just random, random, random. I mean, there's no purpose, no meaning. No. The light coming to the darkness, what it reveals is, there's meaning to your life.

There's purpose to your life. God created you. The problems you experience in your life is, is a result of the fall in our experience, where we have turned from God. But there is, the story continues that light has come in, in the midst of that darkness, in the person of Jesus Christ. There's a united, big story of human history that makes sense of life.

Remember reading the article a number of years ago in Christianity Today? Was it, it was in, the story was in, the article was entitled, I Was a Witch. Was a story of a woman, Kimberly Shoemade, and her long conversion to Christ. She tells the story of, of how. she had had a couple of friends that were talking to her about the Bible and, and had actually gone to, a Bible study.

And she was very much 30 years into witchcraft. The incantation, the whole world were hers. She had seen astonishing demonstrations of power of the dark, influence in her life. But she tells her story as she was listening to Verses, over a few weeks in this Bible study of Old Testament verses and New Testament verses and, and, and here's what she wrote.

She said, I was struck with how the Old Testament and the New Testament had a oddly familiar voice, one tone, one heart. And she said, I wondered, here's her words. How could a book? Written by so many different people, over the course of hundreds of years, fit together perfectly, as if one amazing storyteller has written the whole thing.

The Holy Spirit began melting my vanity and arrogance with a power stronger than any hex or incantation or spell I'd ever used. Suddenly, the blindfold I'd worn for almost 30 years was stripped away, and instantly I knew what I'd been searching for. It was a person, Jesus Christ. C. S. Lewis, in his book Miracles, says it this way, I believe in the incarnation of Jesus in the same way I believe in the Son.

Not that I can see it all. Because by it, I see everything else. What's he saying? He's saying the entrance of Jesus Christ into the world, it's light. It declares in the midst of our darkness, everything else makes sense. There's a God that has purpose for my life and meaning. There's a God that's designed me, but I rejected Him.

I've fallen from Him. But Jesus Christ has come and by his entrance he's saying, here's the thing, the reason you feel darkness and you feel purposelessness and you feel lostness is not that your desire for that is hopeless. You were created with that longing for purpose and meaning for life. Your dog doesn't have that, but you do.

You were designed that way. But sin has darkened the whole thing. You've fallen from the state of being able to live out those purposes in your life and fulfill them.

But Jesus Christ has come to shed light and say, there is an eternal value to your life. And I have come to restore you to a relationship, a personal relationship with God. I've brought light to it. And Paul and, and C. S. Lewis says, Man, when I realized that, it was the sun to me. Not that I could look into the sun and under every, understand everything about the sun.

But that I could look around and see the sun shows me light for everything else that I need to understand. Jesus came as the light he reveals. Secondly, Jesus comes as the light who satisfies. In this passage, it talks about the light brings joy. When we're out in the sunlight, there is an invigorating energy you feel.

There's, there's joy in light. Where there is limited light, only a few hours of daylight, for instance, Alaska, northern Canada. People struggle. We're not designed to live in darkness. It's interesting when the angel appeared to Mary and tells her she's going to bear the promised one. It says, I bring you tidings of great joy.

A savior is born this day. Actually, that was to the shepherds. The hope is fulfilled in a purpose. A person is the fourth one. Verse 6 and 7, I'm just jumping down here to this famous passage, which Handel memorialized in his great, oratory of the, the Messiah. But we read this in verse 6 and 7, For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given, And the government shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father.

Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end. On the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. And the zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. The hope is fulfilled in a person. We celebrate Christmas when we remember that hope has come.

It has come in a person, in the Creator, coming among us to deliver us from ourselves, to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves, to begin shaping us for life here and for a world to come. In his great book, Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis says this, The second person in God. The son became human himself, was born into the world as an actual man, a real man of a particular height, with hair of a particular color, speaking a particular language, weighing so many pounds.

The eternal being who knows everything and who created the whole universe became not only a man, but before that a baby, and before that a fetus inside a woman's body. And if you want to get the hang of it, think how you would like to become a slug or a crab. He's portraying that, what it's like that this Creator God became human, one of us.

I've said this before on a number of occasions, but it always helps me and I'm going to just throw it out there for you. I want you again to think of the one who came to the world and I want you to think of our galaxy for just a moment, actually the entire cosmos. If we were trying to measure out things in our universe and we were to say the distance from planet earth to our sun would be portrayed by the thickness of this piece of paper.

And if I were to place this paper here and say, all right, from the, from earth to the sun is the thickness of that piece of paper, that minuscule amount. If we were then to track on that basis of measurement, the distance to the next closest star in our galaxy, we would have to have a pile of papers 70 feet high.

If we were then to use that measurement and to discern the diameter of our galaxy, the Milky Way, we would need a pile of paper 360 miles high. and we are told by recent astro astronomical reckoning that they believe there are billions of such galaxies in the cosmos. And the book of Isaiah says, God stretches out the heavens and measures them with the span of his hand. That God became that baby in Bethlehem. He deigned to come to this world for one reason.

To rescue people in darkness.

He's described in these words. He's the mighty God, the everlasting Father. If that's true, if Jesus Christ is that, you can't just like him. Well, I, I, I like Jesus. I mean, he's cool. I got nothing against him. Who is he? He's this individual. When you listen to who he is, when, when people began to understand the claims that Jesus was making about himself being God, they were furious at him.

Or they fell at his feet and worshiped him. Second, if Jesus is the wonderful counselor and prince of peace, we should want to know him and serve him. He's called the counselor. When you're going through something difficult, it's good to talk to someone who has walked the same path, who knows personally what you've been going through.

This creator of the cosmos God knows what it's like in the person of the sun to suffer. He knows what it's like to be slandered by friends. He knows what it's like to be crushed by injustice. He knows what it's like to be tortured and to die. Dorothy Sayers, a British ethicist and novelist, said this years ago.

It means that for whatever reason God chose to let us fall, to suffer, to be subjects to sorrow and death, he has nonetheless had the honesty and the courage to take his own medicine. He can exact nothing from man that he has not exacted from himself. He himself has gone through the whole of human experience from the trivial irritations of family life and the cramping restrictions of hard work and lack of money to the worst horrors of pain and humiliation, defeat, despair, and death.

He was born in poverty and suffered infinite pain all for us. And thought it well worth his while. And he says, I can be your mighty, wonderful counselor not only because I'm God and I know everything, but I know it by experience. I've walked your walk. The last thing about this hope is this, the hope humbles.

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given. It's a gift. It can be yours only if you are willing to receive it as a gift given by grace. Verse 5 hints at that too. It says here in the passage, it speaks of a great battle, but it says every warrior's boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, will be fuel for the fire.

The imagery that's used here is basically saying that the great victory over evil. Will not require our strength. We won't need a A warrior's boot. We won't need armor or a sword. Just melt them down. Burn 'em up. It says someone else will do your fighting for you. This is the great gift, but it's a challenging one.

Christmas is about receiving gifts, right? But consider how challenging it is to receive certain kinds of gifts. Imagine opening a present on Christmas morning from a friend and it's a diet book. Really helped him, but, I remember years ago, Marianne, sharing with me her suggestion that I read the book by Norman Vincent Peale, How to Win Friends and Influence People.

She had the best of motives. I actually did read the book, and, which probably isn't a good argument for it, but, But I really would have preferred if the book's title was something like this, Why Everybody Wants to Be Your Friend. To accept the true Christian gift, you have to admit your need, that you're in darkness, and that the emptiness you feel At the longing for meaning, the, the, the wholeness, the sense that life just isn't how it ought to be.

You have to say this is because of my fault, because of my rejection of God as the central reality in my life because of my sin. That I too need light to come into my darkness. That I'm not going to just climb my way out and find the right light through my job or my family or my, my, my workouts in the gym that, that there's no other curtain that works except the one that opens to the one that brought light to our world.

And it's a humble thing to say, God, I don't ultimately need a friend, an encourager. A defender. I need a savior. I need one who died for me. I need one who rose for me. I need one who gives forgiveness to me. I need the hope that comes of realizing this is all part of the giant story that You created me in a certain way, and I threw it aside going my own way.

But Jesus came to, and the light is, He's saying, Embrace me, and allow me to begin to restore all that God wanted to have in your life. And we'll one day completely restore it in a place that is prepared for you called heaven. But we must admit we're sinners, that we've displaced God at the center of our lives.

That it really was, as Isaiah 53 said, All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned every one of us to our own way. But the Lord laid on Him the sin of us all. That Jesus Christ came to be that for us. I don't know where you are this morning. But my guess is there's a number of people in this room are watching online this morning.

Who have never embraced the light of Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord and living in darkness. You say, well, I, I never thought of myself living in darkness. But every part of your life that is discordant ultimately from the way life is designed to be lived is ultimately traced back to where God is not the center of your life.

That Jesus Christ came to rescue you, to deliver you from that state, and bring you into a relationship with God, both in this world and eternally. My invitation to you this morning is just to embrace Jesus Christ. To lay hold of the hope of the world. It was the hope of Israel. But it is the hope of the world that there is a living hope found in Jesus Christ who came to bring light to people in darkness.

Gonna ask you to pray with me this morning and ask every head bowed and every eye closed.

Lord, we come to you through this simple study, yet with such profound truth. That our lives are all part of a giant story that's being written. It's a story that will never end.

And Lord, in this story, you have brought light to us in our darkness in the person of Jesus Christ. Father, you look into the life and soul of every person in this room and in their rooms who are watching online. And I ask you, Father, that you would take away all distractions that they might now personally be able to process where are they in their relationship to Jesus Christ.

With every head bowed and every eye closed, I want to address you this morning, still in a state of prayer. Maybe you're here today and God, the Holy Spirit is prompting you and saying, Hey, this was for you. This message. This didn't come from, from Mark. This is something I wanted you to hear because I want you to know that I have created you and that you have turned away from me through your own fall into sin.

But that I sent my own son. To deliver you from the penalty from your sin, both in your life now and the way life is lived and also in the, in the day to come. Won't you embrace my son as your Savior? And if you're here this morning and again, no one is looking around but me and God. And you'd say, Pastor Mark, I need the hope of Christ.

I need a savior

right now. I want to receive Jesus Christ as my savior. I'm gonna ask you right where you are to pray this prayer with me quietly speaking in your own heart to God.

Lord, I realize today that I am a sinner,

that I'm separated from you because of my sin. And I realize that Jesus Christ came to be my Savior.

Right now, I'm asking you, Jesus Christ, to enter my life and heart, to be my Savior, to be my Lord.

Jesus, thank you.

If God prompted you to pray that prayer this morning, and again, nobody is looking around, please, but me and God. I'm gonna just ask you right where you are, that I could be praying for you, to just raise your hand. I can ask you to do anything else, but I'd like you to just raise your hand and say, Mark, I've received Christ right now.

Yes. Are there others? Yes.

Yes. Thank you. Yes. Thank you.

Yes. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you. I see those. Thank you. Okay, you can put your hands down. Lord.

The Bible tells us that the angels in heaven rejoice when one person embraces Christ as Savior. We hear this morning, the joy in heaven for all these individuals that have raised their hand and said yes to Christ, Lord, make this the beginning of a life journey now where they grow to know you and to love you and to understand now the fledgling and then maturing steps of walking in the light.

Lord, thanks for being among us. Thanks for wanting us. Thanks for pursuing us. For bringing light into our darkness. That Advent is about hope. And we love you for it. In Jesus name, Amen.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/hope-has-come a74bd613-87fc-49bd-8f16-c39272a4dbd5 Sun, 03 Dec 2023 16:21:54 GMT <div data-html="true">Isaiah 9:2-7 <br /><br /> The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> Morning, everybody. Invite you to take your Bibles. We're going to be looking at the book of Isaiah. The Old Testament, Isaiah chapter 9 verses 2 through 7. I encourage you to join me there. Grab a Bible in front of you. and there's a table of contents. I didn't get the page number this morning, but it's Isaiah chapter 9 verses 2 through 7. <br /><br /> I'm going to go ahead and read that passage while you're turning there. <br /><br /> The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Those who dwell in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone. You have multiplied the nation, you have increased its joy. They rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as they, as they are glad when they divide the spoil. For the yoke of his burden and the staff for his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian. <br /><br /> For every boot of the trampling fire warrior is in battle tumult and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. <br /><br /> Of the increase of his government and of peace, there will be no end. On the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. Let's pray. <br /><br /> Lord, we gather this morning and we come to this season we call Advent. Lord, even as we've celebrated the Advent. Candle this morning as we have joined near to remember this first of gifts of the coming of Jesus to our world, the gift of hope, Lord, I'm conscious that in this room, in the homes of people that are watching online, there are certainly people to whom life does not feel filled with hope. <br /><br /> And Lord, I pray that you would be our teacher, that you would instruct us into truth this morning in Jesus name, Amen. <br /><br /> If we have no hope, if we are hopeless, basically life is not worth living. Viktor Frankl, an Austrian psychiatrist, did some of the most profound work in this topic. As a result of his time in the Nazi prison camp, he was there taken with many other prisoners, many of them Jewish, prisoners. And it was his study that actually entitled Man's Search for Meaning that brought the issue of hope in prominence. <br /><br /> And the subtitle of his book actually is the classic tribute to hope. It was his belief that when people lost hope, they had lost any sense of purpose for living. And those were the individuals that tended to die in the prison camps, even if they hadn't faced the horrific death of the ovens, that they just expired over time. <br /><br /> Hope in his book he was presenting gave meaning to life. That you are able to exist and keep going. Shows you are finding hope in something. You may feel it is a flickering hope, but you are entrusting your hope in something. It might be your abilities. It might be your relationships. It might be your resources. <br /><br /> It could be hope in your accomplishments. It could be hope that things are, in fact, going to get better, or something's going to, in fact, end. Christmas is the reminder of God's hope, his way of people to find hope. God had promised to his people in the Old Testament that there would be a hope. As a matter of fact, Paul refers to it a few times in his letters. <br /><br /> He calls it the hope. of Israel. This is the promised hope, the hope that, that ultimately gave people a sense that yes, there's a future, there's something that God has promised to us, this is what we cling to, will one day happen for us. Paul identified where that hope was fulfilled when he said this. <br /><br /> Again, in his New Testament letters, we have hope. In our Lord Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ came to earth to bring hope, hope in life, hope in death. It is the first gift of Advent. And this morning from this passage in Isaiah chapter nine, which actually is one of the prophetic statements that they called the hope of Israel, we find four, five characteristics about this hope. <br /><br /> The first of those is the hope is for people. Living in darkness. Verse two describes it that way. It makes the statement, the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. The concept of darkness in scriptures takes on a variety of nuances, but some of those are summarized in these statements. <br /><br /> In the book of Job, it talks about, it says this, those who walked in darkness constantly were shrouded. In darkness. Those that lived in darkness, it says they grope in darkness with no light. Darkness is, is portrayed as a state of hopelessness, a state of confusion and or fear. Jesus' favorite book of the Bible was the book of Isaiah, and he and verses there said statements like this. <br /><br /> Isaiah 42 7, as he prophesied about himself. To open the eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison, and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness. In Isaiah 43, 9, to say to the captives, come out, and to those in darkness be free. Darkness is portrayed in the scripture as a prison. It's a, it's a state in which one is in captivity. <br /><br /> It's a life that is not as God designed human life to be. As a matter of fact, when mankind, humankind, rejected God as the centralizing, influencer in their lives and wanted to live their own lives, as all of us have, it is described as the fall. That what took place was we descended from the state that God had designed for us. <br /><br /> And, and the result is this, this portrayal of this new way of life. This life without God central to us as, as darkness, as subhuman. It debases, distorts, disfigures the beauty of humanity. It's aberrant. All of the things we look at as maladies in our world today, racism, terrorism, religious radicalism, discrimination, genocide, self absorption, self centeredness, hatred, pride, cruelty are all distortions of God designed human experience. <br /><br /> It is the result of, of darkness that has entered our world as the world has, of mankind has fallen. Christmas is the most. unsentimental, realistic way of looking at life. This is what Christmas declares. It acknowledges that humans are in darkness. It acknowledges that it is not saying that what we need to do to remedy the problem, cheer up, we'll all pull together and we can fix this. <br /><br /> The message of Christmas is this. Things are really this bad. They're dark. And we can't do anything to resolve that in ourselves. Nevertheless, there is hope for those in darkness. Which leads to the second point. This hope is from outside of themselves. If you look at verse 2, it says this here. In this prophetic statement, the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. <br /><br /> It's interesting that the hope that is offered is portrayed as light. And the idea is that in the darkness, light is coming. As a matter of fact, at the end of chapter eight, it says this, the problem is the people will look to the earth in verse 22, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish End 1 And they will be thrust into deep darkness. <br /><br /> Now we come to verse two of chapter nine. The people walking in that darkness have seen a great light on those living in the land of deep darkness. A light has dawned. The emphasis of light into darkness comes from the Christian belief that the world's hope comes from outside. That's why in John chapter one, the Apostle John talking about Jesus coming to the world says this, the true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. <br /><br /> He was in the world and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. One of the most thoughtful world leaders of the last handful of generations was actually the first elected president. of the Czech Republic. When communism was broken, this individual, Václav Havel, Havel, if you're his relative, I apologize, he's the first elected president, and he's a remarkably, insightful man, good president, and he came with a unique perspective. <br /><br /> His perspective offered, first of all, an individual that had lived much of his adult life in socialism, communism. And now he was the first democratic president of the Czech Republic. He had seen socialism. He now saw capitalism. He had seen, a total, tyrannous environment. He saw a democratic environment. <br /><br /> He brought the perspective of an individual that knew that science, unguided by moral principles had given us the Holocaust. He had been alive during those times. He concluded that neither technology, nor the state, nor the financial markets could save us from what he saw as the greatest dangers to humanity, nuclear conflict. <br /><br /> Ethnic violence, just overall destruction. And he made this interesting statement, pursuit of the good life will not help humanity save itself, nor is democracy alone enough. A turning to and a seeking of God is needed. The human race constantly forgets. That it is not God. He's saying there's something outside of ourselves that needs to deliver us from this darkness, this sub human state, if you will, that is a result of the fall. <br /><br /> That life is not as God designed it to be, as it ought to be. So where does the remedy come? It does not come from within ourselves. It comes from outside. It is light coming into the darkness. I saw this in a more personal experience many years ago in a unique way when I had the chance to befriend an older man named Richard. <br /><br /> Richard actually, I had met him because he, he had known my dad and my dad actually introduced me to him. And they had been associates many years before in business, and Richard had gone on. Richard actually was the vice president of a company called Remington Rand, later merged with Sperry Rand, but it was a very large, corporate entity. <br /><br /> And Richard had become the executive vice president and was in line for the CEO position. At that time of his life, literally had his own private jet, a lovely wife, obviously all the wealth one could envision. He had everything. In the midst of the time, waiting to see if he was going to be the heir to the throne of Remington Rand and become the CEO, he just bagged everything. <br /><br /> He was tired of the corporate life, he was tired of the world, and he bought a giant plantation in Virginia. He described it to me once, just this massive, with massive, multiple buildings, houses, and literally an old plantation. And Richard, for three years, I guess it was two and a half years, bought a big, beautiful tractor, and he Green Acre did, if you ever heard of it, El Abreu, Jaja Gavur, he just got off the carpet thing and he drove tractors, done his own property. <br /><br /> He thought, I just, I got to be out of the rat race, I just got to be a human again, and so he did this for two and a half years and was completely bored to death. <br /><br /> So they returned and came back up to this area. Actually got a job, as a, what was for him, a low level executive position for many people, a very high executive, but for him, much lower. And he thought, I, I, I miss the corporate world, I miss the, the energy, I miss the strategy, I miss the game. But I don't want to be the top dog. <br /><br /> I don't, I don't want to be there. I don't want that kind of pressure. My family doesn't want that kind of, that kind of pressure. So he thought I'm going to come in and I'm going to take a moderating position. And so he did and it didn't work. He began to turn to alcohol. And when I met Richard, Richard had just been, doing a DUI. <br /><br /> Richard, had been in a car accident in which he should have been killed, but God spared him. He was in a hospital room and was there trying to think through the direction of his entire life. God in his mercy enabled Richard to face two things. Number one, he discovered something about himself. He discovered that In terminology of this sermon that he had placed his hope in himself and that his life was lived therefore in the pride that we all have, that I'll be enough. <br /><br /> I can do it. I can be self sufficient. And he found out it didn't work. He literally had tried everything he knew to find satisfaction, light. To get out of the darkness and just the emptiness of it all. The meaninglessness of it all. Just one thing after another didn't satisfy. He learned something about himself. <br /><br /> Secondly, he learned something very special about God. He learned that God, even though he had had some degree of religious background and had learned about God. It turned from God, tried in His words a dozen different things to find satisfaction in His life. And now in the first time in His life when He was really wholeheartedly wanting to turn to God, when He cried out to God, God in His grace showed up. <br /><br /> He was struck as I shared with him the statement that C. S. Lewis, C. S. Lewis calls this the humility of God. And we'll try everything else until finally there's just no curtains left except God. And we turn to him and in his astonishing humility as his, as our creator, he says, I delight to show mercy. <br /><br /> That's the book of Micah said. Richard received God's forgiveness through Christ. He experienced light that had come into his life. That he had discovered that going to the plantation, the problem was he took himself with him wherever he went. You know, that happens. Wherever you go, whatever you got. <br /><br /> Whatever you are, whatever darkness has seeped in and is influencing the way it's manifesting itself, it goes with us. We need light to penetrate our lives. And so Richard, like Paul did in 1st Timothy 4 when it says, we have put in 1st Timothy 4 verse 10, Paul said, we have put our hope. In the living God, <br /><br /> we all tend to have faulty gods we put our hope in. Our health, our accomplishments, our abilities, our perfectionist ways, our intelligence, our religiosity, our skills, our ability to make friends, our drive, our tenacity. But they're all false hopes. They can work for a while, but eventually that sense of emptiness, of tediousness, of being trapped, begins to settle in. <br /><br /> And that's when we often learn the mercy of suffering. Suffering is one of God's greatest gifts. You may say, I'd be happy to have him try something else. Suffering shows you the poverty of your gods. Suffering causes us to see we need something outside of ourselves, not something we can design or we can choose. <br /><br /> It makes us see our insufficiency. Our desperation, our hopelessness, it's designed to point us to the living hope that is found only in the living God, that we need light from outside to come into our darkness. This is what is being portrayed in Isaiah chapter 9 when it says, this is what Christmas is all about. <br /><br /> Light comes into darkness. The hope came from outside of ourselves. And we learn radical faith in the living, merciful God, usually in times of desperate situations of darkness. The hope came from outside. The hope brings light. Light of course reveals the incarnation. The entrance of Jesus in karnas means in flesh. <br /><br /> Jesus coming. In bodily form as a human is the message that brings light. It's a light that dispels darkness. It's a light that brings hope that the light reveals. It gives a picture of a mega narrative to large words, mega, which means big. And, or great, even, a narrative, the story. It gives a picture, Jesus coming as, as light, is giving us light to the big story that's going on. <br /><br /> That, that there is meaning in life. That there is a, a, a story above all other stories. Of every human story is just a part of this giant story that's going on. The story that begins with creation. And then goes into what is called the fall. And then ultimately comes to what is known as redemption. Jesus coming and leads to future glory. <br /><br /> That this is the mega narrative that is going on throughout world history. And Jesus coming is the light. Sheds light on that story. It enables us to see there is something going on. Where God is drawing people to himself. And it's accomplished through Jesus. Just coming into the world, there is a united big story that makes sense of my little life in the middle of it. <br /><br /> That I, that I'm not just a random being that climbed out of the, climbed out of the primeval swamp and I just sort of happened and I evolved my way up and, and really, it's just random, random, random. I mean, there's no purpose, no meaning. No. The light coming to the darkness, what it reveals is, there's meaning to your life. <br /><br /> There's purpose to your life. God created you. The problems you experience in your life is, is a result of the fall in our experience, where we have turned from God. But there is, the story continues that light has come in, in the midst of that darkness, in the person of Jesus Christ. There's a united, big story of human history that makes sense of life. <br /><br /> Remember reading the article a number of years ago in Christianity Today? Was it, it was in, the story was in, the article was entitled, I Was a Witch. Was a story of a woman, Kimberly Shoemade, and her long conversion to Christ. She tells the story of, of how. she had had a couple of friends that were talking to her about the Bible and, and had actually gone to, a Bible study. <br /><br /> And she was very much 30 years into witchcraft. The incantation, the whole world were hers. She had seen astonishing demonstrations of power of the dark, influence in her life. But she tells her story as she was listening to Verses, over a few weeks in this Bible study of Old Testament verses and New Testament verses and, and, and here's what she wrote. <br /><br /> She said, I was struck with how the Old Testament and the New Testament had a oddly familiar voice, one tone, one heart. And she said, I wondered, here's her words. How could a book? Written by so many different people, over the course of hundreds of years, fit together perfectly, as if one amazing storyteller has written the whole thing. <br /><br /> The Holy Spirit began melting my vanity and arrogance with a power stronger than any hex or incantation or spell I'd ever used. Suddenly, the blindfold I'd worn for almost 30 years was stripped away, and instantly I knew what I'd been searching for. It was a person, Jesus Christ. C. S. Lewis, in his book Miracles, says it this way, I believe in the incarnation of Jesus in the same way I believe in the Son. <br /><br /> Not that I can see it all. Because by it, I see everything else. What's he saying? He's saying the entrance of Jesus Christ into the world, it's light. It declares in the midst of our darkness, everything else makes sense. There's a God that has purpose for my life and meaning. There's a God that's designed me, but I rejected Him. <br /><br /> I've fallen from Him. But Jesus Christ has come and by his entrance he's saying, here's the thing, the reason you feel darkness and you feel purposelessness and you feel lostness is not that your desire for that is hopeless. You were created with that longing for purpose and meaning for life. Your dog doesn't have that, but you do. <br /><br /> You were designed that way. But sin has darkened the whole thing. You've fallen from the state of being able to live out those purposes in your life and fulfill them. <br /><br /> But Jesus Christ has come to shed light and say, there is an eternal value to your life. And I have come to restore you to a relationship, a personal relationship with God. I've brought light to it. And Paul and, and C. S. Lewis says, Man, when I realized that, it was the sun to me. Not that I could look into the sun and under every, understand everything about the sun. <br /><br /> But that I could look around and see the sun shows me light for everything else that I need to understand. Jesus came as the light he reveals. Secondly, Jesus comes as the light who satisfies. In this passage, it talks about the light brings joy. When we're out in the sunlight, there is an invigorating energy you feel. <br /><br /> There's, there's joy in light. Where there is limited light, only a few hours of daylight, for instance, Alaska, northern Canada. People struggle. We're not designed to live in darkness. It's interesting when the angel appeared to Mary and tells her she's going to bear the promised one. It says, I bring you tidings of great joy. <br /><br /> A savior is born this day. Actually, that was to the shepherds. The hope is fulfilled in a purpose. A person is the fourth one. Verse 6 and 7, I'm just jumping down here to this famous passage, which Handel memorialized in his great, oratory of the, the Messiah. But we read this in verse 6 and 7, For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given, And the government shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father. <br /><br /> Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end. On the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. And the zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. The hope is fulfilled in a person. We celebrate Christmas when we remember that hope has come. <br /><br /> It has come in a person, in the Creator, coming among us to deliver us from ourselves, to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves, to begin shaping us for life here and for a world to come. In his great book, Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis says this, The second person in God. The son became human himself, was born into the world as an actual man, a real man of a particular height, with hair of a particular color, speaking a particular language, weighing so many pounds. <br /><br /> The eternal being who knows everything and who created the whole universe became not only a man, but before that a baby, and before that a fetus inside a woman's body. And if you want to get the hang of it, think how you would like to become a slug or a crab. He's portraying that, what it's like that this Creator God became human, one of us. <br /><br /> I've said this before on a number of occasions, but it always helps me and I'm going to just throw it out there for you. I want you again to think of the one who came to the world and I want you to think of our galaxy for just a moment, actually the entire cosmos. If we were trying to measure out things in our universe and we were to say the distance from planet earth to our sun would be portrayed by the thickness of this piece of paper. <br /><br /> And if I were to place this paper here and say, all right, from the, from earth to the sun is the thickness of that piece of paper, that minuscule amount. If we were then to track on that basis of measurement, the distance to the next closest star in our galaxy, we would have to have a pile of papers 70 feet high. <br /><br /> If we were then to use that measurement and to discern the diameter of our galaxy, the Milky Way, we would need a pile of paper 360 miles high. and we are told by recent astro astronomical reckoning that they believe there are billions of such galaxies in the cosmos. And the book of Isaiah says, God stretches out the heavens and measures them with the span of his hand. That God became that baby in Bethlehem. He deigned to come to this world for one reason. <br /><br /> To rescue people in darkness. <br /><br /> He's described in these words. He's the mighty God, the everlasting Father. If that's true, if Jesus Christ is that, you can't just like him. Well, I, I, I like Jesus. I mean, he's cool. I got nothing against him. Who is he? He's this individual. When you listen to who he is, when, when people began to understand the claims that Jesus was making about himself being God, they were furious at him. <br /><br /> Or they fell at his feet and worshiped him. Second, if Jesus is the wonderful counselor and prince of peace, we should want to know him and serve him. He's called the counselor. When you're going through something difficult, it's good to talk to someone who has walked the same path, who knows personally what you've been going through. <br /><br /> This creator of the cosmos God knows what it's like in the person of the sun to suffer. He knows what it's like to be slandered by friends. He knows what it's like to be crushed by injustice. He knows what it's like to be tortured and to die. Dorothy Sayers, a British ethicist and novelist, said this years ago. <br /><br /> It means that for whatever reason God chose to let us fall, to suffer, to be subjects to sorrow and death, he has nonetheless had the honesty and the courage to take his own medicine. He can exact nothing from man that he has not exacted from himself. He himself has gone through the whole of human experience from the trivial irritations of family life and the cramping restrictions of hard work and lack of money to the worst horrors of pain and humiliation, defeat, despair, and death. <br /><br /> He was born in poverty and suffered infinite pain all for us. And thought it well worth his while. And he says, I can be your mighty, wonderful counselor not only because I'm God and I know everything, but I know it by experience. I've walked your walk. The last thing about this hope is this, the hope humbles. <br /><br /> For to us a child is born, to us a son is given. It's a gift. It can be yours only if you are willing to receive it as a gift given by grace. Verse 5 hints at that too. It says here in the passage, it speaks of a great battle, but it says every warrior's boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, will be fuel for the fire. <br /><br /> The imagery that's used here is basically saying that the great victory over evil. Will not require our strength. We won't need a A warrior's boot. We won't need armor or a sword. Just melt them down. Burn 'em up. It says someone else will do your fighting for you. This is the great gift, but it's a challenging one. <br /><br /> Christmas is about receiving gifts, right? But consider how challenging it is to receive certain kinds of gifts. Imagine opening a present on Christmas morning from a friend and it's a diet book. Really helped him, but, I remember years ago, Marianne, sharing with me her suggestion that I read the book by Norman Vincent Peale, How to Win Friends and Influence People. <br /><br /> She had the best of motives. I actually did read the book, and, which probably isn't a good argument for it, but, But I really would have preferred if the book's title was something like this, Why Everybody Wants to Be Your Friend. To accept the true Christian gift, you have to admit your need, that you're in darkness, and that the emptiness you feel At the longing for meaning, the, the, the wholeness, the sense that life just isn't how it ought to be. <br /><br /> You have to say this is because of my fault, because of my rejection of God as the central reality in my life because of my sin. That I too need light to come into my darkness. That I'm not going to just climb my way out and find the right light through my job or my family or my, my, my workouts in the gym that, that there's no other curtain that works except the one that opens to the one that brought light to our world. <br /><br /> And it's a humble thing to say, God, I don't ultimately need a friend, an encourager. A defender. I need a savior. I need one who died for me. I need one who rose for me. I need one who gives forgiveness to me. I need the hope that comes of realizing this is all part of the giant story that You created me in a certain way, and I threw it aside going my own way. <br /><br /> But Jesus came to, and the light is, He's saying, Embrace me, and allow me to begin to restore all that God wanted to have in your life. And we'll one day completely restore it in a place that is prepared for you called heaven. But we must admit we're sinners, that we've displaced God at the center of our lives. <br /><br /> That it really was, as Isaiah 53 said, All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned every one of us to our own way. But the Lord laid on Him the sin of us all. That Jesus Christ came to be that for us. I don't know where you are this morning. But my guess is there's a number of people in this room are watching online this morning. <br /><br /> Who have never embraced the light of Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord and living in darkness. You say, well, I, I never thought of myself living in darkness. But every part of your life that is discordant ultimately from the way life is designed to be lived is ultimately traced back to where God is not the center of your life. <br /><br /> That Jesus Christ came to rescue you, to deliver you from that state, and bring you into a relationship with God, both in this world and eternally. My invitation to you this morning is just to embrace Jesus Christ. To lay hold of the hope of the world. It was the hope of Israel. But it is the hope of the world that there is a living hope found in Jesus Christ who came to bring light to people in darkness. <br /><br /> Gonna ask you to pray with me this morning and ask every head bowed and every eye closed. <br /><br /> Lord, we come to you through this simple study, yet with such profound truth. That our lives are all part of a giant story that's being written. It's a story that will never end. <br /><br /> And Lord, in this story, you have brought light to us in our darkness in the person of Jesus Christ. Father, you look into the life and soul of every person in this room and in their rooms who are watching online. And I ask you, Father, that you would take away all distractions that they might now personally be able to process where are they in their relationship to Jesus Christ. <br /><br /> With every head bowed and every eye closed, I want to address you this morning, still in a state of prayer. Maybe you're here today and God, the Holy Spirit is prompting you and saying, Hey, this was for you. This message. This didn't come from, from Mark. This is something I wanted you to hear because I want you to know that I have created you and that you have turned away from me through your own fall into sin. <br /><br /> But that I sent my own son. To deliver you from the penalty from your sin, both in your life now and the way life is lived and also in the, in the day to come. Won't you embrace my son as your Savior? And if you're here this morning and again, no one is looking around but me and God. And you'd say, Pastor Mark, I need the hope of Christ. <br /><br /> I need a savior <br /><br /> right now. I want to receive Jesus Christ as my savior. I'm gonna ask you right where you are to pray this prayer with me quietly speaking in your own heart to God. <br /><br /> Lord, I realize today that I am a sinner, <br /><br /> that I'm separated from you because of my sin. And I realize that Jesus Christ came to be my Savior. <br /><br /> Right now, I'm asking you, Jesus Christ, to enter my life and heart, to be my Savior, to be my Lord. <br /><br /> Jesus, thank you. <br /><br /> If God prompted you to pray that prayer this morning, and again, nobody is looking around, please, but me and God. I'm gonna just ask you right where you are, that I could be praying for you, to just raise your hand. I can ask you to do anything else, but I'd like you to just raise your hand and say, Mark, I've received Christ right now. <br /><br /> Yes. Are there others? Yes. <br /><br /> Yes. Thank you. Yes. Thank you. <br /><br /> Yes. Thank you. <br /><br /> Thank you. <br /><br /> Thank you. I see those. Thank you. Okay, you can put your hands down. Lord. <br /><br /> The Bible tells us that the angels in heaven rejoice when one person embraces Christ as Savior. We hear this morning, the joy in heaven for all these individuals that have raised their hand and said yes to Christ, Lord, make this the beginning of a life journey now where they grow to know you and to love you and to understand now the fledgling and then maturing steps of walking in the light. <br /><br /> Lord, thanks for being among us. Thanks for wanting us. Thanks for pursuing us. For bringing light into our darkness. That Advent is about hope. And we love you for it. In Jesus name, Amen.</div> false no <![CDATA[The Final Episode]]> Acts 28:30-31

He lived there two whole years at his own expense, and welcomed all who came to him,  proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.



Sermon Transcript:

Hey everybody. I'm going to have you turn to Acts chapter 28, please.

Acts chapter 28. As we come to the final two verses of the book of Acts, as we complete this series together, I'm And I did want to highlight that the title of this sermon has nothing to do with my eminent demise or retirement. Um, it was pointed out to me, the final episode by Pastor Mark. Um, we are anticipating my retirement late this year, not late next year.

Whew, whew. a year from now or so. Okay. Acts chapter twenty eight. I'd like to read verse thirty and thirty one. It's talking about the apostle Paul who has now come to, to Rome as a prisoner and we read these words. He lived there two whole years at his own expense and welcomed all who came to him, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.

Father, we come to you this morning. Lord, thank you for the way you have taught us from this fantastic portion of scripture. Lord, we've learned so much about walking with you and trusting you as we've journeyed through the book of Acts these 22 months. And Lord, I pray as we reflect today back As we enter this passage and see its visual of the lessons that the entire book are about, Lord speak into us, direct us, grow us, encourage us in our walk with Jesus, I pray in Jesus name, Amen.

Long running TV series are famous for their final episodes. Writers labor long and hard to come up with a final episode that accomplishes at least one of the following things. And I've read some articles on this and these are typical things that they try to emphasize in those. Uh, final episodes. Number one, they hopefully tie up loose ends and unanswered questions.

Another thing they try to do is to, in some ways, summarize the message of the whole series. In other final episodes, they give a sense of what the future holds for the main characters. There have been some famous final episodes. watched final episode in history. 77 percent of people that had TVs watched the final of M.

A. S. H. Which basically, the story of the 4077 hospital unit serving in Korea during the Korean War. Their final episode basically focused on the future of the members of the team at the cast. Lost was a series, a group of people from a plane crash. Crashed into some fictitious, mysterious, bizarre island in the South Pacific.

Um, there, variety of events, if you saw the series as, as I did. Um, you came to the final episode and for many of us, certainly not all, but for many of us were kind of left, Ah, this didn't work, this final episode. A lot of questions were still unanswered. You really weren't sure what was going on with the characters in the future.

A series I did not watch, but certainly was one that was prominently known and famous was The Sopranos. And this was the story of the Mafia, a fictitious... Mob boss, Tony Soprano. He was the mob boss of a fictional North Jersey crime family. And the series was largely about him and his own processing. It actually began in the first episode with him going into a therapy appointment.

And the idea that this series is largely going to be seen through the thinking of, of Tony Soprano. Tony Soprano in the final episode is found in a diner. where he is waiting for his family to come. And it's interesting. I have watched that episode of watching as, um, he's sitting in the seat in the diner and every time the door opens in the diner.

Um, which he intentionally has a view of to see who's coming in. When he first comes into the diner, he cases everybody that's there, notices the ones he would thinks are a little bit suspicious, potentially threatening to him. He sits down and there's a bell that rings every time somebody comes in the door.

Every time the bell rings, he immediately looks up, cases the person, and watches, again, just evaluating, looking, evaluating life. The series ends in this final episode in, in somewhat of a shocking way. And if you have, you are watching this series, this is gonna be a, an alert. Don't listen to me. Um, I don't know how you do that, but this is gonna be one of those apologize later, I guess.

But, but basically what happened is he's looking down at his onion rings and his wife and his son have joined him there. He's got the music going on the jukebox and All of a sudden, he looks up and everything goes dark. And then the credits come on, implying the show is older. And apparently there were, there were people all over the country that thought their TV broke or something happened.

But it actually was the end of the show for a lot of people. It was, uh, for some people at least, it was frustrating because they never really understood what happened to him. But for many critics and eventually many fans, it was the perfect ending. Because it depicted the mind of Tony Soprano, always having to check everywhere out for enemies, danger, threats.

He lived with the unknown. At any moment, his life and the lives of those he cared about faced an uncertain and potentially violent ending. The sudden darkness left the audience debating if he was murdered. They entered into the thoughts and trepidations, the unknown unresolved dangers that Tony lived with through the whole series.

This morning we come to the final episode in the book of Acts. And again, it is intended, I think, to be a, a, a focused ending for us. Paul has arrived in Rome, a prisoner of the empire. In this final episode, these two verses we just read. Paul is in house arrest, but it does not end as we might expect the book to end.

We've traveled with Paul for years. We've traveled with him, uh, through these many chapters, the majority of the book of Acts. And what we would expect does not happen. It does not tell us what Paul's future will be. As a matter of fact, we hear that he's in Roman incarceration for a couple of years, but Paul will live eight years beyond that incarceration.

He will go out, he will do some degree of missionary work, um, he will do some writing, and then he will be incarcerated again in Rome. And that Roman imprisonment, which will again last probably a couple of years, will be when he writes some of the most famous of his letters. But it will also end in his execution under Emperor Nero.

None of that's told to us here. Luke doesn't even tell us ultimately what's going on and continuing in the future of the church at this moment. What Luke does do is recap in these two verses the whole story of the book of Acts. He focused us on what the story will continue to be because the story of the book of Acts, and we've entitled it.

This is the spirit at work to the ends of the earth. That it is, Luke is telling us, this is continuing, it's continuing with Paul, and the picture is that this is going to be the ongoing story. In our first sermon on the book of Acts, 63 sermons ago, I took us to Rome to introduce the series, and now we're back in Rome for the last sermon of our series.

I'd like to just read to you a statement, or a paragraph, that I shared as we began this series. Just a few years before Christ's birth, Rome constructed their first heated pool, erected on grounds on Equiline Hill just outside the ancient walls of Rome. The hill had been left undeveloped because of its history.

It was the hill where rebellious slaves were crucified. And buried in a massive common grave. The hill was reclaimed by developers in order to build some of the most opulent estates and villas in the empire. But as they dug up the ground on, on the vulture infested location, they unearthed thousands of skeletons of nameless, executed slaves.

No place in the empire depicted such a contrast. The hill portrayed the disparity of the most disdained of the Roman Empire and the most privileged. Crucifixion was reserved for slave revolts and societal psychopaths. People who were a harm not only to others, but to the whole order of goodness. When a slave revolt happened, the condemned malfactors were hung dying on crosses along the roads into Rome, writhing on the cross in unspeakable pain.

For hours into days, they served as a warning to the many slaves in the empire. Those that were crucified within the empire were considered the least...

Very few public records of crucifixions list the names of the victims. Their insignificance was declared by being buried in common, unmarked graves. To be crucified was far worse, a far worse stigma than receiving the electric chair today. It was a symbol of shame, revulsion, and utter contempt. We begin our series this morning with a question.

How could a religion whose central belief was in the work and teachings of a crucified man become the dominant belief system of the Roman Empire? Luke's historical record of the book of Acts answers the question. This book shows the spirit at work to the end of the earth. It is the Holy Spirit, the spirit Jesus sent to the world that made it happen.

And Luke highlights four things the Spirit did to make faith in a crucified man, the dominant belief system in the Roman Empire. At that time I mentioned those four things in our first sermon in Acts, and I'm going to reiterate them today, because all four are found in the final episode here. In Acts 28, the spirit at work to the ends of the earth in our message this morning would conclude with this word Continues the spirit at work to the ends of the earth Continues we find four things that the book of Acts portrays to us as we look back this morning About what the spirit does That caused such astonishing results in the Roman Empire and ultimately to the cosmos, to the earth itself, to our whole world.

Number one, he spreads the message of Jesus kingdom throughout the world. It says in verse 31 that Paul was, while under house arrest, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ. In Paul's actions here and what is taking place, all four of these elements are presented in himself in what he's doing.

First of all, the Spirit spread the message of Jesus kingdom throughout the world. Paul continued to do this with the Spirit empowerment that the early Christians also continued to do. To tell people about Jesus, Acts is actually the second book of a series that Luke had written. Luke had written the book of Luke, he had written the book of Acts, and both formed a two volume set, the book of Luke.

Was the story of Jesus at work through his life his death and his resurrection in volume 2 It is the spirit at work through Jesus followers declaring the influence of Jesus life, death, and resurrection. And in Acts chapter 1, Jesus had prophesied just before he went to heaven, You will receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you.

You will be witness to me in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. The entire book of Acts is the unfolding of that story, of the Spirit's power to take the message of Christ. And his kingdom throughout the world, the Spirit gave power to preach Jesus gospel. We've seen this as we looked, and we see it here, as Paul is still, even incarcerated man, proclaiming the gospel of Christ.

In Acts chapter 4, verse 13, it says, Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, They were astonished, and they recognized they had been with Jesus as Peter and, as these, as Peter and John were drawn in before the religious leaders of the day in Jerusalem.

They recognized, these guys are nobodies! They're not trained, they're not educated, and yet they are boldly, with authority, proclaiming the message of, of the one that they proclaim. As a Roman, uh, uh, appointed leader would say later in the book of Acts, They talked about, quote, a dead man named Jesus, who they said was alive.

Uneducated guys, common guys, but empowered by the Spirit of God. They were powered to preach Jesus gospel, the good news. They were powered to do Jesus works. We see them authenticated by signs and wonders and miracles that Jesus had manifested in his ministry. As he empowered them to cast out demons, to, to heal the sick.

He authenticated the messengers as they proclaimed their message as it went forth. A ministry that I believe happens in parts of the world today when the scriptures have not been provided. It's amazing what is happening in the Muslim world when the gospel goes into it. People are receiving dreams.

People are seeing manifestations of the spirit that we don't typically anticipate. Or C, in our culture where we have Scripture and so much involvement of the Word of God in our lives already. But God authenticates the new messaging of the Gospel to peoples. And the result was in Acts chapter 6 verse 7, the disciples in Jerusalem multiplied greatly.

And this amazing statement. A great many of the priests became obedient to the faith. In pagan cities, in Ephesus, in Colossae, in, in Corinth, in, in Philippi, multitudes believed. There was power to preach Jesus gospel. There was power to do Jesus works. But neither of those were the practical tool that the Spirit of God used most prominently to take the gospel forward in the first century.

It was the third reality. It was the power to make Jesus known to their own worlds.

Last week, J. R. Briggs spoke a, a, to me, a stirring challenge from the scripture. As he talked to us about, from the book of Luke, God's challenge to the Gadarene demoniac, the man who had been, had demons cast out of him, and rather than taking him along with him, he says, go back to your people and bear witness to me.

The guy wanted to leave, but he says, no, I want you to tell people what I have done for you. And J. R. talked about how he was sent back to his own oikos. And I thought he very effectively presented that an oikos in the scripture is a household. It referred to not just one's immediate family, although it referred to that, but it also referred to co workers and friends and one's social group.

It is, it is the network in which you did life. Many times, a number of those people living even with their own dwelling. And he said this is where we're called to present Jesus. He made the statement, which I, I thought was a great statement, he says, We are missionaries disguised as good neighbors, friends, and family members.

And the book of Acts reminds us that the early believers knew that.

Some of the most well known converts to Christ in the book of Acts. Teach us about this. Lydia, a businesswoman, was an owner, a business owner in Macedonia. She was the one who, it says, brought her whole household to here. Paul and Barnabas share the truth. Crispus, the synagogue ruler in Corinth. Brought his whole household, and it says all of them came to Christ.

Cornelius, a Roman centurion in Caesarea, gathered his whole household of friends and family to meet with Peter. And an unnamed jailer in Philippi brought his whole household to hear Paul and Silas as he was saved, as were the members of his household.

The way the Gospel ultimately goes forth and the power of the Spirit. It's not by a preacher. It's not ultimately by miraculous works. It's the day to day lives of people living out the gospel and speaking the gospel to people they know and love. I thought JR nailed it perfectly, and it was just a great segue to what I wanted to say this morning, although he said it in a way that I had not planned to say it.

But the perspective that we are called as missionaries Disguised as family members, as good neighbors, as sports buddies. It's vitally important to talk to people about Jesus, but it's probably more important to talk to Jesus about people. I would guess that none of us are really actively involved in sharing Jesus with others for whom we are not talking to Jesus about first.

If you say, well, I don't, I wouldn't know how to begin to talk to people about Christ or what, well, start talking to Christ about those people. And watch how your heart will be drawn to them and how it will be natural sometime in work or in some association to just say, Hey man, can I pray with you about that?

Can I, can I just, uh, tell you what Jesus, how he's helped me with that. Just naturally, your heart will be drawn and one of the greatest gifts we can give to each other is to pray for each other's oikos. This is how the early church took the message of Christ. Fourth, in the Spirit's power. Secondly, the Spirit sustains Jesus people against all opposition.

You'll notice here, it says that Paul proclaimed Jesus kingdom with all boldness. And again, I, I really believe Luke intentionally ends his book With these realities and all four of the focuses of the book of Acts He says it's still being done by Paul. And as we finish the book, this isn't so much a story about Paul It's about the Spirit's work and Paul's doing it at the very end It's a way of saying, you know, the Spirit's work just keeps rolling to people that are available.

He sustains Jesus people against all opposition. Paul's in jail, and many times in his letters, we've highlighted this as we've gone through this series, Paul acknowledges his own fears, his anxieties, his weaknesses. In 1 Corinthians 11, he summarizes some of the reasons, 2 Corinthians 11, he summarizes why he says, With 39 lashes on five different occasions.

I was beaten with rods, which meant like, uh, not quite baseball sized, but rods that were thick. These were not coat hangers he was being hit with, these were, these were clubs. He says that happened three different times. I was stoned and left for dead once. I was shipwrecked three times. And then he says these statements.

I faced dangers from robbers, dangers from my own people, dangers from Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers at sea, dangers from false brothers. I faced toil and hardship, many sleepless nights, often hungry and thirsty, cold and exposed and I carried the daily pressure of anxiety, he said, over my concerns for the churches and how they were doing.

When Paul went out and, and, and shared the gospel with people, and then he came back and established them in the faith, it says, this is what they did in Acts chapter 14, verse 22. They said this. They were strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations, we must enter the kingdom of God.

There are no exceptions. If you are living wholeheartedly with Christ, you will face struggles. You will face opposition. You have an enemy. He's not really your enemy. He's the enemy of the one who has rescued you, who has embraced you, who has loved you to himself. But the best way he has to attack his enemy is through his enemy's people.

You will face struggles. You do have a target on your back, and you may be thinking, oh well, sign me up.

Paul tells us this in 2 Corinthians chapter 4, we're afflicted in every way. But we're not crushed. We're perplexed, but we are not driven to despair. We're persecuted, but not forsaken. We're struck down, but not destroyed. Always carrying in our bodies the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.

Paul spoke with a boldness that was not his own, he was able to sustain. I mean, if there's anybody that you just wanna say, Paul, be quiet. Okay. You're here in Rome. You're under the, you're under the shadow of the emperor. You're just waiting for your appearance before him. He's already threatened by Christianity and you're the prime spokesman.

Be quiet. Can't, there's a boldness, there's a call. There's a sense that I belong to someone else. It's a boldness given by the Spirit of God. And if you walk with Jesus, you will face hardship in following him at times. But you will find joy in sharing in his sufferings, and you will find peace and contentment in him that will more than compensate for any loss you experience.

Paul believed that. I remember reading the story of an old time preacher. And his friends were with him, and they knew he had been slandered, he had been wronged, he had been misrepresented. It was just, it was... And they knew the weight and the sorrow of it for him. And they said, how can you handle this? Why aren't you retaliating?

Why aren't you embittered? Why aren't you going after them? How do you endure the pain? And here's what he said, Ah, but I have Christ. Paul would say, Why do I keep talking? I have Christ. I have Him. He's sweeter than anything I've lost. He enables me to, to, when I feel crushed, to not be destroyed by it. When I'm perplexed, to not be completely lost in despair.

He sustains us against all opposition. Third, He fulfills God's sovereign purposes. It says here that Paul, and the last words in the original actually is this word. Without hindrance. It actually is two words in the original. Um, it actually is one word in the original, two in the English. No hindrance. Most commentators believe this is chosen by Luke to say God was enabling Paul at this season of his life to just have some liberty.

There was, in God's sovereign purposes, a season of no hindrance. One of the things we've tried to highlight as we've gone through the book of Acts is how much we see God's sovereign purposes lived out. We saw it in Acts chapter 2, the first sermon that's ever preached, where Peter stood up and, and Peter said, This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.

Peter is saying God's purpose prevailed. Jesus was crucified. By false accusations out of envy and pride and fear and bitterness of lawless men. But ultimately, it happened by God's defined, sovereign plan. The cross was ordained. God used all those elements, but ultimately, in what seemed the deepest, darkest, most terrifying moment in the lives of the followers, was actually the greatest.

In Acts chapter 8 we see the persecution that began in the church largely at the hands of a young man named Saul. And it caused the church to be scattered and people actually had to take their families out of Jerusalem and they spread to Judea and Samaria. And all of a sudden, we find out that the very thing that we're told in Acts chapter 1, verse 8, that the, that the, the church will take the message forth, that it will go not only in Jerusalem, but to Judea and Samaria, and ultimately the ends of the earth will, it began to spread by God's sovereign purposes, by persecution into those very areas that he said the Spirit would take it.

In Acts chapter 16, Paul is traveling through what is modern day Turkey, and he says, I wanted to go towards Ephesus to the west, and the Spirit restrained me. And then I wanted to go up by the Black Sea in Bithynia, where I knew there were, there were lots of transplanted Jews, and, and there was a, a, a, a, a, capital, uh, port cities, that I wanted to take the guy, and the Spirit said no, and he says, finally we just sort of ended up at the end of Turkey, nowhere else to go in the ancient city of, Of Troy, which was then called Troas.

And there God said, okay, you're right where I want you to be. And he gave me the, what's called the Macedonian vision. The vision of a guy over in Macedonia in Greece. And he says, in, in the vision the guy is saying, come over. So Paul went, and again, God's giving him nose. And yet it's all part of God's purposing for Paul.

When Paul returned to Jerusalem and all his friends told him, don't go. Because things are too hot. Paul says, no, I'm supposed to go to Jerusalem, then I'm going on to Rome, then I'm going on to Spain. I'm gonna do my big fourth missionary journey, which never happened. But he went to Jerusalem and was arrested, and ultimately God sovereignly used.

The Roman authorities to send him as a prisoner to Rome, the very place that God had told him he would ultimately go. Pastor Ben, two weeks ago, in looking back in the book of Acts, called this the unknown knowns. I liked it. I like the phrase. You know what you're supposed to do, but there's a lot of pieces of it you don't know.

And a lot that you don't expect along the way. We don't know what the future holds. We really do lean into the one who holds the future.

The fourth thing we find that the book of Acts has reminded us of, that again is portrayed here in this closing episode, he makes one people out of all backgrounds. He welcomed all who came to him. Here in Rome, he's welcoming Jew and Gentile, that's taken place just in the verses right before this, making of multiple religious backgrounds, cultural heritage, and ethnicities one people by giving them the same experience.

In Acts chapter 10, Peter went to the household of Cornelius, a Roman soldier. It's a Gentile home, it's a home of the Goyims, and he says to them, Guys, you know I'm not supposed to be here. I mean, by my tradition, by my religious law, I'm not even allowed to be in your house. God told me to come here, and he saw that they had the same experience with the Holy Spirit.

That they stood on equal footing in Christ, broken, self centered, humbled sinners, gathering at the cross. And they also were compelled to have the same response. In Acts 2. 41 it says, So those who received, and it's actually the word welcomed, same word where it says Paul welcomed these people. The word were baptized and there were added that day about 3, 000 souls.

He welcomed everyone in the hope that they would welcome his word about Jesus here, Paul, in Rome. The final episode of Acts is given as a recap of the Spirit. in his work as he has been throughout the 30 years of the Book of Acts. It's Dr. Luke's way of saying, and Paul's life reminds us, the Spirit is still doing this.

Still spreading the message of Jesus kingdom. Still sustaining God's people against all opposition. Still fulfilling God's sovereign purposes. Still making one people out of all backgrounds. And the spirit is still looking today, this morning, for Peters and Pauls, for Barnabas and Aristarchus, for tax collectors and businesswomen, for young people and seniors, for soldiers and slaves, for demon dominated, or people of religious aristocracy, for people raised in the palace of the emperor, or people serving as temple prostitutes.

The gospel is for all and the call to live your life wholeheartedly for Jesus is extended to everyone because the Spirit continues to be at work to the ends of the earth. Lord we look to you this morning and if we just take in these few moments to

summarize in the final episode we see here as Paul personifies it.

Lord, may there be a renewed passion in our lives to be available to Christ,

to go to our oikos, to pray for our oikos, to lean into the Spirit of God, to believe you to do among us and through us that which has been your plan in all these centuries begun in the early church. In Jesus name, Amen.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-final-episode 4c5258d0-0104-4626-94a2-f4e6239ee540 Sun, 26 Nov 2023 16:14:47 GMT <div data-html="true">Acts 28:30-31 <br /><br /> He lived there two whole years at his own expense, and welcomed all who came to him,  proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance. <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> Hey everybody. I'm going to have you turn to Acts chapter 28, please. <br /><br /> Acts chapter 28. As we come to the final two verses of the book of Acts, as we complete this series together, I'm And I did want to highlight that the title of this sermon has nothing to do with my eminent demise or retirement. Um, it was pointed out to me, the final episode by Pastor Mark. Um, we are anticipating my retirement late this year, not late next year. <br /><br /> Whew, whew. a year from now or so. Okay. Acts chapter twenty eight. I'd like to read verse thirty and thirty one. It's talking about the apostle Paul who has now come to, to Rome as a prisoner and we read these words. He lived there two whole years at his own expense and welcomed all who came to him, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance. <br /><br /> Father, we come to you this morning. Lord, thank you for the way you have taught us from this fantastic portion of scripture. Lord, we've learned so much about walking with you and trusting you as we've journeyed through the book of Acts these 22 months. And Lord, I pray as we reflect today back As we enter this passage and see its visual of the lessons that the entire book are about, Lord speak into us, direct us, grow us, encourage us in our walk with Jesus, I pray in Jesus name, Amen. <br /><br /> Long running TV series are famous for their final episodes. Writers labor long and hard to come up with a final episode that accomplishes at least one of the following things. And I've read some articles on this and these are typical things that they try to emphasize in those. Uh, final episodes. Number one, they hopefully tie up loose ends and unanswered questions. <br /><br /> Another thing they try to do is to, in some ways, summarize the message of the whole series. In other final episodes, they give a sense of what the future holds for the main characters. There have been some famous final episodes. watched final episode in history. 77 percent of people that had TVs watched the final of M. <br /><br /> A. S. H. Which basically, the story of the 4077 hospital unit serving in Korea during the Korean War. Their final episode basically focused on the future of the members of the team at the cast. Lost was a series, a group of people from a plane crash. Crashed into some fictitious, mysterious, bizarre island in the South Pacific. <br /><br /> Um, there, variety of events, if you saw the series as, as I did. Um, you came to the final episode and for many of us, certainly not all, but for many of us were kind of left, Ah, this didn't work, this final episode. A lot of questions were still unanswered. You really weren't sure what was going on with the characters in the future. <br /><br /> A series I did not watch, but certainly was one that was prominently known and famous was The Sopranos. And this was the story of the Mafia, a fictitious... Mob boss, Tony Soprano. He was the mob boss of a fictional North Jersey crime family. And the series was largely about him and his own processing. It actually began in the first episode with him going into a therapy appointment. <br /><br /> And the idea that this series is largely going to be seen through the thinking of, of Tony Soprano. Tony Soprano in the final episode is found in a diner. where he is waiting for his family to come. And it's interesting. I have watched that episode of watching as, um, he's sitting in the seat in the diner and every time the door opens in the diner. <br /><br /> Um, which he intentionally has a view of to see who's coming in. When he first comes into the diner, he cases everybody that's there, notices the ones he would thinks are a little bit suspicious, potentially threatening to him. He sits down and there's a bell that rings every time somebody comes in the door. <br /><br /> Every time the bell rings, he immediately looks up, cases the person, and watches, again, just evaluating, looking, evaluating life. The series ends in this final episode in, in somewhat of a shocking way. And if you have, you are watching this series, this is gonna be a, an alert. Don't listen to me. Um, I don't know how you do that, but this is gonna be one of those apologize later, I guess. <br /><br /> But, but basically what happened is he's looking down at his onion rings and his wife and his son have joined him there. He's got the music going on the jukebox and All of a sudden, he looks up and everything goes dark. And then the credits come on, implying the show is older. And apparently there were, there were people all over the country that thought their TV broke or something happened. <br /><br /> But it actually was the end of the show for a lot of people. It was, uh, for some people at least, it was frustrating because they never really understood what happened to him. But for many critics and eventually many fans, it was the perfect ending. Because it depicted the mind of Tony Soprano, always having to check everywhere out for enemies, danger, threats. <br /><br /> He lived with the unknown. At any moment, his life and the lives of those he cared about faced an uncertain and potentially violent ending. The sudden darkness left the audience debating if he was murdered. They entered into the thoughts and trepidations, the unknown unresolved dangers that Tony lived with through the whole series. <br /><br /> This morning we come to the final episode in the book of Acts. And again, it is intended, I think, to be a, a, a focused ending for us. Paul has arrived in Rome, a prisoner of the empire. In this final episode, these two verses we just read. Paul is in house arrest, but it does not end as we might expect the book to end. <br /><br /> We've traveled with Paul for years. We've traveled with him, uh, through these many chapters, the majority of the book of Acts. And what we would expect does not happen. It does not tell us what Paul's future will be. As a matter of fact, we hear that he's in Roman incarceration for a couple of years, but Paul will live eight years beyond that incarceration. <br /><br /> He will go out, he will do some degree of missionary work, um, he will do some writing, and then he will be incarcerated again in Rome. And that Roman imprisonment, which will again last probably a couple of years, will be when he writes some of the most famous of his letters. But it will also end in his execution under Emperor Nero. <br /><br /> None of that's told to us here. Luke doesn't even tell us ultimately what's going on and continuing in the future of the church at this moment. What Luke does do is recap in these two verses the whole story of the book of Acts. He focused us on what the story will continue to be because the story of the book of Acts, and we've entitled it. <br /><br /> This is the spirit at work to the ends of the earth. That it is, Luke is telling us, this is continuing, it's continuing with Paul, and the picture is that this is going to be the ongoing story. In our first sermon on the book of Acts, 63 sermons ago, I took us to Rome to introduce the series, and now we're back in Rome for the last sermon of our series. <br /><br /> I'd like to just read to you a statement, or a paragraph, that I shared as we began this series. Just a few years before Christ's birth, Rome constructed their first heated pool, erected on grounds on Equiline Hill just outside the ancient walls of Rome. The hill had been left undeveloped because of its history. <br /><br /> It was the hill where rebellious slaves were crucified. And buried in a massive common grave. The hill was reclaimed by developers in order to build some of the most opulent estates and villas in the empire. But as they dug up the ground on, on the vulture infested location, they unearthed thousands of skeletons of nameless, executed slaves. <br /><br /> No place in the empire depicted such a contrast. The hill portrayed the disparity of the most disdained of the Roman Empire and the most privileged. Crucifixion was reserved for slave revolts and societal psychopaths. People who were a harm not only to others, but to the whole order of goodness. When a slave revolt happened, the condemned malfactors were hung dying on crosses along the roads into Rome, writhing on the cross in unspeakable pain. <br /><br /> For hours into days, they served as a warning to the many slaves in the empire. Those that were crucified within the empire were considered the least... <br /><br /> Very few public records of crucifixions list the names of the victims. Their insignificance was declared by being buried in common, unmarked graves. To be crucified was far worse, a far worse stigma than receiving the electric chair today. It was a symbol of shame, revulsion, and utter contempt. We begin our series this morning with a question. <br /><br /> How could a religion whose central belief was in the work and teachings of a crucified man become the dominant belief system of the Roman Empire? Luke's historical record of the book of Acts answers the question. This book shows the spirit at work to the end of the earth. It is the Holy Spirit, the spirit Jesus sent to the world that made it happen. <br /><br /> And Luke highlights four things the Spirit did to make faith in a crucified man, the dominant belief system in the Roman Empire. At that time I mentioned those four things in our first sermon in Acts, and I'm going to reiterate them today, because all four are found in the final episode here. In Acts 28, the spirit at work to the ends of the earth in our message this morning would conclude with this word Continues the spirit at work to the ends of the earth Continues we find four things that the book of Acts portrays to us as we look back this morning About what the spirit does That caused such astonishing results in the Roman Empire and ultimately to the cosmos, to the earth itself, to our whole world. <br /><br /> Number one, he spreads the message of Jesus kingdom throughout the world. It says in verse 31 that Paul was, while under house arrest, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ. In Paul's actions here and what is taking place, all four of these elements are presented in himself in what he's doing. <br /><br /> First of all, the Spirit spread the message of Jesus kingdom throughout the world. Paul continued to do this with the Spirit empowerment that the early Christians also continued to do. To tell people about Jesus, Acts is actually the second book of a series that Luke had written. Luke had written the book of Luke, he had written the book of Acts, and both formed a two volume set, the book of Luke. <br /><br /> Was the story of Jesus at work through his life his death and his resurrection in volume 2 It is the spirit at work through Jesus followers declaring the influence of Jesus life, death, and resurrection. And in Acts chapter 1, Jesus had prophesied just before he went to heaven, You will receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you. <br /><br /> You will be witness to me in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. The entire book of Acts is the unfolding of that story, of the Spirit's power to take the message of Christ. And his kingdom throughout the world, the Spirit gave power to preach Jesus gospel. We've seen this as we looked, and we see it here, as Paul is still, even incarcerated man, proclaiming the gospel of Christ. <br /><br /> In Acts chapter 4, verse 13, it says, Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, They were astonished, and they recognized they had been with Jesus as Peter and, as these, as Peter and John were drawn in before the religious leaders of the day in Jerusalem. <br /><br /> They recognized, these guys are nobodies! They're not trained, they're not educated, and yet they are boldly, with authority, proclaiming the message of, of the one that they proclaim. As a Roman, uh, uh, appointed leader would say later in the book of Acts, They talked about, quote, a dead man named Jesus, who they said was alive. <br /><br /> Uneducated guys, common guys, but empowered by the Spirit of God. They were powered to preach Jesus gospel, the good news. They were powered to do Jesus works. We see them authenticated by signs and wonders and miracles that Jesus had manifested in his ministry. As he empowered them to cast out demons, to, to heal the sick. <br /><br /> He authenticated the messengers as they proclaimed their message as it went forth. A ministry that I believe happens in parts of the world today when the scriptures have not been provided. It's amazing what is happening in the Muslim world when the gospel goes into it. People are receiving dreams. <br /><br /> People are seeing manifestations of the spirit that we don't typically anticipate. Or C, in our culture where we have Scripture and so much involvement of the Word of God in our lives already. But God authenticates the new messaging of the Gospel to peoples. And the result was in Acts chapter 6 verse 7, the disciples in Jerusalem multiplied greatly. <br /><br /> And this amazing statement. A great many of the priests became obedient to the faith. In pagan cities, in Ephesus, in Colossae, in, in Corinth, in, in Philippi, multitudes believed. There was power to preach Jesus gospel. There was power to do Jesus works. But neither of those were the practical tool that the Spirit of God used most prominently to take the gospel forward in the first century. <br /><br /> It was the third reality. It was the power to make Jesus known to their own worlds. <br /><br /> Last week, J. R. Briggs spoke a, a, to me, a stirring challenge from the scripture. As he talked to us about, from the book of Luke, God's challenge to the Gadarene demoniac, the man who had been, had demons cast out of him, and rather than taking him along with him, he says, go back to your people and bear witness to me. <br /><br /> The guy wanted to leave, but he says, no, I want you to tell people what I have done for you. And J. R. talked about how he was sent back to his own oikos. And I thought he very effectively presented that an oikos in the scripture is a household. It referred to not just one's immediate family, although it referred to that, but it also referred to co workers and friends and one's social group. <br /><br /> It is, it is the network in which you did life. Many times, a number of those people living even with their own dwelling. And he said this is where we're called to present Jesus. He made the statement, which I, I thought was a great statement, he says, We are missionaries disguised as good neighbors, friends, and family members. <br /><br /> And the book of Acts reminds us that the early believers knew that. <br /><br /> Some of the most well known converts to Christ in the book of Acts. Teach us about this. Lydia, a businesswoman, was an owner, a business owner in Macedonia. She was the one who, it says, brought her whole household to here. Paul and Barnabas share the truth. Crispus, the synagogue ruler in Corinth. Brought his whole household, and it says all of them came to Christ. <br /><br /> Cornelius, a Roman centurion in Caesarea, gathered his whole household of friends and family to meet with Peter. And an unnamed jailer in Philippi brought his whole household to hear Paul and Silas as he was saved, as were the members of his household. <br /><br /> The way the Gospel ultimately goes forth and the power of the Spirit. It's not by a preacher. It's not ultimately by miraculous works. It's the day to day lives of people living out the gospel and speaking the gospel to people they know and love. I thought JR nailed it perfectly, and it was just a great segue to what I wanted to say this morning, although he said it in a way that I had not planned to say it. <br /><br /> But the perspective that we are called as missionaries Disguised as family members, as good neighbors, as sports buddies. It's vitally important to talk to people about Jesus, but it's probably more important to talk to Jesus about people. I would guess that none of us are really actively involved in sharing Jesus with others for whom we are not talking to Jesus about first. <br /><br /> If you say, well, I don't, I wouldn't know how to begin to talk to people about Christ or what, well, start talking to Christ about those people. And watch how your heart will be drawn to them and how it will be natural sometime in work or in some association to just say, Hey man, can I pray with you about that? <br /><br /> Can I, can I just, uh, tell you what Jesus, how he's helped me with that. Just naturally, your heart will be drawn and one of the greatest gifts we can give to each other is to pray for each other's oikos. This is how the early church took the message of Christ. Fourth, in the Spirit's power. Secondly, the Spirit sustains Jesus people against all opposition. <br /><br /> You'll notice here, it says that Paul proclaimed Jesus kingdom with all boldness. And again, I, I really believe Luke intentionally ends his book With these realities and all four of the focuses of the book of Acts He says it's still being done by Paul. And as we finish the book, this isn't so much a story about Paul It's about the Spirit's work and Paul's doing it at the very end It's a way of saying, you know, the Spirit's work just keeps rolling to people that are available. <br /><br /> He sustains Jesus people against all opposition. Paul's in jail, and many times in his letters, we've highlighted this as we've gone through this series, Paul acknowledges his own fears, his anxieties, his weaknesses. In 1 Corinthians 11, he summarizes some of the reasons, 2 Corinthians 11, he summarizes why he says, With 39 lashes on five different occasions. <br /><br /> I was beaten with rods, which meant like, uh, not quite baseball sized, but rods that were thick. These were not coat hangers he was being hit with, these were, these were clubs. He says that happened three different times. I was stoned and left for dead once. I was shipwrecked three times. And then he says these statements. <br /><br /> I faced dangers from robbers, dangers from my own people, dangers from Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers at sea, dangers from false brothers. I faced toil and hardship, many sleepless nights, often hungry and thirsty, cold and exposed and I carried the daily pressure of anxiety, he said, over my concerns for the churches and how they were doing. <br /><br /> When Paul went out and, and, and shared the gospel with people, and then he came back and established them in the faith, it says, this is what they did in Acts chapter 14, verse 22. They said this. They were strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations, we must enter the kingdom of God. <br /><br /> There are no exceptions. If you are living wholeheartedly with Christ, you will face struggles. You will face opposition. You have an enemy. He's not really your enemy. He's the enemy of the one who has rescued you, who has embraced you, who has loved you to himself. But the best way he has to attack his enemy is through his enemy's people. <br /><br /> You will face struggles. You do have a target on your back, and you may be thinking, oh well, sign me up. <br /><br /> Paul tells us this in 2 Corinthians chapter 4, we're afflicted in every way. But we're not crushed. We're perplexed, but we are not driven to despair. We're persecuted, but not forsaken. We're struck down, but not destroyed. Always carrying in our bodies the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. <br /><br /> Paul spoke with a boldness that was not his own, he was able to sustain. I mean, if there's anybody that you just wanna say, Paul, be quiet. Okay. You're here in Rome. You're under the, you're under the shadow of the emperor. You're just waiting for your appearance before him. He's already threatened by Christianity and you're the prime spokesman. <br /><br /> Be quiet. Can't, there's a boldness, there's a call. There's a sense that I belong to someone else. It's a boldness given by the Spirit of God. And if you walk with Jesus, you will face hardship in following him at times. But you will find joy in sharing in his sufferings, and you will find peace and contentment in him that will more than compensate for any loss you experience. <br /><br /> Paul believed that. I remember reading the story of an old time preacher. And his friends were with him, and they knew he had been slandered, he had been wronged, he had been misrepresented. It was just, it was... And they knew the weight and the sorrow of it for him. And they said, how can you handle this? Why aren't you retaliating? <br /><br /> Why aren't you embittered? Why aren't you going after them? How do you endure the pain? And here's what he said, Ah, but I have Christ. Paul would say, Why do I keep talking? I have Christ. I have Him. He's sweeter than anything I've lost. He enables me to, to, when I feel crushed, to not be destroyed by it. When I'm perplexed, to not be completely lost in despair. <br /><br /> He sustains us against all opposition. Third, He fulfills God's sovereign purposes. It says here that Paul, and the last words in the original actually is this word. Without hindrance. It actually is two words in the original. Um, it actually is one word in the original, two in the English. No hindrance. Most commentators believe this is chosen by Luke to say God was enabling Paul at this season of his life to just have some liberty. <br /><br /> There was, in God's sovereign purposes, a season of no hindrance. One of the things we've tried to highlight as we've gone through the book of Acts is how much we see God's sovereign purposes lived out. We saw it in Acts chapter 2, the first sermon that's ever preached, where Peter stood up and, and Peter said, This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. <br /><br /> Peter is saying God's purpose prevailed. Jesus was crucified. By false accusations out of envy and pride and fear and bitterness of lawless men. But ultimately, it happened by God's defined, sovereign plan. The cross was ordained. God used all those elements, but ultimately, in what seemed the deepest, darkest, most terrifying moment in the lives of the followers, was actually the greatest. <br /><br /> In Acts chapter 8 we see the persecution that began in the church largely at the hands of a young man named Saul. And it caused the church to be scattered and people actually had to take their families out of Jerusalem and they spread to Judea and Samaria. And all of a sudden, we find out that the very thing that we're told in Acts chapter 1, verse 8, that the, that the, the church will take the message forth, that it will go not only in Jerusalem, but to Judea and Samaria, and ultimately the ends of the earth will, it began to spread by God's sovereign purposes, by persecution into those very areas that he said the Spirit would take it. <br /><br /> In Acts chapter 16, Paul is traveling through what is modern day Turkey, and he says, I wanted to go towards Ephesus to the west, and the Spirit restrained me. And then I wanted to go up by the Black Sea in Bithynia, where I knew there were, there were lots of transplanted Jews, and, and there was a, a, a, a, a, capital, uh, port cities, that I wanted to take the guy, and the Spirit said no, and he says, finally we just sort of ended up at the end of Turkey, nowhere else to go in the ancient city of, Of Troy, which was then called Troas. <br /><br /> And there God said, okay, you're right where I want you to be. And he gave me the, what's called the Macedonian vision. The vision of a guy over in Macedonia in Greece. And he says, in, in the vision the guy is saying, come over. So Paul went, and again, God's giving him nose. And yet it's all part of God's purposing for Paul. <br /><br /> When Paul returned to Jerusalem and all his friends told him, don't go. Because things are too hot. Paul says, no, I'm supposed to go to Jerusalem, then I'm going on to Rome, then I'm going on to Spain. I'm gonna do my big fourth missionary journey, which never happened. But he went to Jerusalem and was arrested, and ultimately God sovereignly used. <br /><br /> The Roman authorities to send him as a prisoner to Rome, the very place that God had told him he would ultimately go. Pastor Ben, two weeks ago, in looking back in the book of Acts, called this the unknown knowns. I liked it. I like the phrase. You know what you're supposed to do, but there's a lot of pieces of it you don't know. <br /><br /> And a lot that you don't expect along the way. We don't know what the future holds. We really do lean into the one who holds the future. <br /><br /> The fourth thing we find that the book of Acts has reminded us of, that again is portrayed here in this closing episode, he makes one people out of all backgrounds. He welcomed all who came to him. Here in Rome, he's welcoming Jew and Gentile, that's taken place just in the verses right before this, making of multiple religious backgrounds, cultural heritage, and ethnicities one people by giving them the same experience. <br /><br /> In Acts chapter 10, Peter went to the household of Cornelius, a Roman soldier. It's a Gentile home, it's a home of the Goyims, and he says to them, Guys, you know I'm not supposed to be here. I mean, by my tradition, by my religious law, I'm not even allowed to be in your house. God told me to come here, and he saw that they had the same experience with the Holy Spirit. <br /><br /> That they stood on equal footing in Christ, broken, self centered, humbled sinners, gathering at the cross. And they also were compelled to have the same response. In Acts 2. 41 it says, So those who received, and it's actually the word welcomed, same word where it says Paul welcomed these people. The word were baptized and there were added that day about 3, 000 souls. <br /><br /> He welcomed everyone in the hope that they would welcome his word about Jesus here, Paul, in Rome. The final episode of Acts is given as a recap of the Spirit. in his work as he has been throughout the 30 years of the Book of Acts. It's Dr. Luke's way of saying, and Paul's life reminds us, the Spirit is still doing this. <br /><br /> Still spreading the message of Jesus kingdom. Still sustaining God's people against all opposition. Still fulfilling God's sovereign purposes. Still making one people out of all backgrounds. And the spirit is still looking today, this morning, for Peters and Pauls, for Barnabas and Aristarchus, for tax collectors and businesswomen, for young people and seniors, for soldiers and slaves, for demon dominated, or people of religious aristocracy, for people raised in the palace of the emperor, or people serving as temple prostitutes. <br /><br /> The gospel is for all and the call to live your life wholeheartedly for Jesus is extended to everyone because the Spirit continues to be at work to the ends of the earth. Lord we look to you this morning and if we just take in these few moments to <br /><br /> summarize in the final episode we see here as Paul personifies it. <br /><br /> Lord, may there be a renewed passion in our lives to be available to Christ, <br /><br /> to go to our oikos, to pray for our oikos, to lean into the Spirit of God, to believe you to do among us and through us that which has been your plan in all these centuries begun in the early church. In Jesus name, Amen.</div> false no <![CDATA[The Mad Man and the Mission Field]]> Mark 5:1-20

And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. He lived among the tombs.



Sermon Transcript:

We have a guest speaker with us today. J. R. Briggs is a, father of two. He has two teenage boys, along with his wife, and they, he has spent 15, he spent 15 years pastoring, pastoring on a staff of a mega church. He also, started a church, developed it, and the church is still thriving today. As a result of his, pastoral ministries, he has Eventually, well also, also he's a prolific writer.

He's contributed over 50 articles to Christianity Today and other periodicals and has authored or contributed to 13 books, most on scriptural studies and church life and leadership. His most recent book he's contributed to, which I just bought yesterday, cause I was doing the research on all this, was five practices to help you engage with God through scripture.

It looks fantastic. In 2012, J. R. Started Kairos Partnerships, a consulting organization for both church leaders and organizations. He's worked with many churches in pastoral succession processes, including smaller churches. Mid to large churches and mega churches. he is our consultant, in this process as well.

We looked at organizations. We evaluated a number of those of us on the succession team and brought a recommendation to our board. And basically, what we found was there's some great organizations out there, but what sometimes happens with organizations, they basically bring a template. They have a template they want you to work through in a process.

The thing that I think, one of the things that really made us appreciate working with J. R. is, it's his priority, clearly, to work with the church to not bring a template of how to do this or what it's to look like to, to to walk in step with the spirit and the ins and outs, that that always involves to understand our church culture and history and really to enable us to preserve the legacy of the past and to chart a broad vision for the future.

I mean, we're not trying to blow this place up and start a new model of church. God has built some beautiful things here, but We felt the need and have really appreciated having a consultant that's assisting in that process with us. In the process of, engaging JR as our consultant, he offer, also offered and the team and the board agreed to this to my great appreciation.

To provide monthly sessions for myself and or Marian to just process with us as we are in a time of transition in our lives as well. JR has a definition of leadership that I would say is the one that I have liked more than any I've ever heard. Here is the definition of leadership. A leader is one who builds trust.

J. R. has been that for our succession team and for me personally, and I'm excited to have him build into you this morning as well.

Well, good morning. It's good to be with you all. It has been such a joy to work with your pastor and, the succession team. And, I have worked with lots of different groups and I will say one of the things that I value about Pastor Mark is that his identity is not wrapped up in being a pastor. It's what he does, he serves, he loves you all, but his identity is that he's a child of God.

And that has made this opportunity, this transition, this succession, a very healthy one from the perspective of your senior pastor. So in a spirit of love and appreciation, can we just put our hands together and express our love to Mark?

Well, I know that you all have been in a series, on the book of Acts. I know you've only spent just a couple of weeks together on the book. You're racing through it very quickly. and I understand you'll be finishing next week. Pastor Mark encouraged me to in whatever direction I wanted to take, whatever I felt the Lord, had given to me that we will be looking at.

So we're going to be taking a break. From the book of Acts for one week, and then you'll finish up next week. Well, in acts, I know that you've explored God's mission, which is the whole point of the book of Acts of following the spirit and the mission in the early church of what God was up to. But sadly, as we know in our culture, it's no secret that we have a mission problem here in the United States.

I'm not talking a missions problem, but a mission problem. Here's what I mean. A most recent poll was taken to residents of San Francisco and they asked this simple question, what do Christians do? And the response that came back, there were two main themes. And the first one is that Christians, they go to a lot of meetings and number two, they're against stuff.

Friends, this is not the mission that God has given his people to fulfill. So this morning, I want us to get a glimpse of the heart of God and in the process of doing that, we're want to look at the mission of God and how that relates. But be warned, the closer that you get to Jesus, the more responsibility he often gives to us and the more uncertainty we often experience.

But I can assure you that that's where the adventure lies. Well, this morning I want to explore a Greek word with you. It's the word oikos. Let me hear you say oikos. One more time. Oikos. Now, some of you are like, Oh, isn't that the yogurt I had for breakfast this morning? Yes, that is the yogurt brand, but that is not what we're going to be looking at here this morning.

The root of ikas is actually where we get our, the root behind that is the word house or home. In fact, if you think about it a little bit deeper, it's kind of intended for household, but we could even. Have it include things like your, your circle of influence, your friends, your family, your trusted network of relationships.

So that's your oikos. And by the way, everybody has an oikos. You have an oikos. Could be big or small, could be strong or weak, but you have an oikos. Your sphere of influence, the relationships that you have and that, that exist. In fact, in that oikos, sociologists actually say everybody lives in five different neighborhoods.

Five different neighborhoods. The first one is you live in a geographic neighborhood. That may be the most literal, the one we understand the most, right? The people that live on Columbia Avenue, where I'm from on the north side of Philadelphia, that's my literal geographic oikos. There are others. You have a familial oikos.

These are aunts and uncles and cousins and, and, and, and all sorts of people that you would see at a family reunion. You also have a relational oikos. These are your friends that you enjoy spending time with. But you also have a psychographic neighborhood. That's kind of a fancy word that, that sociologists use.

But it's any, any people that live and think the way you do. Psyche, psyche, the way we think. So if you're a Mac user, you know, you, you kind of clump together with other people that have a Mac, right? Or you go to the gym, you know, you're, you're in CrossFit, right? Those are kind of your tribe or your people.

I love swimming. I swim three days a week. Not very fast, but I enjoy it a great deal. And as I swim early in the morning, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, I'm swimming next to Carl and Carrie. And Bill and Sam, they're all with me. Sometimes they share a lane and we talk and catch up. I would not have known them if I did not swim.

They are in my psychographic neighborhood. Then of course we all live in a digital neighborhood. Those of you who are on social media, you know, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, these are the people that you learn from and they learn from you in that. And one of the most strategic things that you can do as a follower of Jesus is to just take five or ten minutes of your time sometime this afternoon or the next few days and to actually list out everybody that you know in your five neighborhoods.

To really be aware of the oikos that you have. Now, I want to press pause right now on the word oikos, and I want to give you a little bit of background of the passage we're going to look at, and then we're going to read the passage and unpack it together. So just stick a pin in the corkboard of our minds right here with oikos, we'll come back to that.

I want to give you some background. I had the privilege in the fall of 1999 as a college student to spend a semester abroad living on Mount Zion at a place called Jerusalem University College. I now have the privilege of serving on the board for JUC. And by the way, it's very difficult to run a college in the middle of a war.

We would really appreciate, as you pray for the Israel Hamas conflict, that you'd also pray for Jerusalem University College. But as a student, as a student, I had the opportunity and the privilege of exploring all around Israel. Now Israel is about the size of the state of New Jersey. Not very big, but very important in terms of world history and news and even today, of course.

When I lived and studied in Israel in college, one weekend we biked from the Mediterranean Sea in the west, all the way across to the Sea of Galilee. You can see that there in the north, that body of water on the north. And it only took us a weekend. It's not a very big country. Not a very big country. Now you see the Sea of Galilee there in the north.

Sea of Galilee is shaped like a harp. Often in scripture it's referred to as Lake Kinneret. Kinneret in Hebrew means harp. Harp lake. Kind of looks like a harp. Kind of cool. It's 13 miles north to south. 8 miles east to west. This is where Jesus spent the majority of his time in his life. This is where the disciples grew up.

They saw the majority of Jesus's miracles in his life. It's a beautiful place to be even today. Significant fishing industry still exists on the Sea of Galilee. Many of you have maybe have been there before. Now the topography of the area is very interesting. The Sea of Galilee actually sits in a bowl.

You see, there's lots of mountains, sometimes there's, steep banks that just run right into the water. And oftentimes, meteorologists say that when a storm comes, when the hot air is trying to rise and the cold air is trying to come down in the midst of that bowl, what that's called an inversion. And inversion happens in tense storms on this lake.

Now, there's something you also need to know about the Sea of Galilee, that there are two sides to the lake, two cultural differences to the Sea of Galilee. On one side, the western side, is very Jewish. They were monotheistic. In other words, they, this is where they worshiped the one true God, Yahweh. They spoke Hebrew.

They kept kosher laws. Towns that maybe you've heard of as you've read the scriptures of Capernaum and Bethsaida and Magdala. But on the eastern side, separated by just a little body of water on this lake, on the eastern side was the Greek side. They were polytheistic. They worshipped lots of different gods, many different gods in pagan temples.

They spoke Greek. They did not keep kosher laws. And over there they had what's called the Decapolis, the ten cities of culture, rich culture in Greek, in the Greek culture. And these were massive cultural differences separated by only a few miles of water. It would be like us saying, we're going to cross the Rio Grande River.

We aren't just crossing a body of water, we're crossing from one culture to another. Different language and food and fashion and entertainment, customs, currency. So the posture often was, you stay on your side of the lake, Jewish people, we'll stay on our side of the lake as Greek people. We didn't want to have like a west side story, east side story kind of thing.

Like you just do your thing, we'll stay here. So we explore this passage here in just a moment. I want you to take the background of Oikos and the background around the Sea of Galilee because it's going to matter. You may be thinking, why are you telling me all this information? Hold on. The lights are going to light up on your dashboard in just a couple minutes.

We're going to connect some dots here. But as we begin to read this story in just a moment, I want to encourage you. To be thinking through these questions. If you were there and you saw this story we're about to read unfold, what might you be thinking? What might you be feeling if you watched it? Why do you think this story is in our Bibles?

Why do you think Mark, the author, included it? What does he want us to understand about who Jesus is? And what might the Spirit want us, as followers of Jesus, Or even those of us considering Jesus to do with this story. So with that being said, I want to encourage you to turn to Mark chapter 5. Mark chapter 5.

If you're new, in terms of the Bible, it's in the New Testament. Second, book of the New Testament, Matthew, Mark, and Mark chapter 5. And I want to encourage you, if you are physically able, would you stand as I read this passage of Scripture? Please stand with me. Mark chapter 5 verses 1 to 20.

They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes. When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an evil spirit came from the tombs to meet him. This man lived in the tombs and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain. For he had often been chained hand and foot. But he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet.

No one was strong enough to subdue him. Night and day, among the tombs and in the hills, he would cry out and cut himself with stones. And when he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his feet in front of him. And he shouted at the top of his voice, What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?

Swear to God that you won't torture me. For Jesus had said to him, come out of this man, you evil spirit. And Jesus asked him, what is your name? My name is Legion, he replied, for we are many. And he begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of the area. A large herd of pigs was feeding on the nearby hillside.

The demons begged Jesus, send us among the pigs. Allow us to go into them. And he gave them permission. And the evil spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about 2, 000 in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned. Those tending the pigs ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened.

When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons sitting there, dressed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. Those who had seen it told the people what had happened to the demon possessed man, and told about the pigs as well. And when the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region, as Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon possessed begged to go with him.

Jesus did not let him, but said, go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and how he has had mercy on you. So the man went away and began to tell him the Decapolis, how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed. These are the words of God. You may be seated.

Now, if you are a first time guest, you might be thinking, Wow, I picked a unique Sunday to come to Fellowship Church. But I want us to unpack this story because it's a bit jolting. It's unique. But let's look at this together. How about that first verse there? And they went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes.

In other words, they're moving from the western side, the Jewish side, to the eastern side, to the Greek side. Now, hopefully some light bulbs are going off on your dashboard right now of going, Oh, this is a culture clash. This is a new territory of which Jesus and the disciples were going. We don't know how often the disciples actually went to the other side, but it certainly would be foreign territory and very unique for them.

There's so many cultural levels to this that when I was in college, in one of my Bible courses, I actually wrote a 20 page paper on just this verse alone. Now don't worry, I'm not going to unpack all of that here. But I want us to understand the cultural difference that was happening here. It says when Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an evil spirit came from the tombs to meet him.

Now, right away, Mark wants us to understand the connection between tombs and death and this man.

He's a crazed man, incredible strength, no one can resist him, self destructive. Think of the fear that would strike your community if you knew this man was on the loose. In fact, verse 5, it says, Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones. Parents, clearly this is not the type of guy you want your daughter bringing home from college for Thanksgiving meal.

But can you imagine being a parent there of young children, trying to put your kid to bed and you hear echoing off the hillsides around the Sea of Galilee, these screams from this crazed man. The nightmares this might have induced in small children. And it says that he sees Jesus. And he runs to him from the tombs.

He runs down to him and he falls on at his feet and he at the top of his, what do you want from me? Jesus, son of the most high God, what do you want? And he says, don't torture me. Now, if you were a disciple and you saw this crazed man sprinting toward Jesus, what would you and your buddies be thinking?

Can you imagine the sight of that? Can you imagine what that might look like?

And think of the admission that he makes. Jesus, Son of the Most High God. And one of the things I love about the book of Mark is the incredible irony that Mark highlights again and again and again throughout the whole book. It seems here that the only one That understands Jesus for who he really is in the entire book right away are not the religious people.

If you read the book of Mark, you'll notice the people, the groups that actually understand who Jesus is most quickly and most accurately are the demons. And the people that struggle slowly to understand exactly who Jesus is, are the disciples, the ones who spend the most time with them.

And then Jesus in verse nine does something that very few of us would do in this situation. He asked him a question. He says, what's your name? He didn't shun him. He didn't run away from him. He didn't curse him. He wasn't afraid of him. Jesus just asked the man a question, a relational connection question.

What's your name? And he says, my name is legion where he probably says, my name is legion, you know, or something like that, which seems fitting of course, because legion is a military term, which means lots and lots of armed men. This is one powerful, dangerous dude. He doesn't have one dangerous demon in him.

He has many, many demons inside of him. And yet in verse 10. It says, and he begged Jesus again and again, not to send them out of the area. Think about that. You've got dangerous, tons, a legion of demons inside this man. He goes, Oh, please, please, please, please don't send me out. Now, if you think about begging, begging is only done by someone where someone else has authority.

Someone who's in a higher role of control or power or authority for something to happen. Begging, begging is about permission and permission is about the authority of someone else in power. The demons understand the authority of who Jesus is. Are you tracking here? This is significant stuff that Mark wants us to notice.

And we hear about in verses 11 and 12, this large herd of pigs feeding on the hillside. One of the largest industries in our area, about five minutes away on the north side of Philadelphia is Hatfield Quality Meats. If you're a Phillies fan and you watch highlights, you'll notice right behind home plate the sign that says Hatfield Meats.

If you've been to a ball, the ballpark, you know, you probably had a Hatfield dog. So that's five minutes from my house. So anytime I'm going to the bank, which is right next to Hatfield, I'm going to Lowe's, which is right next to Hatfield Quality Meats. Oftentimes we're at a stoplight and we see huge trucks with hundreds of pigs on them.

When my kids were little they would say, Hello piggy, goodbye piggy.

So we're used to seeing pigs frequently around our house. But pigs, why were they nearby? With this crazed man because on the Greek side there are no kosher laws as a Jew You would never eat or touch a cheeseburger. You would never have a hot dog You would never be around pigs, but on the eastern side the Greek side That's there are pigs everywhere

and the legion of demons inside this crazed man say don't send us away Just send us into the pigs Just send us into the pigs and Jesus gives them permission another indication of authority Jesus wants us to see again that Jesus was the one who had authority and the demons knew this So they go into the pigs and then the pigs run.

I would imagine squeal and go crazy off the steep cliffs And right into the water. Can you imagine the sight of 2000 crazed pigs running down the mountain and right into the water? Jesus caused a pig farmer to lose a ton of money that day.

Can you imagine seeing the sight of those hooves bobbing up and down out in the sea of Galilee?

And it says in verse 15, sitting there dressed and in his right mind, the people were afraid. They're going, what in the world just happened? What a turn of events, they must have been asking, Who is this stranger from the other side of the lake?

And it says, and they begged him. There's begging again. They begged him to leave the area. Please get out of here, you've caused such a ruckus. There's been so much chaos. Farmers have lost some, some money here today. Go to the other side of the lake. And Jesus, in verse 18, in all of his humility, does something astonishing.

He actually obliges their request.

He didn't have to, he could have been angry and struck them dead, done something even crazier than what he did with the pigs, but instead he gets in the boat and he complies with their request. But this is the focus of the passage I want us to look at, the last few verses of this story.

Verse 18, it says, As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon possessed begged to go with him, and Jesus did not let him. What? Why not? I think if I were in that position, I would say, Man, I've changed this guy's life. This would be a perfect person to have on my PR team. This man's life has been changed.

I want to say, don't take my word for it. Let this guy share. Let this person give you an understanding of my power. But he did not let him. Was Jesus being mean? No. Verse 19. He says, Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and how he has had mercy on you. Do you know what word Jesus uses there for your own people?

Oikos.

Go home to your Oikos. Go home to your sphere of influence. Go home to the people that know you, that saw you grow up when you were a kid, that work with you, that live down the street from you. Go home to your oikos and tell them all the things the Lord has done for you and the mercy that he's had on you.

In verse 20, it says, And so the man went away, and he began to tell the Decapolis, the ten cities, the ten Greek cultural cities, how much Jesus had done for him, and all the people were amazed.

There are two elements of this story that I absolutely love. The first one is this, is that discipleship is always on Jesus's terms, not ours. This is really important in our American consumeristic culture. That every time someone asked Jesus if they could follow him, Jesus said no.

Or Jesus made the stakes so high that person couldn't do it. But Jesus was always asking others to follow him. What I take from that is, Jesus, he wants to know will you submit and surrender to me and my purposes for your life? Or am I just a convenient add on? Jesus says, you come to me on my terms, not on yours.

Jesus calls people to follow him, not the other way around. And sometimes we forget that discipleship is not about what we want and how we follow Jesus. But it's about what Jesus desires for our lives no matter what the cost might be. Discipleship is radical, it is purposeful, and it is a lifelong decision to become like Jesus by embodying His message and His mission.

But the second thing I take away from this is the power of our Oikos. You have a powerful Oikos. Go home to your Oikos, your five neighborhoods, Jesus says, and tell them all the things that I've done for you and the mercy that I've had on you. Jesus isn't being mean to the guy. He's being strategic. He understands the power of the man's oikos.

This Greek man on the eastern shore goes over to the Jewish side, the western shore, and he would have been lost. He would have started over. Here's one of the most significant parts of this story that I love. It's what happens after the story. A few pages later in your Bible, to the right, the next time Jesus actually returns to the eastern side, the Greek side of the lake, He is mobbed.

Like a rock star. Why? Because the man did what Jesus asked him to do.

I love the amazing impact that fellowship has had on global missions. This is such a wonderful vision. And I love that. And God is so honored by the significant work that we do overseas in supporting missionaries and organizations that are advancing the gospel. But in the midst of that, I want to encourage us to not lose sight of the opportunity for mission that we have right under our own noses.

Across the ocean is great, but so is across the street, to the ends of the world, but also to the ends of your road or your cul de sac, your oikos, your sphere of influence. The already existing relationships in your life is the most fertile ground for impact that you have for the gospel. What's already there and you might be tempted to say I'm not a pastor.

I can't do that I've never been to seminary But it doesn't matter because you have the person of the Holy Spirit living inside of you and the example of Jesus And we can read about in the scriptures to guide us and we can trust him in that the Spirit is our friend He is our guide. Do you realize that you have more influence in your sphere of influence?

Than even your pastors here

Do you know why? Because your pastors don't live in the oikos that you live in. You have an oikos that no one else does. The neighborhoods that you live in are very powerful and there's trust that already exists there. That is the most powerful opportunity you have to live out the gospel with your already existing oikos.

I mentioned I, I studied in Israel, following my junior year. Changed my life. And one of the things we got to do was go on a field trip. It was one of our last field trips before coming home for the semester. We actually went to the location, which is a little town called Kersey, where they believe this story happened.

My professor taught from there and we could see the steep banks and we could just envision those pigs jumping off and into the water. And our professor said, I'm going to give you 10 or 15 minutes to do whatever you want. You can walk around, you can pray, you can read the story again in your Bible, whatever will meet you back at the bus.

And I read that story again, and it was a powerful, powerful experience with God. I almost felt like that was my commissioning service because I really wanted to stay in Israel. I didn't want to go home. It was so life changing. I was kicking and screaming to have to get back on a plane and go home because I wanted to stay there.

But I really sensed God and His Spirit in that moment, commissioning me to say, Jer, go home to your oikos, go home to your sphere of influence and tell everybody how, how much God has done in your life and the mercy that He's shown you throughout this semester. It was a powerful time for me, and I went home and did that.

Well, shortly after coming home during January term, I had put together, some, some photo albums. And for those of you under 30, a photo album is where you print out photos, you put them in a book, you turn pages. And I developed this photo, these, these three photo albums of my experience. My grandfather lived three hours south of where I went to college.

And, and I called my grandfather and he invited me to come and, and spend a weekend with him. My grandmother had passed away a handful of years prior. my grandfather is a good man, but he, he lived a very, very hard life. And we saw my grandfather's anger come out oftentimes when we would visit, but no greater than when politics or religion was brought up.

My mother came to faith basically on her own without the influence of her parents. And she prayed for 30 years that her father would come to faith in Jesus. But anytime religion came up, he always, I got angry, pushed away from the table and said, I'm not going to participate. And he'd storm out of the room.

Once I was packing to take my things and throw them in the backseat and my duffel bag, to head down to spend the weekend with my grandfather, I thought, you know what? I'm just going to throw my albums in just in case. In case Grandpa might be interested. So, we head down and Sunday morning, he's not going to church, so Sunday morning we sat around and talked around the breakfast table and I said, Grandpa, I, I brought my albums.

Would you be interested in seeing the last semester when I was in Israel? He said, I'd love to. So I'm flipping through the pages and explaining where we went and what we did. And he flips to the last page and shuts it and my heart starts beating hard. And I said, Grandpa, do you know why my trip to Israel was so impactful?

He said, no, I, I, I've wondered my heart starts beating more. And I said, as great as these experiences were of hiking and climbing and going to these places, I really encountered God in such a unique and real way. Like never before. And my heart, I can feel it just pounding on my chest. I'm waiting for him to get angry and push away from the table.

And I said, grandpa, can I tell you how Jesus has impacted me? In this past semester and he said, yeah, and I shared instead of getting angry, my, my grandfather actually leaned in and he was asking questions and wanting to know more and I could almost feel my heart pounding at this point audibly. And I said, grandpa, is that something you want to enter into to this God who doesn't just love me?

He loves you as well. And he wants to invite you into a life of forgiveness and joy and peace and love like you've never experienced. I'm just waiting for him to stand up and push away from the table. But instead, crocodile tears start rolling down his cheeks. And one of the greatest moments of my life.

Had the privilege of leading my grandfather to know Jesus for the first time.

And on my way home, I stopped to a payphone. For those of you under 30, a payphone is where you walk in, you have to put a quarter in, you call someone. And I called my mom. And I said, Mom, I couldn't even get it out. I said, Mom, you know that 30 year prayer? God answered your prayer today. Grandpa decided to follow Jesus for the first time.

My mom starts weeping. I start weeping. And I'm driving back, just in silence, amazed at what God had done that morning. And then it hit me. It hit me so hard. The tears started flowing so hard I had to pull over on the side of the road. I thought back to that day, that commissioning service at Kersey, where that story took place we just read.

Go home to your family and tell them all the things the Lord has done for you and the mercy that he's had on you.

I was thinking it was going to be family as in metaphorical, you know, my sphere of influence. Little did I know it would actually be my literal family. One of the most significant ways that we can live out the truth is by seeing our oikos as our mission field. You have an oikos. It could be in the boardroom, the classroom, the playroom, the living room.

That's your oikos. We like to say at our church that every Christian is a missionary, cleverly disguised as a good neighbor. You are a missionary cleverly disguised as a plumber, a teacher, an attorney, a contractor, a salesman, a stay at home mom. Which means that if we think like a missionary, we have to ask some pressing questions.

Three P's. People, place, or problem. People, to whom are we being sent? Your oikos. Place, where are you being sent? And problem. Is there an issue or a problem or a need that God has burdened you to bring about hope and healing people place problem. And maybe the most strategic thing you can do is to draw a diagram of your street, your apartment complex, your road, your development, the cubicles at your job, the office layout, and to commit to pray for everyone on it for the next few weeks.

Ironically, do you know who, what group of people does this better in terms of thinking about their oikos, their neighborhood? Ironically, ironically, it's the Mormons. You know what they do? They equip their young adults, their teenagers. And they send them out with a backpack, a Bible, and a map of their neighborhood.

And they say, go. Christians, we can do better. We can do better. One of the things, I want you to imagine if Jesus had said to his disciples, you know, it's not wise to go over to that side of the lake. They're disgusting. They eat pigs. They have temples. They serve many gods. We don't want to be polluted by their unspiritual ways.

They have different customs and cultures and rituals than we do. We're good Jews. And we don't want to be near that stuff. That's unacceptable. But I am glad that Jesus's love for others isn't about respectability. I'm glad Jesus's love is so outlandish that it involves getting dirt under your fingernails.

Imagine if we took seriously our oikos. And imagine if a poll was recently done in this region. And people were asked, what do Christians do? What if they answered, they tell me openly and excitedly about what God has done. And about the mercy that he's had on them. And they told me that mercy is available to me as well.

Well, what would it look like if you took your oikos seriously? Trusting this power that Jesus has to overcome even the craziest of circumstances, like legion. If he can help legion, he can help you. If he can change legion's life, he can help the people in your oikos as well. May you and I be the kinds of people that take Jesus seriously, that take our oikos seriously and trust him in the mission field that's right under our noses.

Let's pray. Jesus, thank you for this story, the story that jolts us, but is an important story that helps us understand our oikos and the power of it, and helps us understand that you truly are merciful, that you love us, and that you want us to share with others around us how good you are and the mercy that you've shown to us.

If you can rescue a man that has multiple, numerous demons, then nobody's out of the reach of God's love. Amen. Help us to be those kinds of people that are willing to take our Oikaw seriously. And it's the name of Jesus that we pray. Amen.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-mad-man-and-the-mission-field 90314510-e8cb-42ff-9f7c-e6f3dba95f70 Sun, 19 Nov 2023 14:49:57 GMT <div data-html="true">Mark 5:1-20 <br /><br /> And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. He lived among the tombs. <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> We have a guest speaker with us today. J. R. Briggs is a, father of two. He has two teenage boys, along with his wife, and they, he has spent 15, he spent 15 years pastoring, pastoring on a staff of a mega church. He also, started a church, developed it, and the church is still thriving today. As a result of his, pastoral ministries, he has Eventually, well also, also he's a prolific writer. <br /><br /> He's contributed over 50 articles to Christianity Today and other periodicals and has authored or contributed to 13 books, most on scriptural studies and church life and leadership. His most recent book he's contributed to, which I just bought yesterday, cause I was doing the research on all this, was five practices to help you engage with God through scripture. <br /><br /> It looks fantastic. In 2012, J. R. Started Kairos Partnerships, a consulting organization for both church leaders and organizations. He's worked with many churches in pastoral succession processes, including smaller churches. Mid to large churches and mega churches. he is our consultant, in this process as well. <br /><br /> We looked at organizations. We evaluated a number of those of us on the succession team and brought a recommendation to our board. And basically, what we found was there's some great organizations out there, but what sometimes happens with organizations, they basically bring a template. They have a template they want you to work through in a process. <br /><br /> The thing that I think, one of the things that really made us appreciate working with J. R. is, it's his priority, clearly, to work with the church to not bring a template of how to do this or what it's to look like to, to to walk in step with the spirit and the ins and outs, that that always involves to understand our church culture and history and really to enable us to preserve the legacy of the past and to chart a broad vision for the future. <br /><br /> I mean, we're not trying to blow this place up and start a new model of church. God has built some beautiful things here, but We felt the need and have really appreciated having a consultant that's assisting in that process with us. In the process of, engaging JR as our consultant, he offer, also offered and the team and the board agreed to this to my great appreciation. <br /><br /> To provide monthly sessions for myself and or Marian to just process with us as we are in a time of transition in our lives as well. JR has a definition of leadership that I would say is the one that I have liked more than any I've ever heard. Here is the definition of leadership. A leader is one who builds trust. <br /><br /> J. R. has been that for our succession team and for me personally, and I'm excited to have him build into you this morning as well. <br /><br /> Well, good morning. It's good to be with you all. It has been such a joy to work with your pastor and, the succession team. And, I have worked with lots of different groups and I will say one of the things that I value about Pastor Mark is that his identity is not wrapped up in being a pastor. It's what he does, he serves, he loves you all, but his identity is that he's a child of God. <br /><br /> And that has made this opportunity, this transition, this succession, a very healthy one from the perspective of your senior pastor. So in a spirit of love and appreciation, can we just put our hands together and express our love to Mark? <br /><br /> Well, I know that you all have been in a series, on the book of Acts. I know you've only spent just a couple of weeks together on the book. You're racing through it very quickly. and I understand you'll be finishing next week. Pastor Mark encouraged me to in whatever direction I wanted to take, whatever I felt the Lord, had given to me that we will be looking at. <br /><br /> So we're going to be taking a break. From the book of Acts for one week, and then you'll finish up next week. Well, in acts, I know that you've explored God's mission, which is the whole point of the book of Acts of following the spirit and the mission in the early church of what God was up to. But sadly, as we know in our culture, it's no secret that we have a mission problem here in the United States. <br /><br /> I'm not talking a missions problem, but a mission problem. Here's what I mean. A most recent poll was taken to residents of San Francisco and they asked this simple question, what do Christians do? And the response that came back, there were two main themes. And the first one is that Christians, they go to a lot of meetings and number two, they're against stuff. <br /><br /> Friends, this is not the mission that God has given his people to fulfill. So this morning, I want us to get a glimpse of the heart of God and in the process of doing that, we're want to look at the mission of God and how that relates. But be warned, the closer that you get to Jesus, the more responsibility he often gives to us and the more uncertainty we often experience. <br /><br /> But I can assure you that that's where the adventure lies. Well, this morning I want to explore a Greek word with you. It's the word oikos. Let me hear you say oikos. One more time. Oikos. Now, some of you are like, Oh, isn't that the yogurt I had for breakfast this morning? Yes, that is the yogurt brand, but that is not what we're going to be looking at here this morning. <br /><br /> The root of ikas is actually where we get our, the root behind that is the word house or home. In fact, if you think about it a little bit deeper, it's kind of intended for household, but we could even. Have it include things like your, your circle of influence, your friends, your family, your trusted network of relationships. <br /><br /> So that's your oikos. And by the way, everybody has an oikos. You have an oikos. Could be big or small, could be strong or weak, but you have an oikos. Your sphere of influence, the relationships that you have and that, that exist. In fact, in that oikos, sociologists actually say everybody lives in five different neighborhoods. <br /><br /> Five different neighborhoods. The first one is you live in a geographic neighborhood. That may be the most literal, the one we understand the most, right? The people that live on Columbia Avenue, where I'm from on the north side of Philadelphia, that's my literal geographic oikos. There are others. You have a familial oikos. <br /><br /> These are aunts and uncles and cousins and, and, and, and all sorts of people that you would see at a family reunion. You also have a relational oikos. These are your friends that you enjoy spending time with. But you also have a psychographic neighborhood. That's kind of a fancy word that, that sociologists use. <br /><br /> But it's any, any people that live and think the way you do. Psyche, psyche, the way we think. So if you're a Mac user, you know, you, you kind of clump together with other people that have a Mac, right? Or you go to the gym, you know, you're, you're in CrossFit, right? Those are kind of your tribe or your people. <br /><br /> I love swimming. I swim three days a week. Not very fast, but I enjoy it a great deal. And as I swim early in the morning, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, I'm swimming next to Carl and Carrie. And Bill and Sam, they're all with me. Sometimes they share a lane and we talk and catch up. I would not have known them if I did not swim. <br /><br /> They are in my psychographic neighborhood. Then of course we all live in a digital neighborhood. Those of you who are on social media, you know, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, these are the people that you learn from and they learn from you in that. And one of the most strategic things that you can do as a follower of Jesus is to just take five or ten minutes of your time sometime this afternoon or the next few days and to actually list out everybody that you know in your five neighborhoods. <br /><br /> To really be aware of the oikos that you have. Now, I want to press pause right now on the word oikos, and I want to give you a little bit of background of the passage we're going to look at, and then we're going to read the passage and unpack it together. So just stick a pin in the corkboard of our minds right here with oikos, we'll come back to that. <br /><br /> I want to give you some background. I had the privilege in the fall of 1999 as a college student to spend a semester abroad living on Mount Zion at a place called Jerusalem University College. I now have the privilege of serving on the board for JUC. And by the way, it's very difficult to run a college in the middle of a war. <br /><br /> We would really appreciate, as you pray for the Israel Hamas conflict, that you'd also pray for Jerusalem University College. But as a student, as a student, I had the opportunity and the privilege of exploring all around Israel. Now Israel is about the size of the state of New Jersey. Not very big, but very important in terms of world history and news and even today, of course. <br /><br /> When I lived and studied in Israel in college, one weekend we biked from the Mediterranean Sea in the west, all the way across to the Sea of Galilee. You can see that there in the north, that body of water on the north. And it only took us a weekend. It's not a very big country. Not a very big country. Now you see the Sea of Galilee there in the north. <br /><br /> Sea of Galilee is shaped like a harp. Often in scripture it's referred to as Lake Kinneret. Kinneret in Hebrew means harp. Harp lake. Kind of looks like a harp. Kind of cool. It's 13 miles north to south. 8 miles east to west. This is where Jesus spent the majority of his time in his life. This is where the disciples grew up. <br /><br /> They saw the majority of Jesus's miracles in his life. It's a beautiful place to be even today. Significant fishing industry still exists on the Sea of Galilee. Many of you have maybe have been there before. Now the topography of the area is very interesting. The Sea of Galilee actually sits in a bowl. <br /><br /> You see, there's lots of mountains, sometimes there's, steep banks that just run right into the water. And oftentimes, meteorologists say that when a storm comes, when the hot air is trying to rise and the cold air is trying to come down in the midst of that bowl, what that's called an inversion. And inversion happens in tense storms on this lake. <br /><br /> Now, there's something you also need to know about the Sea of Galilee, that there are two sides to the lake, two cultural differences to the Sea of Galilee. On one side, the western side, is very Jewish. They were monotheistic. In other words, they, this is where they worshiped the one true God, Yahweh. They spoke Hebrew. <br /><br /> They kept kosher laws. Towns that maybe you've heard of as you've read the scriptures of Capernaum and Bethsaida and Magdala. But on the eastern side, separated by just a little body of water on this lake, on the eastern side was the Greek side. They were polytheistic. They worshipped lots of different gods, many different gods in pagan temples. <br /><br /> They spoke Greek. They did not keep kosher laws. And over there they had what's called the Decapolis, the ten cities of culture, rich culture in Greek, in the Greek culture. And these were massive cultural differences separated by only a few miles of water. It would be like us saying, we're going to cross the Rio Grande River. <br /><br /> We aren't just crossing a body of water, we're crossing from one culture to another. Different language and food and fashion and entertainment, customs, currency. So the posture often was, you stay on your side of the lake, Jewish people, we'll stay on our side of the lake as Greek people. We didn't want to have like a west side story, east side story kind of thing. <br /><br /> Like you just do your thing, we'll stay here. So we explore this passage here in just a moment. I want you to take the background of Oikos and the background around the Sea of Galilee because it's going to matter. You may be thinking, why are you telling me all this information? Hold on. The lights are going to light up on your dashboard in just a couple minutes. <br /><br /> We're going to connect some dots here. But as we begin to read this story in just a moment, I want to encourage you. To be thinking through these questions. If you were there and you saw this story we're about to read unfold, what might you be thinking? What might you be feeling if you watched it? Why do you think this story is in our Bibles? <br /><br /> Why do you think Mark, the author, included it? What does he want us to understand about who Jesus is? And what might the Spirit want us, as followers of Jesus, Or even those of us considering Jesus to do with this story. So with that being said, I want to encourage you to turn to Mark chapter 5. Mark chapter 5. <br /><br /> If you're new, in terms of the Bible, it's in the New Testament. Second, book of the New Testament, Matthew, Mark, and Mark chapter 5. And I want to encourage you, if you are physically able, would you stand as I read this passage of Scripture? Please stand with me. Mark chapter 5 verses 1 to 20. <br /><br /> They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes. When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an evil spirit came from the tombs to meet him. This man lived in the tombs and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain. For he had often been chained hand and foot. But he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. <br /><br /> No one was strong enough to subdue him. Night and day, among the tombs and in the hills, he would cry out and cut himself with stones. And when he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his feet in front of him. And he shouted at the top of his voice, What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? <br /><br /> Swear to God that you won't torture me. For Jesus had said to him, come out of this man, you evil spirit. And Jesus asked him, what is your name? My name is Legion, he replied, for we are many. And he begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of the area. A large herd of pigs was feeding on the nearby hillside. <br /><br /> The demons begged Jesus, send us among the pigs. Allow us to go into them. And he gave them permission. And the evil spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about 2, 000 in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned. Those tending the pigs ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened. <br /><br /> When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons sitting there, dressed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. Those who had seen it told the people what had happened to the demon possessed man, and told about the pigs as well. And when the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region, as Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon possessed begged to go with him. <br /><br /> Jesus did not let him, but said, go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and how he has had mercy on you. So the man went away and began to tell him the Decapolis, how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed. These are the words of God. You may be seated. <br /><br /> Now, if you are a first time guest, you might be thinking, Wow, I picked a unique Sunday to come to Fellowship Church. But I want us to unpack this story because it's a bit jolting. It's unique. But let's look at this together. How about that first verse there? And they went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes. <br /><br /> In other words, they're moving from the western side, the Jewish side, to the eastern side, to the Greek side. Now, hopefully some light bulbs are going off on your dashboard right now of going, Oh, this is a culture clash. This is a new territory of which Jesus and the disciples were going. We don't know how often the disciples actually went to the other side, but it certainly would be foreign territory and very unique for them. <br /><br /> There's so many cultural levels to this that when I was in college, in one of my Bible courses, I actually wrote a 20 page paper on just this verse alone. Now don't worry, I'm not going to unpack all of that here. But I want us to understand the cultural difference that was happening here. It says when Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an evil spirit came from the tombs to meet him. <br /><br /> Now, right away, Mark wants us to understand the connection between tombs and death and this man. <br /><br /> He's a crazed man, incredible strength, no one can resist him, self destructive. Think of the fear that would strike your community if you knew this man was on the loose. In fact, verse 5, it says, Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones. Parents, clearly this is not the type of guy you want your daughter bringing home from college for Thanksgiving meal. <br /><br /> But can you imagine being a parent there of young children, trying to put your kid to bed and you hear echoing off the hillsides around the Sea of Galilee, these screams from this crazed man. The nightmares this might have induced in small children. And it says that he sees Jesus. And he runs to him from the tombs. <br /><br /> He runs down to him and he falls on at his feet and he at the top of his, what do you want from me? Jesus, son of the most high God, what do you want? And he says, don't torture me. Now, if you were a disciple and you saw this crazed man sprinting toward Jesus, what would you and your buddies be thinking? <br /><br /> Can you imagine the sight of that? Can you imagine what that might look like? <br /><br /> And think of the admission that he makes. Jesus, Son of the Most High God. And one of the things I love about the book of Mark is the incredible irony that Mark highlights again and again and again throughout the whole book. It seems here that the only one That understands Jesus for who he really is in the entire book right away are not the religious people. <br /><br /> If you read the book of Mark, you'll notice the people, the groups that actually understand who Jesus is most quickly and most accurately are the demons. And the people that struggle slowly to understand exactly who Jesus is, are the disciples, the ones who spend the most time with them. <br /><br /> And then Jesus in verse nine does something that very few of us would do in this situation. He asked him a question. He says, what's your name? He didn't shun him. He didn't run away from him. He didn't curse him. He wasn't afraid of him. Jesus just asked the man a question, a relational connection question. <br /><br /> What's your name? And he says, my name is legion where he probably says, my name is legion, you know, or something like that, which seems fitting of course, because legion is a military term, which means lots and lots of armed men. This is one powerful, dangerous dude. He doesn't have one dangerous demon in him. <br /><br /> He has many, many demons inside of him. And yet in verse 10. It says, and he begged Jesus again and again, not to send them out of the area. Think about that. You've got dangerous, tons, a legion of demons inside this man. He goes, Oh, please, please, please, please don't send me out. Now, if you think about begging, begging is only done by someone where someone else has authority. <br /><br /> Someone who's in a higher role of control or power or authority for something to happen. Begging, begging is about permission and permission is about the authority of someone else in power. The demons understand the authority of who Jesus is. Are you tracking here? This is significant stuff that Mark wants us to notice. <br /><br /> And we hear about in verses 11 and 12, this large herd of pigs feeding on the hillside. One of the largest industries in our area, about five minutes away on the north side of Philadelphia is Hatfield Quality Meats. If you're a Phillies fan and you watch highlights, you'll notice right behind home plate the sign that says Hatfield Meats. <br /><br /> If you've been to a ball, the ballpark, you know, you probably had a Hatfield dog. So that's five minutes from my house. So anytime I'm going to the bank, which is right next to Hatfield, I'm going to Lowe's, which is right next to Hatfield Quality Meats. Oftentimes we're at a stoplight and we see huge trucks with hundreds of pigs on them. <br /><br /> When my kids were little they would say, Hello piggy, goodbye piggy. <br /><br /> So we're used to seeing pigs frequently around our house. But pigs, why were they nearby? With this crazed man because on the Greek side there are no kosher laws as a Jew You would never eat or touch a cheeseburger. You would never have a hot dog You would never be around pigs, but on the eastern side the Greek side That's there are pigs everywhere <br /><br /> and the legion of demons inside this crazed man say don't send us away Just send us into the pigs Just send us into the pigs and Jesus gives them permission another indication of authority Jesus wants us to see again that Jesus was the one who had authority and the demons knew this So they go into the pigs and then the pigs run. <br /><br /> I would imagine squeal and go crazy off the steep cliffs And right into the water. Can you imagine the sight of 2000 crazed pigs running down the mountain and right into the water? Jesus caused a pig farmer to lose a ton of money that day. <br /><br /> Can you imagine seeing the sight of those hooves bobbing up and down out in the sea of Galilee? <br /><br /> And it says in verse 15, sitting there dressed and in his right mind, the people were afraid. They're going, what in the world just happened? What a turn of events, they must have been asking, Who is this stranger from the other side of the lake? <br /><br /> And it says, and they begged him. There's begging again. They begged him to leave the area. Please get out of here, you've caused such a ruckus. There's been so much chaos. Farmers have lost some, some money here today. Go to the other side of the lake. And Jesus, in verse 18, in all of his humility, does something astonishing. <br /><br /> He actually obliges their request. <br /><br /> He didn't have to, he could have been angry and struck them dead, done something even crazier than what he did with the pigs, but instead he gets in the boat and he complies with their request. But this is the focus of the passage I want us to look at, the last few verses of this story. <br /><br /> Verse 18, it says, As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon possessed begged to go with him, and Jesus did not let him. What? Why not? I think if I were in that position, I would say, Man, I've changed this guy's life. This would be a perfect person to have on my PR team. This man's life has been changed. <br /><br /> I want to say, don't take my word for it. Let this guy share. Let this person give you an understanding of my power. But he did not let him. Was Jesus being mean? No. Verse 19. He says, Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and how he has had mercy on you. Do you know what word Jesus uses there for your own people? <br /><br /> Oikos. <br /><br /> Go home to your Oikos. Go home to your sphere of influence. Go home to the people that know you, that saw you grow up when you were a kid, that work with you, that live down the street from you. Go home to your oikos and tell them all the things the Lord has done for you and the mercy that he's had on you. <br /><br /> In verse 20, it says, And so the man went away, and he began to tell the Decapolis, the ten cities, the ten Greek cultural cities, how much Jesus had done for him, and all the people were amazed. <br /><br /> There are two elements of this story that I absolutely love. The first one is this, is that discipleship is always on Jesus's terms, not ours. This is really important in our American consumeristic culture. That every time someone asked Jesus if they could follow him, Jesus said no. <br /><br /> Or Jesus made the stakes so high that person couldn't do it. But Jesus was always asking others to follow him. What I take from that is, Jesus, he wants to know will you submit and surrender to me and my purposes for your life? Or am I just a convenient add on? Jesus says, you come to me on my terms, not on yours. <br /><br /> Jesus calls people to follow him, not the other way around. And sometimes we forget that discipleship is not about what we want and how we follow Jesus. But it's about what Jesus desires for our lives no matter what the cost might be. Discipleship is radical, it is purposeful, and it is a lifelong decision to become like Jesus by embodying His message and His mission. <br /><br /> But the second thing I take away from this is the power of our Oikos. You have a powerful Oikos. Go home to your Oikos, your five neighborhoods, Jesus says, and tell them all the things that I've done for you and the mercy that I've had on you. Jesus isn't being mean to the guy. He's being strategic. He understands the power of the man's oikos. <br /><br /> This Greek man on the eastern shore goes over to the Jewish side, the western shore, and he would have been lost. He would have started over. Here's one of the most significant parts of this story that I love. It's what happens after the story. A few pages later in your Bible, to the right, the next time Jesus actually returns to the eastern side, the Greek side of the lake, He is mobbed. <br /><br /> Like a rock star. Why? Because the man did what Jesus asked him to do. <br /><br /> I love the amazing impact that fellowship has had on global missions. This is such a wonderful vision. And I love that. And God is so honored by the significant work that we do overseas in supporting missionaries and organizations that are advancing the gospel. But in the midst of that, I want to encourage us to not lose sight of the opportunity for mission that we have right under our own noses. <br /><br /> Across the ocean is great, but so is across the street, to the ends of the world, but also to the ends of your road or your cul de sac, your oikos, your sphere of influence. The already existing relationships in your life is the most fertile ground for impact that you have for the gospel. What's already there and you might be tempted to say I'm not a pastor. <br /><br /> I can't do that I've never been to seminary But it doesn't matter because you have the person of the Holy Spirit living inside of you and the example of Jesus And we can read about in the scriptures to guide us and we can trust him in that the Spirit is our friend He is our guide. Do you realize that you have more influence in your sphere of influence? <br /><br /> Than even your pastors here <br /><br /> Do you know why? Because your pastors don't live in the oikos that you live in. You have an oikos that no one else does. The neighborhoods that you live in are very powerful and there's trust that already exists there. That is the most powerful opportunity you have to live out the gospel with your already existing oikos. <br /><br /> I mentioned I, I studied in Israel, following my junior year. Changed my life. And one of the things we got to do was go on a field trip. It was one of our last field trips before coming home for the semester. We actually went to the location, which is a little town called Kersey, where they believe this story happened. <br /><br /> My professor taught from there and we could see the steep banks and we could just envision those pigs jumping off and into the water. And our professor said, I'm going to give you 10 or 15 minutes to do whatever you want. You can walk around, you can pray, you can read the story again in your Bible, whatever will meet you back at the bus. <br /><br /> And I read that story again, and it was a powerful, powerful experience with God. I almost felt like that was my commissioning service because I really wanted to stay in Israel. I didn't want to go home. It was so life changing. I was kicking and screaming to have to get back on a plane and go home because I wanted to stay there. <br /><br /> But I really sensed God and His Spirit in that moment, commissioning me to say, Jer, go home to your oikos, go home to your sphere of influence and tell everybody how, how much God has done in your life and the mercy that He's shown you throughout this semester. It was a powerful time for me, and I went home and did that. <br /><br /> Well, shortly after coming home during January term, I had put together, some, some photo albums. And for those of you under 30, a photo album is where you print out photos, you put them in a book, you turn pages. And I developed this photo, these, these three photo albums of my experience. My grandfather lived three hours south of where I went to college. <br /><br /> And, and I called my grandfather and he invited me to come and, and spend a weekend with him. My grandmother had passed away a handful of years prior. my grandfather is a good man, but he, he lived a very, very hard life. And we saw my grandfather's anger come out oftentimes when we would visit, but no greater than when politics or religion was brought up. <br /><br /> My mother came to faith basically on her own without the influence of her parents. And she prayed for 30 years that her father would come to faith in Jesus. But anytime religion came up, he always, I got angry, pushed away from the table and said, I'm not going to participate. And he'd storm out of the room. <br /><br /> Once I was packing to take my things and throw them in the backseat and my duffel bag, to head down to spend the weekend with my grandfather, I thought, you know what? I'm just going to throw my albums in just in case. In case Grandpa might be interested. So, we head down and Sunday morning, he's not going to church, so Sunday morning we sat around and talked around the breakfast table and I said, Grandpa, I, I brought my albums. <br /><br /> Would you be interested in seeing the last semester when I was in Israel? He said, I'd love to. So I'm flipping through the pages and explaining where we went and what we did. And he flips to the last page and shuts it and my heart starts beating hard. And I said, Grandpa, do you know why my trip to Israel was so impactful? <br /><br /> He said, no, I, I, I've wondered my heart starts beating more. And I said, as great as these experiences were of hiking and climbing and going to these places, I really encountered God in such a unique and real way. Like never before. And my heart, I can feel it just pounding on my chest. I'm waiting for him to get angry and push away from the table. <br /><br /> And I said, grandpa, can I tell you how Jesus has impacted me? In this past semester and he said, yeah, and I shared instead of getting angry, my, my grandfather actually leaned in and he was asking questions and wanting to know more and I could almost feel my heart pounding at this point audibly. And I said, grandpa, is that something you want to enter into to this God who doesn't just love me? <br /><br /> He loves you as well. And he wants to invite you into a life of forgiveness and joy and peace and love like you've never experienced. I'm just waiting for him to stand up and push away from the table. But instead, crocodile tears start rolling down his cheeks. And one of the greatest moments of my life. <br /><br /> Had the privilege of leading my grandfather to know Jesus for the first time. <br /><br /> And on my way home, I stopped to a payphone. For those of you under 30, a payphone is where you walk in, you have to put a quarter in, you call someone. And I called my mom. And I said, Mom, I couldn't even get it out. I said, Mom, you know that 30 year prayer? God answered your prayer today. Grandpa decided to follow Jesus for the first time. <br /><br /> My mom starts weeping. I start weeping. And I'm driving back, just in silence, amazed at what God had done that morning. And then it hit me. It hit me so hard. The tears started flowing so hard I had to pull over on the side of the road. I thought back to that day, that commissioning service at Kersey, where that story took place we just read. <br /><br /> Go home to your family and tell them all the things the Lord has done for you and the mercy that he's had on you. <br /><br /> I was thinking it was going to be family as in metaphorical, you know, my sphere of influence. Little did I know it would actually be my literal family. One of the most significant ways that we can live out the truth is by seeing our oikos as our mission field. You have an oikos. It could be in the boardroom, the classroom, the playroom, the living room. <br /><br /> That's your oikos. We like to say at our church that every Christian is a missionary, cleverly disguised as a good neighbor. You are a missionary cleverly disguised as a plumber, a teacher, an attorney, a contractor, a salesman, a stay at home mom. Which means that if we think like a missionary, we have to ask some pressing questions. <br /><br /> Three P's. People, place, or problem. People, to whom are we being sent? Your oikos. Place, where are you being sent? And problem. Is there an issue or a problem or a need that God has burdened you to bring about hope and healing people place problem. And maybe the most strategic thing you can do is to draw a diagram of your street, your apartment complex, your road, your development, the cubicles at your job, the office layout, and to commit to pray for everyone on it for the next few weeks. <br /><br /> Ironically, do you know who, what group of people does this better in terms of thinking about their oikos, their neighborhood? Ironically, ironically, it's the Mormons. You know what they do? They equip their young adults, their teenagers. And they send them out with a backpack, a Bible, and a map of their neighborhood. <br /><br /> And they say, go. Christians, we can do better. We can do better. One of the things, I want you to imagine if Jesus had said to his disciples, you know, it's not wise to go over to that side of the lake. They're disgusting. They eat pigs. They have temples. They serve many gods. We don't want to be polluted by their unspiritual ways. <br /><br /> They have different customs and cultures and rituals than we do. We're good Jews. And we don't want to be near that stuff. That's unacceptable. But I am glad that Jesus's love for others isn't about respectability. I'm glad Jesus's love is so outlandish that it involves getting dirt under your fingernails. <br /><br /> Imagine if we took seriously our oikos. And imagine if a poll was recently done in this region. And people were asked, what do Christians do? What if they answered, they tell me openly and excitedly about what God has done. And about the mercy that he's had on them. And they told me that mercy is available to me as well. <br /><br /> Well, what would it look like if you took your oikos seriously? Trusting this power that Jesus has to overcome even the craziest of circumstances, like legion. If he can help legion, he can help you. If he can change legion's life, he can help the people in your oikos as well. May you and I be the kinds of people that take Jesus seriously, that take our oikos seriously and trust him in the mission field that's right under our noses. <br /><br /> Let's pray. Jesus, thank you for this story, the story that jolts us, but is an important story that helps us understand our oikos and the power of it, and helps us understand that you truly are merciful, that you love us, and that you want us to share with others around us how good you are and the mercy that you've shown to us. <br /><br /> If you can rescue a man that has multiple, numerous demons, then nobody's out of the reach of God's love. Amen. Help us to be those kinds of people that are willing to take our Oikaw seriously. And it's the name of Jesus that we pray. Amen.</div> false no <![CDATA[Sunset Thoughts on the Book of Acts]]> Acts 28:11-28

After three months we set sail in a ship that had wintered in the island, a ship of Alexandria, with the twin gods as a figurehead. Putting in at Syracuse, we stayed there for three days. And from there we made a circuit and arrived at Rhegium. And after one day a south wind sprang up, and on the second day we came to Puteoli. There we found brothers and were invited to stay with them for seven days. And so we came to Rome. And the brothers there, when they heard about us, came as far as the Forum of Appius and Three Taverns to meet us. On seeing them, Paul thanked God and took courage. And when we came into Rome, Paul was allowed to stay by himself, with the soldier who guarded him.

After three days he called together the local leaders of the Jews, and when they had gathered, he said to them, “Brothers, though I had done nothing against our people or the customs of our fathers, yet I was delivered as a prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans. When they had examined me, they wished to set me at liberty, because there was no reason for the death penalty in my case. But because the Jews objected, I was compelled to appeal to Caesar—though I had no charge to bring against my nation. For this reason, therefore, I have asked to see you and speak with you, since it is because of the hope of Israel that I am wearing this chain.” And they said to him, “We have received no letters from Judea about you, and none of the brothers coming here has reported or spoken any evil about you. But we desire to hear from you what your views are, for with regard to this sect we know that everywhere it is spoken against.”

When they had appointed a day for him, they came to him at his lodging in greater numbers. From morning till evening he expounded to them, testifying to the kingdom of God and trying to convince them about Jesus both from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets. And some were convinced by what he said, but others disbelieved. And disagreeing among themselves, they departed after Paul had made one statement: “The Holy Spirit was right in saying to your fathers through Isaiah the prophet:

“‘Go to this people, and say, “You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive.” For this people's heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed; lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.’

Therefore let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will listen.”]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/sunset-thoughts-on-the-book-of-acts cfb904d8-13c1-4620-96ce-d1c0b8fc76be Sun, 12 Nov 2023 11:09:08 GMT <div data-html="true">Acts 28:11-28 <br /><br /> After three months we set sail in a ship that had wintered in the island, a ship of Alexandria, with the twin gods as a figurehead. Putting in at Syracuse, we stayed there for three days. And from there we made a circuit and arrived at Rhegium. And after one day a south wind sprang up, and on the second day we came to Puteoli. There we found brothers and were invited to stay with them for seven days. And so we came to Rome. And the brothers there, when they heard about us, came as far as the Forum of Appius and Three Taverns to meet us. On seeing them, Paul thanked God and took courage. And when we came into Rome, Paul was allowed to stay by himself, with the soldier who guarded him. <br /><br /> After three days he called together the local leaders of the Jews, and when they had gathered, he said to them, “Brothers, though I had done nothing against our people or the customs of our fathers, yet I was delivered as a prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans. When they had examined me, they wished to set me at liberty, because there was no reason for the death penalty in my case. But because the Jews objected, I was compelled to appeal to Caesar—though I had no charge to bring against my nation. For this reason, therefore, I have asked to see you and speak with you, since it is because of the hope of Israel that I am wearing this chain.” And they said to him, “We have received no letters from Judea about you, and none of the brothers coming here has reported or spoken any evil about you. But we desire to hear from you what your views are, for with regard to this sect we know that everywhere it is spoken against.” <br /><br /> When they had appointed a day for him, they came to him at his lodging in greater numbers. From morning till evening he expounded to them, testifying to the kingdom of God and trying to convince them about Jesus both from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets. And some were convinced by what he said, but others disbelieved. And disagreeing among themselves, they departed after Paul had made one statement: “The Holy Spirit was right in saying to your fathers through Isaiah the prophet: <br /><br /> “‘Go to this people, and say, “You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive.” For this people's heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed; lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.’ <br /><br /> Therefore let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will listen.”</div> false no <![CDATA[The Line In The Sand]]> Joshua 5:1-12

Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” So the place has been called Gilgal to this day.



Sermon Transcript:

Welcome back to the book of Joshua, Joshua chapter five, it's in the Old Testament. If you find the book of Genesis, just keep going four more books and you'll, five more books and you'll find her. Joshua chapter five, we're going to look at verses one through 12 this morning.

I'd like to read it out loud, and here's what we find. As soon as all the kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan to the west and all the kings of the Canaanites who were by the sea heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan for the people of Israel until they had crossed over, their hearts melted and there was no longer any spirit in them because of the people of Israel.

At that time, the Lord said to Joshua, make flint knives and circumcise the sons of Israel a second time. So, Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the sons of Israel at Gibeal Harloth. And this is the reason why Joshua circumcised them, all the males of the people who came out of Egypt, all the men of war, had died in the wilderness on the way after they had come out of Egypt.

Though all the people who had come out had been circumcised, yet all the people who were born on the way in the wilderness after they had come out of Egypt had not yet been circumcised. For the people of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, until all the nation, the men of war who had come out of Egypt, perished, because they did not obey the voice of the Lord.

The Lord swore to them that he would not let them see the land that the Lord had sworn to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey. So was their children, whom he raised up in their place, that Joshua circumcised. For they were uncircumcised because they had not been circumcised on the way.

When the circumcising of the whole nation was finished, they remained in their places in the camp until they were healed. And the Lord said to Joshua, Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you. And so the name of that place is called Gilgal to this day. While the people of Israel were camped at Gilgal, they kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month in the evening on the plains of Jericho.

And the day after the Passover on that very day, they ate of the produce of the land on leavened cakes and parched grain.

Now I realize that some of you are wondering, Mark, why the heck are you preaching about circumcision on a day when we're celebrating a renovated building? Reasonable question. But this passage represents to the people of Israel something that speaks directly to our situation today. A similar moment happened in American history in 1836.

About a hundred and eighty volunteers were gathered in a mission in San Antonio, Texas and San Antonio, Austin. San Antonio, okay. At the Alamo, a mission. And these 180 men were preparing for an onslaught of the Mexican army of a little over 4, 000 to come under the General Santa Anna. And as they were gathered, the army was coming and they were gathered there, these 180 volunteers.

And as they gathered, Colonel William Travis, who was the commander of the fort, gathered them together. And in his gathering, the, the Mexican soldiers were coming and he told them about the situation. He told them the numbers, 4, 180. They were able to do the math. These are volunteers, right? I mean, these guys can leave at any time.

They're only there because they want to be. He has no company. He has no authority over them. But he presents to them the situation and he says, look, if we can hold out. for a while and they actually did hold out for 13 days. We will buy time for all the rest of the Texans to gather together and to then bring a much larger army against the invading force.

So, our defense has value. But it likely has the ultimate cost. And so, he actually took out his sword and famously He drew a long line in the sand and he said, look, this is utterly volunteer. It is up to you. But if you want to stay and fight, I'm going to ask you to cross the line. And if you want to leave, you are free to go.

Probably after tomorrow, you won't have the chance to go. And every soldier crossed the line except for one who was the one that lived to tell the story of those that perished and they all perished in the Alamo. was Jim Bowie, whom the Bowie knife is named after, and one of many of our all time favorite American pioneers, Davy Crockett.

They crossed the line. That particular phrase, the line in the sand, has entered American language from the big, potentially costly choice. The Israelites are at a similar place in their lives here in Joshua chapter 5. To this point in the book of Joshua, they have come now, they are about to enter the land and And God has been at work among them because now, after 40 years in the wilderness, this new generation of Israelites are preparing to go in to try to conquer the land of promise that God has given to them.

And as they gather there... God has done a couple of things already in chapter one of Joshua, God has promised to be with them and fight for them in Joshua chapter two. He has told them the story through some of their spies that have gone out and have interviewed a woman in a city called Jericho. She's actually a prostitute there, and she has told them that everybody in the land is scared to death of you guys.

And he has encouraged the people. And in Joshua chapter 3 and 4, we have the record of God actually taking them over the surging waters of the Jordan River, five times at normal, depth at this point. It was floodwaters. And God has opened that and they have gone in and now we come to chapter 5 and now God addresses them for their role.

And he tells them what they must do before they enter the land. They must offer themselves to Jehovah. In our passage, God calls for commitment at a little spot called Gilgal. And this map portrays that place. That is actually the Jordan River Valley. If you are familiar at all with the land of, of, of Israel.

And I forgot my pointer. Um. To the left of Gilgal and the Jordan River Valley is really all of Israel. And that's where they're going to go. But they come through, they cross the Jordan River, they hit Gilgal, and the next thing they're going to face is the fortress city of Jericho. Gilgal is, it actually means the rolling.

God gave it this name. There was no town there before. It was a, it was a town of tents that the Israels made. It will become very prominent in the history of Israel. After every day, while circling the walls of Jericho, they will return to Gilgal. After every military campaign, which will occur over the next 20 years, When they go out, they will constantly come back to this tent city that is put in the Jordan River called Gilgal, the place of rolling.

Later, 400 years later, when the people of Israel insist on a king, he will be enthroned at Gilgal. It is a place of significance to the people of Israel. It is a place where a unique and wholehearted commitment of the people to the Lord of heaven is first pronounced and continually in their history. It is a place where they return to reaffirm their covenant to God.

And this is a cool day for us here at FCC. God's enabled us to upgrade our facilities, to expand our seating capacity. To have a worship space whose technology and acoustics help us to do ministries and serve our community for years to come. He gave us the money to do it all in cash through the generous giving of our people.

And that is all awesome. But it's just a space. It's what God's people do that matters. The Holy Spirit of God works through. The people of God when their hearts are committed to him. So this morning we stand at our own Gilgal where God draws a line in the sand. He calls us to offer ourselves to him for his purposes and pleasure.

For His glory as we seek to be His people to our generation and in generations to come in this little small corner of His work that He's doing all over the world. Join me as we take a few minutes to reflect on what commitment looks like to the people of God when they are brought to a Gilgal moment.

We're going to see six things. Number one, we see commitment as a response to what God has done. In verse one, we have the account of the, people of the land, actually, who have heard about God parting the Jordan River and that they have traveled across at the Jordan at flood stage. Was a seemingly impregnable barrier for the Israelites, but God did a mini Red Sea deal all over again for this new generation of Israelites.

And as He does so, the people of the land are filled with awe and fear of this God who they have brought with them. For thirty eight years, the Israelites have been wandering in the wilderness. They've come to the Promised Land thirty eight years. They had come 38 years back, and at that point had come in a different entrance to the land of promise, but they had scouted it out, and of course the story of the 10 of the 12 spies was, we are grasshoppers in their sight and in ours.

We have no chance of taking this place. And they refused to follow God, they refused to trust Him, and for 38 years God has had them wandering in the wilderness. Now God is giving the next generation their chance at the plate. Their opportunity to believe God and see His mighty hand at work through them.

And He starts it off by reminding them of who He is and that He is for them. He has worked in giving them their own Red Sea moment. It's just at a river this time. He chose them, He rescued them, He taught them, He guided them, He reminded them they belong to Him. All things that He says to you if you have embraced Christ as your Savior and been embraced in His saving grace.

I want to speak just for a moment to young adults. Young adults, to me, this is arbitrary. But under 35 years old, the 1. 5 million dollars that was given was probably not primarily given by your demographic. Certainly there are exceptions. Many of you gave. But a lot of it was older money. But it was given to this church body to minister for years to come.

It was given so this facility Can still be serving your time. When you are the leaders, when you are the influences of this church family, God did it, and you now stand at Gilgal. You stand as the new generation to embrace God's work and serve Christ passionately. Not only in this building. But in your lives, this is a Gilgal moment.

This was a whole new generation of God's people. And I challenge you guys, that stand in the next generations to come. God did not primarily renovate this building for guys who look like me. For my generation of people. This is for you. This calling to come to Gilgal is particularly to you. As a new generation, to be used by God because your lives are sold out for Him.

Commitment is a response to what God has done. The second thing we find, commitment involves risk. In verse 2 and 3, we're told that Joshua says, Get the flint knives, basically. Now, if I were there and I heard Joshua say something like that, I'd say, Yes! Get the flint knives! Get the swords! Get the spearheads!

Get the arrowheads! Get them together! Get the grappling hooks! Put them all in a pile! Load them up! And let's go take the land! And Joshua would say, It's not what the flint knives is about.

And then I'd find out this dicey description of what he is planning with those flint knives. Nobody under 40 is circumcised, and circumcised was the symbol that identified you as a follower of Jehovah. And beyond the weirdness of this moment is a very nerve wracking reality. When God, through Moses, through Joshua, Joshua says, Gather all these guys.

I want everybody. Now these were, these were the warrior age, right? 20 years old, you could be a warrior in Israel. You were conscripted into the, the military service. And the 20 to 40 year olds were the ones that had the most prowess in military service. And he says, I want all these guys and everyone below them to be circumcised.

Now that may say, okay, well, you know, whatever, and I'm not going to get, get into a visual presentation. But, but in Genesis 34, 25, we're told about an event in the Old Testament where the son, where the brothers, Joseph and his brothers, the sons of Isaac, Sons of Jacob actually got together and they convinced the people of the land, the city, the guys, to say well, our daughter, you know, our sister can't marry in if you guys aren't circumcised.

So the whole city was circumcised. Well, here's what happened. Three days later, while the men were still in pain, still recovering from a serious... medical procedure. They were unable to fight back, and actually the whole city was destroyed. It was actually a horrible moment. But the picture is, it knocks you out as a fighter.

And he says, okay, right here under the shadow of Jericho, and right on the border, beyond those cliffs of this Jordan Valley, where all of our enemies are waiting for us. By the way, we're going to stay here right down in the valley and we're going to incapacitate all of our soldiers. You say, well, could we do this in shifts?

You know, like maybe the 15 to 20, the 20 to 25. And I said, no, this is a moment. God required them to do something that made themselves totally vulnerable. They had no reserves.

That's what commitment looks like in the hands of God. God calls to commitment, nothing in reserve. He says, I own your finances. I want you to give your first fruits to God, though it seems to leave you financially strapped. Your career, Gilgal, is a place where you lay your career plans before God. Your relationships, you can't hold on to a God dishonoring relationship and move forward from Gilgal.

And commitments always involve risks. I love the statement, I've never forgotten it. Dawson Trotman, a number of years ago, wrote it. He was the founder of the Navigators. And he asked this question, and I remember hearing a tape. Where he is presenting this message and how it impacted me as a young man that wanted to live for God.

And he said this, What are you trusting God for? Where if God doesn't come through you will fall flat on your face. Commitment involves risk. Second, third, commitment is encouraged by the example of others. Verses 4 through 6, we have negative examples. The fact that they had been uncircumcised for all those 40 years.

Not one baby born in those years was circumcised on the eighth day after birth, which they had been done and doing for centuries. Apparently, most believe that the rejection of God's will In taking the land, had replaced the entire generation under the discipline of God. So he stopped the practice of circumcision until a new generation came forth to identify as his people here at Gilgal.

They were fully aware of that. They would be reminded of that, that, hey, we're reinstituting this circumcision thing after. Almost 40 years. It would remind them of the reason that it had been put on hold. It would remind them of the disobedience and the... And the fear that had dominated the unreadiness to do the will of God when they came to the land the first time.

Learning of others failures always has the potential of serving as a warning. It can be abused, of course. It can be a source of pride for us. It can be a source of thinking, I'm, I'm different and better somehow. It can be a way of, of demeaning others, but failure of others in its best use. Is to warn us number of years ago as many years ago, we were still meeting in the gym, not this time, the real time, we only had two of us on staff.

It was Pastor Ralph and myself. We had Dr. Paul Dixon come and speak with us. Dr. Dixon was the president of Cityville College. He had been a very God anointed evangelist, great speaker, great leader, And we had him come and he preached to our little fledgling community. And he asked Ralph and I, after the service, he said, Can I get with you guys for lunch?

And so we went out with him. It was, and didn't even invite our wives, even though his wife was there. He took the two of us out. And I have never forgotten that event. Because he said, Guys, you are two young guys. that God wants to use. And I want to tell you a story. He said, in the last handful of weeks, my college roommate, my best friend, who God has used to build, and I knew the church, a influential church in the Midwest, was caught in a relationship with a woman that was not his wife.

It completely decimated his ministry. It has the potential of destroying his family. And he, he spoke directly into us, looking us right in the eyes. He said, I challenge you guys to build the guardrails in your life. To learn from my, and he was emotional, my friend. It, it, it had great impact on us. We did build some guardrails into the way we met with women in counseling, the way that we carried ourselves, the accountability we had with each other, and then pulled in others.

Commitment is encouraged by the warning of others. One of the reasons we do these things, we say, God, I'm committed to living a life of holiness, because I realize others have not, and their story could be mine. You know, there are also positive examples here in verse seven and eight. The people are seemingly As a mass agreeing to what God is asking them to do in this line of the sand moment at this moment, this tremendous corporate encouragement to seek God and to be sold out to him and to cross over that line in the sand.

Who you spend time with is shaping you. It is. Who you are doing life with is shaping you. It's shaping your thinking. Commitment to follow God and his lead into battle was directly tied to having the right voices in their lives, supporting them. Commitment is encouraged by the example of others. Fourth, commitment is essential to seeing God at work in our lives.

In verse nine, God says, now I'm removing the reproach of Egypt. The word here, removing is actually the word rolling it off. It's why he called the place Gilgal. Again, this was, this, this wasn't even a truck stop. This was nothing. This is just an open plain. And he made their tent city here. And he called it Gilgal because he said at this moment.

In this day, I'm rolling off the reproach of Egypt. So what's he talking about? Well, remember the story. Here's the story, of course. Over a generation ago, God had raised up a guy named Moses, and Moses had been led to come to Pharaoh, and he said, I want you to let the people of Israel go, even though they've been here for 400 years, even though they are your entire blue collar workforce.

They're basically all slaves. You're paying them nothing. I want you to let them all go. I want you to emancipate the entire workforce of slaves. Well, Pharaoh wasn't fired up about the idea, and so God had to use plagues. It came upon, and finally, Pharaoh said, Just go go wasn't long after that that Pharaoh realized this wasn't such a good idea It didn't take long for things to dawn on how this is going to affect their economy So he took off after them and as he chased them down with a large portion of his army 600 chariots Which would be the Sherman tanks of the day?

They follow them and and has them cornered at the Red Sea and then God opens the sea they go through The tanks come in and and they're buried under the sea and God utterly The power of Egypt, the most powerful nation on earth at the time.

The name of God was exalted and lifted up, but over the last 40 years, a whole different story has played. Over the last 40 years, the people of Egypt have watched as the hundreds of thousands, and I say that advisedly. of Israelites wandered in a land mass that is smaller than one half of the state of Pennsylvania.

I mean, can you imagine following the story for 40 years of hundreds of thousands of people with their tents and everything else traveling? Oh, They're up to Allentown now. I hear they're at Scranton. Now they're down to Harrisburg. They made it all the way to State College. Where are they going? They're just wandering around.

Hundreds of thousands of people. What do you think their response was? Mockery. Disdain. Slander. These people. Who do they think they are? They're going to tell us. I don't know what their Red Sea actually was. Probably that was all made up anyway. But look at them! Moses, remember Moses? He thought he was so cool, got out of the land.

He, he thought he could face down Pharaoh. Now look at them! For 40 years there's been reproach. And God says this. Here at Gilgal, the reproach stops here. This day is the day in which I am going to change the story of my people.

But, there's a line in the sand. My people have to be willing. To commit, to see my work in their lives in the way that I want to work through them and in them.

They also saw God fight for them. In verse 11 and 12, it talks about how they're going to go into the land. And what he's going to do, up until now, for 40 years, they've been fed how? The manna. This bread like stuff that comes six days a week. It doesn't come on Saturday because it's a Sabbath. But for 40 years, that's what they're eating.

Making breads and so forth. At certain times, God gives meat, miraculously to them. But this is their food. And all of a sudden, this stops today. Why? Because He says, We're now going into the land. You're gonna take the spoils. You're gonna eat the crops. You're going to get the, the foodstuffs. Everything is going to be there.

Every one of us brings in our lives, habits, holes in our lives, missing pieces or pieces that we wish weren't there. Some of you have giant debts, you have things to make right, you've got battles. And God says this, I'm drawing a line in the sand, asking you by faith to cross over, to trust me, to allow me to be the Lord of my life.

But, I will fight for you. There are some of you that say, I, I don't know. I have messed up so bad. There is so much in my life. I look at the past and, yeah, wilderness, that's me.

Honestly, that's me. And God says, This is what I do at Gilgal's. I won't take away all your problems. But I will bring to you the ultimate problem solver that will sustain you and carry you and care for you and enable you to survive in circumstances you would say it's not possible. Commitment is essential to seeing God at work in our lives.

God wants to make himself known in your life. God wants to be the strength of your life. God wants to carry you. But there are voices in your head that are saying, I, I, I, wow, I can't do it. My life is one of... Shame. Reproach. My life is full of stuff that I can't handle. God says, cross the line. Give yourself to me and watch what I will do.

The fourth, fifth thing. Commitment is on, off, repeated experience. Throughout the next twenty years, the people kept returning to Gilgal. It's interesting, God didn't have them move around. All that time, they're fighting for the land. It actually was a bad place to be, humanly speaking. From a defensive standpoint, you don't want to be on the low ground.

In a, in a valley surrounded by the enemy up on the hilltops. It also is not a centrally located, basically all of their battles are going to be out. There was actually three different campaign campaigns, a Southern campaign, a central campaign and a Northern campaign. But they weren't centralized in any of that.

But it was a place which God constantly called them to renew their commitment to them, to him. Later, every seventh year, they went through a whole commitment ceremony. And read aloud the book of Deuteronomy. It's recorded in the book, I think it's Numbers. I can't tell you how many times I've recommitted my life to the Lord.

I hope you are. I hope, maybe today, the Lord's just gonna stir and say, Hey, it's Gilgal. Again, it's a place to just say, Lord, ultimately this isn't about a cool new change in our building. It's about me. It's how I want you to work through my life. I want you to move through me by your grace. The last thing is commitment is life shaping.

What they make their priorities will change. Circumcision's restored. There's a new vision to identify as God's people. Some of our lives today are out of control. Some of us would honestly have to say. As I look back at my Christian journey, could I say this is the time when, when my heart belongs to Christ in the way I'm living my life as it was in other days?

No, I couldn't say that. Well, Gilgal is here. Maybe you hear and you say, you know, I've heard about this Jesus thing and and I know Jesus, I've read about Him, I've heard but people talk about having a personal relationship with Him. No, maybe Gilgal for you is saying I, I'm asking someone, I'm going to talk to a pastor, I'm going to find someone that will joyfully explain to me, as we would joyfully do, how I can personally make Jesus Christ the Savior and center of my life.

Their time will change. Verse 13 and 14 says they're reinstituting the annual calendar. They're going to, they're going to start re celebrating the feast days. Their rhythm of life now is going to be built around the things that support godliness. We stand at Gilgal today. It's a place of commitment, and I challenge you to just take these moments together to ask, is there a line in the sand that God has for you this morning?

It's just something he's saying, yeah, I brought you here today. You came because you're excited to see the building, which is awesome. But I had something bigger in mind for you. I wanted to use this as a Gilgal moment in your life. Let's pray together.

Lord, we come to you who are the God who offers to us life and hope and change. Lord, I believe that there is no one here. That is too old or too young to be on your I can do it through you list. So Lord, let us be a people that come with all our stuff. Our brokenness, our neediness. Thank you for all the things in the life of every person that is under my voice right now.

Online and in this room. Who has things in their lives that make them feel it's too much for me. It's beyond me. Lord, is in those moments that you say, I'm here. In your brokenness, in your struggles, in your sorrow, in your confusion. These are moments that I use. You tell us to draw us to you in desperation.

So Lord, do that as we stand at Gilgal today. May we be a people renewed in a commitment to yield to you. In whose name I pray.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-line-in-the-sand 46d3a78e-2416-45dd-9fdf-864241b3a5a5 Sun, 05 Nov 2023 11:53:06 GMT <div data-html="true">Joshua 5:1-12 <br /><br /> Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” So the place has been called Gilgal to this day. <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> Welcome back to the book of Joshua, Joshua chapter five, it's in the Old Testament. If you find the book of Genesis, just keep going four more books and you'll, five more books and you'll find her. Joshua chapter five, we're going to look at verses one through 12 this morning. <br /><br /> I'd like to read it out loud, and here's what we find. As soon as all the kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan to the west and all the kings of the Canaanites who were by the sea heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan for the people of Israel until they had crossed over, their hearts melted and there was no longer any spirit in them because of the people of Israel. <br /><br /> At that time, the Lord said to Joshua, make flint knives and circumcise the sons of Israel a second time. So, Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the sons of Israel at Gibeal Harloth. And this is the reason why Joshua circumcised them, all the males of the people who came out of Egypt, all the men of war, had died in the wilderness on the way after they had come out of Egypt. <br /><br /> Though all the people who had come out had been circumcised, yet all the people who were born on the way in the wilderness after they had come out of Egypt had not yet been circumcised. For the people of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, until all the nation, the men of war who had come out of Egypt, perished, because they did not obey the voice of the Lord. <br /><br /> The Lord swore to them that he would not let them see the land that the Lord had sworn to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey. So was their children, whom he raised up in their place, that Joshua circumcised. For they were uncircumcised because they had not been circumcised on the way. <br /><br /> When the circumcising of the whole nation was finished, they remained in their places in the camp until they were healed. And the Lord said to Joshua, Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you. And so the name of that place is called Gilgal to this day. While the people of Israel were camped at Gilgal, they kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month in the evening on the plains of Jericho. <br /><br /> And the day after the Passover on that very day, they ate of the produce of the land on leavened cakes and parched grain. <br /><br /> Now I realize that some of you are wondering, Mark, why the heck are you preaching about circumcision on a day when we're celebrating a renovated building? Reasonable question. But this passage represents to the people of Israel something that speaks directly to our situation today. A similar moment happened in American history in 1836. <br /><br /> About a hundred and eighty volunteers were gathered in a mission in San Antonio, Texas and San Antonio, Austin. San Antonio, okay. At the Alamo, a mission. And these 180 men were preparing for an onslaught of the Mexican army of a little over 4, 000 to come under the General Santa Anna. And as they were gathered, the army was coming and they were gathered there, these 180 volunteers. <br /><br /> And as they gathered, Colonel William Travis, who was the commander of the fort, gathered them together. And in his gathering, the, the Mexican soldiers were coming and he told them about the situation. He told them the numbers, 4, 180. They were able to do the math. These are volunteers, right? I mean, these guys can leave at any time. <br /><br /> They're only there because they want to be. He has no company. He has no authority over them. But he presents to them the situation and he says, look, if we can hold out. for a while and they actually did hold out for 13 days. We will buy time for all the rest of the Texans to gather together and to then bring a much larger army against the invading force. <br /><br /> So, our defense has value. But it likely has the ultimate cost. And so, he actually took out his sword and famously He drew a long line in the sand and he said, look, this is utterly volunteer. It is up to you. But if you want to stay and fight, I'm going to ask you to cross the line. And if you want to leave, you are free to go. <br /><br /> Probably after tomorrow, you won't have the chance to go. And every soldier crossed the line except for one who was the one that lived to tell the story of those that perished and they all perished in the Alamo. was Jim Bowie, whom the Bowie knife is named after, and one of many of our all time favorite American pioneers, Davy Crockett. <br /><br /> They crossed the line. That particular phrase, the line in the sand, has entered American language from the big, potentially costly choice. The Israelites are at a similar place in their lives here in Joshua chapter 5. To this point in the book of Joshua, they have come now, they are about to enter the land and And God has been at work among them because now, after 40 years in the wilderness, this new generation of Israelites are preparing to go in to try to conquer the land of promise that God has given to them. <br /><br /> And as they gather there... God has done a couple of things already in chapter one of Joshua, God has promised to be with them and fight for them in Joshua chapter two. He has told them the story through some of their spies that have gone out and have interviewed a woman in a city called Jericho. She's actually a prostitute there, and she has told them that everybody in the land is scared to death of you guys. <br /><br /> And he has encouraged the people. And in Joshua chapter 3 and 4, we have the record of God actually taking them over the surging waters of the Jordan River, five times at normal, depth at this point. It was floodwaters. And God has opened that and they have gone in and now we come to chapter 5 and now God addresses them for their role. <br /><br /> And he tells them what they must do before they enter the land. They must offer themselves to Jehovah. In our passage, God calls for commitment at a little spot called Gilgal. And this map portrays that place. That is actually the Jordan River Valley. If you are familiar at all with the land of, of, of Israel. <br /><br /> And I forgot my pointer. Um. To the left of Gilgal and the Jordan River Valley is really all of Israel. And that's where they're going to go. But they come through, they cross the Jordan River, they hit Gilgal, and the next thing they're going to face is the fortress city of Jericho. Gilgal is, it actually means the rolling. <br /><br /> God gave it this name. There was no town there before. It was a, it was a town of tents that the Israels made. It will become very prominent in the history of Israel. After every day, while circling the walls of Jericho, they will return to Gilgal. After every military campaign, which will occur over the next 20 years, When they go out, they will constantly come back to this tent city that is put in the Jordan River called Gilgal, the place of rolling. <br /><br /> Later, 400 years later, when the people of Israel insist on a king, he will be enthroned at Gilgal. It is a place of significance to the people of Israel. It is a place where a unique and wholehearted commitment of the people to the Lord of heaven is first pronounced and continually in their history. It is a place where they return to reaffirm their covenant to God. <br /><br /> And this is a cool day for us here at FCC. God's enabled us to upgrade our facilities, to expand our seating capacity. To have a worship space whose technology and acoustics help us to do ministries and serve our community for years to come. He gave us the money to do it all in cash through the generous giving of our people. <br /><br /> And that is all awesome. But it's just a space. It's what God's people do that matters. The Holy Spirit of God works through. The people of God when their hearts are committed to him. So this morning we stand at our own Gilgal where God draws a line in the sand. He calls us to offer ourselves to him for his purposes and pleasure. <br /><br /> For His glory as we seek to be His people to our generation and in generations to come in this little small corner of His work that He's doing all over the world. Join me as we take a few minutes to reflect on what commitment looks like to the people of God when they are brought to a Gilgal moment. <br /><br /> We're going to see six things. Number one, we see commitment as a response to what God has done. In verse one, we have the account of the, people of the land, actually, who have heard about God parting the Jordan River and that they have traveled across at the Jordan at flood stage. Was a seemingly impregnable barrier for the Israelites, but God did a mini Red Sea deal all over again for this new generation of Israelites. <br /><br /> And as He does so, the people of the land are filled with awe and fear of this God who they have brought with them. For thirty eight years, the Israelites have been wandering in the wilderness. They've come to the Promised Land thirty eight years. They had come 38 years back, and at that point had come in a different entrance to the land of promise, but they had scouted it out, and of course the story of the 10 of the 12 spies was, we are grasshoppers in their sight and in ours. <br /><br /> We have no chance of taking this place. And they refused to follow God, they refused to trust Him, and for 38 years God has had them wandering in the wilderness. Now God is giving the next generation their chance at the plate. Their opportunity to believe God and see His mighty hand at work through them. <br /><br /> And He starts it off by reminding them of who He is and that He is for them. He has worked in giving them their own Red Sea moment. It's just at a river this time. He chose them, He rescued them, He taught them, He guided them, He reminded them they belong to Him. All things that He says to you if you have embraced Christ as your Savior and been embraced in His saving grace. <br /><br /> I want to speak just for a moment to young adults. Young adults, to me, this is arbitrary. But under 35 years old, the 1. 5 million dollars that was given was probably not primarily given by your demographic. Certainly there are exceptions. Many of you gave. But a lot of it was older money. But it was given to this church body to minister for years to come. <br /><br /> It was given so this facility Can still be serving your time. When you are the leaders, when you are the influences of this church family, God did it, and you now stand at Gilgal. You stand as the new generation to embrace God's work and serve Christ passionately. Not only in this building. But in your lives, this is a Gilgal moment. <br /><br /> This was a whole new generation of God's people. And I challenge you guys, that stand in the next generations to come. God did not primarily renovate this building for guys who look like me. For my generation of people. This is for you. This calling to come to Gilgal is particularly to you. As a new generation, to be used by God because your lives are sold out for Him. <br /><br /> Commitment is a response to what God has done. The second thing we find, commitment involves risk. In verse 2 and 3, we're told that Joshua says, Get the flint knives, basically. Now, if I were there and I heard Joshua say something like that, I'd say, Yes! Get the flint knives! Get the swords! Get the spearheads! <br /><br /> Get the arrowheads! Get them together! Get the grappling hooks! Put them all in a pile! Load them up! And let's go take the land! And Joshua would say, It's not what the flint knives is about. <br /><br /> And then I'd find out this dicey description of what he is planning with those flint knives. Nobody under 40 is circumcised, and circumcised was the symbol that identified you as a follower of Jehovah. And beyond the weirdness of this moment is a very nerve wracking reality. When God, through Moses, through Joshua, Joshua says, Gather all these guys. <br /><br /> I want everybody. Now these were, these were the warrior age, right? 20 years old, you could be a warrior in Israel. You were conscripted into the, the military service. And the 20 to 40 year olds were the ones that had the most prowess in military service. And he says, I want all these guys and everyone below them to be circumcised. <br /><br /> Now that may say, okay, well, you know, whatever, and I'm not going to get, get into a visual presentation. But, but in Genesis 34, 25, we're told about an event in the Old Testament where the son, where the brothers, Joseph and his brothers, the sons of Isaac, Sons of Jacob actually got together and they convinced the people of the land, the city, the guys, to say well, our daughter, you know, our sister can't marry in if you guys aren't circumcised. <br /><br /> So the whole city was circumcised. Well, here's what happened. Three days later, while the men were still in pain, still recovering from a serious... medical procedure. They were unable to fight back, and actually the whole city was destroyed. It was actually a horrible moment. But the picture is, it knocks you out as a fighter. <br /><br /> And he says, okay, right here under the shadow of Jericho, and right on the border, beyond those cliffs of this Jordan Valley, where all of our enemies are waiting for us. By the way, we're going to stay here right down in the valley and we're going to incapacitate all of our soldiers. You say, well, could we do this in shifts? <br /><br /> You know, like maybe the 15 to 20, the 20 to 25. And I said, no, this is a moment. God required them to do something that made themselves totally vulnerable. They had no reserves. <br /><br /> That's what commitment looks like in the hands of God. God calls to commitment, nothing in reserve. He says, I own your finances. I want you to give your first fruits to God, though it seems to leave you financially strapped. Your career, Gilgal, is a place where you lay your career plans before God. Your relationships, you can't hold on to a God dishonoring relationship and move forward from Gilgal. <br /><br /> And commitments always involve risks. I love the statement, I've never forgotten it. Dawson Trotman, a number of years ago, wrote it. He was the founder of the Navigators. And he asked this question, and I remember hearing a tape. Where he is presenting this message and how it impacted me as a young man that wanted to live for God. <br /><br /> And he said this, What are you trusting God for? Where if God doesn't come through you will fall flat on your face. Commitment involves risk. Second, third, commitment is encouraged by the example of others. Verses 4 through 6, we have negative examples. The fact that they had been uncircumcised for all those 40 years. <br /><br /> Not one baby born in those years was circumcised on the eighth day after birth, which they had been done and doing for centuries. Apparently, most believe that the rejection of God's will In taking the land, had replaced the entire generation under the discipline of God. So he stopped the practice of circumcision until a new generation came forth to identify as his people here at Gilgal. <br /><br /> They were fully aware of that. They would be reminded of that, that, hey, we're reinstituting this circumcision thing after. Almost 40 years. It would remind them of the reason that it had been put on hold. It would remind them of the disobedience and the... And the fear that had dominated the unreadiness to do the will of God when they came to the land the first time. <br /><br /> Learning of others failures always has the potential of serving as a warning. It can be abused, of course. It can be a source of pride for us. It can be a source of thinking, I'm, I'm different and better somehow. It can be a way of, of demeaning others, but failure of others in its best use. Is to warn us number of years ago as many years ago, we were still meeting in the gym, not this time, the real time, we only had two of us on staff. <br /><br /> It was Pastor Ralph and myself. We had Dr. Paul Dixon come and speak with us. Dr. Dixon was the president of Cityville College. He had been a very God anointed evangelist, great speaker, great leader, And we had him come and he preached to our little fledgling community. And he asked Ralph and I, after the service, he said, Can I get with you guys for lunch? <br /><br /> And so we went out with him. It was, and didn't even invite our wives, even though his wife was there. He took the two of us out. And I have never forgotten that event. Because he said, Guys, you are two young guys. that God wants to use. And I want to tell you a story. He said, in the last handful of weeks, my college roommate, my best friend, who God has used to build, and I knew the church, a influential church in the Midwest, was caught in a relationship with a woman that was not his wife. <br /><br /> It completely decimated his ministry. It has the potential of destroying his family. And he, he spoke directly into us, looking us right in the eyes. He said, I challenge you guys to build the guardrails in your life. To learn from my, and he was emotional, my friend. It, it, it had great impact on us. We did build some guardrails into the way we met with women in counseling, the way that we carried ourselves, the accountability we had with each other, and then pulled in others. <br /><br /> Commitment is encouraged by the warning of others. One of the reasons we do these things, we say, God, I'm committed to living a life of holiness, because I realize others have not, and their story could be mine. You know, there are also positive examples here in verse seven and eight. The people are seemingly As a mass agreeing to what God is asking them to do in this line of the sand moment at this moment, this tremendous corporate encouragement to seek God and to be sold out to him and to cross over that line in the sand. <br /><br /> Who you spend time with is shaping you. It is. Who you are doing life with is shaping you. It's shaping your thinking. Commitment to follow God and his lead into battle was directly tied to having the right voices in their lives, supporting them. Commitment is encouraged by the example of others. Fourth, commitment is essential to seeing God at work in our lives. <br /><br /> In verse nine, God says, now I'm removing the reproach of Egypt. The word here, removing is actually the word rolling it off. It's why he called the place Gilgal. Again, this was, this, this wasn't even a truck stop. This was nothing. This is just an open plain. And he made their tent city here. And he called it Gilgal because he said at this moment. <br /><br /> In this day, I'm rolling off the reproach of Egypt. So what's he talking about? Well, remember the story. Here's the story, of course. Over a generation ago, God had raised up a guy named Moses, and Moses had been led to come to Pharaoh, and he said, I want you to let the people of Israel go, even though they've been here for 400 years, even though they are your entire blue collar workforce. <br /><br /> They're basically all slaves. You're paying them nothing. I want you to let them all go. I want you to emancipate the entire workforce of slaves. Well, Pharaoh wasn't fired up about the idea, and so God had to use plagues. It came upon, and finally, Pharaoh said, Just go go wasn't long after that that Pharaoh realized this wasn't such a good idea It didn't take long for things to dawn on how this is going to affect their economy So he took off after them and as he chased them down with a large portion of his army 600 chariots Which would be the Sherman tanks of the day? <br /><br /> They follow them and and has them cornered at the Red Sea and then God opens the sea they go through The tanks come in and and they're buried under the sea and God utterly The power of Egypt, the most powerful nation on earth at the time. <br /><br /> The name of God was exalted and lifted up, but over the last 40 years, a whole different story has played. Over the last 40 years, the people of Egypt have watched as the hundreds of thousands, and I say that advisedly. of Israelites wandered in a land mass that is smaller than one half of the state of Pennsylvania. <br /><br /> I mean, can you imagine following the story for 40 years of hundreds of thousands of people with their tents and everything else traveling? Oh, They're up to Allentown now. I hear they're at Scranton. Now they're down to Harrisburg. They made it all the way to State College. Where are they going? They're just wandering around. <br /><br /> Hundreds of thousands of people. What do you think their response was? Mockery. Disdain. Slander. These people. Who do they think they are? They're going to tell us. I don't know what their Red Sea actually was. Probably that was all made up anyway. But look at them! Moses, remember Moses? He thought he was so cool, got out of the land. <br /><br /> He, he thought he could face down Pharaoh. Now look at them! For 40 years there's been reproach. And God says this. Here at Gilgal, the reproach stops here. This day is the day in which I am going to change the story of my people. <br /><br /> But, there's a line in the sand. My people have to be willing. To commit, to see my work in their lives in the way that I want to work through them and in them. <br /><br /> They also saw God fight for them. In verse 11 and 12, it talks about how they're going to go into the land. And what he's going to do, up until now, for 40 years, they've been fed how? The manna. This bread like stuff that comes six days a week. It doesn't come on Saturday because it's a Sabbath. But for 40 years, that's what they're eating. <br /><br /> Making breads and so forth. At certain times, God gives meat, miraculously to them. But this is their food. And all of a sudden, this stops today. Why? Because He says, We're now going into the land. You're gonna take the spoils. You're gonna eat the crops. You're going to get the, the foodstuffs. Everything is going to be there. <br /><br /> Every one of us brings in our lives, habits, holes in our lives, missing pieces or pieces that we wish weren't there. Some of you have giant debts, you have things to make right, you've got battles. And God says this, I'm drawing a line in the sand, asking you by faith to cross over, to trust me, to allow me to be the Lord of my life. <br /><br /> But, I will fight for you. There are some of you that say, I, I don't know. I have messed up so bad. There is so much in my life. I look at the past and, yeah, wilderness, that's me. <br /><br /> Honestly, that's me. And God says, This is what I do at Gilgal's. I won't take away all your problems. But I will bring to you the ultimate problem solver that will sustain you and carry you and care for you and enable you to survive in circumstances you would say it's not possible. Commitment is essential to seeing God at work in our lives. <br /><br /> God wants to make himself known in your life. God wants to be the strength of your life. God wants to carry you. But there are voices in your head that are saying, I, I, I, wow, I can't do it. My life is one of... Shame. Reproach. My life is full of stuff that I can't handle. God says, cross the line. Give yourself to me and watch what I will do. <br /><br /> The fourth, fifth thing. Commitment is on, off, repeated experience. Throughout the next twenty years, the people kept returning to Gilgal. It's interesting, God didn't have them move around. All that time, they're fighting for the land. It actually was a bad place to be, humanly speaking. From a defensive standpoint, you don't want to be on the low ground. <br /><br /> In a, in a valley surrounded by the enemy up on the hilltops. It also is not a centrally located, basically all of their battles are going to be out. There was actually three different campaign campaigns, a Southern campaign, a central campaign and a Northern campaign. But they weren't centralized in any of that. <br /><br /> But it was a place which God constantly called them to renew their commitment to them, to him. Later, every seventh year, they went through a whole commitment ceremony. And read aloud the book of Deuteronomy. It's recorded in the book, I think it's Numbers. I can't tell you how many times I've recommitted my life to the Lord. <br /><br /> I hope you are. I hope, maybe today, the Lord's just gonna stir and say, Hey, it's Gilgal. Again, it's a place to just say, Lord, ultimately this isn't about a cool new change in our building. It's about me. It's how I want you to work through my life. I want you to move through me by your grace. The last thing is commitment is life shaping. <br /><br /> What they make their priorities will change. Circumcision's restored. There's a new vision to identify as God's people. Some of our lives today are out of control. Some of us would honestly have to say. As I look back at my Christian journey, could I say this is the time when, when my heart belongs to Christ in the way I'm living my life as it was in other days? <br /><br /> No, I couldn't say that. Well, Gilgal is here. Maybe you hear and you say, you know, I've heard about this Jesus thing and and I know Jesus, I've read about Him, I've heard but people talk about having a personal relationship with Him. No, maybe Gilgal for you is saying I, I'm asking someone, I'm going to talk to a pastor, I'm going to find someone that will joyfully explain to me, as we would joyfully do, how I can personally make Jesus Christ the Savior and center of my life. <br /><br /> Their time will change. Verse 13 and 14 says they're reinstituting the annual calendar. They're going to, they're going to start re celebrating the feast days. Their rhythm of life now is going to be built around the things that support godliness. We stand at Gilgal today. It's a place of commitment, and I challenge you to just take these moments together to ask, is there a line in the sand that God has for you this morning? <br /><br /> It's just something he's saying, yeah, I brought you here today. You came because you're excited to see the building, which is awesome. But I had something bigger in mind for you. I wanted to use this as a Gilgal moment in your life. Let's pray together. <br /><br /> Lord, we come to you who are the God who offers to us life and hope and change. Lord, I believe that there is no one here. That is too old or too young to be on your I can do it through you list. So Lord, let us be a people that come with all our stuff. Our brokenness, our neediness. Thank you for all the things in the life of every person that is under my voice right now. <br /><br /> Online and in this room. Who has things in their lives that make them feel it's too much for me. It's beyond me. Lord, is in those moments that you say, I'm here. In your brokenness, in your struggles, in your sorrow, in your confusion. These are moments that I use. You tell us to draw us to you in desperation. <br /><br /> So Lord, do that as we stand at Gilgal today. May we be a people renewed in a commitment to yield to you. In whose name I pray.</div> false no <![CDATA[God at Work Everywhere, Always]]> Acts 28:1-10

And when this had taken place, the rest of the people on the island who had diseases also came and were cured.



Sermon Transcript:

I invite you to take your Bibles. We're going to be looking at Acts chapter 28 as we continue in our series, The Spirit at Work, To the Ends of the Earth. We're almost to the ends of the book of Acts in Acts chapter 28. And I invite you to join me there. We're going to be reading Acts chapter 28 verses 1 through 10.

It's great to be with you. Great to be with you guys here in the gym. Also, you guys that are in the lobby and also those of you that are in Collingswood this morning. One of the great roles of preaching is to encourage people to be excited to get into the scriptures themselves. The Bible is not a secret code book.

Am I rattling a little bit? It gives me a little more presence.

It's not a secret code book. It is designed to be a living message of God to our lives to help us grow and learn. One of the best ways to learn its truth, both for preaching, and for just practical living is to ask questions. The most important question every time you read the scripture is, what do I learn about God here?

That's the goal. We'll go into the scripture most of all. But there are other questions that we ask. What do I learn here about living with God, about trusting God, about obeying God, about enjoying God, depending on God. It's all God. But we look to things to learn and to understand. When we come to narrative sections, which the whole book of Acts is narrative, one of the most important questions that we ask, because really what's happening is selective history.

Acts is a record of over 30 years of events taking place over literally the entire Roman Empire in the Mediterranean world. And Luke in this 28 chapters is presenting to us specific sermons, specific events of thousands that he could have presented to us. So each one that is there is recorded for a reason.

And so one of our great questions as we come to the book of acts or any narrative is to say, why would God have chosen this particular story, this particular event, this particular place at this particular time? And there are always clues and cues that God gives to us. Last Sunday, Pastor Jared preached a sermon on Acts chapter 27.

I thought he did a tremendous job. in answering this question. He explained what it taught us about God. He also explained why God included this record, which was just a story of a shipwreck. And it took a whole chapter of all the things that have been going on for 30 years to spend 1 27th about a shipwreck.

Why? And I thought Jared did a tremendous portrayal of how it fits in the whole purpose of the book of Acts. for our lives. That's what we want to do. We want to be questioners as we come to the scriptures in order that we can be learners in the scriptures. This morning we come to a follow up historical event.

They did get shipwrecked. Actually, they were shipwrecked off the shores of an island called Malta, which is a small island just south of Sicily. , off the coast just west of Italy. And as we come to this particular scene again, I'd like to begin, after we read it, at just saying what I think is at least one of the prominent reasons God may have recorded this for us.

But let's read it together. Acts chapter 28, verses 1 through 10.

After we were brought safely through, we then learned that the island was called Malta. The native people showed us unusual kindness, for they kindled a fire and welcomed us all, because it had begun to rain and was cold. When Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and put them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened on his hand.

When the native people saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, No doubt this man is a murderer. Though he has escaped from the sea, justice has not allowed him to live. He, however, shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm. They were waiting for him to swell up or suddenly fall down dead, but when they waited a long time and saw no misfortune come to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god.

Now in the neighborhood of that place were lands belonging to the chief man of the island named Publius, who received us and entertained us hospitably for three days. It happened that the father of Publius lay sick with fever and dysentery, and Paul visited him and prayed. And putting his hands on him healed him.

And when this had taken place, the rest of the people on the island, when they had, had disease, who also had diseases, also came and were cured. They also honored us greatly. And when we were about to sail, they put us, they put on board whatever we needed.

Lord, we come, we love the scriptures. We're grateful, God, that You designed to give us the Bible, the living word that could speak into our lives. And Lord, I'm asking you to do that today in a particular way. In this room, in the lobby, in Collingswood, with folks that are watching online this morning, Lord, you know every single life situation that they're bringing to their listening.

And I ask, Lord, that you who know us, you who superintend our lives, that you might specifically, intentionally, particularly speak into their lives this morning truth. In Jesus name, Amen.

As I've reflected on this story and why God recorded it for us, I'm convinced that at least one of the reasons is that God could teach us that He is a God that is at work all the time, in all places. That's important to be reminded of, isn't it? Some of you are in situations that don't feel that way.

Some of you are in circstances where darkness seems to be winning, where hearts that you long to see changed seem impenetrable. And God encourages us to be reminded of the things that are true about God as revealed in this passage. The first we find is that God perceives the worldview of everyone. In verses one through seven, we have this interesting event that takes place and it says the native people, these were the people on the island there, And the word is literally the word barbarians in the Greek.

It actually is recording them, these people were barbarians. Now it wasn't used in quite the way we might use it today because it meant a specific thing. Barbarians are a new group of people introduced to us here in the book of Acts. They're not mentioned anywhere else. And these individuals, and they're mentioned twice here in this passage, are individuals that did not know Latin or Greek.

They didn't know the, the, the language of the Romans, which was Latin. They didn't know the Greeks, which was Greek. They didn't know either one. And for them, they were viewed by the populace at large as uneducated and unrefined. They were individuals that did not have learning, didn't really know the languages.

They had their own language, and there were derisive things said about this. Now, of course, this tells us something we may not have known about bodybuilder and California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and apparently he does not speak Greek or Latin. But when Greeks or Romans heard these barbarians speak, they heard their language just like, Bar, bar, bar, bar.

They didn't know what it was saying. So they actually took what they heard and gave them that name. Now you may say, well that's, that's ridiculous to, to make repeated sounds into a word. But you do the same thing. I'll show you how. You're listening to somebody chattering on and on, and you go, you know, she's just going on and on, just blah, blah, blah, blah.

What are you saying? She's a blah, blah being. You get it? Barbarian blah, blah, blah. We won't try that one in the 1030 service. Okay.

And as we read about these people, these barbarians, we find that they represent another form of paganism or polytheistic belief. They actually identify one of their gods who is the god who is called Justice. The one

that one that guarantees that Somebody gets theirs when they do wrong and somebody is rewarded when they do right It's a it's a belief system that is replete that there is something outside of han experience that is dominating things. Interestingly, the visual of Lady Justice has continued. It is actually, she is inscribed into the wall of our Supreme Court, Lady Justice.

She's there with scales which are saying she's, she's weighing things. She's also given a sword. She's the one to mete out justice. This concept is something that has been built in as a foundational belief among these islanders, and that has been true since the beginning of han history. It is the idea that there is accountability to a system of justice that is outside of ourselves.

Now, we don't agree that Paul is bit by a poisonous viper because He's a murderer. They actually just asse, look, there are 276 of you that floated ashore and only one of you got bit by a poisonous snake. He must be the worst. He's the, he's the, he's obviously a murderer. The worst crime they could come up with.

And we also don't believe because he doesn't die that that proves that he's godlike because Lady Justice is affirming him in such a way. But there is a worldview that has dominated hanity since the beginning of han existence. It goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden, an awareness that hans are accountable to something beyond themselves.

Of course, the Garden of Eden portrays it as a monotheistic view of life. And monotheism, the word mono is one, one God, one Theos is the concept. It was the faith of Abraham and his descendants, all the Jews. It became the faith of the, of the Christian faith. It is foundationally believing that there is a sense in which we are accountable to this one God beyond ourselves.

Now hang with me on this because the reason I'm saying all this. What happened then, as hankind invariably tries to throw off authority and accountability to God? There began to be a distortion of that. Romans 1 describes it. That inevitably a heart of sin, a desire for autonomy, attempts to distort one's responsibility and accountability to God.

And so one of the things we do is what Romans 1 said. Although they knew God, in verse 21 and 22. Although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him. But became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools. And here's what they did, and here's what hanity does.

And exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images. Resembling mortal man, and birds, and animals, and creeping things. In other words, they developed a multiplicity of gods. This is the practice of polytheism. The idea that the development of multiple gods, only in this case, small g, there's not one ruling brella god, one being over all.

But there is still the sense that hans do not set their own rules. That they are accountable to laws, rules outside of themselves. It may be lady justice. It may be a thousand other beings that they are accountable to in one way or another. But there is the sense, there is a worldview that we are accountable to something beyond ourselves.

Now, the reason I'm saying all this is because in the last 500 years that has changed. There is a book that has been put together. It is, it is, I'm in the middle of the thing. It is called, , just lost the word, Charles Taylor A Secular Age. It's a classic book. It's 900 pages long. It is not fun reading.

It is slow go, but it is fantastic. And basically he is a Harvard professor. It is produced by Harvard Press. And Charles Taylor has developed the whole concept of our secular age. And basically what he's done is saying, where did the concept of secularism come into han experience? He goes back to the 1500s to present time.

The fascinating thing, and I've read a ton of reviews on this book, because I was just interested. I, I have not found anyone, whether it is a, a Christian person, whether it is an absolute atheistic person, whether it is a A professor in a Christian university, whether it is the chairman of a philosophy department and the most liberal university that has not said, this is a brilliant portrayal of what is transpiring in our culture or how we have got to where we are.

Basically, what is presented in the book is to highlight why Western civilization is facing the crisis it is. Because deeply within ourselves is the deep determination to find purpose in one's life and to uphold culture with moral standards that all must subscribe to, yet having no basis for either of these realities without a higher power actively ruling in our lives.

Basically, the concept of atheism, and you're welcome to Google me on this baby. Was not out there until 500 years ago. You say, well, that's ridiculous. It's not. No, I mean, there's never been atheists. I'm not going to say I don't know everybody. But but as far as a movement, as far as a belief system, it has come.

It is just another world view. And what has happened in the last few centuries? And now we are bearing the the sense of this in the way people perceive life. And why so many people Even that would name the name of God. So, well, yeah, I believe, you believe in God? Absolutely. But they are utterly functional atheists.

By the way, we Christians can live that way as well, right? We believe in God, but we don't really act like it. , but basically, what is, is portrayed in this book and others that are now, I mean, this is amazing how many people quote this. I, I read one, but I didn't read the whole thing. I read part of a book.

Was called the greatest development of the history of atheism. This guy basically quotes from, from Charles Taylor's book over and over and over just historically. But atheism is simply the attempt to take Romans 1, a little farther and say it is not only to reduce God, you know, by saying, well, there's not really one sovereign God, there's multiple gods, thousands of them, put them in shapes of animals and, and people and everything else.

It is to eradicate God. To act like he is not existent. C. S. Lewis talks about in his classic treatise, God in the Dock. What has resulted in our day and our culture, and that is the fact that we, the dock in English courtrooms is where the person on trial is stands as the trial goes on and the questions come.

And he says that's where God is. People now put God on trial. Tim Keller says it in his in his really good book making sense of God and invitation to the skeptical. He says this ancient people did not asse that the han mind had enough wisdom to sit in judgment on how an infinite God was disposing of things.

Of course, we do it all the time. So here we come to this little island of Malta. And we find a people that believe there was a standard of righteousness outside of themselves. They believe it was under Lady Justice. who would implement it, whether it was in the form of one supreme God or various deities.

We find as we look through the book of Acts that Paul has been continually introducing us to all different people groups with all different world views started Paul interacting with people that were Jews that believed in a monotheistic view of creation and And that all were accountable to this sovereign God.

We see him in Mars Hill in the book of Acts, where he says I see you've got a lot of gods here. Well, but I see one that's to the unknown God. Well, I want to tell you about him. He's the one that's the maker of heaven and earth. He's actually the God. We see him as he comes in, in the, the, the church, the city of Ephesus, where the temple of Diana is.

And all the perspective that she was the supreme being. And now we come to Malta and we find another view of polytheism. But what we find is all different world views and perspectives. But the one common reality we find in every situation is God knows exactly how to make himself known. I'll tell you, I find such encouragement in that.

Because this time I do what you do and I look at our world and I look at our culture and I say, How in the world is anything gonna get through in this chaos and this anger and this confusion and this, this throwing out of even the most basic historic definitions of anthropological or, or the, the whole doctrine of man, which I've said many times to you is, is the assai doctrine in our, in our day, every major issue.

that is raised in our culture, anti christian, is an anthropological. And you say, how in the world are we going to? God, God knows worldviews. God knows people. He knows the people in your office. He knows your relatives. He knows your neighbors. He knows you. He knows how to speak into us, whatever our worldview is.

And he does it here, on Malta. To people that believed in lady justice. And somehow God is able to take their view of things and to speak into it. And first, in their interpretation, they think, well, well, the God is, the God's, in this case, Lady Justice in particular, is punishing him because he's a very wicked man.

Nope! He's not a very wicked man. He's an amazing man. The gods are honoring him and even making him one of their own. God is then able to speak into them. I've mentioned this story in the past. It was such an encouragement to me. I was sitting in a doctor's office and as I was sitting in the doctor's office, I was reading a magazine that was sitting there and I almost didn't pick it up because I just felt I've, I've done enough thinking lately about, various philosophies that were out there and I just, it felt sort of weighty from it.

And this guy was quoting from the existentialist, which was a major thing in the 1900s, which basically said there is no purpose to life. There is no meaning. There is no God. It was a giant thing. John Paul Sartre. Just lost it. Actually, my favorite one. Anyway, so they're, they're, , he's, he's, and he's telling his story.

He says, yeah, I was raised in a religious background, Christian background, and I went to university and I love philosophy and I started to move towards philosophy and he became a philosophy major. And he was a philosophy professor now as he was telling his story, but what he did was he told, he said, as I studied the existentialist and, and that's the whole, if you've ever heard of the theater of the absurd, it's just life is absurd, things are absurd makes no sense because there's no purpose and meaning and get over yourselves if you think there are, because there's no God, there can't be, And this guy was telling the story of how, in the midst of this, a card carrying existentialist that he had become, he was all of a sudden thinking about, But, wait a minute, I want to have purpose to my life.

Where did that desire come from? Why do I long for that? My dog doesn't want to have a purpose. He wants lunch. But, but where do I get this from? Where do I get this desire for meaning? And he began to think, and he's a philosopher type, so he's probably, where, where does that come from? And it was actually the existentialist that caused him to say, you're a purposeless, random, basically meaningless being.

You just got to sort of create your own purpose and meaning that actually drove him to the cross. And to my delight, as I read through the story, he was actually now teaching philosophy as a born again Christian, speaking into the existential world of saying, there is a God. He is real and he has come among, it was just, it was so, it was so encouraging to me.

Because it reminded me what this, this, this whole thing is about. God knows worldviews. God speaks into... And you may say, well, the people that I'm dealing with wouldn't even know how to spell existentialist. As a matter of fact... I don't either and I wouldn't care. It doesn't matter the life view. They're living out of the things in their life that they're holding on for meaning.

God knows them. God understands them. God speaks into the language of every worldview. I think part of this that that Luke has been reminding us in all these different situations. Now he's got a whole new people group for us. I mean, we're on the way to Rome. That's the crown jewel of everything, right? We stop off at a little island called Malta in order that We can be reminded that God also speaks into the barbarian.

The second thing we find, God puts to you small steps of hble servanthood. Paul and the other 275 passengers make their way to the island. Some encouraged to swim, initially, and then the others that can't swim, they're put on boards and barrels and whatever they can hold on to. And astonishingly, just as Paul predicted, because God had told him, all 276 make it And on the island of Malta, apparently where they came, , there were shoals way out deep.

So there was a long journey in, but none of these people were lost. And they had come to see Paul now as having some answers they needed to listen to. I mean, he's told them, don't anybody, they were trying to leave the ship. And he goes to the guys, he says, no, God has told me that nobody should leave the ship.

Don't put them out in the lifeboats. And so they cut the lifeboat free. If you remember with Jared's Text last week and basically everybody stayed on the boat. They listened to Paul and now Paul has rescued every single guy. It's astonishing. The boat had actually broken in half. It said the stern broke off, but they all survived.

Just like Paul said. Now, Paul comes to the island and Paul is the man, right? I mean, he's the man. He's the guy and they've come on shore. It's, it's, it's raining. It's cool, which probably about that time of year in that place would have been about 50 degrees. So it's like a wet, cool rain. And what does Paul do?

He just does what everybody else does. I love the way we see him. He's portrayed as a simple laborer gathering brush for the fire, it's cold, and doing the task of putting the brush on the fire. God is at work. God has a snake there, and that snake bites Paul.

And we're reminded that so much of the Christian influence is really found in just the small mundane stuff of life. The entire thing that happens on Malta, and it's a cool thing that happens here. Came about because Paul is just doing with everybody else, probably one of many fires for 276 people that didn't all get around one little campfire.

He's just doing his stuff. He's cutting the brush, and as he's doing the brush, he gets bitten by a snake. He's not preaching. In effect, we don't even read of things that he was preaching here on Malta. He's not confronting religious leaders. He's just doing what he feels God is prompting him to do. I mentioned this week I was at a pastor's conference speaking up in northern New York State.

And Marianne and I were there over one of the meals. We were talking with a couple. And that's always some of the best part of some of this kind of time. Just getting to know people's stories. We were talking with a guy who was a farmer. And he was now a pastor. Actually, both. He was still doing a little bit of farming.

He he he milked his cows in the morning and he did church other parts of the day. And he was telling the story. He went to this little church. He'd been there four years. God had done some remarkable things in this very small church. But he was telling the story when he was candidating at the church that a 95 year old lady Was in the congregation and it was very, very small, but she was there and she sincere but direct pointed her finger at him and she said, Young man, if you become our pastor, how are you going to reach this community?

It was an old church. Most of the people were very older. He was younger. And he just, he said, I just honestly said, I don't know. But he said, I know the one that knows how to do it. And he said, I'm confident That he'll show me what to do and us what to do. And then he said that his 95 year old lady, will you help me?

Well, he got the call. And here he is trying to faithfully serve, do his thing, doesn't know how God's going to reach this community. And only a few months after he's there, this 95 year old lady passed and she died. And he got a call from the lawyer. He said, I just want you to know she left your church 300, 000.

And this guy being this guy, he said, we really felt that a lot of that shouldn't be looked at as ours to use just here. So they started looking for enterprises around the world where they could give 30, 000 here and some there. And he's telling these stories of movements of God that they jped in. And it was so exciting.

Anyway, just think. This guy had no plan, but he had a big God and he believed God. And he said, I don't know how, but I know the one that knows. Little knowing that God was going to use this lady that he challenges to be a part of the vision.

You may be in a situation in your life right now and you just say, All I see is giant obstacles. I don't see anything. I don't see any progress. There's not a Christian in here that has not felt that way sometimes or will feel that way. Where you just feel, I just, I, God, I need some wins. I need to see this moving forward some way.

Just remember that Paul didn't just make a difference by preaching and teaching. Paul spent eight of the last ten years of his life in jail. In the years when he thought he was going to be on his fourth missionary journey, changing the world in Rome and into Spain. But God used him to write all the letters we've got.

Again, Jared did a great job talking about that last week. Basically, God is at work. God is at work in your office. God is at work in your family. You may not know it. You may not see it. You may not experience the fruit of it tangibly, visibly. At least not yet, but God is at work all the time, at all places.

He asks you to be the one that's willing to work with, you know, Okay, I'll carry the brush. I'll do this. Maybe a snake will jp out and you think, Yeah, sure, that's exactly what I thought would happen. Paul didn't do that. He said, Okay. Snakes? Jail? I don't know how all this works, but he's big. I'm not. God puts to use the small steps of hble servanthood in the last thing.

And by the way, just remind you of some of the greatest stories in the Bible were people that just offered something really small. David offered a slingshot. Moses offered a staff. Paul had a brush pile. It was some little kid at a preaching venue of Jesus that offered five biscuits and two sardines. And there was a widow that gave her last penny.

It's God. It's only God. The third thing, God plans circstances to change people's hearts and build his kingdom. And verses 8 through 10 is the story that That Paul is, , given access, actually, he and others are cared for by the local chieftain of the island, Publius. And he finds out on the third day that Publius dad has a very severe fever.

, And Paul prays over him. He's healed. Eventually, the result is Paul has this major healing ministry on the island. Incredible impact. And we're told in verse 11 that he was on the island for three months. And when they left, the people of the island came and outfitted the ship and blessed them. I mean, I just, I love to think about what it was like for the Roman soldiers that were supposed to be the guards of this guy.

They didn't usually have the islanders outfit them. I mean, people hated the Romans. But somehow God has been at work and they have received this amazing favor. The whole story of the island, frankly, is a disaster when you think about it. I mean, it starts with Paul arriving there with, as a prisoner on his way to Rome.

He didn't design that, didn't expect it. It begins here with a shipwreck. It morphs into a cold rain on the beach. It develops by a poisonous snake biting Paul. He's viewed as a murderer, a deeply evil man. It changes to a misunderstanding that he's a pagan god. It's a mess! It might be how you're interpreting your world right now.

Shipwrecked. Great metaphor. Vipers coming at me. It's gray and miserable, surrounded by misunderstandings. But,

but, God. He is there with you in the gray and misery. He is with you in the shipwreck. He is there with the vipers that are coming at you. He's with the misunderstandings that are swirling around. He is present and he is at work and he says, lean into me, trust me, believe me, do the small acts of obedience I still ask you to do, even though there's part of you that wants to just curl up in your bed and not face one more morning.

Or maybe that you want to, you can't wait to face the next morning because you want to give them theirs. Lean into God. He's big. He's at work. He understands the worldviews of the people that matter most to you. He knows how to reach them. He's the only one that can reach them. You, you, you can be the greatest Christian that ever lived.

That isn't going to lead them to Jesus. Only God brings. It says salvation is of the Lord. He has to do it. He has to work in their lives in such a way.

God is a work. He's a work all the time. Lord,

there are times when I struggle to grab hold of that. There are times right now that some folks that are listening are in that it's hard to grab hold of that. So, Lord, do what you seem to delight to do. Do what the psalmist prayed. Lord, show us signs of your favor. Give enough favor, Father, enough encouragement to just

inflame their belief, their trust in you. Lord, as we gather here on this, Lord willing, last Sunday in the gym, as we look back on how you financially provided to enable us to go back to a room that is changed, we believe can more effectively accommodate ministry into lives of people. God, we think of all the ways, even over this last few years, of how many twists and turns.

And some ways it just felt like all we got is confusion. We don't know what's going on, where this is going. And now it just seems like, oh yeah, it all makes sense. Lord, for those of us today that are in that twist and turn confusion time. Give them faith to trust and hold on that they might look back and not only say, Oh, yeah, now it all makes sense.

But they also might look back and say, God, thank you that you helped me to hold on that. I didn't give way to anger, godlessness, vindictiveness, overwhelming fear.

Lord, you who delight to show mercy, mercy us today, we pray. In Jesus name. Amen.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/god-at-work-everywhere-always 5d05795f-c527-40a0-bc3c-e75128582c52 Sun, 29 Oct 2023 16:22:44 GMT <div data-html="true">Acts 28:1-10 <br /><br /> And when this had taken place, the rest of the people on the island who had diseases also came and were cured. <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> I invite you to take your Bibles. We're going to be looking at Acts chapter 28 as we continue in our series, The Spirit at Work, To the Ends of the Earth. We're almost to the ends of the book of Acts in Acts chapter 28. And I invite you to join me there. We're going to be reading Acts chapter 28 verses 1 through 10. <br /><br /> It's great to be with you. Great to be with you guys here in the gym. Also, you guys that are in the lobby and also those of you that are in Collingswood this morning. One of the great roles of preaching is to encourage people to be excited to get into the scriptures themselves. The Bible is not a secret code book. <br /><br /> Am I rattling a little bit? It gives me a little more presence. <br /><br /> It's not a secret code book. It is designed to be a living message of God to our lives to help us grow and learn. One of the best ways to learn its truth, both for preaching, and for just practical living is to ask questions. The most important question every time you read the scripture is, what do I learn about God here? <br /><br /> That's the goal. We'll go into the scripture most of all. But there are other questions that we ask. What do I learn here about living with God, about trusting God, about obeying God, about enjoying God, depending on God. It's all God. But we look to things to learn and to understand. When we come to narrative sections, which the whole book of Acts is narrative, one of the most important questions that we ask, because really what's happening is selective history. <br /><br /> Acts is a record of over 30 years of events taking place over literally the entire Roman Empire in the Mediterranean world. And Luke in this 28 chapters is presenting to us specific sermons, specific events of thousands that he could have presented to us. So each one that is there is recorded for a reason. <br /><br /> And so one of our great questions as we come to the book of acts or any narrative is to say, why would God have chosen this particular story, this particular event, this particular place at this particular time? And there are always clues and cues that God gives to us. Last Sunday, Pastor Jared preached a sermon on Acts chapter 27. <br /><br /> I thought he did a tremendous job. in answering this question. He explained what it taught us about God. He also explained why God included this record, which was just a story of a shipwreck. And it took a whole chapter of all the things that have been going on for 30 years to spend 1 27th about a shipwreck. <br /><br /> Why? And I thought Jared did a tremendous portrayal of how it fits in the whole purpose of the book of Acts. for our lives. That's what we want to do. We want to be questioners as we come to the scriptures in order that we can be learners in the scriptures. This morning we come to a follow up historical event. <br /><br /> They did get shipwrecked. Actually, they were shipwrecked off the shores of an island called Malta, which is a small island just south of Sicily. , off the coast just west of Italy. And as we come to this particular scene again, I'd like to begin, after we read it, at just saying what I think is at least one of the prominent reasons God may have recorded this for us. <br /><br /> But let's read it together. Acts chapter 28, verses 1 through 10. <br /><br /> After we were brought safely through, we then learned that the island was called Malta. The native people showed us unusual kindness, for they kindled a fire and welcomed us all, because it had begun to rain and was cold. When Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and put them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened on his hand. <br /><br /> When the native people saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, No doubt this man is a murderer. Though he has escaped from the sea, justice has not allowed him to live. He, however, shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm. They were waiting for him to swell up or suddenly fall down dead, but when they waited a long time and saw no misfortune come to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god. <br /><br /> Now in the neighborhood of that place were lands belonging to the chief man of the island named Publius, who received us and entertained us hospitably for three days. It happened that the father of Publius lay sick with fever and dysentery, and Paul visited him and prayed. And putting his hands on him healed him. <br /><br /> And when this had taken place, the rest of the people on the island, when they had, had disease, who also had diseases, also came and were cured. They also honored us greatly. And when we were about to sail, they put us, they put on board whatever we needed. <br /><br /> Lord, we come, we love the scriptures. We're grateful, God, that You designed to give us the Bible, the living word that could speak into our lives. And Lord, I'm asking you to do that today in a particular way. In this room, in the lobby, in Collingswood, with folks that are watching online this morning, Lord, you know every single life situation that they're bringing to their listening. <br /><br /> And I ask, Lord, that you who know us, you who superintend our lives, that you might specifically, intentionally, particularly speak into their lives this morning truth. In Jesus name, Amen. <br /><br /> As I've reflected on this story and why God recorded it for us, I'm convinced that at least one of the reasons is that God could teach us that He is a God that is at work all the time, in all places. That's important to be reminded of, isn't it? Some of you are in situations that don't feel that way. <br /><br /> Some of you are in circstances where darkness seems to be winning, where hearts that you long to see changed seem impenetrable. And God encourages us to be reminded of the things that are true about God as revealed in this passage. The first we find is that God perceives the worldview of everyone. In verses one through seven, we have this interesting event that takes place and it says the native people, these were the people on the island there, And the word is literally the word barbarians in the Greek. <br /><br /> It actually is recording them, these people were barbarians. Now it wasn't used in quite the way we might use it today because it meant a specific thing. Barbarians are a new group of people introduced to us here in the book of Acts. They're not mentioned anywhere else. And these individuals, and they're mentioned twice here in this passage, are individuals that did not know Latin or Greek. <br /><br /> They didn't know the, the, the language of the Romans, which was Latin. They didn't know the Greeks, which was Greek. They didn't know either one. And for them, they were viewed by the populace at large as uneducated and unrefined. They were individuals that did not have learning, didn't really know the languages. <br /><br /> They had their own language, and there were derisive things said about this. Now, of course, this tells us something we may not have known about bodybuilder and California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and apparently he does not speak Greek or Latin. But when Greeks or Romans heard these barbarians speak, they heard their language just like, Bar, bar, bar, bar. <br /><br /> They didn't know what it was saying. So they actually took what they heard and gave them that name. Now you may say, well that's, that's ridiculous to, to make repeated sounds into a word. But you do the same thing. I'll show you how. You're listening to somebody chattering on and on, and you go, you know, she's just going on and on, just blah, blah, blah, blah. <br /><br /> What are you saying? She's a blah, blah being. You get it? Barbarian blah, blah, blah. We won't try that one in the 1030 service. Okay. <br /><br /> And as we read about these people, these barbarians, we find that they represent another form of paganism or polytheistic belief. They actually identify one of their gods who is the god who is called Justice. The one <br /><br /> that one that guarantees that Somebody gets theirs when they do wrong and somebody is rewarded when they do right It's a it's a belief system that is replete that there is something outside of han experience that is dominating things. Interestingly, the visual of Lady Justice has continued. It is actually, she is inscribed into the wall of our Supreme Court, Lady Justice. <br /><br /> She's there with scales which are saying she's, she's weighing things. She's also given a sword. She's the one to mete out justice. This concept is something that has been built in as a foundational belief among these islanders, and that has been true since the beginning of han history. It is the idea that there is accountability to a system of justice that is outside of ourselves. <br /><br /> Now, we don't agree that Paul is bit by a poisonous viper because He's a murderer. They actually just asse, look, there are 276 of you that floated ashore and only one of you got bit by a poisonous snake. He must be the worst. He's the, he's the, he's obviously a murderer. The worst crime they could come up with. <br /><br /> And we also don't believe because he doesn't die that that proves that he's godlike because Lady Justice is affirming him in such a way. But there is a worldview that has dominated hanity since the beginning of han existence. It goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden, an awareness that hans are accountable to something beyond themselves. <br /><br /> Of course, the Garden of Eden portrays it as a monotheistic view of life. And monotheism, the word mono is one, one God, one Theos is the concept. It was the faith of Abraham and his descendants, all the Jews. It became the faith of the, of the Christian faith. It is foundationally believing that there is a sense in which we are accountable to this one God beyond ourselves. <br /><br /> Now hang with me on this because the reason I'm saying all this. What happened then, as hankind invariably tries to throw off authority and accountability to God? There began to be a distortion of that. Romans 1 describes it. That inevitably a heart of sin, a desire for autonomy, attempts to distort one's responsibility and accountability to God. <br /><br /> And so one of the things we do is what Romans 1 said. Although they knew God, in verse 21 and 22. Although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him. But became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools. And here's what they did, and here's what hanity does. <br /><br /> And exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images. Resembling mortal man, and birds, and animals, and creeping things. In other words, they developed a multiplicity of gods. This is the practice of polytheism. The idea that the development of multiple gods, only in this case, small g, there's not one ruling brella god, one being over all. <br /><br /> But there is still the sense that hans do not set their own rules. That they are accountable to laws, rules outside of themselves. It may be lady justice. It may be a thousand other beings that they are accountable to in one way or another. But there is the sense, there is a worldview that we are accountable to something beyond ourselves. <br /><br /> Now, the reason I'm saying all this is because in the last 500 years that has changed. There is a book that has been put together. It is, it is, I'm in the middle of the thing. It is called, , just lost the word, Charles Taylor A Secular Age. It's a classic book. It's 900 pages long. It is not fun reading. <br /><br /> It is slow go, but it is fantastic. And basically he is a Harvard professor. It is produced by Harvard Press. And Charles Taylor has developed the whole concept of our secular age. And basically what he's done is saying, where did the concept of secularism come into han experience? He goes back to the 1500s to present time. <br /><br /> The fascinating thing, and I've read a ton of reviews on this book, because I was just interested. I, I have not found anyone, whether it is a, a Christian person, whether it is an absolute atheistic person, whether it is a A professor in a Christian university, whether it is the chairman of a philosophy department and the most liberal university that has not said, this is a brilliant portrayal of what is transpiring in our culture or how we have got to where we are. <br /><br /> Basically, what is presented in the book is to highlight why Western civilization is facing the crisis it is. Because deeply within ourselves is the deep determination to find purpose in one's life and to uphold culture with moral standards that all must subscribe to, yet having no basis for either of these realities without a higher power actively ruling in our lives. <br /><br /> Basically, the concept of atheism, and you're welcome to Google me on this baby. Was not out there until 500 years ago. You say, well, that's ridiculous. It's not. No, I mean, there's never been atheists. I'm not going to say I don't know everybody. But but as far as a movement, as far as a belief system, it has come. <br /><br /> It is just another world view. And what has happened in the last few centuries? And now we are bearing the the sense of this in the way people perceive life. And why so many people Even that would name the name of God. So, well, yeah, I believe, you believe in God? Absolutely. But they are utterly functional atheists. <br /><br /> By the way, we Christians can live that way as well, right? We believe in God, but we don't really act like it. , but basically, what is, is portrayed in this book and others that are now, I mean, this is amazing how many people quote this. I, I read one, but I didn't read the whole thing. I read part of a book. <br /><br /> Was called the greatest development of the history of atheism. This guy basically quotes from, from Charles Taylor's book over and over and over just historically. But atheism is simply the attempt to take Romans 1, a little farther and say it is not only to reduce God, you know, by saying, well, there's not really one sovereign God, there's multiple gods, thousands of them, put them in shapes of animals and, and people and everything else. <br /><br /> It is to eradicate God. To act like he is not existent. C. S. Lewis talks about in his classic treatise, God in the Dock. What has resulted in our day and our culture, and that is the fact that we, the dock in English courtrooms is where the person on trial is stands as the trial goes on and the questions come. <br /><br /> And he says that's where God is. People now put God on trial. Tim Keller says it in his in his really good book making sense of God and invitation to the skeptical. He says this ancient people did not asse that the han mind had enough wisdom to sit in judgment on how an infinite God was disposing of things. <br /><br /> Of course, we do it all the time. So here we come to this little island of Malta. And we find a people that believe there was a standard of righteousness outside of themselves. They believe it was under Lady Justice. who would implement it, whether it was in the form of one supreme God or various deities. <br /><br /> We find as we look through the book of Acts that Paul has been continually introducing us to all different people groups with all different world views started Paul interacting with people that were Jews that believed in a monotheistic view of creation and And that all were accountable to this sovereign God. <br /><br /> We see him in Mars Hill in the book of Acts, where he says I see you've got a lot of gods here. Well, but I see one that's to the unknown God. Well, I want to tell you about him. He's the one that's the maker of heaven and earth. He's actually the God. We see him as he comes in, in the, the, the church, the city of Ephesus, where the temple of Diana is. <br /><br /> And all the perspective that she was the supreme being. And now we come to Malta and we find another view of polytheism. But what we find is all different world views and perspectives. But the one common reality we find in every situation is God knows exactly how to make himself known. I'll tell you, I find such encouragement in that. <br /><br /> Because this time I do what you do and I look at our world and I look at our culture and I say, How in the world is anything gonna get through in this chaos and this anger and this confusion and this, this throwing out of even the most basic historic definitions of anthropological or, or the, the whole doctrine of man, which I've said many times to you is, is the assai doctrine in our, in our day, every major issue. <br /><br /> that is raised in our culture, anti christian, is an anthropological. And you say, how in the world are we going to? God, God knows worldviews. God knows people. He knows the people in your office. He knows your relatives. He knows your neighbors. He knows you. He knows how to speak into us, whatever our worldview is. <br /><br /> And he does it here, on Malta. To people that believed in lady justice. And somehow God is able to take their view of things and to speak into it. And first, in their interpretation, they think, well, well, the God is, the God's, in this case, Lady Justice in particular, is punishing him because he's a very wicked man. <br /><br /> Nope! He's not a very wicked man. He's an amazing man. The gods are honoring him and even making him one of their own. God is then able to speak into them. I've mentioned this story in the past. It was such an encouragement to me. I was sitting in a doctor's office and as I was sitting in the doctor's office, I was reading a magazine that was sitting there and I almost didn't pick it up because I just felt I've, I've done enough thinking lately about, various philosophies that were out there and I just, it felt sort of weighty from it. <br /><br /> And this guy was quoting from the existentialist, which was a major thing in the 1900s, which basically said there is no purpose to life. There is no meaning. There is no God. It was a giant thing. John Paul Sartre. Just lost it. Actually, my favorite one. Anyway, so they're, they're, , he's, he's, and he's telling his story. <br /><br /> He says, yeah, I was raised in a religious background, Christian background, and I went to university and I love philosophy and I started to move towards philosophy and he became a philosophy major. And he was a philosophy professor now as he was telling his story, but what he did was he told, he said, as I studied the existentialist and, and that's the whole, if you've ever heard of the theater of the absurd, it's just life is absurd, things are absurd makes no sense because there's no purpose and meaning and get over yourselves if you think there are, because there's no God, there can't be, And this guy was telling the story of how, in the midst of this, a card carrying existentialist that he had become, he was all of a sudden thinking about, But, wait a minute, I want to have purpose to my life. <br /><br /> Where did that desire come from? Why do I long for that? My dog doesn't want to have a purpose. He wants lunch. But, but where do I get this from? Where do I get this desire for meaning? And he began to think, and he's a philosopher type, so he's probably, where, where does that come from? And it was actually the existentialist that caused him to say, you're a purposeless, random, basically meaningless being. <br /><br /> You just got to sort of create your own purpose and meaning that actually drove him to the cross. And to my delight, as I read through the story, he was actually now teaching philosophy as a born again Christian, speaking into the existential world of saying, there is a God. He is real and he has come among, it was just, it was so, it was so encouraging to me. <br /><br /> Because it reminded me what this, this, this whole thing is about. God knows worldviews. God speaks into... And you may say, well, the people that I'm dealing with wouldn't even know how to spell existentialist. As a matter of fact... I don't either and I wouldn't care. It doesn't matter the life view. They're living out of the things in their life that they're holding on for meaning. <br /><br /> God knows them. God understands them. God speaks into the language of every worldview. I think part of this that that Luke has been reminding us in all these different situations. Now he's got a whole new people group for us. I mean, we're on the way to Rome. That's the crown jewel of everything, right? We stop off at a little island called Malta in order that We can be reminded that God also speaks into the barbarian. <br /><br /> The second thing we find, God puts to you small steps of hble servanthood. Paul and the other 275 passengers make their way to the island. Some encouraged to swim, initially, and then the others that can't swim, they're put on boards and barrels and whatever they can hold on to. And astonishingly, just as Paul predicted, because God had told him, all 276 make it And on the island of Malta, apparently where they came, , there were shoals way out deep. <br /><br /> So there was a long journey in, but none of these people were lost. And they had come to see Paul now as having some answers they needed to listen to. I mean, he's told them, don't anybody, they were trying to leave the ship. And he goes to the guys, he says, no, God has told me that nobody should leave the ship. <br /><br /> Don't put them out in the lifeboats. And so they cut the lifeboat free. If you remember with Jared's Text last week and basically everybody stayed on the boat. They listened to Paul and now Paul has rescued every single guy. It's astonishing. The boat had actually broken in half. It said the stern broke off, but they all survived. <br /><br /> Just like Paul said. Now, Paul comes to the island and Paul is the man, right? I mean, he's the man. He's the guy and they've come on shore. It's, it's, it's raining. It's cool, which probably about that time of year in that place would have been about 50 degrees. So it's like a wet, cool rain. And what does Paul do? <br /><br /> He just does what everybody else does. I love the way we see him. He's portrayed as a simple laborer gathering brush for the fire, it's cold, and doing the task of putting the brush on the fire. God is at work. God has a snake there, and that snake bites Paul. <br /><br /> And we're reminded that so much of the Christian influence is really found in just the small mundane stuff of life. The entire thing that happens on Malta, and it's a cool thing that happens here. Came about because Paul is just doing with everybody else, probably one of many fires for 276 people that didn't all get around one little campfire. <br /><br /> He's just doing his stuff. He's cutting the brush, and as he's doing the brush, he gets bitten by a snake. He's not preaching. In effect, we don't even read of things that he was preaching here on Malta. He's not confronting religious leaders. He's just doing what he feels God is prompting him to do. I mentioned this week I was at a pastor's conference speaking up in northern New York State. <br /><br /> And Marianne and I were there over one of the meals. We were talking with a couple. And that's always some of the best part of some of this kind of time. Just getting to know people's stories. We were talking with a guy who was a farmer. And he was now a pastor. Actually, both. He was still doing a little bit of farming. <br /><br /> He he he milked his cows in the morning and he did church other parts of the day. And he was telling the story. He went to this little church. He'd been there four years. God had done some remarkable things in this very small church. But he was telling the story when he was candidating at the church that a 95 year old lady Was in the congregation and it was very, very small, but she was there and she sincere but direct pointed her finger at him and she said, Young man, if you become our pastor, how are you going to reach this community? <br /><br /> It was an old church. Most of the people were very older. He was younger. And he just, he said, I just honestly said, I don't know. But he said, I know the one that knows how to do it. And he said, I'm confident That he'll show me what to do and us what to do. And then he said that his 95 year old lady, will you help me? <br /><br /> Well, he got the call. And here he is trying to faithfully serve, do his thing, doesn't know how God's going to reach this community. And only a few months after he's there, this 95 year old lady passed and she died. And he got a call from the lawyer. He said, I just want you to know she left your church 300, 000. <br /><br /> And this guy being this guy, he said, we really felt that a lot of that shouldn't be looked at as ours to use just here. So they started looking for enterprises around the world where they could give 30, 000 here and some there. And he's telling these stories of movements of God that they jped in. And it was so exciting. <br /><br /> Anyway, just think. This guy had no plan, but he had a big God and he believed God. And he said, I don't know how, but I know the one that knows. Little knowing that God was going to use this lady that he challenges to be a part of the vision. <br /><br /> You may be in a situation in your life right now and you just say, All I see is giant obstacles. I don't see anything. I don't see any progress. There's not a Christian in here that has not felt that way sometimes or will feel that way. Where you just feel, I just, I, God, I need some wins. I need to see this moving forward some way. <br /><br /> Just remember that Paul didn't just make a difference by preaching and teaching. Paul spent eight of the last ten years of his life in jail. In the years when he thought he was going to be on his fourth missionary journey, changing the world in Rome and into Spain. But God used him to write all the letters we've got. <br /><br /> Again, Jared did a great job talking about that last week. Basically, God is at work. God is at work in your office. God is at work in your family. You may not know it. You may not see it. You may not experience the fruit of it tangibly, visibly. At least not yet, but God is at work all the time, at all places. <br /><br /> He asks you to be the one that's willing to work with, you know, Okay, I'll carry the brush. I'll do this. Maybe a snake will jp out and you think, Yeah, sure, that's exactly what I thought would happen. Paul didn't do that. He said, Okay. Snakes? Jail? I don't know how all this works, but he's big. I'm not. God puts to use the small steps of hble servanthood in the last thing. <br /><br /> And by the way, just remind you of some of the greatest stories in the Bible were people that just offered something really small. David offered a slingshot. Moses offered a staff. Paul had a brush pile. It was some little kid at a preaching venue of Jesus that offered five biscuits and two sardines. And there was a widow that gave her last penny. <br /><br /> It's God. It's only God. The third thing, God plans circstances to change people's hearts and build his kingdom. And verses 8 through 10 is the story that That Paul is, , given access, actually, he and others are cared for by the local chieftain of the island, Publius. And he finds out on the third day that Publius dad has a very severe fever. <br /><br /> , And Paul prays over him. He's healed. Eventually, the result is Paul has this major healing ministry on the island. Incredible impact. And we're told in verse 11 that he was on the island for three months. And when they left, the people of the island came and outfitted the ship and blessed them. I mean, I just, I love to think about what it was like for the Roman soldiers that were supposed to be the guards of this guy. <br /><br /> They didn't usually have the islanders outfit them. I mean, people hated the Romans. But somehow God has been at work and they have received this amazing favor. The whole story of the island, frankly, is a disaster when you think about it. I mean, it starts with Paul arriving there with, as a prisoner on his way to Rome. <br /><br /> He didn't design that, didn't expect it. It begins here with a shipwreck. It morphs into a cold rain on the beach. It develops by a poisonous snake biting Paul. He's viewed as a murderer, a deeply evil man. It changes to a misunderstanding that he's a pagan god. It's a mess! It might be how you're interpreting your world right now. <br /><br /> Shipwrecked. Great metaphor. Vipers coming at me. It's gray and miserable, surrounded by misunderstandings. But, <br /><br /> but, God. He is there with you in the gray and misery. He is with you in the shipwreck. He is there with the vipers that are coming at you. He's with the misunderstandings that are swirling around. He is present and he is at work and he says, lean into me, trust me, believe me, do the small acts of obedience I still ask you to do, even though there's part of you that wants to just curl up in your bed and not face one more morning. <br /><br /> Or maybe that you want to, you can't wait to face the next morning because you want to give them theirs. Lean into God. He's big. He's at work. He understands the worldviews of the people that matter most to you. He knows how to reach them. He's the only one that can reach them. You, you, you can be the greatest Christian that ever lived. <br /><br /> That isn't going to lead them to Jesus. Only God brings. It says salvation is of the Lord. He has to do it. He has to work in their lives in such a way. <br /><br /> God is a work. He's a work all the time. Lord, <br /><br /> there are times when I struggle to grab hold of that. There are times right now that some folks that are listening are in that it's hard to grab hold of that. So, Lord, do what you seem to delight to do. Do what the psalmist prayed. Lord, show us signs of your favor. Give enough favor, Father, enough encouragement to just <br /><br /> inflame their belief, their trust in you. Lord, as we gather here on this, Lord willing, last Sunday in the gym, as we look back on how you financially provided to enable us to go back to a room that is changed, we believe can more effectively accommodate ministry into lives of people. God, we think of all the ways, even over this last few years, of how many twists and turns. <br /><br /> And some ways it just felt like all we got is confusion. We don't know what's going on, where this is going. And now it just seems like, oh yeah, it all makes sense. Lord, for those of us today that are in that twist and turn confusion time. Give them faith to trust and hold on that they might look back and not only say, Oh, yeah, now it all makes sense. <br /><br /> But they also might look back and say, God, thank you that you helped me to hold on that. I didn't give way to anger, godlessness, vindictiveness, overwhelming fear. <br /><br /> Lord, you who delight to show mercy, mercy us today, we pray. In Jesus name. Amen.</div> false no <![CDATA[A Miserable Journey to Rome]]> Acts 27

“For the last fourteen days,” he said, “you have been in constant suspense and have gone without food—you haven’t eaten anything. Now I urge you to take some food. You need it to survive. Not one of you will lose a single hair from his head.”



Sermon Transcript:

Good morning. How's everyone doing? Okay. We're going to be reading Acts chapter 27. If you have your Bibles, you can turn there with me. And I will warn you. It is. A long passage. It's a total of 44 verses. Um, and there's some names and places in there that are really hard to pronounce. Okay? But, if there's one thing I learned from Bible school, it's that no one really knows how to pronounce these.

You just say them with confidence and you move on and no one really cares. But, first person to, to laugh at how I pronounce something, you have to come up and finish the passage. So, just be warned. Acts chapter, um, 27. It's also on the screen as well. And when it was decided that we should sail for Italy, they delivered Paul and some other prisoners to a centurion of the Augustan cohort named Julius.

Embarking in a ship of Adramidium, which was about to sail to the ports along the coast of Asia, we put to sea accompanied by Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica. The next day we put in at Sidon. And Julius treated Paul kindly and gave him leave to go to his friends and be gareful. And putting out the sea from there, we sailed under the lee of Cyprus because the winds were against us.

And when we had sailed across the open sea along the coast of Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra and Lycia. There the centurion found a ship of Alexandria sailing for Italy and put us on board. We sailed slowly for a number of days. And arrived with difficulty off of Nidus. And as the wind did not allow us to go further, we sailed under the lee of Crete off of Salmone.

Coasting along it with difficulty, we came to a place called Fair Havens, near which was the city of La Silla. Since much time had passed and the voyage was now dangerous, because even the fast was already over, Paul advised them, saying, Sirs, I perceive that the voyage will be with injury and much loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also our lives.

But the centurion paid more attention to the pilot, to the owner of the ship, than to what Paul said. And because the harbor was not suitable to spend the winter in, the majority decided to put out to sea from there, on the chance that somehow they could reach Phoenix, a harbor of Crete, facing both southwest and northwest, and spend the winter there.

Now when the south wind blew gently, supposing they had obtained their purpose, they weighed anchor and sailed along Crete, close to the shore. But soon, a tempestuous wind called the northeaster struck down from the land, When the ship was caught and could not face the wind, we gave way to it and were driven along.

Running under the, running under the lee of a small island called Calda, we managed with difficulty to secure the ship's boat. After hoisting it up, they used supports to undergird the ship, then fearing that they would run around on the surtis, they lowered the gear, and thus they were driven along. Since we were violently storm tossed, we began the next day to jettison the cargo, and on the third day they threw the ship's tackle overboard with their own hands.

When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope of our being saved was at last abandoned. Since they had been without food for a long time, Paul stood up among them and said, Men, you should have listened to me and not have set sail from Crete and incurred this injury and loss.

Yet now I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. For this very night there stood before me an angel of God, to whom I belong and whom I worship. And he said, Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand before Caesar. Behold, God has granted you all those who sail with you.

So take heart, men, who sail, for I have faith in God, that it will be exactly as I have been told. But we must run aground on some island. When the fourteenth night had come, and as we were being driven across the Adriatic Sea, about midnight the sailors suspected that they were nearing land. So they took a sounding, and found twenty fathoms.

A little farther on they took a sounding again, and found fifteen fathoms. And fearing that we might run on the rocks, they let down four anchors from the stern, and prayed for days to come. And as the sailors were seeking escape from the ship, And had lowered the ship's boat into the sea under pretense of laying out anchors from the bow.

Paul said to them, Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved. Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the ship's boat and let it go. As day was about to dawn, Paul urged them all to take some food, saying, Today is the fourteenth day that you have continued in suspense and without food, having taken nothing.

Therefore, I urge you, To take the food, for it will give you strength, for not a hair is to perish from the head of any of you. When he had said these things, he took bread, and giving thanks to God in the presence of all, broke it and began to eat. Then they were all encouraged, and ate some food themselves.

We were in all two hundred and seventy six persons in the ship. And when they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship, throwing out the wheat into the sea. Now it was, now when it was day, they did not recognize the land, but they noticed a bay with a beach on which they planned, if possible, to run the ship ashore.

So they cast off the anchors and left them in the sea, and at the same time, loosening the ropes, they tied the rudders, then hoisting the force out to the wind, they made for the beach. But striking a reef, they ran the vessel aground. The bow struck and remained immovable, and the stern was being broken up by the surf.

The soldiers plan was to kill the prisoners. Lest they swim away and escape, but the centurion wishing to save Paul kept them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and make it for the land and the rest on planks or on pieces of the ship. And so it was that all were brought safely to land.

Let's pray.

Lord, we come before you this morning, God, and we're, we're desperate for you to speak to us. God, we spend time each Sunday and daily, Lord. In your scriptures because we breathe, we believe it's the very words of God and that this word has the power to transform us, God. So we pray that your word would speak truth, God, that your spirit would move amongst us, Lord, that you would just take the blinders off our eyes, Lord.

That you'd give us ears to hear and hearts to receive a word that you have for us today, God. Not anything I could bring, Lord, or clever idea, Lord, but your spirit. Speaking through me, Lord, I pray desperately. God, I pray for each and every one of us in this room. God, we're all coming from different weeks and different places and different ideas.

Lord, I pray that you'd put off all distractions in the name of Jesus, God. That we would be able to hear you clearly this morning. And that by the end of our time here, we'd know just a little bit more about who you are. And how much you care for us and love us, God. Lord, we pray all this in Jesus name.

Amen. I wasn't kidding. It was quite the mouthful. 44 verses. I did pretty good on the names in case you noticed. That's all I was worried about the whole time. So we're good now. Thank you. Oh, that's good. Now, before we get into this story, um, I just kind of wanted to back up and like, how did we get here?

We've been going through the book of Acts for like a year and a half now. So I just want to give us a little bit reminders of, of where we're at. If you remember a couple of chapters ago and a couple of sermons ago, Paul made his journey Back to Jerusalem. He was going to deliver a gift there. And multiple people warned him.

People prophesied over him that if you go to Jerusalem, you're gonna be bound. You're gonna get arrested. You're gonna be beaten. And he continued on his way to Jerusalem instead. And almost immediately, when he got there, he was arrested. The Jews got so angry, they attempted to kill him. So the Romans actually took him into captivity to protect him and put him on trial to see if he was guilty.

of what the Jews falsely accused him of. He had three different trials. He appeared before Felix, and Festus, and King Agrippa. And this was not including even his appearance before the council of the Jewish leaders. And then he finally appealed to Caesar. And because he appealed to Caesar, he was sent to Rome.

King Agrippa actually said, if you didn't appeal to Caesar, we actually may have set you free. But now that you've appealed to Caesar, you must go to Caesar. So now we get to our passage as Paul begins his journey. To go to Rome, to go before Caesar. And the journey does not go as they planned. I, I label this journey the miserable trip to Rome.

If you just want to bring up the map, we can kind of see, um, where he traveled. Um, you can kind of see he starts over here in Jerusalem. They go off and immediately they hit wind. So they kind of go, try to go around Cyprus to find some land coverage from that wind. They're sailing along. They go through Antioch, and Myra, um, and Nidus.

And they come to this place called Fair Havens, which sounds like a pretty nice place to stay in. But apparently it wasn't for the winter. And it says at this point, actually, it was past the feast, which would have been the Day of Atonement. So it would have been the end of September, leading into October.

So winter was approaching where it was deadly, um, and terrible for sea travel. So although Fair Havens sounded like a good spot, the soldiers wanted to continue on a phoenix, because who the heck doesn't want a winter in Phoenix? Different Phoenix, just in case you didn't know, right? But Paul, he's a seasoned traveler at this point.

He's traveled this sea many of times, he's gone to different places in his missionary journeys. And he actually, at this point of his life, because of 2 Corinthians 11, um, 25, we know, Paul's been shipwrecked three times at this point. So he's telling these guys, hey guys, listen, I've been on the sea, I've tried to travel at this point, let's just stay in fair havens.

This is a good spot. You're going to want to trust me. And the centurion says, you know what, Paul? You're just some prisoner. I'm going to listen to the captain. I'm going to listen to the owner of the ship. We're going to press on. Phoenix is only a couple miles farther away. We'll make their fine. We'll winter there.

Way more amenities there. We'll be fine. But Paul knew what he was talking about. Right? He's been here. He has experience. And not only that, right? He's led by the Spirit of God. Here's a man who's spent a lot. of time with God. So they push on, and immediately, they hit a wind, the northeaster, the storm, and it drags them all the way back.

And you see it just kind of goes straight west. And they literally end up in Malta, which is just God's provision, because it's 400 some miles they traveled. If they missed that small island, it would have been a thousand more miles to the next place, and they probably wouldn't have survived, and they probably would have starved or been shipwrecked in the middle of the sea.

So they're forced out to the wind. For days, they could not see stars or sun. They had no navigation at this point. No Apple Maps or GPS to help them. And verse 20 actually says that they had lost all of being saved. They were ready to throw in the towel, to give up. And Paul stands up among them, and in my words, he says, I told you so, right?

I told you this was gonna happen. But he doesn't sit there and beat him up, right? He moves on quickly, and he says, An angel has come to me. Man, do not fear. Take heart. That word, to take heart, literally means to make cheerful. Which is kind of hard when you look around. There's storms, you can't see anything, you've been lost at sea for days.

Seasick, you're hungry. He said, an angel has appeared before me. And he said, I'm going to make it and appear before Caesar. Not only that, all of you men, all 267 of us, are going to make it to safety. But the ship we're going to lose. From the centurions, to the sailors, to the merchants, to the prisoners, all on that boat.

Would be saved the mood had shifted and even by their measures they were approaching land Some sailors tried to jump the gun They they went into the rescue boat and said oh We're just gonna lay down some anchors and they try to ditch out of there and Paul quickly Sniffs it out finds the Centurion says if these men leave this boat, they will not make it out of here alive So Paul went from being his advice Centurion saying oh, no way.

Let's get these prisoners We're listening to Paul now. They even cut the lifeboat away And Paul finally has some credibility as they saw his steadiness in times of trouble. He became a leader among all, even the centurion, even though he was just a prisoner on the ship. What he does with his newfound leadership is he doesn't lord it over anyone.

He actually breaks bread with these men, giving thanks, sharing it with them, saying, let's eat, let's strengthen ourselves so that we can appear, um, be ready to swim to safety. When day finally appears, which must have been an incredible feeling, they see land and a beach they could sail up on. On their last effort to be rescued from the clutches of the sea, they hit a reef and the boat was getting torn to shreds by the waves.

The soldiers panic and they decide, we're gonna kill all the prisoners so they don't escape. And this sounds... Harsh, and yes it is, but it kind of makes sense because Roman soldiers, if they lost their prisoners, if their prisoners escaped, they were guilty of the same thing their prisoners were going to be accused of.

So whether that was lifetime in prison or even worse, execution, those soldiers were now accountable to their crimes. So they said, instead of letting them escape, we're going to kill them. And the centurion, who wanted to spare Paul, puts a stop to this right away. And make sure each and every one of the prisoners, and the merchants, and the sailors, and the soldiers, get to land safely.

This is the miserable journey to Rome. There's a lot going on here, I wasn't kidding. 44 verses, a lot to unpack here, but I just want to take the time this morning, and I want to take three takeaways this morning as we look at this passage. Three things we learn about who God is, who we are. Firstly, God's promises never fail.

What God says He will do, He will do. Isaiah 55 11 says this, So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth. It shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I propose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. Not only does God confirm to Paul on the boat, you will make it to Caesar, you will appear before him.

He also ensures him the safety of all the men. But God actually confirmed this. To Paul, before he even got on the boat. Acts 23 11 says this, the following night the Lord stood by him and said, Take courage, for as you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem, so you must testify also in Rome.

This was right after Paul was getting arrested and he gave his testimony to the Jews. Jesus says this, take courage, you will appear before Caesar, you will give this testimony to Rome. Paul knew. He was getting to Rome and God in his kindness confirmed the message again on the boat and blessed the rest of the 275 passengers with the same protection and promise time and time again in the book of Acts We see the will of God prevail against persecution against spiritual attack adverse weather Imprisonment beatings it seems like nothing can stand against the will of God his promises never fail And maybe you're sitting here this morning, and you're just feeling like, Yeah, well, I just don't feel close to God, or I feel like I'm not in His will, or I feel like I'm not doing the things He wants me to do that.

Well, even if we feel like we're not close with God, or are running away from Him, He's still there. His promises still remain true for you. If you think about another story in the Bible about a boat, and a storm, and a big fish.

You guys are allowed to talk in church, it's okay. Jonah, yes! Jonah, right? Jonah was not faithful to God. God said, go to Nineveh, preach this message. He went the opposite way. But God's promise remained true. The word came to Nineveh. God sent a storm. He sent a fish. And God met Jonah in his wandering in the belly of a fish.

His promises rang true. God's promises are not contingent on your behavior, or how you feel, or your circumstances. He is a promise keeper. That's who He is. 2 Timothy 2. 13 says this, If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself. It's who He is. It's His character. He is a promise keeper.

His word will not return void. God is who He says He is. Paul knew this. He said, the God who I belong to and who I worship, what He says will happen. I've seen it done. God's promises never fail. Secondly, a steady God creates steady followers. A steady God creates steady followers. This is clearly seen through Paul's calmness in the midst of panic all around him.

He advises the crew. He encourages the crew not twice, uh, not once but twice. And he keeps his cool. He's breaking bread. He's giving thanks. He's leading these men. When all else of them have lost hope, they're ready to die. They're literally preparing themselves for death. He's encouraging them. He's saying be cheerful.

That's a hard ask to these men surrounded by a storm approaching death. He knew who his God was. He knew he served a steady God and because of that, he was steady in times of trouble. And I know what you're probably thinking, right? You're kind of sitting there, you're like, Yeah, that's really cool for Paul.

Like, you know, Paul was a go getter, type A personality, he's a leader among men. Of course he was steady, Jared. Of course he was steady among, you know, times of trouble. That's, that's a trait of a leader. That's not me. I'm a background person. I like to sit in the back and support things. I'm a worrier. I'm emotional.

I, you know, that's not who I am. This was not a personality trait. His steadiness did not become because he's a type A person. His steadiness came from spending time with a steady God. So yes, God wants you to be steady because He is steady in times of trouble. Paul had been in these situations before.

He'd seen his God come through. He's been beaten. He's been in prison. He's been accused of things. He's been run out of town. And yet in every and all situations, he's seen his God be steady. And it's made him steady. Philippians 4, 12 through 13 says this, I know, this is Paul speaking, I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound.

In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger and abundance and need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. Paul found the secret in being content and steady in any circumstance. And the secret was where his strength came from. It wasn't Paul. It wasn't that he had a strong personality or a strong character.

It's the God he served. It's the God he served. The God he trusted in, the God he had seen in his personal life bring him through situation after situation, after circumstance, after trial, to where he was today. So yeah, a shipwreck? He's already had three of these! He's like, alright, fourth, we can do this.

God's been with me here before. The more you go through with God, the steadier you'll become. The more you'll know Him, the more you'll know His goodness and gentleness. And his sovereignty, even in the midst of chaos. I want to share a story of Harold Ebersole. Many of you know Sean and Harold Ebersole.

We've supported them for many, many, uh, years now. In Bangladesh in their ministry. Uh, many of you know Harold, um, has been diagnosed with cancer for many years now. And I remember he came in a staff meeting when his, um, diagnosis was pretty early on. And it was really dismal. He had actually just gotten some news that he basically was going to die soon.

And he comes into, um, you know, our staff meeting, and I'm thinking, you know, he's, he's coming in, you know, we're gonna pray for him, we're gonna pray over him for healing, and, and all this stuff, you know, I'm ready to support him and care for him. And he comes with a devotional about how good God is in times of trouble.

And I remember him outlining what the doctors and the nurses and the x rays and the scans have said. And I'm sitting in my chair, and I'm getting nervous, like I'm getting shaken, like oh my gosh, this is not good news. And he's sitting there, talking about the goodness of God, and he's smiling. And he literally said, he's like, yeah I went on a couple mile run this morning, and I'm like, what's wrong with this dude, like what's going on?

And I walked out of that meeting thinking, wow, this is a man, this is a man who spent a lot of time with God. This is a man who spent a lot of time in uncertain situations, and he knows his God was steady. He knew exactly where he was going, and he knew exactly who held his future in his hands. It was God.

It wasn't that he was strong, or powerful, or super positive. It was a God he learned to love and trust, and knew a God who loved him and was faithful to him in his ministry. This is what God wants of us. He wants us to be steady. In times of trouble. He wants us to bring us through things that are difficult, that are scary, and yet he's a steady God.

And he doesn't want shaken, scared followers. He wants steady followers, because that's who he is. A steady God creates steady followers. Third, there are no setbacks with God. When we are following God, there really are no setbacks. And I, I hope you hear me. I don't want you hear me say that You know, your life's gonna be easy, easy, breezy, beautiful, cover girl.

It's not. I'm not saying that at all. I'm actually saying the opposite of what I'm saying is, it's gonna be difficult. It's gonna be hard. You're gonna face conflict, and loss, and disease, and sickness. You're gonna face all these things. And from a worldly perspective, they all look like setbacks and roadblocks.

And if you look at Paul's life, it looks like this guy just hit roadblock. After setback, after setback, after setback. I mean, look at this guy. He traveled around preaching God's Word. Every city, every town he went into, he either got arrested, beaten, ran out, rejected, mocked. That looks like setbacks, but they're not.

And Paul didn't see them as setbacks. He saw them as opportunities, right? This is why I titled this, this sermon, A Miserable Trip of Rome, because it looks Miserable! Everything that could go wrong, does go wrong. But Paul doesn't see it like that. A couple chapters before, Paul had to appear before Agrippa, which probably felt like his hundredth trial.

He probably could have been really frustrated and annoyed and been like, I've told my story, I've told my testimony. No! He doesn't see it like that. What does he do before King Agrippa? He gives his testimony. He shares the gospel with this king. And King Agrippa literally, Calls him out on it. He says, are you trying to convert me, Paul?

And he said, yes, I am. I'm trying to convert all who here today, who are listening to me. I pray that you'd be like me besides these chains.

Paul didn't see it as a setback. He saw, God's put me in a room with an influential man who has a lot of influence. This guy's gonna know Jesus. Same thing on this boat. He didn't see it as a miserable journey. He saw, man, he probably got on that boat and he said, started counting up people. Luke didn't even need to count, count the people.

He's like, Luke, there's 276 people in this boat. All of them are going to be saved by the time we get to Rome. And God gave him a little extra days and a storm to help him out. He didn't see it as a setback. Paul was, all these men, when they were ready to die and hopeless, Paul makes a bold statement of faith.

Says that, that God who I belong to and believe in, He's going to rescue us. He's going to deliver us. There is no setbacks with my God. When I was in high school, you know, you get your quarterly, uh, report cards. And, you know, you're like always scared they're getting sent to your parents. And, like, I wasn't scared about my grades because my parents knew my grades weren't going to be good.

What I was scared about was, like, what the teachers were going to write in a little note section. And I, I'm telling you they had a meeting because it was all the same exact thing. Every single one of them. Jared's a pleasure to have in class. He's a joy to have in class. But he talks way too much. Very disruptive.

Very hard to teach with him in the class. Right? I'm like, my mom's like, Did they have a meeting? What, what happened Jared? Like, what's going on? I'm like, Yeah, sorry. So the teachers, what they would do to try to solve this problem, that was me, they moved me around class. They'd like put me next to different people.

And, in my, one of my uh, we had advanced writing class and it was like, all semester, all what is, semester, quarter, whatever it's called in high school. You had to prepare for like one long paper, you had the whole thing, I'm like, dude, the whole, the whole semester, like, I'm gonna do this the night before, they know this, right?

So I'm like, oh, it's a great talking period, and we'd sit at the computers and work. They thought it was a good idea to put me next to Eric Galloway, I don't know where Eric Galloway is today, I hope he hears this, he's probably running some part of our country. The man was brilliant, he was super smart, he was motivated, he was like valedictorian of our class, super quiet, super quiet, they're like, we've solved it.

Put him next to, Jared, put Jared right next to him. It was like, me, the corner, Eric. What they didn't know was, I don't need someone to talk back to me! I'll just talk to him! He's the perfect person, he just listens! This is amazing! I turn my chair, I'm not even looking at my computer, I'm just talking to Eric, I'm like, Eric, how are you, man?

And he's like, Jared, Jared, Jared, we really need to focus right now. I'm like, Eric, I've been trying to get to know you, you've been dodging me in the hallway! This is perfect! The teachers are scratching their heads. They're like, no matter who we put this guy next to, he won't shut up. They'd put me next to the teacher's desk.

Now the teacher can't get anything done. They're like, no matter where we put this guy, he won't shut up. This was Paul with the gospel. No matter where he was, no matter who he was with, whether he was in prison or free or on a boat in a storm. He was talking about Jesus. He was sharing the gospel. He was building the kingdom of God.

That's who he was. That's what he did. There was no setback. There was no change of seats, right? You put me next to whoever. That's not a setback for me. I've been trying to get to know Eric. I got one thing out of him. He likes Neo, all right? I was like, okay, respect. I thought you only listened to gospel music.

My bad, Eric. Paul didn't see these things as setbacks. He saw them as opportunities. I mean, put yourself in Paul's shoes. I mean, sandals. How would you react? You're on a boat for weeks at a time. It stormed the entire time. Everybody's seasick. They haven't eaten, whether they're seasick or they can't even eat because they're like so busy trying to keep this ship together.

I would be miserable. You would probably be miserable. And yet Paul says, Hey guys, take heart. Let's be joyful. And they listen to him. And they're encouraged by him. He had spent too much time with God and hardship to know that this was not a setback, but an opportunity to trust God and build his kingdom.

Philippians 1, 12 through 14 says this, I want you to know, brothers, this is Paul talking to the Philippians. I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel so that it has become known throughout the whole Imperial Guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ.

And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. And the context of his verse, like, unlocks it. So Paul's talking to the Philippians. They're worried about him. They're worried about him because this is where our passage is leading up.

Paul's going to Rome, and he's gonna get imprisoned there, right? He's gonna be on house arrest. He's gonna be down, and he's not gonna be able to go out and preach the gospel. They're worried about him. And what Paul says here, what has happened to me, as in this imprisonment, this being locked in here, what's happened to me, it's not a setback.

Right? It's not that I can't go out, and I'm stuck in one place, and I can't share the gospel, and I can't go around town and plant new churches. No, no. It's an advancement for the gospel. That the whole Imperial Guard, and everybody else here, knows that my imprisonment is for Christ. And not only that, the brothers back home, they've become more confident and bolder to present the Word of Truth.

He didn't see it as a setback. He didn't believe in setbacks. He believed in advances for the kingdom of God.

There is no setbacks with God. And what the world sees as setbacks, we see as advances for the gospel. This is who God is. This is how big He is. He's a Redeemer. He redeems all things to bring Him glory.

While Paul was in prison in Romans, suppose that he wrote the book of Ephesians. Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon. When else would he have had the time to do these things, these books that are so crucial to the Christian faith. God carved out time to say, I'm gonna put you in house arrest. You're not gonna be able to go anywhere else, but write letters and talk to the people around you.

God knew. He orchestrated the whole thing. It hasn't been a setback. He said it's been an advancement. There's no need to worry.

I just want to close this morning. And I know like this, you know, you're like, yeah, I get it, Jared. There's setbacks, you know, they're not setbacks, they're advances, whatever. You've said it a lot. But you're like, you just don't get what I'm going through. Or you don't understand the difficulty I'm facing or the uncertainty of my future.

And you're right, some of you I don't even know your name. But I do know, in my life, some of the most difficult times that I saw as setbacks, that I wanted to get out of. Quickly, as possible. God didn't see them as that. He wasn't surprised by them He wasn't shaken by them I want to spur you on to be cheerful and to take heart, just as Paul did with the 275 hopeless men on that boat.

That the God who I know and I believe in He's fighting for you this very moment. He doesn't see your situation as a setback. But he sees it as fertile ground to transform your heart and the hearts of those around you. It's who he is. He's faithful. He's a redeemer. He doesn't see it as we see it. Whether it's a diagnosis, or bad news, or conflict, it's not a setback.

This is when God's ready to put his foot on the gas and propel you forward. This is who he is. James 1, 2 through 4 says this, Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds. For you know That the testing of your faith produces steadfastness and lets steadfastness have its full effect.

That you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. We're going to close with a song and the prayer team is going to come up. I really encourage you to come up and receive some prayer. What, what other parts of your week or work week can you come up and actually receive prayer in your life? Whether it's something difficult that feels like a setback or a storm or, or, or a difficulty.

Come forward. Whether it's big or, or small or, or gigantic. Whatever it is. Come forward. Receive some prayer. And know that the Lord, just ask Him to just change your heart. And your perspective on the difficult things you're going through. Let's pray.

Lord, I don't, I don't know everybody in this room, but God, you know them. God, and not only do you know them, you knew their name before you laid out the foundations of the world. You knew their story. You knew the difficulty they'd face. The sickness, the disease, the addiction, the loss of life. God, you knew it.

And you don't see them as setbacks. You don't see them as dead ends. God, you see them as fertile ground to transform us. To bring us humbly before you to say, Lord, I got nothing without you.

Lord, don't let us waste these moments. Change our perspective. Soften our hearts that we might see your kindness in this. God, your word says that all discipline seems painful at times. But it leads to a harvest of righteousness. So, God, we welcome your discipline. We accept it, God, and we ask that you lead us in a path of righteousness for your name's sake.

God, open up our hearts, Lord. You are our firm foundation. You're our solid ground. When everything else seems to fall apart, Lord, you are our steady, constant God. Allow us to trust in your promises and to be steady like you are. And we pray all this in Jesus name, amen.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/a-miserable-journey-to-rome a94f0dc0-5a0a-4855-b533-c5e153dde53c Sun, 22 Oct 2023 17:46:49 GMT <div data-html="true">Acts 27 <br /><br /> “For the last fourteen days,” he said, “you have been in constant suspense and have gone without food—you haven’t eaten anything. Now I urge you to take some food. You need it to survive. Not one of you will lose a single hair from his head.” <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> Good morning. How's everyone doing? Okay. We're going to be reading Acts chapter 27. If you have your Bibles, you can turn there with me. And I will warn you. It is. A long passage. It's a total of 44 verses. Um, and there's some names and places in there that are really hard to pronounce. Okay? But, if there's one thing I learned from Bible school, it's that no one really knows how to pronounce these. <br /><br /> You just say them with confidence and you move on and no one really cares. But, first person to, to laugh at how I pronounce something, you have to come up and finish the passage. So, just be warned. Acts chapter, um, 27. It's also on the screen as well. And when it was decided that we should sail for Italy, they delivered Paul and some other prisoners to a centurion of the Augustan cohort named Julius. <br /><br /> Embarking in a ship of Adramidium, which was about to sail to the ports along the coast of Asia, we put to sea accompanied by Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica. The next day we put in at Sidon. And Julius treated Paul kindly and gave him leave to go to his friends and be gareful. And putting out the sea from there, we sailed under the lee of Cyprus because the winds were against us. <br /><br /> And when we had sailed across the open sea along the coast of Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra and Lycia. There the centurion found a ship of Alexandria sailing for Italy and put us on board. We sailed slowly for a number of days. And arrived with difficulty off of Nidus. And as the wind did not allow us to go further, we sailed under the lee of Crete off of Salmone. <br /><br /> Coasting along it with difficulty, we came to a place called Fair Havens, near which was the city of La Silla. Since much time had passed and the voyage was now dangerous, because even the fast was already over, Paul advised them, saying, Sirs, I perceive that the voyage will be with injury and much loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also our lives. <br /><br /> But the centurion paid more attention to the pilot, to the owner of the ship, than to what Paul said. And because the harbor was not suitable to spend the winter in, the majority decided to put out to sea from there, on the chance that somehow they could reach Phoenix, a harbor of Crete, facing both southwest and northwest, and spend the winter there. <br /><br /> Now when the south wind blew gently, supposing they had obtained their purpose, they weighed anchor and sailed along Crete, close to the shore. But soon, a tempestuous wind called the northeaster struck down from the land, When the ship was caught and could not face the wind, we gave way to it and were driven along. <br /><br /> Running under the, running under the lee of a small island called Calda, we managed with difficulty to secure the ship's boat. After hoisting it up, they used supports to undergird the ship, then fearing that they would run around on the surtis, they lowered the gear, and thus they were driven along. Since we were violently storm tossed, we began the next day to jettison the cargo, and on the third day they threw the ship's tackle overboard with their own hands. <br /><br /> When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope of our being saved was at last abandoned. Since they had been without food for a long time, Paul stood up among them and said, Men, you should have listened to me and not have set sail from Crete and incurred this injury and loss. <br /><br /> Yet now I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. For this very night there stood before me an angel of God, to whom I belong and whom I worship. And he said, Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand before Caesar. Behold, God has granted you all those who sail with you. <br /><br /> So take heart, men, who sail, for I have faith in God, that it will be exactly as I have been told. But we must run aground on some island. When the fourteenth night had come, and as we were being driven across the Adriatic Sea, about midnight the sailors suspected that they were nearing land. So they took a sounding, and found twenty fathoms. <br /><br /> A little farther on they took a sounding again, and found fifteen fathoms. And fearing that we might run on the rocks, they let down four anchors from the stern, and prayed for days to come. And as the sailors were seeking escape from the ship, And had lowered the ship's boat into the sea under pretense of laying out anchors from the bow. <br /><br /> Paul said to them, Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved. Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the ship's boat and let it go. As day was about to dawn, Paul urged them all to take some food, saying, Today is the fourteenth day that you have continued in suspense and without food, having taken nothing. <br /><br /> Therefore, I urge you, To take the food, for it will give you strength, for not a hair is to perish from the head of any of you. When he had said these things, he took bread, and giving thanks to God in the presence of all, broke it and began to eat. Then they were all encouraged, and ate some food themselves. <br /><br /> We were in all two hundred and seventy six persons in the ship. And when they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship, throwing out the wheat into the sea. Now it was, now when it was day, they did not recognize the land, but they noticed a bay with a beach on which they planned, if possible, to run the ship ashore. <br /><br /> So they cast off the anchors and left them in the sea, and at the same time, loosening the ropes, they tied the rudders, then hoisting the force out to the wind, they made for the beach. But striking a reef, they ran the vessel aground. The bow struck and remained immovable, and the stern was being broken up by the surf. <br /><br /> The soldiers plan was to kill the prisoners. Lest they swim away and escape, but the centurion wishing to save Paul kept them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and make it for the land and the rest on planks or on pieces of the ship. And so it was that all were brought safely to land. <br /><br /> Let's pray. <br /><br /> Lord, we come before you this morning, God, and we're, we're desperate for you to speak to us. God, we spend time each Sunday and daily, Lord. In your scriptures because we breathe, we believe it's the very words of God and that this word has the power to transform us, God. So we pray that your word would speak truth, God, that your spirit would move amongst us, Lord, that you would just take the blinders off our eyes, Lord. <br /><br /> That you'd give us ears to hear and hearts to receive a word that you have for us today, God. Not anything I could bring, Lord, or clever idea, Lord, but your spirit. Speaking through me, Lord, I pray desperately. God, I pray for each and every one of us in this room. God, we're all coming from different weeks and different places and different ideas. <br /><br /> Lord, I pray that you'd put off all distractions in the name of Jesus, God. That we would be able to hear you clearly this morning. And that by the end of our time here, we'd know just a little bit more about who you are. And how much you care for us and love us, God. Lord, we pray all this in Jesus name. <br /><br /> Amen. I wasn't kidding. It was quite the mouthful. 44 verses. I did pretty good on the names in case you noticed. That's all I was worried about the whole time. So we're good now. Thank you. Oh, that's good. Now, before we get into this story, um, I just kind of wanted to back up and like, how did we get here? <br /><br /> We've been going through the book of Acts for like a year and a half now. So I just want to give us a little bit reminders of, of where we're at. If you remember a couple of chapters ago and a couple of sermons ago, Paul made his journey Back to Jerusalem. He was going to deliver a gift there. And multiple people warned him. <br /><br /> People prophesied over him that if you go to Jerusalem, you're gonna be bound. You're gonna get arrested. You're gonna be beaten. And he continued on his way to Jerusalem instead. And almost immediately, when he got there, he was arrested. The Jews got so angry, they attempted to kill him. So the Romans actually took him into captivity to protect him and put him on trial to see if he was guilty. <br /><br /> of what the Jews falsely accused him of. He had three different trials. He appeared before Felix, and Festus, and King Agrippa. And this was not including even his appearance before the council of the Jewish leaders. And then he finally appealed to Caesar. And because he appealed to Caesar, he was sent to Rome. <br /><br /> King Agrippa actually said, if you didn't appeal to Caesar, we actually may have set you free. But now that you've appealed to Caesar, you must go to Caesar. So now we get to our passage as Paul begins his journey. To go to Rome, to go before Caesar. And the journey does not go as they planned. I, I label this journey the miserable trip to Rome. <br /><br /> If you just want to bring up the map, we can kind of see, um, where he traveled. Um, you can kind of see he starts over here in Jerusalem. They go off and immediately they hit wind. So they kind of go, try to go around Cyprus to find some land coverage from that wind. They're sailing along. They go through Antioch, and Myra, um, and Nidus. <br /><br /> And they come to this place called Fair Havens, which sounds like a pretty nice place to stay in. But apparently it wasn't for the winter. And it says at this point, actually, it was past the feast, which would have been the Day of Atonement. So it would have been the end of September, leading into October. <br /><br /> So winter was approaching where it was deadly, um, and terrible for sea travel. So although Fair Havens sounded like a good spot, the soldiers wanted to continue on a phoenix, because who the heck doesn't want a winter in Phoenix? Different Phoenix, just in case you didn't know, right? But Paul, he's a seasoned traveler at this point. <br /><br /> He's traveled this sea many of times, he's gone to different places in his missionary journeys. And he actually, at this point of his life, because of 2 Corinthians 11, um, 25, we know, Paul's been shipwrecked three times at this point. So he's telling these guys, hey guys, listen, I've been on the sea, I've tried to travel at this point, let's just stay in fair havens. <br /><br /> This is a good spot. You're going to want to trust me. And the centurion says, you know what, Paul? You're just some prisoner. I'm going to listen to the captain. I'm going to listen to the owner of the ship. We're going to press on. Phoenix is only a couple miles farther away. We'll make their fine. We'll winter there. <br /><br /> Way more amenities there. We'll be fine. But Paul knew what he was talking about. Right? He's been here. He has experience. And not only that, right? He's led by the Spirit of God. Here's a man who's spent a lot. of time with God. So they push on, and immediately, they hit a wind, the northeaster, the storm, and it drags them all the way back. <br /><br /> And you see it just kind of goes straight west. And they literally end up in Malta, which is just God's provision, because it's 400 some miles they traveled. If they missed that small island, it would have been a thousand more miles to the next place, and they probably wouldn't have survived, and they probably would have starved or been shipwrecked in the middle of the sea. <br /><br /> So they're forced out to the wind. For days, they could not see stars or sun. They had no navigation at this point. No Apple Maps or GPS to help them. And verse 20 actually says that they had lost all of being saved. They were ready to throw in the towel, to give up. And Paul stands up among them, and in my words, he says, I told you so, right? <br /><br /> I told you this was gonna happen. But he doesn't sit there and beat him up, right? He moves on quickly, and he says, An angel has come to me. Man, do not fear. Take heart. That word, to take heart, literally means to make cheerful. Which is kind of hard when you look around. There's storms, you can't see anything, you've been lost at sea for days. <br /><br /> Seasick, you're hungry. He said, an angel has appeared before me. And he said, I'm going to make it and appear before Caesar. Not only that, all of you men, all 267 of us, are going to make it to safety. But the ship we're going to lose. From the centurions, to the sailors, to the merchants, to the prisoners, all on that boat. <br /><br /> Would be saved the mood had shifted and even by their measures they were approaching land Some sailors tried to jump the gun They they went into the rescue boat and said oh We're just gonna lay down some anchors and they try to ditch out of there and Paul quickly Sniffs it out finds the Centurion says if these men leave this boat, they will not make it out of here alive So Paul went from being his advice Centurion saying oh, no way. <br /><br /> Let's get these prisoners We're listening to Paul now. They even cut the lifeboat away And Paul finally has some credibility as they saw his steadiness in times of trouble. He became a leader among all, even the centurion, even though he was just a prisoner on the ship. What he does with his newfound leadership is he doesn't lord it over anyone. <br /><br /> He actually breaks bread with these men, giving thanks, sharing it with them, saying, let's eat, let's strengthen ourselves so that we can appear, um, be ready to swim to safety. When day finally appears, which must have been an incredible feeling, they see land and a beach they could sail up on. On their last effort to be rescued from the clutches of the sea, they hit a reef and the boat was getting torn to shreds by the waves. <br /><br /> The soldiers panic and they decide, we're gonna kill all the prisoners so they don't escape. And this sounds... Harsh, and yes it is, but it kind of makes sense because Roman soldiers, if they lost their prisoners, if their prisoners escaped, they were guilty of the same thing their prisoners were going to be accused of. <br /><br /> So whether that was lifetime in prison or even worse, execution, those soldiers were now accountable to their crimes. So they said, instead of letting them escape, we're going to kill them. And the centurion, who wanted to spare Paul, puts a stop to this right away. And make sure each and every one of the prisoners, and the merchants, and the sailors, and the soldiers, get to land safely. <br /><br /> This is the miserable journey to Rome. There's a lot going on here, I wasn't kidding. 44 verses, a lot to unpack here, but I just want to take the time this morning, and I want to take three takeaways this morning as we look at this passage. Three things we learn about who God is, who we are. Firstly, God's promises never fail. <br /><br /> What God says He will do, He will do. Isaiah 55 11 says this, So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth. It shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I propose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. Not only does God confirm to Paul on the boat, you will make it to Caesar, you will appear before him. <br /><br /> He also ensures him the safety of all the men. But God actually confirmed this. To Paul, before he even got on the boat. Acts 23 11 says this, the following night the Lord stood by him and said, Take courage, for as you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem, so you must testify also in Rome. <br /><br /> This was right after Paul was getting arrested and he gave his testimony to the Jews. Jesus says this, take courage, you will appear before Caesar, you will give this testimony to Rome. Paul knew. He was getting to Rome and God in his kindness confirmed the message again on the boat and blessed the rest of the 275 passengers with the same protection and promise time and time again in the book of Acts We see the will of God prevail against persecution against spiritual attack adverse weather Imprisonment beatings it seems like nothing can stand against the will of God his promises never fail And maybe you're sitting here this morning, and you're just feeling like, Yeah, well, I just don't feel close to God, or I feel like I'm not in His will, or I feel like I'm not doing the things He wants me to do that. <br /><br /> Well, even if we feel like we're not close with God, or are running away from Him, He's still there. His promises still remain true for you. If you think about another story in the Bible about a boat, and a storm, and a big fish. <br /><br /> You guys are allowed to talk in church, it's okay. Jonah, yes! Jonah, right? Jonah was not faithful to God. God said, go to Nineveh, preach this message. He went the opposite way. But God's promise remained true. The word came to Nineveh. God sent a storm. He sent a fish. And God met Jonah in his wandering in the belly of a fish. <br /><br /> His promises rang true. God's promises are not contingent on your behavior, or how you feel, or your circumstances. He is a promise keeper. That's who He is. 2 Timothy 2. 13 says this, If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself. It's who He is. It's His character. He is a promise keeper. <br /><br /> His word will not return void. God is who He says He is. Paul knew this. He said, the God who I belong to and who I worship, what He says will happen. I've seen it done. God's promises never fail. Secondly, a steady God creates steady followers. A steady God creates steady followers. This is clearly seen through Paul's calmness in the midst of panic all around him. <br /><br /> He advises the crew. He encourages the crew not twice, uh, not once but twice. And he keeps his cool. He's breaking bread. He's giving thanks. He's leading these men. When all else of them have lost hope, they're ready to die. They're literally preparing themselves for death. He's encouraging them. He's saying be cheerful. <br /><br /> That's a hard ask to these men surrounded by a storm approaching death. He knew who his God was. He knew he served a steady God and because of that, he was steady in times of trouble. And I know what you're probably thinking, right? You're kind of sitting there, you're like, Yeah, that's really cool for Paul. <br /><br /> Like, you know, Paul was a go getter, type A personality, he's a leader among men. Of course he was steady, Jared. Of course he was steady among, you know, times of trouble. That's, that's a trait of a leader. That's not me. I'm a background person. I like to sit in the back and support things. I'm a worrier. I'm emotional. <br /><br /> I, you know, that's not who I am. This was not a personality trait. His steadiness did not become because he's a type A person. His steadiness came from spending time with a steady God. So yes, God wants you to be steady because He is steady in times of trouble. Paul had been in these situations before. <br /><br /> He'd seen his God come through. He's been beaten. He's been in prison. He's been accused of things. He's been run out of town. And yet in every and all situations, he's seen his God be steady. And it's made him steady. Philippians 4, 12 through 13 says this, I know, this is Paul speaking, I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. <br /><br /> In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger and abundance and need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. Paul found the secret in being content and steady in any circumstance. And the secret was where his strength came from. It wasn't Paul. It wasn't that he had a strong personality or a strong character. <br /><br /> It's the God he served. It's the God he served. The God he trusted in, the God he had seen in his personal life bring him through situation after situation, after circumstance, after trial, to where he was today. So yeah, a shipwreck? He's already had three of these! He's like, alright, fourth, we can do this. <br /><br /> God's been with me here before. The more you go through with God, the steadier you'll become. The more you'll know Him, the more you'll know His goodness and gentleness. And his sovereignty, even in the midst of chaos. I want to share a story of Harold Ebersole. Many of you know Sean and Harold Ebersole. <br /><br /> We've supported them for many, many, uh, years now. In Bangladesh in their ministry. Uh, many of you know Harold, um, has been diagnosed with cancer for many years now. And I remember he came in a staff meeting when his, um, diagnosis was pretty early on. And it was really dismal. He had actually just gotten some news that he basically was going to die soon. <br /><br /> And he comes into, um, you know, our staff meeting, and I'm thinking, you know, he's, he's coming in, you know, we're gonna pray for him, we're gonna pray over him for healing, and, and all this stuff, you know, I'm ready to support him and care for him. And he comes with a devotional about how good God is in times of trouble. <br /><br /> And I remember him outlining what the doctors and the nurses and the x rays and the scans have said. And I'm sitting in my chair, and I'm getting nervous, like I'm getting shaken, like oh my gosh, this is not good news. And he's sitting there, talking about the goodness of God, and he's smiling. And he literally said, he's like, yeah I went on a couple mile run this morning, and I'm like, what's wrong with this dude, like what's going on? <br /><br /> And I walked out of that meeting thinking, wow, this is a man, this is a man who spent a lot of time with God. This is a man who spent a lot of time in uncertain situations, and he knows his God was steady. He knew exactly where he was going, and he knew exactly who held his future in his hands. It was God. <br /><br /> It wasn't that he was strong, or powerful, or super positive. It was a God he learned to love and trust, and knew a God who loved him and was faithful to him in his ministry. This is what God wants of us. He wants us to be steady. In times of trouble. He wants us to bring us through things that are difficult, that are scary, and yet he's a steady God. <br /><br /> And he doesn't want shaken, scared followers. He wants steady followers, because that's who he is. A steady God creates steady followers. Third, there are no setbacks with God. When we are following God, there really are no setbacks. And I, I hope you hear me. I don't want you hear me say that You know, your life's gonna be easy, easy, breezy, beautiful, cover girl. <br /><br /> It's not. I'm not saying that at all. I'm actually saying the opposite of what I'm saying is, it's gonna be difficult. It's gonna be hard. You're gonna face conflict, and loss, and disease, and sickness. You're gonna face all these things. And from a worldly perspective, they all look like setbacks and roadblocks. <br /><br /> And if you look at Paul's life, it looks like this guy just hit roadblock. After setback, after setback, after setback. I mean, look at this guy. He traveled around preaching God's Word. Every city, every town he went into, he either got arrested, beaten, ran out, rejected, mocked. That looks like setbacks, but they're not. <br /><br /> And Paul didn't see them as setbacks. He saw them as opportunities, right? This is why I titled this, this sermon, A Miserable Trip of Rome, because it looks Miserable! Everything that could go wrong, does go wrong. But Paul doesn't see it like that. A couple chapters before, Paul had to appear before Agrippa, which probably felt like his hundredth trial. <br /><br /> He probably could have been really frustrated and annoyed and been like, I've told my story, I've told my testimony. No! He doesn't see it like that. What does he do before King Agrippa? He gives his testimony. He shares the gospel with this king. And King Agrippa literally, Calls him out on it. He says, are you trying to convert me, Paul? <br /><br /> And he said, yes, I am. I'm trying to convert all who here today, who are listening to me. I pray that you'd be like me besides these chains. <br /><br /> Paul didn't see it as a setback. He saw, God's put me in a room with an influential man who has a lot of influence. This guy's gonna know Jesus. Same thing on this boat. He didn't see it as a miserable journey. He saw, man, he probably got on that boat and he said, started counting up people. Luke didn't even need to count, count the people. <br /><br /> He's like, Luke, there's 276 people in this boat. All of them are going to be saved by the time we get to Rome. And God gave him a little extra days and a storm to help him out. He didn't see it as a setback. Paul was, all these men, when they were ready to die and hopeless, Paul makes a bold statement of faith. <br /><br /> Says that, that God who I belong to and believe in, He's going to rescue us. He's going to deliver us. There is no setbacks with my God. When I was in high school, you know, you get your quarterly, uh, report cards. And, you know, you're like always scared they're getting sent to your parents. And, like, I wasn't scared about my grades because my parents knew my grades weren't going to be good. <br /><br /> What I was scared about was, like, what the teachers were going to write in a little note section. And I, I'm telling you they had a meeting because it was all the same exact thing. Every single one of them. Jared's a pleasure to have in class. He's a joy to have in class. But he talks way too much. Very disruptive. <br /><br /> Very hard to teach with him in the class. Right? I'm like, my mom's like, Did they have a meeting? What, what happened Jared? Like, what's going on? I'm like, Yeah, sorry. So the teachers, what they would do to try to solve this problem, that was me, they moved me around class. They'd like put me next to different people. <br /><br /> And, in my, one of my uh, we had advanced writing class and it was like, all semester, all what is, semester, quarter, whatever it's called in high school. You had to prepare for like one long paper, you had the whole thing, I'm like, dude, the whole, the whole semester, like, I'm gonna do this the night before, they know this, right? <br /><br /> So I'm like, oh, it's a great talking period, and we'd sit at the computers and work. They thought it was a good idea to put me next to Eric Galloway, I don't know where Eric Galloway is today, I hope he hears this, he's probably running some part of our country. The man was brilliant, he was super smart, he was motivated, he was like valedictorian of our class, super quiet, super quiet, they're like, we've solved it. <br /><br /> Put him next to, Jared, put Jared right next to him. It was like, me, the corner, Eric. What they didn't know was, I don't need someone to talk back to me! I'll just talk to him! He's the perfect person, he just listens! This is amazing! I turn my chair, I'm not even looking at my computer, I'm just talking to Eric, I'm like, Eric, how are you, man? <br /><br /> And he's like, Jared, Jared, Jared, we really need to focus right now. I'm like, Eric, I've been trying to get to know you, you've been dodging me in the hallway! This is perfect! The teachers are scratching their heads. They're like, no matter who we put this guy next to, he won't shut up. They'd put me next to the teacher's desk. <br /><br /> Now the teacher can't get anything done. They're like, no matter where we put this guy, he won't shut up. This was Paul with the gospel. No matter where he was, no matter who he was with, whether he was in prison or free or on a boat in a storm. He was talking about Jesus. He was sharing the gospel. He was building the kingdom of God. <br /><br /> That's who he was. That's what he did. There was no setback. There was no change of seats, right? You put me next to whoever. That's not a setback for me. I've been trying to get to know Eric. I got one thing out of him. He likes Neo, all right? I was like, okay, respect. I thought you only listened to gospel music. <br /><br /> My bad, Eric. Paul didn't see these things as setbacks. He saw them as opportunities. I mean, put yourself in Paul's shoes. I mean, sandals. How would you react? You're on a boat for weeks at a time. It stormed the entire time. Everybody's seasick. They haven't eaten, whether they're seasick or they can't even eat because they're like so busy trying to keep this ship together. <br /><br /> I would be miserable. You would probably be miserable. And yet Paul says, Hey guys, take heart. Let's be joyful. And they listen to him. And they're encouraged by him. He had spent too much time with God and hardship to know that this was not a setback, but an opportunity to trust God and build his kingdom. <br /><br /> Philippians 1, 12 through 14 says this, I want you to know, brothers, this is Paul talking to the Philippians. I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel so that it has become known throughout the whole Imperial Guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. <br /><br /> And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. And the context of his verse, like, unlocks it. So Paul's talking to the Philippians. They're worried about him. They're worried about him because this is where our passage is leading up. <br /><br /> Paul's going to Rome, and he's gonna get imprisoned there, right? He's gonna be on house arrest. He's gonna be down, and he's not gonna be able to go out and preach the gospel. They're worried about him. And what Paul says here, what has happened to me, as in this imprisonment, this being locked in here, what's happened to me, it's not a setback. <br /><br /> Right? It's not that I can't go out, and I'm stuck in one place, and I can't share the gospel, and I can't go around town and plant new churches. No, no. It's an advancement for the gospel. That the whole Imperial Guard, and everybody else here, knows that my imprisonment is for Christ. And not only that, the brothers back home, they've become more confident and bolder to present the Word of Truth. <br /><br /> He didn't see it as a setback. He didn't believe in setbacks. He believed in advances for the kingdom of God. <br /><br /> There is no setbacks with God. And what the world sees as setbacks, we see as advances for the gospel. This is who God is. This is how big He is. He's a Redeemer. He redeems all things to bring Him glory. <br /><br /> While Paul was in prison in Romans, suppose that he wrote the book of Ephesians. Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon. When else would he have had the time to do these things, these books that are so crucial to the Christian faith. God carved out time to say, I'm gonna put you in house arrest. You're not gonna be able to go anywhere else, but write letters and talk to the people around you. <br /><br /> God knew. He orchestrated the whole thing. It hasn't been a setback. He said it's been an advancement. There's no need to worry. <br /><br /> I just want to close this morning. And I know like this, you know, you're like, yeah, I get it, Jared. There's setbacks, you know, they're not setbacks, they're advances, whatever. You've said it a lot. But you're like, you just don't get what I'm going through. Or you don't understand the difficulty I'm facing or the uncertainty of my future. <br /><br /> And you're right, some of you I don't even know your name. But I do know, in my life, some of the most difficult times that I saw as setbacks, that I wanted to get out of. Quickly, as possible. God didn't see them as that. He wasn't surprised by them He wasn't shaken by them I want to spur you on to be cheerful and to take heart, just as Paul did with the 275 hopeless men on that boat. <br /><br /> That the God who I know and I believe in He's fighting for you this very moment. He doesn't see your situation as a setback. But he sees it as fertile ground to transform your heart and the hearts of those around you. It's who he is. He's faithful. He's a redeemer. He doesn't see it as we see it. Whether it's a diagnosis, or bad news, or conflict, it's not a setback. <br /><br /> This is when God's ready to put his foot on the gas and propel you forward. This is who he is. James 1, 2 through 4 says this, Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds. For you know That the testing of your faith produces steadfastness and lets steadfastness have its full effect. <br /><br /> That you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. We're going to close with a song and the prayer team is going to come up. I really encourage you to come up and receive some prayer. What, what other parts of your week or work week can you come up and actually receive prayer in your life? Whether it's something difficult that feels like a setback or a storm or, or, or a difficulty. <br /><br /> Come forward. Whether it's big or, or small or, or gigantic. Whatever it is. Come forward. Receive some prayer. And know that the Lord, just ask Him to just change your heart. And your perspective on the difficult things you're going through. Let's pray. <br /><br /> Lord, I don't, I don't know everybody in this room, but God, you know them. God, and not only do you know them, you knew their name before you laid out the foundations of the world. You knew their story. You knew the difficulty they'd face. The sickness, the disease, the addiction, the loss of life. God, you knew it. <br /><br /> And you don't see them as setbacks. You don't see them as dead ends. God, you see them as fertile ground to transform us. To bring us humbly before you to say, Lord, I got nothing without you. <br /><br /> Lord, don't let us waste these moments. Change our perspective. Soften our hearts that we might see your kindness in this. God, your word says that all discipline seems painful at times. But it leads to a harvest of righteousness. So, God, we welcome your discipline. We accept it, God, and we ask that you lead us in a path of righteousness for your name's sake. <br /><br /> God, open up our hearts, Lord. You are our firm foundation. You're our solid ground. When everything else seems to fall apart, Lord, you are our steady, constant God. Allow us to trust in your promises and to be steady like you are. And we pray all this in Jesus name, amen.</div> false no <![CDATA[Abundant Living]]> John 10:10

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.



We just want to welcome you. Um, Pastor Tim, as, uh, Randy had announced. Um, if you don't know me, I'm in charge of Living Nativity, building facilities, children, kind of do a lot of different things. Um, but it's my privilege to come and preach to you today.

So if you want to open up your Bibles, we're going to be jumping into John, chapter 10, looking at verse 10. One verse. But we're going to hit a lot of different scriptures today. So I'll try to write, just write the references down. Don't try to write every part of it down. Um, it's not going to come up here.

So I'll just say the references. You can hit those. You can look at them later on, um, dive in. But we're going to hit a lot of references today. But this is what it says in John 10, 10. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came. that they may have life and have it abundantly. Let's pray.

Father, we

are humbled by who you are. We're grateful for who you are, Lord, and we're excited to know you more deeply every day, Lord. So, pray that this time is glorifying and uplifting to you, that you prepare our hearts for the Word of God, that you prepare our lives for what we're gonna hear, Lord. It's from you.

And so we're grateful to, to stand listening, Lord, and to, to be here to apply it and to, to move forward with what you have for us, Lord, in your heavenly name. Amen. All right. So a couple of thoughts with this. Don't preach often. Um, so when I do, it's usually if I'm not given a passage, I usually have to wait a little bit to the Lord shows me something to share on.

And so when I got this one, I was like, all right, I got it. It's one verse. I can't mess that up too much. Um, also what he said was I wanted you to preach about abundant living. And I'm like, All right, that sounds prosperity a little bit, Lord, so I'm going to need you to show me what this looks like, right?

I'm going to need you to lead me through it. Because when I first hit it, it was like, all right, abundant living, that sounds... Like, uh, you want us to have a lot of different things and live in that and, and gain those things. And, but what God shows us in scripture is, is the opposite. And that's what we're going to look at today of, of how we're going to not live abundantly, how he calls us to not live abundantly, to then.

call us to living an abundant life. So we define life because there's all kinds of different things about life. There's all kinds of different qualities of life and, and the term gets tossed around a lot. But we're jumping into Webster's Dictionary to define it. And it's a simple one. The quality that distinguishes a vital and functional being from a dead body.

It's simple. It's basic. in its form, abundantly existing or occurring in large amounts. And so, we want to look at what that means and what God talks about and how we can live that way out in our gospel centered lives and how we can live that way out on the daily in our own areas of where He's called us to be.

The first I want to share a little thing is because living life is challenging. I don't know if you're familiar with, with challenges or trials or difficulties, um, but I'm sure you're like me and you've hit some of yours this past year. Um, whether it's loss, whether it's, um, difficulties and struggles and trials, we've all go through them.

This year we've had blessings in my own life and, and difficulties and loss and struggles and, and things going on in our family. We had a, If we do foster care, and so we had a little girl with us for eight months of pouring and loving in, and, and then she was not with us anymore. They moved her to a home, and so the difficulty and the struggle that hit our family was tough because you pour so much in to no end.

We know leading into that, that that has the potential of happening, but we want to give all of our lives to it. Um, we've now have a little two month old right now, and so there's a lot of life happening there. A lot of ups and downs. We've had loss. My grandmother passed away after battling dementia for five to six years.

But as I look around, I'm sure you have similar losses. You have similar things going on, similar trials, right? They might not look exactly like mine did, but you have a lot of life lived, right? But there's also blessings in that where you get to see life and miracles and healings, right? And protection and God's at work.

And so we balance these things in. what we call life. And that's the challenge, is that God calls us to live abundantly. How do I live abundantly in a world that gets tossed upside down, that has losses, and has struggles, and has trials? And I think we really have to look at what God calls us to live first, before we can really kind of overwhelm ourselves with what that looks like.

And so we want to look at what abundant living is not first, right? It's not an easy

That can shock us here. Those that have lived in the United States for a long time, that kind of is what we have. A state of ease at times, a state of comfort, even though we've gone through trials and difficulties and we've suffered, we really haven't faced what other countries have faced. So we live in comfort and ease.

Comfort's a state of physical ease and freedom from pain or constraint. The pleasant and satisfying feeling of being physically or mentally free from pain and suffering. Or something that provides this feeling. It's what we want to do. We, I mean, raise your hand if you want to be trapped in pain and live in a daily feeling of pain.

Right? None of us do. Right? Just think about it for a minute and be in it. Right? You don't. You can suffer and deal for a little bit if you know the end. But to constantly wake up that way or constantly in those moments. It's a struggle. And we try everything to get out of them. We have an idea of how our lives and how our lives should go.

At times we see how the world is living and, and we want those things, we see how others or neighbors or people around us are living and, and we want it. Big house, nice house, a house, good job, a job, consistent work, a great big paycheck, not living paycheck to paycheck, family health, right? The list goes on and on and on in your own lives.

You can put your own things in there that you want to be comfortable with, that you want to have so that you can feel comfortable. in your lives. These aren't bad things. We don't want to condemn these things or throw these things out. In and of themselves, they're not bad. And sure, at times, I've desired some of those things myself.

Right? I want to be more comfortable. I want to have a life that's easier at times.

But we as believers, we're called, are we called to a life of comfort? Are we called to a life of ease? Is that what the gospel, is that what God tells us this life that we live for Him is going to be like? Or this life that we're living and how we share the gospel is always going to be easy, always going to be comfortable, it's never going to be awkward, it's never going to be challenging, it's never going to be difficult.

I don't see any of that in my Bible. I don't see any of that in Scripture as I look and dive in and, and look to see what He calls us to do. We're not called to have a life just sitting around on a big comfy couch waiting for Him to return. Sitting on my sectional, finding out, is it comfortable enough till the Lord comes back, or do I need a new one?

Is my TV big enough, or do I need a new one? Right? The ease of these things, the comfort that we want to live in, that we want to seek. And these aren't bad things. I believe the idea of being a Christian in the United States has taken on the meaning of having a comfortable life. It's a majority Western thinking, or even a Western ideation.

We have the freedom of speech, we have the freedom to practice our religious beliefs no matter what they are here in the U. S. No one's outside the building writing down your name, writing down your license plate, taking the model of your car as you pulled into the parking lot today. No one's watching to see where you go afterwards to arrest you, to persecute you, to kill you.

I can stand up here and say the name of Jesus as many times as I want and not have to be afraid of who's coming in the door. I have the freedoms and the ease. And the comfort to do these things. Majority of us listening to this sermon right now have more than one Bible at home or even with us. We have our phones that can access over 70 different English versions at the touch of a button.

We have comfort. We have ease. When was the last time that you feared going to church? That you feared reading your Bible? Comfort's not bad, right? I don't want us to walk away and say I can't have anything comforting and sell everything I have and get rid of every... thing I have. If the Lord leads you to that, great.

But if he doesn't, that's not what I'm telling you to do. But if it stops us from attending church, if it stops us from stepping out on our faith, for sharing our beliefs, if it stops us from preaching the gospel, then it is not a healthy place to be. In that comfort. I believe we as believers living in the US are seeking to have all the comforts of the world while trying to serve God.

That doesn't work. It's not what the early church looked like. We're in acts now and if we jump back to Acts the beginning, acts seven and chapter seven, we see Stephen is martyred by Saul. He's stoned to death for pre, stoned to death for preaching the Word of God, for sharing. It wasn't a comfort stoning, right?

That's, I don't, I don't know if that exists, right? But big giant rocks thrown at you to kill you isn't a easy life or comfortable thing. It tells us that Saul starts to ravage the church. And this word ravage means to cause severe and extensive damage. He was on a rampage. He was out for blood. He was out to seek whoever he could to drag him to prison or to kill them.

for the gospel, because they were preaching the gospel, because they believed in Jesus. And there arose that day, Acts 8 1 tells us, a great persecution against the church. Believers scattered, they fled in fear. Doesn't sound like they were just getting a little slap on the wrist, don't preach again here, maybe go over there, but not here, right?

Persecution was taking a deep root. This wasn't comfort. This wasn't an easy life for them. They're now scattered around, separated from each other, fleeing in fear.

This is what God is telling us the early believers, the church, looked like. In Acts 12, James is killed by Herod and then he arrests Peter. Peter's imprisoned three times. Paul wrote four of his letters while in prison. He was in prison for two years, and then house arrest for another two years, right? This doesn't sound like how we are here.

It sounds a little different. I'm not asking us to invite persecution into our lives, but I want us to think about what they went through and what we're going through.

Almost all of the apostles and disciples were martyred for their beliefs in Jesus. For preaching, and speaking, and witnessing. Jesus himself was crucified.

James 1, 2 tells us to count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds. It doesn't say if you meet trials, right? The possibility of coming into trials. Right? There might be trials. He says when there are trials, right? We're all gonna have trials. We're all gonna have tribulations. We're all gonna have these things in our lives.

It's not a matter of if they hit us. It's just a matter of when they come and present themselves to us. James tells us they're gonna happen. So what do you do when you face them? I'm gonna count it all joy, but that comes later on afterwards. These trials will be all kinds of different things.

Unpredictable, unknowing.

I know many times we want that life that has no trials, has no difficulties, has no challenges. But I know my life, I know your lives, we greatly deepen when we go through those if we cling to the Lord. John 16 33 says, I've said these things to you that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation.

But take heart, I've overcome the world, and the world, if you live outside of my realm, if you live for a desire of comfort, if you'd live for the desire of ease, we're living what the world desires, and there will be tribulation. Matthew 8, 19 through 20 and Luke 9, 57 through 58, Jesus says the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.

Functionally homeless, the disciples in Jesus, as they're wandering around trying to figure out where their next place will be where they stay. Where are we sleeping tonight? Oh, it's whoever opens the door to us. Maybe we're camping outside, maybe we're not. They're functionally homeless, traveling to share the gospel.

And they're not driving around in a big caravan or a camper, right? To have that comfort and that ease, that glamping style, right? It's roughing it for the gospel. Many of us in the room have no idea probably what it means to be homeless. There are believers around the world, there are believers here that do.

This is how they did ministry. Believers around the world are experiencing what the early believers went through. Right, outside of the U. S., to be a Christian has a totally different take on it than it does here for us. Right, it means that you're going to be persecuted, that you're gonna have a lot more difficulties on a different level that match up more with the early church.

They're being persecuted for gathering together, having a Bible in their possession, sharing the gospel message, and believing the Lord. The Voice of the Martyrs website lists 41 countries as restricted on their website. 41 countries that believers are in are restricted. And what that means, it means that the government has sanctioned circumstances or anti Christian laws that lead Christians to being harassed, imprisoned, killed, deprived of their possessions, their liberties because of their witness and because they want to live for Christ.

I'm not saying we want to have that. But I want to challenge us on how we live our lives for the Lord. If I'm just desiring comfort and ease, I don't know if we're following the same Lord. I don't know if it's the same Jesus that they believe in that I'm believing in, if I just want an easy way of life.

What are we willing to give up? What cost is it going to be for us? To dive deeper, to know Him more.

It's also not a long life. All of the apostles were martyred except for one who lived a long life. They tried to, right? But then he got kicked to the island of Patmos and lived a longer life than most. Still died in the end. But it wasn't a long life. Jesus lived till 33 years old. not a long life.

I'm going to have a quote here from a great movie of one of my favorites, and if you've seen it, you'll maybe relate to it, but Braveheart. Yes, I'm going to go William Wallace quote here, alright? I didn't paint my face, so that's a good thing. And I won't try a Scottish accent, I promise. But just before a large battle at Stirling, he addresses the Scottish army that shows up.

They're less of an army and more of just tribes and clans trying to come together to be unified. The Scots are outnumbered against the English and they're afraid, right? So he tries to rile them up to get them ready to fight. And if you know this scene, he's on horseback, riding back and forth, challenging them, trying to psych them up, getting them to fight.

And he asks, are they going to fight? And they all respond with shouts of no. One man states, fight against that? No, we'll run and we will live, he says. Sounds like a good idea. Sounds comfortable and easy to run away. Wallace replies, a fight and you may die. Run and you'll live, at least a little while. And dying in your beds many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that for one chance?

Just one chance to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives. But they'll never take our freedom. He's challenging their comfort. It would be easier to run away. It would be easier not to step up to an army that outnumbers you, that has more weapons than you, and is probably tactically better than you are.

And it's more comfortable to run away. If we go, we're gonna most likely die.

He's challenging them to choose a longer, comfortable life, or a shorter, a potentially shorter life. But standing up for what you believe in. Choose comfort now, but it's not going to last long. You could choose a longer life, but in the end we all die. It's what's in between those times of now and then that matters.

If you've ever looked at the Fox's Book of Martyrs, or Jesus Freaks Put Out One, Volume 1 and 2, or the Voice of the Martyrs website, if you look in those things, you see all kinds of stories about believers and Christians from little kids all the way up to older people standing up for their faith, no matter what the cost, no matter what the circumstances are.

We see this, that they, it doesn't matter to them if they're not promised tomorrow. It's where they find themselves rooted. Accounts. They're willing to give up a long life for the gospel. Are we? James 4 13 through 14 says, Come now you who say today and tomorrow we'll go into such and such a town, spend a year there, we'll trade, make profit.

Yet you don't know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. James gets the idea. We don't know how long we're around. We're not promised tomorrow. We don't know what tomorrow looks like. We don't know what two hours from now, three hours from now, tomorrow morning, next week.

I'm not saying don't plan, but I'm saying we have to hold them open. We have to plan knowing that we don't know what tomorrow's gonna bring. Our lives are a mist. They're a vapor. They're here one day and gone the next. How are we living those days out? What are we doing in those times of the mist? Our vapors that we have, what are we doing with this?

Psalm 139 talks about how you numbered my days. You formed me, you knew me before I was born, and you numbered how many days I have. The Lord knows how long we'll be around. The Lord knows how many days we have, how many years, how many months, how many hours, how many seconds. Each one of us in this room has from here on out.

He's already got them numbered, already got them written down.

The challenge is, are we waiting to do what He's called us to do today? Are we waiting for tomorrow to do what we're called to do today? To share what we're called to share? Are we waiting for another time, another opportunity, something that's better for our lives, something that feels more comfortable?

Time to share.

We don't know what the future holds for us. We don't know how many days. The Lord knows. We're not promised a long life here on earth. We know that our salvation grants us and blesses us with an eternity in heaven, but we don't know when we'll enter into that eternity. Maybe tomorrow, might be today, might be a hundred years from now, but what are we doing with that time that we have left?

What is the Lord calling you to do? Someone once explained it to me like this, if you knew the cure for a certain disease, would you keep it to yourself? Would you hide it and keep it sacred and hold on to that? Or would you share it with the world? Would you share it with those that are affected with that same disease so that they can be healed?

The gospel is that cure that we have for our sinful lives. Are we sharing that cure with the world? Are we sharing that with our neighbors, with our family, with our friends, with those that we can't even stand? Our coworkers maybe, and. Whoever else the Lord is bringing in, are we sharing the cure that we have so that we can have everlasting life?

Or are we hiding it, holding it, keeping that treasure to ourselves? What do you do with it?

It's also not a self focused life. If you're like me, you're selfish probably, right? I've been there. Self centered at times, think about myself, um, especially sleep. Raise your hand if you love sleep. Like I, so we, we've had a baby, back to baby again, and so we've had a baby for about a month and a half now, a little.

Two year old, two month old, and in the beginning, he started to wake up a lot. It's like every hour, I feed him like, Alright, this is, this is tiring, and I get it, and, But, I get selfish, right? I get woken up in my sleep, and my wife and I are trying to split time so that she's not totally drained, and, so that I'm not totally drained, and so, I, I struggled a little bit in the beginning, where I'm like, Alright, Lord, I gotta remember, you created him, you created him, you created him, right?

You died for him, you died for him, you died for him, right? It's got to remember that because if you're like me and you get woken up out of sleep and you got trouble going back, you're just miserable and grumpy and I hate to admit it. But yes, I get miserable and grumpy when I'm woken up. Um, it's the way it is for me.

I'm selfish. I try to die to that, but it's a challenge, right? And so abundant living is not a self focused life. If we look at the Good Samaritan, we can see that in Luke 10 25 to 37, we see the Good Samaritan steps in. Right? Completely unselfish of himself, goes above and beyond the same person's own, uh, culture.

This Jewish man was beaten up by robbers and everything taken and so what happens is Jewish Pharisees and Jewish leaders and people of the law come by and they walk by and they either step over him or go to the other side of the street or even turn around because they don't want to walk by him and go the opposite way.

The Samaritan, someone who is disliked and probably hated by the Jews, steps in and goes above and beyond. Anything that we can imagine. Doesn't just care for him and help him, but pays for his inn. Pays for the person to take care of him, watch him. Comes back and says, Whatever the tab is, I'll come back and pay.

Does that reflect us at all? Is that who we are?

James 1. 27 tells us, Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. Is that how we're living? Are we sitting with those that are in affliction? Are we visiting with those that are sick?

Are we visiting with those that are hurting? Are we just sitting there listening and feeling with them and being present? I know sometimes that means that we gotta give up stuff to do this, right? Maybe it's giving up watching the Phillies and the Eagles, which they're both on winning streaks right now, right?

I mean, 5 0, and the Phillies again are finally, it's red October again for them, right? If someone comes to your house during the game, right? You lock in the door, lowering the blinds and hiding so that you don't have to help, right? Are we gonna open that up, turn the TV off, and invite them in? Is it about me?

Or is it about what the Lord is leading me to do? I'm not a Phillies or Eagles fan, but if it's the World Cup, that's a challenge, right? So if you wanna learn how selfish you are, get married. You'll learn real quick. And if you're still struggling with that, have some kids, cause then you'll find out you're really selfish.

Alright, this is how the Lord keeps showing me. what I need to die to in my own life. He shows me, he graces me with those gifts. And our example of a non selfish life is one, the Good Samaritan, but two, Jesus tells us in Mark 10, 42 through 45, that he came to serve. The King of Heaven came down to us to serve, not to be served and to ransom his life, to die for us.

So we can have that relationship, so that we can have that life with Him. That's a servant, that's what our lives should be modeled after. That is the ultimate unselfish act. To die for all of us.

I don't know if I'm willing to do that. Don't be offended. Right, there's a few people in my family, right? It's probably you, same thing. Die for your family. But outside of that, who's there? So we know what it's not. It's not an easy or comfortable life that we're called to. It's not a long life necessarily that we're called to.

You may live long. But we're not guaranteed it. And it's not a self centered, self focused life. Abundant living is not these things. So let's focus and shift to what it is. Abundant living is focused upward. It turns our eyes to the Lord. It turns our eyes to heaven. It turns our eyes to what He is doing.

Right? Because we want to be what the Lord is about. We want to be what God is about. We want to be what He desires in this world. Not what we desire. Allow me to ask this question of you today. Where are you focused in your life?

Is it upward or is it downward? Is it up there or is it on earthly things here? Is it internally or is it outwardly? What are you focused on? If we took a deeper look into our personal life, what is at the center? Is Jesus on the throne? Are there more than one thrones? And so, yeah, I got Jesus on one, but I got all these other little ones that I'm serving.

What directs and guides our paths, our everyday decisions? Does it matter that the decisions are big so I bring them to the Lord and all the other little ones I just handle on my own? Where'd I bring everything to him?

James 4. 15 says this, instead you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we'll do this or that. We'll go to this place or that place. How often do we ask that in our lives? How often do we challenge ourselves to come to this place and say, if the Lord wills me to do this, I'll do it. If it's His will for me to go there, to do this, to do that, do I ask that daily?

Do I go before Him daily and say, Lord, I'm holding my hands open with what my plans are. You can do what you want with them, or do I grist them tightly and hold onto them so that He can't take them and He has to pry them from my hands? How tightly do I hold onto my own plans, my own leading, my own stuff?

Abundant living is focusing on Him. With open hands, laying my plans at his feet and saying, change them as you want to. Change them and align them with you. Change them. I want to follow your desires, your leading, your calling. I want my life to align with your life, and I want my hands to be open to what you're doing.

Do I reflect that in my prayers, in my walk? Do you? It's easy to stand up here and say these things, but am I living them out? I want God to challenge each one of us with these things and ask us these questions. Are we living this way?

Paul, Peter, Jesus, their mission focus was upward so that then they could move to the outward. They had their eyes on what God desired, they had their eyes on what they were doing, and they let him lead. Paul, so many times, as we see in the book of Acts, he wanted to go here on a mission strip, he wanted to go there on a mission strip, he wanted to go there on a mission strip.

The Lord says, no, we're going to go here. Right, but he didn't fight the Lord. He moved with God. When God moved and when God called, he answered and went. He didn't dig his heels in and say, No, Lord, I'm not, I'm not doing that. I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to go. But he went and he followed. He held his plans loosely unto the Lord and laid them at his feet and saying, Lord, lead me, guide me, direct me.

Am I doing that every day? Are you?

It might mean going across the street to that neighbor who needs to hear the gospel. That you've lived there for 15 years as a neighbor, but you haven't gone there yet. Or the co worker you see every day, and they know something's different about you, but you haven't told them yet. Maybe your family members, who they know you go to church, they don't know what it's about.

Are we willing to be led to those moments for the Lord? Are we willing to hold those open to Him and say, Lord, direct and guide me? As you see fit, that's an upward focus because it's him first. It's what he desires, he seeks, he wants first. I'm submitting to God's will in my life.

Colossians 3, 2 says, set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. A lot of us, we need to shift our thinking on the daily to be upward focused. We need to shift how we see what the Lord is doing to be focused more on him. Matthew 6 33 says, But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Seek Him first. Seek Him first. When we abide in Him, when we focus on Him, we have this joy that comes and a peace. Galatians says that, right? We have the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. When we abide in Him, we have joy and peace. No matter what our circumstances are, no matter what we're going through, when we have our eyes focused upward, we don't get distracted on the downward focus.

And we can see what the Lord is calling us to do. And we can see what He's going to do through our trials, and through our sufferings, and through our pain. But first, we have to shift our eyes, outside of ourselves, to Him.

And then from there, we get outward focused. Abundant living, abundant life is focusing outward. After I focus upward, then I can shift and focus outward to see who the Lord is bringing into my life for this impact. Who the Lord is going to bring to me that I need to share this with? Right, like I said, is it the neighbor?

Is it a family member? Coworker? It's putting others before ourselves again. Right, it's that idea that selfless acts and putting others first. What does it look like every day? How can we continue to live this way? Right? Every day we have to have that gospel centered focus of going out, going up and going out.

Do I start every day with a focus on Him? I don't mean this long. Maybe you can't dive in so deep in the morning and spend an hour with the Lord, but maybe it's five minutes on your car ride, ten minutes on your car ride. Maybe it's praying continually throughout the day. Maybe it's listening to the Bible app and just over and over hearing Scripture, hearing what the Lord is doing, hearing what He has for your lives.

That's how we focus. That's how we align. So the question is, is after I focus upward, and I'm working to focus outward, what's my witness look like? Where am I shining the light of the gospel? Do I have an urgency where I may just complacent in the comfort? Do I view the people around me and have a desire for them to know the Lord, that I have an urgency to go to them?

To tell them, to share with them,

or am I just waiting?

Romans 12, 9 through 13 says, Let love be genuine, abhor what is evil, hold fast to what is good, love one another with brotherly affection, outdo one another in showing honor. Don't be sinful, don't be slothful and zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer, contribute to the needs of the saints, and seek to show hospitality.

Are these the characteristics that reflect my life? Can I look at this passage and say, Yes, I'm living that every day. Or does this passage hit me and say, You know what? That's not what I look like. That's not what I look like. That's not what I look like. Am I living in the urgency to live this way? To love others, to pray constantly, to be focused on the Lord throughout my day.

Good or bad, is this the characteristics of my life? Galatians 5,

13 says, For you are called to freedom, brothers, not only, but only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. We need to be outwardly focused. We need to share this with others and tell people about this. If we see an acts, it is what the disciples are all about.

Few more verses. Proverbs 1917. Galatians six two, John 15, 12 through 17 shares all about how we are to reach out, bear one another's burden, share with one another, serve one another. Commit to being there to one another. Are we doing this? As we look at what abundant living is, we need to focus upwards so that we can then have a better outward focus.

Align our lives right with the Lord and what He's doing so that we can share with others that need to hear about Him. As we approach the table this morning and we get ready to take communion, this is what it is about. Jesus came and died and gave His life for us so that we may know Him, so that we can have an eternity with Him.

And we tie this in as we are talking about what it looks like to have an abundant life. It's found in this, in His sacrifice for us, in what He did in laying down His life for ours. I

pray that we remember that daily as we look to serve Him. As we look to have an abundant life in what He says is an abundant life. Not what we view, or not what the world views, but aligning our lives with His. So we come to this table remembering what Jesus came to earth to do. The symbol of our relationship, the symbol of our upward focus.

The baskets are going to be passed in a minute. So please take this time as we do it to focus your lives, focus your hearts. Have some quiet time and go before the Lord if there are things there that you need to give over, to turn over. Or if this has stirred your heart to ask Him to lead you in a certain way.

Take this time now and do that. Ask the Lord to direct you and guide you. to be a part of what He is doing. And we want to make sure as we approach this that our hearts are aligned with His. 1 Corinthians 11, 23 29 says, For I have received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when He was betrayed took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, This is my body, which is for you.

Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way, He also took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. Whoever, therefore, eats the bread and drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and the blood of the Lord.

Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself. As the ushers come down and get ready, we're going to get ready as our welcome team comes forward to get ready to pass this out.

We're going to go before the Lord. And as the song is playing, as it's being passed out, take this time to quiet yourselves before the Lord. Father, we humbly die to ourselves, Lord, as you have died for us. We ask that we remember you in this. That every day we'll have our lives focused and aligned with you.

Praise you and thank you for your... Sacrifice so that we can have an abundant life rooted in the gospel, in your death and in your resurrection, in your heavenly name, amen.

The night he was betrayed. The Lord took the bread. Open it up. Don't open up the...

bottom. You'll leak all over. Just take that little guy out. Took the bread. You broke it, saying, this is my body broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me.

He then took the cup. Now we can open that up. Lord took the cup and he said, this is my blood, which is poured out for the forgiveness of your sins. Do this in remembrance of me.

The worship team is going to come back up on stage, and while they're coming back on up, we have our prayer team is going to join us on the sides up front. If you feel the Lord leading you to come up, if you need prayer, if you need to talk to somebody, they'll be up here. You can come up during the music, come up after the music, but please, they're going to be here for you to pray with you.

So if you need to cast your cares and be prayed for, come join us.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/abundant-living f7e13c42-2b06-49ce-933f-7f85dce3af4f Mon, 16 Oct 2023 16:13:01 GMT <div data-html="true">John 10:10 <br /><br /> The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> We just want to welcome you. Um, Pastor Tim, as, uh, Randy had announced. Um, if you don't know me, I'm in charge of Living Nativity, building facilities, children, kind of do a lot of different things. Um, but it's my privilege to come and preach to you today. <br /><br /> So if you want to open up your Bibles, we're going to be jumping into John, chapter 10, looking at verse 10. One verse. But we're going to hit a lot of different scriptures today. So I'll try to write, just write the references down. Don't try to write every part of it down. Um, it's not going to come up here. <br /><br /> So I'll just say the references. You can hit those. You can look at them later on, um, dive in. But we're going to hit a lot of references today. But this is what it says in John 10, 10. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came. that they may have life and have it abundantly. Let's pray. <br /><br /> Father, we <br /><br /> are humbled by who you are. We're grateful for who you are, Lord, and we're excited to know you more deeply every day, Lord. So, pray that this time is glorifying and uplifting to you, that you prepare our hearts for the Word of God, that you prepare our lives for what we're gonna hear, Lord. It's from you. <br /><br /> And so we're grateful to, to stand listening, Lord, and to, to be here to apply it and to, to move forward with what you have for us, Lord, in your heavenly name. Amen. All right. So a couple of thoughts with this. Don't preach often. Um, so when I do, it's usually if I'm not given a passage, I usually have to wait a little bit to the Lord shows me something to share on. <br /><br /> And so when I got this one, I was like, all right, I got it. It's one verse. I can't mess that up too much. Um, also what he said was I wanted you to preach about abundant living. And I'm like, All right, that sounds prosperity a little bit, Lord, so I'm going to need you to show me what this looks like, right? <br /><br /> I'm going to need you to lead me through it. Because when I first hit it, it was like, all right, abundant living, that sounds... Like, uh, you want us to have a lot of different things and live in that and, and gain those things. And, but what God shows us in scripture is, is the opposite. And that's what we're going to look at today of, of how we're going to not live abundantly, how he calls us to not live abundantly, to then. <br /><br /> call us to living an abundant life. So we define life because there's all kinds of different things about life. There's all kinds of different qualities of life and, and the term gets tossed around a lot. But we're jumping into Webster's Dictionary to define it. And it's a simple one. The quality that distinguishes a vital and functional being from a dead body. <br /><br /> It's simple. It's basic. in its form, abundantly existing or occurring in large amounts. And so, we want to look at what that means and what God talks about and how we can live that way out in our gospel centered lives and how we can live that way out on the daily in our own areas of where He's called us to be. <br /><br /> The first I want to share a little thing is because living life is challenging. I don't know if you're familiar with, with challenges or trials or difficulties, um, but I'm sure you're like me and you've hit some of yours this past year. Um, whether it's loss, whether it's, um, difficulties and struggles and trials, we've all go through them. <br /><br /> This year we've had blessings in my own life and, and difficulties and loss and struggles and, and things going on in our family. We had a, If we do foster care, and so we had a little girl with us for eight months of pouring and loving in, and, and then she was not with us anymore. They moved her to a home, and so the difficulty and the struggle that hit our family was tough because you pour so much in to no end. <br /><br /> We know leading into that, that that has the potential of happening, but we want to give all of our lives to it. Um, we've now have a little two month old right now, and so there's a lot of life happening there. A lot of ups and downs. We've had loss. My grandmother passed away after battling dementia for five to six years. <br /><br /> But as I look around, I'm sure you have similar losses. You have similar things going on, similar trials, right? They might not look exactly like mine did, but you have a lot of life lived, right? But there's also blessings in that where you get to see life and miracles and healings, right? And protection and God's at work. <br /><br /> And so we balance these things in. what we call life. And that's the challenge, is that God calls us to live abundantly. How do I live abundantly in a world that gets tossed upside down, that has losses, and has struggles, and has trials? And I think we really have to look at what God calls us to live first, before we can really kind of overwhelm ourselves with what that looks like. <br /><br /> And so we want to look at what abundant living is not first, right? It's not an easy <br /><br /> That can shock us here. Those that have lived in the United States for a long time, that kind of is what we have. A state of ease at times, a state of comfort, even though we've gone through trials and difficulties and we've suffered, we really haven't faced what other countries have faced. So we live in comfort and ease. <br /><br /> Comfort's a state of physical ease and freedom from pain or constraint. The pleasant and satisfying feeling of being physically or mentally free from pain and suffering. Or something that provides this feeling. It's what we want to do. We, I mean, raise your hand if you want to be trapped in pain and live in a daily feeling of pain. <br /><br /> Right? None of us do. Right? Just think about it for a minute and be in it. Right? You don't. You can suffer and deal for a little bit if you know the end. But to constantly wake up that way or constantly in those moments. It's a struggle. And we try everything to get out of them. We have an idea of how our lives and how our lives should go. <br /><br /> At times we see how the world is living and, and we want those things, we see how others or neighbors or people around us are living and, and we want it. Big house, nice house, a house, good job, a job, consistent work, a great big paycheck, not living paycheck to paycheck, family health, right? The list goes on and on and on in your own lives. <br /><br /> You can put your own things in there that you want to be comfortable with, that you want to have so that you can feel comfortable. in your lives. These aren't bad things. We don't want to condemn these things or throw these things out. In and of themselves, they're not bad. And sure, at times, I've desired some of those things myself. <br /><br /> Right? I want to be more comfortable. I want to have a life that's easier at times. <br /><br /> But we as believers, we're called, are we called to a life of comfort? Are we called to a life of ease? Is that what the gospel, is that what God tells us this life that we live for Him is going to be like? Or this life that we're living and how we share the gospel is always going to be easy, always going to be comfortable, it's never going to be awkward, it's never going to be challenging, it's never going to be difficult. <br /><br /> I don't see any of that in my Bible. I don't see any of that in Scripture as I look and dive in and, and look to see what He calls us to do. We're not called to have a life just sitting around on a big comfy couch waiting for Him to return. Sitting on my sectional, finding out, is it comfortable enough till the Lord comes back, or do I need a new one? <br /><br /> Is my TV big enough, or do I need a new one? Right? The ease of these things, the comfort that we want to live in, that we want to seek. And these aren't bad things. I believe the idea of being a Christian in the United States has taken on the meaning of having a comfortable life. It's a majority Western thinking, or even a Western ideation. <br /><br /> We have the freedom of speech, we have the freedom to practice our religious beliefs no matter what they are here in the U. S. No one's outside the building writing down your name, writing down your license plate, taking the model of your car as you pulled into the parking lot today. No one's watching to see where you go afterwards to arrest you, to persecute you, to kill you. <br /><br /> I can stand up here and say the name of Jesus as many times as I want and not have to be afraid of who's coming in the door. I have the freedoms and the ease. And the comfort to do these things. Majority of us listening to this sermon right now have more than one Bible at home or even with us. We have our phones that can access over 70 different English versions at the touch of a button. <br /><br /> We have comfort. We have ease. When was the last time that you feared going to church? That you feared reading your Bible? Comfort's not bad, right? I don't want us to walk away and say I can't have anything comforting and sell everything I have and get rid of every... thing I have. If the Lord leads you to that, great. <br /><br /> But if he doesn't, that's not what I'm telling you to do. But if it stops us from attending church, if it stops us from stepping out on our faith, for sharing our beliefs, if it stops us from preaching the gospel, then it is not a healthy place to be. In that comfort. I believe we as believers living in the US are seeking to have all the comforts of the world while trying to serve God. <br /><br /> That doesn't work. It's not what the early church looked like. We're in acts now and if we jump back to Acts the beginning, acts seven and chapter seven, we see Stephen is martyred by Saul. He's stoned to death for pre, stoned to death for preaching the Word of God, for sharing. It wasn't a comfort stoning, right? <br /><br /> That's, I don't, I don't know if that exists, right? But big giant rocks thrown at you to kill you isn't a easy life or comfortable thing. It tells us that Saul starts to ravage the church. And this word ravage means to cause severe and extensive damage. He was on a rampage. He was out for blood. He was out to seek whoever he could to drag him to prison or to kill them. <br /><br /> for the gospel, because they were preaching the gospel, because they believed in Jesus. And there arose that day, Acts 8 1 tells us, a great persecution against the church. Believers scattered, they fled in fear. Doesn't sound like they were just getting a little slap on the wrist, don't preach again here, maybe go over there, but not here, right? <br /><br /> Persecution was taking a deep root. This wasn't comfort. This wasn't an easy life for them. They're now scattered around, separated from each other, fleeing in fear. <br /><br /> This is what God is telling us the early believers, the church, looked like. In Acts 12, James is killed by Herod and then he arrests Peter. Peter's imprisoned three times. Paul wrote four of his letters while in prison. He was in prison for two years, and then house arrest for another two years, right? This doesn't sound like how we are here. <br /><br /> It sounds a little different. I'm not asking us to invite persecution into our lives, but I want us to think about what they went through and what we're going through. <br /><br /> Almost all of the apostles and disciples were martyred for their beliefs in Jesus. For preaching, and speaking, and witnessing. Jesus himself was crucified. <br /><br /> James 1, 2 tells us to count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds. It doesn't say if you meet trials, right? The possibility of coming into trials. Right? There might be trials. He says when there are trials, right? We're all gonna have trials. We're all gonna have tribulations. We're all gonna have these things in our lives. <br /><br /> It's not a matter of if they hit us. It's just a matter of when they come and present themselves to us. James tells us they're gonna happen. So what do you do when you face them? I'm gonna count it all joy, but that comes later on afterwards. These trials will be all kinds of different things. <br /><br /> Unpredictable, unknowing. <br /><br /> I know many times we want that life that has no trials, has no difficulties, has no challenges. But I know my life, I know your lives, we greatly deepen when we go through those if we cling to the Lord. John 16 33 says, I've said these things to you that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. <br /><br /> But take heart, I've overcome the world, and the world, if you live outside of my realm, if you live for a desire of comfort, if you'd live for the desire of ease, we're living what the world desires, and there will be tribulation. Matthew 8, 19 through 20 and Luke 9, 57 through 58, Jesus says the Son of Man has no place to lay his head. <br /><br /> Functionally homeless, the disciples in Jesus, as they're wandering around trying to figure out where their next place will be where they stay. Where are we sleeping tonight? Oh, it's whoever opens the door to us. Maybe we're camping outside, maybe we're not. They're functionally homeless, traveling to share the gospel. <br /><br /> And they're not driving around in a big caravan or a camper, right? To have that comfort and that ease, that glamping style, right? It's roughing it for the gospel. Many of us in the room have no idea probably what it means to be homeless. There are believers around the world, there are believers here that do. <br /><br /> This is how they did ministry. Believers around the world are experiencing what the early believers went through. Right, outside of the U. S., to be a Christian has a totally different take on it than it does here for us. Right, it means that you're going to be persecuted, that you're gonna have a lot more difficulties on a different level that match up more with the early church. <br /><br /> They're being persecuted for gathering together, having a Bible in their possession, sharing the gospel message, and believing the Lord. The Voice of the Martyrs website lists 41 countries as restricted on their website. 41 countries that believers are in are restricted. And what that means, it means that the government has sanctioned circumstances or anti Christian laws that lead Christians to being harassed, imprisoned, killed, deprived of their possessions, their liberties because of their witness and because they want to live for Christ. <br /><br /> I'm not saying we want to have that. But I want to challenge us on how we live our lives for the Lord. If I'm just desiring comfort and ease, I don't know if we're following the same Lord. I don't know if it's the same Jesus that they believe in that I'm believing in, if I just want an easy way of life. <br /><br /> What are we willing to give up? What cost is it going to be for us? To dive deeper, to know Him more. <br /><br /> It's also not a long life. All of the apostles were martyred except for one who lived a long life. They tried to, right? But then he got kicked to the island of Patmos and lived a longer life than most. Still died in the end. But it wasn't a long life. Jesus lived till 33 years old. not a long life. <br /><br /> I'm going to have a quote here from a great movie of one of my favorites, and if you've seen it, you'll maybe relate to it, but Braveheart. Yes, I'm going to go William Wallace quote here, alright? I didn't paint my face, so that's a good thing. And I won't try a Scottish accent, I promise. But just before a large battle at Stirling, he addresses the Scottish army that shows up. <br /><br /> They're less of an army and more of just tribes and clans trying to come together to be unified. The Scots are outnumbered against the English and they're afraid, right? So he tries to rile them up to get them ready to fight. And if you know this scene, he's on horseback, riding back and forth, challenging them, trying to psych them up, getting them to fight. <br /><br /> And he asks, are they going to fight? And they all respond with shouts of no. One man states, fight against that? No, we'll run and we will live, he says. Sounds like a good idea. Sounds comfortable and easy to run away. Wallace replies, a fight and you may die. Run and you'll live, at least a little while. And dying in your beds many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that for one chance? <br /><br /> Just one chance to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives. But they'll never take our freedom. He's challenging their comfort. It would be easier to run away. It would be easier not to step up to an army that outnumbers you, that has more weapons than you, and is probably tactically better than you are. <br /><br /> And it's more comfortable to run away. If we go, we're gonna most likely die. <br /><br /> He's challenging them to choose a longer, comfortable life, or a shorter, a potentially shorter life. But standing up for what you believe in. Choose comfort now, but it's not going to last long. You could choose a longer life, but in the end we all die. It's what's in between those times of now and then that matters. <br /><br /> If you've ever looked at the Fox's Book of Martyrs, or Jesus Freaks Put Out One, Volume 1 and 2, or the Voice of the Martyrs website, if you look in those things, you see all kinds of stories about believers and Christians from little kids all the way up to older people standing up for their faith, no matter what the cost, no matter what the circumstances are. <br /><br /> We see this, that they, it doesn't matter to them if they're not promised tomorrow. It's where they find themselves rooted. Accounts. They're willing to give up a long life for the gospel. Are we? James 4 13 through 14 says, Come now you who say today and tomorrow we'll go into such and such a town, spend a year there, we'll trade, make profit. <br /><br /> Yet you don't know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. James gets the idea. We don't know how long we're around. We're not promised tomorrow. We don't know what tomorrow looks like. We don't know what two hours from now, three hours from now, tomorrow morning, next week. <br /><br /> I'm not saying don't plan, but I'm saying we have to hold them open. We have to plan knowing that we don't know what tomorrow's gonna bring. Our lives are a mist. They're a vapor. They're here one day and gone the next. How are we living those days out? What are we doing in those times of the mist? Our vapors that we have, what are we doing with this? <br /><br /> Psalm 139 talks about how you numbered my days. You formed me, you knew me before I was born, and you numbered how many days I have. The Lord knows how long we'll be around. The Lord knows how many days we have, how many years, how many months, how many hours, how many seconds. Each one of us in this room has from here on out. <br /><br /> He's already got them numbered, already got them written down. <br /><br /> The challenge is, are we waiting to do what He's called us to do today? Are we waiting for tomorrow to do what we're called to do today? To share what we're called to share? Are we waiting for another time, another opportunity, something that's better for our lives, something that feels more comfortable? <br /><br /> Time to share. <br /><br /> We don't know what the future holds for us. We don't know how many days. The Lord knows. We're not promised a long life here on earth. We know that our salvation grants us and blesses us with an eternity in heaven, but we don't know when we'll enter into that eternity. Maybe tomorrow, might be today, might be a hundred years from now, but what are we doing with that time that we have left? <br /><br /> What is the Lord calling you to do? Someone once explained it to me like this, if you knew the cure for a certain disease, would you keep it to yourself? Would you hide it and keep it sacred and hold on to that? Or would you share it with the world? Would you share it with those that are affected with that same disease so that they can be healed? <br /><br /> The gospel is that cure that we have for our sinful lives. Are we sharing that cure with the world? Are we sharing that with our neighbors, with our family, with our friends, with those that we can't even stand? Our coworkers maybe, and. Whoever else the Lord is bringing in, are we sharing the cure that we have so that we can have everlasting life? <br /><br /> Or are we hiding it, holding it, keeping that treasure to ourselves? What do you do with it? <br /><br /> It's also not a self focused life. If you're like me, you're selfish probably, right? I've been there. Self centered at times, think about myself, um, especially sleep. Raise your hand if you love sleep. Like I, so we, we've had a baby, back to baby again, and so we've had a baby for about a month and a half now, a little. <br /><br /> Two year old, two month old, and in the beginning, he started to wake up a lot. It's like every hour, I feed him like, Alright, this is, this is tiring, and I get it, and, But, I get selfish, right? I get woken up in my sleep, and my wife and I are trying to split time so that she's not totally drained, and, so that I'm not totally drained, and so, I, I struggled a little bit in the beginning, where I'm like, Alright, Lord, I gotta remember, you created him, you created him, you created him, right? <br /><br /> You died for him, you died for him, you died for him, right? It's got to remember that because if you're like me and you get woken up out of sleep and you got trouble going back, you're just miserable and grumpy and I hate to admit it. But yes, I get miserable and grumpy when I'm woken up. Um, it's the way it is for me. <br /><br /> I'm selfish. I try to die to that, but it's a challenge, right? And so abundant living is not a self focused life. If we look at the Good Samaritan, we can see that in Luke 10 25 to 37, we see the Good Samaritan steps in. Right? Completely unselfish of himself, goes above and beyond the same person's own, uh, culture. <br /><br /> This Jewish man was beaten up by robbers and everything taken and so what happens is Jewish Pharisees and Jewish leaders and people of the law come by and they walk by and they either step over him or go to the other side of the street or even turn around because they don't want to walk by him and go the opposite way. <br /><br /> The Samaritan, someone who is disliked and probably hated by the Jews, steps in and goes above and beyond. Anything that we can imagine. Doesn't just care for him and help him, but pays for his inn. Pays for the person to take care of him, watch him. Comes back and says, Whatever the tab is, I'll come back and pay. <br /><br /> Does that reflect us at all? Is that who we are? <br /><br /> James 1. 27 tells us, Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. Is that how we're living? Are we sitting with those that are in affliction? Are we visiting with those that are sick? <br /><br /> Are we visiting with those that are hurting? Are we just sitting there listening and feeling with them and being present? I know sometimes that means that we gotta give up stuff to do this, right? Maybe it's giving up watching the Phillies and the Eagles, which they're both on winning streaks right now, right? <br /><br /> I mean, 5 0, and the Phillies again are finally, it's red October again for them, right? If someone comes to your house during the game, right? You lock in the door, lowering the blinds and hiding so that you don't have to help, right? Are we gonna open that up, turn the TV off, and invite them in? Is it about me? <br /><br /> Or is it about what the Lord is leading me to do? I'm not a Phillies or Eagles fan, but if it's the World Cup, that's a challenge, right? So if you wanna learn how selfish you are, get married. You'll learn real quick. And if you're still struggling with that, have some kids, cause then you'll find out you're really selfish. <br /><br /> Alright, this is how the Lord keeps showing me. what I need to die to in my own life. He shows me, he graces me with those gifts. And our example of a non selfish life is one, the Good Samaritan, but two, Jesus tells us in Mark 10, 42 through 45, that he came to serve. The King of Heaven came down to us to serve, not to be served and to ransom his life, to die for us. <br /><br /> So we can have that relationship, so that we can have that life with Him. That's a servant, that's what our lives should be modeled after. That is the ultimate unselfish act. To die for all of us. <br /><br /> I don't know if I'm willing to do that. Don't be offended. Right, there's a few people in my family, right? It's probably you, same thing. Die for your family. But outside of that, who's there? So we know what it's not. It's not an easy or comfortable life that we're called to. It's not a long life necessarily that we're called to. <br /><br /> You may live long. But we're not guaranteed it. And it's not a self centered, self focused life. Abundant living is not these things. So let's focus and shift to what it is. Abundant living is focused upward. It turns our eyes to the Lord. It turns our eyes to heaven. It turns our eyes to what He is doing. <br /><br /> Right? Because we want to be what the Lord is about. We want to be what God is about. We want to be what He desires in this world. Not what we desire. Allow me to ask this question of you today. Where are you focused in your life? <br /><br /> Is it upward or is it downward? Is it up there or is it on earthly things here? Is it internally or is it outwardly? What are you focused on? If we took a deeper look into our personal life, what is at the center? Is Jesus on the throne? Are there more than one thrones? And so, yeah, I got Jesus on one, but I got all these other little ones that I'm serving. <br /><br /> What directs and guides our paths, our everyday decisions? Does it matter that the decisions are big so I bring them to the Lord and all the other little ones I just handle on my own? Where'd I bring everything to him? <br /><br /> James 4. 15 says this, instead you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we'll do this or that. We'll go to this place or that place. How often do we ask that in our lives? How often do we challenge ourselves to come to this place and say, if the Lord wills me to do this, I'll do it. If it's His will for me to go there, to do this, to do that, do I ask that daily? <br /><br /> Do I go before Him daily and say, Lord, I'm holding my hands open with what my plans are. You can do what you want with them, or do I grist them tightly and hold onto them so that He can't take them and He has to pry them from my hands? How tightly do I hold onto my own plans, my own leading, my own stuff? <br /><br /> Abundant living is focusing on Him. With open hands, laying my plans at his feet and saying, change them as you want to. Change them and align them with you. Change them. I want to follow your desires, your leading, your calling. I want my life to align with your life, and I want my hands to be open to what you're doing. <br /><br /> Do I reflect that in my prayers, in my walk? Do you? It's easy to stand up here and say these things, but am I living them out? I want God to challenge each one of us with these things and ask us these questions. Are we living this way? <br /><br /> Paul, Peter, Jesus, their mission focus was upward so that then they could move to the outward. They had their eyes on what God desired, they had their eyes on what they were doing, and they let him lead. Paul, so many times, as we see in the book of Acts, he wanted to go here on a mission strip, he wanted to go there on a mission strip, he wanted to go there on a mission strip. <br /><br /> The Lord says, no, we're going to go here. Right, but he didn't fight the Lord. He moved with God. When God moved and when God called, he answered and went. He didn't dig his heels in and say, No, Lord, I'm not, I'm not doing that. I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to go. But he went and he followed. He held his plans loosely unto the Lord and laid them at his feet and saying, Lord, lead me, guide me, direct me. <br /><br /> Am I doing that every day? Are you? <br /><br /> It might mean going across the street to that neighbor who needs to hear the gospel. That you've lived there for 15 years as a neighbor, but you haven't gone there yet. Or the co worker you see every day, and they know something's different about you, but you haven't told them yet. Maybe your family members, who they know you go to church, they don't know what it's about. <br /><br /> Are we willing to be led to those moments for the Lord? Are we willing to hold those open to Him and say, Lord, direct and guide me? As you see fit, that's an upward focus because it's him first. It's what he desires, he seeks, he wants first. I'm submitting to God's will in my life. <br /><br /> Colossians 3, 2 says, set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. A lot of us, we need to shift our thinking on the daily to be upward focused. We need to shift how we see what the Lord is doing to be focused more on him. Matthew 6 33 says, But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. <br /><br /> Seek Him first. Seek Him first. When we abide in Him, when we focus on Him, we have this joy that comes and a peace. Galatians says that, right? We have the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. When we abide in Him, we have joy and peace. No matter what our circumstances are, no matter what we're going through, when we have our eyes focused upward, we don't get distracted on the downward focus. <br /><br /> And we can see what the Lord is calling us to do. And we can see what He's going to do through our trials, and through our sufferings, and through our pain. But first, we have to shift our eyes, outside of ourselves, to Him. <br /><br /> And then from there, we get outward focused. Abundant living, abundant life is focusing outward. After I focus upward, then I can shift and focus outward to see who the Lord is bringing into my life for this impact. Who the Lord is going to bring to me that I need to share this with? Right, like I said, is it the neighbor? <br /><br /> Is it a family member? Coworker? It's putting others before ourselves again. Right, it's that idea that selfless acts and putting others first. What does it look like every day? How can we continue to live this way? Right? Every day we have to have that gospel centered focus of going out, going up and going out. <br /><br /> Do I start every day with a focus on Him? I don't mean this long. Maybe you can't dive in so deep in the morning and spend an hour with the Lord, but maybe it's five minutes on your car ride, ten minutes on your car ride. Maybe it's praying continually throughout the day. Maybe it's listening to the Bible app and just over and over hearing Scripture, hearing what the Lord is doing, hearing what He has for your lives. <br /><br /> That's how we focus. That's how we align. So the question is, is after I focus upward, and I'm working to focus outward, what's my witness look like? Where am I shining the light of the gospel? Do I have an urgency where I may just complacent in the comfort? Do I view the people around me and have a desire for them to know the Lord, that I have an urgency to go to them? <br /><br /> To tell them, to share with them, <br /><br /> or am I just waiting? <br /><br /> Romans 12, 9 through 13 says, Let love be genuine, abhor what is evil, hold fast to what is good, love one another with brotherly affection, outdo one another in showing honor. Don't be sinful, don't be slothful and zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer, contribute to the needs of the saints, and seek to show hospitality. <br /><br /> Are these the characteristics that reflect my life? Can I look at this passage and say, Yes, I'm living that every day. Or does this passage hit me and say, You know what? That's not what I look like. That's not what I look like. That's not what I look like. Am I living in the urgency to live this way? To love others, to pray constantly, to be focused on the Lord throughout my day. <br /><br /> Good or bad, is this the characteristics of my life? Galatians 5, <br /><br /> 13 says, For you are called to freedom, brothers, not only, but only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. We need to be outwardly focused. We need to share this with others and tell people about this. If we see an acts, it is what the disciples are all about. <br /><br /> Few more verses. Proverbs 1917. Galatians six two, John 15, 12 through 17 shares all about how we are to reach out, bear one another's burden, share with one another, serve one another. Commit to being there to one another. Are we doing this? As we look at what abundant living is, we need to focus upwards so that we can then have a better outward focus. <br /><br /> Align our lives right with the Lord and what He's doing so that we can share with others that need to hear about Him. As we approach the table this morning and we get ready to take communion, this is what it is about. Jesus came and died and gave His life for us so that we may know Him, so that we can have an eternity with Him. <br /><br /> And we tie this in as we are talking about what it looks like to have an abundant life. It's found in this, in His sacrifice for us, in what He did in laying down His life for ours. I <br /><br /> pray that we remember that daily as we look to serve Him. As we look to have an abundant life in what He says is an abundant life. Not what we view, or not what the world views, but aligning our lives with His. So we come to this table remembering what Jesus came to earth to do. The symbol of our relationship, the symbol of our upward focus. <br /><br /> The baskets are going to be passed in a minute. So please take this time as we do it to focus your lives, focus your hearts. Have some quiet time and go before the Lord if there are things there that you need to give over, to turn over. Or if this has stirred your heart to ask Him to lead you in a certain way. <br /><br /> Take this time now and do that. Ask the Lord to direct you and guide you. to be a part of what He is doing. And we want to make sure as we approach this that our hearts are aligned with His. 1 Corinthians 11, 23 29 says, For I have received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when He was betrayed took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, This is my body, which is for you. <br /><br /> Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way, He also took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. Whoever, therefore, eats the bread and drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and the blood of the Lord. <br /><br /> Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself. As the ushers come down and get ready, we're going to get ready as our welcome team comes forward to get ready to pass this out. <br /><br /> We're going to go before the Lord. And as the song is playing, as it's being passed out, take this time to quiet yourselves before the Lord. Father, we humbly die to ourselves, Lord, as you have died for us. We ask that we remember you in this. That every day we'll have our lives focused and aligned with you. <br /><br /> Praise you and thank you for your... Sacrifice so that we can have an abundant life rooted in the gospel, in your death and in your resurrection, in your heavenly name, amen. <br /><br /> The night he was betrayed. The Lord took the bread. Open it up. Don't open up the... <br /><br /> bottom. You'll leak all over. Just take that little guy out. Took the bread. You broke it, saying, this is my body broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me. <br /><br /> He then took the cup. Now we can open that up. Lord took the cup and he said, this is my blood, which is poured out for the forgiveness of your sins. Do this in remembrance of me. <br /><br /> The worship team is going to come back up on stage, and while they're coming back on up, we have our prayer team is going to join us on the sides up front. If you feel the Lord leading you to come up, if you need prayer, if you need to talk to somebody, they'll be up here. You can come up during the music, come up after the music, but please, they're going to be here for you to pray with you. <br /><br /> So if you need to cast your cares and be prayed for, come join us.</div> false no <![CDATA[Trials and a Testimony]]> Acts 26:1-32

‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ac 26:14.



Sermon Transcript:

Good morning, church. It's so good to be with you all. Uh, my name's Pastor Joe.

And, uh, I'm really excited to be able to preach the word this morning. Um, you know, one of the things that I'm really, always look forward to about getting a chance to teach or to preach the word is... That it's always, um, a rule that I get all, I make all these plans as to how I want the passage to be heard.

Uh, how I want it to, to reach people. You know, the applications that I want people to pull away from the Word. And every time, it never quite goes that way. But God's Word is living and active. And it reaches into the hearts of the people. In ways that I could never have come up with. And it takes root, and it meets people where they are, and it speaks into the brokenness of their stories, and it uplifts them.

It's a bright, shining light. And I'm always left in awe. The more that I have the opportunity to interact with this, to study this book, to teach and to preach this book, the more that I am left in no doubt of who wrote it, of the mind which is the author of this.

I'm not in any doubt about its accuracy, about its profound and limitless reach, about its enduring relevance to every age. This book is not just some collection of good morals or interesting ancient histories. It's God's word, God's word, church. Have you thought about that recently? I know when I, uh, came to prepare this message, for whatever reason, God had me stop and just think about that for a minute.

We don't gather here, um, primarily just to hear the band play or to hear some pastor talk. We gather here because here in this book. Are the very words of life, which give life. God's word to us, his people.

If you listen this morning, if we quiet our minds and limit the buzzing in our thoughts and in our pockets, your God will speak and he will speak through his word. Not through anything that I do, but through his enduring word, which remains the same and yet is always new.

So, I want us to do something before we start and dive into our passage. I want us all to stand up. Don't worry, I'm not going to make you do like jumping jacks or anything like that. That's something Pastor Jared would do, but I won't make you do that. What I'm going to do is, I want us together to read Psalm 119.

Don't worry, not the whole thing. We'd still be here till the Eagles game if that was the case. But we're going to read just a few extracts from Psalm 119 all as one. You know, the Psalms were written. Primarily to be enjoyed in the congregation. Not to be enjoyed only in solitude, but together as a church.

So, let's read this together as a church and let this be our prayer for this morning. Your word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. Give us life, O Lord, according to your word, we pray. Amen. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, you guys can seat, have a seat too. Heavenly Father, Lord, I, I don't need to ask you to uphold your end of the bargain.

You always do. But, Lord, I ask that we would be able, just for the next 30 or so minutes, to quiet our minds. Lord, I pray against the distractions that crop up in our minds, the shame, the judgment, the confusion. And I ask that its place would be your perfect peace. To receive nothing more or less than what you have for us from your word, Lord.

Lord, it's your word and you're the only one who can open it to us through your Holy Spirit. So I pray. Through your spirit, work in our hearts, speak into the different places in our stories and lead us this morning. Lord, I thank you that it's not my word. And I thank you that I have no pressure to bring my word, but only to bring your word.

I pray all this in your name. Amen. Alright, so, 26.

Which is actually going to take us now very close to the end of the Book of Acts. As we continue our journey through this amazing book. There's only two more chapters that are going to follow this chapter. And, uh, we've been following along in the Book of Acts with, uh, what feels a little bit like a broken record at this point.

Paul before one official or another being tried. And if you would, real quick, what we're going to do before we open up the passage itself. I'd like to real quick. Um, set the scene for you all. To remind us where we are and why it matters to us in the overall story. So, if you'll go down memory lane with me, way back in Acts chapter 21, we read of how Paul had just finished his third missionary journey, and decided, you know what, I'm going to go back to Jerusalem for a little bit, uh, and kind of regroup, uh, be able to come back to a place dear to me, worship in the temple, uh, and then maybe plan out my fourth missionary journey.

But what we read is that the Holy Spirit, through different prophets, kept warning Paul not to go, or at least if he did go to Jerusalem, that he would be set in chains. But Paul was a pretty stubborn guy, and he said, no, I'm going to Jerusalem. So Paul gets there, and sure enough, very shortly after arriving, Paul is arrested in the temple and set in chains.

And what we've been reading over the last number of weeks is actually, Paul, as he follows, at least to my eyes, a very similar path to Jesus in that he's arrested, set in custody, set before the Jewish ruling council, the Sanhedrin, and then set before Roman authorities in the form of Governor Felix of Judea.

And in each case, Paul acquits himself as innocent. There's not a single charge that's been levied against him by the Jews that can be substantiated. Paul's clearly not guilty. And yet something unfortunate happens, Paul becomes a pawn in the ever growing, uh, confusion and fury of the political battles between the Jews and Rome.

And Mark did a really good job last week of giving a larger sort of back story behind sort of the geopolitical context of the time, about the tensions between Rome and the Jews. And he talked even a little bit about Governor Felix and how he wasn't very good at his job. Governor Felix was desperately trying to cling to his position and to keep the peace between the Jews and the Rome, in which he actually was partly responsible for stoking them up.

And one of the ways he did that was by taking this Paul guy, who he could see was the carrot for the Jews, that they really wanted. And he held him. Sort of in ransom, uh, to placate them. And he kept him in prison for two whole years as an innocent man. It says in the past, in, uh, earlier in Acts chapter 24 that he did it as a favor to the Jews.

But guess what? It didn't really work and he got fired. And in his place was set a new governor. And his name was Governor Festus. They really like the F names for their governors. I'm probably going to make a mistake and call Felix Festus, in fact, I can't, I'm going to mess up already. So, anyways, Portius Festus becomes the new governor.

And this is why all this matters, church, to our passage this morning. Because this guy, Portius Festus, steps into a, a whole mess of situation. You know, any time, uh, new management takes over old management, especially when the old management isn't very good at their job, what tends to happen? Yeah, you inherit all their problems, and you have to fix them.

And so Festus steps into a very complicated situation between the Jews and Rome. And not only that, he's got this big problem and his name is Paul. And as he steps in, he hears there's a, there's a prisoner who's been under guard for two years in Felix's prison. And Festus is imagining some madman or some murderer or some insurrectionist.

And then he shows up and he sees a, a middle aged, mild Jewish scholar. And I'm sure he was a bit confused. And I think his confusion only grew when he had Paul come to him and explain and, and under trial and explaining why he was, and what he was accused of. And Festus was more confused than when he started.

The problem was that Paul appealed to Caesar. And so now, as was Paul's right as a Roman citizen, he must be sent to Rome and to Caesar. But here's the thing. Governor Festus really wanted to keep his job. And he just got that job, you know, he was really, he was enjoying his shiny new office. But if he sent Paul to Rome, without any clear idea what accusations he was sending him on, uh, with, well, I'm not sure how, how nice Nero would think of that.

And we know Nero was a very benevolent ruler, right? So he did not want to send Paul until he had a clearer idea of what Paul had done. And, uh, at the end of last week, we heard of the emergence of a new character by the name of Agrippa. King Agrippa. And Mark did a good job of explaining who he was, but just for the sake of...

Uh, context, he was the last in the line of the Herodian dynasty. We know they have a very interesting history with Christians, right? His father murdered James. His grandfather murdered, uh, put to death John the Baptist. His great grandfather was the one that chased Jesus and his family into Egypt and put to death all the two year olds in Bethlehem and under.

So not exactly a, uh, a savior for Paul. But nevertheless, this Festus guy thinks, I have an idea. I'm going to get a second opinion. And he'll tell me, he knows the things about the Jews, he knows how their customs and controversies work. He'll give me some in, uh, uh, important backstory and maybe even help me understand what exactly this guy is supposed to have done.

Because to me, he seems innocent of everything. So that's the backstory that we're stepping into here in Acts chapter 26. And, um, where we left off last week with Mark was How Paul was set in the center of the audience hall and all around him was the many people, the influential, the wealthy, uh, the Jews who were assembled against him, uh, and then these very important Roman officials, Governor Festus and King Agrippa and Bernice, the sister of Agrippa.

And last week, Mark mentioned they came in to the hall with great pomp. That means they came in with a great show of force and power. You know, wearing long, beautiful clothes, uh, military backing behind them, walking into the hall to show their, that they were in control, that they had power. And here you have little Paul.

Paul, the only physical descriptions we have of Paul, there's not a lot of them, but they're not flattering. Paul was probably pretty short, uh, balding with a crooked nose. That's the only account that we have of what he looked like. And here you have little Paul who's been in prison for two years, probably not eating well.

Sitting there, chained at the center of the audience hall, surrounded by this great crowd of witnesses. And, and the, the, the text is careful to point out that there's, there's a lot of influential people and wealthy people there. And there's also, obviously, very influential and wealthy people in Agrippa and Festus.

Okay, now I've set the scene for you. Enough with the history lesson, I promise. Now we're gonna get to the passage itself. I've learned a really valuable lesson as a dad, with my oldest daughter in particular. She's about to turn four, and, um, I used to just set the whole dinner portion in front of Elena, uh, and say, uh, bon appétit, go ahead.

Uh, some of you who've had little kids might know where I'm going with this, but Elena, almost every time, would push the plate away and say, too big, and she wouldn't eat it. And so, first I was just like, you're gonna eat it, if you don't eat it, you're gonna, and that didn't work. And then I tried, you know, like, afterwards we'll give you a cookie if you eat it, and that didn't work, then she just wanted a cookie.

I learned a trick. And some of you are like, yeah, dummy, why didn't you do that from the start? But I learned a trick. And it's that, that bigger portion, I would cut it up into tiny pieces, and I would give her one at a time. And then she wouldn't be overwhelmed. And she would actually usually be able to get all the food in her little belly.

And so my hope, this morning, is to apply a similar, uh, concept. Cause we got 32 verses to get to this morning. And if I just start right now and read all 32 verses for you, you're gonna glaze over even more than you have already. And I don't want that. I want to keep our attention. As I mentioned, this is God's Word, and it deserves our attention.

So, what I want to do is do what I did do with Elena, and I'm going to cut this into pieces. And we're going to take it in three bites, okay? Uh, and the bites are going to go as follows. It's going to be up on the screen here, so you can kind of see where we're headed as a road map. Our first bite's going to be the first eleven verses.

Okay? And, uh, I just titled these for my own, uh, order, organization in my mind, but the first 11 verses we're gonna hear of an unadvisable defense. Then in the next 12 verses, 12 through 24, we're gonna hear an undeniable testimony. And then lastly, in our final bite of the morning, we're gonna take the last 7 verses of our chapter and hear an unexpected reversal.

So let's dive in, shall we? Verses 1 through 11. And so, Agrippa Said to Paul, we're in the great audience hall. And now the ceremony begins, the trial begins, and Agrippa says these words. You have permission to speak for yourself. Then Paul stretched out his hand and made his defense. I consider myself fortunate that it is before you, King Agrippa, that I am going to make my defense today against all the accusations of the Jews.

Especially because you are familiar with all the customs and controversies of the Jews. Therefore, I beg that you listen to me patiently. My manner of life for my youth, spent from the beginning among my own nation and in Jerusalem, is known by all the Jews. They have known for a long time, if they are willing to testify, that according to the strictest party of our religion, I have lived as a Pharisee.

Now I stand here on trial because of my hope and the promise made by God to our fathers,

to which our tr to our 12 tribes hope to attain as they earnestly worship night and day. And for this hope, I am accused by the Jews O King. Why is it thought incredible by any of you? That God raises the dead. Okay, I wanna stop there. This isn't the whole chunk, but I wanna stop there for a minute and say Bravo to Paul.

I mean, he's just shot out of a cannon. He's been in that jail cell. He's been writing down his defense. He's ready to go, and he just does a great job. I mean, he starts off, he's appealing, he's respectful, uh, he's bold, he's well spoken. I mean, what, what else do we expect from Paul? And he does first, I want to real quick talk about the, the first bit of this, where he does some pretty cool things.

He, he's share, he's sharing, or sorry, rather appealing to the shared understanding that he has with Agrippa. It's very clear in the first two verses. Paul's relieved. to be talking to somebody that will understand what he's talking about. It's pretty hard to make a defense to someone who doesn't even know or understand what you're defending.

And Paul, over the past two years, has been talking to these Roman guys who have no idea what he's talking about. You know, Mark did a good job last week of talking about the, the background that these guys would have come from, uh, Felix and Festus. They were Romans. They had a Roman conception of religion.

Which means... Many gods, many temples, many different ways of worshiping, very worldly, uh, and then you have the Jews. Could you imagine a more different religion from the Roman religion? And now you have Festus trying to understand all of those subtle differences to him. And now he's seeing the only difference that he can see is that Paul is saying one guy is alive and they're saying he's dead.

And so Paul is just relieved to be talking to somebody that at least knows what he's talking about. And then he uses that shared understanding to establish a very important point right off the bat. And that is, Paul is not anti Jewish. Paul is not trying to appear as anti Jewish. Paul is trying very hard to show, listen, this way that we've found, this, this following after Jesus thing, is not a departure from the hope of the Jewish people, but rather a continuation of it.

I haven't rejected the teachings of our fathers. I'm the only one following it. He's trying to show right off the bat. I'm not against you. I'm for you I'm one of you or rather one of them. So by all accounts, he's doing a good job And then we come to verses 9 through 11 Did you just read with me verses 9 through 11?

I Myself was convinced that I ought to do many things in opposing the name of Jesus of Nazareth and I did so in Jerusalem And not only locked up many of the saints in prison after receiving the authority from the chief priests, but when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. And when I punished them often in all the synagogues and tried to make them blaspheme and enraging fury against them, I persecuted them even unto foreign cities.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Stop, Paul. Stop. You're doing so good. Why is he suddenly airing all his dirty laundry? This is... In my mind, where I'm thinking, if Paul was my lawyer, I would be going, Yes, yes, no, no, no, no, no, no! Why does Paul shift gears? He started so well, he was making a good defense, saying, I'm no, I, I'm just as Jewish as you are, and this thing that I'm proposing is, you know, he was doing a really good job, and then suddenly Paul starts to tell of his past.

What's going on here? Why is Paul determined to share the worst parts of his past? It seems like that would ruin the credibility of this movement, that he himself was an enemy. I think the answer actually lies in our next bite, verses 12 through 24. Let's read it together. In this connection, I journeyed to Damascus with the authority and the commission of the chief priests.

And at midday, O king, I saw on the way a light from heaven brighter than the sun that shone around me and those who journeyed with me. And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me, in the Hebrew language, Saul, Saul, or Shaul, Shaul is what it would be in Hebrew. Why are you persecuting me?

It is hard for you to kick against the goads. And I said, Who are you, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose. To appoint you as a servant. And a witness to the things in which you have seen me, and to those in which I will appear to you.

Delivering you for, from your people, and from the Gentiles to whom I am sending you. To open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God. And that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me. Therefore, O King, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but I declared, first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem, and then all throughout the regions of Judea and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance.

For this reason, the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me, and to this day I have had the help that comes from God, and so I stand here testifying. Both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would come to pass, that the Christ must suffer, and that by being first, the first to rise from the dead, he would be proclaimed light both to our people and to the Gentiles.

And as he was saying these things in his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, Paul, you're out of your mind. Your great learning has driven you out.

Okay, so why did I say that these 12 verses answer the question why Paul suddenly gives an unadvisable defense and starts airing his dirty laundry? I think the answer is that Paul isn't defending himself.

You would think after two long years, and finally standing before the one man who might actually sort of understand him, that he would be ready to give his own defense. The answer is, I don't think Paul is primarily concerned with defending himself here. Well, what is he defending then? He's defending the gospel.

He's doing it in a very interesting way. We've seen Paul defend the gospel in a lot of different ways. We've seen him do it through reasoned arguments at the Athenian philosophers. We've seen him do it, uh, by showing his mastery over the Hebrew scriptures. And we've seen him do it the way he's doing it here, by telling his story.

But the only way that Paul can tell his story about how he met Jesus on the road to Damascus is to tell them why he was on that road.

To be open and honest with the brokenness of his past. You see, I think at every turn so far in our passage this morning, Paul is attempting not to drive himself further apart from his opponents, but to draw them in.

To show them

this Jesus that he met on the road to Damascus. There's so much that we could look at in this, this chunk, and I, and trust me when I say I want to, but we don't have time. But there is one thing that I want to stop on, and it's a line that Paul includes here in his testimony that he didn't include in chapter 22 when he told his testimony the other time in Acts.

Does anybody know what that little detail is? Shout it out if you know it. Yeah, goads, you're mouthing it back there. Kicking against the goats. What's that all about? Does anybody know what a goat is? Yeah, a cattle prod. It's a, it's a sharp stick. And it was used usually for the young, stubborn cows. And those young, stubborn cows, well they had a job to do.

To plow the field. But they didn't like that yoke. And they kept trying to kick it off. And so, what farmers would do is they would either attach the goat to some part on the yoke, I mean, on the, uh, the, the plow, or they would hold it in their hand and they would basically poke the cow every time he started going against his job.

And, uh, what's interesting is that what they would find is that with, uh, younger cows, you'd find the dumb, dumb younger cows would be the ones that would kick. Here's the thing though, uh, a goat doesn't feel any pain, a cow does. So that, that cow is kicking out against that goat and what's happening is that thing is poking him every time.

And eventually, that dumb, stubborn cow learns to be a smart, submissive cow. And the field gets plowed. And here, Paul includes this detail, kicking against the goats. And for a minute, just go back with me on memory lane to Acts chapter 9. That was actually a message that I preached on Paul's conversion.

And when Paul was converted on the road to Damascus, We knew something that we may have forgotten now, and that is that shortly before this, we were first introduced to Paul in this book, at the stoning of Stephen. And Stephen was, uh, a believer, uh, who was causing many Jews to come to saving faith in Jesus.

He was on fire, full of the Holy Spirit. Um, but because of his work in bringing people out of the power of Satan and into the power of God, the Jews decided to stone him. And, uh, he was thrown to the ground, and a whole assembly was set before him, ready to, uh, cast stones until he was dead. And it says in Acts chapter 7 that Paul was there, and that Paul stood there and approved of the stoning of Stephen.

But something happened in Acts chapter 7. Right before the first stone made contact with Stephen, Stephen had a prayer to the Lord. At the end of that prayer, he said these words, Lord, forgive them. And count not their sin against them, for they know not what they do.

And then he died. And then we're told shortly after that, that Paul is on this rampage. That he's driving himself hard after every believer. And then, in Acts chapter 9, we see Paul riding hard on the road to Damascus at noonday. In, in 22 and here in 26 we're told that he was riding at midday. He's out on the road at midday.

Why is that significant? Yeah, well the bright light. And there's something that you don't do in that part of the world. And that's be out in the sun at midday. If you're riding on the road, especially out near Damascus, at midday, you're cooking. And the only reason you would do that is if you are pretty desperate, or you're driving yourself hard.

See, I think Paul was driving himself hard for a reason. I think he was being goaded in spirit. I think when he watched that man stand before all the accusations of the Jews against him, casting stone after stone until he was dead, and his final words were, Forgive them, for they know not what they do.

Echoing the words of his Savior. I don't think that settled in Paul very well. And what do we do when we want to drive off and keep thinking far away? We drive ourselves hard. But Paul was kicking against the goats.

And Paul, I think, includes this little detail in his testimony, includes these intimate words between him and Jesus for a purpose.

And that'll take us, well actually let me, let me talk about a couple other observations. I think one of the reasons why Paul is, feels free here in his two years, after two years of imprisonment, to not defend himself first, but defend the gospel, is I think he had a realization in prison. I can't prove this.

This is just my opinion. But I mentioned in the beginning. That Paul had just finished his third missionary journey. Most of Paul's life after being a believer had been spent on the road. Thousands and thousands of miles on foot. Going from city to city, sharing this gospel message. He'd been beaten. He'd been thrown out.

He'd been opposed at every turn. But Paul had spread the gospel in an amazing way. God had used him. To be a servant for this new gospel. As we read here in the passage. But something happened, and most scholars agree that Paul was really getting ready and geared up for another fourth missionary journey.

Maybe, who knows, the biggest and the best yet. But he decided to first go back to Jerusalem, as I mentioned. And we never saw that fourth missionary journey. Or so we thought. You see, I think Paul had a realization in that prison. I think he realized, this is my fourth missionary journey. Because this is exactly the plan and always has been.

Way back in Acts chapter 9, like we've talked about, Jesus says in a vision to Ananias, he's my chosen instrument to go to the Gentiles, to go to the Jews, to share the gospel, and then it says, and to their kings.

It's always been the plan for Paul to be a witness, uh, before the great and the small. And now he finds himself before kings, not in the way that he expected, I'm sure. But he realized, this is my next missionary journey. At least, that's how I read it.

Bless you. I want to say one last thing about this section, and that is this. Paul had learned, on his missionary journeys, as he spread the gospel, that opposition was an opportunity. And that trials were a chance for testimony. He had been through a lot. And he had watched Stephen as he stood surrounded by enemies with stones in their hands,

give the greatest testimony. And now, Paul, as he stood surrounded by enemies, the center of the audience hall, a small man with a crooked nose and balding, he was not afraid to give testimony, to see the opposition as an opportunity, and to give. testimony amidst his trial.

He did so with boldness. What an example. Let's go to now to our final section. That's verses 25 through 32. We're gonna see a pretty unexpected reversal here. But Paul said, I am not out of my mind, O excellent Festus, but I am speaking true and rational words. For the king knows And to him now I speak boldly, for I am persuaded that none of these things have escaped his notice.

For this has not been done in a corner. King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe. And Agrippa said to Paul, Whoa, in a short time you'd persuade me to be a Christian. And Paul said. Whether short or long, I would to God that not only you, but also all who hear me this day might become such as I am, except for these chains.

Then the king rose, and the governor, and Bernice, and all those who were sitting with them. And when they had withdrawn, they said to one another, this man is doing nothing to deserve death. And Agrippa said to Festus, this man could have been freed if he had not appealed to Caesar. I don't know about you guys, but Who has the power in this passage?

It feels like it should be Agrippa, Festus, Bernice, all the wealthy people assembled. And yet, as we read, that short, crooked nosed, balding preacher,

he had all the power. Because it wasn't his power.

And when he turns it around and starts asking questions, Questioning the questioner.

Well, the questioner has to deflect. And if you notice, the trial ends pretty abruptly after that, doesn't it? Oh, whoa, you're trying to persuade me to be a Christian pretty fast here, Paul, huh? You haven't given me time. And obviously, just a little bit before, we saw Felix. Whoa, you're crazy, you're crazy, whoa, you're so smart, you're crazy.

Because that makes sense. They're both deflecting. And if you read earlier in, uh, this account when we heard, uh, Paul giving his testimony to Felix, speaking with him, the same thing happens. It says that Felix grew afraid and dismissed Paul.

The questioner has become the questioned. There's been a reversal in the room.

That's because when the testimony of a believer is preached and when the gospel is preached like that,

all the power is in the testimony. All the power lies with Paul here.

I want to put shoes to this passage. That's what Mark would say, at least. Or, I'll put the cookies on the bottom shelf. He's got a lot of those. I need to learn some more of those. Application. I certainly don't want to steer you in a direction that the Spirit's not steering you. So, if there's stuff that is coming out of this that's speaking directly into your heart, I'm not, I'm not dismissing that.

But the thing that I heard in this passage was Loudly, 1 Peter 3, 15 through 16, and we're going to have that on the screen. I think I only had 15, oh no, good, they fixed it because they're always on it like, like that. Um, 1 Peter chapter 3, verse 15 through 16. I think Paul's modeling for us an amazing example of what Peter is telling us about here in this passage.

But in your hearts, honor Christ, the Lord is holy. Always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for the reason, for the hope that you have. Yet do it with gentleness and respect having a good conscience so that when you are slandered Those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame Here's the thing church if you've met Jesus on your Damascus Road If your story is I was once in darkness and now I am in light I was once in the power of Satan and now I am in the power of God if that's your story Then you, like Paul, are called to be a witness to the things which you have seen.

Every one of you stands in an audience hall, whether you know it or not, and all around you is gathered, the great and the small,

and they're questioning you and they're asking you a reason for the hope that you have, even if they haven't asked it out loud.

You have a high call on your life. You've been bought with a price. You've been knocked off your horse.

And so that call means not only that you get to enjoy the new life that is in Jesus, but that you get to bring others with you. And that comes only when you do as Paul does. And when you recognize that I don't have to defend myself,

I'm called to defend the gospel. Because the gospel is what defends me.

Paul wasn't there. Because Paul had done all these things. Paul wasn't there because Paul had a change of heart. Paul was there because Jesus conquered him. And Jesus was using him as his instrument to the Jews and the Gentiles and to their kings. And now Paul says, I wish to God that all of you, great and small, short in a short time or in a long time would become as I am from darkness to light.

I think Paul's example shows us three ways that we can approach walking as Christians, recognizing that our life is an audience hall.

First, Paul gave his answer with gentleness and respect. It's so easy for us to, maybe we find ourselves in a position where we, we, we want to evangelize, or we want to share the gospel, or someone's come to us and they're sharing all these things, and we jump so fast, we're like, whoa, I got a story for you, you're a sinner and you need to jump into grace because that's the only way, and you just go straight into that.

But you haven't gone in with gentleness and respect. You see. Because Paul went in with gentleness and respect, he also took the shared understanding that he had with King Agrippa and used it.

I think you need to know people a little bit. Or at least, know their, their type, know their, their heart a little bit. Ask God to give you that and to go and to begin with gentleness and respect. If Paul could do that to a man who is from a line of kings and rulers, who had murdered, tortured, and killed many influential and important Christians.

And if Paul could give that man respect,

then we can give others gentleness and respect, even as we give them an answer for the hope that we have. Second, Paul gives us an example by being unafraid to share the darkness of his past, even when on trial for his life.

In order to share, You need to share your testimony. You need to share where Jesus has brought you from. To show the darkness so that you can show the light of Jesus. From the power of Satan to the power of God. But if you're unwilling

to boldly declare your own weakness, your own past, your own brokenness, how can you expect them to? Paul was showing them in his testimony, I was no different than you. Your angry Jewish Pharisees enraged at me for following Jesus. I was just like you. I was worse than you. I chased them down to foreign cities.

I persecuted them in every place I found them and I approved of their death. Even as you are seeking to murder me, I sought to murder and persecute many. But Jesus,

we have to be willing to share the darkness of our past to demonstrate the light of Jesus in our present and future. Lastly, this Paul never grew tired of sharing his testimony. I don't exactly know how old Paul was here, but he wasn't a young man. And it has certainly been many, many years since that moment on the Damascus Road.

But in just eight chapters, an eight chapter span, we're given twice where Paul gives his testimony. I'm sure he gave it many more times. What's your story with Jesus? Remember it. Share it often. Proclaim it to those who are without hope and share the hope that you have in Jesus. Your testimony is a powerful weapon to bring people out of darkness and into light.

From the power of Satan to the power of God.

One important caveat that this, this, uh, this passage shows us about sharing our testimony, about giving a reason for the hope that we have is this. You could do everything right and it could still be rejected. It could still be ridiculed. Because, People kick against the goads.

To accept this testimony as true is to give up control. Did you see all these men in this story? All these governors who are clinging to control? Who are desperate to keep their power? The Jews who are jealous of the power that Paul is showing. They're desperate to keep their influence over the people.

They're clinging to their own power and control. Is it any wonder that they couldn't accept this Jesus? Who says, Give up control. Take my yoke upon you. My yoke is easy, my burden is light. Come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest from your souls. But first you've got to let go.

People reject that all the time. Doesn't mean we should stop sharing our testimony.

The last thing is this, a simple question. Are you kicking against the goats?

Have you been prodded in your spirit? Maybe just about something. Maybe you're a believer and the Lord's prodding you in your spirit and you're, you're pushing him off. It's only hurting you, friend.

It's not hurting the goat. But at a deeper level, maybe you're here and you're not yet saved. Or maybe you don't even know what that means. Maybe all this stuff about Jesus and you're kind of trying it out but you don't understand. But you're feeling a call to accept this Jesus.

You feel caught in darkness. Like you're in a power of... you don't understand and you just want to be free. You just want to see. If that's you, don't kick against the goats. Turn your life over to Jesus. It'll be the best thing you've ever done.

And for those of us who have turned our lives over to Jesus, let's repentance.

Let's not grow weary in well doing. Let's not grow tired of telling our stories. Let's spend time with Jesus. Would you pray with me? Lord, thank you for your word, which is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. Lord, thank you that totally independent of My own intentions, your word will speak to people where they are.

Thank you that your word when preached rises above ours and is heard. God, I pray that you would help us to become more like Paul. To become more like Jesus. Like Stephen. And as we look out at a world that has put us on trial. And that puts us through trials that we would not be tempted, Lord, to seek our own defense, but instead bring the gospel in defense.

And watch as you reverse our circumstances, Lord, not in the exterior, but in the heart. Lord, I just pray, give us people in mind now. If we are. Believers, Lord, give us people in our hearts that we can think of that are maybe our audience. People that we can speak life into, that we can share our testimony to.

Not discluding the dark parts of our past so that we can proclaim the righteousness that comes through faith in Jesus and that we are sanctified by nothing else but faith in him. Lord, we thank you and we pray your will in our lives. Amen.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/trials-and-a-testimony c7208465-82f1-4fd0-bcda-44fb39729292 Sun, 08 Oct 2023 14:35:24 GMT <div data-html="true">Acts 26:1-32 <br /><br /> ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ <br /><br /> The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ac 26:14. <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> Good morning, church. It's so good to be with you all. Uh, my name's Pastor Joe. <br /><br /> And, uh, I'm really excited to be able to preach the word this morning. Um, you know, one of the things that I'm really, always look forward to about getting a chance to teach or to preach the word is... That it's always, um, a rule that I get all, I make all these plans as to how I want the passage to be heard. <br /><br /> Uh, how I want it to, to reach people. You know, the applications that I want people to pull away from the Word. And every time, it never quite goes that way. But God's Word is living and active. And it reaches into the hearts of the people. In ways that I could never have come up with. And it takes root, and it meets people where they are, and it speaks into the brokenness of their stories, and it uplifts them. <br /><br /> It's a bright, shining light. And I'm always left in awe. The more that I have the opportunity to interact with this, to study this book, to teach and to preach this book, the more that I am left in no doubt of who wrote it, of the mind which is the author of this. <br /><br /> I'm not in any doubt about its accuracy, about its profound and limitless reach, about its enduring relevance to every age. This book is not just some collection of good morals or interesting ancient histories. It's God's word, God's word, church. Have you thought about that recently? I know when I, uh, came to prepare this message, for whatever reason, God had me stop and just think about that for a minute. <br /><br /> We don't gather here, um, primarily just to hear the band play or to hear some pastor talk. We gather here because here in this book. Are the very words of life, which give life. God's word to us, his people. <br /><br /> If you listen this morning, if we quiet our minds and limit the buzzing in our thoughts and in our pockets, your God will speak and he will speak through his word. Not through anything that I do, but through his enduring word, which remains the same and yet is always new. <br /><br /> So, I want us to do something before we start and dive into our passage. I want us all to stand up. Don't worry, I'm not going to make you do like jumping jacks or anything like that. That's something Pastor Jared would do, but I won't make you do that. What I'm going to do is, I want us together to read Psalm 119. <br /><br /> Don't worry, not the whole thing. We'd still be here till the Eagles game if that was the case. But we're going to read just a few extracts from Psalm 119 all as one. You know, the Psalms were written. Primarily to be enjoyed in the congregation. Not to be enjoyed only in solitude, but together as a church. <br /><br /> So, let's read this together as a church and let this be our prayer for this morning. Your word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. Give us life, O Lord, according to your word, we pray. Amen. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, you guys can seat, have a seat too. Heavenly Father, Lord, I, I don't need to ask you to uphold your end of the bargain. <br /><br /> You always do. But, Lord, I ask that we would be able, just for the next 30 or so minutes, to quiet our minds. Lord, I pray against the distractions that crop up in our minds, the shame, the judgment, the confusion. And I ask that its place would be your perfect peace. To receive nothing more or less than what you have for us from your word, Lord. <br /><br /> Lord, it's your word and you're the only one who can open it to us through your Holy Spirit. So I pray. Through your spirit, work in our hearts, speak into the different places in our stories and lead us this morning. Lord, I thank you that it's not my word. And I thank you that I have no pressure to bring my word, but only to bring your word. <br /><br /> I pray all this in your name. Amen. Alright, so, 26. <br /><br /> Which is actually going to take us now very close to the end of the Book of Acts. As we continue our journey through this amazing book. There's only two more chapters that are going to follow this chapter. And, uh, we've been following along in the Book of Acts with, uh, what feels a little bit like a broken record at this point. <br /><br /> Paul before one official or another being tried. And if you would, real quick, what we're going to do before we open up the passage itself. I'd like to real quick. Um, set the scene for you all. To remind us where we are and why it matters to us in the overall story. So, if you'll go down memory lane with me, way back in Acts chapter 21, we read of how Paul had just finished his third missionary journey, and decided, you know what, I'm going to go back to Jerusalem for a little bit, uh, and kind of regroup, uh, be able to come back to a place dear to me, worship in the temple, uh, and then maybe plan out my fourth missionary journey. <br /><br /> But what we read is that the Holy Spirit, through different prophets, kept warning Paul not to go, or at least if he did go to Jerusalem, that he would be set in chains. But Paul was a pretty stubborn guy, and he said, no, I'm going to Jerusalem. So Paul gets there, and sure enough, very shortly after arriving, Paul is arrested in the temple and set in chains. <br /><br /> And what we've been reading over the last number of weeks is actually, Paul, as he follows, at least to my eyes, a very similar path to Jesus in that he's arrested, set in custody, set before the Jewish ruling council, the Sanhedrin, and then set before Roman authorities in the form of Governor Felix of Judea. <br /><br /> And in each case, Paul acquits himself as innocent. There's not a single charge that's been levied against him by the Jews that can be substantiated. Paul's clearly not guilty. And yet something unfortunate happens, Paul becomes a pawn in the ever growing, uh, confusion and fury of the political battles between the Jews and Rome. <br /><br /> And Mark did a really good job last week of giving a larger sort of back story behind sort of the geopolitical context of the time, about the tensions between Rome and the Jews. And he talked even a little bit about Governor Felix and how he wasn't very good at his job. Governor Felix was desperately trying to cling to his position and to keep the peace between the Jews and the Rome, in which he actually was partly responsible for stoking them up. <br /><br /> And one of the ways he did that was by taking this Paul guy, who he could see was the carrot for the Jews, that they really wanted. And he held him. Sort of in ransom, uh, to placate them. And he kept him in prison for two whole years as an innocent man. It says in the past, in, uh, earlier in Acts chapter 24 that he did it as a favor to the Jews. <br /><br /> But guess what? It didn't really work and he got fired. And in his place was set a new governor. And his name was Governor Festus. They really like the F names for their governors. I'm probably going to make a mistake and call Felix Festus, in fact, I can't, I'm going to mess up already. So, anyways, Portius Festus becomes the new governor. <br /><br /> And this is why all this matters, church, to our passage this morning. Because this guy, Portius Festus, steps into a, a whole mess of situation. You know, any time, uh, new management takes over old management, especially when the old management isn't very good at their job, what tends to happen? Yeah, you inherit all their problems, and you have to fix them. <br /><br /> And so Festus steps into a very complicated situation between the Jews and Rome. And not only that, he's got this big problem and his name is Paul. And as he steps in, he hears there's a, there's a prisoner who's been under guard for two years in Felix's prison. And Festus is imagining some madman or some murderer or some insurrectionist. <br /><br /> And then he shows up and he sees a, a middle aged, mild Jewish scholar. And I'm sure he was a bit confused. And I think his confusion only grew when he had Paul come to him and explain and, and under trial and explaining why he was, and what he was accused of. And Festus was more confused than when he started. <br /><br /> The problem was that Paul appealed to Caesar. And so now, as was Paul's right as a Roman citizen, he must be sent to Rome and to Caesar. But here's the thing. Governor Festus really wanted to keep his job. And he just got that job, you know, he was really, he was enjoying his shiny new office. But if he sent Paul to Rome, without any clear idea what accusations he was sending him on, uh, with, well, I'm not sure how, how nice Nero would think of that. <br /><br /> And we know Nero was a very benevolent ruler, right? So he did not want to send Paul until he had a clearer idea of what Paul had done. And, uh, at the end of last week, we heard of the emergence of a new character by the name of Agrippa. King Agrippa. And Mark did a good job of explaining who he was, but just for the sake of... <br /><br /> Uh, context, he was the last in the line of the Herodian dynasty. We know they have a very interesting history with Christians, right? His father murdered James. His grandfather murdered, uh, put to death John the Baptist. His great grandfather was the one that chased Jesus and his family into Egypt and put to death all the two year olds in Bethlehem and under. <br /><br /> So not exactly a, uh, a savior for Paul. But nevertheless, this Festus guy thinks, I have an idea. I'm going to get a second opinion. And he'll tell me, he knows the things about the Jews, he knows how their customs and controversies work. He'll give me some in, uh, uh, important backstory and maybe even help me understand what exactly this guy is supposed to have done. <br /><br /> Because to me, he seems innocent of everything. So that's the backstory that we're stepping into here in Acts chapter 26. And, um, where we left off last week with Mark was How Paul was set in the center of the audience hall and all around him was the many people, the influential, the wealthy, uh, the Jews who were assembled against him, uh, and then these very important Roman officials, Governor Festus and King Agrippa and Bernice, the sister of Agrippa. <br /><br /> And last week, Mark mentioned they came in to the hall with great pomp. That means they came in with a great show of force and power. You know, wearing long, beautiful clothes, uh, military backing behind them, walking into the hall to show their, that they were in control, that they had power. And here you have little Paul. <br /><br /> Paul, the only physical descriptions we have of Paul, there's not a lot of them, but they're not flattering. Paul was probably pretty short, uh, balding with a crooked nose. That's the only account that we have of what he looked like. And here you have little Paul who's been in prison for two years, probably not eating well. <br /><br /> Sitting there, chained at the center of the audience hall, surrounded by this great crowd of witnesses. And, and the, the, the text is careful to point out that there's, there's a lot of influential people and wealthy people there. And there's also, obviously, very influential and wealthy people in Agrippa and Festus. <br /><br /> Okay, now I've set the scene for you. Enough with the history lesson, I promise. Now we're gonna get to the passage itself. I've learned a really valuable lesson as a dad, with my oldest daughter in particular. She's about to turn four, and, um, I used to just set the whole dinner portion in front of Elena, uh, and say, uh, bon appétit, go ahead. <br /><br /> Uh, some of you who've had little kids might know where I'm going with this, but Elena, almost every time, would push the plate away and say, too big, and she wouldn't eat it. And so, first I was just like, you're gonna eat it, if you don't eat it, you're gonna, and that didn't work. And then I tried, you know, like, afterwards we'll give you a cookie if you eat it, and that didn't work, then she just wanted a cookie. <br /><br /> I learned a trick. And some of you are like, yeah, dummy, why didn't you do that from the start? But I learned a trick. And it's that, that bigger portion, I would cut it up into tiny pieces, and I would give her one at a time. And then she wouldn't be overwhelmed. And she would actually usually be able to get all the food in her little belly. <br /><br /> And so my hope, this morning, is to apply a similar, uh, concept. Cause we got 32 verses to get to this morning. And if I just start right now and read all 32 verses for you, you're gonna glaze over even more than you have already. And I don't want that. I want to keep our attention. As I mentioned, this is God's Word, and it deserves our attention. <br /><br /> So, what I want to do is do what I did do with Elena, and I'm going to cut this into pieces. And we're going to take it in three bites, okay? Uh, and the bites are going to go as follows. It's going to be up on the screen here, so you can kind of see where we're headed as a road map. Our first bite's going to be the first eleven verses. <br /><br /> Okay? And, uh, I just titled these for my own, uh, order, organization in my mind, but the first 11 verses we're gonna hear of an unadvisable defense. Then in the next 12 verses, 12 through 24, we're gonna hear an undeniable testimony. And then lastly, in our final bite of the morning, we're gonna take the last 7 verses of our chapter and hear an unexpected reversal. <br /><br /> So let's dive in, shall we? Verses 1 through 11. And so, Agrippa Said to Paul, we're in the great audience hall. And now the ceremony begins, the trial begins, and Agrippa says these words. You have permission to speak for yourself. Then Paul stretched out his hand and made his defense. I consider myself fortunate that it is before you, King Agrippa, that I am going to make my defense today against all the accusations of the Jews. <br /><br /> Especially because you are familiar with all the customs and controversies of the Jews. Therefore, I beg that you listen to me patiently. My manner of life for my youth, spent from the beginning among my own nation and in Jerusalem, is known by all the Jews. They have known for a long time, if they are willing to testify, that according to the strictest party of our religion, I have lived as a Pharisee. <br /><br /> Now I stand here on trial because of my hope and the promise made by God to our fathers, <br /><br /> to which our tr to our 12 tribes hope to attain as they earnestly worship night and day. And for this hope, I am accused by the Jews O King. Why is it thought incredible by any of you? That God raises the dead. Okay, I wanna stop there. This isn't the whole chunk, but I wanna stop there for a minute and say Bravo to Paul. <br /><br /> I mean, he's just shot out of a cannon. He's been in that jail cell. He's been writing down his defense. He's ready to go, and he just does a great job. I mean, he starts off, he's appealing, he's respectful, uh, he's bold, he's well spoken. I mean, what, what else do we expect from Paul? And he does first, I want to real quick talk about the, the first bit of this, where he does some pretty cool things. <br /><br /> He, he's share, he's sharing, or sorry, rather appealing to the shared understanding that he has with Agrippa. It's very clear in the first two verses. Paul's relieved. to be talking to somebody that will understand what he's talking about. It's pretty hard to make a defense to someone who doesn't even know or understand what you're defending. <br /><br /> And Paul, over the past two years, has been talking to these Roman guys who have no idea what he's talking about. You know, Mark did a good job last week of talking about the, the background that these guys would have come from, uh, Felix and Festus. They were Romans. They had a Roman conception of religion. <br /><br /> Which means... Many gods, many temples, many different ways of worshiping, very worldly, uh, and then you have the Jews. Could you imagine a more different religion from the Roman religion? And now you have Festus trying to understand all of those subtle differences to him. And now he's seeing the only difference that he can see is that Paul is saying one guy is alive and they're saying he's dead. <br /><br /> And so Paul is just relieved to be talking to somebody that at least knows what he's talking about. And then he uses that shared understanding to establish a very important point right off the bat. And that is, Paul is not anti Jewish. Paul is not trying to appear as anti Jewish. Paul is trying very hard to show, listen, this way that we've found, this, this following after Jesus thing, is not a departure from the hope of the Jewish people, but rather a continuation of it. <br /><br /> I haven't rejected the teachings of our fathers. I'm the only one following it. He's trying to show right off the bat. I'm not against you. I'm for you I'm one of you or rather one of them. So by all accounts, he's doing a good job And then we come to verses 9 through 11 Did you just read with me verses 9 through 11? <br /><br /> I Myself was convinced that I ought to do many things in opposing the name of Jesus of Nazareth and I did so in Jerusalem And not only locked up many of the saints in prison after receiving the authority from the chief priests, but when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. And when I punished them often in all the synagogues and tried to make them blaspheme and enraging fury against them, I persecuted them even unto foreign cities. <br /><br /> Whoa, whoa, whoa. Stop, Paul. Stop. You're doing so good. Why is he suddenly airing all his dirty laundry? This is... In my mind, where I'm thinking, if Paul was my lawyer, I would be going, Yes, yes, no, no, no, no, no, no! Why does Paul shift gears? He started so well, he was making a good defense, saying, I'm no, I, I'm just as Jewish as you are, and this thing that I'm proposing is, you know, he was doing a really good job, and then suddenly Paul starts to tell of his past. <br /><br /> What's going on here? Why is Paul determined to share the worst parts of his past? It seems like that would ruin the credibility of this movement, that he himself was an enemy. I think the answer actually lies in our next bite, verses 12 through 24. Let's read it together. In this connection, I journeyed to Damascus with the authority and the commission of the chief priests. <br /><br /> And at midday, O king, I saw on the way a light from heaven brighter than the sun that shone around me and those who journeyed with me. And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me, in the Hebrew language, Saul, Saul, or Shaul, Shaul is what it would be in Hebrew. Why are you persecuting me? <br /><br /> It is hard for you to kick against the goads. And I said, Who are you, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose. To appoint you as a servant. And a witness to the things in which you have seen me, and to those in which I will appear to you. <br /><br /> Delivering you for, from your people, and from the Gentiles to whom I am sending you. To open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God. And that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me. Therefore, O King, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but I declared, first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem, and then all throughout the regions of Judea and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance. <br /><br /> For this reason, the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me, and to this day I have had the help that comes from God, and so I stand here testifying. Both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would come to pass, that the Christ must suffer, and that by being first, the first to rise from the dead, he would be proclaimed light both to our people and to the Gentiles. <br /><br /> And as he was saying these things in his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, Paul, you're out of your mind. Your great learning has driven you out. <br /><br /> Okay, so why did I say that these 12 verses answer the question why Paul suddenly gives an unadvisable defense and starts airing his dirty laundry? I think the answer is that Paul isn't defending himself. <br /><br /> You would think after two long years, and finally standing before the one man who might actually sort of understand him, that he would be ready to give his own defense. The answer is, I don't think Paul is primarily concerned with defending himself here. Well, what is he defending then? He's defending the gospel. <br /><br /> He's doing it in a very interesting way. We've seen Paul defend the gospel in a lot of different ways. We've seen him do it through reasoned arguments at the Athenian philosophers. We've seen him do it, uh, by showing his mastery over the Hebrew scriptures. And we've seen him do it the way he's doing it here, by telling his story. <br /><br /> But the only way that Paul can tell his story about how he met Jesus on the road to Damascus is to tell them why he was on that road. <br /><br /> To be open and honest with the brokenness of his past. You see, I think at every turn so far in our passage this morning, Paul is attempting not to drive himself further apart from his opponents, but to draw them in. <br /><br /> To show them <br /><br /> this Jesus that he met on the road to Damascus. There's so much that we could look at in this, this chunk, and I, and trust me when I say I want to, but we don't have time. But there is one thing that I want to stop on, and it's a line that Paul includes here in his testimony that he didn't include in chapter 22 when he told his testimony the other time in Acts. <br /><br /> Does anybody know what that little detail is? Shout it out if you know it. Yeah, goads, you're mouthing it back there. Kicking against the goats. What's that all about? Does anybody know what a goat is? Yeah, a cattle prod. It's a, it's a sharp stick. And it was used usually for the young, stubborn cows. And those young, stubborn cows, well they had a job to do. <br /><br /> To plow the field. But they didn't like that yoke. And they kept trying to kick it off. And so, what farmers would do is they would either attach the goat to some part on the yoke, I mean, on the, uh, the, the plow, or they would hold it in their hand and they would basically poke the cow every time he started going against his job. <br /><br /> And, uh, what's interesting is that what they would find is that with, uh, younger cows, you'd find the dumb, dumb younger cows would be the ones that would kick. Here's the thing though, uh, a goat doesn't feel any pain, a cow does. So that, that cow is kicking out against that goat and what's happening is that thing is poking him every time. <br /><br /> And eventually, that dumb, stubborn cow learns to be a smart, submissive cow. And the field gets plowed. And here, Paul includes this detail, kicking against the goats. And for a minute, just go back with me on memory lane to Acts chapter 9. That was actually a message that I preached on Paul's conversion. <br /><br /> And when Paul was converted on the road to Damascus, We knew something that we may have forgotten now, and that is that shortly before this, we were first introduced to Paul in this book, at the stoning of Stephen. And Stephen was, uh, a believer, uh, who was causing many Jews to come to saving faith in Jesus. <br /><br /> He was on fire, full of the Holy Spirit. Um, but because of his work in bringing people out of the power of Satan and into the power of God, the Jews decided to stone him. And, uh, he was thrown to the ground, and a whole assembly was set before him, ready to, uh, cast stones until he was dead. And it says in Acts chapter 7 that Paul was there, and that Paul stood there and approved of the stoning of Stephen. <br /><br /> But something happened in Acts chapter 7. Right before the first stone made contact with Stephen, Stephen had a prayer to the Lord. At the end of that prayer, he said these words, Lord, forgive them. And count not their sin against them, for they know not what they do. <br /><br /> And then he died. And then we're told shortly after that, that Paul is on this rampage. That he's driving himself hard after every believer. And then, in Acts chapter 9, we see Paul riding hard on the road to Damascus at noonday. In, in 22 and here in 26 we're told that he was riding at midday. He's out on the road at midday. <br /><br /> Why is that significant? Yeah, well the bright light. And there's something that you don't do in that part of the world. And that's be out in the sun at midday. If you're riding on the road, especially out near Damascus, at midday, you're cooking. And the only reason you would do that is if you are pretty desperate, or you're driving yourself hard. <br /><br /> See, I think Paul was driving himself hard for a reason. I think he was being goaded in spirit. I think when he watched that man stand before all the accusations of the Jews against him, casting stone after stone until he was dead, and his final words were, Forgive them, for they know not what they do. <br /><br /> Echoing the words of his Savior. I don't think that settled in Paul very well. And what do we do when we want to drive off and keep thinking far away? We drive ourselves hard. But Paul was kicking against the goats. <br /><br /> And Paul, I think, includes this little detail in his testimony, includes these intimate words between him and Jesus for a purpose. <br /><br /> And that'll take us, well actually let me, let me talk about a couple other observations. I think one of the reasons why Paul is, feels free here in his two years, after two years of imprisonment, to not defend himself first, but defend the gospel, is I think he had a realization in prison. I can't prove this. <br /><br /> This is just my opinion. But I mentioned in the beginning. That Paul had just finished his third missionary journey. Most of Paul's life after being a believer had been spent on the road. Thousands and thousands of miles on foot. Going from city to city, sharing this gospel message. He'd been beaten. He'd been thrown out. <br /><br /> He'd been opposed at every turn. But Paul had spread the gospel in an amazing way. God had used him. To be a servant for this new gospel. As we read here in the passage. But something happened, and most scholars agree that Paul was really getting ready and geared up for another fourth missionary journey. <br /><br /> Maybe, who knows, the biggest and the best yet. But he decided to first go back to Jerusalem, as I mentioned. And we never saw that fourth missionary journey. Or so we thought. You see, I think Paul had a realization in that prison. I think he realized, this is my fourth missionary journey. Because this is exactly the plan and always has been. <br /><br /> Way back in Acts chapter 9, like we've talked about, Jesus says in a vision to Ananias, he's my chosen instrument to go to the Gentiles, to go to the Jews, to share the gospel, and then it says, and to their kings. <br /><br /> It's always been the plan for Paul to be a witness, uh, before the great and the small. And now he finds himself before kings, not in the way that he expected, I'm sure. But he realized, this is my next missionary journey. At least, that's how I read it. <br /><br /> Bless you. I want to say one last thing about this section, and that is this. Paul had learned, on his missionary journeys, as he spread the gospel, that opposition was an opportunity. And that trials were a chance for testimony. He had been through a lot. And he had watched Stephen as he stood surrounded by enemies with stones in their hands, <br /><br /> give the greatest testimony. And now, Paul, as he stood surrounded by enemies, the center of the audience hall, a small man with a crooked nose and balding, he was not afraid to give testimony, to see the opposition as an opportunity, and to give. testimony amidst his trial. <br /><br /> He did so with boldness. What an example. Let's go to now to our final section. That's verses 25 through 32. We're gonna see a pretty unexpected reversal here. But Paul said, I am not out of my mind, O excellent Festus, but I am speaking true and rational words. For the king knows And to him now I speak boldly, for I am persuaded that none of these things have escaped his notice. <br /><br /> For this has not been done in a corner. King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe. And Agrippa said to Paul, Whoa, in a short time you'd persuade me to be a Christian. And Paul said. Whether short or long, I would to God that not only you, but also all who hear me this day might become such as I am, except for these chains. <br /><br /> Then the king rose, and the governor, and Bernice, and all those who were sitting with them. And when they had withdrawn, they said to one another, this man is doing nothing to deserve death. And Agrippa said to Festus, this man could have been freed if he had not appealed to Caesar. I don't know about you guys, but Who has the power in this passage? <br /><br /> It feels like it should be Agrippa, Festus, Bernice, all the wealthy people assembled. And yet, as we read, that short, crooked nosed, balding preacher, <br /><br /> he had all the power. Because it wasn't his power. <br /><br /> And when he turns it around and starts asking questions, Questioning the questioner. <br /><br /> Well, the questioner has to deflect. And if you notice, the trial ends pretty abruptly after that, doesn't it? Oh, whoa, you're trying to persuade me to be a Christian pretty fast here, Paul, huh? You haven't given me time. And obviously, just a little bit before, we saw Felix. Whoa, you're crazy, you're crazy, whoa, you're so smart, you're crazy. <br /><br /> Because that makes sense. They're both deflecting. And if you read earlier in, uh, this account when we heard, uh, Paul giving his testimony to Felix, speaking with him, the same thing happens. It says that Felix grew afraid and dismissed Paul. <br /><br /> The questioner has become the questioned. There's been a reversal in the room. <br /><br /> That's because when the testimony of a believer is preached and when the gospel is preached like that, <br /><br /> all the power is in the testimony. All the power lies with Paul here. <br /><br /> I want to put shoes to this passage. That's what Mark would say, at least. Or, I'll put the cookies on the bottom shelf. He's got a lot of those. I need to learn some more of those. Application. I certainly don't want to steer you in a direction that the Spirit's not steering you. So, if there's stuff that is coming out of this that's speaking directly into your heart, I'm not, I'm not dismissing that. <br /><br /> But the thing that I heard in this passage was Loudly, 1 Peter 3, 15 through 16, and we're going to have that on the screen. I think I only had 15, oh no, good, they fixed it because they're always on it like, like that. Um, 1 Peter chapter 3, verse 15 through 16. I think Paul's modeling for us an amazing example of what Peter is telling us about here in this passage. <br /><br /> But in your hearts, honor Christ, the Lord is holy. Always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for the reason, for the hope that you have. Yet do it with gentleness and respect having a good conscience so that when you are slandered Those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame Here's the thing church if you've met Jesus on your Damascus Road If your story is I was once in darkness and now I am in light I was once in the power of Satan and now I am in the power of God if that's your story Then you, like Paul, are called to be a witness to the things which you have seen. <br /><br /> Every one of you stands in an audience hall, whether you know it or not, and all around you is gathered, the great and the small, <br /><br /> and they're questioning you and they're asking you a reason for the hope that you have, even if they haven't asked it out loud. <br /><br /> You have a high call on your life. You've been bought with a price. You've been knocked off your horse. <br /><br /> And so that call means not only that you get to enjoy the new life that is in Jesus, but that you get to bring others with you. And that comes only when you do as Paul does. And when you recognize that I don't have to defend myself, <br /><br /> I'm called to defend the gospel. Because the gospel is what defends me. <br /><br /> Paul wasn't there. Because Paul had done all these things. Paul wasn't there because Paul had a change of heart. Paul was there because Jesus conquered him. And Jesus was using him as his instrument to the Jews and the Gentiles and to their kings. And now Paul says, I wish to God that all of you, great and small, short in a short time or in a long time would become as I am from darkness to light. <br /><br /> I think Paul's example shows us three ways that we can approach walking as Christians, recognizing that our life is an audience hall. <br /><br /> First, Paul gave his answer with gentleness and respect. It's so easy for us to, maybe we find ourselves in a position where we, we, we want to evangelize, or we want to share the gospel, or someone's come to us and they're sharing all these things, and we jump so fast, we're like, whoa, I got a story for you, you're a sinner and you need to jump into grace because that's the only way, and you just go straight into that. <br /><br /> But you haven't gone in with gentleness and respect. You see. Because Paul went in with gentleness and respect, he also took the shared understanding that he had with King Agrippa and used it. <br /><br /> I think you need to know people a little bit. Or at least, know their, their type, know their, their heart a little bit. Ask God to give you that and to go and to begin with gentleness and respect. If Paul could do that to a man who is from a line of kings and rulers, who had murdered, tortured, and killed many influential and important Christians. <br /><br /> And if Paul could give that man respect, <br /><br /> then we can give others gentleness and respect, even as we give them an answer for the hope that we have. Second, Paul gives us an example by being unafraid to share the darkness of his past, even when on trial for his life. <br /><br /> In order to share, You need to share your testimony. You need to share where Jesus has brought you from. To show the darkness so that you can show the light of Jesus. From the power of Satan to the power of God. But if you're unwilling <br /><br /> to boldly declare your own weakness, your own past, your own brokenness, how can you expect them to? Paul was showing them in his testimony, I was no different than you. Your angry Jewish Pharisees enraged at me for following Jesus. I was just like you. I was worse than you. I chased them down to foreign cities. <br /><br /> I persecuted them in every place I found them and I approved of their death. Even as you are seeking to murder me, I sought to murder and persecute many. But Jesus, <br /><br /> we have to be willing to share the darkness of our past to demonstrate the light of Jesus in our present and future. Lastly, this Paul never grew tired of sharing his testimony. I don't exactly know how old Paul was here, but he wasn't a young man. And it has certainly been many, many years since that moment on the Damascus Road. <br /><br /> But in just eight chapters, an eight chapter span, we're given twice where Paul gives his testimony. I'm sure he gave it many more times. What's your story with Jesus? Remember it. Share it often. Proclaim it to those who are without hope and share the hope that you have in Jesus. Your testimony is a powerful weapon to bring people out of darkness and into light. <br /><br /> From the power of Satan to the power of God. <br /><br /> One important caveat that this, this, uh, this passage shows us about sharing our testimony, about giving a reason for the hope that we have is this. You could do everything right and it could still be rejected. It could still be ridiculed. Because, People kick against the goads. <br /><br /> To accept this testimony as true is to give up control. Did you see all these men in this story? All these governors who are clinging to control? Who are desperate to keep their power? The Jews who are jealous of the power that Paul is showing. They're desperate to keep their influence over the people. <br /><br /> They're clinging to their own power and control. Is it any wonder that they couldn't accept this Jesus? Who says, Give up control. Take my yoke upon you. My yoke is easy, my burden is light. Come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest from your souls. But first you've got to let go. <br /><br /> People reject that all the time. Doesn't mean we should stop sharing our testimony. <br /><br /> The last thing is this, a simple question. Are you kicking against the goats? <br /><br /> Have you been prodded in your spirit? Maybe just about something. Maybe you're a believer and the Lord's prodding you in your spirit and you're, you're pushing him off. It's only hurting you, friend. <br /><br /> It's not hurting the goat. But at a deeper level, maybe you're here and you're not yet saved. Or maybe you don't even know what that means. Maybe all this stuff about Jesus and you're kind of trying it out but you don't understand. But you're feeling a call to accept this Jesus. <br /><br /> You feel caught in darkness. Like you're in a power of... you don't understand and you just want to be free. You just want to see. If that's you, don't kick against the goats. Turn your life over to Jesus. It'll be the best thing you've ever done. <br /><br /> And for those of us who have turned our lives over to Jesus, let's repentance. <br /><br /> Let's not grow weary in well doing. Let's not grow tired of telling our stories. Let's spend time with Jesus. Would you pray with me? Lord, thank you for your word, which is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. Lord, thank you that totally independent of My own intentions, your word will speak to people where they are. <br /><br /> Thank you that your word when preached rises above ours and is heard. God, I pray that you would help us to become more like Paul. To become more like Jesus. Like Stephen. And as we look out at a world that has put us on trial. And that puts us through trials that we would not be tempted, Lord, to seek our own defense, but instead bring the gospel in defense. <br /><br /> And watch as you reverse our circumstances, Lord, not in the exterior, but in the heart. Lord, I just pray, give us people in mind now. If we are. Believers, Lord, give us people in our hearts that we can think of that are maybe our audience. People that we can speak life into, that we can share our testimony to. <br /><br /> Not discluding the dark parts of our past so that we can proclaim the righteousness that comes through faith in Jesus and that we are sanctified by nothing else but faith in him. Lord, we thank you and we pray your will in our lives. Amen.</div> false no <![CDATA[Planting Your Anchor in a Season of Confusion]]> Acts 25:13-27

When the accusers stood up, they brought no charge in his case of such evils as I supposed. Rather they had certain points of dispute with him about their own religion and about aa certain Jesus, who was dead, but whom Paul asserted to be alive.



Sermon Transcript:

Morning everybody. Invite you to take your Bibles to the book of Acts as we return to our series, The Spirit at Work to the Ends of the Earth, in Acts chapter 25 this morning. We're going to be picking up a passage, Pastor Mike, um, began for us, uh, the first half of the chapter, but Acts chapter 25, and I'm going to read the first phrase of it, um, And then I'm going to talk a little bit about it, and then I'm going to read the rest of it by way of introduction this morning.

Okay, Acts chapter 25. I'm going to verse 13. And we're going to end up reading verse 26 all the way through. But verse 13 now. Here's what it reads in Acts 25 verse 13. Now when some days had passed. All right, we're going to stop right there. Because I want to talk about those days. And I want to, I want to set the table of where we are.

First we're going to pray, and then we're going to dive into this passage. I'm going to acknowledge at the beginning, there's some history here. So you guys that hate history, hang with us. There's a reason we're talking history. Those of you that like history, this is a good one. A lot in here. Okay. Let's pray.

Lord, we praise you for a beautiful morning. We're reminded as we drove over today in our cars, we look around us and it's easy to say, this is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. God, thank you for the privilege of corporate praise, worship, and now Father, the joy of coming under the scriptures and being instructed from your word.

God, lead us to the things that you have for us to learn today. In Jesus name, Amen. When we come to this passage, it's been an active two years for Paul ever since he hit the shores of Judea. Remember he had been on the missionary journey, it's been a number of years away from the, what we call the Holy Land.

He is now returning for the first time, and for the first time he's coming to Jerusalem in over eight years. As he comes, there are a variety of things that have happened. One is, beginning in chapter 21, the middle of it, bringing us up to where we are in chapter 25. Paul was arrested. It was a giant riot.

They were literally trying to tear him apart. The Roman soldiers rescued him. They then put him in prison in Jerusalem. And then they found out that there were 40 assassins that had promised they would never eat again until they had killed Paul. So a troop of hundreds of Roman soldiers escorted him to 75 miles north, still a prisoner, to Caesarea, which was the center of Roman influence and authority.

The governor's place was up in Caesarea. And that's where they took him. As they did so, they put him in Caesarean prison. And while there, the Jewish council, the leadership of Israel, Sanhedrin, the 70 leaders, came the 75 miles to bring railing accusations against Paul. They wanted him dead. They wanted the Romans to execute him.

The first governor that talks to him is a guy named Governor Felix. And he can't find anything to condemn him with. And so he keeps him in jail. He sends the Sanhedrin, this Jewish council, back to Jerusalem. And Paul is there for two years in prison. We don't know anything else except he's there for two years.

At the end of the two years, Felix is replaced as a governor. And a new governor is put in. This guy is Governor Festus. And he also, as soon as the Sanhedrin hear there's a new governor, they get his ear, they come up 75 miles again, they present their case. And they ask, can you send him to Jerusalem? And we'll, we'll form the council.

You can still preside over it. But we'll be your, your, your jury that will join with you. And so he brings Paul out. They confront him again. And Festus can't find anything with him. And so he says to Paul in the chapter of chapter 25, the beginning of our, our text this morning. He basically says, uh, Paul, would you like to go back?

to Jerusalem with these guys. And Paul knows what that means. Paul knows there's no justice for him in Jerusalem. He knows it will be a death sentence. So he appeals to the higher court. And he said, I appeal to Caesar. Well, this totally throws Festus. He wasn't expecting this. Here's the spot he's in.

Number one, he has no accusations. He, he has to accede to this Roman citizen's request to go to Rome because he is saying, I, I don't think I'm going to get just treatment here. So this is a tough spot for Festus. Number one, because if he sends Paul to Rome without charges, The governor looks like a dope.

Well, why'd you send him to the court of Caesar? On the other hand, if he says the real reason he's doing this because the Rome, the Jewish leaders are, are determined to see sentence executed on this guy, so I gotta do something with him. The second dilemma he's got. Is now the, the, the messaging to Rome is yeah, these Jewish leaders, I can't, I can't control them.

Well, that's the very reason historically we're told that his predecessor was removed from office. So the result is he does nothing. He sends the, the Sanhedrin back to Jerusalem. We come to our passage this morning, and when we get here, we find a fascinating discussion that takes place. Paul's not involved.

It's a conversation between two Roman governors, leaders. One is called Agrippa, who shows up, and it's a great moment for Governor Festus because Agrippa actually is Jewish. He's also been raised in the household of Caesar in Rome. So he gets roman law. He also gets these jews, which festus does not. He doesn't understand their law.

He doesn't understand. He doesn't even know who the christos is Uh the messiah and so he shows up and we have in this passage this conversation between two roman authorities About paul. We don't hear him speaking We hear him being talked about and what I want to do this morning is to give you the backstory Of these Roman governors and particularly the unique political cultural moment that's going on right now as we read this passage and then show in the midst of all that was transpiring how Paul handled it, how he responded to it because it is in the moment of confusion for all the players involved here.

In the first century Judea, the Romans and their leaders, the Jews and their leaders, the people of the way, the Christians who have embraced the way, for all of them, their world is in chaos. And Paul sits in a Roman jail in the middle of it all. He's a bastion of con confidence and certainty. He is anchored to the right things.

Paul serves as a mentor to us in 2023. We are in a season of confusion. Culturally, our day has been called the most divisive time in America over the last 100 years. Political tension, cultural divide, mistrust of authority structures, riots in major cities, innumerable public shootings, the most extreme edges of both political parties speaking with loud and disruptive voices, increasing the divide and ratcheting up the hostility.

Paul can teach us where to anchor ourselves in such unsettling seasons of life. But we need to understand the sea of confusion he lived in and how relevant and how powerful his anchoring is for our own experience today. We learned some of that as we get to know these guys in Acts chapter 25. And I'd like to now read a little more of the passage that I started.

Acts 25 verse 13 and again now Festus has just heard Paul say I appeal to Rome and he says well to Rome you'll go and here's what happens now when some days had passed Agrippa the king and Bernice that's his sister arrived at Caesarea and greeted Festus and as they stayed there many days Festus laid Paul's case before the king saying there is a man left prisoner by Felix and when I was at Jerusalem the chief priests and the elders of the Jews laid out their case against it Asking for a sentence of condemnation against him, I answered that it was not the custom of the Romans to give up anyone before the accused met with the accusers face to face, and had opportunity to make his defense concerning the charge laid against him.

So when they came together here, I made no delay, but on the next day took my seat on the tribunal and ordered the man to be brought. When the accusers stood up, they brought no charge in his case of such evils as I supposed. Rather they had certain points of dispute with him about their own religion and about a certain Jesus who was dead But whom Paul asserted to be alive.

Being at a loss how to investigate these questions I asked whether he wanted to go to Jerusalem and be tried their concern regarding them But when Paul had appealed to be kept in custody for the decision of the emperor, I ordered him to be held until I could send him to Caesar. Then Agrippa said to Festus, I'd like to hear this man myself.

Tomorrow, said he, you will hear him. So on the next day, Agrippa and Bernas came with great pomp, and they entered the audience hall with the military tribunes and the prominent men of the city. Then at the command of Festus, Paul was brought in. And Festus said, King Agrippa, and all who are present with us, You see this man about whom the whole Jewish people petitioned me, both in Jerusalem and here, shouting that he ought not to live any longer.

But I found that he had done nothing deserving death, and as he himself appealed to the Emperor, I decided to go ahead and send him. But I have nothing definite to write to my Lord about him. Therefore, I have brought him before you all, and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that after we have examined him, I may have something to write.

For it seems to me unreasonable in sending a prisoner not to indicate the charges against him. Okay, let's pray.

Lord, I'm grateful for this passage and this whole context in Acts. To me, it's exciting to hear the connection between the broader world and what's taking place among the people of God. And to be struck, God, how we who also live in a bigger world with bigger stuff going on, which affects our daily lives too, that Lord, we can learn from Paul just where our anchors need to be in our lives as people who ultimately live as citizens of your kingdom.

So teach us to that end, Lord, please, in Jesus name. Amen. Okay, I want to talk about the season of confusion and then at the end, briefly, a couple of some thoughts, takeaways, regarding Paul's anchors. First of all, it is a season of confusion here in the first century Judea. Paul's mission seems to be in confusion.

Acts 1 8 was the statement that was made where the spirit was promised to come on the church and Acts 1 8 says but you will receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. We see the picture of this taking place in Acts chapter 1 through 21.

And here's the sequence that has taken place. In AD 29 to 35, they have taken the gospel, as recorded in Acts 1 through 7, to Jerusalem. And then over the next 9, 10 years, to Judea and Samaria, recorded in Acts 8 through 12. And then in AD 50, Paul has taken it with his associates to the ends of the earth.

Three missionary journeys have taken place in Acts 13 through 21, first half. So it makes sense, right? This is the way it should play. This is, this is what God said. The gospel's gonna go forth to the ends of the earth. And Paul is the human agent that is the primary focus, but Peter's doing it. Uh, others are joining with him.

And then we come to Acts chapter 21, the middle of the chapter. And it's a bewildering change. In A. D. 58 and 59, when Paul arrives in Jerusalem, he's arrested. He's put in prison. Then he's put in a Caesarean prison for over, for two years. As he is then, um, sent to Rome as a prisoner. He's in jail for Rome, to Rome for two to three years.

He is a prisoner of Rome for the last seven and a half chapters of the book of Acts. And we say, what? What's going on? I mean, what about the power of the Spirit? Coming upon you. What about the gospel going to the ends of the earth and this strategic, you know, plan that Paul had, you know, how he was going to take the gospel and start churches in Rome and then he said, I want to go on to Spain.

Remember all this? I, I, he had a strategy. The fourth missionary journey was going to be the biggest and the best. It never happens. And we are looking at a scene that it gives us some degree of confusion. What's going on in the plan and purposes of God? And the mission of fall and the mission of the church the second area we find confusion is the culture of the day Rome is now in judea a little bit of background.

It's 59 ad. Okay a little over a hundred years before Rome had entered this part of the world and extended their empire far enough to the farthest eastern border of the Mediterranean Sea. There, guys like Juliet Caesar was fighting there, uh, others, but they had, they had encroached. Pompey had actually come a general and, and beat down Jerusalem, burned the temple.

And, as they have come in, the Romans have replaced the Greeks, the Babylonians, others that have been over the, The Jews for centuries, but the Romans are different. They're much more controlling. They allow them to have their religion. They allow them to have a pseudo leadership in the Sanhedrin, but they also appoint their own guys.

But for the most part, the Jews are able to handle it primarily because a Jewish governor named Herod is appointed by the Romans. He sides with the right Roman general. And this guy, Herod the Great, serves for 45 years over the entire area of Judea. Way up above the Sea of Galilee and all the way down, way below Jerusalem.

The whole area is under his, his governorship. He dies just after Jesus is born. Alright, so now we're into the A. D. 's. And this guy now has started the Herodian line.

We used to have a baptismal tank in days gone by and it would sit right here when there was baptism and One time I went back and I felt straight back to the back Mercifully and to the great disappointment of every teenager in the room There was plywood on the top so I didn't go all the way in and my feet sticking up out of the water But so this that's child's play.

Okay, so so so the Herodian line starts Okay with Herod and now he has sons and he divides up his kingdom and it's divided into three different areas And and they've continued now we come down and it's 44 AD And in 40, excuse me, yeah, 44 AD, the father of this guy Agrippa that shows up and is going to question Paul dies.

He was an interesting guy. He was the guy that put to death James, the brother of John, and arrested Peter in Jerusalem to put him to death. But God took his life soon after that. This Agrippa, who was the only male... Uh, descendant of the line was only 17 years old, so they didn't make him the governor of the whole area.

It just gave him a little parcel up above the of the Sea of Galilee. So, for the first time, the Romans don't have a Jewish member of the household of Herod to put over the governorship of Judea. And so from 44 A. D. to now, 15 years later, they've been sending these guys from Rome who don't know anything about Judaism.

I mean, their religions, uh, Roman religion, you have hundreds of gods. You have dozens of temples all over the world. I mean, every time you want to worship one of your gods, you can find a temple somewhere. But these Jews are different. They have one god. They have one temple, they don't get them, they don't get their laws, they don't get their practices, they don't get how they're structured.

They have this scripture. The Romans didn't have a Bible. They don't understand this, that the Jews say is inspired of God and it's relevant, even though it was written hundreds of years before. It was an entirely different way of doing life. As a matter of fact, religion was so foundational to the Jews, that the civil leaders, political leaders, are all looked at as religious authorities to some degree.

So it's a very bewildering situation. And unfortunately, they don't send their best to Judea. And one after another, these Roman guys come in and utterly offend the Jews. This guy, Felix, who served from 52 to 59. Is one example. I, I, hold on, I'm gonna wait on that. I, I'll come back to that. Okay. So what they're doing, and one Jewish scholar, one of the, one of the preeminent histories of the Jews is put together by a man named Emil Schur.

And I put his quote up. He said, it might be thought from the record of the Roman pure Procurators that he's appointed governors, that they all as if by secret arrangement, systematically and deliberately set out to drive the people.

Now they didn't, but it seemed that way. It was just, they did everything wrong. Again, now, it's 59 AD, right? That's where, when Paul is in Caesarea, which is the center of Roman influence. in the entire region. It's where the governor resides. It's where more of the soldiers and legionaries are. Paul's in prison there and he's meeting with these Roman governors.

Six years later, the Roman leaders have made one too many mistakes. And the Zealots, a guerrilla organization of Jews utterly opposed to Rome, begin burning Roman homes. Begin, uh, slaying, killing. assassinating Roman soldiers and Roman leaders. Everything has ratcheted up. The zealots in 66 AD actually become strong enough, six and a half years later, that they take over the city of Jerusalem and they drive out the entire Antonia fortress.

of legionnaires. They flee to Caesarea. They have now declared themselves in absolute revolt against Rome. Nero, the emperor of Rome, begins to load his ships, legionnaires. They make their way from 66 A. D. and on they begin to Come to the countryside of Judea arriving in Caesarea and then coming south conquering cities villages and eventually come after crushing all opposition until they arrive for a terrible siege of The city of Jerusalem and I just have a couple of paintings here This particular one is just depicting the Romans.

They're beginning their siege on the city of Jerusalem It resulted in starvation in the city and eventually the breaching of the walls. In this next painting, there is the visual, and if you can see in the left hand corner, there's uh, the menorah, the golden lamp stand is being taken out. The Romans breached the city, they went in, they took all the articles, the Ark of the Covenant, the menorah, the table of showbreadth, took all of the holy vessels and actually transported it back to Rome as far as we know.

Even though Raiders of the Lost Ark is sure where it went, um, not sure about it.

There was a terrible slaughter of thousands of inhabitants. It has been deemed by many historians The greatest massacre of a city in the entire history of the ancient world was a city that was, there are stories that come out by writers of, of parents actually eating babies. It was, they would, they would die.

It was desperate circumstances. This horrific moment and the result of it was the city, including the temple, was utterly destroyed by fire. Everyone was left homeless, refugees. The nation of Israel is destroyed at this moment. And it all took place 6. 5 years from Paul's interview with these Roman governors.

I want to put this in context. If the USA was about to enter a civil war that resulted in the complete destruction of our country, Six and a half years would mean that if you were watching the Super Bowl victory in 2017 of the Eagles, this morning, the USA would be in a nation destroying civil war. This is how close Paul's account in Acts 25 is to the utter destruction of the nation.

And all of the seeds of that are felt by everybody. Felix, let me just show you the other Roman governors. I'm going to try to bring all this together. Why am I saying all this? In A. D. 59, the world of Judea was in chaos. Felix, this governor I mentioned, was appointed in 52 to 59. He was a terrible leader.

He was always overplaying his hand with harshness. One of the things he did in A. D. 57 was there was an Egyptian Jew that came, said he had a dream that, and he, and he got a, he got a following of hundreds of soldiers or, or people that joined his band, marauding rebels. And they were planning on attacking the Antonio Fortress, the Jerusalem Fortress of Legionnaires.

Um, word got out about it. And Felix responded so violently, uh, in, in torturing and killing all these people. Some people he pulled in that were just suspected. They were wiped out. And it was so vitriolic in his response, that it was one of two major events that he did that actually caused the Roman emperor to say, you've got to get you out of there.

You're just stoking the fire so hard. It's interesting, if you remember when Paul went into the temple area and the Roman, uh, tribune there arrested Paul. And he said, who are you? And he said, and Paul told him who he was. He says, that's not who I thought you. I thought you were the Egyptian guy. He actually identifies in a beautiful merging of history and Bible history.

He said, I thought you were that guy because that guy escaped. It was so much on people's minds. This is a hotbed of turmoil. Festus then comes in in AD 59 when Felix is taken out. But he only, and he's the procreators historically, and we have a lot of record of this in Jewish and Roman writings. He's sent to Ancestry again.

He's a better ruler, but he dies in office in his second year. He knew nothing of Judaism or Christianity as we see from this account. Who is Agrippa? This is the other thing to mention. He's the Roman governor of a smaller province. He's a favorite of the emperor. At this point, he's only 32 years old. He comes with his sister, and, um, he's been raised in Caesar's household.

And not only has he been given the province in the north that eventually included most of Galilee, the northern part, But he also because he's jewish they gave him the responsibility. He was actually given the roman responsibility To appoint the jewish high priest every year, which was offensive to the jews And secondly, he was also in charge of all their vestments He kept the clothes that they wore on the day of atonement Their infiltration is everywhere.

He actually was a pretty good man. Probably the best of the of the But you have Roman leaders that don't know anything about Judaism. Nationalism in Israel is at an absolute fevered pitch. National terrorist movement is increasing in influence among the zealots. There's chaos, confusion that everyone can sense.

And it's only getting more rancorous and volatile by the volatile by the moment. The church felt. Confusion. They felt it with the Jews and their Gentile issue. We've seen that already. And again, I'm just trying to summarize these chapters. The Jews, you remember when Paul arrived in Judea after his missionary journeys?

You remember what they did? James, the head of the church, who is Jesus half physical brother, he came with all the elders from the church and they met Paul right at the port city. Before he even, it's like he got off the boat and, Ha! Paul, we've been waiting for you. They met with him, and they said, Paul, you got to keep a low profile.

And you know you're not good at this, but you need to keep a lid on it. Things are so volatile for us.

Because you're out there taking the gospel to the Gentiles, to the goyim, to the heathen. The very people that our nation is feeling are, are, are disdaining us and dishonoring us. In these Roman leaders and these Roman soldiers in our cities. The zealots are active. The religious leaders are hostile. And you're the one now that is champing what we believe in.

Embracing gentiles into, into, into our faith. Into allowing them to enjoy Jesus as their messiah too. Man, you gotta, you gotta keep it cool. And Paul to his credit did. It still didn't help. They still rioted. And they still tried to kill him. The Jew and gentile thing is big for the church. Their own struggle with the godless government as Christians was big.

The Romans did not understand the difference between Jews and Jews of the way. Those that embrace Jesus as their Messiah. They were all lunged together and undoubtedly Christian Jews were politically charged as well. They hated the Romans. They hated, they wanted their homeland back. So Paul wrote to the churches in his two letters, his two major big general letters, the book of Ephesians and the book of Romans that were designed to be passed along to other churches And in those letters, in both of them, he talks about the political issue.

In Ephesus, he says, I want to remind you guys, your citizenship is not of this world, you're members of Jesus kingdom. The other thing he does, in Romans, is said, this is how you respond to, to governing leaders. Basically, the church is in the center of the storm. Paul is in the very eye of the storm. They're in Caesarea.

Where the main Roman troops were where the governor of Judah had his headquarters and in the midst of the storm of national cultural confusion and chaos Where did Paul? Anchor his thinking and living and I want to highlight. I'm just gonna hit two of them two quick things Number one where Paul placed his anchor was in the power of God it's striking if you look at our our passage this morning that we read in Acts chapter 25 as festus He says, and we don't hear his interview of Paul, all that he said, but he summarizes it.

And this was his takeaway. Basically, um, the Jews had certain points of dispute. This is Acts 25, 19 with Paul about their own religion. And about a certain Jesus, who is dead, but whom Paul asserted to be alive. This was his takeaway. He said, I don't know much about this guy at all. I, I certainly, I don't even know who this Jesus is.

But Paul's whole thing is about this man Jesus, who everybody testifies, nobody disagrees. He was dead, dead, dead, dead, dead. He's dead and Paul he just he said he's alive. So that's the whole thing I mean, how do I write the Caesar about this? I got this guy that thinks a guy came back from the dead So I'm sending him to you because I couldn't resolve the issue.

So he said what do I do with this thing? What we see again is the the centrality to Paul about the resurrection of Christ to Paul two things Were true about the resurrection of Jesus Number one, the resurrection was the center of everything he believed. The second thing is, the resurrection is always the evidence of God's power in the believer's life.

He writes this all the time, but in Acts 24, 21, when he's talking to Felix, the first governor, here's what he said. Basically, I was purified when I went into the temple. I didn't take Gentiles in. I didn't speak against the laws of the practices. There were none of those things. Basically, what, what, what is the issue here is, and he says the one thing was that I said that Jesus Christ is rise, risen from the dead.

He said that is my message. That is what I believe. That's what I have built my entire life on. In Acts 26 verse 23, he's going to be speaking to Festus and to Agrippa. And he's going to make this statement, Jesus Christ being the first to rise from the dead. And Festus interrupts him and he says, Paul, you're insane.

He says, much learning has made you insane. And he just keeps going on. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. In Ephesians 19, Paul says this, I'm praying that you Christians will know this. Excuse me, Ephesians 1. 19. He has two prayers. It's the first one. I want you. I'm praying that you will know this. What is the immeasurable greatness of his power towards us who believe according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead.

Paul says, I want you to have a big God. I want you to have a vision of the God that raised Christ in the dead. Now we 20 century centuries later, we'll say, well, You know? Yeah, I, I get it. I mean, of course I believe Jesus rose in the dead. That's why, I mean, I believe I'm serving a living Christ, but these guys are actually living among a generation of people that saw and knew of the death of Christ.

And he says there is nothing more astounding than the fact that. Jesus Christ rose from the dead victorious over death and the same power that was expressed in him rising from the dead is now lived out in our lives. He said, I'm leaning into this God. I'm leaning into a God that is big. Whose power was exemplified in such a way is what fills my heart is what fills my mind The biggest things christians need today in a day of confusion and and media Terror and bad news bad news.

You need a bigger god You need a god that's big enough to trust a god. That's sovereign a god. That's mighty a god. That's omnipotent It has all power. Paul had that God. And in the midst of utter confusion and chaos on every side, he stood in the midst of, here's the, here's the Jews on one side, and in six years they are going to be leading, they are going to be part of a rebellion that is going to stand against Rome, that is going to actually destroy their nation.

And on the other side, he's standing with people. that represent that very power of Rome at the highest levels in this part of the world. And he said, You know what? I don't see how any of this is gonna work out. I don't see how we're gonna work this through. I don't see how this, it just seems totally chaotic, totally terrifying.

But he said, I got, I got a big God. I got a God I can lean into, I can trust in. It's a season for Him, for us, to embrace the bigness of God. The second thing, Paul put his trust in God's promises. In Acts 23 verse 11, while Paul was in the Jerusalem jail, and is just about to find out from his nephew, that there are 40 assassins out there that are are vowed they'll never eat again until this guy has been killed.

In Acts 23 11, God comes to Paul and says this. The following night, the Lord stood by Paul and said, Take courage for as you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem, so you must testify also in Rome. Paul said, I don't I don't know how it's gonna work out. Little did he know it would come to a place where he realized I don't I don't have any.

There's no safety. among, in Jerusalem for me. I can't trust the authorities. I can't trust the leadership. I can't trust judicious decisions. So I'm appealing to Rome. Little did he know that his own desperation would be the very means that God would be of fulfilling his promise to him to send him to Rome.

He didn't expect he'd be going as a prisoner. He thought he'd be going as a, as a church planning champion. But he had the promise that God had plans for him and purposes for him. The promises of God are given to us to be our hope in the beautiful story. Pilgrim's progress. Pilgrim and hopeful are in prison.

His name is Christa. Actually, he was the pilgrim. They were in doubting Castle. This giant despair has brought him in. He beats him. He's continually beat him, and he's made it clear that the next morning he's gonna kill them and they're lying. They're bloody bruised. And, uh, they're pretty down. It's called Doubting Castle, and he's called Giant Despair for a reason, in the allegory of Pilgrim's Progress.

And as he's there, all of a sudden, Christian remembers that in his pocket, he has this key that had been given to him, and it's called the key of promise. And he said, I forgot. I have the promise. I have the key that opens the doors. And so he began, he says, I'll bet this will open the door. So one door after another, a prison of the castle is open until they get to the creaky main gate.

And again, they're able to get out. And the picture that Bunyan is drawing is, It is always the promises of God that is our way out of despondency and despair. It is leaning into what God has promised to be true. Filling our minds with scripture. Filling our minds with the promises that He has given to us.

And is willing to give to you today, if you take the time to listen. Paul leaned into those promises. He trusted in that power. And he was a center, in the center of the storm. He was anchored. We can be too. It is not any more volatile in your life than it was for Paul's. Right now, at this moment in history.

Volatile season. But Christians stand tall and strong to the power of God and the promises of God. Lord, thank you for being that and doing that in our lives. Thank you even for the glimpse of history, to just put ourselves in a situation that, no matter what's going on in our lives, there are historic visuals in scripture, that you have been the God who regularly, consistently, beautiful, delivers your people to your own glory.

Lord, let us lean into that reality today, I pray, in Jesus name.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/planting-your-anchor-in-a-season-of-confusion 2fbd271b-e5ab-43e3-bb46-39022cc9b7a2 Sun, 01 Oct 2023 09:33:55 GMT <div data-html="true">Acts 25:13-27 <br /><br /> When the accusers stood up, they brought no charge in his case of such evils as I supposed. Rather they had certain points of dispute with him about their own religion and about aa certain Jesus, who was dead, but whom Paul asserted to be alive. <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> Morning everybody. Invite you to take your Bibles to the book of Acts as we return to our series, The Spirit at Work to the Ends of the Earth, in Acts chapter 25 this morning. We're going to be picking up a passage, Pastor Mike, um, began for us, uh, the first half of the chapter, but Acts chapter 25, and I'm going to read the first phrase of it, um, And then I'm going to talk a little bit about it, and then I'm going to read the rest of it by way of introduction this morning. <br /><br /> Okay, Acts chapter 25. I'm going to verse 13. And we're going to end up reading verse 26 all the way through. But verse 13 now. Here's what it reads in Acts 25 verse 13. Now when some days had passed. All right, we're going to stop right there. Because I want to talk about those days. And I want to, I want to set the table of where we are. <br /><br /> First we're going to pray, and then we're going to dive into this passage. I'm going to acknowledge at the beginning, there's some history here. So you guys that hate history, hang with us. There's a reason we're talking history. Those of you that like history, this is a good one. A lot in here. Okay. Let's pray. <br /><br /> Lord, we praise you for a beautiful morning. We're reminded as we drove over today in our cars, we look around us and it's easy to say, this is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. God, thank you for the privilege of corporate praise, worship, and now Father, the joy of coming under the scriptures and being instructed from your word. <br /><br /> God, lead us to the things that you have for us to learn today. In Jesus name, Amen. When we come to this passage, it's been an active two years for Paul ever since he hit the shores of Judea. Remember he had been on the missionary journey, it's been a number of years away from the, what we call the Holy Land. <br /><br /> He is now returning for the first time, and for the first time he's coming to Jerusalem in over eight years. As he comes, there are a variety of things that have happened. One is, beginning in chapter 21, the middle of it, bringing us up to where we are in chapter 25. Paul was arrested. It was a giant riot. <br /><br /> They were literally trying to tear him apart. The Roman soldiers rescued him. They then put him in prison in Jerusalem. And then they found out that there were 40 assassins that had promised they would never eat again until they had killed Paul. So a troop of hundreds of Roman soldiers escorted him to 75 miles north, still a prisoner, to Caesarea, which was the center of Roman influence and authority. <br /><br /> The governor's place was up in Caesarea. And that's where they took him. As they did so, they put him in Caesarean prison. And while there, the Jewish council, the leadership of Israel, Sanhedrin, the 70 leaders, came the 75 miles to bring railing accusations against Paul. They wanted him dead. They wanted the Romans to execute him. <br /><br /> The first governor that talks to him is a guy named Governor Felix. And he can't find anything to condemn him with. And so he keeps him in jail. He sends the Sanhedrin, this Jewish council, back to Jerusalem. And Paul is there for two years in prison. We don't know anything else except he's there for two years. <br /><br /> At the end of the two years, Felix is replaced as a governor. And a new governor is put in. This guy is Governor Festus. And he also, as soon as the Sanhedrin hear there's a new governor, they get his ear, they come up 75 miles again, they present their case. And they ask, can you send him to Jerusalem? And we'll, we'll form the council. <br /><br /> You can still preside over it. But we'll be your, your, your jury that will join with you. And so he brings Paul out. They confront him again. And Festus can't find anything with him. And so he says to Paul in the chapter of chapter 25, the beginning of our, our text this morning. He basically says, uh, Paul, would you like to go back? <br /><br /> to Jerusalem with these guys. And Paul knows what that means. Paul knows there's no justice for him in Jerusalem. He knows it will be a death sentence. So he appeals to the higher court. And he said, I appeal to Caesar. Well, this totally throws Festus. He wasn't expecting this. Here's the spot he's in. <br /><br /> Number one, he has no accusations. He, he has to accede to this Roman citizen's request to go to Rome because he is saying, I, I don't think I'm going to get just treatment here. So this is a tough spot for Festus. Number one, because if he sends Paul to Rome without charges, The governor looks like a dope. <br /><br /> Well, why'd you send him to the court of Caesar? On the other hand, if he says the real reason he's doing this because the Rome, the Jewish leaders are, are determined to see sentence executed on this guy, so I gotta do something with him. The second dilemma he's got. Is now the, the, the messaging to Rome is yeah, these Jewish leaders, I can't, I can't control them. <br /><br /> Well, that's the very reason historically we're told that his predecessor was removed from office. So the result is he does nothing. He sends the, the Sanhedrin back to Jerusalem. We come to our passage this morning, and when we get here, we find a fascinating discussion that takes place. Paul's not involved. <br /><br /> It's a conversation between two Roman governors, leaders. One is called Agrippa, who shows up, and it's a great moment for Governor Festus because Agrippa actually is Jewish. He's also been raised in the household of Caesar in Rome. So he gets roman law. He also gets these jews, which festus does not. He doesn't understand their law. <br /><br /> He doesn't understand. He doesn't even know who the christos is Uh the messiah and so he shows up and we have in this passage this conversation between two roman authorities About paul. We don't hear him speaking We hear him being talked about and what I want to do this morning is to give you the backstory Of these Roman governors and particularly the unique political cultural moment that's going on right now as we read this passage and then show in the midst of all that was transpiring how Paul handled it, how he responded to it because it is in the moment of confusion for all the players involved here. <br /><br /> In the first century Judea, the Romans and their leaders, the Jews and their leaders, the people of the way, the Christians who have embraced the way, for all of them, their world is in chaos. And Paul sits in a Roman jail in the middle of it all. He's a bastion of con confidence and certainty. He is anchored to the right things. <br /><br /> Paul serves as a mentor to us in 2023. We are in a season of confusion. Culturally, our day has been called the most divisive time in America over the last 100 years. Political tension, cultural divide, mistrust of authority structures, riots in major cities, innumerable public shootings, the most extreme edges of both political parties speaking with loud and disruptive voices, increasing the divide and ratcheting up the hostility. <br /><br /> Paul can teach us where to anchor ourselves in such unsettling seasons of life. But we need to understand the sea of confusion he lived in and how relevant and how powerful his anchoring is for our own experience today. We learned some of that as we get to know these guys in Acts chapter 25. And I'd like to now read a little more of the passage that I started. <br /><br /> Acts 25 verse 13 and again now Festus has just heard Paul say I appeal to Rome and he says well to Rome you'll go and here's what happens now when some days had passed Agrippa the king and Bernice that's his sister arrived at Caesarea and greeted Festus and as they stayed there many days Festus laid Paul's case before the king saying there is a man left prisoner by Felix and when I was at Jerusalem the chief priests and the elders of the Jews laid out their case against it Asking for a sentence of condemnation against him, I answered that it was not the custom of the Romans to give up anyone before the accused met with the accusers face to face, and had opportunity to make his defense concerning the charge laid against him. <br /><br /> So when they came together here, I made no delay, but on the next day took my seat on the tribunal and ordered the man to be brought. When the accusers stood up, they brought no charge in his case of such evils as I supposed. Rather they had certain points of dispute with him about their own religion and about a certain Jesus who was dead But whom Paul asserted to be alive. <br /><br /> Being at a loss how to investigate these questions I asked whether he wanted to go to Jerusalem and be tried their concern regarding them But when Paul had appealed to be kept in custody for the decision of the emperor, I ordered him to be held until I could send him to Caesar. Then Agrippa said to Festus, I'd like to hear this man myself. <br /><br /> Tomorrow, said he, you will hear him. So on the next day, Agrippa and Bernas came with great pomp, and they entered the audience hall with the military tribunes and the prominent men of the city. Then at the command of Festus, Paul was brought in. And Festus said, King Agrippa, and all who are present with us, You see this man about whom the whole Jewish people petitioned me, both in Jerusalem and here, shouting that he ought not to live any longer. <br /><br /> But I found that he had done nothing deserving death, and as he himself appealed to the Emperor, I decided to go ahead and send him. But I have nothing definite to write to my Lord about him. Therefore, I have brought him before you all, and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that after we have examined him, I may have something to write. <br /><br /> For it seems to me unreasonable in sending a prisoner not to indicate the charges against him. Okay, let's pray. <br /><br /> Lord, I'm grateful for this passage and this whole context in Acts. To me, it's exciting to hear the connection between the broader world and what's taking place among the people of God. And to be struck, God, how we who also live in a bigger world with bigger stuff going on, which affects our daily lives too, that Lord, we can learn from Paul just where our anchors need to be in our lives as people who ultimately live as citizens of your kingdom. <br /><br /> So teach us to that end, Lord, please, in Jesus name. Amen. Okay, I want to talk about the season of confusion and then at the end, briefly, a couple of some thoughts, takeaways, regarding Paul's anchors. First of all, it is a season of confusion here in the first century Judea. Paul's mission seems to be in confusion. <br /><br /> Acts 1 8 was the statement that was made where the spirit was promised to come on the church and Acts 1 8 says but you will receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. We see the picture of this taking place in Acts chapter 1 through 21. <br /><br /> And here's the sequence that has taken place. In AD 29 to 35, they have taken the gospel, as recorded in Acts 1 through 7, to Jerusalem. And then over the next 9, 10 years, to Judea and Samaria, recorded in Acts 8 through 12. And then in AD 50, Paul has taken it with his associates to the ends of the earth. <br /><br /> Three missionary journeys have taken place in Acts 13 through 21, first half. So it makes sense, right? This is the way it should play. This is, this is what God said. The gospel's gonna go forth to the ends of the earth. And Paul is the human agent that is the primary focus, but Peter's doing it. Uh, others are joining with him. <br /><br /> And then we come to Acts chapter 21, the middle of the chapter. And it's a bewildering change. In A. D. 58 and 59, when Paul arrives in Jerusalem, he's arrested. He's put in prison. Then he's put in a Caesarean prison for over, for two years. As he is then, um, sent to Rome as a prisoner. He's in jail for Rome, to Rome for two to three years. <br /><br /> He is a prisoner of Rome for the last seven and a half chapters of the book of Acts. And we say, what? What's going on? I mean, what about the power of the Spirit? Coming upon you. What about the gospel going to the ends of the earth and this strategic, you know, plan that Paul had, you know, how he was going to take the gospel and start churches in Rome and then he said, I want to go on to Spain. <br /><br /> Remember all this? I, I, he had a strategy. The fourth missionary journey was going to be the biggest and the best. It never happens. And we are looking at a scene that it gives us some degree of confusion. What's going on in the plan and purposes of God? And the mission of fall and the mission of the church the second area we find confusion is the culture of the day Rome is now in judea a little bit of background. <br /><br /> It's 59 ad. Okay a little over a hundred years before Rome had entered this part of the world and extended their empire far enough to the farthest eastern border of the Mediterranean Sea. There, guys like Juliet Caesar was fighting there, uh, others, but they had, they had encroached. Pompey had actually come a general and, and beat down Jerusalem, burned the temple. <br /><br /> And, as they have come in, the Romans have replaced the Greeks, the Babylonians, others that have been over the, The Jews for centuries, but the Romans are different. They're much more controlling. They allow them to have their religion. They allow them to have a pseudo leadership in the Sanhedrin, but they also appoint their own guys. <br /><br /> But for the most part, the Jews are able to handle it primarily because a Jewish governor named Herod is appointed by the Romans. He sides with the right Roman general. And this guy, Herod the Great, serves for 45 years over the entire area of Judea. Way up above the Sea of Galilee and all the way down, way below Jerusalem. <br /><br /> The whole area is under his, his governorship. He dies just after Jesus is born. Alright, so now we're into the A. D. 's. And this guy now has started the Herodian line. <br /><br /> We used to have a baptismal tank in days gone by and it would sit right here when there was baptism and One time I went back and I felt straight back to the back Mercifully and to the great disappointment of every teenager in the room There was plywood on the top so I didn't go all the way in and my feet sticking up out of the water But so this that's child's play. <br /><br /> Okay, so so so the Herodian line starts Okay with Herod and now he has sons and he divides up his kingdom and it's divided into three different areas And and they've continued now we come down and it's 44 AD And in 40, excuse me, yeah, 44 AD, the father of this guy Agrippa that shows up and is going to question Paul dies. <br /><br /> He was an interesting guy. He was the guy that put to death James, the brother of John, and arrested Peter in Jerusalem to put him to death. But God took his life soon after that. This Agrippa, who was the only male... Uh, descendant of the line was only 17 years old, so they didn't make him the governor of the whole area. <br /><br /> It just gave him a little parcel up above the of the Sea of Galilee. So, for the first time, the Romans don't have a Jewish member of the household of Herod to put over the governorship of Judea. And so from 44 A. D. to now, 15 years later, they've been sending these guys from Rome who don't know anything about Judaism. <br /><br /> I mean, their religions, uh, Roman religion, you have hundreds of gods. You have dozens of temples all over the world. I mean, every time you want to worship one of your gods, you can find a temple somewhere. But these Jews are different. They have one god. They have one temple, they don't get them, they don't get their laws, they don't get their practices, they don't get how they're structured. <br /><br /> They have this scripture. The Romans didn't have a Bible. They don't understand this, that the Jews say is inspired of God and it's relevant, even though it was written hundreds of years before. It was an entirely different way of doing life. As a matter of fact, religion was so foundational to the Jews, that the civil leaders, political leaders, are all looked at as religious authorities to some degree. <br /><br /> So it's a very bewildering situation. And unfortunately, they don't send their best to Judea. And one after another, these Roman guys come in and utterly offend the Jews. This guy, Felix, who served from 52 to 59. Is one example. I, I, hold on, I'm gonna wait on that. I, I'll come back to that. Okay. So what they're doing, and one Jewish scholar, one of the, one of the preeminent histories of the Jews is put together by a man named Emil Schur. <br /><br /> And I put his quote up. He said, it might be thought from the record of the Roman pure Procurators that he's appointed governors, that they all as if by secret arrangement, systematically and deliberately set out to drive the people. <br /><br /> Now they didn't, but it seemed that way. It was just, they did everything wrong. Again, now, it's 59 AD, right? That's where, when Paul is in Caesarea, which is the center of Roman influence. in the entire region. It's where the governor resides. It's where more of the soldiers and legionaries are. Paul's in prison there and he's meeting with these Roman governors. <br /><br /> Six years later, the Roman leaders have made one too many mistakes. And the Zealots, a guerrilla organization of Jews utterly opposed to Rome, begin burning Roman homes. Begin, uh, slaying, killing. assassinating Roman soldiers and Roman leaders. Everything has ratcheted up. The zealots in 66 AD actually become strong enough, six and a half years later, that they take over the city of Jerusalem and they drive out the entire Antonia fortress. <br /><br /> of legionnaires. They flee to Caesarea. They have now declared themselves in absolute revolt against Rome. Nero, the emperor of Rome, begins to load his ships, legionnaires. They make their way from 66 A. D. and on they begin to Come to the countryside of Judea arriving in Caesarea and then coming south conquering cities villages and eventually come after crushing all opposition until they arrive for a terrible siege of The city of Jerusalem and I just have a couple of paintings here This particular one is just depicting the Romans. <br /><br /> They're beginning their siege on the city of Jerusalem It resulted in starvation in the city and eventually the breaching of the walls. In this next painting, there is the visual, and if you can see in the left hand corner, there's uh, the menorah, the golden lamp stand is being taken out. The Romans breached the city, they went in, they took all the articles, the Ark of the Covenant, the menorah, the table of showbreadth, took all of the holy vessels and actually transported it back to Rome as far as we know. <br /><br /> Even though Raiders of the Lost Ark is sure where it went, um, not sure about it. <br /><br /> There was a terrible slaughter of thousands of inhabitants. It has been deemed by many historians The greatest massacre of a city in the entire history of the ancient world was a city that was, there are stories that come out by writers of, of parents actually eating babies. It was, they would, they would die. <br /><br /> It was desperate circumstances. This horrific moment and the result of it was the city, including the temple, was utterly destroyed by fire. Everyone was left homeless, refugees. The nation of Israel is destroyed at this moment. And it all took place 6. 5 years from Paul's interview with these Roman governors. <br /><br /> I want to put this in context. If the USA was about to enter a civil war that resulted in the complete destruction of our country, Six and a half years would mean that if you were watching the Super Bowl victory in 2017 of the Eagles, this morning, the USA would be in a nation destroying civil war. This is how close Paul's account in Acts 25 is to the utter destruction of the nation. <br /><br /> And all of the seeds of that are felt by everybody. Felix, let me just show you the other Roman governors. I'm going to try to bring all this together. Why am I saying all this? In A. D. 59, the world of Judea was in chaos. Felix, this governor I mentioned, was appointed in 52 to 59. He was a terrible leader. <br /><br /> He was always overplaying his hand with harshness. One of the things he did in A. D. 57 was there was an Egyptian Jew that came, said he had a dream that, and he, and he got a, he got a following of hundreds of soldiers or, or people that joined his band, marauding rebels. And they were planning on attacking the Antonio Fortress, the Jerusalem Fortress of Legionnaires. <br /><br /> Um, word got out about it. And Felix responded so violently, uh, in, in torturing and killing all these people. Some people he pulled in that were just suspected. They were wiped out. And it was so vitriolic in his response, that it was one of two major events that he did that actually caused the Roman emperor to say, you've got to get you out of there. <br /><br /> You're just stoking the fire so hard. It's interesting, if you remember when Paul went into the temple area and the Roman, uh, tribune there arrested Paul. And he said, who are you? And he said, and Paul told him who he was. He says, that's not who I thought you. I thought you were the Egyptian guy. He actually identifies in a beautiful merging of history and Bible history. <br /><br /> He said, I thought you were that guy because that guy escaped. It was so much on people's minds. This is a hotbed of turmoil. Festus then comes in in AD 59 when Felix is taken out. But he only, and he's the procreators historically, and we have a lot of record of this in Jewish and Roman writings. He's sent to Ancestry again. <br /><br /> He's a better ruler, but he dies in office in his second year. He knew nothing of Judaism or Christianity as we see from this account. Who is Agrippa? This is the other thing to mention. He's the Roman governor of a smaller province. He's a favorite of the emperor. At this point, he's only 32 years old. He comes with his sister, and, um, he's been raised in Caesar's household. <br /><br /> And not only has he been given the province in the north that eventually included most of Galilee, the northern part, But he also because he's jewish they gave him the responsibility. He was actually given the roman responsibility To appoint the jewish high priest every year, which was offensive to the jews And secondly, he was also in charge of all their vestments He kept the clothes that they wore on the day of atonement Their infiltration is everywhere. <br /><br /> He actually was a pretty good man. Probably the best of the of the But you have Roman leaders that don't know anything about Judaism. Nationalism in Israel is at an absolute fevered pitch. National terrorist movement is increasing in influence among the zealots. There's chaos, confusion that everyone can sense. <br /><br /> And it's only getting more rancorous and volatile by the volatile by the moment. The church felt. Confusion. They felt it with the Jews and their Gentile issue. We've seen that already. And again, I'm just trying to summarize these chapters. The Jews, you remember when Paul arrived in Judea after his missionary journeys? <br /><br /> You remember what they did? James, the head of the church, who is Jesus half physical brother, he came with all the elders from the church and they met Paul right at the port city. Before he even, it's like he got off the boat and, Ha! Paul, we've been waiting for you. They met with him, and they said, Paul, you got to keep a low profile. <br /><br /> And you know you're not good at this, but you need to keep a lid on it. Things are so volatile for us. <br /><br /> Because you're out there taking the gospel to the Gentiles, to the goyim, to the heathen. The very people that our nation is feeling are, are, are disdaining us and dishonoring us. In these Roman leaders and these Roman soldiers in our cities. The zealots are active. The religious leaders are hostile. And you're the one now that is champing what we believe in. <br /><br /> Embracing gentiles into, into, into our faith. Into allowing them to enjoy Jesus as their messiah too. Man, you gotta, you gotta keep it cool. And Paul to his credit did. It still didn't help. They still rioted. And they still tried to kill him. The Jew and gentile thing is big for the church. Their own struggle with the godless government as Christians was big. <br /><br /> The Romans did not understand the difference between Jews and Jews of the way. Those that embrace Jesus as their Messiah. They were all lunged together and undoubtedly Christian Jews were politically charged as well. They hated the Romans. They hated, they wanted their homeland back. So Paul wrote to the churches in his two letters, his two major big general letters, the book of Ephesians and the book of Romans that were designed to be passed along to other churches And in those letters, in both of them, he talks about the political issue. <br /><br /> In Ephesus, he says, I want to remind you guys, your citizenship is not of this world, you're members of Jesus kingdom. The other thing he does, in Romans, is said, this is how you respond to, to governing leaders. Basically, the church is in the center of the storm. Paul is in the very eye of the storm. They're in Caesarea. <br /><br /> Where the main Roman troops were where the governor of Judah had his headquarters and in the midst of the storm of national cultural confusion and chaos Where did Paul? Anchor his thinking and living and I want to highlight. I'm just gonna hit two of them two quick things Number one where Paul placed his anchor was in the power of God it's striking if you look at our our passage this morning that we read in Acts chapter 25 as festus He says, and we don't hear his interview of Paul, all that he said, but he summarizes it. <br /><br /> And this was his takeaway. Basically, um, the Jews had certain points of dispute. This is Acts 25, 19 with Paul about their own religion. And about a certain Jesus, who is dead, but whom Paul asserted to be alive. This was his takeaway. He said, I don't know much about this guy at all. I, I certainly, I don't even know who this Jesus is. <br /><br /> But Paul's whole thing is about this man Jesus, who everybody testifies, nobody disagrees. He was dead, dead, dead, dead, dead. He's dead and Paul he just he said he's alive. So that's the whole thing I mean, how do I write the Caesar about this? I got this guy that thinks a guy came back from the dead So I'm sending him to you because I couldn't resolve the issue. <br /><br /> So he said what do I do with this thing? What we see again is the the centrality to Paul about the resurrection of Christ to Paul two things Were true about the resurrection of Jesus Number one, the resurrection was the center of everything he believed. The second thing is, the resurrection is always the evidence of God's power in the believer's life. <br /><br /> He writes this all the time, but in Acts 24, 21, when he's talking to Felix, the first governor, here's what he said. Basically, I was purified when I went into the temple. I didn't take Gentiles in. I didn't speak against the laws of the practices. There were none of those things. Basically, what, what, what is the issue here is, and he says the one thing was that I said that Jesus Christ is rise, risen from the dead. <br /><br /> He said that is my message. That is what I believe. That's what I have built my entire life on. In Acts 26 verse 23, he's going to be speaking to Festus and to Agrippa. And he's going to make this statement, Jesus Christ being the first to rise from the dead. And Festus interrupts him and he says, Paul, you're insane. <br /><br /> He says, much learning has made you insane. And he just keeps going on. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. In Ephesians 19, Paul says this, I'm praying that you Christians will know this. Excuse me, Ephesians 1. 19. He has two prayers. It's the first one. I want you. I'm praying that you will know this. What is the immeasurable greatness of his power towards us who believe according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead. <br /><br /> Paul says, I want you to have a big God. I want you to have a vision of the God that raised Christ in the dead. Now we 20 century centuries later, we'll say, well, You know? Yeah, I, I get it. I mean, of course I believe Jesus rose in the dead. That's why, I mean, I believe I'm serving a living Christ, but these guys are actually living among a generation of people that saw and knew of the death of Christ. <br /><br /> And he says there is nothing more astounding than the fact that. Jesus Christ rose from the dead victorious over death and the same power that was expressed in him rising from the dead is now lived out in our lives. He said, I'm leaning into this God. I'm leaning into a God that is big. Whose power was exemplified in such a way is what fills my heart is what fills my mind The biggest things christians need today in a day of confusion and and media Terror and bad news bad news. <br /><br /> You need a bigger god You need a god that's big enough to trust a god. That's sovereign a god. That's mighty a god. That's omnipotent It has all power. Paul had that God. And in the midst of utter confusion and chaos on every side, he stood in the midst of, here's the, here's the Jews on one side, and in six years they are going to be leading, they are going to be part of a rebellion that is going to stand against Rome, that is going to actually destroy their nation. <br /><br /> And on the other side, he's standing with people. that represent that very power of Rome at the highest levels in this part of the world. And he said, You know what? I don't see how any of this is gonna work out. I don't see how we're gonna work this through. I don't see how this, it just seems totally chaotic, totally terrifying. <br /><br /> But he said, I got, I got a big God. I got a God I can lean into, I can trust in. It's a season for Him, for us, to embrace the bigness of God. The second thing, Paul put his trust in God's promises. In Acts 23 verse 11, while Paul was in the Jerusalem jail, and is just about to find out from his nephew, that there are 40 assassins out there that are are vowed they'll never eat again until this guy has been killed. <br /><br /> In Acts 23 11, God comes to Paul and says this. The following night, the Lord stood by Paul and said, Take courage for as you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem, so you must testify also in Rome. Paul said, I don't I don't know how it's gonna work out. Little did he know it would come to a place where he realized I don't I don't have any. <br /><br /> There's no safety. among, in Jerusalem for me. I can't trust the authorities. I can't trust the leadership. I can't trust judicious decisions. So I'm appealing to Rome. Little did he know that his own desperation would be the very means that God would be of fulfilling his promise to him to send him to Rome. <br /><br /> He didn't expect he'd be going as a prisoner. He thought he'd be going as a, as a church planning champion. But he had the promise that God had plans for him and purposes for him. The promises of God are given to us to be our hope in the beautiful story. Pilgrim's progress. Pilgrim and hopeful are in prison. <br /><br /> His name is Christa. Actually, he was the pilgrim. They were in doubting Castle. This giant despair has brought him in. He beats him. He's continually beat him, and he's made it clear that the next morning he's gonna kill them and they're lying. They're bloody bruised. And, uh, they're pretty down. It's called Doubting Castle, and he's called Giant Despair for a reason, in the allegory of Pilgrim's Progress. <br /><br /> And as he's there, all of a sudden, Christian remembers that in his pocket, he has this key that had been given to him, and it's called the key of promise. And he said, I forgot. I have the promise. I have the key that opens the doors. And so he began, he says, I'll bet this will open the door. So one door after another, a prison of the castle is open until they get to the creaky main gate. <br /><br /> And again, they're able to get out. And the picture that Bunyan is drawing is, It is always the promises of God that is our way out of despondency and despair. It is leaning into what God has promised to be true. Filling our minds with scripture. Filling our minds with the promises that He has given to us. <br /><br /> And is willing to give to you today, if you take the time to listen. Paul leaned into those promises. He trusted in that power. And he was a center, in the center of the storm. He was anchored. We can be too. It is not any more volatile in your life than it was for Paul's. Right now, at this moment in history. <br /><br /> Volatile season. But Christians stand tall and strong to the power of God and the promises of God. Lord, thank you for being that and doing that in our lives. Thank you even for the glimpse of history, to just put ourselves in a situation that, no matter what's going on in our lives, there are historic visuals in scripture, that you have been the God who regularly, consistently, beautiful, delivers your people to your own glory. <br /><br /> Lord, let us lean into that reality today, I pray, in Jesus name.</div> false no <![CDATA[Youth Sunday and the Lord's Supper]]> Luke 22:7-20

And he said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.  For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God.”



Sermon Transcript:

Well, good morning. My name is Justin and I was one of the youth interns here this summer at fellowship.

And, um, we had an incredible summer. Uh, God worked in a ton of incredible ways. And, um, we want to give you guys the chance to hear from some of them through our announcement team and our worship team. Um, and in just a few moments, there are going to be a couple of students who came on a couple of our trips, either our Danville missions trip, our Congressman week, or our Panther missions trip.

And they're just going to tell you. Just a little bit about, um, what they've done and how God works. So would you join me in welcoming Ben up here?

Good morning. My name is Ben Schell, and I'm in the ninth grade at the King's Christian school. Over this past summer I was part of the 2023 missions trip to Danville, Virginia. This trip was for sixth, seventh, and eighth graders. Partnering with an organization called Sun Servants, we worked at God's Pit Crew, a non profit disaster relief organization.

Here we swept him off the warehouse so that the volunteers could pack blessing buckets for disasters to come. We also tore up old flooring and repainted the warehouse walls. Along with working at God's Pit Crew, we also ran a vacation Bible school at the local Salvation Army. We sang songs, performed skits, and made crafts to teach the kids about Jesus.

Then on the last day, we split into two groups. One going to a Salvation Army thrift store to help sort items, and the other group went to a local homeless shelter, where we put together a room and cleaned up debris. At night, every day, we would have what we call family time, where we'd all gather around and Ryan or Jared would ask us discussion questions.

The first family time, we were asked why we came on the mission's trip. After a little while, someone would answer the question, and then we'd kind of just wait until someone else was brave enough to answer. After all, we didn't really know most of each other, so why would we just answer the question in front of people we hardly knew?

But by the end of the week, you could see how much God had changed our friendships. He had united a couple of middle schoolers into an amazing family. During this week, God had created new friendships that are sure to last. Now back to that first family type of question. Some of the answers varied from, it sounded fun, or I went last time, and I was invited by a friend.

But I can guarantee you that next year, our answers would definitely sound a little different. I think they would sound like, I made great friends last time, or I really saw God working when I went last year. Alright, as I said before, we worked with a group called Sun Servants, and their theme verse is John 12, 26.

Whoever serves me will follow me, and where I am, my servant will be. The Father will honor the one who serves me, which they shortened into, to love is to serve. Just like how they, how it says in Mark 10, 45, Even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and give his life as a ransom for many.

During the mission trip, I was able to see God and people who serve with so much love and joy, sacrificing their time and money to serve God with others with no intention of serving themselves. As to, as love, to love is to put someone else's joy before your own, serving is a way that we can show our love to one another.

One thing I realized is that we don't need to paint walls and tear up floors in order to serve. But we can serve in other ways, from holding the door to picking up trash. During this trip, I was really able to see God work in many amazing and magnificent ways. He made friends and memories that will remain in our hearts for as long as we live.

Thank you so much. I hope you have a wonderful day.

Hello everyone.

My name is Genevieve Ankar. I'm a sophomore at Haddon Heights High School. I go to the Collingswood Campus and the youth group here in Mount Laurel. I went on most of the summer ministries they offered this summer. One of the summer ministries I went on was Collingswood Week VBS with Leader Up. Leader Up is a Christian ministry supported by our church.

They are committed to developing leaders from the area near our Collingswood campus. Each camp day started with breakfast with the campers, a four class rotation including Bible class taught by our high school team, lunch, and a closing program. Kongswood Week was such an amazing experience for me. It grew me so much closer with the Lord, and how much his presence changed my life.

If I'm being honest, I was very nervous going into the week, because I was going to be doing things that got me really out of my comfort zone. But with the love of the teens and leaders and God, I was able to have a great time teaching the kids Bible stories, memory verses, and great songs. Even having to practice over and over again in front of the leaders until we got it right was so worth it.

The kids were awesome and so fun to teach. Their energy to learn every day about the Bible and Jesus just made it so much more enjoyable. One of my favorite parts of the week was having the nightly sermons where we all got together and worshipped the Lord and just connected. The friendships I made that week will always be so special to me, as well as the memories.

I will remember Collinswood Week forever, and I'm definitely going back next year. Thank you.

Hey everyone. My name is Tyler Stewart. I am in 11th grade, so junior year, and I go to the King's Christian School. The trip that I went on that I'm going to give my testimony about is the Panther trip to West Virginia. The place where we stayed at was like an old school, and I thought it was like the coolest thing ever.

It was like an abandoned school, except it wasn't abandoned anymore because we were staying in it, and I think the church there owns it now. I remember walking in and instantly thought of, like, the boxcar children. I felt like this childlike sense of wonder. I kind of felt like this was going to be a really cool adventure.

And while I was walking in, I heard multiple people saying things like, I'm home, I'm back, finally back. I loved every second of the trip. When we arrived, we were split into different work groups, mixing with the other churches. That also came. I think it was two other churches, but the FCC group was, uh, the largest.

The groups we were split into, we were given tied wristbands corresponding to the color group we were. I was blue, and our blue, and our blue group, we ended up calling ourselves Blue Tacoma. So we'd go to our work sites and build anything from decks to house foundations to carports. And many of us were able to interact and build relationships with the owners of whoever's house or property we were working on.

It's a lot slower out there compared to life, uh, we live here in New Jersey, and I really liked it. And God was there with us. I felt like I was with Jesus, like I was eating with Jesus, serving with Jesus, playing games with Jesus, and sleeping with Jesus. But it wasn't like a big spiritual high, like I was actually having a spiritual low that week which had started the week before.

It felt like even though I was feeling kind of down and anti social, like Jesus was still there with me. And Jesus didn't let me in my weakness get in the way of forming bonds with new people. He used it so I would have to rely on him through his people. When we were eating dinner and laughing and joking around at the table felt like he was right there eating and joking around with us.

When me and the FCC dudes were upstairs rolling dice felt like he was right there with us.

It kind of felt like church.

Being there really showed me how much I love being with and being one of God's people. I love serving and living with my brothers and sisters. And the servant aspect made such a big difference, I think, because we were there to serve with intentions of something bigger than ourselves. The Kingdom of God.

We were there to serve our Lord and Savior Jesus by serving others. The main theme verse of Panther was John 12, 26. Um, Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there my servant will also be. My Father will honor the one who serves me. And we sang a song of that every night. The song reminded me that to love is to serve.

It was, uh, the chorus part of it. I made a lot of memories at Panther. Too many to keep in my head all at once. When I was writing this, they all started coming back to me. I don't think I can think of one memory that doesn't have Jesus in it in some way, shape, or form. I really got to see Jesus demonstrate himself in his people.

And that was amazing. Thank you.

All right. Give it up for the youth, man.

I don't know about you, but it is, uh, it's hard to get up here and talk. Just imagine doing that as a teenager. So really proud of everyone from the Announcements crew to everyone, um, able to help out. Does anyone hear that cricket? Yeah. Okay. He's worshiping too. Don't worry. All Oh my gosh, there's a spider on the stage.

Did you guys not see that? Oh my gosh. Okay. Oh, good morning. Uh, my name is Jared Hacking. I happen to be the youth pastor here at SEC, and I love being a part of this Sunday and be able to give you guys kind of just a window of what the youth experience this summer and how they're able to serve him. So thank you so much for sticking with us and, uh, listening attentively as well.

We're going to be reading from Luke chapter 22, uh, this morning. We'll be starting in verse 7, looking at, um, one of the recordings of the Last Supper. The disciples, um, celebrating the Passover meal with Jesus.

Luke chapter 22, um, starting in verse 7, it says this, Then came the day of unleavened bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, Go, and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat it. They said to him, Where will you have us prepare it? He said to them, Behold, when you have entered the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you.

Follow him into the house that he enters, and tell the master of the house, the teacher says to you, Where is the guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples? And He will show you a large upper room, furnished, prepare it there. And they went out and found it, just as He had told them, and they prepared the Passover.

And when the hour came, He reclined at table, and the apostles with Him, and He said to them, I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God. And He took a cup, and when He had given thanks, He said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves.

For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes. And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. And likewise the cup, after they had eaten, saying, This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.

Let's pray this morning.

Lord, thank you so much for who you are. Thank you so much, God, that you have invited us to a meal with you. God, as you invited your disciples into having a meal. God, thank you so much for the, um, many youth, um, who made this summer possible and, and are participating, um, this Sunday, and, and even the ones that, um, participate in are, aren't here.

Lord, thank you so much for their hearts of service, God. I pray that you would use these moments, these trips, God, as a seed that would grow, um, into, um, many, uh, much fruit, Lord, for your kingdom, that they would learn to trust you more, depend on you more, and have a greater faith in you, God. And I pray, God, that even, um, us, uh, sitting here in these seats today, God, would be impacted by these youth, Lord.

Um, your word clearly says, don't let anyone look down on you. Because you're young God there is your spirit does not look at age God, but he looks at willingness Submission and humility God and and even your word says that we might be like little children for you All right. So I just thank you so much.

I pray that your spirit work in and around us This morning and that you let your words speak volumes God. We pray all this in Jesus name Amen. I'm going to be, uh, looking at this passage today and, um, I want to first look back and I just realized that I literally did not print off a passage of mine.

Nope, here it is. Okay, we're good. We're good. I thought I was going to have this freestyle. I want to look at this passage this morning and before we really enter into the passage, I just want to look at, because I think we run to the communion table so often and we just want to celebrate communion. And these disciples, um, we understand that they weren't celebrating communion.

They were celebrating Passover, right? They were celebrating the Passover meal. And I just want a flashback of what that Passover meal, uh, represented and what it symbolized. And we have to understand that, um, this celebration was different than what we were celebrating today. Um, but it was a time of remembrance for the people of Israel.

It was a time to look back and see where they had come from. Um, many of you might already know this story. Some of you might need to be reminded. But I think it's so important that we'd look back and see what actually these disciples and, um, the Jewish people of that day were really looking back. Um, and still to this day what Jewish people are looking back for.

Um, Israel is not even a nation, right? If you flash back to the book of Exodus, they were not a nation. They were just a group of people enslaved by the Egyptians, right? They were under this harsh rule of Pharaoh. They were mistreated, um, beaten under this, um, terrible yoke of slavery. If you remember, um, God sent plagues on the Egyptian, multiple plagues, terrible plagues, like locusts and frogs and turning the water into blood and all these things.

But one of the worst possible plagues. The last plague was the plague of the firstborn son, right? And Moses did what he continued to do. He marched up and he told Pharaoh, you know, if you don't do this, if you don't let the people go, the Lord is going to take each and every firstborn son from this place here.

And you'll hear, um, a cry come out of Egypt for this, but he said, but he told his people, the Israelites, he said, to be saved from this. You're going to take a, uh, unblemished lamb and you're going to sacrifice this lamb for me. And you're going to take the blood of that lamb and you're going to wipe it all over the doorpost, right?

All over the doorpost. And when God comes through and he, um, as he comes through, the angel of death comes through, he will pass over these houses that have had the blood smeared all over the posts because Jesus saw and God saw. the sacrifice that was made, um, the sacrifice. And that's where they get the name of Passover, because God's spirit passed.

over them. And every part of this Passover meal was symbolic. So the bread that they ate reminded them of the bread that the Israelites ate back in Egypt and the hardship that they endured. There were bitter herbs that they served that reminded them the bitterness of the yoke of slavery. There was salt water actually on the table that reminded them.

them of their people's tears and hardship they endured. The main course of the meal was symbolic. It was the lamb. They would eat this sacrificed lamb. Each family would do it. They gave instructions and if you had too small of a family that a lamb was going to be too big, you'd actually go to your neighbor's house and come together in the Passover meal, sharing this together.

Each and everything, a part of this Passover meal, was symbolic. It was a, it was a, uh, a moment to remember where the Israelites had come from. Where they, where God had taken them out of Egypt, out of slavery, turning them into a nation. And it was commanded, each and every year, you'll practice this. Each and every year, you'll sit down with your families and have this Passover meal.

So this is where we pick up in this passage with the disciples, that this is what they're preparing. This is, everybody was here. A lot of people made the journey into Jerusalem to make this happen. And we get to this portion of scripture and, um, Jesus is telling his disciples to go make preparations.

He's kind of gives them this random, uh, command, go find this man. He's going to be carrying water. He, say, go find the room that was prepared for him. And the disciples are like, the disciples have been with Jesus for so long that they're like, yeah, we're, we're going to find the man. There's no doubts now.

We'll just find him and I'm sure there will be a room prepared for us. So they go out and they go like they're going to have an ordinary Passover meal, right? They go in and they sit down and Jesus reclines and he just says this beautiful statement. He says, I've been so desirous to have this meal with you today.

I've been looking forward to this before I suffer that I might sit down. Now, Jesus flips the script here. He doesn't follow any of the rituals. He literally takes the bread and he's supposed to say something completely different. And he says, this is my body that was broken for you. And then he takes the cup and he's supposed to say something completely different.

It's recognized, recognizing and representing something completely different. He says, this is my blood of the new covenant. I mean, these disciples. Just must be so confused. Like, they're like, no, Jesus, I thought you were a Jew. Like, I thought you knew, like, the rituals. Like, what's going on here? They must have been so confused, um, and just kind of discombobulated of what was going on.

Imagine they felt, um, how I felt yesterday. I went to my first Phillies game. I know that's surprising. Go Phils, right? Woo. Red October or something like that. Um, I'm not a baseball fan. Um, I like live and breathe soccer. That's what I played growing up. I never played baseball. I tried it one time. I had a neighbor that was really into baseball and we had a catch.

We were throwing it back and forth, and like, long story short, the baseball hit me in the face. I'm like, this isn't fun. This ball is really hard, and it's hard to catch. The soccer ball is way big, easier to dodge. I can see it coming, and it's softer. It's not hard. What do they make these things out of? So I went to my first Phillies game with a couple of my buddies to celebrate a birthday, and I had no idea what I was doing.

I thought, like, since I understand soccer and some sports, like, I thought I could just, like, jump in and, like, just understand it. They're, it's super confusing. I couldn't even find the score at first. I'm like, what are all these numbers? What's our, like, all the guys next to me that you can ask, I'm like, I'm like, oh, what's our pitcher's name again?

What's this guy? What color are we wearing? And I'm just shouting generic phrases out like, catch the ball! Yeah, hit it! Smack it! Hit a dinger. I've heard that someone say that before like I'm just throwing things out because I have no idea what I'm doing I expected that it was gonna be pretty easy to pick up and I didn't even understand how innings work I'm like they switch do they switch every other inning like this We're taking a break now and we're singing a song.

This is so strange. Like, soccer is so much simpler. There's 45 minutes. If the ball goes out a lot, they add some minutes to that. Then there's a commercial break. And then there's another 45 minutes. That's it. Alright, you clearly see when people score. There's people hitting it. There's a whole, like, foul ball thing.

And, like, it's very confusing. Right? And I just, like, imagine that these disciples Thought they were going into something they could understand, thought they were like, going into a thing that was familiar to them. And they're, they're waiting for the phrases, right? And the liturgy to start happening, and, and, and the correct phrases.

And Jesus is saying something completely different, and they must have been confused, right? You have to get in the minds of the disciples here. They didn't believe Jesus was actually gonna die.

They thought their Messiah was going to come and conquer, right? They're just waiting. They're like, this is, this is going to be the moment right after Passover. And he's saying, I'm so glad to have this meal with you before I suffer. They're like, suffer? I didn't know that was part of the plan. Jesus, when I signed up, when I, when I joined, you just gave us a lot of fish.

And it was like, cool. It was like free candy. Hop on the boat. Like, we're good. This wasn't a part of the plan for them. And now he's breaking bread with them. And he's saying, this is my body that's broken for you. And this is the blood of the new covenant. I mean, what's happening at this meal? They thought they were coming to an ordinary Passover meal.

And what's happening in this meal is monumental. Jesus has flipped the script on Passover. He's saying, this bread, this is a symbol of what's going to happen to me. I'm going to be broken. I'm going to be beaten. And I'm going to do it for you. And this glass of wine, this red glass of wine, this represents my blood for you.

It's going to be poured out for you. And this blood is the sign of the new covenant. I don't think the disciples were ready to hear that. Although the Jews knew that there was going to be a new covenant to come. It was prophesied all throughout all the Old Testament that there was going to be a new covenant.

But here, in this Passover meal, Jesus says, There's a new covenant, and it's in my blood. It'll be sealed in my blood. This was a monumental moment for the disciples and Jesus. They're celebrating the Passover land. The passage said this was the day that the Passover land would be sacrificed. And you know what Jesus is saying here?

I, I'm the lamb. I'm the sacrificial lamb that's going to be sacrificed. I'm going to go suffer. I'm, my body's going to be broken. My blood is going to be poured out. I'm sealing the new covenant. I am the Passover lamb. I'm the perfect sacrifice. The one and done. All. All for one complete eternal sacrifice covering over all of our sins.

Right before this, the Israelites would continually make sacrifices as part of their daily rituals. As part of their cleansing rituals. To cleanse themselves and ask for forgiveness. What Jesus is saying here is no, there's a new covenant coming. And it's going to be in my blood. And it's going to be poured out for the forgiveness of all people.

The Father's wrath has passed over you, and it's being poured out on me, on our Savior. Jesus is telling His disciples that He's going to suffer, and He's going to die, and He's willing to do it for them. And He's willing, and He was willing to do it for you. Like I said, this was prophesied long ago and was highly...

Anticipate it by the Jews. There's a passage in Jeremiah 31, um, that I want to read to you. Jeremiah 31, um, starting in verse 31, says this, Behold, the days are coming. This is hundreds of years before, right? The days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.

Not like the covenant that I made with their fathers. On the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. That's what they were celebrating. That's what they were remembering when they, when, when God brought them out of the land of Egypt. He said, That covenant they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord.

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel. After those days, declares the Lord, I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor, and each his brother say, Know the Lord, for they shall all know me.

From the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sins no more. This is the covenant Jesus was talking about. I bet you that the disciples had no idea that they were going to sit down in this meal, and Jesus was going to say, This is the new covenant.

It's in me. It's in my blood, and it's for everyone, from the least of you to the greatest, and it will cover all sins. My forgiveness will be on, and not only will I have a law, right, but I'm going to write that law on your hearts and on your minds, right? A couple of chapters later, he's going to promise that he's going to pour out his spirit on his disciples, that we would know without a doubt the Spirit's work in our life, the law written on our hearts and mind.

He said that old covenant, your father's broke. Time and time and time again, but this new covenant, it's for you, and there will be forgiveness for your sins. I will remember your sins no more. I will pass over your sins. And what Jesus is saying is, someone's got to take the punishment. Someone has to make the sacrifice for this new covenant, and although the responsibility is on us, although the sin issue is within us, Jesus said, No, my body will be broken.

My blood will be poured out. I'm doing this for you. This, this is the new covenant Jesus is talking about. This is the covenant in his blood. This is what it meant to the disciples. They're sitting in this Passover meal thinking, Did he just say, did he just say new covenant? What? Did you hear that? This is what he was doing.

Then we come to us today, right? We know what it meant to the Israelites back and what they were remembering that Passover meal. We now understand what the disciples were feeling and what it meant to them, how monumental it was. And then we come today about the Lord's Supper and Communion. And what does it mean to us?

Because we know Jesus has died and resurrected, right? We are living in that new covenant today. I don't know if you knew that or not. Spoiler alert. We're in the new covenant, right? So why should we do this? Why should we practice the Lord's Supper? Why should we come here every couple months or so and take communion?

Well, one, Jesus said to do it. He said, do this. Do this in remembrance of me. Do this. And Paul actually follows up with a command in 1 Corinthians chapter 11, verse 23. He says this, For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night when he was betrayed, took bread.

And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of Me. In the same way, He also took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in My blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of Me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes.

Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself then. And so eat of the bread and drink of the cup, for anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.

Paul's literally saying, I've, I've heard this delivered from the Lord. Now I'm giving it to you. He said, do this in remembrance of me and Paul gives it a little and he says, proclaim the Lord's death until he comes, right? So we are to do this until the Lord comes again. We are to practice this. We are to remember his death, remember his sacrifice.

It's our opportunity to remember what Jesus did for us, what he sacrificed. His body broken, his blood spilled. I don't know about you, but how often do you take out of your work day or your school day or your home life and say, you know what? I'm going to be intentional and I'm going to think about Jesus death and sacrifice for me.

Maybe you do that often and like hats off to you. That's awesome. But I know that. Jesus knew that we were going to need to remember this, to sit in this, to think about it often. It's also our opportunity to examine ourselves, not to flippantly practice communion. All right, Paul makes this clear, um, with a warning, uh, the Corinthians he was writing to were casually approaching communion.

If you flash back a couple verses before, like people were showing up to communion drunk, people were showing up to communion like two fools, so they didn't want to participate in communion. People were doing it like by themselves and Paul's like, guys, what are you doing? Right? He was correcting them. He said, don't do this casually.

Right? Jesus commanded us, don't do this in an unworthy manner. But do it in a worthy manner, right? And sometimes when we hear that, Oh, don't do it in an unworthy manner, it makes us not want to participate, makes us not want to partake. But Paul's saying, Don't do it in an unworthy manner. Examine yourselves, so then you can practice this, so that you can examine this, so that you can remember the Lord's death.

It presents us, communion presents us with an opportunity for confession. And repentance, and gives us the chance to embrace forgiveness and grace. This, that is why Jesus died. He said, my blood will be spilled for the forgiveness of your sin. So we're not asking you, and Paul's not asking you to come to the communion table and perfection.

What he's saying is don't come casually and flippantly. What he's saying is examine yourself. Ask God, Lord is there anything I need to repent of? If there's anything, is there a way? I spoke to my wife this past week. Is there a way I spoke to my parents, or my brother, or sister, or how I acted in school this week that I need to think on and bring before the Lord and say, Lord, that wasn't of you, and I'll confess that to you.

I want to examine myself so that I might come before you. This process is a process of embracing forgiveness and grace that is freely offered. So what he's saying is, unworthy man, just, just don't come flippant. Don't come casually to the altar of God. God doesn't, um, require perfection of us. What He requires is an open heart before Him.

To lay it before Him. Lord, this is where I'm at. And if you're here today and you've never trusted Jesus, and you don't have a relationship with Jesus, it's okay. Don't feel any pressure to partake in this. This really isn't for you. It's kind of hard to remember and think on something you don't believe in.

Right? But I do ask that you maybe just start that stirring. And say, man, I may have gotten dragged here this morning by a co worker or a family member, but is this real? Is this really happening? So we're going to practice this together and I'm just going to give us some time, um, of just silent prayer.

Because I think like when we start handing out the communion, I try to start praying and exam myself. And then I'm like, is the basket coming? Is the basket coming? And I'm ADD, so I like legit cannot focus if the basket is moving. So we're not going to pass the basket yet. We're just gonna have a time of prayer.

Go before the Lord, right? Confess if you need to confess and just think and examine and think on his sacrifice. Think of his body broken for you. Think of his blood poured out for you. And then we're gonna pray and then after we pray I'm gonna ask some of the youth to come out and hand out things, but let's just go before the Lord.

Lord,

we come before you this morning. God, we ask that you'd examine us, Lord. The psalmist said, Lord, see if there's any hidden way in my heart. God, I just thank you so much for your perfect sacrifice. Lord, the new covenant in your blood that gives us the forgiveness of our sins. Lord, there's nothing we can work or do or accomplish.

God, it's really what your son's already accomplished for us. Lord, I'm so grateful. God, that you're willing to send your son to allow his body to be broken, to allow his blood to be spilled, God, thank you for loving us that much, God, and I pray that this, this idea and this, this remembrance of your sacrifice, God, would be in the forefront of our minds, God, as we go to our work weeks or school, that we would remember your sacrifice and that it would actually stir us up that we'd live sacrificially.

That we'd receive the love you freely give, God, and that we'd love the rest, all the people around us with that perfect love. Our family, our friends, our neighbors, God, even our co workers,

God, I pray that you just stir up whatever you need to stir up this morning, God, through your spirit that you'd convict, Lord, and that there'd, uh, be confession after this service, God, and that there'd be, um, people running up to one another apologizing for past sins, Lord, God, and that you'd open up our hearts that we'd receive.

Your love, your grace, and your forgiveness for us, God. Thank you so much for your perfect sacrifice, Lord. We thank you for the blood that was spilled that we are covered in now, Lord. We pray all this in Jesus name. Amen. I ask the youth to come forward and distribute the elements.

Jesus said, this is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me and

took the cup and same when he said, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/youth-sunday-and-the-lords-supper 02ff823c-506c-4c2c-9a05-e4e2bce8c32b Sun, 24 Sep 2023 08:52:16 GMT <div data-html="true">Luke 22:7-20 <br /><br /> And he said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.  For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God.” <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> Well, good morning. My name is Justin and I was one of the youth interns here this summer at fellowship. <br /><br /> And, um, we had an incredible summer. Uh, God worked in a ton of incredible ways. And, um, we want to give you guys the chance to hear from some of them through our announcement team and our worship team. Um, and in just a few moments, there are going to be a couple of students who came on a couple of our trips, either our Danville missions trip, our Congressman week, or our Panther missions trip. <br /><br /> And they're just going to tell you. Just a little bit about, um, what they've done and how God works. So would you join me in welcoming Ben up here? <br /><br /> Good morning. My name is Ben Schell, and I'm in the ninth grade at the King's Christian school. Over this past summer I was part of the 2023 missions trip to Danville, Virginia. This trip was for sixth, seventh, and eighth graders. Partnering with an organization called Sun Servants, we worked at God's Pit Crew, a non profit disaster relief organization. <br /><br /> Here we swept him off the warehouse so that the volunteers could pack blessing buckets for disasters to come. We also tore up old flooring and repainted the warehouse walls. Along with working at God's Pit Crew, we also ran a vacation Bible school at the local Salvation Army. We sang songs, performed skits, and made crafts to teach the kids about Jesus. <br /><br /> Then on the last day, we split into two groups. One going to a Salvation Army thrift store to help sort items, and the other group went to a local homeless shelter, where we put together a room and cleaned up debris. At night, every day, we would have what we call family time, where we'd all gather around and Ryan or Jared would ask us discussion questions. <br /><br /> The first family time, we were asked why we came on the mission's trip. After a little while, someone would answer the question, and then we'd kind of just wait until someone else was brave enough to answer. After all, we didn't really know most of each other, so why would we just answer the question in front of people we hardly knew? <br /><br /> But by the end of the week, you could see how much God had changed our friendships. He had united a couple of middle schoolers into an amazing family. During this week, God had created new friendships that are sure to last. Now back to that first family type of question. Some of the answers varied from, it sounded fun, or I went last time, and I was invited by a friend. <br /><br /> But I can guarantee you that next year, our answers would definitely sound a little different. I think they would sound like, I made great friends last time, or I really saw God working when I went last year. Alright, as I said before, we worked with a group called Sun Servants, and their theme verse is John 12, 26. <br /><br /> Whoever serves me will follow me, and where I am, my servant will be. The Father will honor the one who serves me, which they shortened into, to love is to serve. Just like how they, how it says in Mark 10, 45, Even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and give his life as a ransom for many. <br /><br /> During the mission trip, I was able to see God and people who serve with so much love and joy, sacrificing their time and money to serve God with others with no intention of serving themselves. As to, as love, to love is to put someone else's joy before your own, serving is a way that we can show our love to one another. <br /><br /> One thing I realized is that we don't need to paint walls and tear up floors in order to serve. But we can serve in other ways, from holding the door to picking up trash. During this trip, I was really able to see God work in many amazing and magnificent ways. He made friends and memories that will remain in our hearts for as long as we live. <br /><br /> Thank you so much. I hope you have a wonderful day. <br /><br /> Hello everyone. <br /><br /> My name is Genevieve Ankar. I'm a sophomore at Haddon Heights High School. I go to the Collingswood Campus and the youth group here in Mount Laurel. I went on most of the summer ministries they offered this summer. One of the summer ministries I went on was Collingswood Week VBS with Leader Up. Leader Up is a Christian ministry supported by our church. <br /><br /> They are committed to developing leaders from the area near our Collingswood campus. Each camp day started with breakfast with the campers, a four class rotation including Bible class taught by our high school team, lunch, and a closing program. Kongswood Week was such an amazing experience for me. It grew me so much closer with the Lord, and how much his presence changed my life. <br /><br /> If I'm being honest, I was very nervous going into the week, because I was going to be doing things that got me really out of my comfort zone. But with the love of the teens and leaders and God, I was able to have a great time teaching the kids Bible stories, memory verses, and great songs. Even having to practice over and over again in front of the leaders until we got it right was so worth it. <br /><br /> The kids were awesome and so fun to teach. Their energy to learn every day about the Bible and Jesus just made it so much more enjoyable. One of my favorite parts of the week was having the nightly sermons where we all got together and worshipped the Lord and just connected. The friendships I made that week will always be so special to me, as well as the memories. <br /><br /> I will remember Collinswood Week forever, and I'm definitely going back next year. Thank you. <br /><br /> Hey everyone. My name is Tyler Stewart. I am in 11th grade, so junior year, and I go to the King's Christian School. The trip that I went on that I'm going to give my testimony about is the Panther trip to West Virginia. The place where we stayed at was like an old school, and I thought it was like the coolest thing ever. <br /><br /> It was like an abandoned school, except it wasn't abandoned anymore because we were staying in it, and I think the church there owns it now. I remember walking in and instantly thought of, like, the boxcar children. I felt like this childlike sense of wonder. I kind of felt like this was going to be a really cool adventure. <br /><br /> And while I was walking in, I heard multiple people saying things like, I'm home, I'm back, finally back. I loved every second of the trip. When we arrived, we were split into different work groups, mixing with the other churches. That also came. I think it was two other churches, but the FCC group was, uh, the largest. <br /><br /> The groups we were split into, we were given tied wristbands corresponding to the color group we were. I was blue, and our blue, and our blue group, we ended up calling ourselves Blue Tacoma. So we'd go to our work sites and build anything from decks to house foundations to carports. And many of us were able to interact and build relationships with the owners of whoever's house or property we were working on. <br /><br /> It's a lot slower out there compared to life, uh, we live here in New Jersey, and I really liked it. And God was there with us. I felt like I was with Jesus, like I was eating with Jesus, serving with Jesus, playing games with Jesus, and sleeping with Jesus. But it wasn't like a big spiritual high, like I was actually having a spiritual low that week which had started the week before. <br /><br /> It felt like even though I was feeling kind of down and anti social, like Jesus was still there with me. And Jesus didn't let me in my weakness get in the way of forming bonds with new people. He used it so I would have to rely on him through his people. When we were eating dinner and laughing and joking around at the table felt like he was right there eating and joking around with us. <br /><br /> When me and the FCC dudes were upstairs rolling dice felt like he was right there with us. <br /><br /> It kind of felt like church. <br /><br /> Being there really showed me how much I love being with and being one of God's people. I love serving and living with my brothers and sisters. And the servant aspect made such a big difference, I think, because we were there to serve with intentions of something bigger than ourselves. The Kingdom of God. <br /><br /> We were there to serve our Lord and Savior Jesus by serving others. The main theme verse of Panther was John 12, 26. Um, Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there my servant will also be. My Father will honor the one who serves me. And we sang a song of that every night. The song reminded me that to love is to serve. <br /><br /> It was, uh, the chorus part of it. I made a lot of memories at Panther. Too many to keep in my head all at once. When I was writing this, they all started coming back to me. I don't think I can think of one memory that doesn't have Jesus in it in some way, shape, or form. I really got to see Jesus demonstrate himself in his people. <br /><br /> And that was amazing. Thank you. <br /><br /> All right. Give it up for the youth, man. <br /><br /> I don't know about you, but it is, uh, it's hard to get up here and talk. Just imagine doing that as a teenager. So really proud of everyone from the Announcements crew to everyone, um, able to help out. Does anyone hear that cricket? Yeah. Okay. He's worshiping too. Don't worry. All Oh my gosh, there's a spider on the stage. <br /><br /> Did you guys not see that? Oh my gosh. Okay. Oh, good morning. Uh, my name is Jared Hacking. I happen to be the youth pastor here at SEC, and I love being a part of this Sunday and be able to give you guys kind of just a window of what the youth experience this summer and how they're able to serve him. So thank you so much for sticking with us and, uh, listening attentively as well. <br /><br /> We're going to be reading from Luke chapter 22, uh, this morning. We'll be starting in verse 7, looking at, um, one of the recordings of the Last Supper. The disciples, um, celebrating the Passover meal with Jesus. <br /><br /> Luke chapter 22, um, starting in verse 7, it says this, Then came the day of unleavened bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, Go, and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat it. They said to him, Where will you have us prepare it? He said to them, Behold, when you have entered the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. <br /><br /> Follow him into the house that he enters, and tell the master of the house, the teacher says to you, Where is the guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples? And He will show you a large upper room, furnished, prepare it there. And they went out and found it, just as He had told them, and they prepared the Passover. <br /><br /> And when the hour came, He reclined at table, and the apostles with Him, and He said to them, I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God. And He took a cup, and when He had given thanks, He said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves. <br /><br /> For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes. And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. And likewise the cup, after they had eaten, saying, This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. <br /><br /> Let's pray this morning. <br /><br /> Lord, thank you so much for who you are. Thank you so much, God, that you have invited us to a meal with you. God, as you invited your disciples into having a meal. God, thank you so much for the, um, many youth, um, who made this summer possible and, and are participating, um, this Sunday, and, and even the ones that, um, participate in are, aren't here. <br /><br /> Lord, thank you so much for their hearts of service, God. I pray that you would use these moments, these trips, God, as a seed that would grow, um, into, um, many, uh, much fruit, Lord, for your kingdom, that they would learn to trust you more, depend on you more, and have a greater faith in you, God. And I pray, God, that even, um, us, uh, sitting here in these seats today, God, would be impacted by these youth, Lord. <br /><br /> Um, your word clearly says, don't let anyone look down on you. Because you're young God there is your spirit does not look at age God, but he looks at willingness Submission and humility God and and even your word says that we might be like little children for you All right. So I just thank you so much. <br /><br /> I pray that your spirit work in and around us This morning and that you let your words speak volumes God. We pray all this in Jesus name Amen. I'm going to be, uh, looking at this passage today and, um, I want to first look back and I just realized that I literally did not print off a passage of mine. <br /><br /> Nope, here it is. Okay, we're good. We're good. I thought I was going to have this freestyle. I want to look at this passage this morning and before we really enter into the passage, I just want to look at, because I think we run to the communion table so often and we just want to celebrate communion. And these disciples, um, we understand that they weren't celebrating communion. <br /><br /> They were celebrating Passover, right? They were celebrating the Passover meal. And I just want a flashback of what that Passover meal, uh, represented and what it symbolized. And we have to understand that, um, this celebration was different than what we were celebrating today. Um, but it was a time of remembrance for the people of Israel. <br /><br /> It was a time to look back and see where they had come from. Um, many of you might already know this story. Some of you might need to be reminded. But I think it's so important that we'd look back and see what actually these disciples and, um, the Jewish people of that day were really looking back. Um, and still to this day what Jewish people are looking back for. <br /><br /> Um, Israel is not even a nation, right? If you flash back to the book of Exodus, they were not a nation. They were just a group of people enslaved by the Egyptians, right? They were under this harsh rule of Pharaoh. They were mistreated, um, beaten under this, um, terrible yoke of slavery. If you remember, um, God sent plagues on the Egyptian, multiple plagues, terrible plagues, like locusts and frogs and turning the water into blood and all these things. <br /><br /> But one of the worst possible plagues. The last plague was the plague of the firstborn son, right? And Moses did what he continued to do. He marched up and he told Pharaoh, you know, if you don't do this, if you don't let the people go, the Lord is going to take each and every firstborn son from this place here. <br /><br /> And you'll hear, um, a cry come out of Egypt for this, but he said, but he told his people, the Israelites, he said, to be saved from this. You're going to take a, uh, unblemished lamb and you're going to sacrifice this lamb for me. And you're going to take the blood of that lamb and you're going to wipe it all over the doorpost, right? <br /><br /> All over the doorpost. And when God comes through and he, um, as he comes through, the angel of death comes through, he will pass over these houses that have had the blood smeared all over the posts because Jesus saw and God saw. the sacrifice that was made, um, the sacrifice. And that's where they get the name of Passover, because God's spirit passed. <br /><br /> over them. And every part of this Passover meal was symbolic. So the bread that they ate reminded them of the bread that the Israelites ate back in Egypt and the hardship that they endured. There were bitter herbs that they served that reminded them the bitterness of the yoke of slavery. There was salt water actually on the table that reminded them. <br /><br /> them of their people's tears and hardship they endured. The main course of the meal was symbolic. It was the lamb. They would eat this sacrificed lamb. Each family would do it. They gave instructions and if you had too small of a family that a lamb was going to be too big, you'd actually go to your neighbor's house and come together in the Passover meal, sharing this together. <br /><br /> Each and everything, a part of this Passover meal, was symbolic. It was a, it was a, uh, a moment to remember where the Israelites had come from. Where they, where God had taken them out of Egypt, out of slavery, turning them into a nation. And it was commanded, each and every year, you'll practice this. Each and every year, you'll sit down with your families and have this Passover meal. <br /><br /> So this is where we pick up in this passage with the disciples, that this is what they're preparing. This is, everybody was here. A lot of people made the journey into Jerusalem to make this happen. And we get to this portion of scripture and, um, Jesus is telling his disciples to go make preparations. <br /><br /> He's kind of gives them this random, uh, command, go find this man. He's going to be carrying water. He, say, go find the room that was prepared for him. And the disciples are like, the disciples have been with Jesus for so long that they're like, yeah, we're, we're going to find the man. There's no doubts now. <br /><br /> We'll just find him and I'm sure there will be a room prepared for us. So they go out and they go like they're going to have an ordinary Passover meal, right? They go in and they sit down and Jesus reclines and he just says this beautiful statement. He says, I've been so desirous to have this meal with you today. <br /><br /> I've been looking forward to this before I suffer that I might sit down. Now, Jesus flips the script here. He doesn't follow any of the rituals. He literally takes the bread and he's supposed to say something completely different. And he says, this is my body that was broken for you. And then he takes the cup and he's supposed to say something completely different. <br /><br /> It's recognized, recognizing and representing something completely different. He says, this is my blood of the new covenant. I mean, these disciples. Just must be so confused. Like, they're like, no, Jesus, I thought you were a Jew. Like, I thought you knew, like, the rituals. Like, what's going on here? They must have been so confused, um, and just kind of discombobulated of what was going on. <br /><br /> Imagine they felt, um, how I felt yesterday. I went to my first Phillies game. I know that's surprising. Go Phils, right? Woo. Red October or something like that. Um, I'm not a baseball fan. Um, I like live and breathe soccer. That's what I played growing up. I never played baseball. I tried it one time. I had a neighbor that was really into baseball and we had a catch. <br /><br /> We were throwing it back and forth, and like, long story short, the baseball hit me in the face. I'm like, this isn't fun. This ball is really hard, and it's hard to catch. The soccer ball is way big, easier to dodge. I can see it coming, and it's softer. It's not hard. What do they make these things out of? So I went to my first Phillies game with a couple of my buddies to celebrate a birthday, and I had no idea what I was doing. <br /><br /> I thought, like, since I understand soccer and some sports, like, I thought I could just, like, jump in and, like, just understand it. They're, it's super confusing. I couldn't even find the score at first. I'm like, what are all these numbers? What's our, like, all the guys next to me that you can ask, I'm like, I'm like, oh, what's our pitcher's name again? <br /><br /> What's this guy? What color are we wearing? And I'm just shouting generic phrases out like, catch the ball! Yeah, hit it! Smack it! Hit a dinger. I've heard that someone say that before like I'm just throwing things out because I have no idea what I'm doing I expected that it was gonna be pretty easy to pick up and I didn't even understand how innings work I'm like they switch do they switch every other inning like this We're taking a break now and we're singing a song. <br /><br /> This is so strange. Like, soccer is so much simpler. There's 45 minutes. If the ball goes out a lot, they add some minutes to that. Then there's a commercial break. And then there's another 45 minutes. That's it. Alright, you clearly see when people score. There's people hitting it. There's a whole, like, foul ball thing. <br /><br /> And, like, it's very confusing. Right? And I just, like, imagine that these disciples Thought they were going into something they could understand, thought they were like, going into a thing that was familiar to them. And they're, they're waiting for the phrases, right? And the liturgy to start happening, and, and, and the correct phrases. <br /><br /> And Jesus is saying something completely different, and they must have been confused, right? You have to get in the minds of the disciples here. They didn't believe Jesus was actually gonna die. <br /><br /> They thought their Messiah was going to come and conquer, right? They're just waiting. They're like, this is, this is going to be the moment right after Passover. And he's saying, I'm so glad to have this meal with you before I suffer. They're like, suffer? I didn't know that was part of the plan. Jesus, when I signed up, when I, when I joined, you just gave us a lot of fish. <br /><br /> And it was like, cool. It was like free candy. Hop on the boat. Like, we're good. This wasn't a part of the plan for them. And now he's breaking bread with them. And he's saying, this is my body that's broken for you. And this is the blood of the new covenant. I mean, what's happening at this meal? They thought they were coming to an ordinary Passover meal. <br /><br /> And what's happening in this meal is monumental. Jesus has flipped the script on Passover. He's saying, this bread, this is a symbol of what's going to happen to me. I'm going to be broken. I'm going to be beaten. And I'm going to do it for you. And this glass of wine, this red glass of wine, this represents my blood for you. <br /><br /> It's going to be poured out for you. And this blood is the sign of the new covenant. I don't think the disciples were ready to hear that. Although the Jews knew that there was going to be a new covenant to come. It was prophesied all throughout all the Old Testament that there was going to be a new covenant. <br /><br /> But here, in this Passover meal, Jesus says, There's a new covenant, and it's in my blood. It'll be sealed in my blood. This was a monumental moment for the disciples and Jesus. They're celebrating the Passover land. The passage said this was the day that the Passover land would be sacrificed. And you know what Jesus is saying here? <br /><br /> I, I'm the lamb. I'm the sacrificial lamb that's going to be sacrificed. I'm going to go suffer. I'm, my body's going to be broken. My blood is going to be poured out. I'm sealing the new covenant. I am the Passover lamb. I'm the perfect sacrifice. The one and done. All. All for one complete eternal sacrifice covering over all of our sins. <br /><br /> Right before this, the Israelites would continually make sacrifices as part of their daily rituals. As part of their cleansing rituals. To cleanse themselves and ask for forgiveness. What Jesus is saying here is no, there's a new covenant coming. And it's going to be in my blood. And it's going to be poured out for the forgiveness of all people. <br /><br /> The Father's wrath has passed over you, and it's being poured out on me, on our Savior. Jesus is telling His disciples that He's going to suffer, and He's going to die, and He's willing to do it for them. And He's willing, and He was willing to do it for you. Like I said, this was prophesied long ago and was highly... <br /><br /> Anticipate it by the Jews. There's a passage in Jeremiah 31, um, that I want to read to you. Jeremiah 31, um, starting in verse 31, says this, Behold, the days are coming. This is hundreds of years before, right? The days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. <br /><br /> Not like the covenant that I made with their fathers. On the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. That's what they were celebrating. That's what they were remembering when they, when, when God brought them out of the land of Egypt. He said, That covenant they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. <br /><br /> For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel. After those days, declares the Lord, I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor, and each his brother say, Know the Lord, for they shall all know me. <br /><br /> From the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sins no more. This is the covenant Jesus was talking about. I bet you that the disciples had no idea that they were going to sit down in this meal, and Jesus was going to say, This is the new covenant. <br /><br /> It's in me. It's in my blood, and it's for everyone, from the least of you to the greatest, and it will cover all sins. My forgiveness will be on, and not only will I have a law, right, but I'm going to write that law on your hearts and on your minds, right? A couple of chapters later, he's going to promise that he's going to pour out his spirit on his disciples, that we would know without a doubt the Spirit's work in our life, the law written on our hearts and mind. <br /><br /> He said that old covenant, your father's broke. Time and time and time again, but this new covenant, it's for you, and there will be forgiveness for your sins. I will remember your sins no more. I will pass over your sins. And what Jesus is saying is, someone's got to take the punishment. Someone has to make the sacrifice for this new covenant, and although the responsibility is on us, although the sin issue is within us, Jesus said, No, my body will be broken. <br /><br /> My blood will be poured out. I'm doing this for you. This, this is the new covenant Jesus is talking about. This is the covenant in his blood. This is what it meant to the disciples. They're sitting in this Passover meal thinking, Did he just say, did he just say new covenant? What? Did you hear that? This is what he was doing. <br /><br /> Then we come to us today, right? We know what it meant to the Israelites back and what they were remembering that Passover meal. We now understand what the disciples were feeling and what it meant to them, how monumental it was. And then we come today about the Lord's Supper and Communion. And what does it mean to us? <br /><br /> Because we know Jesus has died and resurrected, right? We are living in that new covenant today. I don't know if you knew that or not. Spoiler alert. We're in the new covenant, right? So why should we do this? Why should we practice the Lord's Supper? Why should we come here every couple months or so and take communion? <br /><br /> Well, one, Jesus said to do it. He said, do this. Do this in remembrance of me. Do this. And Paul actually follows up with a command in 1 Corinthians chapter 11, verse 23. He says this, For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night when he was betrayed, took bread. <br /><br /> And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of Me. In the same way, He also took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in My blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of Me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes. <br /><br /> Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself then. And so eat of the bread and drink of the cup, for anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. <br /><br /> Paul's literally saying, I've, I've heard this delivered from the Lord. Now I'm giving it to you. He said, do this in remembrance of me and Paul gives it a little and he says, proclaim the Lord's death until he comes, right? So we are to do this until the Lord comes again. We are to practice this. We are to remember his death, remember his sacrifice. <br /><br /> It's our opportunity to remember what Jesus did for us, what he sacrificed. His body broken, his blood spilled. I don't know about you, but how often do you take out of your work day or your school day or your home life and say, you know what? I'm going to be intentional and I'm going to think about Jesus death and sacrifice for me. <br /><br /> Maybe you do that often and like hats off to you. That's awesome. But I know that. Jesus knew that we were going to need to remember this, to sit in this, to think about it often. It's also our opportunity to examine ourselves, not to flippantly practice communion. All right, Paul makes this clear, um, with a warning, uh, the Corinthians he was writing to were casually approaching communion. <br /><br /> If you flash back a couple verses before, like people were showing up to communion drunk, people were showing up to communion like two fools, so they didn't want to participate in communion. People were doing it like by themselves and Paul's like, guys, what are you doing? Right? He was correcting them. He said, don't do this casually. <br /><br /> Right? Jesus commanded us, don't do this in an unworthy manner. But do it in a worthy manner, right? And sometimes when we hear that, Oh, don't do it in an unworthy manner, it makes us not want to participate, makes us not want to partake. But Paul's saying, Don't do it in an unworthy manner. Examine yourselves, so then you can practice this, so that you can examine this, so that you can remember the Lord's death. <br /><br /> It presents us, communion presents us with an opportunity for confession. And repentance, and gives us the chance to embrace forgiveness and grace. This, that is why Jesus died. He said, my blood will be spilled for the forgiveness of your sin. So we're not asking you, and Paul's not asking you to come to the communion table and perfection. <br /><br /> What he's saying is don't come casually and flippantly. What he's saying is examine yourself. Ask God, Lord is there anything I need to repent of? If there's anything, is there a way? I spoke to my wife this past week. Is there a way I spoke to my parents, or my brother, or sister, or how I acted in school this week that I need to think on and bring before the Lord and say, Lord, that wasn't of you, and I'll confess that to you. <br /><br /> I want to examine myself so that I might come before you. This process is a process of embracing forgiveness and grace that is freely offered. So what he's saying is, unworthy man, just, just don't come flippant. Don't come casually to the altar of God. God doesn't, um, require perfection of us. What He requires is an open heart before Him. <br /><br /> To lay it before Him. Lord, this is where I'm at. And if you're here today and you've never trusted Jesus, and you don't have a relationship with Jesus, it's okay. Don't feel any pressure to partake in this. This really isn't for you. It's kind of hard to remember and think on something you don't believe in. <br /><br /> Right? But I do ask that you maybe just start that stirring. And say, man, I may have gotten dragged here this morning by a co worker or a family member, but is this real? Is this really happening? So we're going to practice this together and I'm just going to give us some time, um, of just silent prayer. <br /><br /> Because I think like when we start handing out the communion, I try to start praying and exam myself. And then I'm like, is the basket coming? Is the basket coming? And I'm ADD, so I like legit cannot focus if the basket is moving. So we're not going to pass the basket yet. We're just gonna have a time of prayer. <br /><br /> Go before the Lord, right? Confess if you need to confess and just think and examine and think on his sacrifice. Think of his body broken for you. Think of his blood poured out for you. And then we're gonna pray and then after we pray I'm gonna ask some of the youth to come out and hand out things, but let's just go before the Lord. <br /><br /> Lord, <br /><br /> we come before you this morning. God, we ask that you'd examine us, Lord. The psalmist said, Lord, see if there's any hidden way in my heart. God, I just thank you so much for your perfect sacrifice. Lord, the new covenant in your blood that gives us the forgiveness of our sins. Lord, there's nothing we can work or do or accomplish. <br /><br /> God, it's really what your son's already accomplished for us. Lord, I'm so grateful. God, that you're willing to send your son to allow his body to be broken, to allow his blood to be spilled, God, thank you for loving us that much, God, and I pray that this, this idea and this, this remembrance of your sacrifice, God, would be in the forefront of our minds, God, as we go to our work weeks or school, that we would remember your sacrifice and that it would actually stir us up that we'd live sacrificially. <br /><br /> That we'd receive the love you freely give, God, and that we'd love the rest, all the people around us with that perfect love. Our family, our friends, our neighbors, God, even our co workers, <br /><br /> God, I pray that you just stir up whatever you need to stir up this morning, God, through your spirit that you'd convict, Lord, and that there'd, uh, be confession after this service, God, and that there'd be, um, people running up to one another apologizing for past sins, Lord, God, and that you'd open up our hearts that we'd receive. <br /><br /> Your love, your grace, and your forgiveness for us, God. Thank you so much for your perfect sacrifice, Lord. We thank you for the blood that was spilled that we are covered in now, Lord. We pray all this in Jesus name. Amen. I ask the youth to come forward and distribute the elements. <br /><br /> Jesus said, this is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me and <br /><br /> took the cup and same when he said, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.</div> false no <![CDATA[Lean Not On Your Own Understanding]]> Acts 25:1-12

And the chief priests and the principal men of the Jews laid out their case against Paul,



Sermon Transcript:

Well good morning to you all here and in Collingswood. And I'm not sure if anybody ventured outside, it's kind of cold out this morning, into the prayer garden. Maybe they're out there. We'll see, uh, later this morning. But we just sang some words and, you know, it's so easy to get comfortable with a melody of a song and just mow on through them, close your eyes and do it, without knowing what we're singing.

So here in Mount Laurel, no fate I dread. No fate I dread. I know I'm forgiven. The future is sure. The price, it has been paid. For Jesus bled and suffered for our pardon. And he was raised to overthrow the grave. And in Collingswood, uh, they just finished singing. Well, they will finish singing when they see this.

This is weird. In you, I rest. In you, I find my hope. In you I trust, you never let me go. I place my whole life within your hands alone. Be still my soul in your presence. It's a gift to be here together this morning with you to study God's Word, but also to worship and be centered with some of these songs that just bring us back to what is true.

I'll ask you to turn with me in your Bibles this morning to Acts chapter 25. We're going to be making our way through here. Maybe you've been away for part of the summer, kind of traveling in and out, catching a sermon, then you skip a few weeks and then you come back. We know, A. And B, if you do do that, you probably don't know what's happening in the book of Acts.

I'm just kidding. We don't know, sort of. Um, It can be tricky, though, to stay connected to the overall narrative. And so I want to walk through a little bit of that with you this morning, offer you kind of a brief catch up and and rather than be deeply theological in this narrative explanation this morning.

I kind of got a little creative this week and I wanted to do it for myself. I just drew some pictures and I thought, maybe I'll put them up there on the screen. And now at this point, I'm thinking to myself, I have the artistic abilities of a two year old and you're all about to witness my art project this week.

So follow along as we work through the book of. Luke wrote the book of acts. It is a compiled book of church history, the earliest church history following the early days of the followers of Jesus. You know, we just quoted acts chapter one verse eight. It is kind of the theme. I know the book is opening the wrong direction.

You're already judging me about this book. Now you can't unsee it. But if you've been if you've been memorizing along the It's just there, like the thing is coming out the wrong, oh forget it. Uh, if you've been memorizing along, Acts chapter 1 verse 8 is really the summary statement. That's why we picked it to memorize first.

It is helpful in knowing where we're going. So you can say it again with me. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. Judea, all Judea.

and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. And that's exactly what happened. Those were the words Jesus spoke. To his followers as they were waiting upon the Holy Spirit in Jerusalem. Acts chapters one through seven happens over six year time span and Pentecost happened, which is when the believers were in the upper room waiting.

Okay, it's gonna happen a lot of times. You're gonna laugh my pictures. That's fire. I think we're a beautiful flower, um, descended upon those early believers in tongues of fire. Many were added to their number. They lived together and had all things in common. Persecution picked up quickly though, and the local Jewish ruling authorities came and, uh, oppressed those early believers.

One of the brothers, full of faith, Stephen, was martyred. They're all gonna be stick figures, I promise you. Was martyred. He was stoned as he was sharing the testimony of Christ. It's good, right? No, it's not good. I'm not even sure. They were rocks in my head. There's an angry crowd there. I just, I don't know.

Okay, according to God's plan and because of the Spirit's allowance, the believers were scattered. Now, where were they scattered? Exactly where Jesus in Acts chapter 1 verse 8 said. Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. And so here we are in Judea and Samaria. Acts chapters 8 through 12 happens over the next nine years.

And a mostly messianic Jewish people came from Judaism and moved into following Jesus movement, expanded now into a multi ethnic movement. Saul, who we now know as Paul, was, uh, encountered Jesus and became a sold out evangelist. Can't you tell? That's Jesus. That is Jesus with all of the red on his hands and his feet.

It's, come on guys, like, okay. Where the followers of Jesus were growing was in a place called Antioch. Peter and Cornelius, uh, gathered there, and they began to grow in their leadership in the church. The followers of Jesus then were first called Christians, and finally the message of Jesus spread even further, as promised in Acts chapter 1, verse 8, the words of Jesus to the ends of the earth.

We've been studying through the last 16 chapters of Acts, which happens over 17 years. So we're working through a lot of years covered in the book of Acts. Paul's missionary journeys, uh, through Asia Minor, through Greece, and kind of back again. I didn't even bother with a map. Um, it's just, it's a walking journey he did there.

And some sailing, um, but he would routinely go to the synagogues, a place where he, uh, would go and share about the good news of Christ to these religious leaders and hopefully bring them to a knowledge of Jesus. Paul was faced with opposition in sharing this message. And this message was really a message of hope.

And it was important that he walked in and shared that with the people in the synagogue. But what was the message? The message was simply that the membership in the kingdom of Jesus, membership in the kingdom of Jesus, is not based on your ethnicity or your religious heritage. It has no bearing on that.

It is not based on observing the laws of Torah, but it is based on trusting and obeying King Jesus. There is this reality though that was happening here. This movement as it was going, a multi ethnic movement of a whole bunch of people, it was a bit of a paradox. People weren't exactly sure what was happening.

There was a merging of many cultures. There was men and women involved in this. There were slaves and free people. There were rich and poor invited to the table, treated as equals in a nonviolent allegiance to Jesus movement. And so as we go from Jerusalem to Judea and Samaria and then to the ends of the earth, we're coming in on the final chapters here in this is not the best time for Paul in his life.

Chapter 21, he is arrested. We were there just a few weeks ago, accused of blasphemy and terrorism and being an absolute menace, they said, in society. Chapter 23, he appears before the Jewish Sanhedrin, and he's put on religious trial. Chapter 24, last week he appeared before Governor Festus, I'm sorry, Felix, who's a Roman ruler.

And this week, chapter 25, we are in the next trial appearing before So if you'll turn with me again, flip back just a page, if you have it, uh, 24, chapter 24, the very end is where we're going to kind of pick up this story leading into chapter 25. After some days, Felix came with his wife, Drusilla, who was Jewish, and he sent for Paul and heard him speak about faith in Christ Jesus.

As Paul reasoned about righteousness and self control and the coming judgment, Governor Felix was alarmed and said, Go away for the present. When I get an opportunity, I will summon you. At the same time, he hoped that money would be given him by Paul. So he sent for him often and had conversation with him.

See what's happening here. Paul is repeatedly going back and forth, getting brought in. The, the Roman ruler's hoping that Paul gives him money to be released from prison. And Paul is preaching the explicit gospel, not only to him, but his family. Paul would later write in 1 Corinthians 1, verse 18, that the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to the ones who are being saved, it's the power.

of God. Maybe he was thinking about these interactions with Governor Felix. Verse 27. When two years had elapsed, Felix was succeeded by Porteous Festus, the new governor. And desiring to do the Jews a favor, Felix left Paul in prison. Now, three days after Festus had arrived in the province, he went up to Jerusalem from Caesarea.

And the chief priests and the principal men of the Jews laid out their case against Paul, and they urged him, asking as a favor against Paul, that he summon him to Jerusalem, because they were planning an ambush to kill him along the way. Festus replied that Paul was being kept at Caesarea and that he himself intended to go there shortly.

So, said he, let the men of authority among you come down with me, and if there is anything wrong about the man, let them bring charges against him. After he stayed among them, not more than eight or ten days, he went down to Caesarea. And the next day took his seat on the tribunal and ordered Paul to be brought.

When he had arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him, bringing many and serious charges against him that they could not prove. Paul argued in his defense, Neither against the law of the Jews, nor against the temple, nor against Caesar have I committed any offense. But Festus, wishing to do the Jews a favor, said to Paul, Do you wish to go up to Jerusalem and there be tried on these charges before me?

But Paul said, I'm standing here, before Caesar's tribunal, where I ought to be tried. To the Jews I have done no wrong, as you yourself know very well. If then I am a wrongdoer, and have committed anything for which I deserve to die, I do not seek to escape death. But if there is nothing to their charges against me, no one can give me up to them.

I appeal to Caesar. Then Festus, when he had conferred with his council, answered, To Caesar you have appealed, to Caesar you shall go. Pray with me this morning. Lord, we know it is a work of your spirit to bring us to the knowledge of Christ as our Savior. Lord, we know even now it's a, it's a work of your spirit to take words on a page.

Written so many years ago to illuminate them, God, that we might see and be changed people leave us not where we are, God, but lead us into a saving relationship with you ones that that change us, that produce fruit and God, as we continue through this narrative of Paul's life, might we see and trust you leaning not on the things that we can understand in our world, but leaning on you, God, we pray these things In your name.

Amen. So you'll notice between chapters 24 and 25, there's a period of two years Paul was in prison. There is also a transition of leadership. One governor. Felix is out and Festus is now in, but Paul has not moved. He is still in prison. We're going to walk through the text this morning with a few different headings.

The first one here is the assassination plotted. We notice in verse 1 here, three days after Festus arrived in the province, where does he go? He went Caesarea. Now, why would a new governor, as soon as he is elected, leave the place where he's sitting and move on to a place in Jerusalem? Well, we know that Jerusalem is the religious center of the province.

It's the place where the Jewish high priest and the Sanhedrin were located. And as we read, the previous governor, Felix, left Paul in prison as kind of a favor to the Jews. However, not so much a favor to the next guy in charge, because the problem of Paul. Paul still very well much existed. So seeking to keep this peace, Hephaestus goes to Jerusalem to kind of meet with these leaders and say, okay, what's going on here?

I came into power here and now I have the exact same problem that we faced two years ago. So verse two, the chief priest and the principal men of the Jews laid out their case against Paul and they urged him asking as a favor. Against Paul that he summoned him to Jerusalem because they were planning an ambush to kill him along the way two years.

It passed. Remember that. But these religious leaders hadn't missed a beat. They were still on this thing against Paul. The religious leaders held onto their argument. And not only that, it grew. They were looking here for another favor from the next governor Festus. Can we just move this trial to Jerusalem?

Let's bring Paul here out of where he is in Caesarea and we're gonna bring him to Jerusalem and we'll try him there. Can you do that for us? Well, why are they asking for a favor? Well, they, did they really intend to have any sort of a good trial here with justice being served? No, they still had a two year old carried over murderous plot to kill Paul before trial even happens.

Their spirit of bitterness grew. They weren't looking for justice. They were out for murder. The Bible is no stranger to murderous plots and villainous people of ambush. But this time, it's the chief. And it's the principal Jewish men, religious leaders. And here we are faced with the fruit of their religiosity on full display.

Jesus called these religious leaders at times whitewashed tombs. Looks good on the outside, but there's death on the inside. A brood of vipers, blind guides. And he even quotes the prophet Isaiah saying, you hypocrites. Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, these people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.

They worship me in vain. Their teachings are merely human rules. And here again, these religious professionals, the ones who should know all of these things enforced a bunch of rules and allowed murder and lies to be the things that festered in their hearts. And so near to God's truth. And yet so far. If you're like me and you hear this, the text is really crying out, even still today.

Jesus came to die for our sins, that we might not have this spirit of bitterness. That actually the religion that Jesus preaches is one of heart deep change. If you've trusted him as saver, you've been redeemed. And God's spirit lives within you. You've been given a new heart. The old has gone, the new has come.

The converted person is not merely just a new and improved version of themselves. They're totally made new. So there will be fruit. There will be evident fruit of God's spirit. He says that in Luke chapter 6. For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit. For each tree is known by its own fruit.

For figs are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good and the evil person out of the evil treasure produces evil for out of the abundance of the heart, his mouth speaks. There's a kid's song that maybe you have ever heard of.

If not, you'll hear it now. Rain for Roots. It's kind of like a coalition of people that write music for kids. There is a kid's song that's really infectious and if it gets into your head, you're going to be singing it forever, but it's called Apples Don't Grow on Pear Trees. And it's a little kid's song, but it's simply true.

Apples cannot grow on pear trees. And the chorus goes, Jesus, change our lives so we can bear good fruit. Sadly, these religious leaders have rejected Christ. They have been slaves to their own religiosity and rules. Rejected the good news of the resurrection. And they've even rejected Paul as he shared about the testimony of who he once was, the chief of religious scholars.

And now changed by Christ. So back to the story, Festus, the newly appointed governor, hears their requests to try Paul in Jerusalem. And he says, Paul was being kept at Caesarea, and he himself intended to go there shortly. So Festus said this, Let the men of authority among you, why don't you come down with me?

And if there really is anything wrong with this guy, Paul, Let them bring charges against him. No favors. We're not transporting this guy, Paul. Come with me and let's go. I'll hear the case. We'll uphold justice. Not the answer. These religious leaders we're looking for. Okay, second accusation is now presented as we walk through here.

Verse six. After Governor Festus stayed among them, the Jewish leaders, not more than eight or 10 days, he went down to Caesarea. And the next day he took his seat on the tribunal and ordered Paul to be brought. If you picture this tribunal, it's really a place of, uh, a courtroom. Typically, it was a raised platform.

It was in a court of law and commonly called the judgment seat. The Greek word is the bima seat. The same words... Judgment seat. The Bema seat we find in other places. Matthew chapter 27. Governor Pilate this time sat on the same Bema seat and offered up the innocent Jesus instead of the guilty Barabbas.

It's really interesting that Pilate's wife counseled him to get rid of the righteous man, Jesus, because she was plagued by dreams about him, similar to Felix's wife in chapter 24. She didn't want Paul to be there. Get rid of him. The spirit of God was not only speaking to these governors, but to their very families, and they rejected Christ Festus, the Roman Gentile ruler, hearing a group of angry religious men in an official capacity sat on the judgment seat.

Verse seven. When he Paul had arrived, the Jews had come down from Jerusalem, stood around him, and they brought serious, many serious charges against him. So what were the charges over the things that were being brought up? Mark shared about this last week in chapter 24 verse five. It says this for we found this man was a plague, one who stirs up riots among the Jews throughout the world.

And he's a ringleader among the sect of the Nazarenes. He even tried to profane the temple, but we we seized him. So they're essentially re upping the exact same charges from two years ago new governor brought in and here they come to present proof of this, but there is an absence of proof. Verse seven.

So Roman law, if you think about the Roman governors here, Roman law is actually one of the greatest gifts, contributions that Rome has made to mankind. The Romans borrowed a lot of their concepts from the Greeks. Essentially, it was then codified by the Romans. They established laws as a means of protection.

Not only from each other, but from the system, the power of the state. They desired, as a society then, to really trust in this system, this rule of law. In order that they might, uh, be guided in the way that they lived. Emperor Justinian, later on, finished the daunting task of, of compiling all of these laws together.

And he organized them into three separate volumes. The Institutes, the Digest, and the Revised Code. It's a, a really a momentous legal work that served as the foundation for much of where we get most of the Western law code that we have today. This comes right out of the code. Listen to this, uh, phrase here.

This, this quote. Accusers should not bring criminal charges unless they can be proven by proper witnesses, by conclusive documents, or by circumstantial evidence which amounts to indubitable proof and is clearer than day. Nothing better than putting my own artwork up there and getting to say indubitable in a sermon like that was just the coolest.

I wish I could just read it again. Indubitable. Um, yeah, basically you can't convict anybody on just suspicion alone. There has to be some proof brought. The Roman Emperor Trajan would say it this way. It's actually better to permit the crime of a guilty person to go unpunished than to condemn one who is innocent.

And so, verse seven, as these religious leaders are gathered, they brought many and serious charges against Paul that they could not prove. Still, after two years, no credible witness, there's no verifiable documents of this happening, and there's no hard evidence of his crime. Verse eight, Paul argued in his defense, Neither against the law of the Jews, nor against the temple, nor against Caesar, have I committed any of these offenses.

A point by point denial of the charges being brought against him. And so, Governor Festus faces a dilemma. Paul is innocent, he postulates in his brain. So, if I can't convict him, um, what am I going to do here? I have to uphold justice. But if I don't convict him of this crime, the religious leaders will get mad, which creates chaos among the new place that I have been made governor over.

Uphold justice, upend the peace. So what am I going to do? Look at verse 9. This is what he does. Festus, wishing to do the Jews a favor, a lot of favors given to these people and asked for, said to Paul, Hey Paul, do you wish to follow me to go to Jerusalem and there will be tried on these charges before me?

Location change. There's nothing different, nothing new. It's that we're just going to walk 55 miles from Caesarea to Jerusalem and we'll be tried there. What's happening in his brain, in his heart? He's essentially dodging the thing that he's needing to do. Let's see if we can compromise. We'll keep the Jews happy and we'll go to Jerusalem.

Don't worry, I will still be the judge. I'll sit on the judgment seat. I will be governor in Roman rule. It's a win win, right Paul? Verse 10, but Paul said, I'm standing before Caesar's tribunal where I ought to be tried to the Jews. I've done no wrong as you, Festus, very well know yourself. If then I've really done anything wrong, committed for which I deserve to die.

I don't seek to escape death, but if there is nothing to their charges against me. No one can give me up to them. Paul's right. There's no evidence being brought, and you fastest know it. We know the religious leaders had no intention of a fair trial. The location of the trial, totally irrelevant. But listen to Paul's integrity along the way.

If there really is anything that I've done, I am not seeking to escape death. I'm willing to face it. If there is wrong found, bring on the death penalty. But if not, you can't hand me Over. Finally, here, the appeal is proposed. Verse 11. Look with me. I appeal to Caesar, Paul says. Then Festus, when he had conferred with his council, answered, To Caesar you have appealed.

To Caesar you shall go. Paul invokes this right he has as a Roman citizen to escalate his case, similar to the Supreme Court of our day. Appealing to the highest official, and at this time it was Caesar Nero, and if Nero kind of rings a bell, not the biggest fan of Christians. In fact, he would burn them and light his gardens with them on stakes later in his life.

However, at this time, Nero was actually an okay guy. In the first five years of his reign, he was surrounded by influential people in a good sense, and he was regarded as a wise and just man. Ruler and so Governor Festus confer with this group and he agreed, and so we'll see in the days ahead as Paul is making his way to the next governing official, and eventually he makes his way to Rome.

Paul was before the Sanhedrin. In chapter 23, you remember he was getting punched in the face by some of those officials. Things got dicey, and the guards took him back into the barracks when the crowds were just moving in to want to kill Paul. And, and they brought him in, and they locked him in the barracks as a measure of safety for his life to have a fair trial.

What happened in chapter 23, verse 11? It says this, The following night, the Lord stood near Paul.

And here we are, years later, years later, it's exactly as the Lord said, standing by Paul in those barracks. He's on his way to Rome. Was Paul elated or excited? Maybe just plain exhausted from this whole journey? It's possible that amidst all of the emotional highs and lows of these trials, there's a moment that happened where Paul remembered those words, that the Lord met with him and said a confirmation from the Holy Spirit, treasuring the audible words spoken to him.

I Judea, Samaria, and that all happened, but I also told you to take courage. I'm sending you to Rome. Nobody else heard those words in the barracks, but Paul knew the Lord was near and spoke encouragement to him. I don't know where this text lands for you as you think about this narrative of Paul trusting in this timetable in a way of God that he can't understand.

But as we come to any place of application, kind of bringing things out of the text that can really matter to my life, I want to share with you a few principles that maybe you already use, and if so, wonderful, it's a review. If you don't, I'd encourage you, join with me in learning to apply a text like we just worked through.

We use these as pastors as we comb through the text and really seek to do it honestly, faithfully for what the text is saying. Pastor Mark shared some of these ideas kind of in his opening thoughts last week. You kind of, you come to God's Word and the question you ask is, why does this matter to me? I mean, I'm not a prisoner.

How can I relate to Paul? The times have changed. It's a great story, but this book seems to be not helpful in in this passage. Chapter 25. It's just a passage of time. Well, in an effort to be faithful, ask a few questions. Maybe you can write these down if you want to. What does the author say? Why does he say it in this way?

Why does he say it here? Is there something surprising about the way he says it? Is there a way that he presents it that is surprising? What does it reveal about who God is? This unchanging, omnipotent, omniscient God. If it's true of God, it's true of God. And so as we come to the text, ancient or not, it's ever true of who God is.

There's a relationship between the original context of the scriptures And where we are today. I want you to look at a visual this morning. Maybe you've seen this. But God's Word is there at the top. It was written in and to a specific original context. It's, it's there. It is not written first to us today.

Paul wrote letters. This one we know was written to, uh, by a man named Luke to Theophilus. That's not my name and it's not your name. But it is who was written to it was meant to encourage him in his journey as a young believer. And so can we be encouraged as we read this text today? Absolutely. All the more as we apply it faithfully, the overall theme.

Remember again here is not that we would just take God's word and pull it to us today, but that as we go through this process of the original context, we really can get a meaning out of it that might make sense that might. Change the, some of the frameworks and things that we think about. Remember, there's some overall themes in the book of Acts that we've been talking about since the beginning of this series, like 10 years ago when we started.

The first one, you probably can quote them right from 10 years ago, to carry God's gospel to all nations. Man, is that happening in spades all over. To sustain God's people amidst every opposition to fulfill God's sovereign purposes and to unite God's church. There's a summary verse that kind of is, uh, in part appears at the top of your sermon outline today, but it's Proverbs 3, It, for me, is the summary.

If I were to take this text and I'd hear something out of it. Trust in the Lord. With all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding in all your ways, acknowledge him and he will make straight your paths. What's happening as Paul is lodged in prison for two years, trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding the interruption to, uh, justice and failure of the Roman leadership to get this right.

It actually allowed the gospel of Jesus to enter the officials homes, make its way into their families. Paul was able to recuperate from the previous many years of traveling around those three laps of a missionary journey, given some time to recuperate. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.

What's happening as religious leaders continue to lie and, and hurl these murderous threats against Paul. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. And do not lean on your own understanding. Is it possible that our own understanding might lead us to think there's a, been a delay in Paul's trial? But if we trust in the Lord, maybe we would see that the delay in trial is actually God's generous mercy and grace to these Jewish leaders.

Paul was able to defend and share with them multiple times as they were hurling these threats back and forth. He's bringing the hope of Christ to them. We're so quick to define God's mission and God's intent as get to Rome, make its way there, get through all these trials. They're just kind of in the way.

But God's mission doesn't work around the religious leaders and kind of get them out. God's mission is after them just as it is you and I. It includes them. Trust in the Lord. And do not lean on our own understanding what's happening through the years of Paul receiving abuse for sharing Jesus and doing it with gentleness and respect, only to be beaten and flogged and and imprisoned at the end of this season, accusations are made.

They're delivered here, and the text says they are without proof. God used the record of an obedient man, suffering, innocent man to escape death, trust in the Lord. With all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. God's spirit may be prompting you and I this morning to apply this passage in a variety of ways.

Maybe you've been wrongly accused of something or you've been faithfully serving Jesus, representing him and walking. With downtrodden ways because you're just tired of getting abused from all of the different voices. You want to give up and lash back in anger as Paul probably had that desire to as well.

Can I encourage you, trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean. On your own understanding, maybe there's an existing framework or worldview that you hold on to that Paul's trial narrative is redefining for you at the Christian life following Jesus. Certainly Paul, right? Guarantees and worldly success and happiness and safety and comfort and mental stability and obedient kids and a supportive family and friends.

That's redefined now in Paul's narrative. Or maybe that persecution is the great enemy and interferes with God's mission. It's not so it's not so trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. Maybe like Paul, the timetable of events happening in your life. They're just dragging on.

It's laborious. It seems unnecessarily delayed. If we learn anything from Paul's life, God is trustworthy and our understanding. of time and how and why is so limited. And so again, we come, we trust in the Lord with all our heart and lean not on our own understanding. Father, we come to this text this morning.

We want to rush past it. Chapter 25, even this first part here just feels like an interruption to the, the end goal. But God, what you're doing is something far deeper, more rich than we can even imagine. God, I know that through this crushing and pressing and squeezing of Paul, books like Romans and 1st and 2nd Corinthians and Philippians and Colossians all come out of this, this momentary suffering and produce the text for our very faith.

And so God, as we stand here, we don't want to be people that rush past a season or a moment or a time that you're asking us to sit in. We trust in you with all our heart and lean not on our own understanding. I thank you for this passage this morning. Might you teach us to trust you, Lord. We pray these things in your name.

Amen.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/lean-not-on-your-own-understanding 83cd88fc-ff55-4e13-bd72-dcf085969689 Sun, 17 Sep 2023 14:07:35 GMT <div data-html="true">Acts 25:1-12 <br /><br /> And the chief priests and the principal men of the Jews laid out their case against Paul, <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> Well good morning to you all here and in Collingswood. And I'm not sure if anybody ventured outside, it's kind of cold out this morning, into the prayer garden. Maybe they're out there. We'll see, uh, later this morning. But we just sang some words and, you know, it's so easy to get comfortable with a melody of a song and just mow on through them, close your eyes and do it, without knowing what we're singing. <br /><br /> So here in Mount Laurel, no fate I dread. No fate I dread. I know I'm forgiven. The future is sure. The price, it has been paid. For Jesus bled and suffered for our pardon. And he was raised to overthrow the grave. And in Collingswood, uh, they just finished singing. Well, they will finish singing when they see this. <br /><br /> This is weird. In you, I rest. In you, I find my hope. In you I trust, you never let me go. I place my whole life within your hands alone. Be still my soul in your presence. It's a gift to be here together this morning with you to study God's Word, but also to worship and be centered with some of these songs that just bring us back to what is true. <br /><br /> I'll ask you to turn with me in your Bibles this morning to Acts chapter 25. We're going to be making our way through here. Maybe you've been away for part of the summer, kind of traveling in and out, catching a sermon, then you skip a few weeks and then you come back. We know, A. And B, if you do do that, you probably don't know what's happening in the book of Acts. <br /><br /> I'm just kidding. We don't know, sort of. Um, It can be tricky, though, to stay connected to the overall narrative. And so I want to walk through a little bit of that with you this morning, offer you kind of a brief catch up and and rather than be deeply theological in this narrative explanation this morning. <br /><br /> I kind of got a little creative this week and I wanted to do it for myself. I just drew some pictures and I thought, maybe I'll put them up there on the screen. And now at this point, I'm thinking to myself, I have the artistic abilities of a two year old and you're all about to witness my art project this week. <br /><br /> So follow along as we work through the book of. Luke wrote the book of acts. It is a compiled book of church history, the earliest church history following the early days of the followers of Jesus. You know, we just quoted acts chapter one verse eight. It is kind of the theme. I know the book is opening the wrong direction. <br /><br /> You're already judging me about this book. Now you can't unsee it. But if you've been if you've been memorizing along the It's just there, like the thing is coming out the wrong, oh forget it. Uh, if you've been memorizing along, Acts chapter 1 verse 8 is really the summary statement. That's why we picked it to memorize first. <br /><br /> It is helpful in knowing where we're going. So you can say it again with me. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. Judea, all Judea. <br /><br /> and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. And that's exactly what happened. Those were the words Jesus spoke. To his followers as they were waiting upon the Holy Spirit in Jerusalem. Acts chapters one through seven happens over six year time span and Pentecost happened, which is when the believers were in the upper room waiting. <br /><br /> Okay, it's gonna happen a lot of times. You're gonna laugh my pictures. That's fire. I think we're a beautiful flower, um, descended upon those early believers in tongues of fire. Many were added to their number. They lived together and had all things in common. Persecution picked up quickly though, and the local Jewish ruling authorities came and, uh, oppressed those early believers. <br /><br /> One of the brothers, full of faith, Stephen, was martyred. They're all gonna be stick figures, I promise you. Was martyred. He was stoned as he was sharing the testimony of Christ. It's good, right? No, it's not good. I'm not even sure. They were rocks in my head. There's an angry crowd there. I just, I don't know. <br /><br /> Okay, according to God's plan and because of the Spirit's allowance, the believers were scattered. Now, where were they scattered? Exactly where Jesus in Acts chapter 1 verse 8 said. Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. And so here we are in Judea and Samaria. Acts chapters 8 through 12 happens over the next nine years. <br /><br /> And a mostly messianic Jewish people came from Judaism and moved into following Jesus movement, expanded now into a multi ethnic movement. Saul, who we now know as Paul, was, uh, encountered Jesus and became a sold out evangelist. Can't you tell? That's Jesus. That is Jesus with all of the red on his hands and his feet. <br /><br /> It's, come on guys, like, okay. Where the followers of Jesus were growing was in a place called Antioch. Peter and Cornelius, uh, gathered there, and they began to grow in their leadership in the church. The followers of Jesus then were first called Christians, and finally the message of Jesus spread even further, as promised in Acts chapter 1, verse 8, the words of Jesus to the ends of the earth. <br /><br /> We've been studying through the last 16 chapters of Acts, which happens over 17 years. So we're working through a lot of years covered in the book of Acts. Paul's missionary journeys, uh, through Asia Minor, through Greece, and kind of back again. I didn't even bother with a map. Um, it's just, it's a walking journey he did there. <br /><br /> And some sailing, um, but he would routinely go to the synagogues, a place where he, uh, would go and share about the good news of Christ to these religious leaders and hopefully bring them to a knowledge of Jesus. Paul was faced with opposition in sharing this message. And this message was really a message of hope. <br /><br /> And it was important that he walked in and shared that with the people in the synagogue. But what was the message? The message was simply that the membership in the kingdom of Jesus, membership in the kingdom of Jesus, is not based on your ethnicity or your religious heritage. It has no bearing on that. <br /><br /> It is not based on observing the laws of Torah, but it is based on trusting and obeying King Jesus. There is this reality though that was happening here. This movement as it was going, a multi ethnic movement of a whole bunch of people, it was a bit of a paradox. People weren't exactly sure what was happening. <br /><br /> There was a merging of many cultures. There was men and women involved in this. There were slaves and free people. There were rich and poor invited to the table, treated as equals in a nonviolent allegiance to Jesus movement. And so as we go from Jerusalem to Judea and Samaria and then to the ends of the earth, we're coming in on the final chapters here in this is not the best time for Paul in his life. <br /><br /> Chapter 21, he is arrested. We were there just a few weeks ago, accused of blasphemy and terrorism and being an absolute menace, they said, in society. Chapter 23, he appears before the Jewish Sanhedrin, and he's put on religious trial. Chapter 24, last week he appeared before Governor Festus, I'm sorry, Felix, who's a Roman ruler. <br /><br /> And this week, chapter 25, we are in the next trial appearing before So if you'll turn with me again, flip back just a page, if you have it, uh, 24, chapter 24, the very end is where we're going to kind of pick up this story leading into chapter 25. After some days, Felix came with his wife, Drusilla, who was Jewish, and he sent for Paul and heard him speak about faith in Christ Jesus. <br /><br /> As Paul reasoned about righteousness and self control and the coming judgment, Governor Felix was alarmed and said, Go away for the present. When I get an opportunity, I will summon you. At the same time, he hoped that money would be given him by Paul. So he sent for him often and had conversation with him. <br /><br /> See what's happening here. Paul is repeatedly going back and forth, getting brought in. The, the Roman ruler's hoping that Paul gives him money to be released from prison. And Paul is preaching the explicit gospel, not only to him, but his family. Paul would later write in 1 Corinthians 1, verse 18, that the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to the ones who are being saved, it's the power. <br /><br /> of God. Maybe he was thinking about these interactions with Governor Felix. Verse 27. When two years had elapsed, Felix was succeeded by Porteous Festus, the new governor. And desiring to do the Jews a favor, Felix left Paul in prison. Now, three days after Festus had arrived in the province, he went up to Jerusalem from Caesarea. <br /><br /> And the chief priests and the principal men of the Jews laid out their case against Paul, and they urged him, asking as a favor against Paul, that he summon him to Jerusalem, because they were planning an ambush to kill him along the way. Festus replied that Paul was being kept at Caesarea and that he himself intended to go there shortly. <br /><br /> So, said he, let the men of authority among you come down with me, and if there is anything wrong about the man, let them bring charges against him. After he stayed among them, not more than eight or ten days, he went down to Caesarea. And the next day took his seat on the tribunal and ordered Paul to be brought. <br /><br /> When he had arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him, bringing many and serious charges against him that they could not prove. Paul argued in his defense, Neither against the law of the Jews, nor against the temple, nor against Caesar have I committed any offense. But Festus, wishing to do the Jews a favor, said to Paul, Do you wish to go up to Jerusalem and there be tried on these charges before me? <br /><br /> But Paul said, I'm standing here, before Caesar's tribunal, where I ought to be tried. To the Jews I have done no wrong, as you yourself know very well. If then I am a wrongdoer, and have committed anything for which I deserve to die, I do not seek to escape death. But if there is nothing to their charges against me, no one can give me up to them. <br /><br /> I appeal to Caesar. Then Festus, when he had conferred with his council, answered, To Caesar you have appealed, to Caesar you shall go. Pray with me this morning. Lord, we know it is a work of your spirit to bring us to the knowledge of Christ as our Savior. Lord, we know even now it's a, it's a work of your spirit to take words on a page. <br /><br /> Written so many years ago to illuminate them, God, that we might see and be changed people leave us not where we are, God, but lead us into a saving relationship with you ones that that change us, that produce fruit and God, as we continue through this narrative of Paul's life, might we see and trust you leaning not on the things that we can understand in our world, but leaning on you, God, we pray these things In your name. <br /><br /> Amen. So you'll notice between chapters 24 and 25, there's a period of two years Paul was in prison. There is also a transition of leadership. One governor. Felix is out and Festus is now in, but Paul has not moved. He is still in prison. We're going to walk through the text this morning with a few different headings. <br /><br /> The first one here is the assassination plotted. We notice in verse 1 here, three days after Festus arrived in the province, where does he go? He went Caesarea. Now, why would a new governor, as soon as he is elected, leave the place where he's sitting and move on to a place in Jerusalem? Well, we know that Jerusalem is the religious center of the province. <br /><br /> It's the place where the Jewish high priest and the Sanhedrin were located. And as we read, the previous governor, Felix, left Paul in prison as kind of a favor to the Jews. However, not so much a favor to the next guy in charge, because the problem of Paul. Paul still very well much existed. So seeking to keep this peace, Hephaestus goes to Jerusalem to kind of meet with these leaders and say, okay, what's going on here? <br /><br /> I came into power here and now I have the exact same problem that we faced two years ago. So verse two, the chief priest and the principal men of the Jews laid out their case against Paul and they urged him asking as a favor. Against Paul that he summoned him to Jerusalem because they were planning an ambush to kill him along the way two years. <br /><br /> It passed. Remember that. But these religious leaders hadn't missed a beat. They were still on this thing against Paul. The religious leaders held onto their argument. And not only that, it grew. They were looking here for another favor from the next governor Festus. Can we just move this trial to Jerusalem? <br /><br /> Let's bring Paul here out of where he is in Caesarea and we're gonna bring him to Jerusalem and we'll try him there. Can you do that for us? Well, why are they asking for a favor? Well, they, did they really intend to have any sort of a good trial here with justice being served? No, they still had a two year old carried over murderous plot to kill Paul before trial even happens. <br /><br /> Their spirit of bitterness grew. They weren't looking for justice. They were out for murder. The Bible is no stranger to murderous plots and villainous people of ambush. But this time, it's the chief. And it's the principal Jewish men, religious leaders. And here we are faced with the fruit of their religiosity on full display. <br /><br /> Jesus called these religious leaders at times whitewashed tombs. Looks good on the outside, but there's death on the inside. A brood of vipers, blind guides. And he even quotes the prophet Isaiah saying, you hypocrites. Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, these people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. <br /><br /> They worship me in vain. Their teachings are merely human rules. And here again, these religious professionals, the ones who should know all of these things enforced a bunch of rules and allowed murder and lies to be the things that festered in their hearts. And so near to God's truth. And yet so far. If you're like me and you hear this, the text is really crying out, even still today. <br /><br /> Jesus came to die for our sins, that we might not have this spirit of bitterness. That actually the religion that Jesus preaches is one of heart deep change. If you've trusted him as saver, you've been redeemed. And God's spirit lives within you. You've been given a new heart. The old has gone, the new has come. <br /><br /> The converted person is not merely just a new and improved version of themselves. They're totally made new. So there will be fruit. There will be evident fruit of God's spirit. He says that in Luke chapter 6. For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit. For each tree is known by its own fruit. <br /><br /> For figs are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good and the evil person out of the evil treasure produces evil for out of the abundance of the heart, his mouth speaks. There's a kid's song that maybe you have ever heard of. <br /><br /> If not, you'll hear it now. Rain for Roots. It's kind of like a coalition of people that write music for kids. There is a kid's song that's really infectious and if it gets into your head, you're going to be singing it forever, but it's called Apples Don't Grow on Pear Trees. And it's a little kid's song, but it's simply true. <br /><br /> Apples cannot grow on pear trees. And the chorus goes, Jesus, change our lives so we can bear good fruit. Sadly, these religious leaders have rejected Christ. They have been slaves to their own religiosity and rules. Rejected the good news of the resurrection. And they've even rejected Paul as he shared about the testimony of who he once was, the chief of religious scholars. <br /><br /> And now changed by Christ. So back to the story, Festus, the newly appointed governor, hears their requests to try Paul in Jerusalem. And he says, Paul was being kept at Caesarea, and he himself intended to go there shortly. So Festus said this, Let the men of authority among you, why don't you come down with me? <br /><br /> And if there really is anything wrong with this guy, Paul, Let them bring charges against him. No favors. We're not transporting this guy, Paul. Come with me and let's go. I'll hear the case. We'll uphold justice. Not the answer. These religious leaders we're looking for. Okay, second accusation is now presented as we walk through here. <br /><br /> Verse six. After Governor Festus stayed among them, the Jewish leaders, not more than eight or 10 days, he went down to Caesarea. And the next day he took his seat on the tribunal and ordered Paul to be brought. If you picture this tribunal, it's really a place of, uh, a courtroom. Typically, it was a raised platform. <br /><br /> It was in a court of law and commonly called the judgment seat. The Greek word is the bima seat. The same words... Judgment seat. The Bema seat we find in other places. Matthew chapter 27. Governor Pilate this time sat on the same Bema seat and offered up the innocent Jesus instead of the guilty Barabbas. <br /><br /> It's really interesting that Pilate's wife counseled him to get rid of the righteous man, Jesus, because she was plagued by dreams about him, similar to Felix's wife in chapter 24. She didn't want Paul to be there. Get rid of him. The spirit of God was not only speaking to these governors, but to their very families, and they rejected Christ Festus, the Roman Gentile ruler, hearing a group of angry religious men in an official capacity sat on the judgment seat. <br /><br /> Verse seven. When he Paul had arrived, the Jews had come down from Jerusalem, stood around him, and they brought serious, many serious charges against him. So what were the charges over the things that were being brought up? Mark shared about this last week in chapter 24 verse five. It says this for we found this man was a plague, one who stirs up riots among the Jews throughout the world. <br /><br /> And he's a ringleader among the sect of the Nazarenes. He even tried to profane the temple, but we we seized him. So they're essentially re upping the exact same charges from two years ago new governor brought in and here they come to present proof of this, but there is an absence of proof. Verse seven. <br /><br /> So Roman law, if you think about the Roman governors here, Roman law is actually one of the greatest gifts, contributions that Rome has made to mankind. The Romans borrowed a lot of their concepts from the Greeks. Essentially, it was then codified by the Romans. They established laws as a means of protection. <br /><br /> Not only from each other, but from the system, the power of the state. They desired, as a society then, to really trust in this system, this rule of law. In order that they might, uh, be guided in the way that they lived. Emperor Justinian, later on, finished the daunting task of, of compiling all of these laws together. <br /><br /> And he organized them into three separate volumes. The Institutes, the Digest, and the Revised Code. It's a, a really a momentous legal work that served as the foundation for much of where we get most of the Western law code that we have today. This comes right out of the code. Listen to this, uh, phrase here. <br /><br /> This, this quote. Accusers should not bring criminal charges unless they can be proven by proper witnesses, by conclusive documents, or by circumstantial evidence which amounts to indubitable proof and is clearer than day. Nothing better than putting my own artwork up there and getting to say indubitable in a sermon like that was just the coolest. <br /><br /> I wish I could just read it again. Indubitable. Um, yeah, basically you can't convict anybody on just suspicion alone. There has to be some proof brought. The Roman Emperor Trajan would say it this way. It's actually better to permit the crime of a guilty person to go unpunished than to condemn one who is innocent. <br /><br /> And so, verse seven, as these religious leaders are gathered, they brought many and serious charges against Paul that they could not prove. Still, after two years, no credible witness, there's no verifiable documents of this happening, and there's no hard evidence of his crime. Verse eight, Paul argued in his defense, Neither against the law of the Jews, nor against the temple, nor against Caesar, have I committed any of these offenses. <br /><br /> A point by point denial of the charges being brought against him. And so, Governor Festus faces a dilemma. Paul is innocent, he postulates in his brain. So, if I can't convict him, um, what am I going to do here? I have to uphold justice. But if I don't convict him of this crime, the religious leaders will get mad, which creates chaos among the new place that I have been made governor over. <br /><br /> Uphold justice, upend the peace. So what am I going to do? Look at verse 9. This is what he does. Festus, wishing to do the Jews a favor, a lot of favors given to these people and asked for, said to Paul, Hey Paul, do you wish to follow me to go to Jerusalem and there will be tried on these charges before me? <br /><br /> Location change. There's nothing different, nothing new. It's that we're just going to walk 55 miles from Caesarea to Jerusalem and we'll be tried there. What's happening in his brain, in his heart? He's essentially dodging the thing that he's needing to do. Let's see if we can compromise. We'll keep the Jews happy and we'll go to Jerusalem. <br /><br /> Don't worry, I will still be the judge. I'll sit on the judgment seat. I will be governor in Roman rule. It's a win win, right Paul? Verse 10, but Paul said, I'm standing before Caesar's tribunal where I ought to be tried to the Jews. I've done no wrong as you, Festus, very well know yourself. If then I've really done anything wrong, committed for which I deserve to die. <br /><br /> I don't seek to escape death, but if there is nothing to their charges against me. No one can give me up to them. Paul's right. There's no evidence being brought, and you fastest know it. We know the religious leaders had no intention of a fair trial. The location of the trial, totally irrelevant. But listen to Paul's integrity along the way. <br /><br /> If there really is anything that I've done, I am not seeking to escape death. I'm willing to face it. If there is wrong found, bring on the death penalty. But if not, you can't hand me Over. Finally, here, the appeal is proposed. Verse 11. Look with me. I appeal to Caesar, Paul says. Then Festus, when he had conferred with his council, answered, To Caesar you have appealed. <br /><br /> To Caesar you shall go. Paul invokes this right he has as a Roman citizen to escalate his case, similar to the Supreme Court of our day. Appealing to the highest official, and at this time it was Caesar Nero, and if Nero kind of rings a bell, not the biggest fan of Christians. In fact, he would burn them and light his gardens with them on stakes later in his life. <br /><br /> However, at this time, Nero was actually an okay guy. In the first five years of his reign, he was surrounded by influential people in a good sense, and he was regarded as a wise and just man. Ruler and so Governor Festus confer with this group and he agreed, and so we'll see in the days ahead as Paul is making his way to the next governing official, and eventually he makes his way to Rome. <br /><br /> Paul was before the Sanhedrin. In chapter 23, you remember he was getting punched in the face by some of those officials. Things got dicey, and the guards took him back into the barracks when the crowds were just moving in to want to kill Paul. And, and they brought him in, and they locked him in the barracks as a measure of safety for his life to have a fair trial. <br /><br /> What happened in chapter 23, verse 11? It says this, The following night, the Lord stood near Paul. <br /><br /> And here we are, years later, years later, it's exactly as the Lord said, standing by Paul in those barracks. He's on his way to Rome. Was Paul elated or excited? Maybe just plain exhausted from this whole journey? It's possible that amidst all of the emotional highs and lows of these trials, there's a moment that happened where Paul remembered those words, that the Lord met with him and said a confirmation from the Holy Spirit, treasuring the audible words spoken to him. <br /><br /> I Judea, Samaria, and that all happened, but I also told you to take courage. I'm sending you to Rome. Nobody else heard those words in the barracks, but Paul knew the Lord was near and spoke encouragement to him. I don't know where this text lands for you as you think about this narrative of Paul trusting in this timetable in a way of God that he can't understand. <br /><br /> But as we come to any place of application, kind of bringing things out of the text that can really matter to my life, I want to share with you a few principles that maybe you already use, and if so, wonderful, it's a review. If you don't, I'd encourage you, join with me in learning to apply a text like we just worked through. <br /><br /> We use these as pastors as we comb through the text and really seek to do it honestly, faithfully for what the text is saying. Pastor Mark shared some of these ideas kind of in his opening thoughts last week. You kind of, you come to God's Word and the question you ask is, why does this matter to me? I mean, I'm not a prisoner. <br /><br /> How can I relate to Paul? The times have changed. It's a great story, but this book seems to be not helpful in in this passage. Chapter 25. It's just a passage of time. Well, in an effort to be faithful, ask a few questions. Maybe you can write these down if you want to. What does the author say? Why does he say it in this way? <br /><br /> Why does he say it here? Is there something surprising about the way he says it? Is there a way that he presents it that is surprising? What does it reveal about who God is? This unchanging, omnipotent, omniscient God. If it's true of God, it's true of God. And so as we come to the text, ancient or not, it's ever true of who God is. <br /><br /> There's a relationship between the original context of the scriptures And where we are today. I want you to look at a visual this morning. Maybe you've seen this. But God's Word is there at the top. It was written in and to a specific original context. It's, it's there. It is not written first to us today. <br /><br /> Paul wrote letters. This one we know was written to, uh, by a man named Luke to Theophilus. That's not my name and it's not your name. But it is who was written to it was meant to encourage him in his journey as a young believer. And so can we be encouraged as we read this text today? Absolutely. All the more as we apply it faithfully, the overall theme. <br /><br /> Remember again here is not that we would just take God's word and pull it to us today, but that as we go through this process of the original context, we really can get a meaning out of it that might make sense that might. Change the, some of the frameworks and things that we think about. Remember, there's some overall themes in the book of Acts that we've been talking about since the beginning of this series, like 10 years ago when we started. <br /><br /> The first one, you probably can quote them right from 10 years ago, to carry God's gospel to all nations. Man, is that happening in spades all over. To sustain God's people amidst every opposition to fulfill God's sovereign purposes and to unite God's church. There's a summary verse that kind of is, uh, in part appears at the top of your sermon outline today, but it's Proverbs 3, It, for me, is the summary. <br /><br /> If I were to take this text and I'd hear something out of it. Trust in the Lord. With all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding in all your ways, acknowledge him and he will make straight your paths. What's happening as Paul is lodged in prison for two years, trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding the interruption to, uh, justice and failure of the Roman leadership to get this right. <br /><br /> It actually allowed the gospel of Jesus to enter the officials homes, make its way into their families. Paul was able to recuperate from the previous many years of traveling around those three laps of a missionary journey, given some time to recuperate. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. <br /><br /> What's happening as religious leaders continue to lie and, and hurl these murderous threats against Paul. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. And do not lean on your own understanding. Is it possible that our own understanding might lead us to think there's a, been a delay in Paul's trial? But if we trust in the Lord, maybe we would see that the delay in trial is actually God's generous mercy and grace to these Jewish leaders. <br /><br /> Paul was able to defend and share with them multiple times as they were hurling these threats back and forth. He's bringing the hope of Christ to them. We're so quick to define God's mission and God's intent as get to Rome, make its way there, get through all these trials. They're just kind of in the way. <br /><br /> But God's mission doesn't work around the religious leaders and kind of get them out. God's mission is after them just as it is you and I. It includes them. Trust in the Lord. And do not lean on our own understanding what's happening through the years of Paul receiving abuse for sharing Jesus and doing it with gentleness and respect, only to be beaten and flogged and and imprisoned at the end of this season, accusations are made. <br /><br /> They're delivered here, and the text says they are without proof. God used the record of an obedient man, suffering, innocent man to escape death, trust in the Lord. With all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. God's spirit may be prompting you and I this morning to apply this passage in a variety of ways. <br /><br /> Maybe you've been wrongly accused of something or you've been faithfully serving Jesus, representing him and walking. With downtrodden ways because you're just tired of getting abused from all of the different voices. You want to give up and lash back in anger as Paul probably had that desire to as well. <br /><br /> Can I encourage you, trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean. On your own understanding, maybe there's an existing framework or worldview that you hold on to that Paul's trial narrative is redefining for you at the Christian life following Jesus. Certainly Paul, right? Guarantees and worldly success and happiness and safety and comfort and mental stability and obedient kids and a supportive family and friends. <br /><br /> That's redefined now in Paul's narrative. Or maybe that persecution is the great enemy and interferes with God's mission. It's not so it's not so trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. Maybe like Paul, the timetable of events happening in your life. They're just dragging on. <br /><br /> It's laborious. It seems unnecessarily delayed. If we learn anything from Paul's life, God is trustworthy and our understanding. of time and how and why is so limited. And so again, we come, we trust in the Lord with all our heart and lean not on our own understanding. Father, we come to this text this morning. <br /><br /> We want to rush past it. Chapter 25, even this first part here just feels like an interruption to the, the end goal. But God, what you're doing is something far deeper, more rich than we can even imagine. God, I know that through this crushing and pressing and squeezing of Paul, books like Romans and 1st and 2nd Corinthians and Philippians and Colossians all come out of this, this momentary suffering and produce the text for our very faith. <br /><br /> And so God, as we stand here, we don't want to be people that rush past a season or a moment or a time that you're asking us to sit in. We trust in you with all our heart and lean not on our own understanding. I thank you for this passage this morning. Might you teach us to trust you, Lord. We pray these things in your name. <br /><br /> Amen.</div> false no <![CDATA[A Godly Response to Attack]]> Acts 24

 I believe everything that is in accordance with the Law and that is written in the Prophets, and I have the same hope in God as these men themselves have...



Sermon Transcript:

Morning, everybody. Welcome Collingswood. I don't know if anybody's braving it outside, those that are in the lobby. Mike described it as a construction site. It's actually pretty nice out there. But, um, when it's all set up for you, if you, if you don't have enough seats around here and for those of you that are down there, welcome to you as well.

Uh, we're going to be looking at Acts chapter 24 this morning as we continue in our series, a return to our series, uh, the spirit at work to the ends of the earth in the book of Acts. And I'm going to ask you to turn there because I'm going to be reading from Acts 24. But Mike mentioned the seminar. That, uh, I'm leading this coming weekend and I wanted to say one more thing about it.

First of all, this, this is the, um, booklet that we're going to be giving out. These are some cards, uh, that if you could, if you had seen the quality of them when I gave them to Ben Painter and what they came out with, you would be again marveling at what the man can do. But I wanted to just raise and answer a simple question about the seminar.

And it is. Mark, why are you doing the seminar on awe? I mean, it's a concept. It sort of harmed it hard to put your arms around and I'm doing the seminar on awe because it is a topic I am. I am deeply passionate about. I want to explain why that is. A number of years ago, I was on vacation and I just felt constrained, um, to put together some values for myself, what I felt God has built, had built in over the years.

And most of all, to just think, Lord, what, what is my vision and mission for the rest of my life? And what do I think you've built into me for this? And I was thinking about my role as a pastor. I was thinking about just my, my role as a Christian man. With the gifting that I felt God had given me and with the things that God had most burdened me with.

And, honestly, there are lots of things that, you know, could be put down by someone that's in a church leadership position. Um, I thought about, uh, should I say that my, my, my vision is to lead people to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. And I want to do that, but honestly, um, that isn't my ultimate passion.

Um, I thought, well, maybe it's to be a visionary. And, but I'm not a great visionary, um, to be a dynamic leader. And I do feel God has called me to lead. But when I sifted it all down and I thought, what is it that lights my fire? What is it that when I get up in the morning and I ask God, God use me today?

What, what is it that I feel he's called me to do and what I want to do? And it came out in this very simple statement, which I have prayed I don't know how many millions of times. I felt called to influence others to trust God. That doesn't sound very exciting or sexy or, should I use that word? But, uh, but,

I want people to know He's worthy of your trust. In my own life, I've grown in trusting God. By being awed by Him. Exodus 14, as the people of Israel are standing by the side of the Red Sea and they're looking back and realizing He has just rescued them in this astonishing way. This amazing verse is stated, it says this, the people of Israel were awed by God and put their trust in Him.

I love that verse. It's my story too. When I'm awed, I trust. So I'm sharing this seminar to help people put their trust in God by being awed by Him. People that I'm praying for, the types of people, or people that are suffering, or people that are confused, people that are trying to establish their walk with Christ, people that are trapped in sin, or are afraid, or are discouraged.

Or are lonely, or are stressed, or are lethargic in their spiritual journey because I truly believe awe, being stunned with God, is what causes us to lean into Him and trust Him. I've asked different people to share their stories, stories I've heard through the years from a part of our church family, to share how God awed them are not big.

life, life changing deliverance moments. They're small moments where God made Himself known to them when they looked for Him. But they're reminders that God shows up when you look for Him. And He does it in amazingly creative ways. I want you to hear those stories because I want you to trust God. And I want to ask you this morning to pray for this seminar.

That people will be encouraged to trust God more deeply. Because they let him awe them more consistently. That's why I'm doing this seminar. Acts chapter 24. Acts chapter 24. Uh, we're coming now in our continuing series in the book of Acts. And the focus this morning that I'm sharing is... A godly response to attack.

Here's what we read. And after five days the high priest Athanias came down with some elders and a spokesman, one Tertullus. They laid before the governor, this is in Caesarea, their case against Paul. And when he had been summoned, Tertullus began to accuse him, saying, Since through you we enjoy much peace, and since by your foresight, Modest, most excellent, feel us, reforms are being made for this nation.

In every way and everywhere, we accept this with all gratitude. But to detain you no further, I beg you in your kindness to hear us briefly. For we have found this man a plague, one who stirs up riots among all the Jews throughout the world and is a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes. He even tried to profane the temple, but we seized him.

And by examining him yourself, you will be able to find out from him about everything of which we accuse him. The Jews also joined in the charge, affirming that all these things were so. And when the governor had nodded to him to speak, Paul replied, knowing that for many years you have been a judge over this nation, I cheerfully make my defense.

You can verify that it is not more than twelve days since I went up to worship in Jerusalem, and they did not find me despairing, disputing with anyone or stirring up a crowd, either in the temple or in the synagogues or in the city. Neither can they prove to you what they now bring up against me. But this I confess to you that according to the way, which they call a sect, I worship the God of our fathers, believing everything laid down by the law and written in the prophets, having a hope in God, which these men themselves accept, that there will be a resurrection of both the just and the unjust.

So I always take pains to have a clear conscience towards both God and man. Now after several years, I came to bring alms in my to my nation and to present offerings. While I was doing this, they found me purified in the temple without any crowd or tumult. But some Jews from Asia, they can't, they ought to be here before you and to make an accusation should they have anything against me.

Or else let these men themselves say what wrongdoing they found when I stood before the council. Other than this one thing that I cried out while standing among them, it is with respect to the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial before you this day. But Felix, having a rather accurate knowledge of the way, put them off, saying, When Lysias the tribune comes down, I'll decide your case.

Then he gave orders to the centurion that he should be kept in custody because, but have some liberty, and that none of his, that some of his friends should be prevented. His friends were allowed to come. And after some days, Felix came with his wife, Drusilla, who was Jewish. And he sent for Paul, and heard him speak about faith in Christ Jesus.

And as he reasoned about righteousness and self control in the coming judgment, Felix was alarmed and said, Go away for the present. When I get an opportunity, I'll summon you. At the same time, he hoped that money would be given him by Paul. So he sent for him often and conversed with them. And when two years had elapsed, Felix was succeeded by Portia Festus.

And desiring to do the Jews a favor, Felix left Paul in prison. Lord, we come to you this morning. God, we've already worshipped in the things that we've sung.

Lord Jesus, you are worthy of your name. Jesus, Deliverer, Savior. You've been that to so many of us. We see it so many ways in our lives. Lord, we ask now that you would open this scripture to us. Be our teacher and our guide into truth, I pray, in Jesus name. Amen.

I remember reading the book by Louis L'Amour. It's called The Last Breed. It's the story of, uh, the last, yeah, the last breed. And it's the story of, uh, of a Native American Navy pilot, um, that was shot down. Uh, his name was Major Joseph Makotozi. He was shot down and caught. It's a fictitious story, but it's a great story.

And he's shot down and they capture him and they actually take him into the Soviet Union. This was during the time of the Soviet bloc. And he's taken to a hidden camp in Siberia. And, they're there going to interrogate him, find out everything he knows, because they know he's very much in the know of the most advanced technology, uh, of, of Air Force and Navy, uh, jets and fighters.

And so, they take him there, first couple of days, they just beat him to death. I mean, they pummel the guy, he's barely alive. And he knows that he's not going to live long in this location. So he escapes. And he's a Native American. He knows all the wilds of the, of the wilderness. And the story is about him from the eastern side, western side of Siberia, going all the way to the Pacific Ocean, avoiding thousands of soldiers on the way.

It's a fascinating story. It's a story in the heart of the winter of this guy who goes out with no, no coats, no gloves, no nothing. And, and, and he's out there and how he. He, he digs little caves underneath the ice that is covering the, the, the, the land next to rivers. I mean, he's hiding in tree trunks. I mean, it's just fascinating story.

And, and one night as I was reading, it all of a sudden struck me, the utter incongruity

Here I was reading this story about a man who is working his way, this warrior working his way across the frozen tundra of Siberia. Thousands of soldiers after him, and I am reading under the covers of my heated water bed. And the whole incongruity is, what do I have to identify with this guy at all? I had sort of the same reaction as I came to Acts 24.

I mean, here's Paul. He's appearing before the religious mucky mucks of the nation of Israel. They're being brought in with their lawyer, presenting their case against him to the Roman governor. Who is the appointed regent over the eastern side of the Roman Empire. And as he stands there, he's giving this defense.

And you look at this passage and you say, This is a really cool story, but how do I interject me in this? And it isn't just that we read the Bible like it's a good adventure story, right? We're looking to say, God, what are you saying to my life? What are you teaching me about living to your glory here? And I would suggest that one point of connection for us is how Paul responded when he faced a situation where he and the gospel were under attack.

I want to remind you from Pastor Ben's sermon last Sunday that we find Paul here in a city called Caesarea. He's been taken, um, under guard by Romans. Actually, there are 40, literally 40 assassins. that have promised they won't eat again until they have killed him. These guys grew very hungry, and they, so he goes the 75 miles north to Caesarea, and he's now in what is the central Roman fortress in the entire eastern block of the Roman Empire, at the eastern end.

This is where the Romans have their great strength, this is where their leadership is, and he's brought before the governor of the whole territory named Felix. In his message last week about, as he called it, plots and promises, Ben highlighted that Paul was not operating on his own plan. It had been blown up.

But he was trusting in the purposes and promises of God. That's where we find Paul here in Acts 24. And what's taking place here, the accusers, their lawyer is their spokesman. are brought in by the Roman governor. They've traveled the 75 miles to bring their case against Paul and in their attacks and notably in Paul's handling himself under attacks for his faith, which moves into even attacks on his personhood.

There's a lot for us to learn because if you're a believer in Jesus Christ and you're trying to wholeheartedly live as a follower of Christ, Not everyone is going to appreciate your life or your beliefs. We must recognize that we can be part of the problem, right? That the gospel is an offense, but we can be that as well.

I was reading a Barna poll that came out. It was the end of May 23rd, 2023. It was less than four months ago. And in the poll, the question was asked, it was a national poll, fairly extensive poll, and they asked people. How do you feel towards Christianity? Broad statement, but some insightful info. First of all, they, they gave the summary of the answer of Christian, towards Christianity from the general population.

Um, and basically they were asking, do you feel positively or negatively towards Christianity? 71 percent of the general population, now of course this includes people like us that are for most of us are, are in. 71 percent said they feel positively. Good news. How do you feel towards churches? 47 percent felt positively.

How do you feel towards evangelicals? 26 percent felt positively. But when you dial it down a little more and dig a little deeper, they also Pulled out the response of the nons. The nons are people that say, I have no faith, no real religious affiliation. And this was the response of those truly secularized people in our culture, of which there are many that we are doing life with.

How do you feel towards Christianity and specifically? How much do you feel positively toward Jesus Christ? 40 percent said, yes, I feel positively to what I know about Jesus Christ. How do you feel towards your church? 22 percent felt positively. How do you feel towards evangelicals? 9 percent felt positively.

But the most interesting question to me was the next one and the final one I'll mention. They asked of those with no faith, why? Do you doubt Christian beliefs and why do you feel negatively toward them? And they gave them all kinds of options. There were lots of options. Uh, science. I don't believe it's scientific.

There are certainly people who feel that way. Um, uh, that the presence of suffering in the world, I can't believe there's really a God that is actively involved. Um, Christianity's view of One religion, no, uh, being the, the right way through Christ, that one religion can't have all the answers. Then they had lots of others, but a lot of real things that people say.

But the overwhelmingly prominent reason that those who said, I have no faith commitment gave to why they doubted the reality and, and did not embrace Christian faith was this. The behavior of Christian people. They went on to talk about lack of compassion. They went on to talk about, uh, vitriol and anger.

I'm not saying everybody here is that. I'm not, I'm not saying any. And I'm also not saying any of us are not guilty of that. But these questions remind us that Christianity and Christ are not necessarily associated. We would like to think the historic evangelical church, and honestly the word evangelical is a word I'm careful with today, because it means different things than I mean by it.

To a lot of people. I read a statement recently and it was, uh, by a writer I greatly appreciate, Tim Keller. He said this, the question many in our culture has, are asking has changed from, Is Christianity the answer to our problems? To, is Christianity the source of our problems? Paul faced an environment in which he was contended with that very question.

These people felt Christianity And Christian reps were the problem. We'll see that in a second. And in that environment, his way of responding shows us how to conduct ourselves in an environment that is hostile, ultimately, but quite honestly, is more open to Jesus than he is to his people. We see the attack, first of all.

It's found in these first few verses, and I'm going to summarize it. It's found in verses 5 and following down through verse 10, verse 9. And there are three attacks. And basically they're trying to present the case that Christians, Paul as a rap, is, are a menace to society. And they say three reasons.

Number one, Paul is a disease. For we have found this man a plague. He's an infection. He is a cancer. There are certainly people that say that and feel that way today. You're, you Christians, your view on morality and social issues, your,

your narrowness, your not accepting of everyone and lifestyle choices, certainly hostility, is directed toward Jesus Christ and His description of moral and sinful practices. On the very definition of righteousness, Jesus says in the world you're going to have persecution as a follower of me. It's a real thing.

It's going to happen. But, so from their standpoint, when they say Christianity is, and you Christians, and notably you Paul, are a disease, we understand. And I would say for them, this was true. They felt this, you're messing with everything with this faith that you have. We see a second attack. They said Paul is a danger, one who stirs up riots among all the Jews throughout the world.

He's a danger to the public order. This one they were really happy to share because this is the kind of thing would definitely get the attention of a Roman leader. So, and, and Paul then is going to say, you know where they got this from? And we know that from Acts chapter 21 and 22. This actually came when Paul showed up in Jerusalem, with eight associates who were all Gentiles from all over the Mediterranean Roman world.

And a couple of them came from Ephesus. And one of them was a guy named Trophimus. And there were Jewish, uh, uh, believers, Jewish people that came for the feast day from Ephesus. to Jerusalem, and they saw Paul with these guys, and they knew Trophimus, and they knew he was a Gentile, and they thought Paul had taken him into the, the, the temple, and they just lost their minds.

And, and, and they said, this guy is defiling the temple, and so forth. And basically, to them, they see Paul as a guy who's stirring up riots. Well, he did, in, in, in Ephesus. If you remember, they had a whole stadium that was full of people that were ticked off because Paul's preaching was leading people to renounce their idolatry.

And the Temple of Artemis, Temple of Diana, the largest temple in the world at that time. And all the idol makers, the guild of idol makers got together. The president of the guild got them together, a guy named Demetrius. And he says, we got to stop this guy. I mean, he's killing our economy. And so they got everybody stirred up, and there was a riot, and the, and the, the, the mayor of Ephesus had to calm it down.

And so, this is what they're referring to. And basically, the gospel was a threat. It resulted in changed lives. When people were baptized as followers of Jesus, people felt betrayed. In Jewish families, in Gentile families, when they saw their, their, their loved ones turning away. It messed up the economy for some people.

Now, the idea was not that Christians were stirring up riots, but what was happening, the result of Christian faith in people's lives, was causing riots. People were upset. So, Peter talks about this. He says it in 1 Peter chapter 4, verses 2 through 4. He's talking to Christians and he says, you used to live for human passions, but now, but you no longer live for human passions, but for the will of God.

For the time that has passed, suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. With respect to this, they are surprised when you don't join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you. And, and it's true when the gospel enters people's lives, there are changes and sometimes those are offensive to the old game, to the old buds.

Because now you're saying, I, I still want to be friends, I still want to do life with you, but I'm called to live differently in certain areas of my life. And so the second charge against Paul, we find was partly true. Christians were not stirring up riots as they were accusing Paul of doing. But riots were stirred up because of them.

The third accusation of Paul is this, he's a disruptor. He's a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes. He even tries to profane the temple and we seized him. The idea here was that, you know, he brings in these Gentiles into, he tries to bring them into the temple. He's profaning the temple, defiling it.

He's trying to undermine the entire system. This was a total fabrication. It was a misunderstanding. They thought he did this. He actually didn't do this. He defends himself and it was clear earlier. So here we have these three things that have come against Paul. Some things are true. Some things are partial truth.

And some are complete misunderstandings. You will have all of those as a follower of Christ. You will have things you can't explain. No, no, I don't feel like, no. And you feel frustrated and you feel angry. Why are we being placed in this category? It's going to happen and it happened to Paul. So here's what's happening Complete misunderstandings some things that are absolutely true some things that are partial truth.

So what do we do? Well, what did he do? Well, I want to rip through four things quickly that he did number one. He defended himself with gentleness and confidence We see this in verse 10 through 13, but Paul responds with a measured gentle confident response He says a couple of things. He said, I didn't, actually, I didn't start riots.

I was only here for 12 days after being gone for years. I didn't have time to get a following to rally around. I didn't get into contentious debates in the temple or in the city. I didn't profane the temple, I didn't, I, I actually ceremoniously got myself cleansed, which he did. And he said, but I didn't bring Gentiles in, I didn't do what's, what's, so he gently but forthrightly said, no, these things are not true.

There is a real place for defending the gospel and the word of God, what's true. But Paul goes to great pains to deny that his demeanor and spirit were that of a fighter and a troublemaker. So it's important today, right? If, if culture is saying, Jesus, yeah, I, I can see some credibility, but people that are identified with Christ, their behavior is, is utter, it, it doesn't fit with what I understand of Christ.

You may say, well, they don't really understand Christ. Probably that's true to a degree, but they understand some. They understand the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount, some. They understand that the, the primary mark, uh, in a survey years ago, they asked, what's the primary word? It's a cultural, uh, survey.

What's a primary word to describe Jesus Christ? Our culture, the primary answer was, He's gentle.

Peter weighs in on this very topic in 1 Peter 3, and he talks about Christians who are suffering, really suffering. They're facing the attacks. They're facing the fact that they're being called a disease. They're being called, they're being maligned. They're being misunderstood. They're losing stuff because of Jesus.

And here's what he tells them. He says, Be ready always to give a reason for the hope that you have, but do it with gentleness and respect. This is 1 Peter 3, verse 15 and 16. Having a good conscience, so when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. That there's gentleness and there is respect.

Paul weighs in, in Philippians 2, when he says, do all things without grumbling or disputing. Why? So that you might shine as lights in the world. Guys, our culture is angry, divisive, divided into rabid camps, grumbling, disputing. But we're called to shine as lights in the world by the good behavior and respect that we show to others.

The gentleness of Christ. Paul, even in his defending himself, is respectful. In each of the times we see him presented. The second thing we find, He declared His allegiance to Jesus with boldness. If you look at verse 14 and 15, you notice what He talks about. It's Jesus Christ. He says, you know, I, I, no I didn't do this, I didn't do this, but I do want to be honest about one thing.

I do believe differently than these guys. I do differ with them. I do have a position that believes that the Messiah is Jesus Christ. And I do believe that He rose from the dead. And that really is the one that sets everybody off. He's willing to identify with it. So what does that teach us? Well, that there are going to be times when we have to say we differ here.

I own it. I do have a different view of morality and sensuality but it's not my idea. I'm putting myself under what I truly believe. The scriptures and Jesus teaching says we can't run from that. Paul doesn't run from that. He speaks boldly to Felix. One other thing I just want to highlight, if you look down at verse 24 and following, after the, the religious leaders are dismissed and basically Felix says, I don't know, I'm going to talk to the, the, the, the tribune, the Roman guy that brought you up.

Basically, he's just dismissing these guys. Thanks for coming. Thanks for sharing. Goodbye. But then, he holds Paul for two years. And in his initial discussion with Paul, he and his wife, Drusilla, Meet with Paul, and there's a fascinating thing that's going on in this conversation. Here's what happened in verse 25.

They, they wanted, verse 26, and he, and he sent for Paul, and he heard him speak about faith in Christ Jesus. And as Paul reasoned about righteousness and self control in the coming judgment, Felix, Felix was alarmed and said, Go away for the present. When I get an opportunity, I will summon you. Now, here's what's happening.

Paul is talking about righteousness, which means justice, treating people righteously according to God. Secondly, self control, the ability to say no to yourself. Third, about a coming judgment, a future judgment for sins that have happened in this life that you answer in the life to come. That's what Paul's talking to him about.

And it says, Felix was alarmed. You know why? Because Felix was an old man, relatively speaking, to his young babe, Rusilla, who's his wife, who was legendary for her astonishing beauty. She'd been married to a guy. He went after her. He talked her into divorcing her husband. She was Jewish. It was a scandal in the, in the entire region.

He took her, he had two other wives. He brought her in and... And they know what they've done is utterly against her faith, at least. And so now Paul starts talking about righteousness, treating people justly, I mean, like the husband. Um, self control, saying no to yourself. So here's this thing. And what's Felix's response?

It's he's alarmed. What are you saying? Oh, look at the time. Conversations over. I'll see you again another time. Paul is saying stuff that was alarming, different. If you're a believer in Jesus Christ, you're gonna have some conversations where you have to share things honestly because you're in a position you need to share truth and you need to own it.

If nobody in your office knows that you're a follower of Jesus Christ, if nobody in your circle of friends is really ever uncomfortable with the choices you're making, and their life is the life 1 Peter described, of the life that your life was before you came to Christ, There's something wrong. There has to be some sense.

And you don't have to say, I'm rejecting these friends because, you know, they might tarnish me. Well, then you'll get what you deserve. There has to be some degree of speaking what's true. Third, Paul determines to keep his conscience clear before God and man. So I always, in verse 16, so I always take pains to have a clear conscience toward both God and man.

Both times Paul appears before. These guys it happened in Jerusalem a couple chapters back and now it happens again. He makes this statement. It's an odd statement Why would he say this? I mean, who's he trying to convince? Why is he saying this to them? We understand why he's saying no, my conscience is clear before God Well, of course, he's saying, I really believe what I'm sharing, the truths that I'm presenting.

Actually, as a follower of the way, that we're not rejecting the Old Testament. Actually, we are the, the fulfillment of where the Old Testament is going. We are the way that the Old Testament has led to towards the Messiah. But why mention I have conscience, a good conscience, a clear conscience toward men?

I'd suggest, because when you're being attacked, God always prompts you to reflect on your own heart. In both these cases, when Paul's being questioned, he said, I really feel my conscience is clear before God, but also before people. For Paul, maybe he's asking himself, or has asked himself, Am I the offense here?

Is my way causing people to not hear the message of Christ? I know the offense of Christ, the message of Christ can be an offense. But is it me? Is there something that God wants me to share with it? Am I doing things in a way, in the way I respond, that is harmful? A godly response to attack, to slander, to accusation, to rebuke, to, to diminishing your Christian, uh, opportunities.

Always start with a humble investigation of your own heart. Which part of what they're saying. It's because of what's true in me, in the way I am speaking, the way I carry myself here. Paul said, I always take pains to keep a clear conscience. It's used, the word taking pains is used of an artist laboring.

He labored to evaluate his own heart and say, am I walking the walk? Because people smell hypocrisy, right? We do. You do. They do. Others do. Towards us. Am I walking the walk? Jesus has a 40 percent positive image, Christian or Evangelicals, for people of no faith, nine. Having a clear conscience is an incredible gift.

Maybe God is speaking to you now about the need of one. Last thing, Paul defers his plans to others with humility. Verse 17 and 18, he's talking about when he came to Jerusalem. This is one of my favorite passages, my favorite visuals. in about four chapters here in Acts. Here's what he says in verse 17.

Now, after several years, after his three missionary journeys, seven years long, I came to bring alms to my nation to present offerings. While I was doing this, they found me purified in the temple without any crowd or tumult. But some Jews from Asia, and actually they ought to be here bringing an accusation, which was true.

Here's what happened. When Paul showed up in Judea, remember he took the missionary journeys and he came and he landed. And then he, he, when he, when he arrived in Judea, he came with a real plan. His plan was to bring the monetary gifts of all the churches that he'd spent a couple of years raising money from all these Gentile churches.

And he was bringing the money to Jerusalem as a gift from the churches to say, we're with you and this is our way of giving back. You have spiritually blessed us. The gospel and Christ is come up through Judaism and you are Jewish brothers and sisters. We now want to help you financially because they were facing tremendous financial deprivation there in Judea partly for their faith Partly because there was a famine.

So Paul came and he thought this is going to be a way of uniting the churches You know, we're going to be able to and we're going to give this money So Paul arrives and here's the first thing that happens. He meets with the religious leaders This is found in earlier chapter 20 22 So he shows up and James the leader of the church and all the other elders appears to them And they say, Paul, first thing, you need to be really quiet.

There's real, real venom towards you among the Jews. And we're in a, we're in a hard spot here. And so you need to not, we know you. You need to sit on yourself, buddy. And you need to be quiet. And so Paul, even in this passage, is saying to Felix, I haven't gotten in arguments with anybody. Not in the temple, not in Jerusalem.

I mean, I'm a mouse for me. And he says, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm honoring. Basically, that's what he's doing. He's deferring. But here's what also happened. James and the others said, Paul, this is what we would suggest you do. He's got this big monetary gift, right? That he's going to give to the churches. And is going to bless them and, and, and they're going to, and he, he sees how it's going to be used.

And this is what James and the brothers asked him to do. Would you please use some of your money to pay for four Jewish believers who have embraced Christ, but who are now going through some purification rites in the temple, and it's very expensive, and it was very expensive, the things they were going to do.

And would you also go through some purification rites in the temple when you go in? These are things Paul doesn't believe in anymore. These are things he's telling Gentile Christians, you don't have to do this. So they say, take the money that he's raised for months, that he knows is gonna be used to bring everybody together.

And rather, he's using it, spending it on stuff that he doesn't believe in. He's not saying it's evil, but it's just, it's not necessary. To me, it is such a picture of the willingness of Paul humbly to defer to others. His vision didn't get fulfilled. His plan didn't happen. His strategy got neglected. He came in, in the way he did, as a man who was willing to defer his plans to others with humility.

We see the character of a person, of a Christian, of a you and a me. When we're in an environment, a culture, or a business side, or a family, or whatever it might be, Where there is ostracism, where there is attacks, and we associate it with the name of Christ, and we just, we need to process, I gotta evaluate my conscience, is, is some of this me?

Can I really say I have a conscience before others that I am treating them in the way Jesus would? Or is this just, they're ticked at the way I act? Or the way I speak about it? We're evaluating, are we deferring? Are we showing the spirit here? Christianity is always under assault. But it should be for its declaration of righteous standards and then presented humbly, gently by a person who is not fighting for their own, but is modeling the model of Christ and of Paul.

Let's pray together. Lord,

so much I've learned about the Apostle Paul in this series. This bold, courageous, gifted leader and preacher, and yet a man who deferred to other people. A man who kept a clear conscience, who kept short accounts with people and made things right. A man who admonishes your people to speak with gentleness and without grumbling, to then live as lights in the world.

Lord, there's so much we can learn. Thank you, even what we can learn in a passage like this, that on first glance we just wonder, how in the world do I interject myself here? We love your word. how it speaks into us in Jesus name. Amen. We've mentioned that we're closing our services these days with, uh, well, not only a closing song, but we have a prayer team.

And I just wanted to mention this. I want to invite you to come as we stand and sing and just have someone pray with you. You know, coming forward doesn't mean that you're coming forward because your life is far from God and you've got to now repent. It could mean that, but we don't know. For most of you, coming forward will be to pray about a situation you're in, a decision you need to make, a child you're concerned about, or a loved one, or, or, or a report that's coming, or you've recently had that you're deeply weighed down about.

Last Sunday, one of the guys that is on our prayer team in the 1030 service served that Sunday. He was on the schedule then. He came to the 9 o'clock service. He came forward for prayer, and then at 10 30, he was praying for others. I love that. These are not holy or people. We're just people. We're praying for each other all the time.

And if God prompts you that, hey, why don't you just have somebody else pray with you and take it to the Lord? Man, I invite you to come and just have somebody pray with you this morning.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/a-godly-response-to-attack 29fa485e-717d-4820-b320-cb05753f195a Sun, 10 Sep 2023 13:41:06 GMT <div data-html="true">Acts 24 <br /><br /> <span> I believe everything that is in accordance with the Law and that is written in the Prophets,</span> <span>and I have the same hope in God as these men themselves have...</span> <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> Morning, everybody. Welcome Collingswood. I don't know if anybody's braving it outside, those that are in the lobby. Mike described it as a construction site. It's actually pretty nice out there. But, um, when it's all set up for you, if you, if you don't have enough seats around here and for those of you that are down there, welcome to you as well. <br /><br /> Uh, we're going to be looking at Acts chapter 24 this morning as we continue in our series, a return to our series, uh, the spirit at work to the ends of the earth in the book of Acts. And I'm going to ask you to turn there because I'm going to be reading from Acts 24. But Mike mentioned the seminar. That, uh, I'm leading this coming weekend and I wanted to say one more thing about it. <br /><br /> First of all, this, this is the, um, booklet that we're going to be giving out. These are some cards, uh, that if you could, if you had seen the quality of them when I gave them to Ben Painter and what they came out with, you would be again marveling at what the man can do. But I wanted to just raise and answer a simple question about the seminar. <br /><br /> And it is. Mark, why are you doing the seminar on awe? I mean, it's a concept. It sort of harmed it hard to put your arms around and I'm doing the seminar on awe because it is a topic I am. I am deeply passionate about. I want to explain why that is. A number of years ago, I was on vacation and I just felt constrained, um, to put together some values for myself, what I felt God has built, had built in over the years. <br /><br /> And most of all, to just think, Lord, what, what is my vision and mission for the rest of my life? And what do I think you've built into me for this? And I was thinking about my role as a pastor. I was thinking about just my, my role as a Christian man. With the gifting that I felt God had given me and with the things that God had most burdened me with. <br /><br /> And, honestly, there are lots of things that, you know, could be put down by someone that's in a church leadership position. Um, I thought about, uh, should I say that my, my, my vision is to lead people to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. And I want to do that, but honestly, um, that isn't my ultimate passion. <br /><br /> Um, I thought, well, maybe it's to be a visionary. And, but I'm not a great visionary, um, to be a dynamic leader. And I do feel God has called me to lead. But when I sifted it all down and I thought, what is it that lights my fire? What is it that when I get up in the morning and I ask God, God use me today? <br /><br /> What, what is it that I feel he's called me to do and what I want to do? And it came out in this very simple statement, which I have prayed I don't know how many millions of times. I felt called to influence others to trust God. That doesn't sound very exciting or sexy or, should I use that word? But, uh, but, <br /><br /> I want people to know He's worthy of your trust. In my own life, I've grown in trusting God. By being awed by Him. Exodus 14, as the people of Israel are standing by the side of the Red Sea and they're looking back and realizing He has just rescued them in this astonishing way. This amazing verse is stated, it says this, the people of Israel were awed by God and put their trust in Him. <br /><br /> I love that verse. It's my story too. When I'm awed, I trust. So I'm sharing this seminar to help people put their trust in God by being awed by Him. People that I'm praying for, the types of people, or people that are suffering, or people that are confused, people that are trying to establish their walk with Christ, people that are trapped in sin, or are afraid, or are discouraged. <br /><br /> Or are lonely, or are stressed, or are lethargic in their spiritual journey because I truly believe awe, being stunned with God, is what causes us to lean into Him and trust Him. I've asked different people to share their stories, stories I've heard through the years from a part of our church family, to share how God awed them are not big. <br /><br /> life, life changing deliverance moments. They're small moments where God made Himself known to them when they looked for Him. But they're reminders that God shows up when you look for Him. And He does it in amazingly creative ways. I want you to hear those stories because I want you to trust God. And I want to ask you this morning to pray for this seminar. <br /><br /> That people will be encouraged to trust God more deeply. Because they let him awe them more consistently. That's why I'm doing this seminar. Acts chapter 24. Acts chapter 24. Uh, we're coming now in our continuing series in the book of Acts. And the focus this morning that I'm sharing is... A godly response to attack. <br /><br /> Here's what we read. And after five days the high priest Athanias came down with some elders and a spokesman, one Tertullus. They laid before the governor, this is in Caesarea, their case against Paul. And when he had been summoned, Tertullus began to accuse him, saying, Since through you we enjoy much peace, and since by your foresight, Modest, most excellent, feel us, reforms are being made for this nation. <br /><br /> In every way and everywhere, we accept this with all gratitude. But to detain you no further, I beg you in your kindness to hear us briefly. For we have found this man a plague, one who stirs up riots among all the Jews throughout the world and is a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes. He even tried to profane the temple, but we seized him. <br /><br /> And by examining him yourself, you will be able to find out from him about everything of which we accuse him. The Jews also joined in the charge, affirming that all these things were so. And when the governor had nodded to him to speak, Paul replied, knowing that for many years you have been a judge over this nation, I cheerfully make my defense. <br /><br /> You can verify that it is not more than twelve days since I went up to worship in Jerusalem, and they did not find me despairing, disputing with anyone or stirring up a crowd, either in the temple or in the synagogues or in the city. Neither can they prove to you what they now bring up against me. But this I confess to you that according to the way, which they call a sect, I worship the God of our fathers, believing everything laid down by the law and written in the prophets, having a hope in God, which these men themselves accept, that there will be a resurrection of both the just and the unjust. <br /><br /> So I always take pains to have a clear conscience towards both God and man. Now after several years, I came to bring alms in my to my nation and to present offerings. While I was doing this, they found me purified in the temple without any crowd or tumult. But some Jews from Asia, they can't, they ought to be here before you and to make an accusation should they have anything against me. <br /><br /> Or else let these men themselves say what wrongdoing they found when I stood before the council. Other than this one thing that I cried out while standing among them, it is with respect to the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial before you this day. But Felix, having a rather accurate knowledge of the way, put them off, saying, When Lysias the tribune comes down, I'll decide your case. <br /><br /> Then he gave orders to the centurion that he should be kept in custody because, but have some liberty, and that none of his, that some of his friends should be prevented. His friends were allowed to come. And after some days, Felix came with his wife, Drusilla, who was Jewish. And he sent for Paul, and heard him speak about faith in Christ Jesus. <br /><br /> And as he reasoned about righteousness and self control in the coming judgment, Felix was alarmed and said, Go away for the present. When I get an opportunity, I'll summon you. At the same time, he hoped that money would be given him by Paul. So he sent for him often and conversed with them. And when two years had elapsed, Felix was succeeded by Portia Festus. <br /><br /> And desiring to do the Jews a favor, Felix left Paul in prison. Lord, we come to you this morning. God, we've already worshipped in the things that we've sung. <br /><br /> Lord Jesus, you are worthy of your name. Jesus, Deliverer, Savior. You've been that to so many of us. We see it so many ways in our lives. Lord, we ask now that you would open this scripture to us. Be our teacher and our guide into truth, I pray, in Jesus name. Amen. <br /><br /> I remember reading the book by Louis L'Amour. It's called The Last Breed. It's the story of, uh, the last, yeah, the last breed. And it's the story of, uh, of a Native American Navy pilot, um, that was shot down. Uh, his name was Major Joseph Makotozi. He was shot down and caught. It's a fictitious story, but it's a great story. <br /><br /> And he's shot down and they capture him and they actually take him into the Soviet Union. This was during the time of the Soviet bloc. And he's taken to a hidden camp in Siberia. And, they're there going to interrogate him, find out everything he knows, because they know he's very much in the know of the most advanced technology, uh, of, of Air Force and Navy, uh, jets and fighters. <br /><br /> And so, they take him there, first couple of days, they just beat him to death. I mean, they pummel the guy, he's barely alive. And he knows that he's not going to live long in this location. So he escapes. And he's a Native American. He knows all the wilds of the, of the wilderness. And the story is about him from the eastern side, western side of Siberia, going all the way to the Pacific Ocean, avoiding thousands of soldiers on the way. <br /><br /> It's a fascinating story. It's a story in the heart of the winter of this guy who goes out with no, no coats, no gloves, no nothing. And, and, and he's out there and how he. He, he digs little caves underneath the ice that is covering the, the, the, the land next to rivers. I mean, he's hiding in tree trunks. I mean, it's just fascinating story. <br /><br /> And, and one night as I was reading, it all of a sudden struck me, the utter incongruity <br /><br /> Here I was reading this story about a man who is working his way, this warrior working his way across the frozen tundra of Siberia. Thousands of soldiers after him, and I am reading under the covers of my heated water bed. And the whole incongruity is, what do I have to identify with this guy at all? I had sort of the same reaction as I came to Acts 24. <br /><br /> I mean, here's Paul. He's appearing before the religious mucky mucks of the nation of Israel. They're being brought in with their lawyer, presenting their case against him to the Roman governor. Who is the appointed regent over the eastern side of the Roman Empire. And as he stands there, he's giving this defense. <br /><br /> And you look at this passage and you say, This is a really cool story, but how do I interject me in this? And it isn't just that we read the Bible like it's a good adventure story, right? We're looking to say, God, what are you saying to my life? What are you teaching me about living to your glory here? And I would suggest that one point of connection for us is how Paul responded when he faced a situation where he and the gospel were under attack. <br /><br /> I want to remind you from Pastor Ben's sermon last Sunday that we find Paul here in a city called Caesarea. He's been taken, um, under guard by Romans. Actually, there are 40, literally 40 assassins. that have promised they won't eat again until they have killed him. These guys grew very hungry, and they, so he goes the 75 miles north to Caesarea, and he's now in what is the central Roman fortress in the entire eastern block of the Roman Empire, at the eastern end. <br /><br /> This is where the Romans have their great strength, this is where their leadership is, and he's brought before the governor of the whole territory named Felix. In his message last week about, as he called it, plots and promises, Ben highlighted that Paul was not operating on his own plan. It had been blown up. <br /><br /> But he was trusting in the purposes and promises of God. That's where we find Paul here in Acts 24. And what's taking place here, the accusers, their lawyer is their spokesman. are brought in by the Roman governor. They've traveled the 75 miles to bring their case against Paul and in their attacks and notably in Paul's handling himself under attacks for his faith, which moves into even attacks on his personhood. <br /><br /> There's a lot for us to learn because if you're a believer in Jesus Christ and you're trying to wholeheartedly live as a follower of Christ, Not everyone is going to appreciate your life or your beliefs. We must recognize that we can be part of the problem, right? That the gospel is an offense, but we can be that as well. <br /><br /> I was reading a Barna poll that came out. It was the end of May 23rd, 2023. It was less than four months ago. And in the poll, the question was asked, it was a national poll, fairly extensive poll, and they asked people. How do you feel towards Christianity? Broad statement, but some insightful info. First of all, they, they gave the summary of the answer of Christian, towards Christianity from the general population. <br /><br /> Um, and basically they were asking, do you feel positively or negatively towards Christianity? 71 percent of the general population, now of course this includes people like us that are for most of us are, are in. 71 percent said they feel positively. Good news. How do you feel towards churches? 47 percent felt positively. <br /><br /> How do you feel towards evangelicals? 26 percent felt positively. But when you dial it down a little more and dig a little deeper, they also Pulled out the response of the nons. The nons are people that say, I have no faith, no real religious affiliation. And this was the response of those truly secularized people in our culture, of which there are many that we are doing life with. <br /><br /> How do you feel towards Christianity and specifically? How much do you feel positively toward Jesus Christ? 40 percent said, yes, I feel positively to what I know about Jesus Christ. How do you feel towards your church? 22 percent felt positively. How do you feel towards evangelicals? 9 percent felt positively. <br /><br /> But the most interesting question to me was the next one and the final one I'll mention. They asked of those with no faith, why? Do you doubt Christian beliefs and why do you feel negatively toward them? And they gave them all kinds of options. There were lots of options. Uh, science. I don't believe it's scientific. <br /><br /> There are certainly people who feel that way. Um, uh, that the presence of suffering in the world, I can't believe there's really a God that is actively involved. Um, Christianity's view of One religion, no, uh, being the, the right way through Christ, that one religion can't have all the answers. Then they had lots of others, but a lot of real things that people say. <br /><br /> But the overwhelmingly prominent reason that those who said, I have no faith commitment gave to why they doubted the reality and, and did not embrace Christian faith was this. The behavior of Christian people. They went on to talk about lack of compassion. They went on to talk about, uh, vitriol and anger. <br /><br /> I'm not saying everybody here is that. I'm not, I'm not saying any. And I'm also not saying any of us are not guilty of that. But these questions remind us that Christianity and Christ are not necessarily associated. We would like to think the historic evangelical church, and honestly the word evangelical is a word I'm careful with today, because it means different things than I mean by it. <br /><br /> To a lot of people. I read a statement recently and it was, uh, by a writer I greatly appreciate, Tim Keller. He said this, the question many in our culture has, are asking has changed from, Is Christianity the answer to our problems? To, is Christianity the source of our problems? Paul faced an environment in which he was contended with that very question. <br /><br /> These people felt Christianity And Christian reps were the problem. We'll see that in a second. And in that environment, his way of responding shows us how to conduct ourselves in an environment that is hostile, ultimately, but quite honestly, is more open to Jesus than he is to his people. We see the attack, first of all. <br /><br /> It's found in these first few verses, and I'm going to summarize it. It's found in verses 5 and following down through verse 10, verse 9. And there are three attacks. And basically they're trying to present the case that Christians, Paul as a rap, is, are a menace to society. And they say three reasons. <br /><br /> Number one, Paul is a disease. For we have found this man a plague. He's an infection. He is a cancer. There are certainly people that say that and feel that way today. You're, you Christians, your view on morality and social issues, your, <br /><br /> your narrowness, your not accepting of everyone and lifestyle choices, certainly hostility, is directed toward Jesus Christ and His description of moral and sinful practices. On the very definition of righteousness, Jesus says in the world you're going to have persecution as a follower of me. It's a real thing. <br /><br /> It's going to happen. But, so from their standpoint, when they say Christianity is, and you Christians, and notably you Paul, are a disease, we understand. And I would say for them, this was true. They felt this, you're messing with everything with this faith that you have. We see a second attack. They said Paul is a danger, one who stirs up riots among all the Jews throughout the world. <br /><br /> He's a danger to the public order. This one they were really happy to share because this is the kind of thing would definitely get the attention of a Roman leader. So, and, and Paul then is going to say, you know where they got this from? And we know that from Acts chapter 21 and 22. This actually came when Paul showed up in Jerusalem, with eight associates who were all Gentiles from all over the Mediterranean Roman world. <br /><br /> And a couple of them came from Ephesus. And one of them was a guy named Trophimus. And there were Jewish, uh, uh, believers, Jewish people that came for the feast day from Ephesus. to Jerusalem, and they saw Paul with these guys, and they knew Trophimus, and they knew he was a Gentile, and they thought Paul had taken him into the, the, the temple, and they just lost their minds. <br /><br /> And, and, and they said, this guy is defiling the temple, and so forth. And basically, to them, they see Paul as a guy who's stirring up riots. Well, he did, in, in, in Ephesus. If you remember, they had a whole stadium that was full of people that were ticked off because Paul's preaching was leading people to renounce their idolatry. <br /><br /> And the Temple of Artemis, Temple of Diana, the largest temple in the world at that time. And all the idol makers, the guild of idol makers got together. The president of the guild got them together, a guy named Demetrius. And he says, we got to stop this guy. I mean, he's killing our economy. And so they got everybody stirred up, and there was a riot, and the, and the, the, the mayor of Ephesus had to calm it down. <br /><br /> And so, this is what they're referring to. And basically, the gospel was a threat. It resulted in changed lives. When people were baptized as followers of Jesus, people felt betrayed. In Jewish families, in Gentile families, when they saw their, their, their loved ones turning away. It messed up the economy for some people. <br /><br /> Now, the idea was not that Christians were stirring up riots, but what was happening, the result of Christian faith in people's lives, was causing riots. People were upset. So, Peter talks about this. He says it in 1 Peter chapter 4, verses 2 through 4. He's talking to Christians and he says, you used to live for human passions, but now, but you no longer live for human passions, but for the will of God. <br /><br /> For the time that has passed, suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. With respect to this, they are surprised when you don't join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you. And, and it's true when the gospel enters people's lives, there are changes and sometimes those are offensive to the old game, to the old buds. <br /><br /> Because now you're saying, I, I still want to be friends, I still want to do life with you, but I'm called to live differently in certain areas of my life. And so the second charge against Paul, we find was partly true. Christians were not stirring up riots as they were accusing Paul of doing. But riots were stirred up because of them. <br /><br /> The third accusation of Paul is this, he's a disruptor. He's a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes. He even tries to profane the temple and we seized him. The idea here was that, you know, he brings in these Gentiles into, he tries to bring them into the temple. He's profaning the temple, defiling it. <br /><br /> He's trying to undermine the entire system. This was a total fabrication. It was a misunderstanding. They thought he did this. He actually didn't do this. He defends himself and it was clear earlier. So here we have these three things that have come against Paul. Some things are true. Some things are partial truth. <br /><br /> And some are complete misunderstandings. You will have all of those as a follower of Christ. You will have things you can't explain. No, no, I don't feel like, no. And you feel frustrated and you feel angry. Why are we being placed in this category? It's going to happen and it happened to Paul. So here's what's happening Complete misunderstandings some things that are absolutely true some things that are partial truth. <br /><br /> So what do we do? Well, what did he do? Well, I want to rip through four things quickly that he did number one. He defended himself with gentleness and confidence We see this in verse 10 through 13, but Paul responds with a measured gentle confident response He says a couple of things. He said, I didn't, actually, I didn't start riots. <br /><br /> I was only here for 12 days after being gone for years. I didn't have time to get a following to rally around. I didn't get into contentious debates in the temple or in the city. I didn't profane the temple, I didn't, I, I actually ceremoniously got myself cleansed, which he did. And he said, but I didn't bring Gentiles in, I didn't do what's, what's, so he gently but forthrightly said, no, these things are not true. <br /><br /> There is a real place for defending the gospel and the word of God, what's true. But Paul goes to great pains to deny that his demeanor and spirit were that of a fighter and a troublemaker. So it's important today, right? If, if culture is saying, Jesus, yeah, I, I can see some credibility, but people that are identified with Christ, their behavior is, is utter, it, it doesn't fit with what I understand of Christ. <br /><br /> You may say, well, they don't really understand Christ. Probably that's true to a degree, but they understand some. They understand the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount, some. They understand that the, the primary mark, uh, in a survey years ago, they asked, what's the primary word? It's a cultural, uh, survey. <br /><br /> What's a primary word to describe Jesus Christ? Our culture, the primary answer was, He's gentle. <br /><br /> Peter weighs in on this very topic in 1 Peter 3, and he talks about Christians who are suffering, really suffering. They're facing the attacks. They're facing the fact that they're being called a disease. They're being called, they're being maligned. They're being misunderstood. They're losing stuff because of Jesus. <br /><br /> And here's what he tells them. He says, Be ready always to give a reason for the hope that you have, but do it with gentleness and respect. This is 1 Peter 3, verse 15 and 16. Having a good conscience, so when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. That there's gentleness and there is respect. <br /><br /> Paul weighs in, in Philippians 2, when he says, do all things without grumbling or disputing. Why? So that you might shine as lights in the world. Guys, our culture is angry, divisive, divided into rabid camps, grumbling, disputing. But we're called to shine as lights in the world by the good behavior and respect that we show to others. <br /><br /> The gentleness of Christ. Paul, even in his defending himself, is respectful. In each of the times we see him presented. The second thing we find, He declared His allegiance to Jesus with boldness. If you look at verse 14 and 15, you notice what He talks about. It's Jesus Christ. He says, you know, I, I, no I didn't do this, I didn't do this, but I do want to be honest about one thing. <br /><br /> I do believe differently than these guys. I do differ with them. I do have a position that believes that the Messiah is Jesus Christ. And I do believe that He rose from the dead. And that really is the one that sets everybody off. He's willing to identify with it. So what does that teach us? Well, that there are going to be times when we have to say we differ here. <br /><br /> I own it. I do have a different view of morality and sensuality but it's not my idea. I'm putting myself under what I truly believe. The scriptures and Jesus teaching says we can't run from that. Paul doesn't run from that. He speaks boldly to Felix. One other thing I just want to highlight, if you look down at verse 24 and following, after the, the religious leaders are dismissed and basically Felix says, I don't know, I'm going to talk to the, the, the, the tribune, the Roman guy that brought you up. <br /><br /> Basically, he's just dismissing these guys. Thanks for coming. Thanks for sharing. Goodbye. But then, he holds Paul for two years. And in his initial discussion with Paul, he and his wife, Drusilla, Meet with Paul, and there's a fascinating thing that's going on in this conversation. Here's what happened in verse 25. <br /><br /> They, they wanted, verse 26, and he, and he sent for Paul, and he heard him speak about faith in Christ Jesus. And as Paul reasoned about righteousness and self control in the coming judgment, Felix, Felix was alarmed and said, Go away for the present. When I get an opportunity, I will summon you. Now, here's what's happening. <br /><br /> Paul is talking about righteousness, which means justice, treating people righteously according to God. Secondly, self control, the ability to say no to yourself. Third, about a coming judgment, a future judgment for sins that have happened in this life that you answer in the life to come. That's what Paul's talking to him about. <br /><br /> And it says, Felix was alarmed. You know why? Because Felix was an old man, relatively speaking, to his young babe, Rusilla, who's his wife, who was legendary for her astonishing beauty. She'd been married to a guy. He went after her. He talked her into divorcing her husband. She was Jewish. It was a scandal in the, in the entire region. <br /><br /> He took her, he had two other wives. He brought her in and... And they know what they've done is utterly against her faith, at least. And so now Paul starts talking about righteousness, treating people justly, I mean, like the husband. Um, self control, saying no to yourself. So here's this thing. And what's Felix's response? <br /><br /> It's he's alarmed. What are you saying? Oh, look at the time. Conversations over. I'll see you again another time. Paul is saying stuff that was alarming, different. If you're a believer in Jesus Christ, you're gonna have some conversations where you have to share things honestly because you're in a position you need to share truth and you need to own it. <br /><br /> If nobody in your office knows that you're a follower of Jesus Christ, if nobody in your circle of friends is really ever uncomfortable with the choices you're making, and their life is the life 1 Peter described, of the life that your life was before you came to Christ, There's something wrong. There has to be some sense. <br /><br /> And you don't have to say, I'm rejecting these friends because, you know, they might tarnish me. Well, then you'll get what you deserve. There has to be some degree of speaking what's true. Third, Paul determines to keep his conscience clear before God and man. So I always, in verse 16, so I always take pains to have a clear conscience toward both God and man. <br /><br /> Both times Paul appears before. These guys it happened in Jerusalem a couple chapters back and now it happens again. He makes this statement. It's an odd statement Why would he say this? I mean, who's he trying to convince? Why is he saying this to them? We understand why he's saying no, my conscience is clear before God Well, of course, he's saying, I really believe what I'm sharing, the truths that I'm presenting. <br /><br /> Actually, as a follower of the way, that we're not rejecting the Old Testament. Actually, we are the, the fulfillment of where the Old Testament is going. We are the way that the Old Testament has led to towards the Messiah. But why mention I have conscience, a good conscience, a clear conscience toward men? <br /><br /> I'd suggest, because when you're being attacked, God always prompts you to reflect on your own heart. In both these cases, when Paul's being questioned, he said, I really feel my conscience is clear before God, but also before people. For Paul, maybe he's asking himself, or has asked himself, Am I the offense here? <br /><br /> Is my way causing people to not hear the message of Christ? I know the offense of Christ, the message of Christ can be an offense. But is it me? Is there something that God wants me to share with it? Am I doing things in a way, in the way I respond, that is harmful? A godly response to attack, to slander, to accusation, to rebuke, to, to diminishing your Christian, uh, opportunities. <br /><br /> Always start with a humble investigation of your own heart. Which part of what they're saying. It's because of what's true in me, in the way I am speaking, the way I carry myself here. Paul said, I always take pains to keep a clear conscience. It's used, the word taking pains is used of an artist laboring. <br /><br /> He labored to evaluate his own heart and say, am I walking the walk? Because people smell hypocrisy, right? We do. You do. They do. Others do. Towards us. Am I walking the walk? Jesus has a 40 percent positive image, Christian or Evangelicals, for people of no faith, nine. Having a clear conscience is an incredible gift. <br /><br /> Maybe God is speaking to you now about the need of one. Last thing, Paul defers his plans to others with humility. Verse 17 and 18, he's talking about when he came to Jerusalem. This is one of my favorite passages, my favorite visuals. in about four chapters here in Acts. Here's what he says in verse 17. <br /><br /> Now, after several years, after his three missionary journeys, seven years long, I came to bring alms to my nation to present offerings. While I was doing this, they found me purified in the temple without any crowd or tumult. But some Jews from Asia, and actually they ought to be here bringing an accusation, which was true. <br /><br /> Here's what happened. When Paul showed up in Judea, remember he took the missionary journeys and he came and he landed. And then he, he, when he, when he arrived in Judea, he came with a real plan. His plan was to bring the monetary gifts of all the churches that he'd spent a couple of years raising money from all these Gentile churches. <br /><br /> And he was bringing the money to Jerusalem as a gift from the churches to say, we're with you and this is our way of giving back. You have spiritually blessed us. The gospel and Christ is come up through Judaism and you are Jewish brothers and sisters. We now want to help you financially because they were facing tremendous financial deprivation there in Judea partly for their faith Partly because there was a famine. <br /><br /> So Paul came and he thought this is going to be a way of uniting the churches You know, we're going to be able to and we're going to give this money So Paul arrives and here's the first thing that happens. He meets with the religious leaders This is found in earlier chapter 20 22 So he shows up and James the leader of the church and all the other elders appears to them And they say, Paul, first thing, you need to be really quiet. <br /><br /> There's real, real venom towards you among the Jews. And we're in a, we're in a hard spot here. And so you need to not, we know you. You need to sit on yourself, buddy. And you need to be quiet. And so Paul, even in this passage, is saying to Felix, I haven't gotten in arguments with anybody. Not in the temple, not in Jerusalem. <br /><br /> I mean, I'm a mouse for me. And he says, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm honoring. Basically, that's what he's doing. He's deferring. But here's what also happened. James and the others said, Paul, this is what we would suggest you do. He's got this big monetary gift, right? That he's going to give to the churches. And is going to bless them and, and, and they're going to, and he, he sees how it's going to be used. <br /><br /> And this is what James and the brothers asked him to do. Would you please use some of your money to pay for four Jewish believers who have embraced Christ, but who are now going through some purification rites in the temple, and it's very expensive, and it was very expensive, the things they were going to do. <br /><br /> And would you also go through some purification rites in the temple when you go in? These are things Paul doesn't believe in anymore. These are things he's telling Gentile Christians, you don't have to do this. So they say, take the money that he's raised for months, that he knows is gonna be used to bring everybody together. <br /><br /> And rather, he's using it, spending it on stuff that he doesn't believe in. He's not saying it's evil, but it's just, it's not necessary. To me, it is such a picture of the willingness of Paul humbly to defer to others. His vision didn't get fulfilled. His plan didn't happen. His strategy got neglected. He came in, in the way he did, as a man who was willing to defer his plans to others with humility. <br /><br /> We see the character of a person, of a Christian, of a you and a me. When we're in an environment, a culture, or a business side, or a family, or whatever it might be, Where there is ostracism, where there is attacks, and we associate it with the name of Christ, and we just, we need to process, I gotta evaluate my conscience, is, is some of this me? <br /><br /> Can I really say I have a conscience before others that I am treating them in the way Jesus would? Or is this just, they're ticked at the way I act? Or the way I speak about it? We're evaluating, are we deferring? Are we showing the spirit here? Christianity is always under assault. But it should be for its declaration of righteous standards and then presented humbly, gently by a person who is not fighting for their own, but is modeling the model of Christ and of Paul. <br /><br /> Let's pray together. Lord, <br /><br /> so much I've learned about the Apostle Paul in this series. This bold, courageous, gifted leader and preacher, and yet a man who deferred to other people. A man who kept a clear conscience, who kept short accounts with people and made things right. A man who admonishes your people to speak with gentleness and without grumbling, to then live as lights in the world. <br /><br /> Lord, there's so much we can learn. Thank you, even what we can learn in a passage like this, that on first glance we just wonder, how in the world do I interject myself here? We love your word. how it speaks into us in Jesus name. Amen. We've mentioned that we're closing our services these days with, uh, well, not only a closing song, but we have a prayer team. <br /><br /> And I just wanted to mention this. I want to invite you to come as we stand and sing and just have someone pray with you. You know, coming forward doesn't mean that you're coming forward because your life is far from God and you've got to now repent. It could mean that, but we don't know. For most of you, coming forward will be to pray about a situation you're in, a decision you need to make, a child you're concerned about, or a loved one, or, or, or a report that's coming, or you've recently had that you're deeply weighed down about. <br /><br /> Last Sunday, one of the guys that is on our prayer team in the 1030 service served that Sunday. He was on the schedule then. He came to the 9 o'clock service. He came forward for prayer, and then at 10 30, he was praying for others. I love that. These are not holy or people. We're just people. We're praying for each other all the time. <br /><br /> And if God prompts you that, hey, why don't you just have somebody else pray with you and take it to the Lord? Man, I invite you to come and just have somebody pray with you this morning.</div> false no <![CDATA[Plots and Promises]]> Acts 23:11-35

The following night the Lord stood by him and said, “Take courage, for as you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem, so you must testify also in Rome.”



Sermon Transcript:

Good morning. Good morning. It is great to be here with you and to be with those of you in the prayer garden and those with you in Collingswood this morning. Uh, as many of you know, um, my name is Pastor Ben and I got back on sabbatical a month ago, and it is a real treat to be back with you all. And again, a couple things I just felt extremely grateful for this morning.

One is to be a part of a church that would give that privilege of sending my family and I on sabbatical, as you did with Mike last year. And the rhythm of that and the gift, undeserved gift of that, uh, was for our family. We thank you for that. I also, just this morning, am struck here in Mount Laurel as I often end in collinswood of the place of prayer.

That is in the worship. And that when we come together, we don't come together to just learn, to just read, to just speak to one another. We come together to interact with God. And the amount of prayer that is in the worship service in both places brings me great joy. This morning we went to Columbia over our sabbatical, um, for seven weeks over there.

We went there with a two month year old and, uh, a a lot of trusting God is just like saying, okay, and we went over there with a two month year old trying to say, okay, God, we don't know what this is gonna be like. My wife told me before we left, she's like, I'm not worried about anybody medically in our family except for you.

'cause something always seems to happen to you. To which I. Treasured in my heart, all kinds of resentful thoughts like, nah, it's gonna happen. Well, we had a wonderful time down there. We had an incredible time with a Adriana's family, meeting them, her birth family, and, uh, have stacked in a lot of incredible stories, have seen a lot of miracles, um, that happened there at the end of the trip.

It got a little exciting. Uh, some of you may know that I had a. Uh, emergency surgery, uh, two days before leaving. And it, what happened was I started with the, the stomach pain, right? And some of you know where the surgery goes already here, it's appendicitis, not bury the lead. But what happened is, like, I had this stomach pain, and, and the day before we had some friends who were from Chicago, they flew out and they have a nine-year-old who the day before had some stomach pain.

And so she was like laying down in the, the little house where we were and just kind of took a day off. So when I started having stomach pain the next day, all of us thought I had what Clover had. Clover is the nine year old. And as we went out to dinner and, and they said, you know, how are you feeling?

And all that kind of thing. And, and I love, I love being asked about how I'm feeling about, as much as my dad loves being asked about his back. Not much, right? So I come from a, a medically dismissive roots and I carry those on as well. So I am feeling worse and worse and everyone's like, wow. Yeah, man, you and clover.

You and clover. And as things began to like get even more emergency ish, I'm just thinking how tough is clover, right? I am. I'm dying here. Right? I'm, and I can't complain so much because 24 hours earlier the nine year old had it. And guess what? She seemed fine. Turns out what I had was worse than what Clover had.

But we actually went during, this is true during this time. 'cause I'm like, no, I'm fine, I'm fine. We go to the city and when we're in the city, uh, my wife and Clover as so happens are getting their nails done. And then I am outside wandering around the car. Absolutely dying and I'm kneeling on the ground, laying on the ground, little fetal position mixed in.

All kinds of things are going on. The security guy comes up, he speaks as much English as I speak. Spanish, not much. He's asking me, are you okay? In various ways, and I'm like, you know, various things. He uses the word, you wanna go to the infirmary. I don't know what an infirmary is, but the answer to that question for me is always no.

So, Don't go to the infirmary. Eventually we go back. At this point, I am in more pain than I can pretend to dismiss. And by two in the morning I ended up driving back down the mountain from where we were staying and getting the surgery. It was, this was Saturday and then we eventually, our plane tickets were Monday and that was my big concern, are you gonna let me on the plane?

Are you gonna let me fly? And so I'm looking up online, it says five to seven days after having an appendectomy. And I'm like, oh, I hope they have different rules in Columbia. They have different rules in Columbia. So I got outta the hospital on Sunday, we flew back on Monday and we're in the security line and all of a sudden I feel something like I pulled a stitch.

And you're thinking, oh man, is something bad gonna happen to him? That's not what I'm thinking at all. All I'm thinking is, are we not gonna get on this plane? Right? I've got plane tickets for six of us that I don't want to repurchase, so I'm just thinking if I bleed out, I just have to disguise it somehow because I'm the secure line.

So I'm literally thinking what I can kind of put in front of me. 'cause I don't know if I'm gonna bleed. I don't care if I die on that plane. We are getting on that airplane. So we didn't bleed out. We made it home. Uh, but we had an amazing time and very grateful for God's protection and very disappointed that my wife, again, was right.

It was me who needed the surgery. We're gonna pick up today in the Book of Acts. Um, we are in Acts 23. Paul has gone on three missionary journeys and now he finds himself back in Jerusalem and he's having a heck of a time because people are angry with him. We've got different factions of people who are fighting over him.

Interestingly enough, almost all of them don't like each other, but they also don't like him. So they have a con common enemy in Paul and in one another, and it's this whole tumultuous scene as a collision of worldviews are hitting in Jerusalem. I'm gonna start in verse 11, and then go from there. This is after Paul has already faced, uh, tremendous persecution and almost death.

The following night, the Lord stood by him and said, take courage for as you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem. So you must testify also in Rome. When it was day, the Jews made a plot and bound themselves by an oath to neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul. There was more than 40 who made this conspiracy.

They went to chief priests and elders. Instead, we have strictly bound ourselves by an oath to taste no food till we have killed Paul. Now, therefore, you, along with the council, give notice to the Tribune to bring him down to you as though you are going to determine his case more. Exactly. And we are ready to kill him before he comes near.

Now the son of Paul's sister, that's a nephew, for those you keep wrecking record heard of this ambush. So he went and entered the barracks and told Paul. Paul called one of the centurions and said, take this young man to the Tribune. He has something to tell him. So he took him and brought him to the Tribune and said, Paul, the prisoner called me and asked me to bring this young man to you.

And he has something to say. The Tribune took him by the hand and going inside, asked him privately, what is it that you have to tell me? And he said the Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down to the council tomorrow as though they were going to inquire somewhat more closely about him, but do not be persuaded by them for they've bound themselves by an oath to neither eat or drink till they have killed him and now they are ready waiting for your consent.

So the Tribune dismissed the young man charging him. Tell no one. You have informed me of these things. Then he called two centurions. Get ready, 200 soldiers with 70 horsemen and 200 spearmen, and go as far as Caesarea at the third hour of the night. Which is 9:00 PM. Also provide mounts for Paul to ride and bring him safely to Felix, the governor.

And he wrote a letter to this effects Claudius Lisia, which is an amazing name by the way. Claudius Liss to his excellency, the Governor, Felix. Greetings. This man was seized by Jews and was about to be killed by them when I came upon them with the soldiers and rescued him, having learned that he was a Roman citizen and desiring to know the charge for which they were accusing him, I brought him down to their counsel.

I found that he was being accused about questions of their law, but charged with nothing deserving death or imprisonment. And when it was disclosed to me that there would be a plot against the man, I sent 'em to you at once, ordering his accusers also to state before you what they have against him. So the soldiers, according to their instructions, Took Paul and brought him by night to Antipas, and on the next day they returned to the barracks, letting the horsemen go on with them.

When they had come to Caesarea and delivered the letter to the governor, they presented Paul also before him. On reading the letter, he asked what province was he from, and when he had learned that he was from cea, he said, I will give you a hearing when your accusers arrived, and he commanded him to be guarded in Herod's pre auditorium.

Pray with me this morning.

Lord, we ask you for your help as we enter this text and this story. I know it feels like a lot to read, all those verses. We pray that you might guide us and direct us. We remember the scripture of Proverbs three. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding and all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your paths.

My prayer simply this morning is through the life and story of Paul, that you might show us how to do that. You might let trust not be a vague concept out there somewhere, but you might help us better understand how to do that for our lives, how to approach the fall that way. How to live the daily difficult and good things with the daily practical trust.

We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. I wanna start the sermon, the start that the conversation about Acts 23, uh, with a proverb. Proverb nine. Proverbs 1921 says this, many are the plans of the person's heart, but it is the Lord's purposes that prevail. If there was a thesis statement to put on Acts 23, it is Proverbs 1921.

Proverbs 1921 gives us language of what happens in Acts 23. There are the plans or plots of the humans, of the person's heart, and then there are the Lord's purposes which ultimately prevail. We're gonna look at differences and if you have your little, uh, sermon note thing, you'll see a grid, and we're gonna look at what's the difference between the plots of the human heart and what's the difference between trusting in the plans and the plans of God plots and plans plots we're gonna define as this, which we see in our text, well intended every day or long-term plans that are made and carried out without the help of God.

Now we see that we did it well intended every day, long-term plans made without the help, um, and carried out without the help of God. And we say, we, we don't wanna live that way. We, we don't wanna live a guy a, a life that Pastor Mark calls as functionally atheistic of, yes, I might trust him. Yes, I might even know him in a theoretical sense, but, but to live my life with everyday plans that are without him.

We don't want to live that way. If you're anything like me when it comes to planning your life, you don't want to live without the help of God. But it is often how we end up living. It is often how we end up setting our goals. It is often how we determine what we do in each step of the way. We can tend to live as functionally atheistic and just operating on our own plans as opposed to knowing how to trust in the promises of God promises.

We're gonna call this biblical and personal promises that God gives to his people. That always require walking in difficult and delightful trust. If you have spent time walking in trust with God, you know that it is not partially difficult and partially delightful. It is most of the time deeply both of those things, not slightly but deeply.

Both of those things. How do we live in the promises of God and and how do we know? How do we know? Is this my idea or God's idea? This seems like a good one. I'm, I'm planning this for this fall, or I'm planning this for the future, or I'm, I'm thinking this for possible marriage. I'm thinking this for, for possible, um, setting up education or job thing.

How do we know, is this my own plot or is this God's plan? So this morning we're looking at Acts 23 asking the question, how do we practically lead a life that is based not on our own plots and plans, but according to the promises and direction of God? First thing, you'll see this in your chart if you wanna put this in the one a spot, the, when you look at the plots of man, what we see here in this text is the product is what matters.

Right. We have in verse 14 that these, this group of people, this 40 plus group of people went to the chief priests and elders. They went to the people in charge. They were not hiding this from, from the people who were in charge of the law. They were going and saying, this is what we are doing according to what we think we should do.

So they go to the chief priests and to the elders, the very ones that would hold them to the oath that they were making. We have strictly bound ourselves by an oath not to taste any food or drink any drink until we have killed this man. They are passionately zealous about wanting spiritual things. They, they are passionate in their approach to this.

They are dedicated, willing to risk their life for the sake of killing Paul, and, and they can't accomplish what they think they should accomplish by the ordinary means. In verses six through nine that we looked at last week, we see the legal, some of the legal proceedings by which the people were trying to convict.

Paul, the very thing that Claudius Lisia. Again, awesome name. Writes the letter to Felix and he's writing this letter saying, Hey, I looked at what was going on. It didn't seem enough to put him to death or to keep him in jail. And so that's in his letter that's found out in the six through nine passage.

So they can't get him in prison to, to keep him quiet by the normal means of conviction. So, so then there's almost a public riot. Verse 10 says that the dispute became so violent that the commander was afraid that Paul would be torn to pieces by them. It's this violent, this charged of an event that's happening.

So he actually puts Paul in prison to keep him safe because the plot of, um, or the, the legal proceedings were not enough to convict him. The public riot was not enough to kill him. So now they plan to murder him themselves. What is interesting is what they're going to do is violate their own law.

They're gonna violate their own virtues. That deep inside the law is not only do not murder, it is not the right process of someone being imprisoned or put to death to then go and just murder them, them yourself. This is not the right process according to the law that they are passionate about defending.

If you would bring them one by one, one the 40 plus people in, or you brought in the chief priest or the elders who all got behind this plot and said, Hey, what do you think about just taking the law into our own hands and, uh, violating the commandment? Do not murder and violating the commandment. Uh, do not lie because in the text they go, and the part of it is deception.

Elders and chief priests are gonna go say, Hey, we need to question him some more, and on the way he's going to be killed. They're using the classic, the ends justify the means in their mind, in their passionate minds. They see that Paul must die. This threat must be gone. And towards that end, everything else doesn't matter.

We just have to get to the ends. Justify the means. There's a podcast that many of you have. Uh, Heard, uh, about the rise and fall of Mars Hill by Mike Cosper. And, uh, and Mike Cosper looks and evaluates, uh, the danger of living as a church community or as a person of faith in a way that the ends justify the means.

And one of the episodes of the podcast, he talks about Bobby Knight. Anybody know Bobby Knight? Right? Bobby Knight is the the chair guy, the punch, the one of his players guy. He's an Indiana basketball coach who was incredibly effective at winning games and incredibly destructive in the way that he would do that.

But there was all of this controversy because Indiana University wanted to win a lot of basketball games. But the way that Bobby Knight did it was he would put chains on the doors during practices, chains and locks. No one was allowed in. He would, uh, be screaming, berating his players, uh, eventually would punch one of his players.

Kick a chair. He's angry. Angry man. But he won a lot of basketball games, and so it left the University of what to do. Um, and, uh, in the podcast, Mike Cosper talks about a book by fete. He says, this, fete Remi recalls the moment that encapsulate the calculus, the one that knight made. It's what justified the culture of fear, the bullying, the unhinged brashness.

After the Indiana, Illinois game, during which Bob kicked and slammed a chair, kicked a cheerleader's megaphone. Dave Kindred, a superb columnist for the Atlantic Constitution, wrote that he was disappointed to see Knight acting in this way. Kindred, a longtime friend of Knight's, ended the column by writing.

Once again, I find myself wondering when it comes to Bob Knight, if the ends justify the means. A few days later, Knight called Kindred. You need one more line for that column, Knight said, you should have finished by saying, and one more time, I realized that it does. When our good goals become our idols, we will justify just about anything to serve them.

The plots of the human heart, the product is what matters. But what we see in Paul is trusting and relying in the promises of God. It is the process that matters. In verse 11, sets up this whole text. Actually, verse 11 sets up the rest of the Book of Acts. The following night, the Lord stood by him and said, take courage for as you testify to the facts about me and Jerusalem.

So must you testify in Rome. This, this little nugget, this little passage right here. This transition is, is given in transition between different stories in the text, but what God is saying is, Hey, as you have done it here in Jerusalem, you're gonna do it again in Rome. And, and the primary command of the, the imperative of the text is not Paul, go to Rome by any means possible.

It's not. Paul, I want you to get outta here, escape by night. Here's where we're gonna do the, the, the, the exact, uh, here are the exact details of the plan to get you to Rome. He's saying, Paul, your job, take courage and be willing to testify about the facts that you know about me and I will get you to Rome.

What's the promise in the text? The promise is that God is going to deliver him to Rome. This is, I think we have a map. That we can show. Rome is very, very far from Jerusalem. It is further than Bismarck. North Dakota is from right here. Okay? If we think about traveling to Bismarck, north, North Dakota, by means of the way Paul did, he did a lot by sea.

Can't do that to Bismarck. Um, sorry, disappoint, but this is where Paul would have to go from Jerusalem. In this text, he ends up in Caesarea, and then in the following chapters we have this promise fulfilled where he will go. He gets shipwrecked in there somewhere over here by Malta. I think there's some snake action that happens there.

Then eventually he's gonna get back all the way to Rome. Why? Because God promised that Paul was going to Rome. Well, while, while, while the. The p pragmatic approach to saying, oh, we, we see a goal and we wanna get it there. And we see, we see what we want to have, and we're gonna go after it. He's deeply human.

I love what God does with Paul. He doesn't clarify the timeline. He doesn't tell him this is the, this is the step-by-step process. He says, you take courage. You trust in me and I'll get you to Rome. Living a life of trust doesn't include a clarified timeline. It's not a linear plan that's laid out. We're often not given the script before the beginning of the show.

A life of trust involves keeping our hands open. One thing that, uh, on sabbatical that God let me do, um, I I'm gonna just say is I, A lot of things God doesn't let me do. I don't, A lot of times I'm an idea guy and I'll come to the Lord and be like, Lord, I just think this could be so awesome. What do you think most often the Lord's like, no.

Or Wait. And then I'll have another great idea. And then somehow he doesn't always fall for my great ideas, but I said, I'm working on him. I'm working on him. But, and when, when I hear no from the Lord, I don't take it like you are so wise. You know what's best for me, right? I take it like a toddler, like, but I really want to, this last year I turned 40 and I, I, um, I'm one of those nerds that like really wants to, I'm a, I'm a goal setter.

Like, okay, by 40, these are my four words I'm gonna go by in the next 10 years of my life and all that kind of stuff. Trying to figure out what was the Lord. And one of the things that I wanted to be a part of my life was to begin writing. And I turned 40 waiting for the beautiful Shakespearean inspiration to come where all of a sudden I would just start beautiful writing and I, throughout the next months I wrestled with it and the Lord asked me and he told me no.

And actually he told me no enough times that I got, I have a note on my phone where I'm like, things the Lord asked me to lose this year. There was nine and I wanted all of them. And he asked me to live a life of accepting, loss, accepting no. And by his grace, I had to say, okay, because when I am just product oriented, I'm gonna blow through things and hurt people and, and miss and neglect.

But I have to trust the God of process. And I, and I say that because finally, finally, and that's exactly how I felt. Um, while we were on sabbatical, uh, in Columbia, the Lord said, Hey, why don't you start writing? And I was like, okay. So there's still eight things that I felt like the Lord caused me to lose.

Um, but I was able to finish a book while I was on sabbatical. And that's, uh, been an incredible faith building process for me to remember that following God is not just about setting goals. It's or about forcing our way to them. It is the process of living a life of trust. Secondly, plots, plots are self-sufficient.

What we see in this, in these 40 individuals that they were, are going to try to kill Paul, that go to the chiefs. And elders who buy into this plan is not based upon deep prayer. They did not pull open the Torah and try to look through, is this, is this something that'd be a wise decision or not? It is an impulsive decision, not based upon prayer or thoughtful reflection.

And what's interesting is there is zero faith required to pull this off. Their success or failure is based upon the quality of the details and the execution of the leaders. So often that's how we evaluate our thinking about our lives, right? Going into the fall, okay, let's get the details right and let's make sure the person in charge of getting it done gets it done the right way.

Is the goal realistic? Is the goal, uh, possible? Can we achieve this? It's easy to set those goals. And it's easy to hold ourselves accountable to, to finding and filling, fulfilling those goals. But I would argue that a life built upon trust is not built upon self-sufficiency. There's a haunting thing I heard as a pastor, but a guy who planted a couple churches and after he planted a couple churches, he went on to really meet Christ in a powerful way.

And he looked back and he said, I planted both of those churches without the help of Jesus. The churches were pretty successful. That's scary to me. Why? Because we, humans are, we're pretty interesting and neat people. We, we have the image of God and we, we are, we have that creativity. We've got the ability to write and accomplish goals, but it is easy for people who believe deeply in God.

To set up their life in a way that's based upon their own talent and capacity. It's easy in this information age, right? We've got so much information to, to trust in that next article that we read to get out our, our cell phones and say, what's the, the, the latest piece of data that will unlock the cheat code of parenting or wealth or relationships or happiness.

How do we get, what do we do? How do we shape and, and our scripture stays dusty. Our prayer is bland. 'cause we really think that next bit of information will lead us to our own sufficiency, to conquering as opposed to a life of trust. Plots say that I know what needs to be done and I've come up with the resources to get us there.

Plots in the end are all based on me. And while this has the good feeling, the happy feeling of the illusion of control, this way of living has so much pressure because it is all up to me to create and execute the plans on my own. Living a life according to the promises of God always is the second to be always requires the help of God.

I This text, the way God did this was on a string and a prayer. Paul is going to be murdered by these men. This plot is a good one. It makes sense and this plot very likely would have gone through except for Paul's sister's son. We didn't even know Paul had a sister. There's zero mention New Testament like who Paul's sister's son finds out about this plot.

Then all of the, the, the promise of God, of, of God, preserving Paul and getting him to Jerusalem is in the hands of, of, of his nephew and his nephew is allowed into the barracks. We don't know if that was a hard thing or not to be allowed into the barracks and eventually tells Paul, then Paul, now the information is in Paul's hand.

Paul's own life is in his hand. And he turns to a centurion, he turns to a soldier and says, Hey, please take this boy and take him to the commander with the awesome name. Um, take him to the commander. And, and now the whole story is in this soldier's hands. Right? This soldier has the opportunity to say, you're a prisoner.

You know, I, I don't need to listen to you. Lifeguards don't usually like listening to the person who causes all the horseplay, right? Like he, this is the soldier is most likely to bulb blow 'em off. But he is like, alright, I'll do it. It's in the soldier's hands, then it takes from the soldier's hand, then it goes to the commander's hands.

Another person who could eliminate it. Eventually, this would go to Felix's hands. We're gonna see in chapters ahead that this before he gets to Paul. Paul's gonna go through fests hands and a grip's Hands and the hands of the Angry Sea, but see the promises of God. That means for Paul that, oh, he's in his nephew's hands.

Centurion's plans Commander's Hands, Festus, Felix Agrippa. God's promises never leave God's hands, that God is the one who sustains and keeps his promises. Paul's life was always in the hands of God. Living by the promises of God means we are always needing his help. Perhaps the greatest question to ask ourselves of, are we truly living a life trusting in the plans and promises of God, is to ask this simply, do I really need his help?

Is how he is asked, or how I've set up my life, have room for his help? We are more than servants of the King. We depend on the help of the king, major E. And Thomas says, God will never lead us to independence. But I'm just gonna be honest with you. I want independence in everything. I wanna be financially independent.

I want to be like, have everything set up in my life with my kids, with my relationships in my world, so that it is kind of a fortress. So it's independent of anything else that can happen. God will not lead us into a place where we have enough control and strength on our own to carry out our lives. Well, this is what is delightful and difficult about trusting him.

Third plots of men, the plots rely on the on passion and force of the will. Imagine being one of these 40 dudes, right? These 40 guys. What are they risking their lives? What are they risking imprisonment? What they're doing is a Roman crime. What they're going to do to Paul could, if they are caught, put them in prison or put them be put to death because of what they are going to do.

They are passionate about this. They believe in this. They believe this is the right thing to do before God. I really believe that they have a, they are fully passionate and fully wrong. Proverbs 19, two says, it is not good to have zeal without knowledge or to be hasty and miss the way passion, and I, I think we, we rightly say, right, we wanna be passionate for God.

And passion has a place in the person's life. It has a place to, to, to motivate us, to, to seek him. But I think that what can happen is we can become dependent on those feelings of passion in a way that, um, doesn't last a life based on passion. Must be the icing, not the cupcake. A life base on passion is two great weaknesses.

Number one, it's flashy. And by what I mean by that one is that it's exciting. Anyone who has been on fire for God, you know, it is an exciting feeling to, to be, to be really sold out to one thing, to be giving your life to God alone. There's, there's a simplicity, there's an excitement, there's a beauty that comes with, with living passionately.

The hard thing also is it's often temporary. People who, whose goal is to live on fire for God, don't know what to do when it rains, because the part of walking towards Jesus is just putting the next brick on the wall. It is just the daily obedience. A life based on passion can be flashy, it can be fully passionate, but still lose its strength.

Secondly, it's powerful. Uh, power is not a evil thing, but whenever we are around power, we must be very careful. What else is powerful? Anger. Anger makes me feel powerful, right? Who wants to take a nap when they're angry? Nobody. Why? 'cause they're strong. Strong. It's a strong feeling. Passion is a strong feeling.

No one can stop us. And passion can rely and feed even in Christian circles. It can feed the ego and it can lead to a mob mentality. Passion, while being a great thing, cannot be the source of our faith. It is not how we make disciples. Um, three B, how we require how we live and trust is simply. We require p promises of God require daily pro trust.

It can feel as we're in the book of acts like this is a nonstop Paul passion ministry ride. Paul's derailed all the time in this book. He's two years in Corinth. He's, he's a, he's a year here. He's stuck there right now. What's gonna happen, he's gonna go to Caesarea and he's basically gonna sit in a jail cell or inherit pre auditorium for two years.

No bible books are written in those two years, and then eventually he's gonna go, it's gonna be five years before he even gets to Rome to fulfill the promise that we have here. There's long periods of emptiness in Paul's life where he doesn't just have the highlight reel and the Hillsong track in the background, but what he has is the daily faithfulness.

A life of the Christian includes dark seasons, confusing times, and passionless obedience. We need more than a passion for God. We need faithfulness that outlives when the good feelings of passion go away. Eugene Peterson writes a book, long Obedience in the Right Direction. He says this, there's a great market for religious experience in our world.

There is little enthusiasm for the patient acquisition of virtue. Little inclination to sign up for a long apprenticeship in what early generations of Christians called holiness. Fourth, living according to the plans of God or the plots of men. Plots are often foiled plots often go awry in the text.

This, this well intended but evil plot. It does not go through. It does not go. So what happens to these people? Do they starve to death, die of thirst? And some people have looked at that and said, yes, they made this oath. They took it to the elders and chief priests who would bind them by this oath, and so they would have died not being able to fulfill it.

There are four different oaths that they could be released from. This appears to be within one of the four oaths that the chief priest could release these people from their carrying out. So I don't think they died. I think they were ultimately released. But their plans, no matter what, were foiled and man, do we hate it when things go bad, when things go different than we imagined them.

It's not a fun thing to look back on the New Year's resolution list and say, oh wow, those 20 pounds are still here. You know, like it's, it's hard to have plans go the wrong direction. But the promises of God, and I love this in the text, the promises with God. Come with backup, right? Look what it says in the text.

This promise of God that's on a wing and a prayer that's like held by a thread through the centurion and through all of the different leaders that, that Paul will go through before he gets to Rome for this promise to be fulfilled. This is how he, this is how he carried it out. Then he called two centurions and said, get ready.

200 soldiers with 70 horsemen and 200 spearmen to go as far as Caesarea in the third hour of the night also provide mounts. This would be more than one, multiple horses for Saul to ride, to bring him safely to Felix, the governor. The guy's like, all right, you wanna play with 40? I'm sending 470 to guard this man.

This is a battalion, a a, a giant amount of argument. There would even be less security in Jerusalem because of all of the people that are being commissioned to go with Paul. But God made, I promise to Paul. Oh, and God's promises come with God's backup. When God's promise is something God delivers. It's, it's a pretty bold thing to, to have things in scripture, like to say that God always keeps his promises because it only takes one broken promise to one person for that not to be true.

Scripture teaches your life, teaches God keeps his promises. It is so easy to see the angry mob. It is so easy to see the overwhelming odds. And something that's interesting, I, we sang this earlier. We don't face Goliath, but we face our own giants. I love that because like, I'm not a giant and I can't defeat a giant.

A giant's bigger than me, right? Gene told me this morning, I know Gene is, gene told me this morning, he says, you're shorter than I thought. And I thought, you know, like I, I, I can't defeat a giant. That's a good thing. But God's promises come with backup. It is okay if we live a life that is bigger than ourselves, as long as we live it according to his promises.

Because when God promises he comes through Proverbs 1921. Again, many are the plans in the person's heart, but is the Lord's purposes that prevail. Just some quick practical things for practical things of, of living out this trust, living out this trust in a daily sense. One, use broken plans as a divine diving board into the goodness of God.

When your plans are foiled, because guess what? We're gonna make human plans. We're gonna do it again. Of like, oh, I set up my life again with without needing the help of God. But when those plans are foiled, let that be a moment to say, I have a chance to transition from plots to promises. Use it as a diving board into the goodness of God.

Secondly, always be mindful and increasing your prayer to worry ratio. The amount of time that our minds are worried about the future, the next thing for me, it's significant. It's just, I'm just good at it. I'm good at worry, right? So to increase, wow, I'm worrying again about myself, about things for myself, about how I could accomplish it, my own strength to use those times.

Say, okay, I'm gonna increase the prayer time. Now what am I gonna pray about? I'm gonna pray about what I was worrying about. Increase your prayer to worry ratio. Third, when you're tempted to collapse in despair, stand on the promises of God. When you feel like, I just can't do it. I just can't face it. All is lost.

The mob is too big. Stand on the promises of God. There's a moment where Joshua comes before God and he's on his face flat before God, which is like, yeah, that's exactly where I'd be before God. And, and God in this, in really powerful moment in the book of Joshua, you know what he says to Joshua? Joshua, stand up.

Because yes, you need to kneel in, in fidelity, and yes, you need to to to be dependent upon me, but when you're in my presence covered by me, you can stand in strength on the promises of God. Lastly, Spend time listening so that God can promise you something. Specifically, I believe if we truly believe in what the Bible teaches, that we have a God who truly speaks to his people.

I don't believe I do. I believe that, that we're still writing books to the Bible. I don't do I believe that the Holy Spirit specifically speaks promises to his people. I do. I don't. I don't see how you cannot, when you look at the pages of scripture, God speaks and, and I know for some in here, it's like, what is Hes?

What is that like? Well, it does take time to know him. It takes time to recognize his voice. But if you spend time listening and seeking him, seek the Lord with it. Say in the book, Jeremiah, you'll seek me and you will find me when you seek me with all your heart. God does speak, but that does mean we need to listen.

Pray with me. Father, we thank you for your guiding hand, your continual promises, the way that you have, uh, looked out for us. Lord, this is a sea of people in collingswood, in prayer garden and in this gym that has, has seen the promises of God come through time and time again. We worship you for that. We even take this time to sing to you.

In light of that, we give you ourselves, we ask you that you would gently dismantle a lot of the plots that we have going, and you might help us to know how to daily walk in trust and courage to follow you. In the name of Jesus we pray, amen. We have here in Mount Laurel, uh, people up here that you could come and pray with as we sing.

Maybe as you're heading into this fall, you've analyzed and reanalyzed your goals of how to get to where you're going. Might be optimistic, but you realize you're running on your own strength towards your own goals and have not laid them down before the king. Or maybe you're here and you've worried, you've logged your time in the worry machine, you're ringing your hands at all the things that could go wrong, and you look and you see an angry mob in front of you, and you're here this morning saying, I don't wanna leave this building 'cause I know what I have to drive to.

I know what I have to face Monday and what you're facing seems bigger than you are. Maybe you spent your time in the house of despair and collapse. Counting all that is potentially ahead of you for each of us. And these prayer partners are here to just help you cry out. Lord, help me. These things are too big for me.

I have no idea how I'm gonna face this relationship. Financial burden, spiritual confusion, fusion, mental health difficulty. I don't know any more than Paul knew about how in the world he gets to Rome. I need you and I need your promises. Why don't you stand with us and sing? And you're welcome to make use of the prayer team up here as well.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/plots-and-promises b4f81a57-69de-456b-a4ad-9bc1eb977e1a Tue, 05 Sep 2023 09:10:27 GMT <div data-html="true">Acts 23:11-35 <br /><br /> The following night the Lord stood by him and said, “Take courage, for as you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem, so you must testify also in Rome.” <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> Good morning. Good morning. It is great to be here with you and to be with those of you in the prayer garden and those with you in Collingswood this morning. Uh, as many of you know, um, my name is Pastor Ben and I got back on sabbatical a month ago, and it is a real treat to be back with you all. And again, a couple things I just felt extremely grateful for this morning. <br /><br /> One is to be a part of a church that would give that privilege of sending my family and I on sabbatical, as you did with Mike last year. And the rhythm of that and the gift, undeserved gift of that, uh, was for our family. We thank you for that. I also, just this morning, am struck here in Mount Laurel as I often end in collinswood of the place of prayer. <br /><br /> That is in the worship. And that when we come together, we don't come together to just learn, to just read, to just speak to one another. We come together to interact with God. And the amount of prayer that is in the worship service in both places brings me great joy. This morning we went to Columbia over our sabbatical, um, for seven weeks over there. <br /><br /> We went there with a two month year old and, uh, a a lot of trusting God is just like saying, okay, and we went over there with a two month year old trying to say, okay, God, we don't know what this is gonna be like. My wife told me before we left, she's like, I'm not worried about anybody medically in our family except for you. <br /><br /> 'cause something always seems to happen to you. To which I. Treasured in my heart, all kinds of resentful thoughts like, nah, it's gonna happen. Well, we had a wonderful time down there. We had an incredible time with a Adriana's family, meeting them, her birth family, and, uh, have stacked in a lot of incredible stories, have seen a lot of miracles, um, that happened there at the end of the trip. <br /><br /> It got a little exciting. Uh, some of you may know that I had a. Uh, emergency surgery, uh, two days before leaving. And it, what happened was I started with the, the stomach pain, right? And some of you know where the surgery goes already here, it's appendicitis, not bury the lead. But what happened is, like, I had this stomach pain, and, and the day before we had some friends who were from Chicago, they flew out and they have a nine-year-old who the day before had some stomach pain. <br /><br /> And so she was like laying down in the, the little house where we were and just kind of took a day off. So when I started having stomach pain the next day, all of us thought I had what Clover had. Clover is the nine year old. And as we went out to dinner and, and they said, you know, how are you feeling? <br /><br /> And all that kind of thing. And, and I love, I love being asked about how I'm feeling about, as much as my dad loves being asked about his back. Not much, right? So I come from a, a medically dismissive roots and I carry those on as well. So I am feeling worse and worse and everyone's like, wow. Yeah, man, you and clover. <br /><br /> You and clover. And as things began to like get even more emergency ish, I'm just thinking how tough is clover, right? I am. I'm dying here. Right? I'm, and I can't complain so much because 24 hours earlier the nine year old had it. And guess what? She seemed fine. Turns out what I had was worse than what Clover had. <br /><br /> But we actually went during, this is true during this time. 'cause I'm like, no, I'm fine, I'm fine. We go to the city and when we're in the city, uh, my wife and Clover as so happens are getting their nails done. And then I am outside wandering around the car. Absolutely dying and I'm kneeling on the ground, laying on the ground, little fetal position mixed in. <br /><br /> All kinds of things are going on. The security guy comes up, he speaks as much English as I speak. Spanish, not much. He's asking me, are you okay? In various ways, and I'm like, you know, various things. He uses the word, you wanna go to the infirmary. I don't know what an infirmary is, but the answer to that question for me is always no. <br /><br /> So, Don't go to the infirmary. Eventually we go back. At this point, I am in more pain than I can pretend to dismiss. And by two in the morning I ended up driving back down the mountain from where we were staying and getting the surgery. It was, this was Saturday and then we eventually, our plane tickets were Monday and that was my big concern, are you gonna let me on the plane? <br /><br /> Are you gonna let me fly? And so I'm looking up online, it says five to seven days after having an appendectomy. And I'm like, oh, I hope they have different rules in Columbia. They have different rules in Columbia. So I got outta the hospital on Sunday, we flew back on Monday and we're in the security line and all of a sudden I feel something like I pulled a stitch. <br /><br /> And you're thinking, oh man, is something bad gonna happen to him? That's not what I'm thinking at all. All I'm thinking is, are we not gonna get on this plane? Right? I've got plane tickets for six of us that I don't want to repurchase, so I'm just thinking if I bleed out, I just have to disguise it somehow because I'm the secure line. <br /><br /> So I'm literally thinking what I can kind of put in front of me. 'cause I don't know if I'm gonna bleed. I don't care if I die on that plane. We are getting on that airplane. So we didn't bleed out. We made it home. Uh, but we had an amazing time and very grateful for God's protection and very disappointed that my wife, again, was right. <br /><br /> It was me who needed the surgery. We're gonna pick up today in the Book of Acts. Um, we are in Acts 23. Paul has gone on three missionary journeys and now he finds himself back in Jerusalem and he's having a heck of a time because people are angry with him. We've got different factions of people who are fighting over him. <br /><br /> Interestingly enough, almost all of them don't like each other, but they also don't like him. So they have a con common enemy in Paul and in one another, and it's this whole tumultuous scene as a collision of worldviews are hitting in Jerusalem. I'm gonna start in verse 11, and then go from there. This is after Paul has already faced, uh, tremendous persecution and almost death. <br /><br /> The following night, the Lord stood by him and said, take courage for as you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem. So you must testify also in Rome. When it was day, the Jews made a plot and bound themselves by an oath to neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul. There was more than 40 who made this conspiracy. <br /><br /> They went to chief priests and elders. Instead, we have strictly bound ourselves by an oath to taste no food till we have killed Paul. Now, therefore, you, along with the council, give notice to the Tribune to bring him down to you as though you are going to determine his case more. Exactly. And we are ready to kill him before he comes near. <br /><br /> Now the son of Paul's sister, that's a nephew, for those you keep wrecking record heard of this ambush. So he went and entered the barracks and told Paul. Paul called one of the centurions and said, take this young man to the Tribune. He has something to tell him. So he took him and brought him to the Tribune and said, Paul, the prisoner called me and asked me to bring this young man to you. <br /><br /> And he has something to say. The Tribune took him by the hand and going inside, asked him privately, what is it that you have to tell me? And he said the Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down to the council tomorrow as though they were going to inquire somewhat more closely about him, but do not be persuaded by them for they've bound themselves by an oath to neither eat or drink till they have killed him and now they are ready waiting for your consent. <br /><br /> So the Tribune dismissed the young man charging him. Tell no one. You have informed me of these things. Then he called two centurions. Get ready, 200 soldiers with 70 horsemen and 200 spearmen, and go as far as Caesarea at the third hour of the night. Which is 9:00 PM. Also provide mounts for Paul to ride and bring him safely to Felix, the governor. <br /><br /> And he wrote a letter to this effects Claudius Lisia, which is an amazing name by the way. Claudius Liss to his excellency, the Governor, Felix. Greetings. This man was seized by Jews and was about to be killed by them when I came upon them with the soldiers and rescued him, having learned that he was a Roman citizen and desiring to know the charge for which they were accusing him, I brought him down to their counsel. <br /><br /> I found that he was being accused about questions of their law, but charged with nothing deserving death or imprisonment. And when it was disclosed to me that there would be a plot against the man, I sent 'em to you at once, ordering his accusers also to state before you what they have against him. So the soldiers, according to their instructions, Took Paul and brought him by night to Antipas, and on the next day they returned to the barracks, letting the horsemen go on with them. <br /><br /> When they had come to Caesarea and delivered the letter to the governor, they presented Paul also before him. On reading the letter, he asked what province was he from, and when he had learned that he was from cea, he said, I will give you a hearing when your accusers arrived, and he commanded him to be guarded in Herod's pre auditorium. <br /><br /> Pray with me this morning. <br /><br /> Lord, we ask you for your help as we enter this text and this story. I know it feels like a lot to read, all those verses. We pray that you might guide us and direct us. We remember the scripture of Proverbs three. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding and all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your paths. <br /><br /> My prayer simply this morning is through the life and story of Paul, that you might show us how to do that. You might let trust not be a vague concept out there somewhere, but you might help us better understand how to do that for our lives, how to approach the fall that way. How to live the daily difficult and good things with the daily practical trust. <br /><br /> We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. I wanna start the sermon, the start that the conversation about Acts 23, uh, with a proverb. Proverb nine. Proverbs 1921 says this, many are the plans of the person's heart, but it is the Lord's purposes that prevail. If there was a thesis statement to put on Acts 23, it is Proverbs 1921. <br /><br /> Proverbs 1921 gives us language of what happens in Acts 23. There are the plans or plots of the humans, of the person's heart, and then there are the Lord's purposes which ultimately prevail. We're gonna look at differences and if you have your little, uh, sermon note thing, you'll see a grid, and we're gonna look at what's the difference between the plots of the human heart and what's the difference between trusting in the plans and the plans of God plots and plans plots we're gonna define as this, which we see in our text, well intended every day or long-term plans that are made and carried out without the help of God. <br /><br /> Now we see that we did it well intended every day, long-term plans made without the help, um, and carried out without the help of God. And we say, we, we don't wanna live that way. We, we don't wanna live a guy a, a life that Pastor Mark calls as functionally atheistic of, yes, I might trust him. Yes, I might even know him in a theoretical sense, but, but to live my life with everyday plans that are without him. <br /><br /> We don't want to live that way. If you're anything like me when it comes to planning your life, you don't want to live without the help of God. But it is often how we end up living. It is often how we end up setting our goals. It is often how we determine what we do in each step of the way. We can tend to live as functionally atheistic and just operating on our own plans as opposed to knowing how to trust in the promises of God promises. <br /><br /> We're gonna call this biblical and personal promises that God gives to his people. That always require walking in difficult and delightful trust. If you have spent time walking in trust with God, you know that it is not partially difficult and partially delightful. It is most of the time deeply both of those things, not slightly but deeply. <br /><br /> Both of those things. How do we live in the promises of God and and how do we know? How do we know? Is this my idea or God's idea? This seems like a good one. I'm, I'm planning this for this fall, or I'm planning this for the future, or I'm, I'm thinking this for possible marriage. I'm thinking this for, for possible, um, setting up education or job thing. <br /><br /> How do we know, is this my own plot or is this God's plan? So this morning we're looking at Acts 23 asking the question, how do we practically lead a life that is based not on our own plots and plans, but according to the promises and direction of God? First thing, you'll see this in your chart if you wanna put this in the one a spot, the, when you look at the plots of man, what we see here in this text is the product is what matters. <br /><br /> Right. We have in verse 14 that these, this group of people, this 40 plus group of people went to the chief priests and elders. They went to the people in charge. They were not hiding this from, from the people who were in charge of the law. They were going and saying, this is what we are doing according to what we think we should do. <br /><br /> So they go to the chief priests and to the elders, the very ones that would hold them to the oath that they were making. We have strictly bound ourselves by an oath not to taste any food or drink any drink until we have killed this man. They are passionately zealous about wanting spiritual things. They, they are passionate in their approach to this. <br /><br /> They are dedicated, willing to risk their life for the sake of killing Paul, and, and they can't accomplish what they think they should accomplish by the ordinary means. In verses six through nine that we looked at last week, we see the legal, some of the legal proceedings by which the people were trying to convict. <br /><br /> Paul, the very thing that Claudius Lisia. Again, awesome name. Writes the letter to Felix and he's writing this letter saying, Hey, I looked at what was going on. It didn't seem enough to put him to death or to keep him in jail. And so that's in his letter that's found out in the six through nine passage. <br /><br /> So they can't get him in prison to, to keep him quiet by the normal means of conviction. So, so then there's almost a public riot. Verse 10 says that the dispute became so violent that the commander was afraid that Paul would be torn to pieces by them. It's this violent, this charged of an event that's happening. <br /><br /> So he actually puts Paul in prison to keep him safe because the plot of, um, or the, the legal proceedings were not enough to convict him. The public riot was not enough to kill him. So now they plan to murder him themselves. What is interesting is what they're going to do is violate their own law. <br /><br /> They're gonna violate their own virtues. That deep inside the law is not only do not murder, it is not the right process of someone being imprisoned or put to death to then go and just murder them, them yourself. This is not the right process according to the law that they are passionate about defending. <br /><br /> If you would bring them one by one, one the 40 plus people in, or you brought in the chief priest or the elders who all got behind this plot and said, Hey, what do you think about just taking the law into our own hands and, uh, violating the commandment? Do not murder and violating the commandment. Uh, do not lie because in the text they go, and the part of it is deception. <br /><br /> Elders and chief priests are gonna go say, Hey, we need to question him some more, and on the way he's going to be killed. They're using the classic, the ends justify the means in their mind, in their passionate minds. They see that Paul must die. This threat must be gone. And towards that end, everything else doesn't matter. <br /><br /> We just have to get to the ends. Justify the means. There's a podcast that many of you have. Uh, Heard, uh, about the rise and fall of Mars Hill by Mike Cosper. And, uh, and Mike Cosper looks and evaluates, uh, the danger of living as a church community or as a person of faith in a way that the ends justify the means. <br /><br /> And one of the episodes of the podcast, he talks about Bobby Knight. Anybody know Bobby Knight? Right? Bobby Knight is the the chair guy, the punch, the one of his players guy. He's an Indiana basketball coach who was incredibly effective at winning games and incredibly destructive in the way that he would do that. <br /><br /> But there was all of this controversy because Indiana University wanted to win a lot of basketball games. But the way that Bobby Knight did it was he would put chains on the doors during practices, chains and locks. No one was allowed in. He would, uh, be screaming, berating his players, uh, eventually would punch one of his players. <br /><br /> Kick a chair. He's angry. Angry man. But he won a lot of basketball games, and so it left the University of what to do. Um, and, uh, in the podcast, Mike Cosper talks about a book by fete. He says, this, fete Remi recalls the moment that encapsulate the calculus, the one that knight made. It's what justified the culture of fear, the bullying, the unhinged brashness. <br /><br /> After the Indiana, Illinois game, during which Bob kicked and slammed a chair, kicked a cheerleader's megaphone. Dave Kindred, a superb columnist for the Atlantic Constitution, wrote that he was disappointed to see Knight acting in this way. Kindred, a longtime friend of Knight's, ended the column by writing. <br /><br /> Once again, I find myself wondering when it comes to Bob Knight, if the ends justify the means. A few days later, Knight called Kindred. You need one more line for that column, Knight said, you should have finished by saying, and one more time, I realized that it does. When our good goals become our idols, we will justify just about anything to serve them. <br /><br /> The plots of the human heart, the product is what matters. But what we see in Paul is trusting and relying in the promises of God. It is the process that matters. In verse 11, sets up this whole text. Actually, verse 11 sets up the rest of the Book of Acts. The following night, the Lord stood by him and said, take courage for as you testify to the facts about me and Jerusalem. <br /><br /> So must you testify in Rome. This, this little nugget, this little passage right here. This transition is, is given in transition between different stories in the text, but what God is saying is, Hey, as you have done it here in Jerusalem, you're gonna do it again in Rome. And, and the primary command of the, the imperative of the text is not Paul, go to Rome by any means possible. <br /><br /> It's not. Paul, I want you to get outta here, escape by night. Here's where we're gonna do the, the, the, the exact, uh, here are the exact details of the plan to get you to Rome. He's saying, Paul, your job, take courage and be willing to testify about the facts that you know about me and I will get you to Rome. <br /><br /> What's the promise in the text? The promise is that God is going to deliver him to Rome. This is, I think we have a map. That we can show. Rome is very, very far from Jerusalem. It is further than Bismarck. North Dakota is from right here. Okay? If we think about traveling to Bismarck, north, North Dakota, by means of the way Paul did, he did a lot by sea. <br /><br /> Can't do that to Bismarck. Um, sorry, disappoint, but this is where Paul would have to go from Jerusalem. In this text, he ends up in Caesarea, and then in the following chapters we have this promise fulfilled where he will go. He gets shipwrecked in there somewhere over here by Malta. I think there's some snake action that happens there. <br /><br /> Then eventually he's gonna get back all the way to Rome. Why? Because God promised that Paul was going to Rome. Well, while, while, while the. The p pragmatic approach to saying, oh, we, we see a goal and we wanna get it there. And we see, we see what we want to have, and we're gonna go after it. He's deeply human. <br /><br /> I love what God does with Paul. He doesn't clarify the timeline. He doesn't tell him this is the, this is the step-by-step process. He says, you take courage. You trust in me and I'll get you to Rome. Living a life of trust doesn't include a clarified timeline. It's not a linear plan that's laid out. We're often not given the script before the beginning of the show. <br /><br /> A life of trust involves keeping our hands open. One thing that, uh, on sabbatical that God let me do, um, I I'm gonna just say is I, A lot of things God doesn't let me do. I don't, A lot of times I'm an idea guy and I'll come to the Lord and be like, Lord, I just think this could be so awesome. What do you think most often the Lord's like, no. <br /><br /> Or Wait. And then I'll have another great idea. And then somehow he doesn't always fall for my great ideas, but I said, I'm working on him. I'm working on him. But, and when, when I hear no from the Lord, I don't take it like you are so wise. You know what's best for me, right? I take it like a toddler, like, but I really want to, this last year I turned 40 and I, I, um, I'm one of those nerds that like really wants to, I'm a, I'm a goal setter. <br /><br /> Like, okay, by 40, these are my four words I'm gonna go by in the next 10 years of my life and all that kind of stuff. Trying to figure out what was the Lord. And one of the things that I wanted to be a part of my life was to begin writing. And I turned 40 waiting for the beautiful Shakespearean inspiration to come where all of a sudden I would just start beautiful writing and I, throughout the next months I wrestled with it and the Lord asked me and he told me no. <br /><br /> And actually he told me no enough times that I got, I have a note on my phone where I'm like, things the Lord asked me to lose this year. There was nine and I wanted all of them. And he asked me to live a life of accepting, loss, accepting no. And by his grace, I had to say, okay, because when I am just product oriented, I'm gonna blow through things and hurt people and, and miss and neglect. <br /><br /> But I have to trust the God of process. And I, and I say that because finally, finally, and that's exactly how I felt. Um, while we were on sabbatical, uh, in Columbia, the Lord said, Hey, why don't you start writing? And I was like, okay. So there's still eight things that I felt like the Lord caused me to lose. <br /><br /> Um, but I was able to finish a book while I was on sabbatical. And that's, uh, been an incredible faith building process for me to remember that following God is not just about setting goals. It's or about forcing our way to them. It is the process of living a life of trust. Secondly, plots, plots are self-sufficient. <br /><br /> What we see in this, in these 40 individuals that they were, are going to try to kill Paul, that go to the chiefs. And elders who buy into this plan is not based upon deep prayer. They did not pull open the Torah and try to look through, is this, is this something that'd be a wise decision or not? It is an impulsive decision, not based upon prayer or thoughtful reflection. <br /><br /> And what's interesting is there is zero faith required to pull this off. Their success or failure is based upon the quality of the details and the execution of the leaders. So often that's how we evaluate our thinking about our lives, right? Going into the fall, okay, let's get the details right and let's make sure the person in charge of getting it done gets it done the right way. <br /><br /> Is the goal realistic? Is the goal, uh, possible? Can we achieve this? It's easy to set those goals. And it's easy to hold ourselves accountable to, to finding and filling, fulfilling those goals. But I would argue that a life built upon trust is not built upon self-sufficiency. There's a haunting thing I heard as a pastor, but a guy who planted a couple churches and after he planted a couple churches, he went on to really meet Christ in a powerful way. <br /><br /> And he looked back and he said, I planted both of those churches without the help of Jesus. The churches were pretty successful. That's scary to me. Why? Because we, humans are, we're pretty interesting and neat people. We, we have the image of God and we, we are, we have that creativity. We've got the ability to write and accomplish goals, but it is easy for people who believe deeply in God. <br /><br /> To set up their life in a way that's based upon their own talent and capacity. It's easy in this information age, right? We've got so much information to, to trust in that next article that we read to get out our, our cell phones and say, what's the, the, the latest piece of data that will unlock the cheat code of parenting or wealth or relationships or happiness. <br /><br /> How do we get, what do we do? How do we shape and, and our scripture stays dusty. Our prayer is bland. 'cause we really think that next bit of information will lead us to our own sufficiency, to conquering as opposed to a life of trust. Plots say that I know what needs to be done and I've come up with the resources to get us there. <br /><br /> Plots in the end are all based on me. And while this has the good feeling, the happy feeling of the illusion of control, this way of living has so much pressure because it is all up to me to create and execute the plans on my own. Living a life according to the promises of God always is the second to be always requires the help of God. <br /><br /> I This text, the way God did this was on a string and a prayer. Paul is going to be murdered by these men. This plot is a good one. It makes sense and this plot very likely would have gone through except for Paul's sister's son. We didn't even know Paul had a sister. There's zero mention New Testament like who Paul's sister's son finds out about this plot. <br /><br /> Then all of the, the, the promise of God, of, of God, preserving Paul and getting him to Jerusalem is in the hands of, of, of his nephew and his nephew is allowed into the barracks. We don't know if that was a hard thing or not to be allowed into the barracks and eventually tells Paul, then Paul, now the information is in Paul's hand. <br /><br /> Paul's own life is in his hand. And he turns to a centurion, he turns to a soldier and says, Hey, please take this boy and take him to the commander with the awesome name. Um, take him to the commander. And, and now the whole story is in this soldier's hands. Right? This soldier has the opportunity to say, you're a prisoner. <br /><br /> You know, I, I don't need to listen to you. Lifeguards don't usually like listening to the person who causes all the horseplay, right? Like he, this is the soldier is most likely to bulb blow 'em off. But he is like, alright, I'll do it. It's in the soldier's hands, then it takes from the soldier's hand, then it goes to the commander's hands. <br /><br /> Another person who could eliminate it. Eventually, this would go to Felix's hands. We're gonna see in chapters ahead that this before he gets to Paul. Paul's gonna go through fests hands and a grip's Hands and the hands of the Angry Sea, but see the promises of God. That means for Paul that, oh, he's in his nephew's hands. <br /><br /> Centurion's plans Commander's Hands, Festus, Felix Agrippa. God's promises never leave God's hands, that God is the one who sustains and keeps his promises. Paul's life was always in the hands of God. Living by the promises of God means we are always needing his help. Perhaps the greatest question to ask ourselves of, are we truly living a life trusting in the plans and promises of God, is to ask this simply, do I really need his help? <br /><br /> Is how he is asked, or how I've set up my life, have room for his help? We are more than servants of the King. We depend on the help of the king, major E. And Thomas says, God will never lead us to independence. But I'm just gonna be honest with you. I want independence in everything. I wanna be financially independent. <br /><br /> I want to be like, have everything set up in my life with my kids, with my relationships in my world, so that it is kind of a fortress. So it's independent of anything else that can happen. God will not lead us into a place where we have enough control and strength on our own to carry out our lives. Well, this is what is delightful and difficult about trusting him. <br /><br /> Third plots of men, the plots rely on the on passion and force of the will. Imagine being one of these 40 dudes, right? These 40 guys. What are they risking their lives? What are they risking imprisonment? What they're doing is a Roman crime. What they're going to do to Paul could, if they are caught, put them in prison or put them be put to death because of what they are going to do. <br /><br /> They are passionate about this. They believe in this. They believe this is the right thing to do before God. I really believe that they have a, they are fully passionate and fully wrong. Proverbs 19, two says, it is not good to have zeal without knowledge or to be hasty and miss the way passion, and I, I think we, we rightly say, right, we wanna be passionate for God. <br /><br /> And passion has a place in the person's life. It has a place to, to, to motivate us, to, to seek him. But I think that what can happen is we can become dependent on those feelings of passion in a way that, um, doesn't last a life based on passion. Must be the icing, not the cupcake. A life base on passion is two great weaknesses. <br /><br /> Number one, it's flashy. And by what I mean by that one is that it's exciting. Anyone who has been on fire for God, you know, it is an exciting feeling to, to be, to be really sold out to one thing, to be giving your life to God alone. There's, there's a simplicity, there's an excitement, there's a beauty that comes with, with living passionately. <br /><br /> The hard thing also is it's often temporary. People who, whose goal is to live on fire for God, don't know what to do when it rains, because the part of walking towards Jesus is just putting the next brick on the wall. It is just the daily obedience. A life based on passion can be flashy, it can be fully passionate, but still lose its strength. <br /><br /> Secondly, it's powerful. Uh, power is not a evil thing, but whenever we are around power, we must be very careful. What else is powerful? Anger. Anger makes me feel powerful, right? Who wants to take a nap when they're angry? Nobody. Why? 'cause they're strong. Strong. It's a strong feeling. Passion is a strong feeling. <br /><br /> No one can stop us. And passion can rely and feed even in Christian circles. It can feed the ego and it can lead to a mob mentality. Passion, while being a great thing, cannot be the source of our faith. It is not how we make disciples. Um, three B, how we require how we live and trust is simply. We require p promises of God require daily pro trust. <br /><br /> It can feel as we're in the book of acts like this is a nonstop Paul passion ministry ride. Paul's derailed all the time in this book. He's two years in Corinth. He's, he's a, he's a year here. He's stuck there right now. What's gonna happen, he's gonna go to Caesarea and he's basically gonna sit in a jail cell or inherit pre auditorium for two years. <br /><br /> No bible books are written in those two years, and then eventually he's gonna go, it's gonna be five years before he even gets to Rome to fulfill the promise that we have here. There's long periods of emptiness in Paul's life where he doesn't just have the highlight reel and the Hillsong track in the background, but what he has is the daily faithfulness. <br /><br /> A life of the Christian includes dark seasons, confusing times, and passionless obedience. We need more than a passion for God. We need faithfulness that outlives when the good feelings of passion go away. Eugene Peterson writes a book, long Obedience in the Right Direction. He says this, there's a great market for religious experience in our world. <br /><br /> There is little enthusiasm for the patient acquisition of virtue. Little inclination to sign up for a long apprenticeship in what early generations of Christians called holiness. Fourth, living according to the plans of God or the plots of men. Plots are often foiled plots often go awry in the text. <br /><br /> This, this well intended but evil plot. It does not go through. It does not go. So what happens to these people? Do they starve to death, die of thirst? And some people have looked at that and said, yes, they made this oath. They took it to the elders and chief priests who would bind them by this oath, and so they would have died not being able to fulfill it. <br /><br /> There are four different oaths that they could be released from. This appears to be within one of the four oaths that the chief priest could release these people from their carrying out. So I don't think they died. I think they were ultimately released. But their plans, no matter what, were foiled and man, do we hate it when things go bad, when things go different than we imagined them. <br /><br /> It's not a fun thing to look back on the New Year's resolution list and say, oh wow, those 20 pounds are still here. You know, like it's, it's hard to have plans go the wrong direction. But the promises of God, and I love this in the text, the promises with God. Come with backup, right? Look what it says in the text. <br /><br /> This promise of God that's on a wing and a prayer that's like held by a thread through the centurion and through all of the different leaders that, that Paul will go through before he gets to Rome for this promise to be fulfilled. This is how he, this is how he carried it out. Then he called two centurions and said, get ready. <br /><br /> 200 soldiers with 70 horsemen and 200 spearmen to go as far as Caesarea in the third hour of the night also provide mounts. This would be more than one, multiple horses for Saul to ride, to bring him safely to Felix, the governor. The guy's like, all right, you wanna play with 40? I'm sending 470 to guard this man. <br /><br /> This is a battalion, a a, a giant amount of argument. There would even be less security in Jerusalem because of all of the people that are being commissioned to go with Paul. But God made, I promise to Paul. Oh, and God's promises come with God's backup. When God's promise is something God delivers. It's, it's a pretty bold thing to, to have things in scripture, like to say that God always keeps his promises because it only takes one broken promise to one person for that not to be true. <br /><br /> Scripture teaches your life, teaches God keeps his promises. It is so easy to see the angry mob. It is so easy to see the overwhelming odds. And something that's interesting, I, we sang this earlier. We don't face Goliath, but we face our own giants. I love that because like, I'm not a giant and I can't defeat a giant. <br /><br /> A giant's bigger than me, right? Gene told me this morning, I know Gene is, gene told me this morning, he says, you're shorter than I thought. And I thought, you know, like I, I, I can't defeat a giant. That's a good thing. But God's promises come with backup. It is okay if we live a life that is bigger than ourselves, as long as we live it according to his promises. <br /><br /> Because when God promises he comes through Proverbs 1921. Again, many are the plans in the person's heart, but is the Lord's purposes that prevail. Just some quick practical things for practical things of, of living out this trust, living out this trust in a daily sense. One, use broken plans as a divine diving board into the goodness of God. <br /><br /> When your plans are foiled, because guess what? We're gonna make human plans. We're gonna do it again. Of like, oh, I set up my life again with without needing the help of God. But when those plans are foiled, let that be a moment to say, I have a chance to transition from plots to promises. Use it as a diving board into the goodness of God. <br /><br /> Secondly, always be mindful and increasing your prayer to worry ratio. The amount of time that our minds are worried about the future, the next thing for me, it's significant. It's just, I'm just good at it. I'm good at worry, right? So to increase, wow, I'm worrying again about myself, about things for myself, about how I could accomplish it, my own strength to use those times. <br /><br /> Say, okay, I'm gonna increase the prayer time. Now what am I gonna pray about? I'm gonna pray about what I was worrying about. Increase your prayer to worry ratio. Third, when you're tempted to collapse in despair, stand on the promises of God. When you feel like, I just can't do it. I just can't face it. All is lost. <br /><br /> The mob is too big. Stand on the promises of God. There's a moment where Joshua comes before God and he's on his face flat before God, which is like, yeah, that's exactly where I'd be before God. And, and God in this, in really powerful moment in the book of Joshua, you know what he says to Joshua? Joshua, stand up. <br /><br /> Because yes, you need to kneel in, in fidelity, and yes, you need to to to be dependent upon me, but when you're in my presence covered by me, you can stand in strength on the promises of God. Lastly, Spend time listening so that God can promise you something. Specifically, I believe if we truly believe in what the Bible teaches, that we have a God who truly speaks to his people. <br /><br /> I don't believe I do. I believe that, that we're still writing books to the Bible. I don't do I believe that the Holy Spirit specifically speaks promises to his people. I do. I don't. I don't see how you cannot, when you look at the pages of scripture, God speaks and, and I know for some in here, it's like, what is Hes? <br /><br /> What is that like? Well, it does take time to know him. It takes time to recognize his voice. But if you spend time listening and seeking him, seek the Lord with it. Say in the book, Jeremiah, you'll seek me and you will find me when you seek me with all your heart. God does speak, but that does mean we need to listen. <br /><br /> Pray with me. Father, we thank you for your guiding hand, your continual promises, the way that you have, uh, looked out for us. Lord, this is a sea of people in collingswood, in prayer garden and in this gym that has, has seen the promises of God come through time and time again. We worship you for that. We even take this time to sing to you. <br /><br /> In light of that, we give you ourselves, we ask you that you would gently dismantle a lot of the plots that we have going, and you might help us to know how to daily walk in trust and courage to follow you. In the name of Jesus we pray, amen. We have here in Mount Laurel, uh, people up here that you could come and pray with as we sing. <br /><br /> Maybe as you're heading into this fall, you've analyzed and reanalyzed your goals of how to get to where you're going. Might be optimistic, but you realize you're running on your own strength towards your own goals and have not laid them down before the king. Or maybe you're here and you've worried, you've logged your time in the worry machine, you're ringing your hands at all the things that could go wrong, and you look and you see an angry mob in front of you, and you're here this morning saying, I don't wanna leave this building 'cause I know what I have to drive to. <br /><br /> I know what I have to face Monday and what you're facing seems bigger than you are. Maybe you spent your time in the house of despair and collapse. Counting all that is potentially ahead of you for each of us. And these prayer partners are here to just help you cry out. Lord, help me. These things are too big for me. <br /><br /> I have no idea how I'm gonna face this relationship. Financial burden, spiritual confusion, fusion, mental health difficulty. I don't know any more than Paul knew about how in the world he gets to Rome. I need you and I need your promises. Why don't you stand with us and sing? And you're welcome to make use of the prayer team up here as well.</div> false no <![CDATA[Christian Citizenship]]> Acts 22:22- 23:11

Then they raised their voices and said, “Away with such a fellow from the earth! For he should not be allowed to live.”



Sermon Transcript:

Good morning. Good morning. Okay. If you've ever tweaked your back, you'll know why I am looking like I'm looking, and I'm hoping that's not gonna be needed, but time will tell. I tweaked my back earlier this week and kept waiting for it to get better, and it started to get better, and then I did it again.

Um, it's, it's a tweak. It's a muscle. I, I, I'm really okay. I just look terrible. Um, We had, uh, we had a group of friends over on Wednesday night for a dinner gathering, and, uh, that was probably the worst of it. And my wife said afterwards, she said, I just couldn't get the visual of the old man in, up out of my mind.

That was definitely the low point of my week. All I'd like you to turn in our Bibles this morning as we're looking at the Book of Acts. And, uh, by the way, I'm Pastor Mark. Um, great to have you here. If you're newer here, um, and love to have you join with us as we, we open the word Acts chapter 22. We're gonna look at verse 22 and then go down into a few verses in chapter 23.

Up to this word. They listened to him. That's listening to Paul. Then they raised their voices and said, away with such a fellow from the earth for he should not be allowed to live. And as they were shouting and throwing off their cloaks and flinging dust into the air, the Tribune ordered him to be brought into the barracks saying that he should be examined by flogging to find out why they were shouting against him like this.

But when they had stretched him out for the whips, Paul said to the Centurion, who is standing by? Is it lawful for you? Tolog, a man who is a Roman citizen? And Uncondemned. When the Centurion heard this, he went to the Tribune and said to him, what are you about to do for this man as a Roman citizen? So the Tribune came and said to him, tell me, are you a Roman citizen?

And he said, yes. The Tribune answered. I bought this citizenship for a large sum. Paul said, but I am a citizen by birth. So those who, who were about to examine him withdrew from him immediately. Immediately. And the Tribune also was afraid for, he realized that Paul was a Roman citizen and that he had bound him.

But on the next day, desiring to know the real reason why he was being accused by the Jews. He unbound him and commanded the chief priests and all the council to, to meet, and he brought Paul down and set him before them. And looking intently at the council. Paul said, brothers, I have lived my life before God in all good conscience up to this day, and the high priest, Ananias commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth.

Then Paul said to him, God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall. Are you sitting to judge me according to the law, and yet contrary to the law, you order me to be struck. Those who stood by said, would you revile God's high priest? And Paul said, I did not know brothers that he was the chief, the high priest for has written you shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.

Now, when Paul perceived that one part was Sadducees and the other's Pharisees, he cried it on the Council Brothers. I am a Pharisees, his son of Pharisees. It is with respect to the hope and the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial. And when he had said this, a dissension rose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided.

For the Sadducees say, there is no resurrection nor nor angel, nor spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledged them all. Then a great clamor arose and some of the scribes of the Pharisees party stood up and contended sharply. We find nothing wrong in this man. What if a spirit of an angel spoke to him? And when the dissension became violent, the tribune afraid that Paul would be torn to pieces by them, commanded the soldiers to go down and take him away from among them by force and bring him into the barracks.

The following night, the Lord stood by him and said, take courage for as you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem. So you must testify also in Rome. Lord, we come to you this morning.

And God once again, we're so grateful for the lessons you've given us in this amazing history record of the early church in the Book of Acts. Thank you Lord for the chance to journey with these men and women as they take the gospel forth throughout the empire and the lessons that are so relevant to us.

And Lord, you know my heart in this message. Um, I really pray that out of my weakness this morning, uh, truth would go forth, that we would have ears to hear, hearts to listen. In Jesus' name, amen. Paul has landed on the shores of Jerusalem or of Judea and has made his way into Jerusalem as he's done so he has.

Begun the final part of the Book of Acts. It's actually one third, almost one third of the book. It's a record of Paul being primarily in prison. He has moved from a role of offensive strategic involvement in starting churches, in in, in starting church movements to now he's going to be held and there are 200 verses in the book of Acts that are talking about this and.

25% to 33% of the book are five trials that Paul's gonna embark into. And not only was what Paul said, but what the Roman authorities respond to him. And we might ask the question why. I mean, why did we take so much time, Luke? In the leading of the spirit for you to keep this voluminous record about Paul in jail interacting with these Roman authorities.

It's interesting that this is not the only time that Luke has done this. He has presented in the Book of Acts a number of situations where the Roman authorities are responding to the fledgling church. Just to quickly bring up the map on the map in the, these seven, these three, uh, starred locations, the first on the lower right is next to Ephesus.

In Ephesus, the town clerk, who is the, the mayor, basically declared the Christian leaders, Paul, among them innocent. Rebuke the crowd for public disorder and sent them all home in Philippi, which is the northern one up in uh, Macedonian. The magistrates actually apologized to Paul and Silas for having mistreated them as prisoners and came personally to the prison to escort them out in Corinth.

Over to the left in modern day Greece, Gallo, the proco of all of Aya. Refused even to listen to Jewish accusations against Paul and dismiss their case against him as a sedition, as a revolutionary. Luke is constantly emphasizing the Roman response to the Christian messengers and we, we might ask why. Why is it so important?

Why is he gonna record all these trials coming up? Why does he respond here in chapter 21 to 23, this Tribune. Uh, um, of the fortress there in Jerusalem who has a thousand men under him that are trying, Paul, that are, that are interacting with him, that are bringing the Jewish leaders in to ask him. S so much time talking about

the civil author's response to the Christian messengers. I would suggest to you, as we've always said, as we go through acts. Everything that is in this book is chosen specifically by God into his messengers to record. It's not a new angle for Paul, for for Luke. He has done the same thing in his. Record his history book of Jesus.

Of course, there are four Gospels. Matthew, mark, Luke, John. Luke wrote the Gospel of Luke. Luke also wrote the Book of Acts and as he told the history of the book of Acts and emphasized the Roman authorities' perspective of the Christian messengers. So in the Gospel of Luke, Luke records more information about Jesus contact with.

The civil authorities than anyone else. For instance, he's the only one that talks about how Pilate was convinced Jesus was not guilty of anything, and he sent him over to Herod. Herod had a similar response. Those things are recorded in Luke's gospel. When we say, why is this so important? Why is it so essential?

To give information about Paul's imprisonment and interaction with Roman authorities, and I would suggest it is clearly to show how Christians interact with civil authorities. It is a defense to the Roman emperors. It is a fence to a Roman perspective of Christians and viewing them, whether it is as sedition or insurrectionary or revolutionaries, but in it.

Luke gives us a picture of what it means to be a Christian citizen since Paul has landed in Jerusalem or in Judea and now made his way to Jerusalem in chapter 21, verse 17 to 26, we have seen Paul's priority as he talks about, we've seen the display of Christian unity and the importance of it. Last week we looked at Paul as he was broad and, and I talked about Christian courage.

Today I'd like to talk about Christian citizenship.

Remember, in both of Luke's letters, he addresses the same guy. It's written to a guy named Theophilus Theophilus, as he calls him most excellent Theophilus. In both the book of Luke chapter one, verse one and Acts chapter one, verse one. He calls him most excellent Theophilus, which means he was a Roman dignitary.

He had authority. He was an individual of significance. His gospel and his record in Acts is primarily addressed to Romans, to Gentiles. He is not primarily wrote writing to people with a Jewish heritage. Certainly their record embracing Christ is here. He is particularly talking to those. Who are not living under Jewish leadership in Jerusalem and Judea, but to people who are living in a secular culture of Rome.

He is writing to a people exactly like 21st century Americans, and he is saying to us, this is what cist Christian citizenship looks like as modeled in the life of Paul and others. So this morning I'd like to think. About what God has for us in such a topic. We tend as pastors here at F C C to build our preaching and our teaching ministry, not around issues.

We feel led to go preaching through scriptures, books of the Bible, believing God. That what he tends to do is to time the truth of the scriptures to speak the issues of the day. He is remarkably relevant in doing that. I truly believe our text does that today. Christian citizenship is of vital importance to be understood.

There is not an arena of our culture more volatile than that of politics right now. It is the hotbed for much of the arrogance, animosity, and anger that is dividing us as people. It's not surprising then that there is no arena of your life as a Christian that is being more scrutinized than how you think, speak and react.

In the political arena, our PRI priority allegiance is to a kingdom. The kingdom of Jesus Christ, not ultimately to a party, not ultimately even to our nation. It is to the kingdom of Jesus. The question is, what does a member of Jesus kingdom look like as a Christian citizen? It is crucial for believers to wrestle with this question if they hope to have a Christian witness and influence in this generation, and our passage gives us a script to follow as Christian citizens.

I'd like to highlight three things. Number one, these three qualities are modeled by a Christian citizen, our champion, the apostle Paul Number one, Christians hold their rights loosely. Secondly, Christians value the rule of law. And third Christians represent Jesus to their community. First of all, Christians hold their rights loosely.

We see this in Paul's response to the Roman Tribune and an interesting thing that is recorded here and is not recorded other places. As we saw last week, this Roman Tribune has of a thousand soldiers has come charging down in with hundreds of his soldiers to break up the mob that was rioting and trying to kill Paul in the temple courts.

And as they have come through, one of the stairways out of the Antonio Fortress, which was the barracks there in Jerusalem of the Roman Legionnaires, as they come flying down in they rescue Paul. And in the midst of that scene, some interesting things take place. He is rescued, he speaks, the crowd has worked up all over again because he mentions going to the Gentiles and now he's in the barracks.

And when they're there, the Legionnaire, the, the Tribune says to his Legionnaires, strap him down, take the shirt off his back. We're going to scourge him. To scourge someone was to inflict on them. Astonishing. Um, Retribution or particularly just torture to get them to confess. This flogging is called a flagellum.

It was done by a flagellum. It was a wooden stick and it had attached to it long leather straps and sewed into those rubber straps, leather straps where pieces of metal or, or broken pieces of bone, and they would stick out. And you took this thing and a big Legionnaire would just strip you down and just every time he swung, literally as he pulled back, he took a chunk of flesh.

Many people died from it. It was not uncommon to die if you didn't die. You, you were literally maimed for life and it's just to get information. And in the midst of this moment as he's trying to get a confession, I wanna think about two quick things here. One, number one, what rights did Paul have? And secondly, how did Paul fight for those rights?

Not only here, but as a rule. What happens here is Paul says, I'm a Roman citizen. This was big. To be a Roman citizen was a position of honor. It meant you could vote, it meant you could hold, uh, office, and it certainly protected you from certain behavior. Of the police force or the military force.

Basically, you got to be a Roman citizen in one of two ways. One, you accomplished enough and were esteemed enough, and you could then either pay by bribe or or another exorbitant amount of money to be declared a Roman citizen. It was a formal process that you went through The more illustrious way. Was that you were actually born at a CI as a cinnamon.

The Roman legionnaire over a thousand soldiers, the tri, excuse me, the Tribune. He bought his, he had earned his way up. Paul says, well, I'm, I'm a son of Roman citizen. I am a Roman citizen by birth. Now, to tell you how significant that was, I'd just like to show up a couple of numbers. In the Roman Empire, there are estimated to be 45 million people at this time.

In the first century of that 45 million, no more than 4 million of the 45 million adults were Roman citizens, 9%. The overwhelming majority of them were near Rome. We're now way out in the outskirts. We're at the farthest distant eastern edge of the empire in Judea. Virtually no. Jews are Roman citizens.

They hate Rome. They want nothing to do with it. Paul is a unique Jewish man who has a heritage. His father must have been, or his grandfather or somebody prominent in business or or a legal work or something where Paul is a Roman citizen. This is a big deal. Few people in this eastern end of the Empire have it.

And certainly there is no expectation this guy has it. He has tremendous significance. He has creds. So how does he use his rights? Because on the other side, Paul has these tremendous credentials. He also has Jewish credentials, which he, we saw earlier, trained under Gamal appointed by the religious leaders, uh, to, to to, to be the attack dog towards the church, but he also has things in his life and ministry rights that were being denied.

On the other side, Paul faced tremendous injustice as a Christian. He's beaten multiple times, stoned at least three times, run out of cities, arrested many times in most cities. He starts to get a following with his teaching and jealous Jewish leaders or or influence or other religious leaders or business people who are losing their business because of people turning from their idolatrous business and the selling of idols and other things.

They raise up and bring slanderous accusations against him. This is a guy who has been wronged over and over and over and over again. He's been lied about. He's been, he's been slandered. So here we have this situation, a man who is utterly wronged. His rights pulled out from under him all the time, and he has tremendous power.

He's a Roman citizen. He's not only esteemed in the Jewish culture, he's esteemed in the Roman culture. So how did Paul exercise and fight for his own rights? Well, he could do what he did here. He says, Hey, before you get that flag gone, remember I'm, I'm a Roman citizen and it is illegal. To try to get a confession out of a Roman citizen by torture.

The striking thing about this is Paul never does this. It's actually why it's so interesting that what happens here, he only does it one at a time. In all the years of his ministry in this passage, he's doing it to save himself from probable death in the other one in Philippi. He actually is arrested with Silas.

They're put in a prison. They're, they're beaten, not with the flatulent, but they're beaten with clubs, so their backs are bruised. And buddy, he's thrown in stocks overnight. He never says I'm a Roman citizen. And finally, when they're releasing him from prison, he tells him, by the way, I'm a Roman president.

And they get the governor of the town and they come and they apologize for what they've done. He never uses it again. Paul did not play the power card almost ever in one case, just to save his life in the other as an after fact. To try to say, look, you better be careful in, in other Christians, you bring in here, you might get a Roman citizen again and do this kind of mistake stake.

We learned from Paul something very consequential,

his influence. Was in living the Gospel's focus on being a servant, a humble truth teller in serving others, not fighting for his rights. He doesn't even say, he even says to the Christians, look, I, you should be supporting me financially, but I'm doing my work. As I said last week, a tent maker was basically, you made tents for trips.

He was a, he was a mechanic in, in an RV factory basically. He says, I'm willing to do that. I'm not insisting on rights. I'm not saying, look, I'm your rabbi. You should take care of me. He's saying I'm not. I'm not using the power card against the Roman government by saying, don't tread on me, man. I am a Roman citizen.

This is really important for us as Christians, the mentality of. A feeling because we are persecuted as Christians, gives us the right to respond disrespectfully of saying, man, you gotta fight fire with fire mentality knows no support in the life of Paul or of Jesus. Yeah, but they're taking our country away.

We've lost our Christian heritage, the principles that made our country what it was. These people with other faiths, other morals, other priorities, they're ruining our country. Just be careful that what you are fighting for is what Jesus would, and be very careful that the way you are going about it is the way Jesus and Paul would a lot of professed evangelicals today.

Look a lot more like the angry Jews in chapter 22 than the apostles and his friends. What were they mad about? You are taking our nation away. You are taking our, our, our, our values away. You're bringing Gentiles in as if they deserve to share what we've had. Just be careful because the spirit of the gospel as a Christian citizen is not my rights.

Secondly, I. Value of the rule of law here. Here's Paul. He goes in. Now it's interesting, the, the Tribune calls together the religious leaders. He has a forced meaning of the Sanhedrin, uh, the 71 members of the council. He troops Paul down and undoubtedly under big guard of Legionnaires, they come down the steps of the Antonio Fortress.

They walk into the court of the, uh, The, uh, the temple and then they go to a side chamber, which was where the Sanhedrin held their, their regular meetings. And as he comes before them, it is a group of 71 men that are made up of the high priests and members of his family that are made up of influential leaders in the city.

Business, merchants, um, leaders. It is also made up of scribes who were the, uh, uh, historians and students of the law. And it's, it's made up of different kinds of people. They are individuals. Two parties that are made up. They're made up of the Sadducees, the Sadducees, with the liberals of the day. Sadly, the religious, uh, establishment, the chief priests and his family were Sadducees.

Yeah, they didn't believe in a resurrection to eternal life. They didn't believe there was an afterlife. They didn't believe in angels. It says all this in our passage this morning. They didn't believe in miracles in the Old Testament. They thought they were just stories. And then you had the conservatives, the the Pharisees and the Pharisees believed in a literal resurrection.

They believed angels were real. They believed that there were miracles that God had done and would do again. And Paul's a Pharisee and Paul then plays this card. In order. He, he, he says, well, I'm here partly, and which was true for my belief in the resurrection. He's trying to demonstrate, I believe, to the Roman authorities that the whole issue is theological, not political.

He's committed no crime except holding different beliefs than the oppression, than his, his opposition to the Sanhedrin. But an interesting cha exchange takes place in verses two to five in chapter 23. It's where Paul is saying, you know, I, my conscience is clear. And for some reason this just sets the high priest off.

And again, this is kind of a chaotic environment. 71 people, it's an outdoor area. Uh uh, there are columns separating it, but it's not a closed room. It was, there were people all around. It was somewhat cat. It was, it was the, you can imagine how many Roman soldiers are in the room. And so the high priest somehow signals to his guys and says, smack that guy in the face.

Whether it was a raised eye or just a mo, we don't know. And Paul, whether because he has bad eyes, which tradition has it, he did or he just doesn't pick up all that's going on, who did it? 'cause he does know who the high priest is. He's, he was one of his henchmen years before. But he looks on and he sees somebody signal this guy that slaps him and he addresses the individual that was in authority and wipes him out pretty clear.

He calls him a whitewashed wall, which meant you're, you know, you're this on the outside, but inside it's like a grave. And, but then what happens? They said, would you revile God's high, God's high priest in verse four? And Paul said, I didn't know brothers that he was the high priest for. It's written you shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.

You notice you didn't say you shouldn't speak evil of a high priest. That was true. The high priest was one of the civil leaders of the people, but he's giving a recognition to authority and to the whole principle of law. In the way he responds and he looks at him now. Now think of who Ananias is.

Josephus is the Jewish historian of the first century, talks about Ananias in less than complimentary terms. He describes him as arrogant and proud, which was probably his best characteristic. He was cruel, selfish, dishonest, and given to injustice. Everything in a high priest and a governing leader should not be.

But Paul respected the position and he did so because he honored the law. In Romans 13, Paul wrote a letter and it's to the Roman church interestingly, and Rome under the despotic Roman leadership, soon to be Nero, who will be the one that puts Paul and Peter to death? But God prompts Paul to write this in Romans 13, let every person be subject to the governing authorities for there's no other authorities except from God.

And those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore, whoever resists the authorities resist what God is appointed and those who resist will incur. Judgment for rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you not fear? Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good and you'll receive his approval for, he's God's servant for your good, but if you do wrong, be afraid for He does not bear the sword in vain, for he's the servant of God and Avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer.

Therefore, one must be in subjection, not only to God's wrath, but also for the sake of conscience. Now, Ananias was that guy, but he did it terribly, awfully. But Paul still says, I have an obligation to even this man.

We have the greatest Constitution in the history of mankind, the greatest set of bylaws for a nation that has ever been formed. It gives us the opportunity to vote and to to hold our leaders accountable, and its incredible privilege. It's a, to me, the greatest part of the constitution. Is that was formed by people at least a majority of whom that believed in an anthropology that was biblical, a view of humankind.

And that anthropology was this. The heart of mankind is tainted severely by sin. No one can be trusted with absolute power. No one, no matter how God lived there, JR. Or Tolkien, in the Lord of the Rings, is my favorite part about the Lord of the Rings, and I have a lot of favorite parts. But is he constantly makes this statement, no matter how good you are, no matter how honorable you are, no one was able to wield the ring of power.

It would always control them also. Ultimately, no one could be trusted with that. Our founding fathers built in a system of checks and balances. It's an amazing system. They believed what Tolkien believed. That no one can be trusted with absolute power. Here's the reality. As we think of governing leaders,

the most important responsibility is to uphold law, and there will be bad laws and there will be laws that are done improperly and unjustly, and they're gonna have to be faced and addressed. But it doesn't matter if someone is a Christian or a non-Christian, if they're not upholding law. And I, I know this is gonna sound like I'm speaking to an individual and I'm really not trying to, I didn't choose this text this morning, but I'm just saying this, that we have to, as Christians recognize that upholding the law is the ultimate role of government or of governors.

Christians must support the rule of law and Christians must respect authority leaders. You may have a president or a governor or something else. You can't stand, there's not one policy they have that you can line up and say, boy, that was a good thing he did, or she did, or, but to talk with nicknames and to talk disparagingly to, to post things that are mocking.

It just isn't the way Paul operated, and this is a guy that had every cred. I mean, he was a very influential man. Even to the Romans, the way we speak, the way we process, the way we think as Christians is really important. He still felt ashamed when he spoke angrily or mockingly about his civil leaders.

The third thing is we are called to represent Jesus to our community. This really is the foundation to it all. It's going to be everything we're going to see in Acts 22 to 28. It's why I think right here at the end of this section in verse 11, the Lord comes to me and he says, Paul, you're gonna keep doing what you're doing.

You're gonna keep my representative, and right now you're gonna go on a long road of trials and all this other stuff. But it's always my ultimate goal for you, wherever you are to be representing me. And you're gonna do it in Rome. The last thing is representing Jesus to our communities. Paul will lead the way in the early church in showing the way humility and gentleness in our lives is what that looks like.

I read a book about seven years ago. It was called The Patient Ferment of the Church. And basically it was written by a church historian. I had the privilege, uh, after I read the book, I was out in Indiana and through a mutual friend, I got to meet the author and talk with him. And it was a really cool experience because I love the book.

And basically it's a book that is presenting what many other Christian historians have, have also expressed. And that is the fact that the reason that the early church. Profoundly impacted its culture. The reason so many people flocked to the gospel was not great preaching. It wasn't great miracles. It was in this author's word, the fermenting, fermenting, the, the, the yeast impact into the culture of the humility of Christians, that they responded in a way that nobody else had seen and nobody else could understand.

It's Paul's statement this way in Philippians 2 verse 14 and 15. Do all things without grumbling or disputing in order that you may blame, be blameless and innocent children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation. Why? Because among them, you shine as lights in the world.

How are you shining as lights of the world, as Christians? You're responding without grumbling and disputing. You're not known for, for fighting and, and, and, and, and, and intense discussions that typically end in anger or end in mockery. He said, that doesn't shine any light to a culture that needs Christ.

Everybody understands that kind of treatment. Everybody understands power. The changed lives of people from anger, pride, dominance, and vengeance to gentleness, humility, servanthood, and forgiveness was the great apologetic or defense for the reality of the Christian life. I'd like to just read to you a few statements.

Years ago when I was on sabbatical, I did a doctor of ministry course in one of my largest courses. Was on the teaching ministry of the early church, and I had the chance to read every volume. That's all of the writings from the first two centuries. Uh, there's thousands of pages. I, I just had time and I was struck with what the early church held out as their defense for their beliefs.

And why people wanted to become Christians. And I'd like to just quickly read you a few statements. I don't have them up and I apologize, but I'd like to read them to you. This was written by Justin Martyr and it's called His first Apology. And of course, as you know, an apology in in those days didn't mean we're saying, uh, I I'm saying we're sorry.

No, it was actually a defense. It was an apologetic statement. I do have those. What, how efficient? Okay. Alright. Justin. Marta, the first apology we who formally delighted in fornication, but now embrace chastity alone. We who valued above all things the acquisition of wealth and possessions now bring what we have into a common stock and communicate to everyone in need.

We who have hated and destroyed one another on account of their different manners would not live with men of a different tribe. Now since the coming of Christ Live familiarly with them and we pray for our enemies.

Ous presented a thing called a plea for the Christians. Here's what he said. But among us, you'll find uneducated persons and artisans and old women who, if they are unable in words to prove the benefit of our doctrine. Yet by their deeds exhibit the benefit arising from their persuasions of its truth.

They do not rehearse speeches, but exhibit good works when struck, they don't strike again when robbed. They don't go to law. They give to those that ask of them and love their neighbors as themselves. This is what he's saying. This is what Paul is living in his life and the early church is living before the civil authorities.

We're not fighting for our rights. We're not, we're not operating. Our weapons are not the weapons of the world. As Paul would say in Corinthians, Justin Martyr, in a second uh statement, he says this, Jesus has exhorted us to lead all men by patience and gentleness from shame and the love of evil. And this indeed is proved in the case of many who once were of your way of thinking.

But they changed their violent and tyrannical disposition being overcome either by the constancy, which which they have witnessed in their neighbor's lives. That's why people are coming to Christ or by the extraordinary forbearance they have observed in their fellow travelers when defrauded or wronged or cheated, or by the honesty of those with whom they have transacted business.

The early church says this is what sent the gospel forth. This is what enabled us to most influence our nation and influence the Roman Empire. It's, we were people of humility and gentleness. And I was struck in the book by entitled The Son of Hamas, who was a, his father was one of the leaders of the Palestinian terrorist organization known as Hamas.

And as he describes its coming to Christ. He says this, driven by racism, hatred, and revenge. I was on my way to becoming one of those people. Then in 1999, I encountered the only true God. He's the Father whose love is beyond expression, yet shown in the sacrifice of his only son on a cross to stone for the world sins.

He's the God who three days later demonstrated his power and righteousness by raising Jesus from the dead. He's the God who not only commands me to love and forgive my enemies as he has loved and forgiven me, but empowers me to do so. Humility and gentleness is the power of the Christian life. It's forbearance, it's forgiveness, it's patience, it's humility.

It's surrendering ours that others can get theirs. And it also means this humility and gentleness in our champions. Be careful who your champions are, your heroes are. I recognize you can vote for someone. I'm not just tying this in the political arena and not make them your champions or heroes, but be careful who you are making your heroes.

Christians are called to a different methodology of influencing our world. Well, the other side has bullies. I want my bully. I want my politician to be a bully. I want my radio host to be a bully. Quite frankly, some people want their pastors to be a bully. Just tough, harsh, demanding. Get things done.

You have to have someone after all who can play by the world's rules. Tough, ruthless, mocking, arrogant. It's the only way we Christians are going to make a difference in the world. No, it's not. You have God. The early church didn't play that way. They didn't need to because they believed they had a great God, a living God.

And they could act with humility and gentleness. They could stand by their convictions. They could vote by their convictions. They could, they could conduct their life with their convictions. They didn't have to surrender any of those things. In your moral perspective, in in, in the things that are core to you.

As a Christian, of course, we don't give up those, but our demeanor, our attitude, our spirit.

It is foundational and we can yield rights. We can live humbly. We can live respectfully with leaders we don't agree with

because God's our championed. He was the champion of the early church. He won. The Roman Empire was changed from the inside out. There was the, the fermentation that took place because of the humility of the early church. Paul had all the power credentials, yet he was a servant. Humble. Jesus had all the power credentials, and yet he said, I didn't come to be served.

I came to serve.

If we wanna make a difference as members of Jesus Kingdom, we gotta live Jesus. It's gonna count on culturally manifest. It's gonna, it's gonna go against the default mode of our own lives to respond. As these believers talked about in the first church, early church to to respond. I mean, today, if we were writing an apology for Christianity, Would you be able to write those things about Christians today?

Those that are naming the name of Christ, we forgive those that wrong us. We respond in gentleness. We seek the good of others. We are not fighting for rights. All the things they're talking about. Could we say that today? That's where I feel the crisis of the church is. There is a desperate hunger today for something big to pour your life in.

For the supernatural it is. Matter of fact, I could give hundreds of examples. I. From media to all kinds of, but what we offer is Christ the servant. Christ, the forgiving Christ. It's what we bring. If we are going to be a part of influencing this culture and our community for Christ, we wanna live the Jesus life, all of us.

Let's pray. Lord.

I wanna live that way. It goes against my grain. I'm a Ty a, I like to fight for things. I like to plan. I like to move out. I don't, I get impatient. I am not by nature a patient man. I am not by nature a nurturing man.

But I want to be Jesus man, and I want our people to be Jesus people. So Lord, show us what that looks like in our lives. What does it mean to live humbly? What does it mean to show gentleness regardless of whether I'm the c e o of the company or, or the most recent?

Employee with, with no credentials whatsoever. Lord, help us to live in the power of Christ and to seek to change our generation, not by the weapons of the world or power that simply putting aside human credentials as our strength and our source. But rather resting in the grace and power of Christ. In whose name I pray?

Amen. Thank you.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/christian-citizenship 6c09e6a2-f0d6-4899-a21e-fa64facbd0d9 Sun, 27 Aug 2023 14:41:12 GMT <div data-html="true">Acts 22:22- 23:11 <br /><br /> Then they raised their voices and said, “Away with such a fellow from the earth! For he should not be allowed to live.” <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> Good morning. Good morning. Okay. If you've ever tweaked your back, you'll know why I am looking like I'm looking, and I'm hoping that's not gonna be needed, but time will tell. I tweaked my back earlier this week and kept waiting for it to get better, and it started to get better, and then I did it again. <br /><br /> Um, it's, it's a tweak. It's a muscle. I, I, I'm really okay. I just look terrible. Um, We had, uh, we had a group of friends over on Wednesday night for a dinner gathering, and, uh, that was probably the worst of it. And my wife said afterwards, she said, I just couldn't get the visual of the old man in, up out of my mind. <br /><br /> That was definitely the low point of my week. All I'd like you to turn in our Bibles this morning as we're looking at the Book of Acts. And, uh, by the way, I'm Pastor Mark. Um, great to have you here. If you're newer here, um, and love to have you join with us as we, we open the word Acts chapter 22. We're gonna look at verse 22 and then go down into a few verses in chapter 23. <br /><br /> Up to this word. They listened to him. That's listening to Paul. Then they raised their voices and said, away with such a fellow from the earth for he should not be allowed to live. And as they were shouting and throwing off their cloaks and flinging dust into the air, the Tribune ordered him to be brought into the barracks saying that he should be examined by flogging to find out why they were shouting against him like this. <br /><br /> But when they had stretched him out for the whips, Paul said to the Centurion, who is standing by? Is it lawful for you? Tolog, a man who is a Roman citizen? And Uncondemned. When the Centurion heard this, he went to the Tribune and said to him, what are you about to do for this man as a Roman citizen? So the Tribune came and said to him, tell me, are you a Roman citizen? <br /><br /> And he said, yes. The Tribune answered. I bought this citizenship for a large sum. Paul said, but I am a citizen by birth. So those who, who were about to examine him withdrew from him immediately. Immediately. And the Tribune also was afraid for, he realized that Paul was a Roman citizen and that he had bound him. <br /><br /> But on the next day, desiring to know the real reason why he was being accused by the Jews. He unbound him and commanded the chief priests and all the council to, to meet, and he brought Paul down and set him before them. And looking intently at the council. Paul said, brothers, I have lived my life before God in all good conscience up to this day, and the high priest, Ananias commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth. <br /><br /> Then Paul said to him, God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall. Are you sitting to judge me according to the law, and yet contrary to the law, you order me to be struck. Those who stood by said, would you revile God's high priest? And Paul said, I did not know brothers that he was the chief, the high priest for has written you shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people. <br /><br /> Now, when Paul perceived that one part was Sadducees and the other's Pharisees, he cried it on the Council Brothers. I am a Pharisees, his son of Pharisees. It is with respect to the hope and the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial. And when he had said this, a dissension rose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. <br /><br /> For the Sadducees say, there is no resurrection nor nor angel, nor spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledged them all. Then a great clamor arose and some of the scribes of the Pharisees party stood up and contended sharply. We find nothing wrong in this man. What if a spirit of an angel spoke to him? And when the dissension became violent, the tribune afraid that Paul would be torn to pieces by them, commanded the soldiers to go down and take him away from among them by force and bring him into the barracks. <br /><br /> The following night, the Lord stood by him and said, take courage for as you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem. So you must testify also in Rome. Lord, we come to you this morning. <br /><br /> And God once again, we're so grateful for the lessons you've given us in this amazing history record of the early church in the Book of Acts. Thank you Lord for the chance to journey with these men and women as they take the gospel forth throughout the empire and the lessons that are so relevant to us. <br /><br /> And Lord, you know my heart in this message. Um, I really pray that out of my weakness this morning, uh, truth would go forth, that we would have ears to hear, hearts to listen. In Jesus' name, amen. Paul has landed on the shores of Jerusalem or of Judea and has made his way into Jerusalem as he's done so he has. <br /><br /> Begun the final part of the Book of Acts. It's actually one third, almost one third of the book. It's a record of Paul being primarily in prison. He has moved from a role of offensive strategic involvement in starting churches, in in, in starting church movements to now he's going to be held and there are 200 verses in the book of Acts that are talking about this and. <br /><br /> 25% to 33% of the book are five trials that Paul's gonna embark into. And not only was what Paul said, but what the Roman authorities respond to him. And we might ask the question why. I mean, why did we take so much time, Luke? In the leading of the spirit for you to keep this voluminous record about Paul in jail interacting with these Roman authorities. <br /><br /> It's interesting that this is not the only time that Luke has done this. He has presented in the Book of Acts a number of situations where the Roman authorities are responding to the fledgling church. Just to quickly bring up the map on the map in the, these seven, these three, uh, starred locations, the first on the lower right is next to Ephesus. <br /><br /> In Ephesus, the town clerk, who is the, the mayor, basically declared the Christian leaders, Paul, among them innocent. Rebuke the crowd for public disorder and sent them all home in Philippi, which is the northern one up in uh, Macedonian. The magistrates actually apologized to Paul and Silas for having mistreated them as prisoners and came personally to the prison to escort them out in Corinth. <br /><br /> Over to the left in modern day Greece, Gallo, the proco of all of Aya. Refused even to listen to Jewish accusations against Paul and dismiss their case against him as a sedition, as a revolutionary. Luke is constantly emphasizing the Roman response to the Christian messengers and we, we might ask why. Why is it so important? <br /><br /> Why is he gonna record all these trials coming up? Why does he respond here in chapter 21 to 23, this Tribune. Uh, um, of the fortress there in Jerusalem who has a thousand men under him that are trying, Paul, that are, that are interacting with him, that are bringing the Jewish leaders in to ask him. S so much time talking about <br /><br /> the civil author's response to the Christian messengers. I would suggest to you, as we've always said, as we go through acts. Everything that is in this book is chosen specifically by God into his messengers to record. It's not a new angle for Paul, for for Luke. He has done the same thing in his. Record his history book of Jesus. <br /><br /> Of course, there are four Gospels. Matthew, mark, Luke, John. Luke wrote the Gospel of Luke. Luke also wrote the Book of Acts and as he told the history of the book of Acts and emphasized the Roman authorities' perspective of the Christian messengers. So in the Gospel of Luke, Luke records more information about Jesus contact with. <br /><br /> The civil authorities than anyone else. For instance, he's the only one that talks about how Pilate was convinced Jesus was not guilty of anything, and he sent him over to Herod. Herod had a similar response. Those things are recorded in Luke's gospel. When we say, why is this so important? Why is it so essential? <br /><br /> To give information about Paul's imprisonment and interaction with Roman authorities, and I would suggest it is clearly to show how Christians interact with civil authorities. It is a defense to the Roman emperors. It is a fence to a Roman perspective of Christians and viewing them, whether it is as sedition or insurrectionary or revolutionaries, but in it. <br /><br /> Luke gives us a picture of what it means to be a Christian citizen since Paul has landed in Jerusalem or in Judea and now made his way to Jerusalem in chapter 21, verse 17 to 26, we have seen Paul's priority as he talks about, we've seen the display of Christian unity and the importance of it. Last week we looked at Paul as he was broad and, and I talked about Christian courage. <br /><br /> Today I'd like to talk about Christian citizenship. <br /><br /> Remember, in both of Luke's letters, he addresses the same guy. It's written to a guy named Theophilus Theophilus, as he calls him most excellent Theophilus. In both the book of Luke chapter one, verse one and Acts chapter one, verse one. He calls him most excellent Theophilus, which means he was a Roman dignitary. <br /><br /> He had authority. He was an individual of significance. His gospel and his record in Acts is primarily addressed to Romans, to Gentiles. He is not primarily wrote writing to people with a Jewish heritage. Certainly their record embracing Christ is here. He is particularly talking to those. Who are not living under Jewish leadership in Jerusalem and Judea, but to people who are living in a secular culture of Rome. <br /><br /> He is writing to a people exactly like 21st century Americans, and he is saying to us, this is what cist Christian citizenship looks like as modeled in the life of Paul and others. So this morning I'd like to think. About what God has for us in such a topic. We tend as pastors here at F C C to build our preaching and our teaching ministry, not around issues. <br /><br /> We feel led to go preaching through scriptures, books of the Bible, believing God. That what he tends to do is to time the truth of the scriptures to speak the issues of the day. He is remarkably relevant in doing that. I truly believe our text does that today. Christian citizenship is of vital importance to be understood. <br /><br /> There is not an arena of our culture more volatile than that of politics right now. It is the hotbed for much of the arrogance, animosity, and anger that is dividing us as people. It's not surprising then that there is no arena of your life as a Christian that is being more scrutinized than how you think, speak and react. <br /><br /> In the political arena, our PRI priority allegiance is to a kingdom. The kingdom of Jesus Christ, not ultimately to a party, not ultimately even to our nation. It is to the kingdom of Jesus. The question is, what does a member of Jesus kingdom look like as a Christian citizen? It is crucial for believers to wrestle with this question if they hope to have a Christian witness and influence in this generation, and our passage gives us a script to follow as Christian citizens. <br /><br /> I'd like to highlight three things. Number one, these three qualities are modeled by a Christian citizen, our champion, the apostle Paul Number one, Christians hold their rights loosely. Secondly, Christians value the rule of law. And third Christians represent Jesus to their community. First of all, Christians hold their rights loosely. <br /><br /> We see this in Paul's response to the Roman Tribune and an interesting thing that is recorded here and is not recorded other places. As we saw last week, this Roman Tribune has of a thousand soldiers has come charging down in with hundreds of his soldiers to break up the mob that was rioting and trying to kill Paul in the temple courts. <br /><br /> And as they have come through, one of the stairways out of the Antonio Fortress, which was the barracks there in Jerusalem of the Roman Legionnaires, as they come flying down in they rescue Paul. And in the midst of that scene, some interesting things take place. He is rescued, he speaks, the crowd has worked up all over again because he mentions going to the Gentiles and now he's in the barracks. <br /><br /> And when they're there, the Legionnaire, the, the Tribune says to his Legionnaires, strap him down, take the shirt off his back. We're going to scourge him. To scourge someone was to inflict on them. Astonishing. Um, Retribution or particularly just torture to get them to confess. This flogging is called a flagellum. <br /><br /> It was done by a flagellum. It was a wooden stick and it had attached to it long leather straps and sewed into those rubber straps, leather straps where pieces of metal or, or broken pieces of bone, and they would stick out. And you took this thing and a big Legionnaire would just strip you down and just every time he swung, literally as he pulled back, he took a chunk of flesh. <br /><br /> Many people died from it. It was not uncommon to die if you didn't die. You, you were literally maimed for life and it's just to get information. And in the midst of this moment as he's trying to get a confession, I wanna think about two quick things here. One, number one, what rights did Paul have? And secondly, how did Paul fight for those rights? <br /><br /> Not only here, but as a rule. What happens here is Paul says, I'm a Roman citizen. This was big. To be a Roman citizen was a position of honor. It meant you could vote, it meant you could hold, uh, office, and it certainly protected you from certain behavior. Of the police force or the military force. <br /><br /> Basically, you got to be a Roman citizen in one of two ways. One, you accomplished enough and were esteemed enough, and you could then either pay by bribe or or another exorbitant amount of money to be declared a Roman citizen. It was a formal process that you went through The more illustrious way. Was that you were actually born at a CI as a cinnamon. <br /><br /> The Roman legionnaire over a thousand soldiers, the tri, excuse me, the Tribune. He bought his, he had earned his way up. Paul says, well, I'm, I'm a son of Roman citizen. I am a Roman citizen by birth. Now, to tell you how significant that was, I'd just like to show up a couple of numbers. In the Roman Empire, there are estimated to be 45 million people at this time. <br /><br /> In the first century of that 45 million, no more than 4 million of the 45 million adults were Roman citizens, 9%. The overwhelming majority of them were near Rome. We're now way out in the outskirts. We're at the farthest distant eastern edge of the empire in Judea. Virtually no. Jews are Roman citizens. <br /><br /> They hate Rome. They want nothing to do with it. Paul is a unique Jewish man who has a heritage. His father must have been, or his grandfather or somebody prominent in business or or a legal work or something where Paul is a Roman citizen. This is a big deal. Few people in this eastern end of the Empire have it. <br /><br /> And certainly there is no expectation this guy has it. He has tremendous significance. He has creds. So how does he use his rights? Because on the other side, Paul has these tremendous credentials. He also has Jewish credentials, which he, we saw earlier, trained under Gamal appointed by the religious leaders, uh, to, to to, to be the attack dog towards the church, but he also has things in his life and ministry rights that were being denied. <br /><br /> On the other side, Paul faced tremendous injustice as a Christian. He's beaten multiple times, stoned at least three times, run out of cities, arrested many times in most cities. He starts to get a following with his teaching and jealous Jewish leaders or or influence or other religious leaders or business people who are losing their business because of people turning from their idolatrous business and the selling of idols and other things. <br /><br /> They raise up and bring slanderous accusations against him. This is a guy who has been wronged over and over and over and over again. He's been lied about. He's been, he's been slandered. So here we have this situation, a man who is utterly wronged. His rights pulled out from under him all the time, and he has tremendous power. <br /><br /> He's a Roman citizen. He's not only esteemed in the Jewish culture, he's esteemed in the Roman culture. So how did Paul exercise and fight for his own rights? Well, he could do what he did here. He says, Hey, before you get that flag gone, remember I'm, I'm a Roman citizen and it is illegal. To try to get a confession out of a Roman citizen by torture. <br /><br /> The striking thing about this is Paul never does this. It's actually why it's so interesting that what happens here, he only does it one at a time. In all the years of his ministry in this passage, he's doing it to save himself from probable death in the other one in Philippi. He actually is arrested with Silas. <br /><br /> They're put in a prison. They're, they're beaten, not with the flatulent, but they're beaten with clubs, so their backs are bruised. And buddy, he's thrown in stocks overnight. He never says I'm a Roman citizen. And finally, when they're releasing him from prison, he tells him, by the way, I'm a Roman president. <br /><br /> And they get the governor of the town and they come and they apologize for what they've done. He never uses it again. Paul did not play the power card almost ever in one case, just to save his life in the other as an after fact. To try to say, look, you better be careful in, in other Christians, you bring in here, you might get a Roman citizen again and do this kind of mistake stake. <br /><br /> We learned from Paul something very consequential, <br /><br /> his influence. Was in living the Gospel's focus on being a servant, a humble truth teller in serving others, not fighting for his rights. He doesn't even say, he even says to the Christians, look, I, you should be supporting me financially, but I'm doing my work. As I said last week, a tent maker was basically, you made tents for trips. <br /><br /> He was a, he was a mechanic in, in an RV factory basically. He says, I'm willing to do that. I'm not insisting on rights. I'm not saying, look, I'm your rabbi. You should take care of me. He's saying I'm not. I'm not using the power card against the Roman government by saying, don't tread on me, man. I am a Roman citizen. <br /><br /> This is really important for us as Christians, the mentality of. A feeling because we are persecuted as Christians, gives us the right to respond disrespectfully of saying, man, you gotta fight fire with fire mentality knows no support in the life of Paul or of Jesus. Yeah, but they're taking our country away. <br /><br /> We've lost our Christian heritage, the principles that made our country what it was. These people with other faiths, other morals, other priorities, they're ruining our country. Just be careful that what you are fighting for is what Jesus would, and be very careful that the way you are going about it is the way Jesus and Paul would a lot of professed evangelicals today. <br /><br /> Look a lot more like the angry Jews in chapter 22 than the apostles and his friends. What were they mad about? You are taking our nation away. You are taking our, our, our, our values away. You're bringing Gentiles in as if they deserve to share what we've had. Just be careful because the spirit of the gospel as a Christian citizen is not my rights. <br /><br /> Secondly, I. Value of the rule of law here. Here's Paul. He goes in. Now it's interesting, the, the Tribune calls together the religious leaders. He has a forced meaning of the Sanhedrin, uh, the 71 members of the council. He troops Paul down and undoubtedly under big guard of Legionnaires, they come down the steps of the Antonio Fortress. <br /><br /> They walk into the court of the, uh, The, uh, the temple and then they go to a side chamber, which was where the Sanhedrin held their, their regular meetings. And as he comes before them, it is a group of 71 men that are made up of the high priests and members of his family that are made up of influential leaders in the city. <br /><br /> Business, merchants, um, leaders. It is also made up of scribes who were the, uh, uh, historians and students of the law. And it's, it's made up of different kinds of people. They are individuals. Two parties that are made up. They're made up of the Sadducees, the Sadducees, with the liberals of the day. Sadly, the religious, uh, establishment, the chief priests and his family were Sadducees. <br /><br /> Yeah, they didn't believe in a resurrection to eternal life. They didn't believe there was an afterlife. They didn't believe in angels. It says all this in our passage this morning. They didn't believe in miracles in the Old Testament. They thought they were just stories. And then you had the conservatives, the the Pharisees and the Pharisees believed in a literal resurrection. <br /><br /> They believed angels were real. They believed that there were miracles that God had done and would do again. And Paul's a Pharisee and Paul then plays this card. In order. He, he, he says, well, I'm here partly, and which was true for my belief in the resurrection. He's trying to demonstrate, I believe, to the Roman authorities that the whole issue is theological, not political. <br /><br /> He's committed no crime except holding different beliefs than the oppression, than his, his opposition to the Sanhedrin. But an interesting cha exchange takes place in verses two to five in chapter 23. It's where Paul is saying, you know, I, my conscience is clear. And for some reason this just sets the high priest off. <br /><br /> And again, this is kind of a chaotic environment. 71 people, it's an outdoor area. Uh uh, there are columns separating it, but it's not a closed room. It was, there were people all around. It was somewhat cat. It was, it was the, you can imagine how many Roman soldiers are in the room. And so the high priest somehow signals to his guys and says, smack that guy in the face. <br /><br /> Whether it was a raised eye or just a mo, we don't know. And Paul, whether because he has bad eyes, which tradition has it, he did or he just doesn't pick up all that's going on, who did it? 'cause he does know who the high priest is. He's, he was one of his henchmen years before. But he looks on and he sees somebody signal this guy that slaps him and he addresses the individual that was in authority and wipes him out pretty clear. <br /><br /> He calls him a whitewashed wall, which meant you're, you know, you're this on the outside, but inside it's like a grave. And, but then what happens? They said, would you revile God's high, God's high priest in verse four? And Paul said, I didn't know brothers that he was the high priest for. It's written you shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people. <br /><br /> You notice you didn't say you shouldn't speak evil of a high priest. That was true. The high priest was one of the civil leaders of the people, but he's giving a recognition to authority and to the whole principle of law. In the way he responds and he looks at him now. Now think of who Ananias is. <br /><br /> Josephus is the Jewish historian of the first century, talks about Ananias in less than complimentary terms. He describes him as arrogant and proud, which was probably his best characteristic. He was cruel, selfish, dishonest, and given to injustice. Everything in a high priest and a governing leader should not be. <br /><br /> But Paul respected the position and he did so because he honored the law. In Romans 13, Paul wrote a letter and it's to the Roman church interestingly, and Rome under the despotic Roman leadership, soon to be Nero, who will be the one that puts Paul and Peter to death? But God prompts Paul to write this in Romans 13, let every person be subject to the governing authorities for there's no other authorities except from God. <br /><br /> And those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore, whoever resists the authorities resist what God is appointed and those who resist will incur. Judgment for rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you not fear? Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good and you'll receive his approval for, he's God's servant for your good, but if you do wrong, be afraid for He does not bear the sword in vain, for he's the servant of God and Avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. <br /><br /> Therefore, one must be in subjection, not only to God's wrath, but also for the sake of conscience. Now, Ananias was that guy, but he did it terribly, awfully. But Paul still says, I have an obligation to even this man. <br /><br /> We have the greatest Constitution in the history of mankind, the greatest set of bylaws for a nation that has ever been formed. It gives us the opportunity to vote and to to hold our leaders accountable, and its incredible privilege. It's a, to me, the greatest part of the constitution. Is that was formed by people at least a majority of whom that believed in an anthropology that was biblical, a view of humankind. <br /><br /> And that anthropology was this. The heart of mankind is tainted severely by sin. No one can be trusted with absolute power. No one, no matter how God lived there, JR. Or Tolkien, in the Lord of the Rings, is my favorite part about the Lord of the Rings, and I have a lot of favorite parts. But is he constantly makes this statement, no matter how good you are, no matter how honorable you are, no one was able to wield the ring of power. <br /><br /> It would always control them also. Ultimately, no one could be trusted with that. Our founding fathers built in a system of checks and balances. It's an amazing system. They believed what Tolkien believed. That no one can be trusted with absolute power. Here's the reality. As we think of governing leaders, <br /><br /> the most important responsibility is to uphold law, and there will be bad laws and there will be laws that are done improperly and unjustly, and they're gonna have to be faced and addressed. But it doesn't matter if someone is a Christian or a non-Christian, if they're not upholding law. And I, I know this is gonna sound like I'm speaking to an individual and I'm really not trying to, I didn't choose this text this morning, but I'm just saying this, that we have to, as Christians recognize that upholding the law is the ultimate role of government or of governors. <br /><br /> Christians must support the rule of law and Christians must respect authority leaders. You may have a president or a governor or something else. You can't stand, there's not one policy they have that you can line up and say, boy, that was a good thing he did, or she did, or, but to talk with nicknames and to talk disparagingly to, to post things that are mocking. <br /><br /> It just isn't the way Paul operated, and this is a guy that had every cred. I mean, he was a very influential man. Even to the Romans, the way we speak, the way we process, the way we think as Christians is really important. He still felt ashamed when he spoke angrily or mockingly about his civil leaders. <br /><br /> The third thing is we are called to represent Jesus to our community. This really is the foundation to it all. It's going to be everything we're going to see in Acts 22 to 28. It's why I think right here at the end of this section in verse 11, the Lord comes to me and he says, Paul, you're gonna keep doing what you're doing. <br /><br /> You're gonna keep my representative, and right now you're gonna go on a long road of trials and all this other stuff. But it's always my ultimate goal for you, wherever you are to be representing me. And you're gonna do it in Rome. The last thing is representing Jesus to our communities. Paul will lead the way in the early church in showing the way humility and gentleness in our lives is what that looks like. <br /><br /> I read a book about seven years ago. It was called The Patient Ferment of the Church. And basically it was written by a church historian. I had the privilege, uh, after I read the book, I was out in Indiana and through a mutual friend, I got to meet the author and talk with him. And it was a really cool experience because I love the book. <br /><br /> And basically it's a book that is presenting what many other Christian historians have, have also expressed. And that is the fact that the reason that the early church. Profoundly impacted its culture. The reason so many people flocked to the gospel was not great preaching. It wasn't great miracles. It was in this author's word, the fermenting, fermenting, the, the, the yeast impact into the culture of the humility of Christians, that they responded in a way that nobody else had seen and nobody else could understand. <br /><br /> It's Paul's statement this way in Philippians 2 verse 14 and 15. Do all things without grumbling or disputing in order that you may blame, be blameless and innocent children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation. Why? Because among them, you shine as lights in the world. <br /><br /> How are you shining as lights of the world, as Christians? You're responding without grumbling and disputing. You're not known for, for fighting and, and, and, and, and, and intense discussions that typically end in anger or end in mockery. He said, that doesn't shine any light to a culture that needs Christ. <br /><br /> Everybody understands that kind of treatment. Everybody understands power. The changed lives of people from anger, pride, dominance, and vengeance to gentleness, humility, servanthood, and forgiveness was the great apologetic or defense for the reality of the Christian life. I'd like to just read to you a few statements. <br /><br /> Years ago when I was on sabbatical, I did a doctor of ministry course in one of my largest courses. Was on the teaching ministry of the early church, and I had the chance to read every volume. That's all of the writings from the first two centuries. Uh, there's thousands of pages. I, I just had time and I was struck with what the early church held out as their defense for their beliefs. <br /><br /> And why people wanted to become Christians. And I'd like to just quickly read you a few statements. I don't have them up and I apologize, but I'd like to read them to you. This was written by Justin Martyr and it's called His first Apology. And of course, as you know, an apology in in those days didn't mean we're saying, uh, I I'm saying we're sorry. <br /><br /> No, it was actually a defense. It was an apologetic statement. I do have those. What, how efficient? Okay. Alright. Justin. Marta, the first apology we who formally delighted in fornication, but now embrace chastity alone. We who valued above all things the acquisition of wealth and possessions now bring what we have into a common stock and communicate to everyone in need. <br /><br /> We who have hated and destroyed one another on account of their different manners would not live with men of a different tribe. Now since the coming of Christ Live familiarly with them and we pray for our enemies. <br /><br /> Ous presented a thing called a plea for the Christians. Here's what he said. But among us, you'll find uneducated persons and artisans and old women who, if they are unable in words to prove the benefit of our doctrine. Yet by their deeds exhibit the benefit arising from their persuasions of its truth. <br /><br /> They do not rehearse speeches, but exhibit good works when struck, they don't strike again when robbed. They don't go to law. They give to those that ask of them and love their neighbors as themselves. This is what he's saying. This is what Paul is living in his life and the early church is living before the civil authorities. <br /><br /> We're not fighting for our rights. We're not, we're not operating. Our weapons are not the weapons of the world. As Paul would say in Corinthians, Justin Martyr, in a second uh statement, he says this, Jesus has exhorted us to lead all men by patience and gentleness from shame and the love of evil. And this indeed is proved in the case of many who once were of your way of thinking. <br /><br /> But they changed their violent and tyrannical disposition being overcome either by the constancy, which which they have witnessed in their neighbor's lives. That's why people are coming to Christ or by the extraordinary forbearance they have observed in their fellow travelers when defrauded or wronged or cheated, or by the honesty of those with whom they have transacted business. <br /><br /> The early church says this is what sent the gospel forth. This is what enabled us to most influence our nation and influence the Roman Empire. It's, we were people of humility and gentleness. And I was struck in the book by entitled The Son of Hamas, who was a, his father was one of the leaders of the Palestinian terrorist organization known as Hamas. <br /><br /> And as he describes its coming to Christ. He says this, driven by racism, hatred, and revenge. I was on my way to becoming one of those people. Then in 1999, I encountered the only true God. He's the Father whose love is beyond expression, yet shown in the sacrifice of his only son on a cross to stone for the world sins. <br /><br /> He's the God who three days later demonstrated his power and righteousness by raising Jesus from the dead. He's the God who not only commands me to love and forgive my enemies as he has loved and forgiven me, but empowers me to do so. Humility and gentleness is the power of the Christian life. It's forbearance, it's forgiveness, it's patience, it's humility. <br /><br /> It's surrendering ours that others can get theirs. And it also means this humility and gentleness in our champions. Be careful who your champions are, your heroes are. I recognize you can vote for someone. I'm not just tying this in the political arena and not make them your champions or heroes, but be careful who you are making your heroes. <br /><br /> Christians are called to a different methodology of influencing our world. Well, the other side has bullies. I want my bully. I want my politician to be a bully. I want my radio host to be a bully. Quite frankly, some people want their pastors to be a bully. Just tough, harsh, demanding. Get things done. <br /><br /> You have to have someone after all who can play by the world's rules. Tough, ruthless, mocking, arrogant. It's the only way we Christians are going to make a difference in the world. No, it's not. You have God. The early church didn't play that way. They didn't need to because they believed they had a great God, a living God. <br /><br /> And they could act with humility and gentleness. They could stand by their convictions. They could vote by their convictions. They could, they could conduct their life with their convictions. They didn't have to surrender any of those things. In your moral perspective, in in, in the things that are core to you. <br /><br /> As a Christian, of course, we don't give up those, but our demeanor, our attitude, our spirit. <br /><br /> It is foundational and we can yield rights. We can live humbly. We can live respectfully with leaders we don't agree with <br /><br /> because God's our championed. He was the champion of the early church. He won. The Roman Empire was changed from the inside out. There was the, the fermentation that took place because of the humility of the early church. Paul had all the power credentials, yet he was a servant. Humble. Jesus had all the power credentials, and yet he said, I didn't come to be served. <br /><br /> I came to serve. <br /><br /> If we wanna make a difference as members of Jesus Kingdom, we gotta live Jesus. It's gonna count on culturally manifest. It's gonna, it's gonna go against the default mode of our own lives to respond. As these believers talked about in the first church, early church to to respond. I mean, today, if we were writing an apology for Christianity, Would you be able to write those things about Christians today? <br /><br /> Those that are naming the name of Christ, we forgive those that wrong us. We respond in gentleness. We seek the good of others. We are not fighting for rights. All the things they're talking about. Could we say that today? That's where I feel the crisis of the church is. There is a desperate hunger today for something big to pour your life in. <br /><br /> For the supernatural it is. Matter of fact, I could give hundreds of examples. I. From media to all kinds of, but what we offer is Christ the servant. Christ, the forgiving Christ. It's what we bring. If we are going to be a part of influencing this culture and our community for Christ, we wanna live the Jesus life, all of us. <br /><br /> Let's pray. Lord. <br /><br /> I wanna live that way. It goes against my grain. I'm a Ty a, I like to fight for things. I like to plan. I like to move out. I don't, I get impatient. I am not by nature a patient man. I am not by nature a nurturing man. <br /><br /> But I want to be Jesus man, and I want our people to be Jesus people. So Lord, show us what that looks like in our lives. What does it mean to live humbly? What does it mean to show gentleness regardless of whether I'm the c e o of the company or, or the most recent? <br /><br /> Employee with, with no credentials whatsoever. Lord, help us to live in the power of Christ and to seek to change our generation, not by the weapons of the world or power that simply putting aside human credentials as our strength and our source. But rather resting in the grace and power of Christ. In whose name I pray? <br /><br /> Amen. Thank you.</div> false no <![CDATA[Cultivating Courage]]> Acts 21:27-22:22

the Jews from Asia, seeing him in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd and laid hands on him, crying out, “Men of Israel, help! This is the man who is teaching everyone everywhere against the people



Sermon Transcript:

Alright, acts chapter 21. Acts chapter 21. I'm gonna read a number of verses. This is an amazing story, so don't get lost in the droning voice. Uh, stay with this 'cause. This really is an amazing thing that's taking place when this, and looking at verse 27 of Acts chapter 21, when the seven days were almost completed, the Jews from Asia seeing him in the temple.

That's Paul stirred up the whole crowd and laid hands on him, crying out men of Israel help. This is the man who is teaching everyone everywhere against the people and the law and this place. Moreover, he even brought Jews into Greeks, into the temple and has defiled this holy place for, they had previously seen Trophe, the Ephesian with him in the city, and they supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple.

Then all the city was see was stirred up and the people ran together. They seized Paul and dragged him out of the temple, and at once the gates were shut, and as they were seeking to kill him, word came to the tribune of the cohort that all Jerusalem was in confusion. He had once took soldiers and centurions and ran down to them, and when they saw the tribune and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.

Then the Tribune came up and arrested him and ordered him to be bound with two chains. He inquired who he was and what he had done. Some in the crowd were shouting one thing, some another, and as he could not learn the facts, because of the uproar, he ordered him to be brought into the barracks. And when he came to the steps, he was actually carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the crowd, for the mob of the people.

Followed crying out away with him as Paul was about to be brought into the barracks. He said to the tribune, may I say something to you? And he, he said, do you know Greek? Are you not the Egyptian? Then who recently stirred up a revolt and led the 4,000 men of the assassins out into the wilderness. Paul replied, I'm a Jew from Tarsus and Esia citizen of the obscure city of no obscure city.

I beg you, permit me to speak to the people. And when he had given him permission, Paul standing on the steps, motioned in his hand with his hand to the people. And when there was a great hush, he addressed him in the Hebrew language saying, brothers and fathers hear the defense that I am I now make before you.

And when they heard that he was addressing them in the Hebrew language, they became more quiet. And he said, I am a Jew. Born in Tarsus, in Esia. But brought up in this city, educated at the feet of Gamal, according to the strict manner of the law of our fathers being zealous for God as all of you are this day, I persecuted this way to the death, binding and delivering to prison, both men and women as the high priest and the whole council of elders can bear me witness from them.

I received letters to the brothers and I journeyed toward Damascus to take those also who were there and bring them in bonds to Jerusalem to be punished. As I was on my way and drew near to Damascus, about noon, a great light from heaven suddenly shone around me. And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?

And I answered, who are you Lord? And he said to me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting. Now those who are with me saw the light, but did not understand the voice of the one who was speaking to me. And I said, what shall I do Lord? And the Lord said to me, rise and go into Damascus. And there you will talk.

You'll be told all that disappointed you to do. And since I could not see, because of the brightness of the light, I was led by the hand by those who were with me and came into Damascus. And one Ananias, a devout man, according to the law well-spoken of by all the Jews who lived there, came to me and standing by me, said to me, brother Saul, receive your sight.

And at that very hour, I received my sight and saw him. And he said, the God of our fathers appointed you to know his will, to see the righteous one, and to hear a voice from his mouth. For you'll be a witness for him, to everyone of what you have seen and heard. And now why do you wait, rise and be baptized and wash away your sins.

Calling on my name when I had returned to Jerusalem was praying in the temple. I fell into a trance and saw him saying to me, may haste and get out of Jerusalem quickly because they will not accept your testimony about me. I. And I said, Lord, they themselves know that in one synagogue after another, I imprisoned and beared beat those who believed in you.

And when the blood of Stephen, your witness was being shed, I myself was standing by and approving and watching over the garments of those who killed him. And he said to me, go for, I will send you away far away to the Gentiles. Then two more verses up to this word. They listened to him, then they raised their voices and said, away with such a fellow from the earth for he should not be allowed to live.

And as they were shouting and throwing off their cloaks and flinging dust into the air, and we'll leave the story there. You get the scene. Let's pray together. Lord, we read this passage, the tumult. I'm just stunned with the courage of this man, Paul. A man who, in a number of his letters, talks about his own struggle with fear, and yet God, to have the courage that you had cultivated in his life we're drawn to want to understand what that looks like and how that's done.

So God teach us to that end as we look at this passage together. I pray in Jesus' name, amen. As we come to this portion of scripture, we're coming to a unique moment in the ministry of Paul. The Apostle Paul to this point, has been involved in an offensive game for seven years. He has been going out on three missionary journeys all over the Mediterranean world, the Roman Empire of that time, and he's been on offense.

He's been strategically going from city to city and and, and people, group to people, group sharing the gospel, starting churches. That's what Acts chapter one. Through the first half of Chapter 21 is all about. But from now to the Rema end of the book, Paul's game moves to an a defensive posture. Eight of the remaining 10 years of Paul's life will be spent in jail.

Paul will be imprisoned. He will be limited. Even the two years he has freedom. He's doing it as an aged man and doesn't travel much. There's nothing recorded of those events. Paul is now on a defensive position. The enemy is bringing blows upon him, and yet there are unique ways that God is still going to work through the life of this man.

But that there is a tremendous transition in the Book of Acts. At this moment, it's AD 57 and here in Jerusalem, which is now where Paul has arrived, culminating all his missionary travels. The city is in foment. It is a, it is a city that is filled with Jewish nationalism that has risen to a fever pitch 80, 57.

In 13 years, the Jewish people in 80 70 will revolt against Rome, and Rome will send their allegiance and they will crush the city. The temple will be obliterated. No stone will be left upon another. The walls of the city will be crushed. This is a city that is already filled with anger and vitriol to the gentile dogs that have brought tyranny and tyranny leadership to their nation.

There has perhaps been no time in the last couple of centuries. Where the feelings of the Jews of Jerusalem are more against the Gentile world. The church, of course, has had to deal with this because the church has been deeply desirous of sharing with their neighbors and friends, their Jewish beloved countrymen, that Jesus is the Messiah.

He's the one that he has come, and his cross was not his ultimate defeat, but the ultimate victory of God bringing life and fulfillment of all the promises of Old Testament scripture. They want their neighbors to embrace Jesus. At the same time, the church in Jerusalem and the Jewish leadership there is attempting to encourage the gospel going forth to the gentile nations, but it is a hard place.

For them to live. They're caught in the middle. And then Paul shows up this guy who has been the prime agent of saying that the hated Gentiles now can share in the Jewish Messiah. He has been telling the Gentile Christians throughout the Roman empire that they don't need to keep the ceremonial laws, that they don't need to be circumcised.

And yet these are the very things that have been the foundation that has kept the people of God, the Jewish people together for 2000 years,

the Christians in Jerusalem are trying to not stir up the pot of hostility. And now Paul comes to town. He's been gone for seven years. The moment is electric with tension and conflict. It's a, it's a volatile moment when Paul steps on the shore on in the province of Judah. Paul knows all of this multiple times.

We have seen in the Book of Acts, people warning him, don't go to Jerusalem. It's foolhardy. You have no idea the tension that has built there, particularly towards you and what you're attempting to do in the gentile world. He's aware of all of it. He comes open-eyed. He comes with fear that he acts with amazing courage.

In a simple study this morning, I'd like to just think about what was it? That enables him to have this kind of courage. How is this cultivated in his life? And we see some seeds in this passage. Two things I wanna talk about this morning. First of all is Paul's fear. In the verses we just read, we actually are seeing the scene that takes place in Jerusalem.

And I'm gonna mention that, just summarize it in a moment. But we realized that Paul anticipated these fearful circumstances already. A few weeks before this, Paul had written a letter, it's called the epistle to the Romans. The letter to the Romans. And in that letter he had told them, I'm hoping to come to you guys.

I wanna bring the gospel to your city, and then I want to take the gospel beyond you to Spain. But he says, before I do that, I have to get back to Jerusalem, and I have to visit there because I have a financial gift that he had gathered among all the Gentile churches. And he's actually taking eight Gentile men with him, representatives of all the churches to bring the gift to the Jerusalem Saints who are struggling, struggling financially because of ostracism and also the famine that has hit the land.

And it's a way of the Gentile churches of sort of paying back the spiritual heritage that they have been given through the Jewish people and the Jewish Messiah, and now bringing a financial gift to try to alleviate their suffering. But Paul is recognizing what he's facing in going back to Jerusalem.

And in Romans chapter 15, verse 30 and 31, he asks the Roman believers to pray for him. And here's what he says. I appeal to you brothers by our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the love of the Spirit to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf. First that I may be delivered from the unbelievers in Judea.

And second, that my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the Saints prayer request. One, if I can reverse the order is service for the Jerusalem may be acceptable to the Saints. Paul's bringing this gift, it's a way he's looking at this as hopefully a way of merging the churches, the gentile Christian communities, the Jewish, uh, Christian community, and he's hoping this will be a salient moment of unity.

And he says, pray that they'll receive it that way earlier in Acts chapter 21. He is welcomed that way by the leaders, James and others of the Jerusalem Church. But his other prayer request is this, pray that I'll be delivered from the unbelievers in Judea in this hot nationalistic fervor season in Jerusalem.

As I dare to go back, Paul says, I, I know I'm facing trouble. I know. I'm going to a hot place. Paul knew he had reason to be fearful. Secondly, Paul experienced those fearful circumstances. In chapter 21, we just read about it. Here's what's taking place. I'm just gonna summarize Chapter 21. What we read when Paul was, Paul was recognized by some of the Jews.

He's come during a festival on purpose. So there are Jews from all over the world that have traveled to a Jerusalem and while he's there, there are Jews from Ephesus who have recognized Paul. And they've also recognized a guy named Trois who is a Ephesian Christian. He's a Gentile, he's a Greek. And they recognize he's probably a prominent guy in the city 'cause he's a leader in the church and and he's certainly known.

And they say, Paul is here. Not only is Paul here, we saw him in the temple. He has brought these Jewish, these gentile men into the temple. This is what's taking place. Now, this is a, a hot moment, first of all, because they were already disposed against Paul, right? For what he's doing. And now they've come to Jerusalem and they say the guy's everywhere.

Here he is in Jerusalem. He's, he's, he's bringing sacrilege to our very faith at the heart center of Jerusalem and the temple. They were wrong. He didn't take them in, but they thought he did. The reason that that mattered so much is because there was a four and a half foot wall Josephus. The, uh, chur, the, uh, Jewish historian of the first century talks about it.

There have been archeological digs, uh, one in 1875, another in 1911, which 18 71, 19 15. Where they have found evidences of this and other placards that were put, this four and a half foot wall is seated. There is the large in the temple area. This large court called the court of the Gentiles. Gentiles can go there, but then in the real temple there was this barrier at the door and on it was an inscription.

And Josephus describes it and he puts it in these words, he says, it forbade any foreigner to go in under pain of death. Well, in the placards that archeologists have found, they have found that there were signs all over the temple area. Here's what they said, and they actually have archeological records of this.

No foreigner may enter within the barricade inside the wall. No foreigner may enter within the barricade, which surrounds the temple. And enclosure, anyone who is caught doing so. Will have himself to blame for his ensuing death. Pretty straightforward. This is the ultimate no trespassing sign and the Jews think Paul has taken, has disregarded it, stepped around.

The barricade, gone in this wall was actually what Paul is talking about in Ephesians chapter two, where he says, Jesus has broken down the wall of hostility between Jews and Gentiles. He has brought all into relationship with God through Christ, but these guys think he has disregarded the barricade and anybody that do does so is at their own risk for being killed.

Well, they attempt to do that. I. In the wording that's in our passage we read, they actually attempt to kill Paul. Here's what's taking place. I want just to ascribe the scene because it's, it's, it's awesome. First they claim that Paul went inside the barricade inside the wall, that he's now taken these gentiles into the holy place and desecrated it.

They attack him and there is a genuine riot that takes place. In our passage, we read what it's saying was this, the Romans are looking down into the temple courts and seeing what's happening. How is that possible? Well, the temple structure, that very large temple structure right next to it, was what was called the fortress of Antonio.

It was a fortress that actually had a watchtower a hundred feet tall, so they could look down in to this entire temple area. And as they're watching, they see this giant riot break out now. This, this fortress has a thousand soldiers. It's under a tribune, and he's named later in the book, and under him are these thousand soldiers.

And strikingly the Tribune himself comes down one of the two steps of stairs, which led right into the fortress from the temple area. He comes down with a minimum of 200 soldiers, probably more because it says he brought with him centurions. Well, centurions were over a hundred soldiers, so there were at least two of them.

There may have been more. So here's this moment. I mean, this is a real riot, right? I mean, all of a sudden the riot police are showing up hundreds of them into the temple area and it's all over. One little Jewish guy who at that moment, they are in process of trying to kill. They come flying into the court, they grab Paul, two of them.

Uh, he is chained on both sides to a Roman soldier, and they're trying to extricate him, and they finally get him over to one of the stairways to go up into the fortress, and it says the people were trying so hard to get ahold of him that the soldiers actually had to lift him on their soldiers. I mean, this is like the coach just won the big game only.

It's not really that kind of scene. They're saving his life by lifting him on their shoulders, taking up the stairs. There's hundreds of soldiers, but the violent reaction is so strong of the people. They get him up to the top of the stairs and Paul turns to the Tribune. Paul, who's just had his clothes ripped, certainly was bruised and bloodied.

They were trying to kill him, looks at the raging mass. I mean, these are people, some of them he knows, right? This is his own city. This is the city he was a religious leader in. And as he looks back on the faces, he turns to the Tribune and he says to him, in cultured Greek, can I address the people? And what happens here is the, the, the, the Tribune is shocked because this is not who he thought he had.

He says, wait a minute, you're speaking cultured Greek. You're a cultured man. He didn't just speak in the coin. A, he's speaking cultured Greek. And he realized this is an educated man. This is a cultured man. And he says, I thought you were the Egyptian. The Egyptian. Three years before this, there was an Egyptian guy who had brought 4,000 assassins.

It's mentioned in this passage on the Mount Mount Olive, which is actually the mountain that looks into Jerusalem. And with these 4,000 assassins, he had said, wait for my signal and we're going to attack the fortress. This is three years before this 80 54. The Romans got wind of it. They attacked, they, they killed a number and imprisoned a number of the assassins.

But the Egyptian got away. He thinks he's come back. And this little Jewish man is actually the Egyptian leader of the assassins. So he pours his soldiers in. I mean, it's, it's, it's a, it's a moment. And then he finds out Paul is actually a cultured man and he gives him the opportunity to speak. How does Paul do this?

Where does he get the courage? This man who is very transparent about his fears and the struggle he had with fears, he's just been bruised. He's been emotionally, uh, beat up by the hatred and the animosity and the snarls of his own people that he has come back to serve. Where does he get the courage to do this?

Well, I'd like to just suggest a couple of things that I think this passage is very powerfully presenting to us. Paul's overcoming his fear is seen in chapter 22, and there are two resources found in the Gospel of Christ. Number one, Paul had learned to look away from himself in verses one through five.

Paul begins by explaining in chapter 22, his religious heritage. No one in the crowd had a more impressive resume as a zealous, uh, committed Jew than Paul. He had been trained under Galio, the leading rabbi of the entire Jewish world of the day. He had persecuted the early Christians called members of the way he was devout and zealous for his faith.

Paul was a Pharisee of Pharisees as he described himself. These were remarkably impressive credentials. But in the midst of his story, he tells them an amazing thing. It's found in verse 16. In verse 16, he says, when he went to Damascus and he says, I was on my way up there to do the same thing I'd done in Jerusalem.

Take men, women, put 'em in prison. Some of them I put to death. He said, I was going up to Damascus, the same thing. Jesus appeared to me outta nowhere, a blinding light. And he sent me to a very devout leader, Jew named Ananias and Damascus. And verse 16, here's what he says. And Ama And, and Ananias said, Paul, I want you to be baptized.

Why wouldn't you be baptized to wash away your sins? And Paul said, I did. This was a crazy thing for Paul to say. The only people that were baptized were Gentiles. Baptism was a way for a gentile to acknowledge their sinfulness and their need of, of embracing Jehovah God and coming by way of acknowledgement and remorse for their sins and their sinfulness.

No, Jew was baptized and, and Ananias says, you need to be baptized, Paul to wash away your sins. Well, he's the, he's the attack dog of the religious leaders, and he's, he's trained under chamal. What do you mean I gotta wash my sins off of all people? Paul says, no, I had to have my sins washed off because of Christ.

Paul is saying, I realized there's no difference between Jew and Gentile. We all need forgiveness. We all need what Jesus Christ came to offer, and I am publicly identifying with that message. Here's why I'm saying all this. There is a new kind of humility that Paul has embraced with Jesus in his life. He has a different identity than he has had before.

Everything in his story is changed. Paul is leaning away from himself for his identity. This is really important. This is the greatest challenge we humans face. It's the greatest challenge we believers in Christ face. We wanna find our identity in something we do or are something in ourselves, and everyone does it.

A superiority complex and an inferiority complex are equally unhealthy. Both make it about you. A superiority complex says, I think I am better than others. It's where I get my worth, my value. I feel good because in my mind, I score out well. An inferiority complex says this, I think I should be better than others.

It's where I get my worth, my value. I feel bad because in my mind I score out poorly. But it's still all about you. You are just as self-absorbed. You are just as much focused on yourself, even if it is in your, your shame and your unhappiness and seeming unworthiness. The Christian is offered a unique way of life.

The Christian is offered a new kind of identity. Their identity is found not in themselves. They're given a joyful humility. A humility that keeps you from having to think about yourself and evaluate yourself on the greater, less than scales.

Paul says here in this passage, in verse three and following, he says, I, I have some things that God has given to me actually in the religious arena, in the political arena. I have a lot of creds, but it's not my identity. Verse 16 reminds me that my identity is found somewhere else. The first step to courage is not looking at yourself.

You don't banish fear by looking at yourself. You stop looking at your fear yourself. Now, that's not how we're taught to deal with fear. I read recently, and it was a really good book. It's called Courage is Calling by Ryan Holiday. And I've read a number of his books. He's a great writer. But honestly, the good of the book, in my opinion, is his fantastic illustrations.

He does a tremendous job of defining what courage is, what fear is, and all that. But I was left totally cold with his solution to fear. His entire focus is on You need to decide to do the brave thing. You need to recognize the importance of courage and how courage is necessary to love and serve others, which is true.

But the culmination is basically, it's about you. Suck it up, get moving, do the right thing, move forward.

But as long as you are pursuing your identity in yourself, as long as you are leaning into how you are perceived, how you measure up with others, maintaining something that declares you really are a success. You really are worthy, you really are acceptable. You will be afraid, and you'll be vulnerable to the fear of losing that thing that is your identity.

Paul had learned something else. Paul's value as a man had been in his respectability, his participation with the religious and cultural elite in his virtue and piety. Then he became a follower of the way Jesus Christ became the center of his entire world. It began to free him from the pursuit of image and respectability, and he went into towns and he was a tent maker.

I just, I, I, I really did some study on that. I was fascinated to find it, you know what a tent maker was. Tent maker Paul, when he went to Corinth, and he spent three months in Corinth and it says he, he provided for his financial me needs being a tent maker. Well, in Corinth, in cities, nobody lived in tents.

You weren't making homes for people. The cities all had structures, permanent structures. A tent maker was basically making or mending tents if often there are mending. If you were making a new one, basically was making a tent. If people were going on a journey. If I could use a contemporary example of what this means, what a tent maker was was basically an RV repairman or mechanic to respectable job, but far from the position of prominence and esteem that Paul had been accustomed to rubbing shoulders with the cultural elite.

But Paul was freed from having to be someone having to prove things to people. The first part of courage is not looking at yourself. You don't banish fear by looking at you. You stop looking at yourself. And the second part of this that is true of the gospel is he learned to look towards Christ. Verse six through 22, he just talk and his gaze is filled with Christ.

Paul was stunned with Jesus The Father, through Jesus had washed Paul's sins from him, transformed his life, made him a member of the father's family, a child of God. Paul had learned to put his hope in God's love for him, and it made him fearless. That's why in one John four it says this perfect love casts out fear.

To truly be loved, to, to not be on the line, to not have to be to, to not be afraid of what I might lose because of what I have in God. That he's sweeter than anything I could lose. That he, that he's irrevocably eternally for me. Years ago, I've told this story. I was in seminary and, uh, I got invited to pastor, a little fledgling group of people, about half an hour from the school.

Mary and I went up to this little church, and the church had a tragic history. A pastor had come from our seminary. He had been an engineer, and then he had gone into ministry and our successful businessman, I think he was an engineer, but he was a successful businessman, went to seminary later in life. He was in his forties and he went to the, the mother church of our church, uh, a prominent church in the area, in the rural town we were in.

And the thing blew up in four years. He ended up leaving with 25% of the congregation. Um, it was awful. The congregation was, after Unity for years had had terrible division and it all centered around this guy. It seemed like cousins were in different churches. Brothers and sisters were in different communities.

And I was invited to take the, the, the 25 Percenter group, and the guy who was the pastor of the other was also a seminary guy. And we were friends. And so we were constantly trying to think, how can we heal this thing? And we went to a man at our seminary named Dr. French. He was a professor. He was, he, he knew all the rural churches in the entire area of, of, of Northern Indiana where we were.

And so we asked to meet with Dr. French. We told him what we were doing, and he knew all about the church and what had happened. By the way, when the pastor had left the mother church, After four years, and he started this new church. Um, he had, um, been there three years and then left in anger with conflict with the new group.

But the groups were both now lying in pain and anger and conflict. And so we talked to Dr. French and I'll never forget his, his words to me, to us as he was talking. He, he, he summarized why this man, he felt was so controlling of people so determined that the church had to be his way. He said it was because he was afraid.

And then he made this statement that it was impactful to me. Now, to me then, but the longer I walk with Christ, the longer I, the longer I face my own fears, the more I realize the depth of wisdom with this statement. He said the problem with his being dominated by fear and controlling and all the things that came out of this, he says this, he never knew how much God loves him.

Paul did, and it freed him. It freed him to be a man of courage. It freed him to do things that make no human sense to face things that God called him to do that we would say, how's that possible? It's not that Paul was bold and he didn't care. He, he acknowledges that the number of times he's had to overcome fear in his life just to start in a new city,

it was the love of God that freed Paul. It's the love of God that frees us. Now, you may be out there and you may be saying, Uh, okay, maybe, but I'm not a wired person like Paul. I mean, just to be in the midst of that chaos would be terrifying to me. And it isn't even about me. I get it. We're all different people, right?

We're not wired like Paul. We're not wired like too many other people we're us. All of us face situations where we need courage though, where we feel danger in what God is asking us to do in what he asks us to trust him with. It will not come by looking to yourself. It comes by filling your gaze with God and his unfailing love for you.

Lord, we look to you today.

There's frightening stuff going on in a lot of lives today. Whether they put the word fear on it or just I'm concerned about, or whatever,

Lord, to live in the reality that you are for us. That you are with us, that you love us with an unfailing love, you the sovereign God. It does give us strength, encourage that we don't find in ourselves. It frees us Lord, to not be looking all at ourselves and our image and, and how we're gonna be perceived and all the things we, we process.

God, thank you for the liberty of your love in Jesus' name. Amen.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/cultivating-courage c0104fab-b88e-4e8f-88c0-735e54d0bf34 Sun, 20 Aug 2023 12:33:07 GMT <div data-html="true">Acts 21:27-22:22 <br /><br /> the Jews from Asia, seeing him in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd and laid hands on him, crying out, “Men of Israel, help! This is the man who is teaching everyone everywhere against the people <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> Alright, acts chapter 21. Acts chapter 21. I'm gonna read a number of verses. This is an amazing story, so don't get lost in the droning voice. Uh, stay with this 'cause. This really is an amazing thing that's taking place when this, and looking at verse 27 of Acts chapter 21, when the seven days were almost completed, the Jews from Asia seeing him in the temple. <br /><br /> That's Paul stirred up the whole crowd and laid hands on him, crying out men of Israel help. This is the man who is teaching everyone everywhere against the people and the law and this place. Moreover, he even brought Jews into Greeks, into the temple and has defiled this holy place for, they had previously seen Trophe, the Ephesian with him in the city, and they supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple. <br /><br /> Then all the city was see was stirred up and the people ran together. They seized Paul and dragged him out of the temple, and at once the gates were shut, and as they were seeking to kill him, word came to the tribune of the cohort that all Jerusalem was in confusion. He had once took soldiers and centurions and ran down to them, and when they saw the tribune and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. <br /><br /> Then the Tribune came up and arrested him and ordered him to be bound with two chains. He inquired who he was and what he had done. Some in the crowd were shouting one thing, some another, and as he could not learn the facts, because of the uproar, he ordered him to be brought into the barracks. And when he came to the steps, he was actually carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the crowd, for the mob of the people. <br /><br /> Followed crying out away with him as Paul was about to be brought into the barracks. He said to the tribune, may I say something to you? And he, he said, do you know Greek? Are you not the Egyptian? Then who recently stirred up a revolt and led the 4,000 men of the assassins out into the wilderness. Paul replied, I'm a Jew from Tarsus and Esia citizen of the obscure city of no obscure city. <br /><br /> I beg you, permit me to speak to the people. And when he had given him permission, Paul standing on the steps, motioned in his hand with his hand to the people. And when there was a great hush, he addressed him in the Hebrew language saying, brothers and fathers hear the defense that I am I now make before you. <br /><br /> And when they heard that he was addressing them in the Hebrew language, they became more quiet. And he said, I am a Jew. Born in Tarsus, in Esia. But brought up in this city, educated at the feet of Gamal, according to the strict manner of the law of our fathers being zealous for God as all of you are this day, I persecuted this way to the death, binding and delivering to prison, both men and women as the high priest and the whole council of elders can bear me witness from them. <br /><br /> I received letters to the brothers and I journeyed toward Damascus to take those also who were there and bring them in bonds to Jerusalem to be punished. As I was on my way and drew near to Damascus, about noon, a great light from heaven suddenly shone around me. And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? <br /><br /> And I answered, who are you Lord? And he said to me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting. Now those who are with me saw the light, but did not understand the voice of the one who was speaking to me. And I said, what shall I do Lord? And the Lord said to me, rise and go into Damascus. And there you will talk. <br /><br /> You'll be told all that disappointed you to do. And since I could not see, because of the brightness of the light, I was led by the hand by those who were with me and came into Damascus. And one Ananias, a devout man, according to the law well-spoken of by all the Jews who lived there, came to me and standing by me, said to me, brother Saul, receive your sight. <br /><br /> And at that very hour, I received my sight and saw him. And he said, the God of our fathers appointed you to know his will, to see the righteous one, and to hear a voice from his mouth. For you'll be a witness for him, to everyone of what you have seen and heard. And now why do you wait, rise and be baptized and wash away your sins. <br /><br /> Calling on my name when I had returned to Jerusalem was praying in the temple. I fell into a trance and saw him saying to me, may haste and get out of Jerusalem quickly because they will not accept your testimony about me. I. And I said, Lord, they themselves know that in one synagogue after another, I imprisoned and beared beat those who believed in you. <br /><br /> And when the blood of Stephen, your witness was being shed, I myself was standing by and approving and watching over the garments of those who killed him. And he said to me, go for, I will send you away far away to the Gentiles. Then two more verses up to this word. They listened to him, then they raised their voices and said, away with such a fellow from the earth for he should not be allowed to live. <br /><br /> And as they were shouting and throwing off their cloaks and flinging dust into the air, and we'll leave the story there. You get the scene. Let's pray together. Lord, we read this passage, the tumult. I'm just stunned with the courage of this man, Paul. A man who, in a number of his letters, talks about his own struggle with fear, and yet God, to have the courage that you had cultivated in his life we're drawn to want to understand what that looks like and how that's done. <br /><br /> So God teach us to that end as we look at this passage together. I pray in Jesus' name, amen. As we come to this portion of scripture, we're coming to a unique moment in the ministry of Paul. The Apostle Paul to this point, has been involved in an offensive game for seven years. He has been going out on three missionary journeys all over the Mediterranean world, the Roman Empire of that time, and he's been on offense. <br /><br /> He's been strategically going from city to city and and, and people, group to people, group sharing the gospel, starting churches. That's what Acts chapter one. Through the first half of Chapter 21 is all about. But from now to the Rema end of the book, Paul's game moves to an a defensive posture. Eight of the remaining 10 years of Paul's life will be spent in jail. <br /><br /> Paul will be imprisoned. He will be limited. Even the two years he has freedom. He's doing it as an aged man and doesn't travel much. There's nothing recorded of those events. Paul is now on a defensive position. The enemy is bringing blows upon him, and yet there are unique ways that God is still going to work through the life of this man. <br /><br /> But that there is a tremendous transition in the Book of Acts. At this moment, it's AD 57 and here in Jerusalem, which is now where Paul has arrived, culminating all his missionary travels. The city is in foment. It is a, it is a city that is filled with Jewish nationalism that has risen to a fever pitch 80, 57. <br /><br /> In 13 years, the Jewish people in 80 70 will revolt against Rome, and Rome will send their allegiance and they will crush the city. The temple will be obliterated. No stone will be left upon another. The walls of the city will be crushed. This is a city that is already filled with anger and vitriol to the gentile dogs that have brought tyranny and tyranny leadership to their nation. <br /><br /> There has perhaps been no time in the last couple of centuries. Where the feelings of the Jews of Jerusalem are more against the Gentile world. The church, of course, has had to deal with this because the church has been deeply desirous of sharing with their neighbors and friends, their Jewish beloved countrymen, that Jesus is the Messiah. <br /><br /> He's the one that he has come, and his cross was not his ultimate defeat, but the ultimate victory of God bringing life and fulfillment of all the promises of Old Testament scripture. They want their neighbors to embrace Jesus. At the same time, the church in Jerusalem and the Jewish leadership there is attempting to encourage the gospel going forth to the gentile nations, but it is a hard place. <br /><br /> For them to live. They're caught in the middle. And then Paul shows up this guy who has been the prime agent of saying that the hated Gentiles now can share in the Jewish Messiah. He has been telling the Gentile Christians throughout the Roman empire that they don't need to keep the ceremonial laws, that they don't need to be circumcised. <br /><br /> And yet these are the very things that have been the foundation that has kept the people of God, the Jewish people together for 2000 years, <br /><br /> the Christians in Jerusalem are trying to not stir up the pot of hostility. And now Paul comes to town. He's been gone for seven years. The moment is electric with tension and conflict. It's a, it's a volatile moment when Paul steps on the shore on in the province of Judah. Paul knows all of this multiple times. <br /><br /> We have seen in the Book of Acts, people warning him, don't go to Jerusalem. It's foolhardy. You have no idea the tension that has built there, particularly towards you and what you're attempting to do in the gentile world. He's aware of all of it. He comes open-eyed. He comes with fear that he acts with amazing courage. <br /><br /> In a simple study this morning, I'd like to just think about what was it? That enables him to have this kind of courage. How is this cultivated in his life? And we see some seeds in this passage. Two things I wanna talk about this morning. First of all is Paul's fear. In the verses we just read, we actually are seeing the scene that takes place in Jerusalem. <br /><br /> And I'm gonna mention that, just summarize it in a moment. But we realized that Paul anticipated these fearful circumstances already. A few weeks before this, Paul had written a letter, it's called the epistle to the Romans. The letter to the Romans. And in that letter he had told them, I'm hoping to come to you guys. <br /><br /> I wanna bring the gospel to your city, and then I want to take the gospel beyond you to Spain. But he says, before I do that, I have to get back to Jerusalem, and I have to visit there because I have a financial gift that he had gathered among all the Gentile churches. And he's actually taking eight Gentile men with him, representatives of all the churches to bring the gift to the Jerusalem Saints who are struggling, struggling financially because of ostracism and also the famine that has hit the land. <br /><br /> And it's a way of the Gentile churches of sort of paying back the spiritual heritage that they have been given through the Jewish people and the Jewish Messiah, and now bringing a financial gift to try to alleviate their suffering. But Paul is recognizing what he's facing in going back to Jerusalem. <br /><br /> And in Romans chapter 15, verse 30 and 31, he asks the Roman believers to pray for him. And here's what he says. I appeal to you brothers by our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the love of the Spirit to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf. First that I may be delivered from the unbelievers in Judea. <br /><br /> And second, that my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the Saints prayer request. One, if I can reverse the order is service for the Jerusalem may be acceptable to the Saints. Paul's bringing this gift, it's a way he's looking at this as hopefully a way of merging the churches, the gentile Christian communities, the Jewish, uh, Christian community, and he's hoping this will be a salient moment of unity. <br /><br /> And he says, pray that they'll receive it that way earlier in Acts chapter 21. He is welcomed that way by the leaders, James and others of the Jerusalem Church. But his other prayer request is this, pray that I'll be delivered from the unbelievers in Judea in this hot nationalistic fervor season in Jerusalem. <br /><br /> As I dare to go back, Paul says, I, I know I'm facing trouble. I know. I'm going to a hot place. Paul knew he had reason to be fearful. Secondly, Paul experienced those fearful circumstances. In chapter 21, we just read about it. Here's what's taking place. I'm just gonna summarize Chapter 21. What we read when Paul was, Paul was recognized by some of the Jews. <br /><br /> He's come during a festival on purpose. So there are Jews from all over the world that have traveled to a Jerusalem and while he's there, there are Jews from Ephesus who have recognized Paul. And they've also recognized a guy named Trois who is a Ephesian Christian. He's a Gentile, he's a Greek. And they recognize he's probably a prominent guy in the city 'cause he's a leader in the church and and he's certainly known. <br /><br /> And they say, Paul is here. Not only is Paul here, we saw him in the temple. He has brought these Jewish, these gentile men into the temple. This is what's taking place. Now, this is a, a hot moment, first of all, because they were already disposed against Paul, right? For what he's doing. And now they've come to Jerusalem and they say the guy's everywhere. <br /><br /> Here he is in Jerusalem. He's, he's, he's bringing sacrilege to our very faith at the heart center of Jerusalem and the temple. They were wrong. He didn't take them in, but they thought he did. The reason that that mattered so much is because there was a four and a half foot wall Josephus. The, uh, chur, the, uh, Jewish historian of the first century talks about it. <br /><br /> There have been archeological digs, uh, one in 1875, another in 1911, which 18 71, 19 15. Where they have found evidences of this and other placards that were put, this four and a half foot wall is seated. There is the large in the temple area. This large court called the court of the Gentiles. Gentiles can go there, but then in the real temple there was this barrier at the door and on it was an inscription. <br /><br /> And Josephus describes it and he puts it in these words, he says, it forbade any foreigner to go in under pain of death. Well, in the placards that archeologists have found, they have found that there were signs all over the temple area. Here's what they said, and they actually have archeological records of this. <br /><br /> No foreigner may enter within the barricade inside the wall. No foreigner may enter within the barricade, which surrounds the temple. And enclosure, anyone who is caught doing so. Will have himself to blame for his ensuing death. Pretty straightforward. This is the ultimate no trespassing sign and the Jews think Paul has taken, has disregarded it, stepped around. <br /><br /> The barricade, gone in this wall was actually what Paul is talking about in Ephesians chapter two, where he says, Jesus has broken down the wall of hostility between Jews and Gentiles. He has brought all into relationship with God through Christ, but these guys think he has disregarded the barricade and anybody that do does so is at their own risk for being killed. <br /><br /> Well, they attempt to do that. I. In the wording that's in our passage we read, they actually attempt to kill Paul. Here's what's taking place. I want just to ascribe the scene because it's, it's, it's awesome. First they claim that Paul went inside the barricade inside the wall, that he's now taken these gentiles into the holy place and desecrated it. <br /><br /> They attack him and there is a genuine riot that takes place. In our passage, we read what it's saying was this, the Romans are looking down into the temple courts and seeing what's happening. How is that possible? Well, the temple structure, that very large temple structure right next to it, was what was called the fortress of Antonio. <br /><br /> It was a fortress that actually had a watchtower a hundred feet tall, so they could look down in to this entire temple area. And as they're watching, they see this giant riot break out now. This, this fortress has a thousand soldiers. It's under a tribune, and he's named later in the book, and under him are these thousand soldiers. <br /><br /> And strikingly the Tribune himself comes down one of the two steps of stairs, which led right into the fortress from the temple area. He comes down with a minimum of 200 soldiers, probably more because it says he brought with him centurions. Well, centurions were over a hundred soldiers, so there were at least two of them. <br /><br /> There may have been more. So here's this moment. I mean, this is a real riot, right? I mean, all of a sudden the riot police are showing up hundreds of them into the temple area and it's all over. One little Jewish guy who at that moment, they are in process of trying to kill. They come flying into the court, they grab Paul, two of them. <br /><br /> Uh, he is chained on both sides to a Roman soldier, and they're trying to extricate him, and they finally get him over to one of the stairways to go up into the fortress, and it says the people were trying so hard to get ahold of him that the soldiers actually had to lift him on their soldiers. I mean, this is like the coach just won the big game only. <br /><br /> It's not really that kind of scene. They're saving his life by lifting him on their shoulders, taking up the stairs. There's hundreds of soldiers, but the violent reaction is so strong of the people. They get him up to the top of the stairs and Paul turns to the Tribune. Paul, who's just had his clothes ripped, certainly was bruised and bloodied. <br /><br /> They were trying to kill him, looks at the raging mass. I mean, these are people, some of them he knows, right? This is his own city. This is the city he was a religious leader in. And as he looks back on the faces, he turns to the Tribune and he says to him, in cultured Greek, can I address the people? And what happens here is the, the, the, the Tribune is shocked because this is not who he thought he had. <br /><br /> He says, wait a minute, you're speaking cultured Greek. You're a cultured man. He didn't just speak in the coin. A, he's speaking cultured Greek. And he realized this is an educated man. This is a cultured man. And he says, I thought you were the Egyptian. The Egyptian. Three years before this, there was an Egyptian guy who had brought 4,000 assassins. <br /><br /> It's mentioned in this passage on the Mount Mount Olive, which is actually the mountain that looks into Jerusalem. And with these 4,000 assassins, he had said, wait for my signal and we're going to attack the fortress. This is three years before this 80 54. The Romans got wind of it. They attacked, they, they killed a number and imprisoned a number of the assassins. <br /><br /> But the Egyptian got away. He thinks he's come back. And this little Jewish man is actually the Egyptian leader of the assassins. So he pours his soldiers in. I mean, it's, it's, it's a, it's a moment. And then he finds out Paul is actually a cultured man and he gives him the opportunity to speak. How does Paul do this? <br /><br /> Where does he get the courage? This man who is very transparent about his fears and the struggle he had with fears, he's just been bruised. He's been emotionally, uh, beat up by the hatred and the animosity and the snarls of his own people that he has come back to serve. Where does he get the courage to do this? <br /><br /> Well, I'd like to just suggest a couple of things that I think this passage is very powerfully presenting to us. Paul's overcoming his fear is seen in chapter 22, and there are two resources found in the Gospel of Christ. Number one, Paul had learned to look away from himself in verses one through five. <br /><br /> Paul begins by explaining in chapter 22, his religious heritage. No one in the crowd had a more impressive resume as a zealous, uh, committed Jew than Paul. He had been trained under Galio, the leading rabbi of the entire Jewish world of the day. He had persecuted the early Christians called members of the way he was devout and zealous for his faith. <br /><br /> Paul was a Pharisee of Pharisees as he described himself. These were remarkably impressive credentials. But in the midst of his story, he tells them an amazing thing. It's found in verse 16. In verse 16, he says, when he went to Damascus and he says, I was on my way up there to do the same thing I'd done in Jerusalem. <br /><br /> Take men, women, put 'em in prison. Some of them I put to death. He said, I was going up to Damascus, the same thing. Jesus appeared to me outta nowhere, a blinding light. And he sent me to a very devout leader, Jew named Ananias and Damascus. And verse 16, here's what he says. And Ama And, and Ananias said, Paul, I want you to be baptized. <br /><br /> Why wouldn't you be baptized to wash away your sins? And Paul said, I did. This was a crazy thing for Paul to say. The only people that were baptized were Gentiles. Baptism was a way for a gentile to acknowledge their sinfulness and their need of, of embracing Jehovah God and coming by way of acknowledgement and remorse for their sins and their sinfulness. <br /><br /> No, Jew was baptized and, and Ananias says, you need to be baptized, Paul to wash away your sins. Well, he's the, he's the attack dog of the religious leaders, and he's, he's trained under chamal. What do you mean I gotta wash my sins off of all people? Paul says, no, I had to have my sins washed off because of Christ. <br /><br /> Paul is saying, I realized there's no difference between Jew and Gentile. We all need forgiveness. We all need what Jesus Christ came to offer, and I am publicly identifying with that message. Here's why I'm saying all this. There is a new kind of humility that Paul has embraced with Jesus in his life. He has a different identity than he has had before. <br /><br /> Everything in his story is changed. Paul is leaning away from himself for his identity. This is really important. This is the greatest challenge we humans face. It's the greatest challenge we believers in Christ face. We wanna find our identity in something we do or are something in ourselves, and everyone does it. <br /><br /> A superiority complex and an inferiority complex are equally unhealthy. Both make it about you. A superiority complex says, I think I am better than others. It's where I get my worth, my value. I feel good because in my mind, I score out well. An inferiority complex says this, I think I should be better than others. <br /><br /> It's where I get my worth, my value. I feel bad because in my mind I score out poorly. But it's still all about you. You are just as self-absorbed. You are just as much focused on yourself, even if it is in your, your shame and your unhappiness and seeming unworthiness. The Christian is offered a unique way of life. <br /><br /> The Christian is offered a new kind of identity. Their identity is found not in themselves. They're given a joyful humility. A humility that keeps you from having to think about yourself and evaluate yourself on the greater, less than scales. <br /><br /> Paul says here in this passage, in verse three and following, he says, I, I have some things that God has given to me actually in the religious arena, in the political arena. I have a lot of creds, but it's not my identity. Verse 16 reminds me that my identity is found somewhere else. The first step to courage is not looking at yourself. <br /><br /> You don't banish fear by looking at yourself. You stop looking at your fear yourself. Now, that's not how we're taught to deal with fear. I read recently, and it was a really good book. It's called Courage is Calling by Ryan Holiday. And I've read a number of his books. He's a great writer. But honestly, the good of the book, in my opinion, is his fantastic illustrations. <br /><br /> He does a tremendous job of defining what courage is, what fear is, and all that. But I was left totally cold with his solution to fear. His entire focus is on You need to decide to do the brave thing. You need to recognize the importance of courage and how courage is necessary to love and serve others, which is true. <br /><br /> But the culmination is basically, it's about you. Suck it up, get moving, do the right thing, move forward. <br /><br /> But as long as you are pursuing your identity in yourself, as long as you are leaning into how you are perceived, how you measure up with others, maintaining something that declares you really are a success. You really are worthy, you really are acceptable. You will be afraid, and you'll be vulnerable to the fear of losing that thing that is your identity. <br /><br /> Paul had learned something else. Paul's value as a man had been in his respectability, his participation with the religious and cultural elite in his virtue and piety. Then he became a follower of the way Jesus Christ became the center of his entire world. It began to free him from the pursuit of image and respectability, and he went into towns and he was a tent maker. <br /><br /> I just, I, I, I really did some study on that. I was fascinated to find it, you know what a tent maker was. Tent maker Paul, when he went to Corinth, and he spent three months in Corinth and it says he, he provided for his financial me needs being a tent maker. Well, in Corinth, in cities, nobody lived in tents. <br /><br /> You weren't making homes for people. The cities all had structures, permanent structures. A tent maker was basically making or mending tents if often there are mending. If you were making a new one, basically was making a tent. If people were going on a journey. If I could use a contemporary example of what this means, what a tent maker was was basically an RV repairman or mechanic to respectable job, but far from the position of prominence and esteem that Paul had been accustomed to rubbing shoulders with the cultural elite. <br /><br /> But Paul was freed from having to be someone having to prove things to people. The first part of courage is not looking at yourself. You don't banish fear by looking at you. You stop looking at yourself. And the second part of this that is true of the gospel is he learned to look towards Christ. Verse six through 22, he just talk and his gaze is filled with Christ. <br /><br /> Paul was stunned with Jesus The Father, through Jesus had washed Paul's sins from him, transformed his life, made him a member of the father's family, a child of God. Paul had learned to put his hope in God's love for him, and it made him fearless. That's why in one John four it says this perfect love casts out fear. <br /><br /> To truly be loved, to, to not be on the line, to not have to be to, to not be afraid of what I might lose because of what I have in God. That he's sweeter than anything I could lose. That he, that he's irrevocably eternally for me. Years ago, I've told this story. I was in seminary and, uh, I got invited to pastor, a little fledgling group of people, about half an hour from the school. <br /><br /> Mary and I went up to this little church, and the church had a tragic history. A pastor had come from our seminary. He had been an engineer, and then he had gone into ministry and our successful businessman, I think he was an engineer, but he was a successful businessman, went to seminary later in life. He was in his forties and he went to the, the mother church of our church, uh, a prominent church in the area, in the rural town we were in. <br /><br /> And the thing blew up in four years. He ended up leaving with 25% of the congregation. Um, it was awful. The congregation was, after Unity for years had had terrible division and it all centered around this guy. It seemed like cousins were in different churches. Brothers and sisters were in different communities. <br /><br /> And I was invited to take the, the, the 25 Percenter group, and the guy who was the pastor of the other was also a seminary guy. And we were friends. And so we were constantly trying to think, how can we heal this thing? And we went to a man at our seminary named Dr. French. He was a professor. He was, he, he knew all the rural churches in the entire area of, of, of Northern Indiana where we were. <br /><br /> And so we asked to meet with Dr. French. We told him what we were doing, and he knew all about the church and what had happened. By the way, when the pastor had left the mother church, After four years, and he started this new church. Um, he had, um, been there three years and then left in anger with conflict with the new group. <br /><br /> But the groups were both now lying in pain and anger and conflict. And so we talked to Dr. French and I'll never forget his, his words to me, to us as he was talking. He, he, he summarized why this man, he felt was so controlling of people so determined that the church had to be his way. He said it was because he was afraid. <br /><br /> And then he made this statement that it was impactful to me. Now, to me then, but the longer I walk with Christ, the longer I, the longer I face my own fears, the more I realize the depth of wisdom with this statement. He said the problem with his being dominated by fear and controlling and all the things that came out of this, he says this, he never knew how much God loves him. <br /><br /> Paul did, and it freed him. It freed him to be a man of courage. It freed him to do things that make no human sense to face things that God called him to do that we would say, how's that possible? It's not that Paul was bold and he didn't care. He, he acknowledges that the number of times he's had to overcome fear in his life just to start in a new city, <br /><br /> it was the love of God that freed Paul. It's the love of God that frees us. Now, you may be out there and you may be saying, Uh, okay, maybe, but I'm not a wired person like Paul. I mean, just to be in the midst of that chaos would be terrifying to me. And it isn't even about me. I get it. We're all different people, right? <br /><br /> We're not wired like Paul. We're not wired like too many other people we're us. All of us face situations where we need courage though, where we feel danger in what God is asking us to do in what he asks us to trust him with. It will not come by looking to yourself. It comes by filling your gaze with God and his unfailing love for you. <br /><br /> Lord, we look to you today. <br /><br /> There's frightening stuff going on in a lot of lives today. Whether they put the word fear on it or just I'm concerned about, or whatever, <br /><br /> Lord, to live in the reality that you are for us. That you are with us, that you love us with an unfailing love, you the sovereign God. It does give us strength, encourage that we don't find in ourselves. It frees us Lord, to not be looking all at ourselves and our image and, and how we're gonna be perceived and all the things we, we process. <br /><br /> God, thank you for the liberty of your love in Jesus' name. Amen.</div> false no <![CDATA[The New Commandment]]> John 13:1-17, 33-35

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you...



Sermon Transcript:

Good morning, church. Good morning. It is good to be with you, whether here in person in Mount Laurel or in spirit with all the faithful brothers over in Collingswood are attending online.

It's really good to be with you all as I'm looking around so many faces and stories and people, uh, who are so dear to me, uh, this summer. Uh, for those of you who don't know me, my name is Josiah and I'm a pastor here. And the first time I had the opportunity to preach, uh, was actually out here in the gym.

The first time out in the gym I did was actually our first Sunday here. And on that particular Sunday, I had expressed a hope which was shared by our whole staff that this summer spent in the gym wouldn't be thought of as just something to grid our teeth and get through as we wait for our shiny new building to be ready.

But that we would treat this summer and expect this summer as an opportunity to teach us a very important truth. God's church is not a building. Amen. No matter how nice or newly renovated God's church is His people. Amen. Gathered together in the Union of the Spirit, to celebrate and worship the God that we love, and to proclaim Jesus as Lord and Savior and king.

And we can do that whether we meet in a gym, in a prayer garden, in a palace, a prison. The church is the church. And it's been fun as we've been in the Act series to see both the example of our history and the example in our current situation proclaiming that truth, God's church is not a building. God's church is his people.

And now this morning we have another opportunity to share in a reminder of what it makes the church, the church, as we share communion later this morning as we eat the wafer, which symbolizes Christ's body given to us. And as we drink the juice, which symbolizes his blood poured out as one body, we receive the body of Christ and His blood.

But on this particular Sunday, because it's communion Sunday, we actually aren't gonna be in the Book of Acts today. The, the book we're gonna be in is in, uh, well, actually, I'll tell you in a minute. It's, it's up there. So I guess I, the surprise has already ruined. But I was gonna make a joke about how we were gonna study in the book of Leviticus today.

Um, but we're gonna be in the Gospel of John Mark. Uh, pastor Mark gave me the opportunity to preach from any passage that I wanted to, and the passage which has been on my mind and my heart, it's been convicting my spirit. Has been encouraging me is found in John chapter 13 and we've actually been studying it on Tuesdays.

I lead a young adult group here at Fellowship and on Tuesday nights we've been studying John Chapter 13 and it's deeply encouraged my spirit. Now, my hope is as we come to these, these scriptures that we would come church recognizing that we are the church as his people, right? Not a building. And as we come, we come as a family, comes to a meal, hungry, expectant, and ready to be filled because his word is the only thing that truly satisfies his spirit is the only true thing that fills the bread of his word and the living water of his spirit.

So let's read our scripture today. It's found in the Gospel of John chapter 13 verses one through 17, and then a little bit further on 13 through 35. Let's read this story this morning. Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them unto the end.

And during supper, when the devil had already put into the heart of Judas Sct, Simon's son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. And he laid aside his outer garments and taking on a towel, tied it around his waist, and then he poured water into a basin and there began to wash the disciple's feet and to wipe them with the towel that was around his waist.

And he came to Simon Peter and said to him, and, and Peter said to him, Lord, do you wash my feet? And Jesus answered him What I am doing. You do not understand now, but after you will understand. And Peter said to him, you shall never wash my feet. But Jesus answered him, if I do not wash you, you have no share with me.

But then Peter said to him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. And Jesus said to him, the one who has bathed does not need to wash except for his feet, but is completely clean and you are clean, but not every one of you. For he knew who was to betray him, and that is why he said, not all of you're clean.

In verse 12, when he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, do you understand what I have done to you? You call me teacher and Lord and you are right for so I am. If then your Lord and your teacher has washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.

For I have given you an example that you should do just as I have done. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is the messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, then blessed are you who do them. And then finally, the, the final words of our passage this morning in verses 33 through 35, little children.

Yet a little while I am with you, you will seek me. And just as I said to the Jews, so now I say unto you where I am going, you cannot come. And so a new commandment I give to you that you love one another, just as I have loved you. You also are to love one another. And by this, all people will know that you are my disciples.

If you have love for one another, this is God's word. Would you join with me church as we pray and dedicate this time to our Heavenly Father, heavenly Father. Father, you know, we gather in gymnasiums, in prayer gardens, in old stained glass chapels gathered around computers. Lord, we come because we know now we've tasted and we've seen Lord, we've eaten the food offered to us by this world.

We've drank deep of the cup, which this world promises will satisfy, and we have found them to be empty and bitter things incapable of satisfying the deep longings of our soul. But Lord, in you, we have found the only thing that satisfies. The bread of life and the living water only in you. Lord, we can gather and come to this place as to a feast hungry, expectant, joyful, and ready to receive what you have for us ready to be filled.

Expectant Lord in you is the only true source of life and satisfaction, and so I pray for our hearts. Lord, I pray against distractions. I pray against the enemies in inhibiting of your truth, but thank you, Lord that nothing can inhibit your truth. I pray against all attacks, all fiery arrows. I pray we put on the armor of God, Lord, as we come to your scriptures in Jesus' name.

Lord I I ask. That you would fill us with the bread of your word and that you would overflow us, Lord, with the living water of your spirit, which does not only fill us, but overflows within us. Just new springs of water lead us this morning. May it not be me, Lord. May it not be my words. May it be your words and your spirit speaking through me.

I pray your name. Amen. Amen. So this particular passage is tough for us because we've not been studying the Gospel of John, and I'm sorry for that. We've been in the Book of Acts, which has been a beautiful study, but my wife joked this week as I was preparing. She's like, Joe, it wouldn't be a Joe sermon if you didn't start with context.

Because every single time I think I spend a good 15 minutes on context before I start. Now. I'm not gonna spend that much time this morning, but I do think it's important for us to take just a few minutes to find our bearings. With this particular story in John chapter 13. After all, we've not been in the gospel of John.

So this particular story that we just read takes place three and a half years at the end, at the end of Jesus', three and a half years of public ministry, he's now finished his work to the crowds. He's finished all he has to say. And now instead he turns his focus inward to his friends, to the 12 disciples, and he gathers them for a final meal together, the Passover meal.

Most scholars believe that this would be at least the third meal, that, uh, Passover meal that these 12 disciples would've celebrated with Jesus. But this one will become known later as the Last Supper, because just 12 or just 24 hours later, I should say, Jesus will be nailed to a cross and they're crucified just hours after this meal.

The one who is called Judas Iscariot, one of the 12. We'll go and betray Jesus to the religious leaders handing him over for that crucifixion. And so it is called the Last Supper. It's at this meal where we get our first communion, which we're gonna be again, celebrating later in the service. But at this particular meal, what we see is Jesus gathering the 12, his closest friends for this final meal before he is to be crucified and buried.

Jesus calls it and has called it throughout the gospel of John his hour. That's what we mean, what it means here when it says His hour has come over his three and a half years spent with the disciples. He's given many teachings. He's, he's done many miracles performed, many signs, cast out demons.

Proclaimed his new gospel truth given many commandments. And here in John chapter 13, we see a final and new commandment given to the disciples. It's that passage at the end of our reading this morning when Jesus said to them, little children, yet a little while I am with you and you will seek me. And just as I said to the Jews, so now I say unto you where I am going, you cannot come.

And so a new commandment I give to you that you love one another, just as I have loved you. You also are to love one another. And by this all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. Growing up, I'm one of five kids. And, uh, I remember very distinctly, and maybe some of you can remember this growing up, the age that we reached when we reached the, the age that we were, uh, allowed to be alone while my parents were away.

So we finally were considered trustworthy enough, old enough, responsible enough to be left alone while my parents went away. And I don't know about you, but my parents always would leave a, uh, a list of things to remember on the fridge, right? There would be a list of instructions, you'd have to check them off.

And when my parents would come back, they would check that list. But when I would be a home alone or watching my younger siblings, my parents usually would follow that list up with just a few final remarks, usually reiterating some of the more important instructions. And if I'm being honest, they were probably, I was probably most likely to forget them.

And so the ones that were most important, they usually said to me last as they're leaving the door, I think that's what Jesus is doing here. He says, I'm only with you just a short while longer. And so I give to you a new commandment.

Perhaps this commandment is one which the disciples are also most likely to forget

to be my disciple. Need to be known for love, but not just any love, my love. I wanna play a quick game with you all this morning. I'm gonna say a word, and I don't want you to be shy. I want you to say whatever word you associate with that that pops into your head and just, just shout it out. Okay? I'll say safe words, I promise.

Okay. Peanut butter. Nice. So, so good so far. Ketchup, mustard. Okay. Basket. Oh, nice. My wife said blueberries, which I liked, but knock, knock. Great. Okay, so how cool is that there are certain words which are so closely linked to each other that we almost can't help but associate one word with another. Right.

The moment we hear one, we think of the other. Let's, let's keep it rolling. We'll, how about with some words that are a little bit closer to our subject matter this morning, and these may not be quite as obvious, but how about, what do you think of when you hear cross savior, savior Salvation. Jesus. How about gospel?

Yeah. How about Jesus? Love. I hear a lot of loves out there. I, I have one for you. How about this one, Christian?

There's a couple there. There's a lot. A lot of silence. It might be a little bit more complicated if it's complicated. In this room, church, what answers do you think we'd get if I went to the Cherry Hill Mall? And ask them what words they associate with the word Christian, or how about the, the streets of Philadelphia.

Excuse me. What do you, what words do you think you think of when I say the word Christian? What words might we get then? I heard hypocrite, we don't have to list them off. They're going off in your head right now. Church, what's going on? Why the disconnect? You see this, uh, about a week and a half ago I was preparing for this sermon and uh, I like to go away to Princeton 'cause they have this really cool library there called, uh, Princeton Theological Seminary Library.

It's beautiful, it's quiet and I just gave you all my study spots, so now I've, but that place is awesome. Um, so I was there studying this passage and I took a study break and went for a walk and decided to get grab a coffee at a local coffee shop. And while I was waiting for my, uh, cappuccino to be finished, I, I started overhearing a conversation between the two baristas, a guy and a girl.

The girl said, yeah, that's when I used to go to church camp. And as soon as I heard that, you know, my ears prick up. I'm pretending to not look like I'm listening, but I'm listening. And the guy gets this sort of scrunched up, disgusted look on his face, and he says, what were you doing at church camp? And the girl explained that she had a close friend who the only way she could hang out with her is if she went to church camp with her.

And the guy, he kept that kind of grossed out expression on his face when he said, did they indoctrinate you? And at this point, yeah, I'm doing what you're doing. I'm kind of chuckling. I'm kind of like looking down, pretending not to listen, waiting for my cappuccino. But then the girl had a reply that stopped me in my tracks.

She said, yeah. For three years until I realized they were all bigots and my heart broke and I, I tried not to look like I had been listening, but I was so hit. I was cut to the heart and I stood there like an idiot. My cappuccino was ready and I grabbed it and I kind of just stared at them wanting to say something.

But all that came out was, thank you. And on that, that's pretty long. Walk back from the coffee shop to the library and that whole walk back, all that I'm thinking of the whole time is that conversation, those words. And then I realized they were all bigots. And then the words of Jesus in verse 35, when he says, by this, all people will know that you're my disciples, that you have love for one another.

And these two conflicting messages are crashing in my head and I'm trying to understand them. I'm begging, God, explain this to me. Where's what's going on? He gave me a fresh urgency with this message this morning. Almost a desperation church. I wanna encourage you not to do something. When you hear a story like that, there's a temptation to get defensive.

I felt it in my heart when I first heard that line. I thought, oh, well, I wonder why she thinks that. But then luckily the Lord intercepted that thought and a different question, and one that I want us all to ask came into my mind. What experiences musts that girl have had that after three years spent in the company of Christians, the one word that she chose to describe us, or at least that group of Christians, was bigot.

What type of experiences must she have gone through? And again, that that urgency in me started to grow so much so that it almost crippled me when I was doing this message. I felt so desperate.

But as is usual, desperation is a good place to be with the Lord.

I know I sound like a covid commercial, like during Covid, but we do live in pretty desperate times. It seems like every day there's a new divide, a new descent, a new disagreement, a new line being drawn in the sand.

Day by day, it seems like anger and fear are rising. Seems like the love of many is growing cold, and I wish I could say that Christians are rising above that, but it's not what I'm seeing. I'm seeing instead, Christians blending into the maddening crowd rather than standing out and offering a different, better, brighter way.

Being a city on a hill, a golden lampstand to the world, I feel like Christians in America are more likely to be known for their trendy pastors or their political affiliation, or their strong and loud opinions or their scandals than they are for their love. Now, I'm making generalities here. I'm not speaking directly to you yet.

But I am pointing out the disconnect between how the church is called to be known and how the church is known.

I think we would be blind if we didn't start asking some important questions. Why the disconnect? Many of you in this room have stories of how you were hurt by people who called themselves Christians.

Many of you have seen it firsthand, have witnessed people claiming the name of Jesus, but not living by the way that he lived by. And if we're honest church, many of us have been those people at one time in our life.

It is an important question we have to ask before we look at the passage again.

What definition are we using here of love? Because love is a a bit of a loaded question in our culture. I would say that we live in a pretty preoccupied culture with this idea of love. Seems like a lot of those disagreements are over that word, or maybe even every Hollywood movie right now. Every romcom, every Disney movie seems like every love song right now that comes out is this idea, all we need is love.

Isn't that a Beatles song, right? Am I getting that wrong? That would be mortifying if I got that wrong, right? All you need is love. This isn't a new idea. Isn't that how most cults are started? There's a lot, again, in our culture is preoccupied with this. This idea. But we need to get something very straight.

The difference between the world's definition of love and Jesus's definition of love are so different. They're two different things.

The whole purpose in Jesus coming was because when he called us here in this passage, he didn't call us to be known for our love. He called us to be known for his love

because Jesus came into the world to reveal God's love, because you and I had messed it up so badly. Sin had come into the world and marred the vision of God's love to his people so badly that we had, we've utterly lost sight of what God's love really is, what it looks like to share God's love. And so Jesus came down to the world to reveal the heart of the Father.

To show us that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever would believe in Him, would not perish, but have eternal life. That kind of love. It's an utterly different, utterly revolutionary, utter, utterly counter-cultural kind of love. It's a love that is not a state of feeling or being, but an action, a sacrifice.

We see it all the time right now in our world. Marriages our failing more and more. It seems like the family, it's being broken apart because we've lost sight, even among Christians, what it means to truly love one another as Christ has loved us. So I wanna move along and I wanna look at I, what I would call four ways in this passage that demonstrates to us as believers, Because the question we should be asking this morning now is this, how do we love like Jesus?

We shouldn't ask how do we love like us or how do we love like the world we should be asking? How do we love like Jesus? Here's the good news church. Jesus was the greatest teacher the world had ever known. And so like all great teachers that we know, he didn't just tell us what to do, what did he do? He showed us my favorite teachers growing up were the ones not that spent the whole time monologuing and writing on a screen as I'm monologuing to you all right now.

Not the ones that spent the whole time monologuing to us, but the ones that showed us, my favorite teacher in college or one of them, she was anatomy and physiology teacher and uh, she would do this awesome thing. Where she would, while she was talking through these very complicated ideas about the body, she would be doing two things.

She would be telling a story of her personal experience with it, and she would be drawing a picture that related to it and it would be projected onto the screen. I learned more in that class than I think I've ever learned in one class because she was not only telling us what to learn, but showing us how to learn it, painting pictures for us of what she was talking about.

Luckily for us, Jesus was the greatest teacher the world had ever known. So I wanna look at this story that we read at the start, this story, this interesting story about how Jesus washes the feet of the disciples. What's that all about? Maybe we've grown up hearing this story. Maybe we're a little bit numb to this story now.

I pray that we'd have a fresh eyes as we look. Okay. If you have, uh, your notes in front of you, or if you want to keep notes on this, there's four things I wanna look at as I mentioned, and the first is this. If we are to follow Jesus and to love like Jesus, we need to first resource any authority or power or possessions that we have in service, not to ourselves, but to others.

I want you to read these words to me. This is in verse three and four. Jesus knowing that the father had given him all things into his hands and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper, and he laid aside his outer garments and took a towel around his waist, it's easy for us to lose sight of how ridiculous this is.

Jesus in the exact moment of the realization that all things have been set into his hands, all power or authority, all glory, all honor, and knowing full well that just a few hours later he would be nailed on the cross for all these men.

Instead of choosing to use all of that power and authority to get what he deserved, which was their worship,

he took a towel around his waist, taking off his outer garments and exchanging them for a towel. When I read that and I started looking at that, if we were reading that for the first time, I would expect, it's like Jesus realizing that all things have been set into his hands rose from supper, and you're like, yeah, baby.

Peter was probably like, he's about to go storm the capitol. He's about to go to Jerusalem. He's about to take back what's ours. What does he do?

He lays it all aside.

That should beg the question to us. What things has God set in your hands,

which he's calling you to either set aside or set in service to others and not to yourself? Maybe you raise a promotion. Maybe you're starting on varsity for the first time. Maybe you're going to college on scholarship.

Our money, our job, our popularity, our talents, all these things are things that you did not give to yourself. They were put in your hands by God. And the temptation of our flesh is to say, how can these things serve me? How can I take all that God said in my hands and use it for my gain? We live in a culture preoccupied with brand, with self-promotion, with even promoting a life that's not even really a fair representation of what we are, of using our talents, our money, our job to boost ourselves.

That's the way the world loves. That's the expectation. But Jesus, when he knew all things, every single thing was set into his hands. Chose instead to use it in service to others. We see this all throughout Jesus', public ministry, every bit of power, every bit of knowledge and insight. He's resourcing it for others, not keeping it for himself.

And so God puts all things into his hands.

Again, maybe you're in a position. I'm not saying that you take all your money and dump it into an offering box. That's not what this is about. I'm saying ask God what things he has set into your hands that you can give in service to others to love like Jesus. It could be your time. It could be your money.

It could be your influence, but maybe stop asking the first question, how do I serve myself with these things and ask ourselves the question, how do I serve others? The world says, serve yourself. You earned it. Jesus says, serve others. They need it.

All right. That takes us to number two. In order to love like Jesus, we need to set aside the glory of our outer garments and take up the towel of servanthood. It says in verse four, he laid aside our out his outer garments and taking a towel. He tied it around his waist. We know from, uh, one of the synap, uh, later on actually in the gospel of John chapter 19, verse 23, that this outer robe that Jesus is laying aside is the, the robe without a seam.

It's a beautiful outer robe. Actually, it was so nice that the Roman guards, they don't tear it apart and share the cloth. They don't wanna do that. Instead, they cast lots to see and gamble to see who gets the robe 'cause of how nice it is. This is a fine outer garment, possibly a distinguishing outer garment that distinguishes Jesus as the rabbi and teacher that he is.

But he sets it aside and replaces it with what a towel. And he takes that towel and he wraps the towel around his waist. Ask yourself a question. What do you think of when you see somebody with a towel around their waist, aside from they just got outta the shower, they're walking around, say here at the behind the kitchen, or maybe walking around.

We usually think that person's serving someone or doing something, and that culture, that's a symbol of a servant

to lay aside this outer fine garment, which distinguished Jesus as the teacher and the rabbi that he was, and instead wrap the towel of servanthood around his waist.

Maybe we should ask the question, what's our fine outer garment that we've wrapped ourselves in? Maybe we've earned it. Maybe, uh, we deserve it.

But what thing do we have wrapped around ourselves that we need to lay aside so that we can just like our savior, take the towel of servanthood and wrap that in its place.

Just a couple suggestions. The words that popped into my head were pride, ego, maybe even my dignity, my need to be right. My insatiable need to be right all the time.

What is that outer garment? I'm not gonna give you the answer. I don't know what it is for you.

How can you lay aside your rights so that you can take up the towel of servanthood even as Jesus did? We need to remove the pride and the judgment so we can replace them with humility and servanthood.

Remember Jesus at that moment of his power and authority, took off the majesty and exchange it for a dirty towel.

The question then becomes why that leads us to our third way. Do we love like Jesus? To love like Jesus? We need to go to the dirty and ugly places, and there meet the need. It says in verse five. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciple's feet and to wipe them with the towel and to wrap that and then wrap that, that was wrapped around him.

Some of you might really be asking the question, why feet washing? Why does Jesus wash the disciple's feet? There was probably a lot of things he could have done. Why washing the feet? Well, it's helpful for us if we know a little bit of the context. In Jewish culture, you had to wash your feet before coming to a meal, and it was the expectation in a wealthier house with a servant.

The job of the servant was to wipe the ho. The, the people who came in to eat, who were being hosted by the family, the guests, the servant would wipe their feet. And in a household where it was too poor to have a servant, it was the job of each person to wash one another's feet. The reason for that is they didn't walk around and, and, uh, HOAs or, um, you know, nice closed toed shoes and sneakers all the time, and they didn't walk around on pavement.

They had sandals and they walked around on dirt. Now, picture those feet. Uh, something we like to do here at Fellowship is. Uh, every once in a while we need to just get our bodies moving and do something other than thinking all the time. So we, uh, we go out here and play a game called Spike Ball, and the pastors get very competitive.

We play and it's a lot of fun, but out there we've played so much that we've worn down the grass to dirt, so it's just dusty dirt. So every time before we come back inside our feet are just caked and dirt. And so we need to wash them off outside before coming in, or Tim will kill us.

I don't want you to picture my dirty feet, but I want you to, you know, get the idea the need was that before we, they would come to meal, they would need to wash one another's feet. But something really interesting has happened here in this passage. We know from Luke chapter 22 that again, their job should have been to wash each other's feet before the meal started, but the disciples forgot.

And the reason they forgot, It's because Luke 22 tells us they were arguing about who would be the greatest in God's kingdom. How interesting is that? They were arguing who would be first in this new kingdom that Jesus was bringing. And so the only person aware of the need, the growing need in the room was Jesus.

Jesus brought the towel in the basin and met the dirty need that was in the room.

See, Jesus in his whole earthly ministry, was attracted to the dirty places, to the sick, to the needy, to the broken, to the unclean. In Luke chapter five, we read of a story of Jesus eating at a table with tax collectors who were on the bottom of the food chain among Jews with prostitutes and with other sinners, thieves.

The lowest of the low, the dirtiest of the dirty and the Jewish culture. He was eating with them. And the Pharisees couldn't get this into their head. They were so disgusted by Jesus' behavior. They said, what are you doing? And those of you that know the story, know what Jesus said to them.

Jesus said to them, I have not come for the healthy but for the sick. Those who need a doctor, they're not the ones who are healthy, but the ones who are sick. I haven't come for the righteous, but for the sinners, every bit of Jesus's energy was put towards the dirty and ugly places. And yet I think we live, especially in the Western church, in a church that's obsessed with the influential.

The powerful, the important, the crowds. The glamor.

And yet Jesus. Jesus was for a different kind of kingdom. Jesus was after the needy, after the sick, after the broken, the dirty places. And he didn't just say, you know, I'm here for you. He met their need.

We need to be reminded that to love like Jesus, we need to love the hard people in the hard to love places, not just with kind words, but with tangible acts of service.

So this all begs the question, church,

if the church was loving like this, What might that girl in the coffee shop's answer have been

if she had lived and walked among people who used their resources for others, who laid aside their pride and their ego to meet the need of needy people. If she had walked among believers who were attracted to the dirty places, who went into those places willingly, again, not just stay in that, but to help and bring, need, bring, uh, service to a need.

I don't know that her answer would've been the same. Now, I don't know about you, but when I did all this study, you know what I felt at the end? This is an impossible standard. I. I don't think I can love like this. I've been trying and every time I try and I just can't do it. No, Jesus, you're at, you're asking too much to love like you just as you have done, it's too high a call.

I don't know that I can do it. Maybe some of you are feeling that way as well. Maybe you're feeling a little bit hyperventilating right now. You're like, okay, I got a lot to do this week.

Well, I think maybe for the, for us and for me, certainly I was like Peter in this story, struggling to understand what Jesus was doing, struggling to understand our fourth way that will love like Jesus. To love like Jesus. We need to understand what he has done for us. Verse 12 through 17, it says, when he had washed their feet, have put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, do you understand what I have done for you?

You called me teacher and Lord and you are right for so I am. If I, then your Lord and your teacher have washed your feet, you also want to wash one another's feet as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor a messenger greater than the one who sent him.

If you understand these things, if you know these things, blessed are you who do them. The important qualifier there is if you know Jesus multiple times in this story, asks if they understand. He asks. He tells Peter, you don't understand now, but you will later. He tells all of them, do you understand what I'm doing?

We see Peter not understanding. When Jesus comes to him to wash his feet. He's like, no, nope, nope, nope. I haven't earned it yet. You are way too good and I'm not good enough, so I need to get better so that I can earn this washing. I need to be holy. And Jesus tells him, really frankly, unless I wash you, you can't even be with me.

You have no share with me. So then Peter kind of backtracks and he is like, oh, okay. I gotta be really holy. What do I say? What do I say? What do I say? Oh, okay. Wash my head. My hands, my feet wash. All of me,

I think we're so much like Peter. Even after we've learned what it means to be washed by Jesus, we keep trying to earn it. We keep trying to say, oh, like let, let me get things in order. Let me get a holy response. Let me do this. And Jesus saying, the first thing you need to do is be washed. But he says something interesting to Peter.

He says this kind of confusing sentence when he says, and this, I don't have the verse for this up there, but I'll have to say it to you. He says, those who have already been washed do not need to be cleaned except for their feet, but are completely cleaned. What's he talking about?

I think the application for us, and I think what he's saying is there's a different deeper washing than just the feet. And because you are with me, you are completely clean. But I think even if we've been fully wash and we're gonna look about what that means in a minute. We need to also have our feet washed daily by Jesus.

We pick up a lot of dirt out there as we walk. So before we do any washing, we need to first be washed by Jesus.

The disciples didn't understand what it meant to be washed by Jesus. What Jesus was doing that night, they thought he was just doing a kind act of service. I bet maybe they were kind of getting the point he was making. Yeah. Jesus, we need to be servants. I get it. We've seen you do this before four, but I don't think they understood the deeper meaning of what Jesus was communicating to them.

That Jesus, like my teacher in biology, was drawing a picture for them that was revealing a far deeper truth of what was about to take place just 24 hours later. He knew what was coming. Just 24 hours later, Jesus would show them the ultimate example of love when he willingly subjected himself to torture and death on a criminal's cross.

The disciples had yet to understand that, that, that he had already laid aside the garment, the outer garment of his divine nature, and that he had already clothed himself in the towel of servanthood, which was the the weakness of human flesh.

And that he would now take these human attributes of his humanity, that he would take the broken body and the innocent blood and use them to wash away the sins of the world even as he had washed their feet.

And after he had accomplished this greatest of feats of all love, the father would restore the robes of his divine glory and he would resume his rightful place, seated at the right hand of the Father. All these things would happen, and he was painting for them a picture that night. So I want to end with a question.

Church,

do you understand what he has done for you? Do you know what it cost him

to be in perfect contentment with the father? All glory, all honor, all power, all love.

And to take all that and to cast it aside. And to instead take this broken, weak body

and come down and love everyone around you to the fullest of your ability completely and perfectly, and with all that you have completely. And the price that you are given in return is murder. And yet he still willingly washed them. Did you notice that he washes all 12 disciples, even Judas, knowing what he would do,

but Judas wouldn't accept that washing, and that's why he wasn't clean. Judas had a different plan, but Jesus didn't not wash his feet. He washed all the 12. We need to understand church in order before we do any or start any of this kind of loving like Jesus thing. We can't do it unless we understand how much he loves you.

He broke his body,

he poured out his blood so that he could be with you so he could eat with you. He washed you so that he could say, come to the table and eat and join with me. Eat the food that only can satisfy you.

I think the problem and, and Tim Keller, the late Tim Keller said this and it stuck with me for many years. He said, A lot of Christians, or actually non-Christians will come to my church and tell me, Uh, I was hurt by fanatical Christians. And you know what Tim Keller tells them? He said, you were hurt by Christians who weren't fanatical enough because they didn't understand the fanatic love of Jesus.

It hadn't penetrated deep enough, it hadn't gone far enough.

You are not able to manufacture this kind of love. You don't make it. You can only distribute what you've been given. And so there are times church where we get caught up and we, we want to follow this command. We wanna do what God's required of us, and we find ourselves dry, empty, and weary because we're forgetting what Peter forgot.

We first need to be washed. Or remember that we have been washed and are fully clean. We need Jesus to say to us, you are clean.

We need to go to that secret place. And remember that we love because he first loved us first. John four 19 says that we love because he first loved us. I can't manufacture this love. It's impossible. It's an impossible standard, but I can distribute what it is that he has poured out on me.

Just a few minutes later in this conversation with the disciples at this same table, Jesus will say these words to them in John 15, five, I am the vine. You are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit. But apart from me, You can do nothing.

If you hear anything today, it's not go and do these three, four things and you'll be a good Christian. Paul tells us in Corinthians that that's, that's not the way to do things. You could have all those things, but if you have not the love of God, you're nothing. What I want you to hear first is this, stop trying to do it in your own strength.

The only possible way to be the love of Jesus is to be loved by Jesus. Nothing good. No matter how hard you try can come out of your self effort, it only comes out of the indwelling life of Jesus in you by the secret place with you and Jesus walking with him, remaining in him. And that leads me to how we're gonna close tonight, which is a, a beautiful opportunity to celebrate communion together.

Uh, I don't know. I think the, yes, the ushers are gonna come down and grab the elements and distribute them, and as they are, I just wanna just have a few final words for you all. Some of you might be in here and be asking the question, why, why juice and crackers? What's going on with this? Why am I drinking this?

Well, the reminder in the word is it this same meal which we've been talking about this morning, Jesus says these words,

this is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. And likewise, the cup after they had eaten, saying, this is the cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. When Jesus says those words, what is he telling them?

You need to abide in me an I in you. So now just take a few minutes as uh, it's being distributed. We're gonna just play some music and reflect. Ask first the Lord to reveal how much he loves you and then maybe ask him to speak over those couple things that we talked about this morning. Ask the Lord to show you what things we need to lay aside, what things we need to resource for others, in what ways we can go to those dirty places and there meet the need.

Let's pray.

Lord,

I just want to thank you. I don't have any other words right now, Lord.

Thank you for breaking your body so that I could be made whole. Thank you for pouring out your innocent blood so that I could be made clean,

so that I could be restored into your presence, Lord, that I could walk not just on Sundays with you, but every day in your presence learning more and more how deep and how wide Lord, and how far is the love of the Father. Lord, I pray that you teach each person in this room how dearly loved they are and how impossible the call to love like Jesus is unless they abide in you and you and them, and Lord, even as they take the cup and as they eat the bread.

Remind us that only in the bread of life, Lord, and in the living water, are we satisfied. We pray this in your name.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-new-commandment 0d6879a6-87df-4696-9853-d91071dcfbae Mon, 14 Aug 2023 10:36:35 GMT <div data-html="true">John 13:1-17, 33-35 <br /><br /> A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you... <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> Good morning, church. Good morning. It is good to be with you, whether here in person in Mount Laurel or in spirit with all the faithful brothers over in Collingswood are attending online. <br /><br /> It's really good to be with you all as I'm looking around so many faces and stories and people, uh, who are so dear to me, uh, this summer. Uh, for those of you who don't know me, my name is Josiah and I'm a pastor here. And the first time I had the opportunity to preach, uh, was actually out here in the gym. <br /><br /> The first time out in the gym I did was actually our first Sunday here. And on that particular Sunday, I had expressed a hope which was shared by our whole staff that this summer spent in the gym wouldn't be thought of as just something to grid our teeth and get through as we wait for our shiny new building to be ready. <br /><br /> But that we would treat this summer and expect this summer as an opportunity to teach us a very important truth. God's church is not a building. Amen. No matter how nice or newly renovated God's church is His people. Amen. Gathered together in the Union of the Spirit, to celebrate and worship the God that we love, and to proclaim Jesus as Lord and Savior and king. <br /><br /> And we can do that whether we meet in a gym, in a prayer garden, in a palace, a prison. The church is the church. And it's been fun as we've been in the Act series to see both the example of our history and the example in our current situation proclaiming that truth, God's church is not a building. God's church is his people. <br /><br /> And now this morning we have another opportunity to share in a reminder of what it makes the church, the church, as we share communion later this morning as we eat the wafer, which symbolizes Christ's body given to us. And as we drink the juice, which symbolizes his blood poured out as one body, we receive the body of Christ and His blood. <br /><br /> But on this particular Sunday, because it's communion Sunday, we actually aren't gonna be in the Book of Acts today. The, the book we're gonna be in is in, uh, well, actually, I'll tell you in a minute. It's, it's up there. So I guess I, the surprise has already ruined. But I was gonna make a joke about how we were gonna study in the book of Leviticus today. <br /><br /> Um, but we're gonna be in the Gospel of John Mark. Uh, pastor Mark gave me the opportunity to preach from any passage that I wanted to, and the passage which has been on my mind and my heart, it's been convicting my spirit. Has been encouraging me is found in John chapter 13 and we've actually been studying it on Tuesdays. <br /><br /> I lead a young adult group here at Fellowship and on Tuesday nights we've been studying John Chapter 13 and it's deeply encouraged my spirit. Now, my hope is as we come to these, these scriptures that we would come church recognizing that we are the church as his people, right? Not a building. And as we come, we come as a family, comes to a meal, hungry, expectant, and ready to be filled because his word is the only thing that truly satisfies his spirit is the only true thing that fills the bread of his word and the living water of his spirit. <br /><br /> So let's read our scripture today. It's found in the Gospel of John chapter 13 verses one through 17, and then a little bit further on 13 through 35. Let's read this story this morning. Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them unto the end. <br /><br /> And during supper, when the devil had already put into the heart of Judas Sct, Simon's son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. And he laid aside his outer garments and taking on a towel, tied it around his waist, and then he poured water into a basin and there began to wash the disciple's feet and to wipe them with the towel that was around his waist. <br /><br /> And he came to Simon Peter and said to him, and, and Peter said to him, Lord, do you wash my feet? And Jesus answered him What I am doing. You do not understand now, but after you will understand. And Peter said to him, you shall never wash my feet. But Jesus answered him, if I do not wash you, you have no share with me. <br /><br /> But then Peter said to him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. And Jesus said to him, the one who has bathed does not need to wash except for his feet, but is completely clean and you are clean, but not every one of you. For he knew who was to betray him, and that is why he said, not all of you're clean. <br /><br /> In verse 12, when he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, do you understand what I have done to you? You call me teacher and Lord and you are right for so I am. If then your Lord and your teacher has washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. <br /><br /> For I have given you an example that you should do just as I have done. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is the messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, then blessed are you who do them. And then finally, the, the final words of our passage this morning in verses 33 through 35, little children. <br /><br /> Yet a little while I am with you, you will seek me. And just as I said to the Jews, so now I say unto you where I am going, you cannot come. And so a new commandment I give to you that you love one another, just as I have loved you. You also are to love one another. And by this, all people will know that you are my disciples. <br /><br /> If you have love for one another, this is God's word. Would you join with me church as we pray and dedicate this time to our Heavenly Father, heavenly Father. Father, you know, we gather in gymnasiums, in prayer gardens, in old stained glass chapels gathered around computers. Lord, we come because we know now we've tasted and we've seen Lord, we've eaten the food offered to us by this world. <br /><br /> We've drank deep of the cup, which this world promises will satisfy, and we have found them to be empty and bitter things incapable of satisfying the deep longings of our soul. But Lord, in you, we have found the only thing that satisfies. The bread of life and the living water only in you. Lord, we can gather and come to this place as to a feast hungry, expectant, joyful, and ready to receive what you have for us ready to be filled. <br /><br /> Expectant Lord in you is the only true source of life and satisfaction, and so I pray for our hearts. Lord, I pray against distractions. I pray against the enemies in inhibiting of your truth, but thank you, Lord that nothing can inhibit your truth. I pray against all attacks, all fiery arrows. I pray we put on the armor of God, Lord, as we come to your scriptures in Jesus' name. <br /><br /> Lord I I ask. That you would fill us with the bread of your word and that you would overflow us, Lord, with the living water of your spirit, which does not only fill us, but overflows within us. Just new springs of water lead us this morning. May it not be me, Lord. May it not be my words. May it be your words and your spirit speaking through me. <br /><br /> I pray your name. Amen. Amen. So this particular passage is tough for us because we've not been studying the Gospel of John, and I'm sorry for that. We've been in the Book of Acts, which has been a beautiful study, but my wife joked this week as I was preparing. She's like, Joe, it wouldn't be a Joe sermon if you didn't start with context. <br /><br /> Because every single time I think I spend a good 15 minutes on context before I start. Now. I'm not gonna spend that much time this morning, but I do think it's important for us to take just a few minutes to find our bearings. With this particular story in John chapter 13. After all, we've not been in the gospel of John. <br /><br /> So this particular story that we just read takes place three and a half years at the end, at the end of Jesus', three and a half years of public ministry, he's now finished his work to the crowds. He's finished all he has to say. And now instead he turns his focus inward to his friends, to the 12 disciples, and he gathers them for a final meal together, the Passover meal. <br /><br /> Most scholars believe that this would be at least the third meal, that, uh, Passover meal that these 12 disciples would've celebrated with Jesus. But this one will become known later as the Last Supper, because just 12 or just 24 hours later, I should say, Jesus will be nailed to a cross and they're crucified just hours after this meal. <br /><br /> The one who is called Judas Iscariot, one of the 12. We'll go and betray Jesus to the religious leaders handing him over for that crucifixion. And so it is called the Last Supper. It's at this meal where we get our first communion, which we're gonna be again, celebrating later in the service. But at this particular meal, what we see is Jesus gathering the 12, his closest friends for this final meal before he is to be crucified and buried. <br /><br /> Jesus calls it and has called it throughout the gospel of John his hour. That's what we mean, what it means here when it says His hour has come over his three and a half years spent with the disciples. He's given many teachings. He's, he's done many miracles performed, many signs, cast out demons. <br /><br /> Proclaimed his new gospel truth given many commandments. And here in John chapter 13, we see a final and new commandment given to the disciples. It's that passage at the end of our reading this morning when Jesus said to them, little children, yet a little while I am with you and you will seek me. And just as I said to the Jews, so now I say unto you where I am going, you cannot come. <br /><br /> And so a new commandment I give to you that you love one another, just as I have loved you. You also are to love one another. And by this all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. Growing up, I'm one of five kids. And, uh, I remember very distinctly, and maybe some of you can remember this growing up, the age that we reached when we reached the, the age that we were, uh, allowed to be alone while my parents were away. <br /><br /> So we finally were considered trustworthy enough, old enough, responsible enough to be left alone while my parents went away. And I don't know about you, but my parents always would leave a, uh, a list of things to remember on the fridge, right? There would be a list of instructions, you'd have to check them off. <br /><br /> And when my parents would come back, they would check that list. But when I would be a home alone or watching my younger siblings, my parents usually would follow that list up with just a few final remarks, usually reiterating some of the more important instructions. And if I'm being honest, they were probably, I was probably most likely to forget them. <br /><br /> And so the ones that were most important, they usually said to me last as they're leaving the door, I think that's what Jesus is doing here. He says, I'm only with you just a short while longer. And so I give to you a new commandment. <br /><br /> Perhaps this commandment is one which the disciples are also most likely to forget <br /><br /> to be my disciple. Need to be known for love, but not just any love, my love. I wanna play a quick game with you all this morning. I'm gonna say a word, and I don't want you to be shy. I want you to say whatever word you associate with that that pops into your head and just, just shout it out. Okay? I'll say safe words, I promise. <br /><br /> Okay. Peanut butter. Nice. So, so good so far. Ketchup, mustard. Okay. Basket. Oh, nice. My wife said blueberries, which I liked, but knock, knock. Great. Okay, so how cool is that there are certain words which are so closely linked to each other that we almost can't help but associate one word with another. Right. <br /><br /> The moment we hear one, we think of the other. Let's, let's keep it rolling. We'll, how about with some words that are a little bit closer to our subject matter this morning, and these may not be quite as obvious, but how about, what do you think of when you hear cross savior, savior Salvation. Jesus. How about gospel? <br /><br /> Yeah. How about Jesus? Love. I hear a lot of loves out there. I, I have one for you. How about this one, Christian? <br /><br /> There's a couple there. There's a lot. A lot of silence. It might be a little bit more complicated if it's complicated. In this room, church, what answers do you think we'd get if I went to the Cherry Hill Mall? And ask them what words they associate with the word Christian, or how about the, the streets of Philadelphia. <br /><br /> Excuse me. What do you, what words do you think you think of when I say the word Christian? What words might we get then? I heard hypocrite, we don't have to list them off. They're going off in your head right now. Church, what's going on? Why the disconnect? You see this, uh, about a week and a half ago I was preparing for this sermon and uh, I like to go away to Princeton 'cause they have this really cool library there called, uh, Princeton Theological Seminary Library. <br /><br /> It's beautiful, it's quiet and I just gave you all my study spots, so now I've, but that place is awesome. Um, so I was there studying this passage and I took a study break and went for a walk and decided to get grab a coffee at a local coffee shop. And while I was waiting for my, uh, cappuccino to be finished, I, I started overhearing a conversation between the two baristas, a guy and a girl. <br /><br /> The girl said, yeah, that's when I used to go to church camp. And as soon as I heard that, you know, my ears prick up. I'm pretending to not look like I'm listening, but I'm listening. And the guy gets this sort of scrunched up, disgusted look on his face, and he says, what were you doing at church camp? And the girl explained that she had a close friend who the only way she could hang out with her is if she went to church camp with her. <br /><br /> And the guy, he kept that kind of grossed out expression on his face when he said, did they indoctrinate you? And at this point, yeah, I'm doing what you're doing. I'm kind of chuckling. I'm kind of like looking down, pretending not to listen, waiting for my cappuccino. But then the girl had a reply that stopped me in my tracks. <br /><br /> She said, yeah. For three years until I realized they were all bigots and my heart broke and I, I tried not to look like I had been listening, but I was so hit. I was cut to the heart and I stood there like an idiot. My cappuccino was ready and I grabbed it and I kind of just stared at them wanting to say something. <br /><br /> But all that came out was, thank you. And on that, that's pretty long. Walk back from the coffee shop to the library and that whole walk back, all that I'm thinking of the whole time is that conversation, those words. And then I realized they were all bigots. And then the words of Jesus in verse 35, when he says, by this, all people will know that you're my disciples, that you have love for one another. <br /><br /> And these two conflicting messages are crashing in my head and I'm trying to understand them. I'm begging, God, explain this to me. Where's what's going on? He gave me a fresh urgency with this message this morning. Almost a desperation church. I wanna encourage you not to do something. When you hear a story like that, there's a temptation to get defensive. <br /><br /> I felt it in my heart when I first heard that line. I thought, oh, well, I wonder why she thinks that. But then luckily the Lord intercepted that thought and a different question, and one that I want us all to ask came into my mind. What experiences musts that girl have had that after three years spent in the company of Christians, the one word that she chose to describe us, or at least that group of Christians, was bigot. <br /><br /> What type of experiences must she have gone through? And again, that that urgency in me started to grow so much so that it almost crippled me when I was doing this message. I felt so desperate. <br /><br /> But as is usual, desperation is a good place to be with the Lord. <br /><br /> I know I sound like a covid commercial, like during Covid, but we do live in pretty desperate times. It seems like every day there's a new divide, a new descent, a new disagreement, a new line being drawn in the sand. <br /><br /> Day by day, it seems like anger and fear are rising. Seems like the love of many is growing cold, and I wish I could say that Christians are rising above that, but it's not what I'm seeing. I'm seeing instead, Christians blending into the maddening crowd rather than standing out and offering a different, better, brighter way. <br /><br /> Being a city on a hill, a golden lampstand to the world, I feel like Christians in America are more likely to be known for their trendy pastors or their political affiliation, or their strong and loud opinions or their scandals than they are for their love. Now, I'm making generalities here. I'm not speaking directly to you yet. <br /><br /> But I am pointing out the disconnect between how the church is called to be known and how the church is known. <br /><br /> I think we would be blind if we didn't start asking some important questions. Why the disconnect? Many of you in this room have stories of how you were hurt by people who called themselves Christians. <br /><br /> Many of you have seen it firsthand, have witnessed people claiming the name of Jesus, but not living by the way that he lived by. And if we're honest church, many of us have been those people at one time in our life. <br /><br /> It is an important question we have to ask before we look at the passage again. <br /><br /> What definition are we using here of love? Because love is a a bit of a loaded question in our culture. I would say that we live in a pretty preoccupied culture with this idea of love. Seems like a lot of those disagreements are over that word, or maybe even every Hollywood movie right now. Every romcom, every Disney movie seems like every love song right now that comes out is this idea, all we need is love. <br /><br /> Isn't that a Beatles song, right? Am I getting that wrong? That would be mortifying if I got that wrong, right? All you need is love. This isn't a new idea. Isn't that how most cults are started? There's a lot, again, in our culture is preoccupied with this. This idea. But we need to get something very straight. <br /><br /> The difference between the world's definition of love and Jesus's definition of love are so different. They're two different things. <br /><br /> The whole purpose in Jesus coming was because when he called us here in this passage, he didn't call us to be known for our love. He called us to be known for his love <br /><br /> because Jesus came into the world to reveal God's love, because you and I had messed it up so badly. Sin had come into the world and marred the vision of God's love to his people so badly that we had, we've utterly lost sight of what God's love really is, what it looks like to share God's love. And so Jesus came down to the world to reveal the heart of the Father. <br /><br /> To show us that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever would believe in Him, would not perish, but have eternal life. That kind of love. It's an utterly different, utterly revolutionary, utter, utterly counter-cultural kind of love. It's a love that is not a state of feeling or being, but an action, a sacrifice. <br /><br /> We see it all the time right now in our world. Marriages our failing more and more. It seems like the family, it's being broken apart because we've lost sight, even among Christians, what it means to truly love one another as Christ has loved us. So I wanna move along and I wanna look at I, what I would call four ways in this passage that demonstrates to us as believers, Because the question we should be asking this morning now is this, how do we love like Jesus? <br /><br /> We shouldn't ask how do we love like us or how do we love like the world we should be asking? How do we love like Jesus? Here's the good news church. Jesus was the greatest teacher the world had ever known. And so like all great teachers that we know, he didn't just tell us what to do, what did he do? He showed us my favorite teachers growing up were the ones not that spent the whole time monologuing and writing on a screen as I'm monologuing to you all right now. <br /><br /> Not the ones that spent the whole time monologuing to us, but the ones that showed us, my favorite teacher in college or one of them, she was anatomy and physiology teacher and uh, she would do this awesome thing. Where she would, while she was talking through these very complicated ideas about the body, she would be doing two things. <br /><br /> She would be telling a story of her personal experience with it, and she would be drawing a picture that related to it and it would be projected onto the screen. I learned more in that class than I think I've ever learned in one class because she was not only telling us what to learn, but showing us how to learn it, painting pictures for us of what she was talking about. <br /><br /> Luckily for us, Jesus was the greatest teacher the world had ever known. So I wanna look at this story that we read at the start, this story, this interesting story about how Jesus washes the feet of the disciples. What's that all about? Maybe we've grown up hearing this story. Maybe we're a little bit numb to this story now. <br /><br /> I pray that we'd have a fresh eyes as we look. Okay. If you have, uh, your notes in front of you, or if you want to keep notes on this, there's four things I wanna look at as I mentioned, and the first is this. If we are to follow Jesus and to love like Jesus, we need to first resource any authority or power or possessions that we have in service, not to ourselves, but to others. <br /><br /> I want you to read these words to me. This is in verse three and four. Jesus knowing that the father had given him all things into his hands and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper, and he laid aside his outer garments and took a towel around his waist, it's easy for us to lose sight of how ridiculous this is. <br /><br /> Jesus in the exact moment of the realization that all things have been set into his hands, all power or authority, all glory, all honor, and knowing full well that just a few hours later he would be nailed on the cross for all these men. <br /><br /> Instead of choosing to use all of that power and authority to get what he deserved, which was their worship, <br /><br /> he took a towel around his waist, taking off his outer garments and exchanging them for a towel. When I read that and I started looking at that, if we were reading that for the first time, I would expect, it's like Jesus realizing that all things have been set into his hands rose from supper, and you're like, yeah, baby. <br /><br /> Peter was probably like, he's about to go storm the capitol. He's about to go to Jerusalem. He's about to take back what's ours. What does he do? <br /><br /> He lays it all aside. <br /><br /> That should beg the question to us. What things has God set in your hands, <br /><br /> which he's calling you to either set aside or set in service to others and not to yourself? Maybe you raise a promotion. Maybe you're starting on varsity for the first time. Maybe you're going to college on scholarship. <br /><br /> Our money, our job, our popularity, our talents, all these things are things that you did not give to yourself. They were put in your hands by God. And the temptation of our flesh is to say, how can these things serve me? How can I take all that God said in my hands and use it for my gain? We live in a culture preoccupied with brand, with self-promotion, with even promoting a life that's not even really a fair representation of what we are, of using our talents, our money, our job to boost ourselves. <br /><br /> That's the way the world loves. That's the expectation. But Jesus, when he knew all things, every single thing was set into his hands. Chose instead to use it in service to others. We see this all throughout Jesus', public ministry, every bit of power, every bit of knowledge and insight. He's resourcing it for others, not keeping it for himself. <br /><br /> And so God puts all things into his hands. <br /><br /> Again, maybe you're in a position. I'm not saying that you take all your money and dump it into an offering box. That's not what this is about. I'm saying ask God what things he has set into your hands that you can give in service to others to love like Jesus. It could be your time. It could be your money. <br /><br /> It could be your influence, but maybe stop asking the first question, how do I serve myself with these things and ask ourselves the question, how do I serve others? The world says, serve yourself. You earned it. Jesus says, serve others. They need it. <br /><br /> All right. That takes us to number two. In order to love like Jesus, we need to set aside the glory of our outer garments and take up the towel of servanthood. It says in verse four, he laid aside our out his outer garments and taking a towel. He tied it around his waist. We know from, uh, one of the synap, uh, later on actually in the gospel of John chapter 19, verse 23, that this outer robe that Jesus is laying aside is the, the robe without a seam. <br /><br /> It's a beautiful outer robe. Actually, it was so nice that the Roman guards, they don't tear it apart and share the cloth. They don't wanna do that. Instead, they cast lots to see and gamble to see who gets the robe 'cause of how nice it is. This is a fine outer garment, possibly a distinguishing outer garment that distinguishes Jesus as the rabbi and teacher that he is. <br /><br /> But he sets it aside and replaces it with what a towel. And he takes that towel and he wraps the towel around his waist. Ask yourself a question. What do you think of when you see somebody with a towel around their waist, aside from they just got outta the shower, they're walking around, say here at the behind the kitchen, or maybe walking around. <br /><br /> We usually think that person's serving someone or doing something, and that culture, that's a symbol of a servant <br /><br /> to lay aside this outer fine garment, which distinguished Jesus as the teacher and the rabbi that he was, and instead wrap the towel of servanthood around his waist. <br /><br /> Maybe we should ask the question, what's our fine outer garment that we've wrapped ourselves in? Maybe we've earned it. Maybe, uh, we deserve it. <br /><br /> But what thing do we have wrapped around ourselves that we need to lay aside so that we can just like our savior, take the towel of servanthood and wrap that in its place. <br /><br /> Just a couple suggestions. The words that popped into my head were pride, ego, maybe even my dignity, my need to be right. My insatiable need to be right all the time. <br /><br /> What is that outer garment? I'm not gonna give you the answer. I don't know what it is for you. <br /><br /> How can you lay aside your rights so that you can take up the towel of servanthood even as Jesus did? We need to remove the pride and the judgment so we can replace them with humility and servanthood. <br /><br /> Remember Jesus at that moment of his power and authority, took off the majesty and exchange it for a dirty towel. <br /><br /> The question then becomes why that leads us to our third way. Do we love like Jesus? To love like Jesus? We need to go to the dirty and ugly places, and there meet the need. It says in verse five. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciple's feet and to wipe them with the towel and to wrap that and then wrap that, that was wrapped around him. <br /><br /> Some of you might really be asking the question, why feet washing? Why does Jesus wash the disciple's feet? There was probably a lot of things he could have done. Why washing the feet? Well, it's helpful for us if we know a little bit of the context. In Jewish culture, you had to wash your feet before coming to a meal, and it was the expectation in a wealthier house with a servant. <br /><br /> The job of the servant was to wipe the ho. The, the people who came in to eat, who were being hosted by the family, the guests, the servant would wipe their feet. And in a household where it was too poor to have a servant, it was the job of each person to wash one another's feet. The reason for that is they didn't walk around and, and, uh, HOAs or, um, you know, nice closed toed shoes and sneakers all the time, and they didn't walk around on pavement. <br /><br /> They had sandals and they walked around on dirt. Now, picture those feet. Uh, something we like to do here at Fellowship is. Uh, every once in a while we need to just get our bodies moving and do something other than thinking all the time. So we, uh, we go out here and play a game called Spike Ball, and the pastors get very competitive. <br /><br /> We play and it's a lot of fun, but out there we've played so much that we've worn down the grass to dirt, so it's just dusty dirt. So every time before we come back inside our feet are just caked and dirt. And so we need to wash them off outside before coming in, or Tim will kill us. <br /><br /> I don't want you to picture my dirty feet, but I want you to, you know, get the idea the need was that before we, they would come to meal, they would need to wash one another's feet. But something really interesting has happened here in this passage. We know from Luke chapter 22 that again, their job should have been to wash each other's feet before the meal started, but the disciples forgot. <br /><br /> And the reason they forgot, It's because Luke 22 tells us they were arguing about who would be the greatest in God's kingdom. How interesting is that? They were arguing who would be first in this new kingdom that Jesus was bringing. And so the only person aware of the need, the growing need in the room was Jesus. <br /><br /> Jesus brought the towel in the basin and met the dirty need that was in the room. <br /><br /> See, Jesus in his whole earthly ministry, was attracted to the dirty places, to the sick, to the needy, to the broken, to the unclean. In Luke chapter five, we read of a story of Jesus eating at a table with tax collectors who were on the bottom of the food chain among Jews with prostitutes and with other sinners, thieves. <br /><br /> The lowest of the low, the dirtiest of the dirty and the Jewish culture. He was eating with them. And the Pharisees couldn't get this into their head. They were so disgusted by Jesus' behavior. They said, what are you doing? And those of you that know the story, know what Jesus said to them. <br /><br /> Jesus said to them, I have not come for the healthy but for the sick. Those who need a doctor, they're not the ones who are healthy, but the ones who are sick. I haven't come for the righteous, but for the sinners, every bit of Jesus's energy was put towards the dirty and ugly places. And yet I think we live, especially in the Western church, in a church that's obsessed with the influential. <br /><br /> The powerful, the important, the crowds. The glamor. <br /><br /> And yet Jesus. Jesus was for a different kind of kingdom. Jesus was after the needy, after the sick, after the broken, the dirty places. And he didn't just say, you know, I'm here for you. He met their need. <br /><br /> We need to be reminded that to love like Jesus, we need to love the hard people in the hard to love places, not just with kind words, but with tangible acts of service. <br /><br /> So this all begs the question, church, <br /><br /> if the church was loving like this, What might that girl in the coffee shop's answer have been <br /><br /> if she had lived and walked among people who used their resources for others, who laid aside their pride and their ego to meet the need of needy people. If she had walked among believers who were attracted to the dirty places, who went into those places willingly, again, not just stay in that, but to help and bring, need, bring, uh, service to a need. <br /><br /> I don't know that her answer would've been the same. Now, I don't know about you, but when I did all this study, you know what I felt at the end? This is an impossible standard. I. I don't think I can love like this. I've been trying and every time I try and I just can't do it. No, Jesus, you're at, you're asking too much to love like you just as you have done, it's too high a call. <br /><br /> I don't know that I can do it. Maybe some of you are feeling that way as well. Maybe you're feeling a little bit hyperventilating right now. You're like, okay, I got a lot to do this week. <br /><br /> Well, I think maybe for the, for us and for me, certainly I was like Peter in this story, struggling to understand what Jesus was doing, struggling to understand our fourth way that will love like Jesus. To love like Jesus. We need to understand what he has done for us. Verse 12 through 17, it says, when he had washed their feet, have put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, do you understand what I have done for you? <br /><br /> You called me teacher and Lord and you are right for so I am. If I, then your Lord and your teacher have washed your feet, you also want to wash one another's feet as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor a messenger greater than the one who sent him. <br /><br /> If you understand these things, if you know these things, blessed are you who do them. The important qualifier there is if you know Jesus multiple times in this story, asks if they understand. He asks. He tells Peter, you don't understand now, but you will later. He tells all of them, do you understand what I'm doing? <br /><br /> We see Peter not understanding. When Jesus comes to him to wash his feet. He's like, no, nope, nope, nope. I haven't earned it yet. You are way too good and I'm not good enough, so I need to get better so that I can earn this washing. I need to be holy. And Jesus tells him, really frankly, unless I wash you, you can't even be with me. <br /><br /> You have no share with me. So then Peter kind of backtracks and he is like, oh, okay. I gotta be really holy. What do I say? What do I say? What do I say? Oh, okay. Wash my head. My hands, my feet wash. All of me, <br /><br /> I think we're so much like Peter. Even after we've learned what it means to be washed by Jesus, we keep trying to earn it. We keep trying to say, oh, like let, let me get things in order. Let me get a holy response. Let me do this. And Jesus saying, the first thing you need to do is be washed. But he says something interesting to Peter. <br /><br /> He says this kind of confusing sentence when he says, and this, I don't have the verse for this up there, but I'll have to say it to you. He says, those who have already been washed do not need to be cleaned except for their feet, but are completely cleaned. What's he talking about? <br /><br /> I think the application for us, and I think what he's saying is there's a different deeper washing than just the feet. And because you are with me, you are completely clean. But I think even if we've been fully wash and we're gonna look about what that means in a minute. We need to also have our feet washed daily by Jesus. <br /><br /> We pick up a lot of dirt out there as we walk. So before we do any washing, we need to first be washed by Jesus. <br /><br /> The disciples didn't understand what it meant to be washed by Jesus. What Jesus was doing that night, they thought he was just doing a kind act of service. I bet maybe they were kind of getting the point he was making. Yeah. Jesus, we need to be servants. I get it. We've seen you do this before four, but I don't think they understood the deeper meaning of what Jesus was communicating to them. <br /><br /> That Jesus, like my teacher in biology, was drawing a picture for them that was revealing a far deeper truth of what was about to take place just 24 hours later. He knew what was coming. Just 24 hours later, Jesus would show them the ultimate example of love when he willingly subjected himself to torture and death on a criminal's cross. <br /><br /> The disciples had yet to understand that, that, that he had already laid aside the garment, the outer garment of his divine nature, and that he had already clothed himself in the towel of servanthood, which was the the weakness of human flesh. <br /><br /> And that he would now take these human attributes of his humanity, that he would take the broken body and the innocent blood and use them to wash away the sins of the world even as he had washed their feet. <br /><br /> And after he had accomplished this greatest of feats of all love, the father would restore the robes of his divine glory and he would resume his rightful place, seated at the right hand of the Father. All these things would happen, and he was painting for them a picture that night. So I want to end with a question. <br /><br /> Church, <br /><br /> do you understand what he has done for you? Do you know what it cost him <br /><br /> to be in perfect contentment with the father? All glory, all honor, all power, all love. <br /><br /> And to take all that and to cast it aside. And to instead take this broken, weak body <br /><br /> and come down and love everyone around you to the fullest of your ability completely and perfectly, and with all that you have completely. And the price that you are given in return is murder. And yet he still willingly washed them. Did you notice that he washes all 12 disciples, even Judas, knowing what he would do, <br /><br /> but Judas wouldn't accept that washing, and that's why he wasn't clean. Judas had a different plan, but Jesus didn't not wash his feet. He washed all the 12. We need to understand church in order before we do any or start any of this kind of loving like Jesus thing. We can't do it unless we understand how much he loves you. <br /><br /> He broke his body, <br /><br /> he poured out his blood so that he could be with you so he could eat with you. He washed you so that he could say, come to the table and eat and join with me. Eat the food that only can satisfy you. <br /><br /> I think the problem and, and Tim Keller, the late Tim Keller said this and it stuck with me for many years. He said, A lot of Christians, or actually non-Christians will come to my church and tell me, Uh, I was hurt by fanatical Christians. And you know what Tim Keller tells them? He said, you were hurt by Christians who weren't fanatical enough because they didn't understand the fanatic love of Jesus. <br /><br /> It hadn't penetrated deep enough, it hadn't gone far enough. <br /><br /> You are not able to manufacture this kind of love. You don't make it. You can only distribute what you've been given. And so there are times church where we get caught up and we, we want to follow this command. We wanna do what God's required of us, and we find ourselves dry, empty, and weary because we're forgetting what Peter forgot. <br /><br /> We first need to be washed. Or remember that we have been washed and are fully clean. We need Jesus to say to us, you are clean. <br /><br /> We need to go to that secret place. And remember that we love because he first loved us first. John four 19 says that we love because he first loved us. I can't manufacture this love. It's impossible. It's an impossible standard, but I can distribute what it is that he has poured out on me. <br /><br /> Just a few minutes later in this conversation with the disciples at this same table, Jesus will say these words to them in John 15, five, I am the vine. You are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit. But apart from me, You can do nothing. <br /><br /> If you hear anything today, it's not go and do these three, four things and you'll be a good Christian. Paul tells us in Corinthians that that's, that's not the way to do things. You could have all those things, but if you have not the love of God, you're nothing. What I want you to hear first is this, stop trying to do it in your own strength. <br /><br /> The only possible way to be the love of Jesus is to be loved by Jesus. Nothing good. No matter how hard you try can come out of your self effort, it only comes out of the indwelling life of Jesus in you by the secret place with you and Jesus walking with him, remaining in him. And that leads me to how we're gonna close tonight, which is a, a beautiful opportunity to celebrate communion together. <br /><br /> Uh, I don't know. I think the, yes, the ushers are gonna come down and grab the elements and distribute them, and as they are, I just wanna just have a few final words for you all. Some of you might be in here and be asking the question, why, why juice and crackers? What's going on with this? Why am I drinking this? <br /><br /> Well, the reminder in the word is it this same meal which we've been talking about this morning, Jesus says these words, <br /><br /> this is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. And likewise, the cup after they had eaten, saying, this is the cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. When Jesus says those words, what is he telling them? <br /><br /> You need to abide in me an I in you. So now just take a few minutes as uh, it's being distributed. We're gonna just play some music and reflect. Ask first the Lord to reveal how much he loves you and then maybe ask him to speak over those couple things that we talked about this morning. Ask the Lord to show you what things we need to lay aside, what things we need to resource for others, in what ways we can go to those dirty places and there meet the need. <br /><br /> Let's pray. <br /><br /> Lord, <br /><br /> I just want to thank you. I don't have any other words right now, Lord. <br /><br /> Thank you for breaking your body so that I could be made whole. Thank you for pouring out your innocent blood so that I could be made clean, <br /><br /> so that I could be restored into your presence, Lord, that I could walk not just on Sundays with you, but every day in your presence learning more and more how deep and how wide Lord, and how far is the love of the Father. Lord, I pray that you teach each person in this room how dearly loved they are and how impossible the call to love like Jesus is unless they abide in you and you and them, and Lord, even as they take the cup and as they eat the bread. <br /><br /> Remind us that only in the bread of life, Lord, and in the living water, are we satisfied. We pray this in your name.</div> false no <![CDATA[Partnership in Love and Insight]]> Guest Speaker Harold Ebersole

Sermon Transcript:

Good morning. Good morning. It's wonderful to be back with, y'all can tell where we've been lately. Yep. We've been down living in Tennessee for the last three years, but it's wonderful to be back here and it's kind of like really old homecoming to be back in this building here. My first sermons at Fellowship, were in this building.

And so it is a bit of a homecoming to be back here where we are great to see what God is doing among you, and I hope today to be able to share what a bit, what God is doing with us. God gave me a wonderful passage actually, pastor Mark, uh, God used Pastor Mark to give me the wonderful passage, but it's in Acts chapter 21, starting in around verse 16, and in it we see Paul finally gets back to Jerusalem after lots of warnings about bad things that might happen there, and he says, Hey, no way, I'm going.

I'm ready to suffer. I'm ready to die. I'm going back to Jerusalem. He felt it was crucial for the unity of the church for him to get back there with this gift from the Gentile believers to the Jewish believers going through rough times. And to be able to show that they were one. Paul went back there because he loved the people and he loved God, and he said, Hey, my life is worth nothing to me if only I can finish the work God's given me to do.

So he goes back to Jerusalem knowing that trouble and hardship are going to be there. And he makes his report. He makes his report so that the people there can have love with knowledge and depth of insight. And that's what we're going to look at today. All the things involved in Paul's report to Jerusalem, the issues that come up, his response to that.

And it all revolves around loving with knowledge and depth of insight. But before we get started on that, I thought it was only appropriate that I give a report. Now, Paul gave a long and detailed report we'll see in the passage. Fear not. I will not do that. I will give a short report that we pray will give praise to God for his work in our life for the past few years.

I want to start with Psalm 66, verses eight to 12, and then 16, and that's not on a slide. So you can either listen or just turn there quickly. Praise God. All peoples let the sound of his praise be heard. He has preserved our lives. He's kept our feet from slipping. Oh God, you tested us. You refined us like silver.

You brought us into prison and laid burdens on our backs. You let people ride over our heads. We went through fire and water, but you brought us out to a place of abundance. So then verse 16, come in here. All you who fear God, let me tell you what he's done for me. That's what I'd like to do. Now, God's brought us through some fire.

Through some water. Been in, uh, prison of long covid and he is brought us into a place of abundance and we would like to share that so you can praise God with us. Just like the people in Jerusalem. Praise God when they heard of Paul's work and the way so many people had come to Christ, first thing I wanna praise God about is that my cancer's still in remission.

This is my longest remission yet. So praise his name. He has allowed me to be here with you, and that is wonderful. Three years ago, God allowed us to return to Bangladesh for a short visit, and that was a huge answer to prayer. While we were there, I could see one of the reasons why I'd gotten sick with cancer.

People had open ears to hear everything we had to say. They wanted to hear how God had raised us up. They wanted to hear how he had, in a sense brought me back to life. And it was exciting to be able to share with people of all religious backgrounds, people who came from an Islamic background, a Hindu background, were asking for my testimony on little memory cards so they could put it in their phones and share it with their families.

So I praise God for that opportunity that we had, and we pray that there will be fruit of many coming to Christ through that. Three years ago, well, I got ready to leave, but we got ready to leave Bangladesh the day before. I got my little covid test. You had to get back then. And guess what? Oh yes, it came out positive.

I got Covid in Bangladesh and so I didn't leave for a while. I. At first I had no symptoms and they got worse and worse. And soon I was getting all kinds of infusions in the hospital. But God used that. And five weeks later I was feeling better and I got a negative test and they were so anxious to get rid of me that they made special phone calls all over the place and got me flying outta the country that very day.

So we made it back to the us. I never got another negative test for Covid for eight months. God gave me that one test to get back. I got back and within two weeks I had the fevers and everything again. I had it for eight months and by the end of that eight months, my lungs were shot. They had to come pick me up in an ambulance and carry me 'cause I could not get outta bed.

Had 70% oxygen. And the I got in and the doctor said, you have got some very sick lungs. He said, they are 90% destroyed. We have no idea if you'll get better again, but you know what? Don't be afraid. Don't worry about it because we can give you lung transplant. Oh, that was encouraging. But we serve a God who's a lot more powerful than a lung transplant, and to their surprise, slowly I got better.

Eventually, I could walk out to the mailbox again. Eventually I didn't need to use oxygen. Finally, about a year ago, I went back to my pulmonologist and he said, you don't need to come see me again. Your lung function's normal. Praise God for that. So God has given us breath, breath to even be up here and be able to speak to y'all.

And that is a very great gift. While we've been going through this time, God's given us another gift. My last couple of several years in Bangladesh, I prayed, God, this administration stuff I'm doing is great and all, but you know, I would love to be back into Bible translation. That's what I came here to do originally.

Haven't been able to do it in 20 years. God, before we retire, let me be involved in Bible translation. It was not happening. We couldn't get anyone to take my place in administration. So you know what God did? He answered my prayer in a way I wouldn't have chosen. He gave me cancer. We returned to the us.

They had to do administration there without me. And you know what I was able to do in the US via? Internet streaming. I was able to be involved in the Bible translation project working at, in the Tipa Bible translation, a revision of the one my dad had started out there 30 years, 40 years. Oh my, I'm older than I think, uh, 60 years earlier.

So God answered that prayer and enabled me to be involved in Bible translation. Now we're to stand still in it. Please pray with us that God will break through the barriers that appears that some of the original work has been too literal and it's hard to understand. And I've been working on checking and it became clear, pretty obvious that more work is needed.

So pray that God will break through those barriers and get that translation out to the people who need it. You can also pray for our ministry to the tribal groups in Bangladesh as a whole. God's been doing great things. Reaching out to an ungroup unreached group called the Chamas. Two new education outreach centers have been built.

People have been being baptized, and you know that's gonna bring a response from Satan. Well, the leaders of that association have gotten into disunity. There's court cases, there's fights. Pray that God brings unity. God's doing great things. Praise his name. Pray for unity among the leaders. Another thing that's happened recently there is our hospital almost shut down the hospital I was administering when I was there, almost shut down because the only doctor and surgeon was forced to leave.

We prayed and it came down to a matter of, you know, it looks like we'll have to close the hospital in a few weeks. God opened the doors and brought the surgeon back. So the hospital is now functioning, but you know what they need? They need a team. God built this gorgeous new building for them. They could have 6, 8, 10 doctors there, and they need at least five or six.

There's one. God's got to have great plans for that place to reach out with the gospel into the unreached people, groups around them. There's Buddhist, Muslim, and Hindu all around there, but they need the people to do it. Pray that God will raise up both doctors and nurses for the hospital that he has miraculously kept open while we've been here.

My wife has been able to stay involved in work in Bangladesh too. She's involved in producing literature. She simplifies texts for translation. She works on checking them. They, she works on getting donations. They've gotten some great donations to print some great books, but they need more people to check them.

They'll just pray that God will break through those barriers too and enable them to get these books out to the people who need them. She's also involved in encouraging and coaching language students there in as they learn the Bangla language, and that's a hard and discouraging time. We recently had one couple leave the field.

It was so hard. They just got discouraged doing the, the studies of the Bengali language. This can happen. You need to pray for your missionaries while they're in language school. That's a time when Satan really attacks because you're not seeing fruit of ministry. You're just seeing difficulty in even communicating.

So pray for folks as they study the. Bong the language, and for other missionaries around the world, missionaries that you're supporting. I want you to be able to pray with knowledge and depth of insight. I want you to be able to praise God for all that he's doing, for all he's done in our life and all that he's doing around the world, so that as you pray, you can pray with knowledge and depth of insight.

We love each other, we love outreach workers, but you know what? Love can get us in trouble sometimes if we don't have knowledge and depth of insight. Let me read you a wonderful passage, and this is my prayer for myself, for my family, for my team in Bangladesh, Philippians 1 9 2 11, and this is my prayer that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight.

So that me able, you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God. It may be that love never fails, but love can get us into trouble if we don't understand the situation we're in.

When we first got to Bangladesh, my wife went with a woman who worked for us out to her village, and this was a really poor village. It was so poor that there was one chair in the village and they would carry that chair from house to house when she visited people so she could have a place to sit. It was so poor that most of the kids had nothing to put on their feet.

So when she took a picture of the families, they would run, get little rubber flip flops from the house next door. So it would look like they had shoes in their picture. So when Sean went to these villages, she thought, I don't wanna look like some rich person who's trying to be better than them and wear all my fancy shas.

So, or the, which is the dress, the women they wear. So she said, I'm gonna take my most common cotton shas along. Our worker who was with her was appalled. Every house we went through, she apologized. She said, I'm so sorry she didn't understand. Because you show honor to someone by dressing up to go see them.

That's how important are you when she wears something common, that means. She doesn't care about them. So she had wanted to reach out in love, but at that point we didn't have a whole lot of knowledge and we didn't have a whole lot of depth of insight. Well, that got us in trouble again because we went to a funeral.

And so we dressed up to show honor. Well, guess what? In Bangladesh, you don't dress up to a funeral. You wear real common kind of raggedy clothes to show your sorrow. It's like, you know, you read about in the Bible where they tore their clothes and put dust and ash cloth, uh, dust and ashes on their head so you don't dress up to a funeral.

'cause then it shows you're happy and you have to show that you're sad. By not really dressing well. So that got us in trouble. Again, thank God we work with gracious people, but you can see love is crucial, but it's also crucial that we have knowledge and depth of insight as we reach out in love to those around us.

I'll never forget, my nephew came out to see us, and again, they thought they were going to a poor country, so they just brought t-shirts and raggedy old clothes and shorts. Oh my word. Because in Bangladesh, like I said, when you go out to see someone, you, you can't wear a t-shirt. Okay. T-shirt. Uh, well, you always have to have a collar and you always have to have long pants.

They didn't have either one. So the young man who worked in our home, first thing he saw, he said, is their mother punishing them or why didn't they bring any clothes? I am gonna take them out shopping. So the first thing he did was take them to the nearest town and buy them a sport shirt and some slacks so that they could fit in to the people around them.

Anyway, Paul, this was important, Paul, to love with knowledge and depth of insight, and that's important to you. It's not just when we go to another country, we have to love our family, those around us and our neighbors with knowledge and depth of insight so we can understand their situation so that we do not create barriers to the gospel and misunderstandings.

That was a characteristic of Paul's ministry wherever he went. Here's how he described it in one Corinthians nine, nine to, uh, 19 to 23. I. One Corinthians nine 19 to 23. We see this characteristic of Paul's ministry. Though I'm free and belong to no one, I've made myself a slave to everyone to win as many as possible to the Jews.

I became like a Jew to win the Jews to those under the law. I became like one under the law, even though I myself am not under the law so as to win those under the law to those not having the law. I became like one. Not having the law, though I still wasn't free from God's law, but was under Christ's law so as to win those not having the law to the weak, I became weak to win the weak.

I've become all things to all people, so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel so that I might share in its blessings. So Paul, Was always aware of the cultural background of the people he was working with, the religious background of the people he was working with, and he did his best to fit in with them when he was with the Jewish people.

He behaved like a Jewish person. He followed their dietary rules when he was with Gentile people. He was free to eat with them, to do whatever they did to have their food, and he did all this for the sake of the gospel. He was free to live however he wanted in Christ, as long as he obeyed God's law, but it would've created barriers Sometimes in Bangladesh.

I'm free to wear shorts if I want to, but you know what? I'd better not do it when I'm out. That's gonna make people less ready to hear God's word. I could give my wife a hug in public if I wanted to. I'm free to do that, but that would make me a not a very respectable person. She's free to walk ahead of me if she wants to, but she better not.

She's gotta walk behind me to show submission if she's going to have a good ministry with the women there. When we pray in church, you just better cover her head and the women there let her know that real quickly. So we learned not to use all our freedom so that we could reach out in love. This applies everywhere.

It applies as we go down to Tennessee and you better not shoot quite as straight in Tennessee as you do here. When someone asks you if you like something, you better find a way around lying without. Offending them because there, in a way, it's a little like BF relationships are very important and my how I love that hairdo.

Well, I don't know. Anyhow, find a way to say something nice and there I found another thing after we moved there. You know what? It is really hard to get a good bagel in Tennessee. What do you get there? Anybody know? It starts with a B biscuits. That's right. They got some great biscuits, but don't go looking for bagels.

So we're getting used to a new life down there in Tennessee and trying to fit in so that we can reach out and not offend those around us as we serve and as we. Uh, share the gospel when we have the opportunity. So this characterized Paul's ministry. He had cultural awareness and he made adaptations. His purpose was to keep away any extra barriers other than the gospel for people to accept Christ.

He wanted to behave in a way that made the gospel inviting, and that's what we need to do with those around us. As you're reaching out to your neighbors, what is it that offends them? What is it that they love? I remember when Fellowship was first getting started here. We did a check around the neighborhood.

What is it that you need? What is it that you want? How can we reach out to you in love with knowledge and depth of insight? And we found out what did the people want here? They wanted programs for their kids. Safe place for their kids to go. It's one reason people moved to Mount Laurel, good school system care about their families, and that was the start of our summer ministries program.

Why? So we could reach out in love with knowledge and depth of insight, as Paul talked about saying, by all means that some may accept Christ. And that is one of the big reasons why we're here. That was the goal of Paul's ministry. And as a result, there were thousands of churches or thousands of believers around the Mediterranean.

So Paul's been ministering and adapting to all different cultures as he goes. Whether it was the Jewish culture, the Greek culture, the Roman culture. Finally he gets back to Jerusalem, maybe thinks, whew, now I can relax. He had lived in Jerusalem for a long time. It wasn't his home. But remember when Steven was killed?

Paul was there, called Saul back then, and he did a lot of work out of Jerusalem. Actually. His work persecuting the church was based outta Jerusalem. Anyway, he was very familiar with Jerusalem, so he's probably thinking, wow, it's gonna be great kind of to be back in my home territory. So let's see what happens as he goes back and let's see how the church responds to him, how they loved him with knowledge and depth of insight.

We've seen that it characterized Paul's ministry. Now we see that love with knowledge and depth of insight. Characterize the church's response to Paul in verse 16 before our passage really starts. Acts 21, and we're going to verse. 16, then 17, and we'll go down to 25. You're not gonna have slides for all of this, I don't think, but it's Acts chapter 21, and starting in verse 16, you see that they arrive at the seacoast, go in and on the way to Jerusalem, they found a house, found a place.

Invited Paul in with Manson, was his name, the, and here, I'll read that to you, verse 15. After this, we started on our way up to Jerusalem. Some of the disciples from Caesarea accompanied us, brought us to the home of Manson, where we were to stay, and he was a man from Cyprus in one of the early disciples.

So the first thing we see here is, hey, they provided his needs, they provided housing for him, verse 17. Then when we arrived in Jerusalem, the brothers and sisters received us and welcomed us warmly. So you see that they were accompanying him, they were providing housing for him, they were welcoming him.

And these are things that you have and fellowship have done for Sean and I. I know every time we've come here, we've had a place to stay. We've had a vehicle, we have had our needs met. We have felt welcomed. Praise God. I just want to thank you for that. You make us feel at home every time we have come back here, and you have made sure every need was met.

So you have loved us with knowledge and depth of insight and we appreciate that. And that's what the church was doing for Paul. And now let's see in verse 18, what happens the next day? Right away when they got there, Paul and the rest of us went to see James. He was head of the church there and all the elders who were present, Paul greeted them and reported in detail what God had done among the Gentiles.

Through his ministry. So the first thing that happens, he gives a furlough report. You might say he's back ministering in his home place and he shares all that God has done. Remember, he's brought a big gift to, I'm sure he gave that to them at that time, and he shares, Hey, there's believers all over the Mediterranean now.

Here's how God worked and here's the gift that they have given to help you folks in their time of need. And what did they do? They all praise when they heard this. They praised God. They were able to praise God together for the ministry Paul had had and for the fruits of that ministry because Paul had reached out in love with Insight.

Many came to Christ. And the people there in Jerusalem are able to praise God about it. But they didn't stop there. They explained the situation in their church to Paul in the city there. Let's read about that and that we see in, uh, the end of verse 20. There you see, brother, how many thousands of Jews of belief.

So while Paul is out ministering to the Gentiles, they were working among the Jews in Jerusalem and thousands there have come to Christ. All of them are zealous for the law. And they've been informed that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to turn away from Moses telling them not to circumcise their children or to live according to our customs.

So right away we see what we got a problem here though, Paul, God's been working in great ways. You've come back with this great gift to show the unity of the church and the love of believers for each other. But you know, sometimes when you minister, sometimes when you serve, sometimes when you reach out, no matter how hard you try, you get misunderstood.

And Paul was misunderstood. It was thought that he was running around telling all the Jews, Hey, you don't need to obey the law anymore. That's all over. That really wasn't the emphasis of his ministry. He, it was very important to him to tell the Gentiles, you don't have to live by that law. You all you have to do is believe in Jesus Christ and you'll be saved.

But he wasn't telling Jews, Hey, you don't need to worry about that stuff. You can change your culture. Remember Paul said to the Jews, I become like a Jew. So that I can win the Jews. Now, I'm free from that, but I don't wanna cause offense, so I will live according to the Jewish customs and the Jewish rule.

So he really was in Acts chapter 18, verse 18, we read that he took a vow and he shaved his head. He was still practicing some of the aspects of Judaism and he certainly didn't wanna offend anyone. That was his philosophy of ministry. When I'm with the Jews, I live as a Jew. When I'm with the Gentiles, I live as a gentil.

And you'll remember he also said to the weak, I become weak. If someone feels that they should follow a certain thing and that's a command of God, I'm not gonna tell 'em not to do it, because if they disobey their conscience, they're sinning. It may or may not be wrong to do it, but if I think something's wrong and I do it, that's a real problem.

I have just sinned because thinking it was wrong, I did it. And we are not to do that. If we believe something is wrong, even if others don't, we need to live by that conviction. So Paul had been misunderstood. He was not telling Jews, Hey, throw all that overboard. He was telling Gentiles, you don't have to get involved in this.

You're free to come to Christ as you are, though he's been now, he could have just gotten kind of huffy about that, couldn't he? And said, oh, come on. I've been out adapting to all these cultures. Just give me a break, you know? But remember what his purpose was. See people come to Christ, see the church united.

See the Jews and the Gentiles united together as one body for the praise and the glory of God. Well, they gave him some needed insight and the leaders there had a plan for him that would show that he still did respect the law there. And we see them. He, they tell him about their plan. So what are we gonna do?

All these Jews who have heard wrong things about you, they're going to hear that you have come. So do what we tell you. There's four men with us who've made a vow. Take these men, join in their purification rights and pay their expenses so that they can have their heads shaved. Then everyone will know there's no truth in these reports about you, but that you yourself are living in obedience to the law.

And then they said, now, as for the Gentiles, don't worry. We're not asking you to compromise your principles. As for the gentile believers, we've already written to them. Our decision that they should abstain from food sacrifice to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality.

In other words, they don't have to abide all the ritual law. They have to keep a few moral standards, you know? And he said, this does not affect that. We're just asking you to show that you still respect the Jewish law, because there's people here who don't believe you do. And so if you can take these guys and pay for their purification rights and join them in that, that's gonna show everyone that you still have respect for our cultural rules.

And so we read here on the very next day, Paul went in, in verse, um, 26, the next day, Paul took the men and purified himself along with them. And he went to the temple to give notice of the date when the days of purification would end, and the offering would be made for each of them. So he fit in. He did what he asked, they asked him to do.

Now he could be pretty offended. What are you guys talking about here? He's gathered this huge gift from gentile believers all over the Mediterranean. He's brought it back to Jerusalem. He's been in prison, and the first thing they want him to do is, Hey, you've got a show. You're still okay? Like, oh, come on.

Give me a break. What do I have to do? Well, I guess you gotta get your head shaved. I remember when I went to candidate class with A B W E many, many years ago, they didn't wanna offend some of the real conservative churches. You can tell it was a long time ago. I didn't have to have shave my head. I had to shave my beard.

I was not happy about that one. I told them they were a bunch of hypocrites. But anyway, know what I did though? I did it. I did shave my beard and I survived. Well, Paul shaved his head. He didn't have to do it. He was free not to do that. But why did he do it? He loved the believers. He did not wanna create a barrier to the gospel.

He didn't wanna create a division in the church. He wanted to preserve their unity. He so he loved with knowledge and depth of insight. He made this ADD adaptation. He fit in. He's been out serving God and dying to self for years, and now he comes back and he still has to do it. You know what? The same is true of us.

We don't get a day off from dying to self. We don't get a day off from loving one another with knowledge and depth of insight. You may have had that happen when you come home, you've been out at work trying to share the gospel, trying to live as a believer in a tough place, and you get home and things are not what you had hoped.

You know, you've gotta do this, you've gotta do that. You've got to show your wife or your husband or your children that you love them and make an aada adaptation to their schedule so that they know that you love them. We've got to love with knowledge and depth of insight in every situation. For Paul, it wasn't just when he was out on the missionary journeys, it was when he came back to Jerusalem as well.

We aren't slaves to anyone, but we do get the opportunity of giving up our rights and dying to self in order to show love. And to reach out with the power of the gospel. And so that's a question that faced Paul. How do I love with knowledge and depth of insight so that I can be blameless, so that I can discern what is best, be kept blameless and pure, and then have a whole lot of fruit that comes as a result of that.

And folks, that's a privilege each of us have. That's a prayer. Each of us needs to pray that we can follow Paul's example in adapting to those around us. There are all kinds of different viewpoints, all kinds of different cultures. People who get offended easily about all kinds of different things.

Believers, non-believers. It may be due to racial distinctions, cultural distinctions, political distinctions, you name it. And it's very easy to get offended, and it's very easy to offend others. We don't want anything to stand in the way of the gospel. We don't want anything to destroy the unity of believers of those who have truly placed their faith in Jesus Christ.

So let this be our prayer, the prayer that Paul had for the believers in Philippians. I pray that your love. May abound more and more, and knowledge and depth of insight so that you can discern what's best and maybe pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.

I pray that for each of you, I pray that for us, may we be filled with fruit as we love others with knowledge and depth of insight, and I hope that as you go from here, you'll ask yourself some questions. First is in what is an area where I need insight in my love? I love this person. I love this group, but it's not coming through.

I need knowledge. I need depth of insight to know how to reach out in this situation. What do we do when we need knowledge and depth of insight? We go to God. He gives gen. If anyone lacks wisdom, let him go to God, who gives generously to awe without finding fault. So we go to God, we say, God, I need wisdom to love you.

Well, it may be you need to ask for love first. Sometimes we're lacking the love as well. So we ask for the love, we ask for the knowledge, the wisdom, the depth of insight so that we can be pure and blameless. So what's an area where you need knowledge and depth of insight? And then what does God want you to do?

How does he want you to die to self? How does he want you to adapt? How does he want you to reach out to these people who are around you, people to whom he's given you the opportunity of reaching out? With the gospel. So brothers and sisters, let's go to God and ask for knowledge and depth of insight as we seek to reach out with the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ.

Let's pray together. Dear God, I just want to thank you for these lessons that you've given us from the life of Paul, and I wanna thank you for the work that you've done in our lives. I pray that you would pour out your Holy Spirit on us, give us your love for others, for others who differ from us. I pray that you would allow us not just to love, but to love with knowledge and depth of insights, that we can be filled with fruit, and that the name of Jesus Christ will be glorified.

We pray these things in the name of Jesus our savior. Amen.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/partnership-in-love-and-insight b47bcd79-087f-47fb-8f04-7c2ecb991be9 Sun, 06 Aug 2023 11:37:33 GMT <div data-html="true">Guest Speaker Harold Ebersole <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> Good morning. Good morning. It's wonderful to be back with, y'all can tell where we've been lately. Yep. We've been down living in Tennessee for the last three years, but it's wonderful to be back here and it's kind of like really old homecoming to be back in this building here. My first sermons at Fellowship, were in this building. <br /><br /> And so it is a bit of a homecoming to be back here where we are great to see what God is doing among you, and I hope today to be able to share what a bit, what God is doing with us. God gave me a wonderful passage actually, pastor Mark, uh, God used Pastor Mark to give me the wonderful passage, but it's in Acts chapter 21, starting in around verse 16, and in it we see Paul finally gets back to Jerusalem after lots of warnings about bad things that might happen there, and he says, Hey, no way, I'm going. <br /><br /> I'm ready to suffer. I'm ready to die. I'm going back to Jerusalem. He felt it was crucial for the unity of the church for him to get back there with this gift from the Gentile believers to the Jewish believers going through rough times. And to be able to show that they were one. Paul went back there because he loved the people and he loved God, and he said, Hey, my life is worth nothing to me if only I can finish the work God's given me to do. <br /><br /> So he goes back to Jerusalem knowing that trouble and hardship are going to be there. And he makes his report. He makes his report so that the people there can have love with knowledge and depth of insight. And that's what we're going to look at today. All the things involved in Paul's report to Jerusalem, the issues that come up, his response to that. <br /><br /> And it all revolves around loving with knowledge and depth of insight. But before we get started on that, I thought it was only appropriate that I give a report. Now, Paul gave a long and detailed report we'll see in the passage. Fear not. I will not do that. I will give a short report that we pray will give praise to God for his work in our life for the past few years. <br /><br /> I want to start with Psalm 66, verses eight to 12, and then 16, and that's not on a slide. So you can either listen or just turn there quickly. Praise God. All peoples let the sound of his praise be heard. He has preserved our lives. He's kept our feet from slipping. Oh God, you tested us. You refined us like silver. <br /><br /> You brought us into prison and laid burdens on our backs. You let people ride over our heads. We went through fire and water, but you brought us out to a place of abundance. So then verse 16, come in here. All you who fear God, let me tell you what he's done for me. That's what I'd like to do. Now, God's brought us through some fire. <br /><br /> Through some water. Been in, uh, prison of long covid and he is brought us into a place of abundance and we would like to share that so you can praise God with us. Just like the people in Jerusalem. Praise God when they heard of Paul's work and the way so many people had come to Christ, first thing I wanna praise God about is that my cancer's still in remission. <br /><br /> This is my longest remission yet. So praise his name. He has allowed me to be here with you, and that is wonderful. Three years ago, God allowed us to return to Bangladesh for a short visit, and that was a huge answer to prayer. While we were there, I could see one of the reasons why I'd gotten sick with cancer. <br /><br /> People had open ears to hear everything we had to say. They wanted to hear how God had raised us up. They wanted to hear how he had, in a sense brought me back to life. And it was exciting to be able to share with people of all religious backgrounds, people who came from an Islamic background, a Hindu background, were asking for my testimony on little memory cards so they could put it in their phones and share it with their families. <br /><br /> So I praise God for that opportunity that we had, and we pray that there will be fruit of many coming to Christ through that. Three years ago, well, I got ready to leave, but we got ready to leave Bangladesh the day before. I got my little covid test. You had to get back then. And guess what? Oh yes, it came out positive. <br /><br /> I got Covid in Bangladesh and so I didn't leave for a while. I. At first I had no symptoms and they got worse and worse. And soon I was getting all kinds of infusions in the hospital. But God used that. And five weeks later I was feeling better and I got a negative test and they were so anxious to get rid of me that they made special phone calls all over the place and got me flying outta the country that very day. <br /><br /> So we made it back to the us. I never got another negative test for Covid for eight months. God gave me that one test to get back. I got back and within two weeks I had the fevers and everything again. I had it for eight months and by the end of that eight months, my lungs were shot. They had to come pick me up in an ambulance and carry me 'cause I could not get outta bed. <br /><br /> Had 70% oxygen. And the I got in and the doctor said, you have got some very sick lungs. He said, they are 90% destroyed. We have no idea if you'll get better again, but you know what? Don't be afraid. Don't worry about it because we can give you lung transplant. Oh, that was encouraging. But we serve a God who's a lot more powerful than a lung transplant, and to their surprise, slowly I got better. <br /><br /> Eventually, I could walk out to the mailbox again. Eventually I didn't need to use oxygen. Finally, about a year ago, I went back to my pulmonologist and he said, you don't need to come see me again. Your lung function's normal. Praise God for that. So God has given us breath, breath to even be up here and be able to speak to y'all. <br /><br /> And that is a very great gift. While we've been going through this time, God's given us another gift. My last couple of several years in Bangladesh, I prayed, God, this administration stuff I'm doing is great and all, but you know, I would love to be back into Bible translation. That's what I came here to do originally. <br /><br /> Haven't been able to do it in 20 years. God, before we retire, let me be involved in Bible translation. It was not happening. We couldn't get anyone to take my place in administration. So you know what God did? He answered my prayer in a way I wouldn't have chosen. He gave me cancer. We returned to the us. <br /><br /> They had to do administration there without me. And you know what I was able to do in the US via? Internet streaming. I was able to be involved in the Bible translation project working at, in the Tipa Bible translation, a revision of the one my dad had started out there 30 years, 40 years. Oh my, I'm older than I think, uh, 60 years earlier. <br /><br /> So God answered that prayer and enabled me to be involved in Bible translation. Now we're to stand still in it. Please pray with us that God will break through the barriers that appears that some of the original work has been too literal and it's hard to understand. And I've been working on checking and it became clear, pretty obvious that more work is needed. <br /><br /> So pray that God will break through those barriers and get that translation out to the people who need it. You can also pray for our ministry to the tribal groups in Bangladesh as a whole. God's been doing great things. Reaching out to an ungroup unreached group called the Chamas. Two new education outreach centers have been built. <br /><br /> People have been being baptized, and you know that's gonna bring a response from Satan. Well, the leaders of that association have gotten into disunity. There's court cases, there's fights. Pray that God brings unity. God's doing great things. Praise his name. Pray for unity among the leaders. Another thing that's happened recently there is our hospital almost shut down the hospital I was administering when I was there, almost shut down because the only doctor and surgeon was forced to leave. <br /><br /> We prayed and it came down to a matter of, you know, it looks like we'll have to close the hospital in a few weeks. God opened the doors and brought the surgeon back. So the hospital is now functioning, but you know what they need? They need a team. God built this gorgeous new building for them. They could have 6, 8, 10 doctors there, and they need at least five or six. <br /><br /> There's one. God's got to have great plans for that place to reach out with the gospel into the unreached people, groups around them. There's Buddhist, Muslim, and Hindu all around there, but they need the people to do it. Pray that God will raise up both doctors and nurses for the hospital that he has miraculously kept open while we've been here. <br /><br /> My wife has been able to stay involved in work in Bangladesh too. She's involved in producing literature. She simplifies texts for translation. She works on checking them. They, she works on getting donations. They've gotten some great donations to print some great books, but they need more people to check them. <br /><br /> They'll just pray that God will break through those barriers too and enable them to get these books out to the people who need them. She's also involved in encouraging and coaching language students there in as they learn the Bangla language, and that's a hard and discouraging time. We recently had one couple leave the field. <br /><br /> It was so hard. They just got discouraged doing the, the studies of the Bengali language. This can happen. You need to pray for your missionaries while they're in language school. That's a time when Satan really attacks because you're not seeing fruit of ministry. You're just seeing difficulty in even communicating. <br /><br /> So pray for folks as they study the. Bong the language, and for other missionaries around the world, missionaries that you're supporting. I want you to be able to pray with knowledge and depth of insight. I want you to be able to praise God for all that he's doing, for all he's done in our life and all that he's doing around the world, so that as you pray, you can pray with knowledge and depth of insight. <br /><br /> We love each other, we love outreach workers, but you know what? Love can get us in trouble sometimes if we don't have knowledge and depth of insight. Let me read you a wonderful passage, and this is my prayer for myself, for my family, for my team in Bangladesh, Philippians 1 9 2 11, and this is my prayer that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight. <br /><br /> So that me able, you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God. It may be that love never fails, but love can get us into trouble if we don't understand the situation we're in. <br /><br /> When we first got to Bangladesh, my wife went with a woman who worked for us out to her village, and this was a really poor village. It was so poor that there was one chair in the village and they would carry that chair from house to house when she visited people so she could have a place to sit. It was so poor that most of the kids had nothing to put on their feet. <br /><br /> So when she took a picture of the families, they would run, get little rubber flip flops from the house next door. So it would look like they had shoes in their picture. So when Sean went to these villages, she thought, I don't wanna look like some rich person who's trying to be better than them and wear all my fancy shas. <br /><br /> So, or the, which is the dress, the women they wear. So she said, I'm gonna take my most common cotton shas along. Our worker who was with her was appalled. Every house we went through, she apologized. She said, I'm so sorry she didn't understand. Because you show honor to someone by dressing up to go see them. <br /><br /> That's how important are you when she wears something common, that means. She doesn't care about them. So she had wanted to reach out in love, but at that point we didn't have a whole lot of knowledge and we didn't have a whole lot of depth of insight. Well, that got us in trouble again because we went to a funeral. <br /><br /> And so we dressed up to show honor. Well, guess what? In Bangladesh, you don't dress up to a funeral. You wear real common kind of raggedy clothes to show your sorrow. It's like, you know, you read about in the Bible where they tore their clothes and put dust and ash cloth, uh, dust and ashes on their head so you don't dress up to a funeral. <br /><br /> 'cause then it shows you're happy and you have to show that you're sad. By not really dressing well. So that got us in trouble. Again, thank God we work with gracious people, but you can see love is crucial, but it's also crucial that we have knowledge and depth of insight as we reach out in love to those around us. <br /><br /> I'll never forget, my nephew came out to see us, and again, they thought they were going to a poor country, so they just brought t-shirts and raggedy old clothes and shorts. Oh my word. Because in Bangladesh, like I said, when you go out to see someone, you, you can't wear a t-shirt. Okay. T-shirt. Uh, well, you always have to have a collar and you always have to have long pants. <br /><br /> They didn't have either one. So the young man who worked in our home, first thing he saw, he said, is their mother punishing them or why didn't they bring any clothes? I am gonna take them out shopping. So the first thing he did was take them to the nearest town and buy them a sport shirt and some slacks so that they could fit in to the people around them. <br /><br /> Anyway, Paul, this was important, Paul, to love with knowledge and depth of insight, and that's important to you. It's not just when we go to another country, we have to love our family, those around us and our neighbors with knowledge and depth of insight so we can understand their situation so that we do not create barriers to the gospel and misunderstandings. <br /><br /> That was a characteristic of Paul's ministry wherever he went. Here's how he described it in one Corinthians nine, nine to, uh, 19 to 23. I. One Corinthians nine 19 to 23. We see this characteristic of Paul's ministry. Though I'm free and belong to no one, I've made myself a slave to everyone to win as many as possible to the Jews. <br /><br /> I became like a Jew to win the Jews to those under the law. I became like one under the law, even though I myself am not under the law so as to win those under the law to those not having the law. I became like one. Not having the law, though I still wasn't free from God's law, but was under Christ's law so as to win those not having the law to the weak, I became weak to win the weak. <br /><br /> I've become all things to all people, so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel so that I might share in its blessings. So Paul, Was always aware of the cultural background of the people he was working with, the religious background of the people he was working with, and he did his best to fit in with them when he was with the Jewish people. <br /><br /> He behaved like a Jewish person. He followed their dietary rules when he was with Gentile people. He was free to eat with them, to do whatever they did to have their food, and he did all this for the sake of the gospel. He was free to live however he wanted in Christ, as long as he obeyed God's law, but it would've created barriers Sometimes in Bangladesh. <br /><br /> I'm free to wear shorts if I want to, but you know what? I'd better not do it when I'm out. That's gonna make people less ready to hear God's word. I could give my wife a hug in public if I wanted to. I'm free to do that, but that would make me a not a very respectable person. She's free to walk ahead of me if she wants to, but she better not. <br /><br /> She's gotta walk behind me to show submission if she's going to have a good ministry with the women there. When we pray in church, you just better cover her head and the women there let her know that real quickly. So we learned not to use all our freedom so that we could reach out in love. This applies everywhere. <br /><br /> It applies as we go down to Tennessee and you better not shoot quite as straight in Tennessee as you do here. When someone asks you if you like something, you better find a way around lying without. Offending them because there, in a way, it's a little like BF relationships are very important and my how I love that hairdo. <br /><br /> Well, I don't know. Anyhow, find a way to say something nice and there I found another thing after we moved there. You know what? It is really hard to get a good bagel in Tennessee. What do you get there? Anybody know? It starts with a B biscuits. That's right. They got some great biscuits, but don't go looking for bagels. <br /><br /> So we're getting used to a new life down there in Tennessee and trying to fit in so that we can reach out and not offend those around us as we serve and as we. Uh, share the gospel when we have the opportunity. So this characterized Paul's ministry. He had cultural awareness and he made adaptations. His purpose was to keep away any extra barriers other than the gospel for people to accept Christ. <br /><br /> He wanted to behave in a way that made the gospel inviting, and that's what we need to do with those around us. As you're reaching out to your neighbors, what is it that offends them? What is it that they love? I remember when Fellowship was first getting started here. We did a check around the neighborhood. <br /><br /> What is it that you need? What is it that you want? How can we reach out to you in love with knowledge and depth of insight? And we found out what did the people want here? They wanted programs for their kids. Safe place for their kids to go. It's one reason people moved to Mount Laurel, good school system care about their families, and that was the start of our summer ministries program. <br /><br /> Why? So we could reach out in love with knowledge and depth of insight, as Paul talked about saying, by all means that some may accept Christ. And that is one of the big reasons why we're here. That was the goal of Paul's ministry. And as a result, there were thousands of churches or thousands of believers around the Mediterranean. <br /><br /> So Paul's been ministering and adapting to all different cultures as he goes. Whether it was the Jewish culture, the Greek culture, the Roman culture. Finally he gets back to Jerusalem, maybe thinks, whew, now I can relax. He had lived in Jerusalem for a long time. It wasn't his home. But remember when Steven was killed? <br /><br /> Paul was there, called Saul back then, and he did a lot of work out of Jerusalem. Actually. His work persecuting the church was based outta Jerusalem. Anyway, he was very familiar with Jerusalem, so he's probably thinking, wow, it's gonna be great kind of to be back in my home territory. So let's see what happens as he goes back and let's see how the church responds to him, how they loved him with knowledge and depth of insight. <br /><br /> We've seen that it characterized Paul's ministry. Now we see that love with knowledge and depth of insight. Characterize the church's response to Paul in verse 16 before our passage really starts. Acts 21, and we're going to verse. 16, then 17, and we'll go down to 25. You're not gonna have slides for all of this, I don't think, but it's Acts chapter 21, and starting in verse 16, you see that they arrive at the seacoast, go in and on the way to Jerusalem, they found a house, found a place. <br /><br /> Invited Paul in with Manson, was his name, the, and here, I'll read that to you, verse 15. After this, we started on our way up to Jerusalem. Some of the disciples from Caesarea accompanied us, brought us to the home of Manson, where we were to stay, and he was a man from Cyprus in one of the early disciples. <br /><br /> So the first thing we see here is, hey, they provided his needs, they provided housing for him, verse 17. Then when we arrived in Jerusalem, the brothers and sisters received us and welcomed us warmly. So you see that they were accompanying him, they were providing housing for him, they were welcoming him. <br /><br /> And these are things that you have and fellowship have done for Sean and I. I know every time we've come here, we've had a place to stay. We've had a vehicle, we have had our needs met. We have felt welcomed. Praise God. I just want to thank you for that. You make us feel at home every time we have come back here, and you have made sure every need was met. <br /><br /> So you have loved us with knowledge and depth of insight and we appreciate that. And that's what the church was doing for Paul. And now let's see in verse 18, what happens the next day? Right away when they got there, Paul and the rest of us went to see James. He was head of the church there and all the elders who were present, Paul greeted them and reported in detail what God had done among the Gentiles. <br /><br /> Through his ministry. So the first thing that happens, he gives a furlough report. You might say he's back ministering in his home place and he shares all that God has done. Remember, he's brought a big gift to, I'm sure he gave that to them at that time, and he shares, Hey, there's believers all over the Mediterranean now. <br /><br /> Here's how God worked and here's the gift that they have given to help you folks in their time of need. And what did they do? They all praise when they heard this. They praised God. They were able to praise God together for the ministry Paul had had and for the fruits of that ministry because Paul had reached out in love with Insight. <br /><br /> Many came to Christ. And the people there in Jerusalem are able to praise God about it. But they didn't stop there. They explained the situation in their church to Paul in the city there. Let's read about that and that we see in, uh, the end of verse 20. There you see, brother, how many thousands of Jews of belief. <br /><br /> So while Paul is out ministering to the Gentiles, they were working among the Jews in Jerusalem and thousands there have come to Christ. All of them are zealous for the law. And they've been informed that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to turn away from Moses telling them not to circumcise their children or to live according to our customs. <br /><br /> So right away we see what we got a problem here though, Paul, God's been working in great ways. You've come back with this great gift to show the unity of the church and the love of believers for each other. But you know, sometimes when you minister, sometimes when you serve, sometimes when you reach out, no matter how hard you try, you get misunderstood. <br /><br /> And Paul was misunderstood. It was thought that he was running around telling all the Jews, Hey, you don't need to obey the law anymore. That's all over. That really wasn't the emphasis of his ministry. He, it was very important to him to tell the Gentiles, you don't have to live by that law. You all you have to do is believe in Jesus Christ and you'll be saved. <br /><br /> But he wasn't telling Jews, Hey, you don't need to worry about that stuff. You can change your culture. Remember Paul said to the Jews, I become like a Jew. So that I can win the Jews. Now, I'm free from that, but I don't wanna cause offense, so I will live according to the Jewish customs and the Jewish rule. <br /><br /> So he really was in Acts chapter 18, verse 18, we read that he took a vow and he shaved his head. He was still practicing some of the aspects of Judaism and he certainly didn't wanna offend anyone. That was his philosophy of ministry. When I'm with the Jews, I live as a Jew. When I'm with the Gentiles, I live as a gentil. <br /><br /> And you'll remember he also said to the weak, I become weak. If someone feels that they should follow a certain thing and that's a command of God, I'm not gonna tell 'em not to do it, because if they disobey their conscience, they're sinning. It may or may not be wrong to do it, but if I think something's wrong and I do it, that's a real problem. <br /><br /> I have just sinned because thinking it was wrong, I did it. And we are not to do that. If we believe something is wrong, even if others don't, we need to live by that conviction. So Paul had been misunderstood. He was not telling Jews, Hey, throw all that overboard. He was telling Gentiles, you don't have to get involved in this. <br /><br /> You're free to come to Christ as you are, though he's been now, he could have just gotten kind of huffy about that, couldn't he? And said, oh, come on. I've been out adapting to all these cultures. Just give me a break, you know? But remember what his purpose was. See people come to Christ, see the church united. <br /><br /> See the Jews and the Gentiles united together as one body for the praise and the glory of God. Well, they gave him some needed insight and the leaders there had a plan for him that would show that he still did respect the law there. And we see them. He, they tell him about their plan. So what are we gonna do? <br /><br /> All these Jews who have heard wrong things about you, they're going to hear that you have come. So do what we tell you. There's four men with us who've made a vow. Take these men, join in their purification rights and pay their expenses so that they can have their heads shaved. Then everyone will know there's no truth in these reports about you, but that you yourself are living in obedience to the law. <br /><br /> And then they said, now, as for the Gentiles, don't worry. We're not asking you to compromise your principles. As for the gentile believers, we've already written to them. Our decision that they should abstain from food sacrifice to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. <br /><br /> In other words, they don't have to abide all the ritual law. They have to keep a few moral standards, you know? And he said, this does not affect that. We're just asking you to show that you still respect the Jewish law, because there's people here who don't believe you do. And so if you can take these guys and pay for their purification rights and join them in that, that's gonna show everyone that you still have respect for our cultural rules. <br /><br /> And so we read here on the very next day, Paul went in, in verse, um, 26, the next day, Paul took the men and purified himself along with them. And he went to the temple to give notice of the date when the days of purification would end, and the offering would be made for each of them. So he fit in. He did what he asked, they asked him to do. <br /><br /> Now he could be pretty offended. What are you guys talking about here? He's gathered this huge gift from gentile believers all over the Mediterranean. He's brought it back to Jerusalem. He's been in prison, and the first thing they want him to do is, Hey, you've got a show. You're still okay? Like, oh, come on. <br /><br /> Give me a break. What do I have to do? Well, I guess you gotta get your head shaved. I remember when I went to candidate class with A B W E many, many years ago, they didn't wanna offend some of the real conservative churches. You can tell it was a long time ago. I didn't have to have shave my head. I had to shave my beard. <br /><br /> I was not happy about that one. I told them they were a bunch of hypocrites. But anyway, know what I did though? I did it. I did shave my beard and I survived. Well, Paul shaved his head. He didn't have to do it. He was free not to do that. But why did he do it? He loved the believers. He did not wanna create a barrier to the gospel. <br /><br /> He didn't wanna create a division in the church. He wanted to preserve their unity. He so he loved with knowledge and depth of insight. He made this ADD adaptation. He fit in. He's been out serving God and dying to self for years, and now he comes back and he still has to do it. You know what? The same is true of us. <br /><br /> We don't get a day off from dying to self. We don't get a day off from loving one another with knowledge and depth of insight. You may have had that happen when you come home, you've been out at work trying to share the gospel, trying to live as a believer in a tough place, and you get home and things are not what you had hoped. <br /><br /> You know, you've gotta do this, you've gotta do that. You've got to show your wife or your husband or your children that you love them and make an aada adaptation to their schedule so that they know that you love them. We've got to love with knowledge and depth of insight in every situation. For Paul, it wasn't just when he was out on the missionary journeys, it was when he came back to Jerusalem as well. <br /><br /> We aren't slaves to anyone, but we do get the opportunity of giving up our rights and dying to self in order to show love. And to reach out with the power of the gospel. And so that's a question that faced Paul. How do I love with knowledge and depth of insight so that I can be blameless, so that I can discern what is best, be kept blameless and pure, and then have a whole lot of fruit that comes as a result of that. <br /><br /> And folks, that's a privilege each of us have. That's a prayer. Each of us needs to pray that we can follow Paul's example in adapting to those around us. There are all kinds of different viewpoints, all kinds of different cultures. People who get offended easily about all kinds of different things. <br /><br /> Believers, non-believers. It may be due to racial distinctions, cultural distinctions, political distinctions, you name it. And it's very easy to get offended, and it's very easy to offend others. We don't want anything to stand in the way of the gospel. We don't want anything to destroy the unity of believers of those who have truly placed their faith in Jesus Christ. <br /><br /> So let this be our prayer, the prayer that Paul had for the believers in Philippians. I pray that your love. May abound more and more, and knowledge and depth of insight so that you can discern what's best and maybe pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God. <br /><br /> I pray that for each of you, I pray that for us, may we be filled with fruit as we love others with knowledge and depth of insight, and I hope that as you go from here, you'll ask yourself some questions. First is in what is an area where I need insight in my love? I love this person. I love this group, but it's not coming through. <br /><br /> I need knowledge. I need depth of insight to know how to reach out in this situation. What do we do when we need knowledge and depth of insight? We go to God. He gives gen. If anyone lacks wisdom, let him go to God, who gives generously to awe without finding fault. So we go to God, we say, God, I need wisdom to love you. <br /><br /> Well, it may be you need to ask for love first. Sometimes we're lacking the love as well. So we ask for the love, we ask for the knowledge, the wisdom, the depth of insight so that we can be pure and blameless. So what's an area where you need knowledge and depth of insight? And then what does God want you to do? <br /><br /> How does he want you to die to self? How does he want you to adapt? How does he want you to reach out to these people who are around you, people to whom he's given you the opportunity of reaching out? With the gospel. So brothers and sisters, let's go to God and ask for knowledge and depth of insight as we seek to reach out with the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ. <br /><br /> Let's pray together. Dear God, I just want to thank you for these lessons that you've given us from the life of Paul, and I wanna thank you for the work that you've done in our lives. I pray that you would pour out your Holy Spirit on us, give us your love for others, for others who differ from us. I pray that you would allow us not just to love, but to love with knowledge and depth of insights, that we can be filled with fruit, and that the name of Jesus Christ will be glorified. <br /><br /> We pray these things in the name of Jesus our savior. Amen.</div> false no <![CDATA[The Spirit Talks]]> Sermon Transcript:

Morning everybody. Morning, invite you to take your Bibles. We're gonna be looking at Acts chapter 21 this morning, uh, as we return to our series in the book of Acts, the Spirit at Work to the ends of the Earth while you're turning there to the Book of Acts. Um, I wanna mention a couple of things. Uh, we had a prayer request last week that I wanted to mention.

I. I had mentioned the Amala family had been involved in a serious car accident. Um, I wanted to give you an update on that if you have not heard. Um, two of their two boys, three year old and eight year old, uh, with Esan being the one most seriously injured were, um, initially both in I C u, Sean was there longer.

Both have gotten out of I C U actually both have come home. And

so really, really grateful injuries to four of the family members, but the two boys' biggest concern and doing well. The other one is relating to Pastor Ben. Uh, pastor Ben is on sabbatical and he and his family have been spending the last seven weeks in Columbia. They're due to come home tomorrow and then have two more weeks here on sabbatical, then come back in the office.

Um, yesterday morning, uh, I got a call. I mean, Ben is my son, so it was natural. I got a call from my daughter-in-law at 4:00 AM and the call was, uh, telling me that Ben had been rushed to the hospital there in Columbia, uh, with what they assumed and turned out to be an appendicitis attack. Um, he, he had, uh, surgery, emergency surgery yesterday.

It was quite a thing because nobody in the family speaks Spanish. Nobody in the hospital speaks English. And, uh, it was a, a little bit stressful. They finally found an English speaking person. Um, the surgery went well. Ben is, uh, doing well. Um, they still hope I just talked to Adi. They still hope to. Get out and be able to make their flight tomorrow.

Um, which would be a real praise. Um, uh, there have been some amazing pieces of this whole story because Adi was adopted from Columbia many years ago through the providence of God in a, just an amazing redemptive story. Um, she found out not long ago, um, that her biological mother that had put her up for adoption, um, the circumstances there in the ensuing years, her mother has come to Christ.

Um, her sister has come to Christ, and so she's down there, um, back in a family. It's, I, it's, it's an amazing story. Um, and God's just work well, the family was able to step in and help in the midst of all this because they do speak Spanish. My only other emotion than incredible relief, uh, and gratitude to God with how this worked out is disappointment because there is a video that Ben made from his hospital bed while still under the influence of medication.

And it's a 56 minute, 6 56 second video that I wanted to share this morning. Um, but I was talked off the cliff on that with, by another staff member. Um, it is, I watched it 10 times. It's, it's, lemme just say this. We are all grateful that Ben never got into drugs. Okay. Alright. We're looking at Acts chapter 21 verses one to 16.

And I, and, and let me. Yeah, I'm, I'm gonna pray for both families. After we read the scripture and when we had parted from them and set sail, we came by a straight course to cost and the next day to roads, and from there to Patara and having found a ship crossing to Venicia, we went abroad and set sail.

When we had come in sight of Cyprus leaving on the left, we sailed to Syria and landed a tire for there. The ship was to unload its cargo. And having sought out the disciples, we stayed there for seven days and through the spirit, they were telling Paul not to go on to Jerusalem. When our days there were ended, we departed and went on our journey, and they all, with wives and children, accompanied us until we were outside the city and kneeling down on the bench.

We prayed and said Farewell to one another. Then we went on board the ship and they re, they returned home. When we had finished the voyage from Ty, from Tire, we arrived at Tomas. And we greeted the brothers and stayed with them for one day. On the next day, we departed and came to Caesarea and we entered the house of Philip, the evangelist, who was one of the seven and stayed with him.

He had four unmarried daughters who prophesied while we were staying. For many days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea and coming to us, he took Paul's belt and bound his own feet and hands and said, thus, says the Holy Spirit. This is how the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hand of the Gentiles.

When we heard this, we and the people there urged him not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, what are you doing weeping and breaking my heart for I am ready not only to be in prison, but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. And since he would not be persuaded, we ceased and said, let the will of the Lord be done.

After these days, we got ready and went up to Jerusalem and some of the disciples from Caesarea went with us, bringing us to the house of nascent of, of Cyprus and early disciple with whom we should lodge. Lord, we come to you this morning. God, again, we thank you for the scriptures and trust and pray that out of this passage you would speak into our lives, encouragement as we seek to understand how to better listen to the voice of the Spirit speaking into us.

Lord, we come this morning with praise as a people. Thank you for Tim and Naomi's family and the protection of their boys. And Sophia. God, we thank you for just the providential way as we've heard the circumstances you miraculously worked and, um, protecting them, caring for them, bringing. Healing both of body and mind.

Thank you also for your hand on Ben this morning. Lord, thank you for the right people and the right places to be there to give him good care. Thank you that they were staying this week in a place that was right near a major hospital where before that they had been out in the tool lease. We just praise you, Lord, and pray for safety for them as they try to get things together to still be able to come back.

Now, God teach us today as we open the word in Jesus' name. Amen.

We're at the last part of Paul's missionary journeys. We know that Paul had three big missionary journeys, right? This map is depicting that and on the map we're gonna, as we've been following this long journey that started back in. In, in, uh, Antioch and went all the way through here. They were an Ephesus up in the red section.

Ephesus is where most of this journey took place. He was there three years. The rest of the journey that shot him over to Greece or called Eiah, uh, was a quick tour. And then he went back and he came to this little town called Myelitis, which is again, is in the red and myelitis. And then the journey home over to tire in the area of Syria, in the yellow and down to Fi sisia are the three locations of import this morning to what we're gonna look at.

Because at each of those locations, there was a particular impact that happened to Paul and to his followers that was caused by the Holy Spirits talking to them. It had major implications to the development of the church. The question might appropriately be asked, and maybe you're asking as I was reading the passage, is this a travel log?

I mean just, okay, I get it. He traveled across the Mediterranean Sea, they got back, but there's no preaching, there's no discipling, there's no miracles happening. I mean, it's just we went from here, we went from here. They heard about the spirit saying he shouldn't do this and, and a little bit more here.

What's the unifying purpose of this passage? And I think there is clearly one. I believe this passage was recorded by Dr. Luke under the inspiration of the spirit in order to tell us about a unique moment in the history of the establishment of the church where they needed to hear the voice of the spirit directing them.

There is discord among the believers on what Paul should do. Paul is convinced he's supposed to go to Jerusalem. The more that the other believers, including the guys on the boat with him, have heard, the less they agree. And there is this, this interplay where the spirit is involved. But there are, there, there is a, a lesson for us here, I think about listening to the spirit's voice in our own lives.

So this morning what I want to talk about is about the spirits, talking about how he does and to whom he does. And so let's look at the two things that are presented to us here in this passage. First, who the spirit talks to, and we find that he talks to people that belong to him. In Acts chapter 20, verse 22, this is when Paul was in myelitis where he is met with the Ephesian, uh, elders, uh, and overseers, as we talked about last week.

Here's what we read that Paul heard. In verse 20 of, of Acts chapter, verse 22 of Acts 20. Here's what Paul said, and now behold, I'm going to Jerusalem constrained by the Spirit and knowing what will happen to me there ex, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that the imprisonment and afflictions await me.

He says, the Holy Spirit is talking to me in every city. He keeps saying the same messaging to him. Pulse is the spirit. It's been speaking into my life. We come to Tyre here and now I'm in our passage this morning. Acts chapter 21, verse four, and here's what we read. And having sought out the disciples, we, the traveling companions with Paul and Paul stayed there for seven days.

And through the spirit, they were telling the people there. Were telling Paul not to go to Jerusalem. Them. Then we come to verse 21 of our passage, and this guy Agabus, who is a guy in, in the early part, OFID Pro, prophesied this big famine that was gonna take place and it came to fruition. I mean, he's a, he's a mucky muck prophet among the early church.

And here's what he says, thus says the Holy Spirit. This is how the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man Paul, who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles. He even does this thing where he wraps Paul up in his own, you know, the belt that they wrapped around in the linen belt? And he wraps him up, ties him up and says, this is, this is what's gonna happen to this guy if he goes to J when he goes to Jerusalem.

So the spirit's speaking, he's talking to people.

Now you may be here and viewing this a bit cynically. Okay? The spirit speaks to people. I mean, I mean, what exactly does this mean? How dare people think they can actually hear God speaking to them individually? I've told this story before about Marian. I have permission to share it again. Basically, when she was a young girl, she was pretty serious about Jesus.

And, uh, she had a cousin who was more of a skeptic, whose name is Steve. They were, they were very close, almost like brother and sister. And he's their same age. And one time she was out with Steve, uh, on the lakefront there where they lived. And she, she turned to him and said to Steve, Jesus speaks to me and Steve, who all of us in the family can hear him saying it in exactly this terminology.

He says, what? Jesus speaks to you. Yes, Jesus speaks to me. Jesus. Jesus. I don't hear anything. Maybe you're here and you're saying, come on, Jesus, speaking to people through the spirit. I mean, what's this about? Or maybe you're here and you respond this way to this concept. I hear people talk this way about God speaking into them like, like it's personal and, and I wish I knew God that way personally, intimately to each of you.

I would say this, the Spirit of God, the third member of the Triunity of God, does speak into the lives of people today, most commonly and consistently. He does it through God's word, the Bible, because the Bible is different from any other book that's ever been written, written. It actually calls itself a living book.

Here's what it says in Hebrews chapter four, for the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit of joints, and of mell and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. The word of God, the scriptures, acts as God himself. He speaks through the, the word that were written 2000 years ago.

God intimately does. He speaks personally specifically, he does it circumstantially. He does it in the quiet whispers of people's minds. But usually he uses the scriptures. He speaks to those who have entered into a personal relationship with him. And just for a moment, I want to explain what I mean by that, because it's foundational to everything I'm gonna say about the spirit speaking into us.

Every one of us is born. As a material person, we have a body and also an immaterial person. We have what is known as a, a soul and a spirit that are a part of us. Animals in the scripture are said to have souls. They have their living beings. They have an immaterial part. Our soulish part from which we, which is literally the word ska, which is actually the study of ska.

The study of psychology is the study of our, of our horizontal, immaterial part. It's how we relate to other people. It's how we relate to ourselves, how we process life, how we struggle with ourselves. That's the ska part of life. But humans are not only ska, horizontal, we also have what is called the new moss.

The spirit is the word that is used. We have a vertical dimension. When we. As fallen creatures live out a life because of sin, there is a breach. In the vertical part of us, there is a disconnection that we are disconnected from God. It even talks about us being spiritually dead or separated. The wires are cut, the signal is lost.

Jesus came to provide a way for reconnection. It's why an individual that has not been reconnected by with God through Christ, who has not had that vertical dimension restored, does not receive the messagings and the speaking of the spirit. In one Corinthians two 14, it says, the person without that connection cannot receive this, the, the, the messages from the spirit of God.

One Corinthians two 14. They're not connected, they're not paired with the transmitter. You're not in pairing mode if you have not been restored to relationship with God through what Jesus Christ did in dying for your sins, in rising from the dead, to give you that newness of life and that life is the reconnection.

So when we're talking about people that are hearing the Spirit speak, and those of you that are here in Mount Laurel or Collingswood or watching online and, and you're thinking, I don't have any idea what he's talking about, I don't sense it. I'm a religious person, but, but I don't, I don't, I don't have that sense of God speaking into my life even when I read the Bible.

I don't have that sense. It may be that God is prompting you this morning with the need of that reconnection, which is what being born again or receiving Christ as Savior provides. You then become, uh, in pairing mode, if you will, to be able to receive the messaging of the spirit in your life. It is not only to those that are a part of his family who have received Christ that belong to him, it's also to those that are a part of that, that are listening, these people that are hearing from the spirit of God.

Paul Agabus, the prophet, all these folks there that have been listening, the guys on the boat that have been trying to listen to the spirit of God in their life are people that belong to Christ, but they're also people. And in that sense, they're paired, if you will, but they're also people who were listening.

I was driving on a trip recently and I, uh, had my phone paired with my Bluetooth to be able to play it through the radio while I'm driving on the road. Uh, I, I. I can see that I'm paired and, uh, my audible book is playing, but I don't hear anything. I hear the rain on the roof. I, I hear, uh, the bumps on the road, but I don't hear my book till I realized I had the volume down.

This is high tech stuff. And so I had to turn the volume up. Well, a lot of our lives aren't hearing the spirit of God, even if we're paired. Right. Even if we know Christ as our savior, even if we're reconnected because the volume's turned up. I mean, we don't take time to listen. We're not hearing the voice of the Lord because he who is ready to speak the time is speaking.

We're not listening. I'm gonna Bible study each week a, a, a group together with guys from my community group, and we've been studying a book call of Robert Morley's, the Christian man, and this past week, the chapter was on. Basically what causes us to spiritually grow. And morally, he's done this for probably 40 years, working with men.

He's, he's written a number of books for Christian men, and in this one, he, this chapter, he just, he made the statement, I'm convinced that 90% of every person's spiritual, uh, uh, lack of spiritual growth and the hindrance to spiritual growth would be resolved by three things. Here were the three things.

Number one, you gotta be listening to the scripture. Number two, you ought to be in a small group, and number three, you ought to find somebody some way that you are serving Christ. But the first one was a striking one. He said, you gotta be listening. You gotta be heeding, God's voice speaking into your lives.

If we're listening for the voice of the spirit, he will be speaking, he will be speaking to you if you're paired in that spiritual relationship. And if you're listening, if the volume's up so you can hear 'em. Okay. When the spirit talks, here's some principles we find. Number one, it will be clear. The messaging that comes to Paul and the other guys is straightforward of what they're to hear.

Paul says it this way again, when he's talking to the Ephesian elders in Acts 2024, he says, I'm going to Jerusalem constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment, afflictions await me. God is not trying to hide his will from you.

It's really important to know if you, if, if you belong to the Lord, God does not have a secret code that you've gotta crack. This is not, you know, one of, one of the secret, the, the escape rooms where you gotta figure the whole thing out and follow all the clue. God is more interested in you knowing His will than you are in finding it.

If there's some reason where if, if there's a situation where you are wholeheartedly following the Lord and you are not hearing what was will, it is only because he is saying there's a reason why I am restraining it to some degree. And that in itself is you hearing my voice. God will and does lead us through the spirit's leading often through His word in it will be clear.

I quote the verse in Isaiah all the time, and I pray it over people. I pray it for myself. Uh, Isaiah says, this is the way walk in it. That's my, and he says, here it is. And I said, Lord, just show us this is the way and we'll walk in it. We'll go. The second thing that's true when the spirit speaks, is it may be questioned by others.

This was Paul. Paul had been told in every city, That he was supposed to go to Jerusalem and what was gonna happen to him was gonna be some kind of imprisonment. Something was gonna be dicey. There he arrives in tire, okay? Remember the, the map he's left over there on the, on the far side of the, uh, Mediterranean Sea.

Now he's come, they've landed in tire, which is near Jerusalem. Thank you. Um, so there they are in Jerusalem. They're near Jerusalem. Here's Jerusalem. The entire over here on the yellow part in Syria and their entire, this happens in verse four of our text this morning. And the p and through the spirit, the people there were telling Paul not to go to onto Jerusalem.

Okay? A little confusing. Was the spirit telling these guys to tell Paul not to go onto Jerusalem? I mean, is the spirit a schizophrenic? He says, Paul, go to Jerusalem. He's telling me that in every city, And now these guys through the spirit, say, Paul, you can't go to Jerusalem. I'll come back that in a second.

In Acts 21, our text in verse 12, Agabus comes, and here was what Agabus says. Uh, he, he hears in the spirit and the people's response. When we heard this, we, this is Luke talking. We and the people there urged him not to go up to Jerusalem. You see, everybody's getting the same message. This is the same message Paul and everybody else is getting.

When you go to Jerusalem, you're gonna be imprisoned. You're gonna be handed over to the Romans. The issue was they had different interpretations of what that message meant to everybody else. They said, this means don't go to Jerusalem. Paul says, no, that's not what the Lord is saying. He's telling me this will be the circumstances, but I know I'm supposed to go.

This is hard, right? This is tough. Paul says, guys, you're breaking my heart. This is heavy to me. I know I'm supposed to go to Jerusalem. And so he's laboring and and, and he's trying to process with them, but he's intent on going. And so finally, Luke says in verse uh, 13, he says, we just affirmed this is the will of the Lord.

Paul is pretty much alone with what he hears from the spirit. The spirit's message to you will sometimes be very personal. It'll be so personal. There'll be other voices that make it harder for you to hear it. This is why I love people with personal convictions from the Lord. Romans 14 says, there's gonna be things in the Christian life where different Christians have different convictions about 'em.

I love people that have convictions. Whether they agree with my convictions or not, I don't care. I love people that have some convictions that say, the Lord has said to me this, some of you'll have convictions about schooling your children in public school, some in Christian school, some homeschool. The issue is not your method.

The issue is your motivation and why you're doing what you're doing. That my goal is to see my kids discipled growing in Christ, and I believe this environment, but there will be different convictions. In our church, everybody doesn't have personal convictions about questionable things that are agreed.

We are not heard mentality. We are not completely oriented to group. Think God is personally connected to his people. And, and, and it's hard sometimes you, I man, I just want to be with everybody that thinks about every, everybody votes the way I vote. Everybody thinks the way I think everybody's united in everything.

Well then what the heck do we need the spirit of God for?

We have to go to the Lord. And I'm not talking biblical truth where there's clarity of what we're to believe, but that the very fact that there is variety of personal convictions in certain arenas of life is, is the sense that this person, that the spirit speaking to our lives is real stuff.

And I'll pretty much guarantee to you that if you are wholehearted in following Christ, you'll come. You'll have some things he asks of you that he does not ask of everybody else. Doesn't mean you're more spiritual because they'll probably have things that he doesn't ask of you. But it does mean that there are gonna be some convictions that you're gonna have that came from the spirit of God.

And he say others may, but not you. And to somebody else. He's saying others may, but not you. Why is he doing that? Because he's saying, I deal with people personally. I want them to follow me personally. I want them to understand this isn't just a church movement, this is a personal movement. This isn't just a religion where we agree not only about teaching and doctrine, but every single thing.

So we don't really need the spirit of God in our lives. We just ask the preacher or the pastor and, and he tells us, everybody does it this way. I don't believe that the glory is ultimately that the spirit of God speaks into our lives. Every missionary that has gone to do something for the Lord and leaving our country has had people that have questioned their motives, their manner.

I, I love this guy. John Patton served for 10 years. He's a missionary of days going by, served for 10 years, the pastor of a church in Glasgow, Scotland. But God began to burden his heart with the people of New Herbert, the new Herbert's Islands in the Pacific, where actually known for their cannibalism.

And 20 years before, uh, John Patton, two missionaries had gone to the new Heberty Island and they had been both cannibalized. Well, not surprisingly, there was not a major missionary movement for 20 years to the new Heberty Island. And here this gifted preacher, young man said, I believe God is leading me there.

He got opposition from everybody. His church tried to double his salary. I mean, everything. Nobody wanted to go, they didn't want him to be the next dinner. And so basically, he finally had one older man really speaking into him. And here's what, here's what he said. Mr. Dixon, you are advanced in years now, and your own prospect is soon to be laid in the grave there to be eaten by worms.

I confess to you if I can, but live and die serving and honoring the Lord Jesus, it will make no difference to me whether I'm eaten by cannibals or by worms. That's a guy that was pretty confident in the voice of the spirit into his life, what he was to do. There's gonna be times when we've gotta say, I, I just know the Lord has told me I'm supposed to do this or I'm not supposed to do this.

The third thing, when the Spirit talks to you, and this is a bonus one 'cause I missed it in the outline, it will be centered in the glory of Jesus Christ. Verse 13, Paul says this, Paul tells us what is motivating him. What are you guys doing weeping and breaking my heart for I'm ready to not only be in prison, but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.

You guys hear that? This is what's gonna happen. So your assumption is, God is telling me to this so I can protect myself. He says, I'm not oriented to that. You're, you're, you're killing me here. He says, what I'm concerned about is the name of Jesus Christ. The name is the reputation, the glory. I want Jesus to be shown to be great.

I don't know what that's gonna look like. I'm ready to face anything that will bring glory to Jesus Christ. Well, that is the very thing that motivates the Holy Spirit. In John 14, Jesus is predicting this about when the Holy Spirit comes. Here's what he says in verse 13 and 14. I'll just read part of it.

Absolutely. John 16, verse 14, he says, when the Holy Spirit comes, he will glorify me. It will His be His job through the lives of his, of my people, to bring glory to my name, that I would be shown to be great and glorious. Whatever the spirit tells you to do, he will offer you joy and peace and satisfaction in whatever it is he asks you to do.

But he will only glorify one person, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. He will not prompt you for your glory. He will bring joy and satisfaction in the process. But whatever he asks you to do, it will be because he believes this is the way your life can most manifest the glory of Christ. The fourth thing, when the Spirit talks to you, it may work out differently than you expect.

Paul had a plan here. I'm sorry. Is it hot in here? It's not hot in here. Well, you need, I need to wear shorter shirts. Okay. Um, you tried being up here, stalking back and forth, so, alright, so Paul had a plan, right? Paul, at this point. Has brought it with him an amazing amount of money. That's one of the reasons he has eight partners with him on the trip.

He has brought this large offering. He's gathered from all the, the gentile churches to bring to the poor Jerusalem Saints in their poverty. It's a major movement. Paul has an intention in this. It's made clear in his epistles what he was doing. He is trying to bring together the, the discordant strands of Christianity at this moment between the Gentile Christians and the Jews.

It's a big deal. We've talked about it. This was an amazing thing that God was asking these people to do, to do worship together with their backgrounds, their cultures, their way of looking at life. So Paul is bringing this gift and he is excited. He is left his missionary journeys in order to bring this to Jerusalem, and he's beat it to, to the, uh, to Jerusalem to get there by the day of Pentecost, when, when tens of thousands of extra Jews will be there.

He wants to be there to make this presentation to the church. And so his thinking is, this is going to be a way, and he's said this many times in his letters. Let, let's emphasize the oneness of the body and guys give generously to your brothers and sisters in Jerusalem and he's gonna bring it and it's gonna be a way to, to bring the groups together.

Also, it is his plan that after leaving Jerusalem, he's made it clear in his letters, book of Romans and others that he plans to leave Jerusalem on a fourth missionary journey this time to Rome. And maybe even he says maybe even to Spain, and he is salivating with the thought of starting churches in the center of the Roman Empire.

And so he goes to Jerusalem and he says, yeah, I'm gonna be in prison. I've been in prison in most of the cities I go to. I, I, I can handle this guy. I'll be all right. That's his plan. But it's not God's plan. God's plan is that when he does give the gift, there is apparently no real response. We never hear about it.

He gives it to the Jerusalem churches. There's no record of, of any fruit of it. There's nothing, Luke doesn't say anything about it in the Book of Acts

as he sought to be the bridge between the Gentiles and the Jewish Christians. It doesn't seem to have the impact that he expected instead of a temporary imprisonment. Where he is then gonna be launched to his ministry to Rome and Spain starting churches. Paul's thrown into prison in Jerusalem and then he is moved to Caesarea and after three years of imprisonment, he does go to Rome, but not as a church planner, bringing strategy to the churches.

He goes as a Roman prisoner to await the sentencing of Caesar. This doesn't play how he thought. This doesn't go at all what is expected. Paul will never again do his missionary enterprises. He will never be again that free agent. To the degree that he has been of starting churches, of making disciples, the disciple making he is gonna do is primarily gonna be, primarily be people that are allowed to come and visit him.

In his prison in Rome,

three years of his prime are gonna be wasted in prisons in Palestine, three years at the apex of his church making career. It's not what he thought. And Paul would be less than human if he didn't wonder if maybe he'd missed the plan somewhere he envisioned not only that he was going to be imprisoned in Jerusalem, but he imprisoned what the fruit would be, but it will be a different future for him and a different outcome for his efforts.

Yet Paul was following the spirit of God. Some of you are here that have followed the spirit of God. Some of you have done it for a long, long time and some of it has not played out how you thought, right? Some of it has not played out in your marriage the way you thought it was going to. Some of it is played out different than you expected with your kids.

If you made these choices along the way, then it would turn out this way. Some of you, there's not been as complete a financial security as you would expect that, oh, God's got you through and he's met your needs. But man, it's tight. It's tough. It's really tough. So what do you do? Where do you go? Certainly the first question we asked, did I, did I screw this whole thing up?

Did I miss it? I thought I was following God. Was I wrong to make all those choices do the things I thought the Lord was telling me to do? Possibly, but more likely I would suggest this, you thought knowing what God wanted you to do gave you clarity of what God planned in response.

Now in Paul's life, it didn't play how he thought, right? I'm sure that was hard for him. This was a type a hard driving prime of life, church planner.

But God wasn't done with Paul. Paul would now be in prison and he would write some of the most blessed books that have ever been written. He will write the book of Ephesians in a couple years from a Roman jail. He'll write the book of Colossians there. He'll write maybe the favorite book of many people just because of the positivity of it and the centrality of Christ.

He wrote the book of Philippians there. It's striking as Paul writes that book, the book of Philippians, that he'll say this from a Romans jail. He'll say this in chapter four, I have learned in whatever state I'm in to be content. Was God done with Paul? Because it didn't work out as Paul anticipated hardly, but it was different.

There were sorrows Paul had, there were losses. There were pains, there were things you'd say, God, there's so much one things to play out this way in these people's lives. I, I thought if I did my part, this is what you do. That, that, that two plus two would equal four. But I found that it doesn't always work that math,

but it doesn't mean you missed it. It just means even in responding to the spirit's prompting, it doesn't always play as you think it's going to. It happened to Paul, and he's among the best of us that have ever lived in the church.

What Paul learned is what God wants us to learn. I think that we can find contentment in the broken dreams that we can find contentment in the sorrows, in the disappointments, in the confusion, in the confusion, because we find more and more that when the Lord doesn't give us our vision, maybe even our hearts cry all the time.

He always gives us himself. In the greatest

seasons of sorrow in my life, I have been awed by God in the seasons when I literally felt, as some of you have felt, I really would rather die than live with the sorrow and pain. I have found things about God that I know I would not have accessed. I've learned that he's safer than anything else. I could depend in that he is stronger than anything that might come against me, that he was surrounding me against anything, the devil through that he was sufficient.

It's what Paul found out. Paul found out Paul F If you had told me. Before I went to Jerusalem that I'd never again be out on the road. I'd never be doing what, what my heart calls it. That, that, that the rest of my life is gonna be focused on writing, and it's gonna be focused on defending my, the gospel to a couple of different Roman leaders.

He said, I, I don't know if I could've taken it well, God didn't ask him to, but when he faced those disappointments, God graced him with himself. And so Paul could say, you know what I've learned, I've learned I can be content in any situation, even when it's not the way I expected it to be. Responding to the spirit's, talking in our lives doesn't always play as you think, but the one counted on reality in our lives is God will make himself known there.

The last thing we learn about the spirit's talking is this. When the spirit talks to you, it will be something you need to respond to. Paul's goal was the glory of Jesus Christ. It didn't play out as he intended, at least expected, but when the Spirit prompted him to make choices, he did so with faith and trust For Paul, one thing motivated his life that Jesus be glorified in him.

I don't know what the spirit's asking you this morning or what he's talking into you. I don't know what he's gonna speak into you this week as you listen, but at that moment, that is the moment where the child of God says yes. It says in Titus two it says, the grace of God teaches us to say yes. That's a literal translation, not let me, let me think about it or gimme some time, or, Yes.

I don't understand it. One of the most amazing things that most Christians can record is how God used somebody just coming alongside of 'em and just calling them and say, look, I, I just felt prompted to pray for you. I just, is there anything I can pray about? Or a Christian that just says, I just felt prompted to send this verse to you.

If you've been on the receiving end of that, you know the power of that. Well, I want to talk to the senders for a moment. How many times has the Lord maybe prompted you to do something like that and you haven't? You? Ah, I just can't. But remember the power of that little thing that God used in your life.

We have the story. I, I and I, I, I've shared this a couple of times. The guy in our church, he's on our church board going through incredible struggles in their life, career, everything financially concerned. And a guy from our church just felt prompted to write a little note. And the note was this, be still and know that I am God, I will be exalted and just flipped it in the mail.

And that husband and wife told me, they've mentioned a few times over the years when they went to their mailbox and they got their mail and they didn't even see who it was from. They just saw the postcard side and they saw it. It was as if God had thundered it from the heavens little thing, right? But God uses such things.

What God prompts us to do, we do. This is from Luciano Papa. He makes this statement, he said, when I was a boy, my father, a baker, introduced me to the wonders of song. Of course, he's the great, uh, operatic tenor. Here's what he said. He urged me to work very hard to develop my voice. A Rigo Pola, a professional tenor in my hometown of me, Medina, Italy took me as a pupil.

I also enrolled in a teacher's college. On graduating from the college, I asked my father, shall I be a teacher or a singer? Luciano, my father replied, if you try to sit on two chairs, you will fall between them for life. You must choose one chair. I chose one. It took seven years of study and frustration before I made my first pub professional appearance.

It took another seven years to reach the Metropolitan Opera. And now I've come to believe, whether it's laying bricks or writing a book, whatever we choose, we should give ourselves to it. Commitment. That's the key. Choose one chair, your one chair as the child of God is the will of God. It is listening to the prompting of the spirit saying, Lord, I don't know what else to do.

I'm gonna listen. If you don't tell me how to go to here, then I'm gonna wait and I'm gonna go to here. But what you tell me to do, I will do. And what you will find as you respond in the little things, it's not hard to discern the big things, which of course are all minuscule things to a sovereign God, but we must heeded the voice.

Paul had found God to be great worthy of his trust and deserving of his surrender. It's the beauty and loveliness of God that drove his desire to. Listen to the talking of the spirit into his life. He had learned, it didn't always turn out as he thought he had learned. It didn't always get affirmed by other people, but he learned that he could trust.

That still quiet voice are we doing that we're invited to, and the greatness of God and the beauty of God and the majesty of the love of God is what compels us to say, I want to be one who, who has the volume up. I want to be one who is listening to God's spirit, speak to me this week that I'm a responder in the little stuff he prompts me to do, but I'm also trusting him to be talking into me in the big stuff as well.

Lord,

I pray first of all for people that. Need to be paired to the transmitter of the spirit by being born again for people who your spirit right now is prompting with their need of receiving Jesus Christ in their life of having the vertical, their spirit reconnected with you. That has been lost by sin. I also pray, Lord, for brothers and sisters that are listening this morning that.

Or living in the season of confusion and sorrow and bewilderment of why things haven't played, how they thought, Lord, it's been my prayer. This message would just encourage them, that

it doesn't mean we've missed it.

It just means what your greatest burden and desire for us is that we drink at the well of your greatness and your beauty. Encourage them towards that today, Lord, and do God show them signs of your favor.

And Lord, for brothers and sisters that are here that have been struggling to respond to the prompting of the spirit, maybe in a relationship, maybe in a decision, maybe with the use of their money, maybe a habit in their life.

Lord called them to that beautiful safe place,

being a listener and then a responder to the spirit of God that they can open the flood tides of your love and mercy and grace and blessing upon them. Lord, we love you. You are our great glorious God in Jesus' name. Amen.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-spirit-talks 5453dcf0-8e9f-4d42-960a-e3725804f97f Sun, 30 Jul 2023 11:33:10 GMT <div data-html="true">Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> Morning everybody. Morning, invite you to take your Bibles. We're gonna be looking at Acts chapter 21 this morning, uh, as we return to our series in the book of Acts, the Spirit at Work to the ends of the Earth while you're turning there to the Book of Acts. Um, I wanna mention a couple of things. Uh, we had a prayer request last week that I wanted to mention. <br /><br /> I. I had mentioned the Amala family had been involved in a serious car accident. Um, I wanted to give you an update on that if you have not heard. Um, two of their two boys, three year old and eight year old, uh, with Esan being the one most seriously injured were, um, initially both in I C u, Sean was there longer. <br /><br /> Both have gotten out of I C U actually both have come home. And <br /><br /> so really, really grateful injuries to four of the family members, but the two boys' biggest concern and doing well. The other one is relating to Pastor Ben. Uh, pastor Ben is on sabbatical and he and his family have been spending the last seven weeks in Columbia. They're due to come home tomorrow and then have two more weeks here on sabbatical, then come back in the office. <br /><br /> Um, yesterday morning, uh, I got a call. I mean, Ben is my son, so it was natural. I got a call from my daughter-in-law at 4:00 AM and the call was, uh, telling me that Ben had been rushed to the hospital there in Columbia, uh, with what they assumed and turned out to be an appendicitis attack. Um, he, he had, uh, surgery, emergency surgery yesterday. <br /><br /> It was quite a thing because nobody in the family speaks Spanish. Nobody in the hospital speaks English. And, uh, it was a, a little bit stressful. They finally found an English speaking person. Um, the surgery went well. Ben is, uh, doing well. Um, they still hope I just talked to Adi. They still hope to. Get out and be able to make their flight tomorrow. <br /><br /> Um, which would be a real praise. Um, uh, there have been some amazing pieces of this whole story because Adi was adopted from Columbia many years ago through the providence of God in a, just an amazing redemptive story. Um, she found out not long ago, um, that her biological mother that had put her up for adoption, um, the circumstances there in the ensuing years, her mother has come to Christ. <br /><br /> Um, her sister has come to Christ, and so she's down there, um, back in a family. It's, I, it's, it's an amazing story. Um, and God's just work well, the family was able to step in and help in the midst of all this because they do speak Spanish. My only other emotion than incredible relief, uh, and gratitude to God with how this worked out is disappointment because there is a video that Ben made from his hospital bed while still under the influence of medication. <br /><br /> And it's a 56 minute, 6 56 second video that I wanted to share this morning. Um, but I was talked off the cliff on that with, by another staff member. Um, it is, I watched it 10 times. It's, it's, lemme just say this. We are all grateful that Ben never got into drugs. Okay. Alright. We're looking at Acts chapter 21 verses one to 16. <br /><br /> And I, and, and let me. Yeah, I'm, I'm gonna pray for both families. After we read the scripture and when we had parted from them and set sail, we came by a straight course to cost and the next day to roads, and from there to Patara and having found a ship crossing to Venicia, we went abroad and set sail. <br /><br /> When we had come in sight of Cyprus leaving on the left, we sailed to Syria and landed a tire for there. The ship was to unload its cargo. And having sought out the disciples, we stayed there for seven days and through the spirit, they were telling Paul not to go on to Jerusalem. When our days there were ended, we departed and went on our journey, and they all, with wives and children, accompanied us until we were outside the city and kneeling down on the bench. <br /><br /> We prayed and said Farewell to one another. Then we went on board the ship and they re, they returned home. When we had finished the voyage from Ty, from Tire, we arrived at Tomas. And we greeted the brothers and stayed with them for one day. On the next day, we departed and came to Caesarea and we entered the house of Philip, the evangelist, who was one of the seven and stayed with him. <br /><br /> He had four unmarried daughters who prophesied while we were staying. For many days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea and coming to us, he took Paul's belt and bound his own feet and hands and said, thus, says the Holy Spirit. This is how the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hand of the Gentiles. <br /><br /> When we heard this, we and the people there urged him not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, what are you doing weeping and breaking my heart for I am ready not only to be in prison, but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. And since he would not be persuaded, we ceased and said, let the will of the Lord be done. <br /><br /> After these days, we got ready and went up to Jerusalem and some of the disciples from Caesarea went with us, bringing us to the house of nascent of, of Cyprus and early disciple with whom we should lodge. Lord, we come to you this morning. God, again, we thank you for the scriptures and trust and pray that out of this passage you would speak into our lives, encouragement as we seek to understand how to better listen to the voice of the Spirit speaking into us. <br /><br /> Lord, we come this morning with praise as a people. Thank you for Tim and Naomi's family and the protection of their boys. And Sophia. God, we thank you for just the providential way as we've heard the circumstances you miraculously worked and, um, protecting them, caring for them, bringing. Healing both of body and mind. <br /><br /> Thank you also for your hand on Ben this morning. Lord, thank you for the right people and the right places to be there to give him good care. Thank you that they were staying this week in a place that was right near a major hospital where before that they had been out in the tool lease. We just praise you, Lord, and pray for safety for them as they try to get things together to still be able to come back. <br /><br /> Now, God teach us today as we open the word in Jesus' name. Amen. <br /><br /> We're at the last part of Paul's missionary journeys. We know that Paul had three big missionary journeys, right? This map is depicting that and on the map we're gonna, as we've been following this long journey that started back in. In, in, uh, Antioch and went all the way through here. They were an Ephesus up in the red section. <br /><br /> Ephesus is where most of this journey took place. He was there three years. The rest of the journey that shot him over to Greece or called Eiah, uh, was a quick tour. And then he went back and he came to this little town called Myelitis, which is again, is in the red and myelitis. And then the journey home over to tire in the area of Syria, in the yellow and down to Fi sisia are the three locations of import this morning to what we're gonna look at. <br /><br /> Because at each of those locations, there was a particular impact that happened to Paul and to his followers that was caused by the Holy Spirits talking to them. It had major implications to the development of the church. The question might appropriately be asked, and maybe you're asking as I was reading the passage, is this a travel log? <br /><br /> I mean just, okay, I get it. He traveled across the Mediterranean Sea, they got back, but there's no preaching, there's no discipling, there's no miracles happening. I mean, it's just we went from here, we went from here. They heard about the spirit saying he shouldn't do this and, and a little bit more here. <br /><br /> What's the unifying purpose of this passage? And I think there is clearly one. I believe this passage was recorded by Dr. Luke under the inspiration of the spirit in order to tell us about a unique moment in the history of the establishment of the church where they needed to hear the voice of the spirit directing them. <br /><br /> There is discord among the believers on what Paul should do. Paul is convinced he's supposed to go to Jerusalem. The more that the other believers, including the guys on the boat with him, have heard, the less they agree. And there is this, this interplay where the spirit is involved. But there are, there, there is a, a lesson for us here, I think about listening to the spirit's voice in our own lives. <br /><br /> So this morning what I want to talk about is about the spirits, talking about how he does and to whom he does. And so let's look at the two things that are presented to us here in this passage. First, who the spirit talks to, and we find that he talks to people that belong to him. In Acts chapter 20, verse 22, this is when Paul was in myelitis where he is met with the Ephesian, uh, elders, uh, and overseers, as we talked about last week. <br /><br /> Here's what we read that Paul heard. In verse 20 of, of Acts chapter, verse 22 of Acts 20. Here's what Paul said, and now behold, I'm going to Jerusalem constrained by the Spirit and knowing what will happen to me there ex, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that the imprisonment and afflictions await me. <br /><br /> He says, the Holy Spirit is talking to me in every city. He keeps saying the same messaging to him. Pulse is the spirit. It's been speaking into my life. We come to Tyre here and now I'm in our passage this morning. Acts chapter 21, verse four, and here's what we read. And having sought out the disciples, we, the traveling companions with Paul and Paul stayed there for seven days. <br /><br /> And through the spirit, they were telling the people there. Were telling Paul not to go to Jerusalem. Them. Then we come to verse 21 of our passage, and this guy Agabus, who is a guy in, in the early part, OFID Pro, prophesied this big famine that was gonna take place and it came to fruition. I mean, he's a, he's a mucky muck prophet among the early church. <br /><br /> And here's what he says, thus says the Holy Spirit. This is how the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man Paul, who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles. He even does this thing where he wraps Paul up in his own, you know, the belt that they wrapped around in the linen belt? And he wraps him up, ties him up and says, this is, this is what's gonna happen to this guy if he goes to J when he goes to Jerusalem. <br /><br /> So the spirit's speaking, he's talking to people. <br /><br /> Now you may be here and viewing this a bit cynically. Okay? The spirit speaks to people. I mean, I mean, what exactly does this mean? How dare people think they can actually hear God speaking to them individually? I've told this story before about Marian. I have permission to share it again. Basically, when she was a young girl, she was pretty serious about Jesus. <br /><br /> And, uh, she had a cousin who was more of a skeptic, whose name is Steve. They were, they were very close, almost like brother and sister. And he's their same age. And one time she was out with Steve, uh, on the lakefront there where they lived. And she, she turned to him and said to Steve, Jesus speaks to me and Steve, who all of us in the family can hear him saying it in exactly this terminology. <br /><br /> He says, what? Jesus speaks to you. Yes, Jesus speaks to me. Jesus. Jesus. I don't hear anything. Maybe you're here and you're saying, come on, Jesus, speaking to people through the spirit. I mean, what's this about? Or maybe you're here and you respond this way to this concept. I hear people talk this way about God speaking into them like, like it's personal and, and I wish I knew God that way personally, intimately to each of you. <br /><br /> I would say this, the Spirit of God, the third member of the Triunity of God, does speak into the lives of people today, most commonly and consistently. He does it through God's word, the Bible, because the Bible is different from any other book that's ever been written, written. It actually calls itself a living book. <br /><br /> Here's what it says in Hebrews chapter four, for the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit of joints, and of mell and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. The word of God, the scriptures, acts as God himself. He speaks through the, the word that were written 2000 years ago. <br /><br /> God intimately does. He speaks personally specifically, he does it circumstantially. He does it in the quiet whispers of people's minds. But usually he uses the scriptures. He speaks to those who have entered into a personal relationship with him. And just for a moment, I want to explain what I mean by that, because it's foundational to everything I'm gonna say about the spirit speaking into us. <br /><br /> Every one of us is born. As a material person, we have a body and also an immaterial person. We have what is known as a, a soul and a spirit that are a part of us. Animals in the scripture are said to have souls. They have their living beings. They have an immaterial part. Our soulish part from which we, which is literally the word ska, which is actually the study of ska. <br /><br /> The study of psychology is the study of our, of our horizontal, immaterial part. It's how we relate to other people. It's how we relate to ourselves, how we process life, how we struggle with ourselves. That's the ska part of life. But humans are not only ska, horizontal, we also have what is called the new moss. <br /><br /> The spirit is the word that is used. We have a vertical dimension. When we. As fallen creatures live out a life because of sin, there is a breach. In the vertical part of us, there is a disconnection that we are disconnected from God. It even talks about us being spiritually dead or separated. The wires are cut, the signal is lost. <br /><br /> Jesus came to provide a way for reconnection. It's why an individual that has not been reconnected by with God through Christ, who has not had that vertical dimension restored, does not receive the messagings and the speaking of the spirit. In one Corinthians two 14, it says, the person without that connection cannot receive this, the, the, the messages from the spirit of God. <br /><br /> One Corinthians two 14. They're not connected, they're not paired with the transmitter. You're not in pairing mode if you have not been restored to relationship with God through what Jesus Christ did in dying for your sins, in rising from the dead, to give you that newness of life and that life is the reconnection. <br /><br /> So when we're talking about people that are hearing the Spirit speak, and those of you that are here in Mount Laurel or Collingswood or watching online and, and you're thinking, I don't have any idea what he's talking about, I don't sense it. I'm a religious person, but, but I don't, I don't, I don't have that sense of God speaking into my life even when I read the Bible. <br /><br /> I don't have that sense. It may be that God is prompting you this morning with the need of that reconnection, which is what being born again or receiving Christ as Savior provides. You then become, uh, in pairing mode, if you will, to be able to receive the messaging of the spirit in your life. It is not only to those that are a part of his family who have received Christ that belong to him, it's also to those that are a part of that, that are listening, these people that are hearing from the spirit of God. <br /><br /> Paul Agabus, the prophet, all these folks there that have been listening, the guys on the boat that have been trying to listen to the spirit of God in their life are people that belong to Christ, but they're also people. And in that sense, they're paired, if you will, but they're also people who were listening. <br /><br /> I was driving on a trip recently and I, uh, had my phone paired with my Bluetooth to be able to play it through the radio while I'm driving on the road. Uh, I, I. I can see that I'm paired and, uh, my audible book is playing, but I don't hear anything. I hear the rain on the roof. I, I hear, uh, the bumps on the road, but I don't hear my book till I realized I had the volume down. <br /><br /> This is high tech stuff. And so I had to turn the volume up. Well, a lot of our lives aren't hearing the spirit of God, even if we're paired. Right. Even if we know Christ as our savior, even if we're reconnected because the volume's turned up. I mean, we don't take time to listen. We're not hearing the voice of the Lord because he who is ready to speak the time is speaking. <br /><br /> We're not listening. I'm gonna Bible study each week a, a, a group together with guys from my community group, and we've been studying a book call of Robert Morley's, the Christian man, and this past week, the chapter was on. Basically what causes us to spiritually grow. And morally, he's done this for probably 40 years, working with men. <br /><br /> He's, he's written a number of books for Christian men, and in this one, he, this chapter, he just, he made the statement, I'm convinced that 90% of every person's spiritual, uh, uh, lack of spiritual growth and the hindrance to spiritual growth would be resolved by three things. Here were the three things. <br /><br /> Number one, you gotta be listening to the scripture. Number two, you ought to be in a small group, and number three, you ought to find somebody some way that you are serving Christ. But the first one was a striking one. He said, you gotta be listening. You gotta be heeding, God's voice speaking into your lives. <br /><br /> If we're listening for the voice of the spirit, he will be speaking, he will be speaking to you if you're paired in that spiritual relationship. And if you're listening, if the volume's up so you can hear 'em. Okay. When the spirit talks, here's some principles we find. Number one, it will be clear. The messaging that comes to Paul and the other guys is straightforward of what they're to hear. <br /><br /> Paul says it this way again, when he's talking to the Ephesian elders in Acts 2024, he says, I'm going to Jerusalem constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment, afflictions await me. God is not trying to hide his will from you. <br /><br /> It's really important to know if you, if, if you belong to the Lord, God does not have a secret code that you've gotta crack. This is not, you know, one of, one of the secret, the, the escape rooms where you gotta figure the whole thing out and follow all the clue. God is more interested in you knowing His will than you are in finding it. <br /><br /> If there's some reason where if, if there's a situation where you are wholeheartedly following the Lord and you are not hearing what was will, it is only because he is saying there's a reason why I am restraining it to some degree. And that in itself is you hearing my voice. God will and does lead us through the spirit's leading often through His word in it will be clear. <br /><br /> I quote the verse in Isaiah all the time, and I pray it over people. I pray it for myself. Uh, Isaiah says, this is the way walk in it. That's my, and he says, here it is. And I said, Lord, just show us this is the way and we'll walk in it. We'll go. The second thing that's true when the spirit speaks, is it may be questioned by others. <br /><br /> This was Paul. Paul had been told in every city, That he was supposed to go to Jerusalem and what was gonna happen to him was gonna be some kind of imprisonment. Something was gonna be dicey. There he arrives in tire, okay? Remember the, the map he's left over there on the, on the far side of the, uh, Mediterranean Sea. <br /><br /> Now he's come, they've landed in tire, which is near Jerusalem. Thank you. Um, so there they are in Jerusalem. They're near Jerusalem. Here's Jerusalem. The entire over here on the yellow part in Syria and their entire, this happens in verse four of our text this morning. And the p and through the spirit, the people there were telling Paul not to go to onto Jerusalem. <br /><br /> Okay? A little confusing. Was the spirit telling these guys to tell Paul not to go onto Jerusalem? I mean, is the spirit a schizophrenic? He says, Paul, go to Jerusalem. He's telling me that in every city, And now these guys through the spirit, say, Paul, you can't go to Jerusalem. I'll come back that in a second. <br /><br /> In Acts 21, our text in verse 12, Agabus comes, and here was what Agabus says. Uh, he, he hears in the spirit and the people's response. When we heard this, we, this is Luke talking. We and the people there urged him not to go up to Jerusalem. You see, everybody's getting the same message. This is the same message Paul and everybody else is getting. <br /><br /> When you go to Jerusalem, you're gonna be imprisoned. You're gonna be handed over to the Romans. The issue was they had different interpretations of what that message meant to everybody else. They said, this means don't go to Jerusalem. Paul says, no, that's not what the Lord is saying. He's telling me this will be the circumstances, but I know I'm supposed to go. <br /><br /> This is hard, right? This is tough. Paul says, guys, you're breaking my heart. This is heavy to me. I know I'm supposed to go to Jerusalem. And so he's laboring and and, and he's trying to process with them, but he's intent on going. And so finally, Luke says in verse uh, 13, he says, we just affirmed this is the will of the Lord. <br /><br /> Paul is pretty much alone with what he hears from the spirit. The spirit's message to you will sometimes be very personal. It'll be so personal. There'll be other voices that make it harder for you to hear it. This is why I love people with personal convictions from the Lord. Romans 14 says, there's gonna be things in the Christian life where different Christians have different convictions about 'em. <br /><br /> I love people that have convictions. Whether they agree with my convictions or not, I don't care. I love people that have some convictions that say, the Lord has said to me this, some of you'll have convictions about schooling your children in public school, some in Christian school, some homeschool. The issue is not your method. <br /><br /> The issue is your motivation and why you're doing what you're doing. That my goal is to see my kids discipled growing in Christ, and I believe this environment, but there will be different convictions. In our church, everybody doesn't have personal convictions about questionable things that are agreed. <br /><br /> We are not heard mentality. We are not completely oriented to group. Think God is personally connected to his people. And, and, and it's hard sometimes you, I man, I just want to be with everybody that thinks about every, everybody votes the way I vote. Everybody thinks the way I think everybody's united in everything. <br /><br /> Well then what the heck do we need the spirit of God for? <br /><br /> We have to go to the Lord. And I'm not talking biblical truth where there's clarity of what we're to believe, but that the very fact that there is variety of personal convictions in certain arenas of life is, is the sense that this person, that the spirit speaking to our lives is real stuff. <br /><br /> And I'll pretty much guarantee to you that if you are wholehearted in following Christ, you'll come. You'll have some things he asks of you that he does not ask of everybody else. Doesn't mean you're more spiritual because they'll probably have things that he doesn't ask of you. But it does mean that there are gonna be some convictions that you're gonna have that came from the spirit of God. <br /><br /> And he say others may, but not you. And to somebody else. He's saying others may, but not you. Why is he doing that? Because he's saying, I deal with people personally. I want them to follow me personally. I want them to understand this isn't just a church movement, this is a personal movement. This isn't just a religion where we agree not only about teaching and doctrine, but every single thing. <br /><br /> So we don't really need the spirit of God in our lives. We just ask the preacher or the pastor and, and he tells us, everybody does it this way. I don't believe that the glory is ultimately that the spirit of God speaks into our lives. Every missionary that has gone to do something for the Lord and leaving our country has had people that have questioned their motives, their manner. <br /><br /> I, I love this guy. John Patton served for 10 years. He's a missionary of days going by, served for 10 years, the pastor of a church in Glasgow, Scotland. But God began to burden his heart with the people of New Herbert, the new Herbert's Islands in the Pacific, where actually known for their cannibalism. <br /><br /> And 20 years before, uh, John Patton, two missionaries had gone to the new Heberty Island and they had been both cannibalized. Well, not surprisingly, there was not a major missionary movement for 20 years to the new Heberty Island. And here this gifted preacher, young man said, I believe God is leading me there. <br /><br /> He got opposition from everybody. His church tried to double his salary. I mean, everything. Nobody wanted to go, they didn't want him to be the next dinner. And so basically, he finally had one older man really speaking into him. And here's what, here's what he said. Mr. Dixon, you are advanced in years now, and your own prospect is soon to be laid in the grave there to be eaten by worms. <br /><br /> I confess to you if I can, but live and die serving and honoring the Lord Jesus, it will make no difference to me whether I'm eaten by cannibals or by worms. That's a guy that was pretty confident in the voice of the spirit into his life, what he was to do. There's gonna be times when we've gotta say, I, I just know the Lord has told me I'm supposed to do this or I'm not supposed to do this. <br /><br /> The third thing, when the Spirit talks to you, and this is a bonus one 'cause I missed it in the outline, it will be centered in the glory of Jesus Christ. Verse 13, Paul says this, Paul tells us what is motivating him. What are you guys doing weeping and breaking my heart for I'm ready to not only be in prison, but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. <br /><br /> You guys hear that? This is what's gonna happen. So your assumption is, God is telling me to this so I can protect myself. He says, I'm not oriented to that. You're, you're, you're killing me here. He says, what I'm concerned about is the name of Jesus Christ. The name is the reputation, the glory. I want Jesus to be shown to be great. <br /><br /> I don't know what that's gonna look like. I'm ready to face anything that will bring glory to Jesus Christ. Well, that is the very thing that motivates the Holy Spirit. In John 14, Jesus is predicting this about when the Holy Spirit comes. Here's what he says in verse 13 and 14. I'll just read part of it. <br /><br /> Absolutely. John 16, verse 14, he says, when the Holy Spirit comes, he will glorify me. It will His be His job through the lives of his, of my people, to bring glory to my name, that I would be shown to be great and glorious. Whatever the spirit tells you to do, he will offer you joy and peace and satisfaction in whatever it is he asks you to do. <br /><br /> But he will only glorify one person, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. He will not prompt you for your glory. He will bring joy and satisfaction in the process. But whatever he asks you to do, it will be because he believes this is the way your life can most manifest the glory of Christ. The fourth thing, when the Spirit talks to you, it may work out differently than you expect. <br /><br /> Paul had a plan here. I'm sorry. Is it hot in here? It's not hot in here. Well, you need, I need to wear shorter shirts. Okay. Um, you tried being up here, stalking back and forth, so, alright, so Paul had a plan, right? Paul, at this point. Has brought it with him an amazing amount of money. That's one of the reasons he has eight partners with him on the trip. <br /><br /> He has brought this large offering. He's gathered from all the, the gentile churches to bring to the poor Jerusalem Saints in their poverty. It's a major movement. Paul has an intention in this. It's made clear in his epistles what he was doing. He is trying to bring together the, the discordant strands of Christianity at this moment between the Gentile Christians and the Jews. <br /><br /> It's a big deal. We've talked about it. This was an amazing thing that God was asking these people to do, to do worship together with their backgrounds, their cultures, their way of looking at life. So Paul is bringing this gift and he is excited. He is left his missionary journeys in order to bring this to Jerusalem, and he's beat it to, to the, uh, to Jerusalem to get there by the day of Pentecost, when, when tens of thousands of extra Jews will be there. <br /><br /> He wants to be there to make this presentation to the church. And so his thinking is, this is going to be a way, and he's said this many times in his letters. Let, let's emphasize the oneness of the body and guys give generously to your brothers and sisters in Jerusalem and he's gonna bring it and it's gonna be a way to, to bring the groups together. <br /><br /> Also, it is his plan that after leaving Jerusalem, he's made it clear in his letters, book of Romans and others that he plans to leave Jerusalem on a fourth missionary journey this time to Rome. And maybe even he says maybe even to Spain, and he is salivating with the thought of starting churches in the center of the Roman Empire. <br /><br /> And so he goes to Jerusalem and he says, yeah, I'm gonna be in prison. I've been in prison in most of the cities I go to. I, I, I can handle this guy. I'll be all right. That's his plan. But it's not God's plan. God's plan is that when he does give the gift, there is apparently no real response. We never hear about it. <br /><br /> He gives it to the Jerusalem churches. There's no record of, of any fruit of it. There's nothing, Luke doesn't say anything about it in the Book of Acts <br /><br /> as he sought to be the bridge between the Gentiles and the Jewish Christians. It doesn't seem to have the impact that he expected instead of a temporary imprisonment. Where he is then gonna be launched to his ministry to Rome and Spain starting churches. Paul's thrown into prison in Jerusalem and then he is moved to Caesarea and after three years of imprisonment, he does go to Rome, but not as a church planner, bringing strategy to the churches. <br /><br /> He goes as a Roman prisoner to await the sentencing of Caesar. This doesn't play how he thought. This doesn't go at all what is expected. Paul will never again do his missionary enterprises. He will never be again that free agent. To the degree that he has been of starting churches, of making disciples, the disciple making he is gonna do is primarily gonna be, primarily be people that are allowed to come and visit him. <br /><br /> In his prison in Rome, <br /><br /> three years of his prime are gonna be wasted in prisons in Palestine, three years at the apex of his church making career. It's not what he thought. And Paul would be less than human if he didn't wonder if maybe he'd missed the plan somewhere he envisioned not only that he was going to be imprisoned in Jerusalem, but he imprisoned what the fruit would be, but it will be a different future for him and a different outcome for his efforts. <br /><br /> Yet Paul was following the spirit of God. Some of you are here that have followed the spirit of God. Some of you have done it for a long, long time and some of it has not played out how you thought, right? Some of it has not played out in your marriage the way you thought it was going to. Some of it is played out different than you expected with your kids. <br /><br /> If you made these choices along the way, then it would turn out this way. Some of you, there's not been as complete a financial security as you would expect that, oh, God's got you through and he's met your needs. But man, it's tight. It's tough. It's really tough. So what do you do? Where do you go? Certainly the first question we asked, did I, did I screw this whole thing up? <br /><br /> Did I miss it? I thought I was following God. Was I wrong to make all those choices do the things I thought the Lord was telling me to do? Possibly, but more likely I would suggest this, you thought knowing what God wanted you to do gave you clarity of what God planned in response. <br /><br /> Now in Paul's life, it didn't play how he thought, right? I'm sure that was hard for him. This was a type a hard driving prime of life, church planner. <br /><br /> But God wasn't done with Paul. Paul would now be in prison and he would write some of the most blessed books that have ever been written. He will write the book of Ephesians in a couple years from a Roman jail. He'll write the book of Colossians there. He'll write maybe the favorite book of many people just because of the positivity of it and the centrality of Christ. <br /><br /> He wrote the book of Philippians there. It's striking as Paul writes that book, the book of Philippians, that he'll say this from a Romans jail. He'll say this in chapter four, I have learned in whatever state I'm in to be content. Was God done with Paul? Because it didn't work out as Paul anticipated hardly, but it was different. <br /><br /> There were sorrows Paul had, there were losses. There were pains, there were things you'd say, God, there's so much one things to play out this way in these people's lives. I, I thought if I did my part, this is what you do. That, that, that two plus two would equal four. But I found that it doesn't always work that math, <br /><br /> but it doesn't mean you missed it. It just means even in responding to the spirit's prompting, it doesn't always play as you think it's going to. It happened to Paul, and he's among the best of us that have ever lived in the church. <br /><br /> What Paul learned is what God wants us to learn. I think that we can find contentment in the broken dreams that we can find contentment in the sorrows, in the disappointments, in the confusion, in the confusion, because we find more and more that when the Lord doesn't give us our vision, maybe even our hearts cry all the time. <br /><br /> He always gives us himself. In the greatest <br /><br /> seasons of sorrow in my life, I have been awed by God in the seasons when I literally felt, as some of you have felt, I really would rather die than live with the sorrow and pain. I have found things about God that I know I would not have accessed. I've learned that he's safer than anything else. I could depend in that he is stronger than anything that might come against me, that he was surrounding me against anything, the devil through that he was sufficient. <br /><br /> It's what Paul found out. Paul found out Paul F If you had told me. Before I went to Jerusalem that I'd never again be out on the road. I'd never be doing what, what my heart calls it. That, that, that the rest of my life is gonna be focused on writing, and it's gonna be focused on defending my, the gospel to a couple of different Roman leaders. <br /><br /> He said, I, I don't know if I could've taken it well, God didn't ask him to, but when he faced those disappointments, God graced him with himself. And so Paul could say, you know what I've learned, I've learned I can be content in any situation, even when it's not the way I expected it to be. Responding to the spirit's, talking in our lives doesn't always play as you think, but the one counted on reality in our lives is God will make himself known there. <br /><br /> The last thing we learn about the spirit's talking is this. When the spirit talks to you, it will be something you need to respond to. Paul's goal was the glory of Jesus Christ. It didn't play out as he intended, at least expected, but when the Spirit prompted him to make choices, he did so with faith and trust For Paul, one thing motivated his life that Jesus be glorified in him. <br /><br /> I don't know what the spirit's asking you this morning or what he's talking into you. I don't know what he's gonna speak into you this week as you listen, but at that moment, that is the moment where the child of God says yes. It says in Titus two it says, the grace of God teaches us to say yes. That's a literal translation, not let me, let me think about it or gimme some time, or, Yes. <br /><br /> I don't understand it. One of the most amazing things that most Christians can record is how God used somebody just coming alongside of 'em and just calling them and say, look, I, I just felt prompted to pray for you. I just, is there anything I can pray about? Or a Christian that just says, I just felt prompted to send this verse to you. <br /><br /> If you've been on the receiving end of that, you know the power of that. Well, I want to talk to the senders for a moment. How many times has the Lord maybe prompted you to do something like that and you haven't? You? Ah, I just can't. But remember the power of that little thing that God used in your life. <br /><br /> We have the story. I, I and I, I, I've shared this a couple of times. The guy in our church, he's on our church board going through incredible struggles in their life, career, everything financially concerned. And a guy from our church just felt prompted to write a little note. And the note was this, be still and know that I am God, I will be exalted and just flipped it in the mail. <br /><br /> And that husband and wife told me, they've mentioned a few times over the years when they went to their mailbox and they got their mail and they didn't even see who it was from. They just saw the postcard side and they saw it. It was as if God had thundered it from the heavens little thing, right? But God uses such things. <br /><br /> What God prompts us to do, we do. This is from Luciano Papa. He makes this statement, he said, when I was a boy, my father, a baker, introduced me to the wonders of song. Of course, he's the great, uh, operatic tenor. Here's what he said. He urged me to work very hard to develop my voice. A Rigo Pola, a professional tenor in my hometown of me, Medina, Italy took me as a pupil. <br /><br /> I also enrolled in a teacher's college. On graduating from the college, I asked my father, shall I be a teacher or a singer? Luciano, my father replied, if you try to sit on two chairs, you will fall between them for life. You must choose one chair. I chose one. It took seven years of study and frustration before I made my first pub professional appearance. <br /><br /> It took another seven years to reach the Metropolitan Opera. And now I've come to believe, whether it's laying bricks or writing a book, whatever we choose, we should give ourselves to it. Commitment. That's the key. Choose one chair, your one chair as the child of God is the will of God. It is listening to the prompting of the spirit saying, Lord, I don't know what else to do. <br /><br /> I'm gonna listen. If you don't tell me how to go to here, then I'm gonna wait and I'm gonna go to here. But what you tell me to do, I will do. And what you will find as you respond in the little things, it's not hard to discern the big things, which of course are all minuscule things to a sovereign God, but we must heeded the voice. <br /><br /> Paul had found God to be great worthy of his trust and deserving of his surrender. It's the beauty and loveliness of God that drove his desire to. Listen to the talking of the spirit into his life. He had learned, it didn't always turn out as he thought he had learned. It didn't always get affirmed by other people, but he learned that he could trust. <br /><br /> That still quiet voice are we doing that we're invited to, and the greatness of God and the beauty of God and the majesty of the love of God is what compels us to say, I want to be one who, who has the volume up. I want to be one who is listening to God's spirit, speak to me this week that I'm a responder in the little stuff he prompts me to do, but I'm also trusting him to be talking into me in the big stuff as well. <br /><br /> Lord, <br /><br /> I pray first of all for people that. Need to be paired to the transmitter of the spirit by being born again for people who your spirit right now is prompting with their need of receiving Jesus Christ in their life of having the vertical, their spirit reconnected with you. That has been lost by sin. I also pray, Lord, for brothers and sisters that are listening this morning that. <br /><br /> Or living in the season of confusion and sorrow and bewilderment of why things haven't played, how they thought, Lord, it's been my prayer. This message would just encourage them, that <br /><br /> it doesn't mean we've missed it. <br /><br /> It just means what your greatest burden and desire for us is that we drink at the well of your greatness and your beauty. Encourage them towards that today, Lord, and do God show them signs of your favor. <br /><br /> And Lord, for brothers and sisters that are here that have been struggling to respond to the prompting of the spirit, maybe in a relationship, maybe in a decision, maybe with the use of their money, maybe a habit in their life. <br /><br /> Lord called them to that beautiful safe place, <br /><br /> being a listener and then a responder to the spirit of God that they can open the flood tides of your love and mercy and grace and blessing upon them. Lord, we love you. You are our great glorious God in Jesus' name. Amen.</div> false no <![CDATA[What We Must Know About The Church]]> Sermon Transcript:

Acts chapter 20, like to read verses 17 and following to you. Now from my elitist, he, Paul sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church to come to him. And when they came to him, he said to them, you yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time. From the first day that I set forth foot in Asia serving the Lord with all humility and with tears, and with trials that happened to me through the plots of the Jews, how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable and teaching you in public and from house to house, testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

And now behold, I am going to Jerusalem constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and affliction await me. But I do not account my life of any value, nor is precious to myself. If only I may finish my course in the ministry that I receive from the Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.

And now behold, I know that none of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom will see my space again. Therefore, I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.

I know that after my departure, fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock and from among your own selves will arise. Men speaking twisted things to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore, be alert, remembering that for three years I did not see S night or day to admonish at admonish everyone with tears.

And now I commend you to God into the word of the grace, which is able to build you up. And to give you the inheritance among all of those who are sanctified. I coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel. You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who are with me in all things.

I have shown you that by working hard and the way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He himself said it is more blessed to give than to receive. And when he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all. There was much weeping on the part of all. They embraced Paul and kissed him being sorrowful, most of all because of the word He had spoken that they would not see his face again and they accompanied him to the ship.

We come to this passage this morning, we've been looking at the Book of Acts, and as we've been looking at it, we are looking at the, not only the earliest record of the early church, but actually the most authentic portrayal of Christianity in life. We have this picture here that has been personified for us in the life of Paul and those that he has discipled and mentored.

And we see a church, particularly here in Ephesus, that has received the prominent in investment of Paul into their lives. He spent three years here and now he's on his way back. He's heading back to Jerusalem. And on his way back on the third missionary journey, he asked to meet with the, the leaders, the elders, the pastors, and the lay overseers, the lay the lay leaders of the congregation.

And he's meeting with them in this emotional meeting. And as he does so, he gives what many have recognized as a classic challenge to leaders in the church of their role and, and the heart they should have. But it also is a passage and we could, we could focus it that, that way we could focus on the, the responsibilities of church leaders.

It's certainly here, but this is the only sermon in the book of Acts where Paul or Peter is actually directing just believers. He has been using many messages to present the claims of Jesus Christ, the resurrection of Christ. But here he is focusing a messaging to Christians, to a church that he has invested more of his life in than any other church.

And so the where I'm going this morning is to focus on what the church, what we should expect the church to be about. And there are three things that I think we need to know about the church. There are three words. First of all, we need to know about tears. Second of all, we need to know that the church will be not only a place of tears, but a place of terrorist attacks.

And most prominently, it is a place for truth. The church is a place of tears. There's tears from pain. As you look at this passage and as you, if you spent time just meditating and reflecting on it, you would find out that this passage is all about tears. Three times. Paul talks about crying in verse 19.

He says, I came to you with tears in verse 31. For three years I did not cease day or night to adminis admonish you with tears. In a later verse, in another verse, he will talk about tears, and we'll look at that in a moment. Three times. This most powerful representative in the history of the church is associating.

Himself and the church with tears. He says in verse 18, you know how I lived among you from the first day I got to Ephesus? I came with humility, tears, trials. The word humility. Here is a term that was a, a word. It was a derisive word to the Romans. They never talked about humility in positive terminology.

To them, they were the the people to be mocked. They were people that were the lowly, the weak, the despised people. Christianity transformed the word into a term of glory. Christians can embrace their flaws, their brokenness are willing to say, I see the seed of every known sin in my own heart. I need God.

I need forgiveness. I don't have to hide my addictive behavior, my fears, my anxieties. As our Celebrate Recovery Ministry highlights, it's a place to say, I have hurts and hangups and habits. It's a slogan they use at CR and is beautifully in, in this beautifully welcoming community for people that identify with it.

But it's actually the message of the church. It's for people with hurts and habits and hangups because we all have them. The beautiful thing about the church, it is a place for tears and sorrows. It is a place of vulnerability and weakness and brokenness. Now, maybe you're here and, and your wife or your significant other got you to come to church and you're not a church person, and you're sitting there about this point and saying, what the heck?

This is a place for losers. This is a place for, for, for the, the defeatist. A bunch of mopey people walking around.

Do you agree? That's true. The church is a place where people come and don't have it all together. But I want you to understand the power of that. Every person here in Mount Laurel, every person here in Collingswood or watching online, is a person that has fear, that has pain. That has stuff that weighs on them at times hard.

Our culture says this, ignore it. Get through it. Work harder. Drive yourself more. Put your head down and run faster. Fill your life with something that will silence that stuff, that will bury the tears, that will bury the weaknesses, that will bury the struggles,

whether it's work or substances or pornography or a thousand other things. And the church says, no,

this is a place for tears. This is a place for vulnerable people. This is a place for people who are recognizing there's rejection. They feel weak, they feel alone or are just coming to realize how selfish. And difficult, the person, they are a, they are to live with. This is a place for tears. Maybe you're also out there thinking, well, you know, mark, I I, I know that, I mean, I am that person and, and, and, and I'm aware of my stuff and I'm aware of, of, of the stuff than in my life.

But I come to church and I, I came to church today to, to leave that stuff and, and, and to not think about it. Well, and, and, and basically the way I do church is, is my idea is I'm gonna leave all that emotional stuff and all that struggle in the parking lot, and I'm gonna come in and for an hour I'm gonna get a chance to just forget it all.

And then you'll go out in the parking lot and you'll pick it back up and you'll get in your car. That's not what the church is. Here's what this worship service is for. This worship service is to be a place where you don't have to leave that stuff in the parking lot. You bring it in and you are introduced to one who can shoulder those burdens, who can carry those struggles?

Who says, I embrace the tears. I embrace the vulnerabilities and the weaknesses and the needs. This is what the church is

so that when you leave this service this morning, you don't have to pick up your stuff that you left out there because you brought it in and you're leaving with one who is carrying it for you. The church is a place for tears. The church is a place. For people that don't have everything together and never will this side of glory.

And quite honestly, some of the highest and holiest moments that will take place in this building in the Collingswood building this morning will come where a couple of believers get together and somebody just says, well, you come alongside. I am so weary. I am so struggling with stuff, and somebody just puts their arm around their shoulder and prays for them and helps them bring their tears to the throne of God.

This is the church. This is why we're here. This is what it is. The church is a place for tears and the greatest representative of it since Jesus Christ. Paul had no problem saying. I embrace the tears. I, I am helping create something that is a place for tears. Secondly, the church is a place of terrorist assault.

I mean, is this a positive sermon or what? Here's what he says in verse 29. He says, I know that after my departure, fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock and from among their own selves will arise. Men speaking, twisted things to draw away the disciples after them. A contrary to ambush predators, that's an actual term of things like, you know, the cat, lions, tigers, other ambush predators that, that tend to use the element of surprise and then just quickly bolt and take you out as a predator.

Wolves are different. Wolves are what is called endurance predators. What that means is they chase you down. They have a long, they have a, it's called a lop. The way they run, they lop along and they'll run for miles even, and they'll go as a pack, even after a group of animals, or in some cases even people, uh, their goal is to separate the week and to get somebody to bolt from the safety of the group.

And eventually when they sense someone is vulnerable, they will go in after it. It's a horrible portrayal when Paul talks about wolves are coming. He said, my job here, when I've been here these three years, I, I'm, I'm, I'm the face of trying to protect this thing from wolves. God, the spirit has gotta do it, but I'm gonna be gone and I know the wolves are coming.

The wolves are those, I believe in the church at large and in individual churches are the ones that come to try to, to separate, to try to divide out, because there's. Strength in unity. Right? And there's weakness in separateness.

I've been doing this for a long time and I know a lot of pastors that have done it for a long time. There is no church on planet earth that is not subject to the devil's influence to try to bring disunity in the body. It just is impossible. It will happen. There are no harder people to deal with in any church than the contentious people, the people that you don't really have a sin.

You can say, you know, well, you're involved in immorality, you're involved in stealing, you're in, you're involved in this. It, it's more just a spirit of, of criticism and, and looking for the latest hot button issue to push and, and be agitated about and, and, The striking thing with the devil, I think with the wolves environment is

the devil has a way of pulling people and have no relationship necessarily with each other. And all of a sudden you find that there this pack of of contentiousness and you find out that these people have nothing in common except what they're upset about. And you think, how did these people even find each other?

They have no connection, and I believe the devil just works. We have been protected from this in an amazing way by God's grace for years, and I really believe that the unity of our body is an absolute gift of God. But there is no church that does not struggle. Labor to keep unity. And Paul is saying there's constant terrorist attacks that come.

It happens in the most healthy of bodies. It is one of the preeminent roles of leadership to recognize it, pray against it, work against it. All right, I want to get the third one. The church is a place of truth. Five different words are used for Paul as he talks about his ministry in these three years in Ephesus.

They're all words describing his work of teaching. He talks in these terms about declaring teaching, testifying, proclaiming, admonishing. I'm gonna share some uh, things about that, that the teaching he did was profitable but painful. I'm gonna spend more time in this than the other ones. He says this in verse 20.

I didn't shirk from declaring to you anything that was profitable. The word profitable is actually a monetary term. It's a, you get a good return on the investment of this teaching. He says it's also translated beneficial for that way. For that reason, he's talking about, this is stuff that what I've been teaching you will help you grow.

It has benefit to your life. In one and second Timothy, he talks about sound or health teaching it it, it helps you prosper in your spiritual lives. The proclamation of truth is beneficial for the listeners. He says, now here's Paul preaching. For three years in this city, whose chief Glory was the temple of Artemis or Diana, her likeness was carved into thousands of idols, which were in every home and every business establishment.

Paul had to teach about God. He had to make known the truth about God, and in order for them to profit spiritually, they needed a right view of God, right? I mean, you can't really know somebody or do relationship with somebody without really knowing who they are. You know, I might have somebody come to me sometime and say, well, mark, when I think of you, I think of an atal.

I think of my visual of you is like a, an Italian truck mechanic that lives in South Philly. You don't know me at all. If you want to know why, talk to Doug Lindo. Who annually as I would show up at the nativity work days with my tool belt on, would point out that there was not. There was not, there was no wear on that belt.

There were no stains on that belt. The only time I ever wore a work belt was to the nativity workday once a year. I don't do truck mechanics, I don't do car mechanics. I don't do lawnmower mechanics, and quite honestly, my wife Marianne would be more effective as a truck mechanic than I am. So we can't do life together if we don't know who we're dealing with.

Right? Well, Paul is talking about who God is. He's presenting the character of God, and as he does so he presents the majesty of what it is to live with God. But he also talks about ourselves. The two go together. I've said this before without question. The greatest doctrine that is being assaulted in our generation is the doctrine of anthropology, the doctrine of man, or the doctrine of humans.

How to look at humans, how to understand humans. It's why the creatorship of God and our human understanding of ourselves follow parallel tracks. Paul was teaching this stuff in the city of Ephesus, whose concept of God and humans was so different from the biblical concept. The Bible says you're created as such.

There is a designer of your life. You're not just here by random chance and climbed out of some primeval swamp millions of years ago and eventually accidentally turned into you. You're here for a reason. Your life is a purpose. You don't have to create purpose for your life. Or decide on a gender or create a moral code that works best for you.

God has provided those things for you. You're created to know him and to make him the central reality of your life. And as you do so, life will make sense and have order and purpose such teaching is beneficial for people. It's interesting, in one Corinthians seven, Paul uses this word beneficial. And there he is talking to, uh, guys that were struggling because they weren't married.

And he says, guys, I wanna explain to you God's purpose for those that are married and God's purpose, for those that are unmarried. And here's what he then says in verse 35. He says, I say this for your benefit. I, I'm explaining to you God's perspective on your humanness and your human estate. As I was reflecting recently on this, this whole thought of.

Of God's truth about himself and, and ourselves being beneficial and profitable for our lives. I came across an interview on npr, national Public Radio, and it was an interview done by, uh, Rachel Martin with Ray Wilson, who has written a book called Soul Boom, if we can put that up there. Um, and the book, uh, soul Boom.

Oh sir. And you may not know Rain Wilson, but you know Rain Wilson because this is Rain Wilson,

and he gave a clear statement in the interview. Rain Wilson is on a journey towards God. He is not a believer as portrayed in the book, but he is on a journey by God's grace towards God, I believe. And in the book, he is talking about his coming to, uh, renounce atheism in his twenties on his own search, his own emotional journey, his own struggle in life, even in the height of success in the world.

He came to the conclusion that God was the creator. And as such, life is not random and without purpose. I'd like to just read you a quick answer from the interview. Rachel Martin from NPR said this after he's made some clear declarations about God as creator and life than having purpose. She says, I stand in awe of your assuredness as someone who myself is seeking some kind of intention in the randomness of life.

But how do you know it's not all just random rain Wilson? How do I know? I guess the best analogy I can give is that I know that I love, I know that I love my wife. I know that I love my son. I know that I love my father who passed away a few years back. But how do I know that if I went to a scientist and said, prove to me that I love, and they say, well, we're going to do some brain scans and look at what parts of your brain light, light up and, but that's not love.

Love is not simply a chemical, neurological response. My experience of love is far deeper and more profound than that. So the first step in knowing there is a creative force in the universe. I know there's love. I also know there's beauty. I also know that there is art and there is music, and all of these things that are ineffable and a transcendent transport.

My spirit are footprints. There are handholds on the path to finding God. Interestingly, his statement is very similar to what CS Lewis says in some of his books of how God uses those very things to to be a witness for himself. The striking part of the interview was not only listening to Reign Wilson, but it was then when you went to the, the woman that was doing the interview and she was then actually being interviewed by another person from npr, Sarah McKibbon, who is the one many of you may have heard, she does a podcast called All Things Considered, and basically Sarah says, what was it that drew you to this interview with Ray Wilson?

And Rachel said this. To be honest, these are some of my own personal preoccupations. You know, I'm thinking through the same things. What is our purpose here in this world and how do we create meaning in our lives? So I'm doing this series to explore these questions in a new series called Enlighten Me.

Sarah then responded, Rachel, I'm so excited for this new series, selfishly, because I think about this stuff all the time. I can't wait to see what you discovered. People are looking for purpose and meaning, and Paul says, I'm presenting to you what is profitable in your humanness. What is beneficial, what is healthy to realize you are not here randomly.

You are created by God. You are designed by God. This is the messaging that Paul is presented under the shadow of the most famous religious figure, uh, in in Artemis, in the entire eastern part of the rest, Eastern ur, the European Empire. And he's saying that doesn't speak to the human longing for meaning and purpose.

What does. What I'm telling you about God and how God wants to be the center of your life, how God has come to offer you life. Paul says, I'm teaching stuff that is beneficial. It's profitable, P people, and he poured into these Ephesians truth about God and about themselves. But Paul acknowledges in this statement, and I should have read the verse.

This is the verse. I'm basing all this on where Paul says, teaching is profitable but painful. He says this in verse 20, I did not shrink about declaring to you anything that was profitable. Paul is acknowledging in that statement that what is profitable is often painful. He said, I didn't shrink from it.

Why does he say that? Because he wanted to shrink from it. Because he said there were times I didn't wanna say the hard stuff. There was times because I recognized there were going to be things that were rejected. The Bible is going to be offensive to everyone. At some point in time, there's going to be stuff there that is going to be offensive and hard to put our arms around.

There is no culture that will always agree. It is Sora cultural. It is beyond human culture. In the Middle East. When you talk about forgiving people, unless they have totally owned what they've done and, and even then there's questions. If you leave off vengeance with forgiveness, when you talk about forgiving people before they've repent, repented, it's considered ridiculous.

Vengeance is appropriate and assumed. In our culture, forgiveness is admired, not practiced so well, but it's a, we admire people that forgive others. But when you talk about sexual boundaries in our culture, That the Bible declare man, everybody's hackles will go up. Cultures have different perspectives, will consider things in the Bible, outrageous.

Even in the church, our conviction biblically is all the pastors are men will believe in the sovereignty of God in salvation. It's so hard to swallow for some people understand there are things in the Bible that are tough to put your arms around at times. But one of the arguments for the Bible being true is that is not culturally dictated.

There's no culture in the world that is going to listen to the Bible and say, yeah, everything there just naturally. It's exactly how we all live.

But it is one of the great arguments for the truth of the Bible that it takes us beyond our culture, beyond our background to truth that we. Come to see the value of as we embrace the God behind them, find out which part of the Bible's teaching you're most offended by, and see that as the place where God wants to work in your heart.

I hate that. I don't understand that my God's not like that. Maybe not,

but maybe your God is a God who is not enough beyond your understanding to be a God that can stretch your faith and really be a God that will grow you. Just because he isn't comprehensible in this thought, in this teaching doesn't mean that we say, well, you know, I, I, so Paul says, I was willing to tell you the stuff that you didn't want to hear.

I was willing to not shirk. Which literally means to pull back. We all understand that, right? You know it. It's the old, I'm really willing to speak the truth as long as I can leave immediately afterwards. Paul says, I was stuck with you guys, but I didn't shirk because I believe the truth is profitable.

It's healthy, it's beneficial, but all of us will have parts and pieces that we have to wrestle through. Paul says, I preached truth that was profitable, but there was pain. I'm gonna be fast on the last ones. It was practical. Look at verse 20, and teaching you in public and for house to house. Paul preached in public meetings, but he also had discussions in homes.

The Bible's truth is not a theological creed to just memorize, but life-giving, life-changing truth to apply. There's a verse in Deuteronomy 29 29. Here's what it says. The secret things belong to the Lord are God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.

What God is saying, there's a lot of things about you that, about me that I haven't made known in the Bible. You know, I I, but I'm telling you, everything that's there

is for you to go by. It's all practical. It's all valuable. It's all there because these are things that will bless you and your children forever. The Bible is astonishingly practical and relevant.

Paul taught with pulls and pushes, verse 21, testifying both to the Jews and the Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. The word repentance is metanoia. In the Greek, it's from two words. Meta means change. Noia is from noose. The word from mind, it's changing your mind. It's repositioning your thinking.

It's allowing God to speak a different perspective of not only him, but of you. It's coming to say, you know, I always saw my life as decent guy, not the best. I mean, mother Teresa and I don't run the same circles, but, but uh, neither do I run without all Hitler or Rasputin, but I've changed my mind as I've come to hear from God.

That my sin is deep, that I'm separated from God because of sin, and I've come to change my mind and, and see that God says my sin is serious enough to separate me eternally from him. And Paul says, once you've grasped that and you've accepted that, that's the, that's the pull. I'm pulling you away from that thinking.

What is he pushing you towards? Not despondency when you see what's true, but he says, I'm pushing you towards faith in Jesus Christ. That Jesus Christ has come to this as a substitute for us. Which leads to the last thing under truth. Paul was passionate about grace. Verse 24, he says this, but I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself.

If only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. Paul's whole message, he says in verse 32, is summarized in the word of his grace. The message of grace is the message of the scriptures. It tells you a message that tells you the worst and tells you the best.

No one understands grace without first understanding the worst, that you are more evil, more wicked, more self-centered than you would ever have dared believe, but you are more accepted, cherished, and loved than you would ever have dared hope so much so that God sent his son to this world to not only reveal his father, but to redeem you.

To make a way that you could be brought into a personal relationship with God forever. He came not for the righteous. Jesus said he came for sinners. He came for people that recognize their need of grace and forgiveness. He came for people that are broken and struggling, which is true of all of us. But he came for those that are willing to, to embrace it and accept it.

He came to offer grace. He tells us the worst, that we can understand, the best, that there is a way out, and our lives can be transformed by the power of the gospel. And Paul says, this is what the church is, right? The church is a place for people that are struggling, that are hurting, that are fearful, that are people of tears.

It's a place that is gonna be assaulted by the enemy. Do you know right now this morning? The devil is way more concerned about what's going on in this room than what's taking place on the battlefield. In Ukraine and Russia, we're not making the headlines, which is fine with us,

but there is nothing the devil wants to do more than to assault the place where healing is offered, where the message of grace is declared. Maybe you're here today or you're watching online, or you're here in Collingswood and you've come in this morning. There's just so much going on. I mean, life is just, there's all these gnats swinging around your head, and life is just outta control, and you're not really even sure why you're at church.

Here you are.

You are here. That God could say to you. He is a God of grace, and he is a God that doesn't want you to leave your problems in the parking lot and use church as an escape for an hour. It's a place to come and embrace grace. It's a place to share your burdens with God and then receive from him his grace, his forgiveness, his strength to carry you

wherever you are today. If you haven't embraced Jesus Christ as your savior, our hearts longing for you is that you know the Savior that many of us have come to love. We've all come as broken people. We've all come as sinners who needed a God that is a forgiving God, that is a God that calls himself a friend of sinners, A God that the prophet Micah beautifully describes one of my favorite expressions in the Bible.

It says this about God. He delights to show mercy. We need a God like that, right? Let's pray. Lord, we delight in you today. What we want to do when we gather together, what we want our church to be is a place where people are stunned with God.

Lord, we come with all of our tears. We come with all our vulnerabilities to the enemy we come with, with all of our faults and prideful held presuppositions of how life should be our own clamoring to be greater than, to be strong, to be put together.

And then, Lord, you allow those seasons in our life where the the rug is pulled out and we left and confronted with our weakness. We sort of crawl back to you and are just stunned to see again the time, after time after time. You welcome us because you delight to show mercy. Lord, we worship you. We love you.

We're stunned by you. Lord, I pray even what we would take from this room this morning is a desire to live with you more passionately, love you more deeply, and to serve you more faithfully. In Jesus' name, amen.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/what-we-must-know-about-the-church ed9747bd-09c3-482a-9af4-4b4b73275131 Sun, 23 Jul 2023 11:26:19 GMT <div data-html="true">Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> Acts chapter 20, like to read verses 17 and following to you. Now from my elitist, he, Paul sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church to come to him. And when they came to him, he said to them, you yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time. From the first day that I set forth foot in Asia serving the Lord with all humility and with tears, and with trials that happened to me through the plots of the Jews, how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable and teaching you in public and from house to house, testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. <br /><br /> And now behold, I am going to Jerusalem constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and affliction await me. But I do not account my life of any value, nor is precious to myself. If only I may finish my course in the ministry that I receive from the Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. <br /><br /> And now behold, I know that none of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom will see my space again. Therefore, I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. <br /><br /> I know that after my departure, fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock and from among your own selves will arise. Men speaking twisted things to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore, be alert, remembering that for three years I did not see S night or day to admonish at admonish everyone with tears. <br /><br /> And now I commend you to God into the word of the grace, which is able to build you up. And to give you the inheritance among all of those who are sanctified. I coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel. You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who are with me in all things. <br /><br /> I have shown you that by working hard and the way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He himself said it is more blessed to give than to receive. And when he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all. There was much weeping on the part of all. They embraced Paul and kissed him being sorrowful, most of all because of the word He had spoken that they would not see his face again and they accompanied him to the ship. <br /><br /> We come to this passage this morning, we've been looking at the Book of Acts, and as we've been looking at it, we are looking at the, not only the earliest record of the early church, but actually the most authentic portrayal of Christianity in life. We have this picture here that has been personified for us in the life of Paul and those that he has discipled and mentored. <br /><br /> And we see a church, particularly here in Ephesus, that has received the prominent in investment of Paul into their lives. He spent three years here and now he's on his way back. He's heading back to Jerusalem. And on his way back on the third missionary journey, he asked to meet with the, the leaders, the elders, the pastors, and the lay overseers, the lay the lay leaders of the congregation. <br /><br /> And he's meeting with them in this emotional meeting. And as he does so, he gives what many have recognized as a classic challenge to leaders in the church of their role and, and the heart they should have. But it also is a passage and we could, we could focus it that, that way we could focus on the, the responsibilities of church leaders. <br /><br /> It's certainly here, but this is the only sermon in the book of Acts where Paul or Peter is actually directing just believers. He has been using many messages to present the claims of Jesus Christ, the resurrection of Christ. But here he is focusing a messaging to Christians, to a church that he has invested more of his life in than any other church. <br /><br /> And so the where I'm going this morning is to focus on what the church, what we should expect the church to be about. And there are three things that I think we need to know about the church. There are three words. First of all, we need to know about tears. Second of all, we need to know that the church will be not only a place of tears, but a place of terrorist attacks. <br /><br /> And most prominently, it is a place for truth. The church is a place of tears. There's tears from pain. As you look at this passage and as you, if you spent time just meditating and reflecting on it, you would find out that this passage is all about tears. Three times. Paul talks about crying in verse 19. <br /><br /> He says, I came to you with tears in verse 31. For three years I did not cease day or night to adminis admonish you with tears. In a later verse, in another verse, he will talk about tears, and we'll look at that in a moment. Three times. This most powerful representative in the history of the church is associating. <br /><br /> Himself and the church with tears. He says in verse 18, you know how I lived among you from the first day I got to Ephesus? I came with humility, tears, trials. The word humility. Here is a term that was a, a word. It was a derisive word to the Romans. They never talked about humility in positive terminology. <br /><br /> To them, they were the the people to be mocked. They were people that were the lowly, the weak, the despised people. Christianity transformed the word into a term of glory. Christians can embrace their flaws, their brokenness are willing to say, I see the seed of every known sin in my own heart. I need God. <br /><br /> I need forgiveness. I don't have to hide my addictive behavior, my fears, my anxieties. As our Celebrate Recovery Ministry highlights, it's a place to say, I have hurts and hangups and habits. It's a slogan they use at CR and is beautifully in, in this beautifully welcoming community for people that identify with it. <br /><br /> But it's actually the message of the church. It's for people with hurts and habits and hangups because we all have them. The beautiful thing about the church, it is a place for tears and sorrows. It is a place of vulnerability and weakness and brokenness. Now, maybe you're here and, and your wife or your significant other got you to come to church and you're not a church person, and you're sitting there about this point and saying, what the heck? <br /><br /> This is a place for losers. This is a place for, for, for the, the defeatist. A bunch of mopey people walking around. <br /><br /> Do you agree? That's true. The church is a place where people come and don't have it all together. But I want you to understand the power of that. Every person here in Mount Laurel, every person here in Collingswood or watching online, is a person that has fear, that has pain. That has stuff that weighs on them at times hard. <br /><br /> Our culture says this, ignore it. Get through it. Work harder. Drive yourself more. Put your head down and run faster. Fill your life with something that will silence that stuff, that will bury the tears, that will bury the weaknesses, that will bury the struggles, <br /><br /> whether it's work or substances or pornography or a thousand other things. And the church says, no, <br /><br /> this is a place for tears. This is a place for vulnerable people. This is a place for people who are recognizing there's rejection. They feel weak, they feel alone or are just coming to realize how selfish. And difficult, the person, they are a, they are to live with. This is a place for tears. Maybe you're also out there thinking, well, you know, mark, I I, I know that, I mean, I am that person and, and, and, and I'm aware of my stuff and I'm aware of, of, of the stuff than in my life. <br /><br /> But I come to church and I, I came to church today to, to leave that stuff and, and, and to not think about it. Well, and, and, and basically the way I do church is, is my idea is I'm gonna leave all that emotional stuff and all that struggle in the parking lot, and I'm gonna come in and for an hour I'm gonna get a chance to just forget it all. <br /><br /> And then you'll go out in the parking lot and you'll pick it back up and you'll get in your car. That's not what the church is. Here's what this worship service is for. This worship service is to be a place where you don't have to leave that stuff in the parking lot. You bring it in and you are introduced to one who can shoulder those burdens, who can carry those struggles? <br /><br /> Who says, I embrace the tears. I embrace the vulnerabilities and the weaknesses and the needs. This is what the church is <br /><br /> so that when you leave this service this morning, you don't have to pick up your stuff that you left out there because you brought it in and you're leaving with one who is carrying it for you. The church is a place for tears. The church is a place. For people that don't have everything together and never will this side of glory. <br /><br /> And quite honestly, some of the highest and holiest moments that will take place in this building in the Collingswood building this morning will come where a couple of believers get together and somebody just says, well, you come alongside. I am so weary. I am so struggling with stuff, and somebody just puts their arm around their shoulder and prays for them and helps them bring their tears to the throne of God. <br /><br /> This is the church. This is why we're here. This is what it is. The church is a place for tears and the greatest representative of it since Jesus Christ. Paul had no problem saying. I embrace the tears. I, I am helping create something that is a place for tears. Secondly, the church is a place of terrorist assault. <br /><br /> I mean, is this a positive sermon or what? Here's what he says in verse 29. He says, I know that after my departure, fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock and from among their own selves will arise. Men speaking, twisted things to draw away the disciples after them. A contrary to ambush predators, that's an actual term of things like, you know, the cat, lions, tigers, other ambush predators that, that tend to use the element of surprise and then just quickly bolt and take you out as a predator. <br /><br /> Wolves are different. Wolves are what is called endurance predators. What that means is they chase you down. They have a long, they have a, it's called a lop. The way they run, they lop along and they'll run for miles even, and they'll go as a pack, even after a group of animals, or in some cases even people, uh, their goal is to separate the week and to get somebody to bolt from the safety of the group. <br /><br /> And eventually when they sense someone is vulnerable, they will go in after it. It's a horrible portrayal when Paul talks about wolves are coming. He said, my job here, when I've been here these three years, I, I'm, I'm, I'm the face of trying to protect this thing from wolves. God, the spirit has gotta do it, but I'm gonna be gone and I know the wolves are coming. <br /><br /> The wolves are those, I believe in the church at large and in individual churches are the ones that come to try to, to separate, to try to divide out, because there's. Strength in unity. Right? And there's weakness in separateness. <br /><br /> I've been doing this for a long time and I know a lot of pastors that have done it for a long time. There is no church on planet earth that is not subject to the devil's influence to try to bring disunity in the body. It just is impossible. It will happen. There are no harder people to deal with in any church than the contentious people, the people that you don't really have a sin. <br /><br /> You can say, you know, well, you're involved in immorality, you're involved in stealing, you're in, you're involved in this. It, it's more just a spirit of, of criticism and, and looking for the latest hot button issue to push and, and be agitated about and, and, The striking thing with the devil, I think with the wolves environment is <br /><br /> the devil has a way of pulling people and have no relationship necessarily with each other. And all of a sudden you find that there this pack of of contentiousness and you find out that these people have nothing in common except what they're upset about. And you think, how did these people even find each other? <br /><br /> They have no connection, and I believe the devil just works. We have been protected from this in an amazing way by God's grace for years, and I really believe that the unity of our body is an absolute gift of God. But there is no church that does not struggle. Labor to keep unity. And Paul is saying there's constant terrorist attacks that come. <br /><br /> It happens in the most healthy of bodies. It is one of the preeminent roles of leadership to recognize it, pray against it, work against it. All right, I want to get the third one. The church is a place of truth. Five different words are used for Paul as he talks about his ministry in these three years in Ephesus. <br /><br /> They're all words describing his work of teaching. He talks in these terms about declaring teaching, testifying, proclaiming, admonishing. I'm gonna share some uh, things about that, that the teaching he did was profitable but painful. I'm gonna spend more time in this than the other ones. He says this in verse 20. <br /><br /> I didn't shirk from declaring to you anything that was profitable. The word profitable is actually a monetary term. It's a, you get a good return on the investment of this teaching. He says it's also translated beneficial for that way. For that reason, he's talking about, this is stuff that what I've been teaching you will help you grow. <br /><br /> It has benefit to your life. In one and second Timothy, he talks about sound or health teaching it it, it helps you prosper in your spiritual lives. The proclamation of truth is beneficial for the listeners. He says, now here's Paul preaching. For three years in this city, whose chief Glory was the temple of Artemis or Diana, her likeness was carved into thousands of idols, which were in every home and every business establishment. <br /><br /> Paul had to teach about God. He had to make known the truth about God, and in order for them to profit spiritually, they needed a right view of God, right? I mean, you can't really know somebody or do relationship with somebody without really knowing who they are. You know, I might have somebody come to me sometime and say, well, mark, when I think of you, I think of an atal. <br /><br /> I think of my visual of you is like a, an Italian truck mechanic that lives in South Philly. You don't know me at all. If you want to know why, talk to Doug Lindo. Who annually as I would show up at the nativity work days with my tool belt on, would point out that there was not. There was not, there was no wear on that belt. <br /><br /> There were no stains on that belt. The only time I ever wore a work belt was to the nativity workday once a year. I don't do truck mechanics, I don't do car mechanics. I don't do lawnmower mechanics, and quite honestly, my wife Marianne would be more effective as a truck mechanic than I am. So we can't do life together if we don't know who we're dealing with. <br /><br /> Right? Well, Paul is talking about who God is. He's presenting the character of God, and as he does so he presents the majesty of what it is to live with God. But he also talks about ourselves. The two go together. I've said this before without question. The greatest doctrine that is being assaulted in our generation is the doctrine of anthropology, the doctrine of man, or the doctrine of humans. <br /><br /> How to look at humans, how to understand humans. It's why the creatorship of God and our human understanding of ourselves follow parallel tracks. Paul was teaching this stuff in the city of Ephesus, whose concept of God and humans was so different from the biblical concept. The Bible says you're created as such. <br /><br /> There is a designer of your life. You're not just here by random chance and climbed out of some primeval swamp millions of years ago and eventually accidentally turned into you. You're here for a reason. Your life is a purpose. You don't have to create purpose for your life. Or decide on a gender or create a moral code that works best for you. <br /><br /> God has provided those things for you. You're created to know him and to make him the central reality of your life. And as you do so, life will make sense and have order and purpose such teaching is beneficial for people. It's interesting, in one Corinthians seven, Paul uses this word beneficial. And there he is talking to, uh, guys that were struggling because they weren't married. <br /><br /> And he says, guys, I wanna explain to you God's purpose for those that are married and God's purpose, for those that are unmarried. And here's what he then says in verse 35. He says, I say this for your benefit. I, I'm explaining to you God's perspective on your humanness and your human estate. As I was reflecting recently on this, this whole thought of. <br /><br /> Of God's truth about himself and, and ourselves being beneficial and profitable for our lives. I came across an interview on npr, national Public Radio, and it was an interview done by, uh, Rachel Martin with Ray Wilson, who has written a book called Soul Boom, if we can put that up there. Um, and the book, uh, soul Boom. <br /><br /> Oh sir. And you may not know Rain Wilson, but you know Rain Wilson because this is Rain Wilson, <br /><br /> and he gave a clear statement in the interview. Rain Wilson is on a journey towards God. He is not a believer as portrayed in the book, but he is on a journey by God's grace towards God, I believe. And in the book, he is talking about his coming to, uh, renounce atheism in his twenties on his own search, his own emotional journey, his own struggle in life, even in the height of success in the world. <br /><br /> He came to the conclusion that God was the creator. And as such, life is not random and without purpose. I'd like to just read you a quick answer from the interview. Rachel Martin from NPR said this after he's made some clear declarations about God as creator and life than having purpose. She says, I stand in awe of your assuredness as someone who myself is seeking some kind of intention in the randomness of life. <br /><br /> But how do you know it's not all just random rain Wilson? How do I know? I guess the best analogy I can give is that I know that I love, I know that I love my wife. I know that I love my son. I know that I love my father who passed away a few years back. But how do I know that if I went to a scientist and said, prove to me that I love, and they say, well, we're going to do some brain scans and look at what parts of your brain light, light up and, but that's not love. <br /><br /> Love is not simply a chemical, neurological response. My experience of love is far deeper and more profound than that. So the first step in knowing there is a creative force in the universe. I know there's love. I also know there's beauty. I also know that there is art and there is music, and all of these things that are ineffable and a transcendent transport. <br /><br /> My spirit are footprints. There are handholds on the path to finding God. Interestingly, his statement is very similar to what CS Lewis says in some of his books of how God uses those very things to to be a witness for himself. The striking part of the interview was not only listening to Reign Wilson, but it was then when you went to the, the woman that was doing the interview and she was then actually being interviewed by another person from npr, Sarah McKibbon, who is the one many of you may have heard, she does a podcast called All Things Considered, and basically Sarah says, what was it that drew you to this interview with Ray Wilson? <br /><br /> And Rachel said this. To be honest, these are some of my own personal preoccupations. You know, I'm thinking through the same things. What is our purpose here in this world and how do we create meaning in our lives? So I'm doing this series to explore these questions in a new series called Enlighten Me. <br /><br /> Sarah then responded, Rachel, I'm so excited for this new series, selfishly, because I think about this stuff all the time. I can't wait to see what you discovered. People are looking for purpose and meaning, and Paul says, I'm presenting to you what is profitable in your humanness. What is beneficial, what is healthy to realize you are not here randomly. <br /><br /> You are created by God. You are designed by God. This is the messaging that Paul is presented under the shadow of the most famous religious figure, uh, in in Artemis, in the entire eastern part of the rest, Eastern ur, the European Empire. And he's saying that doesn't speak to the human longing for meaning and purpose. <br /><br /> What does. What I'm telling you about God and how God wants to be the center of your life, how God has come to offer you life. Paul says, I'm teaching stuff that is beneficial. It's profitable, P people, and he poured into these Ephesians truth about God and about themselves. But Paul acknowledges in this statement, and I should have read the verse. <br /><br /> This is the verse. I'm basing all this on where Paul says, teaching is profitable but painful. He says this in verse 20, I did not shrink about declaring to you anything that was profitable. Paul is acknowledging in that statement that what is profitable is often painful. He said, I didn't shrink from it. <br /><br /> Why does he say that? Because he wanted to shrink from it. Because he said there were times I didn't wanna say the hard stuff. There was times because I recognized there were going to be things that were rejected. The Bible is going to be offensive to everyone. At some point in time, there's going to be stuff there that is going to be offensive and hard to put our arms around. <br /><br /> There is no culture that will always agree. It is Sora cultural. It is beyond human culture. In the Middle East. When you talk about forgiving people, unless they have totally owned what they've done and, and even then there's questions. If you leave off vengeance with forgiveness, when you talk about forgiving people before they've repent, repented, it's considered ridiculous. <br /><br /> Vengeance is appropriate and assumed. In our culture, forgiveness is admired, not practiced so well, but it's a, we admire people that forgive others. But when you talk about sexual boundaries in our culture, That the Bible declare man, everybody's hackles will go up. Cultures have different perspectives, will consider things in the Bible, outrageous. <br /><br /> Even in the church, our conviction biblically is all the pastors are men will believe in the sovereignty of God in salvation. It's so hard to swallow for some people understand there are things in the Bible that are tough to put your arms around at times. But one of the arguments for the Bible being true is that is not culturally dictated. <br /><br /> There's no culture in the world that is going to listen to the Bible and say, yeah, everything there just naturally. It's exactly how we all live. <br /><br /> But it is one of the great arguments for the truth of the Bible that it takes us beyond our culture, beyond our background to truth that we. Come to see the value of as we embrace the God behind them, find out which part of the Bible's teaching you're most offended by, and see that as the place where God wants to work in your heart. <br /><br /> I hate that. I don't understand that my God's not like that. Maybe not, <br /><br /> but maybe your God is a God who is not enough beyond your understanding to be a God that can stretch your faith and really be a God that will grow you. Just because he isn't comprehensible in this thought, in this teaching doesn't mean that we say, well, you know, I, I, so Paul says, I was willing to tell you the stuff that you didn't want to hear. <br /><br /> I was willing to not shirk. Which literally means to pull back. We all understand that, right? You know it. It's the old, I'm really willing to speak the truth as long as I can leave immediately afterwards. Paul says, I was stuck with you guys, but I didn't shirk because I believe the truth is profitable. <br /><br /> It's healthy, it's beneficial, but all of us will have parts and pieces that we have to wrestle through. Paul says, I preached truth that was profitable, but there was pain. I'm gonna be fast on the last ones. It was practical. Look at verse 20, and teaching you in public and for house to house. Paul preached in public meetings, but he also had discussions in homes. <br /><br /> The Bible's truth is not a theological creed to just memorize, but life-giving, life-changing truth to apply. There's a verse in Deuteronomy 29 29. Here's what it says. The secret things belong to the Lord are God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law. <br /><br /> What God is saying, there's a lot of things about you that, about me that I haven't made known in the Bible. You know, I I, but I'm telling you, everything that's there <br /><br /> is for you to go by. It's all practical. It's all valuable. It's all there because these are things that will bless you and your children forever. The Bible is astonishingly practical and relevant. <br /><br /> Paul taught with pulls and pushes, verse 21, testifying both to the Jews and the Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. The word repentance is metanoia. In the Greek, it's from two words. Meta means change. Noia is from noose. The word from mind, it's changing your mind. It's repositioning your thinking. <br /><br /> It's allowing God to speak a different perspective of not only him, but of you. It's coming to say, you know, I always saw my life as decent guy, not the best. I mean, mother Teresa and I don't run the same circles, but, but uh, neither do I run without all Hitler or Rasputin, but I've changed my mind as I've come to hear from God. <br /><br /> That my sin is deep, that I'm separated from God because of sin, and I've come to change my mind and, and see that God says my sin is serious enough to separate me eternally from him. And Paul says, once you've grasped that and you've accepted that, that's the, that's the pull. I'm pulling you away from that thinking. <br /><br /> What is he pushing you towards? Not despondency when you see what's true, but he says, I'm pushing you towards faith in Jesus Christ. That Jesus Christ has come to this as a substitute for us. Which leads to the last thing under truth. Paul was passionate about grace. Verse 24, he says this, but I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself. <br /><br /> If only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. Paul's whole message, he says in verse 32, is summarized in the word of his grace. The message of grace is the message of the scriptures. It tells you a message that tells you the worst and tells you the best. <br /><br /> No one understands grace without first understanding the worst, that you are more evil, more wicked, more self-centered than you would ever have dared believe, but you are more accepted, cherished, and loved than you would ever have dared hope so much so that God sent his son to this world to not only reveal his father, but to redeem you. <br /><br /> To make a way that you could be brought into a personal relationship with God forever. He came not for the righteous. Jesus said he came for sinners. He came for people that recognize their need of grace and forgiveness. He came for people that are broken and struggling, which is true of all of us. But he came for those that are willing to, to embrace it and accept it. <br /><br /> He came to offer grace. He tells us the worst, that we can understand, the best, that there is a way out, and our lives can be transformed by the power of the gospel. And Paul says, this is what the church is, right? The church is a place for people that are struggling, that are hurting, that are fearful, that are people of tears. <br /><br /> It's a place that is gonna be assaulted by the enemy. Do you know right now this morning? The devil is way more concerned about what's going on in this room than what's taking place on the battlefield. In Ukraine and Russia, we're not making the headlines, which is fine with us, <br /><br /> but there is nothing the devil wants to do more than to assault the place where healing is offered, where the message of grace is declared. Maybe you're here today or you're watching online, or you're here in Collingswood and you've come in this morning. There's just so much going on. I mean, life is just, there's all these gnats swinging around your head, and life is just outta control, and you're not really even sure why you're at church. <br /><br /> Here you are. <br /><br /> You are here. That God could say to you. He is a God of grace, and he is a God that doesn't want you to leave your problems in the parking lot and use church as an escape for an hour. It's a place to come and embrace grace. It's a place to share your burdens with God and then receive from him his grace, his forgiveness, his strength to carry you <br /><br /> wherever you are today. If you haven't embraced Jesus Christ as your savior, our hearts longing for you is that you know the Savior that many of us have come to love. We've all come as broken people. We've all come as sinners who needed a God that is a forgiving God, that is a God that calls himself a friend of sinners, A God that the prophet Micah beautifully describes one of my favorite expressions in the Bible. <br /><br /> It says this about God. He delights to show mercy. We need a God like that, right? Let's pray. Lord, we delight in you today. What we want to do when we gather together, what we want our church to be is a place where people are stunned with God. <br /><br /> Lord, we come with all of our tears. We come with all our vulnerabilities to the enemy we come with, with all of our faults and prideful held presuppositions of how life should be our own clamoring to be greater than, to be strong, to be put together. <br /><br /> And then, Lord, you allow those seasons in our life where the the rug is pulled out and we left and confronted with our weakness. We sort of crawl back to you and are just stunned to see again the time, after time after time. You welcome us because you delight to show mercy. Lord, we worship you. We love you. <br /><br /> We're stunned by you. Lord, I pray even what we would take from this room this morning is a desire to live with you more passionately, love you more deeply, and to serve you more faithfully. In Jesus' name, amen.</div> false no <![CDATA[God Unlimited]]> Acts 20:7-16

On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight.



Sermon Transcript:

Good morning everybody. Good morning. Good morning. Nice and humid out. Uh, I wanna start off this morning by hopefully helping us get into a space that the characters in the text we're gonna look at today may have been. Uh, so you ever been ghosted anybody? Some people are like, what does that mean?

Um, You ever like send an email and the kids are like, what's that email? Uh, maybe a text, uh, instant direct messages, whatever the kids do these days. And like somebody just didn't get back to you or didn't get back to you in a timely manner. Like, what's that? Do I know what that does to me, it's like there's some, some neglect just like, Hey, does this person even even care?

They know I'm alive. Yeah, but then it doesn't take me too long to think about the other side where I've been the one that hasn't gotten back to somebody in a timely manner. I don't have to think too long or hard about a time, many times that I just haven't gotten back to people in a timely manner. And it's like, well, yeah, I'm, I'm preoccupied.

There's life going on. There's things that are happening li like, life just gets in the way and I just haven't been able to give somebody the attention they deserve or, or that they need. Or maybe think about another time where that preoccupation or that neglect leads to like a missed opportunity. You think back in your life and you're like, man, this could have been so good or so great, but it was just this person, you know, neglected me or I, I was preoccupied.

I wasn't in the right space, wrong place, wrong time, that type of space, and it's a missed opportunity. There's a, there's a loss there. There's a maybe a sadness. Or, or think about many of you here, I'm sure all of you have experienced some type of deep loss, death of a loved one. Somebody that's gone out of your life no longer there.

There's a void, there's a, there's a sadness in our heart. There's a lingering loss. What we're talking about with this, we can go to the first slide. What we're talking about really with all of these preoccupation, neglect, loss, death missed opportunities, these are all talking about human limitations.

We're, we're limited beings. It's like preoccupation. I can only focus on so many things at one time. Like I, I'm not unlimited. I'm, I'm limited. It's, it's a limitation missed opportunity. It's like, I, I can't go back in time. Like I, I'm, I don't know about you, but I only move forward in time. Right? I can't go back in time and undo that mistake or, or redo something and, and try to, try to change things that, that they could be better.

It's like, it's just a, a missed opportunity. That's the next point in the slide. Um, next one, neglect. Like, I can't make people pay attention to me the way I think I need them to, or, or I want. Like I, I'm, I'm limited there. And then ultimately, with loss or death, like ultimately this is outta my control.

There's things bigger than me. There's things that I, I can't control. So what do we do when we're faced with our own limitations? The characters in our text this morning dealt with each of these limitations. And let's see how Luke, we're gonna look at a passage in acts. Let's see how Luke presents this to us, and we'll find out how did these characters deal with these limitations, and we'll ask God to speak to us about how we deal with these limitations in our own lives.

First, let's open up in prayer.

Father, you're a good God. You're a good father to us. Lord, thank you for how you speak, how you work. Thank you for your son. Thank you for your spirit. I pray that you would steal our hearts right now. Whatever preoccupations or or things that are taking up our minds, our hearts, Lord, help our, help us to have ears to hear.

Help us to have open hearts and soft hearts to understand what you want to say to us. Lord, help us receive your word this morning, Lord. We love you in Jesus' name. Amen. Passage this morning is Acts 20 verses seven to 16. It's on the screen behind me. I'll go ahead and read this. You can read along on the first day of the week when we, now, who's this?

We? This is Luke, who's writing is first person. So this is Luke. Paul, as well as his multi-ethnic group of traveling companions from all over these churches in Greece and Asia. Pastor Mark preached a couple weeks ago and he's got this crew traveling with him, different, uh, ethnicities, different socioeconomic classes, like it's a, it's a pretty diverse group that's traveling along with Paul.

So it's Luke Paul and this crew, and they find themselves now in Troas. Uh, on the first day of the week when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, who's the them is the believers, the church intro, as intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight.

There were many lamps in the upper room. Dun, dun, dun. Doing that on purpose. It's not just like a, a nervous tick. We'll, we'll come back to it later. There are many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered. A young man named Utica sitting at the window sank into a deep sleep. As Paul talked still longer and being overcome by sleep or uh, being overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story was taken up dead.

He died. But Paul went down, bent over him, taking him up in his arms. He said, don't be alarmed for his life is in him. And when Paul had gone up and broken bread and eaten, he conversed with them for a long while until daybreak. Then he departed. They took the youth away alive and they were not a little comforted, meaning they were greatly comforted.

Not just a little bit, but going ahead to the ship. We set sail for Osos, intending to take Paul aboard there for, so he had a range. Intending himself to go by land. When he met us at asos, we took him on board and went to midline sailing. From there, we came the following day opposite Chios, and the next day we touched at Samos, and the next day we went to myelitis For Paul had decided to sail past deficits so that he might not have to spend time in Asia for, he was hasting to be at Jerusalem, if at all possible.

On the day of Pentecost. This passage shows that Luke, Paul, their traveling crew, the believers at Troas, they all discovered that God is beyond human limitations. We talked about these human limitations. These believers all discovered that God's beyond those human limitations. The main idea for this morning with our next slide, the, the big idea for this whole S sermon is that you and I can understand that God is beyond our limitations.

God's beyond your limitations. So let's take a look at this. First point here is a preoccupied Paul. Preoccupied Paul, you might think, well, we just talked about like Paul's preaching all the way till midnight. Somebody falls out of a window, a kid, and this kid dies. Paul brings him, restores his life, preaches again till mourning is like he's on the move.

Seems like he's pretty dialed in, right? Well, We're gonna talk about preoccupied, Paul, because there's a lot going on that's a backstory to this. And we're gonna hang out here for a little while and just build this up so we understand where is Paul, where are the believers in Trez? What's going on? So Paul's at Trez, what brought him to Trez a couple weeks ago.

Pastor Mark talked about that. Paul, what Paul's doing, Paul, uh, he's visiting all these churches throughout Greece. Uh, Macedonia Akay with this crew of traveling companions, and he's on a mission. He's not just traveling around like building up frequent flyer miles and hotel points. Like he's got something going on.

He's doing something. And in your first three scripture references here, first Corinthians, uh, 16, second Corinthians seven, Romans 15. Paul's telling his readers what he's doing. You can check out those passages. He's, he's on a fundraising mission. He's collecting all these funds to bring back to the tr the church in Jerusalem, and this is meaningful for Paul.

He's got this multi-ethnic crew with him, different socioeconomic classes, and he's getting money from all these different churches with diverse crowds, diverse congregants, and taking this back to the church in Jerusalem, this is a unique mission. It's the first of its kind across national borders, different ethnicities going back to this church in Jerusalem, and they're not just doing this to like build up the building in Jerusalem.

Jerusalem is the first church. And it has experienced more persecution now for decades at this point than any other church. And there's famine as well there. Paul was one of the people that persecuted the church early on, so their experience from Jewish leadership, from the Roman government, from natural famines, droughts, like all of this is hitting the church in Jerusalem.

So Paul's raising these funds to literally help them survive. And that's meaningful for Paul. And Paul's preoccupied with this. He's constantly writing about it in his letters, so he's preoccupied there with this mission, but that's not all. Next point on the slide asks, uh, we can go to a couple there.

Next one. Oh, might have missed one. Give me, go back. Go back one. Uh, alright. Uh, so fundraising and then, uh, the, uh, next thing on, uh, that we need to talk about is what's going on in Corinth. And we might look at this and we think, what does Corinth have to do with this church intro as, so Corinth is in Greece, Chaz is in Asia.

Chaz is a key port city, uh, connecting Greece and Asia. And Paul had been here a couple times before. Earlier he came, he passed through on his second missionary journey. This is about five years ago, and he ends up in Chaz. I'll read Acts 16, six to 10, and we'll come back to this passage one more time at the end here, but just pay attention to this passage.

They went through. This is Paul and his crew. They went through the region of frig and Galatia having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. And when they had come up to Meia, they attempted to go into Bethia, but the spirit of Jesus did not allow them. So passing by Meia, they went down Toz.

Okay, we're not being told we can't go here. So finally we're, we're in Troas. Okay, I guess we'll set up camp here and, uh, minister to the believers in Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia was standing there urging him and saying, come over to Macedonia, which is Northern Greece and help us.

When Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. So this leads to Paul traveling away from Chaz. Now he's been there, uh, maybe, we'll, we will minister here. Believers likely excited, and then. He's gone and he heads over to Northern Greece to minister there, and this leads to him planting the churches in Philippi, in Thessalonica.

Uh, he goes down to Southern Greece and uh, goes to Athens, plants the church there, and then he plants this church in Corinth. And it's Atz that Paul just is there and then gone. It was also Atz if you paid attention there. Luke switches from the third person. He said they, they came to Troas and then we left.

So this is where Luke joins the party in Troas, but Paul doesn't really spend hardly any time there. Paul then comes back Toz on this, his third missionary journey. And at that time, he had been here like three months before now, and now he's on his way back to Jerusalem, taking these funds back to Jerusalem.

So he's coming back through Trez and when he came here the first time, he had every intention of preaching the gospel to the believers in Trez and helping to build the church there. But in the past five years, there's been some. Wild things that have gone on. And Pastor Mike talked last week about stuff that was going on in Corinth.

There's some serious stuff going on. I'm just gonna run through a quick, uh, rundown here. So, initially after planning the church in Corinth five years ago, Paul spends a year and a half there, ministering to that point. It was the longest time he had been with a body of believers. So he, he's ministering to this church in Corinth.

And then he ends up back in, in Jerusalem and then in Antioch, and then he sets out on his third missionary journey. He ministers an Ephesus for three years, but while he's in Ephesus, that's when things get really dicey with the Corinthian church. There's all this stuff that's going on in Paul. Paul initially writes them a letter that's lost to history and the Corinthians, they're like, Hey, you know that that didn't take, they write 'em back.

And so then Paul writes what we call First Corinthians in response to them to say, no, no, no, I didn't mean this. You know, like I, I need to explain this. Like, here's what I'm meaning. And First Corinthians is written in response there. Then Paul pays them a visit, and we don't know much about this visit except that it went bad like it was.

Bad. He went to Corinth and for whatever reason, he's like kicked out. He's rejected. They, they don't want anything to do with him, and that's incredibly painful to Paul. He, he writes of this in Second Corinthians and there's depression and like, man, it's like he's, he's affected by this, so he writes them another letter.

So I, I decided not to meet with you again in person. And again, this other letter is lost to history, but Paul calls it a severe, a harsh letter. It's a letter of tears where he's pleading with them to stop their sinful ways and repent. And like he's, he's, he's pulling for 'em, pleading for them. So he gives that letter to Titus with a mission to deliver it to their church in Corin.

And then visit the churches back in Macedonia, meet back up with us in Troas. So this is on Paul's mind now. He comes to Troas three months ago. He's come to Rez and he's like, all right, I'm gonna meet up with Titus, see what's going on. There's just one problem, Titus, isn't there? It's like, how did the church in Corinth receive Titus?

How did they think of my letter? This, this harsh letter. What's going on? Two Corinthians two, 12 to 13. Just listen to how this is impacting Paul when I came to TRO as to preach the Gospel of Christ. So he's intending to stay in Troas and and preach even though a door was open for me in the Lord opportunity here, my spirit was not at rest because I did not find my brother Titus there.

So I took leave of them and went on to Macedonia, and he's going to Macedonia to look for Titus. I just wanna pause here. Have you ever been in a space like this where it's like, man, I, I have this opportunity, but man, there's this other stuff going on and I'm preoccupied with that and it's like eating me up.

I can't think about anything else. I can't even be present with the people that are in front of me because of what's going on out here. Maybe there's something you feel like you've botched because of this. It's like, uh, you know, there's a, there was an opportunity here and it's like a missed opportunity.

This all leads to these feelings of regret, these feelings of loss, this feelings of missing out something could have been so good, but sin or failure or preoccupation or neglect. It just led to these missed opportunities. But what we discover here is God is not limited by those missed opportunities.

Paul, the church is in Corinth and Troas. They all show that God's not limited by missed opportunities. Like who? Who are we talking about here? Believers in Chaz. Paul didn't plant this church. Paul had very little to do. With these believers in Trez, spent barely any time there yet. The spirit's at work with this church in Chaz.

They were here five years ago before Paul got there. They're here now. When Paul's here again, they were here after, because of the spirits work. This spirit is doing bigger things, and it doesn't depend. He doesn't depend on Paul just nailing every single opportunity he's given. There's missed opportunities, but the spirit is at work.

The spirit is also working in Paul and the believers in Corinth. We just talked about Paul's movement. He's like in person and I can't work with them that way, so I'll do letters and, and he's pleading with them, asking them, begging them, and he's working through this patch in their relationship. Just read two Corinthians seven to see how the spirit moved in.

These believers in Corinth, they read his letter and they are grieved by it, but they're not just grieved. They're grieved to repentance and they welcome Titus with open arms and Titus when he goes back and meets up with Paul in Macedonia. Paul, I just imagined this reunion and Paul's like, how did it go?

And Titus is like Paul, I was blown away. They. They welcomed me with open arms. They repented, they're, they've humbled themselves. They're listening and, and living in the spirit. They encouraged me, like there was movement in the spirit in Paul and in these believers in Corinth. So just listen to, listen to that and understand that.

Like whatever's in your past, whatever missed opportunities there might be because of these preoccupations, these neglect, these human experiences, the same spirit of God that moved in Paul and in the Corinthians, and the believers in Trez is alive and working today and is moving today, and you can live and breathe and move in.

That same spirit of God working today. That spirit is not limited by any missed opportunity. We'll go to the next slide now. So now we finally get to our text and I hope nobody fell asleep because that would be bad, um, with our, uh, text today. But, uh, we'll talk about Paul in the upper room.

Let's pay attention to how Luke sets this scene. So Paul is breaking bread with the believers in triage. They're gathered together in a house in an upper room with many lamps like fires. You think of another passage in Acts, which talks about believers gathered in an upper room where there's fires above their heads.

Yeah, Pentecost. So, Paul's going on and on and on, and this likely isn't just a monologue. Like, like not like he's up here and just going on until midnight. No, like they're up in this room. It's, it's more of an intimate gathering and. They're likely just peppering him with questions and like Paul's going through and like finally they're getting to spend a bit of time with Paul, they're asking, how's the fundraising going?

Hey, what's going on in Corinth? What's, what's up? Uh, you know, and asking him different theological questions. How do we understand this? Like, they're finally going through, and this is going on and on, and this, this young lad the Bible tells us is somebody like in the prime of life and their youth, probably between 10 and 20.

A young man named Utica starts drowsing, you know, his upper room is stuffy, it's hot. So he starts, drowsing, maybe moves to the window, gets some fresh air, starts drowsing again, and then all a sudden he's up three stories, you know, higher, you know, probably top of the gym here. And then all of a sudden Paul's in the middle of his sentence and there's this scream of rubs, and it's like, what?

What's going on? Like there's, there's a lot of. You know, people have noticed the comedy in this passage, but if you were there, you wouldn't have been laughing, right? Like, we, we read this now and it's kind of comical. Like, oh, somebody fell asleep. But no, it's, there's shock, there's tragedy, there's real loss here.

Somebody who had so much life ahead of them is dead tragically. And remember who's writing here? This is Luke. He's an eyewitness. He's a physician. He knows a dead body when he sees one. And the, the church did too. Like they, they were much closer to death in their culture than we are. Like they, it was just much closer, more common experience for them to to be around death.

So they know a dead body. He actually died, but then Paul rushes down, embraces him, and his life is restored. What's Luke doing here? Is he just like telling us a cool story? Why is he paint all this detail? Couldn't he have just said, you know this, this kid Utica fell out, a window died and Paul brought him back?

No, he's doing something different. He's doing something more here and it's this use of upper room that gives us a clue. Luke talks about the spirit more than any other gospel author. In his first volume of Luke in the second volume, he's talking about the spirit all over the place. And just imagine like when we hear upper room, this, this Greek word that's translated upper room is only used four times.

And it's used all in Acts. Luke uses them all. So when we hear this, it should do something to us. It's like, it's like Mufasa, you know? Like, ooh, what's, what's gonna happen? It's not a word I usually hear. Mufasa, right? Upper room does the same thing. Hey, I, I know what's gonna happen, right? Acts one 13 upper room spirits coming at Pentecost.

Acts 9 37 39. Peter is taken to an upper room where he raises Tabitha or Dorcus. And then here, I know what's gonna happen. The spirit's gonna do something upper room like that. That's where the spirit works. And Paul raises Utica. But Luke didn't invent this word though. He, he's the only New Testament author that uses it, but it's actually, and we can go to the next couple.

Do you have the next points on this slide? Uh, yeah. It looks like we don't, but, um, Luke is actually going to, Uh, a different translation of the Hebrew scriptures, which is called the Septuagint. And the Septuagint is the Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures. It uses this same Greek word for upper room.

Here's a couple times where it's used first Kings 1719. Elijah raises the widow son. He's taken to an upper room and he raises the widow son. Second Kings four 11. Elijah raises a Shunammite son. So Elisha is connected to Elijah's work. Just the spirit, continuing to work upper room, like that's what's going on.

And Luke is doing the same thing. He's calling back in Acts, he's calling back to the Old Testament prophetic ministry, the spirit working through that. In Luke, he talks about the spirit working through John the Baptist. Then through Jesus ministry then enacts these upper room moments. He's specifically connecting.

All these passages together and saying it's the same spirit at work across history. It's the same spirit of God. You might hear this and say, that's, that's cool. That's great. Cool stats. Cool, cool trivia, but I know there's, there's people here. I know there's people in Collingswood watching online. Yeah.

Where it's like, you know, I, I've experienced loss or death or trauma or tragedy, and it's like Elisha, Elijah, Paul, Peter, I don't care, who, like, they weren't there to stop it or to bring that person back. So what did we do with that? You know, all I can say is God has brought me to a place. Where I firmly believe there is more life than what we can perceive here on Earth.

Like right now, what, what, what we can perceive with our senses, there's more life. And he's brought me to an understanding that death doesn't have the final say he does. So there's, there's ancient evil. And darkness and death in this world. Yeah, ancient, but there's more ancient good. There's more ancient light, there's more ancient life.

And God, he didn't eliminate darkness. And Genesis one, he contained it and he didn't eliminate death, but he contains it. It doesn't have the final say. Death isn't what's limitless. The Spirit God. Is not limited. He sets the limits of death. And while we might not be able to perceive who is truly alive, God knows and God has the final say.

The author of Life has the final say. Death does not.

There's heroes in Greece and in, uh, in Troy Troas where we're talking about here, there was actually a monument to Achilles. And, uh, we think about these people that bring death and we often admire people who bring death or people who are, you know, unconquerable or people who are conquerors. Like we, we admire these warriors of, of the past.

People who force other people to yield to their own will, but Luke confronts us with a different type of hero here, right? Paul is not somebody who's forcing his will on other people. Paul is yielding to the spirit. It's not about me. It's not about you forcing our way on other people. It's about us yielding to the spirit and letting the spirit work in and through us and in and through each other.

So God is not limited even by loss or death. He's beyond it, not limited by it. Last slide here, Paul, on the move. So after this incredible experience. Paul continues on to Jerusalem. He travels, uh, out to Jerusalem, taking this, these, uh, funds with him and they sail. They sail away. And there's just two things to focus on here.

We get this little travel itinerary of Paul going back to Jerusalem. I just wanna bring up, uh, a couple points again. Remember this collection for the Saints in Jerusalem. Paul's on the move. Now taking this back, he's being drawn back to Jerusalem because th this is, this has meaning for Paul. It is the first collection of its kind across different borders, different nationalities, different races, ethnicities, all to help this socioeconomic classes all to help this, these body of believers in Jerusalem that has meaning for Paul.

The other is that, Paul started several churches. Yes, but he didn't start the church in Troas, just to remind us of that. They were there. The spirit was at work. And, uh, we read, we read a passage earlier. I just, this will help me make my last point here. Acts 16, six to seven, um, says this, they went through the region of frig and Galatia having been forbidden.

By the Holy Spirit to speak the word. In Asia, when they had come up to Messiah, they attempted to go into Bethia, but the spirit of Jesus did not allow them. So passing by Missa, they went down to Trez. That's, that's the first time they went to Trez. And to be transparent, this is all always bothered me.

Like this reading that bothers me. It's like, why? Why would the spirit forbid Paul from speaking the word in Asia, like, isn't that a good thing? Yeah. Why, why not allow him to go to Bethia? Didn't God want the gospel to spread there? Like, what, what's, what's God doing here? I just wanna read first Peter, uh, first couple of verses of First Peter says this.

Just listen. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bethea. Paul Paul, wasn't it Paul? God was working a different way in Asia and Bethea. It wasn't through Paul, it was through other people that God is working at. We, we don't have all of those stories.

We don't necessarily know exactly how the gospel came to Asia or Bethia, but we know it did cuz Paul Peter is greeting churches there. And this is just the last point. God is not limited by you. God is not limited by me. The spirit is working in ways that we don't always know. He's working in us in ways that we can't even always perceive until different times when God makes us aware.

He's working in people that we haven't even met yet. So it's a good thing that God is not limited by you or by me.

So just in closing, how does this have bearing on our lives today? What do we do with all of this? What do we do when we're faced with our own limitations? I'd simply say we need to be in relationship and conversation with the same God, the same spirit, the same Jesus. Who brought reconciliation between Paul and the believers in Corinth, the same spirit who raised Utica is the same spirit that is in believers today.

How are we engaging with the spirit? Do we have an upper room where we go, or a place where we go, where we get away and engage with the spirit and ask God to speak to us? If you don't just build that into your, build that into your life. God wants to work in you. God wants to speak to you. God wants you to listen.

In closing, let's remember who is the author of life. Let's remember who contains death. Let's remember that death doesn't have the final say. Paul writes this to Titus, um, as the band, uh, band can come back up. Paul says this in his letter to Titus. It's about 10 years after our text towards the end of Paul's, uh, life on earth for now, for we ourselves, were once foolish, disobedient, led astray slaves to various passions and pleasure passing our days and malice and envy, hated by others, hating one another.

But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our savior appeared, he saved us. Not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

The Author of Life has the final say, death does none. Do you believe that? It's close in prayer.

Emily, father, thank you for being the, the more ancient good in this world. There are difficult things that we have in our lives. Difficult things in our experiences is difficult spaces and relationships, difficult loss. Lord, I pray that you would teach us to rely on you, that you would teach us that you are not limited by these missed opportunities or neglect or even loss, and you're not even limited by death.

God, you work. You work beyond. Help us to lean into you. Jesus name. Amen.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/god-unlimited 54d144bb-4a08-4de4-902c-8b6176240811 Sun, 16 Jul 2023 12:50:38 GMT <div data-html="true">Acts 20:7-16 <br /><br /> On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight. <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> Good morning everybody. Good morning. Good morning. Nice and humid out. Uh, I wanna start off this morning by hopefully helping us get into a space that the characters in the text we're gonna look at today may have been. Uh, so you ever been ghosted anybody? Some people are like, what does that mean? <br /><br /> Um, You ever like send an email and the kids are like, what's that email? Uh, maybe a text, uh, instant direct messages, whatever the kids do these days. And like somebody just didn't get back to you or didn't get back to you in a timely manner. Like, what's that? Do I know what that does to me, it's like there's some, some neglect just like, Hey, does this person even even care? <br /><br /> They know I'm alive. Yeah, but then it doesn't take me too long to think about the other side where I've been the one that hasn't gotten back to somebody in a timely manner. I don't have to think too long or hard about a time, many times that I just haven't gotten back to people in a timely manner. And it's like, well, yeah, I'm, I'm preoccupied. <br /><br /> There's life going on. There's things that are happening li like, life just gets in the way and I just haven't been able to give somebody the attention they deserve or, or that they need. Or maybe think about another time where that preoccupation or that neglect leads to like a missed opportunity. You think back in your life and you're like, man, this could have been so good or so great, but it was just this person, you know, neglected me or I, I was preoccupied. <br /><br /> I wasn't in the right space, wrong place, wrong time, that type of space, and it's a missed opportunity. There's a, there's a loss there. There's a maybe a sadness. Or, or think about many of you here, I'm sure all of you have experienced some type of deep loss, death of a loved one. Somebody that's gone out of your life no longer there. <br /><br /> There's a void, there's a, there's a sadness in our heart. There's a lingering loss. What we're talking about with this, we can go to the first slide. What we're talking about really with all of these preoccupation, neglect, loss, death missed opportunities, these are all talking about human limitations. <br /><br /> We're, we're limited beings. It's like preoccupation. I can only focus on so many things at one time. Like I, I'm not unlimited. I'm, I'm limited. It's, it's a limitation missed opportunity. It's like, I, I can't go back in time. Like I, I'm, I don't know about you, but I only move forward in time. Right? I can't go back in time and undo that mistake or, or redo something and, and try to, try to change things that, that they could be better. <br /><br /> It's like, it's just a, a missed opportunity. That's the next point in the slide. Um, next one, neglect. Like, I can't make people pay attention to me the way I think I need them to, or, or I want. Like I, I'm, I'm limited there. And then ultimately, with loss or death, like ultimately this is outta my control. <br /><br /> There's things bigger than me. There's things that I, I can't control. So what do we do when we're faced with our own limitations? The characters in our text this morning dealt with each of these limitations. And let's see how Luke, we're gonna look at a passage in acts. Let's see how Luke presents this to us, and we'll find out how did these characters deal with these limitations, and we'll ask God to speak to us about how we deal with these limitations in our own lives. <br /><br /> First, let's open up in prayer. <br /><br /> Father, you're a good God. You're a good father to us. Lord, thank you for how you speak, how you work. Thank you for your son. Thank you for your spirit. I pray that you would steal our hearts right now. Whatever preoccupations or or things that are taking up our minds, our hearts, Lord, help our, help us to have ears to hear. <br /><br /> Help us to have open hearts and soft hearts to understand what you want to say to us. Lord, help us receive your word this morning, Lord. We love you in Jesus' name. Amen. Passage this morning is Acts 20 verses seven to 16. It's on the screen behind me. I'll go ahead and read this. You can read along on the first day of the week when we, now, who's this? <br /><br /> We? This is Luke, who's writing is first person. So this is Luke. Paul, as well as his multi-ethnic group of traveling companions from all over these churches in Greece and Asia. Pastor Mark preached a couple weeks ago and he's got this crew traveling with him, different, uh, ethnicities, different socioeconomic classes, like it's a, it's a pretty diverse group that's traveling along with Paul. <br /><br /> So it's Luke Paul and this crew, and they find themselves now in Troas. Uh, on the first day of the week when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, who's the them is the believers, the church intro, as intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight. <br /><br /> There were many lamps in the upper room. Dun, dun, dun. Doing that on purpose. It's not just like a, a nervous tick. We'll, we'll come back to it later. There are many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered. A young man named Utica sitting at the window sank into a deep sleep. As Paul talked still longer and being overcome by sleep or uh, being overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story was taken up dead. <br /><br /> He died. But Paul went down, bent over him, taking him up in his arms. He said, don't be alarmed for his life is in him. And when Paul had gone up and broken bread and eaten, he conversed with them for a long while until daybreak. Then he departed. They took the youth away alive and they were not a little comforted, meaning they were greatly comforted. <br /><br /> Not just a little bit, but going ahead to the ship. We set sail for Osos, intending to take Paul aboard there for, so he had a range. Intending himself to go by land. When he met us at asos, we took him on board and went to midline sailing. From there, we came the following day opposite Chios, and the next day we touched at Samos, and the next day we went to myelitis For Paul had decided to sail past deficits so that he might not have to spend time in Asia for, he was hasting to be at Jerusalem, if at all possible. <br /><br /> On the day of Pentecost. This passage shows that Luke, Paul, their traveling crew, the believers at Troas, they all discovered that God is beyond human limitations. We talked about these human limitations. These believers all discovered that God's beyond those human limitations. The main idea for this morning with our next slide, the, the big idea for this whole S sermon is that you and I can understand that God is beyond our limitations. <br /><br /> God's beyond your limitations. So let's take a look at this. First point here is a preoccupied Paul. Preoccupied Paul, you might think, well, we just talked about like Paul's preaching all the way till midnight. Somebody falls out of a window, a kid, and this kid dies. Paul brings him, restores his life, preaches again till mourning is like he's on the move. <br /><br /> Seems like he's pretty dialed in, right? Well, We're gonna talk about preoccupied, Paul, because there's a lot going on that's a backstory to this. And we're gonna hang out here for a little while and just build this up so we understand where is Paul, where are the believers in Trez? What's going on? So Paul's at Trez, what brought him to Trez a couple weeks ago. <br /><br /> Pastor Mark talked about that. Paul, what Paul's doing, Paul, uh, he's visiting all these churches throughout Greece. Uh, Macedonia Akay with this crew of traveling companions, and he's on a mission. He's not just traveling around like building up frequent flyer miles and hotel points. Like he's got something going on. <br /><br /> He's doing something. And in your first three scripture references here, first Corinthians, uh, 16, second Corinthians seven, Romans 15. Paul's telling his readers what he's doing. You can check out those passages. He's, he's on a fundraising mission. He's collecting all these funds to bring back to the tr the church in Jerusalem, and this is meaningful for Paul. <br /><br /> He's got this multi-ethnic crew with him, different socioeconomic classes, and he's getting money from all these different churches with diverse crowds, diverse congregants, and taking this back to the church in Jerusalem, this is a unique mission. It's the first of its kind across national borders, different ethnicities going back to this church in Jerusalem, and they're not just doing this to like build up the building in Jerusalem. <br /><br /> Jerusalem is the first church. And it has experienced more persecution now for decades at this point than any other church. And there's famine as well there. Paul was one of the people that persecuted the church early on, so their experience from Jewish leadership, from the Roman government, from natural famines, droughts, like all of this is hitting the church in Jerusalem. <br /><br /> So Paul's raising these funds to literally help them survive. And that's meaningful for Paul. And Paul's preoccupied with this. He's constantly writing about it in his letters, so he's preoccupied there with this mission, but that's not all. Next point on the slide asks, uh, we can go to a couple there. <br /><br /> Next one. Oh, might have missed one. Give me, go back. Go back one. Uh, alright. Uh, so fundraising and then, uh, the, uh, next thing on, uh, that we need to talk about is what's going on in Corinth. And we might look at this and we think, what does Corinth have to do with this church intro as, so Corinth is in Greece, Chaz is in Asia. <br /><br /> Chaz is a key port city, uh, connecting Greece and Asia. And Paul had been here a couple times before. Earlier he came, he passed through on his second missionary journey. This is about five years ago, and he ends up in Chaz. I'll read Acts 16, six to 10, and we'll come back to this passage one more time at the end here, but just pay attention to this passage. <br /><br /> They went through. This is Paul and his crew. They went through the region of frig and Galatia having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. And when they had come up to Meia, they attempted to go into Bethia, but the spirit of Jesus did not allow them. So passing by Meia, they went down Toz. <br /><br /> Okay, we're not being told we can't go here. So finally we're, we're in Troas. Okay, I guess we'll set up camp here and, uh, minister to the believers in Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia was standing there urging him and saying, come over to Macedonia, which is Northern Greece and help us. <br /><br /> When Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. So this leads to Paul traveling away from Chaz. Now he's been there, uh, maybe, we'll, we will minister here. Believers likely excited, and then. He's gone and he heads over to Northern Greece to minister there, and this leads to him planting the churches in Philippi, in Thessalonica. <br /><br /> Uh, he goes down to Southern Greece and uh, goes to Athens, plants the church there, and then he plants this church in Corinth. And it's Atz that Paul just is there and then gone. It was also Atz if you paid attention there. Luke switches from the third person. He said they, they came to Troas and then we left. <br /><br /> So this is where Luke joins the party in Troas, but Paul doesn't really spend hardly any time there. Paul then comes back Toz on this, his third missionary journey. And at that time, he had been here like three months before now, and now he's on his way back to Jerusalem, taking these funds back to Jerusalem. <br /><br /> So he's coming back through Trez and when he came here the first time, he had every intention of preaching the gospel to the believers in Trez and helping to build the church there. But in the past five years, there's been some. Wild things that have gone on. And Pastor Mike talked last week about stuff that was going on in Corinth. <br /><br /> There's some serious stuff going on. I'm just gonna run through a quick, uh, rundown here. So, initially after planning the church in Corinth five years ago, Paul spends a year and a half there, ministering to that point. It was the longest time he had been with a body of believers. So he, he's ministering to this church in Corinth. <br /><br /> And then he ends up back in, in Jerusalem and then in Antioch, and then he sets out on his third missionary journey. He ministers an Ephesus for three years, but while he's in Ephesus, that's when things get really dicey with the Corinthian church. There's all this stuff that's going on in Paul. Paul initially writes them a letter that's lost to history and the Corinthians, they're like, Hey, you know that that didn't take, they write 'em back. <br /><br /> And so then Paul writes what we call First Corinthians in response to them to say, no, no, no, I didn't mean this. You know, like I, I need to explain this. Like, here's what I'm meaning. And First Corinthians is written in response there. Then Paul pays them a visit, and we don't know much about this visit except that it went bad like it was. <br /><br /> Bad. He went to Corinth and for whatever reason, he's like kicked out. He's rejected. They, they don't want anything to do with him, and that's incredibly painful to Paul. He, he writes of this in Second Corinthians and there's depression and like, man, it's like he's, he's affected by this, so he writes them another letter. <br /><br /> So I, I decided not to meet with you again in person. And again, this other letter is lost to history, but Paul calls it a severe, a harsh letter. It's a letter of tears where he's pleading with them to stop their sinful ways and repent. And like he's, he's, he's pulling for 'em, pleading for them. So he gives that letter to Titus with a mission to deliver it to their church in Corin. <br /><br /> And then visit the churches back in Macedonia, meet back up with us in Troas. So this is on Paul's mind now. He comes to Troas three months ago. He's come to Rez and he's like, all right, I'm gonna meet up with Titus, see what's going on. There's just one problem, Titus, isn't there? It's like, how did the church in Corinth receive Titus? <br /><br /> How did they think of my letter? This, this harsh letter. What's going on? Two Corinthians two, 12 to 13. Just listen to how this is impacting Paul when I came to TRO as to preach the Gospel of Christ. So he's intending to stay in Troas and and preach even though a door was open for me in the Lord opportunity here, my spirit was not at rest because I did not find my brother Titus there. <br /><br /> So I took leave of them and went on to Macedonia, and he's going to Macedonia to look for Titus. I just wanna pause here. Have you ever been in a space like this where it's like, man, I, I have this opportunity, but man, there's this other stuff going on and I'm preoccupied with that and it's like eating me up. <br /><br /> I can't think about anything else. I can't even be present with the people that are in front of me because of what's going on out here. Maybe there's something you feel like you've botched because of this. It's like, uh, you know, there's a, there was an opportunity here and it's like a missed opportunity. <br /><br /> This all leads to these feelings of regret, these feelings of loss, this feelings of missing out something could have been so good, but sin or failure or preoccupation or neglect. It just led to these missed opportunities. But what we discover here is God is not limited by those missed opportunities. <br /><br /> Paul, the church is in Corinth and Troas. They all show that God's not limited by missed opportunities. Like who? Who are we talking about here? Believers in Chaz. Paul didn't plant this church. Paul had very little to do. With these believers in Trez, spent barely any time there yet. The spirit's at work with this church in Chaz. <br /><br /> They were here five years ago before Paul got there. They're here now. When Paul's here again, they were here after, because of the spirits work. This spirit is doing bigger things, and it doesn't depend. He doesn't depend on Paul just nailing every single opportunity he's given. There's missed opportunities, but the spirit is at work. <br /><br /> The spirit is also working in Paul and the believers in Corinth. We just talked about Paul's movement. He's like in person and I can't work with them that way, so I'll do letters and, and he's pleading with them, asking them, begging them, and he's working through this patch in their relationship. Just read two Corinthians seven to see how the spirit moved in. <br /><br /> These believers in Corinth, they read his letter and they are grieved by it, but they're not just grieved. They're grieved to repentance and they welcome Titus with open arms and Titus when he goes back and meets up with Paul in Macedonia. Paul, I just imagined this reunion and Paul's like, how did it go? <br /><br /> And Titus is like Paul, I was blown away. They. They welcomed me with open arms. They repented, they're, they've humbled themselves. They're listening and, and living in the spirit. They encouraged me, like there was movement in the spirit in Paul and in these believers in Corinth. So just listen to, listen to that and understand that. <br /><br /> Like whatever's in your past, whatever missed opportunities there might be because of these preoccupations, these neglect, these human experiences, the same spirit of God that moved in Paul and in the Corinthians, and the believers in Trez is alive and working today and is moving today, and you can live and breathe and move in. <br /><br /> That same spirit of God working today. That spirit is not limited by any missed opportunity. We'll go to the next slide now. So now we finally get to our text and I hope nobody fell asleep because that would be bad, um, with our, uh, text today. But, uh, we'll talk about Paul in the upper room. <br /><br /> Let's pay attention to how Luke sets this scene. So Paul is breaking bread with the believers in triage. They're gathered together in a house in an upper room with many lamps like fires. You think of another passage in Acts, which talks about believers gathered in an upper room where there's fires above their heads. <br /><br /> Yeah, Pentecost. So, Paul's going on and on and on, and this likely isn't just a monologue. Like, like not like he's up here and just going on until midnight. No, like they're up in this room. It's, it's more of an intimate gathering and. They're likely just peppering him with questions and like Paul's going through and like finally they're getting to spend a bit of time with Paul, they're asking, how's the fundraising going? <br /><br /> Hey, what's going on in Corinth? What's, what's up? Uh, you know, and asking him different theological questions. How do we understand this? Like, they're finally going through, and this is going on and on, and this, this young lad the Bible tells us is somebody like in the prime of life and their youth, probably between 10 and 20. <br /><br /> A young man named Utica starts drowsing, you know, his upper room is stuffy, it's hot. So he starts, drowsing, maybe moves to the window, gets some fresh air, starts drowsing again, and then all a sudden he's up three stories, you know, higher, you know, probably top of the gym here. And then all of a sudden Paul's in the middle of his sentence and there's this scream of rubs, and it's like, what? <br /><br /> What's going on? Like there's, there's a lot of. You know, people have noticed the comedy in this passage, but if you were there, you wouldn't have been laughing, right? Like, we, we read this now and it's kind of comical. Like, oh, somebody fell asleep. But no, it's, there's shock, there's tragedy, there's real loss here. <br /><br /> Somebody who had so much life ahead of them is dead tragically. And remember who's writing here? This is Luke. He's an eyewitness. He's a physician. He knows a dead body when he sees one. And the, the church did too. Like they, they were much closer to death in their culture than we are. Like they, it was just much closer, more common experience for them to to be around death. <br /><br /> So they know a dead body. He actually died, but then Paul rushes down, embraces him, and his life is restored. What's Luke doing here? Is he just like telling us a cool story? Why is he paint all this detail? Couldn't he have just said, you know this, this kid Utica fell out, a window died and Paul brought him back? <br /><br /> No, he's doing something different. He's doing something more here and it's this use of upper room that gives us a clue. Luke talks about the spirit more than any other gospel author. In his first volume of Luke in the second volume, he's talking about the spirit all over the place. And just imagine like when we hear upper room, this, this Greek word that's translated upper room is only used four times. <br /><br /> And it's used all in Acts. Luke uses them all. So when we hear this, it should do something to us. It's like, it's like Mufasa, you know? Like, ooh, what's, what's gonna happen? It's not a word I usually hear. Mufasa, right? Upper room does the same thing. Hey, I, I know what's gonna happen, right? Acts one 13 upper room spirits coming at Pentecost. <br /><br /> Acts 9 37 39. Peter is taken to an upper room where he raises Tabitha or Dorcus. And then here, I know what's gonna happen. The spirit's gonna do something upper room like that. That's where the spirit works. And Paul raises Utica. But Luke didn't invent this word though. He, he's the only New Testament author that uses it, but it's actually, and we can go to the next couple. <br /><br /> Do you have the next points on this slide? Uh, yeah. It looks like we don't, but, um, Luke is actually going to, Uh, a different translation of the Hebrew scriptures, which is called the Septuagint. And the Septuagint is the Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures. It uses this same Greek word for upper room. <br /><br /> Here's a couple times where it's used first Kings 1719. Elijah raises the widow son. He's taken to an upper room and he raises the widow son. Second Kings four 11. Elijah raises a Shunammite son. So Elisha is connected to Elijah's work. Just the spirit, continuing to work upper room, like that's what's going on. <br /><br /> And Luke is doing the same thing. He's calling back in Acts, he's calling back to the Old Testament prophetic ministry, the spirit working through that. In Luke, he talks about the spirit working through John the Baptist. Then through Jesus ministry then enacts these upper room moments. He's specifically connecting. <br /><br /> All these passages together and saying it's the same spirit at work across history. It's the same spirit of God. You might hear this and say, that's, that's cool. That's great. Cool stats. Cool, cool trivia, but I know there's, there's people here. I know there's people in Collingswood watching online. Yeah. <br /><br /> Where it's like, you know, I, I've experienced loss or death or trauma or tragedy, and it's like Elisha, Elijah, Paul, Peter, I don't care, who, like, they weren't there to stop it or to bring that person back. So what did we do with that? You know, all I can say is God has brought me to a place. Where I firmly believe there is more life than what we can perceive here on Earth. <br /><br /> Like right now, what, what, what we can perceive with our senses, there's more life. And he's brought me to an understanding that death doesn't have the final say he does. So there's, there's ancient evil. And darkness and death in this world. Yeah, ancient, but there's more ancient good. There's more ancient light, there's more ancient life. <br /><br /> And God, he didn't eliminate darkness. And Genesis one, he contained it and he didn't eliminate death, but he contains it. It doesn't have the final say. Death isn't what's limitless. The Spirit God. Is not limited. He sets the limits of death. And while we might not be able to perceive who is truly alive, God knows and God has the final say. <br /><br /> The author of Life has the final say. Death does not. <br /><br /> There's heroes in Greece and in, uh, in Troy Troas where we're talking about here, there was actually a monument to Achilles. And, uh, we think about these people that bring death and we often admire people who bring death or people who are, you know, unconquerable or people who are conquerors. Like we, we admire these warriors of, of the past. <br /><br /> People who force other people to yield to their own will, but Luke confronts us with a different type of hero here, right? Paul is not somebody who's forcing his will on other people. Paul is yielding to the spirit. It's not about me. It's not about you forcing our way on other people. It's about us yielding to the spirit and letting the spirit work in and through us and in and through each other. <br /><br /> So God is not limited even by loss or death. He's beyond it, not limited by it. Last slide here, Paul, on the move. So after this incredible experience. Paul continues on to Jerusalem. He travels, uh, out to Jerusalem, taking this, these, uh, funds with him and they sail. They sail away. And there's just two things to focus on here. <br /><br /> We get this little travel itinerary of Paul going back to Jerusalem. I just wanna bring up, uh, a couple points again. Remember this collection for the Saints in Jerusalem. Paul's on the move. Now taking this back, he's being drawn back to Jerusalem because th this is, this has meaning for Paul. It is the first collection of its kind across different borders, different nationalities, different races, ethnicities, all to help this socioeconomic classes all to help this, these body of believers in Jerusalem that has meaning for Paul. <br /><br /> The other is that, Paul started several churches. Yes, but he didn't start the church in Troas, just to remind us of that. They were there. The spirit was at work. And, uh, we read, we read a passage earlier. I just, this will help me make my last point here. Acts 16, six to seven, um, says this, they went through the region of frig and Galatia having been forbidden. <br /><br /> By the Holy Spirit to speak the word. In Asia, when they had come up to Messiah, they attempted to go into Bethia, but the spirit of Jesus did not allow them. So passing by Missa, they went down to Trez. That's, that's the first time they went to Trez. And to be transparent, this is all always bothered me. <br /><br /> Like this reading that bothers me. It's like, why? Why would the spirit forbid Paul from speaking the word in Asia, like, isn't that a good thing? Yeah. Why, why not allow him to go to Bethia? Didn't God want the gospel to spread there? Like, what, what's, what's God doing here? I just wanna read first Peter, uh, first couple of verses of First Peter says this. <br /><br /> Just listen. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bethea. Paul Paul, wasn't it Paul? God was working a different way in Asia and Bethea. It wasn't through Paul, it was through other people that God is working at. We, we don't have all of those stories. <br /><br /> We don't necessarily know exactly how the gospel came to Asia or Bethia, but we know it did cuz Paul Peter is greeting churches there. And this is just the last point. God is not limited by you. God is not limited by me. The spirit is working in ways that we don't always know. He's working in us in ways that we can't even always perceive until different times when God makes us aware. <br /><br /> He's working in people that we haven't even met yet. So it's a good thing that God is not limited by you or by me. <br /><br /> So just in closing, how does this have bearing on our lives today? What do we do with all of this? What do we do when we're faced with our own limitations? I'd simply say we need to be in relationship and conversation with the same God, the same spirit, the same Jesus. Who brought reconciliation between Paul and the believers in Corinth, the same spirit who raised Utica is the same spirit that is in believers today. <br /><br /> How are we engaging with the spirit? Do we have an upper room where we go, or a place where we go, where we get away and engage with the spirit and ask God to speak to us? If you don't just build that into your, build that into your life. God wants to work in you. God wants to speak to you. God wants you to listen. <br /><br /> In closing, let's remember who is the author of life. Let's remember who contains death. Let's remember that death doesn't have the final say. Paul writes this to Titus, um, as the band, uh, band can come back up. Paul says this in his letter to Titus. It's about 10 years after our text towards the end of Paul's, uh, life on earth for now, for we ourselves, were once foolish, disobedient, led astray slaves to various passions and pleasure passing our days and malice and envy, hated by others, hating one another. <br /><br /> But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our savior appeared, he saved us. Not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. <br /><br /> The Author of Life has the final say, death does none. Do you believe that? It's close in prayer. <br /><br /> Emily, father, thank you for being the, the more ancient good in this world. There are difficult things that we have in our lives. Difficult things in our experiences is difficult spaces and relationships, difficult loss. Lord, I pray that you would teach us to rely on you, that you would teach us that you are not limited by these missed opportunities or neglect or even loss, and you're not even limited by death. <br /><br /> God, you work. You work beyond. Help us to lean into you. Jesus name. Amen.</div> false no <![CDATA[The Wisdom of God]]> 1 Corinthians 1:26-2:5

For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;



Sermon Transcript:

All right, well we are going to continue our study this morning, not though in the Book of Acts, but somewhere close to it. So turn in your Bibles this morning to First Corinthians. We're gonna be in chapter one again, deviating from the Acts series this morning, but not too far because actually First Corinthians is a letter written by Paul to the Corinthian church and it so happens that Paul wrote this letter during his second missionary journey.

Right around Acts chapter 20. We were just there last week. And so, uh, to kind of catch you up, uh, some of you're gonna groan, but we're gonna bring back the map this morning. Okay, so we are not done the Book of Acts, so this is not the last time you're gonna see it either. But, uh, Paul's second missionary journey, the top left of your screen there, you'll see Philippi.

And he moved from Philippi to Thessalonica to Bea, he preached to the men of Athens, and then was in Corinth. And while in Corinth, Paul met, uh, two people named Priscilla and Aquila. They were Jewish believers who began then preaching in the synagogues with Paul, Silas and Timothy. You know, they were kind of left behind in Athens and then caught up to Paul and Corinth and the preaching ministry grew, began proclaiming the gospel with boldness.

And so in the midst of that boldness, opposition became more bold as well. Many Corinthians Jews believed in Jesus, even Crispus, one of the synagogue leaders in Acts chapter 18, Paul was there in Corinth for about a year and a half preaching. And so, uh, during this time, some of the religious leaders kind of drag Paul and sent him into this Roman tribunal where they were gonna try him for a religious crime, which the Romans said we could care less.

Sent him out. And so then eventually Paul, Priscilla Aquila all set sail for Ephesus. That's that scoop there under into Asia. And then they would take the longer sail all the way back into Palestine, strengthening the churches along the way. So a man emerged in this whole process. We heard about Apollos.

Apollos was the second pastor of the Corinthian church. If Paul was the first, Apollos was the second guy. He was eloquent, mighty in the scriptures and had some doctrinal deficiencies. Pastor Joe talked about the way, uh, Priscilla and Aquila gently came alongside of him correcting some of the things, rebuking him in private, uh, as he's, as he's preaching.

And meanwhile, as Paul is traveling and taking these sail trips around, word came to him through the spirit of God, through the people in a woman named Chloe's house that evidently in the Corinthian church, as Paul has left, what's happened is there started to arise some difficulty, some division. And that's where we are in chapter one, verse 10.

So we're gonna look at this letter that Paul writes to the Corinthians this morning. Read with me. I appeal to you brothers by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment for it's been reported to me by Chloe's people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers.

What I mean is that each one of you says, I follow Paul, or I follow Apollos, or I follow Cipha, which is Peter's name in Aramaic, or I follow Christ. Is Christ divided. Was Paul crucified for you or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gais so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name.

I did baptize also the household of Stephanus. Beyond that, I don't know who, whether I baptized anyone else for Christ, did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel. And not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved that it's, it is the power of God.

For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the discernment of the discerning. I will thwart. Where is the one who is wise? Where's the scribe? Where's the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world for sin in the wisdom of God. The world did not know God Through wisdom.

It pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews, demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we, we preach Christ crucified. A stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God.

For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. We're gonna camp out right in this section here for Consider Your Calling Brothers. Not many of you were wise according to worldly standards. Not many were powerful. Not many were of noble birth, but God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise.

God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong God, chose what is low and despised in the world, even the things that are not to bring to nothing. Things that are so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him, you are in Christ Jesus who became to us. Wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that as it is written, let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.

And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling and, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

Thanks for bearing with me this morning. It was a long passage to read and some of you, when you got to chapter two were like, oh no. Here he goes into chapter two, and you did great. The public reading of God's word is something we are encouraged to do, but I get it. It's a long passage, so we're gonna play a game.

Okay? Uh, some of you were already struggling with a standup sit down method of church. We're gonna do that again this morning because you know what? There were some divisions in the Corinthian church and so in good fun, we're gonna create a little bit of division, innocuous division this morning in the church.

Okay? Some of you were like, this is a bad idea. It might be, I actually wrote down this could be a bad idea. Um, but here we go. So I'm gonna ask you to stand not yet. I'm gonna ask you to stand if this is something that you like, and stay, stay seated if it's something that you do not like, okay. Simple as that.

Stand if you like it, sit if you do not like it. And stay seated. If you are just too cool for this game. Okay. Stand if you are a big fan of thunderstorms. Okay. Anybody thunder, fan of thunderstorms? Okay, good. Okay. All right. Have a seat. Okay. Stand up if you enjoy, you're, you're a fan of the taste of cilantro, cuz that's a dividing one.

Some people think it tastes like soap. All right. Good. Have a seat. My people. Okay. Okay. Stand if you are, uh, someone who likes the beach. Okay. And you're all like, it's the Sure. Okay. Okay. Have a seat. Stand if you are part of the crazy people that like Hawaiian pizza, fruit on your pizza. Right. Look at this division.

Isn't this great? Okay. Have a seat. Okay. Stand If you are, uh, in the majority or minority who like olives, you're an olive lover. Wow. More than I expected. Okay. All right. How many of you? And this might be tough cuz it's, it could be still early, if you like, early mornings. Okay. And they're all like, yes, and I'm awake.

Okay, great. Have a seat. Okay. Last one here. I'm just curious. This might be the stand if you like, blue cheese. Just a few people. Oh, it's way more than I thought. Okay. All right. Two hands up on the balcony. Wow. Wow. All right. Okay. Everybody can have us. Good. You're, you're good. Well, there were some divisions among the church and it wasn't about the food that they ate.

It was around the people, the teachers, they followed. The Greek word is schiz mata. We get this schism, this tearing apart or ripping into of the church factions developed. Some people were loyal to their current pastor Apollos. Right? He was a great help to the church. He was knowledgeable. He was a smart guy.

He was eloquent. Some were loyal to the og. Pastor Paul. He began the Corinthian church, right? He was there for a year and a half. There was great loyalty to him and others claimed Peter as their guy. Evidently, a small group of Jews in the church came to faith through Peter's ministry. And then there was this other group, another group claimed exclusive loyalty to Christ.

There's no need for human teachers. Jesus plus nobody. And though they were following Christ, the spirit in which they did, it was divisive. And so even the people that proclaimed Christ were included in this list of divisions, we're not that much different today, right? We rally around leaders and theological heroes of the faith, propping up pastors to lead the charge of the movement, creating lines in the sand based on the teachers that we follow or their doctrinal positions.

Apollos Paul, Peter, Jesus, to human tendency to wanna give our loyalty to men. A spirit of pride and division centered around, oddly enough, Jesus, the division centered around the wor words and the ways of Jesus, and it was polluting the church. And so Paul writes to combat this division. His purpose was creating unity because among the Corinthian church, there were all these people, Jews, gentiles, slaves, free, wealthy, poor.

They were to be united in Christ. And so as he's writing here, he's proclaiming this wisdom of God in his purpose, his plan, his direction, and the ways he goes about organizing his kingdom. There's really one main idea. Get your pencils, your pens, whatever out. Here's your first fill in the blank. It's actually your first like six, fill in the blanks, but I'm gonna hit all six right now.

Here's the the summary main idea. God's divine calling invites strangers into his family, unites them in Christ's identity and enlists them. To testify in the spirit's power, his divine calling invites strangers into his family, unites them in Christ's identity and enlists them to testify of the spirit's power.

Gonna look into this passage. The first part here, the, the paradox of God's wisdom. Why would God do it this way? And Paul begins by asking the brothers there to consider their calling. H how did they even come to faith in Christ? This calling refers to their salvation. And so salvation we know is always first God's movement towards us.

Salvation is God's movement towards us. He's always been calling out Romans one. We, we find that all of creation is declaring leaving all people without excuse. The prophets were used as God's mouthpiece through the generations in order to bring a prophetic word to his people, who oftentimes would air in different directions.

Second Timothy, God calls, uh, us to himself by his grace, sending Jesus wrapped in human flesh and continues to call us through his written word today, living and active. So it is. Jesus says in John 6 44, listen to these words. No one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him want that for theology 1 0 1.

No one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him later in a John 15, six, he says, you didn't choose me. I chose you. Salvation is always first. God's movement towards us. And he says, consider your calling. That's what they just did, and he calls them brothers. This language that's unifying, that's family, it's, it's to put the divisions away.

You weren't called because you were something special. He says, not many of you were wise. Not many of you were powerful or of noble birth. Some of you were possibly, but as a whole, it was a very plain church. Or to say it a different way, you were a bunch of foolish, weak, nobodies. Paul says it more kind, but that's what he's saying.

God doesn't choose people based on their worldly greatness, their wisdom, their power, their nobility. It's not really attractive to God. He doesn't need us to further his kingdom. He doesn't pursue people because they have great means, or he's not drawn to fame as we are. He isn't more gracious to influential leaders.

His grace invites us to follow him with, oddly enough, the exact same faith requirement for you and you and me and you and everybody. And he expands on that question, that kind of paradox that why God would choose this with kind of a contrast here in verse 27 and 28. Look at this. But God chose what's foolish in the world to shame the wise.

God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong, what is low and despised even the things that are not to bring to nothing. Things that are the draw to celebrity and to kind of power was present then and probably even more so present today. News and sports outlets are a dominated with celebrity buzz.

Rumors of celebrity happenings are the, the stuff that makes social media go wild. In fact, now college sports formerly prohibited athletes from making money as an amateur, at least legally. But in recent laws, athletes can now sell the rights to their name, their image, and their likeness, whatever the heck that means, allowing them to earn money for their fame as an athlete.

And as of today, in more than 30 states, you can even do it in high school. Partaking in this celebrity influence, monetizing your fame. And in today's economy, strength is strength. Power begets power, worldly wisdom, it is wise, and wealth provides happiness, influences monetize. But in God's economy, it seems to be different.

Worldly wisdom teaches us how to get ahead, but Jesus says a seemingly foolish thing, seek first God's kingdom. This earth will pass away. It's just a breath. Strong leaders in our world can climb the corporate ladder, but God's encouragement is to embrace weakness. Life in the kingdom is this downward mobility.

You wanna be the greatest learn to be the least, and your weakness, I will be strong. Well, wealth brings power and just maybe, you know, makes things better. But in fact, Jesus said it's harder for the rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. The road is narrow. Brothers and sisters, God chooses the fools, the weak, the low, and the despise.

And it was so with the Corinthian church, actually many of them were slaves or freed slaves, lowly people, potentially at some time in their life, they were called inferior, the opposite of nobility. The Corinthians referred to such of people like this as nothings. And this is. The team that God chose. And why does he do this?

He shames the wises, the strong, the noble, and not in sort of a negative shaming sense, although there's clearly humility that exists when you see, uh, those people going before. The Greek word here is best translated confound, kind of this, this idea of God choosing what is weak in the world, to confound the strong, to amaze or astonish or to wow them.

It was truly the case with the disciples as they walked into certain towns here and there, and, uh, they, they weren't the people that came in waving to nobility and dressed in the finest threads. The disciples walked in and confused people, astonished them that these people would be closest to Jesus.

Often they were cast out because they didn't measure up to society's standards. God's divine choosing takes weak, lowly, nothings and creates a family of brothers and sisters, strangers, and outcasts. No more. Possibly you're feeling one of two ways right now. Maybe some tremendous agony because you do have some money.

Maybe there is some influence that has worked its way into your life and you've spent your whole life stuffing your brain with wisdom and knowledge and education. I mean, can't God use someone like me in his kingdom? Are you telling me this is all worthless? Or maybe you have this like sneaking elation inside of you because you are always, and you always have been, the weakling, the outcast.

You feel like you're a nobody. I'm smiling, but your bank account is drained. And you're like, God loves and wants me. He picked me for his team. This is great. Well, I'd invite both of you to continue listening because the purpose of God's wisdom, why he does this, continues on in verse 29. Listen to what it says so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.

God chooses, God invites people regardless of a particular skillset or societal standing. We're invited to embrace the same and similar humility that we find in the end, in Revelation what's happening right now in the presence of God. Pastor Mark often talks about this greater than less than scale. I'd encourage you just to take yourself out of the equation of this, I'm rich, or I'm poor, or I'm weak, or I'm strong.

Whatever it is, it's. A comparison trap. He draws us with his grace so that no created being would stand in his presence and boast. But in the presence we cry out in worship and surrender. I want you to just come with me for a minute. I'm gonna ask you to close your eyes. I'm gonna read out of Revelation this morning.

Revelation chapter four. Consider the presence of God and his throne. See if you can imagine what's happening. From the throne came flashes of lightning and rumblings and peels of thunder. And before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God. And before the throne there it was as it were, a, a sea of glass like crystal.

And around the throne on each side of the throne are four living creatures full of eyes in front. And behind the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man and the fourth living creature like an eagle and flight. And the fourth living creatures.

Each of them with six wings are full of eyes all around and within and day and night. They never cease to say Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is, and is to come. And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor, and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, picture this who lives forever and ever.

The 24 elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him, who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne saying, worthy, are you our Lord? And God. To receive glory and honor and power for you, created all things. And by your will, they existed. And were created.

Okay, you can open your eyes. All parts terrifying, all inspiring, exciting, God focused. I mean, in God's presence, there are no titles. Uh, drop your titles, drop your achievements, drop your loyalty. Drop your buffs. You are merged. Anyone survivor, one family of God, one. And in his presence, it's not about us, but his glory.

And so Paul writes that no one would be in the presence of God and boast. Corinthian Church, American Church, fellowship Community Church. We are invited by faith to receive Christ a new identity, not defined by the stuff of this earth, but defined by Jesus. Okay, letter. Be here. Once we have this humility, we're invited to also receive the identity we have in Christ.

This imputed identity, it's a short word, but a strong word. A big word. So I'll give you the verse 30 here. And because of him, God's grace calling us to respond in faith, you are in Christ Jesus who became to us. Wisdom from God, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. The imputed given to us identity of Christ.

It, it just simply means that we've been given the identity. It's not something that we conjured up on our own. It's been given to us In a similar way, this concept has been true since the beginning. In the garden, when Adam sinned in the garden, we were all imputed or given the sin nature of Adam. Now we are born into sin.

The rescue of Jesus comes with two parts of this imputation. The willing. Jesus died in our place for our sins. Our sin was given to him. And what we get is his identity imputed to us. Wow. Do you get that? Given the sin nature to him now, now we have the righteousness of Christ imputed to us. So these words that Paul writes give us a new identity in Christ, it's unifying.

And what are we gonna be unified on these? These words. Maybe you're here this morning and identity's kind of been something you struggled with. Who am I? What defines me? Um, confused about your identity. Maybe you have a low sense of self-worth, down and out. Maybe the identity that you have right now is just characterized by a season of cyclical struggle.

Recently given into sins of the flesh and guilt and shame the chains around your neck. But if you are in Christ, listen closely to your identity this morning. In Christ, we receive the wisdom of God. Not only are we saved by God's wisdom, his wisdom replaces my old way. If you abide in my word, Jesus says in John eight, then you are truly disciples of mine, and you shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

That is the wisdom of God to know what really is true in Christ. We not only receive the wisdom of God, we are given the righteousness of God. His record is now our record. He became sin who knew no sin, that we might become the righteousness of God. We not only receive the wisdom of God, the righteousness of God, we receive God's sanctification in Christ.

His spirit lives inside of us Now, we are now made of incorruptible seed. That means it cannot be destroyed. Growing in holiness and Christlikeness was, let's just pause for a minute. To recognize our role in sanctification, God's role in sanctification. He is changing us. He is not content to keep us as we are.

He's bringing us along in this process, and though I'm part of it, it's God's doing that. We would bear much fruit. And you might pause me and say, ma tree ain't growing fruit so well these days. Mike, I wanna read to you a, a quote from a book that was given to me many years ago. It's been an influence to many of us here at Fellowship.

I'd love to give you a copy. I have none for you today though. Um, it's from the principles of spiritual growth. Listen to this idea of, uh, what true growth looks like. Growth is not a uniform thing in the tree or in the Christian fruit Ripens. Slowly days of sunshine and days of storm each add their share.

Blessing will succeed. Blessing and storm will follow storm before the fruit is fully grown or comes to maturity. God's method for true spiritual growth involves pain as well as joy, suffering, as well as happiness, failure, as well as success, inactivity, as well as service, death, as well as life. And so we open our hands even in this season of our lives and say, Lord, you are sanctifying me.

I can't change that. I'm confident. That you who began a good work in me will complete it at the day of Christ Jesus, Philippians one, six. It's happening in your life. In Christ. We receive also finally, hear God's redemption. Redeem means to, to buy back. We've been purchased from the power of sin and death.

The price of our redemption is not with perishable things like silver or gold. The precious blood of Jesus is the price of our redemption, our sacrifice, and so in Christ, we have much to boast in his new identity. That's unifying family language and it's all for his glory. Verse 31, that the one who boasts, boasts in the Lord.

Okay, finally here, the proclamation of God's wisdom. When Paul came, when Paul was gathering together and writing this letter, here's how it happened.

Chapter two, verse one, an I when I came to you, brothers did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. My speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in a demonstration of the spirit and of power. He first started by calling them back to the beginning when they were called into salvation.

It wasn't about them. Here's your new identity and, and just remind you, I didn't come with some sort of magic power to make you all do these things. I came with the spirit and the power. My words are not what save you. And so his delivery method is one of the things there that we'll look at. Don't misunderstand what Paul is saying here, that he didn't come using those methods, but Paul probably could have used those methods.

He could have spoken with lofty speech. Why? We know he studied under the San Hera leader Galio. He wasn't just some uneducated, worthless dude. He could have tried to debate with them using earthly wisdom, but he didn't. This wasn't the place or the time for gimmicks. He knew that public speaking abilities were not something that received the same power as the spirit, but rather he came armed with what the testimony of God, the testimony of God witnesses can only testify to what they've seen.

Paul's testimony is the story of God's work and think back through all of our study in the Book of Acts, it's been quite a testimony of what God has done in Paul's life, from salvation in his life, all the way through on this journey. Paul has quite the testimony of what God has done. There's this tendency that we have.

Maybe as we approach a difficulty or a project or a thing, we'll, we'll try to navigate all the possibilities of how we're gonna go about it and maybe adding up all of our worth, uh, earthly knowledge. We assess, we calculate, we do the math, we work this thing. And maybe you thought, if you go into the Corinthian people, this is how we're gonna come and we're gonna bring God's word in this way and it's going to impact them in that way.

If it kind of, you bring the proper tools needed, you count the cost of the project and where needed, maybe you just kind of sneak in a little bit of human ingenuity to make things work. Or if you're like me with projects, you jump in too fast, you find the tools you need halfway through, you pray a lot, and then you call your skilled friends to come help you because you have no idea what you're doing.

But Paul didn't. Take human wisdom into this process of preaching the word in Corinth. Why? Because Paul came to know that God doesn't work like us. God destroyed Israel's enemies with trumpets, clay, pots and choir music. God does not work like us. He creates the whole universe and uses his breath.

God doesn't work like us. God defeats giants by sending a lowly shepherd with a slingshot. God doesn't work like us. God builds his church by bringing Jesus back to heaven and sending his spirit. Instead. God doesn't work like us. When God wants to make a missionary, he chose Saul, the one who is persecuting Christians.

God doesn't work like us. God destroys the enemies of sin and death by crushing his son Jesus. On the cross, God doesn't work like us, and that's a good thing. And so Paul comes armed with the testimony of God and a confidence in the spirit's power. The, the final part here is just his posture. He came knowing among them, Jesus and him crucified.

He, he joined with them. He, yes, was teacher pastor, but he was a fellow learner and a worshiper. His goal was that the Corinthian faith would rest upon God's power, not upon his words. The application today, as we just wrap up, sits at the top of your paper this morning. Hopefully it's something you can get behind and explain the strategy, the wisdom of God.

His divine calling invites strangers into his family. Unites them in Christ's identity and enlists them to testify in the spirit's power. Simple questions for you this morning as we, uh, apply this truth, and maybe you're here and you'd ask these questions. Have you responded to God's divine calling? He's gathered us in a variety of places.

I have no idea if the prayer garden people are dry. Maybe you were just wandering by and you took a seat this morning. Maybe you're here in Mount Laurel for the very first time because you came to a vacation Bible school or a soccer camp, and now you find yourself back in this place, maybe in Collingswood.

You've been part of these first couple weeks of the Leader Up summer camp, and now you're attending a service on a Sunday morning. However you arrived, we'd love to welcome you into a personal relationship with Jesus. The weak, the lowly, the outcast, the poor, the sick, the wealthy, the famous, the influential person.

Without Christ, we are all sinick and need of a rescuer. So I encourage you, come talk to me, talk to one of the pastors. Heck, if you heard any part of my sermon, you realize it's not about my words or his words, or your words or anybody's words. It's about the spirit. Talk to somebody this morning. God's divine calling brings strangers into his family.

The second question, if you know Jesus as Lord, do you know today that you are redeemed, sanctified, righteous saints? This is your identity more than anything else. And in Christ, we are a family. So look around the room, wherever you are, out in the prayer garden here in Mount Laurel, in Collingswood. Turn your head.

Go ahead. Look around. Look around the room. Brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers. Remind someone today as you're greeting after the service with family language families pursue healing. We, we do our best to live at peace. We engage in fellowship. We encourage and consider others better than ourselves. We don't divide God's divine calling, invites strangers into his family and unites us in the identity of Christ.

And so, third question as we go. How will we testify? Honestly, for me, there's, there's a piece of this passage that speaks directly to me as a preacher. It's easy to sell out to artfully crafted phrases and witty illustrations. Polishing delivery methods, wordsmithing to my fingers are numb, but there's no power in what I'm saying.

If it's not of the spirit, it will not last. And so you junior high students and high school students, next week, some of you're gonna be going on the mission trip. You testify of the work that God is doing in your life. You present the truth of the Bible, plain and simple. Don't try to convince people of God's love.

Don't force them into believing you can't do that. But do watch for the way the Spirit might show up and surprise you in these next couple weeks. Spend as much time praying for the Spirit to work as doing the work yourself. It's his work. After all. Those of you here with family or friends or coworkers in need of Jesus, keep praying.

But if anything that you might hear from the text this morning, open your mouth. Your fear in speaking of talking about Jesus may say a lot more about you than it does about the other person. Your trust maybe is in yourself or your words. I, I love the way that Mary Magdalene and the, the chosen series, the way that her testimony is given.

It's just a few simple words. I was one way and now I'm completely different. That's it. It's not your words. But in a demonstration of the spirit's power, God's divine calling brings strangers into his family, unites us together in Christ's identity and enlists us to testify of the spirit's power. What a gift it is.

We get to celebrate communion this morning, and we're gonna do, so. The ushers are gonna, our section hosts are gonna come and gather the elements here and we're gonna begin distributing them. I just wanna read to you kind of out of the passage this morning in First Corinthians chapter 11, what happened?

This family meal. For those that know Christ, you guys can start passing out. I'm gonna talk and pass. If you've made a profession of faith, if you know Christ, this is a time to remember God's faithfulness in pursuing you to proclaim God's faithfulness. As often as we eat and drink of this cup, listen to one Corinthians, for I receive from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed, took bread and when he had given thanks, he broke it.

And said, this is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way, also, he took the cup after supper saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

It's in remembrance of Christ's blood shed on the cross in the proclamation of Christ's death to all who would hear,]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-wisdom-of-god a76417c6-9a41-4b7f-893a-813ef916abaf Sun, 09 Jul 2023 15:31:32 GMT <div data-html="true">1 Corinthians 1:26-2:5 <br /><br /> For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> All right, well we are going to continue our study this morning, not though in the Book of Acts, but somewhere close to it. So turn in your Bibles this morning to First Corinthians. We're gonna be in chapter one again, deviating from the Acts series this morning, but not too far because actually First Corinthians is a letter written by Paul to the Corinthian church and it so happens that Paul wrote this letter during his second missionary journey. <br /><br /> Right around Acts chapter 20. We were just there last week. And so, uh, to kind of catch you up, uh, some of you're gonna groan, but we're gonna bring back the map this morning. Okay, so we are not done the Book of Acts, so this is not the last time you're gonna see it either. But, uh, Paul's second missionary journey, the top left of your screen there, you'll see Philippi. <br /><br /> And he moved from Philippi to Thessalonica to Bea, he preached to the men of Athens, and then was in Corinth. And while in Corinth, Paul met, uh, two people named Priscilla and Aquila. They were Jewish believers who began then preaching in the synagogues with Paul, Silas and Timothy. You know, they were kind of left behind in Athens and then caught up to Paul and Corinth and the preaching ministry grew, began proclaiming the gospel with boldness. <br /><br /> And so in the midst of that boldness, opposition became more bold as well. Many Corinthians Jews believed in Jesus, even Crispus, one of the synagogue leaders in Acts chapter 18, Paul was there in Corinth for about a year and a half preaching. And so, uh, during this time, some of the religious leaders kind of drag Paul and sent him into this Roman tribunal where they were gonna try him for a religious crime, which the Romans said we could care less. <br /><br /> Sent him out. And so then eventually Paul, Priscilla Aquila all set sail for Ephesus. That's that scoop there under into Asia. And then they would take the longer sail all the way back into Palestine, strengthening the churches along the way. So a man emerged in this whole process. We heard about Apollos. <br /><br /> Apollos was the second pastor of the Corinthian church. If Paul was the first, Apollos was the second guy. He was eloquent, mighty in the scriptures and had some doctrinal deficiencies. Pastor Joe talked about the way, uh, Priscilla and Aquila gently came alongside of him correcting some of the things, rebuking him in private, uh, as he's, as he's preaching. <br /><br /> And meanwhile, as Paul is traveling and taking these sail trips around, word came to him through the spirit of God, through the people in a woman named Chloe's house that evidently in the Corinthian church, as Paul has left, what's happened is there started to arise some difficulty, some division. And that's where we are in chapter one, verse 10. <br /><br /> So we're gonna look at this letter that Paul writes to the Corinthians this morning. Read with me. I appeal to you brothers by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment for it's been reported to me by Chloe's people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. <br /><br /> What I mean is that each one of you says, I follow Paul, or I follow Apollos, or I follow Cipha, which is Peter's name in Aramaic, or I follow Christ. Is Christ divided. Was Paul crucified for you or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gais so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name. <br /><br /> I did baptize also the household of Stephanus. Beyond that, I don't know who, whether I baptized anyone else for Christ, did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel. And not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved that it's, it is the power of God. <br /><br /> For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the discernment of the discerning. I will thwart. Where is the one who is wise? Where's the scribe? Where's the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world for sin in the wisdom of God. The world did not know God Through wisdom. <br /><br /> It pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews, demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we, we preach Christ crucified. A stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God. <br /><br /> For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. We're gonna camp out right in this section here for Consider Your Calling Brothers. Not many of you were wise according to worldly standards. Not many were powerful. Not many were of noble birth, but God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise. <br /><br /> God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong God, chose what is low and despised in the world, even the things that are not to bring to nothing. Things that are so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him, you are in Christ Jesus who became to us. Wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that as it is written, let the one who boasts boast in the Lord. <br /><br /> And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling and, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. <br /><br /> Thanks for bearing with me this morning. It was a long passage to read and some of you, when you got to chapter two were like, oh no. Here he goes into chapter two, and you did great. The public reading of God's word is something we are encouraged to do, but I get it. It's a long passage, so we're gonna play a game. <br /><br /> Okay? Uh, some of you were already struggling with a standup sit down method of church. We're gonna do that again this morning because you know what? There were some divisions in the Corinthian church and so in good fun, we're gonna create a little bit of division, innocuous division this morning in the church. <br /><br /> Okay? Some of you were like, this is a bad idea. It might be, I actually wrote down this could be a bad idea. Um, but here we go. So I'm gonna ask you to stand not yet. I'm gonna ask you to stand if this is something that you like, and stay, stay seated if it's something that you do not like, okay. Simple as that. <br /><br /> Stand if you like it, sit if you do not like it. And stay seated. If you are just too cool for this game. Okay. Stand if you are a big fan of thunderstorms. Okay. Anybody thunder, fan of thunderstorms? Okay, good. Okay. All right. Have a seat. Okay. Stand up if you enjoy, you're, you're a fan of the taste of cilantro, cuz that's a dividing one. <br /><br /> Some people think it tastes like soap. All right. Good. Have a seat. My people. Okay. Okay. Stand if you are, uh, someone who likes the beach. Okay. And you're all like, it's the Sure. Okay. Okay. Have a seat. Stand if you are part of the crazy people that like Hawaiian pizza, fruit on your pizza. Right. Look at this division. <br /><br /> Isn't this great? Okay. Have a seat. Okay. Stand If you are, uh, in the majority or minority who like olives, you're an olive lover. Wow. More than I expected. Okay. All right. How many of you? And this might be tough cuz it's, it could be still early, if you like, early mornings. Okay. And they're all like, yes, and I'm awake. <br /><br /> Okay, great. Have a seat. Okay. Last one here. I'm just curious. This might be the stand if you like, blue cheese. Just a few people. Oh, it's way more than I thought. Okay. All right. Two hands up on the balcony. Wow. Wow. All right. Okay. Everybody can have us. Good. You're, you're good. Well, there were some divisions among the church and it wasn't about the food that they ate. <br /><br /> It was around the people, the teachers, they followed. The Greek word is schiz mata. We get this schism, this tearing apart or ripping into of the church factions developed. Some people were loyal to their current pastor Apollos. Right? He was a great help to the church. He was knowledgeable. He was a smart guy. <br /><br /> He was eloquent. Some were loyal to the og. Pastor Paul. He began the Corinthian church, right? He was there for a year and a half. There was great loyalty to him and others claimed Peter as their guy. Evidently, a small group of Jews in the church came to faith through Peter's ministry. And then there was this other group, another group claimed exclusive loyalty to Christ. <br /><br /> There's no need for human teachers. Jesus plus nobody. And though they were following Christ, the spirit in which they did, it was divisive. And so even the people that proclaimed Christ were included in this list of divisions, we're not that much different today, right? We rally around leaders and theological heroes of the faith, propping up pastors to lead the charge of the movement, creating lines in the sand based on the teachers that we follow or their doctrinal positions. <br /><br /> Apollos Paul, Peter, Jesus, to human tendency to wanna give our loyalty to men. A spirit of pride and division centered around, oddly enough, Jesus, the division centered around the wor words and the ways of Jesus, and it was polluting the church. And so Paul writes to combat this division. His purpose was creating unity because among the Corinthian church, there were all these people, Jews, gentiles, slaves, free, wealthy, poor. <br /><br /> They were to be united in Christ. And so as he's writing here, he's proclaiming this wisdom of God in his purpose, his plan, his direction, and the ways he goes about organizing his kingdom. There's really one main idea. Get your pencils, your pens, whatever out. Here's your first fill in the blank. It's actually your first like six, fill in the blanks, but I'm gonna hit all six right now. <br /><br /> Here's the the summary main idea. God's divine calling invites strangers into his family, unites them in Christ's identity and enlists them. To testify in the spirit's power, his divine calling invites strangers into his family, unites them in Christ's identity and enlists them to testify of the spirit's power. <br /><br /> Gonna look into this passage. The first part here, the, the paradox of God's wisdom. Why would God do it this way? And Paul begins by asking the brothers there to consider their calling. H how did they even come to faith in Christ? This calling refers to their salvation. And so salvation we know is always first God's movement towards us. <br /><br /> Salvation is God's movement towards us. He's always been calling out Romans one. We, we find that all of creation is declaring leaving all people without excuse. The prophets were used as God's mouthpiece through the generations in order to bring a prophetic word to his people, who oftentimes would air in different directions. <br /><br /> Second Timothy, God calls, uh, us to himself by his grace, sending Jesus wrapped in human flesh and continues to call us through his written word today, living and active. So it is. Jesus says in John 6 44, listen to these words. No one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him want that for theology 1 0 1. <br /><br /> No one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him later in a John 15, six, he says, you didn't choose me. I chose you. Salvation is always first. God's movement towards us. And he says, consider your calling. That's what they just did, and he calls them brothers. This language that's unifying, that's family, it's, it's to put the divisions away. <br /><br /> You weren't called because you were something special. He says, not many of you were wise. Not many of you were powerful or of noble birth. Some of you were possibly, but as a whole, it was a very plain church. Or to say it a different way, you were a bunch of foolish, weak, nobodies. Paul says it more kind, but that's what he's saying. <br /><br /> God doesn't choose people based on their worldly greatness, their wisdom, their power, their nobility. It's not really attractive to God. He doesn't need us to further his kingdom. He doesn't pursue people because they have great means, or he's not drawn to fame as we are. He isn't more gracious to influential leaders. <br /><br /> His grace invites us to follow him with, oddly enough, the exact same faith requirement for you and you and me and you and everybody. And he expands on that question, that kind of paradox that why God would choose this with kind of a contrast here in verse 27 and 28. Look at this. But God chose what's foolish in the world to shame the wise. <br /><br /> God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong, what is low and despised even the things that are not to bring to nothing. Things that are the draw to celebrity and to kind of power was present then and probably even more so present today. News and sports outlets are a dominated with celebrity buzz. <br /><br /> Rumors of celebrity happenings are the, the stuff that makes social media go wild. In fact, now college sports formerly prohibited athletes from making money as an amateur, at least legally. But in recent laws, athletes can now sell the rights to their name, their image, and their likeness, whatever the heck that means, allowing them to earn money for their fame as an athlete. <br /><br /> And as of today, in more than 30 states, you can even do it in high school. Partaking in this celebrity influence, monetizing your fame. And in today's economy, strength is strength. Power begets power, worldly wisdom, it is wise, and wealth provides happiness, influences monetize. But in God's economy, it seems to be different. <br /><br /> Worldly wisdom teaches us how to get ahead, but Jesus says a seemingly foolish thing, seek first God's kingdom. This earth will pass away. It's just a breath. Strong leaders in our world can climb the corporate ladder, but God's encouragement is to embrace weakness. Life in the kingdom is this downward mobility. <br /><br /> You wanna be the greatest learn to be the least, and your weakness, I will be strong. Well, wealth brings power and just maybe, you know, makes things better. But in fact, Jesus said it's harder for the rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. The road is narrow. Brothers and sisters, God chooses the fools, the weak, the low, and the despise. <br /><br /> And it was so with the Corinthian church, actually many of them were slaves or freed slaves, lowly people, potentially at some time in their life, they were called inferior, the opposite of nobility. The Corinthians referred to such of people like this as nothings. And this is. The team that God chose. And why does he do this? <br /><br /> He shames the wises, the strong, the noble, and not in sort of a negative shaming sense, although there's clearly humility that exists when you see, uh, those people going before. The Greek word here is best translated confound, kind of this, this idea of God choosing what is weak in the world, to confound the strong, to amaze or astonish or to wow them. <br /><br /> It was truly the case with the disciples as they walked into certain towns here and there, and, uh, they, they weren't the people that came in waving to nobility and dressed in the finest threads. The disciples walked in and confused people, astonished them that these people would be closest to Jesus. <br /><br /> Often they were cast out because they didn't measure up to society's standards. God's divine choosing takes weak, lowly, nothings and creates a family of brothers and sisters, strangers, and outcasts. No more. Possibly you're feeling one of two ways right now. Maybe some tremendous agony because you do have some money. <br /><br /> Maybe there is some influence that has worked its way into your life and you've spent your whole life stuffing your brain with wisdom and knowledge and education. I mean, can't God use someone like me in his kingdom? Are you telling me this is all worthless? Or maybe you have this like sneaking elation inside of you because you are always, and you always have been, the weakling, the outcast. <br /><br /> You feel like you're a nobody. I'm smiling, but your bank account is drained. And you're like, God loves and wants me. He picked me for his team. This is great. Well, I'd invite both of you to continue listening because the purpose of God's wisdom, why he does this, continues on in verse 29. Listen to what it says so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. <br /><br /> God chooses, God invites people regardless of a particular skillset or societal standing. We're invited to embrace the same and similar humility that we find in the end, in Revelation what's happening right now in the presence of God. Pastor Mark often talks about this greater than less than scale. I'd encourage you just to take yourself out of the equation of this, I'm rich, or I'm poor, or I'm weak, or I'm strong. <br /><br /> Whatever it is, it's. A comparison trap. He draws us with his grace so that no created being would stand in his presence and boast. But in the presence we cry out in worship and surrender. I want you to just come with me for a minute. I'm gonna ask you to close your eyes. I'm gonna read out of Revelation this morning. <br /><br /> Revelation chapter four. Consider the presence of God and his throne. See if you can imagine what's happening. From the throne came flashes of lightning and rumblings and peels of thunder. And before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God. And before the throne there it was as it were, a, a sea of glass like crystal. <br /><br /> And around the throne on each side of the throne are four living creatures full of eyes in front. And behind the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man and the fourth living creature like an eagle and flight. And the fourth living creatures. <br /><br /> Each of them with six wings are full of eyes all around and within and day and night. They never cease to say Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is, and is to come. And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor, and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, picture this who lives forever and ever. <br /><br /> The 24 elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him, who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne saying, worthy, are you our Lord? And God. To receive glory and honor and power for you, created all things. And by your will, they existed. And were created. <br /><br /> Okay, you can open your eyes. All parts terrifying, all inspiring, exciting, God focused. I mean, in God's presence, there are no titles. Uh, drop your titles, drop your achievements, drop your loyalty. Drop your buffs. You are merged. Anyone survivor, one family of God, one. And in his presence, it's not about us, but his glory. <br /><br /> And so Paul writes that no one would be in the presence of God and boast. Corinthian Church, American Church, fellowship Community Church. We are invited by faith to receive Christ a new identity, not defined by the stuff of this earth, but defined by Jesus. Okay, letter. Be here. Once we have this humility, we're invited to also receive the identity we have in Christ. <br /><br /> This imputed identity, it's a short word, but a strong word. A big word. So I'll give you the verse 30 here. And because of him, God's grace calling us to respond in faith, you are in Christ Jesus who became to us. Wisdom from God, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. The imputed given to us identity of Christ. <br /><br /> It, it just simply means that we've been given the identity. It's not something that we conjured up on our own. It's been given to us In a similar way, this concept has been true since the beginning. In the garden, when Adam sinned in the garden, we were all imputed or given the sin nature of Adam. Now we are born into sin. <br /><br /> The rescue of Jesus comes with two parts of this imputation. The willing. Jesus died in our place for our sins. Our sin was given to him. And what we get is his identity imputed to us. Wow. Do you get that? Given the sin nature to him now, now we have the righteousness of Christ imputed to us. So these words that Paul writes give us a new identity in Christ, it's unifying. <br /><br /> And what are we gonna be unified on these? These words. Maybe you're here this morning and identity's kind of been something you struggled with. Who am I? What defines me? Um, confused about your identity. Maybe you have a low sense of self-worth, down and out. Maybe the identity that you have right now is just characterized by a season of cyclical struggle. <br /><br /> Recently given into sins of the flesh and guilt and shame the chains around your neck. But if you are in Christ, listen closely to your identity this morning. In Christ, we receive the wisdom of God. Not only are we saved by God's wisdom, his wisdom replaces my old way. If you abide in my word, Jesus says in John eight, then you are truly disciples of mine, and you shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free. <br /><br /> That is the wisdom of God to know what really is true in Christ. We not only receive the wisdom of God, we are given the righteousness of God. His record is now our record. He became sin who knew no sin, that we might become the righteousness of God. We not only receive the wisdom of God, the righteousness of God, we receive God's sanctification in Christ. <br /><br /> His spirit lives inside of us Now, we are now made of incorruptible seed. That means it cannot be destroyed. Growing in holiness and Christlikeness was, let's just pause for a minute. To recognize our role in sanctification, God's role in sanctification. He is changing us. He is not content to keep us as we are. <br /><br /> He's bringing us along in this process, and though I'm part of it, it's God's doing that. We would bear much fruit. And you might pause me and say, ma tree ain't growing fruit so well these days. Mike, I wanna read to you a, a quote from a book that was given to me many years ago. It's been an influence to many of us here at Fellowship. <br /><br /> I'd love to give you a copy. I have none for you today though. Um, it's from the principles of spiritual growth. Listen to this idea of, uh, what true growth looks like. Growth is not a uniform thing in the tree or in the Christian fruit Ripens. Slowly days of sunshine and days of storm each add their share. <br /><br /> Blessing will succeed. Blessing and storm will follow storm before the fruit is fully grown or comes to maturity. God's method for true spiritual growth involves pain as well as joy, suffering, as well as happiness, failure, as well as success, inactivity, as well as service, death, as well as life. And so we open our hands even in this season of our lives and say, Lord, you are sanctifying me. <br /><br /> I can't change that. I'm confident. That you who began a good work in me will complete it at the day of Christ Jesus, Philippians one, six. It's happening in your life. In Christ. We receive also finally, hear God's redemption. Redeem means to, to buy back. We've been purchased from the power of sin and death. <br /><br /> The price of our redemption is not with perishable things like silver or gold. The precious blood of Jesus is the price of our redemption, our sacrifice, and so in Christ, we have much to boast in his new identity. That's unifying family language and it's all for his glory. Verse 31, that the one who boasts, boasts in the Lord. <br /><br /> Okay, finally here, the proclamation of God's wisdom. When Paul came, when Paul was gathering together and writing this letter, here's how it happened. <br /><br /> Chapter two, verse one, an I when I came to you, brothers did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. My speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in a demonstration of the spirit and of power. He first started by calling them back to the beginning when they were called into salvation. <br /><br /> It wasn't about them. Here's your new identity and, and just remind you, I didn't come with some sort of magic power to make you all do these things. I came with the spirit and the power. My words are not what save you. And so his delivery method is one of the things there that we'll look at. Don't misunderstand what Paul is saying here, that he didn't come using those methods, but Paul probably could have used those methods. <br /><br /> He could have spoken with lofty speech. Why? We know he studied under the San Hera leader Galio. He wasn't just some uneducated, worthless dude. He could have tried to debate with them using earthly wisdom, but he didn't. This wasn't the place or the time for gimmicks. He knew that public speaking abilities were not something that received the same power as the spirit, but rather he came armed with what the testimony of God, the testimony of God witnesses can only testify to what they've seen. <br /><br /> Paul's testimony is the story of God's work and think back through all of our study in the Book of Acts, it's been quite a testimony of what God has done in Paul's life, from salvation in his life, all the way through on this journey. Paul has quite the testimony of what God has done. There's this tendency that we have. <br /><br /> Maybe as we approach a difficulty or a project or a thing, we'll, we'll try to navigate all the possibilities of how we're gonna go about it and maybe adding up all of our worth, uh, earthly knowledge. We assess, we calculate, we do the math, we work this thing. And maybe you thought, if you go into the Corinthian people, this is how we're gonna come and we're gonna bring God's word in this way and it's going to impact them in that way. <br /><br /> If it kind of, you bring the proper tools needed, you count the cost of the project and where needed, maybe you just kind of sneak in a little bit of human ingenuity to make things work. Or if you're like me with projects, you jump in too fast, you find the tools you need halfway through, you pray a lot, and then you call your skilled friends to come help you because you have no idea what you're doing. <br /><br /> But Paul didn't. Take human wisdom into this process of preaching the word in Corinth. Why? Because Paul came to know that God doesn't work like us. God destroyed Israel's enemies with trumpets, clay, pots and choir music. God does not work like us. He creates the whole universe and uses his breath. <br /><br /> God doesn't work like us. God defeats giants by sending a lowly shepherd with a slingshot. God doesn't work like us. God builds his church by bringing Jesus back to heaven and sending his spirit. Instead. God doesn't work like us. When God wants to make a missionary, he chose Saul, the one who is persecuting Christians. <br /><br /> God doesn't work like us. God destroys the enemies of sin and death by crushing his son Jesus. On the cross, God doesn't work like us, and that's a good thing. And so Paul comes armed with the testimony of God and a confidence in the spirit's power. The, the final part here is just his posture. He came knowing among them, Jesus and him crucified. <br /><br /> He, he joined with them. He, yes, was teacher pastor, but he was a fellow learner and a worshiper. His goal was that the Corinthian faith would rest upon God's power, not upon his words. The application today, as we just wrap up, sits at the top of your paper this morning. Hopefully it's something you can get behind and explain the strategy, the wisdom of God. <br /><br /> His divine calling invites strangers into his family. Unites them in Christ's identity and enlists them to testify in the spirit's power. Simple questions for you this morning as we, uh, apply this truth, and maybe you're here and you'd ask these questions. Have you responded to God's divine calling? He's gathered us in a variety of places. <br /><br /> I have no idea if the prayer garden people are dry. Maybe you were just wandering by and you took a seat this morning. Maybe you're here in Mount Laurel for the very first time because you came to a vacation Bible school or a soccer camp, and now you find yourself back in this place, maybe in Collingswood. <br /><br /> You've been part of these first couple weeks of the Leader Up summer camp, and now you're attending a service on a Sunday morning. However you arrived, we'd love to welcome you into a personal relationship with Jesus. The weak, the lowly, the outcast, the poor, the sick, the wealthy, the famous, the influential person. <br /><br /> Without Christ, we are all sinick and need of a rescuer. So I encourage you, come talk to me, talk to one of the pastors. Heck, if you heard any part of my sermon, you realize it's not about my words or his words, or your words or anybody's words. It's about the spirit. Talk to somebody this morning. God's divine calling brings strangers into his family. <br /><br /> The second question, if you know Jesus as Lord, do you know today that you are redeemed, sanctified, righteous saints? This is your identity more than anything else. And in Christ, we are a family. So look around the room, wherever you are, out in the prayer garden here in Mount Laurel, in Collingswood. Turn your head. <br /><br /> Go ahead. Look around. Look around the room. Brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers. Remind someone today as you're greeting after the service with family language families pursue healing. We, we do our best to live at peace. We engage in fellowship. We encourage and consider others better than ourselves. We don't divide God's divine calling, invites strangers into his family and unites us in the identity of Christ. <br /><br /> And so, third question as we go. How will we testify? Honestly, for me, there's, there's a piece of this passage that speaks directly to me as a preacher. It's easy to sell out to artfully crafted phrases and witty illustrations. Polishing delivery methods, wordsmithing to my fingers are numb, but there's no power in what I'm saying. <br /><br /> If it's not of the spirit, it will not last. And so you junior high students and high school students, next week, some of you're gonna be going on the mission trip. You testify of the work that God is doing in your life. You present the truth of the Bible, plain and simple. Don't try to convince people of God's love. <br /><br /> Don't force them into believing you can't do that. But do watch for the way the Spirit might show up and surprise you in these next couple weeks. Spend as much time praying for the Spirit to work as doing the work yourself. It's his work. After all. Those of you here with family or friends or coworkers in need of Jesus, keep praying. <br /><br /> But if anything that you might hear from the text this morning, open your mouth. Your fear in speaking of talking about Jesus may say a lot more about you than it does about the other person. Your trust maybe is in yourself or your words. I, I love the way that Mary Magdalene and the, the chosen series, the way that her testimony is given. <br /><br /> It's just a few simple words. I was one way and now I'm completely different. That's it. It's not your words. But in a demonstration of the spirit's power, God's divine calling brings strangers into his family, unites us together in Christ's identity and enlists us to testify of the spirit's power. What a gift it is. <br /><br /> We get to celebrate communion this morning, and we're gonna do, so. The ushers are gonna, our section hosts are gonna come and gather the elements here and we're gonna begin distributing them. I just wanna read to you kind of out of the passage this morning in First Corinthians chapter 11, what happened? <br /><br /> This family meal. For those that know Christ, you guys can start passing out. I'm gonna talk and pass. If you've made a profession of faith, if you know Christ, this is a time to remember God's faithfulness in pursuing you to proclaim God's faithfulness. As often as we eat and drink of this cup, listen to one Corinthians, for I receive from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed, took bread and when he had given thanks, he broke it. <br /><br /> And said, this is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way, also, he took the cup after supper saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. <br /><br /> It's in remembrance of Christ's blood shed on the cross in the proclamation of Christ's death to all who would hear,</div> false no <![CDATA[Paul's Burden for Wishy Washy Christians]]> Acts 20:1-6

When he had gone through those regions and had given them much encouragement, he came to Greece.



Sermon Transcript:

Invite you to take your Bibles to Acts chapter 20. Uh, acts chapter 20. We're gonna be looking at verses one through six. So we return to our series in the book of Acts, the Spirit at work to the ends of the Earth. Excited about this message because it is a unique and a short passage, but the more I dove into it, the more I got excited about what I think is really portrayed here.

We're gonna look at verses one through six. Let me read aloud to you in Acts chapter 20. After the uproar cease, Paul sent for the disciples, and after encouraging them, he said farewell and departed for Macedonia. When he had gone through those regions and had given them much encouragement, he came to Greece.

There he spent three months, and when a plot was made against him by the Jews, as he was about to set sail for Syria, he decided to pass through and return through Macedonia Sour. The Buran son of PRUs accompanied him and of the Thessalonians. Arista and NDA and Gais of Derby and Timothy and the Asians cus and Trois.

These went on ahead and were waiting for us at Troas, but we sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread and in five days we came to Troas where we stayed for seven days. Let's pray,

Lord, this morning. First of all, I just want to thank you for your word. I thank you Lord, that we are not left to the voices of culture. Most of all, we're not left to the voices in our own head. We can hear the voice of God and Lord, we want to approach your word that way. This morning we ask you to teach us to, uh, as people.

Here in this room, there's people here in Collingswood. There's people here in the prayer garden. Really need to hear the scriptures speak into their lives this morning as you make yourself known to where they are. So God, do that. Enable us to hear, to respond in Jesus' name. Amen.

It was April 23rd, 1909. Teddy Roosevelt, now out of the presidency, was going through a European tour. He had just finished a big African safari with his son and he'd been invited to speak at Paris at the University of Paris. And while there he spoke to the large theater that was at the University of Paris, the large lecture hall.

And he presented what has been become known as Tr R's greatest speech. Although he didn't entitle this, it has been given the title, the Man in the Arena. Here's one of the statements he made. It's not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.

The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood. Who strives valiantly, who airs, who comes short again and again because there is no effort without error and shortcoming. But who does actually strive to do the deeds? Who knows? The great enthusiasms, the great devotions who spends time, spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end, the triumph of high achievement.

And who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. Spoken by tr these sentiments of being in the arena, of, of being an engaged player in the theater of life that is going on was very much at the heart and the passion of the Apostle Paul.

For him to be a man in the arena and to passionately follow his calling to be a representative of Jesus Christ in his life and in his generation, it is his passion to call others to do the same. And in this pivotal moment in Paul's life, we find that we are seeing an apostle. Who is finishing 10 year, a 10 year missionary journey?

Actually three of them. He has spent the majority of that time in the last three years in Ephesus, a the largest and most prominent city in the Roman Empire other than Rome itself. And as he is there, his eyes are now opening to a return to Jerusalem and he hopes then to a whole new mission to Rome and then to Spain.

He writes around this time of his sense that his work is in a transition season. He says it this way in Romans 1519, written around this time. He said, from Jerusalem and all the way around to Lyric, I have fulfilled the ministry of the Gospel of Christ. And thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else's foundation.

This is a map that I'm gonna bring up here that just portrays the area where Paul has been ministering on this last missionary journey. And if you see the red portion over there where the, the red line comes across and goes up, you see the city of Ephesus and the city of Ephesus is where he has spent the last three years.

He's going to have a short joint and we're gonna talk about that joint. But actually, when he leaves Ephesus, he is in his mind, done. He is now just going to do a couple of things we're gonna talk about because they're really interesting to understand. But he's now saying, I'm, I'm finishing and I'm just going to visit the churches that I've already started in Greece and in in Macedonia.

But basically, I. I am completing my role to this point. Now, it's a striking statement. If you notice verse chapter 20 verse one. It says, after the uproar, uproar, Paul leaves. Well, this wasn't uproar. If you remember last week we were talking about the idle makers of the city after three years have had it with Paul and the Christians, and they, they're, they're, they're causing the demise, at least the lessening, the diminishing of their idle ministry, their work, their, their livelihood.

They've got the people of the city all worked up that their glory, which was the temple of Artemis, the largest physical structure and the entire Roman Empire, is now gonna lose its prestige. And so they've dragged the, the followers of Christ into a theater, the 25,000 seat theater. They've had this crazy protest that's going on, and it's taken the township manager, basically the pro council of the town to calm everybody down.

And then we say after this uproar, And you think after this uproar where now the Christians have been front page headlines, I mean, they're the lead in story for every network after this uproar, Paul determines to leave. And you wanna say, Paul, what in the world you thinking? I mean, this is your moment, man.

This is when, when there's never been more opportunity. Yeah, sure. It's a little hot. But I mean, what what's going on, Paul, is, is this, uh, speak the truth and leave immediately afterwards type of thing. You know, you can say what you want as long as you can get out of town. Well, we find as we look at the context in Acts 19, verse 21, Paul had already decided to go back to Macedonia and he's already sent two of his partners ahead of him.

Paul is wrapping up his three missionary journeys. In, in that passage I read a moment ago, Paul said, I have preached the gospel from Jerusalem. That's way over here in the yellow. And he said all the way to a lyric. If you look way up on the top in the orange part, AUM is just outside of the map. He says, this entire map, I've done my job.

I've spent 10 years planting the gospel. Now I'm going back to be sent hopefully to Rome and then to Spain. So at this moment, Paul is particularly concerned about his final messaging to his churches and we find as we study this passage and, and some other things that will play in that Paul is particularly burdened about the people that are in the churches that are not in the arena, that they're not wholehearted.

That they're playing it safe, comfortable with the talk, but not the walk. For Paul, you are all in or you are living like you are all out. You can't really straddle the line as a Jesus follower and also try to be a world pursuer. And Paul is now passionate about this and I'd like to demonstrate in this passage, Paul's passion for those that are, are sort of in the balance as he presents two things he's passionate about.

First of those, he is passionate about stoking the flame of Christ-centered living. You see what he did in verse one and two. Luke describes his role first in Ephesus, and then when he travels up to Macedonia, where Philippi and Thessalonica were, it says this in verse one and two. After the uproar ceased in Acts 20, Paul sent for the disciples that's from Ephesus.

And after encouraging them, He said farewell and departed from Macedonia. Verse two. When he had gone through those regions and had given them much encouragement, he came to Greece. His ministry at this time in Paul's life is defined by Luke as centered on the role of an encourager. Now the word encouragement, parlo and the original is a verb that actually is translated, encourage exhort, comfort, uh, plead with, it carries the idea of of urging people, particularly when it is related to public ministry or public preaching.

The word carries more of an exhortative statement. Um, we actually do this as well. We even use the word encourage. This way we, we think of encouragement. Meanwhile, it's giving a pat on the back. It's supporting people. It certainly does involve that, but we also use the term in this way. I really encourage you to go and see her.

I encourage you to, to leave this job and, and go find something else. Well, we're not then giving 'em a pat on the back. We're saying, go for it. I mean, go talk to her. Go, go pursue, get the resume out. Get it out there. It's, it's a motivational sense. This is the sense in which Paul is going to these churches.

He's speaking to those that need incentive, urging, exhorting, the word exert. We don't, none of us use that. I, I exhort you to do this, but we urge people. We might even say, man, I, I plead with you to go and talk to her. That's the sense here that Paul is going around when he has this last swing with Christians.

It is though, in these churches, it is that what is in involved, his ministry in this season is more motivating. Than teaching. He is spending his time with believers here primarily, and some of them now have been Christians for a while. Some of them are starting the next gen. Some of them are the next gen coming up, and Paul is here pleading with them to be all in.

And this really is Paul's focus. Let me demonstrate this, bring the map up again if we could. And this time I've added two stars. The blue star is Ephesus, where Paul starts. Then it says he goes to Macedonia. And while he is in Ephesus, Paul wrote the letter to the Corinthians, first Corinthians. He also wrote them a letter that we don't have called the, the, the lost letter in which he just, he really laid into him because of what he saw in the city.

But in the third letter, which is in Philippi in green. He wrote two Corinthians when Paul wrote his letters. He uses the word encourage, exhort, plead with urge, challenge people to move forward no more than nine times in any of his letters. When he wrote Second Corinthians to the Corinthian church from, from Philippi, he used the word 27 times the whole letter.

This time of Paul's life, Luke is getting it right. This is what Paul is about. He's, he's urging those that are sort of playing on the sidelines that, that, you know, aren't quite really in. And yeah, I'm not, you know, am I a Christian? Yeah, yeah. But am I living like, well, you know, no, he's saying, come on, he's urging, he's challenging.

This season, Paul, as he goes back through, is challenging Christians who have known him for a little while, who know the jargon, who know the language, who have maybe tasted. Some of it reminds me of the danger that is creeping in for them and for us. Chad Walsh describes it in his intriguing book called Early Christians.

In the 21st century, millions of Christians live in a sentimental haze of vague piety with Christian music playing in the background. Their religion is a pleasant thing of emotional quivers. Divorced from the will, divorced from the intellect, and demanding little except lift service to a few harmless platitudes.

I suspect that Satan has called off as attempt to convert people to agnosticism. After all, if a person travels far enough away from Christianity, he's liable to see it in perspective and decide that it's real. It's much safer from Satan's point of view to vaccinate a person with a mild case of Christianity so as to protect him from the real disease.

I think that's what Paul was feeling. It's those people. He says, I, I, I, I wanna touch them when I get to their churches. It's who I wanna wanna, I wanna write about to second Corinthians. He says, it's the people that have sort of become inoculated against the real disease because they, they know the jargon, they, he's passionate for these people.

Why was it necessary? Well, Corinth was a classic example of a church that had lost a passion for godliness and for them like us, it was slow, it was insidious. But as you look at the Church of Corinth, from through the eyes of Paul's letters, You find that it was a church that was in conflict. Uh, pride was there, sensuality was so overlooked in people's lives.

That, that, Paul has to write about this. A guy that evidently has some degree of prominence in the church and he's sleeping with his stepmother. Well, the father is still alive, and he says, what are you thinking to the church? He says, even, even people in secular life don't look at this as appropriate, but he says, get some fire in your lives.

You look no different from the world.

They had slid into a godless life, and I'm sure as and, and the joyful thing. We'll see in a moment. The Corinthians did repent and turned to the Lord, but I'm sure if you interviewed a lot of those people, it would've been this kind of a moment for me. They would've just said, I. I, I just don't know how I got here.

I just don't know what happened. All of a sudden, I was doing things, I was gone places. I was immersed in practices. I can't believe how I got there. I can't believe the things I was choosing.

I had this con, I've actually had this conversation a few times in the last few weeks. I really believe in our day, if you are a follower of Jesus Christ, and if you're saying, I, I'm, I'm trying to straddle, you know, which actually means you're really stepping back in or for the first time into a lifestyle, you know, is not ultimately honoring to Christ in days past.

I think you can step out of Christian life and you can sort of go to here. And you, you know, and, and it's not that different. You can't do that in our culture anymore. You step out of a Christ-centered lifestyle and you're stepping here, you will find yourself being drawn into the, I cannot tell you the number of conversations I have had in the last couple of years of people saying to me, I just have no idea how I got from here to here.

I'm not talking just about young people. I'm not just talking about young adults. Paul is passionate for people like you, and he's saying, rekindle the fire, embrace Christ wholeheartedly. And he's saying, I exhort you. I urge you, I plead with you. He's doing it by letter. He's doing it by personal conversations.

So what was needed to get the flame rekindled? Well, we see two quick things, obvious things that the New Testament talks about. Obviously, you have to be with God. You have to know God wants you to be with him. And you remember the book of Micah where God says this to a people that were, were it replete with sins in their life.

He said, remember this, God delights to show mercy. God delights to show mercy

being in the presence of the Lord, allowing the Lord to meet the very needs that we thought that had to be met in this way or this way, or this way, or this way. But ultimately, we find that God meets and satisfies. The other way that we rekindle the fire is you've gotta be with God's people. You got to.

Hebrews chapter three says that th th in verse 13 talks about exhorting. Here's what he says, but exhort one another day every day, as long as it's called today, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. He says it this way in Hebrews 10 25, and let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works.

Not neglecting meeting together is the habit of some, but exhorting one another in all the more, as you see the day of approaching, there's not one person here that is in this room, in the Collingswood building, that is in prayer garden, or that is in your own home or your beach home this week that was wired as a Christian to do a solo flight.

You're not wired that way. You're not made that way. You're not created that way. God designed you to do life with other people, and the people that you are with and living with are shaping the direction of your life.

Paul was consumed with wanting to rekindle this fire within these people's lives. The second thing Paul is focused on, not only stoking the flame, was to strengthen the bonds of Christ-centered unity. If you look at verse three and following, you see Paul, let me jump down to verse what happens in verse 20, verses one and two.

He leaves, he makes the trip, he's gone. As I've mentioned to these various places, and as he goes, we see some interesting things. As you put together the epistles of Paul and you put together the timeline, the chronology, and the maps and everything, what you find out is Paul is now traveling with a big picture vision.

He has a specific practical reason. He is revisiting the churches at this time before he goes back to Jerusalem again. He's actually picking something up from them. He's not only giving, he's receiving, he is in intentionally using a plan that he has to try to unite the Jewish and gentile arms of the church in oneness.

He's regularly taught about unity and now he's doing something practical to try to aid it. At this time, Jerusalem believers were in extreme poverty. There had been a drought in the land they have also received, uh, so that already affected things financially, but also they have been ostracized and there are tremendous financial crises.

The, the followers of Jesus were experiencing Jerusalem. What Paul is now doing, Is he is going back. He's already seated it through some of his letters. He's going back through some of the churches. He started in these gentile regions and he's doing collections. He's gathering money. He's going to have a lot of money with him as he's traveling now, because he is going to take it back.

It is his plan to try to bring unity of the churches. I think that's one of the reasons he has eight companions as he is traveling with him. Luke and seven other guys that are mentioned here in verse four.

But it's striking as you see where those guys are from. If we can just bring up this map. This is my last map by the way. Um, these areas in red, Yes, they represent where these ambassadors, these these guys with him are from. Basically, he got representatives from everywhere he had been involved that are gonna assist him and go with him as they bring the gift to the Jerusalem Church.

He says, all the Gentile churches, all the people that have come out of Paganism and received our Messiah, our Christ, the Christ they've all participated in this offering for you guys, was Paul's way of emphasizing the unity of the body. These companions, however, not only represent geographic and ethnic diversity, which they did by these various reasons, they also represented social and economic diversity.

Let me give you an example. If you look in verse four, there's two guys that says, that came from the city of Thessalonica, the Thessalonica Church. The first guy's name is Aris Starke. The word Arista from which we get an aristocrat actually means born. Well, it actually, it, it carries the idea of, of a person, of nobility, of wealth.

I mean, slaves didn't, didn't name their kids aristo. If they did, they would've been quickly required to change it. It was a name that was a home born, uh, name given to homes that only had the right to be associated with the aristocracy. There's another guy from the church in Thessalonica. His name is Es.

The word Es means second. In homes that had slaves, often slaves were born. Yes, and were considered enough of second class citizens that they were not allowed to be named. They were given numbers by their owners. That's slave one, that's slave two, that's slave three. You have a man in Paul's traveling companions from the same church that is at the height of the social class.

You have one that is at the bottom of the social class, and I just think Paul is intentionally designing this group to say the church is different from anywhere else. It's not a homogeneous group, which simply means same genus, same kind like genus is as dogs or genus. And then you have a bunch of different kind of dogs.

It can be a hyena as well as a dashen. There, there's a genus of cats. You can be a, a kitten, uh, in your household, or you can be a a a, a cheetah. You can be a horse. I mean, you can be a stallion. You can be an a Arabian horse, and those are the horse. I'm gonna screw this up if I'm not careful. You can be a, uh, you can be a zebra.

I mean, I, I think that can be a horse, right? Somebody's gonna correct me. I absolutely know I'm over my head already. But you the, but what, what Paul's saying is, no, no, we don't just keep the dogs together. We got cats, we got horses, we got everybody. Every part of the social structure, every part of the cultural divide, every part of ethnic diversity.

He says the church is not to be a homogeneous group. It is to reflect the diversity of culture. Where else do people do life together like that? Except in Christ. Paul was passionate about seeing this in the big picture, continually fostered. It also was his own personal passion to have unity with others.

My last background insight from this passage is this. As Paul made this journey and he left Ephesus, Paul's, Paul was actually in a great deal of pain. Paul had just sent his, his second letter, the one we don't have to the Corinthian church, and as he sent that letter to them, he had Al, he had been actually rejected with his authority.

They were, they were saying, well, some of us of are of Paul, but others were saying we're of Peter, we're of Apol. And some of the spiritual ones said, well, no, no, no, we're of Jesus. And he had four different groups. And, and as he had tried to talk to them with First Corinthians letter, he's basically been rebuffed.

And that's the word he's gotten. He's heartbroken. He writes a second scorching letter, which God did not preserve for us to see, but Paul acknowledges it was a heavy note. He was burdened, but he doesn't know how they're responding. So when he leaves Ephesus, we're told in second Corinthians two, Paul went to Troas, Troy before he went over into Macedonia, where Thes, where Tessalon, Ike and Philippi are.

And he went to Troy for one reason, he says it in second Corinthians two. I went to, I, I went to Troy because I thought I could meet Titus there who had just been in Corinth, and he could give me an eyewitness account. How, how are they doing? How did they respond to my letter? Is there any signs of repentance?

Is where are things? And he says, I got to to Troas in two Corinthians two. He says to him, I was bitterly disappointed cuz he wasn't there. So then he got over to Philippi and that's when he wrote the second Corinthians letter. And he said, I was overwhelmed with joy when Titus told me that we had been reunited in our spirits because you had taken my letter and, and you dealt with the situation.

The guy who has involved the stepmother repented. And, and, and you have, you have honored Christ and, and you are welcoming me back into your hearts.

Paul had a big picture, longing for unity, right?

But it was born out of a deep seated personal longing for unity in his own life. I don't know what's going on in your life right now. No. Sometimes there are conflicts with people that cannot be restored, but every relationship we have, we are called to seek to have resolution and reconciliation that from our part at least, there has been a humility to take ownership of our own sins, to try to make things right.

We can talk about big picture unity if we don't have small picture longing within our own lives. This is Paul. At this point, let me just show a coup, throw a couple of final thoughts. The enemy's out to stop both of these things, rekindling the fire in Christians' lives, and also to bring about oneness among God's peoples.

A striking thing that happens here in verse three. Let me read it for you in Ephesians 20. There in Corinth. Paul spent three months and when a plot was made against him by the Jews, as he was about to set sail for Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia. This little footnote statement is fascinating.

Paul was ready. It says he was ready to leave Corinth, that part of Greece and go directly across to Syria, which is where Jerusalem and Antioch, where he started were from. But he doesn't, and if you remember the map, which I don't know if you will or not, but basically he went back up through the area.

The reason he went back up is because he found out, and most believe what it's saying is that this plot, which you in the Book of Acts all four times is used, always referred to a plot to kill somebody. That there was a plot on the ship to kill Paul and throw him overboard. Paul got word of it and went a different way before he went back to where he was actually destined and desirous to go, which was Jerusalem and Antioch.

The devil's always at work, and it's striking in the midst of all this, this that's going on, you have this sort of shocking thought. Oh, by the way, there's guys planning to kill you on the ship, and Paul has to reroute. The enemy is out to stop us from living out the passion for Christ. The other thing is the believers gotta pursue both.

There has to be time with God, just has to be. You are listening to voices all day long, every day. Voices around you, voices in your own head. If you're not processing that with the Lord, if you're not processing that with God's people, you're coming to conclusions that are not going to deepen you in your walk with Jesus.

But here's the reality. God wants you, he wants you. He's extending an invitation to say, how about today we, we start to rekindle the fire. For me,

this is the invitation. This is the admonition I think Paul would have to us if he visited our church and he says, yo, this, this believer's there you got a lot of people that have embraced Jesus as their savior. So I wanna speak to those that are sort of riding the fence or maybe are in a place where they say, mark, you've just described me.

You have no idea where I am today. You have no idea what I'm really into, and you just look out at me and I'm a church person and there I am. You have no idea the choices I've lived out.

Well, I know I don't care, and I know a hundred times more. The Lord doesn't care. He doesn't say to you, okay, now we're gonna start from here. And if you start moving back, moving back, moving back, moving back, moving back. You get about here, I'll be there for you. It's not what he says. He says, wherever you are, he delights to show mercy.

You may not know it. It may hard be hard for you to wrap your arms around this, but God is crazy about you. He wants you. Let him. Amen. Lord,

we come to you as our Father. We come to you as the one who delights to extend mercy. Lord, as we close our service this morning, you're the one that looks into every heart and knows exactly where people are. You're the one that knows who you specifically chose this message to share with which individuals, Lord, it's for them that I plead right now, that your spirit would give them eyes to hear, eyes to see our heart to respond, ears to listen, that they might run to their Father this morning.

In Jesus' name. Amen.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/pauls-burden-for-wishy-washy-christians df43cbce-bdce-4a83-9063-bfc78ff8691f Sun, 02 Jul 2023 09:42:02 GMT <div data-html="true">Acts 20:1-6 <br /><br /> When he had gone through those regions and had given them much encouragement, he came to Greece. <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> Invite you to take your Bibles to Acts chapter 20. Uh, acts chapter 20. We're gonna be looking at verses one through six. So we return to our series in the book of Acts, the Spirit at work to the ends of the Earth. Excited about this message because it is a unique and a short passage, but the more I dove into it, the more I got excited about what I think is really portrayed here. <br /><br /> We're gonna look at verses one through six. Let me read aloud to you in Acts chapter 20. After the uproar cease, Paul sent for the disciples, and after encouraging them, he said farewell and departed for Macedonia. When he had gone through those regions and had given them much encouragement, he came to Greece. <br /><br /> There he spent three months, and when a plot was made against him by the Jews, as he was about to set sail for Syria, he decided to pass through and return through Macedonia Sour. The Buran son of PRUs accompanied him and of the Thessalonians. Arista and NDA and Gais of Derby and Timothy and the Asians cus and Trois. <br /><br /> These went on ahead and were waiting for us at Troas, but we sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread and in five days we came to Troas where we stayed for seven days. Let's pray, <br /><br /> Lord, this morning. First of all, I just want to thank you for your word. I thank you Lord, that we are not left to the voices of culture. Most of all, we're not left to the voices in our own head. We can hear the voice of God and Lord, we want to approach your word that way. This morning we ask you to teach us to, uh, as people. <br /><br /> Here in this room, there's people here in Collingswood. There's people here in the prayer garden. Really need to hear the scriptures speak into their lives this morning as you make yourself known to where they are. So God, do that. Enable us to hear, to respond in Jesus' name. Amen. <br /><br /> It was April 23rd, 1909. Teddy Roosevelt, now out of the presidency, was going through a European tour. He had just finished a big African safari with his son and he'd been invited to speak at Paris at the University of Paris. And while there he spoke to the large theater that was at the University of Paris, the large lecture hall. <br /><br /> And he presented what has been become known as Tr R's greatest speech. Although he didn't entitle this, it has been given the title, the Man in the Arena. Here's one of the statements he made. It's not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. <br /><br /> The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood. Who strives valiantly, who airs, who comes short again and again because there is no effort without error and shortcoming. But who does actually strive to do the deeds? Who knows? The great enthusiasms, the great devotions who spends time, spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end, the triumph of high achievement. <br /><br /> And who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. Spoken by tr these sentiments of being in the arena, of, of being an engaged player in the theater of life that is going on was very much at the heart and the passion of the Apostle Paul. <br /><br /> For him to be a man in the arena and to passionately follow his calling to be a representative of Jesus Christ in his life and in his generation, it is his passion to call others to do the same. And in this pivotal moment in Paul's life, we find that we are seeing an apostle. Who is finishing 10 year, a 10 year missionary journey? <br /><br /> Actually three of them. He has spent the majority of that time in the last three years in Ephesus, a the largest and most prominent city in the Roman Empire other than Rome itself. And as he is there, his eyes are now opening to a return to Jerusalem and he hopes then to a whole new mission to Rome and then to Spain. <br /><br /> He writes around this time of his sense that his work is in a transition season. He says it this way in Romans 1519, written around this time. He said, from Jerusalem and all the way around to Lyric, I have fulfilled the ministry of the Gospel of Christ. And thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else's foundation. <br /><br /> This is a map that I'm gonna bring up here that just portrays the area where Paul has been ministering on this last missionary journey. And if you see the red portion over there where the, the red line comes across and goes up, you see the city of Ephesus and the city of Ephesus is where he has spent the last three years. <br /><br /> He's going to have a short joint and we're gonna talk about that joint. But actually, when he leaves Ephesus, he is in his mind, done. He is now just going to do a couple of things we're gonna talk about because they're really interesting to understand. But he's now saying, I'm, I'm finishing and I'm just going to visit the churches that I've already started in Greece and in in Macedonia. <br /><br /> But basically, I. I am completing my role to this point. Now, it's a striking statement. If you notice verse chapter 20 verse one. It says, after the uproar, uproar, Paul leaves. Well, this wasn't uproar. If you remember last week we were talking about the idle makers of the city after three years have had it with Paul and the Christians, and they, they're, they're, they're causing the demise, at least the lessening, the diminishing of their idle ministry, their work, their, their livelihood. <br /><br /> They've got the people of the city all worked up that their glory, which was the temple of Artemis, the largest physical structure and the entire Roman Empire, is now gonna lose its prestige. And so they've dragged the, the followers of Christ into a theater, the 25,000 seat theater. They've had this crazy protest that's going on, and it's taken the township manager, basically the pro council of the town to calm everybody down. <br /><br /> And then we say after this uproar, And you think after this uproar where now the Christians have been front page headlines, I mean, they're the lead in story for every network after this uproar, Paul determines to leave. And you wanna say, Paul, what in the world you thinking? I mean, this is your moment, man. <br /><br /> This is when, when there's never been more opportunity. Yeah, sure. It's a little hot. But I mean, what what's going on, Paul, is, is this, uh, speak the truth and leave immediately afterwards type of thing. You know, you can say what you want as long as you can get out of town. Well, we find as we look at the context in Acts 19, verse 21, Paul had already decided to go back to Macedonia and he's already sent two of his partners ahead of him. <br /><br /> Paul is wrapping up his three missionary journeys. In, in that passage I read a moment ago, Paul said, I have preached the gospel from Jerusalem. That's way over here in the yellow. And he said all the way to a lyric. If you look way up on the top in the orange part, AUM is just outside of the map. He says, this entire map, I've done my job. <br /><br /> I've spent 10 years planting the gospel. Now I'm going back to be sent hopefully to Rome and then to Spain. So at this moment, Paul is particularly concerned about his final messaging to his churches and we find as we study this passage and, and some other things that will play in that Paul is particularly burdened about the people that are in the churches that are not in the arena, that they're not wholehearted. <br /><br /> That they're playing it safe, comfortable with the talk, but not the walk. For Paul, you are all in or you are living like you are all out. You can't really straddle the line as a Jesus follower and also try to be a world pursuer. And Paul is now passionate about this and I'd like to demonstrate in this passage, Paul's passion for those that are, are sort of in the balance as he presents two things he's passionate about. <br /><br /> First of those, he is passionate about stoking the flame of Christ-centered living. You see what he did in verse one and two. Luke describes his role first in Ephesus, and then when he travels up to Macedonia, where Philippi and Thessalonica were, it says this in verse one and two. After the uproar ceased in Acts 20, Paul sent for the disciples that's from Ephesus. <br /><br /> And after encouraging them, He said farewell and departed from Macedonia. Verse two. When he had gone through those regions and had given them much encouragement, he came to Greece. His ministry at this time in Paul's life is defined by Luke as centered on the role of an encourager. Now the word encouragement, parlo and the original is a verb that actually is translated, encourage exhort, comfort, uh, plead with, it carries the idea of of urging people, particularly when it is related to public ministry or public preaching. <br /><br /> The word carries more of an exhortative statement. Um, we actually do this as well. We even use the word encourage. This way we, we think of encouragement. Meanwhile, it's giving a pat on the back. It's supporting people. It certainly does involve that, but we also use the term in this way. I really encourage you to go and see her. <br /><br /> I encourage you to, to leave this job and, and go find something else. Well, we're not then giving 'em a pat on the back. We're saying, go for it. I mean, go talk to her. Go, go pursue, get the resume out. Get it out there. It's, it's a motivational sense. This is the sense in which Paul is going to these churches. <br /><br /> He's speaking to those that need incentive, urging, exhorting, the word exert. We don't, none of us use that. I, I exhort you to do this, but we urge people. We might even say, man, I, I plead with you to go and talk to her. That's the sense here that Paul is going around when he has this last swing with Christians. <br /><br /> It is though, in these churches, it is that what is in involved, his ministry in this season is more motivating. Than teaching. He is spending his time with believers here primarily, and some of them now have been Christians for a while. Some of them are starting the next gen. Some of them are the next gen coming up, and Paul is here pleading with them to be all in. <br /><br /> And this really is Paul's focus. Let me demonstrate this, bring the map up again if we could. And this time I've added two stars. The blue star is Ephesus, where Paul starts. Then it says he goes to Macedonia. And while he is in Ephesus, Paul wrote the letter to the Corinthians, first Corinthians. He also wrote them a letter that we don't have called the, the, the lost letter in which he just, he really laid into him because of what he saw in the city. <br /><br /> But in the third letter, which is in Philippi in green. He wrote two Corinthians when Paul wrote his letters. He uses the word encourage, exhort, plead with urge, challenge people to move forward no more than nine times in any of his letters. When he wrote Second Corinthians to the Corinthian church from, from Philippi, he used the word 27 times the whole letter. <br /><br /> This time of Paul's life, Luke is getting it right. This is what Paul is about. He's, he's urging those that are sort of playing on the sidelines that, that, you know, aren't quite really in. And yeah, I'm not, you know, am I a Christian? Yeah, yeah. But am I living like, well, you know, no, he's saying, come on, he's urging, he's challenging. <br /><br /> This season, Paul, as he goes back through, is challenging Christians who have known him for a little while, who know the jargon, who know the language, who have maybe tasted. Some of it reminds me of the danger that is creeping in for them and for us. Chad Walsh describes it in his intriguing book called Early Christians. <br /><br /> In the 21st century, millions of Christians live in a sentimental haze of vague piety with Christian music playing in the background. Their religion is a pleasant thing of emotional quivers. Divorced from the will, divorced from the intellect, and demanding little except lift service to a few harmless platitudes. <br /><br /> I suspect that Satan has called off as attempt to convert people to agnosticism. After all, if a person travels far enough away from Christianity, he's liable to see it in perspective and decide that it's real. It's much safer from Satan's point of view to vaccinate a person with a mild case of Christianity so as to protect him from the real disease. <br /><br /> I think that's what Paul was feeling. It's those people. He says, I, I, I, I wanna touch them when I get to their churches. It's who I wanna wanna, I wanna write about to second Corinthians. He says, it's the people that have sort of become inoculated against the real disease because they, they know the jargon, they, he's passionate for these people. <br /><br /> Why was it necessary? Well, Corinth was a classic example of a church that had lost a passion for godliness and for them like us, it was slow, it was insidious. But as you look at the Church of Corinth, from through the eyes of Paul's letters, You find that it was a church that was in conflict. Uh, pride was there, sensuality was so overlooked in people's lives. <br /><br /> That, that, Paul has to write about this. A guy that evidently has some degree of prominence in the church and he's sleeping with his stepmother. Well, the father is still alive, and he says, what are you thinking to the church? He says, even, even people in secular life don't look at this as appropriate, but he says, get some fire in your lives. <br /><br /> You look no different from the world. <br /><br /> They had slid into a godless life, and I'm sure as and, and the joyful thing. We'll see in a moment. The Corinthians did repent and turned to the Lord, but I'm sure if you interviewed a lot of those people, it would've been this kind of a moment for me. They would've just said, I. I, I just don't know how I got here. <br /><br /> I just don't know what happened. All of a sudden, I was doing things, I was gone places. I was immersed in practices. I can't believe how I got there. I can't believe the things I was choosing. <br /><br /> I had this con, I've actually had this conversation a few times in the last few weeks. I really believe in our day, if you are a follower of Jesus Christ, and if you're saying, I, I'm, I'm trying to straddle, you know, which actually means you're really stepping back in or for the first time into a lifestyle, you know, is not ultimately honoring to Christ in days past. <br /><br /> I think you can step out of Christian life and you can sort of go to here. And you, you know, and, and it's not that different. You can't do that in our culture anymore. You step out of a Christ-centered lifestyle and you're stepping here, you will find yourself being drawn into the, I cannot tell you the number of conversations I have had in the last couple of years of people saying to me, I just have no idea how I got from here to here. <br /><br /> I'm not talking just about young people. I'm not just talking about young adults. Paul is passionate for people like you, and he's saying, rekindle the fire, embrace Christ wholeheartedly. And he's saying, I exhort you. I urge you, I plead with you. He's doing it by letter. He's doing it by personal conversations. <br /><br /> So what was needed to get the flame rekindled? Well, we see two quick things, obvious things that the New Testament talks about. Obviously, you have to be with God. You have to know God wants you to be with him. And you remember the book of Micah where God says this to a people that were, were it replete with sins in their life. <br /><br /> He said, remember this, God delights to show mercy. God delights to show mercy <br /><br /> being in the presence of the Lord, allowing the Lord to meet the very needs that we thought that had to be met in this way or this way, or this way, or this way. But ultimately, we find that God meets and satisfies. The other way that we rekindle the fire is you've gotta be with God's people. You got to. <br /><br /> Hebrews chapter three says that th th in verse 13 talks about exhorting. Here's what he says, but exhort one another day every day, as long as it's called today, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. He says it this way in Hebrews 10 25, and let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works. <br /><br /> Not neglecting meeting together is the habit of some, but exhorting one another in all the more, as you see the day of approaching, there's not one person here that is in this room, in the Collingswood building, that is in prayer garden, or that is in your own home or your beach home this week that was wired as a Christian to do a solo flight. <br /><br /> You're not wired that way. You're not made that way. You're not created that way. God designed you to do life with other people, and the people that you are with and living with are shaping the direction of your life. <br /><br /> Paul was consumed with wanting to rekindle this fire within these people's lives. The second thing Paul is focused on, not only stoking the flame, was to strengthen the bonds of Christ-centered unity. If you look at verse three and following, you see Paul, let me jump down to verse what happens in verse 20, verses one and two. <br /><br /> He leaves, he makes the trip, he's gone. As I've mentioned to these various places, and as he goes, we see some interesting things. As you put together the epistles of Paul and you put together the timeline, the chronology, and the maps and everything, what you find out is Paul is now traveling with a big picture vision. <br /><br /> He has a specific practical reason. He is revisiting the churches at this time before he goes back to Jerusalem again. He's actually picking something up from them. He's not only giving, he's receiving, he is in intentionally using a plan that he has to try to unite the Jewish and gentile arms of the church in oneness. <br /><br /> He's regularly taught about unity and now he's doing something practical to try to aid it. At this time, Jerusalem believers were in extreme poverty. There had been a drought in the land they have also received, uh, so that already affected things financially, but also they have been ostracized and there are tremendous financial crises. <br /><br /> The, the followers of Jesus were experiencing Jerusalem. What Paul is now doing, Is he is going back. He's already seated it through some of his letters. He's going back through some of the churches. He started in these gentile regions and he's doing collections. He's gathering money. He's going to have a lot of money with him as he's traveling now, because he is going to take it back. <br /><br /> It is his plan to try to bring unity of the churches. I think that's one of the reasons he has eight companions as he is traveling with him. Luke and seven other guys that are mentioned here in verse four. <br /><br /> But it's striking as you see where those guys are from. If we can just bring up this map. This is my last map by the way. Um, these areas in red, Yes, they represent where these ambassadors, these these guys with him are from. Basically, he got representatives from everywhere he had been involved that are gonna assist him and go with him as they bring the gift to the Jerusalem Church. <br /><br /> He says, all the Gentile churches, all the people that have come out of Paganism and received our Messiah, our Christ, the Christ they've all participated in this offering for you guys, was Paul's way of emphasizing the unity of the body. These companions, however, not only represent geographic and ethnic diversity, which they did by these various reasons, they also represented social and economic diversity. <br /><br /> Let me give you an example. If you look in verse four, there's two guys that says, that came from the city of Thessalonica, the Thessalonica Church. The first guy's name is Aris Starke. The word Arista from which we get an aristocrat actually means born. Well, it actually, it, it carries the idea of, of a person, of nobility, of wealth. <br /><br /> I mean, slaves didn't, didn't name their kids aristo. If they did, they would've been quickly required to change it. It was a name that was a home born, uh, name given to homes that only had the right to be associated with the aristocracy. There's another guy from the church in Thessalonica. His name is Es. <br /><br /> The word Es means second. In homes that had slaves, often slaves were born. Yes, and were considered enough of second class citizens that they were not allowed to be named. They were given numbers by their owners. That's slave one, that's slave two, that's slave three. You have a man in Paul's traveling companions from the same church that is at the height of the social class. <br /><br /> You have one that is at the bottom of the social class, and I just think Paul is intentionally designing this group to say the church is different from anywhere else. It's not a homogeneous group, which simply means same genus, same kind like genus is as dogs or genus. And then you have a bunch of different kind of dogs. <br /><br /> It can be a hyena as well as a dashen. There, there's a genus of cats. You can be a, a kitten, uh, in your household, or you can be a a a, a cheetah. You can be a horse. I mean, you can be a stallion. You can be an a Arabian horse, and those are the horse. I'm gonna screw this up if I'm not careful. You can be a, uh, you can be a zebra. <br /><br /> I mean, I, I think that can be a horse, right? Somebody's gonna correct me. I absolutely know I'm over my head already. But you the, but what, what Paul's saying is, no, no, we don't just keep the dogs together. We got cats, we got horses, we got everybody. Every part of the social structure, every part of the cultural divide, every part of ethnic diversity. <br /><br /> He says the church is not to be a homogeneous group. It is to reflect the diversity of culture. Where else do people do life together like that? Except in Christ. Paul was passionate about seeing this in the big picture, continually fostered. It also was his own personal passion to have unity with others. <br /><br /> My last background insight from this passage is this. As Paul made this journey and he left Ephesus, Paul's, Paul was actually in a great deal of pain. Paul had just sent his, his second letter, the one we don't have to the Corinthian church, and as he sent that letter to them, he had Al, he had been actually rejected with his authority. <br /><br /> They were, they were saying, well, some of us of are of Paul, but others were saying we're of Peter, we're of Apol. And some of the spiritual ones said, well, no, no, no, we're of Jesus. And he had four different groups. And, and as he had tried to talk to them with First Corinthians letter, he's basically been rebuffed. <br /><br /> And that's the word he's gotten. He's heartbroken. He writes a second scorching letter, which God did not preserve for us to see, but Paul acknowledges it was a heavy note. He was burdened, but he doesn't know how they're responding. So when he leaves Ephesus, we're told in second Corinthians two, Paul went to Troas, Troy before he went over into Macedonia, where Thes, where Tessalon, Ike and Philippi are. <br /><br /> And he went to Troy for one reason, he says it in second Corinthians two. I went to, I, I went to Troy because I thought I could meet Titus there who had just been in Corinth, and he could give me an eyewitness account. How, how are they doing? How did they respond to my letter? Is there any signs of repentance? <br /><br /> Is where are things? And he says, I got to to Troas in two Corinthians two. He says to him, I was bitterly disappointed cuz he wasn't there. So then he got over to Philippi and that's when he wrote the second Corinthians letter. And he said, I was overwhelmed with joy when Titus told me that we had been reunited in our spirits because you had taken my letter and, and you dealt with the situation. <br /><br /> The guy who has involved the stepmother repented. And, and, and you have, you have honored Christ and, and you are welcoming me back into your hearts. <br /><br /> Paul had a big picture, longing for unity, right? <br /><br /> But it was born out of a deep seated personal longing for unity in his own life. I don't know what's going on in your life right now. No. Sometimes there are conflicts with people that cannot be restored, but every relationship we have, we are called to seek to have resolution and reconciliation that from our part at least, there has been a humility to take ownership of our own sins, to try to make things right. <br /><br /> We can talk about big picture unity if we don't have small picture longing within our own lives. This is Paul. At this point, let me just show a coup, throw a couple of final thoughts. The enemy's out to stop both of these things, rekindling the fire in Christians' lives, and also to bring about oneness among God's peoples. <br /><br /> A striking thing that happens here in verse three. Let me read it for you in Ephesians 20. There in Corinth. Paul spent three months and when a plot was made against him by the Jews, as he was about to set sail for Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia. This little footnote statement is fascinating. <br /><br /> Paul was ready. It says he was ready to leave Corinth, that part of Greece and go directly across to Syria, which is where Jerusalem and Antioch, where he started were from. But he doesn't, and if you remember the map, which I don't know if you will or not, but basically he went back up through the area. <br /><br /> The reason he went back up is because he found out, and most believe what it's saying is that this plot, which you in the Book of Acts all four times is used, always referred to a plot to kill somebody. That there was a plot on the ship to kill Paul and throw him overboard. Paul got word of it and went a different way before he went back to where he was actually destined and desirous to go, which was Jerusalem and Antioch. <br /><br /> The devil's always at work, and it's striking in the midst of all this, this that's going on, you have this sort of shocking thought. Oh, by the way, there's guys planning to kill you on the ship, and Paul has to reroute. The enemy is out to stop us from living out the passion for Christ. The other thing is the believers gotta pursue both. <br /><br /> There has to be time with God, just has to be. You are listening to voices all day long, every day. Voices around you, voices in your own head. If you're not processing that with the Lord, if you're not processing that with God's people, you're coming to conclusions that are not going to deepen you in your walk with Jesus. <br /><br /> But here's the reality. God wants you, he wants you. He's extending an invitation to say, how about today we, we start to rekindle the fire. For me, <br /><br /> this is the invitation. This is the admonition I think Paul would have to us if he visited our church and he says, yo, this, this believer's there you got a lot of people that have embraced Jesus as their savior. So I wanna speak to those that are sort of riding the fence or maybe are in a place where they say, mark, you've just described me. <br /><br /> You have no idea where I am today. You have no idea what I'm really into, and you just look out at me and I'm a church person and there I am. You have no idea the choices I've lived out. <br /><br /> Well, I know I don't care, and I know a hundred times more. The Lord doesn't care. He doesn't say to you, okay, now we're gonna start from here. And if you start moving back, moving back, moving back, moving back, moving back. You get about here, I'll be there for you. It's not what he says. He says, wherever you are, he delights to show mercy. <br /><br /> You may not know it. It may hard be hard for you to wrap your arms around this, but God is crazy about you. He wants you. Let him. Amen. Lord, <br /><br /> we come to you as our Father. We come to you as the one who delights to extend mercy. Lord, as we close our service this morning, you're the one that looks into every heart and knows exactly where people are. You're the one that knows who you specifically chose this message to share with which individuals, Lord, it's for them that I plead right now, that your spirit would give them eyes to hear, eyes to see our heart to respond, ears to listen, that they might run to their Father this morning. <br /><br /> In Jesus' name. Amen.</div> false no <![CDATA[The Way Meets Idolatry]]> Acts 19:21-41

About that time there arose no little disturbance concerning the Way.



Sermon Transcript:

I invite you to take your Bibles this morning. We're gonna be looking at the book of Acts chapter 19, continuing in our series, the Spirit at Work, to the Ends of the Earth. We're gonna be looking at Acts 19, verse 21 to 41, and I'm gonna read that in a moment. While you're getting there, I just make this comment.

Sometimes. I've had people over the years talk to me about Christianity with great criticisms and concerns, and I have found myself many times saying, I agree. I share those concerns, and I think Jesus would have the same concerns. This is one of the reasons we can love the Book of Acts because there is no place in the scripture where we have a more authentic portrayal of what Christianity.

Is about and is designed to look like. Then this book, we're returning to Ephesus today. Paul is gonna be an Ephesus for three years, and while he's there, this event happens, chapter 19, verse 21, and following. Now, after these events, Paul resolved in the spirit to pass through Macedonia and Aya and go to Jerusalem saying, after I've been there, I must also see Rome.

And having sent into Macedonia, two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, he himself stayed in Asia for a while. About that time, there arose no little disturbance concerning the way for a man named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the craftsman.

Then he get these, he gathered together with the workman and similar trades and said, man, you know that from this business we have our wealth. And you see in here that not only an Ephesus but all, almost all of Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away a great many people saying that Gods made with hands are not gods and there is danger.

Not only that, this trade of ours may come into disrepute, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis, may be counted as nothing and that she may even be de deposed from her magnificence. She whom all Asia and the world worship. When they heard this, they were enraged and were crying out great as Artemis of the Ephesians.

So the city was filled with the confusion and they rushed together into the theater, dragging with them Gaius and Aris Starke Macedonians, who were Paul's companions in travel. But when Paul wished to go in among the crowd, the disciples would not let him and even some of the as Arks who were friends of his, sent to him and were urging him not to venture into the theater.

Now, some cried out one thing, some another for the assembly was in confusion, and most of them did not know why they had come together. Some of the crowd prompted Alexander, whom the Jews had put forward, and Alexander motioning with his hand wanted to make a defense to the crowd. By the way, he was probably doing that to disassociate themselves from the Christians, but when they recognized that he was a Jew for about two hours, they all cried out with one voice.

Great is Artemis of the Ephesians. And when the town clerk had quieted the crowd, he said, men of Ephesus, who is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is temple keeper of the great Artemis and of the sacred stone that fell from the sky. Seeing then that these things cannot be denied, you ought to be quiet and do nothing rash.

For you have brought these men here who are neither sa sacrilegious nor blasphemous of our goddess. If they're before Demetrius and the craftsman with him have a complaint against anyone, the courts are open and there are pro counsels. Let them bring charges against one another. But if you seek anything further, it shall be settled in the, in the regular assembly for we really are in danger of being charged with rioting today since there is no cause that we can give to justify this commotion.

And when he had said these things, he dismissed the assembly. Let's pray. Lord, we come to you and God, we see this. Unique moment, the conflict of the gospel and idolatry. And Lord, I pray as we reflect upon this passage, that for everybody that's in this room, for everybody that's out outside, for everybody that's in Collings, we're joining us this morning, that Lord, your spirit would make specific application of this study to them.

In Jesus' name. Amen.

Is it darker in here? No, not I'm just in the dark. That's ominous cuz you've gotta listen for the next 30 minutes. Here we are back in Ephesus and, and here's some things we, we've learned as we come to the city of Ephesus and the church at Ephesus. Aha. Aha. You thought it was me? Okay. We've learned some things.

The gospel was continually being declared and explained. We've seen that Paul has been teaching in the synagogue for three months, and then for over two years we're told that he's preaching in a teaching in a school called The School of Tyrannus. A, a school that, uh, apparently this, this public teacher used and I mentioned to you last week, there were post-grad universities throughout Ephesus.

It was the, the center of learning of the entire Eastern Empire and Paul's in one of those schools. The gospel is exploding all over Asia. Asia in that time was the modern day land of Turkey, 2 million people strong, 200,000 in Ephesus. And it makes this statement in verse 10 of chapter 19, all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.

We've also learned that the gospel is changing lives and minds. We've seen dramatic deliverances in transformation. People have been burning, having, having book burning parties of their magic books as their lives have been frayed from spiritual oppression and, and witchcraft. We've seen the gospel power is proven to only be available to those that have experienced that power in their own lives.

As the passage Jared was talking about, how these seven guys, the, the sons of Skiva, they're called, were, were trying to evoke the name of Jesus to cast out demons, and the demons beat the guys to a pulp physically, as you see earlier in the chapter, because they didn't have the experience of the spirit of God being their spirit, being God's present in their own lives.

Now we see a scene where the gospel confronts idolatry. It's really important to understand what's being, what's going on here. Because it's easy to think, why would Paul take on idolatry? I mean, just preach the gospel. But the gospel can't be effectively preached to our culture, to ourselves if it is not also confronting the idols.

The gospel of Jesus always addresses idolatry. The story we've read is the story of a felon named Demetrius. He was apparently the head of the association of, uh, idol makers and the city, uh, metal workers, all kinds of, all kinds of trades. He was a mucky muck among their group, apparently, and he gathers them together and he riles them up.

It leads to a gigantic public protest in the 25,000 seat auditorium, which is the truly that's there. And I side, and I've said this before, if you ever get a Mediterranean cruise, You have to make sure on the itinerary is visits to ancient Ephesus. It's awesome. But this, this is the theater. This is where Paul was 25,000 people crammed in there from the city.

Some of 'em don't even know whether they're there. It's all riled up. Its chaotic. But Demetrius has been the form, the, the source of it. He who is an idol maker. The three things I want to talk about this morning about the gospel and idolatry. Number one, the prevalence of idolatry. Verse 23 tells us that about that time there arose no little disturbance concerning the way, the term way or the descrip descriptive title.

The way was a designation for the believers. Many believe it was actually the one they took for themselves. Christian was, was foisted upon them in the city of Antioch. But this disturbance by Demetrius is in response to what the teachers of the way are saying. He says it here in verse 26, when he gets all the gang together, as you see in here that not only in Ephesus, but in almost all of Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away a great many people saying that God's made with hands are not God's.

Now, it's unlikely that Demetrius had signed up to go to the School of Tyrannus and taken a course with the Apostle Paul, but he had heard word of what was being spread. This was a continual message of Paul idolatry, and the message about Jesus will always be at odds. The movement Paul is repping for is called the Way.

And it caused no small stir in the environment of idolatry because the way meant Jesus is the way to the living God. It meant that there was one way to the one God. It meant that there was one way of living with God as one center. An idolatry is placing something other than God at the center of your life.

It's an interesting and important concept that's being highlighted in this city. Conflict idolatry. It's the first issue that God addresses when he talks to people about their relationship to him Of the 10 Commandments commandment. Number one, you shall have no other gods before me. Commandment. Number two, you shall not make a God and bow to it or service or serve it.

You might be out there and you might say, well, Of course there were idols, but they were, this is antiquity Mark. I mean, what does this have to do with, there's not a thinking person here.

This reminds me of years ago, we had two birds flying around in the service, and I, not that they're birds, but I, I finally just stopped and I said, look, everybody gets 45 seconds to watch the birds. We all know it's there. Let's, okay, here we are. So what's taken place? You know, we've got this. You might say, well, I, I, there's not a thinking person I know that thinks you can make a God, and then that he is deserving of being worshiped or bowed down to well, The Bible says some interesting things about idols.

There are ones that are made by our hands and there are ones that are designed in our hearts. Ezekiel 14, one talks about idols of the heart, the Apostle Paul in a number of his passages. I'll give one example in Colossians three, he says this, he's preaching against sexual immorality and greed, and then he makes this statement which are idolatry.

It is elevating something to a position of importance in the place of God. Anything that is most functionally dear to you for your happiness, your meaning, your purpose has become your God. Idolatry is taking things and making them ultimate things. It's saying, I believe in God, but that thing. I, I have to have it, but it's this, which is the, the source of meaning and joy to my life.

It's what I must have to be happy. That is our God. Being out addicted to alcohol or drugs we recognize can be an idol. It's a, an obvious, potentially deeply destructive thing, but most idols are taking good things and making them into ultimate things. Our children doing well, being respected in your career, having security from money, your looks or your partner's looks, your competence or skill.

And when you go back in the ancient world, and, and Ephesus was a classic example of this, you find there are gods and every corner. There was a God to sex, a God to war, an agricultural God, an economic God, a music God. And we say what? Superstitious people. All these things they're trying to arrange their lives around, that they're elevating to a, to a deified place, but they were explicit about their gods.

We're fuzzy about ours. They were overt. Ours are covert. They worship their gods. Consciously. We do so unconsciously. They had family gods we do as well. Within your family, there's probably some deity that is more important than others. For some it's education. For some it's sports. For some it's family loyalty and family pride.

For some, it's being righteous. Which can become self-righteousness and pharisaical. When it is deified. They had cultural gods. Here's, look at the passage here. It's talking about the Temple of Artemis, which I talked about a couple of weeks ago, and, and this temple, this seventh wonder of the world was this massive temple, which they took tremendous pride in four times the size of the Parthenon in Athens, the largest known building in all of the world at this time.

It's so prominent that when the, the, the worship of Artemis and, and, and what Paul is saying against idolatry gets out there, the town manager has to gather the people in the stadium and say, look, guys, calm down. Calm down. We all know the temple is our city's glory. We all know a meteor came among us and affirmed the wonder of this place, which was the tradition that Paul's alludes to here.

The people from all over the world know of her glory, which is our glory. Artemis Temple. Put them on the map, was a cultural thing that they took pride in. It distinguished them. I heard a little while back, someone, I can't remember where I read it, but it was an individual, not a, a religious person, but they used this phrase, which I found interesting.

They were talking about they had lived in three different cities on the east coast. They had lived in New York City, they had lived in Boston and they had lived in in DC and they mentioned, they said it this way, the God of Boston is knowledge and education. The God of DC is power and influence the gods of New York City.

Money and success. There are personal gods, there are family gods, there are cultural gods In Ephesus, as in our day. There is a prevalence of god's, the power of idolatry. What idols do for you? No one chooses an idol to devote themselves to if they aren't getting some returns right? It's obvious that the religious cult of Artemis offered much to their adherence.

Everyone's trying to justify themselves to say that my life matters. I'm looking for something that validates me. What we look to, to validate ourselves, what we look to, to find our worth and our meaning and our value are, are, are to, to bring us joy and satisfaction easily becomes enshrined as a deity.

Some do it clearly in religious contexts. Charles Spurgeon is a guy, years ago, a preacher, but before he became a preacher, before he became a Christian, he said, I tried 50 different ways to try to make myself worthy for God. He was always trying to do things to, to validate his worth and his ex to gain his acceptance to God.

And then he found out all he has to do, and his description was to look, to look to the cross to embrace Christ as his savior. But everyone, no matter how secular and disinterested they are in spiritual things, is trying to justify themselves to prove themselves, to try to earn forgiveness and be declared righteous.

You just don't use those terms. There's a guy I've quoted before, a a a, I really enjoy his books. He's written a book called Turning from Evil, but again, not a Christian. He was a cultural anthropologist. He's passed now. His name was Ernest Becker. And Ernest Becker wrote a book that actually won the Pulitzer Prize for, it was called The Denial of Death.

And in the book, and I'm gonna read part of the quote and then I'm gonna put the latter part up there. He makes this statement, we all need to feel there is something that we are living for. So whether we are investing in sex, or romance, or family, or success, or fitness or vocational accomplishments, we do so with the same kind of spiritual significance that people used to only give to God and faith.

Here's the remainder of his quote. We disguise ourselves, it skies our struggle by piling up figures in a bank book to reflect privately our sense of heroic worth. Or by having only a little better home in the neighborhood, a bigger car, brighter children. But underneath throbs, the ache of cosmic specialness.

No matter how we mask it in concerns of smaller scope, he says, we're all longing for the sense of cosmic specialness. That, that I'm unique and special in the cosmos, that my life matters, that, that I can validate my life by something Rocky Balboa said it this way to Adrian, if I can go the distance, I'll know I'm not a bum.

Idols bring you joy. They make you feel successful, validated, alive, George C. Scott and playing the movie Patton. And if you've ever seen, it's a classic and, and basically General Patton, this tough warrior, uh, in the scene is portrayed. And, and those that have studied him said it was a perfect portrayal of, of.

General Patton, he's looking out on the battlefield and it's all going on, and he just says, God, how I love it. He loved the stratum. He loved being a warrior. He, he loved the rush that he got when he was doing what he felt he was designed to do as a leader, as a warrior. I'm gonna come back to him in a few moments.

Idols do something for us, right? They give us that sense, that validation, that my life matters. That I am something, that when I, when I enshrine this, when, when my children or my, my, my idol, my kids are thriving, it does more than just give me happiness for them. It affirms me. It validates me. Idols do something, but idols also do something to us.

Idols let us down. And no matter how capable, intelligent, wealthy, beautiful, peop popular we are, it's a vain hope to think that our gods will serve us faithfully. The servant will become the master. I was reading a guy named Benjamin Nugent, who is a, uh, writer for the New York Times. He also has written a number of novels.

He is certainly not, uh, uh, a religious person and certainly not a a, a Christian. But in one of his writings, posting was called Monomania Mano from one Mania, meaning passion or, or, or, um, obsession. He was describing himself in his own experience, and he said, when I wanted, I wanted to be a writer, but I, I had a struggle.

When I found writing became my passion so much so it was like a monomania, well, it's another word for idolatry, what he's describing. He makes this statement and it's sort of the summary message of the whole podcast. Good writing was my only goal I made the quality of my work, the measure of my worth. I mentioned earlier George Patton and again, the general and, and the, he loved what the battlefield gave to him and the satisfaction, the energy and, and, and, and, and the, the rush that he gave him.

But as they were preparing for the D-day invasion, Ike General Eisenhower met with George, and everybody knew on both the, the allied side and, and the a, the access side, the Germans. That Patton would lead the charge. And so all of the spies that were in Britain for Germany were watching where Patton was.

And what, what Ike designed for General Patton to do was for him to take a fake army. And he actually developed a fake army of, of, in a hidden part of England. But they knew the reconnaissance planes of the Nazis would come over it. And actually it was just fake artillery. They actually made cannons that were outta tree trunks.

And, and you had, they, they had tents set up. They had thousands of people, many of them, most of them were people from the English countryside in uniforms just marching. And they watched all those people getting ready to disembark in ships. At the same time, they were giving, uh, counter, uh, messaging to the Nazis that they're going to collide, which is another port, um, in France.

And all this was going on. And they said, George, I want you to settle. In that region. I want you to be there. I want, we're gonna give every indication that you are leading the invasion at Kali, but we're actually going somewhere else. You're not going to lead the invasion like everybody expects.

History tells the story as actually Ike's son that tells the story of this warrior hero breaking down in tears, crying to Ike. No. He says, no, I'm a warrior. I'm a fighter. I'm a general. What was happening? His God was being pulled away and saying, no, you're just gonna be a faint. You're not going be the star.

Your history is not going to write about you as the leader of the D-Day invasion. Rebecca ERT says it this way. Whatever controls us is our Lord. The person who seeks power will be controlled by power. The person who seeks acceptance is controlled by the people he or she wants to please. We do not control ourselves.

We are controlled by the Lord of our lives. Tim, Tim Keller says it this way. People have come to sacrifice everything to the God of success, but it isn't enough. In ancient times, the Didi were blood thirsty and hard to appease. They still are. Okay. Why am I talking about idolatry? I mean, mark. Here we are in Ephesus, and because the gospel is always spoken into idolatry, The gospel is not only the message, receive Christ and and receive forgiveness of sins.

Be declared righteous in Christ. Living out the gospel is always addressing the idolatry of one's life. Coming to the cross and embracing Christ is centered in recognizing that I have made something else central in my life. So why does Paul talk about idolatry when he's preaching the gospel? Because you won't really fully unexperience the gospel without understanding your own idolatry.

The gospel is that you're saved and justified. But everyone, religious, irreligious, secular, spiritual tries to put their trust, their allegiance, their worship in the other things for Val and some other things for validating and meaning. But the Gods always disappoint. The Gods never deliver.

They will ultimately enslave, but the gospel is the path out. My last point is this, the path out of idolatry, which I think was the whole issue that was going on in Ephesus earlier in this passage and also up in chapter 19 earlier, the Christian group is called The Way. It's actually the word that means the path or the road.

Jesus is the way. He is the one out the gospel of Christ. The good news of Jesus is that there is a path out of your enslavement to idols. What you are looking for in your life is what everyone's looking for. Peace, security. Love acceptance. The gospel presents a path. Augustine in the fourth century said it in this famous statement, oh God, our hearts are restless until they find rest in you.

Jesus is the only way out. He is the path. It's a movie we watched years ago. It's a story of Oliver Twist, my wife when I watched it a few times cuz we like it. And in the, in the story, and of course it's true of the book as well, but the story is of, uh, a guy named Bill Sykes, who was a horrible man. Um, a robber murderer, just a terrible man in, in England, in London.

And he kidnaps a boy named Oliver. Oliver Twist, his girlfriend, his live-in girlfriend is named Nancy. She's wonderful and kind. And she eventually, and, and, and Bill Sykes has captured Oliver Twist to make him help him with robberies. He's a little tiny guy of all the street urchins, he was the thinnest and the smallest, and he could sneak into windows and, and, and crevices in people's houses in ways others couldn't.

So she went to the grandfather of Oliver Twist and said, I, I know where your grandson is and I will help you get him. He's been captured. Um, and, and he said, so, he said, well, will you tell us who's done this so that the authorities can deal with him? And here was her interesting response. Oh no, I won't tell on him.

He's all, I have. The story plays out and she does lead them. And all the time she's leading them through the back dark alleys of Lu London. She's looking fearful of of her, of her, her mate, her friend, her beloved. Bill Sykes and what he'll do, because he is a man of great vengeance and rage, eventually they, they, they get the boy and they're leading them out, and then a shadow appears.

And Bill Sykes comes upon Nancy as she is trying to get him to go to the bridge where she's supposed to meet the grandfather. And in a rage, he grabs the boy, throws him to the side, and in a horrible scene, overwhelmed with rage, he takes his club and beats Nancy to death. And you watch the movie and you have this sense of horror and, and almost despair.

And you just sit there and you say, why didn't she turn him in? Why be determined to redeem, to return to him, to protect him, to stay with him? There's one reason she felt he was all she had. Maybe you say it's the emptiness of your life this morning. You're seeking satisfaction and validation in the wrong places.

Could be people, could be destructive substances could be your career, could be your family, your significant other. But in an all, there's still an emptiness in your life. It feels like all you have in Ephesus, the way confronted people that felt that way. It's why some of them were ca came and they say, we don't need the magic anymore, which had provided our identity, our sense of power.

We burn it because we found that which provides that, which offers to us what we've longed for and all of our lives. In Ephesus, the gospel confronts idolatry. Why hear me here? You can't understand God's prohibition against idolatry until you understand the context in which he constantly says it.

Many passages in the scripture present God condemning idolatry. But do you know what he gives as the reason he says this? I'm a jealous God. Now, jealous can sound bad, but think of the beauty of it. I mean, what husband is not going to feel, feel jealousy if he really loves his wife and is jealous for her affections.

What wife who adores her husband would not be jealous that his eye be turned her way. God says, I want you. It's my mercy. It's my grace that says to you, don't settle for your idols. So I come with the gospel and I turn a city on its head, and it causes no small disturbance. That's what Christ wants to do in your life today, the transforming disturbance of him becoming the central reality of your life.

Some of you have lived your own life, your whole lives, trying to find a sense of purpose, a peace that seems to allude you, a satisfaction that never really arrives. You've allowed multiple other things or people's opinions to rule you to be your center, to ultimately be your God, but you'll only find the true center when you repent of your sins and yield to Christ as the savior of your sins and the Lord of your life.

Jonah says it this way in chapter two, verse eight. Those who clinging to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs. That was the gospel that showed up in Ephesus. Don't clinging to that. Embrace Christ, embrace him as the center of your life. I wanna close with this illustration. It is written by Kelly Clark Olympic Gold medalist in the snowboard event.

She wrote this a few years ago. When I was 18, I found myself in a place where I had accomplished everything that was in my heart to do. I had money, I had fame. I had an Olympic gold medal. I had won every major snowboarding event I had ever dreamed of winning when I was a kid, and I had poured everything I had into snowboarding, but I didn't really know who I was and what I was doing.

Everyone knew me as Kelly Clark Pro snowboarder Kelly Clark, Olympic gold medalist, and that's who I was. That's who I was to other people, and that's who I was. To me, I was thinking, if this is what life is, I've accomplished it all. If this is everything, I don't want to do it anymore. I went to a snowboarding event and from the outside perspective, my life was picture perfect and together I was doing well in the contest and I qualified for the finals that afternoon.

But at the bottom of the pipe, this girl had come down and she had fallen both runs and was crying. I was half paying attention to her conversation and her friend was trying to make her laugh and said, Hey, it's all right. God still loves you. There was just something about that comment that caught my attention that I couldn't shake.

I couldn't deny that it stirred something up in me. So I ran back to my hotel room and I thought, there has got to be a Bible in the hotel room. There are always Bibles in hotel rooms. Right? As I started looking at the Bible, I realized that I didn't know where to look or where to start. There's, but there's something stirring up inside of me and I don't know what to do.

I found out that girl who made the comment was staying in my hotel. I knocked in her door and I said, Hey, my name's Kelly and I think you might be a Christian, and I think you need to tell me about God. And at the same time, I got a little nervous because I had never thought about God before. A day in my life, I had never once wondered why we are here.

I had never thought about it, never been to church, nothing. I had no grid for any of this. And so I spent the next four months thinking, okay, God, if you're real, reveal yourself to me. I got to the end of my season and asked myself a few questions like, could I ever wake up another day and not think about God?

And the answer was no, because I was thinking about him every day and he was real. And now he was in my life. And another question I asked was, could I ever run the other way and pretend he didn't exist? And the answer was also no. And so I came to a conclusion and said, all right, Jesus, come and live life with me.

Her next words are how Jesus replaces idols in our lives. There was a huge shifting point for me where my snowboarding became this amazing expression and fun thing rather than this thing I had to do. It became this thing that I was made to do and I could actually enjoy, and there was so much freedom in it because I wasn't doing it to prove to people or to myself who I was.

Through my relationship with God, I learned who I was and was comfortable with it. But I'll tell you, I've never had more fun snowboarding and I've never been more free.

Maybe God is saying to you, become a person of the way this morning. Come to Christ, find his forgiveness for your sins, for your displacing Him as the Lord of your life and as the center of your life. Come to this God that is jealous for you to experience his love. So much so that he sent his own son to provide forgiveness and life for you.

Let's pray together. Lord,

there's not a person in this room or watching in the prayer gardener in Collingswood that is not an idolater. We've displaced you over and over and over again. Tried so many ways to find our satisfaction in other things, and yet as CS Lewis so beautifully says, you are the humble God, the God who is willing to come.

Even though we've tried a hundred other things before you, you are still willing to come and be our grace, our forgiveness, our life. So, Lord, let us see you as the way this morning. The way out of our bondage, the way in to life. In Jesus' name, amen.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-way-meets-idolatry c664f6ea-cec1-41f6-8c25-f046dbfe336e Sun, 25 Jun 2023 13:30:39 GMT <div data-html="true">Acts 19:21-41 <br /><br /> About that time there arose no little disturbance concerning the Way. <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> I invite you to take your Bibles this morning. We're gonna be looking at the book of Acts chapter 19, continuing in our series, the Spirit at Work, to the Ends of the Earth. We're gonna be looking at Acts 19, verse 21 to 41, and I'm gonna read that in a moment. While you're getting there, I just make this comment. <br /><br /> Sometimes. I've had people over the years talk to me about Christianity with great criticisms and concerns, and I have found myself many times saying, I agree. I share those concerns, and I think Jesus would have the same concerns. This is one of the reasons we can love the Book of Acts because there is no place in the scripture where we have a more authentic portrayal of what Christianity. <br /><br /> Is about and is designed to look like. Then this book, we're returning to Ephesus today. Paul is gonna be an Ephesus for three years, and while he's there, this event happens, chapter 19, verse 21, and following. Now, after these events, Paul resolved in the spirit to pass through Macedonia and Aya and go to Jerusalem saying, after I've been there, I must also see Rome. <br /><br /> And having sent into Macedonia, two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, he himself stayed in Asia for a while. About that time, there arose no little disturbance concerning the way for a man named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the craftsman. <br /><br /> Then he get these, he gathered together with the workman and similar trades and said, man, you know that from this business we have our wealth. And you see in here that not only an Ephesus but all, almost all of Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away a great many people saying that Gods made with hands are not gods and there is danger. <br /><br /> Not only that, this trade of ours may come into disrepute, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis, may be counted as nothing and that she may even be de deposed from her magnificence. She whom all Asia and the world worship. When they heard this, they were enraged and were crying out great as Artemis of the Ephesians. <br /><br /> So the city was filled with the confusion and they rushed together into the theater, dragging with them Gaius and Aris Starke Macedonians, who were Paul's companions in travel. But when Paul wished to go in among the crowd, the disciples would not let him and even some of the as Arks who were friends of his, sent to him and were urging him not to venture into the theater. <br /><br /> Now, some cried out one thing, some another for the assembly was in confusion, and most of them did not know why they had come together. Some of the crowd prompted Alexander, whom the Jews had put forward, and Alexander motioning with his hand wanted to make a defense to the crowd. By the way, he was probably doing that to disassociate themselves from the Christians, but when they recognized that he was a Jew for about two hours, they all cried out with one voice. <br /><br /> Great is Artemis of the Ephesians. And when the town clerk had quieted the crowd, he said, men of Ephesus, who is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is temple keeper of the great Artemis and of the sacred stone that fell from the sky. Seeing then that these things cannot be denied, you ought to be quiet and do nothing rash. <br /><br /> For you have brought these men here who are neither sa sacrilegious nor blasphemous of our goddess. If they're before Demetrius and the craftsman with him have a complaint against anyone, the courts are open and there are pro counsels. Let them bring charges against one another. But if you seek anything further, it shall be settled in the, in the regular assembly for we really are in danger of being charged with rioting today since there is no cause that we can give to justify this commotion. <br /><br /> And when he had said these things, he dismissed the assembly. Let's pray. Lord, we come to you and God, we see this. Unique moment, the conflict of the gospel and idolatry. And Lord, I pray as we reflect upon this passage, that for everybody that's in this room, for everybody that's out outside, for everybody that's in Collings, we're joining us this morning, that Lord, your spirit would make specific application of this study to them. <br /><br /> In Jesus' name. Amen. <br /><br /> Is it darker in here? No, not I'm just in the dark. That's ominous cuz you've gotta listen for the next 30 minutes. Here we are back in Ephesus and, and here's some things we, we've learned as we come to the city of Ephesus and the church at Ephesus. Aha. Aha. You thought it was me? Okay. We've learned some things. <br /><br /> The gospel was continually being declared and explained. We've seen that Paul has been teaching in the synagogue for three months, and then for over two years we're told that he's preaching in a teaching in a school called The School of Tyrannus. A, a school that, uh, apparently this, this public teacher used and I mentioned to you last week, there were post-grad universities throughout Ephesus. <br /><br /> It was the, the center of learning of the entire Eastern Empire and Paul's in one of those schools. The gospel is exploding all over Asia. Asia in that time was the modern day land of Turkey, 2 million people strong, 200,000 in Ephesus. And it makes this statement in verse 10 of chapter 19, all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks. <br /><br /> We've also learned that the gospel is changing lives and minds. We've seen dramatic deliverances in transformation. People have been burning, having, having book burning parties of their magic books as their lives have been frayed from spiritual oppression and, and witchcraft. We've seen the gospel power is proven to only be available to those that have experienced that power in their own lives. <br /><br /> As the passage Jared was talking about, how these seven guys, the, the sons of Skiva, they're called, were, were trying to evoke the name of Jesus to cast out demons, and the demons beat the guys to a pulp physically, as you see earlier in the chapter, because they didn't have the experience of the spirit of God being their spirit, being God's present in their own lives. <br /><br /> Now we see a scene where the gospel confronts idolatry. It's really important to understand what's being, what's going on here. Because it's easy to think, why would Paul take on idolatry? I mean, just preach the gospel. But the gospel can't be effectively preached to our culture, to ourselves if it is not also confronting the idols. <br /><br /> The gospel of Jesus always addresses idolatry. The story we've read is the story of a felon named Demetrius. He was apparently the head of the association of, uh, idol makers and the city, uh, metal workers, all kinds of, all kinds of trades. He was a mucky muck among their group, apparently, and he gathers them together and he riles them up. <br /><br /> It leads to a gigantic public protest in the 25,000 seat auditorium, which is the truly that's there. And I side, and I've said this before, if you ever get a Mediterranean cruise, You have to make sure on the itinerary is visits to ancient Ephesus. It's awesome. But this, this is the theater. This is where Paul was 25,000 people crammed in there from the city. <br /><br /> Some of 'em don't even know whether they're there. It's all riled up. Its chaotic. But Demetrius has been the form, the, the source of it. He who is an idol maker. The three things I want to talk about this morning about the gospel and idolatry. Number one, the prevalence of idolatry. Verse 23 tells us that about that time there arose no little disturbance concerning the way, the term way or the descrip descriptive title. <br /><br /> The way was a designation for the believers. Many believe it was actually the one they took for themselves. Christian was, was foisted upon them in the city of Antioch. But this disturbance by Demetrius is in response to what the teachers of the way are saying. He says it here in verse 26, when he gets all the gang together, as you see in here that not only in Ephesus, but in almost all of Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away a great many people saying that God's made with hands are not God's. <br /><br /> Now, it's unlikely that Demetrius had signed up to go to the School of Tyrannus and taken a course with the Apostle Paul, but he had heard word of what was being spread. This was a continual message of Paul idolatry, and the message about Jesus will always be at odds. The movement Paul is repping for is called the Way. <br /><br /> And it caused no small stir in the environment of idolatry because the way meant Jesus is the way to the living God. It meant that there was one way to the one God. It meant that there was one way of living with God as one center. An idolatry is placing something other than God at the center of your life. <br /><br /> It's an interesting and important concept that's being highlighted in this city. Conflict idolatry. It's the first issue that God addresses when he talks to people about their relationship to him Of the 10 Commandments commandment. Number one, you shall have no other gods before me. Commandment. Number two, you shall not make a God and bow to it or service or serve it. <br /><br /> You might be out there and you might say, well, Of course there were idols, but they were, this is antiquity Mark. I mean, what does this have to do with, there's not a thinking person here. <br /><br /> This reminds me of years ago, we had two birds flying around in the service, and I, not that they're birds, but I, I finally just stopped and I said, look, everybody gets 45 seconds to watch the birds. We all know it's there. Let's, okay, here we are. So what's taken place? You know, we've got this. You might say, well, I, I, there's not a thinking person I know that thinks you can make a God, and then that he is deserving of being worshiped or bowed down to well, The Bible says some interesting things about idols. <br /><br /> There are ones that are made by our hands and there are ones that are designed in our hearts. Ezekiel 14, one talks about idols of the heart, the Apostle Paul in a number of his passages. I'll give one example in Colossians three, he says this, he's preaching against sexual immorality and greed, and then he makes this statement which are idolatry. <br /><br /> It is elevating something to a position of importance in the place of God. Anything that is most functionally dear to you for your happiness, your meaning, your purpose has become your God. Idolatry is taking things and making them ultimate things. It's saying, I believe in God, but that thing. I, I have to have it, but it's this, which is the, the source of meaning and joy to my life. <br /><br /> It's what I must have to be happy. That is our God. Being out addicted to alcohol or drugs we recognize can be an idol. It's a, an obvious, potentially deeply destructive thing, but most idols are taking good things and making them into ultimate things. Our children doing well, being respected in your career, having security from money, your looks or your partner's looks, your competence or skill. <br /><br /> And when you go back in the ancient world, and, and Ephesus was a classic example of this, you find there are gods and every corner. There was a God to sex, a God to war, an agricultural God, an economic God, a music God. And we say what? Superstitious people. All these things they're trying to arrange their lives around, that they're elevating to a, to a deified place, but they were explicit about their gods. <br /><br /> We're fuzzy about ours. They were overt. Ours are covert. They worship their gods. Consciously. We do so unconsciously. They had family gods we do as well. Within your family, there's probably some deity that is more important than others. For some it's education. For some it's sports. For some it's family loyalty and family pride. <br /><br /> For some, it's being righteous. Which can become self-righteousness and pharisaical. When it is deified. They had cultural gods. Here's, look at the passage here. It's talking about the Temple of Artemis, which I talked about a couple of weeks ago, and, and this temple, this seventh wonder of the world was this massive temple, which they took tremendous pride in four times the size of the Parthenon in Athens, the largest known building in all of the world at this time. <br /><br /> It's so prominent that when the, the, the worship of Artemis and, and, and what Paul is saying against idolatry gets out there, the town manager has to gather the people in the stadium and say, look, guys, calm down. Calm down. We all know the temple is our city's glory. We all know a meteor came among us and affirmed the wonder of this place, which was the tradition that Paul's alludes to here. <br /><br /> The people from all over the world know of her glory, which is our glory. Artemis Temple. Put them on the map, was a cultural thing that they took pride in. It distinguished them. I heard a little while back, someone, I can't remember where I read it, but it was an individual, not a, a religious person, but they used this phrase, which I found interesting. <br /><br /> They were talking about they had lived in three different cities on the east coast. They had lived in New York City, they had lived in Boston and they had lived in in DC and they mentioned, they said it this way, the God of Boston is knowledge and education. The God of DC is power and influence the gods of New York City. <br /><br /> Money and success. There are personal gods, there are family gods, there are cultural gods In Ephesus, as in our day. There is a prevalence of god's, the power of idolatry. What idols do for you? No one chooses an idol to devote themselves to if they aren't getting some returns right? It's obvious that the religious cult of Artemis offered much to their adherence. <br /><br /> Everyone's trying to justify themselves to say that my life matters. I'm looking for something that validates me. What we look to, to validate ourselves, what we look to, to find our worth and our meaning and our value are, are, are to, to bring us joy and satisfaction easily becomes enshrined as a deity. <br /><br /> Some do it clearly in religious contexts. Charles Spurgeon is a guy, years ago, a preacher, but before he became a preacher, before he became a Christian, he said, I tried 50 different ways to try to make myself worthy for God. He was always trying to do things to, to validate his worth and his ex to gain his acceptance to God. <br /><br /> And then he found out all he has to do, and his description was to look, to look to the cross to embrace Christ as his savior. But everyone, no matter how secular and disinterested they are in spiritual things, is trying to justify themselves to prove themselves, to try to earn forgiveness and be declared righteous. <br /><br /> You just don't use those terms. There's a guy I've quoted before, a a a, I really enjoy his books. He's written a book called Turning from Evil, but again, not a Christian. He was a cultural anthropologist. He's passed now. His name was Ernest Becker. And Ernest Becker wrote a book that actually won the Pulitzer Prize for, it was called The Denial of Death. <br /><br /> And in the book, and I'm gonna read part of the quote and then I'm gonna put the latter part up there. He makes this statement, we all need to feel there is something that we are living for. So whether we are investing in sex, or romance, or family, or success, or fitness or vocational accomplishments, we do so with the same kind of spiritual significance that people used to only give to God and faith. <br /><br /> Here's the remainder of his quote. We disguise ourselves, it skies our struggle by piling up figures in a bank book to reflect privately our sense of heroic worth. Or by having only a little better home in the neighborhood, a bigger car, brighter children. But underneath throbs, the ache of cosmic specialness. <br /><br /> No matter how we mask it in concerns of smaller scope, he says, we're all longing for the sense of cosmic specialness. That, that I'm unique and special in the cosmos, that my life matters, that, that I can validate my life by something Rocky Balboa said it this way to Adrian, if I can go the distance, I'll know I'm not a bum. <br /><br /> Idols bring you joy. They make you feel successful, validated, alive, George C. Scott and playing the movie Patton. And if you've ever seen, it's a classic and, and basically General Patton, this tough warrior, uh, in the scene is portrayed. And, and those that have studied him said it was a perfect portrayal of, of. <br /><br /> General Patton, he's looking out on the battlefield and it's all going on, and he just says, God, how I love it. He loved the stratum. He loved being a warrior. He, he loved the rush that he got when he was doing what he felt he was designed to do as a leader, as a warrior. I'm gonna come back to him in a few moments. <br /><br /> Idols do something for us, right? They give us that sense, that validation, that my life matters. That I am something, that when I, when I enshrine this, when, when my children or my, my, my idol, my kids are thriving, it does more than just give me happiness for them. It affirms me. It validates me. Idols do something, but idols also do something to us. <br /><br /> Idols let us down. And no matter how capable, intelligent, wealthy, beautiful, peop popular we are, it's a vain hope to think that our gods will serve us faithfully. The servant will become the master. I was reading a guy named Benjamin Nugent, who is a, uh, writer for the New York Times. He also has written a number of novels. <br /><br /> He is certainly not, uh, uh, a religious person and certainly not a a, a Christian. But in one of his writings, posting was called Monomania Mano from one Mania, meaning passion or, or, or, um, obsession. He was describing himself in his own experience, and he said, when I wanted, I wanted to be a writer, but I, I had a struggle. <br /><br /> When I found writing became my passion so much so it was like a monomania, well, it's another word for idolatry, what he's describing. He makes this statement and it's sort of the summary message of the whole podcast. Good writing was my only goal I made the quality of my work, the measure of my worth. I mentioned earlier George Patton and again, the general and, and the, he loved what the battlefield gave to him and the satisfaction, the energy and, and, and, and, and the, the rush that he gave him. <br /><br /> But as they were preparing for the D-day invasion, Ike General Eisenhower met with George, and everybody knew on both the, the allied side and, and the a, the access side, the Germans. That Patton would lead the charge. And so all of the spies that were in Britain for Germany were watching where Patton was. <br /><br /> And what, what Ike designed for General Patton to do was for him to take a fake army. And he actually developed a fake army of, of, in a hidden part of England. But they knew the reconnaissance planes of the Nazis would come over it. And actually it was just fake artillery. They actually made cannons that were outta tree trunks. <br /><br /> And, and you had, they, they had tents set up. They had thousands of people, many of them, most of them were people from the English countryside in uniforms just marching. And they watched all those people getting ready to disembark in ships. At the same time, they were giving, uh, counter, uh, messaging to the Nazis that they're going to collide, which is another port, um, in France. <br /><br /> And all this was going on. And they said, George, I want you to settle. In that region. I want you to be there. I want, we're gonna give every indication that you are leading the invasion at Kali, but we're actually going somewhere else. You're not going to lead the invasion like everybody expects. <br /><br /> History tells the story as actually Ike's son that tells the story of this warrior hero breaking down in tears, crying to Ike. No. He says, no, I'm a warrior. I'm a fighter. I'm a general. What was happening? His God was being pulled away and saying, no, you're just gonna be a faint. You're not going be the star. <br /><br /> Your history is not going to write about you as the leader of the D-Day invasion. Rebecca ERT says it this way. Whatever controls us is our Lord. The person who seeks power will be controlled by power. The person who seeks acceptance is controlled by the people he or she wants to please. We do not control ourselves. <br /><br /> We are controlled by the Lord of our lives. Tim, Tim Keller says it this way. People have come to sacrifice everything to the God of success, but it isn't enough. In ancient times, the Didi were blood thirsty and hard to appease. They still are. Okay. Why am I talking about idolatry? I mean, mark. Here we are in Ephesus, and because the gospel is always spoken into idolatry, The gospel is not only the message, receive Christ and and receive forgiveness of sins. <br /><br /> Be declared righteous in Christ. Living out the gospel is always addressing the idolatry of one's life. Coming to the cross and embracing Christ is centered in recognizing that I have made something else central in my life. So why does Paul talk about idolatry when he's preaching the gospel? Because you won't really fully unexperience the gospel without understanding your own idolatry. <br /><br /> The gospel is that you're saved and justified. But everyone, religious, irreligious, secular, spiritual tries to put their trust, their allegiance, their worship in the other things for Val and some other things for validating and meaning. But the Gods always disappoint. The Gods never deliver. <br /><br /> They will ultimately enslave, but the gospel is the path out. My last point is this, the path out of idolatry, which I think was the whole issue that was going on in Ephesus earlier in this passage and also up in chapter 19 earlier, the Christian group is called The Way. It's actually the word that means the path or the road. <br /><br /> Jesus is the way. He is the one out the gospel of Christ. The good news of Jesus is that there is a path out of your enslavement to idols. What you are looking for in your life is what everyone's looking for. Peace, security. Love acceptance. The gospel presents a path. Augustine in the fourth century said it in this famous statement, oh God, our hearts are restless until they find rest in you. <br /><br /> Jesus is the only way out. He is the path. It's a movie we watched years ago. It's a story of Oliver Twist, my wife when I watched it a few times cuz we like it. And in the, in the story, and of course it's true of the book as well, but the story is of, uh, a guy named Bill Sykes, who was a horrible man. Um, a robber murderer, just a terrible man in, in England, in London. <br /><br /> And he kidnaps a boy named Oliver. Oliver Twist, his girlfriend, his live-in girlfriend is named Nancy. She's wonderful and kind. And she eventually, and, and, and Bill Sykes has captured Oliver Twist to make him help him with robberies. He's a little tiny guy of all the street urchins, he was the thinnest and the smallest, and he could sneak into windows and, and, and crevices in people's houses in ways others couldn't. <br /><br /> So she went to the grandfather of Oliver Twist and said, I, I know where your grandson is and I will help you get him. He's been captured. Um, and, and he said, so, he said, well, will you tell us who's done this so that the authorities can deal with him? And here was her interesting response. Oh no, I won't tell on him. <br /><br /> He's all, I have. The story plays out and she does lead them. And all the time she's leading them through the back dark alleys of Lu London. She's looking fearful of of her, of her, her mate, her friend, her beloved. Bill Sykes and what he'll do, because he is a man of great vengeance and rage, eventually they, they, they get the boy and they're leading them out, and then a shadow appears. <br /><br /> And Bill Sykes comes upon Nancy as she is trying to get him to go to the bridge where she's supposed to meet the grandfather. And in a rage, he grabs the boy, throws him to the side, and in a horrible scene, overwhelmed with rage, he takes his club and beats Nancy to death. And you watch the movie and you have this sense of horror and, and almost despair. <br /><br /> And you just sit there and you say, why didn't she turn him in? Why be determined to redeem, to return to him, to protect him, to stay with him? There's one reason she felt he was all she had. Maybe you say it's the emptiness of your life this morning. You're seeking satisfaction and validation in the wrong places. <br /><br /> Could be people, could be destructive substances could be your career, could be your family, your significant other. But in an all, there's still an emptiness in your life. It feels like all you have in Ephesus, the way confronted people that felt that way. It's why some of them were ca came and they say, we don't need the magic anymore, which had provided our identity, our sense of power. <br /><br /> We burn it because we found that which provides that, which offers to us what we've longed for and all of our lives. In Ephesus, the gospel confronts idolatry. Why hear me here? You can't understand God's prohibition against idolatry until you understand the context in which he constantly says it. <br /><br /> Many passages in the scripture present God condemning idolatry. But do you know what he gives as the reason he says this? I'm a jealous God. Now, jealous can sound bad, but think of the beauty of it. I mean, what husband is not going to feel, feel jealousy if he really loves his wife and is jealous for her affections. <br /><br /> What wife who adores her husband would not be jealous that his eye be turned her way. God says, I want you. It's my mercy. It's my grace that says to you, don't settle for your idols. So I come with the gospel and I turn a city on its head, and it causes no small disturbance. That's what Christ wants to do in your life today, the transforming disturbance of him becoming the central reality of your life. <br /><br /> Some of you have lived your own life, your whole lives, trying to find a sense of purpose, a peace that seems to allude you, a satisfaction that never really arrives. You've allowed multiple other things or people's opinions to rule you to be your center, to ultimately be your God, but you'll only find the true center when you repent of your sins and yield to Christ as the savior of your sins and the Lord of your life. <br /><br /> Jonah says it this way in chapter two, verse eight. Those who clinging to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs. That was the gospel that showed up in Ephesus. Don't clinging to that. Embrace Christ, embrace him as the center of your life. I wanna close with this illustration. It is written by Kelly Clark Olympic Gold medalist in the snowboard event. <br /><br /> She wrote this a few years ago. When I was 18, I found myself in a place where I had accomplished everything that was in my heart to do. I had money, I had fame. I had an Olympic gold medal. I had won every major snowboarding event I had ever dreamed of winning when I was a kid, and I had poured everything I had into snowboarding, but I didn't really know who I was and what I was doing. <br /><br /> Everyone knew me as Kelly Clark Pro snowboarder Kelly Clark, Olympic gold medalist, and that's who I was. That's who I was to other people, and that's who I was. To me, I was thinking, if this is what life is, I've accomplished it all. If this is everything, I don't want to do it anymore. I went to a snowboarding event and from the outside perspective, my life was picture perfect and together I was doing well in the contest and I qualified for the finals that afternoon. <br /><br /> But at the bottom of the pipe, this girl had come down and she had fallen both runs and was crying. I was half paying attention to her conversation and her friend was trying to make her laugh and said, Hey, it's all right. God still loves you. There was just something about that comment that caught my attention that I couldn't shake. <br /><br /> I couldn't deny that it stirred something up in me. So I ran back to my hotel room and I thought, there has got to be a Bible in the hotel room. There are always Bibles in hotel rooms. Right? As I started looking at the Bible, I realized that I didn't know where to look or where to start. There's, but there's something stirring up inside of me and I don't know what to do. <br /><br /> I found out that girl who made the comment was staying in my hotel. I knocked in her door and I said, Hey, my name's Kelly and I think you might be a Christian, and I think you need to tell me about God. And at the same time, I got a little nervous because I had never thought about God before. A day in my life, I had never once wondered why we are here. <br /><br /> I had never thought about it, never been to church, nothing. I had no grid for any of this. And so I spent the next four months thinking, okay, God, if you're real, reveal yourself to me. I got to the end of my season and asked myself a few questions like, could I ever wake up another day and not think about God? <br /><br /> And the answer was no, because I was thinking about him every day and he was real. And now he was in my life. And another question I asked was, could I ever run the other way and pretend he didn't exist? And the answer was also no. And so I came to a conclusion and said, all right, Jesus, come and live life with me. <br /><br /> Her next words are how Jesus replaces idols in our lives. There was a huge shifting point for me where my snowboarding became this amazing expression and fun thing rather than this thing I had to do. It became this thing that I was made to do and I could actually enjoy, and there was so much freedom in it because I wasn't doing it to prove to people or to myself who I was. <br /><br /> Through my relationship with God, I learned who I was and was comfortable with it. But I'll tell you, I've never had more fun snowboarding and I've never been more free. <br /><br /> Maybe God is saying to you, become a person of the way this morning. Come to Christ, find his forgiveness for your sins, for your displacing Him as the Lord of your life and as the center of your life. Come to this God that is jealous for you to experience his love. So much so that he sent his own son to provide forgiveness and life for you. <br /><br /> Let's pray together. Lord, <br /><br /> there's not a person in this room or watching in the prayer gardener in Collingswood that is not an idolater. We've displaced you over and over and over again. Tried so many ways to find our satisfaction in other things, and yet as CS Lewis so beautifully says, you are the humble God, the God who is willing to come. <br /><br /> Even though we've tried a hundred other things before you, you are still willing to come and be our grace, our forgiveness, our life. So, Lord, let us see you as the way this morning. The way out of our bondage, the way in to life. In Jesus' name, amen.</div> false no <![CDATA[The Bonfire that Set a City Ablaze]]> Acts 19:11-20

And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver. So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily.



Sermon Transcript:

It is Father's Day, so I wanted to start off, um, this morning of just sharing a couple of dad jokes that I hear my dad share constantly and I hope they're just as cringy to you as they are to me. What is red and bad for your teeth? A brick.

What is brown and sticky? A stick. There it is here. That, that one got zero lasts. That's okay. It's not, it's not my joke. It's not my joke, so. Oh, well thank you so much guys. My name is Jared. Um, one of the pastors here. If you don't know me, um, I'm the youth pastor, um, and, uh, have the privilege of. Leading the high schoolers and getting ready for a super busy summer.

But a little bit, uh, about me in college, I used to collect Christmas trees and I know that sounds like super strange and I know what you're probably thinking like in my dorm room. Um, like if I had all these Christmas trees, I know it wasn't that, it was after Christmas break, we'd come back for the, um, January semester and I had, back then I had a Ford Ranger 1999 truck.

It was awesome. I loved it so much, but it was, it gave me a lot of problems. It was basically like I had a car payment on it every month. It was like hundreds of dollars every month, but it was great. But I had a Ford Ranger in 1999, and I would drive around the neighborhoods of Langhorn, Pennsylvania. And I would look for people throwing out their Christmas trees.

And I would grab 'em and I'd throw 'em in my truck. I'd go around with my buddies and the one semester I literally collected like, probably like 10 to 15 trees and I stored them like out, out by campus, like out by the woods. And do you wanna guess what I did with them? I burned them. Yes, I burned them. If anyone has seen a Christmas tree burn, there's nothing like it.

It's so exciting. It goes up so fast. It makes the craziest fires. So I'd go out in the woods, it's probably not safe. Um, but, and I would burn these Christmas trees and I like, literally was known of like the Christmas tree guy. I caught a couple people stealing a couple of my Christmas trees. I'm like, guys, you just gotta ask.

All right. I just wanna see it light on fire. You can use it, but just let me watch it go up. Um, but that's what, that's what I used to do. I used to collect Christmas trees, um, around campus and around the neighborhood. Well, this morning we are going to be learning. And viewing a bonfire like that Christmas tree, a bonfire that set a city ablaze.

And if you have your Bibles with you this morning, we're gonna be reading from Acts chapter nine, uh, excuse me, 19 verses 11 through 20. It will be on the slide as well take, give you a second to turn there. This is act chapter 19, verses 11 through 20 says this And God was do, doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul.

So that even the handkerchiefs or aprons that touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them. Then some of the Deterrant Jews, Jewish exorcists, undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits saying, I adjure you by the name of Jesus, whom Paul proclaims, seven sons of a Jewish high priest named S Skiva were doing this.

But the evil spirit said to them, Jesus, I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you and in? And the man in whom there was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them, and overpowered them so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. And this became known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks, and fear fell upon them all.

And the name of the Lord Jesus was extol. Also, many of those who are now believers came confessing and divulging their practices. And a number of those who practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all, and they counted the value of them and found that it came to 50,000 pieces of silver.

So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily. Would you pray with me this morning? Lord, thank you so much for who you are. God, I thank you so much, God, that you are a God who still does mighty works. God, I know that the, the very breath in my lungs right now is a miracle, Lord. So we just come to you this morning, God.

And we're not in our sanctuary. We're, we're in the jam, Lord. We're, we're in a space that is unfamiliar to some of us, that is new to some of us that might feel nostalgic to some of us Lord, but we know that your spirit cannot be contained. By break or mortar. God, we know that your spirit is with us today, Lord, and I pray God fervently that your spirit and the, and your words would move and impact hearts.

God. Lord, if your spirit is not with us today, our, my words will completely fall flat. So, Lord, I, I trust that you would, uh, speak through me, Lord, that you'd open up our hearts, Lord and I do. I pray against every distraction in Jesus' name, Lord, that if there's anyone here that just stumbled in or doesn't even know why they're here, Lord, that you'd open up their heart, their hearts, that you'd open up their eyes, Lord, and open up their ears to what your spirit has to tell them and what your word will speak into them.

We pray all this in Jesus's name. Amen. I love this passage so much. When I, I saw that I got assigned to this passage, I was literally so excited. I remember reading through the book of Acts and coming up upon this passage and then seeing that I was assigned. I mean, it is nine verses and there's so much going on here.

Like it is the most action packed nine verses you could possibly ever preach on. So I'm very excited, um, to be preaching on this this morning. And I think Pastor Mark did an awesome job of just setting the stage of what the city of Ephesus, uh, was looked like. So this is kind of like a, a pop quiz for you and for me if we were listening last week.

But if you weren't, I'll go over some of the things because we have to understand that Paul is in Ephesus. He spent a couple years here, and if we understand the context of the city, I think the passage becomes that much more richer. So if we remember from last week, um, pastor Mark touched on that Ephesus was a thriving city for business, for art, for sports.

At that amphitheaters. I had education, a prominent, uh, place for education. It was second city only to Rome and its prominence. It was a wealthy and, and, uh, educated city. It was home to the temple of Artemis or Diana. It was this incredible temple, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world at that point.

That the whole city kind of worshiped. Um, the, uh, the God of Artemis, this, this foreign idol. Um, it surrounded this, it was beauty. It was like their pride and joy. It was a pagan city filled with darkness and idle worship. Uh, pastor Mark mentioned the prevalence of brothels at every corner. This was legalized, it was common, it was practice even in the temple of Artemis, that he had a thousand prostitutes working in the temple, a part of their worship each and every day.

This was a evil and corrupt city. And Paul decided to minister right in this city. And he spent more time here in Ephesus on a missionary journey longer than he did in any other city. And a few verses we hear, um, about the work that Paul was doing, and we're gonna just flash back to Acts chapter 19, verses eight through 10.

It says this, and he entered this synagogue for three months, spoke boldly, reasoning, and persuading them about the kingdom of God. But when some became stubborn and continued in unbelief, speaking evil of the way before the congregation, he withdrew from them and took the disciples with him reasoning daily in the hall of, of Tyrannous.

This continued for two years so that all the residents of Asia heard the words of the Lord and something, something I can't read on that one. Both trees and creeks. Sorry. Um, if you turn around the, the, the clock's, the clock was, Blocking the rest of the verse. Um, but Paul was ministering. I mean, he was putting in work in the city of Ephesus.

Like he, he was going and he was preaching to the, he, what he commonly did is he'd go to the synagogue. He talked to the Jewish, uh, leaders and, and residents there that settled in this city, that knew of him that they, that, you know, they knew of one God. They knew that a Messiah was coming. They, what? They didn't know.

The Messiah had already come. So Paul would go and he'd reason with them. And for three months they kind of got tired of him. And they're like, some believe some didn't. Some rejected the way and said they spoke evil of him. And he said, you know what? I finished my work here. I'm gonna go to a lecture hall now.

I'm gonna preach for two years. I'm gonna bring the disciples. I'm gonna bring those who believed with me, and now I'm gonna go to the Greeks and to the Romans and to the Gentiles of this city. And I'm going to preach and teach and lecture for two years. Paul was putting in work in the city. It was actually best, mark, I believe mentioned this as well, but he was actually doing this probably most likely during the time of rest that they'd have in the, the middle of their workday when it was the hottest.

So he was doing his own work morning and night and when he, people were supposed to have off and rest, he was teaching and proclaiming the word of God. Paul went up against this evil and corrupt city, this pagan, uh, city filled with superstition. And he didn't let that scare him or intimidate him, but he presented the word of God faithfully.

So then we get to the start of our passage and we see God doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul. Right? It's not Paul doing the miracles. Is not Paul looking into this? No. God is doing extraordinary miracles. Through the hands of Paul, God is literally healing people through handkerchiefs and aprons that Paul have touched, literally sweat rags that he sweat and wiped himself on.

They're taking these, I don't, we don't know if that, that he was, he probably wasn't giving them away if we know anything about Paul, but people probably just grabbing them on his lunch break or something like that and taking them to the sick and to the demon possessed and people are getting healed just by the fabric that has touched Paul.

I mean, how crazy is this, right? I mean, this is absolutely crazy, but I did, um, I have some hanger chips in my office that passer. Mark has sweated on and prayed over. Um, I will be selling those for 29 99. Um, they're only good for one use though, so if you want to do two for 60, I'm willing to do that. Three for 90.

I'm joking. Right. This was something that the Lord was doing special for the city of Ephesus. Luke records these ama amazing miracles. Not as a formula to follow, but to show just how big and creative God is to bring people to himself. God has no limits or boundaries or restraints. He's creative and often uses unique and miraculous ways to show himself.

It shows his mercy to reach and condescend to the city of Ephesus that was steeped in superstition. These miracles must have gotten around because we now, we see the Sons of s Skiva attempt to take advantage of this so-called formula, right? These guys, I mean, sons of s Skiva, just this, they just sound like bad people.

I don't, there's no record of s Skiva actually being a high priest in any Jewish text. So I don't know if this guy just gave him this title or maybe he just wasn't influential, so they didn't write him down or what, but this guy and his sons are charlatans. They see Paul doing something. They see the power of God at work, and they say, Hmm.

I wanna try that. I wanna try that. So it was it, and then this was actually a very common practice for exorcists. What they would do is they would adhere to a more powerful spirit demon to try to cast out lesser spirits and demons. This is what they do. So they name and claim and, and try to use this incantation of someone else's name to cast out demons.

So they're think, whoa, this, this name of Jesus seems pretty powerful, this name of Jesus, that this guy Paul Proclaims seems to be working for him. So why don't we try this one out and notice how they do it. They say, I adur you by the name of Jesus, who Paul proclaims. They didn't know Jesus. They didn't know who he was.

They heard of his name, they heard of Paul using his name and decided to give it a try. Man, were they surprised? You gotta put yourself on the seed. They go in, they're like, they're probably making money off this, right? Scamming people. They go in and they're like, oh, we got this guy, just one single guy.

There's seven of us. You know, we'll just say the name of Jesus. Everything will be good. And it says they left wounded, bloodied, and naked talk about getting embarrassed, right? And not only with that, it says, this became known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greek. This is a big city. And now these Jewish exorcists that had their business and claim the fame about exercising demons have now been mastered by them, embarrassed by them.

And now the whole city knows about it. But then it says, and the name of the Lord was extolled. And so I'm talking about God. There's no boundaries. For God. There's nothing he cannot use to make his name great. Right? The absolute unthinkable happens next, new believers come forward, divulging and confessing sins and evil practices they were a part of.

They took all the books, scrolls, incantations, and whatever else demonic tools they had and burned them in the sight of all. If I haven't emphasized this enough, Ephesus was a city steeped in superstition and demonic practices. This was so prevalent that literally the rest of the Greco Roman world, when they would refer to these spell books and incantations in magic books, they would refer to them as Ephesian writings.

That's literally what they would refer to these books on, because this is so, this is how prevalent and superstitious this city of Ephesus was. These demonic practices were common, that even these believers, these were believers. We're still engaging some of these practices, and what do they do? They have the most epic and most costly bonfire of all time.

The value is stated as 50,000 silver pieces. That would be one silver piece is equivalent to a day's wages. So even a, a most odd modest estimate would be a million dollars in today's currency, but it could be anywhere between a million and $5 million. They didn't care. The name of the Lord was extol. The spirit moved and they came confessing and say, I want nothing to do with this life anymore.

I told you I, I love this passage. It literally preaches itself. I could like pray and say Amen. We could go on and let the spirit of the Lord do the rest of the work. But I do have a couple points, so hang with me first. I have three, three takeaways for us. The first one is the preaching of God's word is dangerous to the enemy's camp.

A preaching of God's word is dangerous to the enemy's camp. Paul knew who his real enemy was. He knew when he wrote to the Ephesians in Ephesians six 12, he says this, for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers, over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil and the heavenly places.

When Paul was going up against the city of Ephesus and the thousands upon thousands of people and the pagan, uh, worship and the idol worship and the temple of Artemis, he knew the people. He was looking at the opposing Jewish people that rejected him. He said, no, no, you're not my battle. I know where my battle is.

It's not against flesh and blood. There's a spiritual battle. There's a spiritual battle happening in the city of Vestus. There is strongholds that the enemy held, and Paul said, I know what I'm going after. I'm going after these strongholds. I'm gonna tear 'em down. And how does he do it? Notice Paul doesn't go in asking God for miraculous things to happen.

We don't start off the chapter and miracles are happening. What happens? He preaches God's word. That's his attack. He goes against these evil forces with God's word. For three months, he reasoned and taught in the synagogue. After they had enough of him, he preached in the lecture hall for two years. He made disciples and had them go out and preach the word.

The preaching of God's word brought forth miracles. Paul didn't start in Ephesus asking God to do a miracle. He went and preached the word and through the preaching of the word miracles came God affirming his ministry. Through these wonderful things happening, and through the preaching of the word, the Lord's name was magnified, people confessed people, repentant of their sin.

They turned away, they rejected it. The last verse in verse 20, it says, so the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily. The word of the Lord, not Paul's name, right? Not Paul's. No. The word of the Lord increased and it's because the faithfulness, the diligence, the hardworking of Paul to continue to preach God's word, even in the face of rejection.

Going back to Ephesians six, right after that verse, it talks about the armor of God. The armor of God is described and we have the belt, right, the Belt of truth. The shoes fitted with the readiness of the gospel of peace. The helmet of guys, you can talk in church. It's okay. The helmet of, okay, the breastplate of the shield of and the sword of the, which is what The word of God.

Notice every piece of armor of the armor of God is defensive except for one piece. It's the sword of the spirit, which is the word of the God. Everything else is defensive. Faith, righteousness, salvation. I got a helmet on, I got a shield on. I got a breast blade on. I got a belt on. I got shoes to run. The sword of the spirit is the attack on the enemy.

The word of God. This is how we play offense. This is what Paul went into a city that was under demonic oppression. He led with the word of God.

How did Jesus resist the devil in the wilderness? He quote it, scripture, Jesus was tempted, like none of us ever will be tempted for 40 days out in the wilderness, faced with the devil himself. And how he combated with him is quoting scripture,

the pastors and some of the other staff here at fcc. We go away. Um, every six months we partner with, uh, Clark Summit Church, uh, up, up in uh, Clark Summit and we do this thing, and it's called Preach the Word. It's actually, uh, uh, organization and, and ministry, I believe started in Brazil. They call it Prague.

If there's any Brazilians here, please forgive my pronunciation. I've really tried on that. Uh, I hope it was somewhat accurate, right? Preach the word. It comes out of, um, second Timothy four, one through two. It says this. This is Paul talking to Timothy, his young disciple. He says, I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is the judge, the living and the dead.

And by his appearing and in his kingdom, preach the word, be ready. In season and out of season. Out of season, reprove, rebuke and exort with complete patience and teaching. Paul's telling Timothy this from his own experience, from his own experiences that he had. The preaching of God's word is not only important, it's essential we go away.

Um, as I mentioned with this, preach the word ministry and we partner with this church and we literally sit in a room and a circle around each other. And for two days straight, like eight to nine hours a day, we study a book of the Bible. And I mean, like, if you know how much I move on stage, you know how much I might move, like sitting down for eight and a half hours of like, oh my gosh, can I stand and talk about God's word?

Now I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm ready to move here. Right. But that's what we do. And it's, it's been so fruitful. It's been so evident in, in, in our teaching and our preaching to just come back and it feels like your quivers full. It feels like your, your cup is overflowing with the power of God's word. It's essential.

It's why we do this every Sunday is preach God's word because it has power. There's nothing special about Pastor Mark or, or me or de desire or Mike or Tim or whoever other pastors. It's that we have the word of God and it has power and it's dangerous to the enemy's camp. So Paul marches in Ephesus, and he goes in and he preaches God's word faithfully.

He was in Ephesus for three years. He demonstrated this preaching God's word, faithfully. The preaching of God's word is dangerous to the enemy's camp. Secondly, we can clearly, clearly see that there is no other name like Jesus. Jesus' name is above all other names. Philippians two, nine through 11 says, this says, therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name.

So at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confessed that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the father. Jesus' name is the name above all other names and, and first we see in this passage is the misuse of the name of Jesus by the sons of Skiva.

We see as a misuse. They use the name of Jesus like a magic charm. That's how they use it. They didn't know Jesus. They didn't know who he was. They didn't know about him. They didn't trust in him. They had no faith in him, and yet they go in and they try to charm something up with the name of Jesus. I'll say this, there is no power, that there is power in the name of Jesus, but the power is knowing the person of Jesus not chanting his name right?

They didn't know him. They just heard of his name. They didn't have faith in him. They just knew how to say his name. The Israelites were were guilty. Of this, uh, in a, in a variety of different ways. But one of the ways the high school youth group, um, and I, we've worked through the whole book of First Samuel this whole last year.

We, we've taken it chapter by chapter. We've actually broken up, um, in the start of youth group, and we've read the chapter and, and individual groups. Then we come together, um, and we talk about it and preach on it. Then we go into small groups and we ask questions about it. And one thing that, that I really saw as just the common theme throughout First Samuel and, and through the Israelites and, and how they worked in chapter four, they do something, they actually have recently even defeated by the Philistines.

They lose about 400 men. And so they, you know, they're, they come up, the leaders come together and they're like, guys, we got a good idea. We know how to defeat the Philistines. At this point, the Philistines aren't camped around them, right? They're ready to go to battle against Israelis. And if you know the Philistines, these were these evil, um, pagan practicing people.

They're against God. Um, they're against his word. Um, and the people of God. So they come up with a strategy. Say, you know what we're gonna do? We're gonna go get the Ark of the Covenant, and we're gonna march it out into battle, and that's how we're gonna defeat the Philistines. Here's the problem. They didn't inquire of the Lord.

They didn't ask him to do this. They didn't have the right processes that God had set up to have priests and sanctification processes and washings to now bring the Ark of the Covenant out. They didn't do any of this. What they did was they marched the trophy out to try to defeat their enemies. What they made short of the Ark of the Covenant, which if you don't know about the ark, it was the symbolic place where God's spirit was resting in the camp of the Israelites, but they marched the Ark of the Covenant out like it's a idol.

Even the Philistines notice that when they have a mighty roar, they're so excited a come to come to the camp. The Philistines say, oh no, they've brought their gods out small G.

And what happens is they absolutely get defeated. They lose more men in that battle than most any other battle. They didn't take time to turn to God, to ask of him, to inquire of him, to know what he wanted. They went out and they marched out his ark like it was a trophy. Like it was an idol. And what power did it hold?

None because they weren't inquiring of the God who gave it power saying the name of Jesus is pointless if we don't have faith in the person of Jesus. There's a scene in, um, the chosen series, if you've seen it or not. Um, my wife Jason, and I are only a couple episodes. In one of the first episodes. I mean, it starts off hot and I think it was the first or second episode and we were following the story of Nicodemus, right?

Who's this prominent religious Jewish leader. And they, they used some writing in between the lines here cuz they have him talking to, uh, Mary Magdalene. Mary Magdalene was a woman who Jesus had cast out seven demons out of her. But before that, they show this scene. This isn't necessarily in the Bible, they kind of write this in.

But Nicodemus goes and they ask him the Romans that this, this lady's causing too much conflict. She's tearing everything up. She's bringing fear in the town. So they send Nicodemus in this religious leader, this Jewish leader, this highly respected rabbi, and they send him in and he goes in there with his incense and he saying every name of God he can and, and, and rebuking this demon.

And Mary Magdalene's kind of like curled up in a ball. It's kind of scary. And then everything goes quiet. And he is like, you don't know if he succeeded or not. And Mary Magdalene looks at Nicodemus and the demons speak through her and they say, we are not afraid of you. You have no power here. And I was struck when I saw that scene because why?

Why didn't Nicodemus have power? Why weren't they afraid of him? Because Nicodemus had no faith in God. He was studied, he knew the scriptures, and yet his faith was lacking. What Jesus said to Nicodemus when he finally meets him, he says, you need to be born again. You know about me. You don't know me. These sons of s Skiva did not know who Jesus was.

Therefore, they had no power. They didn't know him. They say, we know Jesus. We recognize Paul. He's been absolutely tearing up this city. Who were he? You. We don't know who you are, but we're not afraid of you.

Nicodemus was very influential and powerful religious leader, had a lot of knowledge, but no faith. These sons of s Skiva had a name. Their father was a high priest. They were known in the city, and yet they had no power over darkness cuz they had no faith in the person of Jesus. I think we're guilty of this all the time.

We even do this with our food, what we say? God bless this gown of ice cream on my body, and help it turn into celery before it goes down.

Ever think about that prayer, like, God, I know I'm not supposed to eat this six hotdog, but bless this one going down. Right, right. Oftentimes in our life, we just want God to show up. We just, sometimes you ever do this in your scripture, you're like, gimme a good one.

But if we're not taking the time to know God and to inquire of him and to get to know him, what are we doing right? We need to stop using God like a genie. What are we Just rub him the right way. He's gonna show up exactly when I want him, how I want him, where I want 'em.

I've heard people engaging in sin, darkness of sin. Just say, you know, I just, I prayed right after I was done. I prayed the name of Jesus over it right after.

But when it comes to that, we're using Jesus's name just like the Sons of s Skiva did. Like we don't know him cuz if we knew him then we know these things aren't good for me. I know Jesus wouldn't want this in my life,

and yet we try to use his name like a charm or a genie. And this is how good God is that he even works in a superstitious sometimes. This is what he did with the people of Ephesus. God's not working through fabrics like he always does, right? There's, there's a couple instances where he does, and that the woman, um, grabs Jesus's cloak, right?

She had faith that if I just touched his garments, I'd be healed. And she was healed. We know later, earlier in the book of Acts, Peter was walking by and people laid their sick out in the shadow. Just say if, if, if his shadow only passed over me. I'd get healed. This is how good God is that he works even in these moments.

But he what He wants us. He wants us to make his name above all their name. He wants us to treat him like that. That prayer that Mike prayed, our father and heaven hollowed be thy name. Glory to your name. Raise it up above all other names cuz that's who it is. That's what who you are. Lemme see even in the misuse of his name, verse 17 tells us fear fell upon them.

And all the name and the name of the Lord Jesus was extol. It was magnified in the panic and the fear. The Ephesians realize the great danger of the demonic and they feared the name of Jesus. They feared the name of Jesus in the right way and said they saw that this name is not to be trifled with Jesus' name.

It's above every other name, but the power is in knowing the person of Jesus.

In chapter before, or sorry, at the beginning of this chapter, Paul meets a couple disciples that ha they were in the baptism of John the Baptist, right? They, they were expecting the Messiah to come. And what does Paul say? He's come, he, I, I, I know him and you can know him. And when they heard of this and when they learned of this, the spirit of God fell upon them.

This is what knowing the, the name of Jesus is. It's about knowing who he is, knowing the person, and believing in faith. He will do what he said he will do. He's able and mighty and stronger than this.

Jesus' name is the name above every, another name. And he's asking us to treat it like that. Not to use it like a charm or haphazardly, but to treat it as holy and upright as we walk in faith with him. Third, and I'll, I'll close with this. God is burning everything off of us that doesn't look like him.

Many of the new believers came confessing and divulging their practices, right? One thing to note here is the common, uh, consensus was the, these spells and books and scrolls had their power in their secrecy. This is what these magicians, uh, um, and demonic people, um, believe that these scrolls, the, the, these, these magic spells have their power in their secrecy.

So, Just divulging them, just confessing them, just bringing them to the light would empty them of their power. But this was not enough for these believers. They wanted to get rid of 'em. They wanted to destroy them. Remember, these were costly worth over a million dollars. They didn't sell 'em. They didn't trade 'em, they burned them.

They didn't want anyone to have these things, these instruments of the devil that have caused so much sin, so much wickedness in their life. They said no more. They wanted nothing to do with the instruments of the devil.

And if you're sitting here this morning and you're wondering, yeah, Jared, this is, this is awesome and it's a really cool story, but I just don't see this stuff happening right now in America. I just don't really see this type of spiritual warfare going on. In America. You know what, maybe that happens in other parts of the world or maybe it happened back here.

But you know, Satan works in different ways today. And although I, I'd agree with you to a certain extent that he does work in different and new ways, but I believe my generation, especially more than ever, is opening themselves up to spiritual practices that are demonic. There's a whole movement and, um, and practice that they're labeling it new age or spiritualism, and it can refer to many spiritual practices, but it does not identify as religious, but only spiritual.

You probably heard someone say in your life, I'm not religious, I'm just spiritual. I'm like, what does that mean? I'm like, like, I don't know. That could literally mean anything. But this is the common movement of just opening yourselves up to spiritual things. And if we're Christians and we know spiritual things are out there, and if we're not opening ourselves up to the spirit of God and his holy scriptures, then we're opening th things up to the realm of darkness.

And pew reachers, pew researchers actually, um, pew Research Center does a study and 61% of Christians hold at least one new age, belief. 61% of Christians. That's not the world, that's not the non-believers, that's not the people that identify as, oh, I don't believe in anything. 61%. I did a quick Google search by my house.

There are 27 witch stores within 15 miles of my house, 27. I live in Mount Laurel. My wife, Jason, and I were looking forward to going to a fall festival my neighborhood was putting on, um, on Creek Road there. Um, it was around October. I was super excited. All of a sudden, they changed the name, they changed the theme.

It, it was a witch's market on Halloween. Literally a place that you could go and exchange different witchcraft, terra cards, spell books, other things we didn't go. Just to let you know, right? This is more common than you'd like to think it is. Deuteronomy 18 speaks on this. This is, um, when the Israelites are getting ready to enter into the promised land.

This is what that instructions them when you come into the land that the Lord your God has given you. You shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of these nations. There shall not be found among you. Anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering. Anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead for whoever does these things is abomination to the Lord.

And because of these abominations, the Lord your God is driving them out before you.

He labels people who sacrifice their children as sacrifices of their gods in the same light as one who uh, tells fortunes and interprets omens. These practices are abomination to the Lord. This might seem dismal, but the reality is this, people are searching, they are searching, and when you search, you might find some scary stuff, but if you're searching, the Lord will meet you in that.

Now, there's many stories of friends I know and people I know that in their search, in these spiritual practices, they've found some really scary stuff. But in that fear, they've turned to the Lord. And these people are, it's often, um, this, the thi, this is the reality. Satan cannot create. He can only pervert and twist what God's creation is.

He can't create so many of these new age and spiritual practices. They promise healing. They promise inner peace. They promise community. They promise All these things that our God can give us. Our God is healer. Our God is the prince of peace. This is who our God is. So the hope is that these people are searching for something that our God can give them, and it's not watered down.

It's crystal clear. It doesn't leave you searching. It doesn't lead to mental illness. It leads to peace and beauty and comfort and our identity that my father in heaven loves me. God is burning all, all, everything off of us that doesn't look like him. He wants us to refine us, make us look more and more like his son.

Jesus. I need to start wrapping up, but I want to read this testimony, um, from someone I know and I got their permission to share. And I'm gonna keep it anonymous, but I wanna share it with you because this is a recent testimony in the past couple years. It says this, for most of my life I was raised Catholic.

I always knew who Jesus was and had an awareness of God. However, I didn't have a true understanding of what he did and what it meant to be a follower of Christ. I've been heavily attacked by the enemy since day one, and I have faced severe struggles throughout my life. A therapist. I had introduced me to witchcraft when I was 14, and I loved horoscopes, tarot cards and astro uh, astrology signs.

In the fall of 2021, I was dealing and coping with my parents' divorce. I'd gotten a phone with TikTok, which I hadn't had before. I spent way too much time on the app and my feed turned dark video after video of dark horror stories, and it really messed with my head. I was feeling tired and weak and trapped almost, but in the middle of all the dark videos here and there, there would be a video about Jesus.

In the beginning, I ignored them, but as I saw more, I started listening more. I deleted TikTok for a while, and I decided I wanted to learn more about Jesus and Christianity. It was a journey of which I'm still on, but I learned so much. I was horrified at some of my past actions, realizing how naive I was.

I stopped and dropped all witchcraft that I had and ever been involved with, and I burned all the books I had acquired about all of this stuff. Coincidentally, around that same time, my therapist ended up getting fired too. I started reading the Bibles I had. I learned and fully understood who Jesus was and exactly what dying on the cross did for me, and what a beautiful selfless act it was.

This is what God is doing. He's burning things off of us that don't look like him. The farther you are with the Lord, the more you walk with him, you'll just notice He just takes His hatching, just cuts things off that aren't of him. I don't know what the Lord is convicting your heart of right now. I don't know if it's darkness and practices that need exposing.

I don't know if it's sin. Secrets lies, lust, pride, anger, or resentment. My prayer for our church is that we would be like these Ephesians who felt the conviction of the spirit and they listen and they did violence to their sin. Jesus spoke so harshly about dealing with our own sin. He said, if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away for it is better that you lose one of your members than your whole body going to hell.

A good friend of mine, um, I FaceTimed her one time and I'm FaceTiming her and I can't see her. The screen is completely blurred out and I'm like, what is going on? Why can't I see you? Like, I think your phone's broke. Did you like break it or something happened with your camera? She goes, oh, yeah. I painted over my front camera screen, and I'm like, why?

She goes, the Lord was really convicting me of vanity. I'm like, okay, right on. Paint it over. Paint over the front one as well. This is the attitude, right? This is the attitude that God wants us to deal with our sin. If we know something's causing us a sin or a place we're going to, or a show we're watching, or whatever it is, that we'd say, you know what?

It's not worth it to me. I'll destroy my phone, I'll throw out my computer, I'll leave the job. It's not worth it to me. He's burning everything off of us that doesn't look like him. We're gonna close with a song here about just turning to God and leaving the world behind. These were believers that gave up these practices.

God is still taking things from our lives, and I hope that, uh, this song impacts you. And I just want to read this verse as the worship team comes up here and I'll pray. This is Paul writing to the Ephesians. Okay. This is Paul literally writing to the people of Ephesians in Ephesians four 17 through 24.

He says this, now, this I say and testify in the Lord. That you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do in the futility of their minds, they are darkened in their understanding, alienate it from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardness of their heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity, but that is not the way you learned Christ, assuming that you have heard about him, and were taught in Him as truth is in Jesus to put off your old self, which to belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through the deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God and true righteousness and holiness.

Lord, that is our prayer this morning. God that we would put off the old self that was corrupted by sin. God, you've caught us into a new way of life. You've caught us, the walk and newness that works that you've already prepared in advance for us, Lord. So God convict us. Lord, I pray after this message that that people would confess to their loved ones, Lord, that you'd work, that you'd expose sins that have so grown and laid in the darkness, God, that you'd expose 'em to the light, God, that there would be true repentance, Lord, that you would create repentant hearts in our lives and that this would spread to our whole community.

Lord, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-bonfire-that-set-a-city-ablaze 32c1808e-ed2e-4441-8ddd-50b980f55c08 Sun, 18 Jun 2023 10:43:15 GMT <div data-html="true">Acts 19:11-20 <br /><br /> And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver. So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily. <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> It is Father's Day, so I wanted to start off, um, this morning of just sharing a couple of dad jokes that I hear my dad share constantly and I hope they're just as cringy to you as they are to me. What is red and bad for your teeth? A brick. <br /><br /> What is brown and sticky? A stick. There it is here. That, that one got zero lasts. That's okay. It's not, it's not my joke. It's not my joke, so. Oh, well thank you so much guys. My name is Jared. Um, one of the pastors here. If you don't know me, um, I'm the youth pastor, um, and, uh, have the privilege of. Leading the high schoolers and getting ready for a super busy summer. <br /><br /> But a little bit, uh, about me in college, I used to collect Christmas trees and I know that sounds like super strange and I know what you're probably thinking like in my dorm room. Um, like if I had all these Christmas trees, I know it wasn't that, it was after Christmas break, we'd come back for the, um, January semester and I had, back then I had a Ford Ranger 1999 truck. <br /><br /> It was awesome. I loved it so much, but it was, it gave me a lot of problems. It was basically like I had a car payment on it every month. It was like hundreds of dollars every month, but it was great. But I had a Ford Ranger in 1999, and I would drive around the neighborhoods of Langhorn, Pennsylvania. And I would look for people throwing out their Christmas trees. <br /><br /> And I would grab 'em and I'd throw 'em in my truck. I'd go around with my buddies and the one semester I literally collected like, probably like 10 to 15 trees and I stored them like out, out by campus, like out by the woods. And do you wanna guess what I did with them? I burned them. Yes, I burned them. If anyone has seen a Christmas tree burn, there's nothing like it. <br /><br /> It's so exciting. It goes up so fast. It makes the craziest fires. So I'd go out in the woods, it's probably not safe. Um, but, and I would burn these Christmas trees and I like, literally was known of like the Christmas tree guy. I caught a couple people stealing a couple of my Christmas trees. I'm like, guys, you just gotta ask. <br /><br /> All right. I just wanna see it light on fire. You can use it, but just let me watch it go up. Um, but that's what, that's what I used to do. I used to collect Christmas trees, um, around campus and around the neighborhood. Well, this morning we are going to be learning. And viewing a bonfire like that Christmas tree, a bonfire that set a city ablaze. <br /><br /> And if you have your Bibles with you this morning, we're gonna be reading from Acts chapter nine, uh, excuse me, 19 verses 11 through 20. It will be on the slide as well take, give you a second to turn there. This is act chapter 19, verses 11 through 20 says this And God was do, doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul. <br /><br /> So that even the handkerchiefs or aprons that touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them. Then some of the Deterrant Jews, Jewish exorcists, undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits saying, I adjure you by the name of Jesus, whom Paul proclaims, seven sons of a Jewish high priest named S Skiva were doing this. <br /><br /> But the evil spirit said to them, Jesus, I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you and in? And the man in whom there was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them, and overpowered them so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. And this became known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks, and fear fell upon them all. <br /><br /> And the name of the Lord Jesus was extol. Also, many of those who are now believers came confessing and divulging their practices. And a number of those who practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all, and they counted the value of them and found that it came to 50,000 pieces of silver. <br /><br /> So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily. Would you pray with me this morning? Lord, thank you so much for who you are. God, I thank you so much, God, that you are a God who still does mighty works. God, I know that the, the very breath in my lungs right now is a miracle, Lord. So we just come to you this morning, God. <br /><br /> And we're not in our sanctuary. We're, we're in the jam, Lord. We're, we're in a space that is unfamiliar to some of us, that is new to some of us that might feel nostalgic to some of us Lord, but we know that your spirit cannot be contained. By break or mortar. God, we know that your spirit is with us today, Lord, and I pray God fervently that your spirit and the, and your words would move and impact hearts. <br /><br /> God. Lord, if your spirit is not with us today, our, my words will completely fall flat. So, Lord, I, I trust that you would, uh, speak through me, Lord, that you'd open up our hearts, Lord and I do. I pray against every distraction in Jesus' name, Lord, that if there's anyone here that just stumbled in or doesn't even know why they're here, Lord, that you'd open up their heart, their hearts, that you'd open up their eyes, Lord, and open up their ears to what your spirit has to tell them and what your word will speak into them. <br /><br /> We pray all this in Jesus's name. Amen. I love this passage so much. When I, I saw that I got assigned to this passage, I was literally so excited. I remember reading through the book of Acts and coming up upon this passage and then seeing that I was assigned. I mean, it is nine verses and there's so much going on here. <br /><br /> Like it is the most action packed nine verses you could possibly ever preach on. So I'm very excited, um, to be preaching on this this morning. And I think Pastor Mark did an awesome job of just setting the stage of what the city of Ephesus, uh, was looked like. So this is kind of like a, a pop quiz for you and for me if we were listening last week. <br /><br /> But if you weren't, I'll go over some of the things because we have to understand that Paul is in Ephesus. He spent a couple years here, and if we understand the context of the city, I think the passage becomes that much more richer. So if we remember from last week, um, pastor Mark touched on that Ephesus was a thriving city for business, for art, for sports. <br /><br /> At that amphitheaters. I had education, a prominent, uh, place for education. It was second city only to Rome and its prominence. It was a wealthy and, and, uh, educated city. It was home to the temple of Artemis or Diana. It was this incredible temple, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world at that point. <br /><br /> That the whole city kind of worshiped. Um, the, uh, the God of Artemis, this, this foreign idol. Um, it surrounded this, it was beauty. It was like their pride and joy. It was a pagan city filled with darkness and idle worship. Uh, pastor Mark mentioned the prevalence of brothels at every corner. This was legalized, it was common, it was practice even in the temple of Artemis, that he had a thousand prostitutes working in the temple, a part of their worship each and every day. <br /><br /> This was a evil and corrupt city. And Paul decided to minister right in this city. And he spent more time here in Ephesus on a missionary journey longer than he did in any other city. And a few verses we hear, um, about the work that Paul was doing, and we're gonna just flash back to Acts chapter 19, verses eight through 10. <br /><br /> It says this, and he entered this synagogue for three months, spoke boldly, reasoning, and persuading them about the kingdom of God. But when some became stubborn and continued in unbelief, speaking evil of the way before the congregation, he withdrew from them and took the disciples with him reasoning daily in the hall of, of Tyrannous. <br /><br /> This continued for two years so that all the residents of Asia heard the words of the Lord and something, something I can't read on that one. Both trees and creeks. Sorry. Um, if you turn around the, the, the clock's, the clock was, Blocking the rest of the verse. Um, but Paul was ministering. I mean, he was putting in work in the city of Ephesus. <br /><br /> Like he, he was going and he was preaching to the, he, what he commonly did is he'd go to the synagogue. He talked to the Jewish, uh, leaders and, and residents there that settled in this city, that knew of him that they, that, you know, they knew of one God. They knew that a Messiah was coming. They, what? They didn't know. <br /><br /> The Messiah had already come. So Paul would go and he'd reason with them. And for three months they kind of got tired of him. And they're like, some believe some didn't. Some rejected the way and said they spoke evil of him. And he said, you know what? I finished my work here. I'm gonna go to a lecture hall now. <br /><br /> I'm gonna preach for two years. I'm gonna bring the disciples. I'm gonna bring those who believed with me, and now I'm gonna go to the Greeks and to the Romans and to the Gentiles of this city. And I'm going to preach and teach and lecture for two years. Paul was putting in work in the city. It was actually best, mark, I believe mentioned this as well, but he was actually doing this probably most likely during the time of rest that they'd have in the, the middle of their workday when it was the hottest. <br /><br /> So he was doing his own work morning and night and when he, people were supposed to have off and rest, he was teaching and proclaiming the word of God. Paul went up against this evil and corrupt city, this pagan, uh, city filled with superstition. And he didn't let that scare him or intimidate him, but he presented the word of God faithfully. <br /><br /> So then we get to the start of our passage and we see God doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul. Right? It's not Paul doing the miracles. Is not Paul looking into this? No. God is doing extraordinary miracles. Through the hands of Paul, God is literally healing people through handkerchiefs and aprons that Paul have touched, literally sweat rags that he sweat and wiped himself on. <br /><br /> They're taking these, I don't, we don't know if that, that he was, he probably wasn't giving them away if we know anything about Paul, but people probably just grabbing them on his lunch break or something like that and taking them to the sick and to the demon possessed and people are getting healed just by the fabric that has touched Paul. <br /><br /> I mean, how crazy is this, right? I mean, this is absolutely crazy, but I did, um, I have some hanger chips in my office that passer. Mark has sweated on and prayed over. Um, I will be selling those for 29 99. Um, they're only good for one use though, so if you want to do two for 60, I'm willing to do that. Three for 90. <br /><br /> I'm joking. Right. This was something that the Lord was doing special for the city of Ephesus. Luke records these ama amazing miracles. Not as a formula to follow, but to show just how big and creative God is to bring people to himself. God has no limits or boundaries or restraints. He's creative and often uses unique and miraculous ways to show himself. <br /><br /> It shows his mercy to reach and condescend to the city of Ephesus that was steeped in superstition. These miracles must have gotten around because we now, we see the Sons of s Skiva attempt to take advantage of this so-called formula, right? These guys, I mean, sons of s Skiva, just this, they just sound like bad people. <br /><br /> I don't, there's no record of s Skiva actually being a high priest in any Jewish text. So I don't know if this guy just gave him this title or maybe he just wasn't influential, so they didn't write him down or what, but this guy and his sons are charlatans. They see Paul doing something. They see the power of God at work, and they say, Hmm. <br /><br /> I wanna try that. I wanna try that. So it was it, and then this was actually a very common practice for exorcists. What they would do is they would adhere to a more powerful spirit demon to try to cast out lesser spirits and demons. This is what they do. So they name and claim and, and try to use this incantation of someone else's name to cast out demons. <br /><br /> So they're think, whoa, this, this name of Jesus seems pretty powerful, this name of Jesus, that this guy Paul Proclaims seems to be working for him. So why don't we try this one out and notice how they do it. They say, I adur you by the name of Jesus, who Paul proclaims. They didn't know Jesus. They didn't know who he was. <br /><br /> They heard of his name, they heard of Paul using his name and decided to give it a try. Man, were they surprised? You gotta put yourself on the seed. They go in, they're like, they're probably making money off this, right? Scamming people. They go in and they're like, oh, we got this guy, just one single guy. <br /><br /> There's seven of us. You know, we'll just say the name of Jesus. Everything will be good. And it says they left wounded, bloodied, and naked talk about getting embarrassed, right? And not only with that, it says, this became known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greek. This is a big city. And now these Jewish exorcists that had their business and claim the fame about exercising demons have now been mastered by them, embarrassed by them. <br /><br /> And now the whole city knows about it. But then it says, and the name of the Lord was extolled. And so I'm talking about God. There's no boundaries. For God. There's nothing he cannot use to make his name great. Right? The absolute unthinkable happens next, new believers come forward, divulging and confessing sins and evil practices they were a part of. <br /><br /> They took all the books, scrolls, incantations, and whatever else demonic tools they had and burned them in the sight of all. If I haven't emphasized this enough, Ephesus was a city steeped in superstition and demonic practices. This was so prevalent that literally the rest of the Greco Roman world, when they would refer to these spell books and incantations in magic books, they would refer to them as Ephesian writings. <br /><br /> That's literally what they would refer to these books on, because this is so, this is how prevalent and superstitious this city of Ephesus was. These demonic practices were common, that even these believers, these were believers. We're still engaging some of these practices, and what do they do? They have the most epic and most costly bonfire of all time. <br /><br /> The value is stated as 50,000 silver pieces. That would be one silver piece is equivalent to a day's wages. So even a, a most odd modest estimate would be a million dollars in today's currency, but it could be anywhere between a million and $5 million. They didn't care. The name of the Lord was extol. The spirit moved and they came confessing and say, I want nothing to do with this life anymore. <br /><br /> I told you I, I love this passage. It literally preaches itself. I could like pray and say Amen. We could go on and let the spirit of the Lord do the rest of the work. But I do have a couple points, so hang with me first. I have three, three takeaways for us. The first one is the preaching of God's word is dangerous to the enemy's camp. <br /><br /> A preaching of God's word is dangerous to the enemy's camp. Paul knew who his real enemy was. He knew when he wrote to the Ephesians in Ephesians six 12, he says this, for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers, over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil and the heavenly places. <br /><br /> When Paul was going up against the city of Ephesus and the thousands upon thousands of people and the pagan, uh, worship and the idol worship and the temple of Artemis, he knew the people. He was looking at the opposing Jewish people that rejected him. He said, no, no, you're not my battle. I know where my battle is. <br /><br /> It's not against flesh and blood. There's a spiritual battle. There's a spiritual battle happening in the city of Vestus. There is strongholds that the enemy held, and Paul said, I know what I'm going after. I'm going after these strongholds. I'm gonna tear 'em down. And how does he do it? Notice Paul doesn't go in asking God for miraculous things to happen. <br /><br /> We don't start off the chapter and miracles are happening. What happens? He preaches God's word. That's his attack. He goes against these evil forces with God's word. For three months, he reasoned and taught in the synagogue. After they had enough of him, he preached in the lecture hall for two years. He made disciples and had them go out and preach the word. <br /><br /> The preaching of God's word brought forth miracles. Paul didn't start in Ephesus asking God to do a miracle. He went and preached the word and through the preaching of the word miracles came God affirming his ministry. Through these wonderful things happening, and through the preaching of the word, the Lord's name was magnified, people confessed people, repentant of their sin. <br /><br /> They turned away, they rejected it. The last verse in verse 20, it says, so the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily. The word of the Lord, not Paul's name, right? Not Paul's. No. The word of the Lord increased and it's because the faithfulness, the diligence, the hardworking of Paul to continue to preach God's word, even in the face of rejection. <br /><br /> Going back to Ephesians six, right after that verse, it talks about the armor of God. The armor of God is described and we have the belt, right, the Belt of truth. The shoes fitted with the readiness of the gospel of peace. The helmet of guys, you can talk in church. It's okay. The helmet of, okay, the breastplate of the shield of and the sword of the, which is what The word of God. <br /><br /> Notice every piece of armor of the armor of God is defensive except for one piece. It's the sword of the spirit, which is the word of the God. Everything else is defensive. Faith, righteousness, salvation. I got a helmet on, I got a shield on. I got a breast blade on. I got a belt on. I got shoes to run. The sword of the spirit is the attack on the enemy. <br /><br /> The word of God. This is how we play offense. This is what Paul went into a city that was under demonic oppression. He led with the word of God. <br /><br /> How did Jesus resist the devil in the wilderness? He quote it, scripture, Jesus was tempted, like none of us ever will be tempted for 40 days out in the wilderness, faced with the devil himself. And how he combated with him is quoting scripture, <br /><br /> the pastors and some of the other staff here at fcc. We go away. Um, every six months we partner with, uh, Clark Summit Church, uh, up, up in uh, Clark Summit and we do this thing, and it's called Preach the Word. It's actually, uh, uh, organization and, and ministry, I believe started in Brazil. They call it Prague. <br /><br /> If there's any Brazilians here, please forgive my pronunciation. I've really tried on that. Uh, I hope it was somewhat accurate, right? Preach the word. It comes out of, um, second Timothy four, one through two. It says this. This is Paul talking to Timothy, his young disciple. He says, I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is the judge, the living and the dead. <br /><br /> And by his appearing and in his kingdom, preach the word, be ready. In season and out of season. Out of season, reprove, rebuke and exort with complete patience and teaching. Paul's telling Timothy this from his own experience, from his own experiences that he had. The preaching of God's word is not only important, it's essential we go away. <br /><br /> Um, as I mentioned with this, preach the word ministry and we partner with this church and we literally sit in a room and a circle around each other. And for two days straight, like eight to nine hours a day, we study a book of the Bible. And I mean, like, if you know how much I move on stage, you know how much I might move, like sitting down for eight and a half hours of like, oh my gosh, can I stand and talk about God's word? <br /><br /> Now I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm ready to move here. Right. But that's what we do. And it's, it's been so fruitful. It's been so evident in, in, in our teaching and our preaching to just come back and it feels like your quivers full. It feels like your, your cup is overflowing with the power of God's word. It's essential. <br /><br /> It's why we do this every Sunday is preach God's word because it has power. There's nothing special about Pastor Mark or, or me or de desire or Mike or Tim or whoever other pastors. It's that we have the word of God and it has power and it's dangerous to the enemy's camp. So Paul marches in Ephesus, and he goes in and he preaches God's word faithfully. <br /><br /> He was in Ephesus for three years. He demonstrated this preaching God's word, faithfully. The preaching of God's word is dangerous to the enemy's camp. Secondly, we can clearly, clearly see that there is no other name like Jesus. Jesus' name is above all other names. Philippians two, nine through 11 says, this says, therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name. <br /><br /> So at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confessed that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the father. Jesus' name is the name above all other names and, and first we see in this passage is the misuse of the name of Jesus by the sons of Skiva. <br /><br /> We see as a misuse. They use the name of Jesus like a magic charm. That's how they use it. They didn't know Jesus. They didn't know who he was. They didn't know about him. They didn't trust in him. They had no faith in him, and yet they go in and they try to charm something up with the name of Jesus. I'll say this, there is no power, that there is power in the name of Jesus, but the power is knowing the person of Jesus not chanting his name right? <br /><br /> They didn't know him. They just heard of his name. They didn't have faith in him. They just knew how to say his name. The Israelites were were guilty. Of this, uh, in a, in a variety of different ways. But one of the ways the high school youth group, um, and I, we've worked through the whole book of First Samuel this whole last year. <br /><br /> We, we've taken it chapter by chapter. We've actually broken up, um, in the start of youth group, and we've read the chapter and, and individual groups. Then we come together, um, and we talk about it and preach on it. Then we go into small groups and we ask questions about it. And one thing that, that I really saw as just the common theme throughout First Samuel and, and through the Israelites and, and how they worked in chapter four, they do something, they actually have recently even defeated by the Philistines. <br /><br /> They lose about 400 men. And so they, you know, they're, they come up, the leaders come together and they're like, guys, we got a good idea. We know how to defeat the Philistines. At this point, the Philistines aren't camped around them, right? They're ready to go to battle against Israelis. And if you know the Philistines, these were these evil, um, pagan practicing people. <br /><br /> They're against God. Um, they're against his word. Um, and the people of God. So they come up with a strategy. Say, you know what we're gonna do? We're gonna go get the Ark of the Covenant, and we're gonna march it out into battle, and that's how we're gonna defeat the Philistines. Here's the problem. They didn't inquire of the Lord. <br /><br /> They didn't ask him to do this. They didn't have the right processes that God had set up to have priests and sanctification processes and washings to now bring the Ark of the Covenant out. They didn't do any of this. What they did was they marched the trophy out to try to defeat their enemies. What they made short of the Ark of the Covenant, which if you don't know about the ark, it was the symbolic place where God's spirit was resting in the camp of the Israelites, but they marched the Ark of the Covenant out like it's a idol. <br /><br /> Even the Philistines notice that when they have a mighty roar, they're so excited a come to come to the camp. The Philistines say, oh no, they've brought their gods out small G. <br /><br /> And what happens is they absolutely get defeated. They lose more men in that battle than most any other battle. They didn't take time to turn to God, to ask of him, to inquire of him, to know what he wanted. They went out and they marched out his ark like it was a trophy. Like it was an idol. And what power did it hold? <br /><br /> None because they weren't inquiring of the God who gave it power saying the name of Jesus is pointless if we don't have faith in the person of Jesus. There's a scene in, um, the chosen series, if you've seen it or not. Um, my wife Jason, and I are only a couple episodes. In one of the first episodes. I mean, it starts off hot and I think it was the first or second episode and we were following the story of Nicodemus, right? <br /><br /> Who's this prominent religious Jewish leader. And they, they used some writing in between the lines here cuz they have him talking to, uh, Mary Magdalene. Mary Magdalene was a woman who Jesus had cast out seven demons out of her. But before that, they show this scene. This isn't necessarily in the Bible, they kind of write this in. <br /><br /> But Nicodemus goes and they ask him the Romans that this, this lady's causing too much conflict. She's tearing everything up. She's bringing fear in the town. So they send Nicodemus in this religious leader, this Jewish leader, this highly respected rabbi, and they send him in and he goes in there with his incense and he saying every name of God he can and, and, and rebuking this demon. <br /><br /> And Mary Magdalene's kind of like curled up in a ball. It's kind of scary. And then everything goes quiet. And he is like, you don't know if he succeeded or not. And Mary Magdalene looks at Nicodemus and the demons speak through her and they say, we are not afraid of you. You have no power here. And I was struck when I saw that scene because why? <br /><br /> Why didn't Nicodemus have power? Why weren't they afraid of him? Because Nicodemus had no faith in God. He was studied, he knew the scriptures, and yet his faith was lacking. What Jesus said to Nicodemus when he finally meets him, he says, you need to be born again. You know about me. You don't know me. These sons of s Skiva did not know who Jesus was. <br /><br /> Therefore, they had no power. They didn't know him. They say, we know Jesus. We recognize Paul. He's been absolutely tearing up this city. Who were he? You. We don't know who you are, but we're not afraid of you. <br /><br /> Nicodemus was very influential and powerful religious leader, had a lot of knowledge, but no faith. These sons of s Skiva had a name. Their father was a high priest. They were known in the city, and yet they had no power over darkness cuz they had no faith in the person of Jesus. I think we're guilty of this all the time. <br /><br /> We even do this with our food, what we say? God bless this gown of ice cream on my body, and help it turn into celery before it goes down. <br /><br /> Ever think about that prayer, like, God, I know I'm not supposed to eat this six hotdog, but bless this one going down. Right, right. Oftentimes in our life, we just want God to show up. We just, sometimes you ever do this in your scripture, you're like, gimme a good one. <br /><br /> But if we're not taking the time to know God and to inquire of him and to get to know him, what are we doing right? We need to stop using God like a genie. What are we Just rub him the right way. He's gonna show up exactly when I want him, how I want him, where I want 'em. <br /><br /> I've heard people engaging in sin, darkness of sin. Just say, you know, I just, I prayed right after I was done. I prayed the name of Jesus over it right after. <br /><br /> But when it comes to that, we're using Jesus's name just like the Sons of s Skiva did. Like we don't know him cuz if we knew him then we know these things aren't good for me. I know Jesus wouldn't want this in my life, <br /><br /> and yet we try to use his name like a charm or a genie. And this is how good God is that he even works in a superstitious sometimes. This is what he did with the people of Ephesus. God's not working through fabrics like he always does, right? There's, there's a couple instances where he does, and that the woman, um, grabs Jesus's cloak, right? <br /><br /> She had faith that if I just touched his garments, I'd be healed. And she was healed. We know later, earlier in the book of Acts, Peter was walking by and people laid their sick out in the shadow. Just say if, if, if his shadow only passed over me. I'd get healed. This is how good God is that he works even in these moments. <br /><br /> But he what He wants us. He wants us to make his name above all their name. He wants us to treat him like that. That prayer that Mike prayed, our father and heaven hollowed be thy name. Glory to your name. Raise it up above all other names cuz that's who it is. That's what who you are. Lemme see even in the misuse of his name, verse 17 tells us fear fell upon them. <br /><br /> And all the name and the name of the Lord Jesus was extol. It was magnified in the panic and the fear. The Ephesians realize the great danger of the demonic and they feared the name of Jesus. They feared the name of Jesus in the right way and said they saw that this name is not to be trifled with Jesus' name. <br /><br /> It's above every other name, but the power is in knowing the person of Jesus. <br /><br /> In chapter before, or sorry, at the beginning of this chapter, Paul meets a couple disciples that ha they were in the baptism of John the Baptist, right? They, they were expecting the Messiah to come. And what does Paul say? He's come, he, I, I, I know him and you can know him. And when they heard of this and when they learned of this, the spirit of God fell upon them. <br /><br /> This is what knowing the, the name of Jesus is. It's about knowing who he is, knowing the person, and believing in faith. He will do what he said he will do. He's able and mighty and stronger than this. <br /><br /> Jesus' name is the name above every, another name. And he's asking us to treat it like that. Not to use it like a charm or haphazardly, but to treat it as holy and upright as we walk in faith with him. Third, and I'll, I'll close with this. God is burning everything off of us that doesn't look like him. <br /><br /> Many of the new believers came confessing and divulging their practices, right? One thing to note here is the common, uh, consensus was the, these spells and books and scrolls had their power in their secrecy. This is what these magicians, uh, um, and demonic people, um, believe that these scrolls, the, the, these, these magic spells have their power in their secrecy. <br /><br /> So, Just divulging them, just confessing them, just bringing them to the light would empty them of their power. But this was not enough for these believers. They wanted to get rid of 'em. They wanted to destroy them. Remember, these were costly worth over a million dollars. They didn't sell 'em. They didn't trade 'em, they burned them. <br /><br /> They didn't want anyone to have these things, these instruments of the devil that have caused so much sin, so much wickedness in their life. They said no more. They wanted nothing to do with the instruments of the devil. <br /><br /> And if you're sitting here this morning and you're wondering, yeah, Jared, this is, this is awesome and it's a really cool story, but I just don't see this stuff happening right now in America. I just don't really see this type of spiritual warfare going on. In America. You know what, maybe that happens in other parts of the world or maybe it happened back here. <br /><br /> But you know, Satan works in different ways today. And although I, I'd agree with you to a certain extent that he does work in different and new ways, but I believe my generation, especially more than ever, is opening themselves up to spiritual practices that are demonic. There's a whole movement and, um, and practice that they're labeling it new age or spiritualism, and it can refer to many spiritual practices, but it does not identify as religious, but only spiritual. <br /><br /> You probably heard someone say in your life, I'm not religious, I'm just spiritual. I'm like, what does that mean? I'm like, like, I don't know. That could literally mean anything. But this is the common movement of just opening yourselves up to spiritual things. And if we're Christians and we know spiritual things are out there, and if we're not opening ourselves up to the spirit of God and his holy scriptures, then we're opening th things up to the realm of darkness. <br /><br /> And pew reachers, pew researchers actually, um, pew Research Center does a study and 61% of Christians hold at least one new age, belief. 61% of Christians. That's not the world, that's not the non-believers, that's not the people that identify as, oh, I don't believe in anything. 61%. I did a quick Google search by my house. <br /><br /> There are 27 witch stores within 15 miles of my house, 27. I live in Mount Laurel. My wife, Jason, and I were looking forward to going to a fall festival my neighborhood was putting on, um, on Creek Road there. Um, it was around October. I was super excited. All of a sudden, they changed the name, they changed the theme. <br /><br /> It, it was a witch's market on Halloween. Literally a place that you could go and exchange different witchcraft, terra cards, spell books, other things we didn't go. Just to let you know, right? This is more common than you'd like to think it is. Deuteronomy 18 speaks on this. This is, um, when the Israelites are getting ready to enter into the promised land. <br /><br /> This is what that instructions them when you come into the land that the Lord your God has given you. You shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of these nations. There shall not be found among you. Anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering. Anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead for whoever does these things is abomination to the Lord. <br /><br /> And because of these abominations, the Lord your God is driving them out before you. <br /><br /> He labels people who sacrifice their children as sacrifices of their gods in the same light as one who uh, tells fortunes and interprets omens. These practices are abomination to the Lord. This might seem dismal, but the reality is this, people are searching, they are searching, and when you search, you might find some scary stuff, but if you're searching, the Lord will meet you in that. <br /><br /> Now, there's many stories of friends I know and people I know that in their search, in these spiritual practices, they've found some really scary stuff. But in that fear, they've turned to the Lord. And these people are, it's often, um, this, the thi, this is the reality. Satan cannot create. He can only pervert and twist what God's creation is. <br /><br /> He can't create so many of these new age and spiritual practices. They promise healing. They promise inner peace. They promise community. They promise All these things that our God can give us. Our God is healer. Our God is the prince of peace. This is who our God is. So the hope is that these people are searching for something that our God can give them, and it's not watered down. <br /><br /> It's crystal clear. It doesn't leave you searching. It doesn't lead to mental illness. It leads to peace and beauty and comfort and our identity that my father in heaven loves me. God is burning all, all, everything off of us that doesn't look like him. He wants us to refine us, make us look more and more like his son. <br /><br /> Jesus. I need to start wrapping up, but I want to read this testimony, um, from someone I know and I got their permission to share. And I'm gonna keep it anonymous, but I wanna share it with you because this is a recent testimony in the past couple years. It says this, for most of my life I was raised Catholic. <br /><br /> I always knew who Jesus was and had an awareness of God. However, I didn't have a true understanding of what he did and what it meant to be a follower of Christ. I've been heavily attacked by the enemy since day one, and I have faced severe struggles throughout my life. A therapist. I had introduced me to witchcraft when I was 14, and I loved horoscopes, tarot cards and astro uh, astrology signs. <br /><br /> In the fall of 2021, I was dealing and coping with my parents' divorce. I'd gotten a phone with TikTok, which I hadn't had before. I spent way too much time on the app and my feed turned dark video after video of dark horror stories, and it really messed with my head. I was feeling tired and weak and trapped almost, but in the middle of all the dark videos here and there, there would be a video about Jesus. <br /><br /> In the beginning, I ignored them, but as I saw more, I started listening more. I deleted TikTok for a while, and I decided I wanted to learn more about Jesus and Christianity. It was a journey of which I'm still on, but I learned so much. I was horrified at some of my past actions, realizing how naive I was. <br /><br /> I stopped and dropped all witchcraft that I had and ever been involved with, and I burned all the books I had acquired about all of this stuff. Coincidentally, around that same time, my therapist ended up getting fired too. I started reading the Bibles I had. I learned and fully understood who Jesus was and exactly what dying on the cross did for me, and what a beautiful selfless act it was. <br /><br /> This is what God is doing. He's burning things off of us that don't look like him. The farther you are with the Lord, the more you walk with him, you'll just notice He just takes His hatching, just cuts things off that aren't of him. I don't know what the Lord is convicting your heart of right now. I don't know if it's darkness and practices that need exposing. <br /><br /> I don't know if it's sin. Secrets lies, lust, pride, anger, or resentment. My prayer for our church is that we would be like these Ephesians who felt the conviction of the spirit and they listen and they did violence to their sin. Jesus spoke so harshly about dealing with our own sin. He said, if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away for it is better that you lose one of your members than your whole body going to hell. <br /><br /> A good friend of mine, um, I FaceTimed her one time and I'm FaceTiming her and I can't see her. The screen is completely blurred out and I'm like, what is going on? Why can't I see you? Like, I think your phone's broke. Did you like break it or something happened with your camera? She goes, oh, yeah. I painted over my front camera screen, and I'm like, why? <br /><br /> She goes, the Lord was really convicting me of vanity. I'm like, okay, right on. Paint it over. Paint over the front one as well. This is the attitude, right? This is the attitude that God wants us to deal with our sin. If we know something's causing us a sin or a place we're going to, or a show we're watching, or whatever it is, that we'd say, you know what? <br /><br /> It's not worth it to me. I'll destroy my phone, I'll throw out my computer, I'll leave the job. It's not worth it to me. He's burning everything off of us that doesn't look like him. We're gonna close with a song here about just turning to God and leaving the world behind. These were believers that gave up these practices. <br /><br /> God is still taking things from our lives, and I hope that, uh, this song impacts you. And I just want to read this verse as the worship team comes up here and I'll pray. This is Paul writing to the Ephesians. Okay. This is Paul literally writing to the people of Ephesians in Ephesians four 17 through 24. <br /><br /> He says this, now, this I say and testify in the Lord. That you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do in the futility of their minds, they are darkened in their understanding, alienate it from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardness of their heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity, but that is not the way you learned Christ, assuming that you have heard about him, and were taught in Him as truth is in Jesus to put off your old self, which to belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through the deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God and true righteousness and holiness. <br /><br /> Lord, that is our prayer this morning. God that we would put off the old self that was corrupted by sin. God, you've caught us into a new way of life. You've caught us, the walk and newness that works that you've already prepared in advance for us, Lord. So God convict us. Lord, I pray after this message that that people would confess to their loved ones, Lord, that you'd work, that you'd expose sins that have so grown and laid in the darkness, God, that you'd expose 'em to the light, God, that there would be true repentance, Lord, that you would create repentant hearts in our lives and that this would spread to our whole community. <br /><br /> Lord, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.</div> false no <![CDATA[Building a Church that Makes a Difference]]> Acts 19:1-10

they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying.



Sermon Transcript:

Good morning everybody. Good morning. We're gonna turn to Acts chapter 19. Uh, great to have you here, and those of you that are out in the prayer Garden, great to have you guys out there worshiping with us this morning. Uh, I was very, oh, well I was very excited last Sunday as we started in here and all the good things, but also a little bit jealous, um, because we had set up our preaching schedule years ago, uh, months ago, and.

Didn't know this was gonna be our first Sunday in here. And this is deja vu for me to come back and be preaching in this gym. And so I'm excited to be up here this morning. We're gonna be looking at Acts chapter 19 as we continue in our series in the book of Acts, uh, the Spirit at Work to the Ends of the Earth.

And I'm excited about what we're gonna be talking about today. Acts chapter 19. I'm gonna read verses one through 10, ask you to follow along silently in your Bibles. And it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples and he said to them, did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?

And they said, no, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit. And he said, into what? Then were you baptized? They said Into John's baptism. And Paul said, John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him. That is Jesus. On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying. There were about 12 men in all, and he entered the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God. But when some became stubborn and continued and unbelief, speaking evil of the way before the congregation, he withdrew from them, took the disciples with him.

Reasoning daily in the Hall of Tyran is discontinued for two years so that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks. Let's pray together this morning.

Lord, we come in this beautiful sunny Sunday morning, we come God to celebrate you. Lord, even as we've worshiped in our songs, we now wanna worship in our response to your speaking to us from the scriptures. God, as we reflect this morning on what it means to have a church, a life that is making a difference by your grace to your glory, I pray you'd be our teacher, father, that you would draw us to who to want to imbibe these realities in our own lives, even as we seek to live out the gospel in our lives.

So Jesus, glorify yourself in our time Now, I pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Uh, I didn't mention I'm Pastor Mark. Um, and, uh, We are really happy to have you here. I am locating, I had to ask somebody where my wife was, um, because who's sitting there with my granddaughter from Michigan? Sophie. Hi, Sophie. Good. Have you, um, uh, because everybody's, I mean, I haven't found anybody sitting where they belong.

Um, so everybody's got their new, their new spots and our new digs for the summer. Alright, we're gonna look at Acts 19. It was May 20. It was May 30th, 1792. A young preacher, 31 years old was speaking to, uh, a gathering of pastors in England. And as he gathered in this church, basically addressing, uh, leaders of his movement, it was a Baptist movement.

Um, he challenged them with what became a sermon that has become known as the deathless sermon. It was a sermon that had such significance and truth. That people nicknamed it that because it was a sermon that would never die. William Carey was a speaker and he was addressing a bunch of, uh, pastors, most of them older, far more experienced than him, but he was challenging them to take the gospel, the message of Jesus Christ beyond the borders of Great Britain, and to look to various places of the world.

He had just returned from India himself and was deeply burdened for India, but other parts of the world. His message stirred these individuals and it was a deepening, stirring as time went on. So much so that this sermon was viewed as the launching of the modern missionary movement, and William Carey is called the Father of Modern Missions.

The sermon had a phrase, a dual phrase, and he repeated a number of time. Here was the phrase attempt. Great things for God, expect great things from God. As the 18th century incarnation of the Apostle Paul, William Carey demonstrated the same passion for God and his kingdom work that Paul himself illustrates.

Paul would've been proud of William Par Carey and his sermon because the apostle Paul had that same passion that we can step out in faith and attempt things led by God, believing that God can and does do amazing things in the lives of churches and notably individuals that lay claim to him and his promises.

No place in the Book of Acts will that be more seen. Then in the church that we're beginning to talk about this morning, the church at Ephesus, it is a city that was second only to Rome, uh, in prominence in the ancient world. It was a city that Paul was passionate about pouring his life and the gospel into.

As a matter of fact, you remember on his second missionary journey, we talked about the fact that, that Paul, as he was going up through modern Turkey, and if you can picture him going through Turkey, he was heading right for Ephesus, which was at the border of Turkey. And as he was heading there, the spirit of God said no and directed him north.

He ended up going all the way up to Troja and then crossing over to Greece. Almost two years later, at the end of the second missionary journey, he's been through Greece and he's coming back and on a boat now. He can't help himself. He stops at Ephesus and again, at the end of Acts 18 is the short experience he has there.

He's returned all the way to Antioch at Jerusalem and then Antioch and now is going on his third missionary journey, and he has one place that he's targeting. It is Ephesus. He just zooms across Modern day. Turkey actually does not take the trade route, but he actually goes through the mountains because it would faster the, he would not be held up in towns.

He was just moving at his own pace, going across, going to Ephesus, and as he arrives at Ephesus, we have the account here in Acts chapter 19 verses one through 10. And what we learn in this passage is the reality of attempting something great and expecting something great from the hand of God. Any child of God should have a desire to have their life make a difference for God's glory.

No believer here is too old or too young to be expecting and attempting with God. So this morning I'd like to take this passage and highlight three things that are involved in God using us to build something to His glory, whether it's as a church, as a movement, as an individual. And we're gonna look at three things in the third.

The first will be, will spend the longest time on, but we'll get through all three. Number one, there will be significant challenges. The context will present challenges. Ephesus is a perfect example of that. This is a a prominent city, and as we're entering into a number of. Of, uh, passages in the, in the Book of Acts.

I want to tell, tell you about Ephesus briefly. Uh, Ephesus was, as I mentioned, this prominent city. It was seated at the far end of Turkey, sort of butting out into the, the Mediterranean sea facing towards, towards Italy, ultimately to Greece and then to to Rome. And it was the end of the Silk Road. And there all the goods of the, of the Far East were brought.

And this city on its harbor was a center of, of commerce. And all the riches would be sent to the other parts of the empire, a wealthy city, a powerful city, an educated city. It was a place that was full of the arts. It had, as this slide depicts, a 25,000 amphitheater for theatrical productions. Marin and I have had the privilege of being in Ephesus is the place that I've ever been, that I want to go back to the most.

Uh, just an amazing, um, Visual and with many, many, uh, still existent, uh, visuals of the ancient city of esis. But it had this 25,000, uh, theater. There also is, uh, it was famous for its learning. It had all kinds of schools for children's six to 16, but then it also had graduate degrees and it had postgraduate.

There were four postgraduate schools. These particular schools were a medical school, a theatrical school, a Phil, a philosophical school, a school of rhetoric, which basically we would today say that you majored in communication and an architectural school. Many of the people were wealthy and powerful that settled in Ephesus.

The city had whole sections of high-rise apartments, as we would think of them. This is a depiction actually. You can see they have unearthed a lot of these, and this is just sort of cleaning it up, but they actually have these pictures on the floor, on the walls, and these were multi high-rise. I mean, these were nice places.

This is 2000 years ago. They lived in affluence and influence. The city had a beautiful port, and this is just a depiction of the city. Over to the, the left corner is just the beginning of the port that opens into the Mediterranean Sea. This city built around a large hill, hundreds of thousands of residents.

There's the, um, the theater in the middle, the sports complexes, a couple of them. There's giant marketplaces. Um, it is just a, a city that was, Powerful, influential, and also extraordinarily sensual. Literally, at every corner, uh, of every intersection, there is a large house that is a brothel legalized. Uh, prostitution was everywhere, but the most famous and most glorified in part of the city was their ownership of the edifice.

That was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, which was the Temple of Artemis, or also called the Temple of Diana. This picture depicts it, and it actually was up on a slope like it is pictured there outside the city. Those columns that you see that are holding up the, the large roof structure, were 66 feet high.

They're 130 of them. This ceiling. If you go to the point of this roof is 34 feet tall, so it was twice that height, just the posts, the columns, uh, held up this great structure. The temple was one and a half football fields. It was 450 feet long. It was a big place. It was the center of religious faith, uh, throughout the entire region of the Eastern Mediterranean for both the Greek and Roman world.

And it had, as part of its religious experiences, 1000 temple prostitutes that practice there as a part of the experience, sensuality, their own form of spiritism were there in, uh, a sense of paganism. Um, and, and here this was a city, and we'll see when Paul runs into. People coming to Christ and renouncing their worship of Diana, the trouble it would cause.

So how do you even get started? I mean, what could Paul Paul possibly do? The task is overwhelming, but there were other parts that were challenging versus one through seven of our text talks about this group of Ephesian Christians that he comes across. And actually there are individuals as, as you read, and Joe, pastor Joe talked about this a little last week.

A Apollos was in a similar state, although he may have actually, he had already embraced Christ, but he didn't know about the the baptism of Christ. But here, these individuals, they had been baptized in the baptism of John the Baptist, which actually he had died 22 years before this. So they've been living this way for 22 years at least.

They were baptized in repentance, which simply means they had embraced his mes of repentance. And John the Baptist message was this. There's one coming after me that's the Messiah. He's the guy, he's the one we're waiting for, but they hadn't met him. They hadn't heard of him. And so Paul says, what were you baptized into?

Well, the baptism of John, the baptism of repentance. And he says, well, I know the guy. The guy is Jesus. Jesus is the Christ. He's the Messiah. He's the one you're waiting for. They embraced that message and embraced Christ, and the result was they had the same authenticating sign of belief in Christ that had taken place of all the other groups in Acts, which is a way of authenticating that the gospel was going forth to all people and authenticating the ministry of the Apostles.

We saw it at the day of Pentecost in Acts two, when the Spirit came upon them and they spoke in other languages and, and, and tongues the Jews. Then in Acts 10 and 11, where the, the Samaritans spoke. In tongues and and believed on Christ. In latter chapters, we've seen Gentiles that embraced Christ and again, authenticating the new work of Christ and the church.

And now we have a fourth group. This group, a group of apparently Jews that 22 years had embraced the message of repentance, didn't know about Jesus, and now they do. And you have this hodgepodge of, of believers around. And this challenge for Paul is he's, he's trying to teach and lead and, and start a new movement.

There's all kinds of different people that are involved. The third thing that made it challenging is the enemy bringing challenges. When Paul was in Ephesus, he wrote a letter to the church of Corinth. And when he wrote this letter in one Corinthians 16, here's what he wrote in verse eight and nine, but I'll stay in Ephesus until Pentecost for a wide door for effective work has opened to me.

And there are many. Adversaries. He says, the, the door's wide open here. But there are many adversaries as we look at our passage there in, in verses one through seven, we find that first he, he started to minister to the Jews and then he gets thrown out of the synagogue. After three months, he starts the Hall of Tyran, which was a local, uh, teacher and, and is doing his teaching and dis discourses there.

And this leads him into all kinds of opposition. There's gonna be opposition from the religious mucky mucks of the town. There's gonna be opposition from the business community, from the political establishment, all empowered and prodded by the spiritual powers of darkness. And those darkness will actually show up in, in actual demons attacking Paul.

We'll see it. All these chapters, lots of challenges, lots of opposition. And yet Paul says, There's a door here. There's a door that's open to ministry, and you say, where all these adversaries, all this opposition that Paul saw a door in the midst of those challenges. The fourth thing, his own personal deficiencies, present challenges as they do for you and me.

He's writing again in Second Corinthians chapter one. He's just left Ephesus at this time, and he's writing about his experience there. And here's what he says in second Corinthians one, eight. We do not want you to be unaware. Brothers of the affliction we experienced in Asia for we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself.

Instead, indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. Paul says, I I want you to know how, how it felt ministering in Ephesus. We were exhausted. We felt the burden. We were way down at times with the opposition of the spiritual warfare. Honestly. He says, there were times when we actually thought it was just is gonna kill us.

It was so challenging, so hard.

We hear all this. We say, what? What chance does this guy have? I mean, he's just a lone guy going into this, this, this giant metropolitan city that is so steeped in a contrary, pagan view of life reminds me of the scene in the the Princess Bride where. Uh, Wesley, uh, the hero of the story. You know, he's been tortured by the nasty prince and he's left for dead, and they think he is dead.

And he's brought to Miracle Max. And, and Miracle Max does his magic with him. And he, he's alive and, and Miracle. Max says, what are you gonna do? He says, well, I'm gonna attack the castle and I'm gonna, I'm gonna rescue Buttercup, which was his beloved. And so Miracle Max gets him ready. And so Wesley's leaving, if you remember, he is leaving and Miracle Max is there, and he is waving at him and he says, have fun storming the castle.

And then his wife turns a miracle, max. And, and she says to him, do you think he'll make it? And Miracle Max's statement is this, it'll take a miracle. That's Paul, right? That's Paul. It'll take a miracle. I mean, how in the world is he gonna make a difference in this city?

There is a supernatural plan and partnership that is available to Paul and you. Verse eight and nine describes it. It describes part of it. Verse eight and nine, we read this and he entered the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God. But when some became stubborn and continued and unbelief speaking evil of the way before the congregation, he withdrew from them and took the disciples with him.

Reasoning daily in the, in the school of Tyran Tyran. First of all, he discerned God's plan. It's the plan that he used in every major, uh, city he went to. First of all, he would look for a synagogue. He'd speak to the Jews who had the most similar worldview as him. They also believed in one God, a mon, a monotheistic creator.

God was superintendent the universe. They believed there were laws that God had given and they were summarized in the 10 Commandments. They believed that there needed to be some covering for sin. They believed somewhere in the way there was one coming that would be their rescuer. There would be their Messiah.

The problem was most of them didn't believe it was Jesus Christ. So Paul had to convince them about the reality of Christ from the Old Testament scriptures. He lasted three, three months in their synagogue preaching until finally people began to stir up trouble. And he moved to apparently a Jewish, uh, uh, uh, one of the members of Ephesus.

Uh, a prominent teacher had embraced Christ and he gives Paul access to teach at his school. There's a lot of, um, extra biblical. Information that argues that when Paul did that was in the early afternoons because in the ancient world it was a little like, um, Spanish, uh, cultures and central and South American cultures.

They had a siesta. It was hot during the middle of the day and they would tend in the early afternoon hours, everything would close down. They started work very early. Um, and basically Paul taught when everybody would've been taken their siesta and he had every day these opportunity to teach and reason there.

In this school of Tyran, he followed God's pattern. This is what he did first. Go to those with a similar worldview, then go to those with a different worldview. And as we've mentioned, other weeks, different teaching methodology with both significant different in the way they approach things. Always leading to the gospel in Christ.

But it ultimately though, we used a plan, it was not the plan. That enabled Paul to reach the city of Ephesus and the world in the way he did. Paul accused us by writing again what happened here in Ephesus, and basically he was successful by depending on God's sovereign power. When he wrote to the Corinthians, and I'm going back to the passage in in Second Corinthians one, I just read a moment ago, but I want you to hear the sequel to it.

Paul says this in that passage, second Corinthians one, eight, for we were so utterly beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death, but that was to make us rely not on ourselves, but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril and he will deliver us on him.

We have set our hope. That he will deliver us again. Paul says this. Yeah, there were adversaries everywhere. Yeah, it was. It was. It was so overwhelming at times. We just felt exhausted and weak, almost to the point of death. But he said all of that happened to remind us it wasn't gonna be our plan. It wasn't gonna be our leadership skills, it wasn't gonna be our Pope ministry.

It ultimately was going to be in the midst of our weakness, that we would be compelled to rely on God's sovereign power.

You could look around today and you could think of the most important, the ministry that you think is doing the greatest work. For Jesus Christ. You could look at seminaries, you know of, you could look at churches in our area that are preaching the gospel and making a difference to the glory of Christ.

You could look at ministries in Camden like Seeds of Hope or uh, urban Promise,

and if you had a chance to dig a little bit and spade your way into their history, I'll tell you what you find. You will find a miracle working God that they depended on. There is no work of God. There is no church that is going forward. There is no individual that is ultimately being used by God that has not seen the stories that God is writing in and through their lives.

A few weeks ago I was on a. A car trip with some of our pastors, and particularly a couple of the younger guys, uh, and one of our interns were there and we're just talking about the, um, the history of our church. And I realized that they didn't know some of us go way back. As somebody pointed out to me this morning, was so nice to see me back in the gym speaking because the last time they saw me standing on this platform, I had dark hair and a dark mustache I really could have done without it.

But, uh, but going back to those stories I was telling them, remember when we were meeting in. Lenae High School, and we had started, we were meeting in a basement of Bruce and Peg Shell in a finished basement in Marton. And then we finally started having services in Lenae High School and, and, uh, rattling around in the little, well, first in the auditorium and it was so big compared to our 35 people.

We went to the library and then we grew, outgrew the section of the library, and then we went to the cafeteria and we, we then braved the auditorium again, although it was way bigger than we were. And all in that journey, we, I started after about a year and a half, I went around and was just looking for property.

And at this time we had $250 in the bank as a church. We were definitely handout and I, I saw a property on Church Road and I called the realtor and he was a. He turned out to be a guy that, uh, in Morristown, he is 40 years in the business, a guy named Don, a great guy, Jewish fellow. And, and he, I told him what we were looking for and he said, you don't want that property, you know, it's got, it's got water issues.

And so, so he says, but I just literally this morning had a piece of ground come across my desk and, uh, it was this property and he said, uh, can I meet you there? I said, sure. Um, what he didn't know was this property when I was in late high school, it was in the summer. I worked two summers driving a tractor while there were migrant workers here.

Uh, so it's kind of fun to even show up on this property. Uh, they were doing, they were loading tomatoes and stuff, and we were taking 'em to Campbell's. But, so I came and we met here and, uh, he said, okay, there's 22 acres of ground. And he said, um, they're 5,000 an acre. And, um, I didn't mention to him our financial position.

And, and so he said, now I have not put this on the market. There's no sign yet. But he said, I'm, I'm gonna have to. And he said, and you need to know that I have some realtor friends. And we have all agreed, this is the most valuable piece of ground in Burlington County by far. Um, a few years later, I had, um, the mayor of Mount Laurel come, just stop by.

I knew him. And he told me that, uh, he said, I just wanna swing by. Have you ever thought about what your property's worth? He said, I said, no. And he, I, I said, yeah, I guess I've wondered. And he said, how much did it cost? And I said, 5,000 acre. And he said, uh, do you wanna know what it's worth? And I said, yeah.

He said, it's worth, every acre is worth between a hundred and 125. And that was years ago. But anyway, so here we are. Here's why I'm telling this story. Not so you'll know what a great realtor I am. Um, the bottom line is, Uh, I went and talked to a Christian investor and I said, here's our situation and would you like to get the property?

We only need about seven acres. Um, six or seven. I don't remember what it was. And you would get the rest and I think it'd be a good investment. And, um, but here's the thing. We only have about 200 cuz I wanted to keep a little buffer in our bank. Uh, you, we only have about $200 to put towards the sale, so you would have to carry it for us initially.

So, you know, going back and forth, this is in process and I'm in contact with, uh, Don, the realtor and he's telling me, I just need you to know there are two large doctors groups that want to buy the property and they want to put in medical separate groups. And I, my assumption was they had more than 250 to put towards it.

So on a Friday morning, Things had come together. I had no idea where anything was. I went to Don's office and I had a check, um, and was able to actually give him the check and sign the pro the thing. Um, and ha actually had the document from the investor to sign it and to present. And Don called me about an hour later and he said, I just wanted you to know, uh, a half hour after you came by, one of the doctors groups showed up and we've just spent the last little while with them jacking up the value.

They're, they're willing to pay anything, and we were paying the asking price, and that's really all we had. And then he said, but for whatever reason, um, the owner wants you to have it, and so it's yours. And so we got the most valuable piece of property in Mount Laurel with 250 bucks in the bank.

There are many stories that every work of God that is existing today can point back to and say, God's fingerprints are all over this thing. God's fingerprints. We're all over Ephesus because they have to be. It has to be God. It has to be God that moves and works in our lives and our church and in our individual lives.

Dawson Troutman wrote a book, uh, actually, I'm sorry, Dawson Troutman, the founder of the Navigators, preached a sermon. It was 1948. Dawson Troutman had gone over and he was speaking to a group of pastors in Germany. In post Nazi Germany, right? It ended 1945. Hitler had killed himself. The war was over. And now these guys are picking up the pieces in a country that is utterly devastated.

And Dawson Troutman is going in to challenge them, to believe God, to do something great in their lives and through their lives and in their church in Germany. And he was there for three days, but he describes the first day, he had nine hours with them the first day. And he said, you know, he's just sharing his passion.

And he kept doing all this. And then finally, he, he, he, he kept hearing somebody raise a question and he said it wasn't all in one, uh, in a row. It would just be a question and he'd respond to it. And then another question, he'd respond to it and another question, he'd respond to it. And, and so all these questions were coming his way.

And there were questions like this. Like, uh, in America you have literature, you have books. We don't even have Bibles right now, enough for our people. We have no printing presses. We have no resources. And he said, he said, I, I just, he said the Apostles didn't have any books. They didn't have New Testament.

They just went out and were interpreting the Old Testament on their own as, as ignorant men. They said, we don't have any money. We have no money, nothing. He said the apostles didn't have any money. And again, he said it was during different sections of the day, so it wasn't like one after another. Another one was talking about we, we don't have vehicles.

We have no cars. They're all destroyed. We can't even get out and visit our people if, if we're fortunate, we pull and one of us is able to borrow a bicycle and go out. They just went after one thing, after another thing, after another thing, after another thing they say. And he keeps saying the early church didn't have that.

They didn't have that. And then they said, you don't know what it's like to try to minister in a country that has now been taken over by another country. And basically they were under the, the, uh, Warsaw Act and all the requirements, the, of the allies and, and the control of, and, and, and everything was limited of what they could do, where they could go, how much they could travel, everything.

And Paul said the early church was living under Rome. And, and, and, and dos at the end finally said, he said, guys, it's just dawning on me what you are saying and what the scripture is saying. God puts you in the same place. The early church was put, they had no resources except God. They had no power except the spirits power.

And he says, isn't this where we're supposed to be? He made this statement then as he's the, the, the, the talk is called the need of the hour, as he summarized his experience there and he said, let me tell you what I believe the need of the hour is. I believe it is an army of soldiers dedicated to Jesus Christ, who believed not only that he's God, but that he can fulfill every promise he ever made and that there isn't anything too hard for him.

Attempt, expect. Attempt, expect. So what happened here in Ephesus? Well, it's summarized in verse 10. This continued for two years so that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks. There is spiritual impact. The term Asia here is talking about prominently the whole nation, the whole contemporary nation of Turkey, which was over 2 million people and a little bit east of there, 2 million people.

Somehow the word is spreading. The Church of Colossi was started out of the church at Ephesus. The seven churches that are mentioned in the book of Revelation are all in this region. All were started out of this little movement in Ephesus.

This is the message of the book of Acts that the church went forward in the power of the Spirit. Hey, many of you today are consumed with the challenges, seeing the obstacles to a life and influence towards Christ being exalted in you, in your marriage, in your family, in your neighborhood, in your job.

Paul's experience here in Ephesus and what God did there challenges us to have a fresh vision of a glorious God. This was not a powerful man doing powerful things. This was a man that says, I, I felt I was gonna die. I was so weak. But he said it helped me to say, I need to rely on God, that my insufficiency is the megaphone, that I need a sufficient power that is only found in God.

I mentioned this sermon that I heard recently a few weeks ago, and I just wanna swing back to it by Tim Keller. One of the last things he spoke before he went to heaven, and in it he was presenting the challenges and adversities that come into our lives. And he said, they come like an email and you know, we get 'em and they, they hit us and we read 'em, and, and we don't, you don't know when they're coming.

Y you don't know how it's gonna come. You just get an email. It's in your box. So you read the message and it's hard. And he says, affixed to every me email of adversity are two attachments. One is from the enemy, and that attachment will invariably be a message of discouragement, of hopelessness, of darkness and despair.

It will point out your failures, it'll point out your hopelessness. It will point out the the magnitude of the tidal wave of the challenges. But he said there will always be another attachment, and that'll be the attachment from God. It'll be God's voice saying there's hope here. There is the prompting encouraging us to put our faith in God's forgiveness when we feel it's all because of our screw up, to put our trust in His power to claim his promises.

It's the second attachment. It enables us to attempt and expect it is the first attachment that debilitates us.

It is not your weakness. It's his greatness. It always has been. And you have never been a part of a Christian ministry anywhere that is doing something for God that has not chosen to listen to the attachment from God and say, aye. We as broken, needy people, broken, needy spouses, broken, needy parents.

See this as an opportunity to rely on God.

We're gonna close our time this morning coming to the Lord's supper. Jesus instituted the remembrance of himself as a place to remember him. To lean onto him, into him to realize that he died for our sins. And by doing that, we are offered forgiveness eternally. But also in the day-to-day stuff, when we feel like so screwed up to trust that such love for us assures of of his purposes and presence in our lives.

He points us to the cross and the risen Christ as the ultimate message of the second attachment that enables us to go on in faith, relying on this magnificent God.

Lord, we come to you this morning as we gather at your son's table.

There's needs in this room. There's people that are really feeling they're inadequacy. Man, Ephesus looks so big. Godlessness looks so powerful. The pain of loved ones seems so insurmountable and unchangeable

that God, you've allowed them all

that we can be reminded of our desperateness for you. So God, we come to this table, glorying in a Christ who has saved us, who offers us forgiveness, but also offers himself to lead and empower our lives for his purposes.

Lord Jesus, we love you for it. Amen.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/building-a-church-that-makes-a-difference eb046f02-7e33-420e-b607-293d6f1df77c Sun, 11 Jun 2023 13:16:12 GMT <div data-html="true">Acts 19:1-10 <br /><br /> they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying. <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> Good morning everybody. Good morning. We're gonna turn to Acts chapter 19. Uh, great to have you here, and those of you that are out in the prayer Garden, great to have you guys out there worshiping with us this morning. Uh, I was very, oh, well I was very excited last Sunday as we started in here and all the good things, but also a little bit jealous, um, because we had set up our preaching schedule years ago, uh, months ago, and. <br /><br /> Didn't know this was gonna be our first Sunday in here. And this is deja vu for me to come back and be preaching in this gym. And so I'm excited to be up here this morning. We're gonna be looking at Acts chapter 19 as we continue in our series in the book of Acts, uh, the Spirit at Work to the Ends of the Earth. <br /><br /> And I'm excited about what we're gonna be talking about today. Acts chapter 19. I'm gonna read verses one through 10, ask you to follow along silently in your Bibles. And it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples and he said to them, did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? <br /><br /> And they said, no, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit. And he said, into what? Then were you baptized? They said Into John's baptism. And Paul said, John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him. That is Jesus. On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. <br /><br /> And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying. There were about 12 men in all, and he entered the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God. But when some became stubborn and continued and unbelief, speaking evil of the way before the congregation, he withdrew from them, took the disciples with him. <br /><br /> Reasoning daily in the Hall of Tyran is discontinued for two years so that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks. Let's pray together this morning. <br /><br /> Lord, we come in this beautiful sunny Sunday morning, we come God to celebrate you. Lord, even as we've worshiped in our songs, we now wanna worship in our response to your speaking to us from the scriptures. God, as we reflect this morning on what it means to have a church, a life that is making a difference by your grace to your glory, I pray you'd be our teacher, father, that you would draw us to who to want to imbibe these realities in our own lives, even as we seek to live out the gospel in our lives. <br /><br /> So Jesus, glorify yourself in our time Now, I pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Uh, I didn't mention I'm Pastor Mark. Um, and, uh, We are really happy to have you here. I am locating, I had to ask somebody where my wife was, um, because who's sitting there with my granddaughter from Michigan? Sophie. Hi, Sophie. Good. Have you, um, uh, because everybody's, I mean, I haven't found anybody sitting where they belong. <br /><br /> Um, so everybody's got their new, their new spots and our new digs for the summer. Alright, we're gonna look at Acts 19. It was May 20. It was May 30th, 1792. A young preacher, 31 years old was speaking to, uh, a gathering of pastors in England. And as he gathered in this church, basically addressing, uh, leaders of his movement, it was a Baptist movement. <br /><br /> Um, he challenged them with what became a sermon that has become known as the deathless sermon. It was a sermon that had such significance and truth. That people nicknamed it that because it was a sermon that would never die. William Carey was a speaker and he was addressing a bunch of, uh, pastors, most of them older, far more experienced than him, but he was challenging them to take the gospel, the message of Jesus Christ beyond the borders of Great Britain, and to look to various places of the world. <br /><br /> He had just returned from India himself and was deeply burdened for India, but other parts of the world. His message stirred these individuals and it was a deepening, stirring as time went on. So much so that this sermon was viewed as the launching of the modern missionary movement, and William Carey is called the Father of Modern Missions. <br /><br /> The sermon had a phrase, a dual phrase, and he repeated a number of time. Here was the phrase attempt. Great things for God, expect great things from God. As the 18th century incarnation of the Apostle Paul, William Carey demonstrated the same passion for God and his kingdom work that Paul himself illustrates. <br /><br /> Paul would've been proud of William Par Carey and his sermon because the apostle Paul had that same passion that we can step out in faith and attempt things led by God, believing that God can and does do amazing things in the lives of churches and notably individuals that lay claim to him and his promises. <br /><br /> No place in the Book of Acts will that be more seen. Then in the church that we're beginning to talk about this morning, the church at Ephesus, it is a city that was second only to Rome, uh, in prominence in the ancient world. It was a city that Paul was passionate about pouring his life and the gospel into. <br /><br /> As a matter of fact, you remember on his second missionary journey, we talked about the fact that, that Paul, as he was going up through modern Turkey, and if you can picture him going through Turkey, he was heading right for Ephesus, which was at the border of Turkey. And as he was heading there, the spirit of God said no and directed him north. <br /><br /> He ended up going all the way up to Troja and then crossing over to Greece. Almost two years later, at the end of the second missionary journey, he's been through Greece and he's coming back and on a boat now. He can't help himself. He stops at Ephesus and again, at the end of Acts 18 is the short experience he has there. <br /><br /> He's returned all the way to Antioch at Jerusalem and then Antioch and now is going on his third missionary journey, and he has one place that he's targeting. It is Ephesus. He just zooms across Modern day. Turkey actually does not take the trade route, but he actually goes through the mountains because it would faster the, he would not be held up in towns. <br /><br /> He was just moving at his own pace, going across, going to Ephesus, and as he arrives at Ephesus, we have the account here in Acts chapter 19 verses one through 10. And what we learn in this passage is the reality of attempting something great and expecting something great from the hand of God. Any child of God should have a desire to have their life make a difference for God's glory. <br /><br /> No believer here is too old or too young to be expecting and attempting with God. So this morning I'd like to take this passage and highlight three things that are involved in God using us to build something to His glory, whether it's as a church, as a movement, as an individual. And we're gonna look at three things in the third. <br /><br /> The first will be, will spend the longest time on, but we'll get through all three. Number one, there will be significant challenges. The context will present challenges. Ephesus is a perfect example of that. This is a a prominent city, and as we're entering into a number of. Of, uh, passages in the, in the Book of Acts. <br /><br /> I want to tell, tell you about Ephesus briefly. Uh, Ephesus was, as I mentioned, this prominent city. It was seated at the far end of Turkey, sort of butting out into the, the Mediterranean sea facing towards, towards Italy, ultimately to Greece and then to to Rome. And it was the end of the Silk Road. And there all the goods of the, of the Far East were brought. <br /><br /> And this city on its harbor was a center of, of commerce. And all the riches would be sent to the other parts of the empire, a wealthy city, a powerful city, an educated city. It was a place that was full of the arts. It had, as this slide depicts, a 25,000 amphitheater for theatrical productions. Marin and I have had the privilege of being in Ephesus is the place that I've ever been, that I want to go back to the most. <br /><br /> Uh, just an amazing, um, Visual and with many, many, uh, still existent, uh, visuals of the ancient city of esis. But it had this 25,000, uh, theater. There also is, uh, it was famous for its learning. It had all kinds of schools for children's six to 16, but then it also had graduate degrees and it had postgraduate. <br /><br /> There were four postgraduate schools. These particular schools were a medical school, a theatrical school, a Phil, a philosophical school, a school of rhetoric, which basically we would today say that you majored in communication and an architectural school. Many of the people were wealthy and powerful that settled in Ephesus. <br /><br /> The city had whole sections of high-rise apartments, as we would think of them. This is a depiction actually. You can see they have unearthed a lot of these, and this is just sort of cleaning it up, but they actually have these pictures on the floor, on the walls, and these were multi high-rise. I mean, these were nice places. <br /><br /> This is 2000 years ago. They lived in affluence and influence. The city had a beautiful port, and this is just a depiction of the city. Over to the, the left corner is just the beginning of the port that opens into the Mediterranean Sea. This city built around a large hill, hundreds of thousands of residents. <br /><br /> There's the, um, the theater in the middle, the sports complexes, a couple of them. There's giant marketplaces. Um, it is just a, a city that was, Powerful, influential, and also extraordinarily sensual. Literally, at every corner, uh, of every intersection, there is a large house that is a brothel legalized. Uh, prostitution was everywhere, but the most famous and most glorified in part of the city was their ownership of the edifice. <br /><br /> That was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, which was the Temple of Artemis, or also called the Temple of Diana. This picture depicts it, and it actually was up on a slope like it is pictured there outside the city. Those columns that you see that are holding up the, the large roof structure, were 66 feet high. <br /><br /> They're 130 of them. This ceiling. If you go to the point of this roof is 34 feet tall, so it was twice that height, just the posts, the columns, uh, held up this great structure. The temple was one and a half football fields. It was 450 feet long. It was a big place. It was the center of religious faith, uh, throughout the entire region of the Eastern Mediterranean for both the Greek and Roman world. <br /><br /> And it had, as part of its religious experiences, 1000 temple prostitutes that practice there as a part of the experience, sensuality, their own form of spiritism were there in, uh, a sense of paganism. Um, and, and here this was a city, and we'll see when Paul runs into. People coming to Christ and renouncing their worship of Diana, the trouble it would cause. <br /><br /> So how do you even get started? I mean, what could Paul Paul possibly do? The task is overwhelming, but there were other parts that were challenging versus one through seven of our text talks about this group of Ephesian Christians that he comes across. And actually there are individuals as, as you read, and Joe, pastor Joe talked about this a little last week. <br /><br /> A Apollos was in a similar state, although he may have actually, he had already embraced Christ, but he didn't know about the the baptism of Christ. But here, these individuals, they had been baptized in the baptism of John the Baptist, which actually he had died 22 years before this. So they've been living this way for 22 years at least. <br /><br /> They were baptized in repentance, which simply means they had embraced his mes of repentance. And John the Baptist message was this. There's one coming after me that's the Messiah. He's the guy, he's the one we're waiting for, but they hadn't met him. They hadn't heard of him. And so Paul says, what were you baptized into? <br /><br /> Well, the baptism of John, the baptism of repentance. And he says, well, I know the guy. The guy is Jesus. Jesus is the Christ. He's the Messiah. He's the one you're waiting for. They embraced that message and embraced Christ, and the result was they had the same authenticating sign of belief in Christ that had taken place of all the other groups in Acts, which is a way of authenticating that the gospel was going forth to all people and authenticating the ministry of the Apostles. <br /><br /> We saw it at the day of Pentecost in Acts two, when the Spirit came upon them and they spoke in other languages and, and, and tongues the Jews. Then in Acts 10 and 11, where the, the Samaritans spoke. In tongues and and believed on Christ. In latter chapters, we've seen Gentiles that embraced Christ and again, authenticating the new work of Christ and the church. <br /><br /> And now we have a fourth group. This group, a group of apparently Jews that 22 years had embraced the message of repentance, didn't know about Jesus, and now they do. And you have this hodgepodge of, of believers around. And this challenge for Paul is he's, he's trying to teach and lead and, and start a new movement. <br /><br /> There's all kinds of different people that are involved. The third thing that made it challenging is the enemy bringing challenges. When Paul was in Ephesus, he wrote a letter to the church of Corinth. And when he wrote this letter in one Corinthians 16, here's what he wrote in verse eight and nine, but I'll stay in Ephesus until Pentecost for a wide door for effective work has opened to me. <br /><br /> And there are many. Adversaries. He says, the, the door's wide open here. But there are many adversaries as we look at our passage there in, in verses one through seven, we find that first he, he started to minister to the Jews and then he gets thrown out of the synagogue. After three months, he starts the Hall of Tyran, which was a local, uh, teacher and, and is doing his teaching and dis discourses there. <br /><br /> And this leads him into all kinds of opposition. There's gonna be opposition from the religious mucky mucks of the town. There's gonna be opposition from the business community, from the political establishment, all empowered and prodded by the spiritual powers of darkness. And those darkness will actually show up in, in actual demons attacking Paul. <br /><br /> We'll see it. All these chapters, lots of challenges, lots of opposition. And yet Paul says, There's a door here. There's a door that's open to ministry, and you say, where all these adversaries, all this opposition that Paul saw a door in the midst of those challenges. The fourth thing, his own personal deficiencies, present challenges as they do for you and me. <br /><br /> He's writing again in Second Corinthians chapter one. He's just left Ephesus at this time, and he's writing about his experience there. And here's what he says in second Corinthians one, eight. We do not want you to be unaware. Brothers of the affliction we experienced in Asia for we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. <br /><br /> Instead, indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. Paul says, I I want you to know how, how it felt ministering in Ephesus. We were exhausted. We felt the burden. We were way down at times with the opposition of the spiritual warfare. Honestly. He says, there were times when we actually thought it was just is gonna kill us. <br /><br /> It was so challenging, so hard. <br /><br /> We hear all this. We say, what? What chance does this guy have? I mean, he's just a lone guy going into this, this, this giant metropolitan city that is so steeped in a contrary, pagan view of life reminds me of the scene in the the Princess Bride where. Uh, Wesley, uh, the hero of the story. You know, he's been tortured by the nasty prince and he's left for dead, and they think he is dead. <br /><br /> And he's brought to Miracle Max. And, and Miracle Max does his magic with him. And he, he's alive and, and Miracle. Max says, what are you gonna do? He says, well, I'm gonna attack the castle and I'm gonna, I'm gonna rescue Buttercup, which was his beloved. And so Miracle Max gets him ready. And so Wesley's leaving, if you remember, he is leaving and Miracle Max is there, and he is waving at him and he says, have fun storming the castle. <br /><br /> And then his wife turns a miracle, max. And, and she says to him, do you think he'll make it? And Miracle Max's statement is this, it'll take a miracle. That's Paul, right? That's Paul. It'll take a miracle. I mean, how in the world is he gonna make a difference in this city? <br /><br /> There is a supernatural plan and partnership that is available to Paul and you. Verse eight and nine describes it. It describes part of it. Verse eight and nine, we read this and he entered the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God. But when some became stubborn and continued and unbelief speaking evil of the way before the congregation, he withdrew from them and took the disciples with him. <br /><br /> Reasoning daily in the, in the school of Tyran Tyran. First of all, he discerned God's plan. It's the plan that he used in every major, uh, city he went to. First of all, he would look for a synagogue. He'd speak to the Jews who had the most similar worldview as him. They also believed in one God, a mon, a monotheistic creator. <br /><br /> God was superintendent the universe. They believed there were laws that God had given and they were summarized in the 10 Commandments. They believed that there needed to be some covering for sin. They believed somewhere in the way there was one coming that would be their rescuer. There would be their Messiah. <br /><br /> The problem was most of them didn't believe it was Jesus Christ. So Paul had to convince them about the reality of Christ from the Old Testament scriptures. He lasted three, three months in their synagogue preaching until finally people began to stir up trouble. And he moved to apparently a Jewish, uh, uh, uh, one of the members of Ephesus. <br /><br /> Uh, a prominent teacher had embraced Christ and he gives Paul access to teach at his school. There's a lot of, um, extra biblical. Information that argues that when Paul did that was in the early afternoons because in the ancient world it was a little like, um, Spanish, uh, cultures and central and South American cultures. <br /><br /> They had a siesta. It was hot during the middle of the day and they would tend in the early afternoon hours, everything would close down. They started work very early. Um, and basically Paul taught when everybody would've been taken their siesta and he had every day these opportunity to teach and reason there. <br /><br /> In this school of Tyran, he followed God's pattern. This is what he did first. Go to those with a similar worldview, then go to those with a different worldview. And as we've mentioned, other weeks, different teaching methodology with both significant different in the way they approach things. Always leading to the gospel in Christ. <br /><br /> But it ultimately though, we used a plan, it was not the plan. That enabled Paul to reach the city of Ephesus and the world in the way he did. Paul accused us by writing again what happened here in Ephesus, and basically he was successful by depending on God's sovereign power. When he wrote to the Corinthians, and I'm going back to the passage in in Second Corinthians one, I just read a moment ago, but I want you to hear the sequel to it. <br /><br /> Paul says this in that passage, second Corinthians one, eight, for we were so utterly beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death, but that was to make us rely not on ourselves, but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril and he will deliver us on him. <br /><br /> We have set our hope. That he will deliver us again. Paul says this. Yeah, there were adversaries everywhere. Yeah, it was. It was. It was so overwhelming at times. We just felt exhausted and weak, almost to the point of death. But he said all of that happened to remind us it wasn't gonna be our plan. It wasn't gonna be our leadership skills, it wasn't gonna be our Pope ministry. <br /><br /> It ultimately was going to be in the midst of our weakness, that we would be compelled to rely on God's sovereign power. <br /><br /> You could look around today and you could think of the most important, the ministry that you think is doing the greatest work. For Jesus Christ. You could look at seminaries, you know of, you could look at churches in our area that are preaching the gospel and making a difference to the glory of Christ. <br /><br /> You could look at ministries in Camden like Seeds of Hope or uh, urban Promise, <br /><br /> and if you had a chance to dig a little bit and spade your way into their history, I'll tell you what you find. You will find a miracle working God that they depended on. There is no work of God. There is no church that is going forward. There is no individual that is ultimately being used by God that has not seen the stories that God is writing in and through their lives. <br /><br /> A few weeks ago I was on a. A car trip with some of our pastors, and particularly a couple of the younger guys, uh, and one of our interns were there and we're just talking about the, um, the history of our church. And I realized that they didn't know some of us go way back. As somebody pointed out to me this morning, was so nice to see me back in the gym speaking because the last time they saw me standing on this platform, I had dark hair and a dark mustache I really could have done without it. <br /><br /> But, uh, but going back to those stories I was telling them, remember when we were meeting in. Lenae High School, and we had started, we were meeting in a basement of Bruce and Peg Shell in a finished basement in Marton. And then we finally started having services in Lenae High School and, and, uh, rattling around in the little, well, first in the auditorium and it was so big compared to our 35 people. <br /><br /> We went to the library and then we grew, outgrew the section of the library, and then we went to the cafeteria and we, we then braved the auditorium again, although it was way bigger than we were. And all in that journey, we, I started after about a year and a half, I went around and was just looking for property. <br /><br /> And at this time we had $250 in the bank as a church. We were definitely handout and I, I saw a property on Church Road and I called the realtor and he was a. He turned out to be a guy that, uh, in Morristown, he is 40 years in the business, a guy named Don, a great guy, Jewish fellow. And, and he, I told him what we were looking for and he said, you don't want that property, you know, it's got, it's got water issues. <br /><br /> And so, so he says, but I just literally this morning had a piece of ground come across my desk and, uh, it was this property and he said, uh, can I meet you there? I said, sure. Um, what he didn't know was this property when I was in late high school, it was in the summer. I worked two summers driving a tractor while there were migrant workers here. <br /><br /> Uh, so it's kind of fun to even show up on this property. Uh, they were doing, they were loading tomatoes and stuff, and we were taking 'em to Campbell's. But, so I came and we met here and, uh, he said, okay, there's 22 acres of ground. And he said, um, they're 5,000 an acre. And, um, I didn't mention to him our financial position. <br /><br /> And, and so he said, now I have not put this on the market. There's no sign yet. But he said, I'm, I'm gonna have to. And he said, and you need to know that I have some realtor friends. And we have all agreed, this is the most valuable piece of ground in Burlington County by far. Um, a few years later, I had, um, the mayor of Mount Laurel come, just stop by. <br /><br /> I knew him. And he told me that, uh, he said, I just wanna swing by. Have you ever thought about what your property's worth? He said, I said, no. And he, I, I said, yeah, I guess I've wondered. And he said, how much did it cost? And I said, 5,000 acre. And he said, uh, do you wanna know what it's worth? And I said, yeah. <br /><br /> He said, it's worth, every acre is worth between a hundred and 125. And that was years ago. But anyway, so here we are. Here's why I'm telling this story. Not so you'll know what a great realtor I am. Um, the bottom line is, Uh, I went and talked to a Christian investor and I said, here's our situation and would you like to get the property? <br /><br /> We only need about seven acres. Um, six or seven. I don't remember what it was. And you would get the rest and I think it'd be a good investment. And, um, but here's the thing. We only have about 200 cuz I wanted to keep a little buffer in our bank. Uh, you, we only have about $200 to put towards the sale, so you would have to carry it for us initially. <br /><br /> So, you know, going back and forth, this is in process and I'm in contact with, uh, Don, the realtor and he's telling me, I just need you to know there are two large doctors groups that want to buy the property and they want to put in medical separate groups. And I, my assumption was they had more than 250 to put towards it. <br /><br /> So on a Friday morning, Things had come together. I had no idea where anything was. I went to Don's office and I had a check, um, and was able to actually give him the check and sign the pro the thing. Um, and ha actually had the document from the investor to sign it and to present. And Don called me about an hour later and he said, I just wanted you to know, uh, a half hour after you came by, one of the doctors groups showed up and we've just spent the last little while with them jacking up the value. <br /><br /> They're, they're willing to pay anything, and we were paying the asking price, and that's really all we had. And then he said, but for whatever reason, um, the owner wants you to have it, and so it's yours. And so we got the most valuable piece of property in Mount Laurel with 250 bucks in the bank. <br /><br /> There are many stories that every work of God that is existing today can point back to and say, God's fingerprints are all over this thing. God's fingerprints. We're all over Ephesus because they have to be. It has to be God. It has to be God that moves and works in our lives and our church and in our individual lives. <br /><br /> Dawson Troutman wrote a book, uh, actually, I'm sorry, Dawson Troutman, the founder of the Navigators, preached a sermon. It was 1948. Dawson Troutman had gone over and he was speaking to a group of pastors in Germany. In post Nazi Germany, right? It ended 1945. Hitler had killed himself. The war was over. And now these guys are picking up the pieces in a country that is utterly devastated. <br /><br /> And Dawson Troutman is going in to challenge them, to believe God, to do something great in their lives and through their lives and in their church in Germany. And he was there for three days, but he describes the first day, he had nine hours with them the first day. And he said, you know, he's just sharing his passion. <br /><br /> And he kept doing all this. And then finally, he, he, he, he kept hearing somebody raise a question and he said it wasn't all in one, uh, in a row. It would just be a question and he'd respond to it. And then another question, he'd respond to it and another question, he'd respond to it. And, and so all these questions were coming his way. <br /><br /> And there were questions like this. Like, uh, in America you have literature, you have books. We don't even have Bibles right now, enough for our people. We have no printing presses. We have no resources. And he said, he said, I, I just, he said the Apostles didn't have any books. They didn't have New Testament. <br /><br /> They just went out and were interpreting the Old Testament on their own as, as ignorant men. They said, we don't have any money. We have no money, nothing. He said the apostles didn't have any money. And again, he said it was during different sections of the day, so it wasn't like one after another. Another one was talking about we, we don't have vehicles. <br /><br /> We have no cars. They're all destroyed. We can't even get out and visit our people if, if we're fortunate, we pull and one of us is able to borrow a bicycle and go out. They just went after one thing, after another thing, after another thing, after another thing they say. And he keeps saying the early church didn't have that. <br /><br /> They didn't have that. And then they said, you don't know what it's like to try to minister in a country that has now been taken over by another country. And basically they were under the, the, uh, Warsaw Act and all the requirements, the, of the allies and, and the control of, and, and, and everything was limited of what they could do, where they could go, how much they could travel, everything. <br /><br /> And Paul said the early church was living under Rome. And, and, and, and dos at the end finally said, he said, guys, it's just dawning on me what you are saying and what the scripture is saying. God puts you in the same place. The early church was put, they had no resources except God. They had no power except the spirits power. <br /><br /> And he says, isn't this where we're supposed to be? He made this statement then as he's the, the, the, the talk is called the need of the hour, as he summarized his experience there and he said, let me tell you what I believe the need of the hour is. I believe it is an army of soldiers dedicated to Jesus Christ, who believed not only that he's God, but that he can fulfill every promise he ever made and that there isn't anything too hard for him. <br /><br /> Attempt, expect. Attempt, expect. So what happened here in Ephesus? Well, it's summarized in verse 10. This continued for two years so that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks. There is spiritual impact. The term Asia here is talking about prominently the whole nation, the whole contemporary nation of Turkey, which was over 2 million people and a little bit east of there, 2 million people. <br /><br /> Somehow the word is spreading. The Church of Colossi was started out of the church at Ephesus. The seven churches that are mentioned in the book of Revelation are all in this region. All were started out of this little movement in Ephesus. <br /><br /> This is the message of the book of Acts that the church went forward in the power of the Spirit. Hey, many of you today are consumed with the challenges, seeing the obstacles to a life and influence towards Christ being exalted in you, in your marriage, in your family, in your neighborhood, in your job. <br /><br /> Paul's experience here in Ephesus and what God did there challenges us to have a fresh vision of a glorious God. This was not a powerful man doing powerful things. This was a man that says, I, I felt I was gonna die. I was so weak. But he said it helped me to say, I need to rely on God, that my insufficiency is the megaphone, that I need a sufficient power that is only found in God. <br /><br /> I mentioned this sermon that I heard recently a few weeks ago, and I just wanna swing back to it by Tim Keller. One of the last things he spoke before he went to heaven, and in it he was presenting the challenges and adversities that come into our lives. And he said, they come like an email and you know, we get 'em and they, they hit us and we read 'em, and, and we don't, you don't know when they're coming. <br /><br /> Y you don't know how it's gonna come. You just get an email. It's in your box. So you read the message and it's hard. And he says, affixed to every me email of adversity are two attachments. One is from the enemy, and that attachment will invariably be a message of discouragement, of hopelessness, of darkness and despair. <br /><br /> It will point out your failures, it'll point out your hopelessness. It will point out the the magnitude of the tidal wave of the challenges. But he said there will always be another attachment, and that'll be the attachment from God. It'll be God's voice saying there's hope here. There is the prompting encouraging us to put our faith in God's forgiveness when we feel it's all because of our screw up, to put our trust in His power to claim his promises. <br /><br /> It's the second attachment. It enables us to attempt and expect it is the first attachment that debilitates us. <br /><br /> It is not your weakness. It's his greatness. It always has been. And you have never been a part of a Christian ministry anywhere that is doing something for God that has not chosen to listen to the attachment from God and say, aye. We as broken, needy people, broken, needy spouses, broken, needy parents. <br /><br /> See this as an opportunity to rely on God. <br /><br /> We're gonna close our time this morning coming to the Lord's supper. Jesus instituted the remembrance of himself as a place to remember him. To lean onto him, into him to realize that he died for our sins. And by doing that, we are offered forgiveness eternally. But also in the day-to-day stuff, when we feel like so screwed up to trust that such love for us assures of of his purposes and presence in our lives. <br /><br /> He points us to the cross and the risen Christ as the ultimate message of the second attachment that enables us to go on in faith, relying on this magnificent God. <br /><br /> Lord, we come to you this morning as we gather at your son's table. <br /><br /> There's needs in this room. There's people that are really feeling they're inadequacy. Man, Ephesus looks so big. Godlessness looks so powerful. The pain of loved ones seems so insurmountable and unchangeable <br /><br /> that God, you've allowed them all <br /><br /> that we can be reminded of our desperateness for you. So God, we come to this table, glorying in a Christ who has saved us, who offers us forgiveness, but also offers himself to lead and empower our lives for his purposes. <br /><br /> Lord Jesus, we love you for it. Amen.</div> false no <![CDATA[An Incomplete Gospel]]> Acts 18:24-28

He was an eloquent man, competent in the Scriptures. He had been instructed in the way of the Lord. And being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things...



Sermon Transcript:

Good morning guys. Good morning. Good morning Fellowship. I'm reminded, as I say, good morning. That fellowship is spread out in many places this morning, both here in front of me and Mount Laurel and all the Faithful Saints in Collingswood. And as we heard them just moments before gathered out in the prayer Garden, it's just a beautiful reminder of what makes God's church his church.

You know, this week as I was preparing, I got to kind of wiggle out of a lot of the, the physical and manual labor that was going on around the building, uh, but witnessing it and watching many of you and at our staff and volunteers coming together to make this morning possible, it felt like the church, it really, really did.

And the opportunity is before us to not waste this season here in the gym. And even as we have the chance to obviously be flexible, as we've mentioned before. Uh, to kind of be ready to serve one another in love. Those things are very true, but I would hate for you to hear as we talk about the need to be flexible, that we just need to get through this season, that we need to just put our heads down, screw up our resolve, and get through it.

Because I think if we hear that, then we miss the opportunity that is before us. Remember, for the Christian seasons of discomfort or of trials, or of even, even the unexpected, are never wasted. They're an opportunity to grow an understanding of God's character. And I know many of you have experienced this.

I certainly in my own life, the season that I don't know what's coming next, the seasons when I am uncomfortable, when I am fearful or even excited, but not knowing what's coming next. Those are the moments in the times which God has revealed himself to me the most. And so I would hate for any of us to miss the opportunity for the here and now.

While I am certainly excited for what is to come in this new building for all of the changes, for the new updates and the renovations and what those things can offer us, I am not deceiving you when I tell you that I am most excited for the here and now, for this morning, and for what goes forward in this time in the gymnasium.

This is where we were many years before that building was ever built. We met out here in the gym. I stood right, or I sat rather right there and not nearly as aesthetically pleasing chairs. I remember they weighed about a hundred pounds each. But the vision of God's faithfulness over the years for us all to be back here where it all began.

My prayer, and I think I speak for all of the staff and pastors, is that this season. God would use it, but he would use it to remind us all before any of us even take one step into that new space that God would remind us what his church truly is. His church is not any collection of four walls, no matter how beautiful His church is not a newly renovated worship space.

His church is not a aesthetically pleasing lobby. His church is his people. Wherever they might be gathered, whether they be here or in Collingswood or out in the prayer garden or watching online, his church is his church. As they come together in the Union of the Holy Spirit to worship God, our creator, and to unite with Christ our Savior, that is the church, and that church can meet anywhere, a palace or a prison, a sanctuary, or a gymnasium.

I go so far as to say it is not only my hope, but my expectation that God will do a new thing this summer. I can feel it in the room, but let us not waste it by clenching ourselves up, by closing our eyes, by putting our head down and just getting through. Let's bear with one another in love. Let's open our eyes and our ears to what God will do in this season of the unexpected.

Since the days of the church, the formation of the church in the Book of Acts, which we will be reading once again. It has never changed. God's church is not a building. It's his people. Let's pray

and as I pray I want to say this, would we just stand? I wanna dedicate this time, this whole summer. I want to as one body, as, as God's church. I wanna stand and dedicate this time. To the Lord this full season in the gym. Father in heaven, Lord, we lift up your name above every other name and as Mike so beautifully put it, this is the same story of which we will read in the book of Acts, the same story, which we are now a part of, the story of you growing and sustaining your church through the many years until you return.

And Lord, as we're gathered here in the unexpected and the new, whether we are here outside in the prayer garden, out in Collingswood or online, Lord, there are seasons of discomfort and of the unexpected. I pray, Lord, that we would not waste those seasons, but that our eyes and our ears would be open to you and what you will do.

Lord, we pray. That you use us this summer, that you remind us of your full and complete gospel, which tells us it is nothing that I have done, but what you have done in me lead us. Lord, guide us. Teach us that we need to rely on your faithfulness, not on manmade plans. Lord, teach us to walk by the Spirit, not by our own abilities.

Lord, teach us to be here with you in the present moment and not to dwell in an uncertain future with our worries, Lord, teach us to clinging to your enduring word, which remains the same in every season, and whether we open it in a palace or a prison, your word remains the same. We now submit ourselves under your word, oh God, in whose name we pray.

Amen. You guys can have a seat.

So I have a question for you guys. I might be the only one, but I tend to join. Group chats a little late. So if, if you are one of those people that tends to join group chats a little late, you can relate to me because when I join group chats, I'm always lost. I go in there and it's just a whole storm of memes and emojis and inside jokes, and I'm like, what planet am I on?

And what I always have to do is scroll all the way back up to the top and work my way slowly back down, and then I can start sending emojis and sending memes and contributing to the conversation. Or another example I have is what if you, uh, are starting a new show or maybe at better yet, a show that you love, but it's a new season?

I think what I always do, and invariably what we do is we watch the recap, right? We need to know the characters, we need to know the problems that they're facing. We need to know why we care. The reason I'm bringing that up is because before we go to the passage itself this morning in Acts chapter 18, What I wanna do is take some time to give us an opportunity to find our footing within the overall story of the Book of Acts.

As I was thinking about this with biblical story or narrative in particular, it's really important to do this because what I've founded, if you just jump right into the passage that you're reading, without understanding anything that's going on around you, you're kind of like a painter who doesn't have any un understanding of depth of field, trying to paint a landscape.

It's gonna look pretty rough. So our hope, or my hope as we enter into this study this morning is to take a minute, bear with me. Let's just remind ourselves where we are within the overall story. Remember, this series has been going on for the last, uh, several months as we have worked our way through the book of Acts.

And in the Book of Acts, we've learned that this is not just a story written down for the entertainment of the readers, but it's telling a deliberate story and that the author, Luke is compiling all of these different eyewitness accounts of all the events that were taking place after Jesus returned to the right hand of the Father.

And we've, we've read in this incredible story of how, what began as a gospel message of hope given by God, the Father to God, the Son, shared through Christ to the disciples. It began as just 120 when Jesus returned to the Father. But on Pentecost, as the spirit came as promised by Jesus for the comfort and the enabling of the disciples, we saw that that number grew from 120 to 3000 in a single day.

And how that number did not stop there. But day by day and moment by moment, this gospel, good news, hope story began to spread. Story by story, testimony by testimony. And it did not stay content with just the Jewish people, but instead it spread to the Gentiles. And we saw how moment by moment, an hour by hour, this great flame of the gospel, did not stay in Jerusalem, but began to spread.

You know, yesterday I was, uh, fishing to try to clear my head before the sermon. I like to do that. And uh, I was out at a lake in Medford, but as I got there, maybe you live in Medford. There was a huge fire going on and I couldn't get to the lake the way I normally drive because there was a whole line of firetrucks driving.

To contain this fire. And the smoke was so thick that like you almost coughed when you breathed while I was fishing. I felt like I was just inhaling smoke the whole time. And it reminded me leading into this week how powerful flame is. And at Pentecost, the flame lit upon the heads of the disciples, but it did not stay there as flame never does.

But it consumed story after story and person after person. And we read in this same story how the great persecutor and great enemy who was introduced to us in the beginning of the Book of Acts, even he was not safe from this flame. And now even he was consumed and restored and purified by it. And how he was written down by the risen Jesus on the road to Damascus and how Saul became Paul becoming the greatest evangelist and missionary of the world had yet seen, or in my opinion, whatever.

See.

An incredible story. We've seen how disease is healed in the name of Jesus. We've seen darkness in demons. On full retreat, we've seen stories transformed. We've seen the blind eyes opened and the deaf ears unstop. This story is a remarkable story, A story of hope, A story in which we are shown time and time again that God's word cannot be stopped, not by martyrdom, not by persecution, not by idols, not by oceans, not by false gospels.

God's word, armed in the power of the Holy Spirit cannot be stopped. Not by angels or demons, not by any power. Not even the persecution and the oppression could stop it, but rather it served it. We have been reminded time and time again in this incredible story of acts, how God through Jesus and by the power of the Spirit.

Ooh, I'm gonna do that a couple times. The power of the spirit is brick by brick or rather testimony by testimony, soul by soul, building up his church.

This is not only the story of which our passage is contained in, but rather this is our story church. And so as we read our passage this morning, be reminded, this is not only the story of Acts, but our story as well. We are that church gathered here and in Collingswood and online and in the prayer garden.

We are his church. Let's open our ears and be ready to see and to hear that what he has for us this morning. Okay, let's get to it. We have our depth of field now. Last week, mark ended his sermon in Acts chapter 18, verse 23, and in that chapter we read of how Paul had finished his second missionary journey and didn't waste much time.

State, spent a little bit of time in Antioch and Jerusalem, but began his third missionary journey going into the regions of Galatia and Fri, doing what he always does tirelessly proclaiming the gospel, which had transformed his own life. But now something unexpected happens in verse 24. For the first time in a very long time, we're going to leave Paul.

And even though Paul is beginning his third missionary journey, we're going to be introduced now to a new character. If this was a Netflix show, this would be an interesting shift from following the main character to being introduced to a new character. But this character is an important character and we'll play a vital role in building up the early church.

This character is actually goes on to have a ministry so influential that he will later be mentioned in the same breath as Paul and Peter himself, though he himself is not or ever would be an apostle. He's a man of great learning. A man of seeming contradictions, a fascinating character. One pastor went so far this week in my study to call him an interesting cat.

So let's meet this interesting cat this morning. You guys can turn to Acts chapter 18 to the very end of eight Acts, chapter 18 verses 24 through. 28. I'm gonna read it now. This is God's word. Meanwhile, a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was a learned man with a thorough knowledge of the scriptures, and he had been instructed in the way of the Lord.

And he spoke with great fervor and taught about Jesus accurately. Though he knew only the baptism of John, he began to speak boldly in the synagogue. And when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately. And when Apollos wanted to go into Akea, the brothers and sisters encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him there.

And when he arrived, he was a great help To those who had by grace believed. For, he vigorously refuted the Jewish opponents in public debate, proving that from the scriptures Jesus was the Messiah. So we've got a small little passage this morning, only four verses, and yet it's packed full of interesting questions and of one very interesting guy we have here.

Something interesting going on. Remember, while Paul left to return to Jerusalem last week, he left two people in Ephesus for a purpose. A purpose that was yet to be revealed, but now is revealed. Priscilla and Aquila were people who Paul had discipled as we know, people who were brought up in this new gospel way and who were evangelizing and evangelizing in the model of Paul.

And they had decided to stay in Ephesus even though Paul returned to Jerusalem anti Antioch before going out to new places in his missionary journeys. And here we see the role that they have to play in this young upstart preacher's life in ministry. Let's meet this guy. So you know now this character that we've been introduced to is a character by the name of Paul, I mean, sorry, Apollos, not Paul, a character by the name of Apollos.

The interesting thing is, as I was studying this guy, Apollos, he's a pretty fascinating guy for a lot of reasons, and they may not be immediately obvious to you. First, let's look at verse one. Meanwhile, a Jew named Apollos, do you understand how weird that phrase is? A Jew named Apollos, that name is a very interesting Greek pagan name, which means one who follows after Apollo, the Greek, God, his full name's actually Op Apollos, but I think they only called him that when he was in trouble.

So here a Apollos one who follows after the Greek God. Apollo is shown not to follow the Greek God Apollo, but to be a follower of the way of the Lord. And though he is ethnically Greek, we see that he is from a very sorry ethnically Jewish. He's from a very Greek city, Alexandria, Greek, Greco Roman rather.

And actually, we know that this city, Alexandria, was at one time the capital of the whole Roman Empire. It was founded by Alexander the Great. That's where it got its name. About 332 years before this. And if you guys know your history, you'll know that this place was the very center for secular learning in the whole ancient world.

This place was the place that gave birth to men like Euclid, the father of geometry, to follow the great Hebrew, uh, the great Jewish, uh, secular philosopher. The man by Whit, by whom actually we think Apollos may have been studied under. It was home to much learning. In fact, the library in Alexandria was home to about 700,000 volumes before it was lost to a fire.

This is a place of great Greek, uh, hellistic and Roman cultural values, a place which teaches orry and philosophy and mathematics. And there was a, a, a quite large Jewish population, but it was a very secular place. And this is where this guy is from, this guy Apollos. Beyond that, the other contradiction that I see in the passage here is that Apollos is learned.

He's eloquent, he's even well instructed in the scriptures and in the way of the Lord. And yet, We see him being taught and pulled aside by two tent makers. I love this passage because it does what the gospel has been doing the whole time in the Book of Acts. It turns the world on its head. This is not what you'd expect.

This guy is an un, a very, uh, interesting character to be sure. But let's look at the passage itself now, now that we kind of have an idea of a little bit of the strangeness of this guy. There's a couple questions that I at least had as I was reading this passage. As we're reading through, we see again in verse one.

Meanwhile, a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. Remember, Paul has just left Ephesus. Priscilla and Aquila are remaining in Ephesus. And now we have this upstart street preacher coming into Ephesus to preach. But there's in verse 25, something very interesting is to told, told to us by the author Luke, he had been instructed in the way of the Lord.

My question is, what does that mean, right? Because at first glance, what will we think of? Well, the way of the Lord must mean the Gospel, the same way of the Lord that Priscilla and Aquila were brought to believe in, and that Paul taught and that Peter taught, and that Jesus taught. But then we see that there needs to be, the gaps in his learning need to be filled in.

So I don't think we can assume this way of the Lord is the same as Priscilla and quill's. Understanding the question then becomes, what is it? Well, bear with me here, but if we look at that phrase way of the Lord, believe it or not, that phrase only appears a few times in the New Testament gospels, and it's always in the beginning of the New Testament Gospels, the way of the Lord.

And it refers not to the ministry of Jesus, but of who. Come on, shout it out. Anyone? John? John the Baptist. And so as we look at the beginning of the gospels, we see the introduction of a, another interesting character, John the Baptist. And this guy, this was the guy that was the cousin of Jesus who was, uh, kind of a crazy homeless guy that lived out in the wilderness.

He dressed in animal skin and ate locusts and honey. And he had a very deliberate message to preach. Anybody remember what it was? Repent for the kingdom of God has come near

the John the Baptist message or way of the Lord, which he was teaching. And in being instructed in was a prophetic word that was given to John the Baptist. And actually, if we look at Isaiah chapter 40, we know that the way of the Lord comes straight out of a prophecy about John the Baptist. In Isaiah chapter 40, verse three, it says, A voice of one calling in the wilderness, prepare the way for the Lord and make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

And here we have Apollos being instructed in not exactly the teachings of Christ, but rather the teachings of the one who came to prepare the way for Christ. And my suspicion is that Apollos came to Jerusalem and into the surrounding areas, uh, probably cuz he was a, a good Jew that wanted to come and to learn more.

And that somehow he, like so many others did, met John the Baptist, another street preacher, another powerful man with a dynamic personality who had a powerful message from God to preach. And I'm guessing Apollos learned a lot under him. Was instructed and brought up in the scriptures, and that his great learning was then matched with a great understanding, which was revealed to him from John.

And while that is really good, we know, and as we go on, we're gonna see what the problem was with this. Okay? So the way of the Lord is not the way that Paul and Priscilla and Peter and these guys have been brought up in Christ's teachings, but rather the teachings of John the Baptist, then we see something else that kind of gives us an interesting, I don't know, hint if you keep reading through.

Verse 25 says, and he had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with great fervor and taught about Jesus accurately, though he knew only the baptism of John. Okay, what's the, there's another question for us. What's the baptism of John? Well, we gotta go back to this character, John, and ask the question again.

If you'd remember in the beginning of the gospels, We have this guy that I've just told you about and what he was doing beyond just saying Repent through the kingdom of God has come near. He was also taking people down into the river and baptizing them, symbolizing their repentance, and they're turning away from their sin and toward God.

And he did this with hundreds and with thousands of Jewish people. One of the people he baptized was Christ himself. If you remember that great moment when Jesus receives the spirit and God speaks the words, this is my son and whom I am well pleased. That was John who baptized him. And yet what we learn is that baptism of John is not the same as the baptism of Jesus

from John's own mouth. He confirms this in Matthew chapter three, verse 11, John speaks these words. People were confusing the two. And John said this, I baptize you with water for repentance, but after me comes one who was more powerful than I, who sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

The baptism of Christ is not the baptism of John, but the baptism of John is all that Apollos knew. And so that is what he preached. And so that brings us to the final question that I think this passage raises, which is this, how can John, this gospel of John, this, this incomplete, uh, baptism of John be taught by Apollos and yet he's also teaching the things that concern Jesus with accuracy.

Cuz to me, if someone is, isn't teaching the baptism of Jesus, how could they be teaching the things of Jesus accurately?

I think something very deliberate is going on here with the author, Luke. Do you guys remember a number of weeks ago, maybe a couple months ago actually, when we talked about the false gospels that were spreading in Acts chapter 15, and the need for the apostles and the church to come together, to rally together and to defend themselves against these false gospels, these gospels, which proclaim that, no, the way that you're saved is by being circumcised, becoming Jewish, and following the law of Moses and what Peter and what Paul said and rebuked was, no, what are you talking about?

That's the old way you're trying to put a yoke on the Gentiles, which we ourselves were never able to bear. Well, what we have here in Acts chapter 18 is not a false gospel, but an incomplete gospel. And Luke is very deliberate to speak and to show and to demonstrate that this gospel, which is being preached, is not a false gospel.

It's accurate because after all, what did we see just a number of weeks ago in these incredible testimonies, people giving their lives over to Christ? What is the first thing that they talked about out repentance? Repentance is the first step in the journey towards true baptism that not only uses water, but the fire of the Holy Spirit that comes from Christ.

And so what we have here is a man earnestly. It says he's fervent in spirit preaching part one of the gospel, preaching with all his heart, soul, and mind. With eloquence, with understanding, preaching part one of the gospel. The gospel, which he is preaching, is not a gospel to be rebuked, but to be filled in.

You know what I imagine when I read this passage, what kept coming to mind this week is what that conversation would've been like between a Priscilla and Aquila and Apollo Apollos. It's so fun to imagine. Real quick look at, look with me real quick. And the very towards the end of that, this passage, when we see that what happens with Priscilla and Aquila and he being Apollos began to speak boldly in the synagogue.

When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to, to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately. That's such a matter of fact, way of putting all the things that they must have filled in this guy. My guess is his full understanding of the gospel went up to when. John said to his followers, behold the Lamb of God and pointed to Jesus.

And so Apollos knew all the teachings was led up, all the prophecies pointed to this man Jesus. And yet he probably had to return to his home in Alexandria. And so he did not know that what transpired afterwards of all the incredible things which Jesus did, of his death, of his resurrection, and of his great commission of his disciples, and his returning to the right hand of the Father, that's a pretty big gap.

So imagine them. I love this. In the NIV v translation, it says that they, they took him into their home and explained to him the God way of God more accurately or more adequately. Imagine this for a minute, guys. They're, they're eating, they've broken bread together and they're like, Apollos, have we got a story for you?

So I you're, you're doing a great job preaching. We love all the, the prophecies that you're weaving and your understanding of the scriptures is amazing, but you don't know the whole story. After you left the Messiah, Jesus, he started casting out demons. He started healing the sick. He started moving in miraculous ways.

He showed himself in truth to be the one that we had been waiting for. And the Apollo is probably like, yeah, awesome. The, oh, no, no, we're not done yet. They killed him. And Apollos, I could see his face falling. What? Oh no, we're not done yet. He was nailed to the cross and he cried out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

But you know as well as we do, he was quoting from Psalm 22, in which at the end of that passage it says, declare to a generation yet unborn. He has done it, it is finished. And then he died. He died of Apollos. And then after he died three days later, he rose. Death, could not keep him.

He conquered death. And when he rose, he started opening the scriptures to us in new ways. He started showing us from the scriptures that he had to die. And not only that, that he had to return to his father, but the work was not done. And he spoke to us a great commandment before he left. A commandment was said, go into all the world teaching them and instructing them in what I have taught you, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son, and the Holy Spirit

and wait in Jerusalem to be clothed in power for my spirit is coming to be your comfort, to be your witness, to be your guide. I can just see Apollo sitting there in the chair like, whoa,

Apollo's gospel was not false. It was just woefully incomplete.

This story must have floored him. And again, Luke's gotta tell a, a, a, a story that's deliberate and, and he's moving along. But there's so much contained there just in that little verse in verse 26. And we see the power of that word, of that encouragement of that discipleship from Priscilla and Aquila in the verses that follow in verse 27, in verse 28, when Apollos wanted to go into ak, the brothers and sisters encouraged him and wrote to the disciples there to welcome him.

And when he had arrived, he was a great help to those who had by grace, believed for, he vigorously refuted the Jewish opponents in public debate, proving from the scriptures that Jesus was the Messiah. Now he's armed with the full gospel of God. And what does he do? When the full gospel fills you, what happens?

You're not content with leaving it inside. You've gotta spread it. You've gotta encourage, You've gotta rebuke evil and you've gotta encourage the church, and that is exactly what he did. I want to close with three quick applications,

things that I think are a great help to us or will be a great help to us this summer. I kept coming back and the only way I can think of it is think of these as tools for your spiritual tool belt, things that you can pull out and apply as we enter a season of unexpected enough discomfort. And to those of you who are gathered in Collingswood and in your own seasons of discomfort and of the unexpected, these truths hold still for you.

Okay, the first application that I wanna look at from this passage is that this passage reminds us that eloquence. That education, that intelligence, they are not a prerequisite of spiritual maturity or a guarantee of spiritual maturity. We see here demonstrated clearly by this story that though Apollo's learning far outstripped, Priscilla and Acquis lowly tent makers, though his education and his intelligence undoubtedly was unrivaled by any believer at that time, except possibly Paul.

We have here a beautiful example of how this gospel turns everything on its head. Apollos receiving discipleship by two tent makers, bringing him along in the way of God more adequately. It reminds me of First Corinthians chapter two, verse one, when Paul gives these words to the church in Corinth, and when I came to you brothers, Did not.

I did not come proclaiming to you a testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom for I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear, and in much trembling in my speech and my message were not implausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit of power so that your faith may not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

And Paul later in Corinthians or earlier in Corinthians, says these words, not many of you were wise by human standards. Not many of you were influential. Not many of you were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.

He chose the lowly things of the world and the despise things and the things that are not to nullify the things that are so that no one may boast before him. We have here a young man who is capable, who is dynamic, who is full of learning and intelligence, and yet God chooses to bring him along in the way of God with two tent makers.

What a beautiful example of the gospel. I wanna speak to you, church. Now, there are probably some of you, or maybe a lot of you who have fallen into the same era that I have fallen into, and that is to make the very easy error to think my own ability to pray well or to speak publicly well, or to articulate myself well, or to show how intelligent I am in the Bible.

That's my spiritual maturity. That's a sign of my maturity. It is not those things. Learning intelligence, eloquence, they're gifts, and they can be used for God's kingdom as we see here at the end of this passage. They are not spiritual maturity. Spiritual maturity comes only from God, and it comes from His gospel, which tells us it is nothing that we have done, but what he has done in us.

All right, moving on. The second application I think that we can apply to us as we go forward in this season is an even more important one in this season. I think this passage, demonst demonstrates to us beautifully the manner in which believers are to both give and receive instruction and teaching.

Because it could be very easy for Priscilla and Aquila when they see Apollos speaking an incomplete gospel in the synagogue with boldness. For them to call him on the carpet, be like, yo, hey young man, knock it off. They could make him look like a fool. They could show the gaps in his learning. They could embarrass him publicly and tear him down.

Is that what they did? No, it is not. And Apollos himself, being a man of great learning and of in, of influence and of a world traveler, could have easily not accepted their instruction, but instead in pride rejected it, but he did not. What is demonstrated to us in this passage is that for Christians giving instruction or teaching or disciple is should be something of humility, of gentleness, of love and hospitality.

Because we see here demonstrated clearly in the passages that Priscilla and Aquila, your, your book might say your, your translation might say, drew him aside privately. Mine says, That he took, they took him into his home. The word that's used there in Greek is the Greek word pro bono, which it's got, the reason why it's different in different translations is it's kind of, it means a lot of different things.

It means to take one as a companion. It means to draw one a, a aside privately, so as to become a companion of theirs. It means to take one into one's home, but one thing is for sure, it is a hospitable word. Priscilla and Aquila did not use the truth that they had as a weapon, but rather they used it as a tool to build up Apollos in the Lord.

They built him up in the Lord. They did not tear him down, and Apollos in humility accepted their teaching. So for us, as we go and we find the need of. Filling one another's, the gaps in one another's knowledge, or the gaps in one another's understanding of each other and of love of God, of all these things.

Let us do it with gentleness, with love and hospitality. Lastly, and most importantly, the final application that I think is clearly given to us by this passage is this, after the events that took place at Calvary upon the cross, any gospel that preaches only repentance is a gospel that is incomplete.

I bring this up to us church, because while we would say that we have the full understanding, we have the full picture. We know what happened. We so easily get enmeshed in a half gospel. We find ourselves caught up in this constant, endless repentance. And repentance, by the way, is a beautiful thing. The Bible tells us to confess to God and to one another.

But the endless shame cycle of repenting and nothing changing, the hamster wheel of shame, that is not the new gospel.

The Bible is full of stories of people repenting and repenting and repenting, and repenting, and sacrificing, and sacrificing and sacrificing and nothing changing. A gospel that teaches only repentance is not false, but incomplete. A couple of weeks ago, we saw demonstrated so beautifully that the full gospel of God is a gospel of repentance and a faith in Jesus and the finished work of the cross in saying He is mine and I am his, and he is producing a new thing in me.

Not of water only, but of the Holy Spirit and fire.

I want to end with just a reading from Romans three, verse 11 and a few closing thoughts. Paul writes these words when describing the gospel. Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ, Christ Jesus we're baptized into his death? That we were buried, therefore, with him by baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead, by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life for if we've been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.

We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin for who has been, who has died, has been set free from sin. Now, if we have died with Christ, We believe that we will also live with him

This morning. We sang a song Who The Son Sets Free is free indeed. If you are here and you feel stuck in an endless procession of repentance without any hope, maybe you are operating on a incomplete gospel except the full, incomplete, finished work of Jesus turn and have faith that he has overcome. The gospel does not call you because you are equipped.

It calls you because you are not. You are called not for the great things that you can do for God, but rather for the great things that God will do in you and through you. Let the gospel be what changes you. Don't change for the gospel. No longer does this gospel speak only of repentance, but now it adds to that it is finished.

Let's pray.

Lord, we thank you for your holy scriptures. Thank you that they are so good for instruction, Lord, for teaching for repu, for for rep proof, for learning and encouragement, and for building up one another in love. Lord, as we enter into this new season of unexpected and discomfort, I pray that you turn it into a season of new life, of regrowth and of reminding that your church is your people gathered together in the union of the Holy Spirit, to worship the God our creator, and to unite with Christ our savior.

Lord, remind us day by day to put on the full gospel of God, not part of it. But all of it being reminded that it is not us, but you who overcomes. We pray all of this in your great name, oh God, and whose name we pray. Amen. Thank you guys.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/an-incomplete-gospel a7263157-01ac-4558-84cb-272aa61d2763 Sun, 04 Jun 2023 16:33:23 GMT <div data-html="true">Acts 18:24-28 <br /><br /> He was an eloquent man, competent in the Scriptures. He had been instructed in the way of the Lord. And being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things... <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> Good morning guys. Good morning. Good morning Fellowship. I'm reminded, as I say, good morning. That fellowship is spread out in many places this morning, both here in front of me and Mount Laurel and all the Faithful Saints in Collingswood. And as we heard them just moments before gathered out in the prayer Garden, it's just a beautiful reminder of what makes God's church his church. <br /><br /> You know, this week as I was preparing, I got to kind of wiggle out of a lot of the, the physical and manual labor that was going on around the building, uh, but witnessing it and watching many of you and at our staff and volunteers coming together to make this morning possible, it felt like the church, it really, really did. <br /><br /> And the opportunity is before us to not waste this season here in the gym. And even as we have the chance to obviously be flexible, as we've mentioned before. Uh, to kind of be ready to serve one another in love. Those things are very true, but I would hate for you to hear as we talk about the need to be flexible, that we just need to get through this season, that we need to just put our heads down, screw up our resolve, and get through it. <br /><br /> Because I think if we hear that, then we miss the opportunity that is before us. Remember, for the Christian seasons of discomfort or of trials, or of even, even the unexpected, are never wasted. They're an opportunity to grow an understanding of God's character. And I know many of you have experienced this. <br /><br /> I certainly in my own life, the season that I don't know what's coming next, the seasons when I am uncomfortable, when I am fearful or even excited, but not knowing what's coming next. Those are the moments in the times which God has revealed himself to me the most. And so I would hate for any of us to miss the opportunity for the here and now. <br /><br /> While I am certainly excited for what is to come in this new building for all of the changes, for the new updates and the renovations and what those things can offer us, I am not deceiving you when I tell you that I am most excited for the here and now, for this morning, and for what goes forward in this time in the gymnasium. <br /><br /> This is where we were many years before that building was ever built. We met out here in the gym. I stood right, or I sat rather right there and not nearly as aesthetically pleasing chairs. I remember they weighed about a hundred pounds each. But the vision of God's faithfulness over the years for us all to be back here where it all began. <br /><br /> My prayer, and I think I speak for all of the staff and pastors, is that this season. God would use it, but he would use it to remind us all before any of us even take one step into that new space that God would remind us what his church truly is. His church is not any collection of four walls, no matter how beautiful His church is not a newly renovated worship space. <br /><br /> His church is not a aesthetically pleasing lobby. His church is his people. Wherever they might be gathered, whether they be here or in Collingswood or out in the prayer garden or watching online, his church is his church. As they come together in the Union of the Holy Spirit to worship God, our creator, and to unite with Christ our Savior, that is the church, and that church can meet anywhere, a palace or a prison, a sanctuary, or a gymnasium. <br /><br /> I go so far as to say it is not only my hope, but my expectation that God will do a new thing this summer. I can feel it in the room, but let us not waste it by clenching ourselves up, by closing our eyes, by putting our head down and just getting through. Let's bear with one another in love. Let's open our eyes and our ears to what God will do in this season of the unexpected. <br /><br /> Since the days of the church, the formation of the church in the Book of Acts, which we will be reading once again. It has never changed. God's church is not a building. It's his people. Let's pray <br /><br /> and as I pray I want to say this, would we just stand? I wanna dedicate this time, this whole summer. I want to as one body, as, as God's church. I wanna stand and dedicate this time. To the Lord this full season in the gym. Father in heaven, Lord, we lift up your name above every other name and as Mike so beautifully put it, this is the same story of which we will read in the book of Acts, the same story, which we are now a part of, the story of you growing and sustaining your church through the many years until you return. <br /><br /> And Lord, as we're gathered here in the unexpected and the new, whether we are here outside in the prayer garden, out in Collingswood or online, Lord, there are seasons of discomfort and of the unexpected. I pray, Lord, that we would not waste those seasons, but that our eyes and our ears would be open to you and what you will do. <br /><br /> Lord, we pray. That you use us this summer, that you remind us of your full and complete gospel, which tells us it is nothing that I have done, but what you have done in me lead us. Lord, guide us. Teach us that we need to rely on your faithfulness, not on manmade plans. Lord, teach us to walk by the Spirit, not by our own abilities. <br /><br /> Lord, teach us to be here with you in the present moment and not to dwell in an uncertain future with our worries, Lord, teach us to clinging to your enduring word, which remains the same in every season, and whether we open it in a palace or a prison, your word remains the same. We now submit ourselves under your word, oh God, in whose name we pray. <br /><br /> Amen. You guys can have a seat. <br /><br /> So I have a question for you guys. I might be the only one, but I tend to join. Group chats a little late. So if, if you are one of those people that tends to join group chats a little late, you can relate to me because when I join group chats, I'm always lost. I go in there and it's just a whole storm of memes and emojis and inside jokes, and I'm like, what planet am I on? <br /><br /> And what I always have to do is scroll all the way back up to the top and work my way slowly back down, and then I can start sending emojis and sending memes and contributing to the conversation. Or another example I have is what if you, uh, are starting a new show or maybe at better yet, a show that you love, but it's a new season? <br /><br /> I think what I always do, and invariably what we do is we watch the recap, right? We need to know the characters, we need to know the problems that they're facing. We need to know why we care. The reason I'm bringing that up is because before we go to the passage itself this morning in Acts chapter 18, What I wanna do is take some time to give us an opportunity to find our footing within the overall story of the Book of Acts. <br /><br /> As I was thinking about this with biblical story or narrative in particular, it's really important to do this because what I've founded, if you just jump right into the passage that you're reading, without understanding anything that's going on around you, you're kind of like a painter who doesn't have any un understanding of depth of field, trying to paint a landscape. <br /><br /> It's gonna look pretty rough. So our hope, or my hope as we enter into this study this morning is to take a minute, bear with me. Let's just remind ourselves where we are within the overall story. Remember, this series has been going on for the last, uh, several months as we have worked our way through the book of Acts. <br /><br /> And in the Book of Acts, we've learned that this is not just a story written down for the entertainment of the readers, but it's telling a deliberate story and that the author, Luke is compiling all of these different eyewitness accounts of all the events that were taking place after Jesus returned to the right hand of the Father. <br /><br /> And we've, we've read in this incredible story of how, what began as a gospel message of hope given by God, the Father to God, the Son, shared through Christ to the disciples. It began as just 120 when Jesus returned to the Father. But on Pentecost, as the spirit came as promised by Jesus for the comfort and the enabling of the disciples, we saw that that number grew from 120 to 3000 in a single day. <br /><br /> And how that number did not stop there. But day by day and moment by moment, this gospel, good news, hope story began to spread. Story by story, testimony by testimony. And it did not stay content with just the Jewish people, but instead it spread to the Gentiles. And we saw how moment by moment, an hour by hour, this great flame of the gospel, did not stay in Jerusalem, but began to spread. <br /><br /> You know, yesterday I was, uh, fishing to try to clear my head before the sermon. I like to do that. And uh, I was out at a lake in Medford, but as I got there, maybe you live in Medford. There was a huge fire going on and I couldn't get to the lake the way I normally drive because there was a whole line of firetrucks driving. <br /><br /> To contain this fire. And the smoke was so thick that like you almost coughed when you breathed while I was fishing. I felt like I was just inhaling smoke the whole time. And it reminded me leading into this week how powerful flame is. And at Pentecost, the flame lit upon the heads of the disciples, but it did not stay there as flame never does. <br /><br /> But it consumed story after story and person after person. And we read in this same story how the great persecutor and great enemy who was introduced to us in the beginning of the Book of Acts, even he was not safe from this flame. And now even he was consumed and restored and purified by it. And how he was written down by the risen Jesus on the road to Damascus and how Saul became Paul becoming the greatest evangelist and missionary of the world had yet seen, or in my opinion, whatever. <br /><br /> See. <br /><br /> An incredible story. We've seen how disease is healed in the name of Jesus. We've seen darkness in demons. On full retreat, we've seen stories transformed. We've seen the blind eyes opened and the deaf ears unstop. This story is a remarkable story, A story of hope, A story in which we are shown time and time again that God's word cannot be stopped, not by martyrdom, not by persecution, not by idols, not by oceans, not by false gospels. <br /><br /> God's word, armed in the power of the Holy Spirit cannot be stopped. Not by angels or demons, not by any power. Not even the persecution and the oppression could stop it, but rather it served it. We have been reminded time and time again in this incredible story of acts, how God through Jesus and by the power of the Spirit. <br /><br /> Ooh, I'm gonna do that a couple times. The power of the spirit is brick by brick or rather testimony by testimony, soul by soul, building up his church. <br /><br /> This is not only the story of which our passage is contained in, but rather this is our story church. And so as we read our passage this morning, be reminded, this is not only the story of Acts, but our story as well. We are that church gathered here and in Collingswood and online and in the prayer garden. <br /><br /> We are his church. Let's open our ears and be ready to see and to hear that what he has for us this morning. Okay, let's get to it. We have our depth of field now. Last week, mark ended his sermon in Acts chapter 18, verse 23, and in that chapter we read of how Paul had finished his second missionary journey and didn't waste much time. <br /><br /> State, spent a little bit of time in Antioch and Jerusalem, but began his third missionary journey going into the regions of Galatia and Fri, doing what he always does tirelessly proclaiming the gospel, which had transformed his own life. But now something unexpected happens in verse 24. For the first time in a very long time, we're going to leave Paul. <br /><br /> And even though Paul is beginning his third missionary journey, we're going to be introduced now to a new character. If this was a Netflix show, this would be an interesting shift from following the main character to being introduced to a new character. But this character is an important character and we'll play a vital role in building up the early church. <br /><br /> This character is actually goes on to have a ministry so influential that he will later be mentioned in the same breath as Paul and Peter himself, though he himself is not or ever would be an apostle. He's a man of great learning. A man of seeming contradictions, a fascinating character. One pastor went so far this week in my study to call him an interesting cat. <br /><br /> So let's meet this interesting cat this morning. You guys can turn to Acts chapter 18 to the very end of eight Acts, chapter 18 verses 24 through. 28. I'm gonna read it now. This is God's word. Meanwhile, a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was a learned man with a thorough knowledge of the scriptures, and he had been instructed in the way of the Lord. <br /><br /> And he spoke with great fervor and taught about Jesus accurately. Though he knew only the baptism of John, he began to speak boldly in the synagogue. And when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately. And when Apollos wanted to go into Akea, the brothers and sisters encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him there. <br /><br /> And when he arrived, he was a great help To those who had by grace believed. For, he vigorously refuted the Jewish opponents in public debate, proving that from the scriptures Jesus was the Messiah. So we've got a small little passage this morning, only four verses, and yet it's packed full of interesting questions and of one very interesting guy we have here. <br /><br /> Something interesting going on. Remember, while Paul left to return to Jerusalem last week, he left two people in Ephesus for a purpose. A purpose that was yet to be revealed, but now is revealed. Priscilla and Aquila were people who Paul had discipled as we know, people who were brought up in this new gospel way and who were evangelizing and evangelizing in the model of Paul. <br /><br /> And they had decided to stay in Ephesus even though Paul returned to Jerusalem anti Antioch before going out to new places in his missionary journeys. And here we see the role that they have to play in this young upstart preacher's life in ministry. Let's meet this guy. So you know now this character that we've been introduced to is a character by the name of Paul, I mean, sorry, Apollos, not Paul, a character by the name of Apollos. <br /><br /> The interesting thing is, as I was studying this guy, Apollos, he's a pretty fascinating guy for a lot of reasons, and they may not be immediately obvious to you. First, let's look at verse one. Meanwhile, a Jew named Apollos, do you understand how weird that phrase is? A Jew named Apollos, that name is a very interesting Greek pagan name, which means one who follows after Apollo, the Greek, God, his full name's actually Op Apollos, but I think they only called him that when he was in trouble. <br /><br /> So here a Apollos one who follows after the Greek God. Apollo is shown not to follow the Greek God Apollo, but to be a follower of the way of the Lord. And though he is ethnically Greek, we see that he is from a very sorry ethnically Jewish. He's from a very Greek city, Alexandria, Greek, Greco Roman rather. <br /><br /> And actually, we know that this city, Alexandria, was at one time the capital of the whole Roman Empire. It was founded by Alexander the Great. That's where it got its name. About 332 years before this. And if you guys know your history, you'll know that this place was the very center for secular learning in the whole ancient world. <br /><br /> This place was the place that gave birth to men like Euclid, the father of geometry, to follow the great Hebrew, uh, the great Jewish, uh, secular philosopher. The man by Whit, by whom actually we think Apollos may have been studied under. It was home to much learning. In fact, the library in Alexandria was home to about 700,000 volumes before it was lost to a fire. <br /><br /> This is a place of great Greek, uh, hellistic and Roman cultural values, a place which teaches orry and philosophy and mathematics. And there was a, a, a quite large Jewish population, but it was a very secular place. And this is where this guy is from, this guy Apollos. Beyond that, the other contradiction that I see in the passage here is that Apollos is learned. <br /><br /> He's eloquent, he's even well instructed in the scriptures and in the way of the Lord. And yet, We see him being taught and pulled aside by two tent makers. I love this passage because it does what the gospel has been doing the whole time in the Book of Acts. It turns the world on its head. This is not what you'd expect. <br /><br /> This guy is an un, a very, uh, interesting character to be sure. But let's look at the passage itself now, now that we kind of have an idea of a little bit of the strangeness of this guy. There's a couple questions that I at least had as I was reading this passage. As we're reading through, we see again in verse one. <br /><br /> Meanwhile, a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. Remember, Paul has just left Ephesus. Priscilla and Aquila are remaining in Ephesus. And now we have this upstart street preacher coming into Ephesus to preach. But there's in verse 25, something very interesting is to told, told to us by the author Luke, he had been instructed in the way of the Lord. <br /><br /> My question is, what does that mean, right? Because at first glance, what will we think of? Well, the way of the Lord must mean the Gospel, the same way of the Lord that Priscilla and Aquila were brought to believe in, and that Paul taught and that Peter taught, and that Jesus taught. But then we see that there needs to be, the gaps in his learning need to be filled in. <br /><br /> So I don't think we can assume this way of the Lord is the same as Priscilla and quill's. Understanding the question then becomes, what is it? Well, bear with me here, but if we look at that phrase way of the Lord, believe it or not, that phrase only appears a few times in the New Testament gospels, and it's always in the beginning of the New Testament Gospels, the way of the Lord. <br /><br /> And it refers not to the ministry of Jesus, but of who. Come on, shout it out. Anyone? John? John the Baptist. And so as we look at the beginning of the gospels, we see the introduction of a, another interesting character, John the Baptist. And this guy, this was the guy that was the cousin of Jesus who was, uh, kind of a crazy homeless guy that lived out in the wilderness. <br /><br /> He dressed in animal skin and ate locusts and honey. And he had a very deliberate message to preach. Anybody remember what it was? Repent for the kingdom of God has come near <br /><br /> the John the Baptist message or way of the Lord, which he was teaching. And in being instructed in was a prophetic word that was given to John the Baptist. And actually, if we look at Isaiah chapter 40, we know that the way of the Lord comes straight out of a prophecy about John the Baptist. In Isaiah chapter 40, verse three, it says, A voice of one calling in the wilderness, prepare the way for the Lord and make straight in the desert a highway for our God. <br /><br /> And here we have Apollos being instructed in not exactly the teachings of Christ, but rather the teachings of the one who came to prepare the way for Christ. And my suspicion is that Apollos came to Jerusalem and into the surrounding areas, uh, probably cuz he was a, a good Jew that wanted to come and to learn more. <br /><br /> And that somehow he, like so many others did, met John the Baptist, another street preacher, another powerful man with a dynamic personality who had a powerful message from God to preach. And I'm guessing Apollos learned a lot under him. Was instructed and brought up in the scriptures, and that his great learning was then matched with a great understanding, which was revealed to him from John. <br /><br /> And while that is really good, we know, and as we go on, we're gonna see what the problem was with this. Okay? So the way of the Lord is not the way that Paul and Priscilla and Peter and these guys have been brought up in Christ's teachings, but rather the teachings of John the Baptist, then we see something else that kind of gives us an interesting, I don't know, hint if you keep reading through. <br /><br /> Verse 25 says, and he had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with great fervor and taught about Jesus accurately, though he knew only the baptism of John. Okay, what's the, there's another question for us. What's the baptism of John? Well, we gotta go back to this character, John, and ask the question again. <br /><br /> If you'd remember in the beginning of the gospels, We have this guy that I've just told you about and what he was doing beyond just saying Repent through the kingdom of God has come near. He was also taking people down into the river and baptizing them, symbolizing their repentance, and they're turning away from their sin and toward God. <br /><br /> And he did this with hundreds and with thousands of Jewish people. One of the people he baptized was Christ himself. If you remember that great moment when Jesus receives the spirit and God speaks the words, this is my son and whom I am well pleased. That was John who baptized him. And yet what we learn is that baptism of John is not the same as the baptism of Jesus <br /><br /> from John's own mouth. He confirms this in Matthew chapter three, verse 11, John speaks these words. People were confusing the two. And John said this, I baptize you with water for repentance, but after me comes one who was more powerful than I, who sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. <br /><br /> The baptism of Christ is not the baptism of John, but the baptism of John is all that Apollos knew. And so that is what he preached. And so that brings us to the final question that I think this passage raises, which is this, how can John, this gospel of John, this, this incomplete, uh, baptism of John be taught by Apollos and yet he's also teaching the things that concern Jesus with accuracy. <br /><br /> Cuz to me, if someone is, isn't teaching the baptism of Jesus, how could they be teaching the things of Jesus accurately? <br /><br /> I think something very deliberate is going on here with the author, Luke. Do you guys remember a number of weeks ago, maybe a couple months ago actually, when we talked about the false gospels that were spreading in Acts chapter 15, and the need for the apostles and the church to come together, to rally together and to defend themselves against these false gospels, these gospels, which proclaim that, no, the way that you're saved is by being circumcised, becoming Jewish, and following the law of Moses and what Peter and what Paul said and rebuked was, no, what are you talking about? <br /><br /> That's the old way you're trying to put a yoke on the Gentiles, which we ourselves were never able to bear. Well, what we have here in Acts chapter 18 is not a false gospel, but an incomplete gospel. And Luke is very deliberate to speak and to show and to demonstrate that this gospel, which is being preached, is not a false gospel. <br /><br /> It's accurate because after all, what did we see just a number of weeks ago in these incredible testimonies, people giving their lives over to Christ? What is the first thing that they talked about out repentance? Repentance is the first step in the journey towards true baptism that not only uses water, but the fire of the Holy Spirit that comes from Christ. <br /><br /> And so what we have here is a man earnestly. It says he's fervent in spirit preaching part one of the gospel, preaching with all his heart, soul, and mind. With eloquence, with understanding, preaching part one of the gospel. The gospel, which he is preaching, is not a gospel to be rebuked, but to be filled in. <br /><br /> You know what I imagine when I read this passage, what kept coming to mind this week is what that conversation would've been like between a Priscilla and Aquila and Apollo Apollos. It's so fun to imagine. Real quick look at, look with me real quick. And the very towards the end of that, this passage, when we see that what happens with Priscilla and Aquila and he being Apollos began to speak boldly in the synagogue. <br /><br /> When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to, to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately. That's such a matter of fact, way of putting all the things that they must have filled in this guy. My guess is his full understanding of the gospel went up to when. John said to his followers, behold the Lamb of God and pointed to Jesus. <br /><br /> And so Apollos knew all the teachings was led up, all the prophecies pointed to this man Jesus. And yet he probably had to return to his home in Alexandria. And so he did not know that what transpired afterwards of all the incredible things which Jesus did, of his death, of his resurrection, and of his great commission of his disciples, and his returning to the right hand of the Father, that's a pretty big gap. <br /><br /> So imagine them. I love this. In the NIV v translation, it says that they, they took him into their home and explained to him the God way of God more accurately or more adequately. Imagine this for a minute, guys. They're, they're eating, they've broken bread together and they're like, Apollos, have we got a story for you? <br /><br /> So I you're, you're doing a great job preaching. We love all the, the prophecies that you're weaving and your understanding of the scriptures is amazing, but you don't know the whole story. After you left the Messiah, Jesus, he started casting out demons. He started healing the sick. He started moving in miraculous ways. <br /><br /> He showed himself in truth to be the one that we had been waiting for. And the Apollo is probably like, yeah, awesome. The, oh, no, no, we're not done yet. They killed him. And Apollos, I could see his face falling. What? Oh no, we're not done yet. He was nailed to the cross and he cried out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? <br /><br /> But you know as well as we do, he was quoting from Psalm 22, in which at the end of that passage it says, declare to a generation yet unborn. He has done it, it is finished. And then he died. He died of Apollos. And then after he died three days later, he rose. Death, could not keep him. <br /><br /> He conquered death. And when he rose, he started opening the scriptures to us in new ways. He started showing us from the scriptures that he had to die. And not only that, that he had to return to his father, but the work was not done. And he spoke to us a great commandment before he left. A commandment was said, go into all the world teaching them and instructing them in what I have taught you, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son, and the Holy Spirit <br /><br /> and wait in Jerusalem to be clothed in power for my spirit is coming to be your comfort, to be your witness, to be your guide. I can just see Apollo sitting there in the chair like, whoa, <br /><br /> Apollo's gospel was not false. It was just woefully incomplete. <br /><br /> This story must have floored him. And again, Luke's gotta tell a, a, a, a story that's deliberate and, and he's moving along. But there's so much contained there just in that little verse in verse 26. And we see the power of that word, of that encouragement of that discipleship from Priscilla and Aquila in the verses that follow in verse 27, in verse 28, when Apollos wanted to go into ak, the brothers and sisters encouraged him and wrote to the disciples there to welcome him. <br /><br /> And when he had arrived, he was a great help to those who had by grace, believed for, he vigorously refuted the Jewish opponents in public debate, proving from the scriptures that Jesus was the Messiah. Now he's armed with the full gospel of God. And what does he do? When the full gospel fills you, what happens? <br /><br /> You're not content with leaving it inside. You've gotta spread it. You've gotta encourage, You've gotta rebuke evil and you've gotta encourage the church, and that is exactly what he did. I want to close with three quick applications, <br /><br /> things that I think are a great help to us or will be a great help to us this summer. I kept coming back and the only way I can think of it is think of these as tools for your spiritual tool belt, things that you can pull out and apply as we enter a season of unexpected enough discomfort. And to those of you who are gathered in Collingswood and in your own seasons of discomfort and of the unexpected, these truths hold still for you. <br /><br /> Okay, the first application that I wanna look at from this passage is that this passage reminds us that eloquence. That education, that intelligence, they are not a prerequisite of spiritual maturity or a guarantee of spiritual maturity. We see here demonstrated clearly by this story that though Apollo's learning far outstripped, Priscilla and Acquis lowly tent makers, though his education and his intelligence undoubtedly was unrivaled by any believer at that time, except possibly Paul. <br /><br /> We have here a beautiful example of how this gospel turns everything on its head. Apollos receiving discipleship by two tent makers, bringing him along in the way of God more adequately. It reminds me of First Corinthians chapter two, verse one, when Paul gives these words to the church in Corinth, and when I came to you brothers, Did not. <br /><br /> I did not come proclaiming to you a testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom for I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear, and in much trembling in my speech and my message were not implausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit of power so that your faith may not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. <br /><br /> And Paul later in Corinthians or earlier in Corinthians, says these words, not many of you were wise by human standards. Not many of you were influential. Not many of you were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. <br /><br /> He chose the lowly things of the world and the despise things and the things that are not to nullify the things that are so that no one may boast before him. We have here a young man who is capable, who is dynamic, who is full of learning and intelligence, and yet God chooses to bring him along in the way of God with two tent makers. <br /><br /> What a beautiful example of the gospel. I wanna speak to you, church. Now, there are probably some of you, or maybe a lot of you who have fallen into the same era that I have fallen into, and that is to make the very easy error to think my own ability to pray well or to speak publicly well, or to articulate myself well, or to show how intelligent I am in the Bible. <br /><br /> That's my spiritual maturity. That's a sign of my maturity. It is not those things. Learning intelligence, eloquence, they're gifts, and they can be used for God's kingdom as we see here at the end of this passage. They are not spiritual maturity. Spiritual maturity comes only from God, and it comes from His gospel, which tells us it is nothing that we have done, but what he has done in us. <br /><br /> All right, moving on. The second application I think that we can apply to us as we go forward in this season is an even more important one in this season. I think this passage, demonst demonstrates to us beautifully the manner in which believers are to both give and receive instruction and teaching. <br /><br /> Because it could be very easy for Priscilla and Aquila when they see Apollos speaking an incomplete gospel in the synagogue with boldness. For them to call him on the carpet, be like, yo, hey young man, knock it off. They could make him look like a fool. They could show the gaps in his learning. They could embarrass him publicly and tear him down. <br /><br /> Is that what they did? No, it is not. And Apollos himself, being a man of great learning and of in, of influence and of a world traveler, could have easily not accepted their instruction, but instead in pride rejected it, but he did not. What is demonstrated to us in this passage is that for Christians giving instruction or teaching or disciple is should be something of humility, of gentleness, of love and hospitality. <br /><br /> Because we see here demonstrated clearly in the passages that Priscilla and Aquila, your, your book might say your, your translation might say, drew him aside privately. Mine says, That he took, they took him into his home. The word that's used there in Greek is the Greek word pro bono, which it's got, the reason why it's different in different translations is it's kind of, it means a lot of different things. <br /><br /> It means to take one as a companion. It means to draw one a, a aside privately, so as to become a companion of theirs. It means to take one into one's home, but one thing is for sure, it is a hospitable word. Priscilla and Aquila did not use the truth that they had as a weapon, but rather they used it as a tool to build up Apollos in the Lord. <br /><br /> They built him up in the Lord. They did not tear him down, and Apollos in humility accepted their teaching. So for us, as we go and we find the need of. Filling one another's, the gaps in one another's knowledge, or the gaps in one another's understanding of each other and of love of God, of all these things. <br /><br /> Let us do it with gentleness, with love and hospitality. Lastly, and most importantly, the final application that I think is clearly given to us by this passage is this, after the events that took place at Calvary upon the cross, any gospel that preaches only repentance is a gospel that is incomplete. <br /><br /> I bring this up to us church, because while we would say that we have the full understanding, we have the full picture. We know what happened. We so easily get enmeshed in a half gospel. We find ourselves caught up in this constant, endless repentance. And repentance, by the way, is a beautiful thing. The Bible tells us to confess to God and to one another. <br /><br /> But the endless shame cycle of repenting and nothing changing, the hamster wheel of shame, that is not the new gospel. <br /><br /> The Bible is full of stories of people repenting and repenting and repenting, and repenting, and sacrificing, and sacrificing and sacrificing and nothing changing. A gospel that teaches only repentance is not false, but incomplete. A couple of weeks ago, we saw demonstrated so beautifully that the full gospel of God is a gospel of repentance and a faith in Jesus and the finished work of the cross in saying He is mine and I am his, and he is producing a new thing in me. <br /><br /> Not of water only, but of the Holy Spirit and fire. <br /><br /> I want to end with just a reading from Romans three, verse 11 and a few closing thoughts. Paul writes these words when describing the gospel. Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ, Christ Jesus we're baptized into his death? That we were buried, therefore, with him by baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead, by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life for if we've been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. <br /><br /> We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin for who has been, who has died, has been set free from sin. Now, if we have died with Christ, We believe that we will also live with him <br /><br /> This morning. We sang a song Who The Son Sets Free is free indeed. If you are here and you feel stuck in an endless procession of repentance without any hope, maybe you are operating on a incomplete gospel except the full, incomplete, finished work of Jesus turn and have faith that he has overcome. The gospel does not call you because you are equipped. <br /><br /> It calls you because you are not. You are called not for the great things that you can do for God, but rather for the great things that God will do in you and through you. Let the gospel be what changes you. Don't change for the gospel. No longer does this gospel speak only of repentance, but now it adds to that it is finished. <br /><br /> Let's pray. <br /><br /> Lord, we thank you for your holy scriptures. Thank you that they are so good for instruction, Lord, for teaching for repu, for for rep proof, for learning and encouragement, and for building up one another in love. Lord, as we enter into this new season of unexpected and discomfort, I pray that you turn it into a season of new life, of regrowth and of reminding that your church is your people gathered together in the union of the Holy Spirit, to worship the God our creator, and to unite with Christ our savior. <br /><br /> Lord, remind us day by day to put on the full gospel of God, not part of it. But all of it being reminded that it is not us, but you who overcomes. We pray all of this in your great name, oh God, and whose name we pray. Amen. Thank you guys.</div> false no <![CDATA[Priorities of Gospel Ministry]]> Invite you to take your Bibles this morning to Acts chapter 18 Uh, we've got a short text this morning. Thanks Justin. We return again today to our series in the book of Acts and looking at actually two verses and we're actually only focusing on one of them, but we are going to be taking a journey this morning, actually three journeys.

And, uh, that's gonna be how we're gonna start. A little bit of a geography lesson, little bit of an overview of what's been going on in the book of Acts and going to be going on. But Acts chapter 18 is a transitional moment and particularly verse 23. And I'd like to read just verse 22 and 23, pick up from where Pastor Ben left off a couple of weeks ago.

Acts chapter 18, verse 22, when he had landed at Caesarea. And this is talking about Paul. He went up and greeted the church and then went down to Antioch. After spending some time there, he departed and went from one place to the next, to the region of Galatia and frig, strengthening all the disciples.

Lord, we look to you this morning. Glory in a morning that is beautiful. It reminds us again of a creator God, a God who loves beauty and has created beauty for us to enjoy. And Lord, as we gather in this room this morning, I really pray that as we open this word, that you would speak into our lives, that you would call us, compel us to long to go deeper in our experience with Jesus Christ, our Lord, our Savior.

In whose name I pray. Amen. Amen. What I'm gonna do for the next probably four or five minutes is to present where we are, because actually what is happening here is a transitional moment in the Book of Acts. It is the ending of the second missionary journey, which was a big deal, and the beginning of the third missionary journey, which is a bigger deal.

But there's a statement made in that transitional moment, which is where I'm gonna focus my message this morning. But just to give context, um, we're looking at the fir the first missionary journey, and there are three missionary journeys that Paul was a part of. And they spanned about 10 years of ministry from 80 47 to 57.

And as we come to the first map, um, basically we see. That, um, Paul is starting at Antioch, right there. Jerusalem is down in this area, down actually farther, but this is, this is, uh, Antioch up here. He is going to take, um, his partner who is Barnabas at the time, and they are going to follow this blue line.

The blue line goes to Cyprus, it then comes up north, it comes over to here, it ends at Derby, and then he retraces his steps and goes back to Antioch. That is the first missionary journey. It is a journey that, uh, focuses on this arena and if we can put that blue mark right, this is basically the hub of the first missionary journey where that blue square is.

The Jerusalem Council occurred in, in chapter 15 of the Book of Acts back in Jerusalem where Paul and Barnabas have been out. They've been reaching Gentiles. And now's the whole question, what do we do with these gentiles? Do they have to become Jews? I mean, don't they have to be, uh, converted to Judaism before they can become followers of Christ?

And, and the conclusion is no. And now Paul is going on a second missionary journey, beginning in chapter 16, and this section Mi missionary journey.

I don't know where he went. All right, well, the second missionary journey is now beginning here and is going up through this area, and basically it again starts in Antioch. This time he goes this way and he tries to go to Ephesus in that red. Um, designation there. The stop sign is he was stopped by the spirit.

So then he went north and he said, okay, we're gonna go up into this area, Bethia. Um, because that is along the Black Sea, the coastal area. There, there were a number, number of cities that apparently he wanted to preach in and God stopped him again. So then he continued along and he went Toro ass, sort of the end of the line.

And he, he sort of had this sense that on the second missionary journey, Paul is somewhat wandering at this point and God then calls him over in a dream to Macedonia, to, he starts in Philippi and works down and spends the majority of his time here in, in Corinth. Al over 18 months in Corinth. And while he is there, that area, um, over here, the, the big rectangle becomes the hub of the second missionary journey.

First missionary journey was here. Second missionary journey is basically Greece. Paul is concluding, uh, his trip as he, he travels and he and he now comes over here, just finally gets to Ephesus and is just there for a moment. He has wanted to go to Ephesus. It is the center of the, it is basically the, the crown jewel of the eastern part of the entire Roman empire, the second most prominent city in the Roman Empire.

And Paul is, um, leaving there, if we can bring that up again. He leaves there and now he's come back and we pick up in the verses we read. It says that he lands, he comes to Caesarea and then he travels back up to Antioch and now he's at Antioch. And verse 23 picks up with the statement that he started out again, this is the start of the third missionary journey.

As Paul now begins that journey, it says, when he landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the church, and then he went down to Antioch. It says down, even though it's going north because Jerusalem and was much higher elevation than Antioch. And that's how they talked back then, elevations. And so he was going down.

After spending some time there, he departed and went from one place to the next through the region of Galatia. Basically, he's going back and this is going to be his third missionary journey. And on the third missionary journey, Paul is going to minister in this area originally, um, primarily again in Galatia and these surrounding areas.

Frige is right here. But where Paul is gonna spend almost all his time on this missionary journey is in one place, the city of sis, he's gonna be there over two years. He's gonna do some more travels and he's gonna come back and he's gonna be there again. Ministering, uh, in nearby city of Melitus where he meets the elders of the city of, of the church in Ephesus.

So he's got three missionary journeys with three different emphasis in terms of location, geographical focus, first in Southern Turkey, which is Galatia, uh, then in Greece. And now in the third missionary journey that he's embarking on, he is going to go primarily to Ephesus in that ministry. Paul, priorities for ministry.

Are, are presented to us in verse 23, and they are the priority that he had. It is the priority that the church collectively had. It is the priorities that we as a church collectively and as believers, individually should embrace. And those priorities in verse 23 are going to be that Paul was determined to make disciples by God's grace and then to build disciples.

I'm gonna look at that simple outline, uh, this morning in sort of a big picture way, because this phrase, strengthening Disciples, is foundational to the ministry of the GOs, the Book of Acts as the focus of the church's ministry throughout the world. So we're gonna look at that together. The first thing we find is that Paul.

Is always seeking to make disciples. Verse 23 says, Paul set out. From there the picture is that Paul, he's come back, he's settled in Antioch. It's an established church. He loves the people there. He is spent a lot of time there. He is been an elder in the church, but he's itching to get back out on the road.

He's longing to again, get out and, and communicate the gospel to areas Ephesus Preeminently as a place to present the gospel. It's striking how significant that was in the Roman world. The Roman world basically tolerated all religions. Everybody can believe whatever they want. Of course, just the Romans themselves had hundreds of, of deities, but they had placed, they, they, they had embraced, uh, Judaism.

They had, they embraced everything. They embraced all of the various religious faiths. The only thing the Roman authorities asked was that you give some token allegiance to the concept that the emperor is, is a deity. But it wasn't really a, a, an act of theological spiritual devotion. It was more of a political allegiance.

The second preeminent principle that the Roman, uh, authorities had in terms of religion is not only must you pay lip service to Caesar, but secondly, you must not try to proselytize other people to your faith. We tolerate everybody. Don't try to make somebody else become what you are. Implying that what they are and what they believe is not appropriate.

Well, the essence of Christian faith put the early believers in the crosshairs on both accounts. So the gospel we are reminded was never intended to be kept to oneself. It is not a religious dogma entrusted to its followers for their own consumption. The gospel literally means good news. The gospel is something that is news.

It is news to be shared. It is news to be proclaimed. It is news to be declared. It is a messaging that is presented to others, and it immediately put them in the crosshairs of the authorities because, They were intentionally then foundationally viewing their faith as something to try to share to others.

In Acts chapter one, Jesus said The whole mission of this new enterprise called the church would be you will be, once you've received power that comes from the spirit, you will be witnesses to me throughout the entire world. The early church grasped that and their champions like Paul led the way. And so we look at then what Paul is doing as he is embarking on his trip, but he's representative of the whole feel of the early church that we have been given.

Not a dogma, not a religious faith that is entrusted as a a private treasure. We have been entrusted with. News, good news. It's our gospel and the word evangelism is from Evangeline, that good news gospel. We see a couple of things. The people they sought to reach Paul followed the same pattern in all of the cities.

He will do this on the third missionary journey in the same way that he did on the first journey and the second journey, he will go to ultimately two groups of people. He will start with those with a worldview more similar to the one that he embraced. He would go to the Jews they believed in one God, one, uh, one Theas God, who was overall a creator God.

But he would also take his message, and we see him most prominently visualizing that in his messaging to the, to the Athenians as he's talking to the philosophers and the city mucking bucks there in Act 17. And he, and he's, he's defining this God to a people that have a very different worldview than he does as he talks about a God of transcendence, a transcendent God who is a creator to whom all people will be accountable.

Now, Paul was the prominent spokesman for this movement, but the overwhelming majority of converts in the Roman Empire would never hear Paul preach. They would come to faith through the lives and the influence and the, the, the testimony of those who had embraced the concept as Christians of being witnesses.

To Christ with his good news. Now, there's a big question here. How is it that going to a, a culture

with individuals that had no concept of transcendence, no concept of a God that is, uh, a God that is both creator, sustainer of life, a God that is desiring to be personally involved in their lives, which was so contrary to the Roman perspective, a God that. Believed in a, a, a, a culture believed in imminence.

Everything's gotta be right here, right with me. Touch, feel. It's, it's a man. I've got a God for this. I've got a God for this. I carry him around. That's my view of God. But the idea, one God transcendent creator, was totally contrary to their belief system. How was it that the church was able to move people towards the gospel?

Well, it's a question that's really relevant for us, and I've mentioned this lately. I, this is where I'm spending a lot of time just processing, trying to really execute culture and, and, and thinking where we are and what does it mean and how does this, that, that we are secularized and, and far more secularized than we have ever been before.

And how did we get here? And how was it, uh, that, that just a handful of centuries ago, a couple of centuries ago, Virtually everybody believed in some type of a deity. The concept of of atheism was almost non-existent in the western world. And now we have moved dramatically to a culture that is moving to more nons.

What is your religious faith non in the result than ever before? How do we then speak in the concepts of a transcendent God? Well, it's important to just realize the thinking of people today. You might say, well, I don't know. Most of the people I know believe in God, and most of the people I know would, uh, you know, would, would, would, would, um, believe that you know that, that God is big and maybe even that his creator?

Well, here's an analogy od it's like believing that there are power plants that produce our electricity. I don't know if you know this, um, but pse and G doesn't actually make your electricity. That's produced by gas plants and nuclear power plants here in new, in, in southern New Jersey. That's where virtually all of the power that you find, the electric power that comes into your home, uh, and your office and this building come from natural gas plants, nuclear power plants.

Now, I might ask you, do you believe that? And you'd say, well, I think so. You usually don't lie, but well then I would say, Google it, you'll find out. Cuz then you'll, but it's true. So we might say, okay, yeah, yeah, I believe that. And then I might ask, does that affect your life? And, well, no, I mean, I, I never even thought about it.

Maybe I, I knew power came from, you know, Niagara Falls for most of New York state. I never really thought about where my power comes from, but yeah, I, I believe it. But does it affect my life? No, I don't. I, I, I, I don't ever think about it. And, and this is, Probably gonna be the last time I'm gonna think about it because you're making me think about it.

And no, it's not really affecting my day-to-day experience and I don't expect it to. That is how many people live their lives culturally with God. You say, do you believe exist? Yeah. Uh, is he bit, yeah. Uh, does it, does it affect the way tomorrow when you're planning your week? Will that be something that you are, you are, you're bringing in?

I would quite frankly say I'm not only talking to people outside the church. I'm people inside the church. But basically there's a, there's a concept that yes, people believe in God, but as far as touching their day-to-day lives, their day-to-day experience where God said, I'm transcendent. I'm the creator, and I'm the one that hold people accountable for their behavior, and I have moral absolutes that I have laid out for, for all of humankind to whom I will ultimately hold all people accountable.

I'm sustaining life. I'm overseeing life. I am ruling in the world in which you live. So how do we, IM people, pack people that don't really think about God, that aren't really reckoning on God when they get up and plan their day, their week, their future, and aren't really thinking about the need of a relationship with God in particular.

Well, here's how it happened in the early church. In the book of Acts, and I'm just gonna highlight a few things. The reason they made an impact on those people, and I'm summarizing now, studies overall in the Book of Acts and also some of the epistles people saw individuals that are, had a relationship with the living God that impacted their lives.

They saw and heard evidence for God in people's lives. The Book of Acts is a story of lives that were experiencing the power of God. That's the very impetus to go out with the good news was people were experienced power from the spirit of God. They were living the old theological term, korum Dale in the presence of God, as the Latin word talks about, that God was real to them.

That it wasn't just you got up tomorrow morning or tonight as you plan your week that you don't, or, or the next month that's coming up in June and, and you don't make all those plan and without. Thinking of where does God fit in this? And am I listening to God? Am I, am I hearing from God as I process life, as I think of doing life,

the gospel impacting a culture that does not have a sense and is not living with the reality of a, of, of a transcendent active God that is actually making it available to do life with him, needs to see the living power of God. That's why we were all excited last Sunday with 13 people getting baptized in both services, hearing the stories, and I was struck with Pastor Jared's words as he baptized the 13th of them.

This one in the 10 30 service. Here was his statement as he closed the service and it was great. He said, if you showed up today, maybe you came to support someone who was baptized. Maybe you just walked in. But one thing you found from these testimonies, our God is alive as we heard. It doesn't matter if you have traumas or if you have addictions.

If you're chasing other spiritual practices, God is life and he's pursuing you. This is the reality that the early church throbbed with as they went forth with people living in the presence of God, that culturally people are going to have to sense that God is alive, God is moving. The second thing we find about the early church is they had a reason for hope in suffering.

The Christians did not see life as random. They knew a God that was orchestrating the circumstances of their lives. It's why Peter says in one Peter three, verse 15, as he's talking to a church that is under intense suffering, he says this,

always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason, for the hope that is in you. He says, People don't expect you to have hope when you don't have God as the central reality of life, orchestrating life, having purpose in, in circumstances that are allowed to come into our lives and are purposed by God.

He says, all you look at suffering as is something to get over. It's only looked at as if I can just live through this. If it can just be eradicated, if I can just get out of it. But the Christian says, I embrace these moments. I embrace what God is desiring to do in my life and he is intending through these circumstances that I don't live with wasted moments where now I can't be productive and I, it's just getting through this thing till I get to where I really live my life.

The Christ says, no, there is a God that is involved. I quoted this book a while, a few weeks ago by Alan Noble called Disruptive Witness, and in the book he is arguing that there are two. Preeminent barriers that we share that we face in our culture in the Western culture today, uh, to the gospel. First is the lack of transcendence, the lack of sense that there is a God to whom are accountable, that there's a God.

That's superintendent, but he has a second one as well. The second one he said is people are distracted. That people are, are, are constantly, their minds are full. They're, they're, they're struggling with so many different things. Smartphones, tablets, computers, social media platforms, distract people from really thinking and processing.

A recent study by Reed Health Centers in the Midwest did a study of people on their phones. They actually had a system where they were able to measure on their phones how many touches people had. And it could be, uh, just a time when you, you were typing, it could have been a time when you were tapping the phone, when you're swiping the phone screen all counted as a touch.

They found that an average user touches their smartphone 2,617 times every day with heavy users clocking in at 5,427. That's a distracted group of people. We are a distracted culture, and he is arguing in the book, Alan Noble, is that people are, their minds are so, they're, they're thinking, they're looking at the neck thing.

You know, if, if, if they got quiet for a moment, the first thing you do we do is look at the phone, check it out, and he says it's, it's hard to get people to process and think, so how do we speak in truth in such a day, in such a culture? His suggestion is this, recognize that modern people, Are invariably more open to considering Christianity during times of stress, difficulty, disappointment, or suffering.

When I read that the first time, I immediately went to the book of Ecclesiastes in my mind because in Ecclesiastes there's a statement. Here's a statement. Wisdom is found more in the house of mourning than the house of feasting. Could I paraphrase it? Here's a Willie paraphrase. You do a lot more thinking about life at a funeral than you do at a tailgate party.

Our culture is keeping us moving at tailgate parties. But when you come to a funeral, what do you think about? You think about what would people say about me? You think about, oh my goodness, this guy's only two years older than I am. Oh my goodness. You, you, you, you embrace it. You're processing. You're thinking about life.

You're thinking about mortality. You're thinking about where you're investing your life. Times of loss, times of pain, times of suffering. Our megaphones in our lives, but also the lives of people that we do life with. Every crisis of a coworker is an opportunity to offer, to pray for them or with them. We need to believe that, that people you would never think would pray will respond many times.

Not everybody, and you don't know which ones. So there'll be rebuffs. But to recognize these are moments when people are feeling something are struggling, lost. These are God appointed moments. The gospel speaks into it because Christians have a, a comfort and, and, and Peter says, people are gonna look at you guys and you're suffering right now.

And he says, be ready to talk to them about the reason for your hope. Third Christians were willing to do that and ready to do that. They engaged with the, the, the needs of people around them. It's a statement made by a guy named an

with apologies to him, but since he was from the early second century. He'll, I'll get by. He made this statement as he wrote to Roman authorities about Christians, but among us, you'll find uneducated persons and artisans and old women who, if they're unable in words to prove the benefit of our doctrine, yet by their deeds, exhibit the benefit arising from their persuasion of its truth.

They don't ha, they don't rehearse speeches, but exhibit good works when struck. They do not strike again when robbed. They don't go to law. They give it to those they give. They give to those that ask of them and love their neighbors as themselves. They're not Christian in name only one's. Readiness to forgive.

Others to serve. Others. To deny others is the most powerful polemic for the truth of the gospel. That we have embraced ourselves with a Lord that is a servant.

Great read by Langdon Gilkey, and if we can just bring up that book. It's called The Shong Compound. It's a story of a guy Langdon Gilkey, who was a liberal professor that was teaching in China at the time. He was caught up in the Japanese sweep and got thrown in a Japanese prisoner of war camp. While he was there, he was with a bunch of missionaries and a bunch of other, uh, western, um, ex expatriates and ba basically, they were all there and he was studying it.

And he actually wrote a, a, a really interesting study about, it's, it's basically about how do people live under stress and what he found. Was that many of those that were religious were just as exploitive, as irreligious people. There are many missionaries, some of the missionaries anyway, began to form cliques and, and look out for themselves, protect their food, sort of, sort of be a community within the community and to care for each other.

Only yet he saw something strikingly different and impactful in some of the others. He saw people and he cites one guy in particular who spent tireless hours in caring for elderly prisoners in teaching the Bible and science to anybody that wanted to hear it. Organizing games and dances for the kids, and sharing his food, his time, his energy.

You've heard of the guy, at least some of you have. The man's name was Eric Little, the star of the Chariots of Fire, the Olympic gold medalists who gave his life to serving the gospel in China. Eric Little died in that camp in 1945, but Langdon Gilkey, his whole life was impacted by Eric Little because he saw the influence of a man and others with him that lived out a gospel.

And it was compelling in its reality, making disciples, helping people be brought into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ drove the Apostle Paul as he went on the third Missionary journey. It drove the early church, but the second thing we find, and this one I'll be shorter, he did something else and it's found in our text again this morning, the end of verse 23.

It said he went into that area of Southern Turkey, Galatia frig. And it says he was strengthening all the disciples. This is a fascinating thing because this phrase is used at really pregnant moments in the Book of Acts. It's used in Acts chapter 14 after, after Paul went, you know, he went on the journey and he, and he went, first of all from Antioch and he started to move up in from Cyprus up into Galatia.

And he shared the gospel and he won converts. And then it says, as he was on his way back on the journey, it says he was strengthening the disciples. When he returned and went out on the second missionary journey, the first thing he did, which was was a year later, the first thing that he did was he went through that area again of Galatia Southern Turkey today.

And it says he went there strengthening the disciples. When he set out on the third missionary journey here in our text, it says, as he went through that same area, he went there strengthening all of the types he wanna say. How much did strengthen these people need?

Paul was consumed with not just having decisions but living active disciples in Christ. He poured his life into helping them grow and mature. So what does that look like? Just some quick thoughts. Seeking for disciples to stand on their own is what is implied? The word strengthen is actually the word in the original to stand, Paul was determined for these believers to stand on their own in the faith.

Now again, The overall majority of these people are people that had no concept of a transcendent God. No concept of God has created. I mean, they knew nothing. They knew no Bible, and Paul was determined that these individuals would be able to stand on their own, feed themselves from the scriptures. I love what it says here.

He was strengthening all the disciples. I mean, some of these people were Jewish with a great heritage of, of monotheism, A one God creator of all others have absolutely no con. All different places, all different ages, all different backgrounds, all different intellects reminds me of when I first started in ministry.

My mentor in ministry was a guy named Dr. Floyd Davis, and Dr. Davis made a statement to me. He said, mark, I'm gonna tell you what your job is as a pastor, and it relates to everybody that God brings to your ministry. Your calling is to help people. Go from where they are to where God wants 'em to be. And he said they're gonna start at all different places.

And this is Paul. He says, I'm not just targeting, targeting these guys cuz they've got a theological background, or I'm not just gonna target these guys because you know, they're kind of cool. I mean, they'll be the great newsletter. When I explain about these people where they've come from, Paul says, I'm passionate about helping all the disciples be strengthened.

Secondly, he appointed disciples to depend on God, the Holy Spirit. 56 times in the Book of Acts, the Spirit is mentioned. This is the very foundation of Jesus teaching. You'll receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you. As you look at the messages of Paul, if you look at the focus people, were always pushing believers into the spirit of God saying, lean on him, learn from him.

Allow him to empower your lives. The third thing that was true of building disciples was encouraging believers to embrace suffering in spiritual warfare. And Acts Chapter 14 is one of those passages where it talks about strengthened disciples. Lemme just read it to you. I think we have it up there. They returned to Lystra and to I Iconium and to Antioch.

That was areas in Southern Turkey strengthening the souls of the disciples. There's that word, encouraging them to continue in the faith and saying that through many tribulations, we must enter the kingdom of God. One of the great beauties of Christian experience is we have hope in hardship. We have a way of looking at it differently.

Pastor Tim Keller of Redeemer Press passed away late last week. To everyone, I think is incredible Loss to those that really were influenced by his ministry is a deep loss. While Marin and I were away last week, and Scott and Faith were away, Scott and Faith sent to us a link to a, and this is before we knew anything about what was going on with Tim Keller.

It was a message by Tim Keller, and we listened to, in the cars we were traveling just as Scott and Faith had done. And in the, in the letter in, in the message, Keller was saying, this is how suffering is. He said, think of it as an email. You relieve, you receive a a, a a, an email that is the hardship or the suffering.

And he says, with that hardship email comes two attachments. A document, you know, that's included with it. And he said, the one attachment comes from the devil. And he said, it is a message, it is a messaging of, uh, discouragement. It is a message of hopelessness. It is a message sometimes of condemnation. It, it is a message.

It just beats you down and, and calls you to interpret your hardships in a way that is destructive and hopeless. He said, but there's always a second attachment with the email of hardship. And he says it's a, it's, it's an attachment from God. A God that says there's hope in this. There's purpose in this, that I am present with you, that, that I'm using all these things in your life.

Spiritual growth is to listen and to read the right attachment. It's to say, I know there's gonna be those two messaging that come. I've gotta read the right attachment. I've gotta believe that. I've gotta hear this. It was a really helpful visual to me. I just thought it was perfect. Last Sunday in the baptism, one of the young men that talked said something.

He was giving his journey. His name's Dylan. He's, well, I was gonna say he's the one, but I think it was a 10 30 service. He towered over Josiah by about that much, but as Josiah baptized him. But, but in the, in the, uh, his testimony and he was talking about how God had been at work in his life and it was a beautiful testimony.

And he just said, uh, I, I realized that in God troubles don't come to me. They come for me. That is profound. That's right. That God orchestrates and allows circumstances for us that those are the moments. Spiritual growth, deepening as disciples is believing that God is at work. That we can say with confidence that a sovereign good God, that if I could see everything that God sees, what is going on in my life is exactly what I would pray for.

Challenging believers to stand in the unity that comes through prayer. The church went forward on its knees.

We're going through a transition here, right? This is our last Sunday in here. I know we've talked about that earlier. Gonna be over in the My prayer. Many of our prayers is not that. This is gonna be a time when we sort of put life and ministry on hold, but that God will use this summer to bring people to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

That God will be building disciples this summer, that we will see him work in unusual and powerful ways.

We must be people that pray. I sense a tremendous stirring more than I think any time I remember in the ministry here for people to be praying. There is a deep swelling of hunger to pray individually, but also to pray together. Last Monday night, our, our board chairman, Doug Lindo, and I love this. He had brought the names of all the 13 people that were baptized and a little bit about their testimony, and we took time as a board.

Which is pastors and deacons together, praying over each person as they've shared publicly. Certainly what the devil wants to do is undermine, discourage. We go forward by praying. We grow by praying. We deepen, by praying Paul and barks on a new journey. Making disciples was his passion, but building and strengthened disciples was always there and so it should be for us.

Lord, thank you for the good news, the gospel, something to be declared. Something to be lived. Lord, help us to be a people that even this summer are consumed with the desire to be seeing lives change by the gospel with the desire to see people deepen in their walk. Embracing suffering, looking this week in our office, in our neighborhood, for people that maybe would be open for us just praying with them or praying for them.

Lord, may we be people that are living and speaking the gospel. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Now go in peace to love and serve and enjoy the Lord.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/priorities-of-gospel-ministry 00bc2ce8-cfaf-43eb-9441-a2fbbd52ab55 Sun, 28 May 2023 14:13:47 GMT <div data-html="true">Invite you to take your Bibles this morning to Acts chapter 18 Uh, we've got a short text this morning. Thanks Justin. We return again today to our series in the book of Acts and looking at actually two verses and we're actually only focusing on one of them, but we are going to be taking a journey this morning, actually three journeys. <br /><br /> And, uh, that's gonna be how we're gonna start. A little bit of a geography lesson, little bit of an overview of what's been going on in the book of Acts and going to be going on. But Acts chapter 18 is a transitional moment and particularly verse 23. And I'd like to read just verse 22 and 23, pick up from where Pastor Ben left off a couple of weeks ago. <br /><br /> Acts chapter 18, verse 22, when he had landed at Caesarea. And this is talking about Paul. He went up and greeted the church and then went down to Antioch. After spending some time there, he departed and went from one place to the next, to the region of Galatia and frig, strengthening all the disciples. <br /><br /> Lord, we look to you this morning. Glory in a morning that is beautiful. It reminds us again of a creator God, a God who loves beauty and has created beauty for us to enjoy. And Lord, as we gather in this room this morning, I really pray that as we open this word, that you would speak into our lives, that you would call us, compel us to long to go deeper in our experience with Jesus Christ, our Lord, our Savior. <br /><br /> In whose name I pray. Amen. Amen. What I'm gonna do for the next probably four or five minutes is to present where we are, because actually what is happening here is a transitional moment in the Book of Acts. It is the ending of the second missionary journey, which was a big deal, and the beginning of the third missionary journey, which is a bigger deal. <br /><br /> But there's a statement made in that transitional moment, which is where I'm gonna focus my message this morning. But just to give context, um, we're looking at the fir the first missionary journey, and there are three missionary journeys that Paul was a part of. And they spanned about 10 years of ministry from 80 47 to 57. <br /><br /> And as we come to the first map, um, basically we see. That, um, Paul is starting at Antioch, right there. Jerusalem is down in this area, down actually farther, but this is, this is, uh, Antioch up here. He is going to take, um, his partner who is Barnabas at the time, and they are going to follow this blue line. <br /><br /> The blue line goes to Cyprus, it then comes up north, it comes over to here, it ends at Derby, and then he retraces his steps and goes back to Antioch. That is the first missionary journey. It is a journey that, uh, focuses on this arena and if we can put that blue mark right, this is basically the hub of the first missionary journey where that blue square is. <br /><br /> The Jerusalem Council occurred in, in chapter 15 of the Book of Acts back in Jerusalem where Paul and Barnabas have been out. They've been reaching Gentiles. And now's the whole question, what do we do with these gentiles? Do they have to become Jews? I mean, don't they have to be, uh, converted to Judaism before they can become followers of Christ? <br /><br /> And, and the conclusion is no. And now Paul is going on a second missionary journey, beginning in chapter 16, and this section Mi missionary journey. <br /><br /> I don't know where he went. All right, well, the second missionary journey is now beginning here and is going up through this area, and basically it again starts in Antioch. This time he goes this way and he tries to go to Ephesus in that red. Um, designation there. The stop sign is he was stopped by the spirit. <br /><br /> So then he went north and he said, okay, we're gonna go up into this area, Bethia. Um, because that is along the Black Sea, the coastal area. There, there were a number, number of cities that apparently he wanted to preach in and God stopped him again. So then he continued along and he went Toro ass, sort of the end of the line. <br /><br /> And he, he sort of had this sense that on the second missionary journey, Paul is somewhat wandering at this point and God then calls him over in a dream to Macedonia, to, he starts in Philippi and works down and spends the majority of his time here in, in Corinth. Al over 18 months in Corinth. And while he is there, that area, um, over here, the, the big rectangle becomes the hub of the second missionary journey. <br /><br /> First missionary journey was here. Second missionary journey is basically Greece. Paul is concluding, uh, his trip as he, he travels and he and he now comes over here, just finally gets to Ephesus and is just there for a moment. He has wanted to go to Ephesus. It is the center of the, it is basically the, the crown jewel of the eastern part of the entire Roman empire, the second most prominent city in the Roman Empire. <br /><br /> And Paul is, um, leaving there, if we can bring that up again. He leaves there and now he's come back and we pick up in the verses we read. It says that he lands, he comes to Caesarea and then he travels back up to Antioch and now he's at Antioch. And verse 23 picks up with the statement that he started out again, this is the start of the third missionary journey. <br /><br /> As Paul now begins that journey, it says, when he landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the church, and then he went down to Antioch. It says down, even though it's going north because Jerusalem and was much higher elevation than Antioch. And that's how they talked back then, elevations. And so he was going down. <br /><br /> After spending some time there, he departed and went from one place to the next through the region of Galatia. Basically, he's going back and this is going to be his third missionary journey. And on the third missionary journey, Paul is going to minister in this area originally, um, primarily again in Galatia and these surrounding areas. <br /><br /> Frige is right here. But where Paul is gonna spend almost all his time on this missionary journey is in one place, the city of sis, he's gonna be there over two years. He's gonna do some more travels and he's gonna come back and he's gonna be there again. Ministering, uh, in nearby city of Melitus where he meets the elders of the city of, of the church in Ephesus. <br /><br /> So he's got three missionary journeys with three different emphasis in terms of location, geographical focus, first in Southern Turkey, which is Galatia, uh, then in Greece. And now in the third missionary journey that he's embarking on, he is going to go primarily to Ephesus in that ministry. Paul, priorities for ministry. <br /><br /> Are, are presented to us in verse 23, and they are the priority that he had. It is the priority that the church collectively had. It is the priorities that we as a church collectively and as believers, individually should embrace. And those priorities in verse 23 are going to be that Paul was determined to make disciples by God's grace and then to build disciples. <br /><br /> I'm gonna look at that simple outline, uh, this morning in sort of a big picture way, because this phrase, strengthening Disciples, is foundational to the ministry of the GOs, the Book of Acts as the focus of the church's ministry throughout the world. So we're gonna look at that together. The first thing we find is that Paul. <br /><br /> Is always seeking to make disciples. Verse 23 says, Paul set out. From there the picture is that Paul, he's come back, he's settled in Antioch. It's an established church. He loves the people there. He is spent a lot of time there. He is been an elder in the church, but he's itching to get back out on the road. <br /><br /> He's longing to again, get out and, and communicate the gospel to areas Ephesus Preeminently as a place to present the gospel. It's striking how significant that was in the Roman world. The Roman world basically tolerated all religions. Everybody can believe whatever they want. Of course, just the Romans themselves had hundreds of, of deities, but they had placed, they, they, they had embraced, uh, Judaism. <br /><br /> They had, they embraced everything. They embraced all of the various religious faiths. The only thing the Roman authorities asked was that you give some token allegiance to the concept that the emperor is, is a deity. But it wasn't really a, a, an act of theological spiritual devotion. It was more of a political allegiance. <br /><br /> The second preeminent principle that the Roman, uh, authorities had in terms of religion is not only must you pay lip service to Caesar, but secondly, you must not try to proselytize other people to your faith. We tolerate everybody. Don't try to make somebody else become what you are. Implying that what they are and what they believe is not appropriate. <br /><br /> Well, the essence of Christian faith put the early believers in the crosshairs on both accounts. So the gospel we are reminded was never intended to be kept to oneself. It is not a religious dogma entrusted to its followers for their own consumption. The gospel literally means good news. The gospel is something that is news. <br /><br /> It is news to be shared. It is news to be proclaimed. It is news to be declared. It is a messaging that is presented to others, and it immediately put them in the crosshairs of the authorities because, They were intentionally then foundationally viewing their faith as something to try to share to others. <br /><br /> In Acts chapter one, Jesus said The whole mission of this new enterprise called the church would be you will be, once you've received power that comes from the spirit, you will be witnesses to me throughout the entire world. The early church grasped that and their champions like Paul led the way. And so we look at then what Paul is doing as he is embarking on his trip, but he's representative of the whole feel of the early church that we have been given. <br /><br /> Not a dogma, not a religious faith that is entrusted as a a private treasure. We have been entrusted with. News, good news. It's our gospel and the word evangelism is from Evangeline, that good news gospel. We see a couple of things. The people they sought to reach Paul followed the same pattern in all of the cities. <br /><br /> He will do this on the third missionary journey in the same way that he did on the first journey and the second journey, he will go to ultimately two groups of people. He will start with those with a worldview more similar to the one that he embraced. He would go to the Jews they believed in one God, one, uh, one Theas God, who was overall a creator God. <br /><br /> But he would also take his message, and we see him most prominently visualizing that in his messaging to the, to the Athenians as he's talking to the philosophers and the city mucking bucks there in Act 17. And he, and he's, he's defining this God to a people that have a very different worldview than he does as he talks about a God of transcendence, a transcendent God who is a creator to whom all people will be accountable. <br /><br /> Now, Paul was the prominent spokesman for this movement, but the overwhelming majority of converts in the Roman Empire would never hear Paul preach. They would come to faith through the lives and the influence and the, the, the testimony of those who had embraced the concept as Christians of being witnesses. <br /><br /> To Christ with his good news. Now, there's a big question here. How is it that going to a, a culture <br /><br /> with individuals that had no concept of transcendence, no concept of a God that is, uh, a God that is both creator, sustainer of life, a God that is desiring to be personally involved in their lives, which was so contrary to the Roman perspective, a God that. Believed in a, a, a, a culture believed in imminence. <br /><br /> Everything's gotta be right here, right with me. Touch, feel. It's, it's a man. I've got a God for this. I've got a God for this. I carry him around. That's my view of God. But the idea, one God transcendent creator, was totally contrary to their belief system. How was it that the church was able to move people towards the gospel? <br /><br /> Well, it's a question that's really relevant for us, and I've mentioned this lately. I, this is where I'm spending a lot of time just processing, trying to really execute culture and, and, and thinking where we are and what does it mean and how does this, that, that we are secularized and, and far more secularized than we have ever been before. <br /><br /> And how did we get here? And how was it, uh, that, that just a handful of centuries ago, a couple of centuries ago, Virtually everybody believed in some type of a deity. The concept of of atheism was almost non-existent in the western world. And now we have moved dramatically to a culture that is moving to more nons. <br /><br /> What is your religious faith non in the result than ever before? How do we then speak in the concepts of a transcendent God? Well, it's important to just realize the thinking of people today. You might say, well, I don't know. Most of the people I know believe in God, and most of the people I know would, uh, you know, would, would, would, would, um, believe that you know that, that God is big and maybe even that his creator? <br /><br /> Well, here's an analogy od it's like believing that there are power plants that produce our electricity. I don't know if you know this, um, but pse and G doesn't actually make your electricity. That's produced by gas plants and nuclear power plants here in new, in, in southern New Jersey. That's where virtually all of the power that you find, the electric power that comes into your home, uh, and your office and this building come from natural gas plants, nuclear power plants. <br /><br /> Now, I might ask you, do you believe that? And you'd say, well, I think so. You usually don't lie, but well then I would say, Google it, you'll find out. Cuz then you'll, but it's true. So we might say, okay, yeah, yeah, I believe that. And then I might ask, does that affect your life? And, well, no, I mean, I, I never even thought about it. <br /><br /> Maybe I, I knew power came from, you know, Niagara Falls for most of New York state. I never really thought about where my power comes from, but yeah, I, I believe it. But does it affect my life? No, I don't. I, I, I, I don't ever think about it. And, and this is, Probably gonna be the last time I'm gonna think about it because you're making me think about it. <br /><br /> And no, it's not really affecting my day-to-day experience and I don't expect it to. That is how many people live their lives culturally with God. You say, do you believe exist? Yeah. Uh, is he bit, yeah. Uh, does it, does it affect the way tomorrow when you're planning your week? Will that be something that you are, you are, you're bringing in? <br /><br /> I would quite frankly say I'm not only talking to people outside the church. I'm people inside the church. But basically there's a, there's a concept that yes, people believe in God, but as far as touching their day-to-day lives, their day-to-day experience where God said, I'm transcendent. I'm the creator, and I'm the one that hold people accountable for their behavior, and I have moral absolutes that I have laid out for, for all of humankind to whom I will ultimately hold all people accountable. <br /><br /> I'm sustaining life. I'm overseeing life. I am ruling in the world in which you live. So how do we, IM people, pack people that don't really think about God, that aren't really reckoning on God when they get up and plan their day, their week, their future, and aren't really thinking about the need of a relationship with God in particular. <br /><br /> Well, here's how it happened in the early church. In the book of Acts, and I'm just gonna highlight a few things. The reason they made an impact on those people, and I'm summarizing now, studies overall in the Book of Acts and also some of the epistles people saw individuals that are, had a relationship with the living God that impacted their lives. <br /><br /> They saw and heard evidence for God in people's lives. The Book of Acts is a story of lives that were experiencing the power of God. That's the very impetus to go out with the good news was people were experienced power from the spirit of God. They were living the old theological term, korum Dale in the presence of God, as the Latin word talks about, that God was real to them. <br /><br /> That it wasn't just you got up tomorrow morning or tonight as you plan your week that you don't, or, or the next month that's coming up in June and, and you don't make all those plan and without. Thinking of where does God fit in this? And am I listening to God? Am I, am I hearing from God as I process life, as I think of doing life, <br /><br /> the gospel impacting a culture that does not have a sense and is not living with the reality of a, of, of a transcendent active God that is actually making it available to do life with him, needs to see the living power of God. That's why we were all excited last Sunday with 13 people getting baptized in both services, hearing the stories, and I was struck with Pastor Jared's words as he baptized the 13th of them. <br /><br /> This one in the 10 30 service. Here was his statement as he closed the service and it was great. He said, if you showed up today, maybe you came to support someone who was baptized. Maybe you just walked in. But one thing you found from these testimonies, our God is alive as we heard. It doesn't matter if you have traumas or if you have addictions. <br /><br /> If you're chasing other spiritual practices, God is life and he's pursuing you. This is the reality that the early church throbbed with as they went forth with people living in the presence of God, that culturally people are going to have to sense that God is alive, God is moving. The second thing we find about the early church is they had a reason for hope in suffering. <br /><br /> The Christians did not see life as random. They knew a God that was orchestrating the circumstances of their lives. It's why Peter says in one Peter three, verse 15, as he's talking to a church that is under intense suffering, he says this, <br /><br /> always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason, for the hope that is in you. He says, People don't expect you to have hope when you don't have God as the central reality of life, orchestrating life, having purpose in, in circumstances that are allowed to come into our lives and are purposed by God. <br /><br /> He says, all you look at suffering as is something to get over. It's only looked at as if I can just live through this. If it can just be eradicated, if I can just get out of it. But the Christian says, I embrace these moments. I embrace what God is desiring to do in my life and he is intending through these circumstances that I don't live with wasted moments where now I can't be productive and I, it's just getting through this thing till I get to where I really live my life. <br /><br /> The Christ says, no, there is a God that is involved. I quoted this book a while, a few weeks ago by Alan Noble called Disruptive Witness, and in the book he is arguing that there are two. Preeminent barriers that we share that we face in our culture in the Western culture today, uh, to the gospel. First is the lack of transcendence, the lack of sense that there is a God to whom are accountable, that there's a God. <br /><br /> That's superintendent, but he has a second one as well. The second one he said is people are distracted. That people are, are, are constantly, their minds are full. They're, they're, they're struggling with so many different things. Smartphones, tablets, computers, social media platforms, distract people from really thinking and processing. <br /><br /> A recent study by Reed Health Centers in the Midwest did a study of people on their phones. They actually had a system where they were able to measure on their phones how many touches people had. And it could be, uh, just a time when you, you were typing, it could have been a time when you were tapping the phone, when you're swiping the phone screen all counted as a touch. <br /><br /> They found that an average user touches their smartphone 2,617 times every day with heavy users clocking in at 5,427. That's a distracted group of people. We are a distracted culture, and he is arguing in the book, Alan Noble, is that people are, their minds are so, they're, they're thinking, they're looking at the neck thing. <br /><br /> You know, if, if, if they got quiet for a moment, the first thing you do we do is look at the phone, check it out, and he says it's, it's hard to get people to process and think, so how do we speak in truth in such a day, in such a culture? His suggestion is this, recognize that modern people, Are invariably more open to considering Christianity during times of stress, difficulty, disappointment, or suffering. <br /><br /> When I read that the first time, I immediately went to the book of Ecclesiastes in my mind because in Ecclesiastes there's a statement. Here's a statement. Wisdom is found more in the house of mourning than the house of feasting. Could I paraphrase it? Here's a Willie paraphrase. You do a lot more thinking about life at a funeral than you do at a tailgate party. <br /><br /> Our culture is keeping us moving at tailgate parties. But when you come to a funeral, what do you think about? You think about what would people say about me? You think about, oh my goodness, this guy's only two years older than I am. Oh my goodness. You, you, you, you embrace it. You're processing. You're thinking about life. <br /><br /> You're thinking about mortality. You're thinking about where you're investing your life. Times of loss, times of pain, times of suffering. Our megaphones in our lives, but also the lives of people that we do life with. Every crisis of a coworker is an opportunity to offer, to pray for them or with them. We need to believe that, that people you would never think would pray will respond many times. <br /><br /> Not everybody, and you don't know which ones. So there'll be rebuffs. But to recognize these are moments when people are feeling something are struggling, lost. These are God appointed moments. The gospel speaks into it because Christians have a, a comfort and, and, and Peter says, people are gonna look at you guys and you're suffering right now. <br /><br /> And he says, be ready to talk to them about the reason for your hope. Third Christians were willing to do that and ready to do that. They engaged with the, the, the needs of people around them. It's a statement made by a guy named an <br /><br /> with apologies to him, but since he was from the early second century. He'll, I'll get by. He made this statement as he wrote to Roman authorities about Christians, but among us, you'll find uneducated persons and artisans and old women who, if they're unable in words to prove the benefit of our doctrine, yet by their deeds, exhibit the benefit arising from their persuasion of its truth. <br /><br /> They don't ha, they don't rehearse speeches, but exhibit good works when struck. They do not strike again when robbed. They don't go to law. They give it to those they give. They give to those that ask of them and love their neighbors as themselves. They're not Christian in name only one's. Readiness to forgive. <br /><br /> Others to serve. Others. To deny others is the most powerful polemic for the truth of the gospel. That we have embraced ourselves with a Lord that is a servant. <br /><br /> Great read by Langdon Gilkey, and if we can just bring up that book. It's called The Shong Compound. It's a story of a guy Langdon Gilkey, who was a liberal professor that was teaching in China at the time. He was caught up in the Japanese sweep and got thrown in a Japanese prisoner of war camp. While he was there, he was with a bunch of missionaries and a bunch of other, uh, western, um, ex expatriates and ba basically, they were all there and he was studying it. <br /><br /> And he actually wrote a, a, a really interesting study about, it's, it's basically about how do people live under stress and what he found. Was that many of those that were religious were just as exploitive, as irreligious people. There are many missionaries, some of the missionaries anyway, began to form cliques and, and look out for themselves, protect their food, sort of, sort of be a community within the community and to care for each other. <br /><br /> Only yet he saw something strikingly different and impactful in some of the others. He saw people and he cites one guy in particular who spent tireless hours in caring for elderly prisoners in teaching the Bible and science to anybody that wanted to hear it. Organizing games and dances for the kids, and sharing his food, his time, his energy. <br /><br /> You've heard of the guy, at least some of you have. The man's name was Eric Little, the star of the Chariots of Fire, the Olympic gold medalists who gave his life to serving the gospel in China. Eric Little died in that camp in 1945, but Langdon Gilkey, his whole life was impacted by Eric Little because he saw the influence of a man and others with him that lived out a gospel. <br /><br /> And it was compelling in its reality, making disciples, helping people be brought into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ drove the Apostle Paul as he went on the third Missionary journey. It drove the early church, but the second thing we find, and this one I'll be shorter, he did something else and it's found in our text again this morning, the end of verse 23. <br /><br /> It said he went into that area of Southern Turkey, Galatia frig. And it says he was strengthening all the disciples. This is a fascinating thing because this phrase is used at really pregnant moments in the Book of Acts. It's used in Acts chapter 14 after, after Paul went, you know, he went on the journey and he, and he went, first of all from Antioch and he started to move up in from Cyprus up into Galatia. <br /><br /> And he shared the gospel and he won converts. And then it says, as he was on his way back on the journey, it says he was strengthening the disciples. When he returned and went out on the second missionary journey, the first thing he did, which was was a year later, the first thing that he did was he went through that area again of Galatia Southern Turkey today. <br /><br /> And it says he went there strengthening the disciples. When he set out on the third missionary journey here in our text, it says, as he went through that same area, he went there strengthening all of the types he wanna say. How much did strengthen these people need? <br /><br /> Paul was consumed with not just having decisions but living active disciples in Christ. He poured his life into helping them grow and mature. So what does that look like? Just some quick thoughts. Seeking for disciples to stand on their own is what is implied? The word strengthen is actually the word in the original to stand, Paul was determined for these believers to stand on their own in the faith. <br /><br /> Now again, The overall majority of these people are people that had no concept of a transcendent God. No concept of God has created. I mean, they knew nothing. They knew no Bible, and Paul was determined that these individuals would be able to stand on their own, feed themselves from the scriptures. I love what it says here. <br /><br /> He was strengthening all the disciples. I mean, some of these people were Jewish with a great heritage of, of monotheism, A one God creator of all others have absolutely no con. All different places, all different ages, all different backgrounds, all different intellects reminds me of when I first started in ministry. <br /><br /> My mentor in ministry was a guy named Dr. Floyd Davis, and Dr. Davis made a statement to me. He said, mark, I'm gonna tell you what your job is as a pastor, and it relates to everybody that God brings to your ministry. Your calling is to help people. Go from where they are to where God wants 'em to be. And he said they're gonna start at all different places. <br /><br /> And this is Paul. He says, I'm not just targeting, targeting these guys cuz they've got a theological background, or I'm not just gonna target these guys because you know, they're kind of cool. I mean, they'll be the great newsletter. When I explain about these people where they've come from, Paul says, I'm passionate about helping all the disciples be strengthened. <br /><br /> Secondly, he appointed disciples to depend on God, the Holy Spirit. 56 times in the Book of Acts, the Spirit is mentioned. This is the very foundation of Jesus teaching. You'll receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you. As you look at the messages of Paul, if you look at the focus people, were always pushing believers into the spirit of God saying, lean on him, learn from him. <br /><br /> Allow him to empower your lives. The third thing that was true of building disciples was encouraging believers to embrace suffering in spiritual warfare. And Acts Chapter 14 is one of those passages where it talks about strengthened disciples. Lemme just read it to you. I think we have it up there. They returned to Lystra and to I Iconium and to Antioch. <br /><br /> That was areas in Southern Turkey strengthening the souls of the disciples. There's that word, encouraging them to continue in the faith and saying that through many tribulations, we must enter the kingdom of God. One of the great beauties of Christian experience is we have hope in hardship. We have a way of looking at it differently. <br /><br /> Pastor Tim Keller of Redeemer Press passed away late last week. To everyone, I think is incredible Loss to those that really were influenced by his ministry is a deep loss. While Marin and I were away last week, and Scott and Faith were away, Scott and Faith sent to us a link to a, and this is before we knew anything about what was going on with Tim Keller. <br /><br /> It was a message by Tim Keller, and we listened to, in the cars we were traveling just as Scott and Faith had done. And in the, in the letter in, in the message, Keller was saying, this is how suffering is. He said, think of it as an email. You relieve, you receive a a, a a, an email that is the hardship or the suffering. <br /><br /> And he says, with that hardship email comes two attachments. A document, you know, that's included with it. And he said, the one attachment comes from the devil. And he said, it is a message, it is a messaging of, uh, discouragement. It is a message of hopelessness. It is a message sometimes of condemnation. It, it is a message. <br /><br /> It just beats you down and, and calls you to interpret your hardships in a way that is destructive and hopeless. He said, but there's always a second attachment with the email of hardship. And he says it's a, it's, it's an attachment from God. A God that says there's hope in this. There's purpose in this, that I am present with you, that, that I'm using all these things in your life. <br /><br /> Spiritual growth is to listen and to read the right attachment. It's to say, I know there's gonna be those two messaging that come. I've gotta read the right attachment. I've gotta believe that. I've gotta hear this. It was a really helpful visual to me. I just thought it was perfect. Last Sunday in the baptism, one of the young men that talked said something. <br /><br /> He was giving his journey. His name's Dylan. He's, well, I was gonna say he's the one, but I think it was a 10 30 service. He towered over Josiah by about that much, but as Josiah baptized him. But, but in the, in the, uh, his testimony and he was talking about how God had been at work in his life and it was a beautiful testimony. <br /><br /> And he just said, uh, I, I realized that in God troubles don't come to me. They come for me. That is profound. That's right. That God orchestrates and allows circumstances for us that those are the moments. Spiritual growth, deepening as disciples is believing that God is at work. That we can say with confidence that a sovereign good God, that if I could see everything that God sees, what is going on in my life is exactly what I would pray for. <br /><br /> Challenging believers to stand in the unity that comes through prayer. The church went forward on its knees. <br /><br /> We're going through a transition here, right? This is our last Sunday in here. I know we've talked about that earlier. Gonna be over in the My prayer. Many of our prayers is not that. This is gonna be a time when we sort of put life and ministry on hold, but that God will use this summer to bring people to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. <br /><br /> That God will be building disciples this summer, that we will see him work in unusual and powerful ways. <br /><br /> We must be people that pray. I sense a tremendous stirring more than I think any time I remember in the ministry here for people to be praying. There is a deep swelling of hunger to pray individually, but also to pray together. Last Monday night, our, our board chairman, Doug Lindo, and I love this. He had brought the names of all the 13 people that were baptized and a little bit about their testimony, and we took time as a board. <br /><br /> Which is pastors and deacons together, praying over each person as they've shared publicly. Certainly what the devil wants to do is undermine, discourage. We go forward by praying. We grow by praying. We deepen, by praying Paul and barks on a new journey. Making disciples was his passion, but building and strengthened disciples was always there and so it should be for us. <br /><br /> Lord, thank you for the good news, the gospel, something to be declared. Something to be lived. Lord, help us to be a people that even this summer are consumed with the desire to be seeing lives change by the gospel with the desire to see people deepen in their walk. Embracing suffering, looking this week in our office, in our neighborhood, for people that maybe would be open for us just praying with them or praying for them. <br /><br /> Lord, may we be people that are living and speaking the gospel. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Now go in peace to love and serve and enjoy the Lord.</div> false no <![CDATA[Baptism Service - May 2023]]> Listen to the stories of lives that have been transformed through the Hope of Jesus.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/baptism-service-may-2023 dfd82634-64c7-4646-a8ba-984c3a5c6bf1 Sun, 21 May 2023 15:10:22 GMT <div data-html="true">Listen to the stories of lives that have been transformed through the Hope of Jesus.</div> false no <![CDATA[Life With God]]> Acts 18:1-22

When they asked him to stay for a longer period, he declined. But on taking leave of them he said, “I will return to you if God wills,” and he set sail from Ephesus.



Sermon Transcript:

We're in the book of Acts chapter 18 this morning. And, and, and what I want to say is we find ourselves in two places. We find ourselves in in 49 AD in the winter as Paul travels to the city of Corinth, but we also find ourselves on May 14th, 2023 on Mother's Day this morning. And so here's what I would like to do.

We're gonna go through this story, this beautiful story of what happens in Corinth. And I think this story has such a beautiful demonstration through the life of Paul, what living life with God looks like in the day to day. And then we'll go through at the end and we'll preach a five minute Mother's Day sermon based upon the text as well.

We'll seek to do both of those through the compassion and with the presence of Christ. This morning, I'm gonna read Acts 18, one through 22. After Paul. After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. He found a June Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontis, recently come from Italy with his wife, Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome, and he went to see them and because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and worked.

They were temp makers by trade, and he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks. When Silas and Timothy joined from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with the word testifying to the Jews that Christ was Jesus. And when they opposed him, reviled him, he shook out his garments and said to him, your blood to them, your blood beyond your own heads, I'm innocent.

From now on, I'll go to the Gentiles. And he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justice, a worshiper of God. His house was next door to the synagogue. Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord together with the entire household. And many of the Corinthians hearing Paul believed and were baptized.

And the Lord said to Paul in one night, in a vision, do not be afraid, but go un speaking and do not be silent for I am with you and no one will attack you or harm you for I have many in the city who are my people? And he stayed a year and six months teaching the word of God among them. But when Gallo was procol of ake, the Jews made a united attack on Paul and brought him before the tribunal saying, this man is per persuading people the worship God contrary to the law.

But when Paul was about to open his mouth, Galileo said to the Jews, if it were a matter of wrongdoing or vicious crime, O Jews, I would have reason to accept your complaint. But since it is a matter of question about words and names of your own law, see to it to yourselves. I refuse to be a judge of these things.

And he drove them from the tribunal and they all seize the ruler of the synagogue and beat him in front of the tribunal. But Galio paid no attention to any of this. After this. Paul stayed many days longer, then took leave of the brothers and set sale for Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila at at. I honestly do not know how to pronounce that word at Serea.

How's that sound? Good. Anybody have anything better? Serea, he had cut his hair and was under a vow, and they came to Ephesus and he left them, but he himself went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. When they asked him to stay for a longer period, he declined, but on taking leave with them, he said, I will return to you if God wills, and he set sail for Ephesus.

When he had landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the church and then went down to Antioch. After spending some time there, he departed and went from one place to the next, through the region of Galatia and Fria, strengthening all the disciples. That's a lot of names. That's a lot of people. That's a lot of stuff going on.

We are right in the throes of the missionary journeys of Paul. Anybody know what missionary journey we're on right now? Second missionary journey. Yes. So we're on the second missionary journey of Paul towards the end of the second missionary journey here in, uh, chapter 18. And this second missionary journey in particular is a beautiful mess.

It will go for over 3000 miles. Just for reference from Mount Laurel to LA is over 2,700 miles from Collinswood. If you're listening Collinswood, tell LA it's like 12 miles less. Congratulations. But for anyone who grew up playing the Oregon Trail, that amount of miles is a lot right. Lot of danger, lot of dysentery possibilities.

This is a long journey with a lot of different possible things that go wrong, and honestly, many of those possibilities do happen if you, if you throw up the map for us here. Here's what's going on, uh, in the text and in Acts chapter 15, this is how the missionary journey starts. After some time, Paul said to Barnabas, let's go back to each city where we previously preached the word of the Lord to see how the new believers are doing.

The first missionary journey was going to look exactly like the second missionary journey. The second missionary journey's intent was an encore of the first to see how it would go. The first missionary journey is happening all in this area. This is the first missionary journeys. This is the intention of Paul and Barnabas to head into this area and to check on the believers after the Jerusalem council.

What happens in this process is they end up getting to Antioch. As you remember, Paul and Barnabas have conflict, and so then they can't decide should John Mark come with us? Should John Mark not come with us? And they split. Paul takes Silas and he goes up north, and then Barnabas and John Mark will go to Cyprus.

Cyprus. And in the process then when Paul and Silas start going north, they hit Lira. That's where they pick up Timothy. So now Timothy is an addition, an unplanned addition to the, to the crowd, and they're actually intending to go to up to Gala Glacier. But it says, the spirit of the Lord said, no. So they're like, okay, we're not gonna go on our normal encore tour.

We're not gonna go up to Glacier. So we're supposed to go towards Fria. Okay. So that's where they're said. Then again, they start heading into Asia, and the what the, the, the Lord gives what's called the Macedonian vision, where it comes to Paul, and the night it says you're actually supposed to go all the way.

To Greece, which is really, really, really far from the intention of the original journey on the way to Greece, stopping by little places eventually heading to Thessalonica Theca. The Thessalonian books are really cool books, but it wasn't a really cool experience in the town. While Paul was there, people rallied against Paul.

Paul had to run out of Thessalonica and go to Bura. And then eventually he gets going and they start chasing him. The people from Thesal, Laga chase him to the point where he had to escape without Paul or without Silas. And so he is now by himself, run out of town, escaped with some people and has landed in Athens last week and in Corinth.

And you see in this passage, eventually Silas and Timothy will join up with him, but this whole journey has been running from one place to the next. Not at all, according to its original plan. And by the time that finally Paul lands in Corinth, he is a broken, shook. And wounded man. This is what when he would write a letter back to the Corinthians, this is what Paul would say of himself.

When I came to you brothers, I did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified, and I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, he is at the end of a long journey that did not go as planned, and he finds himself in this place of Corinth.

If you're following along in your notes, the first thing we see from the text as we're gleaning from what life with God is actually like life with God is not. Predictable here with God. He is there. He is now, um, beginning to work. Most of Paul's journeys have been funded. Most of this journey has already been funded, but he is presumably out of money, and so now he is making cole tents and trying to make ends Meek with Aquila and Priscilla.

He's alone broke, unsupported and at a place he wasn't planning on being. But God in this time gives him dear friends in Aquila and Priscilla and gives him also time to heal. But life with God. As we see here, and as we've seen already through the Book of Acts, it is not a straight line. It is not a clear what's the 1, 3, 5, 10 year plan, and we're gonna go and we're gonna check off those boxes following the spirit.

And living life in the spirit often doesn't look like what we'd imagine it to look like. I remember one time, I don't know why I did this. Probably kind of a sick exercise. Uh, I'm a journaler and like, uh, and so I was writing in the journal, my journal, and I was just thinking, Lord, a lot has happened and I don't remember if it was last year or a few years or something where I'm like, or I'm gonna write, particularly in the life of the church, things that surprised me that I couldn't have guessed would happen, major twists or turns that happened that I just did not anticipate.

I remember getting to 45 and I stopped writing, cuz that's a long time to journal, come on. But realizing that when we're making our plans, and I, I'm, I'm a planner, I'm a futuristic thinker. That's part of like the way God has made me. The unique thing with God is that God does not give all of the answers way ahead of time.

Say thy word is a lamp unto my feet. You've heard this before. And the lamp that is used is just enough room for the next step. Part of our DNA here is Galatians 5 25, to keep in step with the spirit, not lagging behind, not forging ahead. But it has been my experience and I believe deep with the experience in Acts.

It is not a linear line in following God. It is simply taking the next step. I love Thomas. Thomas goes to Jesus. And uh, Thomas says, Jesus is talking all about this, like this way and, and, and all the way of, of following him. And Thomas is like, this is awesome. He says, Jesus, show me the way. And that's in John 14:6 And that's where Jesus responds, I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father, but through me. What is the way of the Christian life? It's not predictable, it's following him one step at a time. The longer I have journeyed with God, the more unsure I am of where he is going to take me, and the more certain I am that he will be with me wherever I go.

By verse five, it says, uh, Silas and Timothy came to Macedonia. So Paul again went ahead from Thessalonika. He comes down through Athens, which we talked about last week, and eventually in Corinth, which is right down here. And Paul and S or Timothy and Silas who were just a little slower after Paul had been there a little while.

They come and accompany him and at that time he's able to leave presumably the tent making business and give his time to preaching and teaching. And what he is doing in his preaching and teaching is testifying to the Jews as it says in the text that Jesus was the Messiah. Uh, point number two, following along.

Living a life with God means there's a preoccupation with the person of Jesus Christ. When we look at the Book of Acts, we can say acts is about a lot of things. It's about the infancy of the church. It's about the, the missionary explosion of the church. It's about, uh, the disciples going and spreading forth the word.

You could say it's about Luke who's writing the letter. You could say it's about Peter and Paul who are primary characters, but foundationally what the Book of Acts is about, is about the story of Jesus Christ. There are 10 primary sermons in Acts three by Peter, one by Stephen and six by Paul, all 10 of them.

Are about the person of Jesus Christ. We can talk about spirituality, we can talk about, uh, principles of, of the inward life. We can talk about what does it mean to to, to, to know God and is there a God, but what fundamental in the Christian faith, and, and when we say Christian, this is from the Book of Acts, that these, that these people would be Christians.

It is a Christ one. The life with God is not some loose spirituality. It is a preoccupation with the person of Jesus. We see the text go on in verse six, all of a sudden as, as, uh, Paul is teaching, they become abusive or they become, um, harassing against him. And Paul sh shook his clothes and protests and said, your blood beyond your own heads.

I mean, can you imagine saying that? Paul's go, Paul's got moxie, your b your, your blood beyond your own heads. From now on I'm outta here, I'm going to the Gentiles. And he goes right from there. Then Paul left the synagogue and then he meets up with tedious justice and then all of a sudden Crispus and now all of a sudden people are believing and getting baptized.

But you have a back and forth in two different verses. Something that happens all throughout Paul's ministry. You have sometimes when, when all of a sudden the word of God that he's teaching is electric. It's on fire, literally like tongues of fire where it's spreading and there's miracles happening. And then there's got other times where a guy falls asleep cuz he was so bored and the other people are running him out of town and want to throw rocks at his face.

Like it is not the same reaction. Life with God includes every different type of season. It is not just if you do the Christian life and if you get that balance beam just so correct, everything is gonna be prosperity and happy and cheerful life with God. Point three includes every season. This also means that in life with God there are unspeakable joys that it talks about.

In Peter, Paul would say there's peace beyond understanding. David would say at your right hand, there are pleasures. Forevermore life with God includes seasons of deep joy, peace, and genuine happiness, but it's not all that life with God includes. And if you have lived life with God very long, I don't need to tell you that sometimes life with God is really, really hard.

There are disappointments that we experience in our life with God that are more painful than we thought a life with him would ever include. This Tuesday, uh, um, heard about my friend. My friend's name is Jesse. Jesse was like the first person I co-labor with in, in ministry in Chicago area, and we did ministry closely together for years.

Jesse was one of the happiest human beings I would ever I've ever known, and one of the funniest, bravest, he was all tattooed up. He had like the gauges in his ears, the big holes in his ears. Actually one time his professor said, Hey, Jesse, when you run, do your ears whistle. You know, like, but Jesse was just the, he was, he was the person you always wanted to have in the room.

He was an incredibly cheerful, secure person. Just heard this Tuesday that he recently diagnosed with Huntington's disease. If you don't know Huntington's disease, it's a degenerative disease that potentially will probably take his life eventually and it will do so painfully And, and Jesse right now is a church, he's, he's a pastor to church.

He's informed his elders and said, Hey, if my mind starts to go, you have to keep a watch on me. Jesse has five kids, he's in his thirties, and there are ti days where he can't even come out of his room because of the anxiety is so high. It doesn't fit with what we might think life with God would include.

It is so important that we remember that life with God is not always prosperous in how we think it would be. What an incredibly cruel disservice we do to one another to act like if you know God, everything should be going well. It was the time when I talked to Pastor Ralph. I wondered if I could stay in the ministry because of the amount of darkness I was experiencing.

And I said, Ralph, I really want to be a pastor, but it's so dark inside and I can't, I'm having trouble even seeing straight. And he gave me words that have been fuel for much of my ministry. He said, Ben, when the Lord calls someone, it seems like more than not the experiences through the darkness, not around it.

Alan Noble, who writes a book about mental torment and the difficulty that people face, even as Christians, has a simple line. He says this, there's an unco. There's a kind of unspoken conspiracy to ignore how difficult life is, and I know there's people in this room who have begged with Jesus, please take this cup from me.

And the Lord has says, I love you. I'm doing something. And not yet.

Verse nine says, one night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision. Do not be afraid. Keep on speaking. Do not be silent. For I am with you and no one is going to attack you or harm you cuz I have many people in this city. I love this. This kind of throws us off a little all how God moves in in New Testament.

You wanna do an interesting study? New Testament, look up dreams. God uses dreams and New Testament all over the place. The Christmas story, Joseph, twice Mary. I think, um, Elizabeth dreams become an incredible part of how God speaks to people. Life with God includes God's speaking in strange and specific ways.

I don't know how many times they've met with people and they've said, you know what I, the Lord really spoke to me, but this is gonna sound weird. Right. And think about a time when the Lord spoke to you, you're like, this is gonna sound weird, but he actually did speak to me. And yes, I believe we must stay anchored in the word of God.

We must stay true to the word of God, but in staying true to the Word of God, we follow the Word of God to see a God who speaks personal words to his people Here in Corinth, he shapes how Paul will do ministry. Paul is in Corinth because of a vision he got from Macedonia. God speaks in incredibly interesting, fascinating, and different ways.

Verse 11 says, then so, so Paul stayed in Corinth for a year and a half teaching and preaching to them the word of God. This is interesting because that's much, much longer than what's he's spending in most cities. His second missionary journey took three years, but he's in Corinth for 18 months. When you add up all that Oregon trail travel and all those different places that he stayed, Corinth, by far and away is the longest stay that he had.

And in anticipating how long he would be on this journey, it's much longer than what he anticipated. Point five, life with God includes an amount of time that is much longer than we often anticipate. Uh, Dr. Bill Borghart at the Collingswood campus. He told me when we were doing some work on the campus, he says, Ben, let me tell you, he's done a million projects.

He says, let me tell you the three rules of projects. I know some of you might have heard this. It's gonna cost more than you think. It's gonna take longer than you think, and you can't polish a turd.

All three of those, I guess, are true, but in the process of God. Right. And you sat with yourself and other people who have tried to follow you like that, Dennis, didn't you? Yeah. Got Gotcha. Um, in the process of following God, I, I don't know how many times I've said, or I've heard people say I know the Lord's gonna come through, but how long, how long is this gonna take?

I, I, I think the Lord might provide in, in, in, in an amazing way. But, but how, how long are we looking here?

Author, I appreciate talks about spiritual growth and he says, we, we wanna talk about spiritual growth as arrival We go through something hard, it's confusing, can't see the Lord. Then all of a sudden he comes through, we look back and we can tell everyone, yes, God is so great. It's so cool up here. Keep going.

And that's what spiritual growth is. His argument is actually spiritual growth takes place the most in the in between. In what he calls liminal time in the space before. We understand how God comes through that, that, that, that the, our greatest times when we grow spiritually is when we trust but can't see when we obey.

But we don't know what's upcoming in this, in between this liminal time. Lastly, and the text goes on from here and, uh, includes a lot of, a lot of names and a lot of things going on. But what I, I really want to point out again, is the return. Um, and, uh, later in the passage we've got see this in versus eight, and then down in 20 and 21 that this connection that Paul has with Aquila and Priscilla, that this couple that he meets in Corinth, he ends up forming a deep bond with them.

He'll write about them in the book of Romans. He'll write about them in the book of Timothy and will find out later that as Paul left Corinth with them, they ended up in Ephesus. Well, they ended up having a church in their house with in Ephesus, and these people become lifelong dear friends and anchors of the early church.

And lastly, simply life with God. Point six. Includes roots with his people, because the intention is never to do this alone. Isn't it interesting how the missionary journeys were designed? Paul went out with two in the first missionary journey, Paul and Barnabas decided, Hey, we're gonna go out together and do an encore tour of the missionary journey.

And, and, and then that doesn't work. So Paul went with Silas and Timothy. Well then Silas and Timothy, they got separated because the threat of Paul's life. God gave Paul Aquila and Priscilla, this Christian life is meant to do it alone. And we're gonna close with this. Here's my five minute Mother's Day sermon.

I simply wanna walk through simply these six points and just mention. How they may reach out to you on whom this day might bring unique joy or sorrow. First, I'm just going through the same six points we looked at in the text. Mothering with God is not predictable and we are not promised automated results from effort.

Second. Mothering with God means that you need to orbit Jesus Christ. The greatest parenting advice I have ever received, I was a, a youth pastor, and then I had my first kid, and I had seen a whole lot of families, good families that lived their life, orbiting their kids, looking at their kids. And I, and I did not.

I, I realized once I have this child, I'm gonna be so focused on this child feel like everything I want to do is for this child. And someone gave me the advice early on, said, put Jesus as the center. He's the only one big enough to hold all of those things in orbit. If you put your children at the center, you're gonna helicopter or squash or create a lot of damage to you and to them.

They're not big enough to hold the family in orbit. Only Christ is big enough to hold the family in orbit. Put him in the center. You need Jesus to mother. Third, mothering with God means enjoying more beautiful moments and more crushing disappointment than you knew a life with God could include. Number four, mothering with God means listening.

Because there are times you desperately will need God to speak to you about what you are going through. Elroy, one of my F favorite names for God comes from the story in Genesis where he, Hagar has a baby with Abram, is trying to follow God, trying to obey her. Spiritual leaders has this baby, and then Sarah and Abram are like, just kidding.

We weren't following God. Get out. And she's left in the desert with the child and she's there as a single mom Kicked out in the desert, has every reason to hate this God of these people who just sent her out. And God comes to her and speaks to her and she says, in that place, I give you the name, Elroy, you are the God who sees.

Mothers need to hear specific words from the God who sees. Number five, mothering with God includes seasons of parenting or waiting for children, longing for children or seasons of missing your mom who's gone and to death already that are so much longer than you anticipated.

And lastly, mothering with God is meant to be done with other people, that you are not alone.

Won't you stand with me as we conclude our service this morning? We take these words from Paul and this journey from Paul in in Corinth, understanding what it means to live life daily with God, and also looking especially at the end of what it means. To try to do that as a mom, I can just say this is a prayer over us.

Lord, the best part of life with you is that it is with you. When we are most with you, we are most ourselves. In that place, we can rest lacking nothing there with you. We will sometimes lie down in sweet green pastures and enjoy the sound of quiet waters and experience restoration of soul with you. Also, we will travel through valleys filled with death, evil and enemy, but the goodness and the love that follow us all the days of our lives are simply living each one with you.

Your rod, your staff, the comfort that we bring, and we rest this day in your promise that we will dwell in your house forever more. Amen. We are dismissed.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/life-with-god 26e7ed84-c83d-4ddf-ac95-02b077252373 Sun, 14 May 2023 13:45:10 GMT <div data-html="true">Acts 18:1-22 <br /><br /> When they asked him to stay for a longer period, he declined. But on taking leave of them he said, “I will return to you if God wills,” and he set sail from Ephesus. <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> We're in the book of Acts chapter 18 this morning. And, and, and what I want to say is we find ourselves in two places. We find ourselves in in 49 AD in the winter as Paul travels to the city of Corinth, but we also find ourselves on May 14th, 2023 on Mother's Day this morning. And so here's what I would like to do. <br /><br /> We're gonna go through this story, this beautiful story of what happens in Corinth. And I think this story has such a beautiful demonstration through the life of Paul, what living life with God looks like in the day to day. And then we'll go through at the end and we'll preach a five minute Mother's Day sermon based upon the text as well. <br /><br /> We'll seek to do both of those through the compassion and with the presence of Christ. This morning, I'm gonna read Acts 18, one through 22. After Paul. After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. He found a June Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontis, recently come from Italy with his wife, Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome, and he went to see them and because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and worked. <br /><br /> They were temp makers by trade, and he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks. When Silas and Timothy joined from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with the word testifying to the Jews that Christ was Jesus. And when they opposed him, reviled him, he shook out his garments and said to him, your blood to them, your blood beyond your own heads, I'm innocent. <br /><br /> From now on, I'll go to the Gentiles. And he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justice, a worshiper of God. His house was next door to the synagogue. Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord together with the entire household. And many of the Corinthians hearing Paul believed and were baptized. <br /><br /> And the Lord said to Paul in one night, in a vision, do not be afraid, but go un speaking and do not be silent for I am with you and no one will attack you or harm you for I have many in the city who are my people? And he stayed a year and six months teaching the word of God among them. But when Gallo was procol of ake, the Jews made a united attack on Paul and brought him before the tribunal saying, this man is per persuading people the worship God contrary to the law. <br /><br /> But when Paul was about to open his mouth, Galileo said to the Jews, if it were a matter of wrongdoing or vicious crime, O Jews, I would have reason to accept your complaint. But since it is a matter of question about words and names of your own law, see to it to yourselves. I refuse to be a judge of these things. <br /><br /> And he drove them from the tribunal and they all seize the ruler of the synagogue and beat him in front of the tribunal. But Galio paid no attention to any of this. After this. Paul stayed many days longer, then took leave of the brothers and set sale for Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila at at. I honestly do not know how to pronounce that word at Serea. <br /><br /> How's that sound? Good. Anybody have anything better? Serea, he had cut his hair and was under a vow, and they came to Ephesus and he left them, but he himself went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. When they asked him to stay for a longer period, he declined, but on taking leave with them, he said, I will return to you if God wills, and he set sail for Ephesus. <br /><br /> When he had landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the church and then went down to Antioch. After spending some time there, he departed and went from one place to the next, through the region of Galatia and Fria, strengthening all the disciples. That's a lot of names. That's a lot of people. That's a lot of stuff going on. <br /><br /> We are right in the throes of the missionary journeys of Paul. Anybody know what missionary journey we're on right now? Second missionary journey. Yes. So we're on the second missionary journey of Paul towards the end of the second missionary journey here in, uh, chapter 18. And this second missionary journey in particular is a beautiful mess. <br /><br /> It will go for over 3000 miles. Just for reference from Mount Laurel to LA is over 2,700 miles from Collinswood. If you're listening Collinswood, tell LA it's like 12 miles less. Congratulations. But for anyone who grew up playing the Oregon Trail, that amount of miles is a lot right. Lot of danger, lot of dysentery possibilities. <br /><br /> This is a long journey with a lot of different possible things that go wrong, and honestly, many of those possibilities do happen if you, if you throw up the map for us here. Here's what's going on, uh, in the text and in Acts chapter 15, this is how the missionary journey starts. After some time, Paul said to Barnabas, let's go back to each city where we previously preached the word of the Lord to see how the new believers are doing. <br /><br /> The first missionary journey was going to look exactly like the second missionary journey. The second missionary journey's intent was an encore of the first to see how it would go. The first missionary journey is happening all in this area. This is the first missionary journeys. This is the intention of Paul and Barnabas to head into this area and to check on the believers after the Jerusalem council. <br /><br /> What happens in this process is they end up getting to Antioch. As you remember, Paul and Barnabas have conflict, and so then they can't decide should John Mark come with us? Should John Mark not come with us? And they split. Paul takes Silas and he goes up north, and then Barnabas and John Mark will go to Cyprus. <br /><br /> Cyprus. And in the process then when Paul and Silas start going north, they hit Lira. That's where they pick up Timothy. So now Timothy is an addition, an unplanned addition to the, to the crowd, and they're actually intending to go to up to Gala Glacier. But it says, the spirit of the Lord said, no. So they're like, okay, we're not gonna go on our normal encore tour. <br /><br /> We're not gonna go up to Glacier. So we're supposed to go towards Fria. Okay. So that's where they're said. Then again, they start heading into Asia, and the what the, the, the Lord gives what's called the Macedonian vision, where it comes to Paul, and the night it says you're actually supposed to go all the way. <br /><br /> To Greece, which is really, really, really far from the intention of the original journey on the way to Greece, stopping by little places eventually heading to Thessalonica Theca. The Thessalonian books are really cool books, but it wasn't a really cool experience in the town. While Paul was there, people rallied against Paul. <br /><br /> Paul had to run out of Thessalonica and go to Bura. And then eventually he gets going and they start chasing him. The people from Thesal, Laga chase him to the point where he had to escape without Paul or without Silas. And so he is now by himself, run out of town, escaped with some people and has landed in Athens last week and in Corinth. <br /><br /> And you see in this passage, eventually Silas and Timothy will join up with him, but this whole journey has been running from one place to the next. Not at all, according to its original plan. And by the time that finally Paul lands in Corinth, he is a broken, shook. And wounded man. This is what when he would write a letter back to the Corinthians, this is what Paul would say of himself. <br /><br /> When I came to you brothers, I did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified, and I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, he is at the end of a long journey that did not go as planned, and he finds himself in this place of Corinth. <br /><br /> If you're following along in your notes, the first thing we see from the text as we're gleaning from what life with God is actually like life with God is not. Predictable here with God. He is there. He is now, um, beginning to work. Most of Paul's journeys have been funded. Most of this journey has already been funded, but he is presumably out of money, and so now he is making cole tents and trying to make ends Meek with Aquila and Priscilla. <br /><br /> He's alone broke, unsupported and at a place he wasn't planning on being. But God in this time gives him dear friends in Aquila and Priscilla and gives him also time to heal. But life with God. As we see here, and as we've seen already through the Book of Acts, it is not a straight line. It is not a clear what's the 1, 3, 5, 10 year plan, and we're gonna go and we're gonna check off those boxes following the spirit. <br /><br /> And living life in the spirit often doesn't look like what we'd imagine it to look like. I remember one time, I don't know why I did this. Probably kind of a sick exercise. Uh, I'm a journaler and like, uh, and so I was writing in the journal, my journal, and I was just thinking, Lord, a lot has happened and I don't remember if it was last year or a few years or something where I'm like, or I'm gonna write, particularly in the life of the church, things that surprised me that I couldn't have guessed would happen, major twists or turns that happened that I just did not anticipate. <br /><br /> I remember getting to 45 and I stopped writing, cuz that's a long time to journal, come on. But realizing that when we're making our plans, and I, I'm, I'm a planner, I'm a futuristic thinker. That's part of like the way God has made me. The unique thing with God is that God does not give all of the answers way ahead of time. <br /><br /> Say thy word is a lamp unto my feet. You've heard this before. And the lamp that is used is just enough room for the next step. Part of our DNA here is Galatians 5 25, to keep in step with the spirit, not lagging behind, not forging ahead. But it has been my experience and I believe deep with the experience in Acts. <br /><br /> It is not a linear line in following God. It is simply taking the next step. I love Thomas. Thomas goes to Jesus. And uh, Thomas says, Jesus is talking all about this, like this way and, and, and all the way of, of following him. And Thomas is like, this is awesome. He says, Jesus, show me the way. And that's in John 14:6 And that's where Jesus responds, I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father, but through me. What is the way of the Christian life? It's not predictable, it's following him one step at a time. The longer I have journeyed with God, the more unsure I am of where he is going to take me, and the more certain I am that he will be with me wherever I go. <br /><br /> By verse five, it says, uh, Silas and Timothy came to Macedonia. So Paul again went ahead from Thessalonika. He comes down through Athens, which we talked about last week, and eventually in Corinth, which is right down here. And Paul and S or Timothy and Silas who were just a little slower after Paul had been there a little while. <br /><br /> They come and accompany him and at that time he's able to leave presumably the tent making business and give his time to preaching and teaching. And what he is doing in his preaching and teaching is testifying to the Jews as it says in the text that Jesus was the Messiah. Uh, point number two, following along. <br /><br /> Living a life with God means there's a preoccupation with the person of Jesus Christ. When we look at the Book of Acts, we can say acts is about a lot of things. It's about the infancy of the church. It's about the, the missionary explosion of the church. It's about, uh, the disciples going and spreading forth the word. <br /><br /> You could say it's about Luke who's writing the letter. You could say it's about Peter and Paul who are primary characters, but foundationally what the Book of Acts is about, is about the story of Jesus Christ. There are 10 primary sermons in Acts three by Peter, one by Stephen and six by Paul, all 10 of them. <br /><br /> Are about the person of Jesus Christ. We can talk about spirituality, we can talk about, uh, principles of, of the inward life. We can talk about what does it mean to to, to, to know God and is there a God, but what fundamental in the Christian faith, and, and when we say Christian, this is from the Book of Acts, that these, that these people would be Christians. <br /><br /> It is a Christ one. The life with God is not some loose spirituality. It is a preoccupation with the person of Jesus. We see the text go on in verse six, all of a sudden as, as, uh, Paul is teaching, they become abusive or they become, um, harassing against him. And Paul sh shook his clothes and protests and said, your blood beyond your own heads. <br /><br /> I mean, can you imagine saying that? Paul's go, Paul's got moxie, your b your, your blood beyond your own heads. From now on I'm outta here, I'm going to the Gentiles. And he goes right from there. Then Paul left the synagogue and then he meets up with tedious justice and then all of a sudden Crispus and now all of a sudden people are believing and getting baptized. <br /><br /> But you have a back and forth in two different verses. Something that happens all throughout Paul's ministry. You have sometimes when, when all of a sudden the word of God that he's teaching is electric. It's on fire, literally like tongues of fire where it's spreading and there's miracles happening. And then there's got other times where a guy falls asleep cuz he was so bored and the other people are running him out of town and want to throw rocks at his face. <br /><br /> Like it is not the same reaction. Life with God includes every different type of season. It is not just if you do the Christian life and if you get that balance beam just so correct, everything is gonna be prosperity and happy and cheerful life with God. Point three includes every season. This also means that in life with God there are unspeakable joys that it talks about. <br /><br /> In Peter, Paul would say there's peace beyond understanding. David would say at your right hand, there are pleasures. Forevermore life with God includes seasons of deep joy, peace, and genuine happiness, but it's not all that life with God includes. And if you have lived life with God very long, I don't need to tell you that sometimes life with God is really, really hard. <br /><br /> There are disappointments that we experience in our life with God that are more painful than we thought a life with him would ever include. This Tuesday, uh, um, heard about my friend. My friend's name is Jesse. Jesse was like the first person I co-labor with in, in ministry in Chicago area, and we did ministry closely together for years. <br /><br /> Jesse was one of the happiest human beings I would ever I've ever known, and one of the funniest, bravest, he was all tattooed up. He had like the gauges in his ears, the big holes in his ears. Actually one time his professor said, Hey, Jesse, when you run, do your ears whistle. You know, like, but Jesse was just the, he was, he was the person you always wanted to have in the room. <br /><br /> He was an incredibly cheerful, secure person. Just heard this Tuesday that he recently diagnosed with Huntington's disease. If you don't know Huntington's disease, it's a degenerative disease that potentially will probably take his life eventually and it will do so painfully And, and Jesse right now is a church, he's, he's a pastor to church. <br /><br /> He's informed his elders and said, Hey, if my mind starts to go, you have to keep a watch on me. Jesse has five kids, he's in his thirties, and there are ti days where he can't even come out of his room because of the anxiety is so high. It doesn't fit with what we might think life with God would include. <br /><br /> It is so important that we remember that life with God is not always prosperous in how we think it would be. What an incredibly cruel disservice we do to one another to act like if you know God, everything should be going well. It was the time when I talked to Pastor Ralph. I wondered if I could stay in the ministry because of the amount of darkness I was experiencing. <br /><br /> And I said, Ralph, I really want to be a pastor, but it's so dark inside and I can't, I'm having trouble even seeing straight. And he gave me words that have been fuel for much of my ministry. He said, Ben, when the Lord calls someone, it seems like more than not the experiences through the darkness, not around it. <br /><br /> Alan Noble, who writes a book about mental torment and the difficulty that people face, even as Christians, has a simple line. He says this, there's an unco. There's a kind of unspoken conspiracy to ignore how difficult life is, and I know there's people in this room who have begged with Jesus, please take this cup from me. <br /><br /> And the Lord has says, I love you. I'm doing something. And not yet. <br /><br /> Verse nine says, one night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision. Do not be afraid. Keep on speaking. Do not be silent. For I am with you and no one is going to attack you or harm you cuz I have many people in this city. I love this. This kind of throws us off a little all how God moves in in New Testament. <br /><br /> You wanna do an interesting study? New Testament, look up dreams. God uses dreams and New Testament all over the place. The Christmas story, Joseph, twice Mary. I think, um, Elizabeth dreams become an incredible part of how God speaks to people. Life with God includes God's speaking in strange and specific ways. <br /><br /> I don't know how many times they've met with people and they've said, you know what I, the Lord really spoke to me, but this is gonna sound weird. Right. And think about a time when the Lord spoke to you, you're like, this is gonna sound weird, but he actually did speak to me. And yes, I believe we must stay anchored in the word of God. <br /><br /> We must stay true to the word of God, but in staying true to the Word of God, we follow the Word of God to see a God who speaks personal words to his people Here in Corinth, he shapes how Paul will do ministry. Paul is in Corinth because of a vision he got from Macedonia. God speaks in incredibly interesting, fascinating, and different ways. <br /><br /> Verse 11 says, then so, so Paul stayed in Corinth for a year and a half teaching and preaching to them the word of God. This is interesting because that's much, much longer than what's he's spending in most cities. His second missionary journey took three years, but he's in Corinth for 18 months. When you add up all that Oregon trail travel and all those different places that he stayed, Corinth, by far and away is the longest stay that he had. <br /><br /> And in anticipating how long he would be on this journey, it's much longer than what he anticipated. Point five, life with God includes an amount of time that is much longer than we often anticipate. Uh, Dr. Bill Borghart at the Collingswood campus. He told me when we were doing some work on the campus, he says, Ben, let me tell you, he's done a million projects. <br /><br /> He says, let me tell you the three rules of projects. I know some of you might have heard this. It's gonna cost more than you think. It's gonna take longer than you think, and you can't polish a turd. <br /><br /> All three of those, I guess, are true, but in the process of God. Right. And you sat with yourself and other people who have tried to follow you like that, Dennis, didn't you? Yeah. Got Gotcha. Um, in the process of following God, I, I don't know how many times I've said, or I've heard people say I know the Lord's gonna come through, but how long, how long is this gonna take? <br /><br /> I, I, I think the Lord might provide in, in, in, in an amazing way. But, but how, how long are we looking here? <br /><br /> Author, I appreciate talks about spiritual growth and he says, we, we wanna talk about spiritual growth as arrival We go through something hard, it's confusing, can't see the Lord. Then all of a sudden he comes through, we look back and we can tell everyone, yes, God is so great. It's so cool up here. Keep going. <br /><br /> And that's what spiritual growth is. His argument is actually spiritual growth takes place the most in the in between. In what he calls liminal time in the space before. We understand how God comes through that, that, that, that the, our greatest times when we grow spiritually is when we trust but can't see when we obey. <br /><br /> But we don't know what's upcoming in this, in between this liminal time. Lastly, and the text goes on from here and, uh, includes a lot of, a lot of names and a lot of things going on. But what I, I really want to point out again, is the return. Um, and, uh, later in the passage we've got see this in versus eight, and then down in 20 and 21 that this connection that Paul has with Aquila and Priscilla, that this couple that he meets in Corinth, he ends up forming a deep bond with them. <br /><br /> He'll write about them in the book of Romans. He'll write about them in the book of Timothy and will find out later that as Paul left Corinth with them, they ended up in Ephesus. Well, they ended up having a church in their house with in Ephesus, and these people become lifelong dear friends and anchors of the early church. <br /><br /> And lastly, simply life with God. Point six. Includes roots with his people, because the intention is never to do this alone. Isn't it interesting how the missionary journeys were designed? Paul went out with two in the first missionary journey, Paul and Barnabas decided, Hey, we're gonna go out together and do an encore tour of the missionary journey. <br /><br /> And, and, and then that doesn't work. So Paul went with Silas and Timothy. Well then Silas and Timothy, they got separated because the threat of Paul's life. God gave Paul Aquila and Priscilla, this Christian life is meant to do it alone. And we're gonna close with this. Here's my five minute Mother's Day sermon. <br /><br /> I simply wanna walk through simply these six points and just mention. How they may reach out to you on whom this day might bring unique joy or sorrow. First, I'm just going through the same six points we looked at in the text. Mothering with God is not predictable and we are not promised automated results from effort. <br /><br /> Second. Mothering with God means that you need to orbit Jesus Christ. The greatest parenting advice I have ever received, I was a, a youth pastor, and then I had my first kid, and I had seen a whole lot of families, good families that lived their life, orbiting their kids, looking at their kids. And I, and I did not. <br /><br /> I, I realized once I have this child, I'm gonna be so focused on this child feel like everything I want to do is for this child. And someone gave me the advice early on, said, put Jesus as the center. He's the only one big enough to hold all of those things in orbit. If you put your children at the center, you're gonna helicopter or squash or create a lot of damage to you and to them. <br /><br /> They're not big enough to hold the family in orbit. Only Christ is big enough to hold the family in orbit. Put him in the center. You need Jesus to mother. Third, mothering with God means enjoying more beautiful moments and more crushing disappointment than you knew a life with God could include. Number four, mothering with God means listening. <br /><br /> Because there are times you desperately will need God to speak to you about what you are going through. Elroy, one of my F favorite names for God comes from the story in Genesis where he, Hagar has a baby with Abram, is trying to follow God, trying to obey her. Spiritual leaders has this baby, and then Sarah and Abram are like, just kidding. <br /><br /> We weren't following God. Get out. And she's left in the desert with the child and she's there as a single mom Kicked out in the desert, has every reason to hate this God of these people who just sent her out. And God comes to her and speaks to her and she says, in that place, I give you the name, Elroy, you are the God who sees. <br /><br /> Mothers need to hear specific words from the God who sees. Number five, mothering with God includes seasons of parenting or waiting for children, longing for children or seasons of missing your mom who's gone and to death already that are so much longer than you anticipated. <br /><br /> And lastly, mothering with God is meant to be done with other people, that you are not alone. <br /><br /> Won't you stand with me as we conclude our service this morning? We take these words from Paul and this journey from Paul in in Corinth, understanding what it means to live life daily with God, and also looking especially at the end of what it means. To try to do that as a mom, I can just say this is a prayer over us. <br /><br /> Lord, the best part of life with you is that it is with you. When we are most with you, we are most ourselves. In that place, we can rest lacking nothing there with you. We will sometimes lie down in sweet green pastures and enjoy the sound of quiet waters and experience restoration of soul with you. Also, we will travel through valleys filled with death, evil and enemy, but the goodness and the love that follow us all the days of our lives are simply living each one with you. <br /><br /> Your rod, your staff, the comfort that we bring, and we rest this day in your promise that we will dwell in your house forever more. Amen. We are dismissed.</div> false no <![CDATA[Declaring the Gospel to a 1st or 21st Century Worldview]]> Acts 17:22-34

So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious..."



Sermon Transcript:

Um, I'd like you to take your Bibles this morning. We're continuing in our series to the book, A book of acts.

We're looking at Acts chapter 17 this morning. A fantastic of scripture. Acts chapter 17, we're gonna be looking at verses 22 to 34.

And as we're turning there, I don't, and I'm honestly, I don't know cause I couldn't hear, I didn't hear the announcements. Did Mike say anything about the in gathering offering? Oh, okay. Well, thank you. Um, okay. I wanted to just mention it. I, I was supposed to, but I didn't know if he would do what I would tend to do.

I couldn't enthusiastically wait. As you know, uh, many of you know we have been, um, aiming towards a project over the next few months, basically through the summer months, to completely renovate this b this room, the lobby is major changes that were our goal to accomplish. Part of that process was to, uh, believe God to bring in an offering or commitments to that offering over the next few months that would total a half million dollars last week.

Um, we are still finalizing some of the counting of that, but I can say with complete certainty at this point that as we have the remaining commitments come in, we reached our goal of $500,000 last week.

Really excited about it. Just praising God, praising God for your generosity, and I believe. You're gonna be really excited. Uh, you may not be quite as excited during the summer months as we're readjusting a lot of things of how we're meeting in the gym, in the prayer garden. Um, but come September, we're we're, we're gonna have a good time around here.

Alright, acts chapter 17, verse 22 to 34. So, Paul, standing in the midst to the Aus said, men of Athens. I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription to the unknown God. What therefore you worship as unknown.

This I proclaim to you, the God who made the world and everything in it. Being Lord of heaven and earth does not live in temples made by man, nor as he served by human hands as though he needed anything. Since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place that they should seek God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him.

It is actually not far from each one of us. For in Him we live and move and have our being. As even some of your own prophet poets have said, for we are indeed his offspring, being then God's offspring. We ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone. An image formed by the art and imagination of man, the times of ignorance got overlooked.

But now he commands all people everywhere to repent because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed. And of this, he has given assurance all by raising him from the dead. Now, when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, but others said, We will hear you again on this.

So Paul went out from the midst, but some men joined him and believed among whom also was Dionysius the gate, and a woman named Damaris and others with them. Lord, we looked to you this morning,

God, we've sung praises to you. We do praise you for who you are and how you've made yourself known in our lives. And now, Lord, I praise you for the scriptures that you have given us. This way that you have chosen to make yourself known, to teach us. And God, I ask that you would teach us from this passage.

We live in a day that is very different even in the history of the church, the day of challenge and confusion. A day in which we surely need insights to know how to live and to speak, and to conduct our lives to the glory of Jesus Christ in a culture which is post-Christian in every way. Lord, I pray that you would be our guide into truth today.

In Jesus' name, amen. Your mic real quick,

I gotta tell you. That was very creepy.

Thank you. So do we need to go back to the dedication and start there? I mean, have you not heard anything? You've been very polite. I will say Thank you, Mike, by the way. All right. We're living in a unique time as followers of Jesus Christ. Today, churches in Western society, particularly Europe and North America, have to deal with something they have never faced before.

A culture increasingly hostile to their faith that is not just a non-Christian culture. That would be true if we were ministering in India or China or um, middle Eastern countries. We now faced a culture that is post-Christian. For centuries, Christians have been able to assume that everyone around them believed in what many have called a sacred order.

That simply means that, uh, God is the ground of moral absolutes of right and wrong. He is the superintendent, transcendent being whether a person particularly identified their life under that authority or or embraced him into their lives. People recognized there was such a being. There was such a being that had a moral absolute for all human beings and was the source of values of rights and wrong.

The Western world has largely rejected the sense of a sacred order and the sense of moral accountability to God for our choices and values. People expect. To choose their own values and have their own moral code. There is no sacred order with which all people must align in many focuses, in many pockets, and in an increasing majority of culture of Western world.

If there is a moral absolute in today's culture, it is this, you must not say that there are moral absolutes. That is the moral absolute to say otherwise is views as oppressing people and limiting their freedom to define themselves and choose what is right for them. Paul, in Act 17 arrives in Athens, which is the the undisputed, unrivaled, center of intellectual thought in the empire.

There. Paul comes, and I'm sure as a guy that grew up in a gentile town, deeply influenced by the Greek thinking and philosophy, which we see in a number of his writings. Athens would be the place that he dreamed of being in, and now he has come, and as he has arrived here in verses 16 to 21, he found a city submerged in idolatry As Pastor Mike took us th Am I ringing by the way?

Okay. Can I not ring?

All right. As Pastor Mike took us through these verses last time, He mentioned how Paul studied the culture, the words in the text, in the verses he cited, identify that Mike gave examples from missionaries and he had contact and I thought it was very compelling of, of how they were explaining. They were trying to exegete and understand their culture.

And he recognized for us as Paul is doing in Athens, that one needs to understand their cultural thinking if you are going to present the gospel to them. And in that context, this is what Paul is doing in Athens and as Paul does, does it here. So we need to do in our own cultural context. What Paul concluded about the Athenians is a guidebook for us.

He addresses first the Jewish community there, which would have had a very similar worldview to the one that he was embracing. As a, as a believer in Jesus Christ, there were certain bullet points that would certainly be there. And in verse 17 it says, after he saw the idolatry of the city, he first went to the Sy synagogue and there he talked to people that believed there was one.

God believed that this God was the transcendent creator and Lord of all believe that there is one moral truth and, and there were absolutes, morally for people to follow that people were accountable to that God and rejecting his authority was called sin in their lives. That was a foundational worldview into which when Paul went into the synagogue, he knew he was speaking to here in America.

In the past, evangelistic strategies would have focused on an assumption that people shared similar bullet points. What Paul saw in Athens was there was a group of people that shared his bullet points. They weren't believers yet in Christ, but in the synagogue, he went to people that shared his worldview in a large degree.

There was also the marketplace of the Athenians highlighted in the group that he's now speaking to in verse 22 to 34. The Aus were the leaders, the cultural elite, the intelligentsia, the political power brokers all gathered. That's who Paul's speaking to, and they had an entirely different worldview, and Paul's way of addressing them is different.

Same gospel, but different methodologies. In America, we are seeing these two vying worldviews as well. DA Carson has written a book called The Cross in Christian Ministry. He illustrates the diversity of America using the experience of two recent, uh, graduates from seminary that had gone into church planning.

One of those had gone out into Tulsa, Oklahoma, and as he went, he said, the guy reported it took him an entire year to find a, a resident of Tulsa who would confess to not being a Christian. Now, of course, that's a broad term, but nobody wasn't Christian, at least in their own thinking by verbiage. On the other hand, there was another student that went to church plant in Washington, DC and what he did was he, he took, as many of us did when we were first church planning, he took surveys around just to try to, uh, find out where people were.

And as he took the surveys around, it was, uh, an association, uh, word process that he would use. And in the association process, uh, uh, activity, the majority of respondents there in DC associated the word Christian with the word bigot. Two completely different worldviews. Cultures background. One shares the bullet points, one doesn't share hardly any of the bullet points, and yet living in the same land.

And what Carson was arguing is like Paul,

We have to be willing to address both the synagogue, if you will, the people that share some of those bullet points with us, but also recognizing that an enclos increasing way, particularly here in the Northeast, we have far more, more in common, not with the synagogue people of Paul's day, but with those in the Areopagus.

So as we look at this passage, how did Paul declare the gospel in the AOP areopagus to people who did not share his worldview at all? And I find three things we can learn for our own living and declaring the gospel today. Number one, we learned things about our manner in declaring the gospel. In verse 16, going back to the section Mike covered, but it's actually the foundation where we, we, we see the stirring of Paul's heart as he's looking at the Athenian culture.

It says that he was provoked, we get the word parm from it, uh, to be overcome with emotion, rage, coughing, laughing, or examples. You just, you just overcome. Certainly there was a sense in which there was a righteous indignation as he saw the city just, just submerged in idolatry, every house, every building.

Uh, Mike talked about that in his sermon when he presented it, what it was like in Athens. And there's a sense of, of, of grief out of his love for the, the living God that the, that the people have rejected and turned to such adulthood. But there is also a stirring in his heart of love for those peoples who are missing out on what he wanted to give them.

There is a, a passion within Paul for these people that, that, that challenges him to boldly speak out for Christ in this arena. But his manner of doing so is compelling. One, he is driven by and compassion post-Christian world has a unique challenge for the believer and by the believer. Just to define that, I mean, a person who believes in Jesus Christ has embraced him as Lord and Savior of their life, who really believes that God has authority over every part of our life, through the Lordship of Christ.

We are prevent presented with a unique challenge. And it is a unique challenge because living in a post-Christian world means that people's view of morality is that people. Are the ones that should determine their own beliefs. This is certainly true in the doctrine of anthropology. There is no area of life in a post-Christian world as we are seeing it today.

I've said this in our thinking like a Christian seminar. I've said it other times. Anthropology, the doctrine of humans, the doctrine of man. Anthropo in the generic sense is basically the greatest assailed, uh, belief system of, of biblical theology. Virtually every hot button. That is being addressed towards those that name, the name of Christ, whether it is abortion, euthanasia, sexual identity questions, gender identity questions, the definition of marriage, sexual purity, definitions, all those things.

There is a perspective that we should be free. There is a worldview that says, I have to determine I'm the master of my own destiny. I have to make my own choices. And I, I don't believe there is a moral absolute for everybody that is a, a post-Christian concept says, it doesn't matter what has been the teaching of the Bible or, or, or the, the church for all of these centuries on these subjects.

I am a free agent to determine those things and no one has the right to speak into my life. We get it with a worldview that that is saying. There is no divine authority over those arenas. Of course, nobody has the right to speak into yours. But God is saying he's already spoken on those arenas. So we're in a post-Christian world on those things.

But at the same time, in a post-Christian world, there is also a deep intrinsic embracement of many of the moral values of Christ. These are, these have been in our culture, whether everybody, I don't mean everybody was Christians at all, but there were things that were valued, and people still have these values.

Values in a way many utterly non-Christian cultures don't have. But even in a post-Christian time where Christianity is not the dominant worldview, there are still vestiges of that in the way people view how you should treat other people. And they come from Christ, whether knowing or knowingly or unknowing.

People should be faithful to their spouse. You should look out for the disenfranchised and the weaker. You should forgive and not seek revenge. You should be generous, kind, self-controlled, that love, not power serving, not being served, doing for others what you would want them to do for you. All those things are associated with Jesus and are associated in people's minds that yes, this is just, this is proper human behavior.

It doesn't mean we all do it at all, but we we see those things. Where did that come from? Well, it doesn't come from secularism, which basically says there's no God secularism basically is traced back to it's a survival of the fittest that doesn't describe the survival of the fittest that describes a Christian ethos that is still largely embraced.

In our culture today, even by post-Christian individuals, that puts a tremendous pressure on Jesus followers. Here's why.

No, knowing that that is the Christian ethos, that those are moral absolutes, that that just, people would just say, people that would absolutely say there's no right or wrong. There's no it's, but will inherently say, well, that's wrong. Of course that's wrong. It's wrong for you to lie to me. It's wrong.

Where does it come from?

They are doubly turned off by professing Christians that act differently when Christians are arrogant. Pushy, fighting for their own turf speaking, scornfully of others. A post-Christian world reacts with great indignation. I remember watching a show, it was a daytime talk show. It just happened. I don't even remember why I was home, but I was, and I saw this thing and it was, um, the, the couple that had the most abortion clinics in the metropolitan New York area, and they were being interviewed and they were then allowing people and across the whole idea was conflict.

But, uh, they were allowing people to ask questions. And there were apparently a number of Christians that were there, evangelical Christians, and, and very pro-life. And I, I remember watching it and it was really an uncomfortable. Uh, show for me because what happened? This couple that was quite winsome and compelling and, and very oriented.

Uh, so they we're doing this out of compassion, and of course they're making millions of dollars, but, but what they're doing this out of compassion for women that are in trouble. And then they allowed questions to come and we didn't do well. And, and people would come up and they, they got into terrible name calling of the couple.

One, one person was actually, so you should burn in hell for you to, you know, and they go and, and finally there was one older lady that just totally popped her cork and she didn't, as, as they say, she didn't cuss. But when she spit, the grass wouldn't grow. And su she's up there just laying into these people with such rage and, and next vein sticking out, you know?

And, and the lady finally said, that's not a very Christian way to talk. Now we might say, who are you to say what Christian is? But the fact is there is a foundation in our Western world that there are understood. You don't speak that way to people. You don't, that Jesus didn't respond with vitriolic rage and destructive talk.

Our post-Christian world knows that, and we are being. We have to recognize that our manner of doing life with our world is being held with a standard. And they would say, I don't believe in God. I don't believe in, in, in a, a moral absolute. But what they do believe are many of the things that Jesus values.

And they expect anybody that identifies with him to, to inherently. And if we don't, if we're, if we come across as we're just vindictive, we're mocking that we win by derisive and, and derision. We're not doing what Paul did here. What Paul did here in this passage is he shows compassion. I'll show you more of that in a moment.

It has never been more true. You've heard this before. If people don't know how much you care, they don't care how much you know. We need to have that going through our mind all the time. We don't win any arguments when we just win the argument in our mind.

Compassion. The second thing that was true of his, his manner is a little surprising. He was complimentary. He complimented and affirmed their conduct in verse 22. I perceived that in every way you are religious. Now he might say, well, he was just sort of, you know, he was just baiting them cuz he saw all these idols that that irritated him or made him indi.

No. Well, but the word is really quite complimentary. It means you're devoted people. I see in you something and, and even your, your recognition that there is, um, a, a, an unknown God, which is what he taps into. He says, I, I see you're a devoted people. There, there is a, the longing in you. I see something good in you.

For a lot of my Christian journey, certainly the early years, I viewed my way of influencing people to Jesus. This way,

I need to be more patient than anybody else. I need to be more kind. I need to be more happy. I need to be more at peace, because that's the only way anybody can really see the difference Jesus makes. And I was one. And maybe, uh, you are and say, you know, I gotta keep my testimony, I gotta be a good witness.

I gotta, I gotta, I gotta, I gotta it it that, that somehow we have to communicate. We got it together, which shows that Jesus has it together. You don't have it together.

He does. But he's involved in your life because you don't have it together. And so much of, I've gotta be a good witness, I think we should say. To who? To you that you gotta look on top of your game. Those kind of people that always have their lives, everything, purpose. Are you drawn to those kind of people?

I'm not, those people scare me. They make me feel like a less 10. It's people that are broken people. I had a conversation.

With a young woman that had grown up in our church and now well into her adulthood. She has, she's not involved in Christianity. And we had a really honest conversation and, and I was talking to her, she was asking, we were processing, and I was talking to her. I said, you know, when I was younger, if you'd asked me do I struggle with fear, it wouldn't have even made my top 10 list of struggles.

I have a lot of other sins I could have identified, but, and I said, you know, I just, I don't even know how we got on the subject of fear. And I just said, you know, but I've realized fear is one of the most influential issues in my life. I fear I'm not enough. I feel I'm not, uh, capable. I feel like I'm not this, I'm not this.

I feel what people are gonna say. I, I say, I'm realized so much of my life has been influenced by fear. And her statement, it was a little shaking, she said to me, well,

isn't that a problem for you? Because you have been preaching about God helping you and, and, and, and yet you still struggle with fear. Now I can tell you, there's a time of my Christian journey that would've just blown my mind, and I would've gone home and I would've gotten in my car and said, God, God, I've completely lost the chance with this young woman because I am.

What a terrible witness. I didn't, here's what I said. I said, you know, I am gonna deal with fear until the day I die.

But what I found about God, he's the safest person in my life. He's the only person that doesn't say Get better, be more, do better. I say, I hear that voice lots of places, but with God, I hear, mark, I hate the sin that you're choosing the air because there's so much more. But I see beauty in you. I'm crazy about you.

And I just talked about, um, yeah, fearful guy and I'm well into the journey,

but he's the safest person that I've ever known.

Here's what she said to me. She said she grew up in our church and she's gone totally different lifestyle, but she said if that was the view of, sorry, is, if that was the view of God that I understood, I'm not sure I would've walked away.

We can look at people around us that don't name the name of Christ and we can seem like Jesus does. They're beautiful people. They're smart. I had a neighbor that named Bob. That I spent years processing the gospel, trying to live the gospel, trying to, but I'll be totally honest and tell you that he, in his humanness, is what is one of the nicest, most compelling, enjoyable, fun, friendly, I mean, on my best Christian spirit filled day.

I'm more grumpy than Bob is. I'm more cranky than he is. So what do I do? I try to up my game so I can get a little, you know, because Bob can't ever come to Jesus. As long as he seems nicer than me. I gotta get up here. So, so I can say, see. What the Lord is, no, we just take what we are and say he's safe.

He's for us. We love him. And man, I'm sorry I was a jerk out on the golf course or as angry. I mean, we can be broken. He deals with broken people and Paul says, the Lord says, you know what? I'm really glorified in you

when you're showing your weakness. And then I come alongside and show my strength. Paul embraced and saw the beauty in these people. He compliments them. He doesn't have to say, he doesn't come into the areopagus and say, I gotta be on my game and I gotta show these people. I'm smarter. I'm more peaceful.

I'm, I'm more loving. I'm no, just says, you guys are really devoted people. Say third and I, I gotta scramble. He was conscious of common grace. He identified truth in their thinking. He quotes secular poets. These were godless poets, but he found in them truth. And in verse 29, 1 of them said in him, we live and move and have our being.

And another one said, for we indeed our God, our his offspring. And, and he says, I, I see you identify this unknown God. I want to just talk to you about, I want to talk about your own experience and show how God is present there, that you intuitively sense him. There are two, there's a big conversation today.

There's two methodologies. Apologetics. Apologetics is basically, uh, not apologizing for our faith. It is defending or explaining our faith. That's what the apologetics is. And one method of apologetics is this, to show non-believers that theism and Christianity are built on rational arguments. This is probably the, the apologetics we have been more familiar with.

Evidence that demands a verdict. Josh McDowell, uh, Tim Keller, wrote a bestseller, the Reason for God in 2008, compelling arguments that answer the big questions and give clarity, uh, uh, about them. How do we know the Bible is the word of God? How, how all these, you know, these various things and. Tim Keller talks about the fact that it was a bestseller, his book, A Reason For God, but you know who bought it?

Christians. And it was very encouraging and it is a wonderful book. It bolsters your faith. It gives you confidence that, that you have answers to some of the questions. But Unbelievers didn't buy it. It wasn't a primary bestseller Among the audience that he wrote, he wanted, he wrote a second book. And it's built on the concept of the second method of apologetics, which is to show non-believers how Christianity explains what they know in their hearts already to be true.

And Keller wrote this book, making Sense of God. He wrote it just a couple of years ago. It is not as big a bestseller, but there's a much more majority of non. Christian people buying it because he is approaching it, saying like, Paul is, I, I I want to talk to you about you. You know, this, this is what I, to me, great preaching, great teaching is able to go into secular life and bring illustrations and say, you know, all truth is God's truth, right?

All truth is God's truth. And so if somebody is saying something that's true, we can embrace it just like Paul is, these poets were utterly godless. If, if one of the poems it is is actually commending Zeus and doing all other things, and Paul is able to take this, but this part is true and he says even they, your own poets say this, that he is able to go in and to be conscious that God has given common grace.

Common grace is just God graces everyone with these things that you can look at in, in. The stars at night and recognize, wow, there is, there is something majestic here that can be tapped into this. Just a recognition. I gotta move faster. All right. Courageous. You must be willing to engage with people to listen.

To. Listen. What is their struggle with Christianity? How many non-Christians have you really asked that of?

I've had a haircut last out of my last four haircuts. I had four different people cut my hair. Two of them we got in a conversation and over in the conversation they explained to me why they would would never go to a church, and both of them were related to anthropological issues where they saw the church.

If we're going to reach people where we are, we have got to learn how to enter into those conversations with people. People may not like what you say when you talk about, there were things Paul is gonna say here when he talks about the resurrection of Jesus. Some of them are gonna laugh at him, some may be have been irritated.

That will happen. But you need to engage with people in the marketplace. You need to listen, you need to learn, you need to love.

And then maybe we'll have a chance to really talk about the one who has changed our lives. I'm gonna combine 0.2 and three, basically our message in declaring the gospel. He has four points here. God is creator and transcendent Lord.

All right. I'm gonna summarize at the end here. Is it, is it 10 14? Is that true?

Yeah, I, I I was just trying to talk myself into, wait, we don't end till 10 30. No, that's not true. Okay. Alright. I'm, I'm gonna have to stop. I just want to say this, here's what I love about this passage. All of the truths that Paul presents are truths that speak into issues that people around you have.

Whether it is God as creator, it is speaking. I, I, I'm gonna use one example and I really am gonna close it, is this one where he highlights that God is so actively involved in our lives. It's found there in verse 26.

This means there's a purpose to their lives. This means there's a purpose to suffering. There is no time in people's lives when they're more open to the gospel and to things of God than when they're suffering, because a secular view has no place of suffering, suffering, pain, hardship, loss is just something to be avoided because it limits us from doing life the way we wanna live.

For the Christian, we can embrace him and say, no, there's a God does it work? He's not wasting experiences to understand that he's actively involved in our lives and he's sovereign over our lives mean He is a God of purpose. That's suffering. Those are the moments,

as Alan Noble says in his book, disruptive Witness, which is a fabulous read. He said, modern people are more open to considering Christianity during times of stress, difficulty, disappointment or suffering. Why? Because worldviews without God in his analogy is like a, is like clothes too small for you. It's a worldview that doesn't fit our humanness, and you're constantly feeling constrained by it.

No time more than when you're suffering and you sometimes just feel like you rip out of the clothes. It doesn't help me, this view that everything's random. I need to know there's a purpose. I need to know that there's something behind the, there's some good that is designed in this. Paul presents the whole view of that here in this passage.

I'm sorry to have to close. Let's pray. Lord,

thank you for men like Paul and like Tim Keller, CS Lewis, and many others who have been able to engage truth with people with totally different worldviews. We're living there. It starts with love. It starts with humility. It starts with transparency. It starts with us embracing our brokenness. Not that we've got it together because we have Jesus, but that we have a Lord that is safe in the midst of our weaknesses.

Lord, teach us to live like this. The love like this, the people might really see the surpassing glory is not us. It's Jesus in whose name we pray. Amen. Amen. Thank you.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/declaring-the-gospel-to-a-1st-or-21st-century-worldview ed990c10-2b0f-4517-b459-f8ec9e9ed3d7 Sun, 07 May 2023 11:24:47 GMT <div data-html="true">Acts 17:22-34 <br /><br /> So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious..." <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> Um, I'd like you to take your Bibles this morning. We're continuing in our series to the book, A book of acts. <br /><br /> We're looking at Acts chapter 17 this morning. A fantastic of scripture. Acts chapter 17, we're gonna be looking at verses 22 to 34. <br /><br /> And as we're turning there, I don't, and I'm honestly, I don't know cause I couldn't hear, I didn't hear the announcements. Did Mike say anything about the in gathering offering? Oh, okay. Well, thank you. Um, okay. I wanted to just mention it. I, I was supposed to, but I didn't know if he would do what I would tend to do. <br /><br /> I couldn't enthusiastically wait. As you know, uh, many of you know we have been, um, aiming towards a project over the next few months, basically through the summer months, to completely renovate this b this room, the lobby is major changes that were our goal to accomplish. Part of that process was to, uh, believe God to bring in an offering or commitments to that offering over the next few months that would total a half million dollars last week. <br /><br /> Um, we are still finalizing some of the counting of that, but I can say with complete certainty at this point that as we have the remaining commitments come in, we reached our goal of $500,000 last week. <br /><br /> Really excited about it. Just praising God, praising God for your generosity, and I believe. You're gonna be really excited. Uh, you may not be quite as excited during the summer months as we're readjusting a lot of things of how we're meeting in the gym, in the prayer garden. Um, but come September, we're we're, we're gonna have a good time around here. <br /><br /> Alright, acts chapter 17, verse 22 to 34. So, Paul, standing in the midst to the Aus said, men of Athens. I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription to the unknown God. What therefore you worship as unknown. <br /><br /> This I proclaim to you, the God who made the world and everything in it. Being Lord of heaven and earth does not live in temples made by man, nor as he served by human hands as though he needed anything. Since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place that they should seek God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. <br /><br /> It is actually not far from each one of us. For in Him we live and move and have our being. As even some of your own prophet poets have said, for we are indeed his offspring, being then God's offspring. We ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone. An image formed by the art and imagination of man, the times of ignorance got overlooked. <br /><br /> But now he commands all people everywhere to repent because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed. And of this, he has given assurance all by raising him from the dead. Now, when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, but others said, We will hear you again on this. <br /><br /> So Paul went out from the midst, but some men joined him and believed among whom also was Dionysius the gate, and a woman named Damaris and others with them. Lord, we looked to you this morning, <br /><br /> God, we've sung praises to you. We do praise you for who you are and how you've made yourself known in our lives. And now, Lord, I praise you for the scriptures that you have given us. This way that you have chosen to make yourself known, to teach us. And God, I ask that you would teach us from this passage. <br /><br /> We live in a day that is very different even in the history of the church, the day of challenge and confusion. A day in which we surely need insights to know how to live and to speak, and to conduct our lives to the glory of Jesus Christ in a culture which is post-Christian in every way. Lord, I pray that you would be our guide into truth today. <br /><br /> In Jesus' name, amen. Your mic real quick, <br /><br /> I gotta tell you. That was very creepy. <br /><br /> Thank you. So do we need to go back to the dedication and start there? I mean, have you not heard anything? You've been very polite. I will say Thank you, Mike, by the way. All right. We're living in a unique time as followers of Jesus Christ. Today, churches in Western society, particularly Europe and North America, have to deal with something they have never faced before. <br /><br /> A culture increasingly hostile to their faith that is not just a non-Christian culture. That would be true if we were ministering in India or China or um, middle Eastern countries. We now faced a culture that is post-Christian. For centuries, Christians have been able to assume that everyone around them believed in what many have called a sacred order. <br /><br /> That simply means that, uh, God is the ground of moral absolutes of right and wrong. He is the superintendent, transcendent being whether a person particularly identified their life under that authority or or embraced him into their lives. People recognized there was such a being. There was such a being that had a moral absolute for all human beings and was the source of values of rights and wrong. <br /><br /> The Western world has largely rejected the sense of a sacred order and the sense of moral accountability to God for our choices and values. People expect. To choose their own values and have their own moral code. There is no sacred order with which all people must align in many focuses, in many pockets, and in an increasing majority of culture of Western world. <br /><br /> If there is a moral absolute in today's culture, it is this, you must not say that there are moral absolutes. That is the moral absolute to say otherwise is views as oppressing people and limiting their freedom to define themselves and choose what is right for them. Paul, in Act 17 arrives in Athens, which is the the undisputed, unrivaled, center of intellectual thought in the empire. <br /><br /> There. Paul comes, and I'm sure as a guy that grew up in a gentile town, deeply influenced by the Greek thinking and philosophy, which we see in a number of his writings. Athens would be the place that he dreamed of being in, and now he has come, and as he has arrived here in verses 16 to 21, he found a city submerged in idolatry As Pastor Mike took us th Am I ringing by the way? <br /><br /> Okay. Can I not ring? <br /><br /> All right. As Pastor Mike took us through these verses last time, He mentioned how Paul studied the culture, the words in the text, in the verses he cited, identify that Mike gave examples from missionaries and he had contact and I thought it was very compelling of, of how they were explaining. They were trying to exegete and understand their culture. <br /><br /> And he recognized for us as Paul is doing in Athens, that one needs to understand their cultural thinking if you are going to present the gospel to them. And in that context, this is what Paul is doing in Athens and as Paul does, does it here. So we need to do in our own cultural context. What Paul concluded about the Athenians is a guidebook for us. <br /><br /> He addresses first the Jewish community there, which would have had a very similar worldview to the one that he was embracing. As a, as a believer in Jesus Christ, there were certain bullet points that would certainly be there. And in verse 17 it says, after he saw the idolatry of the city, he first went to the Sy synagogue and there he talked to people that believed there was one. <br /><br /> God believed that this God was the transcendent creator and Lord of all believe that there is one moral truth and, and there were absolutes, morally for people to follow that people were accountable to that God and rejecting his authority was called sin in their lives. That was a foundational worldview into which when Paul went into the synagogue, he knew he was speaking to here in America. <br /><br /> In the past, evangelistic strategies would have focused on an assumption that people shared similar bullet points. What Paul saw in Athens was there was a group of people that shared his bullet points. They weren't believers yet in Christ, but in the synagogue, he went to people that shared his worldview in a large degree. <br /><br /> There was also the marketplace of the Athenians highlighted in the group that he's now speaking to in verse 22 to 34. The Aus were the leaders, the cultural elite, the intelligentsia, the political power brokers all gathered. That's who Paul's speaking to, and they had an entirely different worldview, and Paul's way of addressing them is different. <br /><br /> Same gospel, but different methodologies. In America, we are seeing these two vying worldviews as well. DA Carson has written a book called The Cross in Christian Ministry. He illustrates the diversity of America using the experience of two recent, uh, graduates from seminary that had gone into church planning. <br /><br /> One of those had gone out into Tulsa, Oklahoma, and as he went, he said, the guy reported it took him an entire year to find a, a resident of Tulsa who would confess to not being a Christian. Now, of course, that's a broad term, but nobody wasn't Christian, at least in their own thinking by verbiage. On the other hand, there was another student that went to church plant in Washington, DC and what he did was he, he took, as many of us did when we were first church planning, he took surveys around just to try to, uh, find out where people were. <br /><br /> And as he took the surveys around, it was, uh, an association, uh, word process that he would use. And in the association process, uh, uh, activity, the majority of respondents there in DC associated the word Christian with the word bigot. Two completely different worldviews. Cultures background. One shares the bullet points, one doesn't share hardly any of the bullet points, and yet living in the same land. <br /><br /> And what Carson was arguing is like Paul, <br /><br /> We have to be willing to address both the synagogue, if you will, the people that share some of those bullet points with us, but also recognizing that an enclos increasing way, particularly here in the Northeast, we have far more, more in common, not with the synagogue people of Paul's day, but with those in the Areopagus. <br /><br /> So as we look at this passage, how did Paul declare the gospel in the AOP areopagus to people who did not share his worldview at all? And I find three things we can learn for our own living and declaring the gospel today. Number one, we learned things about our manner in declaring the gospel. In verse 16, going back to the section Mike covered, but it's actually the foundation where we, we, we see the stirring of Paul's heart as he's looking at the Athenian culture. <br /><br /> It says that he was provoked, we get the word parm from it, uh, to be overcome with emotion, rage, coughing, laughing, or examples. You just, you just overcome. Certainly there was a sense in which there was a righteous indignation as he saw the city just, just submerged in idolatry, every house, every building. <br /><br /> Uh, Mike talked about that in his sermon when he presented it, what it was like in Athens. And there's a sense of, of, of grief out of his love for the, the living God that the, that the people have rejected and turned to such adulthood. But there is also a stirring in his heart of love for those peoples who are missing out on what he wanted to give them. <br /><br /> There is a, a passion within Paul for these people that, that, that challenges him to boldly speak out for Christ in this arena. But his manner of doing so is compelling. One, he is driven by and compassion post-Christian world has a unique challenge for the believer and by the believer. Just to define that, I mean, a person who believes in Jesus Christ has embraced him as Lord and Savior of their life, who really believes that God has authority over every part of our life, through the Lordship of Christ. <br /><br /> We are prevent presented with a unique challenge. And it is a unique challenge because living in a post-Christian world means that people's view of morality is that people. Are the ones that should determine their own beliefs. This is certainly true in the doctrine of anthropology. There is no area of life in a post-Christian world as we are seeing it today. <br /><br /> I've said this in our thinking like a Christian seminar. I've said it other times. Anthropology, the doctrine of humans, the doctrine of man. Anthropo in the generic sense is basically the greatest assailed, uh, belief system of, of biblical theology. Virtually every hot button. That is being addressed towards those that name, the name of Christ, whether it is abortion, euthanasia, sexual identity questions, gender identity questions, the definition of marriage, sexual purity, definitions, all those things. <br /><br /> There is a perspective that we should be free. There is a worldview that says, I have to determine I'm the master of my own destiny. I have to make my own choices. And I, I don't believe there is a moral absolute for everybody that is a, a post-Christian concept says, it doesn't matter what has been the teaching of the Bible or, or, or the, the church for all of these centuries on these subjects. <br /><br /> I am a free agent to determine those things and no one has the right to speak into my life. We get it with a worldview that that is saying. There is no divine authority over those arenas. Of course, nobody has the right to speak into yours. But God is saying he's already spoken on those arenas. So we're in a post-Christian world on those things. <br /><br /> But at the same time, in a post-Christian world, there is also a deep intrinsic embracement of many of the moral values of Christ. These are, these have been in our culture, whether everybody, I don't mean everybody was Christians at all, but there were things that were valued, and people still have these values. <br /><br /> Values in a way many utterly non-Christian cultures don't have. But even in a post-Christian time where Christianity is not the dominant worldview, there are still vestiges of that in the way people view how you should treat other people. And they come from Christ, whether knowing or knowingly or unknowing. <br /><br /> People should be faithful to their spouse. You should look out for the disenfranchised and the weaker. You should forgive and not seek revenge. You should be generous, kind, self-controlled, that love, not power serving, not being served, doing for others what you would want them to do for you. All those things are associated with Jesus and are associated in people's minds that yes, this is just, this is proper human behavior. <br /><br /> It doesn't mean we all do it at all, but we we see those things. Where did that come from? Well, it doesn't come from secularism, which basically says there's no God secularism basically is traced back to it's a survival of the fittest that doesn't describe the survival of the fittest that describes a Christian ethos that is still largely embraced. <br /><br /> In our culture today, even by post-Christian individuals, that puts a tremendous pressure on Jesus followers. Here's why. <br /><br /> No, knowing that that is the Christian ethos, that those are moral absolutes, that that just, people would just say, people that would absolutely say there's no right or wrong. There's no it's, but will inherently say, well, that's wrong. Of course that's wrong. It's wrong for you to lie to me. It's wrong. <br /><br /> Where does it come from? <br /><br /> They are doubly turned off by professing Christians that act differently when Christians are arrogant. Pushy, fighting for their own turf speaking, scornfully of others. A post-Christian world reacts with great indignation. I remember watching a show, it was a daytime talk show. It just happened. I don't even remember why I was home, but I was, and I saw this thing and it was, um, the, the couple that had the most abortion clinics in the metropolitan New York area, and they were being interviewed and they were then allowing people and across the whole idea was conflict. <br /><br /> But, uh, they were allowing people to ask questions. And there were apparently a number of Christians that were there, evangelical Christians, and, and very pro-life. And I, I remember watching it and it was really an uncomfortable. Uh, show for me because what happened? This couple that was quite winsome and compelling and, and very oriented. <br /><br /> Uh, so they we're doing this out of compassion, and of course they're making millions of dollars, but, but what they're doing this out of compassion for women that are in trouble. And then they allowed questions to come and we didn't do well. And, and people would come up and they, they got into terrible name calling of the couple. <br /><br /> One, one person was actually, so you should burn in hell for you to, you know, and they go and, and finally there was one older lady that just totally popped her cork and she didn't, as, as they say, she didn't cuss. But when she spit, the grass wouldn't grow. And su she's up there just laying into these people with such rage and, and next vein sticking out, you know? <br /><br /> And, and the lady finally said, that's not a very Christian way to talk. Now we might say, who are you to say what Christian is? But the fact is there is a foundation in our Western world that there are understood. You don't speak that way to people. You don't, that Jesus didn't respond with vitriolic rage and destructive talk. <br /><br /> Our post-Christian world knows that, and we are being. We have to recognize that our manner of doing life with our world is being held with a standard. And they would say, I don't believe in God. I don't believe in, in, in a, a moral absolute. But what they do believe are many of the things that Jesus values. <br /><br /> And they expect anybody that identifies with him to, to inherently. And if we don't, if we're, if we come across as we're just vindictive, we're mocking that we win by derisive and, and derision. We're not doing what Paul did here. What Paul did here in this passage is he shows compassion. I'll show you more of that in a moment. <br /><br /> It has never been more true. You've heard this before. If people don't know how much you care, they don't care how much you know. We need to have that going through our mind all the time. We don't win any arguments when we just win the argument in our mind. <br /><br /> Compassion. The second thing that was true of his, his manner is a little surprising. He was complimentary. He complimented and affirmed their conduct in verse 22. I perceived that in every way you are religious. Now he might say, well, he was just sort of, you know, he was just baiting them cuz he saw all these idols that that irritated him or made him indi. <br /><br /> No. Well, but the word is really quite complimentary. It means you're devoted people. I see in you something and, and even your, your recognition that there is, um, a, a, an unknown God, which is what he taps into. He says, I, I see you're a devoted people. There, there is a, the longing in you. I see something good in you. <br /><br /> For a lot of my Christian journey, certainly the early years, I viewed my way of influencing people to Jesus. This way, <br /><br /> I need to be more patient than anybody else. I need to be more kind. I need to be more happy. I need to be more at peace, because that's the only way anybody can really see the difference Jesus makes. And I was one. And maybe, uh, you are and say, you know, I gotta keep my testimony, I gotta be a good witness. <br /><br /> I gotta, I gotta, I gotta, I gotta it it that, that somehow we have to communicate. We got it together, which shows that Jesus has it together. You don't have it together. <br /><br /> He does. But he's involved in your life because you don't have it together. And so much of, I've gotta be a good witness, I think we should say. To who? To you that you gotta look on top of your game. Those kind of people that always have their lives, everything, purpose. Are you drawn to those kind of people? <br /><br /> I'm not, those people scare me. They make me feel like a less 10. It's people that are broken people. I had a conversation. <br /><br /> With a young woman that had grown up in our church and now well into her adulthood. She has, she's not involved in Christianity. And we had a really honest conversation and, and I was talking to her, she was asking, we were processing, and I was talking to her. I said, you know, when I was younger, if you'd asked me do I struggle with fear, it wouldn't have even made my top 10 list of struggles. <br /><br /> I have a lot of other sins I could have identified, but, and I said, you know, I just, I don't even know how we got on the subject of fear. And I just said, you know, but I've realized fear is one of the most influential issues in my life. I fear I'm not enough. I feel I'm not, uh, capable. I feel like I'm not this, I'm not this. <br /><br /> I feel what people are gonna say. I, I say, I'm realized so much of my life has been influenced by fear. And her statement, it was a little shaking, she said to me, well, <br /><br /> isn't that a problem for you? Because you have been preaching about God helping you and, and, and, and yet you still struggle with fear. Now I can tell you, there's a time of my Christian journey that would've just blown my mind, and I would've gone home and I would've gotten in my car and said, God, God, I've completely lost the chance with this young woman because I am. <br /><br /> What a terrible witness. I didn't, here's what I said. I said, you know, I am gonna deal with fear until the day I die. <br /><br /> But what I found about God, he's the safest person in my life. He's the only person that doesn't say Get better, be more, do better. I say, I hear that voice lots of places, but with God, I hear, mark, I hate the sin that you're choosing the air because there's so much more. But I see beauty in you. I'm crazy about you. <br /><br /> And I just talked about, um, yeah, fearful guy and I'm well into the journey, <br /><br /> but he's the safest person that I've ever known. <br /><br /> Here's what she said to me. She said she grew up in our church and she's gone totally different lifestyle, but she said if that was the view of, sorry, is, if that was the view of God that I understood, I'm not sure I would've walked away. <br /><br /> We can look at people around us that don't name the name of Christ and we can seem like Jesus does. They're beautiful people. They're smart. I had a neighbor that named Bob. That I spent years processing the gospel, trying to live the gospel, trying to, but I'll be totally honest and tell you that he, in his humanness, is what is one of the nicest, most compelling, enjoyable, fun, friendly, I mean, on my best Christian spirit filled day. <br /><br /> I'm more grumpy than Bob is. I'm more cranky than he is. So what do I do? I try to up my game so I can get a little, you know, because Bob can't ever come to Jesus. As long as he seems nicer than me. I gotta get up here. So, so I can say, see. What the Lord is, no, we just take what we are and say he's safe. <br /><br /> He's for us. We love him. And man, I'm sorry I was a jerk out on the golf course or as angry. I mean, we can be broken. He deals with broken people and Paul says, the Lord says, you know what? I'm really glorified in you <br /><br /> when you're showing your weakness. And then I come alongside and show my strength. Paul embraced and saw the beauty in these people. He compliments them. He doesn't have to say, he doesn't come into the areopagus and say, I gotta be on my game and I gotta show these people. I'm smarter. I'm more peaceful. <br /><br /> I'm, I'm more loving. I'm no, just says, you guys are really devoted people. Say third and I, I gotta scramble. He was conscious of common grace. He identified truth in their thinking. He quotes secular poets. These were godless poets, but he found in them truth. And in verse 29, 1 of them said in him, we live and move and have our being. <br /><br /> And another one said, for we indeed our God, our his offspring. And, and he says, I, I see you identify this unknown God. I want to just talk to you about, I want to talk about your own experience and show how God is present there, that you intuitively sense him. There are two, there's a big conversation today. <br /><br /> There's two methodologies. Apologetics. Apologetics is basically, uh, not apologizing for our faith. It is defending or explaining our faith. That's what the apologetics is. And one method of apologetics is this, to show non-believers that theism and Christianity are built on rational arguments. This is probably the, the apologetics we have been more familiar with. <br /><br /> Evidence that demands a verdict. Josh McDowell, uh, Tim Keller, wrote a bestseller, the Reason for God in 2008, compelling arguments that answer the big questions and give clarity, uh, uh, about them. How do we know the Bible is the word of God? How, how all these, you know, these various things and. Tim Keller talks about the fact that it was a bestseller, his book, A Reason For God, but you know who bought it? <br /><br /> Christians. And it was very encouraging and it is a wonderful book. It bolsters your faith. It gives you confidence that, that you have answers to some of the questions. But Unbelievers didn't buy it. It wasn't a primary bestseller Among the audience that he wrote, he wanted, he wrote a second book. And it's built on the concept of the second method of apologetics, which is to show non-believers how Christianity explains what they know in their hearts already to be true. <br /><br /> And Keller wrote this book, making Sense of God. He wrote it just a couple of years ago. It is not as big a bestseller, but there's a much more majority of non. Christian people buying it because he is approaching it, saying like, Paul is, I, I I want to talk to you about you. You know, this, this is what I, to me, great preaching, great teaching is able to go into secular life and bring illustrations and say, you know, all truth is God's truth, right? <br /><br /> All truth is God's truth. And so if somebody is saying something that's true, we can embrace it just like Paul is, these poets were utterly godless. If, if one of the poems it is is actually commending Zeus and doing all other things, and Paul is able to take this, but this part is true and he says even they, your own poets say this, that he is able to go in and to be conscious that God has given common grace. <br /><br /> Common grace is just God graces everyone with these things that you can look at in, in. The stars at night and recognize, wow, there is, there is something majestic here that can be tapped into this. Just a recognition. I gotta move faster. All right. Courageous. You must be willing to engage with people to listen. <br /><br /> To. Listen. What is their struggle with Christianity? How many non-Christians have you really asked that of? <br /><br /> I've had a haircut last out of my last four haircuts. I had four different people cut my hair. Two of them we got in a conversation and over in the conversation they explained to me why they would would never go to a church, and both of them were related to anthropological issues where they saw the church. <br /><br /> If we're going to reach people where we are, we have got to learn how to enter into those conversations with people. People may not like what you say when you talk about, there were things Paul is gonna say here when he talks about the resurrection of Jesus. Some of them are gonna laugh at him, some may be have been irritated. <br /><br /> That will happen. But you need to engage with people in the marketplace. You need to listen, you need to learn, you need to love. <br /><br /> And then maybe we'll have a chance to really talk about the one who has changed our lives. I'm gonna combine 0.2 and three, basically our message in declaring the gospel. He has four points here. God is creator and transcendent Lord. <br /><br /> All right. I'm gonna summarize at the end here. Is it, is it 10 14? Is that true? <br /><br /> Yeah, I, I I was just trying to talk myself into, wait, we don't end till 10 30. No, that's not true. Okay. Alright. I'm, I'm gonna have to stop. I just want to say this, here's what I love about this passage. All of the truths that Paul presents are truths that speak into issues that people around you have. <br /><br /> Whether it is God as creator, it is speaking. I, I, I'm gonna use one example and I really am gonna close it, is this one where he highlights that God is so actively involved in our lives. It's found there in verse 26. <br /><br /> This means there's a purpose to their lives. This means there's a purpose to suffering. There is no time in people's lives when they're more open to the gospel and to things of God than when they're suffering, because a secular view has no place of suffering, suffering, pain, hardship, loss is just something to be avoided because it limits us from doing life the way we wanna live. <br /><br /> For the Christian, we can embrace him and say, no, there's a God does it work? He's not wasting experiences to understand that he's actively involved in our lives and he's sovereign over our lives mean He is a God of purpose. That's suffering. Those are the moments, <br /><br /> as Alan Noble says in his book, disruptive Witness, which is a fabulous read. He said, modern people are more open to considering Christianity during times of stress, difficulty, disappointment or suffering. Why? Because worldviews without God in his analogy is like a, is like clothes too small for you. It's a worldview that doesn't fit our humanness, and you're constantly feeling constrained by it. <br /><br /> No time more than when you're suffering and you sometimes just feel like you rip out of the clothes. It doesn't help me, this view that everything's random. I need to know there's a purpose. I need to know that there's something behind the, there's some good that is designed in this. Paul presents the whole view of that here in this passage. <br /><br /> I'm sorry to have to close. Let's pray. Lord, <br /><br /> thank you for men like Paul and like Tim Keller, CS Lewis, and many others who have been able to engage truth with people with totally different worldviews. We're living there. It starts with love. It starts with humility. It starts with transparency. It starts with us embracing our brokenness. Not that we've got it together because we have Jesus, but that we have a Lord that is safe in the midst of our weaknesses. <br /><br /> Lord, teach us to live like this. The love like this, the people might really see the surpassing glory is not us. It's Jesus in whose name we pray. Amen. Amen. Thank you.</div> false no <![CDATA[Ingathering and Extending Hope]]> Exodus 23:14-17

You shall keep the Feast of Harvest, of the firstfruits of your labor, of what you sow in the field. You shall keep the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in from the field the fruit of your labor.



Sermon Transcript:

This morning at both of our campuses.

I want to preach a sermon on a special event that occurred once a year for the people of Ancient Israel, the people of God. It's found here. It's one of the items that is listed in Exodus 23, and I'd like to read this passage for you. Exodus 23, 14 through 17, three times in the year, you shall keep a feast to me.

You shall keep the feast of unleavened bread as I commanded you shall eat unleavened bread for seven days at the appointed time in the month of a aib. For in it you came out of Egypt. None shall appear before me empty-handed. You shall keep the feast of harvest of the first fruits of your labor, of what you sow in the field.

You shall keep the feast of in gathering at the end of the year when you gather in from the field, the fruit of your labor three times in the year. Shall all males appear before the Lord your God. Let's pray together. Lord, we come to you this morning. God, we do celebrate the ladies seminar yesterday, the incredible response and the incredible movement of your spirit and individual's lives.

We also celebrate this morning, Lord, we celebrate the way that you have led in our ministry and even the. The direction you've given at our two campuses to better equip ourselves for ministry for the future. Lord, we celebrate the truth that this passage reminds us of, that ultimately our joy as we sang just a moment ago about finding our joy in the Lord, that ultimately our joy is in you and God, this passage, this.

Reminds us of that in such a beautiful way. So direct us, guide us as we look to these words together. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. The exodus passages, we just, we just read, refers to three different annual pilgrimages to go to a festival or feast. Um, Three times a year, two of them were eight day festivals required.

Were all males, men to be at the festivals. But for the two eight day feast, typically the entire family would go along. The first was the unleavened bread and Passover, which lasted eight days. That was at the beginning of planting time. It was a time to focus on God and to seek his face. There was the festival of first fruits, also called Pentecost, where they would, at the first harvest, would bring the, at the initial harvest, they would bring the first fruits of their crop, and then at the end of the harvest, at the main harvest time, they had this thing called in gathering.

And also it was associated with Tabernacles. The in gathering celebration. A part of the Feast of Tabernacles was a time to celebrate the overall harvest that God had brought. Now, this is an agrarian culture, so farmers were, were prominent, but it wasn't only farmers that would come to this festival. It was everybody, shopkeepers, fishermen, uh, merchants, priests, homemakers, carpenters.

They would all come to this celebration to celebrate. What God had done and was doing in their midst. I'd like to look at this in gathering, celebration, this annual event, to just see some parallels to our own experience. Today in our own lives, and I want to ask three questions and I'm gonna try to answer them.

The first question is, what did God's people celebrate at the festival of in gathering and Tabernacles? Well, first they celebrated God's past provision was the time to look back. This is the end of the harvest, right? I mean, this is a time when they're looking back and seeing how God has miraculously beautifully cared for his people.

In Leviticus 23, verse 42 to 43, it says this, Live in temporary shelters for seven days. All native born Israels are to live in such shelters. So your descendants will know that I had the, the Israelites live in temporary shelters when I brought them out of Egypt. I am the Lord your God. The first thing they did was they were reminding themselves of God's heritage of provision to them.

So they actually built these homemade. Uh, Tabernacles or, or structures, and they would live in them as they traveled to Jerusalem as families together for the seven days. And it was actually a total eight day feast. It was a time to remember the time in the wilderness where they lived in temporary structures.

It was a time to remember how God. Provided protection for them, the miraculous provision of water that he provided for them in the desert, the miraculous provision of food, the manna and, and, and the birds that were provided, that God gave them sustenance, the miraculous provision of guidance where God gave them theskin of glory.

All of that was revealed and actually practiced in a unique way, which I'll highlight later on in this sermon in, in the city of Jerusalem through the Taber Temple structure. They celebrated their heritage as God's blessed people. They also celebrated God's present and future provisions. It was done at the end of the main harvest after they brought their crops was looking back, but it was also a time of looking around and seeing God's present provision.

Listen to this passages in Exodus 34 23, 3 times a year, all your men are to appear before the sovereign Lord, the God of Israel. I'll drive out nations before you and enlarge your territory and no one will covet your land when you go up three times each year to appear before the Lord your God. There's special provision.

No one will covet your land when you go up to appear before the Lord. I mean, a typical dad, you can just picture him. Look, we're gonna be gone for eight days. I gotta, I gotta hire some guards to watch the house. I'm gonna get some, some guard dogs and we're gonna shame him here. The Lord says, no, I'm your guard.

I'm your watchdog. I will watch over your provision now. Now what's happened? Basically, all the other parts of Israel have emptied out and God says, if you follow my way, if you go to do the festival, I will protect what you have responsibility for your household, your crops, your possessions. It's a remarkable thing.

You see, every generation needs to see the fresh hand of God working among them to see that God is at work and God says, I want you to go and I want you to live in fest in in Tabernacles. I want you to celebrate. And while you're there, you can say to your kids, while we are here, God is protecting all that we have.

God is caring for our current investments, if you will, our crops, our house, even as we're here. God was providing present care. Every generation needs their own stories of God's bigness, of God's miraculous moments where God is moving in the present and we're trusting him to be providing for the future.

Just in terms of these projects at both campuses, we are not borrowing money on this project at either campus. I don't believe it's wrong to do that. I don't think it's unbiblical to do that, but we have felt God clearly leading us to leave it in his hands to provide what he wanted to give us. It is to prepare us for future ministry, for future investment in people's lives, more seating, more care for people with with disabilities and hearing issues.

And we've talked all about this over the last number of weeks and all the other things that is gonna go on with this project today. We are trusting God's provision for future ministry, even as we trust him to meet our own, present personal. Financial needs. As we sacrificially give, we're trusting God to watch over our lands as we generously contribute to the in gathering celebration of extending hope to others.

I see a, a perfect parallel in this. The second thing we, the second question is this. How did they celebrate the Feast of In Gathering and Tabernacles? They did it with joyful praise. Leviticus 23 verse 40 says this on the first day. You're to take branches from luxurious trees, from palms, willows, and other leafy trees, and rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days.

Even modern Jews in our own country as this picture portrays, um, do this many ki many times in, in modern Israel, in downtown city areas. You see this picture, uh, reveals that they are, are practicing the feast of, of Tabernacles who bring that slide up, the one of downtown Israel. Years ago, it was 2008 when the Phillies won the World Series and hadn't, hadn't won for 25 years.

Um, baseball isn't my number one, uh, sports love, although I'm interested in it. But when the Phillies won the World Series, I just didn't want to miss the cultural experience. So I took my youngest son and John and I went down. We caught the train, we went into Philadelphia for the parade. We, we got downtown and we were right on Broad Street, and I mean, if you were there, you know what I'm talking about.

It was a mass of humanity, insane. And so the streets, which are usually that wide, were now this wide, just wide enough to let the, the parade of, of floats go by. You know, with the players on it. There were, there were people all the way out, way into the street just protected by, or, or restrained by barricades.

But from the barricades to the, to the high-rise buildings, There was a sea of people, tens of thousands, just where we were. It was just massive. And while we were there, just drinking in the vibe, excited, waiting for the floats to come. We happened to be in front of a hotel. And about the third or fourth story up this, a guy leans out somehow he got through the screen, leans out the window with his trumpet.

And he starts playing the rocky song. We lost our minds. It was so much fun. This is our song. This is our people. And there we were, that sense of joy, abandoned joy. This was this festival for, for eight days. They are in party mode, rejoicing and glorying in, in God's provision to them as a people. You know, these are, you know, we read while they made these tents, what, you know, what happened with these tabernacles?

All the personalities came out. The artistic people had this magnificent structure. You know, the, the functional person thought, well, you know, in case it rains, we ought to have, you know, designed this way and this way. You have all these different things. You know, people, I'm sure there were little contests.

Just, it was fun, it was joyful, it was community, uh, celebration of God together. It was also a time of proportionate, generous giving. Deuteronomy 16 describes it this way in verse 16 and 17. No one should appear before the Lord empty-handed. Each of you must bring a gift in proportion to the way the Lord your God has blessed him.

They shared their joy in celebrating God, and part of that was in the joy of mutually giving. They shared their joy in being able to participate in the ongoing work of God in their midst and in what God was going to do to them. We look back to the festival of In Gathering and can mimic the experience of the Israelites, but there is actually a very personal connection in this event to us in our day as followers of Christ.

Because the third statement, actually I have it as a statement. How does Jesus fulfill the festival of in gathering in tabernacle? Well, here's how, in John chapter seven and eight, those two chapters, Jesus actually was in Jerusalem for the celebration of the Festival of Tabernacles, and in gathering and on the final day.

Of the Feast of Tabernacles, this, this whole in-gathering celebration, they would do two particular things. One was they would celebrate God's provision among them in providing water to them as people. And what it would happen, and we ha we know this from all the existing writings of the day. It was a practice that had gone on ever since the temple had been rebuilt.

Uh uh, a few decades before they would gather outside of the city at the pool, and there the priest would have in his hand two pictures. And one, he would dip in the pool and it would be filled with water. The other would be filled with wine and the priest would travel. The trumpet would be playing apparently, and he would lead this massive procession of Israelites back through the Watergate into the city.

That's what it's called, the Watergate. They would go in through the Watergate and he would go all the way into the temple and he would come before the altar. And again, there's thousands of people that are gathering with him and watching. And as he would take these two pictures, he would come to two large basin basins in front of the altar, and as he came there, he would pour the water into one and he would pour the wine into the other as if it were an offering to God right before the altar.

And the water was their way of saying, God, thank you for your bounty for us for the last year, for the way you have provided water for us. Excuse me, I got that backward. The wine was to say thank you. The water was to say God, because that was the produce that came from the water, if you will. That was their crops, the wine, the grapes, the water was poured as a way of saying, God, we depend on you for water.

We're trusting you to provide water for our lives because without water, our crops will die and without crops. We will lose our subsistence, our means of livelihood, our means of life.

Apparently, when that water was being poured out, there was a voice that proclaimed this on that last afternoon of the festival. Here was the voice.

If anyone thirsts. Let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as scripture has said, riving rivers of living water will flow from within them. Jesus was there at this festival saying, I in the water, I am the one that provides life giving water to you. I speak to the, I provide for the, I. Embraced the thirst, the spiritual thirst, the, the soul thirst of people.

I am the ultimate water that you need, that you cry for in your lives. The living water had come to fulfill the picture of in gathering that night as the festival was closing. There in Jerusalem. And if we can bing up that visual of the temple

right here along there, there are four there. There's a candle lab that is 75 feet high. There's another there. There's one there and there's one there for you guys. It's there, there, there, and there. There are 16. Bowls that were on these four canolas 75 feet high towering over the, the court of the temple area.

Because the temple was on a hill, it would be seen by the entire community at that time. And as those candles were lit, it was the reflection that God, Had been their light through the wilderness. Remember again, this, the Feast of Tabernacles is remembering going through the the wilderness and God had led them by his light.

He had been the Shekinah glory, he had been. The light that lighted their way was a glorious celebration, and it reminded them how God had directed them and led them. And apparently in John chapter eight at this Feast of Tabernacles, again, the voice, Christ and the voice said this, I am the light of the world.

Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. We are here today celebrating God's provision to us. Our joy in seeing him provide for future ministry opportunities, but also in just being himself. It is a reminder of what our true source of joy is. Christ, the one who satisfies our thirst, Christ, the one who provides light for our way.

As we gather on this, what we're calling our in gathering, Sunday towards the extending hope. Remodeling project, this first part of that overall project, but the remodeling of the lobby and the the worship center here and the projects there for you guys in Collingswood we're celebrating ultimately Christ the capacity to be able to lean into him, to rejoice in him, but also to trust him.

I'd like to pray together, Lord.

I worship you this morning that you are the water that quenches our souls. Lord. We identify with the psalmist that said, as the dear pants, for streams of water, soul, my soul, thirst for you. Oh God, you have brought life. You have brought satisfaction. You quenched the, the inner turmoil in our lives and Lord, As you look into the heart of everybody that's here or listening online, everybody here in callings with God, you see the thirst.

You see the other places that we've turned to to try to find satisfaction, which can only ultimately found in He who is the life giver, the thirst quench of our souls. We worship you Christ as our life. And our light. We worship you and praise you for press provisions, but also for what you're going to do in our lives, in our midst, as we believe you to guide our steps through your provision in these projects.

Lord, we want it to be not just about money, about building about. Structural changes. We want it to be about faith and seeing God and honoring God, and most of all knowing you more so, Lord, glorify yourself in our lives. Be to us what you have offered to be. The water, the light in Jesus' name. Amen.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/ingathering-and-extending-hope 9713248a-24ca-47cf-8ee1-e2e047de73db Sun, 30 Apr 2023 09:53:37 GMT <div data-html="true">Exodus 23:14-17 <br /><br /> You shall keep the Feast of Harvest, of the firstfruits of your labor, of what you sow in the field. You shall keep the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in from the field the fruit of your labor. <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> This morning at both of our campuses. <br /><br /> I want to preach a sermon on a special event that occurred once a year for the people of Ancient Israel, the people of God. It's found here. It's one of the items that is listed in Exodus 23, and I'd like to read this passage for you. Exodus 23, 14 through 17, three times in the year, you shall keep a feast to me. <br /><br /> You shall keep the feast of unleavened bread as I commanded you shall eat unleavened bread for seven days at the appointed time in the month of a aib. For in it you came out of Egypt. None shall appear before me empty-handed. You shall keep the feast of harvest of the first fruits of your labor, of what you sow in the field. <br /><br /> You shall keep the feast of in gathering at the end of the year when you gather in from the field, the fruit of your labor three times in the year. Shall all males appear before the Lord your God. Let's pray together. Lord, we come to you this morning. God, we do celebrate the ladies seminar yesterday, the incredible response and the incredible movement of your spirit and individual's lives. <br /><br /> We also celebrate this morning, Lord, we celebrate the way that you have led in our ministry and even the. The direction you've given at our two campuses to better equip ourselves for ministry for the future. Lord, we celebrate the truth that this passage reminds us of, that ultimately our joy as we sang just a moment ago about finding our joy in the Lord, that ultimately our joy is in you and God, this passage, this. <br /><br /> Reminds us of that in such a beautiful way. So direct us, guide us as we look to these words together. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. The exodus passages, we just, we just read, refers to three different annual pilgrimages to go to a festival or feast. Um, Three times a year, two of them were eight day festivals required. <br /><br /> Were all males, men to be at the festivals. But for the two eight day feast, typically the entire family would go along. The first was the unleavened bread and Passover, which lasted eight days. That was at the beginning of planting time. It was a time to focus on God and to seek his face. There was the festival of first fruits, also called Pentecost, where they would, at the first harvest, would bring the, at the initial harvest, they would bring the first fruits of their crop, and then at the end of the harvest, at the main harvest time, they had this thing called in gathering. <br /><br /> And also it was associated with Tabernacles. The in gathering celebration. A part of the Feast of Tabernacles was a time to celebrate the overall harvest that God had brought. Now, this is an agrarian culture, so farmers were, were prominent, but it wasn't only farmers that would come to this festival. It was everybody, shopkeepers, fishermen, uh, merchants, priests, homemakers, carpenters. <br /><br /> They would all come to this celebration to celebrate. What God had done and was doing in their midst. I'd like to look at this in gathering, celebration, this annual event, to just see some parallels to our own experience. Today in our own lives, and I want to ask three questions and I'm gonna try to answer them. <br /><br /> The first question is, what did God's people celebrate at the festival of in gathering and Tabernacles? Well, first they celebrated God's past provision was the time to look back. This is the end of the harvest, right? I mean, this is a time when they're looking back and seeing how God has miraculously beautifully cared for his people. <br /><br /> In Leviticus 23, verse 42 to 43, it says this, Live in temporary shelters for seven days. All native born Israels are to live in such shelters. So your descendants will know that I had the, the Israelites live in temporary shelters when I brought them out of Egypt. I am the Lord your God. The first thing they did was they were reminding themselves of God's heritage of provision to them. <br /><br /> So they actually built these homemade. Uh, Tabernacles or, or structures, and they would live in them as they traveled to Jerusalem as families together for the seven days. And it was actually a total eight day feast. It was a time to remember the time in the wilderness where they lived in temporary structures. <br /><br /> It was a time to remember how God. Provided protection for them, the miraculous provision of water that he provided for them in the desert, the miraculous provision of food, the manna and, and, and the birds that were provided, that God gave them sustenance, the miraculous provision of guidance where God gave them theskin of glory. <br /><br /> All of that was revealed and actually practiced in a unique way, which I'll highlight later on in this sermon in, in the city of Jerusalem through the Taber Temple structure. They celebrated their heritage as God's blessed people. They also celebrated God's present and future provisions. It was done at the end of the main harvest after they brought their crops was looking back, but it was also a time of looking around and seeing God's present provision. <br /><br /> Listen to this passages in Exodus 34 23, 3 times a year, all your men are to appear before the sovereign Lord, the God of Israel. I'll drive out nations before you and enlarge your territory and no one will covet your land when you go up three times each year to appear before the Lord your God. There's special provision. <br /><br /> No one will covet your land when you go up to appear before the Lord. I mean, a typical dad, you can just picture him. Look, we're gonna be gone for eight days. I gotta, I gotta hire some guards to watch the house. I'm gonna get some, some guard dogs and we're gonna shame him here. The Lord says, no, I'm your guard. <br /><br /> I'm your watchdog. I will watch over your provision now. Now what's happened? Basically, all the other parts of Israel have emptied out and God says, if you follow my way, if you go to do the festival, I will protect what you have responsibility for your household, your crops, your possessions. It's a remarkable thing. <br /><br /> You see, every generation needs to see the fresh hand of God working among them to see that God is at work and God says, I want you to go and I want you to live in fest in in Tabernacles. I want you to celebrate. And while you're there, you can say to your kids, while we are here, God is protecting all that we have. <br /><br /> God is caring for our current investments, if you will, our crops, our house, even as we're here. God was providing present care. Every generation needs their own stories of God's bigness, of God's miraculous moments where God is moving in the present and we're trusting him to be providing for the future. <br /><br /> Just in terms of these projects at both campuses, we are not borrowing money on this project at either campus. I don't believe it's wrong to do that. I don't think it's unbiblical to do that, but we have felt God clearly leading us to leave it in his hands to provide what he wanted to give us. It is to prepare us for future ministry, for future investment in people's lives, more seating, more care for people with with disabilities and hearing issues. <br /><br /> And we've talked all about this over the last number of weeks and all the other things that is gonna go on with this project today. We are trusting God's provision for future ministry, even as we trust him to meet our own, present personal. Financial needs. As we sacrificially give, we're trusting God to watch over our lands as we generously contribute to the in gathering celebration of extending hope to others. <br /><br /> I see a, a perfect parallel in this. The second thing we, the second question is this. How did they celebrate the Feast of In Gathering and Tabernacles? They did it with joyful praise. Leviticus 23 verse 40 says this on the first day. You're to take branches from luxurious trees, from palms, willows, and other leafy trees, and rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days. <br /><br /> Even modern Jews in our own country as this picture portrays, um, do this many ki many times in, in modern Israel, in downtown city areas. You see this picture, uh, reveals that they are, are practicing the feast of, of Tabernacles who bring that slide up, the one of downtown Israel. Years ago, it was 2008 when the Phillies won the World Series and hadn't, hadn't won for 25 years. <br /><br /> Um, baseball isn't my number one, uh, sports love, although I'm interested in it. But when the Phillies won the World Series, I just didn't want to miss the cultural experience. So I took my youngest son and John and I went down. We caught the train, we went into Philadelphia for the parade. We, we got downtown and we were right on Broad Street, and I mean, if you were there, you know what I'm talking about. <br /><br /> It was a mass of humanity, insane. And so the streets, which are usually that wide, were now this wide, just wide enough to let the, the parade of, of floats go by. You know, with the players on it. There were, there were people all the way out, way into the street just protected by, or, or restrained by barricades. <br /><br /> But from the barricades to the, to the high-rise buildings, There was a sea of people, tens of thousands, just where we were. It was just massive. And while we were there, just drinking in the vibe, excited, waiting for the floats to come. We happened to be in front of a hotel. And about the third or fourth story up this, a guy leans out somehow he got through the screen, leans out the window with his trumpet. <br /><br /> And he starts playing the rocky song. We lost our minds. It was so much fun. This is our song. This is our people. And there we were, that sense of joy, abandoned joy. This was this festival for, for eight days. They are in party mode, rejoicing and glorying in, in God's provision to them as a people. You know, these are, you know, we read while they made these tents, what, you know, what happened with these tabernacles? <br /><br /> All the personalities came out. The artistic people had this magnificent structure. You know, the, the functional person thought, well, you know, in case it rains, we ought to have, you know, designed this way and this way. You have all these different things. You know, people, I'm sure there were little contests. <br /><br /> Just, it was fun, it was joyful, it was community, uh, celebration of God together. It was also a time of proportionate, generous giving. Deuteronomy 16 describes it this way in verse 16 and 17. No one should appear before the Lord empty-handed. Each of you must bring a gift in proportion to the way the Lord your God has blessed him. <br /><br /> They shared their joy in celebrating God, and part of that was in the joy of mutually giving. They shared their joy in being able to participate in the ongoing work of God in their midst and in what God was going to do to them. We look back to the festival of In Gathering and can mimic the experience of the Israelites, but there is actually a very personal connection in this event to us in our day as followers of Christ. <br /><br /> Because the third statement, actually I have it as a statement. How does Jesus fulfill the festival of in gathering in tabernacle? Well, here's how, in John chapter seven and eight, those two chapters, Jesus actually was in Jerusalem for the celebration of the Festival of Tabernacles, and in gathering and on the final day. <br /><br /> Of the Feast of Tabernacles, this, this whole in-gathering celebration, they would do two particular things. One was they would celebrate God's provision among them in providing water to them as people. And what it would happen, and we ha we know this from all the existing writings of the day. It was a practice that had gone on ever since the temple had been rebuilt. <br /><br /> Uh uh, a few decades before they would gather outside of the city at the pool, and there the priest would have in his hand two pictures. And one, he would dip in the pool and it would be filled with water. The other would be filled with wine and the priest would travel. The trumpet would be playing apparently, and he would lead this massive procession of Israelites back through the Watergate into the city. <br /><br /> That's what it's called, the Watergate. They would go in through the Watergate and he would go all the way into the temple and he would come before the altar. And again, there's thousands of people that are gathering with him and watching. And as he would take these two pictures, he would come to two large basin basins in front of the altar, and as he came there, he would pour the water into one and he would pour the wine into the other as if it were an offering to God right before the altar. <br /><br /> And the water was their way of saying, God, thank you for your bounty for us for the last year, for the way you have provided water for us. Excuse me, I got that backward. The wine was to say thank you. The water was to say God, because that was the produce that came from the water, if you will. That was their crops, the wine, the grapes, the water was poured as a way of saying, God, we depend on you for water. <br /><br /> We're trusting you to provide water for our lives because without water, our crops will die and without crops. We will lose our subsistence, our means of livelihood, our means of life. <br /><br /> Apparently, when that water was being poured out, there was a voice that proclaimed this on that last afternoon of the festival. Here was the voice. <br /><br /> If anyone thirsts. Let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as scripture has said, riving rivers of living water will flow from within them. Jesus was there at this festival saying, I in the water, I am the one that provides life giving water to you. I speak to the, I provide for the, I. Embraced the thirst, the spiritual thirst, the, the soul thirst of people. <br /><br /> I am the ultimate water that you need, that you cry for in your lives. The living water had come to fulfill the picture of in gathering that night as the festival was closing. There in Jerusalem. And if we can bing up that visual of the temple <br /><br /> right here along there, there are four there. There's a candle lab that is 75 feet high. There's another there. There's one there and there's one there for you guys. It's there, there, there, and there. There are 16. Bowls that were on these four canolas 75 feet high towering over the, the court of the temple area. <br /><br /> Because the temple was on a hill, it would be seen by the entire community at that time. And as those candles were lit, it was the reflection that God, Had been their light through the wilderness. Remember again, this, the Feast of Tabernacles is remembering going through the the wilderness and God had led them by his light. <br /><br /> He had been the Shekinah glory, he had been. The light that lighted their way was a glorious celebration, and it reminded them how God had directed them and led them. And apparently in John chapter eight at this Feast of Tabernacles, again, the voice, Christ and the voice said this, I am the light of the world. <br /><br /> Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. We are here today celebrating God's provision to us. Our joy in seeing him provide for future ministry opportunities, but also in just being himself. It is a reminder of what our true source of joy is. Christ, the one who satisfies our thirst, Christ, the one who provides light for our way. <br /><br /> As we gather on this, what we're calling our in gathering, Sunday towards the extending hope. Remodeling project, this first part of that overall project, but the remodeling of the lobby and the the worship center here and the projects there for you guys in Collingswood we're celebrating ultimately Christ the capacity to be able to lean into him, to rejoice in him, but also to trust him. <br /><br /> I'd like to pray together, Lord. <br /><br /> I worship you this morning that you are the water that quenches our souls. Lord. We identify with the psalmist that said, as the dear pants, for streams of water, soul, my soul, thirst for you. Oh God, you have brought life. You have brought satisfaction. You quenched the, the inner turmoil in our lives and Lord, As you look into the heart of everybody that's here or listening online, everybody here in callings with God, you see the thirst. <br /><br /> You see the other places that we've turned to to try to find satisfaction, which can only ultimately found in He who is the life giver, the thirst quench of our souls. We worship you Christ as our life. And our light. We worship you and praise you for press provisions, but also for what you're going to do in our lives, in our midst, as we believe you to guide our steps through your provision in these projects. <br /><br /> Lord, we want it to be not just about money, about building about. Structural changes. We want it to be about faith and seeing God and honoring God, and most of all knowing you more so, Lord, glorify yourself in our lives. Be to us what you have offered to be. The water, the light in Jesus' name. Amen.</div> false no <![CDATA[Waiting in Athens]]> Acts 17:16-21 Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols.



Sermon Transcript:

Good morning. I know the week after spring break it's just tough to get back on the horse again and get your kids up in the morning and yourself in the morning. Uh, but here we are. Um, wanted to just highlight one thing that, uh, happened.

Uh, welcome to you here, and those of you that are in Collingswood, I wanna talk to you guys in Collingswood as well. Um, our church yesterday hosted a, uh, a unique event. This was the, I'm gonna get this right, the South Jersey Speed Solvers, Rubik's Cube competition. How many of you knew we had that yesterday?

More than a hundred competitors. Uh, Sean Mack, uh, down at the Collingswood campus, who is an incredible cuber as they call them, or solver. I don't, what would we call you, Sean? I'm not really sure. Uh, and then also Matt Pugh here and their families really, uh, did an incredible job inviting their friends, people in this community, uh, and as far up as New York and down to.

Uh, that came, there was a world record holder that was here yesterday that, uh, was just insane. I have some videos if you wanna see them. Our very own pastor Jared, entered the competition. He is, you can go find his times on the cubing website. I'll leave it at that. Uh, it was a really fun time, uh, and for all that were part of that incredible way of opening the church doors.

Uh, so well we've come through a number of weeks, uh, of Easter leading up to Resurrection Sunday. And we are back officially in the Book of Acts, but only for this week. Next week's a little bit of a change, and then we're back again, hopefully for a, a longer stint. But leading up to Resurrection Sunday, I wanna just show you this, uh, visual we had.

Um, that was kind of something we talked about at the very beginning, but it's even more appropriate now. Coming right out of, uh, Easter. So we have these, these few things that happened. Uh, Mary and the women at the tomb, they saw Jesus after the resurrection, Simon Peter, the disciples. Then 500 followers, 40 days Post Resurrection is the beginning of the Book of Acts where we have Jesus ascending to heaven and the decension of the Holy Spirit on God's people.

So what we have as we come back to the Book of Acts, I know it's been more than a month, we really have a selected history of the early church. Remember Luke is the author here, and he's collected this data. It's not eyewitness, although he goes to eyewitness people to collect all this data together. And he's writing this two-part letter to a man named Theophilus, who we know was a man of great means and influence.

The first volume of this story was the Book of Luke, which really is the, the work of Jesus through the life, death, the resurrection leading us to this point. And now volume two of Luke's work is the book of Acts, the Spirit alive, the spirit of Jesus at work through his followers. And we talked, uh, a while back about ways you can come and approach any book of the Bible, but particularly the Book of Acts.

It is history, it is church history. And so when you hear the word history, you either turn into a scholar and you want to get dates, you want to get times, places, people, new insights, all good things. Or you turn into a casual admirer who was dragged to the museum and you didn't want to be. We are honest people, right?

It's okay to raise your hand, uh, or potentially you come this morning. And then I'm encouraging all of us to come in those first few ways, but also as a disciple of Jesus, we study because it's the unfolding mission of Christ in his church, witnessing his spirit, keeping in step with him. Now, what is the Holy Spirit doing?

Uh, those are ways we can approach this book, but what is he doing? One of the things we talked about at the very beginning of the Act sermon series is there really, uh, a number of intentions, a number of things. The Holy Spirit is doing objectives of his work. See if you can remember any of these. We'll put 'em on the screen here for you.

The first one is to carry God's gospel, which is the good news to all the nation. To carry God's gospel to all the nations. We got those postures. There we go. The second one is to sustain God's people amidst every opposition. The third is to fulfill God's sovereign purposes and the fourth to unite God's church, to gather us all together.

And, um, maybe you're familiar with this picture too. This is the, uh, if we think about the way the spirit works and he talked about, uh, that he would send these people out, the disciples out to Jerusalem, to Judea. There it is, Samaria and to the ends of the earth. If you look at the left there on the, the bottom, uh, you see Acts one through seven is really focused in this intersection, and then it kind of builds out from there.

We are in Acts chapter 17, which makes us to the ends of the Earth section right now. We're getting there, but we're not to chapter 28 just yet. Um, and if you, again, were following along for me, this was a really helpful study to just refresh. Where in the world are we in the book of Acts, chapter 17 finds us on the second lap of Paul's missionary journeys.

The first one here you'll see is kind of a, a more local area. He starts in Antioch and then begins out on the blue root and comes back on the red, um, making some stops along the way. And we are on the second lap of this journey, which is a larger journey. And, uh, starting in Antioch and coming up through Timothy joins Paul and Silas here in Lira and I iconium, they move through Asia and actually we're prevented from speaking in Asia.

And so they moved on through Asia, up through Macedonia and our might cut off, I'm sorry. It's probably better on that one over there, but they're making their way through. The last sermon that we heard in Acts chapter, uh, 1617, was about Berea. The people who received God's word. With all joy. They were eager to hear God's word.

And after that there was some, uh, things that happened because as they passed, passed through, uh, leaving Macedonia, passing through Thessalonia, Fasika, uh, there were some Jews that came to stir up and make some, uh, difficulty for Paul and his traveling friends. And so what happened was they moved on quickly and as they were in Berea, these Thessalonians came and tried to stir up more, uh, dissension among them.

And so as that happened, Silas and Timothy thought it was best if Paul would go ahead onto the next stop. They would kind of tie things up and um, we'll move the troublemaker as we call him Paul, uh, into Athens. And so Paul is sent on a ship to Athens and he arrives there. And that's where we are in chapter 17.

If you want to grab your Bibles, there is a pew Bible there. If you don't have one, you can tap. You can find a Bible. Look on your neighbors. It's on the screen. Let's read the word of God together. Uh, here's what it says in Acts chapter 17, 16 through 21. Now, while Paul was waiting for them at Athens again, that is Silas and Timothy.

He's waiting for them. His spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was filled with idols. So he reasoned in the synagogues with the Jews and the devout persons and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. Some of the epicurean and stoic philosophers also conversed with him, and some said, what does this Babbler wish to say?

Others said, he seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus saying, may we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting for. You bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore, what these things mean.

Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who live there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new. Lord, we thank you for this book and as we come to your word this morning, we ask, Lord, we plead that we would not just be casual admirers to a, uh, a history book, but that we would be your disciples, your children who are wowed.

By the way, the Holy Spirit is at work, Lord, the unfolding narrative of your church. We here in this room are recipients of our participants in. And we live in oneness with the author of this story, Christ, we thank you Lord for inviting us to hear and to learn this morning. We pray these things in your name.

Amen. Amen. Well, you'll see the, the title of today's sermon is Waiting in Athens Zinger, right? So far in the book of Acts, we've witnessed some exciting things and in two weeks there will be a really exciting thing, but today is just a waiting day. So if you wanna read ahead and get excited, do that today.

Is the waiting day kind of a, like, maybe a bit of a dud on paper? If you were to look at this at first pass? Actually, I had a pastor in our church, I'm not gonna name names Jerry, uh, but said, man, you got a great passage. It kind of looks like nothing's happening, so I'm excited to see where you're gonna go with this.

And I already knew that. It's kind of like the flight gets canceled, the game is postponed, the appointment rescheduled. You watched all the available episodes. Now you just gotta wait. Right? These are the boring moments. Why in the world would Luke choose to have this recorded in scripture, these mundane events?

Better yet, why would the pastor choose to preach about this? Well, this pastor was assigned this date and this passage, and so that's why we chose to preach about this. No, we really believe, and this is a core belief that we have here at Fellowship, is that every part of scripture teaches we're not just gonna hunt and pack for good passages and rip things out, but the entire narrative of scripture teaches and has something to.

Dallas Willard says this, we must accept the circumstances we constantly find ourselves in. I'll call them these mundane or waiting events. As the place of God's kingdom and blessing, God has yet to bless anyone except where they actually are. I'll read that part again. God has yet to bless anyone except where they actually are.

And if we faithless, discard situation after situation moment after moment as not being the right time, we will simply have no place to receive His kingdom into our life for those situations. And moments are our lives. And so as we come to this waiting passage this morning, this is how God is at work.

And so we will read and jump in. I'm gonna split it into three sections this morning. And, uh, as you know, you probably have an attached thing on the back of your bulletin. Don't look there too late. You already did. Uh, we'll get to that at the very end. Uh, but we will, uh, I know it's there. Okay. The first part here, waiting and exegeting is really the first part.

Big words for you. Verse 16. We already read. Paul was waiting for them at Athens expectant waiting, not taking the day off. His eyes and his heart have been guided by the Holy Spirit through a number of laps around here, the mission of God as the theme of Paul's life. And so there's really no on and off moment.

It says if sometimes we can think waiting is this evil that we have to just kind of get through to the real main event. But have you considered waiting in the scriptures? Have you thought about the idea of waiting, the concept of waiting? It appears very early on. In just the second chapter of Genesis in the Bible, Adam was created, placed in the garden.

Genesis two 18. God said, it is not good. That man should be alone, so I'm going to make him a helper fit for him. And what happens next in Genesis two 19, God makes a zoo. The animal starts showing up, and Adam is going to name all of these animals. And so there's this expectation of there's no helper and millions of animals come through.

God populates the earth with these animals. Genesis two 20, we keep going. But among all of the animals, there was not a helper fit for him. Waiting, longing, expectation, and eventually Eve was created. They hadn't even sinned yet. That's in chapter three. Waiting is pre fall of mankind. Now, some of you were like at the stoplight waiting.

Now that's sin right there. Like that is the worst, right? But no, it's actually part of the Bible even before the fall of man. I wonder if, as we think about the idea of waiting this tension, the length between the need that we might have, or a perceived idea of our need and the answer of God is not intentional, an invitation for us to trust, to have faith in the middle of where we're going back to verse 16 as he's waiting for them in Athens, Paul's spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols.

Paul arrived in Athens. It was the most educated city in the world. He was moved by the amount of idolatry he saw. The pagan writer Petronius said it was easier to find a God in Athens. Then it was a man. It was said that more than 30,000 public statues and and idols lined the streets protecting every archway and doorway, and aside from all the personal idols that you might have in your house, seems impossible to really overstate that idolatry was a thing in Athens and Paul's spirit was provoked by that.

Now, why would this be? Well, we remember Paul was a Jew, right? He wasn't a classic scholar like some of these Greek philosophers, but he knew the 10 Commandments and the first one. No other gods but me don't create or serve any other god's but me, for I am a jealous God. He remembers, he knows those words and his spirit is provoked inside of him as he sees these carved images all over the city of Athens.

This provoking, this idea is, is the Greek word prism, a sudden outburst of emotion. It just kind of, he violently like reacts to seeing all that he sees around him. And I wanna say that Paul was at this point probably engaging in something, whether he had the word for it then or not. Cultural exegesis.

He's studying the culture, he's looking around and he's beginning to see what these uh, things are happening in this. Simply put cultural exegesis as being a student of the location that you are in. So you can culturally exegete the town of Mount Laurel and Collingswood. In fact, actually, when the Collingswood campus was, uh, in Haddenfield before it was intentionally chosen and they studied around that area.

And similar looking for a building in Collingswood, the very same way. What is the makeup of this town? What do people love? What do they fear? What do they value? And it might look different here in Mount Laurel than it does in Collingswood. It's a principle that's used often in cross-cultural mission work.

You know, you go to another country and you enter their culture. You don't bring your culture and impress it upon this other people group. You join, you enter, you learn, and you come alongside of them to share. Jesus. Uh, rather than give you an example of, of this, I thought it would be best to, to highlight some of the people who've done this work, um, in incredible ways.

We have a, uh, a long list of missionaries here at Fellowship, and I wrote to them throughout this week and asked them, could you give me a story of either a cultural exegesis, blunder, or a way that God really used you as you were studying the culture that you were entering into? So, here are a couple of gathered stories.

Cultural exegesis is fun, it's exciting and it's humiliating. Here we go. Jacob Berlin and his family, he was here last summer, they are, uh, working with victims of sex trafficking in Bangladesh. He says, I once preached a sermon and concluded with, with this theological truth. Jesus is the potato of the world.

The word for potato is a lie, and the word for light is a hello. He got it wrong. Cultural exegesis. Jesus is not a potato. Similarly in the country of Bangladesh, it's a great place to make some wonders. Sean and Harold Ebersol. Uh, when Sean was studying in language school, um, she was in a Rick Shaw, which is like a low budget taxi.

And, um, they were heading to the store and suddenly the Rick Shaw driver decided he was gonna take a turn, uh, off on a side road, and she meant to shout, go straight. Instead, she shouted, go cucumber. The man paused and gave her a strange look. Another time. She was excited to be given the opportunity to teach a, a bible study in Bangla.

She was learning the language and it was her first time to really open the scriptures in another language and begin to teach. After her very first Bible study, a a sweet lady approached her and said, you know what? I didn't understand a word you said, but you have an incredible smile, the joy of the Lord.

And if you know Sean, the the joy of the Lord radiates through her. And so I bet she laughed and talked about the Lord. Even in ongoing there, I heard from a number of missionaries this week and each of them shared something about their funny stories, but also something of significance because cultural exegesis, as you, as you think about it, it's allowing us to know God's people better, which allows us to know God better.

That at times we learn the ways that he does and, and maybe works differently in other cultures. We listen for ways that he might speak uniquely here or there or or in that person's location. And most importantly, we allow space for God to meet us in new ways. Deb and James Knight. You may know Deb as Deb Beru.

Uh, she got married and they, uh, Deb and James were missionaries in Nija, west Africa. She was an occupational therapist. And, uh, one of the things that she wrote here, I'm gonna read because Deb's an incredible writer. I went through a period when I lost several pediatric patients and I was in a really dark place.

We had a kiddo come from the Boo Zoo people group, who was a slave tribe of the tox. She had a severe burn and came down with cerebral malaria. While she was going through the process of reconstructive surgeries. After this little girl died, her father a devout Muslim, thanked me a grieving father. In his words to me were, thank you.

In this place we see Jesus. His words angered me. Jesus could have protected her from malaria. Jesus could have provided them with the means to buy a mosquito net. Jesus could have, but he didn't. I began having this recurring dream. She writes, this same little girl would come in my dream, standing there on her one leg and the other severely burned, tucked underneath of her, and then everything would go white, and she would suddenly be standing on two legs next to Jesus holding his hand, and he would speak to me, but I couldn't hear him.

This went on every night for over a month. I was leaving the country of Nija for a week of rest, and on the plane somewhere over the Mediterranean, I had the dream again. Only this time I could hear Jesus speaking and he said, I didn't do this. I allowed it, but I didn't do it, and it breaks my heart more than yours.

I woke up with tears running down my cheeks in the words of her Muslim father in my ears. In this place, we see Jesus. It was at that moment that my theology of suffering changed, and I came to realize that the Holy Spirit was wandering the halls of our hospital. He was ministering to the hearts of the dying and revealing the truth of Jesus.

Without my words, it will only be in heaven that I may know how many people came to our hospital, not for the healing from disease, but to meet Jesus as they passed on from this life to the next. I am sure Paul was unsettled as he left his ministry. Buddies in Athens sent ahead. I'm sure the waiting felt pointless at times.

He's human after all, and now to be dropped into a place saturated with idolatry. But God's spirit is intentional, leading us to deeper understandings of our surroundings and himself. What's happening in your waiting right now? What are you facing in this season that if you were in charge, you wouldn't be facing?

Is there something you're required to deal with that you'd rather not have to put your time to right now? Where have your plans dripped like, like sand through your fingertips? Where do you feel troubled or inadequate or weak or defeated? Alienated. Is your BLA brain flooded with events of the past or the regrets is the future causing anxiety?

We wait for the Lord. Why? Because he's sovereign. He's trustworthy. Psalm one 30 says, I wait for the Lord my whole being waits and in his word, I put my hope. I wait for the Lord more than the watchmen. Wait for the morning more than the watchmen. Wait for the morning. Paul demonstrated this expectant waiting.

This, uh, not wasted time to study the culture that he was newly invested in. God's spirit speaks now today in our waiting. Okay, number two, listening and engaging. Verse 17 in the book of Acts, chapter 17, guided by the spirit. Here's what happens. Paul reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there as was the custom of Jesus.

Paul entered into the synagogue. It's the religious center. It's where all the people that he would've connections with. He, after all, was a Jew as well, and so he went right to the people who he might have the best chance at sharing this gospel with. He reasoned with them, spoke their language. The Greek word for this is Dimi, which is where we get the idea of dialogue.

It's this back and forth conversation hoping to come to a resolution of the truth. He also engaged not just with people in the synagogues, but with people along the way in the marketplace, whoever happened to be there. The common folk. I love this way of ministry. We're available. The walls are down. We're just looking for a chat.

You think of ministry moments, even here at Fellowship, and maybe this is just an American thing, but we got a lot of great plans. Ministry starts at seven o'clock and it ends at nine o'clock here. Sometimes we reserve rooms here at the church to make sure that our meetings can be planned. We schedule things and we're intentional.

These are all good things, but Brother Paul is out at the food store at the A Agora, which is less like Wegmans, probably more like the Collingswood Flea market, where there's just people who are selling things all around and he's looking for conversations. He's talking to the, the shop owners and the sellers.

He's the person that comes up to you in the, in the spice aisle, and he sees you with that ground mustard and he sneaks in a conversation about the kingdom of God somehow, some way. It just seems like that's who he is. Some of you are just naturally gifted that way, and others of you have a different gifting where you're like, the hat goes on, the ears come in and you're like, Wegmans is solitude for me.

I don't wanna talk to anybody. I don't wanna see anybody. Just don't talk to me. Different strokes for different folks. Paul was available to the spirits leading, even as he was just wandering around finding ground beef for a recipe and probably didn't have ground beef. Okay, verse 18. Not only did he go to the synagogue intentionally to his people, and he was available as he was walking through the marketplace, but some of the epicurean and stoic philosophers also conversed with him.

And some said, what does this Babbler wish to say? Others said, he seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. He made space for these philosophers, the epicurean people that thought everything happened by chance. Death was the end of it all. There's no afterlife.

They believe Gods were removed from the world and they didn't really care. Pleasure was the chief end of man and the stoics. Everything is a God. The Spirit turned God, uh, spirit turned back to God upon death, and everything that happens is the will of God and we're to accept it without resentment. These are the two groups that labeled Paul a Babbler.

Baler is, uh, comes from the Greek word sperma logos, which literally means seed picker. If you think of a bird kind of bouncing around on the ground, picking up seeds and just gathering little pieces from other things, the message that Paul is preaching is almost like he was a bird that jumped around and then picked up some stoicism and picked up some of this and they couldn't figure out how to peg him.

He's just a babbler making this stuff up, but he's not an epicurean. He's not a stoic. He's preaching something handpicked, maybe a far out god, a conglomerations of things or, or a divinity somewhere that we don't understand, and he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. They didn't have a framework for the resurrection.

In fact, all life ended at there was no afterlife for the epicures. The resurrection was confusing. New life in Christ was confusing to them. And so Paul preaches this truth and is misunderstood, and I wonder if we've ever been in a place before where as you're sharing with people, they get this blank look on their face.

Like, what are you talking about? Jesus makes no sense to me and apart from the spirit's work, they're absolutely right. It makes no sense, but Paul is engaging and talking and speaking, and they push back on the truth. One. Peter three, he says it this way, always be prepared to have conversation to dialogue with gentleness and respect.

He's not entering the synagogue's truth, shaming them for getting it wrong. He's not going to the marketplace with a bullhorn. He enters into conversations with known opponents, listening and engaging them. And he was misunderstood because freedom in Christ is terribly confusing. God's grace and forgiveness seems impossible to grasp without the spirit.

It seems too good to be true. It doesn't make sense. It's scandalous that somebody would come and die in the place of undeserving sinners. And as Paul shared with these Greek philosophers and the Jews of his day, he shared boldly and would later record this in Romans one 16. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God and salvation for everyone who believes first to the Jew, into the synagogue, and then to the Gentile, the marketplace and beyond.

This is the power that he preaches.

Okay, let's move on to the last section here. The trusting and responding of Paul. Verse 19. And they took him and brought him to the areopagus saying, may we know what this teaching is that you are presenting for. You bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean.

Now all the Athenians and foreigners who live there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new. So because of these things Paul has brought into the Areopagus, remember Paul took the early boat from Berea. He's in Athens now, and because of the Jews stirring up trouble from Fess Lanica, he moved on and he was dragged now into another section.

And I bet when his friends get there, they're like, Paul, we sent you to not cause trouble. And here you are in the Areopagus. So much for passive waiting, Paul, right? And so where do they take him to this place? Uh, that comes from two Greek words. Areopagus Peus means big rock and Aries, the God, the Greek mythology war God.

And so it's the, the God, the Rock of Aries, a place where people gathered. It was just below the Parthenon. It was a large pagan temple that kind of overlooked the, uh, the Areopagus. So it later be called Mars Hill under Roman rule. But as a place where many intellectuals came and debated and discussed theological issues, things of, of intellect, philosophy, religion, and all the various things that you could, uh, make about a God.

They talked about it there. And so Paul was brought into the council to give an account for this new teaching, which they didn't have a framework for. This was a huge moment. So the quick retracing of it here, Paul left his friends because of opposition. Paul was dumped in Athens with more statues than.

Of Gods than humans. He waited and was poked and prodded for his teaching and eventually dragged into the cultural religious conversation. If you have ears to hear this here, can you bring back up the four goals of the Holy Spirit on the slides? The first one, to carry God's gospel, the good news to all nations.

Check ongoing to sustain God's people amidst every opposition. He's doing more than sustaining Paul to fulfill God's sovereign purposes. He's invited to share at the gospel, at the very top of the top in this Greek culture. While he's waiting for the moment. To unite God's church, you better believe that what's coming in a few weeks is he preaches through this sermon before the Areopagus, people would turn their hearts and know the living Christ.

If we keep in mind the incredible purposes of the Holy Spirit, incredible purposes of God, our theology of waiting begins to shift. That what God accomplishes on these rainy days or in this moment of, uh, seemingly mundane, is actually God speaking and moving with a guiding light. He's not abandoned or sidelined us in these moments.

He's not doing anything like that. He's working on deep, many, many levels steeper than we can even imagine. In fact, if we knew all that, God knows, we wouldn't be calling it a rainy day or mundane or waiting. We'd be calling it God's sovereign plan. We'd fall in worship. Because we believe that God's revelation includes more than just us.

It's going deeper than simply just external actions that we might want to jump towards. He's working beyond this very moment, and in spite of my blindness, if we only would just trust him, if we could only worship him. Now, in this moment of waiting, if we could proclaim his faithfulness in the middle, give us faith.

Lord, help us to have faith before we see. I want to close this morning with a final story from the mission field. Um, this one is, uh, one of how, one of our missionaries, again, Deb got onto the mission field in, uh, west Africa. Nier. This is her journey to Gamy Hospital. Um, again, she's an occupational therapist and so was kind of looking for some opportunities.

She writes this, Well, I was preparing to go with Mercy ship to a prosthetics clinic in Liberia. I felt the Holy Spirit say, I have something else in mind. An old friend had been working with S I M Ni Nigeria and had asked me to consider coming to work in their hospital. So went to the website and the first position I found was for an occupational therapist at Gmy Hospital in Niger.

The spirit said, that's the one I questioned. Where do you want me to go? I googled it. I saw that it was at the edge of the Sahara desert north of the middle of nowhere, and said, Nope. The next available spot was at a leprosy hospital also in Niger. Still a no from me. Nigeria fell through and s Im reached out to every field looking for a placement.

For me, the only bite was the leprosy hospital. So I begrudgingly agreed to go. I got rid of all my furniture, gave up the lease on my apartment, and the night before I was leaving to go to my training, I sat on my empty living room floor and read an email from the Mission. The leprosy hospital doesn't need you.

After all, I looked up at the ceiling and shouted, Lord, what do you have up your sleeve? I reread the email. Nigeria doesn't need an ot, but Gmy Hospital in Niger needs an ot and we would love for you to come here. Gmy Hospital, the Sahara Desert, right back at the beginning where the spirit had tried to send me months prior.

Fast forward a few years, occupational therapy in the desert. You can just imagine what that's like. And a colleague was emptying out an old shipping container. Inside a, a crumbling box was a little spiral bound notebook labeled Gamy Hospital Physical Therapy. The first page read to the next physical therapist at Gamy Hospital.

That was me, the date at the top. April, 1981. I was born in April of 1981. When I finally opened my hands, I allowed him to move forward with what he'd been planning long since before I was born. Isn't that the way the spirit works? That if in our waiting, if our pushing back on the way that he would lead us, would only be turned to faith in things that we don't yet see?

We would see God work in incredible ways. Pray with me this morning,

Lord, you are working so far deeper. So far beyond what we can even understand or comprehend. And, and Lord, quite honestly, I'm thankful that you don't tell us what's ahead. Sometimes I'm thankful that we don't know the end plans. We know that it's your glory, but how we get there and the way your spirit leads, we just wanna walk with open hands.

And as we see Paul engaging even in the midst of what seems like a, a detour or a, a holding moment, you are at work Spirit. Lord, open our hearts to see, uh, as you see in these moments, to, to witness the way your spirit wants to meet. Philosophers at the Areopagus wants to meet people at the grocery store, Lord, and wants us to connect with brothers and sisters here in our own church building.

God, we ask that you would give us your vision. We pray these things in your name. Amen.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/waiting-in-athens f57c29f6-77cc-4803-94e1-329916f2b5f3 Sun, 23 Apr 2023 09:55:11 GMT <div data-html="true">Acts 17:16-21 Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols. <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> Good morning. I know the week after spring break it's just tough to get back on the horse again and get your kids up in the morning and yourself in the morning. Uh, but here we are. Um, wanted to just highlight one thing that, uh, happened. <br /><br /> Uh, welcome to you here, and those of you that are in Collingswood, I wanna talk to you guys in Collingswood as well. Um, our church yesterday hosted a, uh, a unique event. This was the, I'm gonna get this right, the South Jersey Speed Solvers, Rubik's Cube competition. How many of you knew we had that yesterday? <br /><br /> More than a hundred competitors. Uh, Sean Mack, uh, down at the Collingswood campus, who is an incredible cuber as they call them, or solver. I don't, what would we call you, Sean? I'm not really sure. Uh, and then also Matt Pugh here and their families really, uh, did an incredible job inviting their friends, people in this community, uh, and as far up as New York and down to. <br /><br /> Uh, that came, there was a world record holder that was here yesterday that, uh, was just insane. I have some videos if you wanna see them. Our very own pastor Jared, entered the competition. He is, you can go find his times on the cubing website. I'll leave it at that. Uh, it was a really fun time, uh, and for all that were part of that incredible way of opening the church doors. <br /><br /> Uh, so well we've come through a number of weeks, uh, of Easter leading up to Resurrection Sunday. And we are back officially in the Book of Acts, but only for this week. Next week's a little bit of a change, and then we're back again, hopefully for a, a longer stint. But leading up to Resurrection Sunday, I wanna just show you this, uh, visual we had. <br /><br /> Um, that was kind of something we talked about at the very beginning, but it's even more appropriate now. Coming right out of, uh, Easter. So we have these, these few things that happened. Uh, Mary and the women at the tomb, they saw Jesus after the resurrection, Simon Peter, the disciples. Then 500 followers, 40 days Post Resurrection is the beginning of the Book of Acts where we have Jesus ascending to heaven and the decension of the Holy Spirit on God's people. <br /><br /> So what we have as we come back to the Book of Acts, I know it's been more than a month, we really have a selected history of the early church. Remember Luke is the author here, and he's collected this data. It's not eyewitness, although he goes to eyewitness people to collect all this data together. And he's writing this two-part letter to a man named Theophilus, who we know was a man of great means and influence. <br /><br /> The first volume of this story was the Book of Luke, which really is the, the work of Jesus through the life, death, the resurrection leading us to this point. And now volume two of Luke's work is the book of Acts, the Spirit alive, the spirit of Jesus at work through his followers. And we talked, uh, a while back about ways you can come and approach any book of the Bible, but particularly the Book of Acts. <br /><br /> It is history, it is church history. And so when you hear the word history, you either turn into a scholar and you want to get dates, you want to get times, places, people, new insights, all good things. Or you turn into a casual admirer who was dragged to the museum and you didn't want to be. We are honest people, right? <br /><br /> It's okay to raise your hand, uh, or potentially you come this morning. And then I'm encouraging all of us to come in those first few ways, but also as a disciple of Jesus, we study because it's the unfolding mission of Christ in his church, witnessing his spirit, keeping in step with him. Now, what is the Holy Spirit doing? <br /><br /> Uh, those are ways we can approach this book, but what is he doing? One of the things we talked about at the very beginning of the Act sermon series is there really, uh, a number of intentions, a number of things. The Holy Spirit is doing objectives of his work. See if you can remember any of these. We'll put 'em on the screen here for you. <br /><br /> The first one is to carry God's gospel, which is the good news to all the nation. To carry God's gospel to all the nations. We got those postures. There we go. The second one is to sustain God's people amidst every opposition. The third is to fulfill God's sovereign purposes and the fourth to unite God's church, to gather us all together. <br /><br /> And, um, maybe you're familiar with this picture too. This is the, uh, if we think about the way the spirit works and he talked about, uh, that he would send these people out, the disciples out to Jerusalem, to Judea. There it is, Samaria and to the ends of the earth. If you look at the left there on the, the bottom, uh, you see Acts one through seven is really focused in this intersection, and then it kind of builds out from there. <br /><br /> We are in Acts chapter 17, which makes us to the ends of the Earth section right now. We're getting there, but we're not to chapter 28 just yet. Um, and if you, again, were following along for me, this was a really helpful study to just refresh. Where in the world are we in the book of Acts, chapter 17 finds us on the second lap of Paul's missionary journeys. <br /><br /> The first one here you'll see is kind of a, a more local area. He starts in Antioch and then begins out on the blue root and comes back on the red, um, making some stops along the way. And we are on the second lap of this journey, which is a larger journey. And, uh, starting in Antioch and coming up through Timothy joins Paul and Silas here in Lira and I iconium, they move through Asia and actually we're prevented from speaking in Asia. <br /><br /> And so they moved on through Asia, up through Macedonia and our might cut off, I'm sorry. It's probably better on that one over there, but they're making their way through. The last sermon that we heard in Acts chapter, uh, 1617, was about Berea. The people who received God's word. With all joy. They were eager to hear God's word. <br /><br /> And after that there was some, uh, things that happened because as they passed, passed through, uh, leaving Macedonia, passing through Thessalonia, Fasika, uh, there were some Jews that came to stir up and make some, uh, difficulty for Paul and his traveling friends. And so what happened was they moved on quickly and as they were in Berea, these Thessalonians came and tried to stir up more, uh, dissension among them. <br /><br /> And so as that happened, Silas and Timothy thought it was best if Paul would go ahead onto the next stop. They would kind of tie things up and um, we'll move the troublemaker as we call him Paul, uh, into Athens. And so Paul is sent on a ship to Athens and he arrives there. And that's where we are in chapter 17. <br /><br /> If you want to grab your Bibles, there is a pew Bible there. If you don't have one, you can tap. You can find a Bible. Look on your neighbors. It's on the screen. Let's read the word of God together. Uh, here's what it says in Acts chapter 17, 16 through 21. Now, while Paul was waiting for them at Athens again, that is Silas and Timothy. <br /><br /> He's waiting for them. His spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was filled with idols. So he reasoned in the synagogues with the Jews and the devout persons and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. Some of the epicurean and stoic philosophers also conversed with him, and some said, what does this Babbler wish to say? <br /><br /> Others said, he seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus saying, may we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting for. You bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore, what these things mean. <br /><br /> Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who live there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new. Lord, we thank you for this book and as we come to your word this morning, we ask, Lord, we plead that we would not just be casual admirers to a, uh, a history book, but that we would be your disciples, your children who are wowed. <br /><br /> By the way, the Holy Spirit is at work, Lord, the unfolding narrative of your church. We here in this room are recipients of our participants in. And we live in oneness with the author of this story, Christ, we thank you Lord for inviting us to hear and to learn this morning. We pray these things in your name. <br /><br /> Amen. Amen. Well, you'll see the, the title of today's sermon is Waiting in Athens Zinger, right? So far in the book of Acts, we've witnessed some exciting things and in two weeks there will be a really exciting thing, but today is just a waiting day. So if you wanna read ahead and get excited, do that today. <br /><br /> Is the waiting day kind of a, like, maybe a bit of a dud on paper? If you were to look at this at first pass? Actually, I had a pastor in our church, I'm not gonna name names Jerry, uh, but said, man, you got a great passage. It kind of looks like nothing's happening, so I'm excited to see where you're gonna go with this. <br /><br /> And I already knew that. It's kind of like the flight gets canceled, the game is postponed, the appointment rescheduled. You watched all the available episodes. Now you just gotta wait. Right? These are the boring moments. Why in the world would Luke choose to have this recorded in scripture, these mundane events? <br /><br /> Better yet, why would the pastor choose to preach about this? Well, this pastor was assigned this date and this passage, and so that's why we chose to preach about this. No, we really believe, and this is a core belief that we have here at Fellowship, is that every part of scripture teaches we're not just gonna hunt and pack for good passages and rip things out, but the entire narrative of scripture teaches and has something to. <br /><br /> Dallas Willard says this, we must accept the circumstances we constantly find ourselves in. I'll call them these mundane or waiting events. As the place of God's kingdom and blessing, God has yet to bless anyone except where they actually are. I'll read that part again. God has yet to bless anyone except where they actually are. <br /><br /> And if we faithless, discard situation after situation moment after moment as not being the right time, we will simply have no place to receive His kingdom into our life for those situations. And moments are our lives. And so as we come to this waiting passage this morning, this is how God is at work. <br /><br /> And so we will read and jump in. I'm gonna split it into three sections this morning. And, uh, as you know, you probably have an attached thing on the back of your bulletin. Don't look there too late. You already did. Uh, we'll get to that at the very end. Uh, but we will, uh, I know it's there. Okay. The first part here, waiting and exegeting is really the first part. <br /><br /> Big words for you. Verse 16. We already read. Paul was waiting for them at Athens expectant waiting, not taking the day off. His eyes and his heart have been guided by the Holy Spirit through a number of laps around here, the mission of God as the theme of Paul's life. And so there's really no on and off moment. <br /><br /> It says if sometimes we can think waiting is this evil that we have to just kind of get through to the real main event. But have you considered waiting in the scriptures? Have you thought about the idea of waiting, the concept of waiting? It appears very early on. In just the second chapter of Genesis in the Bible, Adam was created, placed in the garden. <br /><br /> Genesis two 18. God said, it is not good. That man should be alone, so I'm going to make him a helper fit for him. And what happens next in Genesis two 19, God makes a zoo. The animal starts showing up, and Adam is going to name all of these animals. And so there's this expectation of there's no helper and millions of animals come through. <br /><br /> God populates the earth with these animals. Genesis two 20, we keep going. But among all of the animals, there was not a helper fit for him. Waiting, longing, expectation, and eventually Eve was created. They hadn't even sinned yet. That's in chapter three. Waiting is pre fall of mankind. Now, some of you were like at the stoplight waiting. <br /><br /> Now that's sin right there. Like that is the worst, right? But no, it's actually part of the Bible even before the fall of man. I wonder if, as we think about the idea of waiting this tension, the length between the need that we might have, or a perceived idea of our need and the answer of God is not intentional, an invitation for us to trust, to have faith in the middle of where we're going back to verse 16 as he's waiting for them in Athens, Paul's spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols. <br /><br /> Paul arrived in Athens. It was the most educated city in the world. He was moved by the amount of idolatry he saw. The pagan writer Petronius said it was easier to find a God in Athens. Then it was a man. It was said that more than 30,000 public statues and and idols lined the streets protecting every archway and doorway, and aside from all the personal idols that you might have in your house, seems impossible to really overstate that idolatry was a thing in Athens and Paul's spirit was provoked by that. <br /><br /> Now, why would this be? Well, we remember Paul was a Jew, right? He wasn't a classic scholar like some of these Greek philosophers, but he knew the 10 Commandments and the first one. No other gods but me don't create or serve any other god's but me, for I am a jealous God. He remembers, he knows those words and his spirit is provoked inside of him as he sees these carved images all over the city of Athens. <br /><br /> This provoking, this idea is, is the Greek word prism, a sudden outburst of emotion. It just kind of, he violently like reacts to seeing all that he sees around him. And I wanna say that Paul was at this point probably engaging in something, whether he had the word for it then or not. Cultural exegesis. <br /><br /> He's studying the culture, he's looking around and he's beginning to see what these uh, things are happening in this. Simply put cultural exegesis as being a student of the location that you are in. So you can culturally exegete the town of Mount Laurel and Collingswood. In fact, actually, when the Collingswood campus was, uh, in Haddenfield before it was intentionally chosen and they studied around that area. <br /><br /> And similar looking for a building in Collingswood, the very same way. What is the makeup of this town? What do people love? What do they fear? What do they value? And it might look different here in Mount Laurel than it does in Collingswood. It's a principle that's used often in cross-cultural mission work. <br /><br /> You know, you go to another country and you enter their culture. You don't bring your culture and impress it upon this other people group. You join, you enter, you learn, and you come alongside of them to share. Jesus. Uh, rather than give you an example of, of this, I thought it would be best to, to highlight some of the people who've done this work, um, in incredible ways. <br /><br /> We have a, uh, a long list of missionaries here at Fellowship, and I wrote to them throughout this week and asked them, could you give me a story of either a cultural exegesis, blunder, or a way that God really used you as you were studying the culture that you were entering into? So, here are a couple of gathered stories. <br /><br /> Cultural exegesis is fun, it's exciting and it's humiliating. Here we go. Jacob Berlin and his family, he was here last summer, they are, uh, working with victims of sex trafficking in Bangladesh. He says, I once preached a sermon and concluded with, with this theological truth. Jesus is the potato of the world. <br /><br /> The word for potato is a lie, and the word for light is a hello. He got it wrong. Cultural exegesis. Jesus is not a potato. Similarly in the country of Bangladesh, it's a great place to make some wonders. Sean and Harold Ebersol. Uh, when Sean was studying in language school, um, she was in a Rick Shaw, which is like a low budget taxi. <br /><br /> And, um, they were heading to the store and suddenly the Rick Shaw driver decided he was gonna take a turn, uh, off on a side road, and she meant to shout, go straight. Instead, she shouted, go cucumber. The man paused and gave her a strange look. Another time. She was excited to be given the opportunity to teach a, a bible study in Bangla. <br /><br /> She was learning the language and it was her first time to really open the scriptures in another language and begin to teach. After her very first Bible study, a a sweet lady approached her and said, you know what? I didn't understand a word you said, but you have an incredible smile, the joy of the Lord. <br /><br /> And if you know Sean, the the joy of the Lord radiates through her. And so I bet she laughed and talked about the Lord. Even in ongoing there, I heard from a number of missionaries this week and each of them shared something about their funny stories, but also something of significance because cultural exegesis, as you, as you think about it, it's allowing us to know God's people better, which allows us to know God better. <br /><br /> That at times we learn the ways that he does and, and maybe works differently in other cultures. We listen for ways that he might speak uniquely here or there or or in that person's location. And most importantly, we allow space for God to meet us in new ways. Deb and James Knight. You may know Deb as Deb Beru. <br /><br /> Uh, she got married and they, uh, Deb and James were missionaries in Nija, west Africa. She was an occupational therapist. And, uh, one of the things that she wrote here, I'm gonna read because Deb's an incredible writer. I went through a period when I lost several pediatric patients and I was in a really dark place. <br /><br /> We had a kiddo come from the Boo Zoo people group, who was a slave tribe of the tox. She had a severe burn and came down with cerebral malaria. While she was going through the process of reconstructive surgeries. After this little girl died, her father a devout Muslim, thanked me a grieving father. In his words to me were, thank you. <br /><br /> In this place we see Jesus. His words angered me. Jesus could have protected her from malaria. Jesus could have provided them with the means to buy a mosquito net. Jesus could have, but he didn't. I began having this recurring dream. She writes, this same little girl would come in my dream, standing there on her one leg and the other severely burned, tucked underneath of her, and then everything would go white, and she would suddenly be standing on two legs next to Jesus holding his hand, and he would speak to me, but I couldn't hear him. <br /><br /> This went on every night for over a month. I was leaving the country of Nija for a week of rest, and on the plane somewhere over the Mediterranean, I had the dream again. Only this time I could hear Jesus speaking and he said, I didn't do this. I allowed it, but I didn't do it, and it breaks my heart more than yours. <br /><br /> I woke up with tears running down my cheeks in the words of her Muslim father in my ears. In this place, we see Jesus. It was at that moment that my theology of suffering changed, and I came to realize that the Holy Spirit was wandering the halls of our hospital. He was ministering to the hearts of the dying and revealing the truth of Jesus. <br /><br /> Without my words, it will only be in heaven that I may know how many people came to our hospital, not for the healing from disease, but to meet Jesus as they passed on from this life to the next. I am sure Paul was unsettled as he left his ministry. Buddies in Athens sent ahead. I'm sure the waiting felt pointless at times. <br /><br /> He's human after all, and now to be dropped into a place saturated with idolatry. But God's spirit is intentional, leading us to deeper understandings of our surroundings and himself. What's happening in your waiting right now? What are you facing in this season that if you were in charge, you wouldn't be facing? <br /><br /> Is there something you're required to deal with that you'd rather not have to put your time to right now? Where have your plans dripped like, like sand through your fingertips? Where do you feel troubled or inadequate or weak or defeated? Alienated. Is your BLA brain flooded with events of the past or the regrets is the future causing anxiety? <br /><br /> We wait for the Lord. Why? Because he's sovereign. He's trustworthy. Psalm one 30 says, I wait for the Lord my whole being waits and in his word, I put my hope. I wait for the Lord more than the watchmen. Wait for the morning more than the watchmen. Wait for the morning. Paul demonstrated this expectant waiting. <br /><br /> This, uh, not wasted time to study the culture that he was newly invested in. God's spirit speaks now today in our waiting. Okay, number two, listening and engaging. Verse 17 in the book of Acts, chapter 17, guided by the spirit. Here's what happens. Paul reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there as was the custom of Jesus. <br /><br /> Paul entered into the synagogue. It's the religious center. It's where all the people that he would've connections with. He, after all, was a Jew as well, and so he went right to the people who he might have the best chance at sharing this gospel with. He reasoned with them, spoke their language. The Greek word for this is Dimi, which is where we get the idea of dialogue. <br /><br /> It's this back and forth conversation hoping to come to a resolution of the truth. He also engaged not just with people in the synagogues, but with people along the way in the marketplace, whoever happened to be there. The common folk. I love this way of ministry. We're available. The walls are down. We're just looking for a chat. <br /><br /> You think of ministry moments, even here at Fellowship, and maybe this is just an American thing, but we got a lot of great plans. Ministry starts at seven o'clock and it ends at nine o'clock here. Sometimes we reserve rooms here at the church to make sure that our meetings can be planned. We schedule things and we're intentional. <br /><br /> These are all good things, but Brother Paul is out at the food store at the A Agora, which is less like Wegmans, probably more like the Collingswood Flea market, where there's just people who are selling things all around and he's looking for conversations. He's talking to the, the shop owners and the sellers. <br /><br /> He's the person that comes up to you in the, in the spice aisle, and he sees you with that ground mustard and he sneaks in a conversation about the kingdom of God somehow, some way. It just seems like that's who he is. Some of you are just naturally gifted that way, and others of you have a different gifting where you're like, the hat goes on, the ears come in and you're like, Wegmans is solitude for me. <br /><br /> I don't wanna talk to anybody. I don't wanna see anybody. Just don't talk to me. Different strokes for different folks. Paul was available to the spirits leading, even as he was just wandering around finding ground beef for a recipe and probably didn't have ground beef. Okay, verse 18. Not only did he go to the synagogue intentionally to his people, and he was available as he was walking through the marketplace, but some of the epicurean and stoic philosophers also conversed with him. <br /><br /> And some said, what does this Babbler wish to say? Others said, he seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. He made space for these philosophers, the epicurean people that thought everything happened by chance. Death was the end of it all. There's no afterlife. <br /><br /> They believe Gods were removed from the world and they didn't really care. Pleasure was the chief end of man and the stoics. Everything is a God. The Spirit turned God, uh, spirit turned back to God upon death, and everything that happens is the will of God and we're to accept it without resentment. These are the two groups that labeled Paul a Babbler. <br /><br /> Baler is, uh, comes from the Greek word sperma logos, which literally means seed picker. If you think of a bird kind of bouncing around on the ground, picking up seeds and just gathering little pieces from other things, the message that Paul is preaching is almost like he was a bird that jumped around and then picked up some stoicism and picked up some of this and they couldn't figure out how to peg him. <br /><br /> He's just a babbler making this stuff up, but he's not an epicurean. He's not a stoic. He's preaching something handpicked, maybe a far out god, a conglomerations of things or, or a divinity somewhere that we don't understand, and he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. They didn't have a framework for the resurrection. <br /><br /> In fact, all life ended at there was no afterlife for the epicures. The resurrection was confusing. New life in Christ was confusing to them. And so Paul preaches this truth and is misunderstood, and I wonder if we've ever been in a place before where as you're sharing with people, they get this blank look on their face. <br /><br /> Like, what are you talking about? Jesus makes no sense to me and apart from the spirit's work, they're absolutely right. It makes no sense, but Paul is engaging and talking and speaking, and they push back on the truth. One. Peter three, he says it this way, always be prepared to have conversation to dialogue with gentleness and respect. <br /><br /> He's not entering the synagogue's truth, shaming them for getting it wrong. He's not going to the marketplace with a bullhorn. He enters into conversations with known opponents, listening and engaging them. And he was misunderstood because freedom in Christ is terribly confusing. God's grace and forgiveness seems impossible to grasp without the spirit. <br /><br /> It seems too good to be true. It doesn't make sense. It's scandalous that somebody would come and die in the place of undeserving sinners. And as Paul shared with these Greek philosophers and the Jews of his day, he shared boldly and would later record this in Romans one 16. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God and salvation for everyone who believes first to the Jew, into the synagogue, and then to the Gentile, the marketplace and beyond. <br /><br /> This is the power that he preaches. <br /><br /> Okay, let's move on to the last section here. The trusting and responding of Paul. Verse 19. And they took him and brought him to the areopagus saying, may we know what this teaching is that you are presenting for. You bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean. <br /><br /> Now all the Athenians and foreigners who live there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new. So because of these things Paul has brought into the Areopagus, remember Paul took the early boat from Berea. He's in Athens now, and because of the Jews stirring up trouble from Fess Lanica, he moved on and he was dragged now into another section. <br /><br /> And I bet when his friends get there, they're like, Paul, we sent you to not cause trouble. And here you are in the Areopagus. So much for passive waiting, Paul, right? And so where do they take him to this place? Uh, that comes from two Greek words. Areopagus Peus means big rock and Aries, the God, the Greek mythology war God. <br /><br /> And so it's the, the God, the Rock of Aries, a place where people gathered. It was just below the Parthenon. It was a large pagan temple that kind of overlooked the, uh, the Areopagus. So it later be called Mars Hill under Roman rule. But as a place where many intellectuals came and debated and discussed theological issues, things of, of intellect, philosophy, religion, and all the various things that you could, uh, make about a God. <br /><br /> They talked about it there. And so Paul was brought into the council to give an account for this new teaching, which they didn't have a framework for. This was a huge moment. So the quick retracing of it here, Paul left his friends because of opposition. Paul was dumped in Athens with more statues than. <br /><br /> Of Gods than humans. He waited and was poked and prodded for his teaching and eventually dragged into the cultural religious conversation. If you have ears to hear this here, can you bring back up the four goals of the Holy Spirit on the slides? The first one, to carry God's gospel, the good news to all nations. <br /><br /> Check ongoing to sustain God's people amidst every opposition. He's doing more than sustaining Paul to fulfill God's sovereign purposes. He's invited to share at the gospel, at the very top of the top in this Greek culture. While he's waiting for the moment. To unite God's church, you better believe that what's coming in a few weeks is he preaches through this sermon before the Areopagus, people would turn their hearts and know the living Christ. <br /><br /> If we keep in mind the incredible purposes of the Holy Spirit, incredible purposes of God, our theology of waiting begins to shift. That what God accomplishes on these rainy days or in this moment of, uh, seemingly mundane, is actually God speaking and moving with a guiding light. He's not abandoned or sidelined us in these moments. <br /><br /> He's not doing anything like that. He's working on deep, many, many levels steeper than we can even imagine. In fact, if we knew all that, God knows, we wouldn't be calling it a rainy day or mundane or waiting. We'd be calling it God's sovereign plan. We'd fall in worship. Because we believe that God's revelation includes more than just us. <br /><br /> It's going deeper than simply just external actions that we might want to jump towards. He's working beyond this very moment, and in spite of my blindness, if we only would just trust him, if we could only worship him. Now, in this moment of waiting, if we could proclaim his faithfulness in the middle, give us faith. <br /><br /> Lord, help us to have faith before we see. I want to close this morning with a final story from the mission field. Um, this one is, uh, one of how, one of our missionaries, again, Deb got onto the mission field in, uh, west Africa. Nier. This is her journey to Gamy Hospital. Um, again, she's an occupational therapist and so was kind of looking for some opportunities. <br /><br /> She writes this, Well, I was preparing to go with Mercy ship to a prosthetics clinic in Liberia. I felt the Holy Spirit say, I have something else in mind. An old friend had been working with S I M Ni Nigeria and had asked me to consider coming to work in their hospital. So went to the website and the first position I found was for an occupational therapist at Gmy Hospital in Niger. <br /><br /> The spirit said, that's the one I questioned. Where do you want me to go? I googled it. I saw that it was at the edge of the Sahara desert north of the middle of nowhere, and said, Nope. The next available spot was at a leprosy hospital also in Niger. Still a no from me. Nigeria fell through and s Im reached out to every field looking for a placement. <br /><br /> For me, the only bite was the leprosy hospital. So I begrudgingly agreed to go. I got rid of all my furniture, gave up the lease on my apartment, and the night before I was leaving to go to my training, I sat on my empty living room floor and read an email from the Mission. The leprosy hospital doesn't need you. <br /><br /> After all, I looked up at the ceiling and shouted, Lord, what do you have up your sleeve? I reread the email. Nigeria doesn't need an ot, but Gmy Hospital in Niger needs an ot and we would love for you to come here. Gmy Hospital, the Sahara Desert, right back at the beginning where the spirit had tried to send me months prior. <br /><br /> Fast forward a few years, occupational therapy in the desert. You can just imagine what that's like. And a colleague was emptying out an old shipping container. Inside a, a crumbling box was a little spiral bound notebook labeled Gamy Hospital Physical Therapy. The first page read to the next physical therapist at Gamy Hospital. <br /><br /> That was me, the date at the top. April, 1981. I was born in April of 1981. When I finally opened my hands, I allowed him to move forward with what he'd been planning long since before I was born. Isn't that the way the spirit works? That if in our waiting, if our pushing back on the way that he would lead us, would only be turned to faith in things that we don't yet see? <br /><br /> We would see God work in incredible ways. Pray with me this morning, <br /><br /> Lord, you are working so far deeper. So far beyond what we can even understand or comprehend. And, and Lord, quite honestly, I'm thankful that you don't tell us what's ahead. Sometimes I'm thankful that we don't know the end plans. We know that it's your glory, but how we get there and the way your spirit leads, we just wanna walk with open hands. <br /><br /> And as we see Paul engaging even in the midst of what seems like a, a detour or a, a holding moment, you are at work Spirit. Lord, open our hearts to see, uh, as you see in these moments, to, to witness the way your spirit wants to meet. Philosophers at the Areopagus wants to meet people at the grocery store, Lord, and wants us to connect with brothers and sisters here in our own church building. <br /><br /> God, we ask that you would give us your vision. We pray these things in your name. Amen.</div> false no <![CDATA[Whole-Hearted Influencer]]> Nehemiah 5:14-19

The former governors who were before me laid heavy burdens on the people and took from them for their daily ration forty shekels of silver. Even their servants lorded it over the people. But I did not do so, because of the fear of God.



Sermon Transcript:

I'd like you to turn with me to Nehemiah chapter five. We're gonna just send a few moments here, Nehemiah chapter five, verse 14 through 19. If you don't know where Nehemiah is, open your Bible right to the middle. You'll probably hit the book of Psalms.

Looks like pals. Um, and keep going to the left, and you'll hear a book called Nehemiah Nehemiah, chapter five. We're gonna look at verse 14 through 19. In a moment. Our FCC mission statement says this, FCC exists to be a community of hope through Jesus Christ, our vision statement. FCC seeks to build communities that experience and share the hope in Jesus Christ here and around the world.

It's a unique Sunday today for two reasons. One, certain certainly is to have Brennan and Kathleen here and to be reminded that this vision statement says that we want to experience and share hope in Jesus Christ around the world, not just here in our immediate community, but to Trenton and then beyond, to our Judea, our Samaria, and then to the uttermost parts of the earth.

We have heard had the exciting privilege to partner in their ministry for these years, and I love the, the, the analogy, the, the metaphor of our fingerprints being on that ministry in so many ways. It's also a time when we are seriously reflecting as a church in how we can be. Experiencing and sharing the hope in Jesus Christ here in both of our campuses this summer.

God willing, we are going to be doing a significant remodel, uh, down at Collingwood. We've talked about this with you. Uh, they're talking about it a lot there. Here we're talking about the specific things we'll be doing here. We've had these videos that Pastor Mike has put together every week that have been presenting different aspects of it.

If you haven't seen the ones related to this room, uh, we are going to be changing to theater seating and, uh, lessening the size of our platform. We're going to get over 25% greater seating capacity. Through that. We're going to be putting in a new lighting video system, changing floor coverings, the whole thing, as well as what was discussed out in the lobby.

Two weeks from today. Uh, on April 30th, we are going to be taking an in gathering offering. Our prayer is for $500,000 to come in. Uh, we're asking you to really be thinking and praying about that as we think about being a community that is seeking to extend hope to others. That's why we're doing more seats.

That's why we're trying to remodel to more effectively minister to people. I wanna just take a few moments to think about what kind of individuals extend God's hope toward others, what's true of their lives. Nehemiah was such a guy, Nehemiah, and the passages we're gonna read in just a second was a servant in the household and the palace of the Persian king.

Many hundreds of miles from Israel, the homeland of Israel, to the, to the. He was there serving, he was called the cup bearer. He was a trusted servant because he was the guy that would actually serve the king. And if you knew how much assassins took, uh, assassinations took place, you wanted the right guy testing your food and drink.

This was a trusted employee of the King, and he was a Jew. And he had grown passionate to want to go back to Israel because at that point, Israel had lived for 150 years under foreign, uh, dominions and, and foreign, uh, um, can't think of the word. Anyway, they were there, um, and they were overseeing their area.

And so the, the concern that he had was even the walls of the city were broken down. There was no way to protect themselves. Especially against the local governors that were continually trying to make inroads and take over o over the authority of their leaders in Israel. So Nehemiah got permission to go back.

He was being appointed to build the walls. He has been appointed to be the governor of Jerusalem and the surrounding area of Judah at the time. And as he is going through his ministry, here's a quick rundown of what the book is about. Chapter one, he makes the trip, chapter two and three. He begins the work on the walls, which is against the opposition of the local governors who didn't know he'd come to rebuild the walls.

When they find out chapter four, chapter three and four in particular, demonstrate their hostility to the point that some of them are actually talking about invading. So they have to actually post guards every day. And so they're sitting there building during the day and they're guarding at night. And chapter five, We see that the opposition that he is facing to build a godly community in Judah is not only coming from the outside, but some of his own nobles are acting in such a way they're looking for their own, uh, career advancement.

They're looking for the building of their own portfolios, that they are abusing the Jews of whom they are apart, and he has to, to come to them, rebuke them. And in chapter 14 through 19, he gives a picture of his own passion, his own heartbeat. And here's what we read in verses 14 through 19 of Nehemiah chapter five.

Moreover, from the time that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah from the 20th year to the 32nd year of Artis Xi's the King, 12 years, neither I nor my brothers ate the food allowance of the governor. The former governors who were before me laid heavy burdens on the people and took from them for their daily RA rations, 40 shackles of silver.

Even their servants lorded it over the people, but I did not do so because of the fear of God. I also persevered in the work on the wall, and we acquired no land and all the servants were gathered there for the work. Moreover, they were at my table, 150 men, Jews and officials besides who came to us from the nations that were around us now that was prepared at my expense for each day was one ox and six choice sheep and birds, and every 10 days, all kinds of wine and abundance.

Yet for all this, I did not demand the food allowed of the governor because the service was too heavy for the PE on this. People remember for my good, oh my God, all that I have done for this people. Lord, we look to you in these moments together, and God, as we consider these four qualities of this, Godly man, this Godly leader.

Uh, may you speak into our own hearts of just our own heart orientation toward you. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. For quick things we see about Nehemiah. Number one, we see a man who is, who had submitted his personal rights. In verse 14, he says, I've been in this role for 12 years, and in these 12 years, I have not taken what was my right to take what the other governors had done before him.

He had not taken the daily allowance. He talks about the, the, um, the provisions that has made, been made for him. He had rather out of his own pocket, had provided for the care of what was at times a thousand people per week that he was taken care of. Financially. He didn't take advantage of all the perks that were available to him in the job.

His spirit was not, this is what I can get out of this role, or his primary question was not what's, what's in it for me? What do I need for me? What do I need to protect my future and be secure for myself? The ultimate question was, what has God called me to do? Because he was a man that surrendered his rights.

It was his right to take some of this. All the men before him had done it As governors, all the surrounding governors did this, but there was a heart that was ruled by him. It reminds us of the New Testament principle of one Corinthians six in verse 19 and 20, where Paul is describing how we ought to live our lives.

Here's what he says. Don't you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own. For you are bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. He says every part of your life has been purchased. You are not your own. You belong to Christ. One of the foundational realities of life with God is that you don't have your own personal rights to claim.

He saved you. He freed you from the penalty of power, uh, and the power of sins. He called you. He adopted you. He redeemed you. He forgave you, but he bought you. He gave his own son's life. For you to belong to him, to say, God, my time is your time. My talents are your talents. My treasure is your treasure. All of my life belongs to you.

You bought me. Now you've been bought by the kindest, most compassionate, most compellingly kind individual in all of the universe, but you didn't enter a democracy when you joined the Kingdom of Christ. You entered a theocracy where Christ is the king and the Lord, and Nehemiah got it, and he says, all these are my right.

I can claim 'em all. But if my goal here is to be a servant of God and to serve his people, and he's brought me back from a cushy job in Persia, that I am here by the, the decree of God to serve his purposes among his people

that he calls the shots. I don't have the right to say in light of how my wife treats me. I have a wife to, I have a right to give her the silent treatment. With the economy being so volatile, I have a right to not tie or give faithfully. My boss is such a jerk. I have a right to gossip about him. The fundamental flaw in our thinking is to forget we belong to Christ.

He bought us.

And we have given our rights to him. The second thing we find in Nehemiah is a strength of character. In verse 15 and 16, he has an integrity that replaced accepted practices. I've mentioned the former governors. He highlights these in verse 15. And following that, they took their daily ration. That, that he said, I, I didn't take it.

I didn't acquire land. He said this was a great opportunity. One of the benefits, uh, of, of being a leader. It's like in the, in the colonial days, you know, a lot of the English lords were happy to come over here and serve in the military because they tend to get tracks of land as a benefit. It was a perk of the job, uh, in the new land.

And this was similar. And he says, I, I didn't take any land. As a matter of fact, he's gonna say what I'm actually doing during the day is I'm on the walls working. He did not take that, which was his to necessarily take, he went against accepted practices. Now, here's the thing. When you don't go along with accepted practices, you make people mad.

Now, the other governor that was before him was gone. Right? But some of his people are there, some of his aides are there, some of his cabinets still involved. We're gonna, if, if you study the book of Nehemiah, you'll find out a number of those people had had infiltrated the whole leadership structure in Jerusalem, and he walks into this.

So every time he says, no, we're not taking the perks, he's ticking people off. It's hard to go against. I mean, he is the new guy in town. It's hard to have people mad at you. None of us are saying, I'm gonna wake up tomorrow morning, and I'm just looking for opportunities to have conflict with the people in my life.

If you are, please don't work with me.

And you wanna say about Nehemiah, he's got all these enemies out there. He's got so much coming at him. Doesn't he have enough people mad at him? And then he goes out and works on the wall and you can just imagine the voices, you know, you can just imagine be What kind of a ruler does that? I mean, who does he think he is anyway?

Is he trying to show us up? What's he trying to prove? Oh, the

somehow he's willing to go against accepted practices. He's able to be a man of integrity, which the word integrity is from the word I means straight. He's able to follow a straight line when everything else is so twisted around him. How was he able to do that? Well, we're told here in the verse, We're told here down in verse 15, even their servants lorded over the people.

But I didn't do so. Why? Because of the fear of God. The fear of God replaces other fears, all replaces fear. Many of you know, over the last number of years, I just spent hundreds and hundreds of hours, uh, some of it on my own time unrelated to work, some of it in preps for various series, studying the fear of God.

It has become probably the most precious principle of scripture to me, to understand what it means to be awed by God. I signed my newsletters now living in awe. I, I, I want a God that stunts me. I want a God. And the longer I live my life in ministry and life and the more I face disappointments and confusions and hurdles and and things where we need the power of God, as we were singing about this morning, the more I find I'm drawn more and more for a God that is big and transcended a God that doesn't just love me.

He owes me. He stuns me with his power and his grace and his love and his holiness. Nehemiah new God like that, the bigger God gets, the smaller people's voices get. The bigger God becomes the less frightening becomes deprivations and limitations. And insufficiencies in our lives all replaces fear, and it was true with this man.

One of the studies I'm doing right now, again, this is just for my own soul, is just to go through the Bible and say, who were fearless people? What was true of fearless people that weren't constrained to, to, to, they weren't afraid to confront others because of fear. They didn't have to manipulate or gossip or lie to protect themselves from being embarrassed or to avoid conflict.

They didn't withdraw from people because of the fear of tension. They were willing to obey God. They wanted God because they weren't afraid of the loss of anything else, because God awed them. God becomes bigger and better than anything else.

When we enter into the path of Nehemiah, which is just to be bought by God. The third characteristic of Nehemiah was he was willing to sacrifice. Verse 17 says this, moreover, they're at my table, 150 men, Jews and officials, besides those who came to us from the nations around us. Now, what was prepared at my expense for each day was one ox and six sheep, six choice sheep and birds, and every 10 days, all kinds of wine and abundances.

Yet for all this, I did not demand the food allowance of the governor because the service was too heavy on this. People, over a thousand guests a week, he paid for out of his own pocket. And you might respond, well, wait a minute. This guy's filthy rich. Well, yeah, he, he obviously had some resources. It's been my experience that the more you accumulate.

The harder it is to start giving with the spirit of generosity later in life. You go with with financial gain, the more difficult it is to let it go, that you may go up some with the amount, but certainly not much with the percentage. I would had lunch with a guy not too long ago, successful business person for sure, and I knew his walk with God in the area of finance and I was asking questions, I was just curious and what his own practice was with the Lord.

And he said, my wife and I covenanted years ago that as God, if God chose to expand our financial situation, we would never evaluate our giving as growing in amount. We would always continue to give growing in percentage. That's not easy to do.

Nehemiah had a heart of generosity and he said, this belongs to God. God has promised to take care of me. I have so many opposites, so much around me, but I am going to live joyfully sacrificially by faith as an influence and be an influence of God. The last thing, verse 19, he was a God that was surrendered to God.

Remember for my good, oh my God, all that I've done for this people, he had a God who was personal. You're my God, a God who is faithful. Remember for my good, all that I have done for this people. Now that sounds kind of arrogant. But on, you know, he's saying, remember me for my good, because of all I've done.

I, I, I think if you really pray, you don't feel very arrogant with God. You start with worship, which we see in the book. He, he's a, he's a worshiper. He's a prayer. He is a thanker. You begin by worshiping God, and then you're thanking God, and then you're confessing your syngo. You don't tend to come to God with an arrogant spirit.

He's listing this because he's confident that God delights to take care of those that delight, to honor the Lord in their lives. He said, Lord, I've done what you've told me to do. Remember me. I'm trusting you to take care of me. Watch out for me. God delights to sustain and carry his children to do his will, but it begins with surrendering to God.

I had another conversation recently with another individual. And he, he also was a guy and he made an interesting analogy. He has gone through a number of very difficult things in the last two years, heartaches. Um, and he said, I was asking about his response, how he responded to it. And we, and I, I know him pretty well now, but he said, you know, I've learned there's only two curtains.

There's a curtain of my will and I can choose that and sometimes I do, and a lot of times I want to. But he said, I always find what's on the other side of the curtain stinks. He said, there's another curtain. He called it the curtain of surrender. I can say, Lord, you're asking me when I go through that curtain to choose your will to say yes to you.

And I don't know what's on the other side, but he said, every time I choose that curtain, I love what's on the other side. Amen. But he said there's no third curtain. There's no third curtain. There is no third curtain. There is your will. There's God's will. Nehemiah says, Lord, remember me because I'm choosing your curtain.

I'm going through and I'm trusting you to carry me and care for me. To me, this is an exciting day in our church. It's exciting to hear what God has done. I can't remember the name of your church. What is it called now? Fellowship Crosspoint. Fellowship Crosspoint, yeah. I'm still back at Capital City, um, here about what God's doing at at Fellowship Crosspoint.

It's exciting to see what God is doing and stirring of us to do. It's most of all exciting to just think we are invited to be a part of the purposes of God, to choose his curtains. To trust him, to walk through, and then to be able to say, Lord, you're my God. I trust you. To honor yourself in caring for your servant as I say yes to what you ask me to do, Lord, we close this time,

we go away full with gratitude. The story we've heard with Brennan and Kathleen, those of us that have watched the choices of faith that they have made just delighting you or proud of you, Lord, for the way you've cared for them and used them. God, we delight in the joy and the privilege of being able to walk with you as your children.

We want to choose your curtain. Say yes, whatever you call us to do. In Jesus' name, amen. Now go in peace to love and serve and enjoy the Lord.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/whole-hearted-influencer f6a83376-b324-4414-afd3-29339e265322 Sun, 16 Apr 2023 16:32:01 GMT <div data-html="true">Nehemiah 5:14-19 <br /><br /> The former governors who were before me laid heavy burdens on the people and took from them for their daily ration forty shekels of silver. Even their servants lorded it over the people. But I did not do so, because of the fear of God. <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> I'd like you to turn with me to Nehemiah chapter five. We're gonna just send a few moments here, Nehemiah chapter five, verse 14 through 19. If you don't know where Nehemiah is, open your Bible right to the middle. You'll probably hit the book of Psalms. <br /><br /> Looks like pals. Um, and keep going to the left, and you'll hear a book called Nehemiah Nehemiah, chapter five. We're gonna look at verse 14 through 19. In a moment. Our FCC mission statement says this, FCC exists to be a community of hope through Jesus Christ, our vision statement. FCC seeks to build communities that experience and share the hope in Jesus Christ here and around the world. <br /><br /> It's a unique Sunday today for two reasons. One, certain certainly is to have Brennan and Kathleen here and to be reminded that this vision statement says that we want to experience and share hope in Jesus Christ around the world, not just here in our immediate community, but to Trenton and then beyond, to our Judea, our Samaria, and then to the uttermost parts of the earth. <br /><br /> We have heard had the exciting privilege to partner in their ministry for these years, and I love the, the, the analogy, the, the metaphor of our fingerprints being on that ministry in so many ways. It's also a time when we are seriously reflecting as a church in how we can be. Experiencing and sharing the hope in Jesus Christ here in both of our campuses this summer. <br /><br /> God willing, we are going to be doing a significant remodel, uh, down at Collingwood. We've talked about this with you. Uh, they're talking about it a lot there. Here we're talking about the specific things we'll be doing here. We've had these videos that Pastor Mike has put together every week that have been presenting different aspects of it. <br /><br /> If you haven't seen the ones related to this room, uh, we are going to be changing to theater seating and, uh, lessening the size of our platform. We're going to get over 25% greater seating capacity. Through that. We're going to be putting in a new lighting video system, changing floor coverings, the whole thing, as well as what was discussed out in the lobby. <br /><br /> Two weeks from today. Uh, on April 30th, we are going to be taking an in gathering offering. Our prayer is for $500,000 to come in. Uh, we're asking you to really be thinking and praying about that as we think about being a community that is seeking to extend hope to others. That's why we're doing more seats. <br /><br /> That's why we're trying to remodel to more effectively minister to people. I wanna just take a few moments to think about what kind of individuals extend God's hope toward others, what's true of their lives. Nehemiah was such a guy, Nehemiah, and the passages we're gonna read in just a second was a servant in the household and the palace of the Persian king. <br /><br /> Many hundreds of miles from Israel, the homeland of Israel, to the, to the. He was there serving, he was called the cup bearer. He was a trusted servant because he was the guy that would actually serve the king. And if you knew how much assassins took, uh, assassinations took place, you wanted the right guy testing your food and drink. <br /><br /> This was a trusted employee of the King, and he was a Jew. And he had grown passionate to want to go back to Israel because at that point, Israel had lived for 150 years under foreign, uh, dominions and, and foreign, uh, um, can't think of the word. Anyway, they were there, um, and they were overseeing their area. <br /><br /> And so the, the concern that he had was even the walls of the city were broken down. There was no way to protect themselves. Especially against the local governors that were continually trying to make inroads and take over o over the authority of their leaders in Israel. So Nehemiah got permission to go back. <br /><br /> He was being appointed to build the walls. He has been appointed to be the governor of Jerusalem and the surrounding area of Judah at the time. And as he is going through his ministry, here's a quick rundown of what the book is about. Chapter one, he makes the trip, chapter two and three. He begins the work on the walls, which is against the opposition of the local governors who didn't know he'd come to rebuild the walls. <br /><br /> When they find out chapter four, chapter three and four in particular, demonstrate their hostility to the point that some of them are actually talking about invading. So they have to actually post guards every day. And so they're sitting there building during the day and they're guarding at night. And chapter five, We see that the opposition that he is facing to build a godly community in Judah is not only coming from the outside, but some of his own nobles are acting in such a way they're looking for their own, uh, career advancement. <br /><br /> They're looking for the building of their own portfolios, that they are abusing the Jews of whom they are apart, and he has to, to come to them, rebuke them. And in chapter 14 through 19, he gives a picture of his own passion, his own heartbeat. And here's what we read in verses 14 through 19 of Nehemiah chapter five. <br /><br /> Moreover, from the time that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah from the 20th year to the 32nd year of Artis Xi's the King, 12 years, neither I nor my brothers ate the food allowance of the governor. The former governors who were before me laid heavy burdens on the people and took from them for their daily RA rations, 40 shackles of silver. <br /><br /> Even their servants lorded it over the people, but I did not do so because of the fear of God. I also persevered in the work on the wall, and we acquired no land and all the servants were gathered there for the work. Moreover, they were at my table, 150 men, Jews and officials besides who came to us from the nations that were around us now that was prepared at my expense for each day was one ox and six choice sheep and birds, and every 10 days, all kinds of wine and abundance. <br /><br /> Yet for all this, I did not demand the food allowed of the governor because the service was too heavy for the PE on this. People remember for my good, oh my God, all that I have done for this people. Lord, we look to you in these moments together, and God, as we consider these four qualities of this, Godly man, this Godly leader. <br /><br /> Uh, may you speak into our own hearts of just our own heart orientation toward you. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. For quick things we see about Nehemiah. Number one, we see a man who is, who had submitted his personal rights. In verse 14, he says, I've been in this role for 12 years, and in these 12 years, I have not taken what was my right to take what the other governors had done before him. <br /><br /> He had not taken the daily allowance. He talks about the, the, um, the provisions that has made, been made for him. He had rather out of his own pocket, had provided for the care of what was at times a thousand people per week that he was taken care of. Financially. He didn't take advantage of all the perks that were available to him in the job. <br /><br /> His spirit was not, this is what I can get out of this role, or his primary question was not what's, what's in it for me? What do I need for me? What do I need to protect my future and be secure for myself? The ultimate question was, what has God called me to do? Because he was a man that surrendered his rights. <br /><br /> It was his right to take some of this. All the men before him had done it As governors, all the surrounding governors did this, but there was a heart that was ruled by him. It reminds us of the New Testament principle of one Corinthians six in verse 19 and 20, where Paul is describing how we ought to live our lives. <br /><br /> Here's what he says. Don't you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own. For you are bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. He says every part of your life has been purchased. You are not your own. You belong to Christ. One of the foundational realities of life with God is that you don't have your own personal rights to claim. <br /><br /> He saved you. He freed you from the penalty of power, uh, and the power of sins. He called you. He adopted you. He redeemed you. He forgave you, but he bought you. He gave his own son's life. For you to belong to him, to say, God, my time is your time. My talents are your talents. My treasure is your treasure. All of my life belongs to you. <br /><br /> You bought me. Now you've been bought by the kindest, most compassionate, most compellingly kind individual in all of the universe, but you didn't enter a democracy when you joined the Kingdom of Christ. You entered a theocracy where Christ is the king and the Lord, and Nehemiah got it, and he says, all these are my right. <br /><br /> I can claim 'em all. But if my goal here is to be a servant of God and to serve his people, and he's brought me back from a cushy job in Persia, that I am here by the, the decree of God to serve his purposes among his people <br /><br /> that he calls the shots. I don't have the right to say in light of how my wife treats me. I have a wife to, I have a right to give her the silent treatment. With the economy being so volatile, I have a right to not tie or give faithfully. My boss is such a jerk. I have a right to gossip about him. The fundamental flaw in our thinking is to forget we belong to Christ. <br /><br /> He bought us. <br /><br /> And we have given our rights to him. The second thing we find in Nehemiah is a strength of character. In verse 15 and 16, he has an integrity that replaced accepted practices. I've mentioned the former governors. He highlights these in verse 15. And following that, they took their daily ration. That, that he said, I, I didn't take it. <br /><br /> I didn't acquire land. He said this was a great opportunity. One of the benefits, uh, of, of being a leader. It's like in the, in the colonial days, you know, a lot of the English lords were happy to come over here and serve in the military because they tend to get tracks of land as a benefit. It was a perk of the job, uh, in the new land. <br /><br /> And this was similar. And he says, I, I didn't take any land. As a matter of fact, he's gonna say what I'm actually doing during the day is I'm on the walls working. He did not take that, which was his to necessarily take, he went against accepted practices. Now, here's the thing. When you don't go along with accepted practices, you make people mad. <br /><br /> Now, the other governor that was before him was gone. Right? But some of his people are there, some of his aides are there, some of his cabinets still involved. We're gonna, if, if you study the book of Nehemiah, you'll find out a number of those people had had infiltrated the whole leadership structure in Jerusalem, and he walks into this. <br /><br /> So every time he says, no, we're not taking the perks, he's ticking people off. It's hard to go against. I mean, he is the new guy in town. It's hard to have people mad at you. None of us are saying, I'm gonna wake up tomorrow morning, and I'm just looking for opportunities to have conflict with the people in my life. <br /><br /> If you are, please don't work with me. <br /><br /> And you wanna say about Nehemiah, he's got all these enemies out there. He's got so much coming at him. Doesn't he have enough people mad at him? And then he goes out and works on the wall and you can just imagine the voices, you know, you can just imagine be What kind of a ruler does that? I mean, who does he think he is anyway? <br /><br /> Is he trying to show us up? What's he trying to prove? Oh, the <br /><br /> somehow he's willing to go against accepted practices. He's able to be a man of integrity, which the word integrity is from the word I means straight. He's able to follow a straight line when everything else is so twisted around him. How was he able to do that? Well, we're told here in the verse, We're told here down in verse 15, even their servants lorded over the people. <br /><br /> But I didn't do so. Why? Because of the fear of God. The fear of God replaces other fears, all replaces fear. Many of you know, over the last number of years, I just spent hundreds and hundreds of hours, uh, some of it on my own time unrelated to work, some of it in preps for various series, studying the fear of God. <br /><br /> It has become probably the most precious principle of scripture to me, to understand what it means to be awed by God. I signed my newsletters now living in awe. I, I, I want a God that stunts me. I want a God. And the longer I live my life in ministry and life and the more I face disappointments and confusions and hurdles and and things where we need the power of God, as we were singing about this morning, the more I find I'm drawn more and more for a God that is big and transcended a God that doesn't just love me. <br /><br /> He owes me. He stuns me with his power and his grace and his love and his holiness. Nehemiah new God like that, the bigger God gets, the smaller people's voices get. The bigger God becomes the less frightening becomes deprivations and limitations. And insufficiencies in our lives all replaces fear, and it was true with this man. <br /><br /> One of the studies I'm doing right now, again, this is just for my own soul, is just to go through the Bible and say, who were fearless people? What was true of fearless people that weren't constrained to, to, to, they weren't afraid to confront others because of fear. They didn't have to manipulate or gossip or lie to protect themselves from being embarrassed or to avoid conflict. <br /><br /> They didn't withdraw from people because of the fear of tension. They were willing to obey God. They wanted God because they weren't afraid of the loss of anything else, because God awed them. God becomes bigger and better than anything else. <br /><br /> When we enter into the path of Nehemiah, which is just to be bought by God. The third characteristic of Nehemiah was he was willing to sacrifice. Verse 17 says this, moreover, they're at my table, 150 men, Jews and officials, besides those who came to us from the nations around us. Now, what was prepared at my expense for each day was one ox and six sheep, six choice sheep and birds, and every 10 days, all kinds of wine and abundances. <br /><br /> Yet for all this, I did not demand the food allowance of the governor because the service was too heavy on this. People, over a thousand guests a week, he paid for out of his own pocket. And you might respond, well, wait a minute. This guy's filthy rich. Well, yeah, he, he obviously had some resources. It's been my experience that the more you accumulate. <br /><br /> The harder it is to start giving with the spirit of generosity later in life. You go with with financial gain, the more difficult it is to let it go, that you may go up some with the amount, but certainly not much with the percentage. I would had lunch with a guy not too long ago, successful business person for sure, and I knew his walk with God in the area of finance and I was asking questions, I was just curious and what his own practice was with the Lord. <br /><br /> And he said, my wife and I covenanted years ago that as God, if God chose to expand our financial situation, we would never evaluate our giving as growing in amount. We would always continue to give growing in percentage. That's not easy to do. <br /><br /> Nehemiah had a heart of generosity and he said, this belongs to God. God has promised to take care of me. I have so many opposites, so much around me, but I am going to live joyfully sacrificially by faith as an influence and be an influence of God. The last thing, verse 19, he was a God that was surrendered to God. <br /><br /> Remember for my good, oh my God, all that I've done for this people, he had a God who was personal. You're my God, a God who is faithful. Remember for my good, all that I have done for this people. Now that sounds kind of arrogant. But on, you know, he's saying, remember me for my good, because of all I've done. <br /><br /> I, I, I think if you really pray, you don't feel very arrogant with God. You start with worship, which we see in the book. He, he's a, he's a worshiper. He's a prayer. He is a thanker. You begin by worshiping God, and then you're thanking God, and then you're confessing your syngo. You don't tend to come to God with an arrogant spirit. <br /><br /> He's listing this because he's confident that God delights to take care of those that delight, to honor the Lord in their lives. He said, Lord, I've done what you've told me to do. Remember me. I'm trusting you to take care of me. Watch out for me. God delights to sustain and carry his children to do his will, but it begins with surrendering to God. <br /><br /> I had another conversation recently with another individual. And he, he also was a guy and he made an interesting analogy. He has gone through a number of very difficult things in the last two years, heartaches. Um, and he said, I was asking about his response, how he responded to it. And we, and I, I know him pretty well now, but he said, you know, I've learned there's only two curtains. <br /><br /> There's a curtain of my will and I can choose that and sometimes I do, and a lot of times I want to. But he said, I always find what's on the other side of the curtain stinks. He said, there's another curtain. He called it the curtain of surrender. I can say, Lord, you're asking me when I go through that curtain to choose your will to say yes to you. <br /><br /> And I don't know what's on the other side, but he said, every time I choose that curtain, I love what's on the other side. Amen. But he said there's no third curtain. There's no third curtain. There is no third curtain. There is your will. There's God's will. Nehemiah says, Lord, remember me because I'm choosing your curtain. <br /><br /> I'm going through and I'm trusting you to carry me and care for me. To me, this is an exciting day in our church. It's exciting to hear what God has done. I can't remember the name of your church. What is it called now? Fellowship Crosspoint. Fellowship Crosspoint, yeah. I'm still back at Capital City, um, here about what God's doing at at Fellowship Crosspoint. <br /><br /> It's exciting to see what God is doing and stirring of us to do. It's most of all exciting to just think we are invited to be a part of the purposes of God, to choose his curtains. To trust him, to walk through, and then to be able to say, Lord, you're my God. I trust you. To honor yourself in caring for your servant as I say yes to what you ask me to do, Lord, we close this time, <br /><br /> we go away full with gratitude. The story we've heard with Brennan and Kathleen, those of us that have watched the choices of faith that they have made just delighting you or proud of you, Lord, for the way you've cared for them and used them. God, we delight in the joy and the privilege of being able to walk with you as your children. <br /><br /> We want to choose your curtain. Say yes, whatever you call us to do. In Jesus' name, amen. Now go in peace to love and serve and enjoy the Lord.</div> false no <![CDATA[What the Resurrection Signals]]> Romans 4:25

who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.



Sermon Transcript:

We've been doing a series here over the last seven weeks on the passion week of Christ, taking a day each time, each Sunday from the triumphant entry, and coming to this morning, actually this morning, out at the. Prayer garden. We had a robust, awesome, um, sunrise service this morning.

We talked about the events that happened on Easter morning with Mary Magdalene and others that saw Jesus resurrected this morning. I'd like to continue the theme but look a little differently, um, on the events to, to now talk about the significance of the resurrection. Throughout history, there have been signals that announced important events.

In March of 2013, Roman Catholics all over the world watched media events, watched the media as its centered on the rooftop of the v. As they were awaiting each day, the smoke that would come up, different colored spoke, uh, distinguished different results waiting for the white smoke to come, which would announce that a new pope had been chosen.

Finally, on March 13th, 2013, the smoke appeared in indicating that Pope Francis had been chosen by the College of Cardinals many years ago. You history, people know this story. Our Star Spangled Banner was put together. It was written by Francis Scott Key, and it was actually, he was sitting in a, in a ship, a prisoner.

He had been a representative from the United States government to plead for a, a man that had been wrongly imprisoned by the British. And as he pled for this guy, he heard their, their plans to attack Baltimore. So he kept Im prisoner. And so he was on a British ship imprisoned, watching Fort McEnery, hoping that as the dawn broke, After a whole night of bombardment, actually 24 hours of bombardment, hoping that the American flag would still be flying over Fort McHenry, he awakened to see the 15 stars and stripes waving, and he wrote the Star Spangled Banner.

To him, the flag was a banner. It was a signal that the battle had not been, the battle had been victorious. Actually, it ended up being the turning point of the war of 1812. Some events signal important news, so it was and is with the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This event is not honored by millions of people around the world simply because of what happened.

Though it is pretty cool to have the founder of your faith rise from the dead, but it also is a picture. Of an announcement. An announcement that something has been successful. The verse that I'd like to read is found in Romans chapter four, and I'm only gonna read one verse this morning and spend a few moments on it.

Romans chapter four, verse 25. This is what we read. It's talking about Jesus Christ, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. He was raised for our justification. Literally the term means the resurrection is a signal. Something has worked. It went according to plan. He says here, justification has worked.

It has reached its appropriate end and goal, which raises of course, a very obvious question. What in the world is justification, this big mouthful, theological term? What does it refer to? And I'll just give a quick definition here, and then we're gonna look at a couple of things related to this. This morning.

To be justified means to be declared righteous or maybe more easy for us to wrap our hands around to be declared acceptable. We look at that, the term in the same way today, we talk about justification or justify. In this term we, we, we might say, I, I can still remember my mother, uh, and also my grandmother saying things to me like, mark, how can you justify that behavior?

And what they meant was, how can you argue that that is acceptable? How can you believe that that meets the standard of decent human behavior for an eight year old boy? Well, this is the idea. Justification is the declaration that something has been declared acceptable. In this case, someone has been declared acceptable.

To be justified means that an individual has been declared acceptable in the sight of God. The verdict is passed past, you have passed the test, you have qualified, and it is all tied to the cross of Jesus Christ. All the events of Easter weekend are related. The resurrection is hardwired to the crucifixion.

Jesus died Jesus rose. They are utterly, completely compellingly united. And Paul is telling us here in Romans chapter four, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is that banner. It is that signal that declares that a means by which we can be accepted by God. Presently eternally has worked. The resurrection declares it.

So the resurrection actually signals two things about our acceptability to God. Number one. This is my whole outline this morning. Our normal way doesn't work. It declares that. The second thing it declares is that Jesus offers a new way that does work. Our normal way of acceptance with God does not work.

Why do we even need a way? I mean, what are you talking about, mark? What do you mean? We need a way to God? Isn't God always there? Isn't God always available to us? Well, the Bible presents to us consistently that there is a breach in humankind's relationship with God. As a matter of fact, it describes it by the term theologically, that we are dead to dead.

Death in the scripture is always referencing separation. If I expired this morning on this stage, it would simply mean my immaterial part has separated from my material part. We're physical. We are also immaterial. We are material and immaterial. Our immaterial part has two orientations. We have an orientation that is horizontal with one another.

It's called the suko. That's the word for the Greek word for soul. We have this horizontal relationship. We, it's how we relate to ourselves. It's how we relate to others. The study of psychology. Psychology is the study of the suko. We have this, this horizontal dimension where we can relate to other people and we also process ourselves.

But in contrast to the animals which are described of having a soul, we also have a vertical dimension. The NUAs or the spirit. We have a spiritual dimension, and the scriptures say that because of sin, that relationship has disconnected. That there is what the Bible calls spiritual death. We are spiritually separated to God.

Every religion in the world is trying to help people be restored into a relationship with God that has been lost because of sin. And so how do we get this, this reparation? How do we get this reconnection with God? Well, the typical way we do that is to try to earn our way. And as we look at through throughout the scriptures, we would say, I, I think most of us would be willing to say, I, I rarely meet a person that would say, well, I've, I've never sinned.

And we, we get it. I don't think I've ever met anybody. It says, well, I'm not flawed. You know, I've got, I've got things. Yeah. There's things I shouldn't have done. There were, there were inappropriate things I've done. So if God asked the question, why should I let you Mark or Bob or Brenda or Tim or Terry, why should I let you into my heaven?

Many of us would say, well, I've tried to live a good life. I've tried to do the best I can. I I I'm certainly not perfect. Um, but I'm better than some people that I know. And, uh, I'm no Alf Hitler. I'm no Hannibal Lecter. Um, so, you know, I I, I, somewhere in, I, I'm hoping I'm, you know, my good are gonna outweigh my bad.

And, you know, the, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm I, I'm hoping, but how well it works is indicated in number of passages of scriptures. And the very fact that there is Easter weekend where Jesus died and rose from the dead, argues that our natural way of trying to earn heaven or do to merit heaven may not have worked real well since God, the son had to come and die and go through all that he did for us.

Romans chapter three talks about it this way. If we can bring that verse up now, we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore, no one will be declared righteous in God's sight by the works of the law, rather through the law, we become conscious of sin.

Here he's talking about when he says the law. He's talking about the 10 Commandments and such, the law of God, and he says, nobody is going to make it there. No one will be declared righteous by doing. Now of course, this, this begins to be a little bit confusing and, and let me try to illustrate it this way, because what this passage is arguing is that no one can measure up to the standard.

No one can be acceptable. No one can be justified, declared righteous, declared right, acceptable to God in their own, uh, um, deeds, that there is still a gap that we don't reach the standard. Years ago when I was in college, I was playing little basketball, but I also was involved when it wasn't basketball season, uh, intramurals and I played, um, Our, our floor, actually our dorm participated against other dorms.

And this big intramural tracked me and I was happy that I qualified in the long jump. Now, I'm not a great long jumper. I'm probably not even a good long jumper. And today I wouldn't even try long jumping. But the, at the time, I, I, I was excited about being able to compete in the long jump thing. And so let's fast forward now, come back to New Jersey, leave Indiana.

I'm back here in New Jersey, and, and somebody says, Hey Mark, we heard you, we heard you did okay in this intramural, uh, long jump contest and we'd like you to compete down at the shore Atlantic City. We're, we're, we're actually having this kind of cool long jump. We're, you know, it's a, we're we're, we're doing a ramp out, right?

And we're gonna have you jump into the water and we're gonna measure it there. It'll be kind of fun. I say, wow. Nah, that sounds fun. I'm not sure why he asked me, but who else gonna be there? Oh, Carl Lewis is gonna be there if you don't know who Carl Lewis is. Carl Lewis jumped 28 feet about more than seven feet farther than I did on my job.

Okay? So here I am. So I said, well, I said, I have enough ways to be publicly humiliated. I don't need to go and compete against Carl Lewis. And I say, well say, no, no, no, no. You are not competing against Carl. He'll be there. But actually alls you have to do is compete against the standard. It's pass fail. You get one jump, and if you go foreign enough, you reach the standard, you win.

And there can be multiple winners. Alls you have to do is do I say, oh, well, okay. So I'm not really going up against Carl. I mean there be the other people there too. I can make sure I don't go when, when he goes, yeah, yeah, there's gonna be lots of people. Carl will be there, but, but. So I say, okay, I just have one question.

How far do I have to jump to pass? And the answer is simply given, you have to jump to England.

So here's this thing. Carl Lewis gonna jump 28 feet. I'm gonna do my little thing. Gonna be people probably in between, but none of us are gonna begin to reach England in our jump. It's just immeasurably beyond our capacity. The scripture is presenting, it says in Romans chapter three, there is none righteous.

No, not one. There is none that meet the standard for spiritual long jumping or righteous living. God gave everyone the capacity to live holy lives. We all have chosen not to. You may say, well, yeah, but it's, that doesn't make sense. I mean, why would God have this standard nobody can reach? I mean, it just, and, and, and, and I think, I think you need to understand God does God's fair.

God's good. He does, like any good teacher would do, they grade on a curve. Right. And so, so maybe I didn't get a hundred percent, but if I got 90, come on. I mean, well the book of James, I dunno if you know this, but the guy that wrote the book of James was the phy physical brother of Jesus. They were both the son, they had the same mom in Mary.

And James talks about this, actually, it's, it's one of the first two books of the New Testament that was written. And James is writing this letter and he's talking about the conclusion of how to evaluate how we are measuring up to God's standard. And here's what James said in James chapter two, verse nine through 11.

But if you show personalities talking to people that were in, in the church that were sort of welcoming people, that were filthy rich and giving 'em a better place than, than people were that were dirt poor. And here's what he says. He said, if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors, for whoever keeps the whole law, but fails in one point, has become guilty of all of it.

For he who said, do not commit adultery also said, do not commit murder. If you don't commit adultery, but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. Now we look at that and they say, wait a minute. You're talking about, I give a rich guy a nicer seat than a, a poor person. And you're comparing that with murder and adultery.

I mean, this is, this is insane. This is comparing firecrackers to hydrogen bombs. I mean, how can you say, these are what, what James is arguing, saying that any sin breaks the chain of God's commandments. Now we have a lot more than any sin. We have many sins, but the laws of God are a chain break one, and you break the chain.

You're guilty then of being a sinner. And so he says there is none righteous. No, not one. Okay. So the, we have this ridiculously overwhelming scenario that basically says, well Mark, you just emptied heaven of everybody.

And that's exactly why Jesus Christ came to this world.

Jesus Christ offers a new way of acceptance with God. If you look at our passage here in Romans chapter three, verse 25, he said he was delivered up for our trespasses. On the one side, Jesus takes our sin. The consequences of Jesus behavior, of our behavior falls upon Jesus Christ. Now, now track with me here, even if this is familiar to to you, track with me here.

What it's saying is that Jesus Christ, when he died on Friday, on the cross, he became liable for your sin. It's why in Galatians chapter three, it has this interesting statement. It says, our sins. Were nailed to the cross of Jesus. What's that talking about? Well, when a man was crucified, they would take a little placard, a little board, and on the board would be listed the crimes that he had committed and on the cross as God the father looks upon the cross of his son.

What he sees on the placard

are our sins. He sees our sins nailed there. The sinless one who had a blank slate of guilt as first second Corinthians five says, he who knew no sin became sin for us, that our sin was put upon Christ. He became liable as if he had done all of those sins. And by bearing the eternal punishment for sin, which he did in a moment of time as he cried out as an eternal son, fried out to an eternal father.

Why have you forsaken me? Experience separation from the father, which we would have had to experience eternally in hell. Jesus bore hell for us. He took the punishment for our sin, but that's not all he did. That's the one side of the cross. Our sins were laid upon Jesus Christ. But not only does he take our sins, he gives us his righteousness.

Look at what he says here in verse 25 again of our text. It says, he's raised for our justification. There's that word again. Our being declared acceptable. We are told in the book of Romans chapter three, this statement, but now apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been made known. This righteousness, this measuring up to the standard is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe and all are justified freely by his grace.

What are all those words saying? This is what they're saying. Jesus Christ came and not only did he die, the death we should have died. He lived the life we should have lived. He lived sinlessly. He lived obediently every part of his life, even in the most excruciating, horrific hofi moments of his life in the garden, as he knew and saw, was coming the next 24 hours at the cross.

And he says, father, if there's any way, if there's any way this can pass him, but what does he end up with now? I will, but you'll be done. Jesus lived righteously. Here's what we're told in the scriptures in second Corinthians 5 21. God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God.

Years ago, when I was a kid up on Long Island, lived in Hicksville, long Island and we used to ride our bikes or jog over to the Mid Island Plaza that was there and there was a pizza place there. And, uh, my buddies and I would, from the neighborhood, we would often go to the pizza place or from school, I'd meet guys there.

We love the pizza. It's great pizza. Every time I go to Long Island, last time I won, it was gone. It was just devastating. But, um, we would go there and, and you know, imagine one day. That the pizza place, as we called it, I don't even know what the name was, but it was our pizza place. They put a sign in the in the wall and it said, anybody that gets straight A's on their report card gets a free pizza.

Well, I'd be momentarily ecstatic until I remembered my report card and saw a dog. Ah man. So no pizza for Mark. And then I go by and I notice it says Anybody who gets straight A's on the report card or has a member of their household, that gets straight As gets a pizza. So I go to my sister, Priscilla.

Priscilla, come on, we get, I'll give you half my pizza. I can get pizza on the basis of her actions, right? It's her. She'd earned it. So I take in her report card, I say, see the last name's the same as mine, Willie, you know, and, and this is my sister. Maybe I have to take her along. But either way, I get pizza on the basis of her greats.

What happens in the transaction of salvation through Christ is this, Jesus Christ takes your sin. He's liable for your sin, and Jesus Christ offers you his righteousness, his report card. You become liable for his righteousness. It's as if we obeyed the law that we lived righteously, and to the person that looks to Jesus Christ and receives his salvation by faith and says Jesus.

I could never jump across the ocean spiritually. I can't jump that far. I can't measure up, but you died and there's forgiveness to me. But not only that, you don't just, God doesn't just look at me as a person of innocence. He looks at me as a person that has utterly acc accept, fulfilled the law, that I'm utterly accepted in Christ, that I'm declared righteous on the basis of Jesus report card.

All that took place potentially through what Jesus stood on Friday, when he died on the cross and bore your sin and offered you his righteousness. But if Jesus Christ remained dead, He would simply be another victim to the penalty of sin. Death. Jesus resurrection is the declaration that all of it has worked, that he is the one who can offer forgiveness, that he is the one that can offer eternal life, that he is the one that can offer acceptance because he has conquered all of sin and all of the penalty of sin.

He died to death. You should have died. He lived the life you should have lived. And Easter Sunday is the declaration that he rose from the dead, declaring it all worked. It's all available that we stand. The reason if, if you're a guest with us today, the reason we're passionate about singing these songs about what Jesus did on the cross and why the resurrection matters.

It is because you've entered into a community of people that are broken sinners, that are people that have recognized we don't deserve forgiveness. We don't deserve eternal life. That apart from Jesus Christ, we could not possibly do the spiritual long jump to be acceptable to God, but Jesus Christ did it all.

That's why Christianity is different from any other religion in the world. Every other religion of the world, basically well intended, is basically saying This is what you must do to measure up, to earn life, to earn acceptance. Christianity, biblical Christianity is declaring. It is not a religion of do.

It is a religion of done that Jesus Christ has done it. And our sins have been laid on him and his righteousness has been laid on us. Easter Sunday is the declaration of the one who rose from the dead and its signals, there is acceptance for sinners. I don't know where you are this morning. Maybe you're here this morning and say, I, I don't usually do this church thing and just kind of wandered in today, or I came along because my mom will only do lunch if, take me out to lunch if I go.

But I want you to know that if you hear about Christianity or faith and maybe you know people that talk about knowing Jesus and doing life with Jesus and you say, I, it's never been personal to me. It's never been this intimate thing where God is real. I always feel like I'm sort of looking through the glass.

Jesus Christ came to die for sinners like all of us. And maybe what he is saying to you this morning and bringing you here is that, won't you receive the gift that I came to provide, that I died on the cross, that you could have life, that you could be reconnected with God, that your life is spiritually dead and, and, and, and the sense of distancing and, and looking through the glass is simply a reflection of where you are.

But Jesus has got you here to say, Hey, I did this for you. I bore your name was on that placard. Your sins were there, but my righteousness and my forgiveness is available to you. Maybe today God is calling you to embrace Christ. I hope he is. Let's pray.

Lord

believe that the Bible says, and our own experience has affirmed. This is amazing grace. This is grace that reaches out to us. This is grace that takes broken people, ungodly, self-centered, broken people, and says they can be forgiven, they can be transformed, they can be raised to life, and one day rise to eternal life through Christ.

Lord, we look to the resurrection and after the soberness of our Good Friday service where we just felt the weight of loss for all of those that knew and loved Jesus. And then this morning out in the prayer garden, and here in this room, we feel the joy of celebration because Jesus rising declares it's all therefore our taking forgiveness, life change hope.

God of heaven. You'll look into the heart of every person that's in this room. You'll look into the heart of every person that's watching this broadcast. God, may they experience.

Turning to you and saying, God, I didn't know. I didn't see it. Maybe I saw and I, and I refused to embrace it, but I see now Jesus Christ died from my sins. Jesus Christ Ro Rose to give me life. Lord, in this very moment. May your spirit draw them to say yes to Jesus to invite you in.

You who died, the death we should die eternally you who lived the life we should have lived. Your resurrection says it's so and it works. God, I pray you draw people to experience this witch is surely amazing Grace, in Jesus' name, amen.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/what-the-resurrection-signals 181b010b-3510-49a6-8291-427173d74e82 Mon, 10 Apr 2023 15:37:18 GMT <div data-html="true">Romans 4:25 <br /><br /> who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> We've been doing a series here over the last seven weeks on the passion week of Christ, taking a day each time, each Sunday from the triumphant entry, and coming to this morning, actually this morning, out at the. Prayer garden. We had a robust, awesome, um, sunrise service this morning. <br /><br /> We talked about the events that happened on Easter morning with Mary Magdalene and others that saw Jesus resurrected this morning. I'd like to continue the theme but look a little differently, um, on the events to, to now talk about the significance of the resurrection. Throughout history, there have been signals that announced important events. <br /><br /> In March of 2013, Roman Catholics all over the world watched media events, watched the media as its centered on the rooftop of the v. As they were awaiting each day, the smoke that would come up, different colored spoke, uh, distinguished different results waiting for the white smoke to come, which would announce that a new pope had been chosen. <br /><br /> Finally, on March 13th, 2013, the smoke appeared in indicating that Pope Francis had been chosen by the College of Cardinals many years ago. You history, people know this story. Our Star Spangled Banner was put together. It was written by Francis Scott Key, and it was actually, he was sitting in a, in a ship, a prisoner. <br /><br /> He had been a representative from the United States government to plead for a, a man that had been wrongly imprisoned by the British. And as he pled for this guy, he heard their, their plans to attack Baltimore. So he kept Im prisoner. And so he was on a British ship imprisoned, watching Fort McEnery, hoping that as the dawn broke, After a whole night of bombardment, actually 24 hours of bombardment, hoping that the American flag would still be flying over Fort McHenry, he awakened to see the 15 stars and stripes waving, and he wrote the Star Spangled Banner. <br /><br /> To him, the flag was a banner. It was a signal that the battle had not been, the battle had been victorious. Actually, it ended up being the turning point of the war of 1812. Some events signal important news, so it was and is with the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This event is not honored by millions of people around the world simply because of what happened. <br /><br /> Though it is pretty cool to have the founder of your faith rise from the dead, but it also is a picture. Of an announcement. An announcement that something has been successful. The verse that I'd like to read is found in Romans chapter four, and I'm only gonna read one verse this morning and spend a few moments on it. <br /><br /> Romans chapter four, verse 25. This is what we read. It's talking about Jesus Christ, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. He was raised for our justification. Literally the term means the resurrection is a signal. Something has worked. It went according to plan. He says here, justification has worked. <br /><br /> It has reached its appropriate end and goal, which raises of course, a very obvious question. What in the world is justification, this big mouthful, theological term? What does it refer to? And I'll just give a quick definition here, and then we're gonna look at a couple of things related to this. This morning. <br /><br /> To be justified means to be declared righteous or maybe more easy for us to wrap our hands around to be declared acceptable. We look at that, the term in the same way today, we talk about justification or justify. In this term we, we, we might say, I, I can still remember my mother, uh, and also my grandmother saying things to me like, mark, how can you justify that behavior? <br /><br /> And what they meant was, how can you argue that that is acceptable? How can you believe that that meets the standard of decent human behavior for an eight year old boy? Well, this is the idea. Justification is the declaration that something has been declared acceptable. In this case, someone has been declared acceptable. <br /><br /> To be justified means that an individual has been declared acceptable in the sight of God. The verdict is passed past, you have passed the test, you have qualified, and it is all tied to the cross of Jesus Christ. All the events of Easter weekend are related. The resurrection is hardwired to the crucifixion. <br /><br /> Jesus died Jesus rose. They are utterly, completely compellingly united. And Paul is telling us here in Romans chapter four, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is that banner. It is that signal that declares that a means by which we can be accepted by God. Presently eternally has worked. The resurrection declares it. <br /><br /> So the resurrection actually signals two things about our acceptability to God. Number one. This is my whole outline this morning. Our normal way doesn't work. It declares that. The second thing it declares is that Jesus offers a new way that does work. Our normal way of acceptance with God does not work. <br /><br /> Why do we even need a way? I mean, what are you talking about, mark? What do you mean? We need a way to God? Isn't God always there? Isn't God always available to us? Well, the Bible presents to us consistently that there is a breach in humankind's relationship with God. As a matter of fact, it describes it by the term theologically, that we are dead to dead. <br /><br /> Death in the scripture is always referencing separation. If I expired this morning on this stage, it would simply mean my immaterial part has separated from my material part. We're physical. We are also immaterial. We are material and immaterial. Our immaterial part has two orientations. We have an orientation that is horizontal with one another. <br /><br /> It's called the suko. That's the word for the Greek word for soul. We have this horizontal relationship. We, it's how we relate to ourselves. It's how we relate to others. The study of psychology. Psychology is the study of the suko. We have this, this horizontal dimension where we can relate to other people and we also process ourselves. <br /><br /> But in contrast to the animals which are described of having a soul, we also have a vertical dimension. The NUAs or the spirit. We have a spiritual dimension, and the scriptures say that because of sin, that relationship has disconnected. That there is what the Bible calls spiritual death. We are spiritually separated to God. <br /><br /> Every religion in the world is trying to help people be restored into a relationship with God that has been lost because of sin. And so how do we get this, this reparation? How do we get this reconnection with God? Well, the typical way we do that is to try to earn our way. And as we look at through throughout the scriptures, we would say, I, I think most of us would be willing to say, I, I rarely meet a person that would say, well, I've, I've never sinned. <br /><br /> And we, we get it. I don't think I've ever met anybody. It says, well, I'm not flawed. You know, I've got, I've got things. Yeah. There's things I shouldn't have done. There were, there were inappropriate things I've done. So if God asked the question, why should I let you Mark or Bob or Brenda or Tim or Terry, why should I let you into my heaven? <br /><br /> Many of us would say, well, I've tried to live a good life. I've tried to do the best I can. I I I'm certainly not perfect. Um, but I'm better than some people that I know. And, uh, I'm no Alf Hitler. I'm no Hannibal Lecter. Um, so, you know, I I, I, somewhere in, I, I'm hoping I'm, you know, my good are gonna outweigh my bad. <br /><br /> And, you know, the, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm I, I'm hoping, but how well it works is indicated in number of passages of scriptures. And the very fact that there is Easter weekend where Jesus died and rose from the dead, argues that our natural way of trying to earn heaven or do to merit heaven may not have worked real well since God, the son had to come and die and go through all that he did for us. <br /><br /> Romans chapter three talks about it this way. If we can bring that verse up now, we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore, no one will be declared righteous in God's sight by the works of the law, rather through the law, we become conscious of sin. <br /><br /> Here he's talking about when he says the law. He's talking about the 10 Commandments and such, the law of God, and he says, nobody is going to make it there. No one will be declared righteous by doing. Now of course, this, this begins to be a little bit confusing and, and let me try to illustrate it this way, because what this passage is arguing is that no one can measure up to the standard. <br /><br /> No one can be acceptable. No one can be justified, declared righteous, declared right, acceptable to God in their own, uh, um, deeds, that there is still a gap that we don't reach the standard. Years ago when I was in college, I was playing little basketball, but I also was involved when it wasn't basketball season, uh, intramurals and I played, um, Our, our floor, actually our dorm participated against other dorms. <br /><br /> And this big intramural tracked me and I was happy that I qualified in the long jump. Now, I'm not a great long jumper. I'm probably not even a good long jumper. And today I wouldn't even try long jumping. But the, at the time, I, I, I was excited about being able to compete in the long jump thing. And so let's fast forward now, come back to New Jersey, leave Indiana. <br /><br /> I'm back here in New Jersey, and, and somebody says, Hey Mark, we heard you, we heard you did okay in this intramural, uh, long jump contest and we'd like you to compete down at the shore Atlantic City. We're, we're, we're actually having this kind of cool long jump. We're, you know, it's a, we're we're, we're doing a ramp out, right? <br /><br /> And we're gonna have you jump into the water and we're gonna measure it there. It'll be kind of fun. I say, wow. Nah, that sounds fun. I'm not sure why he asked me, but who else gonna be there? Oh, Carl Lewis is gonna be there if you don't know who Carl Lewis is. Carl Lewis jumped 28 feet about more than seven feet farther than I did on my job. <br /><br /> Okay? So here I am. So I said, well, I said, I have enough ways to be publicly humiliated. I don't need to go and compete against Carl Lewis. And I say, well say, no, no, no, no. You are not competing against Carl. He'll be there. But actually alls you have to do is compete against the standard. It's pass fail. You get one jump, and if you go foreign enough, you reach the standard, you win. <br /><br /> And there can be multiple winners. Alls you have to do is do I say, oh, well, okay. So I'm not really going up against Carl. I mean there be the other people there too. I can make sure I don't go when, when he goes, yeah, yeah, there's gonna be lots of people. Carl will be there, but, but. So I say, okay, I just have one question. <br /><br /> How far do I have to jump to pass? And the answer is simply given, you have to jump to England. <br /><br /> So here's this thing. Carl Lewis gonna jump 28 feet. I'm gonna do my little thing. Gonna be people probably in between, but none of us are gonna begin to reach England in our jump. It's just immeasurably beyond our capacity. The scripture is presenting, it says in Romans chapter three, there is none righteous. <br /><br /> No, not one. There is none that meet the standard for spiritual long jumping or righteous living. God gave everyone the capacity to live holy lives. We all have chosen not to. You may say, well, yeah, but it's, that doesn't make sense. I mean, why would God have this standard nobody can reach? I mean, it just, and, and, and, and I think, I think you need to understand God does God's fair. <br /><br /> God's good. He does, like any good teacher would do, they grade on a curve. Right. And so, so maybe I didn't get a hundred percent, but if I got 90, come on. I mean, well the book of James, I dunno if you know this, but the guy that wrote the book of James was the phy physical brother of Jesus. They were both the son, they had the same mom in Mary. <br /><br /> And James talks about this, actually, it's, it's one of the first two books of the New Testament that was written. And James is writing this letter and he's talking about the conclusion of how to evaluate how we are measuring up to God's standard. And here's what James said in James chapter two, verse nine through 11. <br /><br /> But if you show personalities talking to people that were in, in the church that were sort of welcoming people, that were filthy rich and giving 'em a better place than, than people were that were dirt poor. And here's what he says. He said, if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors, for whoever keeps the whole law, but fails in one point, has become guilty of all of it. <br /><br /> For he who said, do not commit adultery also said, do not commit murder. If you don't commit adultery, but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. Now we look at that and they say, wait a minute. You're talking about, I give a rich guy a nicer seat than a, a poor person. And you're comparing that with murder and adultery. <br /><br /> I mean, this is, this is insane. This is comparing firecrackers to hydrogen bombs. I mean, how can you say, these are what, what James is arguing, saying that any sin breaks the chain of God's commandments. Now we have a lot more than any sin. We have many sins, but the laws of God are a chain break one, and you break the chain. <br /><br /> You're guilty then of being a sinner. And so he says there is none righteous. No, not one. Okay. So the, we have this ridiculously overwhelming scenario that basically says, well Mark, you just emptied heaven of everybody. <br /><br /> And that's exactly why Jesus Christ came to this world. <br /><br /> Jesus Christ offers a new way of acceptance with God. If you look at our passage here in Romans chapter three, verse 25, he said he was delivered up for our trespasses. On the one side, Jesus takes our sin. The consequences of Jesus behavior, of our behavior falls upon Jesus Christ. Now, now track with me here, even if this is familiar to to you, track with me here. <br /><br /> What it's saying is that Jesus Christ, when he died on Friday, on the cross, he became liable for your sin. It's why in Galatians chapter three, it has this interesting statement. It says, our sins. Were nailed to the cross of Jesus. What's that talking about? Well, when a man was crucified, they would take a little placard, a little board, and on the board would be listed the crimes that he had committed and on the cross as God the father looks upon the cross of his son. <br /><br /> What he sees on the placard <br /><br /> are our sins. He sees our sins nailed there. The sinless one who had a blank slate of guilt as first second Corinthians five says, he who knew no sin became sin for us, that our sin was put upon Christ. He became liable as if he had done all of those sins. And by bearing the eternal punishment for sin, which he did in a moment of time as he cried out as an eternal son, fried out to an eternal father. <br /><br /> Why have you forsaken me? Experience separation from the father, which we would have had to experience eternally in hell. Jesus bore hell for us. He took the punishment for our sin, but that's not all he did. That's the one side of the cross. Our sins were laid upon Jesus Christ. But not only does he take our sins, he gives us his righteousness. <br /><br /> Look at what he says here in verse 25 again of our text. It says, he's raised for our justification. There's that word again. Our being declared acceptable. We are told in the book of Romans chapter three, this statement, but now apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been made known. This righteousness, this measuring up to the standard is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe and all are justified freely by his grace. <br /><br /> What are all those words saying? This is what they're saying. Jesus Christ came and not only did he die, the death we should have died. He lived the life we should have lived. He lived sinlessly. He lived obediently every part of his life, even in the most excruciating, horrific hofi moments of his life in the garden, as he knew and saw, was coming the next 24 hours at the cross. <br /><br /> And he says, father, if there's any way, if there's any way this can pass him, but what does he end up with now? I will, but you'll be done. Jesus lived righteously. Here's what we're told in the scriptures in second Corinthians 5 21. God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God. <br /><br /> Years ago, when I was a kid up on Long Island, lived in Hicksville, long Island and we used to ride our bikes or jog over to the Mid Island Plaza that was there and there was a pizza place there. And, uh, my buddies and I would, from the neighborhood, we would often go to the pizza place or from school, I'd meet guys there. <br /><br /> We love the pizza. It's great pizza. Every time I go to Long Island, last time I won, it was gone. It was just devastating. But, um, we would go there and, and you know, imagine one day. That the pizza place, as we called it, I don't even know what the name was, but it was our pizza place. They put a sign in the in the wall and it said, anybody that gets straight A's on their report card gets a free pizza. <br /><br /> Well, I'd be momentarily ecstatic until I remembered my report card and saw a dog. Ah man. So no pizza for Mark. And then I go by and I notice it says Anybody who gets straight A's on the report card or has a member of their household, that gets straight As gets a pizza. So I go to my sister, Priscilla. <br /><br /> Priscilla, come on, we get, I'll give you half my pizza. I can get pizza on the basis of her actions, right? It's her. She'd earned it. So I take in her report card, I say, see the last name's the same as mine, Willie, you know, and, and this is my sister. Maybe I have to take her along. But either way, I get pizza on the basis of her greats. <br /><br /> What happens in the transaction of salvation through Christ is this, Jesus Christ takes your sin. He's liable for your sin, and Jesus Christ offers you his righteousness, his report card. You become liable for his righteousness. It's as if we obeyed the law that we lived righteously, and to the person that looks to Jesus Christ and receives his salvation by faith and says Jesus. <br /><br /> I could never jump across the ocean spiritually. I can't jump that far. I can't measure up, but you died and there's forgiveness to me. But not only that, you don't just, God doesn't just look at me as a person of innocence. He looks at me as a person that has utterly acc accept, fulfilled the law, that I'm utterly accepted in Christ, that I'm declared righteous on the basis of Jesus report card. <br /><br /> All that took place potentially through what Jesus stood on Friday, when he died on the cross and bore your sin and offered you his righteousness. But if Jesus Christ remained dead, He would simply be another victim to the penalty of sin. Death. Jesus resurrection is the declaration that all of it has worked, that he is the one who can offer forgiveness, that he is the one that can offer eternal life, that he is the one that can offer acceptance because he has conquered all of sin and all of the penalty of sin. <br /><br /> He died to death. You should have died. He lived the life you should have lived. And Easter Sunday is the declaration that he rose from the dead, declaring it all worked. It's all available that we stand. The reason if, if you're a guest with us today, the reason we're passionate about singing these songs about what Jesus did on the cross and why the resurrection matters. <br /><br /> It is because you've entered into a community of people that are broken sinners, that are people that have recognized we don't deserve forgiveness. We don't deserve eternal life. That apart from Jesus Christ, we could not possibly do the spiritual long jump to be acceptable to God, but Jesus Christ did it all. <br /><br /> That's why Christianity is different from any other religion in the world. Every other religion of the world, basically well intended, is basically saying This is what you must do to measure up, to earn life, to earn acceptance. Christianity, biblical Christianity is declaring. It is not a religion of do. <br /><br /> It is a religion of done that Jesus Christ has done it. And our sins have been laid on him and his righteousness has been laid on us. Easter Sunday is the declaration of the one who rose from the dead and its signals, there is acceptance for sinners. I don't know where you are this morning. Maybe you're here this morning and say, I, I don't usually do this church thing and just kind of wandered in today, or I came along because my mom will only do lunch if, take me out to lunch if I go. <br /><br /> But I want you to know that if you hear about Christianity or faith and maybe you know people that talk about knowing Jesus and doing life with Jesus and you say, I, it's never been personal to me. It's never been this intimate thing where God is real. I always feel like I'm sort of looking through the glass. <br /><br /> Jesus Christ came to die for sinners like all of us. And maybe what he is saying to you this morning and bringing you here is that, won't you receive the gift that I came to provide, that I died on the cross, that you could have life, that you could be reconnected with God, that your life is spiritually dead and, and, and, and the sense of distancing and, and looking through the glass is simply a reflection of where you are. <br /><br /> But Jesus has got you here to say, Hey, I did this for you. I bore your name was on that placard. Your sins were there, but my righteousness and my forgiveness is available to you. Maybe today God is calling you to embrace Christ. I hope he is. Let's pray. <br /><br /> Lord <br /><br /> believe that the Bible says, and our own experience has affirmed. This is amazing grace. This is grace that reaches out to us. This is grace that takes broken people, ungodly, self-centered, broken people, and says they can be forgiven, they can be transformed, they can be raised to life, and one day rise to eternal life through Christ. <br /><br /> Lord, we look to the resurrection and after the soberness of our Good Friday service where we just felt the weight of loss for all of those that knew and loved Jesus. And then this morning out in the prayer garden, and here in this room, we feel the joy of celebration because Jesus rising declares it's all therefore our taking forgiveness, life change hope. <br /><br /> God of heaven. You'll look into the heart of every person that's in this room. You'll look into the heart of every person that's watching this broadcast. God, may they experience. <br /><br /> Turning to you and saying, God, I didn't know. I didn't see it. Maybe I saw and I, and I refused to embrace it, but I see now Jesus Christ died from my sins. Jesus Christ Ro Rose to give me life. Lord, in this very moment. May your spirit draw them to say yes to Jesus to invite you in. <br /><br /> You who died, the death we should die eternally you who lived the life we should have lived. Your resurrection says it's so and it works. God, I pray you draw people to experience this witch is surely amazing Grace, in Jesus' name, amen.</div> false no <![CDATA[Saturday: Jesus Dead in the Grave]]> Matthew 27:62-66; Selected

Therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last fraud will be worse than the first.”



Sermon Transcript:

Morning everybody. Good morning. Invite you to take your Bibles to Matthew chapter 27. This morning we're continuing our series in the Passion Week of Christ. Today we are looking at Saturday today immediately preceding the resurrection of Christ On Easter Sunday, we're gonna be looking at Matthew chapter 27, um, verses 62 to 66.

And the end of the, the verses just preceding this are about Joseph of Aramathea, one of the members of the San Hadron. The group of 70 leaders of Israel has come to pilot, has gotten permission to bury Jesus in his own grave. That has all happened, uh, horridly at the end of Friday to get it done before the Sabbath begins, which actually begins at dusk on Friday night.

Their days went from dusk to dusk, as Jared, Jared said last week. And so now we pick up what is happening on Saturday in verse 62. The next day, that is after the day of preparation, the chief priest and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate and said, sir, we remember how this imposter said while he was still alive.

After three days, I will rise, therefore order the term to be made secure until the third day, lest is disciples go and steal him away and tell the people he has risen from the dead and the last fraud will be worse than the first pilot said to them, you have a guard of soldiers, go and make it as secure as you can.

So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone. And setting a guard. Let's pray.

Lord, we've already gathered here in this room and expressed worship already. Heart our thoughts lifted to you. Now God, we come to this unique day, the day on, on Earth's surface, which is utterly silent. A day of confusion, a day of pain, a day of bewilderment for his Jesus followers. Lord, as I hope we can glean from this sermon and study this morning, also a day in which astonishing things are going on, Lord, I pray you'd be our teacher.

Guide us as we look at some interesting truths this morning. Seek to understand some interesting passages. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Last Sunday, pastor Jared presented a great sermon on the costs that Jesus Christ experienced on Friday, emotionally, physically, spiritually. It all climaxed at the moment of the cross where in late afternoon he gave up his spirit.

He died, um, and then hurriedly, they took him down from the cross. They took his body, put it in the tomb of this leader of the Sanhedrin Joseph of Aramathea, in order to beat the hours before the Sabbath day would begin on late Friday evening. They have taken him, they've put him in a tomb. They've rolled the stone in front of it.

And so begin the events of Saturday of Passion Week. A reporter on the ground would not see a lot going on. On this day. Jesus followers have dispersed. Peter is somewhere completely licking his wounds in disgrace, overwhelming remorse for publicly denying Jesus Christ in such an overt way. On Thursday evening, Judas, after seeing Jesus marked for the cross Friday morning, has gone out and hung himself.

All of the others followers of Jesus have dispersed some gathering together, some separate to. Rest during the Sabbath day. During the end of that day. Actually Saturday night it will be after the Sabbath is over, the women will begin to prepare their spices for the coming morning when they intend to go to the tomb and try to anoint the body of Jesus.

Don't think about until they're almost there, how they're gonna get the stone out of the way. But they've gone and, and the only on the ground record we have of what happened on Saturday is the verses I just read. It is basically telling us what is happening outside the tomb, but what is happening to the one in the tomb.

This is going to be the second aspect of our sermon this morning, and I'll give you a preview. It will be one of the most unique sermon subjects we have ever tackled together. But first, let's look at Jesus in the grave as we're going to look at them in this sermon from two perspectives. First of all, the ground view, and we see the enemy's designed to captivate.

Then we're going to look at the below ground view. Jesus dissent to liberate the ground view here in Matthew 27 is talking about the enemy's design to captivate him. It's made up of two groups of people. It says the chief priest and the Pharisees, and that's who we've read about in Matthew 27 62 to 66.

Basically those were members of the Sanhedrin, the ruling 70 of Israel, the chief priest. Were usually, as they were in this day, members of what is called the Sadi Group. The Sadi Group was the more liberal group. They tended to be affluent. They tended to be, um, prominent families. Um, and the chief priests were individuals who did not believe in an afterlife astonishingly.

These were the priests. The chief priest did not believe. Certainly there was a future resurrection. They did not tend to take Bible stories, literally. Then you had the other group that were also a part of the Sanhedrin, and these were the individuals called the Pharisees. These were the more conservative biblical scholars.

These individuals absolutely did believe in the afterlife, and they did believe that there was a future resurrection to come. Yet we find that these two groups have joined forces as they go to pilot, and they have one belief where they can agree on the afterlife, and that is this. Jesus is not the guy that is going to lead us there.

Jesus does not have the power to raise himself from the dead. Jesus does not have the the ability to bring about resurrection on his own volition at his own time. Even though we, as Pharisees would believe there is a future resurrection

as they come together, their concern is not really about Jesus, it's about his followers. They're worried that they're gonna come and steal the body, and then they're gonna announce that he is resurrected from the dead because as the tomb is open, low and behold there's no body there. And there are three things I just wanna highlight that I think stand out for from this passage we're struck with these three things.

First of all, they really heard Jesus words about the resurrection. This is a really clear summation of what Jesus predicted. In three days, I will rise from the dead. They knew he said that. They heard, he said that far more clearly and expressed far more cogently than we ever hear the disciples. I, I think it was just a truth.

They just couldn't put their arms around and, and actually the disciples, you never read an account of the disciples saying, you know, he's gonna ra He said he was gonna raise three days. I wonder if you don't hear that. As a matter of fact, with the disciples, there's no sense of of processing that we have any record of, of what this could mean.

You know, he died. We didn't expect him to die, but he did say he was gonna die. Maybe this means this. They're all astounded at the resurrection. The religious leaders are giving these guys far too much credit. That they would be able to strategize at this moment in time, to, uh, to, to, to take the body of Jesus and then fabricate his, his resurrection.

But these guys hurt him. They really hurt him. They didn't believe him, but scared him. The second thing that strikes you about this is their fear. I mean, this is the Sabbath day. These guys were really fearful of what Jesus could do through his followers. This, the Sabbath. They were of course, under all kinds of restraints and regulations.

Even those that were liberal would, would still have said there are ways the Sabbath has to be practiced and one way is not gathering together for a special meeting, which they did. Secondly, to ask for a special audience with the Roman governor, which they did to marshal their own guards and take them out to defend the hill where Jesus was buried, which they did.

These guys were willing to cut a lot of corners. As a matter of fact, they were willing to cross big lines in their frenzy to make sure this tomb is secure and to stop What might happen. Also, and I love this part of the story, this is Joseph's tomb. Joseph o Mathia is part of their group. I mean, you would think they would say, Joseph, we don't know why.

You felt the need, maybe compassion or something to, to take this guy's body who quite frankly we're the reason he's dead and put him in your own tomb, but would you at least get some guards out there? They're not trusting Joseph. It's highly unlikely that Joseph of Aramathea is a part of the group that's speaking a pilot.

It's very unlikely that Nicodemus, who is one of the members of the San Union and a leading Pharisee, that he's a part of the group. These guys have been left out. They're now questionable. They're suspect

they have guards. We know there are guards that the religious leaders have and the and and what P says to, he says, take your guards, take your police. Go ahead and secure the tomb. So why do they need to go to pilot? I mean, they got their own guards, right? They got their own mini army. They arrested Jesus with those guys.

Why did they need to go to pilot? They went to a pilot because they wanted the power of Rome behind this protective ploy. They really received strong empowerment for their goals here. You know, Jesus had, has already shown he can do some weird things at tombs. Just a few weeks before this, he stood at the tomb of Lazarus, not far from Jerusalem, just a couple of miles east of it, and he said, what has he said to him?

Move the stone away and then, and I'm sure the religious leaders is, we are not sure what actually happened there, but man, what a mess it was for us. They still were told in the gospels we're trying to discredit Lazarus ease until this time they don't want another scene, certainly in the tomb of one of their own members.

So they go to pilot and basically this is what they're requesting. Look, we know we can put our soldiers where we want. We can put our guards where we want, but we want Rome stamp on this. That's why it says in verse 65 and 66 that they sealed the tomb. What that means is they put a Roman steel on it, seal on it, and the seal said this, anybody that moves this stone has just put their fist in the face of the Roman Empire.

This is Caesar's tomb. Now you don't move this stone. They brought now the, the authority of Rome. It's striking to me the pilot is willing to do this. PIL also is unnerved by this whole experience with Jesus. Pilate doesn't blow him off. He allows them to put a Roman seal on it. And I, I'm saying all this to say this.

The view on the ground, the only one recorded of the only one recorded event is of Jesus enemies trying to limit his influence. Don't let anything happen. Don't let these guys now, now get a message out there that Jesus is somehow still alive and this whole thing will just keep going. Let's stop it. The whole picture, the only messaging we have of on the ground in activity is of Jesus enemies trying to limit him, trying to captivate him, which is astonishing and very exciting as we come to the second part of our sermon because the second part of the sermon is the below ground view.

Jesus dissent. To liberate. We're gonna look at a number of different passages regarding this, but first, I want you to join with me and I want you to process with me. Jesus died on Friday afternoon, right? He was put in the tomb around dinnertime. His body was there, now sealed into this tomb of Joseph,

but has Jesus ceased to exist? I, I think we would all say no. Jesus, in spirit, soul, the immaterial part has left his body to go where life. I think if I asked that question, our, our immediate response would be, well, heaven, doesn't he say to the, you know, the thief on the cross today, you'll be with me in paradise.

We're gonna circle back to that. Where did he go? What happened? Where was Jesus on Saturday? The Apostles Creed is the original doctrinal statement put together by the early church. It's called the Apostles Creed because the church fathers that were discipled by the disciples, by the apostles actually credited them with providing this body of truth.

The Apostles Creed has basically been endorsed by every Christian group in worldwide throughout history. It's a simple statement. Later statements will simply elaborate on it, but the Apostles Creed will always be the foundational teaching of the church. I'd like to quickly read to you. The Apostles Creed.

And I want to point out two things about this. One in particular. I believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, his only son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified, died, and was buried.

He descended to hell. The third day, rose from the dead. He ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty. From there, he will come to judge the living in the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.

Amen. Two quick points. You'll notice down in the latter part, I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic church, Catholic, here is the word. Uh, it's actually from two words. Um, which means according to, or or in, in, in relation to. And then the word, um, all basically it's saying this is the universal church.

This is, this is the, the church in relation to all believers is what it means. But I want you to go back a few lines to the lines that may have jumped out to you. He was crucified. He died and was buried. He descended to hell. This particular statement

has caused a lot of controversy questions, just, uh, in, in interpretation throughout the history of the church. Actually only the last few centuries, the early centuries all agreed exactly what it was referring to. But there are three different interpretations. I'm just gonna highlight these very quickly.

Number one, some people saw it as a reference to Jesus experiencing death. I, I just, I don't know how this even got traction. It's not what it says. It says he descended to hell or literally Hades. Um, nor does it explain a number of New Testament passages. And it even says before this, he died. He died, was buried and descended to hell.

The second was actually by John Calvin. It was a view that no one had promoted that anybody knows before his period. But also it's got some traction today. And that was that it is a reference to Jesus experiencing the fury and judgment of hell. I understand that, that makes more sense to me, uh, because he did bear hell for us.

But again, it, it, it, it is not, the question is why would this happen after he was buried? Um, and no one has postulated before John Calvin. The third view is that Jesus literally went to Hades. To release believers who had died. Virtually every church father in the first eight centuries or more embraced this view, St.

Augustine in the fourth century, one of the truly great church fathers most prominent writer, made this statement, how could anyone think otherwise than that? Jesus did descend to hell during the time of his burial, not bodily, but in his spirit, in who he was, his body still in the grave. The word translated hell in the statement is the word Hades.

It is the same place referred to as the Hebrew word shield. It's not talking about the eternal state of hell. As a matter of fact, in Revelation 20, it says this, those that are still contained in Hades will be. Placed into the lake of fire, whatever that means, literal or non-literal fire. It is a place of eternal separation from God.

But, and that's what we think of as, as the, the place of eternal judgment. Hades is a holding place now, bear with me, hang with me because the longer we go into this subject, the more excited I'm gonna get right now. There's just stuff we gotta get through. Okay. Okay. So what is Hades? Well, Hades is the place of the departed dead in history before Jesus resurrection.

It's an intermediate state. It is a, uh, between physical death and future, the future eternal state. There are two sides to it, two different, uh, places in it. Somehow. I don't know how to localize this, but there is a state which is called Abraham's side. Which is where righteous believers prior to Jesus, that's where Abraham was.

It's where David was. It's where Ruth was. It's where all, all the, the saints of God, all and believers of any fame or, or, or notoriety. And secondly, there's another side, which is where those who rejected belief and salvation. Jesus tells us about this in a parable in Luke 16. He talks about, in Luke 16, he's talking about a, a poor man, poor godly man whose name is Lazarus.

And then there's this rich guy who is, uh, uh, uh, proud, arrogant, uh, unresponsive to things of faith. Listen to the passage in Luke 16. Here's what it says. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried and in Hades. Being in torment. He lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side.

Both of these individuals are in Hades or Old Testament term Shield. They're both there. One's in one part, the righteous Abraham, the righteous Lazarus, and the other guy is this rich guy. And his position is totally different from the others. For the Godly in the time before Christ, they were in a state of comfort, wholeness, joy, Abraham's side, if you will.

It is even called in writings. Paradise.

You got that? We'll come back, but they are separated from their bodies until a day to come. So my second question, my se my, my next question is this, did Jesus go there? Ephesians chapter four, verse eight through 10, and again, I'm talking about after Jesus Christ has physically died. Now we're into Saturday.

Did Jesus go to Hades? Ephesians four, eight through 10, when Jesus ascended on high, he let a host of captives and he gave gifts to men. In saying he ascended, what does it mean? But the ha that he had also descended into the lower regions the earth, he who descended is the one who also ascended for above all the heavens that he might fill all things.

Peter talks about this very thing in the first sermon ever preached after Jesus died and rose from the dead. Here's what he says in Acts chapter two. He's quoting from Psalm 16, and it's a prophetic statement about Jesus. And ge. This is Jesus. Putting words to Jesus is speaking for, you'll not abandon my soul to Hades or let your holy one see corruption.

And then Peter gives his interpretation in verse 31, he David for Sue and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. Here's what he's saying. Jesus was not held in Hades. He was delivered from it by his resurrection. Mr. First sermon of the early church.

And Peter is saying, I wanna tell you the whole story of the passion from crucifixion to resurrection. Jesus Christ died on the cross fulfilling all the scriptures of the one that would be the lamb slain that would provide a way through the veil into the presence of God as Gerald presented to us last week.

He said, then he descended to Hades, but then he was not abandoned there. Justice the psalmist said he didn't stay there as those saints had stamped, stayed there for some of the millennia of time, though it was a, a rich place at times called Paradise, though it was a place that of joy and, and, and, and blessing.

It also was not the final place. And he says, how could he not be kept there if he's a person that died

because Jesus Christ had the power to rise from the dead. This is the, this is the first sermon of the early church. Okay, let's keep going. Revelation one, verse 1718 for great declarations about Jesus Christ. And he says to the believers, don't be afraid because as fear not, I am the first and the last.

And the living one. I died. And behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and Hades. Some people try to argue that death and Hades are the same place here and many passages. Their deline has two different things. Death is the state. Hades is is a locale. He says, I'm the one that had the keys.

The picture of Christ in his crucifixion is that I went to Hades, to all those saints that were in Abraham's side. I have the keys, I'm opening the door, I'm releasing them.

So why would Jesus go there?

Why was this going on on Saturday? Number one? It's where humans went at death, you know? It's just we sort of get in this state of I I I, I certainly get it. I've been there. I am there wondering, okay, Jesus died and I know what death's like death is. Preached it my whole life. Believed it. My whole life since it became a believer.

Death is separation. My body is left and my spirit now goes on. Jesus experienced death just like any human. His spirit went on to wear to the same place they all did, to Hades, to shield to, to the underworld. Whether it is literally under the earth, I don't know. I dunno where it's localized or how it's localized for spirit beings.

But Jesus experienced death in the same way humans experienced death and where he went. Was not focused on back to the presence of God. That's emphasized as a result of the resurrection. Jesus went to Hades. He went there, first of all, because it's where humans go when they died to this point. Secondly, and that's where I, I, to me, Luke 4 23 43, where he says to the, to the guy on the cross today, because you believe you'll be with me in paradise.

He means we're going together. We're just gonna be there a little while, but we're going together. You'll be on Abraham's side with me. The second thing why Jesus would go there is he went to liberate those who had awaited the salvation. He died to. Why are Abraham and David and Ruth and all the godly women and all the godly men that have embraced salvation through the, the, the provision of God, the temporary provision of the sacrifices covering their sin.

People that, that in humility saw their, their sin and, and their need of, of forgiveness from a, a, a holy God, but also a God of grace, that it provided a temporary way. Why are they still in Abraham's side? Because there has not been made an eternal sacrifice for sin that has been declared acceptable through the resurrection yet.

I love this thought. I love the thought of Christ. Who here they up on the ground, right? They're sealing the tomb. We're gonna hold this guy. We're gonna put your guards there. And he's down there liberating. Yeah. Every saint that has ever lived. Amen. Yes. He's the conqueror. Why would he go there? He went there to say, you see these, see these halls?

They were for you, you Abraham, you rayhab, you Ruth, you Adam, you eve sins scarred, broken, have waited in place of blessing and goodness. But you knew this is a temporary thing. I'm the one, I'm the guy. This was for you

and I have the keys to open that door to eternity. Okay? Does it matter if he went there? It matters. I think for four reasons. I'm gonna try to r run through these pretty rapidly. Number one, it declares that Jesus is the focus of all human history. Since Adam and Eve, this has been the moment humanity has waited for every believer in God.

Every person who has experienced acceptance by faith and the sacrifices and the grace of God has looked for this moment, and Jesus has come to say it's completed. The second reason it matters. Jesus resurrection is a literal picture of our resurrection.

Jesus resurrection is just like yours will be one day if you died today. You would go to be with the presence of the Lord, your, your spiritual, your immaterial part wood. But Paul talks about this is somewhat aberrant, that we are unclothed is the idea. He says in second Corinthians five, four, he says that it's, it's wonderful.

We are in a place without pain and sorrow. We are in the presence of God now through what Christ. But he says, it's still not the resurrection

Jesus is emphasizing. There is a body, bodily, physical resurrection that is yet to come. One of the, the things that I've struggled with, my whole ministry is at gravesides of how to explain what's going on because we're there and I'm saying, Your loved one, if they've embraced Christ, your, your believing loved one is in the presence of God.

Now, the hope is there's a future resurrection. Eh? What? And what I'm saying, I'm trying to explain, and I, and I don't highlight a lot, cuz it, it can be confusing to everybody, is that their body will be raced. This is real. This is actual, Jesus was alive on Saturday, right? He was resurrected on Sunday. What was resurrected?

He was resurrected to physical life. His human body was brought to life again. Now you may be thinking, wait, wait a minute. So the hope is that in the future, if maybe I'll die and I'll be in heaven in the presence of God, but. I'm gonna come back and get this body again. Well, maybe some questions you have.

Well, well, I, I just cremated my grandmother, or, or worse, my loved one was eaten by a shark. Or worse, worse. I hate my body. I don't want this body. This is all I can say to you. Whatever your body's like, it's gonna be fantastic. You're not gonna have any, oh, I just, I just gonna do wave words. Ah, it's never gonna end.

No, you're gonna never be happier than you. This, this gonna be the perfect body.

You see? There is going to be a new heaven and new earth. Th this is where I, ah, this is just grit. This we die. And now, because Jesus has emptied out the Abraham's side of Hades, were in the presence of God, with God, with Christ, but he's going to prepare a new heavens and new earth. The whole cosmos, the whole universe, as we know it, is at least part of this cosmic garden of Eden.

Every part of it, we're going to be given bodies to enjoy it. This is not earthy. You know, the NAICS used to, this is a big argument they had against the early church. They said, no, no, the body is bad, bad, bad, bad. And, and the early church father say, no, the body is good. It's, it's marred by sin, but we are part human body.

This is, this is real. This is special. We're gonna be given a body just like Jesus Christ. So Jesus Christ experienced everything you experience at death. He died, his body still lay in. The tomb was buried. He went to the place at this time, Hades in his spirit. Now that is, those believers are in the presence of God, wherever that is.

Third heaven, wherever it would be. But on the third day, on Sunday, his body was resurrected. His body was now changed. But you know, he still ate. He still walked around. He still talked. His body is exactly how your body will be. It also implies that he walked through a wall. I mean, that would be, that'd be all right, but Jesus experienced everything.

We're going to experience

Jesus. Then third, Knows every part of human experience because Christ's dissent pushes us to recognize that he doesn't simply know what it's like to die. He knows what it's like to be dead. He said, wait, wait, wait, wait. Yeah, that's what's going on. From the moment he expired on the cross till the moment he was resurrected, he was in the state of death.

He was living in that happy but unnatural state of unclothed that Paul talks about in Second Corinthians five, four, and to dwell among the departed saints, the resurrection forms the foundation of our. And it didn't just happen the moment Jesus died on the cross. He didn't rise till Sunday. And in that interim state, he pictures the state that we are in, in that unclosed state, yes, in God's presence, but not as.

We will one day be reunited with a body that is glorified, prepared for a cosmos that is paradoxical. And the last thing it declares that Jesus is the cornerstone is the conqueror of every square inch of creation in Philippians two tend through 11. It says this, as a result of what Jesus Christ did in coming among us and dying and rising, here's what Paul concludes so that the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven, on earth and under the earth.

And every tongue confessed that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the father. He has descended. He has conquered at every level existence in heaven, on earth, under the earth. He is the conquering king, the risen, glorified savior. He's the one that descended and liberated. You know, we love this visual actually, it's, it fills our myths.

It fills our movies. We want Maui to enter the realm of monsters in defeat Tama in the Disney film. Moana. We feel joy while reading the Silver Chair as part of the Chronicles of Narnia as Jill and used to rescue Prince Rian from the underworld in the Lord of the Rings, we see Gandolph descend into the depths of Mariah.

And gives up his own life to defeat the ball rock, and then rises again to save middle earth. There is something fascinating about a sh, a shared yearning that we have for a hero who can enter the underworld, defeat our enemies, and bring the dad back to life. This dissent motif, so popular in ancient and modern mythology are the echoes.

They're just the echoes of the great work of the sovereign son who leaves heaven, who walks this earth, who voluntarily embraces his own death and then descends to the place of the dead to lift them to life and to announce to them his work of redemption and liberation. So what do we see on this Saturday of Passion Week?

Well, on the ground, we see Jesus followers. Sorrowing and confused. They see death. They see defeat for his enemies. They see a discerned strategy, a determined strategy to captivate and control his power and his influence on the ground to a reporter reporting it's a dark and silent day, a day of defeat and sorrow.

But below the ground there is an utterly different story being written. He is existing in the state of physical death. He is using the moment to announce liberation to all the righteous of all human history. He is descended to announce his victory even when on the ground His defeat seems assured. He is our conqueror.

He is our king. He is our Lord. Every dimension of life, he is one for us. Look to your future saints. Look to a new heaven and new earth that is real, where you will be embodied. Look to the life of Christ in his days after the resurrection. And see, that's how I'll be. I'll still be eating. I'll still be enjoying life, but there will also be a sense that there is no other restraint upon my life, but the joy of living and enjoying God.

Saturday for the disciples was a dark day, but man, it's not a dark day to me. I love the thought that he is the descending, conquering one. I got close. Let's pray. Lord,

the deeper we go into the scriptures, the more we spend time with truth, the more we fall in love with Christ.

We see once again, Lord, that in the stories of mythology, the stories of fantasy, the stories of heroes, there is again just the echoes that emanate from the true hero, our hero who died, descended and rose. And Lord Jesus, we love you for it. In Jesus' name. Amen.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/saturday-jesus-dead-in-the-grave d9a7d42a-7980-461b-83c9-588bd50bc4fd Sun, 02 Apr 2023 09:34:03 GMT <div data-html="true">Matthew 27:62-66; Selected <br /><br /> Therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last fraud will be worse than the first.” <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> Morning everybody. Good morning. Invite you to take your Bibles to Matthew chapter 27. This morning we're continuing our series in the Passion Week of Christ. Today we are looking at Saturday today immediately preceding the resurrection of Christ On Easter Sunday, we're gonna be looking at Matthew chapter 27, um, verses 62 to 66. <br /><br /> And the end of the, the verses just preceding this are about Joseph of Aramathea, one of the members of the San Hadron. The group of 70 leaders of Israel has come to pilot, has gotten permission to bury Jesus in his own grave. That has all happened, uh, horridly at the end of Friday to get it done before the Sabbath begins, which actually begins at dusk on Friday night. <br /><br /> Their days went from dusk to dusk, as Jared, Jared said last week. And so now we pick up what is happening on Saturday in verse 62. The next day, that is after the day of preparation, the chief priest and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate and said, sir, we remember how this imposter said while he was still alive. <br /><br /> After three days, I will rise, therefore order the term to be made secure until the third day, lest is disciples go and steal him away and tell the people he has risen from the dead and the last fraud will be worse than the first pilot said to them, you have a guard of soldiers, go and make it as secure as you can. <br /><br /> So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone. And setting a guard. Let's pray. <br /><br /> Lord, we've already gathered here in this room and expressed worship already. Heart our thoughts lifted to you. Now God, we come to this unique day, the day on, on Earth's surface, which is utterly silent. A day of confusion, a day of pain, a day of bewilderment for his Jesus followers. Lord, as I hope we can glean from this sermon and study this morning, also a day in which astonishing things are going on, Lord, I pray you'd be our teacher. <br /><br /> Guide us as we look at some interesting truths this morning. Seek to understand some interesting passages. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Last Sunday, pastor Jared presented a great sermon on the costs that Jesus Christ experienced on Friday, emotionally, physically, spiritually. It all climaxed at the moment of the cross where in late afternoon he gave up his spirit. <br /><br /> He died, um, and then hurriedly, they took him down from the cross. They took his body, put it in the tomb of this leader of the Sanhedrin Joseph of Aramathea, in order to beat the hours before the Sabbath day would begin on late Friday evening. They have taken him, they've put him in a tomb. They've rolled the stone in front of it. <br /><br /> And so begin the events of Saturday of Passion Week. A reporter on the ground would not see a lot going on. On this day. Jesus followers have dispersed. Peter is somewhere completely licking his wounds in disgrace, overwhelming remorse for publicly denying Jesus Christ in such an overt way. On Thursday evening, Judas, after seeing Jesus marked for the cross Friday morning, has gone out and hung himself. <br /><br /> All of the others followers of Jesus have dispersed some gathering together, some separate to. Rest during the Sabbath day. During the end of that day. Actually Saturday night it will be after the Sabbath is over, the women will begin to prepare their spices for the coming morning when they intend to go to the tomb and try to anoint the body of Jesus. <br /><br /> Don't think about until they're almost there, how they're gonna get the stone out of the way. But they've gone and, and the only on the ground record we have of what happened on Saturday is the verses I just read. It is basically telling us what is happening outside the tomb, but what is happening to the one in the tomb. <br /><br /> This is going to be the second aspect of our sermon this morning, and I'll give you a preview. It will be one of the most unique sermon subjects we have ever tackled together. But first, let's look at Jesus in the grave as we're going to look at them in this sermon from two perspectives. First of all, the ground view, and we see the enemy's designed to captivate. <br /><br /> Then we're going to look at the below ground view. Jesus dissent to liberate the ground view here in Matthew 27 is talking about the enemy's design to captivate him. It's made up of two groups of people. It says the chief priest and the Pharisees, and that's who we've read about in Matthew 27 62 to 66. <br /><br /> Basically those were members of the Sanhedrin, the ruling 70 of Israel, the chief priest. Were usually, as they were in this day, members of what is called the Sadi Group. The Sadi Group was the more liberal group. They tended to be affluent. They tended to be, um, prominent families. Um, and the chief priests were individuals who did not believe in an afterlife astonishingly. <br /><br /> These were the priests. The chief priest did not believe. Certainly there was a future resurrection. They did not tend to take Bible stories, literally. Then you had the other group that were also a part of the Sanhedrin, and these were the individuals called the Pharisees. These were the more conservative biblical scholars. <br /><br /> These individuals absolutely did believe in the afterlife, and they did believe that there was a future resurrection to come. Yet we find that these two groups have joined forces as they go to pilot, and they have one belief where they can agree on the afterlife, and that is this. Jesus is not the guy that is going to lead us there. <br /><br /> Jesus does not have the power to raise himself from the dead. Jesus does not have the the ability to bring about resurrection on his own volition at his own time. Even though we, as Pharisees would believe there is a future resurrection <br /><br /> as they come together, their concern is not really about Jesus, it's about his followers. They're worried that they're gonna come and steal the body, and then they're gonna announce that he is resurrected from the dead because as the tomb is open, low and behold there's no body there. And there are three things I just wanna highlight that I think stand out for from this passage we're struck with these three things. <br /><br /> First of all, they really heard Jesus words about the resurrection. This is a really clear summation of what Jesus predicted. In three days, I will rise from the dead. They knew he said that. They heard, he said that far more clearly and expressed far more cogently than we ever hear the disciples. I, I think it was just a truth. <br /><br /> They just couldn't put their arms around and, and actually the disciples, you never read an account of the disciples saying, you know, he's gonna ra He said he was gonna raise three days. I wonder if you don't hear that. As a matter of fact, with the disciples, there's no sense of of processing that we have any record of, of what this could mean. <br /><br /> You know, he died. We didn't expect him to die, but he did say he was gonna die. Maybe this means this. They're all astounded at the resurrection. The religious leaders are giving these guys far too much credit. That they would be able to strategize at this moment in time, to, uh, to, to, to take the body of Jesus and then fabricate his, his resurrection. <br /><br /> But these guys hurt him. They really hurt him. They didn't believe him, but scared him. The second thing that strikes you about this is their fear. I mean, this is the Sabbath day. These guys were really fearful of what Jesus could do through his followers. This, the Sabbath. They were of course, under all kinds of restraints and regulations. <br /><br /> Even those that were liberal would, would still have said there are ways the Sabbath has to be practiced and one way is not gathering together for a special meeting, which they did. Secondly, to ask for a special audience with the Roman governor, which they did to marshal their own guards and take them out to defend the hill where Jesus was buried, which they did. <br /><br /> These guys were willing to cut a lot of corners. As a matter of fact, they were willing to cross big lines in their frenzy to make sure this tomb is secure and to stop What might happen. Also, and I love this part of the story, this is Joseph's tomb. Joseph o Mathia is part of their group. I mean, you would think they would say, Joseph, we don't know why. <br /><br /> You felt the need, maybe compassion or something to, to take this guy's body who quite frankly we're the reason he's dead and put him in your own tomb, but would you at least get some guards out there? They're not trusting Joseph. It's highly unlikely that Joseph of Aramathea is a part of the group that's speaking a pilot. <br /><br /> It's very unlikely that Nicodemus, who is one of the members of the San Union and a leading Pharisee, that he's a part of the group. These guys have been left out. They're now questionable. They're suspect <br /><br /> they have guards. We know there are guards that the religious leaders have and the and and what P says to, he says, take your guards, take your police. Go ahead and secure the tomb. So why do they need to go to pilot? I mean, they got their own guards, right? They got their own mini army. They arrested Jesus with those guys. <br /><br /> Why did they need to go to pilot? They went to a pilot because they wanted the power of Rome behind this protective ploy. They really received strong empowerment for their goals here. You know, Jesus had, has already shown he can do some weird things at tombs. Just a few weeks before this, he stood at the tomb of Lazarus, not far from Jerusalem, just a couple of miles east of it, and he said, what has he said to him? <br /><br /> Move the stone away and then, and I'm sure the religious leaders is, we are not sure what actually happened there, but man, what a mess it was for us. They still were told in the gospels we're trying to discredit Lazarus ease until this time they don't want another scene, certainly in the tomb of one of their own members. <br /><br /> So they go to pilot and basically this is what they're requesting. Look, we know we can put our soldiers where we want. We can put our guards where we want, but we want Rome stamp on this. That's why it says in verse 65 and 66 that they sealed the tomb. What that means is they put a Roman steel on it, seal on it, and the seal said this, anybody that moves this stone has just put their fist in the face of the Roman Empire. <br /><br /> This is Caesar's tomb. Now you don't move this stone. They brought now the, the authority of Rome. It's striking to me the pilot is willing to do this. PIL also is unnerved by this whole experience with Jesus. Pilate doesn't blow him off. He allows them to put a Roman seal on it. And I, I'm saying all this to say this. <br /><br /> The view on the ground, the only one recorded of the only one recorded event is of Jesus enemies trying to limit his influence. Don't let anything happen. Don't let these guys now, now get a message out there that Jesus is somehow still alive and this whole thing will just keep going. Let's stop it. The whole picture, the only messaging we have of on the ground in activity is of Jesus enemies trying to limit him, trying to captivate him, which is astonishing and very exciting as we come to the second part of our sermon because the second part of the sermon is the below ground view. <br /><br /> Jesus dissent. To liberate. We're gonna look at a number of different passages regarding this, but first, I want you to join with me and I want you to process with me. Jesus died on Friday afternoon, right? He was put in the tomb around dinnertime. His body was there, now sealed into this tomb of Joseph, <br /><br /> but has Jesus ceased to exist? I, I think we would all say no. Jesus, in spirit, soul, the immaterial part has left his body to go where life. I think if I asked that question, our, our immediate response would be, well, heaven, doesn't he say to the, you know, the thief on the cross today, you'll be with me in paradise. <br /><br /> We're gonna circle back to that. Where did he go? What happened? Where was Jesus on Saturday? The Apostles Creed is the original doctrinal statement put together by the early church. It's called the Apostles Creed because the church fathers that were discipled by the disciples, by the apostles actually credited them with providing this body of truth. <br /><br /> The Apostles Creed has basically been endorsed by every Christian group in worldwide throughout history. It's a simple statement. Later statements will simply elaborate on it, but the Apostles Creed will always be the foundational teaching of the church. I'd like to quickly read to you. The Apostles Creed. <br /><br /> And I want to point out two things about this. One in particular. I believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, his only son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified, died, and was buried. <br /><br /> He descended to hell. The third day, rose from the dead. He ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty. From there, he will come to judge the living in the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. <br /><br /> Amen. Two quick points. You'll notice down in the latter part, I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic church, Catholic, here is the word. Uh, it's actually from two words. Um, which means according to, or or in, in, in relation to. And then the word, um, all basically it's saying this is the universal church. <br /><br /> This is, this is the, the church in relation to all believers is what it means. But I want you to go back a few lines to the lines that may have jumped out to you. He was crucified. He died and was buried. He descended to hell. This particular statement <br /><br /> has caused a lot of controversy questions, just, uh, in, in interpretation throughout the history of the church. Actually only the last few centuries, the early centuries all agreed exactly what it was referring to. But there are three different interpretations. I'm just gonna highlight these very quickly. <br /><br /> Number one, some people saw it as a reference to Jesus experiencing death. I, I just, I don't know how this even got traction. It's not what it says. It says he descended to hell or literally Hades. Um, nor does it explain a number of New Testament passages. And it even says before this, he died. He died, was buried and descended to hell. <br /><br /> The second was actually by John Calvin. It was a view that no one had promoted that anybody knows before his period. But also it's got some traction today. And that was that it is a reference to Jesus experiencing the fury and judgment of hell. I understand that, that makes more sense to me, uh, because he did bear hell for us. <br /><br /> But again, it, it, it, it is not, the question is why would this happen after he was buried? Um, and no one has postulated before John Calvin. The third view is that Jesus literally went to Hades. To release believers who had died. Virtually every church father in the first eight centuries or more embraced this view, St. <br /><br /> Augustine in the fourth century, one of the truly great church fathers most prominent writer, made this statement, how could anyone think otherwise than that? Jesus did descend to hell during the time of his burial, not bodily, but in his spirit, in who he was, his body still in the grave. The word translated hell in the statement is the word Hades. <br /><br /> It is the same place referred to as the Hebrew word shield. It's not talking about the eternal state of hell. As a matter of fact, in Revelation 20, it says this, those that are still contained in Hades will be. Placed into the lake of fire, whatever that means, literal or non-literal fire. It is a place of eternal separation from God. <br /><br /> But, and that's what we think of as, as the, the place of eternal judgment. Hades is a holding place now, bear with me, hang with me because the longer we go into this subject, the more excited I'm gonna get right now. There's just stuff we gotta get through. Okay. Okay. So what is Hades? Well, Hades is the place of the departed dead in history before Jesus resurrection. <br /><br /> It's an intermediate state. It is a, uh, between physical death and future, the future eternal state. There are two sides to it, two different, uh, places in it. Somehow. I don't know how to localize this, but there is a state which is called Abraham's side. Which is where righteous believers prior to Jesus, that's where Abraham was. <br /><br /> It's where David was. It's where Ruth was. It's where all, all the, the saints of God, all and believers of any fame or, or, or notoriety. And secondly, there's another side, which is where those who rejected belief and salvation. Jesus tells us about this in a parable in Luke 16. He talks about, in Luke 16, he's talking about a, a poor man, poor godly man whose name is Lazarus. <br /><br /> And then there's this rich guy who is, uh, uh, uh, proud, arrogant, uh, unresponsive to things of faith. Listen to the passage in Luke 16. Here's what it says. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried and in Hades. Being in torment. He lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. <br /><br /> Both of these individuals are in Hades or Old Testament term Shield. They're both there. One's in one part, the righteous Abraham, the righteous Lazarus, and the other guy is this rich guy. And his position is totally different from the others. For the Godly in the time before Christ, they were in a state of comfort, wholeness, joy, Abraham's side, if you will. <br /><br /> It is even called in writings. Paradise. <br /><br /> You got that? We'll come back, but they are separated from their bodies until a day to come. So my second question, my se my, my next question is this, did Jesus go there? Ephesians chapter four, verse eight through 10, and again, I'm talking about after Jesus Christ has physically died. Now we're into Saturday. <br /><br /> Did Jesus go to Hades? Ephesians four, eight through 10, when Jesus ascended on high, he let a host of captives and he gave gifts to men. In saying he ascended, what does it mean? But the ha that he had also descended into the lower regions the earth, he who descended is the one who also ascended for above all the heavens that he might fill all things. <br /><br /> Peter talks about this very thing in the first sermon ever preached after Jesus died and rose from the dead. Here's what he says in Acts chapter two. He's quoting from Psalm 16, and it's a prophetic statement about Jesus. And ge. This is Jesus. Putting words to Jesus is speaking for, you'll not abandon my soul to Hades or let your holy one see corruption. <br /><br /> And then Peter gives his interpretation in verse 31, he David for Sue and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. Here's what he's saying. Jesus was not held in Hades. He was delivered from it by his resurrection. Mr. First sermon of the early church. <br /><br /> And Peter is saying, I wanna tell you the whole story of the passion from crucifixion to resurrection. Jesus Christ died on the cross fulfilling all the scriptures of the one that would be the lamb slain that would provide a way through the veil into the presence of God as Gerald presented to us last week. <br /><br /> He said, then he descended to Hades, but then he was not abandoned there. Justice the psalmist said he didn't stay there as those saints had stamped, stayed there for some of the millennia of time, though it was a, a rich place at times called Paradise, though it was a place that of joy and, and, and, and blessing. <br /><br /> It also was not the final place. And he says, how could he not be kept there if he's a person that died <br /><br /> because Jesus Christ had the power to rise from the dead. This is the, this is the first sermon of the early church. Okay, let's keep going. Revelation one, verse 1718 for great declarations about Jesus Christ. And he says to the believers, don't be afraid because as fear not, I am the first and the last. <br /><br /> And the living one. I died. And behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and Hades. Some people try to argue that death and Hades are the same place here and many passages. Their deline has two different things. Death is the state. Hades is is a locale. He says, I'm the one that had the keys. <br /><br /> The picture of Christ in his crucifixion is that I went to Hades, to all those saints that were in Abraham's side. I have the keys, I'm opening the door, I'm releasing them. <br /><br /> So why would Jesus go there? <br /><br /> Why was this going on on Saturday? Number one? It's where humans went at death, you know? It's just we sort of get in this state of I I I, I certainly get it. I've been there. I am there wondering, okay, Jesus died and I know what death's like death is. Preached it my whole life. Believed it. My whole life since it became a believer. <br /><br /> Death is separation. My body is left and my spirit now goes on. Jesus experienced death just like any human. His spirit went on to wear to the same place they all did, to Hades, to shield to, to the underworld. Whether it is literally under the earth, I don't know. I dunno where it's localized or how it's localized for spirit beings. <br /><br /> But Jesus experienced death in the same way humans experienced death and where he went. Was not focused on back to the presence of God. That's emphasized as a result of the resurrection. Jesus went to Hades. He went there, first of all, because it's where humans go when they died to this point. Secondly, and that's where I, I, to me, Luke 4 23 43, where he says to the, to the guy on the cross today, because you believe you'll be with me in paradise. <br /><br /> He means we're going together. We're just gonna be there a little while, but we're going together. You'll be on Abraham's side with me. The second thing why Jesus would go there is he went to liberate those who had awaited the salvation. He died to. Why are Abraham and David and Ruth and all the godly women and all the godly men that have embraced salvation through the, the, the provision of God, the temporary provision of the sacrifices covering their sin. <br /><br /> People that, that in humility saw their, their sin and, and their need of, of forgiveness from a, a, a holy God, but also a God of grace, that it provided a temporary way. Why are they still in Abraham's side? Because there has not been made an eternal sacrifice for sin that has been declared acceptable through the resurrection yet. <br /><br /> I love this thought. I love the thought of Christ. Who here they up on the ground, right? They're sealing the tomb. We're gonna hold this guy. We're gonna put your guards there. And he's down there liberating. Yeah. Every saint that has ever lived. Amen. Yes. He's the conqueror. Why would he go there? He went there to say, you see these, see these halls? <br /><br /> They were for you, you Abraham, you rayhab, you Ruth, you Adam, you eve sins scarred, broken, have waited in place of blessing and goodness. But you knew this is a temporary thing. I'm the one, I'm the guy. This was for you <br /><br /> and I have the keys to open that door to eternity. Okay? Does it matter if he went there? It matters. I think for four reasons. I'm gonna try to r run through these pretty rapidly. Number one, it declares that Jesus is the focus of all human history. Since Adam and Eve, this has been the moment humanity has waited for every believer in God. <br /><br /> Every person who has experienced acceptance by faith and the sacrifices and the grace of God has looked for this moment, and Jesus has come to say it's completed. The second reason it matters. Jesus resurrection is a literal picture of our resurrection. <br /><br /> Jesus resurrection is just like yours will be one day if you died today. You would go to be with the presence of the Lord, your, your spiritual, your immaterial part wood. But Paul talks about this is somewhat aberrant, that we are unclothed is the idea. He says in second Corinthians five, four, he says that it's, it's wonderful. <br /><br /> We are in a place without pain and sorrow. We are in the presence of God now through what Christ. But he says, it's still not the resurrection <br /><br /> Jesus is emphasizing. There is a body, bodily, physical resurrection that is yet to come. One of the, the things that I've struggled with, my whole ministry is at gravesides of how to explain what's going on because we're there and I'm saying, Your loved one, if they've embraced Christ, your, your believing loved one is in the presence of God. <br /><br /> Now, the hope is there's a future resurrection. Eh? What? And what I'm saying, I'm trying to explain, and I, and I don't highlight a lot, cuz it, it can be confusing to everybody, is that their body will be raced. This is real. This is actual, Jesus was alive on Saturday, right? He was resurrected on Sunday. What was resurrected? <br /><br /> He was resurrected to physical life. His human body was brought to life again. Now you may be thinking, wait, wait a minute. So the hope is that in the future, if maybe I'll die and I'll be in heaven in the presence of God, but. I'm gonna come back and get this body again. Well, maybe some questions you have. <br /><br /> Well, well, I, I just cremated my grandmother, or, or worse, my loved one was eaten by a shark. Or worse, worse. I hate my body. I don't want this body. This is all I can say to you. Whatever your body's like, it's gonna be fantastic. You're not gonna have any, oh, I just, I just gonna do wave words. Ah, it's never gonna end. <br /><br /> No, you're gonna never be happier than you. This, this gonna be the perfect body. <br /><br /> You see? There is going to be a new heaven and new earth. Th this is where I, ah, this is just grit. This we die. And now, because Jesus has emptied out the Abraham's side of Hades, were in the presence of God, with God, with Christ, but he's going to prepare a new heavens and new earth. The whole cosmos, the whole universe, as we know it, is at least part of this cosmic garden of Eden. <br /><br /> Every part of it, we're going to be given bodies to enjoy it. This is not earthy. You know, the NAICS used to, this is a big argument they had against the early church. They said, no, no, the body is bad, bad, bad, bad. And, and the early church father say, no, the body is good. It's, it's marred by sin, but we are part human body. <br /><br /> This is, this is real. This is special. We're gonna be given a body just like Jesus Christ. So Jesus Christ experienced everything you experience at death. He died, his body still lay in. The tomb was buried. He went to the place at this time, Hades in his spirit. Now that is, those believers are in the presence of God, wherever that is. <br /><br /> Third heaven, wherever it would be. But on the third day, on Sunday, his body was resurrected. His body was now changed. But you know, he still ate. He still walked around. He still talked. His body is exactly how your body will be. It also implies that he walked through a wall. I mean, that would be, that'd be all right, but Jesus experienced everything. <br /><br /> We're going to experience <br /><br /> Jesus. Then third, Knows every part of human experience because Christ's dissent pushes us to recognize that he doesn't simply know what it's like to die. He knows what it's like to be dead. He said, wait, wait, wait, wait. Yeah, that's what's going on. From the moment he expired on the cross till the moment he was resurrected, he was in the state of death. <br /><br /> He was living in that happy but unnatural state of unclothed that Paul talks about in Second Corinthians five, four, and to dwell among the departed saints, the resurrection forms the foundation of our. And it didn't just happen the moment Jesus died on the cross. He didn't rise till Sunday. And in that interim state, he pictures the state that we are in, in that unclosed state, yes, in God's presence, but not as. <br /><br /> We will one day be reunited with a body that is glorified, prepared for a cosmos that is paradoxical. And the last thing it declares that Jesus is the cornerstone is the conqueror of every square inch of creation in Philippians two tend through 11. It says this, as a result of what Jesus Christ did in coming among us and dying and rising, here's what Paul concludes so that the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven, on earth and under the earth. <br /><br /> And every tongue confessed that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the father. He has descended. He has conquered at every level existence in heaven, on earth, under the earth. He is the conquering king, the risen, glorified savior. He's the one that descended and liberated. You know, we love this visual actually, it's, it fills our myths. <br /><br /> It fills our movies. We want Maui to enter the realm of monsters in defeat Tama in the Disney film. Moana. We feel joy while reading the Silver Chair as part of the Chronicles of Narnia as Jill and used to rescue Prince Rian from the underworld in the Lord of the Rings, we see Gandolph descend into the depths of Mariah. <br /><br /> And gives up his own life to defeat the ball rock, and then rises again to save middle earth. There is something fascinating about a sh, a shared yearning that we have for a hero who can enter the underworld, defeat our enemies, and bring the dad back to life. This dissent motif, so popular in ancient and modern mythology are the echoes. <br /><br /> They're just the echoes of the great work of the sovereign son who leaves heaven, who walks this earth, who voluntarily embraces his own death and then descends to the place of the dead to lift them to life and to announce to them his work of redemption and liberation. So what do we see on this Saturday of Passion Week? <br /><br /> Well, on the ground, we see Jesus followers. Sorrowing and confused. They see death. They see defeat for his enemies. They see a discerned strategy, a determined strategy to captivate and control his power and his influence on the ground to a reporter reporting it's a dark and silent day, a day of defeat and sorrow. <br /><br /> But below the ground there is an utterly different story being written. He is existing in the state of physical death. He is using the moment to announce liberation to all the righteous of all human history. He is descended to announce his victory even when on the ground His defeat seems assured. He is our conqueror. <br /><br /> He is our king. He is our Lord. Every dimension of life, he is one for us. Look to your future saints. Look to a new heaven and new earth that is real, where you will be embodied. Look to the life of Christ in his days after the resurrection. And see, that's how I'll be. I'll still be eating. I'll still be enjoying life, but there will also be a sense that there is no other restraint upon my life, but the joy of living and enjoying God. <br /><br /> Saturday for the disciples was a dark day, but man, it's not a dark day to me. I love the thought that he is the descending, conquering one. I got close. Let's pray. Lord, <br /><br /> the deeper we go into the scriptures, the more we spend time with truth, the more we fall in love with Christ. <br /><br /> We see once again, Lord, that in the stories of mythology, the stories of fantasy, the stories of heroes, there is again just the echoes that emanate from the true hero, our hero who died, descended and rose. And Lord Jesus, we love you for it. In Jesus' name. Amen.</div> false no <![CDATA[The Cost of the Cross]]> Matthew 27:45-51

Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).



Sermon Transcript:

but I'm very excited to be, um, with you guys this morning and we're gonna be reading here first in, uh, Matthew chapter 27 verse 45, um, through 51.

It says this now, from the sixth hour, there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying, Eli, Eli, That is my God, my God. Why have you forsaken me? And some of the bystanders hearing it said, this man is calling Elijah. And one of them at once ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine and put it on a read and gave it to him to drink.

But the other said, wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him. And Jesus cried out again with loud voice and yielded up his spirit. And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn into from top to bottom, and the earth shook and the rocks were split. Would you pray with me this morning?

Father, we come before you. Today, God. And

after hearing that song, God, I just, that's, that's who we want to be. That's what we want to do, Lord. We want to be people that lift your name up, Lord. It's one of the greatest callings you've ever given us, is to bring glory back to you, God. And that's exactly what we're trying to do this morning. God, I just really hope that you'd make this not about the worship team, um, not about me or anybody else, Lord, but only that your name would be exalted.

That your word would be exalted Lord, in that, through that Lord, your spirit would move in us. God, pray that you, uh, would pour out your spirit this morning, Lord, that you would work in our hearts. God, I do pray against all distractions. God, I pray against all distractions in Jesus' name. That your, your word, your spirit would be the loudest things in this room.

God, be with us. Um, come close this morning. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Last week, pastor Mark talked about, um, Thursday, the, the week, uh, the Holy Thursday coming up leading to, um, the celebration of Easter. Today we'll be talking about, um, Friday, good Friday. Uh, it's historically called. And uh, last week it was talking about, um, Jesus celebrates the Passover, um, with US disciples.

He institutes the Lord's Supper with his disciples. He, he gives them some final thoughts and commands and, um, has this long discourse, um, with his disciples. And that was all happening on, um, Thursday of Holy Week. And actually a fun fact that I had learned not too long ago, pastor Mark actually told me this and I Googled it to make sure you're right and you were, the Jewish day actually starts.

At nightfall. So th Friday is actually what we would consider like Thursday at nightfall. So Friday actually starts, the events that happen on Thursday, later in that night is actually what happens Friday. So we're gonna be looking through that. And there's a lot, there is about six or more chapters all going on on Friday.

So I hope you guys are ready to just buckle in. We'll be here for a couple hours, I mean, uh, 40 minutes. Um, but I do want to just, uh, there's, there's a lot going on here and I just want to direct if you're keeping along with the Common Life book, Um, there is a map in there. I just kind of wanna direct our attention to it of kind of just what happens where, this is Jesus's travel.

So we'll start in the garden of sse, right where Jesus is arrested. He goes and he appears before, uh, Caiaphas in the high priest. Then he goes to the, uh, he's brought before the Sanon, and from the Sanhedrin, he goes to pilot, pilot sends him to Herod, he goes back to pilot, is condemned to the cross. He takes the journey to the cross, um, to, uh, go Gotha.

He's crucified and buried, right? Um, around there as well. So there's a, there's a lot going on and I, and if you're not keeping up with the Common Life book or if you haven't gone through it, I really would encourage you to just take it through. There's actually four accounts, believe it or not, the gospel's all, uh, you know, that's a pretty important event.

So I would encourage you to go through it because there's a lot that we probably won't be able to cover. Um, this morning, but this morning I do want to focus on one thing and that's the cost of the cross. What did it cost? Jesus? How did it affect him? How can we even begin to understand what he endured?

For our sake, we'll be looking at this great cost of the cross in three different categories. And first, um, I wanna talk about what it cost emotionally. What was the emotional cost? What did Jesus experience emotionally on this day in history? Uh, we're gonna do a really fun exercise. I want everyone to close your eyes.

Okay? Close your eyes. It's not weird, , I told you it'd be fun. I want you to take a second and close your eyes. I want you to think about the most heart-wrenching experience you've ever experienced. I want you to think about one of the most painful emotional times you've ever been through. Maybe it was a breakup or a divorce.

Maybe it was the breaking apart of your family, the loss of a loved one, the betrayal of your spouse, the pain of watching your parents become sicker and sicker or, or a child. I want us to think about that this morning. You can open your eyes. I want us to think just what we've experienced emotionally, the worst that we've ever experienced, because what Christ is going through on Friday is heart-wrenching.

It is absolutely agonizing what he's going through on this Friday, and I really want us to do this, to think deeply, not just, I just want us to sit in this for a little bit to think, what did this cost our savior Jesus on the day he was gonna be crucified. Was in complete agony and heartbreak. Matthew 26, 36 through 39 says this.

Then Jesus went with them to a place called GSE and he said to his disciples, sit here while I go over there and pray, and taking with him, Peter and the two sons of Zeti. He began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to him, my soul is very Sol sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch with me.

And going a little far farther, he fell on his face and prayed saying, father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will. I want us to put ourselves in the shoes of Jesus here. You know exactly what weights you. You know the death prepared for you, the horrific pain you're going to endure.

You know it's gonna come and there's nothing you can do to escape it. It and all you want, right? All you want in this painful experience. Maybe this was in your life, when you're going through your painful experience, what do you want? You want friends to come alongside you, to put your arm around you, to pat you on your back, pick you up when you're down.

And this is exactly what Jesus wants. He brings some of his closest disciples, Peter, James, and John, and he says, just come with me and pray. He says, I'm sorrowful unto death. Just come. Just pray with me. Just be with me. And he goes out and he prays and he comes back and his disciples are praying fervently for him right now.

They fall asleep and he wakes 'em up and he says, would you just please just pray? Just pray with me now. And he comes back, not once, not twice, but three times. They fall asleep on him. He's in complete agony. They see him and Luke, it actually describes that he's sweating blood. This is how much emotional pain that he's going through, and he's desperate for his friends to be there for him, and they're falling asleep.

And not only that, but at this very moment, one of his best friends is exchanging money to betray him over to the religious leaders. They come, they rest him, and the disciples scatter. They run away. They're scared. He sees one of the, this guy who he spent three years with, come over and kiss him, call him rabbi, and betray him to the religious leaders.

Jesus goes, and he, he goes before the many councils and, and, uh, um, uh, judgments that he goes to see. And Peter actually follows along and says, Peter and John actually follow along with him and we're like, oh, this is perfect. Look, Peter's supporting him. No, that's not actually what happens. Peter actually has the time that Jesus predicted before at the Lord Supper.

He says he denied him not once, not twice, but again three times. This was his brother. This was the guy. Jesus said, I'm going to build my church on you, Peter. You're gonna be my rock Peter. And he's denying that he even knows his friend Jesus when he needed him the most. All of his brothers for three years Now, in an instance, turn betray him, the deny him, run from him.

What was this pain of betrayal like? How did this feel to Jesus? How did he endure this? And we know from the map that we looked at earlier, he appeared before the high priest, the San Heeder and the ha herd and pilot. And at each trial, they falsely accused him, mocked him, mocked his kingship and majesty.

Here he is Jesus king of the universe, and they're mocking him and accusing him of things he's never done. He's innocent before them,

and no one there is to defend him. No one. And he stays silent and he takes on the abuse, the, the verbal, the physical abuse, the shame, the embarrassment that he felt being stripped naked and put on a cross is a spectacle for all to see on the cross. His mother was in the crowd along with many other women who supported his ministry, the pain of watching his mother watch her son die right in front of her.

What was this like? The pain of watching the people you've loved and served over your whole ministry be the same exact people that have put you on this cross. God's chosen people, the Jews have accused him, asked for his crucifix. Crucifixion. These people he's only loved and served and looked out for are now the ones putting him to death.

This, this was the emotional cost. This was his cost. This was the heart wrenching, sorrowful unto death cost that he endured for us, and he did it for us. That's the emotional cost. Now, I want to talk through the physical cost. What did he endure physically, right? Some of us jump right here. We only think about the physical things and, and we don't think, or some of us might be a little bit more emotional when we think about the emotional right, but what did he endure physically for us?

At each of his trials, he was beaten, spit on, beaten with a rod, had a crown of thorns push into his head, and possibly the worst of all, he was scourged. This was a common practice that they would do to people that were going to be crucified. They would take a whip that had many leather straps on it that would break open their back.

It actually had metal or bone pieces attached to it. So over and over again, you're getting contusions and your back is lacerating open, getting split open on the back. Why did they do this? Was it painful? Yes. Did it exhaust them? Yes, because what happened on crucifixion, the Bible kind of saves us the details.

Right. Just says, and he was crucified. Well, partly because everyone knew what that was, but the actual act of crucifixion, they would nail him to the cross. . And what you actually would end up dying from most of the time was suffocation, because your arms were pulled out, you couldn't get a breath. So you could either die from suffocation or exhaustion or a heart attack induced by stress or dehydration.

And what would happen is in order to get a breath, you'd have to push against these nails, driven through your feet to try to push up and get a breath, which would cause all the wounds in your back to scrape against this wooden, splinter filled cross. We can't even imagine what this was like. And Jesus actually was offered a painkiller.

Someone tries to give them, um, gall, which would've numbed the pain, and he refused it. He refused to have any painkiller. He wanted to endure the full weight and pain of the punishment. Crucifixion was the most horrifying way to die, and he did it for us. You had to carry the cross. And actually we know by scripture that he actually was not even strong enough to carry the cross, so they make some guy named Simon do it, and it was right outside the city so that everyone could see, everyone could come and witness the crucifixion of Jesus.

The pain, the physical pain that he endured, we can't even imagine. This was the physical cost of Jesus. This is what he endured. This is what he endured for us. And the last cost, but the worst of all was the spiritual cost Jesus endured for us. Yes. The emotional, almost pain, the betrayal of his friends was painful.

Yes, the, the, the physical pain that he endured was terrible and agonizing, but the weight of the spiritual cost was worse of all. Jesus sinless, righteous, completely filled out the law, had the full weight of our sin and the wrath of God, of from God the father poured out on him. Jesus took on the punishment, the guilt, and the shame of the whole world, sin on the cross.

Jesus, for the first time in history, was separated from the Father. The greatest turmoil anyone could ever experience is separation from. Matthew 27 46. We read it earlier, but it says about the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying, Eli, Eli Lama Saba. That is my God. My God. Why have you forsaken me?

This wasn't just a word that he said. It wasn't just saying, God, why are you doing this to me? Right? He was saying, why have you forsaken me? Why have you left me? He was separated from his father for the first time in history. He was in pure agony. Apart from the Father. This, this, this was the cost of the cross to be separated from God, the Father, the God had separated.

Right? We can't even wrap our heads around it. What was that like for him? Isaiah 53, um, verses four through 10 says that it was the will of God to do this. I just want to read it. It says, surely he took up our pain. and bore our suffering. Yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him and inflicted, but he was pierced for our transgressions.

He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds, we are healed. We all like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned to our own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth.

He was led like a lamb to the slaughter. Next slide, and as a sheep before cheers his silence. So he did not open his mouth by oppression and judgment, he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested where he was cut off from the land of the living for the transgressions of my people, he was punished.

He was assigned a grave with the wicked and with the rich. In his death, though he had done no violence, no words, any deceit in his mouth, yet it was the Lord's will to crush him.

In other versions, it says it delighted the Lord to crush him. This is what he endured for us. This was the cost of the cross. I just want to sit. Yeah. I told you this was not gonna be a fun sermon, right? I just want us to sit in this. What did it cost him? What was it like being separated by the father?

This was the true cost of the cross. But why did he endure this for us? Well, it was because of his great love for us. And well, maybe you're asking, okay, it Well, why? Why did it have, why? Why was the cross necessary? Why was the cross necessary for this to happen? Why did Jesus have to go through all this pain to get to us?

All right. Well, I want to take us all the way back into the Garden of Eden. God's plan was always to be with his people. God's plan was always to be in the presence of his people. It actually says in in Genesis that Adam Eve walked with God. This was his plan from the very beginning of time that God would be with his.

But we know how this story ends, right? Um, Adam and Eve choose sin. They choose disobedience, and we know God is a holy God. He can, he's separated from sin, right? So when, when Adam and Eve chose this disobedience, they created a separation. They were kicked out of the garden. Two chair bi are now guarding this garden.

Now they're saying you are separated from God. Now there's a separation that happened. You used to walk with him, and now because of your sin, there's a separation. . And from that point there was a separation. But even back then, God had a plan of redemption for his people. He had a plan to be back in the presence of his people.

The first, um, actualized version of this we see is in the wilderness. Um, God commands them to set up a tabernacle, right? That his spirit, that his presence would reside in, and they actually put up their camp all around this tabernacle. And the, the fire, the, uh, act, the symbol of God's presence would hover over is, and they put their whole camp around the tabernacle.

Not only this, God set up a sacrificial system, okay? And if you're familiar with this, right, there's a separation that has happened because of sin. So God sets up a sacrificial system with animals, right? That there needed to be atonement, that there needs to be a. That we could enter now into the presence of God because of his holiness, because of his separation from sin, because of his almightiness, there needed to be atonement before we, uh, stepped into his presence.

So he established a priest line right through Aaron, and he establish a sacrificial system that there would be blood shed, right? And these priests would go through all these rituals so that they could be ceremonially clean, that they could go in the presence of God and not be separated with him, but actually go in because of the tone of these sacrifices.

But these were temporary sacrifices. This was a temporary plan. This was a temporary place for God. It was a tent for goodness sake. But when Israel gets into the chosen, uh, land, Israel, Solomon builds a, a somewhat what we see a permanent home for God. It's the temple, right? And it was the same thing. God's presence resided in that temple.

And the priest would go before, um, the people as well, um, into this temple, and they'd still do the sacrifices, and they still do all these ceremonial washings so that they could go and be with God and be with God for the people of Israel. But the question is how, um, how could God be with his people? If people were in sin and he was holy?

The only way that God would really open up the doors to this was through the cross. This was the only way. This is why the cross needed to happen. There was still separation. Even with this system, even with the sacrificial system, there was still a separation that happened and at some point, While Jesus was on the cross, an exchange happened.

Jesus took our place. Right? When we know that, the scripture says the wages of sin is death. Jesus took our place that was rightly ours, that we rightly deserved. And instead of us, that God's wrath was poured out on God's wrath, was poured out on his son Jesus. And in John 1930, Jesus with his last breath, cries out.

It is finished. And in Greek, this is one word, tole, which means to close, to finish, to come to end some. Sometimes it even means to make a payment. There was an exchange that happened. The work was done. The punishment of sin, the separation was complete. The punishment, the wrath that was necessary because of our sin was poured out, not on us, not on the people.

But on Jesus, the righteous one, the debt was paid in full. The work of Christ was finished on that cross. So with his last breath, he says, it is finished. The results of what Jesus did on that cross is the reason we can be in relationship with the Father Today. There was a separation that only the cross could fix, that only the cross commend.

Matthew 27 50 through 51 says this. It says, and when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit and that. And at that moment, the curtain of the temple was torn into, from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rock split. Matthew in is one of the gospels that really emphasizes that this veil of the temple was split.

And I just want to camp out here for a little bit and just talk about the significance of this temple, uh, veil being torn because it's incredible. It was so significant. And I just wanna pull up, um, the picture of the temple. So just so we can see it. This is actually the tabernacle, but it is set up very similar as in the temple, if you guys can see this.

So there was multiple veils, there's multiple parts of the temple and the tabernacle. This part of the temple would've been called the holy place. This is where priests would come into, they'd come into this first section here behind the curtain the most. No one else other than the priest could enter into that place.

But past the second curtain here, this is called the Holy of Holies. Okay? The most holy place. And once a year. The high priests would be able to enter into the Holy of Holies once a year, just once, and they'd go through their ceremonial watchings and they'd, and they'd offer multiple sacrifices, and they'd go in with the blood of a bull and they'd sacrifice one for their sins, but they'd do a sacrifice for the whole of Israel as a nation.

They were going into a tone for Israel's sins for one year, right? It was a sacrifice that lasted one year, and they'd go into this holy place and they had to be completely ceremonial and clean because what happened? We know this. God is a holy God. He cannot be in the presence of sin. And what could actually happen is that, If he wasn't ceremonial clean, if there wasn't sin confessed and in not out in the open, he actually would drop dead in the presence of God.

And there's a myth, um, we don't actually know if it's true or not, but it sounds really cool, so I'm gonna share it right, that there was a rope that they would tie around the high priest. Why? Because if this high priest drops dead, there's not another guy that can go in there for a whole nother year to get this man out.

This was the holiness of God. This was God's presence. It's dangerous for sin. There was a literal separation. The veil shows us a separation between God and man. And this wasn't like, like you think about a veil, I think about like a shower curtain or like my, uh, curtains for my window and my living room.

Right. This thing was up to 20 to 30 feet wide. It was up to 60 feet high, and it was anywhere, um, from three to six inches thick. This was, I don't even know what to call. It was a, the veil of the veils, right. This thing was huge, and it says the Temple veil was torn from top to bottom. This is not something that a human could weave.

This is not something that a human could tear. This was the work of God. And there's a lot of symbolism here in, um, the, the temple, there was actually it, the veil was worn out of the most royal, um, fabrics of purples and reds and blues. And it actually had cherubim angels weaved in to the veil. And in the temple there was actually two Cher statues over 12 feet tall that were in front of the arc of the covenant, the mercy seat where God's presence was supposed to be.

Two Cher bi guarding. It sounds super familiar, right? That the two Cher him were guarding the place of Eden, the presence of God. There was a separation in his angels were ma making sure that there was one. So when this veil is torn, right, this is a monumental symbol for those who are in Christ Jesus.

This is a big deal. No longer, once a year, a high priest will enter no. What is Jesus doing? What Jesus accomplished on the cross is saying, we now those in Christ Jesus are in the full presence of the Father. Amen. Amen. This is a big deal. This is what Christ accomplished on Good Friday. Dr. Daniel, uh, Gertner writes this about the veil.

He says, the veil was a physical visible barrier indicating that access to God was strictly prohibited because of his holiness. It is imperative to remember that the holiness of God remains unchanged from all eternity, even after the veil is torn. What has changed then is that the toning death of Jesus on the cross has provided the appropriate wrath bearing sacrifice, one, which the bulls and the goats of the old covenant could not provide.

That system, the sacrificial system, the sacrificial of bulls and lambs and goats was a temporary sacrifice. What Jesus did on the cross was eternal. The high priests would go in before to sacrifice atonement for all of Israel. Once a year in that sacrifice would end, and one year later, what Jesus has done is eternal.

The work is done. He said, it is finished. You're welcome now into my presence.

His holiness didn't change. What changed was the work of Jesus Christ. That now covers. I want to share a couple verses from the book of Hebrews, um, that just absolutely, um, explained this way better than human word could ever, um, explain it. First is Hebrews four, 14 through 16. It says this, therefore, since we have a great high priest, that's Jesus, our great high priest now is Jesus who is a send it into heaven.

Jesus, the son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we pres profess for. We do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weakness, but he, we have one who has been tempted in every way just as we are. Yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of.

What does this mean? This is a huge deal for God's people. This is a huge deal for those who are on Christ Jesus. Some of us have still wrapped ourselves in the veil. We're like, we don't want to go before the Presidents of God. We're scared. I'm covered in sin. I'm dirty. No, our high priest is not a human priest anymore.

It's king Jesus. And he was tempted and he was tried and he endured pain and he endured pain on the cross and, but he was perfect in every way without sin. So verse 16 says, let us with confidence draw near to the throne of grace. Why? So that we may receive mercy so that we might find grace to help in time of need.

Hebrews 10, 19 through 23 says this, therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the most holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, opened up for us through the curtain. That is his body. And soon we have a great priest over the house of God. Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with full assurance that faith brings, having our heart sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water led us hold Unser inly to, to the hope we profess for he who promised is faithful.

The veil being torn is a monumental thing.

Just as his body was broken, the veil was broken. We will never fully understand just how great the cost of the cross was. But we can understand is that because of the cross, the debt of our sin has been paid. We've been sprinkled, we've been washed clean by his sacrifice. Through the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus.

This is a one and done sacrifice. Some of you right now are still trying to atone for your sin. Some of you are not a sacrifice in bulls and goats, but some of you are trying to get your good works and you're like, wait, if I just stack these up enough, I can atone for all these sins. Stop. Embrace God's sacrifice and don't hear me this.

Don't say, oh, embrace God's sacrifice. I can live however I want. No, no, no, where he's saying boldly approach the throne cuz we've been sprinkled and clean with a clear conscience, hearts filled with faith. Now that we can boldly approach the throne of God so that we can now boldly live for him. Jesus is now our great high priest that intercedes for us.

We are covered by the purifying perfect blood of Jesus. We may now boldly approach the throne of God. So yeah, when we call this Good Friday, this was a good Friday, this was a really good Friday. There was a separation between man and God, and it was always God's desire. Read through the scriptures, you can see it.

It's always his desire to be in the presence with his people. And when this veil was torn, it blew the doors open to his presence. Now, full access to the father.

This is a really, really good Friday. This is worthy of a celebration and we know the celebration will only get better with Sunday's resurrection. But with Good Friday, I just don't want to miss the cost of the cross. What it accomplished when he said it is finished. What did that mean? His work was complete.

The Messiah came. It didn't conquer the Romans like they thought he was going to. He conquered sin and the debt that was weighing over us, he purchased it with the son of his blood. This is certainly a good Friday. Celebrate. Look, would you pray with me,

Lord, man, how special are we, God, that we can come just right now. Lord, we're just boldly approaching your throne. We're boldly approaching your presence, God. And now we can actually pray with confidence, say, God, let your presence be known to us. And that used to be a scary thing. or yet because of the work of your son, those who are in Christ Jesus can boldly approach a throne in God.

And Lord, I pray and I wanna pray specifically right now. Lord, I just feel like you're putting this on my heart, Lord, for those out there right now, God that aren't in Christ Jesus, that are still trying to make these sacrifices for their sin, that are still trying to make these atonements that might last for a day or might last for a year, Lord, and the sacrifice that you've done for us is eternal God.

Your holiness didn't change. What changed is that your son, the wrath was poured out on him, not us Lord. So I pray that you would call Lord, those who are still trying to make these sacrifices for the sins and just make it so clear to them the work is done, it's finished for them, the work was completed for them.

God, enter your great love for us. That covers our sin. Nothing that we could do. And that's why I, I have assurance, God, me, myself, Lord, knowing my sin, my misgivings Lord, I know that I'll sin probably later today and tomorrow, Lord, but the work is complete. I've been covered by her blood. And Lord, I praise you.

This is a good Friday. God, let us sit in the cost of the cross and what it cost you, Lord, and let us share in your sufferings today. Lord, pray in Jesus' name. Amen.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-cost-of-the-cross 3e04afd6-454a-436a-98e0-821219e74f12 Sun, 26 Mar 2023 11:43:43 GMT <div data-html="true">Matthew 27:45-51 <br /><br /> Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”). <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> but I'm very excited to be, um, with you guys this morning and we're gonna be reading here first in, uh, Matthew chapter 27 verse 45, um, through 51. <br /><br /> It says this now, from the sixth hour, there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying, Eli, Eli, That is my God, my God. Why have you forsaken me? And some of the bystanders hearing it said, this man is calling Elijah. And one of them at once ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine and put it on a read and gave it to him to drink. <br /><br /> But the other said, wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him. And Jesus cried out again with loud voice and yielded up his spirit. And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn into from top to bottom, and the earth shook and the rocks were split. Would you pray with me this morning? <br /><br /> Father, we come before you. Today, God. And <br /><br /> after hearing that song, God, I just, that's, that's who we want to be. That's what we want to do, Lord. We want to be people that lift your name up, Lord. It's one of the greatest callings you've ever given us, is to bring glory back to you, God. And that's exactly what we're trying to do this morning. God, I just really hope that you'd make this not about the worship team, um, not about me or anybody else, Lord, but only that your name would be exalted. <br /><br /> That your word would be exalted Lord, in that, through that Lord, your spirit would move in us. God, pray that you, uh, would pour out your spirit this morning, Lord, that you would work in our hearts. God, I do pray against all distractions. God, I pray against all distractions in Jesus' name. That your, your word, your spirit would be the loudest things in this room. <br /><br /> God, be with us. Um, come close this morning. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Last week, pastor Mark talked about, um, Thursday, the, the week, uh, the Holy Thursday coming up leading to, um, the celebration of Easter. Today we'll be talking about, um, Friday, good Friday. Uh, it's historically called. And uh, last week it was talking about, um, Jesus celebrates the Passover, um, with US disciples. <br /><br /> He institutes the Lord's Supper with his disciples. He, he gives them some final thoughts and commands and, um, has this long discourse, um, with his disciples. And that was all happening on, um, Thursday of Holy Week. And actually a fun fact that I had learned not too long ago, pastor Mark actually told me this and I Googled it to make sure you're right and you were, the Jewish day actually starts. <br /><br /> At nightfall. So th Friday is actually what we would consider like Thursday at nightfall. So Friday actually starts, the events that happen on Thursday, later in that night is actually what happens Friday. So we're gonna be looking through that. And there's a lot, there is about six or more chapters all going on on Friday. <br /><br /> So I hope you guys are ready to just buckle in. We'll be here for a couple hours, I mean, uh, 40 minutes. Um, but I do want to just, uh, there's, there's a lot going on here and I just want to direct if you're keeping along with the Common Life book, Um, there is a map in there. I just kind of wanna direct our attention to it of kind of just what happens where, this is Jesus's travel. <br /><br /> So we'll start in the garden of sse, right where Jesus is arrested. He goes and he appears before, uh, Caiaphas in the high priest. Then he goes to the, uh, he's brought before the Sanon, and from the Sanhedrin, he goes to pilot, pilot sends him to Herod, he goes back to pilot, is condemned to the cross. He takes the journey to the cross, um, to, uh, go Gotha. <br /><br /> He's crucified and buried, right? Um, around there as well. So there's a, there's a lot going on and I, and if you're not keeping up with the Common Life book or if you haven't gone through it, I really would encourage you to just take it through. There's actually four accounts, believe it or not, the gospel's all, uh, you know, that's a pretty important event. <br /><br /> So I would encourage you to go through it because there's a lot that we probably won't be able to cover. Um, this morning, but this morning I do want to focus on one thing and that's the cost of the cross. What did it cost? Jesus? How did it affect him? How can we even begin to understand what he endured? <br /><br /> For our sake, we'll be looking at this great cost of the cross in three different categories. And first, um, I wanna talk about what it cost emotionally. What was the emotional cost? What did Jesus experience emotionally on this day in history? Uh, we're gonna do a really fun exercise. I want everyone to close your eyes. <br /><br /> Okay? Close your eyes. It's not weird, , I told you it'd be fun. I want you to take a second and close your eyes. I want you to think about the most heart-wrenching experience you've ever experienced. I want you to think about one of the most painful emotional times you've ever been through. Maybe it was a breakup or a divorce. <br /><br /> Maybe it was the breaking apart of your family, the loss of a loved one, the betrayal of your spouse, the pain of watching your parents become sicker and sicker or, or a child. I want us to think about that this morning. You can open your eyes. I want us to think just what we've experienced emotionally, the worst that we've ever experienced, because what Christ is going through on Friday is heart-wrenching. <br /><br /> It is absolutely agonizing what he's going through on this Friday, and I really want us to do this, to think deeply, not just, I just want us to sit in this for a little bit to think, what did this cost our savior Jesus on the day he was gonna be crucified. Was in complete agony and heartbreak. Matthew 26, 36 through 39 says this. <br /><br /> Then Jesus went with them to a place called GSE and he said to his disciples, sit here while I go over there and pray, and taking with him, Peter and the two sons of Zeti. He began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to him, my soul is very Sol sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch with me. <br /><br /> And going a little far farther, he fell on his face and prayed saying, father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will. I want us to put ourselves in the shoes of Jesus here. You know exactly what weights you. You know the death prepared for you, the horrific pain you're going to endure. <br /><br /> You know it's gonna come and there's nothing you can do to escape it. It and all you want, right? All you want in this painful experience. Maybe this was in your life, when you're going through your painful experience, what do you want? You want friends to come alongside you, to put your arm around you, to pat you on your back, pick you up when you're down. <br /><br /> And this is exactly what Jesus wants. He brings some of his closest disciples, Peter, James, and John, and he says, just come with me and pray. He says, I'm sorrowful unto death. Just come. Just pray with me. Just be with me. And he goes out and he prays and he comes back and his disciples are praying fervently for him right now. <br /><br /> They fall asleep and he wakes 'em up and he says, would you just please just pray? Just pray with me now. And he comes back, not once, not twice, but three times. They fall asleep on him. He's in complete agony. They see him and Luke, it actually describes that he's sweating blood. This is how much emotional pain that he's going through, and he's desperate for his friends to be there for him, and they're falling asleep. <br /><br /> And not only that, but at this very moment, one of his best friends is exchanging money to betray him over to the religious leaders. They come, they rest him, and the disciples scatter. They run away. They're scared. He sees one of the, this guy who he spent three years with, come over and kiss him, call him rabbi, and betray him to the religious leaders. <br /><br /> Jesus goes, and he, he goes before the many councils and, and, uh, um, uh, judgments that he goes to see. And Peter actually follows along and says, Peter and John actually follow along with him and we're like, oh, this is perfect. Look, Peter's supporting him. No, that's not actually what happens. Peter actually has the time that Jesus predicted before at the Lord Supper. <br /><br /> He says he denied him not once, not twice, but again three times. This was his brother. This was the guy. Jesus said, I'm going to build my church on you, Peter. You're gonna be my rock Peter. And he's denying that he even knows his friend Jesus when he needed him the most. All of his brothers for three years Now, in an instance, turn betray him, the deny him, run from him. <br /><br /> What was this pain of betrayal like? How did this feel to Jesus? How did he endure this? And we know from the map that we looked at earlier, he appeared before the high priest, the San Heeder and the ha herd and pilot. And at each trial, they falsely accused him, mocked him, mocked his kingship and majesty. <br /><br /> Here he is Jesus king of the universe, and they're mocking him and accusing him of things he's never done. He's innocent before them, <br /><br /> and no one there is to defend him. No one. And he stays silent and he takes on the abuse, the, the verbal, the physical abuse, the shame, the embarrassment that he felt being stripped naked and put on a cross is a spectacle for all to see on the cross. His mother was in the crowd along with many other women who supported his ministry, the pain of watching his mother watch her son die right in front of her. <br /><br /> What was this like? The pain of watching the people you've loved and served over your whole ministry be the same exact people that have put you on this cross. God's chosen people, the Jews have accused him, asked for his crucifix. Crucifixion. These people he's only loved and served and looked out for are now the ones putting him to death. <br /><br /> This, this was the emotional cost. This was his cost. This was the heart wrenching, sorrowful unto death cost that he endured for us, and he did it for us. That's the emotional cost. Now, I want to talk through the physical cost. What did he endure physically, right? Some of us jump right here. We only think about the physical things and, and we don't think, or some of us might be a little bit more emotional when we think about the emotional right, but what did he endure physically for us? <br /><br /> At each of his trials, he was beaten, spit on, beaten with a rod, had a crown of thorns push into his head, and possibly the worst of all, he was scourged. This was a common practice that they would do to people that were going to be crucified. They would take a whip that had many leather straps on it that would break open their back. <br /><br /> It actually had metal or bone pieces attached to it. So over and over again, you're getting contusions and your back is lacerating open, getting split open on the back. Why did they do this? Was it painful? Yes. Did it exhaust them? Yes, because what happened on crucifixion, the Bible kind of saves us the details. <br /><br /> Right. Just says, and he was crucified. Well, partly because everyone knew what that was, but the actual act of crucifixion, they would nail him to the cross. . And what you actually would end up dying from most of the time was suffocation, because your arms were pulled out, you couldn't get a breath. So you could either die from suffocation or exhaustion or a heart attack induced by stress or dehydration. <br /><br /> And what would happen is in order to get a breath, you'd have to push against these nails, driven through your feet to try to push up and get a breath, which would cause all the wounds in your back to scrape against this wooden, splinter filled cross. We can't even imagine what this was like. And Jesus actually was offered a painkiller. <br /><br /> Someone tries to give them, um, gall, which would've numbed the pain, and he refused it. He refused to have any painkiller. He wanted to endure the full weight and pain of the punishment. Crucifixion was the most horrifying way to die, and he did it for us. You had to carry the cross. And actually we know by scripture that he actually was not even strong enough to carry the cross, so they make some guy named Simon do it, and it was right outside the city so that everyone could see, everyone could come and witness the crucifixion of Jesus. <br /><br /> The pain, the physical pain that he endured, we can't even imagine. This was the physical cost of Jesus. This is what he endured. This is what he endured for us. And the last cost, but the worst of all was the spiritual cost Jesus endured for us. Yes. The emotional, almost pain, the betrayal of his friends was painful. <br /><br /> Yes, the, the, the physical pain that he endured was terrible and agonizing, but the weight of the spiritual cost was worse of all. Jesus sinless, righteous, completely filled out the law, had the full weight of our sin and the wrath of God, of from God the father poured out on him. Jesus took on the punishment, the guilt, and the shame of the whole world, sin on the cross. <br /><br /> Jesus, for the first time in history, was separated from the Father. The greatest turmoil anyone could ever experience is separation from. Matthew 27 46. We read it earlier, but it says about the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying, Eli, Eli Lama Saba. That is my God. My God. Why have you forsaken me? <br /><br /> This wasn't just a word that he said. It wasn't just saying, God, why are you doing this to me? Right? He was saying, why have you forsaken me? Why have you left me? He was separated from his father for the first time in history. He was in pure agony. Apart from the Father. This, this, this was the cost of the cross to be separated from God, the Father, the God had separated. <br /><br /> Right? We can't even wrap our heads around it. What was that like for him? Isaiah 53, um, verses four through 10 says that it was the will of God to do this. I just want to read it. It says, surely he took up our pain. and bore our suffering. Yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him and inflicted, but he was pierced for our transgressions. <br /><br /> He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds, we are healed. We all like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned to our own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth. <br /><br /> He was led like a lamb to the slaughter. Next slide, and as a sheep before cheers his silence. So he did not open his mouth by oppression and judgment, he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested where he was cut off from the land of the living for the transgressions of my people, he was punished. <br /><br /> He was assigned a grave with the wicked and with the rich. In his death, though he had done no violence, no words, any deceit in his mouth, yet it was the Lord's will to crush him. <br /><br /> In other versions, it says it delighted the Lord to crush him. This is what he endured for us. This was the cost of the cross. I just want to sit. Yeah. I told you this was not gonna be a fun sermon, right? I just want us to sit in this. What did it cost him? What was it like being separated by the father? <br /><br /> This was the true cost of the cross. But why did he endure this for us? Well, it was because of his great love for us. And well, maybe you're asking, okay, it Well, why? Why did it have, why? Why was the cross necessary? Why was the cross necessary for this to happen? Why did Jesus have to go through all this pain to get to us? <br /><br /> All right. Well, I want to take us all the way back into the Garden of Eden. God's plan was always to be with his people. God's plan was always to be in the presence of his people. It actually says in in Genesis that Adam Eve walked with God. This was his plan from the very beginning of time that God would be with his. <br /><br /> But we know how this story ends, right? Um, Adam and Eve choose sin. They choose disobedience, and we know God is a holy God. He can, he's separated from sin, right? So when, when Adam and Eve chose this disobedience, they created a separation. They were kicked out of the garden. Two chair bi are now guarding this garden. <br /><br /> Now they're saying you are separated from God. Now there's a separation that happened. You used to walk with him, and now because of your sin, there's a separation. . And from that point there was a separation. But even back then, God had a plan of redemption for his people. He had a plan to be back in the presence of his people. <br /><br /> The first, um, actualized version of this we see is in the wilderness. Um, God commands them to set up a tabernacle, right? That his spirit, that his presence would reside in, and they actually put up their camp all around this tabernacle. And the, the fire, the, uh, act, the symbol of God's presence would hover over is, and they put their whole camp around the tabernacle. <br /><br /> Not only this, God set up a sacrificial system, okay? And if you're familiar with this, right, there's a separation that has happened because of sin. So God sets up a sacrificial system with animals, right? That there needed to be atonement, that there needs to be a. That we could enter now into the presence of God because of his holiness, because of his separation from sin, because of his almightiness, there needed to be atonement before we, uh, stepped into his presence. <br /><br /> So he established a priest line right through Aaron, and he establish a sacrificial system that there would be blood shed, right? And these priests would go through all these rituals so that they could be ceremonially clean, that they could go in the presence of God and not be separated with him, but actually go in because of the tone of these sacrifices. <br /><br /> But these were temporary sacrifices. This was a temporary plan. This was a temporary place for God. It was a tent for goodness sake. But when Israel gets into the chosen, uh, land, Israel, Solomon builds a, a somewhat what we see a permanent home for God. It's the temple, right? And it was the same thing. God's presence resided in that temple. <br /><br /> And the priest would go before, um, the people as well, um, into this temple, and they'd still do the sacrifices, and they still do all these ceremonial washings so that they could go and be with God and be with God for the people of Israel. But the question is how, um, how could God be with his people? If people were in sin and he was holy? <br /><br /> The only way that God would really open up the doors to this was through the cross. This was the only way. This is why the cross needed to happen. There was still separation. Even with this system, even with the sacrificial system, there was still a separation that happened and at some point, While Jesus was on the cross, an exchange happened. <br /><br /> Jesus took our place. Right? When we know that, the scripture says the wages of sin is death. Jesus took our place that was rightly ours, that we rightly deserved. And instead of us, that God's wrath was poured out on God's wrath, was poured out on his son Jesus. And in John 1930, Jesus with his last breath, cries out. <br /><br /> It is finished. And in Greek, this is one word, tole, which means to close, to finish, to come to end some. Sometimes it even means to make a payment. There was an exchange that happened. The work was done. The punishment of sin, the separation was complete. The punishment, the wrath that was necessary because of our sin was poured out, not on us, not on the people. <br /><br /> But on Jesus, the righteous one, the debt was paid in full. The work of Christ was finished on that cross. So with his last breath, he says, it is finished. The results of what Jesus did on that cross is the reason we can be in relationship with the Father Today. There was a separation that only the cross could fix, that only the cross commend. <br /><br /> Matthew 27 50 through 51 says this. It says, and when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit and that. And at that moment, the curtain of the temple was torn into, from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rock split. Matthew in is one of the gospels that really emphasizes that this veil of the temple was split. <br /><br /> And I just want to camp out here for a little bit and just talk about the significance of this temple, uh, veil being torn because it's incredible. It was so significant. And I just wanna pull up, um, the picture of the temple. So just so we can see it. This is actually the tabernacle, but it is set up very similar as in the temple, if you guys can see this. <br /><br /> So there was multiple veils, there's multiple parts of the temple and the tabernacle. This part of the temple would've been called the holy place. This is where priests would come into, they'd come into this first section here behind the curtain the most. No one else other than the priest could enter into that place. <br /><br /> But past the second curtain here, this is called the Holy of Holies. Okay? The most holy place. And once a year. The high priests would be able to enter into the Holy of Holies once a year, just once, and they'd go through their ceremonial watchings and they'd, and they'd offer multiple sacrifices, and they'd go in with the blood of a bull and they'd sacrifice one for their sins, but they'd do a sacrifice for the whole of Israel as a nation. <br /><br /> They were going into a tone for Israel's sins for one year, right? It was a sacrifice that lasted one year, and they'd go into this holy place and they had to be completely ceremonial and clean because what happened? We know this. God is a holy God. He cannot be in the presence of sin. And what could actually happen is that, If he wasn't ceremonial clean, if there wasn't sin confessed and in not out in the open, he actually would drop dead in the presence of God. <br /><br /> And there's a myth, um, we don't actually know if it's true or not, but it sounds really cool, so I'm gonna share it right, that there was a rope that they would tie around the high priest. Why? Because if this high priest drops dead, there's not another guy that can go in there for a whole nother year to get this man out. <br /><br /> This was the holiness of God. This was God's presence. It's dangerous for sin. There was a literal separation. The veil shows us a separation between God and man. And this wasn't like, like you think about a veil, I think about like a shower curtain or like my, uh, curtains for my window and my living room. <br /><br /> Right. This thing was up to 20 to 30 feet wide. It was up to 60 feet high, and it was anywhere, um, from three to six inches thick. This was, I don't even know what to call. It was a, the veil of the veils, right. This thing was huge, and it says the Temple veil was torn from top to bottom. This is not something that a human could weave. <br /><br /> This is not something that a human could tear. This was the work of God. And there's a lot of symbolism here in, um, the, the temple, there was actually it, the veil was worn out of the most royal, um, fabrics of purples and reds and blues. And it actually had cherubim angels weaved in to the veil. And in the temple there was actually two Cher statues over 12 feet tall that were in front of the arc of the covenant, the mercy seat where God's presence was supposed to be. <br /><br /> Two Cher bi guarding. It sounds super familiar, right? That the two Cher him were guarding the place of Eden, the presence of God. There was a separation in his angels were ma making sure that there was one. So when this veil is torn, right, this is a monumental symbol for those who are in Christ Jesus. <br /><br /> This is a big deal. No longer, once a year, a high priest will enter no. What is Jesus doing? What Jesus accomplished on the cross is saying, we now those in Christ Jesus are in the full presence of the Father. Amen. Amen. This is a big deal. This is what Christ accomplished on Good Friday. Dr. Daniel, uh, Gertner writes this about the veil. <br /><br /> He says, the veil was a physical visible barrier indicating that access to God was strictly prohibited because of his holiness. It is imperative to remember that the holiness of God remains unchanged from all eternity, even after the veil is torn. What has changed then is that the toning death of Jesus on the cross has provided the appropriate wrath bearing sacrifice, one, which the bulls and the goats of the old covenant could not provide. <br /><br /> That system, the sacrificial system, the sacrificial of bulls and lambs and goats was a temporary sacrifice. What Jesus did on the cross was eternal. The high priests would go in before to sacrifice atonement for all of Israel. Once a year in that sacrifice would end, and one year later, what Jesus has done is eternal. <br /><br /> The work is done. He said, it is finished. You're welcome now into my presence. <br /><br /> His holiness didn't change. What changed was the work of Jesus Christ. That now covers. I want to share a couple verses from the book of Hebrews, um, that just absolutely, um, explained this way better than human word could ever, um, explain it. First is Hebrews four, 14 through 16. It says this, therefore, since we have a great high priest, that's Jesus, our great high priest now is Jesus who is a send it into heaven. <br /><br /> Jesus, the son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we pres profess for. We do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weakness, but he, we have one who has been tempted in every way just as we are. Yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of. <br /><br /> What does this mean? This is a huge deal for God's people. This is a huge deal for those who are on Christ Jesus. Some of us have still wrapped ourselves in the veil. We're like, we don't want to go before the Presidents of God. We're scared. I'm covered in sin. I'm dirty. No, our high priest is not a human priest anymore. <br /><br /> It's king Jesus. And he was tempted and he was tried and he endured pain and he endured pain on the cross and, but he was perfect in every way without sin. So verse 16 says, let us with confidence draw near to the throne of grace. Why? So that we may receive mercy so that we might find grace to help in time of need. <br /><br /> Hebrews 10, 19 through 23 says this, therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the most holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, opened up for us through the curtain. That is his body. And soon we have a great priest over the house of God. Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with full assurance that faith brings, having our heart sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water led us hold Unser inly to, to the hope we profess for he who promised is faithful. <br /><br /> The veil being torn is a monumental thing. <br /><br /> Just as his body was broken, the veil was broken. We will never fully understand just how great the cost of the cross was. But we can understand is that because of the cross, the debt of our sin has been paid. We've been sprinkled, we've been washed clean by his sacrifice. Through the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus. <br /><br /> This is a one and done sacrifice. Some of you right now are still trying to atone for your sin. Some of you are not a sacrifice in bulls and goats, but some of you are trying to get your good works and you're like, wait, if I just stack these up enough, I can atone for all these sins. Stop. Embrace God's sacrifice and don't hear me this. <br /><br /> Don't say, oh, embrace God's sacrifice. I can live however I want. No, no, no, where he's saying boldly approach the throne cuz we've been sprinkled and clean with a clear conscience, hearts filled with faith. Now that we can boldly approach the throne of God so that we can now boldly live for him. Jesus is now our great high priest that intercedes for us. <br /><br /> We are covered by the purifying perfect blood of Jesus. We may now boldly approach the throne of God. So yeah, when we call this Good Friday, this was a good Friday, this was a really good Friday. There was a separation between man and God, and it was always God's desire. Read through the scriptures, you can see it. <br /><br /> It's always his desire to be in the presence with his people. And when this veil was torn, it blew the doors open to his presence. Now, full access to the father. <br /><br /> This is a really, really good Friday. This is worthy of a celebration and we know the celebration will only get better with Sunday's resurrection. But with Good Friday, I just don't want to miss the cost of the cross. What it accomplished when he said it is finished. What did that mean? His work was complete. <br /><br /> The Messiah came. It didn't conquer the Romans like they thought he was going to. He conquered sin and the debt that was weighing over us, he purchased it with the son of his blood. This is certainly a good Friday. Celebrate. Look, would you pray with me, <br /><br /> Lord, man, how special are we, God, that we can come just right now. Lord, we're just boldly approaching your throne. We're boldly approaching your presence, God. And now we can actually pray with confidence, say, God, let your presence be known to us. And that used to be a scary thing. or yet because of the work of your son, those who are in Christ Jesus can boldly approach a throne in God. <br /><br /> And Lord, I pray and I wanna pray specifically right now. Lord, I just feel like you're putting this on my heart, Lord, for those out there right now, God that aren't in Christ Jesus, that are still trying to make these sacrifices for their sin, that are still trying to make these atonements that might last for a day or might last for a year, Lord, and the sacrifice that you've done for us is eternal God. <br /><br /> Your holiness didn't change. What changed is that your son, the wrath was poured out on him, not us Lord. So I pray that you would call Lord, those who are still trying to make these sacrifices for the sins and just make it so clear to them the work is done, it's finished for them, the work was completed for them. <br /><br /> God, enter your great love for us. That covers our sin. Nothing that we could do. And that's why I, I have assurance, God, me, myself, Lord, knowing my sin, my misgivings Lord, I know that I'll sin probably later today and tomorrow, Lord, but the work is complete. I've been covered by her blood. And Lord, I praise you. <br /><br /> This is a good Friday. God, let us sit in the cost of the cross and what it cost you, Lord, and let us share in your sufferings today. Lord, pray in Jesus' name. Amen.</div> false no <![CDATA[Maundy Thursday]]> John 13



Sermon Transcript:

Morning, everybody. Morning. I'd like you to take your Bibles to John chapter 13. We're gonna be looking at John 13 this morning. We're continuing a series that we're in the middle of as we've uh, left the book of Acts. We're gonna return to the book of Acts after Easter, but in the seven Sundays leading up to Easter.

We are doing a series on the passion of Christ. The Passion Week, 40% of the New Testament, at least of the gospels, is related to the last week of Jesus life. And we are looking at that, taking it day by day. Um, as we have gone through that particular series, uh, we've covered a number of days, and today we are up to Thursday of Passion Week.

There is not, um, uh, I don't have slides for you this morning. Uh, well you have that one. That's nice. Look at that. Um, and, uh, so you, you might have to listen today. Uh, we're gonna be celebrating the Lord's Supper at the end of our time and I didn't put together. It gets worse though. Um, I actually, I'm gonna apologize right now to the engineers.

The, I was trying to think who I'm apologizing to. I'm trying, definitely engineers, probably English teachers, likely it people, people that live with order in their lives. I'm gonna mess up the sermon summary completely this morning. Uh, actually it's a little bit off from what you have in front of you. Um, uh, actually it is completely blown up.

Um, there're, I do have two points, , but that's about all I love Notetakers. I don't wanna discourage you if you're a note taker, keep note taking, but this morning you're gonna have to cross out and add some new stuff. I just, I was trying to focus on two verses in this passage because that is the thrust of this passage and actually the events of Thursday.

But I realized I needed to do a little wider, and so I've changed it a little bit. All right, we're looking at John 13 verses 31 to 38, and I wanna read that for you and then we're gonna dive into what's going on here on Thursday and why we're only looking at this short passage. To summarize the day, acts 13, verse 31 to 38, when he, and that's Judas had gone out, Jesus said, now is the son of man glorified and God is glorified in him.

If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and glorify him at once. Little children. Yet a little while I'm with you, you'll seek me and just as I said to the Jews. So now I also say to you where I am. You cannot come a new commandment. I give to you that you love one another, just as I have loved you.

You also are to love one another. By this, all people will know. That you are my disciples. If you have love one for another. Let's pray.

Lord, I praise you this morning that we can gather in this room and as we gather here in Mount Laurel, as we gather here in Collingswood as some are gathering with us online. Lord, I ask that you might be our teacher and our guide in the truth in this little section. There is so much that our own hearts need to embrace and here about you and about ourselves in God.

I pray that you would teach us and lead us into truth this morning. In Jesus' name, amen. We are going through the chronology of Passion Week. I just wanted to remind you of a few things. Sunday. The previous Sunday was the triumphant entry, the entrance of Jesus offering self as king to the people of Israel.

He had come in and a donkey had not come in as they had expected, as a a warrior king. He came in as a servant king. On Monday we saw him coming into the temple and he, he had actually visited the temple there on Sunday. On Monday he comes back. He has, he has seen what is going on there. And Monday he shakes, uh, the cages of the disciples in a big way because he starts turning over tables, taking on the religious establishment saying, you have made my father's house of prayer into Aden of Roberts.

It become a place of commerce. And that even bilking people out of. he had left, and Tuesday they'd come back. And again, the disciples undoubtedly hoping things will now calm down. And, and we'll get back to the adoring crowds which we had on Sunday. And Jesus actually enters into a full day of confrontation.

He has confrontation with the religious leaders. He has conversations with the Pharisees, the sades, take him on the Herodians, take him on the, the, uh, scribes, take him on all these different groups, the liberal Jews, the conservative Jews, the Romanized Jews, the the theological Jews. They all take him on.

And it's a day of, of conflict and confrontation. And it's undoubtedly exhausting not only for Christ, but for those that have embraced him. They go back over the hill, out of Jerusalem, traveling east, arrive down to, and the city of Bethany on the other side of that, of that mount. . And Wednesday, as we saw last week, is a day of silence.

There's almost nothing recorded. It was obviously a day where Jesus just, and, and, and the boys. They cooled their jets. They had a day of quiet. The only things we really know from that day were the behavior of a woman named Mary of Bethany who washed his feet and sec and, and worshiped him in such a beautiful way.

And we contrasted these two responses last Sunday, the the worship of Mary, of Bethany. And at the same time, Judas was out selling Jesus out to the religious leaders. Now we come to Thursday, historically in the church, it's called Mondi Thursday. The word mondi is actually, uh, the word manum. In the original, we get the word mandate from it.

It actually means commandment. It is commandment Thursday. And if we really understand what transpires on this day, because basically what happens, uh, the beginning of the day, Thursday, we see Jesus sending John and Peter to go into Jerusalem, find him a, a place to meet where they can celebrate the, the Passover.

It's a place that he had already sovereignly, prearranged. They have gone, they have lined up this place. We now know it as the upper room because it was a second floor place. All the preparations have been made for Passover. The food has been gathered, the things have been brought together. And now we are at the Passover Supper.

And at the Passover supper, the most prominent thing Jesus does, theologically and historically is to give a commandment for his to his disciples. And so the historic celebration of Thursday, Mondi Thursday is to celebrate this commandment. And this commandment is found in verse 34. A new commandment I give to you that you love one another, just as I have loved you.

You also are to love one another. By this, all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. What we're gonna do is focus, and on this commandment this morning, as we look at it, we are gonna look at the basis for the commandment. And then we are going to actually see the, the definition, the, the reality, uh, of this commandment.

But I want you to look at the context. Verse 31 says an interesting opening phrase. Here's what it says. It says, when he had gone out, Jesus started speaking the he is Judas. Jesus has given one last, uh, invitation to Judas to, to repent of what he's about to do. Warning him saying, I know what you're gonna do, but go now.

If you're going to go, now's the time Judas has gone. And it says, then Jesus began to speak. Judas has gone to the authorities, Jesus has gone to, to the prearranged moment where he is now going to bring the Roman, uh, the Jewish authorities with their soldiers to arrest Jesus. Jesus at this moment, recognizes they are nearing the end.

This he has moments left. The clock is ticking for Christ. When Judas went, Jesus began to speak. He, he begins to say things that you say. When you know your time is very, very short. When you think, what is it that I most want to tell the most important people in my life right now as I near the end of my life?

What Jesus says here is filled with significance. It's his dying words, if you will, to his disciples. It is his final messaging to them, and we read two things here. First of all, the basis of the commandment that he is giving to them in verse 31 and 33 is the cross He talks about in verse 31 and 32, glory.

Glory, by the way. That's the first point. The first point is the basis for the commandment is the cross, and five times he uses the word glory in two verses. Now, glory is one of those theological terms. It's something about the glory of God, and, and, and we get it. When somebody peop when somebody says the power of God, well, you conceptualize power, the love of God.

You conceptualize love, faithfulness of God. These things we, we can sort of wrap our arms around, but the glory of God. What, what is the glory of God? What does it mean that Jesus is going to be glorified? Well, the glory of God, actually, glory is the word that means weight or value. It's used in the, in the parables where it says, A man discovered a treasure buried in a field.

And then it says this, and when he found out its great value is how it's translated. It's the word glory. When he found out its great value, it says he went and, and, and took everything he had in his own estate, sold it to have the money to buy this field. Why? Because he knew in the field was something that was more valuable than anything else in his life, and he is willing to get rid of everything in order to get this prized treasure that was in the field.

So great was its glory. When we talk about glory, we're talking about value and worse.

God's glory, the worth and value of God is basically the revelation of all God's attributes. , it reveals all that he is. It is is saying his weightiness, his splendor, his glory is in all that he is. So here's a striking thing. Jesus says, now you're going to see my glory more than any other moment in recorded history.

The glory of God. The glory of God, the Son is going to be revealed in the cross. But not only that, look at verse 31. It says this Now, when he had gone out, Jesus said, now is the son of man glorified. In other words, now it's happening. Now it's beginning. But then he says this and God is glorified in him.

God is the way Jesus always refers to God the Father. It doesn't mean that Jesus is is lost his deity, but it's his way of referencing God the Father. He said, the cross is not only where I am glorified, it is where my Father is shown in the weightiness and the splendor and the glory of who he is. This is the moment.

It is the moment of the cross. It is the anticipation of the cross. The son of man will now be glorified, he says, and so will the Father. It is the supreme moment in recorded history, not the creation of the world, not any other event that we can cite, not the Red Sea parting and all a mirror. This is the moment.

When the triune God is most seen in his weightiness, in his glory, in the wonder of who he is, it is shocking to realize that the moment when God is most seen in His glory

is when God, the Son goes to the electric chair of his day. When he faces the execution as a perceived heinous criminal, God's glory is most revealed. How is this? So well track with me here. His holiness is seen. That God did not reduce the standard of holiness or the, or the, the criteria of the purity of his presence.

His law was upheld even in this moment when he was providing life and forgiveness for others. God held the glory that he is a holy God. His wisdom was shown. He was able to still be just the righteous judge, but at the same time, the justifi fire who declared acceptable, broken, flawed, rebellious sinners like us, the love and the patience, and the mercy are all seen in the event of the divine Son paying the penalty for the sins of rebels and betrayals.

Who had already spurned his love. The cross shows the glory of God. I've told this story before. It's one of the greatest examples I've ever heard of what the cross is all about. It's told by Billy Graham, the evangelist, he was driving through the south one time in one of the back roads, areas. He was speeding.

He got stopped by a patrolman and he got taken in. And if you ever watch Andy of Mayberry, you know, in those small towns back in the day, what they would do is they would immediately bring you, before the sheriff or whoever was the acting judge, and you would then have your penalty written out. And this guy was brought in and he was b brought before the judge.

Uh, this guy Billy Graham, was brought before the judge, and the judge said to him, do you contest the charge? He said, no, I, I was speeding. And he said, okay, this is the penalty, X amount of dollars. And then the judge left his seat and came around and stood next to Billy Graham and took out his checkbook and he said, thank you for what you do for our country.

And he paid the fine. The judge paid the penalty to his own court. He ma, he maintained the law right. He upheld justice right, but he himself paid the fine. This is the glory of the cross. God retained holiness. God retained justice, but God also revealed the glory of his mercy and his grace. He paid the fine at the cost of the electric chair of his day.

Jesus says to us here, the judge didn't diminish his holiness. The God of beauty and goodness was not wa was most seen in his glory when he was being beaten to death. To the point that Isaiah says he was unrecognizable. This God's glory, this God most His glory is most reveal when he allows himself to be immoral and to be killed when he allows himself to take on humanity and to experience fear and dread in the garden of what was to come when he chooses to endure all of it for the sake of, of those that have rejected him.

And as I've said many times, Who have sinned, which in the ultimate sense biblically, the greatest biblical vi visual of sin is what God constantly says about the people of Israel. He said they are spiritual adulterers. That's the picture of sin, that we turn from the one who loved us most, who is for us, but we win our own way.

And yet the God who had to preserve holiness and holy standards came and paid the fathomless large fine, that it would've taken eternity for us to pay, but he paid it in our behalf. He says, you want to see the glory of God? Look to the cross. Now I will be glorified. It is with that backdrop that Jesus makes this commandment his manum.

The nature of the command. The second point, simply the nature of the command is love for one another in verse 34 and 35 at first swing. It's kind of hard, you know, when you just glances what is verse 34 and 35? You know what it says about, you know, this is the commandment, you're to do this. How does that tie back to verse 31 to 33, which culminates in verse 33 with this statement, little children, yet a little while I'm with you, you'll seek me and just as I said to the Jews, so now I say to you where I'm going, you cannot come a new commandment.

I give to you the loved one another. How does all that tie together? I would suggest this way, and this is why I had to extend my sermon. You can't understand. Verse 34 and 35 without verse 31 to 33, verse 31 and 32. He says, I'm gonna reveal, be revealed in my glory on the cross. You're gonna see the glory of God in a way you've never been able to see it before.

But he said, now I'm leaving, but I still want my glory to be manifested. I still want the nature of a great God who is also a good God, a mighty God who is also replete with mercy.

You're going to now be the visual for me. So what does that look like? And that's why he says in verse 34 and 35, he says, this love one another. As I have loved you by this, all people will know that you are my disciples. If you have love one for another, they're gonna know you're associated with me because you're gonna reflect what I reflect.

So what is he saying? Well,

he's saying that people will see people while I was here, saw my love in the way I lived and in the way I died. I want them now to see that in you. He says, as I've loved you, I want you to love one another. And there are three giant ramifications of this commandment. Here's what they are, at least to me.

Number one, if the world is turning away from Christianity, we need to look at ourselves.

Frances Schaffer wrote a book years ago called The Mark of a Christian. It was a commentary, short book. It's a great book. It's still a. Timely, timely read. It was a discourse on John 1334 and 35. He mentioned that if you're a Christian, basically what he says in the book, if you're a Christian, you are able to determine who other Christians are true followers of Christ by conversation.

You know, you can have, we do it all the time. You know, you get with someone and you're, you're sort of wondering, you know, where they stand spiritually and, and so you're having a conversation where you're free to talk about the gospel and, and, and you begin to, you know, talk about sin and how do they understand sin?

Do they understand the, the culpability, the, the, the culpability of their sin? That we are all sinners. And we need to repent and have our minds changed and turn toward Christ. That, that he's the way to cri to God that we can't get there by any other way, but by embracing him as our savior and Lord and, and, and, and turning towards him, even as we turn away from trusting in ourselves, that we really understand that the gospel is about not what we do, but what is what was done by Christ.

And we, we, can we talk about that? And you, and, and in conversation Francis Schaffer saying, I think rightly we can discern if someone else is a believer, but he says the world can't do that. They don't have that understanding of how a person is a fi in God's family through Christ. They can't do it by conversation.

They do it by observation. They do it by verse 35. They look and they watch and they wonder, and by the quality of the life of those followers of Christ, they ask questions, perhaps at least are processing and, and, and what Jesus is saying, this is what's gonna happen. They're gonna look at you and they're gonna say, do they live differently than other groups of people?

Not that they're sinless, not that they never screw up. Matter of fact, they're very free to own. They're flaws and they're brokenness. That they're broken people. They're flawed people because there's a humility of comes that when you realize, I'm free to embrace the ugliness in me because I am loved by one that is for me and says he'll never let me go.

But do they look differently? Do they have a reputation for being forgiving of their enemies? Are they gentle in their treatment of others? Are they encouraging and welcoming to the outcast? Are they tolerant of those who are different? Jesus saying, you know, I was all those things. That's how I lived.

What the cross is that, that I, I reached out to the broken. I was willing to, to sacrifice myself for them. He says, is the world seeing that in my people?

Our nation is not turning towards Christianity. It is turning away for Christianity. Every year, the number of people identifying themselves as followers of Christ is going down. Many of them turning to the nons, which means what is your belief? What is your faith? Non,

I don't know where to put that. Except that when the world is not drawn toward Christianity, the problem is not with Christ.

In 2015 in South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina, a young man named Dylan Roof went into the Emmanuel African Methodist, epi Episcopal Church, evangelical Church, uh, African American church went into a Bible study led by the pastor, actually a state senator, was there, number of other people, and he murdered nine people.

The pastor was killed, the state senator was killed, and seven other individuals.

Soon after the event, the pastor's family, The church leadership and members publicly reached out to Dylan Roof and publicly acknowledged they forgave him. Fast forward two years ago, my wife and I were in Charleston Car, South Carolina on a trip just to get away. We got a tour of the Great City and Arturo Guide was a group of us in a little.

Van Arturo Guide was an interesting character. Um, pretty outspoken, pretty opinionated, uh, lot of facts, but interesting perspectives. Um, his in, it was interesting when he talked about the Civil War. He's a lifer of South Carolinian and uh, he was really wanted us to understand that the Civil War for the South was not about slavery.

It was about state's rights. And it was clear from the way he delineated life and circumstances that uh, he would not have been a civil rights activist, let's just say it that way. He would come down on the other side, still frustrated with the change that had taken, still almost wanting a pre-civil war environment.

It just felt, and don't mean he's a bad man, but he was, uh, that's where he is coming from. So we're, uh, we're driving around and seeing different fights in the city and we went by the African American, the Methodist Episcopal Church, the a m E Church, and we stopped there just for a moment and he said, this is a church.

You told a little bit about Dylan Ruff and Roof and what had happened. And he said, I gotta tell you, everybody here in Charleston. Has a lot of respect for the people in that church, for the way they responded to that shooting. I didn't hear him speak with that kind of respect in the entire tour. Why?

What was different? Those people represented something bigger than race. They represented Christ. There was something about their response in forgiving and in doing what is supernatural, that pointed the way to Christ. And Christ says, how are people gonna know that you're my people? You're going to live differently.

You're going to respond differently. You're going to respond supernaturally. When the world is not drawn to Christianity. It may be because we don't look much different. That Christians are angry. Christians are pushy. Christians are sectarian. Christians are partisan. Christians are rude. Christians are arrogant just like everybody else.

We talk the same way in the media. We, we respond the same way. We think the same way we're us and then there's them. And Jesus says, I don't have those terms. I don't live that terminology. I want you to love as I love. I want you to live as I lived. The second thing, love is the way to know if the gospel is transforming me.

Love for one another. Other Christians he's talking about here specifically, there is a bond he says that supersedes everything else. I dunno if you've thought too much about the group of people that Jesus chose to be as disciples. Quite frankly, he was crazy . This is the worst group of individuals you have.

Matthew, a tax collector, who is the most hated group of people in Israel at the time. As a Jew. Not only is he making his money by taking taxes that the Jews feel is wrong for them to take, and he's taking it for Rome, but part of his commission was in Bilking, the people they were hated. And then you throw in Simon Zel.

Who was a guy that was a part of the zealot group whose life calling was to destroy Romans, who actually were known. If you've seen the chosen film, you know Simon Zelt is shown there, and the little short knife he had the curve that was true. They had a knife. That was what they were known for. They had it under their gowns and they would kill Roman officials at every opportunity.

They were the most feared group of people by the Romans in the holy land. These two guys are doing life together, representing Christ. You say that's not possible. There's only one person that can pull it off, and Christ said, when people look at my group, they say, how do tax collectors and zealots coexist?

How do Gentiles and Jews and Samaritans coexist? How do they love each other? It's supernatural. It's crazy. It makes no sense. And Jesus says That's the point. That's the point. So he says to us today, there is a bond that supersedes everything else. Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones was a, in the 1920s, early 1920s, was a, uh, a young man, brilliant medical student who had been so proficient in his early practice that he had joined the practice and was now in the practice that served the royal family of England.

I mean, this guy was on the fast track to started him, started him in the, uh, I don't know if that's a word, started to being famous in the medical world. And God won his heart and he gave his life to Jesus. And after a while, staying in the medical practice, he felt called to the ministry. And his first pastorate was a tiny fishing village in Wales.

No real education, nothing. And he went there and Martin Lloyd Jones tells the story of one day he was just being assailed by the devil. Just saying, you're not what you say you are. You're a phony. You say you're a Christian, you say you are a pastor. And and I just really hammering the accuser was accusing.

And Martin Lloyd Jones said, in the midst of this torment he had, you know, like this momentary epiphany, this, this, this sense of, of what's real. And he said, I actually said out loud to the devil, why is it that I find more joy? Hanging with the lowies, uneducated fisher woman's fisherman's wife here than I do in the most intelligently founded conversations in a wood paneled office with my medical colleagues.

I have nothing in common with this woman except the one thing that matters most to me. We share Christ. And he said, that was what reminded me, that that's what being a Christian is that you so love Christ. You can't help but love his people regardless of intellectual background or social culture or ethnicity or, or race.

There is a bond that is more real, more compelling. Before you're a Christian, your status, your salary, your exploits, something else defines you. But when you embrace Christ as your savior, those things become less in their hold. When Christ becomes your center and you embrace then people of different economic strata or ethnicity or race or political affiliation, because the compelling reality of unity for you is Jesus Christ and those who love him.

The third thing here, and we gotta examine our own hearts on this, right? If Christ is my sin, I delight in diversity. I delight in, in not defining. There's us, there's them. I, I'm more comfortable here, not there. Third, loving all God's people spills out to loving everyone. Now this passage highlights loving one another, right?

In the household of faith, it can sound a little bit like this is, you know, this is the insider thing, you know, I mean, we don't love other people. I mean, it's, it almost sounds somewhat partisan against what you even say, mark, do we only, those love those who believe as we do value as we do. This is what I would say actually, because Jesus kingdom includes people of such a vast cultural, political, racial, ethnic diversity.

If we love one another, we will love everyone else. Jesus commands us in his teaching. Not only to love one another, but the expression outgrowth of that is he says, love your neighbor, which he defines in Luke Tennis, who is my neighbor? Somebody says, who is my neighbor? That's a question that was asked, that was the basis for the Good Samaritan sermon.

That guy says, who is my neighbor? And he says, well, let me tell you a story about a good Samaritan. And he blows their minds because he tells this story about this Jewish guy that was beat up and left for dead by robbers. And the the Jewish priest go, comes and goes. The other side of the road goes by another Jewish nobleman goes by, and a Samaritan who the Jews called the dogs came by and, and is nuts.

He actually cares for the guy, takes him to a, a lodging, pays for his lodging, cares for him. And Jesus says, that's Samaritan the one you called the dogs. He knew who his neighbor was. Was anybody in his world in need? And then he says, love one another, love your neighbor. And then he really gets in our grid and he says, love your enemies.

This is why what Charleston Church did is supernatural. They forgave, they loved, we're called

to allow a world to see the glor of Christ. He did his part. He did it in his life. He did it in his death. He's still doing it through the lives of those that are willing to say, God, teach me to love as Christ loved. Let's pray. Lord, we celebrate you.

God, I believe the church in America, and I don't exclude this church in this indictment,

is to some degree the impediment to people being drawn to Christ. So God, humble us, change us, Stu us. What it means that your great glory was shown when you went to the electric chair to serve others to the ultimate expre expression of it. Lord, may we be embracing of particularly the people that are different from us.

May we look this week at people who think differently and value differently. in our offices is people not to be irritated by, but people for us to begin to put at the very top of our prayer list, praying, Lord, let them know how much you love them because we found, Lord, that when we pray that way, we start loving them.

So, Lord, change us in Jesus' name, amen. We're gonna close our service this morning, celebrating the Lord's supper. Uh, I've gone long, longer than I expected to, but this table, which Jesus is celebrating in the Passover, was a time where they remembered what Jesus had done in them and for them. It says that he took bread and the first element that the guys are going to come and distribute among us.

And if some of you have to go, I understand. Um, this is my body. He said this picture's what I'm giving up for. You. Do this in remembrance of me. I'm gonna ask the men to come and distribute the elements for me. First of all, we're gonna distribute the bread. Oh no, we're gonna distribute it all cuz they're all together.

forgot. We got, we got a new system with Covid. The bread is on the bottom. The, the drink is on the top up.

One of my more smooth Lord supper, uh, leadership moments. Okay. I'm gonna let you guys go ahead, let's just distribute them at this time. Thank you.

The bottom of your cup, there is a small tab that you can take out, a small wafer there, which is the bread, and Jesus said this and we're told the Lord Jesus on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, this is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.

It says in the same way he took the cup saying this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this whenever you drink it in remembrance of me,

Lord, we worship your glory, the of all that you are shown most prominently in your cross. We delight in it.

We who are the recipients of the love of it, repent of our lovelessness and cry out that we might be more and more stunned with the love in your life and in your death, that somehow you might be seen in us. God, if there are brothers or sisters that we know are believers and we've just had conflict with, because we don't agree on certain things, God help us to not be so concerned with being right and being more concerned about being righteous in the way we treat each other.

In Jesus' name I pray, amen.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/maundy-thursday b4b71f20-70b4-4ab9-bae6-ce93ebe76972 Sun, 19 Mar 2023 11:35:20 GMT <div data-html="true">John 13 <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> Morning, everybody. Morning. I'd like you to take your Bibles to John chapter 13. We're gonna be looking at John 13 this morning. We're continuing a series that we're in the middle of as we've uh, left the book of Acts. We're gonna return to the book of Acts after Easter, but in the seven Sundays leading up to Easter. <br /><br /> We are doing a series on the passion of Christ. The Passion Week, 40% of the New Testament, at least of the gospels, is related to the last week of Jesus life. And we are looking at that, taking it day by day. Um, as we have gone through that particular series, uh, we've covered a number of days, and today we are up to Thursday of Passion Week. <br /><br /> There is not, um, uh, I don't have slides for you this morning. Uh, well you have that one. That's nice. Look at that. Um, and, uh, so you, you might have to listen today. Uh, we're gonna be celebrating the Lord's Supper at the end of our time and I didn't put together. It gets worse though. Um, I actually, I'm gonna apologize right now to the engineers. <br /><br /> The, I was trying to think who I'm apologizing to. I'm trying, definitely engineers, probably English teachers, likely it people, people that live with order in their lives. I'm gonna mess up the sermon summary completely this morning. Uh, actually it's a little bit off from what you have in front of you. Um, uh, actually it is completely blown up. <br /><br /> Um, there're, I do have two points, , but that's about all I love Notetakers. I don't wanna discourage you if you're a note taker, keep note taking, but this morning you're gonna have to cross out and add some new stuff. I just, I was trying to focus on two verses in this passage because that is the thrust of this passage and actually the events of Thursday. <br /><br /> But I realized I needed to do a little wider, and so I've changed it a little bit. All right, we're looking at John 13 verses 31 to 38, and I wanna read that for you and then we're gonna dive into what's going on here on Thursday and why we're only looking at this short passage. To summarize the day, acts 13, verse 31 to 38, when he, and that's Judas had gone out, Jesus said, now is the son of man glorified and God is glorified in him. <br /><br /> If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and glorify him at once. Little children. Yet a little while I'm with you, you'll seek me and just as I said to the Jews. So now I also say to you where I am. You cannot come a new commandment. I give to you that you love one another, just as I have loved you. <br /><br /> You also are to love one another. By this, all people will know. That you are my disciples. If you have love one for another. Let's pray. <br /><br /> Lord, I praise you this morning that we can gather in this room and as we gather here in Mount Laurel, as we gather here in Collingswood as some are gathering with us online. Lord, I ask that you might be our teacher and our guide in the truth in this little section. There is so much that our own hearts need to embrace and here about you and about ourselves in God. <br /><br /> I pray that you would teach us and lead us into truth this morning. In Jesus' name, amen. We are going through the chronology of Passion Week. I just wanted to remind you of a few things. Sunday. The previous Sunday was the triumphant entry, the entrance of Jesus offering self as king to the people of Israel. <br /><br /> He had come in and a donkey had not come in as they had expected, as a a warrior king. He came in as a servant king. On Monday we saw him coming into the temple and he, he had actually visited the temple there on Sunday. On Monday he comes back. He has, he has seen what is going on there. And Monday he shakes, uh, the cages of the disciples in a big way because he starts turning over tables, taking on the religious establishment saying, you have made my father's house of prayer into Aden of Roberts. <br /><br /> It become a place of commerce. And that even bilking people out of. he had left, and Tuesday they'd come back. And again, the disciples undoubtedly hoping things will now calm down. And, and we'll get back to the adoring crowds which we had on Sunday. And Jesus actually enters into a full day of confrontation. <br /><br /> He has confrontation with the religious leaders. He has conversations with the Pharisees, the sades, take him on the Herodians, take him on the, the, uh, scribes, take him on all these different groups, the liberal Jews, the conservative Jews, the Romanized Jews, the the theological Jews. They all take him on. <br /><br /> And it's a day of, of conflict and confrontation. And it's undoubtedly exhausting not only for Christ, but for those that have embraced him. They go back over the hill, out of Jerusalem, traveling east, arrive down to, and the city of Bethany on the other side of that, of that mount. . And Wednesday, as we saw last week, is a day of silence. <br /><br /> There's almost nothing recorded. It was obviously a day where Jesus just, and, and, and the boys. They cooled their jets. They had a day of quiet. The only things we really know from that day were the behavior of a woman named Mary of Bethany who washed his feet and sec and, and worshiped him in such a beautiful way. <br /><br /> And we contrasted these two responses last Sunday, the the worship of Mary, of Bethany. And at the same time, Judas was out selling Jesus out to the religious leaders. Now we come to Thursday, historically in the church, it's called Mondi Thursday. The word mondi is actually, uh, the word manum. In the original, we get the word mandate from it. <br /><br /> It actually means commandment. It is commandment Thursday. And if we really understand what transpires on this day, because basically what happens, uh, the beginning of the day, Thursday, we see Jesus sending John and Peter to go into Jerusalem, find him a, a place to meet where they can celebrate the, the Passover. <br /><br /> It's a place that he had already sovereignly, prearranged. They have gone, they have lined up this place. We now know it as the upper room because it was a second floor place. All the preparations have been made for Passover. The food has been gathered, the things have been brought together. And now we are at the Passover Supper. <br /><br /> And at the Passover supper, the most prominent thing Jesus does, theologically and historically is to give a commandment for his to his disciples. And so the historic celebration of Thursday, Mondi Thursday is to celebrate this commandment. And this commandment is found in verse 34. A new commandment I give to you that you love one another, just as I have loved you. <br /><br /> You also are to love one another. By this, all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. What we're gonna do is focus, and on this commandment this morning, as we look at it, we are gonna look at the basis for the commandment. And then we are going to actually see the, the definition, the, the reality, uh, of this commandment. <br /><br /> But I want you to look at the context. Verse 31 says an interesting opening phrase. Here's what it says. It says, when he had gone out, Jesus started speaking the he is Judas. Jesus has given one last, uh, invitation to Judas to, to repent of what he's about to do. Warning him saying, I know what you're gonna do, but go now. <br /><br /> If you're going to go, now's the time Judas has gone. And it says, then Jesus began to speak. Judas has gone to the authorities, Jesus has gone to, to the prearranged moment where he is now going to bring the Roman, uh, the Jewish authorities with their soldiers to arrest Jesus. Jesus at this moment, recognizes they are nearing the end. <br /><br /> This he has moments left. The clock is ticking for Christ. When Judas went, Jesus began to speak. He, he begins to say things that you say. When you know your time is very, very short. When you think, what is it that I most want to tell the most important people in my life right now as I near the end of my life? <br /><br /> What Jesus says here is filled with significance. It's his dying words, if you will, to his disciples. It is his final messaging to them, and we read two things here. First of all, the basis of the commandment that he is giving to them in verse 31 and 33 is the cross He talks about in verse 31 and 32, glory. <br /><br /> Glory, by the way. That's the first point. The first point is the basis for the commandment is the cross, and five times he uses the word glory in two verses. Now, glory is one of those theological terms. It's something about the glory of God, and, and, and we get it. When somebody peop when somebody says the power of God, well, you conceptualize power, the love of God. <br /><br /> You conceptualize love, faithfulness of God. These things we, we can sort of wrap our arms around, but the glory of God. What, what is the glory of God? What does it mean that Jesus is going to be glorified? Well, the glory of God, actually, glory is the word that means weight or value. It's used in the, in the parables where it says, A man discovered a treasure buried in a field. <br /><br /> And then it says this, and when he found out its great value is how it's translated. It's the word glory. When he found out its great value, it says he went and, and, and took everything he had in his own estate, sold it to have the money to buy this field. Why? Because he knew in the field was something that was more valuable than anything else in his life, and he is willing to get rid of everything in order to get this prized treasure that was in the field. <br /><br /> So great was its glory. When we talk about glory, we're talking about value and worse. <br /><br /> God's glory, the worth and value of God is basically the revelation of all God's attributes. , it reveals all that he is. It is is saying his weightiness, his splendor, his glory is in all that he is. So here's a striking thing. Jesus says, now you're going to see my glory more than any other moment in recorded history. <br /><br /> The glory of God. The glory of God, the Son is going to be revealed in the cross. But not only that, look at verse 31. It says this Now, when he had gone out, Jesus said, now is the son of man glorified. In other words, now it's happening. Now it's beginning. But then he says this and God is glorified in him. <br /><br /> God is the way Jesus always refers to God the Father. It doesn't mean that Jesus is is lost his deity, but it's his way of referencing God the Father. He said, the cross is not only where I am glorified, it is where my Father is shown in the weightiness and the splendor and the glory of who he is. This is the moment. <br /><br /> It is the moment of the cross. It is the anticipation of the cross. The son of man will now be glorified, he says, and so will the Father. It is the supreme moment in recorded history, not the creation of the world, not any other event that we can cite, not the Red Sea parting and all a mirror. This is the moment. <br /><br /> When the triune God is most seen in his weightiness, in his glory, in the wonder of who he is, it is shocking to realize that the moment when God is most seen in His glory <br /><br /> is when God, the Son goes to the electric chair of his day. When he faces the execution as a perceived heinous criminal, God's glory is most revealed. How is this? So well track with me here. His holiness is seen. That God did not reduce the standard of holiness or the, or the, the criteria of the purity of his presence. <br /><br /> His law was upheld even in this moment when he was providing life and forgiveness for others. God held the glory that he is a holy God. His wisdom was shown. He was able to still be just the righteous judge, but at the same time, the justifi fire who declared acceptable, broken, flawed, rebellious sinners like us, the love and the patience, and the mercy are all seen in the event of the divine Son paying the penalty for the sins of rebels and betrayals. <br /><br /> Who had already spurned his love. The cross shows the glory of God. I've told this story before. It's one of the greatest examples I've ever heard of what the cross is all about. It's told by Billy Graham, the evangelist, he was driving through the south one time in one of the back roads, areas. He was speeding. <br /><br /> He got stopped by a patrolman and he got taken in. And if you ever watch Andy of Mayberry, you know, in those small towns back in the day, what they would do is they would immediately bring you, before the sheriff or whoever was the acting judge, and you would then have your penalty written out. And this guy was brought in and he was b brought before the judge. <br /><br /> Uh, this guy Billy Graham, was brought before the judge, and the judge said to him, do you contest the charge? He said, no, I, I was speeding. And he said, okay, this is the penalty, X amount of dollars. And then the judge left his seat and came around and stood next to Billy Graham and took out his checkbook and he said, thank you for what you do for our country. <br /><br /> And he paid the fine. The judge paid the penalty to his own court. He ma, he maintained the law right. He upheld justice right, but he himself paid the fine. This is the glory of the cross. God retained holiness. God retained justice, but God also revealed the glory of his mercy and his grace. He paid the fine at the cost of the electric chair of his day. <br /><br /> Jesus says to us here, the judge didn't diminish his holiness. The God of beauty and goodness was not wa was most seen in his glory when he was being beaten to death. To the point that Isaiah says he was unrecognizable. This God's glory, this God most His glory is most reveal when he allows himself to be immoral and to be killed when he allows himself to take on humanity and to experience fear and dread in the garden of what was to come when he chooses to endure all of it for the sake of, of those that have rejected him. <br /><br /> And as I've said many times, Who have sinned, which in the ultimate sense biblically, the greatest biblical vi visual of sin is what God constantly says about the people of Israel. He said they are spiritual adulterers. That's the picture of sin, that we turn from the one who loved us most, who is for us, but we win our own way. <br /><br /> And yet the God who had to preserve holiness and holy standards came and paid the fathomless large fine, that it would've taken eternity for us to pay, but he paid it in our behalf. He says, you want to see the glory of God? Look to the cross. Now I will be glorified. It is with that backdrop that Jesus makes this commandment his manum. <br /><br /> The nature of the command. The second point, simply the nature of the command is love for one another in verse 34 and 35 at first swing. It's kind of hard, you know, when you just glances what is verse 34 and 35? You know what it says about, you know, this is the commandment, you're to do this. How does that tie back to verse 31 to 33, which culminates in verse 33 with this statement, little children, yet a little while I'm with you, you'll seek me and just as I said to the Jews, so now I say to you where I'm going, you cannot come a new commandment. <br /><br /> I give to you the loved one another. How does all that tie together? I would suggest this way, and this is why I had to extend my sermon. You can't understand. Verse 34 and 35 without verse 31 to 33, verse 31 and 32. He says, I'm gonna reveal, be revealed in my glory on the cross. You're gonna see the glory of God in a way you've never been able to see it before. <br /><br /> But he said, now I'm leaving, but I still want my glory to be manifested. I still want the nature of a great God who is also a good God, a mighty God who is also replete with mercy. <br /><br /> You're going to now be the visual for me. So what does that look like? And that's why he says in verse 34 and 35, he says, this love one another. As I have loved you by this, all people will know that you are my disciples. If you have love one for another, they're gonna know you're associated with me because you're gonna reflect what I reflect. <br /><br /> So what is he saying? Well, <br /><br /> he's saying that people will see people while I was here, saw my love in the way I lived and in the way I died. I want them now to see that in you. He says, as I've loved you, I want you to love one another. And there are three giant ramifications of this commandment. Here's what they are, at least to me. <br /><br /> Number one, if the world is turning away from Christianity, we need to look at ourselves. <br /><br /> Frances Schaffer wrote a book years ago called The Mark of a Christian. It was a commentary, short book. It's a great book. It's still a. Timely, timely read. It was a discourse on John 1334 and 35. He mentioned that if you're a Christian, basically what he says in the book, if you're a Christian, you are able to determine who other Christians are true followers of Christ by conversation. <br /><br /> You know, you can have, we do it all the time. You know, you get with someone and you're, you're sort of wondering, you know, where they stand spiritually and, and so you're having a conversation where you're free to talk about the gospel and, and, and you begin to, you know, talk about sin and how do they understand sin? <br /><br /> Do they understand the, the culpability, the, the, the culpability of their sin? That we are all sinners. And we need to repent and have our minds changed and turn toward Christ. That, that he's the way to cri to God that we can't get there by any other way, but by embracing him as our savior and Lord and, and, and, and turning towards him, even as we turn away from trusting in ourselves, that we really understand that the gospel is about not what we do, but what is what was done by Christ. <br /><br /> And we, we, can we talk about that? And you, and, and in conversation Francis Schaffer saying, I think rightly we can discern if someone else is a believer, but he says the world can't do that. They don't have that understanding of how a person is a fi in God's family through Christ. They can't do it by conversation. <br /><br /> They do it by observation. They do it by verse 35. They look and they watch and they wonder, and by the quality of the life of those followers of Christ, they ask questions, perhaps at least are processing and, and, and what Jesus is saying, this is what's gonna happen. They're gonna look at you and they're gonna say, do they live differently than other groups of people? <br /><br /> Not that they're sinless, not that they never screw up. Matter of fact, they're very free to own. They're flaws and they're brokenness. That they're broken people. They're flawed people because there's a humility of comes that when you realize, I'm free to embrace the ugliness in me because I am loved by one that is for me and says he'll never let me go. <br /><br /> But do they look differently? Do they have a reputation for being forgiving of their enemies? Are they gentle in their treatment of others? Are they encouraging and welcoming to the outcast? Are they tolerant of those who are different? Jesus saying, you know, I was all those things. That's how I lived. <br /><br /> What the cross is that, that I, I reached out to the broken. I was willing to, to sacrifice myself for them. He says, is the world seeing that in my people? <br /><br /> Our nation is not turning towards Christianity. It is turning away for Christianity. Every year, the number of people identifying themselves as followers of Christ is going down. Many of them turning to the nons, which means what is your belief? What is your faith? Non, <br /><br /> I don't know where to put that. Except that when the world is not drawn toward Christianity, the problem is not with Christ. <br /><br /> In 2015 in South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina, a young man named Dylan Roof went into the Emmanuel African Methodist, epi Episcopal Church, evangelical Church, uh, African American church went into a Bible study led by the pastor, actually a state senator, was there, number of other people, and he murdered nine people. <br /><br /> The pastor was killed, the state senator was killed, and seven other individuals. <br /><br /> Soon after the event, the pastor's family, The church leadership and members publicly reached out to Dylan Roof and publicly acknowledged they forgave him. Fast forward two years ago, my wife and I were in Charleston Car, South Carolina on a trip just to get away. We got a tour of the Great City and Arturo Guide was a group of us in a little. <br /><br /> Van Arturo Guide was an interesting character. Um, pretty outspoken, pretty opinionated, uh, lot of facts, but interesting perspectives. Um, his in, it was interesting when he talked about the Civil War. He's a lifer of South Carolinian and uh, he was really wanted us to understand that the Civil War for the South was not about slavery. <br /><br /> It was about state's rights. And it was clear from the way he delineated life and circumstances that uh, he would not have been a civil rights activist, let's just say it that way. He would come down on the other side, still frustrated with the change that had taken, still almost wanting a pre-civil war environment. <br /><br /> It just felt, and don't mean he's a bad man, but he was, uh, that's where he is coming from. So we're, uh, we're driving around and seeing different fights in the city and we went by the African American, the Methodist Episcopal Church, the a m E Church, and we stopped there just for a moment and he said, this is a church. <br /><br /> You told a little bit about Dylan Ruff and Roof and what had happened. And he said, I gotta tell you, everybody here in Charleston. Has a lot of respect for the people in that church, for the way they responded to that shooting. I didn't hear him speak with that kind of respect in the entire tour. Why? <br /><br /> What was different? Those people represented something bigger than race. They represented Christ. There was something about their response in forgiving and in doing what is supernatural, that pointed the way to Christ. And Christ says, how are people gonna know that you're my people? You're going to live differently. <br /><br /> You're going to respond differently. You're going to respond supernaturally. When the world is not drawn to Christianity. It may be because we don't look much different. That Christians are angry. Christians are pushy. Christians are sectarian. Christians are partisan. Christians are rude. Christians are arrogant just like everybody else. <br /><br /> We talk the same way in the media. We, we respond the same way. We think the same way we're us and then there's them. And Jesus says, I don't have those terms. I don't live that terminology. I want you to love as I love. I want you to live as I lived. The second thing, love is the way to know if the gospel is transforming me. <br /><br /> Love for one another. Other Christians he's talking about here specifically, there is a bond he says that supersedes everything else. I dunno if you've thought too much about the group of people that Jesus chose to be as disciples. Quite frankly, he was crazy . This is the worst group of individuals you have. <br /><br /> Matthew, a tax collector, who is the most hated group of people in Israel at the time. As a Jew. Not only is he making his money by taking taxes that the Jews feel is wrong for them to take, and he's taking it for Rome, but part of his commission was in Bilking, the people they were hated. And then you throw in Simon Zel. <br /><br /> Who was a guy that was a part of the zealot group whose life calling was to destroy Romans, who actually were known. If you've seen the chosen film, you know Simon Zelt is shown there, and the little short knife he had the curve that was true. They had a knife. That was what they were known for. They had it under their gowns and they would kill Roman officials at every opportunity. <br /><br /> They were the most feared group of people by the Romans in the holy land. These two guys are doing life together, representing Christ. You say that's not possible. There's only one person that can pull it off, and Christ said, when people look at my group, they say, how do tax collectors and zealots coexist? <br /><br /> How do Gentiles and Jews and Samaritans coexist? How do they love each other? It's supernatural. It's crazy. It makes no sense. And Jesus says That's the point. That's the point. So he says to us today, there is a bond that supersedes everything else. Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones was a, in the 1920s, early 1920s, was a, uh, a young man, brilliant medical student who had been so proficient in his early practice that he had joined the practice and was now in the practice that served the royal family of England. <br /><br /> I mean, this guy was on the fast track to started him, started him in the, uh, I don't know if that's a word, started to being famous in the medical world. And God won his heart and he gave his life to Jesus. And after a while, staying in the medical practice, he felt called to the ministry. And his first pastorate was a tiny fishing village in Wales. <br /><br /> No real education, nothing. And he went there and Martin Lloyd Jones tells the story of one day he was just being assailed by the devil. Just saying, you're not what you say you are. You're a phony. You say you're a Christian, you say you are a pastor. And and I just really hammering the accuser was accusing. <br /><br /> And Martin Lloyd Jones said, in the midst of this torment he had, you know, like this momentary epiphany, this, this, this sense of, of what's real. And he said, I actually said out loud to the devil, why is it that I find more joy? Hanging with the lowies, uneducated fisher woman's fisherman's wife here than I do in the most intelligently founded conversations in a wood paneled office with my medical colleagues. <br /><br /> I have nothing in common with this woman except the one thing that matters most to me. We share Christ. And he said, that was what reminded me, that that's what being a Christian is that you so love Christ. You can't help but love his people regardless of intellectual background or social culture or ethnicity or, or race. <br /><br /> There is a bond that is more real, more compelling. Before you're a Christian, your status, your salary, your exploits, something else defines you. But when you embrace Christ as your savior, those things become less in their hold. When Christ becomes your center and you embrace then people of different economic strata or ethnicity or race or political affiliation, because the compelling reality of unity for you is Jesus Christ and those who love him. <br /><br /> The third thing here, and we gotta examine our own hearts on this, right? If Christ is my sin, I delight in diversity. I delight in, in not defining. There's us, there's them. I, I'm more comfortable here, not there. Third, loving all God's people spills out to loving everyone. Now this passage highlights loving one another, right? <br /><br /> In the household of faith, it can sound a little bit like this is, you know, this is the insider thing, you know, I mean, we don't love other people. I mean, it's, it almost sounds somewhat partisan against what you even say, mark, do we only, those love those who believe as we do value as we do. This is what I would say actually, because Jesus kingdom includes people of such a vast cultural, political, racial, ethnic diversity. <br /><br /> If we love one another, we will love everyone else. Jesus commands us in his teaching. Not only to love one another, but the expression outgrowth of that is he says, love your neighbor, which he defines in Luke Tennis, who is my neighbor? Somebody says, who is my neighbor? That's a question that was asked, that was the basis for the Good Samaritan sermon. <br /><br /> That guy says, who is my neighbor? And he says, well, let me tell you a story about a good Samaritan. And he blows their minds because he tells this story about this Jewish guy that was beat up and left for dead by robbers. And the the Jewish priest go, comes and goes. The other side of the road goes by another Jewish nobleman goes by, and a Samaritan who the Jews called the dogs came by and, and is nuts. <br /><br /> He actually cares for the guy, takes him to a, a lodging, pays for his lodging, cares for him. And Jesus says, that's Samaritan the one you called the dogs. He knew who his neighbor was. Was anybody in his world in need? And then he says, love one another, love your neighbor. And then he really gets in our grid and he says, love your enemies. <br /><br /> This is why what Charleston Church did is supernatural. They forgave, they loved, we're called <br /><br /> to allow a world to see the glor of Christ. He did his part. He did it in his life. He did it in his death. He's still doing it through the lives of those that are willing to say, God, teach me to love as Christ loved. Let's pray. Lord, we celebrate you. <br /><br /> God, I believe the church in America, and I don't exclude this church in this indictment, <br /><br /> is to some degree the impediment to people being drawn to Christ. So God, humble us, change us, Stu us. What it means that your great glory was shown when you went to the electric chair to serve others to the ultimate expre expression of it. Lord, may we be embracing of particularly the people that are different from us. <br /><br /> May we look this week at people who think differently and value differently. in our offices is people not to be irritated by, but people for us to begin to put at the very top of our prayer list, praying, Lord, let them know how much you love them because we found, Lord, that when we pray that way, we start loving them. <br /><br /> So, Lord, change us in Jesus' name, amen. We're gonna close our service this morning, celebrating the Lord's supper. Uh, I've gone long, longer than I expected to, but this table, which Jesus is celebrating in the Passover, was a time where they remembered what Jesus had done in them and for them. It says that he took bread and the first element that the guys are going to come and distribute among us. <br /><br /> And if some of you have to go, I understand. Um, this is my body. He said this picture's what I'm giving up for. You. Do this in remembrance of me. I'm gonna ask the men to come and distribute the elements for me. First of all, we're gonna distribute the bread. Oh no, we're gonna distribute it all cuz they're all together. <br /><br /> forgot. We got, we got a new system with Covid. The bread is on the bottom. The, the drink is on the top up. <br /><br /> One of my more smooth Lord supper, uh, leadership moments. Okay. I'm gonna let you guys go ahead, let's just distribute them at this time. Thank you. <br /><br /> The bottom of your cup, there is a small tab that you can take out, a small wafer there, which is the bread, and Jesus said this and we're told the Lord Jesus on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, this is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. <br /><br /> It says in the same way he took the cup saying this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this whenever you drink it in remembrance of me, <br /><br /> Lord, we worship your glory, the of all that you are shown most prominently in your cross. We delight in it. <br /><br /> We who are the recipients of the love of it, repent of our lovelessness and cry out that we might be more and more stunned with the love in your life and in your death, that somehow you might be seen in us. God, if there are brothers or sisters that we know are believers and we've just had conflict with, because we don't agree on certain things, God help us to not be so concerned with being right and being more concerned about being righteous in the way we treat each other. <br /><br /> In Jesus' name I pray, amen.</div> false no <![CDATA[Wednesday: Day of Silence]]> Mark 14:1-11

There were some who said to themselves indignantly, “Why was the ointment wasted like that? For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they scolded her. But Jesus said, “Leave her alone.



Sermon Transcript:

I'm Pastor Mark. Uh, if you're a guest with, it's great to have you here. Wonderful to have you here for our nine o'clock service, which feels like eight o'clock, but I'd like you to turn to Mark chapter 14 this morning. We've been doing an interesting thing in this series together.

We've been walking with Jesus on a week's trip and what a week it is. It's passion Week, the last week that leads up to the crucifixion and then resurrection of Jesus Christ. As Mike mentioned last week, it's called Passion Week because the Latin word for passion, pathos means suffering. It is a season of suffering for Jesus.

And as we look at this week, we're taking a a day each Sunday as we go through. And if you haven't, you've been using, I really encourage you to pick up, uh, one of the books out in the lobby that our team put together. It's a 60 page book the Common Life Team put together of daily readings all related to the particular day that we're talking about on Sunday.

Today we're talking about Wednesday of Passion Week, the Day of Silence. Recently, pastor Ben talked about the first day Sunday, Jesus entry into Jerusalem, and as he came, came in this offering of himself as the king to the nation, and came in a startlingly different way than any. Would've envisioned he didn't come as the mighty conquering war Lord, that they expected.

He rather came literally as a humble servant riding on a donkey into the city on Monday and Tuesday. As Pastor Mike mentioned last time, it was too tumultuous days, undoubtedly shocking to the poor disciples as they watch Jesus go into the the temple. And soon into the day, somewhere around midday, Jesus enters into the temple, uh, courts and starts turning over tables and, and saying, you've made my father's house, which was a house of prayer into Aden of robbers.

They've had some conversations that day. I'm sure the disciples were sort of what just happened. They returned back over the mount into the little town of Beth, Bethany, and now Tuesdays come, and I'm sure those guys are wondering. Man, I, I hope today is a little calmer, where Monday had been a day of Jesus turning up over overturning tables and literally overturning the practice of the religion and worship of Israel.

Now he comes in and he utterly overturns the entire teaching ministry of Israel. He takes on the groups, he takes on the Pharisees, the conservative Jewish leaders. He takes on the sades, the liberal Jewish leaders. He takes on the Herodians, the Romanized Jewish leaders. He takes on the scribes, the theologically driven Jewish leaders.

And in the midst of these conversations, in this day of a lot of conversations, He calls them, among other things, blind guides, whitewash tombs, which means you look good on the outside, but you're dead inside hypocrites and a brood of snakes. It's been a good day for the disciples. And now they go back to Bethany, and I'm sure as they're there, these guys have conversations offline with each other.

I don't know what's happening. It's a day in which almost nothing is recorded on this day of what transpired. It's a day of silence. It's a day of quiet. Apparently it was a day in which Jesus and the disciples settled in, recouped, renewed Jesus certainly knowing what was coming, saw the need of that. It is a day that presents to us no public teaching or actions.

He does not appear to leave Bethany on this day. The day does not show us so much Jesus in his action and his teaching. We see Jesus here more in how people are presented in their response to him. Two particular people. We see Jesus through the eyes of others. Our passage this morning in Mark chapter 14 focuses on different responses to Christ by two people that knew him well, Jesus, excuse me, Judas, one of his disciples, and Mary, the sister of Martha and Naza.

Both Mary and Judas hung with Jesus. They knew his teaching, his works, his values both were looked at at by others as being deeply identified with him, but the fruit of their heart choices could not have been more distinct. Mark in this passage is clearly trying to contrast them as we see their responses to Christ.

Both of these people present an astonishing legacy that of Mary is presented in verse nine, which I'll read in a moment where Jesus says What she has done will always be remembered. It goes without saying that nobody forgot Judas as well. What this passage is about is basically to challenge us to make some personal evaluations.

It's the d t r talk. The define the relationship talk. It's the talk where you're trying to find out exactly where are we in this relationship. It's really given to us to look at it ourselves. Jesus says, you've been hanging around me for a while. You know a bunch about me. Other people look at us and it seems like you and I are a thing, but let's take stock of where we are.

And the question is, are we living more like Judas or are we living more like Mary? It's a little like asking I, I realize, okay, come on, mark. Who is gonna say, well, I really identify with Judas. I mean, it's like saying, do you identify more with Mother Teresa or Alex Murdoch, the South Carolina lawyer that just is convicted of killing his wife and son?

well maybe you'd say, well, um, maybe somewhere in between. But we're confronted with two contrasts. And the striking thing is that Judas is actually a sobering visual of how the trajectory of one's life can take them to places that they themselves would never have imagined. The DTR question defined the relationship as raised because there's ambiguity in the relationship.

Where do you stand? Where are we heading? We're gonna look at this together, but first, let's read the passage. Mark, chapter 14. We read this, I'm gonna read verses one down through verse 11. It was now two days before the Passover and the feast of unloved bread. And the chief priest and the scribes were seeking how to arrest him by stealth and kill him for, they said, not during the feast, unless there be an up opera from the people.

And while he was at Bethany in the house of Simon, the lepers, he was reclining a table. A woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure Bernard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head. By the way, this woman is identified in John 12 as being married, the sister of Lazarus and Martha.

There were some who said to themselves, indigently, why was this ointment wasted? Like that for this ointment could have been sold for more than 300 Daria and given to the poor, and they scolded her. But Jesus said, leave her alone. Why do you trouble? She has done a beautiful thing to me for you always have the poor with you and whenever you want, you can do good for them, but you will not always have me.

She has done what she could. She has anointed my body beforehand for burial and truly, I say to you, whatever the goss, wherever the gospel has proclaimed to the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her. Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the 12, went to the chief priest in order to betray him to them, and when they heard it, they were glad and promised to give him money and he sought an opportunity to betray him.

Father, I ask that you would be our teacher this morning that your spirit would allow our minds to be free from all the other stuff. And allow us to be focused on truth. This morning, God used this nod as a sermon to beat us up, but to prompt us to want to live more vitally in relationship with you, the living God.

Lord, give us eyes and ears and heart to see and listen this morning, I pray in Jesus' name. Amen. I wanna look at four contrasts this morning between Mary, the woman that his washing the feet of Jesus in such a remarkable way, and Judas Iscariot, first of all, their familiarity with Jesus. They both shared familiarity with Jesus.

Judas. Has an inoculated familiarity. He has had some of it just enough to give him a vaccination and immunization against the real disease. He knows Christ. He's traveled with him for almost the whole three and a half years of his ministry. No one sensed he was different even in the group. It's astonishing to think about.

They never had much money, but what they did have, they entrusted to Judas 12 business guys, 11 of them entrusting their money to ju Judas. You can be sure they didn't have any doubts about him if they're gonna give him the money. He's an individual who looks and seems like everyone else. Years ago, there was a 60 minute special.

And in the special, it was actually, uh, a presentation about Adolf Eichman. Adolf Eichman was the, uh, progenitor, basically the one that ran the Holocaust in Nazi Germany. He was responsible for the, the, the final solution, the extermination of the Jewish race. He was responsible for millions of Jews, others as well, um, but particularly Jewish people that were killed in NAIA regime.

He designed the system, he ran the system, uh, and he was brought to the Nuremberg Trials in the post years after World War ii. And in those trials he was speaking. And if we can just bring up the slide. This is him actually, as he has being. Do we have that slide? Oh, it's not up there. I'm still getting used to the screams,

Okay. Alright. That's him in the middle. And a eichman is testifying. And here's the question that is raised by Mike Wallace. How is it possible for Amanda act as Eichman acted? Was he a monster, a madman, or was he perhaps something even more terrifying? Was he somewhat normal? The most startling answer to Wallace's shocking question came in an interview with a Jewish man named Yeha de Denu, a concentration camp survivor who testified against Eichman at the trials.

A film clip from Eichmann's 1961 trial showed Denu turning and seeing eichman for the first time since the Nazi. Had been, had sent him to Auswitch 18 years earlier, deur began to solve uncontrollably and then fainted. Collapsing in a heap on the floor. Was Deur overcome by hatred, fear, the horrific scarring, memory, memories?

Did he see all the faces of people he loved and lost? It was none of those things. Rather as Dura explained to Mike Wallace all at once, he realized Eichman was not the God-like Army officer who had sent so many to their deaths that he had envisioned this eichman was an ordinary man. Here's what he said.

I was afraid about myself. I saw that I am capable to do this. I am exactly. Like he, this is the reality. Judas looked the same. Judas was sent on the missionary trips. He did the stuff two by two. They're sent out. He was a two. He went out with a twosome. You can imagine whoever his partner was thinking back and imagining later, as we hear of what Judas did, it's easy to lump him into a category which is utterly outside of our own experience, but we're reminded of the words by the great preacher of days past Samuel w Rutherford.

I see the seed of every sin in my own heart

until his actions here in Mark 14, the disciples never had. A clue. How was he able to do this? How was he able to hide it from others and certainly to a degree from himself really where his heart was. Because familiarity with Jesus does not bring about love and devotion to Jesus. Quite honestly, some of the coldest hearts towards Christ who are, are those who are around the gospel.

The church have a taste of it, but it only inoculates them to the real disease. We see the contrast. A woman that's got the true infection, Mary Mary had the real disease. She also knew Jesus. Apparently when Jesus came to Jerusalem, he stayed with her and her brother and her sister on in Bethany. On multiple occasions, we see her and we will see her.

Familiar with Jesus, and the more she knew him, the more she loved him, and the more she was devoted to him and the more she obeyed him and desired to live her life with him at the center of her very life. The second thing we find is their focus on Jesus. Judas focus was to use him. Judas never called Jesus Lord as most of the other disciples are identified at one time or another.

I don't know that he never did, but I do know that the gospel writers intentionally don't indicate that he did, that we see in Judas that he never IDE as identified as asking spiritual questions. The order of the disciples always seems to sort of indicate their closeness to Jesus. Peter and James and John, who are the, the three inner circle, not more valued, but given greater responsibility and intimacy with Jesus.

A teaching ministry to them that others didn't have are always listed first, but then others come after them. But Judas is always last by the gospel records. Honestly, the only thing we know about Judas relates to money. He was the one who carried the money. He's here irritated at the extravagant expenditures by Mary.

It says some of them were irritated. The other gospels us it. It was Judas that led the way. He was regularly stealing from the till. John 12 says that when they look back, they realize that the shortfall they sometimes had actually were because he was pocketing the purse. He sold Jesus outta money. It says, when Satan filled his heart, he went for the money.

He did not ever seem to be drawn to Jesus, just for Jesus. He was seeking what he could do for him and his visions in the realm of wealth or influence or comfort or power. To him, Jesus was a way to get to something. It was not to get to Jesus. Mary was the opposite. Mary worshiped him. Her focus was one of devotion.

This amazing act of worship that is recorded here was reflective of a pattern of personal worship that we see in her life. Just like to share a passage quickly, you're familiar with this one in Luke 10 where it says that Jesus came and she had a sister called Mary who, who sat at the Lord's feed and listen.

To his teaching, that's her. But Martha was distracted with much serving and she went up to him and said, Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me. But the Lord answered her. Martha. Martha, you're anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary.

Mary's chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her. Mary had a heart of devotion. Christ was central to her. Kyle Alderman has a book in entitled, not a Fan, actually says, not a fan becoming a fully committed follower of Jesus Christ. He tells a story of a, uh, of a missionary who had, uh, was traveling alone for some reason.

He was in Las Vegas. It was the first time he'd ever been in the city. He got there in the evening, checked into his hotel, was sort of wound up, couldn't sleep, and eventually, uh, just middle of the night or late at night. Anyway. He decided to take a walk down the strip. He'd never been in Las Vegas before.

He's alone in the city. Nobody knows who he is. Nobody knows what he's doing, where he is going. And he tells the story as Idleman re uh, um, records it. That as he took the walk down, he heard the loud energizing music and he felt the buzz of excitement and energy. He talks about how he went into one large lobby of a hotel, and they had there, uh, displayed the most luxurious exotic cars.

He went to another, and, and as he traveled, he sees the, the limos pull up, and he stood and watched them for a while as the most beautiful people with the most beautiful clothes, uh, uh, adorned with, with wealth got out and, and, and just all of this going on. He talks about going in a couple of hotels and, and, and seeing the waiters come and seeing food.

That was just unbelievable. And he watched as the people would walk away with their winnings from the gaming tables, of course, many others not. He saw signs of wealth and power and pleasure everywhere. And he said every direction, every direction. Held offerings of sensual opportunities, both in the shows and in individuals that were privately making themselves available to him.

The missionary went back to his room after a long excursion down the strip and it struck him again. I'm completely alone. No one knows where I am or what I'm doing or where I'm going. And he didn't turn the lights on in his room, he just kept it in darkness. He went over to the window, which looked down on the strip, and he opened the curtain and he looked down at the lights and the glitz, and then he looked up at the brilliant lights in the night sky and he said this.

He said, God, I thank you that tonight. I haven't seen anything. I want more than you. That was Mary. Is it you? Is it me? Is he really the passion of our heart? Is he really what we'd say? I, I put everything on the altar, Lord,

you are my greatest treasure. Third, there's a faith in Jesus. How is that manifested? Well, Judas was centered on circumstances. Apparently, Judas really did buy in that Jesus was who he said he was. He signed in. He got involved. He followed, he did the missions, he did the stuff. But somewhere along the way, there's disenchantment that's set in, in the worst case scenario.

He found out that Jesus was just not a meal ticket to power and wealth in the best case scenario. What he does here is that he was frustrated that Jesus was not going about the acquisition of the throne in the right way. So Judas wanted to sort of push it along and make Jesus declare himself. Either way, he was a man that was determined to have it his way, his timetable, and he was frustrated at the pace of Christ.

He was frustrated at the choices of Christ. He was frustrated at the will of Christ,

and his faith in Jesus was dependent on what Jesus would do as long as it fit what he felt was needed. Mary, on the other hand, was centered not on circumstances. , but on Jesus' character, she accepted the timetable and purposes of Jesus. She had been doing that for a while. She showed that in John chapter 11, when Jesus came and her brother died, and they all knew that Jesus had gotten word, but for three days he didn't come.

He even told the disciples, were not going yet. They delayed. And her brother was in the grave and he was dead. And she makes this statement to him in John 11. She said, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled.

I don't think Mary was rebuking him. I think she was saying this, Lord, I know you could have. I don't know why you didn't. I'm disappointed. I'm confused. God has a lot of room for that, right? He has a lot of room for our confusion and our disappointment. He doesn't have any problem with the psalmist coming to him and saying, God, I don't get it.

It's, I'm confused. This is hard. But there is still the acquiescence that says, I don't understand, but just like you one day did in the garden, I will raise my arm and say, not my will, but yours be done. Your time, your purpose, your design. But Lord, I do have questions.

Mary had learned that in God's seeming delays, he is acting right on time with his program. That's a step of faith for every child to God. To be willing to say that and believe that it is a trust not only in God's working, it is a trust in God's character that he really is two wise to make a mistake. He really is too good to be unkind.

It is also the belief that what God is allowing in your life is exactly what you would pray for if you knew everything that God knows. That is a statement that has been liberating in my own life journey

Mary bought, and it is the posture and voice of faith. Number four, fruit toward Jesus restrained association with Judas. He was always in the background. There's no overt declarations of faith by Judas. No clear testimonials to Christ. Just polite association with him again. Does this mean he never said anything?

We don't know. We do know that the gospels intentionally have none of those declared to us. His real God was money. It captivated his heart. He trusted in it. He served it. There's no such thing as a committed follower of Jesus Christ who does not give faithfully to the Lord. I, I don't know how to say that any differently.

I really don't. I'm not saying it because I want you to support this or this, or I'm saying it because it's part of the journey. It's part of saying, Lord, everything I have is yours. All that I own is owned by you. I'm just a manager. But I also know that part of the management says that I give the first part to you.

It's just how the way you set up this management program. Judas talked a really good game. He wore, he went on the mission trips. He apparently did everything the other guys did, but his heart was ruled by something else. And so here's my forthright, simple question to all of us this morning. If people who do life with you as Christians new your giving habits, would you feel ashamed or embarrassed?

You say, well, that's not my focus. Of course it isn't. And, and, and, well, should I be looking at what people think of me to give money? No. However,

are you a phony for them? Are you allowing others to have a different impression? That's my question. If people knew what you gave, would you be embarrassed? Well, the one who matters, knows, and he simply says, I don't want you to have heart where you say I'm in. I'll do the work. I'll serve, I'll be involved, but I'm going to be in charge.

It's why he spoke so forthrightly in the last book of the Old Testament, when he says this in Malachi three, return to me and I'll return to you, says the Lord of hosts. But you say, how shall we return? Will a man rob God, you are robbing me. You say, how have we robbed you in your ties and your contributions?

You're robbing me. You say, well, I'm, you know, I, I, I, I don't really tie, I mean, I, that's an Old Testament thing, right? Fine, no problem. Okay. The question is, In the way we give. How does it reflect our heart relationship to Jesus Christ? Judas had a life that was not real. It was manifested by a heart that was ruled by, I'm gonna have it my way.

I'm gonna hold onto this and I'm going to really be served, be serving a different God in his case money than the living Christ. Then we look at Mary reckless allegiance. What she did, reclining in the room, brought out a flask of nard, which means spike nard. It's, it's this aromatic oil that was from the Himalayas of India and China.

It was really value. Extravagantly valuable a year's salary, 300, an area that was a year's salary, one year's salary of value is what she is pouring out on Jesus. I mean, , I can only imagine Martha being there. You know, this is her practical sister. Wow, that was mom's special spanner that she gave you. That was major part of your inheritance.

Mary, you're always so impractical. And Jesus says, nobody will ever forget what she did. She recklessly was devoted to Christ. Actually, the word reckless is from the word to reckon it's a financial term. Reckon means to consider the cost. She disregarded the cost. She disregarded other people's opinion. I mean, it was a little awkward.

You can imagine. All of a sudden she's curling and she's, you know, wiping his feet with her hair. She's got this stuff, and, and it's like, this is, duh, it's too much. It's, it's awkward, it's uncomfortable. Somehow she didn't care. All she saw was Christ.

When we come into the Silence of Passion week's Wednesday, we're reminded of how different our heart's response to Jesus can be here in the simplicity of this day's events, we are encouraged to give, to do the dtr, to define the relationship with the Lord Jesus. He's looking for reckless allegiance. It just disregard the cost, the opinions of others.

The thought, I just want Christ and His will and purpose for my life.

The beautiful reality, and I wanna say this, is that the Lord supper, Jesus eyeballed Judas, he said to him, In a Willie paraphrase, if I will, what you're gonna do, get out there and do it. I believe he was saying to him, Judaism giving you one last chance. I know what this about. I know what happened Wednesday.

I know where your heart is. I know what's going on. There is still the look of grace. There is still the, the, the call, the invitation to turn to Christ. You may say, mark, you have no idea how much of my life has been lived and twisted and turned and what's going on in the secret recesses of my life. You have no idea how far afield I have gone,

but he does. And this morning he had you here. He brought you to this place or brought you to watch this in online here in Collinswood, in order to say to you, this is still a moment of repenting and turning. Getting off the path of folly is not that hard in its initial path to give back on the path of wisdom.

It is a turning of mind and saying, Lord, I repent, I turn, I confess, I yield it. Then you begin on the path of wisdom and step by step, God begins to rebuild all those things, but all he has is for the humility to come and say, Lord, I want to have a heart that you own a life, that you lead a worship, that you're the object of.

Lord, we come to you this morning.

It's an amazing thing to us to know that right now you are looking into every one of our hearts. God, it's my prayer that your spirit, even now would draw us to know you in the way Mary did, to be wholehearted in our allegiance, in our love, in Jesus' name, amen. Before we]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/wednesday-day-of-silence d3401f2b-8f48-4f78-a5b9-c9caf8bc05f5 Sun, 12 Mar 2023 14:33:57 GMT <div data-html="true">Mark 14:1-11 <br /><br /> There were some who said to themselves indignantly, “Why was the ointment wasted like that? For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they scolded her. But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> I'm Pastor Mark. Uh, if you're a guest with, it's great to have you here. Wonderful to have you here for our nine o'clock service, which feels like eight o'clock, but I'd like you to turn to Mark chapter 14 this morning. We've been doing an interesting thing in this series together. <br /><br /> We've been walking with Jesus on a week's trip and what a week it is. It's passion Week, the last week that leads up to the crucifixion and then resurrection of Jesus Christ. As Mike mentioned last week, it's called Passion Week because the Latin word for passion, pathos means suffering. It is a season of suffering for Jesus. <br /><br /> And as we look at this week, we're taking a a day each Sunday as we go through. And if you haven't, you've been using, I really encourage you to pick up, uh, one of the books out in the lobby that our team put together. It's a 60 page book the Common Life Team put together of daily readings all related to the particular day that we're talking about on Sunday. <br /><br /> Today we're talking about Wednesday of Passion Week, the Day of Silence. Recently, pastor Ben talked about the first day Sunday, Jesus entry into Jerusalem, and as he came, came in this offering of himself as the king to the nation, and came in a startlingly different way than any. Would've envisioned he didn't come as the mighty conquering war Lord, that they expected. <br /><br /> He rather came literally as a humble servant riding on a donkey into the city on Monday and Tuesday. As Pastor Mike mentioned last time, it was too tumultuous days, undoubtedly shocking to the poor disciples as they watch Jesus go into the the temple. And soon into the day, somewhere around midday, Jesus enters into the temple, uh, courts and starts turning over tables and, and saying, you've made my father's house, which was a house of prayer into Aden of robbers. <br /><br /> They've had some conversations that day. I'm sure the disciples were sort of what just happened. They returned back over the mount into the little town of Beth, Bethany, and now Tuesdays come, and I'm sure those guys are wondering. Man, I, I hope today is a little calmer, where Monday had been a day of Jesus turning up over overturning tables and literally overturning the practice of the religion and worship of Israel. <br /><br /> Now he comes in and he utterly overturns the entire teaching ministry of Israel. He takes on the groups, he takes on the Pharisees, the conservative Jewish leaders. He takes on the sades, the liberal Jewish leaders. He takes on the Herodians, the Romanized Jewish leaders. He takes on the scribes, the theologically driven Jewish leaders. <br /><br /> And in the midst of these conversations, in this day of a lot of conversations, He calls them, among other things, blind guides, whitewash tombs, which means you look good on the outside, but you're dead inside hypocrites and a brood of snakes. It's been a good day for the disciples. And now they go back to Bethany, and I'm sure as they're there, these guys have conversations offline with each other. <br /><br /> I don't know what's happening. It's a day in which almost nothing is recorded on this day of what transpired. It's a day of silence. It's a day of quiet. Apparently it was a day in which Jesus and the disciples settled in, recouped, renewed Jesus certainly knowing what was coming, saw the need of that. It is a day that presents to us no public teaching or actions. <br /><br /> He does not appear to leave Bethany on this day. The day does not show us so much Jesus in his action and his teaching. We see Jesus here more in how people are presented in their response to him. Two particular people. We see Jesus through the eyes of others. Our passage this morning in Mark chapter 14 focuses on different responses to Christ by two people that knew him well, Jesus, excuse me, Judas, one of his disciples, and Mary, the sister of Martha and Naza. <br /><br /> Both Mary and Judas hung with Jesus. They knew his teaching, his works, his values both were looked at at by others as being deeply identified with him, but the fruit of their heart choices could not have been more distinct. Mark in this passage is clearly trying to contrast them as we see their responses to Christ. <br /><br /> Both of these people present an astonishing legacy that of Mary is presented in verse nine, which I'll read in a moment where Jesus says What she has done will always be remembered. It goes without saying that nobody forgot Judas as well. What this passage is about is basically to challenge us to make some personal evaluations. <br /><br /> It's the d t r talk. The define the relationship talk. It's the talk where you're trying to find out exactly where are we in this relationship. It's really given to us to look at it ourselves. Jesus says, you've been hanging around me for a while. You know a bunch about me. Other people look at us and it seems like you and I are a thing, but let's take stock of where we are. <br /><br /> And the question is, are we living more like Judas or are we living more like Mary? It's a little like asking I, I realize, okay, come on, mark. Who is gonna say, well, I really identify with Judas. I mean, it's like saying, do you identify more with Mother Teresa or Alex Murdoch, the South Carolina lawyer that just is convicted of killing his wife and son? <br /><br /> well maybe you'd say, well, um, maybe somewhere in between. But we're confronted with two contrasts. And the striking thing is that Judas is actually a sobering visual of how the trajectory of one's life can take them to places that they themselves would never have imagined. The DTR question defined the relationship as raised because there's ambiguity in the relationship. <br /><br /> Where do you stand? Where are we heading? We're gonna look at this together, but first, let's read the passage. Mark, chapter 14. We read this, I'm gonna read verses one down through verse 11. It was now two days before the Passover and the feast of unloved bread. And the chief priest and the scribes were seeking how to arrest him by stealth and kill him for, they said, not during the feast, unless there be an up opera from the people. <br /><br /> And while he was at Bethany in the house of Simon, the lepers, he was reclining a table. A woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure Bernard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head. By the way, this woman is identified in John 12 as being married, the sister of Lazarus and Martha. <br /><br /> There were some who said to themselves, indigently, why was this ointment wasted? Like that for this ointment could have been sold for more than 300 Daria and given to the poor, and they scolded her. But Jesus said, leave her alone. Why do you trouble? She has done a beautiful thing to me for you always have the poor with you and whenever you want, you can do good for them, but you will not always have me. <br /><br /> She has done what she could. She has anointed my body beforehand for burial and truly, I say to you, whatever the goss, wherever the gospel has proclaimed to the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her. Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the 12, went to the chief priest in order to betray him to them, and when they heard it, they were glad and promised to give him money and he sought an opportunity to betray him. <br /><br /> Father, I ask that you would be our teacher this morning that your spirit would allow our minds to be free from all the other stuff. And allow us to be focused on truth. This morning, God used this nod as a sermon to beat us up, but to prompt us to want to live more vitally in relationship with you, the living God. <br /><br /> Lord, give us eyes and ears and heart to see and listen this morning, I pray in Jesus' name. Amen. I wanna look at four contrasts this morning between Mary, the woman that his washing the feet of Jesus in such a remarkable way, and Judas Iscariot, first of all, their familiarity with Jesus. They both shared familiarity with Jesus. <br /><br /> Judas. Has an inoculated familiarity. He has had some of it just enough to give him a vaccination and immunization against the real disease. He knows Christ. He's traveled with him for almost the whole three and a half years of his ministry. No one sensed he was different even in the group. It's astonishing to think about. <br /><br /> They never had much money, but what they did have, they entrusted to Judas 12 business guys, 11 of them entrusting their money to ju Judas. You can be sure they didn't have any doubts about him if they're gonna give him the money. He's an individual who looks and seems like everyone else. Years ago, there was a 60 minute special. <br /><br /> And in the special, it was actually, uh, a presentation about Adolf Eichman. Adolf Eichman was the, uh, progenitor, basically the one that ran the Holocaust in Nazi Germany. He was responsible for the, the, the final solution, the extermination of the Jewish race. He was responsible for millions of Jews, others as well, um, but particularly Jewish people that were killed in NAIA regime. <br /><br /> He designed the system, he ran the system, uh, and he was brought to the Nuremberg Trials in the post years after World War ii. And in those trials he was speaking. And if we can just bring up the slide. This is him actually, as he has being. Do we have that slide? Oh, it's not up there. I'm still getting used to the screams, <br /><br /> Okay. Alright. That's him in the middle. And a eichman is testifying. And here's the question that is raised by Mike Wallace. How is it possible for Amanda act as Eichman acted? Was he a monster, a madman, or was he perhaps something even more terrifying? Was he somewhat normal? The most startling answer to Wallace's shocking question came in an interview with a Jewish man named Yeha de Denu, a concentration camp survivor who testified against Eichman at the trials. <br /><br /> A film clip from Eichmann's 1961 trial showed Denu turning and seeing eichman for the first time since the Nazi. Had been, had sent him to Auswitch 18 years earlier, deur began to solve uncontrollably and then fainted. Collapsing in a heap on the floor. Was Deur overcome by hatred, fear, the horrific scarring, memory, memories? <br /><br /> Did he see all the faces of people he loved and lost? It was none of those things. Rather as Dura explained to Mike Wallace all at once, he realized Eichman was not the God-like Army officer who had sent so many to their deaths that he had envisioned this eichman was an ordinary man. Here's what he said. <br /><br /> I was afraid about myself. I saw that I am capable to do this. I am exactly. Like he, this is the reality. Judas looked the same. Judas was sent on the missionary trips. He did the stuff two by two. They're sent out. He was a two. He went out with a twosome. You can imagine whoever his partner was thinking back and imagining later, as we hear of what Judas did, it's easy to lump him into a category which is utterly outside of our own experience, but we're reminded of the words by the great preacher of days past Samuel w Rutherford. <br /><br /> I see the seed of every sin in my own heart <br /><br /> until his actions here in Mark 14, the disciples never had. A clue. How was he able to do this? How was he able to hide it from others and certainly to a degree from himself really where his heart was. Because familiarity with Jesus does not bring about love and devotion to Jesus. Quite honestly, some of the coldest hearts towards Christ who are, are those who are around the gospel. <br /><br /> The church have a taste of it, but it only inoculates them to the real disease. We see the contrast. A woman that's got the true infection, Mary Mary had the real disease. She also knew Jesus. Apparently when Jesus came to Jerusalem, he stayed with her and her brother and her sister on in Bethany. On multiple occasions, we see her and we will see her. <br /><br /> Familiar with Jesus, and the more she knew him, the more she loved him, and the more she was devoted to him and the more she obeyed him and desired to live her life with him at the center of her very life. The second thing we find is their focus on Jesus. Judas focus was to use him. Judas never called Jesus Lord as most of the other disciples are identified at one time or another. <br /><br /> I don't know that he never did, but I do know that the gospel writers intentionally don't indicate that he did, that we see in Judas that he never IDE as identified as asking spiritual questions. The order of the disciples always seems to sort of indicate their closeness to Jesus. Peter and James and John, who are the, the three inner circle, not more valued, but given greater responsibility and intimacy with Jesus. <br /><br /> A teaching ministry to them that others didn't have are always listed first, but then others come after them. But Judas is always last by the gospel records. Honestly, the only thing we know about Judas relates to money. He was the one who carried the money. He's here irritated at the extravagant expenditures by Mary. <br /><br /> It says some of them were irritated. The other gospels us it. It was Judas that led the way. He was regularly stealing from the till. John 12 says that when they look back, they realize that the shortfall they sometimes had actually were because he was pocketing the purse. He sold Jesus outta money. It says, when Satan filled his heart, he went for the money. <br /><br /> He did not ever seem to be drawn to Jesus, just for Jesus. He was seeking what he could do for him and his visions in the realm of wealth or influence or comfort or power. To him, Jesus was a way to get to something. It was not to get to Jesus. Mary was the opposite. Mary worshiped him. Her focus was one of devotion. <br /><br /> This amazing act of worship that is recorded here was reflective of a pattern of personal worship that we see in her life. Just like to share a passage quickly, you're familiar with this one in Luke 10 where it says that Jesus came and she had a sister called Mary who, who sat at the Lord's feed and listen. <br /><br /> To his teaching, that's her. But Martha was distracted with much serving and she went up to him and said, Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me. But the Lord answered her. Martha. Martha, you're anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. <br /><br /> Mary's chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her. Mary had a heart of devotion. Christ was central to her. Kyle Alderman has a book in entitled, not a Fan, actually says, not a fan becoming a fully committed follower of Jesus Christ. He tells a story of a, uh, of a missionary who had, uh, was traveling alone for some reason. <br /><br /> He was in Las Vegas. It was the first time he'd ever been in the city. He got there in the evening, checked into his hotel, was sort of wound up, couldn't sleep, and eventually, uh, just middle of the night or late at night. Anyway. He decided to take a walk down the strip. He'd never been in Las Vegas before. <br /><br /> He's alone in the city. Nobody knows who he is. Nobody knows what he's doing, where he is going. And he tells the story as Idleman re uh, um, records it. That as he took the walk down, he heard the loud energizing music and he felt the buzz of excitement and energy. He talks about how he went into one large lobby of a hotel, and they had there, uh, displayed the most luxurious exotic cars. <br /><br /> He went to another, and, and as he traveled, he sees the, the limos pull up, and he stood and watched them for a while as the most beautiful people with the most beautiful clothes, uh, uh, adorned with, with wealth got out and, and, and just all of this going on. He talks about going in a couple of hotels and, and, and seeing the waiters come and seeing food. <br /><br /> That was just unbelievable. And he watched as the people would walk away with their winnings from the gaming tables, of course, many others not. He saw signs of wealth and power and pleasure everywhere. And he said every direction, every direction. Held offerings of sensual opportunities, both in the shows and in individuals that were privately making themselves available to him. <br /><br /> The missionary went back to his room after a long excursion down the strip and it struck him again. I'm completely alone. No one knows where I am or what I'm doing or where I'm going. And he didn't turn the lights on in his room, he just kept it in darkness. He went over to the window, which looked down on the strip, and he opened the curtain and he looked down at the lights and the glitz, and then he looked up at the brilliant lights in the night sky and he said this. <br /><br /> He said, God, I thank you that tonight. I haven't seen anything. I want more than you. That was Mary. Is it you? Is it me? Is he really the passion of our heart? Is he really what we'd say? I, I put everything on the altar, Lord, <br /><br /> you are my greatest treasure. Third, there's a faith in Jesus. How is that manifested? Well, Judas was centered on circumstances. Apparently, Judas really did buy in that Jesus was who he said he was. He signed in. He got involved. He followed, he did the missions, he did the stuff. But somewhere along the way, there's disenchantment that's set in, in the worst case scenario. <br /><br /> He found out that Jesus was just not a meal ticket to power and wealth in the best case scenario. What he does here is that he was frustrated that Jesus was not going about the acquisition of the throne in the right way. So Judas wanted to sort of push it along and make Jesus declare himself. Either way, he was a man that was determined to have it his way, his timetable, and he was frustrated at the pace of Christ. <br /><br /> He was frustrated at the choices of Christ. He was frustrated at the will of Christ, <br /><br /> and his faith in Jesus was dependent on what Jesus would do as long as it fit what he felt was needed. Mary, on the other hand, was centered not on circumstances. , but on Jesus' character, she accepted the timetable and purposes of Jesus. She had been doing that for a while. She showed that in John chapter 11, when Jesus came and her brother died, and they all knew that Jesus had gotten word, but for three days he didn't come. <br /><br /> He even told the disciples, were not going yet. They delayed. And her brother was in the grave and he was dead. And she makes this statement to him in John 11. She said, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. <br /><br /> I don't think Mary was rebuking him. I think she was saying this, Lord, I know you could have. I don't know why you didn't. I'm disappointed. I'm confused. God has a lot of room for that, right? He has a lot of room for our confusion and our disappointment. He doesn't have any problem with the psalmist coming to him and saying, God, I don't get it. <br /><br /> It's, I'm confused. This is hard. But there is still the acquiescence that says, I don't understand, but just like you one day did in the garden, I will raise my arm and say, not my will, but yours be done. Your time, your purpose, your design. But Lord, I do have questions. <br /><br /> Mary had learned that in God's seeming delays, he is acting right on time with his program. That's a step of faith for every child to God. To be willing to say that and believe that it is a trust not only in God's working, it is a trust in God's character that he really is two wise to make a mistake. He really is too good to be unkind. <br /><br /> It is also the belief that what God is allowing in your life is exactly what you would pray for if you knew everything that God knows. That is a statement that has been liberating in my own life journey <br /><br /> Mary bought, and it is the posture and voice of faith. Number four, fruit toward Jesus restrained association with Judas. He was always in the background. There's no overt declarations of faith by Judas. No clear testimonials to Christ. Just polite association with him again. Does this mean he never said anything? <br /><br /> We don't know. We do know that the gospels intentionally have none of those declared to us. His real God was money. It captivated his heart. He trusted in it. He served it. There's no such thing as a committed follower of Jesus Christ who does not give faithfully to the Lord. I, I don't know how to say that any differently. <br /><br /> I really don't. I'm not saying it because I want you to support this or this, or I'm saying it because it's part of the journey. It's part of saying, Lord, everything I have is yours. All that I own is owned by you. I'm just a manager. But I also know that part of the management says that I give the first part to you. <br /><br /> It's just how the way you set up this management program. Judas talked a really good game. He wore, he went on the mission trips. He apparently did everything the other guys did, but his heart was ruled by something else. And so here's my forthright, simple question to all of us this morning. If people who do life with you as Christians new your giving habits, would you feel ashamed or embarrassed? <br /><br /> You say, well, that's not my focus. Of course it isn't. And, and, and, well, should I be looking at what people think of me to give money? No. However, <br /><br /> are you a phony for them? Are you allowing others to have a different impression? That's my question. If people knew what you gave, would you be embarrassed? Well, the one who matters, knows, and he simply says, I don't want you to have heart where you say I'm in. I'll do the work. I'll serve, I'll be involved, but I'm going to be in charge. <br /><br /> It's why he spoke so forthrightly in the last book of the Old Testament, when he says this in Malachi three, return to me and I'll return to you, says the Lord of hosts. But you say, how shall we return? Will a man rob God, you are robbing me. You say, how have we robbed you in your ties and your contributions? <br /><br /> You're robbing me. You say, well, I'm, you know, I, I, I, I don't really tie, I mean, I, that's an Old Testament thing, right? Fine, no problem. Okay. The question is, In the way we give. How does it reflect our heart relationship to Jesus Christ? Judas had a life that was not real. It was manifested by a heart that was ruled by, I'm gonna have it my way. <br /><br /> I'm gonna hold onto this and I'm going to really be served, be serving a different God in his case money than the living Christ. Then we look at Mary reckless allegiance. What she did, reclining in the room, brought out a flask of nard, which means spike nard. It's, it's this aromatic oil that was from the Himalayas of India and China. <br /><br /> It was really value. Extravagantly valuable a year's salary, 300, an area that was a year's salary, one year's salary of value is what she is pouring out on Jesus. I mean, , I can only imagine Martha being there. You know, this is her practical sister. Wow, that was mom's special spanner that she gave you. That was major part of your inheritance. <br /><br /> Mary, you're always so impractical. And Jesus says, nobody will ever forget what she did. She recklessly was devoted to Christ. Actually, the word reckless is from the word to reckon it's a financial term. Reckon means to consider the cost. She disregarded the cost. She disregarded other people's opinion. I mean, it was a little awkward. <br /><br /> You can imagine. All of a sudden she's curling and she's, you know, wiping his feet with her hair. She's got this stuff, and, and it's like, this is, duh, it's too much. It's, it's awkward, it's uncomfortable. Somehow she didn't care. All she saw was Christ. <br /><br /> When we come into the Silence of Passion week's Wednesday, we're reminded of how different our heart's response to Jesus can be here in the simplicity of this day's events, we are encouraged to give, to do the dtr, to define the relationship with the Lord Jesus. He's looking for reckless allegiance. It just disregard the cost, the opinions of others. <br /><br /> The thought, I just want Christ and His will and purpose for my life. <br /><br /> The beautiful reality, and I wanna say this, is that the Lord supper, Jesus eyeballed Judas, he said to him, In a Willie paraphrase, if I will, what you're gonna do, get out there and do it. I believe he was saying to him, Judaism giving you one last chance. I know what this about. I know what happened Wednesday. <br /><br /> I know where your heart is. I know what's going on. There is still the look of grace. There is still the, the, the call, the invitation to turn to Christ. You may say, mark, you have no idea how much of my life has been lived and twisted and turned and what's going on in the secret recesses of my life. You have no idea how far afield I have gone, <br /><br /> but he does. And this morning he had you here. He brought you to this place or brought you to watch this in online here in Collinswood, in order to say to you, this is still a moment of repenting and turning. Getting off the path of folly is not that hard in its initial path to give back on the path of wisdom. <br /><br /> It is a turning of mind and saying, Lord, I repent, I turn, I confess, I yield it. Then you begin on the path of wisdom and step by step, God begins to rebuild all those things, but all he has is for the humility to come and say, Lord, I want to have a heart that you own a life, that you lead a worship, that you're the object of. <br /><br /> Lord, we come to you this morning. <br /><br /> It's an amazing thing to us to know that right now you are looking into every one of our hearts. God, it's my prayer that your spirit, even now would draw us to know you in the way Mary did, to be wholehearted in our allegiance, in our love, in Jesus' name, amen. Before we</div> false no <![CDATA[Following Jesus on Monday and Tuesday]]> Mark 11, Matthew 21



Sermon Transcript:

Welcome here and in Collingswood, uh, I know, uh, we just enjoyed a, a song here about Jerusalem, uh, and in Collingswood, you're coming back from a break and I hope you had some bagels for me. They are really good. I'm not sure where you get 'em from, but they're good.

Uh, and if you've never been to Collingswood, you should go sometime. It's a great, great time to be there worshiping the Lord together at our other campus. All right, couple of things, just wanted to share at the very beginning here if you have, uh, not had the chance to pick up one of the books that we've been talking about, the Common Life books.

Um, we're gonna be studying through the whole week, uh, of, of. If you look, there's a schedule here and kind of, it breaks it down. It, it allows us to walk through Easter, not just in the week of Easter, but over the next seven weeks. Well, now we're closer to more like five weeks walking through each of, uh, the days of Easter week leading up to that.

Uh, we're gonna be bumping around in Matthew and Mark, and so encourage you to pull out a Bible this morning. Uh, if you got one there in the pew, you can, uh, turn there. It's in the New Testament. I'll give you a page number here in just a minute. Passion Week is called Passion Week because in Greek that means suffering, suffering.

And so as we walk through toward, uh, Easter, we want to remember that Passion Week. Though it might feel like an exciting thing, it's a week of suffering for our Lord for Christ. And so this morning, uh, we look to him. Wanna spend our beginning time here, looking back over, uh, what we had just come from kind of a spirit guided reflection, if you will.

Um, how we do putting into practice the things that happened last week. Um, hopefully you walked out with a few challenges last week. Uh, pastor Ben did an amazing job kicking off the sermon series. Um, anybody remember the elephant ear example last week? Were you here for that? Okay. That one got me so good.

I sent it a, a text in the middle of the service. Um, it just right to my core, uh, as the Lord was working. Just, I needed to reach out to somebody, but it just got me the unprotected Jesus marching into Jerusalem, not trying to make ourselves big and important and cover up, but choosing the way of humility and selfless servanthood our Jesus invites us to follow him.

If you were following along in the books this week, there were a few zingers in there too. Uh, again, it is, we preach the sermon and then the next five days there are, uh, some devotionals you can work through. Here's one that, uh, really kicked my butt. If all you have is Christ, it is enough for everything you need.

If all you have is Christ, it is enough for everything you need. I think that was like a Wednesday afternoon or something that was like, whew, okay, here we are. Uh, we also received some war cry language. If you're reading through, there was like a battle cry in there called the Lord's Prayer. Our father, who is in heaven, hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come here and now your will be done there in forever. Got the chance, even, uh, as you're walking through those books to reflect on kind of this odd juxtaposition of two things, right? We have Jesus followers shouting, Hosanna, walking into the holy city of Jerusalem, palm branches and all, and the weeping Jesus.

It's a weird moment to think about one celebrating, one is crying and they're walking in together, riding on a donkey. As we look ahead, we're gonna consider a few things that happened on Monday and Tuesday, and so we'll join our hearts together in prayer. Now, before we do that, I'm gonna ask you to participate in prayer this morning.

Is that okay? Thank you for that. Yes, less emphatic than good morning, but yes. So let's join in prayer and I'll ask you as we begin our time of prayer, just to consider and maybe talk to the Lord. Where did God this week surprise you with his love?

Then consider this question and talk to the Lord about this. How did God's grace meet your sin this week?

Well, Lord, we pray along with David, blessed are you, Lord the God of our fathers. Your name is praiseworthy and glorious for all the ages. It's a vastly different day and age, though at the same time, we have the same issues. God, the the answer, the, the hope is Christ. And so this morning, as we come and as we get the chance to see God, what you are doing, we want a journey with you towards the holy city of Jerusalem.

Give us an understanding of the things that maybe we don't understand. Open our eyes to things we have not yet seen in you, in us. God, I pray for those who maybe are coming in a little bit this morning, bruised and beat up from the events or the the thoughts of this week as they consider those things.

Would you meet them with your grace? Would you meet them with your love? Lord, you know the truth being shared this morning. You know the truth that we need this morning, and I pray your spirit would open our eyes to see them. Clearly, we pray these things in your name. Amen. All right. Again, if you're with me in Mark, chapter 11 is where we're gonna be, page 796.

If you got one of those pew bibles, um, you can turn there this morning. Just gonna pick up with the final words from last week's sermon and so we can understand and see where we are going. Um, with this morning, verse 11 of Mark chapter 11. And he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple. And when he had looked around at everything as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the 12th.

So he enters Jerusalem riding in on Palm Sunday, and then he dips into the temple and walks back out. After Jesus and his followers went there, they left and went to Bethany. There's a, a little map here to show you kinda where that is in relation to the temple. It's kind of confusing. Maybe you can see it a little bit better up on the screen than me, but, uh, as you're going, they, Bethany is this town outside of, they would pass over the Mount of Olives in order to get to the temple.

Can see it there on the east. And so as they walk in and walk out, this is kind of the journey from Bethany through Bethphage over the Mount of Olives into the temple. There is a small town there where uh, Jesus was lodging with some friends. Mary Martha, the newly risen Lazarus was there as well. With them, it's about a two mile walk back and forth.

And so this journey is kind of, uh, them going back and forth. There's a couple different sections we're gonna talk about. The first is the journey as they're going to the temple back again on Monday. So again Sunday, they kind of go in, come out, They're going back in on Monday and the first scene kind of really happens on the Mount of Olives and we're gonna just connect, uh, that together this morning.

So we'll continue with verse 12. On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he that's Jesus was hungry. Dramatic pause because yes, the son of God got hungry and seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves for it was not the season for figs.

And he said to it, may no one ever eat fruit from you again. And his disciples heard it. The first section, as we talk through, just to kind of give you a shorthand as you think back, the first section here, all fr all show, no fruit, all show, no fruit. Fig trees were used all throughout scripture in lots of different ways.

The first example that I can think of is actually right in the beginning. Adam and Eve, when they covered themselves with fig leaves as after they sinned, James would use, uh, fig trees as an illustration about good and pure speech. Coming from a pure heart, Zakia actually climbed a fig tree, and you're like, no, no, no, no.

It's sycamore tree. Well, for all of you plant people, it's called a faus sycamores. That's kind of like a hybrid plant, but Zakia climbed this fig tree as well. Haba prophesied over a disobedient Israel. Though there are no figs, God is faithful. Each situation, there's kind of this using of this fig tree as an example to talk about the spiritual condition of either an individual or to draw an illusion to the nation of Israel to make a connection there.

The collective people, fig trees, were, uh, plentiful in this region. They grew wild. They were all around. And so as you think about walking from Bethany through the Mount of Olives, there would also be on the mount of Olives, fig trees as they were walking through. And surprisingly, there was this one fig tree that as they came up to, was sprouting some leaves.

This time in particular, it was not the season for figs to be growing, but this tree was indicating by the leaves. It was growing some fruit. Kind of like an advertisement. The store is open. I am selling figs. And so they walk up to it. Jesus was noticing he was hungry. Okay, I'm gonna go grab a fig. But upon getting to the tree, Jesus found no fruit full of leaves and no figs to show.

And so he cursed the tree and eventually that tree would wither up and kind of just shrivel and die. And it says, these words were heard by the disciples. Jesus would later explain in depth this encounter after coming out of the city. Um, but the fig tree really represents, you can picture him standing on the hill, looking down over off the Mount of Olives into Jerusalem.

He's looking over the city and he sees this fig tree with no fruit. And he's thinking about Jerusalem. They proclaim to know God, but there's no fruit of his transforming work. God's chosen nation full of leaves, no figs on the tree. Spiritually, this is just a, a facade. It's an advertisement with nothing to show for it.

It's a shroud to cover the decay of the inner hearts. It would be the lights on and nobody's home. It's a brand new sports car, and they forgot to load the engine into the sports car. It's a Chick-fil-A sandwich with no chicken and devoid of two crucial pickles, , nothing there. Many of us, uh, are on social media and some of us have come over the Mount of Olives to the other side of social media.

Um, but there are some positives and negatives. And let me just pause because we could be here for a while talking about social media. Uh, but there's one thing I know for sure. It is without a doubt, the easiest target for a sermon illustration. Um, we do do the dumbest stuff. We record it, we post it, and then we shared for the world to see.

This is the easiest. Seemingly, uh, a million examples could come out of social media that we think about. But as we think about it, one thing jumped out in my mind, this idea of filters that, at least that I can think of. This was one of the first times this really came about. We can begin to edit our pictures.

We can do them with removing things or if there's a wrinkle here, nah, that's gone. If my cheekbones don't sit correctly, well, they can be, uh, manipulated in such a way in order that people can see a different version than our reality. This all show and no fruit reality is confronted elsewhere in scripture revealing not just a nation of Israel, not just as zakk heart, and not just your heart, but my heart to cover, to protect and appear put together.

Paul would write in Romans 10. The Israelites have a zeal for God, but it's not based on him at all. In his letter to Timothy, Paul would write this as well. They have a form of godliness, but they're lacking any power. And Jesus would call out the Pharisees in Luke chapter 18, uh, for standing on the street corners and praying for all to hear, but they've really lost the connection with the one they're praying to God.

So as Jesus enters the city of Jerusalem, he sees the fig tree and it grieves him. My people are proclaiming my name and praising me, but the religious elite, so studied, so connected, yet have missed this childlike faith. What's the answer? How do we not be a tree that just has leaves and no figs? There's no blank for this, but it's the blank you're all thinking of.

Jesus is the answer they need and he's the answer that we need as well. Think about John 15. This is the answer spelled out in scripture through the mouth of Christ. Jesus invites us, remain in me and I will remain in you. Just as no branch can bear fruit by itself unless it remains in the vine. Neither can you bear any fruit unless you remain in me.

I am the vine and you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit apart from me. You can do nothing. I'd offer you just these simple words as we think about the condition of our hearts. The words full access. Full access. There's this thing that happens when we live in kind of this sin pattern.

Over time, we, we begin to protect certain areas or, or wall them off, or our struggles, we, we protect or we're good at, uh, uh, just keeping people out, but we at a heart deep level grow accustomed to in that way. , not just saying no, but actually we're saying yes to ourselves quite a lot. We are really good at meeting our own needs over and over again.

But the way of Jesus journeying with him listening and responding as he prompts, invites us to give full access. And you might be saying, that's tremendously threatening. Uh, I don't wanna go there. I've got skeletons in the closet. There's no way I'm doing this. It'd be terrifying to admit our sin. Well, newsflash, he already knows what's in your heart.

And so it's not really that you have to do much of anything, it's just that you're joining with what the God of the universe can already see and sense inside your heart. So my encouragement as we do this is just start with saying yes as the spirit would prompt you and reveal certain things, or kind of gently tap on the doorway of a, a closet or, or something like that.

Okay, Lord, I hear you're leading me in this way. Or maybe as you're hearing something, as you're reading through the scriptures and it really pokes at something and you do this thing and I've done it before myself, you start to think, well, I could really apply that. And the, oh, that's too much. I'm not gonna go there.

We begin to wall things off, but following him, giving him full access to our lives, there's a, a, a short little book that, um, I've just read a synopsis of. It's, it's, uh, kind of funny that I read a synopsis of it in this training that I went through, cuz the book is I think like 30 pages. But, um, it's a small book.

It's called My Heart, Christ's Home. It's written years ago and there's millions of copies in many different languages. But it's this, uh, kind of an interesting journey as you talk through, uh, as you read through this. Or the synopsis of the book that really walks you through this journey of what it would be like if Christ visited your home and kind of giving him access to things.

There'd be a, a knock at the door and maybe you'd invite him in and he would walk into the study and potentially there'd be a, a, a like, Hey, I'm gonna add a couple books to your shelf here. Maybe we'll remove this book. I want you to consume this truth. And as you begin, you move into the dining room where Jesus begins to serve this meal that is better than anything you've consumed before.

It's this lasting, truly satisfying meal. You move from there into the, the living room, and he just wants to sit and have fellowship with you, and the conversation is fruitful and, and things are going well. And you pass by this hall closet. It's the one you stuffed everything into before he entered the house.

The. No one's ever done that before, and you're like, please don't open it. I'm not sure what's gonna fall out. But Jesus doesn't meet it with shame. He meets it with his love and his forgiveness. And eventually as this story goes on, you turn over the title to the house. He's the owner. He's the one you want in charge, the master, the keeper.

My heart, Christ's home. So we walk towards Easter, giving full access to him in all things, embracing at times this humbling, humiliating admission of our own brokenness and sin. The humble Jesus would take on himself upon the cross in just a few days. Okay, so Jesus and the disciples continued beyond the fig tree down into the city of Jerusalem.

They're gonna be entering here into the temple. We pick back up in Mark, uh, 11 verse 15. . And they came to Jerusalem and he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple. And he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons.

And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. And he was teaching them and saying to them, is it not written? My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations, but you have made it a den of robbers. And the chief priests and the scribes heard it, and were seeking a way to destroy him for they feared him because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching.

And when evening came, they went out of the city. Jesus hope of the nations is our next section here, entering into the temple. Jesus hope of the nations. Well, tis the season. It is Passover season and everybody is descending upon the city of Jerusalem. The Jewish people would be making their annual pilgrimage in and celebrating Passover in the Holy City.

Jerusalem would've swelled probably four to five times its amount in size during Passover. And though Passover was traditionally only allowed to be celebrated within the confines of Jerusalem during Passover time, the priests would allow people to move outside and begin to celebrate it because there just wasn't physical room.

So you can picture people camped among the countryside and, and even lodging in different towns nearby in order to be close. For this moment, people would be coming, heading to the temple to make appropriate sacrifices to God for sins they've committed, or to perform various customs and rituals according to God's commands, to pursue cleansing and, and purification as they remembered God's faithfulness.

Many years ago during Passover. And so what you would do is bring your animal of, of choice, of sacrifice. Depending upon your tax bracket, you would either be bringing a lamb, a dove, a, a pigeon, a goat, a dove already said dove. Great. Well, typically you'd bring your own at this time, and in this day, Passover priests would really demand that you would buy The sacrifices from the temple can see where this is going.

This is a classic case of supply and demand Jerusalem four to five times the size. During Passover, it wasn't uncommon to pay 10 times as much for your sacrifice. It was downright profitable during this time to be a seller of sacrificial animals. Additionally, a yearly temple tax had been, uh, something that people would pay and they would come and the payment was to be made in shackles, which wasn't the norm of the currency at the time.

Most people had had this, uh, in this Roman culture here, a denaris currency that they had, and so they couldn't pay in the common currency. They would need to then exchange their money. Anybody ever exchanged money before and you're like, no way I'm paying that percentage. Well, in this way, the 25% markup was all they had the money changers raked in their hefty prophet during Passover.

At this time, one of the two high priests, Anis was his name, the high priest was corrupt and a violent man, a temple courts that were typically called the Court of the Gentiles, where people would come and be able to, uh, be together. And the gentiles that non-Jews could come in and be there was then called the Bazaar of Anis.

People would come in selling all sorts of things, set up your table, sell whatever you got. And oh, by the way, um, the percentage of what you sell comes back to me. The shop owners making good. Were also paying a profit. And so when Jesus walks in with his disciples, one of the words that are said, he drove out those who sold and those who bought game over guys enough ripping people off in my name.

he overturned the tables of the money changers in the seats of those, those who sold doves. I mean, picture money flying. It's not like a tip over. It's, it's a chaotic scene. Money is flying. Uh, doves are scattering, potentially goats and animals just wandering around in chaos. He would not allow anything to be carried or anyone to carry anything through the temple.

If you can pull that map back up, uh, the, the holy temple was made kind of a, a thoroughfare. If you look at it, if you're coming down, it just, it'd be kind of easier to just run right through the temple rather than having to go out and around the, the directions that the path would go. And so what was supposed to be other had become this commonplace.

A just a, a passing through, a profaning of God's name. and he taught the people, my house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations. Yes. People that are listening, you heard me write, my house shall be called a house of prayer. There's an incredible significance in Jesus saying, my house shall be called a house of prayer.

Because someone else used those very words. God used those words. The religious elite would've studied and known this because I, Isaiah and Jeremiah recorded the words of God declaring that his house would be a house of prayer. And so let's hear the words that Jesus says as the followers or as the people, as the high priest would have heard.

This man is coming into the temple. He's claiming authority over us. Jesus of Nazareth is claiming himself to be God. . And while it could have transformed a lot of their agendas and really flipped things upside down, they dug their heels in because the religious elite had suffered a terrible case of mission drift.

It's more than that, but mission drift rather than the worship of God, rather than people gathering in prayer rather than all the nations coming together as one, the chief priest and the elders began to make it near impossible for the poor and the needy, the unclean or down trodden other surrounding cultures.

The temple was sterilized and the worst sense of the word of religion. That's of of hierarchy, an exclusion. They had profaned again, the house of God. Well, right after this, jump over to Matthew Chapter 21, because Matthew records what happens next in this scene. There's the tables are flipped and Matthew picks up and says this in Matthew chapter 21, verse 14.

As the temple was restored to God's design, even momentarily, something beautiful and pure began to happen. The mission of God at its very core, the kingdom of God here on Earth, verse 14, and the blind and the lame came to him in the temple and he healed them. But when the chief priests in the scribe saw the wonderful things that he did and the children crying out in the temple, hosanna to the son of David, they were indignant and said to him, do you hear what these people are saying?

And Jesus said to them, yes. Have you never read out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies, you have prepared praise and leaving them. He went out of the city to Bethany and lodged there. The outcast brought near and healed all nations gathered, even children crying out with childlike faith. God be praised.

This is actually a quote that Jesus uses from Psalm chapter eight. It it's a Psalm declaring God's power and majesty above everything else. As David writes there, but listen to the words that David writes as to why God would put the praise in the mouth of children. Have them sing out and try to imagine that in the context of what's happening here.

Jesus flips the tables. These people are doing things wrong and he quotes Psalm eight. You have ordained praise on account of your adversaries. To silence the enemy and the avenger. When you hear Psalm eight, don't just hear it as, oh, that's cute. The mouths of infants and nursing babies. God's prepared praise.

Why did he do that? As a rebuke, a, as a confrontation against those who were profaning, God's name to silence, the enemy and the avenger, Pharisees, rulers, chief priests and elders. The kids are singing out because you have profaned the name of God. It's one of those, uh, scriptural mic drop moments. If you're reading that in context, and I wanna come back to the word mission drift here, because you see what the people expected.

The Messiah would come and, and clear out the Roman rule and, and take back the Holy City, uh, a political platform lead the charge. It's not what Jesus did. He marched not into the Roman center of the town, but right into the center where his people were gathered. Why would he do that? The gathering of God's people.

And he launched his mission to not just clean out the enemy, but to clean out the enemy on the inside of their heart's heart. Change an agenda that aligns with God, Jesus hope of the nations. And the, the mission drift happened subtly, but I wonder if that's still the case with us today. This subtle movement away from what is core to things that are fringe.

Pastor Mark mentioned, uh, just a, a few weeks back about this term, and maybe it's the first time you've heard the term. It's something that I've been pondering for a number of years now. Christian nationalism. Just a couple of words to maybe, uh, help you understand what that terminology is. Christian nationalism, the belief that the American nation is defined by Christianity, that the government should take steps to keep it that way.

One scholar put it this way, America is defined by its Anglo Protestant paths and that we will lose our identity and our freedom if we do not preserve our cultural inheritance. This is not an honoring of history. This is a program for what America must be. The mission of Jesus was and is not after political or national gain.

The mission of Jesus was and is not seeking a geographically located kingdom. The mission of Jesus was and is a kingdom of people with surrendered hearts to Christ alone. And if Christian nationalism potentially had a proverbial table that would've been flipped to, and for some of us, to our surprise, and so we pray again, this same battle, cry, your kingdom come, your will be done here on earth as it is in heaven.

A kingdom of people who care for the poor and refugees, and they're put right next to each other for just that reason that we might see the turning over of tables, the mission drift that happened. And right after it. The follow up, the care for those in need. There's a book that I've, uh, read in seminary, um, and I wanna share it with you, but I wanna preface it because read a lot of books in seminary and, um, lots of different views and perspectives.

And some of them you're like, yes, I could have written this book. I love this. Others, you're like, mm, not so much, which we probably do with all books and things that we read, quotes alike. But here's a quote from a book. I will let this, uh, in your mind, you can decide what to do with the book, but it's good to read wide and to have a perspective.

And this quote really challenged me. It's uh, by a man named Brian Zand, and he's writing to the church, it's called Postcards from Babylon, the Church in American Exile. Trust the Holy Instincts within You, the instincts of compassion aroused by the Holy Spirit. Yes. Politics are always complicated. But what does Jesus want your attitude to be toward?

Syrian refugees, Honduran asylum seekers, undocumented laborers. You already know. You've always known. Some will say power trump's everything, but you've always known that mercy triumphs over judgment. There's a lot of things that could be said there, but I'll leave you with that quote and we'll keep marching on Jesus hope of the nation's.

He cleared the temple and immediately welcomes in the marginalized. I don't think it's an accident. They're next to each other in the scriptures. Okay. Jesus and his disciples spend Monday night after they've gone in, flip the tables back out across the Mount of Olives to Bethany. They spend the night there and, uh, we've already talked about that.

They, uh, pass by the fig tree. Um, as they passed by on the next morning, back in Tuesday, the disciples witnessed that, uh, that it is, uh, completely withered. And so Tuesday, here's what happens. Matthew 21, and when he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching and said, by what authority are you doing these things?

And who gave you this authority? Jesus answered them. I also will ask you one question, and if you tell me the answer, then I will also tell you by what authority I do these things, the baptism of John from, where did it come from? From heaven or from man. And they discussed it among themselves, saying, if we say from heaven, he will say to us, why then did you not believe him?

But if we say from man, we are afraid of the, we are afraid of the crowd for they all hold that John was a prophet. So they answer Jesus. We do not know. And he said to them, neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things. The last one quickly here, allegiance to Christ. They enter back into the temple with a lot of happy campers.

All of the religious elite tables are flipped over. Things are in chaos. And he goes right back into it the next morning. People are loving Jesus. By this point. Their whole Passover is scattered. The system upended. And so they ask him, not wasting any time, what authority do you do this? And who's giving you that authority?

Essentially, Hey man, uh, who do you think you are? Who's your rabbi? Who taught you these things? Do you even, have you even gone to school before? Who are you? And Jesus counters them with a confrontation question. And if you know this, uh, it kind of makes sense why he does this. If they affirm that John was a prophet and say yes.

They would actually be confirming that Jesus has the authority of God because John as a prophet came and said, behold the lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world. So they can't do that. We're not gonna confirm that John was a prophet. But if we just say that John was a man and we don't say that he was a prophet, the crowds are gonna come after us as the religious leaders.

You see, the people loved John, that he amassed a following and revered him as a prophet, so they were trapped and didn't know what to do. There would continue to be more and more debate throughout the day. On Tuesday, a, a pasturing of Jesus, a peppering him with questions and he would teach them back and forth using parables to expose the hard truth.

No words could change their mind. . They had their system upended. They had their framework confronted. Their power was being challenged, and it was a question of authority. But remember this, we just read that the day before in the temple, he flips over things and then begins to heal people with the power of God.

And so by them asking the question, by what authority do you do this? It wasn't about proof. He had given them plenty of it the day before. It was about authority. You see, they could not humble themselves to recognize Christ. The allegiance was to a system rather than the king. The allegiance was to their religious status rather than bowing to what seemed like an unknown Rabbi from Nazareth.

Jesus would call them out in a number of different ways, calling them blind guides, teaching, but not seeing the truth in front of you. , whoa to you. Experts in the law on new Pharisees, new hypocrites. You are like whitewashed tombs that look beautiful on the outside, but on the inside are full of bones of the dead and everything unclean.

A brood of vipers, he would call them. And he even said, tax collectors and prostitutes, the worst of the worst would enter the kingdom of God before them to the religious elite. So as we come today, we must remember there were two parades walking in on uh, Palm Sunday and as we just followed it up with Monday and Tuesday, one parade was from the west and Cesar was riding in and he was on a warhorse.

The other came in from the East with Jesus on a donkey. One is a military parade of the Roman Empire, the other. , a prophetic parade ushering in a completely different kind of kingdom. One crucifies, its enemies for political gain. The other would see the leader crucified to forgive his enemies the following days of Monday and Tuesday involved confrontation and the upending of kingdoms.

But there's this hope, John chapter 12, as you continue on, here's what it says in verse 42. Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear that the Pharisees, they did not confess it so that they would not be put out of the synagogue for they love the glory that comes from man, more than the glory that comes from God.

There were some Greeks that came that, that followed up this whole scene and came to Philip, which is kind of the the quote that we use for this common life book. And they asked him, sir, we wish to see Jesus in Matthew chapter 23. Later on, Jesus would pray this over Jerusalem. Oh Jerusalem. Oh Jerusalem.

The city that kills the prophets and stones, those who are sent to it. How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen, gathers her brood under her wings that you were not willing? See, your house is left to you desolate. This kind of love creates unwavering allegiance to Christ. I'm gonna ask you to stand together as we, um, finish our time together.

As you leave, as we spend the coming week reflecting on Monday and Tuesday going into Easter Passion Week, may you bear much fruit as you remain in the love of Jesus. May you welcome neighbor and stranger as you too are welcomed by Jesus, and may our allegiance speak to him alone. Peace to you this morning.

Thanks for being here. You are dismissed.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/following-jesus-on-monday-and-tuesday 9349ec5e-d715-4671-bca4-76f0fd550d36 Sun, 05 Mar 2023 09:27:37 GMT <div data-html="true">Mark 11, Matthew 21 <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> Welcome here and in Collingswood, uh, I know, uh, we just enjoyed a, a song here about Jerusalem, uh, and in Collingswood, you're coming back from a break and I hope you had some bagels for me. They are really good. I'm not sure where you get 'em from, but they're good. <br /><br /> Uh, and if you've never been to Collingswood, you should go sometime. It's a great, great time to be there worshiping the Lord together at our other campus. All right, couple of things, just wanted to share at the very beginning here if you have, uh, not had the chance to pick up one of the books that we've been talking about, the Common Life books. <br /><br /> Um, we're gonna be studying through the whole week, uh, of, of. If you look, there's a schedule here and kind of, it breaks it down. It, it allows us to walk through Easter, not just in the week of Easter, but over the next seven weeks. Well, now we're closer to more like five weeks walking through each of, uh, the days of Easter week leading up to that. <br /><br /> Uh, we're gonna be bumping around in Matthew and Mark, and so encourage you to pull out a Bible this morning. Uh, if you got one there in the pew, you can, uh, turn there. It's in the New Testament. I'll give you a page number here in just a minute. Passion Week is called Passion Week because in Greek that means suffering, suffering. <br /><br /> And so as we walk through toward, uh, Easter, we want to remember that Passion Week. Though it might feel like an exciting thing, it's a week of suffering for our Lord for Christ. And so this morning, uh, we look to him. Wanna spend our beginning time here, looking back over, uh, what we had just come from kind of a spirit guided reflection, if you will. <br /><br /> Um, how we do putting into practice the things that happened last week. Um, hopefully you walked out with a few challenges last week. Uh, pastor Ben did an amazing job kicking off the sermon series. Um, anybody remember the elephant ear example last week? Were you here for that? Okay. That one got me so good. <br /><br /> I sent it a, a text in the middle of the service. Um, it just right to my core, uh, as the Lord was working. Just, I needed to reach out to somebody, but it just got me the unprotected Jesus marching into Jerusalem, not trying to make ourselves big and important and cover up, but choosing the way of humility and selfless servanthood our Jesus invites us to follow him. <br /><br /> If you were following along in the books this week, there were a few zingers in there too. Uh, again, it is, we preach the sermon and then the next five days there are, uh, some devotionals you can work through. Here's one that, uh, really kicked my butt. If all you have is Christ, it is enough for everything you need. <br /><br /> If all you have is Christ, it is enough for everything you need. I think that was like a Wednesday afternoon or something that was like, whew, okay, here we are. Uh, we also received some war cry language. If you're reading through, there was like a battle cry in there called the Lord's Prayer. Our father, who is in heaven, hallowed be your name. <br /><br /> Your kingdom come here and now your will be done there in forever. Got the chance, even, uh, as you're walking through those books to reflect on kind of this odd juxtaposition of two things, right? We have Jesus followers shouting, Hosanna, walking into the holy city of Jerusalem, palm branches and all, and the weeping Jesus. <br /><br /> It's a weird moment to think about one celebrating, one is crying and they're walking in together, riding on a donkey. As we look ahead, we're gonna consider a few things that happened on Monday and Tuesday, and so we'll join our hearts together in prayer. Now, before we do that, I'm gonna ask you to participate in prayer this morning. <br /><br /> Is that okay? Thank you for that. Yes, less emphatic than good morning, but yes. So let's join in prayer and I'll ask you as we begin our time of prayer, just to consider and maybe talk to the Lord. Where did God this week surprise you with his love? <br /><br /> Then consider this question and talk to the Lord about this. How did God's grace meet your sin this week? <br /><br /> Well, Lord, we pray along with David, blessed are you, Lord the God of our fathers. Your name is praiseworthy and glorious for all the ages. It's a vastly different day and age, though at the same time, we have the same issues. God, the the answer, the, the hope is Christ. And so this morning, as we come and as we get the chance to see God, what you are doing, we want a journey with you towards the holy city of Jerusalem. <br /><br /> Give us an understanding of the things that maybe we don't understand. Open our eyes to things we have not yet seen in you, in us. God, I pray for those who maybe are coming in a little bit this morning, bruised and beat up from the events or the the thoughts of this week as they consider those things. <br /><br /> Would you meet them with your grace? Would you meet them with your love? Lord, you know the truth being shared this morning. You know the truth that we need this morning, and I pray your spirit would open our eyes to see them. Clearly, we pray these things in your name. Amen. All right. Again, if you're with me in Mark, chapter 11 is where we're gonna be, page 796. <br /><br /> If you got one of those pew bibles, um, you can turn there this morning. Just gonna pick up with the final words from last week's sermon and so we can understand and see where we are going. Um, with this morning, verse 11 of Mark chapter 11. And he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple. And when he had looked around at everything as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the 12th. <br /><br /> So he enters Jerusalem riding in on Palm Sunday, and then he dips into the temple and walks back out. After Jesus and his followers went there, they left and went to Bethany. There's a, a little map here to show you kinda where that is in relation to the temple. It's kind of confusing. Maybe you can see it a little bit better up on the screen than me, but, uh, as you're going, they, Bethany is this town outside of, they would pass over the Mount of Olives in order to get to the temple. <br /><br /> Can see it there on the east. And so as they walk in and walk out, this is kind of the journey from Bethany through Bethphage over the Mount of Olives into the temple. There is a small town there where uh, Jesus was lodging with some friends. Mary Martha, the newly risen Lazarus was there as well. With them, it's about a two mile walk back and forth. <br /><br /> And so this journey is kind of, uh, them going back and forth. There's a couple different sections we're gonna talk about. The first is the journey as they're going to the temple back again on Monday. So again Sunday, they kind of go in, come out, They're going back in on Monday and the first scene kind of really happens on the Mount of Olives and we're gonna just connect, uh, that together this morning. <br /><br /> So we'll continue with verse 12. On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he that's Jesus was hungry. Dramatic pause because yes, the son of God got hungry and seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves for it was not the season for figs. <br /><br /> And he said to it, may no one ever eat fruit from you again. And his disciples heard it. The first section, as we talk through, just to kind of give you a shorthand as you think back, the first section here, all fr all show, no fruit, all show, no fruit. Fig trees were used all throughout scripture in lots of different ways. <br /><br /> The first example that I can think of is actually right in the beginning. Adam and Eve, when they covered themselves with fig leaves as after they sinned, James would use, uh, fig trees as an illustration about good and pure speech. Coming from a pure heart, Zakia actually climbed a fig tree, and you're like, no, no, no, no. <br /><br /> It's sycamore tree. Well, for all of you plant people, it's called a faus sycamores. That's kind of like a hybrid plant, but Zakia climbed this fig tree as well. Haba prophesied over a disobedient Israel. Though there are no figs, God is faithful. Each situation, there's kind of this using of this fig tree as an example to talk about the spiritual condition of either an individual or to draw an illusion to the nation of Israel to make a connection there. <br /><br /> The collective people, fig trees, were, uh, plentiful in this region. They grew wild. They were all around. And so as you think about walking from Bethany through the Mount of Olives, there would also be on the mount of Olives, fig trees as they were walking through. And surprisingly, there was this one fig tree that as they came up to, was sprouting some leaves. <br /><br /> This time in particular, it was not the season for figs to be growing, but this tree was indicating by the leaves. It was growing some fruit. Kind of like an advertisement. The store is open. I am selling figs. And so they walk up to it. Jesus was noticing he was hungry. Okay, I'm gonna go grab a fig. But upon getting to the tree, Jesus found no fruit full of leaves and no figs to show. <br /><br /> And so he cursed the tree and eventually that tree would wither up and kind of just shrivel and die. And it says, these words were heard by the disciples. Jesus would later explain in depth this encounter after coming out of the city. Um, but the fig tree really represents, you can picture him standing on the hill, looking down over off the Mount of Olives into Jerusalem. <br /><br /> He's looking over the city and he sees this fig tree with no fruit. And he's thinking about Jerusalem. They proclaim to know God, but there's no fruit of his transforming work. God's chosen nation full of leaves, no figs on the tree. Spiritually, this is just a, a facade. It's an advertisement with nothing to show for it. <br /><br /> It's a shroud to cover the decay of the inner hearts. It would be the lights on and nobody's home. It's a brand new sports car, and they forgot to load the engine into the sports car. It's a Chick-fil-A sandwich with no chicken and devoid of two crucial pickles, , nothing there. Many of us, uh, are on social media and some of us have come over the Mount of Olives to the other side of social media. <br /><br /> Um, but there are some positives and negatives. And let me just pause because we could be here for a while talking about social media. Uh, but there's one thing I know for sure. It is without a doubt, the easiest target for a sermon illustration. Um, we do do the dumbest stuff. We record it, we post it, and then we shared for the world to see. <br /><br /> This is the easiest. Seemingly, uh, a million examples could come out of social media that we think about. But as we think about it, one thing jumped out in my mind, this idea of filters that, at least that I can think of. This was one of the first times this really came about. We can begin to edit our pictures. <br /><br /> We can do them with removing things or if there's a wrinkle here, nah, that's gone. If my cheekbones don't sit correctly, well, they can be, uh, manipulated in such a way in order that people can see a different version than our reality. This all show and no fruit reality is confronted elsewhere in scripture revealing not just a nation of Israel, not just as zakk heart, and not just your heart, but my heart to cover, to protect and appear put together. <br /><br /> Paul would write in Romans 10. The Israelites have a zeal for God, but it's not based on him at all. In his letter to Timothy, Paul would write this as well. They have a form of godliness, but they're lacking any power. And Jesus would call out the Pharisees in Luke chapter 18, uh, for standing on the street corners and praying for all to hear, but they've really lost the connection with the one they're praying to God. <br /><br /> So as Jesus enters the city of Jerusalem, he sees the fig tree and it grieves him. My people are proclaiming my name and praising me, but the religious elite, so studied, so connected, yet have missed this childlike faith. What's the answer? How do we not be a tree that just has leaves and no figs? There's no blank for this, but it's the blank you're all thinking of. <br /><br /> Jesus is the answer they need and he's the answer that we need as well. Think about John 15. This is the answer spelled out in scripture through the mouth of Christ. Jesus invites us, remain in me and I will remain in you. Just as no branch can bear fruit by itself unless it remains in the vine. Neither can you bear any fruit unless you remain in me. <br /><br /> I am the vine and you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit apart from me. You can do nothing. I'd offer you just these simple words as we think about the condition of our hearts. The words full access. Full access. There's this thing that happens when we live in kind of this sin pattern. <br /><br /> Over time, we, we begin to protect certain areas or, or wall them off, or our struggles, we, we protect or we're good at, uh, uh, just keeping people out, but we at a heart deep level grow accustomed to in that way. , not just saying no, but actually we're saying yes to ourselves quite a lot. We are really good at meeting our own needs over and over again. <br /><br /> But the way of Jesus journeying with him listening and responding as he prompts, invites us to give full access. And you might be saying, that's tremendously threatening. Uh, I don't wanna go there. I've got skeletons in the closet. There's no way I'm doing this. It'd be terrifying to admit our sin. Well, newsflash, he already knows what's in your heart. <br /><br /> And so it's not really that you have to do much of anything, it's just that you're joining with what the God of the universe can already see and sense inside your heart. So my encouragement as we do this is just start with saying yes as the spirit would prompt you and reveal certain things, or kind of gently tap on the doorway of a, a closet or, or something like that. <br /><br /> Okay, Lord, I hear you're leading me in this way. Or maybe as you're hearing something, as you're reading through the scriptures and it really pokes at something and you do this thing and I've done it before myself, you start to think, well, I could really apply that. And the, oh, that's too much. I'm not gonna go there. <br /><br /> We begin to wall things off, but following him, giving him full access to our lives, there's a, a, a short little book that, um, I've just read a synopsis of. It's, it's, uh, kind of funny that I read a synopsis of it in this training that I went through, cuz the book is I think like 30 pages. But, um, it's a small book. <br /><br /> It's called My Heart, Christ's Home. It's written years ago and there's millions of copies in many different languages. But it's this, uh, kind of an interesting journey as you talk through, uh, as you read through this. Or the synopsis of the book that really walks you through this journey of what it would be like if Christ visited your home and kind of giving him access to things. <br /><br /> There'd be a, a knock at the door and maybe you'd invite him in and he would walk into the study and potentially there'd be a, a, a like, Hey, I'm gonna add a couple books to your shelf here. Maybe we'll remove this book. I want you to consume this truth. And as you begin, you move into the dining room where Jesus begins to serve this meal that is better than anything you've consumed before. <br /><br /> It's this lasting, truly satisfying meal. You move from there into the, the living room, and he just wants to sit and have fellowship with you, and the conversation is fruitful and, and things are going well. And you pass by this hall closet. It's the one you stuffed everything into before he entered the house. <br /><br /> The. No one's ever done that before, and you're like, please don't open it. I'm not sure what's gonna fall out. But Jesus doesn't meet it with shame. He meets it with his love and his forgiveness. And eventually as this story goes on, you turn over the title to the house. He's the owner. He's the one you want in charge, the master, the keeper. <br /><br /> My heart, Christ's home. So we walk towards Easter, giving full access to him in all things, embracing at times this humbling, humiliating admission of our own brokenness and sin. The humble Jesus would take on himself upon the cross in just a few days. Okay, so Jesus and the disciples continued beyond the fig tree down into the city of Jerusalem. <br /><br /> They're gonna be entering here into the temple. We pick back up in Mark, uh, 11 verse 15. . And they came to Jerusalem and he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple. And he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. <br /><br /> And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. And he was teaching them and saying to them, is it not written? My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations, but you have made it a den of robbers. And the chief priests and the scribes heard it, and were seeking a way to destroy him for they feared him because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching. <br /><br /> And when evening came, they went out of the city. Jesus hope of the nations is our next section here, entering into the temple. Jesus hope of the nations. Well, tis the season. It is Passover season and everybody is descending upon the city of Jerusalem. The Jewish people would be making their annual pilgrimage in and celebrating Passover in the Holy City. <br /><br /> Jerusalem would've swelled probably four to five times its amount in size during Passover. And though Passover was traditionally only allowed to be celebrated within the confines of Jerusalem during Passover time, the priests would allow people to move outside and begin to celebrate it because there just wasn't physical room. <br /><br /> So you can picture people camped among the countryside and, and even lodging in different towns nearby in order to be close. For this moment, people would be coming, heading to the temple to make appropriate sacrifices to God for sins they've committed, or to perform various customs and rituals according to God's commands, to pursue cleansing and, and purification as they remembered God's faithfulness. <br /><br /> Many years ago during Passover. And so what you would do is bring your animal of, of choice, of sacrifice. Depending upon your tax bracket, you would either be bringing a lamb, a dove, a, a pigeon, a goat, a dove already said dove. Great. Well, typically you'd bring your own at this time, and in this day, Passover priests would really demand that you would buy The sacrifices from the temple can see where this is going. <br /><br /> This is a classic case of supply and demand Jerusalem four to five times the size. During Passover, it wasn't uncommon to pay 10 times as much for your sacrifice. It was downright profitable during this time to be a seller of sacrificial animals. Additionally, a yearly temple tax had been, uh, something that people would pay and they would come and the payment was to be made in shackles, which wasn't the norm of the currency at the time. <br /><br /> Most people had had this, uh, in this Roman culture here, a denaris currency that they had, and so they couldn't pay in the common currency. They would need to then exchange their money. Anybody ever exchanged money before and you're like, no way I'm paying that percentage. Well, in this way, the 25% markup was all they had the money changers raked in their hefty prophet during Passover. <br /><br /> At this time, one of the two high priests, Anis was his name, the high priest was corrupt and a violent man, a temple courts that were typically called the Court of the Gentiles, where people would come and be able to, uh, be together. And the gentiles that non-Jews could come in and be there was then called the Bazaar of Anis. <br /><br /> People would come in selling all sorts of things, set up your table, sell whatever you got. And oh, by the way, um, the percentage of what you sell comes back to me. The shop owners making good. Were also paying a profit. And so when Jesus walks in with his disciples, one of the words that are said, he drove out those who sold and those who bought game over guys enough ripping people off in my name. <br /><br /> he overturned the tables of the money changers in the seats of those, those who sold doves. I mean, picture money flying. It's not like a tip over. It's, it's a chaotic scene. Money is flying. Uh, doves are scattering, potentially goats and animals just wandering around in chaos. He would not allow anything to be carried or anyone to carry anything through the temple. <br /><br /> If you can pull that map back up, uh, the, the holy temple was made kind of a, a thoroughfare. If you look at it, if you're coming down, it just, it'd be kind of easier to just run right through the temple rather than having to go out and around the, the directions that the path would go. And so what was supposed to be other had become this commonplace. <br /><br /> A just a, a passing through, a profaning of God's name. and he taught the people, my house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations. Yes. People that are listening, you heard me write, my house shall be called a house of prayer. There's an incredible significance in Jesus saying, my house shall be called a house of prayer. <br /><br /> Because someone else used those very words. God used those words. The religious elite would've studied and known this because I, Isaiah and Jeremiah recorded the words of God declaring that his house would be a house of prayer. And so let's hear the words that Jesus says as the followers or as the people, as the high priest would have heard. <br /><br /> This man is coming into the temple. He's claiming authority over us. Jesus of Nazareth is claiming himself to be God. . And while it could have transformed a lot of their agendas and really flipped things upside down, they dug their heels in because the religious elite had suffered a terrible case of mission drift. <br /><br /> It's more than that, but mission drift rather than the worship of God, rather than people gathering in prayer rather than all the nations coming together as one, the chief priest and the elders began to make it near impossible for the poor and the needy, the unclean or down trodden other surrounding cultures. <br /><br /> The temple was sterilized and the worst sense of the word of religion. That's of of hierarchy, an exclusion. They had profaned again, the house of God. Well, right after this, jump over to Matthew Chapter 21, because Matthew records what happens next in this scene. There's the tables are flipped and Matthew picks up and says this in Matthew chapter 21, verse 14. <br /><br /> As the temple was restored to God's design, even momentarily, something beautiful and pure began to happen. The mission of God at its very core, the kingdom of God here on Earth, verse 14, and the blind and the lame came to him in the temple and he healed them. But when the chief priests in the scribe saw the wonderful things that he did and the children crying out in the temple, hosanna to the son of David, they were indignant and said to him, do you hear what these people are saying? <br /><br /> And Jesus said to them, yes. Have you never read out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies, you have prepared praise and leaving them. He went out of the city to Bethany and lodged there. The outcast brought near and healed all nations gathered, even children crying out with childlike faith. God be praised. <br /><br /> This is actually a quote that Jesus uses from Psalm chapter eight. It it's a Psalm declaring God's power and majesty above everything else. As David writes there, but listen to the words that David writes as to why God would put the praise in the mouth of children. Have them sing out and try to imagine that in the context of what's happening here. <br /><br /> Jesus flips the tables. These people are doing things wrong and he quotes Psalm eight. You have ordained praise on account of your adversaries. To silence the enemy and the avenger. When you hear Psalm eight, don't just hear it as, oh, that's cute. The mouths of infants and nursing babies. God's prepared praise. <br /><br /> Why did he do that? As a rebuke, a, as a confrontation against those who were profaning, God's name to silence, the enemy and the avenger, Pharisees, rulers, chief priests and elders. The kids are singing out because you have profaned the name of God. It's one of those, uh, scriptural mic drop moments. If you're reading that in context, and I wanna come back to the word mission drift here, because you see what the people expected. <br /><br /> The Messiah would come and, and clear out the Roman rule and, and take back the Holy City, uh, a political platform lead the charge. It's not what Jesus did. He marched not into the Roman center of the town, but right into the center where his people were gathered. Why would he do that? The gathering of God's people. <br /><br /> And he launched his mission to not just clean out the enemy, but to clean out the enemy on the inside of their heart's heart. Change an agenda that aligns with God, Jesus hope of the nations. And the, the mission drift happened subtly, but I wonder if that's still the case with us today. This subtle movement away from what is core to things that are fringe. <br /><br /> Pastor Mark mentioned, uh, just a, a few weeks back about this term, and maybe it's the first time you've heard the term. It's something that I've been pondering for a number of years now. Christian nationalism. Just a couple of words to maybe, uh, help you understand what that terminology is. Christian nationalism, the belief that the American nation is defined by Christianity, that the government should take steps to keep it that way. <br /><br /> One scholar put it this way, America is defined by its Anglo Protestant paths and that we will lose our identity and our freedom if we do not preserve our cultural inheritance. This is not an honoring of history. This is a program for what America must be. The mission of Jesus was and is not after political or national gain. <br /><br /> The mission of Jesus was and is not seeking a geographically located kingdom. The mission of Jesus was and is a kingdom of people with surrendered hearts to Christ alone. And if Christian nationalism potentially had a proverbial table that would've been flipped to, and for some of us, to our surprise, and so we pray again, this same battle, cry, your kingdom come, your will be done here on earth as it is in heaven. <br /><br /> A kingdom of people who care for the poor and refugees, and they're put right next to each other for just that reason that we might see the turning over of tables, the mission drift that happened. And right after it. The follow up, the care for those in need. There's a book that I've, uh, read in seminary, um, and I wanna share it with you, but I wanna preface it because read a lot of books in seminary and, um, lots of different views and perspectives. <br /><br /> And some of them you're like, yes, I could have written this book. I love this. Others, you're like, mm, not so much, which we probably do with all books and things that we read, quotes alike. But here's a quote from a book. I will let this, uh, in your mind, you can decide what to do with the book, but it's good to read wide and to have a perspective. <br /><br /> And this quote really challenged me. It's uh, by a man named Brian Zand, and he's writing to the church, it's called Postcards from Babylon, the Church in American Exile. Trust the Holy Instincts within You, the instincts of compassion aroused by the Holy Spirit. Yes. Politics are always complicated. But what does Jesus want your attitude to be toward? <br /><br /> Syrian refugees, Honduran asylum seekers, undocumented laborers. You already know. You've always known. Some will say power trump's everything, but you've always known that mercy triumphs over judgment. There's a lot of things that could be said there, but I'll leave you with that quote and we'll keep marching on Jesus hope of the nation's. <br /><br /> He cleared the temple and immediately welcomes in the marginalized. I don't think it's an accident. They're next to each other in the scriptures. Okay. Jesus and his disciples spend Monday night after they've gone in, flip the tables back out across the Mount of Olives to Bethany. They spend the night there and, uh, we've already talked about that. <br /><br /> They, uh, pass by the fig tree. Um, as they passed by on the next morning, back in Tuesday, the disciples witnessed that, uh, that it is, uh, completely withered. And so Tuesday, here's what happens. Matthew 21, and when he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching and said, by what authority are you doing these things? <br /><br /> And who gave you this authority? Jesus answered them. I also will ask you one question, and if you tell me the answer, then I will also tell you by what authority I do these things, the baptism of John from, where did it come from? From heaven or from man. And they discussed it among themselves, saying, if we say from heaven, he will say to us, why then did you not believe him? <br /><br /> But if we say from man, we are afraid of the, we are afraid of the crowd for they all hold that John was a prophet. So they answer Jesus. We do not know. And he said to them, neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things. The last one quickly here, allegiance to Christ. They enter back into the temple with a lot of happy campers. <br /><br /> All of the religious elite tables are flipped over. Things are in chaos. And he goes right back into it the next morning. People are loving Jesus. By this point. Their whole Passover is scattered. The system upended. And so they ask him, not wasting any time, what authority do you do this? And who's giving you that authority? <br /><br /> Essentially, Hey man, uh, who do you think you are? Who's your rabbi? Who taught you these things? Do you even, have you even gone to school before? Who are you? And Jesus counters them with a confrontation question. And if you know this, uh, it kind of makes sense why he does this. If they affirm that John was a prophet and say yes. <br /><br /> They would actually be confirming that Jesus has the authority of God because John as a prophet came and said, behold the lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world. So they can't do that. We're not gonna confirm that John was a prophet. But if we just say that John was a man and we don't say that he was a prophet, the crowds are gonna come after us as the religious leaders. <br /><br /> You see, the people loved John, that he amassed a following and revered him as a prophet, so they were trapped and didn't know what to do. There would continue to be more and more debate throughout the day. On Tuesday, a, a pasturing of Jesus, a peppering him with questions and he would teach them back and forth using parables to expose the hard truth. <br /><br /> No words could change their mind. . They had their system upended. They had their framework confronted. Their power was being challenged, and it was a question of authority. But remember this, we just read that the day before in the temple, he flips over things and then begins to heal people with the power of God. <br /><br /> And so by them asking the question, by what authority do you do this? It wasn't about proof. He had given them plenty of it the day before. It was about authority. You see, they could not humble themselves to recognize Christ. The allegiance was to a system rather than the king. The allegiance was to their religious status rather than bowing to what seemed like an unknown Rabbi from Nazareth. <br /><br /> Jesus would call them out in a number of different ways, calling them blind guides, teaching, but not seeing the truth in front of you. , whoa to you. Experts in the law on new Pharisees, new hypocrites. You are like whitewashed tombs that look beautiful on the outside, but on the inside are full of bones of the dead and everything unclean. <br /><br /> A brood of vipers, he would call them. And he even said, tax collectors and prostitutes, the worst of the worst would enter the kingdom of God before them to the religious elite. So as we come today, we must remember there were two parades walking in on uh, Palm Sunday and as we just followed it up with Monday and Tuesday, one parade was from the west and Cesar was riding in and he was on a warhorse. <br /><br /> The other came in from the East with Jesus on a donkey. One is a military parade of the Roman Empire, the other. , a prophetic parade ushering in a completely different kind of kingdom. One crucifies, its enemies for political gain. The other would see the leader crucified to forgive his enemies the following days of Monday and Tuesday involved confrontation and the upending of kingdoms. <br /><br /> But there's this hope, John chapter 12, as you continue on, here's what it says in verse 42. Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear that the Pharisees, they did not confess it so that they would not be put out of the synagogue for they love the glory that comes from man, more than the glory that comes from God. <br /><br /> There were some Greeks that came that, that followed up this whole scene and came to Philip, which is kind of the the quote that we use for this common life book. And they asked him, sir, we wish to see Jesus in Matthew chapter 23. Later on, Jesus would pray this over Jerusalem. Oh Jerusalem. Oh Jerusalem. <br /><br /> The city that kills the prophets and stones, those who are sent to it. How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen, gathers her brood under her wings that you were not willing? See, your house is left to you desolate. This kind of love creates unwavering allegiance to Christ. I'm gonna ask you to stand together as we, um, finish our time together. <br /><br /> As you leave, as we spend the coming week reflecting on Monday and Tuesday going into Easter Passion Week, may you bear much fruit as you remain in the love of Jesus. May you welcome neighbor and stranger as you too are welcomed by Jesus, and may our allegiance speak to him alone. Peace to you this morning. <br /><br /> Thanks for being here. You are dismissed.</div> false no <![CDATA[Preparing For Easter]]> Luke 19:28-44

“Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”



Sermon Transcript:

Today we are beginning our Easter season. We're beginning it by looking at the beginning of passion week for those who are pilgrims, who are followers of Jesus Christ.

Easter is the red circle in your faith calendar. Paul says the Easter. Is the reason that we follow him all of the other days too. And the greatest thing about Easter, celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the best thing about Easter is that Jesus is not dead right now. And so we take seriously this moment in our faith s our, our faith life, and we are gonna do that by focusing these six weeks upcoming to Easter, not letting it sneak up on us, but taking seriously our ride to this Easter.

40% of the gospels are written, uh, in, in the Passion week, in the final week, 40% of the gospels. That's how important this final week of the coming of Christ at this moment in time is leading up to him receiving the cross and eventually rising from the dead. As mentioned, these, uh, Easter readings go alongside that we have in the Common Life Book and these Easter readings go alongside of that, uh, Collingswood campus and Mount Laurel campus.

We're doing this together. So welcome here, Mount Laurel. Welcome here in Collingswood. As we begin this time together, we're gonna do so, do so by reading in Luke 19. If you'll join me in Luke 19, and we'll start in verse 28, and here we see the triumphal entry. Of Christ into Jerusalem. And this triumphal entry of Christ into Jerusalem gives us beautiful ways of understanding how Christ himself approached this passion week, how Christ himself approached Easter.

So Luke 19, and we're gonna start with verse 28. And when he had said these things, he went on ahead going up to Jerusalem. When he drew near to Beth Phage and Bethany at the Mount that is called Olivet, he sent two of his disciples saying, watch the intentionality here. Go into the village that is in front of you.

Where on entering you will find a cult tide on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks, why are you untying it, you shall say this. The Lord has need of it. So those who were sent away found it just as he had told them. And as they were untying the cult, its owners said to them, why are you untying the cult?

And they said, the Lord has need of it. And they brought it to Jesus and throwing their cloaks on the cult. They set Jesus on it. And as he wrote along, they spread their cloaks on the road. And as he was drawing near already on the way down the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen saying, blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord.

Peace in heaven and glory in the highest. In some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, teacher rebuke your disciples. He answered, I tell you, if they were silent, the very stones would cry out. And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it saying what? That you even you had known on this day, the things that make you make for your peace, but now they're hidden from your eyes for the days will come upon you when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hand mute in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you.

And they will not leave one stone upon another because you did not know the time of your visitation. Pray with me this morning.

Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest God. We walk in from so many different circumstances on the way here. Most of us this morning as we have tried to gather ourselves and get ourselves here, ha have entered what feels like lots of unspiritual territory, but there's not a one of us that doesn't long for this peace.

We thank you for Easter for what we know that it means and all that. We're still finding out what it means for our every day in the name of Jesus who rode to die. Amen. So this passage is the passage probably in your Bible. It says something about the triumphal entry. This is the passage where Jesus took himself and rode to Easter.

This moment begins passion week. He has come to Jerusalem to die. As we begin our journey to Easter, I just wanna point out three things. Of which we can learn from Christ of how he approached Easter so that we can take these six weeks approaching our Easter alongside of him as he took this time very seriously.

The first thing we see is here is that Jesus is king. He is the first office I want to mention. He is the warrior King. Jesus has been away from a Jerusalem for 18 months. He, most of what he has been doing is in small towns in the Galilee region up north. He's going from small town to small town to, to then the wilderness and everyone comes to meet him, and then he goes here, and then he goes over on the Sea of Galilee, over the Sea of Galilee, then back teaching healing.

But mostly in the outskirts, 18 months since he has been to Jerusalem, there is not a person in that region, whether you're near Jerusalem or you're up in the hills of Galilee, that you are not aware of the significance of Jesus, where he is, and the significance that Jesus is not in Jerusalem. He is this teacher.

He is this figure who people are trying to figure out. And eventually as he takes on the mantle and as he takes on the titles of being the Messiah, his gather his followers or gathering, there would not be many campfires that would exist around of people who are following this Jesus, who don't say, when is Jerusalem?

When does the king take on his crown? This is the moment where Jesus rides. To Jerusalem, and this ride entering in the Eastern gate is a declaration of war. This Messiah who comes is what people would have been looking for his whole life. We know that yes, that Christ came as a child and people's hopes were for him.

People's hopes were not for four year old Jesus. They were not for nine year old Jesus. They were not for 13 year old Jesus people's hopes for when the Messiah would finally come and when they can see him, they, they start to see their hopes begin to be lived out. But the real hope, the real moment that the, their looking for Messiah is when he would enter into these exact gates to become king.

The king had. To declare war. The priest is what has been prophesied. Isaiah 96 talks about this, his, his title that one, one of the titles that is given to Jesus is mighty God In this long list, pens of peace, everlasting father, mighty God is given. Uh, al cancer says this about this, this term, mighty God is used only for God himself, but now is being applied to the coming king.

The phrase has overtones of battle. Some translations call this warrior God. God is spoken of as Israel's warrior, the one who fights on their behalf, behalf. This king will come do the same. Ezekiel 44. Talks about where the Messiah would come. There's 11 gates around Jerusalem. Jerusalem is a heavy fortified city, but there are 11 gates that you can enter.

The gate, the Messiah would come through. Ezekiel 44 is the East Gate. The gate closest to the temple mount the gate gate closest to the Holy of Holies. It is the gate through which Christ himself. Comes and enters to take his throne. Zechariah nine nine, with the direct prophecy of this moment says this, rejoice greatly.

Daughter Zion. Shout daughter Jerusalem. See, your king comes to you. This is the moment. This is a verse that they pull out through the Torah to show their kids your king. He'll come. He comes to you. Righteous and victorious. Humble, and riding on a donkey, a cult, the full of a donkey. Now I love this prophecy, right?

Righteous and victorious. You can't be victorious without defeating. So, To have victory over something. Christ was coming to claim victory. He didn't come ultimately, which is what many would want from him, but he did not come to bring a new human empire where what that many of the worshipers were planning on him to come do that.

These empires are what they're cycl. They're endlessly fragile and they turn over from one to the next. Christ came to bring a lasting empire. He came to bring a whole new world. This is the whole nature of what we see over and over in the New Testament, the kingdom of God. He came to bring heaven, the realities of heaven to earth and taught us to pray.

Our Father, who is in heaven, hollow be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. He is coming and bringing the spiritual kingdom of God to change. History forever. In this next Passion week, what we will see in these upcoming weeks is there is a number of things that Jesus will rival against.

He will rival against spiritual abuse, religion without the Father. In Mark 11, as he drives people out of the temple saying, my house is a house of prayer, not a den of thieves. He will rival against pride as we see him take the towel and serve his disciples as a servant. He will rival against self-sufficiency as he will talk with Peter, and Peter will be so confident that he will be strong until the crows come.

Jesus' teaching and message are rivaling. They are seeking to be victorious. They are at war. And lastly, what Jesus came to war against is the separation caused by sin. . We see this spelled out in literally just about every single chapter in the rest of the New Testament that Jesus came to make to take on battle.

To say, I am coming straight in to that gate and I'm gonna go to what I see separates God and man, the sin of humanity. I'm gonna tear the curtain, the veil that is between God and man and the way he wages this war is he takes the knife to his own breast. It is his own blood that will be spilled, as he says, hate didn't win, fear doesn't win.

Prejudice, addiction, family trauma, and years of. Generational strongholds that the, the, the mentality of everyone clawing on top of each other, fighting for their own comforts or power that ultimately does not win the love of Jesus Christ as given through the Father by the blood of the Son, ultimately is victorious.

Easter is a declaration that God wins As we enter into Easter, head into this season and, and learning from this warrior, God, a, a couple things. I would say very simply, let's, let's approach Easter by being present. by, by being aware, right? Being, being somewhat conscious and we'll lose sight of it, right?

It uh, we won't be thinking, oh my goodness, it's 27 days to Easter. But as much as possible, let's enter with an awareness. An awareness that, that we are heading towards Easter. One of the things I love about the followers in this story is they were aware they were there. Jesus did not ride into Jerusalem on his own.

They were aware of what was going on. And secondly, to rejoice, we don't just have a feel good Jesus. We have a Jesus that does have power who declares with blood on his. His own blood on his hands that I have the power to claim victory over darkness. And so we rejoice. One of my favorite things about where Easter falls in our calendar is if you watch and be, be mindful this next six weeks, you'll be able to see things in nature around you.

That new life will be springing up. And let that remind you. Just recently I found a tiny little weed flower in my lawn that probably is not supposed to be there, but man, it was just this little flower and I was like, wow. Just that little thing. I don't know how it came up, why it came up here, but we had some warm days and it popped up.

So I probably didn't do the right thing. I just picked it, you know, it took it right to my wife, you know, look, I got this for you, but, but there's gonna be new life popping up all around. And don't let that just be a reminder of the nice, warm season of finally, the winter is starting to break. Let that be a reminder of the warrior God who didn't let things, didn't leave, things just cold, dark, and gray.

He came and he won. We celebrate his victory of the warrior. God, this Easter. , we see him ride in as the warrior God. We also, or Warrior King. We see him ride in as a foolish king. And I realize that that doesn't sound good. Um, when you read that on the PowerPoint, this is, this is coming from Paul. He talks in Corinthians that the message of Christ, how he came and the message of Christ lived out, has a foolishness to our natural instincts.

We look at it and it, there is some seeming folly from a human perspective. This is pretty much how he entered into Jerusalem. Now Jerusalem, he does come in through the Eastern gate. See these doors back here, right here that you probably entered through the sanctuary, the Eastern gate, the, the collective width of those doors is more than the Eastern gate that he would've ridden through for Jerusalem.

leading up to the Eastern gate, it is a uphill climb with some windy streets. I had the chance to be in Jerusalem. One of the things that was so remarkable to me is like, wow, this city was not built for some American SUVs. Everything is narrow and tight and built, um, very close by. This, this scene of Jesus going is, is not the, the, we just had the largest military parade in 2019.

It was in China and Tieman Square. Gman Square, and they had a hundred thousand different people as a part of this military parade. Right? That is the a grand scene. If you think like, how many people is that? Macy's Day Parade has a staff of 6,500, right? So you think, wow, all the intercontinental ballistic missiles and, and the, the jets and drones, and they had all these kinds of floats and things that they did.

That is a grand parade, a grand entrance. What's happening with Jesus who's coming to change the shape of the entire cosmos is pretty pathetic. I, I want to talk a moment about just the mechanics of this. Who is Jesus? How is Jesus entering? Jesus is entering on a cult, which that kind of sounds cool, right?

You could kind of see a knight on a cult. It's a cult of a donkey. Most donkeys could not handle the weight of a grown man. This is not a full grown donkey. So like I best, let's say we don't get the exact age teenage donkey, right? And I realize, you know, I don't know anything about teenage donkeys. I realize you don't know anything about teenage donkeys.

Okay? So let me tell you the tiny bit that I found out about teenage donkeys. One, yeah, they could not be ridden on two. If you get on top of the teenage donkey the first time and you're more weight than it's supposed to hold, the donkey's not gonna be like, I am filled with the Holy Spirit. I will have the energy to carry the son of.

The teenage donkey is like, what is going on? Right? Is going to be a messy scene. On top of that, people aren't throwing saddles on there and cinching, whatever you cinch on a saddle and putting the bit in there. They're throwing their coats on top of this donkey who has never been ridden, who has no concept of what is going on and is going up rocky, tight terrain with a whole bunch of people yelling at him.

That's the context of the donkey, right? This is who Jesus, his feet may have been dragging on the ground to get on the donkey. The text says people had to lift Jesus on the donkey. Imagine the mechanic. Some people are trying to hold this donkey. Some people are trying to throw coats on. Some people are trying to throw Jesus on.

The mechanics of this is not at all what the genie had for Aladdin, right? Coming into the city. The mechanics of this are a Zechariah prophesied, humble, intensely humble. There's no evidence that there was a permit bought that, that the Roman soldiers would line the place of so that they, he could get in through the Eastern gate.

Presumably, there's merchants all around. There's people traveling, coming and going. Annoyed by this scene. This may not even have been the largest SPECT spectacle on that day in Jerusalem. This moment, which for his followers carried this much weight, did not carry that much weight for everyone else. It is a scene that is not filled with gold red carpets and fanfare.

It's filled with palm branches, people's jackets on a winding road leading to a not that big of a gate. , it is a humble entry. What's interesting to me is as you look in the New Testament and you see so many of the miracles or the, the gospels and 40% of the gospels are about passion week, almost every single miracle that you will see outside of the resurrection will not happen in Passion Week.

Jesus does not come to to Jerusalem with his own show of power. He does not part the Yates and like the Red Sea, and has this moment. This moment is intentionally foolish in the eyes of the world. And the word I want to, words I just want to use is what Jesus came to do when he would take the towel on Thursday, when he would receive the cross on Friday, when he would not defend himself in this week.

And even as he enters into Jerusalem, Jesus rode to Easter, intentionally unprotected. You will see over and over. The gospel of John is so beautiful in this. What Jesus says he needs is the love of the Father. And he intentionally does not add a whole lot to that list. He intentionally lays down so many of the things that he could have brought to this moment.

He approaches Easter, intentionally unprotected. Something that I, I want us to think about as we approach Easter. And this is gonna be, gimme five minutes here cuz some of you, this is gonna be like, I'm trying to understand what you're saying, but to follow our foolish king in the eyes of the world to intentionally unprotect from the ways that we try to feel big, to choose to release the ways you've defended yourself or tried to satisfy your neurotic need for security and significance on your own.

And I, I put a lot of those big words in there on purpose. I'm one of the ones you're like neurotic. I do not have a neurotic need to feel safe or define significance on my own. Well I do. Um, and I think probably many of us do very simply to be intentional as we come to Easter that we're aware of how we try to make ourselves big.

You know, like on every nature show there's like, I don't know, some predator and some prey and like they both have this mechanism that these animals use to make themselves look big, right? Birds fluff up their feathers and like people do weird dances, like, or not, people, animals do these weird dances to try to intimidate each other and cats like somehow like do this weird thing which cats need no helping.

Intimidating, in my mind, I hate those things, but, um, except for your cat, your cat is perfect, but like the all animals have this way to make themselves look big. Well, I'm, I'm reading this book, my four-year-old just loves this book. About 10 things you need to know about elephants, and I'm reading about this elephants and, and the elephants are kind of fascinating.

You know, one of the reasons how elephants use their ears, yes, it's to flap themselves, you know what I mean? Like, uh, keep themselves cool. One of the primary functions that an elephant uses his ears is to make itself look big and intimidating. I'm like an elephant needs help looking big. Like even an elephant is trying to look bigger than itself.

Right, but that's in it's instinctual. No Mama elephant is training baby elephant by like flap. Look flap here. No, no. A little bit more on the left ear, you know, like, like do this. Right? No, it's instinctual. Even in elephants to try to make themselves look bigger, to try to elevate them themselves in the way they are to have a defense.

It is so instinctual in the human heart to try to look big. To try to look like we matter. As we think of a question, what do I think of when I answer the question? Am I impressive? What do we use to rank other people as be ahead or behind? , but these things in, in spiritual formation language, these are attachments, right?

Like, I feel like I am important because I have this, or I rank here, or I feel like I'm unor important and I self reject because I'm not, I don't have enough of this, or I don't rank high enough here. But these attachments that we have to define our very identity are core to us. And I know this is a, a little bit murky ground and some of you are like, I know exactly what I do inside of my heart and what I say to other people to try to appear impressive.

And some of you that, that might not come as clear, but I just wrote down some practical ways I think we can intentionally unprotect or unfriend ourselves towards Easter. If one of the ways you want to feel impressive or you're desiring to feel big is in your career or, or popularity or success in school, success in some way, and you can tend to see people as ways that you can get there.

How about far Easter? Take out three people who won't advance you in any possible way and get to know their story if, if your body or beauty is just a real point for you and you find yourself thinking and analyzing yourself how you look a lot and you really want to look better so that you can be impressive.

How about take half the time, think about how long do I take to get ready? Intentionally take half the time to get ready and use that time to pray for contentment in how God made. . If your thing is money and that, and you are always thinking, where's the four ohk? Where's the savings account and how does this rank among other people or my peers?

Or you meet with your friends and you think, okay, I'm a little higher, a little lower. If it's money that you use yourself to feel big, you need to find ways to give it away. If it's the image of your peers at church, right? A lot of us that like, okay, in your church environments or, or various, maybe it's your other environments and your image of how they look.

Find someone you love in that environment and tell 'em how you need help. My gosh, share your secrets. If it's, if it's how intelligent you are and, and you're holding, you hold this role perhaps in the family or, or in your workplace of you just had these really smart things to say and that that's a big way that you, you feel at the end of the day, you know what I'm, I'm.

I'm smarter than these people, or at least I'm on the smarter side of the ledger. Take six weeks intentionally. Don't offer advice or share your knowledge unless asked one time. What you're gonna find is you're gonna do it six times in the first day and then you're gonna be like, wow, how much do I rely on that to feel impressive?

And then you'll go to five and then four and realize, this is my elephant ears of trying to feel impressive. If it's how many people you help and how many ministries that you do say no once a week. And it's not easy. It's so in sync. And I know you're, you're saying like these are really weird specific applications.

And I realize that, and, and for some of you it's gonna be something different, but my encouragement as we follow Christ to Easter, it is to lay down some of the things we tried to impress of, because why it's so instinctual, right? Your parents did not teach you, your mom, your grandmom, your, your, your environment did not sit down and teach you.

Here's how you try to be impressive any more than Mama Elephant taught Baby elephant, how to put out the ears. It's instinctual. We all want to feel impressive and big to ourselves first and to others as well. But because it's so instinctual, we need to be so intentional. And so my encouragement leading up to Easter as we ride with Christ towards Easter, find a specific way.

Of saying, I'm going to unde defend, I'm going to unimpress. I'm going to take this specific step back in my life to try in my own devices, to find peace and be impressive. Oh, we, we understand that a little bit. Does that make sense? And some of you're like, dude, I'm not proud or trying to be impressive at all.

Well, thank you for that cathartic moment because I really am right. This takes, and it takes intentionality to rival our own sense of trying to be impressive on our own. Lastly, and third, the weeping king at a Professor Crawford Lures great pastor. He asked the question, he, he said, what makes you pound the table and weep?

And that was his sense. Well, that's where your calling is, right? Or you've heard the quote when your, your great longing in the world's great hunger. Where they meet is what you're calling is. We see here a weeping Christ. Christ wept three times that we know about in in the scripture. In this one, he is weeping aloud.

These are not cute tears, cute man cry that's happening. The Christ, after the scene turns around, presumably before he goes through the gates and the worshipers are still there on that crowded street and openly weeps, and he says, if you even you had known on this day what would bring you peace, what is Christ?

Pound the table and weep about as he goes to Easter. It, it's not just, oh, my people won't behave, or, oh, that guy won't share Christ with his coworker. He weeps. When we don't realize how much peace he really offers, how much peace he really gives, he will punctuate this exact message. All week on Thursday.

He says, peace I leave with you. My peace I give you. Don't let your hearts be troubled. Do not be afraid. The first times he sees his friends after, after, uh, after he's been resurrected, right? And they all gathered, it's his big resurrection moment with his disciples. First thing he says, peace to you. How do we ride to Christ with this weeping king who wants to offer peace to his people?

I don't know, a more creative, more effective, or whatever way to find peace with God than to simply be with him And, and why we're doing language of, of saying, okay, these are ways we find false peace by trying to be impressive. And why? How do we lay aside some of these impressive things? What we, what we try to find our impressives is to make room.

To say, Hey, if I starve this, my attachment to how I look, my attachment to how important I am in the company, my attachment to these things, if I starve that a little bit, cuz I know that's fake and doesn't last anyway, it leaves some opening to spend that time, spend that energy to find Christ. And there there is peace.

How do we ride with Christ to Easter? We follow his tears. And what does tears say if is this? If you verse 42, even you had only known what would bring you peace. We ride with Christ desperately seeking true peace in him and warring against false security that will crumble soon anyway

as we spend time with him. This is what his presence is like. And I realize some of you're like, I pray and it hits the ceiling, and sometimes I wonder if he even gets that far right. I, as you seek and spend time with Christ real quick is what I would suggest. How has he made you? How has he uniquely formed you?

Some of you're like, well, I don't, I have trouble sitting on my knees and praying, but man, do I love being in nature. Be in nature, go be with God there. Some of you say like I have, you know, I, I have the hardest time with attention. I try to do the 30 minute Devotional every single day. I would say, ah, you know what, there's one guy, dear friend of mine, he said he had the hardest time praying.

He just couldn't pray. He has, he has adhd, and it was just a big struggle for him. He couldn't pray because he couldn't stay still that long in prioritized stillness. He would walk and pray. He turned into, to this day, perhaps the greatest prayer warrior I have ever known, and he said, what changed my life is I just had to.

Walk like everything else in my life. If you're a writer, writer, pray to God. Start with dear father. If you're a person who's like, I am so spiritually confused, I can't stand up from now. Find a trusted friend, pursue spiritual direction. I don't know what it means for us to prioritize our time with Christ, but I would ask starve a little and feast a little, and in that we find a pure, beautiful way to a little more understand what deaths and what resurrection are all about because they exist without the other in the Christian life.

Won't you stand with us? I'm, I'm gonna conclude. I know we've, we're in time.

Dear friends, Mount Laurel, dear friends online and in Collingswood this morning, very simply, as we head towards Easter, may we ride to Easter together with Christ. May we, may we war for true peace. May we intentionally unprotect from our own devices that we falsely use to find our homes in our identity, image, comfort, or pride.

May we journey to Easter with the living resurrected no longer dead? Jesus, may we speak with the deep assurance of Paul, that he is our peace and with the open-hearted pilgrims who approach Peter, sir, we would see Jesus. We are dismissed.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/preparing-for-easter 1da001d6-2f28-4629-af88-2aeaf4b374cc Sun, 26 Feb 2023 16:41:30 GMT <div data-html="true">Luke 19:28-44 <br /><br /> “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> Today we are beginning our Easter season. We're beginning it by looking at the beginning of passion week for those who are pilgrims, who are followers of Jesus Christ. <br /><br /> Easter is the red circle in your faith calendar. Paul says the Easter. Is the reason that we follow him all of the other days too. And the greatest thing about Easter, celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the best thing about Easter is that Jesus is not dead right now. And so we take seriously this moment in our faith s our, our faith life, and we are gonna do that by focusing these six weeks upcoming to Easter, not letting it sneak up on us, but taking seriously our ride to this Easter. <br /><br /> 40% of the gospels are written, uh, in, in the Passion week, in the final week, 40% of the gospels. That's how important this final week of the coming of Christ at this moment in time is leading up to him receiving the cross and eventually rising from the dead. As mentioned, these, uh, Easter readings go alongside that we have in the Common Life Book and these Easter readings go alongside of that, uh, Collingswood campus and Mount Laurel campus. <br /><br /> We're doing this together. So welcome here, Mount Laurel. Welcome here in Collingswood. As we begin this time together, we're gonna do so, do so by reading in Luke 19. If you'll join me in Luke 19, and we'll start in verse 28, and here we see the triumphal entry. Of Christ into Jerusalem. And this triumphal entry of Christ into Jerusalem gives us beautiful ways of understanding how Christ himself approached this passion week, how Christ himself approached Easter. <br /><br /> So Luke 19, and we're gonna start with verse 28. And when he had said these things, he went on ahead going up to Jerusalem. When he drew near to Beth Phage and Bethany at the Mount that is called Olivet, he sent two of his disciples saying, watch the intentionality here. Go into the village that is in front of you. <br /><br /> Where on entering you will find a cult tide on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks, why are you untying it, you shall say this. The Lord has need of it. So those who were sent away found it just as he had told them. And as they were untying the cult, its owners said to them, why are you untying the cult? <br /><br /> And they said, the Lord has need of it. And they brought it to Jesus and throwing their cloaks on the cult. They set Jesus on it. And as he wrote along, they spread their cloaks on the road. And as he was drawing near already on the way down the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen saying, blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord. <br /><br /> Peace in heaven and glory in the highest. In some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, teacher rebuke your disciples. He answered, I tell you, if they were silent, the very stones would cry out. And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it saying what? That you even you had known on this day, the things that make you make for your peace, but now they're hidden from your eyes for the days will come upon you when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hand mute in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. <br /><br /> And they will not leave one stone upon another because you did not know the time of your visitation. Pray with me this morning. <br /><br /> Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest God. We walk in from so many different circumstances on the way here. Most of us this morning as we have tried to gather ourselves and get ourselves here, ha have entered what feels like lots of unspiritual territory, but there's not a one of us that doesn't long for this peace. <br /><br /> We thank you for Easter for what we know that it means and all that. We're still finding out what it means for our every day in the name of Jesus who rode to die. Amen. So this passage is the passage probably in your Bible. It says something about the triumphal entry. This is the passage where Jesus took himself and rode to Easter. <br /><br /> This moment begins passion week. He has come to Jerusalem to die. As we begin our journey to Easter, I just wanna point out three things. Of which we can learn from Christ of how he approached Easter so that we can take these six weeks approaching our Easter alongside of him as he took this time very seriously. <br /><br /> The first thing we see is here is that Jesus is king. He is the first office I want to mention. He is the warrior King. Jesus has been away from a Jerusalem for 18 months. He, most of what he has been doing is in small towns in the Galilee region up north. He's going from small town to small town to, to then the wilderness and everyone comes to meet him, and then he goes here, and then he goes over on the Sea of Galilee, over the Sea of Galilee, then back teaching healing. <br /><br /> But mostly in the outskirts, 18 months since he has been to Jerusalem, there is not a person in that region, whether you're near Jerusalem or you're up in the hills of Galilee, that you are not aware of the significance of Jesus, where he is, and the significance that Jesus is not in Jerusalem. He is this teacher. <br /><br /> He is this figure who people are trying to figure out. And eventually as he takes on the mantle and as he takes on the titles of being the Messiah, his gather his followers or gathering, there would not be many campfires that would exist around of people who are following this Jesus, who don't say, when is Jerusalem? <br /><br /> When does the king take on his crown? This is the moment where Jesus rides. To Jerusalem, and this ride entering in the Eastern gate is a declaration of war. This Messiah who comes is what people would have been looking for his whole life. We know that yes, that Christ came as a child and people's hopes were for him. <br /><br /> People's hopes were not for four year old Jesus. They were not for nine year old Jesus. They were not for 13 year old Jesus people's hopes for when the Messiah would finally come and when they can see him, they, they start to see their hopes begin to be lived out. But the real hope, the real moment that the, their looking for Messiah is when he would enter into these exact gates to become king. <br /><br /> The king had. To declare war. The priest is what has been prophesied. Isaiah 96 talks about this, his, his title that one, one of the titles that is given to Jesus is mighty God In this long list, pens of peace, everlasting father, mighty God is given. Uh, al cancer says this about this, this term, mighty God is used only for God himself, but now is being applied to the coming king. <br /><br /> The phrase has overtones of battle. Some translations call this warrior God. God is spoken of as Israel's warrior, the one who fights on their behalf, behalf. This king will come do the same. Ezekiel 44. Talks about where the Messiah would come. There's 11 gates around Jerusalem. Jerusalem is a heavy fortified city, but there are 11 gates that you can enter. <br /><br /> The gate, the Messiah would come through. Ezekiel 44 is the East Gate. The gate closest to the temple mount the gate gate closest to the Holy of Holies. It is the gate through which Christ himself. Comes and enters to take his throne. Zechariah nine nine, with the direct prophecy of this moment says this, rejoice greatly. <br /><br /> Daughter Zion. Shout daughter Jerusalem. See, your king comes to you. This is the moment. This is a verse that they pull out through the Torah to show their kids your king. He'll come. He comes to you. Righteous and victorious. Humble, and riding on a donkey, a cult, the full of a donkey. Now I love this prophecy, right? <br /><br /> Righteous and victorious. You can't be victorious without defeating. So, To have victory over something. Christ was coming to claim victory. He didn't come ultimately, which is what many would want from him, but he did not come to bring a new human empire where what that many of the worshipers were planning on him to come do that. <br /><br /> These empires are what they're cycl. They're endlessly fragile and they turn over from one to the next. Christ came to bring a lasting empire. He came to bring a whole new world. This is the whole nature of what we see over and over in the New Testament, the kingdom of God. He came to bring heaven, the realities of heaven to earth and taught us to pray. <br /><br /> Our Father, who is in heaven, hollow be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. He is coming and bringing the spiritual kingdom of God to change. History forever. In this next Passion week, what we will see in these upcoming weeks is there is a number of things that Jesus will rival against. <br /><br /> He will rival against spiritual abuse, religion without the Father. In Mark 11, as he drives people out of the temple saying, my house is a house of prayer, not a den of thieves. He will rival against pride as we see him take the towel and serve his disciples as a servant. He will rival against self-sufficiency as he will talk with Peter, and Peter will be so confident that he will be strong until the crows come. <br /><br /> Jesus' teaching and message are rivaling. They are seeking to be victorious. They are at war. And lastly, what Jesus came to war against is the separation caused by sin. . We see this spelled out in literally just about every single chapter in the rest of the New Testament that Jesus came to make to take on battle. <br /><br /> To say, I am coming straight in to that gate and I'm gonna go to what I see separates God and man, the sin of humanity. I'm gonna tear the curtain, the veil that is between God and man and the way he wages this war is he takes the knife to his own breast. It is his own blood that will be spilled, as he says, hate didn't win, fear doesn't win. <br /><br /> Prejudice, addiction, family trauma, and years of. Generational strongholds that the, the, the mentality of everyone clawing on top of each other, fighting for their own comforts or power that ultimately does not win the love of Jesus Christ as given through the Father by the blood of the Son, ultimately is victorious. <br /><br /> Easter is a declaration that God wins As we enter into Easter, head into this season and, and learning from this warrior, God, a, a couple things. I would say very simply, let's, let's approach Easter by being present. by, by being aware, right? Being, being somewhat conscious and we'll lose sight of it, right? <br /><br /> It uh, we won't be thinking, oh my goodness, it's 27 days to Easter. But as much as possible, let's enter with an awareness. An awareness that, that we are heading towards Easter. One of the things I love about the followers in this story is they were aware they were there. Jesus did not ride into Jerusalem on his own. <br /><br /> They were aware of what was going on. And secondly, to rejoice, we don't just have a feel good Jesus. We have a Jesus that does have power who declares with blood on his. His own blood on his hands that I have the power to claim victory over darkness. And so we rejoice. One of my favorite things about where Easter falls in our calendar is if you watch and be, be mindful this next six weeks, you'll be able to see things in nature around you. <br /><br /> That new life will be springing up. And let that remind you. Just recently I found a tiny little weed flower in my lawn that probably is not supposed to be there, but man, it was just this little flower and I was like, wow. Just that little thing. I don't know how it came up, why it came up here, but we had some warm days and it popped up. <br /><br /> So I probably didn't do the right thing. I just picked it, you know, it took it right to my wife, you know, look, I got this for you, but, but there's gonna be new life popping up all around. And don't let that just be a reminder of the nice, warm season of finally, the winter is starting to break. Let that be a reminder of the warrior God who didn't let things, didn't leave, things just cold, dark, and gray. <br /><br /> He came and he won. We celebrate his victory of the warrior. God, this Easter. , we see him ride in as the warrior God. We also, or Warrior King. We see him ride in as a foolish king. And I realize that that doesn't sound good. Um, when you read that on the PowerPoint, this is, this is coming from Paul. He talks in Corinthians that the message of Christ, how he came and the message of Christ lived out, has a foolishness to our natural instincts. <br /><br /> We look at it and it, there is some seeming folly from a human perspective. This is pretty much how he entered into Jerusalem. Now Jerusalem, he does come in through the Eastern gate. See these doors back here, right here that you probably entered through the sanctuary, the Eastern gate, the, the collective width of those doors is more than the Eastern gate that he would've ridden through for Jerusalem. <br /><br /> leading up to the Eastern gate, it is a uphill climb with some windy streets. I had the chance to be in Jerusalem. One of the things that was so remarkable to me is like, wow, this city was not built for some American SUVs. Everything is narrow and tight and built, um, very close by. This, this scene of Jesus going is, is not the, the, we just had the largest military parade in 2019. <br /><br /> It was in China and Tieman Square. Gman Square, and they had a hundred thousand different people as a part of this military parade. Right? That is the a grand scene. If you think like, how many people is that? Macy's Day Parade has a staff of 6,500, right? So you think, wow, all the intercontinental ballistic missiles and, and the, the jets and drones, and they had all these kinds of floats and things that they did. <br /><br /> That is a grand parade, a grand entrance. What's happening with Jesus who's coming to change the shape of the entire cosmos is pretty pathetic. I, I want to talk a moment about just the mechanics of this. Who is Jesus? How is Jesus entering? Jesus is entering on a cult, which that kind of sounds cool, right? <br /><br /> You could kind of see a knight on a cult. It's a cult of a donkey. Most donkeys could not handle the weight of a grown man. This is not a full grown donkey. So like I best, let's say we don't get the exact age teenage donkey, right? And I realize, you know, I don't know anything about teenage donkeys. I realize you don't know anything about teenage donkeys. <br /><br /> Okay? So let me tell you the tiny bit that I found out about teenage donkeys. One, yeah, they could not be ridden on two. If you get on top of the teenage donkey the first time and you're more weight than it's supposed to hold, the donkey's not gonna be like, I am filled with the Holy Spirit. I will have the energy to carry the son of. <br /><br /> The teenage donkey is like, what is going on? Right? Is going to be a messy scene. On top of that, people aren't throwing saddles on there and cinching, whatever you cinch on a saddle and putting the bit in there. They're throwing their coats on top of this donkey who has never been ridden, who has no concept of what is going on and is going up rocky, tight terrain with a whole bunch of people yelling at him. <br /><br /> That's the context of the donkey, right? This is who Jesus, his feet may have been dragging on the ground to get on the donkey. The text says people had to lift Jesus on the donkey. Imagine the mechanic. Some people are trying to hold this donkey. Some people are trying to throw coats on. Some people are trying to throw Jesus on. <br /><br /> The mechanics of this is not at all what the genie had for Aladdin, right? Coming into the city. The mechanics of this are a Zechariah prophesied, humble, intensely humble. There's no evidence that there was a permit bought that, that the Roman soldiers would line the place of so that they, he could get in through the Eastern gate. <br /><br /> Presumably, there's merchants all around. There's people traveling, coming and going. Annoyed by this scene. This may not even have been the largest SPECT spectacle on that day in Jerusalem. This moment, which for his followers carried this much weight, did not carry that much weight for everyone else. It is a scene that is not filled with gold red carpets and fanfare. <br /><br /> It's filled with palm branches, people's jackets on a winding road leading to a not that big of a gate. , it is a humble entry. What's interesting to me is as you look in the New Testament and you see so many of the miracles or the, the gospels and 40% of the gospels are about passion week, almost every single miracle that you will see outside of the resurrection will not happen in Passion Week. <br /><br /> Jesus does not come to to Jerusalem with his own show of power. He does not part the Yates and like the Red Sea, and has this moment. This moment is intentionally foolish in the eyes of the world. And the word I want to, words I just want to use is what Jesus came to do when he would take the towel on Thursday, when he would receive the cross on Friday, when he would not defend himself in this week. <br /><br /> And even as he enters into Jerusalem, Jesus rode to Easter, intentionally unprotected. You will see over and over. The gospel of John is so beautiful in this. What Jesus says he needs is the love of the Father. And he intentionally does not add a whole lot to that list. He intentionally lays down so many of the things that he could have brought to this moment. <br /><br /> He approaches Easter, intentionally unprotected. Something that I, I want us to think about as we approach Easter. And this is gonna be, gimme five minutes here cuz some of you, this is gonna be like, I'm trying to understand what you're saying, but to follow our foolish king in the eyes of the world to intentionally unprotect from the ways that we try to feel big, to choose to release the ways you've defended yourself or tried to satisfy your neurotic need for security and significance on your own. <br /><br /> And I, I put a lot of those big words in there on purpose. I'm one of the ones you're like neurotic. I do not have a neurotic need to feel safe or define significance on my own. Well I do. Um, and I think probably many of us do very simply to be intentional as we come to Easter that we're aware of how we try to make ourselves big. <br /><br /> You know, like on every nature show there's like, I don't know, some predator and some prey and like they both have this mechanism that these animals use to make themselves look big, right? Birds fluff up their feathers and like people do weird dances, like, or not, people, animals do these weird dances to try to intimidate each other and cats like somehow like do this weird thing which cats need no helping. <br /><br /> Intimidating, in my mind, I hate those things, but, um, except for your cat, your cat is perfect, but like the all animals have this way to make themselves look big. Well, I'm, I'm reading this book, my four-year-old just loves this book. About 10 things you need to know about elephants, and I'm reading about this elephants and, and the elephants are kind of fascinating. <br /><br /> You know, one of the reasons how elephants use their ears, yes, it's to flap themselves, you know what I mean? Like, uh, keep themselves cool. One of the primary functions that an elephant uses his ears is to make itself look big and intimidating. I'm like an elephant needs help looking big. Like even an elephant is trying to look bigger than itself. <br /><br /> Right, but that's in it's instinctual. No Mama elephant is training baby elephant by like flap. Look flap here. No, no. A little bit more on the left ear, you know, like, like do this. Right? No, it's instinctual. Even in elephants to try to make themselves look bigger, to try to elevate them themselves in the way they are to have a defense. <br /><br /> It is so instinctual in the human heart to try to look big. To try to look like we matter. As we think of a question, what do I think of when I answer the question? Am I impressive? What do we use to rank other people as be ahead or behind? , but these things in, in spiritual formation language, these are attachments, right? <br /><br /> Like, I feel like I am important because I have this, or I rank here, or I feel like I'm unor important and I self reject because I'm not, I don't have enough of this, or I don't rank high enough here. But these attachments that we have to define our very identity are core to us. And I know this is a, a little bit murky ground and some of you are like, I know exactly what I do inside of my heart and what I say to other people to try to appear impressive. <br /><br /> And some of you that, that might not come as clear, but I just wrote down some practical ways I think we can intentionally unprotect or unfriend ourselves towards Easter. If one of the ways you want to feel impressive or you're desiring to feel big is in your career or, or popularity or success in school, success in some way, and you can tend to see people as ways that you can get there. <br /><br /> How about far Easter? Take out three people who won't advance you in any possible way and get to know their story if, if your body or beauty is just a real point for you and you find yourself thinking and analyzing yourself how you look a lot and you really want to look better so that you can be impressive. <br /><br /> How about take half the time, think about how long do I take to get ready? Intentionally take half the time to get ready and use that time to pray for contentment in how God made. . If your thing is money and that, and you are always thinking, where's the four ohk? Where's the savings account and how does this rank among other people or my peers? <br /><br /> Or you meet with your friends and you think, okay, I'm a little higher, a little lower. If it's money that you use yourself to feel big, you need to find ways to give it away. If it's the image of your peers at church, right? A lot of us that like, okay, in your church environments or, or various, maybe it's your other environments and your image of how they look. <br /><br /> Find someone you love in that environment and tell 'em how you need help. My gosh, share your secrets. If it's, if it's how intelligent you are and, and you're holding, you hold this role perhaps in the family or, or in your workplace of you just had these really smart things to say and that that's a big way that you, you feel at the end of the day, you know what I'm, I'm. <br /><br /> I'm smarter than these people, or at least I'm on the smarter side of the ledger. Take six weeks intentionally. Don't offer advice or share your knowledge unless asked one time. What you're gonna find is you're gonna do it six times in the first day and then you're gonna be like, wow, how much do I rely on that to feel impressive? <br /><br /> And then you'll go to five and then four and realize, this is my elephant ears of trying to feel impressive. If it's how many people you help and how many ministries that you do say no once a week. And it's not easy. It's so in sync. And I know you're, you're saying like these are really weird specific applications. <br /><br /> And I realize that, and, and for some of you it's gonna be something different, but my encouragement as we follow Christ to Easter, it is to lay down some of the things we tried to impress of, because why it's so instinctual, right? Your parents did not teach you, your mom, your grandmom, your, your, your environment did not sit down and teach you. <br /><br /> Here's how you try to be impressive any more than Mama Elephant taught Baby elephant, how to put out the ears. It's instinctual. We all want to feel impressive and big to ourselves first and to others as well. But because it's so instinctual, we need to be so intentional. And so my encouragement leading up to Easter as we ride with Christ towards Easter, find a specific way. <br /><br /> Of saying, I'm going to unde defend, I'm going to unimpress. I'm going to take this specific step back in my life to try in my own devices, to find peace and be impressive. Oh, we, we understand that a little bit. Does that make sense? And some of you're like, dude, I'm not proud or trying to be impressive at all. <br /><br /> Well, thank you for that cathartic moment because I really am right. This takes, and it takes intentionality to rival our own sense of trying to be impressive on our own. Lastly, and third, the weeping king at a Professor Crawford Lures great pastor. He asked the question, he, he said, what makes you pound the table and weep? <br /><br /> And that was his sense. Well, that's where your calling is, right? Or you've heard the quote when your, your great longing in the world's great hunger. Where they meet is what you're calling is. We see here a weeping Christ. Christ wept three times that we know about in in the scripture. In this one, he is weeping aloud. <br /><br /> These are not cute tears, cute man cry that's happening. The Christ, after the scene turns around, presumably before he goes through the gates and the worshipers are still there on that crowded street and openly weeps, and he says, if you even you had known on this day what would bring you peace, what is Christ? <br /><br /> Pound the table and weep about as he goes to Easter. It, it's not just, oh, my people won't behave, or, oh, that guy won't share Christ with his coworker. He weeps. When we don't realize how much peace he really offers, how much peace he really gives, he will punctuate this exact message. All week on Thursday. <br /><br /> He says, peace I leave with you. My peace I give you. Don't let your hearts be troubled. Do not be afraid. The first times he sees his friends after, after, uh, after he's been resurrected, right? And they all gathered, it's his big resurrection moment with his disciples. First thing he says, peace to you. How do we ride to Christ with this weeping king who wants to offer peace to his people? <br /><br /> I don't know, a more creative, more effective, or whatever way to find peace with God than to simply be with him And, and why we're doing language of, of saying, okay, these are ways we find false peace by trying to be impressive. And why? How do we lay aside some of these impressive things? What we, what we try to find our impressives is to make room. <br /><br /> To say, Hey, if I starve this, my attachment to how I look, my attachment to how important I am in the company, my attachment to these things, if I starve that a little bit, cuz I know that's fake and doesn't last anyway, it leaves some opening to spend that time, spend that energy to find Christ. And there there is peace. <br /><br /> How do we ride with Christ to Easter? We follow his tears. And what does tears say if is this? If you verse 42, even you had only known what would bring you peace. We ride with Christ desperately seeking true peace in him and warring against false security that will crumble soon anyway <br /><br /> as we spend time with him. This is what his presence is like. And I realize some of you're like, I pray and it hits the ceiling, and sometimes I wonder if he even gets that far right. I, as you seek and spend time with Christ real quick is what I would suggest. How has he made you? How has he uniquely formed you? <br /><br /> Some of you're like, well, I don't, I have trouble sitting on my knees and praying, but man, do I love being in nature. Be in nature, go be with God there. Some of you say like I have, you know, I, I have the hardest time with attention. I try to do the 30 minute Devotional every single day. I would say, ah, you know what, there's one guy, dear friend of mine, he said he had the hardest time praying. <br /><br /> He just couldn't pray. He has, he has adhd, and it was just a big struggle for him. He couldn't pray because he couldn't stay still that long in prioritized stillness. He would walk and pray. He turned into, to this day, perhaps the greatest prayer warrior I have ever known, and he said, what changed my life is I just had to. <br /><br /> Walk like everything else in my life. If you're a writer, writer, pray to God. Start with dear father. If you're a person who's like, I am so spiritually confused, I can't stand up from now. Find a trusted friend, pursue spiritual direction. I don't know what it means for us to prioritize our time with Christ, but I would ask starve a little and feast a little, and in that we find a pure, beautiful way to a little more understand what deaths and what resurrection are all about because they exist without the other in the Christian life. <br /><br /> Won't you stand with us? I'm, I'm gonna conclude. I know we've, we're in time. <br /><br /> Dear friends, Mount Laurel, dear friends online and in Collingswood this morning, very simply, as we head towards Easter, may we ride to Easter together with Christ. May we, may we war for true peace. May we intentionally unprotect from our own devices that we falsely use to find our homes in our identity, image, comfort, or pride. <br /><br /> May we journey to Easter with the living resurrected no longer dead? Jesus, may we speak with the deep assurance of Paul, that he is our peace and with the open-hearted pilgrims who approach Peter, sir, we would see Jesus. We are dismissed.</div> false no <![CDATA[God-Endorsed Bible Reading]]> Acts 17:10-15

They received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.



Sermon Transcript:

I invite you to take your Bibles to the Book of Acts. As we return to our series acts, the spirit at work to the ends of the Earth.

We're gonna look at Acts chapter 17 this morning, beginning at verse 10, down through verse 15. While you're turning, I want to highlight what Jared mentioned earlier. This is, uh, the book that he was talking about. It is, uh, 58 59 pages long. It is called Following Jesus Through Passion Week. It is a guide to lead you over the next seven Sundays.

And during those seven weeks in preparation for the celebration of Easter, it has in it, um, we have a team of people that have written a number of articles. There are daily readings, five days a week, all related to the particular day of passion Week, for instance. The first week is all about the events of the, of Sunday Palm Sunday.

The second one is about Monday and so forth, all the way up till Easter Sunday. And so each of the weeks have different readings. There are, for those of you that are like me, that like maps, there's maps of Jerusalem when it talks about Jesus did this on Monday. Well, where is that and how does that fit in the, in the, uh, the whole Jerusalem scene?

Where did these things take place? That happened on Monday and so forth each day of the week. Um, there are, there are pictures. There are, there is activities in here that you can do with your kids now. To be honest with you, we are not going to die if you don't contribute the $3. Uh, our church won't go under.

That is the cost that it was to produce these. But it's been my experience that if we put a little money out, it matters to us. And that's why I always charge when we do those Friday night, Saturday night seminars, uh, that I've done a number of over the years, I charge $5. Uh, we don't make anything on those things, but I just think it's a way of saying, yeah, I okay this, this is worth it.

I hope you'll feel that way. They're at the counter, what are they called? The hub this morning. Uh, I think you'll find this a guide that will lead you effectively if you are someone that follow. Uh, uh, the readings of Lent, uh, that begins this Wednesday historically. And again, this is a perfect week to begin this se This study will take you right up through Easter Sunday.

I hope you'll at least take a look at it. Love to have you, uh, following along in it. Uh, you might want to get one for if you're married, for both of you. I would suggest that I know Marian and I are not gonna fight over one copy. Um, and just hope it'll really be a tool. A lot of work has gone into it.

Some of the people probably gonna forget some of the people that have wrote, written in this. I wrote in it also, um, pastor Ben, um, uh, uh, faith Parker, my wife Marion, um, uh, dogs. I knew I shouldn't have done this off the Sly . Uh, I know Randy Pittman, Mike Candy have had a part in this. Um, there are other, uh, Lisa Myers has written an art.

Some of these, uh, anyway. There's, uh, they're, they're good. I mean, I, I, at least I'll say this, the ones I didn't write I think are fantastic. Um, alright, let's go to Acts chapter 17. I'm gonna read verse 10 through 15. Here's what we read.

The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to be, and when they arrived, they went into the Jew Jewish synagogue. Now, there were Jew. These Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonika. They received the word with all eagerness, examining the scriptures daily to see if these things were so many of them, therefore believed with not a few Greek women of high standing as well as men.

But when the Jews from Thessalonika learned that the word of God was proclaimed by Paul at be also, they came there too, agitating and stirring up the crowds. Then the brothers immediately sent Paul off on his way to the sea. But Silas and Timothy remained there. Those who conducted, Paul brought him as far as Athens, and after receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible, they departed.

Let's pray together. Lord, we come to the Word of God. We come to be taught Lord and God, I pray as we consider this passage and these people in this little city of Berea, that Lord, we might embrace the reason for which I believe this passage is put there to, and it would be used to speak into our lives as well and our response to the scriptures.

So, Lord, be our teacher today, I pray. I also pray for the men's retreat as they're finishing up at 10 o'clock. Their. Their final session of four. Lord, do continue your work in guys' lives up there, even as we ask that you would be moving among us this morning. In Jesus' name, amen. I wanna bring up a map this morning.

Just give context to where we are. Uh, basically what we're doing here is we are following the Apostle Paul and some of his friends. Uh, I'm gonna take, choose this map and this one, or I'm gonna go, actually he didn't travel from here to here, but if you look up there, actually right up there is the city of Philippi.

Um, Then they have the city of Thessalonica. Then we're coming to this more of a town really, of bere. And Paul has been traveling, uh, through, this is modern day Turkey, way over to the right here, this stuff. Um, and that is, uh, called Asia in that time. And Paul has come up through there. Up there is a location called, uh, Cho as, or we know it as Troy historically.

And basically they have embarked, gone across the agency and have come to Philippi, then Thea, then now to Berea. It's an interesting thing that as we follow Paul, uh, and, and particularly the record of Luke who wrote the book of Acts, he gives us the story. Uh, what happened in Philippi and the founding of the church, which is really cool because Paul then writes a letter to the Philippians in order that we can get a snapshot of, okay, we read in the book of Acts how this church started, now what's going on in the church.

And Paul addresses a lot of the people by name. He gives experiences. So we see not only the founding the church, but you also see the life and practice of the church. We do the same thing with Thessalonica. You come to the city of Thessalonica, as Joe, pastor Joe mentioned last Sunday, a city of 200,000 people, uh, the capital city of, uh, part of northern Greece.

And. Again, we have two letters to the Thessalonians as we again see Paul, which he wrote very soon, not, not long after, uh, he visited Thessalonika. And we see again the starting of the church. And then we see the development of church. It all makes sense. We're gonna see that in other cities as well.

Ephesus, Colossi, um, uh, uh, Corinth. And now we come to this town called Bea. And so we excitedly look in the New Testament to the letter of the be to the Bri. An of course there is no letter to the Bri. So we said, why did Luke include this little story about this little town, which probably was among a number that Paul went in, but he's giving us a record here of this town.

And the question very simply is why? , why? Tell us about the brands. You're not even gonna write a letter to them later on. You're not gonna have lots of contact. Um, although certainly there's probably some, but he's traveled 50 miles from Thessalonica, so 50 miles walking is a, is a big separating thing. So it's a, it's a little town in itself.

And I think the clear answer is found in the first couple of verses. It is the be's response to the scripture and to the preaching of Paul and the other men with him that is both unique and compelling. Last week, pastor Joe preached about the many ways Paul and his team had proclaimed the scriptures in Thessalonica.

That's the first nine verses of first, uh, of chapter 17. We saw words like he used reasoning and explaining and dialoguing and, and, and proving all different ways. As Joe, really, I felt. Effectively pointed out of communicating the truth and the gospel. Now we come to the bres and we see the other side of the story.

Here we see people who responded to the scriptures in a particular way. Now, it's interesting that the ones he's talking about in verse 11 and and and 12, it says, of the Jews that were in Thessalonica, they were there in Bea. And it's a direct contrast to the Jews in Thessalonica. And he says, he makes a statement.

He says, the Jews in Berea responded differently. To the Jews and Thesal and Iah to the, to the scriptures. Both of them knew the Old Testament. Paul is gonna be preaching from the Old Testament. That's all you had. You didn't have any New Testament yet. He is preaching from the Old Testament and he is telling them about how the Old Testament pointed the way to Christ.

And he, and what we read about the Thessalonian Jews, their response was one of, uh, close-mindedness. Basically, as you look at that passage, you see that they are individuals that are debating Paul every step of the way. They are protecting their own religious church, ch their own religious turf. They're not really interested to hear.

But here in Bria, Luke describes them by the term they are more noble. The word noble or honorable actually here is the exact Greek word eugenics. They have the right eugenics. If you don't, the study eugenics is you means good. And gen is genes. They had the right genes. No, it's not talking. A study of eugenics, of course, is trying to, to inbreed in such a way that you, you know, you keep the right genes, you, it's a way of doing it with animals.

It certainly is a way some people have talked, um, can be done with humans, that you're trying to get people with the best genes to have the best race. The, the Nazis were known for trying to, uh, do experiments to that. But here we're talking about spiritual genes. They're saying these are, these are noble people.

The way they responded has the, the endorsement of heaven upon them, that God looks favorably the way these bes responded to the scriptures. So our simple focus this morning is, What are the characteristics of people that have God's endorsement for the way they approach and read the Bible? And that's what I'd like to share this morning.

Four characteristics of people that have God's endorsement for their Bible reading. Number one, they approach the scriptures with a teachable spirit. They're open to being taught. If you'll notice here in verse 11, it says, well, I'll start at verse 10. Then the brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived, they went into the Jewish synagogue.

Now, these Jews were more noble than those. In Thea. They received the word with all eagerness. They received the word. This word is, is they were open to be taught. It's interesting. This is a particular phrase that is used in the Book of Acts. As a matter of fact, in Acts chapter eight, it says The, the believers in Jerusalem were shocked to hear.

That the Samaritans received the word they were buying in, they were embracing it. In chapter 11, it says again, the J, the Judean believers were amazed to hear that the Gentiles were receiving the word, that they were embracing it. Later, Paul will write to some of the believers in Thessalonika. In First Thessalonians tur through two 13, he'll use this phrase again and he'll say, when you receive the word of God, you accepted it, not as the word of men, but as what it really is.

The word of God, which is at work and you believers. Now, maybe this is an interesting concept to you. That's so important about how people receive the word of God. Maybe you hear and, and you're thinking, well, you know, I, this is a question I have about Christianity, especially you Born again or you, you guys that, that are all carrying your Bible and talking.

I mean, do you know that most religious groups, or at least a lot of them have their own book too? I mean, it's great to have a holy book, you know, a book that gives you the rules and the regulations and principles and the concepts of, of how to do your religion. I mean, the Mormons have the Book of Mormon.

The Muslims have the Korean, the Hindus have the gida. But you Christians act like it is not just a record of directives and worship and religious lifestyle, but like God routed or something.

We really do. We really look at this. As not the words of men. Yes, men were led by the spirit. Matter of fact, it says in first Peter that that that holy men of God spoke by the, the breathing of God. And the word there actually talks about how they were it. It says, and they were moved by the spirit. The word moved is used of a sail that has its wind.

The wind comes and fills the sail and moves it forward. We really believe that God move. These individuals use their personalities, how they're wired, their background, their vocabulary, all that stuff, but that the spirit of God move them to right the very words of God. We really believe that the living God, the creator of the universe, the one who controls tsunamis and meteor showers, the one who is aware of every bird that falls from a telephone wire and that counts the hairs of your head, has chosen to talk.

To humans, and there's lots of ways he could have done it. I mean, he could have done it with this thunderous V voice that was loud enough to be heard all over the planet. He could have done it with a thousand mile billboard in the sky and written what he wanted to have said. He could have done it by some cosmic mind power that spoke his information into our brains.

He could have done all those things and a million dollar that you could come up with,

but he chose to give scripture to speak it into a book, a book that he describes as living as something that that speaks even to millennia later into our lives. and those who know him as their father have found it to be the guiding source of light and life to our daily experience. We embrace it. We receive the word, but it says something else that says, those who really come with the endorsement of heaven on the way they approach the scripture, they don't come just with a heart to be taught.

They are eager to be taught. He says they come with all eagerness. Uh, there is an eagerness. There is an anticipation. They receive the word of God with this eagerness, we do it because we have found the scripture. are fathomless. They are bottomless in what they offer. I've told this story before about my father-in-law.

He led a guy named Zeke up in northern Michigan. And this guy, it was the beginning of winter or it was actually into winter, and winter's up there, a serious stuff, 200 inches of snow is not uncommon. And so Zeke had a small house, almost a, like a cabin. Uh, and, and so my dad led Zeke to the Lord and Ze, and he gave him a Bible, and Zeke disappeared into the cabin had, and Dad didn't see him for seven weeks.

And they came across each other and he said to Zeke, he said, Zeke, hey, you've been reading that Bible I gave you? He says, oh, yeah, yeah, I finished. He said, he says, you finished the Bible. I mean, I mean the Bible, the whole Bible, the whole book, you know? And he said, oh yeah, I read the whole thing. He said, he said, so my father didn't even know what to say.

So he said, well, yeah, I finished the whole book, but I'm gonna read it again. I think I missed a few points.

if you're a Christian, you laugh because you know the Bible is there. There's no way to plumb the depths of this truth that even the scriptures, you know, you come to it again and, and you see in your Bible how God spoke to you on this date and this way with this verse. But you find out, here it is again, I'm here and there's a new application of this, this, this verse of among tens of thousands of verses.

Why? Because it's alive. Because it is God still speaking through his word. And so God's people come to the scriptures with an eagerness. That noble approaches to truth means that you come knowing there is a bottomless cache of truth to draw from. You know that here today, I might find a promise to claim or an example to follow, or ASC sin to confess, or a lesson to learn or a truth about God to delight and worship him for.

And we come to the scriptures eager for God to speak. This cosmic ruling transcendent God to speak personally into our lives. These bes Jews that had been waiting for the Messiah were hungry to hear the scriptures spoken to them, and I'm gonna come back to that because this was not a small thing for them.

The first thing we find, we come with a teachable spirit. Secondly, We come with questions. You'll notice it says in the next phrase, they came examining the scriptures. I love this. The word examining is used in Luke 23 verse thir 14. You brought me this man as one who was misleading the people, and after examining him before you, behold, I did not find this man guilty of any of your charges against him.

What's he saying? He says, you brought me Jesus. And I've questioned him, man, I've, I've worked him over, I've, I've drilled him with my questions and I, I've heard what you said. And this guy is not what you say. His goals are not the way you're talking. I, I just don't see it. I don't see, after my examination journaling with all my questions, I, I don't see it.

God endorsed Noble Bible reading is to come with a questioning spirit to the scripture all the time. My favorite preacher of actually the last 40 years is Tim Keller in Manhattan, Redeemer Church. I'm very excited that Tim Keller, uh, grudgingly has allowed a biography to be written about him. It's now out and I've been reading it, and the biography is, I, I love it.

Uh, I hope you'll love it if you get it. Um, but basically one of the chapters was fascinating to me because in one of the chapters it's talking about the individual that helped him. Know how to, to get into the scriptures. It's called, uh, the woman who taught Tim to study the Bible. It's a woman named Barbara Boyd.

And Barbara Boyd was on the inner varsity staff. Um, he, uh, Tim was a student at Bucknell University in college and Boyd in a, a particular group. When she gathered a bunch of the students together in the inner varsity group, which of which he was a leader of on the campus as just a college kid. She was teaching them how to get into the scriptures.

And so she brought them together one time, and what she did was she gave them a verse, and the verse was, mark one 17, where it says, and Jesus said to them, follow me and I'll make you fishers of men. And she said, I want you to find 50 things from that passage in the next 30 minutes. Well, that's not a long verse.

But she, and so after 10 minutes, most of the kids would be like, most of us, you know, they just thought, ah, I'm done. I'm, I'm a fast learner. I, I move quick. And I, I didn't come up with 50 of course, but I've, I've, I, I have reached the, the bottom of this baby. And she said, no, stay at it. And they stayed at it, and then 10 minutes more.

And they stayed all the way to 30 minutes. And finally they got done. And Tim Keller records the story. And at the end of it, Barbara Boyd asked this question. She said, did any of you record your most powerful takeaway during the opening few minutes of the exercise? And Tim said, I didn't, but I looked around the room and he said, I was stunned.

Nobody raised their hand. He said, every one of us had looked at it and we read it and we processed it and we thought we had it. But he used this analogy. He said, no one finds the deepest veins of gold at the mouth of the cave. You find the greatest treasures. After thorough exploration, Boyd challenged them to read through the passage at least twice.

In the second reading, she said, slow down and observe what's there. Start asking questions. Where is this happening? When? Who are these people? How would they feel with what's going on? What's the big focus of the passage? What is God saying here? What is he saying to you right now through it? What do you learn about God, about yourself?

She question, question, question, question, question, question, question, question.

You can come to your Bible reading and you can zip through and you can check the chart off, and you can read through the Bible two times a year. You can be Zeke and read through in seven weeks, but you're gonna miss a lot of points. You're gonna miss a lot of points out of the passage. We come with questions.

We, we get involved in it, we process it. We think about what's going on. This past week in our community group, we started a study in the book of Mark and I just, uh, started it by giving an overview of the, the purpose of the book of Mark in comparison with the other gospels. And I just quickly said, you know, here are the four gospels and I did different characteristics.

I said the bo gospel of Matthew was written, um, and basically it was written to the juice. In contrast to the other gospels, it has 60 different Old Testament prophecies that point to Christ. What he's trying to say is, this is the guy, this is the guy to you Jews who have been waiting all your life. This is the king in the, in the genealogy of Matthew.

It's pointing about the, the, the royal heritage of Jesus to take the, be the claimant for the throne. I talked about how it was, was written for the Jew. Uh, Jesus is the king, is the focus. I talked about the Gospel of Luke, how the Gospel of Luke focuses particularly on the humanity of Christ and his approachableness.

And, and Luke is writing primarily for a grand ti a, a Greek and Gentile audience. He's trying to say salvation is for everybody, but he's talking about the approachableness of Christ. It's interesting, most of the films, the, the chosen, the, uh, The Jesus film are built on the gospel of Luke because it presents Christ in his humanity as a reflection of the Godhead in human form the most.

I talked about the Gospel of John written 30 years after the other gospels, and how it really isn't a history book like the others are. It is more presenting a theology. It's presenting not Jesus the man so much as Jesus got. It's where those seven great I am chapters are. I am the bread of life. I am the good shepherd.

I am the light of the world. All those realities he's talking about, he's showing the greatness of God and it is a gospel track. He says there these things are written that you might believe that Jesus of Christ and and that believing you might have life through His name. John says the purpose of this book, and he was writing there for all peoples at that time.

So we come to the gospel of Mark, and here's this gospel that is, is written by John Mark, but it's written with the, the testimony and the stories of Peter speaking into him. And he's writing about a Jesus that a Roman world most identifies with the book is active very immediately. Romans were not people that tended to be readers or thinkers, certainly philosophizer or processors like the Greeks.

And so he is writing an action book. There's not many teachings of Jesus in the gospel of Mark compared to some of the others. It's an action book. But what is the focus of the gospel of Mark is Jesus as the servant that he is not. Again, who's he speaking to? The Romans. What do they worship? Power, strength.

And he said he didn't come to be served. He came to served to me. Gospel Mark is, is. What every American should memorize. It's just every Christian should memorize. In America where we are, we are, we are looking at power and we have embraced the cultural value of power and, and lust and greed. And it's why we wonder why the church isn't making a difference in the world.

Well, gospel Mark is saying no. The, the theme of the gospel of Mark is he's the servant. So we said all this and, and uh, so we're in the group and I've presented all this and one of the guys in our group says he's a strategic thinker. And he says, so, so did these guys talk with each other? Like, you got the Jews, I got the Romans.

You speak to the Greeks. It was a great question. So we spent some time thinking about, we're processing, we were looking at the timeframes when they wrote, where they ministered. Just trying to think about a little bit. And in my mind we didn't really come to a conclusion. We just had some. Then somebody else asked, one of our girls asked, um, a question, when was Mark written exactly in light of what's taking place in the book of Acts?

You know, where does it fit with what Paul's doing in taking the gospel? And so we talked about that historically, where that was and what was going on in the churches when he's writing this gospel. So we're asking questions and I'm, I'm excited cause I'm thinking this is what it is. This is what Bible reading and Bible reflection is about.

The best part of the story was, we're about 10 minutes after the original question. You know, how do these guys relate to each other? We've long since left that and all of a sudden we, this guy comes back and he says, I'm sure they did talk to each other, how to know. I mean, somewhere he'd taken an exit out, the whole conversation.

He was over here still with Matthew, mark, Luke, and John. This is what Bible reading is. We climb in, we say, I wanna think with these guys, I wanna feel with these people. I wanna understand, I wanna embrace, as Paul is writing these theological concepts, what are they thinking? What is he saying? Why is he saying that to them?

At this point, these bes examined stuff, they said, oh, thanks Paul. You say Jesus is Messiah. We're in, by the way, who's Jesus? What Old Testament passage you talking about? No, they wanted to see. They wanted to process. They asked their questions. If you're not a question asker, you're not a Bible reader.

You're not really, I don't mean to be this caustically, but. You're not approaching it. Noble, noble, honorably with, with the right genes is to ask our questions and, and get in there and process in here. Okay? The third one with consistency, notice what it says. They examine these, the things daily. You know the reason, there's a reason the scriptures are called the Food of the Christian.

In one Peter two, Peter talks about it when you're a new Christian. He says, you need the milk of the word. In Hebrews five, the author is rebuking Christians, and he says, when for the amount of time you've been Christians, you ought to be eating the meat of the word. You're still having to drink milk because you're not exercising yourself with the truth and growing by it.

Jesus said it this way in Matthew chapter four. Men shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Every parent knows that when their child isn't eating and they're losing weight, that it's serious. There's something wrong. They're malnourished. They may end up back in the hospital having to be stuck on an IV to, to build their strength.

We will be malnourished Christians if we don't come regularly to the scriptures regularly allowing the Bible to speak into. I love the story of the Billy Graham crusade team, where they had a principle, again, taking this idea that the scriptures were the bread of God and they had a practice and they all agreed on it together.

These were the prime leaders, the George Beverly Sha, the Latent Ford, and uh, well Billy, and basically they had no bread before bread. That was just their covenant with each other before we eat breakfast. We're gonna be in the word. We're just gonna let God speak into our lives. The psalmist says it this way, the very first verse of the very first Psalm, and it's laying the groundwork for the whole book of Psalms.

Blessed is the man who walks not in the council of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord and on his law, he meditates day and night. Without regular time in the scriptures, we won't even be able to distinguish what in the Bible, what is in the Bible and what's not will do things like this.

My mother always quoted it, quoted the verse, cleanliness is next to godliness, and I know it's in the Bible. The book of, uh, well, I'll tell you the book. It's the book of Ben Franklin. Or there may be the phrase, God helps those who help themselves. Well, that's right. Out of second cute quotes, nine one that's not in the Bible.

How do we know we're in it? We're imbibing it. We're drinking it. We're living in it. Just like the brilliant, the last thing with a passion to see and apply. They did this to see if these things were so, these guys were excited to hear what Paul had to say. He was expounding the Old Testament scriptures to them pointing to Jesus as the fulfillment of those scriptures.

If Paul is right, It changes the whole trajectory of their lives, which change how they viewed their system of religious practice, the sacrifices, the feast, dayss, the Sabbath, their view of Gentiles. Everything would be topsy turvy, just like it became for the Jewish believers in Christ in Judea, thess were not game.

They felt threatened. They were contentious. They got jealous. Noble Bible reading is courageous. It says this,

I'm coming to this Bible and I want to hear God today. I want him to speak into my life. I'm willing to be ruffled. I'm willing to be challenged. I'm willing to be scared with what I'm being asked. If God wants me to start tithing my money as I read the scripture, of course I will. I don't know how I will, but I will.

If God shows me to break up with my boyfriend, of course I will. Whatever God shows me, whatever God wants of me, whatever he calls me to do, when I see it, I'll do it. And I am determined to be connected to God's voice, so he is leading me, directing me so he can then use me. It's reading a story recently.

It's from World War ii. It's a story of the battleship, the big Bismarck. It was the most powerful naval vessel in the world, the German vessel. The Nazis now control. And in 1939, the Bismarck was off the coast of, of England. It was in North Sea and basically was a new ship. And it was a ship, uh, uh, uh, totally dominating in, in the world, in the naval world.

It had 15 inch guns. Its top speed was 30 knots, which as I researched it means this ship, this giant ship goes 35 miles an hour. I mean, that's fast. Going to 35 miles an hour on the water and on no, on May 24th, 1941. After continually defeating numerous, uh, particularly British ships cuz they had had the naval power in the world.

A British reconnaissance plane identified the, the Bismarck and. Contacted Naval Headquarters and they got a ship, a battleship for the British, the hood to go after it. And in a one-on-one conflict, the hood was completely obliterated, sunk, and it sunk so quickly. Out of the 2000 sailors, three survived.

Bismarck was a scary ship, but as the Bismarck continued and now they again tried to send, uh, more British ships after it, they noticed from the aerial reconnaissance that it was, it was following, uh, a illogical course. It just seemed to sort of go one way and then another way. And an actu. So, as a matter of fact, as the British ships now came upon them, uh, what the Bismarck always had been able to do before, it was not only the biggest baddest of the ships, it was the fastest.

So when it was completely outnumbered, it just got away. , but it had speed and it started to go, but then it actually turned and came back towards the British squadron of ships. What no one knew was that after the hood had been defeated by the Bismarck, a recon complain that also was a torpedo plane, had a couple of torpedoes and just shot 'em at the Bismarck.

It, it was so big, nobody knew that would never sink it. But what nobody knew was that one of the torpedoes hit the rudder and the rudder was disconnected from the ship. And so the Bismarck was now a rudderless monster ship surrounded by others. Too many ships to take on all at once, but it could not escape because they could not control themselves.

They were a sitting duck. And actually the Bismarck was sunk because of it all because it's rudder. Was disconnected.

There's a lot of us Christians that are living rudderless. We are not connected to the thing that can turn our lives and change our lives and direct our lives and bring control to our lives. We're more like a fat party boat, just sort of going along, living life, moving forward. But we're not in a party.

We're in a war and we have an enemy that is again, and we are called to be the Church of Christ called to make a difference in our generation. And if you know Christ is your savior and you're not in heaven yet, which if you're here is likely. You are in war. You are still in the fatigues and, and, and, and are Arsenal.

And God is saying to you, you know what? I still can do it through you. You're still on my list. But we have to be connected to the rudder of the scriptures in what direct our lives, in what controls our lives.

There has to be a passion, a renewed passion at God. I'll come to the scriptures and I'm willing to do whatever you're telling me to do. I wanna orient my life. I wanna live my life under the scriptures, and I'm gonna make it the primary voice into my life. And I'm gonna stop the priority of having time for sports radio or the market reports, or the political hot takes, or the pop culture of gossip.

We're not wanting to miss the next episode of which flicks series I'm on, say, God, I want to be a noble Christian. I wanna be a Christian. That's like theses that just says, God, I hunger to hear you. I hunger to be connected to the rudder of truth, that you can direct me in this generation to make a difference for your kingdom to your glory.

These people were all in. We have no sense that they were anything special. and some of the other places, they talk all about this and that these individuals were just people, these Jewish people in these synagogues that just said, I want the scriptures to speak into my life. I'm gonna embrace it every day.

I'm gonna come with my questions and eagerly say, God, I make time to brush my teeth every day. Everybody's glad I make time to, to catch the reports. I make time to get there on work, at work every day so I don't lose my job. I make time to catch the bus so I don't get in trouble with my parents that I missed the bus for the ninth day again, uh, this semester, and they're gonna drive me.

I will place you and your voice as a priority in my life. I'll be eager, I'll be responsive. These people wanted to hear God, obey God, be connected to God, so they sought the voice of God every day. He was a rudder. He led them and he used them. God help us to want to be that way. Lord, we come to you this morning.

I think for me, Lord, often when I hear the word bes, I think of every adult Sunday school class that's named themselves after them. And I forget that this was just a group of people that love to hear you speak into their lives. I want to be like that, Lord. It's not a person in this room that knows Christ is their savior, that you do not still plan to use their lives for your glory.

God, connect us to the rudder of the scriptures. Let us be listeners. Let us be o bears.

Lord, to thank you. You want us? Thank you for the scriptures. In Jesus' name, amen. Now go on. Peace to love and serve. Enjoy the.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/god-endorsed-bible-reading b0786b74-8a7d-4b19-9222-0bda5993bd09 Sun, 19 Feb 2023 11:36:39 GMT <div data-html="true">Acts 17:10-15 <br /><br /> They received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> I invite you to take your Bibles to the Book of Acts. As we return to our series acts, the spirit at work to the ends of the Earth. <br /><br /> We're gonna look at Acts chapter 17 this morning, beginning at verse 10, down through verse 15. While you're turning, I want to highlight what Jared mentioned earlier. This is, uh, the book that he was talking about. It is, uh, 58 59 pages long. It is called Following Jesus Through Passion Week. It is a guide to lead you over the next seven Sundays. <br /><br /> And during those seven weeks in preparation for the celebration of Easter, it has in it, um, we have a team of people that have written a number of articles. There are daily readings, five days a week, all related to the particular day of passion Week, for instance. The first week is all about the events of the, of Sunday Palm Sunday. <br /><br /> The second one is about Monday and so forth, all the way up till Easter Sunday. And so each of the weeks have different readings. There are, for those of you that are like me, that like maps, there's maps of Jerusalem when it talks about Jesus did this on Monday. Well, where is that and how does that fit in the, in the, uh, the whole Jerusalem scene? <br /><br /> Where did these things take place? That happened on Monday and so forth each day of the week. Um, there are, there are pictures. There are, there is activities in here that you can do with your kids now. To be honest with you, we are not going to die if you don't contribute the $3. Uh, our church won't go under. <br /><br /> That is the cost that it was to produce these. But it's been my experience that if we put a little money out, it matters to us. And that's why I always charge when we do those Friday night, Saturday night seminars, uh, that I've done a number of over the years, I charge $5. Uh, we don't make anything on those things, but I just think it's a way of saying, yeah, I okay this, this is worth it. <br /><br /> I hope you'll feel that way. They're at the counter, what are they called? The hub this morning. Uh, I think you'll find this a guide that will lead you effectively if you are someone that follow. Uh, uh, the readings of Lent, uh, that begins this Wednesday historically. And again, this is a perfect week to begin this se This study will take you right up through Easter Sunday. <br /><br /> I hope you'll at least take a look at it. Love to have you, uh, following along in it. Uh, you might want to get one for if you're married, for both of you. I would suggest that I know Marian and I are not gonna fight over one copy. Um, and just hope it'll really be a tool. A lot of work has gone into it. <br /><br /> Some of the people probably gonna forget some of the people that have wrote, written in this. I wrote in it also, um, pastor Ben, um, uh, uh, faith Parker, my wife Marion, um, uh, dogs. I knew I shouldn't have done this off the Sly . Uh, I know Randy Pittman, Mike Candy have had a part in this. Um, there are other, uh, Lisa Myers has written an art. <br /><br /> Some of these, uh, anyway. There's, uh, they're, they're good. I mean, I, I, at least I'll say this, the ones I didn't write I think are fantastic. Um, alright, let's go to Acts chapter 17. I'm gonna read verse 10 through 15. Here's what we read. <br /><br /> The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to be, and when they arrived, they went into the Jew Jewish synagogue. Now, there were Jew. These Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonika. They received the word with all eagerness, examining the scriptures daily to see if these things were so many of them, therefore believed with not a few Greek women of high standing as well as men. <br /><br /> But when the Jews from Thessalonika learned that the word of God was proclaimed by Paul at be also, they came there too, agitating and stirring up the crowds. Then the brothers immediately sent Paul off on his way to the sea. But Silas and Timothy remained there. Those who conducted, Paul brought him as far as Athens, and after receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible, they departed. <br /><br /> Let's pray together. Lord, we come to the Word of God. We come to be taught Lord and God, I pray as we consider this passage and these people in this little city of Berea, that Lord, we might embrace the reason for which I believe this passage is put there to, and it would be used to speak into our lives as well and our response to the scriptures. <br /><br /> So, Lord, be our teacher today, I pray. I also pray for the men's retreat as they're finishing up at 10 o'clock. Their. Their final session of four. Lord, do continue your work in guys' lives up there, even as we ask that you would be moving among us this morning. In Jesus' name, amen. I wanna bring up a map this morning. <br /><br /> Just give context to where we are. Uh, basically what we're doing here is we are following the Apostle Paul and some of his friends. Uh, I'm gonna take, choose this map and this one, or I'm gonna go, actually he didn't travel from here to here, but if you look up there, actually right up there is the city of Philippi. <br /><br /> Um, Then they have the city of Thessalonica. Then we're coming to this more of a town really, of bere. And Paul has been traveling, uh, through, this is modern day Turkey, way over to the right here, this stuff. Um, and that is, uh, called Asia in that time. And Paul has come up through there. Up there is a location called, uh, Cho as, or we know it as Troy historically. <br /><br /> And basically they have embarked, gone across the agency and have come to Philippi, then Thea, then now to Berea. It's an interesting thing that as we follow Paul, uh, and, and particularly the record of Luke who wrote the book of Acts, he gives us the story. Uh, what happened in Philippi and the founding of the church, which is really cool because Paul then writes a letter to the Philippians in order that we can get a snapshot of, okay, we read in the book of Acts how this church started, now what's going on in the church. <br /><br /> And Paul addresses a lot of the people by name. He gives experiences. So we see not only the founding the church, but you also see the life and practice of the church. We do the same thing with Thessalonica. You come to the city of Thessalonica, as Joe, pastor Joe mentioned last Sunday, a city of 200,000 people, uh, the capital city of, uh, part of northern Greece. <br /><br /> And. Again, we have two letters to the Thessalonians as we again see Paul, which he wrote very soon, not, not long after, uh, he visited Thessalonika. And we see again the starting of the church. And then we see the development of church. It all makes sense. We're gonna see that in other cities as well. <br /><br /> Ephesus, Colossi, um, uh, uh, Corinth. And now we come to this town called Bea. And so we excitedly look in the New Testament to the letter of the be to the Bri. An of course there is no letter to the Bri. So we said, why did Luke include this little story about this little town, which probably was among a number that Paul went in, but he's giving us a record here of this town. <br /><br /> And the question very simply is why? , why? Tell us about the brands. You're not even gonna write a letter to them later on. You're not gonna have lots of contact. Um, although certainly there's probably some, but he's traveled 50 miles from Thessalonica, so 50 miles walking is a, is a big separating thing. So it's a, it's a little town in itself. <br /><br /> And I think the clear answer is found in the first couple of verses. It is the be's response to the scripture and to the preaching of Paul and the other men with him that is both unique and compelling. Last week, pastor Joe preached about the many ways Paul and his team had proclaimed the scriptures in Thessalonica. <br /><br /> That's the first nine verses of first, uh, of chapter 17. We saw words like he used reasoning and explaining and dialoguing and, and, and proving all different ways. As Joe, really, I felt. Effectively pointed out of communicating the truth and the gospel. Now we come to the bres and we see the other side of the story. <br /><br /> Here we see people who responded to the scriptures in a particular way. Now, it's interesting that the ones he's talking about in verse 11 and and and 12, it says, of the Jews that were in Thessalonica, they were there in Bea. And it's a direct contrast to the Jews in Thessalonica. And he says, he makes a statement. <br /><br /> He says, the Jews in Berea responded differently. To the Jews and Thesal and Iah to the, to the scriptures. Both of them knew the Old Testament. Paul is gonna be preaching from the Old Testament. That's all you had. You didn't have any New Testament yet. He is preaching from the Old Testament and he is telling them about how the Old Testament pointed the way to Christ. <br /><br /> And he, and what we read about the Thessalonian Jews, their response was one of, uh, close-mindedness. Basically, as you look at that passage, you see that they are individuals that are debating Paul every step of the way. They are protecting their own religious church, ch their own religious turf. They're not really interested to hear. <br /><br /> But here in Bria, Luke describes them by the term they are more noble. The word noble or honorable actually here is the exact Greek word eugenics. They have the right eugenics. If you don't, the study eugenics is you means good. And gen is genes. They had the right genes. No, it's not talking. A study of eugenics, of course, is trying to, to inbreed in such a way that you, you know, you keep the right genes, you, it's a way of doing it with animals. <br /><br /> It certainly is a way some people have talked, um, can be done with humans, that you're trying to get people with the best genes to have the best race. The, the Nazis were known for trying to, uh, do experiments to that. But here we're talking about spiritual genes. They're saying these are, these are noble people. <br /><br /> The way they responded has the, the endorsement of heaven upon them, that God looks favorably the way these bes responded to the scriptures. So our simple focus this morning is, What are the characteristics of people that have God's endorsement for the way they approach and read the Bible? And that's what I'd like to share this morning. <br /><br /> Four characteristics of people that have God's endorsement for their Bible reading. Number one, they approach the scriptures with a teachable spirit. They're open to being taught. If you'll notice here in verse 11, it says, well, I'll start at verse 10. Then the brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived, they went into the Jewish synagogue. <br /><br /> Now, these Jews were more noble than those. In Thea. They received the word with all eagerness. They received the word. This word is, is they were open to be taught. It's interesting. This is a particular phrase that is used in the Book of Acts. As a matter of fact, in Acts chapter eight, it says The, the believers in Jerusalem were shocked to hear. <br /><br /> That the Samaritans received the word they were buying in, they were embracing it. In chapter 11, it says again, the J, the Judean believers were amazed to hear that the Gentiles were receiving the word, that they were embracing it. Later, Paul will write to some of the believers in Thessalonika. In First Thessalonians tur through two 13, he'll use this phrase again and he'll say, when you receive the word of God, you accepted it, not as the word of men, but as what it really is. <br /><br /> The word of God, which is at work and you believers. Now, maybe this is an interesting concept to you. That's so important about how people receive the word of God. Maybe you hear and, and you're thinking, well, you know, I, this is a question I have about Christianity, especially you Born again or you, you guys that, that are all carrying your Bible and talking. <br /><br /> I mean, do you know that most religious groups, or at least a lot of them have their own book too? I mean, it's great to have a holy book, you know, a book that gives you the rules and the regulations and principles and the concepts of, of how to do your religion. I mean, the Mormons have the Book of Mormon. <br /><br /> The Muslims have the Korean, the Hindus have the gida. But you Christians act like it is not just a record of directives and worship and religious lifestyle, but like God routed or something. <br /><br /> We really do. We really look at this. As not the words of men. Yes, men were led by the spirit. Matter of fact, it says in first Peter that that that holy men of God spoke by the, the breathing of God. And the word there actually talks about how they were it. It says, and they were moved by the spirit. The word moved is used of a sail that has its wind. <br /><br /> The wind comes and fills the sail and moves it forward. We really believe that God move. These individuals use their personalities, how they're wired, their background, their vocabulary, all that stuff, but that the spirit of God move them to right the very words of God. We really believe that the living God, the creator of the universe, the one who controls tsunamis and meteor showers, the one who is aware of every bird that falls from a telephone wire and that counts the hairs of your head, has chosen to talk. <br /><br /> To humans, and there's lots of ways he could have done it. I mean, he could have done it with this thunderous V voice that was loud enough to be heard all over the planet. He could have done it with a thousand mile billboard in the sky and written what he wanted to have said. He could have done it by some cosmic mind power that spoke his information into our brains. <br /><br /> He could have done all those things and a million dollar that you could come up with, <br /><br /> but he chose to give scripture to speak it into a book, a book that he describes as living as something that that speaks even to millennia later into our lives. and those who know him as their father have found it to be the guiding source of light and life to our daily experience. We embrace it. We receive the word, but it says something else that says, those who really come with the endorsement of heaven on the way they approach the scripture, they don't come just with a heart to be taught. <br /><br /> They are eager to be taught. He says they come with all eagerness. Uh, there is an eagerness. There is an anticipation. They receive the word of God with this eagerness, we do it because we have found the scripture. are fathomless. They are bottomless in what they offer. I've told this story before about my father-in-law. <br /><br /> He led a guy named Zeke up in northern Michigan. And this guy, it was the beginning of winter or it was actually into winter, and winter's up there, a serious stuff, 200 inches of snow is not uncommon. And so Zeke had a small house, almost a, like a cabin. Uh, and, and so my dad led Zeke to the Lord and Ze, and he gave him a Bible, and Zeke disappeared into the cabin had, and Dad didn't see him for seven weeks. <br /><br /> And they came across each other and he said to Zeke, he said, Zeke, hey, you've been reading that Bible I gave you? He says, oh, yeah, yeah, I finished. He said, he says, you finished the Bible. I mean, I mean the Bible, the whole Bible, the whole book, you know? And he said, oh yeah, I read the whole thing. He said, he said, so my father didn't even know what to say. <br /><br /> So he said, well, yeah, I finished the whole book, but I'm gonna read it again. I think I missed a few points. <br /><br /> if you're a Christian, you laugh because you know the Bible is there. There's no way to plumb the depths of this truth that even the scriptures, you know, you come to it again and, and you see in your Bible how God spoke to you on this date and this way with this verse. But you find out, here it is again, I'm here and there's a new application of this, this, this verse of among tens of thousands of verses. <br /><br /> Why? Because it's alive. Because it is God still speaking through his word. And so God's people come to the scriptures with an eagerness. That noble approaches to truth means that you come knowing there is a bottomless cache of truth to draw from. You know that here today, I might find a promise to claim or an example to follow, or ASC sin to confess, or a lesson to learn or a truth about God to delight and worship him for. <br /><br /> And we come to the scriptures eager for God to speak. This cosmic ruling transcendent God to speak personally into our lives. These bes Jews that had been waiting for the Messiah were hungry to hear the scriptures spoken to them, and I'm gonna come back to that because this was not a small thing for them. <br /><br /> The first thing we find, we come with a teachable spirit. Secondly, We come with questions. You'll notice it says in the next phrase, they came examining the scriptures. I love this. The word examining is used in Luke 23 verse thir 14. You brought me this man as one who was misleading the people, and after examining him before you, behold, I did not find this man guilty of any of your charges against him. <br /><br /> What's he saying? He says, you brought me Jesus. And I've questioned him, man, I've, I've worked him over, I've, I've drilled him with my questions and I, I've heard what you said. And this guy is not what you say. His goals are not the way you're talking. I, I just don't see it. I don't see, after my examination journaling with all my questions, I, I don't see it. <br /><br /> God endorsed Noble Bible reading is to come with a questioning spirit to the scripture all the time. My favorite preacher of actually the last 40 years is Tim Keller in Manhattan, Redeemer Church. I'm very excited that Tim Keller, uh, grudgingly has allowed a biography to be written about him. It's now out and I've been reading it, and the biography is, I, I love it. <br /><br /> Uh, I hope you'll love it if you get it. Um, but basically one of the chapters was fascinating to me because in one of the chapters it's talking about the individual that helped him. Know how to, to get into the scriptures. It's called, uh, the woman who taught Tim to study the Bible. It's a woman named Barbara Boyd. <br /><br /> And Barbara Boyd was on the inner varsity staff. Um, he, uh, Tim was a student at Bucknell University in college and Boyd in a, a particular group. When she gathered a bunch of the students together in the inner varsity group, which of which he was a leader of on the campus as just a college kid. She was teaching them how to get into the scriptures. <br /><br /> And so she brought them together one time, and what she did was she gave them a verse, and the verse was, mark one 17, where it says, and Jesus said to them, follow me and I'll make you fishers of men. And she said, I want you to find 50 things from that passage in the next 30 minutes. Well, that's not a long verse. <br /><br /> But she, and so after 10 minutes, most of the kids would be like, most of us, you know, they just thought, ah, I'm done. I'm, I'm a fast learner. I, I move quick. And I, I didn't come up with 50 of course, but I've, I've, I, I have reached the, the bottom of this baby. And she said, no, stay at it. And they stayed at it, and then 10 minutes more. <br /><br /> And they stayed all the way to 30 minutes. And finally they got done. And Tim Keller records the story. And at the end of it, Barbara Boyd asked this question. She said, did any of you record your most powerful takeaway during the opening few minutes of the exercise? And Tim said, I didn't, but I looked around the room and he said, I was stunned. <br /><br /> Nobody raised their hand. He said, every one of us had looked at it and we read it and we processed it and we thought we had it. But he used this analogy. He said, no one finds the deepest veins of gold at the mouth of the cave. You find the greatest treasures. After thorough exploration, Boyd challenged them to read through the passage at least twice. <br /><br /> In the second reading, she said, slow down and observe what's there. Start asking questions. Where is this happening? When? Who are these people? How would they feel with what's going on? What's the big focus of the passage? What is God saying here? What is he saying to you right now through it? What do you learn about God, about yourself? <br /><br /> She question, question, question, question, question, question, question, question. <br /><br /> You can come to your Bible reading and you can zip through and you can check the chart off, and you can read through the Bible two times a year. You can be Zeke and read through in seven weeks, but you're gonna miss a lot of points. You're gonna miss a lot of points out of the passage. We come with questions. <br /><br /> We, we get involved in it, we process it. We think about what's going on. This past week in our community group, we started a study in the book of Mark and I just, uh, started it by giving an overview of the, the purpose of the book of Mark in comparison with the other gospels. And I just quickly said, you know, here are the four gospels and I did different characteristics. <br /><br /> I said the bo gospel of Matthew was written, um, and basically it was written to the juice. In contrast to the other gospels, it has 60 different Old Testament prophecies that point to Christ. What he's trying to say is, this is the guy, this is the guy to you Jews who have been waiting all your life. This is the king in the, in the genealogy of Matthew. <br /><br /> It's pointing about the, the, the royal heritage of Jesus to take the, be the claimant for the throne. I talked about how it was, was written for the Jew. Uh, Jesus is the king, is the focus. I talked about the Gospel of Luke, how the Gospel of Luke focuses particularly on the humanity of Christ and his approachableness. <br /><br /> And, and Luke is writing primarily for a grand ti a, a Greek and Gentile audience. He's trying to say salvation is for everybody, but he's talking about the approachableness of Christ. It's interesting, most of the films, the, the chosen, the, uh, The Jesus film are built on the gospel of Luke because it presents Christ in his humanity as a reflection of the Godhead in human form the most. <br /><br /> I talked about the Gospel of John written 30 years after the other gospels, and how it really isn't a history book like the others are. It is more presenting a theology. It's presenting not Jesus the man so much as Jesus got. It's where those seven great I am chapters are. I am the bread of life. I am the good shepherd. <br /><br /> I am the light of the world. All those realities he's talking about, he's showing the greatness of God and it is a gospel track. He says there these things are written that you might believe that Jesus of Christ and and that believing you might have life through His name. John says the purpose of this book, and he was writing there for all peoples at that time. <br /><br /> So we come to the gospel of Mark, and here's this gospel that is, is written by John Mark, but it's written with the, the testimony and the stories of Peter speaking into him. And he's writing about a Jesus that a Roman world most identifies with the book is active very immediately. Romans were not people that tended to be readers or thinkers, certainly philosophizer or processors like the Greeks. <br /><br /> And so he is writing an action book. There's not many teachings of Jesus in the gospel of Mark compared to some of the others. It's an action book. But what is the focus of the gospel of Mark is Jesus as the servant that he is not. Again, who's he speaking to? The Romans. What do they worship? Power, strength. <br /><br /> And he said he didn't come to be served. He came to served to me. Gospel Mark is, is. What every American should memorize. It's just every Christian should memorize. In America where we are, we are, we are looking at power and we have embraced the cultural value of power and, and lust and greed. And it's why we wonder why the church isn't making a difference in the world. <br /><br /> Well, gospel Mark is saying no. The, the theme of the gospel of Mark is he's the servant. So we said all this and, and uh, so we're in the group and I've presented all this and one of the guys in our group says he's a strategic thinker. And he says, so, so did these guys talk with each other? Like, you got the Jews, I got the Romans. <br /><br /> You speak to the Greeks. It was a great question. So we spent some time thinking about, we're processing, we were looking at the timeframes when they wrote, where they ministered. Just trying to think about a little bit. And in my mind we didn't really come to a conclusion. We just had some. Then somebody else asked, one of our girls asked, um, a question, when was Mark written exactly in light of what's taking place in the book of Acts? <br /><br /> You know, where does it fit with what Paul's doing in taking the gospel? And so we talked about that historically, where that was and what was going on in the churches when he's writing this gospel. So we're asking questions and I'm, I'm excited cause I'm thinking this is what it is. This is what Bible reading and Bible reflection is about. <br /><br /> The best part of the story was, we're about 10 minutes after the original question. You know, how do these guys relate to each other? We've long since left that and all of a sudden we, this guy comes back and he says, I'm sure they did talk to each other, how to know. I mean, somewhere he'd taken an exit out, the whole conversation. <br /><br /> He was over here still with Matthew, mark, Luke, and John. This is what Bible reading is. We climb in, we say, I wanna think with these guys, I wanna feel with these people. I wanna understand, I wanna embrace, as Paul is writing these theological concepts, what are they thinking? What is he saying? Why is he saying that to them? <br /><br /> At this point, these bes examined stuff, they said, oh, thanks Paul. You say Jesus is Messiah. We're in, by the way, who's Jesus? What Old Testament passage you talking about? No, they wanted to see. They wanted to process. They asked their questions. If you're not a question asker, you're not a Bible reader. <br /><br /> You're not really, I don't mean to be this caustically, but. You're not approaching it. Noble, noble, honorably with, with the right genes is to ask our questions and, and get in there and process in here. Okay? The third one with consistency, notice what it says. They examine these, the things daily. You know the reason, there's a reason the scriptures are called the Food of the Christian. <br /><br /> In one Peter two, Peter talks about it when you're a new Christian. He says, you need the milk of the word. In Hebrews five, the author is rebuking Christians, and he says, when for the amount of time you've been Christians, you ought to be eating the meat of the word. You're still having to drink milk because you're not exercising yourself with the truth and growing by it. <br /><br /> Jesus said it this way in Matthew chapter four. Men shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Every parent knows that when their child isn't eating and they're losing weight, that it's serious. There's something wrong. They're malnourished. They may end up back in the hospital having to be stuck on an IV to, to build their strength. <br /><br /> We will be malnourished Christians if we don't come regularly to the scriptures regularly allowing the Bible to speak into. I love the story of the Billy Graham crusade team, where they had a principle, again, taking this idea that the scriptures were the bread of God and they had a practice and they all agreed on it together. <br /><br /> These were the prime leaders, the George Beverly Sha, the Latent Ford, and uh, well Billy, and basically they had no bread before bread. That was just their covenant with each other before we eat breakfast. We're gonna be in the word. We're just gonna let God speak into our lives. The psalmist says it this way, the very first verse of the very first Psalm, and it's laying the groundwork for the whole book of Psalms. <br /><br /> Blessed is the man who walks not in the council of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord and on his law, he meditates day and night. Without regular time in the scriptures, we won't even be able to distinguish what in the Bible, what is in the Bible and what's not will do things like this. <br /><br /> My mother always quoted it, quoted the verse, cleanliness is next to godliness, and I know it's in the Bible. The book of, uh, well, I'll tell you the book. It's the book of Ben Franklin. Or there may be the phrase, God helps those who help themselves. Well, that's right. Out of second cute quotes, nine one that's not in the Bible. <br /><br /> How do we know we're in it? We're imbibing it. We're drinking it. We're living in it. Just like the brilliant, the last thing with a passion to see and apply. They did this to see if these things were so, these guys were excited to hear what Paul had to say. He was expounding the Old Testament scriptures to them pointing to Jesus as the fulfillment of those scriptures. <br /><br /> If Paul is right, It changes the whole trajectory of their lives, which change how they viewed their system of religious practice, the sacrifices, the feast, dayss, the Sabbath, their view of Gentiles. Everything would be topsy turvy, just like it became for the Jewish believers in Christ in Judea, thess were not game. <br /><br /> They felt threatened. They were contentious. They got jealous. Noble Bible reading is courageous. It says this, <br /><br /> I'm coming to this Bible and I want to hear God today. I want him to speak into my life. I'm willing to be ruffled. I'm willing to be challenged. I'm willing to be scared with what I'm being asked. If God wants me to start tithing my money as I read the scripture, of course I will. I don't know how I will, but I will. <br /><br /> If God shows me to break up with my boyfriend, of course I will. Whatever God shows me, whatever God wants of me, whatever he calls me to do, when I see it, I'll do it. And I am determined to be connected to God's voice, so he is leading me, directing me so he can then use me. It's reading a story recently. <br /><br /> It's from World War ii. It's a story of the battleship, the big Bismarck. It was the most powerful naval vessel in the world, the German vessel. The Nazis now control. And in 1939, the Bismarck was off the coast of, of England. It was in North Sea and basically was a new ship. And it was a ship, uh, uh, uh, totally dominating in, in the world, in the naval world. <br /><br /> It had 15 inch guns. Its top speed was 30 knots, which as I researched it means this ship, this giant ship goes 35 miles an hour. I mean, that's fast. Going to 35 miles an hour on the water and on no, on May 24th, 1941. After continually defeating numerous, uh, particularly British ships cuz they had had the naval power in the world. <br /><br /> A British reconnaissance plane identified the, the Bismarck and. Contacted Naval Headquarters and they got a ship, a battleship for the British, the hood to go after it. And in a one-on-one conflict, the hood was completely obliterated, sunk, and it sunk so quickly. Out of the 2000 sailors, three survived. <br /><br /> Bismarck was a scary ship, but as the Bismarck continued and now they again tried to send, uh, more British ships after it, they noticed from the aerial reconnaissance that it was, it was following, uh, a illogical course. It just seemed to sort of go one way and then another way. And an actu. So, as a matter of fact, as the British ships now came upon them, uh, what the Bismarck always had been able to do before, it was not only the biggest baddest of the ships, it was the fastest. <br /><br /> So when it was completely outnumbered, it just got away. , but it had speed and it started to go, but then it actually turned and came back towards the British squadron of ships. What no one knew was that after the hood had been defeated by the Bismarck, a recon complain that also was a torpedo plane, had a couple of torpedoes and just shot 'em at the Bismarck. <br /><br /> It, it was so big, nobody knew that would never sink it. But what nobody knew was that one of the torpedoes hit the rudder and the rudder was disconnected from the ship. And so the Bismarck was now a rudderless monster ship surrounded by others. Too many ships to take on all at once, but it could not escape because they could not control themselves. <br /><br /> They were a sitting duck. And actually the Bismarck was sunk because of it all because it's rudder. Was disconnected. <br /><br /> There's a lot of us Christians that are living rudderless. We are not connected to the thing that can turn our lives and change our lives and direct our lives and bring control to our lives. We're more like a fat party boat, just sort of going along, living life, moving forward. But we're not in a party. <br /><br /> We're in a war and we have an enemy that is again, and we are called to be the Church of Christ called to make a difference in our generation. And if you know Christ is your savior and you're not in heaven yet, which if you're here is likely. You are in war. You are still in the fatigues and, and, and, and are Arsenal. <br /><br /> And God is saying to you, you know what? I still can do it through you. You're still on my list. But we have to be connected to the rudder of the scriptures in what direct our lives, in what controls our lives. <br /><br /> There has to be a passion, a renewed passion at God. I'll come to the scriptures and I'm willing to do whatever you're telling me to do. I wanna orient my life. I wanna live my life under the scriptures, and I'm gonna make it the primary voice into my life. And I'm gonna stop the priority of having time for sports radio or the market reports, or the political hot takes, or the pop culture of gossip. <br /><br /> We're not wanting to miss the next episode of which flicks series I'm on, say, God, I want to be a noble Christian. I wanna be a Christian. That's like theses that just says, God, I hunger to hear you. I hunger to be connected to the rudder of truth, that you can direct me in this generation to make a difference for your kingdom to your glory. <br /><br /> These people were all in. We have no sense that they were anything special. and some of the other places, they talk all about this and that these individuals were just people, these Jewish people in these synagogues that just said, I want the scriptures to speak into my life. I'm gonna embrace it every day. <br /><br /> I'm gonna come with my questions and eagerly say, God, I make time to brush my teeth every day. Everybody's glad I make time to, to catch the reports. I make time to get there on work, at work every day so I don't lose my job. I make time to catch the bus so I don't get in trouble with my parents that I missed the bus for the ninth day again, uh, this semester, and they're gonna drive me. <br /><br /> I will place you and your voice as a priority in my life. I'll be eager, I'll be responsive. These people wanted to hear God, obey God, be connected to God, so they sought the voice of God every day. He was a rudder. He led them and he used them. God help us to want to be that way. Lord, we come to you this morning. <br /><br /> I think for me, Lord, often when I hear the word bes, I think of every adult Sunday school class that's named themselves after them. And I forget that this was just a group of people that love to hear you speak into their lives. I want to be like that, Lord. It's not a person in this room that knows Christ is their savior, that you do not still plan to use their lives for your glory. <br /><br /> God, connect us to the rudder of the scriptures. Let us be listeners. Let us be o bears. <br /><br /> Lord, to thank you. You want us? Thank you for the scriptures. In Jesus' name, amen. Now go on. Peace to love and serve. Enjoy the.</div> false no <![CDATA[The Word that Turned the World Upside Down]]> Acts 17:1-9

And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures,



Sermon Transcript:

Good morning, church. Good morning. So good to be with you on this Super Bowl Sunday. It's funny, I see a lot of people blending into the pews this morning. For some reason, , uh, we're all excited. Um, but just for a few minutes here, I would pray that we would focus our hearts in on God's word and that we would just be expecting.

It's, uh, it's amazing. As I was preparing even last night, uh, I prepare and hear because I like to look over, uh, the place where I'm gonna be preaching from. And the word that God kept giving me as I was praying and thinking through, uh, the sermon was that we would be expectant people. That we would be eager ready.

Anticipating that God has a word for each one of us this morning. Remembering that this scripture is living and active. It's ready to penetrate deep down into us and take root and produce fruit. It'll teach us if we let it, how we can love the God who first loved us. So it's my hope and my prayer that this morning we would be ready expectant for him to do just that.

The story that we're stepping back into is the story of the Book of Acts. We're continuing our journey following God's newly formed church as it spreads out from Jerusalem like wildfire into Judea and Samaria until the ends of the earth, and it carries with it a message of the greatest hope. The hope of a gospel of Jesus Christ.

And as we have been following this story, we've been seeing the power of this message to turn hearts and minds and worlds broken and off kilter by sin upside down. The passage in particular that we're gonna be looking at this morning is found in Acts chapter 17 verses one through nine, and in this passage we see demonstrated to the obedience of Paul that this gospel message does in fact have the power to turn the world upside down, taking this fallen and broken sinful world and transforming it.

All right, let's read the passage this morning, and you could follow along with me. As I read now, when they had passed through Amph Polis and a Apollo, they came to Thessalonika and there was a synagogue of the Jews. And Paul went in and as was his custom on three Sabbath days, he reasoned with them from the scriptures explaining and proving that it was necessary for Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, saying this Jesus, whom I proclaim to you is the Christ.

And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of devout Greeks and not a few leading women, but the Jews were jealous and taking some wicked men of the rabble. They formed a mob and set the city in uproar and attacked the house of Jason seeking to bring them out to the crowd.

And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities shouting these men who have turned the world upside down. Have come here also, and Jason has received them and they are all acting in the, against the decree of Caesar saying there there is another king.

Jesus. And the people and the city authorities were disturbed when they heard these things and when they had taken money as a security from Jason and the rest, they let them go. Would you pray with me this morning?

Lord? Would you remind us that this word is your written word to us, your children, to guide us, to lead us, to challenge us, to shape us as we walk in obedience and joy in this gospel, which has turned our lives upside down from death into life. I pray, Lord, that we take seriously, but not with, uh, a solemn seriousness, A joyful seriousness.

Lord, as we come to this passage, we would receive it with all gladness and joy, pressing it down deep into who we are and letting it bear fruit in us. Lord b, pray that your living an active word would be living and active in us. We pray all this in your name. Amen. Amen. It said that when you separate text from context, all that's left is a con.

I heard that thought it was great. Uh, guy named Stuart Stafford said that, and if we're reminded that a con is when you persuade somebody typically by the use of perception, uh, deception, rather into believing something that is not most likely true, that's the last thing that we wanna do when we approach God's word.

We don't wanna enter in, jump right into the story without first remembering where this little story takes place in the larger series of stories that we find in the Book of Acts. So as I mentioned in the beginning, the Book of Acts is a larger collection, right? Written by, uh, of stories, rather written by the author Luke, who was a physician, uh, a man who was very careful to record specific details and not only to record them, but to hear them from the eyewitnesses, the apostles.

And not that this is not a history cuz it is, but we remember that this is a hand selected history to tell particular spirit led story, which Luke has been entrusted with. We see that this overall story has begun at the scene of the crime in Jerusalem. After the apostles have obediently waited on the promise of the spirit, they've received the spirit.

In the, the spirit's enabling power, they've gone out and shared this powerful gospel of Jesus Christ and one by one, and really an, an unbelievable revival takes place among the Jews, and thousands are joined to the number of the apostles. And from there we see that this gospel is not only to be given to the Jews, but to even the surprise of Peter, it is to go to the world bigger than he ever dared dream.

And it begins first with the household of Cornelius as he first receives the gospel and a little mini gentile Pentecost takes place. And from there we see what first begins as a trickle becomes a waterfall, and the great number of uncounted, number of gentiles start entering into the family of God the way has been opened.

And Jesus is transforming and turning the world upside down. We remember this is the context of the larger context, but now the smaller context here is that Paul and Silas are now on what people call Paul's second missionary journey. And where we last left off last week was Paul was in Philippi. And we saw in this story that, uh, mark shared last week that through a, a series of unfortunate events, Paul and Silas find themselves in prison.

But most remarkably, we see that not even the Roman prison can hold back God's gospel and its messengers. And we see in just a really topsy-turvy moment this Roman jailer who should have had all the power on his knees begging Paul and Silas for freedom and rescue. We see this gospel everywhere it goes, transforming and turning things on their head, this broken sins scarred world.

So that's the context, that's what's taken place just before this. Now, as we take, uh, a shift our eyes towards the passage in Acts 17, it's important that we remember that. I wanna, I wanna break this down into three parts because it's helpful for me at least as we go through to take each section as it comes.

And the way that I'm sort of laying out the roadmap, if you will, is, uh, I'm breaking it into three parts. The first that we're gonna look at this morning is I'm calling the practice, which is verse one through three, the practice. Next, we're gonna go and look at verses just the end of verse three, which I'm calling the purpose, and then lastly the verse four to the end of the passage, verse nine, the power.

Let's first look at the practice. Now, when they had passed through Anthropol and that Bologna, they came to Thessalonika where there was a synagogue of the Jews. And Paul went in and as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days, he reasoned with them from the scriptures explaining to them and proving to them that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead.

What we see from these first preliminary verses is that Paul had a system. This is Paul's second missionary journey. He's, he's developed a missionary, uh, a system in his, uh, mission work ev, an evangelical practice. And the first thing that's demonstrated to us is that Paul is selective and strategic in his choice of where he goes to share the gospel.

I don't mean stingy, I mean strategic. We see that Paul passes through em for Paulis, Alonna and comes to Fessa. Paul's eyes were set on Fessa. The question then becomes, why this city? Why not stop and, uh, and have a similar address in Anthropol or app Apollo? Why come to Sica? Uh, number of pretty, um, basic reasons I think are that Fessa was the second largest city in Greece.

It's the capital of Macedonia. It's home to 200,000 people. Gentiles and Jews alike call it home. It's a great, uh, military and political powerhouse. It's a great import export Port City. . And if Paul, for a moment, remember, Paul's mission is to spread the news of this gospel to take it into places where it will catch fire and there go out.

Paul sets his sight on the nikah and what we wanna remember is that this journey, and there's a, I think there's a picture of a map somewhere, maybe, uh, this journey is no small journey, even though on this map it looks tiny. Phillipi to Fessa is about a hundred mile walk,

and Paul did it on foot. Paul had his sight set on Fess Leica. But even within Fess Leica, Paul's selectiveness doesn't stop. We see here in verse two that Paul doesn't stop in the busy marketplace. He doesn't stop in the Pagan temple. He chooses rather to go to the synagogue of the Jews and we see that this was not merely a one time thing, but rather was a custom of his as was his custom.

There's a number of reasons that I think even just as I read, I could see for him choosing this place. I think firstly that for whatever reason he had gotten permission and that he knew he would there have a willing ears, but also Paul had a great burden for his own Jewish people, that they might hear the news of their Messiah, that they might accept the news of this king Jesus who was their Messiah, but don't get it twisted.

This synagogue was home to many Gentile believing Greek. There were actually great number of Greeks. You don't always talk about this, but a great number of Greeks and Gentiles who had accepted the Jewish faith as their own and followed in the traditions of the Jewish people. And as we see in the passage, a great number of them were there at the synagogue.

We have to remember that Paul was led by the spirit. We remember in chapters B, a few chapters back when Paul desired to go into Asia, what happens? The spirit stops him turning him rather, on this path,

we see that Paul was not stingy, but strategic and selective in choosing the spot the location mattered to Paul.

The next element to Paul's practice, which I think we can learn a ton from, is in his transmission of the gospel in the way that he gives the gospel.

I wanna look at a few verbs that are used here in these first three verses and I found, I got really excited about this. I love words. I love kind of looking at the, the root of them and understanding them a little better. So let's just look at three words here. The first word I wanna look at is that word reasoned.

That word reasoned. In Greek. This word is the, the, the Greek word delego, where we get the word dialogue from. I found this so fascinating cuz I think what we tend to think of is that Paul comes into the synagogue, opens up his Bible, or his TA scroll, or whatever it was, or even just his notes and starts to monologue to those who were assembled there.

At least here. That is not his practice. Here he begins with dialogue, a back and forth, a question and an answer he chooses as he enters into the synagogue. To rather than monologue at them, to dialogue with them over these scriptures. I think as believers we can learn a lot from Paul's example here, it's pretty easy to memorize a, a list of gospel tens, the Romans road, which are all great things.

It's a little harder to dialogue with people over the scriptures. It's a little harder to have a give and take a conversation over the scriptures. I think we'd, we'd find many people willing and able and excited to do that with us. But it takes really knowing that what we are teaching from Isaiah chapter one, verse 18, the Lord himself says this, come now.

Let us reason together. Say if the Lord though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Though they're red like crimson, they shall become like wool. Let's follow in Paul and our own Lord's example and reason the gospel with those we come into contact with. The next word I wanna look at is the word explaining he explained to them.

And that word, again, looking at the Greek hears, is fascinating. This word is the, the Greek word dego, which means I love this definition to open by dividing a under prying back to, to crack open.

This word is used a lot in the gospels. There's a, a spot in, in Mark, chapter seven, verse 34, where Jesus heals a blind man. He, he touches his eyes and he speaks a prayer to his father. He says, and it's in a, he says, opened. Dego is the Greek equivalent of that very word we see later in Luke's other gospel, or I guess it would be earlier in Luke's other gospel in Luke chapter 24, when the risen Jesus, the resurrected Jesus is walking on the robe with a number of his disciples who do not recognize him, and he's walking with them and they're, they're lamenting the fact that this Jesus, who was their hope had died.

And they're even telling this apparent stranger about how this Jesus apparently rose from the dead, but they didn't see it. And Jesus patiently explains opening the scriptures to them, showing them the very same thing that Paul is attempting to, to demonstrate to these assembled people in the synagogue that the, the Messiah must suffer and die opening that same word, opening the scriptures.

Remember, Luke doesn't do anything by accident. I think he's calling our mind back to this passage. And what do we know later in, in verse 32 of that Luke 24 chapter, Jesus, after he leaves them, the disciples recognized him right at the moment, as right before he left. And their words are, did not our hearts burn within us when he opened the scriptures to us.

Here, Paul is following, in that same example, opening up the scriptures Ou opened

the last word I wanna look at here. Is the word proved or proving a number of other translations? Maybe your translation says giving evidence. I think that's a pretty good translation. But the word is actually this word. It's permi. And what I found so interesting about this word is wow, it certainly has a connotation.

Giving evidence. That's certainly one of the ways of looking at this word, setting before evidence, before someone. It also is used quite often, even in the gospels to refer to food. When Jesus feeds the 5,000, the word is there to set before,

and maybe I'm reading into it a bit, but when I read this and I, and I see giving evidence, but I also picture this idea of setting a feast at the feet of hungry people. Oh, is that not what Paul is doing here as he reasons with them and not, doesn't monologue at them, but dialogues with them as he opens the scriptures to them, revealing to them the truth that has been hidden for thousands of years.

Is he not setting before them a feast? And it seems as if he's saying to them, will you not?

Taking a deeper look at these three words helped me in my understanding of Paul's methodology behind sharing the gospel. Paul was not afraid to shake up or mix up how he gave the gospel. He didn't just come at it one way. He was ready, willing, and able to come at it from different angles to vary his transmission of this gospel message.

There's one last element to Paul's practice that I think is not actually very overt in the text, not very obvious but's in the subtext. The only spot that I could see where I could sort of point to this is when it says on three Sabbath days, he reasoned with them three Sabbath days. When we see that, we remember that that does not mean three days.

That actually means three weeks. . Think of it as on three different Sundays. And my question as I'm reading that is, well, what does he do with the rest of his time there? What did he do? Did he get up there? Did he preach at them and then hide away? Well, fortunately for us, we have insight into this in the letters, which he wrote later to the church that would be formed from these addresses.

Yes, A church was formed out of just three weeks.

We see from Paul's own words that Paul did not only talk the gospel talk, he walked the gospel walk. We wanna read these two passages to you. It's found in First Thessalonians chapter two, six through eight and 10 through 12. This is Paul speaking to the newly formed Thessalonian church. Now, nor did we seek glory from people, whether from you or from others.

Though we could have made demands as apostles. But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children. So being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel, but also ourselves because you had become very dear to us. And then in verse 10, you are witnesses, you and God also how holy and righteous and blameless was our conduct toward you believers, for you know how like a father with his children, we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.

They walked the walk. They did not only talk the talk and in a generation where the cry against the church is not that we don't preach at people, but that we are hypocritical of the message which we preach. We can learn from this.

Church. When we bring tobe together, both the gospel message and the gospel life, then our witness is effective.

I hope you hear that and feel a little bit intimidated like I did the gospel. Life is impossible to live out. It should daunt you. You can't do it apart from Christ, you see church. Unless we are willing to preach and receive the gospel that we are preaching to others each day, we will not be effective in giving it.

How can we expect others to receive that which we are ignoring in our own lives? The message of the gospel being filled up on Jesus so that we can give the gospel to others. Walking the walk as well as talking the talk. Okay, we're gonna move on. That was the longest section, I promise. But we see here that Paul does have a very set practice in the way that he would transmit this gospel message.

We see that location mattered to Paul. He was selective. He had a plan. We see that Paul is willing and able and effective at varying his transmission of that gospel, that he would reason with them, that he would explain to them, that he would prove to them. And lastly, we see that Paul not only talks the gospel talk, but he walks it.

He walks the gospel walk. And that takes me now to our next section, the shortest section, but not the least important, the purpose. Okay, and that comes only at the end of verse three. Some of you might say, how can that be a section? That is the shortest section I've ever seen. It's the cornerstone of the passage on which the entire passage turns.

The words that Paul speaks, which Mike spoke earlier, this Jesus, whom I proclaim to you is the Christ You see, Paul, up until this point, has ex been explaining to them from the scriptures why this Messiah had to suffer and die and be raised. He had not yet given the Messiah a name, but here Paul reveals in a great moment of revelation that this message was not merely a thing.

But a person that this hope, which they were proclaiming, was not merely an idea, but Jesus himself, Jesus of Nazareth, this gospel is not merely about Jesus. It is Jesus. This word was made flesh and it dwelled among them. It lived the life that they could not live. That we could not live. It died the death that we deserve to die.

And Jesus was raised to life, ascended to the right hand of the Father, and now works to give that same life to his church and to all those who call on his name, this passage, this little tiny. end section on verse three is so important because it shows us demonstrating to us by Paul's godly example that Paul is not, does not have his allegiance given to a cause, but to a king, Paul has not dedicated his life, given his allegiance to an ideal.

It's to a king. It's the one who arrested him on the road to Damascus, who turned his life from a terrorist to an evangelist that's about as upside down as you can possibly imagine.

His whole life's mission was to proclaim Jesus as the Messiah. The Jews knew a thing or two about mess. They didn't know Jesus of Nazareth, or at least these didn't. They would've heard of him wasn't long ago before when he had walked the Earth, his 33 years of life on Earth. They would've heard of Nazareth.

They would've said, like Nathan said, they think Good come from Nazareth

Church. We need to be people about Jesus. That we would reason about Jesus. That we would open the Bible reveal and reveal Jesus. That we would set Jesus before people. Not some dogmatic teaching, not some trope of memorized verses, although those could be powerful. Set the person Jesus before people.

A king, not a.

That takes me to the final section. I told you that was shorter to the final section, the largest section versus four through nine. And I'm just calling this the power, and some of them were persuaded and joined Paul in Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women, but the Jews were jealous and taking some wicked men of the rabble.

They formed a mob and set the city an uproar attacking the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out of the crowd. And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities shouting. These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also. And Jason Recce and Jason has received them and they're all acting against the decrees of Caesar saying that there is another king Jesus.

The people and the city authorities were disturbed when they heard these things. When they had taken a money as a security from Jason and the rest, they let them go. We see now Paul has done it. It's all come to a head. The cornerstone, the centerpiece moment has happened. This Messiah, he had a name. I met him on the road to Damascus, and his name was Jesus.

I think this is where he lost a lot of his listeners. They probably would've track with him. So far. He was a smart man who knew the Torah. He probably would've demonstrated very effectively that this Messiah had to come and suffer and die. But the moment they gave, the moment he gave a name to this Messiah, I think he would've lost a great number of people.

And that's for this reason. When the power of the gospel is set before you, it leaves no room for middle ground.

Paul presents the gospel without any possibility of a neutral response. Accept it or reject it. Those are the options.

We see that very response yield out. We see those accept and those who do not. Those who are persuaded and those who are not, and there is no middle ground demonstrated here. It's was just so in Jesus's earthly ministry. He did not come to elicit a neutral response. And yet our culture, our world, loves to react to Jesus with the greatest neutrality.

He was a great moral teacher. He was a good man, somebody to be admired and perhaps when it's not too inconvenient to be imitated, but Lord King, slow your role, buddy. I can't tell you in my own generation how many people I know who I interacted with at a secular college, who the Jesus, they didn't hate Jesus.

They liked him

about as neutral response as you could imagine. CS Lewis, who was a, a, a really well-known author, uh, of the Narnia series, he, uh, wrote an uncounted amount of books, a lot of which I'm very indebted to in my life and walk as a believer, and probably one of the most popular, and one of the ones I've read the most times is the book Mere Chris.

And in that book, we see that this problem of a neutral response to Christ is common and has been for a while because CS Lewis generates a rebuttal that he calls the trilemma.

See, Lewis Jesus gave options for how to respond. He said, listen, if you honestly read the claims that are made by Jesus and the Gospels, there are three possible ways you can respond. First, you could say, honestly, he's a liar. The claim that he made about being able to forgive sin, about being the son of God, about being the only way to obtain eternal life, he was just lying.

Or secondly, you could also respond by calling Jesus a lun. A megalomaniac, a man who says, I am God. We've seen people on the streets say that we don't call them Lord. We call them a lunatic.

And lastly,

perhaps just perhaps the claims that Jesus made the claims about being the way the truth and the life were true, in which case he is nothing other than Lord, liar, lunatic, or Lord. Do not call him a great moral teacher. Please. When the gospel is presented, when Jesus is presented, it leaves no room for a neutral response.

All right, let's look at these two responses real quick. First, we see happily that the gospel is, And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul in Silas, as did a great, many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women. We see a great variety here, come to the saving knowledge, accepting that this Christ was Jesus.

It's a pretty big deal. Sounds like a lot of people accepted the gospel as a result of Paul's ministry, even as we see here, a few leading women. Really interesting. I really wanted to know who these leading women were. I tried to find out. It's very ambiguous. There's some, there's some thoughts, but the, the best I could find is that these women were probably wives to, uh, powerful political or military leaders in the city of Esla Naka.

Most likely they were Gentile Greeks and not. And most likely, they had a great deal to do with forming the early Thessalonian Church with their money, power, and influence. Remember, Paul had a strategic outlook on giving the gospel. He knew that this place was the center of a lot of goings on. He knew those women would be there, but also the great many of the devout Greeks continuing the trend, which we've seen all throughout the story.

Up until this point, the Gentiles are eager and ready for this gospel. There are no stumbling blocks to it. They're, they're excited to receive Jesus

eager and ready without any rejection in their hearts. We see the devout Greeks, eager, and these were not Greeks who had never heard of the Jewish customs. These were Greeks who had walked in the ways of the Jewish tradition, so they knew their Bibles, and yet they still received. Exciting stuff.

Next we get probably to the most tragic section in the whole passage, verses five through seven. The gospel is rejected,

but the Jews were jealous and taking some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob and set the city in uproar.

This, uh, response as we see as it goes on, that they unite with wicked men of the rabble. They set the city in uproar. They drag Jason out, and they make accusations against him saying they've turned the world upside down. These men who have turned the world upside down have come here. And Jason has received them.

They're all acting against the decrees of Caesar saying that there is another king. Jesus. Do you know what came to my mind when I read this passage? I was reminded of when Jesus was set before the Jewish people, before he was crucified, and the option was given them at that moment to free him or to choose another from the prisons to be freed.

And in that moment, John 18, verse 40 says, they cried out again. Not this man but Barabbas choosing to reject the one they should have accepted as Messiah and choosing rather, an evil man, an insurrectionist, a robber, most likely a murderer. They would choose him over the perfect lamb. And once again, they make the same mistake.

Here we see it again. They reject Jesus. And it's so fascinating that right away, what do they do? Unite with wicked men. Choose rather wicked men.

And we see a fascinating, and again, intention, uh, intended, rather

set a phrase here that Luke gives, forming a mob and setting the city in uproar. And then right after we see those words, what is the accusation made by these men? These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also, who, let me ask you a question. Who's turning the world upside down here?

Where is the wrongness? Is it in Paul and Silas preaching a message of hope or is it in these wicked men turning the marketplace upside down, doing violence, screaming accusations, stealing money?

We see a, a last little important detail in the dialogue or in, in the words given to us by this assembled mob. He said they're speaking against the decrees of Caesar saying that there is another king. Jesus. They've chosen a, they've chosen, they've made their choice. They've chosen a king. His name's not Jesus.

His name's Caesar. They are choosing the one who has them in bondage. They're choosing Caesar, the one who has their people, ens, slave.

Who is ruling over them with an iron fist, the one that they hope the Messiah will free them from. And here as they wait, they've rejected him and chosen rather Caesar as their king.

This last bit begs the question, when wicked men accuse you of turning the world upside down, can you not be sure of setting it to right.

I read this part of the story and I was reminded of a pastime, a favorite pastime of mine. As a child when I was young, I didn't have a lot of forms of, uh, digital entertainment, so I had to find creative ways to entertain myself. And being the really smart, educated, scholarly young boy that I was, I decided to get on the couch and hang my head off.

And I would do this thing where I would get on the couch, hang my head off the back of the couch, and I would try to imagine that my living room was upside down. I would picture that the ceiling was the roof and the roof was the ceiling. And something really cool happens when the blood rushes to your head , is that after a while you start to actually really be able to see it.

You're like, wow, my living room looks cool. The ceiling is on the floor. The carpet is the ceiling, the fan on the ceiling is now something I could step on. And everything starts to seem upside down. And if you did it long enough, it became very convincing. And I remember when I was young, I used to try to like walk off the edge of the couch and then bam.

I'm like, dang it, it didn't work. I thought I was Peter Pan for a minute. You see what happened is I spent long enough in that upside down position that it started to feel normal.

That's what's happening to these poor men. They've lived and benefited and walked in a world upside down for so long. They haven't any idea anymore. The blood is rushed to their head and they're so lost and confused that when they come and a message of hope is proclaimed in Christ, and he takes the lives of these devout Greeks, leading women and a few of the Jews, and flips it back to rights, they say upside down.

But I ask you the question, is this, this rabble, this mob, this violence, the world that God intended to build, that he desired us to live in? Or is this the world produced by sin and. The very things which God sent his son Jesus to defeat.

You see, this passage demonstrates so clearly that this gospel, despite the title of the sermon, is not turning the world upside down. It's turning it back on its proper axis, this broken, destroyed sins. Scarred world is being healed, story by story, person by person, moment by moment.

And yet these poor men are elite. Their allegiance is given to a king who is enslaving them. That's our world.

And like Paul, our hearts shouldn't be disgusted, but it should break that they're so lost.

That they've been upside down for so long, they no longer know it to be true.

I'm gonna close now with a question.

How have you responded to Jesus and to his gospel?

Because as we heard this morning, there's really only two responses.

Maybe you're here and you feel that you have rejected Jesus. You've written him off. You've started looking for other options. He doesn't work. You don't really like the things that you've come to realize about him from his word. You've started looking elsewhere where my words to you are this. It's never too late to change your.

Romans five 10 reminds us that while you were still an enemy, Christ made you alive. It says Romans five 10, for while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son. How much more now that we are reconciled shall we be saved by his life? Even now, even as you have stand in rejection of God, he wants you, desires you, seeks you, is after you.

Even now, if you let him, he'll turn your world, which has been upside down your whole life, right side up.

He desires your heart, even as I'm sure he desired, the men who were crying accusations against him. In choosing Cesar, don't choose Cesar. Don't give allegiance to that which enslaves you

turn and be healed. Find in Christ a hope that is greater than any you will know anywhere else. Trust me, I know maybe you're here and you are neutral. Maybe your whole life you've kind of been sitting on the fence with Jesus. Maybe there's a lot that you like about Jesus. Maybe you've sung the songs.

Maybe you've gone to Sunday school even. Maybe you have friends who are Christians and maybe you really don't mind it that much. Maybe you kind of like the positive vibes you get.

I have a word I feel like the Lord gave me for you, friend. The fence is no safe place for you.

You're not safe on the fence. And I hate, I don't want to have to preach this message, but it's the truth. In Matthew 12, verse 30, Jesus says, he who is not with me is against me in Revelation, Jesus says, since you are neither hot nor cold, I spat you out of my mouth.

Maybe it's time you stop liking Jesus and start loving him.

I'm not speaking a message here, uh, of legalism. I'm not telling you, maybe it's time you start getting your life in order before you go to Jesus. That's not at all what I'm saying. That's the opposite of what I'm saying. I'm saying go to Jesus, cry out for him. Recognize you can't do a single thing good in yourself.

Don't just be, don't just give allegiance to a cause or an idea given allegiance to a king and watch him change your. Through the gospel of grace. Okay, my last group that I want to address this morning, maybe you're here. Hopefully you're here and you have accepted Jesus as Lord over your life. Maybe you've accepted him and now he's taken your upside down life and day by day moment by moment, he's slowly taking the upside down parts of your life and writing them back on their proper axis, and your family at your work and your relationships and your marriage doesn't happen overnight with all parts of you.

He does it eternally and everlastingly. But then our life is the walk of slowly, moment by moment, letting Jesus work in us and turn our lives back in their proper orientation. For those of us who have acce have have received Christ. Maybe the next step is to follow in Paul's footsteps, to get a game plan, to ask the Lord, Lord, where is my synagogue?

Who are the ears open to me? Who might be leaning in and ready to receive the message of hope?

Is it in your home with your children and your husband or wife? Maybe it's in your work with your employees or your coworkers. Maybe it's the soccer field, your ki, the parents of the kids who are playing. Maybe it's your youth group. Maybe it's a homeless shelter. I don't know where your synagogue is, but ask God to reveal it so that you can live out the gospel and don't hoard it, but give it out freely.

Be ready, church to reason with them, to dialogue, not monologue. Be ready to explain. Divide a under and reveal what lies beneath. Know your scriptures so that you can reveal Jesus, present to them nothing more or less than Jesus. Set him before those in your life as the only way to life.

Set Jesus before them as the one true and rightful king who takes this broken, fallen, and upside down world and turns it right side up. Let's close in prayer now. Church.

Lord, thank you for your word. Thank you that it fills us. It challenges us. It reveals Lord to us so much about who you are and your.

Lord, I pray that we don't turn a deaf ear to your word, but we let it penetrate down deep inside us and take root in our lives and produce fruit. Lord, it's my prayer

that no distractions would come, Lord, that the enemy would be far from our minds now as we mull over your word and that guilt and shame would have no place, Lord, but that joy, peace, anticipation, conviction that these, the things would be what fill our minds now. Father, we thank you for all that you are and all that you are doing.

We thank you for your gospel and for your son Jesus, who is that gospel who is taking this upside down world and turning it right side up. Father, we pray all of this in your name. Amen. Go now in the fear of the Lord in the comfort of the Holy Spirit. Thank you.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-word-that-turned-the-world-upside-down 1e78ff50-e1b9-479f-93fa-564e39429684 Sun, 12 Feb 2023 10:40:59 GMT <div data-html="true">Acts 17:1-9 <br /><br /> And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> Good morning, church. Good morning. So good to be with you on this Super Bowl Sunday. It's funny, I see a lot of people blending into the pews this morning. For some reason, , uh, we're all excited. Um, but just for a few minutes here, I would pray that we would focus our hearts in on God's word and that we would just be expecting. <br /><br /> It's, uh, it's amazing. As I was preparing even last night, uh, I prepare and hear because I like to look over, uh, the place where I'm gonna be preaching from. And the word that God kept giving me as I was praying and thinking through, uh, the sermon was that we would be expectant people. That we would be eager ready. <br /><br /> Anticipating that God has a word for each one of us this morning. Remembering that this scripture is living and active. It's ready to penetrate deep down into us and take root and produce fruit. It'll teach us if we let it, how we can love the God who first loved us. So it's my hope and my prayer that this morning we would be ready expectant for him to do just that. <br /><br /> The story that we're stepping back into is the story of the Book of Acts. We're continuing our journey following God's newly formed church as it spreads out from Jerusalem like wildfire into Judea and Samaria until the ends of the earth, and it carries with it a message of the greatest hope. The hope of a gospel of Jesus Christ. <br /><br /> And as we have been following this story, we've been seeing the power of this message to turn hearts and minds and worlds broken and off kilter by sin upside down. The passage in particular that we're gonna be looking at this morning is found in Acts chapter 17 verses one through nine, and in this passage we see demonstrated to the obedience of Paul that this gospel message does in fact have the power to turn the world upside down, taking this fallen and broken sinful world and transforming it. <br /><br /> All right, let's read the passage this morning, and you could follow along with me. As I read now, when they had passed through Amph Polis and a Apollo, they came to Thessalonika and there was a synagogue of the Jews. And Paul went in and as was his custom on three Sabbath days, he reasoned with them from the scriptures explaining and proving that it was necessary for Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, saying this Jesus, whom I proclaim to you is the Christ. <br /><br /> And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of devout Greeks and not a few leading women, but the Jews were jealous and taking some wicked men of the rabble. They formed a mob and set the city in uproar and attacked the house of Jason seeking to bring them out to the crowd. <br /><br /> And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities shouting these men who have turned the world upside down. Have come here also, and Jason has received them and they are all acting in the, against the decree of Caesar saying there there is another king. <br /><br /> Jesus. And the people and the city authorities were disturbed when they heard these things and when they had taken money as a security from Jason and the rest, they let them go. Would you pray with me this morning? <br /><br /> Lord? Would you remind us that this word is your written word to us, your children, to guide us, to lead us, to challenge us, to shape us as we walk in obedience and joy in this gospel, which has turned our lives upside down from death into life. I pray, Lord, that we take seriously, but not with, uh, a solemn seriousness, A joyful seriousness. <br /><br /> Lord, as we come to this passage, we would receive it with all gladness and joy, pressing it down deep into who we are and letting it bear fruit in us. Lord b, pray that your living an active word would be living and active in us. We pray all this in your name. Amen. Amen. It said that when you separate text from context, all that's left is a con. <br /><br /> I heard that thought it was great. Uh, guy named Stuart Stafford said that, and if we're reminded that a con is when you persuade somebody typically by the use of perception, uh, deception, rather into believing something that is not most likely true, that's the last thing that we wanna do when we approach God's word. <br /><br /> We don't wanna enter in, jump right into the story without first remembering where this little story takes place in the larger series of stories that we find in the Book of Acts. So as I mentioned in the beginning, the Book of Acts is a larger collection, right? Written by, uh, of stories, rather written by the author Luke, who was a physician, uh, a man who was very careful to record specific details and not only to record them, but to hear them from the eyewitnesses, the apostles. <br /><br /> And not that this is not a history cuz it is, but we remember that this is a hand selected history to tell particular spirit led story, which Luke has been entrusted with. We see that this overall story has begun at the scene of the crime in Jerusalem. After the apostles have obediently waited on the promise of the spirit, they've received the spirit. <br /><br /> In the, the spirit's enabling power, they've gone out and shared this powerful gospel of Jesus Christ and one by one, and really an, an unbelievable revival takes place among the Jews, and thousands are joined to the number of the apostles. And from there we see that this gospel is not only to be given to the Jews, but to even the surprise of Peter, it is to go to the world bigger than he ever dared dream. <br /><br /> And it begins first with the household of Cornelius as he first receives the gospel and a little mini gentile Pentecost takes place. And from there we see what first begins as a trickle becomes a waterfall, and the great number of uncounted, number of gentiles start entering into the family of God the way has been opened. <br /><br /> And Jesus is transforming and turning the world upside down. We remember this is the context of the larger context, but now the smaller context here is that Paul and Silas are now on what people call Paul's second missionary journey. And where we last left off last week was Paul was in Philippi. And we saw in this story that, uh, mark shared last week that through a, a series of unfortunate events, Paul and Silas find themselves in prison. <br /><br /> But most remarkably, we see that not even the Roman prison can hold back God's gospel and its messengers. And we see in just a really topsy-turvy moment this Roman jailer who should have had all the power on his knees begging Paul and Silas for freedom and rescue. We see this gospel everywhere it goes, transforming and turning things on their head, this broken sins scarred world. <br /><br /> So that's the context, that's what's taken place just before this. Now, as we take, uh, a shift our eyes towards the passage in Acts 17, it's important that we remember that. I wanna, I wanna break this down into three parts because it's helpful for me at least as we go through to take each section as it comes. <br /><br /> And the way that I'm sort of laying out the roadmap, if you will, is, uh, I'm breaking it into three parts. The first that we're gonna look at this morning is I'm calling the practice, which is verse one through three, the practice. Next, we're gonna go and look at verses just the end of verse three, which I'm calling the purpose, and then lastly the verse four to the end of the passage, verse nine, the power. <br /><br /> Let's first look at the practice. Now, when they had passed through Anthropol and that Bologna, they came to Thessalonika where there was a synagogue of the Jews. And Paul went in and as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days, he reasoned with them from the scriptures explaining to them and proving to them that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead. <br /><br /> What we see from these first preliminary verses is that Paul had a system. This is Paul's second missionary journey. He's, he's developed a missionary, uh, a system in his, uh, mission work ev, an evangelical practice. And the first thing that's demonstrated to us is that Paul is selective and strategic in his choice of where he goes to share the gospel. <br /><br /> I don't mean stingy, I mean strategic. We see that Paul passes through em for Paulis, Alonna and comes to Fessa. Paul's eyes were set on Fessa. The question then becomes, why this city? Why not stop and, uh, and have a similar address in Anthropol or app Apollo? Why come to Sica? Uh, number of pretty, um, basic reasons I think are that Fessa was the second largest city in Greece. <br /><br /> It's the capital of Macedonia. It's home to 200,000 people. Gentiles and Jews alike call it home. It's a great, uh, military and political powerhouse. It's a great import export Port City. . And if Paul, for a moment, remember, Paul's mission is to spread the news of this gospel to take it into places where it will catch fire and there go out. <br /><br /> Paul sets his sight on the nikah and what we wanna remember is that this journey, and there's a, I think there's a picture of a map somewhere, maybe, uh, this journey is no small journey, even though on this map it looks tiny. Phillipi to Fessa is about a hundred mile walk, <br /><br /> and Paul did it on foot. Paul had his sight set on Fess Leica. But even within Fess Leica, Paul's selectiveness doesn't stop. We see here in verse two that Paul doesn't stop in the busy marketplace. He doesn't stop in the Pagan temple. He chooses rather to go to the synagogue of the Jews and we see that this was not merely a one time thing, but rather was a custom of his as was his custom. <br /><br /> There's a number of reasons that I think even just as I read, I could see for him choosing this place. I think firstly that for whatever reason he had gotten permission and that he knew he would there have a willing ears, but also Paul had a great burden for his own Jewish people, that they might hear the news of their Messiah, that they might accept the news of this king Jesus who was their Messiah, but don't get it twisted. <br /><br /> This synagogue was home to many Gentile believing Greek. There were actually great number of Greeks. You don't always talk about this, but a great number of Greeks and Gentiles who had accepted the Jewish faith as their own and followed in the traditions of the Jewish people. And as we see in the passage, a great number of them were there at the synagogue. <br /><br /> We have to remember that Paul was led by the spirit. We remember in chapters B, a few chapters back when Paul desired to go into Asia, what happens? The spirit stops him turning him rather, on this path, <br /><br /> we see that Paul was not stingy, but strategic and selective in choosing the spot the location mattered to Paul. <br /><br /> The next element to Paul's practice, which I think we can learn a ton from, is in his transmission of the gospel in the way that he gives the gospel. <br /><br /> I wanna look at a few verbs that are used here in these first three verses and I found, I got really excited about this. I love words. I love kind of looking at the, the root of them and understanding them a little better. So let's just look at three words here. The first word I wanna look at is that word reasoned. <br /><br /> That word reasoned. In Greek. This word is the, the, the Greek word delego, where we get the word dialogue from. I found this so fascinating cuz I think what we tend to think of is that Paul comes into the synagogue, opens up his Bible, or his TA scroll, or whatever it was, or even just his notes and starts to monologue to those who were assembled there. <br /><br /> At least here. That is not his practice. Here he begins with dialogue, a back and forth, a question and an answer he chooses as he enters into the synagogue. To rather than monologue at them, to dialogue with them over these scriptures. I think as believers we can learn a lot from Paul's example here, it's pretty easy to memorize a, a list of gospel tens, the Romans road, which are all great things. <br /><br /> It's a little harder to dialogue with people over the scriptures. It's a little harder to have a give and take a conversation over the scriptures. I think we'd, we'd find many people willing and able and excited to do that with us. But it takes really knowing that what we are teaching from Isaiah chapter one, verse 18, the Lord himself says this, come now. <br /><br /> Let us reason together. Say if the Lord though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Though they're red like crimson, they shall become like wool. Let's follow in Paul and our own Lord's example and reason the gospel with those we come into contact with. The next word I wanna look at is the word explaining he explained to them. <br /><br /> And that word, again, looking at the Greek hears, is fascinating. This word is the, the Greek word dego, which means I love this definition to open by dividing a under prying back to, to crack open. <br /><br /> This word is used a lot in the gospels. There's a, a spot in, in Mark, chapter seven, verse 34, where Jesus heals a blind man. He, he touches his eyes and he speaks a prayer to his father. He says, and it's in a, he says, opened. Dego is the Greek equivalent of that very word we see later in Luke's other gospel, or I guess it would be earlier in Luke's other gospel in Luke chapter 24, when the risen Jesus, the resurrected Jesus is walking on the robe with a number of his disciples who do not recognize him, and he's walking with them and they're, they're lamenting the fact that this Jesus, who was their hope had died. <br /><br /> And they're even telling this apparent stranger about how this Jesus apparently rose from the dead, but they didn't see it. And Jesus patiently explains opening the scriptures to them, showing them the very same thing that Paul is attempting to, to demonstrate to these assembled people in the synagogue that the, the Messiah must suffer and die opening that same word, opening the scriptures. <br /><br /> Remember, Luke doesn't do anything by accident. I think he's calling our mind back to this passage. And what do we know later in, in verse 32 of that Luke 24 chapter, Jesus, after he leaves them, the disciples recognized him right at the moment, as right before he left. And their words are, did not our hearts burn within us when he opened the scriptures to us. <br /><br /> Here, Paul is following, in that same example, opening up the scriptures Ou opened <br /><br /> the last word I wanna look at here. Is the word proved or proving a number of other translations? Maybe your translation says giving evidence. I think that's a pretty good translation. But the word is actually this word. It's permi. And what I found so interesting about this word is wow, it certainly has a connotation. <br /><br /> Giving evidence. That's certainly one of the ways of looking at this word, setting before evidence, before someone. It also is used quite often, even in the gospels to refer to food. When Jesus feeds the 5,000, the word is there to set before, <br /><br /> and maybe I'm reading into it a bit, but when I read this and I, and I see giving evidence, but I also picture this idea of setting a feast at the feet of hungry people. Oh, is that not what Paul is doing here as he reasons with them and not, doesn't monologue at them, but dialogues with them as he opens the scriptures to them, revealing to them the truth that has been hidden for thousands of years. <br /><br /> Is he not setting before them a feast? And it seems as if he's saying to them, will you not? <br /><br /> Taking a deeper look at these three words helped me in my understanding of Paul's methodology behind sharing the gospel. Paul was not afraid to shake up or mix up how he gave the gospel. He didn't just come at it one way. He was ready, willing, and able to come at it from different angles to vary his transmission of this gospel message. <br /><br /> There's one last element to Paul's practice that I think is not actually very overt in the text, not very obvious but's in the subtext. The only spot that I could see where I could sort of point to this is when it says on three Sabbath days, he reasoned with them three Sabbath days. When we see that, we remember that that does not mean three days. <br /><br /> That actually means three weeks. . Think of it as on three different Sundays. And my question as I'm reading that is, well, what does he do with the rest of his time there? What did he do? Did he get up there? Did he preach at them and then hide away? Well, fortunately for us, we have insight into this in the letters, which he wrote later to the church that would be formed from these addresses. <br /><br /> Yes, A church was formed out of just three weeks. <br /><br /> We see from Paul's own words that Paul did not only talk the gospel talk, he walked the gospel walk. We wanna read these two passages to you. It's found in First Thessalonians chapter two, six through eight and 10 through 12. This is Paul speaking to the newly formed Thessalonian church. Now, nor did we seek glory from people, whether from you or from others. <br /><br /> Though we could have made demands as apostles. But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children. So being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel, but also ourselves because you had become very dear to us. And then in verse 10, you are witnesses, you and God also how holy and righteous and blameless was our conduct toward you believers, for you know how like a father with his children, we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God who calls you into his own kingdom and glory. <br /><br /> They walked the walk. They did not only talk the talk and in a generation where the cry against the church is not that we don't preach at people, but that we are hypocritical of the message which we preach. We can learn from this. <br /><br /> Church. When we bring tobe together, both the gospel message and the gospel life, then our witness is effective. <br /><br /> I hope you hear that and feel a little bit intimidated like I did the gospel. Life is impossible to live out. It should daunt you. You can't do it apart from Christ, you see church. Unless we are willing to preach and receive the gospel that we are preaching to others each day, we will not be effective in giving it. <br /><br /> How can we expect others to receive that which we are ignoring in our own lives? The message of the gospel being filled up on Jesus so that we can give the gospel to others. Walking the walk as well as talking the talk. Okay, we're gonna move on. That was the longest section, I promise. But we see here that Paul does have a very set practice in the way that he would transmit this gospel message. <br /><br /> We see that location mattered to Paul. He was selective. He had a plan. We see that Paul is willing and able and effective at varying his transmission of that gospel, that he would reason with them, that he would explain to them, that he would prove to them. And lastly, we see that Paul not only talks the gospel talk, but he walks it. <br /><br /> He walks the gospel walk. And that takes me now to our next section, the shortest section, but not the least important, the purpose. Okay, and that comes only at the end of verse three. Some of you might say, how can that be a section? That is the shortest section I've ever seen. It's the cornerstone of the passage on which the entire passage turns. <br /><br /> The words that Paul speaks, which Mike spoke earlier, this Jesus, whom I proclaim to you is the Christ You see, Paul, up until this point, has ex been explaining to them from the scriptures why this Messiah had to suffer and die and be raised. He had not yet given the Messiah a name, but here Paul reveals in a great moment of revelation that this message was not merely a thing. <br /><br /> But a person that this hope, which they were proclaiming, was not merely an idea, but Jesus himself, Jesus of Nazareth, this gospel is not merely about Jesus. It is Jesus. This word was made flesh and it dwelled among them. It lived the life that they could not live. That we could not live. It died the death that we deserve to die. <br /><br /> And Jesus was raised to life, ascended to the right hand of the Father, and now works to give that same life to his church and to all those who call on his name, this passage, this little tiny. end section on verse three is so important because it shows us demonstrating to us by Paul's godly example that Paul is not, does not have his allegiance given to a cause, but to a king, Paul has not dedicated his life, given his allegiance to an ideal. <br /><br /> It's to a king. It's the one who arrested him on the road to Damascus, who turned his life from a terrorist to an evangelist that's about as upside down as you can possibly imagine. <br /><br /> His whole life's mission was to proclaim Jesus as the Messiah. The Jews knew a thing or two about mess. They didn't know Jesus of Nazareth, or at least these didn't. They would've heard of him wasn't long ago before when he had walked the Earth, his 33 years of life on Earth. They would've heard of Nazareth. <br /><br /> They would've said, like Nathan said, they think Good come from Nazareth <br /><br /> Church. We need to be people about Jesus. That we would reason about Jesus. That we would open the Bible reveal and reveal Jesus. That we would set Jesus before people. Not some dogmatic teaching, not some trope of memorized verses, although those could be powerful. Set the person Jesus before people. <br /><br /> A king, not a. <br /><br /> That takes me to the final section. I told you that was shorter to the final section, the largest section versus four through nine. And I'm just calling this the power, and some of them were persuaded and joined Paul in Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women, but the Jews were jealous and taking some wicked men of the rabble. <br /><br /> They formed a mob and set the city an uproar attacking the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out of the crowd. And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities shouting. These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also. And Jason Recce and Jason has received them and they're all acting against the decrees of Caesar saying that there is another king Jesus. <br /><br /> The people and the city authorities were disturbed when they heard these things. When they had taken a money as a security from Jason and the rest, they let them go. We see now Paul has done it. It's all come to a head. The cornerstone, the centerpiece moment has happened. This Messiah, he had a name. I met him on the road to Damascus, and his name was Jesus. <br /><br /> I think this is where he lost a lot of his listeners. They probably would've track with him. So far. He was a smart man who knew the Torah. He probably would've demonstrated very effectively that this Messiah had to come and suffer and die. But the moment they gave, the moment he gave a name to this Messiah, I think he would've lost a great number of people. <br /><br /> And that's for this reason. When the power of the gospel is set before you, it leaves no room for middle ground. <br /><br /> Paul presents the gospel without any possibility of a neutral response. Accept it or reject it. Those are the options. <br /><br /> We see that very response yield out. We see those accept and those who do not. Those who are persuaded and those who are not, and there is no middle ground demonstrated here. It's was just so in Jesus's earthly ministry. He did not come to elicit a neutral response. And yet our culture, our world, loves to react to Jesus with the greatest neutrality. <br /><br /> He was a great moral teacher. He was a good man, somebody to be admired and perhaps when it's not too inconvenient to be imitated, but Lord King, slow your role, buddy. I can't tell you in my own generation how many people I know who I interacted with at a secular college, who the Jesus, they didn't hate Jesus. <br /><br /> They liked him <br /><br /> about as neutral response as you could imagine. CS Lewis, who was a, a, a really well-known author, uh, of the Narnia series, he, uh, wrote an uncounted amount of books, a lot of which I'm very indebted to in my life and walk as a believer, and probably one of the most popular, and one of the ones I've read the most times is the book Mere Chris. <br /><br /> And in that book, we see that this problem of a neutral response to Christ is common and has been for a while because CS Lewis generates a rebuttal that he calls the trilemma. <br /><br /> See, Lewis Jesus gave options for how to respond. He said, listen, if you honestly read the claims that are made by Jesus and the Gospels, there are three possible ways you can respond. First, you could say, honestly, he's a liar. The claim that he made about being able to forgive sin, about being the son of God, about being the only way to obtain eternal life, he was just lying. <br /><br /> Or secondly, you could also respond by calling Jesus a lun. A megalomaniac, a man who says, I am God. We've seen people on the streets say that we don't call them Lord. We call them a lunatic. <br /><br /> And lastly, <br /><br /> perhaps just perhaps the claims that Jesus made the claims about being the way the truth and the life were true, in which case he is nothing other than Lord, liar, lunatic, or Lord. Do not call him a great moral teacher. Please. When the gospel is presented, when Jesus is presented, it leaves no room for a neutral response. <br /><br /> All right, let's look at these two responses real quick. First, we see happily that the gospel is, And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul in Silas, as did a great, many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women. We see a great variety here, come to the saving knowledge, accepting that this Christ was Jesus. <br /><br /> It's a pretty big deal. Sounds like a lot of people accepted the gospel as a result of Paul's ministry, even as we see here, a few leading women. Really interesting. I really wanted to know who these leading women were. I tried to find out. It's very ambiguous. There's some, there's some thoughts, but the, the best I could find is that these women were probably wives to, uh, powerful political or military leaders in the city of Esla Naka. <br /><br /> Most likely they were Gentile Greeks and not. And most likely, they had a great deal to do with forming the early Thessalonian Church with their money, power, and influence. Remember, Paul had a strategic outlook on giving the gospel. He knew that this place was the center of a lot of goings on. He knew those women would be there, but also the great many of the devout Greeks continuing the trend, which we've seen all throughout the story. <br /><br /> Up until this point, the Gentiles are eager and ready for this gospel. There are no stumbling blocks to it. They're, they're excited to receive Jesus <br /><br /> eager and ready without any rejection in their hearts. We see the devout Greeks, eager, and these were not Greeks who had never heard of the Jewish customs. These were Greeks who had walked in the ways of the Jewish tradition, so they knew their Bibles, and yet they still received. Exciting stuff. <br /><br /> Next we get probably to the most tragic section in the whole passage, verses five through seven. The gospel is rejected, <br /><br /> but the Jews were jealous and taking some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob and set the city in uproar. <br /><br /> This, uh, response as we see as it goes on, that they unite with wicked men of the rabble. They set the city in uproar. They drag Jason out, and they make accusations against him saying they've turned the world upside down. These men who have turned the world upside down have come here. And Jason has received them. <br /><br /> They're all acting against the decrees of Caesar saying that there is another king. Jesus. Do you know what came to my mind when I read this passage? I was reminded of when Jesus was set before the Jewish people, before he was crucified, and the option was given them at that moment to free him or to choose another from the prisons to be freed. <br /><br /> And in that moment, John 18, verse 40 says, they cried out again. Not this man but Barabbas choosing to reject the one they should have accepted as Messiah and choosing rather, an evil man, an insurrectionist, a robber, most likely a murderer. They would choose him over the perfect lamb. And once again, they make the same mistake. <br /><br /> Here we see it again. They reject Jesus. And it's so fascinating that right away, what do they do? Unite with wicked men. Choose rather wicked men. <br /><br /> And we see a fascinating, and again, intention, uh, intended, rather <br /><br /> set a phrase here that Luke gives, forming a mob and setting the city in uproar. And then right after we see those words, what is the accusation made by these men? These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also, who, let me ask you a question. Who's turning the world upside down here? <br /><br /> Where is the wrongness? Is it in Paul and Silas preaching a message of hope or is it in these wicked men turning the marketplace upside down, doing violence, screaming accusations, stealing money? <br /><br /> We see a, a last little important detail in the dialogue or in, in the words given to us by this assembled mob. He said they're speaking against the decrees of Caesar saying that there is another king. Jesus. They've chosen a, they've chosen, they've made their choice. They've chosen a king. His name's not Jesus. <br /><br /> His name's Caesar. They are choosing the one who has them in bondage. They're choosing Caesar, the one who has their people, ens, slave. <br /><br /> Who is ruling over them with an iron fist, the one that they hope the Messiah will free them from. And here as they wait, they've rejected him and chosen rather Caesar as their king. <br /><br /> This last bit begs the question, when wicked men accuse you of turning the world upside down, can you not be sure of setting it to right. <br /><br /> I read this part of the story and I was reminded of a pastime, a favorite pastime of mine. As a child when I was young, I didn't have a lot of forms of, uh, digital entertainment, so I had to find creative ways to entertain myself. And being the really smart, educated, scholarly young boy that I was, I decided to get on the couch and hang my head off. <br /><br /> And I would do this thing where I would get on the couch, hang my head off the back of the couch, and I would try to imagine that my living room was upside down. I would picture that the ceiling was the roof and the roof was the ceiling. And something really cool happens when the blood rushes to your head , is that after a while you start to actually really be able to see it. <br /><br /> You're like, wow, my living room looks cool. The ceiling is on the floor. The carpet is the ceiling, the fan on the ceiling is now something I could step on. And everything starts to seem upside down. And if you did it long enough, it became very convincing. And I remember when I was young, I used to try to like walk off the edge of the couch and then bam. <br /><br /> I'm like, dang it, it didn't work. I thought I was Peter Pan for a minute. You see what happened is I spent long enough in that upside down position that it started to feel normal. <br /><br /> That's what's happening to these poor men. They've lived and benefited and walked in a world upside down for so long. They haven't any idea anymore. The blood is rushed to their head and they're so lost and confused that when they come and a message of hope is proclaimed in Christ, and he takes the lives of these devout Greeks, leading women and a few of the Jews, and flips it back to rights, they say upside down. <br /><br /> But I ask you the question, is this, this rabble, this mob, this violence, the world that God intended to build, that he desired us to live in? Or is this the world produced by sin and. The very things which God sent his son Jesus to defeat. <br /><br /> You see, this passage demonstrates so clearly that this gospel, despite the title of the sermon, is not turning the world upside down. It's turning it back on its proper axis, this broken, destroyed sins. Scarred world is being healed, story by story, person by person, moment by moment. <br /><br /> And yet these poor men are elite. Their allegiance is given to a king who is enslaving them. That's our world. <br /><br /> And like Paul, our hearts shouldn't be disgusted, but it should break that they're so lost. <br /><br /> That they've been upside down for so long, they no longer know it to be true. <br /><br /> I'm gonna close now with a question. <br /><br /> How have you responded to Jesus and to his gospel? <br /><br /> Because as we heard this morning, there's really only two responses. <br /><br /> Maybe you're here and you feel that you have rejected Jesus. You've written him off. You've started looking for other options. He doesn't work. You don't really like the things that you've come to realize about him from his word. You've started looking elsewhere where my words to you are this. It's never too late to change your. <br /><br /> Romans five 10 reminds us that while you were still an enemy, Christ made you alive. It says Romans five 10, for while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son. How much more now that we are reconciled shall we be saved by his life? Even now, even as you have stand in rejection of God, he wants you, desires you, seeks you, is after you. <br /><br /> Even now, if you let him, he'll turn your world, which has been upside down your whole life, right side up. <br /><br /> He desires your heart, even as I'm sure he desired, the men who were crying accusations against him. In choosing Cesar, don't choose Cesar. Don't give allegiance to that which enslaves you <br /><br /> turn and be healed. Find in Christ a hope that is greater than any you will know anywhere else. Trust me, I know maybe you're here and you are neutral. Maybe your whole life you've kind of been sitting on the fence with Jesus. Maybe there's a lot that you like about Jesus. Maybe you've sung the songs. <br /><br /> Maybe you've gone to Sunday school even. Maybe you have friends who are Christians and maybe you really don't mind it that much. Maybe you kind of like the positive vibes you get. <br /><br /> I have a word I feel like the Lord gave me for you, friend. The fence is no safe place for you. <br /><br /> You're not safe on the fence. And I hate, I don't want to have to preach this message, but it's the truth. In Matthew 12, verse 30, Jesus says, he who is not with me is against me in Revelation, Jesus says, since you are neither hot nor cold, I spat you out of my mouth. <br /><br /> Maybe it's time you stop liking Jesus and start loving him. <br /><br /> I'm not speaking a message here, uh, of legalism. I'm not telling you, maybe it's time you start getting your life in order before you go to Jesus. That's not at all what I'm saying. That's the opposite of what I'm saying. I'm saying go to Jesus, cry out for him. Recognize you can't do a single thing good in yourself. <br /><br /> Don't just be, don't just give allegiance to a cause or an idea given allegiance to a king and watch him change your. Through the gospel of grace. Okay, my last group that I want to address this morning, maybe you're here. Hopefully you're here and you have accepted Jesus as Lord over your life. Maybe you've accepted him and now he's taken your upside down life and day by day moment by moment, he's slowly taking the upside down parts of your life and writing them back on their proper axis, and your family at your work and your relationships and your marriage doesn't happen overnight with all parts of you. <br /><br /> He does it eternally and everlastingly. But then our life is the walk of slowly, moment by moment, letting Jesus work in us and turn our lives back in their proper orientation. For those of us who have acce have have received Christ. Maybe the next step is to follow in Paul's footsteps, to get a game plan, to ask the Lord, Lord, where is my synagogue? <br /><br /> Who are the ears open to me? Who might be leaning in and ready to receive the message of hope? <br /><br /> Is it in your home with your children and your husband or wife? Maybe it's in your work with your employees or your coworkers. Maybe it's the soccer field, your ki, the parents of the kids who are playing. Maybe it's your youth group. Maybe it's a homeless shelter. I don't know where your synagogue is, but ask God to reveal it so that you can live out the gospel and don't hoard it, but give it out freely. <br /><br /> Be ready, church to reason with them, to dialogue, not monologue. Be ready to explain. Divide a under and reveal what lies beneath. Know your scriptures so that you can reveal Jesus, present to them nothing more or less than Jesus. Set him before those in your life as the only way to life. <br /><br /> Set Jesus before them as the one true and rightful king who takes this broken, fallen, and upside down world and turns it right side up. Let's close in prayer now. Church. <br /><br /> Lord, thank you for your word. Thank you that it fills us. It challenges us. It reveals Lord to us so much about who you are and your. <br /><br /> Lord, I pray that we don't turn a deaf ear to your word, but we let it penetrate down deep inside us and take root in our lives and produce fruit. Lord, it's my prayer <br /><br /> that no distractions would come, Lord, that the enemy would be far from our minds now as we mull over your word and that guilt and shame would have no place, Lord, but that joy, peace, anticipation, conviction that these, the things would be what fill our minds now. Father, we thank you for all that you are and all that you are doing. <br /><br /> We thank you for your gospel and for your son Jesus, who is that gospel who is taking this upside down world and turning it right side up. Father, we pray all of this in your name. Amen. Go now in the fear of the Lord in the comfort of the Holy Spirit. Thank you.</div> false no <![CDATA[Another Life Changed by the Gospel]]> Acts 16:19-40

And when they had brought them to the magistrates, they said, “These men are Jews, and they are disturbing our city.



Sermon Transcript:

Good morning everybody. Invite you to take your Bibles to the Book of Acts, chapter 16. Gonna be continuing our series here, the Spirit at Work to the Ends of the Earth, acts 16. We're gonna look at verse 19 down through verse 40, the end of the chapter as we look at another individual in this three person story that we find in Acts chapter 16.

Acts chapter 16. I'm gonna read verse 19 and following. And we're talking now about the slave girl we heard about last week, but when her owners saw that their hope of gain was gone, they seized Paul in Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers. And when they had brought them to the magistrates, they said, these men are Jews and they are disturbing our city.

They advocate customs that are not lawful us as Romans to accept or practice. The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods. And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely.

Having received this order, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them and suddenly there was a great earthquake so that the foundations of the prison were shaken.

And immediately all the doors were open and everyone's bonds were unfed. When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul cried with a loud voice, did not harm yourself, but we're all here. The jailer called for lights and rushed in and trembling with fury fell down before Paul and Silas.

Then he brought them out and said, SIRS, what must I do to be saved? And they said, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you'll be saved, you and your household. And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds, and he was baptized at once.

He and all his family. . Then he brought them up into the house and set before the food before them, and rejoiced along with his entire household that had, he had believed in God. But when it was day, the magistrates sent the police saying, let those men go. And the jailer reported these words to Paul saying, the magistrates have sent to let you go, therefore come out now and go in peace.

But Paul said to them, they've beaten us publicly, uncon condemned men who are Roman citizens and have thrown us into prison, and do they now throw us out secretly? No. Let them come themselves and take us out. The police reported these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Roman citizens.

So they came and apologized to them, and they took them out and asked them to leave the city. So they went outta the prison and visited Lydia. And when they had seen the brothers, they encouraged them and departed. Let's pray.

Lord, I thank you for this story. I thank you for this entire set of stories and the lessons that we can learn there about the gospel. Lord, I pray that you would speak into us. We come with such a variety of needs and struggles and weights that are being carried into this room and by those online, God, we ask Your word would be our teacher through your spirit today.

In Jesus' name, amen. We were flying to South America a number of years ago, and it was the first time I had ever seen one of these location guide. On, on the flight. It's an 18 hour flight where we were going to Durban, South Africa actually we're flying into Johannesburg and they had on the wall a couple of big monitors and there you could, you know, you could track the flight as it goes across the ocean.

And then you come down the coast of Africa and, and we were following our way along. It showed where we were on the journey. We're giving a location guide of the Apostle Paul. That's why we keep throwing maps at you. Now. I hope it does not have the impact on you that it had on me. When I was watching the location guide.

My real reason to watch the location guide was to see how much father I had till this interminable trip was over. I hope that's not how you view in this series, but as you look at it, where we've come is Paul, on the second missionary journey, has traveled all through. Area called Asia, which actually is modern day Turkey.

They're crossing over the agency and they've now gone into that area, which is called Trace, which is up at the top, and basically that is a part of the whole land block called Greece. Today, they had gone to a city called Minneapolis and then had traveled by foot about 10 miles into the city of Philippi as they, as they have arrived there.

We were introduced last Sunday to two females that are actually being used by Luke to tell us the story of the founding of the church. This whole chapter, actually, as commentators are quick to point out, is basically not only the start of the church at Philippi, a church that Paul deeply loved as is reflected in the letter he wrote to them and the things he says about them.

But it is a, it is a. Accounting of the starting of a church that is told by telling the stories of three individuals coming to Christ Lydia, a wealthy cosmopolitan owner of a high-end boutique, providing expensive garments to the monied crowd of her city. She represents those who are empowered. She had wealth, business success, the right connections We see a second individual, the unnamed girl, the 10 to 14 year old slave girl who is the powerless, a slave used for what her masters wanted, what she could provide for them.

She has no voice of her own in her culture. And third, we come to a guy the jailer. A blue collar ex-military guy will see why I say that in a moment. The jailer, the warden, he represents those who are power wielding. Three different people. We looked at the first two last time, and what I planned to do this morning is to talk about the third one, this jailer, and then at the end to draw three, uh, lessons that we learned from the lives of all three of these people.

But we look today at this, this jailer, this charter member of the church at Philippi, and we find we're gonna follow the same outline we did last time with the, the, the females, who they were, how they came to Christ. And what happened to them. First of all, who he was. He's a jailer. Now, again, I've mentioned to you that city of Philippi was a, a, uh, was designed to be and was formed by the Romans in 42 BC in particular, to be a place where military veterans from the Roman armies would come.

They were given citizenship, there was where they were taken care of. This town is a military town. It is full of military folks, retired military, retired military. People in Philippi tended to if they were young enough to still work to get a civil service job. There's every reason to believe this. Jailer is a former military guy also.

It's hard to imagine a city like Philippi that is filled with so many tough military types and most of the mis Koreans that you're gonna have thrown into the local jail didn't have a military guy that was the jailer. He's a tough guy, Paul and Silas. Are beaten to a pulp. In the earlier verses we read this morning, we read phrases like this.

The garments were tore off them. Literally, it means they were ripped off. They were the, there were orders to beat them with rods. They were inflicted with many blows upon them, and then they threw them bodily into prison. These guys went to prison into this jailer's prison with lacerated backs, with bruised bodies, and they're thrown in here.

And this guy shows no compassion. He doesn't wash their wounds. He doesn't try to say, man, you guys have just nothing. He just throws 'em in. As a matter of fact, what we see he does is the, they say, watch these guys in particular. So what he does is he puts them into the maximum security cell. It says he put them into the center cell, the cell with no windows, the cell utterly surrounded by everything else.

And on top of that, he throws them into stocks. Now, when we think of stocks, we think of Williamsburg, Virginia or Plymouth Mass, where you know, you get in and you get the family photos and the family picks. But the stocks that were used here and a prison were known for the fact that they had multiple holes for you to put your hands and your feet in order that they could stretch you in.

Uh, difficult circumstance, difficult positions. It was designed to be uncomfortable. Imagine your back lacerated, your body bruised. You're twisted and contorted, and this is the place that they are put this guy is, is is basically, uh, heaping it on them as he puts them into the jail. He's not looking for spiritual input.

He's not asking questions. He's not, there's no conversation. The only relationship that Paul and Silas have with this guy at the start is the silent one, where they are utterly beat up by the town. And now our military jailer friend, how the gospel came to him. Well, we see what he saw. What he saw, first of all was two men who in the face of suffering had peace and.

The term, the, the, the term used in verse 25 is they were praying and singing hymns. They weren't gonna sleep. You can imagined the physical discomfort. This is not, this is not a jail where you took a, a, a good night's rest. They're in potential agony, certainly discomfort. But they used the opportunity not to do what was so common in this part of the world, which is people were very outspoken with their emotions.

They, they, they lament, they lent loudly. They, they complain. Sure. There were lots of voices in the prison like that. And these guys are singing, they are worshiping, they are praying. He says they were praying and singing. It's utterly contrary. And it says all the prison are listening in as these guys are, are, are, are praying to the Lord as they are, as they are worshiping God.

They did what? Some of you have learned to do in the night seasons when you're awake and it's discomforting, you can't sleep. You have two options. You can worry, I'm not getting any sleep, I'm just, I'm getting more worked up. I'm just gonna be tired tomorrow. I got all this on my mind. There's so much you can worry or you can worship.

They chose worship and it impacted this jailer. He's listening to these guys. He hasn't had prisoners that are praising God in prison after what they have just experienced and what he is doing to them now. Secondly, what he saw was that in the face of cruelty, these guys manifested kindness and forgiveness.

What happens is there, there's an earthquake. And it's such a tumultuous earthquake that literally the jail jail's, doors are thrown off, they're hinges and are opened that it says somehow even the, the, uh, bonds, the, the metal changed bracelets and, and, uh, ankle pieces are broken loose and the jailer wakes up.

And whether he has a house next door or he actually is staying in the prison, he comes in and he sees the doors are open. Maybe he runs into some prisoners and sees they're running around, they're manacle free. And he realizes this is all on his watch. Whether or not he's going to lose his life for such a, a, uh, failure of duty because people escape under his watch or he's just gonna face the humiliation.

This is a shame honor culture. And he decides he'd be furs to take his life. So he gets out the sword. He's about to kill himself. And Paul and Barn, Paul and Silas Paul in particular, hollers out. Do not harm yourself. We're all here. Apparently they could have been gone, whether Paul and Silas talked the rest of the people in disdain, but certainly they chose to wait.

They're freed. They're out of the they're, they're out of there in bondage. The doors are open. Says, don't harm yourself. I'm sure this guy's thinking, why are you looking out for me, ? I mean, you're in those stocks. You're in this inner cell because of me and Paul responds, don't harm yourself. We're here.

It's gonna be okay. Nobody's left and nobody's going. The response he's watching, he's seeing something he doesn't understand. They've responded to his cruelty with kindness. They're responding with a forgiveness he does not understand. 2006, many of you know the story of the Amish schoolhouse over in Lancaster County where a young man who had lost a daughter and was him bittered, that his, his child had been born.

He actually had three other kids, but his daughter had died in childbirth and he couldn't get over it, and he just wanted to take it out on somebody. So he went to an Amish school among, with Amish families that he actually did deliveries to. And he came in and his plan was to molest and abuse the girls and then killed him.

He wasn't able to get to that, the molesting part because the police were called quick enough, but not before he had shot 10 of them, five of them died. But the real shocking outgrowth of the story. Beyond even the horror of the tragedy was the response of the Amish community. There was a almost instantaneous spirit of forgiveness.

As a matter of fact, the next day, leaders of that particular Amish community, including family members of the children that had been killed, went to the home of the parents of the young man, had had killed their daughters and said, we are here for you. We are both grieving the loss of our children. It made no sense.

It may not make sense to you listening. It's hard for us to wrap our arms around this in 2010. Three people with PhDs from three different universities who were, uh, many years, scholars of the Amish people did a, did research in this particular event and the aftermath of it, and they actually wrote a book, and this is the book, Amish Grace, I commend it to you for reading.

It is a book that basically they were presenting the, the foundation of Amish belief that prompted them to forgive. The astonishing thing you'll find in the book, which I didn't expect, is that there's a whole section of the book that is presenting many different examples of this similar type of expression, but the mo of the, of the Amish people, forgiving people that have done.

That have perpetrated evils that have been drunk, drivers that have killed him. And the, the, it's a practice. And the striking thing is that they did multi-year studies where they would say to people, you know, you, your, your instantaneous emotional response was to go to these people. Like they went to the, the wife of the young man that killed the girls,

and they asked permission to come to her funeral for her husband. And she's there with her three small children. And they said that over half of the people that attended the funeral were Amish. Most of them, the parents of the children. And so they, they, they read of these things and these guys thought, okay, is this real or is this just an emotional?

So they, they actually, in these studies, take them years later and say, now as you look back, now as you've dealt with the loss, how do you feel? And it's astonishing to hear them telling a story. No, we forgive. So basically the book is an analysis of where does this come from, that you could forgive this way as as a normal practice of your experience.

And they came up. I'm summarizing now three particular things that they believe as a people group that are the foundation. For forgiving others, I'd like to tell you them real quick, and these are gonna, some of it's just gonna be in my own words, my own summaries. Number one, the Amish believed that Jesus Christ died on the cross and died forgiving as murderers, as a result.

To be a Christian is to have that at the very center of your life. There's no other religion in the world that has a man dying for his enemies as the central principle of faith. They summarize that because of that. This is the, the, the, the authors summarize that the, that is the first reason why these people that they embrace and they go all the way back to the Anna Baptist and the 15 hundreds and talk about where the Amish came from, which I didn't know was actually a guy.

I think his name was Jacob, a Amer, and, and the whole story, the second thing they found was that the Amish believe in the sovereignty of God. That they really hold the fact that God is the giver of life and, and that God has individuals. He, he controls both life and death ultimately, and that ultimately nobody chooses the times of the seasons.

Then this in their sense, there is a sense of which their children lived a full life. I'm just gonna say a sidebar here. This particular belief for me when my young boy drowned was central to doing life, to live with the fact that he had not lived his full life, but that we had robbed him by not protecting him was, was overwhelmingly fathomless.

But God brought us back to Mark Seth. He has lived his full life. I declare the end from the beginning, they were able to say, you know, they didn't do what we all do when something's done. When a child is killed or an individual's killed, our immediate thought is, you robbed him. Of all those years, you robbed us of what we would've had.

The Amish have built into the theology apparently, that God was super intending. They believe in the sovereignty of God. And the third thing, they believe that forgiveness is an act of self renunciation. You renounce your right for payback. You're saying for the sake of God and for the sake of other people, I am not going to pay back.

I forgive. The author said that this is alien to our culture, which does not value self renunciation, but rather. Values self-assertion. It's about my freedom. It's about my rights. But they said they embrace the concept of Jesus, that we don't have rights. We have yielded them to him. That there is beauty in self renunciation and self denial.

In the place of asserting myself, I'm gonna read a statement they made. The author said this, the Christian believes that the meaning of life is to deny yourself, renounce your claims to your rights, give up your claims for yourself, and seek to serve God and others. I deny myself for other people, they said our culture of self aser assertion is if you are wronged, the response is to seek revenge.

But in the counterculture of self renunciation, when you are harmed. The response in the power of Christ is to forgive. Now, you may be out there thinking that is impossible, and I'm gonna say this to you. You are 100% correct. You can live that way. But Jesus did, and Jesus is willing to live that way through you.

And the the stunning picture that went worldwide of the aftermath of this violent, horrible death of those children was of a community that had embraced centrally forgiveness. This is what is happening in this jail cell and this prison in Philippi. This guy is looking and. Why are they responding to cruelty with kindness?

Why are they forgiving me for what I did to them and others have done to them? And there was no explanation apart from something he had never experienced before. With we find what he realized. The jailer knows they have something he doesn't have. They have a resource that he has never tapped into. He humbles himself and asks, verse 30, what must I do to be saved?

Now I want you to address this for a second. There's two wrong ways of looking at this. I don't think this means that this guy was ready at an evangelistic meeting. And he says, I get it. I get all, and he's tried to all the theology, you know, he doesn't know the gospel. He hasn't heard the gospel. But what he does know, I'll come back to that.

So I don't think this is that he's coming with a full understanding of salvation. I don't think he even knows what the word salvation means. But I also don't go the other side, which I've read a couple of people, right? Which is to say there is no spiritual aspect to this. In other words, he's saying, well, when he says, um, what I do this be saved, he means rescued and basically saying, what do I need to do to get out of this mess I'm in?

To which I would reply, what mess? Nobody's gone. I mean, this guy in the midst of an earthquake has been able to keep all his prisoners. This is magnificently successful. There's no mess. He's saying, how do I get rescued from this? No, he's in great shape. He's gonna be commended. Nobody's gone, even though their bonds are off and the doors are open, somehow this jailer has kept all these guys in tow, he's up for a promotion.

So he's not saying, how do I get out of this mess? Oh, he's saying this. I'm powerless to act. With the power I'm seeing in this jail, I'm powerless to, to live with the reality that with a, in the face of a power that I am seeing, here's the power. It's a power that causes these prisoners in the face of suffering to be singing and praising their God.

There's an earthquake that all of a sudden just has to happen, happen to happen when these guys show up. And third, I have prisoners that I've mistreated, disdain, cared nothing for. And they're looking out for me with the compassion and forgiveness and kindness. I don't understand. He realizes, guys, I need what you have.

In this sense, I need rescuing. I need embrace, embracing something what you are representing. And the third thing we find is what he did. Paul says in verse six, verse 31, man, you need to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ that will bring you the real deliverance. Basically, he's saying, you don't need to do anything.

You hear what he's saying? I mean, this is a tough guy, former military. What do we need to do? He says, nothing about doing, it's about looking. It's about turning to, it's about embracing and accepting. I've told this story before, but it's a great one from church history. Young man named Charles Spurgeon, late in his teenage years, couldn't get to church one Sunday, and he actually was not a believer at the time.

He'd sort of been dabbling, trying to figure out what was true, what was not true in the midst of a violent snowstorm in London, he couldn't get through. And so for shelter, actually, he went into what he, what it was known as a primitive Methodist church that was, uh, uh, a speaker that was speaking. It was not pastor couldn't get in.

And this guy who was not a trained speaker, stands up and, and begins to talk to the about a dozen people. Peron Spurgeon said, were there. And this guy gets up there in the pulpit and, and he talk, and Spurgeon talks about his accent. And you know, it, it obviously, uh, uh, a blue collar guy that wasn't used to public speaking.

And he, and he chose his text. Isaiah 45 verse 22. In which the text says this, look unto me and be saved all the ends of the earth for I am God and there's none else. In Spurgeon's autobiography, he records his reaction. Here's what he said. He had not much to say, thank God for that. Compelled him to keep on repeating his text, and there was nothing needed by me at any rate, except his text.

Then stopping, he pointed to where I was sitting under the gallery and he said, that young man there looks very miserable. And he shouted as I think only a primitive Methodist can look. Look young man, look Now. Then I had this vision, not a vision to my eyes, but to my heart. I saw what a savior Christ was.

Now, I never can tell you how it was, but I know I, I no sooner saw whom I was to believe than I also understood what it was to believe. and I did believe in one moment I looked and looked until I had almost looked my eyes away. Then he says, and as the snow fell on my road home from the little house of prayer, I thought every snowflake talked with me and told of the pardon I had found for I was white as the driven throw snow through the grace of God, this jailer looked, he turned to Christ and he said, I realize Jesus came to die for people like me that the power that these men represent is not their power.

There is a power that has been brought into their lives as they have leaned into it and the power of Jesus Christ. So what did the Gospel do in this guy's life? Well, as we continue in our text, I would suggest there are three marks that were true here, that are true of anyone who is converted by the real gospel.

Number one. It made him a compassionate man. Verse 33, he does start this tough guy. All of a sudden now is cleaning the wounds of Paul and Silas. Secondly, it made him committed to ministry and community. He was baptized and he shared it with others. See, Christianity is personal, but it's not private. It's intimate, but it's not individualistic.

People you love about, you want to know, and you also find that you are drawn to do life in Christian community when you really have embraced the living Christ. And the third thing, it makes you have joy, verse 34. And he rejoiced along with his whole household that he believed. Three lessons I want to give from this chapter as we take the stories of these three individuals and just wanna summarize with this, act 16 tells us about three people, an empowered businesswoman, a powerless slave girl, a power wielding jailer.

We learned three things. Number one, we learned the gospel is for everyone. Well, we might say everyone needs the gospel. There's no Christian type. Look at the variety of people we have racially here, if we can, I think, do we have a slide here on this? Thank you. Racially, there's an Asian, there's a Greek, there's a Roman.

Secondly, economically, there's a person from the upper class, the lower class, the middle class. Socially, there's an insider. There's a person absolutely rejected, and there's a person from the mainstream spiritually. There's a woman that's open. There's a girl that's demonically hostile and the guy that seems utterly indifferent.

I think God chose these stories to say the gospel isn't for certain types of people, it's for everyone. It's, it's for people that have done all kinds of different things. It is grace from first to last, and this grace is deep enough to plumb any depths of sins that we have done. Those find forgiveness in the power of Christ.

Secondly, the gospel is the single mus most unifying power in the universe. The very last verse here in verse 40, let me just read it to you. The end of this is a sequel to the story. Paul's leaving the town with Silas soon after this. But first they went out of the prison and visited Lydia, and when they had seen the brothers, they encouraged them and departed.

You notice the church now has included some guys. Certainly. One is the jailer. There are men now that are a part of this. There are brothers in the community. Tim Keller points out something, and I actually did some research on it and was fascinated to find that even today, this is true in Orthodox Judaism, there is a prayer that Jewish men are encouraged to pray every morning, oh Lord, I thank you that you did not make me a woman, a slave, or a gentile.

Now their perspective, And I want to, I want to be fair on this is their perspective is it is supposed to add to men the sense of responsibility that, God, you have called me to this, but this doesn't ring real well as we listen to it. I thank God that you did not make me a woman, a slave, or a Gentile. I have the better social class I have, the better gender, I have the better religion and race.

Who do we have here in Act 16? A woman, a slave, and a gentile. The gospels for everybody unequal footing. Everybody is embraced in grace. The third thing we find the gospel is true freedom.

I'm sure you picked up on this Roman citizen thing here, and with this I'm gonna wrap. Paul would have had a certificate that he carried with him. It was common for Roman citizens to have, just for misunderstandings like this, or to get into spas and baths that you could only do as a Roman citizen places to stay.

And it recognized that he was an actual Roman citizen and honored that he had been born into, because of a, a fairly affluent and influential background. The question is, why didn't Paul get that baby out when they arrested him? Oh, when they were talking about, you know, it talks about they were beaten with rod's.

This was actually a, a wrapped, uh, thing, a, a packet of some type that they carried around. They were pretty heavy rods about an InStick or, or actually bigger than that. And they would, they would use them to just beach on the back. I mean, this was, it was like the, you know, the, the cops that would carry a, a mallet, I don't remember what it's called, some kind of a club.

What is it? Night? A Night. Ick. I should have known that. Thank you, . That's what they had. Only they had a bunch of 'em, and they, and, and this is what he is getting beaten with. And when they started to pull those babies out, Paul could have said, Hey, let me wait just a minute here. My wallet, I got this. But he didn't do that.

Why didn't he do that? And then he does do it later. Well, why he do it later? I mean, it's kind of too late. You've been beat to a pulp. You've been in the stocks. You, you could have done it to the jailer at least. Hey, you know, while I'm sitting here, I can't really do much, but could you just give my back pocket here, pull out the wallet and take a look at, you know that little thing there with my picture, Roman citizen Whyy.

Wait. Fred, a lot of explanations for this. The one i I embraced the most, that makes the most sense to me. I don't think it was just too confusing and he didn't get a chance to tell him. I think it was a strategy of Paul. Paul saw the hostility of Philippi and it was intense. You could see how they, they cited not compassionately with the slave girl that he has helped they side with the owners.

They, they, they, they are hostile to Paul and hostile to his Jewish heritage and to this whole thing. He's representing. I think Paul was using strategic planning here. He knew that there would be prejudice and persecution. He did not use his card as a, as a get outta jail free. Most of the people there that would be a part of the fledgling church aren't gonna have such a card.

He is willing to take on this. Difficult hardship and embrace it as a follow of Christ. First of all, to say, uh, uh, our way of dealing with this as believers is different, but I also think he was choosing his moment. He's trying to rattle the magistrates by saying it later. Maybe he's trying to buy space for his disciples and days to come.

Don't be hasty in going after these people. Remember what happened the last time and how you were in danger before. If this guy has put the case, you're in trouble. If you've done the, it was illegal to, to treat, it was illegal to, um, hit with rod's, Roman citizens. There were certain things you just couldn't do.

What we do know is to Paul, being a free Roman citizen was not his identity, his identity.

As a Roman citizen was only to use it to serve others. His real identity was who he was in Christ. It enabled him when he was in chains and stocks to be singing when he'd lost wealth and position and liberty, he was free. If the greatest hope you have in your life is your relationships or your career, or your health, or your success, or even your capacity to be independent, you serve it.

Ultimately, you are a prisoner to that reality, to something. You can lose

Paul's identity. Was to embrace something and build his life around something and make the hope of his life something and someone he could never lose. The Christ of the gospel in prison, Paul was free and he reminds us that the ultimate freedom is found in Christ. Let's pray together. Lord,

we love stories, love these stories, and all of us can identify a little more with one or another of these people, but we most of all wanna em identify with the one who brought freedom and life and hope to each one. Lord, thank you for the gospel. Thank you for coming after us with the gospel. Thank you for the power of the gospel in our lives that enables us to sing in the midst of suffering, to worship as a replacement for worry that enables us to forgive when we've been wronged.

Lord, thank you for these stories and the one to whom they point us in whose name I pray? Amen. Now go in peace to love and serve and enjoy the Lord.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/another-life-changed-by-the-gospel 06a04942-5d9d-46fd-ba75-9c954686e0f0 Sun, 05 Feb 2023 09:59:41 GMT <div data-html="true">Acts 16:19-40 <br /><br /> And when they had brought them to the magistrates, they said, “These men are Jews, and they are disturbing our city. <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> Good morning everybody. Invite you to take your Bibles to the Book of Acts, chapter 16. Gonna be continuing our series here, the Spirit at Work to the Ends of the Earth, acts 16. We're gonna look at verse 19 down through verse 40, the end of the chapter as we look at another individual in this three person story that we find in Acts chapter 16. <br /><br /> Acts chapter 16. I'm gonna read verse 19 and following. And we're talking now about the slave girl we heard about last week, but when her owners saw that their hope of gain was gone, they seized Paul in Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers. And when they had brought them to the magistrates, they said, these men are Jews and they are disturbing our city. <br /><br /> They advocate customs that are not lawful us as Romans to accept or practice. The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods. And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely. <br /><br /> Having received this order, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them and suddenly there was a great earthquake so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. <br /><br /> And immediately all the doors were open and everyone's bonds were unfed. When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul cried with a loud voice, did not harm yourself, but we're all here. The jailer called for lights and rushed in and trembling with fury fell down before Paul and Silas. <br /><br /> Then he brought them out and said, SIRS, what must I do to be saved? And they said, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you'll be saved, you and your household. And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds, and he was baptized at once. <br /><br /> He and all his family. . Then he brought them up into the house and set before the food before them, and rejoiced along with his entire household that had, he had believed in God. But when it was day, the magistrates sent the police saying, let those men go. And the jailer reported these words to Paul saying, the magistrates have sent to let you go, therefore come out now and go in peace. <br /><br /> But Paul said to them, they've beaten us publicly, uncon condemned men who are Roman citizens and have thrown us into prison, and do they now throw us out secretly? No. Let them come themselves and take us out. The police reported these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Roman citizens. <br /><br /> So they came and apologized to them, and they took them out and asked them to leave the city. So they went outta the prison and visited Lydia. And when they had seen the brothers, they encouraged them and departed. Let's pray. <br /><br /> Lord, I thank you for this story. I thank you for this entire set of stories and the lessons that we can learn there about the gospel. Lord, I pray that you would speak into us. We come with such a variety of needs and struggles and weights that are being carried into this room and by those online, God, we ask Your word would be our teacher through your spirit today. <br /><br /> In Jesus' name, amen. We were flying to South America a number of years ago, and it was the first time I had ever seen one of these location guide. On, on the flight. It's an 18 hour flight where we were going to Durban, South Africa actually we're flying into Johannesburg and they had on the wall a couple of big monitors and there you could, you know, you could track the flight as it goes across the ocean. <br /><br /> And then you come down the coast of Africa and, and we were following our way along. It showed where we were on the journey. We're giving a location guide of the Apostle Paul. That's why we keep throwing maps at you. Now. I hope it does not have the impact on you that it had on me. When I was watching the location guide. <br /><br /> My real reason to watch the location guide was to see how much father I had till this interminable trip was over. I hope that's not how you view in this series, but as you look at it, where we've come is Paul, on the second missionary journey, has traveled all through. Area called Asia, which actually is modern day Turkey. <br /><br /> They're crossing over the agency and they've now gone into that area, which is called Trace, which is up at the top, and basically that is a part of the whole land block called Greece. Today, they had gone to a city called Minneapolis and then had traveled by foot about 10 miles into the city of Philippi as they, as they have arrived there. <br /><br /> We were introduced last Sunday to two females that are actually being used by Luke to tell us the story of the founding of the church. This whole chapter, actually, as commentators are quick to point out, is basically not only the start of the church at Philippi, a church that Paul deeply loved as is reflected in the letter he wrote to them and the things he says about them. <br /><br /> But it is a, it is a. Accounting of the starting of a church that is told by telling the stories of three individuals coming to Christ Lydia, a wealthy cosmopolitan owner of a high-end boutique, providing expensive garments to the monied crowd of her city. She represents those who are empowered. She had wealth, business success, the right connections We see a second individual, the unnamed girl, the 10 to 14 year old slave girl who is the powerless, a slave used for what her masters wanted, what she could provide for them. <br /><br /> She has no voice of her own in her culture. And third, we come to a guy the jailer. A blue collar ex-military guy will see why I say that in a moment. The jailer, the warden, he represents those who are power wielding. Three different people. We looked at the first two last time, and what I planned to do this morning is to talk about the third one, this jailer, and then at the end to draw three, uh, lessons that we learned from the lives of all three of these people. <br /><br /> But we look today at this, this jailer, this charter member of the church at Philippi, and we find we're gonna follow the same outline we did last time with the, the, the females, who they were, how they came to Christ. And what happened to them. First of all, who he was. He's a jailer. Now, again, I've mentioned to you that city of Philippi was a, a, uh, was designed to be and was formed by the Romans in 42 BC in particular, to be a place where military veterans from the Roman armies would come. <br /><br /> They were given citizenship, there was where they were taken care of. This town is a military town. It is full of military folks, retired military, retired military. People in Philippi tended to if they were young enough to still work to get a civil service job. There's every reason to believe this. Jailer is a former military guy also. <br /><br /> It's hard to imagine a city like Philippi that is filled with so many tough military types and most of the mis Koreans that you're gonna have thrown into the local jail didn't have a military guy that was the jailer. He's a tough guy, Paul and Silas. Are beaten to a pulp. In the earlier verses we read this morning, we read phrases like this. <br /><br /> The garments were tore off them. Literally, it means they were ripped off. They were the, there were orders to beat them with rods. They were inflicted with many blows upon them, and then they threw them bodily into prison. These guys went to prison into this jailer's prison with lacerated backs, with bruised bodies, and they're thrown in here. <br /><br /> And this guy shows no compassion. He doesn't wash their wounds. He doesn't try to say, man, you guys have just nothing. He just throws 'em in. As a matter of fact, what we see he does is the, they say, watch these guys in particular. So what he does is he puts them into the maximum security cell. It says he put them into the center cell, the cell with no windows, the cell utterly surrounded by everything else. <br /><br /> And on top of that, he throws them into stocks. Now, when we think of stocks, we think of Williamsburg, Virginia or Plymouth Mass, where you know, you get in and you get the family photos and the family picks. But the stocks that were used here and a prison were known for the fact that they had multiple holes for you to put your hands and your feet in order that they could stretch you in. <br /><br /> Uh, difficult circumstance, difficult positions. It was designed to be uncomfortable. Imagine your back lacerated, your body bruised. You're twisted and contorted, and this is the place that they are put this guy is, is is basically, uh, heaping it on them as he puts them into the jail. He's not looking for spiritual input. <br /><br /> He's not asking questions. He's not, there's no conversation. The only relationship that Paul and Silas have with this guy at the start is the silent one, where they are utterly beat up by the town. And now our military jailer friend, how the gospel came to him. Well, we see what he saw. What he saw, first of all was two men who in the face of suffering had peace and. <br /><br /> The term, the, the, the term used in verse 25 is they were praying and singing hymns. They weren't gonna sleep. You can imagined the physical discomfort. This is not, this is not a jail where you took a, a, a good night's rest. They're in potential agony, certainly discomfort. But they used the opportunity not to do what was so common in this part of the world, which is people were very outspoken with their emotions. <br /><br /> They, they, they lament, they lent loudly. They, they complain. Sure. There were lots of voices in the prison like that. And these guys are singing, they are worshiping, they are praying. He says they were praying and singing. It's utterly contrary. And it says all the prison are listening in as these guys are, are, are, are praying to the Lord as they are, as they are worshiping God. <br /><br /> They did what? Some of you have learned to do in the night seasons when you're awake and it's discomforting, you can't sleep. You have two options. You can worry, I'm not getting any sleep, I'm just, I'm getting more worked up. I'm just gonna be tired tomorrow. I got all this on my mind. There's so much you can worry or you can worship. <br /><br /> They chose worship and it impacted this jailer. He's listening to these guys. He hasn't had prisoners that are praising God in prison after what they have just experienced and what he is doing to them now. Secondly, what he saw was that in the face of cruelty, these guys manifested kindness and forgiveness. <br /><br /> What happens is there, there's an earthquake. And it's such a tumultuous earthquake that literally the jail jail's, doors are thrown off, they're hinges and are opened that it says somehow even the, the, uh, bonds, the, the metal changed bracelets and, and, uh, ankle pieces are broken loose and the jailer wakes up. <br /><br /> And whether he has a house next door or he actually is staying in the prison, he comes in and he sees the doors are open. Maybe he runs into some prisoners and sees they're running around, they're manacle free. And he realizes this is all on his watch. Whether or not he's going to lose his life for such a, a, uh, failure of duty because people escape under his watch or he's just gonna face the humiliation. <br /><br /> This is a shame honor culture. And he decides he'd be furs to take his life. So he gets out the sword. He's about to kill himself. And Paul and Barn, Paul and Silas Paul in particular, hollers out. Do not harm yourself. We're all here. Apparently they could have been gone, whether Paul and Silas talked the rest of the people in disdain, but certainly they chose to wait. <br /><br /> They're freed. They're out of the they're, they're out of there in bondage. The doors are open. Says, don't harm yourself. I'm sure this guy's thinking, why are you looking out for me, ? I mean, you're in those stocks. You're in this inner cell because of me and Paul responds, don't harm yourself. We're here. <br /><br /> It's gonna be okay. Nobody's left and nobody's going. The response he's watching, he's seeing something he doesn't understand. They've responded to his cruelty with kindness. They're responding with a forgiveness he does not understand. 2006, many of you know the story of the Amish schoolhouse over in Lancaster County where a young man who had lost a daughter and was him bittered, that his, his child had been born. <br /><br /> He actually had three other kids, but his daughter had died in childbirth and he couldn't get over it, and he just wanted to take it out on somebody. So he went to an Amish school among, with Amish families that he actually did deliveries to. And he came in and his plan was to molest and abuse the girls and then killed him. <br /><br /> He wasn't able to get to that, the molesting part because the police were called quick enough, but not before he had shot 10 of them, five of them died. But the real shocking outgrowth of the story. Beyond even the horror of the tragedy was the response of the Amish community. There was a almost instantaneous spirit of forgiveness. <br /><br /> As a matter of fact, the next day, leaders of that particular Amish community, including family members of the children that had been killed, went to the home of the parents of the young man, had had killed their daughters and said, we are here for you. We are both grieving the loss of our children. It made no sense. <br /><br /> It may not make sense to you listening. It's hard for us to wrap our arms around this in 2010. Three people with PhDs from three different universities who were, uh, many years, scholars of the Amish people did a, did research in this particular event and the aftermath of it, and they actually wrote a book, and this is the book, Amish Grace, I commend it to you for reading. <br /><br /> It is a book that basically they were presenting the, the foundation of Amish belief that prompted them to forgive. The astonishing thing you'll find in the book, which I didn't expect, is that there's a whole section of the book that is presenting many different examples of this similar type of expression, but the mo of the, of the Amish people, forgiving people that have done. <br /><br /> That have perpetrated evils that have been drunk, drivers that have killed him. And the, the, it's a practice. And the striking thing is that they did multi-year studies where they would say to people, you know, you, your, your instantaneous emotional response was to go to these people. Like they went to the, the wife of the young man that killed the girls, <br /><br /> and they asked permission to come to her funeral for her husband. And she's there with her three small children. And they said that over half of the people that attended the funeral were Amish. Most of them, the parents of the children. And so they, they, they read of these things and these guys thought, okay, is this real or is this just an emotional? <br /><br /> So they, they actually, in these studies, take them years later and say, now as you look back, now as you've dealt with the loss, how do you feel? And it's astonishing to hear them telling a story. No, we forgive. So basically the book is an analysis of where does this come from, that you could forgive this way as as a normal practice of your experience. <br /><br /> And they came up. I'm summarizing now three particular things that they believe as a people group that are the foundation. For forgiving others, I'd like to tell you them real quick, and these are gonna, some of it's just gonna be in my own words, my own summaries. Number one, the Amish believed that Jesus Christ died on the cross and died forgiving as murderers, as a result. <br /><br /> To be a Christian is to have that at the very center of your life. There's no other religion in the world that has a man dying for his enemies as the central principle of faith. They summarize that because of that. This is the, the, the, the authors summarize that the, that is the first reason why these people that they embrace and they go all the way back to the Anna Baptist and the 15 hundreds and talk about where the Amish came from, which I didn't know was actually a guy. <br /><br /> I think his name was Jacob, a Amer, and, and the whole story, the second thing they found was that the Amish believe in the sovereignty of God. That they really hold the fact that God is the giver of life and, and that God has individuals. He, he controls both life and death ultimately, and that ultimately nobody chooses the times of the seasons. <br /><br /> Then this in their sense, there is a sense of which their children lived a full life. I'm just gonna say a sidebar here. This particular belief for me when my young boy drowned was central to doing life, to live with the fact that he had not lived his full life, but that we had robbed him by not protecting him was, was overwhelmingly fathomless. <br /><br /> But God brought us back to Mark Seth. He has lived his full life. I declare the end from the beginning, they were able to say, you know, they didn't do what we all do when something's done. When a child is killed or an individual's killed, our immediate thought is, you robbed him. Of all those years, you robbed us of what we would've had. <br /><br /> The Amish have built into the theology apparently, that God was super intending. They believe in the sovereignty of God. And the third thing, they believe that forgiveness is an act of self renunciation. You renounce your right for payback. You're saying for the sake of God and for the sake of other people, I am not going to pay back. <br /><br /> I forgive. The author said that this is alien to our culture, which does not value self renunciation, but rather. Values self-assertion. It's about my freedom. It's about my rights. But they said they embrace the concept of Jesus, that we don't have rights. We have yielded them to him. That there is beauty in self renunciation and self denial. <br /><br /> In the place of asserting myself, I'm gonna read a statement they made. The author said this, the Christian believes that the meaning of life is to deny yourself, renounce your claims to your rights, give up your claims for yourself, and seek to serve God and others. I deny myself for other people, they said our culture of self aser assertion is if you are wronged, the response is to seek revenge. <br /><br /> But in the counterculture of self renunciation, when you are harmed. The response in the power of Christ is to forgive. Now, you may be out there thinking that is impossible, and I'm gonna say this to you. You are 100% correct. You can live that way. But Jesus did, and Jesus is willing to live that way through you. <br /><br /> And the the stunning picture that went worldwide of the aftermath of this violent, horrible death of those children was of a community that had embraced centrally forgiveness. This is what is happening in this jail cell and this prison in Philippi. This guy is looking and. Why are they responding to cruelty with kindness? <br /><br /> Why are they forgiving me for what I did to them and others have done to them? And there was no explanation apart from something he had never experienced before. With we find what he realized. The jailer knows they have something he doesn't have. They have a resource that he has never tapped into. He humbles himself and asks, verse 30, what must I do to be saved? <br /><br /> Now I want you to address this for a second. There's two wrong ways of looking at this. I don't think this means that this guy was ready at an evangelistic meeting. And he says, I get it. I get all, and he's tried to all the theology, you know, he doesn't know the gospel. He hasn't heard the gospel. But what he does know, I'll come back to that. <br /><br /> So I don't think this is that he's coming with a full understanding of salvation. I don't think he even knows what the word salvation means. But I also don't go the other side, which I've read a couple of people, right? Which is to say there is no spiritual aspect to this. In other words, he's saying, well, when he says, um, what I do this be saved, he means rescued and basically saying, what do I need to do to get out of this mess I'm in? <br /><br /> To which I would reply, what mess? Nobody's gone. I mean, this guy in the midst of an earthquake has been able to keep all his prisoners. This is magnificently successful. There's no mess. He's saying, how do I get rescued from this? No, he's in great shape. He's gonna be commended. Nobody's gone, even though their bonds are off and the doors are open, somehow this jailer has kept all these guys in tow, he's up for a promotion. <br /><br /> So he's not saying, how do I get out of this mess? Oh, he's saying this. I'm powerless to act. With the power I'm seeing in this jail, I'm powerless to, to live with the reality that with a, in the face of a power that I am seeing, here's the power. It's a power that causes these prisoners in the face of suffering to be singing and praising their God. <br /><br /> There's an earthquake that all of a sudden just has to happen, happen to happen when these guys show up. And third, I have prisoners that I've mistreated, disdain, cared nothing for. And they're looking out for me with the compassion and forgiveness and kindness. I don't understand. He realizes, guys, I need what you have. <br /><br /> In this sense, I need rescuing. I need embrace, embracing something what you are representing. And the third thing we find is what he did. Paul says in verse six, verse 31, man, you need to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ that will bring you the real deliverance. Basically, he's saying, you don't need to do anything. <br /><br /> You hear what he's saying? I mean, this is a tough guy, former military. What do we need to do? He says, nothing about doing, it's about looking. It's about turning to, it's about embracing and accepting. I've told this story before, but it's a great one from church history. Young man named Charles Spurgeon, late in his teenage years, couldn't get to church one Sunday, and he actually was not a believer at the time. <br /><br /> He'd sort of been dabbling, trying to figure out what was true, what was not true in the midst of a violent snowstorm in London, he couldn't get through. And so for shelter, actually, he went into what he, what it was known as a primitive Methodist church that was, uh, uh, a speaker that was speaking. It was not pastor couldn't get in. <br /><br /> And this guy who was not a trained speaker, stands up and, and begins to talk to the about a dozen people. Peron Spurgeon said, were there. And this guy gets up there in the pulpit and, and he talk, and Spurgeon talks about his accent. And you know, it, it obviously, uh, uh, a blue collar guy that wasn't used to public speaking. <br /><br /> And he, and he chose his text. Isaiah 45 verse 22. In which the text says this, look unto me and be saved all the ends of the earth for I am God and there's none else. In Spurgeon's autobiography, he records his reaction. Here's what he said. He had not much to say, thank God for that. Compelled him to keep on repeating his text, and there was nothing needed by me at any rate, except his text. <br /><br /> Then stopping, he pointed to where I was sitting under the gallery and he said, that young man there looks very miserable. And he shouted as I think only a primitive Methodist can look. Look young man, look Now. Then I had this vision, not a vision to my eyes, but to my heart. I saw what a savior Christ was. <br /><br /> Now, I never can tell you how it was, but I know I, I no sooner saw whom I was to believe than I also understood what it was to believe. and I did believe in one moment I looked and looked until I had almost looked my eyes away. Then he says, and as the snow fell on my road home from the little house of prayer, I thought every snowflake talked with me and told of the pardon I had found for I was white as the driven throw snow through the grace of God, this jailer looked, he turned to Christ and he said, I realize Jesus came to die for people like me that the power that these men represent is not their power. <br /><br /> There is a power that has been brought into their lives as they have leaned into it and the power of Jesus Christ. So what did the Gospel do in this guy's life? Well, as we continue in our text, I would suggest there are three marks that were true here, that are true of anyone who is converted by the real gospel. <br /><br /> Number one. It made him a compassionate man. Verse 33, he does start this tough guy. All of a sudden now is cleaning the wounds of Paul and Silas. Secondly, it made him committed to ministry and community. He was baptized and he shared it with others. See, Christianity is personal, but it's not private. It's intimate, but it's not individualistic. <br /><br /> People you love about, you want to know, and you also find that you are drawn to do life in Christian community when you really have embraced the living Christ. And the third thing, it makes you have joy, verse 34. And he rejoiced along with his whole household that he believed. Three lessons I want to give from this chapter as we take the stories of these three individuals and just wanna summarize with this, act 16 tells us about three people, an empowered businesswoman, a powerless slave girl, a power wielding jailer. <br /><br /> We learned three things. Number one, we learned the gospel is for everyone. Well, we might say everyone needs the gospel. There's no Christian type. Look at the variety of people we have racially here, if we can, I think, do we have a slide here on this? Thank you. Racially, there's an Asian, there's a Greek, there's a Roman. <br /><br /> Secondly, economically, there's a person from the upper class, the lower class, the middle class. Socially, there's an insider. There's a person absolutely rejected, and there's a person from the mainstream spiritually. There's a woman that's open. There's a girl that's demonically hostile and the guy that seems utterly indifferent. <br /><br /> I think God chose these stories to say the gospel isn't for certain types of people, it's for everyone. It's, it's for people that have done all kinds of different things. It is grace from first to last, and this grace is deep enough to plumb any depths of sins that we have done. Those find forgiveness in the power of Christ. <br /><br /> Secondly, the gospel is the single mus most unifying power in the universe. The very last verse here in verse 40, let me just read it to you. The end of this is a sequel to the story. Paul's leaving the town with Silas soon after this. But first they went out of the prison and visited Lydia, and when they had seen the brothers, they encouraged them and departed. <br /><br /> You notice the church now has included some guys. Certainly. One is the jailer. There are men now that are a part of this. There are brothers in the community. Tim Keller points out something, and I actually did some research on it and was fascinated to find that even today, this is true in Orthodox Judaism, there is a prayer that Jewish men are encouraged to pray every morning, oh Lord, I thank you that you did not make me a woman, a slave, or a gentile. <br /><br /> Now their perspective, And I want to, I want to be fair on this is their perspective is it is supposed to add to men the sense of responsibility that, God, you have called me to this, but this doesn't ring real well as we listen to it. I thank God that you did not make me a woman, a slave, or a Gentile. I have the better social class I have, the better gender, I have the better religion and race. <br /><br /> Who do we have here in Act 16? A woman, a slave, and a gentile. The gospels for everybody unequal footing. Everybody is embraced in grace. The third thing we find the gospel is true freedom. <br /><br /> I'm sure you picked up on this Roman citizen thing here, and with this I'm gonna wrap. Paul would have had a certificate that he carried with him. It was common for Roman citizens to have, just for misunderstandings like this, or to get into spas and baths that you could only do as a Roman citizen places to stay. <br /><br /> And it recognized that he was an actual Roman citizen and honored that he had been born into, because of a, a fairly affluent and influential background. The question is, why didn't Paul get that baby out when they arrested him? Oh, when they were talking about, you know, it talks about they were beaten with rod's. <br /><br /> This was actually a, a wrapped, uh, thing, a, a packet of some type that they carried around. They were pretty heavy rods about an InStick or, or actually bigger than that. And they would, they would use them to just beach on the back. I mean, this was, it was like the, you know, the, the cops that would carry a, a mallet, I don't remember what it's called, some kind of a club. <br /><br /> What is it? Night? A Night. Ick. I should have known that. Thank you, . That's what they had. Only they had a bunch of 'em, and they, and, and this is what he is getting beaten with. And when they started to pull those babies out, Paul could have said, Hey, let me wait just a minute here. My wallet, I got this. But he didn't do that. <br /><br /> Why didn't he do that? And then he does do it later. Well, why he do it later? I mean, it's kind of too late. You've been beat to a pulp. You've been in the stocks. You, you could have done it to the jailer at least. Hey, you know, while I'm sitting here, I can't really do much, but could you just give my back pocket here, pull out the wallet and take a look at, you know that little thing there with my picture, Roman citizen Whyy. <br /><br /> Wait. Fred, a lot of explanations for this. The one i I embraced the most, that makes the most sense to me. I don't think it was just too confusing and he didn't get a chance to tell him. I think it was a strategy of Paul. Paul saw the hostility of Philippi and it was intense. You could see how they, they cited not compassionately with the slave girl that he has helped they side with the owners. <br /><br /> They, they, they, they are hostile to Paul and hostile to his Jewish heritage and to this whole thing. He's representing. I think Paul was using strategic planning here. He knew that there would be prejudice and persecution. He did not use his card as a, as a get outta jail free. Most of the people there that would be a part of the fledgling church aren't gonna have such a card. <br /><br /> He is willing to take on this. Difficult hardship and embrace it as a follow of Christ. First of all, to say, uh, uh, our way of dealing with this as believers is different, but I also think he was choosing his moment. He's trying to rattle the magistrates by saying it later. Maybe he's trying to buy space for his disciples and days to come. <br /><br /> Don't be hasty in going after these people. Remember what happened the last time and how you were in danger before. If this guy has put the case, you're in trouble. If you've done the, it was illegal to, to treat, it was illegal to, um, hit with rod's, Roman citizens. There were certain things you just couldn't do. <br /><br /> What we do know is to Paul, being a free Roman citizen was not his identity, his identity. <br /><br /> As a Roman citizen was only to use it to serve others. His real identity was who he was in Christ. It enabled him when he was in chains and stocks to be singing when he'd lost wealth and position and liberty, he was free. If the greatest hope you have in your life is your relationships or your career, or your health, or your success, or even your capacity to be independent, you serve it. <br /><br /> Ultimately, you are a prisoner to that reality, to something. You can lose <br /><br /> Paul's identity. Was to embrace something and build his life around something and make the hope of his life something and someone he could never lose. The Christ of the gospel in prison, Paul was free and he reminds us that the ultimate freedom is found in Christ. Let's pray together. Lord, <br /><br /> we love stories, love these stories, and all of us can identify a little more with one or another of these people, but we most of all wanna em identify with the one who brought freedom and life and hope to each one. Lord, thank you for the gospel. Thank you for coming after us with the gospel. Thank you for the power of the gospel in our lives that enables us to sing in the midst of suffering, to worship as a replacement for worry that enables us to forgive when we've been wronged. <br /><br /> Lord, thank you for these stories and the one to whom they point us in whose name I pray? Amen. Now go in peace to love and serve and enjoy the Lord.</div> false no <![CDATA[How the Gospel Changes Lives]]> Acts 16:11-18

One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God



Sermon Transcript:

I invite you to take your Bibles this morning to the Book of Acts once again as we continue in our series, the Spirit at Work, to the Ends of the Earth, as we focus on the book of Acts, this second volume of Luke's history manual, the book of Luke being the first. This is the second. And as he presents to us here, uh, an account of the early church, I'd like to read verse, uh, 11 through 18 of Acts chapter 16.

And here's what we, what we read. So setting sail from Trus, we made a direct voyage to Samas in the following day to Minneapolis. And from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia in a Roman colony. Remained in this city some days and on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to the riverside where we supposed there was a place of prayer.

And we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together. One who heard, one who heard us was a woman named Lydia from the city of Thara, a seller of purple goods, who is a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul. And after that, after she was baptized in her household as well, she urged us, saying, if you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.

And she prevailed upon us. As we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gained by fortune telling. She followed Paul and us crying out, these men are servants of the most high God who proclaimed to you the way of salvation, and this she kept doing for many days.

Paul, having become greatly annoyed, turned and said to the Spirit, I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her, and it came out of her that very hour.

I've learned throughout the years that not everyone loves history. I put this in the area of in incredulity and disbelief in the same way. I look at people that don't like Lead. Zeppelin's Stairway to heaven. J r r Tokin and Oatmeal Raisin Cookies,

But I've come to get it a little bit that some people are just completely turned off to the idea of dates, wars, ruler dynasties, international power struggles. But to me, history is stories. It's the stories of people, dates and places, particular wars and conflicts. Changing of dynasties gives you some bones to hanging on.

But the life of history is the stories, the stories of people. I had a history teacher in, in college that got this, his name was Dr. Ring Inberg and Dr. Ring Inberg was a straight laced, quiet spoken, hardly a theatrical or a thespian type of personality. Very dry speaking. And the second day of class we came in, he had first day introduced himself.

You know, we had, we had gotten to know a little bit of the syllabi where the, where things were going. The second day, he comes in without a word and just starts telling us his story. He's recounting his life, but as you're listening to his story, you, you, you feel like this man has a personality disorder.

There's something completely wrong, and he's describing, you know, his feelings. He's describing his family. And then finally you get a little context when he says, yes, the year was 1746 and he's describing his life and you realize he's doing a first person narrative and he's saying things like this, I did this and my family was this way.

And, and I wondered at the time about this, and, and these were the struggles we were facing. The guy just hooked me. He just drew me in. He did this often in our classes. He made history stories. He told it from the standpoint of certainly historic, well-known figures. He'd do their first person narrative, but he also did it just the average Joe, the average Mary, and, and he'd be that person and, and he's presenting history as the stories of people.

That's how Luke tells his story. This is the second volume in his history book, and as he does so, as he presents this history to us, he presents people. We are now entering into Europe in Acts chapter 16. We're gonna see in a moment the map that takes us there, but as we look at this, matter of fact, we can go ahead and bring up the map.

What's happening here? As Paul is going to, uh, as Luke is going to present to us the story of two people whose lives are an utter contrast. The only unifying reality is both of them were radically transformed by Jesus Christ. But at this point in Paul's life, we come to the place,

I have my weapon. Oh man, there's options everywhere. . Okay, so, alright, I'm gonna pick one and make half of you mad. Um, but the idea, what, what we're looking at is where are we, where are we In the book of Acts, we are beginning what's called the second. We are on the, what's called the second missionary journey.

If you remember the story, Luke has actual, uh, Luke has told us the story of Paul and Silas going this way. They got to about this area right in the middle here. This, this area of Antioch. And there at that moment, Paul wants to go west to Ephesus. He wants to hit the cities here, which are the heart of the urban center of Asia.

And God says no. So he says, all right, we're not gonna go. We're not gonna go west, we're gonna go north. So we're gonna go up into here. And there's an area called Bethia. It says he was heading towards up here. As he's heading towards Bethia, God says no. So almost by default, apparently Paul continues towards the city of tr ass.

Here he comes to the city of tr ass. And again, they have no strategy, no plan. And while he sl asleep one night, he has this Macedonian vision. It's described in the first verse of Act 16 Act, and, and. He says, come over and it says the next day, Paul and the boys, this is Silas and Timothy. Now at this point, they discuss it, they process it, and they come to the conclusion just like we do.

We look at the eva, the material, we look at how God seems to be leading and they made the judgment. God wants us to go over Toro as now. At that point, they're joined by a fourth member who becomes the we in these verses. Luke joins them there, and most people believe Luke is probably from the area of Philippi and he's traveling back to his home territory because he's gonna stay there after Paul and the guys leave there, uh, on this journey.

But they've now come over and as they have come over, they've come to this area up here, they're now in Greece. They land here, they go from Minneapolis and they walk 10 miles to Philippi. And as they go up into Philippi, we have this account of them meeting two ladies. Two individuals, two female characters lead the cast.

And as they come there, we see in the simple stories of these two women, a reminder of the beautiful reality of the gospel and most of all of the God of the gospel. So I'd like to look at these two gals story this morning and then draw some specific applications for us at the end. The first person we see here is Lydia an Empowered Businesswoman.

If you read her passage, you'll notice it says, one who hurt us was a woman named Lydia from the city of Thara, a seller of purple goods. Basically what Paul and, and the guys have done, they come to the city and they find out in this Roman city, which I've mentioned to you before, is actually a city that was formed.

Uh uh, uh, By a general named Philip, who later became a prominent member of the entire, uh, empire. And this city named after him, was actually a place where retired veterans of Roman wars were given, uh, citizenship to live. It was a heavy military town, and Paul and, and the guys get there and there is no synagogue.

And so they went to the, uh, a place where sometimes Jews would gather in the empire. They would gather outside. It was along the riverbank and they hoped there would be some Jewish people there because Paul and the guys always went to the Jews first when they went to a city. And they came there and there is actually a gathering, but there are no men, it's all women.

And they come and, and, and they meet this woman named Lydia and Lydia. Is described as a, a seller of purple goods from Thra. Now, Thra is my last map, I promise. Thra is over in this area again. Now we're over here in Greece. Right? Thra was part of the Western side. It's actually one of the seven cities of Revelation churches that he writes to.

Thara is there. She's apparently a business woman, apparently single, that is entrepreneurial enough that she's come over from Thara and has set up shop in Philippi. She has apparently has become a permanent residence. She owns a house there and she started a business and her business is the most famous manufacturing work in th Tyra.

It was known throughout the empire for its, its die making. Particularly purple. Purple was the, uh, color of, of, uh, regal, uh, where it was royalty. It was extremely expensive. I mean, people that wore purple were, were, were dressing in high end goods. And she is a, an individual that sells high-end stuff to high-end customers, beautiful products to beautiful people.

Basically. She's running a high-end boutique in Philippi, but she's not only a prominent businesswoman, she's a worshiper of God. We read that here in these verses, and this word worshiper is an interesting one. It's not the normal word for worshiper. It's actually only used 10 times in the New Testament.

Eight of them are in the book of Acts. They are, it is a term that regularly refers to an individual that is a gentile. That has embraced Judaism at least partially. And I'll give you an example. In Acts 13, it says this, it says, after the meeting of the synagogue broke up many Jews and devout, that's the word worship, worshiping, converts to Judaism.

It's talking about Gentiles who had started aligning their lives with the Old Testament scriptures and, and, and, and started to want to be a follower of Jehovah God. This is a moral person. This is a person who is, is trying to live an I integrist life. According to the Old Testament scriptures, she is a devout worshiper of God.

As best she knows him. She's a successful business person. She's moral, she's independent. This lady is a winner. In the eyes of the world. She has it together. She's influential, she's prestigious, she's affluent, and she's even got character that's Lydia.

But the gospel does something beautiful in Lydia's life, we find the first question, who she was, is followed by how the gospel came to her. What happens on this Sabbath day. As they come there, they come and there's a Bible study, and it's not a preaching thing. If you'll notice, it says in verse 13 that they came and sat down.

You know, it's not like Paul is walking like I am. Ran, ran, you know, wandering all around, preaching at these three ladies or whatever's there. It's a small Bible state. It's give and take, you know, it's, it's, it's a, it's a little gathering that's there, but as they are there, They're sharing the truth about Christ.

She has already sought truth. She sought to know God, but there is a work that had to happen in her life to bring her to truly be a follower of Jesus Christ. It's described here in these verses, it says, is the Lord opened her heart to respond. The same word is used of Luke 24 when Jesus is walking on the ESUs road.

After his resurrection, he's going with two guys that are, that have been a part of his, his his band. Not the 12, but the broader group of followers around. and they don't recognize him, and they're going along and he's talking to him on the way, and he's, he, he's explaining truth. And they initially said, you know, he says, what, what's going on?

And they said, wh what are you, you know, where have you, what hole have you been in? Don't you know about Jesus? Our, our savior, our our master. And he was crucified. And, and, and so he starts telling the old Testa Christ, but it isn't until they actually are sitting down together and Jesus takes bread and breaks it and gives it to 'em.

It says this statement in Luke 24 verse 31. And their eyes were opened and they recognized him. And at that point, he vanished from their site. Later in that chapter, he, he comes to the disciples and it says, he opened their minds. Same word. What happened with Lydia is exactly what happened with you. If you have embraced Jesus Christ is your savior.

you didn't embrace Jesus Christ because you're more spiritual than your brother. You didn't embrace Jesus Christ because you have more, somehow, a more sensitive and, and more accrediting, uh, godliness that made you do what your sorority sisters didn't do. You came to Jesus Christ because God pursued you.

God opened your eyes. And if you are here today and you've never embraced Jesus Christ and you sense, I feel like I'm on the outside in looking in and all these people, the, you know, the relationship with Jesus, I don't really understand the relation part and, and, and I don't really understand this personal walking with God.

If there's a stirring within you, if there's a longing within you say, I'd like to know this. I'd like to have relationship. I'd like to have this, the sense that my sins are forgive. God is pursuing you. And what is happening with Lydia is God pursued her. God opened her heart God drew Lydia to himself.

But Lydia responded, and we see here her response. It says that she responded to the prompting of God's spirit in her life. The word respond, again, this is a fascinating word. It actually means to be devoted to it's used in the New Testament of being addicted to. It means she was all in, her heart was, was moved by God and the resulting reality was how it always is.

When a heart is really changed by the gospel,

nothing held back utterly all in. The next thing we find is this woman is being baptized. The very first person baptized in Europe, it was actually a bit of a wild move. I mean, she's being baptized in the name of a crucified savior. It's like being baptized in the name and an association with a guy that's recently gotten the electric chair.

This is probably not going to help her business. It's probably not going to help her if she is looking for a husband. This could ostracize her. I mean, it's bad enough. She's Jewish and, and, and, or she's drawn to Judaism. She's, she's gentile. But, and there, you know, just with this little gathering of women in this city of, of, of warriors, and now she's embracing a savior that the Romans crucified,

but she's in, there's nothing hold her back wholeheartedly. She's embracing the Christ that Paul and the others are telling her about. As reminded us, I was reflecting on Lydia's story of a story I once heard of a guy named Tom Williams. He was an old time evangelist, came to our area and, uh, I met him and, uh, I, I knew the director of my church planning ministry, Dr.

Davis was very good friends with him. That's more of my connection. But Tom Williams was telling the story. Uh, I, it was a tape I heard. I was listening to him tell the story of a meeting he had, and Tom Williams was an old time evangelist. I mean, he was, he was straight talker, but he was telling of a meeting he had where he was sharing the gospel and allowing people to come forward and receive Christ to Savior.

And a woman came forward who was absolutely dressed to the nines. I mean, she had diamonds all over, extremely well groomed, extremely put together the eyes of the world. She was a winner. I mean, she had it, she came very properly, but she came to embrace Christ. And she got down to the front and he could tell that she was awkward, and she was sort of looking over her shoulder a little bit and, and there aren't as many people maybe as she expected to be down there.

And she sort of feels like she stands out and she said, uh, she's talking to him in private. As people are singing and, and, and, and she says, what do, what do I need to do to be saved? And he said to her, you need to bow down here and receive Jesus Christ as your savior. And she sort of glances over her shoulder, he said, looking back and she's looking down at the floor and she said, does everybody have to kneel to do that?

And he said, no, but you do. And she dropped to her knees and embraced Christ. She was all in. And though the opinions of people certainly impacted her life. And Drew, who, Lydia is a prominent person in this town. I mean, she's made it and she's a woman in a, in a, in a, in a war veterans town. She must have been a presence of a personality.

But she had to be willing to say, I want this Christ. I may never get a husband. It may affect my business. I don't care. I'm responding, which means I am devoted. I am all in. I'm, if you will, addicted to Christ. I want him. So she's embraced as she embraces Christ. What did it do in her life? Well, she becomes the host for the church in Philippi.

In this city of retired Roman warriors, a single businesswoman becomes the cornerstone of the fledgling church. When Paul writes to the church in Philippi, which was clearly one of his favorite congregations, as a matter of fact, he says in the book of Phil Philippians. Chapter one. He says, whenever I think of you all, I'm filled with joy.

He's talking to a group of people that are meeting in this woman's home.

God reached into this person's life. God drew this worldly winner to himself, but there's another person we meet here. Her stories described in verses 16 through 18, just like to read it again quickly as we were going to the place of prayer, and they did this on the Sabbath regularly, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much green by fortune telling.

She followed Paul and us crying out These men are servants of the most high God who proclaimed to you the way of salvation. and this she kept doing for many days. Paul, having become greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out that very hour.

W who is she? She's described as a slave girl. The word girl here indicates a younger woman, uh, adolescent, pre-adolescent, somewhere between 11 to 14 years old. She has a spirit of divination. Now, this is where this gets a little weird. All right, so stay with me. This word for divination is the word python, like the snake.

It is a direct reference to one of the most prominent, uh, religious experiences and activities in all of Greece on Mount. In the, in the, uh, mountainous area outside of Athens, there is a place called Delphi. Delphi is the most prominent, uh, religious site shrine in all of Greek mythology. As a matter of fact, they described it as the center of the earth.

It is where the gods made themselves known to humanity. You've heard of the oracle of Del Kai Delphi? Well, Delphi is the location. There's the picture of it today, and at that mountain, and in the background is all mountains. It's a beautiful location. The oracle was a woman and the woman was the spokesman.

The word oracle means revelation or, or prophetic messages that basically she was the mouthpiece. Now, here's how the word Python got involved. Greek mythology has it that on this mount where the gods were trying to communicate with humans, that there was a, there was a giant snake python. Some portray it as sort of a dragon like character, but it's the word python, this word deviation.

An Apollo is historically supposed to have come and slayed the dragon, but the voice of the dragon still speaks at Delphi for the gods. I told you this was a little weird, right? Okay. But here's what, here's the reality at Delphi, there is a woman in every generation who is called the Oracle. She is the head of the Priestly clan of Priestesses, but there are also a number of other priestesses.

This young girl, Was one of those priestesses. She has the spirit of Python. She is a spokesman. Now, here's the striking reality, and if you Google it, which undoubtedly some of you will probably right now, but you will find that what they say, the primary emphasis of the spirit of Python is that they are four tellers.

They give prophetic messages.

This woman, somehow, this young girl somehow had been purchased by probably per fairly powerful people, men in Philippi, and she was giving message. Now, you can't earn money for your owners if you're not hitting it right with some of your prophecies. She has a spirit that is enabling her to some degree, to tell things that are coming and things are going well for these owners.

things are not going well for this young girl. She is twice in bondage. She is in bondage to the spirits that are ruling her life. Secondly, she is in bondage. She's described as a slave and now she's coming and, and, and, and, and it's striking that the Greek word that is used to talk about the, the voices that came of the voice, the, of the priestesses, of the prophets of python is the word ventriloquist.

It meant they spoke with multiple voices. These were demon possessed, demonn controlled individuals. And I realize you may be out there and you may say, wait a minute, I know you said this is gonna be weird, but now you are weird . Do you really believe, I mean, I was a little with you. You like history mark, but, and, and.

Are you saying you honestly believe that there are demons that in dwell how I do? Absolutely. From cover to cover in the scripture, I think the presence of, of demonic forces is the only explanation for the unbridled in irrational evil in the world. Sin is certainly foundational in all of our lives, but the absolutely astonishing evil only has an explanation with the power of darkness involved.

So here's this woman, we would look at her, many would look at her and say, well, she has, she has a mental illness. I mean, these voices are weird. I mean, she's, you know what's going on, but she has supernatural power. How the gospel came to her. We read. Somewhere early on in their ministry here with this fledgling group of people, she sees Paul and it says, she started to shout, it's actually word shriek.

This was scary sounding stuff. As she's announcing that these, these guys are servants of the, of the most high God demons know a lot about God. As a matter of fact, they know more than you know. They've had a long time to get to know who the sovereign God is. It says in the book of James James, who was the physical brother of Jesus.

James says, the devils believe in God and they tremble. They don't embrace him. They don't embrace salvation, which is for people, but they know. and here we find that she is presenting some things that are true. Now here's the question. Of course, as she's saying these things, is she crediting the, these guys or is she trying to discredit them?

I mean, is she announcing for them to get people to believe with him or is she denouncing them? I would argue for both. I think this is the tension that is going on in this young woman. I think there is a part of her that is utterly opposed and trying to discredit them. Maybe by associating the demons are trying to say, you know, if, if, if, if this seems weird enough, people are gonna get scared off from listening to Paul and his friends.

But there's every reason to believe in this passage. There is also a little girl's heart that is longing for this most high God that they're talking about. Just a side note here, and then I'm gonna try to pull this together As we look at this girl who needed something that would break through her slavery and bondage, we see an interesting statement here in verse 18.

It says this, Paul became so annoyed. What this word actually means is that Paul became annoyed.

there's no other word. He was ticked off. He, he was a dark. So dude, day after day, he turns and reacts. You know? Now we would, wouldn't you love it if it's said, but we would expect it to say, Paul moved with compassion for this young woman, . No, that doesn't. It says Paul ticked off, annoyed. This is, and this is my sidebar.

This is just another way. God reminds us of the validity of the scriptural account. You know what's been said? History is written by the victors. You know what that means? That when you're, when you have two powers that are fighting against each other and one banquets the other, you know what you do. First of all, you write the history of it.

They're not allowed to write the history. They're not even allowed to keep their own history. You sponge the history. You write your own why? Cuz you want to be known how you want to be known, and you now have the power to do that. The scriptures do not present everybody in a pure light. Paul doesn't look particularly good here.

CS Lewis, the professor of medieval history in classical literature, Oxford University of Days, gone by. Basically says this, he says, anybody that reads the New Testament and thinks it is, it is talking about legends has never read. Legends. Legends are, are these, these exaggerated picture? You never present your heroes in negative lights.

He says, the weirdness and awkwardness as the author talks about the star characters with such blatant floss would never have happened in legend. That was a sidebar. Okay, what did it do in her life?

The girl is freed she's met, the power of the living Christ. We know that because the Python spirit doesn't work anymore and her owners are gonna respond fairly directly in the next passage. Next week, God intervenes in the life. Of a powerful businesswoman, God intervenes in the life of a powerless young woman, young girl.

So what do we learn here? Let's put some shoes to it. Number one, God uses the gospel, but only he can change your heart. Certainly he does use our sure in the gospel. He does use radio speakers. He, he uses all of things, but it is God that will change hearts. This is a reminder, every parent here that is crying out to God for their adult children to know Jesus.

This is a message to every young person that is, that is living alone. As some of you are and some of you young adults are the only believer in your family. Just longing to see those you have done life with the longest. Come to embrace Christ. It is ultimately not about you. You are not going to win anybody into the Kingdom of Christ.

God has to change the heart. My wife, Marian, has recently watched a video and she, she told me all about it and it, and she has been passing it on selectively as God prompts. And it's the story of a young man who, who utterly leaves his, his Christian heritage and gets involved in a, a, a very non-Christian lifestyle as an adult.

And this mom becomes absolutely convinced it's him actually telling the story. But he tells the story of his mother that, um, apparently she becomes convinced that her role, while never condoning his lifestyle, which he knows her calling, is to utterly embrace her son. Her, her calling is not to try to convince him or I, you know, she's willing to talk, but only as he is requesting that she wants him to feel welcome.

She wants him to feel embraced and shortly before she dies, just unbelievable transformation takes place in his life. And he does give his life to grace and all. But his video is actually about him telling the story after his mom was gone, of going through her journals and her records and finding the page that she had, a crumpled page that she used as her, of all the specific things.

She was constantly crying out to Christ for her boy. And as you read the list, he realized God did every one of these things. And he said, my mother didn't even tell me I did all this. She just prayed. She just cried out to God. She cried out to the one person in the universe that has the ability to change a heart.

God is the one that has to work, and our reminder is that it will be God that is going to make the changes. You may be separated from people you love. You can pray. You may not be allowed to speak into their li. You can pray. We can cry out to God to the one alone. I remember hearing one time a guy that was very active in evangelism, but he said, I learned a long time ago that it was infinitely more important for me to talk to God about people than to talk to people about.

I'm not giving a pass to not share the gospel, but he said, I just learned God. He's the one. It's God. It's God. It's got to move. Secondly, God seeks all types to be in his family. Two women in the midst of a Roman warriors community. I mean, it's almost, it, it, it's, it's so creative a story. It's just a visual that God reaches all kinds of people, liberals, conservatives, powerful people, outsiders, according to the world's evaluation, winners or losers, doesn't matter.

Wherever you are today and wherever you'd place yourself today, doesn't matter. No matter what you've done, doesn't matter. This God comes among us to say, I am coming to free you. I am coming to transform you. I came that you could be forgiven. That you could enter My father's family and I came to, to, to find new family members, and he says to you this morning, wouldn't you want to join this family of grace?

He comes for all kinds. Third, God is extraordinarily creative. He shows his beauty to the seller of beauty. He shows his power to the powerless. God makes himself known exactly where and how we need to know him. I shared that series a while back, which basically the, the series on awe of God replacing fear with awe, and in that series,

Uh, the thing that struck me in studying the scripture where God says, do not fear every time he presents something about himself and he says, you, you don't have to be dominated by anything else. Just be awed by me. These are the seventh day. I'm just gonna throw them again just to remind us that God creatively shows different aspects of himself in different moments in our lives, and certainly in the lives of those that need to embrace Christ.

He shows that God is stronger than anything you might face, that God is sweeter than anything you might lose, that God is sovereign over any situation you might be in, that God is standing with you any place you might go, that God is surrounding you against any danger you might encounter, that God is sufficient for any insufficiency.

You might feel that God is safer. Than anyone or anything else you might turn to. What God does is God shows himself it's what we need. We need to be ought. These women in their own ways, in the creative working of God needed to know God, to see that God, this, this young woman, God is more powerful than even the power of Python to talk to this woman that has seemingly at all, but he says God is sweeter than anything you might lose.

Maybe you will never get a husband, Lydia. Maybe your business won't be what you think. God is sweeter than anything you could lose. I don't know where you are today, but maybe God's got a message very personally to you, and he'd just say, I'm better. I'm better than anything that's that's involved in your, I want you to know me.

God shows himself and God is extraordinarily creative. You don't know how that person you're pleading for is gonna come to Christ. My guess is it's gonna happen in a way you never saw coming. You know why? And this is it. This is it. They're going to the Christian concert with me. It's gonna happen . And five minutes before, of course the call comes and say, Hey, our whole family's got covid.

And you're just like, God, it's over the chance. The one shot we had, he's creative. Fourth God employs his people in the process of changing lives. I mean, Paul and the boys walked 10 miles to vilify, and I'm guessing they weren't expecting to find a handful of women that was gonna be their men. I mean, they're coming to the Warriors town.

Yeah, let's go to Philippi. It's right on the main pathway. It is, I can't remember the name of the road, but then actually a Roman Road that traveled across Europe and they're gonna hit this prominent city of Philippi and they walked to their first ministry opportunity. You know, this is after Paul saying, we're gonna go to offices over, you know, over there in Asia.

We're gonna go to af, the Urban Center. God says, no. Okay, we're gonna go up to Bethia. That's on the Black Sea. You know, there's a lot of people up there. Prominent people we're gonna go, nah, I got something else. . And he comes over to Philippi. Oh my goodness, this is not why. What do he do? Paul goes charging and sits down and says, God, here I am.

Use me in Colossians, chapter four. Paul makes this interesting prayer. He says, I'm praying for you. In verse one, and then chapter two, he said in verse two of chapter four, he says this, at the same time, pray also for us that God may open to us a door for the world to the, for the word to declare the mystery of Christ.

Okay, so we think, okay, Paul's saying, I'm, I'm about to enter on a new enterprise for the gospel. Maybe he's anticipating, I'm going to Rome now. May, this is gonna be it. You know, my dream is fulfilled. Pray that God will open the door for me. Let me read it to you again and I'll add the next phrase. At the same time, pray also for us that God may open to us a door for the word to declare the mystery of Christ, UNAC account of which I am in prison.

Say, Paul, what are you talking about? Open a door. You're in a cell. Paul says, yeah, but this is where God has me. I don't know where you are. But I know that God says, I wanna work through you here. I wanna have you just be saying, Lord, I want to have a door of utterance. I don't have to figure it out. I don't have to strategize.

I don't have to memorize the book of Romans. So I'm ready to recite. Its, I just need to say God, have my heart be pliable and ready, that I might be available for the opportunities that come. God employs his people in the process of changing lives. And my last one, very simply as this, never give up. If you have a God like this, if you of a God that is creative, that shows power for the powerless that shows his beauty to, to those that adore beauty.

If he is this creative and he is this majestic, keep praying, keep leaning into him, keep going to work and say, I never get a chance to share Jesus. Maybe tomorrow. Keeping your heart open, sensitive to the Lord, because these two women's stories remind us of what the, the, the book of the book of Acts is always trying to tell us.

The one commonality in every one of these stories is this. He wants to awes with our God. He wants to stu us with our Christ. Your Christ. Lord, we come to you this morning,

grateful to hear a little of these women's stories. It's interesting to know them.

It's glorious to be reminded of the one who became their God. Lord, we want to know you more. We want to live with you more fully. We want to be like Lydia to be all in. Lord, I pray this morning for those individuals in this room or watching online right now that have never embraced this Christ as th Savior Lord.

Even now, I ask that the Spirit would be at work in speaking into their lives, that Jesus came to invite us to an eternal family. That he came for people like us, broken, sinful, self-absorbed people.

So Lord, I pray this morning, you would simply show them yourself. As we close this earth, every head bow, every eye closed. I just feel prompted to do this. Maybe you're here and you say, pastor Mark, I feel like God is speaking to me. If you feel it way he is. Just say, pastor Mark, just with God looking and you looking right now, I, I really feel God is calling me to embrace Christ as my Savior.

Would you pray for me, pastor Mark, that I might receive Christ, that I might, that I might pass over and get on the other side of the glass and embrace Jesus Christ is Savior. If you're like that here and nobody's looking around but me and God just slip over your hand and say, mark, would you pray for me this morning?

Just slip your hand up and take it down. Thank you. There are others today.

Lord, we come to you today.

We love the reminder that you're the pursuing God, that you're the one that changes hearts. Lord, I pray and I bring now in this moment as we close, the vast hope, the vast host of people that are represented by people here today, for whom our hearts are crying out, would come to Christ. Lord in your bigness, we plead with you, for to draw them, for those that have raised their hand, for those that are sensing the calling of the Spirit, Lord, bring their hearts toward Christ today, I pray, in Jesus' name.

Amen. Amen. Now go in peace to love and serve and enjoy the Lord. Thank.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/how-the-gospel-changes-lives 2878a291-8030-4de5-bec6-eb89548f0bd6 Sun, 29 Jan 2023 17:07:45 GMT <div data-html="true">Acts 16:11-18 <br /><br /> One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> I invite you to take your Bibles this morning to the Book of Acts once again as we continue in our series, the Spirit at Work, to the Ends of the Earth, as we focus on the book of Acts, this second volume of Luke's history manual, the book of Luke being the first. This is the second. And as he presents to us here, uh, an account of the early church, I'd like to read verse, uh, 11 through 18 of Acts chapter 16. <br /><br /> And here's what we, what we read. So setting sail from Trus, we made a direct voyage to Samas in the following day to Minneapolis. And from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia in a Roman colony. Remained in this city some days and on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to the riverside where we supposed there was a place of prayer. <br /><br /> And we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together. One who heard, one who heard us was a woman named Lydia from the city of Thara, a seller of purple goods, who is a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul. And after that, after she was baptized in her household as well, she urged us, saying, if you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay. <br /><br /> And she prevailed upon us. As we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gained by fortune telling. She followed Paul and us crying out, these men are servants of the most high God who proclaimed to you the way of salvation, and this she kept doing for many days. <br /><br /> Paul, having become greatly annoyed, turned and said to the Spirit, I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her, and it came out of her that very hour. <br /><br /> I've learned throughout the years that not everyone loves history. I put this in the area of in incredulity and disbelief in the same way. I look at people that don't like Lead. Zeppelin's Stairway to heaven. J r r Tokin and Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, <br /><br /> But I've come to get it a little bit that some people are just completely turned off to the idea of dates, wars, ruler dynasties, international power struggles. But to me, history is stories. It's the stories of people, dates and places, particular wars and conflicts. Changing of dynasties gives you some bones to hanging on. <br /><br /> But the life of history is the stories, the stories of people. I had a history teacher in, in college that got this, his name was Dr. Ring Inberg and Dr. Ring Inberg was a straight laced, quiet spoken, hardly a theatrical or a thespian type of personality. Very dry speaking. And the second day of class we came in, he had first day introduced himself. <br /><br /> You know, we had, we had gotten to know a little bit of the syllabi where the, where things were going. The second day, he comes in without a word and just starts telling us his story. He's recounting his life, but as you're listening to his story, you, you, you feel like this man has a personality disorder. <br /><br /> There's something completely wrong, and he's describing, you know, his feelings. He's describing his family. And then finally you get a little context when he says, yes, the year was 1746 and he's describing his life and you realize he's doing a first person narrative and he's saying things like this, I did this and my family was this way. <br /><br /> And, and I wondered at the time about this, and, and these were the struggles we were facing. The guy just hooked me. He just drew me in. He did this often in our classes. He made history stories. He told it from the standpoint of certainly historic, well-known figures. He'd do their first person narrative, but he also did it just the average Joe, the average Mary, and, and he'd be that person and, and he's presenting history as the stories of people. <br /><br /> That's how Luke tells his story. This is the second volume in his history book, and as he does so, as he presents this history to us, he presents people. We are now entering into Europe in Acts chapter 16. We're gonna see in a moment the map that takes us there, but as we look at this, matter of fact, we can go ahead and bring up the map. <br /><br /> What's happening here? As Paul is going to, uh, as Luke is going to present to us the story of two people whose lives are an utter contrast. The only unifying reality is both of them were radically transformed by Jesus Christ. But at this point in Paul's life, we come to the place, <br /><br /> I have my weapon. Oh man, there's options everywhere. . Okay, so, alright, I'm gonna pick one and make half of you mad. Um, but the idea, what, what we're looking at is where are we, where are we In the book of Acts, we are beginning what's called the second. We are on the, what's called the second missionary journey. <br /><br /> If you remember the story, Luke has actual, uh, Luke has told us the story of Paul and Silas going this way. They got to about this area right in the middle here. This, this area of Antioch. And there at that moment, Paul wants to go west to Ephesus. He wants to hit the cities here, which are the heart of the urban center of Asia. <br /><br /> And God says no. So he says, all right, we're not gonna go. We're not gonna go west, we're gonna go north. So we're gonna go up into here. And there's an area called Bethia. It says he was heading towards up here. As he's heading towards Bethia, God says no. So almost by default, apparently Paul continues towards the city of tr ass. <br /><br /> Here he comes to the city of tr ass. And again, they have no strategy, no plan. And while he sl asleep one night, he has this Macedonian vision. It's described in the first verse of Act 16 Act, and, and. He says, come over and it says the next day, Paul and the boys, this is Silas and Timothy. Now at this point, they discuss it, they process it, and they come to the conclusion just like we do. <br /><br /> We look at the eva, the material, we look at how God seems to be leading and they made the judgment. God wants us to go over Toro as now. At that point, they're joined by a fourth member who becomes the we in these verses. Luke joins them there, and most people believe Luke is probably from the area of Philippi and he's traveling back to his home territory because he's gonna stay there after Paul and the guys leave there, uh, on this journey. <br /><br /> But they've now come over and as they have come over, they've come to this area up here, they're now in Greece. They land here, they go from Minneapolis and they walk 10 miles to Philippi. And as they go up into Philippi, we have this account of them meeting two ladies. Two individuals, two female characters lead the cast. <br /><br /> And as they come there, we see in the simple stories of these two women, a reminder of the beautiful reality of the gospel and most of all of the God of the gospel. So I'd like to look at these two gals story this morning and then draw some specific applications for us at the end. The first person we see here is Lydia an Empowered Businesswoman. <br /><br /> If you read her passage, you'll notice it says, one who hurt us was a woman named Lydia from the city of Thara, a seller of purple goods. Basically what Paul and, and the guys have done, they come to the city and they find out in this Roman city, which I've mentioned to you before, is actually a city that was formed. <br /><br /> Uh uh, uh, By a general named Philip, who later became a prominent member of the entire, uh, empire. And this city named after him, was actually a place where retired veterans of Roman wars were given, uh, citizenship to live. It was a heavy military town, and Paul and, and the guys get there and there is no synagogue. <br /><br /> And so they went to the, uh, a place where sometimes Jews would gather in the empire. They would gather outside. It was along the riverbank and they hoped there would be some Jewish people there because Paul and the guys always went to the Jews first when they went to a city. And they came there and there is actually a gathering, but there are no men, it's all women. <br /><br /> And they come and, and, and they meet this woman named Lydia and Lydia. Is described as a, a seller of purple goods from Thra. Now, Thra is my last map, I promise. Thra is over in this area again. Now we're over here in Greece. Right? Thra was part of the Western side. It's actually one of the seven cities of Revelation churches that he writes to. <br /><br /> Thara is there. She's apparently a business woman, apparently single, that is entrepreneurial enough that she's come over from Thara and has set up shop in Philippi. She has apparently has become a permanent residence. She owns a house there and she started a business and her business is the most famous manufacturing work in th Tyra. <br /><br /> It was known throughout the empire for its, its die making. Particularly purple. Purple was the, uh, color of, of, uh, regal, uh, where it was royalty. It was extremely expensive. I mean, people that wore purple were, were, were dressing in high end goods. And she is a, an individual that sells high-end stuff to high-end customers, beautiful products to beautiful people. <br /><br /> Basically. She's running a high-end boutique in Philippi, but she's not only a prominent businesswoman, she's a worshiper of God. We read that here in these verses, and this word worshiper is an interesting one. It's not the normal word for worshiper. It's actually only used 10 times in the New Testament. <br /><br /> Eight of them are in the book of Acts. They are, it is a term that regularly refers to an individual that is a gentile. That has embraced Judaism at least partially. And I'll give you an example. In Acts 13, it says this, it says, after the meeting of the synagogue broke up many Jews and devout, that's the word worship, worshiping, converts to Judaism. <br /><br /> It's talking about Gentiles who had started aligning their lives with the Old Testament scriptures and, and, and, and started to want to be a follower of Jehovah God. This is a moral person. This is a person who is, is trying to live an I integrist life. According to the Old Testament scriptures, she is a devout worshiper of God. <br /><br /> As best she knows him. She's a successful business person. She's moral, she's independent. This lady is a winner. In the eyes of the world. She has it together. She's influential, she's prestigious, she's affluent, and she's even got character that's Lydia. <br /><br /> But the gospel does something beautiful in Lydia's life, we find the first question, who she was, is followed by how the gospel came to her. What happens on this Sabbath day. As they come there, they come and there's a Bible study, and it's not a preaching thing. If you'll notice, it says in verse 13 that they came and sat down. <br /><br /> You know, it's not like Paul is walking like I am. Ran, ran, you know, wandering all around, preaching at these three ladies or whatever's there. It's a small Bible state. It's give and take, you know, it's, it's, it's a, it's a little gathering that's there, but as they are there, They're sharing the truth about Christ. <br /><br /> She has already sought truth. She sought to know God, but there is a work that had to happen in her life to bring her to truly be a follower of Jesus Christ. It's described here in these verses, it says, is the Lord opened her heart to respond. The same word is used of Luke 24 when Jesus is walking on the ESUs road. <br /><br /> After his resurrection, he's going with two guys that are, that have been a part of his, his his band. Not the 12, but the broader group of followers around. and they don't recognize him, and they're going along and he's talking to him on the way, and he's, he, he's explaining truth. And they initially said, you know, he says, what, what's going on? <br /><br /> And they said, wh what are you, you know, where have you, what hole have you been in? Don't you know about Jesus? Our, our savior, our our master. And he was crucified. And, and, and so he starts telling the old Testa Christ, but it isn't until they actually are sitting down together and Jesus takes bread and breaks it and gives it to 'em. <br /><br /> It says this statement in Luke 24 verse 31. And their eyes were opened and they recognized him. And at that point, he vanished from their site. Later in that chapter, he, he comes to the disciples and it says, he opened their minds. Same word. What happened with Lydia is exactly what happened with you. If you have embraced Jesus Christ is your savior. <br /><br /> you didn't embrace Jesus Christ because you're more spiritual than your brother. You didn't embrace Jesus Christ because you have more, somehow, a more sensitive and, and more accrediting, uh, godliness that made you do what your sorority sisters didn't do. You came to Jesus Christ because God pursued you. <br /><br /> God opened your eyes. And if you are here today and you've never embraced Jesus Christ and you sense, I feel like I'm on the outside in looking in and all these people, the, you know, the relationship with Jesus, I don't really understand the relation part and, and, and I don't really understand this personal walking with God. <br /><br /> If there's a stirring within you, if there's a longing within you say, I'd like to know this. I'd like to have relationship. I'd like to have this, the sense that my sins are forgive. God is pursuing you. And what is happening with Lydia is God pursued her. God opened her heart God drew Lydia to himself. <br /><br /> But Lydia responded, and we see here her response. It says that she responded to the prompting of God's spirit in her life. The word respond, again, this is a fascinating word. It actually means to be devoted to it's used in the New Testament of being addicted to. It means she was all in, her heart was, was moved by God and the resulting reality was how it always is. <br /><br /> When a heart is really changed by the gospel, <br /><br /> nothing held back utterly all in. The next thing we find is this woman is being baptized. The very first person baptized in Europe, it was actually a bit of a wild move. I mean, she's being baptized in the name of a crucified savior. It's like being baptized in the name and an association with a guy that's recently gotten the electric chair. <br /><br /> This is probably not going to help her business. It's probably not going to help her if she is looking for a husband. This could ostracize her. I mean, it's bad enough. She's Jewish and, and, and, or she's drawn to Judaism. She's, she's gentile. But, and there, you know, just with this little gathering of women in this city of, of, of warriors, and now she's embracing a savior that the Romans crucified, <br /><br /> but she's in, there's nothing hold her back wholeheartedly. She's embracing the Christ that Paul and the others are telling her about. As reminded us, I was reflecting on Lydia's story of a story I once heard of a guy named Tom Williams. He was an old time evangelist, came to our area and, uh, I met him and, uh, I, I knew the director of my church planning ministry, Dr. <br /><br /> Davis was very good friends with him. That's more of my connection. But Tom Williams was telling the story. Uh, I, it was a tape I heard. I was listening to him tell the story of a meeting he had, and Tom Williams was an old time evangelist. I mean, he was, he was straight talker, but he was telling of a meeting he had where he was sharing the gospel and allowing people to come forward and receive Christ to Savior. <br /><br /> And a woman came forward who was absolutely dressed to the nines. I mean, she had diamonds all over, extremely well groomed, extremely put together the eyes of the world. She was a winner. I mean, she had it, she came very properly, but she came to embrace Christ. And she got down to the front and he could tell that she was awkward, and she was sort of looking over her shoulder a little bit and, and there aren't as many people maybe as she expected to be down there. <br /><br /> And she sort of feels like she stands out and she said, uh, she's talking to him in private. As people are singing and, and, and, and she says, what do, what do I need to do to be saved? And he said to her, you need to bow down here and receive Jesus Christ as your savior. And she sort of glances over her shoulder, he said, looking back and she's looking down at the floor and she said, does everybody have to kneel to do that? <br /><br /> And he said, no, but you do. And she dropped to her knees and embraced Christ. She was all in. And though the opinions of people certainly impacted her life. And Drew, who, Lydia is a prominent person in this town. I mean, she's made it and she's a woman in a, in a, in a, in a war veterans town. She must have been a presence of a personality. <br /><br /> But she had to be willing to say, I want this Christ. I may never get a husband. It may affect my business. I don't care. I'm responding, which means I am devoted. I am all in. I'm, if you will, addicted to Christ. I want him. So she's embraced as she embraces Christ. What did it do in her life? Well, she becomes the host for the church in Philippi. <br /><br /> In this city of retired Roman warriors, a single businesswoman becomes the cornerstone of the fledgling church. When Paul writes to the church in Philippi, which was clearly one of his favorite congregations, as a matter of fact, he says in the book of Phil Philippians. Chapter one. He says, whenever I think of you all, I'm filled with joy. <br /><br /> He's talking to a group of people that are meeting in this woman's home. <br /><br /> God reached into this person's life. God drew this worldly winner to himself, but there's another person we meet here. Her stories described in verses 16 through 18, just like to read it again quickly as we were going to the place of prayer, and they did this on the Sabbath regularly, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much green by fortune telling. <br /><br /> She followed Paul and us crying out These men are servants of the most high God who proclaimed to you the way of salvation. and this she kept doing for many days. Paul, having become greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out that very hour. <br /><br /> W who is she? She's described as a slave girl. The word girl here indicates a younger woman, uh, adolescent, pre-adolescent, somewhere between 11 to 14 years old. She has a spirit of divination. Now, this is where this gets a little weird. All right, so stay with me. This word for divination is the word python, like the snake. <br /><br /> It is a direct reference to one of the most prominent, uh, religious experiences and activities in all of Greece on Mount. In the, in the, uh, mountainous area outside of Athens, there is a place called Delphi. Delphi is the most prominent, uh, religious site shrine in all of Greek mythology. As a matter of fact, they described it as the center of the earth. <br /><br /> It is where the gods made themselves known to humanity. You've heard of the oracle of Del Kai Delphi? Well, Delphi is the location. There's the picture of it today, and at that mountain, and in the background is all mountains. It's a beautiful location. The oracle was a woman and the woman was the spokesman. <br /><br /> The word oracle means revelation or, or prophetic messages that basically she was the mouthpiece. Now, here's how the word Python got involved. Greek mythology has it that on this mount where the gods were trying to communicate with humans, that there was a, there was a giant snake python. Some portray it as sort of a dragon like character, but it's the word python, this word deviation. <br /><br /> An Apollo is historically supposed to have come and slayed the dragon, but the voice of the dragon still speaks at Delphi for the gods. I told you this was a little weird, right? Okay. But here's what, here's the reality at Delphi, there is a woman in every generation who is called the Oracle. She is the head of the Priestly clan of Priestesses, but there are also a number of other priestesses. <br /><br /> This young girl, Was one of those priestesses. She has the spirit of Python. She is a spokesman. Now, here's the striking reality, and if you Google it, which undoubtedly some of you will probably right now, but you will find that what they say, the primary emphasis of the spirit of Python is that they are four tellers. <br /><br /> They give prophetic messages. <br /><br /> This woman, somehow, this young girl somehow had been purchased by probably per fairly powerful people, men in Philippi, and she was giving message. Now, you can't earn money for your owners if you're not hitting it right with some of your prophecies. She has a spirit that is enabling her to some degree, to tell things that are coming and things are going well for these owners. <br /><br /> things are not going well for this young girl. She is twice in bondage. She is in bondage to the spirits that are ruling her life. Secondly, she is in bondage. She's described as a slave and now she's coming and, and, and, and, and it's striking that the Greek word that is used to talk about the, the voices that came of the voice, the, of the priestesses, of the prophets of python is the word ventriloquist. <br /><br /> It meant they spoke with multiple voices. These were demon possessed, demonn controlled individuals. And I realize you may be out there and you may say, wait a minute, I know you said this is gonna be weird, but now you are weird . Do you really believe, I mean, I was a little with you. You like history mark, but, and, and. <br /><br /> Are you saying you honestly believe that there are demons that in dwell how I do? Absolutely. From cover to cover in the scripture, I think the presence of, of demonic forces is the only explanation for the unbridled in irrational evil in the world. Sin is certainly foundational in all of our lives, but the absolutely astonishing evil only has an explanation with the power of darkness involved. <br /><br /> So here's this woman, we would look at her, many would look at her and say, well, she has, she has a mental illness. I mean, these voices are weird. I mean, she's, you know what's going on, but she has supernatural power. How the gospel came to her. We read. Somewhere early on in their ministry here with this fledgling group of people, she sees Paul and it says, she started to shout, it's actually word shriek. <br /><br /> This was scary sounding stuff. As she's announcing that these, these guys are servants of the, of the most high God demons know a lot about God. As a matter of fact, they know more than you know. They've had a long time to get to know who the sovereign God is. It says in the book of James James, who was the physical brother of Jesus. <br /><br /> James says, the devils believe in God and they tremble. They don't embrace him. They don't embrace salvation, which is for people, but they know. and here we find that she is presenting some things that are true. Now here's the question. Of course, as she's saying these things, is she crediting the, these guys or is she trying to discredit them? <br /><br /> I mean, is she announcing for them to get people to believe with him or is she denouncing them? I would argue for both. I think this is the tension that is going on in this young woman. I think there is a part of her that is utterly opposed and trying to discredit them. Maybe by associating the demons are trying to say, you know, if, if, if, if this seems weird enough, people are gonna get scared off from listening to Paul and his friends. <br /><br /> But there's every reason to believe in this passage. There is also a little girl's heart that is longing for this most high God that they're talking about. Just a side note here, and then I'm gonna try to pull this together As we look at this girl who needed something that would break through her slavery and bondage, we see an interesting statement here in verse 18. <br /><br /> It says this, Paul became so annoyed. What this word actually means is that Paul became annoyed. <br /><br /> there's no other word. He was ticked off. He, he was a dark. So dude, day after day, he turns and reacts. You know? Now we would, wouldn't you love it if it's said, but we would expect it to say, Paul moved with compassion for this young woman, . No, that doesn't. It says Paul ticked off, annoyed. This is, and this is my sidebar. <br /><br /> This is just another way. God reminds us of the validity of the scriptural account. You know what's been said? History is written by the victors. You know what that means? That when you're, when you have two powers that are fighting against each other and one banquets the other, you know what you do. First of all, you write the history of it. <br /><br /> They're not allowed to write the history. They're not even allowed to keep their own history. You sponge the history. You write your own why? Cuz you want to be known how you want to be known, and you now have the power to do that. The scriptures do not present everybody in a pure light. Paul doesn't look particularly good here. <br /><br /> CS Lewis, the professor of medieval history in classical literature, Oxford University of Days, gone by. Basically says this, he says, anybody that reads the New Testament and thinks it is, it is talking about legends has never read. Legends. Legends are, are these, these exaggerated picture? You never present your heroes in negative lights. <br /><br /> He says, the weirdness and awkwardness as the author talks about the star characters with such blatant floss would never have happened in legend. That was a sidebar. Okay, what did it do in her life? <br /><br /> The girl is freed she's met, the power of the living Christ. We know that because the Python spirit doesn't work anymore and her owners are gonna respond fairly directly in the next passage. Next week, God intervenes in the life. Of a powerful businesswoman, God intervenes in the life of a powerless young woman, young girl. <br /><br /> So what do we learn here? Let's put some shoes to it. Number one, God uses the gospel, but only he can change your heart. Certainly he does use our sure in the gospel. He does use radio speakers. He, he uses all of things, but it is God that will change hearts. This is a reminder, every parent here that is crying out to God for their adult children to know Jesus. <br /><br /> This is a message to every young person that is, that is living alone. As some of you are and some of you young adults are the only believer in your family. Just longing to see those you have done life with the longest. Come to embrace Christ. It is ultimately not about you. You are not going to win anybody into the Kingdom of Christ. <br /><br /> God has to change the heart. My wife, Marian, has recently watched a video and she, she told me all about it and it, and she has been passing it on selectively as God prompts. And it's the story of a young man who, who utterly leaves his, his Christian heritage and gets involved in a, a, a very non-Christian lifestyle as an adult. <br /><br /> And this mom becomes absolutely convinced it's him actually telling the story. But he tells the story of his mother that, um, apparently she becomes convinced that her role, while never condoning his lifestyle, which he knows her calling, is to utterly embrace her son. Her, her calling is not to try to convince him or I, you know, she's willing to talk, but only as he is requesting that she wants him to feel welcome. <br /><br /> She wants him to feel embraced and shortly before she dies, just unbelievable transformation takes place in his life. And he does give his life to grace and all. But his video is actually about him telling the story after his mom was gone, of going through her journals and her records and finding the page that she had, a crumpled page that she used as her, of all the specific things. <br /><br /> She was constantly crying out to Christ for her boy. And as you read the list, he realized God did every one of these things. And he said, my mother didn't even tell me I did all this. She just prayed. She just cried out to God. She cried out to the one person in the universe that has the ability to change a heart. <br /><br /> God is the one that has to work, and our reminder is that it will be God that is going to make the changes. You may be separated from people you love. You can pray. You may not be allowed to speak into their li. You can pray. We can cry out to God to the one alone. I remember hearing one time a guy that was very active in evangelism, but he said, I learned a long time ago that it was infinitely more important for me to talk to God about people than to talk to people about. <br /><br /> I'm not giving a pass to not share the gospel, but he said, I just learned God. He's the one. It's God. It's God. It's got to move. Secondly, God seeks all types to be in his family. Two women in the midst of a Roman warriors community. I mean, it's almost, it, it, it's, it's so creative a story. It's just a visual that God reaches all kinds of people, liberals, conservatives, powerful people, outsiders, according to the world's evaluation, winners or losers, doesn't matter. <br /><br /> Wherever you are today and wherever you'd place yourself today, doesn't matter. No matter what you've done, doesn't matter. This God comes among us to say, I am coming to free you. I am coming to transform you. I came that you could be forgiven. That you could enter My father's family and I came to, to, to find new family members, and he says to you this morning, wouldn't you want to join this family of grace? <br /><br /> He comes for all kinds. Third, God is extraordinarily creative. He shows his beauty to the seller of beauty. He shows his power to the powerless. God makes himself known exactly where and how we need to know him. I shared that series a while back, which basically the, the series on awe of God replacing fear with awe, and in that series, <br /><br /> Uh, the thing that struck me in studying the scripture where God says, do not fear every time he presents something about himself and he says, you, you don't have to be dominated by anything else. Just be awed by me. These are the seventh day. I'm just gonna throw them again just to remind us that God creatively shows different aspects of himself in different moments in our lives, and certainly in the lives of those that need to embrace Christ. <br /><br /> He shows that God is stronger than anything you might face, that God is sweeter than anything you might lose, that God is sovereign over any situation you might be in, that God is standing with you any place you might go, that God is surrounding you against any danger you might encounter, that God is sufficient for any insufficiency. <br /><br /> You might feel that God is safer. Than anyone or anything else you might turn to. What God does is God shows himself it's what we need. We need to be ought. These women in their own ways, in the creative working of God needed to know God, to see that God, this, this young woman, God is more powerful than even the power of Python to talk to this woman that has seemingly at all, but he says God is sweeter than anything you might lose. <br /><br /> Maybe you will never get a husband, Lydia. Maybe your business won't be what you think. God is sweeter than anything you could lose. I don't know where you are today, but maybe God's got a message very personally to you, and he'd just say, I'm better. I'm better than anything that's that's involved in your, I want you to know me. <br /><br /> God shows himself and God is extraordinarily creative. You don't know how that person you're pleading for is gonna come to Christ. My guess is it's gonna happen in a way you never saw coming. You know why? And this is it. This is it. They're going to the Christian concert with me. It's gonna happen . And five minutes before, of course the call comes and say, Hey, our whole family's got covid. <br /><br /> And you're just like, God, it's over the chance. The one shot we had, he's creative. Fourth God employs his people in the process of changing lives. I mean, Paul and the boys walked 10 miles to vilify, and I'm guessing they weren't expecting to find a handful of women that was gonna be their men. I mean, they're coming to the Warriors town. <br /><br /> Yeah, let's go to Philippi. It's right on the main pathway. It is, I can't remember the name of the road, but then actually a Roman Road that traveled across Europe and they're gonna hit this prominent city of Philippi and they walked to their first ministry opportunity. You know, this is after Paul saying, we're gonna go to offices over, you know, over there in Asia. <br /><br /> We're gonna go to af, the Urban Center. God says, no. Okay, we're gonna go up to Bethia. That's on the Black Sea. You know, there's a lot of people up there. Prominent people we're gonna go, nah, I got something else. . And he comes over to Philippi. Oh my goodness, this is not why. What do he do? Paul goes charging and sits down and says, God, here I am. <br /><br /> Use me in Colossians, chapter four. Paul makes this interesting prayer. He says, I'm praying for you. In verse one, and then chapter two, he said in verse two of chapter four, he says this, at the same time, pray also for us that God may open to us a door for the world to the, for the word to declare the mystery of Christ. <br /><br /> Okay, so we think, okay, Paul's saying, I'm, I'm about to enter on a new enterprise for the gospel. Maybe he's anticipating, I'm going to Rome now. May, this is gonna be it. You know, my dream is fulfilled. Pray that God will open the door for me. Let me read it to you again and I'll add the next phrase. At the same time, pray also for us that God may open to us a door for the word to declare the mystery of Christ, UNAC account of which I am in prison. <br /><br /> Say, Paul, what are you talking about? Open a door. You're in a cell. Paul says, yeah, but this is where God has me. I don't know where you are. But I know that God says, I wanna work through you here. I wanna have you just be saying, Lord, I want to have a door of utterance. I don't have to figure it out. I don't have to strategize. <br /><br /> I don't have to memorize the book of Romans. So I'm ready to recite. Its, I just need to say God, have my heart be pliable and ready, that I might be available for the opportunities that come. God employs his people in the process of changing lives. And my last one, very simply as this, never give up. If you have a God like this, if you of a God that is creative, that shows power for the powerless that shows his beauty to, to those that adore beauty. <br /><br /> If he is this creative and he is this majestic, keep praying, keep leaning into him, keep going to work and say, I never get a chance to share Jesus. Maybe tomorrow. Keeping your heart open, sensitive to the Lord, because these two women's stories remind us of what the, the, the book of the book of Acts is always trying to tell us. <br /><br /> The one commonality in every one of these stories is this. He wants to awes with our God. He wants to stu us with our Christ. Your Christ. Lord, we come to you this morning, <br /><br /> grateful to hear a little of these women's stories. It's interesting to know them. <br /><br /> It's glorious to be reminded of the one who became their God. Lord, we want to know you more. We want to live with you more fully. We want to be like Lydia to be all in. Lord, I pray this morning for those individuals in this room or watching online right now that have never embraced this Christ as th Savior Lord. <br /><br /> Even now, I ask that the Spirit would be at work in speaking into their lives, that Jesus came to invite us to an eternal family. That he came for people like us, broken, sinful, self-absorbed people. <br /><br /> So Lord, I pray this morning, you would simply show them yourself. As we close this earth, every head bow, every eye closed. I just feel prompted to do this. Maybe you're here and you say, pastor Mark, I feel like God is speaking to me. If you feel it way he is. Just say, pastor Mark, just with God looking and you looking right now, I, I really feel God is calling me to embrace Christ as my Savior. <br /><br /> Would you pray for me, pastor Mark, that I might receive Christ, that I might, that I might pass over and get on the other side of the glass and embrace Jesus Christ is Savior. If you're like that here and nobody's looking around but me and God just slip over your hand and say, mark, would you pray for me this morning? <br /><br /> Just slip your hand up and take it down. Thank you. There are others today. <br /><br /> Lord, we come to you today. <br /><br /> We love the reminder that you're the pursuing God, that you're the one that changes hearts. Lord, I pray and I bring now in this moment as we close, the vast hope, the vast host of people that are represented by people here today, for whom our hearts are crying out, would come to Christ. Lord in your bigness, we plead with you, for to draw them, for those that have raised their hand, for those that are sensing the calling of the Spirit, Lord, bring their hearts toward Christ today, I pray, in Jesus' name. <br /><br /> Amen. Amen. Now go in peace to love and serve and enjoy the Lord. Thank.</div> false no <![CDATA[What the Book of Acts Should Say to Us]]> Acts 16:1-9

So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in numbers daily.



Sermon Transcript:

Good morning everybody. Good morning. Invite you to take your Bibles to the Book of Acts chapter 16. Give be looking verses six through 12 as we return to the our series in the book of Acts. The Spirit at work to the end. Of the earth this morning. I'm gonna be giving sort of an overview message, um, but this is the text where we left off.

And I want to pick up here and try to give us a context of where we are. We're gonna look at chapter 16. I think we'll start at verse one. I'm gonna read down verse to verse 12, and that's page 870. If you're using a Bible there in front of you. Paul came also to Derby and Lystra. A disciple was there named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek.

He was well spoken of by the brothers at Lira and Iconium. Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places. For all they knew for. They all knew that his father was. As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered to them for observance, the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem.

So the churches were strengthened in the faith and they increased in numbers daily. And they went through the region of frig, GIA and Galatia having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. And when they had come up to Macia, they attempted to go into Bethia, but the spirit of Jesus did not allow them.

So passing by Macia, they went down Toros and a vision appeared DePaul in the night. A man of Macedonia was standing there urging him and saying, come over to Macedonia and help us. And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought it to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

Let me just mention this and I'm gonna read the next two verses. This is where we left off a number of weeks ago before the Christmas season. And all this time we have been operating in Asia. They are now crossing over, um, going into the, uh, area of northern Greece. They will be beginning for the first time on European soil, and we read these words in verse 11 and 12.

So setting sail from Troy, we made a direct voyage to some oath race and the following day to Minneapolis and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city some days. Let's pray.

Lord, we're so grateful for the invitation to worship God. Thank you that we can come into this place or we can be watching online and participate. Lord, we're here devoting this time this morning because. We desire to hear from you. We desire to be in the presence of people that know you and love you and God, I pray as we reflect on this study this morning, Lord, as we consider, what is the book of Acts supposed to be saying to us?

God, I pray that you would stretch us, challenge us, encourage us in our journey with you. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. I've read, um, many books. I don't have a number, many books on World War ii. Um, and I was going through some of them that I've read in the last couple of years. One of them I reread and I was struck with the fact that these books were written all about the same period, the same events, the same locale of the world in Europe.

But with very different purpose. I read the book, many, many have you read called Band of Brothers, the story, actually, Steven Ambrose came up with the idea World War II Scholar attending in 19 98, 19 88, a reunion of Easy Company. Um, and as he was with these guys, he had been invited to go. He was astonished with the bond that had been formed with these group of men where they got together at least once a year or all the years since 1945 when the war had ended.

And he wrote the Band of Brothers to portray the relationships that can be forged. in Combat Together. I read a book called Ordinary Men the last year. It's the story of reserves in a police force in Germany that were, uh, conscripted. Uh, they were to be, uh, they thought local policemen in 1942, and they were actually sent into Poland and they were given the responsibility of finding Jews and of exterminating them.

And the story is by the author, uh, uh, uh, to bring out how ordinary people became murderers and to talk about the psychology of evil. I read another book recently called A Higher Call. It's the story, a true story of a German fighter pilot flying a Messer Schmidt. And he had in his sights as a, leaving Germany from now over the Mediterranean, uh, excuse me, the North Sea.

And he was, as he was following this, uh, B 17 bomber, he realizes he was coming to get it in his gun sites, that it was completely crippled. It had been utterly decimated by, by armament that had come and hit the plane. He could even see in part of the plane and could see almost all of the crew was killed.

And this man was a Christian. And he actually, um, recognized this plane would never be in battle again. But he actually, they had, and their controls were out. They, they were lost in the Mediterranean, uh, in the North Sea. He actually led them all the way back to Britain so that they could land safely. And the author wrote the book to talk about how the pilot's faith had led him to do what he did.

The titles give you a sense of the different purpose of these authors, even though they're writing about the same era of history, the same locale of history, the same events that were going on. Band of Brothers, ordinary men, a higher calling, different purposes in recording history titles give you the sense of that we're returning today to our study in the book of Acts moments.

Where they are launching the European part of the missionary journey now really moving into Roman influenced territory as they do this, we are reminded of the title of this book, the Acts of the Apostles. Well, we know from that it's a history book. Matter of fact, we're, we're, it's clear as, as Luke delineates this to us, that he is actually, it is actually part of a two volume work.

The first is called the Gospel of Luke, where he presents the most thorough historical, um, summary of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ, of all the gospels. And then he follows up with volume two, which is the study of the, the, the followers of Christ, his apostles, his sent ones that are now taking his messaging and his ministry and taking it to the world.

but is telling history his ultimate purpose. I Is he just recording? Uh uh, uh uh, the history there. If you remember back when you took literature classes or some of you may be there now, you know that they encourage you to always look for the author's intent or purpose. And you may remember this, there's a thing called pi, p i e and they said, look for the A.

Typically authors have one of three purposes in writing. One, it is to persuade. Two, it is to inform. Three. It is to entertain. Is Luke's intention just the eye? Is it to inform? I would suggest it's not. I suggest that this book is not just a history manual giving us the second volume. Of this history anymore than the first volume was just to inform.

It's striking that it is selected history. Sometimes he summarized the work of two or three years of ministry in one phrase, in one verse. Sometimes he takes an entire chapter just to sum, to write the summary of a sermon. He's selecting the history. Every event, every sermon, every conversation that is included means hundreds of others were left out.

What is here is to fulfill the author's purpose in writing. To inform certainly, but to persuade. To say this is the story of the foundation of the church of Jesus Christ, of his kingdom in the lives of people. He founded it through his death and resurrection. But now I'm telling you the story of its going forward.

But it is not just to give you some history facts because it is a very sketchy history. It is selected with certain events, but those certain events are designed to persuade us that the same priorities, the same realities of that kingdom, that serve as guiding principles of how they operated, are designed for the church today to embrace and to live out as well.

So I'd like to this morning summarize those five guiding principles or realities of Jesus Kingdom We see portrayed in an overview of the Book of Acts. And I'd like to, to highlight them. First of all, we are told, if we are to really understand what this book is trying to persuade us is that we are part of a kingdom formed by a resurrected king.

That the idea here is, and, and this message, I'm specifically speaking to those that have personally embraced Jesus Christ as savior that are part of Jesus kingdom. But he says, you're part of a kingdom formed by a resurrecting. The central theme in all of the sermons and acts is that Jesus is the crucified savior that rose from the dead.

There are 10 thorough sermons in the Book of Acts where most, uh, a large part of them are recorded for us. There are nine other sermons alluded to in the book. All of them highlight Jesus is the crucified savior. That rose from the dead. He's the foundation of this kingdom. The shocking portrayal of a perceived criminal who got the electric chair of his day, but literally physically came back to life and walked on earth again.

Let me just illustrate that by the first and last sermons, acts chapter two, verse 30, where Peter is speaking on the day of Pentecost. He says, God had sworn with an oath that he would set one of his descendants on his throne. He spoke about the resurrection of the Christ. Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.

That's the first sermon in the book of Acts. Here's the last one, acts chapter 28, verse 22. People came to him and said, we desire to hear from you what your views are for with regard to this sect. We know that everywhere it is spoken against, he's now in Rome. Paul is speaking from morning to leave.

Evening. He expounded to them testifying to the kingdom of God and trying to convince them about Jesus, both from the law of Moses and from the prophets. Basically what he's saying is this book is about this kingdom that Jesus founded, and it is founded on a king that was both crucified and rose from the dead.

He is the foundation of the life of all of those that are citizens of the kingdom. Secondly, you are part of a kingdom found in changed hearts. It is not a kingdom of the world. This is a challenge. That I think was deeply needed in their day as they had a misunderstanding of the kingdom that Jesus was actually developed.

I also believe it is tremendously needed today. Christians are not trying to take over the empire in the Book of Acts. They're not trying to make everyone embrace their faith. They invite people to do so regularly, consistently, passionately, because they know that they will enjoy Jesus Christ and they will have a relationship with him that enables them to go to heaven eternally.

It is a movement away from an earthly kingdom to a spiritual kingdom where Jesus rules as king in the hearts of his people. He sends their His Spirit into their lives and marks them as members of his kingdom, Roman authorities. We're always trying to sniff out among new religions, new sex if they were a threat to the political foundations of Rome.

Luke goes out of his way in the Book of Acts to emphasize that this is not what they were about. As Jesus kingdom followers, they're not trying to establish a new country, a new empire. A new nation. His goal is to reign in the hearts of his people, not to reign over a national state. Luke goes to elaborate links to show that the authorities did not ever sense that Jesus followers were trying to influence their political order.

This is particularly evident in the chapters ahead of us, in the Book of Acts. Let me illustrate this quickly, chapter 16. Next, where, where we're moving into is a is a colony called Philippi. And there the, the common. Thing comes against Paul, Paul and Silas and the boys, where they're constantly using the argument.

It goes all the way back to the early part of the church where the, where the religious leaders would say, these are insurrectionists. These are individuals that are trying to, to overturn the political order and take political control. They're constantly dealing with. Romans in Philippians 16, the magistrates end up apologizing to Paul when they realized they had, um, arrested him and there was no grounds whatsoever in Corinth.

In chapter 18, the Pro council Galileo refused to even take the case on. It was brought against them in, in chapter 19 in the city of Ephesus, the, the second largest city in the empire, the second Rome, the Eastern Rome, if you will. The town clerk declared Paul and his friends to be innocent, even though it's this giant uprising in the stadium in Ephesus.

And, and he says, no, I don't. There's nothing about these guys. That is threatening and, and that is indicating that they are about the political order In chapter 21 to 23, when Paul is back in Jerusalem, he's arrested, they bring the Sanhedrin in, the Romans do. Now people are all stirred up and they're ready.

All these accusations are going all around. And this guy, Claudius, uh, Lys, who's the commander of the Roman military in Jerusalem, here's what he says about Paul. There's no charge against him that deserves imprisonment. We don't have anything. In chapter 24 to 26, Paul has brought between Fe before Felix and Festus and a gripper who are all Roman, uh, mucky mucks of one degree or another in the, in the political arena, and all fail to convict him of any offense.

Matter of fact, they say, . He didn't need to go to Rome. He had appealed to Rome to go before Caesar, uh, and, and they said, we, we don't, we don't really need to send him to Rome because there's nothing that can be brought against this guy, but because he's appealed to Caesar, we gotta send him. And that's how Paul ended up testifying in Rome.

Why did Luke spend all his time so much time talking about the results of these Roman author? He is saying this, Jesus kingdom is not political. It is a kingdom of the heart. It is personal. The way the Christians tried to influence people toward Jesus kingdom was to share the message of forgiveness and grace that his kingdom offered.

It's striking. We're gonna see this in chapter 16. The first place they're gonna go on European soil is this, this town called Fi Philippi. Philippi was a place that, uh, years before a a Roman, uh, general had gotten the emperor to declare as a colony for retired soldiers. This place was packed with military types.

Citizenship was so essential to them. There was no higher thing than being a citizen of Rome for them. They, many of them, had gotten their citizenship by a lifetime of military service in the empire. And Paul writes this in chapter one when he is writing to the Philippians. Guys, remember, our citizenship is in heaven.

This is where we belong. This is our kingdom.

They had great pride in their country, but he says, our citizenship is not of this world. Now I'm gonna make a statement that for some of you, is gonna be a tough pill to swallow. The Holy Spirit was not trying to set up a Christian nation in Rome. The Holy Spirit is never trying to set up a Christian nation.

The distinction has been important historically, when the Roman Empire fell in the early fifth century. Was a big deal for Christians because in the early three hundreds, B a d A Roman Emperor had declared the Empire Christian because he had come to faith. Whether he actually came to faith or not, but, but he had at least embraced Christianity in some form when the empire was vanquished by the Visigoths, and they all talk about the sacking of Rome because they just decimated the place.

Augustine wrote the City of God, a famous work. Basically, his thesis in the book is this, the city of God is heavenly based on God's eternal drawing of people from every nation, and the city of man is earthly. He's arguing the book among other things. The Jesus attention is on the city of God among his, uh, uh, people.

He's not trying to build a nation, but a spiritual kingdom. A perfect commonwealth cannot be found in this age, is his argument part of it. But that does not mean that Christians can't contribute to the, to, uh, genuine, uh, expressions of common good and the benefit of, of their nation. And so when the Roman Empire fell, Augustine saw this, this is not tragedy, ultimate loss.

This is not the, the crushing of the church and the kingdom of Jesus. There was another church father named Jerome who. Was decimated by the loss, and in his writings he kept lamenting what will become of the church now that Rome has fallen. Augustine saw more clearly that the city of God is not the Roman empire or any temporal kingdom in Augustine's view.

God had brought the mission field to the missionaries. There was an amazing turning of many of the Visigoths to Christ, the these, uh, from German, uh, extraction. They had come down. He even pointed out that many of the Visigoths have been far more just and Christlike in their treatment of enemies than the Roman armies had been.

Basically what, what he was trying to argue is

that for him,

In contrast to Jerome who had a hard time separating the Roman Empire from us, Augustine defined us as believers in Christ. I think this is important in our day. I think this is important,

The United States, to me, is the greatest country on planet Earth. I have never felt differently. I don't believe I ever will, but I do not believe the United States is a Christian nation, and I do not believe it ever has been. I do not believe, and I'm probably gonna have to defend this with some, and I'm, I'm fine with that.

I do not believe that was the intention of the founding fathers. No nation in history has been a Christian nation. A lot of the conflict intention that has actually weakened the, the witness and influence of the American church today has come in thinking we need to get back to something that is our right as Christians.

Was America more moral in the past? Certainly. Were there more standards of righteous behavior in the public arena? Yes,

but I don't think that means we were a Christian nation, nor did I believe our founding fathers intended it that way. There is a philosophy called Christian nationalism. If you are not familiar with it, you will be. It is the belief that the American nation is defined by Christianity and that the government should take active steps to keep it that way.

Popularly, Christian nationalists assert that America is and must remain a Christian nation. I'm gonna read some because I, I, I want my words to be what I really want to say. Christian nationalism is most evident not in its political agenda, but in an attitude, an unstated presumption that Christians are entitled to promising of place in the public square because they are heirs of the true or essential heritage of American culture.

That Christians have a right to define the meaning of the American experiment because they see themselves as America's architects, the first real guardians of the country, because others are not true representatives of its vision. I would argue that the ultimate vision of the founding fathers was two things in particular, to have the rule of law that we would live under the rule of law.

Secondly, to utterly distrust the heart of any person with power. This to me, and this goes all the way back to John, Calvin, and others that said, true government should be assuming that no one can be trusted with power. There must be checks and balances. The beauty of American Judi judicial system to me and the glory of the founding fathers is this part of Christian belief.

They did embrace enough of them to say, we don't trust anyone with power. We will then have a system of checks and balances where there will be different. Branches of government, executive, judicial, legislative, they will work together. Distrusting that anyone can be given absolute power, a belief in the corrupt nature of mankind, and a determination to control.

And on the principle, which I'm sure you've heard, power corrupts absolute power corrupts absolutely. American Christians in the past were exemplary in helping establish the American experiment, and many American Christians worked to end slavery and many other evils. They did so because they believed Christianity required them to work for justice, but they worked to advance Christian principles, not Christian power or Christian culture, which is a key distinction between.

Political engagement as Christians and Christian nationalism. Normal Christian political engagement is humble, loving, and sacrificial. It rejects the idea that Christians are entitled to primacy of place in the public square, or that Christians have a presumptive right to continue their historical dominance in American culture today.

Christians should seek to love their neighbors by pursuing justice in the public square, by working against things like abortion, promoting religious liberty, fostering racial justice, but also by protecting the rule of law and honoring constitutional processes. The early church did not seek to create a political kingdom, Christian Kingdom in Rome, but to live as members of an existing spiritual kingdom, whether it was in the Roman Empire.

The German Empire, or if I can use the term, the American Empire. We are the church and I recognize I want to be liked. Uh, and I, I, I don't love going against what everybody's thinking or some are thinking, I'm just being as honest as I can. Christian nationalism is not Christian. It is a concept of the Kingdom of Christ.

That is not Jesus concept. It's not what the Book of Acts is about. They were not trying. They went, Luke is constantly saying, we're not doing that. We're not trying to change the political order. We're not saying you have to do it our way. We're not trying to argue except for the fact that we are trying to say there is a risen Christ that is.

King and Lord of our individual life, we invite you to join our kingdom. And if our earthly kingdom falls, as it did in the Roman empire, Augustine says, okay, the king is still ruling, the king is still king. Let's now embrace what he has in this contact text. And in that case, with the fall of the Roman Empire, the Holy Christian, Roman Empire, purportedly, it became an opportunity to bring the, the, the, the sikas, many of them to faith.

Okay? As Augustine understood, and Jerome did not in the fifth century, our US is never ultimately our fellow citizens or our nation, but believers. All right, gonna move fast cuz we're almost done. Number three, you are part of a kingdom uniting people of great diversity. Peter says in Acts chapter 10, you guys know as a Jew, I am not even permitted to be in your house, but somehow I'm here.

The more you read the book of Acts, the more you understand it in the context of what Paul is writing a about the difference of Jews and Gentiles and other cultural ethnicities getting together, the more you are struck that this thing worked at all, it's just fathomless to see, but it is the fulfillment of Jesus prayer in John 17 that there could be unity among his people, that they could be one.

The spirit of Jesus broke down barriers that are almost unimaginable, the Jews had a lifetime separation code. They didn't go in the homes of Gentiles, they didn't, uh, eat with them in public. They didn't intermarry with them. Certainly they didn't even travel in their areas. They avoided them. They found new roots.

So they didn't get, they were utterly set apart from the goam, which would be most of you and me, uh, the non-Jew. And all of a sudden, Pentecost, happenss and the spirit begins then to embrace all ethnicities, all cultures, including the goias, and, and they're now doing church together. And the difference is, Are so astonishing.

I mean, imagine you've now got these former pagans who don't understand or particularly appreciate any of the foundations of the Jewish faith like circumcision or the weekly Sabbath or the festivals or, or your blood connection to the Old Testament heroes. And you're supposed to be in the same worship service as doing church together.

You're supposed to now be ready to have their boy marry your girl and you're supposed to do life and, and, and you have this amazing conflict of culture. And Jesus says, this is where the glory of the gospel makes itself known that you're a part of a kingdom. That is a kingdom uniting. People not striving to.

People. The fourth thing we find is you're part of a kingdom led by a sovereign king. We see so much of this in this book where God is constantly demonstrating that his purposes will not be thwarted. His sovereign plans for redemption will go forward. In Acts chapter 16, we just, the verses just, we read where Paul wants to go as he's traveling through, uh, contemporary Turkey, uh, it was called Asia.

Then he was, he wanted to go north to preach to those guys couldn't go the, he wanted to go west to go towards Ephesus and where the cos the, the urban centers were. And the spirit stopped him from there. And then to his surprise, he ends up in SRO ass and he gets this Macedonian vision. He says, I want you to come over here to to Europe, contemporary Europe.

There is no methodology except follow the spirit. It's all God. He. He brings people to himself constantly talks about how it is the spirit of God that is reaching people in the most astounding of ways. He, he is intending things for good, that seem intended for evil. In Acts chapter eight, we saw how the church, uh, actually moves out from Judea.

And the reason is there's a terrible persecution and the believers are forced to scatter, and the gospel begins to spread all through the outlying regions. God again, was at work.

It reminds us when we see that our kingdom is led by a sovereign king, that the ruling principle in the Christian life is that there are no initiators, there are only responders. Doesn't matter how great a leader you are, it doesn't matter how gifted you are in being able to manage and lead if you are a child of God, if you are in Jesus kingdom, you are never ultimately the initiator of your plants.

You are the responder to the spirit of God's leading in your life. Every pastor has to bow the knee under that reality. Every church leader has to, every, every parent in their home has to have the concept. I'm not the king. I'm not on the throne of, of this church, or this family, or this business. He's the ruler.

He's the king, and his sovereign purposes will be fulfilled. And my goal is to align myself with the purposes of God to always see myself that I am ultimately a responder, not an initiator. Fifth, you are part of a kingdom resourced by divine.

Externally, they are facing incredible opposition in this book that will continue throughout the next number of chapters. In the past, we've seen religious leaders of Israel working against the church. We're now going to see political powers work against the church more prominently, we're going to see, uh, continuance of the demonic opposition that has come to the church.

There's going to be internal opposition. We've seen some of this. Christians have major conflicts theologically, strategically, personality-wise. We've seen breakups even of the missionary band. We've, we've seen councils that have to be drawn together to try to figure out how are we gonna do this? Letting the goam into the Kingdom of God thing.

How do we do. , the Judaizer are gonna be out there that are constantly preaching that you really have to be, no one can become a Christian, uh, can, can become a Christ follower since he's the Jewish Messiah. You have to first become a Jew, embrace Judaism, and then you can embrace the Messiah. You can't j it's not cheap grace.

You can't just say, well, I've be lived like a pagan with multiple gods my whole life and I've done all this and, and, and now I've decided, yeah, I, I like Jesus too. I'm gonna be a Jesus follow. And the Jew said, that can't be. No. You've gotta first embrace historic Judaism. And the church battled to say, no, no, it, it, the wall's gone.

There's no partition. There's no first step in. And then you can have the vertical step. You freely come the church. As we look at what acts is saying to us, the church goes forward humbly. Independently crying out to God as one author said, I remember when I was in college reading this statement, he said, the church goes forward on its knee when you read the Book of Acts and you realize this is a supernatural enterprise.

We don't now back into our own power and our own resources. It is utterly lived independence upon the spirit of God. It is a kingdom of our hearts. It is where Christ rules. Let's pray.

Lord, I pray that you would apply this message in the way that you see the need. I thank you, Lord, that you have called us. into your kingdom.

We love living in the kingdom of light where there's hope and there's joy and there's peace. But we also acknowledge we come as citizens under a king. So Lord, help us to live as responders. Help us to live as gentle people who are also people of conviction and boldly telling people of the glory of Christ that can be theirs.

I thank you for the chance to meditate on your word and talk about it today, Lord, in Jesus' name, amen. Now go in peace to love and serve and enjoy the Lord.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/what-the-book-of-acts-should-say-to-us 8fbc332e-9a35-443d-be31-4c7d18ff9440 Sun, 22 Jan 2023 11:32:24 GMT <div data-html="true">Acts 16:1-9 <br /><br /> So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in numbers daily. <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> Good morning everybody. Good morning. Invite you to take your Bibles to the Book of Acts chapter 16. Give be looking verses six through 12 as we return to the our series in the book of Acts. The Spirit at work to the end. Of the earth this morning. I'm gonna be giving sort of an overview message, um, but this is the text where we left off. <br /><br /> And I want to pick up here and try to give us a context of where we are. We're gonna look at chapter 16. I think we'll start at verse one. I'm gonna read down verse to verse 12, and that's page 870. If you're using a Bible there in front of you. Paul came also to Derby and Lystra. A disciple was there named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek. <br /><br /> He was well spoken of by the brothers at Lira and Iconium. Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places. For all they knew for. They all knew that his father was. As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered to them for observance, the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem. <br /><br /> So the churches were strengthened in the faith and they increased in numbers daily. And they went through the region of frig, GIA and Galatia having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. And when they had come up to Macia, they attempted to go into Bethia, but the spirit of Jesus did not allow them. <br /><br /> So passing by Macia, they went down Toros and a vision appeared DePaul in the night. A man of Macedonia was standing there urging him and saying, come over to Macedonia and help us. And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought it to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. <br /><br /> Let me just mention this and I'm gonna read the next two verses. This is where we left off a number of weeks ago before the Christmas season. And all this time we have been operating in Asia. They are now crossing over, um, going into the, uh, area of northern Greece. They will be beginning for the first time on European soil, and we read these words in verse 11 and 12. <br /><br /> So setting sail from Troy, we made a direct voyage to some oath race and the following day to Minneapolis and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city some days. Let's pray. <br /><br /> Lord, we're so grateful for the invitation to worship God. Thank you that we can come into this place or we can be watching online and participate. Lord, we're here devoting this time this morning because. We desire to hear from you. We desire to be in the presence of people that know you and love you and God, I pray as we reflect on this study this morning, Lord, as we consider, what is the book of Acts supposed to be saying to us? <br /><br /> God, I pray that you would stretch us, challenge us, encourage us in our journey with you. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. I've read, um, many books. I don't have a number, many books on World War ii. Um, and I was going through some of them that I've read in the last couple of years. One of them I reread and I was struck with the fact that these books were written all about the same period, the same events, the same locale of the world in Europe. <br /><br /> But with very different purpose. I read the book, many, many have you read called Band of Brothers, the story, actually, Steven Ambrose came up with the idea World War II Scholar attending in 19 98, 19 88, a reunion of Easy Company. Um, and as he was with these guys, he had been invited to go. He was astonished with the bond that had been formed with these group of men where they got together at least once a year or all the years since 1945 when the war had ended. <br /><br /> And he wrote the Band of Brothers to portray the relationships that can be forged. in Combat Together. I read a book called Ordinary Men the last year. It's the story of reserves in a police force in Germany that were, uh, conscripted. Uh, they were to be, uh, they thought local policemen in 1942, and they were actually sent into Poland and they were given the responsibility of finding Jews and of exterminating them. <br /><br /> And the story is by the author, uh, uh, uh, to bring out how ordinary people became murderers and to talk about the psychology of evil. I read another book recently called A Higher Call. It's the story, a true story of a German fighter pilot flying a Messer Schmidt. And he had in his sights as a, leaving Germany from now over the Mediterranean, uh, excuse me, the North Sea. <br /><br /> And he was, as he was following this, uh, B 17 bomber, he realizes he was coming to get it in his gun sites, that it was completely crippled. It had been utterly decimated by, by armament that had come and hit the plane. He could even see in part of the plane and could see almost all of the crew was killed. <br /><br /> And this man was a Christian. And he actually, um, recognized this plane would never be in battle again. But he actually, they had, and their controls were out. They, they were lost in the Mediterranean, uh, in the North Sea. He actually led them all the way back to Britain so that they could land safely. And the author wrote the book to talk about how the pilot's faith had led him to do what he did. <br /><br /> The titles give you a sense of the different purpose of these authors, even though they're writing about the same era of history, the same locale of history, the same events that were going on. Band of Brothers, ordinary men, a higher calling, different purposes in recording history titles give you the sense of that we're returning today to our study in the book of Acts moments. <br /><br /> Where they are launching the European part of the missionary journey now really moving into Roman influenced territory as they do this, we are reminded of the title of this book, the Acts of the Apostles. Well, we know from that it's a history book. Matter of fact, we're, we're, it's clear as, as Luke delineates this to us, that he is actually, it is actually part of a two volume work. <br /><br /> The first is called the Gospel of Luke, where he presents the most thorough historical, um, summary of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ, of all the gospels. And then he follows up with volume two, which is the study of the, the, the followers of Christ, his apostles, his sent ones that are now taking his messaging and his ministry and taking it to the world. <br /><br /> but is telling history his ultimate purpose. I Is he just recording? Uh uh, uh uh, the history there. If you remember back when you took literature classes or some of you may be there now, you know that they encourage you to always look for the author's intent or purpose. And you may remember this, there's a thing called pi, p i e and they said, look for the A. <br /><br /> Typically authors have one of three purposes in writing. One, it is to persuade. Two, it is to inform. Three. It is to entertain. Is Luke's intention just the eye? Is it to inform? I would suggest it's not. I suggest that this book is not just a history manual giving us the second volume. Of this history anymore than the first volume was just to inform. <br /><br /> It's striking that it is selected history. Sometimes he summarized the work of two or three years of ministry in one phrase, in one verse. Sometimes he takes an entire chapter just to sum, to write the summary of a sermon. He's selecting the history. Every event, every sermon, every conversation that is included means hundreds of others were left out. <br /><br /> What is here is to fulfill the author's purpose in writing. To inform certainly, but to persuade. To say this is the story of the foundation of the church of Jesus Christ, of his kingdom in the lives of people. He founded it through his death and resurrection. But now I'm telling you the story of its going forward. <br /><br /> But it is not just to give you some history facts because it is a very sketchy history. It is selected with certain events, but those certain events are designed to persuade us that the same priorities, the same realities of that kingdom, that serve as guiding principles of how they operated, are designed for the church today to embrace and to live out as well. <br /><br /> So I'd like to this morning summarize those five guiding principles or realities of Jesus Kingdom We see portrayed in an overview of the Book of Acts. And I'd like to, to highlight them. First of all, we are told, if we are to really understand what this book is trying to persuade us is that we are part of a kingdom formed by a resurrected king. <br /><br /> That the idea here is, and, and this message, I'm specifically speaking to those that have personally embraced Jesus Christ as savior that are part of Jesus kingdom. But he says, you're part of a kingdom formed by a resurrecting. The central theme in all of the sermons and acts is that Jesus is the crucified savior that rose from the dead. <br /><br /> There are 10 thorough sermons in the Book of Acts where most, uh, a large part of them are recorded for us. There are nine other sermons alluded to in the book. All of them highlight Jesus is the crucified savior. That rose from the dead. He's the foundation of this kingdom. The shocking portrayal of a perceived criminal who got the electric chair of his day, but literally physically came back to life and walked on earth again. <br /><br /> Let me just illustrate that by the first and last sermons, acts chapter two, verse 30, where Peter is speaking on the day of Pentecost. He says, God had sworn with an oath that he would set one of his descendants on his throne. He spoke about the resurrection of the Christ. Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. <br /><br /> That's the first sermon in the book of Acts. Here's the last one, acts chapter 28, verse 22. People came to him and said, we desire to hear from you what your views are for with regard to this sect. We know that everywhere it is spoken against, he's now in Rome. Paul is speaking from morning to leave. <br /><br /> Evening. He expounded to them testifying to the kingdom of God and trying to convince them about Jesus, both from the law of Moses and from the prophets. Basically what he's saying is this book is about this kingdom that Jesus founded, and it is founded on a king that was both crucified and rose from the dead. <br /><br /> He is the foundation of the life of all of those that are citizens of the kingdom. Secondly, you are part of a kingdom found in changed hearts. It is not a kingdom of the world. This is a challenge. That I think was deeply needed in their day as they had a misunderstanding of the kingdom that Jesus was actually developed. <br /><br /> I also believe it is tremendously needed today. Christians are not trying to take over the empire in the Book of Acts. They're not trying to make everyone embrace their faith. They invite people to do so regularly, consistently, passionately, because they know that they will enjoy Jesus Christ and they will have a relationship with him that enables them to go to heaven eternally. <br /><br /> It is a movement away from an earthly kingdom to a spiritual kingdom where Jesus rules as king in the hearts of his people. He sends their His Spirit into their lives and marks them as members of his kingdom, Roman authorities. We're always trying to sniff out among new religions, new sex if they were a threat to the political foundations of Rome. <br /><br /> Luke goes out of his way in the Book of Acts to emphasize that this is not what they were about. As Jesus kingdom followers, they're not trying to establish a new country, a new empire. A new nation. His goal is to reign in the hearts of his people, not to reign over a national state. Luke goes to elaborate links to show that the authorities did not ever sense that Jesus followers were trying to influence their political order. <br /><br /> This is particularly evident in the chapters ahead of us, in the Book of Acts. Let me illustrate this quickly, chapter 16. Next, where, where we're moving into is a is a colony called Philippi. And there the, the common. Thing comes against Paul, Paul and Silas and the boys, where they're constantly using the argument. <br /><br /> It goes all the way back to the early part of the church where the, where the religious leaders would say, these are insurrectionists. These are individuals that are trying to, to overturn the political order and take political control. They're constantly dealing with. Romans in Philippians 16, the magistrates end up apologizing to Paul when they realized they had, um, arrested him and there was no grounds whatsoever in Corinth. <br /><br /> In chapter 18, the Pro council Galileo refused to even take the case on. It was brought against them in, in chapter 19 in the city of Ephesus, the, the second largest city in the empire, the second Rome, the Eastern Rome, if you will. The town clerk declared Paul and his friends to be innocent, even though it's this giant uprising in the stadium in Ephesus. <br /><br /> And, and he says, no, I don't. There's nothing about these guys. That is threatening and, and that is indicating that they are about the political order In chapter 21 to 23, when Paul is back in Jerusalem, he's arrested, they bring the Sanhedrin in, the Romans do. Now people are all stirred up and they're ready. <br /><br /> All these accusations are going all around. And this guy, Claudius, uh, Lys, who's the commander of the Roman military in Jerusalem, here's what he says about Paul. There's no charge against him that deserves imprisonment. We don't have anything. In chapter 24 to 26, Paul has brought between Fe before Felix and Festus and a gripper who are all Roman, uh, mucky mucks of one degree or another in the, in the political arena, and all fail to convict him of any offense. <br /><br /> Matter of fact, they say, . He didn't need to go to Rome. He had appealed to Rome to go before Caesar, uh, and, and they said, we, we don't, we don't really need to send him to Rome because there's nothing that can be brought against this guy, but because he's appealed to Caesar, we gotta send him. And that's how Paul ended up testifying in Rome. <br /><br /> Why did Luke spend all his time so much time talking about the results of these Roman author? He is saying this, Jesus kingdom is not political. It is a kingdom of the heart. It is personal. The way the Christians tried to influence people toward Jesus kingdom was to share the message of forgiveness and grace that his kingdom offered. <br /><br /> It's striking. We're gonna see this in chapter 16. The first place they're gonna go on European soil is this, this town called Fi Philippi. Philippi was a place that, uh, years before a a Roman, uh, general had gotten the emperor to declare as a colony for retired soldiers. This place was packed with military types. <br /><br /> Citizenship was so essential to them. There was no higher thing than being a citizen of Rome for them. They, many of them, had gotten their citizenship by a lifetime of military service in the empire. And Paul writes this in chapter one when he is writing to the Philippians. Guys, remember, our citizenship is in heaven. <br /><br /> This is where we belong. This is our kingdom. <br /><br /> They had great pride in their country, but he says, our citizenship is not of this world. Now I'm gonna make a statement that for some of you, is gonna be a tough pill to swallow. The Holy Spirit was not trying to set up a Christian nation in Rome. The Holy Spirit is never trying to set up a Christian nation. <br /><br /> The distinction has been important historically, when the Roman Empire fell in the early fifth century. Was a big deal for Christians because in the early three hundreds, B a d A Roman Emperor had declared the Empire Christian because he had come to faith. Whether he actually came to faith or not, but, but he had at least embraced Christianity in some form when the empire was vanquished by the Visigoths, and they all talk about the sacking of Rome because they just decimated the place. <br /><br /> Augustine wrote the City of God, a famous work. Basically, his thesis in the book is this, the city of God is heavenly based on God's eternal drawing of people from every nation, and the city of man is earthly. He's arguing the book among other things. The Jesus attention is on the city of God among his, uh, uh, people. <br /><br /> He's not trying to build a nation, but a spiritual kingdom. A perfect commonwealth cannot be found in this age, is his argument part of it. But that does not mean that Christians can't contribute to the, to, uh, genuine, uh, expressions of common good and the benefit of, of their nation. And so when the Roman Empire fell, Augustine saw this, this is not tragedy, ultimate loss. <br /><br /> This is not the, the crushing of the church and the kingdom of Jesus. There was another church father named Jerome who. Was decimated by the loss, and in his writings he kept lamenting what will become of the church now that Rome has fallen. Augustine saw more clearly that the city of God is not the Roman empire or any temporal kingdom in Augustine's view. <br /><br /> God had brought the mission field to the missionaries. There was an amazing turning of many of the Visigoths to Christ, the these, uh, from German, uh, extraction. They had come down. He even pointed out that many of the Visigoths have been far more just and Christlike in their treatment of enemies than the Roman armies had been. <br /><br /> Basically what, what he was trying to argue is <br /><br /> that for him, <br /><br /> In contrast to Jerome who had a hard time separating the Roman Empire from us, Augustine defined us as believers in Christ. I think this is important in our day. I think this is important, <br /><br /> The United States, to me, is the greatest country on planet Earth. I have never felt differently. I don't believe I ever will, but I do not believe the United States is a Christian nation, and I do not believe it ever has been. I do not believe, and I'm probably gonna have to defend this with some, and I'm, I'm fine with that. <br /><br /> I do not believe that was the intention of the founding fathers. No nation in history has been a Christian nation. A lot of the conflict intention that has actually weakened the, the witness and influence of the American church today has come in thinking we need to get back to something that is our right as Christians. <br /><br /> Was America more moral in the past? Certainly. Were there more standards of righteous behavior in the public arena? Yes, <br /><br /> but I don't think that means we were a Christian nation, nor did I believe our founding fathers intended it that way. There is a philosophy called Christian nationalism. If you are not familiar with it, you will be. It is the belief that the American nation is defined by Christianity and that the government should take active steps to keep it that way. <br /><br /> Popularly, Christian nationalists assert that America is and must remain a Christian nation. I'm gonna read some because I, I, I want my words to be what I really want to say. Christian nationalism is most evident not in its political agenda, but in an attitude, an unstated presumption that Christians are entitled to promising of place in the public square because they are heirs of the true or essential heritage of American culture. <br /><br /> That Christians have a right to define the meaning of the American experiment because they see themselves as America's architects, the first real guardians of the country, because others are not true representatives of its vision. I would argue that the ultimate vision of the founding fathers was two things in particular, to have the rule of law that we would live under the rule of law. <br /><br /> Secondly, to utterly distrust the heart of any person with power. This to me, and this goes all the way back to John, Calvin, and others that said, true government should be assuming that no one can be trusted with power. There must be checks and balances. The beauty of American Judi judicial system to me and the glory of the founding fathers is this part of Christian belief. <br /><br /> They did embrace enough of them to say, we don't trust anyone with power. We will then have a system of checks and balances where there will be different. Branches of government, executive, judicial, legislative, they will work together. Distrusting that anyone can be given absolute power, a belief in the corrupt nature of mankind, and a determination to control. <br /><br /> And on the principle, which I'm sure you've heard, power corrupts absolute power corrupts absolutely. American Christians in the past were exemplary in helping establish the American experiment, and many American Christians worked to end slavery and many other evils. They did so because they believed Christianity required them to work for justice, but they worked to advance Christian principles, not Christian power or Christian culture, which is a key distinction between. <br /><br /> Political engagement as Christians and Christian nationalism. Normal Christian political engagement is humble, loving, and sacrificial. It rejects the idea that Christians are entitled to primacy of place in the public square, or that Christians have a presumptive right to continue their historical dominance in American culture today. <br /><br /> Christians should seek to love their neighbors by pursuing justice in the public square, by working against things like abortion, promoting religious liberty, fostering racial justice, but also by protecting the rule of law and honoring constitutional processes. The early church did not seek to create a political kingdom, Christian Kingdom in Rome, but to live as members of an existing spiritual kingdom, whether it was in the Roman Empire. <br /><br /> The German Empire, or if I can use the term, the American Empire. We are the church and I recognize I want to be liked. Uh, and I, I, I don't love going against what everybody's thinking or some are thinking, I'm just being as honest as I can. Christian nationalism is not Christian. It is a concept of the Kingdom of Christ. <br /><br /> That is not Jesus concept. It's not what the Book of Acts is about. They were not trying. They went, Luke is constantly saying, we're not doing that. We're not trying to change the political order. We're not saying you have to do it our way. We're not trying to argue except for the fact that we are trying to say there is a risen Christ that is. <br /><br /> King and Lord of our individual life, we invite you to join our kingdom. And if our earthly kingdom falls, as it did in the Roman empire, Augustine says, okay, the king is still ruling, the king is still king. Let's now embrace what he has in this contact text. And in that case, with the fall of the Roman Empire, the Holy Christian, Roman Empire, purportedly, it became an opportunity to bring the, the, the, the sikas, many of them to faith. <br /><br /> Okay? As Augustine understood, and Jerome did not in the fifth century, our US is never ultimately our fellow citizens or our nation, but believers. All right, gonna move fast cuz we're almost done. Number three, you are part of a kingdom uniting people of great diversity. Peter says in Acts chapter 10, you guys know as a Jew, I am not even permitted to be in your house, but somehow I'm here. <br /><br /> The more you read the book of Acts, the more you understand it in the context of what Paul is writing a about the difference of Jews and Gentiles and other cultural ethnicities getting together, the more you are struck that this thing worked at all, it's just fathomless to see, but it is the fulfillment of Jesus prayer in John 17 that there could be unity among his people, that they could be one. <br /><br /> The spirit of Jesus broke down barriers that are almost unimaginable, the Jews had a lifetime separation code. They didn't go in the homes of Gentiles, they didn't, uh, eat with them in public. They didn't intermarry with them. Certainly they didn't even travel in their areas. They avoided them. They found new roots. <br /><br /> So they didn't get, they were utterly set apart from the goam, which would be most of you and me, uh, the non-Jew. And all of a sudden, Pentecost, happenss and the spirit begins then to embrace all ethnicities, all cultures, including the goias, and, and they're now doing church together. And the difference is, Are so astonishing. <br /><br /> I mean, imagine you've now got these former pagans who don't understand or particularly appreciate any of the foundations of the Jewish faith like circumcision or the weekly Sabbath or the festivals or, or your blood connection to the Old Testament heroes. And you're supposed to be in the same worship service as doing church together. <br /><br /> You're supposed to now be ready to have their boy marry your girl and you're supposed to do life and, and, and you have this amazing conflict of culture. And Jesus says, this is where the glory of the gospel makes itself known that you're a part of a kingdom. That is a kingdom uniting. People not striving to. <br /><br /> People. The fourth thing we find is you're part of a kingdom led by a sovereign king. We see so much of this in this book where God is constantly demonstrating that his purposes will not be thwarted. His sovereign plans for redemption will go forward. In Acts chapter 16, we just, the verses just, we read where Paul wants to go as he's traveling through, uh, contemporary Turkey, uh, it was called Asia. <br /><br /> Then he was, he wanted to go north to preach to those guys couldn't go the, he wanted to go west to go towards Ephesus and where the cos the, the urban centers were. And the spirit stopped him from there. And then to his surprise, he ends up in SRO ass and he gets this Macedonian vision. He says, I want you to come over here to to Europe, contemporary Europe. <br /><br /> There is no methodology except follow the spirit. It's all God. He. He brings people to himself constantly talks about how it is the spirit of God that is reaching people in the most astounding of ways. He, he is intending things for good, that seem intended for evil. In Acts chapter eight, we saw how the church, uh, actually moves out from Judea. <br /><br /> And the reason is there's a terrible persecution and the believers are forced to scatter, and the gospel begins to spread all through the outlying regions. God again, was at work. <br /><br /> It reminds us when we see that our kingdom is led by a sovereign king, that the ruling principle in the Christian life is that there are no initiators, there are only responders. Doesn't matter how great a leader you are, it doesn't matter how gifted you are in being able to manage and lead if you are a child of God, if you are in Jesus kingdom, you are never ultimately the initiator of your plants. <br /><br /> You are the responder to the spirit of God's leading in your life. Every pastor has to bow the knee under that reality. Every church leader has to, every, every parent in their home has to have the concept. I'm not the king. I'm not on the throne of, of this church, or this family, or this business. He's the ruler. <br /><br /> He's the king, and his sovereign purposes will be fulfilled. And my goal is to align myself with the purposes of God to always see myself that I am ultimately a responder, not an initiator. Fifth, you are part of a kingdom resourced by divine. <br /><br /> Externally, they are facing incredible opposition in this book that will continue throughout the next number of chapters. In the past, we've seen religious leaders of Israel working against the church. We're now going to see political powers work against the church more prominently, we're going to see, uh, continuance of the demonic opposition that has come to the church. <br /><br /> There's going to be internal opposition. We've seen some of this. Christians have major conflicts theologically, strategically, personality-wise. We've seen breakups even of the missionary band. We've, we've seen councils that have to be drawn together to try to figure out how are we gonna do this? Letting the goam into the Kingdom of God thing. <br /><br /> How do we do. , the Judaizer are gonna be out there that are constantly preaching that you really have to be, no one can become a Christian, uh, can, can become a Christ follower since he's the Jewish Messiah. You have to first become a Jew, embrace Judaism, and then you can embrace the Messiah. You can't j it's not cheap grace. <br /><br /> You can't just say, well, I've be lived like a pagan with multiple gods my whole life and I've done all this and, and, and now I've decided, yeah, I, I like Jesus too. I'm gonna be a Jesus follow. And the Jew said, that can't be. No. You've gotta first embrace historic Judaism. And the church battled to say, no, no, it, it, the wall's gone. <br /><br /> There's no partition. There's no first step in. And then you can have the vertical step. You freely come the church. As we look at what acts is saying to us, the church goes forward humbly. Independently crying out to God as one author said, I remember when I was in college reading this statement, he said, the church goes forward on its knee when you read the Book of Acts and you realize this is a supernatural enterprise. <br /><br /> We don't now back into our own power and our own resources. It is utterly lived independence upon the spirit of God. It is a kingdom of our hearts. It is where Christ rules. Let's pray. <br /><br /> Lord, I pray that you would apply this message in the way that you see the need. I thank you, Lord, that you have called us. into your kingdom. <br /><br /> We love living in the kingdom of light where there's hope and there's joy and there's peace. But we also acknowledge we come as citizens under a king. So Lord, help us to live as responders. Help us to live as gentle people who are also people of conviction and boldly telling people of the glory of Christ that can be theirs. <br /><br /> I thank you for the chance to meditate on your word and talk about it today, Lord, in Jesus' name, amen. Now go in peace to love and serve and enjoy the Lord.</div> false no <![CDATA[Compassionate Counsel for Chaotic Times]]> 2 Timothy 1:3-18

I thank God whom I serve, as did my ancestors, with a clear conscience, as I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day.



Sermon Transcript:

This morning, I have a friend that I'm introducing to you again. Uh, he reminded me today that the last time we had him preach was the Sunday right before Covid Clo Covid closed everything down. We're hoping that is not a prophetic, um, message I just shared. Um, Michael Chance is a pastor with many years of pastoral experience in the last few years, and I mentioned this in my Musings Mail newsletter this week.

In the last few years, Michael has been asked to serve, uh, with a group of churches up in the New York City area. And his calling, his role was to be the pastor of encouragement to the churches. If you have gotten to know him, you understand why they asked him to do that role. By God's grace, he and Linda have been led to our church family, and uh, he is now spilling over on We Pastors and many of you in our church family, that ministry of Encouragement.

I asked him to speak to us today and open the word to us.

Thank you, mark. God bless you.  Well, the first thing you will, uh, recognize is that I have a Southern accent. I am from Louisiana originally, and, uh, we raised our family up in Middlesex County, in East Brunswick. I worked in New York City for 17 years and then, uh, uh, pastored in Edison. For how many of you from Middlesex County or have you had any experience up in Middle City?

Yay. That's home. That's home. And, uh, for all those years, when we moved to New York City in 1986, people would say, uh, you sound like you're from the south. I said, yeah, I'm from. South Jersey, but I never realizing that one day. I actually live in South Jersey, right here in Burlington County and I retired from full-time, uh, ministry, uh, a few years ago in 2017.

And, and, uh, have since, uh, been finding myself, uh, as a minister of encouragement for a, uh, network of graffiti community ministry churches in New York City. And then I also do pulpit supply for a couple of, uh, Chinese churches, one up in East Brunswick and one in, in, uh, uh, Chinatown in New York City. So, uh, we are here about one Sunday a month when I have, uh, time and Pastor Mark and the staff and, and the church has been so gracious.

We love Fellowship Church. And like Pastor Mark mentioned, I remember that week that, uh, uh, he had asked me to preach, uh, for that third Sunday in March. And on Tuesday of that week, he called me, he sent me an email and says, Mike, do you think you could come Saturday morning? Looks like we may be shutting down.

And, and so on that Saturday morning, the only people that were in this sanctuary as we taped the service to be broadcast the next day was the sound people, the worship team. Pastor Mark and myself, this is the first time I'm actually preaching to people here at Fellowship. This is great. It's, uh, awesome and, uh, you, I tell you, we have been, the last three years has been a challenging time for every one of us.

I mean, we've lived through a global pandemic. We've, we've come through political unrest and demonstrations, stock market turbulence, a war. Cataclysmic weather events. Just in those last few weeks, we've seen 40 people killed in a massive blizzard in Buffalo. We've seen people killed in California with rivers of, of, of, there's old cyclones, uh, coming ashore, tornadoes down south.

Uh, and, and to go along with all that stuff. In the last several years, we've seen even the evangelical church here in America has taken a real hit. Young people have left the church by droves. Relationships have broken. Pastors and staff have left their churches. Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of pastors leave their churches just step away from the pulpit because of emotional stress.

Churches closing. It has been just a challenging time for all of us. Why? Let me tell you I have good m this morning. Over the last year, I've been pouring my own energies into, uh, Paul's final letter that he wrote The Little Book of Second Timothy. In fact, if you have your Bibles or your phones with your Bibles on it, we're gonna be looking at the first chapter of second Timothy today.

So go ahead and open, uh, your Bibles to that, uh, the message here in this little New Testament book of only four chapters. Friends has brought great personal refreshment to my soul. The, the two Chinese, uh, churches I've worked with in, in 2022, we've, we've looked at second Timothy verse by verse, and every week as we shared, or is actually about once a month with each church, I've noticed God just showing me something that was just like being out in a desert and seeing an oasis and, and finding the water in that oasis.

It's been wonderful. Now, to remind you of where we're at here in Second Timothy, this is Paul's final letter, and he's writing to his young protege in ministry, his son in the ministry, young Timothy over in Ephesus, who. Leading of the church himself, uh, through this perilous, tumultuous time in the first century.

Now, Paul and Timothy had a precious, precious relationship. Uh, we, we know that, uh, Paul, that Paul had, uh, uh, spent a great deal of time with Timothy's family, his grandmother Lois, his mother, Eunice. And uh, there's no mention of Timothy's dad. He may have died. We don't know. The relationship that Paul had with Timothy was more like a father and son.

And, and today I just want to ask you, I, I, if, if there's any anxiety in your life, if you're a bit afraid of, of how to do life in this tumultuous 21st century is particularly coming out of the last three years that we've all experienced. I want to tell you that there's some great words of hope in this, uh, little book we call Second Timothy.

And I pray that in this message today, you'll be introduced to some real compassionate counsel from the Apostle Paul himself. But first, I want to remind you of the predicament that Paul found himself in as he was writing this little. You know, as we leave, uh, the Book of Acts, uh, Paul is in under house arrest.

That was nothing compared to where he is now. After he, uh, uh, once he finished up that house arrest in Rome, he managed to make one more missionary trip, probably up into Spain somewhere, and then decided to come back to Rome to, because he knew that the church in Rome was struggling. He wanted to spend time with him.

So he comes back to Rome. We don't know how long he's back there before he's arrested and thrown into the Mamertine prison. Cesar Nero has got the City of Rome during this time, about 66 AD just in a state of complete upheaval. Now, let me tell you about Caesar Nero. He was a megalomaniac in every sense of the word, a narcissistic narcissist from, from every perspective.

Um, he decided to rebuild Rome to, uh, match his own glory. So he decided to try to burn it down and he blamed the believers, he blamed Christians, something that even Paul had an opportunity to talk to him at one point and, and maybe because of that conversation and Nero being confronted with the claims of the gospel and because of his nature refusing that, he went.

Insane. We don't know. But Rome was in bad shape. The city was burning and he was blaming it on Christians. He disliked Christians so much that he said about these believers, these followers of Christ, that they are cannibals. They delight in eating the body and blood of their Lord. And, and he became so, uh, sadistic by, by arresting Christians and dipping them in some kind of oil and burning them alive.

And then you all know the stories of him throwing Christians into, uh, to feed the lions and, and, and such. He was mono. He was a, in Pastor Mark's words, he was real muckety muck, if ever there was one. And yet, uh, Paul finds himself under arrest and he's thrown into this, uh, prison now. Our scripture comes to declare today, I think, and I want you to see with me three admonitions, three, uh, compassionate counsel or admonitions, uh, from Nepal for tumultuous times, for chaotic times for uncertain times, just like we have here in, uh, 2023.

And the first thing I'd like to show you, this is take you in first chapter of Second Timothy, verse seven. In fact, um, uh, let me just read, uh, starting with verse three, these words and that'll bring us down to, uh, verse seven. He says to young Timothy, I thank God whom I serve, as did my ancestors with a clear conscience.

As I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day, as I remember your tears, I long to see you, that I may be filled with joy. I'm reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother, Lois and your mother Eunice. And now I'm sure it dwells in you as well. For this reason, I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you.

Through the laying on of my hands. For God gave us not a spirit, a fear. But of power, love, and sound mind. The first admonition that I would challenge you with today, Paul is saying to you and me, don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. In fact, be unafraid. He's, you know, this whole idea of fear in our lives, fear does massive damage to every one of us, including we who are Christ followers.

It's a tool of the devil himself. Fear is, it can be debilitating. It robs us of joy. It causes us to make bad decisions. Listen, no one likes to be afraid. Uh, you know, I don't know if you've ever wondered how many times it says in scripture to. Uh, do not fear or fear not. I saw a meme recently in social media where it says the term, uh, fear not is, uh, given 365 times, uh, in the Bible.

Uh, you know, one for each day. I, I don't know that that's true. Uh, you know, I've counted 70 to 80, 90 times, you know, as I've studied and, and looked at it, the bottom line, the number is not so as important as the fact that God tr just challenges us not to be afraid and not let fear rule in our heart for it will destroy your life.

It will destroy your marriage, it will destroy careers. Fear does damage to the first hearing in second Timothy one 17. Paul uses an interesting word for fear. He says, For, for God gave us a spirit, not a fear. That word fear is the Greek word, Dalia, which has the connotation of timidity. Uh, uh. It, it, it, it's fearfulness.

It's it's cowardice In the first century world, um, in secular literature, it refers to a person who has fled from battle due to cowardice. It's, it's like the polar opposite of boldness. You know, the human condition is such that, that we are just kind of prone to be set by even all kinds of little.

Nagging fears and they will rob us of joy. Uh, you know, you've heard the term phobia. Uh, all of us you would think probably have some kind of phobia. I know one of the reasons I moved from Louisiana up to New Jersey is because there are no poisonous snakes here in, uh, New Jersey. Not that I've been able now.

Last summer I saw my first black snake in our, he, that little guy, even though he was non venomous, still freaked me out. But, uh, I grew up in South Louisiana and I've seen all men are of water moccasins, copperheads rattlesnakes, and, uh, the, the worst kind or the other kind of reptiles called alligators, which I've, I've seen enough of.

So I moved to New Jersey and I'm good. But, uh, uh, you know, let me just take a quick survey. Uh, how many of you, uh, deal with, uh, claustrophobia? Anybody deal with claustrophobia? Okay. Now how about, uh, what about Bronte phobia, which is the fear of, of thunderstorms and, and such? Anybody deal with bronto phobia?

What about acrophobia? The fear of heights. All right, there we go. Now we're getting some hands. Okay. How about arao phobia? You about ara? Okay. The, yeah, there's some guys that, yeah. The spiders. Ooh, yeah. Okay. Here's a, here's a phobia. That is, is, uh, I don't know if you, uh, heard of, uh, it's called nomophobia.

Nomophobia. You know what nomophobia is? It is the fear of misplacing or losing your cell phone. Okay? Anybody with nomophobia. Honey, where's my phone? Nomophobia. Yeah. These fears will do a number on us. Now, uh, let me tell you, uh, Paul here is writing from this prison cell. It was a horrible prison cell. And he is writing to this young man, his son in the ministry and says, Timmy, don't be afraid.

Don't be afraid. Now you're saying to yourself, how can Paul, as he's writing these words here, How can he write these words and himself not be afraid? I believe there's some things that we can see up, uh, top, uh, beginning of the, uh, uh, verse three that we can see that, uh, why Paul was not afraid. He was not afraid and fear had no place in his life because his life was filled with Thanksgiving.

Verse three, where it says, I thank my God whom I serve, as did my ancestors. Hey, his life was filled with Thanksgiving also. His life was filled with forgiveness. He had a clear conscience. He understood the power of living life without the burden of unconfessed sin. He had a clear conscience. His life was also prayerful.

He says, uh, as I remember your, uh, uh, I remember you constantly in my prayers. Uh, I want you to see also that he, his life was filled with hope. He says, uh, I remember your tears. I long to see you, that I may be filled with joy. By the way, hope is so important for the believer. If we don't have hope, what else is there?

And one of my favorite acrostics for hope is this, uh, hope is simply heavenly optimism, perpetually entertained hope. His life was also filled with encouragement. Look here in verse five, where he says, I am reminded of your sincere faith, Timmy, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother, Lois and your mother, Eunice, and I'm sure dwells in you.

And, and, and, uh, also godly advice. For this reason, I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God. He says, Tim, fan inflamed that gift of God, which he has given you. Uh, you know, Paul was apparently at Timothy's appointment as a pastor in the church at, at Ephesus, and he challenged him by saying, keep serving by the grace and power of God.

Be a good steward of God's gift to you, Timmy. He says, God has gifted you and even while he's sitting there in, in this meine prison with all cold, damp, whatever. He was constantly focused on someone else. He was not focused on his own problems. His life was filled with Thanksgiving, encouragement, prayer, hope.

And when we begin to fill our lives with those kinds of things, we won't have time to be afraid. Paul was also not fearful. For one more reason, he understood the power of love. He understood and probably was fully cognizant of John's encouragement. Uh, you know, as John the beloved wrote these words in his own letter by this is love perfected with us so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we also in the world.

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. Paul understood that what he was needed to be about was loving God and loving people. It's all about love, love, cast out fear. That's the first admonition today for us. Don't be afraid. Secondly, we are not to be ashamed. Look here at verse eight.

Let me read, read some verses here in verse eight through 12. Therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works, but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which now has been manifested to the appearing of our savior, Jesus Christ, who abolished death and brought life into mortality to life of the gospel for which I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher, which is why it is why I suffer as I do, but I am not ashamed for I know whom I have believed, and I'm convinced that he's able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me.

Don't be ashamed, folks. Be unashamed to fully understand. You need to know that the, that this word shame or, uh, goes along with another word. Honor. Honor and shame were considered together. Often in the first century, they were linked together as two pivotal values in the ancient world, they are polar extremes of each other.

As nouns, honor approximates our ideas of esteem, respect, high regard, good, uh, uh, good reputation. While the word for shame means just the opposite, it connotes humiliation. Our loss of standing. The word here was also a euphemism for nakedness, as if one is brought to total embarrassment due to being unclothed.

It's also so very interesting. That's a Hebrew word. It, it's this Hebrew word used in First Chronicles as a personal name, which means destroyed or in ruin. To be shamed was to be made in full view, to bring total embarrassment to someone. It's, it's like the emperor with no clothes. He's been had, he's been exposed.

And Paul is saying to Timothy, Tim, I am not ashamed. So you don't need to be ashamed. In fact, we are invited, uh, to even share in the suffering, uh, of, for the gospel by God's power. Uh, you know, last week I was preaching at a church, uh, one of our graffiti churches in New York. and, uh, this whole idea of suffering.

By the way, I'm moving quickly because I, uh, either I have to move, preach quickly, or you're gonna have to listen a little bit faster cuz I'm running out of time. I got so much to share in this. The, uh, uh, he says here invites Timothy to share in the suffering. Last week I met Dimitri, a man, almost 80 years of age, who was from Romania.

And he sat there and told me about his, his prison experience. He got saved as a young man during the communist regime there in, in Romania. And he began preaching. He felt God calling him to preach and he would preach freely until he was arrested and thrown into jail. You sit there and look at Dimitri and he speaks broken English, but he has become a good friend and his nose is all bent outta shape and he said I was beaten severely, almost died several times in Romania.

He said in 1992, I made a return trip back to Romania to visit, and I sat down at a park bench, hadn't been in Romania in my home very long, bought a bunch of newspapers, and the guy sat down next to me and he said, he said, uh, you are, you are Ian, Ian Colcci. And, and Dimitri said, yes, that's my name. And Dimitri said, who are you?

He said, don't you remember me? And then Dimitri said, it dawned on him here he was a prison guard who had beaten him, just ferociously. And this now man, over a little over 80 years of age, looked at Dimitri and said, when I beat you, I saw a radiance in your face. In your body. You did not fight back. You did not cry.

You just looked up at me with eyes of love. and, and Mr. Ian, I want to tell you that because of that, I recently became a Christian and I'm looking for a Bible to read. And right there on that park bench in 1992, Dimitri gave him a Bible. But Dimitri could have been shamed when he was beaten so ferociously when he was beaten up in the prison and, and just, uh, uh, treated like trash.

He said, I could have been very shameful, uh, be shamed of myself in my condition, but I chose not to be. I knew God was standing with me. You know, there is, uh, probably the greatest experimental scientist of all time was a guy by the name of Sir Michael Faraday. Uh, he was a British scientist who studied the electromagnetic field and if.

If the Nobel Prize had been, uh, available in the 19th century, he probably would've won about eight different Nobel Prizes. But, uh, near his death, his, uh, coworker and colleague, who was somewhat of a cynic, uh, especially about faith, came to see Sir Michael. And, uh, sir Michael was known to be able to, you know, when he would have an idea or a speculation, he would want to run into the lab and prove it.

And so his friend, uh, trying to introduce some levity into the situation, uh, came into, uh, sir Michael's room and said, sir Michael, now what do you think? Do you have any speculations about death? What are your speculations now? And, and, and, and Sir Michael Faraday was, was near death. It wasn't long before he was going to, to pass on.

But he shared something pretty remarkable with this cynic. He looked up at him, his former coworker, and he says, this speculations man, I have none. I have certainties. I thank God that I don't rest my dying head upon speculations for I know whom I've believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've committed unto him, against that day.

Don't be ashamed, be unashamed. Third and final thing I wanna share with you today, and I want to encourage you with this, is this, that we are not to be distracted or are distracted by the world, but be totally unhindered. I want you to see with me starting in verse 15. Some, some names of some folks and introduce you to one particular person.

Verse 15. It says, you're aware that all who Reja turned away from me, among whom are Figi and Hermogenes, made the Lord Grant mercy to the household of a, uh, ferous, ferous, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains. But when he arrived in Rome, he searched for me earnestly and found me.

May the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that day, and you well know all the service he rendered. In Ephesus, I wanted to do some research to find out who this guy on his cphs was. He was a man who had come to visit and, and minister and serve, uh, the Apostle Paul. And, and in, in all my research, I, I could not find a great deal until I stumbled upon a message by Dr.

W Christal from the First Baptist Church of Dallas that was priest in the late fifties. And, uh, Dr. Christal sermon helped me to draw together some facts about this man on a cph. Uh, we know that he is, uh, his name, uh, meant benefit bringing or profit sharing or profit bearing. In all likelihood, he was a successful businessman who traveled a great deal.

And he was an encourager. Uh, and as I began to study about who this guy on CPH was, Dr. Crystal shared some in a story form, something of, of how he spent his last few, um, weeks of life. So let me just share this and, uh, let you be challenged. Anci was the successful businessman and he decided to take a boat from his home in Ephesus to Rome where he frequently did business.

And upon arriving in Rome, he gets off the boat and begins immediately to ask, where is Paul the prisoner? Have you seen Paul, the prisoner? And folks as he's talking to, they reply, uh, we don't know who you're talking about. He goes to the p pretorian guard. Where is Paul the prisoner? And they say we don't know his business associates.

He goes to, uh, his contacts in Rome. Have you heard of Paul? The preacher of Christ? We don't know. We don't know where, who you're talking about. But one time a person calls him over and says, Ancira, shh. Don't ask so openly about this guy, Paul, the preacher of Christ. Don't you know whoever is found to be. A Christian is an enemy of the gods and an enemy of the state and is subject to immediate death.

Be quiet, sir. Don't talk about this guy, Paul. So Anus makes a determination if Paul, the preacher of Christ is in the city of Rome, I shall find him death or life. He searches, he asks, he goes from one prison to the other. He meets somebody. Oh, Paul, sure I remember him. A Roman citizen, a Jew, a Christian. I heard he was condemned to death and is in the EEN prison.

So Anci makes his way over to the Meereen prison. And you see this prison is unlike any others. It's cut out of the solid rock on the Capitoline Hill. The only entrance to that awful dungeon. It, it's made like a cistern up at the top, a g grading of iron through which the prisoner is let down into that awful hole through which, what little food and water is offered.

And he's let down, down inside that hole is, its a stench, it's, it's a horror. The only light that which can, can struggle through the iron grading comes in by precious small rays. And here he is. I found him, uh, on his. SY says, there he is. There's my pastor, there's Paul. On Cph before he let me back up and say that, that, uh, he goes to the guard who's guarding the, the, the great who's guarding the entrance.

And he says, sir, in the dungeon, a prisoner named Paul. And the guard says Yes. So on Asph draws from a secret pocket in his robe, a little pouch of gold and places it in the guard's hand. Ancira says, may I see him? And the guard says, huh, gold. Okay, well, yes, this time you may, he goes in the iron Grady, he lifts it away.

Lets anus down on the dungeon. He looks around and there chained to the solid rock is Paul the aged, the preacher of the gospel of the son of God. And Paul lifts up his face and there is his old friend on Ephs. Can you just imagine the sheer joy which overcomes Paul as he sees for the first time in a long time?

His good friend and Anci falls into the arms of his dear friend, that wonderful embrace of long separated brothers, and we are reminded of, of Paul's words. In his, his letter where he writes on a cph, he sought me out diligently, very diligently, and he found me and he often refreshed me for he was not ashamed of my chains.

On a cphs comes back another day and out of his pocket, a little bag of gold into the hand of the guard to see Paul. Okay. Yes. One more time. You can see him. And he removes the iron grading and ancira is let down into the stinking dungeon. Again, look here. Paul Ancira says, I brought you some bread. I've got you some water so you can wash with, and I brought you a cloak and, and, and look, I brought you a pen and some parchment.

And the old and weirded apostle would then write. He often refreshed me. He helped me, he brought me something. Then one day, Annacis was found out a friend of Caesar Niro saw this businessman making his way to the Maton prison and, and seeing the transaction which took place between. And the guard. So he goes to his friend, a guy who's in charge of the prisons and says, you wanna make some money?

There's a guy visiting Paul, the preacher, and he's rich. He's a businessman. Let's arrest him. And then you can ta we can split his wealth. And so seeing opportunity, they guard, they position themselves and wait. Until Anci comes and sure enough, Ancira shows up, makes the transaction with the guard, and Anci is arrested.

Now we have to guess, but probably he was executed the way that that Christians are at that time. There was, uh, there before the Roman court, one of Nero's corrupt judges arraigned him. He's declared a Christian and the Roman judge, uh, asked him if he's a Christian. Ancira says, I am. Are you a friend of Paul?

The preacher of Christ, sir? I am. And that ended the life of Anci and his wealth and property may have been confiscated. . And one day Anci did not come to see Paul, and the next day Anci did not come. And the next day he didn't come. And Paul wondered and wondered, and somebody told him, was it Luke, the physician?

Maybe. Was it the guard who heard? But somebody said, anus has lost his life. And Paul as though he didn't have trouble in sorrow enough. Paul picks up his pen and he writes these words, the Lord give mercy to the household of anus back in Ephesus. The Lord granted to him that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day.

And when he closed the letter, the last salutation that he ever wrote was this salute. The household of Annacis for, he was not ashamed of my chain, but when he was in Rome, he sought me out very diligently and found me the Lord granted unto him that he may find mercy from the Lord in that day. Folks, I'd like to meet him one day and plan to meet onus one.

I'd like to shake his hand. I'd like to bow my head in his presence for he was un totally undeterred, totally undistracted like others had been. That's what it is to be a follower. Follower of Christ totally undistracted by the things of the world. There were some, uh, like in verse 15 of chapter one, a very sad verse.

You are aware that all who are in Asia turned away from me, among whom are FYIs and her manganese. Over in chapter four, verse nine, do your best to come to me soon for demus in love with the present world has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Alexander the Coppersmith did me great harm. The Lord will pay him according to his deves.

There were many that got distracted who had once had been a part of the, the, the fellowship, but they got distracted by the, the tumult of the world, the chaos of the world, and the distractions of the world, but not unci. He was totally undeterred. Today, I think we can learn from his example to be totally unafraid.

To be totally unashamed and undistracted as we carry on the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and the good news of the kingdom. Would you join me in prayer? God, I thank you so much for the challenge today that in this crazy world we live in, in the 21st century, in this, uh, the wackiness of it, the tal, the chaos, the uncertainty that as followers of Christ, you give us the grace to be totally unafraid and unashamed and undistracted.

Lord, today may we go from here as, as one as people who are determined to live by your grace and mercy. Lord, we love you and we thank you for your presence among us this day. And now to the church, I say, go from here to love the Lord. Enjoy him, and serve and be on mission as people totally unafraid, unashamed and undistracted.

Amen. Amen.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/compassionate-counsel-for-chaotic-times 12236fe1-3ce7-47e0-95f9-c90ccb6ede80 Sun, 15 Jan 2023 11:19:19 GMT <div data-html="true">2 Timothy 1:3-18 <br /><br /> I thank God whom I serve, as did my ancestors, with a clear conscience, as I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day. <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> This morning, I have a friend that I'm introducing to you again. Uh, he reminded me today that the last time we had him preach was the Sunday right before Covid Clo Covid closed everything down. We're hoping that is not a prophetic, um, message I just shared. Um, Michael Chance is a pastor with many years of pastoral experience in the last few years, and I mentioned this in my Musings Mail newsletter this week. <br /><br /> In the last few years, Michael has been asked to serve, uh, with a group of churches up in the New York City area. And his calling, his role was to be the pastor of encouragement to the churches. If you have gotten to know him, you understand why they asked him to do that role. By God's grace, he and Linda have been led to our church family, and uh, he is now spilling over on We Pastors and many of you in our church family, that ministry of Encouragement. <br /><br /> I asked him to speak to us today and open the word to us. <br /><br /> Thank you, mark. God bless you.  Well, the first thing you will, uh, recognize is that I have a Southern accent. I am from Louisiana originally, and, uh, we raised our family up in Middlesex County, in East Brunswick. I worked in New York City for 17 years and then, uh, uh, pastored in Edison. For how many of you from Middlesex County or have you had any experience up in Middle City? <br /><br /> Yay. That's home. That's home. And, uh, for all those years, when we moved to New York City in 1986, people would say, uh, you sound like you're from the south. I said, yeah, I'm from. South Jersey, but I never realizing that one day. I actually live in South Jersey, right here in Burlington County and I retired from full-time, uh, ministry, uh, a few years ago in 2017. <br /><br /> And, and, uh, have since, uh, been finding myself, uh, as a minister of encouragement for a, uh, network of graffiti community ministry churches in New York City. And then I also do pulpit supply for a couple of, uh, Chinese churches, one up in East Brunswick and one in, in, uh, uh, Chinatown in New York City. So, uh, we are here about one Sunday a month when I have, uh, time and Pastor Mark and the staff and, and the church has been so gracious. <br /><br /> We love Fellowship Church. And like Pastor Mark mentioned, I remember that week that, uh, uh, he had asked me to preach, uh, for that third Sunday in March. And on Tuesday of that week, he called me, he sent me an email and says, Mike, do you think you could come Saturday morning? Looks like we may be shutting down. <br /><br /> And, and so on that Saturday morning, the only people that were in this sanctuary as we taped the service to be broadcast the next day was the sound people, the worship team. Pastor Mark and myself, this is the first time I'm actually preaching to people here at Fellowship. This is great. It's, uh, awesome and, uh, you, I tell you, we have been, the last three years has been a challenging time for every one of us. <br /><br /> I mean, we've lived through a global pandemic. We've, we've come through political unrest and demonstrations, stock market turbulence, a war. Cataclysmic weather events. Just in those last few weeks, we've seen 40 people killed in a massive blizzard in Buffalo. We've seen people killed in California with rivers of, of, of, there's old cyclones, uh, coming ashore, tornadoes down south. <br /><br /> Uh, and, and to go along with all that stuff. In the last several years, we've seen even the evangelical church here in America has taken a real hit. Young people have left the church by droves. Relationships have broken. Pastors and staff have left their churches. Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of pastors leave their churches just step away from the pulpit because of emotional stress. <br /><br /> Churches closing. It has been just a challenging time for all of us. Why? Let me tell you I have good m this morning. Over the last year, I've been pouring my own energies into, uh, Paul's final letter that he wrote The Little Book of Second Timothy. In fact, if you have your Bibles or your phones with your Bibles on it, we're gonna be looking at the first chapter of second Timothy today. <br /><br /> So go ahead and open, uh, your Bibles to that, uh, the message here in this little New Testament book of only four chapters. Friends has brought great personal refreshment to my soul. The, the two Chinese, uh, churches I've worked with in, in 2022, we've, we've looked at second Timothy verse by verse, and every week as we shared, or is actually about once a month with each church, I've noticed God just showing me something that was just like being out in a desert and seeing an oasis and, and finding the water in that oasis. <br /><br /> It's been wonderful. Now, to remind you of where we're at here in Second Timothy, this is Paul's final letter, and he's writing to his young protege in ministry, his son in the ministry, young Timothy over in Ephesus, who. Leading of the church himself, uh, through this perilous, tumultuous time in the first century. <br /><br /> Now, Paul and Timothy had a precious, precious relationship. Uh, we, we know that, uh, Paul, that Paul had, uh, uh, spent a great deal of time with Timothy's family, his grandmother Lois, his mother, Eunice. And uh, there's no mention of Timothy's dad. He may have died. We don't know. The relationship that Paul had with Timothy was more like a father and son. <br /><br /> And, and today I just want to ask you, I, I, if, if there's any anxiety in your life, if you're a bit afraid of, of how to do life in this tumultuous 21st century is particularly coming out of the last three years that we've all experienced. I want to tell you that there's some great words of hope in this, uh, little book we call Second Timothy. <br /><br /> And I pray that in this message today, you'll be introduced to some real compassionate counsel from the Apostle Paul himself. But first, I want to remind you of the predicament that Paul found himself in as he was writing this little. You know, as we leave, uh, the Book of Acts, uh, Paul is in under house arrest. <br /><br /> That was nothing compared to where he is now. After he, uh, uh, once he finished up that house arrest in Rome, he managed to make one more missionary trip, probably up into Spain somewhere, and then decided to come back to Rome to, because he knew that the church in Rome was struggling. He wanted to spend time with him. <br /><br /> So he comes back to Rome. We don't know how long he's back there before he's arrested and thrown into the Mamertine prison. Cesar Nero has got the City of Rome during this time, about 66 AD just in a state of complete upheaval. Now, let me tell you about Caesar Nero. He was a megalomaniac in every sense of the word, a narcissistic narcissist from, from every perspective. <br /><br /> Um, he decided to rebuild Rome to, uh, match his own glory. So he decided to try to burn it down and he blamed the believers, he blamed Christians, something that even Paul had an opportunity to talk to him at one point and, and maybe because of that conversation and Nero being confronted with the claims of the gospel and because of his nature refusing that, he went. <br /><br /> Insane. We don't know. But Rome was in bad shape. The city was burning and he was blaming it on Christians. He disliked Christians so much that he said about these believers, these followers of Christ, that they are cannibals. They delight in eating the body and blood of their Lord. And, and he became so, uh, sadistic by, by arresting Christians and dipping them in some kind of oil and burning them alive. <br /><br /> And then you all know the stories of him throwing Christians into, uh, to feed the lions and, and, and such. He was mono. He was a, in Pastor Mark's words, he was real muckety muck, if ever there was one. And yet, uh, Paul finds himself under arrest and he's thrown into this, uh, prison now. Our scripture comes to declare today, I think, and I want you to see with me three admonitions, three, uh, compassionate counsel or admonitions, uh, from Nepal for tumultuous times, for chaotic times for uncertain times, just like we have here in, uh, 2023. <br /><br /> And the first thing I'd like to show you, this is take you in first chapter of Second Timothy, verse seven. In fact, um, uh, let me just read, uh, starting with verse three, these words and that'll bring us down to, uh, verse seven. He says to young Timothy, I thank God whom I serve, as did my ancestors with a clear conscience. <br /><br /> As I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day, as I remember your tears, I long to see you, that I may be filled with joy. I'm reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother, Lois and your mother Eunice. And now I'm sure it dwells in you as well. For this reason, I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you. <br /><br /> Through the laying on of my hands. For God gave us not a spirit, a fear. But of power, love, and sound mind. The first admonition that I would challenge you with today, Paul is saying to you and me, don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. In fact, be unafraid. He's, you know, this whole idea of fear in our lives, fear does massive damage to every one of us, including we who are Christ followers. <br /><br /> It's a tool of the devil himself. Fear is, it can be debilitating. It robs us of joy. It causes us to make bad decisions. Listen, no one likes to be afraid. Uh, you know, I don't know if you've ever wondered how many times it says in scripture to. Uh, do not fear or fear not. I saw a meme recently in social media where it says the term, uh, fear not is, uh, given 365 times, uh, in the Bible. <br /><br /> Uh, you know, one for each day. I, I don't know that that's true. Uh, you know, I've counted 70 to 80, 90 times, you know, as I've studied and, and looked at it, the bottom line, the number is not so as important as the fact that God tr just challenges us not to be afraid and not let fear rule in our heart for it will destroy your life. <br /><br /> It will destroy your marriage, it will destroy careers. Fear does damage to the first hearing in second Timothy one 17. Paul uses an interesting word for fear. He says, For, for God gave us a spirit, not a fear. That word fear is the Greek word, Dalia, which has the connotation of timidity. Uh, uh. It, it, it, it's fearfulness. <br /><br /> It's it's cowardice In the first century world, um, in secular literature, it refers to a person who has fled from battle due to cowardice. It's, it's like the polar opposite of boldness. You know, the human condition is such that, that we are just kind of prone to be set by even all kinds of little. <br /><br /> Nagging fears and they will rob us of joy. Uh, you know, you've heard the term phobia. Uh, all of us you would think probably have some kind of phobia. I know one of the reasons I moved from Louisiana up to New Jersey is because there are no poisonous snakes here in, uh, New Jersey. Not that I've been able now. <br /><br /> Last summer I saw my first black snake in our, he, that little guy, even though he was non venomous, still freaked me out. But, uh, I grew up in South Louisiana and I've seen all men are of water moccasins, copperheads rattlesnakes, and, uh, the, the worst kind or the other kind of reptiles called alligators, which I've, I've seen enough of. <br /><br /> So I moved to New Jersey and I'm good. But, uh, uh, you know, let me just take a quick survey. Uh, how many of you, uh, deal with, uh, claustrophobia? Anybody deal with claustrophobia? Okay. Now how about, uh, what about Bronte phobia, which is the fear of, of thunderstorms and, and such? Anybody deal with bronto phobia? <br /><br /> What about acrophobia? The fear of heights. All right, there we go. Now we're getting some hands. Okay. How about arao phobia? You about ara? Okay. The, yeah, there's some guys that, yeah. The spiders. Ooh, yeah. Okay. Here's a, here's a phobia. That is, is, uh, I don't know if you, uh, heard of, uh, it's called nomophobia. <br /><br /> Nomophobia. You know what nomophobia is? It is the fear of misplacing or losing your cell phone. Okay? Anybody with nomophobia. Honey, where's my phone? Nomophobia. Yeah. These fears will do a number on us. Now, uh, let me tell you, uh, Paul here is writing from this prison cell. It was a horrible prison cell. And he is writing to this young man, his son in the ministry and says, Timmy, don't be afraid. <br /><br /> Don't be afraid. Now you're saying to yourself, how can Paul, as he's writing these words here, How can he write these words and himself not be afraid? I believe there's some things that we can see up, uh, top, uh, beginning of the, uh, uh, verse three that we can see that, uh, why Paul was not afraid. He was not afraid and fear had no place in his life because his life was filled with Thanksgiving. <br /><br /> Verse three, where it says, I thank my God whom I serve, as did my ancestors. Hey, his life was filled with Thanksgiving also. His life was filled with forgiveness. He had a clear conscience. He understood the power of living life without the burden of unconfessed sin. He had a clear conscience. His life was also prayerful. <br /><br /> He says, uh, as I remember your, uh, uh, I remember you constantly in my prayers. Uh, I want you to see also that he, his life was filled with hope. He says, uh, I remember your tears. I long to see you, that I may be filled with joy. By the way, hope is so important for the believer. If we don't have hope, what else is there? <br /><br /> And one of my favorite acrostics for hope is this, uh, hope is simply heavenly optimism, perpetually entertained hope. His life was also filled with encouragement. Look here in verse five, where he says, I am reminded of your sincere faith, Timmy, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother, Lois and your mother, Eunice, and I'm sure dwells in you. <br /><br /> And, and, and, uh, also godly advice. For this reason, I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God. He says, Tim, fan inflamed that gift of God, which he has given you. Uh, you know, Paul was apparently at Timothy's appointment as a pastor in the church at, at Ephesus, and he challenged him by saying, keep serving by the grace and power of God. <br /><br /> Be a good steward of God's gift to you, Timmy. He says, God has gifted you and even while he's sitting there in, in this meine prison with all cold, damp, whatever. He was constantly focused on someone else. He was not focused on his own problems. His life was filled with Thanksgiving, encouragement, prayer, hope. <br /><br /> And when we begin to fill our lives with those kinds of things, we won't have time to be afraid. Paul was also not fearful. For one more reason, he understood the power of love. He understood and probably was fully cognizant of John's encouragement. Uh, you know, as John the beloved wrote these words in his own letter by this is love perfected with us so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we also in the world. <br /><br /> There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. Paul understood that what he was needed to be about was loving God and loving people. It's all about love, love, cast out fear. That's the first admonition today for us. Don't be afraid. Secondly, we are not to be ashamed. Look here at verse eight. <br /><br /> Let me read, read some verses here in verse eight through 12. Therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works, but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which now has been manifested to the appearing of our savior, Jesus Christ, who abolished death and brought life into mortality to life of the gospel for which I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher, which is why it is why I suffer as I do, but I am not ashamed for I know whom I have believed, and I'm convinced that he's able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me. <br /><br /> Don't be ashamed, folks. Be unashamed to fully understand. You need to know that the, that this word shame or, uh, goes along with another word. Honor. Honor and shame were considered together. Often in the first century, they were linked together as two pivotal values in the ancient world, they are polar extremes of each other. <br /><br /> As nouns, honor approximates our ideas of esteem, respect, high regard, good, uh, uh, good reputation. While the word for shame means just the opposite, it connotes humiliation. Our loss of standing. The word here was also a euphemism for nakedness, as if one is brought to total embarrassment due to being unclothed. <br /><br /> It's also so very interesting. That's a Hebrew word. It, it's this Hebrew word used in First Chronicles as a personal name, which means destroyed or in ruin. To be shamed was to be made in full view, to bring total embarrassment to someone. It's, it's like the emperor with no clothes. He's been had, he's been exposed. <br /><br /> And Paul is saying to Timothy, Tim, I am not ashamed. So you don't need to be ashamed. In fact, we are invited, uh, to even share in the suffering, uh, of, for the gospel by God's power. Uh, you know, last week I was preaching at a church, uh, one of our graffiti churches in New York. and, uh, this whole idea of suffering. <br /><br /> By the way, I'm moving quickly because I, uh, either I have to move, preach quickly, or you're gonna have to listen a little bit faster cuz I'm running out of time. I got so much to share in this. The, uh, uh, he says here invites Timothy to share in the suffering. Last week I met Dimitri, a man, almost 80 years of age, who was from Romania. <br /><br /> And he sat there and told me about his, his prison experience. He got saved as a young man during the communist regime there in, in Romania. And he began preaching. He felt God calling him to preach and he would preach freely until he was arrested and thrown into jail. You sit there and look at Dimitri and he speaks broken English, but he has become a good friend and his nose is all bent outta shape and he said I was beaten severely, almost died several times in Romania. <br /><br /> He said in 1992, I made a return trip back to Romania to visit, and I sat down at a park bench, hadn't been in Romania in my home very long, bought a bunch of newspapers, and the guy sat down next to me and he said, he said, uh, you are, you are Ian, Ian Colcci. And, and Dimitri said, yes, that's my name. And Dimitri said, who are you? <br /><br /> He said, don't you remember me? And then Dimitri said, it dawned on him here he was a prison guard who had beaten him, just ferociously. And this now man, over a little over 80 years of age, looked at Dimitri and said, when I beat you, I saw a radiance in your face. In your body. You did not fight back. You did not cry. <br /><br /> You just looked up at me with eyes of love. and, and Mr. Ian, I want to tell you that because of that, I recently became a Christian and I'm looking for a Bible to read. And right there on that park bench in 1992, Dimitri gave him a Bible. But Dimitri could have been shamed when he was beaten so ferociously when he was beaten up in the prison and, and just, uh, uh, treated like trash. <br /><br /> He said, I could have been very shameful, uh, be shamed of myself in my condition, but I chose not to be. I knew God was standing with me. You know, there is, uh, probably the greatest experimental scientist of all time was a guy by the name of Sir Michael Faraday. Uh, he was a British scientist who studied the electromagnetic field and if. <br /><br /> If the Nobel Prize had been, uh, available in the 19th century, he probably would've won about eight different Nobel Prizes. But, uh, near his death, his, uh, coworker and colleague, who was somewhat of a cynic, uh, especially about faith, came to see Sir Michael. And, uh, sir Michael was known to be able to, you know, when he would have an idea or a speculation, he would want to run into the lab and prove it. <br /><br /> And so his friend, uh, trying to introduce some levity into the situation, uh, came into, uh, sir Michael's room and said, sir Michael, now what do you think? Do you have any speculations about death? What are your speculations now? And, and, and, and Sir Michael Faraday was, was near death. It wasn't long before he was going to, to pass on. <br /><br /> But he shared something pretty remarkable with this cynic. He looked up at him, his former coworker, and he says, this speculations man, I have none. I have certainties. I thank God that I don't rest my dying head upon speculations for I know whom I've believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've committed unto him, against that day. <br /><br /> Don't be ashamed, be unashamed. Third and final thing I wanna share with you today, and I want to encourage you with this, is this, that we are not to be distracted or are distracted by the world, but be totally unhindered. I want you to see with me starting in verse 15. Some, some names of some folks and introduce you to one particular person. <br /><br /> Verse 15. It says, you're aware that all who Reja turned away from me, among whom are Figi and Hermogenes, made the Lord Grant mercy to the household of a, uh, ferous, ferous, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains. But when he arrived in Rome, he searched for me earnestly and found me. <br /><br /> May the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that day, and you well know all the service he rendered. In Ephesus, I wanted to do some research to find out who this guy on his cphs was. He was a man who had come to visit and, and minister and serve, uh, the Apostle Paul. And, and in, in all my research, I, I could not find a great deal until I stumbled upon a message by Dr. <br /><br /> W Christal from the First Baptist Church of Dallas that was priest in the late fifties. And, uh, Dr. Christal sermon helped me to draw together some facts about this man on a cph. Uh, we know that he is, uh, his name, uh, meant benefit bringing or profit sharing or profit bearing. In all likelihood, he was a successful businessman who traveled a great deal. <br /><br /> And he was an encourager. Uh, and as I began to study about who this guy on CPH was, Dr. Crystal shared some in a story form, something of, of how he spent his last few, um, weeks of life. So let me just share this and, uh, let you be challenged. Anci was the successful businessman and he decided to take a boat from his home in Ephesus to Rome where he frequently did business. <br /><br /> And upon arriving in Rome, he gets off the boat and begins immediately to ask, where is Paul the prisoner? Have you seen Paul, the prisoner? And folks as he's talking to, they reply, uh, we don't know who you're talking about. He goes to the p pretorian guard. Where is Paul the prisoner? And they say we don't know his business associates. <br /><br /> He goes to, uh, his contacts in Rome. Have you heard of Paul? The preacher of Christ? We don't know. We don't know where, who you're talking about. But one time a person calls him over and says, Ancira, shh. Don't ask so openly about this guy, Paul, the preacher of Christ. Don't you know whoever is found to be. A Christian is an enemy of the gods and an enemy of the state and is subject to immediate death. <br /><br /> Be quiet, sir. Don't talk about this guy, Paul. So Anus makes a determination if Paul, the preacher of Christ is in the city of Rome, I shall find him death or life. He searches, he asks, he goes from one prison to the other. He meets somebody. Oh, Paul, sure I remember him. A Roman citizen, a Jew, a Christian. I heard he was condemned to death and is in the EEN prison. <br /><br /> So Anci makes his way over to the Meereen prison. And you see this prison is unlike any others. It's cut out of the solid rock on the Capitoline Hill. The only entrance to that awful dungeon. It, it's made like a cistern up at the top, a g grading of iron through which the prisoner is let down into that awful hole through which, what little food and water is offered. <br /><br /> And he's let down, down inside that hole is, its a stench, it's, it's a horror. The only light that which can, can struggle through the iron grading comes in by precious small rays. And here he is. I found him, uh, on his. SY says, there he is. There's my pastor, there's Paul. On Cph before he let me back up and say that, that, uh, he goes to the guard who's guarding the, the, the great who's guarding the entrance. <br /><br /> And he says, sir, in the dungeon, a prisoner named Paul. And the guard says Yes. So on Asph draws from a secret pocket in his robe, a little pouch of gold and places it in the guard's hand. Ancira says, may I see him? And the guard says, huh, gold. Okay, well, yes, this time you may, he goes in the iron Grady, he lifts it away. <br /><br /> Lets anus down on the dungeon. He looks around and there chained to the solid rock is Paul the aged, the preacher of the gospel of the son of God. And Paul lifts up his face and there is his old friend on Ephs. Can you just imagine the sheer joy which overcomes Paul as he sees for the first time in a long time? <br /><br /> His good friend and Anci falls into the arms of his dear friend, that wonderful embrace of long separated brothers, and we are reminded of, of Paul's words. In his, his letter where he writes on a cph, he sought me out diligently, very diligently, and he found me and he often refreshed me for he was not ashamed of my chains. <br /><br /> On a cphs comes back another day and out of his pocket, a little bag of gold into the hand of the guard to see Paul. Okay. Yes. One more time. You can see him. And he removes the iron grading and ancira is let down into the stinking dungeon. Again, look here. Paul Ancira says, I brought you some bread. I've got you some water so you can wash with, and I brought you a cloak and, and, and look, I brought you a pen and some parchment. <br /><br /> And the old and weirded apostle would then write. He often refreshed me. He helped me, he brought me something. Then one day, Annacis was found out a friend of Caesar Niro saw this businessman making his way to the Maton prison and, and seeing the transaction which took place between. And the guard. So he goes to his friend, a guy who's in charge of the prisons and says, you wanna make some money? <br /><br /> There's a guy visiting Paul, the preacher, and he's rich. He's a businessman. Let's arrest him. And then you can ta we can split his wealth. And so seeing opportunity, they guard, they position themselves and wait. Until Anci comes and sure enough, Ancira shows up, makes the transaction with the guard, and Anci is arrested. <br /><br /> Now we have to guess, but probably he was executed the way that that Christians are at that time. There was, uh, there before the Roman court, one of Nero's corrupt judges arraigned him. He's declared a Christian and the Roman judge, uh, asked him if he's a Christian. Ancira says, I am. Are you a friend of Paul? <br /><br /> The preacher of Christ, sir? I am. And that ended the life of Anci and his wealth and property may have been confiscated. . And one day Anci did not come to see Paul, and the next day Anci did not come. And the next day he didn't come. And Paul wondered and wondered, and somebody told him, was it Luke, the physician? <br /><br /> Maybe. Was it the guard who heard? But somebody said, anus has lost his life. And Paul as though he didn't have trouble in sorrow enough. Paul picks up his pen and he writes these words, the Lord give mercy to the household of anus back in Ephesus. The Lord granted to him that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day. <br /><br /> And when he closed the letter, the last salutation that he ever wrote was this salute. The household of Annacis for, he was not ashamed of my chain, but when he was in Rome, he sought me out very diligently and found me the Lord granted unto him that he may find mercy from the Lord in that day. Folks, I'd like to meet him one day and plan to meet onus one. <br /><br /> I'd like to shake his hand. I'd like to bow my head in his presence for he was un totally undeterred, totally undistracted like others had been. That's what it is to be a follower. Follower of Christ totally undistracted by the things of the world. There were some, uh, like in verse 15 of chapter one, a very sad verse. <br /><br /> You are aware that all who are in Asia turned away from me, among whom are FYIs and her manganese. Over in chapter four, verse nine, do your best to come to me soon for demus in love with the present world has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Alexander the Coppersmith did me great harm. The Lord will pay him according to his deves. <br /><br /> There were many that got distracted who had once had been a part of the, the, the fellowship, but they got distracted by the, the tumult of the world, the chaos of the world, and the distractions of the world, but not unci. He was totally undeterred. Today, I think we can learn from his example to be totally unafraid. <br /><br /> To be totally unashamed and undistracted as we carry on the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and the good news of the kingdom. Would you join me in prayer? God, I thank you so much for the challenge today that in this crazy world we live in, in the 21st century, in this, uh, the wackiness of it, the tal, the chaos, the uncertainty that as followers of Christ, you give us the grace to be totally unafraid and unashamed and undistracted. <br /><br /> Lord, today may we go from here as, as one as people who are determined to live by your grace and mercy. Lord, we love you and we thank you for your presence among us this day. And now to the church, I say, go from here to love the Lord. Enjoy him, and serve and be on mission as people totally unafraid, unashamed and undistracted. <br /><br /> Amen. Amen.</div> false no <![CDATA[Goliath's Sword]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/goliaths-sword b3bb95ba-d0b9-466d-942f-c3dec5706fbf Sun, 08 Jan 2023 17:05:26 GMT false no <![CDATA[The Power of God's Presence]]> Exodus 3:1-12

“I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.



Sermon Transcript:

Good morning. Good morning. Happy New Year. Happy New Year, 2023. Wow. Wow. Uh, happy New Year. So I, uh, I was under the impression that they canceled the 10 30 service so I could preach longer, but I was informed that is not the case. So , we'll, we'll keep it short in compact. I know there's probably some of you that made it to midnight last night.

I was not one . I haven't, I can't remember the last time I made it to midnight and I can't say I miss it too much. So we're gonna dive right in. Exodus three, one through 12 is our text this morning. If, uh, you don't have a Bible with you or on your phone, uh, there's a Bible in the pew in front of you. It's page 43.

Uh, if you can follow along as I read,

Exodus three, one to 12. Now, Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian. He led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horrib the mountain of God. The angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked and behold the bush was burning.

It was not consumed. Moses said, I'll turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned. When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush. Moses. Moses, and he said, here I am. Then he said, do not come near. Take your sandals off your feet for the place on which you are standing as holy ground.

And he said, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hit his face where he was afraid to look at God. Then the Lord. I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their task masters. I know their sufferings and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land.

A land flowing with milk and honey to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the parasites, the Hivites and the Jees. And now behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me. And I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. Come. I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel out of Egypt.

Moses said to God, who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt? He said, but I will be with you. , and this shall be the sign for you that I have sent you. When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain man. As we get ready to embark on a new year, 2023, and maybe some of you are looking at this and you're excited, you're ready to go.

You're, you've got some things on the calendar. Maybe you got a, a new role at work, a new promotion, some new responsibilities, something's happening. You're excited. Ready, ready for 2023. Maybe some of you are not in that space. Maybe some of you are like, man, I'm still trying to process 2020. You know, , it's like, I'm with you there.

It's like there's been so much change and upheaval, and maybe you're in a space where there's been some loss. Maybe there's been some tough things in your life and you're trying to figure some things out. Maybe, maybe there's some things in your past. that you can't seem to get by, you can't seem to get over, can't seem to get past.

Maybe there's some things that people have said to you, ways people have treated you. Maybe there's some things you've done that you or, or said yourself that you can't get by. We're gonna look today and see from this text exactly what it means for God to be present with us. Even in, you know, no matter where you are, you're ready to go or you're, you're a little bit drawn back from, from where your life has led you to this point.

We're gonna see from this text, the power of God's presence in our lives, and we're gonna look at this through the lens of Moses who we just read about. We got a couple questions to look at first. First, how does Moses view himself? And I want you to think as we dive into this passage and really consider this for, from how Moses is, uh, viewing this, how do you view yourself?

How do you view yourself in relation to other people in relation to God? And we'll take a look first at how Moses views himself. Just have that question in mind. So first to consider this how Moses views himself. We gotta do a real quick recap and maybe some of you are familiar with the story of Moses, but I just wanna refresh our memories very quickly.

So Moses is born a Hebrew, he's in Israelite. He's born a Hebrew in Egypt. During a time when the Hebrews are ens, In Egypt, and we just sang a lot about that. But the, the Hebrews are oppressed by the Egyptians, and Moses is born into a Hebrew family, and then through a series of events, he ends up being adopted by Pharaoh's daughter.

And so he's part of Pharaoh's household. He's raised actually as an Egyptian prince. And then when he's about 40 years old, after coming up in this Egyptian house, this, uh, this fair, like, he's, he's, he's got a, a good life as good a life as anybody can have in Egypt, when he is about 40 years old. The Bible says in Acts seven Stephen's speech that it came into his heart to go see his people, his, his Hebrew brothers and sisters.

And he goes out and he sees an Egyptian beating, an Israelite, and that enrages him. And he takes matters into his own hands. He takes vengeance into his own hands and he ends up killing this Egyptian. I don't know if that's, that was on purpose or I don't know if that's something that maybe Moses just didn't know his own strength and he had a good right cross.

You know, who knows? But regardless, this Egyptian is dead because of Moses. And Moses didn't watch csi. Like he didn't, he didn't know how to cover up all the evidence. Like he left some evidence and people found out. So the next day he goes out to see the Hebrews again, and he sees a Hebrew beating up another Hebrew, and he is like, yo, what are you guys doing?

And this Hebrew that's beating up the other Hebrews says, who made you ruler and judge over us? What are you gonna do? Are you gonna kill me? Like you killed that Egyptian? And Moses is like, oh no, people know. And that freaks him out. And then he finds out, Pharaoh knows about it, and Pharaoh's like, Hey, Moses is a dead man.

You're dead. So Pharaoh wants to kill Moses. This thing's out. Moses gets out of there, he gets out of Egypt, he hightails it out of there, and he finds himself in a place called Midian. And he meets this family. He ends up marrying one of their daughters, having a couple sons. He settles down in this land of Midian, and that's where we meet him.

In our text, we started off saying Moses was keeping the flocks of his father-in-law, Jethro. So how does Moses view himself? Is he a Hebrew? Is he an Egyptian? Is he Midianite? Is he a slave? Is he a prince? Is he a shepherd? Who or what is he? And maybe, maybe you have some of these same feelings in your own life.

Like, maybe there's a sense of, you know, like, uh, where do I fit in? Where do I belong? And we get a, a quick glit window or insight into how Moses views himself in Exodus 2 22. I'll just read this quickly.

Uh, it says here, she's zPo, who's wife gave birth to a son, and he, Moses called his name germ. Germ. Sounds like the Hebrew word for Sojourner. He called his name germ before he said, I've been a sojourner in a foreign land. So Moses views himself. This is your first couple blanks here. Moses views himself as a sojourner in a foreign land, and at this point, like he's 40 when he leaves.

He's 80 at the burning bush, and he had germ somewhere in between there. But regardless, like he's a grown man. He's a grown man, and he has this sense of I don't fit in and I don't belong. I don't know who my people are. And I'm sure like the last thing in his mind, like what's ringing in his ears. The last thing that we have recorded that a Hebrew said to him is, you're not one of us.

Like who made you ruler and judge over us. You don't belong to us. And then if he's looking at his Egyptian family, like Pharaoh, like the house that he grew up in, he wants to kill him. Like where does he belong? Who is he? And if you can relate to that, pay attention to this. This next thing. How does God view Moses?

That's our next, next thing to consider here. And if you're hearing these voices and there's things that you can't get, get by because maybe somebody has said something to you and there's pain there, and a lot of times people are speaking out of their own pain and that just rests with us and we can't get by it.

Or maybe there's something that you've done in your past, like think about Moses's life. I'm sure there was these senses of, I've just lost it all. I've thrown it all away. I I don't fit in, I don't belong. I'm just a stranger in a stranger land. And at it's at that point that God, God comes to Moses, God comes to Moses, and we have this burning bush.

Moses meets God here. Let's take a look at Exodus three, six. How does God introduce himself to Moses? He says, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, man. I think Moses needed to hear that and that I, I, I'm pretty confident of this. I did a little bit of study. I could probably do some more, but I, I think the only times that God introduces himself as I'm the God of your father, and it's God speaking and he's saying, I'm, I'm your God, is to Abraham, or sorry, to Isaac, to Jacob and to Moses.

I am the God of your father. And there's this sense of intimacy and inclusion. and belonging. And if you are sitting here having questions about who am I? Where do I belong, where do I fit in, understand that God says to his children, you belong to me. You're mine. And that's what he says to Moses, here, you're my child.

You belong to me. I am your father. I'm the God of your father. An another thing here, as Moses learns more about who God is, he learns more about himself. And it's in , it's in who God says Moses is. That's where his true identity is. So there's other voices that we can listen to and focus on or things in our past, things that people have said to us.

Shortcomings, failures, all of those types of things. We can listen to those voices. But God says, you're my child. If you are God's child, you are his. And that's where your identity is rooted. That's where you're grounded. You're grounded and rooted in God's love for you as his child. Hear that this morning.

One last thing to notice here, as Moses encounters God, he first is scared and he looks away. You, you pick up that, pick that up in, uh, Exodus three, six. Moses hides his face. He's, he meets God, looks at God. God introduces himself. And then Moses hides his face. He's scared. He stops looking at God, but he doesn't stop listening to God.

He stays there. If you're in this space of wondering what it is, sometimes it can be a little scary and intimidating to think, all right, I'm going to lean into a relationship with God and I, I don't feel worthy. I don't feel like I'm, I'm there. Don't, don't stop listening to God regardless of even feelings of fear or inadequacy.

Don't stop listening to God because you have a God who wants a relationship with you. Says you're if, if you're His child who wants this relationship with you, and look at Exodus 33 11, or you don't have to look at it. I'll just read it. Throughout Moses' life, he's introduced here, he meets God and God takes him on this incredible journey, and we get one glimpse in Exodus 33 11, it says that God and Moses used to speak to each other face to face.

As a man speaks to his friend. So Moses didn't stay in this space of being afraid of, you know, it's like he's brought along this relationship where he learns that God is his father, he is God's child, and God is the safest person for him to be in relationship with. He learns that about God. It didn't happen in the snap of a fingers He had, he was, he learned to trust God more and more and more.

And if you're a child of God, I, I can say that in my life that's been true. There's been times that I have been afraid of God and I've learned that God is the safest person in my life.

We learned some other things about who God is in this passage. That we'll keep, keep moving along here. So what do we learn about God and who he is here? Well, verses seven and nine, if you've ever wondered if God sees, hears or knows he, he does. Look at this, it says he sees, he hears and he knows his people.

And sometimes there's these questions of like, is God paying attention? Does God see? Does God hear? Does God know? And like I don't, I can't sense that at different times we learned something else about God here, Exodus three eight, the next verse, God rescues, but it's in his time. And a lot of times that doesn't line up exactly.

with how we want things to go or how we want things to pan out or immediately like, Hey, this is my timeline. And we don't know exactly why or when as we're in these moments, but we can lean into a God and trust a God and know that God does see God does hear. God does know, and he rescues. He delivers in his time.

He's a God who isn't blind, isn't deaf, and isn't aloof, or he doesn't, it's not like he doesn't know what's going on. You can trust that God who sees ears and knows and rescues. Last thing here in Exodus three 10, God partners with humans. He partners with broken lowly. Unqualified humans to accomplish his will.

He works to transform humans into people who accomplish his good work on this earth and bring his kingdom to earth. So he works. He wants to work through his children. He wants to work through you and me to bring his kingdom here on earth to do good works

and he wants good for his children. And that's really the power as we finish up here this morning. That is the power of God's presence in our lives. And sometimes, like if we look here, Moses initially reacts to. With an objection, God's, it's like God's saying all of these different things, like, I'm gonna have you rescue my people.

I'm going to do all of these different things, and, and you're gonna be the person that I do this through. Moses immediately says, we can go to the next slide. Um, Moses immediately has an objection and he says, who am I? Who am I that I should do all of these different things? And if you keep reading in chapter three, Moses has objection, after objection, after objection.

And it's like he's completely focused on himself. And it's like you want to take him and shake him, you know, and say, Moses, stop focusing on yourself so much. But man, do I do that , like, if you're like me, you do that too. And it's like you, we, I, I focus on my insufficiencies my inadequacies and think like, but how, you know, I can't.

And if you have those thoughts right now of like, well, how can God through me, like, how could God want a relationship with me? I can't do this. I can't do that. Pay attention to how God answers Moses'. Objection. He doesn't say, but Moses, you just don't understand. You have so much undeveloped ability in and of yourself.

You just gotta tap into that. And he doesn't say, you know, Hey Moses, what, whatever you put your mind to, you can do. You know, as we step into these New Year's resolutions, like if you, if you're making any kind of New Year's resolutions and you're like, you are wondering, you know, can I, can I think about how God answers Moses?

Moses says, who am I? And God says, but I'll be with you, but I'll be with you. I am present. It's my presence. That is your power. So as , as we step into a new year, hear that, if you're wondering about your insufficiencies, you're inadequately and you're like, how's this gonna happen? I don't know what God is calling you to or what he's calling to change in your life.

I, I know he's calling for change in my life cuz I know I haven't arrived there yet. And I know that the power for me to be able to do that is because of his presence in my life. And that's what he says to his children. I am present with you. I will be with you. God's not staying there on that mountain and saying, Moses, you gotta get back to me.

He's going with Moses saying, I'll be with you and I will bring you back. His last thing here is he's not going to fail. God won't fail, and he says to Moses, the sign that you'll know that I sent you and did all this is that you'll be back here with my people worshiping me. , like what I say is going to happen doesn't mean it's an easy road.

I don't think Moses thought he was gonna go in there and do the whole 10 plagues. Like if you read the rest of the story, it's not an easy journey at all. But Moses, like the last 20 chapters of Exodus, are all about Moses and the Israelites worshiping God there at that mountain. God will do. What he says he will.

He will accomplish his will, and he wants to partner with you and me. He wants to partner with humans who are available, not qualified, maybe not sufficient, in and of ourselves. All of those things are true, but are you available? Am I available for God to partner with us? He wants to partner to do his will in this world.

So as we look forward to another year with a mix of excitement and exhaustion, you can lean into the God who sees the God, guy who hears, the guy who knows you, the God who rescues in his time, the God who wants to partner with. To accomplish his will in this world. The God who is present with you, as you consider your own shortcomings and inadequacies, hear God say, but, but I'm with you.

And I don't know if that means you need to, you know what? What is God saying to you? You need to leave your job. You need to stay in your job. Do you need to maybe just like we were saying, like Randy was talking about, do we need to make room some way for God to work? Maybe that means you, you change the way you drive.

I don't know. We're Jersey drivers. There's a lot of , right? Maybe that means you change your spending habits. Yeah. I, I don't know what it means. I just know. That God wants to work and change us into people that do His will, that do his good in this world. So let's resolve to make room for God to understand that there's power in his presence.

If you can stand up, we'll receive this benediction and be dismissed. Um, but just in the stillness of this moment, if you can close your eyes, close your eyes, maybe bow your heads. I've said some things a few times this morning, if you're a child of God, if you're a child of God, if you're a child of God, and if you're wondering right now, am I a child of God?

It's as simple as this,

do you believe. Do you want to be a child of God? And do you believe that Jesus came to earth, died for your sins, rose again? Do you believe that? And do you say, Jesus, you are my king. I submit to you. I'm not my king. You are my king. If you've done that in the past, if you've just done that right now, if you do that later, you're a child of God.

You are his. You belong to him.

I couldn't think of a, I couldn't write a better benediction than what Paul said to the Ephesian. So as we're dismissed, just listen to this and receive this. I bow my knees before the father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory, he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith that you being rooted and grounded in love may have strength to comprehend with all the saints, including Moses, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Now go in peace, being rooted and grounded in the love of Christ. You're dismissed.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-power-of-gods-presence d95724b4-be0e-4697-b850-d225ecbb1c7c Sun, 01 Jan 2023 14:14:32 GMT <div data-html="true">Exodus 3:1-12 <br /><br /> “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> Good morning. Good morning. Happy New Year. Happy New Year, 2023. Wow. Wow. Uh, happy New Year. So I, uh, I was under the impression that they canceled the 10 30 service so I could preach longer, but I was informed that is not the case. So , we'll, we'll keep it short in compact. I know there's probably some of you that made it to midnight last night. <br /><br /> I was not one . I haven't, I can't remember the last time I made it to midnight and I can't say I miss it too much. So we're gonna dive right in. Exodus three, one through 12 is our text this morning. If, uh, you don't have a Bible with you or on your phone, uh, there's a Bible in the pew in front of you. It's page 43. <br /><br /> Uh, if you can follow along as I read, <br /><br /> Exodus three, one to 12. Now, Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian. He led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horrib the mountain of God. The angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked and behold the bush was burning. <br /><br /> It was not consumed. Moses said, I'll turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned. When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush. Moses. Moses, and he said, here I am. Then he said, do not come near. Take your sandals off your feet for the place on which you are standing as holy ground. <br /><br /> And he said, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hit his face where he was afraid to look at God. Then the Lord. I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their task masters. I know their sufferings and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land. <br /><br /> A land flowing with milk and honey to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the parasites, the Hivites and the Jees. And now behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me. And I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. Come. I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel out of Egypt. <br /><br /> Moses said to God, who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt? He said, but I will be with you. , and this shall be the sign for you that I have sent you. When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain man. As we get ready to embark on a new year, 2023, and maybe some of you are looking at this and you're excited, you're ready to go. <br /><br /> You're, you've got some things on the calendar. Maybe you got a, a new role at work, a new promotion, some new responsibilities, something's happening. You're excited. Ready, ready for 2023. Maybe some of you are not in that space. Maybe some of you are like, man, I'm still trying to process 2020. You know, , it's like, I'm with you there. <br /><br /> It's like there's been so much change and upheaval, and maybe you're in a space where there's been some loss. Maybe there's been some tough things in your life and you're trying to figure some things out. Maybe, maybe there's some things in your past. that you can't seem to get by, you can't seem to get over, can't seem to get past. <br /><br /> Maybe there's some things that people have said to you, ways people have treated you. Maybe there's some things you've done that you or, or said yourself that you can't get by. We're gonna look today and see from this text exactly what it means for God to be present with us. Even in, you know, no matter where you are, you're ready to go or you're, you're a little bit drawn back from, from where your life has led you to this point. <br /><br /> We're gonna see from this text, the power of God's presence in our lives, and we're gonna look at this through the lens of Moses who we just read about. We got a couple questions to look at first. First, how does Moses view himself? And I want you to think as we dive into this passage and really consider this for, from how Moses is, uh, viewing this, how do you view yourself? <br /><br /> How do you view yourself in relation to other people in relation to God? And we'll take a look first at how Moses views himself. Just have that question in mind. So first to consider this how Moses views himself. We gotta do a real quick recap and maybe some of you are familiar with the story of Moses, but I just wanna refresh our memories very quickly. <br /><br /> So Moses is born a Hebrew, he's in Israelite. He's born a Hebrew in Egypt. During a time when the Hebrews are ens, In Egypt, and we just sang a lot about that. But the, the Hebrews are oppressed by the Egyptians, and Moses is born into a Hebrew family, and then through a series of events, he ends up being adopted by Pharaoh's daughter. <br /><br /> And so he's part of Pharaoh's household. He's raised actually as an Egyptian prince. And then when he's about 40 years old, after coming up in this Egyptian house, this, uh, this fair, like, he's, he's, he's got a, a good life as good a life as anybody can have in Egypt, when he is about 40 years old. The Bible says in Acts seven Stephen's speech that it came into his heart to go see his people, his, his Hebrew brothers and sisters. <br /><br /> And he goes out and he sees an Egyptian beating, an Israelite, and that enrages him. And he takes matters into his own hands. He takes vengeance into his own hands and he ends up killing this Egyptian. I don't know if that's, that was on purpose or I don't know if that's something that maybe Moses just didn't know his own strength and he had a good right cross. <br /><br /> You know, who knows? But regardless, this Egyptian is dead because of Moses. And Moses didn't watch csi. Like he didn't, he didn't know how to cover up all the evidence. Like he left some evidence and people found out. So the next day he goes out to see the Hebrews again, and he sees a Hebrew beating up another Hebrew, and he is like, yo, what are you guys doing? <br /><br /> And this Hebrew that's beating up the other Hebrews says, who made you ruler and judge over us? What are you gonna do? Are you gonna kill me? Like you killed that Egyptian? And Moses is like, oh no, people know. And that freaks him out. And then he finds out, Pharaoh knows about it, and Pharaoh's like, Hey, Moses is a dead man. <br /><br /> You're dead. So Pharaoh wants to kill Moses. This thing's out. Moses gets out of there, he gets out of Egypt, he hightails it out of there, and he finds himself in a place called Midian. And he meets this family. He ends up marrying one of their daughters, having a couple sons. He settles down in this land of Midian, and that's where we meet him. <br /><br /> In our text, we started off saying Moses was keeping the flocks of his father-in-law, Jethro. So how does Moses view himself? Is he a Hebrew? Is he an Egyptian? Is he Midianite? Is he a slave? Is he a prince? Is he a shepherd? Who or what is he? And maybe, maybe you have some of these same feelings in your own life. <br /><br /> Like, maybe there's a sense of, you know, like, uh, where do I fit in? Where do I belong? And we get a, a quick glit window or insight into how Moses views himself in Exodus 2 22. I'll just read this quickly. <br /><br /> Uh, it says here, she's zPo, who's wife gave birth to a son, and he, Moses called his name germ. Germ. Sounds like the Hebrew word for Sojourner. He called his name germ before he said, I've been a sojourner in a foreign land. So Moses views himself. This is your first couple blanks here. Moses views himself as a sojourner in a foreign land, and at this point, like he's 40 when he leaves. <br /><br /> He's 80 at the burning bush, and he had germ somewhere in between there. But regardless, like he's a grown man. He's a grown man, and he has this sense of I don't fit in and I don't belong. I don't know who my people are. And I'm sure like the last thing in his mind, like what's ringing in his ears. The last thing that we have recorded that a Hebrew said to him is, you're not one of us. <br /><br /> Like who made you ruler and judge over us. You don't belong to us. And then if he's looking at his Egyptian family, like Pharaoh, like the house that he grew up in, he wants to kill him. Like where does he belong? Who is he? And if you can relate to that, pay attention to this. This next thing. How does God view Moses? <br /><br /> That's our next, next thing to consider here. And if you're hearing these voices and there's things that you can't get, get by because maybe somebody has said something to you and there's pain there, and a lot of times people are speaking out of their own pain and that just rests with us and we can't get by it. <br /><br /> Or maybe there's something that you've done in your past, like think about Moses's life. I'm sure there was these senses of, I've just lost it all. I've thrown it all away. I I don't fit in, I don't belong. I'm just a stranger in a stranger land. And at it's at that point that God, God comes to Moses, God comes to Moses, and we have this burning bush. <br /><br /> Moses meets God here. Let's take a look at Exodus three, six. How does God introduce himself to Moses? He says, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, man. I think Moses needed to hear that and that I, I, I'm pretty confident of this. I did a little bit of study. I could probably do some more, but I, I think the only times that God introduces himself as I'm the God of your father, and it's God speaking and he's saying, I'm, I'm your God, is to Abraham, or sorry, to Isaac, to Jacob and to Moses. <br /><br /> I am the God of your father. And there's this sense of intimacy and inclusion. and belonging. And if you are sitting here having questions about who am I? Where do I belong, where do I fit in, understand that God says to his children, you belong to me. You're mine. And that's what he says to Moses, here, you're my child. <br /><br /> You belong to me. I am your father. I'm the God of your father. An another thing here, as Moses learns more about who God is, he learns more about himself. And it's in , it's in who God says Moses is. That's where his true identity is. So there's other voices that we can listen to and focus on or things in our past, things that people have said to us. <br /><br /> Shortcomings, failures, all of those types of things. We can listen to those voices. But God says, you're my child. If you are God's child, you are his. And that's where your identity is rooted. That's where you're grounded. You're grounded and rooted in God's love for you as his child. Hear that this morning. <br /><br /> One last thing to notice here, as Moses encounters God, he first is scared and he looks away. You, you pick up that, pick that up in, uh, Exodus three, six. Moses hides his face. He's, he meets God, looks at God. God introduces himself. And then Moses hides his face. He's scared. He stops looking at God, but he doesn't stop listening to God. <br /><br /> He stays there. If you're in this space of wondering what it is, sometimes it can be a little scary and intimidating to think, all right, I'm going to lean into a relationship with God and I, I don't feel worthy. I don't feel like I'm, I'm there. Don't, don't stop listening to God regardless of even feelings of fear or inadequacy. <br /><br /> Don't stop listening to God because you have a God who wants a relationship with you. Says you're if, if you're His child who wants this relationship with you, and look at Exodus 33 11, or you don't have to look at it. I'll just read it. Throughout Moses' life, he's introduced here, he meets God and God takes him on this incredible journey, and we get one glimpse in Exodus 33 11, it says that God and Moses used to speak to each other face to face. <br /><br /> As a man speaks to his friend. So Moses didn't stay in this space of being afraid of, you know, it's like he's brought along this relationship where he learns that God is his father, he is God's child, and God is the safest person for him to be in relationship with. He learns that about God. It didn't happen in the snap of a fingers He had, he was, he learned to trust God more and more and more. <br /><br /> And if you're a child of God, I, I can say that in my life that's been true. There's been times that I have been afraid of God and I've learned that God is the safest person in my life. <br /><br /> We learned some other things about who God is in this passage. That we'll keep, keep moving along here. So what do we learn about God and who he is here? Well, verses seven and nine, if you've ever wondered if God sees, hears or knows he, he does. Look at this, it says he sees, he hears and he knows his people. <br /><br /> And sometimes there's these questions of like, is God paying attention? Does God see? Does God hear? Does God know? And like I don't, I can't sense that at different times we learned something else about God here, Exodus three eight, the next verse, God rescues, but it's in his time. And a lot of times that doesn't line up exactly. <br /><br /> with how we want things to go or how we want things to pan out or immediately like, Hey, this is my timeline. And we don't know exactly why or when as we're in these moments, but we can lean into a God and trust a God and know that God does see God does hear. God does know, and he rescues. He delivers in his time. <br /><br /> He's a God who isn't blind, isn't deaf, and isn't aloof, or he doesn't, it's not like he doesn't know what's going on. You can trust that God who sees ears and knows and rescues. Last thing here in Exodus three 10, God partners with humans. He partners with broken lowly. Unqualified humans to accomplish his will. <br /><br /> He works to transform humans into people who accomplish his good work on this earth and bring his kingdom to earth. So he works. He wants to work through his children. He wants to work through you and me to bring his kingdom here on earth to do good works <br /><br /> and he wants good for his children. And that's really the power as we finish up here this morning. That is the power of God's presence in our lives. And sometimes, like if we look here, Moses initially reacts to. With an objection, God's, it's like God's saying all of these different things, like, I'm gonna have you rescue my people. <br /><br /> I'm going to do all of these different things, and, and you're gonna be the person that I do this through. Moses immediately says, we can go to the next slide. Um, Moses immediately has an objection and he says, who am I? Who am I that I should do all of these different things? And if you keep reading in chapter three, Moses has objection, after objection, after objection. <br /><br /> And it's like he's completely focused on himself. And it's like you want to take him and shake him, you know, and say, Moses, stop focusing on yourself so much. But man, do I do that , like, if you're like me, you do that too. And it's like you, we, I, I focus on my insufficiencies my inadequacies and think like, but how, you know, I can't. <br /><br /> And if you have those thoughts right now of like, well, how can God through me, like, how could God want a relationship with me? I can't do this. I can't do that. Pay attention to how God answers Moses'. Objection. He doesn't say, but Moses, you just don't understand. You have so much undeveloped ability in and of yourself. <br /><br /> You just gotta tap into that. And he doesn't say, you know, Hey Moses, what, whatever you put your mind to, you can do. You know, as we step into these New Year's resolutions, like if you, if you're making any kind of New Year's resolutions and you're like, you are wondering, you know, can I, can I think about how God answers Moses? <br /><br /> Moses says, who am I? And God says, but I'll be with you, but I'll be with you. I am present. It's my presence. That is your power. So as , as we step into a new year, hear that, if you're wondering about your insufficiencies, you're inadequately and you're like, how's this gonna happen? I don't know what God is calling you to or what he's calling to change in your life. <br /><br /> I, I know he's calling for change in my life cuz I know I haven't arrived there yet. And I know that the power for me to be able to do that is because of his presence in my life. And that's what he says to his children. I am present with you. I will be with you. God's not staying there on that mountain and saying, Moses, you gotta get back to me. <br /><br /> He's going with Moses saying, I'll be with you and I will bring you back. His last thing here is he's not going to fail. God won't fail, and he says to Moses, the sign that you'll know that I sent you and did all this is that you'll be back here with my people worshiping me. , like what I say is going to happen doesn't mean it's an easy road. <br /><br /> I don't think Moses thought he was gonna go in there and do the whole 10 plagues. Like if you read the rest of the story, it's not an easy journey at all. But Moses, like the last 20 chapters of Exodus, are all about Moses and the Israelites worshiping God there at that mountain. God will do. What he says he will. <br /><br /> He will accomplish his will, and he wants to partner with you and me. He wants to partner with humans who are available, not qualified, maybe not sufficient, in and of ourselves. All of those things are true, but are you available? Am I available for God to partner with us? He wants to partner to do his will in this world. <br /><br /> So as we look forward to another year with a mix of excitement and exhaustion, you can lean into the God who sees the God, guy who hears, the guy who knows you, the God who rescues in his time, the God who wants to partner with. To accomplish his will in this world. The God who is present with you, as you consider your own shortcomings and inadequacies, hear God say, but, but I'm with you. <br /><br /> And I don't know if that means you need to, you know what? What is God saying to you? You need to leave your job. You need to stay in your job. Do you need to maybe just like we were saying, like Randy was talking about, do we need to make room some way for God to work? Maybe that means you, you change the way you drive. <br /><br /> I don't know. We're Jersey drivers. There's a lot of , right? Maybe that means you change your spending habits. Yeah. I, I don't know what it means. I just know. That God wants to work and change us into people that do His will, that do his good in this world. So let's resolve to make room for God to understand that there's power in his presence. <br /><br /> If you can stand up, we'll receive this benediction and be dismissed. Um, but just in the stillness of this moment, if you can close your eyes, close your eyes, maybe bow your heads. I've said some things a few times this morning, if you're a child of God, if you're a child of God, if you're a child of God, and if you're wondering right now, am I a child of God? <br /><br /> It's as simple as this, <br /><br /> do you believe. Do you want to be a child of God? And do you believe that Jesus came to earth, died for your sins, rose again? Do you believe that? And do you say, Jesus, you are my king. I submit to you. I'm not my king. You are my king. If you've done that in the past, if you've just done that right now, if you do that later, you're a child of God. <br /><br /> You are his. You belong to him. <br /><br /> I couldn't think of a, I couldn't write a better benediction than what Paul said to the Ephesian. So as we're dismissed, just listen to this and receive this. I bow my knees before the father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory, he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith that you being rooted and grounded in love may have strength to comprehend with all the saints, including Moses, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. <br /><br /> Now go in peace, being rooted and grounded in the love of Christ. You're dismissed.</div> false no <![CDATA[The Faithful Witness]]> Revelation 1:4

John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth.



Sermon Transcript:

We're gonna be looking a again this morning at our last of, of the series, we're looking at the glory of Jesus from the Book of Revelation, some of the titles that are there.

And we've looked at a number that were actually in that song. Uh, we've looked at Jesus that he came as a king, that he was the lion of Judah, that he. The root of David. We've looked at him that he came as a lamb, he was a savior, a deliverer. We've looked at some other titles that are there, but today we're looking at the very first one that is mentioned in the book of Revelation.

He came as a faithful witness. He, here's what we read in Revelation chapter one, verse four and five, John to the seven churches that are in. Grace to you and peace from him. Who is and who was, and who is to come. And from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead and the ruler of kings on Earth.

Lord,

we've just declared your worthiness.

And it is in your name. It is because of your work. It is because you came as the faithful witness to what you had seen and known that we gathered this morning on this Christmas day. Lord Jesus, even in these few moments together, exalt yourself in Jesus' name I pray. Amen. It is Christmas, and of course it is the focus of Christmas that Jesus come into the world, but Jesus himself is the one that actually takes the sense of this title and puts it into the Christmas account.

We're told in John chapter 18, verse 37, when he was standing before Pilate, he said this to Pilate. I came into the world to testify. To the truth. The word testify is the word to bear witness. It means that someone is brought into a courtroom and they there are brought as a primary witness. Jesus says, I came into the world to be a witness, and that concept is what we're talking about this morning.

To celebrate Christmas this morning is to celebrate the faithful witness. Coming to our world. Two simple questions this morning. In a simple study, what is a faithful witness? What does it mean? And secondly, what does he bear witness to as this witness? What is a faithful witness? What does that term mean?

Well, a couple of things. It means he is an eye witness in courtrooms. There are various levels of witness that is accepted. There are at least. one. The most prominent is the eyewitness account, the person that actually saw it and experienced the, the, the crime that was done or the, the professed crime. A second one is what's called a secondary witness, that you heard this person say, uh, that, that, that they did this or this was going on, and so they can bring, bring, brought in as a secondary witness.

Of course, it's a, it's a lesser weighty witness. , you can bring in an expert witness and the person, maybe they came in, maybe they're a psychiatrist or a psychologist, and they can testify, well, here's the things that were going on, and based on what's going on in their lives, their, their behavior is understandable in this situation and be all kinds of of expert witnesses.

And then the last one can be a character witness where someone, you gather people and they just come and say, this is so out of character to the way that they have ever behaved in all the life we've done. All of those can be acceptable witness that are brought into a court case and a and a trial. But the most powerful, of course, is the eyewitness.

The person that says, I saw it, I experienced it. I was there. Jesus was an eyewitness of what he's going to be talking about in John chapter three, verse 32. Jesus says this talking of himself, he who comes from heaven is above all he bears witness to what he has seen and he has heard. The infant in the manger has come as an eyewitness from heaven.

Now, of course, at first thing swing, this doesn't seem that. If you're in a court of law and all of a sudden this 14 year old girl comes in and she's carrying an infant, and they announce the, the, the, the defense announced, well, this is th this is our witness. Our witnesses arrived. And the prosecuting attorney says, I, you know, I object.

I mean, this is a 14 year old girl. We, uh, and what is she? And they say, oh, no, no, no problem. No problem. It's not the 14 year old girl. It's the infant that's going to be the witness. Well say, well, okay, that's not a very compelling witness, but in this case it is because during the years of Jesus sojourn on Earth, it will become clear that he has a growing self-awareness and a recall of events.

Places and individuals that extend into a measureless past. By the time he began his public ministry, he is fully aware that he has existed beyond creation itself. He came to bear witness to what he had seen and heard in the far recesses of eternity. He's an eyewitness to those things. He is a trustworthy witness.

You know, it's one thing to be able to have observed something, and to me, an eyewitness to it. It's another thing to tell what you accu tell accurately what you experienced and what you saw. Jesus is a trustworthy witness because he always tells the truth. A faithful witness can be counted on to give a reliable t.

One of the most distressing things that is going on in our culture, to me anyway is, is, is the perspective that it seems so many public figures have that they don't really have to tell the truth unless they're under oath in a court as if any other time. It's not a, it's not required to, to be a verifiable, reliable witness.

Well, Jesus actually, uh, spoke to. In his sermon on the Mount, and here's what he said, he said, again, you have heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn. But I say to you, and that's his way of saying that's not the standard. The the standard isn't that when you, when you're in a court of law, you have to tell the truth.

Here's what he. But I say don't, do not take an oath at all either by heaven, for it is the throne of God or by the earth for is his foot in his stool or by Jerusalem For it's the city of the Great King. And do not take an oath on your head for you cannot make one hair white or black. Here's what he says.

Let what you say, be simply yes or no. Be a reliable witness, not just under oath, because now you are legally bound to your. Always tell the truth. Always be a person that is a truth teller. Jesus tells the truth always. He's a reliable witness, a trustworthy witness also because he always says the most appropriate things.

This statement is made by John Watts Watson, whose pen name was Ian McLaren. No one has yet discovered the word Jesus ought to have. None suggested the better word he might have said. No action of his shocks, our moral sense, none has fallen short of the ideal. He is full of surprises, but they are all surprises of perfection.

He always says the most appropriate things. Now, of course, we don't do that. We've all had enumerable conversations where we say, ah, this is what I should have said, or This is what I wish I had said, or, or I spoke emotionally out of, out of anger, or I lied, I exaggerated. I framed it. So it wasn't as bad as it really was, but Jesus is the faithful, trustworthy witness.

He always says the appropriate thing. He always gives a trustworthy. Every word is true. Every word is essential and nothing needed is missing. All that's involved when it says Jesus is the faithful witness. But what does Jesus bear witness to when he says, I came into the world to be a witness? A witness of what Well we're.

He bear was witness, first of all, to the nature of God. In John chapter one, it says this, as John records, the same one that is calling them him repeatedly in the book of Revelation, the faithful witness. This is how he describes Jesus in John chapter one. Truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God.

The only God who is at the father's side, he has made him known. Nobody's ever seen God. He says, but God, God the Son who's at the side of God the Father, he has made him known own. Jesus declares to us God. He bears witness to God in his teaching. But he also does it in his actions and behavior. He is called the low goss of God.

In this chapter of John chapter one, the word He is the Word for God. Now, I chose that statement intentionally. I didn't say the word of God. He is the word for God. If I said the word, What just jumped into your mind is something that looks sort of like that. You may have an elaborate pen. You may have a quill pen, but basically it was a pen.

It's a writing utensil. The word that expresses that object is pen. I could say fork. And immediately it's come into your mind. This metal thing with four prongs that you eat lunch. I could say hot air balloon, and you have a whole different visual. There's a word that expresses all that. This thing is Jesus is that word.

He is the expression of God. And and, and he says he's the very low Gus visualizing God. If you want to know God. Spend time meditating on Jesus, his teaching, his conversation, his interactions, his responses, all witness to who God is. He's the very word that expresses who God is, the visual of who he is.

Jesus declares to us God, but he also bears witness. To the will of God. Jesus declared the will of the Father in his teaching. He tells us what that will is. Again, I'm reading from the Gospel of John, John six, verse 40. He says this, for this is the will of my father. That everyone who looks on the sun and believes in him should have eternal life and I'll raise him up on the last day.

Jesus came to provide a way for people to have eternal life. He says here in John six 40, he continually bears witness that the Father wills people to have that life. It was the will of the Father that consumed Jesus as he entered the world this morning. Consider what Jesus said to his father. As he came into the world, one of my favorite Christmas texts is Hebrews chapter 10, because it actually pulls back the curtain of heaven and tells us when Jesus came as an infant to Beth in that Bethlehem manger, what he was expressing to the father as he came.

It's an amazing passage. Here's what he said. When Christ came into the world, Emmy ring, Hebrews chapter 10, verses five through seven. He said, sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body you have prepared for me in burn offerings and sin offerings. You have taken no pleasure. Then I said, behold, I have come to do your will.

Oh. That's your Christmas text as you sit there this morning, maybe in your pajamas, and celebrate together as a family. As we do so here in this room, what Christmas is, is Jesus saying, I'm coming to bear witness to who God is. I'm coming also to bear witness to the plan of God. I'm that plan. I'm coming.

And what has been prepared for you? Me is a. To take the place of the bodies, of, of animals that have been the sacrificial offerings to cover the sins of people. And he goes on in that passage, says, once you have to do it every year, in some case you have to repeat it multiple times. He says, but I'm coming to provide one sacrifice forever.

He said, I'm coming to declare this is the father's will. This is, this is my, my message as the low of God. Is that my father is sending me because he wills people to know him, to walk with him, to enjoy him, to do eternity with him, and he prepared a body for me that that body could grow and live and fulfill all righteousness for 30 something years.

And then that, that. Could be slain as I became the lamb, the sacrifice that takes away the sin of the world. All that embraced me as their savior. And he says, this is my declaration. I've come to bear witness. This is who my father is like, and this is what my father wills, that people would know him through me.

Jesus came to be the faithful witness. To testify to what God is like and what God wants to offer. Sinners, broken people who need forgiveness and healing. But don't take it from me. Why not use going into this new year in January to take a book of the Bible, like the Book of Luke, and just for a month read chapter every day and reflect upon.

The testimony regarding Christ to look at it, to, to, to, to watch the fantastic series, the passion that is basically walking us through the Book of Luke and just look and listen to what Jesus is saying. I'm bearing witness to the one I've known from eternity past. This is who he is. This is what he's like.

I'm declaring his character as I walk among you, but also I'm declaring his plan, his will, that he wants people to know him and to have life with him. And I've come on this Christmas morning saying to my father, as, as I'm coming to this planet, I'm coming to do your will and it's done in a body that you've prepared for me.

Jesus great Christmas present to us is himself. He came to be the faithful witness to bear testimony to what he knows of the father, and to reveal and fulfill the father's will for our salvation and to us. He then says, Merry Christmas. I am the gift. He is given himself. Lord,

I thank you that you came the reliable, trustworthy witness, that you're bearing witness to what you have known into the very recesses of eternity.

You showed it in your life, in your responses. in your words, you showed us the father, you showed us God, and then to realize that you've come to show us the father's heart in his plan, that we would know him, that we would do eternity with him, do life with him forever.

We worship you this morning on this Christmas. as the faithful witness. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Merry Christmas everybody. Merry.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-faithful-witness 761a0890-b675-482c-a8f9-24b0b5ff653a Sun, 25 Dec 2022 12:03:39 GMT <div data-html="true">Revelation 1:4 <br /><br /> John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> We're gonna be looking a again this morning at our last of, of the series, we're looking at the glory of Jesus from the Book of Revelation, some of the titles that are there. <br /><br /> And we've looked at a number that were actually in that song. Uh, we've looked at Jesus that he came as a king, that he was the lion of Judah, that he. The root of David. We've looked at him that he came as a lamb, he was a savior, a deliverer. We've looked at some other titles that are there, but today we're looking at the very first one that is mentioned in the book of Revelation. <br /><br /> He came as a faithful witness. He, here's what we read in Revelation chapter one, verse four and five, John to the seven churches that are in. Grace to you and peace from him. Who is and who was, and who is to come. And from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead and the ruler of kings on Earth. <br /><br /> Lord, <br /><br /> we've just declared your worthiness. <br /><br /> And it is in your name. It is because of your work. It is because you came as the faithful witness to what you had seen and known that we gathered this morning on this Christmas day. Lord Jesus, even in these few moments together, exalt yourself in Jesus' name I pray. Amen. It is Christmas, and of course it is the focus of Christmas that Jesus come into the world, but Jesus himself is the one that actually takes the sense of this title and puts it into the Christmas account. <br /><br /> We're told in John chapter 18, verse 37, when he was standing before Pilate, he said this to Pilate. I came into the world to testify. To the truth. The word testify is the word to bear witness. It means that someone is brought into a courtroom and they there are brought as a primary witness. Jesus says, I came into the world to be a witness, and that concept is what we're talking about this morning. <br /><br /> To celebrate Christmas this morning is to celebrate the faithful witness. Coming to our world. Two simple questions this morning. In a simple study, what is a faithful witness? What does it mean? And secondly, what does he bear witness to as this witness? What is a faithful witness? What does that term mean? <br /><br /> Well, a couple of things. It means he is an eye witness in courtrooms. There are various levels of witness that is accepted. There are at least. one. The most prominent is the eyewitness account, the person that actually saw it and experienced the, the, the crime that was done or the, the professed crime. A second one is what's called a secondary witness, that you heard this person say, uh, that, that, that they did this or this was going on, and so they can bring, bring, brought in as a secondary witness. <br /><br /> Of course, it's a, it's a lesser weighty witness. , you can bring in an expert witness and the person, maybe they came in, maybe they're a psychiatrist or a psychologist, and they can testify, well, here's the things that were going on, and based on what's going on in their lives, their, their behavior is understandable in this situation and be all kinds of of expert witnesses. <br /><br /> And then the last one can be a character witness where someone, you gather people and they just come and say, this is so out of character to the way that they have ever behaved in all the life we've done. All of those can be acceptable witness that are brought into a court case and a and a trial. But the most powerful, of course, is the eyewitness. <br /><br /> The person that says, I saw it, I experienced it. I was there. Jesus was an eyewitness of what he's going to be talking about in John chapter three, verse 32. Jesus says this talking of himself, he who comes from heaven is above all he bears witness to what he has seen and he has heard. The infant in the manger has come as an eyewitness from heaven. <br /><br /> Now, of course, at first thing swing, this doesn't seem that. If you're in a court of law and all of a sudden this 14 year old girl comes in and she's carrying an infant, and they announce the, the, the, the defense announced, well, this is th this is our witness. Our witnesses arrived. And the prosecuting attorney says, I, you know, I object. <br /><br /> I mean, this is a 14 year old girl. We, uh, and what is she? And they say, oh, no, no, no problem. No problem. It's not the 14 year old girl. It's the infant that's going to be the witness. Well say, well, okay, that's not a very compelling witness, but in this case it is because during the years of Jesus sojourn on Earth, it will become clear that he has a growing self-awareness and a recall of events. <br /><br /> Places and individuals that extend into a measureless past. By the time he began his public ministry, he is fully aware that he has existed beyond creation itself. He came to bear witness to what he had seen and heard in the far recesses of eternity. He's an eyewitness to those things. He is a trustworthy witness. <br /><br /> You know, it's one thing to be able to have observed something, and to me, an eyewitness to it. It's another thing to tell what you accu tell accurately what you experienced and what you saw. Jesus is a trustworthy witness because he always tells the truth. A faithful witness can be counted on to give a reliable t. <br /><br /> One of the most distressing things that is going on in our culture, to me anyway is, is, is the perspective that it seems so many public figures have that they don't really have to tell the truth unless they're under oath in a court as if any other time. It's not a, it's not required to, to be a verifiable, reliable witness. <br /><br /> Well, Jesus actually, uh, spoke to. In his sermon on the Mount, and here's what he said, he said, again, you have heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn. But I say to you, and that's his way of saying that's not the standard. The the standard isn't that when you, when you're in a court of law, you have to tell the truth. <br /><br /> Here's what he. But I say don't, do not take an oath at all either by heaven, for it is the throne of God or by the earth for is his foot in his stool or by Jerusalem For it's the city of the Great King. And do not take an oath on your head for you cannot make one hair white or black. Here's what he says. <br /><br /> Let what you say, be simply yes or no. Be a reliable witness, not just under oath, because now you are legally bound to your. Always tell the truth. Always be a person that is a truth teller. Jesus tells the truth always. He's a reliable witness, a trustworthy witness also because he always says the most appropriate things. <br /><br /> This statement is made by John Watts Watson, whose pen name was Ian McLaren. No one has yet discovered the word Jesus ought to have. None suggested the better word he might have said. No action of his shocks, our moral sense, none has fallen short of the ideal. He is full of surprises, but they are all surprises of perfection. <br /><br /> He always says the most appropriate things. Now, of course, we don't do that. We've all had enumerable conversations where we say, ah, this is what I should have said, or This is what I wish I had said, or, or I spoke emotionally out of, out of anger, or I lied, I exaggerated. I framed it. So it wasn't as bad as it really was, but Jesus is the faithful, trustworthy witness. <br /><br /> He always says the appropriate thing. He always gives a trustworthy. Every word is true. Every word is essential and nothing needed is missing. All that's involved when it says Jesus is the faithful witness. But what does Jesus bear witness to when he says, I came into the world to be a witness? A witness of what Well we're. <br /><br /> He bear was witness, first of all, to the nature of God. In John chapter one, it says this, as John records, the same one that is calling them him repeatedly in the book of Revelation, the faithful witness. This is how he describes Jesus in John chapter one. Truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. <br /><br /> The only God who is at the father's side, he has made him known. Nobody's ever seen God. He says, but God, God the Son who's at the side of God the Father, he has made him known own. Jesus declares to us God. He bears witness to God in his teaching. But he also does it in his actions and behavior. He is called the low goss of God. <br /><br /> In this chapter of John chapter one, the word He is the Word for God. Now, I chose that statement intentionally. I didn't say the word of God. He is the word for God. If I said the word, What just jumped into your mind is something that looks sort of like that. You may have an elaborate pen. You may have a quill pen, but basically it was a pen. <br /><br /> It's a writing utensil. The word that expresses that object is pen. I could say fork. And immediately it's come into your mind. This metal thing with four prongs that you eat lunch. I could say hot air balloon, and you have a whole different visual. There's a word that expresses all that. This thing is Jesus is that word. <br /><br /> He is the expression of God. And and, and he says he's the very low Gus visualizing God. If you want to know God. Spend time meditating on Jesus, his teaching, his conversation, his interactions, his responses, all witness to who God is. He's the very word that expresses who God is, the visual of who he is. <br /><br /> Jesus declares to us God, but he also bears witness. To the will of God. Jesus declared the will of the Father in his teaching. He tells us what that will is. Again, I'm reading from the Gospel of John, John six, verse 40. He says this, for this is the will of my father. That everyone who looks on the sun and believes in him should have eternal life and I'll raise him up on the last day. <br /><br /> Jesus came to provide a way for people to have eternal life. He says here in John six 40, he continually bears witness that the Father wills people to have that life. It was the will of the Father that consumed Jesus as he entered the world this morning. Consider what Jesus said to his father. As he came into the world, one of my favorite Christmas texts is Hebrews chapter 10, because it actually pulls back the curtain of heaven and tells us when Jesus came as an infant to Beth in that Bethlehem manger, what he was expressing to the father as he came. <br /><br /> It's an amazing passage. Here's what he said. When Christ came into the world, Emmy ring, Hebrews chapter 10, verses five through seven. He said, sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body you have prepared for me in burn offerings and sin offerings. You have taken no pleasure. Then I said, behold, I have come to do your will. <br /><br /> Oh. That's your Christmas text as you sit there this morning, maybe in your pajamas, and celebrate together as a family. As we do so here in this room, what Christmas is, is Jesus saying, I'm coming to bear witness to who God is. I'm coming also to bear witness to the plan of God. I'm that plan. I'm coming. <br /><br /> And what has been prepared for you? Me is a. To take the place of the bodies, of, of animals that have been the sacrificial offerings to cover the sins of people. And he goes on in that passage, says, once you have to do it every year, in some case you have to repeat it multiple times. He says, but I'm coming to provide one sacrifice forever. <br /><br /> He said, I'm coming to declare this is the father's will. This is, this is my, my message as the low of God. Is that my father is sending me because he wills people to know him, to walk with him, to enjoy him, to do eternity with him, and he prepared a body for me that that body could grow and live and fulfill all righteousness for 30 something years. <br /><br /> And then that, that. Could be slain as I became the lamb, the sacrifice that takes away the sin of the world. All that embraced me as their savior. And he says, this is my declaration. I've come to bear witness. This is who my father is like, and this is what my father wills, that people would know him through me. <br /><br /> Jesus came to be the faithful witness. To testify to what God is like and what God wants to offer. Sinners, broken people who need forgiveness and healing. But don't take it from me. Why not use going into this new year in January to take a book of the Bible, like the Book of Luke, and just for a month read chapter every day and reflect upon. <br /><br /> The testimony regarding Christ to look at it, to, to, to, to watch the fantastic series, the passion that is basically walking us through the Book of Luke and just look and listen to what Jesus is saying. I'm bearing witness to the one I've known from eternity past. This is who he is. This is what he's like. <br /><br /> I'm declaring his character as I walk among you, but also I'm declaring his plan, his will, that he wants people to know him and to have life with him. And I've come on this Christmas morning saying to my father, as, as I'm coming to this planet, I'm coming to do your will and it's done in a body that you've prepared for me. <br /><br /> Jesus great Christmas present to us is himself. He came to be the faithful witness to bear testimony to what he knows of the father, and to reveal and fulfill the father's will for our salvation and to us. He then says, Merry Christmas. I am the gift. He is given himself. Lord, <br /><br /> I thank you that you came the reliable, trustworthy witness, that you're bearing witness to what you have known into the very recesses of eternity. <br /><br /> You showed it in your life, in your responses. in your words, you showed us the father, you showed us God, and then to realize that you've come to show us the father's heart in his plan, that we would know him, that we would do eternity with him, do life with him forever. <br /><br /> We worship you this morning on this Christmas. as the faithful witness. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Merry Christmas everybody. Merry.</div> false no <![CDATA[The Root of David]]> Revelation 22

“I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.”



Sermon Transcript:

Revelation 22. And I'd like to read verses 12 through 16.

Behold, I'm coming soon, bringing my recompense with me to repay each one for, excuse me. Yeah, for each one what he has done. I am the Alpha nu Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. Blessed are those who wash their robes so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates.

outside of the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolators, and everyone who loves and practices his falsehood, I Jesus have sent my angel to testify to you about these things. For the churches, I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright Morning Star. Let's pray  together.

Lord, our desire today in gathering is that you would receive glory in the highest places, the places that you inhabit. Lord, we pray that even as we open your word now and as reflect upon the scriptures, that God, you would guide us, that you would speak truth into us regarding what this title of Jesus means, the root of David, the descendant of David.

Lord glorify yourself today. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen. What I'm gonna do this morning is I'm going to talk about this particular, uh, title, um, and then I'm going at the end add three particular ramifications I think for our lives as a result of that. We've been highlighting in this series that the book of Revelation was actually written at the end of the first century in 95 AD approximately at a time when the church was facing great opposition and persecution.

It was written as a message of encouragement to people that were struggling to not despair in the face of hard times. It enabled these Christian disciples to lift their eyes from their circumstances, disappointments, confusion. To a person and the person is Jesus Christ. And in this book there are a about 30 different ways Jesus is described.

We have been looking at some of those titles of Jesus Christ that were designed to give encouragement, support, strength in the midst of the stuff of life. They show the glory of Jesus as depicted in these titles. And some of those we've looked at was initially Alpha and Omega, that he is both the creator and the culmination.

It just doesn't mean that Jesus is first and he's also last. It is because in eternity there are all humans will be in an eternal state. It's saying the uniqueness of Christ is that he was creator God. He was first, but that everything, he is the beginning of the Greek alphabet, but he is also what every part of, of life and history is pointing.

He is the omega. He is the culmination of it all. He's the lion of Judah. And Pastor Jared talked about this, that he is the defender and he is our sovereign. He is both the king of our lives, but is also the lion that is directing our lives upon, uh, before whom we subject our wills. He is the lamb. And Pastor Mike talked.

He was the sacrifice and savior worthy, the only unworthy to open the seals revealing the plans and purposes of God the father, because he is the one who did the father's work in purchasing by his own blood. People who now know and serve God. This morning we're looking at. The root of David, that he is both the ancestor of David and he is the offspring of David.

We'll look at what that's about. Our focus today is actually verse 16. I Jesus have sent my angel to you with this testimony for the churches. I am the root and the offspring or descendant of David and the bright and mourning star. Our sermon this morning is gonna try to explain these titles and then to bring those three ramifications to our lives.

First of all, he is the root of David. Jesus is the ancestor of David and the source of his kingdom. He's the root. Jesus preceded David. My father-in-law was a, uh, science professor in a college and, uh, had his doctorate in biology. Mainly his field of study was botany, the study of plants. Um, when I first started out in my preaching ministry, um, I would often bring in history illustrations, illustrations from books I was reading, and I would dabble a little bit in science illustrations.

My wife was regularly mortified because somehow I always got the science illustrations just a little bit off. This was her background with her dad, but I'm waiting in again today to the field of botany. David Jesus is the root of David. If you take an acorn, and you know how an acorn can make this towering oak, it can take over a hundred years.

But basically when the acorn goes into the ground, the first thing that comes out of the acorn one, it is, it has germinated, is the roots. The roots go down. They begin to provide the, the nutrients, the, the, the, the life, the water that is necessary. And out of that, then will come the stem, which will burst through the, the, the surface of the ground.

And you will have an oak tree. The root is first, you can't have this, this towering tree. Without the roots being the, the initial part of that germinating process, the roots precede the tree. Jesus is saying, I proceed, David. I am the root of David. I am the root of the kingdom. He is here declaring clearly his role as God, that I'm the one that chose David.

I'm the one that appointed him. I'm the one that was before him, this entire tree of the family of David. And, and the promised, uh, monarchy that would come out of him way back in 1000 bc He said I was the one that chose him, designed him, called him. I preceded David. I'm his route. Secondly, as the root, he also as the one that preserved David's kingdom roots live on even after a tree is felled.

If you, if you saw off a tree and it, it, there's, there's no, there's no, uh, foliage anymore. There's no fruit. There's no branches. But still there will be a root system that continues for a period of time. Jesus maintained. The Davidic line. Even in those seasons when the Davidic, uh, descendants were godless, which happened for generations, Jesus was sovereignly overseeing it, per, uh, preserving it, protecting heirs, even when they had rejected God themselves.

Jesus actually oversaw the preservation of the line of David until he himself was born from that line. It's a, it's a startling thing, but this is what he's saying. I'm the root of David, but I'm also the descendant, the offspring of David. The second title we see here in verse 16 of Revelation 22 is, I am the descendant or offspring of David.

Jesus is the son of David, an heir of his kingdom. and by that scripture presents a number of qualities that were true of Jesus Christ in that role. First of all, Jesus rescued the kingdom is a very fascinating verse in Isaiah 11, one, it says this, out of the stump of Jesse's family, and Jesse was the father of David.

It's a reference to David. Out of the stump of Jesse's family will grow a chute, a new branch that will flourish and bear fruit. This prophecy of the David Kingdom is built on a common phenomenon of seeming dead stumps. It's pictured in this, this visual, if we can bring that up. You see there, the little plant.

It's right. Uh, that plant is growing out, that shoot, that sprout. All of you have had this. Have you taken a tree out and a stump? Many times you'll have those shoots and they drive you crazy. Why do these things? I mean, I took this tree out. These shoots keep coming up. Eventually they'll die out if you keep cutting 'em off.

But the, the concept is Jesus Christ was the shoot. Now what's that talking about? Here's what it's talking about.

Many years ago, I, this is way illustrated to this. Many years ago I had heard a speech, it was actually when I was beginning to go into my ministry, um, I was looking towards church planning and I had been pastoring, uh, a small church in Indiana before I joined A B W E and went into church planning and I heard a guy speak and he was talking to people, pastors that were going into churches, particularly churches that were older and dying or, and just, uh, struggling.

And his talk was entitled, how to Grow a Living Tree Out of a Dead Stump. It was, it was a great talk. It's a talk I, I, I've tried to think back in the last couple of weeks. I would say I've, I've shared the story of that video, of that presentation that he, he gave probably 15 to 20 times in talking to pastors that are going into a church.

Uh, younger pastors that are starting out are intimidated because an existing church and they're not sure how to get it off the dime. It's sort of been struggling for a while. And basically this was his concept. He say the way you build a living tree out of a dead stump is you look for the chutes, that there's life that will come up from the root system around the side.

And he said, don't think you're gonna take that whole stump and immediately change the whole thing and get it following you and moving forward. He said, look for the living sprouts, the, the shoots. And what he meant was, look for people. That are, that you can invest your life in and start off by spending time with them and support them and build into them and have them become partners with you with such good counsel.

And basically he's saying they will then help you create an entire new tree. And part of those that are part of the stump will will join with you. Part of them will just sort of stay around. There'll probably be some that won't stay, but he said, invest your lives in the shoots where the life of the tree is manifesting itself Here, Jesse, they're talking about the stump of Jesse's family, which basically is talking about the Davidic line.

And Isaiah is using this to point towards what Jesus Christ would become. So how does that have to do with him as the son of David? Well, in this way, Jesse was the father of King David, whose descendants God promised, would have a throne forever. He told them that in about 1000 BC that was part of David Rain a few years after a thousand and a few years before a thousand bc as the centuries went by, the line got weaker and weaker until at last it was cut off basically from the throne altogether.

What happened is their last king, the last member of the Davidic line, was a guy named Zakiah. He was Godless as many of his, uh, the people before him. His predecessors had been, and he was, uh, taken into captivity. It was a horrible scene. They, the, uh, the Babylonians actually took him. They, they watched him.

They, they made him watch his two sons be slain and then they blinded him. And they kept him in captivity for the remainder of his life. This was the end of the Davidic throne as far as all of history knew. That was in about 585 BC for over 580 years. This line of David has been a, a dead stump. It has been a stump that has been fell.

The tree has been filled. And even those that were the most ardent believers in God is somehow going to bring a, a, a king, uh, uh, uh, the Messiah, the promised heir of David. They had no clue how this could possibly happen. Nobody knew where the descendants of David were. They didn't know that they had become a peasant family living up in an obscure town in, in Northern Israel.

Nobody had the books. Nobody was tracing for centuries. Where is. The line of David. The tree's been cut down. It's just a stump. And Isaiah says, ah, but there will be a shoot. There will be life that will come out. The very root of the tree will actually become the shoot himself, the the ancestor, the originator of the line of David, the root of David.

Jesus will become that very shoot that will fulfill the promises that were made about the king that would one day come the heir of David,

the truth king would come and rescue the Davidic line. Secondly, Jesus fulfills the promises of the kingdom in one Samuel seven, verse 12, and following it says this. At talking to David, when your days are over and you rest with your fathers, I'll raise up your offspring to succeed. You who will come from your own body, and I'll establish his kingdom.

He's the one who will build a house for my name and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I'll be his father and he will be my son. Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me. Your throne will be established forever. This promise beginning, it sounds like he's talking about Solomon, who's gonna build the temple.

But then he goes, father, and he says no. The the one I'm talking about, the ultimate fulfillment of this promise will be the king forever. His throne will be established forever. Jesus will never stop being the king. The third thing that is true as Jesus, the descendant of David, is Jesus will expand the kingdom.

In Ro. In Romans chapter 15, verse 12, we read this word, it says this in Romans 1512, the root of Jesse will spring up, one who will arise to rule over the nations in him. The Gentiles will hope. This was a shocking statement. Nobody really knew what it meant, but the idea is that his reign is going to be building a kingdom before whom the nations will bow and in whom they will find hope.

All peoples, all tribes, all nationalities, will be able to find hope and grace under the king whose kingdom is ultimately a kingdom of the heart. This is what is referenced in, in this verse here in Revelation 22 when it says, I am the root and the offspring of David. And then it says, and the bright morning star, I mean, what's, what's that about?

What's the bright Morning star? I mean, I, I get how you say he was the root and, and then out of the root came the shoot. That is the offspring. But, but what does it mean he's the Bright Morning star? Well, this is actually a phrase that was used by a guy named Baum. And Baum was a Alam, and Bayam was a guy that was a pagan prophet.

And when the Israelites under Moses were coming to, to enter the land of Israel, they were down in a land called Eden. And they were coming up under, they had come from Egypt, they'd gone through the wilderness, and now they're coming up underneath Egypt and they're on the, the eastern side of Eden. And they were about to enter the, what became the land of Israel.

The pagan kings hired Bayam to come and curse these people. And so Bayam came and instead of cursing them, he, he, he found what got put in his mouth was a blessing. And what he promised in his blessing was this, A star will come outta Jacob a scepter. This is numbers 24 17. A scepter will rise out of Israel.

He will crush the foreheads of Moab. The skulls of the people of she Eden will be conquered. Sarah, his enemy will be conquered, but Israel will grow strong. A ruler will come outta Jacob and destroy the survivors of the city. Basically, he's saying this morning, star, this star will, will have supremacy again.

He will be a king over all the earth and out of him. Nations will put their hope. And out of every people and tribe and tongue and nationality, individuals will embrace this king, the Morning Star. When I had the chance to speak recently at Before the the UN Delegates at by the Crew Ministries. Um, . It was a, it was a, uh, reception, so you had two hours.

Um, and, and I spoke in the middle of that, but we were with people the whole time. A standing reception. You were walking around getting to know people. And I had, I kept having crew members that would introduce me to people that were a part of, of the UN that were believers. Some of them, it was just a spouse.

And, and they would introduce this is, this is the wife of so-and-so, or this is the husband of so-and-so. They were believers. Uh, some were were senior staff. But it was striking me. I was thinking about us. I thought about this passage about he is going to be the one that is gonna expand the kingdom beyond Israel, beyond the David Kingdom as the Israelites thought of it, but to be a kingdom that permeates the entire world and conversations I had with delegates from a country in Eastern Asia.

A Middle Eastern nation, a delegate conversation with, with the delegate from a European nation, a West African nation, a Caribbean nation delegates, or their spouses or senior staff who had embraced Christ as their savior. And it was just such a striking visual to me. This is the king who was the root of it all, and who has now become the shoot that is the descendant of David, who is bringing a kingdom that really has permeated the globe and who are now providing as.

As the passage says here in Romans 15, the root of his of Jesse will spring up, one who will rise to rule over the nations in him. The Gentiles will hope. Jesus delivers. The third thing, the fourth thing is this. Jesus delivers the kingdom of God, the kingdom to God the Father. This, this is a striking passage and I'd like to read these verses in Fi, first Corinthians 15, where it talks about what Jesus does with the kingdom that he has developed, the kingdom that is represented all over the world, all over the globe.

What does Jesus ultimately do with that kingdom? Here's what it says in one Corinthians 15, verse 23 and following, he's talking about the resurrection. Be each in his own order. Christ the first fruits, then it is coming. Those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end when he delivers the kingdom to God, the Father, after destroying every rule and every authority in power, for he must reign until he is put all his enemies under his feet, the last enemy to destroy, be destroyed, his death.

Says this, then in verse 28, when all things are subjected to Christ, then the son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him. That God may be all in all two phrases here. It says, ultimately Jesus will deliver the kingdom to the Father. It says at that moment, then when everything's subjected to Christ, then the son himself will be subjected to him who put th all things in subjection under him, that God may be all.

In all, this is remarkable scene that all that Jesus has done, being the land that was slain, being the one who has been the root of David, who is now the descendant of David, who is the king, uh, providing hope to peoples all over the world, will bring those peoples from every ti tribe and tongue and nation.

And we'll bring them to his father, subjecting himself to the father, and saying, this ultimately is the kingdom for you. So what are the ramifications of this? If Jesus is the root of David, if he is also the descendant of David? Three simple ramifications this morning. The primary role of J among Jesus of Jesus among his people is the role of King.

We look at him, scripture says, he's our brother. He's our savior. He's our deliverer. He's our shepherd. There are countless titles, but the primary role from cover to cover of scripture is that he is designated among his people as their king. It's striking that the primary designation of the one who would come in the Old Testament was the Son of David.

It is the picture of the Messiah. Who would come? Jesus himself, the primary name he took for himself when they, when he talked about himself, he constantly said The Son of man. The Son of man, I am the son of man. It again, was a Messianic title. It was a title he took. Even the word Christ, when you use the word Jesus Christ, it literally is Jesus.

The Christ wasn't his last name. It was his title, the Christ. Is the word that that we get the word Messiah from. It's the same thing. The Christ literally means the anointed one, anointed to what He was anointed as king. He is Jesus the king. And as Jared pointed out when he said this, foundationally reminds us that as Jesus willingly subjected himself to the Father, he's our king.

We are to live our lives recognizing the primary role of Jesus as much as he is our friend and our shepherd and and our savior, and deliver. He is our king and we have the privilege to being a part of his kingdom. The second ramification is that even in the darkness and silence, God is still writing his story

afters, King's, Atia. Was arrested and conquered by the Babylonians and thrown into prison until he died in Babylon. The people of Israel participated in what is known as the 70 years of captivity. The entire nation, or, or all of the prominent people of the nation were forced to go to Babylon. They lived there for generations for, for 70 years before some of them were allowed to come back.

When the Persians basically conquered the Babylonians, even in their return, they were always under a foreign power. First the Israelites returning to their land were under the Persians. Then they were under the Greeks. Then they became under the Romans. There was no King of Israel. There was no fulfillment of the Davidic line.

There was no hint of an individual that could appropriately be called the King of Israel at this time. The son of David, in all that time called historically, particularly for the 400 years just before Christ, the silent years, it seemed like nothing was going on. It seemed like everything had been broken.

All you've been left with is a feld tree and just a stump. Long since cut off and irrelevant was the tree. Even those most fervent that God would fulfill. This promises about a king saw nothing but a stump, but God was at work. God's purposes and sovereign plan were still at work. No one would've understood at that time that the root of David, that the originator of David.

Would also become the shoot that would actually be the descendant and the fulfillment as the son of David, the King of Kings in Lord of Lords. It's a reminder in the silence and darkness of our lives in those seasons, which some of you are really in right now, when it seems my whole life just seems like, I mean the, the tree's been felled, things have not gone like they thought.

It just looks like a dead stump is here, and I'm just trying to hold on. Where's God, what's going on? Why isn't he answering and, and doing what I I long for him to do? Why isn't he moving in the people that matter the most? To me, it's a reminder that even in the silence and the darkness, God is still working.

And the third thing, . Jesus teaches us the godliness of honoring authority. Jesus, the kingdom was delivered to the Father. It says there in one Corinthians 15, Jesus subjected himself, submitted himself to the Father Marin and I read every night in bed we've been reading, we just finished the book of First Peter.

Um, and we just read a little section and pray about it. And it struck me as we've gone through that book, how often Peter is saying to believers, follow the pathway of Christ in honoring authority. And he actually talks in chapter two and three and he says, just like Jesus was subjected to those that wronged him and in suffering, it is the opportunity to hon to, to manifest a godly spirit by honoring authority.

And he says, what, what? What praise it is if, if you honor those that that treat you well. But he says, do like Christ, honor those under whom he was subjected to the harshest treatment and still live, uh, honoring them, accepting suffering. I think Jesus himself honor, uh, pictures the, the willingness to honor authority as he joyfully brings to his father the kingdom.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-root-of-david debd0542-a5bc-4218-8dbf-413974c64f45 Sun, 18 Dec 2022 16:01:46 GMT <div data-html="true">Revelation 22 <br /><br /> “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.” <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> Revelation 22. And I'd like to read verses 12 through 16. <br /><br /> Behold, I'm coming soon, bringing my recompense with me to repay each one for, excuse me. Yeah, for each one what he has done. I am the Alpha nu Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. Blessed are those who wash their robes so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates. <br /><br /> outside of the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolators, and everyone who loves and practices his falsehood, I Jesus have sent my angel to testify to you about these things. For the churches, I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright Morning Star. Let's pray  together. <br /><br /> Lord, our desire today in gathering is that you would receive glory in the highest places, the places that you inhabit. Lord, we pray that even as we open your word now and as reflect upon the scriptures, that God, you would guide us, that you would speak truth into us regarding what this title of Jesus means, the root of David, the descendant of David. <br /><br /> Lord glorify yourself today. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen. What I'm gonna do this morning is I'm going to talk about this particular, uh, title, um, and then I'm going at the end add three particular ramifications I think for our lives as a result of that. We've been highlighting in this series that the book of Revelation was actually written at the end of the first century in 95 AD approximately at a time when the church was facing great opposition and persecution. <br /><br /> It was written as a message of encouragement to people that were struggling to not despair in the face of hard times. It enabled these Christian disciples to lift their eyes from their circumstances, disappointments, confusion. To a person and the person is Jesus Christ. And in this book there are a about 30 different ways Jesus is described. <br /><br /> We have been looking at some of those titles of Jesus Christ that were designed to give encouragement, support, strength in the midst of the stuff of life. They show the glory of Jesus as depicted in these titles. And some of those we've looked at was initially Alpha and Omega, that he is both the creator and the culmination. <br /><br /> It just doesn't mean that Jesus is first and he's also last. It is because in eternity there are all humans will be in an eternal state. It's saying the uniqueness of Christ is that he was creator God. He was first, but that everything, he is the beginning of the Greek alphabet, but he is also what every part of, of life and history is pointing. <br /><br /> He is the omega. He is the culmination of it all. He's the lion of Judah. And Pastor Jared talked about this, that he is the defender and he is our sovereign. He is both the king of our lives, but is also the lion that is directing our lives upon, uh, before whom we subject our wills. He is the lamb. And Pastor Mike talked. <br /><br /> He was the sacrifice and savior worthy, the only unworthy to open the seals revealing the plans and purposes of God the father, because he is the one who did the father's work in purchasing by his own blood. People who now know and serve God. This morning we're looking at. The root of David, that he is both the ancestor of David and he is the offspring of David. <br /><br /> We'll look at what that's about. Our focus today is actually verse 16. I Jesus have sent my angel to you with this testimony for the churches. I am the root and the offspring or descendant of David and the bright and mourning star. Our sermon this morning is gonna try to explain these titles and then to bring those three ramifications to our lives. <br /><br /> First of all, he is the root of David. Jesus is the ancestor of David and the source of his kingdom. He's the root. Jesus preceded David. My father-in-law was a, uh, science professor in a college and, uh, had his doctorate in biology. Mainly his field of study was botany, the study of plants. Um, when I first started out in my preaching ministry, um, I would often bring in history illustrations, illustrations from books I was reading, and I would dabble a little bit in science illustrations. <br /><br /> My wife was regularly mortified because somehow I always got the science illustrations just a little bit off. This was her background with her dad, but I'm waiting in again today to the field of botany. David Jesus is the root of David. If you take an acorn, and you know how an acorn can make this towering oak, it can take over a hundred years. <br /><br /> But basically when the acorn goes into the ground, the first thing that comes out of the acorn one, it is, it has germinated, is the roots. The roots go down. They begin to provide the, the nutrients, the, the, the, the life, the water that is necessary. And out of that, then will come the stem, which will burst through the, the, the surface of the ground. <br /><br /> And you will have an oak tree. The root is first, you can't have this, this towering tree. Without the roots being the, the initial part of that germinating process, the roots precede the tree. Jesus is saying, I proceed, David. I am the root of David. I am the root of the kingdom. He is here declaring clearly his role as God, that I'm the one that chose David. <br /><br /> I'm the one that appointed him. I'm the one that was before him, this entire tree of the family of David. And, and the promised, uh, monarchy that would come out of him way back in 1000 bc He said I was the one that chose him, designed him, called him. I preceded David. I'm his route. Secondly, as the root, he also as the one that preserved David's kingdom roots live on even after a tree is felled. <br /><br /> If you, if you saw off a tree and it, it, there's, there's no, there's no, uh, foliage anymore. There's no fruit. There's no branches. But still there will be a root system that continues for a period of time. Jesus maintained. The Davidic line. Even in those seasons when the Davidic, uh, descendants were godless, which happened for generations, Jesus was sovereignly overseeing it, per, uh, preserving it, protecting heirs, even when they had rejected God themselves. <br /><br /> Jesus actually oversaw the preservation of the line of David until he himself was born from that line. It's a, it's a startling thing, but this is what he's saying. I'm the root of David, but I'm also the descendant, the offspring of David. The second title we see here in verse 16 of Revelation 22 is, I am the descendant or offspring of David. <br /><br /> Jesus is the son of David, an heir of his kingdom. and by that scripture presents a number of qualities that were true of Jesus Christ in that role. First of all, Jesus rescued the kingdom is a very fascinating verse in Isaiah 11, one, it says this, out of the stump of Jesse's family, and Jesse was the father of David. <br /><br /> It's a reference to David. Out of the stump of Jesse's family will grow a chute, a new branch that will flourish and bear fruit. This prophecy of the David Kingdom is built on a common phenomenon of seeming dead stumps. It's pictured in this, this visual, if we can bring that up. You see there, the little plant. <br /><br /> It's right. Uh, that plant is growing out, that shoot, that sprout. All of you have had this. Have you taken a tree out and a stump? Many times you'll have those shoots and they drive you crazy. Why do these things? I mean, I took this tree out. These shoots keep coming up. Eventually they'll die out if you keep cutting 'em off. <br /><br /> But the, the concept is Jesus Christ was the shoot. Now what's that talking about? Here's what it's talking about. <br /><br /> Many years ago, I, this is way illustrated to this. Many years ago I had heard a speech, it was actually when I was beginning to go into my ministry, um, I was looking towards church planning and I had been pastoring, uh, a small church in Indiana before I joined A B W E and went into church planning and I heard a guy speak and he was talking to people, pastors that were going into churches, particularly churches that were older and dying or, and just, uh, struggling. <br /><br /> And his talk was entitled, how to Grow a Living Tree Out of a Dead Stump. It was, it was a great talk. It's a talk I, I, I've tried to think back in the last couple of weeks. I would say I've, I've shared the story of that video, of that presentation that he, he gave probably 15 to 20 times in talking to pastors that are going into a church. <br /><br /> Uh, younger pastors that are starting out are intimidated because an existing church and they're not sure how to get it off the dime. It's sort of been struggling for a while. And basically this was his concept. He say the way you build a living tree out of a dead stump is you look for the chutes, that there's life that will come up from the root system around the side. <br /><br /> And he said, don't think you're gonna take that whole stump and immediately change the whole thing and get it following you and moving forward. He said, look for the living sprouts, the, the shoots. And what he meant was, look for people. That are, that you can invest your life in and start off by spending time with them and support them and build into them and have them become partners with you with such good counsel. <br /><br /> And basically he's saying they will then help you create an entire new tree. And part of those that are part of the stump will will join with you. Part of them will just sort of stay around. There'll probably be some that won't stay, but he said, invest your lives in the shoots where the life of the tree is manifesting itself Here, Jesse, they're talking about the stump of Jesse's family, which basically is talking about the Davidic line. <br /><br /> And Isaiah is using this to point towards what Jesus Christ would become. So how does that have to do with him as the son of David? Well, in this way, Jesse was the father of King David, whose descendants God promised, would have a throne forever. He told them that in about 1000 BC that was part of David Rain a few years after a thousand and a few years before a thousand bc as the centuries went by, the line got weaker and weaker until at last it was cut off basically from the throne altogether. <br /><br /> What happened is their last king, the last member of the Davidic line, was a guy named Zakiah. He was Godless as many of his, uh, the people before him. His predecessors had been, and he was, uh, taken into captivity. It was a horrible scene. They, the, uh, the Babylonians actually took him. They, they watched him. <br /><br /> They, they made him watch his two sons be slain and then they blinded him. And they kept him in captivity for the remainder of his life. This was the end of the Davidic throne as far as all of history knew. That was in about 585 BC for over 580 years. This line of David has been a, a dead stump. It has been a stump that has been fell. <br /><br /> The tree has been filled. And even those that were the most ardent believers in God is somehow going to bring a, a, a king, uh, uh, uh, the Messiah, the promised heir of David. They had no clue how this could possibly happen. Nobody knew where the descendants of David were. They didn't know that they had become a peasant family living up in an obscure town in, in Northern Israel. <br /><br /> Nobody had the books. Nobody was tracing for centuries. Where is. The line of David. The tree's been cut down. It's just a stump. And Isaiah says, ah, but there will be a shoot. There will be life that will come out. The very root of the tree will actually become the shoot himself, the the ancestor, the originator of the line of David, the root of David. <br /><br /> Jesus will become that very shoot that will fulfill the promises that were made about the king that would one day come the heir of David, <br /><br /> the truth king would come and rescue the Davidic line. Secondly, Jesus fulfills the promises of the kingdom in one Samuel seven, verse 12, and following it says this. At talking to David, when your days are over and you rest with your fathers, I'll raise up your offspring to succeed. You who will come from your own body, and I'll establish his kingdom. <br /><br /> He's the one who will build a house for my name and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I'll be his father and he will be my son. Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me. Your throne will be established forever. This promise beginning, it sounds like he's talking about Solomon, who's gonna build the temple. <br /><br /> But then he goes, father, and he says no. The the one I'm talking about, the ultimate fulfillment of this promise will be the king forever. His throne will be established forever. Jesus will never stop being the king. The third thing that is true as Jesus, the descendant of David, is Jesus will expand the kingdom. <br /><br /> In Ro. In Romans chapter 15, verse 12, we read this word, it says this in Romans 1512, the root of Jesse will spring up, one who will arise to rule over the nations in him. The Gentiles will hope. This was a shocking statement. Nobody really knew what it meant, but the idea is that his reign is going to be building a kingdom before whom the nations will bow and in whom they will find hope. <br /><br /> All peoples, all tribes, all nationalities, will be able to find hope and grace under the king whose kingdom is ultimately a kingdom of the heart. This is what is referenced in, in this verse here in Revelation 22 when it says, I am the root and the offspring of David. And then it says, and the bright morning star, I mean, what's, what's that about? <br /><br /> What's the bright Morning star? I mean, I, I get how you say he was the root and, and then out of the root came the shoot. That is the offspring. But, but what does it mean he's the Bright Morning star? Well, this is actually a phrase that was used by a guy named Baum. And Baum was a Alam, and Bayam was a guy that was a pagan prophet. <br /><br /> And when the Israelites under Moses were coming to, to enter the land of Israel, they were down in a land called Eden. And they were coming up under, they had come from Egypt, they'd gone through the wilderness, and now they're coming up underneath Egypt and they're on the, the eastern side of Eden. And they were about to enter the, what became the land of Israel. <br /><br /> The pagan kings hired Bayam to come and curse these people. And so Bayam came and instead of cursing them, he, he, he found what got put in his mouth was a blessing. And what he promised in his blessing was this, A star will come outta Jacob a scepter. This is numbers 24 17. A scepter will rise out of Israel. <br /><br /> He will crush the foreheads of Moab. The skulls of the people of she Eden will be conquered. Sarah, his enemy will be conquered, but Israel will grow strong. A ruler will come outta Jacob and destroy the survivors of the city. Basically, he's saying this morning, star, this star will, will have supremacy again. <br /><br /> He will be a king over all the earth and out of him. Nations will put their hope. And out of every people and tribe and tongue and nationality, individuals will embrace this king, the Morning Star. When I had the chance to speak recently at Before the the UN Delegates at by the Crew Ministries. Um, . It was a, it was a, uh, reception, so you had two hours. <br /><br /> Um, and, and I spoke in the middle of that, but we were with people the whole time. A standing reception. You were walking around getting to know people. And I had, I kept having crew members that would introduce me to people that were a part of, of the UN that were believers. Some of them, it was just a spouse. <br /><br /> And, and they would introduce this is, this is the wife of so-and-so, or this is the husband of so-and-so. They were believers. Uh, some were were senior staff. But it was striking me. I was thinking about us. I thought about this passage about he is going to be the one that is gonna expand the kingdom beyond Israel, beyond the David Kingdom as the Israelites thought of it, but to be a kingdom that permeates the entire world and conversations I had with delegates from a country in Eastern Asia. <br /><br /> A Middle Eastern nation, a delegate conversation with, with the delegate from a European nation, a West African nation, a Caribbean nation delegates, or their spouses or senior staff who had embraced Christ as their savior. And it was just such a striking visual to me. This is the king who was the root of it all, and who has now become the shoot that is the descendant of David, who is bringing a kingdom that really has permeated the globe and who are now providing as. <br /><br /> As the passage says here in Romans 15, the root of his of Jesse will spring up, one who will rise to rule over the nations in him. The Gentiles will hope. Jesus delivers. The third thing, the fourth thing is this. Jesus delivers the kingdom of God, the kingdom to God the Father. This, this is a striking passage and I'd like to read these verses in Fi, first Corinthians 15, where it talks about what Jesus does with the kingdom that he has developed, the kingdom that is represented all over the world, all over the globe. <br /><br /> What does Jesus ultimately do with that kingdom? Here's what it says in one Corinthians 15, verse 23 and following, he's talking about the resurrection. Be each in his own order. Christ the first fruits, then it is coming. Those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end when he delivers the kingdom to God, the Father, after destroying every rule and every authority in power, for he must reign until he is put all his enemies under his feet, the last enemy to destroy, be destroyed, his death. <br /><br /> Says this, then in verse 28, when all things are subjected to Christ, then the son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him. That God may be all in all two phrases here. It says, ultimately Jesus will deliver the kingdom to the Father. It says at that moment, then when everything's subjected to Christ, then the son himself will be subjected to him who put th all things in subjection under him, that God may be all. <br /><br /> In all, this is remarkable scene that all that Jesus has done, being the land that was slain, being the one who has been the root of David, who is now the descendant of David, who is the king, uh, providing hope to peoples all over the world, will bring those peoples from every ti tribe and tongue and nation. <br /><br /> And we'll bring them to his father, subjecting himself to the father, and saying, this ultimately is the kingdom for you. So what are the ramifications of this? If Jesus is the root of David, if he is also the descendant of David? Three simple ramifications this morning. The primary role of J among Jesus of Jesus among his people is the role of King. <br /><br /> We look at him, scripture says, he's our brother. He's our savior. He's our deliverer. He's our shepherd. There are countless titles, but the primary role from cover to cover of scripture is that he is designated among his people as their king. It's striking that the primary designation of the one who would come in the Old Testament was the Son of David. <br /><br /> It is the picture of the Messiah. Who would come? Jesus himself, the primary name he took for himself when they, when he talked about himself, he constantly said The Son of man. The Son of man, I am the son of man. It again, was a Messianic title. It was a title he took. Even the word Christ, when you use the word Jesus Christ, it literally is Jesus. <br /><br /> The Christ wasn't his last name. It was his title, the Christ. Is the word that that we get the word Messiah from. It's the same thing. The Christ literally means the anointed one, anointed to what He was anointed as king. He is Jesus the king. And as Jared pointed out when he said this, foundationally reminds us that as Jesus willingly subjected himself to the Father, he's our king. <br /><br /> We are to live our lives recognizing the primary role of Jesus as much as he is our friend and our shepherd and and our savior, and deliver. He is our king and we have the privilege to being a part of his kingdom. The second ramification is that even in the darkness and silence, God is still writing his story <br /><br /> afters, King's, Atia. Was arrested and conquered by the Babylonians and thrown into prison until he died in Babylon. The people of Israel participated in what is known as the 70 years of captivity. The entire nation, or, or all of the prominent people of the nation were forced to go to Babylon. They lived there for generations for, for 70 years before some of them were allowed to come back. <br /><br /> When the Persians basically conquered the Babylonians, even in their return, they were always under a foreign power. First the Israelites returning to their land were under the Persians. Then they were under the Greeks. Then they became under the Romans. There was no King of Israel. There was no fulfillment of the Davidic line. <br /><br /> There was no hint of an individual that could appropriately be called the King of Israel at this time. The son of David, in all that time called historically, particularly for the 400 years just before Christ, the silent years, it seemed like nothing was going on. It seemed like everything had been broken. <br /><br /> All you've been left with is a feld tree and just a stump. Long since cut off and irrelevant was the tree. Even those most fervent that God would fulfill. This promises about a king saw nothing but a stump, but God was at work. God's purposes and sovereign plan were still at work. No one would've understood at that time that the root of David, that the originator of David. <br /><br /> Would also become the shoot that would actually be the descendant and the fulfillment as the son of David, the King of Kings in Lord of Lords. It's a reminder in the silence and darkness of our lives in those seasons, which some of you are really in right now, when it seems my whole life just seems like, I mean the, the tree's been felled, things have not gone like they thought. <br /><br /> It just looks like a dead stump is here, and I'm just trying to hold on. Where's God, what's going on? Why isn't he answering and, and doing what I I long for him to do? Why isn't he moving in the people that matter the most? To me, it's a reminder that even in the silence and the darkness, God is still working. <br /><br /> And the third thing, . Jesus teaches us the godliness of honoring authority. Jesus, the kingdom was delivered to the Father. It says there in one Corinthians 15, Jesus subjected himself, submitted himself to the Father Marin and I read every night in bed we've been reading, we just finished the book of First Peter. <br /><br /> Um, and we just read a little section and pray about it. And it struck me as we've gone through that book, how often Peter is saying to believers, follow the pathway of Christ in honoring authority. And he actually talks in chapter two and three and he says, just like Jesus was subjected to those that wronged him and in suffering, it is the opportunity to hon to, to manifest a godly spirit by honoring authority. <br /><br /> And he says, what, what? What praise it is if, if you honor those that that treat you well. But he says, do like Christ, honor those under whom he was subjected to the harshest treatment and still live, uh, honoring them, accepting suffering. I think Jesus himself honor, uh, pictures the, the willingness to honor authority as he joyfully brings to his father the kingdom.</div> false no <![CDATA[Worthy is the Lamb]]> Revelation 5:1-14

“Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God"



Well, good morning. Oh, yep. Close. I'm on. Okay. It's a mic thing. Nobody got that? Okay. . Thank you. Worship team. Uh, hey, we intentionally picked that last song. Um, we're gonna be in Revelation chapter five this morning, and if you feel like you just sung a song and you're not sure what you just sang, uh, we're gonna be reading those words this morning actually.

Oh, holy Night. Also, a beautiful picture. Uh, I don't know if they wrote it with Revelation five in mind, but it fits perfectly with our series on the glory of Jesus. Um, this advent season leading up to Christmas, we have been studying the names of Jesus, kind of revealing a, a fuller picture of who he is leading up to Christmas.

And so again, the series, the Glory of Jesus is really all about him. The book of Revelation, uh, was written by the Apostle John in 95, 96 AD 60 years after the Death and Resurrection of Christ, which would put John in his eighties or nineties, somewhere around there. And as you've been looking through the Book of Acts in our previous series before we picked up in, uh, this advent series, we know John was an evangelist, someone who was part of the early church, leading people to Christ, preaching Christ.

And at this time, John and the church was under great persecution. Mark mentioned this a few weeks back under the Emperor Dian, and he was sent away to the island of Patmos, which was a, an island for criminals in Roman culture. He was removed from fellowship all alone. And as we know from the Book of Acts, God routinely uses and allows.

Wicked men to persecute the church. And I say uses intentionally. This is not a lapse in God's goodness. We have seen, we have studied, we have read the book of Acts, the church grows, expands, is blessed and is strengthened. And so when we approach Revelation this morning in our Bibles, I want us to read slow and to read carefully.

Uh, so many people can be afraid of what this book means or what it says, or I don't really understand it at all. But I assure you it really could be worse. You could be on a stage preaching from the Book of Revelation this morning, . So I want to read just the first three verses of the book of Revelation.

If you're there, chapter one, turn right to it's all the way at the end of your Bible. Uh, page 9 67 is where chapter five starts, but go back a few. This is the opening of the book, the Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him. To show his servants the things that must soon take place, things in the future.

He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. Blessed is the one who reads, allowed the words of this prophecy. And blessed are those who hear and who keep what is written in it for the time is near.

Pray with me this morning. God, I thank you for your incredible self revelation in John's uh, book here. We do feel blessed to know you as Savior, blessed to read these words this morning. We wanna be people that also as we read them, hear them, understand them, and put them into practice knowing what is to come.

God, I pray you'd lift our eyes even this morning from specific situations that may either confuse us or, or hang us up. Lift us from the present circumstances that we are in to see something beautiful this morning. The glory of your son Jesus. Help us to worship him. And in turn that we might be people who live changed because of a eternal perspective that we see in this, the last book of your word.

God, we thank you and pray these things in your name. Amen. Well, if, uh, you've been watching, it's been a politically charged world cup thus far, it's also been one of incredible upsets, um, exciting shootouts and some of the usual stars rising to the top. Uh, there's been this interesting, uh, thing that has kind of risen up talking about bench players, people that have come off the bench as a substitute.

Uh, some of you know that actually, uh, what is happening right now is that bench players are currently outscoring the starting players. It, it's a thing that's been happening and so there's kind of been some press about it and they're on paces. Set the record for the most goals scored by substitutes in a World Cup.

There's even been some controversy over which players stars and not stars are sitting on the bench. If you've watched yesterday's game, Christiana Ronaldo sat the bench in the first half of his game. I'm gonna leave that right there for anyone that wants to talk about it later. Okay? . But a substitute is a person who enters the game as a replacement of another substitute is, uh, a Latin word that literally means put in place of.

You may understand the concept of substitute, uh, from a sports game or something like that, but let me tell you another story that talks about the word substitute, which may give you more depth and meaning. Boarding the Ss Dorchester. On a dreary winter day in 1943, there were 904 troops, four of whom were chaplains.

World War II was in full swing, and the ship was headed across the icy North Atlantic water where German U-boats lurked. At midnight the morning of February the third, a German torpedo ripped into the side of the ship and the men aboard knew immediately that the hit was fatal. They frantically scrambled to deploy lifeboats and a, a younger soldier crept up to one of the chaplains and said, I've lost my life jacket.

Handing over his jacket to the man. He said, take mine. Before the ship sank, each chaplain of the four gave away his life jacket to another man. The heroic chaplains then linked arms, lifted their voices in prayer As the Dorchester went down, survivors tell of the comforting sound of hymns being sung by those four men.

675 of the 904 died as that ship go down as the single worst loss of American lives in World War ii. These clergy men were awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and Purple Heart Medals after they passed, and Congress would later declare February 3rd as four Chaplains Day, giving them a special medal of Honor the Chaplain's Medal of Honor.

It's an incredible act of heroism and an incredible picture of substitute. , the four men said, we will trade places with you. We will give you safety and face our death. And so our name of Jesus as we come today comes out of that same sense, this substitute revelation, chapter five. We find Jesus the Lamb of God, the substitute for a sins.

So I'm gonna read Revelation chapter five this morning. Uh, again, it's page 9 67, I think I said. And if you want to turn there, um, if you don't, that's okay. But I'm gonna ask you to close your eyes and potentially visualize what is happening here in Revelation chapter five. This would be an easy one to just read through and be like, I didn't get any of that.

Listen to it this morning and see what you. Then I saw, this is John writing. Then I saw the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. A scroll written within and on the back sealed with seven seals. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals.

And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it. And I, John began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. And one of the elders said to me, weep, no more behold the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David has conquered so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.

And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders, I saw a lamb standing as though it had been slain with seven horns and with seven eyes. Which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne.

And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures, and 24 elders fell down before the lamb, each holding a harp, a golden bowl full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints, and they sang a new song saying, worthy, are you to take the scroll and to open its seals for you? Were slain and by your blood, you ransom people for God from every tribe, every language, every people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God and they shall reign on the earth.

Then I looked and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders, the voices of many angels, numbering, myriads upon myriads and thousands of thousands saying with a loud voice. Worthy is the lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.

And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them saying to him, who sits on the throne and to the lamb, be blessing and honor, glory, and might forever and ever. And the four living creatures said, amen. And the elders fell down and worshiped.

Revelation chapter five this morning. What an incredible picture of God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit all together. And as we walk through the text this morning, I want to just paint a picture of what the Lamb of God looks like. First, we have this search happening and if you remember, some of these, uh, words read that is because they were last week.

Pastor Jared talked through this same specific passage and did a great job teasing out the, the search, uh, last week. So we're gonna move quickly through this first part here. But John looks and sees that God is there on the throne holding a scroll with seven seals, and the angel is calling out loudly searching, looking who is able to carry out the will of God, who is able to take this scroll and carry it out.

And no one is found. You think about all the people throughout the, uh, history of our world who have tried to take over or rule or conquer. Uh, there are many people who have tried, and I wanna keep this verse number three here in mind. And no one on heaven or earth or under the Earth was able to open it.

King Nere, you remember him from the Old Testament. He was a king who sought to, uh, expand his kingdom. God reduces him down to grazing in a field of grass because of his pride, humbled by the living God. Alexander the Great tried conquering, uh, until nothing was left to conquer. He just wanted to go until there was nothing left to take over.

And at the age of 34 came to his own death. Julius Caesar would lead a sweeping expanse of the Roman Empire, and yet his days expired as well. Joseph Stalin led the, uh, bloody uh, growth of the Soviet Union. Killing millions in his path was brought to nothing. Hitler brainwashed. Many people desiring to expand some sort of a superior race, and yet he was unworthy.

And you may even fill in the blanks of many in modern cultures, dictators, countries, whatever it might be, attempting to expand and go beyond their own abilities. But no one is worthy to continue and there may be more prideful ones yet to come. And we're actually told there will be one who will rise more powerful, deceiving many the anti-Christ, and yet all fail to pass the test.

No one is found worthy. to carry out God's will in the scroll. No one audacious enough to approach the throne of God and take his will and say, I'm the one to carry this out. And so why is this important? Why is this search here in scripture? Uh, I really think it's here to just remind us, just to caution us potentially as we think about the people and the places and the, the things we put our hope and our trust in.

Who in what do you place your allegiance in? Remember this Daniel 2 21. God changes times and seasons deposing some kings and establishing others. He's the one that gives wisdom. He's the one that gives knowledge and understanding. Psalm one 15, our God is in heaven. He does all that he pleases. Proverbs 1921.

Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand. Proverbs 21, 1. The king's heart is, but a stream of water in the hand of the Lord. He turns it wherever He will. In who or what do we do? You place your allegiance, your security, your hope. No one is strong enough. No one powerful enough to open the scroll and carry out the will of God.

And this unsuccessful sherp search causes John to weep, which brings us to number two, the selection. One of the elders said to John, weep, no more behold the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David has conquered so that he can come and open the scroll and it's seven seals. And so this elder is calling out and he's saying, weep no more.

There is someone who can. The lion of the tribe of Judah. We find this prophesy about in Genesis, Jose and Amos talk about the lion of the tribe of Judah, that God would one day raise up to come and, and so John, uh, of course he would be a lion. That's how God's gonna appear, conquer evil, destroy Satan once for all.

He's come to fight for his people and the root of David. I remember this Isaiah and Jeremiah and Zacharia all prophesied, pointing to this moment. And then we have the form of how the savior shows up. Verse six, and between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders. John says, I saw a lamb standing as though it had been slain with seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.

John hears lion of Judah. John hears the root of David. All make sense. John sees. and something's up here. Uh, I'm hearing one thing. I'm seeing something totally different, but I assure you this is not a mistake. There was no, uh, mix up in the heavenly wardrobe. The costumes were not like misplaced. This is how it was supposed to be.

The chosen way that Jesus reveals himself in the heavenly thrown room of God is a lamb. A lamb as though it had been slain. A slain lamb with seven horns and seven eyes. Now I wanna pause for a minute. If, if you're newer to the Bible, this might seem incredibly weird, right? Let's, let's picture this. I actually went and tried to search for the picture of the slain lamb with seven horns and seven.

It's not a pretty one. Um, the Greek word actually is little lamb. So, So, yes, I'm telling you that, um, Jesus showed up as a little lamb with eyes and horns. And you might say, this is why I dodged the Book of Revelation because of all the bad imagery. , my wife told me that I shouldn't, but I just could not help.

It's just too perfect. Um, but this is exactly how Jesus shows up. This is exactly how he shows up. And there's a reason why I wanna look back with you back to the beginning and trace the idea, the theme of substitute, the, the, the theme of sacrifice throughout scripture, and you may not know this, but that began in the garden.

Adam and Eve were there, and, uh, as they were walking through the garden naked and unafraid, God gave them explicit instructions not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and of evil. The serpent cane, the enemy tempted them. They were, uh, tempted, chose to give in and go their own way apart from God, and they did eat from that tree.

The option to walk away in our own sin is there for each one of us. We are not simply robots. So Adam and Eve, now naked and ashamed of their sin, hide and cover themselves up with leaves. And the gracious God steps in with the first sacrifice in scripture in Genesis chapter three. Listen to this. And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife, garments of skins and them.

They had this, uh, quick covering of leaves and God says, there's been some brokenness here. There's some punishment for the sin. Things are going to be different, but I'm gonna close you and I'm gonna take the life of an animal in your place. Sin brings death. The lamb was the substitute. God in His grace provides the sacrifice.

Genesis chapter four, not really far after just one chapter later, Adam and Eve's children, Cain and Abel, you see them bringing sacrifices to the Lord. It's becoming a part of the rhythm of life at this point. Just four chapters into human history that we know human brokenness and sin separates us from God.

The wages of our sin. That's it's death. Genesis 22, God is testing Abraham and walking along and and says, Abraham, I want you to go and make a sacrifice on top of the mountain, and I will be the one to. I want you to go and sacrifice your only son, Isaac. And so they climb this mountain and uh, they are carrying firewood typical to probably carry the sacrifice with you.

So if you're the son, Isaac, wondering, okay dad, uh, where's the lamb? What's going on here? I don't see our sacrifice. And you maybe have heard the story Abraham repeats. God will provide, they set up the altar. Abraham ties his child and raises the knife to sacrifice him, and God steps in and provides a ram caught in the thicket to sacrifice in Isaac's place.

The lamb was the substitute. Genesis continues on this cycle of sin and, and people sacrificing was something that had to happen to cover over the sins that were of the people. Usually it was a spotless lamb as a substitute. Exodus chapter 12, we jump ahead and what's happening here, the Israelites are in captivity and the Egyptians will not let them go.

10 plagues are there, right? Remember this? And what is happening is Pharaoh is saying, no, I'm not gonna let you go. And God says, okay, one final plague will I do. And this is the death of the firstborn son of everyone in Egypt. While God provided a way for his people to be preserved, they were to take a spotless lamb, and as they killed it spread the blood of the lamb over their doorposts.

And so as the angel of death would come and, and take the firstborn of each son in Egypt as the final plague, God would see the death of this lamb as payment, the lamb, as substitute. Exodus and Leviticus, God would continue to give, uh, all these instructions for many sacrifices, burnt offerings and guilt offerings, sin offerings, peace offerings.

These priests in the temples would facilitate this, this sacrificial system. They would bring these offerings before God. Only they could go and allow these sacrifices to be made. The blood of lambs and bulls their substitute over and over. So as an ancient near Eastern person, an Israelite, what do you know from this?

You really know that sin is separated you from God, that you gotta make a sacrifice for the wrongdoing that's happened in your life. Sin equals death, and you saw that all the time. How would it make you feel if you were part of this system? potentially bad over and over again. Constant death also a, a real hit to your family's livelihood as you are.

Killing The lambs was real, and yet it was redemptive. God wasn't slaughtering you. He was allowing your sin to be punished, allowing for a sacrifice, making a way for a substitute. And it would be easy to read these stories as you read through the scriptures and just little chunks here or there, isolated meanings of what was happening.

Maybe to draw confusing points from them. But I wanna caution you don't miss the forest for the trees. Zoom out. The Bible is a collection of individual stories. Yes, but the Bible is ultimately telling one true story, the true story of Christ. From Genesis to Revelation, beginning to end, finding its message and its hope coming to a pinnacle in Christ.

The whole story begins to make sense when it's read as a whole story. We often talk about, uh, in the nativity, many of you are actors in some of the scenes are helping in, in different roles in various ways. And one of the things I encourage you, and I've heard this encouraged by many people for a long time, um, if you've never gone through the entire thing, do so.

Um, maybe not tonight cuz we have a cast shortage. But, uh, if you could, uh, at some point go through the whole thing, see it from beginning to end, you could play a part in the Lazarus scene and, and really dial into that story, but it begins to make sense. When you see the whole story, actually, if you go right onto the next scene, the cross in our nativity, you find that is what is happening.

We are tying together all these pieces. The whole story is about him. So Revelation five comes in, and when Jesus reveals himself and John's vision, he's the lamb. He's the lamb who was slain. He is though not a dead lamb. He is standing and alive with the marks of his death at the right hand of the Father.

There's this aha moment I wanna read to you. Hebrews chapter 10, uh, portion of the scripture. It's up here on the screen. I believe this is one of the most incredible tie it all together, uh, parts in all of scripture. For, since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come, instead of the true form of these realities, it can never by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year make perfect those who draw near wait.

So I was never designed to work correctly sort of otherwise. Would they not have ceased to be offered since the worshipers having been once cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins. But in these sacrifices, there's a reminder of sins every year for its impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

But Jesus came and he says, I have come to do your will. Oh God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the. His death on the cross. And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And so in that old system, every priest stands daily at his service offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.

But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. Revelation five, Jesus, God's only son became our substitute. He died in our place. This is grace. Hallelujah. It's not me. The end of this system. Everything Jesus did, he did as a substitute.

Everything he did, he did for you. The life we couldn't live, he lived for us. The death we should have died. He died in our place. The new life we need. he gives to us. Jesus paid it all. So what's his function? We just read that he was sitting at the right hand of his father, God, revelation five, seven. And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne.

And man, what a beautiful picture of everything coming to fulfillment in Christ. The scroll, the will of God, what was to be carried out in the future. One worthy, the sacrificial lamb. And he gets up and he takes the scroll from God. And this is really no small thing, like think about this. He's approaching the glorious creator God, and he's gonna take something out of God's hand.

I mean, that is just a crazy picture to think about. This is not a violent usurping, it's not lording it over God like, yeah, it's my turn. He's conquered. He's defeated sin and death and he is worthy to take that scroll. He's not taking over God's plan. He is God's plan. Perfect harmony between the father and the son.

The lamb delighting to do the will of the Father. So what's in the scroll? What is the will of the Father? I'm not gonna tell you that cuz I actually don't know. Neither do you. We sort of do in some ways as we continue to read the book of Revelation. We read on here in verse eight, and when he had taken the scroll of four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the lamb, each holding a harp, jumping on to verse nine and they sang a new song, sang Worthy Are you to take the scroll and open its seals for you or slain and you are by your blood.

Here we go. You ransom people for God from every tribe and every language and people and nation and. You've made them a kingdom and priest to our God, and they shall reign on the earth. The death and resurrection of Christ comes to ransom, to buy back from sin, to buy back, from the curse of death, people from every tribe, language and nation, from all different descents, racists cultures.

If you think about this picture in Revelation five, talking about every tribe, tongue, and nation, this is unity in Christ, but not uniformity. I've talked about this before. God's people intentionally looking completely different and diverse, yet saying the same thing, totally unified in one kingdom. Uh, we must not be careful to just flatten the scriptures to say, um, This is what the kingdom of God's gonna look like.

Here's what it is saying, that cultures and people that look different than us, spend different than us, talk different than me. And you eat like you. It's the way it should be. They celebrate holidays differently than maybe we do. They don't dress like you, and we all say together. That's how it's supposed to be under the headship of Christ.

That is a good thing. Now, I want to say something too, because remember, jump back to who is writing this book out. A man in his eighties and nineties sitting in a Roman prison on the island looking for hope, and he hears this, that God's plan is that he will ransom for himself a people from every tribe, tongue, language, and nation.

John's been in prison for doing this, but he knows the future is coming where the church does expand, where there is hope. Me locked in a prison cell. That's not it. That's not the end. Jesus is doing something far greater. Nothing is going to stop God's plan. Imagine the confidence of John sitting there.

Imagine the joy of knowing what is to come and what is he doing? He's going to build a kingdom of priests. Kind of a strange thing, we talked about how the priest was the only one who could go in and make, uh, the sacrifice, make the access to God. They have free access. He is building a kingdom of priests.

That one day in relationship with Christ, you and I will have full free total access to our father to Christ. Nothing dividing us from our worship and our service to him, nothing holding us back. A kingdom of priests with free access to him. Then this song breaks out in verse 11. Then I looked and I heard around the throne, the living creatures and the elders in the voice of many angels, thousands and myriads worthy of the lamb, who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might honor and glory.

And I heard in heaven and earth again, listen to these words in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea. And all that is in them saying to him, who sits on the throne? End the lamb. Be blessing and honor, glory, and might forever and ever. And the four living creatures saying. Amen. I mean, there's thousands million, billions.

You can't even count them myriads upon myriads. This is the highest number they could have counted to at that point. That's what they're saying. There's just so many beyond everything, bowing down and worthiness to the king. I mean, picture this, every creature in heaven, earth, under the earth, in the sea, singing out, praise to God.

I mean, what does that look like? What does that sound like? All of creation, crying out erupting in praise and these four living creatures around the throne, and they're just constantly saying, amen, amen. Amen. So let it be. He's worthy. The whole creation is erupting, and they're like, yes, amen. Just let it happen.

Jesus is the one stage is now set. Jesus holding the scroll. And the Book of Revelation continues on carrying out God's future plan to bring redemption to the world, a, a total defeat of evil, a new heavens, a new Earth. And we say, worthy is the Lamb who was slain. Do you know him? Have you trusted him? Are you walking with him full allegiance to Christ, the one who is our substitute.

This morning, we have the joy of coming together and celebrating communion. There's no better way to celebrate the sacrifice of the Lamb of God through the supper of the lamb. , we're gonna, um, continue on here and, uh, bear with us because for the first time in like three years or so, we're actually gonna pass the communion around, have the deacons come part of this.

There's actually some deacons that are coming this morning who have never done this because they were elected during the Covid era and they're gonna figure this out. So if it doesn't work out, okay, great. We're gonna make it work. Um, so the deacons, if you guys wanna come and join me, uh, up front as we, um, Doon this morning,

you guys can have a seat in those chairs there for you to sit in. There you go. Okay. We're doing great. So we'll do so, uh, with passing around, uh, the cups and baskets this morning for you to just take, if you have a relationship with Christ, I encourage you, join in. This is a remembrance of what God has done, the sacrificial lamb of Jesus.

And if you're maybe still trying to figure out what this whole relationship with Christ looks like, I'm gonna encourage you not to take, uh, them this morning and to listen in to what God has done and the lamb that has been slain for you. We'd love the chance to talk with you about that relationship. Um, so we're gonna do that now.

Uh, we're gonna pass these around and, um, as we do that, I'm gonna ask, uh, with this microphone. Matt, would you pray for us for the bread, please, father,

Lord, we come to you this morning, grateful God, Lord, that your. Body served as a substitute for ours, Lord, that you would love us and pursue us while we didn't pursue you. God, that your grace, your grace, is just a wonderful gift that we don't have to perform to earn. Lord God. Lord God, I pray for those that are here that may be trying to earn their way to heaven.

Lord, that the way of trying to get it all right, lead them to their knees and accepting of your grace, Lord. Father, for those who have accepted, I join them in celebrating God that. Your free gift is available to all that. You say that for none who will call upon the name of the Lord in no way shall be turned away.

I thank you for that Lord this morning. In Jesus' name, amen.

So as we, uh, pass things around, just uh, take a small time of just reflection to just consider as Matt just prayed, the weight of ARS sin and the hope that is the lamb in our place. So

go for.

The Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed, took bread and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, this is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. Okay.

I'm gonna ask Mark if you pray for the cup.

Lord Jesus, we read about this passage in this wonderful study this morning that you are the lamb that was slain. Lord, we worship you for being willing to be slain to burying a criminal's death to bear the penalty separation from the Father. For our sin, we worship you for your shed. Blood as the lamb, uh, fulfilling all their pictures.

Mike talked about this morning of all those centuries, culminating it in the one who once and forever took away sin that we could know the Father and find freedom with him. We worship you this morning, Lord, the Lamb who is slain in Jesus' name. Amen.

In the same way, also, he took the cup after supper saying This cup is the new covenant, the new promise in my blood as often as you drink it in remembrance of me

gonna ask you to stand. As we, uh, dismiss this morning,

we say now and look forward to one day when every creature will join, saying to him who sits on the throne and to the lamb, be blessing and honor. Glory and might forever and]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/worthy-is-the-lamb e022efeb-836d-4183-bd5c-17c4e97eb7df Sun, 11 Dec 2022 16:14:26 GMT <div data-html="true">Revelation 5:1-14 <br /><br /> “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God" <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Well, good morning. Oh, yep. Close. I'm on. Okay. It's a mic thing. Nobody got that? Okay. . Thank you. Worship team. Uh, hey, we intentionally picked that last song. Um, we're gonna be in Revelation chapter five this morning, and if you feel like you just sung a song and you're not sure what you just sang, uh, we're gonna be reading those words this morning actually. <br /><br /> Oh, holy Night. Also, a beautiful picture. Uh, I don't know if they wrote it with Revelation five in mind, but it fits perfectly with our series on the glory of Jesus. Um, this advent season leading up to Christmas, we have been studying the names of Jesus, kind of revealing a, a fuller picture of who he is leading up to Christmas. <br /><br /> And so again, the series, the Glory of Jesus is really all about him. The book of Revelation, uh, was written by the Apostle John in 95, 96 AD 60 years after the Death and Resurrection of Christ, which would put John in his eighties or nineties, somewhere around there. And as you've been looking through the Book of Acts in our previous series before we picked up in, uh, this advent series, we know John was an evangelist, someone who was part of the early church, leading people to Christ, preaching Christ. <br /><br /> And at this time, John and the church was under great persecution. Mark mentioned this a few weeks back under the Emperor Dian, and he was sent away to the island of Patmos, which was a, an island for criminals in Roman culture. He was removed from fellowship all alone. And as we know from the Book of Acts, God routinely uses and allows. <br /><br /> Wicked men to persecute the church. And I say uses intentionally. This is not a lapse in God's goodness. We have seen, we have studied, we have read the book of Acts, the church grows, expands, is blessed and is strengthened. And so when we approach Revelation this morning in our Bibles, I want us to read slow and to read carefully. <br /><br /> Uh, so many people can be afraid of what this book means or what it says, or I don't really understand it at all. But I assure you it really could be worse. You could be on a stage preaching from the Book of Revelation this morning, . So I want to read just the first three verses of the book of Revelation. <br /><br /> If you're there, chapter one, turn right to it's all the way at the end of your Bible. Uh, page 9 67 is where chapter five starts, but go back a few. This is the opening of the book, the Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him. To show his servants the things that must soon take place, things in the future. <br /><br /> He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. Blessed is the one who reads, allowed the words of this prophecy. And blessed are those who hear and who keep what is written in it for the time is near. <br /><br /> Pray with me this morning. God, I thank you for your incredible self revelation in John's uh, book here. We do feel blessed to know you as Savior, blessed to read these words this morning. We wanna be people that also as we read them, hear them, understand them, and put them into practice knowing what is to come. <br /><br /> God, I pray you'd lift our eyes even this morning from specific situations that may either confuse us or, or hang us up. Lift us from the present circumstances that we are in to see something beautiful this morning. The glory of your son Jesus. Help us to worship him. And in turn that we might be people who live changed because of a eternal perspective that we see in this, the last book of your word. <br /><br /> God, we thank you and pray these things in your name. Amen. Well, if, uh, you've been watching, it's been a politically charged world cup thus far, it's also been one of incredible upsets, um, exciting shootouts and some of the usual stars rising to the top. Uh, there's been this interesting, uh, thing that has kind of risen up talking about bench players, people that have come off the bench as a substitute. <br /><br /> Uh, some of you know that actually, uh, what is happening right now is that bench players are currently outscoring the starting players. It, it's a thing that's been happening and so there's kind of been some press about it and they're on paces. Set the record for the most goals scored by substitutes in a World Cup. <br /><br /> There's even been some controversy over which players stars and not stars are sitting on the bench. If you've watched yesterday's game, Christiana Ronaldo sat the bench in the first half of his game. I'm gonna leave that right there for anyone that wants to talk about it later. Okay? . But a substitute is a person who enters the game as a replacement of another substitute is, uh, a Latin word that literally means put in place of. <br /><br /> You may understand the concept of substitute, uh, from a sports game or something like that, but let me tell you another story that talks about the word substitute, which may give you more depth and meaning. Boarding the Ss Dorchester. On a dreary winter day in 1943, there were 904 troops, four of whom were chaplains. <br /><br /> World War II was in full swing, and the ship was headed across the icy North Atlantic water where German U-boats lurked. At midnight the morning of February the third, a German torpedo ripped into the side of the ship and the men aboard knew immediately that the hit was fatal. They frantically scrambled to deploy lifeboats and a, a younger soldier crept up to one of the chaplains and said, I've lost my life jacket. <br /><br /> Handing over his jacket to the man. He said, take mine. Before the ship sank, each chaplain of the four gave away his life jacket to another man. The heroic chaplains then linked arms, lifted their voices in prayer As the Dorchester went down, survivors tell of the comforting sound of hymns being sung by those four men. <br /><br /> 675 of the 904 died as that ship go down as the single worst loss of American lives in World War ii. These clergy men were awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and Purple Heart Medals after they passed, and Congress would later declare February 3rd as four Chaplains Day, giving them a special medal of Honor the Chaplain's Medal of Honor. <br /><br /> It's an incredible act of heroism and an incredible picture of substitute. , the four men said, we will trade places with you. We will give you safety and face our death. And so our name of Jesus as we come today comes out of that same sense, this substitute revelation, chapter five. We find Jesus the Lamb of God, the substitute for a sins. <br /><br /> So I'm gonna read Revelation chapter five this morning. Uh, again, it's page 9 67, I think I said. And if you want to turn there, um, if you don't, that's okay. But I'm gonna ask you to close your eyes and potentially visualize what is happening here in Revelation chapter five. This would be an easy one to just read through and be like, I didn't get any of that. <br /><br /> Listen to it this morning and see what you. Then I saw, this is John writing. Then I saw the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. A scroll written within and on the back sealed with seven seals. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals. <br /><br /> And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it. And I, John began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. And one of the elders said to me, weep, no more behold the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David has conquered so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals. <br /><br /> And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders, I saw a lamb standing as though it had been slain with seven horns and with seven eyes. Which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. <br /><br /> And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures, and 24 elders fell down before the lamb, each holding a harp, a golden bowl full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints, and they sang a new song saying, worthy, are you to take the scroll and to open its seals for you? Were slain and by your blood, you ransom people for God from every tribe, every language, every people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God and they shall reign on the earth. <br /><br /> Then I looked and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders, the voices of many angels, numbering, myriads upon myriads and thousands of thousands saying with a loud voice. Worthy is the lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing. <br /><br /> And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them saying to him, who sits on the throne and to the lamb, be blessing and honor, glory, and might forever and ever. And the four living creatures said, amen. And the elders fell down and worshiped. <br /><br /> Revelation chapter five this morning. What an incredible picture of God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit all together. And as we walk through the text this morning, I want to just paint a picture of what the Lamb of God looks like. First, we have this search happening and if you remember, some of these, uh, words read that is because they were last week. <br /><br /> Pastor Jared talked through this same specific passage and did a great job teasing out the, the search, uh, last week. So we're gonna move quickly through this first part here. But John looks and sees that God is there on the throne holding a scroll with seven seals, and the angel is calling out loudly searching, looking who is able to carry out the will of God, who is able to take this scroll and carry it out. <br /><br /> And no one is found. You think about all the people throughout the, uh, history of our world who have tried to take over or rule or conquer. Uh, there are many people who have tried, and I wanna keep this verse number three here in mind. And no one on heaven or earth or under the Earth was able to open it. <br /><br /> King Nere, you remember him from the Old Testament. He was a king who sought to, uh, expand his kingdom. God reduces him down to grazing in a field of grass because of his pride, humbled by the living God. Alexander the Great tried conquering, uh, until nothing was left to conquer. He just wanted to go until there was nothing left to take over. <br /><br /> And at the age of 34 came to his own death. Julius Caesar would lead a sweeping expanse of the Roman Empire, and yet his days expired as well. Joseph Stalin led the, uh, bloody uh, growth of the Soviet Union. Killing millions in his path was brought to nothing. Hitler brainwashed. Many people desiring to expand some sort of a superior race, and yet he was unworthy. <br /><br /> And you may even fill in the blanks of many in modern cultures, dictators, countries, whatever it might be, attempting to expand and go beyond their own abilities. But no one is worthy to continue and there may be more prideful ones yet to come. And we're actually told there will be one who will rise more powerful, deceiving many the anti-Christ, and yet all fail to pass the test. <br /><br /> No one is found worthy. to carry out God's will in the scroll. No one audacious enough to approach the throne of God and take his will and say, I'm the one to carry this out. And so why is this important? Why is this search here in scripture? Uh, I really think it's here to just remind us, just to caution us potentially as we think about the people and the places and the, the things we put our hope and our trust in. <br /><br /> Who in what do you place your allegiance in? Remember this Daniel 2 21. God changes times and seasons deposing some kings and establishing others. He's the one that gives wisdom. He's the one that gives knowledge and understanding. Psalm one 15, our God is in heaven. He does all that he pleases. Proverbs 1921. <br /><br /> Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand. Proverbs 21, 1. The king's heart is, but a stream of water in the hand of the Lord. He turns it wherever He will. In who or what do we do? You place your allegiance, your security, your hope. No one is strong enough. No one powerful enough to open the scroll and carry out the will of God. <br /><br /> And this unsuccessful sherp search causes John to weep, which brings us to number two, the selection. One of the elders said to John, weep, no more behold the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David has conquered so that he can come and open the scroll and it's seven seals. And so this elder is calling out and he's saying, weep no more. <br /><br /> There is someone who can. The lion of the tribe of Judah. We find this prophesy about in Genesis, Jose and Amos talk about the lion of the tribe of Judah, that God would one day raise up to come and, and so John, uh, of course he would be a lion. That's how God's gonna appear, conquer evil, destroy Satan once for all. <br /><br /> He's come to fight for his people and the root of David. I remember this Isaiah and Jeremiah and Zacharia all prophesied, pointing to this moment. And then we have the form of how the savior shows up. Verse six, and between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders. John says, I saw a lamb standing as though it had been slain with seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. <br /><br /> John hears lion of Judah. John hears the root of David. All make sense. John sees. and something's up here. Uh, I'm hearing one thing. I'm seeing something totally different, but I assure you this is not a mistake. There was no, uh, mix up in the heavenly wardrobe. The costumes were not like misplaced. This is how it was supposed to be. <br /><br /> The chosen way that Jesus reveals himself in the heavenly thrown room of God is a lamb. A lamb as though it had been slain. A slain lamb with seven horns and seven eyes. Now I wanna pause for a minute. If, if you're newer to the Bible, this might seem incredibly weird, right? Let's, let's picture this. I actually went and tried to search for the picture of the slain lamb with seven horns and seven. <br /><br /> It's not a pretty one. Um, the Greek word actually is little lamb. So, So, yes, I'm telling you that, um, Jesus showed up as a little lamb with eyes and horns. And you might say, this is why I dodged the Book of Revelation because of all the bad imagery. , my wife told me that I shouldn't, but I just could not help. <br /><br /> It's just too perfect. Um, but this is exactly how Jesus shows up. This is exactly how he shows up. And there's a reason why I wanna look back with you back to the beginning and trace the idea, the theme of substitute, the, the, the theme of sacrifice throughout scripture, and you may not know this, but that began in the garden. <br /><br /> Adam and Eve were there, and, uh, as they were walking through the garden naked and unafraid, God gave them explicit instructions not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and of evil. The serpent cane, the enemy tempted them. They were, uh, tempted, chose to give in and go their own way apart from God, and they did eat from that tree. <br /><br /> The option to walk away in our own sin is there for each one of us. We are not simply robots. So Adam and Eve, now naked and ashamed of their sin, hide and cover themselves up with leaves. And the gracious God steps in with the first sacrifice in scripture in Genesis chapter three. Listen to this. And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife, garments of skins and them. <br /><br /> They had this, uh, quick covering of leaves and God says, there's been some brokenness here. There's some punishment for the sin. Things are going to be different, but I'm gonna close you and I'm gonna take the life of an animal in your place. Sin brings death. The lamb was the substitute. God in His grace provides the sacrifice. <br /><br /> Genesis chapter four, not really far after just one chapter later, Adam and Eve's children, Cain and Abel, you see them bringing sacrifices to the Lord. It's becoming a part of the rhythm of life at this point. Just four chapters into human history that we know human brokenness and sin separates us from God. <br /><br /> The wages of our sin. That's it's death. Genesis 22, God is testing Abraham and walking along and and says, Abraham, I want you to go and make a sacrifice on top of the mountain, and I will be the one to. I want you to go and sacrifice your only son, Isaac. And so they climb this mountain and uh, they are carrying firewood typical to probably carry the sacrifice with you. <br /><br /> So if you're the son, Isaac, wondering, okay dad, uh, where's the lamb? What's going on here? I don't see our sacrifice. And you maybe have heard the story Abraham repeats. God will provide, they set up the altar. Abraham ties his child and raises the knife to sacrifice him, and God steps in and provides a ram caught in the thicket to sacrifice in Isaac's place. <br /><br /> The lamb was the substitute. Genesis continues on this cycle of sin and, and people sacrificing was something that had to happen to cover over the sins that were of the people. Usually it was a spotless lamb as a substitute. Exodus chapter 12, we jump ahead and what's happening here, the Israelites are in captivity and the Egyptians will not let them go. <br /><br /> 10 plagues are there, right? Remember this? And what is happening is Pharaoh is saying, no, I'm not gonna let you go. And God says, okay, one final plague will I do. And this is the death of the firstborn son of everyone in Egypt. While God provided a way for his people to be preserved, they were to take a spotless lamb, and as they killed it spread the blood of the lamb over their doorposts. <br /><br /> And so as the angel of death would come and, and take the firstborn of each son in Egypt as the final plague, God would see the death of this lamb as payment, the lamb, as substitute. Exodus and Leviticus, God would continue to give, uh, all these instructions for many sacrifices, burnt offerings and guilt offerings, sin offerings, peace offerings. <br /><br /> These priests in the temples would facilitate this, this sacrificial system. They would bring these offerings before God. Only they could go and allow these sacrifices to be made. The blood of lambs and bulls their substitute over and over. So as an ancient near Eastern person, an Israelite, what do you know from this? <br /><br /> You really know that sin is separated you from God, that you gotta make a sacrifice for the wrongdoing that's happened in your life. Sin equals death, and you saw that all the time. How would it make you feel if you were part of this system? potentially bad over and over again. Constant death also a, a real hit to your family's livelihood as you are. <br /><br /> Killing The lambs was real, and yet it was redemptive. God wasn't slaughtering you. He was allowing your sin to be punished, allowing for a sacrifice, making a way for a substitute. And it would be easy to read these stories as you read through the scriptures and just little chunks here or there, isolated meanings of what was happening. <br /><br /> Maybe to draw confusing points from them. But I wanna caution you don't miss the forest for the trees. Zoom out. The Bible is a collection of individual stories. Yes, but the Bible is ultimately telling one true story, the true story of Christ. From Genesis to Revelation, beginning to end, finding its message and its hope coming to a pinnacle in Christ. <br /><br /> The whole story begins to make sense when it's read as a whole story. We often talk about, uh, in the nativity, many of you are actors in some of the scenes are helping in, in different roles in various ways. And one of the things I encourage you, and I've heard this encouraged by many people for a long time, um, if you've never gone through the entire thing, do so. <br /><br /> Um, maybe not tonight cuz we have a cast shortage. But, uh, if you could, uh, at some point go through the whole thing, see it from beginning to end, you could play a part in the Lazarus scene and, and really dial into that story, but it begins to make sense. When you see the whole story, actually, if you go right onto the next scene, the cross in our nativity, you find that is what is happening. <br /><br /> We are tying together all these pieces. The whole story is about him. So Revelation five comes in, and when Jesus reveals himself and John's vision, he's the lamb. He's the lamb who was slain. He is though not a dead lamb. He is standing and alive with the marks of his death at the right hand of the Father. <br /><br /> There's this aha moment I wanna read to you. Hebrews chapter 10, uh, portion of the scripture. It's up here on the screen. I believe this is one of the most incredible tie it all together, uh, parts in all of scripture. For, since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come, instead of the true form of these realities, it can never by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year make perfect those who draw near wait. <br /><br /> So I was never designed to work correctly sort of otherwise. Would they not have ceased to be offered since the worshipers having been once cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins. But in these sacrifices, there's a reminder of sins every year for its impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. <br /><br /> But Jesus came and he says, I have come to do your will. Oh God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the. His death on the cross. And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And so in that old system, every priest stands daily at his service offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. <br /><br /> But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. Revelation five, Jesus, God's only son became our substitute. He died in our place. This is grace. Hallelujah. It's not me. The end of this system. Everything Jesus did, he did as a substitute. <br /><br /> Everything he did, he did for you. The life we couldn't live, he lived for us. The death we should have died. He died in our place. The new life we need. he gives to us. Jesus paid it all. So what's his function? We just read that he was sitting at the right hand of his father, God, revelation five, seven. And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. <br /><br /> And man, what a beautiful picture of everything coming to fulfillment in Christ. The scroll, the will of God, what was to be carried out in the future. One worthy, the sacrificial lamb. And he gets up and he takes the scroll from God. And this is really no small thing, like think about this. He's approaching the glorious creator God, and he's gonna take something out of God's hand. <br /><br /> I mean, that is just a crazy picture to think about. This is not a violent usurping, it's not lording it over God like, yeah, it's my turn. He's conquered. He's defeated sin and death and he is worthy to take that scroll. He's not taking over God's plan. He is God's plan. Perfect harmony between the father and the son. <br /><br /> The lamb delighting to do the will of the Father. So what's in the scroll? What is the will of the Father? I'm not gonna tell you that cuz I actually don't know. Neither do you. We sort of do in some ways as we continue to read the book of Revelation. We read on here in verse eight, and when he had taken the scroll of four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the lamb, each holding a harp, jumping on to verse nine and they sang a new song, sang Worthy Are you to take the scroll and open its seals for you or slain and you are by your blood. <br /><br /> Here we go. You ransom people for God from every tribe and every language and people and nation and. You've made them a kingdom and priest to our God, and they shall reign on the earth. The death and resurrection of Christ comes to ransom, to buy back from sin, to buy back, from the curse of death, people from every tribe, language and nation, from all different descents, racists cultures. <br /><br /> If you think about this picture in Revelation five, talking about every tribe, tongue, and nation, this is unity in Christ, but not uniformity. I've talked about this before. God's people intentionally looking completely different and diverse, yet saying the same thing, totally unified in one kingdom. Uh, we must not be careful to just flatten the scriptures to say, um, This is what the kingdom of God's gonna look like. <br /><br /> Here's what it is saying, that cultures and people that look different than us, spend different than us, talk different than me. And you eat like you. It's the way it should be. They celebrate holidays differently than maybe we do. They don't dress like you, and we all say together. That's how it's supposed to be under the headship of Christ. <br /><br /> That is a good thing. Now, I want to say something too, because remember, jump back to who is writing this book out. A man in his eighties and nineties sitting in a Roman prison on the island looking for hope, and he hears this, that God's plan is that he will ransom for himself a people from every tribe, tongue, language, and nation. <br /><br /> John's been in prison for doing this, but he knows the future is coming where the church does expand, where there is hope. Me locked in a prison cell. That's not it. That's not the end. Jesus is doing something far greater. Nothing is going to stop God's plan. Imagine the confidence of John sitting there. <br /><br /> Imagine the joy of knowing what is to come and what is he doing? He's going to build a kingdom of priests. Kind of a strange thing, we talked about how the priest was the only one who could go in and make, uh, the sacrifice, make the access to God. They have free access. He is building a kingdom of priests. <br /><br /> That one day in relationship with Christ, you and I will have full free total access to our father to Christ. Nothing dividing us from our worship and our service to him, nothing holding us back. A kingdom of priests with free access to him. Then this song breaks out in verse 11. Then I looked and I heard around the throne, the living creatures and the elders in the voice of many angels, thousands and myriads worthy of the lamb, who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might honor and glory. <br /><br /> And I heard in heaven and earth again, listen to these words in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea. And all that is in them saying to him, who sits on the throne? End the lamb. Be blessing and honor, glory, and might forever and ever. And the four living creatures saying. Amen. I mean, there's thousands million, billions. <br /><br /> You can't even count them myriads upon myriads. This is the highest number they could have counted to at that point. That's what they're saying. There's just so many beyond everything, bowing down and worthiness to the king. I mean, picture this, every creature in heaven, earth, under the earth, in the sea, singing out, praise to God. <br /><br /> I mean, what does that look like? What does that sound like? All of creation, crying out erupting in praise and these four living creatures around the throne, and they're just constantly saying, amen, amen. Amen. So let it be. He's worthy. The whole creation is erupting, and they're like, yes, amen. Just let it happen. <br /><br /> Jesus is the one stage is now set. Jesus holding the scroll. And the Book of Revelation continues on carrying out God's future plan to bring redemption to the world, a, a total defeat of evil, a new heavens, a new Earth. And we say, worthy is the Lamb who was slain. Do you know him? Have you trusted him? Are you walking with him full allegiance to Christ, the one who is our substitute. <br /><br /> This morning, we have the joy of coming together and celebrating communion. There's no better way to celebrate the sacrifice of the Lamb of God through the supper of the lamb. , we're gonna, um, continue on here and, uh, bear with us because for the first time in like three years or so, we're actually gonna pass the communion around, have the deacons come part of this. <br /><br /> There's actually some deacons that are coming this morning who have never done this because they were elected during the Covid era and they're gonna figure this out. So if it doesn't work out, okay, great. We're gonna make it work. Um, so the deacons, if you guys wanna come and join me, uh, up front as we, um, Doon this morning, <br /><br /> you guys can have a seat in those chairs there for you to sit in. There you go. Okay. We're doing great. So we'll do so, uh, with passing around, uh, the cups and baskets this morning for you to just take, if you have a relationship with Christ, I encourage you, join in. This is a remembrance of what God has done, the sacrificial lamb of Jesus. <br /><br /> And if you're maybe still trying to figure out what this whole relationship with Christ looks like, I'm gonna encourage you not to take, uh, them this morning and to listen in to what God has done and the lamb that has been slain for you. We'd love the chance to talk with you about that relationship. Um, so we're gonna do that now. <br /><br /> Uh, we're gonna pass these around and, um, as we do that, I'm gonna ask, uh, with this microphone. Matt, would you pray for us for the bread, please, father, <br /><br /> Lord, we come to you this morning, grateful God, Lord, that your. Body served as a substitute for ours, Lord, that you would love us and pursue us while we didn't pursue you. God, that your grace, your grace, is just a wonderful gift that we don't have to perform to earn. Lord God. Lord God, I pray for those that are here that may be trying to earn their way to heaven. <br /><br /> Lord, that the way of trying to get it all right, lead them to their knees and accepting of your grace, Lord. Father, for those who have accepted, I join them in celebrating God that. Your free gift is available to all that. You say that for none who will call upon the name of the Lord in no way shall be turned away. <br /><br /> I thank you for that Lord this morning. In Jesus' name, amen. <br /><br /> So as we, uh, pass things around, just uh, take a small time of just reflection to just consider as Matt just prayed, the weight of ARS sin and the hope that is the lamb in our place. So <br /><br /> go for. <br /><br /> The Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed, took bread and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, this is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. Okay. <br /><br /> I'm gonna ask Mark if you pray for the cup. <br /><br /> Lord Jesus, we read about this passage in this wonderful study this morning that you are the lamb that was slain. Lord, we worship you for being willing to be slain to burying a criminal's death to bear the penalty separation from the Father. For our sin, we worship you for your shed. Blood as the lamb, uh, fulfilling all their pictures. <br /><br /> Mike talked about this morning of all those centuries, culminating it in the one who once and forever took away sin that we could know the Father and find freedom with him. We worship you this morning, Lord, the Lamb who is slain in Jesus' name. Amen. <br /><br /> In the same way, also, he took the cup after supper saying This cup is the new covenant, the new promise in my blood as often as you drink it in remembrance of me <br /><br /> gonna ask you to stand. As we, uh, dismiss this morning, <br /><br /> we say now and look forward to one day when every creature will join, saying to him who sits on the throne and to the lamb, be blessing and honor. Glory and might forever and</div> false no <![CDATA[The Lion of Judah]]> Revelation 5:5

“Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”



Sermon Transcript:

My name is Pastor Jared and I, uh, have the privilege of speaking this morning. We're gonna be reading in Revelations chapter five, verse five. If you want to turn with me there,

you don't have your Bibles. It will be on the screen as well.

Revelations Chapter five, verse five says this, and one of the elders said to me, weep, no more behold the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David has conquered so that he can open the scroll and it's seven seals. Would you join me in, in prayer again? God, thank you so much for who you are and thank you so much, um, that you have invited us into your worship this morning.

Lord. , um, that you're a God that loves to hear our worship Lord, um, and that you're our God so worthy of all the praise we could ever give you. Okay? I just want to echo the, the lyrics of that song, Lord, that we would make room for you this morning, Lord, that your spirit, um, would move this morning in our hearts and our minds, Lord, that you would make room in this message for your spirit to work God, that it would not be any words I say or anything like that, Lord, but that it would be your voice speaking and your scripture speaking Lord, and that you would put off any and all distractions coming into this Sunday, Lord, that we would hear your truth, and that it'll cut through all the lies.

We love you Lord, and we give you praise this morning in Jesus' name. Um, many of you know, I'm, I'm one of five brothers, so my house is, was always rowdy growing up, and, and I, I got a lot of stories from that, but I also have a pretty big, large, um, extended family. Um, one of my aunts has seven kids as well, so, and they live down in Virginia and one day they, uh, were visiting for the holidays and we decided it was a good idea to go, um, to the zoo.

So it's seven of them and five of us. And God bless our parents for thinking they could handle all of that. And we go to, I think it was the Philadelphia Zoo or the K May Zoo and, and we're going through and everyone's having a good time. And my brother Josh had this hat that, like, he loved, he had this weird thing when he was younger where he would like find one piece of clothing that he would get obsessed with and like never take it off.

So this was like his new hat and he wore it every single day and he loved it. Um, and he was wearing it on that day. And my cousin, um, We'll, we'll say his name. His name is David. And hopefully he doesn't watch this . He took my brother's hat, my brother Josh's hat, he took his hat and he's like messing around with him like, oh, come get your habit.

Come get your hat. My brother Josh is like the oldest brother. He's like The brother you don't mess with. Right? Like everyone knows like you can pick on everyone else, but you don't mess with Joshua. David didn't really have that sense, you know? He didn't have that sense of fear and he thought it'd be super funny to take Josh's hat and throw it over one of the fences.

Right. Cuz that's hilarious. You know, obviously we've all done that and the fence that he threw it over happened to be the lion enclosure. So that hat was gone, right? I mean, Josh was absolutely devastated. I don't know how my cousin David is still alive to this day. From that moment between his dad and my brother.

I thought someone was gonna die. Right? But I mean, that hat was gone. Uh, no one dared to go into that lines then. No worker dared to, you know, sorry, the hat is gone. I don't know why you threw it over in the first place. This kind of seems like your fault, right? But this morning we're gonna be talking about a lion and the, we're gonna be talking about the lion of Judah, right?

Someone that is so fierce and powerful that no one would dare approach, right? That we know of all who is capable. And I wanna look at just the exact, um, just context of this verse and revelation and kind of what's going on. Pastor Mark did a really good job last week of just kind of explaining the immediate context, because when we read the book of Revelation, I don't know why I separate it in my mind, but I forget that it's written to churches, right?

This was a letter written to encourage churches. Many of these churches were going through difficult times. They were facing persecution from Roman leaders and, and I mean severe persecution. And John is writing this letter to them to encourage them, to give them hope, and not just a fleeting hope or fleeting joy, but a eternal hope and joy.

And he, he's talking about this, this lying of the tribe of Judah, the root of David. Right. And he's saying to open this scroll. And maybe you're wondering why, why is this scroll important or why are we talking about this scroll and why is John weeping here? If you back up a couple verses, it's talking about an angel actually says, who is worthy on heaven and on earth to open this scroll?

And no one answers. So John is weeping and one of the elder says to him, don't weep. There is one who is worthy to open the scroll. It is the lion of the tribe of Judah. And and there's a lot of debate, um, about what this scroll might be. Some people think it was the, the scroll that was actually revelations written down.

Some people think it was the Old Testament. Some people think it was the Old Testament of the New Testament, its entirety for the first time. Um, but kind of after my studying and, and looking really diving deeper into this passage, I saw that it was really, I think it was the will of God, the final will of God, that only Jesus was able to open.

The only Jesus is able to know and see. And, and Noah was in there and, and if you disagree with me, that's okay. We can fight after the service. Right. So now we know the, the stage is set. This is what was going on. That this, there's only one worthy to open this scroll. It's, it's a line of Judah, the, the root of David.

But I mean, the line of Judah sounds cool. We just sang about it. But if we don't look at the significance of what that means and what is going on, we kind of miss the meaning. So I want to go through of what that actually means to be from the tribe of Judah and what the significance of the lion really is.

So I wanna look at, uh, we're gonna go all the way back to Genesis chapter 49, and I just wanna explain what is happening in this passage. So if you remember Jacob or Israel, he went by both names at this point is talking to his 12 sons and he's actually prophesying over them. And this is actually the first prophecy recorded, um, in scripture from a man directly to someone else.

And he's talking to his 12 sons and he's talking about what is gonna happen. To his 12 sons, the blessings or the curses, though it received. But prophetically speaking, he's speaking to the future. He's speaking that these 12 sons of him, of his would become the 12 tribes of Jerusalem. So not only is he talking to his sons, but he's talking to what is going to happen to these tribes of Jerusalem, or excuse me, Israel.

So he is talking to them and we pick up in verse eight when he is talking to his son, Judah. And he says this, Judah, your brother shall praise you. Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies. Your father's son shall bow down before you. Judah is a lions cub from the prey. My son, you have gone up. He stooped down.

He crouch, says a lion. And as a lion as who dares Ros him, the setter shall not depart from Judah nor the ruler staff from between his feet. Until tribute comes to him and to him shall be the obedience of the people. Man, there's so much in these couple verses here. I mean, if you read the other blessings and, and, and what Jacob was saying and some, this is a really good one.

Some of them were not great. Some of them did not get a good blessing like this. But Judah is receiving this blessing that actually would be the first son's blessing. Judah's not the first son. The first son was Ruben. Um, he did not receive the first son's blessing. Judah did. Judah would now be responsible to be the head of the family.

He now was responsible to take up the leadership that his father Jacob was taking, that he was in charge of his family, that he was leading his family, that he'd get a double portion of the inherit. and we see this in, in verse eight. It says, your brothers will praise you. We know that when Judah's born, he was named Judah because it literally means praise to praise, right?

This was a prophetically speaking that he would be praised, that his brothers would praise you. God put in charge not only Judah of his brothers, but he put the tribe of Judah in charge of the other tribes. This was gonna be the leader of Israel. Whoever was gonna come from the tribe of Judah was gonna be responsible for the kingship for it says the scepter would never leave this tribe, right?

God chose specifically the tribe of Judah for this. And although God used this to, to prophesize about the Tri Judah, this actually would not come to fruition for 640 years. . So God is telling Judah this, and, and he's speaking prophetically through Jacob to his son Judah, saying that, that Israel's gonna, your brothers are gonna praise you.

The rest of the tribes are gonna praise you. And he's probably like, man, this is awesome. This can be a, the great rest of my life, my, my sons and my ancestors will, will have the best lives ever. This would not come for 640 years until David took up the mantle of King. Right? How wild is that, that the Lord was working in and through Jacob and through Judah, but it wouldn't come to fruition until 640 years, until we know King David was so that he would become king.

Right? We know that, that David was in the line of Judah and we know that God established a covenant with David. God said, I'm going to make a kingship out of your family, that your ancestors, that you'll, this kingship will never depart from your family. , and this was true all throughout. Judah was in the line of the kingship.

And, and David's line continued on and on. But if you look at to the time of Jesus, many of the Jews were very distraught. They didn't realize what was going on because in this promise here it says the scepter would not depart. It says in verse 10, the scep shall not depart from Judah. The Scep symbolizes this kingship over Israel.

Um, David's line, like I said, continued on through Israel, but when Jesus came to earth, there was no Jews in power anymore. Herod had some power over them. The Romans had the power over, and the Jews actually thought the CEP has the part from the line of Judah. We no longer have this kingship. We no longer have this prop that God spoke over our tribe.

Where is our kingship? And it wasn't until Jesus was born. 1600 years later from this prophecy that this was ultimately fulfilled in Jesus. That he was from the line of, uh, Judah, that his mother, Jesus, or sorry, sorry, his mother, Mary and his father, who wasn't actually his biological father, Joseph was even in the line of Judah.

They were in this kingship line. Jesus had the right to the throne. He was in the right family. He had the right ancestors. The king, the scepter belonged to him. He was deserving to be king, and people knew that when he came on earth that he was going to be king. Now, if you look in verse 10, in the esv, it says, nor the ruler staff from between his feet until tribute comes to.

And then this might sound like confusing, like who we're talking about this, him what? His tribute, what does this mean? Um, if you look at the original Hebrew as I was playing around with different translations, the actual Hebrew there for him it says Shiloh, right? Shiloh was a place in Israel and it's referred to as such all throughout the Old Testament, except for one specific time.

And it's in this passage it's talking about until Shiloh comes. Well, if you look at the Hebrew of what that means, it actually means for it is to he who belongs, right? He who's it is that which belongs to him. , that's what this word means for Shiloh is, is commonly used from the Jews for to refer to the Messiah here.

And we now our eyes are open to see. Wow. This is not talking about just Judah. This is not talking about just his tribe. This is speaking of something greater and bigger to come. And that is the line of Judah. That is Jesus. I love the way, um, the NLT puts verse 10. It says, the scepter will not depart from Judah nor the ruler staff from his descendants until the coming of the one to Himm whom it belongs, the one whom all nations will honor.

The scepter belonged to Jesus. The scepter belonged to the line of Judah. It was rightfully his, although this was prophesied 1600 years prior to Christ coming on earth. This is important because Jesus had the right to the throne. that not only is he in the line of Judah, he is the Messiah, the one for told of the true fulfillment and ultimate fulfillment, the one who would come and conquer and bring obedience to all people, all tribes, nations, tongues.

We can't even understand who the line of Judah is until we understand the significance of being in the line of Judah. The, the Bible is a beautiful thing like this. We can sometimes gloss over things, and when we look into the true significance into the true meaning, it brings out deeper meaning, right?

That if we say, oh, he is the line of the tribe. Judah, okay, Judah is a cool name. No. This had significance of where and what line and what family Jesus came through, that the scepter was no longer gonna pass from Judah, that it was gonna be prophesized and ultimately fulfilled through Jesus. . Now that we understand that significance of what that line of Judah means, we kind of have to understand the significance of why a lion, right?

We know why he is from the tribe of Judah, but why a lion? I mean, why couldn't it be the pigeon of Judah, you know, like the, the grasshopper of Judah or like maybe the spider monkey of Judah. That kind of sounds cool. Like I could get behind a spider monkey, God, you know, like, but it wasn't any of those.

And I'm kind of glad that I don't serve a pigeon God. You know, I, I, I'm really happy that my God fighting for me is a lion. Amen. Not a pigeon, you know, not a grasshopper. That he is a lion that goes before me. That he is someone to be feared, glorified, praised, and that that lion is on my side. A lion symbolizes unstoppable power, fierceness, beauty majesty.

The line is the top of the food chain. He's the head honcho. It's the reason why you don't get your hat when you throw it into the line enclosure. If it was in the beaver enclosure, like, ah, yeah, we'll get it. You know, I don't think the pigeons have enclosure in the zoo. I'm not sure. Think they just hang out in Philly most often.

Right? But they're the kings of the jungle. They're not to be messed with a lion's roar can be heard from five miles away. They know that animals know when a lion is around, where their territory is. I think one of the most beautiful pictures of, of Jesus as the lion of Judah, and, and what even that could possibly look like for us is in, in the, the books and, uh, the, the, the, A movie of Narnia who, who has read the book or seen the movie of Narnia?

Okay, cool, cool. So I, I, I recently just watched it over again cause I just wanted to see and just remember the story. But I mean, Aslan, right? Aslan is this great line, the true king of Narnia. And if you remember the story, it's following these four siblings and they're going out and they've lost their friend Edmond.

And, and now they're gonna soon lose their, their brother or sorry, not their friend. What's it? Thomas? Thomas. They lose their brother Edmond. And everyone's saying, you gotta find Aslan. You gotta find Aslan. Linn's the true king of Narnia. And all they know at this point is this wicked witch of the North and, and how she's gonna come up and how scary she is and how she let our brother away.

And they're saying you have to find as. The true king. And there's just these whispers about him and these legends about him. And, and one of the quotes that just really stood out to me is when they're talking these two beavers that are helping them, and they're, they're talking about Aslan and they're asking questions, oh, is he good?

Is he, is he safe? Is is, is he true? Is he real? And the beaver says, don't you hear what Mr. Mrs. Beaver tells you who said anything about safe Course he isn't safe, but he's good. He's the king, I tell you. Right. This was the legend of Aslan. Of course he's not safe. He's a lion. He's dangerous, he's powerful, but it's good.

And he's our king and he's on our side. And the story continues and they're, they're leading into the journey of Aslan, and they find where he is in camp, and there's this whole army assembled against the, the witch, right? There's this whole army and they go to meet Aslan. And Aslan comes out of the tent.

And what does everyone do? They drop down immediately in the presence of just seeing Aslan and the, the siblings who don't really know what's going on, they, they're looking around, they see, and they drop right away, kneeling before they're king, kneeling before the great might of Aslan. This is our God, right?

This is Jesus. This is Jesus, the great lion of Judah, who deserves all our praise, all our, our reverence and respect, all our fear. And yet we don't have to fear because he's on our side. And as the story goes on, you kind of see the, the kids as they're a little scared and anxious to approach Aslan. As the movie goes on, you see them walking with him, hugging him, petting his mane.

Going out before him talking face to face with him. This is our God. Of course he's not safe, but he's good and he's on our side. All these legendary stories were true. Our lion of Judah, so majestic and powerful that every knee should bow before him. This is why titles and names are so important cuz when we dive into the meaning and discover what this is, we realize just the beauty and the power of our God, of our king Jesus.

This is who the lion of Judah is. He ha his, the scepter belonged to him. The one who to whom it belongs has come. He is the line of Judah. He is fierce. He is beautiful, he is majestic, and he's our lion. So what does this mean, right? If Jesus is the line of Judah, what does this mean for me? How does this affect my life?

It's cool. It's fun to watch Narnia. It's a good movie, but what does it mean to me? Most importantly, it means Jesus is king of my life, right? Jesus is king of my life, and I need to surrender to the mighty lion. It means if Jesus is king over my life, then he has authority over my life. If someone is a king, you, you pay your allegiance to them.

The people of Narnia knew who the real king was. They knew it was Aslan, and they bowed before him. They served him. They went out to battle for him. If Jesus is our king, he has authority over every aspect of our life. For those of us who have confessed Jesus as Lord, then we've confessed him as king. And I think it's so hard to understand why we say Jesus is Lord.

Right? We don't use that terminology very often, Lord. Um, but this idea of Lord, it's, it's a king. It means Jesus is king, right? When you're saying Jesus is Lord of my life, it's saying, Jesus is king of my life. It's saying Jesus has every authority over every aspect of my life. That every part of my life, not just on Sundays, is surrendered to Jesus, our king.

That means my pride is surrendered to him. That means my finances are surrendered, and that means my skills and my abilities are surrendered over the King Jesus, the line of Judah. God is not just king over our life on Sunday mornings. He's not just king over our life at Bible study or when we're with our Christian friends.

He wants all of us. . He wants every aspect of life. He wants you and he's king over you, and he has the authority over you. When you're home alone scrolling on your phone, he's, he's king over what you post on social media. I know I said it. Social media. Sorry. Right. He's king over how you talk at work, how you treat your coworkers.

He's king over how you talk to your wife and your husband, and your kids and your neighbors. When you go to work, when you're in school, and how you talk to teachers or people and authority to you and how you respond to them. He has authority over every aspect of your life. And if he really is the lion of Judah, if he really is our king, then he deserves it.

He deserves our respect. He deserves our praise. He deserves our service to him. He deserves full surrender. God has often described in the Old Testament as a jealous God. He wants our full hearts. He doesn't want you half of the week. He doesn't want you one day of the week. He wants every single day. He wants every thought to be captive to him.

He wants every action to be captive to him. We're so good at compartmentalizing things and saying, God, you know, you can have this aspect of my life. You know, I'm gonna do this, you know, I'm gonna give you this and this. Now I'll give you my family, but my finances, I, I just kind of like to control those. I kind of just feel a little better when I'm in control of those, you know, when my relationship and my, my pursuit of marriage or, or whatever it may be.

And I, I, I got that. God, don't worry. I don't think, you know, my type right, or whatever it may be. God wants all of it. He is the lion of Judah. He demands it. And even in the midst of that, while we're, we were still his enemies, he went after us, he pursued us, and he conquered our sin and shame. If Jesus is the line of Judah, what does it mean to me?

It means he's king of my life. It means he's king of my family, and I should live in that surrender and I should live under his authority in my life. If Jesus is the line of Judah in my life, how does this affect my fears, worries, doubts, anxieties. Well, the good news is the lion is on our side. When the beaver was talking about, um, Aslan, he said, of course he's not safe, but he's good.

Right? Of course, our God is powerful, but he's on our side. There's no longer any room to be afraid. Isaiah 31 4 says this. It says, for thus, the Lord said to me as a lion or a young lion growls over his prey. And when a band of shepherds is called against him, he's not terrified by their shouting or daunted at their noise.

So the Lord of hosts will come down to fight on Mount Zion and on its hill. God is not scared of what you're scared of. God does not have doubts like we have doubts. He does not have any insecurities. God is fighting for you. He's going to battle for you. So when we're scared and we have doubts and we're overcome with the stress or the anxieties of life, or our mental health seems too big to handle, know that the lion of Judah is fighting for you.

He has you. He's going before. And when we're fixated on him, right? And when we see him in all his beauty and power and love, our fears, our insecurities, our worries, our anxieties start to get smaller and smaller because we know who's on our side. It's not just Jared going out the battle, swinging fist, and trying to fight.

It's the lion of Judah. This is why we have confidence. This is why the Bible says do not fear because we have someone who is gone out before us. And when he roars, let our enemies know who's on our side. Let the lies in our head know who's on our side, that the lion of Judah is fighting for you. He's fighting for me.

He's going out. He's not scared. Whoever goes against him, he does not have fear. We need to keep our gaze and our eyes fixate on him and who he is. This is our line. This is the line of Judah. This is why we have confidence and I'll know this is all immediate things, right? I want to get back to the book of Revelation and, and what John is doing here.

He's giving hope. He's giving joy to these people. And no, it's not just a momentary thing and no, it's not just in the moment. Quick confidence. Okay, I'm good. He's giving them something eternal to hold onto and although we can look now and we can see the line of Judah and how he conquered our sin and how he pulled us out of darkness, he is coming again.

The lion of Judah. Jesus is coming and he's gonna take up his throne and the earth is gonna be his foot. So this is the hope that we hold onto not just some momentary thing to get us through tomorrow, but that one day the lion of Judah is going to come again and he's gonna conquer all things. And the book of Revelation says that every nation, every tongue, and every tribe will worship him.

That will come and says Judah And, and, and Genesis foretold of this, that he would bring obedience to the people that every knee will bow before him. We live in this already, not yet state, right? We're dead. This sin, the God has conquered our lives and. When Christ comes again, we will be fully redeemed and glorified in him.

We have hope and we have joy, but when Christ comes again, we will have that in its entirety. This is hope. This is real joy that Christ is bringing something that this world does not offer us, that this world could never offer us. This is the hope that we have. This is the joy that we can hold onto. The scepter has not departed from him.

He's coming back. He's bringing joy. He's bringing peace. He's bringing his power that every knee will bow before him. I wanna close with one more quote from Narnia about Aslan. It says this, it's the Golden Age prophecy about Aslan. Wrong will be right. When Aslan comes in sight at the sound of his roar, sorrows will be no more.

When he bears his teeth, winter meets its death. And when he shakes his mane, we shall have spring again. Laura, we come before you God. And I know for me, Lord, I'm absolutely humbled that you as the line of Judah came after me, Lord, that you're on my side and you're fighting Lord. And that feels me with abundance of confidence when I go against my problems, Lord.

And I pray as I approach this week and as we go out and approach this week, Lord, and and fears start to pile up and lies start to pile up. Lord, remember, just remind us of who's fighting for us. Remind us that you have sent someone out your son before us. to fight our battles that you have not left us alone.

That you, you've sent someone the lion of Judah Lord. And we know, and we live in this already, not yet state of, of the frustration that can become the battle between our flesh and sin and the spirit and and what you've done already, Lord. But we look forward to what you will do when you come, Lord, there will be no more tears.

You'll wipe all away sorrow. We'll be filled completely with your love and your joy and your peace God. And we long for that day. We worship you this morning, Lord. I'm gonna give you praise and Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-lion-of-judah e384f2d4-9611-4432-8d44-1afe030464fc Sun, 04 Dec 2022 14:49:33 GMT <div data-html="true">Revelation 5:5 <br /><br /> “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.” <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> My name is Pastor Jared and I, uh, have the privilege of speaking this morning. We're gonna be reading in Revelations chapter five, verse five. If you want to turn with me there, <br /><br /> you don't have your Bibles. It will be on the screen as well. <br /><br /> Revelations Chapter five, verse five says this, and one of the elders said to me, weep, no more behold the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David has conquered so that he can open the scroll and it's seven seals. Would you join me in, in prayer again? God, thank you so much for who you are and thank you so much, um, that you have invited us into your worship this morning. <br /><br /> Lord. , um, that you're a God that loves to hear our worship Lord, um, and that you're our God so worthy of all the praise we could ever give you. Okay? I just want to echo the, the lyrics of that song, Lord, that we would make room for you this morning, Lord, that your spirit, um, would move this morning in our hearts and our minds, Lord, that you would make room in this message for your spirit to work God, that it would not be any words I say or anything like that, Lord, but that it would be your voice speaking and your scripture speaking Lord, and that you would put off any and all distractions coming into this Sunday, Lord, that we would hear your truth, and that it'll cut through all the lies. <br /><br /> We love you Lord, and we give you praise this morning in Jesus' name. Um, many of you know, I'm, I'm one of five brothers, so my house is, was always rowdy growing up, and, and I, I got a lot of stories from that, but I also have a pretty big, large, um, extended family. Um, one of my aunts has seven kids as well, so, and they live down in Virginia and one day they, uh, were visiting for the holidays and we decided it was a good idea to go, um, to the zoo. <br /><br /> So it's seven of them and five of us. And God bless our parents for thinking they could handle all of that. And we go to, I think it was the Philadelphia Zoo or the K May Zoo and, and we're going through and everyone's having a good time. And my brother Josh had this hat that, like, he loved, he had this weird thing when he was younger where he would like find one piece of clothing that he would get obsessed with and like never take it off. <br /><br /> So this was like his new hat and he wore it every single day and he loved it. Um, and he was wearing it on that day. And my cousin, um, We'll, we'll say his name. His name is David. And hopefully he doesn't watch this . He took my brother's hat, my brother Josh's hat, he took his hat and he's like messing around with him like, oh, come get your habit. <br /><br /> Come get your hat. My brother Josh is like the oldest brother. He's like The brother you don't mess with. Right? Like everyone knows like you can pick on everyone else, but you don't mess with Joshua. David didn't really have that sense, you know? He didn't have that sense of fear and he thought it'd be super funny to take Josh's hat and throw it over one of the fences. <br /><br /> Right. Cuz that's hilarious. You know, obviously we've all done that and the fence that he threw it over happened to be the lion enclosure. So that hat was gone, right? I mean, Josh was absolutely devastated. I don't know how my cousin David is still alive to this day. From that moment between his dad and my brother. <br /><br /> I thought someone was gonna die. Right? But I mean, that hat was gone. Uh, no one dared to go into that lines then. No worker dared to, you know, sorry, the hat is gone. I don't know why you threw it over in the first place. This kind of seems like your fault, right? But this morning we're gonna be talking about a lion and the, we're gonna be talking about the lion of Judah, right? <br /><br /> Someone that is so fierce and powerful that no one would dare approach, right? That we know of all who is capable. And I wanna look at just the exact, um, just context of this verse and revelation and kind of what's going on. Pastor Mark did a really good job last week of just kind of explaining the immediate context, because when we read the book of Revelation, I don't know why I separate it in my mind, but I forget that it's written to churches, right? <br /><br /> This was a letter written to encourage churches. Many of these churches were going through difficult times. They were facing persecution from Roman leaders and, and I mean severe persecution. And John is writing this letter to them to encourage them, to give them hope, and not just a fleeting hope or fleeting joy, but a eternal hope and joy. <br /><br /> And he, he's talking about this, this lying of the tribe of Judah, the root of David. Right. And he's saying to open this scroll. And maybe you're wondering why, why is this scroll important or why are we talking about this scroll and why is John weeping here? If you back up a couple verses, it's talking about an angel actually says, who is worthy on heaven and on earth to open this scroll? <br /><br /> And no one answers. So John is weeping and one of the elder says to him, don't weep. There is one who is worthy to open the scroll. It is the lion of the tribe of Judah. And and there's a lot of debate, um, about what this scroll might be. Some people think it was the, the scroll that was actually revelations written down. <br /><br /> Some people think it was the Old Testament. Some people think it was the Old Testament of the New Testament, its entirety for the first time. Um, but kind of after my studying and, and looking really diving deeper into this passage, I saw that it was really, I think it was the will of God, the final will of God, that only Jesus was able to open. <br /><br /> The only Jesus is able to know and see. And, and Noah was in there and, and if you disagree with me, that's okay. We can fight after the service. Right. So now we know the, the stage is set. This is what was going on. That this, there's only one worthy to open this scroll. It's, it's a line of Judah, the, the root of David. <br /><br /> But I mean, the line of Judah sounds cool. We just sang about it. But if we don't look at the significance of what that means and what is going on, we kind of miss the meaning. So I want to go through of what that actually means to be from the tribe of Judah and what the significance of the lion really is. <br /><br /> So I wanna look at, uh, we're gonna go all the way back to Genesis chapter 49, and I just wanna explain what is happening in this passage. So if you remember Jacob or Israel, he went by both names at this point is talking to his 12 sons and he's actually prophesying over them. And this is actually the first prophecy recorded, um, in scripture from a man directly to someone else. <br /><br /> And he's talking to his 12 sons and he's talking about what is gonna happen. To his 12 sons, the blessings or the curses, though it received. But prophetically speaking, he's speaking to the future. He's speaking that these 12 sons of him, of his would become the 12 tribes of Jerusalem. So not only is he talking to his sons, but he's talking to what is going to happen to these tribes of Jerusalem, or excuse me, Israel. <br /><br /> So he is talking to them and we pick up in verse eight when he is talking to his son, Judah. And he says this, Judah, your brother shall praise you. Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies. Your father's son shall bow down before you. Judah is a lions cub from the prey. My son, you have gone up. He stooped down. <br /><br /> He crouch, says a lion. And as a lion as who dares Ros him, the setter shall not depart from Judah nor the ruler staff from between his feet. Until tribute comes to him and to him shall be the obedience of the people. Man, there's so much in these couple verses here. I mean, if you read the other blessings and, and, and what Jacob was saying and some, this is a really good one. <br /><br /> Some of them were not great. Some of them did not get a good blessing like this. But Judah is receiving this blessing that actually would be the first son's blessing. Judah's not the first son. The first son was Ruben. Um, he did not receive the first son's blessing. Judah did. Judah would now be responsible to be the head of the family. <br /><br /> He now was responsible to take up the leadership that his father Jacob was taking, that he was in charge of his family, that he was leading his family, that he'd get a double portion of the inherit. and we see this in, in verse eight. It says, your brothers will praise you. We know that when Judah's born, he was named Judah because it literally means praise to praise, right? <br /><br /> This was a prophetically speaking that he would be praised, that his brothers would praise you. God put in charge not only Judah of his brothers, but he put the tribe of Judah in charge of the other tribes. This was gonna be the leader of Israel. Whoever was gonna come from the tribe of Judah was gonna be responsible for the kingship for it says the scepter would never leave this tribe, right? <br /><br /> God chose specifically the tribe of Judah for this. And although God used this to, to prophesize about the Tri Judah, this actually would not come to fruition for 640 years. . So God is telling Judah this, and, and he's speaking prophetically through Jacob to his son Judah, saying that, that Israel's gonna, your brothers are gonna praise you. <br /><br /> The rest of the tribes are gonna praise you. And he's probably like, man, this is awesome. This can be a, the great rest of my life, my, my sons and my ancestors will, will have the best lives ever. This would not come for 640 years until David took up the mantle of King. Right? How wild is that, that the Lord was working in and through Jacob and through Judah, but it wouldn't come to fruition until 640 years, until we know King David was so that he would become king. <br /><br /> Right? We know that, that David was in the line of Judah and we know that God established a covenant with David. God said, I'm going to make a kingship out of your family, that your ancestors, that you'll, this kingship will never depart from your family. , and this was true all throughout. Judah was in the line of the kingship. <br /><br /> And, and David's line continued on and on. But if you look at to the time of Jesus, many of the Jews were very distraught. They didn't realize what was going on because in this promise here it says the scepter would not depart. It says in verse 10, the scep shall not depart from Judah. The Scep symbolizes this kingship over Israel. <br /><br /> Um, David's line, like I said, continued on through Israel, but when Jesus came to earth, there was no Jews in power anymore. Herod had some power over them. The Romans had the power over, and the Jews actually thought the CEP has the part from the line of Judah. We no longer have this kingship. We no longer have this prop that God spoke over our tribe. <br /><br /> Where is our kingship? And it wasn't until Jesus was born. 1600 years later from this prophecy that this was ultimately fulfilled in Jesus. That he was from the line of, uh, Judah, that his mother, Jesus, or sorry, sorry, his mother, Mary and his father, who wasn't actually his biological father, Joseph was even in the line of Judah. <br /><br /> They were in this kingship line. Jesus had the right to the throne. He was in the right family. He had the right ancestors. The king, the scepter belonged to him. He was deserving to be king, and people knew that when he came on earth that he was going to be king. Now, if you look in verse 10, in the esv, it says, nor the ruler staff from between his feet until tribute comes to. <br /><br /> And then this might sound like confusing, like who we're talking about this, him what? His tribute, what does this mean? Um, if you look at the original Hebrew as I was playing around with different translations, the actual Hebrew there for him it says Shiloh, right? Shiloh was a place in Israel and it's referred to as such all throughout the Old Testament, except for one specific time. <br /><br /> And it's in this passage it's talking about until Shiloh comes. Well, if you look at the Hebrew of what that means, it actually means for it is to he who belongs, right? He who's it is that which belongs to him. , that's what this word means for Shiloh is, is commonly used from the Jews for to refer to the Messiah here. <br /><br /> And we now our eyes are open to see. Wow. This is not talking about just Judah. This is not talking about just his tribe. This is speaking of something greater and bigger to come. And that is the line of Judah. That is Jesus. I love the way, um, the NLT puts verse 10. It says, the scepter will not depart from Judah nor the ruler staff from his descendants until the coming of the one to Himm whom it belongs, the one whom all nations will honor. <br /><br /> The scepter belonged to Jesus. The scepter belonged to the line of Judah. It was rightfully his, although this was prophesied 1600 years prior to Christ coming on earth. This is important because Jesus had the right to the throne. that not only is he in the line of Judah, he is the Messiah, the one for told of the true fulfillment and ultimate fulfillment, the one who would come and conquer and bring obedience to all people, all tribes, nations, tongues. <br /><br /> We can't even understand who the line of Judah is until we understand the significance of being in the line of Judah. The, the Bible is a beautiful thing like this. We can sometimes gloss over things, and when we look into the true significance into the true meaning, it brings out deeper meaning, right? <br /><br /> That if we say, oh, he is the line of the tribe. Judah, okay, Judah is a cool name. No. This had significance of where and what line and what family Jesus came through, that the scepter was no longer gonna pass from Judah, that it was gonna be prophesized and ultimately fulfilled through Jesus. . Now that we understand that significance of what that line of Judah means, we kind of have to understand the significance of why a lion, right? <br /><br /> We know why he is from the tribe of Judah, but why a lion? I mean, why couldn't it be the pigeon of Judah, you know, like the, the grasshopper of Judah or like maybe the spider monkey of Judah. That kind of sounds cool. Like I could get behind a spider monkey, God, you know, like, but it wasn't any of those. <br /><br /> And I'm kind of glad that I don't serve a pigeon God. You know, I, I, I'm really happy that my God fighting for me is a lion. Amen. Not a pigeon, you know, not a grasshopper. That he is a lion that goes before me. That he is someone to be feared, glorified, praised, and that that lion is on my side. A lion symbolizes unstoppable power, fierceness, beauty majesty. <br /><br /> The line is the top of the food chain. He's the head honcho. It's the reason why you don't get your hat when you throw it into the line enclosure. If it was in the beaver enclosure, like, ah, yeah, we'll get it. You know, I don't think the pigeons have enclosure in the zoo. I'm not sure. Think they just hang out in Philly most often. <br /><br /> Right? But they're the kings of the jungle. They're not to be messed with a lion's roar can be heard from five miles away. They know that animals know when a lion is around, where their territory is. I think one of the most beautiful pictures of, of Jesus as the lion of Judah, and, and what even that could possibly look like for us is in, in the, the books and, uh, the, the, the, A movie of Narnia who, who has read the book or seen the movie of Narnia? <br /><br /> Okay, cool, cool. So I, I, I recently just watched it over again cause I just wanted to see and just remember the story. But I mean, Aslan, right? Aslan is this great line, the true king of Narnia. And if you remember the story, it's following these four siblings and they're going out and they've lost their friend Edmond. <br /><br /> And, and now they're gonna soon lose their, their brother or sorry, not their friend. What's it? Thomas? Thomas. They lose their brother Edmond. And everyone's saying, you gotta find Aslan. You gotta find Aslan. Linn's the true king of Narnia. And all they know at this point is this wicked witch of the North and, and how she's gonna come up and how scary she is and how she let our brother away. <br /><br /> And they're saying you have to find as. The true king. And there's just these whispers about him and these legends about him. And, and one of the quotes that just really stood out to me is when they're talking these two beavers that are helping them, and they're, they're talking about Aslan and they're asking questions, oh, is he good? <br /><br /> Is he, is he safe? Is is, is he true? Is he real? And the beaver says, don't you hear what Mr. Mrs. Beaver tells you who said anything about safe Course he isn't safe, but he's good. He's the king, I tell you. Right. This was the legend of Aslan. Of course he's not safe. He's a lion. He's dangerous, he's powerful, but it's good. <br /><br /> And he's our king and he's on our side. And the story continues and they're, they're leading into the journey of Aslan, and they find where he is in camp, and there's this whole army assembled against the, the witch, right? There's this whole army and they go to meet Aslan. And Aslan comes out of the tent. <br /><br /> And what does everyone do? They drop down immediately in the presence of just seeing Aslan and the, the siblings who don't really know what's going on, they, they're looking around, they see, and they drop right away, kneeling before they're king, kneeling before the great might of Aslan. This is our God, right? <br /><br /> This is Jesus. This is Jesus, the great lion of Judah, who deserves all our praise, all our, our reverence and respect, all our fear. And yet we don't have to fear because he's on our side. And as the story goes on, you kind of see the, the kids as they're a little scared and anxious to approach Aslan. As the movie goes on, you see them walking with him, hugging him, petting his mane. <br /><br /> Going out before him talking face to face with him. This is our God. Of course he's not safe, but he's good and he's on our side. All these legendary stories were true. Our lion of Judah, so majestic and powerful that every knee should bow before him. This is why titles and names are so important cuz when we dive into the meaning and discover what this is, we realize just the beauty and the power of our God, of our king Jesus. <br /><br /> This is who the lion of Judah is. He ha his, the scepter belonged to him. The one who to whom it belongs has come. He is the line of Judah. He is fierce. He is beautiful, he is majestic, and he's our lion. So what does this mean, right? If Jesus is the line of Judah, what does this mean for me? How does this affect my life? <br /><br /> It's cool. It's fun to watch Narnia. It's a good movie, but what does it mean to me? Most importantly, it means Jesus is king of my life, right? Jesus is king of my life, and I need to surrender to the mighty lion. It means if Jesus is king over my life, then he has authority over my life. If someone is a king, you, you pay your allegiance to them. <br /><br /> The people of Narnia knew who the real king was. They knew it was Aslan, and they bowed before him. They served him. They went out to battle for him. If Jesus is our king, he has authority over every aspect of our life. For those of us who have confessed Jesus as Lord, then we've confessed him as king. And I think it's so hard to understand why we say Jesus is Lord. <br /><br /> Right? We don't use that terminology very often, Lord. Um, but this idea of Lord, it's, it's a king. It means Jesus is king, right? When you're saying Jesus is Lord of my life, it's saying, Jesus is king of my life. It's saying Jesus has every authority over every aspect of my life. That every part of my life, not just on Sundays, is surrendered to Jesus, our king. <br /><br /> That means my pride is surrendered to him. That means my finances are surrendered, and that means my skills and my abilities are surrendered over the King Jesus, the line of Judah. God is not just king over our life on Sunday mornings. He's not just king over our life at Bible study or when we're with our Christian friends. <br /><br /> He wants all of us. . He wants every aspect of life. He wants you and he's king over you, and he has the authority over you. When you're home alone scrolling on your phone, he's, he's king over what you post on social media. I know I said it. Social media. Sorry. Right. He's king over how you talk at work, how you treat your coworkers. <br /><br /> He's king over how you talk to your wife and your husband, and your kids and your neighbors. When you go to work, when you're in school, and how you talk to teachers or people and authority to you and how you respond to them. He has authority over every aspect of your life. And if he really is the lion of Judah, if he really is our king, then he deserves it. <br /><br /> He deserves our respect. He deserves our praise. He deserves our service to him. He deserves full surrender. God has often described in the Old Testament as a jealous God. He wants our full hearts. He doesn't want you half of the week. He doesn't want you one day of the week. He wants every single day. He wants every thought to be captive to him. <br /><br /> He wants every action to be captive to him. We're so good at compartmentalizing things and saying, God, you know, you can have this aspect of my life. You know, I'm gonna do this, you know, I'm gonna give you this and this. Now I'll give you my family, but my finances, I, I just kind of like to control those. I kind of just feel a little better when I'm in control of those, you know, when my relationship and my, my pursuit of marriage or, or whatever it may be. <br /><br /> And I, I, I got that. God, don't worry. I don't think, you know, my type right, or whatever it may be. God wants all of it. He is the lion of Judah. He demands it. And even in the midst of that, while we're, we were still his enemies, he went after us, he pursued us, and he conquered our sin and shame. If Jesus is the line of Judah, what does it mean to me? <br /><br /> It means he's king of my life. It means he's king of my family, and I should live in that surrender and I should live under his authority in my life. If Jesus is the line of Judah in my life, how does this affect my fears, worries, doubts, anxieties. Well, the good news is the lion is on our side. When the beaver was talking about, um, Aslan, he said, of course he's not safe, but he's good. <br /><br /> Right? Of course, our God is powerful, but he's on our side. There's no longer any room to be afraid. Isaiah 31 4 says this. It says, for thus, the Lord said to me as a lion or a young lion growls over his prey. And when a band of shepherds is called against him, he's not terrified by their shouting or daunted at their noise. <br /><br /> So the Lord of hosts will come down to fight on Mount Zion and on its hill. God is not scared of what you're scared of. God does not have doubts like we have doubts. He does not have any insecurities. God is fighting for you. He's going to battle for you. So when we're scared and we have doubts and we're overcome with the stress or the anxieties of life, or our mental health seems too big to handle, know that the lion of Judah is fighting for you. <br /><br /> He has you. He's going before. And when we're fixated on him, right? And when we see him in all his beauty and power and love, our fears, our insecurities, our worries, our anxieties start to get smaller and smaller because we know who's on our side. It's not just Jared going out the battle, swinging fist, and trying to fight. <br /><br /> It's the lion of Judah. This is why we have confidence. This is why the Bible says do not fear because we have someone who is gone out before us. And when he roars, let our enemies know who's on our side. Let the lies in our head know who's on our side, that the lion of Judah is fighting for you. He's fighting for me. <br /><br /> He's going out. He's not scared. Whoever goes against him, he does not have fear. We need to keep our gaze and our eyes fixate on him and who he is. This is our line. This is the line of Judah. This is why we have confidence and I'll know this is all immediate things, right? I want to get back to the book of Revelation and, and what John is doing here. <br /><br /> He's giving hope. He's giving joy to these people. And no, it's not just a momentary thing and no, it's not just in the moment. Quick confidence. Okay, I'm good. He's giving them something eternal to hold onto and although we can look now and we can see the line of Judah and how he conquered our sin and how he pulled us out of darkness, he is coming again. <br /><br /> The lion of Judah. Jesus is coming and he's gonna take up his throne and the earth is gonna be his foot. So this is the hope that we hold onto not just some momentary thing to get us through tomorrow, but that one day the lion of Judah is going to come again and he's gonna conquer all things. And the book of Revelation says that every nation, every tongue, and every tribe will worship him. <br /><br /> That will come and says Judah And, and, and Genesis foretold of this, that he would bring obedience to the people that every knee will bow before him. We live in this already, not yet state, right? We're dead. This sin, the God has conquered our lives and. When Christ comes again, we will be fully redeemed and glorified in him. <br /><br /> We have hope and we have joy, but when Christ comes again, we will have that in its entirety. This is hope. This is real joy that Christ is bringing something that this world does not offer us, that this world could never offer us. This is the hope that we have. This is the joy that we can hold onto. The scepter has not departed from him. <br /><br /> He's coming back. He's bringing joy. He's bringing peace. He's bringing his power that every knee will bow before him. I wanna close with one more quote from Narnia about Aslan. It says this, it's the Golden Age prophecy about Aslan. Wrong will be right. When Aslan comes in sight at the sound of his roar, sorrows will be no more. <br /><br /> When he bears his teeth, winter meets its death. And when he shakes his mane, we shall have spring again. Laura, we come before you God. And I know for me, Lord, I'm absolutely humbled that you as the line of Judah came after me, Lord, that you're on my side and you're fighting Lord. And that feels me with abundance of confidence when I go against my problems, Lord. <br /><br /> And I pray as I approach this week and as we go out and approach this week, Lord, and and fears start to pile up and lies start to pile up. Lord, remember, just remind us of who's fighting for us. Remind us that you have sent someone out your son before us. to fight our battles that you have not left us alone. <br /><br /> That you, you've sent someone the lion of Judah Lord. And we know, and we live in this already, not yet state of, of the frustration that can become the battle between our flesh and sin and the spirit and and what you've done already, Lord. But we look forward to what you will do when you come, Lord, there will be no more tears. <br /><br /> You'll wipe all away sorrow. We'll be filled completely with your love and your joy and your peace God. And we long for that day. We worship you this morning, Lord. I'm gonna give you praise and Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.</div> false no <![CDATA[Alpha and Omega]]> Revelation 1:4-11

“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”



Sermon Transcript:

Good Morning everybody.  While I'm fiddling, how about you all direct your attention, opening your Bibles to Revelation one, so you don't see me up here. Revelation chapter one. We're gonna looking at verses four through 11, beginning a new series this morning.

This is a series for the, uh, Christmas holidays. Uh, it is a series called The Glory of Christ. Wait a Minute, looking titles of Christ from the Book of Revelation and very excited about this series to the worship team. Just thanks for an incredible time of, of worship this morning. I'm gonna read Revelation chapter one, verses four through 11, verses four through eight.

Actually, John, to the seven churches that are in Asia, grace to you in peace from him, who is and who was, and who is to come. And from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the first born of the dead. And the ruler of Kings on Earth to him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom of priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever.

Amen. Behold, he is coming with the clouds in every eye will see him. Even those who pierced him in all tribes of the earth will well on account of him even so. Amen. I am the alpha and the Omega says the Lord God, who is and who was, and who is to come. The Almighty

Lord. We bring all the things that we have sung to you this morning and affirm our desire that they would be to your priest. Lord, you are the one who was. And who is and who is to come. You're the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end. The first and the last. Lord, it is to you. We draw our thoughts this morning, Lord, teach us of all the other things that we could learn and reflect on what we need to learn most is about you.

So show us yourself, Christ. May you be exalted in our own lives and minds and hearts as we reflect on you this morning, . Um, and in your name I pray, amen. The emperor donation has taken over the seat in. He's been in that position from 81 ad he will pass from that position in 96 AD 16 years, he will serve as the Emperor of Rome.

During that time, he will reinitiate a persecution that Nero had done in the early sixties, that deranged Emperor of Rome, who was responsible for the martyrdom of the apostle Peter and the Apostle Paul. And now 30 years later at the end of the mission's RO rule, it has been reinitiated only this time.

On a broader sense, Nero pretty much localized it around Rome itself. Now it has spread to the outlying areas. Areas like modern Turkey, areas where the seven churches, which are addressed in the book of Revelation, it has spread. . It is a season of adversity for the church. It is a season of suffering and hardship.

It is why in verse nine, John says it this way. I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation, and in verse 11, I write that what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamum, and to Thyra, and to Cyrus, and to sars, and to Philadelphia and to Leo de. These churches need a word of encouragement.

These churches at the same time will flourish and grow The church in this season of donation actually will grow. The world, will look at the Christians and they will be astonished at their steadfast. Strength in standing in the midst of persecution, the fortitude and joy that they will show, even as some of them will find that the Christians have now become again, lion Father in the coliseum During these years, Terelli in a second century church, father said the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.

It is their willingness to die for Christ. It is a willingness to expend everything out of willing joy and faithfulness that caused a watching world to say there has to be something real here, that these people would make this kind of stand for their religious faith. John gave them something that enabled them to face this season.

It is this book, the Book of Revelation. And whatever it was in this book that enabled them to withstand what they faced certainly is stuff that can speak to our lesser struggles today. So what is it that God had John show the people of God a view of the exalted and cosmic Jesus. We'll be looking at some of the titles that are highlighted in this book regarding Christ.

We'll see titles like today, the Alpha and the Omega, the Lion of Judah, the Lamb of God, the Root of David, faithful Witness will look at these as we go through this series, and there are many others there we won't get to. Alpha and Omega is a name that is given both to God, the Father, and specifically to Jesus Christ in this book.

The term alpha and omega is taken from the first letter and the last letter of the Greek alphabet alpha was the first. Omega was the last. He is the first and the last. It certainly refers to his internality. He never began, he never will end before all things, and at the end of all things. But there is more to it than that, and that's what I'd like to talk about this morning.

First of all, Jesus is alpha, the beginning, the start. He is the originator of all things. It is a comprehensive concept of God that is presented here. He's saying, I am uncreate. Nothing precedes me. Now, this was a big issue in the early church where they were trying to figure out the origin of Jesus.

There were councils that were hel were held on this subject. Is Jesus derived from God? Is Jesus a, a lesser God? Is Jesus created by God? But Jesus did not declare, I am beta an Omega. Beta would be the second letter. He didn't say, yeah, after God, there's, there's me. No, he says, I am alpha. I'm there at the beginning.

I am the origin. I am at the origins. As a matter of fact, I am the originator uncreate. But he tells us the significance of this idea of being first and last in an Old Testament passage. Isaiah 48 12 says, listen to me. Oh, Jacob and Israel, whom I called, I am He. I am the first and I am the last. My hand laid the foundation of the earth and my right hand spread out the heavens.

When I called to them, they. Sh they stand forth together. Now, when we say somebody's an alpha, she's an alpha, he's an alpha. We talk, we're talking about somebody that's the most willful, the the hardest driver, the the leader. The alpha dog leads the pack. The alpha player leads the team, right? But this concept is more, it is not supremacy of will and influence.

It is supremacy of existence. That Jesus is the great God, the creator. He is the origin of all things

that then gets very personal because it means he is the starting point of our lives. Why does that matter? Well, it speaks directly to us because it argues that. When we evaluate ourselves, when we think of our lives, we must start with God. We tend to start with ourselves, but unless you start with something outside of yourself, you tend to never find you.

If I, if I had a, a, a piece of something red here this morning and you gave it to me, you handed it to me and I had my eyes closed and you said, here it is. Tell me what this is. And I'd look at this thing and there it is. You can't even see me now. But there it is. And I'd say, well, it's red, but I'm not sure what it is.

I don't, I don't know. Uh, I don't know if it's a red pillow. I don't know if it's a red vest. I don't even know if it's a red suitcase. I just see the, the material right in front of me. I can only see. It's myopic. We need an outside, a bigger view. That's true of ourselves. We need something bigger than us, something outside of us that is helping us be defined.

You must see from outside yourself. So the question is what's your alpha? What is your beginning? Are you created by a God who purposely designed you, purposely placed you into this time of history, this cultural context? Or are you just some random amalgamation of atoms depending on what you believe will completely influence how you deal with your problems?

What's the origin point for you? What's your alpha Christian faith says, my alpha, my beginning, my first, the start of it all is a person. This Christ, the second member of the Godhead. So what is your alpha? Your alpha can be a person. Your alpha can be random chance, but your sense of origin, your starting point, the beginning of it all, has incredible impact on how you do life and how you live life.

For one, for instance, one thing, it gives clarity to our lives. Many years ago, uh, Ru Kipling was a writer for England. Uh, many famous writings, books, variety of things he did. And Ru Kipley made a statement. He said, it's a famous statement. Now what do they know of England, who only England know what he was talking about was there.

In England, people, he was frustrated because everybody was so proud of the the British Empire. And all that they did. And, and it all started in that little aisle. As, as, as, as, uh, Winston Churchill love to talk about it. And he said, our view is we are the center of everything and, and center of everything good.

But his frustration was, we don't realize that our empire is built on the backs of cools servants, slaves all over the world. And he says, people of England, if they don't have a view outside of themselves, what do they really know of England? They don't. They, they have to see broader. Well, this is the concept that I'm trying to present here.

If your alpha is outside of yourself, if the origin is bigger than you, if there's a person that has designed you, that knows you, that sees you in ways you cannot see yourself, it brings clarity. To life. If you are just randomly here, just that amalgamation of, of atoms randomly by chance, develop together, you'll make your own rules.

You'll have your own view of yourself, you'll have your own priorities. You'll develop your own moral and social code. But if you're here designed by someone else, you will have to discover your design. Discover why you're here, discover what it is that is designed for your specific life. It gives meaning to your life.

Those rejecting Jesus as their alpha tend to not have a sense of meaning to their lives. , and many of them are very honest with that. I've quoted before Modern atheists. I'm just gonna throw up a few. They're very clear of saying, you know, they don't, I say, I don't have an alpha. My alpha is just where Origin just happened, just came together.

And so here's how they defined the purpose of their lives. Steve and j Gould, uh, one of the leading scientists behind the modern, um, atheistic movement says this, we are here because one, do we have that? We don't have that. Well, here it is. We are here because one odd group of fishes had a peculiar Finn Anatomy that could transform into legs for terrestrial creatures.

We may yearn for a higher answer, but none exist. Why are here? Why are we here? No reason really at all. Just randomly, perhaps the most famous of the modern. Uh, called the Four Horsemen of the Modern Atheist. Richard Dawkins says it this way, in his book, river Out of Eden, human existence is neither good nor evil, neither kind nor cruel, but simply callous, indifferent to all suffering, lacking all purpose.

What is human existence? It lacks all purpose. We're just, we don't have an alpha beyond ourselves. Our alpha is random chance. It's just happenstance. Walter Sta, the former professor of philosophy at Princeton, said it this way. The picture of a meaningless world and a meaningless human life is, I think the basic theme of much modern art and literature.

Certainly it is the basic theme of modern philosophy. The world is just what it is, and that is the end of all inquiry. There's no reason for it being what it is. To ask any question about why things are thus or what purpose they're being so serves is to ask a senseless question. Because they serve no purpose at all.

Now, for most of us, that way of looking at life is utterly unsatisfying. As Francis Schaeffer said, all people have a deep longing for significance, a longing for meaning. No one, regardless of his theoretical system, is content to look at himself as a finally meaningless machine, which can and will be discarded totally in forever.

I remember talking to a woman in her thirties, uh, who was a, a declared atheist, and we were talking together and she was going through some difficult things in her life, and she made an interesting statement to me. She said, I just wanna know that there's a purpose behind all this. There's no purpose. If there's no designer, there's no purpose.

If your alpha is meaningless, it, it is just random chance, then your life is just random chance. Ultimately, you can make decisions, but ultimately you can't say, well, I'm looking for my design. I'm looking for my purpose. I'm, I'm looking for the intent of my life. That infer that your alpha is something someone outside of yourself.

Here's the question. What's your alpha? What's your alpha? Is it the fact that you have a person that has designed you? If it is, then you have, you can say there's purpose, there's intent, and my goal in life is to discover from that alpha. What it is, is the purpose and intent to which I have been designed.

The second thing, he is the omega, the last, the goal. If he is your alpha, you recognize him as your creator and designer. Then you can also recognize him as the omega. Everything began with him. Everything aims towards him. It was all designed by him and for him. You can live your life with that design in mind.

Many years ago, I visited the house of a family, um, from South South Asia and they, uh, had bought here in the United States locally, and I went in the home and they were, they were very small of stature and their home was built for small of stature people. I'd never been in a home quite like it. The doors were low, the rooms were very small.

Um, every, the ceiling was lower than normal, and every part of the house just felt like it was not designed for a six foot tube. Me, I just felt like it wasn't designed for me. I, I don't fit in, in this universe. I, I feel aran out of place. The universe that you live in was designed for Jesus Christ by him and for him.

He is its goal. It is designed for his glory. One day, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord. You are built to be part of that creation. , but it is not aimed at you. It is aimed at him. He's the alpha, the originator, but he is also the omega. He is the goal. He is the target.

It is about him. These followers of Christ that John is writing to, were choosing to live their lives for Jesus. It was costing them. John writes to say, look, all of creation is designed to have it or its ultimate goal. Christ, all of history is rushing toward him. He's the. He's the goal. He's the omega. You fit into this universe if your life is being lived for his glory, and what he's basically saying to them is this, every need you have will one day be cared for by him.

Every loss you have experienced for his name will be remembered and honored. All eternity will be your reward for the temporary sufferings you have endured. All evil will be defeated by him. He's the creator at the beginning. He's the judge at the end. He is alpha, he is Omega ego. It's why in the last chapter of the Bible, the very last chapter of the whole book, in Revelation, Jesus, it says this about Jesus.

He's talking about himself. Verse 12 and 13. Behold, I'm coming soon, bringing my recompense with me to repay each one for what he's done. I am the alpha and the omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. John is encouraging these believers and every born again Christian after them to stand fast, to embrace that your life is not your own.

Your glory is not your goal. He's saying don't waste your life. Live it joyfully, wholeheartedly, passionately. For your Lord Jesus must be your O Omega in your daily life. I read something Tim Keller said, and it has really stuck with me. It's a phrase, I believe I have it here. Uh, it's, there are two ways to approach God.

Wow. There are two ways to approach God. You either make him the means and something else is the goal, or you make him the goal and everything else is the means. I want, I wanna unpack that a little bit. He says, you either make your, you, you, and it's, we all do it in our lives. We do it as a seeker towards Christ.

We do it as a young believer towards Christ. Many cases, we, we do it many years as our, our, our lifestyle to a believer. We look at Christ. He is the means to my goals. Yeah, I come to Jesus and, and because I've recognized that I needed forgiveness of sins, but I also love having Jesus in my life because he makes me happier.

I know he'll give me relationships. I, I know that he'll help me with, with some of the, the, the self, uh, destructive tendencies I have in my life. And he does all those things. But we tend to look that the goal is my happiness. It is my, my, my, my relationships, my moving forward with life. My, my conquering my struggles.

He's the means, they're the goals. But the longer you walk with Christ, you find out that's not really the story. The story is this. He's the goal. He's the omega. He's where my whole life trajectory is pointed and that he's the goal. Everything else is the means. It causes you to look at things differently.

It causes you to look, to look at losses suffering. It causes you to say, these are things that cause me great sorrow. And I thought the Christian life was all about my, my great joy. But I begin to realize that I can endure my sorrow because it is, God uses it as a means to the goal of knowing and loving and enjoying Jesus Christ.

He becomes the Omega more and more in my life experience, that all of history and all of my history and all of my story with Jesus is directing me towards my Omega.

Last week I mentioned in the second, in the second, no, last week I mentioned in this service, both services asking you to pray. I'm speaking to Crew Ministries, um, ministry to the United Nations, and I've been asked to speak on December 8th. Uh, to all the ambassadors that want to come. Crew has gotten a large posh hotel in Manhattan.

They're inviting ambassadors from the UN to come, and I have the chance to share at a big Christmas dinner the message of Christmas. It's a wonderful privilege. And I was asking for prayer. I'm still asking for prayer, and I mentioned in my, in my spiel on it, I've spoken a couple of other times with crew in their ministry of the United Nations, and I'm always terrified and I'm in over my head.

And I expressed that fairly eloquently I guess because after the service, people came up and were talking to me and one particular woman came up and, um, I don't know her, but I, I love, I love her and what she said, but she came up and I didn't know her name, and she just said, I just feel the Lord has told me to say something to you.

And here's what she said. Get over yourself.

Oh, I'm Mark. You're . Okay. It was a great statement. Yes. I am nervous about going up there. Yes. I feel, uh, and I'm trying to communicate. I'm in over my head. I need the, but I also, she, she said, get over yourself. It's not about you. It's about Jesus. She's right. And I may go up there, and it may be the worst talk that those ambassadors have ever heard from a clergymen in their whole life.

That may be the way, way that Jesus Christ is going to glorify himself. Somehow I need to say, God, bring it on that Lord, everything is directing towards one goal. He's the omega, he's the target. Everything else is the means. I look around this room this morning, and I know a lot of you, and I know some of your stories.

I know some of the things that have been the means, the cost, the pain, but I also know enough of your stories you'd say, I could not have imagined how this thing could be a means toward me. Experiencing the ultimate goal of knowing and enjoying and loving and glorifying Jesus Christ, but he does . Or maybe you're here and you're inwardly shaking your fist at God today and say, I've tried to do the right things, but I'm going nowhere.

I made the right choices. And God didn't give me a spouse. He didn't give me children. He didn't give me children turning out as I had hoped. I tell the truth and then I lose the sail. I take my stands with Jesus and I've taken one punch in the stomach after another. But your life is not aimed at your goals.

It is not aimed at your dreams and expectations. Even as a Christian, it is aimed at Christ and those very disappointments and losses and sorrows are the means of leading you to him. He is the omega. He is the one your life is pointing towards as all of history is surging towards him and his exalt. It's why the West Minister Confession of Faith Shorter Catechism says it this way.

What's the chief end or aim or purpose of man to glorify God and enjoy him forever?

He is not the means to the goal. He's the goal. Everything else is the means.

Elizabeth Elliot only wrote one novel in her career. She wrote many other books, but one fiction book, the book is entitled No Grave and Image. I read it many years ago and the Lord brought it back to mind for this message. In the book, no Grave and Image, there is the um, story of a young missionary, a woman.

Who is struggling with a lack of fruit. She's, she hates writing per letter cuz she has nothing to write. It's embarrassing. She's given up her her career to come be a missionary on the field and she's not seeing people respond to the gospel. She doesn't feel like she's making any difference. She wants something to validate her as we all understand.

And then she has this guy that she leads to Christ, Pedro. And Pedro just is so hot for Christ. He has great ability to speak, he has a great heart for the Lord, and it's just beautiful. And she's just pouring her life into Pedro and his wife and, and seeing him grow and all and all of a sudden, shockingly unexpectedly, Pedro in the weirdest possible way dies.

And it's pretty much the end of the book. And. People that read the book and Elizabeth Elliot tells this in talking about a lot of people didn't lie, a lot of Christians didn't like it. They said, can't you end it positively miss such a defeats? It's such an, but here is what the young missionary woman learned as she realized her dreams were not fulfilled as she expected, and she thought, this is a, but God had something else going on.

Here is the statement that she made. If God were my accomplice, he failed me. But if God was God, he had freed me. If God is your goal, you have learned to say God is using all things to free me to live for his, for the ultimate price. That my end game becomes his game end game. That in life or death in success or failure in rejection or praise, Jesus will be glorified in me.

He's not my accomplice to satisfy my goals and desires. Ultimately, he is my goal and my desire. He's the alpha, he's the omega. He's eternal, but it's more than that. That's here. He's saying he's the designer, he's the originator, but he's also the target. Our lives have been shaped and molded and at with the goal that we would more and more live out a life that is to the glory of Jesus.

He's the goal. He's not the means to our goals. All those other things that he allows and purpose. Some very encouraging, some lovely, some we just easily embrace with gratitude and praise. But also the other stuff he says, I'm the goal. Those things also are part of the means. I'm not just Mark. I'm not just your accomplice, I'm your God.

I'm your Omega, I'm your Ralph. And he says to people that had suffered deeply, he says, people, you're right on track. Yeah, this is hard. I hope the persecution relents. I'm sorry for you. However, see that what God is purposing in your life are the means towards the ultimate goal. With this I'll close. It's a few phrases from a poem that CT stud, a great missionary statesman wrote.

Many of you have heard it. It's called Only one life Till Soon Be Passed. Two little lines I heard one day Traveling along life's busy way, bringing conviction to my heart and from my mind would not depart. Only one life will soon be passed. Only what's done for Christ will last only one life. A few brief years each with its burdens, hopes and fears each with its calls I must fulfill living for self or in his will.

Only one life till soon be passed. Only what's done for Christ will last. When this bright world would tempt me soar, when Satan would a victory score, when self would seek to have its way, then help me Lord, with joy to say, only one life will soon be passed. Only what's done for Christ will last. Now let me say that I will be done and when it lasts, I'll hear the call.

I'll know, I'll say to us, worth it all. Only one life till soon be passed. Only what's done for Christ will last. And when I'm dying, how happy I'll be if the lamp of my life has been burned out for the only one life till soon be passed, Lord,

there's stuff going on in this room in people's lives and people that are watching online.

And it's confusing and it's heavy. Lord, may they receive from this simple message the hope that I think those believers in the first century were designed to receive, and that those things are the means to the ultimate goal. Lord Jesus, I worship you this morning as our alpha. We're not here randomly.

We're here by design. You designed us, you ordained us, you created us, but ultimately, you're at the other end as well. You designed us to have the engine of our lives run.

With the petrol being desire to bring glory to Christ, you are the omega. Lord Jesus, I love you for this truth. There are means that you've chosen in many of our lives we didn't get at the time that's going on right now for people in this room. Lord, give the hope. You're the O Omega. You're the end.

You're the goal of the story. Let us embrace that today. Let us not require you to be our accomplice. Let us delight to have you as our God in Jesus' name. Amen.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/alpha-and-omega 3178431a-3349-4f63-8201-42bf885a8ba9 Sun, 27 Nov 2022 13:06:28 GMT <div data-html="true">Revelation 1:4-11 <br /><br /> “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> Good Morning everybody.  While I'm fiddling, how about you all direct your attention, opening your Bibles to Revelation one, so you don't see me up here. Revelation chapter one. We're gonna looking at verses four through 11, beginning a new series this morning. <br /><br /> This is a series for the, uh, Christmas holidays. Uh, it is a series called The Glory of Christ. Wait a Minute, looking titles of Christ from the Book of Revelation and very excited about this series to the worship team. Just thanks for an incredible time of, of worship this morning. I'm gonna read Revelation chapter one, verses four through 11, verses four through eight. <br /><br /> Actually, John, to the seven churches that are in Asia, grace to you in peace from him, who is and who was, and who is to come. And from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the first born of the dead. And the ruler of Kings on Earth to him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom of priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. <br /><br /> Amen. Behold, he is coming with the clouds in every eye will see him. Even those who pierced him in all tribes of the earth will well on account of him even so. Amen. I am the alpha and the Omega says the Lord God, who is and who was, and who is to come. The Almighty <br /><br /> Lord. We bring all the things that we have sung to you this morning and affirm our desire that they would be to your priest. Lord, you are the one who was. And who is and who is to come. You're the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end. The first and the last. Lord, it is to you. We draw our thoughts this morning, Lord, teach us of all the other things that we could learn and reflect on what we need to learn most is about you. <br /><br /> So show us yourself, Christ. May you be exalted in our own lives and minds and hearts as we reflect on you this morning, . Um, and in your name I pray, amen. The emperor donation has taken over the seat in. He's been in that position from 81 ad he will pass from that position in 96 AD 16 years, he will serve as the Emperor of Rome. <br /><br /> During that time, he will reinitiate a persecution that Nero had done in the early sixties, that deranged Emperor of Rome, who was responsible for the martyrdom of the apostle Peter and the Apostle Paul. And now 30 years later at the end of the mission's RO rule, it has been reinitiated only this time. <br /><br /> On a broader sense, Nero pretty much localized it around Rome itself. Now it has spread to the outlying areas. Areas like modern Turkey, areas where the seven churches, which are addressed in the book of Revelation, it has spread. . It is a season of adversity for the church. It is a season of suffering and hardship. <br /><br /> It is why in verse nine, John says it this way. I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation, and in verse 11, I write that what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamum, and to Thyra, and to Cyrus, and to sars, and to Philadelphia and to Leo de. These churches need a word of encouragement. <br /><br /> These churches at the same time will flourish and grow The church in this season of donation actually will grow. The world, will look at the Christians and they will be astonished at their steadfast. Strength in standing in the midst of persecution, the fortitude and joy that they will show, even as some of them will find that the Christians have now become again, lion Father in the coliseum During these years, Terelli in a second century church, father said the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. <br /><br /> It is their willingness to die for Christ. It is a willingness to expend everything out of willing joy and faithfulness that caused a watching world to say there has to be something real here, that these people would make this kind of stand for their religious faith. John gave them something that enabled them to face this season. <br /><br /> It is this book, the Book of Revelation. And whatever it was in this book that enabled them to withstand what they faced certainly is stuff that can speak to our lesser struggles today. So what is it that God had John show the people of God a view of the exalted and cosmic Jesus. We'll be looking at some of the titles that are highlighted in this book regarding Christ. <br /><br /> We'll see titles like today, the Alpha and the Omega, the Lion of Judah, the Lamb of God, the Root of David, faithful Witness will look at these as we go through this series, and there are many others there we won't get to. Alpha and Omega is a name that is given both to God, the Father, and specifically to Jesus Christ in this book. <br /><br /> The term alpha and omega is taken from the first letter and the last letter of the Greek alphabet alpha was the first. Omega was the last. He is the first and the last. It certainly refers to his internality. He never began, he never will end before all things, and at the end of all things. But there is more to it than that, and that's what I'd like to talk about this morning. <br /><br /> First of all, Jesus is alpha, the beginning, the start. He is the originator of all things. It is a comprehensive concept of God that is presented here. He's saying, I am uncreate. Nothing precedes me. Now, this was a big issue in the early church where they were trying to figure out the origin of Jesus. <br /><br /> There were councils that were hel were held on this subject. Is Jesus derived from God? Is Jesus a, a lesser God? Is Jesus created by God? But Jesus did not declare, I am beta an Omega. Beta would be the second letter. He didn't say, yeah, after God, there's, there's me. No, he says, I am alpha. I'm there at the beginning. <br /><br /> I am the origin. I am at the origins. As a matter of fact, I am the originator uncreate. But he tells us the significance of this idea of being first and last in an Old Testament passage. Isaiah 48 12 says, listen to me. Oh, Jacob and Israel, whom I called, I am He. I am the first and I am the last. My hand laid the foundation of the earth and my right hand spread out the heavens. <br /><br /> When I called to them, they. Sh they stand forth together. Now, when we say somebody's an alpha, she's an alpha, he's an alpha. We talk, we're talking about somebody that's the most willful, the the hardest driver, the the leader. The alpha dog leads the pack. The alpha player leads the team, right? But this concept is more, it is not supremacy of will and influence. <br /><br /> It is supremacy of existence. That Jesus is the great God, the creator. He is the origin of all things <br /><br /> that then gets very personal because it means he is the starting point of our lives. Why does that matter? Well, it speaks directly to us because it argues that. When we evaluate ourselves, when we think of our lives, we must start with God. We tend to start with ourselves, but unless you start with something outside of yourself, you tend to never find you. <br /><br /> If I, if I had a, a, a piece of something red here this morning and you gave it to me, you handed it to me and I had my eyes closed and you said, here it is. Tell me what this is. And I'd look at this thing and there it is. You can't even see me now. But there it is. And I'd say, well, it's red, but I'm not sure what it is. <br /><br /> I don't, I don't know. Uh, I don't know if it's a red pillow. I don't know if it's a red vest. I don't even know if it's a red suitcase. I just see the, the material right in front of me. I can only see. It's myopic. We need an outside, a bigger view. That's true of ourselves. We need something bigger than us, something outside of us that is helping us be defined. <br /><br /> You must see from outside yourself. So the question is what's your alpha? What is your beginning? Are you created by a God who purposely designed you, purposely placed you into this time of history, this cultural context? Or are you just some random amalgamation of atoms depending on what you believe will completely influence how you deal with your problems? <br /><br /> What's the origin point for you? What's your alpha Christian faith says, my alpha, my beginning, my first, the start of it all is a person. This Christ, the second member of the Godhead. So what is your alpha? Your alpha can be a person. Your alpha can be random chance, but your sense of origin, your starting point, the beginning of it all, has incredible impact on how you do life and how you live life. <br /><br /> For one, for instance, one thing, it gives clarity to our lives. Many years ago, uh, Ru Kipling was a writer for England. Uh, many famous writings, books, variety of things he did. And Ru Kipley made a statement. He said, it's a famous statement. Now what do they know of England, who only England know what he was talking about was there. <br /><br /> In England, people, he was frustrated because everybody was so proud of the the British Empire. And all that they did. And, and it all started in that little aisle. As, as, as, as, uh, Winston Churchill love to talk about it. And he said, our view is we are the center of everything and, and center of everything good. <br /><br /> But his frustration was, we don't realize that our empire is built on the backs of cools servants, slaves all over the world. And he says, people of England, if they don't have a view outside of themselves, what do they really know of England? They don't. They, they have to see broader. Well, this is the concept that I'm trying to present here. <br /><br /> If your alpha is outside of yourself, if the origin is bigger than you, if there's a person that has designed you, that knows you, that sees you in ways you cannot see yourself, it brings clarity. To life. If you are just randomly here, just that amalgamation of, of atoms randomly by chance, develop together, you'll make your own rules. <br /><br /> You'll have your own view of yourself, you'll have your own priorities. You'll develop your own moral and social code. But if you're here designed by someone else, you will have to discover your design. Discover why you're here, discover what it is that is designed for your specific life. It gives meaning to your life. <br /><br /> Those rejecting Jesus as their alpha tend to not have a sense of meaning to their lives. , and many of them are very honest with that. I've quoted before Modern atheists. I'm just gonna throw up a few. They're very clear of saying, you know, they don't, I say, I don't have an alpha. My alpha is just where Origin just happened, just came together. <br /><br /> And so here's how they defined the purpose of their lives. Steve and j Gould, uh, one of the leading scientists behind the modern, um, atheistic movement says this, we are here because one, do we have that? We don't have that. Well, here it is. We are here because one odd group of fishes had a peculiar Finn Anatomy that could transform into legs for terrestrial creatures. <br /><br /> We may yearn for a higher answer, but none exist. Why are here? Why are we here? No reason really at all. Just randomly, perhaps the most famous of the modern. Uh, called the Four Horsemen of the Modern Atheist. Richard Dawkins says it this way, in his book, river Out of Eden, human existence is neither good nor evil, neither kind nor cruel, but simply callous, indifferent to all suffering, lacking all purpose. <br /><br /> What is human existence? It lacks all purpose. We're just, we don't have an alpha beyond ourselves. Our alpha is random chance. It's just happenstance. Walter Sta, the former professor of philosophy at Princeton, said it this way. The picture of a meaningless world and a meaningless human life is, I think the basic theme of much modern art and literature. <br /><br /> Certainly it is the basic theme of modern philosophy. The world is just what it is, and that is the end of all inquiry. There's no reason for it being what it is. To ask any question about why things are thus or what purpose they're being so serves is to ask a senseless question. Because they serve no purpose at all. <br /><br /> Now, for most of us, that way of looking at life is utterly unsatisfying. As Francis Schaeffer said, all people have a deep longing for significance, a longing for meaning. No one, regardless of his theoretical system, is content to look at himself as a finally meaningless machine, which can and will be discarded totally in forever. <br /><br /> I remember talking to a woman in her thirties, uh, who was a, a declared atheist, and we were talking together and she was going through some difficult things in her life, and she made an interesting statement to me. She said, I just wanna know that there's a purpose behind all this. There's no purpose. If there's no designer, there's no purpose. <br /><br /> If your alpha is meaningless, it, it is just random chance, then your life is just random chance. Ultimately, you can make decisions, but ultimately you can't say, well, I'm looking for my design. I'm looking for my purpose. I'm, I'm looking for the intent of my life. That infer that your alpha is something someone outside of yourself. <br /><br /> Here's the question. What's your alpha? What's your alpha? Is it the fact that you have a person that has designed you? If it is, then you have, you can say there's purpose, there's intent, and my goal in life is to discover from that alpha. What it is, is the purpose and intent to which I have been designed. <br /><br /> The second thing, he is the omega, the last, the goal. If he is your alpha, you recognize him as your creator and designer. Then you can also recognize him as the omega. Everything began with him. Everything aims towards him. It was all designed by him and for him. You can live your life with that design in mind. <br /><br /> Many years ago, I visited the house of a family, um, from South South Asia and they, uh, had bought here in the United States locally, and I went in the home and they were, they were very small of stature and their home was built for small of stature people. I'd never been in a home quite like it. The doors were low, the rooms were very small. <br /><br /> Um, every, the ceiling was lower than normal, and every part of the house just felt like it was not designed for a six foot tube. Me, I just felt like it wasn't designed for me. I, I don't fit in, in this universe. I, I feel aran out of place. The universe that you live in was designed for Jesus Christ by him and for him. <br /><br /> He is its goal. It is designed for his glory. One day, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord. You are built to be part of that creation. , but it is not aimed at you. It is aimed at him. He's the alpha, the originator, but he is also the omega. He is the goal. He is the target. <br /><br /> It is about him. These followers of Christ that John is writing to, were choosing to live their lives for Jesus. It was costing them. John writes to say, look, all of creation is designed to have it or its ultimate goal. Christ, all of history is rushing toward him. He's the. He's the goal. He's the omega. You fit into this universe if your life is being lived for his glory, and what he's basically saying to them is this, every need you have will one day be cared for by him. <br /><br /> Every loss you have experienced for his name will be remembered and honored. All eternity will be your reward for the temporary sufferings you have endured. All evil will be defeated by him. He's the creator at the beginning. He's the judge at the end. He is alpha, he is Omega ego. It's why in the last chapter of the Bible, the very last chapter of the whole book, in Revelation, Jesus, it says this about Jesus. <br /><br /> He's talking about himself. Verse 12 and 13. Behold, I'm coming soon, bringing my recompense with me to repay each one for what he's done. I am the alpha and the omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. John is encouraging these believers and every born again Christian after them to stand fast, to embrace that your life is not your own. <br /><br /> Your glory is not your goal. He's saying don't waste your life. Live it joyfully, wholeheartedly, passionately. For your Lord Jesus must be your O Omega in your daily life. I read something Tim Keller said, and it has really stuck with me. It's a phrase, I believe I have it here. Uh, it's, there are two ways to approach God. <br /><br /> Wow. There are two ways to approach God. You either make him the means and something else is the goal, or you make him the goal and everything else is the means. I want, I wanna unpack that a little bit. He says, you either make your, you, you, and it's, we all do it in our lives. We do it as a seeker towards Christ. <br /><br /> We do it as a young believer towards Christ. Many cases, we, we do it many years as our, our, our lifestyle to a believer. We look at Christ. He is the means to my goals. Yeah, I come to Jesus and, and because I've recognized that I needed forgiveness of sins, but I also love having Jesus in my life because he makes me happier. <br /><br /> I know he'll give me relationships. I, I know that he'll help me with, with some of the, the, the self, uh, destructive tendencies I have in my life. And he does all those things. But we tend to look that the goal is my happiness. It is my, my, my, my relationships, my moving forward with life. My, my conquering my struggles. <br /><br /> He's the means, they're the goals. But the longer you walk with Christ, you find out that's not really the story. The story is this. He's the goal. He's the omega. He's where my whole life trajectory is pointed and that he's the goal. Everything else is the means. It causes you to look at things differently. <br /><br /> It causes you to look, to look at losses suffering. It causes you to say, these are things that cause me great sorrow. And I thought the Christian life was all about my, my great joy. But I begin to realize that I can endure my sorrow because it is, God uses it as a means to the goal of knowing and loving and enjoying Jesus Christ. <br /><br /> He becomes the Omega more and more in my life experience, that all of history and all of my history and all of my story with Jesus is directing me towards my Omega. <br /><br /> Last week I mentioned in the second, in the second, no, last week I mentioned in this service, both services asking you to pray. I'm speaking to Crew Ministries, um, ministry to the United Nations, and I've been asked to speak on December 8th. Uh, to all the ambassadors that want to come. Crew has gotten a large posh hotel in Manhattan. <br /><br /> They're inviting ambassadors from the UN to come, and I have the chance to share at a big Christmas dinner the message of Christmas. It's a wonderful privilege. And I was asking for prayer. I'm still asking for prayer, and I mentioned in my, in my spiel on it, I've spoken a couple of other times with crew in their ministry of the United Nations, and I'm always terrified and I'm in over my head. <br /><br /> And I expressed that fairly eloquently I guess because after the service, people came up and were talking to me and one particular woman came up and, um, I don't know her, but I, I love, I love her and what she said, but she came up and I didn't know her name, and she just said, I just feel the Lord has told me to say something to you. <br /><br /> And here's what she said. Get over yourself. <br /><br /> Oh, I'm Mark. You're . Okay. It was a great statement. Yes. I am nervous about going up there. Yes. I feel, uh, and I'm trying to communicate. I'm in over my head. I need the, but I also, she, she said, get over yourself. It's not about you. It's about Jesus. She's right. And I may go up there, and it may be the worst talk that those ambassadors have ever heard from a clergymen in their whole life. <br /><br /> That may be the way, way that Jesus Christ is going to glorify himself. Somehow I need to say, God, bring it on that Lord, everything is directing towards one goal. He's the omega, he's the target. Everything else is the means. I look around this room this morning, and I know a lot of you, and I know some of your stories. <br /><br /> I know some of the things that have been the means, the cost, the pain, but I also know enough of your stories you'd say, I could not have imagined how this thing could be a means toward me. Experiencing the ultimate goal of knowing and enjoying and loving and glorifying Jesus Christ, but he does . Or maybe you're here and you're inwardly shaking your fist at God today and say, I've tried to do the right things, but I'm going nowhere. <br /><br /> I made the right choices. And God didn't give me a spouse. He didn't give me children. He didn't give me children turning out as I had hoped. I tell the truth and then I lose the sail. I take my stands with Jesus and I've taken one punch in the stomach after another. But your life is not aimed at your goals. <br /><br /> It is not aimed at your dreams and expectations. Even as a Christian, it is aimed at Christ and those very disappointments and losses and sorrows are the means of leading you to him. He is the omega. He is the one your life is pointing towards as all of history is surging towards him and his exalt. It's why the West Minister Confession of Faith Shorter Catechism says it this way. <br /><br /> What's the chief end or aim or purpose of man to glorify God and enjoy him forever? <br /><br /> He is not the means to the goal. He's the goal. Everything else is the means. <br /><br /> Elizabeth Elliot only wrote one novel in her career. She wrote many other books, but one fiction book, the book is entitled No Grave and Image. I read it many years ago and the Lord brought it back to mind for this message. In the book, no Grave and Image, there is the um, story of a young missionary, a woman. <br /><br /> Who is struggling with a lack of fruit. She's, she hates writing per letter cuz she has nothing to write. It's embarrassing. She's given up her her career to come be a missionary on the field and she's not seeing people respond to the gospel. She doesn't feel like she's making any difference. She wants something to validate her as we all understand. <br /><br /> And then she has this guy that she leads to Christ, Pedro. And Pedro just is so hot for Christ. He has great ability to speak, he has a great heart for the Lord, and it's just beautiful. And she's just pouring her life into Pedro and his wife and, and seeing him grow and all and all of a sudden, shockingly unexpectedly, Pedro in the weirdest possible way dies. <br /><br /> And it's pretty much the end of the book. And. People that read the book and Elizabeth Elliot tells this in talking about a lot of people didn't lie, a lot of Christians didn't like it. They said, can't you end it positively miss such a defeats? It's such an, but here is what the young missionary woman learned as she realized her dreams were not fulfilled as she expected, and she thought, this is a, but God had something else going on. <br /><br /> Here is the statement that she made. If God were my accomplice, he failed me. But if God was God, he had freed me. If God is your goal, you have learned to say God is using all things to free me to live for his, for the ultimate price. That my end game becomes his game end game. That in life or death in success or failure in rejection or praise, Jesus will be glorified in me. <br /><br /> He's not my accomplice to satisfy my goals and desires. Ultimately, he is my goal and my desire. He's the alpha, he's the omega. He's eternal, but it's more than that. That's here. He's saying he's the designer, he's the originator, but he's also the target. Our lives have been shaped and molded and at with the goal that we would more and more live out a life that is to the glory of Jesus. <br /><br /> He's the goal. He's not the means to our goals. All those other things that he allows and purpose. Some very encouraging, some lovely, some we just easily embrace with gratitude and praise. But also the other stuff he says, I'm the goal. Those things also are part of the means. I'm not just Mark. I'm not just your accomplice, I'm your God. <br /><br /> I'm your Omega, I'm your Ralph. And he says to people that had suffered deeply, he says, people, you're right on track. Yeah, this is hard. I hope the persecution relents. I'm sorry for you. However, see that what God is purposing in your life are the means towards the ultimate goal. With this I'll close. It's a few phrases from a poem that CT stud, a great missionary statesman wrote. <br /><br /> Many of you have heard it. It's called Only one life Till Soon Be Passed. Two little lines I heard one day Traveling along life's busy way, bringing conviction to my heart and from my mind would not depart. Only one life will soon be passed. Only what's done for Christ will last only one life. A few brief years each with its burdens, hopes and fears each with its calls I must fulfill living for self or in his will. <br /><br /> Only one life till soon be passed. Only what's done for Christ will last. When this bright world would tempt me soar, when Satan would a victory score, when self would seek to have its way, then help me Lord, with joy to say, only one life will soon be passed. Only what's done for Christ will last. Now let me say that I will be done and when it lasts, I'll hear the call. <br /><br /> I'll know, I'll say to us, worth it all. Only one life till soon be passed. Only what's done for Christ will last. And when I'm dying, how happy I'll be if the lamp of my life has been burned out for the only one life till soon be passed, Lord, <br /><br /> there's stuff going on in this room in people's lives and people that are watching online. <br /><br /> And it's confusing and it's heavy. Lord, may they receive from this simple message the hope that I think those believers in the first century were designed to receive, and that those things are the means to the ultimate goal. Lord Jesus, I worship you this morning as our alpha. We're not here randomly. <br /><br /> We're here by design. You designed us, you ordained us, you created us, but ultimately, you're at the other end as well. You designed us to have the engine of our lives run. <br /><br /> With the petrol being desire to bring glory to Christ, you are the omega. Lord Jesus, I love you for this truth. There are means that you've chosen in many of our lives we didn't get at the time that's going on right now for people in this room. Lord, give the hope. You're the O Omega. You're the end. <br /><br /> You're the goal of the story. Let us embrace that today. Let us not require you to be our accomplice. Let us delight to have you as our God in Jesus' name. Amen.</div> false no <![CDATA[Evidences of the Spirit’s Leading in Your Life]]> Acts 16:1-9

And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.”



Sermon Transcript:

Invite you to take your Bibles this morning. We're gonna be returning again to the Book of Acts. Um, want to just give a quick update as much as I know of it, um, which is all positive and exciting. We have a ladies retreat this week. You may have noticed it was a fairly testosterone, uh, worship team up here today.

Um, just incredible things happening. Just praising God with Joanne and her whole leadership team for the way God is moving was exciting to me. Joanne's opening talk was on the GPS of the spirit of how the Lord leads us in our lives, which is a parallel study to what we're gonna be talking about this morning.

But we do want to be praying, um, over a hundred women there participating. Really, I, I just caught snippets. through my wife and others of the way God is moving in lives. It is beautiful. It is wonderful, and we want to continue to pray that God will use this last day of the retreat to really make himself known even as we believe him to be at work among us.

This morning. I'd like to read Acts chapter 16. I'm not sure I told you that. Acts 16 verses one through nine and then we'll pray together. Paul came also to Derby and Lira. A disciple was there named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek. He was well spoken of by the brothers at Lira and I Iconium.

Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places for, they all knew that his father was a Greek. As they went on through their way through the cities, they delivered to them for Observ observance. , the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem.

So the churches were strengthened in the faith and they increased in numbers daily. And they went through the region of Fri and Gala Glacier having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. And when they had come up to Mya, they attempted to go into Bethen, but the spirit of Jesus did not allow them.

So passing by Mya, they went down to tr ass. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia was standing there urging him and saying, come over to Macedonia and help us. And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

Lord, our hearts do go to the ladies on the retreat. God, thank you for the evidence of your spirit alive and real and moving there already. Lord, we pray that even now you would be a shield around the meeting place, around the conversations, around the, the many processing that is going on in the hearts of women and Lord may truth that's shared, um, sink deeply into the lives of these, these women that are there.

Glorify yourself. Give energy to Joanne and all of the team that are leading. Lord, may your name be lifted up among them. And God, we ask for that here. We open your word. We love the scriptures. We love that you are willing to teach us and ask you to do that this morning. Father. In Jesus' name. Amen. It all started with a simple conversation between two veteran missionaries.

The apostle Paul got together with Barnabas. They were back in Antioch at town 80 miles north of Jerusalem, which had now become the epicenter of the the early church. And they were talking together and Paul said, let's, let's go visit the guys, the people that we've discipled and those early small house churches that we've begun.

The plan was for a few week journey. They would walk there, um, and they would go among those that they had already begun to disciple in the gospel, but God had bigger plants. Paul and Silas, soon joined by Timothy and eventually by Luke would be gone for three years. at least three years, they would travel over 2,700 miles on foot or on ship.

This map shows that, and basically what this map is presenting to you and that red line is the journey. They're over here in Antioch. And Antioch is, uh, where something tragic, at least to us tragic occurs. Things didn't start well. Paul and Barnabas have a conflict over whether to take this young guy, John Mark, that has gone with them before, a man who later will prove himself faithful and used of God, including writing the Gospel of Mark.

But Barnabas and John Mark will go over to Cyprus, the island there, and as they sail to the island of Cyprus, Barnabas sails out of the book of Acts. We don't hear. About him again. At the same time, Paul and Barnabas will go up north and go to this area, which is where Sia, which is where they have discipled people together.

And, but now Barnabas has been replaced by Silas. And when they come to this little town, Lira, as we'll see in a moment, they pick up a third member of their party named Timothy. This passage that I've read this morning verses one through 10, gives the first part of this lengthy journey. And in this first part, it is a reminder that a follower of Jesus follows.

He leads, he directs, he directs in the lives of these men as he is willing to direct in our lives through the spirit that he has given to us. The third member of the triunity of God, who ent dwells the lives of his children, of citizens of Jesus kingdom. And this passage is a profound picture of how that and what that, how that happens and what that looks like.

The question before us this morning is very simply, are you following the spirit's leading in your life? A secondary question is, would you know how to tell? We just finished a World Series where we came up short if you're a Phillies fan, but in the third game it was a high point high water mark for us as we took a two one lead in this series.

And there was a picture that we were facing that we was fairly ominous because he was a powerful pitcher. He had recently come back and Lance McCullough was, um, known for not giving up home runs and against us. He gave up five babies, five dingers, and lot of conversation afterwards. If you're a fan at all, you heard about it, you know that there was a lot of controversy of, um, that by commentators, by former ball players, even contemporary ball players that said the guy was, was tipping.

The guy was, was letting them see, not intentionally, but he was tipping his pitches. What that simply means is there would be some way you would know what he was gonna throw. In his case, the argument was he actually held his glove higher with certain pitches. Others, he kept it lower and you knew if a curve ball was coming, you knew if a fast ball was coming and.

Whatever it was, it worked out well for Philly's fan. What happened there, if it was what occurred is his changes in posture were his tell it show what was going on in this passage, we are given some of the tells of the spirits leading in our lives, and I'd like to look at three of them this morning. The first is there is flexibility in our practice.

This is in verses one through five, and basically these first four verses are all about a young man named Timothy Paul at this time is probably in his thirties. Um, Timothy is probably a late teenager, probably not much more than that if he's in his twenties. He's probably just about 20, 21. And he's a young man that is raised in Lister.

And if you remember Lister, when Paul was here before, Lister is, is a kind of a, a sore spot for him. He had ended up being stoned there and left for dead in lister, but he's come back and he's found one of the people that have been led to Christ as a result of their ministry earlier is Timothy and his mom, and apparently his grandmom.

The reason I say that even though the grandmothers not mentioned here, is in first Timothy, Paul talks about the faith that I see in you, Timothy, and in your mom and in your grandma even gives us the name. It's Lois and Eunice that are the two women, but the one member of the family we don't know is the dad.

We do know that he's not a believer. He has described here as a Greek. Now, if he was a. His, his family was Jewish on the mom's side. If he was a Greek Jew, he would be called a Hellistic, a hell Jew. But he's called a Greek to identify that he's still living a life of paganism. He has not embraced Christ.

He has not embraced Judaism. And so he has come to Christ. He is well reported among by the believers, and Paul embraces him and has drawn him and says, why don't you travel with us? And he agrees. But Paul then says, I think it would be helpful for you to be circumcised. Now, this is a problem. It's a problem for me.

It's a problem for you, and I'm gonna try to make it a problem for you because Paul has a letter with him, right? It sucks about in verse four, the letter is from Jerusalem, and he is taking that letter to all the Gentiles in this area, Southern Turkey. Modern day Turkey, and this is what the letter says, if you become a believer in Jesus Christ, you don't need to be circumcised.

You don't need to identify as a Jew because you don't have to come by way of Judaism to embrace the Messiah. As I've quoted Pastor Joe on numerous occasions, they were saying, you don't have to become one of us to become one of his. That the idea is no, the, the Old Testament requirements are no longer on because it is now open to anyone.

The gospel is open to all, but what does he do? The first thing he does with Timothy before he takes him on the road is, Hey man, let's have you get circumcised. And he's doing it because he does not want to offend the Jews. He is doing it to try to expand his gospel ministry. But there's confusion here, right?

And I would suggest it ties into what we read in First Corinthians nine. First Corinthians nine. Paul says this, I have made myself a servant to all that. I might win more of them to the Jews I became as a Jew in order to win Jews to those under the law. I became as one under the law, though not being myself under the law, that I might win those under the law to those outside the law.

I became as one, outside the law, not being outside the law of God, but under the law of Christ that I may win those outside the law. Here's what he's saying to the Jews. I became as a Jew, Paul is a Jew. Why does he need to become as a Jew? What he's saying is among the Jews, those outside of the gospel who are still in the Jewish faith.

I am going to act Jewishly. I'm gonna acknowledge, yeah. I'm circumcised. Yeah. I, I, I honor When he went to Jerusalem, he visited the temple. He honored it. He didn't take Gentiles in because he knew it would be offensive. He says, I, I acted Jewishly, I followed their practices. I, there were things I didn't do that I would normally, there were definitely things I practiced that I would not normally feel were necessary to practice.

He says, because I don't wanna make anything stand in the way or be offensive in the gospel. I think what he's saying, I have a conviction that no one needs to be circumcised under the new covenant. He certainly had that. It, but he compromised not his belief, but his practice to not have the practice stand in the way of sharing the gospel.

Now, Gentile, obviously this is a unique situation. You have a guy that has both a gentile father, a, a Greek father and a Jewish mom. And, and I, without getting very earthy, I have no idea how they knew who was circumcised or not. I don't want to know how they found out, but, but the idea is that they would have to acknowledge, yes, you know, he's, he's a Jewish background.

Has he been circumcised? This would be very offensive because he's Jewish. So Paul says, you know what, um, Timothy wasn't circumcised, even though he is been raised by a Jewish mom and grandmother. Let's just do it. To not have this be something that stands in the way. Probably, well, undoubtedly what would've happened in those areas if they, because they knew Timothy's background.

They'd say, you, you're not bringing that guy into the temple, into the synagogue. You wanna preach to us. We're interested. We're very interested to hear you, Paul. But quite frankly, if you're gonna have a guy traveling with you as a spokesman for your, your faith, and he's Jewish and he's not even circumcised, we're dissing the whole thing.

It's, we, we, we have no confidence. Paul said, okay, it is not worth it. It's not worth it. We'll act Jewishly to the Jew. He also says in first Corinthians nine, to those outside the law, I became as one outside the law. Now here's where gets dicier for us, right? I mean, these are, this is talking about the Gentiles.

So what does that mean? I, I, I'm not sure exactly all that he meant, but I'm guessing there were things that he had and convictions she had that he was not. Giving up his conviction, but he was saying, I am going to allow some bend in my life here if it is just gonna be a barrier to me being able to share the gospel.

It's interesting the places Jesus went, I mean, Jesus went to Matthew's house and, and, and all the Pharisees basically gathered outside, aghast and accused him, you're going into a tax collector's house, who were the, the worst sinners? In, in, in, in. They were known as notorious thieves, sellouts to the Romans.

And they said, you're going in a house and the only people that are there are tax collectors, which were what they were, and sinners, which was a euphemism for prostitutes. And this is the result and you're a drunker, which means he's identified with drinking in there. And certainly some of those people are drinking to excess.

He was misunderstood. He was misrepresented and Jesus said, Hey, I'm here. I'm none of those things. I'm not being drawn toward the women. I'm not being drawn toward a sinful lifestyle. I'm not being drawn toward becoming a drunker, but I'm willing to be misunderstood. I'm willing to, to, to compromise some of my typical practices, to be with these people and to make them comfortable and to say, I'll come into your world.

I'll, I'll fudge a little because I don't want anything to stand in the way of the gospel. I think the spirit leads us that. John Newton, John Newton, the former slave trader who has brought gloriously to the gospel and wrote that great song, amazing Grace, said this about Paul. It said Paul was a bendable read in non-essentials.

And iron pillar in essentials. We've gotta figure out what those are. But what Paul says is, I got a lot more bend in me in order to get the gospel out there. I'll be Jewishly acting, I'll be henly acting, if you will, and don't hear more of that than I am saying. But, but there's bend, there's, this is saying the spirit.

There's some flexibility with the spirit. Secondly, there's forsaking. Oh, and the impact of verse five. Not only of that, but just of, of the message they're bringing, the way that they're living. So the churches were strengthened in the faith and the increased in numbers daily. Secondly, forsaking of personal agendas.

I just want to walk with you through this map one more time because Plan A Paul, Paul has a, a plan a strategy. His Plan A, and we see it throughout his ministry. It's to take the gospel first, where people haven't gone before, but specifically strategically to go to the urban centers. He was an urban MIS missionary.

He went to the population centers. So Paul naturally is feeling like the Lord is continuing to lead them along. We can go there now. Thank you. Uh, they're in Silesia. They're starting to go, and where Paul expects to go is right over here. I mean, these are where the cities are. This red, this mean, these are the big cities.

Colossi, Phil Philippon, the Crown jewel. Eus. Eus is the second largest city of the Roman Empire. It is the Rome of the East. It is the Cosmopolitan Center for this whole part of the world and the Black Sea and all the world coming down there. And Paul, Paul's eager to get there. He'll eventually get there on the, on the, the final swing of his journey.

But he's heading towards Asia, and he says, well, obviously this is where God would want us to go, because that's where the people are. That's where the I sins are. I'm, I'm a, I'm a, I'm a, I'm a city man. This is where the gospel can most impact lives. And they're on their way and God says, no, we don't know how.

But the Spirit specifically closes that door. So then he heads north, he starts heading north, not sure where, and it says He then planned to go into Bethia and Bethia. Here's what we read in verse seven. And when they had come up to Myea, that again is up here. I'm filling a little schizophrenic as I go back and forth between maps.

But up here in my macia it says, uh, they wanted to go in there. Now why would they want to go to Bethen? There are a whole bunch of cities along the southern coast of the Black Sea up there. There's a city called naia, which actually will become where the NAIA Council, one of the most famous gatherings, Christian, to the left side of that, the left corner between the yellow and the purple is Byzantine, which will become Constantinople, which is today Istanbul, a center of all trade coming down from the north.

This is to cities days. Okay? I can't go to those cities. I'm just go to I'm, let's go to those cities. So he is on plan B and verse seven, and when he had come up to Myea, they attempted to go into bien, but the spirit of Jesus did not allow them. The question I want to ask is this, was Paul wrong to push ahead?

I mean, maybe he should have just waited, right? Maybe he should have stayed and there are times, you know, and just not set out and just say, Lord, you know, what do you want me to do? Well, there are sometimes God says to wait. Uh, one of the guys that mentored me in ministry said to me, and he was a bull in the China shop.

Go get him. Type a guy. He said, mark, you're gonna find out in the pastorate the hardest verse in the Bible to live out, but you're gonna probably be asked to live it out more than any other is from the Book of Psalms. Wait on the Lord, wait on the Lord. We have to wait. Sometimes we have to say, I'm not moving.

But God didn't tell him to wait. They were prompted to move on, but they didn't know what their destination was. And God, first of all, closed one door to Asia. The second of all, he closed the door to the north to Bethia where they were. They were being led by being told no, but they needed a yes. They needed to know this is the way they needed real clarity on what God wanted them to do.

My guess is, , you're in that place or have been in that place, you certainly will be in that place Again, you have situations where you're really needing God's counsel. There are questions that need to be asked. I'll tell you, uh, having lived number of decades now, that never will stop. Every season of your life, you will find you are in over your head.

There are questions you don't have the answers to. You don't know what's next. You don't know where. Now, Lord Asia looks good, but then it looks good. I mean, we're gonna constantly need to be casting ourselves. This is what the life of the spirit is all about. He's the leader. We're the followers. So what are some principles of discerning the spirits leading associated with this passage?

And I'm gonna throw a cuff couple in that I think are inferred here, and I'm gonna tell you four quick principles. number one, you must empty yourself of your own will. George Mueller, who is the individual that started the great orphanage in Bristol, England years ago, and George Mueller written a lot of books.

Spiritual Autobiography of George Miller, many others, um, George Mueller had over 10,000 orphans that he cared for, and he never received a governmental dime. He never put out a request for funds. Literally, they, I mean, the story is, is astonishing in its beauty. If you read the story, literally they would come and the people, his associates would come and say, we have no breakfast for the, for the orphans.

And they'd be praying, and then all of a sudden this tr this wagon would be there and this guy would say, I'm sorry, I've got fresh bread. Um, but my wagon wheel has broken off. We're right outside. Can you, can you have people come and take the bread because it's gonna go bad? Just story after story after story.

This was his statement. The first requirement for finding God's will is emptying yourself of your own will. That sounds easy, right? That's not easy, but that's part of it. It's part of it saying, Lord, I really do want you more than I want this new house. I really do want you more than this job. I really do want you more than this relationship.

I really do want you more than this sale. I really do want you more than this. A I really want you. Doesn't mean we can't ask God for it, but that we are saying, Lord, ultimately the passion of my heart is for you. So sometimes we spend most of our time finding us. Well, just saying, Lord. Here it is. I'm open.

Whatever you have, may I find joy in your will. The second thing is, count on these two realities. God is more concerned about you finding His will than you are. I find a lot of comfort in that because that leads to the second reality, which is this, God does not have a secret code. He wants you to crack.

He's not trying to hide his will. He's not trying to trick you and say, oh baby, you've got, you know, here it is. It's the secret room and you've gotta find the clues. And Mark, you just may not be smart enough to know the will of God. No. He wants you to know his will. Now, in this case, they were getting, no, they, they were, they were.

There was certainly some confusion, but they were waiting. They were trusting. God was using all of this in their lives as he led them along. But there's just things to really count on when you're waiting on God and to show you his will. And those are two of them. He's more concerned with you finding it than you are, and it is not a secret code that you have to crack.

Number three, employ the spirit's resources for finding God's Will we see this directly in this passage? There is revelation that God gives Now in this time period there's very little New Testament, right? As a matter of fact, the only New Testament that has been written to this point is the Book of Galatians, which Paul wrote and we're not even sure at this time that he knows it's New Testament or not.

He just knows the letter and God is gonna make it clear. This is inspired scripture, so he's not walking around with a, with with the Biblical manual, the New Testament. You know, I can claim these verses and these, he doesn't have those verses. . So at this time, and in the early part of the Book of Acts, there's a lot of dreams that are involved.

There's visions there, there's angelic appearances, and God uses those. But over the course of time, as the scripture become more prominent, that becomes the primary means of revelation that God will use in the hands of His spirit to lead his people. It is also why, in my opinion, in talking with a number of missionaries that are, that are serving in different parts of the world, notably the Muslim world, almost every missionary I've ever talked to that is working f consistently in the Muslim world, comes back with stories.

Of how people have been led to Christ. They had a dream. Uh, they dreamed about Jesus. They know who he was. And then you start talking to him. They say, oh, I've been dreaming about that. There, there are revisions. There are things that God is doing there where they don't have the scriptures. It makes sense to me.

It seems to follow the same pattern, but we are living in an era, in a season where we have the scriptures. Now you may say, well, that stinks. I love the idea of dreams and visions and angelic appearances. I mean, I get a book, you know how many books there are,

I can only say if that's our emotional response. You really need to interact with this book more. This book is a lamp to your feet and a light to path. It is a living word. I'm just using descriptions it uses of itself. The spirit takes the scriptures to make known the purposes and will of God. I've said this before, I, I almost cannot remember a significant decision I've made in my life where I didn't ask God to give me a scripture to affirm it.

My wife has an older Bible than I do, and she won't give that baby up. And the reason is because she's got so many dates in the margins next to verses with a little note of where God used those verses to lead indirect in her or our lives. The scriptures, God uses revelation. He will use his word as a part of the process as you are seeking him.

Secondly, he uses God's people. In this passage. It's interesting, as Luke is recording, in verse seven, he says this, when they had come up to Mica, they attempted to go into bien, but the spirit of Jesus did not allow them. Then in verse 10, he says this, we sought to go into Macedonia concluding that God had called us.

He says, us. We, they, it's not Paul. It was a team. They were collaboratively seeking the will of God, godly counselors, godly voices in your life. One of the deepest times of spiritual growth for any married couple is when you begin to really learn to seek the face of God together. That I'm not moving ahead of you, babe, and I'm not moving ahead of you.

Whatever he is, we're, we're, we're, we're doing this together. We're seeking God's mind together. The voice of close, godly friends that speak into us that so often in our lives determining the will of God is a collaborative, letting other people that you trust in the Lord to have voice into you. The third principle of that is third element of that revelation, people circumstances.

This is a clear one here in this passage. There were doors that were closed. God slammed that one shut. He slammed that one shut, and then he has a dream come. He opens the doors and closes the doors. The fourth thing is this, engage your mind to come to a conclusion. Verse 10 says this. Let me just read it.

And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. The word concluding here is an interesting word in the original. It actually means to gather the pieces and put 'em together. It's used in Ephesians four 11 where it says, we are all pieced together with one another.

He's talking about spiritual gifts and how we all need each other. He said they, they took the pieces and they, they, they put it together. Well, that's what you do with the will of God. You get the scriptures, you get people's counsel. You, you look at circumstances and then you engage the brain that you process.

And now we, and and so again, I'm gonna devil's advocate. You might be out there and say, well, well how hard was that for them? This guy shows up in a dream and somehow they know he is Greek. So he is across the island. I'm looking at remodeling the kitchen. I'd be great if tonight I had a dream and, and this guy shows up and he's got a tool belt with a blueprint in his hands and he says, here it is.

Come over to our office and we'll give you the office. Well, you probably won't have that dream, but you still engage your brain. You still look at what has God said through his word? What has God said through my wife, through, through other Godly counselors in our lives? What has God said through, as we look at the doors and the opening that are closed and open and just put everything on paper and then we put it all together and seek to say, okay, this seems to obviously be the spirit of God leading the last thing.

and I'm now back to the big three, is following promptly. There's an interesting side note here in verse 10 where Luke changes from the, I gotta think, which is the third person plural, to the first person, plural. It had been a they, and all of a sudden, once Paul is in Troy ass, which is Troy, and they're getting ready to follow this, this, this dream of envision of the guy from Greece across the a c.

Luke says, we went, apparently Dr. Luke joined them here in Troy Troyes, but basically he says, man, we immediately followed. As soon as you know, you move on it. I mean, God doesn't show you his will for you to consider it. He shows you his will for you to do it and. You better be ready when you ask for the will of God when he shows it.

He only has one next step at that point.

So, final question. So what do you do when you think it is the move to make, but you still have doubts seems right, but it also seems a bit crazy risky. I just, I I I don't wanna do the wrong thing. What I'm, this is just a practical suggestion. There are some times when you know you need to move and

you've done all that I'm talking about. You've done the processing, you've gathered all these things. You, you're really seeking the mind of God, and you say, I, this seems right, but I'm not sure. What do you do? Here's a practical suggestion, which I have done on a number of occasion. . You say, Lord, I, I need to move.

I need to make a decision. This seems right, but you care more about me knowing your will and doing your will than I do. And you do know, I do believe my heart's desire is to do your will not mine. So God, this seems right, so I'm gonna start this way, but I'm pleading with you and I'm believing you that if this is wrong, shut it down.

Save me from myself. If you haven't prayed that you should start, God protect me from I, I cannot tell you the stories of where, how God has led in my life, others that have prayed that way. When again, you've done the work, you've done the processing, you've done, the praying you've done, yielding your heart to the Lord, and you say, Lord, I think, but I don't know.

So I'm gone. Lord shut the door. He's very creative. He's very creative to shut doors. He's very creative. To affirm doors that you thought was just a, you know, just a sliver, and you start moving just, or he can do it the other way. So that's just a free one. What do you do when you're not sure, but you've really done the work?

Just move, believing God, crying out to God. God protect me from myself. I want your will more than I want. This thing he will. The tells of the spirit's leading flexibility of practice, forsaking of personal agenda following promptly. We see it in this early days of this missionary journey, and I believe God wants to see those tells in our lives as.

At the end of the message, I have a personal prayer request I'd like to share. I just actually this morning felt prompted to wanna bring it. Um, I've had the opportunity completely on the basis of relationship to, uh, speak Crew Ministries, formerly Campus Crusade has a ministry to the United Nations. Um, it's an amazing ministry.

It's of course based right in Manhattan, and they do bible studies with ambassadors. They have bible studies with ambassadors, wives. These are ambassadors from all over the world. There's different levels of ambassadors, the senior ambassadors and then secondary ambassadors, but they're all ambassadors of the country.

But on two occasions, because of my relationship with the Bradleys who are part of that ministry, , I've had the chance to speak there. I spoke first at an Easter dinner they had, and secondly, I spoke at a, at a more of a, um, a simple breakfast that was actually in the UN building. The first one was at Cruise.

I got an invitation a couple of weeks ago, actually, probably more than that, uh, to speak at a, uh, a Christmas. I thought it was just a little prayer thing or something, cuz she, she alluded, she compared it to the, the international prayer thing, which was a breakfast. I thought it was just a breakfast and it was gonna be just very low key.

But it actually turns out it's a giant Christmas dinner. They're inviting all the ambassadors come to a, a, a posh place. It's going to be a fairly big, I I, the first time I went, I was terrified. Scared to death. Um, God gave me great liberty. The second time I went, I felt less terrified, uh, but still completely over my head and God was gracious there.

I'm back to the terrified spot and I, I will acknowledge to my disappointment, there has not been international peace that has broken out as a result of my two former speaking engagements, . So that helps to not have as high a hopes, but from what they have written, it's, it's, it's an important opportunity.

They, they, they really expect a group to be there and they really want me to just share about what Christmas is. Um, I would really covet your prayers. It's December 8th. It'll be that Thursday night. It's an evening dinner. Of course, Marion will be with me. Um, and as God prompts you, I would be grateful for your prayers that God will just give me exactly what to say.

It's every possible religion represented there or irreligious people. Um, they're all very respectful, but it's a, it's, it's, I'd just be grateful for your prayers. Okay? Let's pray together. Lord,

it really is an astonishing thing that you wanna lead our, in our lives. And God, we've all been able to identify with Paul, just wondering why that one was a no and that door didn't open the way we expected. And, and then all of a sudden you throw open this door to go into Europe and ever into Asia Minor and.

Just whole places that Paul had never dreamed he was doing on this journey. Lord, we want to have that same sensitivity to the leading of the Spirit. God help us in the clutter of our lives to be listeners, to seek your face, to look to your revelation, to let your spirit be a guide to us. We love that.

You want us to. We love that you wanna lead us. We love that Your will is not a secret code. Lord, guide us and in that glorified Christ, in whose name I pray? Amen. Thank you. Now go in peace to love and serve and enjoy the Lord.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/evidences-of-the-spirits-leading-in-your-life c93eb464-4fc5-4ff3-abb0-9bde04e1cbcd Sun, 20 Nov 2022 17:08:22 GMT <div data-html="true">Acts 16:1-9 <br /><br /> And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> Invite you to take your Bibles this morning. We're gonna be returning again to the Book of Acts. Um, want to just give a quick update as much as I know of it, um, which is all positive and exciting. We have a ladies retreat this week. You may have noticed it was a fairly testosterone, uh, worship team up here today. <br /><br /> Um, just incredible things happening. Just praising God with Joanne and her whole leadership team for the way God is moving was exciting to me. Joanne's opening talk was on the GPS of the spirit of how the Lord leads us in our lives, which is a parallel study to what we're gonna be talking about this morning. <br /><br /> But we do want to be praying, um, over a hundred women there participating. Really, I, I just caught snippets. through my wife and others of the way God is moving in lives. It is beautiful. It is wonderful, and we want to continue to pray that God will use this last day of the retreat to really make himself known even as we believe him to be at work among us. <br /><br /> This morning. I'd like to read Acts chapter 16. I'm not sure I told you that. Acts 16 verses one through nine and then we'll pray together. Paul came also to Derby and Lira. A disciple was there named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek. He was well spoken of by the brothers at Lira and I Iconium. <br /><br /> Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places for, they all knew that his father was a Greek. As they went on through their way through the cities, they delivered to them for Observ observance. , the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem. <br /><br /> So the churches were strengthened in the faith and they increased in numbers daily. And they went through the region of Fri and Gala Glacier having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. And when they had come up to Mya, they attempted to go into Bethen, but the spirit of Jesus did not allow them. <br /><br /> So passing by Mya, they went down to tr ass. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia was standing there urging him and saying, come over to Macedonia and help us. And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. <br /><br /> Lord, our hearts do go to the ladies on the retreat. God, thank you for the evidence of your spirit alive and real and moving there already. Lord, we pray that even now you would be a shield around the meeting place, around the conversations, around the, the many processing that is going on in the hearts of women and Lord may truth that's shared, um, sink deeply into the lives of these, these women that are there. <br /><br /> Glorify yourself. Give energy to Joanne and all of the team that are leading. Lord, may your name be lifted up among them. And God, we ask for that here. We open your word. We love the scriptures. We love that you are willing to teach us and ask you to do that this morning. Father. In Jesus' name. Amen. It all started with a simple conversation between two veteran missionaries. <br /><br /> The apostle Paul got together with Barnabas. They were back in Antioch at town 80 miles north of Jerusalem, which had now become the epicenter of the the early church. And they were talking together and Paul said, let's, let's go visit the guys, the people that we've discipled and those early small house churches that we've begun. <br /><br /> The plan was for a few week journey. They would walk there, um, and they would go among those that they had already begun to disciple in the gospel, but God had bigger plants. Paul and Silas, soon joined by Timothy and eventually by Luke would be gone for three years. at least three years, they would travel over 2,700 miles on foot or on ship. <br /><br /> This map shows that, and basically what this map is presenting to you and that red line is the journey. They're over here in Antioch. And Antioch is, uh, where something tragic, at least to us tragic occurs. Things didn't start well. Paul and Barnabas have a conflict over whether to take this young guy, John Mark, that has gone with them before, a man who later will prove himself faithful and used of God, including writing the Gospel of Mark. <br /><br /> But Barnabas and John Mark will go over to Cyprus, the island there, and as they sail to the island of Cyprus, Barnabas sails out of the book of Acts. We don't hear. About him again. At the same time, Paul and Barnabas will go up north and go to this area, which is where Sia, which is where they have discipled people together. <br /><br /> And, but now Barnabas has been replaced by Silas. And when they come to this little town, Lira, as we'll see in a moment, they pick up a third member of their party named Timothy. This passage that I've read this morning verses one through 10, gives the first part of this lengthy journey. And in this first part, it is a reminder that a follower of Jesus follows. <br /><br /> He leads, he directs, he directs in the lives of these men as he is willing to direct in our lives through the spirit that he has given to us. The third member of the triunity of God, who ent dwells the lives of his children, of citizens of Jesus kingdom. And this passage is a profound picture of how that and what that, how that happens and what that looks like. <br /><br /> The question before us this morning is very simply, are you following the spirit's leading in your life? A secondary question is, would you know how to tell? We just finished a World Series where we came up short if you're a Phillies fan, but in the third game it was a high point high water mark for us as we took a two one lead in this series. <br /><br /> And there was a picture that we were facing that we was fairly ominous because he was a powerful pitcher. He had recently come back and Lance McCullough was, um, known for not giving up home runs and against us. He gave up five babies, five dingers, and lot of conversation afterwards. If you're a fan at all, you heard about it, you know that there was a lot of controversy of, um, that by commentators, by former ball players, even contemporary ball players that said the guy was, was tipping. <br /><br /> The guy was, was letting them see, not intentionally, but he was tipping his pitches. What that simply means is there would be some way you would know what he was gonna throw. In his case, the argument was he actually held his glove higher with certain pitches. Others, he kept it lower and you knew if a curve ball was coming, you knew if a fast ball was coming and. <br /><br /> Whatever it was, it worked out well for Philly's fan. What happened there, if it was what occurred is his changes in posture were his tell it show what was going on in this passage, we are given some of the tells of the spirits leading in our lives, and I'd like to look at three of them this morning. The first is there is flexibility in our practice. <br /><br /> This is in verses one through five, and basically these first four verses are all about a young man named Timothy Paul at this time is probably in his thirties. Um, Timothy is probably a late teenager, probably not much more than that if he's in his twenties. He's probably just about 20, 21. And he's a young man that is raised in Lister. <br /><br /> And if you remember Lister, when Paul was here before, Lister is, is a kind of a, a sore spot for him. He had ended up being stoned there and left for dead in lister, but he's come back and he's found one of the people that have been led to Christ as a result of their ministry earlier is Timothy and his mom, and apparently his grandmom. <br /><br /> The reason I say that even though the grandmothers not mentioned here, is in first Timothy, Paul talks about the faith that I see in you, Timothy, and in your mom and in your grandma even gives us the name. It's Lois and Eunice that are the two women, but the one member of the family we don't know is the dad. <br /><br /> We do know that he's not a believer. He has described here as a Greek. Now, if he was a. His, his family was Jewish on the mom's side. If he was a Greek Jew, he would be called a Hellistic, a hell Jew. But he's called a Greek to identify that he's still living a life of paganism. He has not embraced Christ. <br /><br /> He has not embraced Judaism. And so he has come to Christ. He is well reported among by the believers, and Paul embraces him and has drawn him and says, why don't you travel with us? And he agrees. But Paul then says, I think it would be helpful for you to be circumcised. Now, this is a problem. It's a problem for me. <br /><br /> It's a problem for you, and I'm gonna try to make it a problem for you because Paul has a letter with him, right? It sucks about in verse four, the letter is from Jerusalem, and he is taking that letter to all the Gentiles in this area, Southern Turkey. Modern day Turkey, and this is what the letter says, if you become a believer in Jesus Christ, you don't need to be circumcised. <br /><br /> You don't need to identify as a Jew because you don't have to come by way of Judaism to embrace the Messiah. As I've quoted Pastor Joe on numerous occasions, they were saying, you don't have to become one of us to become one of his. That the idea is no, the, the Old Testament requirements are no longer on because it is now open to anyone. <br /><br /> The gospel is open to all, but what does he do? The first thing he does with Timothy before he takes him on the road is, Hey man, let's have you get circumcised. And he's doing it because he does not want to offend the Jews. He is doing it to try to expand his gospel ministry. But there's confusion here, right? <br /><br /> And I would suggest it ties into what we read in First Corinthians nine. First Corinthians nine. Paul says this, I have made myself a servant to all that. I might win more of them to the Jews I became as a Jew in order to win Jews to those under the law. I became as one under the law, though not being myself under the law, that I might win those under the law to those outside the law. <br /><br /> I became as one, outside the law, not being outside the law of God, but under the law of Christ that I may win those outside the law. Here's what he's saying to the Jews. I became as a Jew, Paul is a Jew. Why does he need to become as a Jew? What he's saying is among the Jews, those outside of the gospel who are still in the Jewish faith. <br /><br /> I am going to act Jewishly. I'm gonna acknowledge, yeah. I'm circumcised. Yeah. I, I, I honor When he went to Jerusalem, he visited the temple. He honored it. He didn't take Gentiles in because he knew it would be offensive. He says, I, I acted Jewishly, I followed their practices. I, there were things I didn't do that I would normally, there were definitely things I practiced that I would not normally feel were necessary to practice. <br /><br /> He says, because I don't wanna make anything stand in the way or be offensive in the gospel. I think what he's saying, I have a conviction that no one needs to be circumcised under the new covenant. He certainly had that. It, but he compromised not his belief, but his practice to not have the practice stand in the way of sharing the gospel. <br /><br /> Now, Gentile, obviously this is a unique situation. You have a guy that has both a gentile father, a, a Greek father and a Jewish mom. And, and I, without getting very earthy, I have no idea how they knew who was circumcised or not. I don't want to know how they found out, but, but the idea is that they would have to acknowledge, yes, you know, he's, he's a Jewish background. <br /><br /> Has he been circumcised? This would be very offensive because he's Jewish. So Paul says, you know what, um, Timothy wasn't circumcised, even though he is been raised by a Jewish mom and grandmother. Let's just do it. To not have this be something that stands in the way. Probably, well, undoubtedly what would've happened in those areas if they, because they knew Timothy's background. <br /><br /> They'd say, you, you're not bringing that guy into the temple, into the synagogue. You wanna preach to us. We're interested. We're very interested to hear you, Paul. But quite frankly, if you're gonna have a guy traveling with you as a spokesman for your, your faith, and he's Jewish and he's not even circumcised, we're dissing the whole thing. <br /><br /> It's, we, we, we have no confidence. Paul said, okay, it is not worth it. It's not worth it. We'll act Jewishly to the Jew. He also says in first Corinthians nine, to those outside the law, I became as one outside the law. Now here's where gets dicier for us, right? I mean, these are, this is talking about the Gentiles. <br /><br /> So what does that mean? I, I, I'm not sure exactly all that he meant, but I'm guessing there were things that he had and convictions she had that he was not. Giving up his conviction, but he was saying, I am going to allow some bend in my life here if it is just gonna be a barrier to me being able to share the gospel. <br /><br /> It's interesting the places Jesus went, I mean, Jesus went to Matthew's house and, and, and all the Pharisees basically gathered outside, aghast and accused him, you're going into a tax collector's house, who were the, the worst sinners? In, in, in, in. They were known as notorious thieves, sellouts to the Romans. <br /><br /> And they said, you're going in a house and the only people that are there are tax collectors, which were what they were, and sinners, which was a euphemism for prostitutes. And this is the result and you're a drunker, which means he's identified with drinking in there. And certainly some of those people are drinking to excess. <br /><br /> He was misunderstood. He was misrepresented and Jesus said, Hey, I'm here. I'm none of those things. I'm not being drawn toward the women. I'm not being drawn toward a sinful lifestyle. I'm not being drawn toward becoming a drunker, but I'm willing to be misunderstood. I'm willing to, to, to compromise some of my typical practices, to be with these people and to make them comfortable and to say, I'll come into your world. <br /><br /> I'll, I'll fudge a little because I don't want anything to stand in the way of the gospel. I think the spirit leads us that. John Newton, John Newton, the former slave trader who has brought gloriously to the gospel and wrote that great song, amazing Grace, said this about Paul. It said Paul was a bendable read in non-essentials. <br /><br /> And iron pillar in essentials. We've gotta figure out what those are. But what Paul says is, I got a lot more bend in me in order to get the gospel out there. I'll be Jewishly acting, I'll be henly acting, if you will, and don't hear more of that than I am saying. But, but there's bend, there's, this is saying the spirit. <br /><br /> There's some flexibility with the spirit. Secondly, there's forsaking. Oh, and the impact of verse five. Not only of that, but just of, of the message they're bringing, the way that they're living. So the churches were strengthened in the faith and the increased in numbers daily. Secondly, forsaking of personal agendas. <br /><br /> I just want to walk with you through this map one more time because Plan A Paul, Paul has a, a plan a strategy. His Plan A, and we see it throughout his ministry. It's to take the gospel first, where people haven't gone before, but specifically strategically to go to the urban centers. He was an urban MIS missionary. <br /><br /> He went to the population centers. So Paul naturally is feeling like the Lord is continuing to lead them along. We can go there now. Thank you. Uh, they're in Silesia. They're starting to go, and where Paul expects to go is right over here. I mean, these are where the cities are. This red, this mean, these are the big cities. <br /><br /> Colossi, Phil Philippon, the Crown jewel. Eus. Eus is the second largest city of the Roman Empire. It is the Rome of the East. It is the Cosmopolitan Center for this whole part of the world and the Black Sea and all the world coming down there. And Paul, Paul's eager to get there. He'll eventually get there on the, on the, the final swing of his journey. <br /><br /> But he's heading towards Asia, and he says, well, obviously this is where God would want us to go, because that's where the people are. That's where the I sins are. I'm, I'm a, I'm a, I'm a, I'm a city man. This is where the gospel can most impact lives. And they're on their way and God says, no, we don't know how. <br /><br /> But the Spirit specifically closes that door. So then he heads north, he starts heading north, not sure where, and it says He then planned to go into Bethia and Bethia. Here's what we read in verse seven. And when they had come up to Myea, that again is up here. I'm filling a little schizophrenic as I go back and forth between maps. <br /><br /> But up here in my macia it says, uh, they wanted to go in there. Now why would they want to go to Bethen? There are a whole bunch of cities along the southern coast of the Black Sea up there. There's a city called naia, which actually will become where the NAIA Council, one of the most famous gatherings, Christian, to the left side of that, the left corner between the yellow and the purple is Byzantine, which will become Constantinople, which is today Istanbul, a center of all trade coming down from the north. <br /><br /> This is to cities days. Okay? I can't go to those cities. I'm just go to I'm, let's go to those cities. So he is on plan B and verse seven, and when he had come up to Myea, they attempted to go into bien, but the spirit of Jesus did not allow them. The question I want to ask is this, was Paul wrong to push ahead? <br /><br /> I mean, maybe he should have just waited, right? Maybe he should have stayed and there are times, you know, and just not set out and just say, Lord, you know, what do you want me to do? Well, there are sometimes God says to wait. Uh, one of the guys that mentored me in ministry said to me, and he was a bull in the China shop. <br /><br /> Go get him. Type a guy. He said, mark, you're gonna find out in the pastorate the hardest verse in the Bible to live out, but you're gonna probably be asked to live it out more than any other is from the Book of Psalms. Wait on the Lord, wait on the Lord. We have to wait. Sometimes we have to say, I'm not moving. <br /><br /> But God didn't tell him to wait. They were prompted to move on, but they didn't know what their destination was. And God, first of all, closed one door to Asia. The second of all, he closed the door to the north to Bethia where they were. They were being led by being told no, but they needed a yes. They needed to know this is the way they needed real clarity on what God wanted them to do. <br /><br /> My guess is, , you're in that place or have been in that place, you certainly will be in that place Again, you have situations where you're really needing God's counsel. There are questions that need to be asked. I'll tell you, uh, having lived number of decades now, that never will stop. Every season of your life, you will find you are in over your head. <br /><br /> There are questions you don't have the answers to. You don't know what's next. You don't know where. Now, Lord Asia looks good, but then it looks good. I mean, we're gonna constantly need to be casting ourselves. This is what the life of the spirit is all about. He's the leader. We're the followers. So what are some principles of discerning the spirits leading associated with this passage? <br /><br /> And I'm gonna throw a cuff couple in that I think are inferred here, and I'm gonna tell you four quick principles. number one, you must empty yourself of your own will. George Mueller, who is the individual that started the great orphanage in Bristol, England years ago, and George Mueller written a lot of books. <br /><br /> Spiritual Autobiography of George Miller, many others, um, George Mueller had over 10,000 orphans that he cared for, and he never received a governmental dime. He never put out a request for funds. Literally, they, I mean, the story is, is astonishing in its beauty. If you read the story, literally they would come and the people, his associates would come and say, we have no breakfast for the, for the orphans. <br /><br /> And they'd be praying, and then all of a sudden this tr this wagon would be there and this guy would say, I'm sorry, I've got fresh bread. Um, but my wagon wheel has broken off. We're right outside. Can you, can you have people come and take the bread because it's gonna go bad? Just story after story after story. <br /><br /> This was his statement. The first requirement for finding God's will is emptying yourself of your own will. That sounds easy, right? That's not easy, but that's part of it. It's part of it saying, Lord, I really do want you more than I want this new house. I really do want you more than this job. I really do want you more than this relationship. <br /><br /> I really do want you more than this sale. I really do want you more than this. A I really want you. Doesn't mean we can't ask God for it, but that we are saying, Lord, ultimately the passion of my heart is for you. So sometimes we spend most of our time finding us. Well, just saying, Lord. Here it is. I'm open. <br /><br /> Whatever you have, may I find joy in your will. The second thing is, count on these two realities. God is more concerned about you finding His will than you are. I find a lot of comfort in that because that leads to the second reality, which is this, God does not have a secret code. He wants you to crack. <br /><br /> He's not trying to hide his will. He's not trying to trick you and say, oh baby, you've got, you know, here it is. It's the secret room and you've gotta find the clues. And Mark, you just may not be smart enough to know the will of God. No. He wants you to know his will. Now, in this case, they were getting, no, they, they were, they were. <br /><br /> There was certainly some confusion, but they were waiting. They were trusting. God was using all of this in their lives as he led them along. But there's just things to really count on when you're waiting on God and to show you his will. And those are two of them. He's more concerned with you finding it than you are, and it is not a secret code that you have to crack. <br /><br /> Number three, employ the spirit's resources for finding God's Will we see this directly in this passage? There is revelation that God gives Now in this time period there's very little New Testament, right? As a matter of fact, the only New Testament that has been written to this point is the Book of Galatians, which Paul wrote and we're not even sure at this time that he knows it's New Testament or not. <br /><br /> He just knows the letter and God is gonna make it clear. This is inspired scripture, so he's not walking around with a, with with the Biblical manual, the New Testament. You know, I can claim these verses and these, he doesn't have those verses. . So at this time, and in the early part of the Book of Acts, there's a lot of dreams that are involved. <br /><br /> There's visions there, there's angelic appearances, and God uses those. But over the course of time, as the scripture become more prominent, that becomes the primary means of revelation that God will use in the hands of His spirit to lead his people. It is also why, in my opinion, in talking with a number of missionaries that are, that are serving in different parts of the world, notably the Muslim world, almost every missionary I've ever talked to that is working f consistently in the Muslim world, comes back with stories. <br /><br /> Of how people have been led to Christ. They had a dream. Uh, they dreamed about Jesus. They know who he was. And then you start talking to him. They say, oh, I've been dreaming about that. There, there are revisions. There are things that God is doing there where they don't have the scriptures. It makes sense to me. <br /><br /> It seems to follow the same pattern, but we are living in an era, in a season where we have the scriptures. Now you may say, well, that stinks. I love the idea of dreams and visions and angelic appearances. I mean, I get a book, you know how many books there are, <br /><br /> I can only say if that's our emotional response. You really need to interact with this book more. This book is a lamp to your feet and a light to path. It is a living word. I'm just using descriptions it uses of itself. The spirit takes the scriptures to make known the purposes and will of God. I've said this before, I, I almost cannot remember a significant decision I've made in my life where I didn't ask God to give me a scripture to affirm it. <br /><br /> My wife has an older Bible than I do, and she won't give that baby up. And the reason is because she's got so many dates in the margins next to verses with a little note of where God used those verses to lead indirect in her or our lives. The scriptures, God uses revelation. He will use his word as a part of the process as you are seeking him. <br /><br /> Secondly, he uses God's people. In this passage. It's interesting, as Luke is recording, in verse seven, he says this, when they had come up to Mica, they attempted to go into bien, but the spirit of Jesus did not allow them. Then in verse 10, he says this, we sought to go into Macedonia concluding that God had called us. <br /><br /> He says, us. We, they, it's not Paul. It was a team. They were collaboratively seeking the will of God, godly counselors, godly voices in your life. One of the deepest times of spiritual growth for any married couple is when you begin to really learn to seek the face of God together. That I'm not moving ahead of you, babe, and I'm not moving ahead of you. <br /><br /> Whatever he is, we're, we're, we're, we're doing this together. We're seeking God's mind together. The voice of close, godly friends that speak into us that so often in our lives determining the will of God is a collaborative, letting other people that you trust in the Lord to have voice into you. The third principle of that is third element of that revelation, people circumstances. <br /><br /> This is a clear one here in this passage. There were doors that were closed. God slammed that one shut. He slammed that one shut, and then he has a dream come. He opens the doors and closes the doors. The fourth thing is this, engage your mind to come to a conclusion. Verse 10 says this. Let me just read it. <br /><br /> And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. The word concluding here is an interesting word in the original. It actually means to gather the pieces and put 'em together. It's used in Ephesians four 11 where it says, we are all pieced together with one another. <br /><br /> He's talking about spiritual gifts and how we all need each other. He said they, they took the pieces and they, they, they put it together. Well, that's what you do with the will of God. You get the scriptures, you get people's counsel. You, you look at circumstances and then you engage the brain that you process. <br /><br /> And now we, and and so again, I'm gonna devil's advocate. You might be out there and say, well, well how hard was that for them? This guy shows up in a dream and somehow they know he is Greek. So he is across the island. I'm looking at remodeling the kitchen. I'd be great if tonight I had a dream and, and this guy shows up and he's got a tool belt with a blueprint in his hands and he says, here it is. <br /><br /> Come over to our office and we'll give you the office. Well, you probably won't have that dream, but you still engage your brain. You still look at what has God said through his word? What has God said through my wife, through, through other Godly counselors in our lives? What has God said through, as we look at the doors and the opening that are closed and open and just put everything on paper and then we put it all together and seek to say, okay, this seems to obviously be the spirit of God leading the last thing. <br /><br /> and I'm now back to the big three, is following promptly. There's an interesting side note here in verse 10 where Luke changes from the, I gotta think, which is the third person plural, to the first person, plural. It had been a they, and all of a sudden, once Paul is in Troy ass, which is Troy, and they're getting ready to follow this, this, this dream of envision of the guy from Greece across the a c. <br /><br /> Luke says, we went, apparently Dr. Luke joined them here in Troy Troyes, but basically he says, man, we immediately followed. As soon as you know, you move on it. I mean, God doesn't show you his will for you to consider it. He shows you his will for you to do it and. You better be ready when you ask for the will of God when he shows it. <br /><br /> He only has one next step at that point. <br /><br /> So, final question. So what do you do when you think it is the move to make, but you still have doubts seems right, but it also seems a bit crazy risky. I just, I I I don't wanna do the wrong thing. What I'm, this is just a practical suggestion. There are some times when you know you need to move and <br /><br /> you've done all that I'm talking about. You've done the processing, you've gathered all these things. You, you're really seeking the mind of God, and you say, I, this seems right, but I'm not sure. What do you do? Here's a practical suggestion, which I have done on a number of occasion. . You say, Lord, I, I need to move. <br /><br /> I need to make a decision. This seems right, but you care more about me knowing your will and doing your will than I do. And you do know, I do believe my heart's desire is to do your will not mine. So God, this seems right, so I'm gonna start this way, but I'm pleading with you and I'm believing you that if this is wrong, shut it down. <br /><br /> Save me from myself. If you haven't prayed that you should start, God protect me from I, I cannot tell you the stories of where, how God has led in my life, others that have prayed that way. When again, you've done the work, you've done the processing, you've done, the praying you've done, yielding your heart to the Lord, and you say, Lord, I think, but I don't know. <br /><br /> So I'm gone. Lord shut the door. He's very creative. He's very creative to shut doors. He's very creative. To affirm doors that you thought was just a, you know, just a sliver, and you start moving just, or he can do it the other way. So that's just a free one. What do you do when you're not sure, but you've really done the work? <br /><br /> Just move, believing God, crying out to God. God protect me from myself. I want your will more than I want. This thing he will. The tells of the spirit's leading flexibility of practice, forsaking of personal agenda following promptly. We see it in this early days of this missionary journey, and I believe God wants to see those tells in our lives as. <br /><br /> At the end of the message, I have a personal prayer request I'd like to share. I just actually this morning felt prompted to wanna bring it. Um, I've had the opportunity completely on the basis of relationship to, uh, speak Crew Ministries, formerly Campus Crusade has a ministry to the United Nations. Um, it's an amazing ministry. <br /><br /> It's of course based right in Manhattan, and they do bible studies with ambassadors. They have bible studies with ambassadors, wives. These are ambassadors from all over the world. There's different levels of ambassadors, the senior ambassadors and then secondary ambassadors, but they're all ambassadors of the country. <br /><br /> But on two occasions, because of my relationship with the Bradleys who are part of that ministry, , I've had the chance to speak there. I spoke first at an Easter dinner they had, and secondly, I spoke at a, at a more of a, um, a simple breakfast that was actually in the UN building. The first one was at Cruise. <br /><br /> I got an invitation a couple of weeks ago, actually, probably more than that, uh, to speak at a, uh, a Christmas. I thought it was just a little prayer thing or something, cuz she, she alluded, she compared it to the, the international prayer thing, which was a breakfast. I thought it was just a breakfast and it was gonna be just very low key. <br /><br /> But it actually turns out it's a giant Christmas dinner. They're inviting all the ambassadors come to a, a, a posh place. It's going to be a fairly big, I I, the first time I went, I was terrified. Scared to death. Um, God gave me great liberty. The second time I went, I felt less terrified, uh, but still completely over my head and God was gracious there. <br /><br /> I'm back to the terrified spot and I, I will acknowledge to my disappointment, there has not been international peace that has broken out as a result of my two former speaking engagements, . So that helps to not have as high a hopes, but from what they have written, it's, it's, it's an important opportunity. <br /><br /> They, they, they really expect a group to be there and they really want me to just share about what Christmas is. Um, I would really covet your prayers. It's December 8th. It'll be that Thursday night. It's an evening dinner. Of course, Marion will be with me. Um, and as God prompts you, I would be grateful for your prayers that God will just give me exactly what to say. <br /><br /> It's every possible religion represented there or irreligious people. Um, they're all very respectful, but it's a, it's, it's, I'd just be grateful for your prayers. Okay? Let's pray together. Lord, <br /><br /> it really is an astonishing thing that you wanna lead our, in our lives. And God, we've all been able to identify with Paul, just wondering why that one was a no and that door didn't open the way we expected. And, and then all of a sudden you throw open this door to go into Europe and ever into Asia Minor and. <br /><br /> Just whole places that Paul had never dreamed he was doing on this journey. Lord, we want to have that same sensitivity to the leading of the Spirit. God help us in the clutter of our lives to be listeners, to seek your face, to look to your revelation, to let your spirit be a guide to us. We love that. <br /><br /> You want us to. We love that you wanna lead us. We love that Your will is not a secret code. Lord, guide us and in that glorified Christ, in whose name I pray? Amen. Thank you. Now go in peace to love and serve and enjoy the Lord.</div> false no <![CDATA[Lives Transformed]]> Ephesians 2:1-10

"even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved"



Sermon Transcript:

We just sang some words this morning. Jesus Christ is our reward. There's nothing in this world that could ever satisfy that comes right out of Isaiah 55. He alone satisfies eternally Through every trial, our souls can sing. We rejoice in suffering. We've been set free. Christ is enough for me.

Ephesians one, three, His blood sets us. Christ are all in all, He's the joy of our salvation. Hope in him will never fail. Eternity with Christ are home. Job says in chapter seven, Life is just a breath. He's our reward. Let's pray this morning. Our Father, we stand here this morning as your children. God, we ask, would you speak to us now through your word?

Remind us, Lord, as we sing, that you are our hope. You are the source of forgiveness. We don't stand here on our own merit. We stand here on the blood of Christ. God, we thank you for the opportunity the church has together each week and and come together as a group of worshipers. Which may sound a little strange in this context in our world, that we worship the living true God, but it's what we do, who we are, who you've made us to be.

And we thank you for that. We pray these things in your name. Amen. Amen. Guys, may be seated.

Well, good morning. Thanks for being here this morning. Um, just want to answer three questions for you. If you have, uh, a little sermon bulletin thing. It's a bit shorter this morning. Uh, and the first question you might be asking, hopefully you're asking is, why is there a big hole in the stage? Some of you have had that before and you've never been told, but I'm gonna tell you this morning why there's a giant hole in our stage.

Uh, this morning is our baptism service and, uh, behind me is a tank of water. Uh, it's not magical water. It is fresh from Mount Laurel's pipe system, uh, wherever that comes from. Um, Um, we're gonna be entering into that water to baptize, which literally means to dip or to plunge. Um, those that have followed, trusted Christ as their savior, identifying them with his death and resurrection.

So if you're newer here, and this may seem a little bit weird to you, that's okay. Uh, we'll tell you and explain to you simply what is going to happen here in a minute. Uh, the, the first thing that you might want to know is the word baptism, again, means to dip or to plunge, but it is just simply a symbol of what God has already done.

Again, we are not doing anything magical. There's no transaction that's gonna happen behind me that already has not taken place. We're symbolizing a spiritual. Of what has taken place. You'll notice the shirt that I'm wearing says, forgiven. And each person that comes into the tank this morning will be wearing that.

It's not presumptive that we would have them wear those shirts before and during their baptism. It's signifying an already reality as they've put their trust in Christ. Baptism in this way does not make you a Christian. It declares that you already are a follower of Jesus. You'll hear us say when each person gets dipped under the water in the same way in the likeness of his death, in the bringing them back up, out of the water in the likeness of his resurrection.

The same symbol symbolism that we find compared to Christ's death and resurrection. So each individual's gonna be sharing a story this morning about what God has done in their life, their life story. They're gonna share specifics, but they'll all share this genuine similar reality. And that is that baptism is for those who have responded to the bad news and the good news of the Bible.

Which leads us to the next question. Is there some news that you've maybe missed? Is there something going on in the news that, uh, I don't know about? What's the bad news? What's the good news of the Bible? Well, in his book Telling the Truth, there's a man named Frederick Bakner and he says this, The gospel is bad news.

Before it is good news. It is the news that mankind is sinful, and to use the old word that he is evil in the imaginations of his. He describes a reality, which we find right in Ephesians chapter two. I'm gonna ask you to turn there with me. If you have a Bible, pull it out. If you don't, there's one right in front of you.

Pull that one out. You can tap there on your phone, whatever. If you got a Pew Bible there, it's page 917. We'll find some bad news. Good news right here in Ephesians chapter two, which was actually, uh, part of the Bible here, a, a letter that Paul wrote to the Ephesian church. Ephesus was a, a huge city, a, a center of worship for many Greek and Roman gods.

And they all kind of just came together in this center to worship. And by God's grace, many people through the ministry of the apostles came to know Christ. And so Paul is writing this letter to remind these Christians of the truth and the reality which they have experienced. Don't forget these things.

So listen in as we read Ephesians chapter two, verse one, and you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked. You were dead. No spiritual pulse in the trespasses, the falling away from God and the sins, the failure to live up to God's standards. You've missed the mark. That's how you once walked.

Following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, God's enemy, Satan, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children. Wrath.

These are strong words. Paul is writing here to this church. That's what we were like the rest of mankind, you behaved like sinful people because that was your nature. All you knew was missing the mark of God. I'm just gonna pause there. You may actually know and be able to fill in that first blank, uh, a about our spiritual condition from these first few verses, and that condition is dead, lifeless, fill it in.

Our condition is dead. We're not sick. Ephesians two does not say that we are not sort of corrupt in our minds and in our hearts, we're dead lifeless, unable to stand before a holy God. Actually, it says this is your standing. You outside of a relationship with Jesus are an object of wrath, worthy of punishment, unable to meet his righteous requirement.

That's the bad news. Let's look back at the text. Verse four continues on here, But God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ, this language of union oneness. In his same likeness, we, we have a pulse now in Christ by grace.

You have been saved and raised up with him and seeded us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Verse seven, So that in the coming ages, he might show you the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. There is bad news, but this is some good news. God is rich in mercy.

God is great in his love. He makes us alive by his gracious initiative. We can be forgiven, we can be seated in Christ, and he will continue to make known to us the depths of his grace and forgiveness. So you can fill the next blank here. God's intention after our condition, God's intention is forgiveness.

But how is that intention carried out? Right? How can a righteous holy, perfect matchless God accept sinful, broken people who we just heard were described as objects of wrath, unable to stand before him? Think about forgiveness for a minute. Maybe just in a, in a human sense for a second. It's kind of an agonizing process, right?

When someone, uh, hurts you, uh, when there's some wrong done or they wound you or they deceive you, you feel this hurt. It's agonizing. Maybe a form of suffering and forgiveness is not making the other person suffer for the things they've done to you. It's you suffering and forgiving. It's when you want to make them pay and you don't.

Instead you pay, you suffer. And if that is true strictly in a human sense, imagine the degree that it is true about God. It's when God does not pay us as our sins deserve. It's when He doesn't treat us the way we ought to be treated. But instead, God suffers in our place. God suffers for us. His gracious intention in sending a sinless Jesus to die.

Hang on across. He came as a suffering servant. He would die in your place. He would die in my place. And you might think, How unfair is that? Why should he die in my place? You might also think, how incredible is that, that forgiveness is made available and how can we be saved? Then how can we accept and receive this forgiveness?

Look back at at verse eight. It says this, For by grace, totally unmarried, gift by grace, you have been saved through faith, and this is not of your own doing. It's the gift of God, not a result of work so that nobody can boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

Fill in the next blank. How can we have this faith, this relationship with Christ by God's grace, through faith, we respond, by placing our trust in Jesus. The bad news of our sin met with the good news, the grace of God that we might have faith in him. Romans 10, nine says this, If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Now, the word Lord is not something we typically use, uh, in our culture, in in our day, but that's exactly what the scriptures teach. That if we call Jesus Lord and not just call him, If we live as though Jesus is Lord of our life, we would be saved. The question might be, well, what what does it mean to really have someone be lured of your life?

It's turning over the control, right? It's, I'm not driving the car any longer. God is. We're not looking horizontally on earth for the things that we can gain and we can have in our life. We're looking ultimately for meaning and purpose and direction vertically from God. We're not looking to money to bow down to human affection or fame or comfort.

We're ultimately bowing down in humility before God. Turning over to Jesus as Lord of my life means all of the priorities then are dictated by him. All of my internal motivation now surrenders to Jesus as Lord. All of my time, my plans, even my thoughts, my future. It's Lord. Lord, what do you want for my.

All of life is lived as worship of Jesus. He's in control. And I bow, and sometimes we think we just bow like in the posture of our heart. But I mean, if you think of a holy God who's inviting us into his presence, there are times physically where I'm on my knees like you are holy and I am not God. Bowing and humility to him, that is the bad news, the good news, and the option for you to trust in Christ as your forgiveness.

As we come to baptism this morning, only a, a short bit here, we'll be looking at some things that are gonna happen behind me and I'm gonna ask you too, that last section there, pull out a pen because I want you to write some things down in this section because as you look, you will see people go down under the water, raised back out again as a symbol or a picture of their death to an old way of life, raised to a new way of life, declaring Jesus's Lord.

I also want you to listen because we're primarily not gonna be highlighting the stories of the people that come in this tank. Actually, there are some that will actually say we're highlighting God's story this morning. Not specifically first and foremost, my life story. God is writing a story and I happen to be part of that.

Ultimately, it's about him. It's not some incredible work they've done. They are sharing the incredible God who has poured out his love for them. And then I'm gonna invite you to respond. Baptism time. Sometimes if you've been to a church service before, maybe it feels as if it's appropriate, uh, with a stage and pews design like this for you to just sit and just watch and receive.

Um, but maybe that should be flipped around and there should be some engagement with what is happening here today, because some of you came skeptical. Of church, not really sure what is going on here. Not, uh, all of you have, uh, walked through life without the church. Maybe your people in your life kind of burning you in the name of Christ in a, in a bad way.

Maybe you're a, a younger person that has grown up in the church or heard about Jesus. Maybe you've grown up in this church. Possibly there are some people here right now who are kind of walking just away from the truth of God. Or you're a parent who's grieving the son or the daughter who's walking away from God.

Maybe you're someone here who's in the midst of confusion, or some of you are here struggling with your own self worth or mental health. You're walking through a tragic, broken situation because of the sin that exists in our world and in your own heart. I want you to know that God sees you. God loves you.

And he knows what you're walking through right now, and you're gonna hear of all of those circumstances that I just mentioned, talked about this morning specifically. And in general, all of these people have seen God in the midst of their story. So can I ask you with your pen to write down a name of a person up here?

Maybe, maybe a phrase that they said or, or a struggle that you feel like, Wow, I, I have that same similar struggle and I haven't even asked these people ahead of time. Um, this is a surprise to them, which is what you should always do when you are up here. Make surprises. Uh, approach these people with encouragement this morning.

Potentially approach them with questions about where is God in the midst of my journey? Approach them in joining to worship God. They're not gonna have all the answers, but what I can tell you is they know a God who does. And finally, um, That's kind of a dream of mine, that instead on baptism Sunday that we just receive and politely golf clap, um, that there would be like an uproarious cheer, uh, loud.

If you got one of those whistles, bring that out this morning because we are, we are shouting and praising and giving praise to God. It's not first about these people. It's the God who we see in our midst this morning. And so, if you can, please don't be quiet this morning. Um, I'm gonna pray and then I'm gonna invite Pastor Jared and, uh, Julia Lindo to start our baptisms this morning.

Pray with me. Our Father, we, we look to you, we trust you as, uh, a God who knows exactly what we're walking through right now. Uh, Lord, we, we see you as a God who has broken into our stories. And made a way that we might have a relationship with you through Jesus. God, as we hear of your grace poured out story after story, after story of people this morning, open our eyes.

Turn us from darkness to light. God, that, that even some here today might know you and see you for the first time we worship you, God, and pray these things in your name. Amen. Oh, they're on. Okay, you guys, can you hear me? Cool. Cool. Hey, Julia. Hi. Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? Yes. All right. We're gonna hear about it

my testimony today. Um, I grew up in church and in a Christian household, so I've known all my life, pretty much my need for a savior and my own sin and just, um, that I am completely lost without Christ. And so, at a pretty early age, I was probably about five. I think I first prayed the sinners prayer.

Um, and I believe that Jesus had come to earth and been born, lived a perfect life, died, um, and was risen again. And so through my belief in that I, um, could be saved and have a relationship with God and get to go to heaven, and I've had a lot of growth in that sort of knowledge and. Through the years. And so I definitely understand more that it's not just accepting him as my savior, but also living, um, with him as Lord of my life.

So Christ and living in relationship with him has just made a lot of differences in my life. Um, I recognize now that I don't need to be perfect and I don't need to be like everyone else. In fact, um, that's something I struggled with a lot of not, um, being as good as talking as this one person or being as confident as another, or being as talented as them.

And God really showed me even very recently just that, um, he gave me my own gifts and strengths for, um, that he wants me to use for his kingdom specifically in the place that he wants. And so, Um, my, I now have a purpose in life because of what Christ has done and a hope. And so I get to serve him with the things that he's given me and, um, that I have a desire to please him and just serve him.

And, um, a verse that's been really impactful to me recently is Galatians two 20 and it's Paul speaking and he says, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me and this life that I now live in the flesh. I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.

And that is basically the reason that I want to be baptized today. I also wanna proclaim that and just, Acknowledge that my old self in old ways have died and that I want to live a new life that Christ has, um, given me through his grace and just be fully surrendered and submitted to him.

Julia, is it that desire, uh, that you'd like to testify of that relationship this morning through baptism? Yes, it is. It's my joy to baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit and the likeness of his death, and the likeness of

Tyler, have you accepted Jesus Christ of your Lord and Savior? Yes. All right. Let's hear about it.

Hello, my name is Tyler Stewart. Um, I'm gonna share my testimony. I was born into a Christian family, um, and I always saw the world in through a Christian perspective. I officially gave my life to Jesus when I was five on February 23rd, 2011, three days before my birthday for most of my life, you could say that I believed in Jesus, um, but I didn't have any, uh, prosing viewpoints to compare him to.

So that was like all I knew. Basically, basically I was sitting on a gold mine. I was oblivious to how blessed I was. Um, I was able to grow, um, being able to grow up and see the world through a Christian perspective. For a long time, I wasn't self-aware. Uh, I didn't know why I believed in Jesus, and I had a very basic education when it came to biblical knowledge.

As I got older, I began to question the world around me. I became deistic in my thinking. Um, meaning I separated the world I lived in from God. I, I didn't think of God as close. I was very lost, and I relied on my own reasoning, um, to decipher from right and wrong. Eventually, my, um, like logic and reason, um, started to become very, it became very irrational and I honestly felt like I was, I honestly felt like I was going insane.

I also became very selfish and started looking for happiness, pleasure, and contentment and everything. Except God, this whole time I was falling into sin. I pray to God, but only out of, um, it was only out of fear of where I'd spend eternity. I'd never read the Bible or worship God in my own time. Um, all the while I had been enrolled in a Christian school and going to youth group as well.

Um, it's kind of, kind of ironic, but, um, it's not to throw shade at the school or youth group. It just goes to show that, um, a personal relationship with Jesus. Is dependent on you and Jesus alone. During, during my struggles, uh, I pray to God and like kind of repent. I, I'd ask for forgiveness, but like I wouldn't do anything to try and change and walk in new life.

Um, I felt terrible during this time. I started taking prescribed antidepressants, um, cuz I got to a point where I felt there was nothing in life worth living for. My parents ended up separating two weeks before my 15th birthday. After they split, I became more lost and I was even possibly on the brink of like, suicidal behavior.

Going back a little before summer. I asked my mother to find me a Christian therapist. I've been seeing him for almost three years now and God has used him, um, tremendously in my life. He'd offered me suggestions and help. Um, and ways to improve my relationship with Jesus in my circumstances. But I, I wouldn't, I wouldn't listen for, I didn't listen early on.

I was afraid to change. I didn't think I could. Um, and part of me didn't want to yet. I'd still ask God for help when I wasn't using what he'd given me. Um, basically I had a relationship with Jesus, um, but I wasn't seeking to further it or pursue it or in any way. Um, it wasn't until like about, like three months ago until I started, um, using the salvation Jesus gave me to better my life and take up my cross and fallen.

I started taking time out of my day to use the daily audio Bible. Um, and I'd start to read Scripture daily. Um, it felt as if I was no longer stuck in a. Of sin that it's taken years to dig. I felt that Jesus was lifting me out of the same hole in a matter of days. I recently decided to get baptized to publicly declare my faith in Christ and to publicly identify myself as a follower of Jesus.

I just recently learned the meaning of baptism and what it represents, and I am very excited to take this next step in my walk with Christ.

Tyler, is it your desire to, to testify of that relationship with Christ through baptism this morning?

It's my joy to baptize you in the name of the Father, son, the Holy Spirit and likeness of his dad, likeness of his resurrection.

I think that was gonna happen to Emma. Have you received Jesus Christ as your Lord and see. Yes, let's hear about it.

Hi, my name is Emma and I wanna be sharing my testimony. Um, so I found myself trying to do a lot of things by myself and like solely by myself. And, um, I wasn't going down the right path or at least the path that I wanted to be on. And I began getting really frustrated and overwhelmed because I was doing, trying to do everything by myself.

And I slowly started to realize or was told that I couldn't. Um, and because of that I've started to get frustrated and push people that I love away. I was told about young adults by somebody who I really care about. So I went. And the first time that I went, I actually ended up sitting outside of it because I was upset.

Um, and I kind of just wanted to listen. And the first time that I was there, and I ended up meeting this woman, um, who actually is a part of the Stephen Ministry, and she talked to me and she saw that I was upset and she asked me if I was okay. And of course I said I wasn't. She could tell that I wasn't.

And we talked, we ended up talking for hours and we ended up being the last two people in this church. And she, she prayed in for me and, and talked to me. And she was actually the one who explained to me that I couldn't do it all by myself, that I needed to trust and lean on God. And it was a massive, like, realization for me.

And it opened up my entire world as to what like I needed to do. I needed to trust that he knows best. And, um, ever since I started going to church more frequently and being a part of the young adult group, I felt like it, like slowly redirected my life and kind of put me on the path that I wanted to be.

And it made me feel like I was becoming like the best version of myself along with the help of like my friends and my family that were supportive of my choices. And now like whenever I feel upset or angry, it's kind of become more of a habit to go to God and to Jesus. And, and when I'm upset or frustrated, like I'll pray whether it's in my head or I'll write it down.

But I feel like now over time, I've learned to become like fully honest when I talk to God. And I wanted to get baptized because I wanna fully put my faith and my trust in God. And this is kind of like symbolizing my commitment to the relationship that I have with him. And this is the beginning of my new way of life.

Emma, Emma, talking to Mike. Emma, is it your desire to publicly testify to that relationship with Jesus through baptism? Yes. All right. It's my great joy to baptize you and the name of the father. And the Son and the Holy Spirit and the likeness of his death and the likeness of his resurrection.

Oh, there you are, . This is Ben Parker. Ben, have you accepted Jesus as your Savior? I have. Let's hear about it.

Hi, my name is Ben Parker. Um, and I'm gonna tell you a little bit about Jesus's story in my life. Um, so I grew up in a Christian home. Um, , My dad's a pastor here. My brother's a pastor here. Um, grown up in this church my entire life. Um, I would say that I accepted Christ at a very young age, probably around seven years old, but it definitely was not a real thing to me.

Um, I, my faith throughout my early years was definitely a product of growing up in a Christian home and it being taught and pushed, um, as I believe it should, but it became more of my parents' faith than my own. Um, when I was in high school, I had an amazing group of guys around me. Um, our small group at Youth Group led by, uh, Pastor Mike Candy.

Um, it was something that I definitely at the time took for granted. But now looking back, um, as a young adult, being able to see that, how much of. An influence that that had on my life was, um, something that I am glad to look back on. Now as a junior in high school, I had a moment of one of those come to Jesus moments, um, where I really broke down and repented.

Um, it was something that was very real in the moment, but something that I did not follow through with throughout my later co uh, later high school years, um, kind of faded back away. Um, now that being said, graduate high school, college is something that becomes really real. Um, and I decide to go to a college that I would go live at.

Um, decided to get the college experience. Um, did a lot of things when I went to college, um, from, you know, partying, binge drinking, smoking, Um, , lots of sexual sin and, um, different things really faded hard away from the Lord. Told myself, I'll never, ever, ever go back to being a Christian. I'll never go back to church.

I'll never, um, be welcomed back there. Um, I felt a very distant in that time from age, probably 18 till, uh, about 20 around there, um, was a really distant time for me. I remember when I, I remember it was during that time that Mike Candy still somehow in my life at that time, was asked me to, if I wanted to go to passion with a group of people that I went to high school or was in high school youth group with.

And I was very reluctant. Um, I don't even know why I said yes, I really don't, but I did. I said yes. I felt like a fool. I felt like a fraud the whole time. until the second night, um, where I just, it wasn't one of those passionate, insane coming to Jesus moments for me. Um, but it was one of those I felt welcomed again.

I felt welcomed by the Lord again. Um, even though I probably should have felt that from the beginning. But it was the Lord lit a candle I would say. I don't like to say he lit a flame where it was just like on fire. Oh my gosh, all of a sudden. But he lit a candle and that candle grew and, um, that em grew into something that where I fully dedicated my life back to Jesus.

Um, it was definitely a change. Um, and it was such a beautiful time in my life being able to, being able to look back at that now to see where I am now. Um, obviously mistakes are always made and what the Lord is so good. Um, It's, it is a crazy thing to look back on. If, if that hadn't happened or the Lord hadn't called me back when he did, I don't think I'd be married now.

I don't think I'd be, I think I'd be living at home. I think I'd be just all these different things in my life where it is exciting to look and see what he has done in my life. Um, I told myself for so long that I didn't have a testimony when I was in high school. I was like, And all these people have these cool things they get to say, even though it's not cool.

It's like a lot of bad things that would happen. But I always thought, you know, they have all this and this and this. To be able to say and, and to prove to people why they, why they love Jesus, why Jesus loves them. But no matter what, I just wanna encourage everyone that no matter what your story is, the Lord is so much bigger than anything.

Um, every story is, is beautiful. And every time that somebody turns to the Lord, there's rejoicing in heaven. Um, so yeah, that is, that's my story. Um, that is, Jesus's story in my life. Um, and I'm excited to get baptized today to show you all and to, to make a outward expression of what the Lord's done inside, inside of me.

Um, so thank you.

As you were talking, not to make alliteration here, but the Lord takes fool and makes them followers. I just feel like that's a, a story, what people need to hear this morning, so I'm, I'm grateful for that. Thank you, man. Uh, Ben, as your desire to be baptized this morning, to testify to this relationship with Christ Sure is otherwise, why would we be standing here right now?

Okay, Ben, it's my joy to baptize you in the name of the. The son and the Holy Spirit like him is death. Welcome to the Resurrection.

So Ben's wife, Maya was gonna join me next.

Maya, have you accepted Christ as your savior? Yes. Okay, we're gonna hear about that now.

Hi, my name is Maya Parker, and today I'm going to be showing my testimony with you all. So I never really had one of those coming to Jesus moments. I would say I grew up in the church. My parents took my, my sister and I to church every Sunday. And you know, I went to youth group, I volunteered in the church.

And then it wasn't until I was a little bit older, maybe like 11 or so, where my dad decided he didn't wanna come to church with us anymore. So then it was just my mom who took my sister and I to church primarily. And I would say that looking back, she was definitely the one that laid those, you know, the grounds and foundations for my sister and I to have a relationship with the Lord today.

She was always, you know, giving us encouraging versus and just, um, Always showing us the Lord's love. So I guess fast forward when I was maybe like 13 or 14, we find out that my mom's alcoholic. Yeah. So that was definitely something that was hard on the whole family. You know, when you're that young you don't really understand, you know, addiction and everything that it is and why your parents choosing this substance over your family or that's what it feels like.

And then when I was 16 May um, My parents would end up getting a divorce. And also between that time, my mom would be like in and outta rehab, but you know, it didn't really work. So my parents would get a divorce and when I was 16 and then in December of 2016, my mom would end up passing away unexpectedly, um, due to the alcohol.

Uh, so the addiction kind of overtook her and that was obviously life altering, changing moments for someone who's 16. My sister was 13 at the time I was in a school when I found out I was in study hall and I got a call to go down to the guidance office. So as I'm walking down in the hallway, um, I just heard.

A voice or like something popped into my head. It was, you know, when everything goes silent around you and you hear the voice of the Lord and it just said, you know, Ma, your mom's gone. Like, She's, she's dead. And I easily, I quickly dismissed it. I had no reason to believe that. Um, one thing I love about the Lord is how he knows each and every one of us so deeply in how we need to be talked to and loved.

And, um, in that moment, he, he knew what I needed to here in order to prepare me for this news. So I, I walk into the guidance office. My sister is waiting there for me. We get escorted back into an office where we're met with my dad and two police officers. My dad's crying and he looks up at us and says, Girls, your mom passed away in her apartment last night.

Like, oh, that was crazy. Um, it was definitely, The worst day of my life, . I was mad at God for a long time. I didn't know I was mad at God. I would say I just kind of, you know, like the person that laid all that found out foundation and that groundwork and my life just is gone like that. So it was definitely life altering at now.

I was trying to, I was in this position where I was like, met with the decision if I was going to continue this relationship with God, you know, without my mom. I, I had to find my faith by myself and that relationship and what it would look like. So, you know, for many years I just, I didn't go back to church, um, because there was no one to take me, no one to hold me accountable.

So it wasn't until I had to decide what college I was going to, and I knew that. In my heart, if I did not go to a Christian college, I was just gonna say goodbye to the Lord forever. I, I knew that in my, my heart. So when I went to colleges, I went to tour Geneva College, and as soon as I stepped foot on that campus, it was like peace just reigned over me.

Like I can't explain it. And I was like, Okay, this is where I'm going. Like, I wasn't following the Lord at the time, but also he still had such a presence in my life. You know, he didn't give up on me when I was at Geneva. I was just surrounded by Christians who had a real relationship with the Lord for the first time, and I don't remember how long.

And it was just shocking and overwhelming. And I was like, I want that. I really want that. So I would say sophomore of. College year is when I really started to dive deep into the Lord and what he had for me and actually understanding what it meant to have a relationship with him and to learn about his love and how much he actually loved me.

Cuz you hear all the time like, Oh, the Lord loves you. But it's not until you actually, you know, learn about it and grow in your relationship with him too, when you realize, oh my gosh, I'm so loved. And yeah, I graduated college and now I am married and I moved to New Jersey from, you know, Western PA and I, my life totally made 180 8.

You know, I had a lot of hardships and troubles, but the Lord never gave up on me and. He will never give up on you. So thank you for allowing me to share my testimony with you all today. I'm so excited to get baptized and to publicly declare that Lord Jesus is the savior of my life. Thank you,

Maya. Is it your desire to get baptized this morning to share with these people here, uh, testify of the relationship you have with Christ? Yes, it is.

May. It's my joy to baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, like this of his death, like this of his.

Let's pray together this morning. Lord, we worship you. You are king of of all things. And this morning we heard your divine artistry and all of these stories weaving together, suffering and hardship, confusion, and even wandering away. You were God, you were good. And I pray this morning for those here and watching online, God, would you open their eyes?

That they might see a God who is chasing after them even this morning, um, in their, in your intention with them being here. We love you Lord, and we're just grateful we worship you now and pray these things in your name. Amen. Amen. You are dismissed. Thanks for doing this. Okay.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/lives-transformed aa2fd5c3-cc79-4b1b-9732-4e1b94ca8ba0 Sun, 13 Nov 2022 14:43:06 GMT <div data-html="true">Ephesians 2:1-10 <br /><br /> "even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved" <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> We just sang some words this morning. Jesus Christ is our reward. There's nothing in this world that could ever satisfy that comes right out of Isaiah 55. He alone satisfies eternally Through every trial, our souls can sing. We rejoice in suffering. We've been set free. Christ is enough for me. <br /><br /> Ephesians one, three, His blood sets us. Christ are all in all, He's the joy of our salvation. Hope in him will never fail. Eternity with Christ are home. Job says in chapter seven, Life is just a breath. He's our reward. Let's pray this morning. Our Father, we stand here this morning as your children. God, we ask, would you speak to us now through your word? <br /><br /> Remind us, Lord, as we sing, that you are our hope. You are the source of forgiveness. We don't stand here on our own merit. We stand here on the blood of Christ. God, we thank you for the opportunity the church has together each week and and come together as a group of worshipers. Which may sound a little strange in this context in our world, that we worship the living true God, but it's what we do, who we are, who you've made us to be. <br /><br /> And we thank you for that. We pray these things in your name. Amen. Amen. Guys, may be seated. <br /><br /> Well, good morning. Thanks for being here this morning. Um, just want to answer three questions for you. If you have, uh, a little sermon bulletin thing. It's a bit shorter this morning. Uh, and the first question you might be asking, hopefully you're asking is, why is there a big hole in the stage? Some of you have had that before and you've never been told, but I'm gonna tell you this morning why there's a giant hole in our stage. <br /><br /> Uh, this morning is our baptism service and, uh, behind me is a tank of water. Uh, it's not magical water. It is fresh from Mount Laurel's pipe system, uh, wherever that comes from. Um, Um, we're gonna be entering into that water to baptize, which literally means to dip or to plunge. Um, those that have followed, trusted Christ as their savior, identifying them with his death and resurrection. <br /><br /> So if you're newer here, and this may seem a little bit weird to you, that's okay. Uh, we'll tell you and explain to you simply what is going to happen here in a minute. Uh, the, the first thing that you might want to know is the word baptism, again, means to dip or to plunge, but it is just simply a symbol of what God has already done. <br /><br /> Again, we are not doing anything magical. There's no transaction that's gonna happen behind me that already has not taken place. We're symbolizing a spiritual. Of what has taken place. You'll notice the shirt that I'm wearing says, forgiven. And each person that comes into the tank this morning will be wearing that. <br /><br /> It's not presumptive that we would have them wear those shirts before and during their baptism. It's signifying an already reality as they've put their trust in Christ. Baptism in this way does not make you a Christian. It declares that you already are a follower of Jesus. You'll hear us say when each person gets dipped under the water in the same way in the likeness of his death, in the bringing them back up, out of the water in the likeness of his resurrection. <br /><br /> The same symbol symbolism that we find compared to Christ's death and resurrection. So each individual's gonna be sharing a story this morning about what God has done in their life, their life story. They're gonna share specifics, but they'll all share this genuine similar reality. And that is that baptism is for those who have responded to the bad news and the good news of the Bible. <br /><br /> Which leads us to the next question. Is there some news that you've maybe missed? Is there something going on in the news that, uh, I don't know about? What's the bad news? What's the good news of the Bible? Well, in his book Telling the Truth, there's a man named Frederick Bakner and he says this, The gospel is bad news. <br /><br /> Before it is good news. It is the news that mankind is sinful, and to use the old word that he is evil in the imaginations of his. He describes a reality, which we find right in Ephesians chapter two. I'm gonna ask you to turn there with me. If you have a Bible, pull it out. If you don't, there's one right in front of you. <br /><br /> Pull that one out. You can tap there on your phone, whatever. If you got a Pew Bible there, it's page 917. We'll find some bad news. Good news right here in Ephesians chapter two, which was actually, uh, part of the Bible here, a, a letter that Paul wrote to the Ephesian church. Ephesus was a, a huge city, a, a center of worship for many Greek and Roman gods. <br /><br /> And they all kind of just came together in this center to worship. And by God's grace, many people through the ministry of the apostles came to know Christ. And so Paul is writing this letter to remind these Christians of the truth and the reality which they have experienced. Don't forget these things. <br /><br /> So listen in as we read Ephesians chapter two, verse one, and you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked. You were dead. No spiritual pulse in the trespasses, the falling away from God and the sins, the failure to live up to God's standards. You've missed the mark. That's how you once walked. <br /><br /> Following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, God's enemy, Satan, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children. Wrath. <br /><br /> These are strong words. Paul is writing here to this church. That's what we were like the rest of mankind, you behaved like sinful people because that was your nature. All you knew was missing the mark of God. I'm just gonna pause there. You may actually know and be able to fill in that first blank, uh, a about our spiritual condition from these first few verses, and that condition is dead, lifeless, fill it in. <br /><br /> Our condition is dead. We're not sick. Ephesians two does not say that we are not sort of corrupt in our minds and in our hearts, we're dead lifeless, unable to stand before a holy God. Actually, it says this is your standing. You outside of a relationship with Jesus are an object of wrath, worthy of punishment, unable to meet his righteous requirement. <br /><br /> That's the bad news. Let's look back at the text. Verse four continues on here, But God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ, this language of union oneness. In his same likeness, we, we have a pulse now in Christ by grace. <br /><br /> You have been saved and raised up with him and seeded us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Verse seven, So that in the coming ages, he might show you the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. There is bad news, but this is some good news. God is rich in mercy. <br /><br /> God is great in his love. He makes us alive by his gracious initiative. We can be forgiven, we can be seated in Christ, and he will continue to make known to us the depths of his grace and forgiveness. So you can fill the next blank here. God's intention after our condition, God's intention is forgiveness. <br /><br /> But how is that intention carried out? Right? How can a righteous holy, perfect matchless God accept sinful, broken people who we just heard were described as objects of wrath, unable to stand before him? Think about forgiveness for a minute. Maybe just in a, in a human sense for a second. It's kind of an agonizing process, right? <br /><br /> When someone, uh, hurts you, uh, when there's some wrong done or they wound you or they deceive you, you feel this hurt. It's agonizing. Maybe a form of suffering and forgiveness is not making the other person suffer for the things they've done to you. It's you suffering and forgiving. It's when you want to make them pay and you don't. <br /><br /> Instead you pay, you suffer. And if that is true strictly in a human sense, imagine the degree that it is true about God. It's when God does not pay us as our sins deserve. It's when He doesn't treat us the way we ought to be treated. But instead, God suffers in our place. God suffers for us. His gracious intention in sending a sinless Jesus to die. <br /><br /> Hang on across. He came as a suffering servant. He would die in your place. He would die in my place. And you might think, How unfair is that? Why should he die in my place? You might also think, how incredible is that, that forgiveness is made available and how can we be saved? Then how can we accept and receive this forgiveness? <br /><br /> Look back at at verse eight. It says this, For by grace, totally unmarried, gift by grace, you have been saved through faith, and this is not of your own doing. It's the gift of God, not a result of work so that nobody can boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. <br /><br /> Fill in the next blank. How can we have this faith, this relationship with Christ by God's grace, through faith, we respond, by placing our trust in Jesus. The bad news of our sin met with the good news, the grace of God that we might have faith in him. Romans 10, nine says this, If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. <br /><br /> Now, the word Lord is not something we typically use, uh, in our culture, in in our day, but that's exactly what the scriptures teach. That if we call Jesus Lord and not just call him, If we live as though Jesus is Lord of our life, we would be saved. The question might be, well, what what does it mean to really have someone be lured of your life? <br /><br /> It's turning over the control, right? It's, I'm not driving the car any longer. God is. We're not looking horizontally on earth for the things that we can gain and we can have in our life. We're looking ultimately for meaning and purpose and direction vertically from God. We're not looking to money to bow down to human affection or fame or comfort. <br /><br /> We're ultimately bowing down in humility before God. Turning over to Jesus as Lord of my life means all of the priorities then are dictated by him. All of my internal motivation now surrenders to Jesus as Lord. All of my time, my plans, even my thoughts, my future. It's Lord. Lord, what do you want for my. <br /><br /> All of life is lived as worship of Jesus. He's in control. And I bow, and sometimes we think we just bow like in the posture of our heart. But I mean, if you think of a holy God who's inviting us into his presence, there are times physically where I'm on my knees like you are holy and I am not God. Bowing and humility to him, that is the bad news, the good news, and the option for you to trust in Christ as your forgiveness. <br /><br /> As we come to baptism this morning, only a, a short bit here, we'll be looking at some things that are gonna happen behind me and I'm gonna ask you too, that last section there, pull out a pen because I want you to write some things down in this section because as you look, you will see people go down under the water, raised back out again as a symbol or a picture of their death to an old way of life, raised to a new way of life, declaring Jesus's Lord. <br /><br /> I also want you to listen because we're primarily not gonna be highlighting the stories of the people that come in this tank. Actually, there are some that will actually say we're highlighting God's story this morning. Not specifically first and foremost, my life story. God is writing a story and I happen to be part of that. <br /><br /> Ultimately, it's about him. It's not some incredible work they've done. They are sharing the incredible God who has poured out his love for them. And then I'm gonna invite you to respond. Baptism time. Sometimes if you've been to a church service before, maybe it feels as if it's appropriate, uh, with a stage and pews design like this for you to just sit and just watch and receive. <br /><br /> Um, but maybe that should be flipped around and there should be some engagement with what is happening here today, because some of you came skeptical. Of church, not really sure what is going on here. Not, uh, all of you have, uh, walked through life without the church. Maybe your people in your life kind of burning you in the name of Christ in a, in a bad way. <br /><br /> Maybe you're a, a younger person that has grown up in the church or heard about Jesus. Maybe you've grown up in this church. Possibly there are some people here right now who are kind of walking just away from the truth of God. Or you're a parent who's grieving the son or the daughter who's walking away from God. <br /><br /> Maybe you're someone here who's in the midst of confusion, or some of you are here struggling with your own self worth or mental health. You're walking through a tragic, broken situation because of the sin that exists in our world and in your own heart. I want you to know that God sees you. God loves you. <br /><br /> And he knows what you're walking through right now, and you're gonna hear of all of those circumstances that I just mentioned, talked about this morning specifically. And in general, all of these people have seen God in the midst of their story. So can I ask you with your pen to write down a name of a person up here? <br /><br /> Maybe, maybe a phrase that they said or, or a struggle that you feel like, Wow, I, I have that same similar struggle and I haven't even asked these people ahead of time. Um, this is a surprise to them, which is what you should always do when you are up here. Make surprises. Uh, approach these people with encouragement this morning. <br /><br /> Potentially approach them with questions about where is God in the midst of my journey? Approach them in joining to worship God. They're not gonna have all the answers, but what I can tell you is they know a God who does. And finally, um, That's kind of a dream of mine, that instead on baptism Sunday that we just receive and politely golf clap, um, that there would be like an uproarious cheer, uh, loud. <br /><br /> If you got one of those whistles, bring that out this morning because we are, we are shouting and praising and giving praise to God. It's not first about these people. It's the God who we see in our midst this morning. And so, if you can, please don't be quiet this morning. Um, I'm gonna pray and then I'm gonna invite Pastor Jared and, uh, Julia Lindo to start our baptisms this morning. <br /><br /> Pray with me. Our Father, we, we look to you, we trust you as, uh, a God who knows exactly what we're walking through right now. Uh, Lord, we, we see you as a God who has broken into our stories. And made a way that we might have a relationship with you through Jesus. God, as we hear of your grace poured out story after story, after story of people this morning, open our eyes. <br /><br /> Turn us from darkness to light. God, that, that even some here today might know you and see you for the first time we worship you, God, and pray these things in your name. Amen. Oh, they're on. Okay, you guys, can you hear me? Cool. Cool. Hey, Julia. Hi. Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? Yes. All right. We're gonna hear about it <br /><br /> my testimony today. Um, I grew up in church and in a Christian household, so I've known all my life, pretty much my need for a savior and my own sin and just, um, that I am completely lost without Christ. And so, at a pretty early age, I was probably about five. I think I first prayed the sinners prayer. <br /><br /> Um, and I believe that Jesus had come to earth and been born, lived a perfect life, died, um, and was risen again. And so through my belief in that I, um, could be saved and have a relationship with God and get to go to heaven, and I've had a lot of growth in that sort of knowledge and. Through the years. And so I definitely understand more that it's not just accepting him as my savior, but also living, um, with him as Lord of my life. <br /><br /> So Christ and living in relationship with him has just made a lot of differences in my life. Um, I recognize now that I don't need to be perfect and I don't need to be like everyone else. In fact, um, that's something I struggled with a lot of not, um, being as good as talking as this one person or being as confident as another, or being as talented as them. <br /><br /> And God really showed me even very recently just that, um, he gave me my own gifts and strengths for, um, that he wants me to use for his kingdom specifically in the place that he wants. And so, Um, my, I now have a purpose in life because of what Christ has done and a hope. And so I get to serve him with the things that he's given me and, um, that I have a desire to please him and just serve him. <br /><br /> And, um, a verse that's been really impactful to me recently is Galatians two 20 and it's Paul speaking and he says, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me and this life that I now live in the flesh. I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. <br /><br /> And that is basically the reason that I want to be baptized today. I also wanna proclaim that and just, Acknowledge that my old self in old ways have died and that I want to live a new life that Christ has, um, given me through his grace and just be fully surrendered and submitted to him. <br /><br /> Julia, is it that desire, uh, that you'd like to testify of that relationship this morning through baptism? Yes, it is. It's my joy to baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit and the likeness of his death, and the likeness of <br /><br /> Tyler, have you accepted Jesus Christ of your Lord and Savior? Yes. All right. Let's hear about it. <br /><br /> Hello, my name is Tyler Stewart. Um, I'm gonna share my testimony. I was born into a Christian family, um, and I always saw the world in through a Christian perspective. I officially gave my life to Jesus when I was five on February 23rd, 2011, three days before my birthday for most of my life, you could say that I believed in Jesus, um, but I didn't have any, uh, prosing viewpoints to compare him to. <br /><br /> So that was like all I knew. Basically, basically I was sitting on a gold mine. I was oblivious to how blessed I was. Um, I was able to grow, um, being able to grow up and see the world through a Christian perspective. For a long time, I wasn't self-aware. Uh, I didn't know why I believed in Jesus, and I had a very basic education when it came to biblical knowledge. <br /><br /> As I got older, I began to question the world around me. I became deistic in my thinking. Um, meaning I separated the world I lived in from God. I, I didn't think of God as close. I was very lost, and I relied on my own reasoning, um, to decipher from right and wrong. Eventually, my, um, like logic and reason, um, started to become very, it became very irrational and I honestly felt like I was, I honestly felt like I was going insane. <br /><br /> I also became very selfish and started looking for happiness, pleasure, and contentment and everything. Except God, this whole time I was falling into sin. I pray to God, but only out of, um, it was only out of fear of where I'd spend eternity. I'd never read the Bible or worship God in my own time. Um, all the while I had been enrolled in a Christian school and going to youth group as well. <br /><br /> Um, it's kind of, kind of ironic, but, um, it's not to throw shade at the school or youth group. It just goes to show that, um, a personal relationship with Jesus. Is dependent on you and Jesus alone. During, during my struggles, uh, I pray to God and like kind of repent. I, I'd ask for forgiveness, but like I wouldn't do anything to try and change and walk in new life. <br /><br /> Um, I felt terrible during this time. I started taking prescribed antidepressants, um, cuz I got to a point where I felt there was nothing in life worth living for. My parents ended up separating two weeks before my 15th birthday. After they split, I became more lost and I was even possibly on the brink of like, suicidal behavior. <br /><br /> Going back a little before summer. I asked my mother to find me a Christian therapist. I've been seeing him for almost three years now and God has used him, um, tremendously in my life. He'd offered me suggestions and help. Um, and ways to improve my relationship with Jesus in my circumstances. But I, I wouldn't, I wouldn't listen for, I didn't listen early on. <br /><br /> I was afraid to change. I didn't think I could. Um, and part of me didn't want to yet. I'd still ask God for help when I wasn't using what he'd given me. Um, basically I had a relationship with Jesus, um, but I wasn't seeking to further it or pursue it or in any way. Um, it wasn't until like about, like three months ago until I started, um, using the salvation Jesus gave me to better my life and take up my cross and fallen. <br /><br /> I started taking time out of my day to use the daily audio Bible. Um, and I'd start to read Scripture daily. Um, it felt as if I was no longer stuck in a. Of sin that it's taken years to dig. I felt that Jesus was lifting me out of the same hole in a matter of days. I recently decided to get baptized to publicly declare my faith in Christ and to publicly identify myself as a follower of Jesus. <br /><br /> I just recently learned the meaning of baptism and what it represents, and I am very excited to take this next step in my walk with Christ. <br /><br /> Tyler, is it your desire to, to testify of that relationship with Christ through baptism this morning? <br /><br /> It's my joy to baptize you in the name of the Father, son, the Holy Spirit and likeness of his dad, likeness of his resurrection. <br /><br /> I think that was gonna happen to Emma. Have you received Jesus Christ as your Lord and see. Yes, let's hear about it. <br /><br /> Hi, my name is Emma and I wanna be sharing my testimony. Um, so I found myself trying to do a lot of things by myself and like solely by myself. And, um, I wasn't going down the right path or at least the path that I wanted to be on. And I began getting really frustrated and overwhelmed because I was doing, trying to do everything by myself. <br /><br /> And I slowly started to realize or was told that I couldn't. Um, and because of that I've started to get frustrated and push people that I love away. I was told about young adults by somebody who I really care about. So I went. And the first time that I went, I actually ended up sitting outside of it because I was upset. <br /><br /> Um, and I kind of just wanted to listen. And the first time that I was there, and I ended up meeting this woman, um, who actually is a part of the Stephen Ministry, and she talked to me and she saw that I was upset and she asked me if I was okay. And of course I said I wasn't. She could tell that I wasn't. <br /><br /> And we talked, we ended up talking for hours and we ended up being the last two people in this church. And she, she prayed in for me and, and talked to me. And she was actually the one who explained to me that I couldn't do it all by myself, that I needed to trust and lean on God. And it was a massive, like, realization for me. <br /><br /> And it opened up my entire world as to what like I needed to do. I needed to trust that he knows best. And, um, ever since I started going to church more frequently and being a part of the young adult group, I felt like it, like slowly redirected my life and kind of put me on the path that I wanted to be. <br /><br /> And it made me feel like I was becoming like the best version of myself along with the help of like my friends and my family that were supportive of my choices. And now like whenever I feel upset or angry, it's kind of become more of a habit to go to God and to Jesus. And, and when I'm upset or frustrated, like I'll pray whether it's in my head or I'll write it down. <br /><br /> But I feel like now over time, I've learned to become like fully honest when I talk to God. And I wanted to get baptized because I wanna fully put my faith and my trust in God. And this is kind of like symbolizing my commitment to the relationship that I have with him. And this is the beginning of my new way of life. <br /><br /> Emma, Emma, talking to Mike. Emma, is it your desire to publicly testify to that relationship with Jesus through baptism? Yes. All right. It's my great joy to baptize you and the name of the father. And the Son and the Holy Spirit and the likeness of his death and the likeness of his resurrection. <br /><br /> Oh, there you are, . This is Ben Parker. Ben, have you accepted Jesus as your Savior? I have. Let's hear about it. <br /><br /> Hi, my name is Ben Parker. Um, and I'm gonna tell you a little bit about Jesus's story in my life. Um, so I grew up in a Christian home. Um, , My dad's a pastor here. My brother's a pastor here. Um, grown up in this church my entire life. Um, I would say that I accepted Christ at a very young age, probably around seven years old, but it definitely was not a real thing to me. <br /><br /> Um, I, my faith throughout my early years was definitely a product of growing up in a Christian home and it being taught and pushed, um, as I believe it should, but it became more of my parents' faith than my own. Um, when I was in high school, I had an amazing group of guys around me. Um, our small group at Youth Group led by, uh, Pastor Mike Candy. <br /><br /> Um, it was something that I definitely at the time took for granted. But now looking back, um, as a young adult, being able to see that, how much of. An influence that that had on my life was, um, something that I am glad to look back on. Now as a junior in high school, I had a moment of one of those come to Jesus moments, um, where I really broke down and repented. <br /><br /> Um, it was something that was very real in the moment, but something that I did not follow through with throughout my later co uh, later high school years, um, kind of faded back away. Um, now that being said, graduate high school, college is something that becomes really real. Um, and I decide to go to a college that I would go live at. <br /><br /> Um, decided to get the college experience. Um, did a lot of things when I went to college, um, from, you know, partying, binge drinking, smoking, Um, , lots of sexual sin and, um, different things really faded hard away from the Lord. Told myself, I'll never, ever, ever go back to being a Christian. I'll never go back to church. <br /><br /> I'll never, um, be welcomed back there. Um, I felt a very distant in that time from age, probably 18 till, uh, about 20 around there, um, was a really distant time for me. I remember when I, I remember it was during that time that Mike Candy still somehow in my life at that time, was asked me to, if I wanted to go to passion with a group of people that I went to high school or was in high school youth group with. <br /><br /> And I was very reluctant. Um, I don't even know why I said yes, I really don't, but I did. I said yes. I felt like a fool. I felt like a fraud the whole time. until the second night, um, where I just, it wasn't one of those passionate, insane coming to Jesus moments for me. Um, but it was one of those I felt welcomed again. <br /><br /> I felt welcomed by the Lord again. Um, even though I probably should have felt that from the beginning. But it was the Lord lit a candle I would say. I don't like to say he lit a flame where it was just like on fire. Oh my gosh, all of a sudden. But he lit a candle and that candle grew and, um, that em grew into something that where I fully dedicated my life back to Jesus. <br /><br /> Um, it was definitely a change. Um, and it was such a beautiful time in my life being able to, being able to look back at that now to see where I am now. Um, obviously mistakes are always made and what the Lord is so good. Um, It's, it is a crazy thing to look back on. If, if that hadn't happened or the Lord hadn't called me back when he did, I don't think I'd be married now. <br /><br /> I don't think I'd be, I think I'd be living at home. I think I'd be just all these different things in my life where it is exciting to look and see what he has done in my life. Um, I told myself for so long that I didn't have a testimony when I was in high school. I was like, And all these people have these cool things they get to say, even though it's not cool. <br /><br /> It's like a lot of bad things that would happen. But I always thought, you know, they have all this and this and this. To be able to say and, and to prove to people why they, why they love Jesus, why Jesus loves them. But no matter what, I just wanna encourage everyone that no matter what your story is, the Lord is so much bigger than anything. <br /><br /> Um, every story is, is beautiful. And every time that somebody turns to the Lord, there's rejoicing in heaven. Um, so yeah, that is, that's my story. Um, that is, Jesus's story in my life. Um, and I'm excited to get baptized today to show you all and to, to make a outward expression of what the Lord's done inside, inside of me. <br /><br /> Um, so thank you. <br /><br /> As you were talking, not to make alliteration here, but the Lord takes fool and makes them followers. I just feel like that's a, a story, what people need to hear this morning, so I'm, I'm grateful for that. Thank you, man. Uh, Ben, as your desire to be baptized this morning, to testify to this relationship with Christ Sure is otherwise, why would we be standing here right now? <br /><br /> Okay, Ben, it's my joy to baptize you in the name of the. The son and the Holy Spirit like him is death. Welcome to the Resurrection. <br /><br /> So Ben's wife, Maya was gonna join me next. <br /><br /> Maya, have you accepted Christ as your savior? Yes. Okay, we're gonna hear about that now. <br /><br /> Hi, my name is Maya Parker, and today I'm going to be showing my testimony with you all. So I never really had one of those coming to Jesus moments. I would say I grew up in the church. My parents took my, my sister and I to church every Sunday. And you know, I went to youth group, I volunteered in the church. <br /><br /> And then it wasn't until I was a little bit older, maybe like 11 or so, where my dad decided he didn't wanna come to church with us anymore. So then it was just my mom who took my sister and I to church primarily. And I would say that looking back, she was definitely the one that laid those, you know, the grounds and foundations for my sister and I to have a relationship with the Lord today. <br /><br /> She was always, you know, giving us encouraging versus and just, um, Always showing us the Lord's love. So I guess fast forward when I was maybe like 13 or 14, we find out that my mom's alcoholic. Yeah. So that was definitely something that was hard on the whole family. You know, when you're that young you don't really understand, you know, addiction and everything that it is and why your parents choosing this substance over your family or that's what it feels like. <br /><br /> And then when I was 16 May um, My parents would end up getting a divorce. And also between that time, my mom would be like in and outta rehab, but you know, it didn't really work. So my parents would get a divorce and when I was 16 and then in December of 2016, my mom would end up passing away unexpectedly, um, due to the alcohol. <br /><br /> Uh, so the addiction kind of overtook her and that was obviously life altering, changing moments for someone who's 16. My sister was 13 at the time I was in a school when I found out I was in study hall and I got a call to go down to the guidance office. So as I'm walking down in the hallway, um, I just heard. <br /><br /> A voice or like something popped into my head. It was, you know, when everything goes silent around you and you hear the voice of the Lord and it just said, you know, Ma, your mom's gone. Like, She's, she's dead. And I easily, I quickly dismissed it. I had no reason to believe that. Um, one thing I love about the Lord is how he knows each and every one of us so deeply in how we need to be talked to and loved. <br /><br /> And, um, in that moment, he, he knew what I needed to here in order to prepare me for this news. So I, I walk into the guidance office. My sister is waiting there for me. We get escorted back into an office where we're met with my dad and two police officers. My dad's crying and he looks up at us and says, Girls, your mom passed away in her apartment last night. <br /><br /> Like, oh, that was crazy. Um, it was definitely, The worst day of my life, . I was mad at God for a long time. I didn't know I was mad at God. I would say I just kind of, you know, like the person that laid all that found out foundation and that groundwork and my life just is gone like that. So it was definitely life altering at now. <br /><br /> I was trying to, I was in this position where I was like, met with the decision if I was going to continue this relationship with God, you know, without my mom. I, I had to find my faith by myself and that relationship and what it would look like. So, you know, for many years I just, I didn't go back to church, um, because there was no one to take me, no one to hold me accountable. <br /><br /> So it wasn't until I had to decide what college I was going to, and I knew that. In my heart, if I did not go to a Christian college, I was just gonna say goodbye to the Lord forever. I, I knew that in my, my heart. So when I went to colleges, I went to tour Geneva College, and as soon as I stepped foot on that campus, it was like peace just reigned over me. <br /><br /> Like I can't explain it. And I was like, Okay, this is where I'm going. Like, I wasn't following the Lord at the time, but also he still had such a presence in my life. You know, he didn't give up on me when I was at Geneva. I was just surrounded by Christians who had a real relationship with the Lord for the first time, and I don't remember how long. <br /><br /> And it was just shocking and overwhelming. And I was like, I want that. I really want that. So I would say sophomore of. College year is when I really started to dive deep into the Lord and what he had for me and actually understanding what it meant to have a relationship with him and to learn about his love and how much he actually loved me. <br /><br /> Cuz you hear all the time like, Oh, the Lord loves you. But it's not until you actually, you know, learn about it and grow in your relationship with him too, when you realize, oh my gosh, I'm so loved. And yeah, I graduated college and now I am married and I moved to New Jersey from, you know, Western PA and I, my life totally made 180 8. <br /><br /> You know, I had a lot of hardships and troubles, but the Lord never gave up on me and. He will never give up on you. So thank you for allowing me to share my testimony with you all today. I'm so excited to get baptized and to publicly declare that Lord Jesus is the savior of my life. Thank you, <br /><br /> Maya. Is it your desire to get baptized this morning to share with these people here, uh, testify of the relationship you have with Christ? Yes, it is. <br /><br /> May. It's my joy to baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, like this of his death, like this of his. <br /><br /> Let's pray together this morning. Lord, we worship you. You are king of of all things. And this morning we heard your divine artistry and all of these stories weaving together, suffering and hardship, confusion, and even wandering away. You were God, you were good. And I pray this morning for those here and watching online, God, would you open their eyes? <br /><br /> That they might see a God who is chasing after them even this morning, um, in their, in your intention with them being here. We love you Lord, and we're just grateful we worship you now and pray these things in your name. Amen. Amen. You are dismissed. Thanks for doing this. Okay.</div> false no <![CDATA[Disagreements in the Family of God]]> Acts 15:36-41; 16:1-5

Now Barnabas wanted to take with them rJohn called Mark. But Paul thought best not to take with them one who had withdrawn from them.



Sermon Transcript:

I invite you today to turn in your Bibles to Book of Acts once again, as we return there. Again, we're gonna be looking at chapter 15 verses 36 to 41. If you're watching online or if you're joining us here in Mount Laurel or here in Collingswood, great heavy here and look forward to looking at this great passage, challenging passage, but a great one where there are people.

there will be conflicts whether in a marriage or a family or a job site or an office or a school or a church. There will be stuff at times between people. From the moment sin entered the world, humans began blaming each other for their problems. We see this in Adam's classic boneheaded defense of his eating of the forbidden fruit, where he simply says, The woman, God, you gave to me, she gave me fruit of the tree and I ate.

We find ourselves passionately shifting the blame relentlessly defending our positions loudly, proving where someone else is wrong. It's all part of living as fallen, broken folks. Political disagreements are louder than at any time in any of our lifetimes. civility and respectful speech has increasingly been replaced by mockery, disrespect, and just plain nastiness in the public forum.

Fortunately, as we all know, being members of God's family through Jesus means there are never any disagreements among us until we open our mouth actually among missionaries, those who have left behind potential, much more affluent and comfortable lives here in the States to go over to other countries to serve Jesus with in many cases their entire adult lives.

The number one problem on the field for missionaries is getting along with other missionaries. There actually is no number two in the listing. Others are so far behind conflicts, disagreements. That is true among pastors and churchs folks here in the US of course, as well. Disagreements happen among Christians just as they do with everyone else, even to the best of Christians.

Guys like Paul and Barnabas. Our passage this morning is about just such a moment. It, it is an incident that is so earthy and understandable that it really sort of makes you wonder, how in the heck do any of us get along? But it is also an incident that God's fingerprints are all over, and it gives us great hope in the face of our own disagreements and differences.

I'd like to read about here in Acts 15, verse 36 to 41, and here's what we read. And after some days, Paul said to Barnabas, Let us return and visit the brothers in every city where we proclaim the word of the Lord and see how they are. Now, Barnabas wanted to take with them, John called Mark, but Paul thought best not to take them with, take with them.

One who had withdrawn from them in Pam Philia and had not gone with them to the work. And there arose a sharp disagreement so that they separated from each other. Barnabas took mark with him and sailed over to Cypress. But Paul chose Silas and departed having been commended by the, by the brothers to the grace of the Lord, and he went through Syria and Silesia strengthening the churches.

When we come to this passage, We find a disagreement, a sharp disagreement, and I'd like to look at four qualities of disagreements that are manifested in this passage. And then at the end, basically what I'm gonna do in going through these four qualities, the presence of disagreements, the production of disagreements, the pain of disagreements, and God's providence in disagreements.

I'm gonna basically tell the story of the disagreement and those elements of it, and then at the end, I'd like to just share what I think are some suggestions related to disagreements out of this passage, the presence of disagreement. As we come to this passage, we need context because there's history involved in this, as there usually are in disagreements.

There's. the first missionary journey. And if we bring up the map, we see the reminder of that Paul and Barnabas and a guy named John Mark, a younger man have gone and they've left Antioch, which is about 80 miles north of Jerusalem, where, where you see, uh, down at the bottom there and they've left Antioch, they've gone on them, what is called the first missionary journey.

They went to the island of Cyprus, um, and which is actually where Barnabas is from. And then they've traveled up into southern modern day Turkey, and before they arrive, John Mark leaves and bags the trip and goes home. Paul and Barnabas continue. We, if you remember in Lira, Paul is stoned and left for dead.

I mean, they went through some hard things. Then they traveled their way back, strengthening the disciples, got all the way back to Antioch after that for a year. they spend together, Paul and Barnabas serving in Antioch. They're back there. During that time that year's ministry, some other speakers have entered the scene, troublemakers.

Paul calls them in Galatians and James refers to them. Uh, in that way. In earlier part of Acts 15, these were new individuals that went out from Jerusalem and basically went to Antioch where Paul and Barnabas were serving, and to those cities where Paul and Barnabas had led people to Jesus and tells them.

The only way that you can actually be a Christ follower as a pagan Gentile, is you first have to be a Jew. And as I quoted Pastor Josiah, um, basically their statement was, You have to become one of us to become one of his. It was a very, um, discordant message contrary to what Paul and Barnabas had been saying to these, these gentile pagans, uh, who had been with no Jewish background whatsoever.

And so eventually what happened, and this is what the beginning of Acts 15 is about, there was this thing called the Jerusalem Council. And Paul and Barnabas were invited down the 80 miles to ju to Jerusalem, and they're in Jerusalem. They presented the case, which was endorsed by the whole council of leaders that, no, you don't have to become a Jew in order to be a Jesus follower.

You can accept the Messiah. Simply by faith and grace. And we talked all about that in the last couple of Sundays. Now they've returned back to Antioch. Paul and Barnas are back in Antioch, and they're about to partake, par, participate, and embark on what's called the second missionary journey. And it's Paul's idea.

And if you look at the map one more time, what happens is they go and Paul goes north from Antioch, travels along the land, goes back to Lira and to those cities, and goes all the way over to modern, uh, to ancient Troy or Troy ass. And he'll continue on the journey. The problem is in Antioch, Paul and Barnabas have a falling out.

In our passage this morning, there's conflict and it's all over. A young guy named John Mark who had accompanied them on their first journey. And the problem is,

Whether or not he should be taken with them. And in the passage in verse 39, Luke, in recording it says There was a sharp disagreement. The word is actually the word that we formed. The modern word parx is, which means a sudden or sharp attack. It, it can have an pars of feelings, a pars of hunger, a pars of, of, of violent pain.

But it was intense. It was an intense disagreement. Barnabas will sail west to the island of Cyprus with Mark, and he sails out of the record of the book of Acts. We don't hear of him. Paul will go north, as I just showed on the picture with a guy named Silas, who actually was one of the guys that came with them from Jerusalem to share the letter with all of the churches from the Jerusalem Council.

There is a divide here. There's disagreement, disagreements happen in the family of God among our best folks. The second thing we find is the production of Dick's agreements, and it's striking as we put all this together, how this happened. There were personal experiences. I mean, Paul is concerned about past experiences, right?

He's concerned about John Mark. Basically what happened when they had gotten to the island of Cyprus and were about to actually go up into Turkey and, and, and begin the missionary. . John Mark didn't go. He left. He bagged it and left the threesome down. A man. It worked out. Overall, Paul and Barnabas had been able to pull it off, but it left a sour taste in Paul's mouth.

There were others now with more experience, more track record. For instance, this guy Silas or Salves, who has come up as one of the twosome that have joined Paul and Barnabas and gone back up to Antioch with the letter from the Jerusalem council. He's an experienced leader. Paul says, What about him? Why don't we take him as a, as our third guy?

I can imagine Paul said something like this. Look, Barnabas, I understand your, your concern for, for your nephew John Mark, and, and, and wanting, but, but honestly, When the church in Jerusalem chose two guys to accompany us, John Mark wasn't one of the ones who lived in in Jerusalem. Si. Silas was. Why don't we take him?

He has his own questions. I can hear him saying, Look, he's a, he's a good kid, but he's not trustworthy. He's a bli. He's a little flaky. We need people who have our backs, right? I mean, I don't know if you remember, but the last trip I was left stoned for dead. I'd like to know the guy that's there, you know, in, in the, in, in the battlefield with me.

They're in the trenches that he's is gonna be there when I turn around and I need support. Paul also may have had concerns about Barnabas after Paul and Barnabas had returned from their first missionary journey. And come back to Antioch for that year. As I mentioned it before, the Jerusalem Council, something very interesting happened.

Peter had come up to Jeru to, to Antioch, and while he was there, you know, he, he was eating with the Gentile, formerly Pagan Christians, doing life with them in a way that a Jew would never have done in the past be. But then some of these troublemakers came from Jerusalem and they said to Peter, basically, What are you doing?

I mean, you can't do this. And here's what happened. Paul tells us about it in the book of Galatians chapter two verse verse 11 through 13. But when Sifi, that's Peter came to Antioch, Paul says, I opposed him to his face because he stood condemned for before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles.

But when they came, he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party, and the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. Barnabas had been caught up in, in, in the fear of man and the, and the influence of these people that, that have infected Peter and Barnabas also pulled away, separating from the Gentile Christians.

I think Paul easily could have been feeling at this time. Barnabas, you've, you've shown poor judgment in the not too distant past. Paul and Barnes had worked through that had continued to work together. They had gone to Jerusalem for the council and spoken with one voice about the Gentile pagans who were becoming Christians.

But isn't it possible that Paul's trust. Barnabas judgment has been dealt a a blow, at least to a degree. Barnabas's ability to encourage and find the best in people had been a blessing to Paul himself. But that positive, encouraging, helpful spirit had not helped him with the strong minded Judas when they came from Jerusalem.

I think Paul would've described Barnabas potentially this way. His heart is unquestionable, but his head, I'm not always sure about Barnabas. He's wonderful with people, but in the tough scenes in the crisis moments, I just don't know about his judgment all the time.

And then we've got Barnabas DePaul in Acts chapter nine. Paul has become a Christian Paul, who had literally arrested Christians and thrown them into jail. Whole families, Paul, who literally had seen and been the reason for Christians being martyred and killed, has now come to Jesus and Paul is about to be stoned up north.

So he comes down to Jerusalem and he is all alone, and all of the Christians are like, Don't go near that guy. Nobody trusted him. Even the apostles didn't trust him. One guy took him under his wing and came up to him and said, Let me, let me take your round. Barnabas. Barnabas took him and took him to Peter, took him to the other apostles and say, On my rep with my creds.

I'm asking you to embrace this guy. Listen to his story. It's real. Give him a chance. In Acts chapter 11, after Paul has gone back all the way to his hometown of Tarus in Southern Turkey and they hear some believers are coming to Christ way up in Antioch, They send Barnabas and Barnabas goes to Antioch and he says, Oh my goodness.

God is at work here. There are, there are Gentiles, former pagans that are receiving Jesus. I need help. He runs over to Tarus and says, Tar Paul, give me a hand. I trust you in this most intense, this most fragile of work. I need your help. I believe in you.

Barnabas, can't you imagine him saying to Paul something like this? Paul, I know you've got concerns about John Mark. I know he is young. I know he's screwed up in the past. He was fearful. But let me do with him what I did with you. Let me mentor him, encourage him, do it on my creds. Trust me with him the way the apostles trusted me with you.

Does this make sense? So here we are, these two guys who both love Jesus, but are both wrestling with personal experiences. There's personal wiring at play here. Barnabas the encourager. He saw the best in people. Everybody's friend, positive, welcoming. He's the guy everybody wants to play golf with and have him in your foursome.

Sensitive people, nervous people, Insecure people feel safe with Barnabas. His sins of choice, fear of man, people pleasing, avoiding conflict. And then there's Paul. Big picture, Always big picture Guy makes the tough calls, can deal with strong-minded people, can hold his ground, tends not to tolerate fools.

His sins of choice. Running over people controlling and intimidating people. Anger. Hey. This disagreement makes sense, right? We got two people with very different wiring, with their own experience with each other. No one knows Paul better than Barnabas. Nobody, no one has stood for Paul more than Barnabas.

So here we are. We see the, the, the production, the development of this disagreement. But now look at the pain of it. Both of them felt they were right. Barnabas, the encourager felt that Paul was being unreasonable, proud, forgetful of how he had been graced, unwilling to extend to mark that same grace. Paul, a bottom line leader, felt that Barnabas was being foolish.

adding unnecessary problems to the trip, had already shown himself to be run by emotion and to make hurtful decisions because of it. Here's the question. Who was right? Huh? Who was right?

Both, neither from their perspective, I'm not sure we can say, Well, Paul was right, or Barnabas was right. I don't, I don't think that's the intention of Luke telling us the story by the spirit. I think what we learn, it is likely that they would both regret the volatility of the disagreement. Paul writes a lot in his letters to come about the importance of things like gentleness and patience and forbearance, and we see him growing in those areas in his life.

but they really did see this thing differently. Both valued unity made it hard. Imagine the impact on the church at Antioch. This is where the argument took place. They're in Antioch. This is the church where they were the two guys, the two founding fathers, the two heroes of the faith, and they've just come back from Jerusalem with a message of unity and cons.

Reconciliation to that is joyfully embraced by the Gentile Christians. And now here at Peter, here at Paul in Barnabas, you don't think that was confusing, hurtful? I'm sure there was sorrow later on from Paul and Barnabas themselves. Now at this point in my message, you may be feeling a little sick to your stomach.

Okay, I get it. It all makes sense. . Where's the hope man? What, what do you got for me? I mean, does this mean okay, we're just gonna, we're we're, No, let me go to the the good news. Number four, God's providence in disagreements, God preserved unity in the disagreement. The intensity of the disagreement may have been something they regretted later, but their disagreements did not destroy unity.

The unity was not built on one decision about one young missionary candidate. Their unity was built on a passionate, humble longing for the glory of God and the furtherance of his kingdom. Number of years ago, when I was on the board of a international mission, um, and I was on at the time a five member executive council that worked most closely with the president of the 20 board members.

and was a fairly new president. Uh, he was a friend. I, I, I believe he would say, We were, we were, we were good friends. And couple of things happened, and at a board meeting, um, in the evening, it was clear that some things had been done, that there was a, a strong feeling on members of the board that he should be removed.

And I went to bed smoking. Matt. I didn't really go to bed. I just was smoking. Matt. I, I went back to my room. I spent time in the scriptures. I tried to get my own soul quiet and the next morning we had an executive council meeting. Um, and I came in Prime for bear. And I just, I just, laid into everybody there, and I just said, this is wrong.

There is, uh, I mean, I just feel we need to give grace and I mean, um, I don't consider myself a Barnabas, but I probably played that role to some degree. Compassion care. We need to be be, but I was shook when the two guys on our council, on our little team, who I most respected on our whole board, and who had spent the most time propping up and caring for our president, disagreed with me.

And they both felt strongly, it's, it's too late. This is, this has gotta happen. We had the board meeting later that day, actually later that morning. After our early morning meeting and everybody was allowed to 20 on the board, everybody was allowed to share. There were only a handful of us that talked. I talked, I was the only one that argued for, and we had our vote, which was based on majority, and it was overwhelmingly to remove, I was one of the only ones.

Um, it was a real moment in my life and leadership because to this day, I don't feel that my, my response was ungodly or wrong, but I knew as soon as that vote was taken that I was wholeheartedly behind the board. I trusted the board. I trusted the process. Most of all, I trusted God in the process. I felt bad for the individual.

I felt a little bad, honestly, that I hadn't been able to sway people to my thinking. But I learned there that agreement is not always essential for unity. We moved past. We moved on. Interestingly, I found out not long after that that our president was actually relieved to be removed. And so how do we evaluate this was, was I wrong?

Were they wrong? I just feel that sometimes we get these Paul Barnabas moments and. There's not going to be total clarity. And in this situation, it was a situation where majority, which I think was appropriate and right, and, but I felt, I felt strongly we are still united, and we were united after actually going through that process together.

Probably helped our board become even more united, even though it was very challenging for us. I don't think the work of God was broken by this experience. God was even able to use disagreement to bring about his broader purposes. You see God intended good from the disagreement he did for Paul Barnabas and the missionary enterprise.

We read this in Acts 15, verse 39 to 41. Barnabas took mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus. Paul chose Silas and departed having been commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord, and he went through Syria and Silesia strengthening the churches. The rest of the Book of Acts is about Paul and his missionary travels most of the New Testament.

It his letters written to those believers. On his travels, God broadened the missionary enterprise. We, we will see in a moment how God continued to use, uh, particularly John Mark and he took Paul and Silas and they continued the missionary journey, which enlister actually the town where Paul was stoned.

When they go there, he finds another young protege, a guy named Timothy that joins them and they're threesome once again. It also was used by God in the life of John Mark. God developed him under the tutelage of Barnabas and also Peter later in his last letter while in prison in Rome. Paul had this request to Timothy.

It's here in second Timothy four 11. Get mark and bring him with you for, he's very useful to me for ministry. Now Peter the apostle Peter never wrote a gospel. The apostle Matthew did. The apostle John did. Peter never did, but Peter told his stories and his experiences with Jesus and they were compiled by a young man who did write a gospel.

And that guy, if we can bring up that slide, was John Mark. It was John Mark who bailed and bagged it on the missionary journey, who Paul said, I don't trust the guy. I don't want him covering my back. Would later say, . I only have Luke here with me and caring for me in prison in Rome. He said, Would you bring John Mark?

He's profitable for me in ministry.

God is big enough to even work through disagreements and bring about good. So I want to close with this. Four quick principles, uh, that are important to remember about disagreements in our lives. Number one, God and His glory are our ultimate UniFi. God and His glory are our ultimate unifier. If we share that, we'll get through disagreements because it will make us ask for forgiveness.

It will drive us to prayer. It will humble us. It will make us hold onto our own opinions loosely, as it will make the issue less important than the ultimate goal of Jesus' glory. But it is foundationally important that God in His glory are seen as the ultimate unifier. Secondly, beware of pride in the face of disagreement.

This is the one thing that I don't see in Paul and Barnabas. This was not a normative thing. You don't sense these guys were always fighting for their own turf, or they had to be right, Or, or, or they. They view themselves as the sharpest knife in the draw. This is an outlier moment. I say that to say this.

Don't be that guy or that woman who always take the contrary opinion. , especially if it derails the project. If my vote on the A B W B board would have derailed, what was the decision of most of the board? If we were everybody's had to be a yes, I would have abstained or supported it. I probably would've abstained, but I would not have felt, sure enough, even with my own passion in this, and be careful.

Wherever you are in your work situation, don't be that person. That's always the one that sort of uses. I've got it. I see what nobody else sees. There are times when you're gonna disagree. It happened with Paul and Barnabas, and I've tried to lay out this whole story to explain this makes sense. We understand they're so different in perspective, but they were, I was an outlier moment for both of them.

These were humble men. . They were gentle men. They, they, they wanted oneness. They, they longed for it. They sought it. Don't allow pride to have you think, Well, my role is to always be the, the clarifier of what is. There's danger in that. Always danger in that. Number three,

remember we all have blind spots. I believe both Paul and Barnes Barnabas learned from this experience. For Paul, it's obvious that Barnabas would've, Paul would've said this. Barnabas saw in John Mark what? I did not. I'm so grateful God used him to bring this young man alone. I think Barnabas would have said something like this, Paul's big picture orientation.

Was so obviously used by God to expand the work of the gospel. I'm grateful for who Paul is and that he pushed forward with his vision and passion for the gospel. Again, humility and a teachable spirit are so essential in working through disagreements because so much of it just flows out of our own experiences, our own wiring, and so easily we can see this is the only way to look at it because it's the way I look at it and I would guess if I said to you and made you ask before I told you, I don't think there is a yes or no.

If I said, Who do you think was right in this? Those of you that are most like Paul, you know you. The big picture, we got 'em all. Well, you gotta, you gotta see what's necessary. I mean, the Barnabas is too emotional in these kind of decisions. If you're wired that way, you'll tend to think Paul was right. If you're like, No, relationships are everything.

Well, I mean, Paul was blessed by Barnabas and now he won't even allow the same favorite to John Mark. And if, if you're, if you're ruled by heart, and thank God for those of you that really are, you're gonna probably side with Barnabas. The issue was, I don't know that there was a right or wrong guy in this.

It was different. Where the rightness was, is they met in a position of humility and honor each other and not wanting to do something that in any way derailed the work of the gospel going forward. The last thing is God's purposes are not frustrated when we are God's sovereign. He is not dependent on you getting it right.

disagreements are exhausting and frustrating. We need a bigger God with a bigger agenda than we understand. We can trust him to be at work and at all. God doesn't waste experiences. He didn't waste this one. He doubled the missionary enterprise. Now he sends two teams out. He uses it in a way that furthers the ministry of John Mark, who was ex extraordinarily influential in the days to come in the ministry of the gospel, certainly Paul and Silas and then Timothy were, God doesn't waste experiences.

The disagreement is a chance to grow and trust and deepen in humility. A close with this, as you read through the book of Acts, you see God bringing cultures. It religious j who have lived their whole lives believing that it's or of pr, it's, it's, it's, it's doing things the right way. And now all of a sudden, he said, And that's where our unity will be, is the people.

And now all the God says, God basically says, most of that practice is now unnecessary

and uniting those people with pagan gentiles who believe in multiple gods and saying, I want you guys to sit together in church and take communion together and even be willing to have your son marry their daughter as you both love Jesus. It's an astonishing big task. We're also reminded here in Acts 15 that there's merging of personalities, people with different strengths and weaknesses.

Here's the question, How in the world. Will this work? How in the world are these people going to go forward? Can these people make the work of church go forward? There is only one answer and it's a three word answer, three letter answer. It is God, the spirit at work to the ends of the earth. He is able to bring very different people with very different processing.

If they are humble, if they are teachable, if they, if they are willing to listen and think, Okay, I have this perspective, but is not the only perspective. I just if, if we can go forward humbly dependent on the Lord, recognizing even our differences are allowed by God to grow us and to shape us and to make us value others more.

And also to not be as confident in ourselves. The spirit is at work to the ends of the earth. He doesn't waste experiences. Some of you are in the midst of disagreements, conflicts, confusion, feeling the pain of that, and it is pain. But we serve a God who is able to bring true unity with very talented, but very different looking men, women, young people.

He's able to do it because he's who you are, not. He's got, Lord. I don't know where this sermon lands for anybody today. I know how it's spoken into me, but Lord, I just pray that most of all, it would help us to live as humble people. Dependent people. Thank you for the way you've wired us. Thank you for the gifting you've given us.

You've made some of us more Paul, some of us more Barnes, some of us may be more. John Marks Lord, help us to value each other, but also help us to be humble. Not feeling that our perspective our way is the only way, but to walk with trust and dependence upon you that the work of the gospel, which is done in the most astonishingly diverse group of people, would go forward as we all lean into you.

In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Now go in peace to love and serve and enjoy the Lord.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/disagreements-in-the-family-of-god 8c108475-06ce-4e63-b2f2-aa0d82c5180c Sun, 06 Nov 2022 14:13:20 GMT <div data-html="true">Acts 15:36-41; 16:1-5 <br /><br /> Now Barnabas wanted to take with them rJohn called Mark. But Paul thought best not to take with them one who had withdrawn from them. <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> I invite you today to turn in your Bibles to Book of Acts once again, as we return there. Again, we're gonna be looking at chapter 15 verses 36 to 41. If you're watching online or if you're joining us here in Mount Laurel or here in Collingswood, great heavy here and look forward to looking at this great passage, challenging passage, but a great one where there are people. <br /><br /> there will be conflicts whether in a marriage or a family or a job site or an office or a school or a church. There will be stuff at times between people. From the moment sin entered the world, humans began blaming each other for their problems. We see this in Adam's classic boneheaded defense of his eating of the forbidden fruit, where he simply says, The woman, God, you gave to me, she gave me fruit of the tree and I ate. <br /><br /> We find ourselves passionately shifting the blame relentlessly defending our positions loudly, proving where someone else is wrong. It's all part of living as fallen, broken folks. Political disagreements are louder than at any time in any of our lifetimes. civility and respectful speech has increasingly been replaced by mockery, disrespect, and just plain nastiness in the public forum. <br /><br /> Fortunately, as we all know, being members of God's family through Jesus means there are never any disagreements among us until we open our mouth actually among missionaries, those who have left behind potential, much more affluent and comfortable lives here in the States to go over to other countries to serve Jesus with in many cases their entire adult lives. <br /><br /> The number one problem on the field for missionaries is getting along with other missionaries. There actually is no number two in the listing. Others are so far behind conflicts, disagreements. That is true among pastors and churchs folks here in the US of course, as well. Disagreements happen among Christians just as they do with everyone else, even to the best of Christians. <br /><br /> Guys like Paul and Barnabas. Our passage this morning is about just such a moment. It, it is an incident that is so earthy and understandable that it really sort of makes you wonder, how in the heck do any of us get along? But it is also an incident that God's fingerprints are all over, and it gives us great hope in the face of our own disagreements and differences. <br /><br /> I'd like to read about here in Acts 15, verse 36 to 41, and here's what we read. And after some days, Paul said to Barnabas, Let us return and visit the brothers in every city where we proclaim the word of the Lord and see how they are. Now, Barnabas wanted to take with them, John called Mark, but Paul thought best not to take them with, take with them. <br /><br /> One who had withdrawn from them in Pam Philia and had not gone with them to the work. And there arose a sharp disagreement so that they separated from each other. Barnabas took mark with him and sailed over to Cypress. But Paul chose Silas and departed having been commended by the, by the brothers to the grace of the Lord, and he went through Syria and Silesia strengthening the churches. <br /><br /> When we come to this passage, We find a disagreement, a sharp disagreement, and I'd like to look at four qualities of disagreements that are manifested in this passage. And then at the end, basically what I'm gonna do in going through these four qualities, the presence of disagreements, the production of disagreements, the pain of disagreements, and God's providence in disagreements. <br /><br /> I'm gonna basically tell the story of the disagreement and those elements of it, and then at the end, I'd like to just share what I think are some suggestions related to disagreements out of this passage, the presence of disagreement. As we come to this passage, we need context because there's history involved in this, as there usually are in disagreements. <br /><br /> There's. the first missionary journey. And if we bring up the map, we see the reminder of that Paul and Barnabas and a guy named John Mark, a younger man have gone and they've left Antioch, which is about 80 miles north of Jerusalem, where, where you see, uh, down at the bottom there and they've left Antioch, they've gone on them, what is called the first missionary journey. <br /><br /> They went to the island of Cyprus, um, and which is actually where Barnabas is from. And then they've traveled up into southern modern day Turkey, and before they arrive, John Mark leaves and bags the trip and goes home. Paul and Barnabas continue. We, if you remember in Lira, Paul is stoned and left for dead. <br /><br /> I mean, they went through some hard things. Then they traveled their way back, strengthening the disciples, got all the way back to Antioch after that for a year. they spend together, Paul and Barnabas serving in Antioch. They're back there. During that time that year's ministry, some other speakers have entered the scene, troublemakers. <br /><br /> Paul calls them in Galatians and James refers to them. Uh, in that way. In earlier part of Acts 15, these were new individuals that went out from Jerusalem and basically went to Antioch where Paul and Barnabas were serving, and to those cities where Paul and Barnabas had led people to Jesus and tells them. <br /><br /> The only way that you can actually be a Christ follower as a pagan Gentile, is you first have to be a Jew. And as I quoted Pastor Josiah, um, basically their statement was, You have to become one of us to become one of his. It was a very, um, discordant message contrary to what Paul and Barnabas had been saying to these, these gentile pagans, uh, who had been with no Jewish background whatsoever. <br /><br /> And so eventually what happened, and this is what the beginning of Acts 15 is about, there was this thing called the Jerusalem Council. And Paul and Barnabas were invited down the 80 miles to ju to Jerusalem, and they're in Jerusalem. They presented the case, which was endorsed by the whole council of leaders that, no, you don't have to become a Jew in order to be a Jesus follower. <br /><br /> You can accept the Messiah. Simply by faith and grace. And we talked all about that in the last couple of Sundays. Now they've returned back to Antioch. Paul and Barnas are back in Antioch, and they're about to partake, par, participate, and embark on what's called the second missionary journey. And it's Paul's idea. <br /><br /> And if you look at the map one more time, what happens is they go and Paul goes north from Antioch, travels along the land, goes back to Lira and to those cities, and goes all the way over to modern, uh, to ancient Troy or Troy ass. And he'll continue on the journey. The problem is in Antioch, Paul and Barnabas have a falling out. <br /><br /> In our passage this morning, there's conflict and it's all over. A young guy named John Mark who had accompanied them on their first journey. And the problem is, <br /><br /> Whether or not he should be taken with them. And in the passage in verse 39, Luke, in recording it says There was a sharp disagreement. The word is actually the word that we formed. The modern word parx is, which means a sudden or sharp attack. It, it can have an pars of feelings, a pars of hunger, a pars of, of, of violent pain. <br /><br /> But it was intense. It was an intense disagreement. Barnabas will sail west to the island of Cyprus with Mark, and he sails out of the record of the book of Acts. We don't hear of him. Paul will go north, as I just showed on the picture with a guy named Silas, who actually was one of the guys that came with them from Jerusalem to share the letter with all of the churches from the Jerusalem Council. <br /><br /> There is a divide here. There's disagreement, disagreements happen in the family of God among our best folks. The second thing we find is the production of Dick's agreements, and it's striking as we put all this together, how this happened. There were personal experiences. I mean, Paul is concerned about past experiences, right? <br /><br /> He's concerned about John Mark. Basically what happened when they had gotten to the island of Cyprus and were about to actually go up into Turkey and, and, and begin the missionary. . John Mark didn't go. He left. He bagged it and left the threesome down. A man. It worked out. Overall, Paul and Barnabas had been able to pull it off, but it left a sour taste in Paul's mouth. <br /><br /> There were others now with more experience, more track record. For instance, this guy Silas or Salves, who has come up as one of the twosome that have joined Paul and Barnabas and gone back up to Antioch with the letter from the Jerusalem council. He's an experienced leader. Paul says, What about him? Why don't we take him as a, as our third guy? <br /><br /> I can imagine Paul said something like this. Look, Barnabas, I understand your, your concern for, for your nephew John Mark, and, and, and wanting, but, but honestly, When the church in Jerusalem chose two guys to accompany us, John Mark wasn't one of the ones who lived in in Jerusalem. Si. Silas was. Why don't we take him? <br /><br /> He has his own questions. I can hear him saying, Look, he's a, he's a good kid, but he's not trustworthy. He's a bli. He's a little flaky. We need people who have our backs, right? I mean, I don't know if you remember, but the last trip I was left stoned for dead. I'd like to know the guy that's there, you know, in, in the, in, in the battlefield with me. <br /><br /> They're in the trenches that he's is gonna be there when I turn around and I need support. Paul also may have had concerns about Barnabas after Paul and Barnabas had returned from their first missionary journey. And come back to Antioch for that year. As I mentioned it before, the Jerusalem Council, something very interesting happened. <br /><br /> Peter had come up to Jeru to, to Antioch, and while he was there, you know, he, he was eating with the Gentile, formerly Pagan Christians, doing life with them in a way that a Jew would never have done in the past be. But then some of these troublemakers came from Jerusalem and they said to Peter, basically, What are you doing? <br /><br /> I mean, you can't do this. And here's what happened. Paul tells us about it in the book of Galatians chapter two verse verse 11 through 13. But when Sifi, that's Peter came to Antioch, Paul says, I opposed him to his face because he stood condemned for before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles. <br /><br /> But when they came, he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party, and the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. Barnabas had been caught up in, in, in the fear of man and the, and the influence of these people that, that have infected Peter and Barnabas also pulled away, separating from the Gentile Christians. <br /><br /> I think Paul easily could have been feeling at this time. Barnabas, you've, you've shown poor judgment in the not too distant past. Paul and Barnes had worked through that had continued to work together. They had gone to Jerusalem for the council and spoken with one voice about the Gentile pagans who were becoming Christians. <br /><br /> But isn't it possible that Paul's trust. Barnabas judgment has been dealt a a blow, at least to a degree. Barnabas's ability to encourage and find the best in people had been a blessing to Paul himself. But that positive, encouraging, helpful spirit had not helped him with the strong minded Judas when they came from Jerusalem. <br /><br /> I think Paul would've described Barnabas potentially this way. His heart is unquestionable, but his head, I'm not always sure about Barnabas. He's wonderful with people, but in the tough scenes in the crisis moments, I just don't know about his judgment all the time. <br /><br /> And then we've got Barnabas DePaul in Acts chapter nine. Paul has become a Christian Paul, who had literally arrested Christians and thrown them into jail. Whole families, Paul, who literally had seen and been the reason for Christians being martyred and killed, has now come to Jesus and Paul is about to be stoned up north. <br /><br /> So he comes down to Jerusalem and he is all alone, and all of the Christians are like, Don't go near that guy. Nobody trusted him. Even the apostles didn't trust him. One guy took him under his wing and came up to him and said, Let me, let me take your round. Barnabas. Barnabas took him and took him to Peter, took him to the other apostles and say, On my rep with my creds. <br /><br /> I'm asking you to embrace this guy. Listen to his story. It's real. Give him a chance. In Acts chapter 11, after Paul has gone back all the way to his hometown of Tarus in Southern Turkey and they hear some believers are coming to Christ way up in Antioch, They send Barnabas and Barnabas goes to Antioch and he says, Oh my goodness. <br /><br /> God is at work here. There are, there are Gentiles, former pagans that are receiving Jesus. I need help. He runs over to Tarus and says, Tar Paul, give me a hand. I trust you in this most intense, this most fragile of work. I need your help. I believe in you. <br /><br /> Barnabas, can't you imagine him saying to Paul something like this? Paul, I know you've got concerns about John Mark. I know he is young. I know he's screwed up in the past. He was fearful. But let me do with him what I did with you. Let me mentor him, encourage him, do it on my creds. Trust me with him the way the apostles trusted me with you. <br /><br /> Does this make sense? So here we are, these two guys who both love Jesus, but are both wrestling with personal experiences. There's personal wiring at play here. Barnabas the encourager. He saw the best in people. Everybody's friend, positive, welcoming. He's the guy everybody wants to play golf with and have him in your foursome. <br /><br /> Sensitive people, nervous people, Insecure people feel safe with Barnabas. His sins of choice, fear of man, people pleasing, avoiding conflict. And then there's Paul. Big picture, Always big picture Guy makes the tough calls, can deal with strong-minded people, can hold his ground, tends not to tolerate fools. <br /><br /> His sins of choice. Running over people controlling and intimidating people. Anger. Hey. This disagreement makes sense, right? We got two people with very different wiring, with their own experience with each other. No one knows Paul better than Barnabas. Nobody, no one has stood for Paul more than Barnabas. <br /><br /> So here we are. We see the, the, the production, the development of this disagreement. But now look at the pain of it. Both of them felt they were right. Barnabas, the encourager felt that Paul was being unreasonable, proud, forgetful of how he had been graced, unwilling to extend to mark that same grace. Paul, a bottom line leader, felt that Barnabas was being foolish. <br /><br /> adding unnecessary problems to the trip, had already shown himself to be run by emotion and to make hurtful decisions because of it. Here's the question. Who was right? Huh? Who was right? <br /><br /> Both, neither from their perspective, I'm not sure we can say, Well, Paul was right, or Barnabas was right. I don't, I don't think that's the intention of Luke telling us the story by the spirit. I think what we learn, it is likely that they would both regret the volatility of the disagreement. Paul writes a lot in his letters to come about the importance of things like gentleness and patience and forbearance, and we see him growing in those areas in his life. <br /><br /> but they really did see this thing differently. Both valued unity made it hard. Imagine the impact on the church at Antioch. This is where the argument took place. They're in Antioch. This is the church where they were the two guys, the two founding fathers, the two heroes of the faith, and they've just come back from Jerusalem with a message of unity and cons. <br /><br /> Reconciliation to that is joyfully embraced by the Gentile Christians. And now here at Peter, here at Paul in Barnabas, you don't think that was confusing, hurtful? I'm sure there was sorrow later on from Paul and Barnabas themselves. Now at this point in my message, you may be feeling a little sick to your stomach. <br /><br /> Okay, I get it. It all makes sense. . Where's the hope man? What, what do you got for me? I mean, does this mean okay, we're just gonna, we're we're, No, let me go to the the good news. Number four, God's providence in disagreements, God preserved unity in the disagreement. The intensity of the disagreement may have been something they regretted later, but their disagreements did not destroy unity. <br /><br /> The unity was not built on one decision about one young missionary candidate. Their unity was built on a passionate, humble longing for the glory of God and the furtherance of his kingdom. Number of years ago, when I was on the board of a international mission, um, and I was on at the time a five member executive council that worked most closely with the president of the 20 board members. <br /><br /> and was a fairly new president. Uh, he was a friend. I, I, I believe he would say, We were, we were, we were good friends. And couple of things happened, and at a board meeting, um, in the evening, it was clear that some things had been done, that there was a, a strong feeling on members of the board that he should be removed. <br /><br /> And I went to bed smoking. Matt. I didn't really go to bed. I just was smoking. Matt. I, I went back to my room. I spent time in the scriptures. I tried to get my own soul quiet and the next morning we had an executive council meeting. Um, and I came in Prime for bear. And I just, I just, laid into everybody there, and I just said, this is wrong. <br /><br /> There is, uh, I mean, I just feel we need to give grace and I mean, um, I don't consider myself a Barnabas, but I probably played that role to some degree. Compassion care. We need to be be, but I was shook when the two guys on our council, on our little team, who I most respected on our whole board, and who had spent the most time propping up and caring for our president, disagreed with me. <br /><br /> And they both felt strongly, it's, it's too late. This is, this has gotta happen. We had the board meeting later that day, actually later that morning. After our early morning meeting and everybody was allowed to 20 on the board, everybody was allowed to share. There were only a handful of us that talked. I talked, I was the only one that argued for, and we had our vote, which was based on majority, and it was overwhelmingly to remove, I was one of the only ones. <br /><br /> Um, it was a real moment in my life and leadership because to this day, I don't feel that my, my response was ungodly or wrong, but I knew as soon as that vote was taken that I was wholeheartedly behind the board. I trusted the board. I trusted the process. Most of all, I trusted God in the process. I felt bad for the individual. <br /><br /> I felt a little bad, honestly, that I hadn't been able to sway people to my thinking. But I learned there that agreement is not always essential for unity. We moved past. We moved on. Interestingly, I found out not long after that that our president was actually relieved to be removed. And so how do we evaluate this was, was I wrong? <br /><br /> Were they wrong? I just feel that sometimes we get these Paul Barnabas moments and. There's not going to be total clarity. And in this situation, it was a situation where majority, which I think was appropriate and right, and, but I felt, I felt strongly we are still united, and we were united after actually going through that process together. <br /><br /> Probably helped our board become even more united, even though it was very challenging for us. I don't think the work of God was broken by this experience. God was even able to use disagreement to bring about his broader purposes. You see God intended good from the disagreement he did for Paul Barnabas and the missionary enterprise. <br /><br /> We read this in Acts 15, verse 39 to 41. Barnabas took mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus. Paul chose Silas and departed having been commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord, and he went through Syria and Silesia strengthening the churches. The rest of the Book of Acts is about Paul and his missionary travels most of the New Testament. <br /><br /> It his letters written to those believers. On his travels, God broadened the missionary enterprise. We, we will see in a moment how God continued to use, uh, particularly John Mark and he took Paul and Silas and they continued the missionary journey, which enlister actually the town where Paul was stoned. <br /><br /> When they go there, he finds another young protege, a guy named Timothy that joins them and they're threesome once again. It also was used by God in the life of John Mark. God developed him under the tutelage of Barnabas and also Peter later in his last letter while in prison in Rome. Paul had this request to Timothy. <br /><br /> It's here in second Timothy four 11. Get mark and bring him with you for, he's very useful to me for ministry. Now Peter the apostle Peter never wrote a gospel. The apostle Matthew did. The apostle John did. Peter never did, but Peter told his stories and his experiences with Jesus and they were compiled by a young man who did write a gospel. <br /><br /> And that guy, if we can bring up that slide, was John Mark. It was John Mark who bailed and bagged it on the missionary journey, who Paul said, I don't trust the guy. I don't want him covering my back. Would later say, . I only have Luke here with me and caring for me in prison in Rome. He said, Would you bring John Mark? <br /><br /> He's profitable for me in ministry. <br /><br /> God is big enough to even work through disagreements and bring about good. So I want to close with this. Four quick principles, uh, that are important to remember about disagreements in our lives. Number one, God and His glory are our ultimate UniFi. God and His glory are our ultimate unifier. If we share that, we'll get through disagreements because it will make us ask for forgiveness. <br /><br /> It will drive us to prayer. It will humble us. It will make us hold onto our own opinions loosely, as it will make the issue less important than the ultimate goal of Jesus' glory. But it is foundationally important that God in His glory are seen as the ultimate unifier. Secondly, beware of pride in the face of disagreement. <br /><br /> This is the one thing that I don't see in Paul and Barnabas. This was not a normative thing. You don't sense these guys were always fighting for their own turf, or they had to be right, Or, or, or they. They view themselves as the sharpest knife in the draw. This is an outlier moment. I say that to say this. <br /><br /> Don't be that guy or that woman who always take the contrary opinion. , especially if it derails the project. If my vote on the A B W B board would have derailed, what was the decision of most of the board? If we were everybody's had to be a yes, I would have abstained or supported it. I probably would've abstained, but I would not have felt, sure enough, even with my own passion in this, and be careful. <br /><br /> Wherever you are in your work situation, don't be that person. That's always the one that sort of uses. I've got it. I see what nobody else sees. There are times when you're gonna disagree. It happened with Paul and Barnabas, and I've tried to lay out this whole story to explain this makes sense. We understand they're so different in perspective, but they were, I was an outlier moment for both of them. <br /><br /> These were humble men. . They were gentle men. They, they, they wanted oneness. They, they longed for it. They sought it. Don't allow pride to have you think, Well, my role is to always be the, the clarifier of what is. There's danger in that. Always danger in that. Number three, <br /><br /> remember we all have blind spots. I believe both Paul and Barnes Barnabas learned from this experience. For Paul, it's obvious that Barnabas would've, Paul would've said this. Barnabas saw in John Mark what? I did not. I'm so grateful God used him to bring this young man alone. I think Barnabas would have said something like this, Paul's big picture orientation. <br /><br /> Was so obviously used by God to expand the work of the gospel. I'm grateful for who Paul is and that he pushed forward with his vision and passion for the gospel. Again, humility and a teachable spirit are so essential in working through disagreements because so much of it just flows out of our own experiences, our own wiring, and so easily we can see this is the only way to look at it because it's the way I look at it and I would guess if I said to you and made you ask before I told you, I don't think there is a yes or no. <br /><br /> If I said, Who do you think was right in this? Those of you that are most like Paul, you know you. The big picture, we got 'em all. Well, you gotta, you gotta see what's necessary. I mean, the Barnabas is too emotional in these kind of decisions. If you're wired that way, you'll tend to think Paul was right. If you're like, No, relationships are everything. <br /><br /> Well, I mean, Paul was blessed by Barnabas and now he won't even allow the same favorite to John Mark. And if, if you're, if you're ruled by heart, and thank God for those of you that really are, you're gonna probably side with Barnabas. The issue was, I don't know that there was a right or wrong guy in this. <br /><br /> It was different. Where the rightness was, is they met in a position of humility and honor each other and not wanting to do something that in any way derailed the work of the gospel going forward. The last thing is God's purposes are not frustrated when we are God's sovereign. He is not dependent on you getting it right. <br /><br /> disagreements are exhausting and frustrating. We need a bigger God with a bigger agenda than we understand. We can trust him to be at work and at all. God doesn't waste experiences. He didn't waste this one. He doubled the missionary enterprise. Now he sends two teams out. He uses it in a way that furthers the ministry of John Mark, who was ex extraordinarily influential in the days to come in the ministry of the gospel, certainly Paul and Silas and then Timothy were, God doesn't waste experiences. <br /><br /> The disagreement is a chance to grow and trust and deepen in humility. A close with this, as you read through the book of Acts, you see God bringing cultures. It religious j who have lived their whole lives believing that it's or of pr, it's, it's, it's, it's doing things the right way. And now all of a sudden, he said, And that's where our unity will be, is the people. <br /><br /> And now all the God says, God basically says, most of that practice is now unnecessary <br /><br /> and uniting those people with pagan gentiles who believe in multiple gods and saying, I want you guys to sit together in church and take communion together and even be willing to have your son marry their daughter as you both love Jesus. It's an astonishing big task. We're also reminded here in Acts 15 that there's merging of personalities, people with different strengths and weaknesses. <br /><br /> Here's the question, How in the world. Will this work? How in the world are these people going to go forward? Can these people make the work of church go forward? There is only one answer and it's a three word answer, three letter answer. It is God, the spirit at work to the ends of the earth. He is able to bring very different people with very different processing. <br /><br /> If they are humble, if they are teachable, if they, if they are willing to listen and think, Okay, I have this perspective, but is not the only perspective. I just if, if we can go forward humbly dependent on the Lord, recognizing even our differences are allowed by God to grow us and to shape us and to make us value others more. <br /><br /> And also to not be as confident in ourselves. The spirit is at work to the ends of the earth. He doesn't waste experiences. Some of you are in the midst of disagreements, conflicts, confusion, feeling the pain of that, and it is pain. But we serve a God who is able to bring true unity with very talented, but very different looking men, women, young people. <br /><br /> He's able to do it because he's who you are, not. He's got, Lord. I don't know where this sermon lands for anybody today. I know how it's spoken into me, but Lord, I just pray that most of all, it would help us to live as humble people. Dependent people. Thank you for the way you've wired us. Thank you for the gifting you've given us. <br /><br /> You've made some of us more Paul, some of us more Barnes, some of us may be more. John Marks Lord, help us to value each other, but also help us to be humble. Not feeling that our perspective our way is the only way, but to walk with trust and dependence upon you that the work of the gospel, which is done in the most astonishingly diverse group of people, would go forward as we all lean into you. <br /><br /> In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Now go in peace to love and serve and enjoy the Lord.</div> false no <![CDATA[Why the Church Depends on Theology]]> Acts 15:22-35

"For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements..."



Sermon Transcript:

Good morning everybody. Invite you to take your Bibles. We're gonna be looking at Acts chapter 15. Uh, if you have a, if you want to use the Bible that's right in front of you, it would be page 869. We're gonna continue our series here in the book of Acts, and I'd like to read Acts chapter 15, beginning at verse 22, down through verse 35.

Acts. 15, 22. Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders with the whole church to choose men from among them and send them to Antioch. With Paul and Barnabas, they sent Judas called Barabbas and Silas leading men among the brothers with the following letter, the brothers, both the apostles and the elders to the brothers who are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Silesia.

Greetings, since we have heard that some persons have gone out from us and troubled you with words, unsettling your minds, although we gave them no instructions, it has seemed good to us having come to one accord to choose men and send them to you with our beloved Barnabas in Saul and Paul, men who have risked their lives for the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

We have therefore sent Judas in Silas, who themselves will tell you the same things by word of mouth. For it had seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what has been strangled and from sexual immorality.

If you keep yourself from these, you'll do well for, well farewell. So when they were sent off, they went down to Antioch and having gathered the congregation together, they delivered the letter. And when they had read it, they rejoiced because of its encouragement. And Judas and Silas who were themselves prophets encouraged and strengthened the brothers with many words.

And after they had spent some time, they were sent off in peace by the brothers to those who had sent them. But Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch teaching and preaching the word of the Lord with many others. Also, let's pray.

What I'm struck this morning with. The perspective that as we just sang those words, the Apostles Creed, there have been people all over the world, brothers and sisters, countless ones that we have never yet met who are giving their lives to those same truths. Lord, we gather here and we look at this passage this morning, and we're brought into a council of people that are dealing with theology, that are wrestling with truth because they want to live their lives under the lordship of Jesus.

And truth and theological parameters are so vital. So God, teach us today, I pray, Lord, may we learn from this church, which reminds us of the. , the dependence the church has on theology, a knowing God, unknowing what you teach us. And Lord, I thank you for your word, a timeless record that has stood the epics and the centuries and the millennia of time, Lord, allowing us to build our lives on its truth.

So teach us today from it. In Jesus name, amen. You have to become one of us before you become one of his. So spoke resident, pastoral, extraordinary Esquire, Josiah Parker, last Sunday here from our pulpit as he did a, I think, a tremendous job in summarizing. Acts chapter 15, What is known historically as the Jerusalem Council.

The whole conflict is built around that statement. You have to become one of us before you can become one of his. I want to just bring you up to speed again because our passage this morning is really just the delivery of the concluding comments that they agreed upon at this council. And what we find in this passage, and again as Josiah, and I'll be referencing a couple of things from Josiah regarding that, is the, the Jews.

We're feeling that the Pagans Gentiles, but to them they were pagans. And of course, as a Mitch and many time, the word pagan actually means someone whose, whose belief system is a part of creation. A pagan is one historically that does not view a transcendent God, sovereign God over creation. It is a belief system, as was all of the Roman and gr, the Greco Roman world at this time that saw gods as simply parts of creation.

The Judeo-Christian God is the God that is supreme above creation. He is the creator, He is the Lord, He is the transcendent most high at a very different perspective. And now these people were flocking to this new embracing of Jesus. And for many Jews it was frustrating, troubling because they seemed to be bypassing, first becoming Jews.

We can understand why they were bothered. 1800 years ago, God had chosen Abraham and his progenitor, his, his descendants as the ones that would be his chosen people. And for 18 centuries, plus he has been building his, his work on planet Earth through this group of people, this nation called the Nation of Israel.

People of any ethnic or national background who had wanted to embrace Jehovah, God had been required to become Jewish pross through all those centuries. And now all of a sudden the Messiah has come and these people want in. And the Jews, many of them said, Well then first follow the rules. Get circumcised, become one of us, and then you can embrace our Messiah as yours.

It has caused great controversy. Paul and Barnabas have gone out. If you're a member of, we've talked about in chapter 13, they left the, the, the city of Antioch, which was 80 miles north of Jerusalem. It has become the second of the two epicenters for the church, and they have gone out and they've done the first missionary journey in, in Southern Turkey, which is called Galatia.

And as they have traveled through that area, they have led many to Christ, both Jews and Pagans. And now they have come back to Antioch. And while Paul and Barnabas are an Antioch, a new group. Missionaries has gone out. These are individuals that have gone from Jerusalem, pronouncing themselves to be representatives of James, the, just the head of the church, the physical brother, half-brother of Jesus, representing the, the, the true gospel, which is telling these pagan believers in Antioch where Paul and Barnabas are, and up in Galatia where they have been.

It's, you guys have to be circumcised. You have to join the team in order to become a part of Jesus team. Paul has seen it happen. We read it in chapter 15 here, verse one. It says, But some men came down from Ju Judea that just meant Judea. Higher elevation, they're actually going north. We think of that going down, but some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers.

Unless you're circumcised, according to the CU custom Moses, you can't be saved. Paul has recently written the book of Galatians to the Galatian churches and the Galatian believers, and he's, He's worried. He's concerned, and he says this in chapter one, verse six and seven, I'm astonished that you're so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel.

Not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble. and want to distort the Gospel of Christ. This word trouble is used a couple of times. In, in, in the Book of Galatians is used in Acts 15 where they talk about the troublemakers that were traveling around and they have gone up into these areas.

This is what brought about the events of the Acts, chapter 15, where Paul and Barnabas have come down and Peter is there and they're having this big debate. And the big debate is basically trying to answer these questions. Do the Pagans need to become Jews? To become Christians? Do they need to practice the laws, the sabbaths, the rights of the Jews in order to embrace the Jesus mess?

Jesus, the Jewish Messiah as their Messiah and Christ? Josiah did a great job last week in highlighting, uh, a summary of what conclusions there were there. I just wanna rehearse them. They, first of all, concluded at the council that people raised in paganism did not have to become Jewish pross. Secondly, they concluded that God had actually inaugurated an entirely new era of faith through the works of Jesus freely open to Jews and Gentiles.

There were a couple of things that are highlight in this passage that are really important, and, and I just wanna highlight them because I'm gonna reference back to it in, in, in a moment. What he talks about and what we see in this passage is the fact that God is starting a new era in his work with humankind in the past, the era under Mosaic law.

It was basically an external system God had built in a system of laws. He had given his mosaic law to the people of Israel. It was an external system helping people to know him, his nation to know him. And it had two purposes. One, it was designed to keep Israel as a nation from godless practices and idolatry of all a pagan nations around them.

Its entire focus for them as a people was to keep them separate. Distinct, unique, special to God. And so he gave them all kinds of special things. He gave them special worship days, special practices to do in their individual lives, special foods to eat and not eat. Special cleansings to do if they touched the body, if they were around disease, special rights like circumcisions, special birth lines for the priesthood, special restrictions for marrying within their nation, special rules, multitudes of them designed to keep the people of Israel apart, separate from the influence of the word.

It was an external system. The second role of that system was also to speak to the hearts of people, to drive them to grace. in law as they would have the Old Testament law, the individual Israelite who loved God and was, was devout. And the loud, uh, uh, God's spirit to speak into his life would be convicted of the holiness of God, the, the, the, the separateness of God and that they were sinners.

And, and these individuals would bring their sacrifices and say, This is this. I should have been the one that was judged. But this sacrifice is being offering. And God allowed these sin offerings and these trespass offerings and these guilt offerings. And this, this day of atonement, one time a year for all the people sacrifice.

And with any Israel, there were many who believed and embraced grace through the system of the. As it drove them to the sacrifices and, and viewing this is, this should have been me, but it's not me by God's grace. But there were also many, many people within Israel that were not believers. That's why Paul talks about, in Romans, he talks about there is the true Israel and the Nont.

True Israel, just the nation of Israel. He talks about a circumcision, not of the body, but of the heart. And there were within Israel, many who had believed and, and embraced God's grace. But there were many others that did not. But all of them benefited from the national external work of the law of keeping them separate from the nations around them in the godless practices.

But what's happening through the work of Jesus Christ is a whole new era is being spawned this new era, the era under grace. It is not an error under an external system. It is under an internal spirit. That's why you constantly see in the book of Romans, Paul's always talking about we don't live under law.

We live under the spirit. Under the spirit that brings the the season of grace. The Holy Spirit came. This is why it was so important that they said at the Acts 15 council, they kept constantly pointing out the fact. , they've received the spirit. The Gentiles, just like we have, they have received the authenticating mark that they have joined this, this new era where, where the Messiah has come and offered us life.

And grace Peter says it this way in Acts 15 in verse, uh, excuse me, uh, where is verse 11? We are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus. Just as they, in verse eight, he says it this way, God who knows the heart, bore witness to them by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us. What is taking place here in Acts 15 is a deeply theological conversation.

It is trying to wrestle through. How do I know if, if a, if a, if a Jew, if, if, if a pagan needs to become a Jew, how do I make these decisions, whether they should be circumcised or not? They had to wrestle it down theologically and understand what is God doing. He's changing from the external system of law to an internal spirit directed life in the Holy Spirit, and what they're recognizing is, wait a minute, this isn't just a, an era for people that are part of the nation who lived under an external system.

This is for anyone of any cultural ethnic background who embraces Jesus Christ and therefore receives his spirit. All those things. I think Josiah did a fantastic job delineating last week. The reason I'm going back over them is because I want to just take a few minutes now to talk about what strikes me as I look at this passage as a visual.

For us, it is a reminder of how important theology is to the church. So I'm gonna just quickly go through what I see. Four things in the first two will be longer. The first thing we notice as we look at what's going on in Acts 15 is theology is the Final Voice on Practice.

Excuse me. When these church leaders gather in Jerusalem, of course they get a, they get a both, a bunch of eyewitnesses. They get Peter there. Peter tells his story about with Cornelius, you know, the Roman Centurian, how he went, and, and, and, and God gave them the same experience with the spirit falling upon them.

And God says to Peter, Peter, don't you call and clean when I've called clean, I call these boys clean. They're in, They don't need anything more. They also have received the spirit. They are a part of this new era. Under Grace. Peter told this story. Paul and Barnabas came and told their story. They told about all the things they saw on the Gentiles up in Galatian, all those places.

They're an Antioch, but it was not ultimately the eyewitnesses That guide guided the conversation here in Jerusalem at the Acts 15 council. It is theology that guides the conversation. The word theology is from two words, ology, which means study of th ask, which means God. Theology in its broadest sense is the study of God and what God says about things.

You see, it wasn't just that they could say, Well, you know, the Gentiles are in because you know they had the same experience we did. Well, that didn't matter if the experience didn't matter, right? I mean, they could have, Paul could have said, Peter said, You know, it was really funny, but I found out I like the same foods as those guys do.

Well, it doesn't matter. What matters is that if they have something that theologically unites them, and what theologically united them was the reality of what God was doing in the historical moment of salvation. In human history. Here's what Peter said in verse eight of chapter 15. God who knows the heart bore witness to them by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, and he made no distinction between us and them having cleansed their hearts by faith.

Verse 11. We believe that we'll be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will. James the Justin nails, the, the whole thing with this statement in in verse 17. I see now that the remnant of mankind may seek the Lord. And all the gentiles who are called by name, he's quoting from the Old Testament.

Here's what was happening in the Jerusalem Council. They were putting together the teachings of Jesus about the cross and about grace and about what he had done in the cross and about what his resurrection was all about. And they put together quotes here from the Book of Psalms and the, and the prophets, and they're putting all this data together and they're wrestling it through theologically, and they say, We get it.

We get it. This is what God has been doing. Here's our answer to, what do we say to the Gentiles? We say, Guys, you're in the only basis to live in the new era of grace. It's that you have embraced Christ as your Lord and Savior and the spirit of God has come into your life. And now you don't have a system, external system that has to guide every step and everything you do to keep you, uh, apart from the world.

We're rather gonna put you in the world because you now have the spirit of God living within you. And as you yield to him and as you look to him and as you are guided by him, you will live as holy, righteous people. They put together. They had a fuller understanding of the era of grace because they wrestled with the theology of it.

Throughout history, the church has found itself as sailed with confusing and conflict creating issues. It is wrestling theologically. It that the church has known how to handle those practical situations. I'm just gonna throw a few up there. In the 300 s, there would be a number of controversies regarding the doctrine of Christ.

No. Can you see that?

That was kind of a low murmur that I'm not sure. I'm glad you make it so small. Um. Basically the doctrine of Christ, the Arian controversy. The, the question was, is Jesus really God, You know, uh, they wrestled through that. In the 400 s there was what is called the doctrine. Theology is the doctrine of sin.

Heras is, is the word for sin. It was collegian controversy. People was a teacher polyus who felt that people were not totally depraved. That man actually can sort of save himself. Yeah, he needs Jesus, but it's kind of Jesus and, and big, big theological issue. The reformers in the 15 hundreds, the A the doctrine of scripture church tradition was, was questioned and often had been held as authoritative and solo scriptura was a, an emphasis upon the scripture as the ultimate authority.

At that same time, the doctrine, salvation needed clarification that were saved. Not by faith and works, it is soloed only faith. Now, these were not new truths historically that were presented. These were simply clarifying moments in the church where those truths were clarified and sharpened through the anvil and fire of controversy.

This is what constantly happens. I've mentioned to you before, we are living in a century. We are living in a day in which, in my opinion, there is no question the most, a sailed doctrine for the church of Jesus Christ is the doctrine of anthropology. I would suggest to you that all of these abortion, gender definitions, marriage and divorce, sexual orientations and practices, racial prejudice, euthanasia, capital punishment, are all questions of anthropology.

So what's the role of the church? What I believe will happen, I believe it is happening, the church is thrown back on its heels and has to think, what is a theological understanding of these issues? How do we interpret these things? Now, what will not happen if we are faithful and biblical and follow historic theology, which has always been the way that the church has lived in health and prosperity under God, is we will not have new views of these issues.

but there will be a more clear, consistent explanation of these positions. It will not be by reinventing or running from historic biblical theological positions, but rather by explaining with clarity, compassion, and courage. The church will be strengthened. The church will be deepened. Even though right now every church feels rocked to be able to process some of these questions, we're not the first time that's happened in the church.

So where do we go for our answers? Do we do, we say, Well, let's just not, let's just go. You know, we don't want to be, we don't wanna be narrow. We, we just gotta go with the flow of culture and no, we have to say these are moments, these are times, these are opportunities for theology to direct our practice.

It's just, we're gonna have to learn how to do it better than we've had to do in some of these areas before. Secondly, theology is the enduring basis of unity. There was a giant shift that took pl place here in Acts 15, and it, it's, it's this, this is one of my favorite parts of this message, so hang with me.

If you haven't been interested at all, gimme a chance here. All right. . The way that Israel historically has maintained their unity is primarily because everyone sort of did life the same way, the same practices, the same life rhythm. They all practiced the weekly Sabbath. I mean, one day, one seventh of your week was completely shut down from sundown to sundown.

Their annual calendar was built around three major pilgrimages of multi-day that you went to Jerusalem. They were all, all the males were circumcised. They offered regular sacrifices and there's all different kinds of them for all different purposes. They had morning and afternoon and evening prayers.

They had ritual cleansings. They had regular occasions to offer those sacrifices. They had many food laws of kosher and non kosher food. Israel was a faith, primarily united around Ortho Pria. New word for you, right? Orthopraxy. The word ortho means straight. What does an orthodontist do? Strain your teeth, right?

Ortho PR is you have straight practice. Israel was united in their practice. I, if you've ever thought about, there's not much theology in the Old Testament. You ever think about it? There's no doctrinal statements there, there's no large explanations. Were feel like, I mean, you read the Pistols pawn. He's constantly giving all these doctrinal uh, formulas, these doctrinal explanations about Christ, about, about how we live a as Christians in light of our nature is very little of that.

In the Old Testament, the unifying factor of the Old Testament was not doctrine, it was practice.

What happened in the era of the church was it is primarily our doxy, our teaching. Our beliefs that are our unifier. That is a quantum shift that took place as the church reckoned because they had put their trust and we gotta live this way, we gotta do this. You know the Pharisees love that they fasted three days a week.

I mean, they bing, B bang B, they had all the checklist, and all of a sudden the resurrection happens and then the Pentecost happens and nobody can find any lists. It's why Tertullian, or excuse me, not Tertullian, a minute, one church father wrote this to his pagan audience. We live with you. We enjoy the same food, we have the same manner of life and dress and the same requirements for life as you.

One he was arguing was. We're not just walking around in, in Christian outfits, you know, we're not just walking around with, with, with, with badges that say, Christian, no, it's our lifestyle. And he goes on to talk about how the life comes from within and, and causes them to honor the government and, and to care for the needy.

But he's saying we don't really have a lot of those external things. It's not primarily our ortho proxy that we all look alike, that we all dress alike, that we all do everything exactly the same. When the Romans and the Greeks became Christians, they didn't see it as embracing the whole mosaic system at all.

To them, they had come to religion, not about deuce, but what had been done by Jesus Christ. For them living the Christian life was about a life of joyful gratitude, about a, a life filled that is. , gratitude driven dependence on the spirit of God, trust and yieldedness to Jesus Lordship in all areas of life that there isn't a visual of.

This is what the church, you know, Christians are, are to look like because they all have all the exact identical earth of proxy. Now, of course, a church is really good at trying to fall back into that. It's what legalism does. It produces an unconscious list of clean and unclean activities. There's always the temptation to try and rebuild our unity on ortho proxy.

Fundamentalists tried to do it for years. Tertullian made this statement as he tried to do it. He ruled out all intellectual activities. He didn't want them going to hear speeches. He didn't want them to go to hear secular poets. He felt they'd be tainted. He definitely didn't want them going to the theater.

He didn't want any of the believers, and this is the second century, by the way. He didn't want any believers doing dancing because he was sure it would inflame sexual passions and cosmetics and perfumes were out because, quote, if God meant for you to smell like a flower, he would've given you a crop of them on your head.

It's easy to look at Christianity as orthodoxy. We just gotta punch the right buttons. But that's exactly what was not determined to be its pathway in Acts. They recognized we have something so much better than an external system of rules. We are gifted with God himself residing within us and directing us and being as Colossians as the referee in our heart, directing us what's right, what's wrong, what's good, what's bad.

Certainly through the scripture, but also the spirit is given. So you go around the world today and you find out that Christians don't all look the same. They don't practice, have the same practices of food or music or clothing or daily routine or even worship experiences. They have the same word, They have the same spirit.

They have the same theology. It is a. ortho. It's why theology is so important for the church. It's why it's so important for us to see that we have been given a timeless record of truth and that we can count on that to be our source of unity in our theology. Our beliefs are that which lead to practice and this, that which has united the church.

It's why Paul constantly makes this simple doctrinal statement, although he elaborates on a number of passages with other doctrines, but the most off reported, most off recorded theological statement in the New Testament is a three word statement by Paul. It is used in Romans 10, Philippians two, Ephesians four, Colossians three, and first Corinthians.

Here it is. Jesus is Lord. I think he thought that's the biggest theology. If we really embrace that, we will live in concert with the Spirit and the many seasons of history. The church has been encouraged to soften up on its physicians in order to promote unity and peace. No one has a higher priority on peace and unity than Jesus Christ, but there's never a peace gained at the expense of theological truth, but rather it is a peace gained through the embracing of theological truth.

Biblical authority does not change. The church cannot modernize its sexual standards. The church cannot modernize its definitions of gender. It cannot modernize. Its viewed as leadership roles in the church. It cannot modernize its views on divorce and remarriage and count and marriage and countless other elements to accommodate because we are at very heart a people that are founded on truth and theological foundations.

The beautiful thing is we have what the world does not have. We have a timeless standard. We have a A A A I read a while back about a guy named Simon Newcomb, who was professor of mathematics and astronomy in the early 19 hundreds. One of the most respected scientists. In the world At that time, he was the first American since Benjamin Franklin to be made a member of the Institute of France.

He wrote an article in 1903 proving that it was scientifically impossible, that a heavier than air machine would ever be able to fly. It was taken as established fact. Fortunately, the Wright brothers did not read scientific literature, and a few weeks later they flew their plane in Kittyhawk.

I don't know if you know, but a hundred years ago, heroin and morphine were all available over the counter at the local con corner drug store. One pharmacist advertised. I found this. Heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind, regulates the stomach in bowels, and is in fact a perfect guardian of help.

You know of health. You know what? There are things your grandparents believed you can't believe they believed, and there are things your grandkids won't believe you believed. , things change, right? But there is a theological foundation that is timeless and we can say, I, you know, I don't know how to, I don't how to work through gender definitions, and I want to do so with compassion and gentleness.

I have to hold to a foundation of how God views these things, and I, I need to understand it more. And I'm diving into passages, you know, I never really thought I had to dive into before to understand how to answer questions. But it will be theology that will direct our practice. It will be theology that we gather as our source of unity.

Last two things. Theology is processed through spiritual leadership. It's interesting, verse 21, verse 28. It says, As the letter is sent out by the leaders, it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us. The US there is primarily, he's saying the letter is from the apostles and elders, the teachers and leaders of the church.

The whole church endorses it, but it's clear that these were the individuals. That did the discussing. We Americans often have a distorted view of the individuality of faith. 80% of Americans, I just read this recently, say that you can be a Christian without needing a church. Now I agree as do you that if that means, can a person become a Christian can person embrace Jesus Christ to savior without a church?

Absolutely. It's an individual decision. You don't need a church to do that. But I suspect the question actually was really asking, do you need the church to do life as a Christian? And I would suggest to you that the church in the view of historic theology and New Testament theology is essential to do life.

You're not gonna find a perfect church because, There's no perfect, you or me, but the church is the place which has to been the disseminator of truth and godly leaders. Godly teachers, are called to process and proclaim historic theological interpretations of truth. These believers supported the sense of spiritual authority that comes from spiritual unity of the leadership and teachers of the church as they proclaimed theology.

Last thing I just wanna touch on theology is applied with humility and love. You know when, when James in, in Act 15 and verse 21 is talking about, you know, what do we say to the Gentiles? We're gonna say, You don't have to be circumcised, you don't have to be Jewish. But he says, We want them to be reminded, as he says in verse 20, And Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and has read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.

He says, There's lots of Jews out there that are embracing Jesus and it's gonna be a big thing for them to believe that. Now the Goam, which is another name for the nations, the goam, who they have been either responsible to eradicate and wipe out in the land or certainly to avoid, are now gonna be sitting in the pew next to him every Sunday.

And he says, Guys, we're, we're asking you. And it just gives some, some principles, and I think Josiah did a great job on this. I think the sexual immorality here is primarily talking about that which was associated the temple. Certainly everybody knew sexual immorality was out, but he's highlighting certain things that might be questionable.

And he's saying in these practices, just restrain yourselves. Because guys, remember these Jewish believers that now have embraced Jesus just like you have. They've never gone to the theater. They've never gone, even public gatherings. They've never had Pagan neighbors in their homes, and they've never gone in your homes.

They've never, they've done all their schooling at the synagogues. They've never shocked on the Sabbath. They've never gone anywhere on the Sabbath. And now we're telling 'em the worship day is no longer the Sabbath. It's the first day of the week. Their heritage was to live separately in every possible way from those with Pagan backgrounds.

And now you pagans are gonna be taking communion with them. Celebrating the Messiah. It's a lot. , and I think what he's saying, Guys, we want to grace you by not adding to you that, which has just been a burden to us. It's just been a system that we've had. You have the spirit. We have the spirit, and we don't want to add to you, but we also ask you to grace your Jewish brothers.

We're gonna see the wisdom of that as we go through the Book of Acts. We would also see it if we looked at a number of the New Testament books of the letters. But what enabled them now to be able to outwork their practice was these guys took the time with the theology. They thought as Christians, they built their lives under the authority of the word.

We're gonna see the benefit of that as the church continues to grow and. and faces lots of hurdles along the way. Those passages will all find their theological mooring. Here in Acts 15, theology declared to them that there was one gospel for Jew and pagan, one gospel in which sinners stand forgiven. One gospel in which unrighteous people find acceptance through Jesus righteousness.

One gospel which gives the Holy Spirit as the guide and source of life. Let's pray. Lord, we glory in the one gospel. Gospel of Christ, Lord Jesus.

What a glory it is to live accepted. Stand accepted in your righteousness to have the freedom that comes from the forgiveness that you provided to live our lives. Independence of the Spirit which you sent to us. Lord, we do glory in the one gospel, which is the foundation of our theology, and therefore the basis of our unity.

Lord, we love you for it. In Jesus' name, amen.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/why-the-church-depends-on-theology c5620a81-ce9e-4601-a3ea-6b7bf57a0eb5 Sun, 30 Oct 2022 14:18:51 GMT <div data-html="true">Acts 15:22-35 <br /><br /> "For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements..." <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> Good morning everybody. Invite you to take your Bibles. We're gonna be looking at Acts chapter 15. Uh, if you have a, if you want to use the Bible that's right in front of you, it would be page 869. We're gonna continue our series here in the book of Acts, and I'd like to read Acts chapter 15, beginning at verse 22, down through verse 35. <br /><br /> Acts. 15, 22. Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders with the whole church to choose men from among them and send them to Antioch. With Paul and Barnabas, they sent Judas called Barabbas and Silas leading men among the brothers with the following letter, the brothers, both the apostles and the elders to the brothers who are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Silesia. <br /><br /> Greetings, since we have heard that some persons have gone out from us and troubled you with words, unsettling your minds, although we gave them no instructions, it has seemed good to us having come to one accord to choose men and send them to you with our beloved Barnabas in Saul and Paul, men who have risked their lives for the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. <br /><br /> We have therefore sent Judas in Silas, who themselves will tell you the same things by word of mouth. For it had seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what has been strangled and from sexual immorality. <br /><br /> If you keep yourself from these, you'll do well for, well farewell. So when they were sent off, they went down to Antioch and having gathered the congregation together, they delivered the letter. And when they had read it, they rejoiced because of its encouragement. And Judas and Silas who were themselves prophets encouraged and strengthened the brothers with many words. <br /><br /> And after they had spent some time, they were sent off in peace by the brothers to those who had sent them. But Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch teaching and preaching the word of the Lord with many others. Also, let's pray. <br /><br /> What I'm struck this morning with. The perspective that as we just sang those words, the Apostles Creed, there have been people all over the world, brothers and sisters, countless ones that we have never yet met who are giving their lives to those same truths. Lord, we gather here and we look at this passage this morning, and we're brought into a council of people that are dealing with theology, that are wrestling with truth because they want to live their lives under the lordship of Jesus. <br /><br /> And truth and theological parameters are so vital. So God, teach us today, I pray, Lord, may we learn from this church, which reminds us of the. , the dependence the church has on theology, a knowing God, unknowing what you teach us. And Lord, I thank you for your word, a timeless record that has stood the epics and the centuries and the millennia of time, Lord, allowing us to build our lives on its truth. <br /><br /> So teach us today from it. In Jesus name, amen. You have to become one of us before you become one of his. So spoke resident, pastoral, extraordinary Esquire, Josiah Parker, last Sunday here from our pulpit as he did a, I think, a tremendous job in summarizing. Acts chapter 15, What is known historically as the Jerusalem Council. <br /><br /> The whole conflict is built around that statement. You have to become one of us before you can become one of his. I want to just bring you up to speed again because our passage this morning is really just the delivery of the concluding comments that they agreed upon at this council. And what we find in this passage, and again as Josiah, and I'll be referencing a couple of things from Josiah regarding that, is the, the Jews. <br /><br /> We're feeling that the Pagans Gentiles, but to them they were pagans. And of course, as a Mitch and many time, the word pagan actually means someone whose, whose belief system is a part of creation. A pagan is one historically that does not view a transcendent God, sovereign God over creation. It is a belief system, as was all of the Roman and gr, the Greco Roman world at this time that saw gods as simply parts of creation. <br /><br /> The Judeo-Christian God is the God that is supreme above creation. He is the creator, He is the Lord, He is the transcendent most high at a very different perspective. And now these people were flocking to this new embracing of Jesus. And for many Jews it was frustrating, troubling because they seemed to be bypassing, first becoming Jews. <br /><br /> We can understand why they were bothered. 1800 years ago, God had chosen Abraham and his progenitor, his, his descendants as the ones that would be his chosen people. And for 18 centuries, plus he has been building his, his work on planet Earth through this group of people, this nation called the Nation of Israel. <br /><br /> People of any ethnic or national background who had wanted to embrace Jehovah, God had been required to become Jewish pross through all those centuries. And now all of a sudden the Messiah has come and these people want in. And the Jews, many of them said, Well then first follow the rules. Get circumcised, become one of us, and then you can embrace our Messiah as yours. <br /><br /> It has caused great controversy. Paul and Barnabas have gone out. If you're a member of, we've talked about in chapter 13, they left the, the, the city of Antioch, which was 80 miles north of Jerusalem. It has become the second of the two epicenters for the church, and they have gone out and they've done the first missionary journey in, in Southern Turkey, which is called Galatia. <br /><br /> And as they have traveled through that area, they have led many to Christ, both Jews and Pagans. And now they have come back to Antioch. And while Paul and Barnabas are an Antioch, a new group. Missionaries has gone out. These are individuals that have gone from Jerusalem, pronouncing themselves to be representatives of James, the, just the head of the church, the physical brother, half-brother of Jesus, representing the, the, the true gospel, which is telling these pagan believers in Antioch where Paul and Barnabas are, and up in Galatia where they have been. <br /><br /> It's, you guys have to be circumcised. You have to join the team in order to become a part of Jesus team. Paul has seen it happen. We read it in chapter 15 here, verse one. It says, But some men came down from Ju Judea that just meant Judea. Higher elevation, they're actually going north. We think of that going down, but some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers. <br /><br /> Unless you're circumcised, according to the CU custom Moses, you can't be saved. Paul has recently written the book of Galatians to the Galatian churches and the Galatian believers, and he's, He's worried. He's concerned, and he says this in chapter one, verse six and seven, I'm astonished that you're so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel. <br /><br /> Not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble. and want to distort the Gospel of Christ. This word trouble is used a couple of times. In, in, in the Book of Galatians is used in Acts 15 where they talk about the troublemakers that were traveling around and they have gone up into these areas. <br /><br /> This is what brought about the events of the Acts, chapter 15, where Paul and Barnabas have come down and Peter is there and they're having this big debate. And the big debate is basically trying to answer these questions. Do the Pagans need to become Jews? To become Christians? Do they need to practice the laws, the sabbaths, the rights of the Jews in order to embrace the Jesus mess? <br /><br /> Jesus, the Jewish Messiah as their Messiah and Christ? Josiah did a great job last week in highlighting, uh, a summary of what conclusions there were there. I just wanna rehearse them. They, first of all, concluded at the council that people raised in paganism did not have to become Jewish pross. Secondly, they concluded that God had actually inaugurated an entirely new era of faith through the works of Jesus freely open to Jews and Gentiles. <br /><br /> There were a couple of things that are highlight in this passage that are really important, and, and I just wanna highlight them because I'm gonna reference back to it in, in, in a moment. What he talks about and what we see in this passage is the fact that God is starting a new era in his work with humankind in the past, the era under Mosaic law. <br /><br /> It was basically an external system God had built in a system of laws. He had given his mosaic law to the people of Israel. It was an external system helping people to know him, his nation to know him. And it had two purposes. One, it was designed to keep Israel as a nation from godless practices and idolatry of all a pagan nations around them. <br /><br /> Its entire focus for them as a people was to keep them separate. Distinct, unique, special to God. And so he gave them all kinds of special things. He gave them special worship days, special practices to do in their individual lives, special foods to eat and not eat. Special cleansings to do if they touched the body, if they were around disease, special rights like circumcisions, special birth lines for the priesthood, special restrictions for marrying within their nation, special rules, multitudes of them designed to keep the people of Israel apart, separate from the influence of the word. <br /><br /> It was an external system. The second role of that system was also to speak to the hearts of people, to drive them to grace. in law as they would have the Old Testament law, the individual Israelite who loved God and was, was devout. And the loud, uh, uh, God's spirit to speak into his life would be convicted of the holiness of God, the, the, the, the separateness of God and that they were sinners. <br /><br /> And, and these individuals would bring their sacrifices and say, This is this. I should have been the one that was judged. But this sacrifice is being offering. And God allowed these sin offerings and these trespass offerings and these guilt offerings. And this, this day of atonement, one time a year for all the people sacrifice. <br /><br /> And with any Israel, there were many who believed and embraced grace through the system of the. As it drove them to the sacrifices and, and viewing this is, this should have been me, but it's not me by God's grace. But there were also many, many people within Israel that were not believers. That's why Paul talks about, in Romans, he talks about there is the true Israel and the Nont. <br /><br /> True Israel, just the nation of Israel. He talks about a circumcision, not of the body, but of the heart. And there were within Israel, many who had believed and, and embraced God's grace. But there were many others that did not. But all of them benefited from the national external work of the law of keeping them separate from the nations around them in the godless practices. <br /><br /> But what's happening through the work of Jesus Christ is a whole new era is being spawned this new era, the era under grace. It is not an error under an external system. It is under an internal spirit. That's why you constantly see in the book of Romans, Paul's always talking about we don't live under law. <br /><br /> We live under the spirit. Under the spirit that brings the the season of grace. The Holy Spirit came. This is why it was so important that they said at the Acts 15 council, they kept constantly pointing out the fact. , they've received the spirit. The Gentiles, just like we have, they have received the authenticating mark that they have joined this, this new era where, where the Messiah has come and offered us life. <br /><br /> And grace Peter says it this way in Acts 15 in verse, uh, excuse me, uh, where is verse 11? We are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus. Just as they, in verse eight, he says it this way, God who knows the heart, bore witness to them by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us. What is taking place here in Acts 15 is a deeply theological conversation. <br /><br /> It is trying to wrestle through. How do I know if, if a, if a, if a Jew, if, if, if a pagan needs to become a Jew, how do I make these decisions, whether they should be circumcised or not? They had to wrestle it down theologically and understand what is God doing. He's changing from the external system of law to an internal spirit directed life in the Holy Spirit, and what they're recognizing is, wait a minute, this isn't just a, an era for people that are part of the nation who lived under an external system. <br /><br /> This is for anyone of any cultural ethnic background who embraces Jesus Christ and therefore receives his spirit. All those things. I think Josiah did a fantastic job delineating last week. The reason I'm going back over them is because I want to just take a few minutes now to talk about what strikes me as I look at this passage as a visual. <br /><br /> For us, it is a reminder of how important theology is to the church. So I'm gonna just quickly go through what I see. Four things in the first two will be longer. The first thing we notice as we look at what's going on in Acts 15 is theology is the Final Voice on Practice. <br /><br /> Excuse me. When these church leaders gather in Jerusalem, of course they get a, they get a both, a bunch of eyewitnesses. They get Peter there. Peter tells his story about with Cornelius, you know, the Roman Centurian, how he went, and, and, and, and God gave them the same experience with the spirit falling upon them. <br /><br /> And God says to Peter, Peter, don't you call and clean when I've called clean, I call these boys clean. They're in, They don't need anything more. They also have received the spirit. They are a part of this new era. Under Grace. Peter told this story. Paul and Barnabas came and told their story. They told about all the things they saw on the Gentiles up in Galatian, all those places. <br /><br /> They're an Antioch, but it was not ultimately the eyewitnesses That guide guided the conversation here in Jerusalem at the Acts 15 council. It is theology that guides the conversation. The word theology is from two words, ology, which means study of th ask, which means God. Theology in its broadest sense is the study of God and what God says about things. <br /><br /> You see, it wasn't just that they could say, Well, you know, the Gentiles are in because you know they had the same experience we did. Well, that didn't matter if the experience didn't matter, right? I mean, they could have, Paul could have said, Peter said, You know, it was really funny, but I found out I like the same foods as those guys do. <br /><br /> Well, it doesn't matter. What matters is that if they have something that theologically unites them, and what theologically united them was the reality of what God was doing in the historical moment of salvation. In human history. Here's what Peter said in verse eight of chapter 15. God who knows the heart bore witness to them by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, and he made no distinction between us and them having cleansed their hearts by faith. <br /><br /> Verse 11. We believe that we'll be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will. James the Justin nails, the, the whole thing with this statement in in verse 17. I see now that the remnant of mankind may seek the Lord. And all the gentiles who are called by name, he's quoting from the Old Testament. <br /><br /> Here's what was happening in the Jerusalem Council. They were putting together the teachings of Jesus about the cross and about grace and about what he had done in the cross and about what his resurrection was all about. And they put together quotes here from the Book of Psalms and the, and the prophets, and they're putting all this data together and they're wrestling it through theologically, and they say, We get it. <br /><br /> We get it. This is what God has been doing. Here's our answer to, what do we say to the Gentiles? We say, Guys, you're in the only basis to live in the new era of grace. It's that you have embraced Christ as your Lord and Savior and the spirit of God has come into your life. And now you don't have a system, external system that has to guide every step and everything you do to keep you, uh, apart from the world. <br /><br /> We're rather gonna put you in the world because you now have the spirit of God living within you. And as you yield to him and as you look to him and as you are guided by him, you will live as holy, righteous people. They put together. They had a fuller understanding of the era of grace because they wrestled with the theology of it. <br /><br /> Throughout history, the church has found itself as sailed with confusing and conflict creating issues. It is wrestling theologically. It that the church has known how to handle those practical situations. I'm just gonna throw a few up there. In the 300 s, there would be a number of controversies regarding the doctrine of Christ. <br /><br /> No. Can you see that? <br /><br /> That was kind of a low murmur that I'm not sure. I'm glad you make it so small. Um. Basically the doctrine of Christ, the Arian controversy. The, the question was, is Jesus really God, You know, uh, they wrestled through that. In the 400 s there was what is called the doctrine. Theology is the doctrine of sin. <br /><br /> Heras is, is the word for sin. It was collegian controversy. People was a teacher polyus who felt that people were not totally depraved. That man actually can sort of save himself. Yeah, he needs Jesus, but it's kind of Jesus and, and big, big theological issue. The reformers in the 15 hundreds, the A the doctrine of scripture church tradition was, was questioned and often had been held as authoritative and solo scriptura was a, an emphasis upon the scripture as the ultimate authority. <br /><br /> At that same time, the doctrine, salvation needed clarification that were saved. Not by faith and works, it is soloed only faith. Now, these were not new truths historically that were presented. These were simply clarifying moments in the church where those truths were clarified and sharpened through the anvil and fire of controversy. <br /><br /> This is what constantly happens. I've mentioned to you before, we are living in a century. We are living in a day in which, in my opinion, there is no question the most, a sailed doctrine for the church of Jesus Christ is the doctrine of anthropology. I would suggest to you that all of these abortion, gender definitions, marriage and divorce, sexual orientations and practices, racial prejudice, euthanasia, capital punishment, are all questions of anthropology. <br /><br /> So what's the role of the church? What I believe will happen, I believe it is happening, the church is thrown back on its heels and has to think, what is a theological understanding of these issues? How do we interpret these things? Now, what will not happen if we are faithful and biblical and follow historic theology, which has always been the way that the church has lived in health and prosperity under God, is we will not have new views of these issues. <br /><br /> but there will be a more clear, consistent explanation of these positions. It will not be by reinventing or running from historic biblical theological positions, but rather by explaining with clarity, compassion, and courage. The church will be strengthened. The church will be deepened. Even though right now every church feels rocked to be able to process some of these questions, we're not the first time that's happened in the church. <br /><br /> So where do we go for our answers? Do we do, we say, Well, let's just not, let's just go. You know, we don't want to be, we don't wanna be narrow. We, we just gotta go with the flow of culture and no, we have to say these are moments, these are times, these are opportunities for theology to direct our practice. <br /><br /> It's just, we're gonna have to learn how to do it better than we've had to do in some of these areas before. Secondly, theology is the enduring basis of unity. There was a giant shift that took pl place here in Acts 15, and it, it's, it's this, this is one of my favorite parts of this message, so hang with me. <br /><br /> If you haven't been interested at all, gimme a chance here. All right. . The way that Israel historically has maintained their unity is primarily because everyone sort of did life the same way, the same practices, the same life rhythm. They all practiced the weekly Sabbath. I mean, one day, one seventh of your week was completely shut down from sundown to sundown. <br /><br /> Their annual calendar was built around three major pilgrimages of multi-day that you went to Jerusalem. They were all, all the males were circumcised. They offered regular sacrifices and there's all different kinds of them for all different purposes. They had morning and afternoon and evening prayers. <br /><br /> They had ritual cleansings. They had regular occasions to offer those sacrifices. They had many food laws of kosher and non kosher food. Israel was a faith, primarily united around Ortho Pria. New word for you, right? Orthopraxy. The word ortho means straight. What does an orthodontist do? Strain your teeth, right? <br /><br /> Ortho PR is you have straight practice. Israel was united in their practice. I, if you've ever thought about, there's not much theology in the Old Testament. You ever think about it? There's no doctrinal statements there, there's no large explanations. Were feel like, I mean, you read the Pistols pawn. He's constantly giving all these doctrinal uh, formulas, these doctrinal explanations about Christ, about, about how we live a as Christians in light of our nature is very little of that. <br /><br /> In the Old Testament, the unifying factor of the Old Testament was not doctrine, it was practice. <br /><br /> What happened in the era of the church was it is primarily our doxy, our teaching. Our beliefs that are our unifier. That is a quantum shift that took place as the church reckoned because they had put their trust and we gotta live this way, we gotta do this. You know the Pharisees love that they fasted three days a week. <br /><br /> I mean, they bing, B bang B, they had all the checklist, and all of a sudden the resurrection happens and then the Pentecost happens and nobody can find any lists. It's why Tertullian, or excuse me, not Tertullian, a minute, one church father wrote this to his pagan audience. We live with you. We enjoy the same food, we have the same manner of life and dress and the same requirements for life as you. <br /><br /> One he was arguing was. We're not just walking around in, in Christian outfits, you know, we're not just walking around with, with, with, with badges that say, Christian, no, it's our lifestyle. And he goes on to talk about how the life comes from within and, and causes them to honor the government and, and to care for the needy. <br /><br /> But he's saying we don't really have a lot of those external things. It's not primarily our ortho proxy that we all look alike, that we all dress alike, that we all do everything exactly the same. When the Romans and the Greeks became Christians, they didn't see it as embracing the whole mosaic system at all. <br /><br /> To them, they had come to religion, not about deuce, but what had been done by Jesus Christ. For them living the Christian life was about a life of joyful gratitude, about a, a life filled that is. , gratitude driven dependence on the spirit of God, trust and yieldedness to Jesus Lordship in all areas of life that there isn't a visual of. <br /><br /> This is what the church, you know, Christians are, are to look like because they all have all the exact identical earth of proxy. Now, of course, a church is really good at trying to fall back into that. It's what legalism does. It produces an unconscious list of clean and unclean activities. There's always the temptation to try and rebuild our unity on ortho proxy. <br /><br /> Fundamentalists tried to do it for years. Tertullian made this statement as he tried to do it. He ruled out all intellectual activities. He didn't want them going to hear speeches. He didn't want them to go to hear secular poets. He felt they'd be tainted. He definitely didn't want them going to the theater. <br /><br /> He didn't want any of the believers, and this is the second century, by the way. He didn't want any believers doing dancing because he was sure it would inflame sexual passions and cosmetics and perfumes were out because, quote, if God meant for you to smell like a flower, he would've given you a crop of them on your head. <br /><br /> It's easy to look at Christianity as orthodoxy. We just gotta punch the right buttons. But that's exactly what was not determined to be its pathway in Acts. They recognized we have something so much better than an external system of rules. We are gifted with God himself residing within us and directing us and being as Colossians as the referee in our heart, directing us what's right, what's wrong, what's good, what's bad. <br /><br /> Certainly through the scripture, but also the spirit is given. So you go around the world today and you find out that Christians don't all look the same. They don't practice, have the same practices of food or music or clothing or daily routine or even worship experiences. They have the same word, They have the same spirit. <br /><br /> They have the same theology. It is a. ortho. It's why theology is so important for the church. It's why it's so important for us to see that we have been given a timeless record of truth and that we can count on that to be our source of unity in our theology. Our beliefs are that which lead to practice and this, that which has united the church. <br /><br /> It's why Paul constantly makes this simple doctrinal statement, although he elaborates on a number of passages with other doctrines, but the most off reported, most off recorded theological statement in the New Testament is a three word statement by Paul. It is used in Romans 10, Philippians two, Ephesians four, Colossians three, and first Corinthians. <br /><br /> Here it is. Jesus is Lord. I think he thought that's the biggest theology. If we really embrace that, we will live in concert with the Spirit and the many seasons of history. The church has been encouraged to soften up on its physicians in order to promote unity and peace. No one has a higher priority on peace and unity than Jesus Christ, but there's never a peace gained at the expense of theological truth, but rather it is a peace gained through the embracing of theological truth. <br /><br /> Biblical authority does not change. The church cannot modernize its sexual standards. The church cannot modernize its definitions of gender. It cannot modernize. Its viewed as leadership roles in the church. It cannot modernize its views on divorce and remarriage and count and marriage and countless other elements to accommodate because we are at very heart a people that are founded on truth and theological foundations. <br /><br /> The beautiful thing is we have what the world does not have. We have a timeless standard. We have a A A A I read a while back about a guy named Simon Newcomb, who was professor of mathematics and astronomy in the early 19 hundreds. One of the most respected scientists. In the world At that time, he was the first American since Benjamin Franklin to be made a member of the Institute of France. <br /><br /> He wrote an article in 1903 proving that it was scientifically impossible, that a heavier than air machine would ever be able to fly. It was taken as established fact. Fortunately, the Wright brothers did not read scientific literature, and a few weeks later they flew their plane in Kittyhawk. <br /><br /> I don't know if you know, but a hundred years ago, heroin and morphine were all available over the counter at the local con corner drug store. One pharmacist advertised. I found this. Heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind, regulates the stomach in bowels, and is in fact a perfect guardian of help. <br /><br /> You know of health. You know what? There are things your grandparents believed you can't believe they believed, and there are things your grandkids won't believe you believed. , things change, right? But there is a theological foundation that is timeless and we can say, I, you know, I don't know how to, I don't how to work through gender definitions, and I want to do so with compassion and gentleness. <br /><br /> I have to hold to a foundation of how God views these things, and I, I need to understand it more. And I'm diving into passages, you know, I never really thought I had to dive into before to understand how to answer questions. But it will be theology that will direct our practice. It will be theology that we gather as our source of unity. <br /><br /> Last two things. Theology is processed through spiritual leadership. It's interesting, verse 21, verse 28. It says, As the letter is sent out by the leaders, it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us. The US there is primarily, he's saying the letter is from the apostles and elders, the teachers and leaders of the church. <br /><br /> The whole church endorses it, but it's clear that these were the individuals. That did the discussing. We Americans often have a distorted view of the individuality of faith. 80% of Americans, I just read this recently, say that you can be a Christian without needing a church. Now I agree as do you that if that means, can a person become a Christian can person embrace Jesus Christ to savior without a church? <br /><br /> Absolutely. It's an individual decision. You don't need a church to do that. But I suspect the question actually was really asking, do you need the church to do life as a Christian? And I would suggest to you that the church in the view of historic theology and New Testament theology is essential to do life. <br /><br /> You're not gonna find a perfect church because, There's no perfect, you or me, but the church is the place which has to been the disseminator of truth and godly leaders. Godly teachers, are called to process and proclaim historic theological interpretations of truth. These believers supported the sense of spiritual authority that comes from spiritual unity of the leadership and teachers of the church as they proclaimed theology. <br /><br /> Last thing I just wanna touch on theology is applied with humility and love. You know when, when James in, in Act 15 and verse 21 is talking about, you know, what do we say to the Gentiles? We're gonna say, You don't have to be circumcised, you don't have to be Jewish. But he says, We want them to be reminded, as he says in verse 20, And Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and has read in the synagogues on every Sabbath. <br /><br /> He says, There's lots of Jews out there that are embracing Jesus and it's gonna be a big thing for them to believe that. Now the Goam, which is another name for the nations, the goam, who they have been either responsible to eradicate and wipe out in the land or certainly to avoid, are now gonna be sitting in the pew next to him every Sunday. <br /><br /> And he says, Guys, we're, we're asking you. And it just gives some, some principles, and I think Josiah did a great job on this. I think the sexual immorality here is primarily talking about that which was associated the temple. Certainly everybody knew sexual immorality was out, but he's highlighting certain things that might be questionable. <br /><br /> And he's saying in these practices, just restrain yourselves. Because guys, remember these Jewish believers that now have embraced Jesus just like you have. They've never gone to the theater. They've never gone, even public gatherings. They've never had Pagan neighbors in their homes, and they've never gone in your homes. <br /><br /> They've never, they've done all their schooling at the synagogues. They've never shocked on the Sabbath. They've never gone anywhere on the Sabbath. And now we're telling 'em the worship day is no longer the Sabbath. It's the first day of the week. Their heritage was to live separately in every possible way from those with Pagan backgrounds. <br /><br /> And now you pagans are gonna be taking communion with them. Celebrating the Messiah. It's a lot. , and I think what he's saying, Guys, we want to grace you by not adding to you that, which has just been a burden to us. It's just been a system that we've had. You have the spirit. We have the spirit, and we don't want to add to you, but we also ask you to grace your Jewish brothers. <br /><br /> We're gonna see the wisdom of that as we go through the Book of Acts. We would also see it if we looked at a number of the New Testament books of the letters. But what enabled them now to be able to outwork their practice was these guys took the time with the theology. They thought as Christians, they built their lives under the authority of the word. <br /><br /> We're gonna see the benefit of that as the church continues to grow and. and faces lots of hurdles along the way. Those passages will all find their theological mooring. Here in Acts 15, theology declared to them that there was one gospel for Jew and pagan, one gospel in which sinners stand forgiven. One gospel in which unrighteous people find acceptance through Jesus righteousness. <br /><br /> One gospel which gives the Holy Spirit as the guide and source of life. Let's pray. Lord, we glory in the one gospel. Gospel of Christ, Lord Jesus. <br /><br /> What a glory it is to live accepted. Stand accepted in your righteousness to have the freedom that comes from the forgiveness that you provided to live our lives. Independence of the Spirit which you sent to us. Lord, we do glory in the one gospel, which is the foundation of our theology, and therefore the basis of our unity. <br /><br /> Lord, we love you for it. In Jesus' name, amen.</div> false no <![CDATA[The Yoke That None Can Bear]]> Acts 15:1-21

"why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?"



Sermon Transcript:

Good morning. Well, what I was saying, I don't know if you could hear me, but I don't even know how to follow some of that up. Um, just really grateful, um, to be a part of this service this morning. Uh, the testimony that Sasha was giving just of the work that God is doing.

All around the world, among us, around us. And we have the opportunity to be a part of that, to be a part of the story, which we are gonna hear more of today, which is that story of acts, the gospel starting in Jerusalem and going to the very ends of the earth. We're still a part of that story this morning.

Uh, it's such a beautiful thing. Uh, for those of you who don't know, my name is Pastor Josiah, and it is, it's just a profound joy to be with you all participating in, uh, the worship of the God that we love. Uh, and now in the study of God's indelible, eternal word this morning, it's, it's my prayer that as we continue in our time this morning, that as we press deeper into the great mysteries and marvels found within this book, that our hearts would be softened by the Spirit to receive the message which he has for us.

There's a great bounty in this passage this morning, church for us. But unless our hearts are still. Unless we quiet our minds and allow the Lord to work this morning, uh, we could miss it. I don't want to miss it. Uh, there's a quote that I heard a few weeks ago. Uh, Tim Keller gave a devotional and he was talking about how our culture at large is not a contemplative culture.

We're not a culture that sits and listens very often. We're always on the move, on the go. And what he talked about is the message that he was teaching that day. His prayer was that the, the truth of it would press down deep into the very fibers of our souls and their catch fire. That's my prayer this morning, that the truth of this scripture would press down deep within us.

And there catch fire. The, uh, the passage that we are gonna be, uh, studying from is found in Acts chapter 15 verses one through 21. It's page 8 69 in your pew Bibles. If you wanna follow along there, we didn't put it on the screen because yes, it is quite a long passage. So as, remember all the things I just said about the importance of it.

Let's try to focus in our minds now. Church, this story is a beautiful one. It doesn't feel long, um, but I'm gonna read it, uh, at one go as we start. And again, just pray that the Lord would lead us this morning. Acts chapter 15 verses one through 21. But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers.

Unless you are circumcised, according to the customs of Moses, you cannot be saved. And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem, to the apostles and the elders about this question. So being sent on their way by the church, they passed through both Venicia and Samaria, describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles.

And this brought great joy to all the brothers. And when they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they declared all that God had done with them and through them. But some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said it is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to follow the law of Moses.

The apostles and the elders were gathered together to consider this matter. And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, Listen to this church, brothers. You know that in the early days, God made a choice among you that by my mouth, the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe, and God who knows the heart bore witness to them.

By giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us. And he made no distinction between us and them having cleansed their hearts by faith. Now therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yolk on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear, but we believe that we will be saved through the grace of our Lord Jesus, just as they will, And all the assembly fell silent and they listened to Paul and to Barnabas as they related what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles.

And after they finished speaking, James replied, Brothers, listen to me. Simon has related how God first visited the Gentiles to take from them a people for his name. And with this, the words of the prophets agree just as it is written. After this, I will return and I will rebuild the tent of David that has fallen and I will restore it.

That the remnant of mankind may seek the Lord. And all the gentiles who are called by my name says the Lord, who makes these things known from of old. Therefore, my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God, but should write to them, to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual and morality, from what has been strangled and from blood for from ancient generations.

Moses had in every city, those who proclaim him. For he is read every Sabbath in the synagogues. Would you all join me as we pray?

Father in heaven, you sit enthroned eternally. Lord, may your name be exalted this morning. Above all, created things, all distractions. All fears. God, bring your kingdom way and your kingly will among us. We pray that just as it is in heaven, so shall it be among us. Lord, only from your loving hand can we receive the only food that truly satisfies the very bread of your word.

Lord, fill us this morning, Father, so that our hungry hearts and minds might be filled to overflowing with your words of life. Lord, show us. Remind us. Of the one true gospel and the easy yoke of Jesus amidst all opposition and fear and false doctrine, remind us of who you are and of who we are. In light of that, we pray this in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Amen. Amen. I don't know if you guys are familiar with the, the narrative and the story of the 2017 Eagles. I think most of you are. Um, and I don't know if it's because of how good the Eagles have been playing this year or if be, if it's more because of how, uh, just that story always comes to mind for me.

It's very dear to me. Uh, that picture I think still brings me to tears. My brother and I wept when they won the Superbowl, and that story came to mind as I was preparing for this sermon this week as a way to sort of articulate the context that we're stepping into here. I don't know if you remember, but it felt like the 2017 Teen Eagles were a team of destiny.

Nothing could stop them. It wasn't the opposition and all their schemes and plans to defend them. It wasn't even the rash of injuries that overtook them, culminating in the, the injury of their star quarterback at the end of the season. It wasn't even Tom Brady throwing for 500 yards in the Super Bowl.

Nothing, Nothing could stop them. And after they won, I remember as fans, we were on Cloud nine. We were just like, Nothing's gonna stop us. We're gonna be a dynasty.

Well, it pains me to say, but we did not become a dynasty. And the things which we had seen go so well began to unravel so quickly. And shortly later, we had a four win season. What went wrong? What possibly could have taken down a team that wasn't stopped by the opposing defenses? That wasn't stopped by all the injuries.

That wasn't stopped even by Tom Brady himself. It was the attack that came from within, within the walls of a locker room. Disagreements began, arguments, gossip, fear, and what was so beautiful at one point to an Eagles fan began to crumble before us. Now, stick with me here, but I do think that this is a similar context in which we are stepping into in this story.

In Acts chapter 15, the church up until this point, has gone from a small group of believers in an upper room with one mission by Christ to go and make disciples of every nation, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, through the power of the Holy Spirit's inspiration and guidance.

And we saw how that gospel. Went from Jerusalem to 3000 in a single day at Pentecost to exploding out to Judea and Samaria now to the ends of the earth. And we see how nothing could seem to stop it. Not persecutions, not stonings, not uh, executions, not imprisonments. There was nothing that seemed to stop or stand in the way of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And now as we see, uh, it seems the devil takes a different tact. It's not working. And now I'm not saying he stops with his attempts to persecute, but now he, he begins a new tactic. He starts the dissension from within the walls of the church and we see the rise of a different gospel. We know up until this point, the church has been again exploding.

Among the Jews. But what first began as a trickle through the household of Cornelius and the mission that Peter had to them of laying on of hands and receiving of the spirit, having their gentile Pentecost now has become a torrent. What was a, once a trickle has become a torrent. The gentiles are coming in in droves, one after the other, after the other, receiving the gospel of Jesus Christ and being changed.

But this is a recipe for conflict, and we'll see why here in a minute. What I wanna do is we go, and I know that we don't have a ton of time this morning, so I wanna move swiftly. When we have a large chunk of scripture like this 21 verses, the best thing we can do is to kind of block it out in sections.

So if you're taking notes, if you're not taking notes, I won't be offended. But if you are taking notes, I've blocked it out into three separate parts versus one through five. I'm calling the rise of a different gospel. Verses six through 18, the defense of the one true gospel. And lastly, 19 through 21. The call in light of this gospel.

That's just a help helpful way to kind of block it out in your notes if you're following along.

So verses one through five, let's start. There we see again all this context that I've just laid out, right? The church is going out through the first missionary journey of Paul and Barnabas. Now gentiles as well as Jews, are entering into the family of God through grace. But we see in verse one now this rise of this different gospel coming out.

Some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers the Christians. Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved. Strong words. Thems fighting words, and we see immediately the response of the Paul, of Paul and Barnabas here is not delayed. It's not hesitant, it's immediate.

They step into action, sharp debate and dissension. Why? Because this is contrary to the very fiber of what they're teaching. You don't believe me. Go to Acts chapter 13, verse 39. Listen to the words of Paul speaking from the rooftops, figuratively in the synagogue, proclaiming for all to hear this message and by him, Acts chapter 13, verse 39.

By him meaning Christ, everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses. Two chapters before in I Iconium in Lystra, preaching this message to all. Who would hear not? By the law of Moses, it's gonna free you from all the things that that never could.

And yet we hear this contrary. This other gospel, this different gospel. I'm getting that phrase at different gospel from Galatians. If you are wanting to continue to study this passage in your own time, great thing. A great thing to do is actually to read the book of Galatians alongside it. It's a great commentary on this issue.

Um, Paul is dealing just with this issue as he goes along, but Paul, and here's a, just a little bit of a glimpse into Paul's mindset and, and first Col and Galatians one, six through seven. Paul says this, I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel.

Not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ for am I now seeking the approval of man or God? Or am I trying to please man, if I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ. Okay, so we see Paul and Barnabas, they're not kind of disagreeing, they're not kinda like well take no, they are coming in sharp debate and dissension.

They are coming up against this different gospel and right away the church sends out Paul Barnabas back to the scene of the crime, back to Jerusalem, where it all began to be a part of the first Jerusalem Council. This was a serious matter in one which they did not take lightly. Before we dive into the, the meat of the passage in six through 18, I wanna ask a question, which maybe some of you're asking, maybe you're not.

Where did this come. Where if, if, if the message being preached by Paul and by Barnabas is so loudly in opposition to this, if the message which they've received from Christ from the beginning is not through works of the law, but through Christ, where is this other gospel coming from? I believe the roots of it are, are, there's two.

We need to get into the minds of a Jewish person for a minute. It's hard in as, as, uh, modern day people to get our minds into the right frame of reference, to understand the context to which this passage takes a part of. But to be a Jewish person meant two primary things. One, your value, your identity was wrapped up in how well you followed Torah, The law of Moses.

And by the time that Jesus came, that law had grown and ballooned to such a, that it actually was about over 600, well over 600 different rules and regulations for the Jewish people to follow. Guess what? You can't follow that. And so they had these beautiful days of atone that the Lord had built in for them to come and to confess their sin and be healed and all this stuff.

But it was a broken system, not because of God, but because of the brokenness of man. However, they were still clinging to those laws, to that old way. By the time Jesus came, they were utterly enslaved to the mindset of earning God's approval through works. They were obsessed. There was 24 chapters in one of their holy books, one of their rabbinic books, dedicated just to how not to break the Sabbath, 24 chapters.

It's down to the very core of who they are and secondly, To be Jewish, meant to be not only devoted to the law of Moses, but to be separate from the world. And that has its roots. All the way back when the, when the people of God, the Israelites were nomadic and they were coming into the land that was promised in Canaan, and they were called not to mix with the Canaanites, but to remain a part and holy.

Now, they didn't do that well at all in their history and in time after time, they would return and mix and worship other gods and other idols. And so now in this context, they're so preoccupied with not even looking at a Gentile. Now, imagine those two things in the in light of you've received the gospel, great, your Messiah has come, his name is Jesus.

All the signs and wonders you're buying in. Now all of a sudden, the dirty Gentiles from across the street are sitting next to you in the synagogue. Oh boy. Now all of a sudden, that dude, you know, lives a deb botched lifestyle. Totally different from what you and how you live. He's not pure. I can't sit next to him.

Now it's, it's one that you're okay. You're gonna keep your peace. You're gonna be quiet. But now all of a sudden, the, the woman from across the street who has three, has had three husbands. Now she's sitting on your left. And now behind you and in front of you are these people that not only are completely different from you, have had different values, different ways of looking at life.

They look different, they smell different, they act different. But now you're called to be one with them. Not so fast. I believe this is the root which is rising up. Again, I believe that the enemy prodding and poking to begin this conflict from within the walls of the church. What they are feeling is, no, no, no, no, no.

You've gotta become, become one of us before you can become one of his. You gotta become a Jew before you can become a Christian. That's what, that is. The the desire to be circumcised. , they must be circumcised and follow the law of Moses. I'm not gonna get into anatomically what circumcision is, but I will tell you that circumcision was a rite of passage into becoming Jewish, bringing yourself in under the law of Moses, saying, I am a Jew.

I will follow the laws of the God of, of Jacob.

So this call, again, it's a salvi, that's a fancy word, but it concerns salvation. They're, they are saying, they're preaching that unless you have done these things, you cannot be saved. Okay, We're moving on

the defense of the one true gospel. We see now the seriousness of which they've taken this, they, they have gathered around in the council, unprecedented up until this point to defend the gospel. And we see that this false gospel has reached the council, the very heart of Jerusalem before even the apostles, Paul and Barnabas to.

it's reached, It's got, it has, You know, bad news has swift feet and it's reached ahead of them. And we see that in the, Even in the very council, there's men standing up saying, Wait a minute. No. They need to be made to follow the law. A praise bee to God. For men like Peter Paul and Barnabas and James Peter's defense is a beautiful one.

As we read earlier, we see he speaks the words, brothers, trying to make sure we're all one here. You know that in the early days, God made a choice among you that by my mouth, the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and belief. He's talking about Acts chapter 10, right? When God gave him a vision and said, Don't call unclean what I have called clean.

Peter was stuck in this same lie shortly. This is not something that's alien to Peter. He knew this struggle. , but God had healed him from it, and he went to the household of Cornelius and laid hands on him and he received the spirit, and that's what he's referring to here.

He talks about how he gave them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, and he made no distinction between us and them having cleansed their hearts by the law, having cleansed their hearts, by circumcision, by faith. Now therefore, why are you putting to test? God did the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither are fathers, nor we are able to bear, but we believe that we will be saved through the grace of our Lord Jesus, just as they will look at the response and all the assembly fell silent.

Powerful impact of Peter's words. , all the assembly fell silent. Peter's saying to them, that yolk that you're trying to put back on their necks, that's the yolk that Jesus came to break. Matthew 11. His yoke is easy. His burden is light. This is not the yolk which we have come to bring a powerful defense of the one true gospel by advocating and witnessing to the fact that the presence of God came and was among the Gentiles, even as they were among the Jews.

So God's presence is witnessing to the Gentiles. Now we step onto the second witnesses or defenders, the lawyers of the gospel. We see Paul and Barnabas speak up. It's funny, anytime it seems like anytime there's silence, Paul and Barnabas are like, Let me tell you about what God's doing. Like they've done it like three or four times already.

They can't hold it in. What God is doing among them, they can't even contain themselves. And once again, it gets silent for a second by Peter, just kind of like quieting the crowd. Now, immediately they jump in with what God is doing. So first we see Peter witnessing to the presence of God and the Gentiles.

Now we see Paul Barnabus witnessing to the power of God, working on behalf of the Gentiles, saying, Listen, just as he's working in in power and majesty among you to further his gospel, he's working among them just as His presence. Holy Spirit presence has come upon us. At Pentecost, he came upon them. Who are you to place on the next of those whom God has called a yolk that no man can bear?

And lastly, we have the words of James brother of Jesus. This is not James the Apostle. Some of you who've been following closely might be like, Wait, a, I thought he got executed. He did get executed. This isn't James the Apostle, not James and John James. This is James brother of Jesus, who has now apparently received Jesus as his savior and is now serving as a prominent leader in the Jerusalem church, possibly even presiding over this council.

When you have the last words, usually it means you're in charge. It's interesting, not Peter. Peter was an evangelist and apostle to send out the gospel. It seemed as though James was presiding over this council, James brother of Jesus. We see his response is in agreement with Peter, an agreement with Paul Barnabas, but adding to it in how we've seen, okay, The Gentiles are called by the Lord because we see the presence of the Lord on them and we see the power of the Lord among them.

But lastly, we've seen that this has always been God's plan for them. We see him echo the words of the prophet Amos in Amos chapter nine. After this, I will return and I will rebuild the tent of David that has fallen. I will rebuild its ruins and I will restore it that the remnant of mankind may seek the Lord and all the gentiles who are called by my name.

Speaking of that, that broken fall intent, its talking about how David was the anointed of God, right? To carry the line of the Messiah, and yet his own sin disqualified him. The sin, the inability to follow that law, and yet God is going to restore it through Jesus and His coming. And the purpose of that is so that the Gentiles might come to know the, the, the interesting thing is the Jewish people constantly miss this in their reading of Torah.

But aims nine is not the only time that God prophesies the day that will come when the gospel will not just be for the, the, the word of the Lord will not just be for the Jewish people, but a day that will come when all the nations will have access to God. That's the point in the Abramic covenant, in the the covenant given to Abraham.

It's there. It says, Through you all the nations of the world will be blessed. Not just the Jewish, not just the Israelites, not just your family. Your family will be the blessing to the world. And we know that through his family came Christ who blessed the world with his presence. We also know that in other places we hear about how the Israelites were called to be a holy priesthood to the world.

Their call was always to join their messiah in bringing the gospel to the nations. James is reminding him of that. He's saying, This isn't just a new fangled Christian thing, this is a Jewish thing. He gives, when he talks about Peter there, he says, he doesn't just say, Peter told you about how this happened.

He says, Simon, why do you think he does that? Giving his Hebrew name, the inclusion, reminding him he, he's a Hebrew brother. This is a Hebrew call. This is a Jewish call. And lastly, as we close the, the last and final part, what I call just the call in light of this gospel, we see really interesting end to the, the way the sermon sort of ends.

It's not the way I want it to be. The just these incredible proclamations by these great men of God about the gospel and about how it's not by works, but by faith in Jesus. And then James has to go talking about regulations. We see in the, the final spot here that James talks about, but therefore, I first, he agrees we shouldn't make it difficult for the Gentiles to enter the kingdom of God.

We should not make it difficult. It's not stand in their way, not be gatekeepers of salvation, but we should write to them, and this is the part that can be confusing for some of us, to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, and from the things that have been strangled and from the blood for the ancient generations.

Moses has been taught in every city for, he has been taught in every sabba and in the synagogues. We see an ending that can be confusing to us, and I want to just do my best to shed a little bit of light on it. I would argue that in this context right here, James is not giving a salic command like they were in the beginning.

When they're saying you can't be saved, he's giving a civil command. for the interest of unity, all four of those things. I'm not saying that sexual morality, that that's not a, a moral issue. I am, it obviously is our bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit. But what I am saying is in this case, it's about temple.

The, the pagan worship. All pagan rights and rights of worship are included here. The, the, the sacrificed system, right? The drinking of blood, the strangling of animals, and sexual, those are sexual immorality was rampant within the temple worship system. It was almost impossible to take part in it without it.

So James is saying, Listen, we've received this new gospel or this gospel that has been promised from the beginning. All things are being made new through the Holy Spirit and by the power of his name. Why are you, It seems like some of the Gentiles are still going to their old temples, and maybe they're trying to worship Jesus in their old temples.

He's saying, Don't we encourage you not to do that? Two reasons. Why would you do that? That that's not what God's, God's call you to. Don't let your freedom, let allow you to take license for sin, right Paul, as Paul says, but rather press on towards Jesus. So I think there's that involved. It's for the sake of the Gentiles and just getting them out of their old lifestyle, but also I think primarily it's for the sake of the Jews.

As I mentioned, they're sitting in the synagogues and they've know these people are, maybe they're coming straight from the, their own temple and they, they're worse of being Jesus the best. They know how, but it's the old way for them, just like it's the old way for the Jews. They're both clinging to their old understandings of God.

And it seems like James is encouraging them both. Hey you guys, Jews, you need to stop gatekeeping salvation. You need to stop real. It's not about Mosaic law anymore. It's about how Jesus has come to complete the law. Leave that old way behind, and now he's, and, and now the gentles are probably like, Yeah, let us be.

And then he, he turns to them and says, Now you,

you gotta leave behind that old way, those old forms of joy and happiness and worship things you used to worship, the things of the flesh, blood, sexual, and morality. Leave those things behind. Come together before the Lord for the sake of love and unity. Leave those things behind a call in light of the gospel.

As we close,

I have a question, or I guess I, I have, I'm anticipating a question that some of you might be asking. That question is great. Joe, you talked about this bounty that's here in the scripture. You told me about all, all the good that's in here. Maybe some of you are tracking with me, maybe some of you are seeing where I'm headed with this.

Maybe some of you were like, It's a lot of story you're giving me and not a lot of stuff I would, I want some stuff to take home. Joe, I wanna answer that by posing a question to you all because how you receive this this morning depends entirely upon how you came in this morning.

Did you come in already full on, on the true gospel of Jesus, full of grace and peace, joyful and and truly just rejoicing what the Lord is doing in your life and he's revealing things that, and you're just trusting in the simple gospel of Jesus that he came to bring the undefiled beautiful gospel of faith in Jesus.

Maybe you're there and I wanna speak to you first before I get to the second group. If you are that person, and I do believe there are many of you in this room, the message I believe from this passage is simple. , Are you using what you have to be advocates and defendants for the one true gospel? Are you, are your eyes open to your brothers and your sisters around you and the yolk that's upon their neck?

Are you like Peter, like James, like Paul and Barnabas, ready to step into action when you see people laboring under a false gospel of works and the approval of man, or are you standing by and just enjoying it for yourself? Step up. Use what God is giving you, his pouring out of his spirit and love and peace and joy, and advocate for the one true gospel among your brothers and sisters.

The the devil has not stopped attacking the one true gospel, and he will not until the day that Christ returns advocate for the one true gospel. Now, I'm speaking to the second group, perhaps the larger group this morning. Did you come in weary? Beaten down lo encumbered by a load of cares, anxious, fearful, running on empty.

I wanna ask you a question. Whose yoke are you carrying on your shoulders? Is it the easy yoke of Jesus or is it the yoke that no man could bear? Not you, not your parents, not your siblings, not your children. I would say that the Jewish people were carrying that yoke on their own shoulders, and therefore, using that yoke.

When you're heavy, you wanna make everyone else feel heavy. When you are heavy, you want, when you have that heavy yolk of man's approval, the need to b to measure up, you've always been that way. The whole world tells you that's how things work. And now you're feeling weighed down. You're, you're, you're, you have no energy, you're weak.

And instead of coming to the Lord and letting him remove that heavy yolk that no man can bear, you're doing your very best to place that heavy yolk on the shoulders of your brothers and your sisters.

The message is simple to you. In Matthew 11 verses 28 through 30, Jesus has a beautiful message for us. Come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon me, upon you, and learn from me. For I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yolk is easy and my burden is light.

Come under the easy yoke of Jesus. Again. Don't be like the Galatians. When Paul in, in Galatians three says to them, Who you foolish escalations. Why have you abandoned the gospel of which you have been taught? Was it by works of the law that you received the gospel and received the spirit? Or by faith, did you receive the gospel?

Because you realized, Oh, I can do all these things. I can measure up. I can be the perfect husband, I can be the perfect wife. I can be the best mom in the world. I can be the best sister. I can be the best teacher. I can be the best businessman. I'm really something. That's why God needs me. Or did you receive him because you knew there was no other way, but through the faith in Jesus Christ, return to that knowledge.

Let's be advocates for the one true gospel. Let's pray.

Lord, thank you for your word, which always brings us back to truth. God, I pray that this message would not be one which. Uh, leaves are minds as soon as it enters, but that they would take root press down deep in the very fiber of who we are on their catch fire, that we would take the time to learn more and more what it means to be people and children of your easy yoke.

To find rest for our weariness, to find rest from our toil and the arms of Jesus. We love you Lord. We thank you for this time and your name. Amen. Thank you guys.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-yoke-that-none-can-bear abe33fcc-6c75-45ce-95ce-3ab44b0b62c2 Sun, 23 Oct 2022 13:31:36 GMT <div data-html="true">Acts 15:1-21 <br /><br /> "why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?" <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> Good morning. Well, what I was saying, I don't know if you could hear me, but I don't even know how to follow some of that up. Um, just really grateful, um, to be a part of this service this morning. Uh, the testimony that Sasha was giving just of the work that God is doing. <br /><br /> All around the world, among us, around us. And we have the opportunity to be a part of that, to be a part of the story, which we are gonna hear more of today, which is that story of acts, the gospel starting in Jerusalem and going to the very ends of the earth. We're still a part of that story this morning. <br /><br /> Uh, it's such a beautiful thing. Uh, for those of you who don't know, my name is Pastor Josiah, and it is, it's just a profound joy to be with you all participating in, uh, the worship of the God that we love. Uh, and now in the study of God's indelible, eternal word this morning, it's, it's my prayer that as we continue in our time this morning, that as we press deeper into the great mysteries and marvels found within this book, that our hearts would be softened by the Spirit to receive the message which he has for us. <br /><br /> There's a great bounty in this passage this morning, church for us. But unless our hearts are still. Unless we quiet our minds and allow the Lord to work this morning, uh, we could miss it. I don't want to miss it. Uh, there's a quote that I heard a few weeks ago. Uh, Tim Keller gave a devotional and he was talking about how our culture at large is not a contemplative culture. <br /><br /> We're not a culture that sits and listens very often. We're always on the move, on the go. And what he talked about is the message that he was teaching that day. His prayer was that the, the truth of it would press down deep into the very fibers of our souls and their catch fire. That's my prayer this morning, that the truth of this scripture would press down deep within us. <br /><br /> And there catch fire. The, uh, the passage that we are gonna be, uh, studying from is found in Acts chapter 15 verses one through 21. It's page 8 69 in your pew Bibles. If you wanna follow along there, we didn't put it on the screen because yes, it is quite a long passage. So as, remember all the things I just said about the importance of it. <br /><br /> Let's try to focus in our minds now. Church, this story is a beautiful one. It doesn't feel long, um, but I'm gonna read it, uh, at one go as we start. And again, just pray that the Lord would lead us this morning. Acts chapter 15 verses one through 21. But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers. <br /><br /> Unless you are circumcised, according to the customs of Moses, you cannot be saved. And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem, to the apostles and the elders about this question. So being sent on their way by the church, they passed through both Venicia and Samaria, describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles. <br /><br /> And this brought great joy to all the brothers. And when they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they declared all that God had done with them and through them. But some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said it is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to follow the law of Moses. <br /><br /> The apostles and the elders were gathered together to consider this matter. And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, Listen to this church, brothers. You know that in the early days, God made a choice among you that by my mouth, the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe, and God who knows the heart bore witness to them. <br /><br /> By giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us. And he made no distinction between us and them having cleansed their hearts by faith. Now therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yolk on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear, but we believe that we will be saved through the grace of our Lord Jesus, just as they will, And all the assembly fell silent and they listened to Paul and to Barnabas as they related what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles. <br /><br /> And after they finished speaking, James replied, Brothers, listen to me. Simon has related how God first visited the Gentiles to take from them a people for his name. And with this, the words of the prophets agree just as it is written. After this, I will return and I will rebuild the tent of David that has fallen and I will restore it. <br /><br /> That the remnant of mankind may seek the Lord. And all the gentiles who are called by my name says the Lord, who makes these things known from of old. Therefore, my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God, but should write to them, to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual and morality, from what has been strangled and from blood for from ancient generations. <br /><br /> Moses had in every city, those who proclaim him. For he is read every Sabbath in the synagogues. Would you all join me as we pray? <br /><br /> Father in heaven, you sit enthroned eternally. Lord, may your name be exalted this morning. Above all, created things, all distractions. All fears. God, bring your kingdom way and your kingly will among us. We pray that just as it is in heaven, so shall it be among us. Lord, only from your loving hand can we receive the only food that truly satisfies the very bread of your word. <br /><br /> Lord, fill us this morning, Father, so that our hungry hearts and minds might be filled to overflowing with your words of life. Lord, show us. Remind us. Of the one true gospel and the easy yoke of Jesus amidst all opposition and fear and false doctrine, remind us of who you are and of who we are. In light of that, we pray this in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. <br /><br /> Amen. Amen. I don't know if you guys are familiar with the, the narrative and the story of the 2017 Eagles. I think most of you are. Um, and I don't know if it's because of how good the Eagles have been playing this year or if be, if it's more because of how, uh, just that story always comes to mind for me. <br /><br /> It's very dear to me. Uh, that picture I think still brings me to tears. My brother and I wept when they won the Superbowl, and that story came to mind as I was preparing for this sermon this week as a way to sort of articulate the context that we're stepping into here. I don't know if you remember, but it felt like the 2017 Teen Eagles were a team of destiny. <br /><br /> Nothing could stop them. It wasn't the opposition and all their schemes and plans to defend them. It wasn't even the rash of injuries that overtook them, culminating in the, the injury of their star quarterback at the end of the season. It wasn't even Tom Brady throwing for 500 yards in the Super Bowl. <br /><br /> Nothing, Nothing could stop them. And after they won, I remember as fans, we were on Cloud nine. We were just like, Nothing's gonna stop us. We're gonna be a dynasty. <br /><br /> Well, it pains me to say, but we did not become a dynasty. And the things which we had seen go so well began to unravel so quickly. And shortly later, we had a four win season. What went wrong? What possibly could have taken down a team that wasn't stopped by the opposing defenses? That wasn't stopped by all the injuries. <br /><br /> That wasn't stopped even by Tom Brady himself. It was the attack that came from within, within the walls of a locker room. Disagreements began, arguments, gossip, fear, and what was so beautiful at one point to an Eagles fan began to crumble before us. Now, stick with me here, but I do think that this is a similar context in which we are stepping into in this story. <br /><br /> In Acts chapter 15, the church up until this point, has gone from a small group of believers in an upper room with one mission by Christ to go and make disciples of every nation, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, through the power of the Holy Spirit's inspiration and guidance. <br /><br /> And we saw how that gospel. Went from Jerusalem to 3000 in a single day at Pentecost to exploding out to Judea and Samaria now to the ends of the earth. And we see how nothing could seem to stop it. Not persecutions, not stonings, not uh, executions, not imprisonments. There was nothing that seemed to stop or stand in the way of the gospel of Jesus Christ. <br /><br /> And now as we see, uh, it seems the devil takes a different tact. It's not working. And now I'm not saying he stops with his attempts to persecute, but now he, he begins a new tactic. He starts the dissension from within the walls of the church and we see the rise of a different gospel. We know up until this point, the church has been again exploding. <br /><br /> Among the Jews. But what first began as a trickle through the household of Cornelius and the mission that Peter had to them of laying on of hands and receiving of the spirit, having their gentile Pentecost now has become a torrent. What was a, once a trickle has become a torrent. The gentiles are coming in in droves, one after the other, after the other, receiving the gospel of Jesus Christ and being changed. <br /><br /> But this is a recipe for conflict, and we'll see why here in a minute. What I wanna do is we go, and I know that we don't have a ton of time this morning, so I wanna move swiftly. When we have a large chunk of scripture like this 21 verses, the best thing we can do is to kind of block it out in sections. <br /><br /> So if you're taking notes, if you're not taking notes, I won't be offended. But if you are taking notes, I've blocked it out into three separate parts versus one through five. I'm calling the rise of a different gospel. Verses six through 18, the defense of the one true gospel. And lastly, 19 through 21. The call in light of this gospel. <br /><br /> That's just a help helpful way to kind of block it out in your notes if you're following along. <br /><br /> So verses one through five, let's start. There we see again all this context that I've just laid out, right? The church is going out through the first missionary journey of Paul and Barnabas. Now gentiles as well as Jews, are entering into the family of God through grace. But we see in verse one now this rise of this different gospel coming out. <br /><br /> Some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers the Christians. Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved. Strong words. Thems fighting words, and we see immediately the response of the Paul, of Paul and Barnabas here is not delayed. It's not hesitant, it's immediate. <br /><br /> They step into action, sharp debate and dissension. Why? Because this is contrary to the very fiber of what they're teaching. You don't believe me. Go to Acts chapter 13, verse 39. Listen to the words of Paul speaking from the rooftops, figuratively in the synagogue, proclaiming for all to hear this message and by him, Acts chapter 13, verse 39. <br /><br /> By him meaning Christ, everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses. Two chapters before in I Iconium in Lystra, preaching this message to all. Who would hear not? By the law of Moses, it's gonna free you from all the things that that never could. <br /><br /> And yet we hear this contrary. This other gospel, this different gospel. I'm getting that phrase at different gospel from Galatians. If you are wanting to continue to study this passage in your own time, great thing. A great thing to do is actually to read the book of Galatians alongside it. It's a great commentary on this issue. <br /><br /> Um, Paul is dealing just with this issue as he goes along, but Paul, and here's a, just a little bit of a glimpse into Paul's mindset and, and first Col and Galatians one, six through seven. Paul says this, I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel. <br /><br /> Not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ for am I now seeking the approval of man or God? Or am I trying to please man, if I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ. Okay, so we see Paul and Barnabas, they're not kind of disagreeing, they're not kinda like well take no, they are coming in sharp debate and dissension. <br /><br /> They are coming up against this different gospel and right away the church sends out Paul Barnabas back to the scene of the crime, back to Jerusalem, where it all began to be a part of the first Jerusalem Council. This was a serious matter in one which they did not take lightly. Before we dive into the, the meat of the passage in six through 18, I wanna ask a question, which maybe some of you're asking, maybe you're not. <br /><br /> Where did this come. Where if, if, if the message being preached by Paul and by Barnabas is so loudly in opposition to this, if the message which they've received from Christ from the beginning is not through works of the law, but through Christ, where is this other gospel coming from? I believe the roots of it are, are, there's two. <br /><br /> We need to get into the minds of a Jewish person for a minute. It's hard in as, as, uh, modern day people to get our minds into the right frame of reference, to understand the context to which this passage takes a part of. But to be a Jewish person meant two primary things. One, your value, your identity was wrapped up in how well you followed Torah, The law of Moses. <br /><br /> And by the time that Jesus came, that law had grown and ballooned to such a, that it actually was about over 600, well over 600 different rules and regulations for the Jewish people to follow. Guess what? You can't follow that. And so they had these beautiful days of atone that the Lord had built in for them to come and to confess their sin and be healed and all this stuff. <br /><br /> But it was a broken system, not because of God, but because of the brokenness of man. However, they were still clinging to those laws, to that old way. By the time Jesus came, they were utterly enslaved to the mindset of earning God's approval through works. They were obsessed. There was 24 chapters in one of their holy books, one of their rabbinic books, dedicated just to how not to break the Sabbath, 24 chapters. <br /><br /> It's down to the very core of who they are and secondly, To be Jewish, meant to be not only devoted to the law of Moses, but to be separate from the world. And that has its roots. All the way back when the, when the people of God, the Israelites were nomadic and they were coming into the land that was promised in Canaan, and they were called not to mix with the Canaanites, but to remain a part and holy. <br /><br /> Now, they didn't do that well at all in their history and in time after time, they would return and mix and worship other gods and other idols. And so now in this context, they're so preoccupied with not even looking at a Gentile. Now, imagine those two things in the in light of you've received the gospel, great, your Messiah has come, his name is Jesus. <br /><br /> All the signs and wonders you're buying in. Now all of a sudden, the dirty Gentiles from across the street are sitting next to you in the synagogue. Oh boy. Now all of a sudden, that dude, you know, lives a deb botched lifestyle. Totally different from what you and how you live. He's not pure. I can't sit next to him. <br /><br /> Now it's, it's one that you're okay. You're gonna keep your peace. You're gonna be quiet. But now all of a sudden, the, the woman from across the street who has three, has had three husbands. Now she's sitting on your left. And now behind you and in front of you are these people that not only are completely different from you, have had different values, different ways of looking at life. <br /><br /> They look different, they smell different, they act different. But now you're called to be one with them. Not so fast. I believe this is the root which is rising up. Again, I believe that the enemy prodding and poking to begin this conflict from within the walls of the church. What they are feeling is, no, no, no, no, no. <br /><br /> You've gotta become, become one of us before you can become one of his. You gotta become a Jew before you can become a Christian. That's what, that is. The the desire to be circumcised. , they must be circumcised and follow the law of Moses. I'm not gonna get into anatomically what circumcision is, but I will tell you that circumcision was a rite of passage into becoming Jewish, bringing yourself in under the law of Moses, saying, I am a Jew. <br /><br /> I will follow the laws of the God of, of Jacob. <br /><br /> So this call, again, it's a salvi, that's a fancy word, but it concerns salvation. They're, they are saying, they're preaching that unless you have done these things, you cannot be saved. Okay, We're moving on <br /><br /> the defense of the one true gospel. We see now the seriousness of which they've taken this, they, they have gathered around in the council, unprecedented up until this point to defend the gospel. And we see that this false gospel has reached the council, the very heart of Jerusalem before even the apostles, Paul and Barnabas to. <br /><br /> it's reached, It's got, it has, You know, bad news has swift feet and it's reached ahead of them. And we see that in the, Even in the very council, there's men standing up saying, Wait a minute. No. They need to be made to follow the law. A praise bee to God. For men like Peter Paul and Barnabas and James Peter's defense is a beautiful one. <br /><br /> As we read earlier, we see he speaks the words, brothers, trying to make sure we're all one here. You know that in the early days, God made a choice among you that by my mouth, the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and belief. He's talking about Acts chapter 10, right? When God gave him a vision and said, Don't call unclean what I have called clean. <br /><br /> Peter was stuck in this same lie shortly. This is not something that's alien to Peter. He knew this struggle. , but God had healed him from it, and he went to the household of Cornelius and laid hands on him and he received the spirit, and that's what he's referring to here. <br /><br /> He talks about how he gave them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, and he made no distinction between us and them having cleansed their hearts by the law, having cleansed their hearts, by circumcision, by faith. Now therefore, why are you putting to test? God did the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither are fathers, nor we are able to bear, but we believe that we will be saved through the grace of our Lord Jesus, just as they will look at the response and all the assembly fell silent. <br /><br /> Powerful impact of Peter's words. , all the assembly fell silent. Peter's saying to them, that yolk that you're trying to put back on their necks, that's the yolk that Jesus came to break. Matthew 11. His yoke is easy. His burden is light. This is not the yolk which we have come to bring a powerful defense of the one true gospel by advocating and witnessing to the fact that the presence of God came and was among the Gentiles, even as they were among the Jews. <br /><br /> So God's presence is witnessing to the Gentiles. Now we step onto the second witnesses or defenders, the lawyers of the gospel. We see Paul and Barnabas speak up. It's funny, anytime it seems like anytime there's silence, Paul and Barnabas are like, Let me tell you about what God's doing. Like they've done it like three or four times already. <br /><br /> They can't hold it in. What God is doing among them, they can't even contain themselves. And once again, it gets silent for a second by Peter, just kind of like quieting the crowd. Now, immediately they jump in with what God is doing. So first we see Peter witnessing to the presence of God and the Gentiles. <br /><br /> Now we see Paul Barnabus witnessing to the power of God, working on behalf of the Gentiles, saying, Listen, just as he's working in in power and majesty among you to further his gospel, he's working among them just as His presence. Holy Spirit presence has come upon us. At Pentecost, he came upon them. Who are you to place on the next of those whom God has called a yolk that no man can bear? <br /><br /> And lastly, we have the words of James brother of Jesus. This is not James the Apostle. Some of you who've been following closely might be like, Wait, a, I thought he got executed. He did get executed. This isn't James the Apostle, not James and John James. This is James brother of Jesus, who has now apparently received Jesus as his savior and is now serving as a prominent leader in the Jerusalem church, possibly even presiding over this council. <br /><br /> When you have the last words, usually it means you're in charge. It's interesting, not Peter. Peter was an evangelist and apostle to send out the gospel. It seemed as though James was presiding over this council, James brother of Jesus. We see his response is in agreement with Peter, an agreement with Paul Barnabas, but adding to it in how we've seen, okay, The Gentiles are called by the Lord because we see the presence of the Lord on them and we see the power of the Lord among them. <br /><br /> But lastly, we've seen that this has always been God's plan for them. We see him echo the words of the prophet Amos in Amos chapter nine. After this, I will return and I will rebuild the tent of David that has fallen. I will rebuild its ruins and I will restore it that the remnant of mankind may seek the Lord and all the gentiles who are called by my name. <br /><br /> Speaking of that, that broken fall intent, its talking about how David was the anointed of God, right? To carry the line of the Messiah, and yet his own sin disqualified him. The sin, the inability to follow that law, and yet God is going to restore it through Jesus and His coming. And the purpose of that is so that the Gentiles might come to know the, the, the interesting thing is the Jewish people constantly miss this in their reading of Torah. <br /><br /> But aims nine is not the only time that God prophesies the day that will come when the gospel will not just be for the, the, the word of the Lord will not just be for the Jewish people, but a day that will come when all the nations will have access to God. That's the point in the Abramic covenant, in the the covenant given to Abraham. <br /><br /> It's there. It says, Through you all the nations of the world will be blessed. Not just the Jewish, not just the Israelites, not just your family. Your family will be the blessing to the world. And we know that through his family came Christ who blessed the world with his presence. We also know that in other places we hear about how the Israelites were called to be a holy priesthood to the world. <br /><br /> Their call was always to join their messiah in bringing the gospel to the nations. James is reminding him of that. He's saying, This isn't just a new fangled Christian thing, this is a Jewish thing. He gives, when he talks about Peter there, he says, he doesn't just say, Peter told you about how this happened. <br /><br /> He says, Simon, why do you think he does that? Giving his Hebrew name, the inclusion, reminding him he, he's a Hebrew brother. This is a Hebrew call. This is a Jewish call. And lastly, as we close the, the last and final part, what I call just the call in light of this gospel, we see really interesting end to the, the way the sermon sort of ends. <br /><br /> It's not the way I want it to be. The just these incredible proclamations by these great men of God about the gospel and about how it's not by works, but by faith in Jesus. And then James has to go talking about regulations. We see in the, the final spot here that James talks about, but therefore, I first, he agrees we shouldn't make it difficult for the Gentiles to enter the kingdom of God. <br /><br /> We should not make it difficult. It's not stand in their way, not be gatekeepers of salvation, but we should write to them, and this is the part that can be confusing for some of us, to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, and from the things that have been strangled and from the blood for the ancient generations. <br /><br /> Moses has been taught in every city for, he has been taught in every sabba and in the synagogues. We see an ending that can be confusing to us, and I want to just do my best to shed a little bit of light on it. I would argue that in this context right here, James is not giving a salic command like they were in the beginning. <br /><br /> When they're saying you can't be saved, he's giving a civil command. for the interest of unity, all four of those things. I'm not saying that sexual morality, that that's not a, a moral issue. I am, it obviously is our bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit. But what I am saying is in this case, it's about temple. <br /><br /> The, the pagan worship. All pagan rights and rights of worship are included here. The, the, the sacrificed system, right? The drinking of blood, the strangling of animals, and sexual, those are sexual immorality was rampant within the temple worship system. It was almost impossible to take part in it without it. <br /><br /> So James is saying, Listen, we've received this new gospel or this gospel that has been promised from the beginning. All things are being made new through the Holy Spirit and by the power of his name. Why are you, It seems like some of the Gentiles are still going to their old temples, and maybe they're trying to worship Jesus in their old temples. <br /><br /> He's saying, Don't we encourage you not to do that? Two reasons. Why would you do that? That that's not what God's, God's call you to. Don't let your freedom, let allow you to take license for sin, right Paul, as Paul says, but rather press on towards Jesus. So I think there's that involved. It's for the sake of the Gentiles and just getting them out of their old lifestyle, but also I think primarily it's for the sake of the Jews. <br /><br /> As I mentioned, they're sitting in the synagogues and they've know these people are, maybe they're coming straight from the, their own temple and they, they're worse of being Jesus the best. They know how, but it's the old way for them, just like it's the old way for the Jews. They're both clinging to their old understandings of God. <br /><br /> And it seems like James is encouraging them both. Hey you guys, Jews, you need to stop gatekeeping salvation. You need to stop real. It's not about Mosaic law anymore. It's about how Jesus has come to complete the law. Leave that old way behind, and now he's, and, and now the gentles are probably like, Yeah, let us be. <br /><br /> And then he, he turns to them and says, Now you, <br /><br /> you gotta leave behind that old way, those old forms of joy and happiness and worship things you used to worship, the things of the flesh, blood, sexual, and morality. Leave those things behind. Come together before the Lord for the sake of love and unity. Leave those things behind a call in light of the gospel. <br /><br /> As we close, <br /><br /> I have a question, or I guess I, I have, I'm anticipating a question that some of you might be asking. That question is great. Joe, you talked about this bounty that's here in the scripture. You told me about all, all the good that's in here. Maybe some of you are tracking with me, maybe some of you are seeing where I'm headed with this. <br /><br /> Maybe some of you were like, It's a lot of story you're giving me and not a lot of stuff I would, I want some stuff to take home. Joe, I wanna answer that by posing a question to you all because how you receive this this morning depends entirely upon how you came in this morning. <br /><br /> Did you come in already full on, on the true gospel of Jesus, full of grace and peace, joyful and and truly just rejoicing what the Lord is doing in your life and he's revealing things that, and you're just trusting in the simple gospel of Jesus that he came to bring the undefiled beautiful gospel of faith in Jesus. <br /><br /> Maybe you're there and I wanna speak to you first before I get to the second group. If you are that person, and I do believe there are many of you in this room, the message I believe from this passage is simple. , Are you using what you have to be advocates and defendants for the one true gospel? Are you, are your eyes open to your brothers and your sisters around you and the yolk that's upon their neck? <br /><br /> Are you like Peter, like James, like Paul and Barnabas, ready to step into action when you see people laboring under a false gospel of works and the approval of man, or are you standing by and just enjoying it for yourself? Step up. Use what God is giving you, his pouring out of his spirit and love and peace and joy, and advocate for the one true gospel among your brothers and sisters. <br /><br /> The the devil has not stopped attacking the one true gospel, and he will not until the day that Christ returns advocate for the one true gospel. Now, I'm speaking to the second group, perhaps the larger group this morning. Did you come in weary? Beaten down lo encumbered by a load of cares, anxious, fearful, running on empty. <br /><br /> I wanna ask you a question. Whose yoke are you carrying on your shoulders? Is it the easy yoke of Jesus or is it the yoke that no man could bear? Not you, not your parents, not your siblings, not your children. I would say that the Jewish people were carrying that yoke on their own shoulders, and therefore, using that yoke. <br /><br /> When you're heavy, you wanna make everyone else feel heavy. When you are heavy, you want, when you have that heavy yolk of man's approval, the need to b to measure up, you've always been that way. The whole world tells you that's how things work. And now you're feeling weighed down. You're, you're, you're, you have no energy, you're weak. <br /><br /> And instead of coming to the Lord and letting him remove that heavy yolk that no man can bear, you're doing your very best to place that heavy yolk on the shoulders of your brothers and your sisters. <br /><br /> The message is simple to you. In Matthew 11 verses 28 through 30, Jesus has a beautiful message for us. Come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon me, upon you, and learn from me. For I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yolk is easy and my burden is light. <br /><br /> Come under the easy yoke of Jesus. Again. Don't be like the Galatians. When Paul in, in Galatians three says to them, Who you foolish escalations. Why have you abandoned the gospel of which you have been taught? Was it by works of the law that you received the gospel and received the spirit? Or by faith, did you receive the gospel? <br /><br /> Because you realized, Oh, I can do all these things. I can measure up. I can be the perfect husband, I can be the perfect wife. I can be the best mom in the world. I can be the best sister. I can be the best teacher. I can be the best businessman. I'm really something. That's why God needs me. Or did you receive him because you knew there was no other way, but through the faith in Jesus Christ, return to that knowledge. <br /><br /> Let's be advocates for the one true gospel. Let's pray. <br /><br /> Lord, thank you for your word, which always brings us back to truth. God, I pray that this message would not be one which. Uh, leaves are minds as soon as it enters, but that they would take root press down deep in the very fiber of who we are on their catch fire, that we would take the time to learn more and more what it means to be people and children of your easy yoke. <br /><br /> To find rest for our weariness, to find rest from our toil and the arms of Jesus. We love you Lord. We thank you for this time and your name. Amen. Thank you guys.</div> false no <![CDATA[Developing Disciples]]> Acts 14:19- 28

"But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having persuaded the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead."



Sermon Transcript:

Morning, everybody. Morning. Please take in your bi, Take your Bibles to Acts. Chapter 14. Gonna be looking at Acts chapter 14 versus 19 to 28. This passage we're gonna be looking at in a couple of minutes here. We have a guy from our church, uh, he was an intern with US Pastoral intern. His name is Matt. Matt has been out in Illinois.

Uh, he is between churches. He just got a call to, uh, another church. Really excited for him. Been in contact with him, and I had recently asked him because he's, he's now been attending the church, um, and started there I believe in August or September. They've called him to begin in December. And so I just wrote him a note and I said, What are you doing in preparation?

Of taking over this new ministry. And he wrote me back this week and I was really excited by the letter. Um, he said, you know, the first time I was going into my first pastorate, which ended up being a, a challenging ministry, um, he said, I spent all my time preparing. Uh, I got a sermon series prepared. I got, um, plans and, and ideas and programs and methodologies I was gonna do.

And he said, But this time, while I'm doing a little bit of sermon prep and getting a direction where I'm going with my sermons, he said, I'm just spending time with people. He said, We're having couples over from the church. Uh, I'm spending time with the current pastor and just asking him to tell me about people so I can better know who's who and what's going on.

He said, I'm spending a lot of time with. Young guys that I see could be potential influencers here, and I'm trying to come alongside of them and, and build into their lives and just build relationships for future building into their lives. I was excited because I believe the perspective he's bringing of developing people in their walk with Jesus and looking at developing future leaders is the greatest call of equipping people as pastors.

It lines up exactly with the heart of pastoral leadership. We see in these first two missionaries, Paul and Barnabas, in the passage we're going to read this morning. We find that developing disciples was the foundational strategy of the early church leadership, and I'd like to read verse 19 to 28 here in Acts chapter 14.

but Jews came from Antioch and Iconium. And having persuaded the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city. Supposing he was dead. But when the disciples gathered about him, he rose up and entered the city. And on the next day, he went on with Barnabas to Derby. When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lira and to I Iconium, and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith and saying that through many tribulations, we must enter the kingdom of God.

And when they had appointed elders for them in every church with prayer and fasting, they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed. . Then they passed through Pisidia and came to Cam Phi. And when they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Italian. And from there they sailed to Antioch where they had been committed, commended to the grace of God for the work they had fulfilled.

And when they arrived and gathered the church together, they declared all that God had done with them and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles and there remained no little time with the disciples. Let's pray.

Lord, this morning we wanna praise you for the privilege of just gathering this room, being able to express our songs, our praise to you. And Father, we now want to kneel before your word and be taught. God, I love this passage. I love the things that's spoken into my own life. Lord, it is my desire as we prepare ourselves to partake in the Lord supp at the end of our service.

That Lord, you might enable us to be listeners to the truths that are in this passage today. In Jesus name, amen. Wanna just give some context to where we are. Uh, and I'm gonna do that via a map, my pointer this morning. Um, again, this Ben had up a similar map to this last week. We've been showing this. This is a map of the first missionary journey of Paul and his sidekick Barnabas.

They have left a place called Antioch, which is over here. This is a Jerusalem, this is Israel's area. Up here is, uh, beyond Israel, but it is where the second large church has been started and has now become the center of the descending ministry. They've gone on to the island of, uh, Cypress and now they're up in this area.

And where we've seen them recently is up in this area of Antioch. That was in, uh, chapter 13. Paul preached a great sermon. There was well received until the religious leaders, the Jewish leaders, began to be threatened by Paul and they eventually worked up the crowd and he was driven, They were driven out of Antioch by the people stirred up, They then went to I Iconium, which is the place right after that.

You could see I iconium there to the east and I, Iconium was, uh, a place. They had early success again in the beginning of chapter 14. But again, the religious leaders this time, interestingly, the Jewish leaders gathered with some of the Gentile leaders. I mean, they literally got together for nothing. But now they got together because they had a common foe in these two apostles.

And so they are driven out there because they get word that these guys are stirring up the crowd to stone them. And so there's a Antioch driven out, I Iconium threatened to be stoned. They go down to the next city and you can see it there. Lira. And lira is the ultimate, um, from penthouse to outhouse experience.

You remember, uh, if you were here for Ben's sermon last week, he talked about the first part of their experience in Lira was so. Resoundingly excited with the miracle that they did of healing this, this lame man that they actually gathered around him. And the people of Lister were declaring there were gods and he was Hermes and, and, uh, Barnabas was, was uh, uh, Jupiter.

And they're just praising them as god's and they are elevating them. And, and Paul and Barnabas are having to fight this off. Well, that changes in our text this morning where we find that people from Antioch and I, Iconium now have traveled after them. They've stirred up the people so much that the people that a moment ago were trying to declare them as God's stone, Paul, and they leave him for dead.

They have intended him to be dead. They think he is dead. It and he's lying there on the ground and it's the, the disciples gather around him and he and he, he gets up, probably staggers up, goes into the city, and the next day he goes to this, this final town that's called Derby and is not on this map, but this green dot right here is Derby.

Okay, so here they are, Aaron Derby. And this is a, this is, this is a, a key moment in the first missionary journey where in Derby they says they led many to the Lord. There were a number of, it says many disciples came to the Lord there, but both Paul and Barnabas clearly sensed from the spirit of God, this trip is over.

We're now to return back to our original sending church, Antioch and Syria. But here is a really important decision that they have to make. Again, last time I pointed the map, Lera Derby is right there. If they went through the mountain pass right over to here, which would be just east of there. There would be lera, there would be derby.

I'm not sure why I'm shaking this much, and you would go right through a mountain pass, right about there is the city of Tarsus. Tarsus is Saul's hometown. Paul's hometown. He's already preached there. We know that he was preached, he preached there. He's safe there. This is a perfect place to recover from the wounds of rocks and, and the bruises and the brokenness that has affected his body.

But he chooses to go back and retrace his steps to Lera two, Iconium to Antioch, and then down to Perga and get on a ship again and go back home. Why? Why do that? I mean, the man has been physically. Incapacitated. Everybody thought he was dead. He's gone back for one reason. He is passionate about developing the disciples that have recently come to know Jesus Christ in those places no matter what the personal cost, it is a, it is a powerful visual of what Paul is doing here.

He is committed to those who have embraced Jesus in those places who have become what the text calls disciples. So who are these disciples? My question really is this, what is a disciple? And I've spent quite a bit of time with this in the New Testament, just trying to crystallize when a person is given the Title Disciples, cuz it's 30 times in the book of Acts, the word disciple is used.

What is a disciple? What does it mean? And there are three things that are clearly identifiable. I'm mentioning this now and I'm gonna come back to this at the very end of our study. A disciple has three characteristics. Here's what they are. Number one, they have accepted Jesus salvation. They have accepted salvation through Jesus Christ.

Secondly, they have yielded to Jesus. Lordship the word, uh, disciple is actually the word that means a follower, a, a learner, a person that comes. It's where Jesus said the disciples, follow me, follow me, follow me. Come after me. He is a follower. She is a follower. A disciple is one who yields to Jesus as Lord.

When you follow somebody, it means you're saying you're in charge. You're leading the way, you're choosing the path. And the third thing is they are someone who has joined Jesus mission. We're gonna come back to that. So now we look, and where I wanna focus this morning is in verse 22, because verse 22 is the center of this passage.

And basically verse 22 is telling us why Paul and Barnabas took this, risked a venture to go back through these cities who have just left him for dead. I mean, every reason we would think is they're gonna be thinking, Oh, alright, he's still alive. We can take care of that. Simple enough, he goes back to those places because he has a three part ministry in developing these disciples who have recently embraced Jesus as savior Lord and are identifying now with the mission of Jesus on earth, we find three things that he does in this phrase.

First of all, it says in verse 22, they were strengthening disciples. The word strengthen here is a, is a very pregnant term. It is a term that actually was used of plants that you would, you would stake them up if you have h ranges. Uh, I should have had a picture, so you know what I'm talking about. Um, Hs are these big bushy plants that when first getting larger, they get a big head of, of, of, of blossoms.

And, and if you don't stake them up, here's what happens with a hygeia when they're in bloom. Mm. And you'll see the whole plant just dropped all types. You have to stake them. Now the happy thing is once you steak es for a few years or couple years, they get strong enough when they come back that they don't droop over again.

But initially you have to prop 'em up. This word literally means strengthen, means to prop up, to support, to enable to stand. The idea is, They were going back to help these believers be able to stand on their own. This is what discipling is about. They were strengthening the name, propping them up. Okay, what does that mean?

What does that look like? So we look at the word, and the word is used a number of times in the books vax. It is also used in the gospels. It is continually a, a, a verb that is associated with building up disciples, both in the ministry of Jesus and in the ministry of, of the spiritual leaders. In the Book of Acts, Jesus followers, there are three characteristics that I think are, are, are focused on, and I'd like to just highlight them quickly by three verses of what it means to prop up or to enable a believer to stand Three things.

If you're trying to disciple somebody into the state of that, they can stand on their own that are involved. Number one is this. You teach them truth. Acts 15, verse 32. And Judas and Silas, who were themselves prophets, encouraged and strengthened the brothers with many words. Paul and Barnabas are doing that here.

They're going back and they're instructing, they're teaching because these individuals are not yet able to, uh, to feed themselves, if you will. Their infants in the faith. He's helping them. He's, he's, he's feeding them truth. Now, that will continue even when a believer is strong enough to stand on their own.

But you're now, they're not just dependent on you utterly to give them food. The, the inferences, believers now can stand on their own. They can feed themselves. If, if you've known Christ for any period of time, hopefully you're doing that, that, that you're in the word, that you're being fed by the word that you grow growing in the word, but that doesn't mean there's not a place for, for being taught by others or have other teaching.

There is still supplemental food, if you will. There is teaching of truth. Secondly, we find they were strengthened. They were propped up in their faith by personal sharing. I, Luke 22, verse 32. Jesus is talking to Peter and here's what he says. Peter, I've prayed for you that your faith will not fail. And when you have turned again, here's that word, strengthen your brothers.

That seems ominous. . Okay? What? Okay, now you're in the unenviable role that you have to. Okay. Okay, so they here, the second one is by personal sharing. He says, Peter, you're gonna strengthen your brother. Same word. You're gonna help your brothers be propped up in your faith. How's that gonna happen? He tells us, he says, Peter, I'm praying for your faith that it won't fail because I know what you're gonna do.

You're gonna screw up big time. Now we could look at that and say, Man, Jesus prayer didn't work. He did fail. Peter did deny Jesus three times in the most humiliating way for Peter, the most abject, betraying way. So what happened? The word fail. Here is a very important word. When Jesus says, I'm praying, your faith will not fail.

It's actually a word that means to cease, to be completely wiped out. It's used, for instance, when it says, darkness covered the earth, that Jesus death. And it says, The sunlight failed. What did it mean? It went out. It was obliterated. Nobody saw sunlight. It was utterly dark. And so it was utterly scary. But that's what happened at, at the, at the death of Jesus.

And he's saying, I'm praying that your faith, the light of your faith won't go out. It's gonna de diminished. It's gonna be hurting, it's gonna stagger. But I'm praying that and, and his faith didn't fail. His faith was hurt. He was broken. He was sad. He was ashamed. . But when Jesus called out to the, to, uh, the, to Mary and he says, Go and tell the disciples and Peter that I'm here.

Peter and John and Peter were the first guys to get there. They ran back to see Christ. His faith didn't fail. It wasn't obliterated. But here's why I'm saying all this. So what did Jesus tell him to do? Here's what he says in Luke 22, verse 32. I've prayed for you that faith may not fail and when you have turned, strengthened, the brothers, what's he saying?

He says, When you have restored yourself, when you have embraced again my forgiveness, when you have been repentant and, and, and I've drawn you again to my heart, and you have sensed that I delight to show mercy Peter,

tell your story. Tell your story, you'll strengthen your brothers when they hear the story of a God of grace. Tell your story when you've turned again. I read somewhere years ago. It was very impactful to me when I was really studying, How do you disciple people? One individual made this definition, they said Discipleship is actually life transference.

I really do like that. I really believe that's true. You can't disciple somebody beyond where you've lived. You share your story. Peter's story was not one of Peter's strength, was not one of Peter's prowess. His story was of the beauty of Christ. He says, Peter, tell you a story. Often people will say, What would I say to anybody?

I mean, you, Yeah, I understand this idea. We should be discipling. Well, what do I, I mean, I'm not a teacher. I don't know what do I know? You have your stories. They're not stories about how wonderful you are, how great a Christian you are. The stories that people need to hear of, you know, what I've learned in my failures, that God has come alongside of me and what he's shown me about himself.

I've learned in the hard times of life when I saw no way out, when, when it was difficult, that God somehow intervened. How do we strengthen one another? We share our stories because there's stories of God. That's what he says to pe. How do we strengthen others? How do we prop up their walk with God? How do we develop disciples?

So much of it as just telling our stories. Third, we do it by spilling our faith into them. Romans one 11 says this way, again, the word strengthen that I may impart to you. Paul says, I want to come to you to impart you some spiritual gift to strengthen you. That is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine.

He says, I, I'm writing to you, but man, I wanna be there. I wanna be with you guys because I wanna impart you something that's gonna help you to be propped up and stronger in your faith and, and, and, and see you stronger in your relationship to Christ. And he says, Well, here's what I'm saying. That is, That we may encourage each other by our faith, yours and mine.

There are times when you find out why meeting with other believers and having relationships with other believers is so vital because you're hurting and you're confused and you're beat up and you think, I don't, I don't have faith right now. Been times in my life, in my ministry here where I've had to gather a few guys to just come and say, Man, I'm struggling right now.

I just need others to just pray with me. My wife and I have had to gather other couples. Maybe you're here and you'd say, Wow. Um, it doesn't seem right for a pastor. I mean, you're supposed, Well, I don't know what you're looking for. But the pastors around here are just a bunch of broken guys that are desperate for God, and we need at times other people to spill their faith into us.

I love the story of Charles Spurgeon. You can always use Spurgeon as a big one. Uh, Spurgeon is truly probably the greatest preacher in the English history. The hi, his English language. If you haven't read his morning by morning or his evening by evening devotionals, they're just beautiful. But Spurgeon by his own admission, struggle with depression at times and discouragement for sure.

And one day he was really laboring in the ministry and was very discouraged. And his wife, I'm not sure how she pulled this off. , but she actually got up above their bed and I guess she did it during the day. I mean, I've actually thought about how she pulled this off, but I guess it was during the day and then when it was nighttime, she just got 'em in bed and got 'em to go to sleep because what she had done was she had written a verse on the roof, on the ceiling so that when Charles woke up in the morning and looked up, the first thing he saw was the truth of God.

She at that moment, and it's hard when your spouse is really reeling with discouragement to not get taken down too. When they're struggling, you have two response, two natural responses. One, when they just feel beat up and, and discouraged or they're upset or whatever it is, you know, they're all worked up.

Whatever it looks like, one of your responses is to go down with them. The other one is to get ticked off. Look, you don't have to take all of us down this, you know, don't, don't sink all the boats. But she had a faith that at that moment he needed. And so she wrote on that ceiling. Charles, look up.

We need other people doing that for us. No matter how much you've journeyed with Jesus, no matter how much you've got thick stalk and your plant seems to survive, there are going to be seasons when you need other people whose faith will spill into you. to keep your, your plant strong, to be strengthened.

All those things are what is involved.

The last two will be faster. That was all the first one. Strengthening his second phrase he uses verse 22, he says this in verse 22. The first phrase was strengthening those, Sorry, I'm looking it up. Strengthening the souls of disciples. Now it says, Encouraging them to continue in the faith. The word encourage in the New Testament is para, Oh, you've heard it before.

It's the idea. Para means parallel lines to come alongside of callo means to, to call or to speak into. It's the idea of coming alongside of someone and speaking into them. It is translated by two words in the New Testament, and it is translated numerous times. both ways. One is the word encourage, the other is the word exhort that follows parallel tracks.

To do the ministry of pering, to do the ministry of coming alongside. And speaking truth means you do speak words that encourage you also speak words that exhort both have the same idea. Sometimes you need to be a little more direct. Sometimes you just need to be a little gentler. But the idea is you're trying to bolster them up.

You're trying to stimulate their faith, and here's what he says. I'm encouraging them to remain in the faith. The word in the faith, again, the phrase in the faith is a very prominent one. In the Book of Acts, it is talking about something specific, and as you study those passages, you find that the faith is basically the whole outliving of, of Christian truth.

It's not just a body of truth, for instance. It does mean when he says, Remain in the faith, don't turn from the faith. I I in first Timothy four, one, he says, Don't turn from the faith to false teaching. Certainly he's, he's hoping that he can encourage these guys to, to not turn away, but it's more than that.

It's James chapter two, verse one where he says, People deny or people wander from the faith. when they show discrimination to various people in the church and treat some people one way and other people another way. It's very practical there. It's in, in a last example in, in first Timothy, he talks about don't deny the faith.

He says, You deny the faith when you don't care for your family's needs, when you neglect your family. So here's what he's saying. To remain in the faith means that you are continually, practically out working the faith that is found in Jesus Christ. If we could say it this way, he's saying this, Yeah, your doctrine is correct, but it's more than that.

It's when your walk matches your talk. It's when you're living it out. When you're remaining in the faith means I don't just have verbiage. I have. Lifestyle. It, My behavior matches that. And he said, I want to encourage and I want to exhort each other. Now, most of us need other people to support us in doing that.

Let me mean, this is the whole thing of Weight Watchers or every recovery program, many, uh, peon groups, peloton groups, crafting guilds, uh, rev well classes here, community groups are environments that are, provide positive accountability and support for things. We wanna do that we wanna be. And the Paul says, I'm, I'm trying to, to help these individuals remain in the faith to have their walk match their talk.

Most of us benefit from that external support for the church choices we make. We have many small groups here and many of them as community groups, but there are others as well. They are not just places to make friends. They are that they are not just places to know and be known, although it is essential that we do that, but that isn't the goal ultimately of why we have community groups.

I do believe strongly that you really, if you're gonna really do life in a community group and it's going to serve what is the ultimate function of a community group, you will know people and you will be known. But the reason for the knowing and being. Is that we can more effectively provide encouragement and exhortation to godliness, that we can grow in our faith, that we can remain in the faith, if you will, living out by our walk.

What we say, by our talk, that the accountability, the support, the encouragement, the exhortation comes and pulses. These believers are gonna need this, and I want to help support this environment for them. I'm trying to help them be. to remain in their faith. I'm gonna say something here that I is on my heart.

There was a book written in 2001. It was a book called Bowling Alone. It was a very prominent best seller. Basically the story of the book is just simply that we have, as a culture moved away from real relationships and real community. And the idea is, you know, now people just bowl alone. And that was just his analogy.

And I think one of the ways that we have seen, even in CDO trying to fill the hole, Of people not really doing life together is through what is happening in social media, particularly in the political arena. I've just finished a book by called Reading the Times, which is a tremendous book in my opinion.

He talks about pseudo communities built around political persuasion. They're not Christian communities, although some people feel they are, they're not Christian communities founded around the historic faith. The same in all generations and centuries with the priority focused on Jesus kingdom in the world.

But political hot conversations where people flock to hear their side's perspective. To jump on the enemy's failings, there's a title for this now that is out there in, in the, in the social science world. It's called swarming. people swarm to those sites, many of them Christians, believers, evangel, they swarm and, and, and they're spending their time and it's like a pseudo community that we don't really know each other, but we buy and yeah.

Did you see what he said there? Did you see what she said? And it's just jump on. And it's, that's not community that we're talking about. The community we're talking about here is not just swarming and people can do this for hours, some days. It's doing life in community where we're knowing and being known and we're saying, you know why I'm here while I'm doing life with this group of people.

I wanna know God, Yeah, I need Christian friends to support me, but I need an environment that is encouraging me and, and exhorting. To be godly and, and to see myself ultimately that my ultimate calling as a citizen is I'm a citizen of the kingdom of Christ in my generation. The third thing he says is this, I want these people to know about hardships, so I'm gonna keep it real about suffering,

saying that through many tribulations, we must enter the kingdom of God. Why does he feel that's important to prop up their faith for them to stand as disciples? One, because suffering. He wants them to know that suffering keeps you off the wrong path. Prosperity, success, no real bad news in our lives is a dangerous place for us.

because that invariably tends to lead us to pride, to self sufficiency, to a false sense of security. It is why CS Lewis made this beautiful statement. Sufferings are roadblocks on the way to hell. Now you wrestle with that. Sufferings are roadblocks on the path to hell and isn't only true to unbelievers.

It's true to us that the pathway to hell, we may not be going to hell, but we can living on the path of folly, which ultimately result is hell. We can be living that way and and suffering hardship causes to say, Wow, I don't have my life. I don't have things under control the way I thought he'd, God mercifully brings that.

He's letting these people know there's gonna be hardship and fall on Jesus. I mean, if you don't. Know it. Just watch what happened to me and Lydia,

but understand that they are a beautiful part of the pathway, first of all, in keeping you away from the wrong path, but secondly, suffering leads you toward the path of God's kingdom. Paul makes an amazing statement in second, chronic second Corinthians four, seven through nine, where he summarizes his own life experience.

Here's what he says. Now we have this treasure in clay jars meaning himself, so that this extraordinary power may be from God and not from us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed. We are perplex, but not in despair. We are persecuted but not abandoned. We are struck down but not destroyed. He says.

you won't know God's extraordinary power until you see your own weaknesses. Paul is saying, You know what? I didn't know that I was a jar Clay until I was afflicted on every side, until I was perplexed completely confused about what was going on until I felt persecution and I felt struck down. But what I found in those things was that I had a clay jar in me, but I was filled with a treasure of surpassing greatness.

So that I can say that though, I have been afflicted in every way. I have been crushed. I've been perplexed. But I'm not in despair. I've been persecuted, but I never felt abandoned that I was struck down, but I have not been destroyed. I think he's giving encouragement to these people in these cities and he says, Yeah, guys.

He said, There's gonna be some really rough roads coming. There's gonna be some hard things in your spiritual journey, but I want you to find the hope in this, that God does not waste those experiences. He is near the broken heart. He is ev and ever present help in trouble. He delivers those who are crushed in spirit, expect hardship and expect God to be active in them.

All those lessons are to help these disciples develop with Jesus. I'd like to now bring us to our table this morning, the Lord's table. It's a time for disciples to remember the work of Jesus Christ on their behalf. It's a time to not only celebrate and remember, but to reflect. Paul says it this way in first Corinthians 11, Let a person examine himself then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself. But if we judged ourselves truly we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world. He says this judgment, what I'm calling judgment, is actually the discipline of God.

And he says, As you come to the table, realize this is the time to reflect. It's for disciples to reflect, to ask questions. This table is to be a place where disciples celebrate Christ. So are we looking at our lives as disciples? Have I embraced Jesus Christ as my savior? This table, this communion is for those that have done that, Am I living under Jesus Lordship?

Am I following well? This table is for disciples. Am I joining Jesus' mission? Am I available to him? Am I saying, Lord, send me to my office. Send me to my school, Send me to my soccer team. Send me to my neighborhood. Am I available for whatever you have for me? The beautiful reality of this table is, . The Lord doesn't say, Get your life all straightened out, then you can participate at the Lord's Supper.

No, he says, Get your life in such a place where you say, Lord, these are parts of my life. I just want to yield to you. I'm sorry. I'm not living as a disciple and I'm coming to this table realizing you paid the ultimate sacrifice so that I could become one. It is, as Micah the prophet said, his delight to show mercy.

There's no place where this table, where that is declared more than at this table when we're pointed to the cross. I love the old church father. There's a woman that came and they were having communion and he, she had fallen into sin and. Was just overwhelmed with grief and shame because it was fairly well known.

And she wouldn't even come to the Lord's table. And he knew that the anguish she was feeling and this old father in the faith just went and he took the Lord's elements and he went to, and he said, Woman, take it. It's for sinners. It's what it is. It's for us. It's for broken people. But it requires us to say, Yeah, I, when I was called to Jesus, I was called to be a disciple.

To say yes to Christ, to yield not, not only my eternal destiny, but my present lifestyle. And so as we come to the table this morning, and I invite you to take the elements out, I want to just take a few moments for you to quiet your heart and ask the question, Have you embraced Jesus Christ, Jesus, Jesus Savior.

Are you living as a follower of Jesus Christ? In all known areas of your life? Are you willing to be identified and join in Jesus' mission? I'd like to just give you time. Let's examine our hearts before we come to the table together.

So we come to first Corinthians 11. Here's what we read. Paul is talking for, I receive from the Lord what I also deliver to you, that the Lord Jesus and the night he was betrayed took bread. And when he had given thanks, he broken and said, This is my body, which is for you. Invites you to take open the the part where there's a little piece of bread in there and just rip the top off.

Take that piece of bread out.

We partake with this statement and Jesus said, This is my body, which is broken for you.

We're told also that he took the cup and he said, This is the new covenant in my blood. Do this in remembrance of me. Let's partake of the cup this morning.

Do this in remembrance of me.

Lord, we'd partake of these elements

in response to you who wanted us to that it was your broken body. It was your willingness to bear the lambs sacrifice, to shed your blood in your death. That we might be able to be forgiven and accepted with the Father, Lord, because of it. We wanna live like disciples. Thank you for the gift of one another in that journey to support us in that.

Thank you for the calling of your spirit through this passage to prompt us to say, God, do work in my life to prompt me up in you. Lord, I pray for people that are here whose faith needs others spilling into it. God provide those people I pray, I pray, Lord, for stories that you've written in our lives, that we would be sharing those with each other and encouraged by those stories.

Your stories. Lord, thank you for the beauty of the body, which is the place where we develop as disciples to the glory of Christ, in whose name I pray? Amen. Amen. Now go in peace to love and serve and enjoy the Lord.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/developing-disciples 51f09bf5-4d97-4fb3-bf25-65ef31bfb93e Sun, 16 Oct 2022 12:56:21 GMT <div data-html="true">Acts 14:19- 28 <br /><br /> "But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having persuaded the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead." <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> Morning, everybody. Morning. Please take in your bi, Take your Bibles to Acts. Chapter 14. Gonna be looking at Acts chapter 14 versus 19 to 28. This passage we're gonna be looking at in a couple of minutes here. We have a guy from our church, uh, he was an intern with US Pastoral intern. His name is Matt. Matt has been out in Illinois. <br /><br /> Uh, he is between churches. He just got a call to, uh, another church. Really excited for him. Been in contact with him, and I had recently asked him because he's, he's now been attending the church, um, and started there I believe in August or September. They've called him to begin in December. And so I just wrote him a note and I said, What are you doing in preparation? <br /><br /> Of taking over this new ministry. And he wrote me back this week and I was really excited by the letter. Um, he said, you know, the first time I was going into my first pastorate, which ended up being a, a challenging ministry, um, he said, I spent all my time preparing. Uh, I got a sermon series prepared. I got, um, plans and, and ideas and programs and methodologies I was gonna do. <br /><br /> And he said, But this time, while I'm doing a little bit of sermon prep and getting a direction where I'm going with my sermons, he said, I'm just spending time with people. He said, We're having couples over from the church. Uh, I'm spending time with the current pastor and just asking him to tell me about people so I can better know who's who and what's going on. <br /><br /> He said, I'm spending a lot of time with. Young guys that I see could be potential influencers here, and I'm trying to come alongside of them and, and build into their lives and just build relationships for future building into their lives. I was excited because I believe the perspective he's bringing of developing people in their walk with Jesus and looking at developing future leaders is the greatest call of equipping people as pastors. <br /><br /> It lines up exactly with the heart of pastoral leadership. We see in these first two missionaries, Paul and Barnabas, in the passage we're going to read this morning. We find that developing disciples was the foundational strategy of the early church leadership, and I'd like to read verse 19 to 28 here in Acts chapter 14. <br /><br /> but Jews came from Antioch and Iconium. And having persuaded the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city. Supposing he was dead. But when the disciples gathered about him, he rose up and entered the city. And on the next day, he went on with Barnabas to Derby. When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lira and to I Iconium, and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith and saying that through many tribulations, we must enter the kingdom of God. <br /><br /> And when they had appointed elders for them in every church with prayer and fasting, they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed. . Then they passed through Pisidia and came to Cam Phi. And when they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Italian. And from there they sailed to Antioch where they had been committed, commended to the grace of God for the work they had fulfilled. <br /><br /> And when they arrived and gathered the church together, they declared all that God had done with them and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles and there remained no little time with the disciples. Let's pray. <br /><br /> Lord, this morning we wanna praise you for the privilege of just gathering this room, being able to express our songs, our praise to you. And Father, we now want to kneel before your word and be taught. God, I love this passage. I love the things that's spoken into my own life. Lord, it is my desire as we prepare ourselves to partake in the Lord supp at the end of our service. <br /><br /> That Lord, you might enable us to be listeners to the truths that are in this passage today. In Jesus name, amen. Wanna just give some context to where we are. Uh, and I'm gonna do that via a map, my pointer this morning. Um, again, this Ben had up a similar map to this last week. We've been showing this. This is a map of the first missionary journey of Paul and his sidekick Barnabas. <br /><br /> They have left a place called Antioch, which is over here. This is a Jerusalem, this is Israel's area. Up here is, uh, beyond Israel, but it is where the second large church has been started and has now become the center of the descending ministry. They've gone on to the island of, uh, Cypress and now they're up in this area. <br /><br /> And where we've seen them recently is up in this area of Antioch. That was in, uh, chapter 13. Paul preached a great sermon. There was well received until the religious leaders, the Jewish leaders, began to be threatened by Paul and they eventually worked up the crowd and he was driven, They were driven out of Antioch by the people stirred up, They then went to I Iconium, which is the place right after that. <br /><br /> You could see I iconium there to the east and I, Iconium was, uh, a place. They had early success again in the beginning of chapter 14. But again, the religious leaders this time, interestingly, the Jewish leaders gathered with some of the Gentile leaders. I mean, they literally got together for nothing. But now they got together because they had a common foe in these two apostles. <br /><br /> And so they are driven out there because they get word that these guys are stirring up the crowd to stone them. And so there's a Antioch driven out, I Iconium threatened to be stoned. They go down to the next city and you can see it there. Lira. And lira is the ultimate, um, from penthouse to outhouse experience. <br /><br /> You remember, uh, if you were here for Ben's sermon last week, he talked about the first part of their experience in Lira was so. Resoundingly excited with the miracle that they did of healing this, this lame man that they actually gathered around him. And the people of Lister were declaring there were gods and he was Hermes and, and, uh, Barnabas was, was uh, uh, Jupiter. <br /><br /> And they're just praising them as god's and they are elevating them. And, and Paul and Barnabas are having to fight this off. Well, that changes in our text this morning where we find that people from Antioch and I, Iconium now have traveled after them. They've stirred up the people so much that the people that a moment ago were trying to declare them as God's stone, Paul, and they leave him for dead. <br /><br /> They have intended him to be dead. They think he is dead. It and he's lying there on the ground and it's the, the disciples gather around him and he and he, he gets up, probably staggers up, goes into the city, and the next day he goes to this, this final town that's called Derby and is not on this map, but this green dot right here is Derby. <br /><br /> Okay, so here they are, Aaron Derby. And this is a, this is, this is a, a key moment in the first missionary journey where in Derby they says they led many to the Lord. There were a number of, it says many disciples came to the Lord there, but both Paul and Barnabas clearly sensed from the spirit of God, this trip is over. <br /><br /> We're now to return back to our original sending church, Antioch and Syria. But here is a really important decision that they have to make. Again, last time I pointed the map, Lera Derby is right there. If they went through the mountain pass right over to here, which would be just east of there. There would be lera, there would be derby. <br /><br /> I'm not sure why I'm shaking this much, and you would go right through a mountain pass, right about there is the city of Tarsus. Tarsus is Saul's hometown. Paul's hometown. He's already preached there. We know that he was preached, he preached there. He's safe there. This is a perfect place to recover from the wounds of rocks and, and the bruises and the brokenness that has affected his body. <br /><br /> But he chooses to go back and retrace his steps to Lera two, Iconium to Antioch, and then down to Perga and get on a ship again and go back home. Why? Why do that? I mean, the man has been physically. Incapacitated. Everybody thought he was dead. He's gone back for one reason. He is passionate about developing the disciples that have recently come to know Jesus Christ in those places no matter what the personal cost, it is a, it is a powerful visual of what Paul is doing here. <br /><br /> He is committed to those who have embraced Jesus in those places who have become what the text calls disciples. So who are these disciples? My question really is this, what is a disciple? And I've spent quite a bit of time with this in the New Testament, just trying to crystallize when a person is given the Title Disciples, cuz it's 30 times in the book of Acts, the word disciple is used. <br /><br /> What is a disciple? What does it mean? And there are three things that are clearly identifiable. I'm mentioning this now and I'm gonna come back to this at the very end of our study. A disciple has three characteristics. Here's what they are. Number one, they have accepted Jesus salvation. They have accepted salvation through Jesus Christ. <br /><br /> Secondly, they have yielded to Jesus. Lordship the word, uh, disciple is actually the word that means a follower, a, a learner, a person that comes. It's where Jesus said the disciples, follow me, follow me, follow me. Come after me. He is a follower. She is a follower. A disciple is one who yields to Jesus as Lord. <br /><br /> When you follow somebody, it means you're saying you're in charge. You're leading the way, you're choosing the path. And the third thing is they are someone who has joined Jesus mission. We're gonna come back to that. So now we look, and where I wanna focus this morning is in verse 22, because verse 22 is the center of this passage. <br /><br /> And basically verse 22 is telling us why Paul and Barnabas took this, risked a venture to go back through these cities who have just left him for dead. I mean, every reason we would think is they're gonna be thinking, Oh, alright, he's still alive. We can take care of that. Simple enough, he goes back to those places because he has a three part ministry in developing these disciples who have recently embraced Jesus as savior Lord and are identifying now with the mission of Jesus on earth, we find three things that he does in this phrase. <br /><br /> First of all, it says in verse 22, they were strengthening disciples. The word strengthen here is a, is a very pregnant term. It is a term that actually was used of plants that you would, you would stake them up if you have h ranges. Uh, I should have had a picture, so you know what I'm talking about. Um, Hs are these big bushy plants that when first getting larger, they get a big head of, of, of, of blossoms. <br /><br /> And, and if you don't stake them up, here's what happens with a hygeia when they're in bloom. Mm. And you'll see the whole plant just dropped all types. You have to stake them. Now the happy thing is once you steak es for a few years or couple years, they get strong enough when they come back that they don't droop over again. <br /><br /> But initially you have to prop 'em up. This word literally means strengthen, means to prop up, to support, to enable to stand. The idea is, They were going back to help these believers be able to stand on their own. This is what discipling is about. They were strengthening the name, propping them up. Okay, what does that mean? <br /><br /> What does that look like? So we look at the word, and the word is used a number of times in the books vax. It is also used in the gospels. It is continually a, a, a verb that is associated with building up disciples, both in the ministry of Jesus and in the ministry of, of the spiritual leaders. In the Book of Acts, Jesus followers, there are three characteristics that I think are, are, are focused on, and I'd like to just highlight them quickly by three verses of what it means to prop up or to enable a believer to stand Three things. <br /><br /> If you're trying to disciple somebody into the state of that, they can stand on their own that are involved. Number one is this. You teach them truth. Acts 15, verse 32. And Judas and Silas, who were themselves prophets, encouraged and strengthened the brothers with many words. Paul and Barnabas are doing that here. <br /><br /> They're going back and they're instructing, they're teaching because these individuals are not yet able to, uh, to feed themselves, if you will. Their infants in the faith. He's helping them. He's, he's, he's feeding them truth. Now, that will continue even when a believer is strong enough to stand on their own. <br /><br /> But you're now, they're not just dependent on you utterly to give them food. The, the inferences, believers now can stand on their own. They can feed themselves. If, if you've known Christ for any period of time, hopefully you're doing that, that, that you're in the word, that you're being fed by the word that you grow growing in the word, but that doesn't mean there's not a place for, for being taught by others or have other teaching. <br /><br /> There is still supplemental food, if you will. There is teaching of truth. Secondly, we find they were strengthened. They were propped up in their faith by personal sharing. I, Luke 22, verse 32. Jesus is talking to Peter and here's what he says. Peter, I've prayed for you that your faith will not fail. And when you have turned again, here's that word, strengthen your brothers. <br /><br /> That seems ominous. . Okay? What? Okay, now you're in the unenviable role that you have to. Okay. Okay, so they here, the second one is by personal sharing. He says, Peter, you're gonna strengthen your brother. Same word. You're gonna help your brothers be propped up in your faith. How's that gonna happen? He tells us, he says, Peter, I'm praying for your faith that it won't fail because I know what you're gonna do. <br /><br /> You're gonna screw up big time. Now we could look at that and say, Man, Jesus prayer didn't work. He did fail. Peter did deny Jesus three times in the most humiliating way for Peter, the most abject, betraying way. So what happened? The word fail. Here is a very important word. When Jesus says, I'm praying, your faith will not fail. <br /><br /> It's actually a word that means to cease, to be completely wiped out. It's used, for instance, when it says, darkness covered the earth, that Jesus death. And it says, The sunlight failed. What did it mean? It went out. It was obliterated. Nobody saw sunlight. It was utterly dark. And so it was utterly scary. But that's what happened at, at the, at the death of Jesus. <br /><br /> And he's saying, I'm praying that your faith, the light of your faith won't go out. It's gonna de diminished. It's gonna be hurting, it's gonna stagger. But I'm praying that and, and his faith didn't fail. His faith was hurt. He was broken. He was sad. He was ashamed. . But when Jesus called out to the, to, uh, the, to Mary and he says, Go and tell the disciples and Peter that I'm here. <br /><br /> Peter and John and Peter were the first guys to get there. They ran back to see Christ. His faith didn't fail. It wasn't obliterated. But here's why I'm saying all this. So what did Jesus tell him to do? Here's what he says in Luke 22, verse 32. I've prayed for you that faith may not fail and when you have turned, strengthened, the brothers, what's he saying? <br /><br /> He says, When you have restored yourself, when you have embraced again my forgiveness, when you have been repentant and, and, and I've drawn you again to my heart, and you have sensed that I delight to show mercy Peter, <br /><br /> tell your story. Tell your story, you'll strengthen your brothers when they hear the story of a God of grace. Tell your story when you've turned again. I read somewhere years ago. It was very impactful to me when I was really studying, How do you disciple people? One individual made this definition, they said Discipleship is actually life transference. <br /><br /> I really do like that. I really believe that's true. You can't disciple somebody beyond where you've lived. You share your story. Peter's story was not one of Peter's strength, was not one of Peter's prowess. His story was of the beauty of Christ. He says, Peter, tell you a story. Often people will say, What would I say to anybody? <br /><br /> I mean, you, Yeah, I understand this idea. We should be discipling. Well, what do I, I mean, I'm not a teacher. I don't know what do I know? You have your stories. They're not stories about how wonderful you are, how great a Christian you are. The stories that people need to hear of, you know, what I've learned in my failures, that God has come alongside of me and what he's shown me about himself. <br /><br /> I've learned in the hard times of life when I saw no way out, when, when it was difficult, that God somehow intervened. How do we strengthen one another? We share our stories because there's stories of God. That's what he says to pe. How do we strengthen others? How do we prop up their walk with God? How do we develop disciples? <br /><br /> So much of it as just telling our stories. Third, we do it by spilling our faith into them. Romans one 11 says this way, again, the word strengthen that I may impart to you. Paul says, I want to come to you to impart you some spiritual gift to strengthen you. That is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine. <br /><br /> He says, I, I'm writing to you, but man, I wanna be there. I wanna be with you guys because I wanna impart you something that's gonna help you to be propped up and stronger in your faith and, and, and, and see you stronger in your relationship to Christ. And he says, Well, here's what I'm saying. That is, That we may encourage each other by our faith, yours and mine. <br /><br /> There are times when you find out why meeting with other believers and having relationships with other believers is so vital because you're hurting and you're confused and you're beat up and you think, I don't, I don't have faith right now. Been times in my life, in my ministry here where I've had to gather a few guys to just come and say, Man, I'm struggling right now. <br /><br /> I just need others to just pray with me. My wife and I have had to gather other couples. Maybe you're here and you'd say, Wow. Um, it doesn't seem right for a pastor. I mean, you're supposed, Well, I don't know what you're looking for. But the pastors around here are just a bunch of broken guys that are desperate for God, and we need at times other people to spill their faith into us. <br /><br /> I love the story of Charles Spurgeon. You can always use Spurgeon as a big one. Uh, Spurgeon is truly probably the greatest preacher in the English history. The hi, his English language. If you haven't read his morning by morning or his evening by evening devotionals, they're just beautiful. But Spurgeon by his own admission, struggle with depression at times and discouragement for sure. <br /><br /> And one day he was really laboring in the ministry and was very discouraged. And his wife, I'm not sure how she pulled this off. , but she actually got up above their bed and I guess she did it during the day. I mean, I've actually thought about how she pulled this off, but I guess it was during the day and then when it was nighttime, she just got 'em in bed and got 'em to go to sleep because what she had done was she had written a verse on the roof, on the ceiling so that when Charles woke up in the morning and looked up, the first thing he saw was the truth of God. <br /><br /> She at that moment, and it's hard when your spouse is really reeling with discouragement to not get taken down too. When they're struggling, you have two response, two natural responses. One, when they just feel beat up and, and discouraged or they're upset or whatever it is, you know, they're all worked up. <br /><br /> Whatever it looks like, one of your responses is to go down with them. The other one is to get ticked off. Look, you don't have to take all of us down this, you know, don't, don't sink all the boats. But she had a faith that at that moment he needed. And so she wrote on that ceiling. Charles, look up. <br /><br /> We need other people doing that for us. No matter how much you've journeyed with Jesus, no matter how much you've got thick stalk and your plant seems to survive, there are going to be seasons when you need other people whose faith will spill into you. to keep your, your plant strong, to be strengthened. <br /><br /> All those things are what is involved. <br /><br /> The last two will be faster. That was all the first one. Strengthening his second phrase he uses verse 22, he says this in verse 22. The first phrase was strengthening those, Sorry, I'm looking it up. Strengthening the souls of disciples. Now it says, Encouraging them to continue in the faith. The word encourage in the New Testament is para, Oh, you've heard it before. <br /><br /> It's the idea. Para means parallel lines to come alongside of callo means to, to call or to speak into. It's the idea of coming alongside of someone and speaking into them. It is translated by two words in the New Testament, and it is translated numerous times. both ways. One is the word encourage, the other is the word exhort that follows parallel tracks. <br /><br /> To do the ministry of pering, to do the ministry of coming alongside. And speaking truth means you do speak words that encourage you also speak words that exhort both have the same idea. Sometimes you need to be a little more direct. Sometimes you just need to be a little gentler. But the idea is you're trying to bolster them up. <br /><br /> You're trying to stimulate their faith, and here's what he says. I'm encouraging them to remain in the faith. The word in the faith, again, the phrase in the faith is a very prominent one. In the Book of Acts, it is talking about something specific, and as you study those passages, you find that the faith is basically the whole outliving of, of Christian truth. <br /><br /> It's not just a body of truth, for instance. It does mean when he says, Remain in the faith, don't turn from the faith. I I in first Timothy four, one, he says, Don't turn from the faith to false teaching. Certainly he's, he's hoping that he can encourage these guys to, to not turn away, but it's more than that. <br /><br /> It's James chapter two, verse one where he says, People deny or people wander from the faith. when they show discrimination to various people in the church and treat some people one way and other people another way. It's very practical there. It's in, in a last example in, in first Timothy, he talks about don't deny the faith. <br /><br /> He says, You deny the faith when you don't care for your family's needs, when you neglect your family. So here's what he's saying. To remain in the faith means that you are continually, practically out working the faith that is found in Jesus Christ. If we could say it this way, he's saying this, Yeah, your doctrine is correct, but it's more than that. <br /><br /> It's when your walk matches your talk. It's when you're living it out. When you're remaining in the faith means I don't just have verbiage. I have. Lifestyle. It, My behavior matches that. And he said, I want to encourage and I want to exhort each other. Now, most of us need other people to support us in doing that. <br /><br /> Let me mean, this is the whole thing of Weight Watchers or every recovery program, many, uh, peon groups, peloton groups, crafting guilds, uh, rev well classes here, community groups are environments that are, provide positive accountability and support for things. We wanna do that we wanna be. And the Paul says, I'm, I'm trying to, to help these individuals remain in the faith to have their walk match their talk. <br /><br /> Most of us benefit from that external support for the church choices we make. We have many small groups here and many of them as community groups, but there are others as well. They are not just places to make friends. They are that they are not just places to know and be known, although it is essential that we do that, but that isn't the goal ultimately of why we have community groups. <br /><br /> I do believe strongly that you really, if you're gonna really do life in a community group and it's going to serve what is the ultimate function of a community group, you will know people and you will be known. But the reason for the knowing and being. Is that we can more effectively provide encouragement and exhortation to godliness, that we can grow in our faith, that we can remain in the faith, if you will, living out by our walk. <br /><br /> What we say, by our talk, that the accountability, the support, the encouragement, the exhortation comes and pulses. These believers are gonna need this, and I want to help support this environment for them. I'm trying to help them be. to remain in their faith. I'm gonna say something here that I is on my heart. <br /><br /> There was a book written in 2001. It was a book called Bowling Alone. It was a very prominent best seller. Basically the story of the book is just simply that we have, as a culture moved away from real relationships and real community. And the idea is, you know, now people just bowl alone. And that was just his analogy. <br /><br /> And I think one of the ways that we have seen, even in CDO trying to fill the hole, Of people not really doing life together is through what is happening in social media, particularly in the political arena. I've just finished a book by called Reading the Times, which is a tremendous book in my opinion. <br /><br /> He talks about pseudo communities built around political persuasion. They're not Christian communities, although some people feel they are, they're not Christian communities founded around the historic faith. The same in all generations and centuries with the priority focused on Jesus kingdom in the world. <br /><br /> But political hot conversations where people flock to hear their side's perspective. To jump on the enemy's failings, there's a title for this now that is out there in, in the, in the social science world. It's called swarming. people swarm to those sites, many of them Christians, believers, evangel, they swarm and, and, and they're spending their time and it's like a pseudo community that we don't really know each other, but we buy and yeah. <br /><br /> Did you see what he said there? Did you see what she said? And it's just jump on. And it's, that's not community that we're talking about. The community we're talking about here is not just swarming and people can do this for hours, some days. It's doing life in community where we're knowing and being known and we're saying, you know why I'm here while I'm doing life with this group of people. <br /><br /> I wanna know God, Yeah, I need Christian friends to support me, but I need an environment that is encouraging me and, and exhorting. To be godly and, and to see myself ultimately that my ultimate calling as a citizen is I'm a citizen of the kingdom of Christ in my generation. The third thing he says is this, I want these people to know about hardships, so I'm gonna keep it real about suffering, <br /><br /> saying that through many tribulations, we must enter the kingdom of God. Why does he feel that's important to prop up their faith for them to stand as disciples? One, because suffering. He wants them to know that suffering keeps you off the wrong path. Prosperity, success, no real bad news in our lives is a dangerous place for us. <br /><br /> because that invariably tends to lead us to pride, to self sufficiency, to a false sense of security. It is why CS Lewis made this beautiful statement. Sufferings are roadblocks on the way to hell. Now you wrestle with that. Sufferings are roadblocks on the path to hell and isn't only true to unbelievers. <br /><br /> It's true to us that the pathway to hell, we may not be going to hell, but we can living on the path of folly, which ultimately result is hell. We can be living that way and and suffering hardship causes to say, Wow, I don't have my life. I don't have things under control the way I thought he'd, God mercifully brings that. <br /><br /> He's letting these people know there's gonna be hardship and fall on Jesus. I mean, if you don't. Know it. Just watch what happened to me and Lydia, <br /><br /> but understand that they are a beautiful part of the pathway, first of all, in keeping you away from the wrong path, but secondly, suffering leads you toward the path of God's kingdom. Paul makes an amazing statement in second, chronic second Corinthians four, seven through nine, where he summarizes his own life experience. <br /><br /> Here's what he says. Now we have this treasure in clay jars meaning himself, so that this extraordinary power may be from God and not from us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed. We are perplex, but not in despair. We are persecuted but not abandoned. We are struck down but not destroyed. He says. <br /><br /> you won't know God's extraordinary power until you see your own weaknesses. Paul is saying, You know what? I didn't know that I was a jar Clay until I was afflicted on every side, until I was perplexed completely confused about what was going on until I felt persecution and I felt struck down. But what I found in those things was that I had a clay jar in me, but I was filled with a treasure of surpassing greatness. <br /><br /> So that I can say that though, I have been afflicted in every way. I have been crushed. I've been perplexed. But I'm not in despair. I've been persecuted, but I never felt abandoned that I was struck down, but I have not been destroyed. I think he's giving encouragement to these people in these cities and he says, Yeah, guys. <br /><br /> He said, There's gonna be some really rough roads coming. There's gonna be some hard things in your spiritual journey, but I want you to find the hope in this, that God does not waste those experiences. He is near the broken heart. He is ev and ever present help in trouble. He delivers those who are crushed in spirit, expect hardship and expect God to be active in them. <br /><br /> All those lessons are to help these disciples develop with Jesus. I'd like to now bring us to our table this morning, the Lord's table. It's a time for disciples to remember the work of Jesus Christ on their behalf. It's a time to not only celebrate and remember, but to reflect. Paul says it this way in first Corinthians 11, Let a person examine himself then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. <br /><br /> For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself. But if we judged ourselves truly we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world. He says this judgment, what I'm calling judgment, is actually the discipline of God. <br /><br /> And he says, As you come to the table, realize this is the time to reflect. It's for disciples to reflect, to ask questions. This table is to be a place where disciples celebrate Christ. So are we looking at our lives as disciples? Have I embraced Jesus Christ as my savior? This table, this communion is for those that have done that, Am I living under Jesus Lordship? <br /><br /> Am I following well? This table is for disciples. Am I joining Jesus' mission? Am I available to him? Am I saying, Lord, send me to my office. Send me to my school, Send me to my soccer team. Send me to my neighborhood. Am I available for whatever you have for me? The beautiful reality of this table is, . The Lord doesn't say, Get your life all straightened out, then you can participate at the Lord's Supper. <br /><br /> No, he says, Get your life in such a place where you say, Lord, these are parts of my life. I just want to yield to you. I'm sorry. I'm not living as a disciple and I'm coming to this table realizing you paid the ultimate sacrifice so that I could become one. It is, as Micah the prophet said, his delight to show mercy. <br /><br /> There's no place where this table, where that is declared more than at this table when we're pointed to the cross. I love the old church father. There's a woman that came and they were having communion and he, she had fallen into sin and. Was just overwhelmed with grief and shame because it was fairly well known. <br /><br /> And she wouldn't even come to the Lord's table. And he knew that the anguish she was feeling and this old father in the faith just went and he took the Lord's elements and he went to, and he said, Woman, take it. It's for sinners. It's what it is. It's for us. It's for broken people. But it requires us to say, Yeah, I, when I was called to Jesus, I was called to be a disciple. <br /><br /> To say yes to Christ, to yield not, not only my eternal destiny, but my present lifestyle. And so as we come to the table this morning, and I invite you to take the elements out, I want to just take a few moments for you to quiet your heart and ask the question, Have you embraced Jesus Christ, Jesus, Jesus Savior. <br /><br /> Are you living as a follower of Jesus Christ? In all known areas of your life? Are you willing to be identified and join in Jesus' mission? I'd like to just give you time. Let's examine our hearts before we come to the table together. <br /><br /> So we come to first Corinthians 11. Here's what we read. Paul is talking for, I receive from the Lord what I also deliver to you, that the Lord Jesus and the night he was betrayed took bread. And when he had given thanks, he broken and said, This is my body, which is for you. Invites you to take open the the part where there's a little piece of bread in there and just rip the top off. <br /><br /> Take that piece of bread out. <br /><br /> We partake with this statement and Jesus said, This is my body, which is broken for you. <br /><br /> We're told also that he took the cup and he said, This is the new covenant in my blood. Do this in remembrance of me. Let's partake of the cup this morning. <br /><br /> Do this in remembrance of me. <br /><br /> Lord, we'd partake of these elements <br /><br /> in response to you who wanted us to that it was your broken body. It was your willingness to bear the lambs sacrifice, to shed your blood in your death. That we might be able to be forgiven and accepted with the Father, Lord, because of it. We wanna live like disciples. Thank you for the gift of one another in that journey to support us in that. <br /><br /> Thank you for the calling of your spirit through this passage to prompt us to say, God, do work in my life to prompt me up in you. Lord, I pray for people that are here whose faith needs others spilling into it. God provide those people I pray, I pray, Lord, for stories that you've written in our lives, that we would be sharing those with each other and encouraged by those stories. <br /><br /> Your stories. Lord, thank you for the beauty of the body, which is the place where we develop as disciples to the glory of Christ, in whose name I pray? Amen. Amen. Now go in peace to love and serve and enjoy the Lord.</div> false no <![CDATA[The Mission is a Mess]]> Acts 14:1-18

Now at Iconium they entered together into the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed.



Sermon Transcript:

Good morning. Thank you worship team. Thank you all as we worship with one another, reminding each other the reality of our God. We're gonna be in Acts chapter 14 as we continue our series in the book of Acts. You got your Pew Bible. It's gonna be 8 68. 8 68 in your Bible. We're gonna be looking at Acts chapter 14 versus one through 18.

I'm gonna start off by reading that and praying this morning. X 14. Now at I Iconium, they entered together in the Jude into the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed, But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers.

So they remained for a long time speaking boldly for the Lord, who bore witness to the word of his grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands. But the people of the city were divided, some sided with the Jews and some with the apostles. When an attempt was made by both Gentiles and Jews, with the rulers to mistreat them and to stone them, they learned of it and fled to lira and derby cities of Laconia and to the surrounding country.

And there they continued to preach the gospel. Now at Lira, there was a man sitting who could not use his feet. He was crippled from birth and never walk. He listened to Paul speaking and Paul looking intently at him and seeing that he had faith to be made. Well said in a loud voice, stand upright on your feet.

And he sprang up and began walking. And when the crowds had saw what Paul had done, they lifted their voices saying, In Laconian, the gods have come down to us in the likeness of men. Barnabas, they called Zeus and Paul Hermes because he was the chief speaker and the priest of Zeus whose temple was at the entrance to the city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates and wanted to offer sacrifices with the crowds.

But when the apostles Barnabas and saw heard of it, they tore their garments, rushing into the crowd, crying out men, why are you doing these things? We also are men of like nature to you, and we bring you of good news that you should turn from these VA things to a living God who made the heaven in earth and the sea and all those in them.

In past generations, he allowed all nations to walk in their own ways, Yet he did not leave himself without witness for he did good by giving you reins from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness. Even with these words, they scarcely restrained the people from offering sacrifices to them.

Father, this morning we come before you recognizing that you are the one satisfied our hearts with food and gladness. In times where we recognize that and in times when we don't, we look to this passage this morning and ask you for clarity and wisdom. Of how to live life together with you and one another in Jesus' name.

Amen. By way of context here, if you've been following along in the Acts series, we've talked about three different seasons. Going back to Acts one, eight, where Jesus said, You'll be my witnesses to Jerusalem, and we saw that lived out. In Acts one through eight, and then it also says, End to Judea and Sumaria eight through 12.

We see that lived out called season two. And then starting in chapter 13 says, Be my witnesses to the ends of the earth. And here we see Paul and Barnabas, Paul and Barnabas taking the message of Christ on the first missionary journey. And they're in modern day Turkey in the region of Galatia. Um, if you see the book of Galatians, it's written right around this time to these actual towns that, uh, Paul is speaking to and involved in right here.

And they, Paul and Barnabas are going through modern day Turkey into these various towns preaching the good. Now if we were wound and looked at acts kind of two through four, we see the birth of the church back in season one, and we see this purity of the church where, where no one is hurt by one another.

There's not a, um, a sense of being against one another in any way. Each person was so committed to one another in this baby church that they're giving of their homes and their stuff and their money to take care of one another. No person had ever experienced pain, misunderstanding, or rejection in this new, peaceful community.

The message of Christ went out in a pure way, accepted without fear, and love happened without territorial squabbles. That's the very baby church next two through four, but it didn't last long. Perfect church. Perfect family, perfect marriage, perfect parenting doesn't. And while we long for this perfect relationship set up, it is not what we will see in the book of Acts, nor what we will see in everyday life.

And here's what I wanna say. The early church would not have thrived without bold and passionate leaders, but the early church would not have survived without wise and humble leaders who handled conflict well. The ideal is over conflict is going to be, has been starting before this, and then we'll continue on a natural and continued part of what it means for this church to be established.

Working with people is messy and hard anywhere at any time. We wish the community of faith was, was different. The problem is, is that we're still made of people To me, I, I, early on, I figured out the drama with people is, is made of two things, intimacy and immaturity. You take intimacy and immaturity, you put that together, you have drama.

Well, guess what we're all about the church getting close to one another. But we have immaturity. So you naturally have drama. People with wounds, fears, and judgment. One of my favorite analogies of what it means to, to do life in community, whether that's in your family or friendships or town or church or whatever, is Porky Pines and Porky Pines.

I have no idea if this is biologically true. So if you like understand this in a deeper way, that's fine, but. Porcine. The idea is they go out and they're running around. I love Porky Pines and they're doing their things. Actually, they don't really run very fast. They go out and then they realize they're cold and they're lonely.

So the Porky Pines come and they huddle up together. But the problem is they start poking each other and the closer they try to get with each other and they wanna get warm and close, they, they start poking and it's difficult. So what do they do? They go back out. This is too hard. Community's difficult.

It's tough to be together. They get lonely and gold. So they come back together and it's this process of community. I really believe this often happens with us, right? We feel so lonely and we come back and try to get close and we realize this is really hard. Family life can be hard and painful. Workplace relationships, school, church.

Living with one another and the reality of everyday life, you get poked, you get hit, you get stung. Paul and Barnabas runs square into these realities in I, Iconium and Lira, and it is here. I believe we learn from these wise and humble leaders how to deal with each other when life together is hard. First town they go to is I Iconium and man, does it start off well, I, Iconium is the eastern most city of Glacier.

The Galatian people, the Galatian region actually came from Ireland. It's this really unique community that came from Ireland. They're now in modern day Turkey. They've carved out this small space. It's the people to which Paul would in just a year or two write a letter back to, and this is the eastern most city, the first one he's entering on the east of Galatia.

It's a Roman colony. It's right on the Via Seba, which is a 2000 still in existence, 2000 mile road that the Romans had built. It's an outpost. It's, it's an exit town off this, uh, major highway I Iconium comes from the Greek word icon, which is the word for. And according to the Greek mythology, Prometheus and Athena recreated humanity there after a devastating flood by making images of people and mud and breathing in them into life.

This is how they believe this town was formed. Now in the text, you see that right away in verse one. They killed it. They spoke so effectively. There's not a lot of times in scripture where there's a sermon and then the narrator stepss back and be like, Man, that, that was a great sermon. Right? But that's what happens here.

They, they speak and the, the narrator, Luke says they spoke so effectively that, that a great number believed. That response, however, is short lived. Now similar to what Pastor Mark led us through last week of Pisidian Antioch, religious leaders rose up to try to strangle out this message, stirring up and in the text poisoning the minds of people and conflict breaks out.

This lived Jesus filled revival scene is now strangled, and what has happened is they go from hero to zero quickly, and now they're part of this drama scene that's presumably happening for weeks or months in this town. Some people were with them, Some people absolutely hated them, and you could say, Wow, so bad to hate Paul Barnas.

What? Nice guys. They're scared too, right? People are coming and we'll see, um, later in this chapter that people will come from not only Antioch, but now from meconium, and they're going to join forces en lira because they believe what Paul and Barnabas are saying is, is outright evil and blasphemous. And so they will travel great miles and days upon days in order to strangle this message.

They're absolutely hated to the point where they go from poisoning the minds to scheming to attack their bodies. And here is the moment where Paul and Barnabas almost become the second and third known martyr in the Book of Acts. But in the midst of this tremendous conflict, we see some really profound principles of how they responded when they were mistreated.

And just wanna share a few of those with you this morning. First of all, in the face of mistreatment, We remember that Paul and Barnabas were led by the Holy Spirit in Acts 13 when the missionary journey started. Verse two says, While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting right, a moment of pure, unison and peace, the Holy Spirit said, Set apart for me, Barnabas and Saul, for the work to which I have called them.

So they fasted and prayed and placed their hands on them and sent them off. This moment of pure peace and togetherness in Union, Holy Spirit says, Go send them off. Paul and Barnabas were led by the Spirit and were not very effective in I Iconium. In that moment, you could say, Wow, you know, maybe they didn't really follow the spirit.

Maybe they read a, did a good sermon, they spoke effectively. But maybe if they would've prepped a little more, they could have had even greater sermon. You have signs of the Holy Spirit here. You've got, uh, works of grace of miracles being done by the Holy Spirit through the Holy Spirit, but just because they were following him did not mean that there was always ease in relation to other people.

I'm not saying every time that we get in a squabble that there's conflict, we can chalk that off, be like, Well, that's the Holy Spirit, right? We all know that's not true, but we also need to remember that even life in the Spirit leads us at times into conflict and through it. Secondly, Paul and Barnabas stayed in there in the conflict.

They stayed in there. Uh, verse two says, uh, the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles poisoning their mind against the brothers. Then here's the phrase in verse three. So they remained, They didn't from, They not only didn't say, Okay, conflict, we are out. That is not what I signed up for, right? I was the Holy Spirit raising hands, mun and peace preaching, lots of people coming to Jesus.

I am not in this for the fighting. That is not. So not only did they not bounce right away because there was conflict, they leaned in. Not only didn't run, they leaned in in a gracious way. I don't know if you've ever been hated. I know you've been mistreated. They're really, really painful experiences.

and to the point where I don't need to say more about that. Because if you're a person, you know how that feels. Uh, Pam Beasley from the office, Anybody ever see the Office? Some of you that are chuckling realize it's the funniest show of ever cause it is. But Pam Beasley from the office, uh, had a squabble, um, basically Jim, who was the heart throb of the office.

Come on ladies. You know it's true. And, uh, uh, Karen and Jim were together and eventually they break up and then Jim and Pam in together, which is what you're wanting from the very first season. But Karen can't stand Pam at this point. And Pam has this moment where she's wrestling with the fact that someone hates her.

And she says this, she says, I, I can't stand the fact that anyone out there could hate me. She said, I even can't stand that Al-Qaeda could hate me and she made the line. Maybe if they really got to know me, maybe Al-Qaeda would not feel why. Cuz it's a horrible experience to realize that someone out there really doesn't like or hates, or perhaps even believes it's the right thing to mistreat you.

It's here in these chapters that we dispel the myth that it is possible to have everyone pleased with you all the time. Now, no, most of us know that that is true and most of us absolutely hate that. That is true and many of us try everything we can healthy and unhealthy for that not to be true. . Paul and Barnabas do not let their love grow cold or their disposition hard.

They stay in there day after day, walking into the difficult situation, faithful, not cynical, no evidence of anger, or I punning other people's motives. They stayed in the conflict. Third, what we see is they responded with grace. What a funny word to stick here in the passage. So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there speaking boldly for the Lord who confirmed the message of his grace.

What kind of message goes into conflict? What kind of message goes in here? Here's, there is a boldness where they are holding and standing by the conviction of what is true. And what is true is our God is a God of grace, who enabled them to do signs and wonders in the face of mistreatment. They gave the message of God Grace.

There's, um, in the New Testament, this worldliness thing, and it talks about don't, don't be as, uh, you know, stuck on what the world is doing, but be focused on the kingdom of God. And, and at times we can say, Okay, what are the worldliness things? And, and the things that can often go into our minds are like, well, worldliness that must have to do with substances or having relationships with wrong people, or these kinds of things.

I believe that what that worldliness, of course, can include those things. But so often what worldliness is, is adopting the methods of the world in how we behave and treat one another. One of the easiest ways for us to be worldly people is in how we respond when we are mistreated. I won't respect them because they don't respect me.

I've got no obligation to those humans because I've determined they are toxic to me. Maybe I will be kind to you, but you have to show that you are safe. First tip for tat, they did this, so I did that. It's a taste of their own medicine. Sometimes we try to tuck that in and say, Well, it's tough. Love this karma oriented religion just doesn't have anything to do with Jesus's message at all.

Jesus came and said, There's a whole new way of being. He said, Well, yeah, you've heard that It was said. This is in Matthew five, that if someone slaps you on the right cheek or no, you've heard that it's been said. An eye for an eye or a tooth for a tooth, and he said, No. If someone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them.

The other. Also, you see, it's not how we're going to roll here, that when we see mistreatment, we rush in with trying to pay and get people to pay for their sin. The gospel looks different in the world of Christ. For many of us in this room, the greatest testament for Jesus Christ that you could possibly have is to obey your savior and forgive someone who has mistreated you forth.

While they maintained grace, there also did come a time to. , Paul and Barnabas not trying to say, Well, you're gonna try to stone us and so I'm gonna get a group of people to try to stone you and we're gonna have a big stone fight back and forth with each other and, and have it out. They said, Okay, our presence here is not doing any good.

Um, we are, our message here is not, um, making the inroads we had hoped it would. They maintained grace, but they also left. There's a beautiful passage in Romans 12 that I think is so important for, um, how we live with people. It's written by Paul, and you can even imagine Paul remembering his first missionary journey, remembering how he lived out, these exact words he encourages to us.

He says, Do not replay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God's wrath. For it is written, it is mine to revenge. I will repay follow, says the Lord.

I think there is time to leave. There are relationships that after staying in there, after responding in grace, that are no longer effective to be in there. But it is not. It is always our calling to live at peace with everyone as far as it is with us. Paul and Barnabas realized this situation is producing more hatred.

It's producing more persecution, and it is time for us to depart. They were the ones that left, but it is only after tremendous efforts. To try to bring about, um, peace and purity to the gospel message. Well, they go from I Iconium and now they go to Lira and Entra. They're gonna experience, uh, somewhat a similar thing and somewhat kind of a crazy thing.

If you look at Lira, this is one of the most unique passages, um, of like, if you just think of how comical what's actually happening is the entra. Paul is speaking now in most of the places it looks like Paul goes to the Templer synagogue to preach in the town. He does not go to the synagogue as noted here, and that's probably because Entra, there was not a large Jewish community and there was no established synagogue.

So he just goes in a town square where he can find out and he starts teaching. It's amazing. They come from such. Conflict, uh, laid in incredibly difficult circumstance and situation in I Iconium, They leave and they're like, Let's do it. Let's get up and preach again. It, it demonstrates the amount of objectivity the spirit gave them.

And lister. There was a man who could not use his feet. He was crippled from birth and never walked, and he was listening to Paul speaking and Paul's out there. It doesn't say he spoke so effectively, so maybe not quite as good of a sermon, but he sees this guy and he's crippled since birth. He stops the sermon, looks at him seeing that he had faith me way.

Well, he said in a loud voice, Hey dude, stand up on your. And the guy's like, uh, it's been since birth, right? Like, I don't know how long, you know, birth, right? We're not even talking about muscles. We're talking about balance. I've got no concept of standing. No. He stands right up on his feet. God granting grace to this person and these people, presumably understanding, knowing this person, were like, What just happened?

Right? Sermon was okay. That miracle was something other. And now in Lira there is this whole scene. We don't know if Paul keeps trying to preach or not, but the people go crazy and they say the gods have come among us in the likeness of men. The funny part about this is they're saying it in Licon. There is no reason to believe Barnabas or Saul Paul know this language.

So all of a sudden these people are shouting in a language they don't know. So Paul speaking does a miracle. Now there's this yelling about how they're gods. Presumably Paul and Barnabas don't even know what they are saying, and there's people shouting all around Barnabas, they call Zeus. Paul Hermes cuz he was a chief speaker.

Then they get the priest from outside cuz there's a temple to Zeus in the town. And so they bring up the cows and the fat and the garlands and all this stuff. And now Paul and Barman's like, oh, that's what they were talking about. Right? And so they're realizing this. Now Zeus is the chief god of the Pantheon, right?

We mentioned in I Iconium, there's some Prometheus stuff and Athena stuff. There's Hermis. But Zeus is the big guy. He's the chief of the Pantheon. And the one to which in multiple places intra there is temples and alters. Two. Hermes's is the talker. Hermis was the messenger of the God. And they're like, Paul, that guy talks a lot, so he's probably doing the talking.

But Barnabas, he's the big shot and they're coming to do this in front of him. And this seems like maybe an overreaction, right? Like this is a little much. It's interesting. In this town, there was a, um, like any town, right, there's lore, there's story, there's reason why people think and feel the way they do.

Ovid, who was a, uh, historian, poet and would, would speak of the gods and, um, be a big influence in that region, actually told a story 50 years earlier. He writes a poem in his, uh, big treatise called Metamorphosis, uh, which I think we ha Yeah, there it is. Obviously that's a little updated, but this guy Metamorphosis, or O V I D, writes this metamorphosis and he writes a story of how Zeus and Hermes come into Lira.

And they say, and the, the, the poem goes that the, the Zeus and Hermes's coming to Lira and they're hungry and they're disguised as just normal human beings. And so they knock on the doors of somebody in Lira and they're denied food. And they do this according to Hermes's, 1000 different homes until they come to an old couple named FileMan and Bku, FileMan and Bku accept them.

In this is a 16 hundreds painting by a Flemish painter of the scene depicting this scene of the god's coming in an older couple, serving them. At the end of this, uh, poem, the concluding lines of the poem says, The goods that I are God's peculiar care, such as honored heaven shall heaven's honor share.

And the story is saying that those who welcomed Zeus and Hermis well, and this, this old couple were filled with riches also in the story. The thousand homes that were rejected them were completely obliterated by Zeus and Hermes. So now 50 years later, these people come and they do a miracle disguised as human beings, right?

And they're like, We will not be one of the thousand homes that gets destroyed. There is a, a fear here and a hope now zoos who we have been sacrificing and looking to for all this time and hermis have come to be among us. And in this moment, Paul and Barnabas perhaps have more power than at any other moment in their missionary journeys.

They have not only the power of doing the miracles by the Holy Spirit, they have the cultural power of being seen as Jesus and Hermes. Anything they say goes, or everything will be destroyed. Literally, they have more power with a word out of their mouths to get these people to do anything they want with this power.

The Apostles, Barnabus and Paul tore their garments, rushed into the crowd, say, Men, why are you doing these things? We are also men of nature like these. Even with these words, they scarcely restrain the people from offering I, I believe that character is deeply tested when someone is suffering. I believe Paul and Barnabas's character were deeply tested in I Iconium when they were mistreated, but I believe character is most fully revealed when someone is in power.

Paul and Barnabas respond by tearing their clothes, saying what you are saying of me is blast for me. Declare, open up their clothes and say, Look, it's flesh, it's bone. Few things that we can learn from their humble response in lira of how to handle when we are in more positions of power. First off, Paul and Barnabas were led by the Holy Spirit.

In order to lead this young church well, in order to to handle being wanted to be stoned, in order to handle being treated like the head of the Greek God pantheon, they had to have the grounding of the Holy Spirit. So much of, of Christian community is not just principles of how we can treat each other well.

It's having the power of the Holy Spirit to respond to mistreatment, to respond in humility when given power. Secondly, it's important to know that Paul and Barnabas did not elevate themselves. They were not saying, Oh, we just came from I Iconium, and boy, was it brutal, right? So we now are gonna try to carve out some space, put us above the rest so that we are not gonna be stoned.

We are not trying to spend, we're gonna spend a week establishing about how amazing we are, we'll do some miracles, et cetera, and then try to establish ourselves as untouchable, and then we will give our pearls of wisdom. No, they come right in the fray, not trying to elevate themselves. Many of you have heard a podcast called The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill, and I don't pretend to be a part of that.

The, the church or this podcast. It's a, it's a podcast, I believe, fundamentally dealing with how Christian leaders, we deal with power and celebr. , and it's somewhat of a rebuke of how much we all, we each want celebrity and so then tend to follow a singular person. And when that person falls, so does everything else.

There's a person that they feature in this and, and in this story, uh, this gifted man, um, who's still a gifted man, uh, came and he was, he rose into influence, but there was moments where realized that his, he was wanted to be treated as celebrity and he elevated himself in some of this status with the message of Jesus.

And I don't believe he had all these horrible motives back and forth. I believe he rode the waves of pride, which are the sneakiest possible tides that we can be influenced by. But at one point there's this line which is so breaking bad, he says this, Do you know who I am? To somebody like, Whoa, did you think I was just a person?

That's not what Paul Barnabas did here. They did not elevate themselves. Pride is when we are trying to see ourselves or trying to get other people to see us as separate from other people as having the best house on the block or the best grade on the test. Being the best looking person in the friend group, doing the most work of anyone in the your work group.

Having your child best at grades or sports or drama or whatever, pride is the internal desire to look and compare against everyone else and say, Okay, where am I? One step above. How in this situation, this group, this people, this family, just different and a little bit exceptional? That is the beginning place of pride.

I deeply believe that the downfall of leader after leader is isolation and pride. It is where secret sin grow, and I'm not sure that isolation and pride really are not two sides of the same exact coin. Paul and Barnes didn't elevate themselves, but they also remained grounded when others tried to elevate.

They didn't start reading their own press. They weren't like, whoa, you know what, that miracle was pretty dope, right? Like, they weren't standing back and saying like, Yeah, no one, I can't believe I said dope. That was weird. But I, I can't believe no one else has ever done this. Like, like this is the first missionary thing.

We're kicking off a whole missionary campaign. This is gonna be thousand years in the making. Like this is something exceptional. They weren't reading their own press. I remember having a lunch, uh, with Ralph Freek and uh, and we were talking about something and we were dealing with things in, in Collinswood and Mount Laurel and, and I was in Collinswood and, and I didn't preach live that much there and, and, uh, started preaching live a little bit more.

And I felt like, Wow, there's more people coming. And I just ventured to Ralph A. Little bit like, Hey, Ralph, you know, seems like when I preach live, more people show up than when we have the screen. Any thoughts? He said these words to me. Be very careful Ben,

and they were as gentle and fell as hard as they needed to do not start reading your own press cuz the press will change so quickly.

Third, Paul and Barnabas presented or fourth presented their limitations and humanity to people in order that others did not elevate them. It is so important you heads of household, you, you leaders and bosses at work, you Christian leaders in various ministries. . We naturally, we live in an individualistic culture.

We just do it is the way we have, This is something I, um, I watched, this was Beijing Olympics. I was like watching the, the introductory ceremony and they had 2000 people with the exact same haircut and body build doing the drums. And I'm like, Wow, this is so not American. . Right? We have a band, we have a singer.

Rihanna is headlining this. Like we don't watch teams, We follow LeBron. We follow like, this is, we naturally, we're a celebrity culture. We, we blame all the good and all the eve on the government on a single person. We are naturally a celebrity oriented culture. It is so important when people want to elevate us to being, Oh, we need to know what so and so think.

It is a drug that is so tempting, but we need to, those who rise in power need to lead speaking their limitations and humanity so that Jesus is the head of the church. There's a, a beautiful story, Oh, I'm forgetting the guy's name. Um, it'll come to me. I should have written it down. Anyway, this sky at Reed College and, uh, there's.

There's this, uh, Reed College was kind of known to do, like, have a debauchery week, and this was like a classic week where they spent seven days doing all kinds of raves and parties and all kinds of activities, um, that happened at their school. Um, Mike, where are you? Is Mike here? Who am I talking about?

Wow. Thanks, . Here's five seconds of my life, I'll never get back. . Um, so at Reed College, they, they, um, talk and they were trying to, a group of Christians were saying like, How do we be a witness in the midst of all of this debauchery? And so they came up with the idea of we're gonna set up this college kids, set up a confession booth in the middle of the square as everyone comes in.

And so they did, they set up this little booth in the middle of, I don't remember what the week was called, but this week they had confession booth. And so people would come and they'd sit in the confession booth. Do you know. I'm Donald Miller. Thank you, Mike, man, not alive. Donald Miller and the people.

And so they have this confession booth and he's, they would, um, have people come in. They'd be like, So am I supposed to tell you what I did in the last 24 hours or the last 48 hours? And they'd stop people immediately. They said, No, no, this confession booth, that's not this one. This one is set up for us to say we're sorry.

We're sorry for a lot of the evil done in the name of Jesus over time. And we talk about the crusades and some different things that have been deeply painful and ugly things done by Christians, but they'd also get personal. They'd say, Hey, we're supposed to be an example of Jesus here on Reed College campus, but these are things I'm dealing with, ways that I don't trust God, ways I'm failing.

And you'd think the other people are like, . This is going way better than I thought. , right? I don't have to confess anything. People broke down weeping. Why? Because they were trying. They were walking in thinking they had to rise and confess enough to, to carve and elevate themselves up enough. They left realizing that this is a God of grace, and that people representing Jesus were not the perfect, made them see Jesus even better.

Dear words, we have New Testament. God opposes the proud. You wanna live a life against God. Be proud. The pride inside of me puts me at war with the Christ that I love. And here's the cool thing about God and about pride. God loves you too much to let you hold onto it. Long it will come crashing down.

Three things I want to end with and, uh. . First thing is to keep perspective. Some of you guys know this man right here? Yeah, you can, you can right here. This is Who is this guy? That's Howie Roseman. Okay. Howie Roseman is a person who has been, he's a general manager of the Philadelphia Eagles. And, uh, he has been loved the last few weeks, um, genius level, like all these things praised by him.

But you go back like 18 months and he was absolutely despised. And I, I just googled some and, and look at this. This is from like, I don't remember what the dates are, but like the Eagles news, the poll shows over 95%. 95% of humans don't agree on anything. But 95% of humans of fans think Howie Roseman should be replaced.

He's that bad at his job. Then this was a little while later. Do you approve of the job how Roseman is doing? 98%? Absolutely. And you think, Well, that's his family. That's 6,600 votes on that. Right? Part of this is keeping perspective. When we're being mistreated, when we are being elevated, man, the tides come and they go, Right?

This is why we hold onto the Holy Spirit because it is a step by step, day by day reality. It says that in Galatians and I, I'm pulling all these three from Galatians, cuz it's the letter that Paul would write to them after leaving. Secondly, for perspective, find identity in Jesus Christ. Th there is no greater, bigger, better reality.

Them being the beloved of God, brothers and sisters, with Jesus Christ being found in his reality. It is what pride searches for. It is a beauty that there's nothing better. Uh, real quick, there have been times where like, um, I've succeeded, or you've succeeded, and there's a feeling that goes along with that, right?

There's under euphoria, there's a sense of like, Yes, I did a good job, or, Yes, this is going well and it feels really good, but next time you feel it, think what? Go deep into it because almost always for me, when there's this feeling of satisfaction or euphoria, you know what the shadow is of it. For me, it's fear, but what if I fail next time?

What if my kid doesn't do as well? Next time? What if? What if I, This doesn't work out right, And so I'm still riding that good feeling, but what if I lose this? This is what's true, dear Beloved, about the love of God. When you truly experience the love of God, it is like this is all I need, past, present, and future.

And when I am truly understanding his love for me, it is the only moments in my life that I can say there's no fear here at all. Per love drives out fear. Galatians four says this, You are his sons. God sent the spirit of his son into your heart. The Spirit who cries out. Daddy Aba Father. Dear Beloved, you're no longer a slave, but you're God's child.

So much of the effort of pride is try to show I am somebody. The beauty in Jesus Christ is that you really are, and it's not something that pulls you out and elevates you better. It places you among and among is where love lives. You are no longer a slave. You are God's child, and since you are his child, God made you also his He.

And finally, anecdotally, back to Porky Pines, here's, here's what I would say when it comes to the Porky Pines. How do we live life with each other when we poke each other when we're having difficult, It's simply this. We bleed, Well , we bleed well, because guess what? Some porcupine is gonna be over here and they're scared of something else.

So they're backing up into me, and that ticks me off. So I'm gonna wave my little tail and nail the person next to me. Right? And then chain reaction is gonna happen again. Again. But what? What's the wave response is to say, Whoa, that that Porky P just backed up next to me. Wonder what they're scared of.

They must have a lot going on. And instead of me taking the blood I'm experiencing and trying to take it outta somebody else, I'm gonna try to bleed. Well, I'm gonna try to heal. Well, I'm gonna recognize that we are a people of insecurity, of immaturity, and we're trying to be close. And that's really tough to do in a family, in a workplace, in a church.

I'm gonna expect to bleed a. But I'm also gonna try to bleed. Well, beloved, won't you stand up. I'm just gonna give you the benediction again from Galatians based in the spirit, this, uh, the fruit of the spirit, such an awesome little passage. It's given in the context, not of just how we know God better, not of just how to pray or read the Bible.

The context of the Spirit is how we live with one another. The context of these, the fruits of the Spirit is how we live together. It says in Galatians five, um, these words, desires of the flesh are against the spirit. Desire of the fear spirit are against the flesh. These are opposed to one another. It talks about loving your neighbor as yourself and the number one commandment.

The whole law fulfilled worship. Verse 14 is fulfilled in one word. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. In this context, he gives us what the fruit of this spirit is. He tells us how porky pine should live together. The fruit of the spirit is love. It's joy, it's peace, it's patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control.

If we live by this spirit, let us keep in step with the spirit. Let us not become conceded provoking one another and envying one another. . It is by this spirit, dearly beloved, that we walk forward even when the mission becomes a mess and the power of this spirit. Great to be with you this morning. We are finished.

Thank you.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-mission-is-a-mess 72495597-eb95-4508-8e47-59c6d01a22fd Sun, 09 Oct 2022 14:57:31 GMT <div data-html="true">Acts 14:1-18 <br /><br /> Now at Iconium they entered together into the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed. <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> Good morning. Thank you worship team. Thank you all as we worship with one another, reminding each other the reality of our God. We're gonna be in Acts chapter 14 as we continue our series in the book of Acts. You got your Pew Bible. It's gonna be 8 68. 8 68 in your Bible. We're gonna be looking at Acts chapter 14 versus one through 18. <br /><br /> I'm gonna start off by reading that and praying this morning. X 14. Now at I Iconium, they entered together in the Jude into the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed, But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers. <br /><br /> So they remained for a long time speaking boldly for the Lord, who bore witness to the word of his grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands. But the people of the city were divided, some sided with the Jews and some with the apostles. When an attempt was made by both Gentiles and Jews, with the rulers to mistreat them and to stone them, they learned of it and fled to lira and derby cities of Laconia and to the surrounding country. <br /><br /> And there they continued to preach the gospel. Now at Lira, there was a man sitting who could not use his feet. He was crippled from birth and never walk. He listened to Paul speaking and Paul looking intently at him and seeing that he had faith to be made. Well said in a loud voice, stand upright on your feet. <br /><br /> And he sprang up and began walking. And when the crowds had saw what Paul had done, they lifted their voices saying, In Laconian, the gods have come down to us in the likeness of men. Barnabas, they called Zeus and Paul Hermes because he was the chief speaker and the priest of Zeus whose temple was at the entrance to the city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates and wanted to offer sacrifices with the crowds. <br /><br /> But when the apostles Barnabas and saw heard of it, they tore their garments, rushing into the crowd, crying out men, why are you doing these things? We also are men of like nature to you, and we bring you of good news that you should turn from these VA things to a living God who made the heaven in earth and the sea and all those in them. <br /><br /> In past generations, he allowed all nations to walk in their own ways, Yet he did not leave himself without witness for he did good by giving you reins from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness. Even with these words, they scarcely restrained the people from offering sacrifices to them. <br /><br /> Father, this morning we come before you recognizing that you are the one satisfied our hearts with food and gladness. In times where we recognize that and in times when we don't, we look to this passage this morning and ask you for clarity and wisdom. Of how to live life together with you and one another in Jesus' name. <br /><br /> Amen. By way of context here, if you've been following along in the Acts series, we've talked about three different seasons. Going back to Acts one, eight, where Jesus said, You'll be my witnesses to Jerusalem, and we saw that lived out. In Acts one through eight, and then it also says, End to Judea and Sumaria eight through 12. <br /><br /> We see that lived out called season two. And then starting in chapter 13 says, Be my witnesses to the ends of the earth. And here we see Paul and Barnabas, Paul and Barnabas taking the message of Christ on the first missionary journey. And they're in modern day Turkey in the region of Galatia. Um, if you see the book of Galatians, it's written right around this time to these actual towns that, uh, Paul is speaking to and involved in right here. <br /><br /> And they, Paul and Barnabas are going through modern day Turkey into these various towns preaching the good. Now if we were wound and looked at acts kind of two through four, we see the birth of the church back in season one, and we see this purity of the church where, where no one is hurt by one another. <br /><br /> There's not a, um, a sense of being against one another in any way. Each person was so committed to one another in this baby church that they're giving of their homes and their stuff and their money to take care of one another. No person had ever experienced pain, misunderstanding, or rejection in this new, peaceful community. <br /><br /> The message of Christ went out in a pure way, accepted without fear, and love happened without territorial squabbles. That's the very baby church next two through four, but it didn't last long. Perfect church. Perfect family, perfect marriage, perfect parenting doesn't. And while we long for this perfect relationship set up, it is not what we will see in the book of Acts, nor what we will see in everyday life. <br /><br /> And here's what I wanna say. The early church would not have thrived without bold and passionate leaders, but the early church would not have survived without wise and humble leaders who handled conflict well. The ideal is over conflict is going to be, has been starting before this, and then we'll continue on a natural and continued part of what it means for this church to be established. <br /><br /> Working with people is messy and hard anywhere at any time. We wish the community of faith was, was different. The problem is, is that we're still made of people To me, I, I, early on, I figured out the drama with people is, is made of two things, intimacy and immaturity. You take intimacy and immaturity, you put that together, you have drama. <br /><br /> Well, guess what we're all about the church getting close to one another. But we have immaturity. So you naturally have drama. People with wounds, fears, and judgment. One of my favorite analogies of what it means to, to do life in community, whether that's in your family or friendships or town or church or whatever, is Porky Pines and Porky Pines. <br /><br /> I have no idea if this is biologically true. So if you like understand this in a deeper way, that's fine, but. Porcine. The idea is they go out and they're running around. I love Porky Pines and they're doing their things. Actually, they don't really run very fast. They go out and then they realize they're cold and they're lonely. <br /><br /> So the Porky Pines come and they huddle up together. But the problem is they start poking each other and the closer they try to get with each other and they wanna get warm and close, they, they start poking and it's difficult. So what do they do? They go back out. This is too hard. Community's difficult. <br /><br /> It's tough to be together. They get lonely and gold. So they come back together and it's this process of community. I really believe this often happens with us, right? We feel so lonely and we come back and try to get close and we realize this is really hard. Family life can be hard and painful. Workplace relationships, school, church. <br /><br /> Living with one another and the reality of everyday life, you get poked, you get hit, you get stung. Paul and Barnabas runs square into these realities in I, Iconium and Lira, and it is here. I believe we learn from these wise and humble leaders how to deal with each other when life together is hard. First town they go to is I Iconium and man, does it start off well, I, Iconium is the eastern most city of Glacier. <br /><br /> The Galatian people, the Galatian region actually came from Ireland. It's this really unique community that came from Ireland. They're now in modern day Turkey. They've carved out this small space. It's the people to which Paul would in just a year or two write a letter back to, and this is the eastern most city, the first one he's entering on the east of Galatia. <br /><br /> It's a Roman colony. It's right on the Via Seba, which is a 2000 still in existence, 2000 mile road that the Romans had built. It's an outpost. It's, it's an exit town off this, uh, major highway I Iconium comes from the Greek word icon, which is the word for. And according to the Greek mythology, Prometheus and Athena recreated humanity there after a devastating flood by making images of people and mud and breathing in them into life. <br /><br /> This is how they believe this town was formed. Now in the text, you see that right away in verse one. They killed it. They spoke so effectively. There's not a lot of times in scripture where there's a sermon and then the narrator stepss back and be like, Man, that, that was a great sermon. Right? But that's what happens here. <br /><br /> They, they speak and the, the narrator, Luke says they spoke so effectively that, that a great number believed. That response, however, is short lived. Now similar to what Pastor Mark led us through last week of Pisidian Antioch, religious leaders rose up to try to strangle out this message, stirring up and in the text poisoning the minds of people and conflict breaks out. <br /><br /> This lived Jesus filled revival scene is now strangled, and what has happened is they go from hero to zero quickly, and now they're part of this drama scene that's presumably happening for weeks or months in this town. Some people were with them, Some people absolutely hated them, and you could say, Wow, so bad to hate Paul Barnas. <br /><br /> What? Nice guys. They're scared too, right? People are coming and we'll see, um, later in this chapter that people will come from not only Antioch, but now from meconium, and they're going to join forces en lira because they believe what Paul and Barnabas are saying is, is outright evil and blasphemous. And so they will travel great miles and days upon days in order to strangle this message. <br /><br /> They're absolutely hated to the point where they go from poisoning the minds to scheming to attack their bodies. And here is the moment where Paul and Barnabas almost become the second and third known martyr in the Book of Acts. But in the midst of this tremendous conflict, we see some really profound principles of how they responded when they were mistreated. <br /><br /> And just wanna share a few of those with you this morning. First of all, in the face of mistreatment, We remember that Paul and Barnabas were led by the Holy Spirit in Acts 13 when the missionary journey started. Verse two says, While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting right, a moment of pure, unison and peace, the Holy Spirit said, Set apart for me, Barnabas and Saul, for the work to which I have called them. <br /><br /> So they fasted and prayed and placed their hands on them and sent them off. This moment of pure peace and togetherness in Union, Holy Spirit says, Go send them off. Paul and Barnabas were led by the Spirit and were not very effective in I Iconium. In that moment, you could say, Wow, you know, maybe they didn't really follow the spirit. <br /><br /> Maybe they read a, did a good sermon, they spoke effectively. But maybe if they would've prepped a little more, they could have had even greater sermon. You have signs of the Holy Spirit here. You've got, uh, works of grace of miracles being done by the Holy Spirit through the Holy Spirit, but just because they were following him did not mean that there was always ease in relation to other people. <br /><br /> I'm not saying every time that we get in a squabble that there's conflict, we can chalk that off, be like, Well, that's the Holy Spirit, right? We all know that's not true, but we also need to remember that even life in the Spirit leads us at times into conflict and through it. Secondly, Paul and Barnabas stayed in there in the conflict. <br /><br /> They stayed in there. Uh, verse two says, uh, the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles poisoning their mind against the brothers. Then here's the phrase in verse three. So they remained, They didn't from, They not only didn't say, Okay, conflict, we are out. That is not what I signed up for, right? I was the Holy Spirit raising hands, mun and peace preaching, lots of people coming to Jesus. <br /><br /> I am not in this for the fighting. That is not. So not only did they not bounce right away because there was conflict, they leaned in. Not only didn't run, they leaned in in a gracious way. I don't know if you've ever been hated. I know you've been mistreated. They're really, really painful experiences. <br /><br /> and to the point where I don't need to say more about that. Because if you're a person, you know how that feels. Uh, Pam Beasley from the office, Anybody ever see the Office? Some of you that are chuckling realize it's the funniest show of ever cause it is. But Pam Beasley from the office, uh, had a squabble, um, basically Jim, who was the heart throb of the office. <br /><br /> Come on ladies. You know it's true. And, uh, uh, Karen and Jim were together and eventually they break up and then Jim and Pam in together, which is what you're wanting from the very first season. But Karen can't stand Pam at this point. And Pam has this moment where she's wrestling with the fact that someone hates her. <br /><br /> And she says this, she says, I, I can't stand the fact that anyone out there could hate me. She said, I even can't stand that Al-Qaeda could hate me and she made the line. Maybe if they really got to know me, maybe Al-Qaeda would not feel why. Cuz it's a horrible experience to realize that someone out there really doesn't like or hates, or perhaps even believes it's the right thing to mistreat you. <br /><br /> It's here in these chapters that we dispel the myth that it is possible to have everyone pleased with you all the time. Now, no, most of us know that that is true and most of us absolutely hate that. That is true and many of us try everything we can healthy and unhealthy for that not to be true. . Paul and Barnabas do not let their love grow cold or their disposition hard. <br /><br /> They stay in there day after day, walking into the difficult situation, faithful, not cynical, no evidence of anger, or I punning other people's motives. They stayed in the conflict. Third, what we see is they responded with grace. What a funny word to stick here in the passage. So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there speaking boldly for the Lord who confirmed the message of his grace. <br /><br /> What kind of message goes into conflict? What kind of message goes in here? Here's, there is a boldness where they are holding and standing by the conviction of what is true. And what is true is our God is a God of grace, who enabled them to do signs and wonders in the face of mistreatment. They gave the message of God Grace. <br /><br /> There's, um, in the New Testament, this worldliness thing, and it talks about don't, don't be as, uh, you know, stuck on what the world is doing, but be focused on the kingdom of God. And, and at times we can say, Okay, what are the worldliness things? And, and the things that can often go into our minds are like, well, worldliness that must have to do with substances or having relationships with wrong people, or these kinds of things. <br /><br /> I believe that what that worldliness, of course, can include those things. But so often what worldliness is, is adopting the methods of the world in how we behave and treat one another. One of the easiest ways for us to be worldly people is in how we respond when we are mistreated. I won't respect them because they don't respect me. <br /><br /> I've got no obligation to those humans because I've determined they are toxic to me. Maybe I will be kind to you, but you have to show that you are safe. First tip for tat, they did this, so I did that. It's a taste of their own medicine. Sometimes we try to tuck that in and say, Well, it's tough. Love this karma oriented religion just doesn't have anything to do with Jesus's message at all. <br /><br /> Jesus came and said, There's a whole new way of being. He said, Well, yeah, you've heard that It was said. This is in Matthew five, that if someone slaps you on the right cheek or no, you've heard that it's been said. An eye for an eye or a tooth for a tooth, and he said, No. If someone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them. <br /><br /> The other. Also, you see, it's not how we're going to roll here, that when we see mistreatment, we rush in with trying to pay and get people to pay for their sin. The gospel looks different in the world of Christ. For many of us in this room, the greatest testament for Jesus Christ that you could possibly have is to obey your savior and forgive someone who has mistreated you forth. <br /><br /> While they maintained grace, there also did come a time to. , Paul and Barnabas not trying to say, Well, you're gonna try to stone us and so I'm gonna get a group of people to try to stone you and we're gonna have a big stone fight back and forth with each other and, and have it out. They said, Okay, our presence here is not doing any good. <br /><br /> Um, we are, our message here is not, um, making the inroads we had hoped it would. They maintained grace, but they also left. There's a beautiful passage in Romans 12 that I think is so important for, um, how we live with people. It's written by Paul, and you can even imagine Paul remembering his first missionary journey, remembering how he lived out, these exact words he encourages to us. <br /><br /> He says, Do not replay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God's wrath. For it is written, it is mine to revenge. I will repay follow, says the Lord. <br /><br /> I think there is time to leave. There are relationships that after staying in there, after responding in grace, that are no longer effective to be in there. But it is not. It is always our calling to live at peace with everyone as far as it is with us. Paul and Barnabas realized this situation is producing more hatred. <br /><br /> It's producing more persecution, and it is time for us to depart. They were the ones that left, but it is only after tremendous efforts. To try to bring about, um, peace and purity to the gospel message. Well, they go from I Iconium and now they go to Lira and Entra. They're gonna experience, uh, somewhat a similar thing and somewhat kind of a crazy thing. <br /><br /> If you look at Lira, this is one of the most unique passages, um, of like, if you just think of how comical what's actually happening is the entra. Paul is speaking now in most of the places it looks like Paul goes to the Templer synagogue to preach in the town. He does not go to the synagogue as noted here, and that's probably because Entra, there was not a large Jewish community and there was no established synagogue. <br /><br /> So he just goes in a town square where he can find out and he starts teaching. It's amazing. They come from such. Conflict, uh, laid in incredibly difficult circumstance and situation in I Iconium, They leave and they're like, Let's do it. Let's get up and preach again. It, it demonstrates the amount of objectivity the spirit gave them. <br /><br /> And lister. There was a man who could not use his feet. He was crippled from birth and never walked, and he was listening to Paul speaking and Paul's out there. It doesn't say he spoke so effectively, so maybe not quite as good of a sermon, but he sees this guy and he's crippled since birth. He stops the sermon, looks at him seeing that he had faith me way. <br /><br /> Well, he said in a loud voice, Hey dude, stand up on your. And the guy's like, uh, it's been since birth, right? Like, I don't know how long, you know, birth, right? We're not even talking about muscles. We're talking about balance. I've got no concept of standing. No. He stands right up on his feet. God granting grace to this person and these people, presumably understanding, knowing this person, were like, What just happened? <br /><br /> Right? Sermon was okay. That miracle was something other. And now in Lira there is this whole scene. We don't know if Paul keeps trying to preach or not, but the people go crazy and they say the gods have come among us in the likeness of men. The funny part about this is they're saying it in Licon. There is no reason to believe Barnabas or Saul Paul know this language. <br /><br /> So all of a sudden these people are shouting in a language they don't know. So Paul speaking does a miracle. Now there's this yelling about how they're gods. Presumably Paul and Barnabas don't even know what they are saying, and there's people shouting all around Barnabas, they call Zeus. Paul Hermes cuz he was a chief speaker. <br /><br /> Then they get the priest from outside cuz there's a temple to Zeus in the town. And so they bring up the cows and the fat and the garlands and all this stuff. And now Paul and Barman's like, oh, that's what they were talking about. Right? And so they're realizing this. Now Zeus is the chief god of the Pantheon, right? <br /><br /> We mentioned in I Iconium, there's some Prometheus stuff and Athena stuff. There's Hermis. But Zeus is the big guy. He's the chief of the Pantheon. And the one to which in multiple places intra there is temples and alters. Two. Hermes's is the talker. Hermis was the messenger of the God. And they're like, Paul, that guy talks a lot, so he's probably doing the talking. <br /><br /> But Barnabas, he's the big shot and they're coming to do this in front of him. And this seems like maybe an overreaction, right? Like this is a little much. It's interesting. In this town, there was a, um, like any town, right, there's lore, there's story, there's reason why people think and feel the way they do. <br /><br /> Ovid, who was a, uh, historian, poet and would, would speak of the gods and, um, be a big influence in that region, actually told a story 50 years earlier. He writes a poem in his, uh, big treatise called Metamorphosis, uh, which I think we ha Yeah, there it is. Obviously that's a little updated, but this guy Metamorphosis, or O V I D, writes this metamorphosis and he writes a story of how Zeus and Hermes come into Lira. <br /><br /> And they say, and the, the, the poem goes that the, the Zeus and Hermes's coming to Lira and they're hungry and they're disguised as just normal human beings. And so they knock on the doors of somebody in Lira and they're denied food. And they do this according to Hermes's, 1000 different homes until they come to an old couple named FileMan and Bku, FileMan and Bku accept them. <br /><br /> In this is a 16 hundreds painting by a Flemish painter of the scene depicting this scene of the god's coming in an older couple, serving them. At the end of this, uh, poem, the concluding lines of the poem says, The goods that I are God's peculiar care, such as honored heaven shall heaven's honor share. <br /><br /> And the story is saying that those who welcomed Zeus and Hermis well, and this, this old couple were filled with riches also in the story. The thousand homes that were rejected them were completely obliterated by Zeus and Hermes. So now 50 years later, these people come and they do a miracle disguised as human beings, right? <br /><br /> And they're like, We will not be one of the thousand homes that gets destroyed. There is a, a fear here and a hope now zoos who we have been sacrificing and looking to for all this time and hermis have come to be among us. And in this moment, Paul and Barnabas perhaps have more power than at any other moment in their missionary journeys. <br /><br /> They have not only the power of doing the miracles by the Holy Spirit, they have the cultural power of being seen as Jesus and Hermes. Anything they say goes, or everything will be destroyed. Literally, they have more power with a word out of their mouths to get these people to do anything they want with this power. <br /><br /> The Apostles, Barnabus and Paul tore their garments, rushed into the crowd, say, Men, why are you doing these things? We are also men of nature like these. Even with these words, they scarcely restrain the people from offering I, I believe that character is deeply tested when someone is suffering. I believe Paul and Barnabas's character were deeply tested in I Iconium when they were mistreated, but I believe character is most fully revealed when someone is in power. <br /><br /> Paul and Barnabas respond by tearing their clothes, saying what you are saying of me is blast for me. Declare, open up their clothes and say, Look, it's flesh, it's bone. Few things that we can learn from their humble response in lira of how to handle when we are in more positions of power. First off, Paul and Barnabas were led by the Holy Spirit. <br /><br /> In order to lead this young church well, in order to to handle being wanted to be stoned, in order to handle being treated like the head of the Greek God pantheon, they had to have the grounding of the Holy Spirit. So much of, of Christian community is not just principles of how we can treat each other well. <br /><br /> It's having the power of the Holy Spirit to respond to mistreatment, to respond in humility when given power. Secondly, it's important to know that Paul and Barnabas did not elevate themselves. They were not saying, Oh, we just came from I Iconium, and boy, was it brutal, right? So we now are gonna try to carve out some space, put us above the rest so that we are not gonna be stoned. <br /><br /> We are not trying to spend, we're gonna spend a week establishing about how amazing we are, we'll do some miracles, et cetera, and then try to establish ourselves as untouchable, and then we will give our pearls of wisdom. No, they come right in the fray, not trying to elevate themselves. Many of you have heard a podcast called The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill, and I don't pretend to be a part of that. <br /><br /> The, the church or this podcast. It's a, it's a podcast, I believe, fundamentally dealing with how Christian leaders, we deal with power and celebr. , and it's somewhat of a rebuke of how much we all, we each want celebrity and so then tend to follow a singular person. And when that person falls, so does everything else. <br /><br /> There's a person that they feature in this and, and in this story, uh, this gifted man, um, who's still a gifted man, uh, came and he was, he rose into influence, but there was moments where realized that his, he was wanted to be treated as celebrity and he elevated himself in some of this status with the message of Jesus. <br /><br /> And I don't believe he had all these horrible motives back and forth. I believe he rode the waves of pride, which are the sneakiest possible tides that we can be influenced by. But at one point there's this line which is so breaking bad, he says this, Do you know who I am? To somebody like, Whoa, did you think I was just a person? <br /><br /> That's not what Paul Barnabas did here. They did not elevate themselves. Pride is when we are trying to see ourselves or trying to get other people to see us as separate from other people as having the best house on the block or the best grade on the test. Being the best looking person in the friend group, doing the most work of anyone in the your work group. <br /><br /> Having your child best at grades or sports or drama or whatever, pride is the internal desire to look and compare against everyone else and say, Okay, where am I? One step above. How in this situation, this group, this people, this family, just different and a little bit exceptional? That is the beginning place of pride. <br /><br /> I deeply believe that the downfall of leader after leader is isolation and pride. It is where secret sin grow, and I'm not sure that isolation and pride really are not two sides of the same exact coin. Paul and Barnes didn't elevate themselves, but they also remained grounded when others tried to elevate. <br /><br /> They didn't start reading their own press. They weren't like, whoa, you know what, that miracle was pretty dope, right? Like, they weren't standing back and saying like, Yeah, no one, I can't believe I said dope. That was weird. But I, I can't believe no one else has ever done this. Like, like this is the first missionary thing. <br /><br /> We're kicking off a whole missionary campaign. This is gonna be thousand years in the making. Like this is something exceptional. They weren't reading their own press. I remember having a lunch, uh, with Ralph Freek and uh, and we were talking about something and we were dealing with things in, in Collinswood and Mount Laurel and, and I was in Collinswood and, and I didn't preach live that much there and, and, uh, started preaching live a little bit more. <br /><br /> And I felt like, Wow, there's more people coming. And I just ventured to Ralph A. Little bit like, Hey, Ralph, you know, seems like when I preach live, more people show up than when we have the screen. Any thoughts? He said these words to me. Be very careful Ben, <br /><br /> and they were as gentle and fell as hard as they needed to do not start reading your own press cuz the press will change so quickly. <br /><br /> Third, Paul and Barnabas presented or fourth presented their limitations and humanity to people in order that others did not elevate them. It is so important you heads of household, you, you leaders and bosses at work, you Christian leaders in various ministries. . We naturally, we live in an individualistic culture. <br /><br /> We just do it is the way we have, This is something I, um, I watched, this was Beijing Olympics. I was like watching the, the introductory ceremony and they had 2000 people with the exact same haircut and body build doing the drums. And I'm like, Wow, this is so not American. . Right? We have a band, we have a singer. <br /><br /> Rihanna is headlining this. Like we don't watch teams, We follow LeBron. We follow like, this is, we naturally, we're a celebrity culture. We, we blame all the good and all the eve on the government on a single person. We are naturally a celebrity oriented culture. It is so important when people want to elevate us to being, Oh, we need to know what so and so think. <br /><br /> It is a drug that is so tempting, but we need to, those who rise in power need to lead speaking their limitations and humanity so that Jesus is the head of the church. There's a, a beautiful story, Oh, I'm forgetting the guy's name. Um, it'll come to me. I should have written it down. Anyway, this sky at Reed College and, uh, there's. <br /><br /> There's this, uh, Reed College was kind of known to do, like, have a debauchery week, and this was like a classic week where they spent seven days doing all kinds of raves and parties and all kinds of activities, um, that happened at their school. Um, Mike, where are you? Is Mike here? Who am I talking about? <br /><br /> Wow. Thanks, . Here's five seconds of my life, I'll never get back. . Um, so at Reed College, they, they, um, talk and they were trying to, a group of Christians were saying like, How do we be a witness in the midst of all of this debauchery? And so they came up with the idea of we're gonna set up this college kids, set up a confession booth in the middle of the square as everyone comes in. <br /><br /> And so they did, they set up this little booth in the middle of, I don't remember what the week was called, but this week they had confession booth. And so people would come and they'd sit in the confession booth. Do you know. I'm Donald Miller. Thank you, Mike, man, not alive. Donald Miller and the people. <br /><br /> And so they have this confession booth and he's, they would, um, have people come in. They'd be like, So am I supposed to tell you what I did in the last 24 hours or the last 48 hours? And they'd stop people immediately. They said, No, no, this confession booth, that's not this one. This one is set up for us to say we're sorry. <br /><br /> We're sorry for a lot of the evil done in the name of Jesus over time. And we talk about the crusades and some different things that have been deeply painful and ugly things done by Christians, but they'd also get personal. They'd say, Hey, we're supposed to be an example of Jesus here on Reed College campus, but these are things I'm dealing with, ways that I don't trust God, ways I'm failing. <br /><br /> And you'd think the other people are like, . This is going way better than I thought. , right? I don't have to confess anything. People broke down weeping. Why? Because they were trying. They were walking in thinking they had to rise and confess enough to, to carve and elevate themselves up enough. They left realizing that this is a God of grace, and that people representing Jesus were not the perfect, made them see Jesus even better. <br /><br /> Dear words, we have New Testament. God opposes the proud. You wanna live a life against God. Be proud. The pride inside of me puts me at war with the Christ that I love. And here's the cool thing about God and about pride. God loves you too much to let you hold onto it. Long it will come crashing down. <br /><br /> Three things I want to end with and, uh. . First thing is to keep perspective. Some of you guys know this man right here? Yeah, you can, you can right here. This is Who is this guy? That's Howie Roseman. Okay. Howie Roseman is a person who has been, he's a general manager of the Philadelphia Eagles. And, uh, he has been loved the last few weeks, um, genius level, like all these things praised by him. <br /><br /> But you go back like 18 months and he was absolutely despised. And I, I just googled some and, and look at this. This is from like, I don't remember what the dates are, but like the Eagles news, the poll shows over 95%. 95% of humans don't agree on anything. But 95% of humans of fans think Howie Roseman should be replaced. <br /><br /> He's that bad at his job. Then this was a little while later. Do you approve of the job how Roseman is doing? 98%? Absolutely. And you think, Well, that's his family. That's 6,600 votes on that. Right? Part of this is keeping perspective. When we're being mistreated, when we are being elevated, man, the tides come and they go, Right? <br /><br /> This is why we hold onto the Holy Spirit because it is a step by step, day by day reality. It says that in Galatians and I, I'm pulling all these three from Galatians, cuz it's the letter that Paul would write to them after leaving. Secondly, for perspective, find identity in Jesus Christ. Th there is no greater, bigger, better reality. <br /><br /> Them being the beloved of God, brothers and sisters, with Jesus Christ being found in his reality. It is what pride searches for. It is a beauty that there's nothing better. Uh, real quick, there have been times where like, um, I've succeeded, or you've succeeded, and there's a feeling that goes along with that, right? <br /><br /> There's under euphoria, there's a sense of like, Yes, I did a good job, or, Yes, this is going well and it feels really good, but next time you feel it, think what? Go deep into it because almost always for me, when there's this feeling of satisfaction or euphoria, you know what the shadow is of it. For me, it's fear, but what if I fail next time? <br /><br /> What if my kid doesn't do as well? Next time? What if? What if I, This doesn't work out right, And so I'm still riding that good feeling, but what if I lose this? This is what's true, dear Beloved, about the love of God. When you truly experience the love of God, it is like this is all I need, past, present, and future. <br /><br /> And when I am truly understanding his love for me, it is the only moments in my life that I can say there's no fear here at all. Per love drives out fear. Galatians four says this, You are his sons. God sent the spirit of his son into your heart. The Spirit who cries out. Daddy Aba Father. Dear Beloved, you're no longer a slave, but you're God's child. <br /><br /> So much of the effort of pride is try to show I am somebody. The beauty in Jesus Christ is that you really are, and it's not something that pulls you out and elevates you better. It places you among and among is where love lives. You are no longer a slave. You are God's child, and since you are his child, God made you also his He. <br /><br /> And finally, anecdotally, back to Porky Pines, here's, here's what I would say when it comes to the Porky Pines. How do we live life with each other when we poke each other when we're having difficult, It's simply this. We bleed, Well , we bleed well, because guess what? Some porcupine is gonna be over here and they're scared of something else. <br /><br /> So they're backing up into me, and that ticks me off. So I'm gonna wave my little tail and nail the person next to me. Right? And then chain reaction is gonna happen again. Again. But what? What's the wave response is to say, Whoa, that that Porky P just backed up next to me. Wonder what they're scared of. <br /><br /> They must have a lot going on. And instead of me taking the blood I'm experiencing and trying to take it outta somebody else, I'm gonna try to bleed. Well, I'm gonna try to heal. Well, I'm gonna recognize that we are a people of insecurity, of immaturity, and we're trying to be close. And that's really tough to do in a family, in a workplace, in a church. <br /><br /> I'm gonna expect to bleed a. But I'm also gonna try to bleed. Well, beloved, won't you stand up. I'm just gonna give you the benediction again from Galatians based in the spirit, this, uh, the fruit of the spirit, such an awesome little passage. It's given in the context, not of just how we know God better, not of just how to pray or read the Bible. <br /><br /> The context of the Spirit is how we live with one another. The context of these, the fruits of the Spirit is how we live together. It says in Galatians five, um, these words, desires of the flesh are against the spirit. Desire of the fear spirit are against the flesh. These are opposed to one another. It talks about loving your neighbor as yourself and the number one commandment. <br /><br /> The whole law fulfilled worship. Verse 14 is fulfilled in one word. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. In this context, he gives us what the fruit of this spirit is. He tells us how porky pine should live together. The fruit of the spirit is love. It's joy, it's peace, it's patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. <br /><br /> If we live by this spirit, let us keep in step with the spirit. Let us not become conceded provoking one another and envying one another. . It is by this spirit, dearly beloved, that we walk forward even when the mission becomes a mess and the power of this spirit. Great to be with you this morning. We are finished. <br /><br /> Thank you.</div> false no <![CDATA[God’s Great Gift to Humanity: A Sermon by Paul]]> Acts 13:13-52

So Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand said:“Men of Israel and you who fear God, listen."



Sermon Transcript:

I invite you to take your Bibles as we return again to the Book of Acts. We're gonna be looking at Acts chapter 13 this morning. Acts chapter 13.

We have a sermon. About a sermon this morning. Basically, this is a sermon. It's the Apostle Paul's first recorded sermon. We're gonna hear. Paul is a preacher For the first time, there've been some pretty awesome gifts that have been given in world history, a lot of them romantic gifts. Joe DiMaggio, the former husband of Marilyn Monroe, when she died, contacted the Parisian florist in Los Angeles and put it in order.

And here was the order I would like six long stemmed red roses to be placed on Maryland's grave three times a week forever. Didn't quite last forever. After 20 years, he finally canceled the order, but for 20 years, three times a week, those long stem roses. We're put on her grave. King Neba Kezer married a woman from MI Media, modern day Iran.

She missed a mountain greenery so much that he developed the hanging gardens of Babylon for her. One of the seven wonders of the world, Emperor Shaw. Johan dearly loved his wife, Moonage Mahal heartbroken. After she died in 1631, giving birth to their 14th child, he commissioned 20,000 workers to build a structure of white marble as a monument.

To her memory, it was called the Taj Mahal. Taj means Crown Mahal was her name. It was her Crown Maha's crown. In 1875, August Baroldi and Alexander Eiffel began working a gift from France to honor the 100. Year anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. The gift was to show honor for the American Vision for Democracy.

In 1884, they shipped their piece of art to the United States and a and a variety of ships because it came in 350 pieces was erected in New York Harbor and the Statue of Liberty was raised. There have been some awesome, cool gifts, thoughtful gifts, costly gifts, but none compared to the gift that Paul is going to talk about here in Acts chapter 13, as he presents God's great gift to humanity.

Here in Acts 13, in Paul's first recorded sermon, he talks about that great gift. I'd like to read about it here in Acts chapter 13, and I'm gonna pick up down in verse 16 and go to verse 37. So Paul stood up motioning with his hand and said, Men of Israel and knew who fear God. Listen, the God of this people.

Israel chose our fathers and made people great during their stay in the land of Egypt. And with uplifted arm. He, he led them out and for 30, 40 years he put up with them in the wilderness. And after destroying seven nations in the land of Canan, he gave them their land as an inheritance. All this took about 450 years, and after that he gave them judges until Samuel, the prophet.

Then they asked for a king and God gave them Saul, the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin for 40 years. And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king of whom he testified and said, I have found in David, the son of Jesse, a man after my heart who will do all my will. Of this man's offspring, God has brought to Israel a savior Jesus as he promised before his coming, John had proclaimed a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.

And as John was finishing his course, he said, What do you suppose that I am? I'm not he, No. But behold after me, one is coming the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie. Brothers, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you who fear God to us, has been sent the message of this salvation for those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers because they did not recognize him, nor understand the utterances of the prophets, which are read.

Every Sabbath fulfilled them by con, by condemning him. And though they found him not guilty, worthy of guilt, they founded him. No guilt worthy of death. They asked Pilot to have him execut. And when they had carried out all it was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb.

But God raised him from the dead. And for many days he appeared to those who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people. And we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers, this he has fulfilled to us, their children by raising Jesus as is also written in the second Psalm.

You are my son today. I've begotten you. And as for the fact that he raised him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, he has spoken in this way. I will give you the holy ensure blessing of David. Therefore, he says also in another Psalm, you will not let your holy one see corruption for David after he had served the purpose of God in his generation, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers and saw corruption, but he and God raised up did not see corruption.

Let it be known to you. Therefore brothers. That though this, through this man, forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you and by him, everyone who believes is freed from everything which you could not be freed by the law of Moses. Let's pray together.

Lord, there are truths in this passage which are deeply meaningful to me. God, I pray as we look at this passage and as we try to track with the apostle Paul and this lengthy and lofty sermon, Lord, may we see the one that he seemed so intent on us seeing. May we see Christ? May we see the glory of Christ.

May we see the glory of the, the plan about Christ and the story of Christ. May we love him more. May we be more stunned with our redemption because of what we read in this passage this morning. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

As we look at this passage, we are looking at a passage that actually is introduced in the verses just before we read, which was telling the story of the people of Israel, excuse me, not the people, Paul and Barnabas, who had been, uh, on their missionary journey. If we can bring up that map quickly. and the map of, here we are with them.

I did remember my pointer this week. Um, and you just followed these guys and they had left from Antioch. They had been sent out and as they went they went down to Cyprus, which was where Barnabas actually was from. Um, then they went over, they left there and on their way up and the versus just before the sermon, it says that John Mark left them.

And that was an ominous note because we believe he left cuz he was spooked or upset or something. But he deserted them and that will be a cause of conflict Later on in the book of Acts where Paul and Barnabas will go out again. Barnabas wants take John Mark. Paul doesn't want to because of the way he deserted them, but as they continued up here, Paul and Barnabas went up and they went to this area right there into another Antioch.

They left Antioch of Syria. They're now up in Antioch of PAs, Pisidia, and it is here that we read this sermon that Paul is preaching. The interesting thing about this sermon is they're doing it in a synagogue. They've gone in on the Sabbath, they've sat down and they're there, and apparently somebody, or somebody's noses.

Paul, probably because of his heritage as being a student of Gaal, the leading, uh, Jewish leader of the day, and they invite him to do what often happened in synagogues, in synagogue worship. What they did was they had a, they had a reading from the Torah. Then they had a reading, which was the first five books of the Old Testament.

Then they had a reading from the prophets, and then they had somebody give a commentary on it, and often they would turn to a guest speaker and say, Would you be willing to do the commentary for us today? That's what's happening. And Paul is standing up and, and he's got a message for him they hadn't seen coming.

And in the sermon he presents four parts. About God's great gift to humanity. And here we read in verse 16 to 25, we read the first part how God prepared his great gift to humanity. God is the subject of virtually every verb that is presented in these, in these verses, in verses 16 to 25. As he's talking about God in the past had prepared the way for this great gift that he's given you, humanity.

And it says things like this. God led the people out. God put up with them, and he's talking about the history of Israel. God gave them the land. God gave them judges. God gave them soul. God raised up David. None of their history he says is random because they are it. It's not about, it's about a God that is not random, that the whole story is he is accomplishing his purposes in history.

He says, David is the rightful king of God's people and the Messiah, Jesus will be the risen and reigning king as his descendant . The whole thing is reminding us history is God's story. It is his story. It is presenting a plan, and God is using, orchestrating all these events for these 2200 years of Israel's history.

Paul is saying it's all been leading to one person. It's all been leading to the the Messianic King, the promised Anointed one, and his name is Jesus the Christ Jesus, the anointed one. It gives a clue of how to read the Old Testament, that it's part, that everything is part of a bigger story, that there is creation.

And then there is the fall, and then the majority of the Bible is talking after Genesis one, the creation, Gen one and two, Genesis three, the fall in the latter part of Genesis three, all the way up to the end of the Book of Revelation, God is presenting the story of redemption. It's what? World history.

It's his story. He's presenting this story of the one who comes as the redeemer and from the beginning in verse 23, as he talks about, of this man's David offspring, God has brought to Israel a savior Jesus as he promised. Our pastors are involved in a training process. We go twice a year to a thing called Word, part Word partners.

It's a, uh, Bible. It's actually a preacher training program. Uh, we go up to Clark Summit. We're there with Steven Merck. Um, Younger Dave Merck is a part of it. We've had Jeremiah Davidson there, we've had instructors. We're doing it again this Tuesday through Thursday. We're going up and we are going to go up and basically what we're, we're, we're being, uh, given opportunities to practice principles of.

Preaching the scriptures exegesis, uh, which means to take the passage and get the truth out of it. To lead out is literally what Exegesis ioes is, is is putting it in. And that's not what you wanna do with preaching. You don't want to put in your thoughts and find it text. Oh, good. That might support this.

I'll throw that one in. No, the idea is you hear what the text is about and you teach it. Well, we're, we're going to, First and second Samuel are the books that we've been studying in preparation for these couple of days together. And it's fascinating as you read First Samuel, it's all about David as king as he's talking about.

And, and the striking thing is in First Samuel, it starts with the period of the judges and then the people after those 400 years, they say, You know, we don't wanna have God as our king, where he just says, temporary judges. He raises up that there's no human authority over. We want a king. And God says, Don't do it.

And they say, We will want a king. And he, and, and so finally they give a. And Saul comes, and he's warned them, Sue Sammy, you know, here are the things that are gonna happen if you have a human king, and it's gonna be, he's gonna be despotic and he's, all these things are gonna take place. All those things take place with Saul.

Saul's removed. And then God appoints David as the king. And he says, I'm, and, and, and it's put in here in, in Paul's message. He says, David was a man after his own heart. David was the line that he chose to be the line for Christ, the Messiah to come. And you look at this thing and you think, Wow. Basically what's happening here in First Samuel is God's just accommodating, uh, the, the, the folly of the people.

You know, he didn't want a king, but he's given him a king. But then you realize there are prophecies before the book of First Samuel where God says, There's going to be a king. He's gonna come from the line of Judah. And so this whole plan has been, and you realize as you look at First Samuel, And you put it together with what he's saying here in Acts chapter 13, God is even able to take the folly of humans and incorporate it into his plan and somehow accomplish his purposes.

And Paul's saying, This is what's going on guys. God has been at work for all these millennia of time, and it's all pointing to this great gift that he's gonna give to humans. It's happened now in your generation. He says It's happened in the person of Jesus, the Christ. He is the one that is coming, and God has been orchestrating this whole enterprise all of this time.

The second thing we read about in his sermon, what Jesus did to accomplish God's great gift. In verse 26 to 37, he talks about this, and first of all, he talks about how the religious leaders aided Jesus in his work. This, it's an amazing thing. He says He, he says this in verse 26. Let me read it to you.

Brothers, Sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you who fear God to us has been sent the message of this salvation for those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers because they didn't recognize him nor understand the utterances of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath. So here's what he's saying.

First of all, the Messiah came and the religious leaders missed it. The one who is prophesied about who they have been anticipating all these centuries. He says, First of all, they didn't recognize him. Second of all he says, They didn't understand the prophecies about him, even though they read them every Sabbath.

Paul says, Worse. They had no basis on which to condemn him, but they got him. They got pilot to condemn him and execute him. But here's the thing that Paul then throws in. He says, But in rejecting and executing him, they fulfilled God's plan for Jesus dying and rising from the dead. Notice verse 27 of this passage here in Act 13, they had the utterances of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath, and they fulfilled those prophecies by condemning.

And though they found him in verse 28, they found no guilt worthy of death. They asked Pate to have him executed, and when they had carried out, all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb. Here's what he's saying. They had these prophecies for their whole life, for centuries.

They'd been waiting. They gather in the Sabbath, in the synagogue, and they gather in the temple, and they, they quote these prophecies. And when Jesus came, they didn't see it. As a matter of fact, they completely misunderstood those prophecies, and they actually put into death they were crazed in their, their, uh, vehement against him.

They, they created trumped up charges against him. And he said it was horrible stuff they did, but in doing it, they were fulfilling God's plan to have Christ executed and be buried. and rise from the day, and he said God was over. Even that, that's why he says in Peter's sermon, said the exact same thing.

He says in Acts chapter two, he's talking to the religious leaders there and he says, You by wicked hands crucified Christ, but he says, You fulfill the determinate counsel and pleasure and purposes of God, that even in their folly, even in their rebellion, somehow God was going to bring about this matchless gift to humankind.

God was at work. We see in verse 30 how God the Father aided Jesus in his work, but God raised him from the dead. And we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers, this he has fulfilled to us, their children by raising Jesus. The raising of Jesus from the dead was the fulfilling of the prophecies of David and others that Jesus would rise as the risen Christ, the risen king.

It's interesting, there's a verse here of verse 35. I just won't point this out cuz it stood out to me in verse 35, a chapter 13. He's quoting Psalm 16, verse 10, where David said, Lord, for you will not abandon my soul to the grave or let your holy one seed decay the, And then what Paul does, he said, David said this, but, and if you read Psalm 16, it's a very personal Psalm of David, but he says David wasn't talking about himself because David did die and David's body did decay.

He was talking about Christ who died, but was in the grave, but was not in the grave long enough for his body to decay. Now, I actually did some research. I was curious to know how long it takes for a body to decay. By the way, this is not a savory, uh, research. I don't, And, and then half of you're gonna be diving your phone, say, How long does it take?

But I'm telling you, you won't be glad if you hear the process of decaying. But what I can tell you is it takes a minimum of three to five days for the body to start decay. Jesus was in the grave, literally two and a half days, three days, uh, is the definition by, by the reckoning. But basically his body did not see dec.

But Davids did. God says all this was happening by the determinant council and and pleasure of God, that, that God was, I mean, he, here are the religious leaders and they think they've beaten Jesus. And, and, and all the time it says they were fulfilling the very prophecies. They didn't know what was going on, but they were the fulfillment of the prophecy by Jesus actually being crucified.

The cross and resurrection were God's design. He used the rejection of the people to fulfill his plan and purposes. This God is big. This redemption is glorious. The third thing we read, and now I just wanna read versus 38 to 41 again here is really, here's the, really the focus of the sermon. This is where he is going.

This is the kicker. Let it be known to you, therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. And by him, everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses. Be aware they're left. Therefore less what is said and the prophet should come about.

Look, you scoffers, be astounded. In perished for what I am doing. A work in your days, a work that you will not believe, even if one tells it to you. We, he tells them how people receive God's great gift. Notice what he says in verse 39. There is a forgiveness that is available by everyone who believes and actually says, Not only do you have this forgiveness, you have this.

That's saving faith, placing your trust in Jesus Christ that these individuals and a few, and some of the Jews will do that there in the synagogue the following week, he'll come back and, and is preaching again. But this time the, the mucky mucks in the town, the religious leaders ha, have risen against him.

And so he actually takes his message on the road outside of the synagogue to the Gentiles, same message. The great gift is given and they're all excited cuz a number of them embrace Christ as savior. But he says those that embraced Christ, those that believed with the recipients of this great gift. So what does that mean?

Just simply, what does it mean that they believed? Well, of course it doesn't mean just intellectual belief. It doesn't mean just because we're told in James chapter two that the devils the demons belief. But they have not embraced Christ as their savior and Lord, it just means they intellectually know. I, we had a family picnic, uh, last weekend, and my niece was there and, and Patience has, uh, had had some back stuff going on.

And I, and I, and I said, I'm, I'm, and I'm sitting there like a fat cat on my, uh, we, we, we learned from Mike and Joe Candy, They get us into this, this, um, who are experts at soccer games and going to soccer games, and they, they, I saw them one time in a game sitting in a, a, a chair that rocked, you know, just the kind that, you know, you unfold, but this baby rock.

So I got one. I love it. I love it. I wish I'd had it many years ago when my kids were all playing soccer. But, but, so I'm sitting there in my, my rocker and I said to pace, you hi man. You ought try this out. And, and there was a degree of interest. And then I said, and I remembered it back and I just said, Well, you know, just.

Just don't tilt back too far. Cuz I've had a couple of close calls cuz I, I, I rock enthusiastically. Well, I could see the change in perspective on her face. And I said, so I got, Do you wanna try? Uh, no. I, I, I said what? It'll hold you. Oh, I know, I know. It'll hold me, Uncle Mark, but I'm good. I'm good now.

Patients believed, and I do think she saw me. I'm bigger and I didn't fall over. And I think she, But patients had not entrusted herself into the chair. She believed in it. But how would she entru, how would she show her trusting faith? She'd sit down, she'd rock. She hadn't entrusted herself to the chair.

These individuals didn't just believe. Yeah, Jesus is the. Oh, he's my savior. I am taking, I'm entrusting myself to Jesus Christ. I'm receiving him personally as my Savior. As my Lord. That's what happened to some of these individuals. They looked and they thought, Oh my goodness, God has been working, orchestrating, planning.

He even chose David as the king. So, and he became the line that he would choose as the forefather, and all the promises were directing all these centuries towards Christ. And he's come and he's come and he, and he's been crucified just as they prophesied, but people didn't get it. But then he's been raised from the dead victorious, and now offers salvation and forgiveness and freedom.

They received this great gift by their own faith. That was their part. But verse 48 tells us God's part. And there we're told about the Gentiles. And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord. And as many as were appointed to eternal life believed this phrase, the latter part of it, as many as were appointed to eternal life, believe is in keeping with the emphasis on God's sovereignty.

We see in this sermon, it's emphasizing God's role in this salvation. After the Jews at large, certainly not all of them reject Paul's message. He turns to the Gentiles and he says, Those that were appointed to eternal life belief, they entrusted themself to the rocker, if you will. They, they gave their heart and life, they yielded their, their eternal destiny to Christ and what he had done for them on the cross and in the resurrection.

Now, this of course, is a confusing statement. because it declares that those who believed had been appointed to that belief. Appointed implies chosen, ordained a review of the other uses of the word appointed. In the Book of Acts. Quite honestly, support that sense of the word. Here's two of them. The two, two prominent ones, Acts chapter 15, verse two.

Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem, to the apostles and the elders about this question. They were picked, they were chosen in Acts chapter 22, verse 10. And I said, What shall I do Lord? And the Lord said to me, Rise and go into Damascus. And there you will be told all that is appointed for you to do what's been chosen for you to do.

The sense is that those who believed on Jesus here in verse 38 48 had been elected or chosen or appointed to that belief. The argument is that God moved first. . And that's why they believed that in Grace, he appointed them to salvation and they believed as a result. Now, I'm not gonna get into the questions, the legitimate, understandable questions that are here about fairness, about what abouts, what abouts, what abouts.

There are those questions of legitimate questions. And I'm glad to traffic with you in those questions, just not right now. But I do wanna say this about this. This doctrine of election of God's grace in salvation is what I believe the Bible teaches. It has been for me, a decidedly, deeply precious doctrine.

In my darkest no moments, to know that God wanted me pursued me, that God chose me to be His child has been a humbling consoling. And liberating doctrine. For me personally, it does not diminish the concept that these people are only believers because they personally chose to believe in Jesus Christ.

That's why they belong to him. No one can reconcile God's sovereignty on one side and human responsibility on the others, but none of us are God.

When I talk about this doctrine come across a passage, I often use this story, which I feel is helpful. My father-in-law was a great storyteller, great professor, and legendary storyteller actually, and you didn't want to get on a situation where you did something embarrassing with that around because it would become legendarily family lore, and.

Okay. He told the story, They, they, uh, they lived in northern Michigan and where they lived, uh, they were in a small church and they often had preachers come in that were, uh, characters, I'll say. Um, and one guy dad told the story about this guy came in and he had a classic statement. He was talking about how God had led him to come and preach at their church that Sunday, and here was his statement.

God brought me here, but I wouldn't be here if I hadn't come. Okay. You think about that,

that's the best definition of the doctrine of election I've ever heard. To me, if you are a child of God, you have come to him through believing in Jesus Christ as your savior. You had to come.

but you wouldn't have come if God didn't bring it here. Now we, there are real struggles and I, I get 'em all, but to me, there's beauty also. This whole passage of Acts chapter 13 is highlight God. It's all about God. It's all about God's big grace. The fourth thing is what we get, What people get in God's great gift.

First of all, they get forgiveness. Paul tells us is in verse 38, through this man's forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. He says this, Jesus, who's the culmination of all history to this point, God orchestrating all the affairs towards Christ, and he says, the first thing you get in him is forgiveness that he bore on the cross.

The punishment, the penalty for your sins. You can be forgiven eternally, unconditionally, absolutely, completely. But then Paul says something else was given the freedom from the verdict of falling short. I, I gotta tell you, I love this. This is the part of the sermon. Just don't zone me out on this one.

This, this part is too important to me. Here's what he says in verse 39, And by him, everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses. He says, Not only did you get forgiveness, you got freed from that, which the law of Moses could not free you. What does that mean?

He's talking about here, the other aspect of the work of Jesus on the cross, which is essential for salvation, which is essential for a person being a child of God, which is essential for a person going to heaven. It is not enough to have your sins forgiven.

Mark, that sounds borderline heretical. Hang with me at the end of verse 38. The verdict would be this. If you have breathed and Jesus Christ is your savior, you are forgiven of your sin. You are now in a state of innocence. It's as if you never sinned. And that's what some people, how some people describe the, the, the doctrine of justification.

Just as if I never sin. I would suggest to you that is not the doctrine of, of justification. That is only a part of it. That it's more than just as if I never sin because the basis. Of heaven. The basis of a relationship of with God is not innocence. That's just taking us back to where Adam and Eve were originally, They hadn't sinned.

That is not the basis of living with God forever. The, the basis of living with God forever is righteousness. That we have done what God has told us to do. We have lived the life righteously. Every religion on the world recognizes the standard of, of relationship with God, of heaven ultimately is fulfilling righteousness in that sense.

Their right God, Jesus himself says the standard is perfection. He talks about this on the, on the, on the sermon on the Mount. So we find him saying, Look, I want you to understand that what Jesus did for you, freed you from. That which you could not be freed by the law of Moses. You had a verdict that declared you unworthy of eternal life, unworthy of relationship with God, unworthy of heaven.

It isn't just that you were forgiven of your sins and entered innocence, that you are now freed from that standing. The goal is not a verdict of innocence. The goal is a verdict of righteousness. So we look at Romans chapter three, which is a parallel passage to verse 39 here, and Paul concludes this section in Romans three, and he says this.

Now we know that whatever the law teach says, it speaks to those who are under the law so that every mouth can be stopped and the whole world may be accountable to God for by works of the law. No human being will be justified in his sight since through the law. Comes knowledge of sin. So Paul's saying, if you're trying, if, if you're hoping that you're going to earn eternal life by your life, you're going to fail.

Well, thank you, Paul. I mean, that's a, that's a very helpful conclusion, Lu. So what do you got from me, Paul? Well, Paul is saying exactly here what he says in verse 39 of this passage. He's saying, Look, you can't get it from fulfilling the law of Moses. You can't do it. You're not gonna measure up. Matter of fact, the law declares everybody not meeting the standard.

So what does Paul do next in Romans chapter three, verse 31, the very next verse, I'll tell you what you and I would do. Here's what we would do. We'd look at this thing and we'd say, Okay, here's the test. The standard of a relationship with God is by being righteous, but nobody's righteous. We'd be a teacher, like a teacher, like most teachers would do if you did an exam and every member of your class flunked.

As a matter of fact, the high grade was a 59. Most teachers would say, Mmm, I've got some really good students in this class, and, uh, you know, it's possible. Maybe the test was too hard, so maybe I'll do one of two things. Maybe I'll redo the test. Let's, let's try this second swing, or we'll grade on a curve, right?

I'm gonna make the 58. This kid that's never had any a in her entire life, we're gonna look at her at 59 and say, that's gonna be now the, the standard that's gonna be an A or maybe a B cuz you just can't stand to give an A for 59. But basically you're grading on a curve and so, so you're trying to bring everybody up to where they really seems like they would belong.

You're great on a curve. Well, that's what we would do in Roman chapter three when he says nobody can do it by their works. We would say, You know what the great news, God dumbed down the standard. God said, This is too hard, too hard. My bad, kind of messed up on this baby. Look, I just need everybody to get Ds and, and your 59 is now, it's a 94 Now the problem is God is not a bad teacher.

I don't mean you're a bad teacher if you've ever done that, by the way, but, uh, God knows exactly why we didn't measure up in righteousness. We didn't want to. We went our own way. We said living righteously means I'm living under authority. It means I'm doing what God wants. It means I'm making God's glory more than my glory.

Then I, I don't want it that none of us fulfill the standard of righteousness, but God doesn't dumb down the curve. We can just bring up that visual just to, Don't I have a visual? It says something about, Yes, Thank you. Well, it's not really visual, is it? Uh, Christianity does not dumb down the standard by great.

No, it doesn't. It doesn't change it, It doesn't make it easier. It doesn't dumb it down. So we can, we can pass. So what did he do? Well, Romans chapter three, verse 31, and this passage here in Acts is saying the same thing. What happened was Jesus Christ not only died bearing the punishment for your sin and your sins were laid on Christ, and he bore the punishment for them.

He became liable for your sins in the same transaction. He takes all of the righteousness that he has earned in his life by living completely obediently in every thought, word or deed. And he says that righteousness is laid to your account. Justification is not just just as if I never sind. It is also just as if I always ob.

I stand with Christ's report card. I stand with his standing. Yeah, my junk was laid on Christ, and they're on the cross. It says that the sins of, you know, the guy that was killed or the woman that was killed, they would actually right there a placard that listed their sins. Well, it says in Galatians chapter three that our sins were inscribed on the cross of Christ.

What does that mean? He was dying for your stuff, but that's not all. He also was saying, I'll take all that you've done and I'll be liable as if I am the guilty center for every single piece of it. But now all the righteousness that I've done when I was in the garden and I was sweating drops of blood and I said, Lord, if you can remove this cup from me.

but not my will. Yours be done. That righteousness was laid to your account . It's as if you stood in that garden. It's as if you fulfilled all righteousness. We are not just given a verdict of innocence with our sins forgiven. We are given a verdict of righteousness that we stand in the very acceptance of Jesus Christ.

And Paul says of the mosaic law could couldn't free you in this way. The Mosaic law, you can't fulfill this. You can't have this freedom of now being declared acceptable, righteous in any other place. But this guy, and I'm coming to tell you about, The one that's been promised and prophesied through all these millennia of time, Jesus Christ came to give you the greatest gift that has ever been offered to a human being.

The gift of forgiveness. The gift of righteousness, the gift of eternal life. Lord, we come to you this morning.

God, we stand stunned in the acceptance you've given us. In Jesus Christ, we stand stunned in the forgiveness that he provided for us. And Lord Jesus, how we love you that you came to live this life, to fulfill righteousness through all those years, to accrue to us righteousness. Not only were you taking our sin, you were giving us your standing

Lord, how we love you for it. In your name, amen. Now go on. Peace to love and serve. Enjoy the work.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/gods-great-gift-to-humanity-a-sermon-by-paul 4ca5cf37-7f9c-4cd8-a110-70a0c882b9ec Sun, 02 Oct 2022 14:28:25 GMT <div data-html="true">Acts 13:13-52 <br /><br /> So Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand said:“Men of Israel and you who fear God, listen." <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> I invite you to take your Bibles as we return again to the Book of Acts. We're gonna be looking at Acts chapter 13 this morning. Acts chapter 13. <br /><br /> We have a sermon. About a sermon this morning. Basically, this is a sermon. It's the Apostle Paul's first recorded sermon. We're gonna hear. Paul is a preacher For the first time, there've been some pretty awesome gifts that have been given in world history, a lot of them romantic gifts. Joe DiMaggio, the former husband of Marilyn Monroe, when she died, contacted the Parisian florist in Los Angeles and put it in order. <br /><br /> And here was the order I would like six long stemmed red roses to be placed on Maryland's grave three times a week forever. Didn't quite last forever. After 20 years, he finally canceled the order, but for 20 years, three times a week, those long stem roses. We're put on her grave. King Neba Kezer married a woman from MI Media, modern day Iran. <br /><br /> She missed a mountain greenery so much that he developed the hanging gardens of Babylon for her. One of the seven wonders of the world, Emperor Shaw. Johan dearly loved his wife, Moonage Mahal heartbroken. After she died in 1631, giving birth to their 14th child, he commissioned 20,000 workers to build a structure of white marble as a monument. <br /><br /> To her memory, it was called the Taj Mahal. Taj means Crown Mahal was her name. It was her Crown Maha's crown. In 1875, August Baroldi and Alexander Eiffel began working a gift from France to honor the 100. Year anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. The gift was to show honor for the American Vision for Democracy. <br /><br /> In 1884, they shipped their piece of art to the United States and a and a variety of ships because it came in 350 pieces was erected in New York Harbor and the Statue of Liberty was raised. There have been some awesome, cool gifts, thoughtful gifts, costly gifts, but none compared to the gift that Paul is going to talk about here in Acts chapter 13, as he presents God's great gift to humanity. <br /><br /> Here in Acts 13, in Paul's first recorded sermon, he talks about that great gift. I'd like to read about it here in Acts chapter 13, and I'm gonna pick up down in verse 16 and go to verse 37. So Paul stood up motioning with his hand and said, Men of Israel and knew who fear God. Listen, the God of this people. <br /><br /> Israel chose our fathers and made people great during their stay in the land of Egypt. And with uplifted arm. He, he led them out and for 30, 40 years he put up with them in the wilderness. And after destroying seven nations in the land of Canan, he gave them their land as an inheritance. All this took about 450 years, and after that he gave them judges until Samuel, the prophet. <br /><br /> Then they asked for a king and God gave them Saul, the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin for 40 years. And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king of whom he testified and said, I have found in David, the son of Jesse, a man after my heart who will do all my will. Of this man's offspring, God has brought to Israel a savior Jesus as he promised before his coming, John had proclaimed a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. <br /><br /> And as John was finishing his course, he said, What do you suppose that I am? I'm not he, No. But behold after me, one is coming the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie. Brothers, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you who fear God to us, has been sent the message of this salvation for those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers because they did not recognize him, nor understand the utterances of the prophets, which are read. <br /><br /> Every Sabbath fulfilled them by con, by condemning him. And though they found him not guilty, worthy of guilt, they founded him. No guilt worthy of death. They asked Pilot to have him execut. And when they had carried out all it was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb. <br /><br /> But God raised him from the dead. And for many days he appeared to those who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people. And we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers, this he has fulfilled to us, their children by raising Jesus as is also written in the second Psalm. <br /><br /> You are my son today. I've begotten you. And as for the fact that he raised him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, he has spoken in this way. I will give you the holy ensure blessing of David. Therefore, he says also in another Psalm, you will not let your holy one see corruption for David after he had served the purpose of God in his generation, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers and saw corruption, but he and God raised up did not see corruption. <br /><br /> Let it be known to you. Therefore brothers. That though this, through this man, forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you and by him, everyone who believes is freed from everything which you could not be freed by the law of Moses. Let's pray together. <br /><br /> Lord, there are truths in this passage which are deeply meaningful to me. God, I pray as we look at this passage and as we try to track with the apostle Paul and this lengthy and lofty sermon, Lord, may we see the one that he seemed so intent on us seeing. May we see Christ? May we see the glory of Christ. <br /><br /> May we see the glory of the, the plan about Christ and the story of Christ. May we love him more. May we be more stunned with our redemption because of what we read in this passage this morning. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen. <br /><br /> As we look at this passage, we are looking at a passage that actually is introduced in the verses just before we read, which was telling the story of the people of Israel, excuse me, not the people, Paul and Barnabas, who had been, uh, on their missionary journey. If we can bring up that map quickly. and the map of, here we are with them. <br /><br /> I did remember my pointer this week. Um, and you just followed these guys and they had left from Antioch. They had been sent out and as they went they went down to Cyprus, which was where Barnabas actually was from. Um, then they went over, they left there and on their way up and the versus just before the sermon, it says that John Mark left them. <br /><br /> And that was an ominous note because we believe he left cuz he was spooked or upset or something. But he deserted them and that will be a cause of conflict Later on in the book of Acts where Paul and Barnabas will go out again. Barnabas wants take John Mark. Paul doesn't want to because of the way he deserted them, but as they continued up here, Paul and Barnabas went up and they went to this area right there into another Antioch. <br /><br /> They left Antioch of Syria. They're now up in Antioch of PAs, Pisidia, and it is here that we read this sermon that Paul is preaching. The interesting thing about this sermon is they're doing it in a synagogue. They've gone in on the Sabbath, they've sat down and they're there, and apparently somebody, or somebody's noses. <br /><br /> Paul, probably because of his heritage as being a student of Gaal, the leading, uh, Jewish leader of the day, and they invite him to do what often happened in synagogues, in synagogue worship. What they did was they had a, they had a reading from the Torah. Then they had a reading, which was the first five books of the Old Testament. <br /><br /> Then they had a reading from the prophets, and then they had somebody give a commentary on it, and often they would turn to a guest speaker and say, Would you be willing to do the commentary for us today? That's what's happening. And Paul is standing up and, and he's got a message for him they hadn't seen coming. <br /><br /> And in the sermon he presents four parts. About God's great gift to humanity. And here we read in verse 16 to 25, we read the first part how God prepared his great gift to humanity. God is the subject of virtually every verb that is presented in these, in these verses, in verses 16 to 25. As he's talking about God in the past had prepared the way for this great gift that he's given you, humanity. <br /><br /> And it says things like this. God led the people out. God put up with them, and he's talking about the history of Israel. God gave them the land. God gave them judges. God gave them soul. God raised up David. None of their history he says is random because they are it. It's not about, it's about a God that is not random, that the whole story is he is accomplishing his purposes in history. <br /><br /> He says, David is the rightful king of God's people and the Messiah, Jesus will be the risen and reigning king as his descendant . The whole thing is reminding us history is God's story. It is his story. It is presenting a plan, and God is using, orchestrating all these events for these 2200 years of Israel's history. <br /><br /> Paul is saying it's all been leading to one person. It's all been leading to the the Messianic King, the promised Anointed one, and his name is Jesus the Christ Jesus, the anointed one. It gives a clue of how to read the Old Testament, that it's part, that everything is part of a bigger story, that there is creation. <br /><br /> And then there is the fall, and then the majority of the Bible is talking after Genesis one, the creation, Gen one and two, Genesis three, the fall in the latter part of Genesis three, all the way up to the end of the Book of Revelation, God is presenting the story of redemption. It's what? World history. <br /><br /> It's his story. He's presenting this story of the one who comes as the redeemer and from the beginning in verse 23, as he talks about, of this man's David offspring, God has brought to Israel a savior Jesus as he promised. Our pastors are involved in a training process. We go twice a year to a thing called Word, part Word partners. <br /><br /> It's a, uh, Bible. It's actually a preacher training program. Uh, we go up to Clark Summit. We're there with Steven Merck. Um, Younger Dave Merck is a part of it. We've had Jeremiah Davidson there, we've had instructors. We're doing it again this Tuesday through Thursday. We're going up and we are going to go up and basically what we're, we're, we're being, uh, given opportunities to practice principles of. <br /><br /> Preaching the scriptures exegesis, uh, which means to take the passage and get the truth out of it. To lead out is literally what Exegesis ioes is, is is putting it in. And that's not what you wanna do with preaching. You don't want to put in your thoughts and find it text. Oh, good. That might support this. <br /><br /> I'll throw that one in. No, the idea is you hear what the text is about and you teach it. Well, we're, we're going to, First and second Samuel are the books that we've been studying in preparation for these couple of days together. And it's fascinating as you read First Samuel, it's all about David as king as he's talking about. <br /><br /> And, and the striking thing is in First Samuel, it starts with the period of the judges and then the people after those 400 years, they say, You know, we don't wanna have God as our king, where he just says, temporary judges. He raises up that there's no human authority over. We want a king. And God says, Don't do it. <br /><br /> And they say, We will want a king. And he, and, and so finally they give a. And Saul comes, and he's warned them, Sue Sammy, you know, here are the things that are gonna happen if you have a human king, and it's gonna be, he's gonna be despotic and he's, all these things are gonna take place. All those things take place with Saul. <br /><br /> Saul's removed. And then God appoints David as the king. And he says, I'm, and, and, and it's put in here in, in Paul's message. He says, David was a man after his own heart. David was the line that he chose to be the line for Christ, the Messiah to come. And you look at this thing and you think, Wow. Basically what's happening here in First Samuel is God's just accommodating, uh, the, the, the folly of the people. <br /><br /> You know, he didn't want a king, but he's given him a king. But then you realize there are prophecies before the book of First Samuel where God says, There's going to be a king. He's gonna come from the line of Judah. And so this whole plan has been, and you realize as you look at First Samuel, And you put it together with what he's saying here in Acts chapter 13, God is even able to take the folly of humans and incorporate it into his plan and somehow accomplish his purposes. <br /><br /> And Paul's saying, This is what's going on guys. God has been at work for all these millennia of time, and it's all pointing to this great gift that he's gonna give to humans. It's happened now in your generation. He says It's happened in the person of Jesus, the Christ. He is the one that is coming, and God has been orchestrating this whole enterprise all of this time. <br /><br /> The second thing we read about in his sermon, what Jesus did to accomplish God's great gift. In verse 26 to 37, he talks about this, and first of all, he talks about how the religious leaders aided Jesus in his work. This, it's an amazing thing. He says He, he says this in verse 26. Let me read it to you. <br /><br /> Brothers, Sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you who fear God to us has been sent the message of this salvation for those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers because they didn't recognize him nor understand the utterances of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath. So here's what he's saying. <br /><br /> First of all, the Messiah came and the religious leaders missed it. The one who is prophesied about who they have been anticipating all these centuries. He says, First of all, they didn't recognize him. Second of all he says, They didn't understand the prophecies about him, even though they read them every Sabbath. <br /><br /> Paul says, Worse. They had no basis on which to condemn him, but they got him. They got pilot to condemn him and execute him. But here's the thing that Paul then throws in. He says, But in rejecting and executing him, they fulfilled God's plan for Jesus dying and rising from the dead. Notice verse 27 of this passage here in Act 13, they had the utterances of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath, and they fulfilled those prophecies by condemning. <br /><br /> And though they found him in verse 28, they found no guilt worthy of death. They asked Pate to have him executed, and when they had carried out, all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb. Here's what he's saying. They had these prophecies for their whole life, for centuries. <br /><br /> They'd been waiting. They gather in the Sabbath, in the synagogue, and they gather in the temple, and they, they quote these prophecies. And when Jesus came, they didn't see it. As a matter of fact, they completely misunderstood those prophecies, and they actually put into death they were crazed in their, their, uh, vehement against him. <br /><br /> They, they created trumped up charges against him. And he said it was horrible stuff they did, but in doing it, they were fulfilling God's plan to have Christ executed and be buried. and rise from the day, and he said God was over. Even that, that's why he says in Peter's sermon, said the exact same thing. <br /><br /> He says in Acts chapter two, he's talking to the religious leaders there and he says, You by wicked hands crucified Christ, but he says, You fulfill the determinate counsel and pleasure and purposes of God, that even in their folly, even in their rebellion, somehow God was going to bring about this matchless gift to humankind. <br /><br /> God was at work. We see in verse 30 how God the Father aided Jesus in his work, but God raised him from the dead. And we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers, this he has fulfilled to us, their children by raising Jesus. The raising of Jesus from the dead was the fulfilling of the prophecies of David and others that Jesus would rise as the risen Christ, the risen king. <br /><br /> It's interesting, there's a verse here of verse 35. I just won't point this out cuz it stood out to me in verse 35, a chapter 13. He's quoting Psalm 16, verse 10, where David said, Lord, for you will not abandon my soul to the grave or let your holy one seed decay the, And then what Paul does, he said, David said this, but, and if you read Psalm 16, it's a very personal Psalm of David, but he says David wasn't talking about himself because David did die and David's body did decay. <br /><br /> He was talking about Christ who died, but was in the grave, but was not in the grave long enough for his body to decay. Now, I actually did some research. I was curious to know how long it takes for a body to decay. By the way, this is not a savory, uh, research. I don't, And, and then half of you're gonna be diving your phone, say, How long does it take? <br /><br /> But I'm telling you, you won't be glad if you hear the process of decaying. But what I can tell you is it takes a minimum of three to five days for the body to start decay. Jesus was in the grave, literally two and a half days, three days, uh, is the definition by, by the reckoning. But basically his body did not see dec. <br /><br /> But Davids did. God says all this was happening by the determinant council and and pleasure of God, that, that God was, I mean, he, here are the religious leaders and they think they've beaten Jesus. And, and, and all the time it says they were fulfilling the very prophecies. They didn't know what was going on, but they were the fulfillment of the prophecy by Jesus actually being crucified. <br /><br /> The cross and resurrection were God's design. He used the rejection of the people to fulfill his plan and purposes. This God is big. This redemption is glorious. The third thing we read, and now I just wanna read versus 38 to 41 again here is really, here's the, really the focus of the sermon. This is where he is going. <br /><br /> This is the kicker. Let it be known to you, therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. And by him, everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses. Be aware they're left. Therefore less what is said and the prophet should come about. <br /><br /> Look, you scoffers, be astounded. In perished for what I am doing. A work in your days, a work that you will not believe, even if one tells it to you. We, he tells them how people receive God's great gift. Notice what he says in verse 39. There is a forgiveness that is available by everyone who believes and actually says, Not only do you have this forgiveness, you have this. <br /><br /> That's saving faith, placing your trust in Jesus Christ that these individuals and a few, and some of the Jews will do that there in the synagogue the following week, he'll come back and, and is preaching again. But this time the, the mucky mucks in the town, the religious leaders ha, have risen against him. <br /><br /> And so he actually takes his message on the road outside of the synagogue to the Gentiles, same message. The great gift is given and they're all excited cuz a number of them embrace Christ as savior. But he says those that embraced Christ, those that believed with the recipients of this great gift. So what does that mean? <br /><br /> Just simply, what does it mean that they believed? Well, of course it doesn't mean just intellectual belief. It doesn't mean just because we're told in James chapter two that the devils the demons belief. But they have not embraced Christ as their savior and Lord, it just means they intellectually know. I, we had a family picnic, uh, last weekend, and my niece was there and, and Patience has, uh, had had some back stuff going on. <br /><br /> And I, and I, and I said, I'm, I'm, and I'm sitting there like a fat cat on my, uh, we, we, we learned from Mike and Joe Candy, They get us into this, this, um, who are experts at soccer games and going to soccer games, and they, they, I saw them one time in a game sitting in a, a, a chair that rocked, you know, just the kind that, you know, you unfold, but this baby rock. <br /><br /> So I got one. I love it. I love it. I wish I'd had it many years ago when my kids were all playing soccer. But, but, so I'm sitting there in my, my rocker and I said to pace, you hi man. You ought try this out. And, and there was a degree of interest. And then I said, and I remembered it back and I just said, Well, you know, just. <br /><br /> Just don't tilt back too far. Cuz I've had a couple of close calls cuz I, I, I rock enthusiastically. Well, I could see the change in perspective on her face. And I said, so I got, Do you wanna try? Uh, no. I, I, I said what? It'll hold you. Oh, I know, I know. It'll hold me, Uncle Mark, but I'm good. I'm good now. <br /><br /> Patients believed, and I do think she saw me. I'm bigger and I didn't fall over. And I think she, But patients had not entrusted herself into the chair. She believed in it. But how would she entru, how would she show her trusting faith? She'd sit down, she'd rock. She hadn't entrusted herself to the chair. <br /><br /> These individuals didn't just believe. Yeah, Jesus is the. Oh, he's my savior. I am taking, I'm entrusting myself to Jesus Christ. I'm receiving him personally as my Savior. As my Lord. That's what happened to some of these individuals. They looked and they thought, Oh my goodness, God has been working, orchestrating, planning. <br /><br /> He even chose David as the king. So, and he became the line that he would choose as the forefather, and all the promises were directing all these centuries towards Christ. And he's come and he's come and he, and he's been crucified just as they prophesied, but people didn't get it. But then he's been raised from the dead victorious, and now offers salvation and forgiveness and freedom. <br /><br /> They received this great gift by their own faith. That was their part. But verse 48 tells us God's part. And there we're told about the Gentiles. And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord. And as many as were appointed to eternal life believed this phrase, the latter part of it, as many as were appointed to eternal life, believe is in keeping with the emphasis on God's sovereignty. <br /><br /> We see in this sermon, it's emphasizing God's role in this salvation. After the Jews at large, certainly not all of them reject Paul's message. He turns to the Gentiles and he says, Those that were appointed to eternal life belief, they entrusted themself to the rocker, if you will. They, they gave their heart and life, they yielded their, their eternal destiny to Christ and what he had done for them on the cross and in the resurrection. <br /><br /> Now, this of course, is a confusing statement. because it declares that those who believed had been appointed to that belief. Appointed implies chosen, ordained a review of the other uses of the word appointed. In the Book of Acts. Quite honestly, support that sense of the word. Here's two of them. The two, two prominent ones, Acts chapter 15, verse two. <br /><br /> Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem, to the apostles and the elders about this question. They were picked, they were chosen in Acts chapter 22, verse 10. And I said, What shall I do Lord? And the Lord said to me, Rise and go into Damascus. And there you will be told all that is appointed for you to do what's been chosen for you to do. <br /><br /> The sense is that those who believed on Jesus here in verse 38 48 had been elected or chosen or appointed to that belief. The argument is that God moved first. . And that's why they believed that in Grace, he appointed them to salvation and they believed as a result. Now, I'm not gonna get into the questions, the legitimate, understandable questions that are here about fairness, about what abouts, what abouts, what abouts. <br /><br /> There are those questions of legitimate questions. And I'm glad to traffic with you in those questions, just not right now. But I do wanna say this about this. This doctrine of election of God's grace in salvation is what I believe the Bible teaches. It has been for me, a decidedly, deeply precious doctrine. <br /><br /> In my darkest no moments, to know that God wanted me pursued me, that God chose me to be His child has been a humbling consoling. And liberating doctrine. For me personally, it does not diminish the concept that these people are only believers because they personally chose to believe in Jesus Christ. <br /><br /> That's why they belong to him. No one can reconcile God's sovereignty on one side and human responsibility on the others, but none of us are God. <br /><br /> When I talk about this doctrine come across a passage, I often use this story, which I feel is helpful. My father-in-law was a great storyteller, great professor, and legendary storyteller actually, and you didn't want to get on a situation where you did something embarrassing with that around because it would become legendarily family lore, and. <br /><br /> Okay. He told the story, They, they, uh, they lived in northern Michigan and where they lived, uh, they were in a small church and they often had preachers come in that were, uh, characters, I'll say. Um, and one guy dad told the story about this guy came in and he had a classic statement. He was talking about how God had led him to come and preach at their church that Sunday, and here was his statement. <br /><br /> God brought me here, but I wouldn't be here if I hadn't come. Okay. You think about that, <br /><br /> that's the best definition of the doctrine of election I've ever heard. To me, if you are a child of God, you have come to him through believing in Jesus Christ as your savior. You had to come. <br /><br /> but you wouldn't have come if God didn't bring it here. Now we, there are real struggles and I, I get 'em all, but to me, there's beauty also. This whole passage of Acts chapter 13 is highlight God. It's all about God. It's all about God's big grace. The fourth thing is what we get, What people get in God's great gift. <br /><br /> First of all, they get forgiveness. Paul tells us is in verse 38, through this man's forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. He says this, Jesus, who's the culmination of all history to this point, God orchestrating all the affairs towards Christ, and he says, the first thing you get in him is forgiveness that he bore on the cross. <br /><br /> The punishment, the penalty for your sins. You can be forgiven eternally, unconditionally, absolutely, completely. But then Paul says something else was given the freedom from the verdict of falling short. I, I gotta tell you, I love this. This is the part of the sermon. Just don't zone me out on this one. <br /><br /> This, this part is too important to me. Here's what he says in verse 39, And by him, everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses. He says, Not only did you get forgiveness, you got freed from that, which the law of Moses could not free you. What does that mean? <br /><br /> He's talking about here, the other aspect of the work of Jesus on the cross, which is essential for salvation, which is essential for a person being a child of God, which is essential for a person going to heaven. It is not enough to have your sins forgiven. <br /><br /> Mark, that sounds borderline heretical. Hang with me at the end of verse 38. The verdict would be this. If you have breathed and Jesus Christ is your savior, you are forgiven of your sin. You are now in a state of innocence. It's as if you never sinned. And that's what some people, how some people describe the, the, the doctrine of justification. <br /><br /> Just as if I never sin. I would suggest to you that is not the doctrine of, of justification. That is only a part of it. That it's more than just as if I never sin because the basis. Of heaven. The basis of a relationship of with God is not innocence. That's just taking us back to where Adam and Eve were originally, They hadn't sinned. <br /><br /> That is not the basis of living with God forever. The, the basis of living with God forever is righteousness. That we have done what God has told us to do. We have lived the life righteously. Every religion on the world recognizes the standard of, of relationship with God, of heaven ultimately is fulfilling righteousness in that sense. <br /><br /> Their right God, Jesus himself says the standard is perfection. He talks about this on the, on the, on the sermon on the Mount. So we find him saying, Look, I want you to understand that what Jesus did for you, freed you from. That which you could not be freed by the law of Moses. You had a verdict that declared you unworthy of eternal life, unworthy of relationship with God, unworthy of heaven. <br /><br /> It isn't just that you were forgiven of your sins and entered innocence, that you are now freed from that standing. The goal is not a verdict of innocence. The goal is a verdict of righteousness. So we look at Romans chapter three, which is a parallel passage to verse 39 here, and Paul concludes this section in Romans three, and he says this. <br /><br /> Now we know that whatever the law teach says, it speaks to those who are under the law so that every mouth can be stopped and the whole world may be accountable to God for by works of the law. No human being will be justified in his sight since through the law. Comes knowledge of sin. So Paul's saying, if you're trying, if, if you're hoping that you're going to earn eternal life by your life, you're going to fail. <br /><br /> Well, thank you, Paul. I mean, that's a, that's a very helpful conclusion, Lu. So what do you got from me, Paul? Well, Paul is saying exactly here what he says in verse 39 of this passage. He's saying, Look, you can't get it from fulfilling the law of Moses. You can't do it. You're not gonna measure up. Matter of fact, the law declares everybody not meeting the standard. <br /><br /> So what does Paul do next in Romans chapter three, verse 31, the very next verse, I'll tell you what you and I would do. Here's what we would do. We'd look at this thing and we'd say, Okay, here's the test. The standard of a relationship with God is by being righteous, but nobody's righteous. We'd be a teacher, like a teacher, like most teachers would do if you did an exam and every member of your class flunked. <br /><br /> As a matter of fact, the high grade was a 59. Most teachers would say, Mmm, I've got some really good students in this class, and, uh, you know, it's possible. Maybe the test was too hard, so maybe I'll do one of two things. Maybe I'll redo the test. Let's, let's try this second swing, or we'll grade on a curve, right? <br /><br /> I'm gonna make the 58. This kid that's never had any a in her entire life, we're gonna look at her at 59 and say, that's gonna be now the, the standard that's gonna be an A or maybe a B cuz you just can't stand to give an A for 59. But basically you're grading on a curve and so, so you're trying to bring everybody up to where they really seems like they would belong. <br /><br /> You're great on a curve. Well, that's what we would do in Roman chapter three when he says nobody can do it by their works. We would say, You know what the great news, God dumbed down the standard. God said, This is too hard, too hard. My bad, kind of messed up on this baby. Look, I just need everybody to get Ds and, and your 59 is now, it's a 94 Now the problem is God is not a bad teacher. <br /><br /> I don't mean you're a bad teacher if you've ever done that, by the way, but, uh, God knows exactly why we didn't measure up in righteousness. We didn't want to. We went our own way. We said living righteously means I'm living under authority. It means I'm doing what God wants. It means I'm making God's glory more than my glory. <br /><br /> Then I, I don't want it that none of us fulfill the standard of righteousness, but God doesn't dumb down the curve. We can just bring up that visual just to, Don't I have a visual? It says something about, Yes, Thank you. Well, it's not really visual, is it? Uh, Christianity does not dumb down the standard by great. <br /><br /> No, it doesn't. It doesn't change it, It doesn't make it easier. It doesn't dumb it down. So we can, we can pass. So what did he do? Well, Romans chapter three, verse 31, and this passage here in Acts is saying the same thing. What happened was Jesus Christ not only died bearing the punishment for your sin and your sins were laid on Christ, and he bore the punishment for them. <br /><br /> He became liable for your sins in the same transaction. He takes all of the righteousness that he has earned in his life by living completely obediently in every thought, word or deed. And he says that righteousness is laid to your account. Justification is not just just as if I never sind. It is also just as if I always ob. <br /><br /> I stand with Christ's report card. I stand with his standing. Yeah, my junk was laid on Christ, and they're on the cross. It says that the sins of, you know, the guy that was killed or the woman that was killed, they would actually right there a placard that listed their sins. Well, it says in Galatians chapter three that our sins were inscribed on the cross of Christ. <br /><br /> What does that mean? He was dying for your stuff, but that's not all. He also was saying, I'll take all that you've done and I'll be liable as if I am the guilty center for every single piece of it. But now all the righteousness that I've done when I was in the garden and I was sweating drops of blood and I said, Lord, if you can remove this cup from me. <br /><br /> but not my will. Yours be done. That righteousness was laid to your account . It's as if you stood in that garden. It's as if you fulfilled all righteousness. We are not just given a verdict of innocence with our sins forgiven. We are given a verdict of righteousness that we stand in the very acceptance of Jesus Christ. <br /><br /> And Paul says of the mosaic law could couldn't free you in this way. The Mosaic law, you can't fulfill this. You can't have this freedom of now being declared acceptable, righteous in any other place. But this guy, and I'm coming to tell you about, The one that's been promised and prophesied through all these millennia of time, Jesus Christ came to give you the greatest gift that has ever been offered to a human being. <br /><br /> The gift of forgiveness. The gift of righteousness, the gift of eternal life. Lord, we come to you this morning. <br /><br /> God, we stand stunned in the acceptance you've given us. In Jesus Christ, we stand stunned in the forgiveness that he provided for us. And Lord Jesus, how we love you that you came to live this life, to fulfill righteousness through all those years, to accrue to us righteousness. Not only were you taking our sin, you were giving us your standing <br /><br /> Lord, how we love you for it. In your name, amen. Now go on. Peace to love and serve. Enjoy the work.</div> false no <![CDATA[The Battle for a Person's Soul]]> Acts 13:4-12

“You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord?"



Sermon Transcript:

We're gonna be looking at acts chapter 13 this morning. Continuing our series in the book of acts acts chapter 13 versus four through 12 invites you to turn there with me. We're gonna be reading that passage in just a moment. John bunion, the famous author of the famous allegory, uh, Pilgrim's progress wrote another book actually wrote another lot of books, but the second most famous book.

John bunion was entitled. The battle for man's soul actually is called the holy war and the subtitle was the battle for man's soul. It was the story, an alleg iCal story, uh, of this city that, uh, di Avalo and his forces had conquered. And then it is the story of Al Shai, which is a name for, for God in the old Testament scriptures, Al Shai comes in with his forces through the power of Christ.

Victoriously wins the city and is an ongoing conflict that takes place in the city of man's soul. In the holy war, bunions allegorical master plea piece is actually being played out in real time. Here in acts chapter 13, there is a battle for a man's soul, and I'd like to read verse four through 12 about that.

So being sent out by the holy spirit, they, this is Paul Barnabas went down to SI Lucia and there, they sailed to Cypress. When they arrived at Salam, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. And they had John to assist them when they had gone through the whole island, as far as Pathas, they came upon a certain magician, a Jewish, false prophet named bar Jesus.

He was with the PROCO Seus, Paul, a man of intelligence who summoned Barnabas and saw and sought to hear the word of God, but S the magician for that is the meaning of his name, opposed them seeking to turn the PROCO away from the faith. But Saul, who was also called Paul filled with the holy spirit, looked intently at him and said, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of deceit and Villa, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord?

and now behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you and you will be blind and unable to see the son for a time immediately missed and darkness fell upon him. And he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand, then the pro council believed when he saw what had occurred for, he was astonished by the teaching of the Lord.

Lord, we come to you this morning

and God is not one of us in this room or watching online this morning that has not experienced the twisting that is talked about in this passage, the twisting of truth Lord particular this morning, I pray for those that are in that state of their minds being influenced by the twistedness of the enemy's lies, the deception, the false narratives.

It keep people from embracing Christ, his Lord and savior their lives. God teache us from this passage. As we see the battle for this governor's soul in Jesus name, I pray. Amen. Amen. This morning, I'm gonna, this is gonna terrorize you. I'm gonna do two sermons. not actually going to, I, I feel a need of here at the beginning of the missionary journey.

We are starting the first missionary journey of Paul. It's gonna be all chapter 13, all of chapter 14. And I just wanna give you a quick snapshot about what that's going to be, because there are some unique things that are gonna take place in this. And there are some unique things that, that Luke. Shares with us in verse four and five about this missionary journey gives us some previews.

Then we're gonna tie in, in verses six through 12 at this battle that takes place. So I'm giving you background and I'm giving you a battle this morning, verse four and five, just some things regarding the background for the first missionary journey. Paul and Barnabas have been sent out, uh, the first missionaries, uh, by the church at Antioch.

And we see four quick things regarding this. We see, first of all, it is going to be a journey of constant movement. The trip really is a journey it's in contrast to the second and third journeys of Paul, which we'll read about later, where in which those, those trips, they would continually, uh, go to places and settle there.

There are some places, some cities, some towns they went to and they spent weeks there. It in Corinth, they spent three months there, Inus. They spent two years there. That's all on the second and third missionary journeys on this journey. They're in constant motion. If you look at the, the map, you can see the location of it.

And over there to the right, ah, left my pointer, um, over there to the right is Antioch. And Antioch is where they start from. And this shows both the journey out and the journey back the next map, zeros in a little closer, as you can see it. And they're going to the island of Cypress. This is interesting because Barnabas is from Cypress.

As a matter of fact, John mark is from Cypress and John mark and Barnabas are cousins. John being the younger cousin. As you look at this, you find also they're going to go up in the region called S. That is the area where Tarsis is, that's where Paul is from. They're going to their home territory. If you will, even though they're going outside of the regions where the Jews, uh, primarily live they're on the Eastern border of the Mediterranean sea, it is a journey going to be filled with constant movement.

It's a trip of about 895 miles. They are going to average 15 miles a day walking. So this is motion. Now that doesn't mean every day they did 15 miles. Some days did more. Some days they stayed at a place a little longer, but it is, it is really a journey. When we talk about the first missionary journey, we're talking about the first missionary journey, the others, they much more stayed in places, discipled people established churches.

This is really beginning the evangelistic enterprise of the, of the church. Secondly, we see the roles of the team. we learn in these first few verses that Paul and Barnabas are being joined by a young disciple. John John mark, who would write the gospel of, of mark later on, he is the young cousin of Barnabas.

We will also see a transition of leadership on this team up until this time, whenever Barnabas and Saul are going out doing ministry, they're called Barnabas and Saul. It's going to change soon in, right after this passage, actually at the end of this passage, it's it's Paul and Barnabas. We also see a name change.

He says, uh, Saul, who now is going to be called for the rest of the book of acts Paul. Now he, as, as Barnabas identifies here, both are his. Uh, when I go and speak in another country, when I speak first entrance, when I speak in Brazil, I am introduced as pastor marks for Brazilian speakers. I apologize. Uh, but the, I don't, I don't say, Hey, call me mark.

I'm mark. No, there I'm marks because that's how you pronounce my name. And when Paul is going now, it's not like he got a new name and we all do this. We say, well, you know, pre, pre Christ, Saul, and post Christ Paul. Well, that's not really accurate. He's always been Paul. He's always been, Saul is a Jewish name.

Paul is his Greek name. Well now they're going to the Greek world of the Roman empire and he is going to be continually known. He is also going to be, uh, identified first of all. Because of a couple of things. Number one, because he is the most, the more prominent one in terms of gifting, uh, he is obviously more of an evangelist than Barnas and this is an evangelistic ministry.

He is also more of, uh, an alpha dog. I mean, he is, he is a leader, he's a stronger leader. He's a, he's a tougher leader and he's going to, it's gonna naturally be that. He takes the leadership in this way. We see first to the juice at statement is made right here in verse four and five. They immediately get on the island of Cypress and they're going to the synagogues.

They start with the Jews, even though this is a ministry primarily to the Gentiles. And Paul is primarily called to the Gentiles. They go to the Jews first habitually and continually throughout the book of acts for two reasons, one it's driven by promise. The Jews are the people of promise for 2200 years.

Since the time of Abraham, God has selected the, the, the descendants of Abraham to be his people. They are uniquely called sovereignly by God to be his own for 2200 years, they have been given the promises of God culminating. Ultimately in this individual called the anointed one, the Messiah, the Christ.

It is certainly natural to expect that they will be the ones that are first given the heralding of these promises being fulfilled in Christ that the Messiah has come, has brought the salvation, the kingdom of God on earth that has been promised. And basically the message to the Jews will be Jesus is the one you have been waiting for.

He has come and here's what he's done. It is driven also, not only by promise, but the Jews being spoken to first is driven by pragmatism. For the Jews, they already embrace the God that Paul is declaring. They already identify with Jehovah God, a one monotheistic religion, a one God faith. In contrast to that, of the Greeks and that of the, the Romans, they have the same religious book.

They believe the scriptures, they have the same description of righteous living. They have the same, uh, they, their whole sacrificial system has pointed towards Christ and it is now not negated by Christ. It is fulfilled by Christ. So naturally they go to the Jews first. And the fourth thing we see is there is influencing a world of pluralism on this first missionary journey.

Once out of the Eastern border of the Mediterranean, see the worldview and religious belief is dramatically different. It is a worldview that is dominated by two distinct things. Number one, what is historically known as paganism? It wasn't a negative term. We, we tend to think of it negatively today. Uh, violent motorcycle gang or something, but paganism actually was it, it meant farmers and it just meant the rural folks.

The reason for that was in the early his centuries of the church, those that were outside of the cities. Tended to be the most, um, contrary to Christian faith and their beliefs. They held onto the ancient faith of their forefathers of their region, which was a belief that there is no one God who is, uh, superintendent creation.

There is no one God that is beyond all things. Transcendent gods are all a part of the cosmos. That's what paganism is. Paganism is simply a, a, a belief that there is no one creator transcendent God, contrary to Judaism, contrary to Christian faith, which believes there is a God that is overall. He is sovereign.

He is transcend. He is Lord. He is king, and they were going to a world that did not embrace. That utterly was shocked. When Paul on Morris hill in acts chapter 17, stands up and starts talking about the unknown God, the guy you, you know, I see you have a statue here to an unknown. God, I wanna tell you about the unknown God.

And what does he do? He immediately starts talking about this unknown. God is the creator of the, of the heavens in the earth. He's the creator of all the living. And like what, because it was contrary to the pagan view. Secondly, it was a belief system of pluralism. A multiplicity of God's also allowed a multiplicity of religious faith.

Christianity was shockingly stark in their perspective that there was a God who was a creator one God who was judge one, God who was savior were all alien to the world in which they were going. And certainly the concept of one way to God through one God appointed deliver was not only confusing, but repugnant to the people, to which they were going.

Last comment I'm gonna make just about this first missionary journey as they are entering into this world in many ways, very similar to the worldviews of the day in which we live. It's interesting that they go west and they go north. And we talk about the gospel going to the ends of the earth. Well, the interesting thing is that the gospel at the same time that it was going west and north was also going east and south.

For instance, we know one famous, uh, missionary in the early church was Thomas. One of the disciples and many records proved that Thomas went to India and was a missionary. So why does an act include the, the, the Indian missionary work. My belief is because the same paganism and pluralism that manifested itself in the Roman world manifested itself east and south as well.

And they're focusing on the world with which, uh, Luke and, and the, the, the, the apostles were most familiar, but that doesn't mean that the gospel didn't go forth all over the world. And also it does not mean that it faced an entirely different world. Paganism and pluralism were what Israel, these, these formerly Israel Israelite now, Christian Jews are going to encounter wherever they go in the world.

Okay. I want to come now to verse six through 12, and I wanna read about a battle for soul. We're gonna look first of all at the enemy's method, and that's, we're gonna spend most of our time, and then focusing on what God does, the enemy's method method. I wanna read. Just a couple of these verses to highlight again, they've gone now to Pathis, which is on the Western side of the island of Cypress.

And as they've gotten there, they have come to a man who is, is known as Sergius Paul. He is the PROCO, which means he's the governor of the island. He's the mucky muck of the whole place. And as they come to Seus Paulis they also encounter a man named Limus or bar Jesus. Both names are given to him who is a Jewish prophet in his own mind.

He is a magician. He works with the dark arts and he, but he is Jewish and he has great impact on Sergius PO. And so we find the first thing that is true of him in verse eight is that he is opposing the truth. Here's what we read, but Elias the magician for that's the meaning of his name, opposed them seeking to turn the PROCO away.

From the faith as their teaching began to gain inroads in the governor, a Limus attempts to oppose the messaging. We'll see how in just a moment, but this opposition, it's a term that Paul uses a number of times in his letters. One prominent place is in second Timothy chapter three, verse eight and nine, um, where it says this as he, Paul is talking, and this is Jan Jan, Janice, and jam Brees were the historic names, not recording the old Testament, but in, in Jewish writings of the magicians of Pharaoh.

And he says just as Janice and jam Brees opposed Moses. So these men, men he's now facing in his ministry also opposed the truth. Men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith, but they will not get very far for their folly will be plain to all as. Was that of those two men, Paul wrote second Timothy saying I've faced many such opposers and they're just like Janice and jam Brees that Moses had to contend with.

And Limus was one of those individuals. They opposed they stood, uh, against, as the word literally means in opposition to the truth. They're opposing the truth, trying to keep the governor from believing the gospel. How, what was a Limus doing? What we're told here, look at Versey actually the word is used twice.

Limus opposed them seeking to turn the PROCO away from the truth. The word turn is the same word that is used in verse 10, where Peter ad Paul addresses a Limus and says this you son of the devil you enemy of all righteousness. Full of all deceit in Villa, will you not stop? Here's the word making crooked the PA the straight paths of the Lord.

He uses the same turd in acts chapter 20, verse 30, where he says this. And from among your own selves will arise. Men speaking, twisted things to draw away the disciples after them. In other words, this word, he was trying to turn the PROCO. He was, he was trying to make crooked the straight path of the Lord in acts 20.

You're trying to twist it. The idea is he didn't oppose by saying, let's have a public debate. You know, Paul, you on one side, I'll be on the other side. And let's just look at the facts of the matter. That's not what he's doing. What a Limus is doing is twisting what has been said. He is trying to reshape it.

He is reconfiguring the messaging. It is a very subtle, it is a very influential, it is a very effective methodology, so much so that this PROCO, that is very interested in the presentation of Paul and Barnabas does not believe until this guy is utterly shut up. It was an effective methodology. And as you read this, you see what he's doing.

They're twisting the straight paths of the Lord in verse 10, those things that make sense, they're making sense to the, to the religious leader. It's, he's starting to buy in, he's starting to IBI the gospel, but the, the reli, this, this guy in Limus is, is twisting it, he's turning and he is making it different than it actually is.

You know, the, the amazing thing. And of course, there's an amazing thing about the gospel. I mean, the gospel, honestly, when you listen to the simple gospel, it actually isn't that profound, right? I mean, here's the gospel, our lives have something wrong. They're not the way they ought to be. The Bible tells us that we, that what's wrong is we have chosen to live life as we wanted to not according to the will of God and we've lived our own lives.

We've gone our own way. We've put ourselves in the throne of our own lives. And the Bible says that is what sin is. Sin is not doing the will of God. It is living. Sinfully doing my own choices. It is making me the Lord of life. That's why things are wrong. The gospel says that that God in his mercy sent his own son to this world to bear the punishment that we had earned through that rebellion.

He bore the punishment and the cross for our sins, that we could be forgiven and we could enter into a eternal relationship with him. This is the simple gospel. That's what it is that things are wrong. That life isn't, as it ought to be. We sense it. I mean, who doesn't sense that in ourselves and that we, we, we learned that it's because I'm not letting God lead my life.

I'm not letting God direct me. I'm choosing to do it, which is what sin is, but God wanted me and he's come after me at the cost of his own son. He's given me the chance to be forgiven and brought back into eternal relationship with him. That's the gospel. My wife, uh, had a girlfriend. She grew up with named Francis and both of them were professor's daughter.

and Francis. And she were like joined at the hip growing up and they were at a Christian college and neither of the girls were believers at the time they were younger. And, but the Christian ed majors at the college always tried to practice their teaching and they're they, their Bible club stuff on the professor's kids.

So one time they got a bunch of professor's kids in there and a number of them were believers. A number of them were not believers. Marion doesn't think she was a saved at the time, but they end, they ended it. And they said anybody that wants to ask Jesus to be their savior. They, they presented the plan of salvation.

Anybody that wants to ask Jesus to be their savior, please stay. And everybody else can go. And Francis watched as everybody left the room and France is a very straight talking person and, and she, everybody left and she prayed and received Christ as her savior. And she got with Marion outside and she said, I guess everybody else has done that already because, and this was her quote.

Why would anybody turn down such a great offer?

don't we all feel that way. I mean, when you hear the gospel, really? Yeah. We life isn't right. It's because we've chosen to do it our own and not to follow God yet. God wanted us. He came after us. He provides a way to be forgiven and live with him. Eternal. I. What a great offer, who wouldn't want this? It's a straight path.

It's not crooked. It's not twisty. It's not saying, well, you know, maybe for you, but not for you. Maybe you got, you know, you're probably not gonna be holy enough. No, it just says everybody's in need. Everybody's broken. Everybody can respond to this gospel. That's been provided by Chris. So what happens? It's such a deal.

Why doesn't everybody believe?

One of the prominent reasons is because there is a twister, there is an influence. Certainly our sin works with it, but there is an individual. There is a, a, there is a, a massive multitude of ambassadors for him that is working to twist the message. If you have not embraced Jesus Christ as your savior, I would suggest to you that that twisting work is going on right now saying, yeah, it's too simple or, or no, I don't want it or I'd have to give up too much or yeah,

Limus came alongside Sirus Paulis and Paul and Barnabas shared the gospel simply freely, openly passionately. And every time it started to make a little bit of sense Limus would start twisting, twisting, twisting if you're a Lord of the rings fan, you know, a scene in one of the movies, uh, the second movie where it's in the land of Rowan and there's this creepy looking guy actually look, both look kind of creepy, I guess.

Um, the one, the, the, the, the king. With the crown there, it's gonna look a lot better in a little bit after this scene, but groom, a warm worm tongue is speaking to Theoden the king and he's whispering in his ear. He's constantly twisting things. As a matter of fact, this particular scene is where Gandolph has come and brought an entourage of, of, of heroes.

And they have come to help Rohan and he's come to warn them of what's taking place and come to, to aid them. And grim is whispering into the ears of, of Theo and things like these are quote showing Gand off the grace here. He's a Herald of wo. Then he says this, he always brings ill news. My Lord, he goes on to argue that this guy, this, this Gandolph don't listen to him.

He's always negative. We, this is a hard time. We don't need a negative voice. Gandolph of course does bring ill news, but he does. So to help the Oden be prepared, he also brings himself and others to bring aid, but Grimma is twisting it. He's he's arguing against it. He he's making crooked the very meaning that, and just as

Gandolph will act toward Grimma in casting him to the ground to silence his message. Paul is no less violent in his treatment towards Limus in taking his sight for a time. Why? Because the twisting of truth is so tragically effective. They're making crooked. It says in verse 10, the messaging to Seus Polish, the word is in the present tense.

it kept going on. There's a narrative that kept twisting it and distorting it. I've really thought about this, cuz I've tried to imagine this. What would, what would be the messaging? And again, he's not just, he's not saying this is, this is, this is a lie. This is, this is, you know, I can show you where this isn't the no, he's, he's distorting it.

How might that have happened? I'd suggest three things. I think he might have distorted the view of God that Paul and Barnabas are sharing. He says, I, he Sergius, I'm a Jewish prophet myself and they are presenting a view. of God. That is a sick God is God of judgment, a God of, of, of, of, of wrath, a God of punishment, a God of, of sin.

They are making God sound angry, hateful, cruel, emphasizing sin and forgiveness. Perhaps that's one of the ways he just sort of twisted the messaging of grace. One eye would be positive. He did because one of the things that's true in human nature, your nature, my nature is that we tend to ascribe to other people, our own motives I can imagine, uh, Amus saying something like this, as he, as he distorted the motivation of the evangelists, these guys are just trying to be influential and get a name for themselves.

Getting a PROCO to, to believe in their faith would be a great notation on their resume. Of course we know Amus at this time is threatened by the, the influence of Paul and Barnabas. He loves being in the orb of Sergi. As Paul, you can imagine he's, he's questioning, you know, why are they doing this? I mean, think about these guys.

Get the attention of why are they really here? What's really going on. Or he might have distorted the impact on his life. You know, I know about Messiah, Messiah's supposed to come as a righteous king, certainly not a disgraced criminal that experienced the crucifixion from your government. I can imagine him presenting to.

SEIUs Paulis in subtle ways. This isn't worth it. I mean, this is your career. You buy into a, a, a, the, the Lordship of a criminal that, that Rome has allowed to be executed. I mean, really is the price worth it to you? Is it really gonna give you what you hope to gain? There's just twisting. This is what twisting always does.

It takes elements of truth. I'm sure there were things he says, well, it is true. You know this, and, but why are they really doing this? Yeah. They're giving you part of the story, but what will you really get? What will you really loose? Yeah. They're talking about, you know, grace, but, you know, look at the view of God, just twisting, twisting, twisting what twisting the narrative does.

it makes the teller having to defend each step of the way, you know, Paul and Barnas gotta defend their nature, their, their character. And Paul just says, I've had it with this guy. I'm gonna Muslim him by the grace of God. And he has the enablement of the spirit to blind him temporarily because Paul saw the power behind the power.

He says it this way in these verses, he says, you are in verse 10, you are full of deceit. You are the son of the devil. He recognized he was the mouthpiece for darkness. That ultimately it is the dark one who is the twister and just keeps confusing things and keeps reiterating distorted messaging. The fascinating thing is that Sergius, Paul seems to be really taken by the works of Paul and Barnabas, the teaching of Paul and Barnabas.

But it's all being reinterpreted and twisted in the messaging to him. One of the great twistings of the devil toward in, in, in, and I believe in our day is toward people that have been raised in Christian backgrounds. The enemy twists the view of God. All I experienced was a God who was requiring me to be better.

Be more, be good. There's a twisting about the Bible. It's all about rules. I know I'm not perfect. I know the stories, you know, I've heard it, but, but the Bible just makes me feel bad about myself. And I have enough negativity in my life. It just adds extra layers of guilt. This twisted views of Christianity.

It just keeps me from being me who I really am. I need freedom to be myself. Find love where I want. Have it look like what I think I need. the enemy twist the view of our lives. I never had happiness, never felt safe, never felt really happy. All the memories are terrible, but were they really were they really,

in our church, we have an overwhelmingly active group of people in their twenties and thirties, young marrieds. We have a large, we have over 160 of them. That'll be here Wednesday night for a young married ministry. And there are many others that are not involved in that ministry. Young singles, young, young marrieds, young families and older and overwhelming number of them have started coming to ministries like, uh, F fi F or him with the story.

You know, I, I had some Christian background, but I bagged it. I bagged in college, I bagged in a young adulthood and, and I had all these reasons and all this, you know, it was restricting me. It wasn't fulfilling me. And, and many of them, if you hear their stories or they're saying, but I'm realizing I had a jaded perspective, I've tried other places to try to find it.

And I've found that Christ is it. And now my, my spouse and I, or me as a single adult, I, I I'm realizing, I want Christian friends. I wanna do life with people that have found the same reality, but so many of their stories are saying, I just, I just bought into this whole perspective, you know, that I'd had a restrictive background that, you know, that it was just my parents thing.

and I get it. We've all got a journey that, but there is an active twisting that goes on and I don't know where you are today. I'm not saying you need to be a young adult at this message. It relates to, we can twist it way all the way through to the grave. We can be twisted all the way to the grave, but there is a twisting and cheating and, and, and say, well, now this was true.

And, and, and takes away my freedom. And, and it takes away, uh, my, my capacity to, to really be myself, all those lies were going into Sergius false. Limus was taking. Yeah. You know, they're talking about this, but you know, what about this? Or you look at how restricted you'll be, look at how it'll hurt your career.

If, if you really IBI, who knows, oh, but this is what if he does he twists? And he turns, and he changes the memories in a couple of ways. I think specifically he does this.

He twists memories. We are far more influenceable than we realize. We often think our memories like a GoPro, you know, just sort of capturing things that we can, we can look at later on accurately as they were, but in a recent podcast, revisionist history, Malcolm Gladwell, very popular author today addressed the topic of memory and in his, his, his series in one episode, he talked about Brian Williams.

You remember maybe remember Brian Williams. Brian Williams was the host of the NBC news nightly news. When his whole career came tumbling down with a preposterous lie on March 23rd, 2013, he told David Letterman in an interview that he had been on a chink. Chinook helicopter that was fired on by enemy troops in Iraq, 10 years later.

Now that seems like the kind of thing you would remember, right? I mean, I'm, I'm, I know that I have not been on a military helicopter being fired on by rockets attached to grenades. My guess is, you know that about you as well, but how did he get that wrong? How did he manufacture that memory? And in the, in the podcast, uh, excuse me, in the, in the broadcast, um, Malcolm Gladwell interviewed lots and lots of, of people that, that specialized in memory and found that the memory experts.

Regularly expressed some empathy for Brian Williams, they cited one of the studies that was cited to him by many of these memory experts was a, a, a, um, study that was done by William Hurst and a team of expert researchers who did a 10 year study into the memories people have of nine 11. They evaluated these memories and they had records of things that these people had said years before.

And they found that 60% of the memories of people about the specific events of nine 11 had changed nothing changed except their memories changed. They gave all kinds of studies that he, he did Malcolm Gladwell did in this article and was just trying to present that our memories get twisted. We, we, we, we miss, remember if you will.

another thing that is done is we are influenced by twisted messaging. Psychologists, John bark at New York university did a, a famous what's become a famous study. Now it was a bunch of researchers got together and they're trying to see the influence of, of just words. And they got together, uh, a bunch of students 19 to 22 years old, and they had two different groups and they gave 'em both the same assignment.

And the assignment was that they were to take a bunch of words that they gave them and to make, uh, four words sentences, approximately out of the words. And so they all the first group diligently worked with their words and then they, they left the room and they did not know it, but actually that's when the study actually began.

They left the room and they had to go to their next research, uh, location. And on this walk, as they went along long quarter, they went upstairs and they went to the next location. They, they, uh, tracked their time. How long, how fast they walked as a group, the next group they brought. And they had a lot of students.

So, you know, they had all different speed walkers and all those things. They got the next group in, they did the exact same assignment, but with this one, they threw into the list of words that they were making sentences out of, or phrases out of words, like bald, Florida, forgetful wrinkles, things that were associated with those of us that are more seasoned they found the difference in walking speed was monumental.

The second group walked slower and they were arguing, the whole treatise was, and there's been lots of articles made out of this and research. And basically they were saying, we are so influenced by messaging that it influenced even the speed we walk. It's how we view ourselves. They're. Now, they're now thinking old as they're walking these 19 to 22 year old kids,

if you've ever tried to share the gospel with someone, especially if you've tried to share the gospel with people that you know, and love, it's very hard to understand why they don't get it. There's twisting there's there's impact. And you look and say, ah, there's so many narratives. They've got about Christianity, about God, about themselves, about how they can be happy.

There's so many narratives and, and there's and messaging gets twisted. Memories even are twisted. How in the world are twisted minds ever gonna really embrace Christ. I'm just gonna show you this here and we're gonna stop. The answer is very simple. God has to intervene. You'll notice what happens here in verse 10 and 11.

First of all, God silences the false messaging. Paul steps in, and he said, the hand of the Lord is upon you. And he takes away their sight. The hand of the Lord is a old and new Testament expression that always refers to the power of God. It said here, let me share the ones in acts, acts chapter four, verse 30, God, you stretch out your hand to heal acts seven 50.

God says did not. My hand make all these things acts 1121. And the hand of the Lord was with them. And a great number believed God's hand God's power has to be engaged. You're not gonna talk them out of it. You're not gonna ultimately be able Paul recognized, I'm not gonna debate this guy. I'm not gonna be able to, to, to, to shut him up myself by just trying to overwhelm him with dog dogma.

The devil is too smart. He's got too many, too much experience. He is too masterful. God must do it. and what God did in verse in the second thing is God gave an alternative playlist. That's gonna be going through the mind of this individual. This man, the PROCO was astonished. It says in verse 21 in verse 12, with the actions now, but most beautifully he believed

this is my final statement.

Many of you have people you dearly love who you just say. I don't know why. Why won't they believe? Why won't they embrace? It's it's a straight path. It's not a hard messaging. Yes. It, it needs humbling. We acknowledge our need. But the things they're filling their life and the things they're going after and, and, and the things they're trying to find satisfaction.

I mean, anybody could see just looking, it's not gonna work. It's not working.

There's a twister,

any influences, and he's playing over and over and over a playlist that twists and twist. And the only answer we have is God, God, of the great hand, God of power is a P people. We should be crying out to God. He silenced this guy. He freed this man to become virtually. Everyone believes the belief here is genuine saving faith.

I'd like to pray this morning as we close Lord, I wanna pray this morning for every child, regardless of age 15, 25, 35, 45, 55, whom sadden has planted twisted memories and twisted messages in that are represented by families here this morning, deliver them, oh, God work in their lives. As only you can, that they might see the glorious light of the gospel for every person in this room.

Lord listening to this sermon, God silence, the twisted messaging of the enemy. Silence, the human messengers that are influencing their thinking mayor mighty hand. Be upon them. Lord do the work that only you can do in the lives of those. We love those. We long to see the straight paths of the gospel. And I pray this Lord, not only for those that were praying would embrace the gospel and be saved and born again.

But also for those that were praying would absorb the gospel would let it be that vending machine just rattling it down into the very heart of their lives. So it would change the way they live and the way they do life. Lord be active among us to your glory. I pray we face the great twisting fall, but we believe you're greater.

And we look to you. In Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Now go on peace to love and serve and enjoy the Lord.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-battle-for-a-persons-soul 1cb9fb6f-f1bb-4a0a-a078-b4a880293154 Sun, 25 Sep 2022 16:49:12 GMT <div data-html="true">Acts 13:4-12 <br /><br /> “You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord?" <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> We're gonna be looking at acts chapter 13 this morning. Continuing our series in the book of acts acts chapter 13 versus four through 12 invites you to turn there with me. We're gonna be reading that passage in just a moment. John bunion, the famous author of the famous allegory, uh, Pilgrim's progress wrote another book actually wrote another lot of books, but the second most famous book. <br /><br /> John bunion was entitled. The battle for man's soul actually is called the holy war and the subtitle was the battle for man's soul. It was the story, an alleg iCal story, uh, of this city that, uh, di Avalo and his forces had conquered. And then it is the story of Al Shai, which is a name for, for God in the old Testament scriptures, Al Shai comes in with his forces through the power of Christ. <br /><br /> Victoriously wins the city and is an ongoing conflict that takes place in the city of man's soul. In the holy war, bunions allegorical master plea piece is actually being played out in real time. Here in acts chapter 13, there is a battle for a man's soul, and I'd like to read verse four through 12 about that. <br /><br /> So being sent out by the holy spirit, they, this is Paul Barnabas went down to SI Lucia and there, they sailed to Cypress. When they arrived at Salam, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. And they had John to assist them when they had gone through the whole island, as far as Pathas, they came upon a certain magician, a Jewish, false prophet named bar Jesus. <br /><br /> He was with the PROCO Seus, Paul, a man of intelligence who summoned Barnabas and saw and sought to hear the word of God, but S the magician for that is the meaning of his name, opposed them seeking to turn the PROCO away from the faith. But Saul, who was also called Paul filled with the holy spirit, looked intently at him and said, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of deceit and Villa, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? <br /><br /> and now behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you and you will be blind and unable to see the son for a time immediately missed and darkness fell upon him. And he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand, then the pro council believed when he saw what had occurred for, he was astonished by the teaching of the Lord. <br /><br /> Lord, we come to you this morning <br /><br /> and God is not one of us in this room or watching online this morning that has not experienced the twisting that is talked about in this passage, the twisting of truth Lord particular this morning, I pray for those that are in that state of their minds being influenced by the twistedness of the enemy's lies, the deception, the false narratives. <br /><br /> It keep people from embracing Christ, his Lord and savior their lives. God teache us from this passage. As we see the battle for this governor's soul in Jesus name, I pray. Amen. Amen. This morning, I'm gonna, this is gonna terrorize you. I'm gonna do two sermons. not actually going to, I, I feel a need of here at the beginning of the missionary journey. <br /><br /> We are starting the first missionary journey of Paul. It's gonna be all chapter 13, all of chapter 14. And I just wanna give you a quick snapshot about what that's going to be, because there are some unique things that are gonna take place in this. And there are some unique things that, that Luke. Shares with us in verse four and five about this missionary journey gives us some previews. <br /><br /> Then we're gonna tie in, in verses six through 12 at this battle that takes place. So I'm giving you background and I'm giving you a battle this morning, verse four and five, just some things regarding the background for the first missionary journey. Paul and Barnabas have been sent out, uh, the first missionaries, uh, by the church at Antioch. <br /><br /> And we see four quick things regarding this. We see, first of all, it is going to be a journey of constant movement. The trip really is a journey it's in contrast to the second and third journeys of Paul, which we'll read about later, where in which those, those trips, they would continually, uh, go to places and settle there. <br /><br /> There are some places, some cities, some towns they went to and they spent weeks there. It in Corinth, they spent three months there, Inus. They spent two years there. That's all on the second and third missionary journeys on this journey. They're in constant motion. If you look at the, the map, you can see the location of it. <br /><br /> And over there to the right, ah, left my pointer, um, over there to the right is Antioch. And Antioch is where they start from. And this shows both the journey out and the journey back the next map, zeros in a little closer, as you can see it. And they're going to the island of Cypress. This is interesting because Barnabas is from Cypress. <br /><br /> As a matter of fact, John mark is from Cypress and John mark and Barnabas are cousins. John being the younger cousin. As you look at this, you find also they're going to go up in the region called S. That is the area where Tarsis is, that's where Paul is from. They're going to their home territory. If you will, even though they're going outside of the regions where the Jews, uh, primarily live they're on the Eastern border of the Mediterranean sea, it is a journey going to be filled with constant movement. <br /><br /> It's a trip of about 895 miles. They are going to average 15 miles a day walking. So this is motion. Now that doesn't mean every day they did 15 miles. Some days did more. Some days they stayed at a place a little longer, but it is, it is really a journey. When we talk about the first missionary journey, we're talking about the first missionary journey, the others, they much more stayed in places, discipled people established churches. <br /><br /> This is really beginning the evangelistic enterprise of the, of the church. Secondly, we see the roles of the team. we learn in these first few verses that Paul and Barnabas are being joined by a young disciple. John John mark, who would write the gospel of, of mark later on, he is the young cousin of Barnabas. <br /><br /> We will also see a transition of leadership on this team up until this time, whenever Barnabas and Saul are going out doing ministry, they're called Barnabas and Saul. It's going to change soon in, right after this passage, actually at the end of this passage, it's it's Paul and Barnabas. We also see a name change. <br /><br /> He says, uh, Saul, who now is going to be called for the rest of the book of acts Paul. Now he, as, as Barnabas identifies here, both are his. Uh, when I go and speak in another country, when I speak first entrance, when I speak in Brazil, I am introduced as pastor marks for Brazilian speakers. I apologize. Uh, but the, I don't, I don't say, Hey, call me mark. <br /><br /> I'm mark. No, there I'm marks because that's how you pronounce my name. And when Paul is going now, it's not like he got a new name and we all do this. We say, well, you know, pre, pre Christ, Saul, and post Christ Paul. Well, that's not really accurate. He's always been Paul. He's always been, Saul is a Jewish name. <br /><br /> Paul is his Greek name. Well now they're going to the Greek world of the Roman empire and he is going to be continually known. He is also going to be, uh, identified first of all. Because of a couple of things. Number one, because he is the most, the more prominent one in terms of gifting, uh, he is obviously more of an evangelist than Barnas and this is an evangelistic ministry. <br /><br /> He is also more of, uh, an alpha dog. I mean, he is, he is a leader, he's a stronger leader. He's a, he's a tougher leader and he's going to, it's gonna naturally be that. He takes the leadership in this way. We see first to the juice at statement is made right here in verse four and five. They immediately get on the island of Cypress and they're going to the synagogues. <br /><br /> They start with the Jews, even though this is a ministry primarily to the Gentiles. And Paul is primarily called to the Gentiles. They go to the Jews first habitually and continually throughout the book of acts for two reasons, one it's driven by promise. The Jews are the people of promise for 2200 years. <br /><br /> Since the time of Abraham, God has selected the, the, the descendants of Abraham to be his people. They are uniquely called sovereignly by God to be his own for 2200 years, they have been given the promises of God culminating. Ultimately in this individual called the anointed one, the Messiah, the Christ. <br /><br /> It is certainly natural to expect that they will be the ones that are first given the heralding of these promises being fulfilled in Christ that the Messiah has come, has brought the salvation, the kingdom of God on earth that has been promised. And basically the message to the Jews will be Jesus is the one you have been waiting for. <br /><br /> He has come and here's what he's done. It is driven also, not only by promise, but the Jews being spoken to first is driven by pragmatism. For the Jews, they already embrace the God that Paul is declaring. They already identify with Jehovah God, a one monotheistic religion, a one God faith. In contrast to that, of the Greeks and that of the, the Romans, they have the same religious book. <br /><br /> They believe the scriptures, they have the same description of righteous living. They have the same, uh, they, their whole sacrificial system has pointed towards Christ and it is now not negated by Christ. It is fulfilled by Christ. So naturally they go to the Jews first. And the fourth thing we see is there is influencing a world of pluralism on this first missionary journey. <br /><br /> Once out of the Eastern border of the Mediterranean, see the worldview and religious belief is dramatically different. It is a worldview that is dominated by two distinct things. Number one, what is historically known as paganism? It wasn't a negative term. We, we tend to think of it negatively today. Uh, violent motorcycle gang or something, but paganism actually was it, it meant farmers and it just meant the rural folks. <br /><br /> The reason for that was in the early his centuries of the church, those that were outside of the cities. Tended to be the most, um, contrary to Christian faith and their beliefs. They held onto the ancient faith of their forefathers of their region, which was a belief that there is no one God who is, uh, superintendent creation. <br /><br /> There is no one God that is beyond all things. Transcendent gods are all a part of the cosmos. That's what paganism is. Paganism is simply a, a, a belief that there is no one creator transcendent God, contrary to Judaism, contrary to Christian faith, which believes there is a God that is overall. He is sovereign. <br /><br /> He is transcend. He is Lord. He is king, and they were going to a world that did not embrace. That utterly was shocked. When Paul on Morris hill in acts chapter 17, stands up and starts talking about the unknown God, the guy you, you know, I see you have a statue here to an unknown. God, I wanna tell you about the unknown God. <br /><br /> And what does he do? He immediately starts talking about this unknown. God is the creator of the, of the heavens in the earth. He's the creator of all the living. And like what, because it was contrary to the pagan view. Secondly, it was a belief system of pluralism. A multiplicity of God's also allowed a multiplicity of religious faith. <br /><br /> Christianity was shockingly stark in their perspective that there was a God who was a creator one God who was judge one, God who was savior were all alien to the world in which they were going. And certainly the concept of one way to God through one God appointed deliver was not only confusing, but repugnant to the people, to which they were going. <br /><br /> Last comment I'm gonna make just about this first missionary journey as they are entering into this world in many ways, very similar to the worldviews of the day in which we live. It's interesting that they go west and they go north. And we talk about the gospel going to the ends of the earth. Well, the interesting thing is that the gospel at the same time that it was going west and north was also going east and south. <br /><br /> For instance, we know one famous, uh, missionary in the early church was Thomas. One of the disciples and many records proved that Thomas went to India and was a missionary. So why does an act include the, the, the Indian missionary work. My belief is because the same paganism and pluralism that manifested itself in the Roman world manifested itself east and south as well. <br /><br /> And they're focusing on the world with which, uh, Luke and, and the, the, the, the apostles were most familiar, but that doesn't mean that the gospel didn't go forth all over the world. And also it does not mean that it faced an entirely different world. Paganism and pluralism were what Israel, these, these formerly Israel Israelite now, Christian Jews are going to encounter wherever they go in the world. <br /><br /> Okay. I want to come now to verse six through 12, and I wanna read about a battle for soul. We're gonna look first of all at the enemy's method, and that's, we're gonna spend most of our time, and then focusing on what God does, the enemy's method method. I wanna read. Just a couple of these verses to highlight again, they've gone now to Pathis, which is on the Western side of the island of Cypress. <br /><br /> And as they've gotten there, they have come to a man who is, is known as Sergius Paul. He is the PROCO, which means he's the governor of the island. He's the mucky muck of the whole place. And as they come to Seus Paulis they also encounter a man named Limus or bar Jesus. Both names are given to him who is a Jewish prophet in his own mind. <br /><br /> He is a magician. He works with the dark arts and he, but he is Jewish and he has great impact on Sergius PO. And so we find the first thing that is true of him in verse eight is that he is opposing the truth. Here's what we read, but Elias the magician for that's the meaning of his name, opposed them seeking to turn the PROCO away. <br /><br /> From the faith as their teaching began to gain inroads in the governor, a Limus attempts to oppose the messaging. We'll see how in just a moment, but this opposition, it's a term that Paul uses a number of times in his letters. One prominent place is in second Timothy chapter three, verse eight and nine, um, where it says this as he, Paul is talking, and this is Jan Jan, Janice, and jam Brees were the historic names, not recording the old Testament, but in, in Jewish writings of the magicians of Pharaoh. <br /><br /> And he says just as Janice and jam Brees opposed Moses. So these men, men he's now facing in his ministry also opposed the truth. Men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith, but they will not get very far for their folly will be plain to all as. Was that of those two men, Paul wrote second Timothy saying I've faced many such opposers and they're just like Janice and jam Brees that Moses had to contend with. <br /><br /> And Limus was one of those individuals. They opposed they stood, uh, against, as the word literally means in opposition to the truth. They're opposing the truth, trying to keep the governor from believing the gospel. How, what was a Limus doing? What we're told here, look at Versey actually the word is used twice. <br /><br /> Limus opposed them seeking to turn the PROCO away from the truth. The word turn is the same word that is used in verse 10, where Peter ad Paul addresses a Limus and says this you son of the devil you enemy of all righteousness. Full of all deceit in Villa, will you not stop? Here's the word making crooked the PA the straight paths of the Lord. <br /><br /> He uses the same turd in acts chapter 20, verse 30, where he says this. And from among your own selves will arise. Men speaking, twisted things to draw away the disciples after them. In other words, this word, he was trying to turn the PROCO. He was, he was trying to make crooked the straight path of the Lord in acts 20. <br /><br /> You're trying to twist it. The idea is he didn't oppose by saying, let's have a public debate. You know, Paul, you on one side, I'll be on the other side. And let's just look at the facts of the matter. That's not what he's doing. What a Limus is doing is twisting what has been said. He is trying to reshape it. <br /><br /> He is reconfiguring the messaging. It is a very subtle, it is a very influential, it is a very effective methodology, so much so that this PROCO, that is very interested in the presentation of Paul and Barnabas does not believe until this guy is utterly shut up. It was an effective methodology. And as you read this, you see what he's doing. <br /><br /> They're twisting the straight paths of the Lord in verse 10, those things that make sense, they're making sense to the, to the religious leader. It's, he's starting to buy in, he's starting to IBI the gospel, but the, the reli, this, this guy in Limus is, is twisting it, he's turning and he is making it different than it actually is. <br /><br /> You know, the, the amazing thing. And of course, there's an amazing thing about the gospel. I mean, the gospel, honestly, when you listen to the simple gospel, it actually isn't that profound, right? I mean, here's the gospel, our lives have something wrong. They're not the way they ought to be. The Bible tells us that we, that what's wrong is we have chosen to live life as we wanted to not according to the will of God and we've lived our own lives. <br /><br /> We've gone our own way. We've put ourselves in the throne of our own lives. And the Bible says that is what sin is. Sin is not doing the will of God. It is living. Sinfully doing my own choices. It is making me the Lord of life. That's why things are wrong. The gospel says that that God in his mercy sent his own son to this world to bear the punishment that we had earned through that rebellion. <br /><br /> He bore the punishment and the cross for our sins, that we could be forgiven and we could enter into a eternal relationship with him. This is the simple gospel. That's what it is that things are wrong. That life isn't, as it ought to be. We sense it. I mean, who doesn't sense that in ourselves and that we, we, we learned that it's because I'm not letting God lead my life. <br /><br /> I'm not letting God direct me. I'm choosing to do it, which is what sin is, but God wanted me and he's come after me at the cost of his own son. He's given me the chance to be forgiven and brought back into eternal relationship with him. That's the gospel. My wife, uh, had a girlfriend. She grew up with named Francis and both of them were professor's daughter. <br /><br /> and Francis. And she were like joined at the hip growing up and they were at a Christian college and neither of the girls were believers at the time they were younger. And, but the Christian ed majors at the college always tried to practice their teaching and they're they, their Bible club stuff on the professor's kids. <br /><br /> So one time they got a bunch of professor's kids in there and a number of them were believers. A number of them were not believers. Marion doesn't think she was a saved at the time, but they end, they ended it. And they said anybody that wants to ask Jesus to be their savior. They, they presented the plan of salvation. <br /><br /> Anybody that wants to ask Jesus to be their savior, please stay. And everybody else can go. And Francis watched as everybody left the room and France is a very straight talking person and, and she, everybody left and she prayed and received Christ as her savior. And she got with Marion outside and she said, I guess everybody else has done that already because, and this was her quote. <br /><br /> Why would anybody turn down such a great offer? <br /><br /> don't we all feel that way. I mean, when you hear the gospel, really? Yeah. We life isn't right. It's because we've chosen to do it our own and not to follow God yet. God wanted us. He came after us. He provides a way to be forgiven and live with him. Eternal. I. What a great offer, who wouldn't want this? It's a straight path. <br /><br /> It's not crooked. It's not twisty. It's not saying, well, you know, maybe for you, but not for you. Maybe you got, you know, you're probably not gonna be holy enough. No, it just says everybody's in need. Everybody's broken. Everybody can respond to this gospel. That's been provided by Chris. So what happens? It's such a deal. <br /><br /> Why doesn't everybody believe? <br /><br /> One of the prominent reasons is because there is a twister, there is an influence. Certainly our sin works with it, but there is an individual. There is a, a, there is a, a massive multitude of ambassadors for him that is working to twist the message. If you have not embraced Jesus Christ as your savior, I would suggest to you that that twisting work is going on right now saying, yeah, it's too simple or, or no, I don't want it or I'd have to give up too much or yeah, <br /><br /> Limus came alongside Sirus Paulis and Paul and Barnabas shared the gospel simply freely, openly passionately. And every time it started to make a little bit of sense Limus would start twisting, twisting, twisting if you're a Lord of the rings fan, you know, a scene in one of the movies, uh, the second movie where it's in the land of Rowan and there's this creepy looking guy actually look, both look kind of creepy, I guess. <br /><br /> Um, the one, the, the, the, the king. With the crown there, it's gonna look a lot better in a little bit after this scene, but groom, a warm worm tongue is speaking to Theoden the king and he's whispering in his ear. He's constantly twisting things. As a matter of fact, this particular scene is where Gandolph has come and brought an entourage of, of, of heroes. <br /><br /> And they have come to help Rohan and he's come to warn them of what's taking place and come to, to aid them. And grim is whispering into the ears of, of Theo and things like these are quote showing Gand off the grace here. He's a Herald of wo. Then he says this, he always brings ill news. My Lord, he goes on to argue that this guy, this, this Gandolph don't listen to him. <br /><br /> He's always negative. We, this is a hard time. We don't need a negative voice. Gandolph of course does bring ill news, but he does. So to help the Oden be prepared, he also brings himself and others to bring aid, but Grimma is twisting it. He's he's arguing against it. He he's making crooked the very meaning that, and just as <br /><br /> Gandolph will act toward Grimma in casting him to the ground to silence his message. Paul is no less violent in his treatment towards Limus in taking his sight for a time. Why? Because the twisting of truth is so tragically effective. They're making crooked. It says in verse 10, the messaging to Seus Polish, the word is in the present tense. <br /><br /> it kept going on. There's a narrative that kept twisting it and distorting it. I've really thought about this, cuz I've tried to imagine this. What would, what would be the messaging? And again, he's not just, he's not saying this is, this is, this is a lie. This is, this is, you know, I can show you where this isn't the no, he's, he's distorting it. <br /><br /> How might that have happened? I'd suggest three things. I think he might have distorted the view of God that Paul and Barnabas are sharing. He says, I, he Sergius, I'm a Jewish prophet myself and they are presenting a view. of God. That is a sick God is God of judgment, a God of, of, of, of, of wrath, a God of punishment, a God of, of sin. <br /><br /> They are making God sound angry, hateful, cruel, emphasizing sin and forgiveness. Perhaps that's one of the ways he just sort of twisted the messaging of grace. One eye would be positive. He did because one of the things that's true in human nature, your nature, my nature is that we tend to ascribe to other people, our own motives I can imagine, uh, Amus saying something like this, as he, as he distorted the motivation of the evangelists, these guys are just trying to be influential and get a name for themselves. <br /><br /> Getting a PROCO to, to believe in their faith would be a great notation on their resume. Of course we know Amus at this time is threatened by the, the influence of Paul and Barnabas. He loves being in the orb of Sergi. As Paul, you can imagine he's, he's questioning, you know, why are they doing this? I mean, think about these guys. <br /><br /> Get the attention of why are they really here? What's really going on. Or he might have distorted the impact on his life. You know, I know about Messiah, Messiah's supposed to come as a righteous king, certainly not a disgraced criminal that experienced the crucifixion from your government. I can imagine him presenting to. <br /><br /> SEIUs Paulis in subtle ways. This isn't worth it. I mean, this is your career. You buy into a, a, a, the, the Lordship of a criminal that, that Rome has allowed to be executed. I mean, really is the price worth it to you? Is it really gonna give you what you hope to gain? There's just twisting. This is what twisting always does. <br /><br /> It takes elements of truth. I'm sure there were things he says, well, it is true. You know this, and, but why are they really doing this? Yeah. They're giving you part of the story, but what will you really get? What will you really loose? Yeah. They're talking about, you know, grace, but, you know, look at the view of God, just twisting, twisting, twisting what twisting the narrative does. <br /><br /> it makes the teller having to defend each step of the way, you know, Paul and Barnas gotta defend their nature, their, their character. And Paul just says, I've had it with this guy. I'm gonna Muslim him by the grace of God. And he has the enablement of the spirit to blind him temporarily because Paul saw the power behind the power. <br /><br /> He says it this way in these verses, he says, you are in verse 10, you are full of deceit. You are the son of the devil. He recognized he was the mouthpiece for darkness. That ultimately it is the dark one who is the twister and just keeps confusing things and keeps reiterating distorted messaging. The fascinating thing is that Sergius, Paul seems to be really taken by the works of Paul and Barnabas, the teaching of Paul and Barnabas. <br /><br /> But it's all being reinterpreted and twisted in the messaging to him. One of the great twistings of the devil toward in, in, in, and I believe in our day is toward people that have been raised in Christian backgrounds. The enemy twists the view of God. All I experienced was a God who was requiring me to be better. <br /><br /> Be more, be good. There's a twisting about the Bible. It's all about rules. I know I'm not perfect. I know the stories, you know, I've heard it, but, but the Bible just makes me feel bad about myself. And I have enough negativity in my life. It just adds extra layers of guilt. This twisted views of Christianity. <br /><br /> It just keeps me from being me who I really am. I need freedom to be myself. Find love where I want. Have it look like what I think I need. the enemy twist the view of our lives. I never had happiness, never felt safe, never felt really happy. All the memories are terrible, but were they really were they really, <br /><br /> in our church, we have an overwhelmingly active group of people in their twenties and thirties, young marrieds. We have a large, we have over 160 of them. That'll be here Wednesday night for a young married ministry. And there are many others that are not involved in that ministry. Young singles, young, young marrieds, young families and older and overwhelming number of them have started coming to ministries like, uh, F fi F or him with the story. <br /><br /> You know, I, I had some Christian background, but I bagged it. I bagged in college, I bagged in a young adulthood and, and I had all these reasons and all this, you know, it was restricting me. It wasn't fulfilling me. And, and many of them, if you hear their stories or they're saying, but I'm realizing I had a jaded perspective, I've tried other places to try to find it. <br /><br /> And I've found that Christ is it. And now my, my spouse and I, or me as a single adult, I, I I'm realizing, I want Christian friends. I wanna do life with people that have found the same reality, but so many of their stories are saying, I just, I just bought into this whole perspective, you know, that I'd had a restrictive background that, you know, that it was just my parents thing. <br /><br /> and I get it. We've all got a journey that, but there is an active twisting that goes on and I don't know where you are today. I'm not saying you need to be a young adult at this message. It relates to, we can twist it way all the way through to the grave. We can be twisted all the way to the grave, but there is a twisting and cheating and, and, and say, well, now this was true. <br /><br /> And, and, and takes away my freedom. And, and it takes away, uh, my, my capacity to, to really be myself, all those lies were going into Sergius false. Limus was taking. Yeah. You know, they're talking about this, but you know, what about this? Or you look at how restricted you'll be, look at how it'll hurt your career. <br /><br /> If, if you really IBI, who knows, oh, but this is what if he does he twists? And he turns, and he changes the memories in a couple of ways. I think specifically he does this. <br /><br /> He twists memories. We are far more influenceable than we realize. We often think our memories like a GoPro, you know, just sort of capturing things that we can, we can look at later on accurately as they were, but in a recent podcast, revisionist history, Malcolm Gladwell, very popular author today addressed the topic of memory and in his, his, his series in one episode, he talked about Brian Williams. <br /><br /> You remember maybe remember Brian Williams. Brian Williams was the host of the NBC news nightly news. When his whole career came tumbling down with a preposterous lie on March 23rd, 2013, he told David Letterman in an interview that he had been on a chink. Chinook helicopter that was fired on by enemy troops in Iraq, 10 years later. <br /><br /> Now that seems like the kind of thing you would remember, right? I mean, I'm, I'm, I know that I have not been on a military helicopter being fired on by rockets attached to grenades. My guess is, you know that about you as well, but how did he get that wrong? How did he manufacture that memory? And in the, in the podcast, uh, excuse me, in the, in the broadcast, um, Malcolm Gladwell interviewed lots and lots of, of people that, that specialized in memory and found that the memory experts. <br /><br /> Regularly expressed some empathy for Brian Williams, they cited one of the studies that was cited to him by many of these memory experts was a, a, a, um, study that was done by William Hurst and a team of expert researchers who did a 10 year study into the memories people have of nine 11. They evaluated these memories and they had records of things that these people had said years before. <br /><br /> And they found that 60% of the memories of people about the specific events of nine 11 had changed nothing changed except their memories changed. They gave all kinds of studies that he, he did Malcolm Gladwell did in this article and was just trying to present that our memories get twisted. We, we, we, we miss, remember if you will. <br /><br /> another thing that is done is we are influenced by twisted messaging. Psychologists, John bark at New York university did a, a famous what's become a famous study. Now it was a bunch of researchers got together and they're trying to see the influence of, of just words. And they got together, uh, a bunch of students 19 to 22 years old, and they had two different groups and they gave 'em both the same assignment. <br /><br /> And the assignment was that they were to take a bunch of words that they gave them and to make, uh, four words sentences, approximately out of the words. And so they all the first group diligently worked with their words and then they, they left the room and they did not know it, but actually that's when the study actually began. <br /><br /> They left the room and they had to go to their next research, uh, location. And on this walk, as they went along long quarter, they went upstairs and they went to the next location. They, they, uh, tracked their time. How long, how fast they walked as a group, the next group they brought. And they had a lot of students. <br /><br /> So, you know, they had all different speed walkers and all those things. They got the next group in, they did the exact same assignment, but with this one, they threw into the list of words that they were making sentences out of, or phrases out of words, like bald, Florida, forgetful wrinkles, things that were associated with those of us that are more seasoned they found the difference in walking speed was monumental. <br /><br /> The second group walked slower and they were arguing, the whole treatise was, and there's been lots of articles made out of this and research. And basically they were saying, we are so influenced by messaging that it influenced even the speed we walk. It's how we view ourselves. They're. Now, they're now thinking old as they're walking these 19 to 22 year old kids, <br /><br /> if you've ever tried to share the gospel with someone, especially if you've tried to share the gospel with people that you know, and love, it's very hard to understand why they don't get it. There's twisting there's there's impact. And you look and say, ah, there's so many narratives. They've got about Christianity, about God, about themselves, about how they can be happy. <br /><br /> There's so many narratives and, and there's and messaging gets twisted. Memories even are twisted. How in the world are twisted minds ever gonna really embrace Christ. I'm just gonna show you this here and we're gonna stop. The answer is very simple. God has to intervene. You'll notice what happens here in verse 10 and 11. <br /><br /> First of all, God silences the false messaging. Paul steps in, and he said, the hand of the Lord is upon you. And he takes away their sight. The hand of the Lord is a old and new Testament expression that always refers to the power of God. It said here, let me share the ones in acts, acts chapter four, verse 30, God, you stretch out your hand to heal acts seven 50. <br /><br /> God says did not. My hand make all these things acts 1121. And the hand of the Lord was with them. And a great number believed God's hand God's power has to be engaged. You're not gonna talk them out of it. You're not gonna ultimately be able Paul recognized, I'm not gonna debate this guy. I'm not gonna be able to, to, to, to shut him up myself by just trying to overwhelm him with dog dogma. <br /><br /> The devil is too smart. He's got too many, too much experience. He is too masterful. God must do it. and what God did in verse in the second thing is God gave an alternative playlist. That's gonna be going through the mind of this individual. This man, the PROCO was astonished. It says in verse 21 in verse 12, with the actions now, but most beautifully he believed <br /><br /> this is my final statement. <br /><br /> Many of you have people you dearly love who you just say. I don't know why. Why won't they believe? Why won't they embrace? It's it's a straight path. It's not a hard messaging. Yes. It, it needs humbling. We acknowledge our need. But the things they're filling their life and the things they're going after and, and, and the things they're trying to find satisfaction. <br /><br /> I mean, anybody could see just looking, it's not gonna work. It's not working. <br /><br /> There's a twister, <br /><br /> any influences, and he's playing over and over and over a playlist that twists and twist. And the only answer we have is God, God, of the great hand, God of power is a P people. We should be crying out to God. He silenced this guy. He freed this man to become virtually. Everyone believes the belief here is genuine saving faith. <br /><br /> I'd like to pray this morning as we close Lord, I wanna pray this morning for every child, regardless of age 15, 25, 35, 45, 55, whom sadden has planted twisted memories and twisted messages in that are represented by families here this morning, deliver them, oh, God work in their lives. As only you can, that they might see the glorious light of the gospel for every person in this room. <br /><br /> Lord listening to this sermon, God silence, the twisted messaging of the enemy. Silence, the human messengers that are influencing their thinking mayor mighty hand. Be upon them. Lord do the work that only you can do in the lives of those. We love those. We long to see the straight paths of the gospel. And I pray this Lord, not only for those that were praying would embrace the gospel and be saved and born again. <br /><br /> But also for those that were praying would absorb the gospel would let it be that vending machine just rattling it down into the very heart of their lives. So it would change the way they live and the way they do life. Lord be active among us to your glory. I pray we face the great twisting fall, but we believe you're greater. <br /><br /> And we look to you. In Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Now go on peace to love and serve and enjoy the Lord.</div> false no <![CDATA[The Cost of Following Jesus - Youth Sunday]]> Matthew 4:18-22

And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”



Sermon Transcript:

You may be seated. Thank you for worshiping with us this morning. Um, the youth ministry has had a very, very busy summer, um, but most importantly, a very fruitful summer. Um, and so coming up, we have a few students who attended these different camps and trips and would love to tell you more about their experiences.

Hi, I'm Lauren Shafer a freshman at Morristown high school. And this summer I went on the junior high mission trip to Chatanooga Tennessee, which was my second sun se trip. I had a lot of fun on the mission trip this summer, and I grew in so many different ways. During the trip we worked with widows harvest ministries, project 52, and a homeless shelter.

My group worked with widow's harvest ministries and we painted widow's house. Her name was Ms. Moore. After talking with her, we realized that she also needed help cleaning the inside of her house. So we did that as. Ms. Moore was extremely nice to us and appreciative of our help. She started telling us stories about her life and even showed us some old photo albums she had after each Workday, we prayed with her.

It was really beautiful to see how we were making such a big difference in our life, even if it was only for a week. The first thing we would do every morning when we woke up was spend time with God and quiet time for every suns servant trip. We get these books that have a certain theme for what we'll be learning that week.

This year's theme was pressing on based on Philippians three 14, I pressed on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. This verse has become one of my favorites because it's a great reminder to push through and stay strong because through God you can, no matter what it is, everything you do should be done for the glory of God.

One of the leaders was describing how, um, the former director of widows harvest ministries would come up to people while they're painting and ask what they're doing. They would say painting. And he would say, no, you're worshiping. I really saw this to be true throughout the trip because of sun servants, kids were able to help so many people and just be a light in their lives, through their work and that kind of impact.

Isn't just temporary. It's showing God's love to other people and that's a permanent thing. Thank you.

Good morning. So my name is Ethan Davis, and I have the pleasure to talk to you about my experience from Collwood week. So first off Collwood week was a chance for me and other high schoolers to go to the Collwood campus, actually the FCC Collingwood campus, and run a VBS campus at a local park nearby.

And so we had about 12 or so high schoolers show up and throughout the week we had a blast. So I'm gonna show you kind of what each day looked like. So around 7:00 AM, we would kind of wake up, just get ourselves mentally and physically prepared. And around seven 30, we would start our morning devotions, which were written by Ryan.

And they were just well written. They were amazing, a great way to just start the day with like God's word. And so after that we would eat breakfast. After breakfast, we would, um, gather all our posters and stuff that we needed for the day. And we'd actually walk to the park, cuz the park was about only like a mile or so away.

So we'd gather all our stuff and walk to the park and just prepare for the kids to come. And once the kids came, we kind of just spent around an hour or so, just like hanging with them, getting to know them, just learning who they are. And after that we were able to just have worship time and they were like so energetic.

They were, they were ready to learn and they wanted to learn more. And so once we were all done, the kids left, we wrapped up, we packed up and we headed back. We headed back to the church and once we headed back to the church, we had about three or four hours to just relax and just like prepare for the next day by doing a dry run, which a dry run is basically just.

Doing our roles, but like speaking them to our leaders and just getting prepared and getting all the stress off our bodies. And then after that we would have dinner. And then right before bed, we would actually do, um, worship in the sanctuary of the church, which was just a great way to end off the day in on a good note with God's word again.

And the week went amazing and God was really able to provide for us. We actually had three kids that were saved, which was just really amazing. You can clap. Thank.

That opened all our eyes to just really see what God can do and how he can work in just one simple week. And so from my personal experience, um, me and a friend of mine named Simian painter, um, we actually met this guy who was just sitting alone at the park and we decided to just go join him, just, just get to know him, you know?

And so we learned that he's actually an artist and he's just a really good painter and he collects art. And then he asked us what we were doing in the park, cuz he saw us just with a giant group of people. And we said we were running a VBS camp and his draw jaw dropped and he was amazed by what we were doing.

And he was just so happy that we were spreading God's love throughout the community. And so he actually kept coming back day after day, just meeting me and SIM again and learning who we are and who he is. And God proved that week that he was really almighty and that nothing was ever gonna change that.

And so a little verse I wanna share with you that relates. Uh, to my experience from Collwood week is Matthew 28, 18 to 20, which says, and Jesus came and said to them all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you and behold, I am with you always to the end of the age.

God showed up so much in that week and I can't wait to go back next year.

Hi, my name is Leah Bennet and I'm a senior at Atlantic high school. This past summer, I attended my second high school missions trip to Panther. West Virginia Panther holds a special place in my heart, and I bet any of the other high schoolers would tell you the exact same thing. Once you're there, it feels like no other place measures up.

It's a place where community strengthens and extends me on the trip. A place of worship and teaching and a place to meet personally with God where I'm reminded that God is the only person that can satisfy the deepest longings of my heart Panther can feel like the life Adam and Eve lived at the beginning of a Genesis when they walk joyfully in the cool of the day with God.

But in reality, it's only a small glimpse of what heaven will be like. Hopefully a place where we can flash toilet favor Panther. West Virginia is one of the poorest areas of the country and an area where many people are in need of some home repair this year, my work group and I, the blue team had the opportunity to help Mr.

McGuire by raising the kitchen floor of his trailer home, to prevent it from completely caving in the weather. That week was very rainy. So it slowed down our progress little bit, but by the help of God's provision and the help of boys, not afraid of mud, my group was able to accomplish what we set out to do by the end of the week, while some of us were working, some of us went inside to talk to the homeowner and spread the love of Jesus.

The mission trips I've been a part of are so special because our week spent humbly serving the people who need our help and in turn serving Jesus. It's like he says in Matthew 25 40, and the king will answer them truly. I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these, my brothers, you did it to me.

The trip to Panora this summer was so fruit filled and a time of spiritual growth. But I can't talk about all the good things without some honest reflection of my own week. I definitely dealt with being spiritually attacked that week. And my thoughts were clouded by one particular lie. No one really likes being around you.

I've always struggled with comparing myself to people and constantly seemed to need the reminder that God's approval is the only one that I need. And I've been fearfully and wonderfully made. I talked about that same struggle and my baptism testimony. And here I am to say that I still struggle with it.

You'll be wrong of me to say that I've been completely freed of cam comparing myself to people and caring what others thinking me. But that doesn't mean God, isn't still good. And isn't still working during that trip. God showed me through different leaders and through different friends that people do care about me and do like being around me simple questions.

Like, are you okay? Do you wanna go on a walk together? You don't seem yourself. Is everything all right? Had so much value during that week. For me, I still had a difficult time believing those questions actually had people attach to them who gen genuinely wanted to know how I was doing and spend time with me.

But when I reflect back on the trip from where I am now, I can see that God not only doesn't want us to believe the lie that I did during that trip, but that even if no one really likes being around me, he does. And he loves me infinitely more than the love than the love I might search for from anyone else.

God created each of us for a specific purpose with specific gifts and personalities, all to glorify him. I might not be like the person next to me, but even if I go unnoticed here on earth, I'm never unnoticed by the king of heaven. My life is his and not my own. Finally, as Jared would end his sermons every night in Panther, if you forget everything I said today, remember that you are loved immeasurably more than you could ever imagine.

And you are valued more than anything in this world could ever give you. Thank you.

Good morning. Every. My name is Haven McCoy. I am a senior in high school at Trinity preparatory school, my family and I have been going to FCC for over nine years now. And I've always been involved in youth group and youth ministries. And that's why I'm very excited for this youth. Sunday. I've loved having a stable place to come and be surrounded by other Christians.

It truly has been the biggest blessing in my life. So as far as this summer, I went on a missions trip with the youth group to Panther West Virginia. We partnered with sun servants, which is an organization that helps the Panther community. This was my first year going on at the trip. And it was just the most inspiring experience.

The whole Panther community. When we got there was so welcoming and encouraging toward us. The volunteers were so caring and made everyone feel safe and comfortable. They just wanted us to feel at home, everyone that got to go on the trip in many different and beautiful ways, fully experience the abundant love of God.

So what sun servants and all of us at churches that partnered with them did was we went into the community to help different people in need. So we split into groups. I believe there were about like eight groups of us and we got an assignment. Some went out into community and fix rotted, porches, others fixed up roofs.

And my group got the privilege of redoing a woman's floor. Basically, she had no center beam in her floor, so it was sinking in. So we had to rip that out, redo her floor. And then we also fixed part of her wall that was infested with termites. And that is basically what we got up and did every single day.

But what I mainly wanna talk about is my experience with the love of the community, the community, including fellow FCC, people, other church participants, or the sun servants faculty. This trip was filled with the most God loving people I have ever been surrounded by. Everyone was there for one purpose.

And that was just to work hard and give all the praise to God. Every single person that came to Panther that week, either came already filled with the joy of Christ and to work hard and be a disciple to him. And if they didn't, they certainly left with the desire to grow in their relationship with Christ.

Didn't matter if the power went out for the third time that week, and we had no light or fans to keep us cool. Or if we were sweating from a long work day and had no water to shower overall, I didn't care about any of that. All I could focus on all week was how excited I was to be surrounded by so many Christlike people, personally, even being surrounded by so many Christians, I've struggled with finding a group of Christians that genuinely desire to just share God's love and show him through themselves.

And this trip, didn't only bless me with the experience and missions, but it blessed me with a community of friends, whether they're new or old, that I feel like I'm growing closer to God, just by being in their presence. There was no friction, no one wanted friction. Everyone desired so much to be connected with each other because God put together such a wonderful group that week.

No one split off into groups. We just wanted to be around each other. And the night before we left, we were all obviously very sad and everyone was crying, saying their goodbyes because no one wanted to leave the community where we felt so loved, cherished and safe, and don't get me wrong. Although I was so sad leaving the next morning, I couldn't wipe a smile off my face all night because I was just overwhelmed with joy.

And I was just so grateful. I just felt the presence of God in me and in the community that he put together that week so much, I knew we impacted the Panther community by helping those in need, but they impacted me so much more than I could have ever imagined. I was so grateful to experience a type of love from people.

I had only met five days before God's love was shining through everyone that week. And I'm just so blessed to be a part of that experience. It's the community. There was the community. We try to seek home in reality, but the mission trip was just a symbol of how Christ's family should always be. So thank you him.

This getting set up. Sorry about that. Great to be with you all this morning. This is our use. Like, isn't that crazy? it is.

It is wild to, uh, have this privilege, Jared, to lead middle schoolers, which if you don't know me, my name is Ryan. Um, I've been on staff here at fellowship for the past three years. Um, I love my job today. I just realized that I love it more. Um, but yes, this is our youth. Um, and it is a joy to be with you all this morning as we look at God's word together, but I am not gonna dilly D it's 9 39 today is not just youth Sunday, but as you've heard earlier today is officer the ministry fair.

Um, we had balloons, but they fell over. It was really cool. Right. But there's tables everywhere. We wanna make sure that you stop. Everywhere you want to stop at for you and your family this year, before you go home, uh, and watch the Cowboys lose to the Bengals. So yeah, if you have a Bible, if you have a Bible, uh, or someone around you does that you can look on with, or if you want to reach for a fancy black pew Bible in front of you, that's gonna be on page 7 59.

Um, but Matthew chapter four versus 18 through 22 is where we're gonna land this morning. And we're gonna look at the cost of following Jesus, but while you're turning there, I'm just gonna set the stage. We're taking a break from our series in acts, which is a beautiful backdrop behind me. We won't be there this morning.

Um, but this morning we'll be looking at the calling of Jesus' first disciples as recorded by the disciple Matthew. This call from Jesus and Matthew four is actually a, a parallel writing from mark chapter one. So mark chapter one versus 16 through 20, we can really piece together some context around this whole event, not just to see where these two authors are different and the details of their writing, but also seeing where they align in similarity.

And if we look for just a second, uh, in terms of similarity, both Matthew and mark, write this calling of Jesus' first disciples, which is where we're gonna land. They write this immediately after they write about Jesus's announcement of the beginning of his earthly ministry. Um, this announcement is verse 17 in Matthew four, uh, and mark one, it is in verse 14 and 15, which should be up on the slide.

Mark. One 15. Jesus says this. The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand repent and believe in the gospel. I believe Matthew and Mark's intentions were pretty clear to yes, record the importance of this beginning, work of Jesus here on earth, but then immediately demonstrate to their audiences what repenting and what believing in the gospel actually looks like.

So here we are. We're in Matthew four with a couple different parties of people, Simon, Peter, and Andrew in their boat, James and John with their dad ZDI and their hired servants in their boat and Jesus walking by the sea of galley. So I'm gonna read for us and then we'll, we'll pray this morning. Matthew four verse 18 says this.

While walking by the sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers Simon who was called Peter and Andrew, his brother casting a net into the sea for, they were fishermen. And he said to them, follow me. And I will make you fishers of men immediately. They left their nets and followed him and going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James, the son of Zeb and John's brother in the boat with Zeb, their father mending their nets.

And he called them immediately. They left the boat and their father and followed him.

Lord, we look at your word this morning. We need you. We thank you for all the testimonies this morning from different missions trips. Seeing your spirit, not just here in this church building, but in Panther in Conwood in Chattanooga, we pray Lord that we would gain a clear sense of what it looks like to follow you in our lives this morning, your name, amen.

Two things. Uh, we're gonna, we're gonna go quick. So two things I think I see from, uh, scripture this morning, I think we see one, we see a radical call and second, we see a definite response. Uh, the first phrase, Jesus in verse 19 calls out to Simon, Peter and Andrew follow me. And I will make you fishers of men.

This wasn't the first time Jesus had met Simon, Peter and Andrew in verse 35 of John chapter one through the end of John four, Peter and Andrew were beginning to gain a sense of who Jesus was as rabbi. Uh, they were starting to build relationship with him, getting to know him, learning his ways, training under him, witnessing his power amongst all kinds of different people.

But here's why this situation is radical. Jesus called fishermen. And I think the misconception today is to think, at least in our brains, that fishermen were part of this low class of society, poor people. That's not actually the case, which we'll talk about in a second. But the reality is again, Jesus called fishermen.

These were common men without any sort of theological credentials or status. These four guys were likely not the most educated people. They probably smelled . Most rabbis probably wouldn't want these guys to, to study under them, but they were hardworking. They were strong laborers and they were willing.

and here Jesus is saying, follow me. And I will make you fishers of men. I will make you fishers of men implying that this will be a, a steady journey of training under Jesus, not sharing the ways and the truth of who he is with others is part of following Jesus. So disciples of Jesus can make other fishers of men too.

So we see a radical call. And I think, secondly, we see a definite response immediately. They left and filed him. These four men left behind their nets, but I think that symbolizes a lot for them to follow Jesus. These men left their incomes to question to follow Jesus. They left their wives. Children's family.

For periods of time, maybe not knowing when the next time they would be home or come back in town to follow Jesus. They left behind their financially stable businesses and futures to follow Jesus, James and John, even when against the cultural norms at the time and left the family business to follow Jesus again, James and John left their dad in the boat.

They left everything, but what's even crazier is that they didn't just leave slowly making sure you know, okay. Like if I leave, is everything gonna be all right? Is everything set in stone? Like, Hey, Hey man is sorry if I go and follow this guy. No, like that says they immediately left and followed him because they knew Jesus was better.

He was different than the other teachers. He's the one who spoke with the greatest of authority. Who was rooted in the old Testament, who, who also gave application and presented conviction to others as he taught. And although being the one who spoke with the greatest of authority, the same Jesus had the deepest of compassions for the sick who guided the lost, who loved the poor and helped those in need.

I think for Simon, Peter, Andrew, James, and John, this decision was a no must have been a no brainer. It was definite I don't have it on the slide, but thought of the lyrics from a hymn written very long time ago, um, called I've decided to follow Jesus. Some of the lyrics are I've decided to follow Jesus.

No, turning back, no turning back though. None go with me. I still will follow no turning back, no turning back the world behind me and the cross before me. No turning back. No turning back our second point. So to follow Jesus back then 2000 years ago, and even today in 2022, what's the cost. I believe the cost of following Jesus requires two things.

First, a denial of self and an embracing of Christ in a Matthew 16, 24 kind of way. Jesus speaking to his disciples that if anybody will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me for whoever would save his life will lose it. It, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

Tish Harrison Warren's book. Uh, I wish I brought it up here. I think it's on a slide. Great. Um, it's called a liturgy of ordinary. It's been super meaningful to me as I've been kind of processing what it looks like to deny myself actually, and embrace Christ actually in my daily life. Um, the preor of her book brings up a really good idea, uh, denying yourself and embracing Christ is a day by day and moment by moment thing.

And most of the moments that we experience in our lives are pretty ordinary. Like losing my keys. Uh, your husband forgot to do the dishes again, um, rocking your baby to sleep and they will never ever go to sleep. Have a three month old. I thought you guys were kidding that they didn't sleep. Wow. I was wrong.

But here's what Warren says in her book about following Jesus in every moment she says this, uh, I don't have the quote. So, but it says small bits of our day are profoundly meaningful because they're the sight of our worship. The crucible of our formation is in the monotony of our daily routines. I, I think she's saying that it's in everything that we do in every situation that we face.

There's a competition for where we place our devotion and where we place our affection. And also I think this battle for where we place our devotion, doesn't just apply in these big, big, monumental moments we each have in our lives, but it applies everywhere and every day, and in every moment choosing to follow Christ, isn't just saved.

For the remarkable moments for our lives. The reality is that we will face many, many decisions to follow him in the ordinary and regular times in the, in our lives than in the extraordinary following. Jesus requires us to weigh the cost of denying ourselves and embracing him. And second, I think the cost of our, and it's our last point.

I think the cost of following Jesus requires worldly, abandonment and an eternal fixation. It's 9 51. I was hoping I'd have time to do this, but I'm leaving. Just kidding. Hold on.

We'll mix it up. It's you Sunday. I have a prop now I'm gonna warn you. This is not. This is not my illustration. Uh, it is coined by the I'm sorry, camera person. I'm like every it's like this guy just walked off the stage. This was coined by, uh, pastor author, Francis chance who you might know him. Jared has done this at youth group before, but when I think of worldly, abandonment, wow, this is such a cool picture.

Okay. It's youth ministry. It's youth Sunday. I want you to put your imagination helmet on. Just buckle it up. I don't know if you got a seatbelt, if you got a seatbelt too. That's great. Um, here's what I want. I want you to imagine that this rope hope goes on forever. Um, it obviously ends at the end of the stage, but pretend that it goes around the world twice, pretend that it goes around the universe twice.

Uh, pretend that it goes around the church twice, whatever this rope goes on forever and ever, and ever. Second thing. I want you to imagine. I want you to imagine that this rope is a timeline of your entire existence. So if this goes on forever, this will be eternity, eternity, eternity, really. And the last thing I want you to imagine is that this yellow part is your time here on earth.

And we're human. And I catch myself too, where, okay. Maybe if, maybe if I get this grade here, I can go to this college. And, and then if I go to this college, I could go here. And if I save, I could, I could live really well here. And we forget about the millions and the millions. and the millions and the millions of years of our eternity,

Matthew 16, 25, whoever saves his life here on earth will lose it. And whenever loses my life, whoever loses their life for my sake will find, it

says that the disciples immediately left everything to follow Christ. They abandon the world. Yes. These things still exist. There's there's things in our world that exist like money and, and finances and things like that. But they said, I'm not gonna place my identity there. They turned and followed Christ and they found life.

we've seen this morning from a bunch of youth who have left behind summer plans, vacations, extra opportunities to make money, college visits, you name it. They left these things behind to follow Christ. Parents love to acknowledge you for just a second. Some of you were in a position like ZDI, you're in the boat while you're thinking about their future and their wellbeing and their next steps.

You've allowed them to go like ZDI and say, yes, follow him, allowing your children to follow the truth in ways of Jesus church. The reality is that we can't follow Jesus and ourselves. The throne of our lives can't hold to. It's one or the other, my question for us this morning is this, are we following Jesus?

Are we following Jesus every moment in our days in the mundane of a, of a normal Tuesday with soccer practice at night, are we following Jesus there

love for you to stand this morning before we dismiss. I'm just gonna pray for us.

Pray with me

Lord. As we stand together this morning,

as people whom you love.

Maybe not just learn the truths of who you are, but be pushed to follow your ways in the world. In a world. That's hard in a world that's loud in a world. That's fast. Make us the people who long to know you and make you known. May we remember who it is? That's leading us as we follow you and that name we pray.

Lord. Amen. May you keep your eyes firmly fixed on Jesus as you walk and follow him this week would love for you to check out the ministry fair before you go and stop at any tables that you need to, you are dismissed.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-cost-of-following-jesus-youth-sunday d6bb3cfc-a547-4043-87b5-4710f1872442 Sun, 18 Sep 2022 14:14:39 GMT <div data-html="true">Matthew 4:18-22 <br /><br /> And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> You may be seated. Thank you for worshiping with us this morning. Um, the youth ministry has had a very, very busy summer, um, but most importantly, a very fruitful summer. Um, and so coming up, we have a few students who attended these different camps and trips and would love to tell you more about their experiences. <br /><br /> Hi, I'm Lauren Shafer a freshman at Morristown high school. And this summer I went on the junior high mission trip to Chatanooga Tennessee, which was my second sun se trip. I had a lot of fun on the mission trip this summer, and I grew in so many different ways. During the trip we worked with widows harvest ministries, project 52, and a homeless shelter. <br /><br /> My group worked with widow's harvest ministries and we painted widow's house. Her name was Ms. Moore. After talking with her, we realized that she also needed help cleaning the inside of her house. So we did that as. Ms. Moore was extremely nice to us and appreciative of our help. She started telling us stories about her life and even showed us some old photo albums she had after each Workday, we prayed with her. <br /><br /> It was really beautiful to see how we were making such a big difference in our life, even if it was only for a week. The first thing we would do every morning when we woke up was spend time with God and quiet time for every suns servant trip. We get these books that have a certain theme for what we'll be learning that week. <br /><br /> This year's theme was pressing on based on Philippians three 14, I pressed on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. This verse has become one of my favorites because it's a great reminder to push through and stay strong because through God you can, no matter what it is, everything you do should be done for the glory of God. <br /><br /> One of the leaders was describing how, um, the former director of widows harvest ministries would come up to people while they're painting and ask what they're doing. They would say painting. And he would say, no, you're worshiping. I really saw this to be true throughout the trip because of sun servants, kids were able to help so many people and just be a light in their lives, through their work and that kind of impact. <br /><br /> Isn't just temporary. It's showing God's love to other people and that's a permanent thing. Thank you. <br /><br /> Good morning. So my name is Ethan Davis, and I have the pleasure to talk to you about my experience from Collwood week. So first off Collwood week was a chance for me and other high schoolers to go to the Collwood campus, actually the FCC Collingwood campus, and run a VBS campus at a local park nearby. <br /><br /> And so we had about 12 or so high schoolers show up and throughout the week we had a blast. So I'm gonna show you kind of what each day looked like. So around 7:00 AM, we would kind of wake up, just get ourselves mentally and physically prepared. And around seven 30, we would start our morning devotions, which were written by Ryan. <br /><br /> And they were just well written. They were amazing, a great way to just start the day with like God's word. And so after that we would eat breakfast. After breakfast, we would, um, gather all our posters and stuff that we needed for the day. And we'd actually walk to the park, cuz the park was about only like a mile or so away. <br /><br /> So we'd gather all our stuff and walk to the park and just prepare for the kids to come. And once the kids came, we kind of just spent around an hour or so, just like hanging with them, getting to know them, just learning who they are. And after that we were able to just have worship time and they were like so energetic. <br /><br /> They were, they were ready to learn and they wanted to learn more. And so once we were all done, the kids left, we wrapped up, we packed up and we headed back. We headed back to the church and once we headed back to the church, we had about three or four hours to just relax and just like prepare for the next day by doing a dry run, which a dry run is basically just. <br /><br /> Doing our roles, but like speaking them to our leaders and just getting prepared and getting all the stress off our bodies. And then after that we would have dinner. And then right before bed, we would actually do, um, worship in the sanctuary of the church, which was just a great way to end off the day in on a good note with God's word again. <br /><br /> And the week went amazing and God was really able to provide for us. We actually had three kids that were saved, which was just really amazing. You can clap. Thank. <br /><br /> That opened all our eyes to just really see what God can do and how he can work in just one simple week. And so from my personal experience, um, me and a friend of mine named Simian painter, um, we actually met this guy who was just sitting alone at the park and we decided to just go join him, just, just get to know him, you know? <br /><br /> And so we learned that he's actually an artist and he's just a really good painter and he collects art. And then he asked us what we were doing in the park, cuz he saw us just with a giant group of people. And we said we were running a VBS camp and his draw jaw dropped and he was amazed by what we were doing. <br /><br /> And he was just so happy that we were spreading God's love throughout the community. And so he actually kept coming back day after day, just meeting me and SIM again and learning who we are and who he is. And God proved that week that he was really almighty and that nothing was ever gonna change that. <br /><br /> And so a little verse I wanna share with you that relates. Uh, to my experience from Collwood week is Matthew 28, 18 to 20, which says, and Jesus came and said to them all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you and behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. <br /><br /> God showed up so much in that week and I can't wait to go back next year. <br /><br /> Hi, my name is Leah Bennet and I'm a senior at Atlantic high school. This past summer, I attended my second high school missions trip to Panther. West Virginia Panther holds a special place in my heart, and I bet any of the other high schoolers would tell you the exact same thing. Once you're there, it feels like no other place measures up. <br /><br /> It's a place where community strengthens and extends me on the trip. A place of worship and teaching and a place to meet personally with God where I'm reminded that God is the only person that can satisfy the deepest longings of my heart Panther can feel like the life Adam and Eve lived at the beginning of a Genesis when they walk joyfully in the cool of the day with God. <br /><br /> But in reality, it's only a small glimpse of what heaven will be like. Hopefully a place where we can flash toilet favor Panther. West Virginia is one of the poorest areas of the country and an area where many people are in need of some home repair this year, my work group and I, the blue team had the opportunity to help Mr. <br /><br /> McGuire by raising the kitchen floor of his trailer home, to prevent it from completely caving in the weather. That week was very rainy. So it slowed down our progress little bit, but by the help of God's provision and the help of boys, not afraid of mud, my group was able to accomplish what we set out to do by the end of the week, while some of us were working, some of us went inside to talk to the homeowner and spread the love of Jesus. <br /><br /> The mission trips I've been a part of are so special because our week spent humbly serving the people who need our help and in turn serving Jesus. It's like he says in Matthew 25 40, and the king will answer them truly. I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these, my brothers, you did it to me. <br /><br /> The trip to Panora this summer was so fruit filled and a time of spiritual growth. But I can't talk about all the good things without some honest reflection of my own week. I definitely dealt with being spiritually attacked that week. And my thoughts were clouded by one particular lie. No one really likes being around you. <br /><br /> I've always struggled with comparing myself to people and constantly seemed to need the reminder that God's approval is the only one that I need. And I've been fearfully and wonderfully made. I talked about that same struggle and my baptism testimony. And here I am to say that I still struggle with it. <br /><br /> You'll be wrong of me to say that I've been completely freed of cam comparing myself to people and caring what others thinking me. But that doesn't mean God, isn't still good. And isn't still working during that trip. God showed me through different leaders and through different friends that people do care about me and do like being around me simple questions. <br /><br /> Like, are you okay? Do you wanna go on a walk together? You don't seem yourself. Is everything all right? Had so much value during that week. For me, I still had a difficult time believing those questions actually had people attach to them who gen genuinely wanted to know how I was doing and spend time with me. <br /><br /> But when I reflect back on the trip from where I am now, I can see that God not only doesn't want us to believe the lie that I did during that trip, but that even if no one really likes being around me, he does. And he loves me infinitely more than the love than the love I might search for from anyone else. <br /><br /> God created each of us for a specific purpose with specific gifts and personalities, all to glorify him. I might not be like the person next to me, but even if I go unnoticed here on earth, I'm never unnoticed by the king of heaven. My life is his and not my own. Finally, as Jared would end his sermons every night in Panther, if you forget everything I said today, remember that you are loved immeasurably more than you could ever imagine. <br /><br /> And you are valued more than anything in this world could ever give you. Thank you. <br /><br /> Good morning. Every. My name is Haven McCoy. I am a senior in high school at Trinity preparatory school, my family and I have been going to FCC for over nine years now. And I've always been involved in youth group and youth ministries. And that's why I'm very excited for this youth. Sunday. I've loved having a stable place to come and be surrounded by other Christians. <br /><br /> It truly has been the biggest blessing in my life. So as far as this summer, I went on a missions trip with the youth group to Panther West Virginia. We partnered with sun servants, which is an organization that helps the Panther community. This was my first year going on at the trip. And it was just the most inspiring experience. <br /><br /> The whole Panther community. When we got there was so welcoming and encouraging toward us. The volunteers were so caring and made everyone feel safe and comfortable. They just wanted us to feel at home, everyone that got to go on the trip in many different and beautiful ways, fully experience the abundant love of God. <br /><br /> So what sun servants and all of us at churches that partnered with them did was we went into the community to help different people in need. So we split into groups. I believe there were about like eight groups of us and we got an assignment. Some went out into community and fix rotted, porches, others fixed up roofs. <br /><br /> And my group got the privilege of redoing a woman's floor. Basically, she had no center beam in her floor, so it was sinking in. So we had to rip that out, redo her floor. And then we also fixed part of her wall that was infested with termites. And that is basically what we got up and did every single day. <br /><br /> But what I mainly wanna talk about is my experience with the love of the community, the community, including fellow FCC, people, other church participants, or the sun servants faculty. This trip was filled with the most God loving people I have ever been surrounded by. Everyone was there for one purpose. <br /><br /> And that was just to work hard and give all the praise to God. Every single person that came to Panther that week, either came already filled with the joy of Christ and to work hard and be a disciple to him. And if they didn't, they certainly left with the desire to grow in their relationship with Christ. <br /><br /> Didn't matter if the power went out for the third time that week, and we had no light or fans to keep us cool. Or if we were sweating from a long work day and had no water to shower overall, I didn't care about any of that. All I could focus on all week was how excited I was to be surrounded by so many Christlike people, personally, even being surrounded by so many Christians, I've struggled with finding a group of Christians that genuinely desire to just share God's love and show him through themselves. <br /><br /> And this trip, didn't only bless me with the experience and missions, but it blessed me with a community of friends, whether they're new or old, that I feel like I'm growing closer to God, just by being in their presence. There was no friction, no one wanted friction. Everyone desired so much to be connected with each other because God put together such a wonderful group that week. <br /><br /> No one split off into groups. We just wanted to be around each other. And the night before we left, we were all obviously very sad and everyone was crying, saying their goodbyes because no one wanted to leave the community where we felt so loved, cherished and safe, and don't get me wrong. Although I was so sad leaving the next morning, I couldn't wipe a smile off my face all night because I was just overwhelmed with joy. <br /><br /> And I was just so grateful. I just felt the presence of God in me and in the community that he put together that week so much, I knew we impacted the Panther community by helping those in need, but they impacted me so much more than I could have ever imagined. I was so grateful to experience a type of love from people. <br /><br /> I had only met five days before God's love was shining through everyone that week. And I'm just so blessed to be a part of that experience. It's the community. There was the community. We try to seek home in reality, but the mission trip was just a symbol of how Christ's family should always be. So thank you him. <br /><br /> This getting set up. Sorry about that. Great to be with you all this morning. This is our use. Like, isn't that crazy? it is. <br /><br /> It is wild to, uh, have this privilege, Jared, to lead middle schoolers, which if you don't know me, my name is Ryan. Um, I've been on staff here at fellowship for the past three years. Um, I love my job today. I just realized that I love it more. Um, but yes, this is our youth. Um, and it is a joy to be with you all this morning as we look at God's word together, but I am not gonna dilly D it's 9 39 today is not just youth Sunday, but as you've heard earlier today is officer the ministry fair. <br /><br /> Um, we had balloons, but they fell over. It was really cool. Right. But there's tables everywhere. We wanna make sure that you stop. Everywhere you want to stop at for you and your family this year, before you go home, uh, and watch the Cowboys lose to the Bengals. So yeah, if you have a Bible, if you have a Bible, uh, or someone around you does that you can look on with, or if you want to reach for a fancy black pew Bible in front of you, that's gonna be on page 7 59. <br /><br /> Um, but Matthew chapter four versus 18 through 22 is where we're gonna land this morning. And we're gonna look at the cost of following Jesus, but while you're turning there, I'm just gonna set the stage. We're taking a break from our series in acts, which is a beautiful backdrop behind me. We won't be there this morning. <br /><br /> Um, but this morning we'll be looking at the calling of Jesus' first disciples as recorded by the disciple Matthew. This call from Jesus and Matthew four is actually a, a parallel writing from mark chapter one. So mark chapter one versus 16 through 20, we can really piece together some context around this whole event, not just to see where these two authors are different and the details of their writing, but also seeing where they align in similarity. <br /><br /> And if we look for just a second, uh, in terms of similarity, both Matthew and mark, write this calling of Jesus' first disciples, which is where we're gonna land. They write this immediately after they write about Jesus's announcement of the beginning of his earthly ministry. Um, this announcement is verse 17 in Matthew four, uh, and mark one, it is in verse 14 and 15, which should be up on the slide. <br /><br /> Mark. One 15. Jesus says this. The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand repent and believe in the gospel. I believe Matthew and Mark's intentions were pretty clear to yes, record the importance of this beginning, work of Jesus here on earth, but then immediately demonstrate to their audiences what repenting and what believing in the gospel actually looks like. <br /><br /> So here we are. We're in Matthew four with a couple different parties of people, Simon, Peter, and Andrew in their boat, James and John with their dad ZDI and their hired servants in their boat and Jesus walking by the sea of galley. So I'm gonna read for us and then we'll, we'll pray this morning. Matthew four verse 18 says this. <br /><br /> While walking by the sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers Simon who was called Peter and Andrew, his brother casting a net into the sea for, they were fishermen. And he said to them, follow me. And I will make you fishers of men immediately. They left their nets and followed him and going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James, the son of Zeb and John's brother in the boat with Zeb, their father mending their nets. <br /><br /> And he called them immediately. They left the boat and their father and followed him. <br /><br /> Lord, we look at your word this morning. We need you. We thank you for all the testimonies this morning from different missions trips. Seeing your spirit, not just here in this church building, but in Panther in Conwood in Chattanooga, we pray Lord that we would gain a clear sense of what it looks like to follow you in our lives this morning, your name, amen. <br /><br /> Two things. Uh, we're gonna, we're gonna go quick. So two things I think I see from, uh, scripture this morning, I think we see one, we see a radical call and second, we see a definite response. Uh, the first phrase, Jesus in verse 19 calls out to Simon, Peter and Andrew follow me. And I will make you fishers of men. <br /><br /> This wasn't the first time Jesus had met Simon, Peter and Andrew in verse 35 of John chapter one through the end of John four, Peter and Andrew were beginning to gain a sense of who Jesus was as rabbi. Uh, they were starting to build relationship with him, getting to know him, learning his ways, training under him, witnessing his power amongst all kinds of different people. <br /><br /> But here's why this situation is radical. Jesus called fishermen. And I think the misconception today is to think, at least in our brains, that fishermen were part of this low class of society, poor people. That's not actually the case, which we'll talk about in a second. But the reality is again, Jesus called fishermen. <br /><br /> These were common men without any sort of theological credentials or status. These four guys were likely not the most educated people. They probably smelled . Most rabbis probably wouldn't want these guys to, to study under them, but they were hardworking. They were strong laborers and they were willing. <br /><br /> and here Jesus is saying, follow me. And I will make you fishers of men. I will make you fishers of men implying that this will be a, a steady journey of training under Jesus, not sharing the ways and the truth of who he is with others is part of following Jesus. So disciples of Jesus can make other fishers of men too. <br /><br /> So we see a radical call. And I think, secondly, we see a definite response immediately. They left and filed him. These four men left behind their nets, but I think that symbolizes a lot for them to follow Jesus. These men left their incomes to question to follow Jesus. They left their wives. Children's family. <br /><br /> For periods of time, maybe not knowing when the next time they would be home or come back in town to follow Jesus. They left behind their financially stable businesses and futures to follow Jesus, James and John, even when against the cultural norms at the time and left the family business to follow Jesus again, James and John left their dad in the boat. <br /><br /> They left everything, but what's even crazier is that they didn't just leave slowly making sure you know, okay. Like if I leave, is everything gonna be all right? Is everything set in stone? Like, Hey, Hey man is sorry if I go and follow this guy. No, like that says they immediately left and followed him because they knew Jesus was better. <br /><br /> He was different than the other teachers. He's the one who spoke with the greatest of authority. Who was rooted in the old Testament, who, who also gave application and presented conviction to others as he taught. And although being the one who spoke with the greatest of authority, the same Jesus had the deepest of compassions for the sick who guided the lost, who loved the poor and helped those in need. <br /><br /> I think for Simon, Peter, Andrew, James, and John, this decision was a no must have been a no brainer. It was definite I don't have it on the slide, but thought of the lyrics from a hymn written very long time ago, um, called I've decided to follow Jesus. Some of the lyrics are I've decided to follow Jesus. <br /><br /> No, turning back, no turning back though. None go with me. I still will follow no turning back, no turning back the world behind me and the cross before me. No turning back. No turning back our second point. So to follow Jesus back then 2000 years ago, and even today in 2022, what's the cost. I believe the cost of following Jesus requires two things. <br /><br /> First, a denial of self and an embracing of Christ in a Matthew 16, 24 kind of way. Jesus speaking to his disciples that if anybody will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me for whoever would save his life will lose it. It, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. <br /><br /> Tish Harrison Warren's book. Uh, I wish I brought it up here. I think it's on a slide. Great. Um, it's called a liturgy of ordinary. It's been super meaningful to me as I've been kind of processing what it looks like to deny myself actually, and embrace Christ actually in my daily life. Um, the preor of her book brings up a really good idea, uh, denying yourself and embracing Christ is a day by day and moment by moment thing. <br /><br /> And most of the moments that we experience in our lives are pretty ordinary. Like losing my keys. Uh, your husband forgot to do the dishes again, um, rocking your baby to sleep and they will never ever go to sleep. Have a three month old. I thought you guys were kidding that they didn't sleep. Wow. I was wrong. <br /><br /> But here's what Warren says in her book about following Jesus in every moment she says this, uh, I don't have the quote. So, but it says small bits of our day are profoundly meaningful because they're the sight of our worship. The crucible of our formation is in the monotony of our daily routines. I, I think she's saying that it's in everything that we do in every situation that we face. <br /><br /> There's a competition for where we place our devotion and where we place our affection. And also I think this battle for where we place our devotion, doesn't just apply in these big, big, monumental moments we each have in our lives, but it applies everywhere and every day, and in every moment choosing to follow Christ, isn't just saved. <br /><br /> For the remarkable moments for our lives. The reality is that we will face many, many decisions to follow him in the ordinary and regular times in the, in our lives than in the extraordinary following. Jesus requires us to weigh the cost of denying ourselves and embracing him. And second, I think the cost of our, and it's our last point. <br /><br /> I think the cost of following Jesus requires worldly, abandonment and an eternal fixation. It's 9 51. I was hoping I'd have time to do this, but I'm leaving. Just kidding. Hold on. <br /><br /> We'll mix it up. It's you Sunday. I have a prop now I'm gonna warn you. This is not. This is not my illustration. Uh, it is coined by the I'm sorry, camera person. I'm like every it's like this guy just walked off the stage. This was coined by, uh, pastor author, Francis chance who you might know him. Jared has done this at youth group before, but when I think of worldly, abandonment, wow, this is such a cool picture. <br /><br /> Okay. It's youth ministry. It's youth Sunday. I want you to put your imagination helmet on. Just buckle it up. I don't know if you got a seatbelt, if you got a seatbelt too. That's great. Um, here's what I want. I want you to imagine that this rope hope goes on forever. Um, it obviously ends at the end of the stage, but pretend that it goes around the world twice, pretend that it goes around the universe twice. <br /><br /> Uh, pretend that it goes around the church twice, whatever this rope goes on forever and ever, and ever. Second thing. I want you to imagine. I want you to imagine that this rope is a timeline of your entire existence. So if this goes on forever, this will be eternity, eternity, eternity, really. And the last thing I want you to imagine is that this yellow part is your time here on earth. <br /><br /> And we're human. And I catch myself too, where, okay. Maybe if, maybe if I get this grade here, I can go to this college. And, and then if I go to this college, I could go here. And if I save, I could, I could live really well here. And we forget about the millions and the millions. and the millions and the millions of years of our eternity, <br /><br /> Matthew 16, 25, whoever saves his life here on earth will lose it. And whenever loses my life, whoever loses their life for my sake will find, it <br /><br /> says that the disciples immediately left everything to follow Christ. They abandon the world. Yes. These things still exist. There's there's things in our world that exist like money and, and finances and things like that. But they said, I'm not gonna place my identity there. They turned and followed Christ and they found life. <br /><br /> we've seen this morning from a bunch of youth who have left behind summer plans, vacations, extra opportunities to make money, college visits, you name it. They left these things behind to follow Christ. Parents love to acknowledge you for just a second. Some of you were in a position like ZDI, you're in the boat while you're thinking about their future and their wellbeing and their next steps. <br /><br /> You've allowed them to go like ZDI and say, yes, follow him, allowing your children to follow the truth in ways of Jesus church. The reality is that we can't follow Jesus and ourselves. The throne of our lives can't hold to. It's one or the other, my question for us this morning is this, are we following Jesus? <br /><br /> Are we following Jesus every moment in our days in the mundane of a, of a normal Tuesday with soccer practice at night, are we following Jesus there <br /><br /> love for you to stand this morning before we dismiss. I'm just gonna pray for us. <br /><br /> Pray with me <br /><br /> Lord. As we stand together this morning, <br /><br /> as people whom you love. <br /><br /> Maybe not just learn the truths of who you are, but be pushed to follow your ways in the world. In a world. That's hard in a world that's loud in a world. That's fast. Make us the people who long to know you and make you known. May we remember who it is? That's leading us as we follow you and that name we pray. <br /><br /> Lord. Amen. May you keep your eyes firmly fixed on Jesus as you walk and follow him this week would love for you to check out the ministry fair before you go and stop at any tables that you need to, you are dismissed.</div> false no <![CDATA[The Missional Church]]> Acts 13:1-3

While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”



Sermon Transcript:

Invite you to take your Bibles. We're gonna be looking at acts chapter 13 this morning. I did not get the page number of the pew Bible there, but it's, it is acts 13. Uh, gonna be looking at verses one through three there. I wanna welcome you back to our series. Entitled to spirit at work to the ends of the earth.

It is basically a series of many episodes. Penned created ultimately by the spirit of God, but penned and chronicled by Dr. Luke tells the overall story in a flowing mini series. Of three seasons. The outline for the series was given by Jesus before he left this world. When he spoke to his, his disciples, this statement in acts one eight, but you'll receive power when the holy spirit has come upon you and you will be wi my witnesses in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria.

And to the end of the earth in that verse, Jesus told us how the seasons will be organized season. Would be acts chapter one through seven and in acts chapter one through seven, the holy spirit would be at work in Jerusalem among, among both the Hebrew and Hellenistic Jews. It is a series that began on the day of Pentecost.

It will culminate in the martyrdom of the first Christian martyr named Stephen. And it will end with the, a great persecution that is breaking forth in Jerusalem. That first series acts chapter one through seven lasted somewhere between six and seven years. Season two began in acts chapter eight, acts chapter eight through 12.

And this particular series, as we've mentioned, focused on three guys, Philip, Peter, and Paul or Saul as he is called at this time. their story is, is, is like a typical miniseries. You know, you, you, you follow one for a little bit, and then all of a sudden the, the next episode, or even part of that episode is the, the, uh, the other guy's story.

And, and you have these parallel tracks going on of Philip and Peter and Paul, and they're going they're ministry primarily now is expanding into Judea and Samaria. Peter is the first to see a convert. That is a Gentile. It's an astonishing moment. It's actually the house of a, a Roman Sentian named Cornelius.

He goes there and he and members of his household believe on Jesus. And even though they have a pagan Gentile background, Peter is astonished to see that they received the holy spirit in the same way that the Jews did at Pentecost. And he realizes that people can now embrace Jesus. As their Messiah as their savior and Lord, without having to become a Jew, it is a dramatically shocking and transforming moment in the understanding of the gospel and what Jesus came to do for the early church.

Peter's ministry continued. And so did Paul and Paul's ministry along with other leaders extended up into the Northern areas. As a matter of fact, what happens in acts chapter eight through 12 is you begin to see two centers for the early church being developed, certainly at Jerusalem where it all began.

But a second one is 300 miles north in a city called Antioch. Uh, it may not sound that far away. I mean, 300 miles is Pittsburgh, right? I mean, how long does it take you to get to Pittsburgh five hours, but these guys walked. And so between. Jerusalem and Antioch, a distance of 300 miles by foot. There were many other scores of other smaller churches in smaller towns and villages, but these two churches became the center of the early Christian faith.

In the early Christian movement. We find acts chapter eight through 12 ending after a period of now an additional nine or 10 years with the church beginning to we see the church at Jerusalem ending in acts chapter 12, with another period. Of persecution this time, not by the religious leaders, this by the civil authorities, Herod himself takes James, the brother of John, one of the three main apostles of Jesus.

And beheads him. He has Peter on the docket for the next morning to be beheaded as well. And God's angel miraculously rescued him. As we saw last time, we looked in acts chapter 12. Meanwhile, in Antioch, the church has been flourishing. The church has sent a guy named Barnabas to go up there and he has gone and grab Paul and they have begun to disciple the church and they are now the prominent leaders and teachers in the church.

And we see the emphasis is beginning to move from the center epicenter of Jerusalem, 300 miles north as this church in Antioch. Now 16 years after Jesus, death and resurrection. 16 years after the day of Pentecost, Antioch has now become the epicenter for the enterprise that is going to fulfill be season three, the spirit at work, literally to the ends of the earth up until now.

There's been no designed strategy for how to do world evangelism. As a matter of fact, even the church at Jerusalem has just been doing reactionary work. If you remember, and again, I'm giving you some background here. Don't panic. I know you're thinking, wow, there's a long introduction of when, uh, well I'm trying to bring up speed.

The church in Jerusalem has basically been doing reactionary work. When they hear of something, they respond to it. Like for instance, in acts chapter eight, they hear about some of the Samaritans, the, the Northern area above Judea and Jerusalem. There are people believing. They, they send Peter and John to go and check it out and they find out, wow, Samaritans are turning to faith in Christ, in acts chapter 10.

Peter has this visit on the, on the coastal town of Caesarea, where he meets and, and, and sees this Roman Centurian belief and the church then sends individuals to talk to Peter and, and try to get a feel what's going on. What's God doing in acts chapter 11, when they heard that people were believing all the way up in Antioch.

They send Barnabus say, well, find out what's going on. Check this out. Barnabus gets there is overwhelmed with the beauty of what God is doing, grabs Saul. And they, they now continue their ministry here. But in each of those cases, the role of the church has basically been reactionary. They're responding.

They don't have a strategy. They don't say, you know, let's go let's, let's start our missionary enterprise. No, the reason the church spread beyond Jerusalem is cuz persecution drove everybody out. But there's a big change in acts 13 in acts 13, the spirit of God now is going to begin a movement, a strategic movement, which involves planning and, and directives.

And we'll see that as Paul carries out a very clear strategic ministry in his missionary endeavors, in the chapters to come. But what we find now is that the church is going to expand. It has been operating from the safety of a monotheistic belief system where there's belief all along that Eastern side of the Mediterranean, basically within the Jews and the Samaritans and with one goddess creator, and Lord of all sending them now into the heart of the Roman empire,

a culture that's filled with multiple small gods controllable Deese, because the true deity of Rome is actually power political power, national power, middle military power, and the deity of Greece, which permeates the Roman empire as well. Is man's intelligence and philosophical reasoning, but it's a whole different view of God than they have had.

And so now the church is expanding into a whole new world and they're taking forth the gospel to do it. We come to a local church that God entrusts with the launching of this third stage of gospel expansion, the church, a Antioch stands as a model of embracing the mission of Jesus into the world. It is not a model because they have the right programs in Antioch.

It's not a model because they have the right style of music or the right ministry methods. Antioch is a model of what the church should be because of its people because of the priorities in their lives. because they are a people that incarnate the vision that Jesus proclaimed and that the holy spirit empowers.

They are a people passionately committed to the gospel. I'd like to read versus one through three now, and we find, and this is gonna form the outline of our study. There are three things that are true about this church that became the epicenter of sending and fulfilling the mission of Christ into the world.

Number one, there are people that have received the gospel. We'll see this in verse. Well, actually let me read the passage acts chapter 13. Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers Barnabas Simian, who was called Niger Lucious of CRE Manion, a lifelong friend of herd, the te. And Saul while they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the holy spirit said set apart for me, Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.

Then after fasting and praying, they laid their hands on them and they sent them off. Let's pray,

Lord, I go back to that song. We just sang the love of God that pursues the relentless, reckless love of God. That is unrestrained

Lord. It is that love that compels us to take time this morning, to come to this building, to watch online this service, because we have experienced a God who loves passionately, relentlessly.

And Lord it is you to whom we come. God, thank you for John's story this morning. I too, with Josiah, thank you for the picture of faithfulness on this, that your preeminent calling on our lives. That we'd be faithful, Lord. I pray that would continue to be the hallmark of John's life. Guide him, direct him.

Use him. Thank you for the courage and the strength that he had to come here today and how much easier it would've been to just send a video, Lord, thank you. That you are faithful to us and thank you for his messaging to that end this morning. Now Lord, in these few moments, we have left God, I love this church in Antioch.

I wanna live like they lived, I wanna love like they loved. And I ask you Lord, that you would speak into our, our hearts and these few moments together. Lord show us the Christ that they loved so much

that we too might be people by God's grace on mission in Jesus' name. Amen. There are three things we find about these believers, devotion to the gospel. Number one, they receive the gospel verse one, number two, they are realizing the gospel in their lives. And then in verse three, they are releasing the gospel to others.

They received the gospel. I wanna just take a minute to read some verses some acts chapter 11, to just highlight that and how this church began. We read this in verse 19 to 26 of acts, chapter 11. Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Steven, this is all the way back in chapter seven, as far as Venetia and Cypress and Antioch speaking the word to no one except Jews, but there were some of them, men of Cypress and Cyrene who on coming to Antioch, spoke to the Hellness, also preaching the Lord.

Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them and a great number who believed, turned to the Lord. The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad. And he exhorted them to all remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose for, he was a good man full of the holy spirit of faith and a great many people were added to the Lord.

So barman Barnas went to Tarsus to look for Saul. And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch for a whole year. They met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch, the disciples were first called Christians. He gives us the history of this church and, and how this gathering we're reading about and acts 13 verse one came together.

It says they turned. To the Lord. That's the phrase that's used to describe them. It's a phrase that's continually used in the book of acts. It's it, it talks in some passages, they turned from their sins to the Lord in other passages as, as they turned from their useless beliefs and practices to the Lord.

But the idea is for these people in Antioch, the entire trajectory of their lives had been transformed by the gospel. They turned to the Lord, they turned away from other sins, other things, and they were transformed by the gospel, but that isn't all that happened to them regarding the gospel. It's a second thing verse.

And I'm gonna come back to, to, to this, um, talking about these guys in verse one, but if you notice in verse two, something else happened in acts chapter 13, it says this verse one, while they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the holy spirit said set apart from me, Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I've called them.

Then after fasting and praying, they laid their hands on them and sent them off. They were living out the gospel, they had imbibed it. They were not only recipients of the gospel. Like they had embraced the gospel message. They were realizing its impact in their lives to them. It was not just a ticket to heaven.

It was. and utterly transforming reality that happened in their view of life, in their values, their goals, their aspirations. I'm landing on this for a moment here, because this to me is the greatest cry

that I think we need to have. As we look at the church of the Western world, there are countless people that would believe I have received the gospel, but they are not realizing the reality and the transforming power of the gospel. This is the crisis in the Western church today. America, certainly Europe, both in Europe and the United States in generations past the gospel foundationally challenged people's lives.

It transformed them. but now in many ways, being familiar with the gospel, being familiar with the name of Christ and the realities of Christ has been inoculation. It's just, we we've had some and, and, and, and it, but it's inoculated us against the real disease. Yeah. I, I, yeah, I get all that. I know all that.

I've tried all that. I've, you know, I'm familiar with it now, once political allegiance is more central to millions of professing, evangelicals than living as Jesus did, the issues they are passionate about are decidedly. What is best for me financially, personally, rather than realizing that the glory of the church has always been its concern for the marginalized and the broken and the needy.

Most of the church, the hospitals that have been started in the Western world were started by Christians. There has always been the orientation toward the needy. The gospel puts our hope in Christ's power and our passion for his purposes. These people realized the transforming reality of the gospel in their lives.

They did it in two ways. Number one, they embraced their unique sameness. That sounds like a contradictory. And I'm saying it that way deliberately in verse one, we read about these guys and we find five leaders that are, that are mentioned. And they're, they're interesting characters. I wanna highlight them quickly.

These five individuals that are said to be prophets and teachers, we don't there doesn't say, which is which, but number one is a guy named Barnabas and he's the one that had been, uh, uh, sent here. Commissioned here by the church in Jerusalem. Barnabas was Aite from Cyprus, the island and the Mediterranean sea.

He has a Jewish background. He was Aite of the priestly class of Judaism. He was from the island of Cyprus. A wealthy man gave land to the church to shell, to provide for others. The second guy that's mentioned is Simian, who it says, who was also called Nigel. The word Niger means black. Most commentators, uh, believe that it, he was a black man, probably from somewhere in Africa.

And for some reason that was part of his nickname. It was a guy named Lucius of CRE, probably a founding member of the church in Antioch, because we are told in acts chapter 11, that it was from sire, that a bunch of Jews that had been converted towards Christ came to Antioch and started the church.

Cyrene actually was on north Africa. It's in contemporary Libya, it's on the Western side of, uh, Northern Africa. There was a population of a hundred thousand Jews at this time that lived in, in Cyrene. Apparently he had been led to Christ maybe at Pentecost, maybe since then. And he has now come. He is among that group.

That probably were the starters of the church. He's a founding member of this church, likely a guy named Manion who is just a fascinating character. You see how he's described there? A close friend of her, the te rock, who mean her? The te rock is the guy that took the head off. John the Baptist. Herd the te rock or, or also called herd anus was the guy that interviewed Jesus and sent him back to pilot man ins his good buddy.

The word actually means they were nursed together. We don't know if that actually means they were babies and their families were close, but, but he had a Royal background and no he's he's of nobility. He's a prominent person in the culture and he's also a member of the Antioch and church. The first fifth guy is Saul, a Jewish scholar who had become the Hitman for the religious establishment.

And here they are in Antioch, a city who literally had this slogan. This actually was, I don't know if we'd call it a jingle. I'll call it a jingle today, but it was actually their slogan. Their slogan in Antioch in the first century was all the world in one city. It was a church. It was a city that was filled.

With cultural backgrounds of all different types. We see that even in the leadership of the Antioch and church, but we also see, as we look at this leadership in the Antioch church, some remarkable sameness, they had a same awareness, a hang with me here. The apostle Paul writes a letter in Romans 15, and he's talking about the gospel going forth.

And he says, this is what the gospel does. And he describes it in, in, in chapter 15, verse eight and nine. I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God's truthfulness. In order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs. He says, I, I Christ became a servant to fulfill for you Jews, what he promised to the patriarch, but also the other in order that is in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy.

Basically he says, Christ did this for both of you, all of you, Jews Gentiles, what did he do? He brought mercy. And he says you had that promised in your patriarchs, your fathers, but they've experienced it now as well. And Paul says, this is why there are guys at guys like me out there. We're trying to say that everyone Jew Greek, Roman Egyptian, atheist agnostic, communist American, Russian, Chinese malt, Democrat, Republican conservative, liberal black Panther, white supremacists stand in need of the same measure of mercy and the same abundance of compassion from almighty God.

This vision is what led this church to be the launchpad of modern missions. They had a common awareness. Of themselves

years ago, there had been a guy named Jonah who was a prophet of Israel who was a terrible missionary he was a great teacher, a prophet, but he didn't have a heart for missions. I believe he didn't have a heart for missions. And we, we read it wasn't cuz he was scared of the, as Syrians and vis matter of fact, in the last chapter of Booker Jonah, we find out that he wasn't didn't want to be a missionary to them because he despised them.

He was bitter towards them. I believe the reason he didn't have pity on them was that he did not sufficiently realize that he was nothing but a sinner save. By grace. So he ran away from God. And of course, you know, the story gets in a boat in choppa, wants to go the other direction. He's heading towards Spain.

Whereas he's supposed to go to the east. He went to the west and God has a way of superseding our plans. And he has him end up in the water of the Mediterranean sea. A big fish gets him, is in the bottom, in the belly of the fish in chapter two, he pray and he culminates his prayer of crying out to God.

With this phrase, salvation is of the Lord. It actually is a central verse of the old Testament. There's so much theology in it. It's emphasizing the fact that from start to finish God is the pursuing God. He, he, he is the God of that. Reckless relentless pursuing love. Jonah forgot that. Or Jonah had never really imbibe that deep enough of what it meant that God had come after him and God had come after him.

Not because he, he was, he was somehow worthy to be his prophet, but because he too was a broken sinner in need of mercy.

We still have, um, the vending machines today, but back a few years ago, vending machines were more prominent than they are now. And I can remember doing vending machines all the time. And you just learned the art to doing these babies. So many times you'd put your coins in and nothing and you'd press and you'd just, oh man.

And you, and you, you learned, you had to rattle that thing a little bit out. Now, if you own a vending machine company, I'm really sorry. Um, I'm sure you, we won't, you're thinking no, it breaks the machine, but, but you, you rattled it and you learned pretty soon that if you rattled it, that was a lot of times how you got the coin to drop in.

You know, it gets stuck somewhere and there and you, and you rattled it and all of a sudden, then you could push it and you could get your soda or your candy or your gum or whatever it was. That's somewhat of a picture of pastoral ministry. Pastoral ministry is constantly saying, we believe the gospel.

But it's gotta go deeper. It's gotta go in farther. We gotta rattle it a little bit. Matter of fact, I'm in good standing here. Martin Luther made the statement that the purpose of ministry was not only to make the gospel clear, but to beat it into your people's heads and your own Jonah needed the gospel to get into his head.

He needed to get into his life. He needed to be rattled. And so he ends up in the belly of a, a great fish. And when he is there, he says, oh my goodness, God's a God of salvation for me. That God's a God of mercy. For me. There was an awareness that he didn't have, even though he is a prophet, these guys had a sense.

We're gathered together, but we're gathered together, not because of our cultural backgrounds, which are incredibly diverse. I mean, he only tells us five of the people at church, be fascinating to hear the whole membership list, but what joined them together, they had the same awareness. They were broken people that needed forgiveness from God.

They were people that needed a Christ who would be central in their lives, a God that did pursue them and desire them. The second thing they had is they had a same allegiance. They were part of this church at Antioch, the called out group, but they're so identified publicly with Jesus Christ that were told in acts chapter 11.

I believe it's verse 26. That for the first time believers were called Christians. at Antioch. Why? Well, the I a N S means you belong to, I mean, think about it. Philippi NS, people from Philippi, Salone, Neen. They're from Philip they're from Tessa, Karen Fien, but they didn't call them. There's the, the there's those people that believe in Jesus and they're anti kins anti IANS.

Now they called them Christians, Christians. Why? Cuz they said these people belong to Christ he's central in their lives. Pleasing him is most important to him. Their passions for Christ. Their goal is the advancement of Christ and his glory. This was the allegiance to a person that was astonishing in its impact.

Jesus Christ was their Lord, their master, their king of their lives. And they were made up of Jews and Gentiles. They were made up of, of, of black men from Africa. They were made up of, of Levis of the priestly class. They were made up of friends of, of herd, the te rock. They were made up of all kinds of people, but they were people that had a same awareness that they were recipients of grace.

And it had rattled down into the very soul of their lives. And so they looked at other people differently and they had an allegiance that United them. They'd fallen in love with this Christ who had pursued them

verse two and we'll move faster here. They lived as worshipers. Not only did they embrace their unique sameness. They also lived as worshipers. Verse two says this while they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the holy spirit said set apart from me, Barnabas and saw then after fasting and praying, they laid their hands on them and sent them off.

They lived as worshipers while they were worshiping. It says the Lord, the spirit of God spoke to them. Who's the them, who's the, they that were worshiping. If you'd asked me that before I started studying for this sermon, I would've said it was the five guys. I don't believe it was. I don't believe it grammatically.

And I don't believe it. Theologically. I believe it is saying these were the five men that were prophets and teachers in the church, but it was the whole church that was. Praying. It was the whole church that was worshiping and God, the holy spirit came among them. It's interesting that in acts chapter of, uh, 14, at the end of the passage, it says that they returned and they reported to the church who had sent them forth.

The idea is they're going to the people that have released them to whom the spirit has spoken.

The word worship in the new Testament actually means to give weight to that's. It means it, it, you give weight to it. You, you give significance to it. You, you honor it it's something weighty to you. What he's saying is this to these people in Antioch, there was one thing that was most weighty to them.

It was Christ. They worshiped him. They weren't praying and they weren't worshiping and fasting because they knew this might be the day that the missionary enterprise start right here. They had no idea. They were just seeking God hungering for God, thirsting for God, as a people. That means that they gave way to him more than anything else.

It means that Barnabas, a wealthy man did not give weight to his money. Wasn't the thing that drove him. Matter of fact, he demonstrates it by giving fields away, selling the money and giving the proceeds to the needy in the church. He gave weight to Christ. It means that Lucious, the church founder did not give weight to the fact that this is my church.

Oh, it's Christ church. It means that Manion did not give weight to his position in the culture as the friend. I mean, this is a prominent dude, big time guy. He's the, he's the, he's the childhood friend of, of her that anus, who I've told you before was also a friend of the emperor that whole herd family was, he didn't give weight to his position.

It wasn't what drove him. He wasn't making his mark. He wasn't looking for his esteem. There. He wasn't, their identity was not found Barnabas in his money was not found in his position, in the culture. For Simian, he did not give weight to his minority status as a, as a black man in this culture, Saul did not give way to his intellect and his education.

They were all broken sinners needing daily grace, and they gave weight to Christ. They worship Christ. This is the kind of people that God entrust to be the starters of the modern missionary movement. This is the kind of people that are on mission, a same awareness, a same allegiance, a same adoration.

You see, you won't be passionate about the mission of Christ. If you are not passionate about the worship of Christ, the reasons. The reason for missions is worship to make worshipers. It's why John Piper says missions is not God's. Ultimate goal. Worship is missions is just temporary. Missions is with the purpose of bringing people into being worshipers, which we will do forever.

So the third thing they released the gospel verse three, they released it by their own witness. If you're a worshiper, if Jesus is your heart's delight you long for others to know him that way, the passion of missions is to see others become worshipers.

My most consistent prayer for people that I am most. Passionate come to Christ. I almost never pray Lord deliver him from hell though. I believe that is the fruit of, of rejecting Christ in this world. God enable him to go to heaven. No, my most consistent prayer for the people that I love most and want to see, come to Christ is Lord bring them.

So they know you. So they taste you the safest person they will ever experience in their lives. The God that is for them, bring them to you. But you don't pray that way if he's not for you. Right? I mean, if you're not worshiping, when we say all right, I want everybody to we're. This church is gonna become a mission minded church.

So we're gonna find five people and we're gonna say, we're gonna fully support you. We're gonna get you to the mission field. We're gonna be a missionary people. And our hearts are not gonna change a, a stitch. What will change our heart and make us passionate about missions locally in our homes, in our neighborhoods, in our towns and in our world

is that we are so in love with who Jesus Christ is. We want others to know him like that. We want other to experience him. We want him to know how good he is. The loveliness of Christ. Worshipers

become people on mission. It's why we read in the book of acts that they constantly says they did this for the sake of the name, for the sake of the name, for the sake, it means for the sake of the reputation of Christ. Often it says they were willing to suffer. In the book of acts, what does that mean?

They were willing to go out there and be persecuted and reject because Christ was so lovely that they, that they wanted people to know him. They wanted people to experience the gospel that he came to provide, but it came out of being worshipers. They released it by their own witness. They released it through the ones they sent in verse three, it says they sent, but actually it is the word released.

They didn't technically send these guys in verse four. It's the spirit that sends Paul and barn. they released them now. They could not have, you know, they could, I mean, they couldn't have really stopped pulling Barners from leaving, but they could have said no, no, no, no, no, no. These are our two big cogs. I mean, they're the big dogs here.

We can't afford. They've only been here a little over a year. We, we, we need them. I say, no,

it's the Lord's purposes that we wanna align ourselves with. And so they joyfully released these men to the work that God had called them to do. We're gonna see that work in the next number of weeks as we go through the remainder of the book of acts and see these journeys of Paul and all the strategy that's involved and all the ways that God works as they take the gospel into a world that is just like ours.

pluralistic. Uh, there's so many humanistic, all the things that are there, but where it all started going into the Roman empire is from a group of people. The shared awareness that there were recipients of grace and nothing more that shared an allegiance, that they were passionately desiring that every part of their lives would be lived under the Lordship of Christ that shared an adoration that said, you know, what's waiting to me.

It's not being successful in my job. It's not killing it with sales. It's not having body beautiful. It, it, it, it's not having a relationship that I've got to have. No, what kills it for me? What is weighty to me? Is knowing Jesus Christ, it's glorifying Jesus Christ and everything else. And anything else that's standing in the way that that honestly is more weighty.

God, take it away. God change it. This was the people to whom God entrusted this great mission and work. Let's pray together. Lord,

we love the gospel. We love not only that it's delivered us from separation and judgment, but that it's brought us into a relationship with the Christ who we are coming more and more and more to love. Lord, make us.

people that would look at our lives and would say if they'd never even heard the word, those are people that must belong to Christ. It, it it's just what drives them. It's who they belong to in Jesus name. I pray. Amen. Now go in peace to love and serve and enjoy the Lord.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-missional-church be8073bd-b45a-4050-b795-3c4ea5864a0f Sun, 11 Sep 2022 14:30:55 GMT <div data-html="true">Acts 13:1-3 <br /><br /> While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> Invite you to take your Bibles. We're gonna be looking at acts chapter 13 this morning. I did not get the page number of the pew Bible there, but it's, it is acts 13. Uh, gonna be looking at verses one through three there. I wanna welcome you back to our series. Entitled to spirit at work to the ends of the earth. <br /><br /> It is basically a series of many episodes. Penned created ultimately by the spirit of God, but penned and chronicled by Dr. Luke tells the overall story in a flowing mini series. Of three seasons. The outline for the series was given by Jesus before he left this world. When he spoke to his, his disciples, this statement in acts one eight, but you'll receive power when the holy spirit has come upon you and you will be wi my witnesses in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria. <br /><br /> And to the end of the earth in that verse, Jesus told us how the seasons will be organized season. Would be acts chapter one through seven and in acts chapter one through seven, the holy spirit would be at work in Jerusalem among, among both the Hebrew and Hellenistic Jews. It is a series that began on the day of Pentecost. <br /><br /> It will culminate in the martyrdom of the first Christian martyr named Stephen. And it will end with the, a great persecution that is breaking forth in Jerusalem. That first series acts chapter one through seven lasted somewhere between six and seven years. Season two began in acts chapter eight, acts chapter eight through 12. <br /><br /> And this particular series, as we've mentioned, focused on three guys, Philip, Peter, and Paul or Saul as he is called at this time. their story is, is, is like a typical miniseries. You know, you, you, you follow one for a little bit, and then all of a sudden the, the next episode, or even part of that episode is the, the, uh, the other guy's story. <br /><br /> And, and you have these parallel tracks going on of Philip and Peter and Paul, and they're going they're ministry primarily now is expanding into Judea and Samaria. Peter is the first to see a convert. That is a Gentile. It's an astonishing moment. It's actually the house of a, a Roman Sentian named Cornelius. <br /><br /> He goes there and he and members of his household believe on Jesus. And even though they have a pagan Gentile background, Peter is astonished to see that they received the holy spirit in the same way that the Jews did at Pentecost. And he realizes that people can now embrace Jesus. As their Messiah as their savior and Lord, without having to become a Jew, it is a dramatically shocking and transforming moment in the understanding of the gospel and what Jesus came to do for the early church. <br /><br /> Peter's ministry continued. And so did Paul and Paul's ministry along with other leaders extended up into the Northern areas. As a matter of fact, what happens in acts chapter eight through 12 is you begin to see two centers for the early church being developed, certainly at Jerusalem where it all began. <br /><br /> But a second one is 300 miles north in a city called Antioch. Uh, it may not sound that far away. I mean, 300 miles is Pittsburgh, right? I mean, how long does it take you to get to Pittsburgh five hours, but these guys walked. And so between. Jerusalem and Antioch, a distance of 300 miles by foot. There were many other scores of other smaller churches in smaller towns and villages, but these two churches became the center of the early Christian faith. <br /><br /> In the early Christian movement. We find acts chapter eight through 12 ending after a period of now an additional nine or 10 years with the church beginning to we see the church at Jerusalem ending in acts chapter 12, with another period. Of persecution this time, not by the religious leaders, this by the civil authorities, Herod himself takes James, the brother of John, one of the three main apostles of Jesus. <br /><br /> And beheads him. He has Peter on the docket for the next morning to be beheaded as well. And God's angel miraculously rescued him. As we saw last time, we looked in acts chapter 12. Meanwhile, in Antioch, the church has been flourishing. The church has sent a guy named Barnabas to go up there and he has gone and grab Paul and they have begun to disciple the church and they are now the prominent leaders and teachers in the church. <br /><br /> And we see the emphasis is beginning to move from the center epicenter of Jerusalem, 300 miles north as this church in Antioch. Now 16 years after Jesus, death and resurrection. 16 years after the day of Pentecost, Antioch has now become the epicenter for the enterprise that is going to fulfill be season three, the spirit at work, literally to the ends of the earth up until now. <br /><br /> There's been no designed strategy for how to do world evangelism. As a matter of fact, even the church at Jerusalem has just been doing reactionary work. If you remember, and again, I'm giving you some background here. Don't panic. I know you're thinking, wow, there's a long introduction of when, uh, well I'm trying to bring up speed. <br /><br /> The church in Jerusalem has basically been doing reactionary work. When they hear of something, they respond to it. Like for instance, in acts chapter eight, they hear about some of the Samaritans, the, the Northern area above Judea and Jerusalem. There are people believing. They, they send Peter and John to go and check it out and they find out, wow, Samaritans are turning to faith in Christ, in acts chapter 10. <br /><br /> Peter has this visit on the, on the coastal town of Caesarea, where he meets and, and, and sees this Roman Centurian belief and the church then sends individuals to talk to Peter and, and try to get a feel what's going on. What's God doing in acts chapter 11, when they heard that people were believing all the way up in Antioch. <br /><br /> They send Barnabus say, well, find out what's going on. Check this out. Barnabus gets there is overwhelmed with the beauty of what God is doing, grabs Saul. And they, they now continue their ministry here. But in each of those cases, the role of the church has basically been reactionary. They're responding. <br /><br /> They don't have a strategy. They don't say, you know, let's go let's, let's start our missionary enterprise. No, the reason the church spread beyond Jerusalem is cuz persecution drove everybody out. But there's a big change in acts 13 in acts 13, the spirit of God now is going to begin a movement, a strategic movement, which involves planning and, and directives. <br /><br /> And we'll see that as Paul carries out a very clear strategic ministry in his missionary endeavors, in the chapters to come. But what we find now is that the church is going to expand. It has been operating from the safety of a monotheistic belief system where there's belief all along that Eastern side of the Mediterranean, basically within the Jews and the Samaritans and with one goddess creator, and Lord of all sending them now into the heart of the Roman empire, <br /><br /> a culture that's filled with multiple small gods controllable Deese, because the true deity of Rome is actually power political power, national power, middle military power, and the deity of Greece, which permeates the Roman empire as well. Is man's intelligence and philosophical reasoning, but it's a whole different view of God than they have had. <br /><br /> And so now the church is expanding into a whole new world and they're taking forth the gospel to do it. We come to a local church that God entrusts with the launching of this third stage of gospel expansion, the church, a Antioch stands as a model of embracing the mission of Jesus into the world. It is not a model because they have the right programs in Antioch. <br /><br /> It's not a model because they have the right style of music or the right ministry methods. Antioch is a model of what the church should be because of its people because of the priorities in their lives. because they are a people that incarnate the vision that Jesus proclaimed and that the holy spirit empowers. <br /><br /> They are a people passionately committed to the gospel. I'd like to read versus one through three now, and we find, and this is gonna form the outline of our study. There are three things that are true about this church that became the epicenter of sending and fulfilling the mission of Christ into the world. <br /><br /> Number one, there are people that have received the gospel. We'll see this in verse. Well, actually let me read the passage acts chapter 13. Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers Barnabas Simian, who was called Niger Lucious of CRE Manion, a lifelong friend of herd, the te. And Saul while they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the holy spirit said set apart for me, Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. <br /><br /> Then after fasting and praying, they laid their hands on them and they sent them off. Let's pray, <br /><br /> Lord, I go back to that song. We just sang the love of God that pursues the relentless, reckless love of God. That is unrestrained <br /><br /> Lord. It is that love that compels us to take time this morning, to come to this building, to watch online this service, because we have experienced a God who loves passionately, relentlessly. <br /><br /> And Lord it is you to whom we come. God, thank you for John's story this morning. I too, with Josiah, thank you for the picture of faithfulness on this, that your preeminent calling on our lives. That we'd be faithful, Lord. I pray that would continue to be the hallmark of John's life. Guide him, direct him. <br /><br /> Use him. Thank you for the courage and the strength that he had to come here today and how much easier it would've been to just send a video, Lord, thank you. That you are faithful to us and thank you for his messaging to that end this morning. Now Lord, in these few moments, we have left God, I love this church in Antioch. <br /><br /> I wanna live like they lived, I wanna love like they loved. And I ask you Lord, that you would speak into our, our hearts and these few moments together. Lord show us the Christ that they loved so much <br /><br /> that we too might be people by God's grace on mission in Jesus' name. Amen. There are three things we find about these believers, devotion to the gospel. Number one, they receive the gospel verse one, number two, they are realizing the gospel in their lives. And then in verse three, they are releasing the gospel to others. <br /><br /> They received the gospel. I wanna just take a minute to read some verses some acts chapter 11, to just highlight that and how this church began. We read this in verse 19 to 26 of acts, chapter 11. Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Steven, this is all the way back in chapter seven, as far as Venetia and Cypress and Antioch speaking the word to no one except Jews, but there were some of them, men of Cypress and Cyrene who on coming to Antioch, spoke to the Hellness, also preaching the Lord. <br /><br /> Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them and a great number who believed, turned to the Lord. The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad. And he exhorted them to all remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose for, he was a good man full of the holy spirit of faith and a great many people were added to the Lord. <br /><br /> So barman Barnas went to Tarsus to look for Saul. And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch for a whole year. They met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch, the disciples were first called Christians. He gives us the history of this church and, and how this gathering we're reading about and acts 13 verse one came together. <br /><br /> It says they turned. To the Lord. That's the phrase that's used to describe them. It's a phrase that's continually used in the book of acts. It's it, it talks in some passages, they turned from their sins to the Lord in other passages as, as they turned from their useless beliefs and practices to the Lord. <br /><br /> But the idea is for these people in Antioch, the entire trajectory of their lives had been transformed by the gospel. They turned to the Lord, they turned away from other sins, other things, and they were transformed by the gospel, but that isn't all that happened to them regarding the gospel. It's a second thing verse. <br /><br /> And I'm gonna come back to, to, to this, um, talking about these guys in verse one, but if you notice in verse two, something else happened in acts chapter 13, it says this verse one, while they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the holy spirit said set apart from me, Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I've called them. <br /><br /> Then after fasting and praying, they laid their hands on them and sent them off. They were living out the gospel, they had imbibed it. They were not only recipients of the gospel. Like they had embraced the gospel message. They were realizing its impact in their lives to them. It was not just a ticket to heaven. <br /><br /> It was. and utterly transforming reality that happened in their view of life, in their values, their goals, their aspirations. I'm landing on this for a moment here, because this to me is the greatest cry <br /><br /> that I think we need to have. As we look at the church of the Western world, there are countless people that would believe I have received the gospel, but they are not realizing the reality and the transforming power of the gospel. This is the crisis in the Western church today. America, certainly Europe, both in Europe and the United States in generations past the gospel foundationally challenged people's lives. <br /><br /> It transformed them. but now in many ways, being familiar with the gospel, being familiar with the name of Christ and the realities of Christ has been inoculation. It's just, we we've had some and, and, and, and it, but it's inoculated us against the real disease. Yeah. I, I, yeah, I get all that. I know all that. <br /><br /> I've tried all that. I've, you know, I'm familiar with it now, once political allegiance is more central to millions of professing, evangelicals than living as Jesus did, the issues they are passionate about are decidedly. What is best for me financially, personally, rather than realizing that the glory of the church has always been its concern for the marginalized and the broken and the needy. <br /><br /> Most of the church, the hospitals that have been started in the Western world were started by Christians. There has always been the orientation toward the needy. The gospel puts our hope in Christ's power and our passion for his purposes. These people realized the transforming reality of the gospel in their lives. <br /><br /> They did it in two ways. Number one, they embraced their unique sameness. That sounds like a contradictory. And I'm saying it that way deliberately in verse one, we read about these guys and we find five leaders that are, that are mentioned. And they're, they're interesting characters. I wanna highlight them quickly. <br /><br /> These five individuals that are said to be prophets and teachers, we don't there doesn't say, which is which, but number one is a guy named Barnabas and he's the one that had been, uh, uh, sent here. Commissioned here by the church in Jerusalem. Barnabas was Aite from Cyprus, the island and the Mediterranean sea. <br /><br /> He has a Jewish background. He was Aite of the priestly class of Judaism. He was from the island of Cyprus. A wealthy man gave land to the church to shell, to provide for others. The second guy that's mentioned is Simian, who it says, who was also called Nigel. The word Niger means black. Most commentators, uh, believe that it, he was a black man, probably from somewhere in Africa. <br /><br /> And for some reason that was part of his nickname. It was a guy named Lucius of CRE, probably a founding member of the church in Antioch, because we are told in acts chapter 11, that it was from sire, that a bunch of Jews that had been converted towards Christ came to Antioch and started the church. <br /><br /> Cyrene actually was on north Africa. It's in contemporary Libya, it's on the Western side of, uh, Northern Africa. There was a population of a hundred thousand Jews at this time that lived in, in Cyrene. Apparently he had been led to Christ maybe at Pentecost, maybe since then. And he has now come. He is among that group. <br /><br /> That probably were the starters of the church. He's a founding member of this church, likely a guy named Manion who is just a fascinating character. You see how he's described there? A close friend of her, the te rock, who mean her? The te rock is the guy that took the head off. John the Baptist. Herd the te rock or, or also called herd anus was the guy that interviewed Jesus and sent him back to pilot man ins his good buddy. <br /><br /> The word actually means they were nursed together. We don't know if that actually means they were babies and their families were close, but, but he had a Royal background and no he's he's of nobility. He's a prominent person in the culture and he's also a member of the Antioch and church. The first fifth guy is Saul, a Jewish scholar who had become the Hitman for the religious establishment. <br /><br /> And here they are in Antioch, a city who literally had this slogan. This actually was, I don't know if we'd call it a jingle. I'll call it a jingle today, but it was actually their slogan. Their slogan in Antioch in the first century was all the world in one city. It was a church. It was a city that was filled. <br /><br /> With cultural backgrounds of all different types. We see that even in the leadership of the Antioch and church, but we also see, as we look at this leadership in the Antioch church, some remarkable sameness, they had a same awareness, a hang with me here. The apostle Paul writes a letter in Romans 15, and he's talking about the gospel going forth. <br /><br /> And he says, this is what the gospel does. And he describes it in, in, in chapter 15, verse eight and nine. I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God's truthfulness. In order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs. He says, I, I Christ became a servant to fulfill for you Jews, what he promised to the patriarch, but also the other in order that is in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. <br /><br /> Basically he says, Christ did this for both of you, all of you, Jews Gentiles, what did he do? He brought mercy. And he says you had that promised in your patriarchs, your fathers, but they've experienced it now as well. And Paul says, this is why there are guys at guys like me out there. We're trying to say that everyone Jew Greek, Roman Egyptian, atheist agnostic, communist American, Russian, Chinese malt, Democrat, Republican conservative, liberal black Panther, white supremacists stand in need of the same measure of mercy and the same abundance of compassion from almighty God. <br /><br /> This vision is what led this church to be the launchpad of modern missions. They had a common awareness. Of themselves <br /><br /> years ago, there had been a guy named Jonah who was a prophet of Israel who was a terrible missionary he was a great teacher, a prophet, but he didn't have a heart for missions. I believe he didn't have a heart for missions. And we, we read it wasn't cuz he was scared of the, as Syrians and vis matter of fact, in the last chapter of Booker Jonah, we find out that he wasn't didn't want to be a missionary to them because he despised them. <br /><br /> He was bitter towards them. I believe the reason he didn't have pity on them was that he did not sufficiently realize that he was nothing but a sinner save. By grace. So he ran away from God. And of course, you know, the story gets in a boat in choppa, wants to go the other direction. He's heading towards Spain. <br /><br /> Whereas he's supposed to go to the east. He went to the west and God has a way of superseding our plans. And he has him end up in the water of the Mediterranean sea. A big fish gets him, is in the bottom, in the belly of the fish in chapter two, he pray and he culminates his prayer of crying out to God. <br /><br /> With this phrase, salvation is of the Lord. It actually is a central verse of the old Testament. There's so much theology in it. It's emphasizing the fact that from start to finish God is the pursuing God. He, he, he is the God of that. Reckless relentless pursuing love. Jonah forgot that. Or Jonah had never really imbibe that deep enough of what it meant that God had come after him and God had come after him. <br /><br /> Not because he, he was, he was somehow worthy to be his prophet, but because he too was a broken sinner in need of mercy. <br /><br /> We still have, um, the vending machines today, but back a few years ago, vending machines were more prominent than they are now. And I can remember doing vending machines all the time. And you just learned the art to doing these babies. So many times you'd put your coins in and nothing and you'd press and you'd just, oh man. <br /><br /> And you, and you, you learned, you had to rattle that thing a little bit out. Now, if you own a vending machine company, I'm really sorry. Um, I'm sure you, we won't, you're thinking no, it breaks the machine, but, but you, you rattled it and you learned pretty soon that if you rattled it, that was a lot of times how you got the coin to drop in. <br /><br /> You know, it gets stuck somewhere and there and you, and you rattled it and all of a sudden, then you could push it and you could get your soda or your candy or your gum or whatever it was. That's somewhat of a picture of pastoral ministry. Pastoral ministry is constantly saying, we believe the gospel. <br /><br /> But it's gotta go deeper. It's gotta go in farther. We gotta rattle it a little bit. Matter of fact, I'm in good standing here. Martin Luther made the statement that the purpose of ministry was not only to make the gospel clear, but to beat it into your people's heads and your own Jonah needed the gospel to get into his head. <br /><br /> He needed to get into his life. He needed to be rattled. And so he ends up in the belly of a, a great fish. And when he is there, he says, oh my goodness, God's a God of salvation for me. That God's a God of mercy. For me. There was an awareness that he didn't have, even though he is a prophet, these guys had a sense. <br /><br /> We're gathered together, but we're gathered together, not because of our cultural backgrounds, which are incredibly diverse. I mean, he only tells us five of the people at church, be fascinating to hear the whole membership list, but what joined them together, they had the same awareness. They were broken people that needed forgiveness from God. <br /><br /> They were people that needed a Christ who would be central in their lives, a God that did pursue them and desire them. The second thing they had is they had a same allegiance. They were part of this church at Antioch, the called out group, but they're so identified publicly with Jesus Christ that were told in acts chapter 11. <br /><br /> I believe it's verse 26. That for the first time believers were called Christians. at Antioch. Why? Well, the I a N S means you belong to, I mean, think about it. Philippi NS, people from Philippi, Salone, Neen. They're from Philip they're from Tessa, Karen Fien, but they didn't call them. There's the, the there's those people that believe in Jesus and they're anti kins anti IANS. <br /><br /> Now they called them Christians, Christians. Why? Cuz they said these people belong to Christ he's central in their lives. Pleasing him is most important to him. Their passions for Christ. Their goal is the advancement of Christ and his glory. This was the allegiance to a person that was astonishing in its impact. <br /><br /> Jesus Christ was their Lord, their master, their king of their lives. And they were made up of Jews and Gentiles. They were made up of, of, of black men from Africa. They were made up of, of Levis of the priestly class. They were made up of friends of, of herd, the te rock. They were made up of all kinds of people, but they were people that had a same awareness that they were recipients of grace. <br /><br /> And it had rattled down into the very soul of their lives. And so they looked at other people differently and they had an allegiance that United them. They'd fallen in love with this Christ who had pursued them <br /><br /> verse two and we'll move faster here. They lived as worshipers. Not only did they embrace their unique sameness. They also lived as worshipers. Verse two says this while they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the holy spirit said set apart from me, Barnabas and saw then after fasting and praying, they laid their hands on them and sent them off. <br /><br /> They lived as worshipers while they were worshiping. It says the Lord, the spirit of God spoke to them. Who's the them, who's the, they that were worshiping. If you'd asked me that before I started studying for this sermon, I would've said it was the five guys. I don't believe it was. I don't believe it grammatically. <br /><br /> And I don't believe it. Theologically. I believe it is saying these were the five men that were prophets and teachers in the church, but it was the whole church that was. Praying. It was the whole church that was worshiping and God, the holy spirit came among them. It's interesting that in acts chapter of, uh, 14, at the end of the passage, it says that they returned and they reported to the church who had sent them forth. <br /><br /> The idea is they're going to the people that have released them to whom the spirit has spoken. <br /><br /> The word worship in the new Testament actually means to give weight to that's. It means it, it, you give weight to it. You, you give significance to it. You, you honor it it's something weighty to you. What he's saying is this to these people in Antioch, there was one thing that was most weighty to them. <br /><br /> It was Christ. They worshiped him. They weren't praying and they weren't worshiping and fasting because they knew this might be the day that the missionary enterprise start right here. They had no idea. They were just seeking God hungering for God, thirsting for God, as a people. That means that they gave way to him more than anything else. <br /><br /> It means that Barnabas, a wealthy man did not give weight to his money. Wasn't the thing that drove him. Matter of fact, he demonstrates it by giving fields away, selling the money and giving the proceeds to the needy in the church. He gave weight to Christ. It means that Lucious, the church founder did not give weight to the fact that this is my church. <br /><br /> Oh, it's Christ church. It means that Manion did not give weight to his position in the culture as the friend. I mean, this is a prominent dude, big time guy. He's the, he's the, he's the childhood friend of, of her that anus, who I've told you before was also a friend of the emperor that whole herd family was, he didn't give weight to his position. <br /><br /> It wasn't what drove him. He wasn't making his mark. He wasn't looking for his esteem. There. He wasn't, their identity was not found Barnabas in his money was not found in his position, in the culture. For Simian, he did not give weight to his minority status as a, as a black man in this culture, Saul did not give way to his intellect and his education. <br /><br /> They were all broken sinners needing daily grace, and they gave weight to Christ. They worship Christ. This is the kind of people that God entrust to be the starters of the modern missionary movement. This is the kind of people that are on mission, a same awareness, a same allegiance, a same adoration. <br /><br /> You see, you won't be passionate about the mission of Christ. If you are not passionate about the worship of Christ, the reasons. The reason for missions is worship to make worshipers. It's why John Piper says missions is not God's. Ultimate goal. Worship is missions is just temporary. Missions is with the purpose of bringing people into being worshipers, which we will do forever. <br /><br /> So the third thing they released the gospel verse three, they released it by their own witness. If you're a worshiper, if Jesus is your heart's delight you long for others to know him that way, the passion of missions is to see others become worshipers. <br /><br /> My most consistent prayer for people that I am most. Passionate come to Christ. I almost never pray Lord deliver him from hell though. I believe that is the fruit of, of rejecting Christ in this world. God enable him to go to heaven. No, my most consistent prayer for the people that I love most and want to see, come to Christ is Lord bring them. <br /><br /> So they know you. So they taste you the safest person they will ever experience in their lives. The God that is for them, bring them to you. But you don't pray that way if he's not for you. Right? I mean, if you're not worshiping, when we say all right, I want everybody to we're. This church is gonna become a mission minded church. <br /><br /> So we're gonna find five people and we're gonna say, we're gonna fully support you. We're gonna get you to the mission field. We're gonna be a missionary people. And our hearts are not gonna change a, a stitch. What will change our heart and make us passionate about missions locally in our homes, in our neighborhoods, in our towns and in our world <br /><br /> is that we are so in love with who Jesus Christ is. We want others to know him like that. We want other to experience him. We want him to know how good he is. The loveliness of Christ. Worshipers <br /><br /> become people on mission. It's why we read in the book of acts that they constantly says they did this for the sake of the name, for the sake of the name, for the sake, it means for the sake of the reputation of Christ. Often it says they were willing to suffer. In the book of acts, what does that mean? <br /><br /> They were willing to go out there and be persecuted and reject because Christ was so lovely that they, that they wanted people to know him. They wanted people to experience the gospel that he came to provide, but it came out of being worshipers. They released it by their own witness. They released it through the ones they sent in verse three, it says they sent, but actually it is the word released. <br /><br /> They didn't technically send these guys in verse four. It's the spirit that sends Paul and barn. they released them now. They could not have, you know, they could, I mean, they couldn't have really stopped pulling Barners from leaving, but they could have said no, no, no, no, no, no. These are our two big cogs. I mean, they're the big dogs here. <br /><br /> We can't afford. They've only been here a little over a year. We, we, we need them. I say, no, <br /><br /> it's the Lord's purposes that we wanna align ourselves with. And so they joyfully released these men to the work that God had called them to do. We're gonna see that work in the next number of weeks as we go through the remainder of the book of acts and see these journeys of Paul and all the strategy that's involved and all the ways that God works as they take the gospel into a world that is just like ours. <br /><br /> pluralistic. Uh, there's so many humanistic, all the things that are there, but where it all started going into the Roman empire is from a group of people. The shared awareness that there were recipients of grace and nothing more that shared an allegiance, that they were passionately desiring that every part of their lives would be lived under the Lordship of Christ that shared an adoration that said, you know, what's waiting to me. <br /><br /> It's not being successful in my job. It's not killing it with sales. It's not having body beautiful. It, it, it, it's not having a relationship that I've got to have. No, what kills it for me? What is weighty to me? Is knowing Jesus Christ, it's glorifying Jesus Christ and everything else. And anything else that's standing in the way that that honestly is more weighty. <br /><br /> God, take it away. God change it. This was the people to whom God entrusted this great mission and work. Let's pray together. Lord, <br /><br /> we love the gospel. We love not only that it's delivered us from separation and judgment, but that it's brought us into a relationship with the Christ who we are coming more and more and more to love. Lord, make us. <br /><br /> people that would look at our lives and would say if they'd never even heard the word, those are people that must belong to Christ. It, it it's just what drives them. It's who they belong to in Jesus name. I pray. Amen. Now go in peace to love and serve and enjoy the Lord.</div> false no <![CDATA[Jesus is Worthy of Our Faith]]> John 20:19-31

“Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.”



Sermon Transcript:

I wanna start off our  time this morning, just by asking a simple question. Why do people do the things they do this question? Probably some of us have asked, but why do people do the things they do? And I don't mean the little stuff.

Like why'd that person cut me off in traffic on my way to church this morning. Now I'm in a bad mood. You know, I was, ah, I mean the, the bigger things. Like, why do people climb mountains, run races, make movies, write books, do all those types of things. Well, the best reason, there's a whole bunch of reasons for why people do those things, but the best reasons are rooted in meaning like I'm trying to, to prove something to myself, I'm trying to prove something to other people.

I have a message to share. I have a message to communicate. We're gonna read a text this morning where the author literally spells out for us. Why he's writing the book in John chapter 20, a story about Jesus' resurrection and his appearance to the disciples afterward. And right after that story, John tells us why he's writing John.

What, what did John think he was doing when he was writing the. right. We find that out in the passages that we're gonna read this morning, you might be thinking, okay, that's great. Why is that important? Why is it important to understand why some guy 2000 years ago wrote a book about Jesus? Another guy who lived 2000 years ago?

Well, we'll read in the text that John believed he was writing a book that would help people believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the son of God, and that through him, we can have life. John thought he was writing a book that would bring people to belief in Jesus who would give true life. See Jesus claimed to be more than just a guy that lived 2000 years ago, and maybe you've grown up in the church and you've heard these things.

Maybe you haven't, I don't know where you're coming today, but Jesus claimed to be a lot of things. One of them was that he claimed to be the way to. and that's real life, true life, everlasting life, meaningful life. So this is a big deal. It, it has impact on us here. And now this is why it's important for us to understand why John wrote this message.

What, what does God have to say to us today? Because of who Jesus is. Again, I don't know where you're at in life right now. Maybe you're coming here and there's some upheaval in your life. Maybe there's some turmoil, maybe you're coming here, agitated and, and things just aren't sitting right with you.

Maybe there's some people that you've put your trust in, and those people have let you down. Maybe some things you, you thought you'd be further along in some things. And those things just haven't gone, right. Or maybe things are going just fine for you, but you, you know, maybe you've been doing this Christian thing, you know, doing all that.

But it feels like God's distant. You know, you hear these stories of God doing these amazing things in other places and other people. And you're like, Hey, well where's my moment. And what what's going on? What, why isn't God doing this for me? Or maybe you're somebody's in the season of nearness with God.

And you're like, yeah, this is, I mean, God's just so close to me right now. I feel this, but I, I, I want that for somebody else. You have somebody in mind, somebody that you're praying for somebody, maybe some people that are coming to mind right now. And you're like, man, why doesn't God just do for them? What he's done for me?

I want God so badly to bring that person or those people to himself and have him know him the way that I know him. Right. I don't know where you're at in life, but our text this morning speaks to all of these emotions, these feelings, these spaces, and more. So we can turn to, uh, real quick. Maybe I'm hitting on some things for you and maybe I'm not.

Um, but all of what I just spoke about comes down to what we place our faith in, where can we place our faith? No, nobody, none of us wants to go through life, taking these steps, putting our trust and our faith in these things that are ultimately gonna let us down. We wanna know that when we take a step forward, we're not stepping into quicksand.

We want to know that we're stepping into something that's firm that can hold us. Right? One of the best definitions that I've heard for faith. And this is actually your first, first, uh, blank in the, um, for you to fill out. One of the best definitions I've heard for faith is that it's a ventured trust.

Faith is ventured trust. It's acting on trust, acting out, taking a step out. in something that you believe in what we don't know if that is, if that thing or person is worthy of our trust or worthy of our faith, you know, it's just like a, a plane isn't airworthy until it actually flies a ship isn't seaworthy until it actually sails.

We need to discover that what we step out in, what we place our faith in is actually worthy of our faith. And we're gonna look at our text today and find out that Jesus is worthy of our faith. So let's turn to John 20 this morning. This is, uh, if you don't have a Bible, it's in the pew in front of you, it's pages 8 52 and 8 53.

So you can turn there or you can turn on your Bible as we do these days with your app. However, we wanna do that and let's just read through this passage. John 20 beginning verse 19. On the evening of that day, what day? This is the day resurrection Sunday. This is the day on the evening of that day. The first day of the week, the doors being locked, where the disciples were for fear of the Jews.

Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, peace, be with you. When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord, Jesus said to them again, peace be with you as the father has sent me even. So I'm sending you when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them receive the holy spirit.

If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them. If you withhold forgiveness from many, it is withheld. Now, Thomas, one of the 12 called the twin was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him we have seen the Lord. but he said to them, unless I see in his hands, the mark of the nails and place my finger into the mark of the nails and place my hand into his side, I will never believe eight days later, his disciples were inside again.

And Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, peace, be with you. Then he said to Thomas, put your finger here and see my hands, put out your hand, place it in my side, do not disbelief, but believe Thomas answered him. My Lord and my God, Jesus said to him, have you believed because you've seen me blessed are those who have not seen and yet have.

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book, but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God. And that by believing you may have life in his name, you see Thomas and the disciples discovered that Jesus was worthy of their faith, that Jesus was worthy of their faith.

And what we want to speak about today, looking at this passage is we want to understand and know the same thing. What, who, or what is worthy of our faith. Jesus is the only one who is worthy of our faith. If you take nothing else away from today, take that away. That's the big idea today. Jesus is worthy of your faith.

Jesus is worthy of my faith. He's the only one. All right, so we're gonna get right into it. And we're just gonna break down this passage verse by verse. So begin verse 19 again, on the evening of that day, resurrection Sunday, the first day of the week doors being locked, where the disciples were for fear of the Jews.

All right, let's get, uh, let's get situated here. Put yourselves in this time. In this moment, we have the disciples gathered in a room with doors, locked for fear of the Jews. All right. It's Sunday, what's just happened. Well, Thursday, just a couple days ago, Jesus was arrested and the disciples, some of them had said, you know, I'll go with you to death.

I will stand by Jesus. I'm so committed to Jesus that I'll die with him. You know, I'm I'm with him to the end, but when Jesus was arrested, all the disciples scattered. You know, nobody. Yeah. Peter and John, they were kind of in the background following along and those things, but nobody stood by Jesus the way they thought they would.

Or some of them thought they would, it's not like anybody stood there and said, look, you you're arresting Jesus. You're arresting me too. Nobody did that. Right. So they're all, they're all scattered when Jesus is arrested. And then, all right, let's see how this thing plays out. And it plays out in the way that I don't know if they expected or not, but Jesus on Friday is brutally tortured and executed.

He's slaughtered the Jewish religious leaders pushed the Romans to completely destroy this man in a bloody torturous fashion. That's their leader, right? Our leader has just been slaughtered. so that happened Friday, Saturday, the Sabbath, we don't know what happened silent, but I can imagine that they're reeling.

wouldn't you be? And then we come to Sunday and Mary Magdalene and a few other women who are followers of Jesus. They go to the tomb to pay their respects, to put spices on Jesus' body to take care of his body. There's a problem though. Good problem. His body's gone. They get to the tomb, the stones rolled away and there's no body in there like you where's the body.

So Mary runs back tells the disciples, Hey, you know, Jesus's body is missing. I don't know where they've taken him. Peter and John runs into the tomb. He has same deal. Like, I don't know what's going on. So now imagine. You're there, right? Mary stays at the tomb after Peter and John come back, Jesus appears to Mary, Mary goes back and tells the disciple.

So now you're in this room and you've got the doors locked because the religious leaders are trying to figure out, Hey, where, where is Jesus' body? We thought we squashed this thing. We needed to squash this thing what's going on. And the disciples are suspects. Number one, right? So now you're, you're locking the doors because you're afraid of what's going on.

And Mary believes that Jesus appeared to her. John believes Jesus has risen from the dead. And here's where we come to. Our passage. Disciples are in that locked room and Jesus appears to them. And Jesus says to them, you just next verse says Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, and take another pause and think, put yourself in their minds again, put yourself in their shoes.

What's he gonna say? Jesus came to them and or what's he gonna say, like we all scattered, is he going to, you know, what what's he gonna do? What's he gonna say? And Jesus says to them, peace, be with you. That must have hit them differently at that moment. After going through all that turmoil, Jesus said promised peace.

You can look at this. Uh, in John 1427, John 1633, just pay attention to leading up to the crucifixion. Jesus promised to give peace promise to bring peace. He promised to give them the spirit and then he's slaughtered. And now he's in front of them again. And he says peace B to you. That must have hit differently.

Just understand that you have a, a God who initiates peace with you. You have a guide who brings. Peace to you. When Jesus had said this verse 20, he showed them his hands and his side. And then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord, like, Hey, you you've seen what I'm seeing. Everybody's seeing the same thing.

Like this is real. Like, Jesus is really here.

Jesus said to them again, peace, be with you. And that you, you all, all of you, we need like a Texan or a Southern peace. Be with y'all as the father has sent me even. So I am sending you. Hmm, here we come to our first first thing,

where can we place our faith verse 21? Well, we could place our faith in our performance. Right? We could place our faith in our performance. Remember these disciples? , you know, they thought they would stand with Jesus. They thought they would be, you know, they would do all of this and maybe you're, you're there thinking, man, I I've got this standard.

And I, I thought I would measure up to it or there's these things that I never thought I would do. And I've fallen below that. Like whatever you've got, maybe you're there and we can put our faith in our past performance, but that can't hold us. That won't sustain us. Have you ever felt that you've, you've blown it with God or that you've, you've just totally messed up that God's not going to view you the same way that God's, God's lost love for you based on your performance, based on what you haven't done or what you have done this.

This is where the disciples were and what do we see that Jesus bring? He brings peace. and he brings the spirit he gives the spirit. So if that's you today, just understand you have a, God, you have a savior who wants to bring you peace and wants you to receive peace and receive the spirit. There's this song that starts out as song JIRA, Gyra just very early on in the song says, yeah, I wasn't holding you up.

So there's nothing I can do to let you down. Right? It's not us who are holding God up, who are lifting and, and God's not dependent on us. God's peace. Isn't dependent on you or me. It's dependent on who he is. Keep moving here. when he said this, he breathed on them and said to them received the holy spirit, brings the spirit.

If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them. If you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld. I want to take one minute and just talk about this quickly. I don't believe that this is the central focus of this passage, but there are some traditions that believe. Okay. See, here's Jesus transferring authority to the disciples.

And now the disciples have the authority to forgive sins. I don't believe that's what's happening, but I, I just wanna address this in case some of you are looking at that and thinking, wow, they have this like superpower now. That's awesome. Well, we don't see, I, I don't believe that's the case because we don't see the apostles going out and forgiving sins or withholding forgiveness of sins on their own merit.

Right. We're going through the act series. we don't see the apostles doing that. They are consistently preaching about forgiveness of sins in Jesus' name. It all comes back to who Jesus is and what Jesus has done. It's belief in Jesus as the Messiah for the forgiveness that's that's who can forgive sins only God can forgive sins.

And the disciples are commissioned to preach that message and what a, an amazing recommissioning for them. They thought that they had lost it maybe, but God says to them, Jesus says to them, I haven't given up on you. I still have a role for you. I still have a job for you. I want you to go out and carry this message.

Jesus. Hasn't given up on them. He hasn't given up on you. Don't give up on yourself and don't give up on God.

Now we get to Thomas verse 24. Now Thomas, one of the 12 called the. was not with them when Jesus came. Ah, like, can you imagine not being there? And like, everybody else was there was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, we have seen the Lord. Now Thomas gets a bad rap. Right? You doubting Thomas disbelieving, Thomas, like people, we don't know the, the whole thing here is we don't know why he wasn't there.

We're not told that. We just know that he wasn't there, but he was with the disciples, like right after this, it's still the same night. All of this takes place on the same night here so far. And either the disciples went to where Thomas was, or maybe Thomas showed up to the same room later. One of the others, you know, one of the two is true.

We don't know which one. but have you ever felt like maybe you just missed out on something great. Some amazing movement of God that you weren't a part of and what can that do in your heart? What, what does that do? Something where you're like, man, I, I heard that, that God moved in all these other people and it's like, ah, you know, I wasn't there.

What, what happened? And sometimes that, that triggers us to look at others' faith, look at other how God's moving in other people and become jealous of that. And that's really faith. I'm calling that your second blank here, faith and circumstances. that is faith. It's, it's really a totally comparatively based faith.

It's like, I'm constantly looking at how God's moving in other people. And it's like, man, if I just had the right connections, if I was just in the right place at the right time and it just hasn't worked out for me the way I thought it would. Well, that's not that that's faith rooted in circumstances, luck, fortune, you know, right.

Connections. And we need to shift our focus because that will never hold us the faith of other people or the faith of based on being in the right place at the right time is not worthy of your faith because there's gonna be times where things don't work out.

Keep going verse 25 second part. So Thomas is here in disciples. Tom. We've seen the Lord, but he said to them, unless I see. In his hands, the mark of the nails and place my finger into the mark of the nails and place my hand into his side. I'll never believe. So Thomas comes here. He's, he's wanting what the other disciple has got.

Um, I wanna make it again. Thomas gets a bad rap, but the Bible makes it clear if you read the other gospel accounts, none of the disciples believed that Jesus was written from the dead until they saw read Luke, especially the resurrection account. It makes it really clear that none of them believed until they saw.

So it's, it's not that Thomas was in like this different space or like he was the only one, but he missed out on Jesus's appearance. And I was like, ah, that must have been so hurtful. See the other times that we read about Thomas, he's got a couple other speaking parts in John. I'll just read them quickly.

John 11. Uh, Jesus says, let's go to Judea again. The disciple said to him, uh, Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone. You and you're going there again, like that's the place where they're, they're gonna kill you. Thomas is the one who speaks up a few verses later. So Thomas called the twin said to his fellow disciples, well, let us also go.

We might die with him. Like guys, I'm in it. I'm in it a hundred thousand percent, whatever you want to say there, like Thomas is devoted to Jesus, John 14, Jesus is speaking. He says, you know, the way to where I'm going. Thomas said to him, Lord, we don't know where you're going. How can we know the way Jesus said, I am the way the truth, the.

No one comes to the father except through me. So the, the other times that we see Thomas speaking up, it's because he wants to be with Jesus. Like he's devoted to Jesus. We don't see a guy who's like, uh, I don't know. Like we see a guy who's fully in and that's the guy who's not there when Jesus shows up, man, that must have hurt.

So now, Thomas, for whatever reason, he's singled out this way. Now Thomas has this list of demands. Well, I need to see Jesus. I need to see the marks in his hands and put my finger in the marks. I need to put my hand on his side. I need the same things. Have you ever demanded things of God? In the same way.

I certainly have God, I need you to do this, this and this. And then I'll believe, or my faith would just be, you know, strengthened. If, if God did this for my bank account and did this for my career, uh, put this person gave me this relationship, gave me this support system or took that person away outta my life.

You know, whatever it might be. And we have this list of demands and that's really your next blank here. That's faith in God working on my terms. That's faith in my demands. That's faith in God doing things my way, when it didn't happen, the way I thought it would, or should I get all Ben outta shape shows that I'm, I'm trusting my expectations more than I'm trusting God

that won't hold us either. Your expectations won't hold you either. All right. Eight days later, eight days must have felt like an eternity. Think it was those eight days. Right? Jesus just shows up to the disciples, Thomas isn't there. And he's like, you know, I said, what? I said, I need Jesus to do this, this and this.

And maybe Thomas is thinking, okay, Sunday, maybe Thomas is thinking, Monday is my day. Jesus is gonna show up to me today. Maybe Tuesday, maybe Wednesday, Thursday. These are not happy days. Hey, somebody got, somebody knows the show Friday. Alright. It's been a week after the, still nothing. Saturday Sabbath may I know like Jesus like to do things on the Sabbath, you know, maybe it's today, nothing.

Sunday. It's been a week since he appeared to the other disciples maybe today, nothing. Ah, now I'm in a routine of. expecting God to not show up. And the, the number eight has some significance in the Jewish mindset and it's tied to new creation. Like there's this pattern, but then sometimes God does something brand new.

And I just want to say, be ready. As we, as we get back into the routine of things, you know, it's labor day tomorrow, and then things kick back off and we're right back in the swing of things, be ready for God to step into the routine and maybe mess up the routine, be open to him, working there. If we get all bent outta shape about that, maybe we're putting our faith in the routine a little bit more than we should, that one's free of charge.

I don't think it's in your, in your handout, but that one's free. All right. The disciples were inside again. Thomas was with them. I just want to draw that out. If we're struggling with something like Thomas was struggling, he was open about it. He, he could have faked it until he made it right. Like, oh, that's great.

You just showed up for you. I'm so happy for you. Like he could have done that, but he was open about it. Like, you know, I, I want Jesus to do, you know, I need Jesus to do this. And we also see that Thomas didn't close himself off from being with God's people. So I just want to say if you're in a, in a moment in a season of struggle right now, do not close yourself off from God's people and be open about where you are, be open about where you are.

You have a God who's big enough to work in those moments and handle, handle that. All right. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, peace, be with you all. Then he said to Thomas, ah, man, that must have, imagine being Thomas in that moment said to Thomas, put your finger here, see my hands, put out your hand, place it in my side.

Don't disbelieve. But believe, I think it's so significant that Jesus says to Thomas the exact same things that Thomas said to the other disciples when they thought Jesus wasn't there. I, you know, I didn't think Jesus was here. And man, if you and I have faith, , this is your last one. I think if you, yeah, if you and I have faith in God, only working in ways that we can fathom or that we can understand, or that we can perceive, that's really faith in my own understanding.

And there's been times in my life. Maybe there's been times in your life. When I, I didn't think that God was working. I thought God was absent. And then I can look back later and see, wow, was God working? I didn't see it, but man, God was working. So if you're feeling like God is withdrawn from you and God is distant from you and God can't work with you.

Be assured that you have a God who brings peace, gives you this spirit hasn't given up on you. And has you here for a reason. Open your heart to hearing from him. Thomas answered and said, my Lord, my God, God knew what Thomas needed more than Thomas knew what he needed better than Thomas knew what he needed.

Your God knows what you need better than you do. Thomas said these demands and you know, he, he said he needed all these things. And what we see in this story is Jesus shows up and just speaks to him. And Thomas believes. So we didn't necessarily get everything he asked for, but he got what he needed. You and I, Ken too couple closing observations.

Jesus said to him, have you believed because you've seen me blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed that's you and me. And sometimes we want to, we want those same experiences that the disciples had. or maybe you're not a believer in Jesus. And you're like, ah, you know, it'd be great. If he showed up to me, well, what we see here, Jesus, doesn't say you're missing out.

Jesus gives you a blessing. He gives a blessing for those who haven't believe haven't seen, but have believed. So you're not missing anything required to come to faith in Jesus Christ to put your faith in Jesus Christ. And these things are written that you might have faith in his name, that believing you might have life in his name.

Lastly, this life is meant to be lived. Now, this is a here and now thing. A lot of times Christians believe or think you might hear this. It's like it's, it's tied to our faith may be tied to escaping this world. Right. It's like, I just can't wait to get to heaven where things are gonna be perfect for me.

it's like, that's our focus. If God's goal was, if his purpose was to just have his children immediately be with him. As soon as they believed in like heaven, he would do that. He could take us, right. He could just zap us soon as you come to believe he could zap you. So his purpose is bigger than that. His purpose is bringing his kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.

And he does that through his gift of the spirit, through his people. So this is a here and now thing. You don't have to wait until heaven to live. God gives us the call and the power to live here and now, and that's real life. That's real purpose. That's life. That's based on the only one. Who was worthy of our faith.

So now you might ask this all sounds great. I know, you know, all these different things, and I know I should be placing my faith in Jesus. He's the only one worthy of my faith, but how do I do that? How do I do that? Well, three things real quickly pay attention to what makes you feel angry or sad or anxious or joyful fulfilled, satisfied, pay attention to those things and use them as triggers to pray, even praying out loud.

Like pastor Margo was talking about, if you dare use those as triggers to pray, because it might be that your faith is in something or someone other than God. And God will reveal that to you. But what if you feel like God's the one that's let you down that God's the one that hasn't come through for you use that as a trigger to pray too, use that, communicate that, speak that out loud or silent.

However, say that to God, because in those moments, you might have a revelation that maybe you're putting your faith in your own understanding or your own demands or something or someone other than God. And you'll see that it has it. Isn't Jesus, that's let you down. And that's an important trigger for us to understand if I'm feeling that I need to pray and I need to communicate that.

Lastly, just it's through prayer. It's through meditation on scripture and it's through being with God's people, being in a community of believers. that God can reorient our faith, that God can reestablish our faith, strengthen our faith, encourage our faith. I heard, uh, or I read an article that described prayer as this prayer is rebellion.

Prayer is rebellion against the kingdom of this world and it's bowing our knees to a different king. It's bowing, our knees to the only king who is worthy of our faith. I'm gonna call the band back up. We're gonna close in this song this morning. Might again be wondering how can I do that? Well, it's not, it's not through my effort.

It's not through your effort. It's not through the faith of other people. This is only possible because of Jesus because of Christ in us. And listen to the words of this song as we close and just see where, where, where is peace mentioned? How does peace come to us? How does the spirit come to us?]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/jesus-is-worthy-of-our-faith c7ad1aaf-46a1-478c-9ed5-94b09c8acfaf Sun, 04 Sep 2022 17:18:41 GMT <div data-html="true">John 20:19-31 <br /><br /> “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> I wanna start off our  time this morning, just by asking a simple question. Why do people do the things they do this question? Probably some of us have asked, but why do people do the things they do? And I don't mean the little stuff. <br /><br /> Like why'd that person cut me off in traffic on my way to church this morning. Now I'm in a bad mood. You know, I was, ah, I mean the, the bigger things. Like, why do people climb mountains, run races, make movies, write books, do all those types of things. Well, the best reason, there's a whole bunch of reasons for why people do those things, but the best reasons are rooted in meaning like I'm trying to, to prove something to myself, I'm trying to prove something to other people. <br /><br /> I have a message to share. I have a message to communicate. We're gonna read a text this morning where the author literally spells out for us. Why he's writing the book in John chapter 20, a story about Jesus' resurrection and his appearance to the disciples afterward. And right after that story, John tells us why he's writing John. <br /><br /> What, what did John think he was doing when he was writing the. right. We find that out in the passages that we're gonna read this morning, you might be thinking, okay, that's great. Why is that important? Why is it important to understand why some guy 2000 years ago wrote a book about Jesus? Another guy who lived 2000 years ago? <br /><br /> Well, we'll read in the text that John believed he was writing a book that would help people believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the son of God, and that through him, we can have life. John thought he was writing a book that would bring people to belief in Jesus who would give true life. See Jesus claimed to be more than just a guy that lived 2000 years ago, and maybe you've grown up in the church and you've heard these things. <br /><br /> Maybe you haven't, I don't know where you're coming today, but Jesus claimed to be a lot of things. One of them was that he claimed to be the way to. and that's real life, true life, everlasting life, meaningful life. So this is a big deal. It, it has impact on us here. And now this is why it's important for us to understand why John wrote this message. <br /><br /> What, what does God have to say to us today? Because of who Jesus is. Again, I don't know where you're at in life right now. Maybe you're coming here and there's some upheaval in your life. Maybe there's some turmoil, maybe you're coming here, agitated and, and things just aren't sitting right with you. <br /><br /> Maybe there's some people that you've put your trust in, and those people have let you down. Maybe some things you, you thought you'd be further along in some things. And those things just haven't gone, right. Or maybe things are going just fine for you, but you, you know, maybe you've been doing this Christian thing, you know, doing all that. <br /><br /> But it feels like God's distant. You know, you hear these stories of God doing these amazing things in other places and other people. And you're like, Hey, well where's my moment. And what what's going on? What, why isn't God doing this for me? Or maybe you're somebody's in the season of nearness with God. <br /><br /> And you're like, yeah, this is, I mean, God's just so close to me right now. I feel this, but I, I, I want that for somebody else. You have somebody in mind, somebody that you're praying for somebody, maybe some people that are coming to mind right now. And you're like, man, why doesn't God just do for them? What he's done for me? <br /><br /> I want God so badly to bring that person or those people to himself and have him know him the way that I know him. Right. I don't know where you're at in life, but our text this morning speaks to all of these emotions, these feelings, these spaces, and more. So we can turn to, uh, real quick. Maybe I'm hitting on some things for you and maybe I'm not. <br /><br /> Um, but all of what I just spoke about comes down to what we place our faith in, where can we place our faith? No, nobody, none of us wants to go through life, taking these steps, putting our trust and our faith in these things that are ultimately gonna let us down. We wanna know that when we take a step forward, we're not stepping into quicksand. <br /><br /> We want to know that we're stepping into something that's firm that can hold us. Right? One of the best definitions that I've heard for faith. And this is actually your first, first, uh, blank in the, um, for you to fill out. One of the best definitions I've heard for faith is that it's a ventured trust. <br /><br /> Faith is ventured trust. It's acting on trust, acting out, taking a step out. in something that you believe in what we don't know if that is, if that thing or person is worthy of our trust or worthy of our faith, you know, it's just like a, a plane isn't airworthy until it actually flies a ship isn't seaworthy until it actually sails. <br /><br /> We need to discover that what we step out in, what we place our faith in is actually worthy of our faith. And we're gonna look at our text today and find out that Jesus is worthy of our faith. So let's turn to John 20 this morning. This is, uh, if you don't have a Bible, it's in the pew in front of you, it's pages 8 52 and 8 53. <br /><br /> So you can turn there or you can turn on your Bible as we do these days with your app. However, we wanna do that and let's just read through this passage. John 20 beginning verse 19. On the evening of that day, what day? This is the day resurrection Sunday. This is the day on the evening of that day. The first day of the week, the doors being locked, where the disciples were for fear of the Jews. <br /><br /> Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, peace, be with you. When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord, Jesus said to them again, peace be with you as the father has sent me even. So I'm sending you when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them receive the holy spirit. <br /><br /> If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them. If you withhold forgiveness from many, it is withheld. Now, Thomas, one of the 12 called the twin was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him we have seen the Lord. but he said to them, unless I see in his hands, the mark of the nails and place my finger into the mark of the nails and place my hand into his side, I will never believe eight days later, his disciples were inside again. <br /><br /> And Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, peace, be with you. Then he said to Thomas, put your finger here and see my hands, put out your hand, place it in my side, do not disbelief, but believe Thomas answered him. My Lord and my God, Jesus said to him, have you believed because you've seen me blessed are those who have not seen and yet have. <br /><br /> Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book, but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God. And that by believing you may have life in his name, you see Thomas and the disciples discovered that Jesus was worthy of their faith, that Jesus was worthy of their faith. <br /><br /> And what we want to speak about today, looking at this passage is we want to understand and know the same thing. What, who, or what is worthy of our faith. Jesus is the only one who is worthy of our faith. If you take nothing else away from today, take that away. That's the big idea today. Jesus is worthy of your faith. <br /><br /> Jesus is worthy of my faith. He's the only one. All right, so we're gonna get right into it. And we're just gonna break down this passage verse by verse. So begin verse 19 again, on the evening of that day, resurrection Sunday, the first day of the week doors being locked, where the disciples were for fear of the Jews. <br /><br /> All right, let's get, uh, let's get situated here. Put yourselves in this time. In this moment, we have the disciples gathered in a room with doors, locked for fear of the Jews. All right. It's Sunday, what's just happened. Well, Thursday, just a couple days ago, Jesus was arrested and the disciples, some of them had said, you know, I'll go with you to death. <br /><br /> I will stand by Jesus. I'm so committed to Jesus that I'll die with him. You know, I'm I'm with him to the end, but when Jesus was arrested, all the disciples scattered. You know, nobody. Yeah. Peter and John, they were kind of in the background following along and those things, but nobody stood by Jesus the way they thought they would. <br /><br /> Or some of them thought they would, it's not like anybody stood there and said, look, you you're arresting Jesus. You're arresting me too. Nobody did that. Right. So they're all, they're all scattered when Jesus is arrested. And then, all right, let's see how this thing plays out. And it plays out in the way that I don't know if they expected or not, but Jesus on Friday is brutally tortured and executed. <br /><br /> He's slaughtered the Jewish religious leaders pushed the Romans to completely destroy this man in a bloody torturous fashion. That's their leader, right? Our leader has just been slaughtered. so that happened Friday, Saturday, the Sabbath, we don't know what happened silent, but I can imagine that they're reeling. <br /><br /> wouldn't you be? And then we come to Sunday and Mary Magdalene and a few other women who are followers of Jesus. They go to the tomb to pay their respects, to put spices on Jesus' body to take care of his body. There's a problem though. Good problem. His body's gone. They get to the tomb, the stones rolled away and there's no body in there like you where's the body. <br /><br /> So Mary runs back tells the disciples, Hey, you know, Jesus's body is missing. I don't know where they've taken him. Peter and John runs into the tomb. He has same deal. Like, I don't know what's going on. So now imagine. You're there, right? Mary stays at the tomb after Peter and John come back, Jesus appears to Mary, Mary goes back and tells the disciple. <br /><br /> So now you're in this room and you've got the doors locked because the religious leaders are trying to figure out, Hey, where, where is Jesus' body? We thought we squashed this thing. We needed to squash this thing what's going on. And the disciples are suspects. Number one, right? So now you're, you're locking the doors because you're afraid of what's going on. <br /><br /> And Mary believes that Jesus appeared to her. John believes Jesus has risen from the dead. And here's where we come to. Our passage. Disciples are in that locked room and Jesus appears to them. And Jesus says to them, you just next verse says Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, and take another pause and think, put yourself in their minds again, put yourself in their shoes. <br /><br /> What's he gonna say? Jesus came to them and or what's he gonna say, like we all scattered, is he going to, you know, what what's he gonna do? What's he gonna say? And Jesus says to them, peace, be with you. That must have hit them differently at that moment. After going through all that turmoil, Jesus said promised peace. <br /><br /> You can look at this. Uh, in John 1427, John 1633, just pay attention to leading up to the crucifixion. Jesus promised to give peace promise to bring peace. He promised to give them the spirit and then he's slaughtered. And now he's in front of them again. And he says peace B to you. That must have hit differently. <br /><br /> Just understand that you have a, a God who initiates peace with you. You have a guide who brings. Peace to you. When Jesus had said this verse 20, he showed them his hands and his side. And then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord, like, Hey, you you've seen what I'm seeing. Everybody's seeing the same thing. <br /><br /> Like this is real. Like, Jesus is really here. <br /><br /> Jesus said to them again, peace, be with you. And that you, you all, all of you, we need like a Texan or a Southern peace. Be with y'all as the father has sent me even. So I am sending you. Hmm, here we come to our first first thing, <br /><br /> where can we place our faith verse 21? Well, we could place our faith in our performance. Right? We could place our faith in our performance. Remember these disciples? , you know, they thought they would stand with Jesus. They thought they would be, you know, they would do all of this and maybe you're, you're there thinking, man, I I've got this standard. <br /><br /> And I, I thought I would measure up to it or there's these things that I never thought I would do. And I've fallen below that. Like whatever you've got, maybe you're there and we can put our faith in our past performance, but that can't hold us. That won't sustain us. Have you ever felt that you've, you've blown it with God or that you've, you've just totally messed up that God's not going to view you the same way that God's, God's lost love for you based on your performance, based on what you haven't done or what you have done this. <br /><br /> This is where the disciples were and what do we see that Jesus bring? He brings peace. and he brings the spirit he gives the spirit. So if that's you today, just understand you have a, God, you have a savior who wants to bring you peace and wants you to receive peace and receive the spirit. There's this song that starts out as song JIRA, Gyra just very early on in the song says, yeah, I wasn't holding you up. <br /><br /> So there's nothing I can do to let you down. Right? It's not us who are holding God up, who are lifting and, and God's not dependent on us. God's peace. Isn't dependent on you or me. It's dependent on who he is. Keep moving here. when he said this, he breathed on them and said to them received the holy spirit, brings the spirit. <br /><br /> If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them. If you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld. I want to take one minute and just talk about this quickly. I don't believe that this is the central focus of this passage, but there are some traditions that believe. Okay. See, here's Jesus transferring authority to the disciples. <br /><br /> And now the disciples have the authority to forgive sins. I don't believe that's what's happening, but I, I just wanna address this in case some of you are looking at that and thinking, wow, they have this like superpower now. That's awesome. Well, we don't see, I, I don't believe that's the case because we don't see the apostles going out and forgiving sins or withholding forgiveness of sins on their own merit. <br /><br /> Right. We're going through the act series. we don't see the apostles doing that. They are consistently preaching about forgiveness of sins in Jesus' name. It all comes back to who Jesus is and what Jesus has done. It's belief in Jesus as the Messiah for the forgiveness that's that's who can forgive sins only God can forgive sins. <br /><br /> And the disciples are commissioned to preach that message and what a, an amazing recommissioning for them. They thought that they had lost it maybe, but God says to them, Jesus says to them, I haven't given up on you. I still have a role for you. I still have a job for you. I want you to go out and carry this message. <br /><br /> Jesus. Hasn't given up on them. He hasn't given up on you. Don't give up on yourself and don't give up on God. <br /><br /> Now we get to Thomas verse 24. Now Thomas, one of the 12 called the. was not with them when Jesus came. Ah, like, can you imagine not being there? And like, everybody else was there was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, we have seen the Lord. Now Thomas gets a bad rap. Right? You doubting Thomas disbelieving, Thomas, like people, we don't know the, the whole thing here is we don't know why he wasn't there. <br /><br /> We're not told that. We just know that he wasn't there, but he was with the disciples, like right after this, it's still the same night. All of this takes place on the same night here so far. And either the disciples went to where Thomas was, or maybe Thomas showed up to the same room later. One of the others, you know, one of the two is true. <br /><br /> We don't know which one. but have you ever felt like maybe you just missed out on something great. Some amazing movement of God that you weren't a part of and what can that do in your heart? What, what does that do? Something where you're like, man, I, I heard that, that God moved in all these other people and it's like, ah, you know, I wasn't there. <br /><br /> What, what happened? And sometimes that, that triggers us to look at others' faith, look at other how God's moving in other people and become jealous of that. And that's really faith. I'm calling that your second blank here, faith and circumstances. that is faith. It's, it's really a totally comparatively based faith. <br /><br /> It's like, I'm constantly looking at how God's moving in other people. And it's like, man, if I just had the right connections, if I was just in the right place at the right time and it just hasn't worked out for me the way I thought it would. Well, that's not that that's faith rooted in circumstances, luck, fortune, you know, right. <br /><br /> Connections. And we need to shift our focus because that will never hold us the faith of other people or the faith of based on being in the right place at the right time is not worthy of your faith because there's gonna be times where things don't work out. <br /><br /> Keep going verse 25 second part. So Thomas is here in disciples. Tom. We've seen the Lord, but he said to them, unless I see. In his hands, the mark of the nails and place my finger into the mark of the nails and place my hand into his side. I'll never believe. So Thomas comes here. He's, he's wanting what the other disciple has got. <br /><br /> Um, I wanna make it again. Thomas gets a bad rap, but the Bible makes it clear if you read the other gospel accounts, none of the disciples believed that Jesus was written from the dead until they saw read Luke, especially the resurrection account. It makes it really clear that none of them believed until they saw. <br /><br /> So it's, it's not that Thomas was in like this different space or like he was the only one, but he missed out on Jesus's appearance. And I was like, ah, that must have been so hurtful. See the other times that we read about Thomas, he's got a couple other speaking parts in John. I'll just read them quickly. <br /><br /> John 11. Uh, Jesus says, let's go to Judea again. The disciple said to him, uh, Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone. You and you're going there again, like that's the place where they're, they're gonna kill you. Thomas is the one who speaks up a few verses later. So Thomas called the twin said to his fellow disciples, well, let us also go. <br /><br /> We might die with him. Like guys, I'm in it. I'm in it a hundred thousand percent, whatever you want to say there, like Thomas is devoted to Jesus, John 14, Jesus is speaking. He says, you know, the way to where I'm going. Thomas said to him, Lord, we don't know where you're going. How can we know the way Jesus said, I am the way the truth, the. <br /><br /> No one comes to the father except through me. So the, the other times that we see Thomas speaking up, it's because he wants to be with Jesus. Like he's devoted to Jesus. We don't see a guy who's like, uh, I don't know. Like we see a guy who's fully in and that's the guy who's not there when Jesus shows up, man, that must have hurt. <br /><br /> So now, Thomas, for whatever reason, he's singled out this way. Now Thomas has this list of demands. Well, I need to see Jesus. I need to see the marks in his hands and put my finger in the marks. I need to put my hand on his side. I need the same things. Have you ever demanded things of God? In the same way. <br /><br /> I certainly have God, I need you to do this, this and this. And then I'll believe, or my faith would just be, you know, strengthened. If, if God did this for my bank account and did this for my career, uh, put this person gave me this relationship, gave me this support system or took that person away outta my life. <br /><br /> You know, whatever it might be. And we have this list of demands and that's really your next blank here. That's faith in God working on my terms. That's faith in my demands. That's faith in God doing things my way, when it didn't happen, the way I thought it would, or should I get all Ben outta shape shows that I'm, I'm trusting my expectations more than I'm trusting God <br /><br /> that won't hold us either. Your expectations won't hold you either. All right. Eight days later, eight days must have felt like an eternity. Think it was those eight days. Right? Jesus just shows up to the disciples, Thomas isn't there. And he's like, you know, I said, what? I said, I need Jesus to do this, this and this. <br /><br /> And maybe Thomas is thinking, okay, Sunday, maybe Thomas is thinking, Monday is my day. Jesus is gonna show up to me today. Maybe Tuesday, maybe Wednesday, Thursday. These are not happy days. Hey, somebody got, somebody knows the show Friday. Alright. It's been a week after the, still nothing. Saturday Sabbath may I know like Jesus like to do things on the Sabbath, you know, maybe it's today, nothing. <br /><br /> Sunday. It's been a week since he appeared to the other disciples maybe today, nothing. Ah, now I'm in a routine of. expecting God to not show up. And the, the number eight has some significance in the Jewish mindset and it's tied to new creation. Like there's this pattern, but then sometimes God does something brand new. <br /><br /> And I just want to say, be ready. As we, as we get back into the routine of things, you know, it's labor day tomorrow, and then things kick back off and we're right back in the swing of things, be ready for God to step into the routine and maybe mess up the routine, be open to him, working there. If we get all bent outta shape about that, maybe we're putting our faith in the routine a little bit more than we should, that one's free of charge. <br /><br /> I don't think it's in your, in your handout, but that one's free. All right. The disciples were inside again. Thomas was with them. I just want to draw that out. If we're struggling with something like Thomas was struggling, he was open about it. He, he could have faked it until he made it right. Like, oh, that's great. <br /><br /> You just showed up for you. I'm so happy for you. Like he could have done that, but he was open about it. Like, you know, I, I want Jesus to do, you know, I need Jesus to do this. And we also see that Thomas didn't close himself off from being with God's people. So I just want to say if you're in a, in a moment in a season of struggle right now, do not close yourself off from God's people and be open about where you are, be open about where you are. <br /><br /> You have a God who's big enough to work in those moments and handle, handle that. All right. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, peace, be with you all. Then he said to Thomas, ah, man, that must have, imagine being Thomas in that moment said to Thomas, put your finger here, see my hands, put out your hand, place it in my side. <br /><br /> Don't disbelieve. But believe, I think it's so significant that Jesus says to Thomas the exact same things that Thomas said to the other disciples when they thought Jesus wasn't there. I, you know, I didn't think Jesus was here. And man, if you and I have faith, , this is your last one. I think if you, yeah, if you and I have faith in God, only working in ways that we can fathom or that we can understand, or that we can perceive, that's really faith in my own understanding. <br /><br /> And there's been times in my life. Maybe there's been times in your life. When I, I didn't think that God was working. I thought God was absent. And then I can look back later and see, wow, was God working? I didn't see it, but man, God was working. So if you're feeling like God is withdrawn from you and God is distant from you and God can't work with you. <br /><br /> Be assured that you have a God who brings peace, gives you this spirit hasn't given up on you. And has you here for a reason. Open your heart to hearing from him. Thomas answered and said, my Lord, my God, God knew what Thomas needed more than Thomas knew what he needed better than Thomas knew what he needed. <br /><br /> Your God knows what you need better than you do. Thomas said these demands and you know, he, he said he needed all these things. And what we see in this story is Jesus shows up and just speaks to him. And Thomas believes. So we didn't necessarily get everything he asked for, but he got what he needed. You and I, Ken too couple closing observations. <br /><br /> Jesus said to him, have you believed because you've seen me blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed that's you and me. And sometimes we want to, we want those same experiences that the disciples had. or maybe you're not a believer in Jesus. And you're like, ah, you know, it'd be great. If he showed up to me, well, what we see here, Jesus, doesn't say you're missing out. <br /><br /> Jesus gives you a blessing. He gives a blessing for those who haven't believe haven't seen, but have believed. So you're not missing anything required to come to faith in Jesus Christ to put your faith in Jesus Christ. And these things are written that you might have faith in his name, that believing you might have life in his name. <br /><br /> Lastly, this life is meant to be lived. Now, this is a here and now thing. A lot of times Christians believe or think you might hear this. It's like it's, it's tied to our faith may be tied to escaping this world. Right. It's like, I just can't wait to get to heaven where things are gonna be perfect for me. <br /><br /> it's like, that's our focus. If God's goal was, if his purpose was to just have his children immediately be with him. As soon as they believed in like heaven, he would do that. He could take us, right. He could just zap us soon as you come to believe he could zap you. So his purpose is bigger than that. His purpose is bringing his kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. <br /><br /> And he does that through his gift of the spirit, through his people. So this is a here and now thing. You don't have to wait until heaven to live. God gives us the call and the power to live here and now, and that's real life. That's real purpose. That's life. That's based on the only one. Who was worthy of our faith. <br /><br /> So now you might ask this all sounds great. I know, you know, all these different things, and I know I should be placing my faith in Jesus. He's the only one worthy of my faith, but how do I do that? How do I do that? Well, three things real quickly pay attention to what makes you feel angry or sad or anxious or joyful fulfilled, satisfied, pay attention to those things and use them as triggers to pray, even praying out loud. <br /><br /> Like pastor Margo was talking about, if you dare use those as triggers to pray, because it might be that your faith is in something or someone other than God. And God will reveal that to you. But what if you feel like God's the one that's let you down that God's the one that hasn't come through for you use that as a trigger to pray too, use that, communicate that, speak that out loud or silent. <br /><br /> However, say that to God, because in those moments, you might have a revelation that maybe you're putting your faith in your own understanding or your own demands or something or someone other than God. And you'll see that it has it. Isn't Jesus, that's let you down. And that's an important trigger for us to understand if I'm feeling that I need to pray and I need to communicate that. <br /><br /> Lastly, just it's through prayer. It's through meditation on scripture and it's through being with God's people, being in a community of believers. that God can reorient our faith, that God can reestablish our faith, strengthen our faith, encourage our faith. I heard, uh, or I read an article that described prayer as this prayer is rebellion. <br /><br /> Prayer is rebellion against the kingdom of this world and it's bowing our knees to a different king. It's bowing, our knees to the only king who is worthy of our faith. I'm gonna call the band back up. We're gonna close in this song this morning. Might again be wondering how can I do that? Well, it's not, it's not through my effort. <br /><br /> It's not through your effort. It's not through the faith of other people. This is only possible because of Jesus because of Christ in us. And listen to the words of this song as we close and just see where, where, where is peace mentioned? How does peace come to us? How does the spirit come to us?</div> false no <![CDATA[The Battle of Two Kings]]> Acts 12

He killed James the brother of John with the sword, and when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also.



Sermon Transcript:

You know, we just sang about the power of your name. And sometimes I think the power of your name, we think, well, that means we're gonna do miraculous works. It's God it's God that does the miraculous works. That's a miraculous work, right? Um, the greatest work is not ultimately physical healing. It's spiritual healing.

It's changing us from the inside out. I invite you to take your Bibles this morning. We, we look at the book of acts chapter 12 this morning and quell. Thanks so much for doing that acts chapter 12. We're gonna be looking at this passage together. I wanna give you some background. Uh, we're continuing our series today in the book of acts the spirit at work to the ends of the earth.

We are at a significant juncture in the book of acts because we are completing the first two seasons. The first season was acts chapter one through chapter seven, the story of the spirit of God at work in the church, growing the church in the area of the city of Jerusalem and the amazing things he did with Pentecost and the subsequent events after that season two began with chapter eight and is ending here at chapter 12, where in season two, God is taking the church and is extending the ministry of the gospel going out of just the city of Jerusalem and its confines into the area of Judea and then north into Samaria and even spilling up into, uh, Northern regions above that.

It has taken us in chapter 11, as we saw last week. To, to Antioch a city 250 miles north, which will actually become after this chapter, the epicenter for the church, it will become the sending center to this work of season three, which is where the church is going to go to the ends of the known earth of that time.

For 11 chapters, the church has been growing and expanding like waves that are, that are spreading father and fathering out with their ripple effect. But in chapter 12, we return as Dr. Luke takes us back to Jerusalem and gives us a look 15 years after the day of Pentecost. And as we return, we find a stunning development.

There is a climactic battle taking place. It's a battle of two Kings king Jesus. And king hear it. It reminds us that as Jesus kingdom spreads, it is not without opposition. To this point. The opposition has primarily been from the Jewish leaders. Now it is civil authorities. The Roman empire is actually getting engaged.

We are treated here to one of the most interesting events in the entire book of acts. And I'd like to read aloud versus, well, this chapter, I'm gonna read it through quickly. Chapter 12 of acts about that time herd the king laid violent hands on some who belong to the church. He killed James, the brother of John with the sword.

And when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter. Also, this was during the days of 11 bread and when he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him intending after the Passover, to bring him out to the people. So Peter was kept in prison, but Ernest's prayer for him was made to God by the church.

Now inherit was about to bring him out on that very night. Peter was sleeping between two soldiers bound with two chains and centuries before the door were guarding the prison and behold, an angel of the Lord stood next to him in a light shown in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him saying, get up quickly.

And the change fell off his hands. And the angel said to him, dress yourself and put on your sandals. And as he did, and he did so, and he said to him, wrap your cloth, cloak around you and follow me. And he went and followed him. He did not know what was being done was done by the angel was. But thought he was seeing a vision when they had passed the first and the second guard, they came to the iron gate, leading into the city.

It opened for them of its own accord. And they went out and went along one street and immediately the angel left him. When Peter came to himself, he said, now I am sure that the Lord has sent the, his angel and rescued me from the hand of herd. And from all the Jewish people were expecting. When he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John, whose other name was mark, where many were gathered together and were praying.

And when he knocked at the door of the gateway, a servant girl named Rhoda, came to answer recognizing Peter's voice in her joy. She did not open the gate, but ran and reported that Peter was standing at the gate. They said to her, you are outta your mind, but she kept insisting that it was so, and they kept saying it is his angel, but Peter continued knocking.

And when they had opened, they saw him and were amazed, but meant motioning to him, to them with his hand to be silent. He. Described to them, how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, tell these things to James and to the brothers. Then he departed and went to another place. Now, when the day came, there was no little disturbance among the soldiers over what had become of Peter and, and after herd searched for him and did not find him.

He examined centuries and ordered that they should be put to death. Then he went down from Judea to Caesarea and spent time there. Now, Herod was angry with the people of tire and side, and they came to him with one accord and having persuaded blast us the King's Chamberlain. They asked for peace because their country depended on the King's country for food on an appointed day herd put on his Royal robes, took his seat upon the throne and delivered an oration to them.

And the people were shouting the voice of a God and not of a man immediately. An angel of the Lord struck him down because he did not give God as glory. And he was eaten by worms and breathed his last. But the word of God increased and multiplied and Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had completed their service, bringing with them, John, whose other name was mark Lord, we look to you this morning, God, we read this incredible story and it reminds us of what an incredible God we know and serve.

Lord, teach us through these moments together that we might embrace, that we might have our own perspective of life adjusted to align with what we see in the lives of these believers here. As they saw the power of God in such a miraculous way in Jesus' name. I pray this amen. The passage that we read this morning and are going to be focused on, on is about power.

The book of acts is about power and acts one eight, the theme of the book, as we've highlighted it, many times you shall receive power when the holy spirit comes upon you and you'll be witnesses to me, the events of chapter 12, there is no human reason that the power of Imperial Rome was overcome by a rag tag group of no names.

Only God, the church conquers not by political might or leverage, not by winning popularity votes and having famous spokespeople in pop stars and prominent cultural icons. The church conquers by God's spirit being unleashed through God's people crying out to him. This final episode in series two reminds us of where the church's true power lies.

I'd like to look at three things as quick as I can. This this morning. Number one, we see the believers faced a furious power in king. Her just a little historical background of who this guy is that we're talking about here in, in, in acts chapter 12, there were actually three members of what was known as the hero Rodian dynasty that are very prominent in the new Testament.

The first of those is a guy named herd. The great herd. The great was the one that killed the children in Bethlehem. When Jesus was born herd, the great was an individual that was actually from the country of ed Eden, which is down. If you think of Israel here, em was down in the Southeast corner of that.

When the Romans were trying to penetrate the very Eastern border of the Mediterranean sea and to extend their empire there, it was a local guy named Harriet who was the greatest warrior for Rome and was ultimately honored by them. When Rome did conquer all of the Eastern border of the Mediterranean sea, he was called herd.

The great, because he was a powerful leader. Not only was he powerful mil militarily, but he was a brilliant builder. He was the one that built the giant temple of Jerusalem. It's why it's called heritage temple. He was the one that built palaces and other edifices throughout Judea and Samaria. And, and up into the, the, the Eastern sides of the Jordan river.

He was prominent, many have called him the most powerful leader of this part of the ancient near east. For three centuries. This is a big time guy inherit. The great was honored by the Roman leadership by being given the, the Lordship over that whole region of the Eastern part of the Mediterranean sea.

His son was a man named her anus. We see him in the new Testament as well. Actually, I put one third. I, I, I miswrote, it. He actually, when her the great died, his kingdom was divided into four parts. And one of those was given to her anus. He was the one over Judea. He was the one that interviewed Jesus when Jesus was crucified.

But now we come to our featured performer and his name is hero APA. It's what he's known as historically her APA, the first he was the grandson of hero, the great her APA, the first. Was an individual and I'm gonna bring up a map here to just walk this through quickly. He was raised in Rome and while in Rome, that is pretty tiny.

Isn't it? T grip was raised in Rome and he was childhood friends, students with two guys named Caligula who became the emperor and Claudia, who became the emperor when Caligula was assassinated. These were buds of herd, a GRPA as he was growing up as a student and they were lifelong associates. Here grip.

If you look at these regions, then I'm just gonna point this on one of them. If you look at the region in yellow, that was given to him by Calla, when he was emperor in 37 ad the lighter green was given to him by Calla in 39 ad the larger portion, which includes Judea and Samaria was given to him in 41 ad.

And this area up in the north was given to him. Uh, the red part was given to him by col by Claudias right before the events we're reading about. In other words, in the last three years hero, a GRPA has been given all of the problem. He has almost the entire region that heroed the great had. He is an incredibly powerful leader.

He is literally the buddy. Of the emperor, the two emperors of Rome. And the second one that got in Claudias got in, because there were a few, uh, leaders in the Roman empire that supported him. One of whom was HERDA GRPA. He is an individual that basically controls all of this area. He was given the title king, which was unusual for the Romans to do, but they recognized such loyalty inherited GRPA.

They recognized that he, that he was the, uh, the potentate over such a prominent position. He's the Eastern edge of the Roman empire that they let him call himself king. He is in a strategic position. This is a terrible guy to have as an enemy,

but it isn't only that that the church is facing here. The populace and religious leadership are against them. We've, we've read in the early part of the book of acts, how they, it, they, it said the church had favor with all the people, not so much anymore. It's been 15 years. And the animosity of the religious leadership that is constantly speaking against the, the, the Christian sect, as they viewed, it has begun to wear on people, their detention, the, the animosity has grown the favor with the populace has soured during these 15 years, so that when herd a GRPA right before the feast of, of Passover and, and leaven bread, which was an eight day feast, right before that, when he takes James, the brother of John, one of the three bigs, James, John, and Peter, with a triumvirate of, of apostles, Confidants of Jesus.

When he takes one of him, he takes him and he takes some other people leaders in the church and he beheads James. He senses the favor of the people, the statement it says here, it pleased the J so the next thing he does is he grabs Peter. The most prominent voice in the early church brings him in and only doesn't behead him because he doesn't wanna offend the Jews who, who would not allow such a thing.

They would consider such a thing as sacrilege, even if they supported the event to happen during the high feast days. So he is waiting. It is now the final day of the feast. The final day has actually ended at sunset. It is now nighttime. The next morning, Peter is due to lose his head. This is the scenario.

The populace is against them. There's another thing that's going on that I think would've added to the, to the sense of just feeling overwhelmed and intimidated to the church. This is the feast of PA Passover in tabernacle. I want you to think of ocean city for a minute. Have you ever been there? Ocean city, New Jersey.

There are about 12,000 residents in November, in July. There's over 150,000 residents, 12 and a half times as many people that's exactly Jerusalem. There were about 80,000 people during the high feast day of Passover and tab of Fe, uh, um, 11 bread Josefa says there were a million people that came a Jewish historian of, of the first century, 12 and a half times.

It's ocean city. In July 4th weekend, it's crazy down there. That's what's happening in Jerusalem and all this is going on. And most of these Jews from the other parts of the world are not Christians yet have not been exposed to the gospel. So now you're surrounded and, and not only is the majority voice of people in Jerusalem, contrary to church, even though you've seen amazing things happen, you still, you feel this.

I mean, this is 15 years later. This is heart. This is intimidating. And this is what they're facing when they face king herd planning the next morning to kill the guy that is clearly the voice of the early church, but the believers, secondly, aligned with a far greater power. In king Jesus. Notice what they did.

First of all, they remembered what their king had done. 15 years ago was Pentecost. They have remembered 3000 people on that day, embracing Christ to savior. They have remembered as the God at the book of acts tells us that many of the priests have embraced Jesus as their savior. The Samaritans have believed the CFO from Ethiopia has believed Saul.

The scholar turned prime percu. The hit dog of the religious leaders has astonishingly the, a proponent and a defender of the faith of Jesus. A pagan Roman officer in chapter 10 and his household have believed. and now they're meeting in houses around the city, as they've always done, they're not doing some of the things we've always done.

We don't read of the meeting in the, in the, in the, in the temple anymore. Remember how they all preached and taught every day in Solomon's Portico. We don't hear that anymore. Now they have moved in. They've gone back to life 15 years. I mean, you, you, you can't have evangelistic meetings every day. For 15 years, they've gone back and doing business.

The Christians are doing life, but there's one thing that they have. They have founded their lives on. They're constantly meeting in houses. They're constantly gathering together for fellowship, the breaking of bread, the opening of the word and prayer. This is their default mode. They have lost. Prestige to some degree because of the, the continual wearing opposition of the religious leadership now added to that as the civil leadership, but they are remembering and they are embracing and they are counting on the all powerful Jesus being with them.

So what they do is they pursue their king with ENT prayer. We read this in verse five. So Peter was kept in prison during the days of the feast. That is, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church. This word earnest is actually from two words, stretch. Out. It means they, they, they were all in it's it's, you know, athletic terms.

We say, leave it all in the field. I mean, just put everything out there. It's used of Jesus in Luke 22, 44, when he was in the garden, it says this and being in agony, he prayed earnestly and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. The church is crying out to God, the church, not only in this one house, but the church in houses all over Jerusalem is praying together, crying out to God.

Romans power structure is fully operational in Romans 12. but so is the churches, it wasn't on the throne of Jerusalem. It was in a house over here in a house over here in a house over there where people just folks are gathering together. There's nobody that we read of in this passage, in Mary's house.

That is one of the muck mucks. He says, rather Peter says to them, tell James, who's the head of the church. Now the brother of Jesus and tell the other leaders, this is just one house, but it is a group of people that are crying out to God. The church is at war. So they call up to up the commander, the commander who shuts lion's mouths, who crushes Pharaoh's chariots.

Who makes roads through the sea who sends fire from heaven, who breaks chains and opens prison's door. This was a church movement that went forward on its niece.

And now we see what their king did in response. I'm just gonna summarize verse six in following Peter's course chain. We're told how it is he's. If there's ever a maximum security environment, it was this one he's in Antonio's fortress, which was that, that Roman Garrison, that was right next to the, uh, temple.

And apparently he's put in there and they give very unusual. Usually if you have a dangerous prisoner, a Roman guard would be chained to you in your cell. Peter has two, one on each. He also has two guys that are outside his, uh, this doesn't mean they're, they're all over the prison, but four of them are right around Peter's room.

And there are four different shifts and every few hours, the shift changes, two more guys manacled to Peter and two more guys outside. He is in utterly shut, down maximum security environment, but here's what we read, what their king did with Peter. And every part of the account is just highlighting that Peter had nothing to do with this Peter's asleep.

When the angel comes, the angel has to prod him awake and into action. The change fall off. He has to be told to dress as if he's being given a series of numbers. This is one of my favorite parts. First he says, put on your clothes. Put on your shoes, then he says, uh, wrap your clock around. You follow me. I mean, it's like 1, 2, 3, come on.

You can do this, Peter, you can do this. And he does. And he sort of staggering along and they go and a door opens and another door opens and then they come to the outer gate. And there's this amazing statement that's that we read about in verse 10. Here's what it says. And the gate of the prison opened for them of its own accord.

The word of its own accord is actually the word in the greed mater. When I guess what that's from, it's an automatic door. The angel brings his angelic easy pass. And just, just so scooting through as the door opens, it's an automatic door before. They go out in the city. Peter's not finally for the first time realizes for sure.

He's not dreaming. This entire thing is all God, not only do we see what the king did for Peter, but we have to see what the king did to herd. And then I'm gonna try to wrap all this together herd when he wakes up the next morning, beginning in verse 18 and he calls and it they're ready for the execution.

You know, this is, this is execution day. I mean, this is gonna really win the populace his way. When he takes the top dog, the guy's gone. He executes the, the guards, cuz that was normally what you did. If, if you had a prisoner escape, you would then take his sentence and say were executed. Then we read an interesting account where if I can bring that map up again, that.

Herd who again, I told you all these colored sections are herd's region, but if you look up in the orange there, along the sea, that up here there's tire inside, those are a province that were separate, but are very much dependent on herd's domain. He goes to a city called Caesarea and these guys all come down tire inside and come down.

And that's where they make the they're just trying to suck up to him because they depend on him with all the food stuffs, all the produce of Judea and they, they want him on their side and he's mad at him for some reason. And so they declare this isn't the voice of a man is the voice of a God Josephus.

The, the first century historian actually records this historic event. And he says, his statement is the people were crying. This is not a mere mortal. And at that moment, her who has stood against king Jesus long enough. Accepting the very praise of God to himself. God takes his life. And the story that Luke is recording is just saying this amazingly powerful man was vanquished by the true king.

There's a last part of this sermon. I wanna focus on cuz I really wanna put some shoes to it, to us, the believers experience the power of king Jesus. Why you say well, because God sovereignly chose to. Yes, I agree with that, but why them? Why not us? This kind of thing. God chooses the seasons and the times when he is going to make himself known.

But it just seems so otherworldly to imagine. There are two things that I wanna highlight here. These people were utterly convinced of their desperation for Christ. You know, you think about this, that's going on and, and, and you hear how, how, uh, herd has now come to Jerusalem. And he's now, man, he's really feeling it.

He, he, his, his realm is just expanding and expanding. And Judea is the center of his, his new realm. He's only had it a couple years. He's there in Jerusalem and, and he's feeling it out. And he takes Ja. He doesn't like what he hears about the, this Christian sect. And so he basically tries a trial balloon and he takes James one of the key apostles and he beheads him and, and he gets good response.

You know, people, they dig this. Do we use dig anymore? Sorry, all millennials. If you're wondering what that means, it means they enjoyed it, but they, they, so here you are in the church and you say, okay, let's get a protest going. I mean, let's get out there. I mean, this guy obviously cares about public opinion.

We need to be heard, get some banners. Let's do posters. Let's go out let's let's Mar around Jerusalem and say, har, you know, there's people we want, let Peter go. Let Peter go. Nothing might say, whoa, I, you don't understand. Wouldn't have worked. Yeah, probably not. But there's no sense. These people thought of any other alternatives, but their natural go-to, they prayed.

They cried out to God. That they sensed. This is where our power is the power we read about. I mean, salmon Magus. We've talked about him in chapter eight. What he wanted of the church was their power. But I talked about the power that he wanted was a totally different type of power than he than was being offered to the church.

But they wanted the power that enables them to represent Christ, to see Christ alive through their lives. These Christians have seen the devil's power. They had faced acute persecution. James was beheaded. They had recognized it. Isn't going to be by winning the political war that they're going to spiritually win.

It's never been true. It's never going to be true. The issue here was they needed to know there was only one real source that could help them. They needed got. They didn't have plan B to go to the vitality of the church is always a result of the desperation of its members. The church of Jesus is always sickest when it's members feel self-sufficient that's of course, what, what John was saying in revelation chapter three, when he is talking to various churches, but he highlights the church of Leo DC.

And he says these startling words in verse 15 and following, I know your works, you're neither cold nor hot wood that you were either cold or hot. So because you're Luke warm and neither hot nor cold, I'll spit you outta my mouth for you say I'm rich, I've prospered. And I need nothing. Not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.

You say, okay, mark. I, I, I hear you. I, I need to be desperate, but I don't feel desperate. I need to pray, but I don't pray. I know Jesus has been moments in my life where I've felt that, but, but I don't pray this way now. You don't pray until you feel desperate. I honestly, that I, I don't see a lot of value in me standing up here and saying, you need to pray more.

You won't, you won't pray until you feel the need to pray. You won't really seek God until you are compelled to go there. So, so what do you got for me, mark? I mean, yeah, there's been a few times. I mean, am I supposed to, am I supposed to pursue crisis in calamity and catastrophe? I mean, I've had a few of those mark.

I mean, I, I remember when my wife got the report that she might have cancer. Remember when our business was, we were just trying to get it started. I, I remember when I lost my, my position. I remember when I first became a Christian and, and realized that people were, were, were not buying in and, and it was opposition to me and, and people thought I was crazy and all those times, yeah, I, I prayed.

Why cuz you felt desperate, you felt needy, you cried out to God, so, okay. What does that mean? Do we have to, do we have to hope that something happens to us to free you from your lackadaisical perspective? What do I do mark? Do I hope for a crisis? Do I pray for calamity for catastrophe? Is that what you want for us as our pastor?

I'll tell you quite honestly, in some ways I do in some ways I do hope that for some of you. who are settling for a bla tasting unre, refreshing Unsal, uh, go with the flow meaningless Christian life that God will shake the cage, but there's also something I'll offer. That's a little more positive. I think you can do what these believers were doing.

It is what was true of these believers. You can have an attitude shift about your life, and that's the second thing we find. They were consumed with their calling from Christ. They were not distracted by settling for too little in their Christian life. Ultimately, they knew that God didn't give them a job ultimately to make money for their family.

that ultimately God didn't put them in the school where they, they went to for today. It isn't, he put you in the college ultimately to get a degree in a school, to be educated on a ball club, to have fun at all those things come, but he puts you in the school and the college and the ball club and the office and the neighborhood you're in because there's a mission there because he has called you there, that the issue that he's talking about, and you say, well, mark, I can't add anything in my life.

I can't start now being involved with my neighbors and trying to lead him to Jesus. And I, I, I don't have, I don't have no space. I'm already, I mean, it's big. I'm here this morning because I'm overwhelmed with life. I'm not talking about doing addition. I'm talking about doing adjustment about adjusting our thinking and saying.

How did these Christians look at life? I mean, they're just average. Joe's most of them, the big wigs weren't even at Mary's house. And yet Peter went there because he knew these were people that would be laying hold of God.

These people saw themselves as representatives of Jesus Christ to their generation. They weren't just going with the flow. I'll guarantee you, if you say God, I want an attitude adjustment and how I do my job and how I look at my job about how I look at my neighborhood is how I look at the sports team.

My kids are that God, I wanna look at it as all parts of my life are. You have placed me there by sovereign intention, and I wanna be available to you. he will begin to open doors. He'll begin. There'll be things that will start to happen. You won't have to, oh, I gotta add this. You know, I gotta, I gotta, I gotta now reshuffle my entire life.

No, you don't need to add, you need to adjust. You need to rethink and what you'll find as you begin to make yourself available to the Lord, you will have things to pray about. There'll be opposition, there'll be opportunities. There'll just be things that begin. But the devil's greatest cha the greatest issue that he uses in our lives, his threat is to just sideline Christians, Dietrich, Bonhoeffer wrote the book, cost a discipleship.

He was the man who he died at 39 years old in Nazi, Germany killed by Hitler. Dietrich Bon hoer. I was just reading him again recently. And I was struck by a statement. He said he, he made I'm gonna paraphrase it, but I think I'm pretty close. He said the concern I have with Christians is we tend to look at Christianity as it is a, it is a faith of the gaps.

Like when there are gaps in our life, the gaps he describes are things like weaknesses or guilts over our failures. He said, when we have those things, we tend to view that's where God is involved in our life, in the gaps I need. And when I'm broke and when I've lost my job, when I get a scary medical report, when the economy's bad, I, I, I want 'em to the gaps and I cry out to him when I've really screwed up with the internet continually.

And I can't seem to give, then I begin to, I sense, oh, I need 'em in the gaps. but he said he isn't God of the gaps. Yes, we are driven to him then, but he says, he is the God of the, all he said, he's the God of our strengths. He's the God of our energy. And in those moments where we're not desperately feeling the gaps like, oh man, life is just terrifying to me.

Oh, I'm broke. And I'm worried. And you say, well, mark, I, I, no, I'm not really fueling those ways. And I don't have catastrophe going and I, some of you do, but I'm not having, I don't have all that. So I don't know. I, I just don't feel that fired up to pray. I don't feel that fi and stop looking at God is only available to the gaps that he's allowed you to be strong.

He's allowed you to have energy. He's allowed you to now, you don't have to live. And in those moments when we're just overwhelmed with, with heartache and struggle and, and crisis. man, what you're doing a lot of your Christian life, just holding onto Jesus. Right? But what if you're not there? What if you're not in the gaps?

What if you've got energy and strength? Where is it going? God says, I'm giving you that opportunity. I'm giving you the season where you are available, but I'm the God of the strengths. I'm the God of the energy moments. I'm God who wants to be center of all your life. These people got it. So when the comedy time came, they did what they did.

They cried out to God, but this isn't the first time these people prayed. The whole book of acts is they got together and prayed good times, bad times because they saw themselves as people on mission all the time.

They were just folks who saw Jesus was big and they were trying to glorify Jesus in their own lives and were convinced of the need to depend on him, to cry out to him in the gap seasons. And in the times of strength. What about us? We're ending summer now. You're all mad at me. If you're even bringing that up, , we're looking at a new year of life, settling into new rhythms.

What a beautiful time to say God, I wanna adjust the way I look at life. I wanna not have to wait for calamity in crisis to cry out to you. I wanna have you be God of my strengths, God, of my seasons of pro seeming prosperity. And you say, well, mark, look at the stock ring, stop it compared to where we are.

I'm not even gonna get into what the rest of the world, just, we're not in desperation, we're in strength. But John said in the book of Leo to see a boy, be careful, that's a dangerous time because you don't feel your desperation and you miss out on the power that is available to you just because you're not in the gaps, but it's a season when God can use you for his glory.

Lord, we look to you, God, we're closing this service now. I want to thank you for quells story Lord, because it's your story. Thank you for her willingness to exalt you, to praise you, to allow you to use her life as an instrument of praise to you.

Lord. That's why you've brought all of us to you. That we'd be on mission that we see every part of our life belongs to Christ. So God do that, which it, you seem delight to do stir your people. God help us to be people that say not just in the gaps, Lord. But now today, tomorrow, show yourself strong in our lives and Lord buy your grace, bring things into our lives, whatever it means, whatever it needs to make us desperate criers for God in Jesus name.

Amen. Amen.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-battle-of-two-kings 10cdb396-c32f-4e62-81b7-46cd2b30083d Sun, 28 Aug 2022 11:19:16 GMT <div data-html="true">Acts 12 <br /><br /> He killed James the brother of John with the sword, and when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> You know, we just sang about the power of your name. And sometimes I think the power of your name, we think, well, that means we're gonna do miraculous works. It's God it's God that does the miraculous works. That's a miraculous work, right? Um, the greatest work is not ultimately physical healing. It's spiritual healing. <br /><br /> It's changing us from the inside out. I invite you to take your Bibles this morning. We, we look at the book of acts chapter 12 this morning and quell. Thanks so much for doing that acts chapter 12. We're gonna be looking at this passage together. I wanna give you some background. Uh, we're continuing our series today in the book of acts the spirit at work to the ends of the earth. <br /><br /> We are at a significant juncture in the book of acts because we are completing the first two seasons. The first season was acts chapter one through chapter seven, the story of the spirit of God at work in the church, growing the church in the area of the city of Jerusalem and the amazing things he did with Pentecost and the subsequent events after that season two began with chapter eight and is ending here at chapter 12, where in season two, God is taking the church and is extending the ministry of the gospel going out of just the city of Jerusalem and its confines into the area of Judea and then north into Samaria and even spilling up into, uh, Northern regions above that. <br /><br /> It has taken us in chapter 11, as we saw last week. To, to Antioch a city 250 miles north, which will actually become after this chapter, the epicenter for the church, it will become the sending center to this work of season three, which is where the church is going to go to the ends of the known earth of that time. <br /><br /> For 11 chapters, the church has been growing and expanding like waves that are, that are spreading father and fathering out with their ripple effect. But in chapter 12, we return as Dr. Luke takes us back to Jerusalem and gives us a look 15 years after the day of Pentecost. And as we return, we find a stunning development. <br /><br /> There is a climactic battle taking place. It's a battle of two Kings king Jesus. And king hear it. It reminds us that as Jesus kingdom spreads, it is not without opposition. To this point. The opposition has primarily been from the Jewish leaders. Now it is civil authorities. The Roman empire is actually getting engaged. <br /><br /> We are treated here to one of the most interesting events in the entire book of acts. And I'd like to read aloud versus, well, this chapter, I'm gonna read it through quickly. Chapter 12 of acts about that time herd the king laid violent hands on some who belong to the church. He killed James, the brother of John with the sword. <br /><br /> And when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter. Also, this was during the days of 11 bread and when he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him intending after the Passover, to bring him out to the people. So Peter was kept in prison, but Ernest's prayer for him was made to God by the church. <br /><br /> Now inherit was about to bring him out on that very night. Peter was sleeping between two soldiers bound with two chains and centuries before the door were guarding the prison and behold, an angel of the Lord stood next to him in a light shown in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him saying, get up quickly. <br /><br /> And the change fell off his hands. And the angel said to him, dress yourself and put on your sandals. And as he did, and he did so, and he said to him, wrap your cloth, cloak around you and follow me. And he went and followed him. He did not know what was being done was done by the angel was. But thought he was seeing a vision when they had passed the first and the second guard, they came to the iron gate, leading into the city. <br /><br /> It opened for them of its own accord. And they went out and went along one street and immediately the angel left him. When Peter came to himself, he said, now I am sure that the Lord has sent the, his angel and rescued me from the hand of herd. And from all the Jewish people were expecting. When he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John, whose other name was mark, where many were gathered together and were praying. <br /><br /> And when he knocked at the door of the gateway, a servant girl named Rhoda, came to answer recognizing Peter's voice in her joy. She did not open the gate, but ran and reported that Peter was standing at the gate. They said to her, you are outta your mind, but she kept insisting that it was so, and they kept saying it is his angel, but Peter continued knocking. <br /><br /> And when they had opened, they saw him and were amazed, but meant motioning to him, to them with his hand to be silent. He. Described to them, how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, tell these things to James and to the brothers. Then he departed and went to another place. Now, when the day came, there was no little disturbance among the soldiers over what had become of Peter and, and after herd searched for him and did not find him. <br /><br /> He examined centuries and ordered that they should be put to death. Then he went down from Judea to Caesarea and spent time there. Now, Herod was angry with the people of tire and side, and they came to him with one accord and having persuaded blast us the King's Chamberlain. They asked for peace because their country depended on the King's country for food on an appointed day herd put on his Royal robes, took his seat upon the throne and delivered an oration to them. <br /><br /> And the people were shouting the voice of a God and not of a man immediately. An angel of the Lord struck him down because he did not give God as glory. And he was eaten by worms and breathed his last. But the word of God increased and multiplied and Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had completed their service, bringing with them, John, whose other name was mark Lord, we look to you this morning, God, we read this incredible story and it reminds us of what an incredible God we know and serve. <br /><br /> Lord, teach us through these moments together that we might embrace, that we might have our own perspective of life adjusted to align with what we see in the lives of these believers here. As they saw the power of God in such a miraculous way in Jesus' name. I pray this amen. The passage that we read this morning and are going to be focused on, on is about power. <br /><br /> The book of acts is about power and acts one eight, the theme of the book, as we've highlighted it, many times you shall receive power when the holy spirit comes upon you and you'll be witnesses to me, the events of chapter 12, there is no human reason that the power of Imperial Rome was overcome by a rag tag group of no names. <br /><br /> Only God, the church conquers not by political might or leverage, not by winning popularity votes and having famous spokespeople in pop stars and prominent cultural icons. The church conquers by God's spirit being unleashed through God's people crying out to him. This final episode in series two reminds us of where the church's true power lies. <br /><br /> I'd like to look at three things as quick as I can. This this morning. Number one, we see the believers faced a furious power in king. Her just a little historical background of who this guy is that we're talking about here in, in, in acts chapter 12, there were actually three members of what was known as the hero Rodian dynasty that are very prominent in the new Testament. <br /><br /> The first of those is a guy named herd. The great herd. The great was the one that killed the children in Bethlehem. When Jesus was born herd, the great was an individual that was actually from the country of ed Eden, which is down. If you think of Israel here, em was down in the Southeast corner of that. <br /><br /> When the Romans were trying to penetrate the very Eastern border of the Mediterranean sea and to extend their empire there, it was a local guy named Harriet who was the greatest warrior for Rome and was ultimately honored by them. When Rome did conquer all of the Eastern border of the Mediterranean sea, he was called herd. <br /><br /> The great, because he was a powerful leader. Not only was he powerful mil militarily, but he was a brilliant builder. He was the one that built the giant temple of Jerusalem. It's why it's called heritage temple. He was the one that built palaces and other edifices throughout Judea and Samaria. And, and up into the, the, the Eastern sides of the Jordan river. <br /><br /> He was prominent, many have called him the most powerful leader of this part of the ancient near east. For three centuries. This is a big time guy inherit. The great was honored by the Roman leadership by being given the, the Lordship over that whole region of the Eastern part of the Mediterranean sea. <br /><br /> His son was a man named her anus. We see him in the new Testament as well. Actually, I put one third. I, I, I miswrote, it. He actually, when her the great died, his kingdom was divided into four parts. And one of those was given to her anus. He was the one over Judea. He was the one that interviewed Jesus when Jesus was crucified. <br /><br /> But now we come to our featured performer and his name is hero APA. It's what he's known as historically her APA, the first he was the grandson of hero, the great her APA, the first. Was an individual and I'm gonna bring up a map here to just walk this through quickly. He was raised in Rome and while in Rome, that is pretty tiny. <br /><br /> Isn't it? T grip was raised in Rome and he was childhood friends, students with two guys named Caligula who became the emperor and Claudia, who became the emperor when Caligula was assassinated. These were buds of herd, a GRPA as he was growing up as a student and they were lifelong associates. Here grip. <br /><br /> If you look at these regions, then I'm just gonna point this on one of them. If you look at the region in yellow, that was given to him by Calla, when he was emperor in 37 ad the lighter green was given to him by Calla in 39 ad the larger portion, which includes Judea and Samaria was given to him in 41 ad. <br /><br /> And this area up in the north was given to him. Uh, the red part was given to him by col by Claudias right before the events we're reading about. In other words, in the last three years hero, a GRPA has been given all of the problem. He has almost the entire region that heroed the great had. He is an incredibly powerful leader. <br /><br /> He is literally the buddy. Of the emperor, the two emperors of Rome. And the second one that got in Claudias got in, because there were a few, uh, leaders in the Roman empire that supported him. One of whom was HERDA GRPA. He is an individual that basically controls all of this area. He was given the title king, which was unusual for the Romans to do, but they recognized such loyalty inherited GRPA. <br /><br /> They recognized that he, that he was the, uh, the potentate over such a prominent position. He's the Eastern edge of the Roman empire that they let him call himself king. He is in a strategic position. This is a terrible guy to have as an enemy, <br /><br /> but it isn't only that that the church is facing here. The populace and religious leadership are against them. We've, we've read in the early part of the book of acts, how they, it, they, it said the church had favor with all the people, not so much anymore. It's been 15 years. And the animosity of the religious leadership that is constantly speaking against the, the, the Christian sect, as they viewed, it has begun to wear on people, their detention, the, the animosity has grown the favor with the populace has soured during these 15 years, so that when herd a GRPA right before the feast of, of Passover and, and leaven bread, which was an eight day feast, right before that, when he takes James, the brother of John, one of the three bigs, James, John, and Peter, with a triumvirate of, of apostles, Confidants of Jesus. <br /><br /> When he takes one of him, he takes him and he takes some other people leaders in the church and he beheads James. He senses the favor of the people, the statement it says here, it pleased the J so the next thing he does is he grabs Peter. The most prominent voice in the early church brings him in and only doesn't behead him because he doesn't wanna offend the Jews who, who would not allow such a thing. <br /><br /> They would consider such a thing as sacrilege, even if they supported the event to happen during the high feast days. So he is waiting. It is now the final day of the feast. The final day has actually ended at sunset. It is now nighttime. The next morning, Peter is due to lose his head. This is the scenario. <br /><br /> The populace is against them. There's another thing that's going on that I think would've added to the, to the sense of just feeling overwhelmed and intimidated to the church. This is the feast of PA Passover in tabernacle. I want you to think of ocean city for a minute. Have you ever been there? Ocean city, New Jersey. <br /><br /> There are about 12,000 residents in November, in July. There's over 150,000 residents, 12 and a half times as many people that's exactly Jerusalem. There were about 80,000 people during the high feast day of Passover and tab of Fe, uh, um, 11 bread Josefa says there were a million people that came a Jewish historian of, of the first century, 12 and a half times. <br /><br /> It's ocean city. In July 4th weekend, it's crazy down there. That's what's happening in Jerusalem and all this is going on. And most of these Jews from the other parts of the world are not Christians yet have not been exposed to the gospel. So now you're surrounded and, and not only is the majority voice of people in Jerusalem, contrary to church, even though you've seen amazing things happen, you still, you feel this. <br /><br /> I mean, this is 15 years later. This is heart. This is intimidating. And this is what they're facing when they face king herd planning the next morning to kill the guy that is clearly the voice of the early church, but the believers, secondly, aligned with a far greater power. In king Jesus. Notice what they did. <br /><br /> First of all, they remembered what their king had done. 15 years ago was Pentecost. They have remembered 3000 people on that day, embracing Christ to savior. They have remembered as the God at the book of acts tells us that many of the priests have embraced Jesus as their savior. The Samaritans have believed the CFO from Ethiopia has believed Saul. <br /><br /> The scholar turned prime percu. The hit dog of the religious leaders has astonishingly the, a proponent and a defender of the faith of Jesus. A pagan Roman officer in chapter 10 and his household have believed. and now they're meeting in houses around the city, as they've always done, they're not doing some of the things we've always done. <br /><br /> We don't read of the meeting in the, in the, in the, in the temple anymore. Remember how they all preached and taught every day in Solomon's Portico. We don't hear that anymore. Now they have moved in. They've gone back to life 15 years. I mean, you, you, you can't have evangelistic meetings every day. For 15 years, they've gone back and doing business. <br /><br /> The Christians are doing life, but there's one thing that they have. They have founded their lives on. They're constantly meeting in houses. They're constantly gathering together for fellowship, the breaking of bread, the opening of the word and prayer. This is their default mode. They have lost. Prestige to some degree because of the, the continual wearing opposition of the religious leadership now added to that as the civil leadership, but they are remembering and they are embracing and they are counting on the all powerful Jesus being with them. <br /><br /> So what they do is they pursue their king with ENT prayer. We read this in verse five. So Peter was kept in prison during the days of the feast. That is, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church. This word earnest is actually from two words, stretch. Out. It means they, they, they were all in it's it's, you know, athletic terms. <br /><br /> We say, leave it all in the field. I mean, just put everything out there. It's used of Jesus in Luke 22, 44, when he was in the garden, it says this and being in agony, he prayed earnestly and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. The church is crying out to God, the church, not only in this one house, but the church in houses all over Jerusalem is praying together, crying out to God. <br /><br /> Romans power structure is fully operational in Romans 12. but so is the churches, it wasn't on the throne of Jerusalem. It was in a house over here in a house over here in a house over there where people just folks are gathering together. There's nobody that we read of in this passage, in Mary's house. <br /><br /> That is one of the muck mucks. He says, rather Peter says to them, tell James, who's the head of the church. Now the brother of Jesus and tell the other leaders, this is just one house, but it is a group of people that are crying out to God. The church is at war. So they call up to up the commander, the commander who shuts lion's mouths, who crushes Pharaoh's chariots. <br /><br /> Who makes roads through the sea who sends fire from heaven, who breaks chains and opens prison's door. This was a church movement that went forward on its niece. <br /><br /> And now we see what their king did in response. I'm just gonna summarize verse six in following Peter's course chain. We're told how it is he's. If there's ever a maximum security environment, it was this one he's in Antonio's fortress, which was that, that Roman Garrison, that was right next to the, uh, temple. <br /><br /> And apparently he's put in there and they give very unusual. Usually if you have a dangerous prisoner, a Roman guard would be chained to you in your cell. Peter has two, one on each. He also has two guys that are outside his, uh, this doesn't mean they're, they're all over the prison, but four of them are right around Peter's room. <br /><br /> And there are four different shifts and every few hours, the shift changes, two more guys manacled to Peter and two more guys outside. He is in utterly shut, down maximum security environment, but here's what we read, what their king did with Peter. And every part of the account is just highlighting that Peter had nothing to do with this Peter's asleep. <br /><br /> When the angel comes, the angel has to prod him awake and into action. The change fall off. He has to be told to dress as if he's being given a series of numbers. This is one of my favorite parts. First he says, put on your clothes. Put on your shoes, then he says, uh, wrap your clock around. You follow me. I mean, it's like 1, 2, 3, come on. <br /><br /> You can do this, Peter, you can do this. And he does. And he sort of staggering along and they go and a door opens and another door opens and then they come to the outer gate. And there's this amazing statement that's that we read about in verse 10. Here's what it says. And the gate of the prison opened for them of its own accord. <br /><br /> The word of its own accord is actually the word in the greed mater. When I guess what that's from, it's an automatic door. The angel brings his angelic easy pass. And just, just so scooting through as the door opens, it's an automatic door before. They go out in the city. Peter's not finally for the first time realizes for sure. <br /><br /> He's not dreaming. This entire thing is all God, not only do we see what the king did for Peter, but we have to see what the king did to herd. And then I'm gonna try to wrap all this together herd when he wakes up the next morning, beginning in verse 18 and he calls and it they're ready for the execution. <br /><br /> You know, this is, this is execution day. I mean, this is gonna really win the populace his way. When he takes the top dog, the guy's gone. He executes the, the guards, cuz that was normally what you did. If, if you had a prisoner escape, you would then take his sentence and say were executed. Then we read an interesting account where if I can bring that map up again, that. <br /><br /> Herd who again, I told you all these colored sections are herd's region, but if you look up in the orange there, along the sea, that up here there's tire inside, those are a province that were separate, but are very much dependent on herd's domain. He goes to a city called Caesarea and these guys all come down tire inside and come down. <br /><br /> And that's where they make the they're just trying to suck up to him because they depend on him with all the food stuffs, all the produce of Judea and they, they want him on their side and he's mad at him for some reason. And so they declare this isn't the voice of a man is the voice of a God Josephus. <br /><br /> The, the first century historian actually records this historic event. And he says, his statement is the people were crying. This is not a mere mortal. And at that moment, her who has stood against king Jesus long enough. Accepting the very praise of God to himself. God takes his life. And the story that Luke is recording is just saying this amazingly powerful man was vanquished by the true king. <br /><br /> There's a last part of this sermon. I wanna focus on cuz I really wanna put some shoes to it, to us, the believers experience the power of king Jesus. Why you say well, because God sovereignly chose to. Yes, I agree with that, but why them? Why not us? This kind of thing. God chooses the seasons and the times when he is going to make himself known. <br /><br /> But it just seems so otherworldly to imagine. There are two things that I wanna highlight here. These people were utterly convinced of their desperation for Christ. You know, you think about this, that's going on and, and, and you hear how, how, uh, herd has now come to Jerusalem. And he's now, man, he's really feeling it. <br /><br /> He, he, his, his realm is just expanding and expanding. And Judea is the center of his, his new realm. He's only had it a couple years. He's there in Jerusalem and, and he's feeling it out. And he takes Ja. He doesn't like what he hears about the, this Christian sect. And so he basically tries a trial balloon and he takes James one of the key apostles and he beheads him and, and he gets good response. <br /><br /> You know, people, they dig this. Do we use dig anymore? Sorry, all millennials. If you're wondering what that means, it means they enjoyed it, but they, they, so here you are in the church and you say, okay, let's get a protest going. I mean, let's get out there. I mean, this guy obviously cares about public opinion. <br /><br /> We need to be heard, get some banners. Let's do posters. Let's go out let's let's Mar around Jerusalem and say, har, you know, there's people we want, let Peter go. Let Peter go. Nothing might say, whoa, I, you don't understand. Wouldn't have worked. Yeah, probably not. But there's no sense. These people thought of any other alternatives, but their natural go-to, they prayed. <br /><br /> They cried out to God. That they sensed. This is where our power is the power we read about. I mean, salmon Magus. We've talked about him in chapter eight. What he wanted of the church was their power. But I talked about the power that he wanted was a totally different type of power than he than was being offered to the church. <br /><br /> But they wanted the power that enables them to represent Christ, to see Christ alive through their lives. These Christians have seen the devil's power. They had faced acute persecution. James was beheaded. They had recognized it. Isn't going to be by winning the political war that they're going to spiritually win. <br /><br /> It's never been true. It's never going to be true. The issue here was they needed to know there was only one real source that could help them. They needed got. They didn't have plan B to go to the vitality of the church is always a result of the desperation of its members. The church of Jesus is always sickest when it's members feel self-sufficient that's of course, what, what John was saying in revelation chapter three, when he is talking to various churches, but he highlights the church of Leo DC. <br /><br /> And he says these startling words in verse 15 and following, I know your works, you're neither cold nor hot wood that you were either cold or hot. So because you're Luke warm and neither hot nor cold, I'll spit you outta my mouth for you say I'm rich, I've prospered. And I need nothing. Not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. <br /><br /> You say, okay, mark. I, I, I hear you. I, I need to be desperate, but I don't feel desperate. I need to pray, but I don't pray. I know Jesus has been moments in my life where I've felt that, but, but I don't pray this way now. You don't pray until you feel desperate. I honestly, that I, I don't see a lot of value in me standing up here and saying, you need to pray more. <br /><br /> You won't, you won't pray until you feel the need to pray. You won't really seek God until you are compelled to go there. So, so what do you got for me, mark? I mean, yeah, there's been a few times. I mean, am I supposed to, am I supposed to pursue crisis in calamity and catastrophe? I mean, I've had a few of those mark. <br /><br /> I mean, I, I remember when my wife got the report that she might have cancer. Remember when our business was, we were just trying to get it started. I, I remember when I lost my, my position. I remember when I first became a Christian and, and realized that people were, were, were not buying in and, and it was opposition to me and, and people thought I was crazy and all those times, yeah, I, I prayed. <br /><br /> Why cuz you felt desperate, you felt needy, you cried out to God, so, okay. What does that mean? Do we have to, do we have to hope that something happens to us to free you from your lackadaisical perspective? What do I do mark? Do I hope for a crisis? Do I pray for calamity for catastrophe? Is that what you want for us as our pastor? <br /><br /> I'll tell you quite honestly, in some ways I do in some ways I do hope that for some of you. who are settling for a bla tasting unre, refreshing Unsal, uh, go with the flow meaningless Christian life that God will shake the cage, but there's also something I'll offer. That's a little more positive. I think you can do what these believers were doing. <br /><br /> It is what was true of these believers. You can have an attitude shift about your life, and that's the second thing we find. They were consumed with their calling from Christ. They were not distracted by settling for too little in their Christian life. Ultimately, they knew that God didn't give them a job ultimately to make money for their family. <br /><br /> that ultimately God didn't put them in the school where they, they went to for today. It isn't, he put you in the college ultimately to get a degree in a school, to be educated on a ball club, to have fun at all those things come, but he puts you in the school and the college and the ball club and the office and the neighborhood you're in because there's a mission there because he has called you there, that the issue that he's talking about, and you say, well, mark, I can't add anything in my life. <br /><br /> I can't start now being involved with my neighbors and trying to lead him to Jesus. And I, I, I don't have, I don't have no space. I'm already, I mean, it's big. I'm here this morning because I'm overwhelmed with life. I'm not talking about doing addition. I'm talking about doing adjustment about adjusting our thinking and saying. <br /><br /> How did these Christians look at life? I mean, they're just average. Joe's most of them, the big wigs weren't even at Mary's house. And yet Peter went there because he knew these were people that would be laying hold of God. <br /><br /> These people saw themselves as representatives of Jesus Christ to their generation. They weren't just going with the flow. I'll guarantee you, if you say God, I want an attitude adjustment and how I do my job and how I look at my job about how I look at my neighborhood is how I look at the sports team. <br /><br /> My kids are that God, I wanna look at it as all parts of my life are. You have placed me there by sovereign intention, and I wanna be available to you. he will begin to open doors. He'll begin. There'll be things that will start to happen. You won't have to, oh, I gotta add this. You know, I gotta, I gotta, I gotta now reshuffle my entire life. <br /><br /> No, you don't need to add, you need to adjust. You need to rethink and what you'll find as you begin to make yourself available to the Lord, you will have things to pray about. There'll be opposition, there'll be opportunities. There'll just be things that begin. But the devil's greatest cha the greatest issue that he uses in our lives, his threat is to just sideline Christians, Dietrich, Bonhoeffer wrote the book, cost a discipleship. <br /><br /> He was the man who he died at 39 years old in Nazi, Germany killed by Hitler. Dietrich Bon hoer. I was just reading him again recently. And I was struck by a statement. He said he, he made I'm gonna paraphrase it, but I think I'm pretty close. He said the concern I have with Christians is we tend to look at Christianity as it is a, it is a faith of the gaps. <br /><br /> Like when there are gaps in our life, the gaps he describes are things like weaknesses or guilts over our failures. He said, when we have those things, we tend to view that's where God is involved in our life, in the gaps I need. And when I'm broke and when I've lost my job, when I get a scary medical report, when the economy's bad, I, I, I want 'em to the gaps and I cry out to him when I've really screwed up with the internet continually. <br /><br /> And I can't seem to give, then I begin to, I sense, oh, I need 'em in the gaps. but he said he isn't God of the gaps. Yes, we are driven to him then, but he says, he is the God of the, all he said, he's the God of our strengths. He's the God of our energy. And in those moments where we're not desperately feeling the gaps like, oh man, life is just terrifying to me. <br /><br /> Oh, I'm broke. And I'm worried. And you say, well, mark, I, I, no, I'm not really fueling those ways. And I don't have catastrophe going and I, some of you do, but I'm not having, I don't have all that. So I don't know. I, I just don't feel that fired up to pray. I don't feel that fi and stop looking at God is only available to the gaps that he's allowed you to be strong. <br /><br /> He's allowed you to have energy. He's allowed you to now, you don't have to live. And in those moments when we're just overwhelmed with, with heartache and struggle and, and crisis. man, what you're doing a lot of your Christian life, just holding onto Jesus. Right? But what if you're not there? What if you're not in the gaps? <br /><br /> What if you've got energy and strength? Where is it going? God says, I'm giving you that opportunity. I'm giving you the season where you are available, but I'm the God of the strengths. I'm the God of the energy moments. I'm God who wants to be center of all your life. These people got it. So when the comedy time came, they did what they did. <br /><br /> They cried out to God, but this isn't the first time these people prayed. The whole book of acts is they got together and prayed good times, bad times because they saw themselves as people on mission all the time. <br /><br /> They were just folks who saw Jesus was big and they were trying to glorify Jesus in their own lives and were convinced of the need to depend on him, to cry out to him in the gap seasons. And in the times of strength. What about us? We're ending summer now. You're all mad at me. If you're even bringing that up, , we're looking at a new year of life, settling into new rhythms. <br /><br /> What a beautiful time to say God, I wanna adjust the way I look at life. I wanna not have to wait for calamity in crisis to cry out to you. I wanna have you be God of my strengths, God, of my seasons of pro seeming prosperity. And you say, well, mark, look at the stock ring, stop it compared to where we are. <br /><br /> I'm not even gonna get into what the rest of the world, just, we're not in desperation, we're in strength. But John said in the book of Leo to see a boy, be careful, that's a dangerous time because you don't feel your desperation and you miss out on the power that is available to you just because you're not in the gaps, but it's a season when God can use you for his glory. <br /><br /> Lord, we look to you, God, we're closing this service now. I want to thank you for quells story Lord, because it's your story. Thank you for her willingness to exalt you, to praise you, to allow you to use her life as an instrument of praise to you. <br /><br /> Lord. That's why you've brought all of us to you. That we'd be on mission that we see every part of our life belongs to Christ. So God do that, which it, you seem delight to do stir your people. God help us to be people that say not just in the gaps, Lord. But now today, tomorrow, show yourself strong in our lives and Lord buy your grace, bring things into our lives, whatever it means, whatever it needs to make us desperate criers for God in Jesus name. <br /><br /> Amen. Amen.</div> false no <![CDATA[Meanwhile... Christians]]> Acts 11:19-30

"For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians."



Sermon Transcript:

Thank you, pastor mark. That was, uh, certainly very kind. And you said it exactly the way I had written it down. So now, you know, you never, uh, you never know what, uh, the worship experience is gonna be like, it's the coolest, and I use that word exactly the way it's supposed to be meant. It is the coolest thing to me to watch the way the spirit works.

I had no idea what songs they're gonna sing. They have no idea what I'm gonna be preaching, but that the spirit, um, Is at work to the ends of the earth becomes evident week after week after week. I'm sure you see it here. I'm sure the worship team experiences, the pastors of speakers, as they realize that there's somebody over it, all who is overseeing this thing.

We can come in and really try to screw it up. And he has his way in making sure that his people, that their hearts have been prepared and that they are fed as they leave this place, that song. And, uh, I had never heard it before, but the, the words there's no power, like the mighty name of Jesus. It's really hard to sit here and not for me not to burst into tears.

Keep those words in mind. I'm gonna show my hand a little bit by the, by the end of, uh, my sermon this morning, the believers in Antioch will take for themselves. They will be given the name Christians. It's the mighty name of Jesus. that they're given and that they bear to their world. So lemme just start by saying good morning and greet and, uh, give you my greetings from Collwood.

It's hard to not be there, but it's a pleasure to be here with you this morning. I think, uh, as, as you've been following along and we follow along, um, this act series in Collwood, just like you are. Um, but mark has been using an analogy he's kind of handed it to all of us who are part of this. This really, this act series really is a team effort among all of the pastors and has been so fun to be engaged in that team.

And, and in this series, um, even if we're not speaking, our voices are being heard and it has been a lot of fun, but this analogy of a TV series or a multi act play, whichever the TV series probably works better for us. Because especially in this day of, in this age of being able to binge. Episodes are a whole season all at once, which is a wonderful invention.

Um, we, we kind of get our heads wrapped around that we can just move. Bing, Bing, Bing, Bing, Bing, uh, through a series season, one of this series saw we're following, um, what Jesus said, you will be witness my witnesses to Jerusalem, to Judea, to Samaria, and to the other, most parts of the world season one was the gospel to Jerusalem.

And we, we saw that season two has been the one we are in now tracking the spread of the gospel into Judea and Samaria some area. And we've been following three main storylines and we've, this has been re reiterated many times, but it's worth the telling the storyline of Philip, the storyline of solve Tarsis and the storyline of Peter.

And here we are at the end of season two, and I don't wanna give away any there's no, um, uh, uh, what am I trying to say? There's no, uh, like, uh, spoilers for season three. I won't give away anything, but we're at the end of season two where we're wrapping up season two. The last two series have been finishing up the storyline of Peter, but not yet.

We're not done with Peter yet. There's still chapter 12. Um, and today we're going to reintroduce solf Tarsis who has been away in Tarsis, uh, for quite a, quite a while. Now we're beginning to set the stage for season three, but whenever you're teaching, whenever you're walking through a historical narrative, the most important thing, or one of the most important things is to keep our bearings to understand where we are at all times in the story, because we can get lost.

This is a, uh, moving story and it's not just to be wonderful if Luke just started here and he gave us all of the details all the way through, and we knew that we were following just chronologically, but this story is too big to tell like that. And so instead there is some jumping around chronologically.

If you've ever spent any time hiking in the woods, then you know, it's easy to become disoriented as teachers. It's our job to make sure you do not become disoriented. You always know where you think you are, the rule. Number one, when you're in the woods, if you get lost, the first thing you do is you admit, you're lost.

You sit down and you say I'm lost. Instead of running around in a panic, you, you kept you capture yourself and you figure out where you are. You know, they say X marks, the spot X marks the spot, but X on a map alone is completely worthless in determining where you are. You've all done it. You need to get to some place in the mall.

So you go immediately, cuz you don't have any time to waste. You go immediately to the kiosk and there's the map. And you're looking for the thing that says you are here. And that is the most worthless information a map can give you because of course you're here. Here is where you always are. I'm always here.

Even if I'm in my car here is where I am. As I move right here is worthless until. Here is related or becomes relative to some other something. It just needs something. So you look at the kiosk, you're looking at, okay, I'm here and it says Macy's is here and you look that way and Macy's isn't there. No Macy's is there, okay.

This map's upside down. So now you reorient yourself and you say, okay, my store is C 21 and it's not near Macy's, it's near pennies. So I need to go that way right now. We know now X means something to you. Y because it's relative to other things, when you're in the woods, um, if you're on a well marked trail, it's pretty simple.

Usually if you've ever hiked in the woods, there's a blaze. Somebody has walked down this trail before there is a trail, and they've painted blue marks in the trees or red marks, sometimes blue and red or pink trails, converge trails, diverge, which is exactly what's happened in our story. But it's easy because it's mark and you just have to trust the trailblazer that he's gonna get you to where you're, you're expecting to go.

Sometimes it's just as simple as knowing where is north and where is south? The funniest thing? My wife has no sense of direction whatsoever. Whenever she says, she'll say we need to go to Deford. And I say, where's Deford and she always points here. Doesn't matter. It's it's here. It's over this shoulder.

She'll say I need to go to my dad's where's your dad he's here. So I'll say Linda, Linda, the sun comes up here every morning and it sets over here every morning. It rides across the Southern sky in our hemisphere. So we know that's south. That means this is north. And she says, and how is that supposed to help me?

I don't know. Sometimes walking in the woods is as simple as keeping a feature of land on your right or on your left. There's a mountain. If I keep that mountain, I'm gonna walk this valley through this valley, the Mountain's there. I'm gonna, I have to skirt this lake all the way until we hit the stream.

And then I'm gonna walk this way out in the stream. And it's that simple. Sometimes if you're really lost. If you don't know where you are, if the woods are deeper, sometimes you have to get the higher ground where you can say, I can see that mountain there. So I'm here. I can pull out my map. I can get out my compass.

I can, I can take a bearing to that mountain. And if I'm really lucky and there's another one, and now I can really, I can find out exactly where I am, because I know where those things are. Um, in 1994, I was, uh, Linda and I were youth pastors for many years at our former church, um, at grace Bible church in Barrington.

And um, about 10 years we served as youth pastors. Actually, we went through four youth leaders under four youth, youth pastors under us as we were youth leaders. Now we worked alongside of four. I know to you at this church, that's like, doesn't even make sense for youth pastors in 10 years. Um, you're a, you're a blessed people.

On this, I used to love to take the young boys around, around in October, around Columbus day, we would do a, a trip, a camping trip, a real camping trip in the woods, up in the Adirondacks. We would go to a Faroh lake. We real, yeah. Wilderness region. I dunno if you've ever been up there, but it's beautiful.

It's easy. It's accessible, but it's a real hike. And on this one trip, um, it was that youth pastor's first trip with us. We had about, I don't know, 15 boys and I took my son. This was his first excursion into the woods, uh, overnight. Uh, he was eight I think. And he had his own, I got him a real backpack and he was loving life.

We're walking on a trail and it's digging in. He said, dad, I like the pain. So . I said you're stupid. No. Um, let me fix your pack for you. Anyway, we. On this trip. And in our, in that youth group, we had a boy, a young man. His name was chip chip was if I said, um, Poe on Kung Fu Panda, um, that wouldn't be, that would give you a good idea of, of, of how chip was built.

He was a big guy in every way. Um, anyway, one of the things you need to know about chip is chip also had been born with cerebral palsy and it wasn't terrible. He, um, cerebral palsy is, you know, there's levels of it. Chip, um, spoke. No problem. He, he limped a bit. And when he got, um, you know, distracted, his, his hands would curl just a bit, but he, but he was very, if you didn't know he had it, you wouldn't know that he had it.

Well, here we are in the woods and Chip's a big guy. So of course, as we're climbing fair mountain the next day, uh, the second day, Chip's because he's big. Not because he has CP, he's falling behind the rest. The rest of the guys are running up the hill. Well, I just took off my, my son's there. So I just took off with the, with the kids.

We got to the top of the mountain first and our youth pastor ended up staying with chip on the way up the mountain. So by we're all done with lunch, when they finally hit the top of the mountain and the youth pastor we're, you know, the kids are running around, we get gather 'em together. He said, okay, it's your job to stay with chip on the way down, which is fair.

And as we're going down, everybody's gone and it's just chip. And I, we're having a great time walking down the hill and chip he's behind me, lets me know he's having a very difficult time because he's concentrating on not tripping and he's concentrating so hard. He said, look at my hands. And his hands were like, were, were useless to him.

That's what he said. My my hands are useless because I have to concentrate so hard. So we were moving slowly down the mountain. He is a trooper. We get down in the mountain. I know we get to the, to the bottom, the, it hits the, the shore of the lake shoreline of the lake, and that's great. And now I have to go west and that's fine, but chip isn't gonna make it.

And the sun is already very low in the sky. Fortunately, I gotta tell the story fast. Fortunately, we found a row boat over by our campsite must have been in duck. Hunter hit it back there, whatever, and the boys are having a blast, but I say to chip chip, you stay here and I'm gonna go get the rowboat and I'll come back for it.

And he's more than happy with that arrangement. So he sits down and I try to take a lay of the land to see where he is, where the shoreline, what it looks like, and didn't really help me. But so then I take off, well, I know, I know because I've walked this trail many. That there's gonna come a spot and I'm gonna lose the trail.

You always do. If it was broad daylight, you would lose the trail. It just dips down in this muddy, uh, hollow and it's nasty. And you're not, I'm not gonna lose the trail, but I know where the lake is. So I've got this distinguishing feature. And I know that if I just keep that to my left, I'll be fine. I'll hit the trail again.

Well, sure enough. I hit this spot. I lose the trail and I just, I just keep going. Right. Bush whacking it. I make it through, I come across a lean too, that I know there's a family there and they have a dog and I don't wanna get bit. So I just kind of keep my way around it. Soon enough. I hear people yelling, my name, yelling our names, and it's our rescue crew and my son's in the front.

And he's so worried cuz dad's in the dark, in the woods and we get around. Then we get the rowboat, we start heading out the lake and we can't see anything. And we can't hear anything. There's no moon. It's just dark. And of course we had heard from other campers that there was a bear spotted in the area.

And I'm thinking if this boy gets eaten by a bear, his mom is gonna kill me. So finally, we're, we're just rowing, we're yelling chip. We're not getting any back. And then we hear faintly off in the distance. Do you remember these commercials? We hear Ricola and Chip's just sitting there yelling that, you know, yoing, Ricola.

And finally we hear him, we get him in the good, good news is the bear didn't kill him. Or he, him and his mom thought it was the funny story. Well, that's the way we want to keep our track. We need to keep our bearings when we're telling a story, especially a historical narrative and our author knows that he is writing a historical narrative and he's laid out breadcrumbs.

He's laid out in markers, he's blazed a trail and he's letting us know exactly where he is. These markers. Are related to some of his markers are related to time. Some are related to place and some are related to people. What I wanna do now is I wanna read this story acts chapter 11. If you have your Bibles acts chapter 11 verses 19 through 30, let's read this story and let's look for these markers and see if we can't figure out where we are in the story.

Acts chapter 11, verse 19. Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Steven traveled as far as FIA and Cyprus and Antioch speaking the word to no one, except Jews. But there were some of them, men of Cypress and sire, who on coming to Antioch, spoke with the, the Greeks, the heist also preaching the Lord Jesus.

And the hand of the Lord was with them and a great number who believed, turned to the Lord. The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent barn Barnabas to Antioch. And when he came and he saw the grace of God, he was glad. And he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with stead F's purpose for, he was a good man full of the holy spirit and faith, and a great many people were added to the Lord.

So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul. And when he found him, he brought him to Antioch for a whole year. They met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch, the disciples were first called Christians. Now in these days, prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch and one of them was named AGAs.

Named Aus stood up and Fort told by the spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world. This took place in the days of Claudias. So the disciples determined each one, according to his ability to send relief to the brothers, living in Judea. And they did so sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and SA.

So what are these markers? Well, first of all, in verse 28, and this is huge, Luke says that this took place during the reign of Claudias Claudias. We know we don't have to look at the Bible for this Claudias we know from world history was the Caesar. He was the fourth Caesar. He served after Caligula and before Nero, he was on the throne from 41 until his death in 54.

And we also know from extra biblical sources that a famine hit hit the, the Mediterranean, the region of the Mediterranean in the year 46. So whatever we want to do with the timeline of acts, bringing us up to this point, we know. That in the year 46, while Claudias was raining as emperor, there was a famine.

So that narrows our window down to about a five year time period because he began his rain in 41 and the famine starts in 46. So whew. We just brought it down. We have, we know we can triangulate from here where we are in the history of the world, in our story, another time marker. He, he says for a whole year, they met with the church and a great in verse 26 and a great number of P um, and taught a great number of people.

So in one of those five years from 41 to 46, Paul and Barnabas SA and Barnabas, I should say Barnabas and SA at this point, met and taught there in Antioch for an entire year. So if we said, uh, let's say that the a agaist predicts in early 46. Well, then that means that Paul and, and the famine happens in that year, then that means.

in 40, in 40, probably from 45 to 46, Paul and barn, Paul and Barnabas saw and Barnas are there, but if it moves back a little bit, if he was in 45. So anyway, we're, we're within a window of just a few years, probably in the year, somewhere time between 43 and 45 is when this happens and then we have the word now, now is the time word always is.

It's a word that is intended to get us to consider the question of time relative to this story. And we're gonna look at that in, in, in a little bit verse 19, but before we do, let's look at just these other markers there's, um, place markers. I have a slide. I think I do. The big map. Do you have that one?

There you go. Can you see that at all? So if you remember Mark's maps from previous weeks, there's just, it it's just been around Israel. You see, uh, sea of Galilee down to the, to the red sea. It's that tiny little bit, it's actually an area of about 75 miles is all this, but this is the world we mentioned, uh, siren Cyrene if you look at the word, it says new, the new Testament where right where the word, the T and Testament that's where Cyrene is.

It's all, it's 800 miles from Jerusalem. Fania is the area that's north of it's where Syria is where Syria meets the sea. It's a region north of dam Damascus, a big region, but it's not, it's not, it's not a country. It's just a regional thing. Um, all the way up to.

He mentions Antioch, Antioch. You see it? I think you can see it. There it's way up there. Antioch was a famous city, uh, in, in the Roman empire. Um, he mentions Tarsus, which is around the curve. If you go Antioch, if you wanna across the ocean, it's about 90 miles. If you wanna go around by land, it's gonna be about 150 miles.

What I'm, what Paul, what Luke is letting us know is that the scope of the spread of the gospel now has quadrupled 70 miles from Jerusalem to se to, to Caesarea, but 300 miles to Antioch. That's times 4 75 times four. If I'm doing this right is 300 it's quadrupled. The spread of the gospel is growing. And then there are people markers that tie us back to our story.

Uh, oh, there what's. Yeah, there we go. Our second map, 75 miles, uh, from Jerusalem Caesarea, you can read that while you can look at that while I, while I keep preaching, um, there are these people, markers, Steven Steven, we know from max chapter seven Barnabas, we met Barnabas first in acts chapter four. Um, his name is actually Joseph, but they call him son of encouragement.

And I can only think that probably they give him the son. Why wouldn't they just call him encouragement? They probably call him son of encouragement, but cause probably he's a younger man. When he, when he comes upon this scene, we learned that he is a, um, he's from Cyprus. He's a CPRI yacht by birth. We never hear that he has a wife or a family where we pick.

Barnabus is their, this is a great story in the prelude to the anize and SFI story, where the church, they, they took what they had and they sold it and they laid it at the apostles feet. Barnabus is the one who take, who sells a field and takes the whole amount that he took got from the sale. And he lays it at the apostles feet.

And then we know what happened with, with an, with Anai. And Saara the last word we have on Barnabus is chapter nine. We've already been through all this chapter nine as, as, uh, Saul makes his way down to Jerusalem and, and the believers in Jerusalem still don't trust him. They know what he's done. They know who he is.

They do not trust him. And Barnabas is the only one with the courage to take young Saul or Saul at that time and present him to the, to the elders, to the apostles there in Jeru. We learn about Saul. Saul is an anchor here. Saul is a character here. Saul. We heard first at the stoning of Stephen in chapter seven.

The last we heard of Saul was when he was introduced to the apostles. And there he is in Jeru, let he preaches Christ boldly. He pre Christ. So boldly in fact that they decide that the, uh, the Hellenistic Jews decide they need to kill him. And so Saul's disciples decide to get him out of Jerusalem and they haul him off to Caesarea and they put him on a boat and they send him home to Tarsus.

And then again, Claudias we already said enough about Claudias. I wanna just give this little plug, if you are in the history at all, if you have never seen the BBC special eye Claudias, I would highly recommend that you watch at least a few episodes. I would highly recommend that you not have children present in the room.

Uh, it is, I would say PG 13 at best. but it gives such it is they sought historical accuracy and it will give you a glimpse into the world in which the church was born. So take my cautions, but also it's, it's it's worth watching and well done. So let's put it all together. Let's, let's move this story along.

Can we move in the direction that, that Luke intends with these markers in place? Let's look at this story and see where we are. Maybe we can ascertain through these things now triangulate our exact location. What is it that Paul is trying to say? And if we're gonna stick with our TV series analogy, which is a great analogy with multiple storylines and converging plots, then I think before this episode and you know it well, right?

The episode starts before they roll the opening credits. You hear the announcer's voice on a previous episode of acts. The spirit of work to the ends of the earth and real quick, they cut to a scene. And in that scene, you see, um, they'd show a young man laying the price of his field at the feet of, of, of the apostles.

And you elbow your wife and you say, see, see that's part of us. And then there would be the scene where the believers are saying to each other, we need to get out of Jerusalem or that Saul is going to kill us all. And one ask, where are you gonna go? And it replies, I don't know, but I think I'm gonna go north.

I have family in Antioch will be safe there. And then there would be a scene of the, of the young man putting Saul on a boat in Caesarea and telling the captain do not let this man off this boat until you safely arrive in Tarsus. And your wife would say, see, I told you he'll get away. Our episode here actually begins.

In verse 22, the report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent it to sent Barnabas to Antioch. If you remember last week, pastor Tim brought us to, to the point in the storyline where Peter is giving a report of the conversion of Cornelius to his household and his household to the Jerusalem church.

It wasn't the sermon about the conversion. It was the sermon about the report about the conversion verse 22 is where our current story converges with the main storyline. But before that can happen before this episode, Luke graciously provides us with backstory and to do so. He backs us all the way up to chapter eight to the beginning of the Philip storyline.

That episode began like this. Now, those who were scattered went about preaching the word. Philip went down to a city of Samaria and proclaimed to them. The Christ. Now Luke goes back and he picks up like there's a fork in the road there at that moment. He goes back and he takes the, this other fork and he starts very similarly.

Now, those who were scattered because of the persecution word, for word that arose over Steven traveled as far as Fania. So now they're north north of Damascus, north of Galilee. They went north as far as FIA, Cyprus and island off the coast of, in, in the middle of the, um, Mediterranean and Antioch speaking the word to no one except Jews, but there were some of them, men of Cypress and Cyrene who were on coming to Antioch, spoke to the Helen to the Greeks, preaching the, the Lord Jesus and the hand of the Lord is with them and a great number who believed, turned to the Lord.

So from way back in chapter eight, at least. A decade prior to our current story, a decade earlier at the same time that Philip takes off by the leading of the spirit and goes to Samaria and preaches the word, other believers, other Jesus followers migrate north all the way to Antioch way up in Northern Syria.

And they, as they go, they preach the good news that they heard, that they've been being taught there in Jerusalem for these years, since the resurrection of their Lord. But they're only sharing it with Jews because they're Jews and they're comfortable sharing it with Jews. And then some Ciprian and Cian believers who must not have gotten the memo arrived there in Antioch, and they share Jesus with the Greeks.

These are Greek speaking Greeks. These are Gentiles. pagans likely as well as God fearing Greeks, what Luke records for us. And it's so important is that the hand of the Lord, the hand of Jesus was with them and a great number who believed, turned to the Lord. A great number of who a great number of Greeks turned to the Lord.

And if you're tracking with me so far, and I hope that you are a fair question for you to raise right now might be. So you are saying that maybe Cornelius was not the first Gentile convert to Christianity. And I would have to say that that in all probability, that is exactly what Luke is saying. Let's let that settle in a second for you.

Bible scholars, your brain just tweak a little bit. And so let's just let that settle in. There's a strong likelihood. That Cornelius was not among the first Gentiles to be converted, uh, to the way I picture kind of like this, the last episode Tim taught last week, the last episode, sending ended with a scene in Jerusalem where someone says then to the Gentiles, God has also granted repentance that leads to life and they rejoice.

And then this episode opens with some brother in the back of the room saying, ah, I don't mean to upset anyone, but this has been happening up in Antioch for years. I thought you knew. I just thought you knew and whatever the case and however, and whenever they become aware, the Jerusalem church quickly sends a trusted man 300 miles north 300 miles.

And their choice for the job is our man Barnabas son of encouragement, the same one who sold a field in chapter. This is what Luke says. Barnabas found upon arriving. When he came, he saw the grace of God and he was glad he rejoiced and he exhorted them all remained faithful to the Lord was stead FFA, fast purpose for, he was a good man full of the holy spirit and a faith and a great many people were added to the Lord.

What did Barnabas find in, in Antioch? Luke says that he saw the grace of God and he rejoiced, it caused him. He saw the grace of God and it caused him to rejoice. I think maybe we see there a sense of relief. What am I gonna find when I get there? What kind of mess am I walking into Jews and Gentiles in the same place?

They might be eating food together. This is crazy. What, where, what, what were they sending me to do? Don't they know I'm just encourager, but what he gets there and what he finds. It causes him to rejoice. What he found was at least as good as what he hoped and probably much better. What he sees is enough for him to encourage them, to continue doing what you're doing.

Don't stop it. Continue remain faithful in the Lord was stead F's purpose. Maybe the words that he heard there in Jerusalem are still fresh in his ear. Then to the Gentiles. God also has granted repentance that leads to life upon arriving in Antioch, Barnabas fines, that the grace of God and the hand of the Lord have preceded him to this city.

This great city of Antioch. Let me say this about Antioch. However difficult. It may have been to be a Christian in Jerusalem here in the first century, it was exponentially more difficult. There in the, in the Roman world, in a city like Antioch, Antioch was richly diverse. And when I say richly diverse, I mean, every culture represented in the Roman empire was present here.

Every God present in the Roman empire and the Greek world was present here. And there's also a large Jewish population. When I was preaching Christ in Jerusalem with the Jews, they may have wanted to kill me, but at least we had a common foundation in the scriptures. They were arguing from the word of God.

And I was arguing from the word of God. The difference is I saw the hope of Israel fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ. And I just want you to see that too. And God open some Jewish eyes and some he didn't, but at least we had this, at least we could argue intelligently with one another from scripture.

But here in Antioch for me to say that there is a son of God, an anointed son of God was ridiculous. The son of God sat on his throne in Rome. Caesar was both God and Lord. He was called the son of God. So when I throw out son of God, what son of God are you talking about? When I give you throw out the idea of an invisible God?

Well, where do you pray? If your God is invisible, where do you who's in your temple?

In the Greek mind, you could worship Caesar and Apollo or any other D you desired at the same time. There's no conflict. There's a Pantheon of God's and they're not in competition. Always.

But the notion of an invisible God, who's the maker of heaven and earth was strange. The notion of an anointed son of God, who was crucified and risen again, and now sits in heaven as Lord of all this utter ridiculous nonsense to the pagan mind. And if this is going to work, this thing, that's happening in Antioch, where these pagan, former pagans have come to Christ and these former Jews still Jews have embraced Jesus as their Messiah.

If this thing is gonna work, if it has a hope, then Barnabas knows he's gonna need some help. Who could he find who could teach the Gentiles, the word of God while at the same time, teaching both Jews and Gentile believers, how to interpret the sacred text. In light of the events that just took place Jerusalem just two decades earlier, when the Messiah came and he lived and he was crucified, he buried was buried and he rose again from the dead who could teach them that the long awaited hope of Israel had been fulfilled in this one, man, Jesus Christ.

The next verse says, so Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul. And when he found him, he brought him to Antioch with no way. Scripture gives us no clue what was happening in Tarsus. What was happening in Paul's life, what he was doing, was he hiding in his mom's house? Sucking his thumb, hoping nobody would kill him.

Chances are he was making tenses and he was actively preaching the word because he was fearless and he really didn't care if anybody killed him because Jesus is Messiah. Messiah is Jesus. And I will go toe to toe with anybody who wants to disagree with me. It could be, depending on where you move the timeline.

Paul was here for up to a decade in Tarsus doing what we don't know, but we know he was growing in the Lord. Barnabas hasn't forgotten Saul. He hasn't forgotten him. He remembers probably clearly what was said to Damas, to in Damascus to the prophet and Anais go for, he is a chosen servant of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and Kings and the children of Israel for, I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.

There's not a man in the world who is as uniquely qualified as so of Tarsis to join Barnabas in this venture in Antioch. And now we have Luke and we have Saul and Barnabas in Antioch. And Luke tells us for a whole year, they met with the church and taught a great many people. Now I wanna give you a little confession here.

When you're handed a task, like, um, we, we need, this is the passage I want you to preach. It's you begin looking at it. And I found this out back in, I think it was probably April that my name was put on the schedule with this and you start reading it and you're slowly reading. You're working your way.

You're warming up to the, to it. But as you come to it, now, the pressure's increasing because we're getting closer to August 21st and you begin really looking into it. And, and you, I have to say, you get started to get nervous and you're thinking there's nothing to say here. There's nothing to say, like, what's, what's the, what's the punch?

Like, what am I gonna, what am I gonna preach here? I can only imagine poor Tim here this morning is pastor Tim here. He did a great job last week, but I can only imagine pastor Tim getting not the sermon, that was about the conversion of Cornelius, but the sermon that was about the report, about the conversion of Cornelius.

And he did a fabulous job. And when you're sitting there, you're you feel it's not the nervousness, honestly. And I think everybody who's. Taught the word would say this it's the, the weight of presenting and representing the word of God in front of his people. That's, that's where the fear lies. And I wanna, I don't want to entertain you, but I want you to enjoy this time with me here.

I, I, if you're not, if you're not learning anything, if you're not engaged, then you're not gonna learn anything. And you just turned me off a while ago and we're done. And I come to this and I'm like, cause is all this passage does is just move us forward. And now we have saw in Antioch and on his, on the verge heading down to Jerusalem and that's all that happens here.

Well, where's the, where's the import in that? What's what are you gonna take away from that? Sometimes? What is not there is as telling as what is there, there are at least two things I think that we don't see in this passage. And I think Luke is offering them up as glaring O. He set the stage for us. And when we come to this, we should see, wait a minute.

What about two things? At least two? And I wanna share two things that we don't see. The first is in the last two episodes, Peter story of Cornelius and the report of the story of Cornelius. The spirit had to convince Peter in no easy way that what God calls clean. Don't you call unclean. The spirit had to say it three times to Peter showing him the same thing.

Again, you think, come on, Peter did it three times. The sheet has to come down. One time sheet comes down from heaven and the holy spirit speaks to you and does this thing. You're like, okay, I got it. Three times. He has to do it. And only after he was firmly convinced. could God allow him to make the trip to Cornelius's house.

And we know why the spirit had to convince Peter because Peter was gonna have to convince the church in Jerusalem, the Jews demand a sign. But what we see here in our text is that these very ordinary run of the mill, you and I, Jesus followers needed no convincing at all. It was good news that they had received, and they would tell it to anyone who would listen.

Nobody had to tell them to share the good news with the Gentiles. If anything, someone was gonna have to tell them that they needed to stop. They had embraced a new reality in Jesus Christ. He had changed their lives and they wanted everybody to know, even at the cost of their own life. The second thing that we don't.

is a grand spectacular display of authentication by now, we should be looking for this. Luke has set us up for this. We should expect to see a grand spectacular display of authentication. We had Pentecost, tongues of fire might rush you wind speaking in tongues. When the gospel went down to Samaria, we had another Pentecost like display as the apostles themselves went to Samaria, laid their hands on and the people received the holy spirit.

And then we just saw it for the last two weeks in Caesarea there in Cornelius's house. The spirit descended on the Gentile converts, just like he had done in the upper room at Pentecost. Let me say this what's happening here in anti. We'll shape the direct, the direction of the church of Jesus Christ for centuries to come.

Antioch will be a pivotal play, a pivotal role in church history for centuries, Jerusalem by 70 ad is leveled. The movement from we are setting the stage here. Now the rest of the book is going to proceed from Antioch. This is the big movement of God in the world, and he does so with no fanfare at all.

This is huge. What is happening in Antioch is huge. So where's the authentication of the spirit. The church in Jerusalem doesn't even bother to send an apostle to check it out

and the answer may be subtle, but it's here in the very next sentence. and in Antioch, the disciples were first called Christians, Christiano, literally Messiah people. The word called there, there's more than one word for called, even in our language, more ideas for called than just called it. Isn't just spoken.

That would be the word Callo. The word here is crema it's to receive or to take a name from my public business. I'm a blacksmith. They call me Smith. Smith is my name it's to receive or take a name from my public business and we better translate it. And in Antioch, the disciples were first given the name, Christian.

It is what they are called. It is what they are about the business they were busying themselves with was the Messiah. They were Messiah people and the nonbelievers in anti. Recognized it

not only were they recognizing what these Messiah people were about. They were also learning from these Christians, what Jesus, the Christ was all about. And through the words of these Christiano, these Messiah people

and through their lives, many were being added to the church. And how do we know that these so-called Christians were in fact Christians? Where's the authentication doesn't that holy spirit have to come and blow over them and land on them and give them sign gifts and let have 'em speaking in tongue doesn't that, that have to happen.

Isn't that the authenticating work, the next paragraph goes like this. Now in those days, in these days, within the year that they're there. Prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch, and one of them named Agabus stood up and foretold by the spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world.

This took place in the days of Claudias. So the disciples determined each one, according to his ability to send relief to the brothers, living in Judea. And they did so sending it to the elders in Jerusalem, by the hand of Barnabas and saw, they say the proof is in the pudding. The proof is in the pudding.

When confronted with the reality of the hard times coming their way. Don't let that fact escape you a famine over the whole world. As far as I know, Antioch is included in whole world. A fam is coming to us and how are we gonna respond? Well, this is great news. We know in advance. Let's get ready. Starts canning up the, the peaches let's get 'em load up the pantry.

Why? So we're prepared because famine is coming and we wanna be sure that we're taking care of us and our ourselves and our own. That would be the knee jerk reaction of anyone, especially in a pagan world, but they respond apparently with no coercion. Nobody's saying, this is what you do. We don't even hear that Agabus says, but you know, there's a lot of really poor believers down in Judea who could really use your help.

We have no indication of any of that. Instead what we see immediately, a knee response, an otherworldly alter cultural response to this knowledge of need each one, determined to give according to their ability to send relief to those that they knew would need help. One year they've been sitting under the teaching of Paul in Barnabas, as well as other teachers in chapter 13, verse one, we're gonna be introduced to some other teachers here.

Um, I don't wanna steal any under there. These disciples sat under Paul's teaching and the teaching of others, others who came up from Jerusalem, others who had been taught by the ones who had, who sat at the master's feet. Probably the text of their sermons probably was dominated with the sermon on the Mount, our last series.

They heard the words of Jesus, the master over and over and over again. They knew that the world would know that they were disciples of his because of their love for each other. But they also knew that that love was not confined to the vacuum of the church. Building that that love spilled over. And it looked like this.

I say, love. Your enemies and pray for them. Bless those who persecute you. These were the words of Jesus that are ringing in their ear. And when given a chance, what do they do? They act like Jesus. They are Messiah people. They are the Christiano. They are the Christians. This is the authenticating sign of the genuineness of their faith.

We don't need to speak in tongues. We don't need mighty rushing winds. We don't need tongues of fire. We need to see the spirit at work among us. And that's all we need. This is the authenticating sign. This is the proof that the spirit was among them. It was their love at the center of it all, what they knew, what they learned, what they were learning, what they were applying was love.

This is what Barnabus was hoping he would find. This is what he was looking for. And he found that the spirit had already proceeded him to this city. The people learned from Saul, but I can't help, but wonder what was Saul? This young apostle who didn't have the privilege of sitting at Jesus' feet for those years that he was with us.

What were they teaching him? And what was he learning in the company of these believers there at Antioch, we teach what we're learning the way it always is. We teach what we're learning. Paul was teaching them what he was seeing and what he was learning. Paul learned that the only authentication needed was the evidence of the spirit in the life of a disciple or the life of, of a body of believers.

When pressed by the Corinthian believers. To present letters of recommendation to prove that he's an apostle, he laughs and he says to them, this is in second Corinthians chapter three. Don't you know that you are our letter, you have the spirit. What more proof do you need from me or anyone else? I believe that Saul here is learning and confirming here in Antioch, his feet, getting dirty in the streets of Antioch.

What would become his theology and what would become the theology of the Christian Church? Pastor mark quoted. Andy quoted Andy Stanley I'm quote I'm quoting pastor mark quoting Andy Stanley. I think it was last week. Andy Stanley said of these, this account. These Christians were called. These believers were called Christians first in Antioch that they were not changing religions.

They were changing allegiance, a new king, a new kingdom, old things had passed behold, all things had become new. Listen to just these two verses that the apostle Paul would pen not many years from now from this occurrence. I think these two verses succinctly aptly convey Paul's motive for living in this world as a Christian, as one of the Messiah people, I think you have these verses second Corinthians chapter five for the love of Christ controls us because we have concluded this.

No conclusion, no control. The love of Christ controls us having concluded this, that one has died for all. Therefore all have died and he died for all that. Those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him and who, for him, who for their sakes died and was raised again. Another similar one, the next one.

Galatians is two 20. You may have this one memorized. I have been crucified with Christ and is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives me and the life. I now live in the flesh. I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. This is what Paul is learning. As he walks the streets of Antioch.

This is what he's learning. As he rubs elbows with the Christians there in this pagan city. This is the heartbeat of the gospel for Saul and for Paul Christ died for our sins, according to the scripture. And he was raised again, according to the scripture, the distinguishing features of appalling theology is our union with Christ, both in his death and in his rising again to newness of life.

This is Paul's theology. We are in Christ. And it is in the light of the Messiah people it's in the light of this reality that the Messiah people live their lives in this world. This is what Paul works into everything that he writes that we are in Christ. I'm gonna pray. And then we have, you have the video, right?

Okay. I'm gonna pray now. And then where I'm gonna show a video that I came across this week, which just caused me to weep like a baby many times. I wanna share it with you. And when it's done, you're dismissed. I won't come back up. I'm gonna pray. We're gonna watch the video. It's just a song by Michael card.

You're gonna love it. If you have to go, please feel like free, like free feel free to go. But when it's done, just let it settle on you for a minute in the song. He's gonna ask this question. So now I ask of you, this is asking Jesus. I ask if you speak the word and tell me true in light of all you've done for all you've done.

What should I do? within this new reality, could I become your hands and feet to bear your life and your likeness act on the belief. Let me pray. God, we live in a world. So similar to Antioch. So like this city, and like in that day, people are judging us whether or not we are the Messiah people, but sadly, whether we like it or not, they're judging you based on how we live our lives.

Oops, Lord, may the truth that we've been studying and learning here that was happening, that was tearing up the Roman world. The truth that as the followers of Jesus Christ, we have moved into a new reality. There is a new king. There is a new kingdom. There is a new family and we are part of it. God, I pray that you would burden our hearts.

Lord, let us feel the weight of what it means to bear the name, Christian in this world and feeling the weight of what it means to bear the name, Christian in this world. Let us move forward. Let us go into this world. Let us rejoice. Let us share the Christ who has changed our lives with a world that needs Christ to change our lives.

Lord, this is up to you and to your spirit, as you work in your people here, the Messiah people gathered here this morning, and I pray these things in the name of our Lord Jesus, the Christ, your Messiah. Amen]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/meanwhile-christians ac0ed5a5-ef60-404f-af90-70b3e361d8d9 Sun, 21 Aug 2022 12:18:29 GMT <div data-html="true">Acts 11:19-30 <br /><br /> "For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians." <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> Thank you, pastor mark. That was, uh, certainly very kind. And you said it exactly the way I had written it down. So now, you know, you never, uh, you never know what, uh, the worship experience is gonna be like, it's the coolest, and I use that word exactly the way it's supposed to be meant. It is the coolest thing to me to watch the way the spirit works. <br /><br /> I had no idea what songs they're gonna sing. They have no idea what I'm gonna be preaching, but that the spirit, um, Is at work to the ends of the earth becomes evident week after week after week. I'm sure you see it here. I'm sure the worship team experiences, the pastors of speakers, as they realize that there's somebody over it, all who is overseeing this thing. <br /><br /> We can come in and really try to screw it up. And he has his way in making sure that his people, that their hearts have been prepared and that they are fed as they leave this place, that song. And, uh, I had never heard it before, but the, the words there's no power, like the mighty name of Jesus. It's really hard to sit here and not for me not to burst into tears. <br /><br /> Keep those words in mind. I'm gonna show my hand a little bit by the, by the end of, uh, my sermon this morning, the believers in Antioch will take for themselves. They will be given the name Christians. It's the mighty name of Jesus. that they're given and that they bear to their world. So lemme just start by saying good morning and greet and, uh, give you my greetings from Collwood. <br /><br /> It's hard to not be there, but it's a pleasure to be here with you this morning. I think, uh, as, as you've been following along and we follow along, um, this act series in Collwood, just like you are. Um, but mark has been using an analogy he's kind of handed it to all of us who are part of this. This really, this act series really is a team effort among all of the pastors and has been so fun to be engaged in that team. <br /><br /> And, and in this series, um, even if we're not speaking, our voices are being heard and it has been a lot of fun, but this analogy of a TV series or a multi act play, whichever the TV series probably works better for us. Because especially in this day of, in this age of being able to binge. Episodes are a whole season all at once, which is a wonderful invention. <br /><br /> Um, we, we kind of get our heads wrapped around that we can just move. Bing, Bing, Bing, Bing, Bing, uh, through a series season, one of this series saw we're following, um, what Jesus said, you will be witness my witnesses to Jerusalem, to Judea, to Samaria, and to the other, most parts of the world season one was the gospel to Jerusalem. <br /><br /> And we, we saw that season two has been the one we are in now tracking the spread of the gospel into Judea and Samaria some area. And we've been following three main storylines and we've, this has been re reiterated many times, but it's worth the telling the storyline of Philip, the storyline of solve Tarsis and the storyline of Peter. <br /><br /> And here we are at the end of season two, and I don't wanna give away any there's no, um, uh, uh, what am I trying to say? There's no, uh, like, uh, spoilers for season three. I won't give away anything, but we're at the end of season two where we're wrapping up season two. The last two series have been finishing up the storyline of Peter, but not yet. <br /><br /> We're not done with Peter yet. There's still chapter 12. Um, and today we're going to reintroduce solf Tarsis who has been away in Tarsis, uh, for quite a, quite a while. Now we're beginning to set the stage for season three, but whenever you're teaching, whenever you're walking through a historical narrative, the most important thing, or one of the most important things is to keep our bearings to understand where we are at all times in the story, because we can get lost. <br /><br /> This is a, uh, moving story and it's not just to be wonderful if Luke just started here and he gave us all of the details all the way through, and we knew that we were following just chronologically, but this story is too big to tell like that. And so instead there is some jumping around chronologically. <br /><br /> If you've ever spent any time hiking in the woods, then you know, it's easy to become disoriented as teachers. It's our job to make sure you do not become disoriented. You always know where you think you are, the rule. Number one, when you're in the woods, if you get lost, the first thing you do is you admit, you're lost. <br /><br /> You sit down and you say I'm lost. Instead of running around in a panic, you, you kept you capture yourself and you figure out where you are. You know, they say X marks, the spot X marks the spot, but X on a map alone is completely worthless in determining where you are. You've all done it. You need to get to some place in the mall. <br /><br /> So you go immediately, cuz you don't have any time to waste. You go immediately to the kiosk and there's the map. And you're looking for the thing that says you are here. And that is the most worthless information a map can give you because of course you're here. Here is where you always are. I'm always here. <br /><br /> Even if I'm in my car here is where I am. As I move right here is worthless until. Here is related or becomes relative to some other something. It just needs something. So you look at the kiosk, you're looking at, okay, I'm here and it says Macy's is here and you look that way and Macy's isn't there. No Macy's is there, okay. <br /><br /> This map's upside down. So now you reorient yourself and you say, okay, my store is C 21 and it's not near Macy's, it's near pennies. So I need to go that way right now. We know now X means something to you. Y because it's relative to other things, when you're in the woods, um, if you're on a well marked trail, it's pretty simple. <br /><br /> Usually if you've ever hiked in the woods, there's a blaze. Somebody has walked down this trail before there is a trail, and they've painted blue marks in the trees or red marks, sometimes blue and red or pink trails, converge trails, diverge, which is exactly what's happened in our story. But it's easy because it's mark and you just have to trust the trailblazer that he's gonna get you to where you're, you're expecting to go. <br /><br /> Sometimes it's just as simple as knowing where is north and where is south? The funniest thing? My wife has no sense of direction whatsoever. Whenever she says, she'll say we need to go to Deford. And I say, where's Deford and she always points here. Doesn't matter. It's it's here. It's over this shoulder. <br /><br /> She'll say I need to go to my dad's where's your dad he's here. So I'll say Linda, Linda, the sun comes up here every morning and it sets over here every morning. It rides across the Southern sky in our hemisphere. So we know that's south. That means this is north. And she says, and how is that supposed to help me? <br /><br /> I don't know. Sometimes walking in the woods is as simple as keeping a feature of land on your right or on your left. There's a mountain. If I keep that mountain, I'm gonna walk this valley through this valley, the Mountain's there. I'm gonna, I have to skirt this lake all the way until we hit the stream. <br /><br /> And then I'm gonna walk this way out in the stream. And it's that simple. Sometimes if you're really lost. If you don't know where you are, if the woods are deeper, sometimes you have to get the higher ground where you can say, I can see that mountain there. So I'm here. I can pull out my map. I can get out my compass. <br /><br /> I can, I can take a bearing to that mountain. And if I'm really lucky and there's another one, and now I can really, I can find out exactly where I am, because I know where those things are. Um, in 1994, I was, uh, Linda and I were youth pastors for many years at our former church, um, at grace Bible church in Barrington. <br /><br /> And um, about 10 years we served as youth pastors. Actually, we went through four youth leaders under four youth, youth pastors under us as we were youth leaders. Now we worked alongside of four. I know to you at this church, that's like, doesn't even make sense for youth pastors in 10 years. Um, you're a, you're a blessed people. <br /><br /> On this, I used to love to take the young boys around, around in October, around Columbus day, we would do a, a trip, a camping trip, a real camping trip in the woods, up in the Adirondacks. We would go to a Faroh lake. We real, yeah. Wilderness region. I dunno if you've ever been up there, but it's beautiful. <br /><br /> It's easy. It's accessible, but it's a real hike. And on this one trip, um, it was that youth pastor's first trip with us. We had about, I don't know, 15 boys and I took my son. This was his first excursion into the woods, uh, overnight. Uh, he was eight I think. And he had his own, I got him a real backpack and he was loving life. <br /><br /> We're walking on a trail and it's digging in. He said, dad, I like the pain. So . I said you're stupid. No. Um, let me fix your pack for you. Anyway, we. On this trip. And in our, in that youth group, we had a boy, a young man. His name was chip chip was if I said, um, Poe on Kung Fu Panda, um, that wouldn't be, that would give you a good idea of, of, of how chip was built. <br /><br /> He was a big guy in every way. Um, anyway, one of the things you need to know about chip is chip also had been born with cerebral palsy and it wasn't terrible. He, um, cerebral palsy is, you know, there's levels of it. Chip, um, spoke. No problem. He, he limped a bit. And when he got, um, you know, distracted, his, his hands would curl just a bit, but he, but he was very, if you didn't know he had it, you wouldn't know that he had it. <br /><br /> Well, here we are in the woods and Chip's a big guy. So of course, as we're climbing fair mountain the next day, uh, the second day, Chip's because he's big. Not because he has CP, he's falling behind the rest. The rest of the guys are running up the hill. Well, I just took off my, my son's there. So I just took off with the, with the kids. <br /><br /> We got to the top of the mountain first and our youth pastor ended up staying with chip on the way up the mountain. So by we're all done with lunch, when they finally hit the top of the mountain and the youth pastor we're, you know, the kids are running around, we get gather 'em together. He said, okay, it's your job to stay with chip on the way down, which is fair. <br /><br /> And as we're going down, everybody's gone and it's just chip. And I, we're having a great time walking down the hill and chip he's behind me, lets me know he's having a very difficult time because he's concentrating on not tripping and he's concentrating so hard. He said, look at my hands. And his hands were like, were, were useless to him. <br /><br /> That's what he said. My my hands are useless because I have to concentrate so hard. So we were moving slowly down the mountain. He is a trooper. We get down in the mountain. I know we get to the, to the bottom, the, it hits the, the shore of the lake shoreline of the lake, and that's great. And now I have to go west and that's fine, but chip isn't gonna make it. <br /><br /> And the sun is already very low in the sky. Fortunately, I gotta tell the story fast. Fortunately, we found a row boat over by our campsite must have been in duck. Hunter hit it back there, whatever, and the boys are having a blast, but I say to chip chip, you stay here and I'm gonna go get the rowboat and I'll come back for it. <br /><br /> And he's more than happy with that arrangement. So he sits down and I try to take a lay of the land to see where he is, where the shoreline, what it looks like, and didn't really help me. But so then I take off, well, I know, I know because I've walked this trail many. That there's gonna come a spot and I'm gonna lose the trail. <br /><br /> You always do. If it was broad daylight, you would lose the trail. It just dips down in this muddy, uh, hollow and it's nasty. And you're not, I'm not gonna lose the trail, but I know where the lake is. So I've got this distinguishing feature. And I know that if I just keep that to my left, I'll be fine. I'll hit the trail again. <br /><br /> Well, sure enough. I hit this spot. I lose the trail and I just, I just keep going. Right. Bush whacking it. I make it through, I come across a lean too, that I know there's a family there and they have a dog and I don't wanna get bit. So I just kind of keep my way around it. Soon enough. I hear people yelling, my name, yelling our names, and it's our rescue crew and my son's in the front. <br /><br /> And he's so worried cuz dad's in the dark, in the woods and we get around. Then we get the rowboat, we start heading out the lake and we can't see anything. And we can't hear anything. There's no moon. It's just dark. And of course we had heard from other campers that there was a bear spotted in the area. <br /><br /> And I'm thinking if this boy gets eaten by a bear, his mom is gonna kill me. So finally, we're, we're just rowing, we're yelling chip. We're not getting any back. And then we hear faintly off in the distance. Do you remember these commercials? We hear Ricola and Chip's just sitting there yelling that, you know, yoing, Ricola. <br /><br /> And finally we hear him, we get him in the good, good news is the bear didn't kill him. Or he, him and his mom thought it was the funny story. Well, that's the way we want to keep our track. We need to keep our bearings when we're telling a story, especially a historical narrative and our author knows that he is writing a historical narrative and he's laid out breadcrumbs. <br /><br /> He's laid out in markers, he's blazed a trail and he's letting us know exactly where he is. These markers. Are related to some of his markers are related to time. Some are related to place and some are related to people. What I wanna do now is I wanna read this story acts chapter 11. If you have your Bibles acts chapter 11 verses 19 through 30, let's read this story and let's look for these markers and see if we can't figure out where we are in the story. <br /><br /> Acts chapter 11, verse 19. Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Steven traveled as far as FIA and Cyprus and Antioch speaking the word to no one, except Jews. But there were some of them, men of Cypress and sire, who on coming to Antioch, spoke with the, the Greeks, the heist also preaching the Lord Jesus. <br /><br /> And the hand of the Lord was with them and a great number who believed, turned to the Lord. The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent barn Barnabas to Antioch. And when he came and he saw the grace of God, he was glad. And he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with stead F's purpose for, he was a good man full of the holy spirit and faith, and a great many people were added to the Lord. <br /><br /> So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul. And when he found him, he brought him to Antioch for a whole year. They met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch, the disciples were first called Christians. Now in these days, prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch and one of them was named AGAs. <br /><br /> Named Aus stood up and Fort told by the spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world. This took place in the days of Claudias. So the disciples determined each one, according to his ability to send relief to the brothers, living in Judea. And they did so sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and SA. <br /><br /> So what are these markers? Well, first of all, in verse 28, and this is huge, Luke says that this took place during the reign of Claudias Claudias. We know we don't have to look at the Bible for this Claudias we know from world history was the Caesar. He was the fourth Caesar. He served after Caligula and before Nero, he was on the throne from 41 until his death in 54. <br /><br /> And we also know from extra biblical sources that a famine hit hit the, the Mediterranean, the region of the Mediterranean in the year 46. So whatever we want to do with the timeline of acts, bringing us up to this point, we know. That in the year 46, while Claudias was raining as emperor, there was a famine. <br /><br /> So that narrows our window down to about a five year time period because he began his rain in 41 and the famine starts in 46. So whew. We just brought it down. We have, we know we can triangulate from here where we are in the history of the world, in our story, another time marker. He, he says for a whole year, they met with the church and a great in verse 26 and a great number of P um, and taught a great number of people. <br /><br /> So in one of those five years from 41 to 46, Paul and Barnabas SA and Barnabas, I should say Barnabas and SA at this point, met and taught there in Antioch for an entire year. So if we said, uh, let's say that the a agaist predicts in early 46. Well, then that means that Paul and, and the famine happens in that year, then that means. <br /><br /> in 40, in 40, probably from 45 to 46, Paul and barn, Paul and Barnabas saw and Barnas are there, but if it moves back a little bit, if he was in 45. So anyway, we're, we're within a window of just a few years, probably in the year, somewhere time between 43 and 45 is when this happens and then we have the word now, now is the time word always is. <br /><br /> It's a word that is intended to get us to consider the question of time relative to this story. And we're gonna look at that in, in, in a little bit verse 19, but before we do, let's look at just these other markers there's, um, place markers. I have a slide. I think I do. The big map. Do you have that one? <br /><br /> There you go. Can you see that at all? So if you remember Mark's maps from previous weeks, there's just, it it's just been around Israel. You see, uh, sea of Galilee down to the, to the red sea. It's that tiny little bit, it's actually an area of about 75 miles is all this, but this is the world we mentioned, uh, siren Cyrene if you look at the word, it says new, the new Testament where right where the word, the T and Testament that's where Cyrene is. <br /><br /> It's all, it's 800 miles from Jerusalem. Fania is the area that's north of it's where Syria is where Syria meets the sea. It's a region north of dam Damascus, a big region, but it's not, it's not, it's not a country. It's just a regional thing. Um, all the way up to. <br /><br /> He mentions Antioch, Antioch. You see it? I think you can see it. There it's way up there. Antioch was a famous city, uh, in, in the Roman empire. Um, he mentions Tarsus, which is around the curve. If you go Antioch, if you wanna across the ocean, it's about 90 miles. If you wanna go around by land, it's gonna be about 150 miles. <br /><br /> What I'm, what Paul, what Luke is letting us know is that the scope of the spread of the gospel now has quadrupled 70 miles from Jerusalem to se to, to Caesarea, but 300 miles to Antioch. That's times 4 75 times four. If I'm doing this right is 300 it's quadrupled. The spread of the gospel is growing. And then there are people markers that tie us back to our story. <br /><br /> Uh, oh, there what's. Yeah, there we go. Our second map, 75 miles, uh, from Jerusalem Caesarea, you can read that while you can look at that while I, while I keep preaching, um, there are these people, markers, Steven Steven, we know from max chapter seven Barnabas, we met Barnabas first in acts chapter four. Um, his name is actually Joseph, but they call him son of encouragement. <br /><br /> And I can only think that probably they give him the son. Why wouldn't they just call him encouragement? They probably call him son of encouragement, but cause probably he's a younger man. When he, when he comes upon this scene, we learned that he is a, um, he's from Cyprus. He's a CPRI yacht by birth. We never hear that he has a wife or a family where we pick. <br /><br /> Barnabus is their, this is a great story in the prelude to the anize and SFI story, where the church, they, they took what they had and they sold it and they laid it at the apostles feet. Barnabus is the one who take, who sells a field and takes the whole amount that he took got from the sale. And he lays it at the apostles feet. <br /><br /> And then we know what happened with, with an, with Anai. And Saara the last word we have on Barnabus is chapter nine. We've already been through all this chapter nine as, as, uh, Saul makes his way down to Jerusalem and, and the believers in Jerusalem still don't trust him. They know what he's done. They know who he is. <br /><br /> They do not trust him. And Barnabas is the only one with the courage to take young Saul or Saul at that time and present him to the, to the elders, to the apostles there in Jeru. We learn about Saul. Saul is an anchor here. Saul is a character here. Saul. We heard first at the stoning of Stephen in chapter seven. <br /><br /> The last we heard of Saul was when he was introduced to the apostles. And there he is in Jeru, let he preaches Christ boldly. He pre Christ. So boldly in fact that they decide that the, uh, the Hellenistic Jews decide they need to kill him. And so Saul's disciples decide to get him out of Jerusalem and they haul him off to Caesarea and they put him on a boat and they send him home to Tarsus. <br /><br /> And then again, Claudias we already said enough about Claudias. I wanna just give this little plug, if you are in the history at all, if you have never seen the BBC special eye Claudias, I would highly recommend that you watch at least a few episodes. I would highly recommend that you not have children present in the room. <br /><br /> Uh, it is, I would say PG 13 at best. but it gives such it is they sought historical accuracy and it will give you a glimpse into the world in which the church was born. So take my cautions, but also it's, it's it's worth watching and well done. So let's put it all together. Let's, let's move this story along. <br /><br /> Can we move in the direction that, that Luke intends with these markers in place? Let's look at this story and see where we are. Maybe we can ascertain through these things now triangulate our exact location. What is it that Paul is trying to say? And if we're gonna stick with our TV series analogy, which is a great analogy with multiple storylines and converging plots, then I think before this episode and you know it well, right? <br /><br /> The episode starts before they roll the opening credits. You hear the announcer's voice on a previous episode of acts. The spirit of work to the ends of the earth and real quick, they cut to a scene. And in that scene, you see, um, they'd show a young man laying the price of his field at the feet of, of, of the apostles. <br /><br /> And you elbow your wife and you say, see, see that's part of us. And then there would be the scene where the believers are saying to each other, we need to get out of Jerusalem or that Saul is going to kill us all. And one ask, where are you gonna go? And it replies, I don't know, but I think I'm gonna go north. <br /><br /> I have family in Antioch will be safe there. And then there would be a scene of the, of the young man putting Saul on a boat in Caesarea and telling the captain do not let this man off this boat until you safely arrive in Tarsus. And your wife would say, see, I told you he'll get away. Our episode here actually begins. <br /><br /> In verse 22, the report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent it to sent Barnabas to Antioch. If you remember last week, pastor Tim brought us to, to the point in the storyline where Peter is giving a report of the conversion of Cornelius to his household and his household to the Jerusalem church. <br /><br /> It wasn't the sermon about the conversion. It was the sermon about the report about the conversion verse 22 is where our current story converges with the main storyline. But before that can happen before this episode, Luke graciously provides us with backstory and to do so. He backs us all the way up to chapter eight to the beginning of the Philip storyline. <br /><br /> That episode began like this. Now, those who were scattered went about preaching the word. Philip went down to a city of Samaria and proclaimed to them. The Christ. Now Luke goes back and he picks up like there's a fork in the road there at that moment. He goes back and he takes the, this other fork and he starts very similarly. <br /><br /> Now, those who were scattered because of the persecution word, for word that arose over Steven traveled as far as Fania. So now they're north north of Damascus, north of Galilee. They went north as far as FIA, Cyprus and island off the coast of, in, in the middle of the, um, Mediterranean and Antioch speaking the word to no one except Jews, but there were some of them, men of Cypress and Cyrene who were on coming to Antioch, spoke to the Helen to the Greeks, preaching the, the Lord Jesus and the hand of the Lord is with them and a great number who believed, turned to the Lord. <br /><br /> So from way back in chapter eight, at least. A decade prior to our current story, a decade earlier at the same time that Philip takes off by the leading of the spirit and goes to Samaria and preaches the word, other believers, other Jesus followers migrate north all the way to Antioch way up in Northern Syria. <br /><br /> And they, as they go, they preach the good news that they heard, that they've been being taught there in Jerusalem for these years, since the resurrection of their Lord. But they're only sharing it with Jews because they're Jews and they're comfortable sharing it with Jews. And then some Ciprian and Cian believers who must not have gotten the memo arrived there in Antioch, and they share Jesus with the Greeks. <br /><br /> These are Greek speaking Greeks. These are Gentiles. pagans likely as well as God fearing Greeks, what Luke records for us. And it's so important is that the hand of the Lord, the hand of Jesus was with them and a great number who believed, turned to the Lord. A great number of who a great number of Greeks turned to the Lord. <br /><br /> And if you're tracking with me so far, and I hope that you are a fair question for you to raise right now might be. So you are saying that maybe Cornelius was not the first Gentile convert to Christianity. And I would have to say that that in all probability, that is exactly what Luke is saying. Let's let that settle in a second for you. <br /><br /> Bible scholars, your brain just tweak a little bit. And so let's just let that settle in. There's a strong likelihood. That Cornelius was not among the first Gentiles to be converted, uh, to the way I picture kind of like this, the last episode Tim taught last week, the last episode, sending ended with a scene in Jerusalem where someone says then to the Gentiles, God has also granted repentance that leads to life and they rejoice. <br /><br /> And then this episode opens with some brother in the back of the room saying, ah, I don't mean to upset anyone, but this has been happening up in Antioch for years. I thought you knew. I just thought you knew and whatever the case and however, and whenever they become aware, the Jerusalem church quickly sends a trusted man 300 miles north 300 miles. <br /><br /> And their choice for the job is our man Barnabas son of encouragement, the same one who sold a field in chapter. This is what Luke says. Barnabas found upon arriving. When he came, he saw the grace of God and he was glad he rejoiced and he exhorted them all remained faithful to the Lord was stead FFA, fast purpose for, he was a good man full of the holy spirit and a faith and a great many people were added to the Lord. <br /><br /> What did Barnabas find in, in Antioch? Luke says that he saw the grace of God and he rejoiced, it caused him. He saw the grace of God and it caused him to rejoice. I think maybe we see there a sense of relief. What am I gonna find when I get there? What kind of mess am I walking into Jews and Gentiles in the same place? <br /><br /> They might be eating food together. This is crazy. What, where, what, what were they sending me to do? Don't they know I'm just encourager, but what he gets there and what he finds. It causes him to rejoice. What he found was at least as good as what he hoped and probably much better. What he sees is enough for him to encourage them, to continue doing what you're doing. <br /><br /> Don't stop it. Continue remain faithful in the Lord was stead F's purpose. Maybe the words that he heard there in Jerusalem are still fresh in his ear. Then to the Gentiles. God also has granted repentance that leads to life upon arriving in Antioch, Barnabas fines, that the grace of God and the hand of the Lord have preceded him to this city. <br /><br /> This great city of Antioch. Let me say this about Antioch. However difficult. It may have been to be a Christian in Jerusalem here in the first century, it was exponentially more difficult. There in the, in the Roman world, in a city like Antioch, Antioch was richly diverse. And when I say richly diverse, I mean, every culture represented in the Roman empire was present here. <br /><br /> Every God present in the Roman empire and the Greek world was present here. And there's also a large Jewish population. When I was preaching Christ in Jerusalem with the Jews, they may have wanted to kill me, but at least we had a common foundation in the scriptures. They were arguing from the word of God. <br /><br /> And I was arguing from the word of God. The difference is I saw the hope of Israel fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ. And I just want you to see that too. And God open some Jewish eyes and some he didn't, but at least we had this, at least we could argue intelligently with one another from scripture. <br /><br /> But here in Antioch for me to say that there is a son of God, an anointed son of God was ridiculous. The son of God sat on his throne in Rome. Caesar was both God and Lord. He was called the son of God. So when I throw out son of God, what son of God are you talking about? When I give you throw out the idea of an invisible God? <br /><br /> Well, where do you pray? If your God is invisible, where do you who's in your temple? <br /><br /> In the Greek mind, you could worship Caesar and Apollo or any other D you desired at the same time. There's no conflict. There's a Pantheon of God's and they're not in competition. Always. <br /><br /> But the notion of an invisible God, who's the maker of heaven and earth was strange. The notion of an anointed son of God, who was crucified and risen again, and now sits in heaven as Lord of all this utter ridiculous nonsense to the pagan mind. And if this is going to work, this thing, that's happening in Antioch, where these pagan, former pagans have come to Christ and these former Jews still Jews have embraced Jesus as their Messiah. <br /><br /> If this thing is gonna work, if it has a hope, then Barnabas knows he's gonna need some help. Who could he find who could teach the Gentiles, the word of God while at the same time, teaching both Jews and Gentile believers, how to interpret the sacred text. In light of the events that just took place Jerusalem just two decades earlier, when the Messiah came and he lived and he was crucified, he buried was buried and he rose again from the dead who could teach them that the long awaited hope of Israel had been fulfilled in this one, man, Jesus Christ. <br /><br /> The next verse says, so Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul. And when he found him, he brought him to Antioch with no way. Scripture gives us no clue what was happening in Tarsus. What was happening in Paul's life, what he was doing, was he hiding in his mom's house? Sucking his thumb, hoping nobody would kill him. <br /><br /> Chances are he was making tenses and he was actively preaching the word because he was fearless and he really didn't care if anybody killed him because Jesus is Messiah. Messiah is Jesus. And I will go toe to toe with anybody who wants to disagree with me. It could be, depending on where you move the timeline. <br /><br /> Paul was here for up to a decade in Tarsus doing what we don't know, but we know he was growing in the Lord. Barnabas hasn't forgotten Saul. He hasn't forgotten him. He remembers probably clearly what was said to Damas, to in Damascus to the prophet and Anais go for, he is a chosen servant of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and Kings and the children of Israel for, I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name. <br /><br /> There's not a man in the world who is as uniquely qualified as so of Tarsis to join Barnabas in this venture in Antioch. And now we have Luke and we have Saul and Barnabas in Antioch. And Luke tells us for a whole year, they met with the church and taught a great many people. Now I wanna give you a little confession here. <br /><br /> When you're handed a task, like, um, we, we need, this is the passage I want you to preach. It's you begin looking at it. And I found this out back in, I think it was probably April that my name was put on the schedule with this and you start reading it and you're slowly reading. You're working your way. <br /><br /> You're warming up to the, to it. But as you come to it, now, the pressure's increasing because we're getting closer to August 21st and you begin really looking into it. And, and you, I have to say, you get started to get nervous and you're thinking there's nothing to say here. There's nothing to say, like, what's, what's the, what's the punch? <br /><br /> Like, what am I gonna, what am I gonna preach here? I can only imagine poor Tim here this morning is pastor Tim here. He did a great job last week, but I can only imagine pastor Tim getting not the sermon, that was about the conversion of Cornelius, but the sermon that was about the report, about the conversion of Cornelius. <br /><br /> And he did a fabulous job. And when you're sitting there, you're you feel it's not the nervousness, honestly. And I think everybody who's. Taught the word would say this it's the, the weight of presenting and representing the word of God in front of his people. That's, that's where the fear lies. And I wanna, I don't want to entertain you, but I want you to enjoy this time with me here. <br /><br /> I, I, if you're not, if you're not learning anything, if you're not engaged, then you're not gonna learn anything. And you just turned me off a while ago and we're done. And I come to this and I'm like, cause is all this passage does is just move us forward. And now we have saw in Antioch and on his, on the verge heading down to Jerusalem and that's all that happens here. <br /><br /> Well, where's the, where's the import in that? What's what are you gonna take away from that? Sometimes? What is not there is as telling as what is there, there are at least two things I think that we don't see in this passage. And I think Luke is offering them up as glaring O. He set the stage for us. And when we come to this, we should see, wait a minute. <br /><br /> What about two things? At least two? And I wanna share two things that we don't see. The first is in the last two episodes, Peter story of Cornelius and the report of the story of Cornelius. The spirit had to convince Peter in no easy way that what God calls clean. Don't you call unclean. The spirit had to say it three times to Peter showing him the same thing. <br /><br /> Again, you think, come on, Peter did it three times. The sheet has to come down. One time sheet comes down from heaven and the holy spirit speaks to you and does this thing. You're like, okay, I got it. Three times. He has to do it. And only after he was firmly convinced. could God allow him to make the trip to Cornelius's house. <br /><br /> And we know why the spirit had to convince Peter because Peter was gonna have to convince the church in Jerusalem, the Jews demand a sign. But what we see here in our text is that these very ordinary run of the mill, you and I, Jesus followers needed no convincing at all. It was good news that they had received, and they would tell it to anyone who would listen. <br /><br /> Nobody had to tell them to share the good news with the Gentiles. If anything, someone was gonna have to tell them that they needed to stop. They had embraced a new reality in Jesus Christ. He had changed their lives and they wanted everybody to know, even at the cost of their own life. The second thing that we don't. <br /><br /> is a grand spectacular display of authentication by now, we should be looking for this. Luke has set us up for this. We should expect to see a grand spectacular display of authentication. We had Pentecost, tongues of fire might rush you wind speaking in tongues. When the gospel went down to Samaria, we had another Pentecost like display as the apostles themselves went to Samaria, laid their hands on and the people received the holy spirit. <br /><br /> And then we just saw it for the last two weeks in Caesarea there in Cornelius's house. The spirit descended on the Gentile converts, just like he had done in the upper room at Pentecost. Let me say this what's happening here in anti. We'll shape the direct, the direction of the church of Jesus Christ for centuries to come. <br /><br /> Antioch will be a pivotal play, a pivotal role in church history for centuries, Jerusalem by 70 ad is leveled. The movement from we are setting the stage here. Now the rest of the book is going to proceed from Antioch. This is the big movement of God in the world, and he does so with no fanfare at all. <br /><br /> This is huge. What is happening in Antioch is huge. So where's the authentication of the spirit. The church in Jerusalem doesn't even bother to send an apostle to check it out <br /><br /> and the answer may be subtle, but it's here in the very next sentence. and in Antioch, the disciples were first called Christians, Christiano, literally Messiah people. The word called there, there's more than one word for called, even in our language, more ideas for called than just called it. Isn't just spoken. <br /><br /> That would be the word Callo. The word here is crema it's to receive or to take a name from my public business. I'm a blacksmith. They call me Smith. Smith is my name it's to receive or take a name from my public business and we better translate it. And in Antioch, the disciples were first given the name, Christian. <br /><br /> It is what they are called. It is what they are about the business they were busying themselves with was the Messiah. They were Messiah people and the nonbelievers in anti. Recognized it <br /><br /> not only were they recognizing what these Messiah people were about. They were also learning from these Christians, what Jesus, the Christ was all about. And through the words of these Christiano, these Messiah people <br /><br /> and through their lives, many were being added to the church. And how do we know that these so-called Christians were in fact Christians? Where's the authentication doesn't that holy spirit have to come and blow over them and land on them and give them sign gifts and let have 'em speaking in tongue doesn't that, that have to happen. <br /><br /> Isn't that the authenticating work, the next paragraph goes like this. Now in those days, in these days, within the year that they're there. Prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch, and one of them named Agabus stood up and foretold by the spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world. <br /><br /> This took place in the days of Claudias. So the disciples determined each one, according to his ability to send relief to the brothers, living in Judea. And they did so sending it to the elders in Jerusalem, by the hand of Barnabas and saw, they say the proof is in the pudding. The proof is in the pudding. <br /><br /> When confronted with the reality of the hard times coming their way. Don't let that fact escape you a famine over the whole world. As far as I know, Antioch is included in whole world. A fam is coming to us and how are we gonna respond? Well, this is great news. We know in advance. Let's get ready. Starts canning up the, the peaches let's get 'em load up the pantry. <br /><br /> Why? So we're prepared because famine is coming and we wanna be sure that we're taking care of us and our ourselves and our own. That would be the knee jerk reaction of anyone, especially in a pagan world, but they respond apparently with no coercion. Nobody's saying, this is what you do. We don't even hear that Agabus says, but you know, there's a lot of really poor believers down in Judea who could really use your help. <br /><br /> We have no indication of any of that. Instead what we see immediately, a knee response, an otherworldly alter cultural response to this knowledge of need each one, determined to give according to their ability to send relief to those that they knew would need help. One year they've been sitting under the teaching of Paul in Barnabas, as well as other teachers in chapter 13, verse one, we're gonna be introduced to some other teachers here. <br /><br /> Um, I don't wanna steal any under there. These disciples sat under Paul's teaching and the teaching of others, others who came up from Jerusalem, others who had been taught by the ones who had, who sat at the master's feet. Probably the text of their sermons probably was dominated with the sermon on the Mount, our last series. <br /><br /> They heard the words of Jesus, the master over and over and over again. They knew that the world would know that they were disciples of his because of their love for each other. But they also knew that that love was not confined to the vacuum of the church. Building that that love spilled over. And it looked like this. <br /><br /> I say, love. Your enemies and pray for them. Bless those who persecute you. These were the words of Jesus that are ringing in their ear. And when given a chance, what do they do? They act like Jesus. They are Messiah people. They are the Christiano. They are the Christians. This is the authenticating sign of the genuineness of their faith. <br /><br /> We don't need to speak in tongues. We don't need mighty rushing winds. We don't need tongues of fire. We need to see the spirit at work among us. And that's all we need. This is the authenticating sign. This is the proof that the spirit was among them. It was their love at the center of it all, what they knew, what they learned, what they were learning, what they were applying was love. <br /><br /> This is what Barnabus was hoping he would find. This is what he was looking for. And he found that the spirit had already proceeded him to this city. The people learned from Saul, but I can't help, but wonder what was Saul? This young apostle who didn't have the privilege of sitting at Jesus' feet for those years that he was with us. <br /><br /> What were they teaching him? And what was he learning in the company of these believers there at Antioch, we teach what we're learning the way it always is. We teach what we're learning. Paul was teaching them what he was seeing and what he was learning. Paul learned that the only authentication needed was the evidence of the spirit in the life of a disciple or the life of, of a body of believers. <br /><br /> When pressed by the Corinthian believers. To present letters of recommendation to prove that he's an apostle, he laughs and he says to them, this is in second Corinthians chapter three. Don't you know that you are our letter, you have the spirit. What more proof do you need from me or anyone else? I believe that Saul here is learning and confirming here in Antioch, his feet, getting dirty in the streets of Antioch. <br /><br /> What would become his theology and what would become the theology of the Christian Church? Pastor mark quoted. Andy quoted Andy Stanley I'm quote I'm quoting pastor mark quoting Andy Stanley. I think it was last week. Andy Stanley said of these, this account. These Christians were called. These believers were called Christians first in Antioch that they were not changing religions. <br /><br /> They were changing allegiance, a new king, a new kingdom, old things had passed behold, all things had become new. Listen to just these two verses that the apostle Paul would pen not many years from now from this occurrence. I think these two verses succinctly aptly convey Paul's motive for living in this world as a Christian, as one of the Messiah people, I think you have these verses second Corinthians chapter five for the love of Christ controls us because we have concluded this. <br /><br /> No conclusion, no control. The love of Christ controls us having concluded this, that one has died for all. Therefore all have died and he died for all that. Those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him and who, for him, who for their sakes died and was raised again. Another similar one, the next one. <br /><br /> Galatians is two 20. You may have this one memorized. I have been crucified with Christ and is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives me and the life. I now live in the flesh. I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. This is what Paul is learning. As he walks the streets of Antioch. <br /><br /> This is what he's learning. As he rubs elbows with the Christians there in this pagan city. This is the heartbeat of the gospel for Saul and for Paul Christ died for our sins, according to the scripture. And he was raised again, according to the scripture, the distinguishing features of appalling theology is our union with Christ, both in his death and in his rising again to newness of life. <br /><br /> This is Paul's theology. We are in Christ. And it is in the light of the Messiah people it's in the light of this reality that the Messiah people live their lives in this world. This is what Paul works into everything that he writes that we are in Christ. I'm gonna pray. And then we have, you have the video, right? <br /><br /> Okay. I'm gonna pray now. And then where I'm gonna show a video that I came across this week, which just caused me to weep like a baby many times. I wanna share it with you. And when it's done, you're dismissed. I won't come back up. I'm gonna pray. We're gonna watch the video. It's just a song by Michael card. <br /><br /> You're gonna love it. If you have to go, please feel like free, like free feel free to go. But when it's done, just let it settle on you for a minute in the song. He's gonna ask this question. So now I ask of you, this is asking Jesus. I ask if you speak the word and tell me true in light of all you've done for all you've done. <br /><br /> What should I do? within this new reality, could I become your hands and feet to bear your life and your likeness act on the belief. Let me pray. God, we live in a world. So similar to Antioch. So like this city, and like in that day, people are judging us whether or not we are the Messiah people, but sadly, whether we like it or not, they're judging you based on how we live our lives. <br /><br /> Oops, Lord, may the truth that we've been studying and learning here that was happening, that was tearing up the Roman world. The truth that as the followers of Jesus Christ, we have moved into a new reality. There is a new king. There is a new kingdom. There is a new family and we are part of it. God, I pray that you would burden our hearts. <br /><br /> Lord, let us feel the weight of what it means to bear the name, Christian in this world and feeling the weight of what it means to bear the name, Christian in this world. Let us move forward. Let us go into this world. Let us rejoice. Let us share the Christ who has changed our lives with a world that needs Christ to change our lives. <br /><br /> Lord, this is up to you and to your spirit, as you work in your people here, the Messiah people gathered here this morning, and I pray these things in the name of our Lord Jesus, the Christ, your Messiah. Amen</div> false no <![CDATA[The Report]]> Acts 11:1-18

But the voice answered a second time from heaven, ‘What God has made clean, do not call common.’



Sermon Transcript:

Good morning. Good morning. All right. You're awake. That's good. That helps. That definitely helps. All right. If you wanna open up the Bibles, uh, we're gonna be focusing on acts 11 today. Uh, if you have a pew Bible it's page 8 65, so you can flip to that real quick and find that. Um, but as you get there, I'll give you a second to get there.

We're gonna be talking about Peter once again, here in acts and just, I, I love who Peter is. I love, uh, just how the Bible describes him. Um, cuz I can relate, uh, and very much in, in his personality and how he says things. And, and today we're gonna see a little bit more about that, but as you open up acts, we're gonna read it first.

So we're gonna be acts 11. We're gonna read from, uh, one through 18 says now the apostles and the brothers who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. So when Peter went up from Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him saying you went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.

But Peter began explained it to them. In order, I was in the city of Joppa praying and in a trance, I saw a vision, something like a great sheet, descending being let down from heaven by its four corners. And it came down to me. Looking at a closely observed animals and beasts of prey and reptiles and birds of the air.

And I heard a voice saying to me, rise, Peter, kill and eat. But I said by no means Lord, for nothing common or unclean has ever entered by mouth. The voice answer a second time from heaven. What God has made clean, do not call common. This happened three times and all was drawn up again into heaven and behold at that very moment, three men from Caesarea or three men arrived at the house in which were sent to me from Caesarea.

And his spirit told me to go with them, making no distinction. These six brothers also accompanied me and we entered the man's house and he told us how he had seen the angel stand in his house and say, send a Joppa and bring Simon who was called Peter. He will declare to you a message by which you will be saved you and all your household.

as I began to speak, the holy spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning. And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, John baptized with water, but you'll be baptized with the holy spirit. If then God gave the same gift to them. As he gave to us. When we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I, that I could stand in God's way.

When they heard these things, they fell silent and they glorified God saying then to the Gentiles. Also God has granted repentance that leads to life father, as we come to your word this morning, as we look at this report, Lord, I pray that you continue to remind us of what is happening here. Lord, continue to show us who you are and how you work.

Lord, allow us to see this passage, allow us to, to put ourselves there Lord, to, to think how, how would we respond? Well, Lord, I pray that you continue to show us our hearts. Just like you show them their hearts allow us to be changed, to be molded, to be more like you pray that you go before us today. Lord, fill us with your spirit, fill this room with your spirit and allow your words to be spoken here this morning in your heavenly name.

Amen. As we look at this text, it can appear like a normal thing, right? Peter's going and talking to people and he's sharing and, and he goes, and he travels, right? Someone has a vision, they come and they say, go get Peter, right, go get Simon. Who's called Peter. So that, you know, the specific one to find, right?

He goes, he shares, he teaches, right. This miraculous thing happens like pastor mark was saying last week, right. It's the Gentile Pentecost. Right. This amazing thing happens right then and there. Right, right. And it, it feels like it's a normal report. Right? That's great news. Right? We're all rejoicing over this.

As we look at the text from, from our perspective, right? This is an amazing gift. That's come. It's an amazing opportunity that the Gentiles have. Now they've access to the holy spirit. They've received the holy spirit. They can go before the Lord, right? They can come into his presence. They can pray. They can talk to him.

They have salvation. And for us, as we sit here and we look at this, it it's a great seems pretty cut and dry, a quick report back to the group. But as we dive a little deeper, we have to put ourselves in their shoes, right. These are the Jewish believers that are here. Right. And as we come about it, we have to think about how would they be accepting of this?

How do they see what Peter is doing? How do they view it? What questions might come about?

And so we look at the slide and we see that Peter, in the map here, we see that he's going from Joppa all the way up to Caesarea. I know there's a map. It's coming well, picture yourselves. Okay, here we go. All right. So we have Joppa, right? And it's about a day's journey up to Caesarea. Right? And so Peter travels there with this group, with these three guys, and he brings six of his own to go there.

Right? And so it's a day's journey and he stays there for a few days. And this sets the stage of what's about to happen. And as we dive in, we'll see verses one through three. And as we look at it, it says this. So read it with me. It says now the apostles and the brothers who were throughout Judea, heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God.

So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him saying you went to uncircumcised men and ate with. Right. This sets the stage, right? Peter is there for a few days. It takes him a day to travel. He stays for a few days, and then he travels back down to Jerusalem. He's there for it takes days to do this.

So right now we hear news is going around, right? Peter went to this group, Peter ate with them. They receive the holy spirit, right. They now know about the Lord. Right? And we think about this from their perspective, right? They receive the word of God. And this is huge because the Jewish believers right.

Have some questions. Right. And all of this is they're hearing this it's great news that is spreading, but as word reaches, the circumcised party as word reaches them, right. Questions start to come up. What do we do now? right. How could Peter do this? How could he go to them? Right. I put myself in their shoes and I say, well, what about all of my traditions that I'm holding onto, that I've done over and over and over again, right?

That are Jewish relatives that are Jewish family. That those that have come before us have done for over 1200 years. We've been with these traditions and these things that the Lord has showed us. And that God put before us, where are they gonna worship? How are they gonna worship? Are they gonna eat the same food?

Right. All of these questions. Start to go through your mind. If you are sitting there wondering why Peter, like the Peter went to this group when he knows it's wrong.

For the Jewish Christian. There's a lot to consider here about your own reli, religiosity about your own beliefs, about what the Lord has established within you and within your people group. Right? Jesus came for the Jews. He came to the Jews first and they received right. The Jewish believers here are just probably wandering in their minds right now, over and over again.

What does this mean? What does this mean? What does this look like? It's a new time. It's a new thing, right? And for us being in this position here, we're happy. Right? We're excited. We read this and we rejoice and we think this is amazing that it's come to them.

But Peter, are you still with us? Did you abandon your faith by going to them? Did you leave us for them? Has your allegiance changed? All of these thoughts are going around and around and I'm sure all of these thoughts have started to populate the minds of the believers that are there that are having time to wrestle time since Peter's still traveling, as they heard about it.

News got back and as he's coming, right, they're thinking and talking and sharing and better yet. He goes to a Centurion,

the very people that stand in opposition of the Jewish nation.

And so these questions play out. Are they gonna travel three times a year? Right? We have Pentecost, right? We go to the temple. We worship. we pilgrimage, right? Three times a year. We have this mandatory time to go. And Peter, you threw all of this up in the air, and now we're trying to see where it lands.

We're gonna see what happens. We want to know why we wanna know why you messed with what we had going on. We had these nice things, laid out that for over 1200 years, we did this and we did this and we did this and we did this and we had this perfect time line of going of when we did it, what we knew, how we worshiped, where we worshiped, what we were allowed to eat, what we weren't allowed to eat.

We had this perfection going. It felt like, and now you throw it all up in the air to see where it lands. Now

I can imagine that these are the questions. These are questions that arose. When I finally looked deeper than just a report back when I dove in and I put myself in their shoes and I wanted to see, well, how are they gonna respond?

And two words popped into my head, not fair.

How is this fair that we've done all of these things and now you just went to them and they got it. What's on time. Have they put in what commitments do they have? Where's their allegiance fall, right? Who are they? Jesus came and walked with us. Peter, you walked alongside of him. Doesn't seem fair.

And so he comes back when he goes up and he gets confronted by this group of people, which not the party that I'd sign up for right away to be named. But you know, the circumcised party when he comes in and, but. It shows us what they value as important, right? This isn't just a group that says, you know, this is what we're gonna be called, but this goes back to their roots to Genesis 17.

And so you have this idea of, we have the uncircumcised versus the circumcised now. And we have, after these questions arise, Peter gets confronted by them. Cuz they're sitting there wrestling and they want questions and they want to know what is going on.

We go back to the Abraham at covenant, Peter don't, you know that don't, you know, that this is where it was founded. This is what we're based on. This is what this first came about. And now you go to uncircumcised group, you know, the group that wasn't a part of this covenant that wasn't given this gift that wasn't factored in.

Peter. This is our outward representation of our inward worship. And now you're going somewhere else where it's not there.

Right? For thousands of years, this has been a key part of their belief system that they're holding onto these traditions, that they have the traditions of worship, the traditions of circumcision, right? And not just traditions, but these are laws that were given that you do this. This is part of your worship to the Lord.

This is part of your covenant to God. This is a command that was given Abraham, handed this down from family to family generation, to generation, to generation.

And it's one that separates them, separates the Jews from everyone else. because of the covenant there so much thought goes into the histories of these two people groups. As we look at at the, um, circumcised, the circumcised, the Jew, and the Gentile. And as we go back, we see that right tracking with the history of the Jewish people, the Jewish culture, God established covenant after covenant with this people, right?

He led them through the wilderness was there when they begged for a king sent prophets to correct them and to rebuke them from their sinful nature in the rebellious times. And it was quietly watching in awaiting the sending of his son to rescue them. This is what they were waiting for. This is what this group is holding onto.

This is what they had in their history. This is what their traditions, their past was built upon. And all of this culminates right here at this very moment, because Peter goes. that's what they see. Right? They don't know about the vision yet. They don't hear about that yet, but they just see all of this leading to this point where Peter now decides I'm gonna go.

And to them, it looks like abandonment. I'm sure it looks like change of allegiance. I believe to the Jewish people, they see a chasm of differences between themselves and the Gentile nations and the people that don't believe in God.

And as I sit there and I see Peter being confronted with this, I know when I'm confronted my mind goes, wait, wait, you gotta, you just gotta hear me out. You gotta wait. I got a story, right? I got a story to tell you. I got something to say before you dive in, before you try to just arrest me before you come after me, before you pick up those stones, let me share what happened.

And I picture Peter on this edge here of waiting and waiting for them to stop and waiting for them to so that he can have that moment to share why? Because if we just stop here, it seems like Peter abandons, all of the stuff that came before, all of the religiosity, all of the traditions, all of the things that God ordained and directed for this Jewish people.

If we stop here, it looks like Peter just threw it all up in the air and said, I'm just doing what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna go. If we don't dive back in and see what is actually happening. If Peter doesn't get a chance to speak,

they don't know why.

And I can see there, Peter, as he's saying, you know what, guys, this is not on my idea. I didn't want to go. Right. I didn't want to do it. I'm minding my own bzz business. I'm praying. On my roof, right on this roof here, that I'm staying, I'm praying, I'm talking to God. And then this is what happened, right? And Peter has this vision as he is praying.

And as we look to the second point, we see that Peter's gonna recap this vision. As we look on the screen, we see a picture of just many different animals being lowered down

animals that obviously are not allowed to be eaten as Peter's looks at this. And he sees, and he sees the many different things going on, the many different animals there. Right? He's confused. And, and as he's sitting there, he's praying, right? This is the vision. This is what he is wrestling with. This is what he sees.

I was in the city of Joppa praying and in a trance, I saw the vision, something like a great sheet, descending being let down from heaven by its four corners. and it came to me looking at it closely. I observed the animals and beast of praying reptiles in the birds of the air. And I heard a voice saying to me, rise, Peter Killan.

But I said by no means Lord, for nothing common or unclean has ever entered my mouth. But the voice answered a second time from heaven. What God made clean do not call common. This happened three times and was all drawn up into heaven again and behold at the very moment, three men arrived at the house in which we were sent, which we were sent to me from Caesarea.

And the spirit told me to go with them, making no distinction. These six brothers accompanying me and we entered the man's house and he told us how he had seen the angel stand in his house and say, send to Jo and bring Simon who is called Peter he'll declare to you a message by which you will be saved you and all your household.

And as I began speaking, as I began to speak, the holy spirit fell on them just as us at the beginning. And Peter gets the moment and he says, you know what, before you guys gather the jury, before you, you make your decision before you throw me out, before you cast me away, right. Just hear what happened.

Right. I'm praying in this vision from God comes to me and right there, you're gonna stop and say, okay, I'll let you go, right. God, God send you a vision. We'll listen. Right. I want to hear then, right. Fellow believers, just listen. I want to tell you what happened. I wanna share why I went, why it seems like I did this crazy out of the blue thing by going.

I want to tell you why I did it, how it happened, how it came about that. I found myself traveling with three men and my six brothers here to Caesarea how I went from Joppa to there. And he says, this is why, right. This spirit told me. And so I feel as here, as we look at setting the spirit straight, as we look at Peter, right?

In, in typical Peter fashion, I'd like to say, right, this isn't the first time that he's been, been told to do something in how he's responded. So if we look back to Matthew 26, 31 through 35, we see my boy, Peter, right, coming up and it says, then Jesus said to them, you will all fall away because of me this night for it is written.

I will strike the shepherd and the sheep of the flock will be scattered. But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee. Peter answered them though. They all fall away because of you. I will never fall away. Jesus said to him, truly, I tell you this very night before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.

Peter said to him, even if I must die with you, I will not deny you. All the disciples said the same. As I look at this and as I ponder it and I look at where Peter is, right. I, I get a sense as I read this, my mind jumps back to this moment where Peter right is correcting the Lord, right? Peter's spirit has a spirit of just kind of walking through things, not much thinking, but maybe like a bull in a China shop where he's just stumbling around, bumping into things, saying what comes to his mind?

Lord, I'll never leave you, Lord. I'm not gonna do that, Lord. That's not me. I'm here. That's everybody else. That was the other 11. Right? Scattered. They're gonna be scattered, but if I have to die with you, I'm gonna be by your side and three times, right? The Lord says you're gonna deny me, but I just get this sense of Peter trying to correct the spirit, trying to correct the Lord in this here.

And as I jump to this passage, I feel it's the same way. Right by no means Lord. Right? I don't feel that as a timid response from Peter, but I, I feel that as one that he's standing firm and saying, Lord, that's not, I right. Don't you know, I'm Peter, right? Don't you know who I am, Lord, I'm faithful. I follow the law.

Right? Nothing unclean has ever touched my mouth. I'm not gonna rise. I'm not gonna kill. I'm not gonna eat. Don't you remember this law that you gave us Lord. And I feel as he's talking, as he's standing, right, he continues to show that this is this isn't gonna happen. This isn't me. This isn't what you directed Lord.

Same with this passage, right? Lord. That's not me. I'm not gonna fall away. I'm not gonna deny you.

I feel that Peter tries to step up. Okay. In these areas, step into his pride and respond.

I'm not gonna flee. I'm not gonna falter. I'm gonna stand strong. I'm gonna stand firm. Lord, I have my religious pride. I have my traditions. I'm not gonna eat anything I'm not supposed to. I'm not gonna dive into that. I'm not gonna kill anything. I'm not gonna eat it. Lord. I don't want a part of that.

Right. And, and we go from this sense of feeling like Peter's trying to just correct and set the Lord straight on what's happening on who he is to the point where what has to happen is the spirit has to set Peter straight. Peter, this is what you're gonna do. Right? I've deemed this, I've worked this out.

I've prepared this for. because Peter says by no means Lord, nothing common or unclean has ever entered my mouth. But the voice answered a second time. What God has made clean, do not call common. And this happened three times. Peter feels that he has to set the Lord and the Lord just humbles him and says, no, Peter, this is what's really happening.

Stop bumbling around. Stop trying to, to step into this. I understand that you're using the tradition in the law, but this is what you're gonna do. This is where I'm gonna take you. This is what I'm gonna do. This is what I'm gonna show you. And Peter's still wrestling about feels that it's about food. And then he gets to the point where three men show up and it changes perspective for him, right?

It's not about eating. it's about people. It's about moving. And I feel that Peter has to learn like me, like probably many of you, but through the pains of hearing things time and time and time again, I raise your hand. If one time doesn't sink in for you. Nope. If you've ever been a youth in your life, that's probably true, right?

That one time just doesn't work. Right? One. Time's not gonna be enough. And so like Peter, like my life, right? The Lord uses this three times thing. I feel like in Peter's ministry throughout his entire life. Right. Peter, you're gonna deny me three times, right? You're gonna, you're gonna say no three times, even though you're gonna try to correct it, you're gonna, you're gonna deny me three times when Jesus is raised from the dead, he's gonna restore Peter three times.

right. How many times does she get lowered? Three times. How many men from Caesarea show up three men? I feel for Peter, he has to see this many times over, and I'm not a, numerologist where I don't wanna convince you of signs that you'll find, but I decide, I said, you know, what, what does that mean? Is there a reference, is there a meaning with three in the J in the Jewish culture?

Is there something that they would see this as that maybe we don't maybe that we're not gonna pick up on. And so, as we dove in, as I looked, I found that the number three will help us. It's gonna help symbolize what's going on one, symbolizes unity. If you have won, it's cohesive, it's unified, right? That's there's no opposition to it.

There's no conflict within it, right? Because it's singles it's it's on its own. It's it's unified together. This one thing. right. And when we add two to it, right, or when we have one, it exists alone, nothing disturbs. It remains completely at peace without regard for anything else. And we take a second and two symbolizes duality, complexity, something else going on something.

Now that might be an opposition against this other one here, something that's gonna cause both of them to react differently. And what I found interesting was that the number three symbolizes harmony symbolizes a harmony that includes and synthesizes two opposites coming together. The unity symbolized by the number three, isn't accomplished by getting rid of number two,

but rather by merging them together. Rather by taking both of them and bringing them before this, right. Peter denies the Lord. He has his pride that he steps up and says no, but the Lord has to humble him so that we have Peter on the other side. So he's taking one side and the other, combining them to unify who Peter becomes, right?

They work harmoniously together. When the Lord brings us about, and Peter is learning this right? When the two opposites merge, they work together. The resulting unity is greater than the unity of being on its own of being either one or here or here by bringing them together. It draws them closer. Cause the number one symbolizes peace that is achieved by excluding all others.

Two stands for disagreement and three stands for the harmony of opposites coming together. I see this being played out here. In Peter's life, the harmony of bringing two things together, the harmony of having this side here and this side here, and then the Lord merging them.

I see that he's done that many times in my life. And by combining my pride in my humility, by taking pride, my pride and humbling me with circumstances so that I can focus on the Lord. On the other side, he doesn't get rid of my pride, but he changes and uses it in a different way.

Jesus shows also when he says three times feed my sheep to Peter. Jesus is showing forgiveness to a most likely a person feeling unworthy since denying Jesus. You have two opposites coming together and here we have two separate distinct people groups. one, the Jewish culture feels that they are one they're unified they're together.

They're traditions, they're histories, the Lord coming to them, right. Unifies them together because it is based off of promises and what they've done. And the Lord now coming with the Jewish believers, we have that. And then we have this Gentile group that is almost in complete opposite and opposition to what the Jewish believers are going through and what they're doing and what they stand for and what they believe.

And we have this Gentile nation being welcomed in

the Lord is taking two separate groups here and molding them together. It's not fixing all their problems. It's not correcting everything, but he is bringing it to be one body. He's taking the unified group in the beginning and he is moving from the, the opposition group and he is bringing them together to form this new body of Christ, this new entity that we will now have, that will move forward with that will now be welcomed into the kingdom.

As we look at it, this is a beautiful thing because it's a promise that all of us, at least majority of us fall into majority of us are Gentile backgrounds. And we're being brought into this new beginning. And we see this as Peter is hearing this as he's following, as he responds and goes to this new people group to bring in this opposition, to be molded to the new body.

We see that as he's sharing this, as he shares the message, as he preaches the spirit comes to the. And we see this new beginning happening. We see a new beginning for Jewish Christians. At this time, we see a new beginning for Gentile believers. At this time, we have this coming together, this one, because what God offered and in verse 16 through 18, we see this and I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the holy spirit if God gave the same gift to them.

As he gave to us, when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I, that could stand in God's way. When they heard these things, they fell silent and they glorified God saying then to the Gentiles. Also God has granted repentance that leads to life, this gift that they're gonna receive, right? It's not based off of anything that they've done.

It's not based off of things that they're going to do. It's not based off of things that they have. Right. It's based off of a need and a gift and a willingness that God says, I want to give this to you. All of us have that believe in the Lord, that trust in him as our savior, have this gift. It's been freely given to us, right?

We didn't pay for it. We didn't die for it. We can't do anything to earn it. We can't do anything to purchase it, but it's a gift freely given poured out from the Lord. And Peter wants the Jewish believers here to understand that this is exactly what the Lord is doing. This is exactly what God is doing here.

He is giving this free gift and he wants to remind them guys, this is what it was like us. In the beginning, we have this gift. We were given this gift, right? We can't forget what happened in our beginning at our Pentecost. When the holy spirit came to us. Acts one. We can see that we read that the disciples were commanded to wait in Jerusalem because the father had promised someone to come, right?

I'm I have to leave, but I'm promising that someone will come that's better than me. That will be in your stead. And when he comes, you'll be filled with power. The holy spirit is the gift that you'll receive. And he wants to remind the Jewish believers here, that this is where we were. We were at this exact place in our beginning.

We were just like them. When we received this, when the holy spirit came upon us, we need to remember that. It's not about these traditions. It's not about our pilgrimages. It's not about our history. It's about the future of what God is doing. and he wants to remind them in this moment that if this is what God is saying, that he's coming to baptize them and he's giving them the holy spirit.

Why would I wanna stand in that way? Right. Peter here, it says, right. I'm not, I'm not gonna touch that. If Lord tells me to go because of this is what he's doing, I'm going now, right? I'm not gonna stand in the way of what Jesus is pouring out here. I don't wanna stand in opposition of what the Lord is going to do, what plans to do and what he's doing in the future.

I don't want to step into that space.

I wanna be led by him. I don't wanna stand in God's way. I wanna be led by God along the way.

And the Gentiles receive this same gift.

Peter sees first hand. The Gentile Pentecost as mark explained it last week that this is happening right before him in this house, in Cornelius's house, this is what happens. This is what went on. And as he's finishing this up, right, the, we see that these people there, it says right, when they heard all these things, they fell silent.

They were speechless that they had nothing to respond to. They had to take a second to process. What they just heard that the holy spirit is now gonna be with the Gentiles, that he's not just our God anymore, but that he's their God. And they have access to him and they can come to know him and they can come before him.

If they rejoice in this moment and they say, And they glorified God saying then to the Gentiles also God gives granted repentance that leads to life verse 18, none of these verses right. Didn didn't correct. All of these other questions now that are gonna come about, right. That didn't lay out the whole plan for the Gentiles being grafted in being welcomed in it.

Didn't lay everything out and say, well, this is step a step B step three, step five, right? This is how you're gonna work this out. Right? He just said, this is what's happening. This is a movement that is going on. This is something that is going to be fluid that is going to move. That is going to change.

That is going to shape the future of things. The future of my people, the future of those that believe in me, but there's still traditions that have been held onto for over a thousand years by the people. , he's not saying throw that out. He's not saying to throw out and now you have to circums every Gentile believer coming in.

We'll see, later on that, there are still these struggles that this church right now is wrestling with that there's still gonna be disagreements. There's still gonna be challenges that they face.

It's still changing.

And so as I read this, and as I look at this, I know there are things that I can apply. And so three things that I wrote down that I felt that we need to learn from this is that we continually need to exercise brace on the. right. There are people groups, there are things there are, whether it's a political party or whether it's a stance or whether it's, I believe in this, or I think about this, or I shop here and I shop there and this is what I wanna live like, and this is where I wanna do.

As we fall under the Lord, as we look to serve him, we will need to exercise brace daily. There are people that may, that we may feel stand in contrast to us that are believers, but they may stand in contrast to some of our political views. And we need to still exercise grace.

We need to continue to do this daily. We might not agree with the way someone is raising their children, maybe how they're spending their money. Right. We've been around other believers that might do something a little different than we do, but we need to not be an opposition of them or think that they're wrong in that, but we need to.

Exercise grace daily, because I know in my toughest struggle times, the Lord gives me grace continually, right? When I am at my lowest, God is giving me grace. And the people around me are showing me, grace, can we show that to others? Can we go this week? Can we show grace to those that, you know, we might not get along with?

We might not a hundred percent agree with, can we continue to exercise this grace to, we need to continue to be straightened out by the spirit, right? We need to continue to walk step in step with this spirit. If he directs us and guides us one way, we need to be following him as the Lord leads. We need to follow.

I don't want to be a Peter and say, Nope, I'm not gonna do it. I'm not going, but I wanna be like, all right, Lord, where you lead. I go. If you open that door, I'm gonna walk through it. If you say that, I need to talk to that person. I'm gonna talk to them. If you see, I need to go there, I'm gonna go, right. I need to be continued to be straightened out by the steer because I'm stubborn.

Right? And I want to dig my feet in at times and I wanna stand still. And I don't wanna talk to that person because I know that conversation's gonna be an hour and a half long, or I don't want to go over there because I know that I don't necessarily get along with them. But if the Lord leads, I need to,

follow's similar to that. When the Lord says go, I need to go without hesitation. What he has made common, what he has cleaned. I don't ever want to come to the point of saying it's unclean, right? The Lord died, right to wash offs of our sins. And I want to continue to share that message as I go as the Lord leads as the Lord deems, as he opens up doors, I don't wanna hesitate and drag my feet into that.

I wanna run and be in step with the spirit and follow the spirit because after all right, the great commission doesn't stop within the scriptures. The great commission gets carried out daily by us as this second part as this next part continues, right? It says to the ends of the earth, well, the earth isn't over the earth hasn't ended yet.

And so we're directed to continue to fulfill that great commission that the Lord has told us to. And that might mean go to your neighbor, go to that coworker, go to that family member. Here. Peter was told to go to some other outside group that was in opposition. Who is he telling you to go to?

Are we listening to the Lord as he is moving as he is guiding as he is directing? Am I in step with what the spirit is doing here in my life, in my house, in my family and around the world. Am I keeping in step with where he's leading and directing father? I pray that we will continue just to be at peace with where you are.

Lord, we get challenged by things that we don't understand from you. Peter was challenged here and I pray that you're challenging each one of us in our own lives. It's a scary thing to say, but I pray that you challenge us. to move, to not be still to not be hesitant, correct us from the spirit Lord. As we pour grace out, as we exercise this grace daily Lord, we are grateful that this report is here, that this chapter is here because this is our beginning Lord, where we are grafted in to you.

I pray that you receive the honor and the glory here. Lord, as we look to praise you and worship you throughout this week, Lord, as we look to make your name known, I pray that you be shown in us that your spirit be ever present

and that we walk in your name and your heavenly named father. Amen. You are dismissed.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-report ab5e1104-dfcf-4549-afc0-19d19496e406 Sun, 14 Aug 2022 14:24:43 GMT <div data-html="true">Acts 11:1-18 <br /><br /> But the voice answered a second time from heaven, ‘What God has made clean, do not call common.’ <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> Good morning. Good morning. All right. You're awake. That's good. That helps. That definitely helps. All right. If you wanna open up the Bibles, uh, we're gonna be focusing on acts 11 today. Uh, if you have a pew Bible it's page 8 65, so you can flip to that real quick and find that. Um, but as you get there, I'll give you a second to get there. <br /><br /> We're gonna be talking about Peter once again, here in acts and just, I, I love who Peter is. I love, uh, just how the Bible describes him. Um, cuz I can relate, uh, and very much in, in his personality and how he says things. And, and today we're gonna see a little bit more about that, but as you open up acts, we're gonna read it first. <br /><br /> So we're gonna be acts 11. We're gonna read from, uh, one through 18 says now the apostles and the brothers who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. So when Peter went up from Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him saying you went to uncircumcised men and ate with them. <br /><br /> But Peter began explained it to them. In order, I was in the city of Joppa praying and in a trance, I saw a vision, something like a great sheet, descending being let down from heaven by its four corners. And it came down to me. Looking at a closely observed animals and beasts of prey and reptiles and birds of the air. <br /><br /> And I heard a voice saying to me, rise, Peter, kill and eat. But I said by no means Lord, for nothing common or unclean has ever entered by mouth. The voice answer a second time from heaven. What God has made clean, do not call common. This happened three times and all was drawn up again into heaven and behold at that very moment, three men from Caesarea or three men arrived at the house in which were sent to me from Caesarea. <br /><br /> And his spirit told me to go with them, making no distinction. These six brothers also accompanied me and we entered the man's house and he told us how he had seen the angel stand in his house and say, send a Joppa and bring Simon who was called Peter. He will declare to you a message by which you will be saved you and all your household. <br /><br /> as I began to speak, the holy spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning. And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, John baptized with water, but you'll be baptized with the holy spirit. If then God gave the same gift to them. As he gave to us. When we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I, that I could stand in God's way. <br /><br /> When they heard these things, they fell silent and they glorified God saying then to the Gentiles. Also God has granted repentance that leads to life father, as we come to your word this morning, as we look at this report, Lord, I pray that you continue to remind us of what is happening here. Lord, continue to show us who you are and how you work. <br /><br /> Lord, allow us to see this passage, allow us to, to put ourselves there Lord, to, to think how, how would we respond? Well, Lord, I pray that you continue to show us our hearts. Just like you show them their hearts allow us to be changed, to be molded, to be more like you pray that you go before us today. Lord, fill us with your spirit, fill this room with your spirit and allow your words to be spoken here this morning in your heavenly name. <br /><br /> Amen. As we look at this text, it can appear like a normal thing, right? Peter's going and talking to people and he's sharing and, and he goes, and he travels, right? Someone has a vision, they come and they say, go get Peter, right, go get Simon. Who's called Peter. So that, you know, the specific one to find, right? <br /><br /> He goes, he shares, he teaches, right. This miraculous thing happens like pastor mark was saying last week, right. It's the Gentile Pentecost. Right. This amazing thing happens right then and there. Right, right. And it, it feels like it's a normal report. Right? That's great news. Right? We're all rejoicing over this. <br /><br /> As we look at the text from, from our perspective, right? This is an amazing gift. That's come. It's an amazing opportunity that the Gentiles have. Now they've access to the holy spirit. They've received the holy spirit. They can go before the Lord, right? They can come into his presence. They can pray. They can talk to him. <br /><br /> They have salvation. And for us, as we sit here and we look at this, it it's a great seems pretty cut and dry, a quick report back to the group. But as we dive a little deeper, we have to put ourselves in their shoes, right. These are the Jewish believers that are here. Right. And as we come about it, we have to think about how would they be accepting of this? <br /><br /> How do they see what Peter is doing? How do they view it? What questions might come about? <br /><br /> And so we look at the slide and we see that Peter, in the map here, we see that he's going from Joppa all the way up to Caesarea. I know there's a map. It's coming well, picture yourselves. Okay, here we go. All right. So we have Joppa, right? And it's about a day's journey up to Caesarea. Right? And so Peter travels there with this group, with these three guys, and he brings six of his own to go there. <br /><br /> Right? And so it's a day's journey and he stays there for a few days. And this sets the stage of what's about to happen. And as we dive in, we'll see verses one through three. And as we look at it, it says this. So read it with me. It says now the apostles and the brothers who were throughout Judea, heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God. <br /><br /> So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him saying you went to uncircumcised men and ate with. Right. This sets the stage, right? Peter is there for a few days. It takes him a day to travel. He stays for a few days, and then he travels back down to Jerusalem. He's there for it takes days to do this. <br /><br /> So right now we hear news is going around, right? Peter went to this group, Peter ate with them. They receive the holy spirit, right. They now know about the Lord. Right? And we think about this from their perspective, right? They receive the word of God. And this is huge because the Jewish believers right. <br /><br /> Have some questions. Right. And all of this is they're hearing this it's great news that is spreading, but as word reaches, the circumcised party as word reaches them, right. Questions start to come up. What do we do now? right. How could Peter do this? How could he go to them? Right. I put myself in their shoes and I say, well, what about all of my traditions that I'm holding onto, that I've done over and over and over again, right? <br /><br /> That are Jewish relatives that are Jewish family. That those that have come before us have done for over 1200 years. We've been with these traditions and these things that the Lord has showed us. And that God put before us, where are they gonna worship? How are they gonna worship? Are they gonna eat the same food? <br /><br /> Right. All of these questions. Start to go through your mind. If you are sitting there wondering why Peter, like the Peter went to this group when he knows it's wrong. <br /><br /> For the Jewish Christian. There's a lot to consider here about your own reli, religiosity about your own beliefs, about what the Lord has established within you and within your people group. Right? Jesus came for the Jews. He came to the Jews first and they received right. The Jewish believers here are just probably wandering in their minds right now, over and over again. <br /><br /> What does this mean? What does this mean? What does this look like? It's a new time. It's a new thing, right? And for us being in this position here, we're happy. Right? We're excited. We read this and we rejoice and we think this is amazing that it's come to them. <br /><br /> But Peter, are you still with us? Did you abandon your faith by going to them? Did you leave us for them? Has your allegiance changed? All of these thoughts are going around and around and I'm sure all of these thoughts have started to populate the minds of the believers that are there that are having time to wrestle time since Peter's still traveling, as they heard about it. <br /><br /> News got back and as he's coming, right, they're thinking and talking and sharing and better yet. He goes to a Centurion, <br /><br /> the very people that stand in opposition of the Jewish nation. <br /><br /> And so these questions play out. Are they gonna travel three times a year? Right? We have Pentecost, right? We go to the temple. We worship. we pilgrimage, right? Three times a year. We have this mandatory time to go. And Peter, you threw all of this up in the air, and now we're trying to see where it lands. <br /><br /> We're gonna see what happens. We want to know why we wanna know why you messed with what we had going on. We had these nice things, laid out that for over 1200 years, we did this and we did this and we did this and we did this and we had this perfect time line of going of when we did it, what we knew, how we worshiped, where we worshiped, what we were allowed to eat, what we weren't allowed to eat. <br /><br /> We had this perfection going. It felt like, and now you throw it all up in the air to see where it lands. Now <br /><br /> I can imagine that these are the questions. These are questions that arose. When I finally looked deeper than just a report back when I dove in and I put myself in their shoes and I wanted to see, well, how are they gonna respond? <br /><br /> And two words popped into my head, not fair. <br /><br /> How is this fair that we've done all of these things and now you just went to them and they got it. What's on time. Have they put in what commitments do they have? Where's their allegiance fall, right? Who are they? Jesus came and walked with us. Peter, you walked alongside of him. Doesn't seem fair. <br /><br /> And so he comes back when he goes up and he gets confronted by this group of people, which not the party that I'd sign up for right away to be named. But you know, the circumcised party when he comes in and, but. It shows us what they value as important, right? This isn't just a group that says, you know, this is what we're gonna be called, but this goes back to their roots to Genesis 17. <br /><br /> And so you have this idea of, we have the uncircumcised versus the circumcised now. And we have, after these questions arise, Peter gets confronted by them. Cuz they're sitting there wrestling and they want questions and they want to know what is going on. <br /><br /> We go back to the Abraham at covenant, Peter don't, you know that don't, you know, that this is where it was founded. This is what we're based on. This is what this first came about. And now you go to uncircumcised group, you know, the group that wasn't a part of this covenant that wasn't given this gift that wasn't factored in. <br /><br /> Peter. This is our outward representation of our inward worship. And now you're going somewhere else where it's not there. <br /><br /> Right? For thousands of years, this has been a key part of their belief system that they're holding onto these traditions, that they have the traditions of worship, the traditions of circumcision, right? And not just traditions, but these are laws that were given that you do this. This is part of your worship to the Lord. <br /><br /> This is part of your covenant to God. This is a command that was given Abraham, handed this down from family to family generation, to generation, to generation. <br /><br /> And it's one that separates them, separates the Jews from everyone else. because of the covenant there so much thought goes into the histories of these two people groups. As we look at at the, um, circumcised, the circumcised, the Jew, and the Gentile. And as we go back, we see that right tracking with the history of the Jewish people, the Jewish culture, God established covenant after covenant with this people, right? <br /><br /> He led them through the wilderness was there when they begged for a king sent prophets to correct them and to rebuke them from their sinful nature in the rebellious times. And it was quietly watching in awaiting the sending of his son to rescue them. This is what they were waiting for. This is what this group is holding onto. <br /><br /> This is what they had in their history. This is what their traditions, their past was built upon. And all of this culminates right here at this very moment, because Peter goes. that's what they see. Right? They don't know about the vision yet. They don't hear about that yet, but they just see all of this leading to this point where Peter now decides I'm gonna go. <br /><br /> And to them, it looks like abandonment. I'm sure it looks like change of allegiance. I believe to the Jewish people, they see a chasm of differences between themselves and the Gentile nations and the people that don't believe in God. <br /><br /> And as I sit there and I see Peter being confronted with this, I know when I'm confronted my mind goes, wait, wait, you gotta, you just gotta hear me out. You gotta wait. I got a story, right? I got a story to tell you. I got something to say before you dive in, before you try to just arrest me before you come after me, before you pick up those stones, let me share what happened. <br /><br /> And I picture Peter on this edge here of waiting and waiting for them to stop and waiting for them to so that he can have that moment to share why? Because if we just stop here, it seems like Peter abandons, all of the stuff that came before, all of the religiosity, all of the traditions, all of the things that God ordained and directed for this Jewish people. <br /><br /> If we stop here, it looks like Peter just threw it all up in the air and said, I'm just doing what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna go. If we don't dive back in and see what is actually happening. If Peter doesn't get a chance to speak, <br /><br /> they don't know why. <br /><br /> And I can see there, Peter, as he's saying, you know what, guys, this is not on my idea. I didn't want to go. Right. I didn't want to do it. I'm minding my own bzz business. I'm praying. On my roof, right on this roof here, that I'm staying, I'm praying, I'm talking to God. And then this is what happened, right? And Peter has this vision as he is praying. <br /><br /> And as we look to the second point, we see that Peter's gonna recap this vision. As we look on the screen, we see a picture of just many different animals being lowered down <br /><br /> animals that obviously are not allowed to be eaten as Peter's looks at this. And he sees, and he sees the many different things going on, the many different animals there. Right? He's confused. And, and as he's sitting there, he's praying, right? This is the vision. This is what he is wrestling with. This is what he sees. <br /><br /> I was in the city of Joppa praying and in a trance, I saw the vision, something like a great sheet, descending being let down from heaven by its four corners. and it came to me looking at it closely. I observed the animals and beast of praying reptiles in the birds of the air. And I heard a voice saying to me, rise, Peter Killan. <br /><br /> But I said by no means Lord, for nothing common or unclean has ever entered my mouth. But the voice answered a second time from heaven. What God made clean do not call common. This happened three times and was all drawn up into heaven again and behold at the very moment, three men arrived at the house in which we were sent, which we were sent to me from Caesarea. <br /><br /> And the spirit told me to go with them, making no distinction. These six brothers accompanying me and we entered the man's house and he told us how he had seen the angel stand in his house and say, send to Jo and bring Simon who is called Peter he'll declare to you a message by which you will be saved you and all your household. <br /><br /> And as I began speaking, as I began to speak, the holy spirit fell on them just as us at the beginning. And Peter gets the moment and he says, you know what, before you guys gather the jury, before you, you make your decision before you throw me out, before you cast me away, right. Just hear what happened. <br /><br /> Right. I'm praying in this vision from God comes to me and right there, you're gonna stop and say, okay, I'll let you go, right. God, God send you a vision. We'll listen. Right. I want to hear then, right. Fellow believers, just listen. I want to tell you what happened. I wanna share why I went, why it seems like I did this crazy out of the blue thing by going. <br /><br /> I want to tell you why I did it, how it happened, how it came about that. I found myself traveling with three men and my six brothers here to Caesarea how I went from Joppa to there. And he says, this is why, right. This spirit told me. And so I feel as here, as we look at setting the spirit straight, as we look at Peter, right? <br /><br /> In, in typical Peter fashion, I'd like to say, right, this isn't the first time that he's been, been told to do something in how he's responded. So if we look back to Matthew 26, 31 through 35, we see my boy, Peter, right, coming up and it says, then Jesus said to them, you will all fall away because of me this night for it is written. <br /><br /> I will strike the shepherd and the sheep of the flock will be scattered. But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee. Peter answered them though. They all fall away because of you. I will never fall away. Jesus said to him, truly, I tell you this very night before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times. <br /><br /> Peter said to him, even if I must die with you, I will not deny you. All the disciples said the same. As I look at this and as I ponder it and I look at where Peter is, right. I, I get a sense as I read this, my mind jumps back to this moment where Peter right is correcting the Lord, right? Peter's spirit has a spirit of just kind of walking through things, not much thinking, but maybe like a bull in a China shop where he's just stumbling around, bumping into things, saying what comes to his mind? <br /><br /> Lord, I'll never leave you, Lord. I'm not gonna do that, Lord. That's not me. I'm here. That's everybody else. That was the other 11. Right? Scattered. They're gonna be scattered, but if I have to die with you, I'm gonna be by your side and three times, right? The Lord says you're gonna deny me, but I just get this sense of Peter trying to correct the spirit, trying to correct the Lord in this here. <br /><br /> And as I jump to this passage, I feel it's the same way. Right by no means Lord. Right? I don't feel that as a timid response from Peter, but I, I feel that as one that he's standing firm and saying, Lord, that's not, I right. Don't you know, I'm Peter, right? Don't you know who I am, Lord, I'm faithful. I follow the law. <br /><br /> Right? Nothing unclean has ever touched my mouth. I'm not gonna rise. I'm not gonna kill. I'm not gonna eat. Don't you remember this law that you gave us Lord. And I feel as he's talking, as he's standing, right, he continues to show that this is this isn't gonna happen. This isn't me. This isn't what you directed Lord. <br /><br /> Same with this passage, right? Lord. That's not me. I'm not gonna fall away. I'm not gonna deny you. <br /><br /> I feel that Peter tries to step up. Okay. In these areas, step into his pride and respond. <br /><br /> I'm not gonna flee. I'm not gonna falter. I'm gonna stand strong. I'm gonna stand firm. Lord, I have my religious pride. I have my traditions. I'm not gonna eat anything I'm not supposed to. I'm not gonna dive into that. I'm not gonna kill anything. I'm not gonna eat it. Lord. I don't want a part of that. <br /><br /> Right. And, and we go from this sense of feeling like Peter's trying to just correct and set the Lord straight on what's happening on who he is to the point where what has to happen is the spirit has to set Peter straight. Peter, this is what you're gonna do. Right? I've deemed this, I've worked this out. <br /><br /> I've prepared this for. because Peter says by no means Lord, nothing common or unclean has ever entered my mouth. But the voice answered a second time. What God has made clean, do not call common. And this happened three times. Peter feels that he has to set the Lord and the Lord just humbles him and says, no, Peter, this is what's really happening. <br /><br /> Stop bumbling around. Stop trying to, to step into this. I understand that you're using the tradition in the law, but this is what you're gonna do. This is where I'm gonna take you. This is what I'm gonna do. This is what I'm gonna show you. And Peter's still wrestling about feels that it's about food. And then he gets to the point where three men show up and it changes perspective for him, right? <br /><br /> It's not about eating. it's about people. It's about moving. And I feel that Peter has to learn like me, like probably many of you, but through the pains of hearing things time and time and time again, I raise your hand. If one time doesn't sink in for you. Nope. If you've ever been a youth in your life, that's probably true, right? <br /><br /> That one time just doesn't work. Right? One. Time's not gonna be enough. And so like Peter, like my life, right? The Lord uses this three times thing. I feel like in Peter's ministry throughout his entire life. Right. Peter, you're gonna deny me three times, right? You're gonna, you're gonna say no three times, even though you're gonna try to correct it, you're gonna, you're gonna deny me three times when Jesus is raised from the dead, he's gonna restore Peter three times. <br /><br /> right. How many times does she get lowered? Three times. How many men from Caesarea show up three men? I feel for Peter, he has to see this many times over, and I'm not a, numerologist where I don't wanna convince you of signs that you'll find, but I decide, I said, you know, what, what does that mean? Is there a reference, is there a meaning with three in the J in the Jewish culture? <br /><br /> Is there something that they would see this as that maybe we don't maybe that we're not gonna pick up on. And so, as we dove in, as I looked, I found that the number three will help us. It's gonna help symbolize what's going on one, symbolizes unity. If you have won, it's cohesive, it's unified, right? That's there's no opposition to it. <br /><br /> There's no conflict within it, right? Because it's singles it's it's on its own. It's it's unified together. This one thing. right. And when we add two to it, right, or when we have one, it exists alone, nothing disturbs. It remains completely at peace without regard for anything else. And we take a second and two symbolizes duality, complexity, something else going on something. <br /><br /> Now that might be an opposition against this other one here, something that's gonna cause both of them to react differently. And what I found interesting was that the number three symbolizes harmony symbolizes a harmony that includes and synthesizes two opposites coming together. The unity symbolized by the number three, isn't accomplished by getting rid of number two, <br /><br /> but rather by merging them together. Rather by taking both of them and bringing them before this, right. Peter denies the Lord. He has his pride that he steps up and says no, but the Lord has to humble him so that we have Peter on the other side. So he's taking one side and the other, combining them to unify who Peter becomes, right? <br /><br /> They work harmoniously together. When the Lord brings us about, and Peter is learning this right? When the two opposites merge, they work together. The resulting unity is greater than the unity of being on its own of being either one or here or here by bringing them together. It draws them closer. Cause the number one symbolizes peace that is achieved by excluding all others. <br /><br /> Two stands for disagreement and three stands for the harmony of opposites coming together. I see this being played out here. In Peter's life, the harmony of bringing two things together, the harmony of having this side here and this side here, and then the Lord merging them. <br /><br /> I see that he's done that many times in my life. And by combining my pride in my humility, by taking pride, my pride and humbling me with circumstances so that I can focus on the Lord. On the other side, he doesn't get rid of my pride, but he changes and uses it in a different way. <br /><br /> Jesus shows also when he says three times feed my sheep to Peter. Jesus is showing forgiveness to a most likely a person feeling unworthy since denying Jesus. You have two opposites coming together and here we have two separate distinct people groups. one, the Jewish culture feels that they are one they're unified they're together. <br /><br /> They're traditions, they're histories, the Lord coming to them, right. Unifies them together because it is based off of promises and what they've done. And the Lord now coming with the Jewish believers, we have that. And then we have this Gentile group that is almost in complete opposite and opposition to what the Jewish believers are going through and what they're doing and what they stand for and what they believe. <br /><br /> And we have this Gentile nation being welcomed in <br /><br /> the Lord is taking two separate groups here and molding them together. It's not fixing all their problems. It's not correcting everything, but he is bringing it to be one body. He's taking the unified group in the beginning and he is moving from the, the opposition group and he is bringing them together to form this new body of Christ, this new entity that we will now have, that will move forward with that will now be welcomed into the kingdom. <br /><br /> As we look at it, this is a beautiful thing because it's a promise that all of us, at least majority of us fall into majority of us are Gentile backgrounds. And we're being brought into this new beginning. And we see this as Peter is hearing this as he's following, as he responds and goes to this new people group to bring in this opposition, to be molded to the new body. <br /><br /> We see that as he's sharing this, as he shares the message, as he preaches the spirit comes to the. And we see this new beginning happening. We see a new beginning for Jewish Christians. At this time, we see a new beginning for Gentile believers. At this time, we have this coming together, this one, because what God offered and in verse 16 through 18, we see this and I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the holy spirit if God gave the same gift to them. <br /><br /> As he gave to us, when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I, that could stand in God's way. When they heard these things, they fell silent and they glorified God saying then to the Gentiles. Also God has granted repentance that leads to life, this gift that they're gonna receive, right? It's not based off of anything that they've done. <br /><br /> It's not based off of things that they're going to do. It's not based off of things that they have. Right. It's based off of a need and a gift and a willingness that God says, I want to give this to you. All of us have that believe in the Lord, that trust in him as our savior, have this gift. It's been freely given to us, right? <br /><br /> We didn't pay for it. We didn't die for it. We can't do anything to earn it. We can't do anything to purchase it, but it's a gift freely given poured out from the Lord. And Peter wants the Jewish believers here to understand that this is exactly what the Lord is doing. This is exactly what God is doing here. <br /><br /> He is giving this free gift and he wants to remind them guys, this is what it was like us. In the beginning, we have this gift. We were given this gift, right? We can't forget what happened in our beginning at our Pentecost. When the holy spirit came to us. Acts one. We can see that we read that the disciples were commanded to wait in Jerusalem because the father had promised someone to come, right? <br /><br /> I'm I have to leave, but I'm promising that someone will come that's better than me. That will be in your stead. And when he comes, you'll be filled with power. The holy spirit is the gift that you'll receive. And he wants to remind the Jewish believers here, that this is where we were. We were at this exact place in our beginning. <br /><br /> We were just like them. When we received this, when the holy spirit came upon us, we need to remember that. It's not about these traditions. It's not about our pilgrimages. It's not about our history. It's about the future of what God is doing. and he wants to remind them in this moment that if this is what God is saying, that he's coming to baptize them and he's giving them the holy spirit. <br /><br /> Why would I wanna stand in that way? Right. Peter here, it says, right. I'm not, I'm not gonna touch that. If Lord tells me to go because of this is what he's doing, I'm going now, right? I'm not gonna stand in the way of what Jesus is pouring out here. I don't wanna stand in opposition of what the Lord is going to do, what plans to do and what he's doing in the future. <br /><br /> I don't want to step into that space. <br /><br /> I wanna be led by him. I don't wanna stand in God's way. I wanna be led by God along the way. <br /><br /> And the Gentiles receive this same gift. <br /><br /> Peter sees first hand. The Gentile Pentecost as mark explained it last week that this is happening right before him in this house, in Cornelius's house, this is what happens. This is what went on. And as he's finishing this up, right, the, we see that these people there, it says right, when they heard all these things, they fell silent. <br /><br /> They were speechless that they had nothing to respond to. They had to take a second to process. What they just heard that the holy spirit is now gonna be with the Gentiles, that he's not just our God anymore, but that he's their God. And they have access to him and they can come to know him and they can come before him. <br /><br /> If they rejoice in this moment and they say, And they glorified God saying then to the Gentiles also God gives granted repentance that leads to life verse 18, none of these verses right. Didn didn't correct. All of these other questions now that are gonna come about, right. That didn't lay out the whole plan for the Gentiles being grafted in being welcomed in it. <br /><br /> Didn't lay everything out and say, well, this is step a step B step three, step five, right? This is how you're gonna work this out. Right? He just said, this is what's happening. This is a movement that is going on. This is something that is going to be fluid that is going to move. That is going to change. <br /><br /> That is going to shape the future of things. The future of my people, the future of those that believe in me, but there's still traditions that have been held onto for over a thousand years by the people. , he's not saying throw that out. He's not saying to throw out and now you have to circums every Gentile believer coming in. <br /><br /> We'll see, later on that, there are still these struggles that this church right now is wrestling with that there's still gonna be disagreements. There's still gonna be challenges that they face. <br /><br /> It's still changing. <br /><br /> And so as I read this, and as I look at this, I know there are things that I can apply. And so three things that I wrote down that I felt that we need to learn from this is that we continually need to exercise brace on the. right. There are people groups, there are things there are, whether it's a political party or whether it's a stance or whether it's, I believe in this, or I think about this, or I shop here and I shop there and this is what I wanna live like, and this is where I wanna do. <br /><br /> As we fall under the Lord, as we look to serve him, we will need to exercise brace daily. There are people that may, that we may feel stand in contrast to us that are believers, but they may stand in contrast to some of our political views. And we need to still exercise grace. <br /><br /> We need to continue to do this daily. We might not agree with the way someone is raising their children, maybe how they're spending their money. Right. We've been around other believers that might do something a little different than we do, but we need to not be an opposition of them or think that they're wrong in that, but we need to. <br /><br /> Exercise grace daily, because I know in my toughest struggle times, the Lord gives me grace continually, right? When I am at my lowest, God is giving me grace. And the people around me are showing me, grace, can we show that to others? Can we go this week? Can we show grace to those that, you know, we might not get along with? <br /><br /> We might not a hundred percent agree with, can we continue to exercise this grace to, we need to continue to be straightened out by the spirit, right? We need to continue to walk step in step with this spirit. If he directs us and guides us one way, we need to be following him as the Lord leads. We need to follow. <br /><br /> I don't want to be a Peter and say, Nope, I'm not gonna do it. I'm not going, but I wanna be like, all right, Lord, where you lead. I go. If you open that door, I'm gonna walk through it. If you say that, I need to talk to that person. I'm gonna talk to them. If you see, I need to go there, I'm gonna go, right. I need to be continued to be straightened out by the steer because I'm stubborn. <br /><br /> Right? And I want to dig my feet in at times and I wanna stand still. And I don't wanna talk to that person because I know that conversation's gonna be an hour and a half long, or I don't want to go over there because I know that I don't necessarily get along with them. But if the Lord leads, I need to, <br /><br /> follow's similar to that. When the Lord says go, I need to go without hesitation. What he has made common, what he has cleaned. I don't ever want to come to the point of saying it's unclean, right? The Lord died, right to wash offs of our sins. And I want to continue to share that message as I go as the Lord leads as the Lord deems, as he opens up doors, I don't wanna hesitate and drag my feet into that. <br /><br /> I wanna run and be in step with the spirit and follow the spirit because after all right, the great commission doesn't stop within the scriptures. The great commission gets carried out daily by us as this second part as this next part continues, right? It says to the ends of the earth, well, the earth isn't over the earth hasn't ended yet. <br /><br /> And so we're directed to continue to fulfill that great commission that the Lord has told us to. And that might mean go to your neighbor, go to that coworker, go to that family member. Here. Peter was told to go to some other outside group that was in opposition. Who is he telling you to go to? <br /><br /> Are we listening to the Lord as he is moving as he is guiding as he is directing? Am I in step with what the spirit is doing here in my life, in my house, in my family and around the world. Am I keeping in step with where he's leading and directing father? I pray that we will continue just to be at peace with where you are. <br /><br /> Lord, we get challenged by things that we don't understand from you. Peter was challenged here and I pray that you're challenging each one of us in our own lives. It's a scary thing to say, but I pray that you challenge us. to move, to not be still to not be hesitant, correct us from the spirit Lord. As we pour grace out, as we exercise this grace daily Lord, we are grateful that this report is here, that this chapter is here because this is our beginning Lord, where we are grafted in to you. <br /><br /> I pray that you receive the honor and the glory here. Lord, as we look to praise you and worship you throughout this week, Lord, as we look to make your name known, I pray that you be shown in us that your spirit be ever present <br /><br /> and that we walk in your name and your heavenly named father. Amen. You are dismissed.</div> false no <![CDATA[When the Holy Spirit Converts a Person]]> Sermon Transcript:

Returning this morning again, to the book of acts. If you have your acts journal, if you don't have your acts journal, either way, you can turn to the book of acts. Uh, the acts journal is something, uh, many of us use it's place take notes, but it also has the acts scripture there. Um, And we have those at the hub.

If you'd like to get one, if you're a guest with us, uh, we have those free for those as part of the gift bag we give to new folks, but we're looking at the book of acts and we've been looking at storylines here in acts chapter eight through 12, which is a section section of the book of acts where the church has grown from just a confines of Jerusalem.

And now has moved out into Judea and Samaria, the surrounding provinces and as they've done. So it's like a, a, a TV series. It's basically picking up different storylines, the storyline of Philip, and then the storyline of Peter, and then the storyline of Paul and, and keeps going back and forth as you're, you're following these guys.

And last week, and today we're, we're seeing the storyline in the end of chapter nine. And here in chapter 10 of Peter, this passage is a transforming moment in the life. Of not only the church, but humanity. It is a moment when an officer of the Roman army is going to be converted to the Christian faith.

No one of a pagan background, no one outside of those of a Jewish affiliated background has embraced Jesus Christ this moment. Nobody was sure they even were allowed without becoming a Jew first, but this guy does, and it is an event continually referenced in the rest of the book of act as a acts, as a salient transforming moment in the history of the church, it was not only a momentous conversion.

It was a model conversion. We learn from it. What being converted to Christian faith actually involves. Now I just want to pick up, you may be here and, and. Not particularly an insider and Christian stuff. And, and, and, and, but you're the, ah, the, that word conversion converted. I mean, this is my whole problem with Christian stuff.

You're trying to convert you. I, I get it. I hear it. And I'm gonna ask you to just hang with me, cuz I'm gonna try to define what I mean by it and what I think the scriptures mean by it because Jesus used the word conversion and the conversion experience in Luke chapter 18, excuse me, mark chapter 18, verse three, even though on our ES ver version, it is translated in a different way, but here's, here's a word.

It says this truly. I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of God. The word turn in the king James version was unless you be converted, uh, Converted means to turn. And when we talk about conversion, we're talking about a dramatic change. You are completely turned around.

So you might ask, well, why didn't you title your sermon? When the holy spirit turns a person, because I thought I would have to spend more time explaining what that meant then converted, but the IDF, if turn LUS better for you every time you hear me say converted, flip it and say, oh, turn, turn, turn. That's what it means.

Completely turned around a radical transformation takes place here in acts chapter 10. It doesn't do away with who the person is, but it does give the individual an entirely new life direction. It's what happens always with a conversion to Jesus. And in this passage, we're gonna read about this guy that was converted.

And then we're going to, we're gonna look at four quick principles. That conversions always have in common. I'm gonna read fast because I'm gonna read, uh, through this entire passage, it's a monster, but it's a story that is, I don't, I didn't know where to not read it. So here we go. Acts 10 it's Caesars.

There was a man named Cornelius, the Centura of what was known as the Italian cohort, a developed man who feared God with all his household, gave Al generously to the people and prayed continually to God. About the ninth hour of the day, he saw clearly in a vision and angel of God, come in and say to him, Cornelius.

And he stared at him in terror and said, what is it Lord? And he said to him, your prayers and your arms have ascended as a Memorial before God. And now send men to Joppa and bring one Simon who is called Peter. He is lodging with one Simon, a Tanner, whose house is by the sea. When the angels spoke to him, a departed, he called two of his servants and a devout soldier from among those who.

Attended him and having related everything to them, he sent them to JOP. The next day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour to pray, and he became hungry and wanted something to eat. But while they were preparing it, he fell into a trance and saw the heavens open and something like a great sheet, descending being let down by its four corners upon the earth in it.

We're all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air. And there came a voice to him, rise, Peter, kill and eat. But Peter said by no means, Lord for, I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean. And the voice came to him a second time. What God has made clean, do not call common. This happened three times and the thing was taken up at once to heaven.

Now, while Peter was inwardly perplexed as to what the vision that he had seen might mean behold, the men who were sent by Cornelius, having made an inquiry for Simon's house, stood at the gate and called out to ask whether Simon who was called Peter was lodging there. And while Peter was pondering while Peter was pondering the vision, the spirit said to him, behold, three men are looking for you, rise and go down and accompany them without hesitation for, I have sent them.

And Peter went down to the man and said, I am the one you are looking for. What is the reason for your coming? And they said, Cornelius is Centurian upright. God-fearing man, who is well spoken of by the whole Jewish nation was directed by a holy angel to send for you to come to this house and to hear what you have to say.

So he invited them in to be his guests the next day, he rose and went away with them. And some of the brothers from Joppa accompanied him. And on the following day, they entered Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and called them together, called together his relatives and close friends. When Peter entered Cornelius, met him and fell down at his feet and worshiped him.

But Peter lifted him up saying, stand up. I too am a man. And as he talked with him, he went in and found many persons gathered. He said to them, you yourselves know how unlawful it is. For a Jew to associate with, or to visit anyone of another nation. But God has shown me that I, I should not call any person common or unclean.

So when I was sent for, I came without objection. I asked them why you sent for me. And Cornelius said four days ago about this arrow hour. I was praying in my house at the ninth hour and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing and said, Cornelius, your prayer has been heard. And your arms have been remembered before God send, therefore to Joppa asked for Simon who was called Peter he's lodging at the house of Simon, a Tanner by the sea.

So I sent for you at once. And you have been kind enough to come now, th therefore we are all here in the presence of God to hear all that you have commanded by the Lord. So Peter opened his mouth and said, truly, I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation, anyone who fears him and does what is right, is acceptable to him as for the word that he sent to Israel preaching.

Good news of peace through Jesus Christ. He's Lord of all, you yourselves know what happened through all Judith, beginning from Galilee, after the baptism that John proclaimed, how God appointed anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the holy spirit and with power, he went about doing good and healing. All who were oppressed by the devil for God, was with him.

And we are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem, they put him to death by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him the third day and made him to appear not to all the people, but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses. Who aid and drank with him after he rose from the dead.

And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead to him, all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receive forgiveness through his name. While Peter was saying these things, the holy spirit fell on all who heard the word and the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed because the gift of the holy spirit was poured on even on the Gentiles for, they were hearing them speaking in tongues and ex stolen God, then Peter proclaimed, can anyone withhold water from baptizing?

These people who have received the holy spirit just as we have, and he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to remain for some days. Okay. We're gonna dive in. There are four D. things that conversions have in common. And this particular passage is a classic example of those four.

Number one conversion comes through God's initiative and verses one to 29. We see how God has been preparing the way with Peter down. And if, if we can just throw that map up, I'm sorry. I forgot that map just shows where they were. If you look there, you see, um, a city called Joppa. That's where Peter is 25 miles to the north in Caesarea is where Cornelius is.

Cornelius is having this vision from the angel that is saying, send guys to, to go get Peter. This guy named Sam and Peter he's 25 miles south in Joppa. At the same time, Peter's getting this vision about, uh, this, this, this, uh, sheet that's covered with animals that they weren't allowed to eat. And, and God is saying, kill these and eat.

And he's, can't do that, you know? And he says, don't you call and clean what I call clean. And Peter's like, what is all that about? And all of a sudden, these three guys appear at his house and Peter's starting to make connection. Wait, what's happening in that vision has something to do with these guys outside.

And God has been preparing him for what's gonna happen there in Caesarea. The first thing we find is that God, that takes the initiative in conversion in verse 29. Peter says it this way I ask why, why did you send for me? You know, why, why am I here? What's going on? And Cornelius answer is fascinating.

Cornelius says, well, the angel told me to, to send for a guy named Simon, uh, who was staying at another guy's name, another guy whose name was Simon, the Tanner, and that he should come. But actually I sent for you because God sent an angel to me. In other words, I sent for you, Peter, because God sent for me all conversions, don't have an angel showing up, but all conversions turning to Christ come about as God having moved first.

the converted person always comes to see that over their, as a journey with the Lord. And you look back, even if you don't understand it, right, then you realize how God was after you. You realize, as you look back at your, your, your converting experience to Christ, God's a work. He sent those people into my life at just the right time to say the right things.

He had certain things happen to me. He had certain things that were happening that caused questions to be raised. In my mind, I had struggles and setbacks that caused me to sense and, and be on a search. As I, I felt a need for something outside of myself. I look back and I see God's hand was all over this thing God sent for me, God was after me.

It was not some Mo noble Trek I made toward God. Quite frankly, I wanted to live my life on my own. I, I wanted to live with me as the Lord of my life, but I look back and see how God orchestrated these amazing experiences. Some amazing people to draw me towards conversion. CS Lewis says it this way, amiable agnostic will talk cheerfully about man's search for God.

To me, they might as well have talked about the mouse's search for the cat. Jesus said it this way. And John chapter six, he said, he said, no one will come to me, except my father draw him. The word draw is the word that was used of a net that was thrown over the side of a fishing boat. And you dragged in the fish being those fish were not saying, pick me, pick me, pick me.

No, they were dragged. It was God that was moving their hearts, breaking down the resistance, drawing them toward Jesus real conversion results, because God sent for you. You sensed, you needed something in your life that was not there. Things were not as they ought to be. God was at work. The first thing we learn about conversion is that God initiates the process.

Secondly, conversion, conversions, challenge, morality, and religion in verse 30 to 33, the angel says to Cornelius, you are one of the special ones. You pray, you show mercy to others in caring for them. You're generous with your, your finances in doing that. But the angel does not then say, therefore, you will be blessed.

You've earned this Cornelius. No. What the angel says is therefore you need to be converted and there's a guy that's gonna help you be converted towards Jesus Christ. Something happens. The same thing happened to Nicodemus this great guy in John chapter three, a man of integrity, a man of devotion, a man of humility, a teachable man.

As a matter of fact, he says to Jesus, uh, as he meets him at his, his place at night and he says, Jesus, we know rabbi. We know you're a man sent from. You're a prophet sent from God and Jesus, doesn't say to Nicodemus Nicodemus. That's awesome. Yeah. You just need a little touching up here and there Spiritu.

No. He says Nicodemus, you need to be born again. You need to have your life. Absolutely. Have a new beginning, a new starting point in me. You need to start the whole thing over. Now. You may say, I, I understand where, why somebody, you know, that's absolutely thrown their life into the gutter. Uh, I understand where somebody, you know, who's just ravaged with life and is broken.

Of course, you know, I get, they need, they need this, this turning, this, this, this revolutionary transformation, this, this whole life being turned around. But I mean, come on. I, my life's okay. I mean, I'm not, I'm not that screwed up. I haven't made that many desperately bad choices.

But the call to radical conversion is actually a call to a radical restart. Amen. Why is it needed? Why, why do we need it? Well, there's two, two options. Be both because, or based on the fact that we have a determined pre predisposition to make ourselves God and the Lord of our own lives. We do that in one of two ways.

One is we choose to break all the moral loss. We basically say, I'm gonna live my own life. I'm gonna do my own thing. Uh, I'm gonna be God. Uh, we don't say that, but we live that. Uh, I'm gonna, I don't, I'm not really gonna try to live in conformity with commandments of God. Maybe there's a God. Maybe there's not.

I mean, probably there is, but, but I I've got a lot of life to live and I'm gonna take this thing by the tail. That's one way people are, are our God. But there's a second way. It is by trying to keep all the moral loss, either as a Pharisee or in the spiritual sense, or, or just as a perfectionist who are people that absolutely find it a very difficult way to live, cuz they're constantly being beat up because they don't measure up.

The reality is either one is saying, I can do this. I'm gonna do my thing. I'm gonna be God, or I'm gonna do God's thing, but I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna make it. I'm gonna measure up. I'm gonna get this thing all together. I'm gonna, I'm gonna range my life. The problem is there is no, there, there is a barrier to the true conversion experience.

As long as we have that predisposition, that this is about us because conversion. Is a challenge to religion and morality. I'm gonna quote CS Lewis one more time in my favorite book or one of my two favorite books that he's written. And some people don't like it, cuz it's an allegory and it's kind of odd.

It's great divorce. It's a, it's a, it's not a cheese. It is not his theology. He's just envisioning this thing. And he's saying, imagine that in heaven, people can go there and they go in a ghostlike form and they present what they're really basing their eternal destiny on. And it's fascinating in, in the descriptions of human character, but there's one guy that shows that up and I'm just gonna mainly just give my own summary of it.

But basically this guy comes and this guy basically comes and he basically says, I'm look. Uh, and he's talking to the angel there and he's saying, I, I'm a simple guy just doing my best to live a good life, to be kind to others, to, to show integrity, to follow the good rule. And as far as heaven goes, I, I just want my rights, what I deserve.

And the angel immediately responds, oh, that is really the worst thing. And then he, and the guy's a little offended and, and he said, look, I'm not asking for anyone's bleeding charity to which the angel immediately responds. Oh, then do do, do ask for that bleeding charity. The picture is conversion does not begin until you understand the difference between being born again and being good conversion is to a person that says.

I don't have the capacity to measure up and I've been trying to be God myself. I'm trying to make it a conversion challenges, religion, and morality. The third thing that's true of a conversion is conversions. Come through the message of the gospel. If you look at verse 34 to 44, it culminates in verse 44, where peop Peter speaks his words.

And while he's finishing, the holy spirit comes, the holy spirit is not a force is not a wind or a power. He's a person he came and he is a living intelligent, emotional volition person who comes to a converting heart. Good in the context of belief in the gospel and Peter is talking to this good man, moral man in many ways, devout man, Cornelius.

And he says, let me tell you about Jesus. Let me tell you, first of all, in verses 2037 to 39, let me tell you about his life and ministry lived a perfect life and service to God. And man, let me tell you about his crucifixion. You've heard about it. 39. Jesus took the curse for sinners on the cross. He died in our place.

He died as a substitute. Cornelius. He did it for us. He did it apparently for you. We weren't sure about that, but we're finding out right now. The third thing he was resurrected in verse 40 and 41 resurrection of Jesus declared the cross, worked that it was effective in providing forgiveness. for sinners.

And then in verse 42 and 43, he has authority to be the judge of humankind. Everyone will answer to him. Every knee will bow in this life. Many people will bow the knee to Jesus Christ by embracing him as savior and Lord and receiving forgiveness for their sins. But he says, other than that, those who do not bow the knee in this life will bow the knee one day before him as the judge, as they will have re refuse to acknowledge in this world, their sin and failed to embrace Jesus atoning work to give forgiveness.

The spirit was poured out on these Romans, as they heard and embraced the gospel. The fourth thing we find about conversion is it involves the transforming work of the holy spirit in verse 44 to 48. It says outrageous 45 and 46. And the believers from among the circumcised to had come with Peter were amazed because the gift of the holy spirit was poured out, even on the Gentiles for, they were hearing them speaking in tongues and exalt extolling or praising God.

These two marks showed the, the guys from Jerusalem, the Jews that these people were genuinely converted to Christ. Number one, they're speaking in tongues. Number two, they were praising God praising. God showed their change of allegiance. You cherish what you praise, right? I mean, we chin to, to, to praise the things that are most precious to us, we speak well of them.

Everyone on earth is as is, is ascribing to something. The ultimate thing that we adore and. it is your emotional oxygen. It can be, uh, respect or love from people. It can be your independence, your ability to influence. Um, it could, it could be just your security, your comfort. Tim Keller gives a wonderful illustration about what conversion actually is in speaking to this thing that is our emotional energy or our whatever is central in our lives.

He talks about a guy. I was just reading about this again. This week, I'd heard this story before, but he Keller was telling the story when he was in a Christian group at a secular college university, that was a guy that was notorious on campus for sleeping with every girl that he could possibly bed and one day.

And, and he was good. Looking guy had a lot of charisma. He's just a, this was his thing. And he showed up at their, their group and everybody was like, what in the world? And, and. and the guy came and he talked to Tim and another one of the leaders and he said, uh, I have received Jesus Christ as my savior.

And I wanna be a part of your group. Well, they were ecstatic and he got into Bible studies. But the interesting thing they found was every Bible study, he was in every group that he was in. He had to dominate. He totally had to be the, be the final word. He didn't know a lot, but he still wanted to act like any.

And he debated, and it just every single situation and it just caused conflict and ranker in the group. And eventually after a lengthy period of time and number of different incidents where they talked to him and tried to process this, people were hurt. Finally, he just, he just left the group and moved on something else.

It was very confusing to the leaders of the group, including Tim Keller and Tim Keller said it wasn't until a couple of years later, I was reading a book, the secular psychiatrist, a secular psychologist, um, Albert Alder who was, who had written the book. Um, let me just get the right name. Um, Alfred LER, individual psychology.

And in the book, Adler is saying that everyone has one thing, one individual drive without which their life was not worth living. He mentions three power approval and comfort. Now that is a fascinating description because that's exactly what the Bible says. In first, John chapter two, it talks about three things that rules the world system that believers ha have, have been delivered from, but also can, can be driven by and they are in different words, but they're exactly the same thing.

Power. Approval and comfort. It's striking. If you read the temptation of Jesus, read those three temptations and see if you can't fit one of them to power. One of them, a temptation to approval. And one of them a temptation to comfort Adler in this case was absolutely right. And as Tim Keller reflected on it, he realized an Adler describes power slash control.

He says, this guy was dominated by the, the, the, the central reality in his life was control. He had to control, he had to have power and he did it over women. And then when he moved from that, he, he did it over, over Bible studies. It was a, and he made this statement. Here's here's color statement. I read the book and looked back at the guy and knew it was power for that guy.

Sex was replaced by being in control of discussions. Being able to run things irreligion was replaced by religion. Immorality was replaced by morality, but he was not converted. He had not replaced the central motivation of his life. You see, when we are converted, our allegiance changes. The central most dominating reality in our life is love.

Forgot. It becomes the central motivation without it. We have not really been transformed by the gospel and the work of the spirit in our lives. We just had the global leadership summit, uh, Friday, Thursday, and Friday was fantastic. I'm sorry if you missed it, uh, looking forward to you next time. But one of the speakers was Andy Stanley and Andy Stanley made a statement as soon as he said it.

And I was writing notes anyway, but as soon as he said, I, I wrote it and I boxed it in. Cause I thought that is going into my sermon this Sunday, because it was perfect. Here's what he said. He was talking about the Christians in Antioch. And he said this, you know, the believers in Antioch were first called Christians Christ ones, Christ followers.

And he made this statement, which I completely agree with. He says those who believed on Jesus Christ were called Christians at Antioch. They were partisans of a new king. They were not changing religions. They were changing allegiance. That's it? That's what happens when you embrace Jesus Christ. When you are turned, you have given up the Lordship of your life.

You have given up the, the, the, the devotion to all these say no Christ is central Christ is my ultimate allegiance. The other reality that we see in these individuals that demonstrates a genuine conversion is they experienced full acceptance. It's manifested by speaking in tongues, the holy spirit came on them just as he did in on the Jews in acts chapter two on the day of Pentecost.

A as I've mentioned, I don't believe this is a, a demonstrable thing that is affirming faith today, but I think it is just, it was used there to authenticate first, the Jews had their Pentecost, the Samaritans who were, who were hybrid Jews, had their Pentecost in chapter eight. And now the, the, the rest of the world, the Gentiles are having their Pentecost here in acts chapter 10.

Everyone heard them speak in their own languages, just like an X two. The, the sense is that God wanted to say, as the spirit comes upon and the church is being built, there is no language. more appropriate to speak the truth of the gospel than any other. Christianity says. Every language, every culture are acceptable places from which we can worship and love God.

The holy Spirit's job is to come into a culture and reoriented toward the centrality of God in their lives. When Peter walked into Cornelius house, here's what he says. You know, it is unlawful for me to be here now, actually the word lawful, there is not the word Naas, which is the normal word for law.

Like the mosaic law. He is saying it, it it's culturally not acceptable. It's taboo, you know, for we Jews, this is not said in scripture, it's taboo for us to be in a Gentile house, but here I am, I'm not allowed. I've been drilled into my life that I, I can't go into a Gentiles house that I can't eat with.

I'm only here because the angel told me to be here and he walks into a Gentile Pentecost as a result. And God had to hit him over the head with the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ to do it. All right. Let me just throw some quick shoes to this. As we close. What does this all mean to us? This model conversion?

Well, one thing we need to take an honest look at what we're counting on to be clean. What are you counting on to be acceptable to God? What are you counting on to have relationship with God? What are you counting on for heaven? Is it being good? Is it being moral? Is it being devote? Is it being religious?

Cornelius was all of that. Nicodemus was all of that. The apostle Paul before he was the apostle. Paul was all of that, but they needed the turning they needed to by grace receive God's spirit that comes when a person embraced Jesus Christ as savior. What are you counting on to be clean before God?

Secondly, take an honest look at how you perceive others. We have our own taboos, our own biases. This text is very personal to me. It is personal to me because, because because of this text, I married the girl I fell in love with. Okay. That was my way of getting it to listen to my story.

I was in college, my last year of high, couple of years of high school. And my first year of college, I was as godless immoral you name it, check. That was me. I went to a Christian school out in Indiana. I went there because my parents would only pay for a Christian school and it was the farthest away school I knew of at the time.

So I went there and got a free ride. I lived godlessly. My freshman year was at the very end of my freshman year. God just broke me. And I laid on the floor of my dorm room. Just cried out to God, to forgive me and take my life. And I came and that summer, God just poured into my life. And I went back to college and I got to college my second year.

And completely by the grace of God, he had just transformed the direction of my life in every way. Um, and a few, a couple of months into school, I met a little blonde, cute little blonde girl. And, um, she blew my mind because she had spent her whole high school years wholeheartedly loving. I'd never met anybody like her.

And as gorgeous as she was, the inside beauty was even more overwhelming to me. Unfortunately, girls have fathers and, um, and her dad was professor at the school. He actually was the chairman of the biology department. Mercifully had that year, moved up north permanently to, he was running a, a biological field station up north.

So he was not on campus. but he had tentacles everywhere and knew everything. And so, uh, we started dating and word, got to her dad a little bit of who I was and what I was known appropriately by. And my father-in-law had one girl. It was his first of two children and he's as protective and loving a dad as anybody I have ever known.

And so the first time we met with him, when he came down for homecoming or something, we got together and we had been convicted that we were going to live under his authority, whatever that was. I, I, she had that maturity. I just, it made sense to me and God convicted me. We, well, I'll, I'm gonna just give you the Rita's digest version of this basically.

Um, he killed the relationship, then we got, he finally, uh, uh, Uh, whatever the word is. He, he allowed us to get together again in a few months. Um, but then he was troubled and he wrote me a letter. And you know, this is back when you write letters to people and he asked me this question, would you please tell me anything you have ever done in your life, including with a girl.

And I did not. Surprisingly the relationship ended a second time upon reception of my letter. We went on and this went on for a year and a half, and God just kept this fire for each other, even though we were completely a apart at times and back together based on what her dad was feeling. And I was finally invited to go to their house, the spring break of the following year.

It was a big deal to go was very awkward. My father-in-law is a storyteller. The life of the party. He is, he is just li he he's a people person. Well, it was a solemn dinner table, which even I could tell this is not the way this usually probably is because everybody is looking down and quiet and there's really only one change that has happened at the table.

So that went on for four days. I mean, her mom, her mom comes to me one day. I think this is okay to take. And she hugs me and say, oh, you're such a nice boy. I'm so sorry. And, but, uh, it wasn't going well. My being there, it was very hard for dad. And my second to last morning, I was there. I woke up to see him.

At the side of my bed at the foot of my bed. um, just add to this. I don't think I should tell that part anyway. I, I, I ju I had reasons to be nervous, you know, is that, what, why is this hand in back of his, why is this hand in back of his back? What's back there? Um, but he looked at me and he said he, he got emotional and he said, will you forgive me?

And then he said, I've been wrong. And he said, I am sorry for, and he just said a few things. And then he actually asked, I climbed outta bed and we knelt down and we prayed together. It was just a, it was a life transforming moment for me. I found out later, as he shared with Marion and I humbly. he said that morning, he had been reading acts 10 and God had said to him, don't you call unclean what I call clean?

Come here. here's the unclean. So, so

my father-in-law was a wholehearted follower of Christ. He labored with this. I mean, I'm not saying anything, dad, wouldn't say dad just went to heaven six months ago, but I would not be uncomfortable the way I'm telling this story. If he were here, he would say I had my own stuff, my own things that I was, I had to hold onto.

He, he was a godly good man. And you can see that by the way, he allowed just the scriptures to change his perspective dramatically. It's easy to have our own taboos in the way we look at people in the way we evaluate people, but it's not a bad thing at times. Say, Lord, am I, am I saying they're unclean?

And that's not what you're saying. Am I treating them in a way that you would not treat them? And am I looking at this people group or this individual in a way that you wouldn't be looking at them? I think it's worth considering in light of acts, chapter 10. Okay. Last thing. And we got, we gotta go. Some of us to the welcome party.

Take an honest look at what it means. If you are clean, Hey, this, this whole passage is saying to us that God is the one that pursued you and drew you to himself. That God's the one that made you clean. and he says you you're accepted in Christ. You're beloved in Christ. There's a thousand messages you're getting every day that are saying other things.

It meant a lot to me when I realized that the Lord declared to my future father-in-law that boy is clean. I didn't always feel clean. There's still a lot. I was working on in my life, but he said, no, no, no. I've made him clean

in the darkest moments I've had in my adult life. Since I've been a Christian, since I've been a pastor, the thing that I've gone back to more than anything else. And I've had moments where I've walked the back of this property, just crying it out loud to God, is this God I see all the screw ups. I see all I'm not.

I see all this. But you wanted me, you came after me. You chose me to be your son. You enabled me to be your son. What does it mean? If you're clean, if you belong to Christ, what does it mean? He wanted you, he wants you. He wants to do life with you. He wants to bring you joy. This passage reminds us of the incredible beauty of being converted of having our lives turn toward Jesus and the opportunity to live out of that.

Lord, thank you for this passage. There's so much more in this passage, but thank you for these simple thoughts. We've been able to reflect on today in Jesus name. Amen. Now going peace to love and serve and enjoy the Lord.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/when-the-holy-spirit-converts-a-person 081cc454-6027-4831-a780-3e44295b30a7 Sun, 07 Aug 2022 15:00:54 GMT <div data-html="true">Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> Returning this morning again, to the book of acts. If you have your acts journal, if you don't have your acts journal, either way, you can turn to the book of acts. Uh, the acts journal is something, uh, many of us use it's place take notes, but it also has the acts scripture there. Um, And we have those at the hub. <br /><br /> If you'd like to get one, if you're a guest with us, uh, we have those free for those as part of the gift bag we give to new folks, but we're looking at the book of acts and we've been looking at storylines here in acts chapter eight through 12, which is a section section of the book of acts where the church has grown from just a confines of Jerusalem. <br /><br /> And now has moved out into Judea and Samaria, the surrounding provinces and as they've done. So it's like a, a, a TV series. It's basically picking up different storylines, the storyline of Philip, and then the storyline of Peter, and then the storyline of Paul and, and keeps going back and forth as you're, you're following these guys. <br /><br /> And last week, and today we're, we're seeing the storyline in the end of chapter nine. And here in chapter 10 of Peter, this passage is a transforming moment in the life. Of not only the church, but humanity. It is a moment when an officer of the Roman army is going to be converted to the Christian faith. <br /><br /> No one of a pagan background, no one outside of those of a Jewish affiliated background has embraced Jesus Christ this moment. Nobody was sure they even were allowed without becoming a Jew first, but this guy does, and it is an event continually referenced in the rest of the book of act as a acts, as a salient transforming moment in the history of the church, it was not only a momentous conversion. <br /><br /> It was a model conversion. We learn from it. What being converted to Christian faith actually involves. Now I just want to pick up, you may be here and, and. Not particularly an insider and Christian stuff. And, and, and, and, but you're the, ah, the, that word conversion converted. I mean, this is my whole problem with Christian stuff. <br /><br /> You're trying to convert you. I, I get it. I hear it. And I'm gonna ask you to just hang with me, cuz I'm gonna try to define what I mean by it and what I think the scriptures mean by it because Jesus used the word conversion and the conversion experience in Luke chapter 18, excuse me, mark chapter 18, verse three, even though on our ES ver version, it is translated in a different way, but here's, here's a word. <br /><br /> It says this truly. I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of God. The word turn in the king James version was unless you be converted, uh, Converted means to turn. And when we talk about conversion, we're talking about a dramatic change. You are completely turned around. <br /><br /> So you might ask, well, why didn't you title your sermon? When the holy spirit turns a person, because I thought I would have to spend more time explaining what that meant then converted, but the IDF, if turn LUS better for you every time you hear me say converted, flip it and say, oh, turn, turn, turn. That's what it means. <br /><br /> Completely turned around a radical transformation takes place here in acts chapter 10. It doesn't do away with who the person is, but it does give the individual an entirely new life direction. It's what happens always with a conversion to Jesus. And in this passage, we're gonna read about this guy that was converted. <br /><br /> And then we're going to, we're gonna look at four quick principles. That conversions always have in common. I'm gonna read fast because I'm gonna read, uh, through this entire passage, it's a monster, but it's a story that is, I don't, I didn't know where to not read it. So here we go. Acts 10 it's Caesars. <br /><br /> There was a man named Cornelius, the Centura of what was known as the Italian cohort, a developed man who feared God with all his household, gave Al generously to the people and prayed continually to God. About the ninth hour of the day, he saw clearly in a vision and angel of God, come in and say to him, Cornelius. <br /><br /> And he stared at him in terror and said, what is it Lord? And he said to him, your prayers and your arms have ascended as a Memorial before God. And now send men to Joppa and bring one Simon who is called Peter. He is lodging with one Simon, a Tanner, whose house is by the sea. When the angels spoke to him, a departed, he called two of his servants and a devout soldier from among those who. <br /><br /> Attended him and having related everything to them, he sent them to JOP. The next day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour to pray, and he became hungry and wanted something to eat. But while they were preparing it, he fell into a trance and saw the heavens open and something like a great sheet, descending being let down by its four corners upon the earth in it. <br /><br /> We're all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air. And there came a voice to him, rise, Peter, kill and eat. But Peter said by no means, Lord for, I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean. And the voice came to him a second time. What God has made clean, do not call common. This happened three times and the thing was taken up at once to heaven. <br /><br /> Now, while Peter was inwardly perplexed as to what the vision that he had seen might mean behold, the men who were sent by Cornelius, having made an inquiry for Simon's house, stood at the gate and called out to ask whether Simon who was called Peter was lodging there. And while Peter was pondering while Peter was pondering the vision, the spirit said to him, behold, three men are looking for you, rise and go down and accompany them without hesitation for, I have sent them. <br /><br /> And Peter went down to the man and said, I am the one you are looking for. What is the reason for your coming? And they said, Cornelius is Centurian upright. God-fearing man, who is well spoken of by the whole Jewish nation was directed by a holy angel to send for you to come to this house and to hear what you have to say. <br /><br /> So he invited them in to be his guests the next day, he rose and went away with them. And some of the brothers from Joppa accompanied him. And on the following day, they entered Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and called them together, called together his relatives and close friends. When Peter entered Cornelius, met him and fell down at his feet and worshiped him. <br /><br /> But Peter lifted him up saying, stand up. I too am a man. And as he talked with him, he went in and found many persons gathered. He said to them, you yourselves know how unlawful it is. For a Jew to associate with, or to visit anyone of another nation. But God has shown me that I, I should not call any person common or unclean. <br /><br /> So when I was sent for, I came without objection. I asked them why you sent for me. And Cornelius said four days ago about this arrow hour. I was praying in my house at the ninth hour and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing and said, Cornelius, your prayer has been heard. And your arms have been remembered before God send, therefore to Joppa asked for Simon who was called Peter he's lodging at the house of Simon, a Tanner by the sea. <br /><br /> So I sent for you at once. And you have been kind enough to come now, th therefore we are all here in the presence of God to hear all that you have commanded by the Lord. So Peter opened his mouth and said, truly, I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation, anyone who fears him and does what is right, is acceptable to him as for the word that he sent to Israel preaching. <br /><br /> Good news of peace through Jesus Christ. He's Lord of all, you yourselves know what happened through all Judith, beginning from Galilee, after the baptism that John proclaimed, how God appointed anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the holy spirit and with power, he went about doing good and healing. All who were oppressed by the devil for God, was with him. <br /><br /> And we are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem, they put him to death by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him the third day and made him to appear not to all the people, but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses. Who aid and drank with him after he rose from the dead. <br /><br /> And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead to him, all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receive forgiveness through his name. While Peter was saying these things, the holy spirit fell on all who heard the word and the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed because the gift of the holy spirit was poured on even on the Gentiles for, they were hearing them speaking in tongues and ex stolen God, then Peter proclaimed, can anyone withhold water from baptizing? <br /><br /> These people who have received the holy spirit just as we have, and he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to remain for some days. Okay. We're gonna dive in. There are four D. things that conversions have in common. And this particular passage is a classic example of those four. <br /><br /> Number one conversion comes through God's initiative and verses one to 29. We see how God has been preparing the way with Peter down. And if, if we can just throw that map up, I'm sorry. I forgot that map just shows where they were. If you look there, you see, um, a city called Joppa. That's where Peter is 25 miles to the north in Caesarea is where Cornelius is. <br /><br /> Cornelius is having this vision from the angel that is saying, send guys to, to go get Peter. This guy named Sam and Peter he's 25 miles south in Joppa. At the same time, Peter's getting this vision about, uh, this, this, this, uh, sheet that's covered with animals that they weren't allowed to eat. And, and God is saying, kill these and eat. <br /><br /> And he's, can't do that, you know? And he says, don't you call and clean what I call clean. And Peter's like, what is all that about? And all of a sudden, these three guys appear at his house and Peter's starting to make connection. Wait, what's happening in that vision has something to do with these guys outside. <br /><br /> And God has been preparing him for what's gonna happen there in Caesarea. The first thing we find is that God, that takes the initiative in conversion in verse 29. Peter says it this way I ask why, why did you send for me? You know, why, why am I here? What's going on? And Cornelius answer is fascinating. <br /><br /> Cornelius says, well, the angel told me to, to send for a guy named Simon, uh, who was staying at another guy's name, another guy whose name was Simon, the Tanner, and that he should come. But actually I sent for you because God sent an angel to me. In other words, I sent for you, Peter, because God sent for me all conversions, don't have an angel showing up, but all conversions turning to Christ come about as God having moved first. <br /><br /> the converted person always comes to see that over their, as a journey with the Lord. And you look back, even if you don't understand it, right, then you realize how God was after you. You realize, as you look back at your, your, your converting experience to Christ, God's a work. He sent those people into my life at just the right time to say the right things. <br /><br /> He had certain things happen to me. He had certain things that were happening that caused questions to be raised. In my mind, I had struggles and setbacks that caused me to sense and, and be on a search. As I, I felt a need for something outside of myself. I look back and I see God's hand was all over this thing God sent for me, God was after me. <br /><br /> It was not some Mo noble Trek I made toward God. Quite frankly, I wanted to live my life on my own. I, I wanted to live with me as the Lord of my life, but I look back and see how God orchestrated these amazing experiences. Some amazing people to draw me towards conversion. CS Lewis says it this way, amiable agnostic will talk cheerfully about man's search for God. <br /><br /> To me, they might as well have talked about the mouse's search for the cat. Jesus said it this way. And John chapter six, he said, he said, no one will come to me, except my father draw him. The word draw is the word that was used of a net that was thrown over the side of a fishing boat. And you dragged in the fish being those fish were not saying, pick me, pick me, pick me. <br /><br /> No, they were dragged. It was God that was moving their hearts, breaking down the resistance, drawing them toward Jesus real conversion results, because God sent for you. You sensed, you needed something in your life that was not there. Things were not as they ought to be. God was at work. The first thing we learn about conversion is that God initiates the process. <br /><br /> Secondly, conversion, conversions, challenge, morality, and religion in verse 30 to 33, the angel says to Cornelius, you are one of the special ones. You pray, you show mercy to others in caring for them. You're generous with your, your finances in doing that. But the angel does not then say, therefore, you will be blessed. <br /><br /> You've earned this Cornelius. No. What the angel says is therefore you need to be converted and there's a guy that's gonna help you be converted towards Jesus Christ. Something happens. The same thing happened to Nicodemus this great guy in John chapter three, a man of integrity, a man of devotion, a man of humility, a teachable man. <br /><br /> As a matter of fact, he says to Jesus, uh, as he meets him at his, his place at night and he says, Jesus, we know rabbi. We know you're a man sent from. You're a prophet sent from God and Jesus, doesn't say to Nicodemus Nicodemus. That's awesome. Yeah. You just need a little touching up here and there Spiritu. <br /><br /> No. He says Nicodemus, you need to be born again. You need to have your life. Absolutely. Have a new beginning, a new starting point in me. You need to start the whole thing over. Now. You may say, I, I understand where, why somebody, you know, that's absolutely thrown their life into the gutter. Uh, I understand where somebody, you know, who's just ravaged with life and is broken. <br /><br /> Of course, you know, I get, they need, they need this, this turning, this, this, this revolutionary transformation, this, this whole life being turned around. But I mean, come on. I, my life's okay. I mean, I'm not, I'm not that screwed up. I haven't made that many desperately bad choices. <br /><br /> But the call to radical conversion is actually a call to a radical restart. Amen. Why is it needed? Why, why do we need it? Well, there's two, two options. Be both because, or based on the fact that we have a determined pre predisposition to make ourselves God and the Lord of our own lives. We do that in one of two ways. <br /><br /> One is we choose to break all the moral loss. We basically say, I'm gonna live my own life. I'm gonna do my own thing. Uh, I'm gonna be God. Uh, we don't say that, but we live that. Uh, I'm gonna, I don't, I'm not really gonna try to live in conformity with commandments of God. Maybe there's a God. Maybe there's not. <br /><br /> I mean, probably there is, but, but I I've got a lot of life to live and I'm gonna take this thing by the tail. That's one way people are, are our God. But there's a second way. It is by trying to keep all the moral loss, either as a Pharisee or in the spiritual sense, or, or just as a perfectionist who are people that absolutely find it a very difficult way to live, cuz they're constantly being beat up because they don't measure up. <br /><br /> The reality is either one is saying, I can do this. I'm gonna do my thing. I'm gonna be God, or I'm gonna do God's thing, but I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna make it. I'm gonna measure up. I'm gonna get this thing all together. I'm gonna, I'm gonna range my life. The problem is there is no, there, there is a barrier to the true conversion experience. <br /><br /> As long as we have that predisposition, that this is about us because conversion. Is a challenge to religion and morality. I'm gonna quote CS Lewis one more time in my favorite book or one of my two favorite books that he's written. And some people don't like it, cuz it's an allegory and it's kind of odd. <br /><br /> It's great divorce. It's a, it's a, it's not a cheese. It is not his theology. He's just envisioning this thing. And he's saying, imagine that in heaven, people can go there and they go in a ghostlike form and they present what they're really basing their eternal destiny on. And it's fascinating in, in the descriptions of human character, but there's one guy that shows that up and I'm just gonna mainly just give my own summary of it. <br /><br /> But basically this guy comes and this guy basically comes and he basically says, I'm look. Uh, and he's talking to the angel there and he's saying, I, I'm a simple guy just doing my best to live a good life, to be kind to others, to, to show integrity, to follow the good rule. And as far as heaven goes, I, I just want my rights, what I deserve. <br /><br /> And the angel immediately responds, oh, that is really the worst thing. And then he, and the guy's a little offended and, and he said, look, I'm not asking for anyone's bleeding charity to which the angel immediately responds. Oh, then do do, do ask for that bleeding charity. The picture is conversion does not begin until you understand the difference between being born again and being good conversion is to a person that says. <br /><br /> I don't have the capacity to measure up and I've been trying to be God myself. I'm trying to make it a conversion challenges, religion, and morality. The third thing that's true of a conversion is conversions. Come through the message of the gospel. If you look at verse 34 to 44, it culminates in verse 44, where peop Peter speaks his words. <br /><br /> And while he's finishing, the holy spirit comes, the holy spirit is not a force is not a wind or a power. He's a person he came and he is a living intelligent, emotional volition person who comes to a converting heart. Good in the context of belief in the gospel and Peter is talking to this good man, moral man in many ways, devout man, Cornelius. <br /><br /> And he says, let me tell you about Jesus. Let me tell you, first of all, in verses 2037 to 39, let me tell you about his life and ministry lived a perfect life and service to God. And man, let me tell you about his crucifixion. You've heard about it. 39. Jesus took the curse for sinners on the cross. He died in our place. <br /><br /> He died as a substitute. Cornelius. He did it for us. He did it apparently for you. We weren't sure about that, but we're finding out right now. The third thing he was resurrected in verse 40 and 41 resurrection of Jesus declared the cross, worked that it was effective in providing forgiveness. for sinners. <br /><br /> And then in verse 42 and 43, he has authority to be the judge of humankind. Everyone will answer to him. Every knee will bow in this life. Many people will bow the knee to Jesus Christ by embracing him as savior and Lord and receiving forgiveness for their sins. But he says, other than that, those who do not bow the knee in this life will bow the knee one day before him as the judge, as they will have re refuse to acknowledge in this world, their sin and failed to embrace Jesus atoning work to give forgiveness. <br /><br /> The spirit was poured out on these Romans, as they heard and embraced the gospel. The fourth thing we find about conversion is it involves the transforming work of the holy spirit in verse 44 to 48. It says outrageous 45 and 46. And the believers from among the circumcised to had come with Peter were amazed because the gift of the holy spirit was poured out, even on the Gentiles for, they were hearing them speaking in tongues and exalt extolling or praising God. <br /><br /> These two marks showed the, the guys from Jerusalem, the Jews that these people were genuinely converted to Christ. Number one, they're speaking in tongues. Number two, they were praising God praising. God showed their change of allegiance. You cherish what you praise, right? I mean, we chin to, to, to praise the things that are most precious to us, we speak well of them. <br /><br /> Everyone on earth is as is, is ascribing to something. The ultimate thing that we adore and. it is your emotional oxygen. It can be, uh, respect or love from people. It can be your independence, your ability to influence. Um, it could, it could be just your security, your comfort. Tim Keller gives a wonderful illustration about what conversion actually is in speaking to this thing that is our emotional energy or our whatever is central in our lives. <br /><br /> He talks about a guy. I was just reading about this again. This week, I'd heard this story before, but he Keller was telling the story when he was in a Christian group at a secular college university, that was a guy that was notorious on campus for sleeping with every girl that he could possibly bed and one day. <br /><br /> And, and he was good. Looking guy had a lot of charisma. He's just a, this was his thing. And he showed up at their, their group and everybody was like, what in the world? And, and. and the guy came and he talked to Tim and another one of the leaders and he said, uh, I have received Jesus Christ as my savior. <br /><br /> And I wanna be a part of your group. Well, they were ecstatic and he got into Bible studies. But the interesting thing they found was every Bible study, he was in every group that he was in. He had to dominate. He totally had to be the, be the final word. He didn't know a lot, but he still wanted to act like any. <br /><br /> And he debated, and it just every single situation and it just caused conflict and ranker in the group. And eventually after a lengthy period of time and number of different incidents where they talked to him and tried to process this, people were hurt. Finally, he just, he just left the group and moved on something else. <br /><br /> It was very confusing to the leaders of the group, including Tim Keller and Tim Keller said it wasn't until a couple of years later, I was reading a book, the secular psychiatrist, a secular psychologist, um, Albert Alder who was, who had written the book. Um, let me just get the right name. Um, Alfred LER, individual psychology. <br /><br /> And in the book, Adler is saying that everyone has one thing, one individual drive without which their life was not worth living. He mentions three power approval and comfort. Now that is a fascinating description because that's exactly what the Bible says. In first, John chapter two, it talks about three things that rules the world system that believers ha have, have been delivered from, but also can, can be driven by and they are in different words, but they're exactly the same thing. <br /><br /> Power. Approval and comfort. It's striking. If you read the temptation of Jesus, read those three temptations and see if you can't fit one of them to power. One of them, a temptation to approval. And one of them a temptation to comfort Adler in this case was absolutely right. And as Tim Keller reflected on it, he realized an Adler describes power slash control. <br /><br /> He says, this guy was dominated by the, the, the, the central reality in his life was control. He had to control, he had to have power and he did it over women. And then when he moved from that, he, he did it over, over Bible studies. It was a, and he made this statement. Here's here's color statement. I read the book and looked back at the guy and knew it was power for that guy. <br /><br /> Sex was replaced by being in control of discussions. Being able to run things irreligion was replaced by religion. Immorality was replaced by morality, but he was not converted. He had not replaced the central motivation of his life. You see, when we are converted, our allegiance changes. The central most dominating reality in our life is love. <br /><br /> Forgot. It becomes the central motivation without it. We have not really been transformed by the gospel and the work of the spirit in our lives. We just had the global leadership summit, uh, Friday, Thursday, and Friday was fantastic. I'm sorry if you missed it, uh, looking forward to you next time. But one of the speakers was Andy Stanley and Andy Stanley made a statement as soon as he said it. <br /><br /> And I was writing notes anyway, but as soon as he said, I, I wrote it and I boxed it in. Cause I thought that is going into my sermon this Sunday, because it was perfect. Here's what he said. He was talking about the Christians in Antioch. And he said this, you know, the believers in Antioch were first called Christians Christ ones, Christ followers. <br /><br /> And he made this statement, which I completely agree with. He says those who believed on Jesus Christ were called Christians at Antioch. They were partisans of a new king. They were not changing religions. They were changing allegiance. That's it? That's what happens when you embrace Jesus Christ. When you are turned, you have given up the Lordship of your life. <br /><br /> You have given up the, the, the, the devotion to all these say no Christ is central Christ is my ultimate allegiance. The other reality that we see in these individuals that demonstrates a genuine conversion is they experienced full acceptance. It's manifested by speaking in tongues, the holy spirit came on them just as he did in on the Jews in acts chapter two on the day of Pentecost. <br /><br /> A as I've mentioned, I don't believe this is a, a demonstrable thing that is affirming faith today, but I think it is just, it was used there to authenticate first, the Jews had their Pentecost, the Samaritans who were, who were hybrid Jews, had their Pentecost in chapter eight. And now the, the, the rest of the world, the Gentiles are having their Pentecost here in acts chapter 10. <br /><br /> Everyone heard them speak in their own languages, just like an X two. The, the sense is that God wanted to say, as the spirit comes upon and the church is being built, there is no language. more appropriate to speak the truth of the gospel than any other. Christianity says. Every language, every culture are acceptable places from which we can worship and love God. <br /><br /> The holy Spirit's job is to come into a culture and reoriented toward the centrality of God in their lives. When Peter walked into Cornelius house, here's what he says. You know, it is unlawful for me to be here now, actually the word lawful, there is not the word Naas, which is the normal word for law. <br /><br /> Like the mosaic law. He is saying it, it it's culturally not acceptable. It's taboo, you know, for we Jews, this is not said in scripture, it's taboo for us to be in a Gentile house, but here I am, I'm not allowed. I've been drilled into my life that I, I can't go into a Gentiles house that I can't eat with. <br /><br /> I'm only here because the angel told me to be here and he walks into a Gentile Pentecost as a result. And God had to hit him over the head with the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ to do it. All right. Let me just throw some quick shoes to this. As we close. What does this all mean to us? This model conversion? <br /><br /> Well, one thing we need to take an honest look at what we're counting on to be clean. What are you counting on to be acceptable to God? What are you counting on to have relationship with God? What are you counting on for heaven? Is it being good? Is it being moral? Is it being devote? Is it being religious? <br /><br /> Cornelius was all of that. Nicodemus was all of that. The apostle Paul before he was the apostle. Paul was all of that, but they needed the turning they needed to by grace receive God's spirit that comes when a person embraced Jesus Christ as savior. What are you counting on to be clean before God? <br /><br /> Secondly, take an honest look at how you perceive others. We have our own taboos, our own biases. This text is very personal to me. It is personal to me because, because because of this text, I married the girl I fell in love with. Okay. That was my way of getting it to listen to my story. <br /><br /> I was in college, my last year of high, couple of years of high school. And my first year of college, I was as godless immoral you name it, check. That was me. I went to a Christian school out in Indiana. I went there because my parents would only pay for a Christian school and it was the farthest away school I knew of at the time. <br /><br /> So I went there and got a free ride. I lived godlessly. My freshman year was at the very end of my freshman year. God just broke me. And I laid on the floor of my dorm room. Just cried out to God, to forgive me and take my life. And I came and that summer, God just poured into my life. And I went back to college and I got to college my second year. <br /><br /> And completely by the grace of God, he had just transformed the direction of my life in every way. Um, and a few, a couple of months into school, I met a little blonde, cute little blonde girl. And, um, she blew my mind because she had spent her whole high school years wholeheartedly loving. I'd never met anybody like her. <br /><br /> And as gorgeous as she was, the inside beauty was even more overwhelming to me. Unfortunately, girls have fathers and, um, and her dad was professor at the school. He actually was the chairman of the biology department. Mercifully had that year, moved up north permanently to, he was running a, a biological field station up north. <br /><br /> So he was not on campus. but he had tentacles everywhere and knew everything. And so, uh, we started dating and word, got to her dad a little bit of who I was and what I was known appropriately by. And my father-in-law had one girl. It was his first of two children and he's as protective and loving a dad as anybody I have ever known. <br /><br /> And so the first time we met with him, when he came down for homecoming or something, we got together and we had been convicted that we were going to live under his authority, whatever that was. I, I, she had that maturity. I just, it made sense to me and God convicted me. We, well, I'll, I'm gonna just give you the Rita's digest version of this basically. <br /><br /> Um, he killed the relationship, then we got, he finally, uh, uh, Uh, whatever the word is. He, he allowed us to get together again in a few months. Um, but then he was troubled and he wrote me a letter. And you know, this is back when you write letters to people and he asked me this question, would you please tell me anything you have ever done in your life, including with a girl. <br /><br /> And I did not. Surprisingly the relationship ended a second time upon reception of my letter. We went on and this went on for a year and a half, and God just kept this fire for each other, even though we were completely a apart at times and back together based on what her dad was feeling. And I was finally invited to go to their house, the spring break of the following year. <br /><br /> It was a big deal to go was very awkward. My father-in-law is a storyteller. The life of the party. He is, he is just li he he's a people person. Well, it was a solemn dinner table, which even I could tell this is not the way this usually probably is because everybody is looking down and quiet and there's really only one change that has happened at the table. <br /><br /> So that went on for four days. I mean, her mom, her mom comes to me one day. I think this is okay to take. And she hugs me and say, oh, you're such a nice boy. I'm so sorry. And, but, uh, it wasn't going well. My being there, it was very hard for dad. And my second to last morning, I was there. I woke up to see him. <br /><br /> At the side of my bed at the foot of my bed. um, just add to this. I don't think I should tell that part anyway. I, I, I ju I had reasons to be nervous, you know, is that, what, why is this hand in back of his, why is this hand in back of his back? What's back there? Um, but he looked at me and he said he, he got emotional and he said, will you forgive me? <br /><br /> And then he said, I've been wrong. And he said, I am sorry for, and he just said a few things. And then he actually asked, I climbed outta bed and we knelt down and we prayed together. It was just a, it was a life transforming moment for me. I found out later, as he shared with Marion and I humbly. he said that morning, he had been reading acts 10 and God had said to him, don't you call unclean what I call clean? <br /><br /> Come here. here's the unclean. So, so <br /><br /> my father-in-law was a wholehearted follower of Christ. He labored with this. I mean, I'm not saying anything, dad, wouldn't say dad just went to heaven six months ago, but I would not be uncomfortable the way I'm telling this story. If he were here, he would say I had my own stuff, my own things that I was, I had to hold onto. <br /><br /> He, he was a godly good man. And you can see that by the way, he allowed just the scriptures to change his perspective dramatically. It's easy to have our own taboos in the way we look at people in the way we evaluate people, but it's not a bad thing at times. Say, Lord, am I, am I saying they're unclean? <br /><br /> And that's not what you're saying. Am I treating them in a way that you would not treat them? And am I looking at this people group or this individual in a way that you wouldn't be looking at them? I think it's worth considering in light of acts, chapter 10. Okay. Last thing. And we got, we gotta go. Some of us to the welcome party. <br /><br /> Take an honest look at what it means. If you are clean, Hey, this, this whole passage is saying to us that God is the one that pursued you and drew you to himself. That God's the one that made you clean. and he says you you're accepted in Christ. You're beloved in Christ. There's a thousand messages you're getting every day that are saying other things. <br /><br /> It meant a lot to me when I realized that the Lord declared to my future father-in-law that boy is clean. I didn't always feel clean. There's still a lot. I was working on in my life, but he said, no, no, no. I've made him clean <br /><br /> in the darkest moments I've had in my adult life. Since I've been a Christian, since I've been a pastor, the thing that I've gone back to more than anything else. And I've had moments where I've walked the back of this property, just crying it out loud to God, is this God I see all the screw ups. I see all I'm not. <br /><br /> I see all this. But you wanted me, you came after me. You chose me to be your son. You enabled me to be your son. What does it mean? If you're clean, if you belong to Christ, what does it mean? He wanted you, he wants you. He wants to do life with you. He wants to bring you joy. This passage reminds us of the incredible beauty of being converted of having our lives turn toward Jesus and the opportunity to live out of that. <br /><br /> Lord, thank you for this passage. There's so much more in this passage, but thank you for these simple thoughts. We've been able to reflect on today in Jesus name. Amen. Now going peace to love and serve and enjoy the Lord.</div> false no <![CDATA[God's Prior Work]]> Sermon Transcript:

Morning, invite you to take your Bibles to the book of Acts chapter nine, verse 32 to 43, as we're gonna be looking at this morning, acts chapter nine, verse 32 to 43. Uh, great to be back. I am pastor mark. Um, if you've forgotten, um, and we were, we spent the last two weeks in Michigan, Northern Michigan, which is Mar where Marion is from.

It is lake territory, real lake. First time Marion came out here, you can see 20 feet down in their water. The first time I brought her out here, we went canoeing and she thought, uh, she said, is the water contaminated? I said, no, babe, it's Cedar water. You know, it's actually clear. I, I, at least I hope it's clear.

It's the roots of the Cedar trees and everything else, but they have real water up there. I mean, it's really clear, but we spent two weeks and we had taken our jet ski out. Our jet ski goes 70 miles an hour. So we had a lot of fun wowing, the grandkids, nephews, and nieces. I didn't have to tube at all. So it was safe.

Um, so it was great. We had a great time. I I'm really excited about what we saw earlier in the service. This focus on service serving. Uh, the flyer you got this morning tells you a little bit more about it. It's a whole month long focus. Really appreciate the work of Lisa Myers. Uh, pastor Tim Ben painter in putting the videos together.

This was the first of a number of videos we'll be seeing in our service relating to serving. And we are really believing God, uh, for an exciting fall and church year this year, uh, we are looking to expand some things. One of those is children's ministry to be not only during the nine o'clock service, but, uh, during the 10 30 service, lots of other opportunities to serve.

Uh, I hope you'll take it to heart and possibly come to that. Meet and greet on September 21st, where they're gonna have ministry leaders, just sharing ways you can get more involved in the ministry here. We're returning this morning to the book of acts, uh, really appreciate the ministry of pastor Joe Josiah and pastor Ben the last two weeks as they continued our series in the spirit at work to the ends of the earth, which is our theme for the book of acts.

And this morning we're gonna be looking at verses 32 to 43. Many of you are Lord of the rings fans as am I, uh, you know, Jr. To keen. You may not know that Jr. R Tolkin was a veteran of world war I, and he was a British soldier in the trenches during world war I, and as he spent his time there in the gruesome and grunt.

Involvement of those trenches. He gained a tremendous respect for the everyday soldier, the unknown, faithful, courageous soldiers that carried out their individual acts of faithful duty. When the war was won, he felt strongly that the heroes of the war were those unsung, unknown undecorated men that really served in those trenches and really were the re means of the victory of world war I, as a result.

Enlisted men. Those, uh, unknown servicemen became the model for his heroes in the Lord of the ring's trilogy. It's interesting in the book, in the end of the Lord of the rings in the last book, the return of the king, the people that are most decorated are not the Kings and the Lords and the magicians.

They're the little guys, the hobbits before whom if you remember one of the most meaningful scenes at the end of the book or the end of the movie, if you've seen it is actually the, the, the king has everyone bow before these four little hobbits, Sam and FTO and Maryam Pippin, honoring them for their service.

And the way that they had influenced the war, which had been successful. Tol keen said it this way. And Sam Gaji was his least decorated, um, of the hobbits, the, the, the smallest, the least influential in terms of wealth and power and prestige. But he said this, my Sam GA G is indeed a reflection of the English soldier of the privates and servicemen.

I knew in the 1914 war, the hobbits were made small to show in creatures of very small physical power, the amazing and unexpected heroism of ordinary men in a pinch. These minor characters influence the world of the great Lords and warriors and magicians of tol King's middle earth. We are looking in this series right now in acts chapter eight.

To 12, those chapters. It is a second thrust of the spirit as he is taking the message of the gospel through the world. In chapters, one through seven, the power of the spirit has been manifested in the city of Jerusalem, but in acts chapter eight through 12, God is taking the gospel forth beyond the borders of the city, to the surrounding areas of Judea, the province around Jeru some Samaria, and he is doing it by Hoz.

He is doing it by people that are not Kings or priests or generals or politicians or business leaders, just ordinary smaller folk. And as Ben mentioned last Sunday, these five chapters enacts eight through 12, actually tell the story of three individuals and we can bring up that visual. Phillip Saul, who later became Paul and Peter, you might think, well, they seem like pretty prominent guys.

That's because we know them because of their faith in Jesus, but these weren't Kings or priests or generals or politicians or business magnets. These were individual guys. Now, Phillip interestingly probably was the most likely to be a prominent citizens. The father of a large family, a homeowner respectable, admired as a good man in the community, obviously by the, the recognition he has given to, uh, by the people, this SA Paul, a cold-hearted ambitious fanatical scholar who became the Hitman for the religious leaders in their attempt to stamp out the cancer and influence of Jesus followers in and around Jerusalem.

He was not a particularly likable person. He was a striver, uptight, aggressive, but as Joe and, and Ben shared with us in acts chapter nine in the verses up to this passage this morning, he was converted to Jesus Christ and embraced him as the Messiah and in, so doing the great challenger of the church became one of its great champions.

The third guy is a tempestuous extrovert whose words often burst out of the blocks. Well in advance of his thinking and who was intimidated regularly by other people's opinions. This morning, Dr. Luke takes us to the third guy, Peter, as we see, as Ben mentioned last week, that the, what we're seeing in, in, in acts chapter eight through 12 is, is like a, like, like a good series where you watch and, and you have all these different storylines going on.

And he jumps from one storyline of Philip and, and then he pulls in Peter and, and, and then he pulls back and he talks about Paul and, and then he jumps back and he talks about Peter and all this storyline is going on. Well, we're jumping to Peter now who he has, he has been silent about for a while. And in this passage, we are actually seeing the preview to what is gonna happen in acts chapter 10 and 11.

And I want to give you this preview, I'm preaching it next Sunday. And, and I'm excited about it because acts chapter 10 and 11 presents to us. One of the most momentous events in the book of acts. But more than that in the entire scripture, it is the UN it is the changing where God is removing the barrier between Jews and the nations.

People no longer need to become Jews to become a part of God's people. Jesus Christ, Jesus, the Christ Jesus. The Messiah is available as a savior in king for everyone because of what happens in acts chapter 10. Now just, just wedding your whistle with this. What happens in acts chapter 10 has incredible impact in your life.

As a matter of fact, if acts chapter 10 and 11 don't happen, you're not attending a church today to learn about Jesus. You're attending a Jewish synagogue that happens to believe Jesus is the Messiah. You would have to become a Jewish convert to accept Jesus as your Messiah and savior. If acts 10 and 11 didn't happen.

You're not reading from a new Testament book because there aren't new Testament books, because just about all of them were written to Gentiles and on a personal level, you're not sitting out there listening to a pastor. You're listening to rabbi. Mark acts 10 is big it's momentous. It enables us to be embraced into the people of God.

We're the Goum, which means the nations. We're the guys that in past generations, Israel was called to eradicate. . But now we've been invited in because of the experience that is declared by God, through a Roman soldier in his home. But prior to that, God has acts chapter nine with Peter. Peter's gonna be the guy that's the central figure in, in, in, in championing.

What happens in acts chapter 10 to the entire church. But today we're looking at the passage, that's the preview of that. And it is a passage that tells us how God prepared the way for this big event in acts 10. I think it's a passage that actually is incredibly practical for us because a lot of us are waiting for the big things to happen.

A lot of us are, are waiting for God to move for God, to answer for God, to, to move in the lives of loved ones. We have to do the big movement. , but there are practical lessons here in the way God is at work prior to, so in the prior to here's what we read in acts chapter nine, verse 31 and following. So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up and walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the holy spirit, it multiplied now, as Peter went here and there among them all, he came down also to the saints who lived at Lida.

There found a man named anus bedridden for eight years, who was paralyzed. And Peter said to him, Manus, Jesus Christ heals, you rise and make your bed. And immediately he rose. And all the residents of Lida and Sharon saw him and they turned to the Lord. Now there was in Joppa, disciple named Tabitha, which translated means docus.

She was full of good works and acts of charity. In those days, she became ill and died. And when they had washed her, they later in the upper room, since Lida was near Joppa, the disciples hearing that Peter was there, sent two men to him, urging him, please come down to us without delay. So Peter Rose and went with him.

And when he arrived, they took him to the upper room. All the widows stood beside him, weeping and showing tunics and other garments that docus made while she was with him. But Peter put them all outside and knelt down and prayed and turning to the body. He said, Tabitha arise. And she opened her eyes. And when she saw Peter, she sat up and he gave her his hand and raised her up.

Then calling the saints and widows. He presented her alive and it became known throughout all JOP and many believed in the Lord. And he stayed in Joppa for many days with one Simon, a. Lord, we come to you this morning and God, I pray as we, we think about this prior to passage and why you've included it and why you had these things happen in preparation for what is going to happen in acts 10 and 11.

God, I pray. You'd speak practically application into our lives this morning in Jesus name. Amen. What we find in acts chapter nine, verse 32 to 43 is the work that God did in the moment in the circumstances. And secondly, the work that God did in the messenger, God at work in the moment, God at work in the moment first is seen in the big stuff, acts chapter nine, verse 31 tells us that.

So the church throughout. All Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up and walking in the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the holy spirit. It multiplied. This is what's going on. Saul has become a believer is Peter has continued to do his thing. Philips doing his, the other apostles are doing their ministry, lots going on.

And it culminates in this amazing statement. The church is expanding, but it's an interesting thing in this verse in verse 31, the term, the church is different from its other usages in the, in the, uh, book of acts and much of the new Testament here it is used in the singular. It is not churches. It is in the singular and it is not talking about one church in a town.

It's talking about the church in the big church. The whole church. And he's saying the whole people of God, the church as one is expanding in Judea and Samaria and Galilee. And if we can bring up this map, you just have a simple picture. The church has expanded from Jerusalem there in the middle, throughout the area of Judea.

It's spread up into Samaria and then up in the top and it would continue up farther the area of Galilee. And he's saying the church, the one people God's kingdom in Christ is expanding, and God has been working this and Judea and Galilee, the Southern and Northern of these three provinces were all Jewish, but the middle one Samaria has been quasi Jewish.

If you will. I mentioned that in acts chapter eight, these were people, the Samaritans who were sort of hybrids, they had built into their faith. Aspects of Judaism. They viewed themselves as part it, they were circumcised. They, they participated in, in some of the practices of, of the Jewish faith. They believed in the Torah, the first five books of the law, it was their guidance for faith and practice.

And they were looked at as a sect of Judaism, often looked down by the purebred Jews of Jeru. but Peter and John had gone up to Samaria in acts chapter eight, and Peter had seen for himself, this is real. And he saw what I called a, a Samaritan Pentecost where the spirit came upon the people and they spoke in the sign gifts and manifested the same work that had happened at the day of Pentecost and Peter, his, his, his perspective has grown he's thought, wow, the gospel of Jesus, isn't just the kingdom of Christ.

Isn't just for what we understand is used. It's even for the hybrids, the Samaritan God has been working, God has been expanding the church. He's doing this. He is also expanding UN one, the understanding of the Jews in terms of what he is going to do in acts chapter 10. He's been doing things in a big picture way, but he also is doing it in the details.

If you look at that visual again, if we can just hold that there, bring that back for a second. You'll know the white, the white path. First, it goes up vertically and to Samaria the city of Samaria and then comes back down. That was Peter. Peter went up there and Samaria, he saw what was going on with the hybrid Jews that they had truly embraced the gospel.

He's come back to Jerusalem. Now he's on another trip and this is what we're reading about. It's that trip that is going westward towards the great sea. The Mediterranean sea Lida is the first city. We'll see. The second is Joppa, but if you look at that map and you follow your way up along the coastline, you see a little town called Caesarea.

That's where this Roman Centurian is, is living a guy over a bunch of Roman Legionnaires, Cornelius that we're gonna read about in acts chapter 10, and God is leading him first allali then to Joppa. And then the next place is gonna be Caesarea. God is working in all of this. God is motivating, moving things, shaping things all towards what is going to transpire in acts chapter 10 and 11 as I reflected on that.

And, and one of the questions that commentators have is why did Luke include at the end of chapter nine, these two healing events. I mean, Peter's been healing people he's been doing all this. Why? Why not just go right to the, the, the, the home run, you know, the Cornelius story. Why does he include, he is trying to say, God is at work.

He is preparing the way he's doing it. Circumstantially. He is also going to be doing it within Peter himself. God is moving in all the details of chapter nine. Just as much as God is going to be moving in. Acts chapter 10, I read a, an account recently by Tim Keller that he, he made a number of years ago where he was highlighting what, what is called the Providence of God.

The fact that God is at work in all things to accomplish his purposes and the word Providence is the word provide to provide good things. I wanna just read what he shared. He said God's plan includes little things. It has to, most of us don't think of this in this way. Everything it says in proverb 16, the lot is cast in the lap, but the disposal is of the Lord's.

That means even when you flip a coin, if it comes down heads or it comes down tails, it was part of his plan. Nothing is left out of his plan. Okay. That's the first thing I wanna stress. Let me push it a little bit. People say, come on. Nothing. Are you telling me that tie Tim Keller is wearing today was part of God's plan for all eternity.

Are you trying to tell me the shoes I decided to wear today were part of God's plan, little things like that. Well, there are only little things to you and me because we are so unwise, there are no little things in 1912, somebody tried to shoot Teddy Roosevelt and they did. They shot him in the chest. Do you know why he lived?

Because he happened to have his glasses case on this side. Instead of on this side, your marriage is your careers. What school you go to very often are based on so-called little things. Let me give you a quick example. The reason I'm a Presbyterian minister was because of a particular faculty member that came to my seminary.

My last. And pushed me over the edge. When it came to my theological understanding, I decided, I think I need to be a Presbyterian. That's the reason I'm here today. Pastoring a Presbyterian church. Why did that faculty member come? The only reason he came that year was he was British and he was having a lot of trouble getting a passport to come and teach at my seminary in Massachusetts.

But somebody pulled strings for him from real high up one day, somebody came out looking for him, calling his name out. Somebody came out when he was standing in this long line and called him in and said, you're going to be in America within a week. We got word from real high up. Well, do you know who that was?

It was a guy named Mike Ford. Mike Ford was the son of the president, the United States at the time Mike Ford was the son of Gerald Ford. Mike Ford was a student at Gordon Conwell theological seminary, where I was. He found a way to get this particular faculty member to Gordon Conwell because his father was the president.

Do you know why his father was the president because of the Watergate scandal? Nixon had resigned and Gerald Ford was the president. That's the reason Mike Ford had the clout to get this guy over there. That's the reason why he was there. That's the reason I became a Presbyterian. That's the reason I'm talking to you right now.

Why did Nixon fall? Because some stupid Watergate burglar left the door open one night and some guard, some guard noticed the door was open. Now, what if that guard hadn't gone by that day? Maybe he went by that day because that morning you didn't eat breakfast and he got in a little bit early. Do you see, I wouldn't be here.

If that guard hadn't seen that door. That's the way everything in your life is God is at work in the details. God is working his plan. You may say, I, I can't begin to understand. Nope. I can't put all this together, mark. Nope, you can't. You're not asked to, you're asked to just say, wow, he's big. And here I am in acts nine and, and this is cool.

And there's some cool things Peter's gonna do, but whoa, it's the acts 10 things. I wanna be a part. It's the acts 10. I want God to do the acts. 10 big stuff. Change my family. Work in my, in my work, answer my concerns. Show me the way do the movement be gods add work all the time.

God is a work in the details in Tim Keller's life in Peter's life, in your life. Right now, God is orchestrating circumstances in your life for what he plans to do later, acts 10 is momentous, but God's just as big in acts chapter nine, and God is also at work in his messenger. God is authenticating his messenger.

We see what God was doing through Peter. It's important to remember the unique role of the apostles. I've said this before in the book of acts, it often talks about the signs of the apostles healings, exorcism passing on the gift of, of, of tongues and others to authenticate their position as messengers of a new era in God's dealing with humans, I've mentioned to you that, that there are three errors of history where God did spectacular signs in order to inaugurate a new messaging.

It was the time of Moses and, and there you have the plagues of Egypt and all that God did. And the man in the wilderness and the red sea crossing and all that stuff. And, and in acts chapter seven, Steven talks about the signs of Moses, the prophet, the only, the next, that was a period of miraculous happenings, authenticating the messenger.

We fast forward a number of centuries to a time of Elijah and Elijah. And there were signs of miraculous. If you think historically through the Bible, you'll find there were all kinds of miracles in Moses day, and then there's not much. And then you come to Elijah and Elijah, and there's all this stuff going on.

Again, calling fired down from Mount Carmel, throwing an ax head that's floating in, in the wa in all kinds of other things he's doing. And again, there are signs as they were beginning the prophetic message for Israel, and then you fast forward centuries again, to the time of Jesus and the apostles. And again, there are these spectacular demonstrations that just authenticate the messengers.

Luke is highlighting some of the authenticating activities that Peter is doing here. And it's almost as if he wants say, look, I'm gonna tell you in acts chapter 10, about what Peter saw, remember who Peter was. Remember who, who, who God made him. He is authenticated by very unique miracles. One of those is found here in verses 2032 to 34 35.

And what he happens when he comes to this little town, Lida is he comes to a man that is paralyzed. This man is, um, it says in verse 33 bedridden for eight years, who is paralyzed. Now, there are four different types, four different, uh, categories of paralysis that, that most medical people identify with.

One is mono plegia, which is a type of paralysis that impacts one limb such as an armor leg. There's he, he hemiplegia is a paralysis that embarks one impacts one side of your body. Um, least parts of that one side. there is what we call paraplegia is a paralysis that affects all part of the trunk, legs, and pelvic organs.

Often the result of a, uh, a significant spinal cord injury. And then of course the most severe quadriplegia is a paralysis of oral. All four Quadra is four, all four of our limbs, both arms, both legs. Basically the entire body is paralyzed. I don't know which of these this guy had, but I know it's either number three or four.

He is either a paraplegic or a quadriplegic. He is utterly bedridden for eight years, undoubtedly, because he's a grown man. This happened well into his life. He had a severe injury, probably a spinal cord injury. Everybody in the town knows about this. It's a little town lit is not a big place. Everybody knows about this guy.

They know that this guy is stuck in bed, unable to get out. Every day for eight years, they've had to roll him to protect him from getting bed sores. They've had to wipe him and wash him and care for him because he can't do that for himself. He's lived in the, in the, in the bondage of a body that is trapped there.

And then in one of the most beautiful pictures that I think in the book of acts, Peter says to him, rise up and make your bed. I just thought, I love that phrase. This is a guy that can't move for eight years and the Lord says, man, rise up. And the first thing do turn around. You make your own bed today.

You do your own life today. You're not dependent on anybody today. Can you imagine what this moment was for this man? And the word spreads and people are overwhelmed with the, the miraculous power that it, that has manifested in all the residents of Lida and Sharon som. And they turned to the Lord. It authenticated Peter, and it authenticated him primarily because it gave him a miracle that paralleled that was a sign in the same way, a similar miracle by Jesus in John chapter five, verse eight, where he says to there a man in paralysis, he says, rise, take up your bed and walk.

He also authenticated him here in verse 35 to 42 here. It's a Christian woman named Tabitha. This is the next town over. It's on the seaside. Now just south of Caesarea. It's where they hear about him up. Up in Caesarea and here again, Peter is, is authenticated as a messenger of God in a most amazing way.

He or he actually has the capacity. He does this with one person. Paul will later do this with one person. He actually has the power to raise somebody back from the dead. It's a Christian woman named Tabitha. It's a striking passage that also has obvious overtones and reminisces of what took place by Elijah and Elijah.

Listen to this account. It says this in these verses about Peter, when he raises Tabitha or dark DOCA up says, um, but Peter in verse 40, put them all outside in the bedroom and Nel down and prayed and turned into the body, said Tabitha rise. And she opened her eyes. And when she saw Peter, she sat up in second Kings four verse 2030, verse 32.

And following this happened with Elijah. Elijah came into the house, he saw the child lying dead in his bed. So he went in, shut the door behind him, the two of them and prayed to the Lord. And the boy was raised from the dead. It happened with Elijah in one Kings chapter 17, verse 17. And he said to her, give me your son.

And he took him from her arms and carried him up into the upper chamber where lodge and laid him on his own bed, prayed over him. And the boy was raised. Luke is intentionally trying to say. God is authenticating Peter to be a messenger of the message that he's gonna be given in acts 10, 10, 11 with these spectacular acts, just like he did with Jesus, just like he did with Elijah and Elijah.

God also is adjusting his messenger. Look at verse 43, just an interesting side note that Luke sort of throws in there and Peter is staying in Joppa for many days with one Simon, a Tanner, a Tanner was a guy. Um, tans hides basically takes dead animals, cleans out, take cuts off the fur. The skin cleans the flash off it and basically tans it, you know, get the hide, ready to be put into clothes.

It actually was a, a profession that one often was declared unclean in the Jewish faith because you did it because you weren't supposed to be around dead bodies. Yet Simon is in this guy's house. And again, I just feel like God is progressively working in the heart of Simon. First. He sends him to Samaria and says, you know, the Jews that you think are hybrids and our outsiders, they're getting the gospel they're being brought in.

Now I'm gonna put you in the house of a guy that, that, that some of those historically oral tradition adherence think is is, is unclean. We're gonna put you there again, all of that is preparing Peter for what's coming in, acts chapter 10 in 11, but God is adjusting his messenger. The other thing I see in this passage is God is working circumstantially, but God is also working in his man in his messenger.

Whatever's going on in your life right now. whatever's not going on that you want to be going on. God has ordained that that would be a part of deepening your life message for him. John Wesley was addressed by a bunch of students once. How can we, how can we really be? You have the influence in the gospel that you have.

And, and Wesley just said to them, deepen your life message. God will broaden your ministry. God is deepening. Peter's life message. He's growing him. Are you letting him do that with you? Are you in circumstances saying, Lord, this isn't necessarily how I'd want, or I just feel like I'm sort of on the, on the outside looking in or nothing exciting is going on in my Christian life.

I, I wanna be making a difference and the Lord says, wait, are you embracing the moment? So what are our takeaways from this text? This too? I think there's something we need to remember. And there's something we need to do. We need to remember God was at work in all these circumstances. God is at work. You may find yourself today in the prelude.

It feels like the prelude of acts nine. There's so much you long to see God do. And so many questions. You need him to answer those unresolved issues. Unanswered prayers, unchanged, loved ones, unclear paths ahead. It seems God is not at work. At least not in the way that you hope God is at work. God is moving.

Remember God does not waste experiences. What is going on in your life right now is what you would pray for. If you knew everything that God does, we need to remember. And secondly, we need to embrace. We need to embrace the moment. This I'm closing. There was a 28 year old young man, along with four other pilots who had left Wheaton.

Uh, they were hot for Christ. They went down with their young families to minister in Ecuador, south America. And one of them had written a statement that became a famous phrase afterwards. It was this statement said by Jim Elliot, wherever you are be all there. He didn't know that a few months later, what God was going to do was to allow he and the other four missionary pilots to fly in and, and, and bring their, their plane down, uh, their sea plane down on, on a sandbar, on a river in the middle of Ecuador.

And the minute and the, and, and the, the tribe of people that they were trying to reach with the gospel were going to brutally slay, all five of them. He didn't know that the result of that would be that their story would be the cover story for life magazine would literally go around the world. He didn't know that his death and the death of his other four friends would be the catalyst for the greatest migration to world missions among adults that happened in a century.

He wouldn't know that, but he did know this, that wherever he was in, whatever he was doing, he wanted to be wherever he was all there. Are we all there? Are we all there today? Are we saying, God, alls I see is what you're not doing. Alls I see is what you're not answering. All I see is where you're not. He says I'm here.

Remember I'm always at work. Remember to embrace this moment and say, God, right here in acts chapter nine, I really wanna be in an acts 10 or acts two with Pentecost. No, he says right here, are you all there? Are you all in? Because just like Tim Keller reminds us and Dr. Luke reminds us, God is working. God is working.

God is working. Are we looking, are we embracing? Are we available for all that he has right now? Lord, we look to you today.

You're a big God, you rule the cosmos, and yet you arrange the little circumstances of our lives. We have no idea how you do it,

but Lord, we wanna live our lives as if there really is a big God that is orchestrating our circumstances. We wanna live with that faith. We want to be all there. So Lord, for the many, maybe that feel discouraged and feel their languaging and their Christian journey. God sound the siren to call us back to wholeheartedness towards.

Stir our hearts say, God right here right now. I want to be your man. I want to be your woman. I want to be your young person.

I want to be all there in Jesus name. I pray. Amen. Now go in peace to love and serve and enjoy the Lord.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/gods-prior-work f05ca739-1b4d-4670-9a2e-abb4b24010b4 Sun, 31 Jul 2022 14:52:54 GMT <div data-html="true">Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> Morning, invite you to take your Bibles to the book of Acts chapter nine, verse 32 to 43, as we're gonna be looking at this morning, acts chapter nine, verse 32 to 43. Uh, great to be back. I am pastor mark. Um, if you've forgotten, um, and we were, we spent the last two weeks in Michigan, Northern Michigan, which is Mar where Marion is from. <br /><br /> It is lake territory, real lake. First time Marion came out here, you can see 20 feet down in their water. The first time I brought her out here, we went canoeing and she thought, uh, she said, is the water contaminated? I said, no, babe, it's Cedar water. You know, it's actually clear. I, I, at least I hope it's clear. <br /><br /> It's the roots of the Cedar trees and everything else, but they have real water up there. I mean, it's really clear, but we spent two weeks and we had taken our jet ski out. Our jet ski goes 70 miles an hour. So we had a lot of fun wowing, the grandkids, nephews, and nieces. I didn't have to tube at all. So it was safe. <br /><br /> Um, so it was great. We had a great time. I I'm really excited about what we saw earlier in the service. This focus on service serving. Uh, the flyer you got this morning tells you a little bit more about it. It's a whole month long focus. Really appreciate the work of Lisa Myers. Uh, pastor Tim Ben painter in putting the videos together. <br /><br /> This was the first of a number of videos we'll be seeing in our service relating to serving. And we are really believing God, uh, for an exciting fall and church year this year, uh, we are looking to expand some things. One of those is children's ministry to be not only during the nine o'clock service, but, uh, during the 10 30 service, lots of other opportunities to serve. <br /><br /> Uh, I hope you'll take it to heart and possibly come to that. Meet and greet on September 21st, where they're gonna have ministry leaders, just sharing ways you can get more involved in the ministry here. We're returning this morning to the book of acts, uh, really appreciate the ministry of pastor Joe Josiah and pastor Ben the last two weeks as they continued our series in the spirit at work to the ends of the earth, which is our theme for the book of acts. <br /><br /> And this morning we're gonna be looking at verses 32 to 43. Many of you are Lord of the rings fans as am I, uh, you know, Jr. To keen. You may not know that Jr. R Tolkin was a veteran of world war I, and he was a British soldier in the trenches during world war I, and as he spent his time there in the gruesome and grunt. <br /><br /> Involvement of those trenches. He gained a tremendous respect for the everyday soldier, the unknown, faithful, courageous soldiers that carried out their individual acts of faithful duty. When the war was won, he felt strongly that the heroes of the war were those unsung, unknown undecorated men that really served in those trenches and really were the re means of the victory of world war I, as a result. <br /><br /> Enlisted men. Those, uh, unknown servicemen became the model for his heroes in the Lord of the ring's trilogy. It's interesting in the book, in the end of the Lord of the rings in the last book, the return of the king, the people that are most decorated are not the Kings and the Lords and the magicians. <br /><br /> They're the little guys, the hobbits before whom if you remember one of the most meaningful scenes at the end of the book or the end of the movie, if you've seen it is actually the, the, the king has everyone bow before these four little hobbits, Sam and FTO and Maryam Pippin, honoring them for their service. <br /><br /> And the way that they had influenced the war, which had been successful. Tol keen said it this way. And Sam Gaji was his least decorated, um, of the hobbits, the, the, the smallest, the least influential in terms of wealth and power and prestige. But he said this, my Sam GA G is indeed a reflection of the English soldier of the privates and servicemen. <br /><br /> I knew in the 1914 war, the hobbits were made small to show in creatures of very small physical power, the amazing and unexpected heroism of ordinary men in a pinch. These minor characters influence the world of the great Lords and warriors and magicians of tol King's middle earth. We are looking in this series right now in acts chapter eight. <br /><br /> To 12, those chapters. It is a second thrust of the spirit as he is taking the message of the gospel through the world. In chapters, one through seven, the power of the spirit has been manifested in the city of Jerusalem, but in acts chapter eight through 12, God is taking the gospel forth beyond the borders of the city, to the surrounding areas of Judea, the province around Jeru some Samaria, and he is doing it by Hoz. <br /><br /> He is doing it by people that are not Kings or priests or generals or politicians or business leaders, just ordinary smaller folk. And as Ben mentioned last Sunday, these five chapters enacts eight through 12, actually tell the story of three individuals and we can bring up that visual. Phillip Saul, who later became Paul and Peter, you might think, well, they seem like pretty prominent guys. <br /><br /> That's because we know them because of their faith in Jesus, but these weren't Kings or priests or generals or politicians or business magnets. These were individual guys. Now, Phillip interestingly probably was the most likely to be a prominent citizens. The father of a large family, a homeowner respectable, admired as a good man in the community, obviously by the, the recognition he has given to, uh, by the people, this SA Paul, a cold-hearted ambitious fanatical scholar who became the Hitman for the religious leaders in their attempt to stamp out the cancer and influence of Jesus followers in and around Jerusalem. <br /><br /> He was not a particularly likable person. He was a striver, uptight, aggressive, but as Joe and, and Ben shared with us in acts chapter nine in the verses up to this passage this morning, he was converted to Jesus Christ and embraced him as the Messiah and in, so doing the great challenger of the church became one of its great champions. <br /><br /> The third guy is a tempestuous extrovert whose words often burst out of the blocks. Well in advance of his thinking and who was intimidated regularly by other people's opinions. This morning, Dr. Luke takes us to the third guy, Peter, as we see, as Ben mentioned last week, that the, what we're seeing in, in, in acts chapter eight through 12 is, is like a, like, like a good series where you watch and, and you have all these different storylines going on. <br /><br /> And he jumps from one storyline of Philip and, and then he pulls in Peter and, and, and then he pulls back and he talks about Paul and, and then he jumps back and he talks about Peter and all this storyline is going on. Well, we're jumping to Peter now who he has, he has been silent about for a while. And in this passage, we are actually seeing the preview to what is gonna happen in acts chapter 10 and 11. <br /><br /> And I want to give you this preview, I'm preaching it next Sunday. And, and I'm excited about it because acts chapter 10 and 11 presents to us. One of the most momentous events in the book of acts. But more than that in the entire scripture, it is the UN it is the changing where God is removing the barrier between Jews and the nations. <br /><br /> People no longer need to become Jews to become a part of God's people. Jesus Christ, Jesus, the Christ Jesus. The Messiah is available as a savior in king for everyone because of what happens in acts chapter 10. Now just, just wedding your whistle with this. What happens in acts chapter 10 has incredible impact in your life. <br /><br /> As a matter of fact, if acts chapter 10 and 11 don't happen, you're not attending a church today to learn about Jesus. You're attending a Jewish synagogue that happens to believe Jesus is the Messiah. You would have to become a Jewish convert to accept Jesus as your Messiah and savior. If acts 10 and 11 didn't happen. <br /><br /> You're not reading from a new Testament book because there aren't new Testament books, because just about all of them were written to Gentiles and on a personal level, you're not sitting out there listening to a pastor. You're listening to rabbi. Mark acts 10 is big it's momentous. It enables us to be embraced into the people of God. <br /><br /> We're the Goum, which means the nations. We're the guys that in past generations, Israel was called to eradicate. . But now we've been invited in because of the experience that is declared by God, through a Roman soldier in his home. But prior to that, God has acts chapter nine with Peter. Peter's gonna be the guy that's the central figure in, in, in, in championing. <br /><br /> What happens in acts chapter 10 to the entire church. But today we're looking at the passage, that's the preview of that. And it is a passage that tells us how God prepared the way for this big event in acts 10. I think it's a passage that actually is incredibly practical for us because a lot of us are waiting for the big things to happen. <br /><br /> A lot of us are, are waiting for God to move for God, to answer for God, to, to move in the lives of loved ones. We have to do the big movement. , but there are practical lessons here in the way God is at work prior to, so in the prior to here's what we read in acts chapter nine, verse 31 and following. So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up and walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the holy spirit, it multiplied now, as Peter went here and there among them all, he came down also to the saints who lived at Lida. <br /><br /> There found a man named anus bedridden for eight years, who was paralyzed. And Peter said to him, Manus, Jesus Christ heals, you rise and make your bed. And immediately he rose. And all the residents of Lida and Sharon saw him and they turned to the Lord. Now there was in Joppa, disciple named Tabitha, which translated means docus. <br /><br /> She was full of good works and acts of charity. In those days, she became ill and died. And when they had washed her, they later in the upper room, since Lida was near Joppa, the disciples hearing that Peter was there, sent two men to him, urging him, please come down to us without delay. So Peter Rose and went with him. <br /><br /> And when he arrived, they took him to the upper room. All the widows stood beside him, weeping and showing tunics and other garments that docus made while she was with him. But Peter put them all outside and knelt down and prayed and turning to the body. He said, Tabitha arise. And she opened her eyes. And when she saw Peter, she sat up and he gave her his hand and raised her up. <br /><br /> Then calling the saints and widows. He presented her alive and it became known throughout all JOP and many believed in the Lord. And he stayed in Joppa for many days with one Simon, a. Lord, we come to you this morning and God, I pray as we, we think about this prior to passage and why you've included it and why you had these things happen in preparation for what is going to happen in acts 10 and 11. <br /><br /> God, I pray. You'd speak practically application into our lives this morning in Jesus name. Amen. What we find in acts chapter nine, verse 32 to 43 is the work that God did in the moment in the circumstances. And secondly, the work that God did in the messenger, God at work in the moment, God at work in the moment first is seen in the big stuff, acts chapter nine, verse 31 tells us that. <br /><br /> So the church throughout. All Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up and walking in the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the holy spirit. It multiplied. This is what's going on. Saul has become a believer is Peter has continued to do his thing. Philips doing his, the other apostles are doing their ministry, lots going on. <br /><br /> And it culminates in this amazing statement. The church is expanding, but it's an interesting thing in this verse in verse 31, the term, the church is different from its other usages in the, in the, uh, book of acts and much of the new Testament here it is used in the singular. It is not churches. It is in the singular and it is not talking about one church in a town. <br /><br /> It's talking about the church in the big church. The whole church. And he's saying the whole people of God, the church as one is expanding in Judea and Samaria and Galilee. And if we can bring up this map, you just have a simple picture. The church has expanded from Jerusalem there in the middle, throughout the area of Judea. <br /><br /> It's spread up into Samaria and then up in the top and it would continue up farther the area of Galilee. And he's saying the church, the one people God's kingdom in Christ is expanding, and God has been working this and Judea and Galilee, the Southern and Northern of these three provinces were all Jewish, but the middle one Samaria has been quasi Jewish. <br /><br /> If you will. I mentioned that in acts chapter eight, these were people, the Samaritans who were sort of hybrids, they had built into their faith. Aspects of Judaism. They viewed themselves as part it, they were circumcised. They, they participated in, in some of the practices of, of the Jewish faith. They believed in the Torah, the first five books of the law, it was their guidance for faith and practice. <br /><br /> And they were looked at as a sect of Judaism, often looked down by the purebred Jews of Jeru. but Peter and John had gone up to Samaria in acts chapter eight, and Peter had seen for himself, this is real. And he saw what I called a, a Samaritan Pentecost where the spirit came upon the people and they spoke in the sign gifts and manifested the same work that had happened at the day of Pentecost and Peter, his, his, his perspective has grown he's thought, wow, the gospel of Jesus, isn't just the kingdom of Christ. <br /><br /> Isn't just for what we understand is used. It's even for the hybrids, the Samaritan God has been working, God has been expanding the church. He's doing this. He is also expanding UN one, the understanding of the Jews in terms of what he is going to do in acts chapter 10. He's been doing things in a big picture way, but he also is doing it in the details. <br /><br /> If you look at that visual again, if we can just hold that there, bring that back for a second. You'll know the white, the white path. First, it goes up vertically and to Samaria the city of Samaria and then comes back down. That was Peter. Peter went up there and Samaria, he saw what was going on with the hybrid Jews that they had truly embraced the gospel. <br /><br /> He's come back to Jerusalem. Now he's on another trip and this is what we're reading about. It's that trip that is going westward towards the great sea. The Mediterranean sea Lida is the first city. We'll see. The second is Joppa, but if you look at that map and you follow your way up along the coastline, you see a little town called Caesarea. <br /><br /> That's where this Roman Centurian is, is living a guy over a bunch of Roman Legionnaires, Cornelius that we're gonna read about in acts chapter 10, and God is leading him first allali then to Joppa. And then the next place is gonna be Caesarea. God is working in all of this. God is motivating, moving things, shaping things all towards what is going to transpire in acts chapter 10 and 11 as I reflected on that. <br /><br /> And, and one of the questions that commentators have is why did Luke include at the end of chapter nine, these two healing events. I mean, Peter's been healing people he's been doing all this. Why? Why not just go right to the, the, the, the home run, you know, the Cornelius story. Why does he include, he is trying to say, God is at work. <br /><br /> He is preparing the way he's doing it. Circumstantially. He is also going to be doing it within Peter himself. God is moving in all the details of chapter nine. Just as much as God is going to be moving in. Acts chapter 10, I read a, an account recently by Tim Keller that he, he made a number of years ago where he was highlighting what, what is called the Providence of God. <br /><br /> The fact that God is at work in all things to accomplish his purposes and the word Providence is the word provide to provide good things. I wanna just read what he shared. He said God's plan includes little things. It has to, most of us don't think of this in this way. Everything it says in proverb 16, the lot is cast in the lap, but the disposal is of the Lord's. <br /><br /> That means even when you flip a coin, if it comes down heads or it comes down tails, it was part of his plan. Nothing is left out of his plan. Okay. That's the first thing I wanna stress. Let me push it a little bit. People say, come on. Nothing. Are you telling me that tie Tim Keller is wearing today was part of God's plan for all eternity. <br /><br /> Are you trying to tell me the shoes I decided to wear today were part of God's plan, little things like that. Well, there are only little things to you and me because we are so unwise, there are no little things in 1912, somebody tried to shoot Teddy Roosevelt and they did. They shot him in the chest. Do you know why he lived? <br /><br /> Because he happened to have his glasses case on this side. Instead of on this side, your marriage is your careers. What school you go to very often are based on so-called little things. Let me give you a quick example. The reason I'm a Presbyterian minister was because of a particular faculty member that came to my seminary. <br /><br /> My last. And pushed me over the edge. When it came to my theological understanding, I decided, I think I need to be a Presbyterian. That's the reason I'm here today. Pastoring a Presbyterian church. Why did that faculty member come? The only reason he came that year was he was British and he was having a lot of trouble getting a passport to come and teach at my seminary in Massachusetts. <br /><br /> But somebody pulled strings for him from real high up one day, somebody came out looking for him, calling his name out. Somebody came out when he was standing in this long line and called him in and said, you're going to be in America within a week. We got word from real high up. Well, do you know who that was? <br /><br /> It was a guy named Mike Ford. Mike Ford was the son of the president, the United States at the time Mike Ford was the son of Gerald Ford. Mike Ford was a student at Gordon Conwell theological seminary, where I was. He found a way to get this particular faculty member to Gordon Conwell because his father was the president. <br /><br /> Do you know why his father was the president because of the Watergate scandal? Nixon had resigned and Gerald Ford was the president. That's the reason Mike Ford had the clout to get this guy over there. That's the reason why he was there. That's the reason I became a Presbyterian. That's the reason I'm talking to you right now. <br /><br /> Why did Nixon fall? Because some stupid Watergate burglar left the door open one night and some guard, some guard noticed the door was open. Now, what if that guard hadn't gone by that day? Maybe he went by that day because that morning you didn't eat breakfast and he got in a little bit early. Do you see, I wouldn't be here. <br /><br /> If that guard hadn't seen that door. That's the way everything in your life is God is at work in the details. God is working his plan. You may say, I, I can't begin to understand. Nope. I can't put all this together, mark. Nope, you can't. You're not asked to, you're asked to just say, wow, he's big. And here I am in acts nine and, and this is cool. <br /><br /> And there's some cool things Peter's gonna do, but whoa, it's the acts 10 things. I wanna be a part. It's the acts 10. I want God to do the acts. 10 big stuff. Change my family. Work in my, in my work, answer my concerns. Show me the way do the movement be gods add work all the time. <br /><br /> God is a work in the details in Tim Keller's life in Peter's life, in your life. Right now, God is orchestrating circumstances in your life for what he plans to do later, acts 10 is momentous, but God's just as big in acts chapter nine, and God is also at work in his messenger. God is authenticating his messenger. <br /><br /> We see what God was doing through Peter. It's important to remember the unique role of the apostles. I've said this before in the book of acts, it often talks about the signs of the apostles healings, exorcism passing on the gift of, of, of tongues and others to authenticate their position as messengers of a new era in God's dealing with humans, I've mentioned to you that, that there are three errors of history where God did spectacular signs in order to inaugurate a new messaging. <br /><br /> It was the time of Moses and, and there you have the plagues of Egypt and all that God did. And the man in the wilderness and the red sea crossing and all that stuff. And, and in acts chapter seven, Steven talks about the signs of Moses, the prophet, the only, the next, that was a period of miraculous happenings, authenticating the messenger. <br /><br /> We fast forward a number of centuries to a time of Elijah and Elijah. And there were signs of miraculous. If you think historically through the Bible, you'll find there were all kinds of miracles in Moses day, and then there's not much. And then you come to Elijah and Elijah, and there's all this stuff going on. <br /><br /> Again, calling fired down from Mount Carmel, throwing an ax head that's floating in, in the wa in all kinds of other things he's doing. And again, there are signs as they were beginning the prophetic message for Israel, and then you fast forward centuries again, to the time of Jesus and the apostles. And again, there are these spectacular demonstrations that just authenticate the messengers. <br /><br /> Luke is highlighting some of the authenticating activities that Peter is doing here. And it's almost as if he wants say, look, I'm gonna tell you in acts chapter 10, about what Peter saw, remember who Peter was. Remember who, who, who God made him. He is authenticated by very unique miracles. One of those is found here in verses 2032 to 34 35. <br /><br /> And what he happens when he comes to this little town, Lida is he comes to a man that is paralyzed. This man is, um, it says in verse 33 bedridden for eight years, who is paralyzed. Now, there are four different types, four different, uh, categories of paralysis that, that most medical people identify with. <br /><br /> One is mono plegia, which is a type of paralysis that impacts one limb such as an armor leg. There's he, he hemiplegia is a paralysis that embarks one impacts one side of your body. Um, least parts of that one side. there is what we call paraplegia is a paralysis that affects all part of the trunk, legs, and pelvic organs. <br /><br /> Often the result of a, uh, a significant spinal cord injury. And then of course the most severe quadriplegia is a paralysis of oral. All four Quadra is four, all four of our limbs, both arms, both legs. Basically the entire body is paralyzed. I don't know which of these this guy had, but I know it's either number three or four. <br /><br /> He is either a paraplegic or a quadriplegic. He is utterly bedridden for eight years, undoubtedly, because he's a grown man. This happened well into his life. He had a severe injury, probably a spinal cord injury. Everybody in the town knows about this. It's a little town lit is not a big place. Everybody knows about this guy. <br /><br /> They know that this guy is stuck in bed, unable to get out. Every day for eight years, they've had to roll him to protect him from getting bed sores. They've had to wipe him and wash him and care for him because he can't do that for himself. He's lived in the, in the, in the bondage of a body that is trapped there. <br /><br /> And then in one of the most beautiful pictures that I think in the book of acts, Peter says to him, rise up and make your bed. I just thought, I love that phrase. This is a guy that can't move for eight years and the Lord says, man, rise up. And the first thing do turn around. You make your own bed today. <br /><br /> You do your own life today. You're not dependent on anybody today. Can you imagine what this moment was for this man? And the word spreads and people are overwhelmed with the, the miraculous power that it, that has manifested in all the residents of Lida and Sharon som. And they turned to the Lord. It authenticated Peter, and it authenticated him primarily because it gave him a miracle that paralleled that was a sign in the same way, a similar miracle by Jesus in John chapter five, verse eight, where he says to there a man in paralysis, he says, rise, take up your bed and walk. <br /><br /> He also authenticated him here in verse 35 to 42 here. It's a Christian woman named Tabitha. This is the next town over. It's on the seaside. Now just south of Caesarea. It's where they hear about him up. Up in Caesarea and here again, Peter is, is authenticated as a messenger of God in a most amazing way. <br /><br /> He or he actually has the capacity. He does this with one person. Paul will later do this with one person. He actually has the power to raise somebody back from the dead. It's a Christian woman named Tabitha. It's a striking passage that also has obvious overtones and reminisces of what took place by Elijah and Elijah. <br /><br /> Listen to this account. It says this in these verses about Peter, when he raises Tabitha or dark DOCA up says, um, but Peter in verse 40, put them all outside in the bedroom and Nel down and prayed and turned into the body, said Tabitha rise. And she opened her eyes. And when she saw Peter, she sat up in second Kings four verse 2030, verse 32. <br /><br /> And following this happened with Elijah. Elijah came into the house, he saw the child lying dead in his bed. So he went in, shut the door behind him, the two of them and prayed to the Lord. And the boy was raised from the dead. It happened with Elijah in one Kings chapter 17, verse 17. And he said to her, give me your son. <br /><br /> And he took him from her arms and carried him up into the upper chamber where lodge and laid him on his own bed, prayed over him. And the boy was raised. Luke is intentionally trying to say. God is authenticating Peter to be a messenger of the message that he's gonna be given in acts 10, 10, 11 with these spectacular acts, just like he did with Jesus, just like he did with Elijah and Elijah. <br /><br /> God also is adjusting his messenger. Look at verse 43, just an interesting side note that Luke sort of throws in there and Peter is staying in Joppa for many days with one Simon, a Tanner, a Tanner was a guy. Um, tans hides basically takes dead animals, cleans out, take cuts off the fur. The skin cleans the flash off it and basically tans it, you know, get the hide, ready to be put into clothes. <br /><br /> It actually was a, a profession that one often was declared unclean in the Jewish faith because you did it because you weren't supposed to be around dead bodies. Yet Simon is in this guy's house. And again, I just feel like God is progressively working in the heart of Simon. First. He sends him to Samaria and says, you know, the Jews that you think are hybrids and our outsiders, they're getting the gospel they're being brought in. <br /><br /> Now I'm gonna put you in the house of a guy that, that, that some of those historically oral tradition adherence think is is, is unclean. We're gonna put you there again, all of that is preparing Peter for what's coming in, acts chapter 10 in 11, but God is adjusting his messenger. The other thing I see in this passage is God is working circumstantially, but God is also working in his man in his messenger. <br /><br /> Whatever's going on in your life right now. whatever's not going on that you want to be going on. God has ordained that that would be a part of deepening your life message for him. John Wesley was addressed by a bunch of students once. How can we, how can we really be? You have the influence in the gospel that you have. <br /><br /> And, and Wesley just said to them, deepen your life message. God will broaden your ministry. God is deepening. Peter's life message. He's growing him. Are you letting him do that with you? Are you in circumstances saying, Lord, this isn't necessarily how I'd want, or I just feel like I'm sort of on the, on the outside looking in or nothing exciting is going on in my Christian life. <br /><br /> I, I wanna be making a difference and the Lord says, wait, are you embracing the moment? So what are our takeaways from this text? This too? I think there's something we need to remember. And there's something we need to do. We need to remember God was at work in all these circumstances. God is at work. You may find yourself today in the prelude. <br /><br /> It feels like the prelude of acts nine. There's so much you long to see God do. And so many questions. You need him to answer those unresolved issues. Unanswered prayers, unchanged, loved ones, unclear paths ahead. It seems God is not at work. At least not in the way that you hope God is at work. God is moving. <br /><br /> Remember God does not waste experiences. What is going on in your life right now is what you would pray for. If you knew everything that God does, we need to remember. And secondly, we need to embrace. We need to embrace the moment. This I'm closing. There was a 28 year old young man, along with four other pilots who had left Wheaton. <br /><br /> Uh, they were hot for Christ. They went down with their young families to minister in Ecuador, south America. And one of them had written a statement that became a famous phrase afterwards. It was this statement said by Jim Elliot, wherever you are be all there. He didn't know that a few months later, what God was going to do was to allow he and the other four missionary pilots to fly in and, and, and bring their, their plane down, uh, their sea plane down on, on a sandbar, on a river in the middle of Ecuador. <br /><br /> And the minute and the, and, and the, the tribe of people that they were trying to reach with the gospel were going to brutally slay, all five of them. He didn't know that the result of that would be that their story would be the cover story for life magazine would literally go around the world. He didn't know that his death and the death of his other four friends would be the catalyst for the greatest migration to world missions among adults that happened in a century. <br /><br /> He wouldn't know that, but he did know this, that wherever he was in, whatever he was doing, he wanted to be wherever he was all there. Are we all there? Are we all there today? Are we saying, God, alls I see is what you're not doing. Alls I see is what you're not answering. All I see is where you're not. He says I'm here. <br /><br /> Remember I'm always at work. Remember to embrace this moment and say, God, right here in acts chapter nine, I really wanna be in an acts 10 or acts two with Pentecost. No, he says right here, are you all there? Are you all in? Because just like Tim Keller reminds us and Dr. Luke reminds us, God is working. God is working. <br /><br /> God is working. Are we looking, are we embracing? Are we available for all that he has right now? Lord, we look to you today. <br /><br /> You're a big God, you rule the cosmos, and yet you arrange the little circumstances of our lives. We have no idea how you do it, <br /><br /> but Lord, we wanna live our lives as if there really is a big God that is orchestrating our circumstances. We wanna live with that faith. We want to be all there. So Lord, for the many, maybe that feel discouraged and feel their languaging and their Christian journey. God sound the siren to call us back to wholeheartedness towards. <br /><br /> Stir our hearts say, God right here right now. I want to be your man. I want to be your woman. I want to be your young person. <br /><br /> I want to be all there in Jesus name. I pray. Amen. Now go in peace to love and serve and enjoy the Lord.</div> false no <![CDATA[The Person in the Presence of God]]> Sermon Transcript:

We're gonna talk about something this morning, something that Joe talked about last week with the conversion of Saul in acts chapter nine, and it's something where Paul or Saul, and I know I'm gonna say Paul Saul, cuz he's right in the midst of changing his name soon. There's something that happens to this man that was different than minor tweaks, different than just getting through something happened that changed everything.

And he was changed by the very presence of God by way of review. Just wanna mention this before we get to our passage to place it in context. The what happens in the book of acts, we looked at acts one eight, acts one eight is kind of the thesis statement for the entirety of the book of acts. As you'll receive power.

When the holy spirit comes upon you be my witnesses and Jerusalem, Judea, and also marry into the ends of the earth. The rest of the book of acts unpacks. This statement of Jesus. This is why the book of acts is so much about Paul. So much about Peter Philip and other guys. And like, there are so many things going on, but fundamentally this is a book about Jesus living out though acts one eight in the first season or first seven chapters, we looked at what was happening in Jerusalem and this now in the second season, There's three different storylines happening as the, the gospel begins to expand.

And we see, uh, Philip, we looked at a couple weeks ago, saw, um, turning into Paul is happening this week and last, and then also Peter will be coming in next week as what's happening is the church is beginning to expand according to the mandate of Christ in acts one eight. And then we'll see in season three, going to the outermost parts of the earth this morning, we pick up with Paul, right?

As he has had his conversion experience. I'm just gonna call him Paul. I just, I'm just gonna get that outta the way, cuz I know I'm, I'm gonna say the wrong name. So we'll just go with Paul cuz that's who he ends up. As we pick up with Paul, after his encounter with Christ in Damascus, this is the fruit.

This is what happened to him after being in the presence of Christ gonna be reading. Versus, uh, starting at the second half of 19 and going to verse 31, this is acts chapter nine. For some days, he was with the disciples at Damascus, and immediately he is talking about Paul proclaimed Jesus in the synagogue saying he is the son of God.

And all who heard were amazed and said, is this not the man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those called upon his name? And has he not come here for this purpose to bring them bound before the chief priest, but saw increased all the more and strength and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ.

While many days had passed the Jews plotted to kill him, but their plot had become known to solve. They were watching the gates day and night in order to kill him. But his disciples took him by night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a basket. And when he had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples and they were all afraid of him for, they did not believe he was a disciple, but Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles, declared to them.

How on the road, he has seen the Lord who spoke to him and how at Damascus, he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus. So he went out among all them at Jerusalem, preaching, boldly the name of the Lord. And he spoke and disputed against the heist, but they were seeking to kill him. And when the brothers learned this, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarus.

So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria, again, according to the acts one, a prophecy had. And was being built up and walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the holy spirit, they multiplied father. We come before you this morning in gratitude. We come before you thankful for a chance to be in this place.

We know there are people in this room that feel very at home right now. This is a safe place, a comfortable place, a place where they've wanted to be during this week. People also in this room who don't feel comfortable, who are disconcerted with the travails of life are confused with doubts are hurt by people who proclaim you.

And this can be a, either safe. This place is both a safe and scary place to different people this morning. we thank you for a chance to come. And once you remind them that each is welcome Jesus name, amen. Amen. Four things. I want to bring your attention to. Um, simply coming from, as I looked at this passage, the thing that I was most impressed with is what this experience in Damascus road had on Paul.

This moment that, um, Paul had saw them, Paul had on the road to Damascus, literally changed everything. And simply, I, I wanna look at four different things where I can see how being in the presence of God himself makes a profound impact on the life of a person. First thing is the amount of power that comes from the presence of God.

There's a couple words in here. Verse 21. After they have seen what has happened to Paul, they come and they, they, they, they are astonished verse 21, verse 22. Then they are baffled. This is not a minor surprise to see this person having this incredible turn of events. Joe said this last week, he said today, we hear of the most triumphant days in all of church history.

One of the most triumphant days when Sal of Tarus meets Jesus on the road to Damascus. When the man who was persecuting, the church becomes God's chief instrument of. Furthering a church. And this is what Joe said all in a moment. The transition that Paul has is an instantaneous one. It is not a long cognitive intellectual wrestling that eventually he, he turns, this is a profound moment.

And the reason is why is because he was in the very presence of Jesus, God of the universe. And you'll remember the story that we talked about last week on the road to Damascus. He is absolutely floored by a light that is brighter than the, the Noonday sun and all of a sudden he rises out and, and here's this voice, why are you persecuting me?

And, and SA responds with this. Who are you Lord, as in, I don't know your name, but I know you are God. And he says, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. That moment for him was the moment that he moved the presence of the presence of God. Changed had the power to change everything for this man acts 22. And then in acts 26, we, we see that Paul was actually, um, arrested and in those passages, uh, Paul goes back and in order to prove the faith, this is a highly intellectual man who knows, uh, who is highly educated, but in order to prove the faith to his witnesses, what does he do?

He goes back and tells this story. This story that is repeated in X nine is in X 22 and act 26. Why? Because this moment more than anything else is what changes Paul forever sociologist for years have been asking the question of the power of culture over individual lives, culture we know and understand, and maybe don't even completely understand the tremendous impact that it has on ITU.

Each of us, all culture. Right. American culture, Indonesian culture, 21st century culture middle-aged culture, sports culture, art culture, Christian culture, Muslim culture culture has an influence on people. A tremendous amount of mostly slow and immersive influence. This transformation was not one of slow cultural experience.

This is what we are talking about here is not when someone learns how to behave in church or slowly learns the values of Bible through time. This transformation happens because of what Jesus Christ does in a life by his presence. John 9 25. There's a blind man. Who's healed by Jesus. And everyone's in a tizzy walking around, figuring out what happened.

What's going on. They come to blind, man, like, who did this? Did he do it right? Is he, is he doing it in a right way? And all these questions? And I love this simple answer by the blind man and John 9 25. He, he answered whether he is a sinner. I do not know one thing. I do know I was blind. And now I see that's the encounter that Paul has had.

It is simply the presence of God that changed everything. Someone close to me that talks about their frustration of not having the gift of faith grew up in the church. I grew up in a church, uh, learned the good things of church. Listened to the music. Saw the Kirk Cameron specials was a paid employee by a church.

Went through the motions, listened to the lessons, said the prayers baptized behaved. Well, someone in this person wants nothing to do with anything of the Christian faith. And in talking to this person, the, the statement is, is said, like I've experienced it all and I don't want it. I don't believe it. My passion for this person is simply not, oh, I wish they could have heard one more good lesson.

I wish they would've heard one more clever ontological argument, but simply I wish that in the midst of all of that, they knew him because this whole. Of church and all of its accruments, most of them beautiful. Simply comes down to, we are a people who need the presence of God himself. And if we dress it up from there, that is fine.

As long as we keep the core of our faith and practice to be about simply knowing him, this is the greatest thing we have, not our systems, our programs, our staff, our authors, it's him himself transformation will never be a clever advertising campaign. It is experiencing Jesus Christ personally for that is where the power ultimately is.

second thing. The presence of God in Jesus Christ does the type of energy that comes from the presence of God, the type of energy, uh, Paul Paul changed. And this is what I wanna say. Paul changed from having against energy to energy. Paul starts, he is hunting down this disease of Jesus. He is in the text breathing threats.

Literally it says in the beginning after 99, he's breathing threats, his very breath. He's wanting to threaten this church. He hates it so much. He's going from neighboring towns. He's traveling as Joe talked about last week, all the way, great distances to far away towns, to strangle out this disease, frantically trying to stop this Jesus movement.

He goes from that energy to what type of energy, energy that's for. It would take months, if not years, to convince many different people that Paul was actually genuine. He, this is the leader of the persecuted church and, and, and he had a force this exa against energy that was so vicious that for him to transform to before just didn't seem possible.

I think against energy is sourced in fear and control for energy is mobilized by trust and love. And honestly only makes sense. If you have a powerful God on your side, there's something that happens inside of me, because guess what? I've got against energy. And I got four energy, just like all of us do.

There are times when I see things I am so against and, and, and I get so frustrated, right. It. And, but there's often times when I'm like mobilized against the things. I just can't stand that I have urgency, desperation, hurry. Everything is on the line. But so often a scripture comes to my mind in Romans and it's Jesus only, almost always brings this to mind when I'm not practicing it.

still hasn't used it to affirm my practice. He says this in Rome where Paul says this in Roman says don't be overcome by evil, overcome evil with good. Don't spend all your time trying to clean up, trying to convince, trying to determine and, and change all the bad stuff. Invest your energy in the good things.

Spend your time there. The movement of the spirit listen to the movement of the spirit is love. Joy, peace, patience. Kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control. These are things we are moving forward. The things of Jesus, not wasting our time, trying to strangle out things. And aren't the, the mark of a person living in the presence of God is, um, a, a phrase I'm borrowing from the book brother, Lawrence, which I'll mention later to called practicing the presence of God.

It's a tranquility of spirit. It's not scared. It's not handwringing, there's another book. That means a lot to me. It's by James Davidson hunter who writes the, the title of the book is called to change the world. And he takes a deep look at what actually creates. Uh, change in people and in movements. And, and he says like, like any, any type of movement, I think we always think power changes.

So we have to get in power. And so then we can change everything. But his contention through looking at this very extensively is that actually, if you want to be involved in changing the world, it's two words that make the difference. Faithful presence, faithful presence, faithfully moving forward, the things of God, faithfully for things, be known not by what

we are every day. Faithfully for presence of God makes more impact in Paul. I call this the, the directional movement of the presence of God. We see that Paul had lost so many things. He lost power, lost financial backing. He lost national support, religious admiration, leadership, and respect from amongst his friends and colleagues and partnership with Rome.

Honestly, we see this in Philippians three, Paul had it made his career was made. His future was made. He had his own niche and he was a young man becoming extremely powerful. He had much to lose by, by leaving and by leaving where he was to where he would be. And we can see how much he lost because the very people who were his comrades and arms are the very people in our passage that turn and want him dead.

They want him to stop, but he was in charge of this movement. He was moving forward in it. But his, the directional movement that he had up rising up is turned around in the presence of God. And you've probably, if you heard me speak, you've probably heard me say this. I, I can't believe, I, I believe firmly that spiritual growth, the direction of growth is not up, but it's down that the, the way of Christ is the downward way.

It is the way of service. It is the way of, of letting go of ego. It is the way of, of releasing. And not that God doesn't put people in leadership and God doesn't call people to be leaders. And I'm not saying that whatsoever, but what I am saying is the internal direction of someone who living in the presence of God is someone who doesn't try to be him.

as someone who's really, really content with God being God and I'll play whatever role you need me to play. It is the downward way. This man who is steeped in power, financial backing ation was a rising star, but the presence of Jesus changed his direction. In a moment, the presence of God moves us to trust and vulnerability.

Spiritual transformation in the presence of God is downward from the passage. We see the vulnerability that he would have, right. Immediately. He's being accused by who everyone, the team of the, the Jewish people that were wanting him to squelch out the church. Now they hate him. Now, the people over here who are a part of the church, they disbelief.

he was an incredibly vulnerable position for a good bit of time. He was vulnerable to being hated, vulnerable, to being plotted against and killed directional movement. I believe we have in the presence of God is down towards vulnerability and trust the lasting fruit of the presence of God. I love this.

You see, at the end of the passage, what happens in that church? Verse 31 at the end of this passage says, so the church throughout all Judea, Galilee and Samaria, again, the very regions Jesus is talking about. Next chapter, one's gone from Jerusalem now to these regions had peace and was being built up walking in the fear of the Lord in the comfort of this holy spirit, it multiplied.

Paul went from a person creating violence and discord to a person God used to establish strength and peace. This is a place. This is a culture that is touched deeply by the presence of God. It is the culture of God, simply who he is and something that, um, we do in spiritual direction sometimes is which is just a way of counseling of helping people connect with the presence of God in their own lives.

So we asked the question of what's God experiencing. right. Because a lot of us, we have a lot of personal experience and that's wonderful. And, and we want to know what we're experiencing and what we're dealing with. Extremely vital important, our histories, our stories, our past our presence, what's gonna happen in our futures.

Those things are a vital importance, but also important if we're doing, talking about what's God's role in this is saying, well, what's God experiencing right now. This is maybe our experience. What is God experiencing? And there's some beautiful passages in the scripture about what the culture of God is like, what's it like in his presence?

What's it like to be with him? And one of my favorites is in revelations chapter four. And is Joe or Phil here? Joe Parker? Some of you're like, oh no, my name's Phil. Oh no. I go by Philip, um, Joe Parker or Phil. I know sometimes they come to the second series, Phil. I'm gonna need you, buddy. You're you're killing on those keys, by the way.

You, you didn't do the stool anymore. You're up, you're up top, keeping it lively. Um, that song was so beautiful and I'm like, oh my gosh, that is exactly what we're gonna close the service with. So can we do the last song you did? We're gonna close the service with that in a couple minutes. Aren't you so glad you stayed for the service?

I don't actually usually call him Phil. It's usually filibuster landfill. Yeah. That's usually what I call himself, but I wonder like, we'll close in a minute, but, but just asking the question, right? Like, well, what's happening right now. We're in the presence of each other. You see your friend across the way you, you, you see that person you're like, oh, I haven't talked to or checked up on.

And, and what, what happens when we're in the presence of each other? Like we, oh, we see the joy saw Beth full. Are you in here somewhere? Here's Beth fuller. Bethel are over there. It's how Bethel I haven't seen her in a long time. This morning, we get to be in the presence of each other. It's a beautiful thing about coming together for worship.

The other beautiful thing which we get to experience is we're coming together in this unique way to experience uniquely the presence of God. Jesus saying, when you gather together, there's some unique presence of me that exists. And this song that we sang at the last song, the all in all song I is, is playing a chorus.

The chorus is out of this passage, I believe, or similar to it. One that gives us a view of what it's like to be simply with him. If you would close your eyes just for the sake of putting yourself in this spot. Understanding this beautiful presence of Jesus Christ that we get to be in. Let's ask ourselves, what's it like, what's it like in the, to be with this God?

After I looked behold, I saw a door standing open in heaven and I heard a voice, which I heard speaking, and it said, come up to me and I will show you what might take place at once. I was in the spirit from the throne, I saw flashes of lightning, rumblings and peels of thunder. And before the throne were seven torches lit on fire, the seven spirits of God.

And before the throne, there was like a, a sea of glass like crystal. Around the throne on each side of the throne, there were four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind the first living creatures, like a lion, the second living creature, like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man and the fourth living creature, like an Eagle in flight, the four living creatures, each of them had six wings and were full of eyes all around and within, and day and night, they never ceased to say, holy holy, holy is the Lord.

God almighty, who was and is, and is to come whenever the living creatures give glory and honor, and thanks to him who seated on the throne who lives forever and ever the 24 elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns the downward way before the throne saying worthy, are you our Lord and God to receive glory and honor and power for you created all things and by your will, they exist and were created.

Won't you stand with me in this moment in the presence of our God, sing this one more time of the reality that we have in this Christ.

I wanna leave you with a blessing this morning. If you would remain standing also wanna recommend a wonderful book written by a guy in the early 16 hundreds named brother Lawrence called practicing the presence of God. And there's a lot more of a practical thoughts on how to do this in our everyday lives.

As we remember his presence this day over you, I say, God is not afraid today. He is not uncertain or insecure. God is not needy or lonely. He is not confused by the past or unsure what to do in the presence. God is not. Handwringing about the future. God is safe. God is secure. God is on the throne and cannot be unseated.

All is well in the presence of he who holds all things. Let Jesus' words speak over us. Come to me. All you who are weary and burdened, I will give you rest. My yolk take upon. I will take upon me. Learn from me. I am gentle, humble, and heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yolk is easy. And my burden is light.

Thank you so much for being here this morning. We are dismissed.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-person-in-the-presence-of-god 5b214da4-51ea-4ae7-9cff-33e5e537cc02 Sun, 24 Jul 2022 12:23:17 GMT <div data-html="true">Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> We're gonna talk about something this morning, something that Joe talked about last week with the conversion of Saul in acts chapter nine, and it's something where Paul or Saul, and I know I'm gonna say Paul Saul, cuz he's right in the midst of changing his name soon. There's something that happens to this man that was different than minor tweaks, different than just getting through something happened that changed everything. <br /><br /> And he was changed by the very presence of God by way of review. Just wanna mention this before we get to our passage to place it in context. The what happens in the book of acts, we looked at acts one eight, acts one eight is kind of the thesis statement for the entirety of the book of acts. As you'll receive power. <br /><br /> When the holy spirit comes upon you be my witnesses and Jerusalem, Judea, and also marry into the ends of the earth. The rest of the book of acts unpacks. This statement of Jesus. This is why the book of acts is so much about Paul. So much about Peter Philip and other guys. And like, there are so many things going on, but fundamentally this is a book about Jesus living out though acts one eight in the first season or first seven chapters, we looked at what was happening in Jerusalem and this now in the second season, There's three different storylines happening as the, the gospel begins to expand. <br /><br /> And we see, uh, Philip, we looked at a couple weeks ago, saw, um, turning into Paul is happening this week and last, and then also Peter will be coming in next week as what's happening is the church is beginning to expand according to the mandate of Christ in acts one eight. And then we'll see in season three, going to the outermost parts of the earth this morning, we pick up with Paul, right? <br /><br /> As he has had his conversion experience. I'm just gonna call him Paul. I just, I'm just gonna get that outta the way, cuz I know I'm, I'm gonna say the wrong name. So we'll just go with Paul cuz that's who he ends up. As we pick up with Paul, after his encounter with Christ in Damascus, this is the fruit. <br /><br /> This is what happened to him after being in the presence of Christ gonna be reading. Versus, uh, starting at the second half of 19 and going to verse 31, this is acts chapter nine. For some days, he was with the disciples at Damascus, and immediately he is talking about Paul proclaimed Jesus in the synagogue saying he is the son of God. <br /><br /> And all who heard were amazed and said, is this not the man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those called upon his name? And has he not come here for this purpose to bring them bound before the chief priest, but saw increased all the more and strength and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ. <br /><br /> While many days had passed the Jews plotted to kill him, but their plot had become known to solve. They were watching the gates day and night in order to kill him. But his disciples took him by night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a basket. And when he had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples and they were all afraid of him for, they did not believe he was a disciple, but Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles, declared to them. <br /><br /> How on the road, he has seen the Lord who spoke to him and how at Damascus, he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus. So he went out among all them at Jerusalem, preaching, boldly the name of the Lord. And he spoke and disputed against the heist, but they were seeking to kill him. And when the brothers learned this, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarus. <br /><br /> So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria, again, according to the acts one, a prophecy had. And was being built up and walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the holy spirit, they multiplied father. We come before you this morning in gratitude. We come before you thankful for a chance to be in this place. <br /><br /> We know there are people in this room that feel very at home right now. This is a safe place, a comfortable place, a place where they've wanted to be during this week. People also in this room who don't feel comfortable, who are disconcerted with the travails of life are confused with doubts are hurt by people who proclaim you. <br /><br /> And this can be a, either safe. This place is both a safe and scary place to different people this morning. we thank you for a chance to come. And once you remind them that each is welcome Jesus name, amen. Amen. Four things. I want to bring your attention to. Um, simply coming from, as I looked at this passage, the thing that I was most impressed with is what this experience in Damascus road had on Paul. <br /><br /> This moment that, um, Paul had saw them, Paul had on the road to Damascus, literally changed everything. And simply, I, I wanna look at four different things where I can see how being in the presence of God himself makes a profound impact on the life of a person. First thing is the amount of power that comes from the presence of God. <br /><br /> There's a couple words in here. Verse 21. After they have seen what has happened to Paul, they come and they, they, they, they are astonished verse 21, verse 22. Then they are baffled. This is not a minor surprise to see this person having this incredible turn of events. Joe said this last week, he said today, we hear of the most triumphant days in all of church history. <br /><br /> One of the most triumphant days when Sal of Tarus meets Jesus on the road to Damascus. When the man who was persecuting, the church becomes God's chief instrument of. Furthering a church. And this is what Joe said all in a moment. The transition that Paul has is an instantaneous one. It is not a long cognitive intellectual wrestling that eventually he, he turns, this is a profound moment. <br /><br /> And the reason is why is because he was in the very presence of Jesus, God of the universe. And you'll remember the story that we talked about last week on the road to Damascus. He is absolutely floored by a light that is brighter than the, the Noonday sun and all of a sudden he rises out and, and here's this voice, why are you persecuting me? <br /><br /> And, and SA responds with this. Who are you Lord, as in, I don't know your name, but I know you are God. And he says, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. That moment for him was the moment that he moved the presence of the presence of God. Changed had the power to change everything for this man acts 22. And then in acts 26, we, we see that Paul was actually, um, arrested and in those passages, uh, Paul goes back and in order to prove the faith, this is a highly intellectual man who knows, uh, who is highly educated, but in order to prove the faith to his witnesses, what does he do? <br /><br /> He goes back and tells this story. This story that is repeated in X nine is in X 22 and act 26. Why? Because this moment more than anything else is what changes Paul forever sociologist for years have been asking the question of the power of culture over individual lives, culture we know and understand, and maybe don't even completely understand the tremendous impact that it has on ITU. <br /><br /> Each of us, all culture. Right. American culture, Indonesian culture, 21st century culture middle-aged culture, sports culture, art culture, Christian culture, Muslim culture culture has an influence on people. A tremendous amount of mostly slow and immersive influence. This transformation was not one of slow cultural experience. <br /><br /> This is what we are talking about here is not when someone learns how to behave in church or slowly learns the values of Bible through time. This transformation happens because of what Jesus Christ does in a life by his presence. John 9 25. There's a blind man. Who's healed by Jesus. And everyone's in a tizzy walking around, figuring out what happened. <br /><br /> What's going on. They come to blind, man, like, who did this? Did he do it right? Is he, is he doing it in a right way? And all these questions? And I love this simple answer by the blind man and John 9 25. He, he answered whether he is a sinner. I do not know one thing. I do know I was blind. And now I see that's the encounter that Paul has had. <br /><br /> It is simply the presence of God that changed everything. Someone close to me that talks about their frustration of not having the gift of faith grew up in the church. I grew up in a church, uh, learned the good things of church. Listened to the music. Saw the Kirk Cameron specials was a paid employee by a church. <br /><br /> Went through the motions, listened to the lessons, said the prayers baptized behaved. Well, someone in this person wants nothing to do with anything of the Christian faith. And in talking to this person, the, the statement is, is said, like I've experienced it all and I don't want it. I don't believe it. My passion for this person is simply not, oh, I wish they could have heard one more good lesson. <br /><br /> I wish they would've heard one more clever ontological argument, but simply I wish that in the midst of all of that, they knew him because this whole. Of church and all of its accruments, most of them beautiful. Simply comes down to, we are a people who need the presence of God himself. And if we dress it up from there, that is fine. <br /><br /> As long as we keep the core of our faith and practice to be about simply knowing him, this is the greatest thing we have, not our systems, our programs, our staff, our authors, it's him himself transformation will never be a clever advertising campaign. It is experiencing Jesus Christ personally for that is where the power ultimately is. <br /><br /> second thing. The presence of God in Jesus Christ does the type of energy that comes from the presence of God, the type of energy, uh, Paul Paul changed. And this is what I wanna say. Paul changed from having against energy to energy. Paul starts, he is hunting down this disease of Jesus. He is in the text breathing threats. <br /><br /> Literally it says in the beginning after 99, he's breathing threats, his very breath. He's wanting to threaten this church. He hates it so much. He's going from neighboring towns. He's traveling as Joe talked about last week, all the way, great distances to far away towns, to strangle out this disease, frantically trying to stop this Jesus movement. <br /><br /> He goes from that energy to what type of energy, energy that's for. It would take months, if not years, to convince many different people that Paul was actually genuine. He, this is the leader of the persecuted church and, and, and he had a force this exa against energy that was so vicious that for him to transform to before just didn't seem possible. <br /><br /> I think against energy is sourced in fear and control for energy is mobilized by trust and love. And honestly only makes sense. If you have a powerful God on your side, there's something that happens inside of me, because guess what? I've got against energy. And I got four energy, just like all of us do. <br /><br /> There are times when I see things I am so against and, and, and I get so frustrated, right. It. And, but there's often times when I'm like mobilized against the things. I just can't stand that I have urgency, desperation, hurry. Everything is on the line. But so often a scripture comes to my mind in Romans and it's Jesus only, almost always brings this to mind when I'm not practicing it. <br /><br /> still hasn't used it to affirm my practice. He says this in Rome where Paul says this in Roman says don't be overcome by evil, overcome evil with good. Don't spend all your time trying to clean up, trying to convince, trying to determine and, and change all the bad stuff. Invest your energy in the good things. <br /><br /> Spend your time there. The movement of the spirit listen to the movement of the spirit is love. Joy, peace, patience. Kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control. These are things we are moving forward. The things of Jesus, not wasting our time, trying to strangle out things. And aren't the, the mark of a person living in the presence of God is, um, a, a phrase I'm borrowing from the book brother, Lawrence, which I'll mention later to called practicing the presence of God. <br /><br /> It's a tranquility of spirit. It's not scared. It's not handwringing, there's another book. That means a lot to me. It's by James Davidson hunter who writes the, the title of the book is called to change the world. And he takes a deep look at what actually creates. Uh, change in people and in movements. And, and he says like, like any, any type of movement, I think we always think power changes. <br /><br /> So we have to get in power. And so then we can change everything. But his contention through looking at this very extensively is that actually, if you want to be involved in changing the world, it's two words that make the difference. Faithful presence, faithful presence, faithfully moving forward, the things of God, faithfully for things, be known not by what <br /><br /> we are every day. Faithfully for presence of God makes more impact in Paul. I call this the, the directional movement of the presence of God. We see that Paul had lost so many things. He lost power, lost financial backing. He lost national support, religious admiration, leadership, and respect from amongst his friends and colleagues and partnership with Rome. <br /><br /> Honestly, we see this in Philippians three, Paul had it made his career was made. His future was made. He had his own niche and he was a young man becoming extremely powerful. He had much to lose by, by leaving and by leaving where he was to where he would be. And we can see how much he lost because the very people who were his comrades and arms are the very people in our passage that turn and want him dead. <br /><br /> They want him to stop, but he was in charge of this movement. He was moving forward in it. But his, the directional movement that he had up rising up is turned around in the presence of God. And you've probably, if you heard me speak, you've probably heard me say this. I, I can't believe, I, I believe firmly that spiritual growth, the direction of growth is not up, but it's down that the, the way of Christ is the downward way. <br /><br /> It is the way of service. It is the way of, of letting go of ego. It is the way of, of releasing. And not that God doesn't put people in leadership and God doesn't call people to be leaders. And I'm not saying that whatsoever, but what I am saying is the internal direction of someone who living in the presence of God is someone who doesn't try to be him. <br /><br /> as someone who's really, really content with God being God and I'll play whatever role you need me to play. It is the downward way. This man who is steeped in power, financial backing ation was a rising star, but the presence of Jesus changed his direction. In a moment, the presence of God moves us to trust and vulnerability. <br /><br /> Spiritual transformation in the presence of God is downward from the passage. We see the vulnerability that he would have, right. Immediately. He's being accused by who everyone, the team of the, the Jewish people that were wanting him to squelch out the church. Now they hate him. Now, the people over here who are a part of the church, they disbelief. <br /><br /> he was an incredibly vulnerable position for a good bit of time. He was vulnerable to being hated, vulnerable, to being plotted against and killed directional movement. I believe we have in the presence of God is down towards vulnerability and trust the lasting fruit of the presence of God. I love this. <br /><br /> You see, at the end of the passage, what happens in that church? Verse 31 at the end of this passage says, so the church throughout all Judea, Galilee and Samaria, again, the very regions Jesus is talking about. Next chapter, one's gone from Jerusalem now to these regions had peace and was being built up walking in the fear of the Lord in the comfort of this holy spirit, it multiplied. <br /><br /> Paul went from a person creating violence and discord to a person God used to establish strength and peace. This is a place. This is a culture that is touched deeply by the presence of God. It is the culture of God, simply who he is and something that, um, we do in spiritual direction sometimes is which is just a way of counseling of helping people connect with the presence of God in their own lives. <br /><br /> So we asked the question of what's God experiencing. right. Because a lot of us, we have a lot of personal experience and that's wonderful. And, and we want to know what we're experiencing and what we're dealing with. Extremely vital important, our histories, our stories, our past our presence, what's gonna happen in our futures. <br /><br /> Those things are a vital importance, but also important if we're doing, talking about what's God's role in this is saying, well, what's God experiencing right now. This is maybe our experience. What is God experiencing? And there's some beautiful passages in the scripture about what the culture of God is like, what's it like in his presence? <br /><br /> What's it like to be with him? And one of my favorites is in revelations chapter four. And is Joe or Phil here? Joe Parker? Some of you're like, oh no, my name's Phil. Oh no. I go by Philip, um, Joe Parker or Phil. I know sometimes they come to the second series, Phil. I'm gonna need you, buddy. You're you're killing on those keys, by the way. <br /><br /> You, you didn't do the stool anymore. You're up, you're up top, keeping it lively. Um, that song was so beautiful and I'm like, oh my gosh, that is exactly what we're gonna close the service with. So can we do the last song you did? We're gonna close the service with that in a couple minutes. Aren't you so glad you stayed for the service? <br /><br /> I don't actually usually call him Phil. It's usually filibuster landfill. Yeah. That's usually what I call himself, but I wonder like, we'll close in a minute, but, but just asking the question, right? Like, well, what's happening right now. We're in the presence of each other. You see your friend across the way you, you, you see that person you're like, oh, I haven't talked to or checked up on. <br /><br /> And, and what, what happens when we're in the presence of each other? Like we, oh, we see the joy saw Beth full. Are you in here somewhere? Here's Beth fuller. Bethel are over there. It's how Bethel I haven't seen her in a long time. This morning, we get to be in the presence of each other. It's a beautiful thing about coming together for worship. <br /><br /> The other beautiful thing which we get to experience is we're coming together in this unique way to experience uniquely the presence of God. Jesus saying, when you gather together, there's some unique presence of me that exists. And this song that we sang at the last song, the all in all song I is, is playing a chorus. <br /><br /> The chorus is out of this passage, I believe, or similar to it. One that gives us a view of what it's like to be simply with him. If you would close your eyes just for the sake of putting yourself in this spot. Understanding this beautiful presence of Jesus Christ that we get to be in. Let's ask ourselves, what's it like, what's it like in the, to be with this God? <br /><br /> After I looked behold, I saw a door standing open in heaven and I heard a voice, which I heard speaking, and it said, come up to me and I will show you what might take place at once. I was in the spirit from the throne, I saw flashes of lightning, rumblings and peels of thunder. And before the throne were seven torches lit on fire, the seven spirits of God. <br /><br /> And before the throne, there was like a, a sea of glass like crystal. Around the throne on each side of the throne, there were four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind the first living creatures, like a lion, the second living creature, like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man and the fourth living creature, like an Eagle in flight, the four living creatures, each of them had six wings and were full of eyes all around and within, and day and night, they never ceased to say, holy holy, holy is the Lord. <br /><br /> God almighty, who was and is, and is to come whenever the living creatures give glory and honor, and thanks to him who seated on the throne who lives forever and ever the 24 elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns the downward way before the throne saying worthy, are you our Lord and God to receive glory and honor and power for you created all things and by your will, they exist and were created. <br /><br /> Won't you stand with me in this moment in the presence of our God, sing this one more time of the reality that we have in this Christ. <br /><br /> I wanna leave you with a blessing this morning. If you would remain standing also wanna recommend a wonderful book written by a guy in the early 16 hundreds named brother Lawrence called practicing the presence of God. And there's a lot more of a practical thoughts on how to do this in our everyday lives. <br /><br /> As we remember his presence this day over you, I say, God is not afraid today. He is not uncertain or insecure. God is not needy or lonely. He is not confused by the past or unsure what to do in the presence. God is not. Handwringing about the future. God is safe. God is secure. God is on the throne and cannot be unseated. <br /><br /> All is well in the presence of he who holds all things. Let Jesus' words speak over us. Come to me. All you who are weary and burdened, I will give you rest. My yolk take upon. I will take upon me. Learn from me. I am gentle, humble, and heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yolk is easy. And my burden is light. <br /><br /> Thank you so much for being here this morning. We are dismissed.</div> false no <![CDATA[On the Road to Damascus]]> Acts 9:1-19

Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”



Sermon Transcript:

Oh my goodness. That's last song. Just Jesus paid it all. Jesus paid it all. I just wanna lift him up this morning. Jesus. It's all about you. Every person, every story here, Lord. It's all. About you. Thank you for the worship this morning, Lord reminding us that Jesus sought me while a stranger, while an enemy, you died for me pursuing me Lord with tireless feet until I would look into your face Lord and see the love that you bear for me.

We pray this in your name. Amen. Amen. It's such a joy to gather together in worship. Isn't it to be together in fellowship together. My name's pastor Joe. Um, and this morning we're gonna continue our journey through the book of acts. And up until this point, we've been following the church, its birth and its growth.

But today we hear of one of the most triumphant days in all of church history. When Saul of Tarsus meets Jesus on the road to Damascus. One of the most triumphant days when a man who is persecuting, the church becomes God's chief instrument of furthering a church all in a moment on that road to Damascus when God transformed the San Hirons chief instrument of persecution against the church and to God's chief instrument of furthering the church.

The passage that we're gonna be focusing on this morning is found in acts chapter nine versus one through 19. If you're using a few Bible it's page 8 63. Now, would you guys all turn there as we continue our collective worship this morning acts nine versus one through 19 buckle up. It's a bit of a long one.

Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples. He went to the high priest and asked for him letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. As he near Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed all around him and he fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?

Who are you? Lord Saul, ask. I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. He replied now get up and go into the city and you'll be told what you must do. The men traveling with Saul stood there, speechless, and they heard the sound, but did not see anyone and Saul got up from the ground. But when he opened his eyes, he could see nothing.

and so they let him buy the hand into Damascus. And for three days he was blind and did not eat or drink anything in Damascus. There was a man named Anais, the Lord called to him in a vision Anais. Yes, Lord. He answered the Lord, told him, go to the house of Judas on straight street and ask for a man from Tarus named Saul for he is praying and in a vision, he has seen a man by the name of Anias, come and place his hands on him and restore his sight.

Lord, an Anais answered. I have heard many reports of this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. And he has come here with the authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call upon your name. But the Lord said to Anais, go. This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and to their Kings and to the people of Israel.

And I will, and I will show him how much he must suffer for my name. Then Anne and I went to the house and entered it and placing his hands on Saul. He said, brother, Saul, the Lord, Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the holy spirit and immediately something like scales fell from Saul's eyes and he could see again, and he got up and was baptized.

And after taking some food, he regained his strength. This is God's word.

The last time I preached, I preached on a passage, uh, that I joked was a lamp. I talked about how, even though I, I love basketball, I'm not very good at it. And that I, I routinely miss the wide open shot that I should make. Uh, and some of you guys found that entertaining because you probably know me and, and have seen me miss a lot of layups, but this passage, if that one was a layup short, sweet, straightforward to the point about five or six verses pretty simple, this passage is a bit of a half quart shot.

And if you think I miss a lot of layups, I definitely miss half quar shots. It's long, it's somewhat daunting, but it is incredible. And the story leaves an imprint. The story itself is the conversion of Saul of Tarsis. This is the man who accounted for 13 of the 27 new Testament books. A man whose influence has shaped my own thinking and my own impressions of the grace of God.

My understanding of the heart of Jesus. and how to walk as he walked. And I'm sure that is the case for many of you and for many throughout all of church history, it's something that I think Luke himself saw the significance of because this story that we're gonna be covering today is actually given three times in the book of acts.

This is the first time in acts chapter nine. It happens again in acts chapter 22. And then again, after that in acts chapter 26, given three separate times, and I was encouraged when I saw that, because I read the first 19 verses that I was gonna be preaching from. And I felt like, man, I could preach three to four sermons on this.

Don't worry. I'm not going to, I promise , but there's so much here at church. There's so much here for us this morning. So much deep abiding truth. The great weight of glory in this passage is hard for one man to hold and thank the Lord that I don't have to. So I pray that the spirit would lead me this morning.

As we attempt to consolidate these 19 verses into one sermon. This story is so significant that, um, many years ago, a man by the name of Frank B. Morrison, he was a young, aspiring lawyer and atheist attempted, uh, he set out to disprove Christianity and it was his opinion that if he could disprove two biblical events, he could discredit the entire Christian movement.

The first was understandably the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And the second was the conversion of Saul of Tarsis. And so he set out to disprove full of passion, eager to show why these stories had no historical, um, verification had no ability to approve these and felt that the case against them would be great.

As a lawyer, he built his. I need not say to you all that he failed miserably in that attempt and finding that actually the case for the conversion of soul of Tarsis and the resurrection of Jesus was overwhelmingly in favor of them. And in the process, he gave his life to Jesus, having his own Damascus road moment.

This story carries weight. And as we set out this morning to read it to attempt through the Spirit's revelation, to understand it, I pray that we wouldn't rush through this passage this morning. I think the best way to find our footing in a passage like this that has so much to it is to orient ourselves.

Once again, back in the overall story of acts, reminding ourselves of where we are. Remember acts mark said this quite a few times in his sermons. Yes. It's a collection of historical verifiable event. But it's a hand selected. Remember that it's not just all the stories that ever came about the early church, Luke took them and compiled them hand selecting them by the inspiration of the spirit to tell a deliberate spirit led story for a purpose, an intention that God had for these stories.

And if you look at what that story's purpose is in Luke chapter one, Luke gives us sort of his own reasoning behind it. And the reasoning that God had laid on his heart, he said that the off was to, I wanna write this, these accounts, Luke, and acts to you as an orderly account, so that you might have confidence in the things of which you have been taught.

That being Jesus and his gospel. So church, as we read this, remember. This is here so that we might have confidence in the risen Jesus and his gospel. And there is no testimony like it that I have ever read. So the story, the overall story that we've been following as a church, and forgive me if this is a recap for some of you has been to follow the birth and growth of the early church from the one 20 that lived in the upper room in prayer, waiting upon the spirit of the Lord to come to 3000, that came to the Lord soul saved in a single day at Pentecost.

When the spirit came in power to thousands more day by day, moment by moment, spreading throughout all of Jerusalem, the spreading was like what CS Lewis called the good infection. The gospel of Jesus Christ hearts being changed and Jerusalem was lit up like a fire. We don't know, we've never seen anything like this before church, heart, after heart soul, after soul captured by the risen Jesus and his gospel through the obedience of his disciples and through the working of mighty works.

And so we see that this church was growing at an explosive rate, but up until this point, it has been contained within Jerusalem. And we saw initially, and actually the last message I preached on in acts chapter two, verse 42, that the initial success of a church within Jerusalem was met with great favor of the people.

But that favor would not last. And if you remember, if several weeks ago, when we heard of the, the message preached by Steven, the first act of persecution began in acts chapter seven, when they cast the stones and murdered Steven after his. Through the moving of the spirit. And there was a man there who's first introduced for the first time we see him present.

We hear him introduced as the first stone is cast at the forehead of Stephen coats are flung down at the feet of a young man named Saul and Luke remember compiled for a purpose hand selected stories. We hear of this character Saul at the moment that persecution first begins. So to does our introduction to this young man named Saul, I had a, a really good teacher in literature.

Lisa Meyer. She's actually probably here somewhere. Maybe she's doing equipped. Uh, I was homeschooled, but I from a very young age, had a passion for literature and English. I've always loved stories. I love Lord of the rings. I love Narnia. I'm just a, my wife calls me a nerd all the time, but I love stories and what my teacher would always tell me is, you know, Joe, every good story has a protagonist and a yeah.

See, you guys had good teachers too. a protagonist and an antagonist. Now follow me if you will, for a moment, I believe that Luke, up until this point is setting us up to see this man saw in an antagonistic light. We've seen up until this point, the great heroes of the church beginning, this incredible explosive movement all throughout Jerusalem.

And now we see this mysterious figure enter stage, right villain standing in appreciation over the death of the young hero receiving the honor of the men who have have the blood on their. Luke is doing this for a purpose. He's setting us up, but who is this man? Who is this Saul? Because there's not anything up until this point known about him.

Once again, put ourselves in the, in the shoes of theos, reading this account for the first time. Now I'm sure by the time this account got to him, he would've heard of him, but let's pretend for a moment that he hasn't, we've heard nothing up until this point, who is Saul of Tarsis? Well, luckily we don't have to have just the perspective of a, um, ancient reader.

We can also have a 21st century perspective. So first, second, continuing in our, our sort of theme of, uh, literature and English. Let's build a character chart for this Saul character, this antagonist to the church. We know that Saul was at the time of Steven stoning, a young man that said there in, uh, acts chapter seven, verse 58, but how young most scholars believe that he was no older than 32 and as young as 28 here, truly a young man around my age.

And yet we see he has tremendous power and influence. If you remember the other time we read about people, casting their coats at the feet of someone who was it, Jesus himself, as he wrote in a donkey. Now, shortly later, their fickle love would fall away and they would shout for him to be crucified. But these same men, it seems now casting their lot with this man Saul.

He had tremendous power and influence. We know that Saul was of a city named Tarsus because it's mentioned many times over and over again. Saul of Tarsus, Saul of all of Tarsis saw of tar. Now Tarsis was actually, I was surprised to find, as I studied for this a very significant city, it was the capital of the province of Salia within the empire of Rome.

It was a great hub for Greco Roman culture. And it was one of the three most influential academic cities in all of the Roman empire, Athens, Alexandria, and Tarsus. It was right up there. It was like Harvard or Yale, the university of Tarsus. And so we see that this young man growing up in a culture that was very much in the forefront of secular culture, very much in the forefront of academic life.

But we know that this man did not grow up secular in a secular light, but rather as a Pharisee. Philippians chapter three, verse five, Saul goes into detail about who he was. He said a Hebrew of Hebrews of a tribe of Benjamin, a very well respected tribe.

And so we know, and he also says after the manner of the law of Pharisee a Pharisee. So we know that not only was he a Hebrew of Hebrews of the tribe of Benjamin, but he also was one of those pesky Pharisees, but actually those Pharisees were very, very well respected within the religious community of the Jews.

And so we see this well respected influential young man. We also know that this man had a great level of education beyond probably being educated in the, in that, in that culture. That was very, um, academic. He was also educated from a young, young age in the Jewish traditions. And showed great intelligence and aptitude for it so much so that he was selected to study under the great scribe Gaal Gaal was a rabbi who was so well respected.

He was known by his peers by the name, the beauty of the law. He was the guy. It would be like if one of us got selected to go study with John Piper or Tim Keller, maybe even beyond that, one of the great thinkers and teachers of the word, and they, most scholars believe that he left at the age of 13 from Tarsis to go into Jerusalem and study.

This young man was powerful, influential, ambitious. He was also a Roman citizen, as well as a Pharisee and a Jewish person. There was not a single door that was closed to saw. Young man of great privilege. And if a door was closed to him, I wager he'd probably kick it down. We see from the beginning, this young man was a man of great power influence and privilege a village, but there's one last characteristic that I've yet to mention.

And it's probably his most defining characteristic. Saul hated Christians with a burning furious anger to Saul. The church was the great enemy of the Jewish faith and Jesus at its head. The greatest of enemies, the very lifeblood of Saul's existence was to see the church crushed into rubble and every last person belonging to the way cast into prison.

and destroyed. Sounds like a nice guy. Doesn't he?

This is the man whom this story is about. Don't get it twisted. He was a piece of work. So now finally, some of you might be saying, we get to the passage itself, acts chapters one through 19, but now with the needed context behind us to kind of give us our footing as we go. Now, I've seen it broken down this passage, many different ways.

I've seen it broken down into four parts. I've seen it broken down into more than that, but for the sake of clarity, I've decided to break it down into three parts versus one through two solves plans for Saul versus three through nine. What I'm calling the divine arrest and versus 10 through 19 God's plan for.

So let's dive into it now. So we remember, and again, we've come up to this point in acts, and we've seen that now that Saul has been introduced. Now, he's been revealed as the chief orchestrator of the persecution against the church. He was there at the stoning of Stephen, right afterwards in acts chapter eight.

We see he's ravaging the church he's wreaking havoc, amidst the believers so much. So and so sudden was the onslaught of Saul that the people fled scattering to every corner of Judea and Samaria. Remember the church up until that point had been fully contained within Jerusalem or nearly fully contained within Jerusalem.

And we heard just the beginnings of the spread of the gospel when Philip right before this gives the gospel to the Ethiopian Munich, but. what's beautiful about this is I read this is I realized, man, the very thing that Saul was trying to stop the spread of the gospel. He caused in his attempt to crush the church.

He spread them out. They probably would never have left the comfort of Jerusalem, their home. They had put down roots there. They had great community at the time before Saul Saul's coming, they had great favor. Why would they leave

people who immigrate to new places? They, they rarely, very rarely do it. If the grass is greener where they are, and yet God using Saul, even then scattered the church. But this enraged Saul, uh, I wanna get this quote down, right? Because I loved it so much. Uh, John MacArthur said in his sermon about Saul, he was like a war horse who had the scent of battle and was breathing it out in fury in anticipation of new conquer.

I love the way he put that. And if you don't believe me, look at verse one. Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out. Murderous threats against the Lord's disciples. That word breathing out is the Greek word EMP nail, which actually means to breathe in. It's like giving us the picture that every inhale of his body, what animated him, what filled him up?

What gave him life was murder and threats towards God's people. Saul is furious that word. Meanwhile, what happened right before this was the gospel going to the Ethiopian Munich. It's almost like Luke is showing us that. Listen, while God's working here. Look at this guy. I, I picture Saul's ears like the cartoons or the steams coming out of the ears.

My guy is mad, not happy, but we see that he is fuming, but don't worry. Saul always has a plan and he's got a plan now. So he has words somewhat how through his spy network, that there has now been a new growth of the church in a city called Damascus Damascus was a beautiful city. So maybe it attracted people.

It was known as the jewel of the desert. It was a white city set, amid green palms. It was a city must. That must have drawn the believers who were displaced from their home. And a man was leading the church there named Ananias who we'll see later. But now Saul's fiery. Gaze is set upon AAS at upon Damascus, look out Damascus, but don't worry.

The, the miles stretch long between Jerusalem and Damascus is about 160 miles north, but Saul had a plan he would obtain from the high priest authority to go as far as Damascus. And make arrests in the name of that high priest to go and make arrests in the name of a high priest and to throw them into prison.

And now that takes us to verses three through nine, and we see that there was another arrest planned, but not one that Saul was planning. I want you to picture this for a moment. The great Saul has his finally after miles and miles of travel days and days of travel upon horseback or Camelback, I don't know what he was writing.

He finally has his eyes set up on the jewel of the desert Damascus, the white city, and he's imagining all the people he's going to meet all the admirers that are gonna come and help him in his attempt to squash this dangerous movement, all the synagogues he's gonna go and speak in. All the Christians he's gonna throw into prison.

And just as he's nearing the gate, just as he's nearing the end of his journey, a bright light shining brighter than the midday, sun knocks him to the ground. Or

we're told that that, that the hour and the moment that Jesus knocked Saul from his horse onto the ground was shortly before he arrived Damascus. And I always pictured for some reason that it was nighttime because, you know, then you could really see the glory of Jesus, you know, really the contrast be way more cinematic that way.

But we see in acts chapter 26, when Paul is retelling this story to king of GRPA, that the glory that's shown shown at midday. I don't know if you guys, I mean, even out here in Mount Laurel midday, sun can be pretty bright, but on the road to Damas. And yet the glory of the risen, Jesus has shown brighter, brighter than the midday son.

As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?

These words are the words that jumped out to me more than any other phrase in all of this passage, Saul knocked from his horse blinding light. He doesn't know where it's from and out of that glory comes a voice speaking his name. And not only is it speaking his name, but it's speaking in his native Hebrew language, Saul SA why do you persecute the church?

The believers me. When I read those words, I realized what Jesus was saying. He was saying as skip SIG, the pastor says every touch, every lash, every Stripe on the backs of the believers on earth is felt in heaven.

Every suffering, every bruise, every hungry stomach in prison is felt by Jesus. And now he's speaking from the glory down to this full saw,

and we see the tides of power turn. Not slowly, not, you know, in 10, 15 minutes, but right away. The great Saul, who moments before on the road considered Jesus to be the great enemy of the Jewish faith now saying, who are you? Lord? I can hear the fear in Saul's voice. Who, who, who are you Lord? And I guarantee the one thing he did not want to hear from that glory was the, what the response was.

I am Jesus. Uhoh

whom you are persecuting.

The fear that must have filled him at that moment. It's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God. He was now in the hand of the risen Jesus at the full and complete power and glory. He was in the hand of Jesus. Now. there's one phrase that I wanna point out. And I know I gotta keep moving pretty quickly here.

One phrase, I wanna point out here that isn't given here in, in, uh, chapter nine, but it's given later in acts chapter 26, and I find it really important when Jesus says Saul saw, why are you persecuting me shortly after that? He also adds it is hard for you to kick against the goats. Some of you were like, what's a goat sounds kind of gross.

A goat I found out is a poking stick for cattle and people. If they had their cattle pulling their plows, they would poke them in the butt. Try to get them to move, to go in the direction that they were supposed to, but sometimes a dumb cow would kick out against that goat and that goat would stick in their foot.

Ow. but here is the beauty of this. Jesus says it's hard for you to kick against the goats. This is not the first time Jesus has been knocking on the door of Saul's heart. It's been a long time coming and Saul has been kicking out against God's poker over and over again. Get off me, get off me watching Steven look into the right hand at the right hand.

I see the, I see Jesus at the right hand of the father. Lord, forgive them for, they know not what they do that had to have left a mark on Saul. And Jesus is poking at his heart and poking at his heart and poking at his heart and Saul's resisting and he's resisting.

And now we see that Jesus is yeah, enough. I'm knocking you to the ground. Now reminds me, uh, being a dad. I have a two and a half year old and the two month old, the two month. Old's great. And I love the two year old, but she is in a tough stage right now. And I've poked out, you know, it's time for bed, Elena, you know, get ready in five minutes.

We're gonna go up to bed. No, I don't wanna go to bed, Elena. You know, we're gonna go up soon. No, finally, I just gotta pick her up and throw over my shoulder and walk her up because she's kicking out against the goats and the pokes. So finally, because I love her and I know what's best for her. I gotta pick her up and carry her to her bed.

It feels like that here. Jesus has finally said enough. Let's continue. The men traveling with Saul. Actually, no, I'm skipping here. He replied and now get up and go into the city and you will be told what to do. We've see. Now that the mighty Saul has been brought to heal in a moment. and now is obeying the words of the one whom he tried to destroy moments before.

It's amazing how fast that shifted the men traveling with Saul stood there, speechless. They heard the sound, but did not see anyone Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes, he could see nothing and said they laid him, let him by the hand in Damascus. And for three days he was blind and did not eat or drink the great soul who had left Jerusalem strong and confident, powerful, and influential armed with authority of the high priest and his mind filled with the great plan for the destruction of the church.

Now entered into Damascus, weak, fearful, blind, and led by the hands of his servants, walking in obedience to the one true high priest, whom he had moments before called his great enemy. That takes us to the last piece in part of his passage. God's plan for Saul no longer is it Saul's plan for Saul that's out the window.

It's God's plan for soul in Damascus. There was a disciple by the name of Anais and the Lord called to him in a vision Anais. Yes, Lord. He answered. And the Lord told him to go to the house of Judas on straight street.

We see that Jesus works on behalf of Saul here. What I love most about this part of the passage is that Jesus doesn't tell Saul to turn tale and return to Jerusalem. He doesn't say all right, you've been, you've been really bad. It's time for you to turn around, go back to Jerusalem, admit that you're wrong.

Throw yourself into prison. He could have done that. He had full power. He was fully in Jesus' power now, but what Jesus says is no. Go on as the way that you thought you had planned for yourself, but really I had planned for you all along. You thought you were going to Damascus to arrest my people, but really you were going to Damascus to meet and receive from my people.

I have an appointment for you in Damascus. Go, we see that he always intended this in his plan and that he had appointment for Saul all the while in Damascus. I love the way that Jesus speaks here to an Anais. Speaking of a man named Saul from Tarsus as if an Anais doesn't know everything about this man and what he has done, and we could hear the incredulous sound of his voice here.

Lord, an Anais answered. I've heard many reports about this, man. I know all about him and all the harmony has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. He has come here with the authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name, but Jesus doesn't even enter into that fear. But the Lord said to Anais go, this man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their Kings and to the people of Israel.

And I will show him how much he must suffer from my name. That was it. And Anais was he'd heard enough. Then Annia went to the house of the, of house of Judas and entered it and placing his hands on Saul. He said, these powerful words, brother, Saul, the Lord, Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the spirit immediately.

Something like scales fell from the eyes of Saul and he could see again, and he was baptized. And after taking some food, he regained his strength.

You can't make this stuff up. This is one of the things I'm sure that Frank Morrison the lawyer. When he set out to disprove this account, couldn't get passed. Who would make this up? This isn't good storytelling. No, no, no, no, no. Saul's supposed to get the, his comeuppance. He's supposed to get knocked to the ground by Jesus and destroyed.

And then the church rises up and his victorious. That's a good story.

Saul of Tarsis murderous threats against God's people, influential, powerful, strong leader of men in one moment, brought low. weak feeble led by the hand of his servants. What is this? What manner of king do we serve? That he would have a plan for this man? And we'd be lying if we didn't join with an Anais in our, in credulity over these, this plan that Jesus had had since the beginning

I wanna wrap up. And I know that there's a lot in here, and I know that I threw a lot at you this morning. A lot of moving parts, a lot of cities and facts, figures.

There's so many applications in this text. I mean, I, I wasn't kidding. When I said I could preach three to four sermons on this.

There's so many I could list off. We could list off that we as our believers, if we're walking on our Damascus road and we feel God calling us to new things, calling us out for maybe what we're living in, we need to be reminded that what, what the call is, is to walk in obedience, maybe not to return and backtrack on everything, but to continue to walk in obedience on that Damascus road and let God lead us, or maybe it's that we wanna be like an Anais.

We wanna be people who no matter the person Jesus calls us to give the gospel to, we would go. And we would say, brother, and we would not say to Jesus who he and who he cannot rescue with his redeeming grace.

Or maybe it's a message for those of us who feel too far for those of us who feel that we've done too much, we've broken faith too many times that we must be seen as an enemy of Jesus friends. There is no more enemies, but the one enemy and that he does not see you in that light and Jesus, his grace is deeper than your sin.

His mercy goes longer and further than any, anyone has ever traveled. His glory shines brighter than the midday son. And he's calling you by name don't kick against the goats. Don't tell him who he's allowed to have mercy on. you're you are solely free to admit that the grace, that, that Jesus gives is free for everyone else, but for you, it doesn't work for you.

It's just, you've done too much. Well, have you persecuted the church? Have you thrown countless Christians into prison? Maybe you have, I don't know your story, but if you have, you're no different than Saul who became his chief, uh, the chief instrument of Christ and furthering his church, but there's, to me, one final application that rises above the rest, even above the ones that I've just given.

We're told that this story, the main character is Saul. And I would agree with that, but even so I would say this story is all about Jesus, the whole story of acts while it covers Peter, while it covers Stephen. it's all about Jesus, Jesus, the mighty conquering this man who thought he was great showing mercy and love Jesus who proved to Frank Morrison to us and to all the people who have read acts that he is alive and that the grave did not conquer him.

What other proof do you need that a man like Saul in a moment, turning into a man like Paul,

we know that Jesus is deeply connected to his church. He's connected to you. Are you suffering right now? Are you hurting? Every Stripe on earth is felt in heaven. Jesus, the righteous. Is worthy of our confidence. Remember this book was written so that we might have confidence in the things of which we have been taught.

You've been taught that Jesus is worthy of it, all, that he died for your sins, but sometimes we lose confidence in that truth. Well, this message is here to remind us, have confidence in the rise in Jesus. He's worthy of all your praise of all your trust of all your fears to put in. Trust him with those, with all your doubts he's worthy of all your praise, all your love, all your trust.

Amen. I'll leave you with, um, the words of Saul himself in Philippians, Philippians four 11. And if anyone else thinks he has reasoned for confidence in the flesh, I have more. I was circumcised in the eighth day of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews as to the law of Pari as to zeal a persecutor of the church as to the righteous under the law blameless, but whatever gain I had, I counted it as lost for the sake of Christ.

Indeed. I count everything as lost because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for this sake, I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain in Christ and be found in him not having the righteous of my own, that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteous from God.

That depends on faith.

Lord,

we thank you for this T. Reminding us of the power, the love, the tender care, the glory of the risen. Jesus. I pray Lord, as you send us off this morning that we would go in full confidence of the one who is greater. Fill us up with that confidence. Lord, I pray that your spirit would work in the hearts of those who have yet to receive your grace.

Who've yet to believe it for themselves, Lord, knock them down, overwhelm them with their glory and show them that they are yours. We pray this and the name of our king. Jesus. Amen. Now go in the comfort of the holy spirit.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/on-the-road-to-damascus dd91e732-f0dd-413d-9d2f-4e1ee205d367 Mon, 18 Jul 2022 12:09:51 GMT <div data-html="true">Acts 9:1-19 <br /><br /> Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> Oh my goodness. That's last song. Just Jesus paid it all. Jesus paid it all. I just wanna lift him up this morning. Jesus. It's all about you. Every person, every story here, Lord. It's all. About you. Thank you for the worship this morning, Lord reminding us that Jesus sought me while a stranger, while an enemy, you died for me pursuing me Lord with tireless feet until I would look into your face Lord and see the love that you bear for me. <br /><br /> We pray this in your name. Amen. Amen. It's such a joy to gather together in worship. Isn't it to be together in fellowship together. My name's pastor Joe. Um, and this morning we're gonna continue our journey through the book of acts. And up until this point, we've been following the church, its birth and its growth. <br /><br /> But today we hear of one of the most triumphant days in all of church history. When Saul of Tarsus meets Jesus on the road to Damascus. One of the most triumphant days when a man who is persecuting, the church becomes God's chief instrument of furthering a church all in a moment on that road to Damascus when God transformed the San Hirons chief instrument of persecution against the church and to God's chief instrument of furthering the church. <br /><br /> The passage that we're gonna be focusing on this morning is found in acts chapter nine versus one through 19. If you're using a few Bible it's page 8 63. Now, would you guys all turn there as we continue our collective worship this morning acts nine versus one through 19 buckle up. It's a bit of a long one. <br /><br /> Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples. He went to the high priest and asked for him letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. As he near Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed all around him and he fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? <br /><br /> Who are you? Lord Saul, ask. I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. He replied now get up and go into the city and you'll be told what you must do. The men traveling with Saul stood there, speechless, and they heard the sound, but did not see anyone and Saul got up from the ground. But when he opened his eyes, he could see nothing. <br /><br /> and so they let him buy the hand into Damascus. And for three days he was blind and did not eat or drink anything in Damascus. There was a man named Anais, the Lord called to him in a vision Anais. Yes, Lord. He answered the Lord, told him, go to the house of Judas on straight street and ask for a man from Tarus named Saul for he is praying and in a vision, he has seen a man by the name of Anias, come and place his hands on him and restore his sight. <br /><br /> Lord, an Anais answered. I have heard many reports of this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. And he has come here with the authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call upon your name. But the Lord said to Anais, go. This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and to their Kings and to the people of Israel. <br /><br /> And I will, and I will show him how much he must suffer for my name. Then Anne and I went to the house and entered it and placing his hands on Saul. He said, brother, Saul, the Lord, Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the holy spirit and immediately something like scales fell from Saul's eyes and he could see again, and he got up and was baptized. <br /><br /> And after taking some food, he regained his strength. This is God's word. <br /><br /> The last time I preached, I preached on a passage, uh, that I joked was a lamp. I talked about how, even though I, I love basketball, I'm not very good at it. And that I, I routinely miss the wide open shot that I should make. Uh, and some of you guys found that entertaining because you probably know me and, and have seen me miss a lot of layups, but this passage, if that one was a layup short, sweet, straightforward to the point about five or six verses pretty simple, this passage is a bit of a half quart shot. <br /><br /> And if you think I miss a lot of layups, I definitely miss half quar shots. It's long, it's somewhat daunting, but it is incredible. And the story leaves an imprint. The story itself is the conversion of Saul of Tarsis. This is the man who accounted for 13 of the 27 new Testament books. A man whose influence has shaped my own thinking and my own impressions of the grace of God. <br /><br /> My understanding of the heart of Jesus. and how to walk as he walked. And I'm sure that is the case for many of you and for many throughout all of church history, it's something that I think Luke himself saw the significance of because this story that we're gonna be covering today is actually given three times in the book of acts. <br /><br /> This is the first time in acts chapter nine. It happens again in acts chapter 22. And then again, after that in acts chapter 26, given three separate times, and I was encouraged when I saw that, because I read the first 19 verses that I was gonna be preaching from. And I felt like, man, I could preach three to four sermons on this. <br /><br /> Don't worry. I'm not going to, I promise , but there's so much here at church. There's so much here for us this morning. So much deep abiding truth. The great weight of glory in this passage is hard for one man to hold and thank the Lord that I don't have to. So I pray that the spirit would lead me this morning. <br /><br /> As we attempt to consolidate these 19 verses into one sermon. This story is so significant that, um, many years ago, a man by the name of Frank B. Morrison, he was a young, aspiring lawyer and atheist attempted, uh, he set out to disprove Christianity and it was his opinion that if he could disprove two biblical events, he could discredit the entire Christian movement. <br /><br /> The first was understandably the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And the second was the conversion of Saul of Tarsis. And so he set out to disprove full of passion, eager to show why these stories had no historical, um, verification had no ability to approve these and felt that the case against them would be great. <br /><br /> As a lawyer, he built his. I need not say to you all that he failed miserably in that attempt and finding that actually the case for the conversion of soul of Tarsis and the resurrection of Jesus was overwhelmingly in favor of them. And in the process, he gave his life to Jesus, having his own Damascus road moment. <br /><br /> This story carries weight. And as we set out this morning to read it to attempt through the Spirit's revelation, to understand it, I pray that we wouldn't rush through this passage this morning. I think the best way to find our footing in a passage like this that has so much to it is to orient ourselves. <br /><br /> Once again, back in the overall story of acts, reminding ourselves of where we are. Remember acts mark said this quite a few times in his sermons. Yes. It's a collection of historical verifiable event. But it's a hand selected. Remember that it's not just all the stories that ever came about the early church, Luke took them and compiled them hand selecting them by the inspiration of the spirit to tell a deliberate spirit led story for a purpose, an intention that God had for these stories. <br /><br /> And if you look at what that story's purpose is in Luke chapter one, Luke gives us sort of his own reasoning behind it. And the reasoning that God had laid on his heart, he said that the off was to, I wanna write this, these accounts, Luke, and acts to you as an orderly account, so that you might have confidence in the things of which you have been taught. <br /><br /> That being Jesus and his gospel. So church, as we read this, remember. This is here so that we might have confidence in the risen Jesus and his gospel. And there is no testimony like it that I have ever read. So the story, the overall story that we've been following as a church, and forgive me if this is a recap for some of you has been to follow the birth and growth of the early church from the one 20 that lived in the upper room in prayer, waiting upon the spirit of the Lord to come to 3000, that came to the Lord soul saved in a single day at Pentecost. <br /><br /> When the spirit came in power to thousands more day by day, moment by moment, spreading throughout all of Jerusalem, the spreading was like what CS Lewis called the good infection. The gospel of Jesus Christ hearts being changed and Jerusalem was lit up like a fire. We don't know, we've never seen anything like this before church, heart, after heart soul, after soul captured by the risen Jesus and his gospel through the obedience of his disciples and through the working of mighty works. <br /><br /> And so we see that this church was growing at an explosive rate, but up until this point, it has been contained within Jerusalem. And we saw initially, and actually the last message I preached on in acts chapter two, verse 42, that the initial success of a church within Jerusalem was met with great favor of the people. <br /><br /> But that favor would not last. And if you remember, if several weeks ago, when we heard of the, the message preached by Steven, the first act of persecution began in acts chapter seven, when they cast the stones and murdered Steven after his. Through the moving of the spirit. And there was a man there who's first introduced for the first time we see him present. <br /><br /> We hear him introduced as the first stone is cast at the forehead of Stephen coats are flung down at the feet of a young man named Saul and Luke remember compiled for a purpose hand selected stories. We hear of this character Saul at the moment that persecution first begins. So to does our introduction to this young man named Saul, I had a, a really good teacher in literature. <br /><br /> Lisa Meyer. She's actually probably here somewhere. Maybe she's doing equipped. Uh, I was homeschooled, but I from a very young age, had a passion for literature and English. I've always loved stories. I love Lord of the rings. I love Narnia. I'm just a, my wife calls me a nerd all the time, but I love stories and what my teacher would always tell me is, you know, Joe, every good story has a protagonist and a yeah. <br /><br /> See, you guys had good teachers too. a protagonist and an antagonist. Now follow me if you will, for a moment, I believe that Luke, up until this point is setting us up to see this man saw in an antagonistic light. We've seen up until this point, the great heroes of the church beginning, this incredible explosive movement all throughout Jerusalem. <br /><br /> And now we see this mysterious figure enter stage, right villain standing in appreciation over the death of the young hero receiving the honor of the men who have have the blood on their. Luke is doing this for a purpose. He's setting us up, but who is this man? Who is this Saul? Because there's not anything up until this point known about him. <br /><br /> Once again, put ourselves in the, in the shoes of theos, reading this account for the first time. Now I'm sure by the time this account got to him, he would've heard of him, but let's pretend for a moment that he hasn't, we've heard nothing up until this point, who is Saul of Tarsis? Well, luckily we don't have to have just the perspective of a, um, ancient reader. <br /><br /> We can also have a 21st century perspective. So first, second, continuing in our, our sort of theme of, uh, literature and English. Let's build a character chart for this Saul character, this antagonist to the church. We know that Saul was at the time of Steven stoning, a young man that said there in, uh, acts chapter seven, verse 58, but how young most scholars believe that he was no older than 32 and as young as 28 here, truly a young man around my age. <br /><br /> And yet we see he has tremendous power and influence. If you remember the other time we read about people, casting their coats at the feet of someone who was it, Jesus himself, as he wrote in a donkey. Now, shortly later, their fickle love would fall away and they would shout for him to be crucified. But these same men, it seems now casting their lot with this man Saul. <br /><br /> He had tremendous power and influence. We know that Saul was of a city named Tarsus because it's mentioned many times over and over again. Saul of Tarsus, Saul of all of Tarsis saw of tar. Now Tarsis was actually, I was surprised to find, as I studied for this a very significant city, it was the capital of the province of Salia within the empire of Rome. <br /><br /> It was a great hub for Greco Roman culture. And it was one of the three most influential academic cities in all of the Roman empire, Athens, Alexandria, and Tarsus. It was right up there. It was like Harvard or Yale, the university of Tarsus. And so we see that this young man growing up in a culture that was very much in the forefront of secular culture, very much in the forefront of academic life. <br /><br /> But we know that this man did not grow up secular in a secular light, but rather as a Pharisee. Philippians chapter three, verse five, Saul goes into detail about who he was. He said a Hebrew of Hebrews of a tribe of Benjamin, a very well respected tribe. <br /><br /> And so we know, and he also says after the manner of the law of Pharisee a Pharisee. So we know that not only was he a Hebrew of Hebrews of the tribe of Benjamin, but he also was one of those pesky Pharisees, but actually those Pharisees were very, very well respected within the religious community of the Jews. <br /><br /> And so we see this well respected influential young man. We also know that this man had a great level of education beyond probably being educated in the, in that, in that culture. That was very, um, academic. He was also educated from a young, young age in the Jewish traditions. And showed great intelligence and aptitude for it so much so that he was selected to study under the great scribe Gaal Gaal was a rabbi who was so well respected. <br /><br /> He was known by his peers by the name, the beauty of the law. He was the guy. It would be like if one of us got selected to go study with John Piper or Tim Keller, maybe even beyond that, one of the great thinkers and teachers of the word, and they, most scholars believe that he left at the age of 13 from Tarsis to go into Jerusalem and study. <br /><br /> This young man was powerful, influential, ambitious. He was also a Roman citizen, as well as a Pharisee and a Jewish person. There was not a single door that was closed to saw. Young man of great privilege. And if a door was closed to him, I wager he'd probably kick it down. We see from the beginning, this young man was a man of great power influence and privilege a village, but there's one last characteristic that I've yet to mention. <br /><br /> And it's probably his most defining characteristic. Saul hated Christians with a burning furious anger to Saul. The church was the great enemy of the Jewish faith and Jesus at its head. The greatest of enemies, the very lifeblood of Saul's existence was to see the church crushed into rubble and every last person belonging to the way cast into prison. <br /><br /> and destroyed. Sounds like a nice guy. Doesn't he? <br /><br /> This is the man whom this story is about. Don't get it twisted. He was a piece of work. So now finally, some of you might be saying, we get to the passage itself, acts chapters one through 19, but now with the needed context behind us to kind of give us our footing as we go. Now, I've seen it broken down this passage, many different ways. <br /><br /> I've seen it broken down into four parts. I've seen it broken down into more than that, but for the sake of clarity, I've decided to break it down into three parts versus one through two solves plans for Saul versus three through nine. What I'm calling the divine arrest and versus 10 through 19 God's plan for. <br /><br /> So let's dive into it now. So we remember, and again, we've come up to this point in acts, and we've seen that now that Saul has been introduced. Now, he's been revealed as the chief orchestrator of the persecution against the church. He was there at the stoning of Stephen, right afterwards in acts chapter eight. <br /><br /> We see he's ravaging the church he's wreaking havoc, amidst the believers so much. So and so sudden was the onslaught of Saul that the people fled scattering to every corner of Judea and Samaria. Remember the church up until that point had been fully contained within Jerusalem or nearly fully contained within Jerusalem. <br /><br /> And we heard just the beginnings of the spread of the gospel when Philip right before this gives the gospel to the Ethiopian Munich, but. what's beautiful about this is I read this is I realized, man, the very thing that Saul was trying to stop the spread of the gospel. He caused in his attempt to crush the church. <br /><br /> He spread them out. They probably would never have left the comfort of Jerusalem, their home. They had put down roots there. They had great community at the time before Saul Saul's coming, they had great favor. Why would they leave <br /><br /> people who immigrate to new places? They, they rarely, very rarely do it. If the grass is greener where they are, and yet God using Saul, even then scattered the church. But this enraged Saul, uh, I wanna get this quote down, right? Because I loved it so much. Uh, John MacArthur said in his sermon about Saul, he was like a war horse who had the scent of battle and was breathing it out in fury in anticipation of new conquer. <br /><br /> I love the way he put that. And if you don't believe me, look at verse one. Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out. Murderous threats against the Lord's disciples. That word breathing out is the Greek word EMP nail, which actually means to breathe in. It's like giving us the picture that every inhale of his body, what animated him, what filled him up? <br /><br /> What gave him life was murder and threats towards God's people. Saul is furious that word. Meanwhile, what happened right before this was the gospel going to the Ethiopian Munich. It's almost like Luke is showing us that. Listen, while God's working here. Look at this guy. I, I picture Saul's ears like the cartoons or the steams coming out of the ears. <br /><br /> My guy is mad, not happy, but we see that he is fuming, but don't worry. Saul always has a plan and he's got a plan now. So he has words somewhat how through his spy network, that there has now been a new growth of the church in a city called Damascus Damascus was a beautiful city. So maybe it attracted people. <br /><br /> It was known as the jewel of the desert. It was a white city set, amid green palms. It was a city must. That must have drawn the believers who were displaced from their home. And a man was leading the church there named Ananias who we'll see later. But now Saul's fiery. Gaze is set upon AAS at upon Damascus, look out Damascus, but don't worry. <br /><br /> The, the miles stretch long between Jerusalem and Damascus is about 160 miles north, but Saul had a plan he would obtain from the high priest authority to go as far as Damascus. And make arrests in the name of that high priest to go and make arrests in the name of a high priest and to throw them into prison. <br /><br /> And now that takes us to verses three through nine, and we see that there was another arrest planned, but not one that Saul was planning. I want you to picture this for a moment. The great Saul has his finally after miles and miles of travel days and days of travel upon horseback or Camelback, I don't know what he was writing. <br /><br /> He finally has his eyes set up on the jewel of the desert Damascus, the white city, and he's imagining all the people he's going to meet all the admirers that are gonna come and help him in his attempt to squash this dangerous movement, all the synagogues he's gonna go and speak in. All the Christians he's gonna throw into prison. <br /><br /> And just as he's nearing the gate, just as he's nearing the end of his journey, a bright light shining brighter than the midday, sun knocks him to the ground. Or <br /><br /> we're told that that, that the hour and the moment that Jesus knocked Saul from his horse onto the ground was shortly before he arrived Damascus. And I always pictured for some reason that it was nighttime because, you know, then you could really see the glory of Jesus, you know, really the contrast be way more cinematic that way. <br /><br /> But we see in acts chapter 26, when Paul is retelling this story to king of GRPA, that the glory that's shown shown at midday. I don't know if you guys, I mean, even out here in Mount Laurel midday, sun can be pretty bright, but on the road to Damas. And yet the glory of the risen, Jesus has shown brighter, brighter than the midday son. <br /><br /> As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? <br /><br /> These words are the words that jumped out to me more than any other phrase in all of this passage, Saul knocked from his horse blinding light. He doesn't know where it's from and out of that glory comes a voice speaking his name. And not only is it speaking his name, but it's speaking in his native Hebrew language, Saul SA why do you persecute the church? <br /><br /> The believers me. When I read those words, I realized what Jesus was saying. He was saying as skip SIG, the pastor says every touch, every lash, every Stripe on the backs of the believers on earth is felt in heaven. <br /><br /> Every suffering, every bruise, every hungry stomach in prison is felt by Jesus. And now he's speaking from the glory down to this full saw, <br /><br /> and we see the tides of power turn. Not slowly, not, you know, in 10, 15 minutes, but right away. The great Saul, who moments before on the road considered Jesus to be the great enemy of the Jewish faith now saying, who are you? Lord? I can hear the fear in Saul's voice. Who, who, who are you Lord? And I guarantee the one thing he did not want to hear from that glory was the, what the response was. <br /><br /> I am Jesus. Uhoh <br /><br /> whom you are persecuting. <br /><br /> The fear that must have filled him at that moment. It's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God. He was now in the hand of the risen Jesus at the full and complete power and glory. He was in the hand of Jesus. Now. there's one phrase that I wanna point out. And I know I gotta keep moving pretty quickly here. <br /><br /> One phrase, I wanna point out here that isn't given here in, in, uh, chapter nine, but it's given later in acts chapter 26, and I find it really important when Jesus says Saul saw, why are you persecuting me shortly after that? He also adds it is hard for you to kick against the goats. Some of you were like, what's a goat sounds kind of gross. <br /><br /> A goat I found out is a poking stick for cattle and people. If they had their cattle pulling their plows, they would poke them in the butt. Try to get them to move, to go in the direction that they were supposed to, but sometimes a dumb cow would kick out against that goat and that goat would stick in their foot. <br /><br /> Ow. but here is the beauty of this. Jesus says it's hard for you to kick against the goats. This is not the first time Jesus has been knocking on the door of Saul's heart. It's been a long time coming and Saul has been kicking out against God's poker over and over again. Get off me, get off me watching Steven look into the right hand at the right hand. <br /><br /> I see the, I see Jesus at the right hand of the father. Lord, forgive them for, they know not what they do that had to have left a mark on Saul. And Jesus is poking at his heart and poking at his heart and poking at his heart and Saul's resisting and he's resisting. <br /><br /> And now we see that Jesus is yeah, enough. I'm knocking you to the ground. Now reminds me, uh, being a dad. I have a two and a half year old and the two month old, the two month. Old's great. And I love the two year old, but she is in a tough stage right now. And I've poked out, you know, it's time for bed, Elena, you know, get ready in five minutes. <br /><br /> We're gonna go up to bed. No, I don't wanna go to bed, Elena. You know, we're gonna go up soon. No, finally, I just gotta pick her up and throw over my shoulder and walk her up because she's kicking out against the goats and the pokes. So finally, because I love her and I know what's best for her. I gotta pick her up and carry her to her bed. <br /><br /> It feels like that here. Jesus has finally said enough. Let's continue. The men traveling with Saul. Actually, no, I'm skipping here. He replied and now get up and go into the city and you will be told what to do. We've see. Now that the mighty Saul has been brought to heal in a moment. and now is obeying the words of the one whom he tried to destroy moments before. <br /><br /> It's amazing how fast that shifted the men traveling with Saul stood there, speechless. They heard the sound, but did not see anyone Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes, he could see nothing and said they laid him, let him by the hand in Damascus. And for three days he was blind and did not eat or drink the great soul who had left Jerusalem strong and confident, powerful, and influential armed with authority of the high priest and his mind filled with the great plan for the destruction of the church. <br /><br /> Now entered into Damascus, weak, fearful, blind, and led by the hands of his servants, walking in obedience to the one true high priest, whom he had moments before called his great enemy. That takes us to the last piece in part of his passage. God's plan for Saul no longer is it Saul's plan for Saul that's out the window. <br /><br /> It's God's plan for soul in Damascus. There was a disciple by the name of Anais and the Lord called to him in a vision Anais. Yes, Lord. He answered. And the Lord told him to go to the house of Judas on straight street. <br /><br /> We see that Jesus works on behalf of Saul here. What I love most about this part of the passage is that Jesus doesn't tell Saul to turn tale and return to Jerusalem. He doesn't say all right, you've been, you've been really bad. It's time for you to turn around, go back to Jerusalem, admit that you're wrong. <br /><br /> Throw yourself into prison. He could have done that. He had full power. He was fully in Jesus' power now, but what Jesus says is no. Go on as the way that you thought you had planned for yourself, but really I had planned for you all along. You thought you were going to Damascus to arrest my people, but really you were going to Damascus to meet and receive from my people. <br /><br /> I have an appointment for you in Damascus. Go, we see that he always intended this in his plan and that he had appointment for Saul all the while in Damascus. I love the way that Jesus speaks here to an Anais. Speaking of a man named Saul from Tarsus as if an Anais doesn't know everything about this man and what he has done, and we could hear the incredulous sound of his voice here. <br /><br /> Lord, an Anais answered. I've heard many reports about this, man. I know all about him and all the harmony has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. He has come here with the authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name, but Jesus doesn't even enter into that fear. But the Lord said to Anais go, this man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their Kings and to the people of Israel. <br /><br /> And I will show him how much he must suffer from my name. That was it. And Anais was he'd heard enough. Then Annia went to the house of the, of house of Judas and entered it and placing his hands on Saul. He said, these powerful words, brother, Saul, the Lord, Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the spirit immediately. <br /><br /> Something like scales fell from the eyes of Saul and he could see again, and he was baptized. And after taking some food, he regained his strength. <br /><br /> You can't make this stuff up. This is one of the things I'm sure that Frank Morrison the lawyer. When he set out to disprove this account, couldn't get passed. Who would make this up? This isn't good storytelling. No, no, no, no, no. Saul's supposed to get the, his comeuppance. He's supposed to get knocked to the ground by Jesus and destroyed. <br /><br /> And then the church rises up and his victorious. That's a good story. <br /><br /> Saul of Tarsis murderous threats against God's people, influential, powerful, strong leader of men in one moment, brought low. weak feeble led by the hand of his servants. What is this? What manner of king do we serve? That he would have a plan for this man? And we'd be lying if we didn't join with an Anais in our, in credulity over these, this plan that Jesus had had since the beginning <br /><br /> I wanna wrap up. And I know that there's a lot in here, and I know that I threw a lot at you this morning. A lot of moving parts, a lot of cities and facts, figures. <br /><br /> There's so many applications in this text. I mean, I, I wasn't kidding. When I said I could preach three to four sermons on this. <br /><br /> There's so many I could list off. We could list off that we as our believers, if we're walking on our Damascus road and we feel God calling us to new things, calling us out for maybe what we're living in, we need to be reminded that what, what the call is, is to walk in obedience, maybe not to return and backtrack on everything, but to continue to walk in obedience on that Damascus road and let God lead us, or maybe it's that we wanna be like an Anais. <br /><br /> We wanna be people who no matter the person Jesus calls us to give the gospel to, we would go. And we would say, brother, and we would not say to Jesus who he and who he cannot rescue with his redeeming grace. <br /><br /> Or maybe it's a message for those of us who feel too far for those of us who feel that we've done too much, we've broken faith too many times that we must be seen as an enemy of Jesus friends. There is no more enemies, but the one enemy and that he does not see you in that light and Jesus, his grace is deeper than your sin. <br /><br /> His mercy goes longer and further than any, anyone has ever traveled. His glory shines brighter than the midday son. And he's calling you by name don't kick against the goats. Don't tell him who he's allowed to have mercy on. you're you are solely free to admit that the grace, that, that Jesus gives is free for everyone else, but for you, it doesn't work for you. <br /><br /> It's just, you've done too much. Well, have you persecuted the church? Have you thrown countless Christians into prison? Maybe you have, I don't know your story, but if you have, you're no different than Saul who became his chief, uh, the chief instrument of Christ and furthering his church, but there's, to me, one final application that rises above the rest, even above the ones that I've just given. <br /><br /> We're told that this story, the main character is Saul. And I would agree with that, but even so I would say this story is all about Jesus, the whole story of acts while it covers Peter, while it covers Stephen. it's all about Jesus, Jesus, the mighty conquering this man who thought he was great showing mercy and love Jesus who proved to Frank Morrison to us and to all the people who have read acts that he is alive and that the grave did not conquer him. <br /><br /> What other proof do you need that a man like Saul in a moment, turning into a man like Paul, <br /><br /> we know that Jesus is deeply connected to his church. He's connected to you. Are you suffering right now? Are you hurting? Every Stripe on earth is felt in heaven. Jesus, the righteous. Is worthy of our confidence. Remember this book was written so that we might have confidence in the things of which we have been taught. <br /><br /> You've been taught that Jesus is worthy of it, all, that he died for your sins, but sometimes we lose confidence in that truth. Well, this message is here to remind us, have confidence in the rise in Jesus. He's worthy of all your praise of all your trust of all your fears to put in. Trust him with those, with all your doubts he's worthy of all your praise, all your love, all your trust. <br /><br /> Amen. I'll leave you with, um, the words of Saul himself in Philippians, Philippians four 11. And if anyone else thinks he has reasoned for confidence in the flesh, I have more. I was circumcised in the eighth day of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews as to the law of Pari as to zeal a persecutor of the church as to the righteous under the law blameless, but whatever gain I had, I counted it as lost for the sake of Christ. <br /><br /> Indeed. I count everything as lost because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for this sake, I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain in Christ and be found in him not having the righteous of my own, that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteous from God. <br /><br /> That depends on faith. <br /><br /> Lord, <br /><br /> we thank you for this T. Reminding us of the power, the love, the tender care, the glory of the risen. Jesus. I pray Lord, as you send us off this morning that we would go in full confidence of the one who is greater. Fill us up with that confidence. Lord, I pray that your spirit would work in the hearts of those who have yet to receive your grace. <br /><br /> Who've yet to believe it for themselves, Lord, knock them down, overwhelm them with their glory and show them that they are yours. We pray this and the name of our king. Jesus. Amen. Now go in the comfort of the holy spirit.</div> false no <![CDATA[Philip and the Ethiopian]]> Acts 8:26-40

Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus.



Sermon Transcript:

Thank you team. Invite you to take your  Bibles to acts chapter eight. If we continue in our series in the book of acts today with a story about a guy that got baptized acts chapter eight, verse 26 to 40, I'm gonna go ahead and read the passage, and then we're gonna dive into some thoughts this morning in acts chapter eight, beginning of verse 26.

Now in angel, the Lord said to Philip rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. This is a desert place and he rose and went and there was an Ethiopian, a Munich, a court official of Candace queen of the Ethiopians who, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning seated in his chariot and he was reading the prophet, Isaiah.

and the spirit said to Philip, go over and join the chariot. So Philip ran to him and heard him reading the prophet and asked, do you understand what you are reading? And he said, how can I, unless someone guides me, he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. Now, the passage of the scripture that he was reading was this like a sheep.

He was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before it shears his silence. So he opened not his mouth in his humiliation. Justice was denied him who can discard describe his generation for his life as taken away from the earth. And the Euch said to Philip about whom I ask you, does the prophet say this about himself or about someone else?

And Philip opened his mouth and began with this scripture to, to tell him the good news about Jesus. And as they were going along the road, they came to some water and the Unix said, see, here's water. What prevents me from being baptized? and he commanded the chariot to stop. And they both went down into the water, Phillip and the Eich and he baptized him.

And when they came up out of the water, the spirit of the Lord carried Phillip away and the Euch saw him no more and went on his way rejoicing, but Philip found himself at AAS. And as he passed through, he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea. Let's pray,

Lord, we've been reading about your work among the masses of the people in Jerusalem and, and now recently in this very chapter, the, the multitudes of the people up in Samaria, Lord, it's thrilling to know your eye is so clearly directed to one man on a lonely road trade route, going.

Lord you are the pursuing God, God, I, I realize in our room this morning with those that are watching online, there's such a variety of circumstances in life. I'm sure Lord, there are many that are here that are in pain. Maybe in confusion. Maybe there's been news this week that has been overwhelming.

Maybe there's just the stuff of life that are wearing people down. But Lord you've gathered us. Providence provide sovereignly. It is your purpose to have us here that we can hear this portion of scripture and God, I pray you would use your word to speak into our lives today to your glory in Jesus name.

Amen. Amen. DL moody was a famous evangelist about the turn of the century, the last century, early 19, early two thousands, excuse me, early 19 hundreds and DL moody was, uh, confronted. He was an evangelist. He had big meetings and a lady came to him once and she was remonstrating with him about his methodology.

She actually was there to critique his method. She had cons concerns with, and she mentioned a number of things about his evangelism method of, of how he shared the gospel and what he did in his crusades. And he responded very humbly and he, and he said to her, I honestly, uh, I struggle with the way I do it too sometimes.

And I, I can see some holes and, and it's clear that you have brought out some things in, in the way I'm doing evangelism. How do you do evangelism? And she Hemed and hawed. And she finally acknowledged. that she didn't really do evangelism to which moody famously replied. Well, I like my way doing it better than the way you are not doing it.

Philip. The focus of acts chapter eight would line up right along with moody. He loved sharing the story of Jesus. Now, even as I used the word evangelism, I just want a couple of say a couple of things at the beginning here. Maybe you are a person, uh, that is here today and church is not normally your thing, or maybe, uh, Christianity is not normally your thing.

And you're seeing your thing at evangels. Oh great. There's the whole problem I have with Christians. They're always trying to evangelize. They're always trying to, to, you know, to, to pull you into and to make you see it their way. And I hear you. I get it. I just wanna say this to me the best. Story definition of evangelism was done by a Puritan about four centuries ago.

And he said doing evangelism, sharing the gospel is simply one beggar talking to another beggar about where to buy bread. When we talk about the gospel of Christ, we're talking about beggars that have found bread. We're talking about people broken people who are recognizing that Jesus Christ has come for broken people like us has brought change is willing to bring change.

And it has been so startlingly amazing that we feel compelled to wanna let others know about it. We don't always do it in the best way we do it. Confrontationally we do it, uh, sometimes arrogant. But sharing the gospel is simply beggars wanting to tell people where we found Brett. The other thing I wanna say for those of you that are, are believers in Christ.

When you hear me say sharing the gospel, oh no guilt ridden message. That's gonna be a tough one. Maybe I need to check the phone a little bit or, you know, sort of zone out of it. I hope I hope that's not, what's gonna happen in this message. I love this story of acts chapter eight. I love what we see in Philip because you see Philip presents to us, a legacy that shows us there are different methods of sharing the gospel while at the same time, maintaining the same message.

Phillip was one of the seven, actually that designation will be used later on in the book of acts referring to the seven guys that were point in acts chapter six, to care for the, the Greek speaking widows in the church. In the previous section, we looked at last time in acts chapter eight, verse five to 25.

We saw him taking the gospel of Jesus Christ outside of Jerusalem, even outside of Judea to the Northern area of Samaria. It was a shockingly bold thing that he did, and he saw a tremendous fruit. As we saw last time, people were embracing Jesus as their own savior among the Samaritans who were people that were basically sort of half Jew, half Gentile in their, in their beliefs.

They had all mixed up stuff together and. , it was so prominent that what happened, that the apostles down in Jerusalem sent their two top guns to check on it, Peter and John and they go up and, and there's basically what happens is they see the reality of Christ being embraced by these people and they lay their hands on them.

And basically there's like a Samaritan Pentecost where again, they received the holy spirit in the same way that Jewish believers did in acts chapter two. In these verses before us, we see a secondary passage about Philip. He's done the mass evangelism stuff, but now he is in a God appointed encounter with one solitary man.

The encounter in chapter eight, with the background of the earlier part of this chapter shows the diversity of methods in sharing the gospel with people. I'd like to look at that. First of all, we're gonna look at the diversity of the, of the, of the gospel sharing. And secondly, the consistency of the message, the diverse methods of gospel sharing.

There's two things that highlight this year, the diversity of the people that are reached with the gospel in chapter eight, the first part we see he's talking to the Samaritans and what we see in the comparison of what happens in the first half of chapter eight. And then the second half of chapter eight shows this, this tremendous variety of how the gospel is shared and it's we see it in four different avenues.

Number one, there's a difference in race. The Samaritans were a mixed race, half Jew, half Gentile, Asiatic in background, the Ethiopian is a black African, a Jew, apparently by birth or a Prosi you who is, who is. Become a, a Jew somewhere in his life. That's why he's up here. He's here to, to worship at the temple to celebrate his Jewish faith.

And he's on the way back. And he's all here's Jerusalem. He's way down here almost about ready to go over and start crossing into Northern Africa. And this, this lowest city, the old Gaza, which was, uh, one of the city, five cities of the Philistines is there. And somewhere along that trade road, Philip finds this guy sitting in his chair at reading a passage from the old Testament.

There's a difference in race. Secondly, there's a difference in rank the Samaritans, all we read in the early part of chapter eight, these are ordinary folks. Um, ordinary citizens. The Ethiopian is a distinguished public servant in charge of the finances of the crown. , this was the, the CF all of the country.

I mean, this is the, the, the, the secretary of the treasury. This is a big guy in terms of affluent and influence. There's a difference in rank. There's a difference in religion, the Samaritans revered Moses. But as I mentioned last time, they only held to the first five books of the old Testament. The books that are called the books of the law, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, numbers, Deuteronomy, and the rest they didn't buy into.

The interesting thing is we find here, this Ethiopian has strong attachment to Judaism, and it has led him to go on this pilgrimage. And he is reading from one of the very prophets that the Samaritans reject. Also, the Samaritans have been swept up in this, this a cult teaching by this guy named Simon, the sourcer Simon, the magician, their religious backgrounds are, are very different.

there's difference in temperament. The Samaritans are portrayed as, as volatile. Uh, non-reflective it's, it's active, there's joy. There's there's enthusiasm there. They've given themselves to the cult, a large section of them. And then there's this studious, uh, thoughtful, reflective reader sitting in a chariot all by himself.

The diversity of the people that are reached with the gospel is highlighted in this passage. Also the diversity of ways people are reached with the gospel, the Samaritans God led Philip in the first part of chapter eight to use the same method that the apostles had used around Jerusalem. They were doing signs and wonders, miraculous signs, healings, exorcisms that were authenticating the messengers of the early church.

They was, he was doing public preaching. now all of a sudden, he swept away by the spirit of God and he's down speaking, not to a mass crowd, but an individual doing what we call is historically called personal evangelism or personal witnessing. He let the conversation go where it would. And the spirit said to Philip were told in this passage go over and join this chariot.

So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah, the prophet and asked, do you understand what you are reading? It's interesting. The normal practice in that day for reading the scriptures was to read it out loud. And this guy is actually reading by himself out loud, Philip hears it. And he recognizes the passage that the guy is reading.

And he said, how can and, and he responds, how can I know what it's about? Unless somebody guides me and invited Philip to come up and sit with him in the. Now there's no evidence to this time that anybody was expecting a Messiah that would be a suffering Messiah. Their idea of the Messiah was a triumphant king that would come.

The only one that had really made any announcements of a Messiah that would be broken, that would be suffering. Was Jesus himself. He said in mark chapter 10 in one of his pass, one of his teachings, he said, even the son, a man and the son, a man was a reference to the Messiah was Jesus' favorite referenced about himself from the book of Daniel.

He said, even the son of man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many in Luke 22 in the upper room. It's the first time Jesus applies Isaiah 53, which is this passage. The guy is reading. to himself. He says this in the, in the upper room and the Lord supper. This is the night before he's crucified, Luke 2237.

For, I tell you that this scripture must be fulfilled in me. And he was numbered with the transgressors. That's a Isaiah 53 12. And then he says this for what is written about me has its fulfillment up until this time, Isaiah 53 was this mystery passage about a, a, a about the, the stricken shepherd about all of the things that would, who would be despised and rejected of men, all these things wounded for our transgressions, all these things that are in Isaiah 53, this guy's reading about.

And he's saying, who is this? I mean, is he talking about himself, Isaiah? Is he talking about somebody else? Well, Philip know, because Philip has, has been learning from the apostles and the teaching and the message of Christ that it's talking about, Christ him. Okay. And so when he hears this guy reading this out loud, I mean, it's like saying Sycom, do you know who this is talking about?

He says, no, how can I, how can I know mass evangelism was, was the style up north in Samaria, personally coming alongside of this guy is how he shares. There's all different ways that we're involved in talking to people about Jesus. But it's easy to think that talking to people about Jesus is, is, you know, is for the evangelist.

I mean, okay, mark. Yeah, it's great. Philip is good at private conversations as well as the public stuff, but he's an evangelist. I mean, I'm not an evangelist, I'm not one of those kind of people. I mean, I, I know, uh, a woman, Julie, and she is. Uh, she's the kind of person that anything she has come in contact with that she likes, she wants everybody else know.

If she gets a new hairdresser, a new lawn service, a new ju juicer. She wants everybody to experience it. So we would expect that when Julie has really embraced Jesus Christ as the center of her life, that she would want everybody to know about. And that's exactly how Julie is. She's a great evangelist. I mean, she just, she does this with her hairdresser.

She does this with her juicer. She does this with her lawn service and she does it with Jesus. But my guess is there's a lot of you that aren't, Julie's, you'd say I just, I don't do that. I mean, I get a new hairdresser, but I don't tell everybody, I don't try to get every, you gonna go. Now. Matter of fact, I don't want them to go there cause I don't have time.

They won't, she won't have time for me. You say I'm not wired that way. I'm, I'm not, I'm not an evangelist. So what do you do if you're a private, gentle, more reflective, not telling everyone about your discoveries in new services and juicers person than your way of sharing your faith will probably be different, but it will still happen.

It will be done out of the way you do life with people. The beautiful reality of doing life with God is he doesn't ask you to be somebody. He didn't make you to be. He designed you as you. And he did a perfect job in his explanation and in his expectation and his evaluation, you may not feel that way, but he does.

He designed you exactly how he wanted you to be

as you dev life with people. It's out of who he's designed you to be, that you do faith sharing with people. Some people there are some of you wired that everything you do, every conversation you're in, you're sort of in sales mode. You just, I mean, your opinion's on sports. You can't wait to tell everybody.

So everybody will agree, even though most of them don't, but you are excited to others. You are exactly the opposite. My guess is you may be a spouse. That's the exact opposite of who you are, but you're both called to be gospel shares years ago when Marian and I were in church planning here, we were building the church.

And of course I was a go go boy of, you know, we gotta do this. Everything's gotta be, you know, evaluated for our, our time. We only have so much time. We only have so much energy and we're trying to start Bible studies. We had all kinds of things we did at our house. Um, having groups over, we had Affy poles.

We had a, we had a Jewish violinist do at dinner party. We, we had a tent meeting in our backyard. I'm not even sure it's legal. We did all these things.

We had a lady that was a coup a street over from us. And she came over to our house not long after we had moved in and she had seen Marion and she'd seen our, our kids near about the same age of hers. And she incredibly generously came by. She brought a bottle of wine and she got talking to Marion and she liked Marion and she invited Mar the next day to go to a dinner that a luncheon she was going to that had a mail stripper

Now, now Marion, first of all, Marion was the ultimate teetotal. And to my knowledge has not done male stripping exper . And, but I did watch her for a while. Um, so, so here's this, this flamboyant lovely neighbor that came in and did this, and they became friends. Now, Marion did not go to the event. Um, but they became friends and spending lots of time.

And, and of course the, the, the wooden hard nose is trying to evaluate where our time is going. And, and, and, and after a number of months, I said, Mary, I just, I, I, you know, you're spending so much time, I'm gonna call her Susan. It was Susan. And, and I just, I think we gotta, you know, we're the team here, you and I are the gospel team.

And. We gotta evaluate, you know, I just don't doesn't seem like it's really moving Susan towards Jesus. And so maybe we need to not spend it was we, you know, of course we, we need to spend a little less time and, and cuz I have some other people, I think it'd be wonderful for you to spill your life. And I, she just smoked me.

she just said, mark. Susan is my friend and I'm doing life with her because I care about her and I love her and yes, I want more than anything else. See her embrace Jesus. But she's not basically shouldn't say this, but she's just not a, you know, a box for me to check. Well, Susan did embrace, sorry, Christ or savior.

So the three kids who are now well into adulthood today.

You are who you are. You be who you are. You have friends, you be a friend in the way. You're a friend. You, you, you just, you don't have to be Philip. The evangelist who's able to do the Samaritans and that qualifies you to be able to be with this one lone man who God has unbelievably prepared. I mean, he just happens to be reading Isaiah 53.

He just happens to be sitting in a chariot that God has direct you from 80 miles away to go to. I mean, Philip didn't strategize him plan. He just did life with this guy. And it wasn't because Phillip was a flaming mass evangelist. that he was qualified to be able to come alongside of another person, I believe.

And I've really, I always try to look at the book of acts cause there's so many stories of people I'm always asking myself, why did God lead Luke to include this here? I think God, in led Luke to include this story to say they're all different ways that the people of God, when they were spread out by the spirit of God, came alongside of others and loved others toward Christ and, and, and, and did life with them.

So what does that look like? Well, let me just say this. I think there are three characteristics of Philip that are highlighted as preparing him to be sharing the gospel with other people. He did spirit led evangelism. That's exactly what God is asking you to do. He is not asking you to be a different person.

He is not asking you to be sales mode when you've never been sales mode in your whole life. He's asking you to. You the version of you led by the spirit of God. There's three things that are highlighted about Philip. Number one, he lived under the influence of the spirit in acts chapter six, verse three, when they were picking these seven guys to be a part of the seven to serve the widows.

It said we want men full of the holy spirit. I've mentioned to you before being full of the holy spirit is described in, in Ephesians chapter five. Verse 18 is the contrast. It says be filled with the spirit, not drunk by wine. In other words, there are characteristics that are similar. What happens when you are drunk with wine, you have been brought under the influence of alcohol.

He's saying being under the spirit, being filled with the spirit is being under the Spirit's influence. Philip did that. He did that by being in the word of God. He did that by walking with Jesus. You're not going to be influencing a lot of people towards Jesus. without being under the influence of the spirit of God.

If you want to be influencing loved ones and others towards Christ, first step, you've gotta be under the influence yourself of the spirit of God. Secondly, Philip listened to the voice of the spirit. If you look at this passage here in verse 26 of chapter eight, it says this now an angel, the Lord said to Philip rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.

God used an angel there in verse 29. It's the spirit. It says this, go over and join this chariot. It said the spirit spoke to him in verse 39. And when they came up out of the water, the spirit of the Lord carried Philip away. He was listening to the voice of the spirit. He was saying, Lord, I'm listening.

What do you want me to do? Who do you want me to go to? What do you want me? I'm sure. Philip didn't expect to be taken outta Samaria. I mean, this was heady stuff that God was doing in Samaria, but his heart was quiet enough that he could feel and hear the prompting of God's voice saying, Philip, I'm taking you outta here.

I'm taking you down to a loudly trade route because I got my guy there for you to share the gospel too. He lived under the influence of the spirit. He listened to the voice of the spirit. Third. He looked for opportunities from the spirit, been my experience that people who end up sharing their faith with others are expecting those opportunities.

Why do they expect them? They pray for them. They ask for them. When's the last time speaking now to you that belong to Christ that have embraced Christ. When's the last time you have been praying for God to give you opportunities to share Jesus with others. You say, wow. I think there was a time in college, you know?

Well, we expect what we ask for and our hearts are drawn towards those that we're praying for. And the opportunities we prayed for there was diversity in the methodology of sharing the gospel, but there was singularity in the message in acts chapter eight, verse five. It says when Philip went to the city of Samaria, he proclaimed to them, the Christ in verse 12, he preached good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ.

We come down to this passage and when Philip is talking to the Ethiopian, he says this, then Philip opened his mouth in verse 35 and began with the scripture. He told him the good news about Jesus. , there are two things that are involved in this good news message. First of all, the good news requires people.

First of all, being confronted about the bad news. You see this in the guy, in the book of acts all the time, of course, where in the, in the, in the messages that are shared, which are basically gospel messages, they start by saying, they start by talking about sin. They talk about the, the effect of sin. They talk about the, the nature of their sin.

They're very personal, very specific about it. At times, people can't really see any need of good news until they are experiencing the sense of bad news. Muhammad Ali was on a flight and this is famous anecdote. I have to believe it's true because I read it 8 million times. He was on a flight and basically, and, and in the first class and the lady, the stewards comes up to him, notice he didn't have his seatbelt on and said, Mr.

Ali, you need to put your, your seatbelt on. And he responded, Superman don't need no seatbelt to which she replied Superman don't need no airplane.

sometimes you gotta point out the reality of why there's a need throughout the book of acts. People are challenged to look at their sin and realize that there is a disconnection in their relationship with God. The term spiritual death is used a lot in the new Testament. Death is simply death, anywhere in the scripture simply means separation.

If I drop dead this morning on this stage, what it simply means is my body. My material part has been separated from my I immaterial part. That's why it talks about he gave up the ghost or the spirit. Well, the, the, the mark Willie really is gone. All it's left is my earth suit. That's physical death.

Spiritual death is our spirit is separated or disconnected from God. Eternal. Death is being in the eternal state of being separated from God in our spirits, but the vertical impacts the horizontal and just hang with me for a minute. We have two parts of our immaterial being. the immaterial part of us is described with two terms in the scripture.

One is the word new MOS, which is spirit. That's the vertical. We have a vertical connection. Animals do not have a spirit. We also have a SoCo, which means soul. We have a soul, which is a horizontal, well, actually it, it, interestingly, the old Testament talks about animals with a soul. They ha they have a, they have a sense of being able to connect as we humans do on a horizontal level with ourselves and with others, there is a horizontal life to us and orientation to others.

But what the Bible constantly declares is when the vertical is disconnected, it has dramatic impact on the horizontal. Our spirit being rightly connected to God deeply impacts the ska. Soulish part of our lives. Some of you're here today and you say my life.

it's bad. I'm torn up inside. I'm broken. I feel like I'm breaking my relationships.

Maybe you're here because God wanted to say to you, you know, therapy's good therapy can clarify things. It, it, it can help you to understand stuff about yourself, stuff about your relationship, but ultimately you are wired with a vertical dimension and this vertical dimension with God, the, the sovereign master of the universe.

And he says, when you are disconnected from me, it's going to affect every part of your being that God may be using the ska struggles of life to simply say, you need God, you need to. Connection that comes by relationship with God by being restored in that relationship. That's why the Bible constantly says that Jesus Christ came to restore us to God.

The second thing the gospel says is there's bad news. We're broken people. We're separated from God. It affects all parts of our lives, how we are feeling about ourselves, how we're doing in other things and the relationships Jesus Christ came to reconnect us. First, Peter three 18 says he came to bring us to God.

He's the bridge. He's the, the, the restorer of the relationship. And he does it by the act of substitution, which is what this guy is reading about. That Isaiah 53 presents that Jesus Christ came. to provide a way that we could be forgiven for sins, which has caused the break in our relationship with God that we can be accepted to God through what Jesus has done in his life, living righteously.

Here's how it goes. And with this, I'm gonna close. The Bible tells us that Jesus Christ came to be the one that would, would suffer for our sins. Literally it's as if Jesus became liable for our sins. It's as if Jesus did your sins, oh, even the ones you haven't done yet, he became liable for those. He bore the, the penalty, the separation for them, but it also says that Jesus Christ lived a righteous life and that.

His righteousness could be laid to your account, that you could become liable for the righteousness of Christ. In other words, you could stand accepted through the things that Jesus has done with God, eternally, that you could have a relationship that has been broken by your sin. That could be now restored.

He did that by being a substitute for you. It's why Jesus said on the cross, why have you abandoned me? It was just an agonized emotional response. He felt the separation. What caused that separation? You did. I did our sin. He became liable for them by choice that we could be accepted to God. The good news.

It beggars you as bread. and love to be able to tell others about is that Jesus Christ came for broken people like us. We feel the brokenness in ourselves and our relationships, but ultimately it's the vertical, it's the foundation of hope for it. All. He came to rescue us from that state of separation this morning, just like the Ethiopian Munich.

He says, man, I get it. I buy, I realized this Jesus is my just can I, can I publicly testify to that by being baptized? That's exactly what he did. And that's exactly what these folks are doing the next few minutes together. Let's pray, Lord.

I am sure there are a number of people here.

Who have not yet experienced the vertical being reconnected through what Jesus came to do. Lord, I pray for them. Lord, may your spirit overwhelm them this morning with the good news of the gospel? May they be drawn to Jesus

in Jesus name? Amen.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/philip-and-the-ethiopian 997ca083-c9b4-4721-831a-88a1d59fce6a Sun, 10 Jul 2022 13:31:38 GMT <div data-html="true">Acts 8:26-40 <br /><br /> Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus. <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> Thank you team. Invite you to take your  Bibles to acts chapter eight. If we continue in our series in the book of acts today with a story about a guy that got baptized acts chapter eight, verse 26 to 40, I'm gonna go ahead and read the passage, and then we're gonna dive into some thoughts this morning in acts chapter eight, beginning of verse 26. <br /><br /> Now in angel, the Lord said to Philip rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. This is a desert place and he rose and went and there was an Ethiopian, a Munich, a court official of Candace queen of the Ethiopians who, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning seated in his chariot and he was reading the prophet, Isaiah. <br /><br /> and the spirit said to Philip, go over and join the chariot. So Philip ran to him and heard him reading the prophet and asked, do you understand what you are reading? And he said, how can I, unless someone guides me, he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. Now, the passage of the scripture that he was reading was this like a sheep. <br /><br /> He was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before it shears his silence. So he opened not his mouth in his humiliation. Justice was denied him who can discard describe his generation for his life as taken away from the earth. And the Euch said to Philip about whom I ask you, does the prophet say this about himself or about someone else? <br /><br /> And Philip opened his mouth and began with this scripture to, to tell him the good news about Jesus. And as they were going along the road, they came to some water and the Unix said, see, here's water. What prevents me from being baptized? and he commanded the chariot to stop. And they both went down into the water, Phillip and the Eich and he baptized him. <br /><br /> And when they came up out of the water, the spirit of the Lord carried Phillip away and the Euch saw him no more and went on his way rejoicing, but Philip found himself at AAS. And as he passed through, he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea. Let's pray, <br /><br /> Lord, we've been reading about your work among the masses of the people in Jerusalem and, and now recently in this very chapter, the, the multitudes of the people up in Samaria, Lord, it's thrilling to know your eye is so clearly directed to one man on a lonely road trade route, going. <br /><br /> Lord you are the pursuing God, God, I, I realize in our room this morning with those that are watching online, there's such a variety of circumstances in life. I'm sure Lord, there are many that are here that are in pain. Maybe in confusion. Maybe there's been news this week that has been overwhelming. <br /><br /> Maybe there's just the stuff of life that are wearing people down. But Lord you've gathered us. Providence provide sovereignly. It is your purpose to have us here that we can hear this portion of scripture and God, I pray you would use your word to speak into our lives today to your glory in Jesus name. <br /><br /> Amen. Amen. DL moody was a famous evangelist about the turn of the century, the last century, early 19, early two thousands, excuse me, early 19 hundreds and DL moody was, uh, confronted. He was an evangelist. He had big meetings and a lady came to him once and she was remonstrating with him about his methodology. <br /><br /> She actually was there to critique his method. She had cons concerns with, and she mentioned a number of things about his evangelism method of, of how he shared the gospel and what he did in his crusades. And he responded very humbly and he, and he said to her, I honestly, uh, I struggle with the way I do it too sometimes. <br /><br /> And I, I can see some holes and, and it's clear that you have brought out some things in, in the way I'm doing evangelism. How do you do evangelism? And she Hemed and hawed. And she finally acknowledged. that she didn't really do evangelism to which moody famously replied. Well, I like my way doing it better than the way you are not doing it. <br /><br /> Philip. The focus of acts chapter eight would line up right along with moody. He loved sharing the story of Jesus. Now, even as I used the word evangelism, I just want a couple of say a couple of things at the beginning here. Maybe you are a person, uh, that is here today and church is not normally your thing, or maybe, uh, Christianity is not normally your thing. <br /><br /> And you're seeing your thing at evangels. Oh great. There's the whole problem I have with Christians. They're always trying to evangelize. They're always trying to, to, you know, to, to pull you into and to make you see it their way. And I hear you. I get it. I just wanna say this to me the best. Story definition of evangelism was done by a Puritan about four centuries ago. <br /><br /> And he said doing evangelism, sharing the gospel is simply one beggar talking to another beggar about where to buy bread. When we talk about the gospel of Christ, we're talking about beggars that have found bread. We're talking about people broken people who are recognizing that Jesus Christ has come for broken people like us has brought change is willing to bring change. <br /><br /> And it has been so startlingly amazing that we feel compelled to wanna let others know about it. We don't always do it in the best way we do it. Confrontationally we do it, uh, sometimes arrogant. But sharing the gospel is simply beggars wanting to tell people where we found Brett. The other thing I wanna say for those of you that are, are believers in Christ. <br /><br /> When you hear me say sharing the gospel, oh no guilt ridden message. That's gonna be a tough one. Maybe I need to check the phone a little bit or, you know, sort of zone out of it. I hope I hope that's not, what's gonna happen in this message. I love this story of acts chapter eight. I love what we see in Philip because you see Philip presents to us, a legacy that shows us there are different methods of sharing the gospel while at the same time, maintaining the same message. <br /><br /> Phillip was one of the seven, actually that designation will be used later on in the book of acts referring to the seven guys that were point in acts chapter six, to care for the, the Greek speaking widows in the church. In the previous section, we looked at last time in acts chapter eight, verse five to 25. <br /><br /> We saw him taking the gospel of Jesus Christ outside of Jerusalem, even outside of Judea to the Northern area of Samaria. It was a shockingly bold thing that he did, and he saw a tremendous fruit. As we saw last time, people were embracing Jesus as their own savior among the Samaritans who were people that were basically sort of half Jew, half Gentile in their, in their beliefs. <br /><br /> They had all mixed up stuff together and. , it was so prominent that what happened, that the apostles down in Jerusalem sent their two top guns to check on it, Peter and John and they go up and, and there's basically what happens is they see the reality of Christ being embraced by these people and they lay their hands on them. <br /><br /> And basically there's like a Samaritan Pentecost where again, they received the holy spirit in the same way that Jewish believers did in acts chapter two. In these verses before us, we see a secondary passage about Philip. He's done the mass evangelism stuff, but now he is in a God appointed encounter with one solitary man. <br /><br /> The encounter in chapter eight, with the background of the earlier part of this chapter shows the diversity of methods in sharing the gospel with people. I'd like to look at that. First of all, we're gonna look at the diversity of the, of the, of the gospel sharing. And secondly, the consistency of the message, the diverse methods of gospel sharing. <br /><br /> There's two things that highlight this year, the diversity of the people that are reached with the gospel in chapter eight, the first part we see he's talking to the Samaritans and what we see in the comparison of what happens in the first half of chapter eight. And then the second half of chapter eight shows this, this tremendous variety of how the gospel is shared and it's we see it in four different avenues. <br /><br /> Number one, there's a difference in race. The Samaritans were a mixed race, half Jew, half Gentile, Asiatic in background, the Ethiopian is a black African, a Jew, apparently by birth or a Prosi you who is, who is. Become a, a Jew somewhere in his life. That's why he's up here. He's here to, to worship at the temple to celebrate his Jewish faith. <br /><br /> And he's on the way back. And he's all here's Jerusalem. He's way down here almost about ready to go over and start crossing into Northern Africa. And this, this lowest city, the old Gaza, which was, uh, one of the city, five cities of the Philistines is there. And somewhere along that trade road, Philip finds this guy sitting in his chair at reading a passage from the old Testament. <br /><br /> There's a difference in race. Secondly, there's a difference in rank the Samaritans, all we read in the early part of chapter eight, these are ordinary folks. Um, ordinary citizens. The Ethiopian is a distinguished public servant in charge of the finances of the crown. , this was the, the CF all of the country. <br /><br /> I mean, this is the, the, the, the secretary of the treasury. This is a big guy in terms of affluent and influence. There's a difference in rank. There's a difference in religion, the Samaritans revered Moses. But as I mentioned last time, they only held to the first five books of the old Testament. The books that are called the books of the law, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, numbers, Deuteronomy, and the rest they didn't buy into. <br /><br /> The interesting thing is we find here, this Ethiopian has strong attachment to Judaism, and it has led him to go on this pilgrimage. And he is reading from one of the very prophets that the Samaritans reject. Also, the Samaritans have been swept up in this, this a cult teaching by this guy named Simon, the sourcer Simon, the magician, their religious backgrounds are, are very different. <br /><br /> there's difference in temperament. The Samaritans are portrayed as, as volatile. Uh, non-reflective it's, it's active, there's joy. There's there's enthusiasm there. They've given themselves to the cult, a large section of them. And then there's this studious, uh, thoughtful, reflective reader sitting in a chariot all by himself. <br /><br /> The diversity of the people that are reached with the gospel is highlighted in this passage. Also the diversity of ways people are reached with the gospel, the Samaritans God led Philip in the first part of chapter eight to use the same method that the apostles had used around Jerusalem. They were doing signs and wonders, miraculous signs, healings, exorcisms that were authenticating the messengers of the early church. <br /><br /> They was, he was doing public preaching. now all of a sudden, he swept away by the spirit of God and he's down speaking, not to a mass crowd, but an individual doing what we call is historically called personal evangelism or personal witnessing. He let the conversation go where it would. And the spirit said to Philip were told in this passage go over and join this chariot. <br /><br /> So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah, the prophet and asked, do you understand what you are reading? It's interesting. The normal practice in that day for reading the scriptures was to read it out loud. And this guy is actually reading by himself out loud, Philip hears it. And he recognizes the passage that the guy is reading. <br /><br /> And he said, how can and, and he responds, how can I know what it's about? Unless somebody guides me and invited Philip to come up and sit with him in the. Now there's no evidence to this time that anybody was expecting a Messiah that would be a suffering Messiah. Their idea of the Messiah was a triumphant king that would come. <br /><br /> The only one that had really made any announcements of a Messiah that would be broken, that would be suffering. Was Jesus himself. He said in mark chapter 10 in one of his pass, one of his teachings, he said, even the son, a man and the son, a man was a reference to the Messiah was Jesus' favorite referenced about himself from the book of Daniel. <br /><br /> He said, even the son of man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many in Luke 22 in the upper room. It's the first time Jesus applies Isaiah 53, which is this passage. The guy is reading. to himself. He says this in the, in the upper room and the Lord supper. This is the night before he's crucified, Luke 2237. <br /><br /> For, I tell you that this scripture must be fulfilled in me. And he was numbered with the transgressors. That's a Isaiah 53 12. And then he says this for what is written about me has its fulfillment up until this time, Isaiah 53 was this mystery passage about a, a, a about the, the stricken shepherd about all of the things that would, who would be despised and rejected of men, all these things wounded for our transgressions, all these things that are in Isaiah 53, this guy's reading about. <br /><br /> And he's saying, who is this? I mean, is he talking about himself, Isaiah? Is he talking about somebody else? Well, Philip know, because Philip has, has been learning from the apostles and the teaching and the message of Christ that it's talking about, Christ him. Okay. And so when he hears this guy reading this out loud, I mean, it's like saying Sycom, do you know who this is talking about? <br /><br /> He says, no, how can I, how can I know mass evangelism was, was the style up north in Samaria, personally coming alongside of this guy is how he shares. There's all different ways that we're involved in talking to people about Jesus. But it's easy to think that talking to people about Jesus is, is, you know, is for the evangelist. <br /><br /> I mean, okay, mark. Yeah, it's great. Philip is good at private conversations as well as the public stuff, but he's an evangelist. I mean, I'm not an evangelist, I'm not one of those kind of people. I mean, I, I know, uh, a woman, Julie, and she is. Uh, she's the kind of person that anything she has come in contact with that she likes, she wants everybody else know. <br /><br /> If she gets a new hairdresser, a new lawn service, a new ju juicer. She wants everybody to experience it. So we would expect that when Julie has really embraced Jesus Christ as the center of her life, that she would want everybody to know about. And that's exactly how Julie is. She's a great evangelist. I mean, she just, she does this with her hairdresser. <br /><br /> She does this with her juicer. She does this with her lawn service and she does it with Jesus. But my guess is there's a lot of you that aren't, Julie's, you'd say I just, I don't do that. I mean, I get a new hairdresser, but I don't tell everybody, I don't try to get every, you gonna go. Now. Matter of fact, I don't want them to go there cause I don't have time. <br /><br /> They won't, she won't have time for me. You say I'm not wired that way. I'm, I'm not, I'm not an evangelist. So what do you do if you're a private, gentle, more reflective, not telling everyone about your discoveries in new services and juicers person than your way of sharing your faith will probably be different, but it will still happen. <br /><br /> It will be done out of the way you do life with people. The beautiful reality of doing life with God is he doesn't ask you to be somebody. He didn't make you to be. He designed you as you. And he did a perfect job in his explanation and in his expectation and his evaluation, you may not feel that way, but he does. <br /><br /> He designed you exactly how he wanted you to be <br /><br /> as you dev life with people. It's out of who he's designed you to be, that you do faith sharing with people. Some people there are some of you wired that everything you do, every conversation you're in, you're sort of in sales mode. You just, I mean, your opinion's on sports. You can't wait to tell everybody. <br /><br /> So everybody will agree, even though most of them don't, but you are excited to others. You are exactly the opposite. My guess is you may be a spouse. That's the exact opposite of who you are, but you're both called to be gospel shares years ago when Marian and I were in church planning here, we were building the church. <br /><br /> And of course I was a go go boy of, you know, we gotta do this. Everything's gotta be, you know, evaluated for our, our time. We only have so much time. We only have so much energy and we're trying to start Bible studies. We had all kinds of things we did at our house. Um, having groups over, we had Affy poles. <br /><br /> We had a, we had a Jewish violinist do at dinner party. We, we had a tent meeting in our backyard. I'm not even sure it's legal. We did all these things. <br /><br /> We had a lady that was a coup a street over from us. And she came over to our house not long after we had moved in and she had seen Marion and she'd seen our, our kids near about the same age of hers. And she incredibly generously came by. She brought a bottle of wine and she got talking to Marion and she liked Marion and she invited Mar the next day to go to a dinner that a luncheon she was going to that had a mail stripper <br /><br /> Now, now Marion, first of all, Marion was the ultimate teetotal. And to my knowledge has not done male stripping exper . And, but I did watch her for a while. Um, so, so here's this, this flamboyant lovely neighbor that came in and did this, and they became friends. Now, Marion did not go to the event. Um, but they became friends and spending lots of time. <br /><br /> And, and of course the, the, the wooden hard nose is trying to evaluate where our time is going. And, and, and, and after a number of months, I said, Mary, I just, I, I, you know, you're spending so much time, I'm gonna call her Susan. It was Susan. And, and I just, I think we gotta, you know, we're the team here, you and I are the gospel team. <br /><br /> And. We gotta evaluate, you know, I just don't doesn't seem like it's really moving Susan towards Jesus. And so maybe we need to not spend it was we, you know, of course we, we need to spend a little less time and, and cuz I have some other people, I think it'd be wonderful for you to spill your life. And I, she just smoked me. <br /><br /> she just said, mark. Susan is my friend and I'm doing life with her because I care about her and I love her and yes, I want more than anything else. See her embrace Jesus. But she's not basically shouldn't say this, but she's just not a, you know, a box for me to check. Well, Susan did embrace, sorry, Christ or savior. <br /><br /> So the three kids who are now well into adulthood today. <br /><br /> You are who you are. You be who you are. You have friends, you be a friend in the way. You're a friend. You, you, you just, you don't have to be Philip. The evangelist who's able to do the Samaritans and that qualifies you to be able to be with this one lone man who God has unbelievably prepared. I mean, he just happens to be reading Isaiah 53. <br /><br /> He just happens to be sitting in a chariot that God has direct you from 80 miles away to go to. I mean, Philip didn't strategize him plan. He just did life with this guy. And it wasn't because Phillip was a flaming mass evangelist. that he was qualified to be able to come alongside of another person, I believe. <br /><br /> And I've really, I always try to look at the book of acts cause there's so many stories of people I'm always asking myself, why did God lead Luke to include this here? I think God, in led Luke to include this story to say they're all different ways that the people of God, when they were spread out by the spirit of God, came alongside of others and loved others toward Christ and, and, and, and did life with them. <br /><br /> So what does that look like? Well, let me just say this. I think there are three characteristics of Philip that are highlighted as preparing him to be sharing the gospel with other people. He did spirit led evangelism. That's exactly what God is asking you to do. He is not asking you to be a different person. <br /><br /> He is not asking you to be sales mode when you've never been sales mode in your whole life. He's asking you to. You the version of you led by the spirit of God. There's three things that are highlighted about Philip. Number one, he lived under the influence of the spirit in acts chapter six, verse three, when they were picking these seven guys to be a part of the seven to serve the widows. <br /><br /> It said we want men full of the holy spirit. I've mentioned to you before being full of the holy spirit is described in, in Ephesians chapter five. Verse 18 is the contrast. It says be filled with the spirit, not drunk by wine. In other words, there are characteristics that are similar. What happens when you are drunk with wine, you have been brought under the influence of alcohol. <br /><br /> He's saying being under the spirit, being filled with the spirit is being under the Spirit's influence. Philip did that. He did that by being in the word of God. He did that by walking with Jesus. You're not going to be influencing a lot of people towards Jesus. without being under the influence of the spirit of God. <br /><br /> If you want to be influencing loved ones and others towards Christ, first step, you've gotta be under the influence yourself of the spirit of God. Secondly, Philip listened to the voice of the spirit. If you look at this passage here in verse 26 of chapter eight, it says this now an angel, the Lord said to Philip rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. <br /><br /> God used an angel there in verse 29. It's the spirit. It says this, go over and join this chariot. It said the spirit spoke to him in verse 39. And when they came up out of the water, the spirit of the Lord carried Philip away. He was listening to the voice of the spirit. He was saying, Lord, I'm listening. <br /><br /> What do you want me to do? Who do you want me to go to? What do you want me? I'm sure. Philip didn't expect to be taken outta Samaria. I mean, this was heady stuff that God was doing in Samaria, but his heart was quiet enough that he could feel and hear the prompting of God's voice saying, Philip, I'm taking you outta here. <br /><br /> I'm taking you down to a loudly trade route because I got my guy there for you to share the gospel too. He lived under the influence of the spirit. He listened to the voice of the spirit. Third. He looked for opportunities from the spirit, been my experience that people who end up sharing their faith with others are expecting those opportunities. <br /><br /> Why do they expect them? They pray for them. They ask for them. When's the last time speaking now to you that belong to Christ that have embraced Christ. When's the last time you have been praying for God to give you opportunities to share Jesus with others. You say, wow. I think there was a time in college, you know? <br /><br /> Well, we expect what we ask for and our hearts are drawn towards those that we're praying for. And the opportunities we prayed for there was diversity in the methodology of sharing the gospel, but there was singularity in the message in acts chapter eight, verse five. It says when Philip went to the city of Samaria, he proclaimed to them, the Christ in verse 12, he preached good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ. <br /><br /> We come down to this passage and when Philip is talking to the Ethiopian, he says this, then Philip opened his mouth in verse 35 and began with the scripture. He told him the good news about Jesus. , there are two things that are involved in this good news message. First of all, the good news requires people. <br /><br /> First of all, being confronted about the bad news. You see this in the guy, in the book of acts all the time, of course, where in the, in the, in the messages that are shared, which are basically gospel messages, they start by saying, they start by talking about sin. They talk about the, the effect of sin. They talk about the, the nature of their sin. <br /><br /> They're very personal, very specific about it. At times, people can't really see any need of good news until they are experiencing the sense of bad news. Muhammad Ali was on a flight and this is famous anecdote. I have to believe it's true because I read it 8 million times. He was on a flight and basically, and, and in the first class and the lady, the stewards comes up to him, notice he didn't have his seatbelt on and said, Mr. <br /><br /> Ali, you need to put your, your seatbelt on. And he responded, Superman don't need no seatbelt to which she replied Superman don't need no airplane. <br /><br /> sometimes you gotta point out the reality of why there's a need throughout the book of acts. People are challenged to look at their sin and realize that there is a disconnection in their relationship with God. The term spiritual death is used a lot in the new Testament. Death is simply death, anywhere in the scripture simply means separation. <br /><br /> If I drop dead this morning on this stage, what it simply means is my body. My material part has been separated from my I immaterial part. That's why it talks about he gave up the ghost or the spirit. Well, the, the, the mark Willie really is gone. All it's left is my earth suit. That's physical death. <br /><br /> Spiritual death is our spirit is separated or disconnected from God. Eternal. Death is being in the eternal state of being separated from God in our spirits, but the vertical impacts the horizontal and just hang with me for a minute. We have two parts of our immaterial being. the immaterial part of us is described with two terms in the scripture. <br /><br /> One is the word new MOS, which is spirit. That's the vertical. We have a vertical connection. Animals do not have a spirit. We also have a SoCo, which means soul. We have a soul, which is a horizontal, well, actually it, it, interestingly, the old Testament talks about animals with a soul. They ha they have a, they have a sense of being able to connect as we humans do on a horizontal level with ourselves and with others, there is a horizontal life to us and orientation to others. <br /><br /> But what the Bible constantly declares is when the vertical is disconnected, it has dramatic impact on the horizontal. Our spirit being rightly connected to God deeply impacts the ska. Soulish part of our lives. Some of you're here today and you say my life. <br /><br /> it's bad. I'm torn up inside. I'm broken. I feel like I'm breaking my relationships. <br /><br /> Maybe you're here because God wanted to say to you, you know, therapy's good therapy can clarify things. It, it, it can help you to understand stuff about yourself, stuff about your relationship, but ultimately you are wired with a vertical dimension and this vertical dimension with God, the, the sovereign master of the universe. <br /><br /> And he says, when you are disconnected from me, it's going to affect every part of your being that God may be using the ska struggles of life to simply say, you need God, you need to. Connection that comes by relationship with God by being restored in that relationship. That's why the Bible constantly says that Jesus Christ came to restore us to God. <br /><br /> The second thing the gospel says is there's bad news. We're broken people. We're separated from God. It affects all parts of our lives, how we are feeling about ourselves, how we're doing in other things and the relationships Jesus Christ came to reconnect us. First, Peter three 18 says he came to bring us to God. <br /><br /> He's the bridge. He's the, the, the restorer of the relationship. And he does it by the act of substitution, which is what this guy is reading about. That Isaiah 53 presents that Jesus Christ came. to provide a way that we could be forgiven for sins, which has caused the break in our relationship with God that we can be accepted to God through what Jesus has done in his life, living righteously. <br /><br /> Here's how it goes. And with this, I'm gonna close. The Bible tells us that Jesus Christ came to be the one that would, would suffer for our sins. Literally it's as if Jesus became liable for our sins. It's as if Jesus did your sins, oh, even the ones you haven't done yet, he became liable for those. He bore the, the penalty, the separation for them, but it also says that Jesus Christ lived a righteous life and that. <br /><br /> His righteousness could be laid to your account, that you could become liable for the righteousness of Christ. In other words, you could stand accepted through the things that Jesus has done with God, eternally, that you could have a relationship that has been broken by your sin. That could be now restored. <br /><br /> He did that by being a substitute for you. It's why Jesus said on the cross, why have you abandoned me? It was just an agonized emotional response. He felt the separation. What caused that separation? You did. I did our sin. He became liable for them by choice that we could be accepted to God. The good news. <br /><br /> It beggars you as bread. and love to be able to tell others about is that Jesus Christ came for broken people like us. We feel the brokenness in ourselves and our relationships, but ultimately it's the vertical, it's the foundation of hope for it. All. He came to rescue us from that state of separation this morning, just like the Ethiopian Munich. <br /><br /> He says, man, I get it. I buy, I realized this Jesus is my just can I, can I publicly testify to that by being baptized? That's exactly what he did. And that's exactly what these folks are doing the next few minutes together. Let's pray, Lord. <br /><br /> I am sure there are a number of people here. <br /><br /> Who have not yet experienced the vertical being reconnected through what Jesus came to do. Lord, I pray for them. Lord, may your spirit overwhelm them this morning with the good news of the gospel? May they be drawn to Jesus <br /><br /> in Jesus name? Amen.</div> false no <![CDATA[Lessons on Power]]> Acts 8:4-25

"Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word. Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ."



Sermon Transcript:

I invite you to take your Bibles. We're  gonna be looking at the book of acts again, as we return there acts chapter eight. We're gonna be looking at verses five to 25. As we reflect on the spirit at work to the ends of the earth

acts chapter one, verse eight has been the foundation for our understanding of the book of acts, but you will receive power when the holy spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. It is the story of God's spirits, power, enabling believers to take the gospel to those areas, to Jerusalem, to Judea Samaria, to the ends of the earth.

We mentioned last week as we began chapter eight, that we were entering season two and the. Story is now beginning to extend. It is extending beyond Sumer two Samaria and Judea. Judea is the province around Jerusalem. Samaria is the province to the Northern, uh, area above Judea. And the gospel is moving outside of the confines of Jerusalem.

There's a method that God used. We saw this last week as the, uh, San Hedron supported mob have not only stoned Steven, the first martyr of the church, but has also begun an overt and extensive persecution against the church. And many people have been forced to flee Jerusalem, relocate with their families, and God has used that to accomplish what takes place in verse four, as those believers go to other places where it says in acts chapter eight, verse four.

Now those who are scattered. When about preaching the word, this wasn't the apostles. They're the ones that are mentioned are still in Jerusalem. It was the regular day to day believers that have gone forth to these other places. That was the method. But the setting of chapter eight, verse five and following is actually a confrontation of power verse five through eight talks about Philip.

And we'll see this in a moment going to the area of Samaria, this Northern province above Judea, and there doing miraculous works of power by the holy spirit among the people. But we also find a rival power in this passage. It's presented in the person of a guy named Simon the magician, and he will have a, a power that for years has wowed the population of Samaria.

We will see that the gospel banquets Simon, and he apparently responds to the gospel that Philip is responding at presenting. But what we find in this passage is that that Simon will respond ultimately with a distorted view of power, even after he responds to the gospel chapter eight verse five to 25, to me are a classic picture of power in human experience.

As Luke shows the gospel going into Samaria, he is highlighting this, this, this varied perspective of power personal power. Supernatural power. And I just wanna give a simple definition for the concept of power power in its most basic form is simply the capacity to do something. When we think of power, usually it is power.

That is not only something you have, but something that you use. And so we also think of power as the capacity to influence the course of events or the behavior of others. The theme of power runs through this whole passage. And so I've entitled this sermon, simply lessons on power. And now I'd like to read acts chapter eight versus five to 25.

And here's what we read. Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them, the Christ and the crowds with one accord paid attention to what was being said by Philip, when they heard him and saw the signs that he did. For unclean spirits crying out with a loud voice, came out of many of them and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed.

So there was much joy in that city, but there was a man named Simon who had previously practiced magic in the city and amazed the people of Samaria saying that he himself was somebody great. They all paid attention to him from the least to the greatest saying, this man is the power of God that is called great.

And they paid attention to him because for a long time, he had amazed him with his magic, but when they believed Philip, as he preached good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized both men and women, even Simon, himself believed. And after being baptized, he continued with Philip and seeing signs and great miracles performed.

He was amazed. now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them, Peter and John who had come down and prayed for them, that they might receive the holy spirit for. He had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord, Jesus.

Then they laid their hands on them and they received the holy spirit. Now, when Simon saw that the spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles hands, he offered the money saying, give me this power also so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the holy spirit. But Peter said to him may or silver parish with you because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money.

You have neither part nor lot in this matter for your heart is not right before God repent, therefore of this wickedness of yours and pray to the Lord that if possible, the intent of your heart. May be forgiven you for, I see that you are on the gall of bitterness and in the bond of inequity and Simon answered, pray for me to the Lord that nothing of what you have said may come upon me now, when they had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritan.

Let's pray

Lord. As we come to this unique passage, as we are confronted with all these thoughts about power, God, I pray that you would, you would speak to us and teach us. Lord. I believe this is a subject that really is important in our lives to understand, as you talk so much in the book of acts about a power that is given to your people, And yet there is another aspect of power that is incredibly dangerous.

So Lord, I pray that you would guide us, teach us, instruct us in truth this morning, I pray in Jesus name. Amen. This passage reveals to us three realities of power. First of all, power amazes. Secondly, power is easily abused and third power is available from God power amazes. We're told in the first few verses versus five through eight, it says the people paid attention to Philip.

and the reason they paid attention to him was because of the things that he was doing when they saw his miracles, exercising demons, coming out with shrieks and screams healing, the paralyzed and the lame, it, it describes them as signs that he was doing and signs of what signs of the divine power. The people have also been amazed were told in verses nine and following by a person that has been a part of their community for a lengthy period of time.

This guy named Simon, the magician, he too, it says the same phrase. They had all paid attention to him. Verse 11, for a long time, he had amazed them with his magic people that were wealthy and powerful and people that are described as the least. All were wowed by Simon power does that, he was apparently like the magicians in Pharaoh's court back in the book of AC Exodus, where some of the miracles that, that Moses was able to do, they were able to replicate.

He had a, he has a replicating supernatural power. Although his comes from a different source than does Phillips. The Samaritan saw the power of God. They heard the truth of the gospel and many in the city believed. And among the crowd, responding to Phillips invitation was this interesting personage called Simon the magician now.

There are different opinions on Simon. I just gotta give a little background in all this. There are different opinions on Simon, and if you read commentaries, you look at your study Bibles. You'll probably see one in perspective or another. Some interpret him as having a genuine saving faith. And then his behavior after that is somewhat misguided.

Other people believe no. His, his misguided behavior in the latter part of the passage where Peter blasts him verbally is evidence that he actually did not have saving faith. And I, my perspective after studying this is that I am going to, uh, my interpretation is to align with the thinking of Abraham Lincoln when confronted with a thorny political issue.

And he responded this way. Well, some, and it was, it was before a group of reporters and he says, well, Some of my friends are for it. Some of my friends are not for it. I'm for my friends. That's where I'm going with this one. I don't actually believe that Luke was telling us about Simon Magus in order for or Simon the magician in order to have us discern whether his belief was real or not, that I don't think that's a focus of the packages.

I think the passage is saying he is highlighting for us the danger of power in our lives and how power, which is so much a theme in the guy, in the book of Luke in Luke's, uh, record in the, in the book of acts. It is such a powerful tool for us to be living out and proclaiming the gospel in this power or.

that power can be something that stands as a block to us enjoying and glorifying God. We will see that in a moment when we get down to verse 18 and that's really gonna be a focus, but, but here I'm just emphasizing the fact that that power amazes this. They were amazed by power power. Does that in the context, the short historical explanation of what's going on here is the story of the Samaritans they've gone in.

And, and you'll notice it says they went down from Jerusalem and it's a little confusing because if you look at a map, they're going north. Now, when, when you go north, do you go up or down? You go up, but they're going down. Why is that? Because Jerusalem was Hills, it was high. It means elevation. They were going down.

That's how they continually, this is a free biblical insight that will help you in many passages of scripture, basically. Now they're in this Northern area of Samaria and, and something unique is taking place here because the Samaritans and the Jews for almost a thousand years have been in conflict.

There has been hostility between them. It all results back to the, the early seven hundreds BC, when, when the Northern kingdom of Israel, the Southern kingdom was, was down in Judea Jerusalem. And, and then the, the Northern 10 tribes were defeated. They were a separate entity. At that point, they were defeated by the Syrian empire and they, they took all of them, uh, eastward, uh, many, they took many of the Jews and, and, and did what they did.

Uh, they just. Relocated them. They deported them to another area. At the same time they brought in other nations, they had conquered and they placed them in the area of the Northern kingdom. Now their land. Now, these people had come in and what happened over generations, many of them embraced many of the teachings of the J, but they also had some mixed in parts, but there were parts that were very much, uh, honoring of Jehovah.

God, for instance, the Samaritans accepted the old Testament as the word of God, but , but that only referred to the first five books of the old Testament. They took those, the Genesis Exodus Leviticus numbers due to Romy. The what's called the book of the law, the Torah, they saw that as, as inspired, they did not take the rest of the old Testament.

They followed the Sabbaths, the FEAS stays and the sacrificial system, but. they had erected their own temple on a, on a Mount called Mount Guin. The Jews felt they were half breeds, religiously, not true believers, not really followers of Jehovah. They were kind of a, of a halfway house between the Gentiles and the Israelites.

The same question confronted the early church. Remember the early church is all Jewish, right? They're either hellistic Jews that are Greek speaking Jews. We've seen those guys they're or they're the Hebrew Jews, which are the Hebrew or Arama being Jews in Jerusalem. And all these people that are coming to Christ are, are Jews by birth or they're pros, Jews, Jews that have, that have embraced all the practices of, of Judaism.

And so the early churches is wondering, you know, what about people like the Samaritan. They're not really Jews wholeheartedly, the Jews reject them, but they're certainly not Gentiles. They, they, they're kind of in this, in this no man's land. And so now they're hearing that some of these Samaritans, many of them actually are responding to the preaching of one of the, one of the first guys from X chapter six, Philip who's gone forth, the Philip, the evangelist who's sharing the gospel.

And a lot of 'em are getting saved and seemingly responded. He's baptizing them and, and, and, and they say, we, we need to send our best guys. We're sending Peter and John go up and, and take a look at this thing and, and help us figure out how do we look at what is going on up there in Samaria as they come to Samaria, they discover it's the real deal.

These people are genuinely repenting and believing on Jesus. So Peter and John come lay hands on them and they're given the holy spirit, just like the believers were on the day of Pentecost. This is if you will, a Samaritan Pentecost, the same experience happens there. And in the midst of all this, all this amazing stuff, Luke then takes us back to this guy, Simon, the magician.

And we see another part of the lesson on power. Not only it does power amaze, but power is easily abused. I'd like you to focus with me at verse 18 and following now when Simon saw that the spirit was given through the laying on of the Apostle's hands. Now, again, he's professed to believe he's been baptized.

He offered the money saying, give me this power also so that anyone on whom I lay my hands been received the holy spirit. And Peter then gives him a very pretty straightforward response. May your silver perish with you because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money. You have neither part nor lot in this matter for your heart is not right before God repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours and pray to the Lord that if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you for, I see that you are in the goal of bitterness and in the bond of, in inequity, Simon, the magician was to some degree, addicted to power.

This is, this is where he lived. This is his identity. It is his life. It is his lifeblood, but it was a completely dominating barrier in his journey toward wholehearted faith in Christ. We see in Simon, the magician, the danger of personal power in our lives. Now, this is really important for us to understand.

And I personally believe this is one of the reasons that, that this is included in this passage. Our goal in the book of acts is to live as the early believers lived, embracing the leadership and control of the holy spirit in our lives. But we live in a culture that worships personal power, not that generated by the spirit of God, Simon illustrates what it looks like.

And I'd like to share three things that I think are true about the abuse of personal power, of, of, of personal power becoming dangerous in one's spiritual life. The first reality is when we see ourselves differently, because we have power look back at verse nine, but there was a man named Simon who had previously practiced magic in this city and amazed the people of Samaria saying that he himself was somebody great.

they all paid attention to him from the least to the greatest saying this man is the power of God that is called great Simon felt the power that he had identified as somebody great. Somebody special power does this power is an influential reality in our lives and therefore dangerous. Brian class has written a book called corruptible.

The, uh, the book subtitled who gets power and how it changes us. It's a, it's a fascinating reading. He has a bunch of podcasts out, um, that I've listened to as well. They're interesting, not a Christian, but he is a student of power. And he tells the story of, uh, befriending a guy. He interviews over 500 different people in, in this particular book, but he got to know the guy who grew a, a man who grew up in Madagascar.

And he was basically a guy that, that, uh, started a little business as, as a young man of selling yogurt on his bicycle. And he, he got pretty good at it, pretty successful at it began to grow his thing until eventually he became known as the yogurt, CR yogurt, king of mad Madagascar. And then to everybody's shock, he was elected president of Madagascar in 2000 and.

Came in with a, a deep desire to help the people did wonderful things, completely revamped the road structure and the transportation methodologies of Madagascar built. Many medical clinics, built a strong infrastructure, many wonderful things. But over the course of the eight years that he was king, what this guy, Brian class is highlighting is, and he got to know him very well.

He saw power begin to influence him. He went out and bought a giant. One of the only countries of the world that had a, a presidential jet. He had his own one and a luxurious one. It began, they began to find out that that a lot of the roads he was constructing over time were actually roads that enhanced his yogurt, sales power, corrupted him.

And he was actually defeated by a guy in his early thirties who was a DJ from her local radio station for president. Who's still a president today in the book class addresses the famous quote by Lord Acton. Many of you have heard this statement, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts. Absolutely. I did not know until I was reading this, that, that was actually a statement that Lord Acton made in a letter when he was writing about corruption that he saw in the church.

And he, he was, he was in a debate because others were saying, yes, there is corruption. Uh, yes, there, there, there, there are things that they're doing in the church that are wrong, but to, to, to blow the whistle is going to do more harm than good in a way the end justifies the mean. And he said, Power corrupts, even in the church, absolute power there, it must be.

There must be accountability. I, I almost never talk about other churches. Certainly not in a derogatory sense. There is a podcast actually. It's, it's now in a variety of forms that Christianity today is put out. It is called the rise and fall of Mars hill. It is a fascinating study about a very influential evangelical church and community that power completely gutted the influence of that church.

And it's many, many, many satellite churches. The danger of power is something that is real for every, any of our lives. In another book I've been reading, it's called the power paradox by Docker Kelner, who is a psychology professor at the university of Berkeley and has developed an entire think tanks think tank studying power in his book, the power paradox.

He cites numerous studies on how our power corrupts and taints us one. He cites, which is a simple one is called the cookie monster study. They do it with students and he's now done it with many business people as well. Here's what they do. We doing three, we bring three people to the lab and we randomly assign one person to the role of leader.

We say, you're in charge. And then over the course of the experiment, these three individuals have to write policies for the university or their organization. They bring together facts, they write policies, they submit them and we gather these written products. Halfway into the experiment. We bring a plate of four delicious chocolate chip cookies.

We put them down and that's actually where the experiment begins. So everybody of the three takes a cookie, enjoys the cookie. They eat very happily and are grateful for it. And all groups leave one cookie on the plate because they don't like to take that last cookie because you don't want to be the person who takes the last piece of food.

But he says, eventually the cookie gets eaten. And he says, so the question is who eats the last cookie? And he said in, well, over 70% of the situations, it's the guy we appointed as the person of power. And he just, he said there were so many illustrations in the book and he says, you just intuitively begin to gain.

When, when you are given a sense of personal power, there is such a temptation to have that increase to a sense of entitlement. They do it in monopoly games. I mean, it's fascinating. They give all these things. And I, I, I watched the video of one where, where a guy was actually playing a business guy and they said, look, we're just gonna do some random, you know, let's, everybody else collects a hundred.

When they pass go, you're gonna get 200. They do these little expressions and you watch. And it's amazing how the guy begins to expect certain things, certain treatment. He makes this statement in the book, shoplifting cost Americans over $10 billion a year. So the question is who is likely to walk into the store and pocket something they don't pay for.

And indeed. It is high power wealthier people who are more likely to shoplift. He says there are famous car studies that Paul Piff has done. Who's done a lot of these studies, um, and is a part of his group, but write separately. And in these studies, they look at, who's more likely to blaze through a pedestrian zone on the road and think that their time is more important than the safety of the pedestrian.

It's people driving more high power, wealthier cars. If you're driving a high power wealthier car, please, don't no accusations here. Abraham Lincoln said it this way. Any man can withstand adversity. If you want to test his character given power,

what we're reminded of is the insidious nature of power. When we see ourselves differently because we have power. When we begin to pro this is what happened with Simon. He says he was convincing everybody. He was somebody great. Why? Because he had this supernatural power wasn't even his own. Actually, I believe it was demonic power, but he began to see himself as something.

He had a sense of entitlement power is a powerful reality in our lives. That's the second thing that happens when we connive to control our power. Peter in verse 20, says this to, to Simon. Mayor silver perish with you because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money. You have neither partner a lot in this matter for your heart is not right with before God.

He says you you're trying to get power your own way. You're using your own methodology. Well, I'll buy this so I can, I can, I can be the guy like you guys like Peter and John, you can give the spirit of power to people. I wanna do that. I'll pay for it. I, I wanna get this. There's a clamoring for power.

There's a long for power. There's a desire to be on the greater than side of, of, of the power grid. There's a book that's been written, which is its most prominent readership is by prisoners and celebrities. it is called the 48 laws of power. It's not written in our generation. It's written by Robert Green, but it has seen a tremendous, um, rebirth in the last generation.

The review of the book says this, a classic book on human psychology written by Robert Green. Most of the laws are undoubted undeniably true, but if you have any sense of morality, the book may leave you feeling very uncomfortable. There are principles that work in controlling others and securing for yourself.

Power they've been banned in some of the federal institutions penitentiaries. I'm gonna read you just some of the principles. and I'm only, there are 48 of them and I'm not, these are actually some that are not the most controversial. These are just ones I grabbed. Here are some of the things he says in the book.

One of his laws conceal your intentions, key people off balance and in the dark, by never revealing the purpose behind your actions. If they have no clue what you're up to, they cannot prepare a defense guide them far enough down the wrong path, VE them in enough smoke. And by the time they realize your intentions, it will be too late.

Another one court attention at all costs draw attention to yourself by creating an unforgettable, even controversial image court scandal. Do anything to make yourself seem larger than life and shine more brightly than those around you. Make no distinction between kinds of attentions, notoriety of any sort will bring you power better to be slandered and attacked than ignored a third.

Get others to do the work for. but always take the credit. Use the wisdom, knowledge and legwork of other people to further your own. Cause not only will such assistance save you valuable time and energy will give you a godlike aura of efficiency and speed. In the end, your helpers will be forgotten and you will be remembered.

Never do yourself. What others can do for you. There's two more, make other people come to you. Use bait. If necessary. When you force the other person to act, you are the one in control. It is always better to make your opponent come to you, abandoning their own plans in the process. And one others learn to keep people dependent on you to maintain your independence.

You must always be needed and wanted. the more you relied on, the more freedom you have make people depend on you for their happiness and prosperity, and you have nothing to fear, never teach them enough so that they can do without you. When our world thinks of power, many of those in power, secure it and keep it by applying those kinds of principles.

But they are contrary to godliness to do so is to be in the state that Simon was in, when Peter says to him, your heart is not right with God. Now here's my question. Why is Luke highlighting Simon? The magician? I mean, here's this amazing story. The Samaritans of responding to the gospel that Philip is portraying, and then they're, it's, they're so excited in Jerusalem.

They send the guys to Samaria to work with and in the middle, you've got this one guy. And first of all, it seems like it's fantastic. He believed, you know, and he embraced the gospel. But then on the other hand, you see this side of him, which makes you question, is he a real believer? If he is a real believer, a man he's certainly missing a lot.

And the whole perspective is I think Philip is trying to get us to remember yes,

power from the spirit is what enables us to glorify God to speak for God.

But the way of the world, the way of corporate power or celebrity power or political power is often very much at odds with the power that the spirit is talking about in the book of acts. So my last point is basically, what is this power. that the spirit brings and like to share three quick principles.

Actually, I, I don't want to do that yet. I wanna want mention, as one other principle, I wanna share about what happens when we are embracing the wrong kind of power and in the wrong way, we become addicted to power for our identity. It's interesting. What Peter says to, to, um, Simon. He said, I sense you are in the gall of bitterness word, word phrase.

I doubt any of you use that in the last week. You're in the goal of bitterness. GA is the, the enzyme of our digestive system. He says, bitterness is eating you up. This guy still longed for power. And he sensed the loss of it mean he's trying to pow around with Philip, but he's watching Philip do things he couldn't do.

And he's, he's, he's troubled by it. He's EMBI by it because power still gave him his worth an identity. You know, there's times when losing your job is an incredible gift of God. There's times when things don't go the way you want. And it is God's greatest mercy of you.

You don't know what is taking hold first place in your heart. Sometimes until you lose it or feel you might lose it. Larry Krab says it this way. It may be that you will not learn that Jesus is all you need until he is all that you have. Simon Magus needed power. It defined him. It was his identity. And either he was a baby Christian and still trying to hold onto that.

Or he was not a believer at all, but understand that power does that. And the danger in our lives, when we have been given positions of responsibility or greater affluence or greater impact, we lean into that.

So what is power that is appropriate? Because so much of the book of acts is about God's power and people's what does it look like? If it doesn't look like that three things, the power that is available from God, when he says you will receive power is not the kind of power that Simon saw. It. It's the kind that Philip manifested you'll notice.

First of all, this kind of power. Is seeking to bring God glory, you know, to Simon's description of verse nine and 10. He amazed the people of Samaria saying that he himself was somebody great. Compare that with Philip in verse five, Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them. The Christ.

They believed in Christ. Nobody's talking about Philip and Samaria. They're talking about Jesus. God did not put you in the position you are in to bring you glory. That's a mouthful, but he didn't, he didn't put you there. God, didn't put me as the lead pastor of this church to bring mark glory. Sometimes I do that sometimes that's my goal, but that's not God's goal.

God didn't place you where you are. Wow for you to be glorified. He did it, that he could be glorified through you and the power that he is wanting to give to your life. And you say, well, I love my job and that's awesome. And, and, and I, I love what I'm doing. I feel like I was made that's beautiful, but be careful

because having a position of influence a position of affluence, a position of power is a risky place to be. And so we're gonna ask ourselves what drives me in my job. What drives me in the responsibilities I've been given? Because I name the name of Christ. I, I believe I'm a believer. I believe I belong to Jesus.

What drives you there?

It's not, you're not there to bring you glory. You're there to bring him glory.

If we are therefore our glory and to the degree we are there for our glory, we have the same description of us that Simon got from Peter. Your heart is not right with God. There's no choice three here. So one thing we see is power available from God prompts us when we're living out of that power to bring God glory.

Secondly, it prompts us to serve others. Phillips miracles were serving people. His messing about messaging about Jesus was to serve people. The power Jesus gives always results. In being a servant, not building for yourself. There's a passage that I went to as I was studying for this message, because the verse that I memorized years ago, and I, I, I loved, I still love it's from Psalm 62, but when I went to memorize the verse, I realized I'd never understood the verse until I read it.

In this context, it Psalm 62 verse 11, and it says this once God has spoken twice, have I heard this? That power belongs to God was a time in my life when I was feeling overwhelmed. And I ju I just needed to re to, I remember a number of verses on the greatness and the bigness of God and the power of God.

I love the verse. All power ultimately comes from God. Power belongs to God. He's the powerful, mighty, unstoppable God. It's all true. But I didn't notice what the verse was actually saying because it's combined with verse 12. Here's how that goes. I'm gonna repeat again. What I just read once God has spoken twice.

Have I heard this? The power belongs to God and that to you? Oh Lord belongs steadfast. Love. What he's saying is, yeah, it's true. God is powerful. But at the same time, God is manifested by steadfast love. And these two things he's saying follow parallel tracks, all power belongs to God and you, God are marked by steadfast.

Literally unfailing love to understand God's power is to put it in the context of a God of grace and kindness and compassion. Jesus miracles are not arbitrary acts to wow. The crowd. As CS Lewis points out in his great little book miracles, his miracles were always to benefit people. He, he, he didn't just say, you know, here's this 70 pound Boulder watch.

No, he healed people. He let 'em walk. He gave their blinded eyes sight. He, he enabled their ears to hear he cast out demons, which were plaguing them. Some even raised from the dead that his power was used to benefit others. And when Philip came to Samaria and did his miracles, verse eight says here's the result.

There was much joy in the city. They were overwhelmed with gladness, with what God was doing among them, because God loved them with his power. The 48 rules of power have nothing to do with. if you read 'em all, I mean, you honestly, it's not a book. I mean, it's not a book. I encourage anybody to buy, unless you feel overwhelmed by power figures in your life.

Well, it would be helpful to just realize what's going on and how you're being played. But if you're gonna look at that as a tool to help you get ahead, you're going, don't do it. It is nothing to do with power that God gives in our lives. God's power is always oriented towards loving others. The last thing is the power of God is designed to bring God's people together.

One other, one of the naughty questions, and I'm just summarizing this whole passage. Now of this passage is about the Samaritans who believed it's a confusing thing. I mean, why didn't they get the holy spirit when they believed Peter said in acts chapter two, verse 38, Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.

And you will receive the gift of the holy spirit. This has been happening day after day after day after day for seven years in Jerusalem, among the J. And now all of a sudden they go to Samaria and the people believe they manifest to their belief by being baptized, but they don't receive the holy spirit.

Why this has caused some to say, well, that's proof of a, you know, a second work of the holy spirit. I don't think that's what it's saying at all. I think what it is reminding us that they receive the holy spirit later because of the uniqueness of this moment. God is sovereignly determined to have the apostles come down in order to authenticate, the Samaritans are equal partners in the new kingdom of Jesus.

Just like the Jews had their Pentecost, the outpouring of the spirit there, the Samaritans had their Pentecost. There is this it's gonna happen in chapter 10 with Cornelius and, and at the Gentiles. And Peter's gonna be there with his mouth on the floor going, oh my goodness, this is happening to the Gentiles.

Just like it happened to us. Well here, it's happening to the Samaritans and God is pouring out his power, even in a way that bring people together, the rules of, of power. Don't bring anybody together. They exalt somebody. We are all prone to want to exalt ourselves. But this is a power that comes from the spirit that does not divide.

That does not serve us. That is not about our glory. So here's a couple of takeaways. Here's my challenge to you. Three quick things. Number one. be careful who you're looking to as heroes and heroes,

celebrities, politicians, athletes, business models. Are they living out the power of Jesus or the power of the world? Be careful of who you're admiring. Secondly, be willing to face your own heart, because that is where Luke directs us in this passage. Simon is sternly rebuke by Peter for his allegiance to personal power and the pursuit of it that revealed his heart was not right with God

in your job, in your school, in the way you're living your life in your business practices. Are you valuing people? in your honesty, your integrity, your humility, your gentleness, if not, you may want to think about what kind of power you're really pursuing. And third, if God prompts you with conviction on those questions, embrace the beautiful message of repentance that Peter extended to SI Simon.

He says, repent, no matter how deep you've gone down, no matter how much you've had a twisted practice and, and, and how much you realize God, I'm a believer in Jesus Christ, but I'm living the rules of, for, uh, the 48 rule I'm living as if this is all about me. I've lost sight of here's the beautiful reality.

repentance takes you from the path of folly to the path of wisdom in a moment. Now there'll be things he'll lead you to change, but you can get off this treadmill where you just feel trapped as saying, God, I need you to fix this, but first of all, need to say,

I've made this all about me. I've made this all about my getting power, my being influential, my being affluent. My, my, my, the beautiful gift of repentance is that he's willing to transform you in a moment of time and then direct you to the specific steps that may need to follow out of that.

I found this a really interesting passage. It was not when I first read it, where I thought God was leading me in, in the. But the more I studied it and the more I tried to put together, what is loop, trying to lead us to? The more I realized this is about power. It's a power. It's a temptation that speaks to every one of us.

Maybe you're here today or listening online. God is speaking to you practically. Yeah. This, this one. This was for you. Well, there's a God that delights to show mercy, to transform, to get us back on the path of wisdom by his grace Lord, we look to you today. God, we see the seed of every known sin in our own hearts.

We certainly see this one, the temptation to want to exalt ourselves and to have power, just to have influence to be somebody.

But Lord, we want to follow the pattern by you. Grace of Philip, what he offered was Christ his goal. His glory was Christ. So Lord speaking to our lives, teach us draws to Christ. I pray in whose name I pray. Amen. Now go on peace to love and serve and enjoy the Lord]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/lessons-on-power 63d752b5-86c0-4fa2-9b97-9ae0b3f30ee3 Sun, 03 Jul 2022 13:17:43 GMT <div data-html="true">Acts 8:4-25 <br /><br /> "Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word. Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ." <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> I invite you to take your Bibles. We're  gonna be looking at the book of acts again, as we return there acts chapter eight. We're gonna be looking at verses five to 25. As we reflect on the spirit at work to the ends of the earth <br /><br /> acts chapter one, verse eight has been the foundation for our understanding of the book of acts, but you will receive power when the holy spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. It is the story of God's spirits, power, enabling believers to take the gospel to those areas, to Jerusalem, to Judea Samaria, to the ends of the earth. <br /><br /> We mentioned last week as we began chapter eight, that we were entering season two and the. Story is now beginning to extend. It is extending beyond Sumer two Samaria and Judea. Judea is the province around Jerusalem. Samaria is the province to the Northern, uh, area above Judea. And the gospel is moving outside of the confines of Jerusalem. <br /><br /> There's a method that God used. We saw this last week as the, uh, San Hedron supported mob have not only stoned Steven, the first martyr of the church, but has also begun an overt and extensive persecution against the church. And many people have been forced to flee Jerusalem, relocate with their families, and God has used that to accomplish what takes place in verse four, as those believers go to other places where it says in acts chapter eight, verse four. <br /><br /> Now those who are scattered. When about preaching the word, this wasn't the apostles. They're the ones that are mentioned are still in Jerusalem. It was the regular day to day believers that have gone forth to these other places. That was the method. But the setting of chapter eight, verse five and following is actually a confrontation of power verse five through eight talks about Philip. <br /><br /> And we'll see this in a moment going to the area of Samaria, this Northern province above Judea, and there doing miraculous works of power by the holy spirit among the people. But we also find a rival power in this passage. It's presented in the person of a guy named Simon the magician, and he will have a, a power that for years has wowed the population of Samaria. <br /><br /> We will see that the gospel banquets Simon, and he apparently responds to the gospel that Philip is responding at presenting. But what we find in this passage is that that Simon will respond ultimately with a distorted view of power, even after he responds to the gospel chapter eight verse five to 25, to me are a classic picture of power in human experience. <br /><br /> As Luke shows the gospel going into Samaria, he is highlighting this, this, this varied perspective of power personal power. Supernatural power. And I just wanna give a simple definition for the concept of power power in its most basic form is simply the capacity to do something. When we think of power, usually it is power. <br /><br /> That is not only something you have, but something that you use. And so we also think of power as the capacity to influence the course of events or the behavior of others. The theme of power runs through this whole passage. And so I've entitled this sermon, simply lessons on power. And now I'd like to read acts chapter eight versus five to 25. <br /><br /> And here's what we read. Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them, the Christ and the crowds with one accord paid attention to what was being said by Philip, when they heard him and saw the signs that he did. For unclean spirits crying out with a loud voice, came out of many of them and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. <br /><br /> So there was much joy in that city, but there was a man named Simon who had previously practiced magic in the city and amazed the people of Samaria saying that he himself was somebody great. They all paid attention to him from the least to the greatest saying, this man is the power of God that is called great. <br /><br /> And they paid attention to him because for a long time, he had amazed him with his magic, but when they believed Philip, as he preached good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized both men and women, even Simon, himself believed. And after being baptized, he continued with Philip and seeing signs and great miracles performed. <br /><br /> He was amazed. now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them, Peter and John who had come down and prayed for them, that they might receive the holy spirit for. He had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord, Jesus. <br /><br /> Then they laid their hands on them and they received the holy spirit. Now, when Simon saw that the spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles hands, he offered the money saying, give me this power also so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the holy spirit. But Peter said to him may or silver parish with you because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money. <br /><br /> You have neither part nor lot in this matter for your heart is not right before God repent, therefore of this wickedness of yours and pray to the Lord that if possible, the intent of your heart. May be forgiven you for, I see that you are on the gall of bitterness and in the bond of inequity and Simon answered, pray for me to the Lord that nothing of what you have said may come upon me now, when they had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritan. <br /><br /> Let's pray <br /><br /> Lord. As we come to this unique passage, as we are confronted with all these thoughts about power, God, I pray that you would, you would speak to us and teach us. Lord. I believe this is a subject that really is important in our lives to understand, as you talk so much in the book of acts about a power that is given to your people, And yet there is another aspect of power that is incredibly dangerous. <br /><br /> So Lord, I pray that you would guide us, teach us, instruct us in truth this morning, I pray in Jesus name. Amen. This passage reveals to us three realities of power. First of all, power amazes. Secondly, power is easily abused and third power is available from God power amazes. We're told in the first few verses versus five through eight, it says the people paid attention to Philip. <br /><br /> and the reason they paid attention to him was because of the things that he was doing when they saw his miracles, exercising demons, coming out with shrieks and screams healing, the paralyzed and the lame, it, it describes them as signs that he was doing and signs of what signs of the divine power. The people have also been amazed were told in verses nine and following by a person that has been a part of their community for a lengthy period of time. <br /><br /> This guy named Simon, the magician, he too, it says the same phrase. They had all paid attention to him. Verse 11, for a long time, he had amazed them with his magic people that were wealthy and powerful and people that are described as the least. All were wowed by Simon power does that, he was apparently like the magicians in Pharaoh's court back in the book of AC Exodus, where some of the miracles that, that Moses was able to do, they were able to replicate. <br /><br /> He had a, he has a replicating supernatural power. Although his comes from a different source than does Phillips. The Samaritan saw the power of God. They heard the truth of the gospel and many in the city believed. And among the crowd, responding to Phillips invitation was this interesting personage called Simon the magician now. <br /><br /> There are different opinions on Simon. I just gotta give a little background in all this. There are different opinions on Simon, and if you read commentaries, you look at your study Bibles. You'll probably see one in perspective or another. Some interpret him as having a genuine saving faith. And then his behavior after that is somewhat misguided. <br /><br /> Other people believe no. His, his misguided behavior in the latter part of the passage where Peter blasts him verbally is evidence that he actually did not have saving faith. And I, my perspective after studying this is that I am going to, uh, my interpretation is to align with the thinking of Abraham Lincoln when confronted with a thorny political issue. <br /><br /> And he responded this way. Well, some, and it was, it was before a group of reporters and he says, well, Some of my friends are for it. Some of my friends are not for it. I'm for my friends. That's where I'm going with this one. I don't actually believe that Luke was telling us about Simon Magus in order for or Simon the magician in order to have us discern whether his belief was real or not, that I don't think that's a focus of the packages. <br /><br /> I think the passage is saying he is highlighting for us the danger of power in our lives and how power, which is so much a theme in the guy, in the book of Luke in Luke's, uh, record in the, in the book of acts. It is such a powerful tool for us to be living out and proclaiming the gospel in this power or. <br /><br /> that power can be something that stands as a block to us enjoying and glorifying God. We will see that in a moment when we get down to verse 18 and that's really gonna be a focus, but, but here I'm just emphasizing the fact that that power amazes this. They were amazed by power power. Does that in the context, the short historical explanation of what's going on here is the story of the Samaritans they've gone in. <br /><br /> And, and you'll notice it says they went down from Jerusalem and it's a little confusing because if you look at a map, they're going north. Now, when, when you go north, do you go up or down? You go up, but they're going down. Why is that? Because Jerusalem was Hills, it was high. It means elevation. They were going down. <br /><br /> That's how they continually, this is a free biblical insight that will help you in many passages of scripture, basically. Now they're in this Northern area of Samaria and, and something unique is taking place here because the Samaritans and the Jews for almost a thousand years have been in conflict. <br /><br /> There has been hostility between them. It all results back to the, the early seven hundreds BC, when, when the Northern kingdom of Israel, the Southern kingdom was, was down in Judea Jerusalem. And, and then the, the Northern 10 tribes were defeated. They were a separate entity. At that point, they were defeated by the Syrian empire and they, they took all of them, uh, eastward, uh, many, they took many of the Jews and, and, and did what they did. <br /><br /> Uh, they just. Relocated them. They deported them to another area. At the same time they brought in other nations, they had conquered and they placed them in the area of the Northern kingdom. Now their land. Now, these people had come in and what happened over generations, many of them embraced many of the teachings of the J, but they also had some mixed in parts, but there were parts that were very much, uh, honoring of Jehovah. <br /><br /> God, for instance, the Samaritans accepted the old Testament as the word of God, but , but that only referred to the first five books of the old Testament. They took those, the Genesis Exodus Leviticus numbers due to Romy. The what's called the book of the law, the Torah, they saw that as, as inspired, they did not take the rest of the old Testament. <br /><br /> They followed the Sabbaths, the FEAS stays and the sacrificial system, but. they had erected their own temple on a, on a Mount called Mount Guin. The Jews felt they were half breeds, religiously, not true believers, not really followers of Jehovah. They were kind of a, of a halfway house between the Gentiles and the Israelites. <br /><br /> The same question confronted the early church. Remember the early church is all Jewish, right? They're either hellistic Jews that are Greek speaking Jews. We've seen those guys they're or they're the Hebrew Jews, which are the Hebrew or Arama being Jews in Jerusalem. And all these people that are coming to Christ are, are Jews by birth or they're pros, Jews, Jews that have, that have embraced all the practices of, of Judaism. <br /><br /> And so the early churches is wondering, you know, what about people like the Samaritan. They're not really Jews wholeheartedly, the Jews reject them, but they're certainly not Gentiles. They, they, they're kind of in this, in this no man's land. And so now they're hearing that some of these Samaritans, many of them actually are responding to the preaching of one of the, one of the first guys from X chapter six, Philip who's gone forth, the Philip, the evangelist who's sharing the gospel. <br /><br /> And a lot of 'em are getting saved and seemingly responded. He's baptizing them and, and, and, and they say, we, we need to send our best guys. We're sending Peter and John go up and, and take a look at this thing and, and help us figure out how do we look at what is going on up there in Samaria as they come to Samaria, they discover it's the real deal. <br /><br /> These people are genuinely repenting and believing on Jesus. So Peter and John come lay hands on them and they're given the holy spirit, just like the believers were on the day of Pentecost. This is if you will, a Samaritan Pentecost, the same experience happens there. And in the midst of all this, all this amazing stuff, Luke then takes us back to this guy, Simon, the magician. <br /><br /> And we see another part of the lesson on power. Not only it does power amaze, but power is easily abused. I'd like you to focus with me at verse 18 and following now when Simon saw that the spirit was given through the laying on of the Apostle's hands. Now, again, he's professed to believe he's been baptized. <br /><br /> He offered the money saying, give me this power also so that anyone on whom I lay my hands been received the holy spirit. And Peter then gives him a very pretty straightforward response. May your silver perish with you because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money. You have neither part nor lot in this matter for your heart is not right before God repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours and pray to the Lord that if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you for, I see that you are in the goal of bitterness and in the bond of, in inequity, Simon, the magician was to some degree, addicted to power. <br /><br /> This is, this is where he lived. This is his identity. It is his life. It is his lifeblood, but it was a completely dominating barrier in his journey toward wholehearted faith in Christ. We see in Simon, the magician, the danger of personal power in our lives. Now, this is really important for us to understand. <br /><br /> And I personally believe this is one of the reasons that, that this is included in this passage. Our goal in the book of acts is to live as the early believers lived, embracing the leadership and control of the holy spirit in our lives. But we live in a culture that worships personal power, not that generated by the spirit of God, Simon illustrates what it looks like. <br /><br /> And I'd like to share three things that I think are true about the abuse of personal power, of, of, of personal power becoming dangerous in one's spiritual life. The first reality is when we see ourselves differently, because we have power look back at verse nine, but there was a man named Simon who had previously practiced magic in this city and amazed the people of Samaria saying that he himself was somebody great. <br /><br /> they all paid attention to him from the least to the greatest saying this man is the power of God that is called great Simon felt the power that he had identified as somebody great. Somebody special power does this power is an influential reality in our lives and therefore dangerous. Brian class has written a book called corruptible. <br /><br /> The, uh, the book subtitled who gets power and how it changes us. It's a, it's a fascinating reading. He has a bunch of podcasts out, um, that I've listened to as well. They're interesting, not a Christian, but he is a student of power. And he tells the story of, uh, befriending a guy. He interviews over 500 different people in, in this particular book, but he got to know the guy who grew a, a man who grew up in Madagascar. <br /><br /> And he was basically a guy that, that, uh, started a little business as, as a young man of selling yogurt on his bicycle. And he, he got pretty good at it, pretty successful at it began to grow his thing until eventually he became known as the yogurt, CR yogurt, king of mad Madagascar. And then to everybody's shock, he was elected president of Madagascar in 2000 and. <br /><br /> Came in with a, a deep desire to help the people did wonderful things, completely revamped the road structure and the transportation methodologies of Madagascar built. Many medical clinics, built a strong infrastructure, many wonderful things. But over the course of the eight years that he was king, what this guy, Brian class is highlighting is, and he got to know him very well. <br /><br /> He saw power begin to influence him. He went out and bought a giant. One of the only countries of the world that had a, a presidential jet. He had his own one and a luxurious one. It began, they began to find out that that a lot of the roads he was constructing over time were actually roads that enhanced his yogurt, sales power, corrupted him. <br /><br /> And he was actually defeated by a guy in his early thirties who was a DJ from her local radio station for president. Who's still a president today in the book class addresses the famous quote by Lord Acton. Many of you have heard this statement, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts. Absolutely. I did not know until I was reading this, that, that was actually a statement that Lord Acton made in a letter when he was writing about corruption that he saw in the church. <br /><br /> And he, he was, he was in a debate because others were saying, yes, there is corruption. Uh, yes, there, there, there, there are things that they're doing in the church that are wrong, but to, to, to blow the whistle is going to do more harm than good in a way the end justifies the mean. And he said, Power corrupts, even in the church, absolute power there, it must be. <br /><br /> There must be accountability. I, I almost never talk about other churches. Certainly not in a derogatory sense. There is a podcast actually. It's, it's now in a variety of forms that Christianity today is put out. It is called the rise and fall of Mars hill. It is a fascinating study about a very influential evangelical church and community that power completely gutted the influence of that church. <br /><br /> And it's many, many, many satellite churches. The danger of power is something that is real for every, any of our lives. In another book I've been reading, it's called the power paradox by Docker Kelner, who is a psychology professor at the university of Berkeley and has developed an entire think tanks think tank studying power in his book, the power paradox. <br /><br /> He cites numerous studies on how our power corrupts and taints us one. He cites, which is a simple one is called the cookie monster study. They do it with students and he's now done it with many business people as well. Here's what they do. We doing three, we bring three people to the lab and we randomly assign one person to the role of leader. <br /><br /> We say, you're in charge. And then over the course of the experiment, these three individuals have to write policies for the university or their organization. They bring together facts, they write policies, they submit them and we gather these written products. Halfway into the experiment. We bring a plate of four delicious chocolate chip cookies. <br /><br /> We put them down and that's actually where the experiment begins. So everybody of the three takes a cookie, enjoys the cookie. They eat very happily and are grateful for it. And all groups leave one cookie on the plate because they don't like to take that last cookie because you don't want to be the person who takes the last piece of food. <br /><br /> But he says, eventually the cookie gets eaten. And he says, so the question is who eats the last cookie? And he said in, well, over 70% of the situations, it's the guy we appointed as the person of power. And he just, he said there were so many illustrations in the book and he says, you just intuitively begin to gain. <br /><br /> When, when you are given a sense of personal power, there is such a temptation to have that increase to a sense of entitlement. They do it in monopoly games. I mean, it's fascinating. They give all these things. And I, I, I watched the video of one where, where a guy was actually playing a business guy and they said, look, we're just gonna do some random, you know, let's, everybody else collects a hundred. <br /><br /> When they pass go, you're gonna get 200. They do these little expressions and you watch. And it's amazing how the guy begins to expect certain things, certain treatment. He makes this statement in the book, shoplifting cost Americans over $10 billion a year. So the question is who is likely to walk into the store and pocket something they don't pay for. <br /><br /> And indeed. It is high power wealthier people who are more likely to shoplift. He says there are famous car studies that Paul Piff has done. Who's done a lot of these studies, um, and is a part of his group, but write separately. And in these studies, they look at, who's more likely to blaze through a pedestrian zone on the road and think that their time is more important than the safety of the pedestrian. <br /><br /> It's people driving more high power, wealthier cars. If you're driving a high power wealthier car, please, don't no accusations here. Abraham Lincoln said it this way. Any man can withstand adversity. If you want to test his character given power, <br /><br /> what we're reminded of is the insidious nature of power. When we see ourselves differently because we have power. When we begin to pro this is what happened with Simon. He says he was convincing everybody. He was somebody great. Why? Because he had this supernatural power wasn't even his own. Actually, I believe it was demonic power, but he began to see himself as something. <br /><br /> He had a sense of entitlement power is a powerful reality in our lives. That's the second thing that happens when we connive to control our power. Peter in verse 20, says this to, to Simon. Mayor silver perish with you because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money. You have neither partner a lot in this matter for your heart is not right with before God. <br /><br /> He says you you're trying to get power your own way. You're using your own methodology. Well, I'll buy this so I can, I can, I can be the guy like you guys like Peter and John, you can give the spirit of power to people. I wanna do that. I'll pay for it. I, I wanna get this. There's a clamoring for power. <br /><br /> There's a long for power. There's a desire to be on the greater than side of, of, of the power grid. There's a book that's been written, which is its most prominent readership is by prisoners and celebrities. it is called the 48 laws of power. It's not written in our generation. It's written by Robert Green, but it has seen a tremendous, um, rebirth in the last generation. <br /><br /> The review of the book says this, a classic book on human psychology written by Robert Green. Most of the laws are undoubted undeniably true, but if you have any sense of morality, the book may leave you feeling very uncomfortable. There are principles that work in controlling others and securing for yourself. <br /><br /> Power they've been banned in some of the federal institutions penitentiaries. I'm gonna read you just some of the principles. and I'm only, there are 48 of them and I'm not, these are actually some that are not the most controversial. These are just ones I grabbed. Here are some of the things he says in the book. <br /><br /> One of his laws conceal your intentions, key people off balance and in the dark, by never revealing the purpose behind your actions. If they have no clue what you're up to, they cannot prepare a defense guide them far enough down the wrong path, VE them in enough smoke. And by the time they realize your intentions, it will be too late. <br /><br /> Another one court attention at all costs draw attention to yourself by creating an unforgettable, even controversial image court scandal. Do anything to make yourself seem larger than life and shine more brightly than those around you. Make no distinction between kinds of attentions, notoriety of any sort will bring you power better to be slandered and attacked than ignored a third. <br /><br /> Get others to do the work for. but always take the credit. Use the wisdom, knowledge and legwork of other people to further your own. Cause not only will such assistance save you valuable time and energy will give you a godlike aura of efficiency and speed. In the end, your helpers will be forgotten and you will be remembered. <br /><br /> Never do yourself. What others can do for you. There's two more, make other people come to you. Use bait. If necessary. When you force the other person to act, you are the one in control. It is always better to make your opponent come to you, abandoning their own plans in the process. And one others learn to keep people dependent on you to maintain your independence. <br /><br /> You must always be needed and wanted. the more you relied on, the more freedom you have make people depend on you for their happiness and prosperity, and you have nothing to fear, never teach them enough so that they can do without you. When our world thinks of power, many of those in power, secure it and keep it by applying those kinds of principles. <br /><br /> But they are contrary to godliness to do so is to be in the state that Simon was in, when Peter says to him, your heart is not right with God. Now here's my question. Why is Luke highlighting Simon? The magician? I mean, here's this amazing story. The Samaritans of responding to the gospel that Philip is portraying, and then they're, it's, they're so excited in Jerusalem. <br /><br /> They send the guys to Samaria to work with and in the middle, you've got this one guy. And first of all, it seems like it's fantastic. He believed, you know, and he embraced the gospel. But then on the other hand, you see this side of him, which makes you question, is he a real believer? If he is a real believer, a man he's certainly missing a lot. <br /><br /> And the whole perspective is I think Philip is trying to get us to remember yes, <br /><br /> power from the spirit is what enables us to glorify God to speak for God. <br /><br /> But the way of the world, the way of corporate power or celebrity power or political power is often very much at odds with the power that the spirit is talking about in the book of acts. So my last point is basically, what is this power. that the spirit brings and like to share three quick principles. <br /><br /> Actually, I, I don't want to do that yet. I wanna want mention, as one other principle, I wanna share about what happens when we are embracing the wrong kind of power and in the wrong way, we become addicted to power for our identity. It's interesting. What Peter says to, to, um, Simon. He said, I sense you are in the gall of bitterness word, word phrase. <br /><br /> I doubt any of you use that in the last week. You're in the goal of bitterness. GA is the, the enzyme of our digestive system. He says, bitterness is eating you up. This guy still longed for power. And he sensed the loss of it mean he's trying to pow around with Philip, but he's watching Philip do things he couldn't do. <br /><br /> And he's, he's, he's troubled by it. He's EMBI by it because power still gave him his worth an identity. You know, there's times when losing your job is an incredible gift of God. There's times when things don't go the way you want. And it is God's greatest mercy of you. <br /><br /> You don't know what is taking hold first place in your heart. Sometimes until you lose it or feel you might lose it. Larry Krab says it this way. It may be that you will not learn that Jesus is all you need until he is all that you have. Simon Magus needed power. It defined him. It was his identity. And either he was a baby Christian and still trying to hold onto that. <br /><br /> Or he was not a believer at all, but understand that power does that. And the danger in our lives, when we have been given positions of responsibility or greater affluence or greater impact, we lean into that. <br /><br /> So what is power that is appropriate? Because so much of the book of acts is about God's power and people's what does it look like? If it doesn't look like that three things, the power that is available from God, when he says you will receive power is not the kind of power that Simon saw. It. It's the kind that Philip manifested you'll notice. <br /><br /> First of all, this kind of power. Is seeking to bring God glory, you know, to Simon's description of verse nine and 10. He amazed the people of Samaria saying that he himself was somebody great. Compare that with Philip in verse five, Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them. The Christ. <br /><br /> They believed in Christ. Nobody's talking about Philip and Samaria. They're talking about Jesus. God did not put you in the position you are in to bring you glory. That's a mouthful, but he didn't, he didn't put you there. God, didn't put me as the lead pastor of this church to bring mark glory. Sometimes I do that sometimes that's my goal, but that's not God's goal. <br /><br /> God didn't place you where you are. Wow for you to be glorified. He did it, that he could be glorified through you and the power that he is wanting to give to your life. And you say, well, I love my job and that's awesome. And, and, and I, I love what I'm doing. I feel like I was made that's beautiful, but be careful <br /><br /> because having a position of influence a position of affluence, a position of power is a risky place to be. And so we're gonna ask ourselves what drives me in my job. What drives me in the responsibilities I've been given? Because I name the name of Christ. I, I believe I'm a believer. I believe I belong to Jesus. <br /><br /> What drives you there? <br /><br /> It's not, you're not there to bring you glory. You're there to bring him glory. <br /><br /> If we are therefore our glory and to the degree we are there for our glory, we have the same description of us that Simon got from Peter. Your heart is not right with God. There's no choice three here. So one thing we see is power available from God prompts us when we're living out of that power to bring God glory. <br /><br /> Secondly, it prompts us to serve others. Phillips miracles were serving people. His messing about messaging about Jesus was to serve people. The power Jesus gives always results. In being a servant, not building for yourself. There's a passage that I went to as I was studying for this message, because the verse that I memorized years ago, and I, I, I loved, I still love it's from Psalm 62, but when I went to memorize the verse, I realized I'd never understood the verse until I read it. <br /><br /> In this context, it Psalm 62 verse 11, and it says this once God has spoken twice, have I heard this? That power belongs to God was a time in my life when I was feeling overwhelmed. And I ju I just needed to re to, I remember a number of verses on the greatness and the bigness of God and the power of God. <br /><br /> I love the verse. All power ultimately comes from God. Power belongs to God. He's the powerful, mighty, unstoppable God. It's all true. But I didn't notice what the verse was actually saying because it's combined with verse 12. Here's how that goes. I'm gonna repeat again. What I just read once God has spoken twice. <br /><br /> Have I heard this? The power belongs to God and that to you? Oh Lord belongs steadfast. Love. What he's saying is, yeah, it's true. God is powerful. But at the same time, God is manifested by steadfast love. And these two things he's saying follow parallel tracks, all power belongs to God and you, God are marked by steadfast. <br /><br /> Literally unfailing love to understand God's power is to put it in the context of a God of grace and kindness and compassion. Jesus miracles are not arbitrary acts to wow. The crowd. As CS Lewis points out in his great little book miracles, his miracles were always to benefit people. He, he, he didn't just say, you know, here's this 70 pound Boulder watch. <br /><br /> No, he healed people. He let 'em walk. He gave their blinded eyes sight. He, he enabled their ears to hear he cast out demons, which were plaguing them. Some even raised from the dead that his power was used to benefit others. And when Philip came to Samaria and did his miracles, verse eight says here's the result. <br /><br /> There was much joy in the city. They were overwhelmed with gladness, with what God was doing among them, because God loved them with his power. The 48 rules of power have nothing to do with. if you read 'em all, I mean, you honestly, it's not a book. I mean, it's not a book. I encourage anybody to buy, unless you feel overwhelmed by power figures in your life. <br /><br /> Well, it would be helpful to just realize what's going on and how you're being played. But if you're gonna look at that as a tool to help you get ahead, you're going, don't do it. It is nothing to do with power that God gives in our lives. God's power is always oriented towards loving others. The last thing is the power of God is designed to bring God's people together. <br /><br /> One other, one of the naughty questions, and I'm just summarizing this whole passage. Now of this passage is about the Samaritans who believed it's a confusing thing. I mean, why didn't they get the holy spirit when they believed Peter said in acts chapter two, verse 38, Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. <br /><br /> And you will receive the gift of the holy spirit. This has been happening day after day after day after day for seven years in Jerusalem, among the J. And now all of a sudden they go to Samaria and the people believe they manifest to their belief by being baptized, but they don't receive the holy spirit. <br /><br /> Why this has caused some to say, well, that's proof of a, you know, a second work of the holy spirit. I don't think that's what it's saying at all. I think what it is reminding us that they receive the holy spirit later because of the uniqueness of this moment. God is sovereignly determined to have the apostles come down in order to authenticate, the Samaritans are equal partners in the new kingdom of Jesus. <br /><br /> Just like the Jews had their Pentecost, the outpouring of the spirit there, the Samaritans had their Pentecost. There is this it's gonna happen in chapter 10 with Cornelius and, and at the Gentiles. And Peter's gonna be there with his mouth on the floor going, oh my goodness, this is happening to the Gentiles. <br /><br /> Just like it happened to us. Well here, it's happening to the Samaritans and God is pouring out his power, even in a way that bring people together, the rules of, of power. Don't bring anybody together. They exalt somebody. We are all prone to want to exalt ourselves. But this is a power that comes from the spirit that does not divide. <br /><br /> That does not serve us. That is not about our glory. So here's a couple of takeaways. Here's my challenge to you. Three quick things. Number one. be careful who you're looking to as heroes and heroes, <br /><br /> celebrities, politicians, athletes, business models. Are they living out the power of Jesus or the power of the world? Be careful of who you're admiring. Secondly, be willing to face your own heart, because that is where Luke directs us in this passage. Simon is sternly rebuke by Peter for his allegiance to personal power and the pursuit of it that revealed his heart was not right with God <br /><br /> in your job, in your school, in the way you're living your life in your business practices. Are you valuing people? in your honesty, your integrity, your humility, your gentleness, if not, you may want to think about what kind of power you're really pursuing. And third, if God prompts you with conviction on those questions, embrace the beautiful message of repentance that Peter extended to SI Simon. <br /><br /> He says, repent, no matter how deep you've gone down, no matter how much you've had a twisted practice and, and, and how much you realize God, I'm a believer in Jesus Christ, but I'm living the rules of, for, uh, the 48 rule I'm living as if this is all about me. I've lost sight of here's the beautiful reality. <br /><br /> repentance takes you from the path of folly to the path of wisdom in a moment. Now there'll be things he'll lead you to change, but you can get off this treadmill where you just feel trapped as saying, God, I need you to fix this, but first of all, need to say, <br /><br /> I've made this all about me. I've made this all about my getting power, my being influential, my being affluent. My, my, my, the beautiful gift of repentance is that he's willing to transform you in a moment of time and then direct you to the specific steps that may need to follow out of that. <br /><br /> I found this a really interesting passage. It was not when I first read it, where I thought God was leading me in, in the. But the more I studied it and the more I tried to put together, what is loop, trying to lead us to? The more I realized this is about power. It's a power. It's a temptation that speaks to every one of us. <br /><br /> Maybe you're here today or listening online. God is speaking to you practically. Yeah. This, this one. This was for you. Well, there's a God that delights to show mercy, to transform, to get us back on the path of wisdom by his grace Lord, we look to you today. God, we see the seed of every known sin in our own hearts. <br /><br /> We certainly see this one, the temptation to want to exalt ourselves and to have power, just to have influence to be somebody. <br /><br /> But Lord, we want to follow the pattern by you. Grace of Philip, what he offered was Christ his goal. His glory was Christ. So Lord speaking to our lives, teach us draws to Christ. I pray in whose name I pray. Amen. Now go on peace to love and serve and enjoy the Lord</div> false no <![CDATA[The Spirit at Work]]> Acts 8:1-3

"And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles."



Sermon Transcript:

We're gonna be looking at good morning, everybody. We're gonna be looking at the book of acts chapter eight this morning. Uh, if you want to go ahead and turn there. I don't have the page in the Bible in front of you, but I guarantee it's in there. Um, I love singing that song together because it expresses what I think corporate worship is largely about.

I've said this lots of times before. I think more than anything else. Corporate worship is a time when we come together basically to say it's true. He's real. And that song is basically the apostles creed just declaring. These are things that we believe are true. Uh, it's true. It's true Friday. The 1973 landmark decision by the Supreme court known as Roe versus Wade that guaranteed to all women, the right to have an abortion was overturned by the Supreme court of the United States.

This is a monumental change because there is no longer the cover of federal law saying that a woman has the legal right to abort her baby. It is a tremendous and momentous victory for all of us who are pro-life and see all human life as sacred and valuable, including those that are yet unborn. I'd like to pray this morning because as I have been processing this in the last couple of days, there are three things that I have felt constrained to pray about.

And so I'd like to lead us and I've written out my prayer because it is, it is what I have been praying and what I'd like to pray over you this morning. Let's pray

father. We come to you this morning and certainly for many of us, this is a time of praise and gratitude. And there are three things. Lord, I'm asking you to help us with number one, help us remember who overturned the decision. Many will talk about newly appointed justices and new majority on the court are successful politicing while we do not dismiss the role.

These have played, we acknowledge, oh God that you have done this. This decision is overturned by you. and we bow before you the author of life, the one who designs and values each human life, and who has sovereignly enabled this decision to be overturned and lives to be spared father. I also ask that you would help us be humble and kind in our response to those who are hurt, angry and feel unheard in this decision.

God help us not look at this as our side winning, but as life being protected, help us to show kindness toward those that differ. This to us is about a theology of all life being valuable. Lord, let us treat those that differ as having lives of value and dignity as well. And third Lord help us be compassionate and generous in our support of infants.

and moms likely, many of the women most impacted by this decision will be those in the worst economic and sociological circumstances. We're told that over 85, 80% of them will be young mothers with little financial, practical, and moral readiness to have a child. And though it is a minuscule minority of those who have abortions, there will be women who are the victims of rape and incest and who are now given the incredible challenge of living out a pregnancy.

They did not seek or desire. Lord helped the church of Jesus to look for women who will need support and care, compassion, and potentially financial aid and God in the face of many more children potentially now being born and possibly many more adoptions needed. Help us to be ready to do as the early church did in the Roman empire to rush, to take on the care of the infants, re rejected by people around them.

God, we do thank you for this monumental decision. I praise you for the thousands of crisis pregnancy directors, including ABA and options in our own area for legislators who have fought for the unborn and for the accumulated prayers that you have prompted your people to pray in these last 49 years in Jesus name.

Amen. I invite you to turn with me to the book of acts. We're gonna look at acts chapter eight. As we jump back into our series, the spirit at work to the ends of the earth. We're actually at a, a key ju. In the book of acts, we have finished season one, season one is acts chapters one through seven. And just to highlight, you know, what they tend to do in the beginning of a new TV series season, the TV series, they, they do a little bit of a recap here.

It is. Season one was all about the coming of the spirit. At the day of Pentecost, there was bold witnessing and preaching that resulted by the believers and the apostolic leadership. There was an astonishing and continues to be an astonishing numerical growth of hoards of, of individuals have embraced Jesus as the living Christ, the living Messiah, Hebrew Jews, those that are Jews that speak Hebrew or Aramaic and Hellenistic Jews, those that speak Greek, both.

Living in Jerusalem at this time, have both been, uh, infiltrated with the gospel and many of them have come to Christ. The church has dealt with potential conflicts, greed, and showmanship has been shown by some of their number in Anani and Safira. And a long section in chapter five is presented. There has been the failure to care for the Hellenistic Jewish Christian widows while doing so for the Hebrew widows.

And they've had to weather the storm of potential conflict and, and sliding there have been healings in casting out demons, continually drawing attention to the power of the living Christ throughout the city and its, and its uh, environ of Jeru. there's been some organizational structures built in is in the midst of the opposition.

The confusion there has been also, uh, structures that have been put in place, uh, individuals called deacons or servants. We're not sure if the they're the office of deacon, but individuals to ke with the care that the apostles can continue their ministry of studying and preaching the scripture. There has been a growing sense of opposition culminating in the stoning of a prominent member to death in acts chapter seven and season one ends on a cliff hanger.

It leaves them with questions as a church in the midst of this illegal murder, actually of this, of this spokesman for the church named Steven. will the perpetrators be brought to justice who have killed him without legal sanction? Will the religious leaders take ownership for the fact that they have by their passivity have also supported the rabid crowd that has turned into such a violent opposition to the early church.

Will the Christians now be forced to change their behavior, maybe returning to, to their, their, their synagogues as the only place where they can really gather, because they're, they're unable to meet in the worship places of the temple. And now we come to season two and season gives season two. Not only gives us answers to those questions, but to many more in season chapter two, it begins in the verses.

I'd like to read to you acts chapter eight versus one through four, which form the intro. To season two, acts chapter eight through 12. Stephen has been killed in verse one of chapter eight and Saul approved of his execution. And there are arose on that day. A great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles, devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him.

But Saul was ravaging the church and entering house after house. He dragged off men and women and committed them to prison. Now, those who were scattered went about preaching the word Lord. We looked to you this morning in our study. God, to me, this passage is such a powerful portion of your word. God in the midst of so much stuff that was going on in the early church to see the sovereign working of God.

There's so much hope here. There's so much encouragement here. There's so much life for those particularly that are here in this room or watching online that are feeling exhausted and worn down and overwhelmed in their Christian journey. Lord, speak truth into our lives from your word. I pray in Jesus name.

Amen.

In chapter two of, of, excuse me, in season two of chap, which is chapter eight, we see the spirit at work now in the areas of Judea and Samaria. There's a, there's a visual, if we can bring that up, is that okay? Basically what you have in season two is storylines. You know, if you watch a TV series, you know, and you've got hooked on a series and you're binge watching, you know, that what happens in most good TV series, the way they keep you is they tell you different storylines.

You know, they're telling you this guy's story and all of a sudden it jumps to this guy's story. And all of a sudden it jumps to this girl's story. And these are the main characters that are playing it. That's exactly what happens in acts chapter eight, through 12, there are storylines, it starts with Philip and then it moves to Peter and goes back to, to Saul.

And then it goes back to Peter and then it goes back to Saul. But what it's doing is showing us through their storylines. What's going on in this area, as Jesus is through the spirit, continuing to build his church. Now there's a shocking introduction to the passage where it tells us right here in verse one, and there arose on that day.

A great persecution. We need to understand what's taking place here. It was an incredibly confusing time for the believers. The Sanhedrin did not take ownership for what happened to Steven. The Sanhedrin did not seek to punish the perpetrators of his death. They overlooked the illegality of the moment.

As a matter of fact, they seem to be the energizing force. Now behind the arrests that are going on throughout Jerusalem, it's a confusing time for the church. I'm sure there was the question. Where is God? I mean, what's happening? It's a frighten. It's, it's a disappointing time, so much good. Now everything's in, in chaos.

It's a frightening time. Many of the believers will be forced. To flee and locate elsewhere. Families, uprooted kids don't understand. I mean, becoming Jesus followers doesn't seem to be paying off for their families. What's going on. All this is happening is it would be happening for you or for me. But chapter eight is actually the story of the continuance of God building his church.

And as we look on in these early events of all the confusion, disappointment, and fear, we see what God at work looks like. And I like, I'm gonna highlight three things in our, our sermon. And I know I've had a long introduction. Don't panic. Um, there are three things that we're gonna look at. First of all, when God is at work, suffering is inevitable.

There will be suffering. Secondly, Satan. is persistent. And third God's mission is unstoppable. The first thing we find suffering is inevitable. We see this in verse two in verse two, it talks about what transpires here and, and devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him. After five to six years, Stephen has risen as a champion in the church, as such as a heist Jew, as a Greek speaking Jew, he has a unique position in the church.

He has the capacity as Saul is cuz he also was a Helen, his Jew that came from the area of modern day Turkey. Steven has the capacity to reach those that are coming at the feast days. You know, there's a large portion of Judaism at this of Israel at this time. That's not living in P in, in, in Israel, proper modern day Palestine area.

They're living different places, but they all come back for the feast days. Well guys like Steven have a unique capacity as a Greek speaking Jewish Christian to share the gospel. He's also a gifted preacher. He's so powerful in his, in his presentation of truth. That acts chapter seven says they were unable to stop him.

And it is likely, as I mentioned then, because it is the congregation of the Helen, his Jews that is taking Stephen on, which would have been the congregations that the, that the future apostle Paul Saul at this time is a part of it's likely that Saul was a part of that group trying to, to debate Stephen, but nobody can confound this guy.

He's a powerful, influential voice in the early church. And he's gone.

There is tremendous sadness among the believers. It says here there was great lamentation for him. It's interesting that it was. And of course, Steven is branded by the religious leaders here. That's why they stone him as a heretic. It was legal to bury a, her, it was illegal to mourn heretic yet. It says they went into a process of lamenting.

Steven Lamentations, uh, mourning for death typically lasted somewhere between 40 and 70 days. This was a dangerous morning. This is a dangerous thing to be lamenting when you're lamenting. The death of a heretic,

but note who felt the lost most acutely. It says this in verse two, devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him. The word devout is only used four times in the new Testament. It is, is all, all usages are by Luke. Uh, he, he loves the word. It's a word that is pregnant with meaning it's actually from two words in the original, it means to, um, To take hold well to take hold of the faith with seriousness and theory and thoroughness, Luke only uses this G word of guys that he considers heroes it's used of, of Simian in the book of Luke, you know, this old guy that was there waiting for, for God's promise of, of the Messiah who had come.

And he actually has given the gift when Jesus has pretended presented to temple as a boy of actually seeing him, he was a devout man. He took hold of the faith. Well, it's used that the devout Jews and the day of Pentecost that embraced the gospel and, and, and they had come and, and, and to Luke, these were the meritorious ones that, that had pursued God wholeheartedly and, and understood who Jesus was.

It will later be used in the book of acts of a guy named Ananias. Who is the F excuse me, of, of, of Cornelius, who is the first of the Gentile Christians to believe this was a, this was a term that was deeply meaningful to Luke. And when he calls somebody devout, he means these people are all in. They, they take hold well, thoroughly wholeheartedly.

Yet these are the ones that are sorrowing. These are the ones filled with Lamentations. These are the, are the ones in the midst of God's building program of the church that are identified of being, uh, sorrowful. They have suffered the loss. They feel the loss of Steven

when God is at work. When God is moving with all the other pieces that are taking place, there will be suffering. That is part of the Christian journey. It's always a part it's part of every Christian journey that really wants to be used and walk with God, do Dietrich. Bonoff for made this statement, his classic work, the cost of discipleship and Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a man who stood against Hitler, a courageous man of faith in the, in the German church.

One of the few really outspoken believers at the time. And he was ultimately a martyr, but he wrote in his tremendous book, the cost of discipleship. He says this, the cross is laid on every Christian, the first Christ suffering, which every man must experience is the call to abandon the attachments of this world.

It is that dying of the old man, which is the result of his encounter with Christ. As we embark upon discipleship, we surrender ourselves to Christ in union with his death. We give our lives over to death. Thus it begins. The cross is not the terrible end to an otherwise God fearing and happy life, but it meets us at the beginning of our communion with Christ.

And then he makes this statement, which has actually become famous for him. When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die. And you may say, that's not really the kind of the eye. And I was looking for a little happier news when it came to church this morning. But if we're gonna honestly say that we wanna align ourselves with God at work God at work in my day, in my generation, in my town, in my office, in my family.

We've gotta say, Lord, I, I. I'm willing to take the call that you invite me to come and die, die to my own desires, die to my own expectations, God, to my own request and, and insistence for my life. There will be things Jesus will ask you to give up. There will be things he asked you to do. There will be things he allows and purposes for your life that you won't understand.

He will ask you to take up his cross and obey him to change for him. When Jesus called these devout men, he bid them to come and die and where the spirit is at work. It is always in the midst of such people that say, Jesus, I hear the call, come and die, whatever, whatever I am, whatever I have, whatever I want.

I lay it at the feet of your throne. and there will be hard stuff. The beautiful thing of that, any of you could testify who have walked with Jesus for many years and who know the journey of suffering and loss,

you would say he is worth it. What I have in him, what I have come to know in him, there's not one piece that I would reclaim and say, no Lord, I, I, I, that part, I want back that part, I insists that we, we relive again,

but where God is at work, he is asking for people to say, yeah, I, uh, I'm willing to come and die. The second thing. The enemy is persistent in such a season. This is found in verse one and three verse one, and there arose on that day. A great persecution against the church in Jerusalem. The damn burst on that day, the religious leaders lost control the people because they had lost control of themselves.

It was a pre else. There's a progression of opposition that's been going on in chapter one through seven. This chart shows it as you look at this, this chart, uh, go ahead and bring 'em all up and I'll just walk way through it. First of all, there was a warning given to the disciples. The first time they were brought in this is Peter and John.

The second time they get brought in again, they're flogged and, and now the line in the sand is, is it's more intense because they've actually gone against what they had said. Don't cross this line. They continue to preach this time. They're they're beaten flogged. Now we see it's, it's heightened to the sense of Mardo.

And now in verse one of chapter eight, It's persecution, not just the apostles, everybody, anyone who walks with Jesus for a while has come to have a healthy respect of the devil. Even though we read of persecution that is done by people, it is clear as we study the new Testament and the book of acts that the power behind the power is the arch enemy of God, Satan and his emissaries.

And if you've walked with God for a while, you have grown to have a health respect for the devil. Now, just if you're here and you're thinking, wait a minute, are, are you gonna tell me that you actually, I mean, you sound like, at least you have a little bit of you, it sound like you've at least graduated from grade school, mark, and you still believe in a devil.

Yeah. But I wanna just understand what I mean by that. I, I don't believe that the devil has appeared to all of us. I don't believe the devil is alumni present. Like, God, I don't think he's everywhere present, but it's clear from the scriptures that one third of the angels rebelled with Satan against God.

And that one third has comprised an army that is clearly in the pages of both the old and new Testament in an organizational structure where the devil is overseeing, but he has this entire entourage of, of, of forces. So I would clearly say I would be willing to make this declaration. I would guess none of us have actually had an encounter with the devil himself.

I mean, that's left for the Billy Grahams and others of the world. Um, we've probably never got much below a second or third grade level. I will say. I'm very fine with that. Actually. I have no aspirations to work up the chain

but the enemy is at work. And as he is at work, you find some things out about how he plays.

He works ruthlessly, he works without conscience. He works and he plays dirty

and where God is working, the devil is invariably at work. Okay. So we come to this juncture now at the end of 0.2, and we say, okay, great sermon, mark suffering. is inevitable. The devil is persistent. Is that all you got? I mean, you got anything else? Yeah, here it is. Point three. God's mission is unstoppable.

What Satan designed for evil Jesus intended for good. Here's what we read in the latter part of verse one, a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem. And they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. The word scattered here is actually the word that, that is it is the literal word in the original is the word depo.

If you've ever heard of that, you know that as the word that is used to describe the scattering of the Jews, it began all the way back in, in about 5 87 BC, where, where the Babylonians took the J uh, I'm trying to remember if, yeah, I'm going east. The Babylonians took a lot of the Israelis skies like Daniel and the boys were there, uh, in Babylon.

And when they were freed by God, 70 years later, a lot of them didn't go back. A lot of Jews stayed there. They had built their lives. They had generations of living there and now Judaism began to get spread. When Alexander gr the great came through the Jews began to follow the pathways that he had opened throughout the whole world for the first time.

And they began to settle in different parts of the world, north Africa, uh, Italy, uh, Europe in it, particularly in Turkey area, as well as going east. They had gone west and it was called the diaspora. It literally meant to, uh, uh, Scatter throughout scatter throughout the world, there had been this Jewish diaspora,

but here's the interesting thing. This word diaspora is the word scatter is the word is referring to seed. That was how the Jews viewed what had happened to them in their centuries past. As a matter of fact, in one of their writings, second Baruch, it says this, it was talking about this and it talked about the, the scattering of the Jews by God, among the Gentiles was so that they could do good for the Gentil.

This is exactly what's happening here in acts chapter eight, God is scattering his people. And the striking thing is it's pictured of scattering seed. The concept is the believers in Jerusalem, which had been growing in their faith in their newfound faith in Jesus, as they had begun to understand truth.

And they've begun to witness to their neighbors and began to, to learn how to share the message of Christ as the persecution came, these believers moved on to other places. And what did they become? They became scattered seed in other places in order that new fruit could grow up in the lives of people outside of Jerusalem.

It is a fascinating word. It's a fascinating concept that those who are scattered in verse four here in chapter eight, are described as those who were scattered. When about preaching the words, not talking about the apostles, they're the only ones that don't go. We assume that's one of two reasons. One, because it was preeminently, the Hellenistic Jews that went, or because the apostles were held in such reverence by people, the J the, the religious leaders didn't dare go after them.

We don't know which is true. It actually will be the, the civil leaders in acts 12 that go after the disciples next, but it wasn't. The mucky mucks was the average, Joe, the average Mary, that, that were spread and, and were, were, were disenfranchised from their own home relocated. But they went out and they were the ones that were sharing in conversations with their newfound neighbors, the message of Jesus.

They became seed.

This is exactly what Jesus predicted would happen. Here's what he said in acts chapter one, verse eight, which is the theme of our whole series. But you'll receive power when the holy spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea and in Samaria. This is what acts chapter eight through 12 is portraying the movement of God outside of Jerusalem, into the surrounding region of, of, of Judea and the Northern area of Samaria.

What happened is the devil overreached himself. The wind of persecution that swept through Jerusalem did not extinguish the flame of the church. The wind spread the flame that God was at work in 1949 in China, when the communist took over, they defeated the nationalist army of China. One of the first things they did was go into a, a, a overt persecution of any, uh, outsider, any foreigner, particularly those that were missionaries at the time, there were 637 China inland missionaries, the founder of China and Lu mission was a guy named Hudson Taylor, a wonderful man of God.

They had ministry all over China. There were churches that had been started. All this going all 637 missionaries in China were either, um, killed. um, as happened with a guy like Eric Little, have you ever seen chariots of fire? Um, or they left, they had to get out. It seemed a season of utter disaster for the growth of the church in China.

And yet of those 637 China inland missionaries within four years, 286 of them had been redeployed in other parts of Asia and Japan at the same time. Over the next 30 years, the church in China was estimated to have grown 30 to 40 times larger than it had ever been under the ministry of the missionaries.

What Satan designs for evil God intends for? Good. This is the picture that we are reminded of in acts chapter eight. He's a big God. He's a, a kingdom building God. But if we don't think this was confusing time for the believers, we're not really reading the text. This was confusing. This was frightening.

This was unsettling. I mean, this is their families. They're trying to take care of their kids have questions. They don't know how to answer, but we look back with them and they would have done it in years to come and say, yeah, but all the time, God is at work intending for good that which was designed for evil.

The second thing we find is who Satan sent to persecute Jesus, Jesus recruited to serve him. I want to just read you. I think I have a number of the passages. It says in verse two here in chapter eight, that Saul. Was ravaging the church, William Barkley, a Greek scholar, and written a lot of commentaries well respected in his analysis of Greek words says this word ravaging actually means to act with brutal and sadistic cruelty.

Saul was the attack dog of the religious establishment against Christians. I wanna just read you a little bit of what he did, uh, in his own words throughout the book of acts, I'm just gonna hit him real quick. In acts chapter nine, verse one, Saul was still breathing, threats and murders against the disciples of the.

In acts 22, verse three through five. Saul says it this way. I'm a Jew born in Tarsis in Silesia, but brought up in this city, educated the feet of Gaia that's Jerusalem, according to the strict manner of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God, as you all are this day, I persecuted this way to the death binding and delivering to prison, both men and women as the high priest and whole counts of elders can bear me witness verse 19.

And I said, Lord, they themselves know that in one synagogue, after another imprisoned and beat those who believed in you, he actually went into the synagogues and would do a public beating there in the midst of, of others. Those that had been identified as followers of Jesus in acts 26. I not only locked up many of the saints in prison after receiving authority from the chief priest, but when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them.

And I punished them often in all the synagogues and tried to make them blast femme and enraging fury against them. I persecuted them even to foreign cities in Galatians. He says it this way is the last one for you have heard of my former way of life in Judaism. How I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it.

I wanted to destroy this thing. I was the arch attack dog, trying to take it down. I went with all of the power and authority of the leaders of Israel

and Jesus in acts chapter nine, appears to Saul and makes this remarkable statement to him. I am Jesus who you are persecuting. I love that thought. He doesn't say this I'm Jesus whose church. You're persecuting. That was true, but he says, so you're persecuting. My people it's persecuting me. You come after my people, you come after me.

You're going after my movement. But ultimately it's coming after me of me, Jesus pursued Saul and drew him into his family, drew him into his service. It was such a shocking, unexpected unlooked for experience that three years after Saul had embraced Jesus Christ as savior. And of course the word was out.

He had preached publicly everything, uh, uh, in the Northern up in Damascus was in the Northern city that when Saul wanted to come and meet with the apostles, nobody wanted to meet with him. It says they were scared of him. They thought he was, is another ploy. I mean, this was a, this was the master manipulator.

It's the guy that beat people, came into synagogues and grabbed. That's a Christian, that's a Christian beat them publicly front of their families. This is the guy that, that was responsible at bringing them in and they were condemned to death. And now he says, well, you know, they're thinking, oh, he's got a new method.

Now he's gonna pretend he's one of us.

There may have never been a more unlikely candidate for the family of God than this man. You need to remember that as you pray for your kids, you need to remember that as you pray for that friend, that you've been praying for 50 years and it just seems it can't happen.

There are four things I'm closing with this that we can be confident of from this passage. This is free. It's not in your notes. Number one, we can be confident of Jesus protection. The devil is going all stops against the people of God here yet. If there is one thing we see as we look at the book of acts, as we see, as we look at the, the, the totality of scripture is that nothing gets through the protective surrounding shield of God, but what God allows, yes, the opposition is coming from saying, yes, it is not God that is sending this persecution, but God allows what he purposes to allow.

There are going to be things in your Christian journey that God allows. And you're gonna say this can't, it's not possible. There are gonna be moments when you feel an attack that is so dark and frightening that you're going to realize what it means that the devil is the devil. What I hope it will do for you is what I know it has done for me.

There have been moments in my Christian life

where I never felt so vulnerable, so fragile, so fearful and so helpless in, in, in the face of, of evil directed my way. God saw me through that, but I realized that every day the devil has a desire to do that to me, that it wasn't like the next day. The devil said, ah, you know, that was Mark's turn. I'm gonna try some, you know, now I think he's okay.

You know, he said, that's been, we'll go try somebody else every day. Every moment he desires to take you out. Do you know that if you belong to Jesus, the fact that he hasn't is because there is one that is protecting you every moment of every day, you don't have the goods to stand against the power of darkness.

We can wax confidence and find confidence of Jesus protection. The second thing we can be confident of Jesus' love how much, much Jesus love you. That when the devil wants to seek to hurt, when the devil seeks to hurt Jesus, it is to do harm to his children. I mean, that's how somebody would do it to you, right?

They go after your kids. How much must God love you that the greatest assault of the enemy and, and, and, and that, that Jesus is the soul soul. You're not ultimately persecuting my children. You're ultimately persecuting me. You're hurting me as you attack my people. We can be confidence. Third of Jesus control what the devil intended for evil God intended for good.

This is always the purpose and plan and design of God. And right now some of you are saying, I see no good. I see only darkness. I see a overwhelmed. I, I, I, I,

what is intended for evil? God is willing to use for good. That's the beauty of being able to lean into God and say, God, I don't know how I'm gonna make it through this. I don't know what you're doing in this. I, I mean, why in the world would you take Steven? He's like our number one guy for the illness use and they come four times, three times a year.

They come here and, and he's the perfect guy to take the gospel to them. How can this be good? Well, God says I got more going on here than you see the fourth thing. We can be confident of. Jesus' ability to conquer hearts. Jesus vanquishing of soul gives every parent hope for every child. Even those many, many years into hardened rejection of the gospel.

Don't stop praying. Don't stop crying out to God. Don't stop believing. He is the heart conquering savior and and he proves. With a guy named Saul. Let's pray together this morning, Lord,

we worship you. But we see in this passage as you, we see a big God, we see a protective God. We see a God that is able to use even scary things and overwhelming sadness and, and things we don't understand, but to believe there is more going on that we understand right now, we see you pursuing a soul and Lord, it makes us cry out for the souls in our lives.

We want them so much to become Paul. and it renews our vision to pray that way and believe you for that. So Lord, take this simple four verse passage and your hearts to wanna be your people to wanna respond, Lord. Yes. If you say to me, I invite you to come and die. We say, yes, you're worthy of it

in Jesus name. I pray. Amen. Now go in peace to love and serve and enjoy the Lord. Thank you.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-spirit-at-work 7f38085b-acd9-45fc-a58c-1ff26d5c1698 Sun, 26 Jun 2022 11:05:12 GMT <div data-html="true">Acts 8:1-3 <br /><br /> "And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles." <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> We're gonna be looking at good morning, everybody. We're gonna be looking at the book of acts chapter eight this morning. Uh, if you want to go ahead and turn there. I don't have the page in the Bible in front of you, but I guarantee it's in there. Um, I love singing that song together because it expresses what I think corporate worship is largely about. <br /><br /> I've said this lots of times before. I think more than anything else. Corporate worship is a time when we come together basically to say it's true. He's real. And that song is basically the apostles creed just declaring. These are things that we believe are true. Uh, it's true. It's true Friday. The 1973 landmark decision by the Supreme court known as Roe versus Wade that guaranteed to all women, the right to have an abortion was overturned by the Supreme court of the United States. <br /><br /> This is a monumental change because there is no longer the cover of federal law saying that a woman has the legal right to abort her baby. It is a tremendous and momentous victory for all of us who are pro-life and see all human life as sacred and valuable, including those that are yet unborn. I'd like to pray this morning because as I have been processing this in the last couple of days, there are three things that I have felt constrained to pray about. <br /><br /> And so I'd like to lead us and I've written out my prayer because it is, it is what I have been praying and what I'd like to pray over you this morning. Let's pray <br /><br /> father. We come to you this morning and certainly for many of us, this is a time of praise and gratitude. And there are three things. Lord, I'm asking you to help us with number one, help us remember who overturned the decision. Many will talk about newly appointed justices and new majority on the court are successful politicing while we do not dismiss the role. <br /><br /> These have played, we acknowledge, oh God that you have done this. This decision is overturned by you. and we bow before you the author of life, the one who designs and values each human life, and who has sovereignly enabled this decision to be overturned and lives to be spared father. I also ask that you would help us be humble and kind in our response to those who are hurt, angry and feel unheard in this decision. <br /><br /> God help us not look at this as our side winning, but as life being protected, help us to show kindness toward those that differ. This to us is about a theology of all life being valuable. Lord, let us treat those that differ as having lives of value and dignity as well. And third Lord help us be compassionate and generous in our support of infants. <br /><br /> and moms likely, many of the women most impacted by this decision will be those in the worst economic and sociological circumstances. We're told that over 85, 80% of them will be young mothers with little financial, practical, and moral readiness to have a child. And though it is a minuscule minority of those who have abortions, there will be women who are the victims of rape and incest and who are now given the incredible challenge of living out a pregnancy. <br /><br /> They did not seek or desire. Lord helped the church of Jesus to look for women who will need support and care, compassion, and potentially financial aid and God in the face of many more children potentially now being born and possibly many more adoptions needed. Help us to be ready to do as the early church did in the Roman empire to rush, to take on the care of the infants, re rejected by people around them. <br /><br /> God, we do thank you for this monumental decision. I praise you for the thousands of crisis pregnancy directors, including ABA and options in our own area for legislators who have fought for the unborn and for the accumulated prayers that you have prompted your people to pray in these last 49 years in Jesus name. <br /><br /> Amen. I invite you to turn with me to the book of acts. We're gonna look at acts chapter eight. As we jump back into our series, the spirit at work to the ends of the earth. We're actually at a, a key ju. In the book of acts, we have finished season one, season one is acts chapters one through seven. And just to highlight, you know, what they tend to do in the beginning of a new TV series season, the TV series, they, they do a little bit of a recap here. <br /><br /> It is. Season one was all about the coming of the spirit. At the day of Pentecost, there was bold witnessing and preaching that resulted by the believers and the apostolic leadership. There was an astonishing and continues to be an astonishing numerical growth of hoards of, of individuals have embraced Jesus as the living Christ, the living Messiah, Hebrew Jews, those that are Jews that speak Hebrew or Aramaic and Hellenistic Jews, those that speak Greek, both. <br /><br /> Living in Jerusalem at this time, have both been, uh, infiltrated with the gospel and many of them have come to Christ. The church has dealt with potential conflicts, greed, and showmanship has been shown by some of their number in Anani and Safira. And a long section in chapter five is presented. There has been the failure to care for the Hellenistic Jewish Christian widows while doing so for the Hebrew widows. <br /><br /> And they've had to weather the storm of potential conflict and, and sliding there have been healings in casting out demons, continually drawing attention to the power of the living Christ throughout the city and its, and its uh, environ of Jeru. there's been some organizational structures built in is in the midst of the opposition. <br /><br /> The confusion there has been also, uh, structures that have been put in place, uh, individuals called deacons or servants. We're not sure if the they're the office of deacon, but individuals to ke with the care that the apostles can continue their ministry of studying and preaching the scripture. There has been a growing sense of opposition culminating in the stoning of a prominent member to death in acts chapter seven and season one ends on a cliff hanger. <br /><br /> It leaves them with questions as a church in the midst of this illegal murder, actually of this, of this spokesman for the church named Steven. will the perpetrators be brought to justice who have killed him without legal sanction? Will the religious leaders take ownership for the fact that they have by their passivity have also supported the rabid crowd that has turned into such a violent opposition to the early church. <br /><br /> Will the Christians now be forced to change their behavior, maybe returning to, to their, their, their synagogues as the only place where they can really gather, because they're, they're unable to meet in the worship places of the temple. And now we come to season two and season gives season two. Not only gives us answers to those questions, but to many more in season chapter two, it begins in the verses. <br /><br /> I'd like to read to you acts chapter eight versus one through four, which form the intro. To season two, acts chapter eight through 12. Stephen has been killed in verse one of chapter eight and Saul approved of his execution. And there are arose on that day. A great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles, devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him. <br /><br /> But Saul was ravaging the church and entering house after house. He dragged off men and women and committed them to prison. Now, those who were scattered went about preaching the word Lord. We looked to you this morning in our study. God, to me, this passage is such a powerful portion of your word. God in the midst of so much stuff that was going on in the early church to see the sovereign working of God. <br /><br /> There's so much hope here. There's so much encouragement here. There's so much life for those particularly that are here in this room or watching online that are feeling exhausted and worn down and overwhelmed in their Christian journey. Lord, speak truth into our lives from your word. I pray in Jesus name. <br /><br /> Amen. <br /><br /> In chapter two of, of, excuse me, in season two of chap, which is chapter eight, we see the spirit at work now in the areas of Judea and Samaria. There's a, there's a visual, if we can bring that up, is that okay? Basically what you have in season two is storylines. You know, if you watch a TV series, you know, and you've got hooked on a series and you're binge watching, you know, that what happens in most good TV series, the way they keep you is they tell you different storylines. <br /><br /> You know, they're telling you this guy's story and all of a sudden it jumps to this guy's story. And all of a sudden it jumps to this girl's story. And these are the main characters that are playing it. That's exactly what happens in acts chapter eight, through 12, there are storylines, it starts with Philip and then it moves to Peter and goes back to, to Saul. <br /><br /> And then it goes back to Peter and then it goes back to Saul. But what it's doing is showing us through their storylines. What's going on in this area, as Jesus is through the spirit, continuing to build his church. Now there's a shocking introduction to the passage where it tells us right here in verse one, and there arose on that day. <br /><br /> A great persecution. We need to understand what's taking place here. It was an incredibly confusing time for the believers. The Sanhedrin did not take ownership for what happened to Steven. The Sanhedrin did not seek to punish the perpetrators of his death. They overlooked the illegality of the moment. <br /><br /> As a matter of fact, they seem to be the energizing force. Now behind the arrests that are going on throughout Jerusalem, it's a confusing time for the church. I'm sure there was the question. Where is God? I mean, what's happening? It's a frighten. It's, it's a disappointing time, so much good. Now everything's in, in chaos. <br /><br /> It's a frightening time. Many of the believers will be forced. To flee and locate elsewhere. Families, uprooted kids don't understand. I mean, becoming Jesus followers doesn't seem to be paying off for their families. What's going on. All this is happening is it would be happening for you or for me. But chapter eight is actually the story of the continuance of God building his church. <br /><br /> And as we look on in these early events of all the confusion, disappointment, and fear, we see what God at work looks like. And I like, I'm gonna highlight three things in our, our sermon. And I know I've had a long introduction. Don't panic. Um, there are three things that we're gonna look at. First of all, when God is at work, suffering is inevitable. <br /><br /> There will be suffering. Secondly, Satan. is persistent. And third God's mission is unstoppable. The first thing we find suffering is inevitable. We see this in verse two in verse two, it talks about what transpires here and, and devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him. After five to six years, Stephen has risen as a champion in the church, as such as a heist Jew, as a Greek speaking Jew, he has a unique position in the church. <br /><br /> He has the capacity as Saul is cuz he also was a Helen, his Jew that came from the area of modern day Turkey. Steven has the capacity to reach those that are coming at the feast days. You know, there's a large portion of Judaism at this of Israel at this time. That's not living in P in, in, in Israel, proper modern day Palestine area. <br /><br /> They're living different places, but they all come back for the feast days. Well guys like Steven have a unique capacity as a Greek speaking Jewish Christian to share the gospel. He's also a gifted preacher. He's so powerful in his, in his presentation of truth. That acts chapter seven says they were unable to stop him. <br /><br /> And it is likely, as I mentioned then, because it is the congregation of the Helen, his Jews that is taking Stephen on, which would have been the congregations that the, that the future apostle Paul Saul at this time is a part of it's likely that Saul was a part of that group trying to, to debate Stephen, but nobody can confound this guy. <br /><br /> He's a powerful, influential voice in the early church. And he's gone. <br /><br /> There is tremendous sadness among the believers. It says here there was great lamentation for him. It's interesting that it was. And of course, Steven is branded by the religious leaders here. That's why they stone him as a heretic. It was legal to bury a, her, it was illegal to mourn heretic yet. It says they went into a process of lamenting. <br /><br /> Steven Lamentations, uh, mourning for death typically lasted somewhere between 40 and 70 days. This was a dangerous morning. This is a dangerous thing to be lamenting when you're lamenting. The death of a heretic, <br /><br /> but note who felt the lost most acutely. It says this in verse two, devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him. The word devout is only used four times in the new Testament. It is, is all, all usages are by Luke. Uh, he, he loves the word. It's a word that is pregnant with meaning it's actually from two words in the original, it means to, um, To take hold well to take hold of the faith with seriousness and theory and thoroughness, Luke only uses this G word of guys that he considers heroes it's used of, of Simian in the book of Luke, you know, this old guy that was there waiting for, for God's promise of, of the Messiah who had come. <br /><br /> And he actually has given the gift when Jesus has pretended presented to temple as a boy of actually seeing him, he was a devout man. He took hold of the faith. Well, it's used that the devout Jews and the day of Pentecost that embraced the gospel and, and, and they had come and, and, and to Luke, these were the meritorious ones that, that had pursued God wholeheartedly and, and understood who Jesus was. <br /><br /> It will later be used in the book of acts of a guy named Ananias. Who is the F excuse me, of, of, of Cornelius, who is the first of the Gentile Christians to believe this was a, this was a term that was deeply meaningful to Luke. And when he calls somebody devout, he means these people are all in. They, they take hold well, thoroughly wholeheartedly. <br /><br /> Yet these are the ones that are sorrowing. These are the ones filled with Lamentations. These are the, are the ones in the midst of God's building program of the church that are identified of being, uh, sorrowful. They have suffered the loss. They feel the loss of Steven <br /><br /> when God is at work. When God is moving with all the other pieces that are taking place, there will be suffering. That is part of the Christian journey. It's always a part it's part of every Christian journey that really wants to be used and walk with God, do Dietrich. Bonoff for made this statement, his classic work, the cost of discipleship and Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a man who stood against Hitler, a courageous man of faith in the, in the German church. <br /><br /> One of the few really outspoken believers at the time. And he was ultimately a martyr, but he wrote in his tremendous book, the cost of discipleship. He says this, the cross is laid on every Christian, the first Christ suffering, which every man must experience is the call to abandon the attachments of this world. <br /><br /> It is that dying of the old man, which is the result of his encounter with Christ. As we embark upon discipleship, we surrender ourselves to Christ in union with his death. We give our lives over to death. Thus it begins. The cross is not the terrible end to an otherwise God fearing and happy life, but it meets us at the beginning of our communion with Christ. <br /><br /> And then he makes this statement, which has actually become famous for him. When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die. And you may say, that's not really the kind of the eye. And I was looking for a little happier news when it came to church this morning. But if we're gonna honestly say that we wanna align ourselves with God at work God at work in my day, in my generation, in my town, in my office, in my family. <br /><br /> We've gotta say, Lord, I, I. I'm willing to take the call that you invite me to come and die, die to my own desires, die to my own expectations, God, to my own request and, and insistence for my life. There will be things Jesus will ask you to give up. There will be things he asked you to do. There will be things he allows and purposes for your life that you won't understand. <br /><br /> He will ask you to take up his cross and obey him to change for him. When Jesus called these devout men, he bid them to come and die and where the spirit is at work. It is always in the midst of such people that say, Jesus, I hear the call, come and die, whatever, whatever I am, whatever I have, whatever I want. <br /><br /> I lay it at the feet of your throne. and there will be hard stuff. The beautiful thing of that, any of you could testify who have walked with Jesus for many years and who know the journey of suffering and loss, <br /><br /> you would say he is worth it. What I have in him, what I have come to know in him, there's not one piece that I would reclaim and say, no Lord, I, I, I, that part, I want back that part, I insists that we, we relive again, <br /><br /> but where God is at work, he is asking for people to say, yeah, I, uh, I'm willing to come and die. The second thing. The enemy is persistent in such a season. This is found in verse one and three verse one, and there arose on that day. A great persecution against the church in Jerusalem. The damn burst on that day, the religious leaders lost control the people because they had lost control of themselves. <br /><br /> It was a pre else. There's a progression of opposition that's been going on in chapter one through seven. This chart shows it as you look at this, this chart, uh, go ahead and bring 'em all up and I'll just walk way through it. First of all, there was a warning given to the disciples. The first time they were brought in this is Peter and John. <br /><br /> The second time they get brought in again, they're flogged and, and now the line in the sand is, is it's more intense because they've actually gone against what they had said. Don't cross this line. They continue to preach this time. They're they're beaten flogged. Now we see it's, it's heightened to the sense of Mardo. <br /><br /> And now in verse one of chapter eight, It's persecution, not just the apostles, everybody, anyone who walks with Jesus for a while has come to have a healthy respect of the devil. Even though we read of persecution that is done by people, it is clear as we study the new Testament and the book of acts that the power behind the power is the arch enemy of God, Satan and his emissaries. <br /><br /> And if you've walked with God for a while, you have grown to have a health respect for the devil. Now, just if you're here and you're thinking, wait a minute, are, are you gonna tell me that you actually, I mean, you sound like, at least you have a little bit of you, it sound like you've at least graduated from grade school, mark, and you still believe in a devil. <br /><br /> Yeah. But I wanna just understand what I mean by that. I, I don't believe that the devil has appeared to all of us. I don't believe the devil is alumni present. Like, God, I don't think he's everywhere present, but it's clear from the scriptures that one third of the angels rebelled with Satan against God. <br /><br /> And that one third has comprised an army that is clearly in the pages of both the old and new Testament in an organizational structure where the devil is overseeing, but he has this entire entourage of, of, of forces. So I would clearly say I would be willing to make this declaration. I would guess none of us have actually had an encounter with the devil himself. <br /><br /> I mean, that's left for the Billy Grahams and others of the world. Um, we've probably never got much below a second or third grade level. I will say. I'm very fine with that. Actually. I have no aspirations to work up the chain <br /><br /> but the enemy is at work. And as he is at work, you find some things out about how he plays. <br /><br /> He works ruthlessly, he works without conscience. He works and he plays dirty <br /><br /> and where God is working, the devil is invariably at work. Okay. So we come to this juncture now at the end of 0.2, and we say, okay, great sermon, mark suffering. is inevitable. The devil is persistent. Is that all you got? I mean, you got anything else? Yeah, here it is. Point three. God's mission is unstoppable. <br /><br /> What Satan designed for evil Jesus intended for good. Here's what we read in the latter part of verse one, a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem. And they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. The word scattered here is actually the word that, that is it is the literal word in the original is the word depo. <br /><br /> If you've ever heard of that, you know that as the word that is used to describe the scattering of the Jews, it began all the way back in, in about 5 87 BC, where, where the Babylonians took the J uh, I'm trying to remember if, yeah, I'm going east. The Babylonians took a lot of the Israelis skies like Daniel and the boys were there, uh, in Babylon. <br /><br /> And when they were freed by God, 70 years later, a lot of them didn't go back. A lot of Jews stayed there. They had built their lives. They had generations of living there and now Judaism began to get spread. When Alexander gr the great came through the Jews began to follow the pathways that he had opened throughout the whole world for the first time. <br /><br /> And they began to settle in different parts of the world, north Africa, uh, Italy, uh, Europe in it, particularly in Turkey area, as well as going east. They had gone west and it was called the diaspora. It literally meant to, uh, uh, Scatter throughout scatter throughout the world, there had been this Jewish diaspora, <br /><br /> but here's the interesting thing. This word diaspora is the word scatter is the word is referring to seed. That was how the Jews viewed what had happened to them in their centuries past. As a matter of fact, in one of their writings, second Baruch, it says this, it was talking about this and it talked about the, the scattering of the Jews by God, among the Gentiles was so that they could do good for the Gentil. <br /><br /> This is exactly what's happening here in acts chapter eight, God is scattering his people. And the striking thing is it's pictured of scattering seed. The concept is the believers in Jerusalem, which had been growing in their faith in their newfound faith in Jesus, as they had begun to understand truth. <br /><br /> And they've begun to witness to their neighbors and began to, to learn how to share the message of Christ as the persecution came, these believers moved on to other places. And what did they become? They became scattered seed in other places in order that new fruit could grow up in the lives of people outside of Jerusalem. <br /><br /> It is a fascinating word. It's a fascinating concept that those who are scattered in verse four here in chapter eight, are described as those who were scattered. When about preaching the words, not talking about the apostles, they're the only ones that don't go. We assume that's one of two reasons. One, because it was preeminently, the Hellenistic Jews that went, or because the apostles were held in such reverence by people, the J the, the religious leaders didn't dare go after them. <br /><br /> We don't know which is true. It actually will be the, the civil leaders in acts 12 that go after the disciples next, but it wasn't. The mucky mucks was the average, Joe, the average Mary, that, that were spread and, and were, were, were disenfranchised from their own home relocated. But they went out and they were the ones that were sharing in conversations with their newfound neighbors, the message of Jesus. <br /><br /> They became seed. <br /><br /> This is exactly what Jesus predicted would happen. Here's what he said in acts chapter one, verse eight, which is the theme of our whole series. But you'll receive power when the holy spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea and in Samaria. This is what acts chapter eight through 12 is portraying the movement of God outside of Jerusalem, into the surrounding region of, of, of Judea and the Northern area of Samaria. <br /><br /> What happened is the devil overreached himself. The wind of persecution that swept through Jerusalem did not extinguish the flame of the church. The wind spread the flame that God was at work in 1949 in China, when the communist took over, they defeated the nationalist army of China. One of the first things they did was go into a, a, a overt persecution of any, uh, outsider, any foreigner, particularly those that were missionaries at the time, there were 637 China inland missionaries, the founder of China and Lu mission was a guy named Hudson Taylor, a wonderful man of God. <br /><br /> They had ministry all over China. There were churches that had been started. All this going all 637 missionaries in China were either, um, killed. um, as happened with a guy like Eric Little, have you ever seen chariots of fire? Um, or they left, they had to get out. It seemed a season of utter disaster for the growth of the church in China. <br /><br /> And yet of those 637 China inland missionaries within four years, 286 of them had been redeployed in other parts of Asia and Japan at the same time. Over the next 30 years, the church in China was estimated to have grown 30 to 40 times larger than it had ever been under the ministry of the missionaries. <br /><br /> What Satan designs for evil God intends for? Good. This is the picture that we are reminded of in acts chapter eight. He's a big God. He's a, a kingdom building God. But if we don't think this was confusing time for the believers, we're not really reading the text. This was confusing. This was frightening. <br /><br /> This was unsettling. I mean, this is their families. They're trying to take care of their kids have questions. They don't know how to answer, but we look back with them and they would have done it in years to come and say, yeah, but all the time, God is at work intending for good that which was designed for evil. <br /><br /> The second thing we find is who Satan sent to persecute Jesus, Jesus recruited to serve him. I want to just read you. I think I have a number of the passages. It says in verse two here in chapter eight, that Saul. Was ravaging the church, William Barkley, a Greek scholar, and written a lot of commentaries well respected in his analysis of Greek words says this word ravaging actually means to act with brutal and sadistic cruelty. <br /><br /> Saul was the attack dog of the religious establishment against Christians. I wanna just read you a little bit of what he did, uh, in his own words throughout the book of acts, I'm just gonna hit him real quick. In acts chapter nine, verse one, Saul was still breathing, threats and murders against the disciples of the. <br /><br /> In acts 22, verse three through five. Saul says it this way. I'm a Jew born in Tarsis in Silesia, but brought up in this city, educated the feet of Gaia that's Jerusalem, according to the strict manner of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God, as you all are this day, I persecuted this way to the death binding and delivering to prison, both men and women as the high priest and whole counts of elders can bear me witness verse 19. <br /><br /> And I said, Lord, they themselves know that in one synagogue, after another imprisoned and beat those who believed in you, he actually went into the synagogues and would do a public beating there in the midst of, of others. Those that had been identified as followers of Jesus in acts 26. I not only locked up many of the saints in prison after receiving authority from the chief priest, but when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. <br /><br /> And I punished them often in all the synagogues and tried to make them blast femme and enraging fury against them. I persecuted them even to foreign cities in Galatians. He says it this way is the last one for you have heard of my former way of life in Judaism. How I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. <br /><br /> I wanted to destroy this thing. I was the arch attack dog, trying to take it down. I went with all of the power and authority of the leaders of Israel <br /><br /> and Jesus in acts chapter nine, appears to Saul and makes this remarkable statement to him. I am Jesus who you are persecuting. I love that thought. He doesn't say this I'm Jesus whose church. You're persecuting. That was true, but he says, so you're persecuting. My people it's persecuting me. You come after my people, you come after me. <br /><br /> You're going after my movement. But ultimately it's coming after me of me, Jesus pursued Saul and drew him into his family, drew him into his service. It was such a shocking, unexpected unlooked for experience that three years after Saul had embraced Jesus Christ as savior. And of course the word was out. <br /><br /> He had preached publicly everything, uh, uh, in the Northern up in Damascus was in the Northern city that when Saul wanted to come and meet with the apostles, nobody wanted to meet with him. It says they were scared of him. They thought he was, is another ploy. I mean, this was a, this was the master manipulator. <br /><br /> It's the guy that beat people, came into synagogues and grabbed. That's a Christian, that's a Christian beat them publicly front of their families. This is the guy that, that was responsible at bringing them in and they were condemned to death. And now he says, well, you know, they're thinking, oh, he's got a new method. <br /><br /> Now he's gonna pretend he's one of us. <br /><br /> There may have never been a more unlikely candidate for the family of God than this man. You need to remember that as you pray for your kids, you need to remember that as you pray for that friend, that you've been praying for 50 years and it just seems it can't happen. <br /><br /> There are four things I'm closing with this that we can be confident of from this passage. This is free. It's not in your notes. Number one, we can be confident of Jesus protection. The devil is going all stops against the people of God here yet. If there is one thing we see as we look at the book of acts, as we see, as we look at the, the, the totality of scripture is that nothing gets through the protective surrounding shield of God, but what God allows, yes, the opposition is coming from saying, yes, it is not God that is sending this persecution, but God allows what he purposes to allow. <br /><br /> There are going to be things in your Christian journey that God allows. And you're gonna say this can't, it's not possible. There are gonna be moments when you feel an attack that is so dark and frightening that you're going to realize what it means that the devil is the devil. What I hope it will do for you is what I know it has done for me. <br /><br /> There have been moments in my Christian life <br /><br /> where I never felt so vulnerable, so fragile, so fearful and so helpless in, in, in the face of, of evil directed my way. God saw me through that, but I realized that every day the devil has a desire to do that to me, that it wasn't like the next day. The devil said, ah, you know, that was Mark's turn. I'm gonna try some, you know, now I think he's okay. <br /><br /> You know, he said, that's been, we'll go try somebody else every day. Every moment he desires to take you out. Do you know that if you belong to Jesus, the fact that he hasn't is because there is one that is protecting you every moment of every day, you don't have the goods to stand against the power of darkness. <br /><br /> We can wax confidence and find confidence of Jesus protection. The second thing we can be confident of Jesus' love how much, much Jesus love you. That when the devil wants to seek to hurt, when the devil seeks to hurt Jesus, it is to do harm to his children. I mean, that's how somebody would do it to you, right? <br /><br /> They go after your kids. How much must God love you that the greatest assault of the enemy and, and, and, and that, that Jesus is the soul soul. You're not ultimately persecuting my children. You're ultimately persecuting me. You're hurting me as you attack my people. We can be confidence. Third of Jesus control what the devil intended for evil God intended for good. <br /><br /> This is always the purpose and plan and design of God. And right now some of you are saying, I see no good. I see only darkness. I see a overwhelmed. I, I, I, I, <br /><br /> what is intended for evil? God is willing to use for good. That's the beauty of being able to lean into God and say, God, I don't know how I'm gonna make it through this. I don't know what you're doing in this. I, I mean, why in the world would you take Steven? He's like our number one guy for the illness use and they come four times, three times a year. <br /><br /> They come here and, and he's the perfect guy to take the gospel to them. How can this be good? Well, God says I got more going on here than you see the fourth thing. We can be confident of. Jesus' ability to conquer hearts. Jesus vanquishing of soul gives every parent hope for every child. Even those many, many years into hardened rejection of the gospel. <br /><br /> Don't stop praying. Don't stop crying out to God. Don't stop believing. He is the heart conquering savior and and he proves. With a guy named Saul. Let's pray together this morning, Lord, <br /><br /> we worship you. But we see in this passage as you, we see a big God, we see a protective God. We see a God that is able to use even scary things and overwhelming sadness and, and things we don't understand, but to believe there is more going on that we understand right now, we see you pursuing a soul and Lord, it makes us cry out for the souls in our lives. <br /><br /> We want them so much to become Paul. and it renews our vision to pray that way and believe you for that. So Lord, take this simple four verse passage and your hearts to wanna be your people to wanna respond, Lord. Yes. If you say to me, I invite you to come and die. We say, yes, you're worthy of it <br /><br /> in Jesus name. I pray. Amen. Now go in peace to love and serve and enjoy the Lord. Thank you.</div> false no <![CDATA[What is Spiritual Fatherhood?]]> Luke 15: 11-31

"And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him."



Sermon Transcript:

We have made it this far in the service without one dad joke that stops right now.

when does a dad joke? When does a joke become a dad joke? When the punchline is apparent, it's not near that

funny and I love how some of you started to laugh and then other ones are like, I'm supposed to get it. So now I'll chip in, what do you call a cow that doesn't produce any. a milk dud. I don't know why I like that one happy father's day, everyone. Uh, we recognize that for some, this is a wonderful day filled with memories filled with anticipation of celebrations.

Later this day, filled with reminders of dreams fulfilled. We also know this day, activates some trauma. It's a return for some to disappointment, to longings that are deferred or even destroyed for some, we sing and talk about God, the father, we understand that is a light topic for some, but for others, the title father is filled with feelings of abuse or distance or disapproval.

and I think for many or most this day is not clean enough to fit into an all light or all dark category for most, or for many. This day is a collision of both settled space and unsettled space. And I just want to say, however, you come welcome and thank you for spending this day here with us this morning, we're gonna be in Luke chapter 15.

Uh, if you have your pew Bible starts on 8 21, page 8 21. This is a story often referred to as a story of the prodigal son. Um, probably a little more appropriately named the story of the compassionate father who is a little more the focus of the story, but. It's a story that many of, you know, nonetheless and we desire to learn from God and to learn from what it means to be a spiritual father from the text from Luke chapter 15, this is Jesus speaking.

And he said there was a man who had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, father give me the share of the property that is coming to me. And he divided his property between the two sons. Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country there. He squandered his property in reckless living.

And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country who sent him into his field to feed pigs. And when he was longing to be fed with the pods, the pigs ate. No one gave him anything.

But when he came to himself, he said, how many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread? But I perish here with hunger. I will arise and go to my father. And I will say to him, fathers I've sinned against heaven. And before you, I'm no longer worthy to be called your son, treat me as one of your hired servants.

And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion and ran and ran and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, father I've sinned against heaven before you I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. But the father said to his servant bring quickly the best robe, put it on him, put the ring on his hand and choose on his feet and bring the fat and cap and kill it.

Let us eat and celebrate. for miss. My son was dead and alive. Again, he was lost and is found and they began to celebrate. Now his older son was in the field and as he came junior to the house, he heard music and dancing and he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. And he said to him, your brother has come and your father has killed the fat and calf because he is received him back safe and sound.

He was angry. He refused to go in. His father came out and intrigued him, but he answered his father. Look these many years, I've served you and I've never disobeyed your command yet. You gave me a young goat that I might celebrate with my friends. Young goats, no fatted calf, apparently, but when his son of yours came, who has dev devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatten calf for him.

And he said to his, to him, son, you are always with me. All that his mind is yours. It was fitting to celebrate and be glad. for this, your brother was dead and is alive. He was lost and is found father. We come to this story. We come to this day, we ask you for grace. We know that on this particular day, June 17th, that we are heightened in our awareness of what has happened in our lives with fathers.

And we ask you for clarity and understanding to simply understand who you are and who you in you you've called us to be in Jesus name. Amen. This story has meant much to me. Uh, this story for many of you has meant much to you in these last few years. This story has taken on another dimension for. I think initially reading this story and understanding the story.

We, we come to identify right with that younger son, that old prodigal son and, and that the younger son in the story has this outer leaving of home. He wants his life away. He basically is coming to his dad and saying, Hey, I wish you were dead. I want my stuff. I don't want you. I don't want home. I don't want relationship.

What I want is the good that you will give me when you die. So he takes that good and goes and lives his own way. He lives away from home, his outward waywardness. Realizing often as we identify with this, that I am the prodigal son. Every time I search for unconditional love, where it cannot be found. and in the story, he goes looking and eventually ends wishing he had the fulfillment that the pigs had.

And we understand also that there's, there's another son in here and it's, this sun is more complicated. This sun is more confused. This sun is like, I don't want goat. I want cow. Why do you, why I've been so faithful, I've been so good. And this son had outer, um, connection or outer. Uh, he stayed home outwardly, but it's apparent that inwardly.

He was not at home, that he was inner wayward, inner distance, such that he didn't want his family back. He didn't want his brother back. What he wanted was ultimately the praise, adoration and stuff that comes with being good. In this story, come to identify. As many of you have is that I am the proud son or the older son.

Every time I try to use my talent, my morality, or my sense of who I am as above or below to determine my identity and to judge everyone else over the last few years. And there's a book that's been very influential for me, um, called the return of the pro gold son, um, by Henry Nowan and this in this book and understanding this story, that there is another character being the loving father that of course represents God.

And of course represents who God is, but this character that represents God also gives. Incredible insight on what it means to be a spiritual father. Spiritual maturity is always about being a son, but not just being a son. It is growing into something and someone beyond myself, few mother's days ago, I got a chance to talk about spiritual motherhood and the incredible rich call in scripture of what it means to, to grow into spiritual motherhood today on father's day, the privilege, um, to talk to you about what does it mean to grow into spiritual fatherhood and a few things just about the father in this story that he has centered.

Number one on others and not bound up in his own fear, not obsessed with his own comfort, his own wealth rights or reputation. Secondly, he freely joyfully shows, compassion and love with music and dancing he gives and does not hoard third. He fears God and lives righteously, regardless of what those around him might think.

And this type of parenting and business strategy that he employed here would not be viewed well in the community. I wanna talk a little bit about, and I think we have some slides just on what is spiritual fatherhood as an overview? What does, what does it mean to, to, um, become a spiritual father? What are we talking about when we're talking about this concept biblically and then also co talking about the cues we get in the text of Luke 15, number one by spiritual fatherhood.

We're talking more about what it means to be a man of. Then a dad of God, the spiritual fathering is the male Christian path to Christian maturity. Whether you have kids or not. I mentioned Henry noun has been deeply formative to me in this discussion. Interestingly, he is not married or was not married.

And does, did not have children. Spiritual fatherhood is the path of Christian maturity for men. What does it mean? The question is to be a godly man. Secondly, spiritual fatherhood is something we grow into over time. Um, there's so much energy and, and it's not all bad. It's, it's a lot American and it's, there's some scripture that we can pull in here, but, but there's, there's a lot of energy about live your destiny and, and, uh, build your kingdom and, and, and claim your space and, and see great things happen.

And a lot of that can be really. But oftentimes what happens is that it's hard to find people in the Christian walk that simply steadily put their shoulder to the sled and seek first the kingdom of God, regardless of the adoration, it brings to their individual worlds. And, and so what we can do, like, like any human being in any culture our time can do, we can do with this within Christian communities is look for gifting.

And this is important, right? Corinthians is big on this is, is to grow into our spiritual gifting without. We don't accurately show God's glory. Our gifts are demonstrated to show God's glory and passion. We talk about passion and passion's important. It was important to Christ. There are, there are places in scripture where this calling out of passion, revelations, the churches to live an impasioned life is so vital and important without this.

Our faith is cold and lifeless, but there is a danger when we determine Christian maturity by growing into gifting and passion, these things can be dangerous if not grounded in time in contentment, in dispassionate faithfulness, in seasons, where things are exciting. And in seasons, when they're not. and if you're here and you're like, Hey, I I'm six months into this Christian life or, or you're here and it you're, you're in high school and you absolutely love Jesus.

And, and, and you're hearing me say, well, it takes time. I understand this says like, well, what does that mean? I think it means that the beauty of the thing of Christ is to be with him. And, and in his ways it's it's child is it's shallow enough for, for children to play in, but, but deep enough to drown the wisest scholar, right.

And that's borrowed from somebody else. But as we grow deeper into Christ, we are always growing more into maturity. The joy of the Christian life is that there's more to experience. and it takes time. Third spiritual, compassionate fatherhood is the way men are called to be like, God, we are not like called to be like God in every way.

Right? We are not commanding in scripture. Hey, go make worlds, go, come up with ideas for animals, go die on the cross for people's sins. We are not called. We can do say WWJD. And, and how do we be? Like, God, there are ways we are called to be like, God, but there are many ways where we are not, we are not called to be like God, in his glory, we are not called to be like God, in his control and sovereignty, we are not called to be like God in his constant victory.

And we can want these things, but these are not ways that men are called to be like, God, not very often in scripture. Does it say we are called to be like, God, but there's this wonder. Poem Psalm 112 called the poem of the Sage. And it talks about, um, a person, a man of God there's it uses this word canoe, which is used 12 times in scripture, every other occurrence in scripture where this word is used.

It is used specifically about the character of God. But in this poem, one in Psalm 112 uses the same phrase, even in darkness, like shines for the upright, for those who are gracious and compassionate and righteous in Luke 6 36 through 38, the same book of what we read this Jesus simply says, be compassionate just as your father is compassionate.

Compassion. Is one of the deep and lasting ways we are called to be like, God, the father fourth spiritual fatherhood is about having the strength to become less, not the strength to become more, come more. I don't think spiritual father means you're doing less or, or even having less responsibility, but spiritual fatherhood is ultimately being less about ourselves, less about our ego living into the beauty of self forgetfulness.

Right. We see these calls when, when, um, in, throughout the new Testament, when they speak specifically to men, Ephesians five, what's the call for husbands? lay down your very life for your spouse. Young men, first, Peter FYS five, likewise young men be subjected to elders close. You clothe yourself. All of you with humility towards one another.

Jesus. Speaking to his disciples, the very people who would become the spiritual fathers of the early church says this. If you want to be great, learn to be the servant of all, Jesus called them together and said, you know that the rulers of the Gentile lowered it over them and their high officials exec exercise authority over them.

Not so with you. That's not gonna be the way we do things here. Instead. Whoever wants to become great. Must be your servant. This is laying down the need to have the last word laying down the need to justify. Laying down the need to have that toy laying down the rights to our stuff, to our position, to our advancement.

When I was in college, went on spring break and, uh, had a, I had a question. I was a weird college student and like, I was like philosophical and, you know, annoying. So I would sit with people and then not just want to have good conversations, I would want to have great conversations. Right. And you're already like, that is so annoying.

Okay. So anyway, I was in Washington and there was this guy there, he was a, a veterinarian. And like, just as this really cool dude and like, um, I met him and he was my buddy's friend. And like, just really seemed like he was a humble man. And so sitting with him, I don't know, talking about cows or sheep or whatever you talk about with veterinarians in Washington.

And, and of course I lightly say to him, Can you tell me the difference between a boy and a man, and that had to just annoy the heck out of him. You know, just like, dude, I don't even know you like and he, and he hesitated and he was very kind to this annoying college student. And he said, he, but he came up with this answer, which has been helpful for me.

He said, a boy thinks the world is all about himself. A man understands his place within the bigger picture. There is teaching out there. And, and again, a lot of it can be good, um, about like find your way and be your destiny and all those things. And I'm not saying those things are all wrong, but they can sneak into our spiritual life of like, how do I become David?

David was playing a harp in the wilderness with no thought of being a. How do I, how do I become become Daniel? Daniel is just a dude who said, you know what? I'm gonna pray to God. And not to other people. When people become heroes of the faith is not because they sought to be something or someone special, right?

Moses is out there in the wilderness, looking, looking after his sheep. He's not trying to lead his people. So when God comes, he basically says no, and God says again, I want you to do this. He's like, I don't wanna be that guy. So when we are, when in our Christian life, as we're growing in spiritual fatherhood men, our call is not, how do I step up?

How do I be bigger? How do I know more? Don't go for Jim Moses. Don't aim for Moses aim for jet row. Aim for men who steadily faithfully put one foot on top of another, put one brick on the wall at a time saying, I want to follow this Christ. And if he taps me on the shoulder to do something else, I'll obey, but I'm not aspiring or jumping or clawing towards being more fifth.

And again, lastly, on that and I'll stop yelling and stuff. Um, I think that on the spiritual fatherhood is about having less make movement towards servanthood, not towards legacy five. Spiritual fatherhood starts at home again, spiritual. Fatherhood's not always being a dad. Starts with difficult siblings can start dealing with your own kids.

It can start with, um, the people that you are closest to. That is the way, and actually the biblical model of spiritual fatherhood we see in first Timothy three, it starts by the love of God, making deep strides in your own family and core relationships. So this is somewhat of an image and of spiritual fatherhood and very simply where we're gonna go this morning is how, what are the steps to take towards spiritual fatherhood?

How does this happen? I don't think there's a guy in here that says, man, I really want to think about myself more or a guy in here. If you're honest to say, man, my ego is my friend. You know, your ego is your enemy. You know that the, the, the constant thought about image or notoriety or importance or comparison, it's not something you sit there and say, how do I get more of that?

Right. It's something we use and utilize because it always momentarily feels good to build the ego, but we know deep down, that's not a way towards freedom. That's not a way towards being any type of the men that I respect in my life. How do we move to spiritual fatherhood first? And if nothing else you get, sonship is always the way to spiritual fatherhood.

Only love from God, beget, selfless love towards others. Only love of God fulfills the longings that we often try to fulfill by self obsess. and I know for, for some of you, a gracious father is a mysterious concept. It just doesn't fit with what you know about fatherhood. It's not what you've seen in your dad.

Your Christian life is often an effort to please a distant father, cuz that's what you have known. The father that runs the father, that disrobe the father that plays the music and leads. The dancing is not a, a father that you may understand. There is no way to spiritual fatherhood without deeply, fully, truly knowing the love of God.

I've said this a number of times, I believe spiritual growth is a process of understanding. God's love. The first thing we do is understand that God can love. And that's a journey, right? Cause sometimes you think, well, God, I know that's distant, scary stuff. I don't know if that God can love. And, but once knowing God can love a much more intimate, deep, and painful and scary and hopeful step is to say, not only can God love, but God can love me.

And that's a lifelong journey of understanding. And it's not just about understanding ourselves, although that's part of it. It's about understanding a radical disrobing, lunging sprinting, father of love. And I believe the last as we see this in the book of John is to simply understand not only can God love, not only can God love me, but that God by his very nature is love.

Unless we understand the radical embrace of the father. We will ever be the prodigal or the proud. And honestly, why wouldn't we be the prodigal? And the proud are trying to get whatever they can away from home. And you understand it outward away from home or inner away from home. They're trying to get whatever they can.

It's only when understanding all that home offers in the father. Can we release some of those egos? Uh, I mentioned to you that, uh, a book is important to me in this. This is the conclusion of the book, which is so unfair to read cuz now you're not gonna read the book, but this is the very end of the book.

The return of the prodigal sum by Henry Nowan living out spiritual fatherhood requires the radical dis discipline of being home. as a self rejecting person, always in search of affirmation and affection. I find it impossible to love consistently without asking for something to return. But the discipline is precisely to give up, wanting to accomplish this myself as a heroic feat to claim for myself, spiritual fatherhood and the authority of compassion that belongs to it.

I have to let the rebellious younger son and the resentful elder son step up on the platform to receive the unconditional forgiving love that the father offers me and to discover there the call to be home as my father is home, then both sons and me can gradually be transformed into the compassionate father.

This transformation leads to the fulfillment of the deepest desire of my restless heart. because what joy can be there for me then to stretch out my tired arms and let my hands rest in blessing on the shoulders of my homecoming children.

Secondly, to be watchful, right? What, in this story, it says the son was a long way off as we build, how do we build towards being spiritual fathers? The, the son's a long way off. Well, what does that say about the dad? The dad's looking right. He is watching for him. It doesn't say that, uh, a whole caravan of people came and said, Hey, I saw this guy doing the pigs.

He's gonna come this day. So be watching no he's watchful watching for opportunity. Where is the father? He's on the porch. It feels uncomfortable or, or, or, or maybe even ungodly to think that we could be caring for other people in this way. But I do think a spiritual father is not just someone who, who like is teaching theology and making big church decisions.

A spiritual father is somebody who's watching. Who's looking for opportunity. Someone who's is a, a man here he's gone on, but he was here and he would tell me, Ben, I pray for you every day. And I don't know if, I don't know if he prayed for other people. I didn't care. I just knew this was a man who prayed for me every single day.

That's looking for opportunities being watchful. Third. We developed spiritual fatherhood by building compassion muscles every day. Um, oh, what's his name? John Eldridge, um, wrote my favorite book. John Eldridge wrote called walking with God, and it was simply his journals and, uh, in his journals, uh, was cool to see of, of his relationship with God.

And he was journaling and thinking about how people want to hear from God at key moments in their life, who should I marry? What college should I go to? What should I do with my 401k? What, how should I buy appropriately? Right. Big questions want to hear from God? And he said, but if we, if we are O only going to the recital, like a violin recital without doing the practicing, it's gonna be really bad at the recital.

And some of you have heard bad violinist. It is something, I don't know what it is. Clarinet, violin, beautiful instruments, but for the, the, the growing pains are terrible anyway. And, and he was saying how that we need to be building our connection with God deeply. To build those muscles each day, because then when it gets to recitals, we know how to be connected.

I think that's for compassion to build over time, um, to just show you what a cool person I am. I uh, wanna tell you that I played the flute. You're already laughing, um, in a homeschool band in high school. I was not good enough to be the first chair of the flutes in the homeschool band that went to Peter.

Thank you, Peter. I was the second chair in the homeschool. And I know what you're thinking. You're like, oh, homeschool band, listen, homeschoolers. We're bad at a lot of stuff. Okay. I was homeschooled for part of high school. We're bad at a lot of stuff, but we are good at orchestra. Okay. I mean, there's, it was one guy in there he like practiced eight hours a day and looks the serious.

And we had this, this teacher in homeschool band and she was so intense. I like lived in fear of this woman. She would go just a little Baton thing and I'm like, she's gonna stab my eye. I just know what she's gonna do with that thing. Her hair's going crazy. And, and I would sit there. This is no lie. And my, my, my really awesome, like girls loved it.

Second chair, flute and homeschool band. Um, and I would sit there and I would move my fingers because it looked like I was playing. And this is what I realized. If I don't make mistakes, she doesn't know. So I'm not gonna make a mistake and do the wrong timing and play the long wrong trail thing. So I'll just do.

And that's what I did. I faked it. Right. And, and all, everyone else in that orchestra was like, Mr. Holland's Opus. I mean, they were amazing but guess what happened? When I came to the concert, I looked even more focused. I like Peter would rock back and forth in first chair. So, you know, I did in second chair, rock back and forth and I faked it again, cuz I'm not gonna get there and pretend like I know cuz I hadn't done the practice and I sure did not want that lady with the stabbing Baton thing to realize that compassion is something that needs to be built every day.

It's something that is built an inconvenient time, something that is built with difficult employees or bosses. It's something that's built when having children that don't always behave. Like you want them to, it's something that is built while driving compassion is a muscle that gets built over time.

And so when the father on the porch sees the sun, it's not complicated for him. It's not that guy embarrassed me so bad. I have not even thought about it until right now. And it's all coming back to me now, what he did and all the servants I had to fire because he took the stuff he's not on the porch wrestling with what to do.

Why? Because he had worked it through, he had wrestled and done the things that he had needed to do. He had built compassion over time. So that for the outward rebellion he had room, but also for his son, that's sitting there saying, Hey, why'd you do this? And he's like, dude, what's wrong with you? He had room.

For also then word being at home himself, building the compassion muscles every day, made him have room for his boys. As you came in, you received a communion cup, and we're talking about fatherhood talking about God, the father talking about spiritual fatherhood and the role in the Trinity that Christ plays as most often depicted is as the son.

It's what Jesus called himself. But today as we go towards the table, wanna recall passage in Isaiah nine, a prophecy about Jesus that would come wonderful. Counselor, everlasting father. Mighty God is the title where Christ himself is called the father. Does that mean he is God the father? No. But does he play this role of spiritual fatherhood?

Absolutely. And today we reflect on a spiritual fatherhood that was known not by winning wars, but by wrapping a towel on his waist and receiving a cross,

if you're a believer in the Lord, Jesus Christ this morning, if you would delicately, um, take off the lid for the bread, just as you holding your hands, I'm gonna give you a couple of moments, um, to reflect and remember of how Jesus himself. laid down his life for his sheep. How he, as a spiritual father for us, led us in the way of sacrifice.

Gonna give you a couple moments to reflect on him, and then we'll partake together.

Paul writes that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, he took bread right in his own hands, real bread. And he gave thanks for it. And he broke it, knowing that in 20, less than 24 hours, that breaking would represent himself. He held that bread that he physically broke knowing it would represent his body, looked into the eyes of the spiritual fathers of the church.

And he said, this is my body, which is for you do this in remembrance of me.

in the same way. Jesus took the cup. He looked at the wine in his glass, saw the deep crims in color. And he said, this is what my blood's gonna look like tomorrow. What's gonna look like actually for him, even that night, when the beatings and the crowns and the trials would begin, and he who did not want to receive the cross and asked the father for another way, did not want to endure the suffering looked at this cup that he had in his hand, saw the Crimson and said, this is gonna be my blood.

That's gonna be poured outta my body. In the midst of mistreatment, he said, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. And for the sake of this new covenant, he would endure the cross and scorn its shame. He said, whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

If you would stand with me, our blessing this morning, um, on this father's day on this communion, Sunday focuses on the spiritual fatherhood of Jesus and our calling to be like him. do nothing out of selfish, ABI. These are the words of Paul, do nothing out of selfish ambition or vein conceit, rather in humility, value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests, but each of you to the interest of the others in your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus, who being in the very nature.

God did not consider equality with God, something to be used to his own advantage. Rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant being made in human likeness and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient, even death on a cross happy father's day.

Everybody, we are dismissed.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/what-is-spiritual-fatherhood 89b43e97-e086-4829-b56e-e8eefb6060d2 Sun, 19 Jun 2022 15:05:19 GMT <div data-html="true">Luke 15: 11-31 <br /><br /> "And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him." <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> We have made it this far in the service without one dad joke that stops right now. <br /><br /> when does a dad joke? When does a joke become a dad joke? When the punchline is apparent, it's not near that <br /><br /> funny and I love how some of you started to laugh and then other ones are like, I'm supposed to get it. So now I'll chip in, what do you call a cow that doesn't produce any. a milk dud. I don't know why I like that one happy father's day, everyone. Uh, we recognize that for some, this is a wonderful day filled with memories filled with anticipation of celebrations. <br /><br /> Later this day, filled with reminders of dreams fulfilled. We also know this day, activates some trauma. It's a return for some to disappointment, to longings that are deferred or even destroyed for some, we sing and talk about God, the father, we understand that is a light topic for some, but for others, the title father is filled with feelings of abuse or distance or disapproval. <br /><br /> and I think for many or most this day is not clean enough to fit into an all light or all dark category for most, or for many. This day is a collision of both settled space and unsettled space. And I just want to say, however, you come welcome and thank you for spending this day here with us this morning, we're gonna be in Luke chapter 15. <br /><br /> Uh, if you have your pew Bible starts on 8 21, page 8 21. This is a story often referred to as a story of the prodigal son. Um, probably a little more appropriately named the story of the compassionate father who is a little more the focus of the story, but. It's a story that many of, you know, nonetheless and we desire to learn from God and to learn from what it means to be a spiritual father from the text from Luke chapter 15, this is Jesus speaking. <br /><br /> And he said there was a man who had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, father give me the share of the property that is coming to me. And he divided his property between the two sons. Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country there. He squandered his property in reckless living. <br /><br /> And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country who sent him into his field to feed pigs. And when he was longing to be fed with the pods, the pigs ate. No one gave him anything. <br /><br /> But when he came to himself, he said, how many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread? But I perish here with hunger. I will arise and go to my father. And I will say to him, fathers I've sinned against heaven. And before you, I'm no longer worthy to be called your son, treat me as one of your hired servants. <br /><br /> And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion and ran and ran and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, father I've sinned against heaven before you I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. But the father said to his servant bring quickly the best robe, put it on him, put the ring on his hand and choose on his feet and bring the fat and cap and kill it. <br /><br /> Let us eat and celebrate. for miss. My son was dead and alive. Again, he was lost and is found and they began to celebrate. Now his older son was in the field and as he came junior to the house, he heard music and dancing and he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. And he said to him, your brother has come and your father has killed the fat and calf because he is received him back safe and sound. <br /><br /> He was angry. He refused to go in. His father came out and intrigued him, but he answered his father. Look these many years, I've served you and I've never disobeyed your command yet. You gave me a young goat that I might celebrate with my friends. Young goats, no fatted calf, apparently, but when his son of yours came, who has dev devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatten calf for him. <br /><br /> And he said to his, to him, son, you are always with me. All that his mind is yours. It was fitting to celebrate and be glad. for this, your brother was dead and is alive. He was lost and is found father. We come to this story. We come to this day, we ask you for grace. We know that on this particular day, June 17th, that we are heightened in our awareness of what has happened in our lives with fathers. <br /><br /> And we ask you for clarity and understanding to simply understand who you are and who you in you you've called us to be in Jesus name. Amen. This story has meant much to me. Uh, this story for many of you has meant much to you in these last few years. This story has taken on another dimension for. I think initially reading this story and understanding the story. <br /><br /> We, we come to identify right with that younger son, that old prodigal son and, and that the younger son in the story has this outer leaving of home. He wants his life away. He basically is coming to his dad and saying, Hey, I wish you were dead. I want my stuff. I don't want you. I don't want home. I don't want relationship. <br /><br /> What I want is the good that you will give me when you die. So he takes that good and goes and lives his own way. He lives away from home, his outward waywardness. Realizing often as we identify with this, that I am the prodigal son. Every time I search for unconditional love, where it cannot be found. and in the story, he goes looking and eventually ends wishing he had the fulfillment that the pigs had. <br /><br /> And we understand also that there's, there's another son in here and it's, this sun is more complicated. This sun is more confused. This sun is like, I don't want goat. I want cow. Why do you, why I've been so faithful, I've been so good. And this son had outer, um, connection or outer. Uh, he stayed home outwardly, but it's apparent that inwardly. <br /><br /> He was not at home, that he was inner wayward, inner distance, such that he didn't want his family back. He didn't want his brother back. What he wanted was ultimately the praise, adoration and stuff that comes with being good. In this story, come to identify. As many of you have is that I am the proud son or the older son. <br /><br /> Every time I try to use my talent, my morality, or my sense of who I am as above or below to determine my identity and to judge everyone else over the last few years. And there's a book that's been very influential for me, um, called the return of the pro gold son, um, by Henry Nowan and this in this book and understanding this story, that there is another character being the loving father that of course represents God. <br /><br /> And of course represents who God is, but this character that represents God also gives. Incredible insight on what it means to be a spiritual father. Spiritual maturity is always about being a son, but not just being a son. It is growing into something and someone beyond myself, few mother's days ago, I got a chance to talk about spiritual motherhood and the incredible rich call in scripture of what it means to, to grow into spiritual motherhood today on father's day, the privilege, um, to talk to you about what does it mean to grow into spiritual fatherhood and a few things just about the father in this story that he has centered. <br /><br /> Number one on others and not bound up in his own fear, not obsessed with his own comfort, his own wealth rights or reputation. Secondly, he freely joyfully shows, compassion and love with music and dancing he gives and does not hoard third. He fears God and lives righteously, regardless of what those around him might think. <br /><br /> And this type of parenting and business strategy that he employed here would not be viewed well in the community. I wanna talk a little bit about, and I think we have some slides just on what is spiritual fatherhood as an overview? What does, what does it mean to, to, um, become a spiritual father? What are we talking about when we're talking about this concept biblically and then also co talking about the cues we get in the text of Luke 15, number one by spiritual fatherhood. <br /><br /> We're talking more about what it means to be a man of. Then a dad of God, the spiritual fathering is the male Christian path to Christian maturity. Whether you have kids or not. I mentioned Henry noun has been deeply formative to me in this discussion. Interestingly, he is not married or was not married. <br /><br /> And does, did not have children. Spiritual fatherhood is the path of Christian maturity for men. What does it mean? The question is to be a godly man. Secondly, spiritual fatherhood is something we grow into over time. Um, there's so much energy and, and it's not all bad. It's, it's a lot American and it's, there's some scripture that we can pull in here, but, but there's, there's a lot of energy about live your destiny and, and, uh, build your kingdom and, and, and claim your space and, and see great things happen. <br /><br /> And a lot of that can be really. But oftentimes what happens is that it's hard to find people in the Christian walk that simply steadily put their shoulder to the sled and seek first the kingdom of God, regardless of the adoration, it brings to their individual worlds. And, and so what we can do, like, like any human being in any culture our time can do, we can do with this within Christian communities is look for gifting. <br /><br /> And this is important, right? Corinthians is big on this is, is to grow into our spiritual gifting without. We don't accurately show God's glory. Our gifts are demonstrated to show God's glory and passion. We talk about passion and passion's important. It was important to Christ. There are, there are places in scripture where this calling out of passion, revelations, the churches to live an impasioned life is so vital and important without this. <br /><br /> Our faith is cold and lifeless, but there is a danger when we determine Christian maturity by growing into gifting and passion, these things can be dangerous if not grounded in time in contentment, in dispassionate faithfulness, in seasons, where things are exciting. And in seasons, when they're not. and if you're here and you're like, Hey, I I'm six months into this Christian life or, or you're here and it you're, you're in high school and you absolutely love Jesus. <br /><br /> And, and, and you're hearing me say, well, it takes time. I understand this says like, well, what does that mean? I think it means that the beauty of the thing of Christ is to be with him. And, and in his ways it's it's child is it's shallow enough for, for children to play in, but, but deep enough to drown the wisest scholar, right. <br /><br /> And that's borrowed from somebody else. But as we grow deeper into Christ, we are always growing more into maturity. The joy of the Christian life is that there's more to experience. and it takes time. Third spiritual, compassionate fatherhood is the way men are called to be like, God, we are not like called to be like God in every way. <br /><br /> Right? We are not commanding in scripture. Hey, go make worlds, go, come up with ideas for animals, go die on the cross for people's sins. We are not called. We can do say WWJD. And, and how do we be? Like, God, there are ways we are called to be like, God, but there are many ways where we are not, we are not called to be like God, in his glory, we are not called to be like God, in his control and sovereignty, we are not called to be like God in his constant victory. <br /><br /> And we can want these things, but these are not ways that men are called to be like, God, not very often in scripture. Does it say we are called to be like, God, but there's this wonder. Poem Psalm 112 called the poem of the Sage. And it talks about, um, a person, a man of God there's it uses this word canoe, which is used 12 times in scripture, every other occurrence in scripture where this word is used. <br /><br /> It is used specifically about the character of God. But in this poem, one in Psalm 112 uses the same phrase, even in darkness, like shines for the upright, for those who are gracious and compassionate and righteous in Luke 6 36 through 38, the same book of what we read this Jesus simply says, be compassionate just as your father is compassionate. <br /><br /> Compassion. Is one of the deep and lasting ways we are called to be like, God, the father fourth spiritual fatherhood is about having the strength to become less, not the strength to become more, come more. I don't think spiritual father means you're doing less or, or even having less responsibility, but spiritual fatherhood is ultimately being less about ourselves, less about our ego living into the beauty of self forgetfulness. <br /><br /> Right. We see these calls when, when, um, in, throughout the new Testament, when they speak specifically to men, Ephesians five, what's the call for husbands? lay down your very life for your spouse. Young men, first, Peter FYS five, likewise young men be subjected to elders close. You clothe yourself. All of you with humility towards one another. <br /><br /> Jesus. Speaking to his disciples, the very people who would become the spiritual fathers of the early church says this. If you want to be great, learn to be the servant of all, Jesus called them together and said, you know that the rulers of the Gentile lowered it over them and their high officials exec exercise authority over them. <br /><br /> Not so with you. That's not gonna be the way we do things here. Instead. Whoever wants to become great. Must be your servant. This is laying down the need to have the last word laying down the need to justify. Laying down the need to have that toy laying down the rights to our stuff, to our position, to our advancement. <br /><br /> When I was in college, went on spring break and, uh, had a, I had a question. I was a weird college student and like, I was like philosophical and, you know, annoying. So I would sit with people and then not just want to have good conversations, I would want to have great conversations. Right. And you're already like, that is so annoying. <br /><br /> Okay. So anyway, I was in Washington and there was this guy there, he was a, a veterinarian. And like, just as this really cool dude and like, um, I met him and he was my buddy's friend. And like, just really seemed like he was a humble man. And so sitting with him, I don't know, talking about cows or sheep or whatever you talk about with veterinarians in Washington. <br /><br /> And, and of course I lightly say to him, Can you tell me the difference between a boy and a man, and that had to just annoy the heck out of him. You know, just like, dude, I don't even know you like and he, and he hesitated and he was very kind to this annoying college student. And he said, he, but he came up with this answer, which has been helpful for me. <br /><br /> He said, a boy thinks the world is all about himself. A man understands his place within the bigger picture. There is teaching out there. And, and again, a lot of it can be good, um, about like find your way and be your destiny and all those things. And I'm not saying those things are all wrong, but they can sneak into our spiritual life of like, how do I become David? <br /><br /> David was playing a harp in the wilderness with no thought of being a. How do I, how do I become become Daniel? Daniel is just a dude who said, you know what? I'm gonna pray to God. And not to other people. When people become heroes of the faith is not because they sought to be something or someone special, right? <br /><br /> Moses is out there in the wilderness, looking, looking after his sheep. He's not trying to lead his people. So when God comes, he basically says no, and God says again, I want you to do this. He's like, I don't wanna be that guy. So when we are, when in our Christian life, as we're growing in spiritual fatherhood men, our call is not, how do I step up? <br /><br /> How do I be bigger? How do I know more? Don't go for Jim Moses. Don't aim for Moses aim for jet row. Aim for men who steadily faithfully put one foot on top of another, put one brick on the wall at a time saying, I want to follow this Christ. And if he taps me on the shoulder to do something else, I'll obey, but I'm not aspiring or jumping or clawing towards being more fifth. <br /><br /> And again, lastly, on that and I'll stop yelling and stuff. Um, I think that on the spiritual fatherhood is about having less make movement towards servanthood, not towards legacy five. Spiritual fatherhood starts at home again, spiritual. Fatherhood's not always being a dad. Starts with difficult siblings can start dealing with your own kids. <br /><br /> It can start with, um, the people that you are closest to. That is the way, and actually the biblical model of spiritual fatherhood we see in first Timothy three, it starts by the love of God, making deep strides in your own family and core relationships. So this is somewhat of an image and of spiritual fatherhood and very simply where we're gonna go this morning is how, what are the steps to take towards spiritual fatherhood? <br /><br /> How does this happen? I don't think there's a guy in here that says, man, I really want to think about myself more or a guy in here. If you're honest to say, man, my ego is my friend. You know, your ego is your enemy. You know that the, the, the constant thought about image or notoriety or importance or comparison, it's not something you sit there and say, how do I get more of that? <br /><br /> Right. It's something we use and utilize because it always momentarily feels good to build the ego, but we know deep down, that's not a way towards freedom. That's not a way towards being any type of the men that I respect in my life. How do we move to spiritual fatherhood first? And if nothing else you get, sonship is always the way to spiritual fatherhood. <br /><br /> Only love from God, beget, selfless love towards others. Only love of God fulfills the longings that we often try to fulfill by self obsess. and I know for, for some of you, a gracious father is a mysterious concept. It just doesn't fit with what you know about fatherhood. It's not what you've seen in your dad. <br /><br /> Your Christian life is often an effort to please a distant father, cuz that's what you have known. The father that runs the father, that disrobe the father that plays the music and leads. The dancing is not a, a father that you may understand. There is no way to spiritual fatherhood without deeply, fully, truly knowing the love of God. <br /><br /> I've said this a number of times, I believe spiritual growth is a process of understanding. God's love. The first thing we do is understand that God can love. And that's a journey, right? Cause sometimes you think, well, God, I know that's distant, scary stuff. I don't know if that God can love. And, but once knowing God can love a much more intimate, deep, and painful and scary and hopeful step is to say, not only can God love, but God can love me. <br /><br /> And that's a lifelong journey of understanding. And it's not just about understanding ourselves, although that's part of it. It's about understanding a radical disrobing, lunging sprinting, father of love. And I believe the last as we see this in the book of John is to simply understand not only can God love, not only can God love me, but that God by his very nature is love. <br /><br /> Unless we understand the radical embrace of the father. We will ever be the prodigal or the proud. And honestly, why wouldn't we be the prodigal? And the proud are trying to get whatever they can away from home. And you understand it outward away from home or inner away from home. They're trying to get whatever they can. <br /><br /> It's only when understanding all that home offers in the father. Can we release some of those egos? Uh, I mentioned to you that, uh, a book is important to me in this. This is the conclusion of the book, which is so unfair to read cuz now you're not gonna read the book, but this is the very end of the book. <br /><br /> The return of the prodigal sum by Henry Nowan living out spiritual fatherhood requires the radical dis discipline of being home. as a self rejecting person, always in search of affirmation and affection. I find it impossible to love consistently without asking for something to return. But the discipline is precisely to give up, wanting to accomplish this myself as a heroic feat to claim for myself, spiritual fatherhood and the authority of compassion that belongs to it. <br /><br /> I have to let the rebellious younger son and the resentful elder son step up on the platform to receive the unconditional forgiving love that the father offers me and to discover there the call to be home as my father is home, then both sons and me can gradually be transformed into the compassionate father. <br /><br /> This transformation leads to the fulfillment of the deepest desire of my restless heart. because what joy can be there for me then to stretch out my tired arms and let my hands rest in blessing on the shoulders of my homecoming children. <br /><br /> Secondly, to be watchful, right? What, in this story, it says the son was a long way off as we build, how do we build towards being spiritual fathers? The, the son's a long way off. Well, what does that say about the dad? The dad's looking right. He is watching for him. It doesn't say that, uh, a whole caravan of people came and said, Hey, I saw this guy doing the pigs. <br /><br /> He's gonna come this day. So be watching no he's watchful watching for opportunity. Where is the father? He's on the porch. It feels uncomfortable or, or, or, or maybe even ungodly to think that we could be caring for other people in this way. But I do think a spiritual father is not just someone who, who like is teaching theology and making big church decisions. <br /><br /> A spiritual father is somebody who's watching. Who's looking for opportunity. Someone who's is a, a man here he's gone on, but he was here and he would tell me, Ben, I pray for you every day. And I don't know if, I don't know if he prayed for other people. I didn't care. I just knew this was a man who prayed for me every single day. <br /><br /> That's looking for opportunities being watchful. Third. We developed spiritual fatherhood by building compassion muscles every day. Um, oh, what's his name? John Eldridge, um, wrote my favorite book. John Eldridge wrote called walking with God, and it was simply his journals and, uh, in his journals, uh, was cool to see of, of his relationship with God. <br /><br /> And he was journaling and thinking about how people want to hear from God at key moments in their life, who should I marry? What college should I go to? What should I do with my 401k? What, how should I buy appropriately? Right. Big questions want to hear from God? And he said, but if we, if we are O only going to the recital, like a violin recital without doing the practicing, it's gonna be really bad at the recital. <br /><br /> And some of you have heard bad violinist. It is something, I don't know what it is. Clarinet, violin, beautiful instruments, but for the, the, the growing pains are terrible anyway. And, and he was saying how that we need to be building our connection with God deeply. To build those muscles each day, because then when it gets to recitals, we know how to be connected. <br /><br /> I think that's for compassion to build over time, um, to just show you what a cool person I am. I uh, wanna tell you that I played the flute. You're already laughing, um, in a homeschool band in high school. I was not good enough to be the first chair of the flutes in the homeschool band that went to Peter. <br /><br /> Thank you, Peter. I was the second chair in the homeschool. And I know what you're thinking. You're like, oh, homeschool band, listen, homeschoolers. We're bad at a lot of stuff. Okay. I was homeschooled for part of high school. We're bad at a lot of stuff, but we are good at orchestra. Okay. I mean, there's, it was one guy in there he like practiced eight hours a day and looks the serious. <br /><br /> And we had this, this teacher in homeschool band and she was so intense. I like lived in fear of this woman. She would go just a little Baton thing and I'm like, she's gonna stab my eye. I just know what she's gonna do with that thing. Her hair's going crazy. And, and I would sit there. This is no lie. And my, my, my really awesome, like girls loved it. <br /><br /> Second chair, flute and homeschool band. Um, and I would sit there and I would move my fingers because it looked like I was playing. And this is what I realized. If I don't make mistakes, she doesn't know. So I'm not gonna make a mistake and do the wrong timing and play the long wrong trail thing. So I'll just do. <br /><br /> And that's what I did. I faked it. Right. And, and all, everyone else in that orchestra was like, Mr. Holland's Opus. I mean, they were amazing but guess what happened? When I came to the concert, I looked even more focused. I like Peter would rock back and forth in first chair. So, you know, I did in second chair, rock back and forth and I faked it again, cuz I'm not gonna get there and pretend like I know cuz I hadn't done the practice and I sure did not want that lady with the stabbing Baton thing to realize that compassion is something that needs to be built every day. <br /><br /> It's something that is built an inconvenient time, something that is built with difficult employees or bosses. It's something that's built when having children that don't always behave. Like you want them to, it's something that is built while driving compassion is a muscle that gets built over time. <br /><br /> And so when the father on the porch sees the sun, it's not complicated for him. It's not that guy embarrassed me so bad. I have not even thought about it until right now. And it's all coming back to me now, what he did and all the servants I had to fire because he took the stuff he's not on the porch wrestling with what to do. <br /><br /> Why? Because he had worked it through, he had wrestled and done the things that he had needed to do. He had built compassion over time. So that for the outward rebellion he had room, but also for his son, that's sitting there saying, Hey, why'd you do this? And he's like, dude, what's wrong with you? He had room. <br /><br /> For also then word being at home himself, building the compassion muscles every day, made him have room for his boys. As you came in, you received a communion cup, and we're talking about fatherhood talking about God, the father talking about spiritual fatherhood and the role in the Trinity that Christ plays as most often depicted is as the son. <br /><br /> It's what Jesus called himself. But today as we go towards the table, wanna recall passage in Isaiah nine, a prophecy about Jesus that would come wonderful. Counselor, everlasting father. Mighty God is the title where Christ himself is called the father. Does that mean he is God the father? No. But does he play this role of spiritual fatherhood? <br /><br /> Absolutely. And today we reflect on a spiritual fatherhood that was known not by winning wars, but by wrapping a towel on his waist and receiving a cross, <br /><br /> if you're a believer in the Lord, Jesus Christ this morning, if you would delicately, um, take off the lid for the bread, just as you holding your hands, I'm gonna give you a couple of moments, um, to reflect and remember of how Jesus himself. laid down his life for his sheep. How he, as a spiritual father for us, led us in the way of sacrifice. <br /><br /> Gonna give you a couple moments to reflect on him, and then we'll partake together. <br /><br /> Paul writes that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, he took bread right in his own hands, real bread. And he gave thanks for it. And he broke it, knowing that in 20, less than 24 hours, that breaking would represent himself. He held that bread that he physically broke knowing it would represent his body, looked into the eyes of the spiritual fathers of the church. <br /><br /> And he said, this is my body, which is for you do this in remembrance of me. <br /><br /> in the same way. Jesus took the cup. He looked at the wine in his glass, saw the deep crims in color. And he said, this is what my blood's gonna look like tomorrow. What's gonna look like actually for him, even that night, when the beatings and the crowns and the trials would begin, and he who did not want to receive the cross and asked the father for another way, did not want to endure the suffering looked at this cup that he had in his hand, saw the Crimson and said, this is gonna be my blood. <br /><br /> That's gonna be poured outta my body. In the midst of mistreatment, he said, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. And for the sake of this new covenant, he would endure the cross and scorn its shame. He said, whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. <br /><br /> If you would stand with me, our blessing this morning, um, on this father's day on this communion, Sunday focuses on the spiritual fatherhood of Jesus and our calling to be like him. do nothing out of selfish, ABI. These are the words of Paul, do nothing out of selfish ambition or vein conceit, rather in humility, value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests, but each of you to the interest of the others in your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus, who being in the very nature. <br /><br /> God did not consider equality with God, something to be used to his own advantage. Rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant being made in human likeness and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient, even death on a cross happy father's day. <br /><br /> Everybody, we are dismissed.</div> false no <![CDATA[It Began with Stephen]]> Acts 7:54-60

"Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. 55 But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God."



Sermon Transcript:

Let's take a minute here. Let's just pray together again, just quiet our hearts before the Lord and jump into this passage father. We are so grateful to you for who you are. We're grateful that you have given us your son. We're grateful that we have eternal life because of him and Lord, as we look into your word today, remind us of the things of grace that we need to remember.

Remind us of how we are involved in our world. Remind us of you. I pray and take lots of yourself and burn it deeply into our hearts in Christ's name. Amen. For those of you who may not know me, I'm Jim painter. I was one of the pastors here for some peoples at about a thousand years. I don't think it was quite that long, but I was, I was here for about 30 years.

And so everybody makes fun of me because retirement, I still get to preach here some, and I've been in Guatemala and all sorts of things like that. Retirement, very simply. I don't think I've said this before means I just don't come into the office every day. And that's a great thing. Um, so w our granddaughter Noel is with us.

And one of the things as you have a granddaughter with you, and at night, you're wondering, I don't know if you all do this or not, but after you have dinner on, you're sitting there and you do the reading, or maybe we're watching something on a movie or something, but suddenly then comes the snacks. And one thing that we've had, w we like ice cream, have you ever had a Klondike.

You remember the old, the old commercial, what would you do for a Klondike bar? Remember that if you don't, you're too young, what would you do for a client? And back to, I just, look, we have one more in our freezer. No, you can't have it. I think it's mine. And on there it says, what would you do? And they always have this little saying and the one that's on the one in my freezer right now says I would play hide and seek by myself.

Okay. Well, what would you do for a client? The whole idea there is what would you give in order to have this, this delicious treat? There is a musical several years ago, Oliver, it's the story of Oliver twist. And in the musical, there is a song that they're artful Dodger and all of our scene to Nancy, the girl who kind of cares for them and who they really care about.

And the song is something like this. I do anything. And it's back and forth that would you paint your face? Bright blue? I do anything really. You go to Tim buck two and back again, the whole idea. I would do anything for you, Nancy, because of, because of who you are. I mean, I'm telling you that because I think that's a lot of what the human life and condition is really like.

We, we want to focus on things that matter to us. We want to see things that we can pour our lives into and something probably far more significant than a Klondike bar or even the musical Oliver as believers in Christ. If you are a follower of Jesus, if you know that you have been redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, I think we have to ask ourselves the same sort of question only at a much deeper level.

I mean, we have to say, what would I give my life for? What is most important to me? And these are, these are hard questions. If we're honest with them. I mean, you, if I were to ask you that, what, what is the most important thing to you? You might come up with a lot of different answers. Some of you might say my family, some of you might say my job, some of you might say things that I have, you know, my house, my car, the skills that I have.

And as a follower of Jesus, somewhere in there is probably our faith. I mean, that's what we hope and that's what we desire. And that's what we want to live for. We look at this passage that we're coming to today and it's a hard passage because there's, it looks like the bad guys. We look at our faith and am I willing to give myself for this to know how to live and die by the grace of God, to, to impact influence my world?

My friends, my family, by declaring and sharing the good news of the gospel of Christ. I mean, those are things that become important to us when we really think about it as a follower of Jesus, as one who loves him, that has to probably be in there somewhere. Right. And that's what we want to look at today is really interesting to me.

As I was starting to prepare for this, I did a lot of reading about martyrdom and different things like that. And I don't know if you know this or not, because I didn't June 29. Is designated as the day of the Christian martyr. Wow. I mean, it's coming right up. This is pretty significant. And voice of the martyrs put it this way about that.

They said, according to church tradition, June 29th marks the martyrdom of the apostle Paul this month, they write, join Christians around the world to honor the fateful witness of those who like the apostle Paul have sacrificed their lives for the advancement of the gospel and to be inspired, to have that same boldness, to share Christ in your community.

I mean, that's so that's coming up and in one way, it makes really a lot of sense that we're looking at this passage here right now, because of that, which is coming up many of us know the story or aware of five men who were martyred in 1956, Well, I'm making a first contact with the unreached tribe, with an unreached tribe in the Ecuadorian jungle.

These men, these five men as they went and, and died there on that beach, they had this Steve St. I think there was a picture there for that. Maybe. Yeah, there they are. Steve Saint or Nate state. I'm sorry, who was the pilot wrote this and these guys by the way, this is, most of them served in the armed forces during world war II, or just shortly after that.

And Nate wrote this, we know that there is only one answer when our country demands that we share in the price of freedom. Yet when the Lord asks us to pay the price for world evangelization, we often answer without a word. We cannot go. We say it costs too much. And yet. Some of, you may have heard of John Cho who's killed, uh, November 16th, 2018, while he was trying to make contact with a remote tribe on north Sentinel island in the bay of being Gaul.

And John wrote these things and many more the night before he left the little boat he was on and went back onto the island. He wrote these sayings in his journal. And part of this is what he had to say. You guys might think I'm crazy and all this, but I think it's worth it to declare Jesus to these people and a little bit more.

And I've had a chance to read a little bit of that journal and he talks about, and he said, yes, I am afraid. He said, God, I don't want to die. Who will take my place if I do, when other current Walter and Donna pet sold their dairy farm in Wisconsin. And went to serve in Northern Uganda, using agriculture as a way to reach out to the Iringa people.

On the night of March 18th, 2004, they and a student were murdered by radical Islamists and voice the martyr record. Some of what was done after that inspired by the warriors of faith. That's what they were called by the human bay or in UNE bay. That's the town where they lived, who turned their grief and anger into a commitment to advancing God's kingdom in a place that is hostile to the gospel, Saul and Ezra.

Those are the sons of the pets said they witnessed a depth of faith. They hadn't experienced before in America. We think Christianity should make our lives easier and better. Saul said there most times Christianity makes their lives harder and they choose it. Anyway. That is something we don't understand.

It all began with Stephen. We look at this passage here and it's a stark passage that tells us so much of what went on last week. And pastor mark shared the message that Stephen had. And as he told the people there, and especially before the Sanhedrin answering the questions and there were false witnesses and everything, he tells them all the things that are true.

And then we get to this place and it's in acts chapter seven, beginning with verse 54. Then you can either follow along here. I'm actually reading out of the NIV because I forgot to get the other one. It says this when they heard this, they were furious and gnash their teeth at him. But Stephen full of the holy spirit looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand.

Look, he said, I see heaven open. And the son of man standing at the right hand of God at this, they covered their ears and yelling at the top of their voices. They all rushed at him, dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul while they were stoning him.

Stephen prayed, Lord Jesus receive my spirit. Then he fell on his knees and cried out. Lord do not hold this sin against them. And when he had said this, he fell asleep. He died. I don't know what you think. When you read that passage, there are details here that that could strike terror and fear in the heart of many people of what.

I mean, just think here just for a minute of something here he is. He's proclaiming what is true. He has some strong words that he says, and they responded and these people you're actually the word it says when they are furious and Nash, the word furious means something like they took a SA how you would take a saw and saw yourself.

Have you ever cut yourself on a saw blade? Like a hands-on or something? It hurts and that's the word they were furious. They were, it was like so much pain to them. And they gnash their teeth is like the grinding of the teeth, almost a growl sling. They were so furious and upset at Stephen of what he is saying here.

And then he declares what he. And that just sets them off anymore. He says they closed their ears and reef that is that what they would do. They'd take their ear flaps and take them and stick them in their ear like that. I can still hear like that, but that was, I don't want to hear it. And then they rush him.

Can you imagine you standing there you're Stephen and here comes this whole mob of people running at you and they grab you and they take you out of the city. And you know, you're being taken out to be stone. What they are doing is illegal. They are, they don't have that. Right. But somehow for some reason, the Roman authorities turned a blind eye to it and didn't do anything they teach.

They take Stephen out there and stoning him. So many times you think of the picture of stoning? Some people like I always used to think people would take up like a rock and somebody down there and you throw it as hard as you can and try to hit them with it. And that is something that would happen. But at the beginning, Usually what they would do, they would take the person who'd be stoned.

Sometimes they would put him on a scaffold and then there was a pit and the people who were the witnesses and here, remember these guys were false witnesses. They knew what they'd said was not true. And they were still furious and they would take not stones, but boulders that you could barely pick up and take them and hit them with.

It usually would knock them off that scaffold. They would go down to the pit pit and they would still take those stones, those big ones and throw them down, trying to crush them and other people would come in. And some of them probably did have smaller stones and throw them and other big stones. It was a horrific thing.

And that's what Steven faced because he loved Jesus. And the question that comes to my mind is why. Why did this have to happen? What can we learn? And I think there's some things that we can learn as I was studying here. I came across something it's called the it's a theology of persecution and discipleship by gay guy named Glenn Penner, Benner.

I mean, he writes for voice of the martyrs, which is an organization that cares for and tries to reach out to people around the world who are being martyred, who are being persecuted and, and looking at this theology of persecution. He says some things that really resounded with me. And I know it's kind of a long passage, but I want to read it because we're going somewhere with this.

But he writes, as he thinks about the theology of persecution, he says this, and this is just a little portion of it. As we witnessed the testimonies of courageous persecuted, brothers and sisters in. Um, or the reports it is worthwhile to reflect on the words of Peter for this is a gracious thing. When mindful of God, one endures sorrows, while suffering unjustly that's from first Peter, in these words, Peter defines grace as being enabled to endure suffering due to one's faithfulness to God.

As we read the accounts of those who have suffered for the sake of Christ, we might be justified in saying that from the world's perspective, those who endure persecution are heroic, but from God's perspective, Peter reminds us, they are recipients of grace. Peter stresses that enduring suffering is evidence that God is at work in one's life.

There is no glory for the sufferer, no hero worship, no merit. For those who are able to endure hardship, no boasting of one's judgments. It is evidence of God's grace. It is all a work of God from beginning to end. Is it any wonder that near the end of the first epistle of his first epistle, that's Peter written, especially to instruct persecuted believers, to stand firm in their face, faith, the apostle writes, and after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you to him, be the dominion forever and ever.

Amen. And again, that's in. Now that's a lot. And I had to read that several times, but here's what I want to do with this thinking about the stoniest Steven and what that means and how we can apply that. I would say very simply like this, it has everything to do with grace. And the first part here is standing by grace and two parts of that, living by grace and dying by grace, living by grace.

I think you see part of this and we understand what Stephen's life must have been. Like. He loved the Lord. He followed after him. He was one who did miracles. He did all sorts of things for the sake of the gospel. But in this, as he's standing there, he knows these people are furious at him and in some special way, and I don't know how this happened, but suddenly he looks up and he sees whether it's a vision or real, he doesn't say, but he sees.

He says, I see the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand, not Jesus. He says the son of man standing at the right hand, that's what he sees. And then that's what he declares. I would suggest this as I look at it, what it has to do with grace, Stephen knew, I believe that point death was upon him and to stand there the way he did and still say, I'm living by grace.

You see, as he sees her, I see a picture here as he's looking up there, the assurance of the worth and righteousness of God, when he says I see the glory of. I see him. I see who God is, remit remembering the old Testament you go back there and what the Israelites, there was something called the Shekhinah glory of God.

What that was was the presence of God is shown in some sort of glory that was over the tabernacle. It showed that God was with them. And I think that's exactly what's happening here. As Steven is here facing this mob of people, he is remembering, and he sees that God himself is right there with him. That the presence of God is with him.

I was say, this. That is how we all need to live. Isn't it to understand and know that God himself for the presence of God is a work in our lives. He is there with us. If we don't have. We become only depending on ourselves, we become under the circumstances rather than letting God work through things. It is, it is the assurance that God is with you.

Have you ever have you thought about that? The God of the universe, the one who has loved you more deeply than anything you can imagine is with you as a follower of Christ. That's part of living by grace. That is that it is God with you. And not only that, then the assurance that Jesus, his presence was with him.

Jesus is standing there. And as I looked through quite a few different commentaries, there were some peoples that we don't know what that means with him standing. Some of them say it doesn't matter, but I looked and I think maybe it does matter a little bit, that Jesus is standing. You see the rest of the time, whenever it's talking about Jesus sitting by the right hand of the father, it's a great picture.

It's a great picture that his death and resurrection was good enough for our salvation. The work was finished, it was complete. It's a, it's a great picture of what Jesus has done for us. But here he says, I see Jesus standing. And I would say this, that I think. That as Steven is, he sees what's going on. He sees Jesus standing.

It's almost like Jesus. Hey, I'm with you, man. Look, I'm ready for you. I have not forgotten you. I'm ready to receive you. You see, he was intimately involved with Jesus. That is Steven was, and Jesus was intimately involved with Stephen as his savior and Lord. And I can just see the picture can't you of Jesus reaching down and I'm ready for you Stephen to remember that Jesus is there with us.

Always. Jesus, doesn't forget who we are. Jesus. Doesn't forget the things that we face. He is there. He understands. And he sees, and I would say in a very well re a real way, he embraces us in that and the assurance then that he was not alone. The Stephen was not alone because the truth is Jesus was right there with him, even when it felt like he was alone.

I don't know if there were other people around. We don't have record of that. Somehow we have record of some of the things that were said, but Steven was alone at this point. And seeing what he saw reminded him, that Jesus was with him. Absolutely. He didn't leave him. Remember Jesus said, I will never leave you.

I will never forsake.

And I read stories. I've read even this last couple of weeks of people who have been martyred for their faith, some of them able to give testimony that Jesus is with them. That's part of living by grace. Just knowing that you're not on your own. You're not by yourself. If you are a follower of Jesus, he is with you and he does not abandon you.

And even if hard things happen, you are still living by his grace, his working in your life that is standing by grace. That is how to live. Isn't it. And then, and then the worst that some people would say happens. Drag him out of the city. And they stoned him and standing by grace, living by grace is absolutely essential in our life.

And, and for him dying by grace is part of it. And it's a beautiful picture of what he does there. When he is stone, he's there and he calls out he's a Lord, Jesus receive my spirit. It's a picture when you read it. And what it says, there is a settled peace there in his heart. He is not wrapped up in all sorts of things that have total despair.

It may have been scary. It may have not been fun, but he is this point, his eyes or towards Jesus against up to the Lord. He is embracing the truth of his salvage. She that salvation you remember came not because he was a good man, not because he was a deacon who had been chosen there and the church, not even because he did miracles.

That salvation was because he had put his faith and trust in Jesus Christ. And he was embracing that as the stones are coming, he is embracing that. And there was a deep peace in his heart. He's embracing the truth of eternity because of who Jesus is because of what Jesus did for him. There is a settled peace to those of us who know the Lord,

even when hard things happen, he was willing to let his life go in order to gain that, which was far more internal than he was already experiencing the hope of the resurrection dying by grace. Uh, w would mean a least that I have a deep settled peace, not in myself, not in the circumstances, but in the salvation that is found in Jesus Christ alone.

I would say to you this morning, I mean, this, this message mostly is for those of us who know Jesus and need to challenge our hearts. But if you're here this morning and you don't know Jesus as your savior, that is where it all begins. That is the subtleness. The peace is because of what Jesus Christ has done for you.

He went to the cross, he died and paid for your sins. The Bible says, and the Bible says, as we trust him and him alone, he becomes our Redeemer, our savior, and we have life with him. Our sins are forgiven. That is what is there. And Steven understood that he embraced that and dying by grace would also.

Living, even at the end in resounding love. Some of us have probably read stories. I know I have of people who are being executed for their crimes and some of the things are recorded though, the fear or they have on those who are executing them or on their captors, how they stream and yell, even curse them violate as they are being put to death.

That is not what happens here with Steven. Steven is there. And at this point he somehow was on his knees and he says, this Lord, forgive them. He says, do not hold this sin against them. Forgiving out of a heart that understands grace, not captive to anger or vengeance, but desiring God's work of grace, even in the lives of.

Who are killing him. That's an amazing love, isn't it? And that happens because he's willing to live by grace and died by grace because it's about Jesus at work in his life for giving because Christ has forgiven him. We forgive because Christ forgave us the five missionaries in Ecuador chose not to shoot their gun at the natives as they were attacked.

John Cho chose not to have any sort of defensive weapon with him. As he went on north Sentinel island, the pets had no weapon or desire to use it. Because they were living by grace and willing to die by grace. The forgiveness here, by the way, just a quick aside is that some people say that his last prayer, their Lord, forgive them.

Lord don't lay this to their charge. Maybe was answered in one most spectacular way. And that is, there was one person there. You know, the story of the guy who was there, the coats were laid at his feet. As the witnesses were stoning him. It was Saul who became Saul, the persecutor, who by the grace of God became Paul, the apostle of Christ, maybe partly because of Steven's prayer, standing by grace, living by grace and even dying by grace as we.

That is the lesson here when we see it. And, and there's a little bit more with it because we see that part. We understand, and I hope we all understand that the significance of living by grace carries us through absolutely everything, whether we're being persecuted or not that you and I need to live by the grace of God all the time that God is with us.

Jesus is here that we, that we embrace him and all these doing and trusting him to do his work. But there is another part of this living in grace, being firm in grace

Benner goes on to say this in his theology of persecution. It was this understanding that sacrifice, suffering shame and even death, or the normal cost of discipleship that fueled the evangelistic efforts of the first century church. They did not expect to experience all the blessings of heaven in this world.

They knew that by their faithfulness, even unto death, they were storing up rewards in heaven, contrary to the Western belief that it is a blessing not to be persecuted. They knew that it was the persecuted who are blessed. And that's the other part I think we do need, honestly, look at, as we see here being from in the grace, I can say the product of persecution.

He talks about, remember when Jesus was talking there in Matthew chapter five, we call it the beatitudes. Remember that? Not your head, make me feel good. Of course you remember the beatitude, you know, the blessing are blessed. Are the poor in spirit, blessed are those who mourn blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness.

And then he says, and this, this is really, this is amazing. He said, blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed. Are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me rejoice and be glad because great is your reward in heaven for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Wow, bless it. Are the persecuted. I mean, this is standing firm in grace. Why would he say that? I mean, the word blessed said, we would say a simple translation might be happy are those, but it goes deeper than. Actually Tim Timmons wrote a little book about the beatitudes and in it, he talks about the blessedness of persecution and he writes it this way, the wording of it, and especially that last part to rejoice and be glad he put it this way.

He says, go and throw a party because you've been because you've been persecuted that doesn't even make sense. Why would I do that? Well, let me suggest this. A couple of things. One is maybe very simply because someone saw Christ in you, they saw Christ in you enough that either they were offended or they didn't like you be happy about that, that someone actually saw Jesus and you, by the way, you.

Because you've been willing to be filled by the spirit of God and the way that you live points out the righteousness of God. Not that you're perfect, but very simply that you are standing for that, which is true. And right. And people see that. And sometimes people are offended by righteousness. It doesn't mean that you're rubbing it in their face.

It doesn't mean that you're wandering around a being obnoxious. That's not the point. The point is a very simply my life is showing the reality of Christ in me years ago, many years ago, now I worked with manpower. You know what that is? It's an organization gets a little temporary jobs. I was down in Phoenix and I was unloading box cars of trains.

It was not a really great job, but. In there. As I got to know the people and I tried to share Christ, I tried to live in the way that would honor Christ. And at 1.1 guy started telling the story and say, and at the end he said, and Jim said this, and he used all sorts of different swear words, which God has delivered me on.

I don't have that issue at all. And there was one person standing next to me and he turned, he looked at the guy, he said, Jim, didn't say that. And the guy's like, oh yeah, no, he doesn't talk that way. Just the way we live might show Christ. And the way we talk the message that we share shows Jesus. It means that I'm taking the opportunity when opportunity arises to share the truth of God has revealed in the word of God that I'm saying what God has to say.

It's not about myself. It's not about some political thing. I think it's not about what others are saying. It is what God has said according to his word. And I proclaim that and I proclaim that truthfully. I mean, there are times when I've been challenged, I've talked to people instead of talking about sin, for instance, and the Bible says that we have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

And that is very offensive to some people. And, and, and I understand that, but that's what the scripture says, sharing the scripture with some people that Jesus says that he is the way the truth and the life and some people, but that's just so exclusive. And that's what Jesus said. I'm just telling you what Jesus said, our message.

Points people to Jesus and do people respond negatively? Sometimes they do. Sometimes they do here around the world, maybe even more. But one of the things about the blessedness of persecution is very simply that Jesus has been shown in your life because of how you live and how you have spoken. That is standing firm in grace.

And Jesus goes on to say, great, is your reward in heaven? Somebody wrote it this way. He said, you're in good company because look at what they did to the profits. The reward is in heaven. And in fact, in revelation talks about the crown of the martyrs reward because the grace of God has been shown in your life because you stood from the blessedness.

Of persecution and standing firm. Also the blessedness of persecution is that there are results of persecution. Jumping back to the passage in acts, you look at it here, the results, you know, what's going on and it's so significant. You read acts eight one, it goes on to say this and Saul was there giving approval to his death.

And then you get this on that day. A great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. God used this persecution and it happened all at once. Stephen was stone and the crowds went wild and drove him all over the place.

What happened was the beginning of the fulfillment of acts one eight, that you will be witnesses of me in Judea and Sumeria and to the ends of the earth. It began right here. The church is built and I don't know how in some ways, but it seems like the church is built so often because of persecution.

Then you look at many of the accounts of, of deadly persecution and throughout history. So many times you will see where the church begins to grow in numbers. And in grace, you will see the believers are strengthened in their faith. When they see other standing for the sake of righteousness, living by grace, that their hearts are encouraged and they stand as well.

In some instances, many are called into different forms of ministry, either as missionaries or serving. The Lord are just being faithful and proclaiming the word of truth.

Results of persecution are. I read about a teenager in India. Samarra was his name who was murdered by Hindu extremists, just because he loved Jesus or another one. Abdu who continued to wear a cross around his neck to show his devotion to Jesus on May 21st, 2021 extremists attacked his village in the Mali Republic and shot him eight times.

That's horrible, but the results, the family of Samarra sees his murderers from time to time and they pray for them continually. And the report is in that region of India, there are many people who have come to faith in Christ now because of that, the 40th Christian families in Abdul's village. Of scattered.

And now they're in all sorts of other villages, they're in the Mali and they are reaching out to others in all these other areas with the gospel of Christ

being firm in grace, because the blessedness of persecution that Christ has been seen and out of this, the church continues to grow and God is shown to be absolutely full of grace. So how am I supposed to respond to this? It's easy to respond. What would I do for a Klondike bar? That'd be easy. This might be a little harder.

How do I respond to people being, being persecuted to the point of death? Just because they love the Lord Jesus open doors ministries. Uh, has estimated this year that there are 13 people being killed every day, simply because they love Jesus that's around the world. That means over 4,700 people annually, there are other groups that make it even higher.

How do I respond to that? I mean, what am I supposed to learn here from the story of Stephen? I would suggest two things. One is don't forget then that there are brothers and sisters around the world who are facing harder persecution than you can imagine. And I would say that we need to be praying for them, you know, subscribed a voice of the martyrs or open doors or something like that.

Read the world news and know that are Christians are being impacted and pray for those dear ones. I think that's one of the things as I was reading in my quiet time in Hebrews Hebrews talks about right at the end, saying, remember those who are persecuted, don't forget about them and pray for them. The other thing is, as we look at this passage, remember that living by God's grace is how we are to live as followers of Jesus.

That God is with us. That Jesus is with us as never left us, will never forsake us. And we can trust him even when things are hard. And I know some of you have faced hard things, not maybe in terms of persecution, although some of you have, some of you have faced other hard things. And the truth is the grace of God carries you through that in every situation, in every part of life.

And, and the admonition I believe here is that we continually live by. So when the time comes, if we have to die, we die by grace. Remember there's a blessedness that comes with persecution, not the persecution itself, not the pain, but the fact is that when we stand and proclaim the truth, when we live godly lives in Christ, Jesus, Jesus Christ is shown to the people around us.

And that has great benefit for those who see it for those who hear it, it began with Steven.

It might continue with you or me as we proclaim the message of the gospel of Christ and live in the spirit that others might see him. Paul, the apostle, who was solving. Wrote to his friends and Philippians. And he said this for it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ. Not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him.

That's our life living for him in grace, dying for him. If need be in grace, I've put one thing here. If you're doing notes or anything, I wrote a little thing here says Lord helped me to blank because as I looked at this passage, there were so many things that went through my mind. What am I supposed to be learning from this?

And I'm going to urge you right now. Take a look at that either in your own heart, or maybe even write it down. As you think about the stoning of Stephen and everything that went with that, as you think about the standing in grace and being firm in grace and all of that, look at your own heart just for a minute.

Would you and write this down, Lord, help me. For me, what came to my mind again and again, learn to live by grace every day for others, it might be helping me to proclaim your truth, faithfully others. It just might be to really know you so that I stand in grace

when we get to heaven. I don't know what Stephen will say. He will say, though, at least this God stood with me. Jesus was with me and it was worth it. Let's pray father, as we come before you. I admit to you and you know, I've prayed this many times, this past couple of weeks. To me, this is a hard passage, but it's also a glorious passage.

God work in our hearts. I pray to understand what it means to live by grace, to be firm in grace and to proclaim your truth, your word, your life, to people around us in Christ's name. Amen. Now go and serve and stand for the Lord this week.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/it-began-with-stephen 0d61e1be-912b-471a-8a30-289f348cb727 Sun, 12 Jun 2022 12:17:41 GMT <div data-html="true">Acts 7:54-60 <br /><br /> "Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. 55 But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God." <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> Let's take a minute here. Let's just pray together again, just quiet our hearts before the Lord and jump into this passage father. We are so grateful to you for who you are. We're grateful that you have given us your son. We're grateful that we have eternal life because of him and Lord, as we look into your word today, remind us of the things of grace that we need to remember. <br /><br /> Remind us of how we are involved in our world. Remind us of you. I pray and take lots of yourself and burn it deeply into our hearts in Christ's name. Amen. For those of you who may not know me, I'm Jim painter. I was one of the pastors here for some peoples at about a thousand years. I don't think it was quite that long, but I was, I was here for about 30 years. <br /><br /> And so everybody makes fun of me because retirement, I still get to preach here some, and I've been in Guatemala and all sorts of things like that. Retirement, very simply. I don't think I've said this before means I just don't come into the office every day. And that's a great thing. Um, so w our granddaughter Noel is with us. <br /><br /> And one of the things as you have a granddaughter with you, and at night, you're wondering, I don't know if you all do this or not, but after you have dinner on, you're sitting there and you do the reading, or maybe we're watching something on a movie or something, but suddenly then comes the snacks. And one thing that we've had, w we like ice cream, have you ever had a Klondike. <br /><br /> You remember the old, the old commercial, what would you do for a Klondike bar? Remember that if you don't, you're too young, what would you do for a client? And back to, I just, look, we have one more in our freezer. No, you can't have it. I think it's mine. And on there it says, what would you do? And they always have this little saying and the one that's on the one in my freezer right now says I would play hide and seek by myself. <br /><br /> Okay. Well, what would you do for a client? The whole idea there is what would you give in order to have this, this delicious treat? There is a musical several years ago, Oliver, it's the story of Oliver twist. And in the musical, there is a song that they're artful Dodger and all of our scene to Nancy, the girl who kind of cares for them and who they really care about. <br /><br /> And the song is something like this. I do anything. And it's back and forth that would you paint your face? Bright blue? I do anything really. You go to Tim buck two and back again, the whole idea. I would do anything for you, Nancy, because of, because of who you are. I mean, I'm telling you that because I think that's a lot of what the human life and condition is really like. <br /><br /> We, we want to focus on things that matter to us. We want to see things that we can pour our lives into and something probably far more significant than a Klondike bar or even the musical Oliver as believers in Christ. If you are a follower of Jesus, if you know that you have been redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, I think we have to ask ourselves the same sort of question only at a much deeper level. <br /><br /> I mean, we have to say, what would I give my life for? What is most important to me? And these are, these are hard questions. If we're honest with them. I mean, you, if I were to ask you that, what, what is the most important thing to you? You might come up with a lot of different answers. Some of you might say my family, some of you might say my job, some of you might say things that I have, you know, my house, my car, the skills that I have. <br /><br /> And as a follower of Jesus, somewhere in there is probably our faith. I mean, that's what we hope and that's what we desire. And that's what we want to live for. We look at this passage that we're coming to today and it's a hard passage because there's, it looks like the bad guys. We look at our faith and am I willing to give myself for this to know how to live and die by the grace of God, to, to impact influence my world? <br /><br /> My friends, my family, by declaring and sharing the good news of the gospel of Christ. I mean, those are things that become important to us when we really think about it as a follower of Jesus, as one who loves him, that has to probably be in there somewhere. Right. And that's what we want to look at today is really interesting to me. <br /><br /> As I was starting to prepare for this, I did a lot of reading about martyrdom and different things like that. And I don't know if you know this or not, because I didn't June 29. Is designated as the day of the Christian martyr. Wow. I mean, it's coming right up. This is pretty significant. And voice of the martyrs put it this way about that. <br /><br /> They said, according to church tradition, June 29th marks the martyrdom of the apostle Paul this month, they write, join Christians around the world to honor the fateful witness of those who like the apostle Paul have sacrificed their lives for the advancement of the gospel and to be inspired, to have that same boldness, to share Christ in your community. <br /><br /> I mean, that's so that's coming up and in one way, it makes really a lot of sense that we're looking at this passage here right now, because of that, which is coming up many of us know the story or aware of five men who were martyred in 1956, Well, I'm making a first contact with the unreached tribe, with an unreached tribe in the Ecuadorian jungle. <br /><br /> These men, these five men as they went and, and died there on that beach, they had this Steve St. I think there was a picture there for that. Maybe. Yeah, there they are. Steve Saint or Nate state. I'm sorry, who was the pilot wrote this and these guys by the way, this is, most of them served in the armed forces during world war II, or just shortly after that. <br /><br /> And Nate wrote this, we know that there is only one answer when our country demands that we share in the price of freedom. Yet when the Lord asks us to pay the price for world evangelization, we often answer without a word. We cannot go. We say it costs too much. And yet. Some of, you may have heard of John Cho who's killed, uh, November 16th, 2018, while he was trying to make contact with a remote tribe on north Sentinel island in the bay of being Gaul. <br /><br /> And John wrote these things and many more the night before he left the little boat he was on and went back onto the island. He wrote these sayings in his journal. And part of this is what he had to say. You guys might think I'm crazy and all this, but I think it's worth it to declare Jesus to these people and a little bit more. <br /><br /> And I've had a chance to read a little bit of that journal and he talks about, and he said, yes, I am afraid. He said, God, I don't want to die. Who will take my place if I do, when other current Walter and Donna pet sold their dairy farm in Wisconsin. And went to serve in Northern Uganda, using agriculture as a way to reach out to the Iringa people. <br /><br /> On the night of March 18th, 2004, they and a student were murdered by radical Islamists and voice the martyr record. Some of what was done after that inspired by the warriors of faith. That's what they were called by the human bay or in UNE bay. That's the town where they lived, who turned their grief and anger into a commitment to advancing God's kingdom in a place that is hostile to the gospel, Saul and Ezra. <br /><br /> Those are the sons of the pets said they witnessed a depth of faith. They hadn't experienced before in America. We think Christianity should make our lives easier and better. Saul said there most times Christianity makes their lives harder and they choose it. Anyway. That is something we don't understand. <br /><br /> It all began with Stephen. We look at this passage here and it's a stark passage that tells us so much of what went on last week. And pastor mark shared the message that Stephen had. And as he told the people there, and especially before the Sanhedrin answering the questions and there were false witnesses and everything, he tells them all the things that are true. <br /><br /> And then we get to this place and it's in acts chapter seven, beginning with verse 54. Then you can either follow along here. I'm actually reading out of the NIV because I forgot to get the other one. It says this when they heard this, they were furious and gnash their teeth at him. But Stephen full of the holy spirit looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand. <br /><br /> Look, he said, I see heaven open. And the son of man standing at the right hand of God at this, they covered their ears and yelling at the top of their voices. They all rushed at him, dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul while they were stoning him. <br /><br /> Stephen prayed, Lord Jesus receive my spirit. Then he fell on his knees and cried out. Lord do not hold this sin against them. And when he had said this, he fell asleep. He died. I don't know what you think. When you read that passage, there are details here that that could strike terror and fear in the heart of many people of what. <br /><br /> I mean, just think here just for a minute of something here he is. He's proclaiming what is true. He has some strong words that he says, and they responded and these people you're actually the word it says when they are furious and Nash, the word furious means something like they took a SA how you would take a saw and saw yourself. <br /><br /> Have you ever cut yourself on a saw blade? Like a hands-on or something? It hurts and that's the word they were furious. They were, it was like so much pain to them. And they gnash their teeth is like the grinding of the teeth, almost a growl sling. They were so furious and upset at Stephen of what he is saying here. <br /><br /> And then he declares what he. And that just sets them off anymore. He says they closed their ears and reef that is that what they would do. They'd take their ear flaps and take them and stick them in their ear like that. I can still hear like that, but that was, I don't want to hear it. And then they rush him. <br /><br /> Can you imagine you standing there you're Stephen and here comes this whole mob of people running at you and they grab you and they take you out of the city. And you know, you're being taken out to be stone. What they are doing is illegal. They are, they don't have that. Right. But somehow for some reason, the Roman authorities turned a blind eye to it and didn't do anything they teach. <br /><br /> They take Stephen out there and stoning him. So many times you think of the picture of stoning? Some people like I always used to think people would take up like a rock and somebody down there and you throw it as hard as you can and try to hit them with it. And that is something that would happen. But at the beginning, Usually what they would do, they would take the person who'd be stoned. <br /><br /> Sometimes they would put him on a scaffold and then there was a pit and the people who were the witnesses and here, remember these guys were false witnesses. They knew what they'd said was not true. And they were still furious and they would take not stones, but boulders that you could barely pick up and take them and hit them with. <br /><br /> It usually would knock them off that scaffold. They would go down to the pit pit and they would still take those stones, those big ones and throw them down, trying to crush them and other people would come in. And some of them probably did have smaller stones and throw them and other big stones. It was a horrific thing. <br /><br /> And that's what Steven faced because he loved Jesus. And the question that comes to my mind is why. Why did this have to happen? What can we learn? And I think there's some things that we can learn as I was studying here. I came across something it's called the it's a theology of persecution and discipleship by gay guy named Glenn Penner, Benner. <br /><br /> I mean, he writes for voice of the martyrs, which is an organization that cares for and tries to reach out to people around the world who are being martyred, who are being persecuted and, and looking at this theology of persecution. He says some things that really resounded with me. And I know it's kind of a long passage, but I want to read it because we're going somewhere with this. <br /><br /> But he writes, as he thinks about the theology of persecution, he says this, and this is just a little portion of it. As we witnessed the testimonies of courageous persecuted, brothers and sisters in. Um, or the reports it is worthwhile to reflect on the words of Peter for this is a gracious thing. When mindful of God, one endures sorrows, while suffering unjustly that's from first Peter, in these words, Peter defines grace as being enabled to endure suffering due to one's faithfulness to God. <br /><br /> As we read the accounts of those who have suffered for the sake of Christ, we might be justified in saying that from the world's perspective, those who endure persecution are heroic, but from God's perspective, Peter reminds us, they are recipients of grace. Peter stresses that enduring suffering is evidence that God is at work in one's life. <br /><br /> There is no glory for the sufferer, no hero worship, no merit. For those who are able to endure hardship, no boasting of one's judgments. It is evidence of God's grace. It is all a work of God from beginning to end. Is it any wonder that near the end of the first epistle of his first epistle, that's Peter written, especially to instruct persecuted believers, to stand firm in their face, faith, the apostle writes, and after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you to him, be the dominion forever and ever. <br /><br /> Amen. And again, that's in. Now that's a lot. And I had to read that several times, but here's what I want to do with this thinking about the stoniest Steven and what that means and how we can apply that. I would say very simply like this, it has everything to do with grace. And the first part here is standing by grace and two parts of that, living by grace and dying by grace, living by grace. <br /><br /> I think you see part of this and we understand what Stephen's life must have been. Like. He loved the Lord. He followed after him. He was one who did miracles. He did all sorts of things for the sake of the gospel. But in this, as he's standing there, he knows these people are furious at him and in some special way, and I don't know how this happened, but suddenly he looks up and he sees whether it's a vision or real, he doesn't say, but he sees. <br /><br /> He says, I see the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand, not Jesus. He says the son of man standing at the right hand, that's what he sees. And then that's what he declares. I would suggest this as I look at it, what it has to do with grace, Stephen knew, I believe that point death was upon him and to stand there the way he did and still say, I'm living by grace. <br /><br /> You see, as he sees her, I see a picture here as he's looking up there, the assurance of the worth and righteousness of God, when he says I see the glory of. I see him. I see who God is, remit remembering the old Testament you go back there and what the Israelites, there was something called the Shekhinah glory of God. <br /><br /> What that was was the presence of God is shown in some sort of glory that was over the tabernacle. It showed that God was with them. And I think that's exactly what's happening here. As Steven is here facing this mob of people, he is remembering, and he sees that God himself is right there with him. That the presence of God is with him. <br /><br /> I was say, this. That is how we all need to live. Isn't it to understand and know that God himself for the presence of God is a work in our lives. He is there with us. If we don't have. We become only depending on ourselves, we become under the circumstances rather than letting God work through things. It is, it is the assurance that God is with you. <br /><br /> Have you ever have you thought about that? The God of the universe, the one who has loved you more deeply than anything you can imagine is with you as a follower of Christ. That's part of living by grace. That is that it is God with you. And not only that, then the assurance that Jesus, his presence was with him. <br /><br /> Jesus is standing there. And as I looked through quite a few different commentaries, there were some peoples that we don't know what that means with him standing. Some of them say it doesn't matter, but I looked and I think maybe it does matter a little bit, that Jesus is standing. You see the rest of the time, whenever it's talking about Jesus sitting by the right hand of the father, it's a great picture. <br /><br /> It's a great picture that his death and resurrection was good enough for our salvation. The work was finished, it was complete. It's a, it's a great picture of what Jesus has done for us. But here he says, I see Jesus standing. And I would say this, that I think. That as Steven is, he sees what's going on. He sees Jesus standing. <br /><br /> It's almost like Jesus. Hey, I'm with you, man. Look, I'm ready for you. I have not forgotten you. I'm ready to receive you. You see, he was intimately involved with Jesus. That is Steven was, and Jesus was intimately involved with Stephen as his savior and Lord. And I can just see the picture can't you of Jesus reaching down and I'm ready for you Stephen to remember that Jesus is there with us. <br /><br /> Always. Jesus, doesn't forget who we are. Jesus. Doesn't forget the things that we face. He is there. He understands. And he sees, and I would say in a very well re a real way, he embraces us in that and the assurance then that he was not alone. The Stephen was not alone because the truth is Jesus was right there with him, even when it felt like he was alone. <br /><br /> I don't know if there were other people around. We don't have record of that. Somehow we have record of some of the things that were said, but Steven was alone at this point. And seeing what he saw reminded him, that Jesus was with him. Absolutely. He didn't leave him. Remember Jesus said, I will never leave you. <br /><br /> I will never forsake. <br /><br /> And I read stories. I've read even this last couple of weeks of people who have been martyred for their faith, some of them able to give testimony that Jesus is with them. That's part of living by grace. Just knowing that you're not on your own. You're not by yourself. If you are a follower of Jesus, he is with you and he does not abandon you. <br /><br /> And even if hard things happen, you are still living by his grace, his working in your life that is standing by grace. That is how to live. Isn't it. And then, and then the worst that some people would say happens. Drag him out of the city. And they stoned him and standing by grace, living by grace is absolutely essential in our life. <br /><br /> And, and for him dying by grace is part of it. And it's a beautiful picture of what he does there. When he is stone, he's there and he calls out he's a Lord, Jesus receive my spirit. It's a picture when you read it. And what it says, there is a settled peace there in his heart. He is not wrapped up in all sorts of things that have total despair. <br /><br /> It may have been scary. It may have not been fun, but he is this point, his eyes or towards Jesus against up to the Lord. He is embracing the truth of his salvage. She that salvation you remember came not because he was a good man, not because he was a deacon who had been chosen there and the church, not even because he did miracles. <br /><br /> That salvation was because he had put his faith and trust in Jesus Christ. And he was embracing that as the stones are coming, he is embracing that. And there was a deep peace in his heart. He's embracing the truth of eternity because of who Jesus is because of what Jesus did for him. There is a settled peace to those of us who know the Lord, <br /><br /> even when hard things happen, he was willing to let his life go in order to gain that, which was far more internal than he was already experiencing the hope of the resurrection dying by grace. Uh, w would mean a least that I have a deep settled peace, not in myself, not in the circumstances, but in the salvation that is found in Jesus Christ alone. <br /><br /> I would say to you this morning, I mean, this, this message mostly is for those of us who know Jesus and need to challenge our hearts. But if you're here this morning and you don't know Jesus as your savior, that is where it all begins. That is the subtleness. The peace is because of what Jesus Christ has done for you. <br /><br /> He went to the cross, he died and paid for your sins. The Bible says, and the Bible says, as we trust him and him alone, he becomes our Redeemer, our savior, and we have life with him. Our sins are forgiven. That is what is there. And Steven understood that he embraced that and dying by grace would also. <br /><br /> Living, even at the end in resounding love. Some of us have probably read stories. I know I have of people who are being executed for their crimes and some of the things are recorded though, the fear or they have on those who are executing them or on their captors, how they stream and yell, even curse them violate as they are being put to death. <br /><br /> That is not what happens here with Steven. Steven is there. And at this point he somehow was on his knees and he says, this Lord, forgive them. He says, do not hold this sin against them. Forgiving out of a heart that understands grace, not captive to anger or vengeance, but desiring God's work of grace, even in the lives of. <br /><br /> Who are killing him. That's an amazing love, isn't it? And that happens because he's willing to live by grace and died by grace because it's about Jesus at work in his life for giving because Christ has forgiven him. We forgive because Christ forgave us the five missionaries in Ecuador chose not to shoot their gun at the natives as they were attacked. <br /><br /> John Cho chose not to have any sort of defensive weapon with him. As he went on north Sentinel island, the pets had no weapon or desire to use it. Because they were living by grace and willing to die by grace. The forgiveness here, by the way, just a quick aside is that some people say that his last prayer, their Lord, forgive them. <br /><br /> Lord don't lay this to their charge. Maybe was answered in one most spectacular way. And that is, there was one person there. You know, the story of the guy who was there, the coats were laid at his feet. As the witnesses were stoning him. It was Saul who became Saul, the persecutor, who by the grace of God became Paul, the apostle of Christ, maybe partly because of Steven's prayer, standing by grace, living by grace and even dying by grace as we. <br /><br /> That is the lesson here when we see it. And, and there's a little bit more with it because we see that part. We understand, and I hope we all understand that the significance of living by grace carries us through absolutely everything, whether we're being persecuted or not that you and I need to live by the grace of God all the time that God is with us. <br /><br /> Jesus is here that we, that we embrace him and all these doing and trusting him to do his work. But there is another part of this living in grace, being firm in grace <br /><br /> Benner goes on to say this in his theology of persecution. It was this understanding that sacrifice, suffering shame and even death, or the normal cost of discipleship that fueled the evangelistic efforts of the first century church. They did not expect to experience all the blessings of heaven in this world. <br /><br /> They knew that by their faithfulness, even unto death, they were storing up rewards in heaven, contrary to the Western belief that it is a blessing not to be persecuted. They knew that it was the persecuted who are blessed. And that's the other part I think we do need, honestly, look at, as we see here being from in the grace, I can say the product of persecution. <br /><br /> He talks about, remember when Jesus was talking there in Matthew chapter five, we call it the beatitudes. Remember that? Not your head, make me feel good. Of course you remember the beatitude, you know, the blessing are blessed. Are the poor in spirit, blessed are those who mourn blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness. <br /><br /> And then he says, and this, this is really, this is amazing. He said, blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed. Are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me rejoice and be glad because great is your reward in heaven for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. <br /><br /> Wow, bless it. Are the persecuted. I mean, this is standing firm in grace. Why would he say that? I mean, the word blessed said, we would say a simple translation might be happy are those, but it goes deeper than. Actually Tim Timmons wrote a little book about the beatitudes and in it, he talks about the blessedness of persecution and he writes it this way, the wording of it, and especially that last part to rejoice and be glad he put it this way. <br /><br /> He says, go and throw a party because you've been because you've been persecuted that doesn't even make sense. Why would I do that? Well, let me suggest this. A couple of things. One is maybe very simply because someone saw Christ in you, they saw Christ in you enough that either they were offended or they didn't like you be happy about that, that someone actually saw Jesus and you, by the way, you. <br /><br /> Because you've been willing to be filled by the spirit of God and the way that you live points out the righteousness of God. Not that you're perfect, but very simply that you are standing for that, which is true. And right. And people see that. And sometimes people are offended by righteousness. It doesn't mean that you're rubbing it in their face. <br /><br /> It doesn't mean that you're wandering around a being obnoxious. That's not the point. The point is a very simply my life is showing the reality of Christ in me years ago, many years ago, now I worked with manpower. You know what that is? It's an organization gets a little temporary jobs. I was down in Phoenix and I was unloading box cars of trains. <br /><br /> It was not a really great job, but. In there. As I got to know the people and I tried to share Christ, I tried to live in the way that would honor Christ. And at 1.1 guy started telling the story and say, and at the end he said, and Jim said this, and he used all sorts of different swear words, which God has delivered me on. <br /><br /> I don't have that issue at all. And there was one person standing next to me and he turned, he looked at the guy, he said, Jim, didn't say that. And the guy's like, oh yeah, no, he doesn't talk that way. Just the way we live might show Christ. And the way we talk the message that we share shows Jesus. It means that I'm taking the opportunity when opportunity arises to share the truth of God has revealed in the word of God that I'm saying what God has to say. <br /><br /> It's not about myself. It's not about some political thing. I think it's not about what others are saying. It is what God has said according to his word. And I proclaim that and I proclaim that truthfully. I mean, there are times when I've been challenged, I've talked to people instead of talking about sin, for instance, and the Bible says that we have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God. <br /><br /> And that is very offensive to some people. And, and, and I understand that, but that's what the scripture says, sharing the scripture with some people that Jesus says that he is the way the truth and the life and some people, but that's just so exclusive. And that's what Jesus said. I'm just telling you what Jesus said, our message. <br /><br /> Points people to Jesus and do people respond negatively? Sometimes they do. Sometimes they do here around the world, maybe even more. But one of the things about the blessedness of persecution is very simply that Jesus has been shown in your life because of how you live and how you have spoken. That is standing firm in grace. <br /><br /> And Jesus goes on to say, great, is your reward in heaven? Somebody wrote it this way. He said, you're in good company because look at what they did to the profits. The reward is in heaven. And in fact, in revelation talks about the crown of the martyrs reward because the grace of God has been shown in your life because you stood from the blessedness. <br /><br /> Of persecution and standing firm. Also the blessedness of persecution is that there are results of persecution. Jumping back to the passage in acts, you look at it here, the results, you know, what's going on and it's so significant. You read acts eight one, it goes on to say this and Saul was there giving approval to his death. <br /><br /> And then you get this on that day. A great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. God used this persecution and it happened all at once. Stephen was stone and the crowds went wild and drove him all over the place. <br /><br /> What happened was the beginning of the fulfillment of acts one eight, that you will be witnesses of me in Judea and Sumeria and to the ends of the earth. It began right here. The church is built and I don't know how in some ways, but it seems like the church is built so often because of persecution. <br /><br /> Then you look at many of the accounts of, of deadly persecution and throughout history. So many times you will see where the church begins to grow in numbers. And in grace, you will see the believers are strengthened in their faith. When they see other standing for the sake of righteousness, living by grace, that their hearts are encouraged and they stand as well. <br /><br /> In some instances, many are called into different forms of ministry, either as missionaries or serving. The Lord are just being faithful and proclaiming the word of truth. <br /><br /> Results of persecution are. I read about a teenager in India. Samarra was his name who was murdered by Hindu extremists, just because he loved Jesus or another one. Abdu who continued to wear a cross around his neck to show his devotion to Jesus on May 21st, 2021 extremists attacked his village in the Mali Republic and shot him eight times. <br /><br /> That's horrible, but the results, the family of Samarra sees his murderers from time to time and they pray for them continually. And the report is in that region of India, there are many people who have come to faith in Christ now because of that, the 40th Christian families in Abdul's village. Of scattered. <br /><br /> And now they're in all sorts of other villages, they're in the Mali and they are reaching out to others in all these other areas with the gospel of Christ <br /><br /> being firm in grace, because the blessedness of persecution that Christ has been seen and out of this, the church continues to grow and God is shown to be absolutely full of grace. So how am I supposed to respond to this? It's easy to respond. What would I do for a Klondike bar? That'd be easy. This might be a little harder. <br /><br /> How do I respond to people being, being persecuted to the point of death? Just because they love the Lord Jesus open doors ministries. Uh, has estimated this year that there are 13 people being killed every day, simply because they love Jesus that's around the world. That means over 4,700 people annually, there are other groups that make it even higher. <br /><br /> How do I respond to that? I mean, what am I supposed to learn here from the story of Stephen? I would suggest two things. One is don't forget then that there are brothers and sisters around the world who are facing harder persecution than you can imagine. And I would say that we need to be praying for them, you know, subscribed a voice of the martyrs or open doors or something like that. <br /><br /> Read the world news and know that are Christians are being impacted and pray for those dear ones. I think that's one of the things as I was reading in my quiet time in Hebrews Hebrews talks about right at the end, saying, remember those who are persecuted, don't forget about them and pray for them. The other thing is, as we look at this passage, remember that living by God's grace is how we are to live as followers of Jesus. <br /><br /> That God is with us. That Jesus is with us as never left us, will never forsake us. And we can trust him even when things are hard. And I know some of you have faced hard things, not maybe in terms of persecution, although some of you have, some of you have faced other hard things. And the truth is the grace of God carries you through that in every situation, in every part of life. <br /><br /> And, and the admonition I believe here is that we continually live by. So when the time comes, if we have to die, we die by grace. Remember there's a blessedness that comes with persecution, not the persecution itself, not the pain, but the fact is that when we stand and proclaim the truth, when we live godly lives in Christ, Jesus, Jesus Christ is shown to the people around us. <br /><br /> And that has great benefit for those who see it for those who hear it, it began with Steven. <br /><br /> It might continue with you or me as we proclaim the message of the gospel of Christ and live in the spirit that others might see him. Paul, the apostle, who was solving. Wrote to his friends and Philippians. And he said this for it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ. Not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him. <br /><br /> That's our life living for him in grace, dying for him. If need be in grace, I've put one thing here. If you're doing notes or anything, I wrote a little thing here says Lord helped me to blank because as I looked at this passage, there were so many things that went through my mind. What am I supposed to be learning from this? <br /><br /> And I'm going to urge you right now. Take a look at that either in your own heart, or maybe even write it down. As you think about the stoning of Stephen and everything that went with that, as you think about the standing in grace and being firm in grace and all of that, look at your own heart just for a minute. <br /><br /> Would you and write this down, Lord, help me. For me, what came to my mind again and again, learn to live by grace every day for others, it might be helping me to proclaim your truth, faithfully others. It just might be to really know you so that I stand in grace <br /><br /> when we get to heaven. I don't know what Stephen will say. He will say, though, at least this God stood with me. Jesus was with me and it was worth it. Let's pray father, as we come before you. I admit to you and you know, I've prayed this many times, this past couple of weeks. To me, this is a hard passage, but it's also a glorious passage. <br /><br /> God work in our hearts. I pray to understand what it means to live by grace, to be firm in grace and to proclaim your truth, your word, your life, to people around us in Christ's name. Amen. Now go and serve and stand for the Lord this week.</div> false no <![CDATA[A Two Question Final Exam]]> Acts 7:1-50

Stephen said: “Brothers and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham...



Sermon Transcript:

and, uh, by, should I take your Bibles? We're going to be looking at acts chapter seven, as we return to our series, as Jared said, at the beginning of the service to, uh, the book of acts, the spirit at work to the ends of the earth acts chapter seven. Uh, we're going to be looking at a sermon that is presented by Steven, and we're going to be focusing on really what he had to say in response to a very poignant question.

Two part question that was presented to him. I'm going to do something I don't think I've ever done before. I have never written. And when I say I haven't done it before, that encompasses a lot of time. I've been doing this for a long time, and I think this is the longest passage I've ever read. So I am probably going to read fast.

I have tried about six different places to just read this part, but it's a story. And I just think we need to go over. I know a number of you have been reading this this week, uh, with your ACS journals and excited with the thought that you are out there with your own thoughts, impressions from the spirit.

But for those of us that haven't been reading, I'd like to just present the whole thing. We're going to go down to verse 50 of acts chapter seven. And the high priest said are these things. So, and Stephen said, brothers and fathers hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father, Abraham, where he was in Mesopotamia before he lived in Huron and said to him, go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you.

Then he went out from the land of the Cambodians and lived in Huron. And after his father died, God removed him from. There into this land in which you are now living yet, he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot's length, but promised to give it to him as a possession and to his offspring. After him though, he had no child and God spoke to this effect that his offspring would be so generous in a land belonging to others who would enslave them and inflict them 400 years.

But I will judge the nation that they serve said God. And after that, they shall come out and worship me in this place. And he gave them the covenant of circumcision. And so Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day in Isaac became the father of Jacob and Jacob of the 12 patriarchs and the patriarchs jealous of Joseph sold him into Egypt, but God was.

And rescued him out of all those afflictions gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh king of Egypt, who had made him rule over Egypt and overall his household. Now there came a famine throughout all Egypt and Canaan and great affliction. And our fathers could find no food, but when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers on their first visit.

And on the second visit, Joseph made himself known to his brothers and Joseph's family became known to Pharaoh and Joseph San and summon Jacob, his father and all this kindred 75 persons at all. And Jacob went down into Egypt and he died. He and our fathers, and they were carried back to check him and laid in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Haymore and check them.

But as the time of the promise, Jr, which God had granted to Abraham, the father increased and multiplied in Egypt until the arose over Egypt, another king who did not know. He dealt shrewdly with our race and forced our fathers to expose their infants so that they would not be kept alive at this time.

Moses was born and he was beautiful in God's sight. And he was brought up for three months in his father's house. And when he was exposed, Pharaoh's daughter adopted him and brought him down as her own son. And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. And he was mighty in his words and deeds, when he was 40 years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel, and seeing one of them being wronged.

He defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian. He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they didn't understand and have the font on the following day, appeared to them as they were quarrelling and tried to reconcile them saying, man, you are brothers.

Why do you wrong each other? But the man who was wrong, his brother thrust him aside saying, who made you a ruler and a judge over us. Do you want to kill us as you killed the Egyptian yesterday at this time? At this retort, Moses fled and became an exile on the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.

Now, when he, 40 years had passed an angel appeared to him in the wilderness at Mount Sinai in a flame of fire and a Bush. When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight and he drew near to look, there came the voice of the Lord. I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and Isaac. And if Jacob and Moses trembled did not dare to look, then the Lord said to him, take off the sandals from your feet for the place where you're standing is holy ground.

I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and they have heard their groaning and I have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to. This Moses, whom they rejected saying, who made you a ruler and a judge, this man, God sent us both ruler and Redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the Bush.

This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt and at the red sea and in the wilderness for 40 years. This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, God will raise up for you. A prophet like me from your brothers. This is the one who was in the congregation, in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai.

And with our fathers, he re he rejected living Oracles to give to us. He received those Oracles. Our fathers refused to obey him, but thrust him aside and in their hearts. They turned to Egypt saying to Aaron, make for us gods, who will go before us as for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.

And they made a calf in those days and offered a sacrifice to the idle and rejoicing in the works of their hands. But God turned away and gave them over to worship. The host of heaven as is written, the book of the profits. Did you bring to me slain beasts and sacrifices during the 40 years in the wilderness of house of Israel, you took up the 10 of Moloch and the star of your God ref them and images that you made to worship.

And I will send you into exile beyond Babylon. Our fathers had the tent of witness in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses, directed him to make it according to the pattern that he had seen our fathers in turn brought in with Joshua, when they dispossessed the nations that God wrote drove out before our fathers.

So it was until the days of David who found favor in the sight of God and asked to find a dwelling place for the God of. But it was Solomon who built a house for him yet. The most tide does not dwell in houses, made by hands. As the prophet says, heaven is my throne. The earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest?

Did not my hand make all these things. You stiff neck people, uncircumcised in heart and ears. You always resist the holy spirit as your fathers did. So do you, which of your profits did your father's not persecute and they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the righteous one whom you have now betrayed and murdered.

You who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it wild. How about you? I'm exhausted, but let's pray together.

Lord, we thank you for this sermon. This. Response of Stephen that takes the history of Israel and highlights, things that were intended to reawaken. And in some cases awaken in the hearts of his listeners who knew this story, but are not seeing the emphasis that he is bringing out as it pointed toward Christ.

Lord, may we see those things this morning? May we learn from your spirit? I pray in Jesus name. Amen. We're looking at the life of Stephen as it is presented here in act six and seven. I mentioned to you, we're looking at three aspects in these three sermons. First of all, in chapter six, verses eight through 15, Stephen.

Today, Stephen his message. And next week, Steven, his martyrdom we're highlighting because he is obviously highlighted by Dr. Luke and the book of acts. He's not one of the apostles. He is one of the, the people that are set aside doing the ministry of deacon work of servant work. Uh, but he is a unique communicator of truth.

He is also blessed by God to have some of the signs and wonders that have been given to the apostles as he is going about doing signs and miraculous works. The message that we've just read is actually the result of an interrogation. Stephen arrested and dragged before the Sanhedrin. He is now standing before the 70 leaders of Israel.

And at this point, basically they have had it. They have been dealing with this sect of Jews. For six years since the day of Pentecost. And as they have now gathered around this guy, they are, they are up to here with the blatant disregard. These guys have shown when they have told them when they have arrested them, when they have, uh, uh, beat them, tortured them, they still keep talking about Jesus.

And Steven is now exhibit a is doing that because he's been doing it in the Senate, in the synagogues of the Hellenistic, which was a Jews. As we saw last time that spoke Greek, it would have been the synagogue where the Saul later apostle Paul attended when he was in Jerusalem. He likely is a very well-known commodity to Stephen.

And now they've infiltrated everything in Jerusalem. All his, all Judaism has been infected by this teaching about. Uh, man, that they, his religious leaders have signed the death warrant for now being declared to be raised from the dead. And they bring this guy in and they are seizing. And he is now confronted with an accusation we saw in verse 13 and 14 of chapter six.

And here's what it said. The people bring this and there's some truth to the actualization to some exaggeration. Here's what they say. This man, never ceases to speak words against this holy place. Meaning the temple and the law for, we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and we'll change the customs that Moses delivers to us.

Basically, this is their accusation. They're saying that Jesus is going to destroy the temple that he thinks he knows. A better way to view and approach God, basically he thinks we don't need the temple. The second accusation that is made against Stephen, who is, they are saying, taking the teachings of Jesus and announcing them is that Jesus will do away with the laws and practices of Moses.

He thinks he knows how to do God's will better than Moses. He thinks Moses is wrong about the way he describes the law. Those are the two accusations. They couldn't have hit on to hotter topics among Jews than the temple and the law. And they're saying this Jesus is trying to do away with them both. And he thinks he has better methodologies.

They bring Stephen in now before the Sanhedrin and they're confronting him with a four word question, are these things so. Is this what you're saying? Just what you say about the temple. Is this what you're claiming Jesus was all about? Is this what Jesus is about with the law we have now? Steven's response now actually the high priest gives to Stephen a multiple choice test.

Are these things, so yes or no. And Stephen turns it into a blue book response. He writes this, it presents this long essay with a two answer description. The two giant questions that are being presented to him are this one of the views of Jesus that you are, you are announcing about worshiping God. And what is your view that Jesus is presenting about doing the will of God.

Now we might look at this passage and probably on first read, you're thinking, I don't really know what this has to do with me. I mean, I don't, I don't know anything about the temple. I don't go to the temple. I mean, I'm not Jewish and, and I'm, I'm not under the law. I'm under grace as a Christian. So, so what does this have to do with me?

Well, here's the two topics that Stephen's going to talk about, worship your approach to God, how you view God. And secondly, the will of God, how you do the will of God. Well, Ecclesiastes. He says it this way. Fear God, and keep his commandments. This is the whole duty of man. The sticks talks to everybody.

This actually is a tremendously practical passage. Now, Stephen doesn't play his hand outright. He doesn't say, well, here's what I think about temple prayer. Here's what I think about the law. Here's what Jesus is saying about temple. Here's what she was saying about the law. He BA he goes back and basically he wants these guys to see.

I, there are a lot of points where we were, where we touch and overlap with each other. I also believe in the old Testament, I also Revere these four men or for individuals, Abraham, Joseph Moses. Who's the one who hits on the most. And then he combines David and Solomon. He says, this, these are our, my forefathers.

That's their story. That, that has formed the foundation of my understanding of God and doing his will as well as your. But he is going to present some things in these passages, in his storytelling that are going to speak directly to how Jesus views, worship, and how Jesus views doing the will of God. The two points we're going to look at this morning are this, the worship of God has never been restricted to a place that is what he's going to present in this.

The second thing, and that is answering the temple question. The second thing is. Answering the law question, the law, the will of God has always been revealed and explained through his prophets. All right, let's look at those two things and try to bring some real application to it. And then he's going to bring this whole thing.

As we see in verse 51 and 53 to a very startling conclusion, the worship of God has never been restricted to a place. This is Steven's response in his long discourse to the question about the temple, about, you know, do you need the temple? Is Jesus trying to get rid of the temple? His diseases say the temple isn't necessary is gonna, he's trying to destroy it.

The first thing he presents in this as the presence of God is wherever his people are. Now. The people in, in, in Israel's history. Post the creation of the temple loved the temple. David King. David loved the temple of God, Psalm 27. He says this in verse four, one thing, have I asked the Lord that I will seek after that?

I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. But Jesus highlights and Steven reaffirms in his long answer that as precious as the temple is, it is only a resource that God used to be with his people. It was only a tool.

And throughout this discourse of Psalm, excuse me, of acts chapter seven, he highlights that the greats of the faith, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, David Solomon. We're not limited to one space and one place to find God, let me just highlight a couple of things about Abraham. We see this in verses two through six, the God of glory appeared to our father.

Abraham. When he was in Mesopotamia says, go out from your land and into the land. I will show you yet. God gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot length. He says our father, the founder of our faith, the God who was the first Israel light, the first Jew, Abraham, he had no temple. He had no house of worship.

The guy didn't even own stones to build an off alter in the, in the, in the promised land. You know, Abraham lived his entire life in the promised land and he didn't own any. As a matter of fact, when his wife died, he had to go and purchase from somebody, a burial plot in the local cemetery. He had no place to put her.

He was a nomad in the land of promise, the place that God had said, where would be where he would one day see his, his, his descendants, having it as their, their, their dwelling place. But in verse two, but the God of glory appeared to Abraham repeatedly throughout the scriptures were told, and, and Stephen is pointing out Abraham wasn't dependent on a temple for God to make himself known.

God was with him everywhere. He says the same thing about Joseph, you know, Joseph, who was one of the heroes of the faith. He spent almost all his life in. He, he was a part from, from the family of God, for much of his life. He never lived in the place of promise, the land where God had chosen to meet with his people.

Then Moses, Moses fled at 40 years old from Egypt, where he was with the people of God. And he's out in the wilderness all alone, but God pursued him in the wilderness. God appeared to him. And he says this in verse 33, Moses, the place where you're standing is holy ground. He says Moses was alone in the wilderness.

All his people were in Egypt. He'd run for his life. He had no temple, no meeting place for worship services. And God set a Bush on fire to make a holy ground for Moses. What's he saying with all these examples, he's saying God is not limited for a temple. It is not simply where God makes himself known in a corporate worship.

God could make a, a piece of Sage brush, a temple to meet with his people. The second thing he highlights is that the presence of God could never be contained in a building. This is the latter part of his discourse in Saul in acts chapter seven. He says David and Solomon David had his heart to build this temple that you're, uh, you're you're revering.

So greatly God then had his son Solomon. And here's what he said. This was what Solomon said is this is what, excuse me. What Stephen quotes about that in verse 49, God said, this heavens my throne and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest?

Did not my hand make all these things. I mean, you can't limit me in a, in a temple. Heaven's my throne. I mean, the earth is just where I put my feet. It's just a footstool for me. Solomon said it this way. When he built the temple in first Kings chapter eight, verse 27, but will God really dwell on earth?

The heavens even the highest heaven cannot continue. How much less the temple I have built what Steven is saying. Guys, your view of the temple is too big and God too small. You're seeing God is limited. You revering the temple. Jesus is highlighting the reality that God has always made himself known to his people in all places in all times.

The temple was one tool of that, but you've made it much too big and God much too small, a perfect example of this. And then I'm going to try to apply this as Jeremiah seven, where the Lord says to Jeremiah, he says, stand at the, the entrance to the temple. And this is what I want you to say to the people.

This is what the Lord almighty. The God of Israel says, amend your ways and your actions. I do not trust in these deceptive words and say this, this is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord in, in Hebrew. When you want it to really talk about something, being spectacularly wonderful.

You repeated it. We tend to add the word. Great. Greatest, you know, magnificent. They just said three times. That's why. Holy, holy holy in Isaiah six is he is supremely transcendently holy. The idea was their security was that they had the temple. I mean, God, we got him. He's here. The temple. I mean, if you want to, if you ever wonder if God's with us, just look temples right over there.

We could see it every day. The fire's going up, you know, and Jeremiah is told now remind the people. It's the choices they make with their lives. It's not what they do. Just on the Sabbath, where they come to the worship services and meet with God. It is a seven day 24 hour experience. Why? Because I go with my people wherever they are.

I do life with my people wherever they are, whatever they do. The highlight that Steven is trying to say is you guys Revere this place too much. And by revering, this place too much, you Revere God to, oh, God has always been with this people everywhere. He's saying whether it was Abraham and Mesopotamia and Moses by a Bush in the middle of the desert somewhere, God is not limited to a place.

You need to see him doing life with you. 24 7.

If God is with his people everywhere, we should be looking for him. Everywhere is the inference. I think that's a direct application to us

at our 24 7 life experience should be with the perception that God is with me everywhere I go at some of the most important worship times you're going to have in the next few days, have nothing to do with being in the church. They may happen in your car. They may happen in, in the chair where you meet with God each day, they may happen on a stretch of sand on the beach or a particular tree in the woods where you walk.

It may happen on the sports field, in the business meeting on the job site, all kinds of settings, where God wants to make himself known that he wants to make a, a, a holy ground place for you. And Stephen is saying your view of God is way too small. It's too limiting. If you're focusing him just as, as he's a, he's a temple place.

God, the other thing is if God is with his people everywhere, we should be looking to serve him everywhere. This past week had no idea. This was, was the thing. Uh, I was very excited when I read it. Joanne sharp sent to me, uh, the newsletter that's coming out for women's ministry. So I could know what they were saying for June.

And the article is entitled busting out of the building. Here's what it says. The FCCS women ministry is busting out of the building this summer, just like the early church in acts. We desire to gather together with glad and sincere hearts. You can look forward to a summer full of radically, yet ordinary hospitality let's learn and grow in our ability to share and be the church and talked about how, how many homes have been opened up by many of you women to just have gatherings and Bible studies and getting to that's exactly what he's saying is what should be the perception that the people of God are viewing, busting out.

These guys were limited so well, here's where God is. But that's sort of where he is, but I'm doing business, you know, business businesses, business, you know, sport is spiritual life, spiritual life, churches, church, but business is business. Now God says no 24 7 I'm with my people, their view of the temple seemed lofty, but their view of God was diminished by.

And so that's the first thing he highlights. The second thing he highlights is the will of God has always been revealed through his prophets. Stephen's answer to the law question. God's prophets are called, are calling people to the law of God. You'll notice it says the accusation back in acts chapter six.

It says that they are Stephen's messaging is trying to change the customs that Moses delivered to us. The word customs is actually the word ethos. It means the ethics. Here's what they were saying. We're listening to him talk about Moses law. And he saying things that are actually trying to change the principles of how we look at the law and how we apply the law.

And quite frankly, that was true because what he was saying was the same thing Jesus was saying, Jesus was saying things like you've heard that it was said by them of old, you shall not commit adultery, which was a commandment commandment number seven, but then he says this, but I tell you. And if you look at a woman with lust in your heart, you've committed adultery.

He says your view of the law is way too low. It's it's diminished and it's, and it's, it's, it's, it's completely befuddled. The true reality of the law. The law speaks to heart. It speaks to motivation. They were looking at the law just at, by the, the cold letter of the law. And then they actually added the traditions and things, but they didn't look at it.

Heart-related they didn't look at the motive behind what they were doing. They didn't look at the spirit number of years ago, we had actually, Jesus was upholding Moses ethos of the law. They were not, and he's going to present that. And that was why they are against the prophets of God, because the prophets of God, historically, throughout the old Testament, Constantly they didn't present new laws.

What the prophets would do is they would challenge the people to the true application of the law, the principles of living out the loss, they would speak hard deep. It's exactly what Jesus did in his ministry because people tended to dumb down the requirements of the law. They tended to make them something they could manage that it became external.

We see that, of course, with the Pharisees number of years ago, we had a class called the discovery class and it was a followup to the negativity. We would do it every year. We then began to use alpha to do that, but I was teaching the discovery class one year and it was small class of people that had come to the nativity.

And now they were following up just learning about faith and in the class, one of the things we did was go through, uh, trying to. Sin and Jesus is the answer. And we went to Matthew chapter five and just talked about what sin actually is because most people think they know what sin is and they know what the standard of sin is.

And so I was just talking about how Jesus explains what the commandments really are about. And, uh, I talked about Matthew chapter five and I said, um, here, Jesus says, you've heard it was said by them of old do not commit murder, but I tell you that is anyone that is angry with his brother and calls them Rocco, which means, you know, it was a harsh name, uh, uh, in anger is, is in danger of judgment.

And there was a guy in the class and he was, um, uh, a river. In other words, he worked the, the super high rises in Philadelphia. He was one of those guys up on the, the metal deal, which honestly, even as he would describe his work, I would feel a little bit queasy. I'm not a height person, but, but just going along those things and, and I mean, he was a, he was a tough guy and I was explaining all this.

And I said, this is an understanding of what Jesus means when he says, do not commit murder. And I'll never forget his response. He said what? He said, I murder every day. You laugh, but sort of you, uh, but, but I'm not here every day. He does. He did. That was the path that God used. This guy beautifully embraced Jesus Christ as his savior.

Jesus. You need to understand what Moses is saying by the loss. And, and Stephen is saying, yeah, Jesus did come like a prophet to explain the true ethos, ethics of God's loss by doing so. He enabled people to see their hearts. He reminded people that living a godly life is not difficult. It's impossible that only God can live the godly life through people, through the influence of his spirit within them.

That's why the ultimate expression of living with the Lord is dependent. We are cast upon him. We are dependent upon him. We have what Hudson tele is. Talk about the exchanged life. His life is lived in us and through us. Yes. Stephen says Jesus did come, but he wasn't overturning the principles of, of God's law.

As Moses presented, he was affirming it. You guys have diminished it, it isn't that you have too high of you, of law. And Jesus has a low view. You have a low view of law. Jesus Springs, the true high view of the standards of the law. That is why the second principally presents an extra chapter seven God's prophets have always been rejected by those whose hearts are hard.

He talks about Joseph, you know, the other in verse nine, the other patriarchs were jealous of Joseph. They sold him into Egypt, but God was with him. But the big one he hits on is Moses. And he highlights Moses in verses 22, verse 35. And following this Moses, whom they rejected saying, who made you a ruler and a judge, this man, God sent is both a ruler and Redeemer verse 36.

This man led them out, performing signs and wonders this in verse 37 is the Moses said to the Israelites, God will raise up for you. A prophet like me from your brothers. This is the one who spoke. Who who spoke to him? Sorry, this is the one who is in the congregation, in the wilderness with the angels, spoke to him.

He's the one that got the law versus our fathers refused to obey him. But for us to move aside and their hearts turned back to Egypt saying, make for us, God's Aaron who go before for us. As for this Moses guy who led us from the land of Egypt, we don't know what it's become a him, what they do with your Moses.

They rejected him. They didn't listen to his message. They didn't really want what he had to present. They didn't ha they want what he offered. He says, this has been the pattern rejecting those that truly speak the reality of the, but here's what he sneaks in. That is so important when he's talking about Moses two things, but he says, Moses talked about a prophet that was coming like him one day.

This is a reference to Christ and he affirms it by this statement in that same passage, he says, you know, Moses was affirmed to you by signs and wonders. Do you know, in the whole history of, of Israel, there are only three periods in which signs and wonders were manifested. It of course, is that if you think back through the old Testament, think of time of miracles, big miracles, seasons of miracles, you'll only find actually three in through the whole scriptures.

One was the time of Moses. We see the plagues in Egypt. We see the red sea. We see the man in the wilderness, I mean, on and on. It goes, there were signs and wonders that affirmed Moses. As the law giver as, as the ultimate prophet of God later, as the prof prophetic ministry, hundreds of years later was introduced under Elijah and Elijah.

There were signs and wonders. The acts had floating in the, in the, in the river variety of other things that they did the calling down a fire on Mount Mount Carmel. Um, but then you come hundreds of years later to another period where the true profit has come. This is what Steven's highlighting. He also, and those associated with.

Are given signs and wonders. These were, were, were gifts, spirit, uh, excuse me, sign gifts as they're called and Hebrews two in second Corinthians 12, uh, that we're authenticating and a number of pastures in the, in the book of acts at least 12, where the signs and wonders are given they're called in enacts.

A number of times, the signs of the apostles, although they were also, uh, given to Philip and, uh, Barnabas and Stephen. But what he's saying is look with me in your history. Look back. When have you seen signs and wonders before it was the prophetic ministry of Moses? When have you seen them again? It was the prophetic ministry of Elijah and Elijah has a new era of the profits.

And when do you see signs and wonders again right now? Wow. He says because Jesus, the prophet has. He is the one that is calm. He is speaking about the true nature of living the spiritual life, the true standard of the law, just as Moses presented just as a firm by the profits. And then he comes to his home run, hitting response in verse 51, which must have taken their breath away.

You stiff-necked people circumcised and, and he hears you always resist the holy spirit as your fathers did. So do you, which of the prophets did your father's not persecute and they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the righteous one whom you have now betrayed and murdered. You received the laws delivered by angels and did not keep it.

Here's what he said. You are, hard-hearted resisting the spirit in rejecting Jesus. You are rejecting the righteous one himself. The true prophet. You are the ones that are not keeping the principles of God's law. You are the ones that have lowered the demands of God's law to deceive yourselves into assuming that you can keep it.

Your ethos is less than God ever intended the law, which would speak to the hearts and motivations of the heart. You see these individuals of course had some familiarity with truth and the Bible story. I mean, the story that he told, they knew they knew Abraham them, and they were probably surprised he knew it that well, there were the teachers, they knew Abraham.

They knew Joseph. They knew Moses. They knew David. They knew Solomon, but he said, You know some of the story, but your knowledge has actually just been an inoculation against the real disease. You you've gotten some of the vaccine, you've got a taste of it, but it's inoculated you from getting the real disease of truth of your lives being changed, changed.

And so he says, you need to hear the story in a new light. See that what you're doing is what people have always done, who are hard to God's truth, who don't want to face their own hearts, who don't want to see the law speaking at the, the hard level. I want to close my sermon this way. Maybe you're here this morning, familiar with the Bible Christianity.

You could recount some of the story. You hear people talk about the gospel until yeah. Yeah. I, I know that.

But do you, maybe you have got just enough of it to inoculate you to the real disease. What if what you rejected is a cocky, a chair of Christianity, a view of Christianity that seems to declare it. It actually was all about you. You needed to be good. You need to get it right. You needed to be righteous to be acceptable.

And when Jesus comes around, you reject him because he seems to be demanding of you, what you don't seem to have or ever will have. What if he came to forgive you to liberate you, to give you life? What if he really is the safest person in the universe and he came to seek and save a sinner like you, just because he loves.

What, if it is your pride and your self dependence, your determination to be sufficient in yourself. That is actually what stands in the way of your repentance and embracing of Jesus. Many of these religious leaders didn't want to admit they were wrong about Jesus. They didn't want to admit that they needed him, but they were desperate for forgiveness and what he came to offer.

And they threw them aside and they thought they knew it all. And then they understood the lawn and they got all this and they knew the stories of the Bible, but they were not related to the real disease. And they rejected the one that could have given them life.

What if that's you,

what if you've really rejected? What you thought was Christianity, but it's just enough of religiosity that some of us have raised our kids then, or we braised all others in and, and, and what's come through, has really been about you and you'll be in better, but that's not it. The gospel is that Jesus has come for people.

He loves to rescue them from a life that is bound and caught in sin. These men, most of them, some of them would be exceptions, but most of them felt they knew all of it. They could have told the story better than Steven, but they really missed it. The messaging of the story. They missed the messaging of grace, the message of the beauty of all of it pointing.

All of it was not pointing to, to the day when the S the Pharisees were there and say, yeah, we've learned it all. So we could be good people. Now, the whole narrative was pointing to one who is coming to be their, their savior, their rescuer. They were inoculated to the real disease. How about you, Lord? We come to you this morning.

God, I thank you that you are the pursuing God that you're with us every day. At the only time that we're going to encounter you is not this morning, 24 7. You're going to be with us long side of us. Willing to lead, willing to carry us.

Lord, I thank you for the reminder that the Christian life is impossible. Apart from Christ. It is through the spirit of Christ that we can live this life of beauty that you offer to us through him

in Jesus' name. Amen. Now go in peace to worship the Lord who is with you. Wherever you go, go in peace to live by a spirit who will help you do whatever he asks you are dismissed. Thank you.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/a-two-question-final-exam 363af055-de79-4f66-8364-e730083ee401 Sun, 05 Jun 2022 12:48:45 GMT <div data-html="true">Acts 7:1-50 <br /><br /> Stephen said: “Brothers and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham... <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> and, uh, by, should I take your Bibles? We're going to be looking at acts chapter seven, as we return to our series, as Jared said, at the beginning of the service to, uh, the book of acts, the spirit at work to the ends of the earth acts chapter seven. Uh, we're going to be looking at a sermon that is presented by Steven, and we're going to be focusing on really what he had to say in response to a very poignant question. <br /><br /> Two part question that was presented to him. I'm going to do something I don't think I've ever done before. I have never written. And when I say I haven't done it before, that encompasses a lot of time. I've been doing this for a long time, and I think this is the longest passage I've ever read. So I am probably going to read fast. <br /><br /> I have tried about six different places to just read this part, but it's a story. And I just think we need to go over. I know a number of you have been reading this this week, uh, with your ACS journals and excited with the thought that you are out there with your own thoughts, impressions from the spirit. <br /><br /> But for those of us that haven't been reading, I'd like to just present the whole thing. We're going to go down to verse 50 of acts chapter seven. And the high priest said are these things. So, and Stephen said, brothers and fathers hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father, Abraham, where he was in Mesopotamia before he lived in Huron and said to him, go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you. <br /><br /> Then he went out from the land of the Cambodians and lived in Huron. And after his father died, God removed him from. There into this land in which you are now living yet, he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot's length, but promised to give it to him as a possession and to his offspring. After him though, he had no child and God spoke to this effect that his offspring would be so generous in a land belonging to others who would enslave them and inflict them 400 years. <br /><br /> But I will judge the nation that they serve said God. And after that, they shall come out and worship me in this place. And he gave them the covenant of circumcision. And so Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day in Isaac became the father of Jacob and Jacob of the 12 patriarchs and the patriarchs jealous of Joseph sold him into Egypt, but God was. <br /><br /> And rescued him out of all those afflictions gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh king of Egypt, who had made him rule over Egypt and overall his household. Now there came a famine throughout all Egypt and Canaan and great affliction. And our fathers could find no food, but when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers on their first visit. <br /><br /> And on the second visit, Joseph made himself known to his brothers and Joseph's family became known to Pharaoh and Joseph San and summon Jacob, his father and all this kindred 75 persons at all. And Jacob went down into Egypt and he died. He and our fathers, and they were carried back to check him and laid in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Haymore and check them. <br /><br /> But as the time of the promise, Jr, which God had granted to Abraham, the father increased and multiplied in Egypt until the arose over Egypt, another king who did not know. He dealt shrewdly with our race and forced our fathers to expose their infants so that they would not be kept alive at this time. <br /><br /> Moses was born and he was beautiful in God's sight. And he was brought up for three months in his father's house. And when he was exposed, Pharaoh's daughter adopted him and brought him down as her own son. And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. And he was mighty in his words and deeds, when he was 40 years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel, and seeing one of them being wronged. <br /><br /> He defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian. He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they didn't understand and have the font on the following day, appeared to them as they were quarrelling and tried to reconcile them saying, man, you are brothers. <br /><br /> Why do you wrong each other? But the man who was wrong, his brother thrust him aside saying, who made you a ruler and a judge over us. Do you want to kill us as you killed the Egyptian yesterday at this time? At this retort, Moses fled and became an exile on the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons. <br /><br /> Now, when he, 40 years had passed an angel appeared to him in the wilderness at Mount Sinai in a flame of fire and a Bush. When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight and he drew near to look, there came the voice of the Lord. I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and Isaac. And if Jacob and Moses trembled did not dare to look, then the Lord said to him, take off the sandals from your feet for the place where you're standing is holy ground. <br /><br /> I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and they have heard their groaning and I have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to. This Moses, whom they rejected saying, who made you a ruler and a judge, this man, God sent us both ruler and Redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the Bush. <br /><br /> This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt and at the red sea and in the wilderness for 40 years. This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, God will raise up for you. A prophet like me from your brothers. This is the one who was in the congregation, in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai. <br /><br /> And with our fathers, he re he rejected living Oracles to give to us. He received those Oracles. Our fathers refused to obey him, but thrust him aside and in their hearts. They turned to Egypt saying to Aaron, make for us gods, who will go before us as for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him. <br /><br /> And they made a calf in those days and offered a sacrifice to the idle and rejoicing in the works of their hands. But God turned away and gave them over to worship. The host of heaven as is written, the book of the profits. Did you bring to me slain beasts and sacrifices during the 40 years in the wilderness of house of Israel, you took up the 10 of Moloch and the star of your God ref them and images that you made to worship. <br /><br /> And I will send you into exile beyond Babylon. Our fathers had the tent of witness in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses, directed him to make it according to the pattern that he had seen our fathers in turn brought in with Joshua, when they dispossessed the nations that God wrote drove out before our fathers. <br /><br /> So it was until the days of David who found favor in the sight of God and asked to find a dwelling place for the God of. But it was Solomon who built a house for him yet. The most tide does not dwell in houses, made by hands. As the prophet says, heaven is my throne. The earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest? <br /><br /> Did not my hand make all these things. You stiff neck people, uncircumcised in heart and ears. You always resist the holy spirit as your fathers did. So do you, which of your profits did your father's not persecute and they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the righteous one whom you have now betrayed and murdered. <br /><br /> You who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it wild. How about you? I'm exhausted, but let's pray together. <br /><br /> Lord, we thank you for this sermon. This. Response of Stephen that takes the history of Israel and highlights, things that were intended to reawaken. And in some cases awaken in the hearts of his listeners who knew this story, but are not seeing the emphasis that he is bringing out as it pointed toward Christ. <br /><br /> Lord, may we see those things this morning? May we learn from your spirit? I pray in Jesus name. Amen. We're looking at the life of Stephen as it is presented here in act six and seven. I mentioned to you, we're looking at three aspects in these three sermons. First of all, in chapter six, verses eight through 15, Stephen. <br /><br /> Today, Stephen his message. And next week, Steven, his martyrdom we're highlighting because he is obviously highlighted by Dr. Luke and the book of acts. He's not one of the apostles. He is one of the, the people that are set aside doing the ministry of deacon work of servant work. Uh, but he is a unique communicator of truth. <br /><br /> He is also blessed by God to have some of the signs and wonders that have been given to the apostles as he is going about doing signs and miraculous works. The message that we've just read is actually the result of an interrogation. Stephen arrested and dragged before the Sanhedrin. He is now standing before the 70 leaders of Israel. <br /><br /> And at this point, basically they have had it. They have been dealing with this sect of Jews. For six years since the day of Pentecost. And as they have now gathered around this guy, they are, they are up to here with the blatant disregard. These guys have shown when they have told them when they have arrested them, when they have, uh, uh, beat them, tortured them, they still keep talking about Jesus. <br /><br /> And Steven is now exhibit a is doing that because he's been doing it in the Senate, in the synagogues of the Hellenistic, which was a Jews. As we saw last time that spoke Greek, it would have been the synagogue where the Saul later apostle Paul attended when he was in Jerusalem. He likely is a very well-known commodity to Stephen. <br /><br /> And now they've infiltrated everything in Jerusalem. All his, all Judaism has been infected by this teaching about. Uh, man, that they, his religious leaders have signed the death warrant for now being declared to be raised from the dead. And they bring this guy in and they are seizing. And he is now confronted with an accusation we saw in verse 13 and 14 of chapter six. <br /><br /> And here's what it said. The people bring this and there's some truth to the actualization to some exaggeration. Here's what they say. This man, never ceases to speak words against this holy place. Meaning the temple and the law for, we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and we'll change the customs that Moses delivers to us. <br /><br /> Basically, this is their accusation. They're saying that Jesus is going to destroy the temple that he thinks he knows. A better way to view and approach God, basically he thinks we don't need the temple. The second accusation that is made against Stephen, who is, they are saying, taking the teachings of Jesus and announcing them is that Jesus will do away with the laws and practices of Moses. <br /><br /> He thinks he knows how to do God's will better than Moses. He thinks Moses is wrong about the way he describes the law. Those are the two accusations. They couldn't have hit on to hotter topics among Jews than the temple and the law. And they're saying this Jesus is trying to do away with them both. And he thinks he has better methodologies. <br /><br /> They bring Stephen in now before the Sanhedrin and they're confronting him with a four word question, are these things so. Is this what you're saying? Just what you say about the temple. Is this what you're claiming Jesus was all about? Is this what Jesus is about with the law we have now? Steven's response now actually the high priest gives to Stephen a multiple choice test. <br /><br /> Are these things, so yes or no. And Stephen turns it into a blue book response. He writes this, it presents this long essay with a two answer description. The two giant questions that are being presented to him are this one of the views of Jesus that you are, you are announcing about worshiping God. And what is your view that Jesus is presenting about doing the will of God. <br /><br /> Now we might look at this passage and probably on first read, you're thinking, I don't really know what this has to do with me. I mean, I don't, I don't know anything about the temple. I don't go to the temple. I mean, I'm not Jewish and, and I'm, I'm not under the law. I'm under grace as a Christian. So, so what does this have to do with me? <br /><br /> Well, here's the two topics that Stephen's going to talk about, worship your approach to God, how you view God. And secondly, the will of God, how you do the will of God. Well, Ecclesiastes. He says it this way. Fear God, and keep his commandments. This is the whole duty of man. The sticks talks to everybody. <br /><br /> This actually is a tremendously practical passage. Now, Stephen doesn't play his hand outright. He doesn't say, well, here's what I think about temple prayer. Here's what I think about the law. Here's what Jesus is saying about temple. Here's what she was saying about the law. He BA he goes back and basically he wants these guys to see. <br /><br /> I, there are a lot of points where we were, where we touch and overlap with each other. I also believe in the old Testament, I also Revere these four men or for individuals, Abraham, Joseph Moses. Who's the one who hits on the most. And then he combines David and Solomon. He says, this, these are our, my forefathers. <br /><br /> That's their story. That, that has formed the foundation of my understanding of God and doing his will as well as your. But he is going to present some things in these passages, in his storytelling that are going to speak directly to how Jesus views, worship, and how Jesus views doing the will of God. The two points we're going to look at this morning are this, the worship of God has never been restricted to a place that is what he's going to present in this. <br /><br /> The second thing, and that is answering the temple question. The second thing is. Answering the law question, the law, the will of God has always been revealed and explained through his prophets. All right, let's look at those two things and try to bring some real application to it. And then he's going to bring this whole thing. <br /><br /> As we see in verse 51 and 53 to a very startling conclusion, the worship of God has never been restricted to a place. This is Steven's response in his long discourse to the question about the temple, about, you know, do you need the temple? Is Jesus trying to get rid of the temple? His diseases say the temple isn't necessary is gonna, he's trying to destroy it. <br /><br /> The first thing he presents in this as the presence of God is wherever his people are. Now. The people in, in, in Israel's history. Post the creation of the temple loved the temple. David King. David loved the temple of God, Psalm 27. He says this in verse four, one thing, have I asked the Lord that I will seek after that? <br /><br /> I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. But Jesus highlights and Steven reaffirms in his long answer that as precious as the temple is, it is only a resource that God used to be with his people. It was only a tool. <br /><br /> And throughout this discourse of Psalm, excuse me, of acts chapter seven, he highlights that the greats of the faith, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, David Solomon. We're not limited to one space and one place to find God, let me just highlight a couple of things about Abraham. We see this in verses two through six, the God of glory appeared to our father. <br /><br /> Abraham. When he was in Mesopotamia says, go out from your land and into the land. I will show you yet. God gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot length. He says our father, the founder of our faith, the God who was the first Israel light, the first Jew, Abraham, he had no temple. He had no house of worship. <br /><br /> The guy didn't even own stones to build an off alter in the, in the, in the promised land. You know, Abraham lived his entire life in the promised land and he didn't own any. As a matter of fact, when his wife died, he had to go and purchase from somebody, a burial plot in the local cemetery. He had no place to put her. <br /><br /> He was a nomad in the land of promise, the place that God had said, where would be where he would one day see his, his, his descendants, having it as their, their, their dwelling place. But in verse two, but the God of glory appeared to Abraham repeatedly throughout the scriptures were told, and, and Stephen is pointing out Abraham wasn't dependent on a temple for God to make himself known. <br /><br /> God was with him everywhere. He says the same thing about Joseph, you know, Joseph, who was one of the heroes of the faith. He spent almost all his life in. He, he was a part from, from the family of God, for much of his life. He never lived in the place of promise, the land where God had chosen to meet with his people. <br /><br /> Then Moses, Moses fled at 40 years old from Egypt, where he was with the people of God. And he's out in the wilderness all alone, but God pursued him in the wilderness. God appeared to him. And he says this in verse 33, Moses, the place where you're standing is holy ground. He says Moses was alone in the wilderness. <br /><br /> All his people were in Egypt. He'd run for his life. He had no temple, no meeting place for worship services. And God set a Bush on fire to make a holy ground for Moses. What's he saying with all these examples, he's saying God is not limited for a temple. It is not simply where God makes himself known in a corporate worship. <br /><br /> God could make a, a piece of Sage brush, a temple to meet with his people. The second thing he highlights is that the presence of God could never be contained in a building. This is the latter part of his discourse in Saul in acts chapter seven. He says David and Solomon David had his heart to build this temple that you're, uh, you're you're revering. <br /><br /> So greatly God then had his son Solomon. And here's what he said. This was what Solomon said is this is what, excuse me. What Stephen quotes about that in verse 49, God said, this heavens my throne and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest? <br /><br /> Did not my hand make all these things. I mean, you can't limit me in a, in a temple. Heaven's my throne. I mean, the earth is just where I put my feet. It's just a footstool for me. Solomon said it this way. When he built the temple in first Kings chapter eight, verse 27, but will God really dwell on earth? <br /><br /> The heavens even the highest heaven cannot continue. How much less the temple I have built what Steven is saying. Guys, your view of the temple is too big and God too small. You're seeing God is limited. You revering the temple. Jesus is highlighting the reality that God has always made himself known to his people in all places in all times. <br /><br /> The temple was one tool of that, but you've made it much too big and God much too small, a perfect example of this. And then I'm going to try to apply this as Jeremiah seven, where the Lord says to Jeremiah, he says, stand at the, the entrance to the temple. And this is what I want you to say to the people. <br /><br /> This is what the Lord almighty. The God of Israel says, amend your ways and your actions. I do not trust in these deceptive words and say this, this is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord in, in Hebrew. When you want it to really talk about something, being spectacularly wonderful. <br /><br /> You repeated it. We tend to add the word. Great. Greatest, you know, magnificent. They just said three times. That's why. Holy, holy holy in Isaiah six is he is supremely transcendently holy. The idea was their security was that they had the temple. I mean, God, we got him. He's here. The temple. I mean, if you want to, if you ever wonder if God's with us, just look temples right over there. <br /><br /> We could see it every day. The fire's going up, you know, and Jeremiah is told now remind the people. It's the choices they make with their lives. It's not what they do. Just on the Sabbath, where they come to the worship services and meet with God. It is a seven day 24 hour experience. Why? Because I go with my people wherever they are. <br /><br /> I do life with my people wherever they are, whatever they do. The highlight that Steven is trying to say is you guys Revere this place too much. And by revering, this place too much, you Revere God to, oh, God has always been with this people everywhere. He's saying whether it was Abraham and Mesopotamia and Moses by a Bush in the middle of the desert somewhere, God is not limited to a place. <br /><br /> You need to see him doing life with you. 24 7. <br /><br /> If God is with his people everywhere, we should be looking for him. Everywhere is the inference. I think that's a direct application to us <br /><br /> at our 24 7 life experience should be with the perception that God is with me everywhere I go at some of the most important worship times you're going to have in the next few days, have nothing to do with being in the church. They may happen in your car. They may happen in, in the chair where you meet with God each day, they may happen on a stretch of sand on the beach or a particular tree in the woods where you walk. <br /><br /> It may happen on the sports field, in the business meeting on the job site, all kinds of settings, where God wants to make himself known that he wants to make a, a, a holy ground place for you. And Stephen is saying your view of God is way too small. It's too limiting. If you're focusing him just as, as he's a, he's a temple place. <br /><br /> God, the other thing is if God is with his people everywhere, we should be looking to serve him everywhere. This past week had no idea. This was, was the thing. Uh, I was very excited when I read it. Joanne sharp sent to me, uh, the newsletter that's coming out for women's ministry. So I could know what they were saying for June. <br /><br /> And the article is entitled busting out of the building. Here's what it says. The FCCS women ministry is busting out of the building this summer, just like the early church in acts. We desire to gather together with glad and sincere hearts. You can look forward to a summer full of radically, yet ordinary hospitality let's learn and grow in our ability to share and be the church and talked about how, how many homes have been opened up by many of you women to just have gatherings and Bible studies and getting to that's exactly what he's saying is what should be the perception that the people of God are viewing, busting out. <br /><br /> These guys were limited so well, here's where God is. But that's sort of where he is, but I'm doing business, you know, business businesses, business, you know, sport is spiritual life, spiritual life, churches, church, but business is business. Now God says no 24 7 I'm with my people, their view of the temple seemed lofty, but their view of God was diminished by. <br /><br /> And so that's the first thing he highlights. The second thing he highlights is the will of God has always been revealed through his prophets. Stephen's answer to the law question. God's prophets are called, are calling people to the law of God. You'll notice it says the accusation back in acts chapter six. <br /><br /> It says that they are Stephen's messaging is trying to change the customs that Moses delivered to us. The word customs is actually the word ethos. It means the ethics. Here's what they were saying. We're listening to him talk about Moses law. And he saying things that are actually trying to change the principles of how we look at the law and how we apply the law. <br /><br /> And quite frankly, that was true because what he was saying was the same thing Jesus was saying, Jesus was saying things like you've heard that it was said by them of old, you shall not commit adultery, which was a commandment commandment number seven, but then he says this, but I tell you. And if you look at a woman with lust in your heart, you've committed adultery. <br /><br /> He says your view of the law is way too low. It's it's diminished and it's, and it's, it's, it's, it's completely befuddled. The true reality of the law. The law speaks to heart. It speaks to motivation. They were looking at the law just at, by the, the cold letter of the law. And then they actually added the traditions and things, but they didn't look at it. <br /><br /> Heart-related they didn't look at the motive behind what they were doing. They didn't look at the spirit number of years ago, we had actually, Jesus was upholding Moses ethos of the law. They were not, and he's going to present that. And that was why they are against the prophets of God, because the prophets of God, historically, throughout the old Testament, Constantly they didn't present new laws. <br /><br /> What the prophets would do is they would challenge the people to the true application of the law, the principles of living out the loss, they would speak hard deep. It's exactly what Jesus did in his ministry because people tended to dumb down the requirements of the law. They tended to make them something they could manage that it became external. <br /><br /> We see that, of course, with the Pharisees number of years ago, we had a class called the discovery class and it was a followup to the negativity. We would do it every year. We then began to use alpha to do that, but I was teaching the discovery class one year and it was small class of people that had come to the nativity. <br /><br /> And now they were following up just learning about faith and in the class, one of the things we did was go through, uh, trying to. Sin and Jesus is the answer. And we went to Matthew chapter five and just talked about what sin actually is because most people think they know what sin is and they know what the standard of sin is. <br /><br /> And so I was just talking about how Jesus explains what the commandments really are about. And, uh, I talked about Matthew chapter five and I said, um, here, Jesus says, you've heard it was said by them of old do not commit murder, but I tell you that is anyone that is angry with his brother and calls them Rocco, which means, you know, it was a harsh name, uh, uh, in anger is, is in danger of judgment. <br /><br /> And there was a guy in the class and he was, um, uh, a river. In other words, he worked the, the super high rises in Philadelphia. He was one of those guys up on the, the metal deal, which honestly, even as he would describe his work, I would feel a little bit queasy. I'm not a height person, but, but just going along those things and, and I mean, he was a, he was a tough guy and I was explaining all this. <br /><br /> And I said, this is an understanding of what Jesus means when he says, do not commit murder. And I'll never forget his response. He said what? He said, I murder every day. You laugh, but sort of you, uh, but, but I'm not here every day. He does. He did. That was the path that God used. This guy beautifully embraced Jesus Christ as his savior. <br /><br /> Jesus. You need to understand what Moses is saying by the loss. And, and Stephen is saying, yeah, Jesus did come like a prophet to explain the true ethos, ethics of God's loss by doing so. He enabled people to see their hearts. He reminded people that living a godly life is not difficult. It's impossible that only God can live the godly life through people, through the influence of his spirit within them. <br /><br /> That's why the ultimate expression of living with the Lord is dependent. We are cast upon him. We are dependent upon him. We have what Hudson tele is. Talk about the exchanged life. His life is lived in us and through us. Yes. Stephen says Jesus did come, but he wasn't overturning the principles of, of God's law. <br /><br /> As Moses presented, he was affirming it. You guys have diminished it, it isn't that you have too high of you, of law. And Jesus has a low view. You have a low view of law. Jesus Springs, the true high view of the standards of the law. That is why the second principally presents an extra chapter seven God's prophets have always been rejected by those whose hearts are hard. <br /><br /> He talks about Joseph, you know, the other in verse nine, the other patriarchs were jealous of Joseph. They sold him into Egypt, but God was with him. But the big one he hits on is Moses. And he highlights Moses in verses 22, verse 35. And following this Moses, whom they rejected saying, who made you a ruler and a judge, this man, God sent is both a ruler and Redeemer verse 36. <br /><br /> This man led them out, performing signs and wonders this in verse 37 is the Moses said to the Israelites, God will raise up for you. A prophet like me from your brothers. This is the one who spoke. Who who spoke to him? Sorry, this is the one who is in the congregation, in the wilderness with the angels, spoke to him. <br /><br /> He's the one that got the law versus our fathers refused to obey him. But for us to move aside and their hearts turned back to Egypt saying, make for us, God's Aaron who go before for us. As for this Moses guy who led us from the land of Egypt, we don't know what it's become a him, what they do with your Moses. <br /><br /> They rejected him. They didn't listen to his message. They didn't really want what he had to present. They didn't ha they want what he offered. He says, this has been the pattern rejecting those that truly speak the reality of the, but here's what he sneaks in. That is so important when he's talking about Moses two things, but he says, Moses talked about a prophet that was coming like him one day. <br /><br /> This is a reference to Christ and he affirms it by this statement in that same passage, he says, you know, Moses was affirmed to you by signs and wonders. Do you know, in the whole history of, of Israel, there are only three periods in which signs and wonders were manifested. It of course, is that if you think back through the old Testament, think of time of miracles, big miracles, seasons of miracles, you'll only find actually three in through the whole scriptures. <br /><br /> One was the time of Moses. We see the plagues in Egypt. We see the red sea. We see the man in the wilderness, I mean, on and on. It goes, there were signs and wonders that affirmed Moses. As the law giver as, as the ultimate prophet of God later, as the prof prophetic ministry, hundreds of years later was introduced under Elijah and Elijah. <br /><br /> There were signs and wonders. The acts had floating in the, in the, in the river variety of other things that they did the calling down a fire on Mount Mount Carmel. Um, but then you come hundreds of years later to another period where the true profit has come. This is what Steven's highlighting. He also, and those associated with. <br /><br /> Are given signs and wonders. These were, were, were gifts, spirit, uh, excuse me, sign gifts as they're called and Hebrews two in second Corinthians 12, uh, that we're authenticating and a number of pastures in the, in the book of acts at least 12, where the signs and wonders are given they're called in enacts. <br /><br /> A number of times, the signs of the apostles, although they were also, uh, given to Philip and, uh, Barnabas and Stephen. But what he's saying is look with me in your history. Look back. When have you seen signs and wonders before it was the prophetic ministry of Moses? When have you seen them again? It was the prophetic ministry of Elijah and Elijah has a new era of the profits. <br /><br /> And when do you see signs and wonders again right now? Wow. He says because Jesus, the prophet has. He is the one that is calm. He is speaking about the true nature of living the spiritual life, the true standard of the law, just as Moses presented just as a firm by the profits. And then he comes to his home run, hitting response in verse 51, which must have taken their breath away. <br /><br /> You stiff-necked people circumcised and, and he hears you always resist the holy spirit as your fathers did. So do you, which of the prophets did your father's not persecute and they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the righteous one whom you have now betrayed and murdered. You received the laws delivered by angels and did not keep it. <br /><br /> Here's what he said. You are, hard-hearted resisting the spirit in rejecting Jesus. You are rejecting the righteous one himself. The true prophet. You are the ones that are not keeping the principles of God's law. You are the ones that have lowered the demands of God's law to deceive yourselves into assuming that you can keep it. <br /><br /> Your ethos is less than God ever intended the law, which would speak to the hearts and motivations of the heart. You see these individuals of course had some familiarity with truth and the Bible story. I mean, the story that he told, they knew they knew Abraham them, and they were probably surprised he knew it that well, there were the teachers, they knew Abraham. <br /><br /> They knew Joseph. They knew Moses. They knew David. They knew Solomon, but he said, You know some of the story, but your knowledge has actually just been an inoculation against the real disease. You you've gotten some of the vaccine, you've got a taste of it, but it's inoculated you from getting the real disease of truth of your lives being changed, changed. <br /><br /> And so he says, you need to hear the story in a new light. See that what you're doing is what people have always done, who are hard to God's truth, who don't want to face their own hearts, who don't want to see the law speaking at the, the hard level. I want to close my sermon this way. Maybe you're here this morning, familiar with the Bible Christianity. <br /><br /> You could recount some of the story. You hear people talk about the gospel until yeah. Yeah. I, I know that. <br /><br /> But do you, maybe you have got just enough of it to inoculate you to the real disease. What if what you rejected is a cocky, a chair of Christianity, a view of Christianity that seems to declare it. It actually was all about you. You needed to be good. You need to get it right. You needed to be righteous to be acceptable. <br /><br /> And when Jesus comes around, you reject him because he seems to be demanding of you, what you don't seem to have or ever will have. What if he came to forgive you to liberate you, to give you life? What if he really is the safest person in the universe and he came to seek and save a sinner like you, just because he loves. <br /><br /> What, if it is your pride and your self dependence, your determination to be sufficient in yourself. That is actually what stands in the way of your repentance and embracing of Jesus. Many of these religious leaders didn't want to admit they were wrong about Jesus. They didn't want to admit that they needed him, but they were desperate for forgiveness and what he came to offer. <br /><br /> And they threw them aside and they thought they knew it all. And then they understood the lawn and they got all this and they knew the stories of the Bible, but they were not related to the real disease. And they rejected the one that could have given them life. <br /><br /> What if that's you, <br /><br /> what if you've really rejected? What you thought was Christianity, but it's just enough of religiosity that some of us have raised our kids then, or we braised all others in and, and, and what's come through, has really been about you and you'll be in better, but that's not it. The gospel is that Jesus has come for people. <br /><br /> He loves to rescue them from a life that is bound and caught in sin. These men, most of them, some of them would be exceptions, but most of them felt they knew all of it. They could have told the story better than Steven, but they really missed it. The messaging of the story. They missed the messaging of grace, the message of the beauty of all of it pointing. <br /><br /> All of it was not pointing to, to the day when the S the Pharisees were there and say, yeah, we've learned it all. So we could be good people. Now, the whole narrative was pointing to one who is coming to be their, their savior, their rescuer. They were inoculated to the real disease. How about you, Lord? We come to you this morning. <br /><br /> God, I thank you that you are the pursuing God that you're with us every day. At the only time that we're going to encounter you is not this morning, 24 7. You're going to be with us long side of us. Willing to lead, willing to carry us. <br /><br /> Lord, I thank you for the reminder that the Christian life is impossible. Apart from Christ. It is through the spirit of Christ that we can live this life of beauty that you offer to us through him <br /><br /> in Jesus' name. Amen. Now go in peace to worship the Lord who is with you. Wherever you go, go in peace to live by a spirit who will help you do whatever he asks you are dismissed. Thank you.</div> false no <![CDATA[Stephen Was Full of It]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/stephen-was-full-of-it 1ae937e0-2824-49cc-a9cd-f68222615dda Sun, 29 May 2022 16:55:10 GMT false no <![CDATA[Crisis: A Danger and an Opportunity]]> Acts 6:1-7

“It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty.  But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”



Sermon Transcript:

We're going to be going to the book of acts again. This morning, acts chapter six. We're going to be looking at verses one through seven. If you have a Bible there, you're able to look at, I'm curious. Um, how many of you brought your Acts journal this morning?

Just hold it up. Okay. There are a lot of them out there. It's very, very, very encouraging. Keep it up. Good. If you don't have one of these, if you're a guest with us, encourage you to go by way of the, um, the hub this morning, uh, which is our info hub out there. If you turn in a communication card, you get a packet of stuff, including one of these extra.

Love to have you get one today. It's, it's a Bible on the one side and then place for notes for your own Bible studies, as well as if you're a sermon note taker, which make all pastors really happy. We're going to be looking at acts chapter six in a moment in 1959, a junior Senator from Massachusetts presented a striking speech was actually a speech.

His name was John F. Kennedy. And this junior Senator of Massachusetts was talking about the, the growing threat of the Soviet union as they were having their very significant military buildup nuclear weaponry. Uh, soon after this, they would put those weapons in Cuba, which would create the Cuban missile crisis.

Uh, just two years after this speech was made. But as he made this speech, he was highlighting the important. Of America being armed and ready for potential global conflict. And he used a term that was striking. He said, the word crisis in Chinese is composed of two characters. One which represents danger.

The other, which represents opportunity and was presenting that any crisis presents both things. I remember a few years ago, while serving on the board of ABW a world mission organization with over a thousand missionaries, 84 countries, we were facing a very significant crisis and we were, uh, it was soon after the, the 2008.

Economic downturn was affecting us financially. We had some other issues that were going on some from the distant past that had never been resolved. And now we're coming back to really hit us. And it was, it was a very hard time. And I remember we were in a meeting and I was, and it was the executive team.

We were a meeting with the president and the senior leadership. And I remember somebody prayed this prayer. God don't let us waste. The crisis crisis has with it danger, but it also has opportunity, especially to the child and children of God. They're in first century Jerusalem, the Christians after somewhere two to four years of existing together since Pentagon.

We're facing a crisis it's recorded in acts chapter six. It is not the first thing that the early Jesus followers have had thrown at them. As a matter of fact, a few weeks ago, we mentioned that when we moved into acts chapter four, acts four through seven is actually the empire striking back chapter one through three is the establishment of the church that the first couple of sermons of Peter were just thousands of people are embracing Jesus as their Messiah, as their Lord, as their savior.

And there's this growing, uh, explosive new membership coming into the church. But in chapter four, the empire starts striking back the empire here, meaning the spiritual empire of darkness. And we've seen a variety of things. That have been done and a variety of formats in which that opposition has come.

We've seen intimidation in acts chapter four. We saw that Peter and John, as they were speaking with a guy they had healed, uh, in the temple temple confines and have now been brought into the religious leaders. Cause they don't like that. They keep talking about Jesus being raised in the dead. Well, Jesus is the guy that these religious leaders put to death and they warned them there.

They draw a line in the sand, they threaten them. And they said, if you keep preaching in this guy's name, you will beat specifically going against our standard and our requirements for you. Now, the dies cast, they continue to preach. We see a second methodology that is recorded by Luke is in acts chapter five.

And this is infiltration. In this case, there was a prominent couple in the church, a wealthy couple who both sought recognition and influence. Darkness infiltrated the church through their pride and their greed and their deception and their self ambition, wanting to get praise and recognition, even for a, a spiritual work God, in both of these first two cases, the, the intimidation to the disciples, God protects them and gives them boldness to continue preaching God w uh, protects the church from the, the, the dangerous malignancy of self ambition and greed and pride that was manifested in the spirit of Anna niacin Safira, as it was infiltrating, the church we see in the passage that juror had preached last week, pastor Jared, in the end of chapter five and intimidation again, as now, all of the apostles, all 12 of them have been preaching and preaching about Jesus.

And they're all arrested at once. And they're brought in before the religious leaders and this. They don't just threaten them. They talk about killing them. And finally, a wise, uh, uh, rabbi leader of Israel actually talks about the sovereignty of God. And it does a beautiful statement. He says this things of God, we don't want to be against it.

If this thing's not of God, it's going to blow away. It's interesting that chameleon was the discipler of the apostle Paul it's possible. Paul was in some of these meetings as Saul. If he wasn't there, he certainly was getting an eyewitness account from Gemelli all the time, but chameleon says, let him go.

So they do let them go. But not before they've beaten him and told all 12 of the 12 of them upon threat of their lives. That things are only going to get worse if they don't start muzzling, this preaching ministry of theirs. So we've seen intimidation and a couple of ways we've seen infiltrate. And now we find a nother methodology, conflict and distraction.

In acts chapter six, we see a crisis over the lack of care within the early church community. It is another attempt to deflect a heart passion for Christ going forward in the early church. As the devil seeks to again, the empire is attempting to stop the church going forward. I'd like to read to you the account of what happens here in acts chapter six, verses one through seven.

Now in those days, when the disciples were increasing in number a complaint by the Hellenistic rose against the Hebrews, because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution and the 12 summoned, the full number of the disciples and said it, it is not right. That we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables.

Therefore brothers pick out from among you seven men of good repute full of the spirit and of wisdom, whom we will point to this duty, but we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word and what they said, pleased the whole gathering. And they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the holy spirit and Philip and procuress and the canner and Tumon and Parr, Munis, and Nicholas a proselyte of Antioch.

These, they set before the apostles and they prayed and laid their hands on them. And the word of God continued to increase in the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem and a great number of the priests became obedient to the faith. Let's pray,

Lord, we gathered here. And we think of our own lives individually, as families, as a church community, and God, none of us have been spared from crisis. There are many people right now in the sound of my voice that feel in crisis. So Lord, we surely want to learn from this narrative about what you have to teach us about how you build your church and how you see your people through crisis.

But we also want to learn how you build us as people and how you lead us through crisis. Lord, teach us this morning. I pray, man. We better love Christ because of our time in your word. This one. In Jesus' name. Amen.

The crisis that the church was presented with did have a potential danger, but it also had a potential opportunity. Let's look how it unfold. First of all, we find the crisis in verse one. Now, in those days, when the disciples were increasing in number a complaint by the Hellness rose against the Hebrews, because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution, what caused the problem here was a result of the fact that there were two groups of Jews within the early church community.

There were two groups of Jews with their w within Jerusalem. He talks about here, the Hebrews, and he talks about the Hellenistic. These were both Jewish groups. You see everybody that became a part of the early church. We're Jews until later on, we'll see the change take place notably and chapter eight through 10.

But here we find that there were these two groups of, of, of individuals, of Jews that have become believers, have their own stuff with each other. And it's a result of probably certainly not intentional, but unintentional oversight there with a group called the Helen I'll. First talk about the Hebrews.

The Hebrews were the people that had lived. They were the lifers in Jerusalem. They were the lifer, uh, Israeli Jews. If you will lived in the nation of Israel, the land of Israel, they were individuals that spoke Aramaic. Aramaic is a, a variant. Um, it is a dialect of. Hebrew. And they spoke that language.

That's what they talked that that was their primary language. They might have known other languages. They might've known Greek. Most of them did not. Some of them would, but they spoke Aramaic and that's how their synagogue worship took place. There was another group of Jews that lived in Jerusalem at this time called the Hellenistic.

We'll see them later. As a matter of fact, they're going to be the ones at, at times that are going to be the most vociferous in their hatred of the apostle Paul it's because he was one of them. He was a Hellenistic Jew. He was a Jew that came outside of Jerusalem, outside of Israel. He was actually from the area of Turkey and, and he had a modern day Turkey and he had come down.

He was a Greek speaker. Now he also knew Hebrew who's trained. Uh, he was very learned, man, but the native language of Hellenistic Jews was. The striking thing is that there were Greek speaking synagogues in Jerusalem, and there were Aramaic speaking synagogues in Jerusalem. We even see one later in this chapter that, that most believers referring to one of the Hellenistic Jews called the synagogue of the Freeman.

But here we find that what's taking place is an outgrowth of two communities being merged into one. You can understand the distinction and the backgrounds. I mean, imagine these families, you're, you're a Hebrew family, you're a family that speaks Aramaic. Your ancestry goes back to living in the land for generations, you worship with people that speak like you, that, that know the land like you that know the culture that have the same cultural background as you.

You do synagogue worship. The educational system of the day for all of the kids was through the synagogues. So all the kids grow up with the same Aramaic speaking Jews. That's their people, that's their culture. Then there's another culture within Jerusalem. They're Greek speaking, Jews, they're Jews, but they grow up together and they do school together and they do worship together and they do life together.

And now all of a sudden, some of these folk and some of these folk have embraced Jesus as the Messiah, he's become their Lord and savior. And they're flocking to the meetings in Solomon's porch. And they're, they're flocking to these, these home meetings. And, but their backgrounds are really different. And what's happened is whereas in the synagogue, the widows would be financially cared for by the community.

Well, then are part of those communities as their primary relationships anymore. In many cases they've been pushed out and the Greeks, excuse me, the Hebrew speaking ones. There are people who, who these are widows who have, I mean, they have generations in the land. We don't know exactly what caused the oversight, why this group of widows was, was financially cared for by the early church.

We know how they were cared for, because we're told at the end of acts, chapter four, that all the money ran through the apostles. The next chapter four people brought their money, placed it at the foot of the apostles and the apostles. Then we're trusted and we're worthy of trust to disseminate the money.

Now they went with the people they knew, this is a, this is a wild and wooly environment, right? I mean, there's new faces coming all the time. It says here in verse one, it's multiplying, it's growing. There's people that the apostles don't know. I mean, there's thousands of people and some of them are widows.

Well, they, they, everybody that's connected is apparently getting cared for, but this group much smaller group, much less connection even to the land and to the culture and to, to the temple. They've now been disenfranchised from who they did have, and they're out there and they're sort of drifting a little bit and nobody's really caring for them, especially for their widows.

And they're concerned about. Understandably.

And it was a big deal because that's how these people, these, these widows would be cared for how they'd be fed. They didn't have jobs. Usually it didn't have livelihoods. They may not have had a lot of family support. They had been cared for by their individual synagogue. Now, Karen for widows, pretty important, James, who's going to be head of the Jerusalem church wrote in his first letter and in his letter, which one of was one of the first two letters written in the new Testament.

He said, here's what pure religion is in James. 1 27. It's you take care of the widows and the orphans. So this mattered. So we've got a, we got a crisis and the crisis presented a danger and the danger. Obviously the most immediate danger is that these women would not be cared for, but the danger went beyond the widows.

The danger went to the health of the entire community and the entire witness of the early church. In two ways, I would suggest one, the danger was that they were creating an us them environment. Isn't it? It says in verse one, there was a complaint by the Hellenistic that arose against the Hebrews. The word complaint here is used in second Corinthians, 10 20 10, where the apostle Paul is reciting the wilderness wanderings.

And he makes this statement do not grumble as they did in the wilderness wanderings, the word grumble. There is the exact same. It's the verb form of this phrase, of this, of this noun complaint. They were grumbling. They were muttering. It's interesting that didn't go to the apostles and say, Hey guys, would you look up?

They did what we all tend to do. They went to friends, you know, the hell in the school, they're talking, Hey, you know, Mary's not getting, nobody's looking out for her. And, and, and, uh, we know this money coming in. We're watching guys like Barnabas selling land and host a whole on an Iris. It's a fire thing.

I mean, they gave land there's money coming in, but our people, our women are, are, our people of need are being overlooked. And there's the, the whispering campaign going, I don't know how vitriolic it was, but it was enough that the word that Lowe Luke chose to use was the word. That carries the idea of, and it actually carries the idea of silent speaking, quiet speaking.

This was not accusations that were brought to Peter and the boys, the apostles, this is done more, almost more harmful, how it's just spreading, just like it did in Israel years before just the muttering and the gambling and the Atlanta. Why, why it's going. I mean, to know they care about and where are we?

What do we, who do you second class? So the word, the potential is great for conflict for being divided into different camps. The second danger is it would destroy potentially the witness, the testimony of the early church, the great influence of the early church, as we have seen already in the book of acts.

Is the oneness that this community was able to create. We're going to see it even more as we go forward in acts where now you got to throw Gentiles into the pot and the astounding difference of cultural background and religious bracket, social background, that's going to be thrown, you know, Paul's Romans 14 about what do you do about me?

And first can they say, what do you do about meat offered to idols? And how do you do this? And aren't we supporting the whole, uh, uh, system and all the Jews are feeling, yeah, we can't possibly meet like that. And all the Jensen sin, why come on? I mean, this is, we're not worshiping idols. We're just eating.

He says, well, your money is gone and that's you and you get it. And the temptation is to say, you know what? Let's just do what we've always done. The hell is Jews. You have your churches and we'll have our churches. Now it's possible. They had worship experiences for those that couldn't speak Aramaic. They still had them meeting for worship, but it's clear all of them were put under the community of the oversight of the apostles.

All of them were doing life together. All of them were one body. And the new Testament just constantly screams that Jesus is not saying, yeah, let's have them meet Monday. You meet Tuesday or you meet the morning. Won't be at the afternoon. Let's just, let's just act as two different groups. He says, no, there's one savior.

There's one body. There's one spirit, work it out, learn to love. It was one of the most powerful polemics of the early church that they learned to do the earthy stuff. Of coming to say, we're going to major on the majors. We're going to do life together. We're going to have different convictions, different conscious issues at times, but different ethnicities, different cultural backgrounds, even different language.

We are going to be one. It was one of the most powerful messaging of the power of Christ to change people in the entire messaging of the book of acts. It's why so many, I've pointed this out before. So many of the times in the book of acts where you hear Luke recording that and the church grew and the church multiplied, follows where they've just worked through something.

And they says, and they were all of one accord and they were all together in this passage. We're going to see it again, this in verse one, it starts and says the church grew was. After we deal with all this in verses two through six, he's going to say in chapter, in verse seven, the church was exploding in growth.

Priest were coming to Christ again. It's when they came to work through issues, there was a danger here. If they didn't handle this properly, they took relationships and oneness really seriously. The third thing we find is the opportunity.

There was the opportunity to stay true, to priorities of preaching and prayer. We see what happened here. You know, they raised a concern in verse one, the apostles hear about it. And apparently they went, they had a con fab, they processed it. They talked together and they came back and basically said here in verse four, they summarized it.

I said, we, we, we cannot give ourselves to serving tables. Now, the interesting thing is they were already doing. The same. We just can't continue this. We can't do this. We've got to give ourselves in verse four. We will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word, this really was a salient moment in the early church.

It sounds like the apostles now are doing something that will be, and actually turns out to be a direction setting moment for the church. They said we are called to be proclaiming the word of God and to be praying, these were the two elements the whole church has been built on in these chapters. It was the sermons which comprise over one third of the book of acts that Luke is highlighting saying it was the, the proclaiming of God's truth of the gospel.

That people were responding to it. Doesn't say the apostles, don't say we will give ourselves to signs and wonders. We will give ourselves to, to these miraculous healings and, and other things that they were doing, but they say, no, it's not our ultimate calling our ultimate call used to be praying and to be proclaiming truth.

They even had two guys who would be authors of the new Testament that they were proclaiming Peter and John. So why was it so vital for the church, for the apostles to say we're not against, and it's obviously they're not against caring for the widows. They're going to care for that in a beautiful way.

But they're saying we have got to give ourselves to this. We can not be deflected from this. Why. Because God gave to the apostles, the word and prayer as their life work, because the word and prayer are the life blood of the church. This wasn't just about the apostles. This was about the entire community.

Are we going to be able to value being people of prayer and being people who are, who are listening to the voice of God? There are many organizations that do wonderful things. Like some of those things that will take place in this passage and caring for the widows. What sets the church of Jesus apart?

Is it as a church that is dependent upon Christ is crying out for him in prayer. And that is ultimately its greatest gift is proclaiming. We'll see, there is the continual marriage of caring, compassionately for people, but these guys recognize that the devil's primary desire is always to get the people of God and therefore the, the, the pastors of God, if you will, to direct them from the primary calling, because these two elements are the primary need of every believer, no believer can grow or thrive or be healthy without the word of God and prayer.

So the distractions that are presented are always presented to deflect both spiritual leadership. From that, not that all leaders need to make that their priority calling, but those that have that priority calling, there's always going to be the attempt to try to deflect them and distract them from that and to distract the people of the community from imbibing, those two realities in their own lives.

So I was talking to a guy this recently, who was, I went away for a couple of day retreat. Uh, just felt he needed to hear from God. And it was interesting talking to him and he said, you know, he went, he went to a place, he didn't know one person there. He ate by himself, uh, and the dining places are treat.

And, and, but, and so it was totally alone. It was beautiful. And so he had this time and all he had with him when it was his Bible and he said, and his phone, and he said I was there. And he said, I kept trying to get started and listing. I, there was always something that I was on my phone about. He said, I found myself removing apps, getting rid of this social media app.

Give me he's uninstalling all these apps. Why you just a picture of how distracted we are. I remember a guy from our community group a few years ago, went down and got, got in the, got to go to the masters one of the days. And, and he said the most powerful experience for me, at least one of the most powerful experiences was not only the pageantry and you know, the beauty of the grounds and, and, and watching the golfers.

It was just having a whole day where my cell phone was off because they require that we are so regularly, consistently distracted. This was the methodology they were trying to use. Let's distract the apostles and we're going to look at it a moment why it was hard to not get distracted.

Many of you have read books by Stephen Kobe, um, uh, the seven, uh, seven habits of highly effective people. One of the things he talks about in there is, is putting the first things into our lives first. And I I'm sure many of you are familiar with this, so I'm not going to belabor it. But what he talks about, he talks, he tells a story of a college professor, apparently a real college professor at one time, a philosophy professor was trying to show the importance of building in first things first in your life.

And you've heard this illustration, some of you have where the professor just took a big jar, a glass jar. And, uh, he first put in rocks, you know, like two inch rocks and he filled the thing up and he says, it's a jar full. And they all looked and said, yeah. And he said, okay. And then he brought out some pebbles and he poured the pebbles in and sort of shook it around and all these pebbles, they, there was room for the pebbles and he says, they're full.

And they're not quite as sure, but this looks full. And he says, okay. And he shakes it a little bit. And then he brings in some sand and he pours sin and sand is able to find its way around the pebbles and round the stone. And he says now, as a full, they thought, okay, nothing. Then of course he took water and he poured water and all these things have gone into this thing.

And what he said is if I reversed that and I put in the other elements, and then I tried to add the rocks, I could never get them in. And yet the rock. In our lives are the biggest and most important thing. They're the biggest things for us. And there are priorities and he says, you have to put them in first because you probably won't be able to add them just as an extra along the way, no matter how important they may seem to you.

I've I'm sure every pastor in our church has heard this illustration from me. I've shared it with other pastors. Many times it was a meaningful quote to me was I think it was Phillip Brooks once said when you're in the ministry, when you're, when, if you're someone that's going to be handling the word of God, you have to be immersing yourself in the scripture.

You can't just be studying, uh, oh, I'm speaking this, this Wednesday. So I've got five days. I got to start. He said, there's two ways of doing ministry one way. Is to live like a conduit where basically you're getting the information and it's flowing and it comes out. He said, the other way is a reservoir where you have a reservoir of truth and it's when you speak or when you teach it, it spills over, but you haven't exhausted the reservoir.

I can tell you I've done both. And there is nothing more draining and emptying than to feel like I just shot all the spiritual reserves I have in that sermon. But when I've been speaking out of a reservoir where God is speaking into my life, separate from what I'm preaching my life. It overflows. I'm not going to walk out of here after this sermon, like, oh, I got nothing left now I got, now I got to start up.

No, there that reservoir, the reality is these these apostles saying, we've got to give ourselves to this. We are not winning need to just prepare a sermon. We've got to give ourselves to the word that, that, that are speaking is falling out of a reservoir of truth. We've got to be folded to the scripture.

No, they're not saying everybody in the congregation at, at, at, at Jerusalem had to do that. But they're saying we do, because what is a life work for us is life blood for our people. So we've got to preserve that. The other thing they said, we've got to be people that are crying out to God. We've got to be people that live casting.

Our cares is first Peter five says and has already say to you that, that you have one, two options. You can be the humble man of first Peter five, five through seven, where it says, we show our humility by casting our cares on God, or you can be the proud man. And by inference, we show our pride by carrying our cares.

The apostle said, we've got so much. We've got to give to the Lord. We've got so many people that we are feeling the weight of the burden for. We've got to be devoted to prayer the rocks for these men. Was being a building a reservoir of truth within their lives that was spilling out in their preaching and devoting themselves to crying out to God.

I would suggest to the rocks for you as a believer, if you are a believer in Jesus Christ is also to be in the word and to be speaking to God in prayer, even if it is not for preaching or teaching, you're doing it for surviving in your spiritual journey. So one of the things that was an outgrowth of the decision they made was it enabled them to keep the priority of the word and prayer.

But I just want to say this, this wasn't easy. I want you to come with me and imagine yourself in that community. And I, I would guess the apostles, if they didn't hear this messaging, they heard it in their head. Something like this, you know, we're hearing these widows and they have been neglected and we have been caring for the, you know, we've been, we do care for Martha and Joan and, and you know, all 12 of us and we have people have our ear and we've been caring for those, those gals.

And now we're finding out that there's a, there's a whole part of our community that we have neglected. Don't you think somebody would have felt, you know, it'd be so wonderful. Now, if the apostles would just say, you know what, we're sorry, we're now going to show our value of you. We're going to pour our lives into your women as well.

Or if you are one of those telling us, you don't think somebody felt something like this, wait a minute, you're going to point other people to do this. After you've been doing this with the Hebrew gals, we don't get one apostle. I mean, just give us a, give us a fattiest. Nobody even knows who he is. Give us somebody.

They didn't get anybody.

So these, this, I would, I can't imagine the apostles. Didn't think, uh, it's going to be hard, not everybody's going to understand and everybody's going to get it. It's how are we going to really say, we really do value these women? What yet? We're going to appoint guys and they'll get good guys, but we're not giving them what we gave to others.

I'm saying that, say this living by priorities is hard. Living by the rocks. Putting the rocks in is costly. There's going to be people you let down. There's going to be things that are not understood. There's going to be potential voices that if they're not there, you're going to hear them yours. But the beauty of these apostle.

Was they listened to the voice that needed to be loudest. And they responded in a way that enabled them actually to care for these women in the best way. But it came by these guys being willing to say, we have to follow the voice of God's call upon us. We got to get the rocks and we got to do it first.

So do you, so do I,

the other thing it did was it strengthened a network of compassionate ministry. They said, choose seven men to oversee the work of caring for these, these Greek speaking with. It's interesting here in this passage that Luke refers to the disciples, the apostles as the 12 first time they've ever called that way.

And it's interesting that later when he's referring to Philip, it says he is, he is Philip. The evangelist. One of the seven, you know, is that these two guys, you know, like the magnificent seven, well, that was them. These were the magnificent seven of the early church. These were the ones that were appointed as the first deacons, if you will, it was a new role.

And it was born out of necessity led by the spirit of God. It's interesting that the role is not actually defined. They knew that it initially was to care for the widows care, but they had lots of other things. Matter of facts, Stephen and Philip, two of these of the seven are going to fill up chapter seven and chapter eight of acts in their pre.

And ministry of public ministry. So they did more. The role of deacon is nowhere in the new Testament, clearly defined. It simply means servant. They became what the church needed in order for the apostles later elders, pastors, to do the work that they were called to do. And that will change. I mean, I've, I've been here a long time.

I've been here when we had 14 folks in a Bible study for me when we started the church and, and w got up to about 45 people and had our first deacon, or maybe it was 65. Um, the deacons were my co-laborers and we did ministry together. We process everything together. These guys gave up incredible amount of time, early morning meetings.

As time went on, the role became more care related to having care groups. Then we had community groups and right now our deacons function much more of a role of oversight, more of a, what we would think of as lay elder type of role, but they are functioning in, in oversight of, of, uh, finances of care. We, we are accountable to them as pastors, but the role changes it's it's fluid and it was fluid from the beginning.

They served a specific function. All right. Last thing, the impact verse one, I mentioned it says the disciples were increasing in number in verse two through six. They highlight what the early church focused on one, the passionate preaching of the word of God. And secondly, the compassionate care for the practical needs of people.

The result is in verse seven. And the word of God continued to increase. And the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem and a great, many of the priests became obedient to the faith. I am not a regular on social media. I'm a dabbler. Um, but even dabbling, I, I know that the next generation and my next generation is maybe the next next generation looks largely negatively towards the church.

Culturally, the squabbles, the, the interpretation that many in the church, uh, trust more in politics than God. I'm more concerned about being right than being kind. And I'm just saying this is perceptual are harmful and, and barriers, but the one thing that is, I think, continually held up. The church and I'm in evangelical church, is this, the church exists to serve itself.

The most impactful ministries are when the church is investing resources, time, energy, money into others without expecting returns.

It's beautiful. And we didn't plan it this way, but we talked about the refugee ministry to me, a gospel centered ministry, where we are praying and pleading with God to have opportunity to build relationships, to lead people to Jesus. But even if it does. Just caring for people. I think it has a messaging to it.

It isn't why we're doing it. That isn't why they cared for the widows. It's just the result. Even a watching world looks at the church, caring, compassionately for people and see something that is compelling. They aren't just concerned about themselves. It happened here. In the book of acts, I'd like to pray, and then we're going to close our service in a certain way this morning, Lord, we come to you.

God. There's so much about this passage. That is a deep passion to me. I believe in proclaiming the scriptures. I want to continue to grow. In my own prayer life till the day I die. I also believe Lord in the beauty of the body, being willing to fight through differences, different convictions, different perspectives, different stance to be one body to give the polemic that Jesus really is the one that brings a people of one accord of one mind.

So Lord continue to teach us how to do that as a people in Jesus name, amen ministry Australia, that we're going to commission this morning. And I believe Joanna, who is who's going to be, you're going to be talking. Okay. Come on up.

I'm going to invite, uh, Kathy Sedley and Joanna to come up with me, if they would, along with the Stephen minister team that would just got trained. If you would come up at this time as well. Our Stephen ministry is a one-on-one. Ministry that we do here in the body. There's over 40 ministers that we have that have been trained and assigned to our caring and one-on-one relationships with people in the congregation and community.

It's an amazing group of people. Um, a long time ago, God gave us a vision for in the care ministry of, uh, saying we're our job is not to end suffering. God uses suffering. But to make sure that by God's grace, we would strive to say that no one needs to suffer alone. These are people that have received over 50 hours of training, have read an unbelievable amount of books and material over the last weeks.

And Joanna Kennedy. Catholics, sadly have led this team of people in this training for these weeks ahead. And very simply we call our Stephen ministers. The after people, after the phone call, you hoped you'd never get after the funeral. When everyone has left and emotions you've held at bay came crashing in on you after the relationship falls apart in the bottom falls out of your life.

After the doctor says, I'm sorry, there's nothing more we can. After the gavel come down, the canned cuffs go on and your loved one has led the way after the baby arrives, demanding more of you than you dreamed possible. After you find a pink slip with your final paycheck after your family and friends have heard your story one too many times, but you still need to talk it out.

These are people who are willing, trained, and desire. To walk towards need a, something that is not an easy situation, but something that they delight to do. I'm going to go ahead and read the names of these dear people, and then we will commission them. So you hear her name? Come on up. This is Janet Rifkin.

Dan Sedley

Linda Longo,

Patricia Barner,

rich D squall.

Pam D Pasqual unrelated. Now I'm not just kidding. They're married. SueAnn, Brian,

Sue Jones,

Kathy Walker.

And I'm Junie

and Mary Ellen Underwood.

Why don't you pray with me, father? We're scared of our own needs. For honest, we don't like them. We don't want them. Even though they're the very vehicles that you use. Our grief, our cross is to carry our loneliness is our insecurities are painful life circumstances. They're the very vehicles of grace that we have learned to know and understand you when it comes to others' needs.

We're often intimidated not knowing what to do, what to say, wanting to help, but not know. Exactly. How thank you for an incredible group of people that have done training have put in time, effort, prayer, and their own life story. To raise their hand, to say I'm willing to walk towards those in. We honor you for the gift of these people and the team that they join to be reaching out to those in our church and community, because we believe what it means to be human is to embrace our need and embrace our need of you and our need of one another.

We give these people to you and the ministry they will do in Jesus name. Amen.

may God help you to be a listener of his word and be a caster of your curse may lead you to be generous hearted to those in need around you may, Iraq's be inserted first this week and your eyes and heart open to the needs of. Now go in peace to love, serve and enjoy the Lord. .]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/crisis-a-danger-and-an-opportunity 525d465e-c0c2-4908-9b16-13e5f9dff37f Sun, 22 May 2022 12:08:40 GMT <div data-html="true">Acts 6:1-7 <br /><br /> “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty.  But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> We're going to be going to the book of acts again. This morning, acts chapter six. We're going to be looking at verses one through seven. If you have a Bible there, you're able to look at, I'm curious. Um, how many of you brought your Acts journal this morning? <br /><br /> Just hold it up. Okay. There are a lot of them out there. It's very, very, very encouraging. Keep it up. Good. If you don't have one of these, if you're a guest with us, encourage you to go by way of the, um, the hub this morning, uh, which is our info hub out there. If you turn in a communication card, you get a packet of stuff, including one of these extra. <br /><br /> Love to have you get one today. It's, it's a Bible on the one side and then place for notes for your own Bible studies, as well as if you're a sermon note taker, which make all pastors really happy. We're going to be looking at acts chapter six in a moment in 1959, a junior Senator from Massachusetts presented a striking speech was actually a speech. <br /><br /> His name was John F. Kennedy. And this junior Senator of Massachusetts was talking about the, the growing threat of the Soviet union as they were having their very significant military buildup nuclear weaponry. Uh, soon after this, they would put those weapons in Cuba, which would create the Cuban missile crisis. <br /><br /> Uh, just two years after this speech was made. But as he made this speech, he was highlighting the important. Of America being armed and ready for potential global conflict. And he used a term that was striking. He said, the word crisis in Chinese is composed of two characters. One which represents danger. <br /><br /> The other, which represents opportunity and was presenting that any crisis presents both things. I remember a few years ago, while serving on the board of ABW a world mission organization with over a thousand missionaries, 84 countries, we were facing a very significant crisis and we were, uh, it was soon after the, the 2008. <br /><br /> Economic downturn was affecting us financially. We had some other issues that were going on some from the distant past that had never been resolved. And now we're coming back to really hit us. And it was, it was a very hard time. And I remember we were in a meeting and I was, and it was the executive team. <br /><br /> We were a meeting with the president and the senior leadership. And I remember somebody prayed this prayer. God don't let us waste. The crisis crisis has with it danger, but it also has opportunity, especially to the child and children of God. They're in first century Jerusalem, the Christians after somewhere two to four years of existing together since Pentagon. <br /><br /> We're facing a crisis it's recorded in acts chapter six. It is not the first thing that the early Jesus followers have had thrown at them. As a matter of fact, a few weeks ago, we mentioned that when we moved into acts chapter four, acts four through seven is actually the empire striking back chapter one through three is the establishment of the church that the first couple of sermons of Peter were just thousands of people are embracing Jesus as their Messiah, as their Lord, as their savior. <br /><br /> And there's this growing, uh, explosive new membership coming into the church. But in chapter four, the empire starts striking back the empire here, meaning the spiritual empire of darkness. And we've seen a variety of things. That have been done and a variety of formats in which that opposition has come. <br /><br /> We've seen intimidation in acts chapter four. We saw that Peter and John, as they were speaking with a guy they had healed, uh, in the temple temple confines and have now been brought into the religious leaders. Cause they don't like that. They keep talking about Jesus being raised in the dead. Well, Jesus is the guy that these religious leaders put to death and they warned them there. <br /><br /> They draw a line in the sand, they threaten them. And they said, if you keep preaching in this guy's name, you will beat specifically going against our standard and our requirements for you. Now, the dies cast, they continue to preach. We see a second methodology that is recorded by Luke is in acts chapter five. <br /><br /> And this is infiltration. In this case, there was a prominent couple in the church, a wealthy couple who both sought recognition and influence. Darkness infiltrated the church through their pride and their greed and their deception and their self ambition, wanting to get praise and recognition, even for a, a spiritual work God, in both of these first two cases, the, the intimidation to the disciples, God protects them and gives them boldness to continue preaching God w uh, protects the church from the, the, the dangerous malignancy of self ambition and greed and pride that was manifested in the spirit of Anna niacin Safira, as it was infiltrating, the church we see in the passage that juror had preached last week, pastor Jared, in the end of chapter five and intimidation again, as now, all of the apostles, all 12 of them have been preaching and preaching about Jesus. <br /><br /> And they're all arrested at once. And they're brought in before the religious leaders and this. They don't just threaten them. They talk about killing them. And finally, a wise, uh, uh, rabbi leader of Israel actually talks about the sovereignty of God. And it does a beautiful statement. He says this things of God, we don't want to be against it. <br /><br /> If this thing's not of God, it's going to blow away. It's interesting that chameleon was the discipler of the apostle Paul it's possible. Paul was in some of these meetings as Saul. If he wasn't there, he certainly was getting an eyewitness account from Gemelli all the time, but chameleon says, let him go. <br /><br /> So they do let them go. But not before they've beaten him and told all 12 of the 12 of them upon threat of their lives. That things are only going to get worse if they don't start muzzling, this preaching ministry of theirs. So we've seen intimidation and a couple of ways we've seen infiltrate. And now we find a nother methodology, conflict and distraction. <br /><br /> In acts chapter six, we see a crisis over the lack of care within the early church community. It is another attempt to deflect a heart passion for Christ going forward in the early church. As the devil seeks to again, the empire is attempting to stop the church going forward. I'd like to read to you the account of what happens here in acts chapter six, verses one through seven. <br /><br /> Now in those days, when the disciples were increasing in number a complaint by the Hellenistic rose against the Hebrews, because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution and the 12 summoned, the full number of the disciples and said it, it is not right. That we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. <br /><br /> Therefore brothers pick out from among you seven men of good repute full of the spirit and of wisdom, whom we will point to this duty, but we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word and what they said, pleased the whole gathering. And they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the holy spirit and Philip and procuress and the canner and Tumon and Parr, Munis, and Nicholas a proselyte of Antioch. <br /><br /> These, they set before the apostles and they prayed and laid their hands on them. And the word of God continued to increase in the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem and a great number of the priests became obedient to the faith. Let's pray, <br /><br /> Lord, we gathered here. And we think of our own lives individually, as families, as a church community, and God, none of us have been spared from crisis. There are many people right now in the sound of my voice that feel in crisis. So Lord, we surely want to learn from this narrative about what you have to teach us about how you build your church and how you see your people through crisis. <br /><br /> But we also want to learn how you build us as people and how you lead us through crisis. Lord, teach us this morning. I pray, man. We better love Christ because of our time in your word. This one. In Jesus' name. Amen. <br /><br /> The crisis that the church was presented with did have a potential danger, but it also had a potential opportunity. Let's look how it unfold. First of all, we find the crisis in verse one. Now, in those days, when the disciples were increasing in number a complaint by the Hellness rose against the Hebrews, because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution, what caused the problem here was a result of the fact that there were two groups of Jews within the early church community. <br /><br /> There were two groups of Jews with their w within Jerusalem. He talks about here, the Hebrews, and he talks about the Hellenistic. These were both Jewish groups. You see everybody that became a part of the early church. We're Jews until later on, we'll see the change take place notably and chapter eight through 10. <br /><br /> But here we find that there were these two groups of, of, of individuals, of Jews that have become believers, have their own stuff with each other. And it's a result of probably certainly not intentional, but unintentional oversight there with a group called the Helen I'll. First talk about the Hebrews. <br /><br /> The Hebrews were the people that had lived. They were the lifers in Jerusalem. They were the lifer, uh, Israeli Jews. If you will lived in the nation of Israel, the land of Israel, they were individuals that spoke Aramaic. Aramaic is a, a variant. Um, it is a dialect of. Hebrew. And they spoke that language. <br /><br /> That's what they talked that that was their primary language. They might have known other languages. They might've known Greek. Most of them did not. Some of them would, but they spoke Aramaic and that's how their synagogue worship took place. There was another group of Jews that lived in Jerusalem at this time called the Hellenistic. <br /><br /> We'll see them later. As a matter of fact, they're going to be the ones at, at times that are going to be the most vociferous in their hatred of the apostle Paul it's because he was one of them. He was a Hellenistic Jew. He was a Jew that came outside of Jerusalem, outside of Israel. He was actually from the area of Turkey and, and he had a modern day Turkey and he had come down. <br /><br /> He was a Greek speaker. Now he also knew Hebrew who's trained. Uh, he was very learned, man, but the native language of Hellenistic Jews was. The striking thing is that there were Greek speaking synagogues in Jerusalem, and there were Aramaic speaking synagogues in Jerusalem. We even see one later in this chapter that, that most believers referring to one of the Hellenistic Jews called the synagogue of the Freeman. <br /><br /> But here we find that what's taking place is an outgrowth of two communities being merged into one. You can understand the distinction and the backgrounds. I mean, imagine these families, you're, you're a Hebrew family, you're a family that speaks Aramaic. Your ancestry goes back to living in the land for generations, you worship with people that speak like you, that, that know the land like you that know the culture that have the same cultural background as you. <br /><br /> You do synagogue worship. The educational system of the day for all of the kids was through the synagogues. So all the kids grow up with the same Aramaic speaking Jews. That's their people, that's their culture. Then there's another culture within Jerusalem. They're Greek speaking, Jews, they're Jews, but they grow up together and they do school together and they do worship together and they do life together. <br /><br /> And now all of a sudden, some of these folk and some of these folk have embraced Jesus as the Messiah, he's become their Lord and savior. And they're flocking to the meetings in Solomon's porch. And they're, they're flocking to these, these home meetings. And, but their backgrounds are really different. And what's happened is whereas in the synagogue, the widows would be financially cared for by the community. <br /><br /> Well, then are part of those communities as their primary relationships anymore. In many cases they've been pushed out and the Greeks, excuse me, the Hebrew speaking ones. There are people who, who these are widows who have, I mean, they have generations in the land. We don't know exactly what caused the oversight, why this group of widows was, was financially cared for by the early church. <br /><br /> We know how they were cared for, because we're told at the end of acts, chapter four, that all the money ran through the apostles. The next chapter four people brought their money, placed it at the foot of the apostles and the apostles. Then we're trusted and we're worthy of trust to disseminate the money. <br /><br /> Now they went with the people they knew, this is a, this is a wild and wooly environment, right? I mean, there's new faces coming all the time. It says here in verse one, it's multiplying, it's growing. There's people that the apostles don't know. I mean, there's thousands of people and some of them are widows. <br /><br /> Well, they, they, everybody that's connected is apparently getting cared for, but this group much smaller group, much less connection even to the land and to the culture and to, to the temple. They've now been disenfranchised from who they did have, and they're out there and they're sort of drifting a little bit and nobody's really caring for them, especially for their widows. <br /><br /> And they're concerned about. Understandably. <br /><br /> And it was a big deal because that's how these people, these, these widows would be cared for how they'd be fed. They didn't have jobs. Usually it didn't have livelihoods. They may not have had a lot of family support. They had been cared for by their individual synagogue. Now, Karen for widows, pretty important, James, who's going to be head of the Jerusalem church wrote in his first letter and in his letter, which one of was one of the first two letters written in the new Testament. <br /><br /> He said, here's what pure religion is in James. 1 27. It's you take care of the widows and the orphans. So this mattered. So we've got a, we got a crisis and the crisis presented a danger and the danger. Obviously the most immediate danger is that these women would not be cared for, but the danger went beyond the widows. <br /><br /> The danger went to the health of the entire community and the entire witness of the early church. In two ways, I would suggest one, the danger was that they were creating an us them environment. Isn't it? It says in verse one, there was a complaint by the Hellenistic that arose against the Hebrews. The word complaint here is used in second Corinthians, 10 20 10, where the apostle Paul is reciting the wilderness wanderings. <br /><br /> And he makes this statement do not grumble as they did in the wilderness wanderings, the word grumble. There is the exact same. It's the verb form of this phrase, of this, of this noun complaint. They were grumbling. They were muttering. It's interesting that didn't go to the apostles and say, Hey guys, would you look up? <br /><br /> They did what we all tend to do. They went to friends, you know, the hell in the school, they're talking, Hey, you know, Mary's not getting, nobody's looking out for her. And, and, and, uh, we know this money coming in. We're watching guys like Barnabas selling land and host a whole on an Iris. It's a fire thing. <br /><br /> I mean, they gave land there's money coming in, but our people, our women are, are, our people of need are being overlooked. And there's the, the whispering campaign going, I don't know how vitriolic it was, but it was enough that the word that Lowe Luke chose to use was the word. That carries the idea of, and it actually carries the idea of silent speaking, quiet speaking. <br /><br /> This was not accusations that were brought to Peter and the boys, the apostles, this is done more, almost more harmful, how it's just spreading, just like it did in Israel years before just the muttering and the gambling and the Atlanta. Why, why it's going. I mean, to know they care about and where are we? <br /><br /> What do we, who do you second class? So the word, the potential is great for conflict for being divided into different camps. The second danger is it would destroy potentially the witness, the testimony of the early church, the great influence of the early church, as we have seen already in the book of acts. <br /><br /> Is the oneness that this community was able to create. We're going to see it even more as we go forward in acts where now you got to throw Gentiles into the pot and the astounding difference of cultural background and religious bracket, social background, that's going to be thrown, you know, Paul's Romans 14 about what do you do about me? <br /><br /> And first can they say, what do you do about meat offered to idols? And how do you do this? And aren't we supporting the whole, uh, uh, system and all the Jews are feeling, yeah, we can't possibly meet like that. And all the Jensen sin, why come on? I mean, this is, we're not worshiping idols. We're just eating. <br /><br /> He says, well, your money is gone and that's you and you get it. And the temptation is to say, you know what? Let's just do what we've always done. The hell is Jews. You have your churches and we'll have our churches. Now it's possible. They had worship experiences for those that couldn't speak Aramaic. They still had them meeting for worship, but it's clear all of them were put under the community of the oversight of the apostles. <br /><br /> All of them were doing life together. All of them were one body. And the new Testament just constantly screams that Jesus is not saying, yeah, let's have them meet Monday. You meet Tuesday or you meet the morning. Won't be at the afternoon. Let's just, let's just act as two different groups. He says, no, there's one savior. <br /><br /> There's one body. There's one spirit, work it out, learn to love. It was one of the most powerful polemics of the early church that they learned to do the earthy stuff. Of coming to say, we're going to major on the majors. We're going to do life together. We're going to have different convictions, different conscious issues at times, but different ethnicities, different cultural backgrounds, even different language. <br /><br /> We are going to be one. It was one of the most powerful messaging of the power of Christ to change people in the entire messaging of the book of acts. It's why so many, I've pointed this out before. So many of the times in the book of acts where you hear Luke recording that and the church grew and the church multiplied, follows where they've just worked through something. <br /><br /> And they says, and they were all of one accord and they were all together in this passage. We're going to see it again, this in verse one, it starts and says the church grew was. After we deal with all this in verses two through six, he's going to say in chapter, in verse seven, the church was exploding in growth. <br /><br /> Priest were coming to Christ again. It's when they came to work through issues, there was a danger here. If they didn't handle this properly, they took relationships and oneness really seriously. The third thing we find is the opportunity. <br /><br /> There was the opportunity to stay true, to priorities of preaching and prayer. We see what happened here. You know, they raised a concern in verse one, the apostles hear about it. And apparently they went, they had a con fab, they processed it. They talked together and they came back and basically said here in verse four, they summarized it. <br /><br /> I said, we, we, we cannot give ourselves to serving tables. Now, the interesting thing is they were already doing. The same. We just can't continue this. We can't do this. We've got to give ourselves in verse four. We will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word, this really was a salient moment in the early church. <br /><br /> It sounds like the apostles now are doing something that will be, and actually turns out to be a direction setting moment for the church. They said we are called to be proclaiming the word of God and to be praying, these were the two elements the whole church has been built on in these chapters. It was the sermons which comprise over one third of the book of acts that Luke is highlighting saying it was the, the proclaiming of God's truth of the gospel. <br /><br /> That people were responding to it. Doesn't say the apostles, don't say we will give ourselves to signs and wonders. We will give ourselves to, to these miraculous healings and, and other things that they were doing, but they say, no, it's not our ultimate calling our ultimate call used to be praying and to be proclaiming truth. <br /><br /> They even had two guys who would be authors of the new Testament that they were proclaiming Peter and John. So why was it so vital for the church, for the apostles to say we're not against, and it's obviously they're not against caring for the widows. They're going to care for that in a beautiful way. <br /><br /> But they're saying we have got to give ourselves to this. We can not be deflected from this. Why. Because God gave to the apostles, the word and prayer as their life work, because the word and prayer are the life blood of the church. This wasn't just about the apostles. This was about the entire community. <br /><br /> Are we going to be able to value being people of prayer and being people who are, who are listening to the voice of God? There are many organizations that do wonderful things. Like some of those things that will take place in this passage and caring for the widows. What sets the church of Jesus apart? <br /><br /> Is it as a church that is dependent upon Christ is crying out for him in prayer. And that is ultimately its greatest gift is proclaiming. We'll see, there is the continual marriage of caring, compassionately for people, but these guys recognize that the devil's primary desire is always to get the people of God and therefore the, the, the pastors of God, if you will, to direct them from the primary calling, because these two elements are the primary need of every believer, no believer can grow or thrive or be healthy without the word of God and prayer. <br /><br /> So the distractions that are presented are always presented to deflect both spiritual leadership. From that, not that all leaders need to make that their priority calling, but those that have that priority calling, there's always going to be the attempt to try to deflect them and distract them from that and to distract the people of the community from imbibing, those two realities in their own lives. <br /><br /> So I was talking to a guy this recently, who was, I went away for a couple of day retreat. Uh, just felt he needed to hear from God. And it was interesting talking to him and he said, you know, he went, he went to a place, he didn't know one person there. He ate by himself, uh, and the dining places are treat. <br /><br /> And, and, but, and so it was totally alone. It was beautiful. And so he had this time and all he had with him when it was his Bible and he said, and his phone, and he said I was there. And he said, I kept trying to get started and listing. I, there was always something that I was on my phone about. He said, I found myself removing apps, getting rid of this social media app. <br /><br /> Give me he's uninstalling all these apps. Why you just a picture of how distracted we are. I remember a guy from our community group a few years ago, went down and got, got in the, got to go to the masters one of the days. And, and he said the most powerful experience for me, at least one of the most powerful experiences was not only the pageantry and you know, the beauty of the grounds and, and, and watching the golfers. <br /><br /> It was just having a whole day where my cell phone was off because they require that we are so regularly, consistently distracted. This was the methodology they were trying to use. Let's distract the apostles and we're going to look at it a moment why it was hard to not get distracted. <br /><br /> Many of you have read books by Stephen Kobe, um, uh, the seven, uh, seven habits of highly effective people. One of the things he talks about in there is, is putting the first things into our lives first. And I I'm sure many of you are familiar with this, so I'm not going to belabor it. But what he talks about, he talks, he tells a story of a college professor, apparently a real college professor at one time, a philosophy professor was trying to show the importance of building in first things first in your life. <br /><br /> And you've heard this illustration, some of you have where the professor just took a big jar, a glass jar. And, uh, he first put in rocks, you know, like two inch rocks and he filled the thing up and he says, it's a jar full. And they all looked and said, yeah. And he said, okay. And then he brought out some pebbles and he poured the pebbles in and sort of shook it around and all these pebbles, they, there was room for the pebbles and he says, they're full. <br /><br /> And they're not quite as sure, but this looks full. And he says, okay. And he shakes it a little bit. And then he brings in some sand and he pours sin and sand is able to find its way around the pebbles and round the stone. And he says now, as a full, they thought, okay, nothing. Then of course he took water and he poured water and all these things have gone into this thing. <br /><br /> And what he said is if I reversed that and I put in the other elements, and then I tried to add the rocks, I could never get them in. And yet the rock. In our lives are the biggest and most important thing. They're the biggest things for us. And there are priorities and he says, you have to put them in first because you probably won't be able to add them just as an extra along the way, no matter how important they may seem to you. <br /><br /> I've I'm sure every pastor in our church has heard this illustration from me. I've shared it with other pastors. Many times it was a meaningful quote to me was I think it was Phillip Brooks once said when you're in the ministry, when you're, when, if you're someone that's going to be handling the word of God, you have to be immersing yourself in the scripture. <br /><br /> You can't just be studying, uh, oh, I'm speaking this, this Wednesday. So I've got five days. I got to start. He said, there's two ways of doing ministry one way. Is to live like a conduit where basically you're getting the information and it's flowing and it comes out. He said, the other way is a reservoir where you have a reservoir of truth and it's when you speak or when you teach it, it spills over, but you haven't exhausted the reservoir. <br /><br /> I can tell you I've done both. And there is nothing more draining and emptying than to feel like I just shot all the spiritual reserves I have in that sermon. But when I've been speaking out of a reservoir where God is speaking into my life, separate from what I'm preaching my life. It overflows. I'm not going to walk out of here after this sermon, like, oh, I got nothing left now I got, now I got to start up. <br /><br /> No, there that reservoir, the reality is these these apostles saying, we've got to give ourselves to this. We are not winning need to just prepare a sermon. We've got to give ourselves to the word that, that, that are speaking is falling out of a reservoir of truth. We've got to be folded to the scripture. <br /><br /> No, they're not saying everybody in the congregation at, at, at, at Jerusalem had to do that. But they're saying we do, because what is a life work for us is life blood for our people. So we've got to preserve that. The other thing they said, we've got to be people that are crying out to God. We've got to be people that live casting. <br /><br /> Our cares is first Peter five says and has already say to you that, that you have one, two options. You can be the humble man of first Peter five, five through seven, where it says, we show our humility by casting our cares on God, or you can be the proud man. And by inference, we show our pride by carrying our cares. <br /><br /> The apostle said, we've got so much. We've got to give to the Lord. We've got so many people that we are feeling the weight of the burden for. We've got to be devoted to prayer the rocks for these men. Was being a building a reservoir of truth within their lives that was spilling out in their preaching and devoting themselves to crying out to God. <br /><br /> I would suggest to the rocks for you as a believer, if you are a believer in Jesus Christ is also to be in the word and to be speaking to God in prayer, even if it is not for preaching or teaching, you're doing it for surviving in your spiritual journey. So one of the things that was an outgrowth of the decision they made was it enabled them to keep the priority of the word and prayer. <br /><br /> But I just want to say this, this wasn't easy. I want you to come with me and imagine yourself in that community. And I, I would guess the apostles, if they didn't hear this messaging, they heard it in their head. Something like this, you know, we're hearing these widows and they have been neglected and we have been caring for the, you know, we've been, we do care for Martha and Joan and, and you know, all 12 of us and we have people have our ear and we've been caring for those, those gals. <br /><br /> And now we're finding out that there's a, there's a whole part of our community that we have neglected. Don't you think somebody would have felt, you know, it'd be so wonderful. Now, if the apostles would just say, you know what, we're sorry, we're now going to show our value of you. We're going to pour our lives into your women as well. <br /><br /> Or if you are one of those telling us, you don't think somebody felt something like this, wait a minute, you're going to point other people to do this. After you've been doing this with the Hebrew gals, we don't get one apostle. I mean, just give us a, give us a fattiest. Nobody even knows who he is. Give us somebody. <br /><br /> They didn't get anybody. <br /><br /> So these, this, I would, I can't imagine the apostles. Didn't think, uh, it's going to be hard, not everybody's going to understand and everybody's going to get it. It's how are we going to really say, we really do value these women? What yet? We're going to appoint guys and they'll get good guys, but we're not giving them what we gave to others. <br /><br /> I'm saying that, say this living by priorities is hard. Living by the rocks. Putting the rocks in is costly. There's going to be people you let down. There's going to be things that are not understood. There's going to be potential voices that if they're not there, you're going to hear them yours. But the beauty of these apostle. <br /><br /> Was they listened to the voice that needed to be loudest. And they responded in a way that enabled them actually to care for these women in the best way. But it came by these guys being willing to say, we have to follow the voice of God's call upon us. We got to get the rocks and we got to do it first. <br /><br /> So do you, so do I, <br /><br /> the other thing it did was it strengthened a network of compassionate ministry. They said, choose seven men to oversee the work of caring for these, these Greek speaking with. It's interesting here in this passage that Luke refers to the disciples, the apostles as the 12 first time they've ever called that way. <br /><br /> And it's interesting that later when he's referring to Philip, it says he is, he is Philip. The evangelist. One of the seven, you know, is that these two guys, you know, like the magnificent seven, well, that was them. These were the magnificent seven of the early church. These were the ones that were appointed as the first deacons, if you will, it was a new role. <br /><br /> And it was born out of necessity led by the spirit of God. It's interesting that the role is not actually defined. They knew that it initially was to care for the widows care, but they had lots of other things. Matter of facts, Stephen and Philip, two of these of the seven are going to fill up chapter seven and chapter eight of acts in their pre. <br /><br /> And ministry of public ministry. So they did more. The role of deacon is nowhere in the new Testament, clearly defined. It simply means servant. They became what the church needed in order for the apostles later elders, pastors, to do the work that they were called to do. And that will change. I mean, I've, I've been here a long time. <br /><br /> I've been here when we had 14 folks in a Bible study for me when we started the church and, and w got up to about 45 people and had our first deacon, or maybe it was 65. Um, the deacons were my co-laborers and we did ministry together. We process everything together. These guys gave up incredible amount of time, early morning meetings. <br /><br /> As time went on, the role became more care related to having care groups. Then we had community groups and right now our deacons function much more of a role of oversight, more of a, what we would think of as lay elder type of role, but they are functioning in, in oversight of, of, uh, finances of care. We, we are accountable to them as pastors, but the role changes it's it's fluid and it was fluid from the beginning. <br /><br /> They served a specific function. All right. Last thing, the impact verse one, I mentioned it says the disciples were increasing in number in verse two through six. They highlight what the early church focused on one, the passionate preaching of the word of God. And secondly, the compassionate care for the practical needs of people. <br /><br /> The result is in verse seven. And the word of God continued to increase. And the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem and a great, many of the priests became obedient to the faith. I am not a regular on social media. I'm a dabbler. Um, but even dabbling, I, I know that the next generation and my next generation is maybe the next next generation looks largely negatively towards the church. <br /><br /> Culturally, the squabbles, the, the interpretation that many in the church, uh, trust more in politics than God. I'm more concerned about being right than being kind. And I'm just saying this is perceptual are harmful and, and barriers, but the one thing that is, I think, continually held up. The church and I'm in evangelical church, is this, the church exists to serve itself. <br /><br /> The most impactful ministries are when the church is investing resources, time, energy, money into others without expecting returns. <br /><br /> It's beautiful. And we didn't plan it this way, but we talked about the refugee ministry to me, a gospel centered ministry, where we are praying and pleading with God to have opportunity to build relationships, to lead people to Jesus. But even if it does. Just caring for people. I think it has a messaging to it. <br /><br /> It isn't why we're doing it. That isn't why they cared for the widows. It's just the result. Even a watching world looks at the church, caring, compassionately for people and see something that is compelling. They aren't just concerned about themselves. It happened here. In the book of acts, I'd like to pray, and then we're going to close our service in a certain way this morning, Lord, we come to you. <br /><br /> God. There's so much about this passage. That is a deep passion to me. I believe in proclaiming the scriptures. I want to continue to grow. In my own prayer life till the day I die. I also believe Lord in the beauty of the body, being willing to fight through differences, different convictions, different perspectives, different stance to be one body to give the polemic that Jesus really is the one that brings a people of one accord of one mind. <br /><br /> So Lord continue to teach us how to do that as a people in Jesus name, amen ministry Australia, that we're going to commission this morning. And I believe Joanna, who is who's going to be, you're going to be talking. Okay. Come on up. <br /><br /> I'm going to invite, uh, Kathy Sedley and Joanna to come up with me, if they would, along with the Stephen minister team that would just got trained. If you would come up at this time as well. Our Stephen ministry is a one-on-one. Ministry that we do here in the body. There's over 40 ministers that we have that have been trained and assigned to our caring and one-on-one relationships with people in the congregation and community. <br /><br /> It's an amazing group of people. Um, a long time ago, God gave us a vision for in the care ministry of, uh, saying we're our job is not to end suffering. God uses suffering. But to make sure that by God's grace, we would strive to say that no one needs to suffer alone. These are people that have received over 50 hours of training, have read an unbelievable amount of books and material over the last weeks. <br /><br /> And Joanna Kennedy. Catholics, sadly have led this team of people in this training for these weeks ahead. And very simply we call our Stephen ministers. The after people, after the phone call, you hoped you'd never get after the funeral. When everyone has left and emotions you've held at bay came crashing in on you after the relationship falls apart in the bottom falls out of your life. <br /><br /> After the doctor says, I'm sorry, there's nothing more we can. After the gavel come down, the canned cuffs go on and your loved one has led the way after the baby arrives, demanding more of you than you dreamed possible. After you find a pink slip with your final paycheck after your family and friends have heard your story one too many times, but you still need to talk it out. <br /><br /> These are people who are willing, trained, and desire. To walk towards need a, something that is not an easy situation, but something that they delight to do. I'm going to go ahead and read the names of these dear people, and then we will commission them. So you hear her name? Come on up. This is Janet Rifkin. <br /><br /> Dan Sedley <br /><br /> Linda Longo, <br /><br /> Patricia Barner, <br /><br /> rich D squall. <br /><br /> Pam D Pasqual unrelated. Now I'm not just kidding. They're married. SueAnn, Brian, <br /><br /> Sue Jones, <br /><br /> Kathy Walker. <br /><br /> And I'm Junie <br /><br /> and Mary Ellen Underwood. <br /><br /> Why don't you pray with me, father? We're scared of our own needs. For honest, we don't like them. We don't want them. Even though they're the very vehicles that you use. Our grief, our cross is to carry our loneliness is our insecurities are painful life circumstances. They're the very vehicles of grace that we have learned to know and understand you when it comes to others' needs. <br /><br /> We're often intimidated not knowing what to do, what to say, wanting to help, but not know. Exactly. How thank you for an incredible group of people that have done training have put in time, effort, prayer, and their own life story. To raise their hand, to say I'm willing to walk towards those in. We honor you for the gift of these people and the team that they join to be reaching out to those in our church and community, because we believe what it means to be human is to embrace our need and embrace our need of you and our need of one another. <br /><br /> We give these people to you and the ministry they will do in Jesus name. Amen. <br /><br /> may God help you to be a listener of his word and be a caster of your curse may lead you to be generous hearted to those in need around you may, Iraq's be inserted first this week and your eyes and heart open to the needs of. Now go in peace to love, serve and enjoy the Lord. .</div> false no <![CDATA[Man's Attempt to Stop God's Plan]]> Acts 5:17-42

"But the high priest rose up, and all who were with him (that is, the party of the Sadducees), and filled with jealousy they arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison."



Sermon Transcript:

Like I said, I am, my name is Jared. I am one of the pastors here. I'm the youth pastor. And I'm a little bit about me. I just got married in January, 2021. So this past January, we celebrated a year. I'm married to my wife, JC, and one thing awesome about being married and not having kids is we get to have date time all the time.

So a couple Saturdays ago we had nothing to do and we didn't feel like doing chores around the house. So we're like, you know what, let's go grab some breakfast. So we live it all the way on the other side of Mount Laurel, closer to like Del ran in Mount Holly and stuff like that. So we went to our favorite, one of our favorite breakfast spots in Mount Holly kitchen, 87.

Really good. If you haven't been there and we just got breakfast and then. We still have nothing to do. Let's just walk around. We grabbed some coffee, we're just walking down the street. You know, Mount Holly is a very like historic town. There's like really cool things to look at. So we're walking down and it's a beautiful day.

It's like 70 degrees or something like that. And we're like coming up and we're going down the street. We've never been down like JC that looks like a prison. Is that a prison? And she's like, I don't think so. And before I know I, we see in letters, prison. So I did not know this, but there's two things. I didn't know.

There's an actual working prison in Mount Holly didn't know that. Secondly, there's a historic prison in Mount Holly that you can actually take a tour. Um, and we're like, all right, if this tour is $5 or under we're doing it, it was $5. So we're like, okay, JC and I are not museum people. We're not like history.

People were like, this seems cool. So we're just going and we're looking around and turns out this is, was a really. Well constructed prison at the time, it was built by God and a guy named Robert Mills. He was one of the first American architects to really like push the limit on things, come up with new ideas and ways to build things.

It was constructed in 1811 and was active until 1965. So this was like a really well-built prison. Not, it's not active now, obviously just the museum. So we just are looking through this museum. I mean, it is really cool. There's like old graffiti on the wall from inmates. We're learning, we're reading, there's like sound effects.

It's very cool. But there's one story that really stood out to us that was like really cool. There's a number of escapes from this prison. And one really stood out to me. There was four guys that were on second floor of the prison and they decided they were going to get out and they were going to dig through a hole in the.

And to get out through the roof, right? Solid plan solvent. I don't know exactly how, like they got the tools to do this or how long this took, but they fashioned this hole in the roof and they start filing through one by one, but they realize they messed something up. So I guess when they measured this hole that they're going to cut out, they kind of measured the skinniest guy.

So, so three of them get through the hole and the fourth guy is trying his heart. To get through this hole, but he cannot fit and they're pulling on them. They're yanking them and try and get through this hole and nothing's working and they're trying, they're trying until all of a sudden they're like, Nope, we got to get out of here.

We're leaving. They leave this guy. This guy actually alerts the guards that people are escaping. I don't know how he sold that. Like I actually wasn't trying to escape. I was trying to see the hall. I don't know, but he actually alerts the guards. These guys get out through the roof. I think one of them like broke their legs, jumping off the roof.

They ended up all getting recaptured again. It was a fail of the attempt of escape. Um, it was, but it sure was interesting. Um, but this morning we're going to look at a prison escape that went a whole lot smoother than four guys trying to hit fit through a tiny hole. Would you turn with me to acts five and we'll be starting in verse 17.

It is a little bit of a lengthier passage, but I will be reading it and walking us through. So acts chapter five, verse 17, it will be on the screen as well too. But the high priest rose up and all who were with him, that is the party of the Sadducees and filled with jealousy. They rested the apostles and put them in public prison.

But during the night, angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out and said, go and stand in the temple and speak to the people, all the words of this life. And when they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and began the teach. Now when the high priest came and those who were with him, they called together the council, all the Senate of the people of Israel and sent to the prison to have them brought.

But when the officers came, they did not find them in the prison. So they returned and report it. We found the prison securely locked and the guards standing at the doors. But when we opened them, we found no one in. Now when the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these words, they were greatly perplexed about them.

Wondering what this would come to. And someone came and told them, look, the men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people. Then the captain with the officers went and brought them, but not by force where they were afraid of being stoned by the people. And when they had brought them, they set them before the council and the high priest questioned them, saying, we strictly charged you not to teach in this name yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and you intend to bring this man's blood upon us.

But Peter and the apostles answered. We must obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on. God exalted him at his right hand as leader and savior to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things. And so as the holy spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him, when they heard this, they were enraged and wanting to kill them.

But a Pharisee in the counsel named Gamaliel teacher of the law held in honor by all the people stood up and gave orders to put them outside for a little while. And he said to the men of Israel, take of what you are about to do with these men. For before these days, Theotis rose up claiming to be somebody and a number of men, about 400 joined him.

He was killed and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing after him, Judas the Galilean rose up in the days of the census and drew away. Some of the people after him, he too perished and all who followed him were scattered. So in the present case, I tell you keep away from these men and let them alone for a fist plan.

Or this undertaking is of man. It will. But if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be opposing God. So they took his advice. And when they had called in the apostles, they beat them and charge them not to speak in the name of Jesus and let them go. Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted, worthy to suffer dishonor for the name and every day in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that Christ is Jesus let's pray.

Or we come before you this morning. Just desperate to hear you, Lord, we're desperate to just be transformed and renewed by your word. God, we are so blessed that you often so speak to us. Lord. You've given us your scriptures. God, that aren't just words on a page. God, these words have. And God, if there's one thing that we're learning in the book of acts is that your spirit has power.

God. So I even pray that your spirit would just, just be so tangible in this room today. God, that you would just speak through me that you would speak to each and every one of us, Lord, no one is here by accident. God, you brought each and every one in this room by your plan, God, and we just pray that you would move Florida, that your spirit would move.

And that we would hear from you. We pray in Jesus's name, amen. Looking at this whole section and chapter five in its entirety. And just even one of the major themes of this book. We see this main idea that God's plan to build his church and spread his gospel will not be forwarded by human intervention or persecution.

I want to just take time to kind of just walk us through. Immediate context of kind of what we looked at last week and just, this is a lengthy twenty-five versus a passage I'm going to just walk us through. So we really get the gist of what is really happening here. If you remember last week, we S we looked at Anna nice, and Safira right.

We're about a couple of years into the start of the church. And we saw this huge problem with these two individuals, right? This line problem that caused conflict in the church. They actually were ended up dying, right? God got punished them. And this, and there's the examples of what not to do in this church with this horrible, horrible thing happening.

But then we have verses 12 through 16, which it kind of seems God has purify the church is put them back on the right track again. And we see incredible things happening. We see kind of this happily, ever moment after people were being healed, people were getting blessed, right? They were increasing in number, but then verse 17 says it introduced the problem, but the high point.

Right. But the high priests were jealous. Right. And they were filled with jealousy. Why? Because the Apostle's message was becoming more popular than them. Right? These religious leaders, especially the Sadducees were so wrapped up in political power that they wanted control of these people. And they realized these apostles, what they're preaching.

People were latching onto it and it scared them. Right. And they got, they get arrested. We see this and get arrested. And there's this huge problem here. After 12 through 16, a couple of things happen, more people were added to their number. People actually from Drew's outside of Jerusalem are coming into Jerusalem, trying to find out what is happening.

It says people were brought with lame and sick people and it says all were. Right. So we have this beautiful moment of what's happening in the church and this next problem is introduced and it's not a problem, like an absence of fire. So this problem is not within the church. It's coming without the church, from these, the form of persecution from these religious leaders against God's church.

So they get arrested, right? They get thrown in the prison, right? This is not new. Uh, John and Peter were already arrested, but they want to make a statement here. They said, we're going to get all the parcels. We're going to throw them in jail. They're going to spend in jail overnight and right away the same very night angel, the Lord appears, someone says, opens up the door and says, go in verse 29, says go and do that very thing.

Right. Go and stand in that temple, speak to the people, all the words of life, go and do that. Very thing that just got you around. Right. Go out. Right. You're free from prison. I don't know how you guys would have taken this, but I'm like, all right, we're good. We're going to lay low for a little bit. We just got out of prison.

Let's just take maybe a day off or something just to rest, you know, recuperate. No, he says, go and preach the words of life. Go right back in the temple. And they do, as soon as they come, when morning comes, they go right back into the temple preaching that Jesus is the Christ. So they go out and the next, this next part of the passage is kind of my favorite because the religious leaders are like, all right, we got our guys, all right, we're going to send our guys to go get them from the prison.

So they send their guards and they go, and what happens? The guards there, the doors are locked. They opened the doors where the apostles they're nowhere to be found. I would love to see the look on these religious leaders face, like what we thought we had them. We were so close. Like what happened? They went from being.

To just being super confused. Like they say, what is going to come of this? They had no idea who they're dealing with. So the high priest sir, are jealous, then they're confused. And then they're like, you know what? We're going out. We're getting them again. So they go out in verse 26, let's read it together, says this.

Then the captain with the officers went and brought them. But not by force for, they were afraid of being stoned by the people, the apostles didn't put up a fight, right? They didn't make a big deal of it. If I was having pride, like I just was in prison. I don't want to go back. No, they, they go right with these people, but it says they were afraid.

They were afraid that the people were going to stone them. Why? Because the apostles message was more popular than these religious leaders. The religious leaders realized they lost control of the. They lost control of the people and they were scared what they're going to do, but the apostles, they're not scared.

They're not scared. They say, take us right back to prison. We know who's in control. You're scared because you've lost control that people were not scared because we know who is in control. And if God needs to send another angel tonight to get us out of prison, who'll do exactly that to accomplish his well, they were not scared.

So they bring them back and you know, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, they put on their poker face again. And they're like, did it? We tell you stop teaching in this name. They can't even say the name of Jesus. They're like this name that you keep saying, please don't say it, please. But to say, didn't we say, stop teaching this.

And, and you intend to put this man's blood on us. And verse 29 is, is really important. I think it's one of the most central verses to this passage. It says both Peter and the apostles answered. I don't know how this worked. Like, I don't know if Peter kind of like looked at that parcels and they all were like, tell him Peter, tell him what's up.

I don't know if they like they've rehearsed this before. And they were like, we're saying in unison, we're all gonna say it. Like, or if they just knew, and Peter was like, I got this guy stressed me out. I'll handle these Cody. What does he say? He says, we must obey God, rather than men not you. We know who's in charge.

We know who's in control. We must obey God. So you can put us in prison. You can beat us. We can't obey you. And he goes on to just even accusing them. That said you killed Jesus. Right. And he takes this chance to actually share the gospel with them. Not in, in a, maybe in a sense that we necessarily would.

We usually don't start with you. Kill Jesus. Right. That usually doesn't work. But Peter filled with the holy spirit says you were in charge of this. This is on you. But God raised Jesus from the dead, putting him at the right hand of God. Why for the repentance of Israel and the forgiveness of sins, he's inviting them into this.

He's saying, yes, yes, you're guilty of this. But so were we, and you are welcomed into this forgiveness of sin. You are welcomed into this repentance that if you would just turn that you just turn from this and turn to God and why, why are they going through all this trouble to go against these religious leaders, to go against the grain and, and do something even illegal that they're going to be put in prison with because they are witnesses, right?

They're just saying, this is what we've seen. We have to say what we've seen and not only. The holy spirit is a witness to this. This is not just what we are saying. So this really set the religious leaders off. I mean, they must have been so angry from this because they went from being jealous, right. To being confused, to being afraid of these people.

And now they're just so angry that they're ready to kill the apostles, but we see it Pharisee kind of come up. This guy named Gamaliel, and this man was very respected. He was, he was high held in high praise. We actually know a fun fact here about this guy. He was Paul, the apostle Paul actually studied under Gamaliel.

It says in acts 22 3, it says I made you born in Tarsus. But brought up in this city, educated at the feet of Gamaliel, according to the strict manner of the law of our fathers, this guy was a big deal, right. We actually know that he was giving the title Rabat, which is different from rabbi. Rabat actually means our teacher, right?

It's a step above rabbi, which means my teacher, this guy was considered like all of our teachers, if like, if we need to know something, this guy was here, gamma, Leah was the guy to go. So he comes up and he's like, let's just send the apostles out before we get hasty. Let's just send them out for a little bit.

And just let's just think. And here's his plan, right? It's outlined in 38 and 39, it says. So in the present case, I tell you keep away from these men and let them alone for if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail. But if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found at posing.

So they took his advice, right? Even this man Gamaliel, this Pharisee can recognize, listen, we've seen this before. We've seen two different guys raised up. They got following, they got some disciples. They died and the disciples and the followers dispersed, right? If this is a man, this will surely fail. But if this is of God, there's nothing we can do about it.

There's no amount of prison sentence you can give on them. There's no amount of beatings or charges that you can tell them. This will not fail because of God. He even had that wisdom. That sense to be able to say, if this is of God, there's nothing we can do about it. So what happens next? Right? They decide not to kill them, to let these men be.

So they just let them out right now. They bring them in and they beat them super weird. Right. They beat them and they charge them again. Do not. And this name of Jesus. And when I first read this, I like pictured a beating. Like, all right, maybe they'd beat them up, push them around a little bit. No, this word for beat actually means Darrow.

And it means the flog or to skin, right? This was not no light beating. This was a beating where they lost skin, too, that they were bleeding, that they were bruised bloodied. And then they send them on the way and say, do not preach in this name. Um, what would we have done? Right. Pro probably walked out with our heads, held low defeat.

It frustrated, embarrassed, right? Every time I, I try to preach the gospel. Every time I try to evangelize just to just get shut down right now, this is not what they do. Verse 21 verse 41 says they were rejoicing. They went out rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer in the name of Jesus. I mean, this is convicting, right?

I mean, how often are we like so discouraged. Like I tried to talk to my coworker about Jesus and they just weren't even listening to me. So like, I'm just, I'm going to throw in the towel. I'm just going to call it a day. Right? These men were just imprisoned twice in a span of 24 hours. Be in charged again, not to preach in this name.

And they go out rejoicing and not only rejoicing, it says every day they were in the temple and from house to house preaching that Jesus is Christ. They didn't take a day off. They didn't take a week off. They didn't say guys, let's rest up. Let's recuperate. Let's mend to our wounds. Right? Let's go see a doctor.

No, every day they went out preaching that crime. As the Lord, these men were not ordinary, man. These men were not men acting in their own strength. These men were empowered by the holy spirit. These men were witnesses to something that was bigger than them. These men knew the spirit of God. These men knew God's plan and how big it was.

All right. So what do we do with this passage? Luke, doesn't often zoom right into a story, right? We know this is a historical narrative and, but it's piece by piece, right? He doesn't include every single detail of every single story. Oftentimes we see through the book of acts that he kind of zooms up pass a couple of years and only a couple verses are mentioned, but we have 25 verses here of a story with many details and many different things going on.

So what do we do? Why is this important? We have to ask ourselves why, why is this in here? Why did Luke spend so much time. Well, I think we have three takeaways. And if you're following along in your notes, this is when you can start taking them. Okay. The first one is God wants us to obey his voice, right?

God wants us to obey his voice. Verse 20 says this,

go and stand in the temple and speak to the people. All the words of this life, right? God wants us to be his voice. They were imprisoned, but God sent his angel and said, go and do this. And what did the apostles do? They went and did that. He wants us to hear him. He wants us obey his voice. Verse 29 says the same thing, but Peter and that parcels answered.

We must obey God. Rather than men. There was a lot of other voices. There was a lot of other conflicts. There was a lot of other pressures they were experiencing, but they decided to obey God's voice rather than. Right. God, his voice is greater than any other voice in our lives, right? Then your kid's voice, then your boss's voice, then your spouse's voice and your parents' voice.

Then thousands about hundreds of voices on social media, right? This is, this is bigger than your favorite person in the world. Your favorite pastor, your favorite political figure. God's voice is greater and we must obey it. We must listen to it. Psalms 29 describes the voice of the Lord as such Psalm 29.

Four says this, the voice of the Lord is powerful. The voice of the Lord is full of majesty. Psalm 29 5 says this, the voice of the Lord breaks. The Cedars verse seven says this, the voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire. Verse eight says the voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness. Verse nine says the voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth and strips the forest bare.

This is not like any other voice in our lives and we need to hear it and we need to obey it and we need to do it. But part of that is listening for it, right? If we're so distracted, if we're so gung ho about getting through the day, again, checking this off and going to work and doing this. And I got to do that and I got to do that.

There's no room there to hear the voice of the Lord. We need to know our father's voice. When he calls. I am one of five brothers. You probably know this. I talk about a lot and it's given me a Labrot form of illustrations that I can use in sermons for the rest of my. And if you can imagine, um, five boys, it's a lot to handle.

There's a lot going on. There's a lot of loud voices. There's a lot of fights and arguments. We did not grow up in a girl's household. It goes from like words to punches really quick. There's not a lot of in-between. So one thing, um, that my dad came up with that was really good was he had a whistle for us.

Okay. And I know he, yes. He trained us like dogs. Yep. And it worked. So, I mean, whether we were at a soccer field soccer tournament and we're like miles away, or we're like two miles into the woods and like, we hear this whistle and like, it's like hearing Mr. Softy truck, you just get up and running. You don't know why you're running anymore, but you're just like, JC knows this.

Mr. Softy comes on. She was like, how did you hear that? I'm like, get the wallet. Let's go. We got it. But, I mean, as kids, we would be, I'm not kidding, like a mile and a half in the woods. We're like prancing through the woods, tackling each other, whatever. We hear the whistle and we're like go in the direction now.

Right at my dad happens to be here today. So I have, I'm asking that dad get, just give us a little taste of what the whistle sounds like.

Right. But we knew, we knew our father's voice. We knew that call when we heard it, we went, it didn't no matter where we were, how far we were, what we were doing, who we were talking to, we went to our father's call and this is what we need to do as children of God. When we hear our father, right. We have to be listening.

Right. And sometimes he speaks like that, like a whistle, like a two by four over our head. Right. We know that everyone's been there, but sometimes it's a whisper. And if we're not listening, we can't hear. We need to be listening to our possible, through the father's voice in our life. The apostles knew this, right?

Despite getting arrested twice in 24 hours, they knew I must obey my father's voice. I must obey his voice and we need to know his voice and we need to obey number two God's plan is on deniable, right? God's plan is undeniable verse 38 through 39. I already read it, but I want to read it again. So in the present case, I tell you keep away from these men and let them alone for if this plan or this undertaken is of man, it will fail.

But if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God God's plan is undeniable. Even the Pharisee Gamaliel knew this, that God's plan is unstoppable. You cannot do anything despite being arrested. Despite being beaten, they knew God's plan will not fail. They knew it was God's plan for them to be in that prison, that they could be brought forward to the council to preach the gospel to these Pharisees.

And we know later on, right in acts six, seven, it says the word of the Lord continued to increase. And the numbers of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith. Right? How could that have happened if God didn't have them arrest it brought before the council and preach the gospel to write what we understand as God's plan is that it should be our opinion of success, right.

That, you know, I think this should work out this way. So God, you got to agree with me, right? No, it doesn't work like that. But if we're in tune to the father's voice, if we're knowing his. Then we're going to hear and trust and have faith in his plan. And it is on deniable. It cannot be stopped. So if God is going after you in your life about something, you can resist all you want.

We saw Jonah do that. What happened? He got swallowed yet. Okay. We know that we know that story you can resist for all, as long as you want, his plan is deniable. It will get to the priests. It'll get to the outcasts, it'll get where everyone, we know that it was his plan that this gospel, that this message would go to Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

This was God's plan. And it would not be stopped, not by a problem within the church with an right, or a problem, a problem without the church from persecution. And this plan would not be stopped. There's a couple other examples that we can understand. Things that are undeniable and, uh, specifically people that are undeniable, anybody been to the mall recently?

That's what I thought. Yep. Weird place. Now. It was cool when I was a teenager, but like COVID happened and yeah. Malls are going down. But if you remember from your experience, well, I don't think you want racer head. There goes that house. Right. So if you remember from your experience, you're walking through the mall, what's in the central.

The kiosks, right? The huts. Okay. These people are undeniable. I'm telling you what, and I'm a sucker. I'm walking down. I'm like, Nope, I've done this before. I see what's going to happen. Eyes forward. Don't look at them. Jared. Before I know it, I got lotion in my hand and they're rubbing it in on me. I'm like, how did I get here?

And then I'm buying the bottle right there. It's like, they already got you. They're like this, guy's a sucker. I got him. He's coming in. Maybe that's not you. Maybe you're like, sorry. No, I'm gone. But they get me every single time. I'm telling you what? Right? The lotions already on their hand, they're selling me.

They're talking me up. And now I feel guilty because they just wasted some lotion on me. So now I got at least buy something, right. These people will go to any and all costs to get your business. They will do anything. Another. Solar panel guys. I was not ready for this as a homeowner. Oh my goodness. I actually gotten a little bit of a dispute with my solar guy the other day.

And I call him my solar guy because he comes off. And even though I keep saying no, he came on my door and was like, and I'm like, are the police at the door what's going on? And these guys are smart. They know exactly like all of them. They're like, I noticed your car. It's a pretty nice car. That must be fun to go around.

I'm like, who are you with? Who's your agency. I was like, I've been this for right. And I actually told the guy, I was like, dude, you got to work on your knock because I thought someone was breaking into my house and I don't want to buy solar anymore. But these people are literally relentless. They send out different guys weekly to try to get me.

They're like, nah, he's not good with a type a personality. We're going to send a type B. We're going to touch C, D E whatever it is. But they are relentless after. Whether it's the kiosk worker, putting the lotion on your hand or the solar people bothering you when you're trying to do yard work, they're relentless, right?

This is, this is God's plan in our life. There there's nothing. We can do it. Ignore it. There's nothing that how long that we can run from it, it is an undeniable. It will be accomplished. And the apostles knew this. The apostles knew what the will of God was because they were listening to their father's voice and they knew no matter what obstacle came against them, no matter what persecution and we're going to see, this is just the start of persecution in the church.

It's going to get a lot worse, but each and every step of persecution of confrontation of aggression or, or a plan that they try to destroy God's plan continues, right? His will continues to spread his message. To preach in his name to share the gospel. There's nothing that we can do to stop it. My last point is God has invited us into that plan.

Verse 32 says this, and we are witnesses to these things. And so as the holy spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him, yes, the apostles are talking about themselves. We are witnesses, but we are witnesses to what God has done in our lives. It's all we are, were witnesses to Christ. We're witnesses to God's victories in our life, the past couple of weeks and youth group, we've been having our leaders share their testimonies and it fires me up because each and every story is a victory that Christ says, I want this person despite their sin, despite where they are, I'm going to have victory over them.

And now what does that person become a witness to God's power, a witness to God's plan in their life that they can't help, but talk about what God has done. It is the most powerful way that we can evangelize that we can love on people, right? Because like, I'll say I'm a pastor to people. It's like a thing that comes, oh, what, what do you do there, pastor like, oh, I'm sorry.

I'm not very religious. You must be very religious. I'm like, no, I just have a relationship with Jesus. I'd love to tell you about it. Look right. It's like people think this, this building and the church, and I'm like, no, God is really working in my life. And he cares about me and he cares about you too.

It's real. And we are witnesses and God has invited us into that plan. Verse 41 and 42. It says this way, then they left the presence of the council. Rejoice. That they were counted worthy to suffer this honor for the name and every day in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that Christ is Jesus.

God has invited us into this plan. Right. And it's not always painless. Right? And it's not always super easy, right? These pastas were getting beat and thrown in a prison. Right. But he's invited us to be witnesses and he's not invited to in our own strength. Right. Who else do they say? That's a witness. The holy spirit and God has given us his spirit to empower us.

Second Timothy one seven says for God, gave us a spirit, not a fear, but of power and love and self control. We're not meant to be scared. Right? The religious leaders were scared because they were out of control the apostles. We don't see them scared. Because they know exactly who they're trusting and they know exactly the spirit God's given them to empower them with love, power and self-control.

And if you're worried, like, I don't know how to put this house, God invited me in for this. I don't like Jared, what does that even mean? That's so generic. Like how Ephesians two 10 tells us this for we are his workmanship. God created us in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

Right. If we're really hearing the father's voice, if we're really focused on his plan and we realize that God has invited us into that plan, that God wants to use us, that he wants to use you and you and you, then he's prepared in advance for us. If we're listening to his voice, then we'll see like you, some of you know exactly what I'm talking about when you.

Then you're like, I just have to do this. I know I have to do this because God has really prompted me to do this and I don't want to do this. And my flesh, I don't want to talk to that person. And my flesh, I don't want to apologize or a pen to that person. And my flesh. I don't want to do this or don't want to go there.

But if we're truly following the Lord and listening for his voice, we know is for paired works for us to do an advance. And I don't want you to get confused. I don't want you to get like, well works. What are you talking about Jared grace yet? No, these aren't works that you can be, you know, the prettier to the father.

No, God has done everything already for you. Jesus has accomplished all the works for you, but he's prepared us to do works for him to live through and walk in them. These are not works. That gets you into heaven. Right? Let's be clear about that. God has done all the work for that, but these are works that if we're living and walking.

That he's going to continue to reveal. And if we trust in him and we're listening to his voice, that we're going to say, man, God, this was so easy to follow you here because you prepared it for me. You prepared it in advance. God has invited us into his beautiful undeniable glorious plan. And he's provided for us a spirit that we can't do this alone.

We can't walk in this alone. Something God's caused us to do are, are scary. They're nerve wracking. Oftentimes they're out of our comfort zone, but he's given us a spirit that empowers us. That's not a fear, but of power love and self-control that we can really actually walk in them that we can really start looking like our savior Jesus.

And it's a step by step by step, right? That's that is the Christian like that. We would just be humbly before the Lord and say, God, how do you want to use me in this. We would just wake up and say, God, what is your will for my life? What are the works that you've prepared in me in advance? And that's sometimes a really scary prayer because I'm like, I don't know what you have.

God, I'm a little nervous about it, but I'm praying in faith, right? But he will provide those things. We need to hear the father's voice and obey it. We need to know that his plan is undeniable despite persecution or, or hardship or pain or suffering. The Lord is still working even in the midst of all that.

And he's invited us into that plan to walk and step with his spirit and powered by his spirit. In that I want to leave you with this. May you leave this building today in tune with the voice of the Lord with a full knowledge of God's immeasurable. And filled to the brim with the truth that God has invited you into his plan to be the hands and the feet of Jesus.

Thank you. Fast]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/mans-attempt-to-stop-gods-plan 07221141-c139-4baf-9406-6412223ebf6c Sun, 15 May 2022 15:28:54 GMT <div data-html="true">Acts 5:17-42 <br /><br /> "But the high priest rose up, and all who were with him (that is, the party of the Sadducees), and filled with jealousy they arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison." <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> Like I said, I am, my name is Jared. I am one of the pastors here. I'm the youth pastor. And I'm a little bit about me. I just got married in January, 2021. So this past January, we celebrated a year. I'm married to my wife, JC, and one thing awesome about being married and not having kids is we get to have date time all the time. <br /><br /> So a couple Saturdays ago we had nothing to do and we didn't feel like doing chores around the house. So we're like, you know what, let's go grab some breakfast. So we live it all the way on the other side of Mount Laurel, closer to like Del ran in Mount Holly and stuff like that. So we went to our favorite, one of our favorite breakfast spots in Mount Holly kitchen, 87. <br /><br /> Really good. If you haven't been there and we just got breakfast and then. We still have nothing to do. Let's just walk around. We grabbed some coffee, we're just walking down the street. You know, Mount Holly is a very like historic town. There's like really cool things to look at. So we're walking down and it's a beautiful day. <br /><br /> It's like 70 degrees or something like that. And we're like coming up and we're going down the street. We've never been down like JC that looks like a prison. Is that a prison? And she's like, I don't think so. And before I know I, we see in letters, prison. So I did not know this, but there's two things. I didn't know. <br /><br /> There's an actual working prison in Mount Holly didn't know that. Secondly, there's a historic prison in Mount Holly that you can actually take a tour. Um, and we're like, all right, if this tour is $5 or under we're doing it, it was $5. So we're like, okay, JC and I are not museum people. We're not like history. <br /><br /> People were like, this seems cool. So we're just going and we're looking around and turns out this is, was a really. Well constructed prison at the time, it was built by God and a guy named Robert Mills. He was one of the first American architects to really like push the limit on things, come up with new ideas and ways to build things. <br /><br /> It was constructed in 1811 and was active until 1965. So this was like a really well-built prison. Not, it's not active now, obviously just the museum. So we just are looking through this museum. I mean, it is really cool. There's like old graffiti on the wall from inmates. We're learning, we're reading, there's like sound effects. <br /><br /> It's very cool. But there's one story that really stood out to us that was like really cool. There's a number of escapes from this prison. And one really stood out to me. There was four guys that were on second floor of the prison and they decided they were going to get out and they were going to dig through a hole in the. <br /><br /> And to get out through the roof, right? Solid plan solvent. I don't know exactly how, like they got the tools to do this or how long this took, but they fashioned this hole in the roof and they start filing through one by one, but they realize they messed something up. So I guess when they measured this hole that they're going to cut out, they kind of measured the skinniest guy. <br /><br /> So, so three of them get through the hole and the fourth guy is trying his heart. To get through this hole, but he cannot fit and they're pulling on them. They're yanking them and try and get through this hole and nothing's working and they're trying, they're trying until all of a sudden they're like, Nope, we got to get out of here. <br /><br /> We're leaving. They leave this guy. This guy actually alerts the guards that people are escaping. I don't know how he sold that. Like I actually wasn't trying to escape. I was trying to see the hall. I don't know, but he actually alerts the guards. These guys get out through the roof. I think one of them like broke their legs, jumping off the roof. <br /><br /> They ended up all getting recaptured again. It was a fail of the attempt of escape. Um, it was, but it sure was interesting. Um, but this morning we're going to look at a prison escape that went a whole lot smoother than four guys trying to hit fit through a tiny hole. Would you turn with me to acts five and we'll be starting in verse 17. <br /><br /> It is a little bit of a lengthier passage, but I will be reading it and walking us through. So acts chapter five, verse 17, it will be on the screen as well too. But the high priest rose up and all who were with him, that is the party of the Sadducees and filled with jealousy. They rested the apostles and put them in public prison. <br /><br /> But during the night, angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out and said, go and stand in the temple and speak to the people, all the words of this life. And when they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and began the teach. Now when the high priest came and those who were with him, they called together the council, all the Senate of the people of Israel and sent to the prison to have them brought. <br /><br /> But when the officers came, they did not find them in the prison. So they returned and report it. We found the prison securely locked and the guards standing at the doors. But when we opened them, we found no one in. Now when the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these words, they were greatly perplexed about them. <br /><br /> Wondering what this would come to. And someone came and told them, look, the men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people. Then the captain with the officers went and brought them, but not by force where they were afraid of being stoned by the people. And when they had brought them, they set them before the council and the high priest questioned them, saying, we strictly charged you not to teach in this name yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and you intend to bring this man's blood upon us. <br /><br /> But Peter and the apostles answered. We must obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on. God exalted him at his right hand as leader and savior to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things. And so as the holy spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him, when they heard this, they were enraged and wanting to kill them. <br /><br /> But a Pharisee in the counsel named Gamaliel teacher of the law held in honor by all the people stood up and gave orders to put them outside for a little while. And he said to the men of Israel, take of what you are about to do with these men. For before these days, Theotis rose up claiming to be somebody and a number of men, about 400 joined him. <br /><br /> He was killed and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing after him, Judas the Galilean rose up in the days of the census and drew away. Some of the people after him, he too perished and all who followed him were scattered. So in the present case, I tell you keep away from these men and let them alone for a fist plan. <br /><br /> Or this undertaking is of man. It will. But if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be opposing God. So they took his advice. And when they had called in the apostles, they beat them and charge them not to speak in the name of Jesus and let them go. Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted, worthy to suffer dishonor for the name and every day in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that Christ is Jesus let's pray. <br /><br /> Or we come before you this morning. Just desperate to hear you, Lord, we're desperate to just be transformed and renewed by your word. God, we are so blessed that you often so speak to us. Lord. You've given us your scriptures. God, that aren't just words on a page. God, these words have. And God, if there's one thing that we're learning in the book of acts is that your spirit has power. <br /><br /> God. So I even pray that your spirit would just, just be so tangible in this room today. God, that you would just speak through me that you would speak to each and every one of us, Lord, no one is here by accident. God, you brought each and every one in this room by your plan, God, and we just pray that you would move Florida, that your spirit would move. <br /><br /> And that we would hear from you. We pray in Jesus's name, amen. Looking at this whole section and chapter five in its entirety. And just even one of the major themes of this book. We see this main idea that God's plan to build his church and spread his gospel will not be forwarded by human intervention or persecution. <br /><br /> I want to just take time to kind of just walk us through. Immediate context of kind of what we looked at last week and just, this is a lengthy twenty-five versus a passage I'm going to just walk us through. So we really get the gist of what is really happening here. If you remember last week, we S we looked at Anna nice, and Safira right. <br /><br /> We're about a couple of years into the start of the church. And we saw this huge problem with these two individuals, right? This line problem that caused conflict in the church. They actually were ended up dying, right? God got punished them. And this, and there's the examples of what not to do in this church with this horrible, horrible thing happening. <br /><br /> But then we have verses 12 through 16, which it kind of seems God has purify the church is put them back on the right track again. And we see incredible things happening. We see kind of this happily, ever moment after people were being healed, people were getting blessed, right? They were increasing in number, but then verse 17 says it introduced the problem, but the high point. <br /><br /> Right. But the high priests were jealous. Right. And they were filled with jealousy. Why? Because the Apostle's message was becoming more popular than them. Right? These religious leaders, especially the Sadducees were so wrapped up in political power that they wanted control of these people. And they realized these apostles, what they're preaching. <br /><br /> People were latching onto it and it scared them. Right. And they got, they get arrested. We see this and get arrested. And there's this huge problem here. After 12 through 16, a couple of things happen, more people were added to their number. People actually from Drew's outside of Jerusalem are coming into Jerusalem, trying to find out what is happening. <br /><br /> It says people were brought with lame and sick people and it says all were. Right. So we have this beautiful moment of what's happening in the church and this next problem is introduced and it's not a problem, like an absence of fire. So this problem is not within the church. It's coming without the church, from these, the form of persecution from these religious leaders against God's church. <br /><br /> So they get arrested, right? They get thrown in the prison, right? This is not new. Uh, John and Peter were already arrested, but they want to make a statement here. They said, we're going to get all the parcels. We're going to throw them in jail. They're going to spend in jail overnight and right away the same very night angel, the Lord appears, someone says, opens up the door and says, go in verse 29, says go and do that very thing. <br /><br /> Right. Go and stand in that temple, speak to the people, all the words of life, go and do that. Very thing that just got you around. Right. Go out. Right. You're free from prison. I don't know how you guys would have taken this, but I'm like, all right, we're good. We're going to lay low for a little bit. We just got out of prison. <br /><br /> Let's just take maybe a day off or something just to rest, you know, recuperate. No, he says, go and preach the words of life. Go right back in the temple. And they do, as soon as they come, when morning comes, they go right back into the temple preaching that Jesus is the Christ. So they go out and the next, this next part of the passage is kind of my favorite because the religious leaders are like, all right, we got our guys, all right, we're going to send our guys to go get them from the prison. <br /><br /> So they send their guards and they go, and what happens? The guards there, the doors are locked. They opened the doors where the apostles they're nowhere to be found. I would love to see the look on these religious leaders face, like what we thought we had them. We were so close. Like what happened? They went from being. <br /><br /> To just being super confused. Like they say, what is going to come of this? They had no idea who they're dealing with. So the high priest sir, are jealous, then they're confused. And then they're like, you know what? We're going out. We're getting them again. So they go out in verse 26, let's read it together, says this. <br /><br /> Then the captain with the officers went and brought them. But not by force for, they were afraid of being stoned by the people, the apostles didn't put up a fight, right? They didn't make a big deal of it. If I was having pride, like I just was in prison. I don't want to go back. No, they, they go right with these people, but it says they were afraid. <br /><br /> They were afraid that the people were going to stone them. Why? Because the apostles message was more popular than these religious leaders. The religious leaders realized they lost control of the. They lost control of the people and they were scared what they're going to do, but the apostles, they're not scared. <br /><br /> They're not scared. They say, take us right back to prison. We know who's in control. You're scared because you've lost control that people were not scared because we know who is in control. And if God needs to send another angel tonight to get us out of prison, who'll do exactly that to accomplish his well, they were not scared. <br /><br /> So they bring them back and you know, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, they put on their poker face again. And they're like, did it? We tell you stop teaching in this name. They can't even say the name of Jesus. They're like this name that you keep saying, please don't say it, please. But to say, didn't we say, stop teaching this. <br /><br /> And, and you intend to put this man's blood on us. And verse 29 is, is really important. I think it's one of the most central verses to this passage. It says both Peter and the apostles answered. I don't know how this worked. Like, I don't know if Peter kind of like looked at that parcels and they all were like, tell him Peter, tell him what's up. <br /><br /> I don't know if they like they've rehearsed this before. And they were like, we're saying in unison, we're all gonna say it. Like, or if they just knew, and Peter was like, I got this guy stressed me out. I'll handle these Cody. What does he say? He says, we must obey God, rather than men not you. We know who's in charge. <br /><br /> We know who's in control. We must obey God. So you can put us in prison. You can beat us. We can't obey you. And he goes on to just even accusing them. That said you killed Jesus. Right. And he takes this chance to actually share the gospel with them. Not in, in a, maybe in a sense that we necessarily would. <br /><br /> We usually don't start with you. Kill Jesus. Right. That usually doesn't work. But Peter filled with the holy spirit says you were in charge of this. This is on you. But God raised Jesus from the dead, putting him at the right hand of God. Why for the repentance of Israel and the forgiveness of sins, he's inviting them into this. <br /><br /> He's saying, yes, yes, you're guilty of this. But so were we, and you are welcomed into this forgiveness of sin. You are welcomed into this repentance that if you would just turn that you just turn from this and turn to God and why, why are they going through all this trouble to go against these religious leaders, to go against the grain and, and do something even illegal that they're going to be put in prison with because they are witnesses, right? <br /><br /> They're just saying, this is what we've seen. We have to say what we've seen and not only. The holy spirit is a witness to this. This is not just what we are saying. So this really set the religious leaders off. I mean, they must have been so angry from this because they went from being jealous, right. To being confused, to being afraid of these people. <br /><br /> And now they're just so angry that they're ready to kill the apostles, but we see it Pharisee kind of come up. This guy named Gamaliel, and this man was very respected. He was, he was high held in high praise. We actually know a fun fact here about this guy. He was Paul, the apostle Paul actually studied under Gamaliel. <br /><br /> It says in acts 22 3, it says I made you born in Tarsus. But brought up in this city, educated at the feet of Gamaliel, according to the strict manner of the law of our fathers, this guy was a big deal, right. We actually know that he was giving the title Rabat, which is different from rabbi. Rabat actually means our teacher, right? <br /><br /> It's a step above rabbi, which means my teacher, this guy was considered like all of our teachers, if like, if we need to know something, this guy was here, gamma, Leah was the guy to go. So he comes up and he's like, let's just send the apostles out before we get hasty. Let's just send them out for a little bit. <br /><br /> And just let's just think. And here's his plan, right? It's outlined in 38 and 39, it says. So in the present case, I tell you keep away from these men and let them alone for if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail. But if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found at posing. <br /><br /> So they took his advice, right? Even this man Gamaliel, this Pharisee can recognize, listen, we've seen this before. We've seen two different guys raised up. They got following, they got some disciples. They died and the disciples and the followers dispersed, right? If this is a man, this will surely fail. But if this is of God, there's nothing we can do about it. <br /><br /> There's no amount of prison sentence you can give on them. There's no amount of beatings or charges that you can tell them. This will not fail because of God. He even had that wisdom. That sense to be able to say, if this is of God, there's nothing we can do about it. So what happens next? Right? They decide not to kill them, to let these men be. <br /><br /> So they just let them out right now. They bring them in and they beat them super weird. Right. They beat them and they charge them again. Do not. And this name of Jesus. And when I first read this, I like pictured a beating. Like, all right, maybe they'd beat them up, push them around a little bit. No, this word for beat actually means Darrow. <br /><br /> And it means the flog or to skin, right? This was not no light beating. This was a beating where they lost skin, too, that they were bleeding, that they were bruised bloodied. And then they send them on the way and say, do not preach in this name. Um, what would we have done? Right. Pro probably walked out with our heads, held low defeat. <br /><br /> It frustrated, embarrassed, right? Every time I, I try to preach the gospel. Every time I try to evangelize just to just get shut down right now, this is not what they do. Verse 21 verse 41 says they were rejoicing. They went out rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer in the name of Jesus. I mean, this is convicting, right? <br /><br /> I mean, how often are we like so discouraged. Like I tried to talk to my coworker about Jesus and they just weren't even listening to me. So like, I'm just, I'm going to throw in the towel. I'm just going to call it a day. Right? These men were just imprisoned twice in a span of 24 hours. Be in charged again, not to preach in this name. <br /><br /> And they go out rejoicing and not only rejoicing, it says every day they were in the temple and from house to house preaching that Jesus is Christ. They didn't take a day off. They didn't take a week off. They didn't say guys, let's rest up. Let's recuperate. Let's mend to our wounds. Right? Let's go see a doctor. <br /><br /> No, every day they went out preaching that crime. As the Lord, these men were not ordinary, man. These men were not men acting in their own strength. These men were empowered by the holy spirit. These men were witnesses to something that was bigger than them. These men knew the spirit of God. These men knew God's plan and how big it was. <br /><br /> All right. So what do we do with this passage? Luke, doesn't often zoom right into a story, right? We know this is a historical narrative and, but it's piece by piece, right? He doesn't include every single detail of every single story. Oftentimes we see through the book of acts that he kind of zooms up pass a couple of years and only a couple verses are mentioned, but we have 25 verses here of a story with many details and many different things going on. <br /><br /> So what do we do? Why is this important? We have to ask ourselves why, why is this in here? Why did Luke spend so much time. Well, I think we have three takeaways. And if you're following along in your notes, this is when you can start taking them. Okay. The first one is God wants us to obey his voice, right? <br /><br /> God wants us to obey his voice. Verse 20 says this, <br /><br /> go and stand in the temple and speak to the people. All the words of this life, right? God wants us to be his voice. They were imprisoned, but God sent his angel and said, go and do this. And what did the apostles do? They went and did that. He wants us to hear him. He wants us obey his voice. Verse 29 says the same thing, but Peter and that parcels answered. <br /><br /> We must obey God. Rather than men. There was a lot of other voices. There was a lot of other conflicts. There was a lot of other pressures they were experiencing, but they decided to obey God's voice rather than. Right. God, his voice is greater than any other voice in our lives, right? Then your kid's voice, then your boss's voice, then your spouse's voice and your parents' voice. <br /><br /> Then thousands about hundreds of voices on social media, right? This is, this is bigger than your favorite person in the world. Your favorite pastor, your favorite political figure. God's voice is greater and we must obey it. We must listen to it. Psalms 29 describes the voice of the Lord as such Psalm 29. <br /><br /> Four says this, the voice of the Lord is powerful. The voice of the Lord is full of majesty. Psalm 29 5 says this, the voice of the Lord breaks. The Cedars verse seven says this, the voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire. Verse eight says the voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness. Verse nine says the voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth and strips the forest bare. <br /><br /> This is not like any other voice in our lives and we need to hear it and we need to obey it and we need to do it. But part of that is listening for it, right? If we're so distracted, if we're so gung ho about getting through the day, again, checking this off and going to work and doing this. And I got to do that and I got to do that. <br /><br /> There's no room there to hear the voice of the Lord. We need to know our father's voice. When he calls. I am one of five brothers. You probably know this. I talk about a lot and it's given me a Labrot form of illustrations that I can use in sermons for the rest of my. And if you can imagine, um, five boys, it's a lot to handle. <br /><br /> There's a lot going on. There's a lot of loud voices. There's a lot of fights and arguments. We did not grow up in a girl's household. It goes from like words to punches really quick. There's not a lot of in-between. So one thing, um, that my dad came up with that was really good was he had a whistle for us. <br /><br /> Okay. And I know he, yes. He trained us like dogs. Yep. And it worked. So, I mean, whether we were at a soccer field soccer tournament and we're like miles away, or we're like two miles into the woods and like, we hear this whistle and like, it's like hearing Mr. Softy truck, you just get up and running. You don't know why you're running anymore, but you're just like, JC knows this. <br /><br /> Mr. Softy comes on. She was like, how did you hear that? I'm like, get the wallet. Let's go. We got it. But, I mean, as kids, we would be, I'm not kidding, like a mile and a half in the woods. We're like prancing through the woods, tackling each other, whatever. We hear the whistle and we're like go in the direction now. <br /><br /> Right at my dad happens to be here today. So I have, I'm asking that dad get, just give us a little taste of what the whistle sounds like. <br /><br /> Right. But we knew, we knew our father's voice. We knew that call when we heard it, we went, it didn't no matter where we were, how far we were, what we were doing, who we were talking to, we went to our father's call and this is what we need to do as children of God. When we hear our father, right. We have to be listening. <br /><br /> Right. And sometimes he speaks like that, like a whistle, like a two by four over our head. Right. We know that everyone's been there, but sometimes it's a whisper. And if we're not listening, we can't hear. We need to be listening to our possible, through the father's voice in our life. The apostles knew this, right? <br /><br /> Despite getting arrested twice in 24 hours, they knew I must obey my father's voice. I must obey his voice and we need to know his voice and we need to obey number two God's plan is on deniable, right? God's plan is undeniable verse 38 through 39. I already read it, but I want to read it again. So in the present case, I tell you keep away from these men and let them alone for if this plan or this undertaken is of man, it will fail. <br /><br /> But if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God God's plan is undeniable. Even the Pharisee Gamaliel knew this, that God's plan is unstoppable. You cannot do anything despite being arrested. Despite being beaten, they knew God's plan will not fail. They knew it was God's plan for them to be in that prison, that they could be brought forward to the council to preach the gospel to these Pharisees. <br /><br /> And we know later on, right in acts six, seven, it says the word of the Lord continued to increase. And the numbers of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith. Right? How could that have happened if God didn't have them arrest it brought before the council and preach the gospel to write what we understand as God's plan is that it should be our opinion of success, right. <br /><br /> That, you know, I think this should work out this way. So God, you got to agree with me, right? No, it doesn't work like that. But if we're in tune to the father's voice, if we're knowing his. Then we're going to hear and trust and have faith in his plan. And it is on deniable. It cannot be stopped. So if God is going after you in your life about something, you can resist all you want. <br /><br /> We saw Jonah do that. What happened? He got swallowed yet. Okay. We know that we know that story you can resist for all, as long as you want, his plan is deniable. It will get to the priests. It'll get to the outcasts, it'll get where everyone, we know that it was his plan that this gospel, that this message would go to Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. <br /><br /> This was God's plan. And it would not be stopped, not by a problem within the church with an right, or a problem, a problem without the church from persecution. And this plan would not be stopped. There's a couple other examples that we can understand. Things that are undeniable and, uh, specifically people that are undeniable, anybody been to the mall recently? <br /><br /> That's what I thought. Yep. Weird place. Now. It was cool when I was a teenager, but like COVID happened and yeah. Malls are going down. But if you remember from your experience, well, I don't think you want racer head. There goes that house. Right. So if you remember from your experience, you're walking through the mall, what's in the central. <br /><br /> The kiosks, right? The huts. Okay. These people are undeniable. I'm telling you what, and I'm a sucker. I'm walking down. I'm like, Nope, I've done this before. I see what's going to happen. Eyes forward. Don't look at them. Jared. Before I know it, I got lotion in my hand and they're rubbing it in on me. I'm like, how did I get here? <br /><br /> And then I'm buying the bottle right there. It's like, they already got you. They're like this, guy's a sucker. I got him. He's coming in. Maybe that's not you. Maybe you're like, sorry. No, I'm gone. But they get me every single time. I'm telling you what? Right? The lotions already on their hand, they're selling me. <br /><br /> They're talking me up. And now I feel guilty because they just wasted some lotion on me. So now I got at least buy something, right. These people will go to any and all costs to get your business. They will do anything. Another. Solar panel guys. I was not ready for this as a homeowner. Oh my goodness. I actually gotten a little bit of a dispute with my solar guy the other day. <br /><br /> And I call him my solar guy because he comes off. And even though I keep saying no, he came on my door and was like, and I'm like, are the police at the door what's going on? And these guys are smart. They know exactly like all of them. They're like, I noticed your car. It's a pretty nice car. That must be fun to go around. <br /><br /> I'm like, who are you with? Who's your agency. I was like, I've been this for right. And I actually told the guy, I was like, dude, you got to work on your knock because I thought someone was breaking into my house and I don't want to buy solar anymore. But these people are literally relentless. They send out different guys weekly to try to get me. <br /><br /> They're like, nah, he's not good with a type a personality. We're going to send a type B. We're going to touch C, D E whatever it is. But they are relentless after. Whether it's the kiosk worker, putting the lotion on your hand or the solar people bothering you when you're trying to do yard work, they're relentless, right? <br /><br /> This is, this is God's plan in our life. There there's nothing. We can do it. Ignore it. There's nothing that how long that we can run from it, it is an undeniable. It will be accomplished. And the apostles knew this. The apostles knew what the will of God was because they were listening to their father's voice and they knew no matter what obstacle came against them, no matter what persecution and we're going to see, this is just the start of persecution in the church. <br /><br /> It's going to get a lot worse, but each and every step of persecution of confrontation of aggression or, or a plan that they try to destroy God's plan continues, right? His will continues to spread his message. To preach in his name to share the gospel. There's nothing that we can do to stop it. My last point is God has invited us into that plan. <br /><br /> Verse 32 says this, and we are witnesses to these things. And so as the holy spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him, yes, the apostles are talking about themselves. We are witnesses, but we are witnesses to what God has done in our lives. It's all we are, were witnesses to Christ. We're witnesses to God's victories in our life, the past couple of weeks and youth group, we've been having our leaders share their testimonies and it fires me up because each and every story is a victory that Christ says, I want this person despite their sin, despite where they are, I'm going to have victory over them. <br /><br /> And now what does that person become a witness to God's power, a witness to God's plan in their life that they can't help, but talk about what God has done. It is the most powerful way that we can evangelize that we can love on people, right? Because like, I'll say I'm a pastor to people. It's like a thing that comes, oh, what, what do you do there, pastor like, oh, I'm sorry. <br /><br /> I'm not very religious. You must be very religious. I'm like, no, I just have a relationship with Jesus. I'd love to tell you about it. Look right. It's like people think this, this building and the church, and I'm like, no, God is really working in my life. And he cares about me and he cares about you too. <br /><br /> It's real. And we are witnesses and God has invited us into that plan. Verse 41 and 42. It says this way, then they left the presence of the council. Rejoice. That they were counted worthy to suffer this honor for the name and every day in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that Christ is Jesus. <br /><br /> God has invited us into this plan. Right. And it's not always painless. Right? And it's not always super easy, right? These pastas were getting beat and thrown in a prison. Right. But he's invited us to be witnesses and he's not invited to in our own strength. Right. Who else do they say? That's a witness. The holy spirit and God has given us his spirit to empower us. <br /><br /> Second Timothy one seven says for God, gave us a spirit, not a fear, but of power and love and self control. We're not meant to be scared. Right? The religious leaders were scared because they were out of control the apostles. We don't see them scared. Because they know exactly who they're trusting and they know exactly the spirit God's given them to empower them with love, power and self-control. <br /><br /> And if you're worried, like, I don't know how to put this house, God invited me in for this. I don't like Jared, what does that even mean? That's so generic. Like how Ephesians two 10 tells us this for we are his workmanship. God created us in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. <br /><br /> Right. If we're really hearing the father's voice, if we're really focused on his plan and we realize that God has invited us into that plan, that God wants to use us, that he wants to use you and you and you, then he's prepared in advance for us. If we're listening to his voice, then we'll see like you, some of you know exactly what I'm talking about when you. <br /><br /> Then you're like, I just have to do this. I know I have to do this because God has really prompted me to do this and I don't want to do this. And my flesh, I don't want to talk to that person. And my flesh, I don't want to apologize or a pen to that person. And my flesh. I don't want to do this or don't want to go there. <br /><br /> But if we're truly following the Lord and listening for his voice, we know is for paired works for us to do an advance. And I don't want you to get confused. I don't want you to get like, well works. What are you talking about Jared grace yet? No, these aren't works that you can be, you know, the prettier to the father. <br /><br /> No, God has done everything already for you. Jesus has accomplished all the works for you, but he's prepared us to do works for him to live through and walk in them. These are not works. That gets you into heaven. Right? Let's be clear about that. God has done all the work for that, but these are works that if we're living and walking. <br /><br /> That he's going to continue to reveal. And if we trust in him and we're listening to his voice, that we're going to say, man, God, this was so easy to follow you here because you prepared it for me. You prepared it in advance. God has invited us into his beautiful undeniable glorious plan. And he's provided for us a spirit that we can't do this alone. <br /><br /> We can't walk in this alone. Something God's caused us to do are, are scary. They're nerve wracking. Oftentimes they're out of our comfort zone, but he's given us a spirit that empowers us. That's not a fear, but of power love and self-control that we can really actually walk in them that we can really start looking like our savior Jesus. <br /><br /> And it's a step by step by step, right? That's that is the Christian like that. We would just be humbly before the Lord and say, God, how do you want to use me in this. We would just wake up and say, God, what is your will for my life? What are the works that you've prepared in me in advance? And that's sometimes a really scary prayer because I'm like, I don't know what you have. <br /><br /> God, I'm a little nervous about it, but I'm praying in faith, right? But he will provide those things. We need to hear the father's voice and obey it. We need to know that his plan is undeniable despite persecution or, or hardship or pain or suffering. The Lord is still working even in the midst of all that. <br /><br /> And he's invited us into that plan to walk and step with his spirit and powered by his spirit. In that I want to leave you with this. May you leave this building today in tune with the voice of the Lord with a full knowledge of God's immeasurable. And filled to the brim with the truth that God has invited you into his plan to be the hands and the feet of Jesus. <br /><br /> Thank you. Fast</div> false no <![CDATA[A Startling Response From God]]> Acts 5:1-16

"But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property,  and with his wife’s knowledge he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles’ feet."



Sermon Transcript:

I know Mike has already wished you happy mother's day. I'll do the same. We're going to be turning to acts chapter five, verses one through 11 this morning, as we continue in our series in the book of acts, while you're turning there, I'll mention to you that I recently got my fish tank in my office.

Operational. I only have three, one inch fish in there. I put them in just a couple of days ago. I have a 55 gallon tank. If you are. Fish tank methodology, which I am learning slowly. You're allowed to have one inch of fish for every gallon. Right? Well, I have a 55 gallon tank, so I've still got 52 inches of fish to put in there.

Figure one big Barracuda should do it. But, but I put these little tiny fish in there and I had brought the bag home, which you do from the fish store, put it in there, warmed it. So it got the, the water was the same temperature and they get used to it and then put it in, then watch these fish for a, in a shameless amount of time, actually float around in there, but watch them get the lay of the land past the pirate ship past the plants, past the garden stones, which I have stolen from faith.

Parker's landscaping out front of the building. And they're getting the lay of the land while this morning, before we jump into our passage in acts, I want to just take a couple minutes to remind us again, of the lay of the land of the book of acts. This is a series we've been in two weeks ago. Mike spoke in chapter four last week, pastor, pastor Mike, then pastor Ben last week.

And I want to just highlight a couple of things where we've come from chapter one through seven of acts. We're talking about the church as it is developing in the city of Jerusalem and acts chapter one through three, the churches launched the day of Pentecost happens where the spirit of God is poured out on the church.

Uh, there are three sermons in acts chapter two, three, and four, where Peter is speaking and presenting primarily the truth of the resurrection of Jesus and the power that that brings to transform lives. Multitudes have turned to Christ. There is unity in the church. And then in acts chapter four, we beginning, we begin to see the empire striking back.

Satan is now at work. We see that as we look beginning in chapter four, that there are three methods that are going to be employed. The first of those is going to be employed a number of times in these chapters. And that is the method of intimidation. This will primarily come from the religious leaders.

It will happen in chapter four. It will happen again in chapter five. It will happen again in chapter six, all the way to the end of chapter seven in each of these attacks, God overcomes in remarkable ways, but still there is the attack of intimidation. There is the second methodology of infiltration.

That's what we're going to look at this morning in acts chapter four. The third methodology, he will use his distraction. And that is in chapter six, where he is trying to get the apostles to, to, uh, be distracted from their primary calling and their primary work as a possibles in, in proclaiming the message of Jesus, um, and others will need to be employed to fight off that and to care for the genuine needs of people in the church, but the apostles need to stay with their primary calling.

What we're seeing is the empire is striking back and there are inroads that are being developed. And one in the early church, we find that here in acts chapter five, as we begin to look at this methodology of infiltration, with that in mind, I'd like to read verses one through 11 of acts, chapter five, ask you'll follow along in your Bible or in your external, if you brought up.

But a man named Anna Niaz with his wife Safira they are part of the church, sold a piece of property. And with his wife's knowledge, he kept back for himself, some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the Apostle's feet. But Peter said why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the holy spirit and to keep back for yourself?

Part of the proceeds of the, the land while it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man, but to God, when Anna Niaz has heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last and great fear came upon all who heard of it.

The young men rose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him after an interval of about three hours, his wife came in not knowing what had happened. Peter said to her, tell me whether you sold the land for so much. And she said, yes, for. But Peter said to her, how is it that you have agreed together to test the spirit of the Lord?

Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door and they will carry you out. Immediately. She fell down at his feet and breathed her last. When the young men came in, they found her dead and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. And great fear came upon the whole church.

And upon all who heard of these things, let's pray together.

Lord, we come to this hard passage, Lord, quite honestly, it's a challenging passage for me to preach. Not only because of the difficulty of it, but because in what I'm believing is your Providence and the preaching calendar that we'd laid out months ago. The only lady I'm really talking about, the only mother I'm talking about on mother's day is a mother that you struck dead.

It's a hard passage. Present in this context, but Lord, I believe you have a message for us today. And so I'm asking God that you would make yourself your glory known among us. As we look at this passage together in Jesus name, amen.

The Bible is full of stories about death, but there is none more shocking than the account in acts chapter five in the midst of the growth and the blessing of the early church. We encounter sudden bewildering mysterious death. It's a story of Anna niacin and Safira. And for the first few minutes this morning, I'd like to just think about it because it's likely it happened.

Very much in this way. It's Sunday morning in Jerusalem and the city is now coming awake after the Sabbath day. And for them Sunday morning for most of the city is a Workday. It's the beginning of the Workday. The merchants are uncovering their where's, the chili, the mothers are preparing meals for their children.

And it's the beginning of this work week, a day of work, just like every other day. But for a certain group, Sunday is a different day. It's a special day. They even call it the Lord's day. And for them working in between their work schedules, they gather to have their time of celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who occurred on a S on a Sunday morning.

And they gather now to. Hear God's word to be instructed, to be taught, to be fellowshipping together and praying. They also come to give, they love to give, they give clothes. They give food, they give as well as giving their money recently because of the economic hardship of many of the people that have become a part of this fledgling group of believers in Jesus Christ.

A number of the wealthy, uh, members of the church have sold properties and have begun to contribute that money to the apostles, to use it, their discretion, to care for the needs of the congregation.

It's now Sunday morning again, and a man named comes. He is one of those wealthy landowners with his wife. And he has come to bring a gift as he brings his gift. He knows that the value of the property let's say it was 25 grand, 25,000 that he sold has brought in this amount. But he's only bringing, let's say 10,000 a portion of it, but he's going to present it with the counsel of his wife and agreement as if they had given the whole proceeds of the sale of the property.

Recently, a guy named Joseph had done just this very thing. He had brought the money, but for him it had been integritous thing. He had brought the whole proceeds of the property. He was a man that was loved in the church. He was loved for his generosity. He was also loved for his encouragement. He was just a guy that was always building everybody up.

So at the end of chapter four, he has described that this Joseph has been given the nickname. Barnabas, which means son of encouragement to the people in the church, everybody knows admires respects and appreciates Joseph. Now Barnabas, he's a favorite of them. All, no doubt and an Iris hopes for the same response.

He hopes for appreciation. He hopes for esteem. Maybe even he's hoping for a new nickname that he too can have a nickname that is actually that his, that his ministry becomes a moniker for himself. And he brings his gift and his, his hands over his gift to the apostles, notably to Peter, something goes wrong.

Peter looked seriously at him and addresses him. He stops and an ice dead in his tracks. Maybe he poured out the coins there and announced that this was what he got from the sale of the land. Peter census, through the spirit, within him, that something is a miss. And he says these words to Anna, nice stop on an ice.

You're lying. You have pocketed part of the land price. Why have you allowed Satan to influence you to lie to the holy spirit? Of course, it was true. And an ice knows this. They've decided to do this very thing. They want the admiration of the church, but they also want to have some of the financial resources for their own needs and concerns.

Before on an ISA can think of a word to say, Peter continues. Why did you do. You didn't have to, you don't have to give anything. If you did sell your property and you wanted to give some, you could have kept pack, whatever part you wanted, you have not lied to men, but to God, as Anna Niaz hears these words, he does not know that he will be dead in a few seconds.

It is the last words. He will hear people gather round. You can imagine the scene, someone screams he's dead. Once they have affirmed that he actually has expired Peter calls for some of the men and they wrap him up and they carry them out and take him to a local cemetery and bury him. Every one of course is still in shock.

And the entire event dominates the worship gathering that Sunday. It's now three hours later. Very few have gone home. Typically it's a service time where people come and go because they also have to work. Some of them, many of them, but most of them apparently likely are still there. They stay and they wonder, and they process and they talk about it all after three hours in walks.

Safara, they're stunned to realize she's not wearing black or sackcloth. Her eyes are not tear stained. She's not hysterically sobbing. She smiles at acquaintances and she expresses her cheerful. Greetings. She actually seems more confident than usual as if she's expecting special attention to be paid for her, for something that she's done.

And all of a sudden it dawns on everyone almost at the same. She doesn't know

Peter calls to her. She comes and stands before him and to her amazement, he asks you the question. Did you sell the land for 10,000? She blinks. She looks away and then is able to bold to look Peter in the eye and say, yes, yes. That was the price. As she turns to go to her seat, Peter stops her in her tracks and says this.

Why have you agreed together to put the spirit of the Lord to the test? Why have you told this lie looks a Farrah. Look at the door. The feed of the guys coming in are the same feet that have just carried your husband out and now they will carry. She drops to the floor. Stone, dead pandemonium breaks, loose women, screaming, children, crying over.

Everybody's overwhelmed with fear. Undoubtedly, some people have had it and want to get out of there. Two people dead in one day, and it's barely mid-afternoon the men wrap her up, carry her out and perform another hasty funeral, hasty burial in a grave next to her husband. They returned to the church gathering hoping no one else will die today.

Acts chapter five, verse 11 tells us what happened when words spread throughout Jerusalem. Great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things, it's still mid-afternoon. The city is filled with the news. And there are two fresh graves in the cemetery. And we're confronted with a question why, why had God do this?

Why do this to these two people who are apparently followers of Christ, the men, it's not likely a lot of people are going to buy into the early church community with the animosity that is in the city. Why does God so seriously, so directly, almost seemingly, so recklessly take the lives of these two individuals in the midst of a worship experience.

A couple of thoughts, a wide don't believe they died. I don't think it was because Anna Niaz and Safira preeminently were posers. They were posers. They were hypocrites. They pretended to be something on the outside that was not true. In reality, they may have taken it to a more bold, extreme, but they were not the only hypocrites in that church.

They were not the only hypocrites in any church. If God couldn't abide the existence of people who pretend to be something they're not, our church would be empty. This warning, we've all been there. They lied. But if God routinely kills everyone who lies, most of us won't survive till Wednesday. They kept back part of the money.

But peanut made it clear that they didn't have to give it all. This was not a Jim Jones cold, where everybody has to give all their money to the cause. If it was. None of us would have made it through the offering this morning. So what's going on? Why this response, why Anna niacin and Safira, I would suggest they were very extreme examples of very destructive things coming into the church and God chose to deal with it aggressively to warn the believers that while they serve the God who loved them deeply and devotedly, he was serious about his people living devotedly toward him.

The warning of Anna niacin Safira is for people in the church, not for the disinterested outsider, the more religious you are, the easier it is to be blind to what is going on inside of you. Christianity is both outward and. It is easy to go through the motions with little heart commitment. God knelt dealt with Anna niacin.

Safira for the sake of the whole church. I believe for two reasons. Number one, because the church needed to be protected. They were disciplined in a very exceptional way as a warning of the danger of things that can dominate the lives of any of us who are associated with the church. There's a website.

Some of us with kind of twisted sense of humor. Like it's called despair.com. It's a place that puts together a banner slogan, uh, posters, calendars with phrases, you know, the motivational it's actually the motivational stuff. It, it has things like tradition. And it's the picture of the running of the bulls in Spain.

And here are the bowls chasing these guys down the street, and the guys are looking back with terror on their faces of the bowls. And here's the, here's the, here's the poster with that picture tradition just because we have always done it that way doesn't mean it is not incredibly stupid. There's another one on individuality.

It's a picture of snowflakes, you know, close up to show that there, you know, the different shapes they have and it says individuality always remember you are unique. Just like everybody else. The reason I mentioned it is because of this poster that despair.com has and it's called mistakes. And it's the picture of a large ship, which is actually, most of it is below the water.

And you just see the bow up above the water line as it's going down and sinking. And it says this mistakes. It may be that the whole purpose of your life is to serve as a warning to others. I don't believe that was the whole purpose of life, but I do believe what is taking place is serving that purpose to their church and to the church today, it is warning the church of the need to protect.

Oneself as individuals and participants of the church from three things that they manifested. And again, I'm going to move faster than it looks like. I know if you're looking in your outline, you think we just finished the introduction? Um, it's w we're going to keep moving. First of all, the church needs to be protected from a self absorbed focus of ministry and a niacin Safira wanted to have what Barnabas had respect, praise admiration for their ministry, for their generosity, but their heart was consumed with themselves.

Even their giving was for recognition. They were greedy greedy for riches, but they were also greedy for praise. Their heart was ruled by greed and selfish ambition. Even in their service, this speaks to all of us. God's starting startling discipline of Anna Naya. Since should remind you that it's not about you.

It's not about me. You cannot be seeking both personal glory and God's glory. At the same time, you can't be focused on people's praise and God's praise in the same ministry. You can't be driven by your goals and God's purposes. At the same time, you can't be consumed by earthly treasure while prioritizing heavenly treasure.

I remember years ago when I was in high school and into early part of college, I had one person I was living. And it was the person I walked around with all the time. It was the person in my shoes. I lived for me. I looked out for me, I loved me, then God broke me. And I still remember in the dorm room when I threw myself on the floor.

And I just, I knew it was true. I knew I was a failure in my humanness. I needed grace and I just cried out to God to forgive me, to enter my life. And he did in such a miraculous way as so many of you identify with, but it was a year or two later. Maybe a year, year and a half later, and God was really getting ahold of my heart and I, by his grace, just us pretty hot for the Lord, but still a lot of stuff mixed in there.

Right? You don't live those years for yourself. And all of a sudden you forget all those practices and tendencies. And I remember being with my dad, who my dad was whole wholly in for Christ for many, many years and was with my father. And I was just really feeling how, how much I loved God and everything.

And I remember saying to my dad, I said, I read about that passage. Didn't really understand. I misused it where Peter, John and James are talking about being at the right hand of God. And I said, I want to be that guy. I want my life to, to be, to be solid for Christ. That I'll be at the right hand of God.

And I actually said this, I realized the astounding self-centered ambition a year out there, sink, what are you? But I wasn't now I'm very grateful that God did not smite me at that moment. That what I had simply done was taken all my self centered. I'm going to be successful. I'm going to be somebody I'm going to make my mark in this world, whether it's sports or it, then it's your career.

I'm going to go into law and all these things that I had planned, or, and now I just sort of flipped a lot of it over. Okay. I won't be the greatest basketball player. I won't be the greatest lawyer. I'll be the greatest Christian that ever lived through so much of me.

So much of shifting my selfish ambition and hunger for selfishness, for success in the spiritual, Rina

is something that I still do. I still can do still do do. And we still have hearts and, and God's response to Anna niacin Safira is a reminder. We must examine our hearts. What's motivating me, is that the praise of people? It is, it is a being up here and having a crowd of people. And, and, and I tell my story and hopefully somebody laughs or they responder or said, I want God to me.

No, I want God to be glorified. I wanna, I wanna diminish. That he can be exalted. And, and I, our sense of fire reminds us how dangerous we are when we're living without our hearts consumed that the beauty of Christ that even our ministries can become beautiful, that anything can display Scott. Secondly,

the church needs to be, and when I'm in the church, I mean, us needs to be protected from satanic incursion. He says in verse three and a nice why is Satan filled your heart to lie to the holy spirit and to keep back from yourself, part of the proceeds of the land. Why have you allowed Satan to, to be given ground in your life?

It's interesting how much in the new Testament, this principle is presented about giving ground to Satan in our lives. It's a lot of ways that are highlighted here. Certainly it's greed and the praise of people that opens the door to Satan influencing him. We're told that in, in, in, in the book of Ephesians, holding onto bitterness and anger can be that in Ephesians 4 26, be angry and don't sin do not let the sun go down in your anger and give no opportunity to the devil.

He says, when you Harbor that when you hold onto that, when you refuse to forgive, you are, you are giving ground. And then in Hebrews 12, he says the awful result of that in Hebrews 12, he says, see that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and contaminate many bitter.

It's infectious. It contaminates people around us. It can affect others. And he says, why, how does that happen? It gives ground to Satan in our lives. He talks about other things he talks about. Not trusting God in hard circumstances. Couldn't give ground to Satan. It's interesting in Luke 22 verse 31, Peter is praying for Simon right in the, in the final hours before Jesus is arrested.

And Jesus says this to Simon, Simon, Simon, Simon, Peter says behold, Satan has demanded to have you that he may sift you like wheat, but I've prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers, the idea of sifting here is just what you do with the wheat.

You just made it all turbulent. And he says, trying to cause in the turbulent. The Jew and the other disciples. Cause the, you, there is in the plural that you will and your difficulty in your confusion that you failed to trust me. And you'll give way to despair, which is exactly, of course, what Peter does, what the other disciples do.

And P and the Lord has to say, but I'm praying that when you turn back, you'll be able to strengthen your brothers with your newfound trust. What's giving ground to the devil. Some of you are in really hard seasons and you're grumbling and you're moaning. And the turbulence has caused it to be, it's all stirred up, but there's not a quietness.

There's not a joy in Jesus. There's just unrest is mumbling grumbling, whether it's outward or inward. And he says, that's just giving ground.

The same spirit is manifested here in Anna and ice and Safara they just gave ground for them. It was there. Great for them. It was their wanting of praise of recognition for others. It's anger for others. It's Discontentment but God's response, tendonitis and Sapphire is just a reminder of the danger of giving ground Satan in our lives.

The third thing we find is we need to be protected from a distasteful view of God. They lied to God. It says when Peter talks to, to Safira, he makes this interesting statement. Why are you testing God? Well, how do you test God? And God is going to get an air an after. Are you going to get this right again?

I think this is what he meant. We're going to push this and see if God responds. We don't think you will. You see here was their scenario. They knew that they had given a false pretense. Now, as Peter says, they didn't have to give the money at all. They certainly didn't have to give all of it. Their sin was in, in, in deception and all the motivation that was behind this, but they thought, you know what?

Nobody knows. We made 25,000 bucks. I'm just giving an artificial number of that on this. So we'll say 10 to actually the only person that knows the person that gave us the money. And apparently they weren't worried about them telling, and God, and we don't think God's going to make a deal about it. We think quite frankly, we can give and we can lie and we can even get the praise of other believers because in this reality, God is irrelevant.

He knows, but he doesn't do anything. He doesn't care. He's not really active. And God chooses in a very remarkable way to show. He is actually quite relevant.

The Ana Naya Safira story is a very sobering story. It's a hard one to put our arms around, but put it in the context of it being a protection for God's people to say, look, I don't play. You can't play. I am devotedly, passionately, compassionately in love with my people, but I do expect my people to be devoted to.

The second thing in here, I'm going to just touch on why I believe this happened with Anna niacin Safira is because the church needed to be odd. I love something I found here in studying this. If you look back at the end of chapter four in verse 33, you will see that the generosity and unity of the church was marked with great power through the apostles, preaching about Jesus resurrection.

And then it uses the phrase in that verse and great grace was upon all the believers, great power, great grace. And now we come to chapter five and here's what we read in verse five. Great fear came upon all who heard of it. Verse 11. Great. Came upon all the whole church and upon all who heard of these things, there's a reason that Luke felt compelled to include this event.

I mean, we love the event earlier about how the church has grown his brain power, great grace, but of all the seven years that they were involved in chapters one through seven narrative. Why pick on this one? Because God did not only want his people to experience great power and great grace from him, but great fear for him.

The first time you read story, you feel like God is sending a warning from heaven. Honestly, that is the right response. A warning that God is serious about. His people reflecting the nature and character of his. There are two ways that I think great fear is valuable in our lives. Fear of God. One fear of God turns us from evil years ago.

God prompted me to get a box of nice, nicely bound leather bound books that were actually promises of the scripture. I took a copy. I gave it to all of the township officials. I took it to the police chief. I took it to the, I forget everybody. I took it to, I know one I've took it to was the, the judge of our town at the courthouse.

I wrote them a letter and said, I'd like to deliver this to them. And, and most of them allowed me to do that. And with this particular guy, the judge, he actually asked me to join him in his chambers for. And so I joined him for lunch, gave him the book, and then we talked and got to know each other. And he told me a fascinating story.

He talked about his lament over so many young people that he saw in his carts, young adults. And he said, how few of them ever learned to fear the consequences of doing wrong? He told me this story when he was growing up. And he said, back when I was in school, I went to a parochial school and, and the nun was there and she had a yard stick.

And some of you are sweating right now and remembering, but, but she had a yard stick and he said, I was, uh, I was a very talky person. And he said, uh, she, she got ahold of me once and she laid into me. He gave me a couple of good ones with that yardstick. Costs across the butt. And he said, she snapped the art stick.

It broke in half and she left it there. I was so offended, so angry and that I went home and I felt such offense, how dare she do this? And it was in front of people and everything. So he went to his mom and he couldn't wait to tell her when he got home. He told her the story, he told all about this, this nun who'd broken snap, the yard, sick on his rear end.

And, and she didn't say much, which was a little disappointing, but the next morning he woke up, forgot all about it. Of course it ready to go to school. And his mother comes in and she has in her hand a yardstick. And she says, give this to the non-Intel her give her my appreciation. She hadn't. And he said, it reminded me.

That I had people in my life that would hold me accountable for doing wrong. He said, I felt love by those people. God is speaking to his people. He's not trying to scare you into, ah, he's a heavenly policeman. He's just waned to throw me into, into, into, into lockup. He says, I love those people so much.

And I'm going to put them in fear of the consequence of living lives that are cheap and substitutes for the life that they can live in their true humanness, that there are consequences of evil is a gift to learn. It keeps us from so many other things. I remember hearing this story. I mean, I'm really not, this is not about spanking, but this whole sermon, but the, I remember hearing guy many years ago, he was in, he was in school and this was way back in antiquity where they spank kids in school.

And he said, spank one boy. And you've got the attention of 300 others. Just the idea that, well here,

fear of God, turns us from evil. Evil is an aberrant life. It is a sub human life. It is not the beauty of the life that God has designed for us humans. The world is not how it ought to be because of sin. The second thing that fear of God does is fear of God replaces our fierce. Fear is our response to danger.

Something's big threatening, potentially uncontrollable to us. Fear is the most common emotion in our lives. The most oft repeated command in the Bible is, do not fear. Jesus cites that often what God does is present himself as bigger as something to be awed by something. He actually encourages us to replace our fear.

With all to seek God is the biggest, most majestic being in I recently was at a seminar this week and met a pastor I hadn't seen in a couple of years in the area and evangelical pastor. And we talked just briefly, he was asking and we're going to get together. And he said, you know, I just love talking to you through the whole pandemic and the whole thing he said back in the summer of 2020, I was so overwhelmed.

He said with the conflicts, you know, over vaccines with the conflicts in the church issues of race, issues of politics, he said, I was so overwhelmed. He said, I started fasting. I just was Fe why? He said I needed a bigger God. I needed to be reminded that I don't have the resources to, to minister and to care and to lead what God does within an ISDN.

And Safara in a startling, scary seems like reckless. Is remind the people that I, who am on your side and what, but I'm big. I am bigger than anything in your life and in your world, when you're facing big fears, you need a big God. You need a God. That is not just your buddy, not just your pal, not just your vending machine, that you press the buttons and you, and you get this stuff.

You need a, got a big transcendent. God who is a kind God and who will fight for you. And I believe he took care of it. And I have since of firearm, sure. As they got to heaven, they didn't mind that they had taken an early trip at all. But what was the impact of all this? Well, acts chapter five, verse 12 to 16 tells us that it caused revival in the community.

Verse 11 in great fear came upon the whole church. And upon all who heard of these things. Then verse 14 and more than ever, believers were added to the Lord multitudes of both men and women, G Campbell Morgan, a great Bible teacher of years past wrote this conclusion to his study on this passage. Here's what he said.

The church pure is the church powerful. It's always been so mathematics have no place in the economy of God. Numbers are nothing. Quality is everything. We used to talk about a back door revival where God sometimes cleanse the church by removing some people who didn't need to be there. That's exactly what happened here in the Jerusalem church.

Their sudden death was kind of a severe mercy from the Lord. It made the church strong. It caused more people to fear the Lord and led to more people being saved and joining the company of believers and less we get, we need one more thing to just see the positive nature of this. Remember who's in this church that says they were filled with great fear, all of them.

Well, Peter was there who love Jesus Christ. John's there the beloved of God who, who leaned against Jesus in the upper room, Mary of Magdalene, is there the woman who had been controlled by didn't decades by seven demons and lived a hell of a traumatic life all that time until Jesus came into her life and delivered her Mary, the mother of Jesus is there and it says they all.

We're filled with fear. And I don't think they'd say, oh man, we, we liked God before, but now that he's scary. No, they were able to see he's big, still good. Even in the context of knowing him as big, they saw his goodness acts chapter five can still impact our lives. It prompts us to examine ourselves. It prompts us to see the need of a God that can and does overcome our fierce, that we can replace fear with all

let's pray together. Lord

We need you to apply this passage to our life. I worship you as the lamb, that was slain, who is also the lion of Judah. I worship you as the servant, who is also the king Lord. Thank you for coming among us to deliver us from a life where we live for ourselves. We look out for ourselves where we love ourselves and we're miserable in ourself.

Centerdness Lord, you've come to rescue us from a life of sin and evil. May we look at an eyes since a fire is experience, not as something that causes us to lean back and dread, but compels us forward to say.

I want to embrace you more. I want to know you more. I want to experience more of you in Jesus name. Amen. May God bless you and keep, you may teach you to fear him. Hold on. Thank you. May teach you to fear him that you may live devotedly with him. May teach you to fear him, that you may be freed from your fears.

May you may, may you be awed by him in thrawled by him walking in him that you may bask in the delight of who he is now going peace to love and serve and enjoy the Lord. Thank you.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/a-startling-response-from-god 53b40917-ace0-4508-a690-19287de24e58 Sun, 08 May 2022 12:57:11 GMT <div data-html="true">Acts 5:1-16 <br /><br /> "But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property,  and with his wife’s knowledge he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles’ feet." <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> I know Mike has already wished you happy mother's day. I'll do the same. We're going to be turning to acts chapter five, verses one through 11 this morning, as we continue in our series in the book of acts, while you're turning there, I'll mention to you that I recently got my fish tank in my office. <br /><br /> Operational. I only have three, one inch fish in there. I put them in just a couple of days ago. I have a 55 gallon tank. If you are. Fish tank methodology, which I am learning slowly. You're allowed to have one inch of fish for every gallon. Right? Well, I have a 55 gallon tank, so I've still got 52 inches of fish to put in there. <br /><br /> Figure one big Barracuda should do it. But, but I put these little tiny fish in there and I had brought the bag home, which you do from the fish store, put it in there, warmed it. So it got the, the water was the same temperature and they get used to it and then put it in, then watch these fish for a, in a shameless amount of time, actually float around in there, but watch them get the lay of the land past the pirate ship past the plants, past the garden stones, which I have stolen from faith. <br /><br /> Parker's landscaping out front of the building. And they're getting the lay of the land while this morning, before we jump into our passage in acts, I want to just take a couple minutes to remind us again, of the lay of the land of the book of acts. This is a series we've been in two weeks ago. Mike spoke in chapter four last week, pastor, pastor Mike, then pastor Ben last week. <br /><br /> And I want to just highlight a couple of things where we've come from chapter one through seven of acts. We're talking about the church as it is developing in the city of Jerusalem and acts chapter one through three, the churches launched the day of Pentecost happens where the spirit of God is poured out on the church. <br /><br /> Uh, there are three sermons in acts chapter two, three, and four, where Peter is speaking and presenting primarily the truth of the resurrection of Jesus and the power that that brings to transform lives. Multitudes have turned to Christ. There is unity in the church. And then in acts chapter four, we beginning, we begin to see the empire striking back. <br /><br /> Satan is now at work. We see that as we look beginning in chapter four, that there are three methods that are going to be employed. The first of those is going to be employed a number of times in these chapters. And that is the method of intimidation. This will primarily come from the religious leaders. <br /><br /> It will happen in chapter four. It will happen again in chapter five. It will happen again in chapter six, all the way to the end of chapter seven in each of these attacks, God overcomes in remarkable ways, but still there is the attack of intimidation. There is the second methodology of infiltration. <br /><br /> That's what we're going to look at this morning in acts chapter four. The third methodology, he will use his distraction. And that is in chapter six, where he is trying to get the apostles to, to, uh, be distracted from their primary calling and their primary work as a possibles in, in proclaiming the message of Jesus, um, and others will need to be employed to fight off that and to care for the genuine needs of people in the church, but the apostles need to stay with their primary calling. <br /><br /> What we're seeing is the empire is striking back and there are inroads that are being developed. And one in the early church, we find that here in acts chapter five, as we begin to look at this methodology of infiltration, with that in mind, I'd like to read verses one through 11 of acts, chapter five, ask you'll follow along in your Bible or in your external, if you brought up. <br /><br /> But a man named Anna Niaz with his wife Safira they are part of the church, sold a piece of property. And with his wife's knowledge, he kept back for himself, some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the Apostle's feet. But Peter said why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the holy spirit and to keep back for yourself? <br /><br /> Part of the proceeds of the, the land while it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man, but to God, when Anna Niaz has heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last and great fear came upon all who heard of it. <br /><br /> The young men rose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him after an interval of about three hours, his wife came in not knowing what had happened. Peter said to her, tell me whether you sold the land for so much. And she said, yes, for. But Peter said to her, how is it that you have agreed together to test the spirit of the Lord? <br /><br /> Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door and they will carry you out. Immediately. She fell down at his feet and breathed her last. When the young men came in, they found her dead and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. And great fear came upon the whole church. <br /><br /> And upon all who heard of these things, let's pray together. <br /><br /> Lord, we come to this hard passage, Lord, quite honestly, it's a challenging passage for me to preach. Not only because of the difficulty of it, but because in what I'm believing is your Providence and the preaching calendar that we'd laid out months ago. The only lady I'm really talking about, the only mother I'm talking about on mother's day is a mother that you struck dead. <br /><br /> It's a hard passage. Present in this context, but Lord, I believe you have a message for us today. And so I'm asking God that you would make yourself your glory known among us. As we look at this passage together in Jesus name, amen. <br /><br /> The Bible is full of stories about death, but there is none more shocking than the account in acts chapter five in the midst of the growth and the blessing of the early church. We encounter sudden bewildering mysterious death. It's a story of Anna niacin and Safira. And for the first few minutes this morning, I'd like to just think about it because it's likely it happened. <br /><br /> Very much in this way. It's Sunday morning in Jerusalem and the city is now coming awake after the Sabbath day. And for them Sunday morning for most of the city is a Workday. It's the beginning of the Workday. The merchants are uncovering their where's, the chili, the mothers are preparing meals for their children. <br /><br /> And it's the beginning of this work week, a day of work, just like every other day. But for a certain group, Sunday is a different day. It's a special day. They even call it the Lord's day. And for them working in between their work schedules, they gather to have their time of celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who occurred on a S on a Sunday morning. <br /><br /> And they gather now to. Hear God's word to be instructed, to be taught, to be fellowshipping together and praying. They also come to give, they love to give, they give clothes. They give food, they give as well as giving their money recently because of the economic hardship of many of the people that have become a part of this fledgling group of believers in Jesus Christ. <br /><br /> A number of the wealthy, uh, members of the church have sold properties and have begun to contribute that money to the apostles, to use it, their discretion, to care for the needs of the congregation. <br /><br /> It's now Sunday morning again, and a man named comes. He is one of those wealthy landowners with his wife. And he has come to bring a gift as he brings his gift. He knows that the value of the property let's say it was 25 grand, 25,000 that he sold has brought in this amount. But he's only bringing, let's say 10,000 a portion of it, but he's going to present it with the counsel of his wife and agreement as if they had given the whole proceeds of the sale of the property. <br /><br /> Recently, a guy named Joseph had done just this very thing. He had brought the money, but for him it had been integritous thing. He had brought the whole proceeds of the property. He was a man that was loved in the church. He was loved for his generosity. He was also loved for his encouragement. He was just a guy that was always building everybody up. <br /><br /> So at the end of chapter four, he has described that this Joseph has been given the nickname. Barnabas, which means son of encouragement to the people in the church, everybody knows admires respects and appreciates Joseph. Now Barnabas, he's a favorite of them. All, no doubt and an Iris hopes for the same response. <br /><br /> He hopes for appreciation. He hopes for esteem. Maybe even he's hoping for a new nickname that he too can have a nickname that is actually that his, that his ministry becomes a moniker for himself. And he brings his gift and his, his hands over his gift to the apostles, notably to Peter, something goes wrong. <br /><br /> Peter looked seriously at him and addresses him. He stops and an ice dead in his tracks. Maybe he poured out the coins there and announced that this was what he got from the sale of the land. Peter census, through the spirit, within him, that something is a miss. And he says these words to Anna, nice stop on an ice. <br /><br /> You're lying. You have pocketed part of the land price. Why have you allowed Satan to influence you to lie to the holy spirit? Of course, it was true. And an ice knows this. They've decided to do this very thing. They want the admiration of the church, but they also want to have some of the financial resources for their own needs and concerns. <br /><br /> Before on an ISA can think of a word to say, Peter continues. Why did you do. You didn't have to, you don't have to give anything. If you did sell your property and you wanted to give some, you could have kept pack, whatever part you wanted, you have not lied to men, but to God, as Anna Niaz hears these words, he does not know that he will be dead in a few seconds. <br /><br /> It is the last words. He will hear people gather round. You can imagine the scene, someone screams he's dead. Once they have affirmed that he actually has expired Peter calls for some of the men and they wrap him up and they carry them out and take him to a local cemetery and bury him. Every one of course is still in shock. <br /><br /> And the entire event dominates the worship gathering that Sunday. It's now three hours later. Very few have gone home. Typically it's a service time where people come and go because they also have to work. Some of them, many of them, but most of them apparently likely are still there. They stay and they wonder, and they process and they talk about it all after three hours in walks. <br /><br /> Safara, they're stunned to realize she's not wearing black or sackcloth. Her eyes are not tear stained. She's not hysterically sobbing. She smiles at acquaintances and she expresses her cheerful. Greetings. She actually seems more confident than usual as if she's expecting special attention to be paid for her, for something that she's done. <br /><br /> And all of a sudden it dawns on everyone almost at the same. She doesn't know <br /><br /> Peter calls to her. She comes and stands before him and to her amazement, he asks you the question. Did you sell the land for 10,000? She blinks. She looks away and then is able to bold to look Peter in the eye and say, yes, yes. That was the price. As she turns to go to her seat, Peter stops her in her tracks and says this. <br /><br /> Why have you agreed together to put the spirit of the Lord to the test? Why have you told this lie looks a Farrah. Look at the door. The feed of the guys coming in are the same feet that have just carried your husband out and now they will carry. She drops to the floor. Stone, dead pandemonium breaks, loose women, screaming, children, crying over. <br /><br /> Everybody's overwhelmed with fear. Undoubtedly, some people have had it and want to get out of there. Two people dead in one day, and it's barely mid-afternoon the men wrap her up, carry her out and perform another hasty funeral, hasty burial in a grave next to her husband. They returned to the church gathering hoping no one else will die today. <br /><br /> Acts chapter five, verse 11 tells us what happened when words spread throughout Jerusalem. Great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things, it's still mid-afternoon. The city is filled with the news. And there are two fresh graves in the cemetery. And we're confronted with a question why, why had God do this? <br /><br /> Why do this to these two people who are apparently followers of Christ, the men, it's not likely a lot of people are going to buy into the early church community with the animosity that is in the city. Why does God so seriously, so directly, almost seemingly, so recklessly take the lives of these two individuals in the midst of a worship experience. <br /><br /> A couple of thoughts, a wide don't believe they died. I don't think it was because Anna Niaz and Safira preeminently were posers. They were posers. They were hypocrites. They pretended to be something on the outside that was not true. In reality, they may have taken it to a more bold, extreme, but they were not the only hypocrites in that church. <br /><br /> They were not the only hypocrites in any church. If God couldn't abide the existence of people who pretend to be something they're not, our church would be empty. This warning, we've all been there. They lied. But if God routinely kills everyone who lies, most of us won't survive till Wednesday. They kept back part of the money. <br /><br /> But peanut made it clear that they didn't have to give it all. This was not a Jim Jones cold, where everybody has to give all their money to the cause. If it was. None of us would have made it through the offering this morning. So what's going on? Why this response, why Anna niacin and Safira, I would suggest they were very extreme examples of very destructive things coming into the church and God chose to deal with it aggressively to warn the believers that while they serve the God who loved them deeply and devotedly, he was serious about his people living devotedly toward him. <br /><br /> The warning of Anna niacin Safira is for people in the church, not for the disinterested outsider, the more religious you are, the easier it is to be blind to what is going on inside of you. Christianity is both outward and. It is easy to go through the motions with little heart commitment. God knelt dealt with Anna niacin. <br /><br /> Safira for the sake of the whole church. I believe for two reasons. Number one, because the church needed to be protected. They were disciplined in a very exceptional way as a warning of the danger of things that can dominate the lives of any of us who are associated with the church. There's a website. <br /><br /> Some of us with kind of twisted sense of humor. Like it's called despair.com. It's a place that puts together a banner slogan, uh, posters, calendars with phrases, you know, the motivational it's actually the motivational stuff. It, it has things like tradition. And it's the picture of the running of the bulls in Spain. <br /><br /> And here are the bowls chasing these guys down the street, and the guys are looking back with terror on their faces of the bowls. And here's the, here's the, here's the poster with that picture tradition just because we have always done it that way doesn't mean it is not incredibly stupid. There's another one on individuality. <br /><br /> It's a picture of snowflakes, you know, close up to show that there, you know, the different shapes they have and it says individuality always remember you are unique. Just like everybody else. The reason I mentioned it is because of this poster that despair.com has and it's called mistakes. And it's the picture of a large ship, which is actually, most of it is below the water. <br /><br /> And you just see the bow up above the water line as it's going down and sinking. And it says this mistakes. It may be that the whole purpose of your life is to serve as a warning to others. I don't believe that was the whole purpose of life, but I do believe what is taking place is serving that purpose to their church and to the church today, it is warning the church of the need to protect. <br /><br /> Oneself as individuals and participants of the church from three things that they manifested. And again, I'm going to move faster than it looks like. I know if you're looking in your outline, you think we just finished the introduction? Um, it's w we're going to keep moving. First of all, the church needs to be protected from a self absorbed focus of ministry and a niacin Safira wanted to have what Barnabas had respect, praise admiration for their ministry, for their generosity, but their heart was consumed with themselves. <br /><br /> Even their giving was for recognition. They were greedy greedy for riches, but they were also greedy for praise. Their heart was ruled by greed and selfish ambition. Even in their service, this speaks to all of us. God's starting startling discipline of Anna Naya. Since should remind you that it's not about you. <br /><br /> It's not about me. You cannot be seeking both personal glory and God's glory. At the same time, you can't be focused on people's praise and God's praise in the same ministry. You can't be driven by your goals and God's purposes. At the same time, you can't be consumed by earthly treasure while prioritizing heavenly treasure. <br /><br /> I remember years ago when I was in high school and into early part of college, I had one person I was living. And it was the person I walked around with all the time. It was the person in my shoes. I lived for me. I looked out for me, I loved me, then God broke me. And I still remember in the dorm room when I threw myself on the floor. <br /><br /> And I just, I knew it was true. I knew I was a failure in my humanness. I needed grace and I just cried out to God to forgive me, to enter my life. And he did in such a miraculous way as so many of you identify with, but it was a year or two later. Maybe a year, year and a half later, and God was really getting ahold of my heart and I, by his grace, just us pretty hot for the Lord, but still a lot of stuff mixed in there. <br /><br /> Right? You don't live those years for yourself. And all of a sudden you forget all those practices and tendencies. And I remember being with my dad, who my dad was whole wholly in for Christ for many, many years and was with my father. And I was just really feeling how, how much I loved God and everything. <br /><br /> And I remember saying to my dad, I said, I read about that passage. Didn't really understand. I misused it where Peter, John and James are talking about being at the right hand of God. And I said, I want to be that guy. I want my life to, to be, to be solid for Christ. That I'll be at the right hand of God. <br /><br /> And I actually said this, I realized the astounding self-centered ambition a year out there, sink, what are you? But I wasn't now I'm very grateful that God did not smite me at that moment. That what I had simply done was taken all my self centered. I'm going to be successful. I'm going to be somebody I'm going to make my mark in this world, whether it's sports or it, then it's your career. <br /><br /> I'm going to go into law and all these things that I had planned, or, and now I just sort of flipped a lot of it over. Okay. I won't be the greatest basketball player. I won't be the greatest lawyer. I'll be the greatest Christian that ever lived through so much of me. <br /><br /> So much of shifting my selfish ambition and hunger for selfishness, for success in the spiritual, Rina <br /><br /> is something that I still do. I still can do still do do. And we still have hearts and, and God's response to Anna niacin Safira is a reminder. We must examine our hearts. What's motivating me, is that the praise of people? It is, it is a being up here and having a crowd of people. And, and, and I tell my story and hopefully somebody laughs or they responder or said, I want God to me. <br /><br /> No, I want God to be glorified. I wanna, I wanna diminish. That he can be exalted. And, and I, our sense of fire reminds us how dangerous we are when we're living without our hearts consumed that the beauty of Christ that even our ministries can become beautiful, that anything can display Scott. Secondly, <br /><br /> the church needs to be, and when I'm in the church, I mean, us needs to be protected from satanic incursion. He says in verse three and a nice why is Satan filled your heart to lie to the holy spirit and to keep back from yourself, part of the proceeds of the land. Why have you allowed Satan to, to be given ground in your life? <br /><br /> It's interesting how much in the new Testament, this principle is presented about giving ground to Satan in our lives. It's a lot of ways that are highlighted here. Certainly it's greed and the praise of people that opens the door to Satan influencing him. We're told that in, in, in, in the book of Ephesians, holding onto bitterness and anger can be that in Ephesians 4 26, be angry and don't sin do not let the sun go down in your anger and give no opportunity to the devil. <br /><br /> He says, when you Harbor that when you hold onto that, when you refuse to forgive, you are, you are giving ground. And then in Hebrews 12, he says the awful result of that in Hebrews 12, he says, see that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and contaminate many bitter. <br /><br /> It's infectious. It contaminates people around us. It can affect others. And he says, why, how does that happen? It gives ground to Satan in our lives. He talks about other things he talks about. Not trusting God in hard circumstances. Couldn't give ground to Satan. It's interesting in Luke 22 verse 31, Peter is praying for Simon right in the, in the final hours before Jesus is arrested. <br /><br /> And Jesus says this to Simon, Simon, Simon, Simon, Peter says behold, Satan has demanded to have you that he may sift you like wheat, but I've prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers, the idea of sifting here is just what you do with the wheat. <br /><br /> You just made it all turbulent. And he says, trying to cause in the turbulent. The Jew and the other disciples. Cause the, you, there is in the plural that you will and your difficulty in your confusion that you failed to trust me. And you'll give way to despair, which is exactly, of course, what Peter does, what the other disciples do. <br /><br /> And P and the Lord has to say, but I'm praying that when you turn back, you'll be able to strengthen your brothers with your newfound trust. What's giving ground to the devil. Some of you are in really hard seasons and you're grumbling and you're moaning. And the turbulence has caused it to be, it's all stirred up, but there's not a quietness. <br /><br /> There's not a joy in Jesus. There's just unrest is mumbling grumbling, whether it's outward or inward. And he says, that's just giving ground. <br /><br /> The same spirit is manifested here in Anna and ice and Safara they just gave ground for them. It was there. Great for them. It was their wanting of praise of recognition for others. It's anger for others. It's Discontentment but God's response, tendonitis and Sapphire is just a reminder of the danger of giving ground Satan in our lives. <br /><br /> The third thing we find is we need to be protected from a distasteful view of God. They lied to God. It says when Peter talks to, to Safira, he makes this interesting statement. Why are you testing God? Well, how do you test God? And God is going to get an air an after. Are you going to get this right again? <br /><br /> I think this is what he meant. We're going to push this and see if God responds. We don't think you will. You see here was their scenario. They knew that they had given a false pretense. Now, as Peter says, they didn't have to give the money at all. They certainly didn't have to give all of it. Their sin was in, in, in deception and all the motivation that was behind this, but they thought, you know what? <br /><br /> Nobody knows. We made 25,000 bucks. I'm just giving an artificial number of that on this. So we'll say 10 to actually the only person that knows the person that gave us the money. And apparently they weren't worried about them telling, and God, and we don't think God's going to make a deal about it. We think quite frankly, we can give and we can lie and we can even get the praise of other believers because in this reality, God is irrelevant. <br /><br /> He knows, but he doesn't do anything. He doesn't care. He's not really active. And God chooses in a very remarkable way to show. He is actually quite relevant. <br /><br /> The Ana Naya Safira story is a very sobering story. It's a hard one to put our arms around, but put it in the context of it being a protection for God's people to say, look, I don't play. You can't play. I am devotedly, passionately, compassionately in love with my people, but I do expect my people to be devoted to. <br /><br /> The second thing in here, I'm going to just touch on why I believe this happened with Anna niacin Safira is because the church needed to be odd. I love something I found here in studying this. If you look back at the end of chapter four in verse 33, you will see that the generosity and unity of the church was marked with great power through the apostles, preaching about Jesus resurrection. <br /><br /> And then it uses the phrase in that verse and great grace was upon all the believers, great power, great grace. And now we come to chapter five and here's what we read in verse five. Great fear came upon all who heard of it. Verse 11. Great. Came upon all the whole church and upon all who heard of these things, there's a reason that Luke felt compelled to include this event. <br /><br /> I mean, we love the event earlier about how the church has grown his brain power, great grace, but of all the seven years that they were involved in chapters one through seven narrative. Why pick on this one? Because God did not only want his people to experience great power and great grace from him, but great fear for him. <br /><br /> The first time you read story, you feel like God is sending a warning from heaven. Honestly, that is the right response. A warning that God is serious about. His people reflecting the nature and character of his. There are two ways that I think great fear is valuable in our lives. Fear of God. One fear of God turns us from evil years ago. <br /><br /> God prompted me to get a box of nice, nicely bound leather bound books that were actually promises of the scripture. I took a copy. I gave it to all of the township officials. I took it to the police chief. I took it to the, I forget everybody. I took it to, I know one I've took it to was the, the judge of our town at the courthouse. <br /><br /> I wrote them a letter and said, I'd like to deliver this to them. And, and most of them allowed me to do that. And with this particular guy, the judge, he actually asked me to join him in his chambers for. And so I joined him for lunch, gave him the book, and then we talked and got to know each other. And he told me a fascinating story. <br /><br /> He talked about his lament over so many young people that he saw in his carts, young adults. And he said, how few of them ever learned to fear the consequences of doing wrong? He told me this story when he was growing up. And he said, back when I was in school, I went to a parochial school and, and the nun was there and she had a yard stick. <br /><br /> And some of you are sweating right now and remembering, but, but she had a yard stick and he said, I was, uh, I was a very talky person. And he said, uh, she, she got ahold of me once and she laid into me. He gave me a couple of good ones with that yardstick. Costs across the butt. And he said, she snapped the art stick. <br /><br /> It broke in half and she left it there. I was so offended, so angry and that I went home and I felt such offense, how dare she do this? And it was in front of people and everything. So he went to his mom and he couldn't wait to tell her when he got home. He told her the story, he told all about this, this nun who'd broken snap, the yard, sick on his rear end. <br /><br /> And, and she didn't say much, which was a little disappointing, but the next morning he woke up, forgot all about it. Of course it ready to go to school. And his mother comes in and she has in her hand a yardstick. And she says, give this to the non-Intel her give her my appreciation. She hadn't. And he said, it reminded me. <br /><br /> That I had people in my life that would hold me accountable for doing wrong. He said, I felt love by those people. God is speaking to his people. He's not trying to scare you into, ah, he's a heavenly policeman. He's just waned to throw me into, into, into, into lockup. He says, I love those people so much. <br /><br /> And I'm going to put them in fear of the consequence of living lives that are cheap and substitutes for the life that they can live in their true humanness, that there are consequences of evil is a gift to learn. It keeps us from so many other things. I remember hearing this story. I mean, I'm really not, this is not about spanking, but this whole sermon, but the, I remember hearing guy many years ago, he was in, he was in school and this was way back in antiquity where they spank kids in school. <br /><br /> And he said, spank one boy. And you've got the attention of 300 others. Just the idea that, well here, <br /><br /> fear of God, turns us from evil. Evil is an aberrant life. It is a sub human life. It is not the beauty of the life that God has designed for us humans. The world is not how it ought to be because of sin. The second thing that fear of God does is fear of God replaces our fierce. Fear is our response to danger. <br /><br /> Something's big threatening, potentially uncontrollable to us. Fear is the most common emotion in our lives. The most oft repeated command in the Bible is, do not fear. Jesus cites that often what God does is present himself as bigger as something to be awed by something. He actually encourages us to replace our fear. <br /><br /> With all to seek God is the biggest, most majestic being in I recently was at a seminar this week and met a pastor I hadn't seen in a couple of years in the area and evangelical pastor. And we talked just briefly, he was asking and we're going to get together. And he said, you know, I just love talking to you through the whole pandemic and the whole thing he said back in the summer of 2020, I was so overwhelmed. <br /><br /> He said with the conflicts, you know, over vaccines with the conflicts in the church issues of race, issues of politics, he said, I was so overwhelmed. He said, I started fasting. I just was Fe why? He said I needed a bigger God. I needed to be reminded that I don't have the resources to, to minister and to care and to lead what God does within an ISDN. <br /><br /> And Safara in a startling, scary seems like reckless. Is remind the people that I, who am on your side and what, but I'm big. I am bigger than anything in your life and in your world, when you're facing big fears, you need a big God. You need a God. That is not just your buddy, not just your pal, not just your vending machine, that you press the buttons and you, and you get this stuff. <br /><br /> You need a, got a big transcendent. God who is a kind God and who will fight for you. And I believe he took care of it. And I have since of firearm, sure. As they got to heaven, they didn't mind that they had taken an early trip at all. But what was the impact of all this? Well, acts chapter five, verse 12 to 16 tells us that it caused revival in the community. <br /><br /> Verse 11 in great fear came upon the whole church. And upon all who heard of these things. Then verse 14 and more than ever, believers were added to the Lord multitudes of both men and women, G Campbell Morgan, a great Bible teacher of years past wrote this conclusion to his study on this passage. Here's what he said. <br /><br /> The church pure is the church powerful. It's always been so mathematics have no place in the economy of God. Numbers are nothing. Quality is everything. We used to talk about a back door revival where God sometimes cleanse the church by removing some people who didn't need to be there. That's exactly what happened here in the Jerusalem church. <br /><br /> Their sudden death was kind of a severe mercy from the Lord. It made the church strong. It caused more people to fear the Lord and led to more people being saved and joining the company of believers and less we get, we need one more thing to just see the positive nature of this. Remember who's in this church that says they were filled with great fear, all of them. <br /><br /> Well, Peter was there who love Jesus Christ. John's there the beloved of God who, who leaned against Jesus in the upper room, Mary of Magdalene, is there the woman who had been controlled by didn't decades by seven demons and lived a hell of a traumatic life all that time until Jesus came into her life and delivered her Mary, the mother of Jesus is there and it says they all. <br /><br /> We're filled with fear. And I don't think they'd say, oh man, we, we liked God before, but now that he's scary. No, they were able to see he's big, still good. Even in the context of knowing him as big, they saw his goodness acts chapter five can still impact our lives. It prompts us to examine ourselves. It prompts us to see the need of a God that can and does overcome our fierce, that we can replace fear with all <br /><br /> let's pray together. Lord <br /><br /> We need you to apply this passage to our life. I worship you as the lamb, that was slain, who is also the lion of Judah. I worship you as the servant, who is also the king Lord. Thank you for coming among us to deliver us from a life where we live for ourselves. We look out for ourselves where we love ourselves and we're miserable in ourself. <br /><br /> Centerdness Lord, you've come to rescue us from a life of sin and evil. May we look at an eyes since a fire is experience, not as something that causes us to lean back and dread, but compels us forward to say. <br /><br /> I want to embrace you more. I want to know you more. I want to experience more of you in Jesus name. Amen. May God bless you and keep, you may teach you to fear him. Hold on. Thank you. May teach you to fear him that you may live devotedly with him. May teach you to fear him, that you may be freed from your fears. <br /><br /> May you may, may you be awed by him in thrawled by him walking in him that you may bask in the delight of who he is now going peace to love and serve and enjoy the Lord. Thank you.</div> false no <![CDATA[The Perfect Church]]> Acts 4:32-37

"All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had."



Sermon Transcript:

Good morning. Just so, you know, it happens at some of the front row pews up here as we had the video with Holly sharing her beautiful story, pastor mark leans forward to me and says, you know, you're wearing the same shirt.

This is a dark gray. That was a dark blue. Don't worry. I got him back after he called Rio the 10 month year old, a 10 year year olds.

What goes around, comes around.

You caught it too, didn't you? Yeah, but he said it during prayer. So we couldn't say nothing. Right? I know. So a couple of weeks ago, a few weeks ago I was in Boston. My buddy is a coffee guy and he started for. Specialty coffee shops. And there's a convention that happens every year. And this time it was in Boston.

It's the number one, north American largest specialty coffee convention. And whenever you get people around a certain idea and they're really crazy about it, usually they use. Specialty. They're very excited. And so we went up to Boston, met our friends up there and got a chance to jump into the coffee world for a little while, while we were there, we bought a $16 cup of black coffee.

Now, if you ask me it didn't taste anything better than a 1575, but you know, $16 cup of coffee, but we jumped into the coffee world. And actually we got an Uber driver at one point, and that was my buddy and I were in the Uber. And this guy was in his sixties and talking, just telling his story and very friendly, which was nice to hear.

And just, we started talking about coffee because Boston's all about coffee on this weekend. And he said, have you ever had a God shot? Now, I don't know where to go in this conversation immediately because a God shots, God shot sounds like something spiritual, but also sort of sounds like a drug reference.

So I didn't know where we were going. So I kept quiet and my buddy who knows exactly what a God shot is, they got going back and forth. A God shot is the perfect espresso shot. It is something that happens very rarely in someone's life. Apparently in the coffee world, this person said he's had two different God shots.

And he went on to describe how beautiful and pure these shots of espresso are. And I'm sitting there saying, don't say espresso and don't say espresso. Right. But listening to him, talk about it. He said this line, he said it was so sweet. It was like a honeydew melon, six hours before it goes. Oh, that is very vivid.

Like the God shot is the perfect shot of espresso. It's not normally what the guy would receive or what you might receive when you make your espresso. But it is the goal. Our text this morning is the God shot. Of new Testament church. Our text this morning is what I believe is the sweetest moment in the history of the church.

As we've been going through the book of acts, it is we come to this perfect church scenario in acts one. We see Jesus ascending into heaven saying, stay here. I'm going to start something I'm sending your holy spirit acts two. The holy spirit comes and the church begins and acts two, three, and four. We have these sermons that mark the beginning of this church and activities going on.

And as pastor mark said, a couple of weeks ago, what's going to happen in four through seven. There's this warn, the empire strikes back and opposition comes against the church. And pastor Mike led us into one of those oppositional moments last week. But in this little section that we have acts two through four, and I believe climaxing in this.

Section in chapter four, we have this incredible, perfect view of what church is the impurities and environmental threats have not diluted. The God shot of church. Institutional complexity have not complicated it for the moment. No one is getting harmed and everyone is getting helped. There is no presence of church hurt, abuse, gossip, or hypocrisy.

The church will not stay ideal for long in our new Testament, but here we have a picture we can enjoy and learn from. Join with me, acts chapter four, reading in verse 32 through 37. Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul. And no one said that any of the things that belong to them was his own, but they had everything in common and with great power, the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord, Jesus Christ and great grace was upon them.

There was not a needy person among them for as many as were owners of lands and houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid them at the Apostle's feet. And it was distributed each as they had need. Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas, which means son of encouragement, alleviate a native of Cyprus, sold a field and belong that belong to him and brought the money and laid it at the Apostle's feet.

Pray with me this morning,

Laura, we come as a group of people who are not a part of a perfect church. We don't come to, uh, the reality of this in our current day, always this reality would not stay in the book of acts, but for this moment, we pray that you might help us catch a greater appetite of what it means to follow you together in Jesus name.

Amen. A few things that this early church that we see this beginning, this honeymoon church is marked by the first thing is unity right out of the gate. The text says having the hope of one heart and one mind, the full number of those who believed were of one number. Every single one of them were of one heart.

And one mind the early church was marked by. We will see an ax, just how important that this unity is. We will see that throughout the new Testament, the primacy of this unity and this calling of the church. Now we live in a world in a culture, which is marked by individualism, and we can tend to think of our faith that way too.

It's between me and God that we're doing an individual sport, but our faith new Testament wise is far from personal in acts. We see that the life of following Jesus has everything to do with living together in love. Most of the new Testament books are not written to individuals telling them how to know God on their own.

They're written to communities of people called to know and love God to. Here's what Paul writes in Philippians, a beautiful passage. If you'll flash that up on the screen, Philippians two says, therefore, if you have any encouragement from being United with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the spirit, if any tenderness of compassion, if you're experiencing anything from God at all, Paul says, then make my joy complete by being like-minded having the same love being one.

In spirit. And one in mind, harkening back to this passage, do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, rather in humility, value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests, but each to the interests of others, the life of Christ, the life of knowing God is demonstrated in a team sport.

This is not individual clarinet players. It is to be part of an orchestra and a faith development. As we grow and understanding our, the new Testament call, we go from an ecosystem to an ecosystem. We learned that it's not just about me. It's not just about my story. It's learning that yes, there is my individual story going on, but it's part of a larger.

Whole, we are not individual plants, but part of a larger ecosystem. And that is the beautiful goal of new Testament. Christianity is that it's done together. First are one. Unity is having same heart and mind. Secondly, we see the unity requires trustworthy leadership. There's a lot of money going on here and there's people selling of their land and selling of their homes and they're bringing it and placing it where twice it says at the Apostle's feet, the leadership that is given here, there's a lot of potential for scandal.

There's a lot of potential. There's probably not a ton of checks and balances that have already been written into the code of the new Testament church. This is happening quickly. But the leadership by God's grace, as it begins is deeply trustworthy. They are not out for personal gain. They also are testifying about Christ and not about themselves.

Check out verse a 33 with great power. The apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord, Jesus Christ and great grace was upon them. All. We don't see in this early church, like man, they were just the best preachers. They just had the most dynamite music or like they had these great, uh, youth directors and, and men's ministry people.

And it's not the leadership in the early church. The beauty of the leadership is in their trustworthiness and that they kept to the simplicity of it being about Jesus Christ in Corinthians. Paul is defending his apostleship defending that he is a church leader. And he goes back to speak up and uses afraid a phrase of coming back to the simplicity of Jesus.

Trustworthy leadership is not about themselves, but about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Notice in that passage or in the passage of the apostles are not named, but the holy spirit is Jesus Christ is third. They were aware and committed to the needs of the people for them to distribute the need to people.

The, all of the people were not aware of the need. They came and brought the, my tooth, the apostles and the apostles, the church leaders were the ones who knew and helped with the church need. I couldn't help, but think about John 10, 14, where Jesus says, I know my sheep and my sheep know me. There is a beautiful unity of one heart and one.

And a beautiful unity that is brought on because God had raised up trustworthy leadership. Third thing with the unity, their unity is demonstrated by their sacrificial commitment to one another, which is significant, right? I mean this, this whole, and we'll talk about the generosity of all in a minute, but their commitment was such that they looked at their land, they looked at their houses and they're like, okay, yeah, I have some commitment here, but that commitment is smaller than my commitment to these other people.

These are people who earned this money, who bought these fields, who inherited these homes possibly from generations before. These are not the rulers of the world. This is early Jewish group of people that are living in Roman captivity. They are taxed and controlled by Roman law and yet their commitment.

To each other was deep enough to offer this level of sacrifice more than their stuff they're committed to each other. But more than that, more than their idea of what church should be. Like, none of these people know what church should be like, right? This is not, there's no manual. There's just Jesus, the apostles, this great movement by the holy spirit.

There's some miracles that start happening and there's some persecution. That's the whole recipe, right? There is not much in the cookbook for the church, but these people, their commitment was not to how they thought church should be done or shouldn't be done. But their commitment was to one another. My throughout different personality profile, different things that I've done.

I almost always score in the ideal category. Not like my personality is ideal. That was not on purpose, but that my personality is, has like, I'm an idealist. So some people see the cup half full. Some people see the cup half empty. I see if we took your cup and my cup and we combined here and we poured it in there and we could eventually make lemonade.

I don't know, like, that's my, what's the perfect possible situation. And when I got assigned this text, acts four, I looked at it and I just thought, oh, I hate preaching acts to an X four because it messes me up a little bit. It hits on those ideals. A lot of us, when we read the acts for people giving up their stuff, No one in need people selling an offering to each other.

Some of you are like, okay, where is he going to take this? Right? And some of you are, it hits this place of longing of just so wanting to be a part of a people that love and sacrifice for each other on that level. That's where it hits me. And it hits this place of somewhat sadness. Right? Hope but sadness.

I can be frustrated. That's how I would feel. If I was in the church of Corinth, the church of glacier, the church of Philippi of any of the seven churches in the book of revelation or any other place in the book of acts, I can feel lost in my ideals. I can close my eyes and be frustrated and say, why can't we look at.

Instead of opening them, looking at someone else's eyes and say, how can I be present and love you? Well, a person that's been influential for me as a man named Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who, if, you know, his story had to navigate church in Nazi Germany and was not a person who just believe in peace for peace sake.

He was eventually charged and hung by the Gestapo in 1945. And, um, but in his writings, he talked about what it would mean to live among and be the church. And this quote has meant a lot to me for over a decade, says this, those who love their dream of a Christian community more than they love the Christian community itself become destroyers of that Christian community.

Even though their personal intentions may be ever so honest, earnest and sacrificial. It is not, we who build Christ builds the church. Whoever is mindful to build the church is surely well on the way to destroying it for, he will build a temple to idols without wishing or knowing it. We must confess. He is the one who builds do what is given to you and do it well.

And you will have done enough, enough live together in the forgiveness of your sins. Forgive each other every day from the bottom of your hearts, unity is built not on just trying to replicate the perfect God shot. It's built in the every day of loving and forgiving. One another. Secondly, first we see this unity.

Secondly, we see this radical generosity, this almost what seems to be uncomfortable generosity. Um, there's a. Written by Bert. Bernie may talks about this. Who's the president of Wycliffe Bible translators. And there was a woman named Eunice pike and Eunice was pioneer missionary from this to the of people.

She and her friend were these first missionaries to translate the Bible in the 1940s to the Mazza tech people. And she found and fell in love with many things about these people. But one of the things you said was when she worked with the Mads tech people, it found it hard for one person to share the gospel with the other.

And she said, this Yuna said this odd behavior stems from the concept of limited good. The people believe there is only so much good, so much knowledge, so much love to go. To teach another means to drain yourself of knowledge, to love a second child means you have to love the first child less to wish someone well have a good day means you have just given away some of your own happiness, which cannot be required.

This is from the idea of limited. Good. And it's an idea that isn't just in the mass of tech people, right? Honestly, all economic theory is based on the scarcity of resources. All economic, um, philosophy is trying to figure out what do we do? With the limited amount of good with the limited amount of food, uh, limited we've made budgets because we have a limited amount of money.

We are trying to figure out what do we do with our limited natural resources. We understand this way of thinking that there's only so much good to go around. And so we want to make sure we hold onto it. Radical generosity comes from the belief that there really is enough to go around. Early new Testament church.

And in this situation was not filled with only people who had it together or only people who had a certain wealth economy when it talks about that, that those who had, and those who didn't have in there was enough to go around. It's talking about real people in a real place who believed a real radical Christ, who says there is enough to go around this community, believed and talked about the, talked about the resurrection.

They dared to believe if they followed and lived with this Christ, that there was enough to share this radical trust in Jesus led to radical generosity. And very simply, this is how we know, right. We know how much that we trust God with our resources. I know how much I am trusting God with my resources, by how joyfully.

Right. That's how we really know whether we're trusting. Right. We know when we know how tightly our fist is, by how easy it is to pull something out of it, radical generosity is this handed belief that God has enough to go around. That does not mean we don't operate with wisdom. It does not mean that we give without knowledge of where it's going, but it does mean that generosity can be painful and incredibly joyful.

Secondly, just a reminder that Jesus talked about money more than heaven. I believe as we're talking about generosity and we're talking about our resources, we can talk about are the stuff we own, or we can be talking about our time, our talents, our giftings there's many resources that each of us have at our disposal.

But this text, if we're staying true to this text is talking most specifically about money. Yes. Resources include other things, but it's talking here about money. I just want to lay out six principles that. Many people talk about their benefit. They've received from a man named Randy Alcorn by most Randy Alcorn talks about the treasure principles.

This book is actually going to be talked about potentially in the fall with our generosity principles team, but just six, six things to, as we think through our own sense of stuff, all what we own the matures we have, because I don't think it needs to be a, when we own things, when we have money, it's not a, it needs to be a guilt thing it, or like, oh man, what is it that God required?

Well, it needs to be a thought through thing. It needs to be a thing that, that we meet love and wisdom together. And here's some great principles by Randy Al corny lays out six and the treasure principle keys. And it's a good book to look at. If you get a chance, number one, remember that God owns everything and I'm his money manager.

Number two, my heart always goes to where I put God's money. Number three. Heaven and the future new earth, not this fallen. One is my home. Number four. I should live not for the dot, but for the line, meaning not for this, what Paul calls this temporary place, but for eternity number five, giving is the only antidote to materialism.

And number six, God prospers me not to raise my standard of living, but to raise my standard of giving

radical generosity is a deep part of this union together that we see in acts chapter four. And lastly, we'll conclude with this last thing we see in the text is this vulnerability. Uh, vulnerability to let the needs be known, check out the text here. It says God's grace was so powerfully at work in them that there were no needy persons among them.

From time to time, those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money in the sales were put at the Apostle's feet and it was distributed to anyone who had need implicit in this text is the fact that people let their needs be known. It is often easier to give to someone else's needs than to be open about our own, but the reason they were able, they were able to be a community like this because they were willing and humble enough to come with the gift of their needs.

Unity together would not have been as sweet. If people held back the gift of their need, I'm reading a book called you're only human by Kelly Capek it says how your limits reflect God's design and why that's good news. And he writes this at some point in the course of the course of life, we'll expose what we then receive as painful truths.

We are not the best, the brightest, the most able, there are always stronger, more beautiful, more brilliant people. At some point, the elution comes crashing down and when it does, it can have devastating consequences. As a college professor, he writes, I frequently see young adults coming to terms with these difficult facts that had been in various ways, hidden from them, but no helicopter or even bulldozing parent can protect the child forever.

Each of us must face our limits and weaknesses at some point, whether we want to or not. And when we come to those, God allowed graces of our need. It allows the church to function as the church by giving our need. Once another fundamental to the gospel is that we are a people in need of salvation from God, right?

We got that. We offer our sacred need to him saying we can not do it on our own. That is core of what it means to know him. It is also so important of what it means to operate together as a. To offer what we don't have. One of the most dark, unwanted and beautiful lessons of my life was to understand the connection between need and love because I want to love, but I don't want to need.

And until I really learned my own sense of need, I didn't really know what it means, what it truly meant to be loved. This is tough for many of us who don't want to be on the needs side of anything. We don't want to have emotional needs, spiritual needs, relational needs, physical needs. They're vulnerable.

They're scary core to this Christian narrative. Is the acceptance that we are people in need. What we need in the church is not more giants and warriors, but simple human beings who accept where they are not giants or warriors. The early church had the gift of people who embraced their need. We need in various ways, we have our wounds, our lack, our cross, our poverty.

It is in these places that the church can be. The church Jesus came to meet. Those needs you and I have them. And so often the way he provides meeting of needs is one to another. So let's get over the fact that we don't like that we have needs and start letting each other help for some of you, the greatest way this text can be applied.

Is not to sell your land and your house, cause you don't have one or not to go out and give a generous gift. And maybe that is where God puts on you today. That that is your calling. But so for some of you the most sacred, the most holy the most special gift that you have is offering your need to someone else in the church.

We don't have the God shot church. We won't have it. I'm really glad for my Uber driver, but he didn't stop drinking espresso just because he could only find two God shots in his life. We can learn from it and lean into it and to give along with Christ our best shot, where you stand. As we received the benediction this morning.

You are loved. You are seen, you are known, you are wanted by our Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. This is true as individual people knowing and seeking him. This is more true as a community of believers for the hurting. May you find a soft place to land with God's people with patient understanding for the lonely, may you find in this imperfect place, imperfect but lasting friendship for those with extra may you give with joy because the needs are many for those in need.

May you be brave to let us know? May we be a place that's not lost an ideal? But caught up in our love and commitment to one another. May we believe that in our king, there is enough to go around. Great to be with you this morning. Thank you. We are dismissed.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-perfect-church afb085f0-61a3-4f81-ab31-9aa03a7f5f80 Sun, 01 May 2022 14:45:38 GMT <div data-html="true">Acts 4:32-37 <br /><br /> "All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had." <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> Good morning. Just so, you know, it happens at some of the front row pews up here as we had the video with Holly sharing her beautiful story, pastor mark leans forward to me and says, you know, you're wearing the same shirt. <br /><br /> This is a dark gray. That was a dark blue. Don't worry. I got him back after he called Rio the 10 month year old, a 10 year year olds. <br /><br /> What goes around, comes around. <br /><br /> You caught it too, didn't you? Yeah, but he said it during prayer. So we couldn't say nothing. Right? I know. So a couple of weeks ago, a few weeks ago I was in Boston. My buddy is a coffee guy and he started for. Specialty coffee shops. And there's a convention that happens every year. And this time it was in Boston. <br /><br /> It's the number one, north American largest specialty coffee convention. And whenever you get people around a certain idea and they're really crazy about it, usually they use. Specialty. They're very excited. And so we went up to Boston, met our friends up there and got a chance to jump into the coffee world for a little while, while we were there, we bought a $16 cup of black coffee. <br /><br /> Now, if you ask me it didn't taste anything better than a 1575, but you know, $16 cup of coffee, but we jumped into the coffee world. And actually we got an Uber driver at one point, and that was my buddy and I were in the Uber. And this guy was in his sixties and talking, just telling his story and very friendly, which was nice to hear. <br /><br /> And just, we started talking about coffee because Boston's all about coffee on this weekend. And he said, have you ever had a God shot? Now, I don't know where to go in this conversation immediately because a God shots, God shot sounds like something spiritual, but also sort of sounds like a drug reference. <br /><br /> So I didn't know where we were going. So I kept quiet and my buddy who knows exactly what a God shot is, they got going back and forth. A God shot is the perfect espresso shot. It is something that happens very rarely in someone's life. Apparently in the coffee world, this person said he's had two different God shots. <br /><br /> And he went on to describe how beautiful and pure these shots of espresso are. And I'm sitting there saying, don't say espresso and don't say espresso. Right. But listening to him, talk about it. He said this line, he said it was so sweet. It was like a honeydew melon, six hours before it goes. Oh, that is very vivid. <br /><br /> Like the God shot is the perfect shot of espresso. It's not normally what the guy would receive or what you might receive when you make your espresso. But it is the goal. Our text this morning is the God shot. Of new Testament church. Our text this morning is what I believe is the sweetest moment in the history of the church. <br /><br /> As we've been going through the book of acts, it is we come to this perfect church scenario in acts one. We see Jesus ascending into heaven saying, stay here. I'm going to start something I'm sending your holy spirit acts two. The holy spirit comes and the church begins and acts two, three, and four. We have these sermons that mark the beginning of this church and activities going on. <br /><br /> And as pastor mark said, a couple of weeks ago, what's going to happen in four through seven. There's this warn, the empire strikes back and opposition comes against the church. And pastor Mike led us into one of those oppositional moments last week. But in this little section that we have acts two through four, and I believe climaxing in this. <br /><br /> Section in chapter four, we have this incredible, perfect view of what church is the impurities and environmental threats have not diluted. The God shot of church. Institutional complexity have not complicated it for the moment. No one is getting harmed and everyone is getting helped. There is no presence of church hurt, abuse, gossip, or hypocrisy. <br /><br /> The church will not stay ideal for long in our new Testament, but here we have a picture we can enjoy and learn from. Join with me, acts chapter four, reading in verse 32 through 37. Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul. And no one said that any of the things that belong to them was his own, but they had everything in common and with great power, the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord, Jesus Christ and great grace was upon them. <br /><br /> There was not a needy person among them for as many as were owners of lands and houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid them at the Apostle's feet. And it was distributed each as they had need. Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas, which means son of encouragement, alleviate a native of Cyprus, sold a field and belong that belong to him and brought the money and laid it at the Apostle's feet. <br /><br /> Pray with me this morning, <br /><br /> Laura, we come as a group of people who are not a part of a perfect church. We don't come to, uh, the reality of this in our current day, always this reality would not stay in the book of acts, but for this moment, we pray that you might help us catch a greater appetite of what it means to follow you together in Jesus name. <br /><br /> Amen. A few things that this early church that we see this beginning, this honeymoon church is marked by the first thing is unity right out of the gate. The text says having the hope of one heart and one mind, the full number of those who believed were of one number. Every single one of them were of one heart. <br /><br /> And one mind the early church was marked by. We will see an ax, just how important that this unity is. We will see that throughout the new Testament, the primacy of this unity and this calling of the church. Now we live in a world in a culture, which is marked by individualism, and we can tend to think of our faith that way too. <br /><br /> It's between me and God that we're doing an individual sport, but our faith new Testament wise is far from personal in acts. We see that the life of following Jesus has everything to do with living together in love. Most of the new Testament books are not written to individuals telling them how to know God on their own. <br /><br /> They're written to communities of people called to know and love God to. Here's what Paul writes in Philippians, a beautiful passage. If you'll flash that up on the screen, Philippians two says, therefore, if you have any encouragement from being United with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the spirit, if any tenderness of compassion, if you're experiencing anything from God at all, Paul says, then make my joy complete by being like-minded having the same love being one. <br /><br /> In spirit. And one in mind, harkening back to this passage, do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, rather in humility, value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests, but each to the interests of others, the life of Christ, the life of knowing God is demonstrated in a team sport. <br /><br /> This is not individual clarinet players. It is to be part of an orchestra and a faith development. As we grow and understanding our, the new Testament call, we go from an ecosystem to an ecosystem. We learned that it's not just about me. It's not just about my story. It's learning that yes, there is my individual story going on, but it's part of a larger. <br /><br /> Whole, we are not individual plants, but part of a larger ecosystem. And that is the beautiful goal of new Testament. Christianity is that it's done together. First are one. Unity is having same heart and mind. Secondly, we see the unity requires trustworthy leadership. There's a lot of money going on here and there's people selling of their land and selling of their homes and they're bringing it and placing it where twice it says at the Apostle's feet, the leadership that is given here, there's a lot of potential for scandal. <br /><br /> There's a lot of potential. There's probably not a ton of checks and balances that have already been written into the code of the new Testament church. This is happening quickly. But the leadership by God's grace, as it begins is deeply trustworthy. They are not out for personal gain. They also are testifying about Christ and not about themselves. <br /><br /> Check out verse a 33 with great power. The apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord, Jesus Christ and great grace was upon them. All. We don't see in this early church, like man, they were just the best preachers. They just had the most dynamite music or like they had these great, uh, youth directors and, and men's ministry people. <br /><br /> And it's not the leadership in the early church. The beauty of the leadership is in their trustworthiness and that they kept to the simplicity of it being about Jesus Christ in Corinthians. Paul is defending his apostleship defending that he is a church leader. And he goes back to speak up and uses afraid a phrase of coming back to the simplicity of Jesus. <br /><br /> Trustworthy leadership is not about themselves, but about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Notice in that passage or in the passage of the apostles are not named, but the holy spirit is Jesus Christ is third. They were aware and committed to the needs of the people for them to distribute the need to people. <br /><br /> The, all of the people were not aware of the need. They came and brought the, my tooth, the apostles and the apostles, the church leaders were the ones who knew and helped with the church need. I couldn't help, but think about John 10, 14, where Jesus says, I know my sheep and my sheep know me. There is a beautiful unity of one heart and one. <br /><br /> And a beautiful unity that is brought on because God had raised up trustworthy leadership. Third thing with the unity, their unity is demonstrated by their sacrificial commitment to one another, which is significant, right? I mean this, this whole, and we'll talk about the generosity of all in a minute, but their commitment was such that they looked at their land, they looked at their houses and they're like, okay, yeah, I have some commitment here, but that commitment is smaller than my commitment to these other people. <br /><br /> These are people who earned this money, who bought these fields, who inherited these homes possibly from generations before. These are not the rulers of the world. This is early Jewish group of people that are living in Roman captivity. They are taxed and controlled by Roman law and yet their commitment. <br /><br /> To each other was deep enough to offer this level of sacrifice more than their stuff they're committed to each other. But more than that, more than their idea of what church should be. Like, none of these people know what church should be like, right? This is not, there's no manual. There's just Jesus, the apostles, this great movement by the holy spirit. <br /><br /> There's some miracles that start happening and there's some persecution. That's the whole recipe, right? There is not much in the cookbook for the church, but these people, their commitment was not to how they thought church should be done or shouldn't be done. But their commitment was to one another. My throughout different personality profile, different things that I've done. <br /><br /> I almost always score in the ideal category. Not like my personality is ideal. That was not on purpose, but that my personality is, has like, I'm an idealist. So some people see the cup half full. Some people see the cup half empty. I see if we took your cup and my cup and we combined here and we poured it in there and we could eventually make lemonade. <br /><br /> I don't know, like, that's my, what's the perfect possible situation. And when I got assigned this text, acts four, I looked at it and I just thought, oh, I hate preaching acts to an X four because it messes me up a little bit. It hits on those ideals. A lot of us, when we read the acts for people giving up their stuff, No one in need people selling an offering to each other. <br /><br /> Some of you are like, okay, where is he going to take this? Right? And some of you are, it hits this place of longing of just so wanting to be a part of a people that love and sacrifice for each other on that level. That's where it hits me. And it hits this place of somewhat sadness. Right? Hope but sadness. <br /><br /> I can be frustrated. That's how I would feel. If I was in the church of Corinth, the church of glacier, the church of Philippi of any of the seven churches in the book of revelation or any other place in the book of acts, I can feel lost in my ideals. I can close my eyes and be frustrated and say, why can't we look at. <br /><br /> Instead of opening them, looking at someone else's eyes and say, how can I be present and love you? Well, a person that's been influential for me as a man named Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who, if, you know, his story had to navigate church in Nazi Germany and was not a person who just believe in peace for peace sake. <br /><br /> He was eventually charged and hung by the Gestapo in 1945. And, um, but in his writings, he talked about what it would mean to live among and be the church. And this quote has meant a lot to me for over a decade, says this, those who love their dream of a Christian community more than they love the Christian community itself become destroyers of that Christian community. <br /><br /> Even though their personal intentions may be ever so honest, earnest and sacrificial. It is not, we who build Christ builds the church. Whoever is mindful to build the church is surely well on the way to destroying it for, he will build a temple to idols without wishing or knowing it. We must confess. He is the one who builds do what is given to you and do it well. <br /><br /> And you will have done enough, enough live together in the forgiveness of your sins. Forgive each other every day from the bottom of your hearts, unity is built not on just trying to replicate the perfect God shot. It's built in the every day of loving and forgiving. One another. Secondly, first we see this unity. <br /><br /> Secondly, we see this radical generosity, this almost what seems to be uncomfortable generosity. Um, there's a. Written by Bert. Bernie may talks about this. Who's the president of Wycliffe Bible translators. And there was a woman named Eunice pike and Eunice was pioneer missionary from this to the of people. <br /><br /> She and her friend were these first missionaries to translate the Bible in the 1940s to the Mazza tech people. And she found and fell in love with many things about these people. But one of the things you said was when she worked with the Mads tech people, it found it hard for one person to share the gospel with the other. <br /><br /> And she said, this Yuna said this odd behavior stems from the concept of limited good. The people believe there is only so much good, so much knowledge, so much love to go. To teach another means to drain yourself of knowledge, to love a second child means you have to love the first child less to wish someone well have a good day means you have just given away some of your own happiness, which cannot be required. <br /><br /> This is from the idea of limited. Good. And it's an idea that isn't just in the mass of tech people, right? Honestly, all economic theory is based on the scarcity of resources. All economic, um, philosophy is trying to figure out what do we do? With the limited amount of good with the limited amount of food, uh, limited we've made budgets because we have a limited amount of money. <br /><br /> We are trying to figure out what do we do with our limited natural resources. We understand this way of thinking that there's only so much good to go around. And so we want to make sure we hold onto it. Radical generosity comes from the belief that there really is enough to go around. Early new Testament church. <br /><br /> And in this situation was not filled with only people who had it together or only people who had a certain wealth economy when it talks about that, that those who had, and those who didn't have in there was enough to go around. It's talking about real people in a real place who believed a real radical Christ, who says there is enough to go around this community, believed and talked about the, talked about the resurrection. <br /><br /> They dared to believe if they followed and lived with this Christ, that there was enough to share this radical trust in Jesus led to radical generosity. And very simply, this is how we know, right. We know how much that we trust God with our resources. I know how much I am trusting God with my resources, by how joyfully. <br /><br /> Right. That's how we really know whether we're trusting. Right. We know when we know how tightly our fist is, by how easy it is to pull something out of it, radical generosity is this handed belief that God has enough to go around. That does not mean we don't operate with wisdom. It does not mean that we give without knowledge of where it's going, but it does mean that generosity can be painful and incredibly joyful. <br /><br /> Secondly, just a reminder that Jesus talked about money more than heaven. I believe as we're talking about generosity and we're talking about our resources, we can talk about are the stuff we own, or we can be talking about our time, our talents, our giftings there's many resources that each of us have at our disposal. <br /><br /> But this text, if we're staying true to this text is talking most specifically about money. Yes. Resources include other things, but it's talking here about money. I just want to lay out six principles that. Many people talk about their benefit. They've received from a man named Randy Alcorn by most Randy Alcorn talks about the treasure principles. <br /><br /> This book is actually going to be talked about potentially in the fall with our generosity principles team, but just six, six things to, as we think through our own sense of stuff, all what we own the matures we have, because I don't think it needs to be a, when we own things, when we have money, it's not a, it needs to be a guilt thing it, or like, oh man, what is it that God required? <br /><br /> Well, it needs to be a thought through thing. It needs to be a thing that, that we meet love and wisdom together. And here's some great principles by Randy Al corny lays out six and the treasure principle keys. And it's a good book to look at. If you get a chance, number one, remember that God owns everything and I'm his money manager. <br /><br /> Number two, my heart always goes to where I put God's money. Number three. Heaven and the future new earth, not this fallen. One is my home. Number four. I should live not for the dot, but for the line, meaning not for this, what Paul calls this temporary place, but for eternity number five, giving is the only antidote to materialism. <br /><br /> And number six, God prospers me not to raise my standard of living, but to raise my standard of giving <br /><br /> radical generosity is a deep part of this union together that we see in acts chapter four. And lastly, we'll conclude with this last thing we see in the text is this vulnerability. Uh, vulnerability to let the needs be known, check out the text here. It says God's grace was so powerfully at work in them that there were no needy persons among them. <br /><br /> From time to time, those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money in the sales were put at the Apostle's feet and it was distributed to anyone who had need implicit in this text is the fact that people let their needs be known. It is often easier to give to someone else's needs than to be open about our own, but the reason they were able, they were able to be a community like this because they were willing and humble enough to come with the gift of their needs. <br /><br /> Unity together would not have been as sweet. If people held back the gift of their need, I'm reading a book called you're only human by Kelly Capek it says how your limits reflect God's design and why that's good news. And he writes this at some point in the course of the course of life, we'll expose what we then receive as painful truths. <br /><br /> We are not the best, the brightest, the most able, there are always stronger, more beautiful, more brilliant people. At some point, the elution comes crashing down and when it does, it can have devastating consequences. As a college professor, he writes, I frequently see young adults coming to terms with these difficult facts that had been in various ways, hidden from them, but no helicopter or even bulldozing parent can protect the child forever. <br /><br /> Each of us must face our limits and weaknesses at some point, whether we want to or not. And when we come to those, God allowed graces of our need. It allows the church to function as the church by giving our need. Once another fundamental to the gospel is that we are a people in need of salvation from God, right? <br /><br /> We got that. We offer our sacred need to him saying we can not do it on our own. That is core of what it means to know him. It is also so important of what it means to operate together as a. To offer what we don't have. One of the most dark, unwanted and beautiful lessons of my life was to understand the connection between need and love because I want to love, but I don't want to need. <br /><br /> And until I really learned my own sense of need, I didn't really know what it means, what it truly meant to be loved. This is tough for many of us who don't want to be on the needs side of anything. We don't want to have emotional needs, spiritual needs, relational needs, physical needs. They're vulnerable. <br /><br /> They're scary core to this Christian narrative. Is the acceptance that we are people in need. What we need in the church is not more giants and warriors, but simple human beings who accept where they are not giants or warriors. The early church had the gift of people who embraced their need. We need in various ways, we have our wounds, our lack, our cross, our poverty. <br /><br /> It is in these places that the church can be. The church Jesus came to meet. Those needs you and I have them. And so often the way he provides meeting of needs is one to another. So let's get over the fact that we don't like that we have needs and start letting each other help for some of you, the greatest way this text can be applied. <br /><br /> Is not to sell your land and your house, cause you don't have one or not to go out and give a generous gift. And maybe that is where God puts on you today. That that is your calling. But so for some of you the most sacred, the most holy the most special gift that you have is offering your need to someone else in the church. <br /><br /> We don't have the God shot church. We won't have it. I'm really glad for my Uber driver, but he didn't stop drinking espresso just because he could only find two God shots in his life. We can learn from it and lean into it and to give along with Christ our best shot, where you stand. As we received the benediction this morning. <br /><br /> You are loved. You are seen, you are known, you are wanted by our Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. This is true as individual people knowing and seeking him. This is more true as a community of believers for the hurting. May you find a soft place to land with God's people with patient understanding for the lonely, may you find in this imperfect place, imperfect but lasting friendship for those with extra may you give with joy because the needs are many for those in need. <br /><br /> May you be brave to let us know? May we be a place that's not lost an ideal? But caught up in our love and commitment to one another. May we believe that in our king, there is enough to go around. Great to be with you this morning. Thank you. We are dismissed.</div> false no <![CDATA[Formation For Mission]]> Acts 4:23-31

When they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them.



Sermon Transcript:

Well, good morning to you, uh, here and in Collingswood, uh, if you were here a few weeks back, what a gift it was to, uh, share with the colleagues would campus in a joint campus, baptism service.

How many were here for that? Okay, great. Look right. If your hand wasn't up, you can count their attendance later. Now. Uh, it was a true joy to, to be together, partnered together as one church, two campuses celebrating the work of Christ in us as a whole body together. And so, uh, we are grateful for you and Collingswood.

And again, here in Mount Laurel. Once you to turn to the book of acts, we're going to be there again this morning. We are not deviating from that for a number of months. Uh, the book of acts chapter four. Uh, if you have a Bible there in the pew, you can turn to page 8 58. That's where we'll be this morning.

We're picking up on the ongoing narrative of the early church as God's church. Remembering what has happened. Jesus has died rose again, spent 40 days with his disciples and then ascends to heaven. And despite, uh, all of the odds there, the disciples come in. And in Jerusalem, they begin praying, waiting for the promised holy spirit and then like a rushing wind.

The spirit comes in the sens upon the gathered people, many heard about Jesus, many heard about Christ because of the way the spirit moved and gave all those people different languages to speak. And so the crowds that were gathered, heard the gospel in their own native tongue, the number increased day by day.

And there was an incredible explosion of this fellowship gathering together, sharing meals, caring for needs, worshiping together. Peter and John were two of the apostles that had gone to the temple to pray. And as pastor mark shared a couple of weeks ago, we have this account of a lame man who was there.

He'd been there for 40 years at the temple gates. And what happened was through the power of the holy spirit in the name of Jesus. This man was healed. Crowd's surrounded the apostles at this crazy work that had happened of the spirit 5,000 men and many more women and children king to know of Christ that day.

Peter and John were then confronted by some of those religious leaders. They decided to hold them in prison overnight. And that's kind of where our passage picks up this morning. I want you to listen in just kind of a few verses before where we get to today on the annoyed council. That is the chief priests, the elders, the religious leaders, and the rulers in acts four verse 16.

What should we do with these men? For the notable sign has been performed through them is evident to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem and we cannot deny it. But in order that it may spread no further among the people let us warn them not to speak. This name anymore. So they called them and charge them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.

But Peter and John answered them, whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge for, we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard. And when they had further threatened them, they let them go finding no way to punish them because of the people for all were praising God for what had happened.

And here's where we'll land this morning. So when they, this Peter and John were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders elders had said to them. And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them who through the mouth of our father, David, your servant said by the holy spirit, why did the Gentiles rate.

And the people's plot in vain, the Kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his anointed. For truly in this city, there were gathered together against your holy servant, Jesus, whom you anointed both Herod and Pontius pilot, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.

And now Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with boldness. While you stretch out your hand to heal and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus. And when they had prayed the place in which they were gathered together with shaken, and they were all filled with the holy spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness, let's pray this morning.

Father son, holy spirit. We are so grateful for the evidence of your work all throughout this passage. Lord, we thank you for the gift of your spirit that provides boldness, where we might be nervous or scared or feel like cowards sharing the hope of Christ. Lord, we thank you that because of Christ, we have something to share.

We have the very words written down that you got have been sovereign over throughout all the ages that we can come to and receive truth from this morning. Might it be truth that cuts to our hearts and changes us. And may we see your goodness in this passage this morning, change us as a church. We pray in your name?

Amen. Well, I've titled the sermon, uh, the name of a class that I had in seminary, it's called formation for mission. Uh, the hope of this is that we would kind of catch that vision for what the church is about. We've talked about this concept. I've talked about it in the DNA podcasts that pastor mark, pastor Ben and I put together the purpose of the church, the goal of the church today and the early church then is what we'll unpack this morning that we would be formed so that we can be sent formation for mission being formed for a God ordained, redemptive purpose.

And just so we're clear, let me define church for us. This. Many of you got in your cars and you either navigated to one of two places, 15, 20 Hanes Fort Mount Laurel road, Mount Laurel, New Jersey, maybe you know how to get here or seven, 10 callings app in Collingswood though, I hear there is still debate over if it's in Collingswood or another city or town, or you guys are probably laughing about that in Collingswood, but the church is not a building.

The church is not a building. The church has a building, but it's not a building. The church is the gathering of God's people. And if that feels a little unsettling to you, I want you to dial it back just over two years ago, to March, 2020, the church has a building, but at the time we weren't using it church didn't stop anybody.

Remember this visual we have, right? This is church. The church has a building, but the church is not a building. Yes. This is zoom youth group. It was about as awful as you could think. Um, what happened at this point is no one knew how to use zoom. And for the first time we said, let's go. We had all the kids on the screen.

And, um, I hadn't learned how to lock down. Some of those meeting controls yet. So kids were sharing their screen, unmuting themselves, chatting drawling across the, I have no idea where that was coming from. Oh, we had church, the church has a building, but the church is not a building. The church is the gathering of God's people who are being shaped and formed that we might be sent.

The church is a God-given foundation that we can stand on the three in one father, son, and holy spirit, the word of God. And though imperfect. People make up the church. God has given us this gathering of people to stand with. In fact, it's the very words of Jesus in Matthew, chapter 16, as he's talking to Peter, he says, and I tell you, you are Peter.

And on this rock, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not stand against it. As we work through the passage this morning, we're going to see that church, the gates of hell will not prevail against it. Church in the book of acts, let's look at verse 23. As we begin our three sections this morning, rich is really the report of the apostles.

Here's how far we're going to get verse 23, when they were released, they went to their friends. We're not going to go any further in this first point, because it's so easy to pass this by. Right? It's so easy to jump onto the things that we think are more interesting, but they went back to their friends.

Who did they report to probably somewhere the friend group between 5,000 men, women, children, and just the apostles. We don't know how many there were, but it's possible. There was a good gathering of people that they went to share with. Maybe they even returned back to their normal rendezvous spot, which was the upper room.

They had gone there with Jesus, for the Passover. They had gone back there waiting for the promised holy spirit. And that room was shaken. Possibly. They went back there. We find that in chapter one and two, but they were sharing and listening to one another, which I believe is a huge part of the church that we would share in this communal aspect, sharing life, listening to one another ministering by just being present with each other.

Okay. So they reported to their friends. Well, what did they say? What do they. Verse 23 again. And they reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them. Now, if you remember back a few weeks, we know what the chief priests and elders said to those people. We can't deny the evidence. This lame man is healed and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem can tell that it's true, that this actually happened in order that the name of Jesus does not spread any further, say no more.

Now, remember, these are religious leaders. And if you're thinking like me, you're probably thinking, why would these guys be so upset about people being healed? What's the big deal? Aren't they like these religious isn't this helping the movement of religion go forward. But instead, these religious leaders were annoyed.

Their power was threatened. These common and unschooled men are making Jesus more popular than. This can't be. And so let's quiet them. Peter and John, as we just read a few minutes ago, basically responded with, well, we're going to let God decide what we do, but thanks for the advice. The leaders threatened them again, sent them away for, there was nothing to punish.

Notice what Peter and John don't report to their friends guys are not going to believe this. We just got let out of prison. And these, these guys are terrible. They were all these cool things to be religious. And they're just terrible people. They're horrible. Their hearts are just awful. I mean, can you believe it?

They have the nerve even to threaten us a second time after we were released, they are full some religious leaders. They are no, they simply reported what was said. Nothing more, not in spite or an anger, not frustrated. Just this is what happened. So you might be saying at this point, Mike, nice job. But I think you're kind of reading between the lines, pulling something out.

That's not there. I mean, the verse was they reported what had been said, but if you are thinking about this and reading what comes before this part and what comes after, maybe you could call it an reading above and below the lines. There was no fight that happened in the temple courts. There was no further punishment.

In fact, they said we couldn't find anything to punish Peter and John left peacefully. And what comes next. We'll see in the attitude of their prayer, they came back and reported. What had been told to them. They gave an accurate non exaggerated account of what had gone on. I'm going to suggest the absence of this grumbling or complaining.

Displays the confident trust they had in their sovereign Lord. This is the formation of God's spirit in them. This is what happened. Uh, these are hard things, but this is just what happened, uh, sharing of, and a sharing in the difficult moments as the church. That's what church is about rather than shaking our fist at God, rather than our first response, being an upheaval of my whole inner life, they share, they pray, they trust together.

Okay. Second, the prayer of the gathering together. And we'll read this again. If you're there chapter four, verse 24, and when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them who through the mouth of our father, David, your servant said by the holy.

Why did the Gentiles rage and the peoples plot in vain, the Kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his anointed. For truly in this city, there were gathered together against Jesus whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius pilot, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, verse 28, to do whatever your hand and your planned had predestined to take place.

That's a highlight right there, verse 28. And now Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness. While you stretch out your hand to heal and signs and wonders have performed through the name of your holy servant. Jesus, why do you think they first turned to prayer?

Kind of, kind of tagged off of the, the last section here, but this is really out of a spirit of thankfulness and. Remember who had detained them, these aren't religious leaders and not just some religious leaders, there was the high priest Caiaphas, his son-in-law I'm sorry, the high priest Caiaphas and Annas his father-in-law.

This is the highest ecclesiastical gathering possible. At this time they're threatening, they're saying quiet down, they're holding you in prison. This is a big deal. And then they got released, which is an even crazier deal. I think they probably felt this appropriate weight of what was happening. So it's possible.

The reason why they might've turned to prayer is that it wasn't really a turning after all they possibly had been in a conversation of prayer with one another throughout this entire process, as they felt the weight of what was going on. It's natural to pause and pray. If you are in step with God's spirit and what he is doing, but if it's not natural for you, maybe you could just say, well, that's because it's 20, 22, right?

If something of this caliber had happened in our day and age immediately, the news would be all over this opinions form. Social media would have a firestorm. There'd be people live streaming from five different angles with opinions, just to make sure that the evidence was there. There isn't a huge discussion recorded in scripture, but there is prayer that's recorded in scripture.

I've said many times, probably along with many of you. Yeah. Well I'm really busy and prayer is just so hard and it says a long time you've got to spend and talking with God wherever he is. You can't even see him. Prayers so difficult. I'm too busy for prayer. It's a season of busy-ness and maybe when I slow down, I'll have some time to do that.

But if we're honest, at times, it's more than a season. It's possibly a lifestyle that I, or you live in a season where we're just going too fast. We're too busy to pray, been reading a book that maybe some of you are familiar with. It is John mark. Homer's the ruthless elimination of hurry. And some of you, as you read that felt the same conviction that I did just by the title.

Haven't even cracked open the book, right? If so, pay attention to that. Go on Amazon, pick it up. It is a great read so far. Here's a quote that talks about this idea of. For many of us, the great danger is not that we will renounce our faith in Jesus. It's that we'll become so distracted and rushed and preoccupied that we will settle for a mediocre version of it.

We will just skim our lives instead of actually living them. Man, that's the hurry disaster that can happen. This is something that CS Lewis talks about in his book, the Screwtape letters, right? There's this series of letters from the senior demon named Screwtape to his nephew. Wormwood wormwood is a fledgling junior demon.

He's learning he's in training. How we can take after get after God's people and bring them away from God there's details about how they contempt or trick or lore Christians away from their first love. One of the themes throughout this satirical. Focuses on distractions. You know, don't try so much as to pull them directly away from God.

Maybe just make them so preoccupied with other good seemingly good things. And eventually they simply won't have time for God anymore. Sadly, this is not satire. This is our life story. Right? We become so busy that prayer just seems like, Ugh, it's so difficult. And yet we've been offered this two way connection, the street.

We can have just access to talking to the living. God, if you're following along, I'm going to ask you not to jump, to let her be, which would be natural, but to jump, to let her see, because the outline is out of order and that's on me. So jump to let her see, how did they pray? So they prayed. How did they.

First 24. And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together. The word together also translated with one accord. They joined in their heart and their purpose, no disagreements in what they were praying or fights or discussions about talking. They just joined together and prayed. And maybe there's a lesson here for people who are maybe newer in their faith, or maybe you feel just intimidated by the idea of prayer, especially prayer in a group of people together.

That is like the worst, right? Maybe this is a lesson for you. That's gathered here learning how to pray. That part of prayer is really this joining together in unity. Maybe you're not the one speaking the words of prayer, but maybe you're joining in your heart in this agreement posture. You're saying, yes, Lord.

I want this to be. Did you know, that's actually what the word amen means. So let it be, we're saying all the same thing we're joining together. We're agreeing mutually God, you are our only hope. Okay. Now we'll go to letter P to whom did they pray? They're joining together. They have the same heart and who are they praying to?

So it might be a slam dunk, sovereign Lord verse 24, who made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them. 25, who through the mouth of our father, David, your servant said by the holy spirit, sovereign Lord, they're praying to Lord of all creation. You made the heavens the earth, the sea and everything in them.

They're speaking back praise and recognition of who the God is that they're talking to. You are the one that we pray to. God's sovereignty also exists here in how. You're the one holy spirit who put the words into David's mouth many, many years before us, you've been at work. The words of Psalm chapter two are the words that they pen here.

And these are your words. We're recognizing holy spirit. It continues on even into the next question. What did they pray after that? What are they praying for? Verse 25? Why did the Gentiles rage and the peoples plot in vain, the Kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his anointed.

I think the incredible part of prayer that we should actively engage in, as we pray is speaking back the words that God has spoken to us, to him. Let me say that again, part of the incredible joy of prayer is getting to just speak back the words that God has already spoken to us and possibly there is in that process, a reminder of who God is a reminder of his truth, a reminder of what he's done there, praying back Psalm chapter two, God, these are your words.

Remember this, help us to remember this. We know God is not first after my own. Creativity is some cool words that I can say to win. God's favor over in prayer. Possibly. We're just saying, be who you are. God you've said these things remind us of your truth. Help us to trust you. They use the Psalm chapter two, holy spirit, given to David ancient prayer in their current pre.

Let's keep going on. Verse 27 for truly in this city, there were gathered together against your holy servant. Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius pilot. These rulers, you gather them together along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel. Again, you've already highlighted at verse 28 to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.

What David said prophetically way back in Psalm chapter two happened God predetermined preplanned for ordained the events all surrounding Jesus. Just sit with that for a minute. This is not an accidental death of Christ that happened on the cross, nor was it an accident that he rose from the grave. But that actually there is some divine intention at work in this whole process, which you might say, well, of course, but do we think that often, do we think that if God was in charge, so in charge in that moment, how could he not be in charge of all things that somehow the, the free will of man and to exorcize evil and sin.

And at the very same time, the sovereign God can somehow exist together. I can't really explain that to you. It gets confusing. When you think about it, it's a paradox that I'm not sure either you or I can fully understand and grasp on this earth. And it's hard theologically dense things to digest. But it's not an isolated truth that happens just here in the book of acts.

I want to walk you through a few places, Ellis that we see God's sovereignty exists. The true God of yesterday, today, and forevermore God being sovereign over all things. Joseph, remember the story of Joseph, his brothers sold him into slavery and left him for dead years later, the brothers come back finding themselves graveling at his feet for mercy because they had no food.

They needed help. And they were at his mercy Genesis chapter 50. These are the words Joseph said to them. Don't be afraid. Brothers, am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish. What's now being done. The saving of many lives. In the face of sin and evil intent, God is still accomplishing his plan.

He is sovereign over all things. Psalm 76, 10 says even the wrath of man will praise you. Even the sinful choices. God, you somehow, through all of this, you are at work doing your sovereign plan. Colossians one for by him, all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether Thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through him and for him.

And he is before all things and in him, all things hold together. God is sovereign over all things. Job, a man who lost everything cries out in his deep pain in job chapter 42. I know that you can do all things and that no purpose of yours can be forward. Job also set of God. As he's losing his health, his abilities, his family has property.

Everything is being taken away. He says this of God, God, you're the one that loads the clouds with moisture. He scatters his lightening through them at his direction. They swirl around over the face of the whole earth to do whatever he commends them. After all this happened in job's life, he prays this, the Lord gave and the Lord has taken away.

Blessed be the name of the Lord in all this job did not sin or charge God with wrongdoing. God is sovereign over all things. The followers of Jesus asked him as he's walking throughout and chapter nine of John rabbi who sinned this man or his parents that he was born blind. Jesus answered the followers.

It was not this man that sin. Or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. God is sovereign over all things, including what we might in our day and age call a disability. God speaks to Moses in the book of Exodus, chapter four, who made man's mouth who makes him mute or deaf or seeing or blind?

Is it not? I, the Lord God is sovereign over all things. Second Kings, we have this incredible account of the prophet. Elisha. The servant woke him up early one morning and said, oh God, the throngs of the enemy are, are all around us. We're doomed. We are in for it. We're going to die. He panicked. What should we do?

Elisha says, don't be afraid for those who are with us are more than those who are with them. And in second Kings chapter six, we hear these words. Oh, Lord, please open my servant's eyes that he may see. And the Lord granted that prayer, the Lord opened the eyes of the servant and he saw and behold the mountain was full of horses and chariots and fire all around Elisha, Jackie hill Perry put out this quote this week that just man just spoke to me.

She says, regrettably, most of us move about like Elijah servant skedaddling through life. As if everything we can see is all there is to see ignoring the spiritual reality of everything. Angels, demons, incarnate God in heaven, spirit of God on earth in us. God is sovereign over all things. What about the moment on the cross?

When it seemed like God had lost, he was sovereign over, even that Isaiah 53 10, yet it was the Lord's will to crush him. And cause him to suffer. And though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin. He will see his offspring and prolong his days and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand, even in the death of his own son, God is sovereign over all things.

Hebrew says that Jesus on the cross, the, all the stuff that was there, he looked through the cross and for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, there's more than we can see, which brings us to one of the hardest truths that maybe you're hearing all throughout these passages. And I don't want to share it lightly or flippantly this morning because all of us are walking through or have walked through or we'll walk through situations and difficulties in life that are unexplainable confusing.

And hard, but if God is sovereign over all things, that must mean if it didn't go. As I planned, God has another plan that I cannot see. That must mean that if my circumstances change, he must be up to something greater than I can even comprehend that whatever comes my way has passed through God's hand first, if the all powerful God didn't stop that or move this or change that or operate in my timetable or keep us together or work.

According to my plan, it must mean he's up to something that I can't see for his ultimate glory and our good God is sovereign over all things. And so when Peter and John walk out of that prison cell the next morning and they walk in and they report to their friends, they pray sovereign Lord. Your hand has prepared and planned for this all to happen.

This is not a persecution first. This is the sovereign God at work.

They can and do pray with deep gratitude and conviction that God still is sovereign over all things. So Peter and John and the other followers, they, they pray this. And now Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness. While you stretch out your hand to heal and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant.

Jesus. Bring it on. Do what only your spirit can do. They want more? And finally, God's response the answer of the triangle. When they had prayed the place in which they were gathered was shaken and they were filled with the holy spirit and continue to speak the word of God with boldness quickly, the physical ramifications, the very walls of the room shook reminds us back again to chapters one and two, where they felt the presence of God.

The spirit ushered in a physical presence in the spiritual sense. Verse 31, they were filled with the holy spirit. Remember, these are not unsaved people who didn't already have the spirit. Probably it was the apostles and some of their close friends. So what does it mean that they were filled with the spirit?

Possibly. There's a thought here that for followers of Jesus, the spirit comes in and gives us a new boldness in moments as we're, as we're. The holy spirit is in us, dwells within us. And he's encouraging in a new way to walk and take steps in obedience with him, a fresh wind that comes in shakes the room up.

Finally, what does the spirit produce? They continue to speak the word with boldness God's spirit alone gives them boldness. It's a received boldness. This is not a human conjuring. This is not some personality trait where they get aggressive and they go and preach the word of God with aggression. This is not an exercise of their flesh or a personality trait that was innate inside of them.

This is not an empty bunch of words that they spend together. This is boldness telling it all confidently that is given to them by the. It didn't strategize more. They didn't try harder with a pep talk. They don't actually even pray for safety and protection or lock their doors. They don't pray cursing on the leaders that have done such evil.

They receive a spiritual boldness and continue to do God's work formation. The whole idea that God's spirit is changing us and making us that we might be sent on mission for him. God will use whatever means necessary in his mission.

I don't know where you are this morning, but I look up and see the spirit of God at work to the ends of the earth in Jerusalem, Judea Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. This is the whole point of church. Maybe you came this morning and you thought it was about something different. Allowing the spirit of God to use the word of God, to shape us as the people of God.

That is the church. Peter and John had an experience. They had that, they came back to the church, they prayed together and out the door. They go onto the next thing over the last number of years, my job was youth pastor you saw up there. I kind of like pulled back out of that. The pandemic youth, pastor zoom, um, made me quit.

Um, and I had over the years, a unique chance to watch in the lives of students in some really incredible ways, moments where I just kind of felt like an Elijah moment where like God peels back the, the, the shroud and I can see something like, wow, God is doing something incredible in your life. Some of you may remember a woman, um, from years ago named Virginia.

She was a special woman that always saw God's armies on the hill. When it seemed like the doors were closing, she was able to peel back those layers and show us what God was doing. She was a special woman that always came to me and just would pray with me and was concerned about my own formation because she was being formed, not just to be a great lady of God, even though she was, she was always kingdom minded focused on a mission 24 7.

There were times when she called out, uh, and spoke that God was being faithful, even when I couldn't see it. And there were also these times where she would come and she would grab my hand and out of her pocket, she would pull a $5 gift card. And she would say, I know my son is really tough. Um, keeping his youth pastor here's $5 to Starbucks.

And she was right. Um, he was a difficult child. Um, Virginia is living totally free now in the presence of her savior Jesus, after a long battle with cancer. And she came back around before the end, she had moved out to Arizona and had come back to visit with people in the area. And before she passed, she handed out these to people.

This is actually pastor Jared's Baton. She handed a Baton to people and said, keep going. The mission of God is not over. It continues on the inside. There's a letter that she signed as she does all of the cards that she ever signed to me through the years. And probably many of you in this room via Jesus.

This is from Jesus. This is your home. Her work continues through many of you today. And some of you probably received one of these buttons from Virginia out in the lobby, but specifically that work continues through that really tough son. Paskel Paskel and Taylor live here in south Jersey. They moved from, uh, from Arizona out to here, and they are doing an incredible work of God here in south Jersey.

And we're going to take the last four and a half, five minutes, because I want you to hear the work that God's doing in Pascoe and Taylor. So Pascoe

Good morning. Yeah, I was trying to think, are there any analogies or anything I could say to express how difficult of a child I was in this building, but I don't think mark would like me to tell most of them. So I'll just leave it at Mike was right. And God, uh, did an incredible work. Many of you might sit there and think, wow, what a legacy.

Um, he's continuing of his mom's, but if my mom were here today, she would shout out from the S from the pews. You're continuing God's legacy, not mine. Um, so it's just a wonderful thing to be able to do ministry. Um, and a lot of people will ask, why would you move to higher taxes and worse weather and potholes all over, or really God put a calling on my wife and I's heart for us to move back to New Jersey for her for the first time ever.

She'd only visited once. And a lot of people visit once and think, man, not going back there, but. My wife visited once it said, this is where God's calling us. We had been praying about going into ministry missions. Full-time we were in ministry in Arizona and we felt really called to work with youth in south Jersey, specifically Burlington and Camden county, which is exactly what God called us to do.

And how's this doing now? So it's an amazing thing that this is what happened. So the last thing I want to share with you about our calling before I get into what we do is, um, I don't know if you know this, but amongst gen Z, from all the statistics that I can see, and this is why we feel called to New Jersey.

New Jersey is by far the lowest state amongst evangelical Christians with gen Z students. So right now, more so than ever before in the history of our nation is our state have the lowest number of Christian high school students. That's why God called us here. And that's exactly what we get to do with FCA.

One thing I want to read real quick, it's actually from acts. And so it's ironic that you guys are on ax. And this is my verse is acts one eight, but you will receive power when the holy spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth, what God called me and my wife back to my Jerusalem to do ministry.

And here's what we do. So here's a picture of me and my wife. There she is. Um, and we'll be at a booth out there, so you'll get to meet her. But with FCA, what we do is we work in the schools to bring the gospel into the schools and you might be sitting there thinking, how is that even possible? Well, God moves in miraculous ways and God moves to, and through the high school student to, and through the athlete, to, and through the coach, we find ways to get the gospel into schools all over.

And here's a list of some of the schools we are currently have the gospel. Right in your back yard, we have Seneca Shawnee Cherokee. Moorsetown Riverside, uh, is brand new this year. We were able to get it off the ground, cherry hill, east, west Kings Christian school. Christian schools need Jesus as well, um, RV and let it be, I say that proudly as a King's alum.

So, um, yeah, and all of these schools might be right in your backyard. Backyard. These schools, you might even be a teacher at a, you might be a high school student there, and if you are, please come see me. Um, but what we do is we start these things called huddles, which are small groups for kids to meet at.

And what I like to describe to non-Christians as a safe place to fellowship and grow deeper in the word for kids to support each other. It's a hundred percent student led. Of course, I go in and I mentor a lot of these students, but it's a hundred percent student led. And so for the most part, the students are leading each other.

And in all these schools, the students are going through what we call a huddle, but it's, it's basically like a Bible study, um, where kids in the school get to do this. And so we've seen such tremendous growth. And before I get into that growth, cause I know I'm going to run out of time quick. Here's some of the schools we want to be in.

We are want to be in all public high schools in Burlington county. We want to be in private schools like don't holy cross, Bishop Eustace, and as many middle schools as we can possibly fit. I know that's big because when you think about it, I think there's 21 public high schools in Burlington county. And you think.

How are they going to get in there? Riverside's never had a Christian club in the history of their school that I've been able to see. Um, and it got started there. So God moves awesome ways in these schools. So keep moving real quick. Um, picture Cherokee. We've seen really awesome growth back from COVID.

Um, and then we have Kings Christian school. They have a boys huddle, a girls huddle, and a middle school huddle. And it's been awesome to see, we do events like worship nights and things like that, where we see lots of kids come to Christ at this worship night alone. I think we had like 20 kids come to Christ, which is just a blessing, um, from all over.

And then these are the most important pictures here. This is the lobby, but these are 25 high school students, um, that are being trained in leadership. And then directly because of these leadership trainings, we see kids come to Christ because these kids are now. They're going out and beating the disciples.

They're sharing the gospel, they're doing the evangelism, they're doing the discipleship. And so some of these schools, here's another one. Um, like this last picture we'll end with is west Cheerio. West four weeks ago, had two students in their huddle. And now directly due to this training that God allows these kids' hearts to move.

They had this many this last week, and I think it was 1213 in that picture, but they're averaging 15 a week now. So these trainings, you might not think 15 kids is a lot. Trust me in a school like cherry hill west. That's a lot of kids getting out to a Bible club on a week to week basis. So we are blessed.

God is moving and yeah, I'd love for you to learn more about our mission, to change the hearts and minds of people in south Jersey, one student at a time. So we have a lunch at next Sunday. If you want to learn even more about FCA, I'd love to tell you more. Um, we have a sign up sheet in the back, uh, at our table.

My wife will be out there. So if you beat me out there, my wife's there. You can sign up and we have some desserts for you, some little snacks, and that's everything I have for you. So thank you so much for me to come up and speak.

Hey, we're gonna, we're gonna close our service just in prayer. Would you stand with us as we pray?

God, we, we love you. And as we take steps in the spirit to trust what your spirit is doing, open our eyes to see what we can not see. Show us God, um, ways that you will knock down barriers in the name of Christ in these high schools and middle schools and in hearts and lives in this room. Even God, we thank you that you are sovereign over all things and that you guide us to trust you as the church.

We love you and pray these things in your name. Amen. You are]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/formation-for-mission 64b155d0-c691-4d32-a310-41c2ada8a637 Sun, 24 Apr 2022 14:47:34 GMT <div data-html="true">Acts 4:23-31 <br /><br /> When they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them. <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> Well, good morning to you, uh, here and in Collingswood, uh, if you were here a few weeks back, what a gift it was to, uh, share with the colleagues would campus in a joint campus, baptism service. <br /><br /> How many were here for that? Okay, great. Look right. If your hand wasn't up, you can count their attendance later. Now. Uh, it was a true joy to, to be together, partnered together as one church, two campuses celebrating the work of Christ in us as a whole body together. And so, uh, we are grateful for you and Collingswood. <br /><br /> And again, here in Mount Laurel. Once you to turn to the book of acts, we're going to be there again this morning. We are not deviating from that for a number of months. Uh, the book of acts chapter four. Uh, if you have a Bible there in the pew, you can turn to page 8 58. That's where we'll be this morning. <br /><br /> We're picking up on the ongoing narrative of the early church as God's church. Remembering what has happened. Jesus has died rose again, spent 40 days with his disciples and then ascends to heaven. And despite, uh, all of the odds there, the disciples come in. And in Jerusalem, they begin praying, waiting for the promised holy spirit and then like a rushing wind. <br /><br /> The spirit comes in the sens upon the gathered people, many heard about Jesus, many heard about Christ because of the way the spirit moved and gave all those people different languages to speak. And so the crowds that were gathered, heard the gospel in their own native tongue, the number increased day by day. <br /><br /> And there was an incredible explosion of this fellowship gathering together, sharing meals, caring for needs, worshiping together. Peter and John were two of the apostles that had gone to the temple to pray. And as pastor mark shared a couple of weeks ago, we have this account of a lame man who was there. <br /><br /> He'd been there for 40 years at the temple gates. And what happened was through the power of the holy spirit in the name of Jesus. This man was healed. Crowd's surrounded the apostles at this crazy work that had happened of the spirit 5,000 men and many more women and children king to know of Christ that day. <br /><br /> Peter and John were then confronted by some of those religious leaders. They decided to hold them in prison overnight. And that's kind of where our passage picks up this morning. I want you to listen in just kind of a few verses before where we get to today on the annoyed council. That is the chief priests, the elders, the religious leaders, and the rulers in acts four verse 16. <br /><br /> What should we do with these men? For the notable sign has been performed through them is evident to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem and we cannot deny it. But in order that it may spread no further among the people let us warn them not to speak. This name anymore. So they called them and charge them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. <br /><br /> But Peter and John answered them, whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge for, we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard. And when they had further threatened them, they let them go finding no way to punish them because of the people for all were praising God for what had happened. <br /><br /> And here's where we'll land this morning. So when they, this Peter and John were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders elders had said to them. And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them who through the mouth of our father, David, your servant said by the holy spirit, why did the Gentiles rate. <br /><br /> And the people's plot in vain, the Kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his anointed. For truly in this city, there were gathered together against your holy servant, Jesus, whom you anointed both Herod and Pontius pilot, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. <br /><br /> And now Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with boldness. While you stretch out your hand to heal and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus. And when they had prayed the place in which they were gathered together with shaken, and they were all filled with the holy spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness, let's pray this morning. <br /><br /> Father son, holy spirit. We are so grateful for the evidence of your work all throughout this passage. Lord, we thank you for the gift of your spirit that provides boldness, where we might be nervous or scared or feel like cowards sharing the hope of Christ. Lord, we thank you that because of Christ, we have something to share. <br /><br /> We have the very words written down that you got have been sovereign over throughout all the ages that we can come to and receive truth from this morning. Might it be truth that cuts to our hearts and changes us. And may we see your goodness in this passage this morning, change us as a church. We pray in your name? <br /><br /> Amen. Well, I've titled the sermon, uh, the name of a class that I had in seminary, it's called formation for mission. Uh, the hope of this is that we would kind of catch that vision for what the church is about. We've talked about this concept. I've talked about it in the DNA podcasts that pastor mark, pastor Ben and I put together the purpose of the church, the goal of the church today and the early church then is what we'll unpack this morning that we would be formed so that we can be sent formation for mission being formed for a God ordained, redemptive purpose. <br /><br /> And just so we're clear, let me define church for us. This. Many of you got in your cars and you either navigated to one of two places, 15, 20 Hanes Fort Mount Laurel road, Mount Laurel, New Jersey, maybe you know how to get here or seven, 10 callings app in Collingswood though, I hear there is still debate over if it's in Collingswood or another city or town, or you guys are probably laughing about that in Collingswood, but the church is not a building. <br /><br /> The church is not a building. The church has a building, but it's not a building. The church is the gathering of God's people. And if that feels a little unsettling to you, I want you to dial it back just over two years ago, to March, 2020, the church has a building, but at the time we weren't using it church didn't stop anybody. <br /><br /> Remember this visual we have, right? This is church. The church has a building, but the church is not a building. Yes. This is zoom youth group. It was about as awful as you could think. Um, what happened at this point is no one knew how to use zoom. And for the first time we said, let's go. We had all the kids on the screen. <br /><br /> And, um, I hadn't learned how to lock down. Some of those meeting controls yet. So kids were sharing their screen, unmuting themselves, chatting drawling across the, I have no idea where that was coming from. Oh, we had church, the church has a building, but the church is not a building. The church is the gathering of God's people who are being shaped and formed that we might be sent. <br /><br /> The church is a God-given foundation that we can stand on the three in one father, son, and holy spirit, the word of God. And though imperfect. People make up the church. God has given us this gathering of people to stand with. In fact, it's the very words of Jesus in Matthew, chapter 16, as he's talking to Peter, he says, and I tell you, you are Peter. <br /><br /> And on this rock, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not stand against it. As we work through the passage this morning, we're going to see that church, the gates of hell will not prevail against it. Church in the book of acts, let's look at verse 23. As we begin our three sections this morning, rich is really the report of the apostles. <br /><br /> Here's how far we're going to get verse 23, when they were released, they went to their friends. We're not going to go any further in this first point, because it's so easy to pass this by. Right? It's so easy to jump onto the things that we think are more interesting, but they went back to their friends. <br /><br /> Who did they report to probably somewhere the friend group between 5,000 men, women, children, and just the apostles. We don't know how many there were, but it's possible. There was a good gathering of people that they went to share with. Maybe they even returned back to their normal rendezvous spot, which was the upper room. <br /><br /> They had gone there with Jesus, for the Passover. They had gone back there waiting for the promised holy spirit. And that room was shaken. Possibly. They went back there. We find that in chapter one and two, but they were sharing and listening to one another, which I believe is a huge part of the church that we would share in this communal aspect, sharing life, listening to one another ministering by just being present with each other. <br /><br /> Okay. So they reported to their friends. Well, what did they say? What do they. Verse 23 again. And they reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them. Now, if you remember back a few weeks, we know what the chief priests and elders said to those people. We can't deny the evidence. This lame man is healed and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem can tell that it's true, that this actually happened in order that the name of Jesus does not spread any further, say no more. <br /><br /> Now, remember, these are religious leaders. And if you're thinking like me, you're probably thinking, why would these guys be so upset about people being healed? What's the big deal? Aren't they like these religious isn't this helping the movement of religion go forward. But instead, these religious leaders were annoyed. <br /><br /> Their power was threatened. These common and unschooled men are making Jesus more popular than. This can't be. And so let's quiet them. Peter and John, as we just read a few minutes ago, basically responded with, well, we're going to let God decide what we do, but thanks for the advice. The leaders threatened them again, sent them away for, there was nothing to punish. <br /><br /> Notice what Peter and John don't report to their friends guys are not going to believe this. We just got let out of prison. And these, these guys are terrible. They were all these cool things to be religious. And they're just terrible people. They're horrible. Their hearts are just awful. I mean, can you believe it? <br /><br /> They have the nerve even to threaten us a second time after we were released, they are full some religious leaders. They are no, they simply reported what was said. Nothing more, not in spite or an anger, not frustrated. Just this is what happened. So you might be saying at this point, Mike, nice job. But I think you're kind of reading between the lines, pulling something out. <br /><br /> That's not there. I mean, the verse was they reported what had been said, but if you are thinking about this and reading what comes before this part and what comes after, maybe you could call it an reading above and below the lines. There was no fight that happened in the temple courts. There was no further punishment. <br /><br /> In fact, they said we couldn't find anything to punish Peter and John left peacefully. And what comes next. We'll see in the attitude of their prayer, they came back and reported. What had been told to them. They gave an accurate non exaggerated account of what had gone on. I'm going to suggest the absence of this grumbling or complaining. <br /><br /> Displays the confident trust they had in their sovereign Lord. This is the formation of God's spirit in them. This is what happened. Uh, these are hard things, but this is just what happened, uh, sharing of, and a sharing in the difficult moments as the church. That's what church is about rather than shaking our fist at God, rather than our first response, being an upheaval of my whole inner life, they share, they pray, they trust together. <br /><br /> Okay. Second, the prayer of the gathering together. And we'll read this again. If you're there chapter four, verse 24, and when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them who through the mouth of our father, David, your servant said by the holy. <br /><br /> Why did the Gentiles rage and the peoples plot in vain, the Kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his anointed. For truly in this city, there were gathered together against Jesus whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius pilot, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, verse 28, to do whatever your hand and your planned had predestined to take place. <br /><br /> That's a highlight right there, verse 28. And now Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness. While you stretch out your hand to heal and signs and wonders have performed through the name of your holy servant. Jesus, why do you think they first turned to prayer? <br /><br /> Kind of, kind of tagged off of the, the last section here, but this is really out of a spirit of thankfulness and. Remember who had detained them, these aren't religious leaders and not just some religious leaders, there was the high priest Caiaphas, his son-in-law I'm sorry, the high priest Caiaphas and Annas his father-in-law. <br /><br /> This is the highest ecclesiastical gathering possible. At this time they're threatening, they're saying quiet down, they're holding you in prison. This is a big deal. And then they got released, which is an even crazier deal. I think they probably felt this appropriate weight of what was happening. So it's possible. <br /><br /> The reason why they might've turned to prayer is that it wasn't really a turning after all they possibly had been in a conversation of prayer with one another throughout this entire process, as they felt the weight of what was going on. It's natural to pause and pray. If you are in step with God's spirit and what he is doing, but if it's not natural for you, maybe you could just say, well, that's because it's 20, 22, right? <br /><br /> If something of this caliber had happened in our day and age immediately, the news would be all over this opinions form. Social media would have a firestorm. There'd be people live streaming from five different angles with opinions, just to make sure that the evidence was there. There isn't a huge discussion recorded in scripture, but there is prayer that's recorded in scripture. <br /><br /> I've said many times, probably along with many of you. Yeah. Well I'm really busy and prayer is just so hard and it says a long time you've got to spend and talking with God wherever he is. You can't even see him. Prayers so difficult. I'm too busy for prayer. It's a season of busy-ness and maybe when I slow down, I'll have some time to do that. <br /><br /> But if we're honest, at times, it's more than a season. It's possibly a lifestyle that I, or you live in a season where we're just going too fast. We're too busy to pray, been reading a book that maybe some of you are familiar with. It is John mark. Homer's the ruthless elimination of hurry. And some of you, as you read that felt the same conviction that I did just by the title. <br /><br /> Haven't even cracked open the book, right? If so, pay attention to that. Go on Amazon, pick it up. It is a great read so far. Here's a quote that talks about this idea of. For many of us, the great danger is not that we will renounce our faith in Jesus. It's that we'll become so distracted and rushed and preoccupied that we will settle for a mediocre version of it. <br /><br /> We will just skim our lives instead of actually living them. Man, that's the hurry disaster that can happen. This is something that CS Lewis talks about in his book, the Screwtape letters, right? There's this series of letters from the senior demon named Screwtape to his nephew. Wormwood wormwood is a fledgling junior demon. <br /><br /> He's learning he's in training. How we can take after get after God's people and bring them away from God there's details about how they contempt or trick or lore Christians away from their first love. One of the themes throughout this satirical. Focuses on distractions. You know, don't try so much as to pull them directly away from God. <br /><br /> Maybe just make them so preoccupied with other good seemingly good things. And eventually they simply won't have time for God anymore. Sadly, this is not satire. This is our life story. Right? We become so busy that prayer just seems like, Ugh, it's so difficult. And yet we've been offered this two way connection, the street. <br /><br /> We can have just access to talking to the living. God, if you're following along, I'm going to ask you not to jump, to let her be, which would be natural, but to jump, to let her see, because the outline is out of order and that's on me. So jump to let her see, how did they pray? So they prayed. How did they. <br /><br /> First 24. And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together. The word together also translated with one accord. They joined in their heart and their purpose, no disagreements in what they were praying or fights or discussions about talking. They just joined together and prayed. And maybe there's a lesson here for people who are maybe newer in their faith, or maybe you feel just intimidated by the idea of prayer, especially prayer in a group of people together. <br /><br /> That is like the worst, right? Maybe this is a lesson for you. That's gathered here learning how to pray. That part of prayer is really this joining together in unity. Maybe you're not the one speaking the words of prayer, but maybe you're joining in your heart in this agreement posture. You're saying, yes, Lord. <br /><br /> I want this to be. Did you know, that's actually what the word amen means. So let it be, we're saying all the same thing we're joining together. We're agreeing mutually God, you are our only hope. Okay. Now we'll go to letter P to whom did they pray? They're joining together. They have the same heart and who are they praying to? <br /><br /> So it might be a slam dunk, sovereign Lord verse 24, who made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them. 25, who through the mouth of our father, David, your servant said by the holy spirit, sovereign Lord, they're praying to Lord of all creation. You made the heavens the earth, the sea and everything in them. <br /><br /> They're speaking back praise and recognition of who the God is that they're talking to. You are the one that we pray to. God's sovereignty also exists here in how. You're the one holy spirit who put the words into David's mouth many, many years before us, you've been at work. The words of Psalm chapter two are the words that they pen here. <br /><br /> And these are your words. We're recognizing holy spirit. It continues on even into the next question. What did they pray after that? What are they praying for? Verse 25? Why did the Gentiles rage and the peoples plot in vain, the Kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his anointed. <br /><br /> I think the incredible part of prayer that we should actively engage in, as we pray is speaking back the words that God has spoken to us, to him. Let me say that again, part of the incredible joy of prayer is getting to just speak back the words that God has already spoken to us and possibly there is in that process, a reminder of who God is a reminder of his truth, a reminder of what he's done there, praying back Psalm chapter two, God, these are your words. <br /><br /> Remember this, help us to remember this. We know God is not first after my own. Creativity is some cool words that I can say to win. God's favor over in prayer. Possibly. We're just saying, be who you are. God you've said these things remind us of your truth. Help us to trust you. They use the Psalm chapter two, holy spirit, given to David ancient prayer in their current pre. <br /><br /> Let's keep going on. Verse 27 for truly in this city, there were gathered together against your holy servant. Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius pilot. These rulers, you gather them together along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel. Again, you've already highlighted at verse 28 to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. <br /><br /> What David said prophetically way back in Psalm chapter two happened God predetermined preplanned for ordained the events all surrounding Jesus. Just sit with that for a minute. This is not an accidental death of Christ that happened on the cross, nor was it an accident that he rose from the grave. But that actually there is some divine intention at work in this whole process, which you might say, well, of course, but do we think that often, do we think that if God was in charge, so in charge in that moment, how could he not be in charge of all things that somehow the, the free will of man and to exorcize evil and sin. <br /><br /> And at the very same time, the sovereign God can somehow exist together. I can't really explain that to you. It gets confusing. When you think about it, it's a paradox that I'm not sure either you or I can fully understand and grasp on this earth. And it's hard theologically dense things to digest. But it's not an isolated truth that happens just here in the book of acts. <br /><br /> I want to walk you through a few places, Ellis that we see God's sovereignty exists. The true God of yesterday, today, and forevermore God being sovereign over all things. Joseph, remember the story of Joseph, his brothers sold him into slavery and left him for dead years later, the brothers come back finding themselves graveling at his feet for mercy because they had no food. <br /><br /> They needed help. And they were at his mercy Genesis chapter 50. These are the words Joseph said to them. Don't be afraid. Brothers, am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish. What's now being done. The saving of many lives. In the face of sin and evil intent, God is still accomplishing his plan. <br /><br /> He is sovereign over all things. Psalm 76, 10 says even the wrath of man will praise you. Even the sinful choices. God, you somehow, through all of this, you are at work doing your sovereign plan. Colossians one for by him, all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether Thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through him and for him. <br /><br /> And he is before all things and in him, all things hold together. God is sovereign over all things. Job, a man who lost everything cries out in his deep pain in job chapter 42. I know that you can do all things and that no purpose of yours can be forward. Job also set of God. As he's losing his health, his abilities, his family has property. <br /><br /> Everything is being taken away. He says this of God, God, you're the one that loads the clouds with moisture. He scatters his lightening through them at his direction. They swirl around over the face of the whole earth to do whatever he commends them. After all this happened in job's life, he prays this, the Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. <br /><br /> Blessed be the name of the Lord in all this job did not sin or charge God with wrongdoing. God is sovereign over all things. The followers of Jesus asked him as he's walking throughout and chapter nine of John rabbi who sinned this man or his parents that he was born blind. Jesus answered the followers. <br /><br /> It was not this man that sin. Or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. God is sovereign over all things, including what we might in our day and age call a disability. God speaks to Moses in the book of Exodus, chapter four, who made man's mouth who makes him mute or deaf or seeing or blind? <br /><br /> Is it not? I, the Lord God is sovereign over all things. Second Kings, we have this incredible account of the prophet. Elisha. The servant woke him up early one morning and said, oh God, the throngs of the enemy are, are all around us. We're doomed. We are in for it. We're going to die. He panicked. What should we do? <br /><br /> Elisha says, don't be afraid for those who are with us are more than those who are with them. And in second Kings chapter six, we hear these words. Oh, Lord, please open my servant's eyes that he may see. And the Lord granted that prayer, the Lord opened the eyes of the servant and he saw and behold the mountain was full of horses and chariots and fire all around Elisha, Jackie hill Perry put out this quote this week that just man just spoke to me. <br /><br /> She says, regrettably, most of us move about like Elijah servant skedaddling through life. As if everything we can see is all there is to see ignoring the spiritual reality of everything. Angels, demons, incarnate God in heaven, spirit of God on earth in us. God is sovereign over all things. What about the moment on the cross? <br /><br /> When it seemed like God had lost, he was sovereign over, even that Isaiah 53 10, yet it was the Lord's will to crush him. And cause him to suffer. And though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin. He will see his offspring and prolong his days and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand, even in the death of his own son, God is sovereign over all things. <br /><br /> Hebrew says that Jesus on the cross, the, all the stuff that was there, he looked through the cross and for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, there's more than we can see, which brings us to one of the hardest truths that maybe you're hearing all throughout these passages. And I don't want to share it lightly or flippantly this morning because all of us are walking through or have walked through or we'll walk through situations and difficulties in life that are unexplainable confusing. <br /><br /> And hard, but if God is sovereign over all things, that must mean if it didn't go. As I planned, God has another plan that I cannot see. That must mean that if my circumstances change, he must be up to something greater than I can even comprehend that whatever comes my way has passed through God's hand first, if the all powerful God didn't stop that or move this or change that or operate in my timetable or keep us together or work. <br /><br /> According to my plan, it must mean he's up to something that I can't see for his ultimate glory and our good God is sovereign over all things. And so when Peter and John walk out of that prison cell the next morning and they walk in and they report to their friends, they pray sovereign Lord. Your hand has prepared and planned for this all to happen. <br /><br /> This is not a persecution first. This is the sovereign God at work. <br /><br /> They can and do pray with deep gratitude and conviction that God still is sovereign over all things. So Peter and John and the other followers, they, they pray this. And now Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness. While you stretch out your hand to heal and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant. <br /><br /> Jesus. Bring it on. Do what only your spirit can do. They want more? And finally, God's response the answer of the triangle. When they had prayed the place in which they were gathered was shaken and they were filled with the holy spirit and continue to speak the word of God with boldness quickly, the physical ramifications, the very walls of the room shook reminds us back again to chapters one and two, where they felt the presence of God. <br /><br /> The spirit ushered in a physical presence in the spiritual sense. Verse 31, they were filled with the holy spirit. Remember, these are not unsaved people who didn't already have the spirit. Probably it was the apostles and some of their close friends. So what does it mean that they were filled with the spirit? <br /><br /> Possibly. There's a thought here that for followers of Jesus, the spirit comes in and gives us a new boldness in moments as we're, as we're. The holy spirit is in us, dwells within us. And he's encouraging in a new way to walk and take steps in obedience with him, a fresh wind that comes in shakes the room up. <br /><br /> Finally, what does the spirit produce? They continue to speak the word with boldness God's spirit alone gives them boldness. It's a received boldness. This is not a human conjuring. This is not some personality trait where they get aggressive and they go and preach the word of God with aggression. This is not an exercise of their flesh or a personality trait that was innate inside of them. <br /><br /> This is not an empty bunch of words that they spend together. This is boldness telling it all confidently that is given to them by the. It didn't strategize more. They didn't try harder with a pep talk. They don't actually even pray for safety and protection or lock their doors. They don't pray cursing on the leaders that have done such evil. <br /><br /> They receive a spiritual boldness and continue to do God's work formation. The whole idea that God's spirit is changing us and making us that we might be sent on mission for him. God will use whatever means necessary in his mission. <br /><br /> I don't know where you are this morning, but I look up and see the spirit of God at work to the ends of the earth in Jerusalem, Judea Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. This is the whole point of church. Maybe you came this morning and you thought it was about something different. Allowing the spirit of God to use the word of God, to shape us as the people of God. <br /><br /> That is the church. Peter and John had an experience. They had that, they came back to the church, they prayed together and out the door. They go onto the next thing over the last number of years, my job was youth pastor you saw up there. I kind of like pulled back out of that. The pandemic youth, pastor zoom, um, made me quit. <br /><br /> Um, and I had over the years, a unique chance to watch in the lives of students in some really incredible ways, moments where I just kind of felt like an Elijah moment where like God peels back the, the, the shroud and I can see something like, wow, God is doing something incredible in your life. Some of you may remember a woman, um, from years ago named Virginia. <br /><br /> She was a special woman that always saw God's armies on the hill. When it seemed like the doors were closing, she was able to peel back those layers and show us what God was doing. She was a special woman that always came to me and just would pray with me and was concerned about my own formation because she was being formed, not just to be a great lady of God, even though she was, she was always kingdom minded focused on a mission 24 7. <br /><br /> There were times when she called out, uh, and spoke that God was being faithful, even when I couldn't see it. And there were also these times where she would come and she would grab my hand and out of her pocket, she would pull a $5 gift card. And she would say, I know my son is really tough. Um, keeping his youth pastor here's $5 to Starbucks. <br /><br /> And she was right. Um, he was a difficult child. Um, Virginia is living totally free now in the presence of her savior Jesus, after a long battle with cancer. And she came back around before the end, she had moved out to Arizona and had come back to visit with people in the area. And before she passed, she handed out these to people. <br /><br /> This is actually pastor Jared's Baton. She handed a Baton to people and said, keep going. The mission of God is not over. It continues on the inside. There's a letter that she signed as she does all of the cards that she ever signed to me through the years. And probably many of you in this room via Jesus. <br /><br /> This is from Jesus. This is your home. Her work continues through many of you today. And some of you probably received one of these buttons from Virginia out in the lobby, but specifically that work continues through that really tough son. Paskel Paskel and Taylor live here in south Jersey. They moved from, uh, from Arizona out to here, and they are doing an incredible work of God here in south Jersey. <br /><br /> And we're going to take the last four and a half, five minutes, because I want you to hear the work that God's doing in Pascoe and Taylor. So Pascoe <br /><br /> Good morning. Yeah, I was trying to think, are there any analogies or anything I could say to express how difficult of a child I was in this building, but I don't think mark would like me to tell most of them. So I'll just leave it at Mike was right. And God, uh, did an incredible work. Many of you might sit there and think, wow, what a legacy. <br /><br /> Um, he's continuing of his mom's, but if my mom were here today, she would shout out from the S from the pews. You're continuing God's legacy, not mine. Um, so it's just a wonderful thing to be able to do ministry. Um, and a lot of people will ask, why would you move to higher taxes and worse weather and potholes all over, or really God put a calling on my wife and I's heart for us to move back to New Jersey for her for the first time ever. <br /><br /> She'd only visited once. And a lot of people visit once and think, man, not going back there, but. My wife visited once it said, this is where God's calling us. We had been praying about going into ministry missions. Full-time we were in ministry in Arizona and we felt really called to work with youth in south Jersey, specifically Burlington and Camden county, which is exactly what God called us to do. <br /><br /> And how's this doing now? So it's an amazing thing that this is what happened. So the last thing I want to share with you about our calling before I get into what we do is, um, I don't know if you know this, but amongst gen Z, from all the statistics that I can see, and this is why we feel called to New Jersey. <br /><br /> New Jersey is by far the lowest state amongst evangelical Christians with gen Z students. So right now, more so than ever before in the history of our nation is our state have the lowest number of Christian high school students. That's why God called us here. And that's exactly what we get to do with FCA. <br /><br /> One thing I want to read real quick, it's actually from acts. And so it's ironic that you guys are on ax. And this is my verse is acts one eight, but you will receive power when the holy spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth, what God called me and my wife back to my Jerusalem to do ministry. <br /><br /> And here's what we do. So here's a picture of me and my wife. There she is. Um, and we'll be at a booth out there, so you'll get to meet her. But with FCA, what we do is we work in the schools to bring the gospel into the schools and you might be sitting there thinking, how is that even possible? Well, God moves in miraculous ways and God moves to, and through the high school student to, and through the athlete, to, and through the coach, we find ways to get the gospel into schools all over. <br /><br /> And here's a list of some of the schools we are currently have the gospel. Right in your back yard, we have Seneca Shawnee Cherokee. Moorsetown Riverside, uh, is brand new this year. We were able to get it off the ground, cherry hill, east, west Kings Christian school. Christian schools need Jesus as well, um, RV and let it be, I say that proudly as a King's alum. <br /><br /> So, um, yeah, and all of these schools might be right in your backyard. Backyard. These schools, you might even be a teacher at a, you might be a high school student there, and if you are, please come see me. Um, but what we do is we start these things called huddles, which are small groups for kids to meet at. <br /><br /> And what I like to describe to non-Christians as a safe place to fellowship and grow deeper in the word for kids to support each other. It's a hundred percent student led. Of course, I go in and I mentor a lot of these students, but it's a hundred percent student led. And so for the most part, the students are leading each other. <br /><br /> And in all these schools, the students are going through what we call a huddle, but it's, it's basically like a Bible study, um, where kids in the school get to do this. And so we've seen such tremendous growth. And before I get into that growth, cause I know I'm going to run out of time quick. Here's some of the schools we want to be in. <br /><br /> We are want to be in all public high schools in Burlington county. We want to be in private schools like don't holy cross, Bishop Eustace, and as many middle schools as we can possibly fit. I know that's big because when you think about it, I think there's 21 public high schools in Burlington county. And you think. <br /><br /> How are they going to get in there? Riverside's never had a Christian club in the history of their school that I've been able to see. Um, and it got started there. So God moves awesome ways in these schools. So keep moving real quick. Um, picture Cherokee. We've seen really awesome growth back from COVID. <br /><br /> Um, and then we have Kings Christian school. They have a boys huddle, a girls huddle, and a middle school huddle. And it's been awesome to see, we do events like worship nights and things like that, where we see lots of kids come to Christ at this worship night alone. I think we had like 20 kids come to Christ, which is just a blessing, um, from all over. <br /><br /> And then these are the most important pictures here. This is the lobby, but these are 25 high school students, um, that are being trained in leadership. And then directly because of these leadership trainings, we see kids come to Christ because these kids are now. They're going out and beating the disciples. <br /><br /> They're sharing the gospel, they're doing the evangelism, they're doing the discipleship. And so some of these schools, here's another one. Um, like this last picture we'll end with is west Cheerio. West four weeks ago, had two students in their huddle. And now directly due to this training that God allows these kids' hearts to move. <br /><br /> They had this many this last week, and I think it was 1213 in that picture, but they're averaging 15 a week now. So these trainings, you might not think 15 kids is a lot. Trust me in a school like cherry hill west. That's a lot of kids getting out to a Bible club on a week to week basis. So we are blessed. <br /><br /> God is moving and yeah, I'd love for you to learn more about our mission, to change the hearts and minds of people in south Jersey, one student at a time. So we have a lunch at next Sunday. If you want to learn even more about FCA, I'd love to tell you more. Um, we have a sign up sheet in the back, uh, at our table. <br /><br /> My wife will be out there. So if you beat me out there, my wife's there. You can sign up and we have some desserts for you, some little snacks, and that's everything I have for you. So thank you so much for me to come up and speak. <br /><br /> Hey, we're gonna, we're gonna close our service just in prayer. Would you stand with us as we pray? <br /><br /> God, we, we love you. And as we take steps in the spirit to trust what your spirit is doing, open our eyes to see what we can not see. Show us God, um, ways that you will knock down barriers in the name of Christ in these high schools and middle schools and in hearts and lives in this room. Even God, we thank you that you are sovereign over all things and that you guide us to trust you as the church. <br /><br /> We love you and pray these things in your name. Amen. You are</div> false no <![CDATA[Be Steadfast, Immovable]]> I Corinthians 15:58

“Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.”



Sermon Transcript:

Welcome everybody, if you're fast, you can get there. We only have one verse. We're going to be looking at this morning. If you're quick enough to get to first Corinthians 15, I'll meet you there, but I'm going to reading verse 58 of first Corinthians 15. As we focus on the greatest message that the church has to offer that Jesus Christ, the crucified savior has been risen from the grave.

He is risen. He is risen. Indeed. This is what we read that Paul tells us in the culminating verse, the first Corinthians chapter 15 verse 58, therefore my beloved brothers be steadfast immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord, your labor is not in vain. Let's pray together.

Lord, we gather in this beautiful Easter Sunday morning, God, even as we were out at the sunrise service this morning and heard all the birds and just, uh, as Ryan said, just how. Beautiful. It was to be able to join with all creation in giving praise to your name, as we did through song and responding to your word Lord, we come today to worship.

We want to bow the knee to Jesus Christ. We want to learn about him. We want to adore him better because of the things you remind us of in the scriptures. And I pray that you would teach us to that in this morning in Jesus name. Amen. This verse begins with the word, therefore, my beloved brothers and my pastor of many years ago, Carlos, Gina used to always say, whenever you find it, it therefore in the scripture, find out what it's therefore.

And so. We're looking at a big, therefore right here, he is actually looking back at the first 57 verses of first Corinthians 15, the most thorough presentation of the resurrection of Jesus Christ in the scriptures. And he's saying on the basis of all that, I've taught you about the resurrection of Jesus.

He says, be steadfast, be immovable. And so as we look at this, we are reminded that for the writers of the new Testament, the resurrection was not just theology. It was practical. It had remarkably important and inexhaustible ramifications. The ramification that Paul is highlighting this morning is that those who are God's children can be steadfast any.

Because of the resurrection of Christ, which of course leads to a simple question. What does that mean? Be steadfast, immovable. I mean, the word steadfast actually means stand your ground. The word immovable means don't be moved. So they both care the idea of, of holding your place. What place, I mean, what is the resurrection help us to, to hold our place in?

So we're not swayed and swept along. What's the spot that he's talking about? Well, there's only one other passage in the scripture that talks about this particular word that is used here. Be steadfast. And it is, it is used in first Peter 1 23. If we can just jump to that for a second. I know I switched order on your no, I'm sorry.

First Corinthians first. Burt is it Colassians I knew there was a one Colossians, 1 23, Colossians 1 23. Let nothing move you from the hope of the gospel. This is the sense he's talking about. There is a hope that you have because of the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, culminating in the resurrected work.

There is a hope that he says, and he says, don't be moved from that. Stand in your hope. And in first Corinthians 15, he is giving the reasons that we have hope because of the resurrection that gives us stability and an ability to not be swept along. I have quoted lots of times from the Lord of the rings.

JRR Tolkien's classic works. And one of my favorite scenes in the movie is a scene where Frodo and, and, um, Sam Gamgee are in the desolate, dark, broken world of more door, the land of darkness. And as they are there, they are on a quest that is far beyond themselves. And Sam is with Frodo at this time. And in this, if you can bring to that visual, there they are.

And as they are there, Sam turns the phone and he says, now you go to sleep first, Mr. Frodo, it's getting dark again. I reckon this day is nearly over. Frodo ends up going to sleep. And as we look back at, uh, We see that he leaves Frodo and he goes up and he looks out of this desolate broken, scary place.

Mount doom is in the distance that the dark tower of the dark Lord is there. And it's just a, uh, intimidating foreboding place of despondency. But as he's looking out, this is what happens. The lamb seemed full of creaking and cracking and sly noises, but there was no sound of voice or foot. The night sky was still dim and pale there peeping among the clouds above a dark tower.

High up in the mountains. Sam saw a white star twinkle for awhile. The beauty of it smote his heart. And he looked up out of the forsaken land and hope returned to him for like a shaft clear and cold. The thought pierced him that in the end, the shadow was only a small and passing thing. There was light and high beauty far beyond its.

Now for a moment, his own fate, and even his master's ceased to trouble him. He crawled back into the rambles and laid himself by Frodo side and putting away all fear. He cast himself into a deep and untroubled sleep for like a shaft clear and cold. The thought pierced him that in the end, the shadow was only a S a small and passing thing.

There was light and high beauty far beyond its reach. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is to his people that shaft of light shining in the darkness. It is the resurrection declares. There is hope in the midst of darkness in the midst of the most foreboding of life experiences in the most foreboding of lands, the resurrection of Jesus speaks to us that we can stand our ground.

That we can hold on to this, that we can be immovable. The hope that the good news of Jesus Christ gives you here in verse 58, is that we don't need to lose hope stand firm, be immovable because of all the truth that is found in this resurrection, there are fearful futures that some of you are facing there's conflict with people that you care about.

It casts a shadow there's habits and addictions and destructive behaviors. Does losses does worry some forecasters reminders of your own failures. All of them Rob us of hope. As we feel in the Shadowlands of life. Paul is here presenting to us five reasons why the resurrection enables you to. Immovable steadfast with hope, even in the midst of those seasons of life, I'd like to look at those five things quickly.

The first one I'll take the longest on because we find there are five reasons. First of all, because the resurrection of Jesus is real. If we look back in first Corinthians 15, we notice verse 20, this statement, but Christ has indeed been raised from the dead in the ESV version. It says, but Christ in fact, in reality has been raised from the dead many people.

I would guess a number here today of sorts who suddenly watching online, the resurrection, the idea of the resurrection is. It's like a good moral story. The symbol of a fresh start, the idea of a new beginning of picture of a man standing against tyranny or good triumphing over evil. But there's lots of fictional stories that, that do that for us right there.

Good moral tales. Most of the great tales of history, uh, the fables are a character that, that, that conquers things triumphs, but they look, but many individuals today would look at the resurrection with skepticism and its illness as if we think back in, in ancient times while they just, you know, they just accept fable as fact, but they were actually extremely skeptical.

Paul faced incredible cynicism. When you look at the book of acts, you see, he is constantly confronted in the Greco-Roman world with people who are questioning this reality because the primary message of the new Testament church. Was the resurrection of Jesus. They didn't primarily talk about his death on the cross because the death, the cross was non-functional without the resurrection.

We'll see why in a little bit. But the reality that these people went forth with was the resurrection it's real years ago, there was a movie out of the three Amigos, Steve Martin, Martin, short Chevy chase. Some of you have watched it obviously, um, others of your shit. It's a story of three guys. And the scene that I'm referring to is a scene where they're actors and their act is to be these, these heroic, um, Uh, Cowboys that come in and rescue towns and they're called into a town and they think they're called in his actors and they think they're on a movie set, but they're actually with real bandits, real bad guys, mean bad guys.

And so they're in the scene and they're acting out their thing. And then they come up to these bandits who just are incredulous and, and there's been noise and shooting in the air and everything. And while they're doing their stuff and they're trying to act like they're in a real battle. And then they know it's just an act.

All of a sudden, Steve Martin gets knocked off his horse and he's lying on the ground. His friends run over to them and they look at him and they realize he got wounded by a real bullet. And he's just overwhelmed. Fury and anger. And he goes up to these guys and they're all sitting on a horses in front of him.

And as he faces a me, he looks at the guy that he, that he thinks shot him. And he says, let me see your gun. And the leader of the bandit says, so he lets him look at his gun and he pulls out and he goes, oh right. I'll reel bullet. And then he says, you're in a lot of trouble, buddy. And at this moment, he's looking at the guy and the guy's looking at him with this very ominous perspective.

He glances over at the Bandido leader who has a low chuckle to him. And you can see the lights are just going out as Steve Martin is sitting there thinking, oh my goodness. So he says, hold on just a minute. And he turns around, he goes back to his buddies and you remember the scene. And he says, he sorta croaks it up.

It's real. It's real. And they said, what, what he said, it's real. We're going to be killed Martin short Ray Chevy to, he says, what are we going to do in Martin short responses? What we're sure not going to get paid that's for sure. It's real. I'm done them. I think a lot of people about the resurrection it's, it's cool.

It's a set. I mean, we got the tool lips, we got the lilies, we, we got the whole thing, you know, empty tomb. We got the songs, but for those of us that have embraced Jesus Christ as our savior and Lord it's real, it is the most real reality in our lives. He is risen. Indeed. In fact, this is what we have built our lives on ethic.

Paul says in his book, if, if he's not risen where the biggest fools on earth, because we're counting on and I want to highlight this because there's certainly many of you here that are processing, you know, and they think, well, the religion thing, I am glad it works for some people or maybe even you're attracted to, you know, things that seem to, I want you to know when we're talking about the resurrection of Jesus Christ, we really believe this man literally died and literally rose from the grave he is now living today.

Changing lives impacting people. Paul is saying here, if you are facing real trouble, real death, real calamity, real darkness, you need to embrace the facts. I'm talking about Henny. I received this idea of Jesus being raised from the dead. And he says, I received, and then I pass it onto another passage.

What do literally means? He says, I took it in, I took the data, I processed it and I'm passing it along because I've come to absolutely believe he is alive. And what he's saying to us here is if we're going to experience what he's talking about in this passage, there is the dawning reality. Oh my goodness.

It's real. The animal's real that's being used in, in the experience. It's why Paul said I interviewed 500 people who were, uh, prepared for Fest eye witnesses. And gathered the data. It's an interesting scene where he stands before a gripper. And as he stood before this, this king Agrippa, he argues with him and he's presenting to them his case.

And in that scene, Paul says Jesus was raised from the dead. The lessor leader, a guy named Festus says this, Paul, your great learning has made you mad. Now Paul does not say, look, just, just go with me here. You know, just turn off your brain. You don't really have to, I know this is impossible to really believe, but that's not what he says.

He says, he turns to a gripper who is the king of the area. And he says, you know, these things are true. This is 15 years after the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And he says here, you know, these things are. You can't dispose of the evidence. You can't produce a body. You can't, you can't get these witnesses.

We, why would they stand and testify about a dead guy with all they've lost because of that declaration? Why would they keep standing and saying it is true. You grew up a response, you know, he does not say there's no net data to back you up, Paul. He doesn't say there are no facts. We have his body. As a matter of fact, we have contrary testimonies.

No, he just says, well, pull your you're trying to make me a Christian. He's trying to deflect it. I want to just, I landed on this first point for a reason. I think it's important that you know, whether you embrace it or not. That we really believe those of us, that name, the name of Jesus Christ as our savior and Lord, that all we're talking about today, the hope is founded on the fact that we really believe that Jesus Christ is living and alive and is impacting our lives.

There's a second thing he says, you can have hope because the resurrection means you can be free of your sins. Verse 17 of chapter 15. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile. You are still in your sins. And he's saying not that you're going to be apart from the existence of sins, but you're going to be free of it.

Sentence at the penalty for sin has been paid by Jesus Christ on the cross. It was his statement, as we heard good Friday is one of the guys shared it's finished was one of the things she's a said. The word literally means the debt is paid. The resurrection is the proof that the payment worked. I've told this before.

I, I am, legendarily uncomfortable with papers in my pocket. I just, I don't know what it is. Everybody has. You have your problems. I have mine and I just don't like papers in my pocket. And it does not work well at Costco because at Costco, you go through the line and I love Costco and I go through the line of Costco and they give you the receipt and you have to hold onto that paper forever, all the way from the cash register to the door.

And I have on at least seven occasions done what I always do with papers. As soon as I see a trash, can I just dump it in and I get to the door. And so it's, I have the option of going all the way back and getting them to give me another one, which at the desk, which they're gracious. Or I can go back and be your pastor who is noticed to be diving into the trash can.

So on most occasions I go back, but that receipt is the proof that the payment has been made. And that's why they let me leave. And they check it with the products that we have and it's proof that they have been paid for the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the proof at the payment that he made on the cross, where he died for sinners like you and I was enough, the price was fully paid that no matter what you've done, and there are things you've done that you don't, maybe nobody knows, and you don't want anybody to know, but God knows.

And he says, yeah, that was included. Yeah. That's includes included what you did yesterday. It's included where you're going to do tomorrow. As a matter of fact, if you embrace me as your. Ultimately, he says, don't let anything move. You be a movable in your hope, because the resurrection says you've been freed from your sins.

Number three, because the resurrection means a new era has begun in first Corinthians 15 verse 20 to 23. It says this, but Christ has indeed been raised from the dead. The first fruits of those who have fallen asleep for since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man for, as an Adam, all die.

So in Christ all will be made alive, but each in his turn Christ the first fruits, then when he comes, those who belong to him, he's saying, Jesus is the first fruits of the resurrection. There is a world coming that he's the first fruits of the first fruit was the first thing taken out of the garden and taken out of the.

It's the picture of what is coming. He's saying the future of God has landed. It is the reality of what is coming. And Jesus resurrection has begun the, the, the, the arrival of that new era that will ultimately be what heaven and the new heavens and new earth is all about. We've been placed in a world that was designed to be lived with unselfishness, kindness, justice, and goodness.

We're built to serve each other and to serve God and to enjoy each other as we enjoy God, but it is not how we live. Of course, self is most important. We find ourselves living out abberant lives. The world does not work as it should. Our lives don't work as they should in the resurrection. A hole was punched in the walls of the.

And the shaft of light has begun to come in of this new era that Jesus' resurrection is the first fruits of it will ultimately cut calm and produce a time of complete restoration and a cosmic garden of Eden. But he says for now the resurrection has begun its work in our lives. In the resurrection of Jesus.

The shaft of light is shining in, in darkness has come light in. Despair has come hope. Now it's partial, but it's real. God is bringing in the reality of the future into the present in the lives of those that embrace him as their savior is still scarred, still broken with sin. However, the new era is beginning to shine.

When you forgive others, it's the light shining into a dark and world. When you have love with Jesus love when you have peace in the shadows, because you know, God is in control. When you find God to be the safest, most welcoming person in your life. And you long to have others know him in that same way, you're allowing more and more of the light of this shaft of light to shine in and through your life.

And Paul is here reminding us you're part of something, momentous, something you turn all the beachhead of God is expanding now in your generation. And if you've experienced Christ as your savior and Lord, he says that resurrected power is beginning to move incrementally. Two steps forward, sometimes three steps back.

It feels like, but it's beginning to manifest. The first fruits is manifesting himself in this error.

And he says in light of that, let nothing move you because the resurrection guarantees a new era has begun through the work of Christ resurrection. The fourth thing, he says reason because the resurrection shows that death is defeated. He says this in verse 55 to 57, where oh, death is your victory, where O death is your sting.

The sting of death is sin. And the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God. He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ, Aristotle called death. The thing to be feared because in his words, it appears to be the end of everything. Robert Green Ingersoll was one of America's most outspoken agnostics at his brother's funeral.

He had no words of hope. He said. Life has a narrow veil between the cold and barren peaks of two eternities. We strive in vain to look beyond the Heights, Francoise rebel a was equally pessimistic. I'm going to the great, perhaps he said, but death is not just the end of everything. It is not just a narrow veil between Baron peaks or a or entrance into the great, perhaps Jesus has assured that there is life eternal, that there is hope beyond this world.

And he says, take hope in this, no matter how dark grim difficult things are when you get the medical response that is terrorizing to you, he says, remember, don't be moved from your hope. The resurrection is real. The last thing he says, because the resurrection shows that your labor is. In vain. This is our verse.

Be beloved. My beloved brothers be steadfast immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord, your labor is not in vain. Some of you are weary in well-doing. Some of you are tired of trusting, tired of waiting, tired of fighting off the voices of condemnation, tempted, maybe moved into self-pity grumbling, envy.

We've all been there.

Jesus has says, Jesus is saying here we can be steadfast and immovable in the Lord. That means that we are trusting him to be in control, casting him on him, our burdens, believing that he is ready and Willy to take care of us. In the face of the cacophony of sounds that are speaking fearsome, frightening, proclaiming disaster and danger into our lives.

But our life live for Christ. He says in Christ with Christ is not vain. The power of the risen Christ guarantees it. There are many shadows in our lives, many frightening discouraging things in which the light and goodness seems to be hidden. Your life may feel like the barren broken desolate terrain of more door.

Life is dark and foreboding, but there is a living Jesus who conquered death and offers his resurrected power to rejuvenate your broken wiry existence. The resurrection gives us hope. Let's pray, Lord, we come to you.

We love you, Lord, that you gave us your son. We love you, Jesus, that you chose to give yourself and Lord, as we reflect on hope, that gives us hope in the midst of the darkness of life. That gives us hope in the face of an unknown future. Our hearts are lifted to praise. So Lord, we do praise your name, your grace, your goodness.

You are the giver of hope in which we can stand in Jesus name. Amen.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/be-steadfast-immovable f173f9f9-9331-45ad-9234-9e12c777916c Sun, 17 Apr 2022 13:03:58 GMT <div data-html="true">I Corinthians 15:58 <br /><br /> “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> Welcome everybody, if you're fast, you can get there. We only have one verse. We're going to be looking at this morning. If you're quick enough to get to first Corinthians 15, I'll meet you there, but I'm going to reading verse 58 of first Corinthians 15. As we focus on the greatest message that the church has to offer that Jesus Christ, the crucified savior has been risen from the grave. <br /><br /> He is risen. He is risen. Indeed. This is what we read that Paul tells us in the culminating verse, the first Corinthians chapter 15 verse 58, therefore my beloved brothers be steadfast immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord, your labor is not in vain. Let's pray together. <br /><br /> Lord, we gather in this beautiful Easter Sunday morning, God, even as we were out at the sunrise service this morning and heard all the birds and just, uh, as Ryan said, just how. Beautiful. It was to be able to join with all creation in giving praise to your name, as we did through song and responding to your word Lord, we come today to worship. <br /><br /> We want to bow the knee to Jesus Christ. We want to learn about him. We want to adore him better because of the things you remind us of in the scriptures. And I pray that you would teach us to that in this morning in Jesus name. Amen. This verse begins with the word, therefore, my beloved brothers and my pastor of many years ago, Carlos, Gina used to always say, whenever you find it, it therefore in the scripture, find out what it's therefore. <br /><br /> And so. We're looking at a big, therefore right here, he is actually looking back at the first 57 verses of first Corinthians 15, the most thorough presentation of the resurrection of Jesus Christ in the scriptures. And he's saying on the basis of all that, I've taught you about the resurrection of Jesus. <br /><br /> He says, be steadfast, be immovable. And so as we look at this, we are reminded that for the writers of the new Testament, the resurrection was not just theology. It was practical. It had remarkably important and inexhaustible ramifications. The ramification that Paul is highlighting this morning is that those who are God's children can be steadfast any. <br /><br /> Because of the resurrection of Christ, which of course leads to a simple question. What does that mean? Be steadfast, immovable. I mean, the word steadfast actually means stand your ground. The word immovable means don't be moved. So they both care the idea of, of holding your place. What place, I mean, what is the resurrection help us to, to hold our place in? <br /><br /> So we're not swayed and swept along. What's the spot that he's talking about? Well, there's only one other passage in the scripture that talks about this particular word that is used here. Be steadfast. And it is, it is used in first Peter 1 23. If we can just jump to that for a second. I know I switched order on your no, I'm sorry. <br /><br /> First Corinthians first. Burt is it Colassians I knew there was a one Colossians, 1 23, Colossians 1 23. Let nothing move you from the hope of the gospel. This is the sense he's talking about. There is a hope that you have because of the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, culminating in the resurrected work. <br /><br /> There is a hope that he says, and he says, don't be moved from that. Stand in your hope. And in first Corinthians 15, he is giving the reasons that we have hope because of the resurrection that gives us stability and an ability to not be swept along. I have quoted lots of times from the Lord of the rings. <br /><br /> JRR Tolkien's classic works. And one of my favorite scenes in the movie is a scene where Frodo and, and, um, Sam Gamgee are in the desolate, dark, broken world of more door, the land of darkness. And as they are there, they are on a quest that is far beyond themselves. And Sam is with Frodo at this time. And in this, if you can bring to that visual, there they are. <br /><br /> And as they are there, Sam turns the phone and he says, now you go to sleep first, Mr. Frodo, it's getting dark again. I reckon this day is nearly over. Frodo ends up going to sleep. And as we look back at, uh, We see that he leaves Frodo and he goes up and he looks out of this desolate broken, scary place. <br /><br /> Mount doom is in the distance that the dark tower of the dark Lord is there. And it's just a, uh, intimidating foreboding place of despondency. But as he's looking out, this is what happens. The lamb seemed full of creaking and cracking and sly noises, but there was no sound of voice or foot. The night sky was still dim and pale there peeping among the clouds above a dark tower. <br /><br /> High up in the mountains. Sam saw a white star twinkle for awhile. The beauty of it smote his heart. And he looked up out of the forsaken land and hope returned to him for like a shaft clear and cold. The thought pierced him that in the end, the shadow was only a small and passing thing. There was light and high beauty far beyond its. <br /><br /> Now for a moment, his own fate, and even his master's ceased to trouble him. He crawled back into the rambles and laid himself by Frodo side and putting away all fear. He cast himself into a deep and untroubled sleep for like a shaft clear and cold. The thought pierced him that in the end, the shadow was only a S a small and passing thing. <br /><br /> There was light and high beauty far beyond its reach. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is to his people that shaft of light shining in the darkness. It is the resurrection declares. There is hope in the midst of darkness in the midst of the most foreboding of life experiences in the most foreboding of lands, the resurrection of Jesus speaks to us that we can stand our ground. <br /><br /> That we can hold on to this, that we can be immovable. The hope that the good news of Jesus Christ gives you here in verse 58, is that we don't need to lose hope stand firm, be immovable because of all the truth that is found in this resurrection, there are fearful futures that some of you are facing there's conflict with people that you care about. <br /><br /> It casts a shadow there's habits and addictions and destructive behaviors. Does losses does worry some forecasters reminders of your own failures. All of them Rob us of hope. As we feel in the Shadowlands of life. Paul is here presenting to us five reasons why the resurrection enables you to. Immovable steadfast with hope, even in the midst of those seasons of life, I'd like to look at those five things quickly. <br /><br /> The first one I'll take the longest on because we find there are five reasons. First of all, because the resurrection of Jesus is real. If we look back in first Corinthians 15, we notice verse 20, this statement, but Christ has indeed been raised from the dead in the ESV version. It says, but Christ in fact, in reality has been raised from the dead many people. <br /><br /> I would guess a number here today of sorts who suddenly watching online, the resurrection, the idea of the resurrection is. It's like a good moral story. The symbol of a fresh start, the idea of a new beginning of picture of a man standing against tyranny or good triumphing over evil. But there's lots of fictional stories that, that do that for us right there. <br /><br /> Good moral tales. Most of the great tales of history, uh, the fables are a character that, that, that conquers things triumphs, but they look, but many individuals today would look at the resurrection with skepticism and its illness as if we think back in, in ancient times while they just, you know, they just accept fable as fact, but they were actually extremely skeptical. <br /><br /> Paul faced incredible cynicism. When you look at the book of acts, you see, he is constantly confronted in the Greco-Roman world with people who are questioning this reality because the primary message of the new Testament church. Was the resurrection of Jesus. They didn't primarily talk about his death on the cross because the death, the cross was non-functional without the resurrection. <br /><br /> We'll see why in a little bit. But the reality that these people went forth with was the resurrection it's real years ago, there was a movie out of the three Amigos, Steve Martin, Martin, short Chevy chase. Some of you have watched it obviously, um, others of your shit. It's a story of three guys. And the scene that I'm referring to is a scene where they're actors and their act is to be these, these heroic, um, Uh, Cowboys that come in and rescue towns and they're called into a town and they think they're called in his actors and they think they're on a movie set, but they're actually with real bandits, real bad guys, mean bad guys. <br /><br /> And so they're in the scene and they're acting out their thing. And then they come up to these bandits who just are incredulous and, and there's been noise and shooting in the air and everything. And while they're doing their stuff and they're trying to act like they're in a real battle. And then they know it's just an act. <br /><br /> All of a sudden, Steve Martin gets knocked off his horse and he's lying on the ground. His friends run over to them and they look at him and they realize he got wounded by a real bullet. And he's just overwhelmed. Fury and anger. And he goes up to these guys and they're all sitting on a horses in front of him. <br /><br /> And as he faces a me, he looks at the guy that he, that he thinks shot him. And he says, let me see your gun. And the leader of the bandit says, so he lets him look at his gun and he pulls out and he goes, oh right. I'll reel bullet. And then he says, you're in a lot of trouble, buddy. And at this moment, he's looking at the guy and the guy's looking at him with this very ominous perspective. <br /><br /> He glances over at the Bandido leader who has a low chuckle to him. And you can see the lights are just going out as Steve Martin is sitting there thinking, oh my goodness. So he says, hold on just a minute. And he turns around, he goes back to his buddies and you remember the scene. And he says, he sorta croaks it up. <br /><br /> It's real. It's real. And they said, what, what he said, it's real. We're going to be killed Martin short Ray Chevy to, he says, what are we going to do in Martin short responses? What we're sure not going to get paid that's for sure. It's real. I'm done them. I think a lot of people about the resurrection it's, it's cool. <br /><br /> It's a set. I mean, we got the tool lips, we got the lilies, we, we got the whole thing, you know, empty tomb. We got the songs, but for those of us that have embraced Jesus Christ as our savior and Lord it's real, it is the most real reality in our lives. He is risen. Indeed. In fact, this is what we have built our lives on ethic. <br /><br /> Paul says in his book, if, if he's not risen where the biggest fools on earth, because we're counting on and I want to highlight this because there's certainly many of you here that are processing, you know, and they think, well, the religion thing, I am glad it works for some people or maybe even you're attracted to, you know, things that seem to, I want you to know when we're talking about the resurrection of Jesus Christ, we really believe this man literally died and literally rose from the grave he is now living today. <br /><br /> Changing lives impacting people. Paul is saying here, if you are facing real trouble, real death, real calamity, real darkness, you need to embrace the facts. I'm talking about Henny. I received this idea of Jesus being raised from the dead. And he says, I received, and then I pass it onto another passage. <br /><br /> What do literally means? He says, I took it in, I took the data, I processed it and I'm passing it along because I've come to absolutely believe he is alive. And what he's saying to us here is if we're going to experience what he's talking about in this passage, there is the dawning reality. Oh my goodness. <br /><br /> It's real. The animal's real that's being used in, in the experience. It's why Paul said I interviewed 500 people who were, uh, prepared for Fest eye witnesses. And gathered the data. It's an interesting scene where he stands before a gripper. And as he stood before this, this king Agrippa, he argues with him and he's presenting to them his case. <br /><br /> And in that scene, Paul says Jesus was raised from the dead. The lessor leader, a guy named Festus says this, Paul, your great learning has made you mad. Now Paul does not say, look, just, just go with me here. You know, just turn off your brain. You don't really have to, I know this is impossible to really believe, but that's not what he says. <br /><br /> He says, he turns to a gripper who is the king of the area. And he says, you know, these things are true. This is 15 years after the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And he says here, you know, these things are. You can't dispose of the evidence. You can't produce a body. You can't, you can't get these witnesses. <br /><br /> We, why would they stand and testify about a dead guy with all they've lost because of that declaration? Why would they keep standing and saying it is true. You grew up a response, you know, he does not say there's no net data to back you up, Paul. He doesn't say there are no facts. We have his body. As a matter of fact, we have contrary testimonies. <br /><br /> No, he just says, well, pull your you're trying to make me a Christian. He's trying to deflect it. I want to just, I landed on this first point for a reason. I think it's important that you know, whether you embrace it or not. That we really believe those of us, that name, the name of Jesus Christ as our savior and Lord, that all we're talking about today, the hope is founded on the fact that we really believe that Jesus Christ is living and alive and is impacting our lives. <br /><br /> There's a second thing he says, you can have hope because the resurrection means you can be free of your sins. Verse 17 of chapter 15. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile. You are still in your sins. And he's saying not that you're going to be apart from the existence of sins, but you're going to be free of it. <br /><br /> Sentence at the penalty for sin has been paid by Jesus Christ on the cross. It was his statement, as we heard good Friday is one of the guys shared it's finished was one of the things she's a said. The word literally means the debt is paid. The resurrection is the proof that the payment worked. I've told this before. <br /><br /> I, I am, legendarily uncomfortable with papers in my pocket. I just, I don't know what it is. Everybody has. You have your problems. I have mine and I just don't like papers in my pocket. And it does not work well at Costco because at Costco, you go through the line and I love Costco and I go through the line of Costco and they give you the receipt and you have to hold onto that paper forever, all the way from the cash register to the door. <br /><br /> And I have on at least seven occasions done what I always do with papers. As soon as I see a trash, can I just dump it in and I get to the door. And so it's, I have the option of going all the way back and getting them to give me another one, which at the desk, which they're gracious. Or I can go back and be your pastor who is noticed to be diving into the trash can. <br /><br /> So on most occasions I go back, but that receipt is the proof that the payment has been made. And that's why they let me leave. And they check it with the products that we have and it's proof that they have been paid for the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the proof at the payment that he made on the cross, where he died for sinners like you and I was enough, the price was fully paid that no matter what you've done, and there are things you've done that you don't, maybe nobody knows, and you don't want anybody to know, but God knows. <br /><br /> And he says, yeah, that was included. Yeah. That's includes included what you did yesterday. It's included where you're going to do tomorrow. As a matter of fact, if you embrace me as your. Ultimately, he says, don't let anything move. You be a movable in your hope, because the resurrection says you've been freed from your sins. <br /><br /> Number three, because the resurrection means a new era has begun in first Corinthians 15 verse 20 to 23. It says this, but Christ has indeed been raised from the dead. The first fruits of those who have fallen asleep for since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man for, as an Adam, all die. <br /><br /> So in Christ all will be made alive, but each in his turn Christ the first fruits, then when he comes, those who belong to him, he's saying, Jesus is the first fruits of the resurrection. There is a world coming that he's the first fruits of the first fruit was the first thing taken out of the garden and taken out of the. <br /><br /> It's the picture of what is coming. He's saying the future of God has landed. It is the reality of what is coming. And Jesus resurrection has begun the, the, the, the arrival of that new era that will ultimately be what heaven and the new heavens and new earth is all about. We've been placed in a world that was designed to be lived with unselfishness, kindness, justice, and goodness. <br /><br /> We're built to serve each other and to serve God and to enjoy each other as we enjoy God, but it is not how we live. Of course, self is most important. We find ourselves living out abberant lives. The world does not work as it should. Our lives don't work as they should in the resurrection. A hole was punched in the walls of the. <br /><br /> And the shaft of light has begun to come in of this new era that Jesus' resurrection is the first fruits of it will ultimately cut calm and produce a time of complete restoration and a cosmic garden of Eden. But he says for now the resurrection has begun its work in our lives. In the resurrection of Jesus. <br /><br /> The shaft of light is shining in, in darkness has come light in. Despair has come hope. Now it's partial, but it's real. God is bringing in the reality of the future into the present in the lives of those that embrace him as their savior is still scarred, still broken with sin. However, the new era is beginning to shine. <br /><br /> When you forgive others, it's the light shining into a dark and world. When you have love with Jesus love when you have peace in the shadows, because you know, God is in control. When you find God to be the safest, most welcoming person in your life. And you long to have others know him in that same way, you're allowing more and more of the light of this shaft of light to shine in and through your life. <br /><br /> And Paul is here reminding us you're part of something, momentous, something you turn all the beachhead of God is expanding now in your generation. And if you've experienced Christ as your savior and Lord, he says that resurrected power is beginning to move incrementally. Two steps forward, sometimes three steps back. <br /><br /> It feels like, but it's beginning to manifest. The first fruits is manifesting himself in this error. <br /><br /> And he says in light of that, let nothing move you because the resurrection guarantees a new era has begun through the work of Christ resurrection. The fourth thing, he says reason because the resurrection shows that death is defeated. He says this in verse 55 to 57, where oh, death is your victory, where O death is your sting. <br /><br /> The sting of death is sin. And the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God. He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ, Aristotle called death. The thing to be feared because in his words, it appears to be the end of everything. Robert Green Ingersoll was one of America's most outspoken agnostics at his brother's funeral. <br /><br /> He had no words of hope. He said. Life has a narrow veil between the cold and barren peaks of two eternities. We strive in vain to look beyond the Heights, Francoise rebel a was equally pessimistic. I'm going to the great, perhaps he said, but death is not just the end of everything. It is not just a narrow veil between Baron peaks or a or entrance into the great, perhaps Jesus has assured that there is life eternal, that there is hope beyond this world. <br /><br /> And he says, take hope in this, no matter how dark grim difficult things are when you get the medical response that is terrorizing to you, he says, remember, don't be moved from your hope. The resurrection is real. The last thing he says, because the resurrection shows that your labor is. In vain. This is our verse. <br /><br /> Be beloved. My beloved brothers be steadfast immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord, your labor is not in vain. Some of you are weary in well-doing. Some of you are tired of trusting, tired of waiting, tired of fighting off the voices of condemnation, tempted, maybe moved into self-pity grumbling, envy. <br /><br /> We've all been there. <br /><br /> Jesus has says, Jesus is saying here we can be steadfast and immovable in the Lord. That means that we are trusting him to be in control, casting him on him, our burdens, believing that he is ready and Willy to take care of us. In the face of the cacophony of sounds that are speaking fearsome, frightening, proclaiming disaster and danger into our lives. <br /><br /> But our life live for Christ. He says in Christ with Christ is not vain. The power of the risen Christ guarantees it. There are many shadows in our lives, many frightening discouraging things in which the light and goodness seems to be hidden. Your life may feel like the barren broken desolate terrain of more door. <br /><br /> Life is dark and foreboding, but there is a living Jesus who conquered death and offers his resurrected power to rejuvenate your broken wiry existence. The resurrection gives us hope. Let's pray, Lord, we come to you. <br /><br /> We love you, Lord, that you gave us your son. We love you, Jesus, that you chose to give yourself and Lord, as we reflect on hope, that gives us hope in the midst of the darkness of life. That gives us hope in the face of an unknown future. Our hearts are lifted to praise. So Lord, we do praise your name, your grace, your goodness. <br /><br /> You are the giver of hope in which we can stand in Jesus name. Amen.</div> false no <![CDATA[The Matchless Jesus]]> Acts 4:1-22

And as they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.



Sermon Transcript:

But you have to take your Bibles to the book of acts. Chapter four. As we returned to our series, the spirit at work to the ends of the earth. I did not get the page number. There is a Bible there and your pew, if you, uh, want this a table of contents at the beginning, you can look there to find we're looking at the book of acts and the new Testament chapter four.

I'm going to read quickly through these first 22 verses. And as they were speaking to the people, the priest and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them greatly. Because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus, the resurrection from the dead, and they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day for it was already evening.

But many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about 5,000 on the next day, their rulers and elders and scribes gathered around together in Jerusalem with Annas, the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander and all who wrote the high priest family. And when they had set them in the mid stay inquired by what power or by what name do you do this?

Then Peter filled with the holy spirit said to them, rulers of the people and elders, if we are being examined today, concerning a good deed done by to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, but the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead by him.

This man is standing before. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you. The builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation and no one else for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. And when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were uneducated common men, they were astonished and they recognized that they had been with Jesus, but seeing the man who was sealed, standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition, but when they commanded them to leave the council, they conferred with one another saying, what should we do with these men for this, for that?

A notable sign has been performed through them as evident to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And we cannot deny it. But in order that it may spread no further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name. So they called them and charge them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.

But Peter and John answered them, whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge for, we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard. And when they had further threatened them and let them go finding no way to punish them because of the people for all were praising God for what had happened for the man on whom this sign of healing was performed was more than 40 years old for a full understanding of the early church we really should have in our hands.

The book of acts in one hand and the book of revelation in our other, the reason for that is they give different perspectives on what is happening. Particularly the part of the book, which we begin here in chapter four, where opposition is beginning to come to the early church in the book of acts. We see all of the human opposition that is going to be formed against the early church.

But in the book of revelation, we see this picture of a history old opposition that is actually being unleashed by the powers of darkness, the devil himself, and his emissaries. That is an old bling and empowering this opposition that we see in the book of acts done by people. And so we see behind the curtain, what is empowering this opposition in the book of revelation we see here in the book of acts, the actual human activity.

Of that opposition in acts chapter one through three, we have the account of the spirit of God pouring his power down upon the early church of the day of Pentecost and the result in growth and transformation that has taken place. But here in chapter four, a transition occurs here. If we bring that slide up, we might depict this in the star wars terminology chapters.

One through three are a new hope chapters. Four through seven is the empire striking back. It is the power of darkness being unleashed in chapters four through seven. And chapter four is the beginning of that opposition. We'll see it manifest in different ways. This is the first time we're going to see the religious leaders actually taking on the disciples.

The followers of Jesus central in all of the conflict is Jesus Christ. The reputation, the name of Jesus Christ, the work of Jesus Christ that is being unleashed through his followers and disciples. All of the opposition and vitriol against the church is ultimately aimed at Jesus through the powers against him.

Everything is ultimately about Jesus in these chapters, out of there, out of allegiance to him out of dependence on him and in seeking to honor him, the church is going forward with their messaging and their work. We find that in all of the preaching in the early chapter, well actually through the whole book, it's focused on Jesus Christ.

Peter's now in his third sermon, we're going to see it's a short one here in chapter four, all three. Our centering about Jesus Christ. They're talking about him continually addressing people with the refrain and all of these sermons, this guy that you kelp God raised from the dead and is actually the one that is empowering us to do the things and to say the things that we are doing over 5,000 here in chapter four, are responding to an event that has just occurred.

And chapter three, we had the event of the crippled man who had been crippled for his entire life. He's now in his forties, he has been seated in the taverns, excuse me, in the temple structure known by just about anybody that went in there because he's there apparently daily. And Peter has been given the power of the holy spirit, reaches out his hand, and this man has been raised and is jumping around the temple area.

Obvious attention to his new found ability to walk. The result of that is people have gathered all around Peter and they have listened to his sermon as he has preached about Jesus and the power of Jesus Christ. Now in chapter four, we see the aftermath of that. And there's two aftermaths. Number one, there has been astonishing result of people embracing Jesus as their own savior.

And Lord says 5,000 men. Most people think it was it's particularly said gender wise to say there were 5,000 men and many other children and women, a large multitude of people have believed on Christ. But at the same time we read in these verses in verses one through four of acts, chapter four, At the religious leaders now finally cannot just dismiss what is going on.

There's too much happening. And so they have grabbed Peter and John and the crippled man who actually is clinging to them and have arrested them now with the purpose of throwing him in determinately into jail, but just to hold them overnight, because early the next morning, they're going to have a council of the Sanhedrin together.

So we come now in chapter four and verses follow five and following to hear what Peter said to them and basically what he presented. Is the in comparable illness of Jesus Christ, his matchless Snus, and there are three particular things that he's going, we see in this passage. The first of those is that Jesus displays extraordinary powers.

If you look in this passage, the scene, and if he can just bring up that slide, that has a picture of the temple again, and I forgot my cool laser pointer. Um, the temple is there in the middle of the temple itself, around that as the very large courtyard where everyone could go, including the Gentiles, literally thousands of people squash into that during feast days.

But if you'll notice over to the far left, there is a red roofed building, long hall, actually Portico that is called the Royer protocol Portico. That is where the Sanhedrin and other religious groups of Judaism would gather. And this is probably where they were taking. Underneath in the front section where the wall is of the, of Jerusalem under that is where Solomon's Portico was, which is where they, and I mentioned that before, that's actually where they met for their meeting, and now they've been arrested and held overnight.

And they're going to be talking there in the Royal Portico before the 71 Sanhedrin, as they come in, Peter is going to be the one that is addressing them. And there's going to be in this scene, two evidences of the power of the living Christ. The first of those exhibit a is the formerly crippled man. And he is there before them.

And it's interesting. Nobody ever says to him, how do we know this guy was actually. And how do we know this? Isn't just some sham, you know, there's some Charlotte, any you guys that well, they knew because for 40 years, this guy had been sitting there at least many years. They all knew him. Probably many of the Sanhedrin knew him by name.

Certainly they knew him by sight and the seventh, the Sanhedrin was a group of 71 leaders of, of Israel. It describes them as rulers, uh, and leader, rulers and elders. And teachers of the law, the rulers are talking about the, the family of the high priest, the former high priest Anissa's there. His son-in-law who's the current high priest Caiaphas is there, there are other family members that are, there are of the priestly family.

Other priests would be there. Then there are the rulers, these are the individuals that would be a part of the ruling elite of Israel. But then there is also the elders and these would be individuals that were probably the senior members of clans. These were the mucky muck, uh, people of Israel that were a part of this group.

And there they are brought in, and this is, uh, where this guy is in the midst of them. And the first thing they're confronted with this, they, yeah, he's healed. But the second thing that strikes one about the extraordinary power of the living Christ is exhibit B. It is the unschooled fishermen themselves.

We see this in verse 13. Here's what it says in verse 13 of, of acts chapter four now, and this is after Peter speaks. Now, when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that there were uneducated common men, they were astonished. I said, what in the world? Where did these guys get disability?

The word, um, unschooled is actually the word that literally means no letters or without letters. They had no degrees. They had no training. It doesn't mean they couldn't read, but it does mean that they had no formal training. And there were very extensive formal training schools in rabbinical schools in Jerusalem.

One of those is taught by chameleons actually at this time, Paul now saw is in this school being trained by chameleon. It's possible. At the later apostle Paul presently saw is in this group that is in the room. That may how be how Luke knew all about the discussion. If not chameleon, his instructor clearly is he's identified as being on the Sanhedrin.

And he would have told Paul, who would have told Luke about what was the individual conversations that went on, but as they're there, they are struck with these men. And I think there's two reasons they're struck. First of all, they're just struck with the fact that they're obviously commoners they're fishermen.

They have no formal training. And yet they're teaching the Sanhedrin biblical truth in such a way that they absolutely confront them with statements. They're saying, yeah, this, this man, Jesus, this one that you want to know who did the power to heal this, this good work of healing, this man, it was Jesus Christ who you crucified.

And who God raised from the dead that's who healed him. They're struck with the fact that they don't have schooling training. They're common men, but they're also struck with that because these religious leaders actually knew one of these disciples. If you look, and I think we're going to bring it up.

John chapter 18, there was an interesting passage where John is talking. He always talks about himself, uh, in, in the third person. He says, since that disciple and he's, this is when Jesus has been arrested. Since that disciple was known to the high priest. John is talking about himself. He entered with Jesus into the courtyard of the high priest, but Peter stood outside of the door.

So the other disciple who was known to the high priest, went out and spoke to the servant girl who kept watching door and brought Peter in. John somehow is not only known, but he's known well among the high priest, because he knows the household people and he's able to Peter's locked out, which is where John should be.

But he gets in because he has the creds of relationship. Maybe he's, there's a, maybe there's a familial relationship. I don't know. Maybe there is just his father, even though they're there, they're just fishermen. Maybe he's a wealthy fishermen and somehow he's given enough money to the temple that he's known, but he's known it's interesting in John's gospel.

He says all these intricate details when he gets into the courtyard, he says at one point, and he says, I'm the guy who was the brother of the man that John, that Peter cut the ear off is the one that confronted Peter and said you were with him there in the, in the garden. Well, Hey John know all it, he knows these people.

This is awesome. Picture of these religious leaders are sitting there and they're thinking, look at John. I mean, we know this guy, he's just a fisherman. He's not a preacher. He's not a train. He has no schooling. He has no rabbinical background. He's not a priest. He's just a guy, a guy we know. And you listened to him.

There was a boldness. There is a, the confidence that these men express that is unexplainable. There is a power and Liberty in the holy spirit. That is not their own. It's the fire of God's spirit. It's not training or personality. It is simply the spirit of God empowering his children to speak for him.

You see whether you have a pH PhD like Paul. Or you have a GED like Peter, whether you are an MD like Luke or you're the result of PTSD post-Trump yeah. PTA like Mary of Magdalene. It doesn't matter in the power of the spirit of God. God is God's voice that is speaking through these men. And these religious leaders are stunned because they see in them something that is not explainable except by the statement.

And they recognized these guys had been with Jesus. Jesus had told them he would do this for them in Luke 12, 12. He made this statement when you are brought before synagogues, rulers, and authorities, don't worry about what, how you will defend yourselves or what you will say for the holy spirit will teach you at that time, what you should say in Luke 21, verse 15, but make up your mind not to worry beforehand how you will defend yourselves for, I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict what made their words.

So powerful was first the boldness with which they spoke. But I would suggest there was a second thing that absolutely struck them. It was what they said. These guys didn't teach about rules, laws, commandments, how to do spiritual life. They didn't talk about rules. They talked about resurrection. They talked about a living Christ that brought a living transforming power, and those that sought to silence them were silenced.

They actually have to have them leave the room. They don't know what to say. They escort them out. The first thing we see that is declared that shows the matchless Snus of Christ is the extraordinary powers that are his. Secondly, it is Jesus declaring exclusive claims in verses eight through 12. Paul goes on to give this description of Christ and then summarizes it with one of the most remarkable statements of the new Testament.

I would suggest you, it is one of the most offensive statements in a secular world. It is this statement in verse two. And there is salvation in no one else for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. Peter has already said in chapter three, that this Jesus is now gone is alive.

And what he is currently doing is Risto preparing to restore all things. He's talking about heaven and how, how he will come to and, and, and restore the earth and the heavens. And it will be a paradise in the entire cosmos for God's people to dwell in. That's all involved. When he says this salvation all will be delivered.

It's not just individual salvation. It's talking about this salvation that I've been talking to you about is only found in one place in one person, it is found in the person and work of Jesus Christ who has raised this man from his lame state. He is saying to them, everything is going to be made right.

One day in Jesus, but then he gets really extensive and he says, there's no other name, no other name under heaven. Given among men whereby a person can experience this salvation that there's no option B there's no second curtain. It's Christ. Now this was offensive in a unique way for the Jews. They didn't appreciate this because he's implying that, that their Messiah is going to be everybody's Messiah that he is the savior of all peoples.

They'd be happy to have the Gentiles have their guy. I mean, obviously be a less guy than we've got, but what they, what he is saying, no, he is the one that brings salvation deliverance to all. But I would suggest to you, this verse is not only offensive to them. It is tremendously offensive in our day, in a day, which we will later see in acts 19.

When Paul is preaching at Athens, it will be very offensive because the Roman world was a pluralistic world as is ours. It means there are plural ways towards God, plural, acceptable ways. In our days, there is, it is viewed as. As very offensive, extremely troubling in a trouble in a pluralistic world to say there is one way to God.

I would guess almost all of you. Who've had a conversation where somebody said meat for me, the struggle with Christianity. I don't like the fact that you talk about exclusivity as if you have the only faith that works. I mean, what about Muslims and Buddhists and Jews and, and countless other religions.

I mean, it's okay for you to say Jesus is your way to God. He's a way, but he's not the way. Well, I, I just want to play that out for a few minutes. Okay. So it is okay for me to have Jesus be my way to God. Really it's okay for me to embrace Jesus. Who said I am the way the truth and the life, nobody comes to the father, but through me, it's okay for me to believe in Jesus, who said he's coming to judge the living and the dead it's okay.

For me to believe and embrace Jesus who says before Abraham was, which was a thousand years back from this time before Abraham existed, I existed. He's declaring eternal state for himself. It's okay. I can believe in a Jesus who accepted clear public declaration declarations that he himself was God. And that people that did not believe in him and, and, and vociferously rejected him were actually doing because their father was the devil to say, it's okay to believe in him.

Who said no one comes to do the father, but through me, Jesus claim. What no other religion claims he claims this exclusivity. Now you may say, well, he's wrong. Well, that's fine.

But the reality is in Christianity, there is a declaration of exclusivity that is unique in its exhaustive. Venice, no other religious leader makes the claims that Jesus did tell you. Hiko Kagawa was a believer of about a century ago, a wonderful Japanese believer. He wrote a series of letters that had been put together in a volume called living out Christ's love.

He was a very socially engaged, uh, born again, believer, uh, that a lot for the name of Christ during his generation in Japan. In his, uh, personal autobiography, he talks about his coming to Jesus. Here's what he said. He said, I am grateful to Buddhism, Shintoism, Confucianism. I owe much to these faiths, but they could not meet me at the moment of my heart's deepest needs.

I was a Pilgrim journeying on a long journey that had no turning. I was weary. I was footsore. I wandered through a dark and dismal world where tragedies were thick. Buddhism teaches great compassion. But since the beginning of time, who has ever said of himself, this is my covenant for the forgiveness of sins, Buddha, Muhammad, Confucius never said such things.

What he's arguing is that Jesus Christ makes claims like no one else. Jesus Christ said. In me, I am providing a new covenant and it offers you eternal forgiveness for your sins. And Kagawa says, who does that one person, one individual that claims an exclusive pathway to God. If he is not the son of God, he is frankly, greatly inferior to those other teachers.

He's either diluted or intensely devious, or he is God. He is raised from the dead. He is the creator of the cosmos he has existed for all eternity. Every living, being angels, demons, humans will appear and bow before him. One day, these are all claims he made. If this is who, if, who he is claimed to be, and he chose to offer himself in behalf of sinners to secure their forgiveness, then he is the one way to God.

If he is this person, he is, it is a logical conclusion. Here's a ago, back to another basketball illustration. I moved down my junior year of high school and went to cherry hill high school east, and I was on their basketball team. And. I was the sixth or seventh, man. I may have been the seventh man. I choose to remember it as the sixth man, which meant, which meant you are the first person to go in the game.

And we had a decent team, but our first game was an away game at Camden high school Camden high school at the time had not only the best team in the state, they had one of the better teams in the United States that was not true of cherry hill high school east at the time. And we arrived for our game and I, it was my first game.

I'm very nervous. You know, I'm trying to get to know the guys I've been an unknown. Nobody even knew me until trial to just come and I've taken guys spots, you know, and, and I, and, and I'm getting playing time and they've grown up together and I'm the newbie. And I remember sitting on the bench. Actually the first thing that happened just to give you the total scenario, we pulled into the parking lot at Canon high school.

And for some reason, all our coaches went in to find out where to park or something and they left us there. And I remember sitting in the bus when a sea of students, hundreds of them, maybe thousands, I don't remember exactly, literally are pushing our bus. Do you know, a school bus can sway? It can sway.

And we, we were so psyched. I leased Iowa. I was so psyched out by the time I got out of this bus, what is happening? So we went in and we had one of those. If you've played ball, you know, you have these, these moments we were being mauled destroyed. It was, you know, it was one of those like 25 to four first quarters.

And you just want to say this can't be happening. And I know that I'm going in very. And there was a girl from the school and of course the whole gym is loud and rocking and every bit, so the students and a Camden high school girl was sitting right next to me. And I can still remember her leaning over my head and saying in my ear, if your starters are this bad, how bad are you?

I have never wanted to go in a game less in my whole life.

It was a logical conclusion, right? You don't even make the starting squad and they're horrible.

Jesus Christ

is making. Traumatic claims about himself to say, Jesus is superior in comparable. And the exclusive way to God is exactly what he claimed. It is silly to say it as arrogant for him to make a claim of exclusivity, as the means to God, it is reasonable and logical. Nothing could be more so if he owes his who he claimed to be, and Peter is there saying the guy that made this man stand and walk after 40 something years of, yeah.

He's the one who is the only means in humanity. That is the pathway to God, to this restoration of life, as it ought to be. He is the exclusive means of God and as difficult as this is, and there is nothing harder in sharing your faith than having a pluralistic culture and, and, and people in the cubicle next to yours and on the school bus with you.

And, and, and on, on the work job side, this is something very hard to put your arm and well, what are you saying? I mean, why, how dare Jesus say he's the only one? Well, if he's who he says he is, of course he's the exclusive way to God. The third thing, Jesus is matchless in what he demands from his followers.

He demands exhaustive allegiance, two minutes, two moments before the Sanhedrin portray this. Peter and John are there and the passage describes it. In these words, it says that they put them Peter and John, and this, this fellow who is now become their friend are in the middle. And it says they were in the midst of them.

You have to picture this in that bit, large Portico, what you, they would sit in a large semi-circle and you would stand in the middle of that. Semi-circle of 71 in this case, majoritively hostile judges. What do you think came to mind is Peter and John stood there wasn't that long ago somebody else had stood in that same spot.

Christ had been there before this very August group. How'd that turn out? That followed a few hours later with Jesus hanging from a cross. You don't think that was on the mind. Peter and John right now, and Peter and John they're before this same group and us Caiaphas and all the boys, same group of people.

And yet Peter response with this astonishing statement, you killed him. God raised him from the dead. He is the cornerstone upon which all of faith is to be built. And you killed him the second picture to me, not only did Peter do that once after the religious leaders are silenced verse 18 through 20 are, to me, one of the most amazing parts of this whole passage, because after the logistic.

Throw them out for awhile and then they bring them back and they've had this conversation. The conversation is, look, we can't, we can't really do much at this point. Um, the people, you know, it's just, the noise is too loud right now. I mean, all these people are saying, you know, I'll stop. We just gotta Le so let's just warn them, slap their hands, uh, draw a line in the sand.

You are not to speak about this guy anymore. And meaning PRI primarily don't speak about him being a living Christ. And so they bring him back in and here's what happens in verse 18. Um,

so they called them and charge them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. Okay. I'll tell you what my humanness says to. I want to say to Peter and John, nice you one, the silencers have been silenced game set match. You won this thing. Don't screw it up. Okay. They make this statement, you know, Dodd said, okay, you don't have don't lie.

Say we'll get, but just, just play nice. You know, you didn't end up crucified. You didn't end up flocked. You didn't end up ex-communicated from Israel. They've smacked your hands. Okay. But they know in, you know, you've won this round, but they can't do it. Peter can't do it. So here's what he says in verse 19 and 20.

Sorry, this print is really small. But Peter and John answered them, whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God you miss judge for, we cannot but speak. But what we have seen in hurt at this point, there is a line drawn in the sand it's aligned. That would be very tempting for us to say, okay, you know, I don't think they would lie, but, but just, uh, thanks for sharing.

See you next round or whatever he said. No, no, no, guys, we put it to you. Should we obey you? Or God, we can't put speak what we've seen or heard. There are going to be lines drawn in your life. It's going to happen. There are going to be moments. Maybe there's one right now. Where the Lord is allowing a line to be drawn and your life.

And he's saying, if your mind, if you belong to me, I'm not asking you to be particularly, uh, talented or capable or a great speaker. A great witness, sir. But I am asking you one thing I want you to wholeheartedly want me as the center of your life and wanting me as the center of your life right now means you've got to take the step over this line and say, yes, Lord, I've been.

To acknowledge you at work Lord I've, I've been willing to cross over that line and address the issues that I know are unethical in the way we're doing stuff in our office and I'm playing along and I'm not standing up. God, I know that crossing the line means that I've got to make changes in the things that I am watching on the video and on, on the, on the internet, whatever that line looks like, but it's going to come.

And some of you are right there and the Lord has brought you here this morning to say, come on over, take the stand, make the decision, do the choice. I'm worth it. I'm worthy of your allegiance, your surrender, your whole heart. I'm the matchless Christ. The one who does extraordinarily powerful things in your life.

For scared people. You remember who it is that, that standing there telling these guys you killed them. And God raised. It's a guy who a maiden in the very high priest, courtyard caused people to say, no, no, no, no, no. I don't know him. No, no I, no, no, you have, you have somebody else wrong guy. What happened to Peter?

Peter said, God, everything. I have all that I am. Um, I'm, I'm yielded to the spirit and the spirit then pours in this transforming strength into Peter's life.

Jesus is really asking simply one thing of us that we're wholehearted seeking. If we're willing to cross those lines, the resurrection of Christ. Proves the matchless Snus of Christ. He is the living king, the living Lord of life. He shows it in his extraordinary power, which he's willing to do in your life.

He shows it in the exclusivity of his claims, which he's asking you to embrace even in a world that doesn't appreciate it. He does it in the exhaustive allegiance that he requires of his followers. Lord, we come to you this morning. It is because Christ is risen from the dead that we come this morning and seek to live out our lives with you.

We live with the risen Christ. God, may we be the recipients? That emboldening power that you gave to those two, scared rabbits, Peter and John, and you'd gave them astonishing strength to stand for you. Lord. Maybe we willing to vocally embrace the exclusivity of Christ because it is the most logical thing in the world that there's only one way to God.

If it is God himself, that came to provide a way, Lord take all that we are. And all the we have, your resurrection has declared your still the transforming God, Lord. We love you for being willing to be that to us in Jesus' name. Amen.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-matchless-jesus a224dc89-aa66-4fb3-ab88-c4ecc45095d9 Sun, 10 Apr 2022 14:38:52 GMT <div data-html="true">Acts 4:1-22 <br /><br /> And as they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> But you have to take your Bibles to the book of acts. Chapter four. As we returned to our series, the spirit at work to the ends of the earth. I did not get the page number. There is a Bible there and your pew, if you, uh, want this a table of contents at the beginning, you can look there to find we're looking at the book of acts and the new Testament chapter four. <br /><br /> I'm going to read quickly through these first 22 verses. And as they were speaking to the people, the priest and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them greatly. Because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus, the resurrection from the dead, and they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day for it was already evening. <br /><br /> But many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about 5,000 on the next day, their rulers and elders and scribes gathered around together in Jerusalem with Annas, the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander and all who wrote the high priest family. And when they had set them in the mid stay inquired by what power or by what name do you do this? <br /><br /> Then Peter filled with the holy spirit said to them, rulers of the people and elders, if we are being examined today, concerning a good deed done by to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, but the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead by him. <br /><br /> This man is standing before. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you. The builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation and no one else for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. And when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were uneducated common men, they were astonished and they recognized that they had been with Jesus, but seeing the man who was sealed, standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition, but when they commanded them to leave the council, they conferred with one another saying, what should we do with these men for this, for that? <br /><br /> A notable sign has been performed through them as evident to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And we cannot deny it. But in order that it may spread no further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name. So they called them and charge them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. <br /><br /> But Peter and John answered them, whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge for, we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard. And when they had further threatened them and let them go finding no way to punish them because of the people for all were praising God for what had happened for the man on whom this sign of healing was performed was more than 40 years old for a full understanding of the early church we really should have in our hands. <br /><br /> The book of acts in one hand and the book of revelation in our other, the reason for that is they give different perspectives on what is happening. Particularly the part of the book, which we begin here in chapter four, where opposition is beginning to come to the early church in the book of acts. We see all of the human opposition that is going to be formed against the early church. <br /><br /> But in the book of revelation, we see this picture of a history old opposition that is actually being unleashed by the powers of darkness, the devil himself, and his emissaries. That is an old bling and empowering this opposition that we see in the book of acts done by people. And so we see behind the curtain, what is empowering this opposition in the book of revelation we see here in the book of acts, the actual human activity. <br /><br /> Of that opposition in acts chapter one through three, we have the account of the spirit of God pouring his power down upon the early church of the day of Pentecost and the result in growth and transformation that has taken place. But here in chapter four, a transition occurs here. If we bring that slide up, we might depict this in the star wars terminology chapters. <br /><br /> One through three are a new hope chapters. Four through seven is the empire striking back. It is the power of darkness being unleashed in chapters four through seven. And chapter four is the beginning of that opposition. We'll see it manifest in different ways. This is the first time we're going to see the religious leaders actually taking on the disciples. <br /><br /> The followers of Jesus central in all of the conflict is Jesus Christ. The reputation, the name of Jesus Christ, the work of Jesus Christ that is being unleashed through his followers and disciples. All of the opposition and vitriol against the church is ultimately aimed at Jesus through the powers against him. <br /><br /> Everything is ultimately about Jesus in these chapters, out of there, out of allegiance to him out of dependence on him and in seeking to honor him, the church is going forward with their messaging and their work. We find that in all of the preaching in the early chapter, well actually through the whole book, it's focused on Jesus Christ. <br /><br /> Peter's now in his third sermon, we're going to see it's a short one here in chapter four, all three. Our centering about Jesus Christ. They're talking about him continually addressing people with the refrain and all of these sermons, this guy that you kelp God raised from the dead and is actually the one that is empowering us to do the things and to say the things that we are doing over 5,000 here in chapter four, are responding to an event that has just occurred. <br /><br /> And chapter three, we had the event of the crippled man who had been crippled for his entire life. He's now in his forties, he has been seated in the taverns, excuse me, in the temple structure known by just about anybody that went in there because he's there apparently daily. And Peter has been given the power of the holy spirit, reaches out his hand, and this man has been raised and is jumping around the temple area. <br /><br /> Obvious attention to his new found ability to walk. The result of that is people have gathered all around Peter and they have listened to his sermon as he has preached about Jesus and the power of Jesus Christ. Now in chapter four, we see the aftermath of that. And there's two aftermaths. Number one, there has been astonishing result of people embracing Jesus as their own savior. <br /><br /> And Lord says 5,000 men. Most people think it was it's particularly said gender wise to say there were 5,000 men and many other children and women, a large multitude of people have believed on Christ. But at the same time we read in these verses in verses one through four of acts, chapter four, At the religious leaders now finally cannot just dismiss what is going on. <br /><br /> There's too much happening. And so they have grabbed Peter and John and the crippled man who actually is clinging to them and have arrested them now with the purpose of throwing him in determinately into jail, but just to hold them overnight, because early the next morning, they're going to have a council of the Sanhedrin together. <br /><br /> So we come now in chapter four and verses follow five and following to hear what Peter said to them and basically what he presented. Is the in comparable illness of Jesus Christ, his matchless Snus, and there are three particular things that he's going, we see in this passage. The first of those is that Jesus displays extraordinary powers. <br /><br /> If you look in this passage, the scene, and if he can just bring up that slide, that has a picture of the temple again, and I forgot my cool laser pointer. Um, the temple is there in the middle of the temple itself, around that as the very large courtyard where everyone could go, including the Gentiles, literally thousands of people squash into that during feast days. <br /><br /> But if you'll notice over to the far left, there is a red roofed building, long hall, actually Portico that is called the Royer protocol Portico. That is where the Sanhedrin and other religious groups of Judaism would gather. And this is probably where they were taking. Underneath in the front section where the wall is of the, of Jerusalem under that is where Solomon's Portico was, which is where they, and I mentioned that before, that's actually where they met for their meeting, and now they've been arrested and held overnight. <br /><br /> And they're going to be talking there in the Royal Portico before the 71 Sanhedrin, as they come in, Peter is going to be the one that is addressing them. And there's going to be in this scene, two evidences of the power of the living Christ. The first of those exhibit a is the formerly crippled man. And he is there before them. <br /><br /> And it's interesting. Nobody ever says to him, how do we know this guy was actually. And how do we know this? Isn't just some sham, you know, there's some Charlotte, any you guys that well, they knew because for 40 years, this guy had been sitting there at least many years. They all knew him. Probably many of the Sanhedrin knew him by name. <br /><br /> Certainly they knew him by sight and the seventh, the Sanhedrin was a group of 71 leaders of, of Israel. It describes them as rulers, uh, and leader, rulers and elders. And teachers of the law, the rulers are talking about the, the family of the high priest, the former high priest Anissa's there. His son-in-law who's the current high priest Caiaphas is there, there are other family members that are, there are of the priestly family. <br /><br /> Other priests would be there. Then there are the rulers, these are the individuals that would be a part of the ruling elite of Israel. But then there is also the elders and these would be individuals that were probably the senior members of clans. These were the mucky muck, uh, people of Israel that were a part of this group. <br /><br /> And there they are brought in, and this is, uh, where this guy is in the midst of them. And the first thing they're confronted with this, they, yeah, he's healed. But the second thing that strikes one about the extraordinary power of the living Christ is exhibit B. It is the unschooled fishermen themselves. <br /><br /> We see this in verse 13. Here's what it says in verse 13 of, of acts chapter four now, and this is after Peter speaks. Now, when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that there were uneducated common men, they were astonished. I said, what in the world? Where did these guys get disability? <br /><br /> The word, um, unschooled is actually the word that literally means no letters or without letters. They had no degrees. They had no training. It doesn't mean they couldn't read, but it does mean that they had no formal training. And there were very extensive formal training schools in rabbinical schools in Jerusalem. <br /><br /> One of those is taught by chameleons actually at this time, Paul now saw is in this school being trained by chameleon. It's possible. At the later apostle Paul presently saw is in this group that is in the room. That may how be how Luke knew all about the discussion. If not chameleon, his instructor clearly is he's identified as being on the Sanhedrin. <br /><br /> And he would have told Paul, who would have told Luke about what was the individual conversations that went on, but as they're there, they are struck with these men. And I think there's two reasons they're struck. First of all, they're just struck with the fact that they're obviously commoners they're fishermen. <br /><br /> They have no formal training. And yet they're teaching the Sanhedrin biblical truth in such a way that they absolutely confront them with statements. They're saying, yeah, this, this man, Jesus, this one that you want to know who did the power to heal this, this good work of healing, this man, it was Jesus Christ who you crucified. <br /><br /> And who God raised from the dead that's who healed him. They're struck with the fact that they don't have schooling training. They're common men, but they're also struck with that because these religious leaders actually knew one of these disciples. If you look, and I think we're going to bring it up. <br /><br /> John chapter 18, there was an interesting passage where John is talking. He always talks about himself, uh, in, in the third person. He says, since that disciple and he's, this is when Jesus has been arrested. Since that disciple was known to the high priest. John is talking about himself. He entered with Jesus into the courtyard of the high priest, but Peter stood outside of the door. <br /><br /> So the other disciple who was known to the high priest, went out and spoke to the servant girl who kept watching door and brought Peter in. John somehow is not only known, but he's known well among the high priest, because he knows the household people and he's able to Peter's locked out, which is where John should be. <br /><br /> But he gets in because he has the creds of relationship. Maybe he's, there's a, maybe there's a familial relationship. I don't know. Maybe there is just his father, even though they're there, they're just fishermen. Maybe he's a wealthy fishermen and somehow he's given enough money to the temple that he's known, but he's known it's interesting in John's gospel. <br /><br /> He says all these intricate details when he gets into the courtyard, he says at one point, and he says, I'm the guy who was the brother of the man that John, that Peter cut the ear off is the one that confronted Peter and said you were with him there in the, in the garden. Well, Hey John know all it, he knows these people. <br /><br /> This is awesome. Picture of these religious leaders are sitting there and they're thinking, look at John. I mean, we know this guy, he's just a fisherman. He's not a preacher. He's not a train. He has no schooling. He has no rabbinical background. He's not a priest. He's just a guy, a guy we know. And you listened to him. <br /><br /> There was a boldness. There is a, the confidence that these men express that is unexplainable. There is a power and Liberty in the holy spirit. That is not their own. It's the fire of God's spirit. It's not training or personality. It is simply the spirit of God empowering his children to speak for him. <br /><br /> You see whether you have a pH PhD like Paul. Or you have a GED like Peter, whether you are an MD like Luke or you're the result of PTSD post-Trump yeah. PTA like Mary of Magdalene. It doesn't matter in the power of the spirit of God. God is God's voice that is speaking through these men. And these religious leaders are stunned because they see in them something that is not explainable except by the statement. <br /><br /> And they recognized these guys had been with Jesus. Jesus had told them he would do this for them in Luke 12, 12. He made this statement when you are brought before synagogues, rulers, and authorities, don't worry about what, how you will defend yourselves or what you will say for the holy spirit will teach you at that time, what you should say in Luke 21, verse 15, but make up your mind not to worry beforehand how you will defend yourselves for, I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict what made their words. <br /><br /> So powerful was first the boldness with which they spoke. But I would suggest there was a second thing that absolutely struck them. It was what they said. These guys didn't teach about rules, laws, commandments, how to do spiritual life. They didn't talk about rules. They talked about resurrection. They talked about a living Christ that brought a living transforming power, and those that sought to silence them were silenced. <br /><br /> They actually have to have them leave the room. They don't know what to say. They escort them out. The first thing we see that is declared that shows the matchless Snus of Christ is the extraordinary powers that are his. Secondly, it is Jesus declaring exclusive claims in verses eight through 12. Paul goes on to give this description of Christ and then summarizes it with one of the most remarkable statements of the new Testament. <br /><br /> I would suggest you, it is one of the most offensive statements in a secular world. It is this statement in verse two. And there is salvation in no one else for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. Peter has already said in chapter three, that this Jesus is now gone is alive. <br /><br /> And what he is currently doing is Risto preparing to restore all things. He's talking about heaven and how, how he will come to and, and, and restore the earth and the heavens. And it will be a paradise in the entire cosmos for God's people to dwell in. That's all involved. When he says this salvation all will be delivered. <br /><br /> It's not just individual salvation. It's talking about this salvation that I've been talking to you about is only found in one place in one person, it is found in the person and work of Jesus Christ who has raised this man from his lame state. He is saying to them, everything is going to be made right. <br /><br /> One day in Jesus, but then he gets really extensive and he says, there's no other name, no other name under heaven. Given among men whereby a person can experience this salvation that there's no option B there's no second curtain. It's Christ. Now this was offensive in a unique way for the Jews. They didn't appreciate this because he's implying that, that their Messiah is going to be everybody's Messiah that he is the savior of all peoples. <br /><br /> They'd be happy to have the Gentiles have their guy. I mean, obviously be a less guy than we've got, but what they, what he is saying, no, he is the one that brings salvation deliverance to all. But I would suggest to you, this verse is not only offensive to them. It is tremendously offensive in our day, in a day, which we will later see in acts 19. <br /><br /> When Paul is preaching at Athens, it will be very offensive because the Roman world was a pluralistic world as is ours. It means there are plural ways towards God, plural, acceptable ways. In our days, there is, it is viewed as. As very offensive, extremely troubling in a trouble in a pluralistic world to say there is one way to God. <br /><br /> I would guess almost all of you. Who've had a conversation where somebody said meat for me, the struggle with Christianity. I don't like the fact that you talk about exclusivity as if you have the only faith that works. I mean, what about Muslims and Buddhists and Jews and, and countless other religions. <br /><br /> I mean, it's okay for you to say Jesus is your way to God. He's a way, but he's not the way. Well, I, I just want to play that out for a few minutes. Okay. So it is okay for me to have Jesus be my way to God. Really it's okay for me to embrace Jesus. Who said I am the way the truth and the life, nobody comes to the father, but through me, it's okay for me to believe in Jesus, who said he's coming to judge the living and the dead it's okay. <br /><br /> For me to believe and embrace Jesus who says before Abraham was, which was a thousand years back from this time before Abraham existed, I existed. He's declaring eternal state for himself. It's okay. I can believe in a Jesus who accepted clear public declaration declarations that he himself was God. And that people that did not believe in him and, and, and vociferously rejected him were actually doing because their father was the devil to say, it's okay to believe in him. <br /><br /> Who said no one comes to do the father, but through me, Jesus claim. What no other religion claims he claims this exclusivity. Now you may say, well, he's wrong. Well, that's fine. <br /><br /> But the reality is in Christianity, there is a declaration of exclusivity that is unique in its exhaustive. Venice, no other religious leader makes the claims that Jesus did tell you. Hiko Kagawa was a believer of about a century ago, a wonderful Japanese believer. He wrote a series of letters that had been put together in a volume called living out Christ's love. <br /><br /> He was a very socially engaged, uh, born again, believer, uh, that a lot for the name of Christ during his generation in Japan. In his, uh, personal autobiography, he talks about his coming to Jesus. Here's what he said. He said, I am grateful to Buddhism, Shintoism, Confucianism. I owe much to these faiths, but they could not meet me at the moment of my heart's deepest needs. <br /><br /> I was a Pilgrim journeying on a long journey that had no turning. I was weary. I was footsore. I wandered through a dark and dismal world where tragedies were thick. Buddhism teaches great compassion. But since the beginning of time, who has ever said of himself, this is my covenant for the forgiveness of sins, Buddha, Muhammad, Confucius never said such things. <br /><br /> What he's arguing is that Jesus Christ makes claims like no one else. Jesus Christ said. In me, I am providing a new covenant and it offers you eternal forgiveness for your sins. And Kagawa says, who does that one person, one individual that claims an exclusive pathway to God. If he is not the son of God, he is frankly, greatly inferior to those other teachers. <br /><br /> He's either diluted or intensely devious, or he is God. He is raised from the dead. He is the creator of the cosmos he has existed for all eternity. Every living, being angels, demons, humans will appear and bow before him. One day, these are all claims he made. If this is who, if, who he is claimed to be, and he chose to offer himself in behalf of sinners to secure their forgiveness, then he is the one way to God. <br /><br /> If he is this person, he is, it is a logical conclusion. Here's a ago, back to another basketball illustration. I moved down my junior year of high school and went to cherry hill high school east, and I was on their basketball team. And. I was the sixth or seventh, man. I may have been the seventh man. I choose to remember it as the sixth man, which meant, which meant you are the first person to go in the game. <br /><br /> And we had a decent team, but our first game was an away game at Camden high school Camden high school at the time had not only the best team in the state, they had one of the better teams in the United States that was not true of cherry hill high school east at the time. And we arrived for our game and I, it was my first game. <br /><br /> I'm very nervous. You know, I'm trying to get to know the guys I've been an unknown. Nobody even knew me until trial to just come and I've taken guys spots, you know, and, and I, and, and I'm getting playing time and they've grown up together and I'm the newbie. And I remember sitting on the bench. Actually the first thing that happened just to give you the total scenario, we pulled into the parking lot at Canon high school. <br /><br /> And for some reason, all our coaches went in to find out where to park or something and they left us there. And I remember sitting in the bus when a sea of students, hundreds of them, maybe thousands, I don't remember exactly, literally are pushing our bus. Do you know, a school bus can sway? It can sway. <br /><br /> And we, we were so psyched. I leased Iowa. I was so psyched out by the time I got out of this bus, what is happening? So we went in and we had one of those. If you've played ball, you know, you have these, these moments we were being mauled destroyed. It was, you know, it was one of those like 25 to four first quarters. <br /><br /> And you just want to say this can't be happening. And I know that I'm going in very. And there was a girl from the school and of course the whole gym is loud and rocking and every bit, so the students and a Camden high school girl was sitting right next to me. And I can still remember her leaning over my head and saying in my ear, if your starters are this bad, how bad are you? <br /><br /> I have never wanted to go in a game less in my whole life. <br /><br /> It was a logical conclusion, right? You don't even make the starting squad and they're horrible. <br /><br /> Jesus Christ <br /><br /> is making. Traumatic claims about himself to say, Jesus is superior in comparable. And the exclusive way to God is exactly what he claimed. It is silly to say it as arrogant for him to make a claim of exclusivity, as the means to God, it is reasonable and logical. Nothing could be more so if he owes his who he claimed to be, and Peter is there saying the guy that made this man stand and walk after 40 something years of, yeah. <br /><br /> He's the one who is the only means in humanity. That is the pathway to God, to this restoration of life, as it ought to be. He is the exclusive means of God and as difficult as this is, and there is nothing harder in sharing your faith than having a pluralistic culture and, and, and people in the cubicle next to yours and on the school bus with you. <br /><br /> And, and, and on, on the work job side, this is something very hard to put your arm and well, what are you saying? I mean, why, how dare Jesus say he's the only one? Well, if he's who he says he is, of course he's the exclusive way to God. The third thing, Jesus is matchless in what he demands from his followers. <br /><br /> He demands exhaustive allegiance, two minutes, two moments before the Sanhedrin portray this. Peter and John are there and the passage describes it. In these words, it says that they put them Peter and John, and this, this fellow who is now become their friend are in the middle. And it says they were in the midst of them. <br /><br /> You have to picture this in that bit, large Portico, what you, they would sit in a large semi-circle and you would stand in the middle of that. Semi-circle of 71 in this case, majoritively hostile judges. What do you think came to mind is Peter and John stood there wasn't that long ago somebody else had stood in that same spot. <br /><br /> Christ had been there before this very August group. How'd that turn out? That followed a few hours later with Jesus hanging from a cross. You don't think that was on the mind. Peter and John right now, and Peter and John they're before this same group and us Caiaphas and all the boys, same group of people. <br /><br /> And yet Peter response with this astonishing statement, you killed him. God raised him from the dead. He is the cornerstone upon which all of faith is to be built. And you killed him the second picture to me, not only did Peter do that once after the religious leaders are silenced verse 18 through 20 are, to me, one of the most amazing parts of this whole passage, because after the logistic. <br /><br /> Throw them out for awhile and then they bring them back and they've had this conversation. The conversation is, look, we can't, we can't really do much at this point. Um, the people, you know, it's just, the noise is too loud right now. I mean, all these people are saying, you know, I'll stop. We just gotta Le so let's just warn them, slap their hands, uh, draw a line in the sand. <br /><br /> You are not to speak about this guy anymore. And meaning PRI primarily don't speak about him being a living Christ. And so they bring him back in and here's what happens in verse 18. Um, <br /><br /> so they called them and charge them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. Okay. I'll tell you what my humanness says to. I want to say to Peter and John, nice you one, the silencers have been silenced game set match. You won this thing. Don't screw it up. Okay. They make this statement, you know, Dodd said, okay, you don't have don't lie. <br /><br /> Say we'll get, but just, just play nice. You know, you didn't end up crucified. You didn't end up flocked. You didn't end up ex-communicated from Israel. They've smacked your hands. Okay. But they know in, you know, you've won this round, but they can't do it. Peter can't do it. So here's what he says in verse 19 and 20. <br /><br /> Sorry, this print is really small. But Peter and John answered them, whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God you miss judge for, we cannot but speak. But what we have seen in hurt at this point, there is a line drawn in the sand it's aligned. That would be very tempting for us to say, okay, you know, I don't think they would lie, but, but just, uh, thanks for sharing. <br /><br /> See you next round or whatever he said. No, no, no, guys, we put it to you. Should we obey you? Or God, we can't put speak what we've seen or heard. There are going to be lines drawn in your life. It's going to happen. There are going to be moments. Maybe there's one right now. Where the Lord is allowing a line to be drawn and your life. <br /><br /> And he's saying, if your mind, if you belong to me, I'm not asking you to be particularly, uh, talented or capable or a great speaker. A great witness, sir. But I am asking you one thing I want you to wholeheartedly want me as the center of your life and wanting me as the center of your life right now means you've got to take the step over this line and say, yes, Lord, I've been. <br /><br /> To acknowledge you at work Lord I've, I've been willing to cross over that line and address the issues that I know are unethical in the way we're doing stuff in our office and I'm playing along and I'm not standing up. God, I know that crossing the line means that I've got to make changes in the things that I am watching on the video and on, on the, on the internet, whatever that line looks like, but it's going to come. <br /><br /> And some of you are right there and the Lord has brought you here this morning to say, come on over, take the stand, make the decision, do the choice. I'm worth it. I'm worthy of your allegiance, your surrender, your whole heart. I'm the matchless Christ. The one who does extraordinarily powerful things in your life. <br /><br /> For scared people. You remember who it is that, that standing there telling these guys you killed them. And God raised. It's a guy who a maiden in the very high priest, courtyard caused people to say, no, no, no, no, no. I don't know him. No, no I, no, no, you have, you have somebody else wrong guy. What happened to Peter? <br /><br /> Peter said, God, everything. I have all that I am. Um, I'm, I'm yielded to the spirit and the spirit then pours in this transforming strength into Peter's life. <br /><br /> Jesus is really asking simply one thing of us that we're wholehearted seeking. If we're willing to cross those lines, the resurrection of Christ. Proves the matchless Snus of Christ. He is the living king, the living Lord of life. He shows it in his extraordinary power, which he's willing to do in your life. <br /><br /> He shows it in the exclusivity of his claims, which he's asking you to embrace even in a world that doesn't appreciate it. He does it in the exhaustive allegiance that he requires of his followers. Lord, we come to you this morning. It is because Christ is risen from the dead that we come this morning and seek to live out our lives with you. <br /><br /> We live with the risen Christ. God, may we be the recipients? That emboldening power that you gave to those two, scared rabbits, Peter and John, and you'd gave them astonishing strength to stand for you. Lord. Maybe we willing to vocally embrace the exclusivity of Christ because it is the most logical thing in the world that there's only one way to God. <br /><br /> If it is God himself, that came to provide a way, Lord take all that we are. And all the we have, your resurrection has declared your still the transforming God, Lord. We love you for being willing to be that to us in Jesus' name. Amen.</div> false no <![CDATA[Baptism Service]]> Romans 6:3-5

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?



Service Transcript:

Good morning.

All my high schoolers are assigned there like every Friday night. And now Sunday, are you serious? And if you're wondering how we're going to fit a sermon in with 10 testimonies and baptisms, this will be the shortest sermon that you will ever hear. Hopefully,

hopefully, well, good morning, please open your Bibles to Romans chapter six. Mike already stole my thunder with that verse, but if you're preaching a short sermon, read a verse, that is the sermon itself. So it's pretty simple. If you're using a few Bible, it is going to be page 8 86. Um, I was taxed with opening this up before we hear many powerful stories.

Um, for many different individuals. I want to introduce our time before our baptisms, by looking at this passage in Romans chapter six, verses three to five, and a fair warning. If you're in the first or second rows, I hope you brought your towel because you are in the splash zone. Last joke. I promise. Okay.

Romans six, three to five says this. Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death. We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead, by the glory of the father, we too might walk in newness of life for if we have been United with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be United with him in a resurrection like his let's pray.

God, thank you so much for bringing all these individuals here this morning. God, there is no one here on accident or by chance God, you have divinely ordained every single individual here today. God. And we know already that your spirit is going to move. We know already that you're going to work in hearts or through this passage, through the testimonies that we are about to hear Lord.

And we trust you God. And I pray right now, boldly Lord, that you would put off any and all distractions that are hindering us from hearing your truth and having your spirit work in us. God. And even now, Lord, I pray that you would shut my mouth and speak through me, Lord, we pray in Jesus's name. Amen.

In youth group. I mentioned on the youth pastor here. So we've had recently went through a topical study on the two ordinances of the church would be, which would be baptism and communion. We spent two whole weeks on baptism. We learned what it is, what it's not, and why it's important. I wanted to read this passage in Romans today because I think it beautifully sums up what the symbol of baptism is.

What we will witness today is not what we read here in the passage, but what has already happened, like Mike said, the reason we're giving them the shirts before they go in is because they are already forgiven in Christ Jesus. We are witnessing today a proclamation of what has already been done. The each individual we here today has confessed Jesus Christ as their Lord and savior, and is now living in that newness of.

Each individual has been baptized in Christ death, dying to their sin, and now has been raised up with him in his resurrection. We have the privilege of witnessing that today. The beautiful symbol of being dunked under water, dying to our sins, buried in the grave just as Jesus was. And in the same way, getting raised up out of the water, just like Jesus and the newness of life and his resurrection.

There's nothing special about this water behind me. The act of baptism does not save us. It does not give us some spiritual superpower or get us into heaven. Baptism is a outward, outward proclamation of an inward change. It's a statement that says I've surrendered my whole life to Jesus. And I want you to know about it.

It's a victory lap showing off what God has already done in my life. It's his story that he's invited us in on. It's the clarinet. We don't want to live for this world anymore. We want to live for his kingdom, the kingdom of God, it's saying no to ourselves and saying yes to Jesus. My good friend, Ryan Anderson is reading this book.

It's called live no lies by John mark Comber. And he's reading it. And occasionally he'll just like, hit me. Like, man, you gotta hear this verse. You gotta hear this verse. And this was like two weeks ago. And he read this, this quote to me and I'm like, dude, no way, this is incredible. And it's, it's a longer quote and we're going to have it on the screen for you, but it just gives such a beautiful imagery of what we witnessed today.

It's such a beautiful imagery of what baptism is of saying yes to Jesus. So I want to read it to us this morning. I'm going to have it on the screen as well, but it says. To say yes to Jesus. His invitation is to say no to a thousand other things. As the monks used to say every choice as a renunciation to say yes to Jesus is to say no to living my own definition of good and evil to spending my time and money.

However, I want to the hyper individualism and anti-authoritarianism and full tilt hedonistic pursuit of our day. It's a thousand tiny deaths that all lead up to one massive life. It's not a few tile grasping for control, but the freedom of yielding to love, it's saying to Jesus, whatever, wherever, whenever I'm yours, we look back on the crusades as a low point in the history of the.

Though historians tell a much more complex story than that of popular imagination. Legend has it that before going into battle, the Knights Templar were baptized, but they would hold their swords above their heads. As they went under the water. As if to say, Jesus, you can have all of me except this, not my violence, not my quest for glory, legend or history, the imagery is piercing.

We all do this. We might not hold up a sword for us. It could be a debit card, a relationship, a sexual ethic, a wound entertainment habit, a political, or even theological position. It could be anything. But how often do we say, if not in word then by our actions, not this Jesus, not this many followers of Jesus don't yet realize that the cross isn't just something Jesus did for us.

It's also something we do with. Even in church traditions with the high value of the cross, their interpretation of Jesus' death on the cross is often more transactional than transformational. I'm not remotely questioning the doctrine of substitutionary atonement that Jesus died for. Our sins is central to the gospel.

But think about it. We still die. Jesus, didn't it to high. So we don't have to, he died to teach us how to die, how to follow him through death and into life.

I don't know what you're holding above the water this morning. I don't know what part of your life that you're keeping from the Lord and keeping from Jesus. But this morning, I want to encourage you. I want to challenge you to give it all to Jesus and you don't have to take my word for it. We're about to hear from 10 different individuals who have said yes to Jesus.

To have said, yes, I'm going to be fully submerged for Jesus. Let's pray

God. We want to be all in for Jesus. Lord, take us all the way under help us surrender everything. We have our will, our emotions, our plans, our habits, our addictions, God, you are sweeter than anything this world could ever offer. You are the only one who can fulfill our desires and truly satisfy us, teach us how to die.

Like your son did for us Lord, but teach us how to live in the same newness of life that you've given us the opportunity to. We love you Lord. And we give you praise this morning in Jesus name. Amen.

I want to just take a minute to explain this may be different for you. You have not seen a baptism by immersion like we do here and believe it's a biblical pattern that we're trying to fall. I want to explain to you what it is. I mean, both Mike pastor, Mike and pastor Jared have done a tremendous job. I think setting the table for this as Mike read from Romans chapter six, the picture of baptism is presenting.

What has a visual of what has already taken place in a person's life? That's why it says as we died with Christ and we're buried with. So we, we are arisen with him to newness of life. And this morning, as we baptize these individuals, we are going to be making a statement similar to something like this, um, in the likeness of his death, as we go below the water and as they come up in the likeness of his resurrection, what we're saying by that is this just as Jesus died and then came alive again.

So have we in Christ, we die to an old way of life where in my case, mark was the master and on the throne, we've been risen to a new way where we have willingly joyfully embraced Jesus as the center of our lives, seated on the throne of our lives and experience. Then through him, the newness of life that he brings.

I want to tell you ahead of time, um, where we're going. There are 10 individuals being baptized. The uniqueness of this service, is there a for pastors involved? Um, we are, we are letting people choose who has been most instrumental with them that they would like to have baptized them. And so we're going to have different guys, pastor me, pastor van, pastor Jared, and pastor Josiah will be baptizing.

I'm going to ask Cody to join me.

Cody, have you received Jesus Christ as your savior? Yes. Is it your desire today to publicly testify of that relationship by being baptized? Yes, it is. All right. We're going to hear.

Hi, my name's Timothy, Carol. I wanted to talk to everyone today about my baptism and why I think it's important to me being noticed as a follower of Christ is important to me and something I'm very proud of my need for Christ occurred. When I was young, when I thought I lost a family family member, my dad was in a horrible motorcycle accident that nearly took his life, putting him in a coma for over a month.

I needed a sign of hope. Someone had talked to for comfort and support. I needed a savior at eight years old, I was asking myself, am I going to be the only man left in my family to protect my mom and my sister alone would be difficult and not something I would want to go through. This was the first time I begged for God's help and forgiveness praying for him multiple times a day is the only thing I could do.

The accident nearly tour a family apart every day. I had to look at my mom and see her sadness and disbelief. She cried all the time. Despite the doctor's 0% survival chance their efforts pulled through, but not without the hope of Jesus. He saved my family that day from suffering. I am forever grateful.

There's not a day that goes by that. I'm not thankful for having stolen. My life. The least I could do is prove to him that I'm a proud believer.

Cody. It's my joy to baptize you in the name of the father, the son, and the holy spirit in the likeness of his death.

Cody sister, Courtney.

Courtney, have you received Jesus Christ as your savior? All right. And it is, uh, your desire today to publicly testify about that by being baptized? Yes. Okay. We're going to hear about it.

Hi, my name is Courtney Carol. Um, I came to the end of myself when I was about nine years old and I thought I was going to lose my father. He was in a terrible accident. Actually, this church itself prayed for him, which I am very grateful for. Um, my family wasn't going to be whole anymore without my father.

I don't know where my family would stand today in the Cooper trauma center, I began praying and my father was always like, you need to pray at night, you know, we've had. Now he lay me down to sleep those types of prayers. And in the trauma center, I actually started praying because he couldn't speak. It was like seeing somebody that you knew your whole life and then he didn't anymore.

Um, I thought I was going to lose him and God wanted to, it was a punishment that I wasn't going to have my own father. And he didn't allow that it was a miracle. And I honestly praise Jesus for that because he would not be here without him. Okay. Now the differentiates has made in my life, the differences.

I still have a family. I still have a mom, a dad, a brother, and we're still whole, so it's great without Jesus saving my family, I, or saving me, I should say is, I don't think I'd be the hard worker that I am in high school. I'd be like, I don't even know what I want to do now. I know exactly what I want to do, what I want to accomplish.

And I know Jesus has my back throughout that and he's going to make me accomplish things that I meant to accomplish. Also, the difference I'd say is I've noticed that he's put a lot of good people in my life instead of the bad people that I don't need in my life. So I'm surrounded by thankfully my family and extremely good friends.

I live free knowing that Jesus hears me, feels me, especially knows me because I know he hears my thoughts. He's heard my prayers and he's saved me from my fears. I've chosen to become baptized because I want to become closer to God and fully be a follower of Christ.

coordinates my joy to baptize you in the name of the father and the son and the holy ghost. In the likeness of his death,

Carolyn is going to join me now.

Carolyn, have you received Jesus Christ as your savior? And these are your desire to publicly testify to that by being baptized, we're going to hear about it now.

Good morning. My name is Carolyn and, um, I've been a practicing Catholic for the first 37 years. Um, but in 2016, a mutual friend of ours invited me on a trip to Guatemala, um, for the medical mission trip and that we really made a big impact on my life. Um, it was amazing just to be around, you know, the people from FCC that were there, the missionaries from Guatemala, the people of Guatemala that we served.

Um, so I came out of that, having a great week and really feeling that I was, you know, a different person, a better person, um, midway through the trip. Um, I translate our Jordan, um, was, was amazing. And he kind of, for whatever reason, one night after dinner, we were talking, um, and S uh, in talking about God and faith and.

He got me to admit that, um, that Jesus died for me. Um, I always believe that Jesus died for us, but, um, for whatever reason actually saying that Jesus died for me was pretty hard. Um, but, um, you know, but I did, um, you know, he kind of prayed over me and, and I, and I was able to say it out loud and for whatever reason, the next morning, a lot of people were really excited to see me.

And I didn't really understand why at the time. I mean, I kinda knew, but like, it didn't really hit home, uh, at the time. So, um, after that trip, uh, I started going to FCC, um, you know, I, I think it was initially, it was. Try to hold on to whatever parts of myself that felt like a better person. When I was in Guatemala, um, you know, I was kind of secretive about it.

You know, I sat in the back, I didn't really tell anyone that I was going, um, for a couple of weeks. Um, but then, you know, kind of more and more, I felt more comfortable, um, you know, amazing sermons, amazing worship, amazing activities at FCC. Um, that both my son and I were able to get involved with, um, and grow a little bit more, you know, through that, those activities.

Um, so kind of fast forward, a couple, uh, you know, within the last couple of weeks, I've really kind of felt it on my heart more and more, that that I needed to get baptized, um, more as a way to acknowledge that, uh, that I did receive Jesus as my savior and as myself. Um, that I am a follower of Jesus and that, uh, and that is what changed my life.

Not, not the volunteering, not the trip to Guatemala, um, but accepting him. And it's, my heart is what changed my life. And, and that's what I want to celebrate.

Carolyn and it's my joy to baptize you in the name of the father, the son, and the holy spirit and the likeness of his death. Resurrection.

Good morning. I'd like to invite Simeon painter to the tank, please.

If you're from the colleagues with campus this morning, would you just stand up a moment?

These are dear friends from Collins

and our desire. Send me an evening as you give public testimony of your faith. And this is true about our next person as well, is that we give public testimony of what we see happening in your life. Simeon. Have you accepted the Lord Jesus as your king and savior of your life? Yes. Is it your desire this morning to give public testimony to that fact through baptism?

Yes. Let's see a little bit of.

hi, my name is Simeon. I'm 15 years old. Um, and I've been raised in a Christian home. So I've been a Christian pretty much my whole life. Um, but I haven't always understood what that meant. It was only a few years ago that I actually encountered God's grace closely. I think there were times before that where maybe I would feel I had fallen too far for God, but, um, I would think I was 12 or 13 when I actually encountered guy closely.

When I was 12, I was caught in a cycle of sin. I don't think I was living for God at all. I'm doing that time. And there'd be times when I try to dig myself out of my, my own sin, but, um, those efforts didn't work. I really needed Jesus to intervene. It got to the point where I was crying about it. And. Um, shared a quote with me.

Um, I forget exactly who it was, but it went like if you're disappointed with yourself, it probably means you're trusting yourself too much. And that was really helpful because I just needed to give a lot of the weight to Jesus, um, and take it off of myself. A few months later, I went through some really tough mental health struggles, and those were some of the scariest moments of my life.

But, um, looking back on them now, I can really see God working through them because it was because of those struggles that I began to meet with my grandfather. And he really, really, I think God spoke through him and showed, um, showed me God's grace through him. Um, so that was really, really helpful. Um, it was a few months later or during that time when I read Andrew Farley's heaven is now.

Brennan meanings, the ragamuffin gospel, and both of those books really, really showed me God's grace and God was working through all of this to show me himself. Jesus has transformed me. Um, he's transformed my mind where before there was spear now there's there's peace. Um, and all of the darkness in the world feels so much smaller because of his presence inside of me and his promise of salvation.

Um, he's forgiven my sins and helped me to not chase after sins. I would have before I encountered him closely. I want to get baptized because I want, I want to take this step to show that I'm a child of God, because I think it can be easy at times when my faith, well, when I'd be ridiculed or persecuted because of my faith to just hide my faith.

And I D I don't want to do that. I want everyone to know that I'm a follower of God and the.

St. Media is my great honor to baptize you in the name of the one who holds no fear. We do this in the name of the father, the son, and the holy spirit and the likeness of his death and the likeness.

going to invite brother justice down. This is Simeon's brother justice, painter

justice. Our honor to be here with you today to, um, recognize what God is doing in your life. Is it your desire this morning to publicly testify of your faith in the Lord? Jesus Christ? Yes. Through baptism. Yes. Right. We're going to see a video a little bit more about what's going on in justices, world.

Hello. My name is justice. I'm 13 years old. Um, growing up in my house, I heard a lot about Jesus and his death and resurrection, and I initially made the choice to follow him when I was only three or four years old. Um, although I don't remember that. Well, I do know what I believe now. That's that Jesus is my savior and I need him.

Um, he's made a big difference in my life and helped me through many struggles. I've gone through times of doubt. Whereabouts got him God to show himself fully to me. And he has, I've also gone through times where I'd been angry at myself because I thought I never been. But every time I've learned more about God's love and I won't ever be good enough, but that doesn't matter because I've learned that God loves me with a greater love than I could ever imagine.

And nothing I can do can change that. I want to be baptized because I believe that it's an important step in my life to declare what I believe about Jesus and that I want to follow him for the rest of my life.

justice. It is my great honor to baptize you in the name of the father, the son, and the holy spirit and the likeness of his death and in the likeness of his resurrection.

good morning. Everyone's awake. I haven't chamber is going to join me in here.

and then have you received Jesus Christ as your Lord and savior? Yes. Is it your desire to publicly tell everyone here today? Um, that through baptism? Yes. All right. We're going to.

my name's Evan Schaffer. I'm a junior in high school. I'm 16 years old. And today I'm going to be sharing with you my baptism testimony, I guess I've always known that, uh, I've been a sinner. I've always been aware of my sins. Um, but for a long, long time, I never really realized just how much I needed salvation.

Um, I was always trying to just check off the boxes and just try to be the best person I could be. But, uh, I never really looked for like a personal connection with the Lord. And, um, yeah, so one day when I was 10 years old and the Canadian Rockies, I was, uh, it was a pensive time. I was just climbing up the mountain and then with my family.

And, um, there was something like troubling me that day and, um, I wa as I was walking up the mountain and I finally made it to the top, I turned around and I saw just his creation and it was so beautiful and it really just soaking by surprise. And it just struck me that God was first of all, just so powerful and so amazing that he made such a beautiful creation and it just really, um, hit my heart home.

It hit home. I also realized as I was walking down just how much he loved me, just how much, uh, he made that creation just for us on this earth. And, um, it also struck me that he sent down his son. He sent down his only son to die for our sins. I mean, I was fully aware that I was a sinful person and I was always getting down on myself because, uh, I wasn't a good person and I send all the time and I would, I was hard on myself, so I was aware that I was sinful, but it didn't really strike me that God really provided a way for us to join him in heaven and just be cleansed of these sins there, his extreme mercy, grace, and love.

And that was through song that Jesus Christ. So when it hit me that day, it really changed my life. He has, I have sinned a lot. Still there have been spiritual lows and spiritual highs, but overall he has still stuck by me. He's made a difference on how I behave with other people as well. Um, recently over the summer, I went over on a mission trip emission strip to Panther West Virginia.

That was really impactful. And I learned this one verse Matthew, 22 37 39, I guess three verses Jesus says the, um, Greatest commandment is to love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, your soul, all your mind and your body. And the second biggest commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself. So through Panther, I really learned what it was to be, um, really a true disciple and follower of him.

And, um, it has played out in the way my daily interactions. And I really have just been so graciously blessed by the Lord with everything in my life that I'm here on my baptism. And I want to share with you guys, everyone that I know just how much that the Lord means to me. And I want to proclaim and declare that I will be serving him my entire life.

And, um, this is just an outward representation of an inward change. And I want to thank you for your support and, um,

praise the Lord. It is my absolute honor to baptize you. The name of the father, the son, and holy spirit likeness of his death. Resurrection.

Leah Bennett is going to join us down here or join me. There's only one

that's one. Yeah. Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and savior? Yes. Is it your desire today to publicly testify that by getting baptized? Yes. Okay. Let's hear.

hi, my name is Leah Bennett and I'm a junior in high school. Um, growing up, I was in a Christian household, so I went to church every Sunday and I would go to youth group whenever I could. Um, I said the same prayer for every meal for as long as I can remember, but I dreaded all of it because I believed in Jesus and that he died on the cross for me, but I didn't know what that meant for me at the time.

For as long as I can remember growing up, I was building a foundation on the acceptance and love of others from elementary school to high school. I cared so much about what people thought of me and I wanted to be liked by everybody. Um, I wanted everybody to be my friend and I wanted to fit in. So whenever I felt like I wasn't fitting in the way that I wanted to, or I wasn't liked by certain people, it really racked me because my whole identity was found in other people and who I was trying to be for other people.

I don't know if I can put it any way. I felt like Jesus was always talking on my heart and telling me to like, get to know him more and see what he was all about. But I just continued to ignore that because I believe that I could find peace and joy from something other than him. What led me to actually seeing my neighbor, Jesus was my brother, because whether he knows it or not, he was my biggest role model.

And he still is, but he got to a point in his life where I think it got really low for him. And whenever quarantine hit, he started getting involved with a community at church. And whenever I say that I saw a change in him. It was almost instantaneous because for one thing, he wanted to start hanging out with me more.

Um, he was always home and he was just talking a lot more. He was more open and he was talking about Jesus, which was very different. And I didn't expect that coming from him, but you seemed a lot more joyful. And I wanted that for myself because at this time I was just struggling with finding my own place and with friendships and I was very miserable and sad because I couldn't.

I was just putting so much pressure on myself to be this person that I wasn't. And I wanted the same joy that he found for myself. So I can't name a specific day or time, but I think it was just in quarantine. Whenever I finally decided to just give in and see what Jesus was going to do in my life. I feel like Jesus in my life now is just teaching me what it means to be Leah and the burden that he created me to be.

And that this image that I was molding myself into for other people. Um, I think that he's also teaching you the importance of a community through youth group and the missions trip that I got the chance to be a part of this past summer. Um, I met amazing people and they just keep leading me back to him, which I think is what it's all about is just constantly running back to the father's house.

He accepts me for who I am and he doesn't want me to be any other way. Um, he just loves me for who I am. He admires me and that's all I need. I feel like Jesus is also just showing me the important. Having him in my life. And I can't do anything without him, honestly, and I'm miserable without him. And he just gives me so much joy that I know I need with him.

So I just want to start taking my relationship with Jesus more. Seriously. I want to know him deeper and I want to live for him and send it for others. So that is why I'm getting that sides today.

well, it is my absolute joy to baptize you in the name of the father, the son, holy spirit, likeness of his death. Resurrection

Ava Tucker is going to join me down here.

Ava. Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and savior? Yes. Is it your desire to publicly testify that by being baptized this morning? Yes. Okay.

hi, my name is Ava Tucker and I'm 15 years old. Um, I grew up in a Christian home and environment, so I always sort of knew who God was. And I always grew up knowing about him. I went to Awanas VBS our church, these group, and I asked God to be into to my heart ever since I was little. And that was who I always loved, but I never really established a good relationship with God.

And I don't know, I always felt a bit more distant with him after the COVID pandemic hit. My parents made a really big decision to fully homeschool. Um, me and my siblings, which really brought me sort of back together with. And it really made an impact on my life because we started every day reading the Bible and having devotions.

I felt like because we were reading the Bible so much, like I'm noticed how much God loves us and how much he's really there for us. And old Bible story side heard like all the time when I was younger, sort of made like a bigger impact on me. And I sort of understood what they were all over again. Um, the summer of 2021, I dealt with a lot of fear and worry, and God was really there for me.

And I suddenly like, because I had that time with God and I, my relationship with God was so much stronger by then. I was able to more depend on him. Um, so one verse that really stuck out to me was first Timothy, one seven for God, give us the spirit, not a fear, but a power in love and self care. Um, and it became more evident to me that God's like really there for me.

And I was always able just to sort of relationship with him. And so after that, um, I sort of knew how to deal with all my fear and anxiousness through God and with God. Um, and also with that, God taught me so much patience and how to be, I just felt so much more like, just so much more peace with God. And so at peace with everybody around me.

So like when our youth group first started talking about baptism and I realized that was something that I want to do. Um, I feel like God just sort of was at peace with me and Minnesota. It's like, okay, like, that's something that I should do. I wanted to make it as a testimony to show that like I was a daughter of Christ and, uh, I wanted to be with him for this.

it's my privilege to baptize you in the name of the father, the son, and holy spirit in the likeness of his death.

Jayden Franco is going to join me in here.

you're wondering why everyone's making a face when it comes in. It's very warm in here. They didn't have you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and savior. Is it your desire today to publicly testify that by being baptized? Yeah, definitely. Let's take a look.

Hello, my name is Jayden, and I'm here to get baptized today. Um, like I've always been in like a church setting my whole life, but like, it wasn't till like about seven or eight when I was at an Easter play, I looked up and I like saw Jesus there. And I was like, like, I believe this, of course. Cause it was an Easter play and stuff.

It took me longer like 10, 12. So like I really got to know God and yeah, like I put my life and she just hands on. I believe that the Easter. But like I had to really learn and I'm still there now, but it's giving me, you're like some awesome family, some awesome friends, and one of them was getting baptized also there.

So that's awesome. He's also given me some joy and like really helped me just like with discerning life and stuff through all of that. Like, I didn't think of getting baptized or I thought of, and I was just like, nah, not today. And then Jared hacking was teaching us a high schoolers at east group and he moves bringing up baptism.

And he was talking about how, like, we used the excuse of not having our life, like putting a bow, like wrapped up as like she's people use to not get baptized. And I thought like, well, he said like, we should get baptized anyway, because it's an hour. Show of like what's on the inside. So yeah, I'm here today and I'm going to get baptized.

So that's awesome.

David is my absolute joy to baptize you in the name of the father, the son, the holy spirit and life and stuff is done.

pastor just is going to come down now.

I was a little worried that I would dip below little shorter than Jared. I'm going to invite my dear friend and brother out. Jay Sean Baker.

Sean, have you accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and savior? Yes I have. Is your desire to publicly testify to that truth here today? Yes, it is awesome. Let's hear about it.

Hi, my name is Sean Baker. I'm 19 years old and here's my testimony of how I've come to know Christ and why I'm getting baptized today. I'm blessed to have grown up in a Christian family and have been coming to FCC close to 10 years. Now, growing up, I knew the story of Jesus and what he did on the cross, but the reality and power of the gospel has only recently made a significant impact in renewing my mind.

In the past few years, God began intervening in my life. When I was in high school, as I was completely living for myself at the age of 15, I started experimenting with. Like my addictive behaviors around the trust and security of the relationships I have with my friends and family. And I distanced myself further from God.

I'd fall into these cycles where I'd get caught, doing things I knew were wrong and only feel remorse out of fear of consequences issued by my parents. I never actually feel the guilt for what I did or let my sin convict me after I'd get caught and undergo consequences for your few months at a time, I'd fall back into the same behaviors as if I didn't learn a thing slowly but surely the enemy had trapped me and feeling as if I wasn't welcome or loved in my community.

And I completely isolated myself and became co-dependent on unhealthy friendships and substances as sources of comfort around Thanksgiving of 2020, I'd hit a new rock bottom. By this time I had been over three years into my addiction. I had gotten in trouble with the law and it withdrew myself from all community.

I was in the darkest valley I had ever been in and I come to the end of myself, Thanksgiving that year reminded me all. I had to be thankful. And may real to me how scary my life would be. If I didn't have God and his mercy and grace over my life, it became clear as day to me that I wouldn't be where I would be if it weren't for his love for me, nor would I have been able to identify as a son of his, if I weren't for Jesus dying for all the same, that brought me to that point.

My heart broke seeing the damage I had done to the body. God gave me how I misused the gifts he's given me and the hurt I caused through my selfishness. God convicted me that. And to invite the holy spirit into my heart in a fresh way, I'm overjoyed to say that I don't recognize that version of myself anymore and the word God and the spirit has done in my life to practice any expectation.

I had a year and a half ago, only two months after inviting the spirit back into my life. That conviction to quit. Nicotine came onto my heart and through the power of medicine. And God's. I'm able to be here in front of you all almost 15 months sober in early spring, I connected with another local community in Pennsauken and it was like a new beginning.

The eyes of my heart were open to enjoy the Lord and fresh ways with an enthusiastic group of people. And I reconnected here with Joe Parker at FCC reconciling with the community and allowing God to heal the relationships I had lost. I had a new found love and passion for music and found beauty, enjoying the gifts that he had given me using it to glorify him instead of myself, through that opportunities to foster a love of music through the power of teaching, came up, allowing my passion for music to take shape and leading me to devote my life to Christ through serving and loving others wherever he has me.

God has also blessed me with a loving community on my college campus of Rowan, where I can live out the gospel and the great commission with other students and be led by his spirit in south Jersey. And hopefully beyond that soon, God's love for me is so real. And considering everything that he has done is doing and forever will do.

Who's there for worthy of my praise. And I want to publicly testify today that Jesus is Lord of my life, that he is my heavenly father disciplining me out of love for me and leading me in the ways that are everlasting renewing, restoring and refining

Sean. It is a joy, so great. I can't even express it to baptize you now in the name of the. The son and the holy spirit and the likeness of his death.

well, um, I have the unhappy pleasure of ending this incredible morning. Um, but you guys just pray with me,

Lord. There's nothing left to say, but being in awe of you, of the power of your transformational love Lord, I pray that our hearts would be opened to what you were doing, Lord. And if there are any hearts here who are hearing these truths for the first time, Lord do not let them. Lord. We pray for those people, for the specific people in this room, feeling the tug and the pole of your spirit.

Well, Lord, we just pray that you would cling fast to them. And that one day, maybe Lord, they would be up here as well, declaring with all eternity that you have done it and you are good and you are our king Lord. We pray all of this in the name of the father, the son, and the holy spirit. Amen. You're dismissed.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/baptism-service-2 5f53b324-d711-49db-a97c-6ea917ca3622 Sun, 03 Apr 2022 10:34:32 GMT <div data-html="true">Romans 6:3-5 <br /><br /> Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Service Transcript: <br /><br /> Good morning. <br /><br /> All my high schoolers are assigned there like every Friday night. And now Sunday, are you serious? And if you're wondering how we're going to fit a sermon in with 10 testimonies and baptisms, this will be the shortest sermon that you will ever hear. Hopefully, <br /><br /> hopefully, well, good morning, please open your Bibles to Romans chapter six. Mike already stole my thunder with that verse, but if you're preaching a short sermon, read a verse, that is the sermon itself. So it's pretty simple. If you're using a few Bible, it is going to be page 8 86. Um, I was taxed with opening this up before we hear many powerful stories. <br /><br /> Um, for many different individuals. I want to introduce our time before our baptisms, by looking at this passage in Romans chapter six, verses three to five, and a fair warning. If you're in the first or second rows, I hope you brought your towel because you are in the splash zone. Last joke. I promise. Okay. <br /><br /> Romans six, three to five says this. Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death. We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead, by the glory of the father, we too might walk in newness of life for if we have been United with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be United with him in a resurrection like his let's pray. <br /><br /> God, thank you so much for bringing all these individuals here this morning. God, there is no one here on accident or by chance God, you have divinely ordained every single individual here today. God. And we know already that your spirit is going to move. We know already that you're going to work in hearts or through this passage, through the testimonies that we are about to hear Lord. <br /><br /> And we trust you God. And I pray right now, boldly Lord, that you would put off any and all distractions that are hindering us from hearing your truth and having your spirit work in us. God. And even now, Lord, I pray that you would shut my mouth and speak through me, Lord, we pray in Jesus's name. Amen. <br /><br /> In youth group. I mentioned on the youth pastor here. So we've had recently went through a topical study on the two ordinances of the church would be, which would be baptism and communion. We spent two whole weeks on baptism. We learned what it is, what it's not, and why it's important. I wanted to read this passage in Romans today because I think it beautifully sums up what the symbol of baptism is. <br /><br /> What we will witness today is not what we read here in the passage, but what has already happened, like Mike said, the reason we're giving them the shirts before they go in is because they are already forgiven in Christ Jesus. We are witnessing today a proclamation of what has already been done. The each individual we here today has confessed Jesus Christ as their Lord and savior, and is now living in that newness of. <br /><br /> Each individual has been baptized in Christ death, dying to their sin, and now has been raised up with him in his resurrection. We have the privilege of witnessing that today. The beautiful symbol of being dunked under water, dying to our sins, buried in the grave just as Jesus was. And in the same way, getting raised up out of the water, just like Jesus and the newness of life and his resurrection. <br /><br /> There's nothing special about this water behind me. The act of baptism does not save us. It does not give us some spiritual superpower or get us into heaven. Baptism is a outward, outward proclamation of an inward change. It's a statement that says I've surrendered my whole life to Jesus. And I want you to know about it. <br /><br /> It's a victory lap showing off what God has already done in my life. It's his story that he's invited us in on. It's the clarinet. We don't want to live for this world anymore. We want to live for his kingdom, the kingdom of God, it's saying no to ourselves and saying yes to Jesus. My good friend, Ryan Anderson is reading this book. <br /><br /> It's called live no lies by John mark Comber. And he's reading it. And occasionally he'll just like, hit me. Like, man, you gotta hear this verse. You gotta hear this verse. And this was like two weeks ago. And he read this, this quote to me and I'm like, dude, no way, this is incredible. And it's, it's a longer quote and we're going to have it on the screen for you, but it just gives such a beautiful imagery of what we witnessed today. <br /><br /> It's such a beautiful imagery of what baptism is of saying yes to Jesus. So I want to read it to us this morning. I'm going to have it on the screen as well, but it says. To say yes to Jesus. His invitation is to say no to a thousand other things. As the monks used to say every choice as a renunciation to say yes to Jesus is to say no to living my own definition of good and evil to spending my time and money. <br /><br /> However, I want to the hyper individualism and anti-authoritarianism and full tilt hedonistic pursuit of our day. It's a thousand tiny deaths that all lead up to one massive life. It's not a few tile grasping for control, but the freedom of yielding to love, it's saying to Jesus, whatever, wherever, whenever I'm yours, we look back on the crusades as a low point in the history of the. <br /><br /> Though historians tell a much more complex story than that of popular imagination. Legend has it that before going into battle, the Knights Templar were baptized, but they would hold their swords above their heads. As they went under the water. As if to say, Jesus, you can have all of me except this, not my violence, not my quest for glory, legend or history, the imagery is piercing. <br /><br /> We all do this. We might not hold up a sword for us. It could be a debit card, a relationship, a sexual ethic, a wound entertainment habit, a political, or even theological position. It could be anything. But how often do we say, if not in word then by our actions, not this Jesus, not this many followers of Jesus don't yet realize that the cross isn't just something Jesus did for us. <br /><br /> It's also something we do with. Even in church traditions with the high value of the cross, their interpretation of Jesus' death on the cross is often more transactional than transformational. I'm not remotely questioning the doctrine of substitutionary atonement that Jesus died for. Our sins is central to the gospel. <br /><br /> But think about it. We still die. Jesus, didn't it to high. So we don't have to, he died to teach us how to die, how to follow him through death and into life. <br /><br /> I don't know what you're holding above the water this morning. I don't know what part of your life that you're keeping from the Lord and keeping from Jesus. But this morning, I want to encourage you. I want to challenge you to give it all to Jesus and you don't have to take my word for it. We're about to hear from 10 different individuals who have said yes to Jesus. <br /><br /> To have said, yes, I'm going to be fully submerged for Jesus. Let's pray <br /><br /> God. We want to be all in for Jesus. Lord, take us all the way under help us surrender everything. We have our will, our emotions, our plans, our habits, our addictions, God, you are sweeter than anything this world could ever offer. You are the only one who can fulfill our desires and truly satisfy us, teach us how to die. <br /><br /> Like your son did for us Lord, but teach us how to live in the same newness of life that you've given us the opportunity to. We love you Lord. And we give you praise this morning in Jesus name. Amen. <br /><br /> I want to just take a minute to explain this may be different for you. You have not seen a baptism by immersion like we do here and believe it's a biblical pattern that we're trying to fall. I want to explain to you what it is. I mean, both Mike pastor, Mike and pastor Jared have done a tremendous job. I think setting the table for this as Mike read from Romans chapter six, the picture of baptism is presenting. <br /><br /> What has a visual of what has already taken place in a person's life? That's why it says as we died with Christ and we're buried with. So we, we are arisen with him to newness of life. And this morning, as we baptize these individuals, we are going to be making a statement similar to something like this, um, in the likeness of his death, as we go below the water and as they come up in the likeness of his resurrection, what we're saying by that is this just as Jesus died and then came alive again. <br /><br /> So have we in Christ, we die to an old way of life where in my case, mark was the master and on the throne, we've been risen to a new way where we have willingly joyfully embraced Jesus as the center of our lives, seated on the throne of our lives and experience. Then through him, the newness of life that he brings. <br /><br /> I want to tell you ahead of time, um, where we're going. There are 10 individuals being baptized. The uniqueness of this service, is there a for pastors involved? Um, we are, we are letting people choose who has been most instrumental with them that they would like to have baptized them. And so we're going to have different guys, pastor me, pastor van, pastor Jared, and pastor Josiah will be baptizing. <br /><br /> I'm going to ask Cody to join me. <br /><br /> Cody, have you received Jesus Christ as your savior? Yes. Is it your desire today to publicly testify of that relationship by being baptized? Yes, it is. All right. We're going to hear. <br /><br /> Hi, my name's Timothy, Carol. I wanted to talk to everyone today about my baptism and why I think it's important to me being noticed as a follower of Christ is important to me and something I'm very proud of my need for Christ occurred. When I was young, when I thought I lost a family family member, my dad was in a horrible motorcycle accident that nearly took his life, putting him in a coma for over a month. <br /><br /> I needed a sign of hope. Someone had talked to for comfort and support. I needed a savior at eight years old, I was asking myself, am I going to be the only man left in my family to protect my mom and my sister alone would be difficult and not something I would want to go through. This was the first time I begged for God's help and forgiveness praying for him multiple times a day is the only thing I could do. <br /><br /> The accident nearly tour a family apart every day. I had to look at my mom and see her sadness and disbelief. She cried all the time. Despite the doctor's 0% survival chance their efforts pulled through, but not without the hope of Jesus. He saved my family that day from suffering. I am forever grateful. <br /><br /> There's not a day that goes by that. I'm not thankful for having stolen. My life. The least I could do is prove to him that I'm a proud believer. <br /><br /> Cody. It's my joy to baptize you in the name of the father, the son, and the holy spirit in the likeness of his death. <br /><br /> Cody sister, Courtney. <br /><br /> Courtney, have you received Jesus Christ as your savior? All right. And it is, uh, your desire today to publicly testify about that by being baptized? Yes. Okay. We're going to hear about it. <br /><br /> Hi, my name is Courtney Carol. Um, I came to the end of myself when I was about nine years old and I thought I was going to lose my father. He was in a terrible accident. Actually, this church itself prayed for him, which I am very grateful for. Um, my family wasn't going to be whole anymore without my father. <br /><br /> I don't know where my family would stand today in the Cooper trauma center, I began praying and my father was always like, you need to pray at night, you know, we've had. Now he lay me down to sleep those types of prayers. And in the trauma center, I actually started praying because he couldn't speak. It was like seeing somebody that you knew your whole life and then he didn't anymore. <br /><br /> Um, I thought I was going to lose him and God wanted to, it was a punishment that I wasn't going to have my own father. And he didn't allow that it was a miracle. And I honestly praise Jesus for that because he would not be here without him. Okay. Now the differentiates has made in my life, the differences. <br /><br /> I still have a family. I still have a mom, a dad, a brother, and we're still whole, so it's great without Jesus saving my family, I, or saving me, I should say is, I don't think I'd be the hard worker that I am in high school. I'd be like, I don't even know what I want to do now. I know exactly what I want to do, what I want to accomplish. <br /><br /> And I know Jesus has my back throughout that and he's going to make me accomplish things that I meant to accomplish. Also, the difference I'd say is I've noticed that he's put a lot of good people in my life instead of the bad people that I don't need in my life. So I'm surrounded by thankfully my family and extremely good friends. <br /><br /> I live free knowing that Jesus hears me, feels me, especially knows me because I know he hears my thoughts. He's heard my prayers and he's saved me from my fears. I've chosen to become baptized because I want to become closer to God and fully be a follower of Christ. <br /><br /> coordinates my joy to baptize you in the name of the father and the son and the holy ghost. In the likeness of his death, <br /><br /> Carolyn is going to join me now. <br /><br /> Carolyn, have you received Jesus Christ as your savior? And these are your desire to publicly testify to that by being baptized, we're going to hear about it now. <br /><br /> Good morning. My name is Carolyn and, um, I've been a practicing Catholic for the first 37 years. Um, but in 2016, a mutual friend of ours invited me on a trip to Guatemala, um, for the medical mission trip and that we really made a big impact on my life. Um, it was amazing just to be around, you know, the people from FCC that were there, the missionaries from Guatemala, the people of Guatemala that we served. <br /><br /> Um, so I came out of that, having a great week and really feeling that I was, you know, a different person, a better person, um, midway through the trip. Um, I translate our Jordan, um, was, was amazing. And he kind of, for whatever reason, one night after dinner, we were talking, um, and S uh, in talking about God and faith and. <br /><br /> He got me to admit that, um, that Jesus died for me. Um, I always believe that Jesus died for us, but, um, for whatever reason actually saying that Jesus died for me was pretty hard. Um, but, um, you know, but I did, um, you know, he kind of prayed over me and, and I, and I was able to say it out loud and for whatever reason, the next morning, a lot of people were really excited to see me. <br /><br /> And I didn't really understand why at the time. I mean, I kinda knew, but like, it didn't really hit home, uh, at the time. So, um, after that trip, uh, I started going to FCC, um, you know, I, I think it was initially, it was. Try to hold on to whatever parts of myself that felt like a better person. When I was in Guatemala, um, you know, I was kind of secretive about it. <br /><br /> You know, I sat in the back, I didn't really tell anyone that I was going, um, for a couple of weeks. Um, but then, you know, kind of more and more, I felt more comfortable, um, you know, amazing sermons, amazing worship, amazing activities at FCC. Um, that both my son and I were able to get involved with, um, and grow a little bit more, you know, through that, those activities. <br /><br /> Um, so kind of fast forward, a couple, uh, you know, within the last couple of weeks, I've really kind of felt it on my heart more and more, that that I needed to get baptized, um, more as a way to acknowledge that, uh, that I did receive Jesus as my savior and as myself. Um, that I am a follower of Jesus and that, uh, and that is what changed my life. <br /><br /> Not, not the volunteering, not the trip to Guatemala, um, but accepting him. And it's, my heart is what changed my life. And, and that's what I want to celebrate. <br /><br /> Carolyn and it's my joy to baptize you in the name of the father, the son, and the holy spirit and the likeness of his death. Resurrection. <br /><br /> Good morning. I'd like to invite Simeon painter to the tank, please. <br /><br /> If you're from the colleagues with campus this morning, would you just stand up a moment? <br /><br /> These are dear friends from Collins <br /><br /> and our desire. Send me an evening as you give public testimony of your faith. And this is true about our next person as well, is that we give public testimony of what we see happening in your life. Simeon. Have you accepted the Lord Jesus as your king and savior of your life? Yes. Is it your desire this morning to give public testimony to that fact through baptism? <br /><br /> Yes. Let's see a little bit of. <br /><br /> hi, my name is Simeon. I'm 15 years old. Um, and I've been raised in a Christian home. So I've been a Christian pretty much my whole life. Um, but I haven't always understood what that meant. It was only a few years ago that I actually encountered God's grace closely. I think there were times before that where maybe I would feel I had fallen too far for God, but, um, I would think I was 12 or 13 when I actually encountered guy closely. <br /><br /> When I was 12, I was caught in a cycle of sin. I don't think I was living for God at all. I'm doing that time. And there'd be times when I try to dig myself out of my, my own sin, but, um, those efforts didn't work. I really needed Jesus to intervene. It got to the point where I was crying about it. And. Um, shared a quote with me. <br /><br /> Um, I forget exactly who it was, but it went like if you're disappointed with yourself, it probably means you're trusting yourself too much. And that was really helpful because I just needed to give a lot of the weight to Jesus, um, and take it off of myself. A few months later, I went through some really tough mental health struggles, and those were some of the scariest moments of my life. <br /><br /> But, um, looking back on them now, I can really see God working through them because it was because of those struggles that I began to meet with my grandfather. And he really, really, I think God spoke through him and showed, um, showed me God's grace through him. Um, so that was really, really helpful. Um, it was a few months later or during that time when I read Andrew Farley's heaven is now. <br /><br /> Brennan meanings, the ragamuffin gospel, and both of those books really, really showed me God's grace and God was working through all of this to show me himself. Jesus has transformed me. Um, he's transformed my mind where before there was spear now there's there's peace. Um, and all of the darkness in the world feels so much smaller because of his presence inside of me and his promise of salvation. <br /><br /> Um, he's forgiven my sins and helped me to not chase after sins. I would have before I encountered him closely. I want to get baptized because I want, I want to take this step to show that I'm a child of God, because I think it can be easy at times when my faith, well, when I'd be ridiculed or persecuted because of my faith to just hide my faith. <br /><br /> And I D I don't want to do that. I want everyone to know that I'm a follower of God and the. <br /><br /> St. Media is my great honor to baptize you in the name of the one who holds no fear. We do this in the name of the father, the son, and the holy spirit and the likeness of his death and the likeness. <br /><br /> going to invite brother justice down. This is Simeon's brother justice, painter <br /><br /> justice. Our honor to be here with you today to, um, recognize what God is doing in your life. Is it your desire this morning to publicly testify of your faith in the Lord? Jesus Christ? Yes. Through baptism. Yes. Right. We're going to see a video a little bit more about what's going on in justices, world. <br /><br /> Hello. My name is justice. I'm 13 years old. Um, growing up in my house, I heard a lot about Jesus and his death and resurrection, and I initially made the choice to follow him when I was only three or four years old. Um, although I don't remember that. Well, I do know what I believe now. That's that Jesus is my savior and I need him. <br /><br /> Um, he's made a big difference in my life and helped me through many struggles. I've gone through times of doubt. Whereabouts got him God to show himself fully to me. And he has, I've also gone through times where I'd been angry at myself because I thought I never been. But every time I've learned more about God's love and I won't ever be good enough, but that doesn't matter because I've learned that God loves me with a greater love than I could ever imagine. <br /><br /> And nothing I can do can change that. I want to be baptized because I believe that it's an important step in my life to declare what I believe about Jesus and that I want to follow him for the rest of my life. <br /><br /> justice. It is my great honor to baptize you in the name of the father, the son, and the holy spirit and the likeness of his death and in the likeness of his resurrection. <br /><br /> good morning. Everyone's awake. I haven't chamber is going to join me in here. <br /><br /> and then have you received Jesus Christ as your Lord and savior? Yes. Is it your desire to publicly tell everyone here today? Um, that through baptism? Yes. All right. We're going to. <br /><br /> my name's Evan Schaffer. I'm a junior in high school. I'm 16 years old. And today I'm going to be sharing with you my baptism testimony, I guess I've always known that, uh, I've been a sinner. I've always been aware of my sins. Um, but for a long, long time, I never really realized just how much I needed salvation. <br /><br /> Um, I was always trying to just check off the boxes and just try to be the best person I could be. But, uh, I never really looked for like a personal connection with the Lord. And, um, yeah, so one day when I was 10 years old and the Canadian Rockies, I was, uh, it was a pensive time. I was just climbing up the mountain and then with my family. <br /><br /> And, um, there was something like troubling me that day and, um, I wa as I was walking up the mountain and I finally made it to the top, I turned around and I saw just his creation and it was so beautiful and it really just soaking by surprise. And it just struck me that God was first of all, just so powerful and so amazing that he made such a beautiful creation and it just really, um, hit my heart home. <br /><br /> It hit home. I also realized as I was walking down just how much he loved me, just how much, uh, he made that creation just for us on this earth. And, um, it also struck me that he sent down his son. He sent down his only son to die for our sins. I mean, I was fully aware that I was a sinful person and I was always getting down on myself because, uh, I wasn't a good person and I send all the time and I would, I was hard on myself, so I was aware that I was sinful, but it didn't really strike me that God really provided a way for us to join him in heaven and just be cleansed of these sins there, his extreme mercy, grace, and love. <br /><br /> And that was through song that Jesus Christ. So when it hit me that day, it really changed my life. He has, I have sinned a lot. Still there have been spiritual lows and spiritual highs, but overall he has still stuck by me. He's made a difference on how I behave with other people as well. Um, recently over the summer, I went over on a mission trip emission strip to Panther West Virginia. <br /><br /> That was really impactful. And I learned this one verse Matthew, 22 37 39, I guess three verses Jesus says the, um, Greatest commandment is to love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, your soul, all your mind and your body. And the second biggest commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself. So through Panther, I really learned what it was to be, um, really a true disciple and follower of him. <br /><br /> And, um, it has played out in the way my daily interactions. And I really have just been so graciously blessed by the Lord with everything in my life that I'm here on my baptism. And I want to share with you guys, everyone that I know just how much that the Lord means to me. And I want to proclaim and declare that I will be serving him my entire life. <br /><br /> And, um, this is just an outward representation of an inward change. And I want to thank you for your support and, um, <br /><br /> praise the Lord. It is my absolute honor to baptize you. The name of the father, the son, and holy spirit likeness of his death. Resurrection. <br /><br /> Leah Bennett is going to join us down here or join me. There's only one <br /><br /> that's one. Yeah. Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and savior? Yes. Is it your desire today to publicly testify that by getting baptized? Yes. Okay. Let's hear. <br /><br /> hi, my name is Leah Bennett and I'm a junior in high school. Um, growing up, I was in a Christian household, so I went to church every Sunday and I would go to youth group whenever I could. Um, I said the same prayer for every meal for as long as I can remember, but I dreaded all of it because I believed in Jesus and that he died on the cross for me, but I didn't know what that meant for me at the time. <br /><br /> For as long as I can remember growing up, I was building a foundation on the acceptance and love of others from elementary school to high school. I cared so much about what people thought of me and I wanted to be liked by everybody. Um, I wanted everybody to be my friend and I wanted to fit in. So whenever I felt like I wasn't fitting in the way that I wanted to, or I wasn't liked by certain people, it really racked me because my whole identity was found in other people and who I was trying to be for other people. <br /><br /> I don't know if I can put it any way. I felt like Jesus was always talking on my heart and telling me to like, get to know him more and see what he was all about. But I just continued to ignore that because I believe that I could find peace and joy from something other than him. What led me to actually seeing my neighbor, Jesus was my brother, because whether he knows it or not, he was my biggest role model. <br /><br /> And he still is, but he got to a point in his life where I think it got really low for him. And whenever quarantine hit, he started getting involved with a community at church. And whenever I say that I saw a change in him. It was almost instantaneous because for one thing, he wanted to start hanging out with me more. <br /><br /> Um, he was always home and he was just talking a lot more. He was more open and he was talking about Jesus, which was very different. And I didn't expect that coming from him, but you seemed a lot more joyful. And I wanted that for myself because at this time I was just struggling with finding my own place and with friendships and I was very miserable and sad because I couldn't. <br /><br /> I was just putting so much pressure on myself to be this person that I wasn't. And I wanted the same joy that he found for myself. So I can't name a specific day or time, but I think it was just in quarantine. Whenever I finally decided to just give in and see what Jesus was going to do in my life. I feel like Jesus in my life now is just teaching me what it means to be Leah and the burden that he created me to be. <br /><br /> And that this image that I was molding myself into for other people. Um, I think that he's also teaching you the importance of a community through youth group and the missions trip that I got the chance to be a part of this past summer. Um, I met amazing people and they just keep leading me back to him, which I think is what it's all about is just constantly running back to the father's house. <br /><br /> He accepts me for who I am and he doesn't want me to be any other way. Um, he just loves me for who I am. He admires me and that's all I need. I feel like Jesus is also just showing me the important. Having him in my life. And I can't do anything without him, honestly, and I'm miserable without him. And he just gives me so much joy that I know I need with him. <br /><br /> So I just want to start taking my relationship with Jesus more. Seriously. I want to know him deeper and I want to live for him and send it for others. So that is why I'm getting that sides today. <br /><br /> well, it is my absolute joy to baptize you in the name of the father, the son, holy spirit, likeness of his death. Resurrection <br /><br /> Ava Tucker is going to join me down here. <br /><br /> Ava. Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and savior? Yes. Is it your desire to publicly testify that by being baptized this morning? Yes. Okay. <br /><br /> hi, my name is Ava Tucker and I'm 15 years old. Um, I grew up in a Christian home and environment, so I always sort of knew who God was. And I always grew up knowing about him. I went to Awanas VBS our church, these group, and I asked God to be into to my heart ever since I was little. And that was who I always loved, but I never really established a good relationship with God. <br /><br /> And I don't know, I always felt a bit more distant with him after the COVID pandemic hit. My parents made a really big decision to fully homeschool. Um, me and my siblings, which really brought me sort of back together with. And it really made an impact on my life because we started every day reading the Bible and having devotions. <br /><br /> I felt like because we were reading the Bible so much, like I'm noticed how much God loves us and how much he's really there for us. And old Bible story side heard like all the time when I was younger, sort of made like a bigger impact on me. And I sort of understood what they were all over again. Um, the summer of 2021, I dealt with a lot of fear and worry, and God was really there for me. <br /><br /> And I suddenly like, because I had that time with God and I, my relationship with God was so much stronger by then. I was able to more depend on him. Um, so one verse that really stuck out to me was first Timothy, one seven for God, give us the spirit, not a fear, but a power in love and self care. Um, and it became more evident to me that God's like really there for me. <br /><br /> And I was always able just to sort of relationship with him. And so after that, um, I sort of knew how to deal with all my fear and anxiousness through God and with God. Um, and also with that, God taught me so much patience and how to be, I just felt so much more like, just so much more peace with God. And so at peace with everybody around me. <br /><br /> So like when our youth group first started talking about baptism and I realized that was something that I want to do. Um, I feel like God just sort of was at peace with me and Minnesota. It's like, okay, like, that's something that I should do. I wanted to make it as a testimony to show that like I was a daughter of Christ and, uh, I wanted to be with him for this. <br /><br /> it's my privilege to baptize you in the name of the father, the son, and holy spirit in the likeness of his death. <br /><br /> Jayden Franco is going to join me in here. <br /><br /> you're wondering why everyone's making a face when it comes in. It's very warm in here. They didn't have you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and savior. Is it your desire today to publicly testify that by being baptized? Yeah, definitely. Let's take a look. <br /><br /> Hello, my name is Jayden, and I'm here to get baptized today. Um, like I've always been in like a church setting my whole life, but like, it wasn't till like about seven or eight when I was at an Easter play, I looked up and I like saw Jesus there. And I was like, like, I believe this, of course. Cause it was an Easter play and stuff. <br /><br /> It took me longer like 10, 12. So like I really got to know God and yeah, like I put my life and she just hands on. I believe that the Easter. But like I had to really learn and I'm still there now, but it's giving me, you're like some awesome family, some awesome friends, and one of them was getting baptized also there. <br /><br /> So that's awesome. He's also given me some joy and like really helped me just like with discerning life and stuff through all of that. Like, I didn't think of getting baptized or I thought of, and I was just like, nah, not today. And then Jared hacking was teaching us a high schoolers at east group and he moves bringing up baptism. <br /><br /> And he was talking about how, like, we used the excuse of not having our life, like putting a bow, like wrapped up as like she's people use to not get baptized. And I thought like, well, he said like, we should get baptized anyway, because it's an hour. Show of like what's on the inside. So yeah, I'm here today and I'm going to get baptized. <br /><br /> So that's awesome. <br /><br /> David is my absolute joy to baptize you in the name of the father, the son, the holy spirit and life and stuff is done. <br /><br /> pastor just is going to come down now. <br /><br /> I was a little worried that I would dip below little shorter than Jared. I'm going to invite my dear friend and brother out. Jay Sean Baker. <br /><br /> Sean, have you accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and savior? Yes I have. Is your desire to publicly testify to that truth here today? Yes, it is awesome. Let's hear about it. <br /><br /> Hi, my name is Sean Baker. I'm 19 years old and here's my testimony of how I've come to know Christ and why I'm getting baptized today. I'm blessed to have grown up in a Christian family and have been coming to FCC close to 10 years. Now, growing up, I knew the story of Jesus and what he did on the cross, but the reality and power of the gospel has only recently made a significant impact in renewing my mind. <br /><br /> In the past few years, God began intervening in my life. When I was in high school, as I was completely living for myself at the age of 15, I started experimenting with. Like my addictive behaviors around the trust and security of the relationships I have with my friends and family. And I distanced myself further from God. <br /><br /> I'd fall into these cycles where I'd get caught, doing things I knew were wrong and only feel remorse out of fear of consequences issued by my parents. I never actually feel the guilt for what I did or let my sin convict me after I'd get caught and undergo consequences for your few months at a time, I'd fall back into the same behaviors as if I didn't learn a thing slowly but surely the enemy had trapped me and feeling as if I wasn't welcome or loved in my community. <br /><br /> And I completely isolated myself and became co-dependent on unhealthy friendships and substances as sources of comfort around Thanksgiving of 2020, I'd hit a new rock bottom. By this time I had been over three years into my addiction. I had gotten in trouble with the law and it withdrew myself from all community. <br /><br /> I was in the darkest valley I had ever been in and I come to the end of myself, Thanksgiving that year reminded me all. I had to be thankful. And may real to me how scary my life would be. If I didn't have God and his mercy and grace over my life, it became clear as day to me that I wouldn't be where I would be if it weren't for his love for me, nor would I have been able to identify as a son of his, if I weren't for Jesus dying for all the same, that brought me to that point. <br /><br /> My heart broke seeing the damage I had done to the body. God gave me how I misused the gifts he's given me and the hurt I caused through my selfishness. God convicted me that. And to invite the holy spirit into my heart in a fresh way, I'm overjoyed to say that I don't recognize that version of myself anymore and the word God and the spirit has done in my life to practice any expectation. <br /><br /> I had a year and a half ago, only two months after inviting the spirit back into my life. That conviction to quit. Nicotine came onto my heart and through the power of medicine. And God's. I'm able to be here in front of you all almost 15 months sober in early spring, I connected with another local community in Pennsauken and it was like a new beginning. <br /><br /> The eyes of my heart were open to enjoy the Lord and fresh ways with an enthusiastic group of people. And I reconnected here with Joe Parker at FCC reconciling with the community and allowing God to heal the relationships I had lost. I had a new found love and passion for music and found beauty, enjoying the gifts that he had given me using it to glorify him instead of myself, through that opportunities to foster a love of music through the power of teaching, came up, allowing my passion for music to take shape and leading me to devote my life to Christ through serving and loving others wherever he has me. <br /><br /> God has also blessed me with a loving community on my college campus of Rowan, where I can live out the gospel and the great commission with other students and be led by his spirit in south Jersey. And hopefully beyond that soon, God's love for me is so real. And considering everything that he has done is doing and forever will do. <br /><br /> Who's there for worthy of my praise. And I want to publicly testify today that Jesus is Lord of my life, that he is my heavenly father disciplining me out of love for me and leading me in the ways that are everlasting renewing, restoring and refining <br /><br /> Sean. It is a joy, so great. I can't even express it to baptize you now in the name of the. The son and the holy spirit and the likeness of his death. <br /><br /> well, um, I have the unhappy pleasure of ending this incredible morning. Um, but you guys just pray with me, <br /><br /> Lord. There's nothing left to say, but being in awe of you, of the power of your transformational love Lord, I pray that our hearts would be opened to what you were doing, Lord. And if there are any hearts here who are hearing these truths for the first time, Lord do not let them. Lord. We pray for those people, for the specific people in this room, feeling the tug and the pole of your spirit. <br /><br /> Well, Lord, we just pray that you would cling fast to them. And that one day, maybe Lord, they would be up here as well, declaring with all eternity that you have done it and you are good and you are our king Lord. We pray all of this in the name of the father, the son, and the holy spirit. Amen. You're dismissed.</div> false no <![CDATA[A Sermon that will Attract or Annoy You]]> Acts 3:11-26

"Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago."



Sermon Transcript:

Lord. That song expresses the longing of our hearts at all. Praise would be to the Lord most high Lord Jesus. We gather here today to declare to one another and to you, it's true. There is a living Christ. There is a resurrected Jesus that has entered our lives. That has changed us. And to you, we give all praise, Lord, we're going to open your word.

We're going to hear about a sermon. Speaking about your nature, your work, God, speak into us your truth this morning. I pray in Jesus name. Amen. Invite you to take your Bibles this morning. And we're going to be looking at acts. Chapter three is, as Randy mentioned, one dimension next Sunday is a baptism service, which are.

Hi, and special days around here, we've got 10 individuals that are going to be baptized. We're going to be doing the baptism live. And our nine o'clock service would be taped and shown, uh, on online as well and live stream then. And then we'll be hearing the testimonies and the 10 30 service again, uh, wanna encourage you to get here, um, and get here timely way.

We are not only having, uh, the guests of people that are being baptized. We're also having our call-ins would campus is joining us here because a couple of the folks that are getting baptized are from their campus and we're, we're joining together and some of them will be coming over to join us. So look forward to that time.

Uh, as we celebrate together, I'm going to read 15 verses here in acts chapter three, I'm going to read fairly rapidly, acts chapter three, verse 11 through 26. And this is about the lame man who has been crippled from birth and is in his forties. Here's what he says. Well, he clung to Peter and John, all the people utterly astounded, ran together to them in the Portico called Solomons.

And when Peter saw it, he addressed the people, men of Israel. Why do you wonder at this? Or why do you stare at us as though by our own power or pie too? We have made him walk the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers glorified his servant, Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of pilot when he had decided to release him.

But you denied the holy and righteous one and asked for a murderer to be granted to you. And you killed the author of life, whom God raised from the dead to this. We are witnesses and his name by faith in his name has made this man strong, whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all.

And now brothers, I know that you act in an ignorance as did also your rulers, but what God foretold by the mouth of the profits that is Christ would suffer. He thus fulfilled repent, therefore, and turn back that your sins may be blotted out. That times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord and that he may send the Christ appointed for you.

Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago, Moses said, the Lord, God will raise up for you. A prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him and whatever he tells you, and it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people and all the prophets who have spoken from Samuel.

And those who came after him also proclaim these days. You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your father saying to Abraham and in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. God having raised up his servant sent him to you first to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.

There are different subjects that attract conversations for some people, while at the same time, driving others away. We had a community, my community group, and recent, a recent community group, right before we got started, um, over to the side, some of the husbands were, we were sitting in a circle, some of the guys were chatting away.

Animatedly and, uh, I looked over, we were trying, I was trying to, our group is not easy to pull rain in. So I was reigning him in to get started. And, uh, I caught the eye of one of the wives and she was looking at. And she mouthed the word golf and raised her eyes. You know, if I raised up the subject vaccines, some people would love to get into a conversation about that.

Most of us just want to, beyond it recently, I was watching a six or game and my wife came into the room and as she came into the room, she sat down and she made this, this announcement. She said, now I'm here because I want to be with you. I already know you love Joelle and bead, so you don't need to tell me anymore about him.

There are different topics that raise different levels of interest, right? Some people are attracted, some people are annoyed. Peter is going to preach a sermon that has a similar set of conflicting responses. Some passionately drawn to. Some just find it irritating. The setting is Solomon's Portico. Peter and John have just healed a lame man who is over 40 years old and has been crippled from birth that's in the first part of chapter three, they've now gone into the temple and now have come out and are meeting in a place called Solomon's Portico.

And I just want to show this to you real quickly. What we're talking about, this is the whole temple structure, this giant facility with the four walls around it. This is the court of the Gentiles. And either side, it was a massive area where literally thousands of people could gather. And this is the temple structure itself.

This is, this is actually where, where Peter and John have gone in. And either at this gate or at the gate there, nobody's sure exactly where they have healed this man. And they have now come out. And over here, this, this big red roof thing, I always feel not sure which I want to give everybody equal time.

If you're way over here. This is called the, the Royal Portico. This is actually where the religious leaders met. If you may wonder why the religious leaders always there while they're there, because if we can go back just for a second, there they go back because they're there because they have a big meeting place.

But under this, this section here, this wall here, the front wall is where, what it's called Solomon's porch. Now, if we can bring up that next picture, this is what it looks like. Two column structure, open to the courtyard here, and, but a large open area to meet in. It's where Jesus taught. We read in some of the gospel accounts.

It is also where Peter is now addressing the crowds. They have left the temple with this guy hanging on to them. I think he was a little bit, he seems like a gentle spirited guy and he's nervous with the crowds. He's never had this kind of attention before. Um, he's, as I mentioned last week, he he's jumping all around with enthusiasm, um, for the first time in his life, but he's now holding them as they come into this Solomon's Portico.

And as all the people have gathered, Peter addresses them with this sermon and there's conflicting responses. Some of the people respond as chapter four will tell us as it begins, they're greatly annoyed. Those would be the religious leaders and some of the people attending them. They're annoyed by the message.

They're annoyed by the, the, the inconvenience it's going to cause them the more they talk about Jesus, the more they talk about his resurrection. But in verse four of acts, chapter four, we find a very different response. Thousands, 5,000 of them will believe on Jesus Christ. So we come to this message recognizing its power to attract or to annoy a great deal, will depend on the posture.

One takes towards it. I encourage you as we look at the five points of the sermon, and I'll tell you, the first two are going to be longer than the other. So don't despair

as you look at this, I hope you'll come with an open mind and see how the sermon speaks to you. These five things that he addresses the first of. The sermon talks about who Jesus is in verse 12. He says, men of Israel, why do you wonder it us? And why do you stare at us as though by our own power or piety?

We have made him walk he's. Peter says, why are you looking at me? I I'm no wizard. I don't have the power. He says, why are you looking at me? I don't have a, I'm not some kind of holy man. I don't have a special piety. So where are they to look? Well, he's going to tell them in this sermon, he launches into a description of the one whose power did heal.

The man, it culminates in verse 16 and his name by faith in his name has made this man strong, whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given this man his perfect health and the presence of you all a number of times in the next few chapters, we're going to see this phrase, name.

Talking about the name of Jesus and basically name refers to everything. That's true about a person, his character, his attributes, his reputation, his accomplishments. Peter is saying there is nothing in my name or John's name that qualifies us for the action that has taken place. There is everything in the name of Jesus.

I mentioned this story before I just do it quickly. Number of years ago, the chaplain 76 is a close friend of many of us and a member of our church was Bruce MacDonald. And I was the backup chaplain. I had the privilege to go to a lot of games during that time. I remember one time I went into the game and before the games going on, when the players are on the court, there's hardly any people in the auditorium, in the facility.

I got there early and I'd actually gone down as I often would do down by the court and try to invite guys that I knew sometimes came to chapel would invite them or opposing players. So I was right courtside and I was right down in the corner and, uh, hardly anybody in the stands. And all of a sudden I hear this voice and the voice says this, Hey, who are you?

And I turned around, it was pat Croce, the president of the Philadelphia 76 years. Now, what he was asking is who gives you the right to be standing right on court side while these guys are playing, talking to the players. So I turned to him and, and I'll tell you what I did not say. I did not say, oh, I'm mark Willey.

Played small Ford, high school, little bit of college. Matter of fact, had a sweet jumper right from the corner right here. I also did not say I'm pastor mark Willey. I pastor church FCC living naitivity you may have heard of us. I'll tell you what I said. I squeaked out, uh, I'm here, uh, doing chapel I'm here for filling in for Bruce McDonald tonight.

He was response. Oh Bruce McDonnell, Bruce. I love Bruce. Bruce is great guy. Doing a great job. Have a wonderful night chaplain. Now what happened there? Here's what happened? I banked all my claims of worthiness on the name of Bruce MacDonald. That's exactly what Peter is doing here. Peter is saying, I got no credits.

I didn't, I didn't do this. Now you might be thinking if you've read the gospels and tell him, I said, wait a minute. I mean, obviously you didn't have any creds with the, with pat Croce, but these guys did do miracles and Peter and John did miracles all the time. Well, it's the hand of Peter that was reached out to this crippled man.

It's the power of Christ that raised him. Peter knew that Peter is pointing the way to the name of Jesus and the character of Jesus. And he describes Jesus in this way, in these verses. And if you look at verse 13 through 15, you'll see this highlighted, he starts by saying Jesus of Nash. Which was just the way I want you to know exactly who the historical guy is on talking about.

Here's who he is. He says in verse 13, he is God's servant. He's quoting from Isaiah 52 and 53. The clearest reference about the Messiah in the old Testament about him being the suffering servant. He's talking here about Jesus commissioning, that he is calm as the representative of almighty God, Jehovah God, he's a servant.

He's his commissioned spokesman. Gotcha. God-centered secondly, he's the holy and righteous one in verse 14, he's talking about his character, sinless purity and goodness. The righteous one is a term that is used in the prophetic books who talk about the, the kingship of, of the, the one that would come and about his character being sinless and pure righteous.

And holy, he talks about his capability. He's in verse 16, he's the author of life. He created all life. Death couldn't hold him. He was raised from the dead imagining listening, Peter two, Peter, talk about this guy later in the book of acts. This is going to be a scene where Paul has testified about Jesus and, and a Roman governor is going to write this.

And he says this he's writing actually to the emperor. And he said, he talks about a dead man named Jesus, who Paul says is raised from the dead. This is Peter standing there. He's saying the guy that is raised here that is running around. That is, that is bouncing around with enthusiasm has never walked before, has been raised by the author of life, by the holy and righteous one.

But the very servant of the most high God, Jesus, who is life has been raised from the dead. Now this description of Jesus is annoying. If you are trying to have a managed Jesus, CS Lewis and his great work, the mere Christianity talks about. How people want to embrace Jesus or think positive thoughts about Jesus, but it's an a managed sense.

Here's what he says. I'm trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about him. I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say a man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher.

He would either be a lunatic on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg or else. He would be the devil of hell. You must make your choice either. This man was, and is the son of God or else a madman or something worse. You can't shut him up for a fool. You can spit at him and kill him as a demon, or you can fill at his feet and call him Lord and God.

But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to Peter presents a perspective of who Jesus is. The second thing this sermon gives that can be both appealing or annoying. It talks about what you have done in verses 13 to 17.

Peter, doesn't just talk about who Jesus is. He talks about what they did in light of who Jesus was. He says in verse 13, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers glorified his servant Jesus. He's the commissioned representative of our, our God, the God of our fathers, the God of Israel that Jehovah God y'all.

We got. So, what did you do with his commissioned representative? Did you welcome as God's representative? And he tells us in verse 13, you delivered him over and deny him in the presence of pilot. When he had decided to release him, he says, pilot thought better Jesus than you did. He then goes on in verse 14 and he says, this he's the holy and righteous one.

He is the character of holiness did honors character as being worthy of love and adoration versus tiny scene. He says, you asked for a murderer to be granted to you. Instead, the guy that would be let go by the leader. He came as the one who is the author of life in verse four to 15. He's basically saying, did you bow before him and give thanks for his creating you, you killed.

Now you may hear all that. And you may say, well, shoot, they were a bunch of idiots. I mean, no wonder they got the hammer dropped on them from Peter in this sermon, killing a good guy, like Jesus, it inexcusable behavior. What does that have to do with me? I mean, I didn't do that. I wasn't there Peter's goal was to help them see their sin.

He did it in a very direct way, but there is a relevance to his message in 2022 Burlington county, New Jersey, because the titles that are used here of Jesus Christ and the way he is presented to us, speak to our own flippancy toward Jesus. It isn't an outgrowth of our own failure to consider the significance of these titles.

So let me just run back through them. One more time. He's the author of life. Jesus Christ is the author of every living entity in the cosmos. More specifically, he's the creator of you. You are not a random compilation of billions of atoms. You are not just the product of a chance development over millions of years.

You are designed by God. Your life then has purpose and meaning, but it also means that as a being who is directed, whose creation is directed and orchestrated and designed by God, you have also been designed with the purpose of living your life. In relationship with God to live. According to the ways he says are the best ways for you to live your life.

The, to do life with him, to do life, the way he knows is best for you is to live the way life was designed to be with God at your center. He is the holy and righteous one. Sin is abberant and it is a distortion of the way life ought to be. He's the standard. He's the one that is the measure of the life that you are called to live.

And given the gift to live sin as rebellion against God's way sin as rejection of God and his purposes for your life. He created you to do life with him, to enjoy him and sin in its most foundational level. And actually, this is a beautiful portrayal of God. Cyn at its most foundational level is betrayal.

It is saying to the God who says, I created you to delight with you to live and to enable you to live life as have designed it to be a life that has joy and peace and contentedness, but you spurned me as the center of your life. It's what scent is. It is turning. It's why the Bible constantly refers to sin as spiritual adultery.

It is betrayal of our ultimate life partner.

He is then the servant commissioned to come among us. The third part, him being a servant among us doesn't really make much sense until you realize he's the author of your life. That he is the standard of holiness and righteousness, and that we have spurned him. And yet in the face of that, spurning he comes among us to be the suffering servant.

He tells us here, as we look at this passage in verse 18, he says an amazing things to these people. He says, you did it ignorantly. He really cuts even the religious leaders of pass. And he says they did it. They didn't understand all the significance of who and what they were doing to the, who. They didn't know what they were doing.

They didn't know how it did not know how it all fit together. These Jews did not see the depth of evil in their behavior until they saw the nature of the one who came among them. Maybe you see things in a similar. Maybe this morning, God wants to re impress upon some, to impress upon some for the initial time.

The reality of who it is that has come, who it is that is designed you, who it is that wants to do life with you, who it is that lays out these standards of righteousness. It is one that is more for you who is safer to you than anyone you've ever experienced in your life.

Maybe you've looked at sin as a sliding scale and a comparative, and there has to be the wake up call to look at our own lives. As these people were forced to do, to see the significance, not of their sin compared to others, but in the standard and measurement of the holy God who had loved them, who now came among them and modeled what righteousness.

I was talking to a guy recently and I have his permission to share this. He was telling the story of when he was younger, he had a severe issue with alcohol and he had just come to Christ and, uh, was talking to his grandmother about how, how much he struggled with the gay lifestyle. And she made him read.

She asked him to read first Corinthians six first Corinthians six is a list of lifestyles that keep people from God. He saw they're people who practice homosexuality, and then he saw drunkards. That's why she had them go there. And then he said with a little twinkle in his eye and I love the way he said it.

He said, as I looked at that passage and I saw my sin listed. Saw as other people's sin. I also recognize we're probably a number of things in that passage that spoke to me.

There's a book called the Screwtape letters and in, and it's a story of a senior, uh, demon Screwtape. Who's speaking to wormwood, a junior associate. And in this, this brilliant writing, the senior devil is presented as talking to the junior associate with this statement. He said, the only thing that matters is the extent to which you separate the man from the enemy.

The enemy has got murder is no more effective than carts. If cards can do the. Indeed the safest road to hell is the gradual one, the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts. What Peter is saying to these people is the same thing he would say to you. To me, you must see that your sins are the ones that qualify you for judgment and separation from God.

You begin to understand why some people find this message annoying. The third thing again, we're going to move faster on these. It talks about what God did in verse 18, what God foretold by the mouth of all the profits that his Christ would suffer. He thus fulfilled two very important concepts here.

Number one, it says, God, the father sent Jesus here. To suffer the word suffer pathless. The word we get passion from is actually talking about all of the end of life experience of Jesus in that passion week, where he is betrayed, where he is, where he is rejected, where he suffers the beatings and culminating in the work of the cross.

God, the father ordained that he chose that, that Jesus would come as the suffer scent for people who have recognized their sin who need forgiveness, but he also sent him in a plan. He planned for Jesus to suffer number of these verses that we're not taking time to highlight basically are talking about the prophecies of which there are hundreds of Jesus coming.

That they had, God had planned this though. The people have guilt on their hands. And he certainly is acknowledging that and having Jesus killed his coming was by the God who had orchestrated the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The fourth reality that he presents in this sermon is it talks about what you must do.

He says it here in verse 19, repent and turn back. The word repent is from two words that actually mean change your mind, have a different perspective. Look at yourself and things differently. He says, and then turn back, turn back to what I believe he's saying turn back. Did Jesus take another. Repent change your mind now, gaze at the one that came among you, who healed this man who does his power, my hand lift him up his power that did it, but understand that he came, he lived out the passion.

He shows the cross

for you. And so Peter says, take another luck, consider who he is, consider what you've done and consider what he's done for you. The fifth thing says this. It talks about what God. Your sins will be blotted out. He's talked here about if you repent of your sin, if you, by faith, determines used their faith of Jesus.

If you embrace Jesus Christ as your savior, your sins will be blotted out. This is a cool expression in the pirates of the day. And I read this by enough offers and didn't appreciate, I really think this is a reality that pirates was a thick parchment, hard parchment. And basically the ink that they used in that day did not have the acidic substances that are in casts.

And so it would just sit on the parchment, almost like water. It would go on a little more, but basically it wasn't absorbed. It didn't have what ink has today and acidic part that will bite into the parchment. So what you could do, you did right. But it could then be wiped off and you could reuse that parchment.

It was almost like a tablet. Think of a whiteboard, think of a white board that is covered with all of your sin. Be a big board, right? A white board. The talks about all the things that we've said and done all the things that drove our heart, all, all the ways we, we, we didn't act out, but we looked at people with hatred and animosity and envy and, and desire for them to get there.

So all those things are on the board and it says, now picture somebody coming along with the cloth and just wiping off all those things. And he says, this is why Jesus came. He came to wipe the board of your life clean. It's what God does.

And he speaks to people that need life that need forgiveness, that need change. This is sermon that could be

evoking, very different responses. The religious leaders and others with them become greatly annoyed by it. The more the disciples talked about them, the more inconvenient it was for the religious establishment. They didn't like the fact that it put everybody on equal spirit, spiritual footing, sinners in need of forgiveness, broken people who needed fixing, including them.

It said that their lives were not their own. The author of life claims authority over their lives. It annoyed them that it said that Jesus was the only one who could deliver them, change them, take the white board, filled with their sins and wipe it clean. And so to the proud the self-sufficient, the religionist, the whole message was pretty much annoying, but there were others to whom it was life.

It offered a forgiveness. They could not gain on their own. It offered a welcome to God's family. They could not imagine it offered a heavenly future. They could not merit. And so dozens of them, scores of them, hundreds of. Thousands of them bowed the knee to Jesus Christ and received him into their life as savior and Lord.

Who are you today?

Is it annoying to think of me? And I got accept Jesus. I mean, I can handle it if he sees a great teacher is a good guy. I think there's a lot of good. I think he's, I believe he's a real historical figure, but God creator of have me come on. Is it annoying to face the fact that you are a sinner that you can't merit or earn eternal life, that this is not about what you will do?

It's about what Jesus has done.

Will we allow our annoyance to keep us. From embracing the greatest news that has ever been offered to humankind, the author of life has come and died and born the penalty for our sin that we might find life in him. I don't know where you are today. You may be a believer to have embraced Jesus for many years.

I hope God will just remind you of the glory of the grace in which you stand. But I also hope that those of you that are here are watching online that have never had this so personally focused. And to the point that it feels somewhat unsettling, maybe a little bit irritating. Peter loved these people enough to say, what about you?

What have I, you, what are you going to do with Christ? The question is important because it truly does determine one's eternal destiny. I'd like to pray together. Lord, we come to you this morning.

God. It is awesome for me to think that every person in this room, their heart, their thoughts are wholly known by you and Lord. I pray that you who look at their hearts, may your spirit speak into their lives. Lord, may they come to yield, surrender and embrace this glorious Christ,

every head bowed and every eye closed, except for me. Maybe you're here today, and God is speaking to your heart and saying, you know, I had you here in this room this morning or watching online today because I wanted to tell you about my son. And I wanted to tell you how much he loves you and has come to give you life.

Maybe God is speaking your life and heart rate and NFE. He, you know it. And you'd like to say, pastor mark, I, I'm not sure I've received Jesus Christ as my savior. I'm not sure I've, I've, I've embraced Jesus as the Lord and center of my life. And the way you're talking about today, would you pray for me with every head bowed and every eye closed?

It's going to ask you to just slip up your hand, say, would you pray for me past. I feel God's speaking to my heart. Yes. Thank you. Yes. Thank you. Just slip it up. Thank you other others.

Thank you. Thank you, Lord. We come to you. We love your word. It speaks to us challenges us convicts us, but it changes us. Lord, you know, every person whose hand was raised, God, how I pray that you might enable them by your grace to settle this matter with you, that they might embrace your son once forever as their Lord and savior in Jesus.

Amen. We're going to close in a second. You may have raised your hand this morning. You may not have raised your hand, but are going to walk out and think you, I should have, um, I'd love the chance to share with you a little bit personally, just in a one-on-one as would any of our pastors or members of our female staff can talk with you about how you can be sure about your salvation with Jesus Christ.

We'd love the opportunity to do that. Now. Go in peace to love and serve and enjoy the work]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/a-sermon-that-will-attract-or-annoy-you f8d5ad4d-a81a-4498-b99e-7b62a38bf1b1 Sun, 27 Mar 2022 12:05:17 GMT <div data-html="true">Acts 3:11-26 <br /><br /> "Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago." <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> Lord. That song expresses the longing of our hearts at all. Praise would be to the Lord most high Lord Jesus. We gather here today to declare to one another and to you, it's true. There is a living Christ. There is a resurrected Jesus that has entered our lives. That has changed us. And to you, we give all praise, Lord, we're going to open your word. <br /><br /> We're going to hear about a sermon. Speaking about your nature, your work, God, speak into us your truth this morning. I pray in Jesus name. Amen. Invite you to take your Bibles this morning. And we're going to be looking at acts. Chapter three is, as Randy mentioned, one dimension next Sunday is a baptism service, which are. <br /><br /> Hi, and special days around here, we've got 10 individuals that are going to be baptized. We're going to be doing the baptism live. And our nine o'clock service would be taped and shown, uh, on online as well and live stream then. And then we'll be hearing the testimonies and the 10 30 service again, uh, wanna encourage you to get here, um, and get here timely way. <br /><br /> We are not only having, uh, the guests of people that are being baptized. We're also having our call-ins would campus is joining us here because a couple of the folks that are getting baptized are from their campus and we're, we're joining together and some of them will be coming over to join us. So look forward to that time. <br /><br /> Uh, as we celebrate together, I'm going to read 15 verses here in acts chapter three, I'm going to read fairly rapidly, acts chapter three, verse 11 through 26. And this is about the lame man who has been crippled from birth and is in his forties. Here's what he says. Well, he clung to Peter and John, all the people utterly astounded, ran together to them in the Portico called Solomons. <br /><br /> And when Peter saw it, he addressed the people, men of Israel. Why do you wonder at this? Or why do you stare at us as though by our own power or pie too? We have made him walk the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers glorified his servant, Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of pilot when he had decided to release him. <br /><br /> But you denied the holy and righteous one and asked for a murderer to be granted to you. And you killed the author of life, whom God raised from the dead to this. We are witnesses and his name by faith in his name has made this man strong, whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all. <br /><br /> And now brothers, I know that you act in an ignorance as did also your rulers, but what God foretold by the mouth of the profits that is Christ would suffer. He thus fulfilled repent, therefore, and turn back that your sins may be blotted out. That times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord and that he may send the Christ appointed for you. <br /><br /> Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago, Moses said, the Lord, God will raise up for you. A prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him and whatever he tells you, and it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people and all the prophets who have spoken from Samuel. <br /><br /> And those who came after him also proclaim these days. You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your father saying to Abraham and in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. God having raised up his servant sent him to you first to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness. <br /><br /> There are different subjects that attract conversations for some people, while at the same time, driving others away. We had a community, my community group, and recent, a recent community group, right before we got started, um, over to the side, some of the husbands were, we were sitting in a circle, some of the guys were chatting away. <br /><br /> Animatedly and, uh, I looked over, we were trying, I was trying to, our group is not easy to pull rain in. So I was reigning him in to get started. And, uh, I caught the eye of one of the wives and she was looking at. And she mouthed the word golf and raised her eyes. You know, if I raised up the subject vaccines, some people would love to get into a conversation about that. <br /><br /> Most of us just want to, beyond it recently, I was watching a six or game and my wife came into the room and as she came into the room, she sat down and she made this, this announcement. She said, now I'm here because I want to be with you. I already know you love Joelle and bead, so you don't need to tell me anymore about him. <br /><br /> There are different topics that raise different levels of interest, right? Some people are attracted, some people are annoyed. Peter is going to preach a sermon that has a similar set of conflicting responses. Some passionately drawn to. Some just find it irritating. The setting is Solomon's Portico. Peter and John have just healed a lame man who is over 40 years old and has been crippled from birth that's in the first part of chapter three, they've now gone into the temple and now have come out and are meeting in a place called Solomon's Portico. <br /><br /> And I just want to show this to you real quickly. What we're talking about, this is the whole temple structure, this giant facility with the four walls around it. This is the court of the Gentiles. And either side, it was a massive area where literally thousands of people could gather. And this is the temple structure itself. <br /><br /> This is, this is actually where, where Peter and John have gone in. And either at this gate or at the gate there, nobody's sure exactly where they have healed this man. And they have now come out. And over here, this, this big red roof thing, I always feel not sure which I want to give everybody equal time. <br /><br /> If you're way over here. This is called the, the Royal Portico. This is actually where the religious leaders met. If you may wonder why the religious leaders always there while they're there, because if we can go back just for a second, there they go back because they're there because they have a big meeting place. <br /><br /> But under this, this section here, this wall here, the front wall is where, what it's called Solomon's porch. Now, if we can bring up that next picture, this is what it looks like. Two column structure, open to the courtyard here, and, but a large open area to meet in. It's where Jesus taught. We read in some of the gospel accounts. <br /><br /> It is also where Peter is now addressing the crowds. They have left the temple with this guy hanging on to them. I think he was a little bit, he seems like a gentle spirited guy and he's nervous with the crowds. He's never had this kind of attention before. Um, he's, as I mentioned last week, he he's jumping all around with enthusiasm, um, for the first time in his life, but he's now holding them as they come into this Solomon's Portico. <br /><br /> And as all the people have gathered, Peter addresses them with this sermon and there's conflicting responses. Some of the people respond as chapter four will tell us as it begins, they're greatly annoyed. Those would be the religious leaders and some of the people attending them. They're annoyed by the message. <br /><br /> They're annoyed by the, the, the inconvenience it's going to cause them the more they talk about Jesus, the more they talk about his resurrection. But in verse four of acts, chapter four, we find a very different response. Thousands, 5,000 of them will believe on Jesus Christ. So we come to this message recognizing its power to attract or to annoy a great deal, will depend on the posture. <br /><br /> One takes towards it. I encourage you as we look at the five points of the sermon, and I'll tell you, the first two are going to be longer than the other. So don't despair <br /><br /> as you look at this, I hope you'll come with an open mind and see how the sermon speaks to you. These five things that he addresses the first of. The sermon talks about who Jesus is in verse 12. He says, men of Israel, why do you wonder it us? And why do you stare at us as though by our own power or piety? <br /><br /> We have made him walk he's. Peter says, why are you looking at me? I I'm no wizard. I don't have the power. He says, why are you looking at me? I don't have a, I'm not some kind of holy man. I don't have a special piety. So where are they to look? Well, he's going to tell them in this sermon, he launches into a description of the one whose power did heal. <br /><br /> The man, it culminates in verse 16 and his name by faith in his name has made this man strong, whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given this man his perfect health and the presence of you all a number of times in the next few chapters, we're going to see this phrase, name. <br /><br /> Talking about the name of Jesus and basically name refers to everything. That's true about a person, his character, his attributes, his reputation, his accomplishments. Peter is saying there is nothing in my name or John's name that qualifies us for the action that has taken place. There is everything in the name of Jesus. <br /><br /> I mentioned this story before I just do it quickly. Number of years ago, the chaplain 76 is a close friend of many of us and a member of our church was Bruce MacDonald. And I was the backup chaplain. I had the privilege to go to a lot of games during that time. I remember one time I went into the game and before the games going on, when the players are on the court, there's hardly any people in the auditorium, in the facility. <br /><br /> I got there early and I'd actually gone down as I often would do down by the court and try to invite guys that I knew sometimes came to chapel would invite them or opposing players. So I was right courtside and I was right down in the corner and, uh, hardly anybody in the stands. And all of a sudden I hear this voice and the voice says this, Hey, who are you? <br /><br /> And I turned around, it was pat Croce, the president of the Philadelphia 76 years. Now, what he was asking is who gives you the right to be standing right on court side while these guys are playing, talking to the players. So I turned to him and, and I'll tell you what I did not say. I did not say, oh, I'm mark Willey. <br /><br /> Played small Ford, high school, little bit of college. Matter of fact, had a sweet jumper right from the corner right here. I also did not say I'm pastor mark Willey. I pastor church FCC living naitivity you may have heard of us. I'll tell you what I said. I squeaked out, uh, I'm here, uh, doing chapel I'm here for filling in for Bruce McDonald tonight. <br /><br /> He was response. Oh Bruce McDonnell, Bruce. I love Bruce. Bruce is great guy. Doing a great job. Have a wonderful night chaplain. Now what happened there? Here's what happened? I banked all my claims of worthiness on the name of Bruce MacDonald. That's exactly what Peter is doing here. Peter is saying, I got no credits. <br /><br /> I didn't, I didn't do this. Now you might be thinking if you've read the gospels and tell him, I said, wait a minute. I mean, obviously you didn't have any creds with the, with pat Croce, but these guys did do miracles and Peter and John did miracles all the time. Well, it's the hand of Peter that was reached out to this crippled man. <br /><br /> It's the power of Christ that raised him. Peter knew that Peter is pointing the way to the name of Jesus and the character of Jesus. And he describes Jesus in this way, in these verses. And if you look at verse 13 through 15, you'll see this highlighted, he starts by saying Jesus of Nash. Which was just the way I want you to know exactly who the historical guy is on talking about. <br /><br /> Here's who he is. He says in verse 13, he is God's servant. He's quoting from Isaiah 52 and 53. The clearest reference about the Messiah in the old Testament about him being the suffering servant. He's talking here about Jesus commissioning, that he is calm as the representative of almighty God, Jehovah God, he's a servant. <br /><br /> He's his commissioned spokesman. Gotcha. God-centered secondly, he's the holy and righteous one in verse 14, he's talking about his character, sinless purity and goodness. The righteous one is a term that is used in the prophetic books who talk about the, the kingship of, of the, the one that would come and about his character being sinless and pure righteous. <br /><br /> And holy, he talks about his capability. He's in verse 16, he's the author of life. He created all life. Death couldn't hold him. He was raised from the dead imagining listening, Peter two, Peter, talk about this guy later in the book of acts. This is going to be a scene where Paul has testified about Jesus and, and a Roman governor is going to write this. <br /><br /> And he says this he's writing actually to the emperor. And he said, he talks about a dead man named Jesus, who Paul says is raised from the dead. This is Peter standing there. He's saying the guy that is raised here that is running around. That is, that is bouncing around with enthusiasm has never walked before, has been raised by the author of life, by the holy and righteous one. <br /><br /> But the very servant of the most high God, Jesus, who is life has been raised from the dead. Now this description of Jesus is annoying. If you are trying to have a managed Jesus, CS Lewis and his great work, the mere Christianity talks about. How people want to embrace Jesus or think positive thoughts about Jesus, but it's an a managed sense. <br /><br /> Here's what he says. I'm trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about him. I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say a man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. <br /><br /> He would either be a lunatic on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg or else. He would be the devil of hell. You must make your choice either. This man was, and is the son of God or else a madman or something worse. You can't shut him up for a fool. You can spit at him and kill him as a demon, or you can fill at his feet and call him Lord and God. <br /><br /> But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to Peter presents a perspective of who Jesus is. The second thing this sermon gives that can be both appealing or annoying. It talks about what you have done in verses 13 to 17. <br /><br /> Peter, doesn't just talk about who Jesus is. He talks about what they did in light of who Jesus was. He says in verse 13, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers glorified his servant Jesus. He's the commissioned representative of our, our God, the God of our fathers, the God of Israel that Jehovah God y'all. <br /><br /> We got. So, what did you do with his commissioned representative? Did you welcome as God's representative? And he tells us in verse 13, you delivered him over and deny him in the presence of pilot. When he had decided to release him, he says, pilot thought better Jesus than you did. He then goes on in verse 14 and he says, this he's the holy and righteous one. <br /><br /> He is the character of holiness did honors character as being worthy of love and adoration versus tiny scene. He says, you asked for a murderer to be granted to you. Instead, the guy that would be let go by the leader. He came as the one who is the author of life in verse four to 15. He's basically saying, did you bow before him and give thanks for his creating you, you killed. <br /><br /> Now you may hear all that. And you may say, well, shoot, they were a bunch of idiots. I mean, no wonder they got the hammer dropped on them from Peter in this sermon, killing a good guy, like Jesus, it inexcusable behavior. What does that have to do with me? I mean, I didn't do that. I wasn't there Peter's goal was to help them see their sin. <br /><br /> He did it in a very direct way, but there is a relevance to his message in 2022 Burlington county, New Jersey, because the titles that are used here of Jesus Christ and the way he is presented to us, speak to our own flippancy toward Jesus. It isn't an outgrowth of our own failure to consider the significance of these titles. <br /><br /> So let me just run back through them. One more time. He's the author of life. Jesus Christ is the author of every living entity in the cosmos. More specifically, he's the creator of you. You are not a random compilation of billions of atoms. You are not just the product of a chance development over millions of years. <br /><br /> You are designed by God. Your life then has purpose and meaning, but it also means that as a being who is directed, whose creation is directed and orchestrated and designed by God, you have also been designed with the purpose of living your life. In relationship with God to live. According to the ways he says are the best ways for you to live your life. <br /><br /> The, to do life with him, to do life, the way he knows is best for you is to live the way life was designed to be with God at your center. He is the holy and righteous one. Sin is abberant and it is a distortion of the way life ought to be. He's the standard. He's the one that is the measure of the life that you are called to live. <br /><br /> And given the gift to live sin as rebellion against God's way sin as rejection of God and his purposes for your life. He created you to do life with him, to enjoy him and sin in its most foundational level. And actually, this is a beautiful portrayal of God. Cyn at its most foundational level is betrayal. <br /><br /> It is saying to the God who says, I created you to delight with you to live and to enable you to live life as have designed it to be a life that has joy and peace and contentedness, but you spurned me as the center of your life. It's what scent is. It is turning. It's why the Bible constantly refers to sin as spiritual adultery. <br /><br /> It is betrayal of our ultimate life partner. <br /><br /> He is then the servant commissioned to come among us. The third part, him being a servant among us doesn't really make much sense until you realize he's the author of your life. That he is the standard of holiness and righteousness, and that we have spurned him. And yet in the face of that, spurning he comes among us to be the suffering servant. <br /><br /> He tells us here, as we look at this passage in verse 18, he says an amazing things to these people. He says, you did it ignorantly. He really cuts even the religious leaders of pass. And he says they did it. They didn't understand all the significance of who and what they were doing to the, who. They didn't know what they were doing. <br /><br /> They didn't know how it did not know how it all fit together. These Jews did not see the depth of evil in their behavior until they saw the nature of the one who came among them. Maybe you see things in a similar. Maybe this morning, God wants to re impress upon some, to impress upon some for the initial time. <br /><br /> The reality of who it is that has come, who it is that is designed you, who it is that wants to do life with you, who it is that lays out these standards of righteousness. It is one that is more for you who is safer to you than anyone you've ever experienced in your life. <br /><br /> Maybe you've looked at sin as a sliding scale and a comparative, and there has to be the wake up call to look at our own lives. As these people were forced to do, to see the significance, not of their sin compared to others, but in the standard and measurement of the holy God who had loved them, who now came among them and modeled what righteousness. <br /><br /> I was talking to a guy recently and I have his permission to share this. He was telling the story of when he was younger, he had a severe issue with alcohol and he had just come to Christ and, uh, was talking to his grandmother about how, how much he struggled with the gay lifestyle. And she made him read. <br /><br /> She asked him to read first Corinthians six first Corinthians six is a list of lifestyles that keep people from God. He saw they're people who practice homosexuality, and then he saw drunkards. That's why she had them go there. And then he said with a little twinkle in his eye and I love the way he said it. <br /><br /> He said, as I looked at that passage and I saw my sin listed. Saw as other people's sin. I also recognize we're probably a number of things in that passage that spoke to me. <br /><br /> There's a book called the Screwtape letters and in, and it's a story of a senior, uh, demon Screwtape. Who's speaking to wormwood, a junior associate. And in this, this brilliant writing, the senior devil is presented as talking to the junior associate with this statement. He said, the only thing that matters is the extent to which you separate the man from the enemy. <br /><br /> The enemy has got murder is no more effective than carts. If cards can do the. Indeed the safest road to hell is the gradual one, the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts. What Peter is saying to these people is the same thing he would say to you. To me, you must see that your sins are the ones that qualify you for judgment and separation from God. <br /><br /> You begin to understand why some people find this message annoying. The third thing again, we're going to move faster on these. It talks about what God did in verse 18, what God foretold by the mouth of all the profits that his Christ would suffer. He thus fulfilled two very important concepts here. <br /><br /> Number one, it says, God, the father sent Jesus here. To suffer the word suffer pathless. The word we get passion from is actually talking about all of the end of life experience of Jesus in that passion week, where he is betrayed, where he is, where he is rejected, where he suffers the beatings and culminating in the work of the cross. <br /><br /> God, the father ordained that he chose that, that Jesus would come as the suffer scent for people who have recognized their sin who need forgiveness, but he also sent him in a plan. He planned for Jesus to suffer number of these verses that we're not taking time to highlight basically are talking about the prophecies of which there are hundreds of Jesus coming. <br /><br /> That they had, God had planned this though. The people have guilt on their hands. And he certainly is acknowledging that and having Jesus killed his coming was by the God who had orchestrated the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The fourth reality that he presents in this sermon is it talks about what you must do. <br /><br /> He says it here in verse 19, repent and turn back. The word repent is from two words that actually mean change your mind, have a different perspective. Look at yourself and things differently. He says, and then turn back, turn back to what I believe he's saying turn back. Did Jesus take another. Repent change your mind now, gaze at the one that came among you, who healed this man who does his power, my hand lift him up his power that did it, but understand that he came, he lived out the passion. <br /><br /> He shows the cross <br /><br /> for you. And so Peter says, take another luck, consider who he is, consider what you've done and consider what he's done for you. The fifth thing says this. It talks about what God. Your sins will be blotted out. He's talked here about if you repent of your sin, if you, by faith, determines used their faith of Jesus. <br /><br /> If you embrace Jesus Christ as your savior, your sins will be blotted out. This is a cool expression in the pirates of the day. And I read this by enough offers and didn't appreciate, I really think this is a reality that pirates was a thick parchment, hard parchment. And basically the ink that they used in that day did not have the acidic substances that are in casts. <br /><br /> And so it would just sit on the parchment, almost like water. It would go on a little more, but basically it wasn't absorbed. It didn't have what ink has today and acidic part that will bite into the parchment. So what you could do, you did right. But it could then be wiped off and you could reuse that parchment. <br /><br /> It was almost like a tablet. Think of a whiteboard, think of a white board that is covered with all of your sin. Be a big board, right? A white board. The talks about all the things that we've said and done all the things that drove our heart, all, all the ways we, we, we didn't act out, but we looked at people with hatred and animosity and envy and, and desire for them to get there. <br /><br /> So all those things are on the board and it says, now picture somebody coming along with the cloth and just wiping off all those things. And he says, this is why Jesus came. He came to wipe the board of your life clean. It's what God does. <br /><br /> And he speaks to people that need life that need forgiveness, that need change. This is sermon that could be <br /><br /> evoking, very different responses. The religious leaders and others with them become greatly annoyed by it. The more the disciples talked about them, the more inconvenient it was for the religious establishment. They didn't like the fact that it put everybody on equal spirit, spiritual footing, sinners in need of forgiveness, broken people who needed fixing, including them. <br /><br /> It said that their lives were not their own. The author of life claims authority over their lives. It annoyed them that it said that Jesus was the only one who could deliver them, change them, take the white board, filled with their sins and wipe it clean. And so to the proud the self-sufficient, the religionist, the whole message was pretty much annoying, but there were others to whom it was life. <br /><br /> It offered a forgiveness. They could not gain on their own. It offered a welcome to God's family. They could not imagine it offered a heavenly future. They could not merit. And so dozens of them, scores of them, hundreds of. Thousands of them bowed the knee to Jesus Christ and received him into their life as savior and Lord. <br /><br /> Who are you today? <br /><br /> Is it annoying to think of me? And I got accept Jesus. I mean, I can handle it if he sees a great teacher is a good guy. I think there's a lot of good. I think he's, I believe he's a real historical figure, but God creator of have me come on. Is it annoying to face the fact that you are a sinner that you can't merit or earn eternal life, that this is not about what you will do? <br /><br /> It's about what Jesus has done. <br /><br /> Will we allow our annoyance to keep us. From embracing the greatest news that has ever been offered to humankind, the author of life has come and died and born the penalty for our sin that we might find life in him. I don't know where you are today. You may be a believer to have embraced Jesus for many years. <br /><br /> I hope God will just remind you of the glory of the grace in which you stand. But I also hope that those of you that are here are watching online that have never had this so personally focused. And to the point that it feels somewhat unsettling, maybe a little bit irritating. Peter loved these people enough to say, what about you? <br /><br /> What have I, you, what are you going to do with Christ? The question is important because it truly does determine one's eternal destiny. I'd like to pray together. Lord, we come to you this morning. <br /><br /> God. It is awesome for me to think that every person in this room, their heart, their thoughts are wholly known by you and Lord. I pray that you who look at their hearts, may your spirit speak into their lives. Lord, may they come to yield, surrender and embrace this glorious Christ, <br /><br /> every head bowed and every eye closed, except for me. Maybe you're here today, and God is speaking to your heart and saying, you know, I had you here in this room this morning or watching online today because I wanted to tell you about my son. And I wanted to tell you how much he loves you and has come to give you life. <br /><br /> Maybe God is speaking your life and heart rate and NFE. He, you know it. And you'd like to say, pastor mark, I, I'm not sure I've received Jesus Christ as my savior. I'm not sure I've, I've, I've embraced Jesus as the Lord and center of my life. And the way you're talking about today, would you pray for me with every head bowed and every eye closed? <br /><br /> It's going to ask you to just slip up your hand, say, would you pray for me past. I feel God's speaking to my heart. Yes. Thank you. Yes. Thank you. Just slip it up. Thank you other others. <br /><br /> Thank you. Thank you, Lord. We come to you. We love your word. It speaks to us challenges us convicts us, but it changes us. Lord, you know, every person whose hand was raised, God, how I pray that you might enable them by your grace to settle this matter with you, that they might embrace your son once forever as their Lord and savior in Jesus. <br /><br /> Amen. We're going to close in a second. You may have raised your hand this morning. You may not have raised your hand, but are going to walk out and think you, I should have, um, I'd love the chance to share with you a little bit personally, just in a one-on-one as would any of our pastors or members of our female staff can talk with you about how you can be sure about your salvation with Jesus Christ. <br /><br /> We'd love the opportunity to do that. Now. Go in peace to love and serve and enjoy the work</div> false no <![CDATA[The First Miracle]]> Acts 3:1-10

“Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.”



Sermon Transcript:

Invite you to take your Bibles this morning. I'm gonna be looking once again at the book of acts, we're gonna be in acts chapter three. This morning. Verse is one through 10, and while you're turning there, if you're able to do that a little more effectively than I am right now, I'm gonna have you multitask.

And I want you to take out the form that you received as you came into the room today, or came into the building. It looks something like this, or like that it's up on the, on the board. Um, for those of you that love charts, you're just giddy with excitement for the majority of you. You're like, oh my goodness.

Am I supposed to understand all this? Well, I'm gonna just take a couple of minutes to try to walk us through this before we jump into our passage this morning, because we are engaged in a study in the book of acts. Um, the spirit at work to the ends of the earth is the theme we're following. It's built around.

The, the outline of the book of acts is acts chapter one, verse eight, where it says, but you will receive power when the holy spirit has come upon you. And you'll be witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth we've been studying in the first chapters of the book of acts, the early church fulfilling these words of Jesus.

The, they have received power from the spirit of God at the day of Pentecost, and now they have begun to be witnesses. For him in Jerusalem. And these first six, seven chapters, which actually comprise seven years, about 80, 29, up through 80 36. These seven years in these seven chapters are presenting to us a church beginning through the power of the spirit to be witnesses to Jesus throughout the city in the surrounding area of Jerusalem.

This chart in a simple way is presenting to us just sort of a snapshot of the fact that these seven chapters, even though they cover seven years, Actually are highlighted by four events and these four events are just one or two day events, but they're events that, that the, the author Luke uses to try to give an overview of the ongoing life and impact of the early church.

These four events are in acts chapter two. And they're the, in the grave. You see the gray bars. The first of those is the coming of the spirit at the day of Pentecost in acts chapter two. Then there is the healing of the lame man in acts chapter three and four that we're beginning to look at today. Then there is the, the hypocrisy of Anani and Safira, and God's signs of his, his power and glory that is shown in the discipline to them.

And also the ensuing works. He does in the church in chapter six, five in the beginning of chapter six, and then in chapter seven, We have the story of Steven and his works, but particularly his words, these events form the, the, the focus of the book of acts chapter two through seven, as we see the church progressing.

If you look at the, the yellow, simply that's talking about three of these events actually have a sermon right after them, then you'll notice the re response of the people. If you see the words there and they're, they show the impact of these four events, words, like people were astonished. The second one, again, these are quotes.

People were astonished. The next one people were afraid and then people were amazed and en actually enraged. You see these different responses that are taking place, but each of these events also leads into a summary of. What is going on, tells us the response of the people at large. One of the most amazing things that we see after each of these four events is the summary of what is taking place.

Number one, we see first in acts chapter two, the result there, there was the 3000 people in the community believed in Jesus in acts chapter three and four. We see that, uh, 5,000 men, which probably was 10,000 people responded, acts chapter five and six. It says that there were multitudes that believed. And in acts chapter seven, the remarkable statement in that context where it talks about at the fact that many, a great many of the priests believed on Jesus.

We see in the blue, uh, excuse me, in the green. That among the believers, the community is developing. We see prayers becoming a focus sharing in common with one another is becoming a focus. Bold witness is becoming a focus it's continuing to grow through these seven years illustrated in the events as a result of these four different incidents, but also something else begins.

It begins with this event. There is as demonstrated by the pink boxes opposition that begins to form. There is hostility that begins to happen in the community of the faith and, and, and Luke takes these events and then weaves in them. The summary statements that are letting us know this is transpiring as the early church is going forward.

So this is just a, an overview to give you a picture of that, because today we're coming to acts chapter three and as we come to our text, We see that this very first miracle that is done by the apostles after the coming of the spirit results in the largest influx of people coming, becoming Christians.

And it also results in the beginning of significant opposition. We're gonna look at this in chapter three and four over the next handful of weeks. But today I wanna look specifically at the miracle and it is interesting because I believe this miracle stands as an example of all of the miracle miracles, both by Jesus and the disciples.

And we find from this passage, four things we can learn about these miracles, why God has them, what God intends for us in them. So let's look at this passage. I'd like to read acts chapter three versus one through 10.

Now, Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour, and a man lame from birth was being carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple that is called the beautiful gate to ask ums of those, entering the temple, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple.

He asked to receive ums and Peter directed his gaze at him and said, as did John and said, look at us. And he fixed his attention on them expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said, I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.

And he took him by the right hand and raised him up. And immediately his feet and ankles were made strong and leaping up. He stood and began to walk and enter the temple with them walking and leaping and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God and recognized him as the one who sat at the beautiful gate of the temple, asking for S and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

Let's pray together.

Lord, we love your stories because you tell them for a reason, and God it's been exciting to me to reflect on the reasons that you tell us the stories of your miracles and Lord, as we, we look this passage and this lame man being healed, I pray that we might learn more about the Christ in whose name he was.

He was healed. Speak to us truth. Open our hearts to things you have for us, please in Jesus name, amen. Wanna look at four things that this miracle provides sort of a grid of understanding the miracles of God, four things they point to number one, they point to God's power. It says in verse six in the name of Jesus of Nazareth rise up, this is Peter's response to the layman.

Now, many people today, look at the miracles of God as fictitious or exaggerated stories. They're looked at as little more, uh, uh, basically like got like a fable with a moral to it, with a good, you know, a good point to it, to help people in their lives. But this miracle as all 14 miracles in the book of acts are presented as authentications of the power of Christ.

They are given us credentials for what he says and what he's taught and for what he has claimed to have done. The skeptic believes that the miracles of the Bible cannot really have happened because they go against what is known as the laws of nature, but a reading of the Bible and an acquaintance with the God of the Bible causes you to understand that what we call the, the laws of nature are simply the normal ways that God chooses to control and run his universe.

We have in our hallway and a little nightlight. Um, usually you have those for babies. We have 'em for ourselves. Um, but every morning I go down the hallway. And it's usually dark. Sometimes it's later, but as I'm going down the hallway, I, I invariably flip that thing off. I turn it off. It's a, it's a regular thing.

It's the way life in our home typically starts. Now Marion could get up and think, ah, the law of nature is operative. The light is out. It was on during the night. It's out in the morning, but if I over sleep or if I just choose to not turn the nightlight off, I have just stopped. What appears to be a law of nature.

It is the miracles of God are God just choosing to act. In exception to the way he normally runs his universe. Now you may be there and you say, wait, wait a minute. I mean, it's a little different to talk about you turning your nightlight off, uh, than, than the fact that the sun is going to rise every day.

I mean, we know how that happens. It happens by the rotation of the earth and, and when our, our part of the earth gets towards facing the sun, the sun rises well, interestingly, God actually did stop that very rotation. It was, it's a perfect example, God, in the book of Joshua, it says he actually caused the sun to stand still.

The idea was the earth did not rotate at time. And for 24 hours there was total daylight. God normally runs his universe and brings sunlight to you and I by causing the earth to rotate. It's why Jesus is described in act and Colosians chapter one by him. It says he not only created everything, but it makes this remarkable statement.

And in him, everything holds together. He's running it, he's controlling it. And when he chooses to not have the earth rotate, he's not bound by what we call a law. The laws of nature are simply the normal way that to sovereign God orchestrates and controls his universe. Miracles are a moment when God chooses to act in exception to his normal path.

Now we look at laws of nature as something to be that that bind us. For instance, when people die, they remain dead. When people have a medically incurable disease, they are incurable except. When the one who runs his universe chooses to bring them back to life or chooses to cure the incurable as apparently was this man here, God is not bound within what we call the laws of nature.

They are simply the normal way he works. And so when we see miracles, it points us to God. The one who is above apparent loss, but are simply the normal way that he chooses to operate a miracle is when he acts in an exceptional. The second thing we find about a miracle is a miracle points to God's restoration of all things in verse two, this guy's described as a man lame from birth.

We read in chapter four that he is actually a man that's in his forties. , he has no power in his legs whatsoever. He has to be carried to the spot by friends or associates. Then we see him walking, jumping, praising God. This man with a broken body turns into Tigger. He's now out dancing with the stars in the midst of the temple.

And this visual is one where God has purposely intentionally chosen this type of miracle for a unique messaging to us because every person that was in the temple that day, when they saw this guy leaping jumping, praising God with joy would have thought of an old Testament passage. It's Isaiah chapter 30, 35.

It is a description of what the Messiah will do one day in the future. When all is changed. It's here. Here's here's the passage, Isaiah 35 36. Then the eyes of the blind shall be open in the ears of the deaf unstop. Then shall the layman leap like a deer and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. It's interesting in verse 21 in, in, I can't, I think it is 17 or 21.

I've forgotten later in the passage and the next subject, next passage we'll look at it describes Jesus. Jesus. It says whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all things he's pointing to this, he's saying, Jesus, the one who has done this, the one who fulfilled Isaiah 35 and the fact that the lame will lead for joy and will jump around.

He says that will be true of all. One day, there will be the REI, the, the, the resolving of all issues. All things will be cared for healed in that day. And Peter sermon is pointing it's Jesus. I'm talking about the one who is there waiting to restore all things to their, their appropriate place. This man's healing was a visual reminder.

That Christ was the one who would be the one that would restore all things to life. As it ought to be. You see, miracles are never just a naked display of power, neither Jesus or his disciples do miracles just to wow. People. You don't see Jesus or his disciples gather a crowd of people around and saying, what's your name?

Amus Amus watch. And you see Jesus, then take a bunch of clouds and he pulls this one over and this one over and, and all of a sudden you see the sky spelling. AMO. Wow. You don't see Jesus or the disciples. All of us saying watch and they start levitating. you don't see Jesus and the disciples doing a Yoda, you know, lifting the, the spaceship out of the mud and Meer of the swamp, just to sort of, wow.

You, you don't see him saying, watch me, watch through, watch me look through walls, go, go back there, hold up fingers. I'll tell you how many there are. Why? Because his purpose of miracles isn't to wow. Anybody his purpose in miracles has with it. There, there is a, a, a, a, a, a, a state, when you look and say, wow, this is someone, but there is always a deeper meaning to miracles than just stunning people.

There is always pointing to the reality that miracles are always alleviating suffering or human trouble of some kind. Why? Because miracles are pointing to a day when all will be restored, Jesus will store all things. He will bring life as to, as it ought to be. You see, God did not invent blindness or lameness or suffering.

They all result of a fallen world, poverty and justice sickness and death de Jesus. God did not invent a world with these things. They have the result of, of sin and, and rebellion and a, and a, a world that is under the curse of such things.

Some people say miracles are. Suspension of the natural order. They're not miracles are a restoration of the natural order. Now I want you to think about that for a minute. It's not going against the natural order. This is the, is, is, is the aberration of the natural order sickness, brokenness, anger, hatred, genocide.

What will be the rec rec restoration of the natural order is when a blind person is ultimately healed. When a deaf person ultimately heals when a lame person runs and jumps, the natural order is word Jesus and his apostles are only the natural are the only natural things in a world that is unnatural demonized.

And wounded. The picture here is that suffering is unnatural in the design of God. It is the result of a world that has turned away from the, the design of God. Life is not as it ought to be. We all feel that we all sense things shouldn't be this way,

but this guy's healing is a visual reminder. I believe intentionally chosen by God at this moment that Peter could direct the attention of the people and say, this guy, who's now jumping around like a Pogo stick with joy in the temple is a reminder that Jesus is the one who will restore all life to the way it ought to be

him writer, Isaac Watts, and his famous hymn. Oh, for a thousand tongues picked up on this when he said this. Hear Hemi, death, his praise, you dumb, your loosen tongues employ you blind, behold, your savior, come and leap. You lame for joy. God's healing of the lame man points to something beyond this guy himself.

It points to a day when all believers will be leaping and praising for joy in the midst of a world that is as God designed it to be not as sin caused it to be

this miracle points to Jesus as the restore of all things. One day, the third thing it points to is God's Providence. Yeah. If you notice verse two and three, it talks about this man, and it says his friends whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple that is called the beautiful gate to ask ALS of those, entering the temple, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple.

He asked to receive ALS, I wanna just show you, um, thanks to Tom Laro. I got this really cool laser that I haven't used very much. Um, but there's a, there's a visual coming up. We can bring this up. Okay. If you look at this, this is the temple itself, right? Right. Now we are standing, looking down from the Mount of olives.

Okay. We're on the Eastern side. Back here is all the city of, of, uh, Jerusalem. And this is the, what is known this big area on either side is what is known as the court of the Gentiles. Thousands of people would be in there on a feast day. This is where Jesus drove out the money changers because by turning it into Aden of Roberts, it actually was making the only place that Genta could go to worship God.

Um, uh, a sacrilege, it just became a, a, a marketplace of business. This is the main temple. And this area here is what is called the court of the women they could go in and the next, or let's bring up the next slide. This is a close up. Here's the court of the women. There is an area there around the, the temple itself is that big, high part.

Um, men could go in there and, and offer their sacrifices, offer incense on the pieces that were out in the, um, outer court. But as you zero in, when we talk about the, the temple gate that is called beautiful gate, it'll give you guys some time. Uh, the beautiful gate. It is either this gate, or it is this gate.

and there's there's debate about which one it was, but the reason I'm putting all this up there is either one of those gates is in an incredibly prominent place, right? I mean, anybody that's going in and all, and you offered all your sacrifices in the interior gate. So this was a, a, a place where people would come and pray on the, the time where we are reading about it says it was the ninth hour, which meant three o'clock in the afternoon.

There were two times of prayer every day when people gathered for prayer. There were also the times, the two times a day when people gathered to offer the burnt offerings, which would've been just behind this gate. And just before you went into the holy place and the altar of the burnt altar would be there.

So in other words, he's at a place. And at a time when everybody's surging in to be associated, when the, the burn offering is being offered, it was also a time when there was public prayer and Peter and John have gone there to be a part of the public prayer time. This guy's friends bring him and were told that he's brought every day.

The reason he was brought at that time is that's gonna, and every that's when everybody's there and that's when everybody's going into worship. And when people are most generous is when they're going into worship. Because if we talk crasly, it's just, this is a good time to be a generous person, if I'm going in to meet with God.

And so it was a great time. Now, the striking reality of this is everybody knows this guy, everybody, we read that later, the, the religious leaders, when he's standing there in the presence of John Peter and the religious leaders, nobody brings up the accusation. How do we know you were even lame. Because he'd been there every day.

They all knew him. We're told in acts chapter three, verse 10, chapter three. Yeah, verse 10. It says the people were astonished because they knew this guy. He was a fixture. And apparently there weren't a lot of people that were at the temple at this time. This was a man who is clearly no. Now I'm saying all this for this reason, Peter and John, we are told habitually are coming to the temple.

The people, the, the, the followers of Christ are gathering, um, in an area called Solomon's porch, which is, I'll show you next time where that is, uh, where they gathered. But they're there in the temple almost every day. This guy's there every day. They know this guy they've seen this guy, but it wasn't until today.

They heal him. And it isn't only that this is the first time he notices Peter and Johnny does. He calls out. He calls out to them. You see every lame person in Jerusalem, wasn't healed by the apostles. Every dead person wasn't raised from the morgue by the disciples. Although Peter did raise someone from the dead, Paul will as well.

They did it when God's spirit came upon them and prompted them to do that. Peter in this moment is absolutely positive. What's gonna happen. We know that because if you read the text, what happens? It says he reached down and he gave his hand to the man and he raised him. Well, if you are not 100% positive, this is gonna work.

And the word raised, I actually looked it up. The word raised actually means to lift. It talks about lifting sheep out of a pen. He's lifting him. And as he's lifting him, he's confident that God is going to enable his legs to take the weight. Otherwise he's lifting up a dead weight and the man's gonna fall, but he lifts him.

And then the man, all of a sudden it says his, his feed and his ankles and his legs are strengthened. And he starts doing his ticker thing all over the temple. Peter knew at this moment that this was a God appointed moment for this particular miracle.

He reaches out his hand. He knew it was God's moment. It was God's appointed time. This miracle happens pointing to the fact that God sovereignly has these moments when he is going to make his glory known. There's a fourth thing I want to, I want to go there. I'm gonna wrap all this up. There's a fourth thing we find that is pointed to here.

This points to God's priorities, Peter, in verse six, when he heals this guy says, you know, and the guy is hoping they'll give him some money. He says, I don't have any money. You know, the way we are working as Christians right now, everybody's pooling the money. We didn't have much. Anyway, I've been traveling on the road for three years.

I, I, I'm really not making a lot of money fishing and I have money. So, but I got something else. What I have I'll give. And that's when he tells the guy to rise and God uses Peter's faith and the power of Christ to raise him. What I have. I give serving others with what you're given is the principle here of God's priority.

Peter does not have this money. He does give him this, but here's the striking thing. The last time we heard from Peter was in chapter two. He was doing a sermon. There was a heady moment for Peter preaches, the first sermon of the new Testament and this amazing response of the crowd by the movement of the spirit is that 3000 people get saved in response to Peter's message.

That's the last time we Peter in the crowd doing the, the public thing, preaching his amazing message. The stadium is, is, is, is going crazy with people coming forward. The next event we see in Peter's life is right here. It is a reminder that you are to lose sight of the individual, Peter and John come to this.

And as they come with God's priorities in Jesus kingdom, those who reach the many care about reaching the one. We're told in Micah chapter six, verse six and eight God's priorities for his people with what shall I come before the Lord and bow myself before God on high, shall I come before him with burn offerings and with calves a year old, he is told you old, man, what is good?

And what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God

to love kindness. I really landed on that phrase this week, as I was preparing for this message, how like God Marin and I read every night before we go to sleep. We're reading this week, we're reading through Exodus and we came to the passage, Exodus 20, where the. Commandments are given by God to Moses.

And it says that that, and, and, and to that point, God had been speaking to the people and it says that there were thunderings and lightnings and, and, and it says the mountain shook and the people were shook and they, they basically say to Moses, you know, what, how about you talk to us? And not God anymore, they were terrorized.

And Moses makes this re remarkable statement. He said, God does not want you to fear, but is rather doing these things that you will fear him. It's a remarkable thing. He's gonna replace fear by fear, but the idea is he's, this is what he's saying. I I'll read the exact phrase.

Do not fear for God has come to test you. That the fear of him may be before you, he says, you know, you're leaving here and you're going into the promised land and you're gonna face all kinds of, of adversaries and dangers. And I'm going to show you my greatness in order that you won't be afraid in order that you won't be overwhelmed with the adversities and the problems and the dangers and the conflicts.

In other words, why does God show his, his majestic power? Is it just the wow them? No. Mike ache after six verse eight says it this way. He delights to show mercy he's mercy, the Israelites by showing them his bigness. It's not just, God wants him scared of him. He's I want you to know I'm big enough to protect you.

I'm big enough to watch out for you. I'm big enough to lead you. I'm big enough to face with the you, anything that comes your way. It's the kindness of God. The, the foundational reality of God towards humans is kindness, but sometimes the kindest thing he can do is just remind us he's big and he's holy and metic, but it's always in the context of his delight to show mercy.

God is drawn to the humble, the broken, the impoverished and the spirit that we see in Peter here. What I have I give is the spirit we find in God. The reality is though serving others is at times at cost to yourself, doing miracles sounds like petty stuff, right? I mean, who wouldn't want to do the miracles?

The disciples did, who wouldn't want to be able to, to touch a guy's hand and raise him up and watch 'em jumping all around with joy and be a part of that. But it cost to be a miracle worker cost. Jesus. Would've been a lot safer to finish his career as a carpenter in Nazareth carpenters in Nazareth, didn't end up on the cross, the disciples.

Because of doing a miracle of showing kindness to this man at the prompting of the spirit are now opening the door in chapter three to the enemy. It's all of a sudden put a big target on the back. They've got a bullseye on them. serving others, which is the spirit. I think that is manifested here. As we talk about the priorities of God, also associates, doing life as God did.

And Jesus did to give what you have been given is not always safe. Sociologists in historian, Rodney stark presents a powerful argument that one of the principle reasons Christianity grew while Roman paganism waned. was the mercy. Christians displayed toward people who suffered in the second and third century, beginning around one 60 ad.

There were two giant urban plagues that took place in, in the urban centers of the Roman empire. The first was known to have taken one third of the population's life. Most people think it was probably a smallpox in the ravaging of people's lives. What people would regularly do would be to take members of their family, uh, that were dying.

And they would put 'em outside the city to just die because they were so terrorized to keep them in the house. One of the early church fathers wrote this statement. as the, uh, populous in Rome was fleeing cities where the small blocks of a came most Christians in the plagues showed unbounded love and loyalty, never sparing themselves.

And thinking only of others, headless of danger, they took charge of the sick tending of their every need in ministering to them in Christ. They departed from their lives, extremely happy for, they were infected by their neighbors and cheerfully accepted their pains. So many in nursing and caring, others transferred their deaths to themselves and died in their stead.

Who does that remind you of the very character of Christ was manifested in the early church, what they had, they gave. the true poly for Christianity is not that we get it. Right's not that we line up ultimately in the moral positions. I, although I believe in those and the poly, the argument for Christianity is the same as it has always been.

We love kindness. We reach out to the suffering. What we have, we give at personal cost. There is a spirit of benevolence and generosity that marks the spirit of God. The people that are marked by the spirit of God. I don't mean just financially. I'm talking about our time. Our abilities are, are resources.

This is the first miracle, and it is instructive about all miracles. I want to close with this. It is instructive. To you wherever you are, because it points first of all, to his power to rescue and change your life, that his power is available to impact your life. When you simply acknowledge the brokenness and the need, it points to his fear.

Future reconciling of all things, life will be as it ought to be to what your life and future can one day be. If you embrace Jesus as savior and Lord of your life, it points to his Providence, your here today, or watching online today by divine appointment. And you say, no, I'm not. I'm here to make my girlfriend happy.

So she'll go out to lunch with me.

Honestly, there's something a lot bigger at play in you being here today. It points to his priority. Jesus also gives what he has and what he has is life for forgiveness, transforming grace to you. If you own your brokenness, if you cry out to him for life and salvation and forgiveness, this miracle of all, as all of his miracles point to Jesus, the kind one, the one who gives what he has, who offers what he has to you.

And to me, wherever we are, maybe you are here and God purposely sovereignly has brought you to this room this morning to say, This message is for you. You are that lame, man. You say I don't, I'm not a LA no, no. There's brokenness in. You there's need in you. Jesus has come to provide transforming grace forgiveness and this miracle as all miracles points to his priority.

the one who delights to show mercy. Let's pray together. Lord,

you know, the heart of every person in this room,

you know, it better than they know themselves, know their knee, you know, their pain and God, my prayer this morning is that we might go where this passage is intended to take us to point us to Christ. Lord make yourself known. I pray that you would draw hearts to want to yield and bow the knee to Jesus Christ as Lord.

The one who is the healer, the one who does bring mercy and grace. I also pray father are that there would be hope in this passage that some are dealing with deep and long LIC. God, we thank you that this in this unnatural Arant world, this is not the end of the story, that there is a place where everything is restored to the way life ought to be the way you've designed it to be God, how we want to see everyone embrace that life that they might experience life as it ought to be one day.

so Lord moving our hearts and our lives. May we look to Christ? May we be drawn to him this morning? I pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Now go in peace to love and serve and enjoy the Lord. Amen.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-first-miracle e3263b82-e240-4987-b48c-aeb2441014a7 Sun, 20 Mar 2022 14:07:38 GMT <div data-html="true">Acts 3:1-10 <br /><br /> “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> Invite you to take your Bibles this morning. I'm gonna be looking once again at the book of acts, we're gonna be in acts chapter three. This morning. Verse is one through 10, and while you're turning there, if you're able to do that a little more effectively than I am right now, I'm gonna have you multitask. <br /><br /> And I want you to take out the form that you received as you came into the room today, or came into the building. It looks something like this, or like that it's up on the, on the board. Um, for those of you that love charts, you're just giddy with excitement for the majority of you. You're like, oh my goodness. <br /><br /> Am I supposed to understand all this? Well, I'm gonna just take a couple of minutes to try to walk us through this before we jump into our passage this morning, because we are engaged in a study in the book of acts. Um, the spirit at work to the ends of the earth is the theme we're following. It's built around. <br /><br /> The, the outline of the book of acts is acts chapter one, verse eight, where it says, but you will receive power when the holy spirit has come upon you. And you'll be witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth we've been studying in the first chapters of the book of acts, the early church fulfilling these words of Jesus. <br /><br /> The, they have received power from the spirit of God at the day of Pentecost, and now they have begun to be witnesses. For him in Jerusalem. And these first six, seven chapters, which actually comprise seven years, about 80, 29, up through 80 36. These seven years in these seven chapters are presenting to us a church beginning through the power of the spirit to be witnesses to Jesus throughout the city in the surrounding area of Jerusalem. <br /><br /> This chart in a simple way is presenting to us just sort of a snapshot of the fact that these seven chapters, even though they cover seven years, Actually are highlighted by four events and these four events are just one or two day events, but they're events that, that the, the author Luke uses to try to give an overview of the ongoing life and impact of the early church. <br /><br /> These four events are in acts chapter two. And they're the, in the grave. You see the gray bars. The first of those is the coming of the spirit at the day of Pentecost in acts chapter two. Then there is the healing of the lame man in acts chapter three and four that we're beginning to look at today. Then there is the, the hypocrisy of Anani and Safira, and God's signs of his, his power and glory that is shown in the discipline to them. <br /><br /> And also the ensuing works. He does in the church in chapter six, five in the beginning of chapter six, and then in chapter seven, We have the story of Steven and his works, but particularly his words, these events form the, the, the focus of the book of acts chapter two through seven, as we see the church progressing. <br /><br /> If you look at the, the yellow, simply that's talking about three of these events actually have a sermon right after them, then you'll notice the re response of the people. If you see the words there and they're, they show the impact of these four events, words, like people were astonished. The second one, again, these are quotes. <br /><br /> People were astonished. The next one people were afraid and then people were amazed and en actually enraged. You see these different responses that are taking place, but each of these events also leads into a summary of. What is going on, tells us the response of the people at large. One of the most amazing things that we see after each of these four events is the summary of what is taking place. <br /><br /> Number one, we see first in acts chapter two, the result there, there was the 3000 people in the community believed in Jesus in acts chapter three and four. We see that, uh, 5,000 men, which probably was 10,000 people responded, acts chapter five and six. It says that there were multitudes that believed. And in acts chapter seven, the remarkable statement in that context where it talks about at the fact that many, a great many of the priests believed on Jesus. <br /><br /> We see in the blue, uh, excuse me, in the green. That among the believers, the community is developing. We see prayers becoming a focus sharing in common with one another is becoming a focus. Bold witness is becoming a focus it's continuing to grow through these seven years illustrated in the events as a result of these four different incidents, but also something else begins. <br /><br /> It begins with this event. There is as demonstrated by the pink boxes opposition that begins to form. There is hostility that begins to happen in the community of the faith and, and, and Luke takes these events and then weaves in them. The summary statements that are letting us know this is transpiring as the early church is going forward. <br /><br /> So this is just a, an overview to give you a picture of that, because today we're coming to acts chapter three and as we come to our text, We see that this very first miracle that is done by the apostles after the coming of the spirit results in the largest influx of people coming, becoming Christians. <br /><br /> And it also results in the beginning of significant opposition. We're gonna look at this in chapter three and four over the next handful of weeks. But today I wanna look specifically at the miracle and it is interesting because I believe this miracle stands as an example of all of the miracle miracles, both by Jesus and the disciples. <br /><br /> And we find from this passage, four things we can learn about these miracles, why God has them, what God intends for us in them. So let's look at this passage. I'd like to read acts chapter three versus one through 10. <br /><br /> Now, Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour, and a man lame from birth was being carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple that is called the beautiful gate to ask ums of those, entering the temple, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple. <br /><br /> He asked to receive ums and Peter directed his gaze at him and said, as did John and said, look at us. And he fixed his attention on them expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said, I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. <br /><br /> And he took him by the right hand and raised him up. And immediately his feet and ankles were made strong and leaping up. He stood and began to walk and enter the temple with them walking and leaping and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God and recognized him as the one who sat at the beautiful gate of the temple, asking for S and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. <br /><br /> Let's pray together. <br /><br /> Lord, we love your stories because you tell them for a reason, and God it's been exciting to me to reflect on the reasons that you tell us the stories of your miracles and Lord, as we, we look this passage and this lame man being healed, I pray that we might learn more about the Christ in whose name he was. <br /><br /> He was healed. Speak to us truth. Open our hearts to things you have for us, please in Jesus name, amen. Wanna look at four things that this miracle provides sort of a grid of understanding the miracles of God, four things they point to number one, they point to God's power. It says in verse six in the name of Jesus of Nazareth rise up, this is Peter's response to the layman. <br /><br /> Now, many people today, look at the miracles of God as fictitious or exaggerated stories. They're looked at as little more, uh, uh, basically like got like a fable with a moral to it, with a good, you know, a good point to it, to help people in their lives. But this miracle as all 14 miracles in the book of acts are presented as authentications of the power of Christ. <br /><br /> They are given us credentials for what he says and what he's taught and for what he has claimed to have done. The skeptic believes that the miracles of the Bible cannot really have happened because they go against what is known as the laws of nature, but a reading of the Bible and an acquaintance with the God of the Bible causes you to understand that what we call the, the laws of nature are simply the normal ways that God chooses to control and run his universe. <br /><br /> We have in our hallway and a little nightlight. Um, usually you have those for babies. We have 'em for ourselves. Um, but every morning I go down the hallway. And it's usually dark. Sometimes it's later, but as I'm going down the hallway, I, I invariably flip that thing off. I turn it off. It's a, it's a regular thing. <br /><br /> It's the way life in our home typically starts. Now Marion could get up and think, ah, the law of nature is operative. The light is out. It was on during the night. It's out in the morning, but if I over sleep or if I just choose to not turn the nightlight off, I have just stopped. What appears to be a law of nature. <br /><br /> It is the miracles of God are God just choosing to act. In exception to the way he normally runs his universe. Now you may be there and you say, wait, wait a minute. I mean, it's a little different to talk about you turning your nightlight off, uh, than, than the fact that the sun is going to rise every day. <br /><br /> I mean, we know how that happens. It happens by the rotation of the earth and, and when our, our part of the earth gets towards facing the sun, the sun rises well, interestingly, God actually did stop that very rotation. It was, it's a perfect example, God, in the book of Joshua, it says he actually caused the sun to stand still. <br /><br /> The idea was the earth did not rotate at time. And for 24 hours there was total daylight. God normally runs his universe and brings sunlight to you and I by causing the earth to rotate. It's why Jesus is described in act and Colosians chapter one by him. It says he not only created everything, but it makes this remarkable statement. <br /><br /> And in him, everything holds together. He's running it, he's controlling it. And when he chooses to not have the earth rotate, he's not bound by what we call a law. The laws of nature are simply the normal way that to sovereign God orchestrates and controls his universe. Miracles are a moment when God chooses to act in exception to his normal path. <br /><br /> Now we look at laws of nature as something to be that that bind us. For instance, when people die, they remain dead. When people have a medically incurable disease, they are incurable except. When the one who runs his universe chooses to bring them back to life or chooses to cure the incurable as apparently was this man here, God is not bound within what we call the laws of nature. <br /><br /> They are simply the normal way he works. And so when we see miracles, it points us to God. The one who is above apparent loss, but are simply the normal way that he chooses to operate a miracle is when he acts in an exceptional. The second thing we find about a miracle is a miracle points to God's restoration of all things in verse two, this guy's described as a man lame from birth. <br /><br /> We read in chapter four that he is actually a man that's in his forties. , he has no power in his legs whatsoever. He has to be carried to the spot by friends or associates. Then we see him walking, jumping, praising God. This man with a broken body turns into Tigger. He's now out dancing with the stars in the midst of the temple. <br /><br /> And this visual is one where God has purposely intentionally chosen this type of miracle for a unique messaging to us because every person that was in the temple that day, when they saw this guy leaping jumping, praising God with joy would have thought of an old Testament passage. It's Isaiah chapter 30, 35. <br /><br /> It is a description of what the Messiah will do one day in the future. When all is changed. It's here. Here's here's the passage, Isaiah 35 36. Then the eyes of the blind shall be open in the ears of the deaf unstop. Then shall the layman leap like a deer and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. It's interesting in verse 21 in, in, I can't, I think it is 17 or 21. <br /><br /> I've forgotten later in the passage and the next subject, next passage we'll look at it describes Jesus. Jesus. It says whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all things he's pointing to this, he's saying, Jesus, the one who has done this, the one who fulfilled Isaiah 35 and the fact that the lame will lead for joy and will jump around. <br /><br /> He says that will be true of all. One day, there will be the REI, the, the, the resolving of all issues. All things will be cared for healed in that day. And Peter sermon is pointing it's Jesus. I'm talking about the one who is there waiting to restore all things to their, their appropriate place. This man's healing was a visual reminder. <br /><br /> That Christ was the one who would be the one that would restore all things to life. As it ought to be. You see, miracles are never just a naked display of power, neither Jesus or his disciples do miracles just to wow. People. You don't see Jesus or his disciples gather a crowd of people around and saying, what's your name? <br /><br /> Amus Amus watch. And you see Jesus, then take a bunch of clouds and he pulls this one over and this one over and, and all of a sudden you see the sky spelling. AMO. Wow. You don't see Jesus or the disciples. All of us saying watch and they start levitating. you don't see Jesus and the disciples doing a Yoda, you know, lifting the, the spaceship out of the mud and Meer of the swamp, just to sort of, wow. <br /><br /> You, you don't see him saying, watch me, watch through, watch me look through walls, go, go back there, hold up fingers. I'll tell you how many there are. Why? Because his purpose of miracles isn't to wow. Anybody his purpose in miracles has with it. There, there is a, a, a, a, a, a, a state, when you look and say, wow, this is someone, but there is always a deeper meaning to miracles than just stunning people. <br /><br /> There is always pointing to the reality that miracles are always alleviating suffering or human trouble of some kind. Why? Because miracles are pointing to a day when all will be restored, Jesus will store all things. He will bring life as to, as it ought to be. You see, God did not invent blindness or lameness or suffering. <br /><br /> They all result of a fallen world, poverty and justice sickness and death de Jesus. God did not invent a world with these things. They have the result of, of sin and, and rebellion and a, and a, a world that is under the curse of such things. <br /><br /> Some people say miracles are. Suspension of the natural order. They're not miracles are a restoration of the natural order. Now I want you to think about that for a minute. It's not going against the natural order. This is the, is, is, is the aberration of the natural order sickness, brokenness, anger, hatred, genocide. <br /><br /> What will be the rec rec restoration of the natural order is when a blind person is ultimately healed. When a deaf person ultimately heals when a lame person runs and jumps, the natural order is word Jesus and his apostles are only the natural are the only natural things in a world that is unnatural demonized. <br /><br /> And wounded. The picture here is that suffering is unnatural in the design of God. It is the result of a world that has turned away from the, the design of God. Life is not as it ought to be. We all feel that we all sense things shouldn't be this way, <br /><br /> but this guy's healing is a visual reminder. I believe intentionally chosen by God at this moment that Peter could direct the attention of the people and say, this guy, who's now jumping around like a Pogo stick with joy in the temple is a reminder that Jesus is the one who will restore all life to the way it ought to be <br /><br /> him writer, Isaac Watts, and his famous hymn. Oh, for a thousand tongues picked up on this when he said this. Hear Hemi, death, his praise, you dumb, your loosen tongues employ you blind, behold, your savior, come and leap. You lame for joy. God's healing of the lame man points to something beyond this guy himself. <br /><br /> It points to a day when all believers will be leaping and praising for joy in the midst of a world that is as God designed it to be not as sin caused it to be <br /><br /> this miracle points to Jesus as the restore of all things. One day, the third thing it points to is God's Providence. Yeah. If you notice verse two and three, it talks about this man, and it says his friends whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple that is called the beautiful gate to ask ALS of those, entering the temple, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple. <br /><br /> He asked to receive ALS, I wanna just show you, um, thanks to Tom Laro. I got this really cool laser that I haven't used very much. Um, but there's a, there's a visual coming up. We can bring this up. Okay. If you look at this, this is the temple itself, right? Right. Now we are standing, looking down from the Mount of olives. <br /><br /> Okay. We're on the Eastern side. Back here is all the city of, of, uh, Jerusalem. And this is the, what is known this big area on either side is what is known as the court of the Gentiles. Thousands of people would be in there on a feast day. This is where Jesus drove out the money changers because by turning it into Aden of Roberts, it actually was making the only place that Genta could go to worship God. <br /><br /> Um, uh, a sacrilege, it just became a, a, a marketplace of business. This is the main temple. And this area here is what is called the court of the women they could go in and the next, or let's bring up the next slide. This is a close up. Here's the court of the women. There is an area there around the, the temple itself is that big, high part. <br /><br /> Um, men could go in there and, and offer their sacrifices, offer incense on the pieces that were out in the, um, outer court. But as you zero in, when we talk about the, the temple gate that is called beautiful gate, it'll give you guys some time. Uh, the beautiful gate. It is either this gate, or it is this gate. <br /><br /> and there's there's debate about which one it was, but the reason I'm putting all this up there is either one of those gates is in an incredibly prominent place, right? I mean, anybody that's going in and all, and you offered all your sacrifices in the interior gate. So this was a, a, a place where people would come and pray on the, the time where we are reading about it says it was the ninth hour, which meant three o'clock in the afternoon. <br /><br /> There were two times of prayer every day when people gathered for prayer. There were also the times, the two times a day when people gathered to offer the burnt offerings, which would've been just behind this gate. And just before you went into the holy place and the altar of the burnt altar would be there. <br /><br /> So in other words, he's at a place. And at a time when everybody's surging in to be associated, when the, the burn offering is being offered, it was also a time when there was public prayer and Peter and John have gone there to be a part of the public prayer time. This guy's friends bring him and were told that he's brought every day. <br /><br /> The reason he was brought at that time is that's gonna, and every that's when everybody's there and that's when everybody's going into worship. And when people are most generous is when they're going into worship. Because if we talk crasly, it's just, this is a good time to be a generous person, if I'm going in to meet with God. <br /><br /> And so it was a great time. Now, the striking reality of this is everybody knows this guy, everybody, we read that later, the, the religious leaders, when he's standing there in the presence of John Peter and the religious leaders, nobody brings up the accusation. How do we know you were even lame. Because he'd been there every day. <br /><br /> They all knew him. We're told in acts chapter three, verse 10, chapter three. Yeah, verse 10. It says the people were astonished because they knew this guy. He was a fixture. And apparently there weren't a lot of people that were at the temple at this time. This was a man who is clearly no. Now I'm saying all this for this reason, Peter and John, we are told habitually are coming to the temple. <br /><br /> The people, the, the, the followers of Christ are gathering, um, in an area called Solomon's porch, which is, I'll show you next time where that is, uh, where they gathered. But they're there in the temple almost every day. This guy's there every day. They know this guy they've seen this guy, but it wasn't until today. <br /><br /> They heal him. And it isn't only that this is the first time he notices Peter and Johnny does. He calls out. He calls out to them. You see every lame person in Jerusalem, wasn't healed by the apostles. Every dead person wasn't raised from the morgue by the disciples. Although Peter did raise someone from the dead, Paul will as well. <br /><br /> They did it when God's spirit came upon them and prompted them to do that. Peter in this moment is absolutely positive. What's gonna happen. We know that because if you read the text, what happens? It says he reached down and he gave his hand to the man and he raised him. Well, if you are not 100% positive, this is gonna work. <br /><br /> And the word raised, I actually looked it up. The word raised actually means to lift. It talks about lifting sheep out of a pen. He's lifting him. And as he's lifting him, he's confident that God is going to enable his legs to take the weight. Otherwise he's lifting up a dead weight and the man's gonna fall, but he lifts him. <br /><br /> And then the man, all of a sudden it says his, his feed and his ankles and his legs are strengthened. And he starts doing his ticker thing all over the temple. Peter knew at this moment that this was a God appointed moment for this particular miracle. <br /><br /> He reaches out his hand. He knew it was God's moment. It was God's appointed time. This miracle happens pointing to the fact that God sovereignly has these moments when he is going to make his glory known. There's a fourth thing I want to, I want to go there. I'm gonna wrap all this up. There's a fourth thing we find that is pointed to here. <br /><br /> This points to God's priorities, Peter, in verse six, when he heals this guy says, you know, and the guy is hoping they'll give him some money. He says, I don't have any money. You know, the way we are working as Christians right now, everybody's pooling the money. We didn't have much. Anyway, I've been traveling on the road for three years. <br /><br /> I, I, I'm really not making a lot of money fishing and I have money. So, but I got something else. What I have I'll give. And that's when he tells the guy to rise and God uses Peter's faith and the power of Christ to raise him. What I have. I give serving others with what you're given is the principle here of God's priority. <br /><br /> Peter does not have this money. He does give him this, but here's the striking thing. The last time we heard from Peter was in chapter two. He was doing a sermon. There was a heady moment for Peter preaches, the first sermon of the new Testament and this amazing response of the crowd by the movement of the spirit is that 3000 people get saved in response to Peter's message. <br /><br /> That's the last time we Peter in the crowd doing the, the public thing, preaching his amazing message. The stadium is, is, is, is going crazy with people coming forward. The next event we see in Peter's life is right here. It is a reminder that you are to lose sight of the individual, Peter and John come to this. <br /><br /> And as they come with God's priorities in Jesus kingdom, those who reach the many care about reaching the one. We're told in Micah chapter six, verse six and eight God's priorities for his people with what shall I come before the Lord and bow myself before God on high, shall I come before him with burn offerings and with calves a year old, he is told you old, man, what is good? <br /><br /> And what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God <br /><br /> to love kindness. I really landed on that phrase this week, as I was preparing for this message, how like God Marin and I read every night before we go to sleep. We're reading this week, we're reading through Exodus and we came to the passage, Exodus 20, where the. Commandments are given by God to Moses. <br /><br /> And it says that that, and, and, and to that point, God had been speaking to the people and it says that there were thunderings and lightnings and, and, and it says the mountain shook and the people were shook and they, they basically say to Moses, you know, what, how about you talk to us? And not God anymore, they were terrorized. <br /><br /> And Moses makes this re remarkable statement. He said, God does not want you to fear, but is rather doing these things that you will fear him. It's a remarkable thing. He's gonna replace fear by fear, but the idea is he's, this is what he's saying. I I'll read the exact phrase. <br /><br /> Do not fear for God has come to test you. That the fear of him may be before you, he says, you know, you're leaving here and you're going into the promised land and you're gonna face all kinds of, of adversaries and dangers. And I'm going to show you my greatness in order that you won't be afraid in order that you won't be overwhelmed with the adversities and the problems and the dangers and the conflicts. <br /><br /> In other words, why does God show his, his majestic power? Is it just the wow them? No. Mike ache after six verse eight says it this way. He delights to show mercy he's mercy, the Israelites by showing them his bigness. It's not just, God wants him scared of him. He's I want you to know I'm big enough to protect you. <br /><br /> I'm big enough to watch out for you. I'm big enough to lead you. I'm big enough to face with the you, anything that comes your way. It's the kindness of God. The, the foundational reality of God towards humans is kindness, but sometimes the kindest thing he can do is just remind us he's big and he's holy and metic, but it's always in the context of his delight to show mercy. <br /><br /> God is drawn to the humble, the broken, the impoverished and the spirit that we see in Peter here. What I have I give is the spirit we find in God. The reality is though serving others is at times at cost to yourself, doing miracles sounds like petty stuff, right? I mean, who wouldn't want to do the miracles? <br /><br /> The disciples did, who wouldn't want to be able to, to touch a guy's hand and raise him up and watch 'em jumping all around with joy and be a part of that. But it cost to be a miracle worker cost. Jesus. Would've been a lot safer to finish his career as a carpenter in Nazareth carpenters in Nazareth, didn't end up on the cross, the disciples. <br /><br /> Because of doing a miracle of showing kindness to this man at the prompting of the spirit are now opening the door in chapter three to the enemy. It's all of a sudden put a big target on the back. They've got a bullseye on them. serving others, which is the spirit. I think that is manifested here. As we talk about the priorities of God, also associates, doing life as God did. <br /><br /> And Jesus did to give what you have been given is not always safe. Sociologists in historian, Rodney stark presents a powerful argument that one of the principle reasons Christianity grew while Roman paganism waned. was the mercy. Christians displayed toward people who suffered in the second and third century, beginning around one 60 ad. <br /><br /> There were two giant urban plagues that took place in, in the urban centers of the Roman empire. The first was known to have taken one third of the population's life. Most people think it was probably a smallpox in the ravaging of people's lives. What people would regularly do would be to take members of their family, uh, that were dying. <br /><br /> And they would put 'em outside the city to just die because they were so terrorized to keep them in the house. One of the early church fathers wrote this statement. as the, uh, populous in Rome was fleeing cities where the small blocks of a came most Christians in the plagues showed unbounded love and loyalty, never sparing themselves. <br /><br /> And thinking only of others, headless of danger, they took charge of the sick tending of their every need in ministering to them in Christ. They departed from their lives, extremely happy for, they were infected by their neighbors and cheerfully accepted their pains. So many in nursing and caring, others transferred their deaths to themselves and died in their stead. <br /><br /> Who does that remind you of the very character of Christ was manifested in the early church, what they had, they gave. the true poly for Christianity is not that we get it. Right's not that we line up ultimately in the moral positions. I, although I believe in those and the poly, the argument for Christianity is the same as it has always been. <br /><br /> We love kindness. We reach out to the suffering. What we have, we give at personal cost. There is a spirit of benevolence and generosity that marks the spirit of God. The people that are marked by the spirit of God. I don't mean just financially. I'm talking about our time. Our abilities are, are resources. <br /><br /> This is the first miracle, and it is instructive about all miracles. I want to close with this. It is instructive. To you wherever you are, because it points first of all, to his power to rescue and change your life, that his power is available to impact your life. When you simply acknowledge the brokenness and the need, it points to his fear. <br /><br /> Future reconciling of all things, life will be as it ought to be to what your life and future can one day be. If you embrace Jesus as savior and Lord of your life, it points to his Providence, your here today, or watching online today by divine appointment. And you say, no, I'm not. I'm here to make my girlfriend happy. <br /><br /> So she'll go out to lunch with me. <br /><br /> Honestly, there's something a lot bigger at play in you being here today. It points to his priority. Jesus also gives what he has and what he has is life for forgiveness, transforming grace to you. If you own your brokenness, if you cry out to him for life and salvation and forgiveness, this miracle of all, as all of his miracles point to Jesus, the kind one, the one who gives what he has, who offers what he has to you. <br /><br /> And to me, wherever we are, maybe you are here and God purposely sovereignly has brought you to this room this morning to say, This message is for you. You are that lame, man. You say I don't, I'm not a LA no, no. There's brokenness in. You there's need in you. Jesus has come to provide transforming grace forgiveness and this miracle as all miracles points to his priority. <br /><br /> the one who delights to show mercy. Let's pray together. Lord, <br /><br /> you know, the heart of every person in this room, <br /><br /> you know, it better than they know themselves, know their knee, you know, their pain and God, my prayer this morning is that we might go where this passage is intended to take us to point us to Christ. Lord make yourself known. I pray that you would draw hearts to want to yield and bow the knee to Jesus Christ as Lord. <br /><br /> The one who is the healer, the one who does bring mercy and grace. I also pray father are that there would be hope in this passage that some are dealing with deep and long LIC. God, we thank you that this in this unnatural Arant world, this is not the end of the story, that there is a place where everything is restored to the way life ought to be the way you've designed it to be God, how we want to see everyone embrace that life that they might experience life as it ought to be one day. <br /><br /> so Lord moving our hearts and our lives. May we look to Christ? May we be drawn to him this morning? I pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Now go in peace to love and serve and enjoy the Lord. Amen.</div> false no <![CDATA[The Fellowship of the Believers]]> Acts 2:42-47

"And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers."



Sermon Transcript:

Morning guys, and good morning to you guys online as well. I didn't forget about. Um, no, I'm, I'm not up here to lead us in an impromptu worship song for those of you who don't know me. Uh, my name is pastor Joe and on the young adults pastor here at fellowship, as well as helping out with the, uh, yeah, as well as helping out with the worship ministry.

Um, I'll tell you though, it is a little bit weird being up here without a guitar. I'm so tempted to just walk back there and grab it and have it in front of me. It's a bit of a comfort blanket for me at this point, but I thought it'd be a little weird to have a guitar while I preach. So I decided not to not to leave it there in all seriousness, though.

It is, it's such a great joy to be able to open up this incredible book and continue our journey through acts the spirits work to the ends of the earth. The passage is morning that we're going to be focusing on is the very end of acts chapter two in verses 42 through 47. I'm going to read it this morning and they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and the.

To the breaking of bread and the prayers, and all came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles and all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need and day by day, attending in the temple together and breaking bread in their homes.

They received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the favor of all the people and the Lord added to their number day by day. Those who were being saved. This is God's word. Let's pray. Holy father, your name is above every other. Majestic and powerful transcendent and eternal Lord, your plans always work in your ways are always good from the beginning.

Lord, you have declared to us just how much you love us through so many ways. And in so many words, Lord, but in no greater way than this, that you sent your only beloved and perfect son to die for all of us.

Lord, I pray this morning. As we read of how your holy spirit turned an unruly crowd into a devoted community of love that we would have our hearts stand at attention receiving from this story, whatever your holy spirit wills lead us this morning. Lord guide us into your truth in Jesus name. We pray.

Amen. I'm going to touch that mic a couple of times. I know it. So keep my hands free from that. So I have a quick story for you about my process. As I was preparing for the sermon a few weeks ago, I went on to check the pre-K preaching schedule and to my surprise, I saw my name and it was next to this passage.

Now, my first reaction when I saw that was actually, yes, mark. Didn't give me a controversial passage to preach on. And I love this past. I read it, I got really fired up. I started thinking of all the ways I could teach from it. I was excited. I was energized. And then somewhere along the way, I think later that day I came into the office and I saw mark in there.

And I mentioned to him kind of jokingly mark, thanks for the layout. This is, this is a great sermon. And he, you know, he rolled with me. He laughed a little bit and as I was leaving, maybe cause he sent my dangerous over. He mentioned to me, you know, Joe, sometimes it's those easy passages that are the hardest to preach from and I'm going, I'm like, okay, thanks.

And as I'm going, I'm starting to picture myself missing wide, open laps or jump shots in basketball. Now, a little, a little bit of a backstory on that. I love basketball and my love for it though. Isn't matched by my skill. So I have a lot of experience missing wide open shots and the feeling in the pit of your stomach.

When you go to make a lab it's wide open and clang right out the front of the rim. And it's just, oh, I started thinking about man, is that going to be me with this lesson? I really don't want that to be the case. This is a straight forward layup. There's so much in here. And if I just get out of the way of the passage and let the passage preach this morning, I think we'll be okay.

But that was a funny story along the way before we actually jumped into the actual passage itself, though, I want to take a step back and remember. But I have a question for you. Have you ever been in a public place, maybe the mall, maybe you've been in a city somewhere, or maybe even just walking your dog and maybe I'm just nosy, but I'll overhear conversations when I'm out.

You'll, you'll just hear a snatch of a conversation that someone walks by you and invariably they're pretty comical or at least confusing, or sometimes disconcerting what you hear in a moment as you walk by, you'll hear something that they say. And for me, maybe just cause I'm a bit of a nosy person, I start to think, man, what could that conversation consist of in order to have that as a part of it?

And my imagination runs wild and I have my own little interpretations of what that conversation might be, but I'm at a disadvantage because something's missing that thing I'm missing is context without it. I really have no hope of understanding what that conversation was really. Now, I think that biblical narrative or story is a little bit like that conversation.

If I don't provide you all and myself with necessary backstory, then we're going to get a little bit of a skewed interpretation of the text. We want to let the story do the work of our interpretation. We want to view it through the lens of the story and let that teach us because acts is indeed a story.

Now, the best way to think of this as let's start from a view of 30,000 feet real quick, and remind ourselves some of you, this is going to be reviewed. Just bear with me. If we take a step back and remind ourselves that acts is itself. Part two of a written account by the author, Luke, the physician he had followed the apostles around for many years, studied most closely the events that had.

And in Luke chapter one, he tells us his intentions behind the books that he is going to write. These two is part two, this two part narrative, which he's going to write Luke chapter one verses one through four, many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who were from the first eye witnesses and servants of the word with this in mind, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too have decided to write an orderly account for you own most excellent Theopolis so that you may know with certainty the things of which you have been taught.

So that's the macro context. It's an orderly account written to us by Luke. And he's informing this mystery man, Theopolis that these events, which you have been, maybe you've heard of maybe had been alluded to and the things which we have taught you, you could have. Because I'm writing for you and account of these things.

I know the eyewitnesses, I have seen them with my own eyes. I have talked with them. I have studied these things most closely. Okay. So that's the macro view of acts. Just as a reminder for us now, getting a little bit closer into the actual chapter of acts chapter two. You remember that a few weeks ago, mark preached on the incredible coming of the spirit at Pentecost.

This is a very eventful chapter, a lot happens. So the spirit comes in power. As Christ has promised, uh, lights on the heads of those gathered in the upper room, tongues of fire, a mighty wind shakes, the house they're filled with the words of God. They go out into the streets, filled with boldness, ready to preach the word, an incredible unprecedented new way that God is pouring out his spirit as the prophet, Joel.

And then from there, maybe an even equally as unlikely thing happens, the very man who had shortly before this denied his very association with Jesus. Now standing up before thousands, proclaiming Christ as the Messiah filled with boldness, every tribe and tongue assembled there at Pentecost, understanding every word he says.

And lastly, a powerful result produced by the spirit. You see Ben put it so well last week in his sermon on Peter's sermon, he called it the sermon, which started the church, an unprecedented response from the Jewish people assembled there, unexpected these people had no business listening to this common.

Speaking of this stranger Jesus. And in that moment, 3000 people said, Jesus, take my life. I put my faith in him, incredible revival. So you see why I would be remiss not to mention this as we look forward to this passage, if we don't have this in mind, the incredible weight of glory, the incredible power of the spirit already put on display lives transformed in a moment from death to life in verse 41 of chapter two, the very last chapter bef I mean, very last verse before we begin our passage this morning, it says a profound statement and there were that day, 3000 souls added to their number.

It's a profound way to lead us into the next passage and the reason why I bring it up. And the reason why I bring up the awfulness is because I want us. Before we go into the passage to get our minds in the right space. I don't want you to read this for a minute as a 21st century reader. I want you to read this as the office would have read this in the story moment by moment.

What happens next? Read this as he would have read this, what question might you ask after you hear this incredible coming of the spirit at Pentecost? This incredible moment of promise now realized this incredible word preached through a servant, a humble servant of Jesus, and then an unprecedented revival produced by it.

Now 3000 souls suddenly added to the one 20. What's the natural question you might ask next. What happened to them? That's a lot of people. Imagine if flu could just skip that part and gone on to chapter three? Well, he wouldn't have been riding a very orderly. Now Luke was fastidious and he knew what he was doing.

And so in many ways, if you wanted to ask what's the purpose of this little bookend at the end of chapter two, the answer is simple. It's an answer to that question. What happened to the 3000? What happened next? What was the result? This passage reads when I read it at least, and maybe I'm over overstating this, but as I read it, it reads like a fairy tale ending.

I thought Luke might as well just put happily ever after at the end. It's like, this is just, oh my goodness. It reads so well. It's so beautiful. Now of course, we know that the events that continue the church gets under tremendous persecution and opposition, but at this moment it's triumphant, it's victorious.

It's a capstone to this incredible chapter about. The next chapter to more than anything. As we look at this passage, it's going to demonstrate something. It's going to demonstrate the incredible transformational power of the gospel and preach to the spirit, transforming this gathered crowd, this 3000 people from all over the place.

Every tribe, every tongue, every nation, all over the place, spread out across all the area now becomes a committed community of love, living in the freedom, generosity, and joy of the spirit. Incredible transformation. Okay. Now let's get to it. That's a long setup. I know, but I think it'll help us in our interpretation.

So Luke breaks down this passage, at least in my, as I was reading and doing my, my work in this. This is how it seems to be broken down. He breaks it down into three main parts. First, he begins with the habits and the routines of the early church in verse 42. He writes and they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and the fellowship to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

So right off the bat, he begins by establishing what was the lifestyle of these 3000 or 3,120, if you want to be specific? Well, he begins with the word before we even get to the habits. What's that word I'm asking and or devoted as the word I'm looking for devoted that we're devoted. Everything else is saturated in it.

The rest of this entire passage, that word is significant. And I know I'm not a Greek scholar. So take this with a grain of salt a little bit. But as I was looking through the Greek, I found that the word devoted there is the Greek word, and I'm probably going to butcher this pronunciation. Prost got that ale.

And I looked it up and listened to a guy pronounced it like five times trying to get it right. But that word, the way it's defined is to be stead Fastly attentive, to, to give unremitting care to a thing, to be in constant readiness for, to wait on constantly the only other two times that this is used before this first, it happens in mark.

And then it happens a little bit earlier in acts chapter one in mark three nine, Jesus is talking to his disciples and telling them to ready a boat for him to enter into so that he's not crushed by the crowd so that he can preach to them. He says, and he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd.

Lest they crushed him. That word that ready for him is actually that same word. So the boat was waiting, not moving on the Lord, determined to stay the ground, right. Waiting to be filled with Jesus, to preach the word. And in acts chapter one, verse 14, just before this, just before the coming of the spirit, all these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer together with the women and Mary and the mother of Jesus and his brothers.

They're in that upper room, they're devoting themselves to prayer, giving their strength, their remitting strength to prayer, waiting on the coming of the spirit to fill them much like that boat.

The reason why I mentioned this is not necessarily because that this is the exact same use of it. Or we want to treat each wart use of the word specifically in its context, but to give us an idea of the kind of uses, but it was being put to right before this. And the reason I mentioning this word devotion is because I have a question that came out of this is how has this devotion and any different than the devotion, which they, these Jews had before.

Because remember these Jews had traveled a long way to Jerusalem to celebrate the festival of Pentecost. They were devoted Jews. They knew a thing or two about giving their strength to something about being devoted to something, but something had changed. This was a new type of devotion. And the answer to that is what had context of acts chapter two, the coming of the spirit, Jesus.

Finished work of the cross changed them. They were not devoted to these things, to the practices, to the religion, to the religiosity. They were devoted to Christ no longer to a set of rules, but to a man, to God son, Jesus, that's this new devotion. This is not a dead devotion, not a, not a sad and overwhelmed and tired devotion, but a full and free devotion to Christ.

Okay. But let's get to the actual habits and practices. And I know I got to move along here. The first practice that's mentioned is the apostles teaching. Now I think in reading this and in doing my study, this apostles teaching that they're referring to is the teaching to which the apostles had received from Christ himself during his earthly.

And probably the rest of the scriptures as well, but they would have known that this is the new truth that they were hungry for was the truth that had come from Christ. Been passed down to the apostles. We have to remind ourselves these people, some of them may be perhaps most of them would have heard for the first time, the name Jesus Christ of Nazareth from the mouth of Peter, the moment they accepted Christ as savior, they were hungry for more, they needed more truth.

And so they gave their strength, their devotion, they stayed under the teaching of the apostles, the truth. They were determined to be saturated in truth to receive from the apostles, the teaching of Christ. The way I thought of it is to remain planted by streams of living water. They want it to be in the flow of that.

Secondly, the thing mentioned here is one, which certainly is super important to this passage. And that is the word fellowship. It's important to us as a church. It's in our name. These people were devoted to spending time together, not just once a week, not just on a Sunday every day. And there's a reason for that beyond just their own piety.

Think of this Jerusalem was home to an, a normal time, about a hundred thousand Jews during a time of festival. That number would swell to like 190,000. So even though 3000 is quite a large number, they still would've felt small in that big city. And when you come into a new place and you're alone and no, one's like you, what do you do?

You cling to the people who are like-minded with you, like a light. They clung fast to each other. They were devoted to one another to fellowship and to meeting together to sharing in these things together next to breaking of bread. Now what's this about where they just really into like breaking bread and crumbling.

It just like, they were just super into cracking the sound of baguettes and they loved that. No, of course not the breaking of bread here I believe is referring to the evening meal together that let me explain a little bit in the early early church, our idea of Eucharist or of communion had yet to be fully established in the ways that we think of it distinct from the meal or the social meal, then it would have been a part built in, skewed me built into this social gap.

In the evening. So when they were fellowshipping together, gathering and eating the evening meal, they would share in the communion, right? As they broke, breads and ate together, they would remind themselves that they shared in the body of Christ. They were one in Christ. And it sounds to me like it was something that they did regularly, probably even every night.

Now it was later that those two meals were separated. One into the feast or the love feast. And one into the Eucharist or the communion. One was the ceremonial. One was the social, but in the early days of the church, it was all one and the same.

And lastly, they were devoted to the prayers. This was not a community of people who were not familiar with the Jewish customs of prayers in the temple. They didn't give it all up in a moment because they had. They continue to go and to meet in the temple and to be led in the prayers. But I don't think this is mutually exclusive just to the ceremonial Jewish prayers.

I believe it also involves prayer together, spontaneous prayer, personal prayer. We see that on full display later in acts, they were committed. They were devoted not only to being together, but while they were together to be built around the foundations of the apostles, teaching to the breaking of bread and the prayers, it wasn't just a social call every time it was sharing in these things.

And so let's call these four practices, the four walls of the early church.

If these practices of the four walls, what was it like inside? What was the environment that was created by these habits, by this unswerving devotion to Christ and to seeking him to. Well, that's answered by Luke. Luckily in verses 43 through 46, and all came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles and all who believed were together and had all things in common and they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need and day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes.

They received their food with glad and generous hearts. So the first environment where the first element of the environment in which these habits had created was all, I think our temp, our temptation is to think of believers as once you accept Christ, you lose all that religiosity, all that sense of ritual and ceremony.

That is not the case with the early. In fact, all grew in them. The fear of the Lord grew in them. They didn't take God less seriously. They took him more seriously. He had ceased to be just a list of dues, a part of just their culture and what we do, but personal, real living and alive all grew in every soul.

This was not an environment which promoted taking God lightly. And secondly, and definitely related to this signs and wonders were performed in their midst, through the apostles, by the holy spirit. This is an environment in which people welcomed the work of the spirit in which. They're all their readiness for his work was, was evident and which the apostles then worked out the miracles just as Christ had done in his earthly ministry among them.

And lastly, and I think most profoundly, we see that this environment in which they had built their life on with these habits was an environment in which the side effects of the spirit were on full display, oneness, freedom, generosity of spirit overflowing in this community. This was not a community that was feeling constrained and guilty because the password shared that they should probably be giving 10%.

This was a community overflowing with the side effects of the spirit, oneness freedom, joy generosity.

These things abounded in this community so that we see that the things of which were going on around them, in their midst, we're also going on within them. This wasn't a merely practice-based faith. This was the faith which produced internal fruit right away.

One, this freedom and generosity abound. Lastly, if it's a community like this, this community, which is devoted to Christ, giving their strength to these habits and practices remaining in the Apostle's teachings remaining choosing not to give up, meeting together, breaking bread in their homes, sharing a meal over and celebrating their union with.

Giving themselves to talking and being spoken to and brew and relating in relationship to God through prayer, that community is going to have an impact. What was it that community's not going to go unnoticed by the world? And that's where Luke finishes in verse 47, praising God and having the favor of all the people and the Lord added to their number day by day, those who were being saved.

It's a pretty powerful way to end it for multiple reasons. It's unexpected to me as a 21st century reader, knowing what I know what happens next. I don't know about you, but I, when I think of the early church, I think of persecution. When I think of the early church, I think of opposition, but in the early fledgling days of.

The powers that be at yet to catch on the enemy had not been allowed yet to sink his claws into the community of hope. And this was the state of it, having the favor of all the people, that word favor again, I'm going to do it. I'm going to go to Greek again, that word favor, and I'm going to try to pronounce it.

It's CAUTIs or Charisse, however you want to pronounce it. And the way that it translates or what its meaning is that which affords joy, pleasure, delight, sweetness, charm, loveliness, grace of speech. I love that the people were delighted by them. All the people delighted sweetness, joy, charmed. This was not a community of which the outsiders looked in and discussed.

This was a community full of grace of speech, delighting its surrounding community.

Lastly, and I think most significantly, the Lord added to their number day by day, those who are being saved. This was not a community that turned in on itself. This was not a community which held the world at bay saying, no, we've got our own thing here. This was a community which called to the world, come and join

delighted. It's a community. People looked in and they found favor with them. It called to its surrounding. I'm reminded of the words in Matthew Jesus, his words to his disciples and the people that he was preaching to you are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand.

And it gives light to all in the house in the same way. Let your light shine before others so that they will see your good works and give glory to your father who is in heaven, a city on a hill, a bright shining light this community, this first fledgling church call to its community. The people looking in were not filled with hatred.

Persecution had yet to touch the church. But those who looked in found favor with this way. Devotion to these things of an environment which promoted the work of the spirit, the side effects of the spirit.

And as I wrap up, I want to draw our attention to what I would call the primary application. Now of the Lord is, is doing something in your heart right now. And there's applications that the spirit is, is giving you that are not the one that I give. Please do not shut your mind off to those things.

Treasure that in your heart. Take that with you. Merely let me add my own. The one that the Lord showed me in this process. I think if we ask ourselves, what is it that Lucas getting at aside from showing us what happened to this community? Is that the moment the spirit came in power, the moment his promised spirit came to his disciples, he did not set up a man.

He set up a church. God's primary way of spreading the gospel is not first through individuals, but through his church,

I'm not taking away from the individual call of every believer to share the good news. Share the reason for the hope that we have. But I am saying that we can't do it by ourselves. In fact, we never do it by ourselves. Even when you have the opportunity, maybe to lead someone to the Lord, you're just the final seed in a long line of seeds planted by others.

And remember who added to their number? Peter the apostles? No for Lord added to their number day by day. Those who were being saved. I want to share a quick story this week. We were a. Uh, in our, uh, our monthly staff meeting of all staff meeting, and I was hearing Joanna candy. Who's in charge of our care ministry here at fellowship.

Um, she was sharing a story about her little girl, Olivia, uh, Joanna wakes up early, obviously to wake up her kids for school that I'm sure a lot of you can relate to that. And she went about six, 15 to knock on the door and open, uh, oh, wake up, Olivia. But she noticed that she went, that the door was already a jar a little bit, and there was a light on, so she opened the door and she saw Olivia sitting on her bed, writing out her address on note cards.

And Joanna was a little confused. What are you doing live? And Liv said, oh, I'm writing out our address for all the kids at school so they can find out where we are so they know where we live. Cause they all want. Think about the number Joanna was torn. She said she's had a part of me was like, oh, I'm part of her.

I was like, oh, it helps to know a little bit of the backstory. Mike and Joanna have made a tremendous impact on their community, through their kids. And their kids had made a tremendous impact on their community, through sports, through school. They've made connections to the parents and to the kids so much so that there at candy household has become a bit of a sanctuary for people to come so much so that kids there's so many of them that she has to write out note cards with the address to hand out.

That's what I'm talking about. That we created environment in this, our home in our community that calls to the world so much so that we've got to hand out note cards with.

But the only way that that happens as if we live a life of devotion to Christ,

I don't want us to get from this primarily. Oh. If, if I just read my Bible a little more, then I'll be good. If, if I just pray a few more times a day, I'll be good. If I just spend a bit more time with my believing friends, I'll be good. We gotta remember the and word in the, in the passage. It begins with the word and if you're reading it ESV, but I love that because it connects it back to what happened before lives were transformed.

These people were in eternal debt to where Christ had done. Death to life, sin, to purity, washed clean, dead in their trespass alive in Christ. I promise Jared I'd share this. So I will, when I was talking with Jared and sharing, I had this really corny way of putting it. I said that we have to be Hawks, not hummingbirds.

And what I mean by that is that we have to let the work, the finished work of Jesus and the work of the spirit, fill our wings and hold us up and not be a hummingbird, constantly beating its wings. Just to stay a float. We need to be filled with the realization, the joy of our salvation. You, if you have received, Christ are a new creation.

The old is gone and the new has come it's.

He doesn't see you as a sinner anymore, but as a son and a daughter, that's enough to make me want to scream from the rooftops I won't, but that filling of the spirit that's, which the devotion should be fueling us in our life and our walk, a devotion to one another, giving our strength to these things, building our lives around the foundation of these practices.

But off of the devotion, the one who saved me and you'll find no matter the circumstances, no matter whether or not it's like this. And you've got the favor of all the people, whether it's what happens later and there's persecution, joy doesn't change because it's his deposit of joy. As long as we hold fast to these things, as long as we do not give up.

I'm not calling us out exactly, but I want to challenge you if the only time that you're in fellowship is on a Sunday for an hour. Are you really being fed and feeding others? The way that you're called again, this isn't a condemnation thing. This is a trust me. You'll thank me. Later thing.

We need to live in fellowship in devotion to one another, because we are devoted to the one who saved us.

Let's pray.

Holy spirit, Lord and father. We thank you for how you move in our midst. Thank you for your will.

Thank you for your perfect plan of redemption. Thank you that we now live in the, after the cross life, Florida life in which victory has been obtained through Jesus. We don't have to live as those in fear anymore. Perfect. Love casts out fear, but Lord, we can't do this alone. I can't walk in devotion to you by myself.

I need my brothers and my sisters. I need to be in devotion and constant fellowship lead me, Lord challenged me Lord, to walk more and more as these Christians did and devotion to you, Christ Jesus. The one who is worthy of every bit of our praise and devotion or Jesus. In your name? Amen. Thanks guys. You are dismissed.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-fellowship-of-the-believers 074605e7-51a8-4365-a323-c6e5de3a9b3a Sun, 13 Mar 2022 13:37:01 GMT <div data-html="true">Acts 2:42-47 <br /><br /> "And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers." <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Sermon Transcript: <br /><br /> Morning guys, and good morning to you guys online as well. I didn't forget about. Um, no, I'm, I'm not up here to lead us in an impromptu worship song for those of you who don't know me. Uh, my name is pastor Joe and on the young adults pastor here at fellowship, as well as helping out with the, uh, yeah, as well as helping out with the worship ministry. <br /><br /> Um, I'll tell you though, it is a little bit weird being up here without a guitar. I'm so tempted to just walk back there and grab it and have it in front of me. It's a bit of a comfort blanket for me at this point, but I thought it'd be a little weird to have a guitar while I preach. So I decided not to not to leave it there in all seriousness, though. <br /><br /> It is, it's such a great joy to be able to open up this incredible book and continue our journey through acts the spirits work to the ends of the earth. The passage is morning that we're going to be focusing on is the very end of acts chapter two in verses 42 through 47. I'm going to read it this morning and they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and the. <br /><br /> To the breaking of bread and the prayers, and all came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles and all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need and day by day, attending in the temple together and breaking bread in their homes. <br /><br /> They received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the favor of all the people and the Lord added to their number day by day. Those who were being saved. This is God's word. Let's pray. Holy father, your name is above every other. Majestic and powerful transcendent and eternal Lord, your plans always work in your ways are always good from the beginning. <br /><br /> Lord, you have declared to us just how much you love us through so many ways. And in so many words, Lord, but in no greater way than this, that you sent your only beloved and perfect son to die for all of us. <br /><br /> Lord, I pray this morning. As we read of how your holy spirit turned an unruly crowd into a devoted community of love that we would have our hearts stand at attention receiving from this story, whatever your holy spirit wills lead us this morning. Lord guide us into your truth in Jesus name. We pray. <br /><br /> Amen. I'm going to touch that mic a couple of times. I know it. So keep my hands free from that. So I have a quick story for you about my process. As I was preparing for the sermon a few weeks ago, I went on to check the pre-K preaching schedule and to my surprise, I saw my name and it was next to this passage. <br /><br /> Now, my first reaction when I saw that was actually, yes, mark. Didn't give me a controversial passage to preach on. And I love this past. I read it, I got really fired up. I started thinking of all the ways I could teach from it. I was excited. I was energized. And then somewhere along the way, I think later that day I came into the office and I saw mark in there. <br /><br /> And I mentioned to him kind of jokingly mark, thanks for the layout. This is, this is a great sermon. And he, you know, he rolled with me. He laughed a little bit and as I was leaving, maybe cause he sent my dangerous over. He mentioned to me, you know, Joe, sometimes it's those easy passages that are the hardest to preach from and I'm going, I'm like, okay, thanks. <br /><br /> And as I'm going, I'm starting to picture myself missing wide, open laps or jump shots in basketball. Now, a little, a little bit of a backstory on that. I love basketball and my love for it though. Isn't matched by my skill. So I have a lot of experience missing wide open shots and the feeling in the pit of your stomach. <br /><br /> When you go to make a lab it's wide open and clang right out the front of the rim. And it's just, oh, I started thinking about man, is that going to be me with this lesson? I really don't want that to be the case. This is a straight forward layup. There's so much in here. And if I just get out of the way of the passage and let the passage preach this morning, I think we'll be okay. <br /><br /> But that was a funny story along the way before we actually jumped into the actual passage itself, though, I want to take a step back and remember. But I have a question for you. Have you ever been in a public place, maybe the mall, maybe you've been in a city somewhere, or maybe even just walking your dog and maybe I'm just nosy, but I'll overhear conversations when I'm out. <br /><br /> You'll, you'll just hear a snatch of a conversation that someone walks by you and invariably they're pretty comical or at least confusing, or sometimes disconcerting what you hear in a moment as you walk by, you'll hear something that they say. And for me, maybe just cause I'm a bit of a nosy person, I start to think, man, what could that conversation consist of in order to have that as a part of it? <br /><br /> And my imagination runs wild and I have my own little interpretations of what that conversation might be, but I'm at a disadvantage because something's missing that thing I'm missing is context without it. I really have no hope of understanding what that conversation was really. Now, I think that biblical narrative or story is a little bit like that conversation. <br /><br /> If I don't provide you all and myself with necessary backstory, then we're going to get a little bit of a skewed interpretation of the text. We want to let the story do the work of our interpretation. We want to view it through the lens of the story and let that teach us because acts is indeed a story. <br /><br /> Now, the best way to think of this as let's start from a view of 30,000 feet real quick, and remind ourselves some of you, this is going to be reviewed. Just bear with me. If we take a step back and remind ourselves that acts is itself. Part two of a written account by the author, Luke, the physician he had followed the apostles around for many years, studied most closely the events that had. <br /><br /> And in Luke chapter one, he tells us his intentions behind the books that he is going to write. These two is part two, this two part narrative, which he's going to write Luke chapter one verses one through four, many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who were from the first eye witnesses and servants of the word with this in mind, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too have decided to write an orderly account for you own most excellent Theopolis so that you may know with certainty the things of which you have been taught. <br /><br /> So that's the macro context. It's an orderly account written to us by Luke. And he's informing this mystery man, Theopolis that these events, which you have been, maybe you've heard of maybe had been alluded to and the things which we have taught you, you could have. Because I'm writing for you and account of these things. <br /><br /> I know the eyewitnesses, I have seen them with my own eyes. I have talked with them. I have studied these things most closely. Okay. So that's the macro view of acts. Just as a reminder for us now, getting a little bit closer into the actual chapter of acts chapter two. You remember that a few weeks ago, mark preached on the incredible coming of the spirit at Pentecost. <br /><br /> This is a very eventful chapter, a lot happens. So the spirit comes in power. As Christ has promised, uh, lights on the heads of those gathered in the upper room, tongues of fire, a mighty wind shakes, the house they're filled with the words of God. They go out into the streets, filled with boldness, ready to preach the word, an incredible unprecedented new way that God is pouring out his spirit as the prophet, Joel. <br /><br /> And then from there, maybe an even equally as unlikely thing happens, the very man who had shortly before this denied his very association with Jesus. Now standing up before thousands, proclaiming Christ as the Messiah filled with boldness, every tribe and tongue assembled there at Pentecost, understanding every word he says. <br /><br /> And lastly, a powerful result produced by the spirit. You see Ben put it so well last week in his sermon on Peter's sermon, he called it the sermon, which started the church, an unprecedented response from the Jewish people assembled there, unexpected these people had no business listening to this common. <br /><br /> Speaking of this stranger Jesus. And in that moment, 3000 people said, Jesus, take my life. I put my faith in him, incredible revival. So you see why I would be remiss not to mention this as we look forward to this passage, if we don't have this in mind, the incredible weight of glory, the incredible power of the spirit already put on display lives transformed in a moment from death to life in verse 41 of chapter two, the very last chapter bef I mean, very last verse before we begin our passage this morning, it says a profound statement and there were that day, 3000 souls added to their number. <br /><br /> It's a profound way to lead us into the next passage and the reason why I bring it up. And the reason why I bring up the awfulness is because I want us. Before we go into the passage to get our minds in the right space. I don't want you to read this for a minute as a 21st century reader. I want you to read this as the office would have read this in the story moment by moment. <br /><br /> What happens next? Read this as he would have read this, what question might you ask after you hear this incredible coming of the spirit at Pentecost? This incredible moment of promise now realized this incredible word preached through a servant, a humble servant of Jesus, and then an unprecedented revival produced by it. <br /><br /> Now 3000 souls suddenly added to the one 20. What's the natural question you might ask next. What happened to them? That's a lot of people. Imagine if flu could just skip that part and gone on to chapter three? Well, he wouldn't have been riding a very orderly. Now Luke was fastidious and he knew what he was doing. <br /><br /> And so in many ways, if you wanted to ask what's the purpose of this little bookend at the end of chapter two, the answer is simple. It's an answer to that question. What happened to the 3000? What happened next? What was the result? This passage reads when I read it at least, and maybe I'm over overstating this, but as I read it, it reads like a fairy tale ending. <br /><br /> I thought Luke might as well just put happily ever after at the end. It's like, this is just, oh my goodness. It reads so well. It's so beautiful. Now of course, we know that the events that continue the church gets under tremendous persecution and opposition, but at this moment it's triumphant, it's victorious. <br /><br /> It's a capstone to this incredible chapter about. The next chapter to more than anything. As we look at this passage, it's going to demonstrate something. It's going to demonstrate the incredible transformational power of the gospel and preach to the spirit, transforming this gathered crowd, this 3000 people from all over the place. <br /><br /> Every tribe, every tongue, every nation, all over the place, spread out across all the area now becomes a committed community of love, living in the freedom, generosity, and joy of the spirit. Incredible transformation. Okay. Now let's get to it. That's a long setup. I know, but I think it'll help us in our interpretation. <br /><br /> So Luke breaks down this passage, at least in my, as I was reading and doing my, my work in this. This is how it seems to be broken down. He breaks it down into three main parts. First, he begins with the habits and the routines of the early church in verse 42. He writes and they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and the fellowship to the breaking of bread and the prayers. <br /><br /> So right off the bat, he begins by establishing what was the lifestyle of these 3000 or 3,120, if you want to be specific? Well, he begins with the word before we even get to the habits. What's that word I'm asking and or devoted as the word I'm looking for devoted that we're devoted. Everything else is saturated in it. <br /><br /> The rest of this entire passage, that word is significant. And I know I'm not a Greek scholar. So take this with a grain of salt a little bit. But as I was looking through the Greek, I found that the word devoted there is the Greek word, and I'm probably going to butcher this pronunciation. Prost got that ale. <br /><br /> And I looked it up and listened to a guy pronounced it like five times trying to get it right. But that word, the way it's defined is to be stead Fastly attentive, to, to give unremitting care to a thing, to be in constant readiness for, to wait on constantly the only other two times that this is used before this first, it happens in mark. <br /><br /> And then it happens a little bit earlier in acts chapter one in mark three nine, Jesus is talking to his disciples and telling them to ready a boat for him to enter into so that he's not crushed by the crowd so that he can preach to them. He says, and he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd. <br /><br /> Lest they crushed him. That word that ready for him is actually that same word. So the boat was waiting, not moving on the Lord, determined to stay the ground, right. Waiting to be filled with Jesus, to preach the word. And in acts chapter one, verse 14, just before this, just before the coming of the spirit, all these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer together with the women and Mary and the mother of Jesus and his brothers. <br /><br /> They're in that upper room, they're devoting themselves to prayer, giving their strength, their remitting strength to prayer, waiting on the coming of the spirit to fill them much like that boat. <br /><br /> The reason why I mentioned this is not necessarily because that this is the exact same use of it. Or we want to treat each wart use of the word specifically in its context, but to give us an idea of the kind of uses, but it was being put to right before this. And the reason I mentioning this word devotion is because I have a question that came out of this is how has this devotion and any different than the devotion, which they, these Jews had before. <br /><br /> Because remember these Jews had traveled a long way to Jerusalem to celebrate the festival of Pentecost. They were devoted Jews. They knew a thing or two about giving their strength to something about being devoted to something, but something had changed. This was a new type of devotion. And the answer to that is what had context of acts chapter two, the coming of the spirit, Jesus. <br /><br /> Finished work of the cross changed them. They were not devoted to these things, to the practices, to the religion, to the religiosity. They were devoted to Christ no longer to a set of rules, but to a man, to God son, Jesus, that's this new devotion. This is not a dead devotion, not a, not a sad and overwhelmed and tired devotion, but a full and free devotion to Christ. <br /><br /> Okay. But let's get to the actual habits and practices. And I know I got to move along here. The first practice that's mentioned is the apostles teaching. Now I think in reading this and in doing my study, this apostles teaching that they're referring to is the teaching to which the apostles had received from Christ himself during his earthly. <br /><br /> And probably the rest of the scriptures as well, but they would have known that this is the new truth that they were hungry for was the truth that had come from Christ. Been passed down to the apostles. We have to remind ourselves these people, some of them may be perhaps most of them would have heard for the first time, the name Jesus Christ of Nazareth from the mouth of Peter, the moment they accepted Christ as savior, they were hungry for more, they needed more truth. <br /><br /> And so they gave their strength, their devotion, they stayed under the teaching of the apostles, the truth. They were determined to be saturated in truth to receive from the apostles, the teaching of Christ. The way I thought of it is to remain planted by streams of living water. They want it to be in the flow of that. <br /><br /> Secondly, the thing mentioned here is one, which certainly is super important to this passage. And that is the word fellowship. It's important to us as a church. It's in our name. These people were devoted to spending time together, not just once a week, not just on a Sunday every day. And there's a reason for that beyond just their own piety. <br /><br /> Think of this Jerusalem was home to an, a normal time, about a hundred thousand Jews during a time of festival. That number would swell to like 190,000. So even though 3000 is quite a large number, they still would've felt small in that big city. And when you come into a new place and you're alone and no, one's like you, what do you do? <br /><br /> You cling to the people who are like-minded with you, like a light. They clung fast to each other. They were devoted to one another to fellowship and to meeting together to sharing in these things together next to breaking of bread. Now what's this about where they just really into like breaking bread and crumbling. <br /><br /> It just like, they were just super into cracking the sound of baguettes and they loved that. No, of course not the breaking of bread here I believe is referring to the evening meal together that let me explain a little bit in the early early church, our idea of Eucharist or of communion had yet to be fully established in the ways that we think of it distinct from the meal or the social meal, then it would have been a part built in, skewed me built into this social gap. <br /><br /> In the evening. So when they were fellowshipping together, gathering and eating the evening meal, they would share in the communion, right? As they broke, breads and ate together, they would remind themselves that they shared in the body of Christ. They were one in Christ. And it sounds to me like it was something that they did regularly, probably even every night. <br /><br /> Now it was later that those two meals were separated. One into the feast or the love feast. And one into the Eucharist or the communion. One was the ceremonial. One was the social, but in the early days of the church, it was all one and the same. <br /><br /> And lastly, they were devoted to the prayers. This was not a community of people who were not familiar with the Jewish customs of prayers in the temple. They didn't give it all up in a moment because they had. They continue to go and to meet in the temple and to be led in the prayers. But I don't think this is mutually exclusive just to the ceremonial Jewish prayers. <br /><br /> I believe it also involves prayer together, spontaneous prayer, personal prayer. We see that on full display later in acts, they were committed. They were devoted not only to being together, but while they were together to be built around the foundations of the apostles, teaching to the breaking of bread and the prayers, it wasn't just a social call every time it was sharing in these things. <br /><br /> And so let's call these four practices, the four walls of the early church. <br /><br /> If these practices of the four walls, what was it like inside? What was the environment that was created by these habits, by this unswerving devotion to Christ and to seeking him to. Well, that's answered by Luke. Luckily in verses 43 through 46, and all came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles and all who believed were together and had all things in common and they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need and day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes. <br /><br /> They received their food with glad and generous hearts. So the first environment where the first element of the environment in which these habits had created was all, I think our temp, our temptation is to think of believers as once you accept Christ, you lose all that religiosity, all that sense of ritual and ceremony. <br /><br /> That is not the case with the early. In fact, all grew in them. The fear of the Lord grew in them. They didn't take God less seriously. They took him more seriously. He had ceased to be just a list of dues, a part of just their culture and what we do, but personal, real living and alive all grew in every soul. <br /><br /> This was not an environment which promoted taking God lightly. And secondly, and definitely related to this signs and wonders were performed in their midst, through the apostles, by the holy spirit. This is an environment in which people welcomed the work of the spirit in which. They're all their readiness for his work was, was evident and which the apostles then worked out the miracles just as Christ had done in his earthly ministry among them. <br /><br /> And lastly, and I think most profoundly, we see that this environment in which they had built their life on with these habits was an environment in which the side effects of the spirit were on full display, oneness, freedom, generosity of spirit overflowing in this community. This was not a community that was feeling constrained and guilty because the password shared that they should probably be giving 10%. <br /><br /> This was a community overflowing with the side effects of the spirit, oneness freedom, joy generosity. <br /><br /> These things abounded in this community so that we see that the things of which were going on around them, in their midst, we're also going on within them. This wasn't a merely practice-based faith. This was the faith which produced internal fruit right away. <br /><br /> One, this freedom and generosity abound. Lastly, if it's a community like this, this community, which is devoted to Christ, giving their strength to these habits and practices remaining in the Apostle's teachings remaining choosing not to give up, meeting together, breaking bread in their homes, sharing a meal over and celebrating their union with. <br /><br /> Giving themselves to talking and being spoken to and brew and relating in relationship to God through prayer, that community is going to have an impact. What was it that community's not going to go unnoticed by the world? And that's where Luke finishes in verse 47, praising God and having the favor of all the people and the Lord added to their number day by day, those who were being saved. <br /><br /> It's a pretty powerful way to end it for multiple reasons. It's unexpected to me as a 21st century reader, knowing what I know what happens next. I don't know about you, but I, when I think of the early church, I think of persecution. When I think of the early church, I think of opposition, but in the early fledgling days of. <br /><br /> The powers that be at yet to catch on the enemy had not been allowed yet to sink his claws into the community of hope. And this was the state of it, having the favor of all the people, that word favor again, I'm going to do it. I'm going to go to Greek again, that word favor, and I'm going to try to pronounce it. <br /><br /> It's CAUTIs or Charisse, however you want to pronounce it. And the way that it translates or what its meaning is that which affords joy, pleasure, delight, sweetness, charm, loveliness, grace of speech. I love that the people were delighted by them. All the people delighted sweetness, joy, charmed. This was not a community of which the outsiders looked in and discussed. <br /><br /> This was a community full of grace of speech, delighting its surrounding community. <br /><br /> Lastly, and I think most significantly, the Lord added to their number day by day, those who are being saved. This was not a community that turned in on itself. This was not a community which held the world at bay saying, no, we've got our own thing here. This was a community which called to the world, come and join <br /><br /> delighted. It's a community. People looked in and they found favor with them. It called to its surrounding. I'm reminded of the words in Matthew Jesus, his words to his disciples and the people that he was preaching to you are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand. <br /><br /> And it gives light to all in the house in the same way. Let your light shine before others so that they will see your good works and give glory to your father who is in heaven, a city on a hill, a bright shining light this community, this first fledgling church call to its community. The people looking in were not filled with hatred. <br /><br /> Persecution had yet to touch the church. But those who looked in found favor with this way. Devotion to these things of an environment which promoted the work of the spirit, the side effects of the spirit. <br /><br /> And as I wrap up, I want to draw our attention to what I would call the primary application. Now of the Lord is, is doing something in your heart right now. And there's applications that the spirit is, is giving you that are not the one that I give. Please do not shut your mind off to those things. <br /><br /> Treasure that in your heart. Take that with you. Merely let me add my own. The one that the Lord showed me in this process. I think if we ask ourselves, what is it that Lucas getting at aside from showing us what happened to this community? Is that the moment the spirit came in power, the moment his promised spirit came to his disciples, he did not set up a man. <br /><br /> He set up a church. God's primary way of spreading the gospel is not first through individuals, but through his church, <br /><br /> I'm not taking away from the individual call of every believer to share the good news. Share the reason for the hope that we have. But I am saying that we can't do it by ourselves. In fact, we never do it by ourselves. Even when you have the opportunity, maybe to lead someone to the Lord, you're just the final seed in a long line of seeds planted by others. <br /><br /> And remember who added to their number? Peter the apostles? No for Lord added to their number day by day. Those who were being saved. I want to share a quick story this week. We were a. Uh, in our, uh, our monthly staff meeting of all staff meeting, and I was hearing Joanna candy. Who's in charge of our care ministry here at fellowship. <br /><br /> Um, she was sharing a story about her little girl, Olivia, uh, Joanna wakes up early, obviously to wake up her kids for school that I'm sure a lot of you can relate to that. And she went about six, 15 to knock on the door and open, uh, oh, wake up, Olivia. But she noticed that she went, that the door was already a jar a little bit, and there was a light on, so she opened the door and she saw Olivia sitting on her bed, writing out her address on note cards. <br /><br /> And Joanna was a little confused. What are you doing live? And Liv said, oh, I'm writing out our address for all the kids at school so they can find out where we are so they know where we live. Cause they all want. Think about the number Joanna was torn. She said she's had a part of me was like, oh, I'm part of her. <br /><br /> I was like, oh, it helps to know a little bit of the backstory. Mike and Joanna have made a tremendous impact on their community, through their kids. And their kids had made a tremendous impact on their community, through sports, through school. They've made connections to the parents and to the kids so much so that there at candy household has become a bit of a sanctuary for people to come so much so that kids there's so many of them that she has to write out note cards with the address to hand out. <br /><br /> That's what I'm talking about. That we created environment in this, our home in our community that calls to the world so much so that we've got to hand out note cards with. <br /><br /> But the only way that that happens as if we live a life of devotion to Christ, <br /><br /> I don't want us to get from this primarily. Oh. If, if I just read my Bible a little more, then I'll be good. If, if I just pray a few more times a day, I'll be good. If I just spend a bit more time with my believing friends, I'll be good. We gotta remember the and word in the, in the passage. It begins with the word and if you're reading it ESV, but I love that because it connects it back to what happened before lives were transformed. <br /><br /> These people were in eternal debt to where Christ had done. Death to life, sin, to purity, washed clean, dead in their trespass alive in Christ. I promise Jared I'd share this. So I will, when I was talking with Jared and sharing, I had this really corny way of putting it. I said that we have to be Hawks, not hummingbirds. <br /><br /> And what I mean by that is that we have to let the work, the finished work of Jesus and the work of the spirit, fill our wings and hold us up and not be a hummingbird, constantly beating its wings. Just to stay a float. We need to be filled with the realization, the joy of our salvation. You, if you have received, Christ are a new creation. <br /><br /> The old is gone and the new has come it's. <br /><br /> He doesn't see you as a sinner anymore, but as a son and a daughter, that's enough to make me want to scream from the rooftops I won't, but that filling of the spirit that's, which the devotion should be fueling us in our life and our walk, a devotion to one another, giving our strength to these things, building our lives around the foundation of these practices. <br /><br /> But off of the devotion, the one who saved me and you'll find no matter the circumstances, no matter whether or not it's like this. And you've got the favor of all the people, whether it's what happens later and there's persecution, joy doesn't change because it's his deposit of joy. As long as we hold fast to these things, as long as we do not give up. <br /><br /> I'm not calling us out exactly, but I want to challenge you if the only time that you're in fellowship is on a Sunday for an hour. Are you really being fed and feeding others? The way that you're called again, this isn't a condemnation thing. This is a trust me. You'll thank me. Later thing. <br /><br /> We need to live in fellowship in devotion to one another, because we are devoted to the one who saved us. <br /><br /> Let's pray. <br /><br /> Holy spirit, Lord and father. We thank you for how you move in our midst. Thank you for your will. <br /><br /> Thank you for your perfect plan of redemption. Thank you that we now live in the, after the cross life, Florida life in which victory has been obtained through Jesus. We don't have to live as those in fear anymore. Perfect. Love casts out fear, but Lord, we can't do this alone. I can't walk in devotion to you by myself. <br /><br /> I need my brothers and my sisters. I need to be in devotion and constant fellowship lead me, Lord challenged me Lord, to walk more and more as these Christians did and devotion to you, Christ Jesus. The one who is worthy of every bit of our praise and devotion or Jesus. In your name? Amen. Thanks guys. You are dismissed.</div> false no <![CDATA[The Sermon that Launched the Church]]> Acts 2:12-37

"But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them..."

Sermon Transcript

We're going to be an acts chapter two, as we continue our series in the book of acts, as we continue to look at what it means to see the spirit at work, to the ends of the earth. It's great to be here with you this morning and what we're looking at this morning and APS chapter two, starting in verses 13, we'll connect and coordinate with, um, very much through the beginning of the book or of the chapter of two as this is we're going to preach.

On a sermon. So Peter gives us this nice long sermon. And so we'll be going through his sermon piece by piece. And this is the sermon that actually launched the church of Jesus Christ. We had what happened at Pentecost. Um, and, uh, with that moment in my iPad is wanting to take a picture here. Smile, and you guys look great.

I don't know what's going on there. But we at Pentecost, we have the story of when Jesus or when the holy spirit came to empower the church and came in a really fascinating, incredible way. Jesus had said, don't leave Jerusalem until my spirit comes. And this is the moment at Pentecost, beginning of acts chapter two, where the spirit comes and he comes in a very interesting way.

And if you've been around God for very long, you know that sometimes you're like you say things like, you know what the Lord spoke to me. And it was, there was a little weird air, felt a little weird, a little different. This is exactly how the holy spirit came with, said tongues of fire resting on people's heads.

We. In our car because we're so spiritual as a family, we had this conversation this last couple of weeks about the song raining tacos. And whenever I heard the song, it's raining tacos up out of the sky. It's raining tacos, no need to ask why. Right. And you can get this image in this song. And one of us was singing it.

And we were asking the question again, thinking how weird it was that tacos could rain down from the sky. What else would be weird if it rained down from the sky? And this is exactly why you have children to help you with these kinds of insights and some of the really powerful insights that I received from my children.

I wanted to share with you. Number one will be very interesting. Run down to the side bouncy balls. When that be interesting paint, can you imagine if paint was raining down from the sky or have. Blob fish. What if blob fish were raining down from the sky? And then, uh, one of my younger son says this, what if it was raining Hagrid?

I would be quite a situation there, buddy, if it were raining Hagrid. Um, and then lastly, one of my favorite was I said, what if it was raining Paris shooting, cannibals that haven't eaten for 31 days. This is the ology. This is good stuff among these profound, beautiful answers. Whereas the description of tongues, what if it was raining tongues and then another one's was what if it was raining some type of fire, flaming arrows, but it is so strange and unusual.

And we, if you've been around acts chapter two for a while, you might think, okay, flaming tongues appearing on the heads of the people you might think, oh, that's normal. That's not normal. Right? Guaranteed. You've never seen that. If you thought raining tacos was odd, here's out. And so what's happening in the beginning of acts.

Chapter two is you have this mighty movement from that. Christ has sent the spirit and the spirit has come in this mighty movement and it has made everyone go into. Because you have the people 120 bout followers of Jesus that are experiencing this great movement of God. And you have thousands of other people on looking, just wondering what is going on?

What does this mean? And in this cacophony of confusion, you know, it's not one person getting up. And then the other person it's literally everyone is hearing their own languages spoken out from people's mouths who don't know their language. And they're walking around, wandering around this incredible, beautiful, but chaotic scene.

And in verse 12 in acts chapter two, there's the first question that we, two questions in our texts that Peter addresses the first question from acts chapter two, verse 12, simply they said, what does this mean? What is going on? And Peter gives this sermon, the sermon that launched the church of Jesus Christ in the world.

He gives this sermon to then speak. This is what's happening. And there'll be a second question. They will give in response to his message. But this morning, we look at the totality of his message and we're going to take it in bite size this morning. First off, we're going to read acts chapter two, 13 to 21.

If you'll meet me there 13 to 21, and then we'll go through it from there 14 to 21, I'm sorry. Peter standing with the 11 lifted up his voice and addressed the people, men of Judah and all who dwell in Jerusalem. Let this be known to you and give ear to my words for these people are not drunk as you suppose.

It is only the third hour of the day. Which is nine in the morning, but this is what has been uttered through the prophet Joel. And in the last days, it shall be God declares that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. And your young men shall see visions.

And your old men shall dream dreams. Even on my male servants and female servants. In those days, I will pour out my spirit and they shall prophesize. And I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below blood and fire vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the day of the Lord comes the great and magnificent day.

And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Lord, we come to this text this morning, rejoicing in your originality and your creativity. We come and gather as the church, because of this text, we come and gather in recognition that what's happening here is not just human moments.

What happens is as your church goes to Guatemala is not just a human thing. As, as the refugee crisis of over 1.3 million people who have left Ukraine with that number growing by the minute and what's happening at the word of life campus, they have access to over a hundred of those people to love and care that it's more than just human things going.

We rejoice in your holy spirit. And we pray for understanding into this sermon of Peter this morning in Jesus name. Amen. So in response to this question, what is going on, the sermon that launched the church, Peter gives this sermon in response to what is happening here in the first things he's going to say is simply this what's happening.

This holy spirit moment has always. Been a part of the plan. This has always been a part of the plan of the Godhead and acts 14 through 21 is Peter not saying, Hey, this is a great new idea that Jesus had right before he went up to heaven and he's like, oh, I'm leaving. What are we going to do? So he decided to have a spirit come and like, we've trying to patch things together.

We're taking this day at a time. No, what Peter is saying. And in this passage, in this sermon, he quotes three different old Testament prophecies to, again, reiterate, this is not a new story that has come. This is the same story. The same plan that the fiery unity of the Trinity has had all along. It has taken place today, but today has been planned a.

Time. Secondly, the spirit of God we see in what Peter is saying and talking about this spirit is a powerful, they are clearly under the influence of something. This is why there's an accusation, right? I think they might be drinking. There's something else going on. That's influencing their behavior. And Peter comes to say, yes, there is a, another type of influence that's going on in the acts two, we see as a mighty rushing powerful wind pastor mark talked about this last week.

Fire appearing above their heads and ability to speak language all over the place. This is not people speaking. Hey, Siri, you know, translate into Parthenia. And this, this is this moment where they are able to speak and understand in a way they could. Uh, less, there was something powerful influencing them in the prophecy of Joel.

We see them talk about dreams, visions, prophecies, wonders. The spirit of God is not just a nice buddy. That's come to dwell among men. The spirit of God is powerful. Third or letter C. The spirit of God is now poured out. I love this. The spirit of God is poured out two different times in the text, the prophecy from Joel and the text it says in verse 18.

And then in verse 21, or I'm sorry, verse 20, that the spirit of God will be poured out. What, what is being poured out mean? It means that there was something once somewhat contained and has now been poured out. It is contained no longer. Fourth, the activity of the spirit, this holy spirit brings union and freedom.

Pastor mark touched on this, this last week of this passages connection with Genesis 11, the tower of Babel tower of Babel. Everyone comes speaking the same language, same culture. There's this all kinds. They're like, Hey, we're going to be like, God, we're going to build this tower all the way to heaven.

That's totally unrealistic. But they're coming with this egocentric people centric that we are big. We are enough. And what God does. He says, okay, you who are trying to put your little sandbox together thinking you're something so big, I'm going to. Bring about some confusion that will lead you to spread out among the world.

And they start speaking to one another and they don't understand because this is when multiple languages come in and here's a map of what happened. Genesis 11, the tower of Babel. If you can see, this is the dispersion of where Babel was. And then when there was, they realized, Hey, I understand this woman, but I have no idea what that dude is saying.

And so I'm going to hang out over here. And so people, groups come and then they begin to disperse. And the tower of Babel is the beginning of that disperse. And we see the separation that happens there, here at Pentecost, put up the next map. If you would, at Pentecost, you have the reversal, right? You have the exact opposite thing.

And these are the locations that are mentioned in acts chapter two, verse nine says Parthians Medes and Elamites residents of Mesopotamia, Judith Judea, Kappa dosha, Pontus, and Asia Phrygia and Pamphylia Egypt in all parts of Libya, near siren visitors from Rome, both Jews and converse, Jews, Judaism, cretins, and Arabs.

We hear the wonder of God in our own tongues. So where there had been separation and exile, where there had been this, this, this limitation to be able to speak to one another, the holy spirit comes and brings what is always in the culture of the holy spirit. He brings union and free. Paul says this in Corinthians where the spirit of the Lord is, there is what freedom I can hear in my own language.

The wonders of God. This is a song that we sang this morning that Joe led us in that is speaking directly of this passage. The stanza was this, the church of Christ was born. And the spirit lit the flame, the gospel truth evolves, same story shall not kneel and shall not faint by his blood. And in his name, in his freedom.

I am free for the love of Jesus Christ, who has resurrected me, praise the father, praise the sun plays praise the spirit three in one, which leads us to our next point. That is so clearly interlaced throughout our text. What Peter is saying is that the holy spirit testifies about Jesus Christ. The holy spirit does not come on an island.

The holy spirit is the elevation of the spirit is the speaking of the whole God had in particular, you will see the speaking of the spirit talking about Christ and then this beautiful dance of father, son, and spirit that we see lace throughout this whole sermon. The spirit comes to testify about Christ.

In first, John four even says, Hey, a three-year experiencing some sort of spirit test. The spirit says this by this, you know, the spirit of God, every spirit that confessed Jesus Christ has come from the flesh is from God. And every spirit does, does not confess Jesus Christ is not from God. What is the spirit?

Do the holy spirit power do confesses the beauty of the Godhead. And this is a beautiful interplay. We'll see, throughout the. So first all that to say what Peter is saying in the first seven verses like, whoa, I know you guys are confused. I know this feels like raining tacos out here. This is gone. This is way different than you imagined.

But listen, this is a story from a bowl. The holy spirit has touched down in a way he has never touched down before and has come in a way. He has never come before and he speaks about that spirit, but he does. So to jump from that diving board into the pool of the majority of his sermon, the coming of the holy spirit has everything to do with Jesus of.

The sermon pivots at this point in verse 22 and the rest of the sermon is all about Jesus Christ. Yes. Let me explain what the spirit is, whose spirit is what's going on? How is this the story from evolve, but what is the spirit coming and all about? Well, let me tell you about Jesus of Nazareth. Read with me verses 22 through 36 men of Israel.

Hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by, with, by God, with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst. As you yourselves know this Jesus. Delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.

God raised him up losing the pangs of death because it was not possible for him to be held by it for David says concerning him. I saw the Lord always before me. He is at my right hand that I may not be shaken. Therefore, my heart was glad and my tongue. My flesh also will dwell in hope for you will not abandon my soul to Haiti's or let your holy one see corruption.

You have made known to me the paths of life. You will make me full of gladness with your presence. Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David, he died and was buried. His tomb is with us to this day, being there for a profit, knowing that God had sworn with him an oath that he would set one of his descendants on the throne.

He foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of Christ and he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus, God raised. We are all witnesses of this being therefore exalted at the right hand of God and having received from the father, the promise, holy spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing for.

David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make enemies, your footstool, but all the house of Israel, therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you have crucified. As soon as Peter finishes, speaking of the activity about explaining the activities.

He anchors his sermon in the person of Christ. Peter will speak five times in the first 10 chapters of acts. One third of the book of acts is sermons or teaching. Peter has got a ton of the first half and then Paul grand finales at the second half, right. With some others and some Stephenson mixed in, but these are the two primary preachers in the book of acts is Peter and Paul Peter in the first 10 chapters speaks five times every single time he speaks.

He speaks of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The, what is happening in the early part of the church is, again, Peter speaking, reminding teaching that this church has everything to do with this person of Jesus. And what he is saying in this sermon is saying this holy spirit moment that has just happened is about Jesus.

In this sermon, he returns the prophet David in verses 25 through 28. He also refers to him in verses 34 and 35. This is this, this moment, his spirit is about this Christ. He goes back into the old Testament again, to remind them same story, different verse, same story. It's always been about this. The outpouring acts 2 33 right here in our passage of the spirit has everything to do.

With the subject matter of Jesus Christ. Secondly, it's not just about Jesus. It's not just him loosely involved or him kind of on the subject matter. This holy spirit moment that has just happened. Peter says is through Jesus, the death and resurrection enabled this holy spirit to come without the sacrifice of the, of Christ without the resurrection and power over death, the spirit would not be unleashed would not be poured out, but would still be contained the coming of Christ marks that the spirit no longer comes at some times to some people for some messages.

But that spirit that is mostly contained now through the blood and resurrection of Christ coming through the rending of the curtain and the church of Jesus Christ becoming the temple, the holding place of the presence of God. The spirit has been poured out through this Christ, but what's so cool about this passage is this holy spirit moment.

Isn't just through Christ and it isn't just about Christ. This holy spirit moment is by Christ. He is not a passive conduit, not just a sacrificial lamb through which the spirit can come to people in this passage. Very specifically, Peter is saying there is agency from the person Christ of the Godhead that he is the one sending the spirit acts 2 33.

Jesus is the one who poured out the spirit by the design will of the father. Jesus is the one who said spirit. He is the one with the power over the spirit. And in this passage, as you'll see with Peter in the next messages, he is speaking, not just of the wonder of this great man. He is speaking of the deity, the Godness of Jesus Christ.

You want to know what's happening today. Jesus Christ through his death and resurrection and his action poured out, dumped out the spirit on to the church. Two significant phrases. I just want to draw your attention to one. One is in the prophecy of this passage of Jude or Peter quotes. Peter is calling old Testament, using the word Jaquez, the Hebrew word for God.

A word that is the same word that when Moses, when he saw the burning Bush and says, who shall you, who shall I say sent me? And he said, tell him y'all way send you is the, I am the great, I am the great God being this Jaak way in the is, is used in Joel and in here is said that Jaquez usage is a message.

Whoever calls the name alert is directly referring to Jesus himself, Luke 24 49. Jesus says this about himself. Behold. I am sending, I am sending. I am sending the promise of my father upon you, but you must remain in the spirit until you've been clothed with power from on high. There's this other phrase also, I love it says this in verse 24, it was impossible for death to hold him down.

It was impossible. Your translation might say for death to keep its hold on him, death just couldn't take it. Um, is Mike in here? I think he goes to the other service. Tell me he's not here. He's not here. He just left. Oh, good. Sorry. Perfect. Cause I'm going to give him some ego strokes and I don't want him here for it.

Okay. So I used to do some like running. Okay. And yes, it was a couple pizzas ago. Be nice to me. That wasn't nice to me. All right. So I did some running and I run with Mike A. Little bit and I hated running with Mike because I'm just imagining, because Mike is a runner. Mike does marathons, he's got pictures of marathoners on his wall.

He's got preferences of what are the best running shoes, like all you running snobs. Right. And he's a runner. And so I go running and one time we went running like St. John said, like monastery area, we just went back. It's in the woods and this wonderful spot. And we went running. And so I endured running and that's a lot of character points for me, right.

To go with a runner and to run. And, uh, he says afterwards, Hey, you want to rate.

Right. And so, like, I got a couple of things happening. One I don't want to lose. I don't, I don't like taking part in competitions where I know I have no chance. Right. Like I'm not going to go wrestle pastor Tim. Right. Like, yeah. I'm going to pick a fight with a grizzly bear. That sounds awesome. No, just not going to do it.

Right. So I, when it comes to like, and Mike says this sizzle punk, he says, you can start like 20 yards ahead. And I got two decisions. Now, one, I say, no way, we start here and he smokes me or two, I start 20 yards ahead. And I show him, he's a proud punk. I opt for number two. So I go and I, we take off running and we've got a place to go and now I'm not fast.

But at that time I was a lot less slow. Okay. And so I take off running and I think, you know, tortoise and the hair, this is going to be his moment. You know what I mean? God, come down, humility, all that stuff. I start running and I am doing the best I can and I'm running the fastest I can. And all of a sudden, Mike passes me like I was going backwards.

And I remember like the feeling of him passing me in the feeling I thought was like, wow, how God designed the human being and coordinate, no, I want to punch him in the back of his neck. The only problem is he was 10 yards ahead before I could even turn around and swing at him. Right. It was so annoying to me still so annoying to me.

But then, and this was even before he was all like CrossFit, whatever stuff too, but I couldn't. I, and, and in that moment, I could have watched Rudy five times the day before. Right. I could have put Rocky four in the earbuds and be like, this is my moment. The fact is, is I was not fast enough. I was not strong enough.

I was not powerful in the leg running thing enough, and I'm devaluing it on purpose to beat him in a race. I couldn't hold him back no matter what, if he would've given me 30 yards, I would just be 30 yards embarrassed today. Right. But no matter what I do not have, the capacity did not have the capacity to possibly hold Mike back from beating me what Peter is going through and saying in this passage, he's not belittling.

The power of death. Death would take Peter to. Death would have taken Peter's family and descendants and people. He loved. He would have known people who have died from disease and pain. He would see people who, who will be martyred for their testimony. He knows the power of death. And yet he says this about this Christ.

Very simply. It was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. Death was not powerful enough to bury him for long the stone, not strong enough to hold them. That the thing that held him, there was not enough to keep him down. What Peter is saying in this testimony to the very beginning of the church is that Jesus has power.

Jesus did not come. That just be a good example to start a nice movement. He had not come to just show a path or be a wise sensei. What he is coming to do is conquer the grave and it, Peter is saying, and it wasn't even close to a fair fight. And I know when we're talking about our own stories and our own pain and our own confusions and their own things that keep us down.

There's so many things where we feel like we can just say, I just can't do it. I just can't face it. I just can't stop it. I just can't take it. I can't find the strength. I can't muster the courage. I can't bear to hope. And you might be sitting there and say, listen, preacher, where are you going? Because you don't know the size of my.

You don't know what I'm trying to overcome in my story. You don't know the weight of the family secret that I carry. What I would simply say to you is the treasure of this, this new Testament that we're looking at is that there is a deep acknowledgement that human suffering is real. It is complex. It is devastating, but it is impossible for death to hold on when Christ is there.

Jesus said be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. What does this mean? This means if you're a faith in Jesus Christ, you are a witness in your workplace, in your neighborhood, in your family. It's not how good you're being good behavior or, or a way or talking people into like understanding what your giant perspective is on the things of the world.

Know the testimony, the same as Peter. It has everything to do with the person of Jesus Christ. Not about the movement of Christianity, but asking simply the question, what are you going to do with Jesus? First question, they asked verse 12, what does this mean? And now we come to the second question that Peter responds to in verse 37, verse 37.

Read with me to the end to 42. When they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles apostles, brother, what sh brothers, what shall we. And Peter said to them, repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.

And you will receive the gift of the holy spirit for the promise is for you and for your children. And for all who are far off everyone whom the Lord, our God calls to himself. And with many other words, he bore witness and continued to exhort them saying, save yourself from this crooked generation. So those who received your translation might say accepted his word were baptized.

And they were added that day 3000 souls. I love this first thing. What does this mean? Peter says, I'll tell you what it means. It means this is the incredible holy spirit that has come. And this holy spirit has everything to do with the witness of Jesus Christ. Who's died and raised again. And then they said, okay, you catch the question second.

What should we do? What shall we do? And this is where, like, it's a little, I want you to hear me right here. And I, and I know I can't control that. And so, um, I have no desire right now to try to manipulate or to like force anything upon you like to, to try to like coerce you or cleverly gets you to, to think something you don't think, but we can't look at this passage and actually say, how do we apply this passage and not allow room for God to work?

Because when people said, how do we apply these words, Peter, what do we do? Peter says, I'll tell you what you do. He says, you turn and you try. Whole aspect of repentance is simply the aspect of turning right, saying, Hey, I'm going my own way. It's not working out. I need Jesus. I need to come to his way. His truth, his freedom.

That is one means to turn into trust is to say, I'm not, I'm not going to trust my mechanisms of control. I'm not going to trust my ways of figuring this out. I'm not going to trust myself for my salvation of my soul. I'm not going to trust myself to get out of this behavior on my own. I'm not going to touch myself to be freed from this sense of loss and grief by myself.

I'm going to turn and I'm going to do the brave thing called trust. And I love the words he uses in this final passage of what do we do? What do we do, brothers? What do we do? And he says, you receive. You accept and it's for you. That's for your kids. It's for anyone who calls off, there's a painting.

That's meant a lot to me recently, and I'm not a super big painting guy. And please don't like, forgive any pretense you feel here, but the. A couple of weeks ago, I was tired of my spirit and I heard of an author. I really appreciated, really appreciated this painting. And I just, I ended up getting it and spending time with it.

And it's meant a lot to me, this painting is by Andrea Rublev, he's a right around the 14th to the 15th century painter. And he paints this scene, which is now the most significant and most famous and most sighted painting about the Trinity that we have in church history. And there's a number of things about this painting we could talk about, but a couple of things that, uh, very meaningful to me, um, first is this the first time in church history, the father, son, and holy.

Are all portrayed as similar beings, right? You may have some other pieces of art that had the holy spirit as, as the water and the Christ, the son, or a different types of beings or different types of animals, because right, the Trinity, when we're talking about the Trinity, we're talking about an ocean of meaning.

It is shallow enough to play in, to understand a little bit. It is also deep enough that we'll be exploring it forever. Right? So this Trinity, this is the first time that is depicted like this, that the Trinity is of similar beings. That each one is God, actually the blue contains the blue is the signification of their deity.

God, the second thing I want to mention about this painting, that means a lot to me is the perspective. It looks a little wonky. If you look at the little footstools down there, the perspective is a little. And another thing is the Christ figure. He's the one whose center is back farther, but he doesn't look smaller, right.

But perspective is that. And the way we look at Western art is this way that Western art is portrayed this way for show. The next image is that we see that the painting is supposed to follow our lines and our eyes have perspective, right? It's the whole idea of like you see the expanse of the road and it goes into the distance.

Why? Because I, as a viewer and viewing a scene from my eyeballs, this particular painting, and some others, like it have a different type of perspective. It's this it's actually given from the perspective of being inside the painting. The angles look funny because the angles are not meant to be viewed from a distance.

The angles are not meant to be viewed as an outside. The angles and you can go. The next slide, which brings us back to the angles are meant to be viewed as if you were sitting at the table this morning. We're just going to have a simple, some moments of where the holy spirit might do his work. I don't know what God's gone doing in your story.

And as I look at what Peter's talking about, and neither did Peter, my guess is whatever he's doing in the story. It didn't start. When the music started this morning, there's been a, there's been a calling towards you, an invitation that has been coming and a invitation to come. You need to, you need to turn from which devices you're trying to live in your life.

What you're trying to put, get things by trying to get to whether it's by trying to get to heaven by, or you're just trying to get through the week by, and it's not functioning well. And what you need is a little bit less. And you need the power of Jesus Christ. And this morning, simply following what the text is saying with the Trinity lace throughout this whole text, you are invited into the dance of God, the fellowship with the father, son and holy spirit.

And we're going to give just a couple moments this morning. If Joe where's, Joe, Joe is with Mike. I don't have anything nice to say about Joe's who actually want him here again, we're just going to give some moments to respond in honor of the text, because that's an, if the holy spirit is getting ahold of you, holy spirit says less of you.

You need more of Christ. I'm going to just give you a few moments to spend time with him, whether that's for the very salvation of your soul that you needed to be added to the number of the church, or maybe you're a part of the church. And you're living on your own. You're living, um, a functional atheism and you need to, in your story in this moment, spend some time to return.

Just going to give you a couple of moments and then Joe, we'll close our time.

We never want to lead a church. It doesn't have room for the spirit of God. Amen. So here's what I would say. If the spirit is doing anything in your life today, if the spirit is asking something of you today to turn and to trust in the next 60 minutes, I want you to tell somebody in the next 60 minutes and you say, well, mine, wasn't very big.

You know what I mean? Well, the holy Spirit's doing it. It's big enough. If you don't have anyone you're here with this morning. And you're like, that's part of my loss and fear and pain is I don't have anyone. I, the other pastors would love to talk with you. May you receive this blessing as we go from here this morning, may the grace of the Lord, Jesus Christ and the love of the father and the fellowship of the holy spirit be with you.

We are dismissed. .]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-sermon-that-launched-the-church 2487b55d-f0b0-455c-85ec-1d5a44749427 Sun, 06 Mar 2022 12:03:34 GMT <div data-html="true">Acts 2:12-37 <br /><br /> "But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them..." <br /><br /> <hr /> <p><strong>Sermon Transcript</strong></p> We're going to be an acts chapter two, as we continue our series in the book of acts, as we continue to look at what it means to see the spirit at work, to the ends of the earth. It's great to be here with you this morning and what we're looking at this morning and APS chapter two, starting in verses 13, we'll connect and coordinate with, um, very much through the beginning of the book or of the chapter of two as this is we're going to preach. <br /><br /> On a sermon. So Peter gives us this nice long sermon. And so we'll be going through his sermon piece by piece. And this is the sermon that actually launched the church of Jesus Christ. We had what happened at Pentecost. Um, and, uh, with that moment in my iPad is wanting to take a picture here. Smile, and you guys look great. <br /><br /> I don't know what's going on there. But we at Pentecost, we have the story of when Jesus or when the holy spirit came to empower the church and came in a really fascinating, incredible way. Jesus had said, don't leave Jerusalem until my spirit comes. And this is the moment at Pentecost, beginning of acts chapter two, where the spirit comes and he comes in a very interesting way. <br /><br /> And if you've been around God for very long, you know that sometimes you're like you say things like, you know what the Lord spoke to me. And it was, there was a little weird air, felt a little weird, a little different. This is exactly how the holy spirit came with, said tongues of fire resting on people's heads. <br /><br /> We. In our car because we're so spiritual as a family, we had this conversation this last couple of weeks about the song raining tacos. And whenever I heard the song, it's raining tacos up out of the sky. It's raining tacos, no need to ask why. Right. And you can get this image in this song. And one of us was singing it. <br /><br /> And we were asking the question again, thinking how weird it was that tacos could rain down from the sky. What else would be weird if it rained down from the sky? And this is exactly why you have children to help you with these kinds of insights and some of the really powerful insights that I received from my children. <br /><br /> I wanted to share with you. Number one will be very interesting. Run down to the side bouncy balls. When that be interesting paint, can you imagine if paint was raining down from the sky or have. Blob fish. What if blob fish were raining down from the sky? And then, uh, one of my younger son says this, what if it was raining Hagrid? <br /><br /> I would be quite a situation there, buddy, if it were raining Hagrid. Um, and then lastly, one of my favorite was I said, what if it was raining Paris shooting, cannibals that haven't eaten for 31 days. This is the ology. This is good stuff among these profound, beautiful answers. Whereas the description of tongues, what if it was raining tongues and then another one's was what if it was raining some type of fire, flaming arrows, but it is so strange and unusual. <br /><br /> And we, if you've been around acts chapter two for a while, you might think, okay, flaming tongues appearing on the heads of the people you might think, oh, that's normal. That's not normal. Right? Guaranteed. You've never seen that. If you thought raining tacos was odd, here's out. And so what's happening in the beginning of acts. <br /><br /> Chapter two is you have this mighty movement from that. Christ has sent the spirit and the spirit has come in this mighty movement and it has made everyone go into. Because you have the people 120 bout followers of Jesus that are experiencing this great movement of God. And you have thousands of other people on looking, just wondering what is going on? <br /><br /> What does this mean? And in this cacophony of confusion, you know, it's not one person getting up. And then the other person it's literally everyone is hearing their own languages spoken out from people's mouths who don't know their language. And they're walking around, wandering around this incredible, beautiful, but chaotic scene. <br /><br /> And in verse 12 in acts chapter two, there's the first question that we, two questions in our texts that Peter addresses the first question from acts chapter two, verse 12, simply they said, what does this mean? What is going on? And Peter gives this sermon, the sermon that launched the church of Jesus Christ in the world. <br /><br /> He gives this sermon to then speak. This is what's happening. And there'll be a second question. They will give in response to his message. But this morning, we look at the totality of his message and we're going to take it in bite size this morning. First off, we're going to read acts chapter two, 13 to 21. <br /><br /> If you'll meet me there 13 to 21, and then we'll go through it from there 14 to 21, I'm sorry. Peter standing with the 11 lifted up his voice and addressed the people, men of Judah and all who dwell in Jerusalem. Let this be known to you and give ear to my words for these people are not drunk as you suppose. <br /><br /> It is only the third hour of the day. Which is nine in the morning, but this is what has been uttered through the prophet Joel. And in the last days, it shall be God declares that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. And your young men shall see visions. <br /><br /> And your old men shall dream dreams. Even on my male servants and female servants. In those days, I will pour out my spirit and they shall prophesize. And I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below blood and fire vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the day of the Lord comes the great and magnificent day. <br /><br /> And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Lord, we come to this text this morning, rejoicing in your originality and your creativity. We come and gather as the church, because of this text, we come and gather in recognition that what's happening here is not just human moments. <br /><br /> What happens is as your church goes to Guatemala is not just a human thing. As, as the refugee crisis of over 1.3 million people who have left Ukraine with that number growing by the minute and what's happening at the word of life campus, they have access to over a hundred of those people to love and care that it's more than just human things going. <br /><br /> We rejoice in your holy spirit. And we pray for understanding into this sermon of Peter this morning in Jesus name. Amen. So in response to this question, what is going on, the sermon that launched the church, Peter gives this sermon in response to what is happening here in the first things he's going to say is simply this what's happening. <br /><br /> This holy spirit moment has always. Been a part of the plan. This has always been a part of the plan of the Godhead and acts 14 through 21 is Peter not saying, Hey, this is a great new idea that Jesus had right before he went up to heaven and he's like, oh, I'm leaving. What are we going to do? So he decided to have a spirit come and like, we've trying to patch things together. <br /><br /> We're taking this day at a time. No, what Peter is saying. And in this passage, in this sermon, he quotes three different old Testament prophecies to, again, reiterate, this is not a new story that has come. This is the same story. The same plan that the fiery unity of the Trinity has had all along. It has taken place today, but today has been planned a. <br /><br /> Time. Secondly, the spirit of God we see in what Peter is saying and talking about this spirit is a powerful, they are clearly under the influence of something. This is why there's an accusation, right? I think they might be drinking. There's something else going on. That's influencing their behavior. And Peter comes to say, yes, there is a, another type of influence that's going on in the acts two, we see as a mighty rushing powerful wind pastor mark talked about this last week. <br /><br /> Fire appearing above their heads and ability to speak language all over the place. This is not people speaking. Hey, Siri, you know, translate into Parthenia. And this, this is this moment where they are able to speak and understand in a way they could. Uh, less, there was something powerful influencing them in the prophecy of Joel. <br /><br /> We see them talk about dreams, visions, prophecies, wonders. The spirit of God is not just a nice buddy. That's come to dwell among men. The spirit of God is powerful. Third or letter C. The spirit of God is now poured out. I love this. The spirit of God is poured out two different times in the text, the prophecy from Joel and the text it says in verse 18. <br /><br /> And then in verse 21, or I'm sorry, verse 20, that the spirit of God will be poured out. What, what is being poured out mean? It means that there was something once somewhat contained and has now been poured out. It is contained no longer. Fourth, the activity of the spirit, this holy spirit brings union and freedom. <br /><br /> Pastor mark touched on this, this last week of this passages connection with Genesis 11, the tower of Babel tower of Babel. Everyone comes speaking the same language, same culture. There's this all kinds. They're like, Hey, we're going to be like, God, we're going to build this tower all the way to heaven. <br /><br /> That's totally unrealistic. But they're coming with this egocentric people centric that we are big. We are enough. And what God does. He says, okay, you who are trying to put your little sandbox together thinking you're something so big, I'm going to. Bring about some confusion that will lead you to spread out among the world. <br /><br /> And they start speaking to one another and they don't understand because this is when multiple languages come in and here's a map of what happened. Genesis 11, the tower of Babel. If you can see, this is the dispersion of where Babel was. And then when there was, they realized, Hey, I understand this woman, but I have no idea what that dude is saying. <br /><br /> And so I'm going to hang out over here. And so people, groups come and then they begin to disperse. And the tower of Babel is the beginning of that disperse. And we see the separation that happens there, here at Pentecost, put up the next map. If you would, at Pentecost, you have the reversal, right? You have the exact opposite thing. <br /><br /> And these are the locations that are mentioned in acts chapter two, verse nine says Parthians Medes and Elamites residents of Mesopotamia, Judith Judea, Kappa dosha, Pontus, and Asia Phrygia and Pamphylia Egypt in all parts of Libya, near siren visitors from Rome, both Jews and converse, Jews, Judaism, cretins, and Arabs. <br /><br /> We hear the wonder of God in our own tongues. So where there had been separation and exile, where there had been this, this, this limitation to be able to speak to one another, the holy spirit comes and brings what is always in the culture of the holy spirit. He brings union and free. Paul says this in Corinthians where the spirit of the Lord is, there is what freedom I can hear in my own language. <br /><br /> The wonders of God. This is a song that we sang this morning that Joe led us in that is speaking directly of this passage. The stanza was this, the church of Christ was born. And the spirit lit the flame, the gospel truth evolves, same story shall not kneel and shall not faint by his blood. And in his name, in his freedom. <br /><br /> I am free for the love of Jesus Christ, who has resurrected me, praise the father, praise the sun plays praise the spirit three in one, which leads us to our next point. That is so clearly interlaced throughout our text. What Peter is saying is that the holy spirit testifies about Jesus Christ. The holy spirit does not come on an island. <br /><br /> The holy spirit is the elevation of the spirit is the speaking of the whole God had in particular, you will see the speaking of the spirit talking about Christ and then this beautiful dance of father, son, and spirit that we see lace throughout this whole sermon. The spirit comes to testify about Christ. <br /><br /> In first, John four even says, Hey, a three-year experiencing some sort of spirit test. The spirit says this by this, you know, the spirit of God, every spirit that confessed Jesus Christ has come from the flesh is from God. And every spirit does, does not confess Jesus Christ is not from God. What is the spirit? <br /><br /> Do the holy spirit power do confesses the beauty of the Godhead. And this is a beautiful interplay. We'll see, throughout the. So first all that to say what Peter is saying in the first seven verses like, whoa, I know you guys are confused. I know this feels like raining tacos out here. This is gone. This is way different than you imagined. <br /><br /> But listen, this is a story from a bowl. The holy spirit has touched down in a way he has never touched down before and has come in a way. He has never come before and he speaks about that spirit, but he does. So to jump from that diving board into the pool of the majority of his sermon, the coming of the holy spirit has everything to do with Jesus of. <br /><br /> The sermon pivots at this point in verse 22 and the rest of the sermon is all about Jesus Christ. Yes. Let me explain what the spirit is, whose spirit is what's going on? How is this the story from evolve, but what is the spirit coming and all about? Well, let me tell you about Jesus of Nazareth. Read with me verses 22 through 36 men of Israel. <br /><br /> Hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by, with, by God, with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst. As you yourselves know this Jesus. Delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. <br /><br /> God raised him up losing the pangs of death because it was not possible for him to be held by it for David says concerning him. I saw the Lord always before me. He is at my right hand that I may not be shaken. Therefore, my heart was glad and my tongue. My flesh also will dwell in hope for you will not abandon my soul to Haiti's or let your holy one see corruption. <br /><br /> You have made known to me the paths of life. You will make me full of gladness with your presence. Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David, he died and was buried. His tomb is with us to this day, being there for a profit, knowing that God had sworn with him an oath that he would set one of his descendants on the throne. <br /><br /> He foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of Christ and he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus, God raised. We are all witnesses of this being therefore exalted at the right hand of God and having received from the father, the promise, holy spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing for. <br /><br /> David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make enemies, your footstool, but all the house of Israel, therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you have crucified. As soon as Peter finishes, speaking of the activity about explaining the activities. <br /><br /> He anchors his sermon in the person of Christ. Peter will speak five times in the first 10 chapters of acts. One third of the book of acts is sermons or teaching. Peter has got a ton of the first half and then Paul grand finales at the second half, right. With some others and some Stephenson mixed in, but these are the two primary preachers in the book of acts is Peter and Paul Peter in the first 10 chapters speaks five times every single time he speaks. <br /><br /> He speaks of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The, what is happening in the early part of the church is, again, Peter speaking, reminding teaching that this church has everything to do with this person of Jesus. And what he is saying in this sermon is saying this holy spirit moment that has just happened is about Jesus. <br /><br /> In this sermon, he returns the prophet David in verses 25 through 28. He also refers to him in verses 34 and 35. This is this, this moment, his spirit is about this Christ. He goes back into the old Testament again, to remind them same story, different verse, same story. It's always been about this. The outpouring acts 2 33 right here in our passage of the spirit has everything to do. <br /><br /> With the subject matter of Jesus Christ. Secondly, it's not just about Jesus. It's not just him loosely involved or him kind of on the subject matter. This holy spirit moment that has just happened. Peter says is through Jesus, the death and resurrection enabled this holy spirit to come without the sacrifice of the, of Christ without the resurrection and power over death, the spirit would not be unleashed would not be poured out, but would still be contained the coming of Christ marks that the spirit no longer comes at some times to some people for some messages. <br /><br /> But that spirit that is mostly contained now through the blood and resurrection of Christ coming through the rending of the curtain and the church of Jesus Christ becoming the temple, the holding place of the presence of God. The spirit has been poured out through this Christ, but what's so cool about this passage is this holy spirit moment. <br /><br /> Isn't just through Christ and it isn't just about Christ. This holy spirit moment is by Christ. He is not a passive conduit, not just a sacrificial lamb through which the spirit can come to people in this passage. Very specifically, Peter is saying there is agency from the person Christ of the Godhead that he is the one sending the spirit acts 2 33. <br /><br /> Jesus is the one who poured out the spirit by the design will of the father. Jesus is the one who said spirit. He is the one with the power over the spirit. And in this passage, as you'll see with Peter in the next messages, he is speaking, not just of the wonder of this great man. He is speaking of the deity, the Godness of Jesus Christ. <br /><br /> You want to know what's happening today. Jesus Christ through his death and resurrection and his action poured out, dumped out the spirit on to the church. Two significant phrases. I just want to draw your attention to one. One is in the prophecy of this passage of Jude or Peter quotes. Peter is calling old Testament, using the word Jaquez, the Hebrew word for God. <br /><br /> A word that is the same word that when Moses, when he saw the burning Bush and says, who shall you, who shall I say sent me? And he said, tell him y'all way send you is the, I am the great, I am the great God being this Jaak way in the is, is used in Joel and in here is said that Jaquez usage is a message. <br /><br /> Whoever calls the name alert is directly referring to Jesus himself, Luke 24 49. Jesus says this about himself. Behold. I am sending, I am sending. I am sending the promise of my father upon you, but you must remain in the spirit until you've been clothed with power from on high. There's this other phrase also, I love it says this in verse 24, it was impossible for death to hold him down. <br /><br /> It was impossible. Your translation might say for death to keep its hold on him, death just couldn't take it. Um, is Mike in here? I think he goes to the other service. Tell me he's not here. He's not here. He just left. Oh, good. Sorry. Perfect. Cause I'm going to give him some ego strokes and I don't want him here for it. <br /><br /> Okay. So I used to do some like running. Okay. And yes, it was a couple pizzas ago. Be nice to me. That wasn't nice to me. All right. So I did some running and I run with Mike A. Little bit and I hated running with Mike because I'm just imagining, because Mike is a runner. Mike does marathons, he's got pictures of marathoners on his wall. <br /><br /> He's got preferences of what are the best running shoes, like all you running snobs. Right. And he's a runner. And so I go running and one time we went running like St. John said, like monastery area, we just went back. It's in the woods and this wonderful spot. And we went running. And so I endured running and that's a lot of character points for me, right. <br /><br /> To go with a runner and to run. And, uh, he says afterwards, Hey, you want to rate. <br /><br /> Right. And so, like, I got a couple of things happening. One I don't want to lose. I don't, I don't like taking part in competitions where I know I have no chance. Right. Like I'm not going to go wrestle pastor Tim. Right. Like, yeah. I'm going to pick a fight with a grizzly bear. That sounds awesome. No, just not going to do it. <br /><br /> Right. So I, when it comes to like, and Mike says this sizzle punk, he says, you can start like 20 yards ahead. And I got two decisions. Now, one, I say, no way, we start here and he smokes me or two, I start 20 yards ahead. And I show him, he's a proud punk. I opt for number two. So I go and I, we take off running and we've got a place to go and now I'm not fast. <br /><br /> But at that time I was a lot less slow. Okay. And so I take off running and I think, you know, tortoise and the hair, this is going to be his moment. You know what I mean? God, come down, humility, all that stuff. I start running and I am doing the best I can and I'm running the fastest I can. And all of a sudden, Mike passes me like I was going backwards. <br /><br /> And I remember like the feeling of him passing me in the feeling I thought was like, wow, how God designed the human being and coordinate, no, I want to punch him in the back of his neck. The only problem is he was 10 yards ahead before I could even turn around and swing at him. Right. It was so annoying to me still so annoying to me. <br /><br /> But then, and this was even before he was all like CrossFit, whatever stuff too, but I couldn't. I, and, and in that moment, I could have watched Rudy five times the day before. Right. I could have put Rocky four in the earbuds and be like, this is my moment. The fact is, is I was not fast enough. I was not strong enough. <br /><br /> I was not powerful in the leg running thing enough, and I'm devaluing it on purpose to beat him in a race. I couldn't hold him back no matter what, if he would've given me 30 yards, I would just be 30 yards embarrassed today. Right. But no matter what I do not have, the capacity did not have the capacity to possibly hold Mike back from beating me what Peter is going through and saying in this passage, he's not belittling. <br /><br /> The power of death. Death would take Peter to. Death would have taken Peter's family and descendants and people. He loved. He would have known people who have died from disease and pain. He would see people who, who will be martyred for their testimony. He knows the power of death. And yet he says this about this Christ. <br /><br /> Very simply. It was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. Death was not powerful enough to bury him for long the stone, not strong enough to hold them. That the thing that held him, there was not enough to keep him down. What Peter is saying in this testimony to the very beginning of the church is that Jesus has power. <br /><br /> Jesus did not come. That just be a good example to start a nice movement. He had not come to just show a path or be a wise sensei. What he is coming to do is conquer the grave and it, Peter is saying, and it wasn't even close to a fair fight. And I know when we're talking about our own stories and our own pain and our own confusions and their own things that keep us down. <br /><br /> There's so many things where we feel like we can just say, I just can't do it. I just can't face it. I just can't stop it. I just can't take it. I can't find the strength. I can't muster the courage. I can't bear to hope. And you might be sitting there and say, listen, preacher, where are you going? Because you don't know the size of my. <br /><br /> You don't know what I'm trying to overcome in my story. You don't know the weight of the family secret that I carry. What I would simply say to you is the treasure of this, this new Testament that we're looking at is that there is a deep acknowledgement that human suffering is real. It is complex. It is devastating, but it is impossible for death to hold on when Christ is there. <br /><br /> Jesus said be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. What does this mean? This means if you're a faith in Jesus Christ, you are a witness in your workplace, in your neighborhood, in your family. It's not how good you're being good behavior or, or a way or talking people into like understanding what your giant perspective is on the things of the world. <br /><br /> Know the testimony, the same as Peter. It has everything to do with the person of Jesus Christ. Not about the movement of Christianity, but asking simply the question, what are you going to do with Jesus? First question, they asked verse 12, what does this mean? And now we come to the second question that Peter responds to in verse 37, verse 37. <br /><br /> Read with me to the end to 42. When they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles apostles, brother, what sh brothers, what shall we. And Peter said to them, repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. <br /><br /> And you will receive the gift of the holy spirit for the promise is for you and for your children. And for all who are far off everyone whom the Lord, our God calls to himself. And with many other words, he bore witness and continued to exhort them saying, save yourself from this crooked generation. So those who received your translation might say accepted his word were baptized. <br /><br /> And they were added that day 3000 souls. I love this first thing. What does this mean? Peter says, I'll tell you what it means. It means this is the incredible holy spirit that has come. And this holy spirit has everything to do with the witness of Jesus Christ. Who's died and raised again. And then they said, okay, you catch the question second. <br /><br /> What should we do? What shall we do? And this is where, like, it's a little, I want you to hear me right here. And I, and I know I can't control that. And so, um, I have no desire right now to try to manipulate or to like force anything upon you like to, to try to like coerce you or cleverly gets you to, to think something you don't think, but we can't look at this passage and actually say, how do we apply this passage and not allow room for God to work? <br /><br /> Because when people said, how do we apply these words, Peter, what do we do? Peter says, I'll tell you what you do. He says, you turn and you try. Whole aspect of repentance is simply the aspect of turning right, saying, Hey, I'm going my own way. It's not working out. I need Jesus. I need to come to his way. His truth, his freedom. <br /><br /> That is one means to turn into trust is to say, I'm not, I'm not going to trust my mechanisms of control. I'm not going to trust my ways of figuring this out. I'm not going to trust myself for my salvation of my soul. I'm not going to trust myself to get out of this behavior on my own. I'm not going to touch myself to be freed from this sense of loss and grief by myself. <br /><br /> I'm going to turn and I'm going to do the brave thing called trust. And I love the words he uses in this final passage of what do we do? What do we do, brothers? What do we do? And he says, you receive. You accept and it's for you. That's for your kids. It's for anyone who calls off, there's a painting. <br /><br /> That's meant a lot to me recently, and I'm not a super big painting guy. And please don't like, forgive any pretense you feel here, but the. A couple of weeks ago, I was tired of my spirit and I heard of an author. I really appreciated, really appreciated this painting. And I just, I ended up getting it and spending time with it. <br /><br /> And it's meant a lot to me, this painting is by Andrea Rublev, he's a right around the 14th to the 15th century painter. And he paints this scene, which is now the most significant and most famous and most sighted painting about the Trinity that we have in church history. And there's a number of things about this painting we could talk about, but a couple of things that, uh, very meaningful to me, um, first is this the first time in church history, the father, son, and holy. <br /><br /> Are all portrayed as similar beings, right? You may have some other pieces of art that had the holy spirit as, as the water and the Christ, the son, or a different types of beings or different types of animals, because right, the Trinity, when we're talking about the Trinity, we're talking about an ocean of meaning. <br /><br /> It is shallow enough to play in, to understand a little bit. It is also deep enough that we'll be exploring it forever. Right? So this Trinity, this is the first time that is depicted like this, that the Trinity is of similar beings. That each one is God, actually the blue contains the blue is the signification of their deity. <br /><br /> God, the second thing I want to mention about this painting, that means a lot to me is the perspective. It looks a little wonky. If you look at the little footstools down there, the perspective is a little. And another thing is the Christ figure. He's the one whose center is back farther, but he doesn't look smaller, right. <br /><br /> But perspective is that. And the way we look at Western art is this way that Western art is portrayed this way for show. The next image is that we see that the painting is supposed to follow our lines and our eyes have perspective, right? It's the whole idea of like you see the expanse of the road and it goes into the distance. <br /><br /> Why? Because I, as a viewer and viewing a scene from my eyeballs, this particular painting, and some others, like it have a different type of perspective. It's this it's actually given from the perspective of being inside the painting. The angles look funny because the angles are not meant to be viewed from a distance. <br /><br /> The angles are not meant to be viewed as an outside. The angles and you can go. The next slide, which brings us back to the angles are meant to be viewed as if you were sitting at the table this morning. We're just going to have a simple, some moments of where the holy spirit might do his work. I don't know what God's gone doing in your story. <br /><br /> And as I look at what Peter's talking about, and neither did Peter, my guess is whatever he's doing in the story. It didn't start. When the music started this morning, there's been a, there's been a calling towards you, an invitation that has been coming and a invitation to come. You need to, you need to turn from which devices you're trying to live in your life. <br /><br /> What you're trying to put, get things by trying to get to whether it's by trying to get to heaven by, or you're just trying to get through the week by, and it's not functioning well. And what you need is a little bit less. And you need the power of Jesus Christ. And this morning, simply following what the text is saying with the Trinity lace throughout this whole text, you are invited into the dance of God, the fellowship with the father, son and holy spirit. <br /><br /> And we're going to give just a couple moments this morning. If Joe where's, Joe, Joe is with Mike. I don't have anything nice to say about Joe's who actually want him here again, we're just going to give some moments to respond in honor of the text, because that's an, if the holy spirit is getting ahold of you, holy spirit says less of you. <br /><br /> You need more of Christ. I'm going to just give you a few moments to spend time with him, whether that's for the very salvation of your soul that you needed to be added to the number of the church, or maybe you're a part of the church. And you're living on your own. You're living, um, a functional atheism and you need to, in your story in this moment, spend some time to return. <br /><br /> Just going to give you a couple of moments and then Joe, we'll close our time. <br /><br /> We never want to lead a church. It doesn't have room for the spirit of God. Amen. So here's what I would say. If the spirit is doing anything in your life today, if the spirit is asking something of you today to turn and to trust in the next 60 minutes, I want you to tell somebody in the next 60 minutes and you say, well, mine, wasn't very big. <br /><br /> You know what I mean? Well, the holy Spirit's doing it. It's big enough. If you don't have anyone you're here with this morning. And you're like, that's part of my loss and fear and pain is I don't have anyone. I, the other pastors would love to talk with you. May you receive this blessing as we go from here this morning, may the grace of the Lord, Jesus Christ and the love of the father and the fellowship of the holy spirit be with you. <br /><br /> We are dismissed. .</div> false no <![CDATA[The Explosion of Pentecost]]> Acts 2:1-13

"When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting."



Sermon Transcript

Good to have you here and getting them, I invite you to go to the book of acts chapter two, we're going to be reading verses one through 13 of acts, chapter two, a couple of things want to mention, uh, Scott mentioned the men's retreat and we actually had a waiting list to turn away lists.

This year. We had so many guys want to go. Um, we had a competition among him leaders, and I am sad that we have eight different him, community groups, young married community groups, unfortunately, um, Jim painters group somehow won. However, I did notice that one of the members that was at the men's retreat is here this morning, cheering for himself.

And so I believe we will take away your vote, your presence. And I'm sure another group one. Okay. Acts chapter two. We're going to look at in a moment, I think for most of us, um, this has been a week that we have been pretty glued to the international news. Right. And I sent out a musings, uh, as I usually do on Friday, uh, newsletter.

And I have been asking God to know how to pray for Ukraine as Russia as well. Um, and for the people of Ukraine and. I had gone to different sites of ministries that have missionaries in Ukraine to just get a feel of what was going on there. I just doing my own study of the history of Ukraine and the conflict with Russia.

Excuse me. Eventually just put together my own thoughts as to how to pray. And it's a prayer I've been continually praying. It's a prayer that I put in the, um, in the musings Friday. And even though it's a written prayer, it has become really my heart's prayer. And so this morning I'd like to just pray it over us this morning, as we pray for, uh, what's going on in our world, let's pray

God, we see a Tyron at work and our hearts cry for you to start. We see innocent people whose countryside and cities are invaded and we cry for their protection. We see war and we cry for peace. We see our Christian brothers and sisters in the eye of the storm, and we cry for you to encourage them, guide them, protect them.

We see world leaders of the free world, and we pray for courage and unity and wisdom and their response and father, we know there is so much more. We do not see so much that you are purposing to do, even in this seemingly tragic thing. So we cry for you to exalt yourself, make your name known, expand your kingdom, proclaim your gospel, build your church.

All this we ask in Jesus name. Amen. Invite you to join me this morning in the book of acts chapter two, I'd like to read it and then we're going to begin our study this morning. If you are newer here to FCC, um, we are in a series, the early part of our series. Um, the spirit at work to the ends of the earth is the theme we believe is the book of acts we have.

You'll probably see people around you. They have a little black, skinny looking Bible. It's it actually is the Bible, but it's not the whole Bible. Many people are using a scripture journal of the book of acts. It has the scripture on one page and on the opposite page, there is a room for notes. If you are a note taker, invite you to do that, uh, if you're a doodler and that helps you keep pay attention doodle away.

Okay. Alright, acts chapter two, verses one. And following when the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven, a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting and divided tongues as a fire, appeared to them and rested on each of them.

And they were all filled with the holy spirit and began to speak in other tongues. As the spirit gave them utterance. Now there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound, the multitude came together and they would be wilted because each one was hearing them speak in his own language.

And they were amazed and astonished saying are not all these who are speaking Galileans. And how is it that we hear each of us in our own native. Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, and Kappa dosha, Pontus and Asia Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt, and the parts of Libya, belonging to siren and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes credence and Arabians.

We hear them telling in our own tongue, the mighty works of God and all were amazed and perplexed saying to one another, what does this mean? But others mocking said they're filled with new wine father. We ask you to speak into our lives truth this morning, Lord, this earth shattering world changing event.

As we begin to reflect on it today, God, I pray that we would. Stunned with the beauty of the gospel, that we'd be drawn again to live our lives in dependence on the one who came among your people centuries ago, to empower us to change us. Uh, your name might be proclaimed throughout all the earth in Jesus name.

Amen. We come today to that event in the book of acts. That really is the central moment and the beginning of everything it is when the explosion of Pentecost took place. Now, there is an event that Jesus had been referring to throughout his ministry. As a matter of fact, before he even began his public ministry, John, the Baptist had talked about this in Luke chapter three, Luke chapter three, verse 16 and 17, John, the Baptist answered them all saying, I baptize you with.

But he was mightier than I is coming. The S the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the holy spirit and fire in the end of Luke, in the end of his gospel and chapter 24, verse 49. Luke said it this way. Jesus is speaking as he is ascending to heaven and behold, I am sending the promise of my father upon you, but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.

This is the moment. That he is referring to this event that is taking place here in Jerusalem, where the spirit of God is poured out upon the followers. Those that have embraced Christ as Lord and master in those couple of things. Just want to say by way of context, we're not sure where this happened. It talks about in verse one, the place it talks about in verse two, the house, but the word house actually can, can be used in a variety of ways.

It was either in the upper room where they had been staying or perhaps, and where I tend to think it took place in one of the rooms or hallways of the temple, which were also could be called suddenly place, but also could be called a house, a location. The reason I think it probably took place. There is the fact that as they came out of their meetings, There were all kinds of people around them that had heard the noise that had been going on as the spirit came upon them.

But we're not sure where it happened, but we are sure when it happened, where it's described, when the day of Pentecost. Came now there are three religious festivals in Israel's annual calendar that every male was required to attend. Uh, that's put back in, in the books of the Torah numbers and Deuteronomy and every Jewish man had to travel, no matter how far he was away, he had to come and to Jerusalem for this festival.

Usually they brought their families, the three events where Passover, which culminated with one day of Passover, then went into the week of the feast of unleavened bread. And that was basically a time usually in April celebrating God's rescue from the, uh, of the Israel lights from the Egyptians in Egypt, the feast of Pentecost or week.

Took place in may or June. And it was the celebration of God's giving the law to Moses on the mountain and actually the establishment of Israel. Now as a nation before God, that took place in Martin Mayer, April, may, or June. I mean, then there was the feast of Tabernacles in the fall. Usually October celebrating God's provision for the nation as they spent 40 years in the wilderness living in tents.

So they celebrate actually made these little tent like, um, tabernacle structures, usually at a branches and stuff. And that's what they stayed in Jerusalem. This was one of those pilgrimage feast. There are times later in the book of acts will we'll see Paul saying, I want to get back to Jerusalem for the celebration of Pentecost.

It was a, it was a. It was one of the annual calendar events. And so there were people from all over the world that have identified with, with, with, uh, Judaism who have become Jews Jewish proselytes they're called, who have now come to celebrate Pentecost. We're going to look at this, uh, event with three sermons today.

We're going to talk about the event itself in verses 14 to 41. Next time, the sermon that Peter presents the first sermon of the, of the new era of the church, and then verse 42 to 46, the impact that it all had upon the believers as the life of the church, this new gathering of people begins to be discussed.

In verse 13 of the passage I read this morning, and this is where I want to land as an, as our emphasis, it says, excuse me, it says, and all were amazed and perplexed saying to one another, what does this mean? Well, that's my question this morning. What does this mean? What is this event saying to us? And I would say three things, and this is our outline.

This morning, there is power from the outside. There is power that impacts the inside and there is power available without side. Power from the outside. We read about it in verse one to three, two things that are described here, two descriptions of this power that is being poured out upon the gathering of, of, of, uh, followers of Christ here.

And first of that is there is a rushing, mighty wind. Few years ago, we were up in Northern Michigan where, uh, we go because that's where Marion is from. And we were there. And there were words that a, basically a tornado had come through violent winds. And so their house is sort of built into the side of a hill a little bit.

So we went down into the bottom floor and you heard this amazing wind, just surging. We came out to find, then it was just fairly localized where we were 60 foot trees were lying. There were some across the driveway of their. A hundred yard driveway up to the house all throughout the area. They had come down.

When we heard that wind, there was one word that goes through your mind, power. This is a sound of power. He then describes the event as one that is tongues of fire. Now the people hear the wind and then they hear the, uh, disciples of Jesus as they come out and speak to them in their own languages. But apparently they don't see the fire come down.

That happened in the room, wherever that was, whether it was an upper room in Jerusalem somewhere, or it was in the temple. And one of the, one of the, one of the separate rooms, but they come out and a why, why is that? I mean, I wonder if, if the, the symbolism was obviously for the followers of Christ, because fire was, was manifested with the powerful presence of God, his Chicago glory is a pillar of fire at night, and there is this picture of, of a visual that to them must have been very prominent, but, but I wonder why the other people didn't see it.

I wonder if it would be sort of weird amount. I mean, divided tongues coming down and sheep, a fireman, maybe it's too distracting. It. Visuals can be distracting. I was thinking about that this morning. Uh, actually earlier in the week, when we found out that virtually everybody that's a regular announcer was going to be on the men's reach.

And we sucked Jared into doing the intro. I went to the room where he was actually taping with Ben painter. Ben painter had him on camera and I'm looking in the window and they stopped. And I went out, I was trying to get his attention, mess him up while he was taping. But then I went in and I said, wait, are you taping with that red baseball cap on for Sunday morning?

And he said, yeah. I said, uh, I think it's going to be, I hope I came across, not worse than this, but, um, I said, I think it's going to be distracting. And he said, well, let me show you why I'm wearing the red baseball cap. And he took his hat off and he had a hairdo that you can be grateful. You did not see.

And at that moment I said, capitas, Visuals can be distracting. Maybe that's why he didn't have the, the, the tongues be seen by the B, but they sure heard it. They sensed the power. What we find in this passage is that there is a power from the out side that is taking place. It is not eternal internal. It came down from heaven.

The whole view of life

that is put forth in this passage puts us on collision course with the view of life of the world. You see the culture says the opposite. It says the power is inside. The problem is out there. This passage reminds us as the new Testament will do a thousand times that the scriptural perspective is this of living the Christian.

The power comes from without, because the problem is in here,

Synagis Austen in the fourth century, a D made a statement, it's a Latin phrase and Curtis, and say, Martin Luther picked up on the same phrase in his writings. And the phrase actually means to be curved in upon yourself. The idea is we are the ultimate problem. We are the ones that need a power from out side culture tells us the problems out there.

It's your family background. you're the wrong people group. It's you've been wrong. You, you haven't got a fair shake. It's this? It's this it's it's outside. But we're always reminded as Pentecost reminds us the power has to come from without, because we are curved in on ourselves. We are by nature because of the fall self-absorbed self-focused, self-centered what comes out of our lives is not an orientation towards a mission to serve and love and to, to, to go towards other nations.

No, our orientation is to protect ourselves, to serve ourselves. We need a power from the outside and this power comes as the new era is introduced to the coming of the spirit at Pentecost. The problem ultimately is not out. The problem is in here years ago, there was a book written called the coral sea.

It was a book, um, that was basically this beautiful story about a guy named Ralph and Jack. They were boys and there were other boys as well. Those were the two primary ones and they were on a deserted island. They'd been shipwrecked. And, and the story is of these young boys growing up and, and this utopian society that developed and really the, uh, they got along, they built a beautiful, uh, community.

And the only problem they really had was actually the, the, the vicious native savages from another island that every now and then they had to watch out for a number of years later in 1954. Another book was written by a man named William Golding. William Golding wrote a book that many of you read that has been called by time magazine.

Recently, one of the top 100 books that have been written since 19, since world war one, basically in 1919, William Golding entitled his book, the Lord of the flies. He took us his two main characters, two young boys that were deserted on an island and their names were Ralph and Jack. It was an anti message of the coral sea.

It was, and the brilliance of the Lord of the rings, even though it's a, it's a, it's a heavy story. It is a brilliant analysis of the heart of people. It's a picture rather than presenting this wonderful Nirvana utopian society of harmony and. It says the problems are not only with the savages out there.

The problems are in here in the story of Lord of the rings. Ralph and Jack are two strong minded individuals there end up being conflict is all kinds of things that go on. There's even a boy that's murdered and in a frenzied nighttime thing. And it's, it's, it's a, it's a picture that reminds us that the controlling force in our lives internally in us is we're curved in we're S we're looking for us.

We need power from without, and that's what happened at Pentecost. It's interesting. One of the boys, little Simon in Lord of the rings, he's one of the most reflective, and he's not a main character, but whenever he talks, he seems a little bit more reflective, a little more sensitive and processing than the other guys.

In one interesting statement of the book, they keep blaming the beast. That's out there, you know, that's what we gotta do this. And, and it's used by the strong minded guys to say, we got to do this. You got to follow us because the beast that's out there. And in one statement, he actually makes his statement.

Maybe there's a beast. Maybe it's only us. Maybe we are the beast there's power needed from outside. We also find here it is power that impacts the inside verse four says this. They were all filled with the holy spirit and being filled with the spirit is going to be a continual refrain in the book of acts.

It's going to constantly talk about, they were filled with the spirit and, and many of the times it empowers them to speak boldly for Christ, but there are other passages talking about their field and, and, and, and, and it impacts their lives individually. There's various things that take place. Uh, so what does it mean to be filled by the spirit?

Because obviously, even though the baptism of the spirit was a one-time event that a person has when they're placed into the body of Christ, the filling of the spirit is a continually happening events. So what does it mean to be filled by the spirit? What, in Fijian chapter five, Paul tells us, he says, this don't be filled.

Don't be drunk by one. But literally, but instead be filled by the spirit. Well, what happens when you're you're drunk, you're brought under the complete influence of alcohol being filled by the spirit means that we are brought under the influence of the spirit of God. It's striking in this passage, that the overwhelming majority of people down in verse 12 and 13, look on, and they say, this is stunning.

That was amazing. Uh, the word amaze keeps being repeated in this passage. And they said, what does this mean? A handful of characters who didn't want to have to deal with it? They just basically said, oh, they're just. They're under the influence of alcohol, they were under the influence, but not of alcohol.

They're under the influence of the spirit of God in Ephesians chapter five and Colossians chapter three, it tells us that the three fruits of being filled with the spirit in both passages is always the same. Number one, there is a spirit of gratitude. There is Thanksgiving. There's, there's a peace that settles in our heart with a spirit of contentment and, and, and gratefulness.

Secondly, it says there is a joy. It says, they're, they're making melody in their hearts. They're singing this. There's a joyousness about individuals filled by the spirit and the lasting. It says in both passages that they are, they are yielding or submitting to others. They're looking out for other peoples there's love there's peace and there's joy.

And there's love. There is this exuberant joy that is sensed among these people. As the spirit of God is filling them. There is power without, but it is power that influences and impacts within this is the picture of Pentecost for us. But look at what happens here. As we look at this passage, we're told what changes them in verse 11, we hear them telling in our own tongues, the mighty works of God.

This is a great statement. Why are the mighty works of God? Here's this here's a scene, right? And here they are. And they're all talking in foreign languages and, and all of a sudden I'm talking Arabic or whatever they, whatever they I'm trying to think of what language is actually represented there. And, and so they're speaking the language.

And so that group of people can say, wait, they're talking about. They're talking my language. So they gather there and then there's others over here and there's others over here and what are they speak? I mean, what are they talking about? What are they telling people? You know, we're really grateful you came to our service this morning.

No, that's not what they're telling. What are they saying? The mighty works of God. What's that mean is one of the time that's used in the new Testament. I believe by intent. It's used in Luke chapter 19, where Jesus is on his way down the Mount of olives to come for the triumphant entry. And it says here's the, here's what it says in chapter 19 verse 37 of Luke on the way down the Mount of olives.

The whole multitude of his disciples, that Jesus began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice. For all the mighty works they had seen, seeing blessing is the king who comes in the name of the Lord, peace in heaven and glory in the highest, the Pharisees, then grab Jesus. And they say, tell your disciples to stop saying this stuff.

You remember what he says? If they stopped talking, the very rocks of the ground are going to start talking. They're going to be proclaiming the mighty works of Jesus. What was the disciples saying here at Pentecost? They're proclaiming the mighty works of Christ. They're talking about what he's done in his life.

They're talking about the cross that he's done, the resurrection, the Ascension to heaven. They're proclaiming the work of Jesus to people. In their own tongues and in their own languages, the new era of the spirit has begun empowering lives from the inside out to proclaim by life and message. The mighty works of Christ.

The old him. This is my story. This is my song, praising my savior all the day long. Bless it. Assurance Jesus is mine filled with his goodness lost in his love. This is my story. This is my. This is what these guys were proclaiming. As they spoke in the languages of the people that had traveled all over the world to come to Pentecost, you need to know my Christ.

You need to know his mighty works. You need to know what he's willing to do in the lives of people. What we are experiencing peace and joy and love that are flowing out of our lives. If we are brought under the influence of his spirit, founded in the mighty works of Christ Christianity at its very core says the problem is within.

We need a power from without, and when that power from without comes, it brings a power within the changes. It brings us under the influence of Christ's own spirit, but there's a third thing. We find this power is available without sides. There's no walls to it. There's no restrictions to it. There's no limitations to where it will go.

And to whom it will speak in verses five through 13, we hear about the people that are there, people from all over the known world, they start first in, in the, in the litany of nations and people groups. They start in the east, it's out in the Persian empire and that way then it travels. It goes through Judea.

It hits up into what we would call modern day Turkey. Then it goes down to Northern Africa and then eventually goes, as far as the Eastern, the Western borders of the Roman empire and room itself. Many of these people that have come are Gentile, prof proselytes who have entered Judy. The difference that is taking place on the, on the day of Pentecost is, is not that other people could join the people of God.

The differences the people of God are known are now going out to embrace everyone to be a part. There were proselytes that could join Israel, but now they are all going forth in a new enterprise where Jew and Gentile have become one. And there is now one people of God, of every tongue and tribe and people group.

And the fact that they're speaking to them in their own tongues, can't be overstated. It's amazing. If you just listen at the response, verse six, it says the people they were. Because each one was hearing them speak in his own language, verse seven and they were amazed and astonished sing are not all these who are speaking Galileans.

And how is it that we hear each of us in his own native language in verse 12 and all were amazed and perplexed, seen to know one another. What does it mean? Virtually all, um, church historians and church, fathers and commentators today, believe that what happened at Pentecost is a look back to the tower of Babel, that there was a day.

If you remember back in the book of Genesis, where people were trying to build a tower to God and everybody on earth spoke the same language at that time, they were all United and rebellion against God. And in pride, we're saying we're going to build a building all the way up to the presence of God.

That's another way of saying we're going to be like, God, we'll be where we, where he is. We'll do what he does. We'll be our own gods. God then causes the human languages to be confused. And the nations were scattered. Pentecost is a deliberate and dramatic reversal of the curse of Babel they're human languages, confused in the nation.

Scattered at Pentecost. The language barrier barrier was supernaturally overcome as a sign that the nations would now be gathered together in Christ into a multi-national multi-racial multi-lingual kingdom. There is no language or culture to whom the gospel belongs. None to whom the gospel is given priority.

Tim Keller put me on to, uh, a book. I ha I read it before. And in preparation for this sermon, I got it out again. And the book is written by amendment limits and I, and it is called whose religion is Christianity and in the book. And it's a fascinating read. It's basically he's being questioned by a secular, um, questionnaire, a reporter, and it's his giving all these, these answers.

And basically what he is saying in the book is he's comparing Christianity from all other religion, religions. And he, one of the things he talks about, and he's an African he's talking about is the different of Christianity from Islam. Muslims, believe that the cran cannot be translated and you might immediately say, well, I've seen Koreans that are in English.

And it's true. I actually have one, but in the cover, there is always, or in the, it, just inside the cover and on the homepage, there is always a statement that says something like this is, um, an English explanation or some word like that. They believe that the Qur'an is always an only in Arabic, Allah speaks in Arabic.

It must be heard in Arabic. Ultimately there is a unified as L'Amic culture and lamin Sanai is talking about there's a, a unified Islamic culture around the world where we're all as. Uh, people groups are basically to look like worldwide Islam. Ultimately, the goal is that nationally, the country will look like an as L'Amic country, that it all looks the same.

There are same, the same practices, the same behaviors, the same ways that they operate patterns and external rules, its intention is to say, have the same practice in every part of the culture. It is to be its own culture. Christianity is more culturally diverse than any religion on earth. It honors every culture.

It presents principles of Jesus' kingdom, but if African you don't become European in the way you look, and there are principles you follow. If you're Pakistani, you don't become an American church in the way you need to look. And the music that you use, the perspectives that your own cultural background is real.

Christianity is a sham. It's no more viable than any other cultural manifestation. If they are following biblical principles, God allows God affirms God values. The mighty works of God being declared in the online and the, in the language of the people themselves. One of the statements I love that limits.

And I says, in this, he says, Christians may be excused for feeling confused about what language Jesus spoke. How many of you know, what language Jesus. If I said, did he speak Hebrew, Greek or Aramaic? Sorry, this is terrible, dude. Anyway, whether you knew or not now, you know, it was Aramaic. That would have been the normal thing.

But how many of you even know what Aramaic is? Well, he's saying Chris has maybe excuse or feeling excuse about what language Jesus spoke, because God speaks in all languages and offers to all peoples here in acts two, the mighty works of God. He is offering to all peoples. This reality that the gospel and the work of Pentecost has been made available to all peoples of all nations of all ethnicities of all languages, wherever you are this morning, the same power that descended on power on Pentecost.

That same individual, the spirit of the living God is available to come and speak to the, to the powerlessness within our lives. It is a power from outside. You were never wired to live life on your own sin, displaces God at the control center of your life to shift metaphors, the engine of your life was designed to run on God.

He is the fuel key is the power source. It is a power that impacts the inside God's spirit is willing to bring you under his influence and control, offering joy, peace, and a capacity of deliver life that is not curved inward. But can be mercifully allowed to, to curve outward towards the others where it isn't all about us.

It isn't, it we're still going to be struggling. We still have the flesh, but there is, there is a curving outward that comes from the power outside coming within. And it is a power without sides to anyone, no matter what you've done, no matter where you've come from, the gospel speaks in your language to you for you.

That same power is available to you today. God, we look to you

for honest in ourselves, we can look over the last week and see. The desperate of our need for power from, without or at my heart goes particularly this morning to people online or in this room to whom the gospel has not been personally embraced. We've not experienced the influence, the power of the spirit of God in their lives, because they've not yet embraced Christ as Lord and savior, Lord speak into their lives, draw them, speak in the language.

They understand Lord be your creative self, to draw them to you in Jesus name. Amen.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-explosion-of-pentecost 93d402b1-2374-41b3-bd61-0dae51879452 Sun, 27 Feb 2022 14:24:58 GMT <div data-html="true">Acts 2:1-13 <br /><br /> "When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting." <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> <h4>Sermon Transcript</h4> Good to have you here and getting them, I invite you to go to the book of acts chapter two, we're going to be reading verses one through 13 of acts, chapter two, a couple of things want to mention, uh, Scott mentioned the men's retreat and we actually had a waiting list to turn away lists. <br /><br /> This year. We had so many guys want to go. Um, we had a competition among him leaders, and I am sad that we have eight different him, community groups, young married community groups, unfortunately, um, Jim painters group somehow won. However, I did notice that one of the members that was at the men's retreat is here this morning, cheering for himself. <br /><br /> And so I believe we will take away your vote, your presence. And I'm sure another group one. Okay. Acts chapter two. We're going to look at in a moment, I think for most of us, um, this has been a week that we have been pretty glued to the international news. Right. And I sent out a musings, uh, as I usually do on Friday, uh, newsletter. <br /><br /> And I have been asking God to know how to pray for Ukraine as Russia as well. Um, and for the people of Ukraine and. I had gone to different sites of ministries that have missionaries in Ukraine to just get a feel of what was going on there. I just doing my own study of the history of Ukraine and the conflict with Russia. <br /><br /> Excuse me. Eventually just put together my own thoughts as to how to pray. And it's a prayer I've been continually praying. It's a prayer that I put in the, um, in the musings Friday. And even though it's a written prayer, it has become really my heart's prayer. And so this morning I'd like to just pray it over us this morning, as we pray for, uh, what's going on in our world, let's pray <br /><br /> God, we see a Tyron at work and our hearts cry for you to start. We see innocent people whose countryside and cities are invaded and we cry for their protection. We see war and we cry for peace. We see our Christian brothers and sisters in the eye of the storm, and we cry for you to encourage them, guide them, protect them. <br /><br /> We see world leaders of the free world, and we pray for courage and unity and wisdom and their response and father, we know there is so much more. We do not see so much that you are purposing to do, even in this seemingly tragic thing. So we cry for you to exalt yourself, make your name known, expand your kingdom, proclaim your gospel, build your church. <br /><br /> All this we ask in Jesus name. Amen. Invite you to join me this morning in the book of acts chapter two, I'd like to read it and then we're going to begin our study this morning. If you are newer here to FCC, um, we are in a series, the early part of our series. Um, the spirit at work to the ends of the earth is the theme we believe is the book of acts we have. <br /><br /> You'll probably see people around you. They have a little black, skinny looking Bible. It's it actually is the Bible, but it's not the whole Bible. Many people are using a scripture journal of the book of acts. It has the scripture on one page and on the opposite page, there is a room for notes. If you are a note taker, invite you to do that, uh, if you're a doodler and that helps you keep pay attention doodle away. <br /><br /> Okay. Alright, acts chapter two, verses one. And following when the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven, a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting and divided tongues as a fire, appeared to them and rested on each of them. <br /><br /> And they were all filled with the holy spirit and began to speak in other tongues. As the spirit gave them utterance. Now there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound, the multitude came together and they would be wilted because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. <br /><br /> And they were amazed and astonished saying are not all these who are speaking Galileans. And how is it that we hear each of us in our own native. Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, and Kappa dosha, Pontus and Asia Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt, and the parts of Libya, belonging to siren and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes credence and Arabians. <br /><br /> We hear them telling in our own tongue, the mighty works of God and all were amazed and perplexed saying to one another, what does this mean? But others mocking said they're filled with new wine father. We ask you to speak into our lives truth this morning, Lord, this earth shattering world changing event. <br /><br /> As we begin to reflect on it today, God, I pray that we would. Stunned with the beauty of the gospel, that we'd be drawn again to live our lives in dependence on the one who came among your people centuries ago, to empower us to change us. Uh, your name might be proclaimed throughout all the earth in Jesus name. <br /><br /> Amen. We come today to that event in the book of acts. That really is the central moment and the beginning of everything it is when the explosion of Pentecost took place. Now, there is an event that Jesus had been referring to throughout his ministry. As a matter of fact, before he even began his public ministry, John, the Baptist had talked about this in Luke chapter three, Luke chapter three, verse 16 and 17, John, the Baptist answered them all saying, I baptize you with. <br /><br /> But he was mightier than I is coming. The S the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the holy spirit and fire in the end of Luke, in the end of his gospel and chapter 24, verse 49. Luke said it this way. Jesus is speaking as he is ascending to heaven and behold, I am sending the promise of my father upon you, but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. <br /><br /> This is the moment. That he is referring to this event that is taking place here in Jerusalem, where the spirit of God is poured out upon the followers. Those that have embraced Christ as Lord and master in those couple of things. Just want to say by way of context, we're not sure where this happened. It talks about in verse one, the place it talks about in verse two, the house, but the word house actually can, can be used in a variety of ways. <br /><br /> It was either in the upper room where they had been staying or perhaps, and where I tend to think it took place in one of the rooms or hallways of the temple, which were also could be called suddenly place, but also could be called a house, a location. The reason I think it probably took place. There is the fact that as they came out of their meetings, There were all kinds of people around them that had heard the noise that had been going on as the spirit came upon them. <br /><br /> But we're not sure where it happened, but we are sure when it happened, where it's described, when the day of Pentecost. Came now there are three religious festivals in Israel's annual calendar that every male was required to attend. Uh, that's put back in, in the books of the Torah numbers and Deuteronomy and every Jewish man had to travel, no matter how far he was away, he had to come and to Jerusalem for this festival. <br /><br /> Usually they brought their families, the three events where Passover, which culminated with one day of Passover, then went into the week of the feast of unleavened bread. And that was basically a time usually in April celebrating God's rescue from the, uh, of the Israel lights from the Egyptians in Egypt, the feast of Pentecost or week. <br /><br /> Took place in may or June. And it was the celebration of God's giving the law to Moses on the mountain and actually the establishment of Israel. Now as a nation before God, that took place in Martin Mayer, April, may, or June. I mean, then there was the feast of Tabernacles in the fall. Usually October celebrating God's provision for the nation as they spent 40 years in the wilderness living in tents. <br /><br /> So they celebrate actually made these little tent like, um, tabernacle structures, usually at a branches and stuff. And that's what they stayed in Jerusalem. This was one of those pilgrimage feast. There are times later in the book of acts will we'll see Paul saying, I want to get back to Jerusalem for the celebration of Pentecost. <br /><br /> It was a, it was a. It was one of the annual calendar events. And so there were people from all over the world that have identified with, with, with, uh, Judaism who have become Jews Jewish proselytes they're called, who have now come to celebrate Pentecost. We're going to look at this, uh, event with three sermons today. <br /><br /> We're going to talk about the event itself in verses 14 to 41. Next time, the sermon that Peter presents the first sermon of the, of the new era of the church, and then verse 42 to 46, the impact that it all had upon the believers as the life of the church, this new gathering of people begins to be discussed. <br /><br /> In verse 13 of the passage I read this morning, and this is where I want to land as an, as our emphasis, it says, excuse me, it says, and all were amazed and perplexed saying to one another, what does this mean? Well, that's my question this morning. What does this mean? What is this event saying to us? And I would say three things, and this is our outline. <br /><br /> This morning, there is power from the outside. There is power that impacts the inside and there is power available without side. Power from the outside. We read about it in verse one to three, two things that are described here, two descriptions of this power that is being poured out upon the gathering of, of, of, uh, followers of Christ here. <br /><br /> And first of that is there is a rushing, mighty wind. Few years ago, we were up in Northern Michigan where, uh, we go because that's where Marion is from. And we were there. And there were words that a, basically a tornado had come through violent winds. And so their house is sort of built into the side of a hill a little bit. <br /><br /> So we went down into the bottom floor and you heard this amazing wind, just surging. We came out to find, then it was just fairly localized where we were 60 foot trees were lying. There were some across the driveway of their. A hundred yard driveway up to the house all throughout the area. They had come down. <br /><br /> When we heard that wind, there was one word that goes through your mind, power. This is a sound of power. He then describes the event as one that is tongues of fire. Now the people hear the wind and then they hear the, uh, disciples of Jesus as they come out and speak to them in their own languages. But apparently they don't see the fire come down. <br /><br /> That happened in the room, wherever that was, whether it was an upper room in Jerusalem somewhere, or it was in the temple. And one of the, one of the, one of the separate rooms, but they come out and a why, why is that? I mean, I wonder if, if the, the symbolism was obviously for the followers of Christ, because fire was, was manifested with the powerful presence of God, his Chicago glory is a pillar of fire at night, and there is this picture of, of a visual that to them must have been very prominent, but, but I wonder why the other people didn't see it. <br /><br /> I wonder if it would be sort of weird amount. I mean, divided tongues coming down and sheep, a fireman, maybe it's too distracting. It. Visuals can be distracting. I was thinking about that this morning. Uh, actually earlier in the week, when we found out that virtually everybody that's a regular announcer was going to be on the men's reach. <br /><br /> And we sucked Jared into doing the intro. I went to the room where he was actually taping with Ben painter. Ben painter had him on camera and I'm looking in the window and they stopped. And I went out, I was trying to get his attention, mess him up while he was taping. But then I went in and I said, wait, are you taping with that red baseball cap on for Sunday morning? <br /><br /> And he said, yeah. I said, uh, I think it's going to be, I hope I came across, not worse than this, but, um, I said, I think it's going to be distracting. And he said, well, let me show you why I'm wearing the red baseball cap. And he took his hat off and he had a hairdo that you can be grateful. You did not see. <br /><br /> And at that moment I said, capitas, Visuals can be distracting. Maybe that's why he didn't have the, the, the tongues be seen by the B, but they sure heard it. They sensed the power. What we find in this passage is that there is a power from the out side that is taking place. It is not eternal internal. It came down from heaven. <br /><br /> The whole view of life <br /><br /> that is put forth in this passage puts us on collision course with the view of life of the world. You see the culture says the opposite. It says the power is inside. The problem is out there. This passage reminds us as the new Testament will do a thousand times that the scriptural perspective is this of living the Christian. <br /><br /> The power comes from without, because the problem is in here, <br /><br /> Synagis Austen in the fourth century, a D made a statement, it's a Latin phrase and Curtis, and say, Martin Luther picked up on the same phrase in his writings. And the phrase actually means to be curved in upon yourself. The idea is we are the ultimate problem. We are the ones that need a power from out side culture tells us the problems out there. <br /><br /> It's your family background. you're the wrong people group. It's you've been wrong. You, you haven't got a fair shake. It's this? It's this it's it's outside. But we're always reminded as Pentecost reminds us the power has to come from without, because we are curved in on ourselves. We are by nature because of the fall self-absorbed self-focused, self-centered what comes out of our lives is not an orientation towards a mission to serve and love and to, to, to go towards other nations. <br /><br /> No, our orientation is to protect ourselves, to serve ourselves. We need a power from the outside and this power comes as the new era is introduced to the coming of the spirit at Pentecost. The problem ultimately is not out. The problem is in here years ago, there was a book written called the coral sea. <br /><br /> It was a book, um, that was basically this beautiful story about a guy named Ralph and Jack. They were boys and there were other boys as well. Those were the two primary ones and they were on a deserted island. They'd been shipwrecked. And, and the story is of these young boys growing up and, and this utopian society that developed and really the, uh, they got along, they built a beautiful, uh, community. <br /><br /> And the only problem they really had was actually the, the, the vicious native savages from another island that every now and then they had to watch out for a number of years later in 1954. Another book was written by a man named William Golding. William Golding wrote a book that many of you read that has been called by time magazine. <br /><br /> Recently, one of the top 100 books that have been written since 19, since world war one, basically in 1919, William Golding entitled his book, the Lord of the flies. He took us his two main characters, two young boys that were deserted on an island and their names were Ralph and Jack. It was an anti message of the coral sea. <br /><br /> It was, and the brilliance of the Lord of the rings, even though it's a, it's a, it's a heavy story. It is a brilliant analysis of the heart of people. It's a picture rather than presenting this wonderful Nirvana utopian society of harmony and. It says the problems are not only with the savages out there. <br /><br /> The problems are in here in the story of Lord of the rings. Ralph and Jack are two strong minded individuals there end up being conflict is all kinds of things that go on. There's even a boy that's murdered and in a frenzied nighttime thing. And it's, it's, it's a, it's a picture that reminds us that the controlling force in our lives internally in us is we're curved in we're S we're looking for us. <br /><br /> We need power from without, and that's what happened at Pentecost. It's interesting. One of the boys, little Simon in Lord of the rings, he's one of the most reflective, and he's not a main character, but whenever he talks, he seems a little bit more reflective, a little more sensitive and processing than the other guys. <br /><br /> In one interesting statement of the book, they keep blaming the beast. That's out there, you know, that's what we gotta do this. And, and it's used by the strong minded guys to say, we got to do this. You got to follow us because the beast that's out there. And in one statement, he actually makes his statement. <br /><br /> Maybe there's a beast. Maybe it's only us. Maybe we are the beast there's power needed from outside. We also find here it is power that impacts the inside verse four says this. They were all filled with the holy spirit and being filled with the spirit is going to be a continual refrain in the book of acts. <br /><br /> It's going to constantly talk about, they were filled with the spirit and, and many of the times it empowers them to speak boldly for Christ, but there are other passages talking about their field and, and, and, and, and it impacts their lives individually. There's various things that take place. Uh, so what does it mean to be filled by the spirit? <br /><br /> Because obviously, even though the baptism of the spirit was a one-time event that a person has when they're placed into the body of Christ, the filling of the spirit is a continually happening events. So what does it mean to be filled by the spirit? What, in Fijian chapter five, Paul tells us, he says, this don't be filled. <br /><br /> Don't be drunk by one. But literally, but instead be filled by the spirit. Well, what happens when you're you're drunk, you're brought under the complete influence of alcohol being filled by the spirit means that we are brought under the influence of the spirit of God. It's striking in this passage, that the overwhelming majority of people down in verse 12 and 13, look on, and they say, this is stunning. <br /><br /> That was amazing. Uh, the word amaze keeps being repeated in this passage. And they said, what does this mean? A handful of characters who didn't want to have to deal with it? They just basically said, oh, they're just. They're under the influence of alcohol, they were under the influence, but not of alcohol. <br /><br /> They're under the influence of the spirit of God in Ephesians chapter five and Colossians chapter three, it tells us that the three fruits of being filled with the spirit in both passages is always the same. Number one, there is a spirit of gratitude. There is Thanksgiving. There's, there's a peace that settles in our heart with a spirit of contentment and, and, and gratefulness. <br /><br /> Secondly, it says there is a joy. It says, they're, they're making melody in their hearts. They're singing this. There's a joyousness about individuals filled by the spirit and the lasting. It says in both passages that they are, they are yielding or submitting to others. They're looking out for other peoples there's love there's peace and there's joy. <br /><br /> And there's love. There is this exuberant joy that is sensed among these people. As the spirit of God is filling them. There is power without, but it is power that influences and impacts within this is the picture of Pentecost for us. But look at what happens here. As we look at this passage, we're told what changes them in verse 11, we hear them telling in our own tongues, the mighty works of God. <br /><br /> This is a great statement. Why are the mighty works of God? Here's this here's a scene, right? And here they are. And they're all talking in foreign languages and, and all of a sudden I'm talking Arabic or whatever they, whatever they I'm trying to think of what language is actually represented there. And, and so they're speaking the language. <br /><br /> And so that group of people can say, wait, they're talking about. They're talking my language. So they gather there and then there's others over here and there's others over here and what are they speak? I mean, what are they talking about? What are they telling people? You know, we're really grateful you came to our service this morning. <br /><br /> No, that's not what they're telling. What are they saying? The mighty works of God. What's that mean is one of the time that's used in the new Testament. I believe by intent. It's used in Luke chapter 19, where Jesus is on his way down the Mount of olives to come for the triumphant entry. And it says here's the, here's what it says in chapter 19 verse 37 of Luke on the way down the Mount of olives. <br /><br /> The whole multitude of his disciples, that Jesus began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice. For all the mighty works they had seen, seeing blessing is the king who comes in the name of the Lord, peace in heaven and glory in the highest, the Pharisees, then grab Jesus. And they say, tell your disciples to stop saying this stuff. <br /><br /> You remember what he says? If they stopped talking, the very rocks of the ground are going to start talking. They're going to be proclaiming the mighty works of Jesus. What was the disciples saying here at Pentecost? They're proclaiming the mighty works of Christ. They're talking about what he's done in his life. <br /><br /> They're talking about the cross that he's done, the resurrection, the Ascension to heaven. They're proclaiming the work of Jesus to people. In their own tongues and in their own languages, the new era of the spirit has begun empowering lives from the inside out to proclaim by life and message. The mighty works of Christ. <br /><br /> The old him. This is my story. This is my song, praising my savior all the day long. Bless it. Assurance Jesus is mine filled with his goodness lost in his love. This is my story. This is my. This is what these guys were proclaiming. As they spoke in the languages of the people that had traveled all over the world to come to Pentecost, you need to know my Christ. <br /><br /> You need to know his mighty works. You need to know what he's willing to do in the lives of people. What we are experiencing peace and joy and love that are flowing out of our lives. If we are brought under the influence of his spirit, founded in the mighty works of Christ Christianity at its very core says the problem is within. <br /><br /> We need a power from without, and when that power from without comes, it brings a power within the changes. It brings us under the influence of Christ's own spirit, but there's a third thing. We find this power is available without sides. There's no walls to it. There's no restrictions to it. There's no limitations to where it will go. <br /><br /> And to whom it will speak in verses five through 13, we hear about the people that are there, people from all over the known world, they start first in, in the, in the litany of nations and people groups. They start in the east, it's out in the Persian empire and that way then it travels. It goes through Judea. <br /><br /> It hits up into what we would call modern day Turkey. Then it goes down to Northern Africa and then eventually goes, as far as the Eastern, the Western borders of the Roman empire and room itself. Many of these people that have come are Gentile, prof proselytes who have entered Judy. The difference that is taking place on the, on the day of Pentecost is, is not that other people could join the people of God. <br /><br /> The differences the people of God are known are now going out to embrace everyone to be a part. There were proselytes that could join Israel, but now they are all going forth in a new enterprise where Jew and Gentile have become one. And there is now one people of God, of every tongue and tribe and people group. <br /><br /> And the fact that they're speaking to them in their own tongues, can't be overstated. It's amazing. If you just listen at the response, verse six, it says the people they were. Because each one was hearing them speak in his own language, verse seven and they were amazed and astonished sing are not all these who are speaking Galileans. <br /><br /> And how is it that we hear each of us in his own native language in verse 12 and all were amazed and perplexed, seen to know one another. What does it mean? Virtually all, um, church historians and church, fathers and commentators today, believe that what happened at Pentecost is a look back to the tower of Babel, that there was a day. <br /><br /> If you remember back in the book of Genesis, where people were trying to build a tower to God and everybody on earth spoke the same language at that time, they were all United and rebellion against God. And in pride, we're saying we're going to build a building all the way up to the presence of God. <br /><br /> That's another way of saying we're going to be like, God, we'll be where we, where he is. We'll do what he does. We'll be our own gods. God then causes the human languages to be confused. And the nations were scattered. Pentecost is a deliberate and dramatic reversal of the curse of Babel they're human languages, confused in the nation. <br /><br /> Scattered at Pentecost. The language barrier barrier was supernaturally overcome as a sign that the nations would now be gathered together in Christ into a multi-national multi-racial multi-lingual kingdom. There is no language or culture to whom the gospel belongs. None to whom the gospel is given priority. <br /><br /> Tim Keller put me on to, uh, a book. I ha I read it before. And in preparation for this sermon, I got it out again. And the book is written by amendment limits and I, and it is called whose religion is Christianity and in the book. And it's a fascinating read. It's basically he's being questioned by a secular, um, questionnaire, a reporter, and it's his giving all these, these answers. <br /><br /> And basically what he is saying in the book is he's comparing Christianity from all other religion, religions. And he, one of the things he talks about, and he's an African he's talking about is the different of Christianity from Islam. Muslims, believe that the cran cannot be translated and you might immediately say, well, I've seen Koreans that are in English. <br /><br /> And it's true. I actually have one, but in the cover, there is always, or in the, it, just inside the cover and on the homepage, there is always a statement that says something like this is, um, an English explanation or some word like that. They believe that the Qur'an is always an only in Arabic, Allah speaks in Arabic. <br /><br /> It must be heard in Arabic. Ultimately there is a unified as L'Amic culture and lamin Sanai is talking about there's a, a unified Islamic culture around the world where we're all as. Uh, people groups are basically to look like worldwide Islam. Ultimately, the goal is that nationally, the country will look like an as L'Amic country, that it all looks the same. <br /><br /> There are same, the same practices, the same behaviors, the same ways that they operate patterns and external rules, its intention is to say, have the same practice in every part of the culture. It is to be its own culture. Christianity is more culturally diverse than any religion on earth. It honors every culture. <br /><br /> It presents principles of Jesus' kingdom, but if African you don't become European in the way you look, and there are principles you follow. If you're Pakistani, you don't become an American church in the way you need to look. And the music that you use, the perspectives that your own cultural background is real. <br /><br /> Christianity is a sham. It's no more viable than any other cultural manifestation. If they are following biblical principles, God allows God affirms God values. The mighty works of God being declared in the online and the, in the language of the people themselves. One of the statements I love that limits. <br /><br /> And I says, in this, he says, Christians may be excused for feeling confused about what language Jesus spoke. How many of you know, what language Jesus. If I said, did he speak Hebrew, Greek or Aramaic? Sorry, this is terrible, dude. Anyway, whether you knew or not now, you know, it was Aramaic. That would have been the normal thing. <br /><br /> But how many of you even know what Aramaic is? Well, he's saying Chris has maybe excuse or feeling excuse about what language Jesus spoke, because God speaks in all languages and offers to all peoples here in acts two, the mighty works of God. He is offering to all peoples. This reality that the gospel and the work of Pentecost has been made available to all peoples of all nations of all ethnicities of all languages, wherever you are this morning, the same power that descended on power on Pentecost. <br /><br /> That same individual, the spirit of the living God is available to come and speak to the, to the powerlessness within our lives. It is a power from outside. You were never wired to live life on your own sin, displaces God at the control center of your life to shift metaphors, the engine of your life was designed to run on God. <br /><br /> He is the fuel key is the power source. It is a power that impacts the inside God's spirit is willing to bring you under his influence and control, offering joy, peace, and a capacity of deliver life that is not curved inward. But can be mercifully allowed to, to curve outward towards the others where it isn't all about us. <br /><br /> It isn't, it we're still going to be struggling. We still have the flesh, but there is, there is a curving outward that comes from the power outside coming within. And it is a power without sides to anyone, no matter what you've done, no matter where you've come from, the gospel speaks in your language to you for you. <br /><br /> That same power is available to you today. God, we look to you <br /><br /> for honest in ourselves, we can look over the last week and see. The desperate of our need for power from, without or at my heart goes particularly this morning to people online or in this room to whom the gospel has not been personally embraced. We've not experienced the influence, the power of the spirit of God in their lives, because they've not yet embraced Christ as Lord and savior, Lord speak into their lives, draw them, speak in the language. <br /><br /> They understand Lord be your creative self, to draw them to you in Jesus name. Amen.</div> false no <![CDATA[Waiting for God's Next Move]]> Acts 1:12-26

And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room, where they were staying,



Sermon Transcript:

Third thing I wanted to mention is this book. I know many of you have it. It is called the scripture journal of the book of acts. It has the scripture on one side and then a place for notes on the other.

I know some of you, I hope many of you, I'm going to brave this. How many of you have it? If you'd just hold it up? Okay. At is very encouraging. Now peer pressure is being applied to the rest of you. It's not only me. I really want to encourage you. We're delighted. We got a new stock in if you are able to give the $5, you can pick one up at the hub this morning.

Otherwise you can, you can reserve it online. We have more coming in after the stock that we have it's. This is why we're doing this mean. The main reason we're doing this is we want you to be enact involved in the book of acts on your own and reading through the book of acts, writing your notes, commentaries questions.

And then also as you come on Sunday, things that you hear in a sermon, you know, you jot down get them in here. And I I've done this with a couple of individuals I'm going to now do it to all of the. I would love if you would take the time to send me a quick email or a text just marked, you know, this, this verse, you know, God, just his, how he worked in my life.

Maybe this questions, I can't promise all re respond to all of your questions, but when we get there, we will. So if you go in through, let's have this be an interactive experience from your studies, as well as from ours, as pastors presenting it to you. And this is a tool we're hoping you'll use to help in that process.

We're going to be looking at acts chapter one, verses 12 to 26. In a moment years ago, I had a veteran pastor. I was like 27 years old. I was just starting out as a church planner of this church. And I had an, a veteran pastor, a very active, strong energetic pastor and alpha type. Get with me. And he pulled me aside and you made this statement to me.

He said, mark, the hardest command for me in the Bible is the one I have most benefited by in my ministry. The command is wait on the Lord. I was struck by this because I knew this guy. He was an activist. He was an energy guy and I thought, wow, if God makes this guy wait, then God really is about this waiting thing.

We're going to be looking this morning at the early church in waiting mode. As pastor Mike talked a couple of weeks ago in verses the verses that included verse eight, the disciples have met on the mountain with Jesus and he, they have received his instruction there. His final words, as he has ascended into heaven, verse eight has given the culminating command to wait because his spirit is going to come upon them with power and they are going to be witnesses to for him throughout the, the known world.

As Mike mentioned in his sermon, this concept of witnesses is basically bearing testimony to what you've experienced and seen in our own lives. But he says that there's a spirit that is going to be, the spirit is going to come upon them and it's going to enable them to go forth and do things they have not done before.

And there are a lot of questions they're left with, but they are now waiting. And that's what he's told them to do. I want you to wait injuries. Until the spirit comes upon you. The question we're going to look at this morning is what did they do in that waiting period? Because verses 12 to 26 of acts, chapter one highlights some specific things that were going on as they were in waiting mode for God's next move.

Now, certainly for all of us as individuals at times, God has you in a waiting stop awaiting posture, right? I mean, some of you are there right now. I don't know what God wants me to do. I wish God would just, you know, show me what's the next move or, or I need God to work in this situation and I'm just waiting and waiting.

So this personal application, some of the principles we're going to look at, but I would like to suggest there is to me. And I hope to you a broader application as well. I believe this passage. And the entire book of acts have incredible voice right now to Western Christianity. We have just come through three years of very difficult season.

It's time of cultural change at a time of cultural conflict. I don't mean that's over, but it is a cultural conflict and a cultural, cultural chaos that has absolutely impacted the evangelical church. There's been discord. There's been different perspectives. There's been conflict. There's been confusion of what evangelical even means anymore.

I was struck reading a series of polls that have recognized that the term evangelical has become politicized to the point. That 40% of people that are identifying themselves as evangelical have not attended a worship service, either online or in person, more than once in the last year. So basically whatever, you know, I'm evangelical certainly doesn't mean devout involved, committed hearing Jesus, walking with Jesus, honoring his word.

As a matter of fact, one's political position in many corners has upstaged personal godliness as the barometer of Christian commitment in the conflict of this season. CT Christianity today presented a poll and it was a poll of pastors evangelical past. And asked how many of you have seriously considered stepping out of the ministry in the last two years?

55%. I haven't just so you know, which may, which may be a grievous disappointment, but

this has been a turbulent time. It has been a season where I believe God is preparing the church for a great work as he refines what the church is supposed to be simultaneously. It is a day in which people in our world are frightened with world events that comes up to this morning, right? As we look at central Europe, With social upheaval, a world in conflict, David Brooks, Jewish journalist of the New York times, not a believer in Jesus Christ, but a friend to some that are one of his closest friends is Tim Keller, a spokesman.

And to me, the greatest Christian mind of our generation, but he is learned from Keller and gain a perspective of historic Christianity's influence in the world that has caused him to write an article recently called evangelicalism and basically is presenting it as a warning to, for the church to not miss the opportunity to be the church and its influence in the world that his has historically been.

And he talks about the world in this way. Here's what he says. Modernity has. The age of the autonomous individual, the age of the narcissistic self, the age of consumerism and moral drift has left us with bitterness and division, a surging mental health crisis, and people just being nasty to one. Another millions are looking for something else, some system of belief that is communal that gives life transcendent, meaning in his article, he's arguing the church has been that historically, but is it now a communal community where people are, are, are manifested by love for one another?

Is there a transcendent view of God where God is the sovereign Lord or, or, or is it that we've got to control these things and get the right people in the right position? It is in such a world. As he describes that the church was born, its history is recorded in the book of acts. It is a perfect time to be going back to the foundations of the church itself and see what God did and how God moved through his spirit to transform his followers and to literally change the world.

But the gospel of Christ this morning, we're looking at the followers of Jesus as they waited for God's big move. He's going to do that on Pentecost. He said to wait for it, watch for prepare yourselves for it. So we look at the passage this morning and we try to understand what were they doing? What were they.

Preparing themselves for, as they waited for God to move. And with that introduction, I invite you to listen. As I read acts chapter one, verse 12 through 26,

then they returned to Jerusalem from the Mount called Olivette, which is where the Ascension of Jesus to heaven took place, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey away. And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room where there was staying Peter and John and James and Andrew Philip and Thomas Bartholomew and Matthew James, the son of Alpheus and Simon, the zealot and Judas, the son of James, all these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer together with the women and Mary, the mother of Jesus and his brother.

In those days, Peter stood up among the brothers. The company of the persons was in all about 120 and said, brothers, the scripture must had to be fulfilled, which the holy spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus for he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry.

Now this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness and falling headlong. He burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out, and it became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem so that the field was called in their own language. A Kel Dima. That is the field of blood for it is written in the book of Psalms may as can't become desolate and let there be none to dwell on and, and let another take his place.

So one of the men who had accompanied us during all the time that the Lord went in and out among us, From the beginning, the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us, one of these men must become with us, a witness to his resurrection, and they put forward to Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also called justice and Matthias.

And they prayed and said, you Lord who know the hearts of all show, which one of these two, you have chosen to take the place in this ministry. And apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place. And they cast lots for them. And the lot fell on Matthias and he was numbered with the 11 apostles father.

We come to you this morning, as we open your word, God, we ask you to speak into our lives this morning. Lord, many of us looked on the news this morning. We're struck again with the instability of our world and Lord, we rejoice. We rest, we claim and lean into the reality that you are the sovereign God transcendent above all the nations on the earth.

And Lord, we also come through this morning believing that in seasons of unrest and confusion and cultural fear

are such prime moments for the spirit to empower the church, to be a, a voice of truth, a voice of compassion, a voice of a God that has transcendent all nations and worlds and kingdom. An epics of time. Lord, I ask you this morning that we might just evaluate ourselves as we think, are we preparing our lives to be available fit vessels for the master's use, speak to us, please in Jesus name.

Amen. I'm going to look at three things this morning that these individuals were doing, or that were going on with these individuals that I think need to be true of us when we are in a season waiting for God's move in our lives. Number one, the first thing we find is they were not in isolation. Here's what verse 12 and 13 says.

Then they returned to Jerusalem from the Mount called Olivette, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey away. And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room where they were staying now. I've read that verse and reflect on the verse a lot of times. And I finally came out with the same question.

Why did Luke sail that me? Why didn't he just say this? They returned to Jerusalem. I mean, that's all we need to know. Right? I mean, they, they left the Mount of Olivette, which is about it was, it's a Sabbath day's journey, which meant about six tenths of a mile. And then they went to where they were staying wherever that was in Jerusalem.

And, and so why belabor the same mean? Why say they left the Mount of olives together? They went 0.6 miles together. They went together up to the upper room where they were staying together. And the more I've thought about it, the more I've I've realized he was highlighting the fact that these guys. Or to gather they fall as they didn't leave.

Jesus went back to heaven and, and they thought, oh man, I I'm just, I'm going to go to my place. You go to your place. I mean, let's just all go. I'm going to go get lunch. You go do what you guys want to do. I'll catch you later. These guys stayed together. They wandered together. They track together and they all went back to the room where, where, where, where they would have their meetings together over the next seven days.

They didn't know it was seven days. They just knew they were supposed to wait. They didn't get a time definition from God for how long the wait would be. They had stuff to process together. They had experiences that they believe were going to be coming together as a unit. They had things going on and more than anything else they needed to be.

They were leaning into each other. At this moment, there was a community of people here that needed to be together that needed to wait on God together. When God moves among the people on the day of Pentecost, he pours out his spirit on all of these people, not Peter, you know, not John. Okay. I'll catch John over here.

You know, or these three at dinner, I'll do it there. And then no, he poured it out on this community. It was a group of people that were doing life together. They were, the fire will be ignited and maintained by the shared heat among this fledgling community together during the second great awakening, which the first great awakening is one people are more familiar with the new England.

Jonathan Edwards. Later in 1790 to 1840, the second grade awakening was out in Kentucky, Tennessee with a primary places in the, in the mid Southern states. And this outpouring of God, which just saw thousands of people embrace Jesus Christ as Lord and savior impacted three groups. It impacted the Presbyterian church and impacted the Methodist church and impacted the Baptist church and an amazing way all of those churches and in their various communities in those various states.

So many people come to Jesus Christ, but what happened and I actually did in my of ministry degree, actually did a a paper on this. What happened was. Only one of the three groups kept the fire of the revival. Only one of the groups saw these, the growth, not only be maintained, but continue to grow. It was the Methodist.

And the reason for that was because the Methodists under John Wesley in England, before it was brought over here, had built in a system within their organization that were built of these three groups there with the group called the society. The society would be like the worship service. The class was a secondary group who is basically what we would call our community groups or small groups, cell groups, whatever you call it in a church.

And then there were these things called the bands, which were four to six men with men, four to six women with women who were there for accountability. It's actually where we got the word in our team ministry for bands while we call those accountability. So serious where the Methodists under Wesley, that people participate in the class in particular, in the small group, they were encouraged to be involved in the bands that you are not allowed to take communion in the society, in the worship service, unless you had a card that showed that you were participating in a class and you to say, well, that's legal, Libya.

It's all right, whatever it worked, because what it did was it said we prioritize people doing life together. The fire of the great awake. The second great awakening was maintained by a structured. Designed to have God used of God that emphasized believers need to be involved with each other, the one another's of scripture and exhorting one another encouraging one, another warning, one another praying for one another.

All of those that are there are highlighting what was taking place, particularly in the classes. And to some degree in the bands, these believers are manifesting the principle. That is always true. When God is going to move, he is move among people that are doing life together. If we're going to be saying, I want God to move in my life and brother or sister, you're going to probably need to be doing life with other people.

It's not a solo flight. And one of the things has happened in the last three years. People are sorta drifted out and while I'm just going to do Christiana on my own and, and, and just do my own thing and, you know, and, and, and, and I recognize some people still need to be online. And so be it that's great.

Praise God, we can do that technologically, but there is something about being in the presence of others. There is some essence all the time. I said last week up in Trenton, you know, just in, in their worship service, I said, the beauty of this experience is this. You gather with people and by singing together and by being together and making the time to be here together, we're saying to each other, it's true.

He's real. He's at work in my life. He can be at work in yours, or we come in and we're staggering. And we're wondering, where is God? And is he really? And we look around and we say, yeah, these people believe it. There's nobody at my work. Police said nobody was school believes it, but I'm among people that are, that are kindling the fire.

Because they experienced this fire. One of the things we learn as they are waiting for God's spirit to be poured upon them is they're with each other. They're doing a communal experience in the Christian journey. The next thing we find is they prayed continually. We see this in verse 14,

all these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer. They were passionate about prayer. It says here they prayed with one accord. This word one accord actually in the original is one compound word. And it's fascinating what it is. It's the word humble, which means same. We use it that way. Same.

And then the word through Moss and the word through Moss is the word sometimes translated mind, like same mindedness, one minus, but it is usually translated in the new Testament, by the word anger. It's the volcanic type of anger. It's passionate. It's saying these people shared the same passion, the same fire it's actually used of, of, of, of, of heat and smoke coming off.

These people were ablazed with a passion for what praying it. Matter of fact, it says they were with one patch. They were devoting themselves to prayer. Again, one other thing here, another word thing, and I know you can get lost and going through every word, but I can't pass these by this word. Devoted is from the noun strength or might.

Here's what he's saying. This is a Willie paraphrase, literally of the Greek words with a United passion. They were giving their strength, their energy towards prayer, that when they were waiting, when they were abiding, when were, they were looking for God to move. Or were they doing? They're crying out to God together with one passion with pouring their strength into that.

And we're going to see that is the pattern of the whole book of acts. Let me just share quickly few passages acts chapter one, verse 14. Here's the word devoting themselves to prayer acts chapter two, verse 14, devoted themselves to the apostles, teaching the fellowship to the breaking of bread and prayers acts chapter six, verse four.

When the apostles say we need others to carry on, you know, the practical care of people. We have to devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word. Romans 12, 12, Paul says it this way. Rejoice in hope. Be patient in tribulation. Be constant. Be devoted. Give you strength. Two prayer Colossians four, two, continue steadfastly.

Be devoted. In prayer being watchful in it with Thanksgiving, what causes people to be passionate in praying you might be, I'm guessing many of you are out there saying I don't even know what that feels like, be passionate about. I don't know. I mean, I'm passionate about the Sixers and glad we got James harden.

I'm passionate about my political position. I'm passionate, but I don't know how to be passionate about prayer. I just, I know I should do it. And even when you're talking about it, I just, okay, come on 0.3. Let's keep it moving. Mark. How do you get passionate about prayer? You flip the switch. What do you do?

What causes people to be passionate about praying to give their energy, their strength toward praying. One thing, a sense of desperation. You need it. They know these guys know they're in over their heads. Now here's the thing. There are no more in over their heads than you are. They just knew it. That's why times of suffering and weakness and you lose your job.

What do you find yourself doing? Your prayer life has just taken a dramatic step forward. What happened? You need God, you need help. You need guidance, you need a name and you need empowerment. It's interesting in the book Pilgrim's progress and there's actually two parts to that. There's the one we're most familiar with where Kristin, the, the man leaves his city and sets out on the journey to the heavenly city.

But I don't know if you know the story enough to know that what happened. It was a, it was a tragic moment when Christian left because he pled with his family and nobody would go with him. He had to leave his wife. Cristiana behind. And he left with tears, but he had to follow Christ in his journey. Well, the second volume of the book is actually when Christina Cristiana, his wife receives Christ and realizes he was right, and she's so grateful for him modeling the Jesus was, was worth even leaving everything behind and in his journey for Christ.

But now Christiana and her friend mercy are on the journey as well. Well, behind Pilgrim, excuse me, Christian, the other Pilgrim. And they've come to a place and what's happened. They've come to this place called the keeper's house. And while they had, when they left two evil minded men attack the women.

And they might've overpowered them, had not the screams of the women been heard by the gatekeeper who comes out and rescues him and brings him back into the house. And here's this conversation that's going on. And this guy named reliever, who's the one that rescued them, says to the women I marveled.

When you were at the Gatehouse that you did not ask the Lord for a guide, thinking that you must be unaware of the fact that you were frail women. And there, there were dangers on the way, if you had asked the Lord, he would have gladly granted you a guide to which Cristiana says since the Lord knew our needs and knew all about the dangers on the way.

I wonder that he didn't send somebody along with us, make sense, right? Here's what he says. It's not always best to grant things, not asked for some did not appreciate such gifts as they should nor see their true. But when the need of a thing is felt, and that thing is asked for and received, then it is rightly appreciated.

And the giver is endeared to the receiver. If your Lord had granted you a guide without your asking for one, you would not have discovered your utter dependence and your need of faith. Now you have more foresight and more hunger, and you, you have learned to ask more freely for what you need. Failure weakness, disappointment in ourselves helps us learn the need of, of crying out to God.

The more God enables us to have our eyes open and think, well, I, you know, I think life's going pretty good. I mean, I got it. All right. I mean, we're paying the bills, things, see new moving forward. I've got a nice house and, and, and, and family's doing okay and okay, God is mercy. Then. Has to bring things to remind us, but do we want them to have to do that?

What if we said, God, I've been playing Christian for so long. I mean, I'm just walking this path and, and I'm glad I'm a Christian and my family's a church and I'm a church and we're doing the church thing. And I'm trying to, I'm certainly live in differently than, than the, than the guys at work or the girls at work.

And you know, I, yeah, I'm limited, but passion for you crying out for you. I don't have it. God. I'm seeing for the first time, maybe that my Luke warmness is the most effective tool to keep me from the passion to keep me from truly experiencing what you have for me in my Christian. The more God shows us our need.

The more we tend to cry. I love the statement. This is by Thomas Merton, a Trappist monk. He summarized what prayer actually is. Prayer is an expression of who we are. We are a living incompleteness. I don't know why I liked that so much. Maybe because it's it's. If you had a little badge that I could wear, that seems perfect.

Mark Willie, a living incompleteness. It works for me. I agree with it. The problem is we don't see enough. Our incompleteness we're not hungry enough. We're not longing enough. And maybe God is just stirring the church. Maybe God is as unsettling. I have grace to say, you can have fire, you can have passion.

There couldn't be a crying out to God. He's saying to these disciples. And I mean that in the broadest sense, the 120 of them, I want you to go into the room and wait, I'm going to do something big. Matter of fact, you're going to get somebody that's going to replace me. That's better than me. The spirit in you will be better than me alongside of you.

Now. They don't understand that they don't get it. They don't how that's possible, but they gather together and what do they do? They just were passionately saying, God, we're waiting. God, we're praying God. We're asking God, move among us. All the God would be doing that in us. That God would be stirring our own hearts.

You know, in acts one 70 said to them, it's not for you to know the times of the seasons that the father has fixed by his own authority. They didn't know what God was going to do. They didn't know what acts one eight says, you'll receive power. When the holy spirit comes upon you and you'll be witnessed.

They knew that God designed to use them and that he was going to be their power source. They knew he was going to use them to be witnesses. As Mike talked about a couple of weeks ago, and he going to give them the power to do it.

That same spirit is in us saying, I'm, I'm empowering you. It's there embrace it, experience it. And in the circumstances that I'm involved in your lives, while you're waiting for God to move, pray as a people together, It's been exciting as I've just thought over the last couple of weeks to sense God. And I think it's just cause you get eyes to look Doug Glendo at our last board meeting.

He's the chairman of our board this year heard every one of a sure way that we're really asking God to be at work this year in our lives and to share specific people that we're asking the other guys on the board to pray for, that we want to see changed by the gospel. This weekend. Pastor Jared is as Mike said earlier, is leading the winter weekend with our high school youth and Ryan and intern here is speaking.

And one of our pastors sent a text to all of us this week and he said let's all get together Friday morning at 11 o'clock. And just pray over Jared and, and Ryan, which we did. Some of us have been texting just them and praying with them. Continually Dennis Chacho led my community group a couple of weeks ago when I was in Michigan and presented the question.

If you could see one person's life changed this year, who would it be and how would they be changed?

Who are you crying out for God for this year? Who are you crying out for in your office, at your school, in your family and your extended family? Seeing God with passion, I'm asking you to move on. Give me my strength to asking you to move. Who are you writing in your journal that you could write right now and say, God, this person here it is February.

What? Our 20th, 20th, February 20th. I'm writing it down. God, these three people, would you work among them? Maybe there are other people say, look, God just laid these three people on my heart. My father was a Christian businessman who was all in for Jesus. And my father had an old Bible. He was saying, you know, he just, he wouldn't let that baby go.

Even though that baby had let him go a long time ago with the pages. And, but in my father's Bible in the front. He had a, a three-by-five card. So white, I think it was white. It didn't look white when I saw it, but was still white was covered by scotch tape. You know, how Scott scape gets ratty. And that was his Bibles three by five card.

But on that three by five card with the names of 10 men that my dad prayed for in a couple of their lives decades, for that, they would come to Jesus Christ. And I'll never forget the time. My dad told me about, there was a woman in our church that was a believer. She had an unsaved husband and this guy had made it to my dad's list for six years.

And I remember him telling me the story when this guy yielded his heart to Christ my dad going up to him and just show him.

You've been on my prayer thing for six years. Who's on your list. Who's in your Bible. Who's on your card. Who was passionately crying out for God? Yes. We're going to be witnesses. We're called to do that. We're going to speak about God to people, but you'll find very few people that you'll talk to God about the, that you'll talk about.

This was such a good line there. You'll find very few people that you'll have the chance to talk to God, to talk about God with that. You have not talked to God about.

So, who are they? Who are we asking others, say, look, brothers and sister, you know, in our little community group, in our gathering here among the girls, we get together with dinner. Would you pray for, for my list, for my people that I'm asking to be witnesses to. And even if it's not me that God will have all the rest of his witnesses to who are we passionate about?

Who are we pleading for? We'll be witnesses if we're being prompted and led. And that spirit of God is upon us, but we'll rarely find ourselves being witnesses to, if we are not praying for

the third thing they aligned themselves. With God's priorities. I got to move fast. The one event, wait, sit. AF is it 10, 10? Okay. I got to move lightning fast. They align themselves with God's priorities. The one event of those seven and 10 days was that they determined to choose a replacement for Judas.

Peter took the point on the process as he will take the point in leadership in the early years of the church's life. Two quick things, Jesus appointed the number of the apostles notice verse 17, he's talking about. And he says Judas was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry. He betrayed the ministry and he explains here and puts in putting it together, this passage and the passage in Matthew chapter 27, we find out basically Judas had had grieved over what he'd done when he saw Jesus crucified and he tries to give the money back.

They won't take it. So he throws it on the ground of the temple. They pick it up, they, he goes out and hangs himself and they bought the field that he hung himself in and called it. Then the field of blood and he says, Judas in verse 20, let another now take his office and requesting is why, why do you need another guy?

I mean, what's wrong with 11 apostles, right? Why do you need 12? I mean, is this Mr. Monk and OCD can have an odd number. What's the deal, Peter? Why. The key is what he says. He was numbered among us. The word is actually we get the word arithmetic from he, he, he says, it's how the math is supposed to happen.

The math works when we have 12. The reason for that is Jesus is connecting his ministry with God's ministry through all time. There were 12 patriarchs that formed the 12 tribes of Israel. There are now 12 apostles. This enterprise is continuing now to include all of the nations of the earth. They were aligning themselves with Jesus' plan.

That's why they're adding the 12th. The other thing is they aligned themselves with Jesus appointment of the requirement of the 12 apostles. They will be as primary witnesses. These apostle. They had to be people that were with him from the days of John, the Baptist, they have to be with him all the way through the Ascension.

They have to be men it's striking. His mom is in the room. I mean, you talk about a cool 12th apostle. It says the women, these godly women who, but God just chose, the apostles would be men. The holy spirit is going to use these 12 men and later Paul, to be the foundation of Jesus' church, they will have signed in wonders that affirmed their message comparable to the miraculous signs.

Moses has done centuries before the bottom line of this is if we are going to align ourselves with God, we live our lives under Jesus' Lordship, and we reflect in our lives. Jesus. We can't say we're aligning our lives with the priorities of God. If those things are not true of our lives. So we look at this and we say, what's true.

As with, as we wait for God to move number one, we're doing it in community with other believers. Number two, we're saying, God, give me a passion for bro. Just start praying for people. You'll find your passion will grow. And number three, we are aligning our lives under the Lordship of Christ. Believing that the greatest testimony to Christ in our lives is the love of Christ being lived through us.

We got to pray. Let's go, Lord

God. This is a message that really matters to me. I want to be this kind of person. I believe. What's been done in the church in the Western world in America was intended for evil by darkness, but I believe that what is intended for evil, you can intend for. Good. So Lord move among us. Change us as we wait for your movement among us.

May we be your people to your glory in Jesus name? Amen. Now, go in peace to love and serve and enjoy the Lord.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/waiting-for-gods-next-move b815751b-c904-4008-a45a-6efc22057428 Sun, 20 Feb 2022 11:09:29 GMT <div data-html="true">Acts 1:12-26 <br /><br /> And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room, where they were staying, <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> <h4>Sermon Transcript:</h4> Third thing I wanted to mention is this book. I know many of you have it. It is called the scripture journal of the book of acts. It has the scripture on one side and then a place for notes on the other. <br /><br /> I know some of you, I hope many of you, I'm going to brave this. How many of you have it? If you'd just hold it up? Okay. At is very encouraging. Now peer pressure is being applied to the rest of you. It's not only me. I really want to encourage you. We're delighted. We got a new stock in if you are able to give the $5, you can pick one up at the hub this morning. <br /><br /> Otherwise you can, you can reserve it online. We have more coming in after the stock that we have it's. This is why we're doing this mean. The main reason we're doing this is we want you to be enact involved in the book of acts on your own and reading through the book of acts, writing your notes, commentaries questions. <br /><br /> And then also as you come on Sunday, things that you hear in a sermon, you know, you jot down get them in here. And I I've done this with a couple of individuals I'm going to now do it to all of the. I would love if you would take the time to send me a quick email or a text just marked, you know, this, this verse, you know, God, just his, how he worked in my life. <br /><br /> Maybe this questions, I can't promise all re respond to all of your questions, but when we get there, we will. So if you go in through, let's have this be an interactive experience from your studies, as well as from ours, as pastors presenting it to you. And this is a tool we're hoping you'll use to help in that process. <br /><br /> We're going to be looking at acts chapter one, verses 12 to 26. In a moment years ago, I had a veteran pastor. I was like 27 years old. I was just starting out as a church planner of this church. And I had an, a veteran pastor, a very active, strong energetic pastor and alpha type. Get with me. And he pulled me aside and you made this statement to me. <br /><br /> He said, mark, the hardest command for me in the Bible is the one I have most benefited by in my ministry. The command is wait on the Lord. I was struck by this because I knew this guy. He was an activist. He was an energy guy and I thought, wow, if God makes this guy wait, then God really is about this waiting thing. <br /><br /> We're going to be looking this morning at the early church in waiting mode. As pastor Mike talked a couple of weeks ago in verses the verses that included verse eight, the disciples have met on the mountain with Jesus and he, they have received his instruction there. His final words, as he has ascended into heaven, verse eight has given the culminating command to wait because his spirit is going to come upon them with power and they are going to be witnesses to for him throughout the, the known world. <br /><br /> As Mike mentioned in his sermon, this concept of witnesses is basically bearing testimony to what you've experienced and seen in our own lives. But he says that there's a spirit that is going to be, the spirit is going to come upon them and it's going to enable them to go forth and do things they have not done before. <br /><br /> And there are a lot of questions they're left with, but they are now waiting. And that's what he's told them to do. I want you to wait injuries. Until the spirit comes upon you. The question we're going to look at this morning is what did they do in that waiting period? Because verses 12 to 26 of acts, chapter one highlights some specific things that were going on as they were in waiting mode for God's next move. <br /><br /> Now, certainly for all of us as individuals at times, God has you in a waiting stop awaiting posture, right? I mean, some of you are there right now. I don't know what God wants me to do. I wish God would just, you know, show me what's the next move or, or I need God to work in this situation and I'm just waiting and waiting. <br /><br /> So this personal application, some of the principles we're going to look at, but I would like to suggest there is to me. And I hope to you a broader application as well. I believe this passage. And the entire book of acts have incredible voice right now to Western Christianity. We have just come through three years of very difficult season. <br /><br /> It's time of cultural change at a time of cultural conflict. I don't mean that's over, but it is a cultural conflict and a cultural, cultural chaos that has absolutely impacted the evangelical church. There's been discord. There's been different perspectives. There's been conflict. There's been confusion of what evangelical even means anymore. <br /><br /> I was struck reading a series of polls that have recognized that the term evangelical has become politicized to the point. That 40% of people that are identifying themselves as evangelical have not attended a worship service, either online or in person, more than once in the last year. So basically whatever, you know, I'm evangelical certainly doesn't mean devout involved, committed hearing Jesus, walking with Jesus, honoring his word. <br /><br /> As a matter of fact, one's political position in many corners has upstaged personal godliness as the barometer of Christian commitment in the conflict of this season. CT Christianity today presented a poll and it was a poll of pastors evangelical past. And asked how many of you have seriously considered stepping out of the ministry in the last two years? <br /><br /> 55%. I haven't just so you know, which may, which may be a grievous disappointment, but <br /><br /> this has been a turbulent time. It has been a season where I believe God is preparing the church for a great work as he refines what the church is supposed to be simultaneously. It is a day in which people in our world are frightened with world events that comes up to this morning, right? As we look at central Europe, With social upheaval, a world in conflict, David Brooks, Jewish journalist of the New York times, not a believer in Jesus Christ, but a friend to some that are one of his closest friends is Tim Keller, a spokesman. <br /><br /> And to me, the greatest Christian mind of our generation, but he is learned from Keller and gain a perspective of historic Christianity's influence in the world that has caused him to write an article recently called evangelicalism and basically is presenting it as a warning to, for the church to not miss the opportunity to be the church and its influence in the world that his has historically been. <br /><br /> And he talks about the world in this way. Here's what he says. Modernity has. The age of the autonomous individual, the age of the narcissistic self, the age of consumerism and moral drift has left us with bitterness and division, a surging mental health crisis, and people just being nasty to one. Another millions are looking for something else, some system of belief that is communal that gives life transcendent, meaning in his article, he's arguing the church has been that historically, but is it now a communal community where people are, are, are manifested by love for one another? <br /><br /> Is there a transcendent view of God where God is the sovereign Lord or, or, or is it that we've got to control these things and get the right people in the right position? It is in such a world. As he describes that the church was born, its history is recorded in the book of acts. It is a perfect time to be going back to the foundations of the church itself and see what God did and how God moved through his spirit to transform his followers and to literally change the world. <br /><br /> But the gospel of Christ this morning, we're looking at the followers of Jesus as they waited for God's big move. He's going to do that on Pentecost. He said to wait for it, watch for prepare yourselves for it. So we look at the passage this morning and we try to understand what were they doing? What were they. <br /><br /> Preparing themselves for, as they waited for God to move. And with that introduction, I invite you to listen. As I read acts chapter one, verse 12 through 26, <br /><br /> then they returned to Jerusalem from the Mount called Olivette, which is where the Ascension of Jesus to heaven took place, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey away. And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room where there was staying Peter and John and James and Andrew Philip and Thomas Bartholomew and Matthew James, the son of Alpheus and Simon, the zealot and Judas, the son of James, all these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer together with the women and Mary, the mother of Jesus and his brother. <br /><br /> In those days, Peter stood up among the brothers. The company of the persons was in all about 120 and said, brothers, the scripture must had to be fulfilled, which the holy spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus for he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry. <br /><br /> Now this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness and falling headlong. He burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out, and it became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem so that the field was called in their own language. A Kel Dima. That is the field of blood for it is written in the book of Psalms may as can't become desolate and let there be none to dwell on and, and let another take his place. <br /><br /> So one of the men who had accompanied us during all the time that the Lord went in and out among us, From the beginning, the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us, one of these men must become with us, a witness to his resurrection, and they put forward to Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also called justice and Matthias. <br /><br /> And they prayed and said, you Lord who know the hearts of all show, which one of these two, you have chosen to take the place in this ministry. And apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place. And they cast lots for them. And the lot fell on Matthias and he was numbered with the 11 apostles father. <br /><br /> We come to you this morning, as we open your word, God, we ask you to speak into our lives this morning. Lord, many of us looked on the news this morning. We're struck again with the instability of our world and Lord, we rejoice. We rest, we claim and lean into the reality that you are the sovereign God transcendent above all the nations on the earth. <br /><br /> And Lord, we also come through this morning believing that in seasons of unrest and confusion and cultural fear <br /><br /> are such prime moments for the spirit to empower the church, to be a, a voice of truth, a voice of compassion, a voice of a God that has transcendent all nations and worlds and kingdom. An epics of time. Lord, I ask you this morning that we might just evaluate ourselves as we think, are we preparing our lives to be available fit vessels for the master's use, speak to us, please in Jesus name. <br /><br /> Amen. I'm going to look at three things this morning that these individuals were doing, or that were going on with these individuals that I think need to be true of us when we are in a season waiting for God's move in our lives. Number one, the first thing we find is they were not in isolation. Here's what verse 12 and 13 says. <br /><br /> Then they returned to Jerusalem from the Mount called Olivette, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey away. And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room where they were staying now. I've read that verse and reflect on the verse a lot of times. And I finally came out with the same question. <br /><br /> Why did Luke sail that me? Why didn't he just say this? They returned to Jerusalem. I mean, that's all we need to know. Right? I mean, they, they left the Mount of Olivette, which is about it was, it's a Sabbath day's journey, which meant about six tenths of a mile. And then they went to where they were staying wherever that was in Jerusalem. <br /><br /> And, and so why belabor the same mean? Why say they left the Mount of olives together? They went 0.6 miles together. They went together up to the upper room where they were staying together. And the more I've thought about it, the more I've I've realized he was highlighting the fact that these guys. Or to gather they fall as they didn't leave. <br /><br /> Jesus went back to heaven and, and they thought, oh man, I I'm just, I'm going to go to my place. You go to your place. I mean, let's just all go. I'm going to go get lunch. You go do what you guys want to do. I'll catch you later. These guys stayed together. They wandered together. They track together and they all went back to the room where, where, where, where they would have their meetings together over the next seven days. <br /><br /> They didn't know it was seven days. They just knew they were supposed to wait. They didn't get a time definition from God for how long the wait would be. They had stuff to process together. They had experiences that they believe were going to be coming together as a unit. They had things going on and more than anything else they needed to be. <br /><br /> They were leaning into each other. At this moment, there was a community of people here that needed to be together that needed to wait on God together. When God moves among the people on the day of Pentecost, he pours out his spirit on all of these people, not Peter, you know, not John. Okay. I'll catch John over here. <br /><br /> You know, or these three at dinner, I'll do it there. And then no, he poured it out on this community. It was a group of people that were doing life together. They were, the fire will be ignited and maintained by the shared heat among this fledgling community together during the second great awakening, which the first great awakening is one people are more familiar with the new England. <br /><br /> Jonathan Edwards. Later in 1790 to 1840, the second grade awakening was out in Kentucky, Tennessee with a primary places in the, in the mid Southern states. And this outpouring of God, which just saw thousands of people embrace Jesus Christ as Lord and savior impacted three groups. It impacted the Presbyterian church and impacted the Methodist church and impacted the Baptist church and an amazing way all of those churches and in their various communities in those various states. <br /><br /> So many people come to Jesus Christ, but what happened and I actually did in my of ministry degree, actually did a a paper on this. What happened was. Only one of the three groups kept the fire of the revival. Only one of the groups saw these, the growth, not only be maintained, but continue to grow. It was the Methodist. <br /><br /> And the reason for that was because the Methodists under John Wesley in England, before it was brought over here, had built in a system within their organization that were built of these three groups there with the group called the society. The society would be like the worship service. The class was a secondary group who is basically what we would call our community groups or small groups, cell groups, whatever you call it in a church. <br /><br /> And then there were these things called the bands, which were four to six men with men, four to six women with women who were there for accountability. It's actually where we got the word in our team ministry for bands while we call those accountability. So serious where the Methodists under Wesley, that people participate in the class in particular, in the small group, they were encouraged to be involved in the bands that you are not allowed to take communion in the society, in the worship service, unless you had a card that showed that you were participating in a class and you to say, well, that's legal, Libya. <br /><br /> It's all right, whatever it worked, because what it did was it said we prioritize people doing life together. The fire of the great awake. The second great awakening was maintained by a structured. Designed to have God used of God that emphasized believers need to be involved with each other, the one another's of scripture and exhorting one another encouraging one, another warning, one another praying for one another. <br /><br /> All of those that are there are highlighting what was taking place, particularly in the classes. And to some degree in the bands, these believers are manifesting the principle. That is always true. When God is going to move, he is move among people that are doing life together. If we're going to be saying, I want God to move in my life and brother or sister, you're going to probably need to be doing life with other people. <br /><br /> It's not a solo flight. And one of the things has happened in the last three years. People are sorta drifted out and while I'm just going to do Christiana on my own and, and, and just do my own thing and, you know, and, and, and, and I recognize some people still need to be online. And so be it that's great. <br /><br /> Praise God, we can do that technologically, but there is something about being in the presence of others. There is some essence all the time. I said last week up in Trenton, you know, just in, in their worship service, I said, the beauty of this experience is this. You gather with people and by singing together and by being together and making the time to be here together, we're saying to each other, it's true. <br /><br /> He's real. He's at work in my life. He can be at work in yours, or we come in and we're staggering. And we're wondering, where is God? And is he really? And we look around and we say, yeah, these people believe it. There's nobody at my work. Police said nobody was school believes it, but I'm among people that are, that are kindling the fire. <br /><br /> Because they experienced this fire. One of the things we learn as they are waiting for God's spirit to be poured upon them is they're with each other. They're doing a communal experience in the Christian journey. The next thing we find is they prayed continually. We see this in verse 14, <br /><br /> all these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer. They were passionate about prayer. It says here they prayed with one accord. This word one accord actually in the original is one compound word. And it's fascinating what it is. It's the word humble, which means same. We use it that way. Same. <br /><br /> And then the word through Moss and the word through Moss is the word sometimes translated mind, like same mindedness, one minus, but it is usually translated in the new Testament, by the word anger. It's the volcanic type of anger. It's passionate. It's saying these people shared the same passion, the same fire it's actually used of, of, of, of, of heat and smoke coming off. <br /><br /> These people were ablazed with a passion for what praying it. Matter of fact, it says they were with one patch. They were devoting themselves to prayer. Again, one other thing here, another word thing, and I know you can get lost and going through every word, but I can't pass these by this word. Devoted is from the noun strength or might. <br /><br /> Here's what he's saying. This is a Willie paraphrase, literally of the Greek words with a United passion. They were giving their strength, their energy towards prayer, that when they were waiting, when they were abiding, when were, they were looking for God to move. Or were they doing? They're crying out to God together with one passion with pouring their strength into that. <br /><br /> And we're going to see that is the pattern of the whole book of acts. Let me just share quickly few passages acts chapter one, verse 14. Here's the word devoting themselves to prayer acts chapter two, verse 14, devoted themselves to the apostles, teaching the fellowship to the breaking of bread and prayers acts chapter six, verse four. <br /><br /> When the apostles say we need others to carry on, you know, the practical care of people. We have to devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word. Romans 12, 12, Paul says it this way. Rejoice in hope. Be patient in tribulation. Be constant. Be devoted. Give you strength. Two prayer Colossians four, two, continue steadfastly. <br /><br /> Be devoted. In prayer being watchful in it with Thanksgiving, what causes people to be passionate in praying you might be, I'm guessing many of you are out there saying I don't even know what that feels like, be passionate about. I don't know. I mean, I'm passionate about the Sixers and glad we got James harden. <br /><br /> I'm passionate about my political position. I'm passionate, but I don't know how to be passionate about prayer. I just, I know I should do it. And even when you're talking about it, I just, okay, come on 0.3. Let's keep it moving. Mark. How do you get passionate about prayer? You flip the switch. What do you do? <br /><br /> What causes people to be passionate about praying to give their energy, their strength toward praying. One thing, a sense of desperation. You need it. They know these guys know they're in over their heads. Now here's the thing. There are no more in over their heads than you are. They just knew it. That's why times of suffering and weakness and you lose your job. <br /><br /> What do you find yourself doing? Your prayer life has just taken a dramatic step forward. What happened? You need God, you need help. You need guidance, you need a name and you need empowerment. It's interesting in the book Pilgrim's progress and there's actually two parts to that. There's the one we're most familiar with where Kristin, the, the man leaves his city and sets out on the journey to the heavenly city. <br /><br /> But I don't know if you know the story enough to know that what happened. It was a, it was a tragic moment when Christian left because he pled with his family and nobody would go with him. He had to leave his wife. Cristiana behind. And he left with tears, but he had to follow Christ in his journey. Well, the second volume of the book is actually when Christina Cristiana, his wife receives Christ and realizes he was right, and she's so grateful for him modeling the Jesus was, was worth even leaving everything behind and in his journey for Christ. <br /><br /> But now Christiana and her friend mercy are on the journey as well. Well, behind Pilgrim, excuse me, Christian, the other Pilgrim. And they've come to a place and what's happened. They've come to this place called the keeper's house. And while they had, when they left two evil minded men attack the women. <br /><br /> And they might've overpowered them, had not the screams of the women been heard by the gatekeeper who comes out and rescues him and brings him back into the house. And here's this conversation that's going on. And this guy named reliever, who's the one that rescued them, says to the women I marveled. <br /><br /> When you were at the Gatehouse that you did not ask the Lord for a guide, thinking that you must be unaware of the fact that you were frail women. And there, there were dangers on the way, if you had asked the Lord, he would have gladly granted you a guide to which Cristiana says since the Lord knew our needs and knew all about the dangers on the way. <br /><br /> I wonder that he didn't send somebody along with us, make sense, right? Here's what he says. It's not always best to grant things, not asked for some did not appreciate such gifts as they should nor see their true. But when the need of a thing is felt, and that thing is asked for and received, then it is rightly appreciated. <br /><br /> And the giver is endeared to the receiver. If your Lord had granted you a guide without your asking for one, you would not have discovered your utter dependence and your need of faith. Now you have more foresight and more hunger, and you, you have learned to ask more freely for what you need. Failure weakness, disappointment in ourselves helps us learn the need of, of crying out to God. <br /><br /> The more God enables us to have our eyes open and think, well, I, you know, I think life's going pretty good. I mean, I got it. All right. I mean, we're paying the bills, things, see new moving forward. I've got a nice house and, and, and, and family's doing okay and okay, God is mercy. Then. Has to bring things to remind us, but do we want them to have to do that? <br /><br /> What if we said, God, I've been playing Christian for so long. I mean, I'm just walking this path and, and I'm glad I'm a Christian and my family's a church and I'm a church and we're doing the church thing. And I'm trying to, I'm certainly live in differently than, than the, than the guys at work or the girls at work. <br /><br /> And you know, I, yeah, I'm limited, but passion for you crying out for you. I don't have it. God. I'm seeing for the first time, maybe that my Luke warmness is the most effective tool to keep me from the passion to keep me from truly experiencing what you have for me in my Christian. The more God shows us our need. <br /><br /> The more we tend to cry. I love the statement. This is by Thomas Merton, a Trappist monk. He summarized what prayer actually is. Prayer is an expression of who we are. We are a living incompleteness. I don't know why I liked that so much. Maybe because it's it's. If you had a little badge that I could wear, that seems perfect. <br /><br /> Mark Willie, a living incompleteness. It works for me. I agree with it. The problem is we don't see enough. Our incompleteness we're not hungry enough. We're not longing enough. And maybe God is just stirring the church. Maybe God is as unsettling. I have grace to say, you can have fire, you can have passion. <br /><br /> There couldn't be a crying out to God. He's saying to these disciples. And I mean that in the broadest sense, the 120 of them, I want you to go into the room and wait, I'm going to do something big. Matter of fact, you're going to get somebody that's going to replace me. That's better than me. The spirit in you will be better than me alongside of you. <br /><br /> Now. They don't understand that they don't get it. They don't how that's possible, but they gather together and what do they do? They just were passionately saying, God, we're waiting. God, we're praying God. We're asking God, move among us. All the God would be doing that in us. That God would be stirring our own hearts. <br /><br /> You know, in acts one 70 said to them, it's not for you to know the times of the seasons that the father has fixed by his own authority. They didn't know what God was going to do. They didn't know what acts one eight says, you'll receive power. When the holy spirit comes upon you and you'll be witnessed. <br /><br /> They knew that God designed to use them and that he was going to be their power source. They knew he was going to use them to be witnesses. As Mike talked about a couple of weeks ago, and he going to give them the power to do it. <br /><br /> That same spirit is in us saying, I'm, I'm empowering you. It's there embrace it, experience it. And in the circumstances that I'm involved in your lives, while you're waiting for God to move, pray as a people together, It's been exciting as I've just thought over the last couple of weeks to sense God. And I think it's just cause you get eyes to look Doug Glendo at our last board meeting. <br /><br /> He's the chairman of our board this year heard every one of a sure way that we're really asking God to be at work this year in our lives and to share specific people that we're asking the other guys on the board to pray for, that we want to see changed by the gospel. This weekend. Pastor Jared is as Mike said earlier, is leading the winter weekend with our high school youth and Ryan and intern here is speaking. <br /><br /> And one of our pastors sent a text to all of us this week and he said let's all get together Friday morning at 11 o'clock. And just pray over Jared and, and Ryan, which we did. Some of us have been texting just them and praying with them. Continually Dennis Chacho led my community group a couple of weeks ago when I was in Michigan and presented the question. <br /><br /> If you could see one person's life changed this year, who would it be and how would they be changed? <br /><br /> Who are you crying out for God for this year? Who are you crying out for in your office, at your school, in your family and your extended family? Seeing God with passion, I'm asking you to move on. Give me my strength to asking you to move. Who are you writing in your journal that you could write right now and say, God, this person here it is February. <br /><br /> What? Our 20th, 20th, February 20th. I'm writing it down. God, these three people, would you work among them? Maybe there are other people say, look, God just laid these three people on my heart. My father was a Christian businessman who was all in for Jesus. And my father had an old Bible. He was saying, you know, he just, he wouldn't let that baby go. <br /><br /> Even though that baby had let him go a long time ago with the pages. And, but in my father's Bible in the front. He had a, a three-by-five card. So white, I think it was white. It didn't look white when I saw it, but was still white was covered by scotch tape. You know, how Scott scape gets ratty. And that was his Bibles three by five card. <br /><br /> But on that three by five card with the names of 10 men that my dad prayed for in a couple of their lives decades, for that, they would come to Jesus Christ. And I'll never forget the time. My dad told me about, there was a woman in our church that was a believer. She had an unsaved husband and this guy had made it to my dad's list for six years. <br /><br /> And I remember him telling me the story when this guy yielded his heart to Christ my dad going up to him and just show him. <br /><br /> You've been on my prayer thing for six years. Who's on your list. Who's in your Bible. Who's on your card. Who was passionately crying out for God? Yes. We're going to be witnesses. We're called to do that. We're going to speak about God to people, but you'll find very few people that you'll talk to God about the, that you'll talk about. <br /><br /> This was such a good line there. You'll find very few people that you'll have the chance to talk to God, to talk about God with that. You have not talked to God about. <br /><br /> So, who are they? Who are we asking others, say, look, brothers and sister, you know, in our little community group, in our gathering here among the girls, we get together with dinner. Would you pray for, for my list, for my people that I'm asking to be witnesses to. And even if it's not me that God will have all the rest of his witnesses to who are we passionate about? <br /><br /> Who are we pleading for? We'll be witnesses if we're being prompted and led. And that spirit of God is upon us, but we'll rarely find ourselves being witnesses to, if we are not praying for <br /><br /> the third thing they aligned themselves. With God's priorities. I got to move fast. The one event, wait, sit. AF is it 10, 10? Okay. I got to move lightning fast. They align themselves with God's priorities. The one event of those seven and 10 days was that they determined to choose a replacement for Judas. <br /><br /> Peter took the point on the process as he will take the point in leadership in the early years of the church's life. Two quick things, Jesus appointed the number of the apostles notice verse 17, he's talking about. And he says Judas was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry. He betrayed the ministry and he explains here and puts in putting it together, this passage and the passage in Matthew chapter 27, we find out basically Judas had had grieved over what he'd done when he saw Jesus crucified and he tries to give the money back. <br /><br /> They won't take it. So he throws it on the ground of the temple. They pick it up, they, he goes out and hangs himself and they bought the field that he hung himself in and called it. Then the field of blood and he says, Judas in verse 20, let another now take his office and requesting is why, why do you need another guy? <br /><br /> I mean, what's wrong with 11 apostles, right? Why do you need 12? I mean, is this Mr. Monk and OCD can have an odd number. What's the deal, Peter? Why. The key is what he says. He was numbered among us. The word is actually we get the word arithmetic from he, he, he says, it's how the math is supposed to happen. <br /><br /> The math works when we have 12. The reason for that is Jesus is connecting his ministry with God's ministry through all time. There were 12 patriarchs that formed the 12 tribes of Israel. There are now 12 apostles. This enterprise is continuing now to include all of the nations of the earth. They were aligning themselves with Jesus' plan. <br /><br /> That's why they're adding the 12th. The other thing is they aligned themselves with Jesus appointment of the requirement of the 12 apostles. They will be as primary witnesses. These apostle. They had to be people that were with him from the days of John, the Baptist, they have to be with him all the way through the Ascension. <br /><br /> They have to be men it's striking. His mom is in the room. I mean, you talk about a cool 12th apostle. It says the women, these godly women who, but God just chose, the apostles would be men. The holy spirit is going to use these 12 men and later Paul, to be the foundation of Jesus' church, they will have signed in wonders that affirmed their message comparable to the miraculous signs. <br /><br /> Moses has done centuries before the bottom line of this is if we are going to align ourselves with God, we live our lives under Jesus' Lordship, and we reflect in our lives. Jesus. We can't say we're aligning our lives with the priorities of God. If those things are not true of our lives. So we look at this and we say, what's true. <br /><br /> As with, as we wait for God to move number one, we're doing it in community with other believers. Number two, we're saying, God, give me a passion for bro. Just start praying for people. You'll find your passion will grow. And number three, we are aligning our lives under the Lordship of Christ. Believing that the greatest testimony to Christ in our lives is the love of Christ being lived through us. <br /><br /> We got to pray. Let's go, Lord <br /><br /> God. This is a message that really matters to me. I want to be this kind of person. I believe. What's been done in the church in the Western world in America was intended for evil by darkness, but I believe that what is intended for evil, you can intend for. Good. So Lord move among us. Change us as we wait for your movement among us. <br /><br /> May we be your people to your glory in Jesus name? Amen. Now, go in peace to love and serve and enjoy the Lord.</div> false no <![CDATA[Redefining Greatness]]> Mark 9:33-37; 10:32-45

“If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.”



Good morning everyone. As Mike said, my name is Brennan Coughlin. Just give me one second. And in 2014, my family and I were sent out from fellowship community to plant a daughter church called fellowship capital city in Trenton, New Jersey. Um, and it was such a joy and a privilege to be able to plant a daughter church.

And so we moved up to Trenton in 2014, and we began to just serve our neighbors to try to love the city the best we knew how and begin to gather a core group of believers and saw some people come to know Jesus. And it was really exciting. We started house church in our living room and as our core group started to grow, we realized it was time to launch out.

And in September of 2016, we launched public services at the Trenton war Memorial theater. And just continue to, to follow Jesus and ask him to bless our work. And after a couple years of just grinding and growing and then shrinking and working hard and growing and shrinking again, we just really felt like we had hit a ceiling in our ministry.

We had around 80 or 90 people. We had seen some people come to faith, but just really felt like we couldn't move any further. And we needed God to bring about a significant breakthrough. So we were praying and just asking God to do something and then COVID hit. And we weren't sure what we were going to do.

And once governor Murphy allowed churches to gather again in may, we were excited to get together again, but we realized we have no place to gather. We rented a state owned building the Trenton war Memorial, and the state was indefinitely shut down, but we really wanted to get together. So we started gathering for worship in our backyard, in the west ward of Trenton.

Just hoping that God would bring a breakthrough in our. And then one day I just, I cleared my calendar and I said, today, I just need to go. I just need to go and walk, be in the wilderness and just seek the Lord and ask for his wisdom and his guidance. And as I was driving up there, I got a phone call. So I pull over, I answer the phone and this guy said that he was the treasurer from shady rest Bible church was, I'd never heard of in my life.

And he said, you know, we're an older congregation. We're looking to have to close our doors. And we wanted to see if you were interested in us giving you our church property and building who is this. And then I realized that he was serious. And we began a conversation between the elders of fellowship, Capitol city and the deacons of shady rest Bible church.

And after four months of praying and asking the Lord's direction, both churches voted unanimously for a rebirth merger and to the glory of God. This mostly senior dying congregation voted to hand over the keys and the deed to their property. And they said, we want to come underneath you and let's see what God will do.

And was an amazing act of humility to the glory of God. So out of that rebirth merger came fellowship Crosspoint church. We moved outside of Trenton to, uh, Chesterfield, New Jersey. It's the Northern tip of Burlington county. And we have just seen God do some incredibly amazing things. Now, part of this whole rebirth conversation, the elder elders, and I were saying, okay, if God would be pleased to be generous with us and gift us this church property, we want to make sure that we are generous in return.

And over several years we've been saving money towards acquiring our own building. And God just kept closing those. And we said, if the Lord is pleased to bring about this rebirth, we really want to be generous. One of the reasons that we wanted to plant a church in Trenton is because it has a thriving planned parenthood and no crisis pregnancy center.

So I got on the phone with my friend, Chuck Swanson, who is the director of options for women in cherry hill, New Jersey. And we started to dream together and I said, Chuck, man, it is such a joy. We're sending you a check for a hundred thousand dollars. So we can start the first and only pregnancy care center in the city of Trenton and to the glory of God, it is up and running.

So these pictures here are from our old office space, our old church office space in the west ward of Trenton and because of this rebirth merger and because of the ongoing support, financial and prayer support of fellowship community, Little Calisha and little Julian have life because their mothers were ministered to, in the name of Jesus Christ.

They were given the resources that they need, and they had people walk alongside them and encourage them that they could do this. So those children were born to the glory of God, through the generosity of this church. That is amazing.

And God just continues to show off in the life of our ministry. We, he has done exceedingly more than we could ask for, or imagine he has a fusions, three 20 does more than we could ever fathom. And right now we have more people gathering for worship than we ever had. When we were in Trenton, we were seeing people coming out of the woodwork.

We're seeing people come to know Jesus and fellowship cross point right now has the joy of pastor mark preaching to them this morning. And we are. Amazed and encouraged by what God has done. I want to personally thank pastor mark. I want to thank all the staff here and I want to thank the deacons for your ongoing and faithful financial support.

And I also want to thank many of the families and individuals who have been joyfully generous in supporting our ministry. We thank you from the bottoms of our hearts as a family, we are so grateful for your ongoing support and we are so grateful to God for his incredible, amazing grace. So it's a joy to be able to update you this morning.

But my primary purpose is to communicate the truth of God's word to you. I want to talk to you this morning about how Jesus. Redefines greatness in mark chapter nine and chapter 10. So that's where we're headed this morning, but I have absolutely no shot of getting us there on our own. So I'm going to pray and I'm going to ask God through the power of his holy spirit, that he would open the truth of his word for us, and that we would be transformed as a result.

Would you pray with me, father in heaven? Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing in your sight father. We thank you for the gift of your son. Jesus, we thank you for the amazing grace that we receive through him, through his life, through his death, through his resurrection and father.

I pray now that you would send the power of your holy spirit and that you would open the eyes of our hearts, that you would open our minds to the truth of your word. And would you show us. What true greatness is all about only your grace can produce this kind of greatness in our lives. Would you give us this grace for your glory?

For our good and for the advancement of the gospel through fellowship community church, we ask this in Jesus's name. Amen.

One of the great, great fights in boxing history took place on February 25th, 1964, when Cassius Marcellus clay took on the heavyweight champion of the world, Sonny Liston. And if you have any old school boxing folk in here, then you know that Sonny Liston was a bad man. He was a scary dude. One of the greatest, most powerful punchers in boxing history.

Sonny Liston had fist the biggest fist in boxing history. They measured 15 inches in circumference. Are you kidding me? Sonny Liston once knocked a dude's teeth out with a jab. And two years before he fought clay, he dismantled then heavyweight champion, Floyd Patterson. Sonny Liston was a scary dude. He had these sullen eyes and when he would look at you as like he was looking through your soul, everyone was scared of sunny lists.

So when Cassius clay at 22 years old was taking him on, nobody gave him a chance. He was an eight to one underdog, but when that fight began in Miami beach, all of a sudden it was clear why Cassius clay was so confident. He was taller. He was faster. He was sharper than Liston. And for the first three mountain first three rounds, he was just tearing him apart.

And Liston knew that he was in trouble. So between the third and the fourth round listing had his corner, man put some, a stringent on his gloves. And then he comes out for the fourth round. He gets clay in a clinch and he rubs the gloves up into Clay's eyes. And dude can see Cassius clay could not see for the fourth and fifth rounds.

And Sonny Liston just started pummeling him body shot. After body shot, people couldn't believe that clay was still standing. But then once this corner guys got the sponge into his eyes and cleared them out, once clay could see good night, he just started to pick apart the champion. And then before the eighth round started Sonny Liston, quit and Cassius Marcellus, clay who, you know, as Mohammad Ali announced to the entire world, I'm only 22 years old.

I upset Sonny Liston. I must be the greatest. And if you follow Muhammad Ali's career, he took on and beat some of the greatest heavyweights of all time. Joe Frazier, George Foreman. And if you ask most boxing historians who the greatest heavyweight was in history compared to the other grades who he beat, they will tell you that Muhammad Ali is the greatest of all time.

Boxing evaluates greatness by comparing that fighter to others. And can I tell you our culture evaluates greatness, the same exact way and our culture. If you have the highest GPA, if you are the best looking, if you go to the best school, if you drive the nicest car, live in the biggest house, have the biggest church in comparison to others, then that makes you great.

And because we live in this culture, we have taken on this understanding of greatness. So we evaluate our greatness by comparing ourselves to others. I want to show you in these texts from mark nine and mark 10, that Jesus radically redefines the metrics for greatness. Jesus is going to tell us through his word.

He's going to show us that greatness is not measured by comparing ourselves to others, but true greatness is measured by selfless service to others. That's what God wants us to see from his word this morning. So let's go ahead and open God's word and we'll take a look at it together. We're going to be in mark chapter nine.

I'd like us to pick up in verse 30. If you're using one of the Bibles in the pews in front of you, it's page 794, but however you access the Bible on your phone, you brought your own Bible or use one of the Bibles in the seats in front of you. I would encourage you to hold God's word in your hand. Let's read God's word together.

Now chapters eight, nine and 10 in the gospel of mark are known as the great discipleship discourse because Jesus is showing the disciples what it looks like to follow him. And we're going to see a pattern three times once in chapter eight, once in nine, once in 10, Jesus tells his disciples that he's going to die.

And then three days later he will raise again. And the disciples each time they don't get it, they don't understand what Jesus is saying. So let's take a look at the text together, mark chapter nine, we'll pick up, excuse me. In verse 30, they went on from there and passed through Galilee and he did not want anyone to know for he, Jesus was teaching his disciples saying to them, the son of man is going to be delivered into the hands of.

And they will kill him. And when he is killed after three days, he will rise, but they did not understand the saying. And we're afraid to ask him for the second time. Now Jesus has predicted his death and the disciples. They just don't understand what Jesus is talking about. Take a look at verse 33, excuse me.

And they came to Capernaum. And when he was in the house, he asked them, what were you discussing on the way they kept silent for? Because on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest. And I want you to process this for a minute. Jesus tells the disciples that he's going to the cross that he's going to die.

And their response is that they argue with one another. Over who is the greatest. They begin to compare between themselves, who is the greatest, you know what? It turns out that the first century has a lot in common with the 21st century. Interestingly, in the 1950s, some archeologists discovered a goldmine of antiquity.

They discovered an ancient, the remains of an ancient first century Jewish community at Qumran in the west bank of Israel. And not only did they find the dead sea scrolls with some of the oldest copies of the old Testament, they also found meticulous records of this first century community ranking, every single member of the community, according to their moral qualifications.

Imagine if pastor mark and the deacon sat down and said, okay, we're going to evaluate everyone here at FCC. And we're going to rank them. According to their moral qualifications, they were comparing their greatness based on how good they were compared to everyone else in the community.

Whether it's the first century, whether it's the 21st century, whether it's Jesus's disciples or whether it's us, we can't break free from this compulsion to compare ourselves to others. Take a look at verse 35 and he sat down and called the 12. And he said to them, if anyone would be first, he must be last of all.

And servant of. And he took a child and put them in the midst of them and taking him into his arms. He said to them, whoever receives or that could be interpreted. Whoever serves one, such child in my name receives or serves me and whoever receives me receives not me, but him who sent me. I think it's important to notice that Jesus does not rebuke the disciples for their desire to be great, but rather he shows them that their metrics, their measurement of greatness is off says, okay, you guys want to be great.

That's great. But you don't understand what true greatness is. Your metric is, is off. So Jesus takes a child and he puts him in the midst of the disciples. And then. Embraces the child in his arms as an object lesson. Now in the first century, children were expendable insignificant of little value to society.

So in many ways, children were the least, and Jesus takes this child in his arms. And he says, if you want to be great, if you want to be first, then you must be last. You must be the servant of all. Jesus calls his disciples to redefine what greatness is all about.

Can you hear the words of Jesus in your heart this morning? He's telling you that the way up is down, the way to get is to give, if you want to be first. Make yourself last. He is radically redefining. What greatness is all about. He tells his disciples to stop comparing themselves to other people and start selflessly, serving other people.

But the disciples, man, they just, they don't get it. They don't understand. The text tells us that, um, a little while before a man came with a son and asked the disciples to drive out a demon and they couldn't do it, they failed. And then Jesus had to do it for them. And now they encounter a man who successfully is driving out demons.

And the text says that the disciples told him to stop because they weren't following them.

Did you catch that? They see a guy casting out demons in Jesus's name and they tell the guy to stop doing that. Not because he's not following Jesus, but because he is not following them, the disciples, oh man, that's really embarrassing. They can't break free from the curse of comparison. Now these dubiously dense disciples.

They just ain't picking up what Jesus is putting down. I mean, time and time again, they just don't get it. Let's jump down to mark chapter 10. We're going to move ahead just a little bit. We're going to pick up with verse 32. Now keep in mind that Jesus tells them that to serve children, to serve the least.

And the last is the path to true greatness. So he, he just told them that. And then a bunch of kids come up to Jesus and mark 10, and one of the disciples. They drive the kids away. They still don't get it. Look at verse 32 and they were on the road going up to Jerusalem and Jesus was walking ahead of them and taking the 12.

Again, he began to tell them what was to happen to him saying, see, we are going up to Jerusalem and the son of man that's Jesus, his nickname for himself, the son of man will be delivered over the chief priests and the scribes. They will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles and they will mock him and spit on him and flog him and kill him.

And after three days he will rise. This is the third time. Now that Jesus is predicting his pending death, he's telling the disciples what is going to happen? Verse 35. And James and John, the sons of Zebedee came up to him and said to him teacher, we want you to do for us, whatever we ask of you, man, talk about a humble request, right?

I mean, that is like humility, personified. They come up to Jesus and they say, Jesus, here's the deal. We're going to ask something of you and you better do it for us. And Jesus is so patient and so accommodating. It's like, all right, what do y'all need? Look at verse 37, grant us to sit one at your right hand and one at your left in your glory.

So don't miss this. Jesus just predicted his unspeakable shame and suffering and death on the cross. And the disciples respond by saying that's great, but. When you become king, can you make sure that we're great.

That's what we're asking of you. We want to make sure that we're great. We want the best positions in your kingdom. Jesus, and you better accommodate us. This is absolutely mind blowing. This is incredible aloofness that they are displaying here. What's crazy is in Matthew 19, Jesus promises the 12 disciples that there will be 12 Thrones for them in glory.

That's not good enough for James and John. They want the best Thrones. They come up to Jesus and essentially say, we must be the greatest. Now, make it happen. Jesus. We've been walking through the gospel of mark at fellowship Crosspoint for, for over a year. Now I've been immersed in Mark's gospel and time and time again, I keep asking myself, oh my goodness, how did these guys keep missing it?

I mean, this is unbelievable. Time and time again, the disciples keep missing it. And yet Jesus is challenging me to ask myself, what am I missing

when you read the gospels? And you see the blindness, the stupidity, the ignorance, the selfishness of the disciples. You're not supposed to ask. How can they keep missing it? God wants you to ask, what are you missing?

A few years ago, I attended a church planting conference, like the premier church planning conference in the. So I flew down there and it was gonna be there a couple of days now in the Atlanta area and, um, got to the hotel. And usually when I travel, um, I always, my habits kind of in the morning, I get up early, spend time with Jesus and I really enjoy running.

So when I travel in the hotel, you'll always get up early, get down in the gym and have the gym all to myself. But at this hotel, I get down to the gym and I'm like jockeying for position to get on a treadmill. I couldn't believe the number of guys who were in the gym in the morning. I just couldn't understand what was going on.

Then all of a sudden it clicked. This is the church planning conference. This hotel is filled with type a task-driven first born men who burst out of their bed in the morning and are ready to just get after it. So finally, after I'm able to get a treadmill, kind of doing my thing and I start running and I noticed this young guy, he's like 10 years younger than me.

He's on the treadmill next to me. Like, why is this guy keep looking at my screen, look at your own screen, bro. Like what's what's going on. And I noticed that every time I increase the speed he looks over and then he kicks up the speed on his like series is unbelievable. So then I'm like, all right, I'm going to go a little faster.

So he starts going a little faster now I'm like, all right, son, let's do this. All right, we're going to do this, let's do this. So before I realized that we're like shamelessly racing each other, um, I'm increasing, he's increasing. And I'm like, there's no way I'm losing this thing no way. So full-blown ego kicks in and, and he gives in first he stopped.

So I'm like, that's right, father a six what's up now, son. You know what I mean? So I'm like feeling really great about myself. I get back to the room. I take a shower and then we're loading up the buses, the head over to the conference center and I'm boarding the bus. And this older gentleman is like, Hey, I think I saw you in the gym this morning.

So you were on the tremor. I was like, yeah. And he's like, so you liked her. Yeah. Yeah. I enjoy running. You ever running marathons, you have run a couple of marathon. He's like, Hey, let me introduce you to the guy that I'm planting a church with. He loves to run too. In fact, he runs ultra marathons, you know, like 40, 50, 60 miles.

And he's like, Hey Scott, come here. I want you to meet Brandon. And Scott comes over. Scott's like 10 years younger than me. Several inches taller than me, much, much, much handsomer than me. His teeth are just like glowing white. I mean, you wouldn't believe the teeth on this guy, full head of hair. He's like, Hey, nice to meet you.

And I'm just, I know in my heart, he's like 10 times better preacher than I am. Right. So I go from feeling like really awesome and all of a sudden feeling really, really humbled because I can't break free from the curse of comparison. Have you ever been there before

you define your sense of self, your sense of value based on how you measure up to other people? Sometimes that's great. And other times it's absolutely debilitating. Our first takeaway from this morning's text is this Jesus is calling us to kill our compulsion, to compare. He was pleading with the disciples and he's pleading with us this morning.

To kill our compulsion to compare. We live in the age of social media, right? Everyone's on Facebook. That's what we do. And social media I'm told is all about staying connected to the people we care about. Here's a quick question. When you're on Facebook, how much connecting are you doing versus how much comparing are you doing

when your old friend from high school, when her vacation photos pop up and you see that their vacation house much nicer than yours and her kids seem to be wearing much nicer clothes than yours. And they look much happier as a family than your family,

or maybe it's at work. You're in line for a promotion and yet they'd give it to some other guy. You went to a better school. You have the better resume. You have the better work ethic, but he must know somebody because he got the promotion.

And you know what, just for a moment, let me talk to my brothers and sisters who are in full-time ministry. Sometimes we're the worst of the lot. We see something happening in another church or another ministry it's growing. It's thriving. It's really healthy. And we tell ourselves that's, cause they're not really preaching the gospel.

They're just doing the, you know, the feel good seeker friendly stuff, but they're really not preaching God's word. Well, maybe that's the case, maybe not, but Jesus is calling us to kill our compulsion to compare. And just listen to me for a moment. If you are finding your identity and how successful you are and how much money you make, what kind of house you live in.

If you are finding your identity in that, rather than finding your identity in who you are in Jesus Christ, you're in a really dangerous place. And Jesus is pleading with you this morning to kill your compulsion, to compare and to look to him and find your identity in him and find your significance and who you are as a son or daughter of king Jesus.

And that identity is something that nobody can ever take away from you. James and John came to Jesus demanding that he makes sure that they had the greatest seats in the kingdom. And this is. Jesus' response. Take a look at verse 41 and when the 10 heard it. So the other 10 disciples heard about James and John.

They began to be indignant at James and John noticed they're just as bad. And Jesus called them to him and said to them, you know, that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lorded over them and their great ones, exercise authority over them, but it shall not be so among you, but whoever would be great among you must be your servant and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all the world defines greatness by comparison.

If you're smarter, better looking, make more money, drive the better car. If you have power and privilege and people serve you, then that makes you great. And Jesus is saying that's trash. That's not true. Greatness. In 2016, Adam, the Roach, a really successful major league baseball player. He abruptly retired from the Chicago white Sox.

He walked away from it all leaving $13 million on the table. Now ESPN reported the story that Adam the road shoe had a really tight relationship with. His son would always bring his son to the ballpark. He was hanging out in the clubhouse. He was there just hanging out, helping out, spending time with his dad and Chicago, white Sox, general manager got really tired of this.

Like it was a distraction. So he challenged the road saying, listen, your son can't come anymore. He's a distraction. And ESPN said that the Roach said, that's it. I'm out of here. I retire. That's not, that's not the whole story. ESPN left out the most significant part of the story in the off season, out on the road, she was a follower of Jesus Christ.

When a mission trip to Southeast. With a ministry called the Exodus road. Their whole ministry is about leading young women who are in the sex trafficking industry to freedom. So out on the road flies to Southeast Asia goes on a sting operation with some other dudes posing, like they're trying to get young girls.

And then these pants bring the girls and all of a sudden cops come in bust the whole thing up. Awesome. Adam, the Roach comes back from that mission trip, profoundly transformed. And he said, I came to realize that as a professional athlete, everywhere I go, everyone is serving me yet. I follow a savior who spent his life serving others.

So Adam, a Roach walked away from professional baseball, leaving $13 million behind. So he could work full time with the Exodus road ministry ad on the road. Is now pursuing true greatness for the glory of God. In John chapter 13, John is the only one who tells this story night before Jesus has killed.

He's celebrating the Passover with his disciples. And John tells us this and John 13, Jesus, knowing that the father had given all things into his hands and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper, laid aside his outer garments and taking a towel, tied it around his waist.

Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. I'm here to tell you this morning that Jesus is the greatest. He is the king of the universe. And the text tells us that Jesus knew that all authority, all power, all glory had been given by the father to him, the son.

And what does he do with it? He takes off his outer garments, lays them aside, ties a towel around his waist and then gets down on his knees and assumes the task of the lowliest servant and begins to wash the feet of his disciples. The feet of the very men who have been arguing about who is the greatest that's breathtaking,

that's breathtaking that the king of the universe would get down on his knees and wash feet.

As I mentioned, we spent about five years worshiping at the Trenton war Memorial theater. And if any of you have ever been there, they have an absolutely beautiful 1500 seat auditorium where they have all kinds of concerts and stuff. Yeah. That's not the room that we met. We met in the basement, a dank dark, and at times disgusting basement, the asparagus paint was chipping off the floors.

I mean, it was really nice and every single Sunday we would unload all of our stuff. We'd set everything up, get done just enough time to have our worship service. And then we'd have to break everything back down, pack it up and then collapse afterwards. Cause we're so exhausted. We did that for five years, preaching my guts out to 80 people and just asking God, we need breakthrough, bring breakthrough.

We can't do this. You have. And I remember one Sunday, we were celebrating baptisms really exciting. And, uh, so we got our, our baptistry, which doubles as a portable inflatable hot tub. And we go into the bathroom and I hook up the hose and I run it all the way out to the hot tub and where we're filling it up with water.

I'm thinking, man, what could go wrong? And after about 45 minutes of filling up the hot tub for baptisms, I go back in to turn the water off and believe it or not, the faucet that was built in 1932, it didn't have a tight seal. So I realized that water had been spraying out for 40 minutes and there's water all over the floor in the bathroom.

So my first instinct was I start grabbing paper towels out of the dispenser. I'm like, cause the people who work there, they didn't love having a church. So we didn't like to ruffle any feathers. So I'm like, man, the paper towels aren't doing, I need help. So I walk out and I'm looking around for help and I grabbed Ahmed and mark, there are first two lay elders that crossed my guys, come here, get in here.

And he just like top secret mission. Men want anyone to know about this flood in the bathroom? So we all start getting the paper towels, the three of us, and we're trying to dry up the floor and I'm like frantic trying to figure this out. And all of a sudden, just pause for a minute. And I'm looking at this guy who is a corporate executive for bank of America, and he's on his knees mopping up, who knows what is on that floor.

And then I look at mark, who's a union tradesman and wakes up at 4:00 AM every morning and drives an hour to work and works his butt off. And he's on his hands and knees wiping up all this water in the bathroom. And I thought to myself, that's true greatness. That's what it looks like to pursue. True greatness.

And I want you to know that the man who usually stands behind this pulpit for the past three decades has pursued true greatness. I remember before we were sent out to plant, we were coming to the Saturday night service. I was coming to run the slides and everything. That's one of the ways I was serving.

So I show up early and, and it was snowing was a day, a lot like this. And I show up early and who's shoveling the sidewalks, pastor mark. And I'm thinking, bro, don't you got like an intern or something who can, who can be shoveling the sidewalks. I remember thinking in my head, he's got to preach tonight.

And then at that time he would have been preaching three more times the following morning. And he shoveling the sidewalks because he understands what true greatness is all about. Takeaway number two from this morning's text embrace true greatness, become a servant embrace true greatness by becoming a servant.

I have to tell you this kind of true greatness that Jesus talks about. It only comes about by the grace of God. He has to do this in your heart in order for you to pursue true greatness. And I'm also here to tell you that true greatness becoming a servant. It begins in the home. It starts in your house.

Where am I? Beautiful mothers of young children. Your job is hard. And husbands don't be the moron husband who doesn't think that your wife's job is hard. Don't be that guy. And when you're waking up in the middle of the night to feed your baby, or when your three-year-old's waking you up in the middle of the night, because they're scared when you're wiping butts, changing diapers and thinking, how does this have significance?

It is significant. It is significant. You are a daughter of the king and you are washing feet and pursuing true greatness. Husbands, true greatness starts by serving your wife and serving your children, considering them to be more significant than yourself. And it's exciting to see what God's doing here.

In Mount Laurel, what he's doing at this church. And I'm sure there's a next generation of leaders who are excited and you want to be upfront. I'm here to tell you, you need to start in the back. You need to start in the back. The greatest thing you could do right now, if you want to be on the worship team or you want to be preaching, or you want to be leading, the best thing you could do right now is going to the nursery and start by changing diapers.

I praise God for that season in my life, serving in the nursery back there, clicking slides, doing things to begin to understand what true greatness is all about. Jesus told the disciples. If they want it to be great, they must become a servant. If they wanted to be first, they must become last. And then he says this great summation verse 45 for even the son of man came.

I encourage you to underline or highlight that word came. Even the son of man came. Do you know what that tells us? That means he already existed. Jesus has existed for all eternity, but he entered into human history for even the son of man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many ask yourself, why did Jesus have to give his life as a ransom?

Because if we compare ourselves to the perfect holiness and righteousness of God, we fall woefully short. Every single person in this room has fallen short of the glory of God. We have done our thing instead of God's thing. We have trampled his laws and we have offended the God of the universe and he would be 100% justified in just wiping us out.

But he didn't do that in love. He sent his only son to take on flesh to live the life that we could never, ever live. Jesus Christ took the whole of the law upon himself and he perfectly upheld the law so that he could be the perfect sacrifice. And when Jesus Christ went to the cross, when he bore your sin and my sin, it was the greatest act of service the universe has ever seen.

And for all those who recognize that they need the blood of Jesus Christ to cleanse them from sin. If you have trusted in Jesus and Jesus alone, the scripture say that you are watching. Your sin is no longer held against you, but I'll take it a step further by faith. Not only does Jesus take your sin from you and put it on himself, but by faith, he gives you his perfect righteousness.

And if you've trusted in Christ, then you are wrapped in the perfect righteousness of Jesus. And you can stand before the father and he'll say, why should I accept you? And you can say, you shouldn't accept me, but I've trusted in the finished work of Jesus Christ. I have the fireproof judgment proof righteousness of Christ wrapped around me.

We are not accepted by anything that we have done, but holy by what Christ has done, praise God for the gospel. If you're not yet a believer in Jesus Christ, it will be very easy for you to walk out of here this morning thinking, okay. So it sounds like I'm supposed to serve. I'm not supposed to be first.

I'm supposed to make myself last. And if I serve really hard and if I'm really humble, then God will accept me. Now. It doesn't work that way. You can't serve enough to make God accept you. It's impossible. But what you can do is be served by Jesus. Jesus served you by dying in your place. And if you trust in him, you are reconciled to your creator and there is nothing that can ever separate you from the love of God in Jesus Christ.

And when that happens, when you let Jesus serve you, it changes everything. Now you want to serve because Jesus has served. You let's pray father in heaven. We thank you for your word. We thank you for truth. We thank you, Jesus, for the cross, for the greatest act of service the world has ever seen. And I asked that by your grace, you would transform us to understand what true greatness is all about, make us servants and in.

So doing, would you unleash the power of the gospel through this local church, this body of believers for our good and for the advancement of the gospel and ultimately for your glory, we pray this in Jesus name. Amen. God bless you. You are dismissed.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/redefining-greatness f653b7be-b2fb-409b-9189-697b3e56cb8d Sun, 13 Feb 2022 10:00:28 GMT <div data-html="true">Mark 9:33-37; 10:32-45 <br /><br /> <span>“</span><span>If</span><span> </span><span>anyone</span><span> </span><span>would</span><span> </span><span>be</span><span> </span><span>first</span><span>, </span><span>he</span><span> </span><span>must</span><span> </span><span>be</span><span> </span><span>last</span><span> </span><span>of</span><span> </span><span>all</span><span> </span><span>and</span><span> </span><span>servant</span><span> </span><span>of</span><span> </span><span>all</span><span>.”</span> <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Good morning everyone. As Mike said, my name is Brennan Coughlin. Just give me one second. And in 2014, my family and I were sent out from fellowship community to plant a daughter church called fellowship capital city in Trenton, New Jersey. Um, and it was such a joy and a privilege to be able to plant a daughter church. <br /><br /> And so we moved up to Trenton in 2014, and we began to just serve our neighbors to try to love the city the best we knew how and begin to gather a core group of believers and saw some people come to know Jesus. And it was really exciting. We started house church in our living room and as our core group started to grow, we realized it was time to launch out. <br /><br /> And in September of 2016, we launched public services at the Trenton war Memorial theater. And just continue to, to follow Jesus and ask him to bless our work. And after a couple years of just grinding and growing and then shrinking and working hard and growing and shrinking again, we just really felt like we had hit a ceiling in our ministry. <br /><br /> We had around 80 or 90 people. We had seen some people come to faith, but just really felt like we couldn't move any further. And we needed God to bring about a significant breakthrough. So we were praying and just asking God to do something and then COVID hit. And we weren't sure what we were going to do. <br /><br /> And once governor Murphy allowed churches to gather again in may, we were excited to get together again, but we realized we have no place to gather. We rented a state owned building the Trenton war Memorial, and the state was indefinitely shut down, but we really wanted to get together. So we started gathering for worship in our backyard, in the west ward of Trenton. <br /><br /> Just hoping that God would bring a breakthrough in our. And then one day I just, I cleared my calendar and I said, today, I just need to go. I just need to go and walk, be in the wilderness and just seek the Lord and ask for his wisdom and his guidance. And as I was driving up there, I got a phone call. So I pull over, I answer the phone and this guy said that he was the treasurer from shady rest Bible church was, I'd never heard of in my life. <br /><br /> And he said, you know, we're an older congregation. We're looking to have to close our doors. And we wanted to see if you were interested in us giving you our church property and building who is this. And then I realized that he was serious. And we began a conversation between the elders of fellowship, Capitol city and the deacons of shady rest Bible church. <br /><br /> And after four months of praying and asking the Lord's direction, both churches voted unanimously for a rebirth merger and to the glory of God. This mostly senior dying congregation voted to hand over the keys and the deed to their property. And they said, we want to come underneath you and let's see what God will do. <br /><br /> And was an amazing act of humility to the glory of God. So out of that rebirth merger came fellowship Crosspoint church. We moved outside of Trenton to, uh, Chesterfield, New Jersey. It's the Northern tip of Burlington county. And we have just seen God do some incredibly amazing things. Now, part of this whole rebirth conversation, the elder elders, and I were saying, okay, if God would be pleased to be generous with us and gift us this church property, we want to make sure that we are generous in return. <br /><br /> And over several years we've been saving money towards acquiring our own building. And God just kept closing those. And we said, if the Lord is pleased to bring about this rebirth, we really want to be generous. One of the reasons that we wanted to plant a church in Trenton is because it has a thriving planned parenthood and no crisis pregnancy center. <br /><br /> So I got on the phone with my friend, Chuck Swanson, who is the director of options for women in cherry hill, New Jersey. And we started to dream together and I said, Chuck, man, it is such a joy. We're sending you a check for a hundred thousand dollars. So we can start the first and only pregnancy care center in the city of Trenton and to the glory of God, it is up and running. <br /><br /> So these pictures here are from our old office space, our old church office space in the west ward of Trenton and because of this rebirth merger and because of the ongoing support, financial and prayer support of fellowship community, Little Calisha and little Julian have life because their mothers were ministered to, in the name of Jesus Christ. <br /><br /> They were given the resources that they need, and they had people walk alongside them and encourage them that they could do this. So those children were born to the glory of God, through the generosity of this church. That is amazing. <br /><br /> And God just continues to show off in the life of our ministry. We, he has done exceedingly more than we could ask for, or imagine he has a fusions, three 20 does more than we could ever fathom. And right now we have more people gathering for worship than we ever had. When we were in Trenton, we were seeing people coming out of the woodwork. <br /><br /> We're seeing people come to know Jesus and fellowship cross point right now has the joy of pastor mark preaching to them this morning. And we are. Amazed and encouraged by what God has done. I want to personally thank pastor mark. I want to thank all the staff here and I want to thank the deacons for your ongoing and faithful financial support. <br /><br /> And I also want to thank many of the families and individuals who have been joyfully generous in supporting our ministry. We thank you from the bottoms of our hearts as a family, we are so grateful for your ongoing support and we are so grateful to God for his incredible, amazing grace. So it's a joy to be able to update you this morning. <br /><br /> But my primary purpose is to communicate the truth of God's word to you. I want to talk to you this morning about how Jesus. Redefines greatness in mark chapter nine and chapter 10. So that's where we're headed this morning, but I have absolutely no shot of getting us there on our own. So I'm going to pray and I'm going to ask God through the power of his holy spirit, that he would open the truth of his word for us, and that we would be transformed as a result. <br /><br /> Would you pray with me, father in heaven? Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing in your sight father. We thank you for the gift of your son. Jesus, we thank you for the amazing grace that we receive through him, through his life, through his death, through his resurrection and father. <br /><br /> I pray now that you would send the power of your holy spirit and that you would open the eyes of our hearts, that you would open our minds to the truth of your word. And would you show us. What true greatness is all about only your grace can produce this kind of greatness in our lives. Would you give us this grace for your glory? <br /><br /> For our good and for the advancement of the gospel through fellowship community church, we ask this in Jesus's name. Amen. <br /><br /> One of the great, great fights in boxing history took place on February 25th, 1964, when Cassius Marcellus clay took on the heavyweight champion of the world, Sonny Liston. And if you have any old school boxing folk in here, then you know that Sonny Liston was a bad man. He was a scary dude. One of the greatest, most powerful punchers in boxing history. <br /><br /> Sonny Liston had fist the biggest fist in boxing history. They measured 15 inches in circumference. Are you kidding me? Sonny Liston once knocked a dude's teeth out with a jab. And two years before he fought clay, he dismantled then heavyweight champion, Floyd Patterson. Sonny Liston was a scary dude. He had these sullen eyes and when he would look at you as like he was looking through your soul, everyone was scared of sunny lists. <br /><br /> So when Cassius clay at 22 years old was taking him on, nobody gave him a chance. He was an eight to one underdog, but when that fight began in Miami beach, all of a sudden it was clear why Cassius clay was so confident. He was taller. He was faster. He was sharper than Liston. And for the first three mountain first three rounds, he was just tearing him apart. <br /><br /> And Liston knew that he was in trouble. So between the third and the fourth round listing had his corner, man put some, a stringent on his gloves. And then he comes out for the fourth round. He gets clay in a clinch and he rubs the gloves up into Clay's eyes. And dude can see Cassius clay could not see for the fourth and fifth rounds. <br /><br /> And Sonny Liston just started pummeling him body shot. After body shot, people couldn't believe that clay was still standing. But then once this corner guys got the sponge into his eyes and cleared them out, once clay could see good night, he just started to pick apart the champion. And then before the eighth round started Sonny Liston, quit and Cassius Marcellus, clay who, you know, as Mohammad Ali announced to the entire world, I'm only 22 years old. <br /><br /> I upset Sonny Liston. I must be the greatest. And if you follow Muhammad Ali's career, he took on and beat some of the greatest heavyweights of all time. Joe Frazier, George Foreman. And if you ask most boxing historians who the greatest heavyweight was in history compared to the other grades who he beat, they will tell you that Muhammad Ali is the greatest of all time. <br /><br /> Boxing evaluates greatness by comparing that fighter to others. And can I tell you our culture evaluates greatness, the same exact way and our culture. If you have the highest GPA, if you are the best looking, if you go to the best school, if you drive the nicest car, live in the biggest house, have the biggest church in comparison to others, then that makes you great. <br /><br /> And because we live in this culture, we have taken on this understanding of greatness. So we evaluate our greatness by comparing ourselves to others. I want to show you in these texts from mark nine and mark 10, that Jesus radically redefines the metrics for greatness. Jesus is going to tell us through his word. <br /><br /> He's going to show us that greatness is not measured by comparing ourselves to others, but true greatness is measured by selfless service to others. That's what God wants us to see from his word this morning. So let's go ahead and open God's word and we'll take a look at it together. We're going to be in mark chapter nine. <br /><br /> I'd like us to pick up in verse 30. If you're using one of the Bibles in the pews in front of you, it's page 794, but however you access the Bible on your phone, you brought your own Bible or use one of the Bibles in the seats in front of you. I would encourage you to hold God's word in your hand. Let's read God's word together. <br /><br /> Now chapters eight, nine and 10 in the gospel of mark are known as the great discipleship discourse because Jesus is showing the disciples what it looks like to follow him. And we're going to see a pattern three times once in chapter eight, once in nine, once in 10, Jesus tells his disciples that he's going to die. <br /><br /> And then three days later he will raise again. And the disciples each time they don't get it, they don't understand what Jesus is saying. So let's take a look at the text together, mark chapter nine, we'll pick up, excuse me. In verse 30, they went on from there and passed through Galilee and he did not want anyone to know for he, Jesus was teaching his disciples saying to them, the son of man is going to be delivered into the hands of. <br /><br /> And they will kill him. And when he is killed after three days, he will rise, but they did not understand the saying. And we're afraid to ask him for the second time. Now Jesus has predicted his death and the disciples. They just don't understand what Jesus is talking about. Take a look at verse 33, excuse me. <br /><br /> And they came to Capernaum. And when he was in the house, he asked them, what were you discussing on the way they kept silent for? Because on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest. And I want you to process this for a minute. Jesus tells the disciples that he's going to the cross that he's going to die. <br /><br /> And their response is that they argue with one another. Over who is the greatest. They begin to compare between themselves, who is the greatest, you know what? It turns out that the first century has a lot in common with the 21st century. Interestingly, in the 1950s, some archeologists discovered a goldmine of antiquity. <br /><br /> They discovered an ancient, the remains of an ancient first century Jewish community at Qumran in the west bank of Israel. And not only did they find the dead sea scrolls with some of the oldest copies of the old Testament, they also found meticulous records of this first century community ranking, every single member of the community, according to their moral qualifications. <br /><br /> Imagine if pastor mark and the deacon sat down and said, okay, we're going to evaluate everyone here at FCC. And we're going to rank them. According to their moral qualifications, they were comparing their greatness based on how good they were compared to everyone else in the community. <br /><br /> Whether it's the first century, whether it's the 21st century, whether it's Jesus's disciples or whether it's us, we can't break free from this compulsion to compare ourselves to others. Take a look at verse 35 and he sat down and called the 12. And he said to them, if anyone would be first, he must be last of all. <br /><br /> And servant of. And he took a child and put them in the midst of them and taking him into his arms. He said to them, whoever receives or that could be interpreted. Whoever serves one, such child in my name receives or serves me and whoever receives me receives not me, but him who sent me. I think it's important to notice that Jesus does not rebuke the disciples for their desire to be great, but rather he shows them that their metrics, their measurement of greatness is off says, okay, you guys want to be great. <br /><br /> That's great. But you don't understand what true greatness is. Your metric is, is off. So Jesus takes a child and he puts him in the midst of the disciples. And then. Embraces the child in his arms as an object lesson. Now in the first century, children were expendable insignificant of little value to society. <br /><br /> So in many ways, children were the least, and Jesus takes this child in his arms. And he says, if you want to be great, if you want to be first, then you must be last. You must be the servant of all. Jesus calls his disciples to redefine what greatness is all about. <br /><br /> Can you hear the words of Jesus in your heart this morning? He's telling you that the way up is down, the way to get is to give, if you want to be first. Make yourself last. He is radically redefining. What greatness is all about. He tells his disciples to stop comparing themselves to other people and start selflessly, serving other people. <br /><br /> But the disciples, man, they just, they don't get it. They don't understand. The text tells us that, um, a little while before a man came with a son and asked the disciples to drive out a demon and they couldn't do it, they failed. And then Jesus had to do it for them. And now they encounter a man who successfully is driving out demons. <br /><br /> And the text says that the disciples told him to stop because they weren't following them. <br /><br /> Did you catch that? They see a guy casting out demons in Jesus's name and they tell the guy to stop doing that. Not because he's not following Jesus, but because he is not following them, the disciples, oh man, that's really embarrassing. They can't break free from the curse of comparison. Now these dubiously dense disciples. <br /><br /> They just ain't picking up what Jesus is putting down. I mean, time and time again, they just don't get it. Let's jump down to mark chapter 10. We're going to move ahead just a little bit. We're going to pick up with verse 32. Now keep in mind that Jesus tells them that to serve children, to serve the least. <br /><br /> And the last is the path to true greatness. So he, he just told them that. And then a bunch of kids come up to Jesus and mark 10, and one of the disciples. They drive the kids away. They still don't get it. Look at verse 32 and they were on the road going up to Jerusalem and Jesus was walking ahead of them and taking the 12. <br /><br /> Again, he began to tell them what was to happen to him saying, see, we are going up to Jerusalem and the son of man that's Jesus, his nickname for himself, the son of man will be delivered over the chief priests and the scribes. They will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles and they will mock him and spit on him and flog him and kill him. <br /><br /> And after three days he will rise. This is the third time. Now that Jesus is predicting his pending death, he's telling the disciples what is going to happen? Verse 35. And James and John, the sons of Zebedee came up to him and said to him teacher, we want you to do for us, whatever we ask of you, man, talk about a humble request, right? <br /><br /> I mean, that is like humility, personified. They come up to Jesus and they say, Jesus, here's the deal. We're going to ask something of you and you better do it for us. And Jesus is so patient and so accommodating. It's like, all right, what do y'all need? Look at verse 37, grant us to sit one at your right hand and one at your left in your glory. <br /><br /> So don't miss this. Jesus just predicted his unspeakable shame and suffering and death on the cross. And the disciples respond by saying that's great, but. When you become king, can you make sure that we're great. <br /><br /> That's what we're asking of you. We want to make sure that we're great. We want the best positions in your kingdom. Jesus, and you better accommodate us. This is absolutely mind blowing. This is incredible aloofness that they are displaying here. What's crazy is in Matthew 19, Jesus promises the 12 disciples that there will be 12 Thrones for them in glory. <br /><br /> That's not good enough for James and John. They want the best Thrones. They come up to Jesus and essentially say, we must be the greatest. Now, make it happen. Jesus. We've been walking through the gospel of mark at fellowship Crosspoint for, for over a year. Now I've been immersed in Mark's gospel and time and time again, I keep asking myself, oh my goodness, how did these guys keep missing it? <br /><br /> I mean, this is unbelievable. Time and time again, the disciples keep missing it. And yet Jesus is challenging me to ask myself, what am I missing <br /><br /> when you read the gospels? And you see the blindness, the stupidity, the ignorance, the selfishness of the disciples. You're not supposed to ask. How can they keep missing it? God wants you to ask, what are you missing? <br /><br /> A few years ago, I attended a church planting conference, like the premier church planning conference in the. So I flew down there and it was gonna be there a couple of days now in the Atlanta area and, um, got to the hotel. And usually when I travel, um, I always, my habits kind of in the morning, I get up early, spend time with Jesus and I really enjoy running. <br /><br /> So when I travel in the hotel, you'll always get up early, get down in the gym and have the gym all to myself. But at this hotel, I get down to the gym and I'm like jockeying for position to get on a treadmill. I couldn't believe the number of guys who were in the gym in the morning. I just couldn't understand what was going on. <br /><br /> Then all of a sudden it clicked. This is the church planning conference. This hotel is filled with type a task-driven first born men who burst out of their bed in the morning and are ready to just get after it. So finally, after I'm able to get a treadmill, kind of doing my thing and I start running and I noticed this young guy, he's like 10 years younger than me. <br /><br /> He's on the treadmill next to me. Like, why is this guy keep looking at my screen, look at your own screen, bro. Like what's what's going on. And I noticed that every time I increase the speed he looks over and then he kicks up the speed on his like series is unbelievable. So then I'm like, all right, I'm going to go a little faster. <br /><br /> So he starts going a little faster now I'm like, all right, son, let's do this. All right, we're going to do this, let's do this. So before I realized that we're like shamelessly racing each other, um, I'm increasing, he's increasing. And I'm like, there's no way I'm losing this thing no way. So full-blown ego kicks in and, and he gives in first he stopped. <br /><br /> So I'm like, that's right, father a six what's up now, son. You know what I mean? So I'm like feeling really great about myself. I get back to the room. I take a shower and then we're loading up the buses, the head over to the conference center and I'm boarding the bus. And this older gentleman is like, Hey, I think I saw you in the gym this morning. <br /><br /> So you were on the tremor. I was like, yeah. And he's like, so you liked her. Yeah. Yeah. I enjoy running. You ever running marathons, you have run a couple of marathon. He's like, Hey, let me introduce you to the guy that I'm planting a church with. He loves to run too. In fact, he runs ultra marathons, you know, like 40, 50, 60 miles. <br /><br /> And he's like, Hey Scott, come here. I want you to meet Brandon. And Scott comes over. Scott's like 10 years younger than me. Several inches taller than me, much, much, much handsomer than me. His teeth are just like glowing white. I mean, you wouldn't believe the teeth on this guy, full head of hair. He's like, Hey, nice to meet you. <br /><br /> And I'm just, I know in my heart, he's like 10 times better preacher than I am. Right. So I go from feeling like really awesome and all of a sudden feeling really, really humbled because I can't break free from the curse of comparison. Have you ever been there before <br /><br /> you define your sense of self, your sense of value based on how you measure up to other people? Sometimes that's great. And other times it's absolutely debilitating. Our first takeaway from this morning's text is this Jesus is calling us to kill our compulsion, to compare. He was pleading with the disciples and he's pleading with us this morning. <br /><br /> To kill our compulsion to compare. We live in the age of social media, right? Everyone's on Facebook. That's what we do. And social media I'm told is all about staying connected to the people we care about. Here's a quick question. When you're on Facebook, how much connecting are you doing versus how much comparing are you doing <br /><br /> when your old friend from high school, when her vacation photos pop up and you see that their vacation house much nicer than yours and her kids seem to be wearing much nicer clothes than yours. And they look much happier as a family than your family, <br /><br /> or maybe it's at work. You're in line for a promotion and yet they'd give it to some other guy. You went to a better school. You have the better resume. You have the better work ethic, but he must know somebody because he got the promotion. <br /><br /> And you know what, just for a moment, let me talk to my brothers and sisters who are in full-time ministry. Sometimes we're the worst of the lot. We see something happening in another church or another ministry it's growing. It's thriving. It's really healthy. And we tell ourselves that's, cause they're not really preaching the gospel. <br /><br /> They're just doing the, you know, the feel good seeker friendly stuff, but they're really not preaching God's word. Well, maybe that's the case, maybe not, but Jesus is calling us to kill our compulsion to compare. And just listen to me for a moment. If you are finding your identity and how successful you are and how much money you make, what kind of house you live in. <br /><br /> If you are finding your identity in that, rather than finding your identity in who you are in Jesus Christ, you're in a really dangerous place. And Jesus is pleading with you this morning to kill your compulsion, to compare and to look to him and find your identity in him and find your significance and who you are as a son or daughter of king Jesus. <br /><br /> And that identity is something that nobody can ever take away from you. James and John came to Jesus demanding that he makes sure that they had the greatest seats in the kingdom. And this is. Jesus' response. Take a look at verse 41 and when the 10 heard it. So the other 10 disciples heard about James and John. <br /><br /> They began to be indignant at James and John noticed they're just as bad. And Jesus called them to him and said to them, you know, that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lorded over them and their great ones, exercise authority over them, but it shall not be so among you, but whoever would be great among you must be your servant and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all the world defines greatness by comparison. <br /><br /> If you're smarter, better looking, make more money, drive the better car. If you have power and privilege and people serve you, then that makes you great. And Jesus is saying that's trash. That's not true. Greatness. In 2016, Adam, the Roach, a really successful major league baseball player. He abruptly retired from the Chicago white Sox. <br /><br /> He walked away from it all leaving $13 million on the table. Now ESPN reported the story that Adam the road shoe had a really tight relationship with. His son would always bring his son to the ballpark. He was hanging out in the clubhouse. He was there just hanging out, helping out, spending time with his dad and Chicago, white Sox, general manager got really tired of this. <br /><br /> Like it was a distraction. So he challenged the road saying, listen, your son can't come anymore. He's a distraction. And ESPN said that the Roach said, that's it. I'm out of here. I retire. That's not, that's not the whole story. ESPN left out the most significant part of the story in the off season, out on the road, she was a follower of Jesus Christ. <br /><br /> When a mission trip to Southeast. With a ministry called the Exodus road. Their whole ministry is about leading young women who are in the sex trafficking industry to freedom. So out on the road flies to Southeast Asia goes on a sting operation with some other dudes posing, like they're trying to get young girls. <br /><br /> And then these pants bring the girls and all of a sudden cops come in bust the whole thing up. Awesome. Adam, the Roach comes back from that mission trip, profoundly transformed. And he said, I came to realize that as a professional athlete, everywhere I go, everyone is serving me yet. I follow a savior who spent his life serving others. <br /><br /> So Adam, a Roach walked away from professional baseball, leaving $13 million behind. So he could work full time with the Exodus road ministry ad on the road. Is now pursuing true greatness for the glory of God. In John chapter 13, John is the only one who tells this story night before Jesus has killed. <br /><br /> He's celebrating the Passover with his disciples. And John tells us this and John 13, Jesus, knowing that the father had given all things into his hands and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper, laid aside his outer garments and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. <br /><br /> Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. I'm here to tell you this morning that Jesus is the greatest. He is the king of the universe. And the text tells us that Jesus knew that all authority, all power, all glory had been given by the father to him, the son. <br /><br /> And what does he do with it? He takes off his outer garments, lays them aside, ties a towel around his waist and then gets down on his knees and assumes the task of the lowliest servant and begins to wash the feet of his disciples. The feet of the very men who have been arguing about who is the greatest that's breathtaking, <br /><br /> that's breathtaking that the king of the universe would get down on his knees and wash feet. <br /><br /> As I mentioned, we spent about five years worshiping at the Trenton war Memorial theater. And if any of you have ever been there, they have an absolutely beautiful 1500 seat auditorium where they have all kinds of concerts and stuff. Yeah. That's not the room that we met. We met in the basement, a dank dark, and at times disgusting basement, the asparagus paint was chipping off the floors. <br /><br /> I mean, it was really nice and every single Sunday we would unload all of our stuff. We'd set everything up, get done just enough time to have our worship service. And then we'd have to break everything back down, pack it up and then collapse afterwards. Cause we're so exhausted. We did that for five years, preaching my guts out to 80 people and just asking God, we need breakthrough, bring breakthrough. <br /><br /> We can't do this. You have. And I remember one Sunday, we were celebrating baptisms really exciting. And, uh, so we got our, our baptistry, which doubles as a portable inflatable hot tub. And we go into the bathroom and I hook up the hose and I run it all the way out to the hot tub and where we're filling it up with water. <br /><br /> I'm thinking, man, what could go wrong? And after about 45 minutes of filling up the hot tub for baptisms, I go back in to turn the water off and believe it or not, the faucet that was built in 1932, it didn't have a tight seal. So I realized that water had been spraying out for 40 minutes and there's water all over the floor in the bathroom. <br /><br /> So my first instinct was I start grabbing paper towels out of the dispenser. I'm like, cause the people who work there, they didn't love having a church. So we didn't like to ruffle any feathers. So I'm like, man, the paper towels aren't doing, I need help. So I walk out and I'm looking around for help and I grabbed Ahmed and mark, there are first two lay elders that crossed my guys, come here, get in here. <br /><br /> And he just like top secret mission. Men want anyone to know about this flood in the bathroom? So we all start getting the paper towels, the three of us, and we're trying to dry up the floor and I'm like frantic trying to figure this out. And all of a sudden, just pause for a minute. And I'm looking at this guy who is a corporate executive for bank of America, and he's on his knees mopping up, who knows what is on that floor. <br /><br /> And then I look at mark, who's a union tradesman and wakes up at 4:00 AM every morning and drives an hour to work and works his butt off. And he's on his hands and knees wiping up all this water in the bathroom. And I thought to myself, that's true greatness. That's what it looks like to pursue. True greatness. <br /><br /> And I want you to know that the man who usually stands behind this pulpit for the past three decades has pursued true greatness. I remember before we were sent out to plant, we were coming to the Saturday night service. I was coming to run the slides and everything. That's one of the ways I was serving. <br /><br /> So I show up early and, and it was snowing was a day, a lot like this. And I show up early and who's shoveling the sidewalks, pastor mark. And I'm thinking, bro, don't you got like an intern or something who can, who can be shoveling the sidewalks. I remember thinking in my head, he's got to preach tonight. <br /><br /> And then at that time he would have been preaching three more times the following morning. And he shoveling the sidewalks because he understands what true greatness is all about. Takeaway number two from this morning's text embrace true greatness, become a servant embrace true greatness by becoming a servant. <br /><br /> I have to tell you this kind of true greatness that Jesus talks about. It only comes about by the grace of God. He has to do this in your heart in order for you to pursue true greatness. And I'm also here to tell you that true greatness becoming a servant. It begins in the home. It starts in your house. <br /><br /> Where am I? Beautiful mothers of young children. Your job is hard. And husbands don't be the moron husband who doesn't think that your wife's job is hard. Don't be that guy. And when you're waking up in the middle of the night to feed your baby, or when your three-year-old's waking you up in the middle of the night, because they're scared when you're wiping butts, changing diapers and thinking, how does this have significance? <br /><br /> It is significant. It is significant. You are a daughter of the king and you are washing feet and pursuing true greatness. Husbands, true greatness starts by serving your wife and serving your children, considering them to be more significant than yourself. And it's exciting to see what God's doing here. <br /><br /> In Mount Laurel, what he's doing at this church. And I'm sure there's a next generation of leaders who are excited and you want to be upfront. I'm here to tell you, you need to start in the back. You need to start in the back. The greatest thing you could do right now, if you want to be on the worship team or you want to be preaching, or you want to be leading, the best thing you could do right now is going to the nursery and start by changing diapers. <br /><br /> I praise God for that season in my life, serving in the nursery back there, clicking slides, doing things to begin to understand what true greatness is all about. Jesus told the disciples. If they want it to be great, they must become a servant. If they wanted to be first, they must become last. And then he says this great summation verse 45 for even the son of man came. <br /><br /> I encourage you to underline or highlight that word came. Even the son of man came. Do you know what that tells us? That means he already existed. Jesus has existed for all eternity, but he entered into human history for even the son of man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many ask yourself, why did Jesus have to give his life as a ransom? <br /><br /> Because if we compare ourselves to the perfect holiness and righteousness of God, we fall woefully short. Every single person in this room has fallen short of the glory of God. We have done our thing instead of God's thing. We have trampled his laws and we have offended the God of the universe and he would be 100% justified in just wiping us out. <br /><br /> But he didn't do that in love. He sent his only son to take on flesh to live the life that we could never, ever live. Jesus Christ took the whole of the law upon himself and he perfectly upheld the law so that he could be the perfect sacrifice. And when Jesus Christ went to the cross, when he bore your sin and my sin, it was the greatest act of service the universe has ever seen. <br /><br /> And for all those who recognize that they need the blood of Jesus Christ to cleanse them from sin. If you have trusted in Jesus and Jesus alone, the scripture say that you are watching. Your sin is no longer held against you, but I'll take it a step further by faith. Not only does Jesus take your sin from you and put it on himself, but by faith, he gives you his perfect righteousness. <br /><br /> And if you've trusted in Christ, then you are wrapped in the perfect righteousness of Jesus. And you can stand before the father and he'll say, why should I accept you? And you can say, you shouldn't accept me, but I've trusted in the finished work of Jesus Christ. I have the fireproof judgment proof righteousness of Christ wrapped around me. <br /><br /> We are not accepted by anything that we have done, but holy by what Christ has done, praise God for the gospel. If you're not yet a believer in Jesus Christ, it will be very easy for you to walk out of here this morning thinking, okay. So it sounds like I'm supposed to serve. I'm not supposed to be first. <br /><br /> I'm supposed to make myself last. And if I serve really hard and if I'm really humble, then God will accept me. Now. It doesn't work that way. You can't serve enough to make God accept you. It's impossible. But what you can do is be served by Jesus. Jesus served you by dying in your place. And if you trust in him, you are reconciled to your creator and there is nothing that can ever separate you from the love of God in Jesus Christ. <br /><br /> And when that happens, when you let Jesus serve you, it changes everything. Now you want to serve because Jesus has served. You let's pray father in heaven. We thank you for your word. We thank you for truth. We thank you, Jesus, for the cross, for the greatest act of service the world has ever seen. And I asked that by your grace, you would transform us to understand what true greatness is all about, make us servants and in. <br /><br /> So doing, would you unleash the power of the gospel through this local church, this body of believers for our good and for the advancement of the gospel and ultimately for your glory, we pray this in Jesus name. Amen. God bless you. You are dismissed.</div> false no <![CDATA[Powerful Witnesses Commissioned]]> Acts 1:6-11

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”



Good morning everybody. Few year here in you are watching online when a welcome you. If you're in Collingswood and watching this, I have a story. Uh, this past week, our pastors had our pastors meeting and we got to go down to the Collingwood campus. And pastor Jerry cooked up a breakfast fit for Kings. We had pancakes, bacon, eggs, and we're never having a staff meeting here.

Again. We're always going to go to Collingswood and he actually offered for the Collingwood campus for you guys to have that every Sunday, if it's something you'd like, he's more than willing to do that on a weekly basis. All right. We are in the book of acts this morning. Go ahead and pull out your Bibles.

If you forget what book we're in, there's a giant sign behind me and also we're going to be here for quite some time. So it's the book of acts we're in there this morning. Um, pastor mark shared a while back that a number of us pastors and some other ministry leaders are part of a, kind of a cohort that are learning to study scripture in some new ways.

And we're doing that in some monthly, every few months gathering with other churches in Pennsylvania. And one of the things we do is kind of go through a whole system of how to study. And one of the first parts of that study is a part of this triangle here. If you pull this up, this triangle is kind of, there it is.

It's questions that you ask and they're not fascinating questions. You probably ask them all. But moving from these basic questions of who, what, when and where to more powerful questions of the text when you come to it, why is this set here? How is this possible what's going on in this story, in this scene?

It's a, it's a great way to study. If you have one of the ax, scripture journals, maybe it's something that you do. Just ask questions, write them down and allow for the Lord to reveal those to you. As you study and kind of come back to them at the end, you'll find that as you study through, you'll be able to answer some of those questions cause you're reading with them in mind.

So we are in the book of acts. Go ahead and turn to page 8 55. If you're in a pew Bible, that's where it is. The morning's message is called powerful witnesses commissioned. Okay. We're going to be in verse six of chapter. So when they had come together, they asked him, Lord, will you, at this time restore the kingdom to Israel.

These are his disciples. They're asking this. And he said to them, it is not for you to know times or seasons that the father has fixed by his own authority, but you will receive power when the holy spirit has come upon you. And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.

When he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven, as he went behold, two men stood by them in white robes and said, men of Galilee, why do you stand here looking into heaven? This Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven will come in the same way as you saw him, go into heaven.

Are you guys hearing a ring? Okay. A little bit of ringing Daniel. I'm hearing ringing in my head. Maybe you can fix that for me in my head. Let's pray, father. We, we are so grateful that you have revealed to us in written word in our day. The story of your Spirit's work, building the church. God, this is not a story about a group of men who had what it took, but a story of your spirit at work in an among and through ordinary and unschooled people.

Your spirit is powerful and God, I pray this morning. Your spirit would have its way among us as well. We pray these things in your name. Okay. So just to quickly recap, Dr. Luke is the writer. He is a physician and he has written two volumes. The first book is Luke, his own book written to a man named Theopolis.

He calls excellent. Theopolis evidently he was a high up government official. And so the first gospel of Luke was written to Theopolis. Then we have the book of acts, which is volume two of this work. And you see the two differences here. The book of Luke, the gospel is Jesus at work, through his life, death, and resurrection.

The book of acts then takes us to the spirit of Jesus at work, through his followers, axes, a selected history of the early church. It's not expensive though. It tells a number of the details because Luke wasn't there for that early church history. He became a Christian later in. And what happened was he joined Paul on this missionary journey and continued his travels later in his life.

And so Luke collected all of this data through personal stories and interviews with people and recorded this down that Theopolis. And in turn us would have this record of the church. The book of acts holds 33 years of this history. And so as you're reading through, again, keep in mind a timeline of when these things happened is not just one after the other, but over 33 years, you probably have written down in your ax, scripture journal or notes, possibly you can even take them on.

Uh, church center app and then download those notes each week, but there are four objectives we will see throughout the book of acts. The holy spirit is working. I just want to review them with you. We're going to hear some of them, even this morning that may come out the first one to carry God's gospel.

The good news to all nations that will show up powerfully today. The second is to sustain God's people amidst every opposition, the third to fulfill God's sovereign purposes and the fourth to unite God's church. Those are the themes. That's what the spirit is doing in and among the book of. Final timeline to set this up, to know where we are today.

We looked at this last week, resurrection, resurrection, Sunday happened. He appeared to Mary and some other women to some disciples. There were 10 disciples, eight days. He spoke to his 11 disciples over the next few weeks. He was in the region of Galilee appearing to 500 followers, seven disciples by the sea of Galilee.

Even his brother, James, we get to the 40th day, which is where today takes place. The Ascension of Jesus on the Mount of olives. The question that I had was why is it super important that the book of acts records, all these numbers of people that he appeared. And something for me as I'm reading, this is how can 500 people who have seen the resurrected Jesus not become an absolute force, eye witness account in passing on that.

There is someone who has come, who is now alive, who was crucified. These eyewitness accounts. I don't know about you, but as I read, especially a book like acts, there's kind of a few ways you can come to it. Postures. Maybe you could come as a scholar, someone who really loves history. How many of you are like scholarly, love history dates, places, timelines.

A few. Yeah, those scholars normally just are like, we are, we don't have to talk about it. Right. Um, possibly you're like the casual admire or maybe a museum goer. That's beautiful. Those are nice events. You're really interested in like a war or something and you'll study in that way. But I would suggest maybe we come, not as those people, not that you have to turn off who you are, but as a disciple, a follower of Jesus studying the book of acts to see the mission of Christ in and among us, the spirit that is still at work today.

Okay. So we come to the first part that we have three headings were kind of, kind of worked through lots of M's this morning. The first is the mix-up and the mystery six and seven are the verses. So let's read it again. So when they had come together, they asked him, Lord, will you, at this time restore the kingdom to.

He said to them, it is not for you to know times or seasons that the father has fixed by his own authority. I don't know about you, but I'm often hard on the disciples. Like, come on guys, how could you not believe and see, understand these things? And we kind of give them a bad name. And I wanted to say this probably is a pretty logical question that the disciples were asking.

Why would that be a logical question? Well, if you go back knowing the last 40 days, Jesus taught about the kingdom, the resurrected risen Christ is standing there in the flesh teaching about the kingdom. So are you setting it up now? They ask, Jesus seems like a reasonable question to ask, but also as you see there and we'll fill in some blanks here for you, each of us are narrowly tempted to agendas, narrow agenda.

And power. Are you restoring the kingdom to here in Israel, in Jerusalem? Are you going to bring back our influence, our power Israel expecting to be a national kingdom here and immediately at this moment, we're going to be part of that kingdom. We've been patient. We've watched your persecution, witnessed your death.

Jesus, here we are. Post-resurrection I mean, let's get down to business, right? Come on to defeat the Romans. And he says, this is not for you to know the times and seasons of which God has appointed. Jesus taught all throughout his ministry on earth, about the kingdom of God in a lot of different ways using parables, they are still effective today.

You and I use them all the time, explaining things to kids, explaining things to people that can't see the things that we do well, it's kind of. This. And so Jesus throughout talks about these different parables. One of them is like the kingdom of God is like a man who's planting a field sowing seeds, and he sows the seeds.

And in some soil, the seeds take root and they grow. But in others, the seed falls by the wayside and is not able to grow. Some will accept the message of hope in Christ. Some will not. The kingdom of heaven is like weeds, right? You sell a whole field of wheat and somebody comes along. The enemy comes along and they sew some weeds in the middle and everything grows up and it's just a confusing mess.

But the master will come and gather the wheat to himself and burn up the weeds. The kingdom of heaven is like hidden treasure. The one who sees this and goes and sells everything. They have an order for this kingdom to be part of their. The kingdom of heaven is like having some fine pearls. He talks about this parable where he gives everything just for this one.

Pearl sells all the rest because of one that is so important. The kingdom of heaven is like a net that catches fish and you catch all sorts of fish. But in the end, there are some good fish that are kept and the ones that are not so good are tossed into the fire. So the disciples, as they're hearing all this, probably have this come on, like separate the weeds out, get rid of the bad fish.

We're here, set up this kingdom. Now these prophecies in Zeke you'll and Joel are, are two that really stick out to them. Here's what it says. I'll pour out my spirit and deliver those that call on my name. And Joel talks about this prophetic hope of rebuilding Jerusalem. So this is not a crazy question for the disciples to ask even the mother of James and John, remember in Matthew chapter 20, she says, Hey, when you're setting up this kingdom with my boys in the kingdom, can one of them sit on the right of you?

And the other will just, he can sit on the left and we'll all do this together. Jesus. And he politely rebukes all three of them by there's this draw to power, to prestige, to influence we're all tempted, narrowly focused on the things that we see instead. Then we pray as Jesus taught us to pray your kingdom come your will be done.

And Deuteronomy 29, 29, it says the secret things belong to the. His plans will always be higher, better, more all encompassing, totally redemptive motivated by the self sacrifice of his son. Jesus. Remember Jesus prayed in the garden. If there's any other way, I'm king for that father, but if not, not my will, but yours be done.

This is the way we ought to pray. We ought to live in this kingdom, not narrowly focusing on our agenda or our draw to power. The second is the means and the mission verse eight, but you will receive power when the holy spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth, Jesus directs their minds away from this earthly kingdom and takes their minds to what is to.

Off of an immediate timeline and foreshadows, what will happen when the spirit comes to bring power? There's a man named Alfred Nobel. You may know him because he's famous for the Nobel prize. He was a Swedish chemist and an engineer who lived in the 18 hundreds and Alfred Nobel. He held more than 355 patents.

He became the largest benefactor to the award. And so named after him, the Nobel prize, his greatest achievement though, was this compound that he made combining diatomaceous earth with nitroglycerin. I have no idea what either of those are, but it was an explosive type substance. His version seemed to be more safe than his competitors.

And so he came up with a really catchy name. Nobel's safety. That explodes kind of get your name out there, make sure people know that it's a safe way of exploding things, but it didn't stick. It wasn't selling it wasn't really popular. And so he asked his friend who was a Greek scholar, what's the word for explosive power.

And he said, well, the word is Dunamus spelled like this dynamism, as we would say it, the word is Dunamus somewhere with this Swiss pronunciation. We get the word dynamite today, which is what he created. He created more versions of that, but that's the word here. You will receive power. You will receive this explosive dynamite power when the holy spirit comes upon you, not some sort of innate thing.

Now that we have Christ in us, we have his spirit and now we March on, in our own. This is a specifically received power. You will receive this power. You don't have it. It's being given to you. We know that power comes from the holy spirit. We also know that spirit filled believers are to be witnesses. As we continue on there, you will receive power to be my witness.

The holy Spirit's work in us produces this witness. This is again, this is his power given to us, but when the life of a Christian becomes changed, because the spirit just won't allow you to do that anymore. And the spirit directs you into things that don't make sense to people as that life begins to change, to look more like.

We are filled with his spirit and look different as his witnesses. It's pretty interesting in the book of Luke and acts the phrase filled with his spirit is used. It's used about 14 times and every single time that somebody is filled with the spirit, there's something that happens right after that.

Almost every time to 14 times, the word of God is spoken boldly. Isn't that crazy? When the spirit fills somebody, we might think what the spirit would do, but every time they just give witness to what's been happening, spirit filled, people testify about Jesus. They bear witness to his. Witnesses, common word.

We know what that means, but maybe you've heard witness before talked about, and you're like, yeah, I don't do witnessing. I don't do evangelizing. Those are big Christian words. How do you do witnessing or evangelizing? Well, if anybody's ever been in a car accident or watched a car accident or something of that nature, you've probably been a witness before we were driving a few weeks ago and all four of us were in the car, my wife and two kids, and we're driving down route 55.

It's like pitch black at night. We're driving to see my nephew's basketball game. And these two cars zoom around us and right in front of us, this just us in these two cars, one of them swerves, flips and lands upside down on the side of the road. We are totally stunned. I'm thinking I'm going to walk across the road and find somebody who didn't make it miraculously.

Everybody was okay, but we became witnesses to that crazy thing that happened. My wife's on the phone with nine 11 and they're like, no, no, no, no. We need an eyewitness walk across route 55 in the dark and go see what you see in that car. And so that's what we did. And again, everybody was okay, thank God.

But we had to have eyes visual on what was happening. We became a witness to what we saw, what we heard and we gave testimony to what happened right in front of us. Maybe you've been a witness maybe in a legal case, or you had to give a testimony about. Oftentimes when you're raising kids, you're looking for a solid witness to all right.

What actually happened here, who started the thing right here? And some of you were like, we have a couple of trustworthy witnesses and one, not so much of this. The Greek word here for witness is Marty Ross. You can kind of see what that word looks like. Right? It looks like martyr. That's where we get the word martyr from.

And interestingly enough, this is just what happens. Certainly through the centuries, many people, including the early followers of Jesus were martyred killed for their faith and in their death. What happens? A powerful witness Springs forth, many came to know and love Jesus because of the way the followers faced.

And gave glory to God. Stephen, we'll see in just a few weeks here is the one that we see early on that is martyred and gives glory to God and people. There's this incredible explosion of people coming to know Jesus because of his death. The early church father Tertullian says the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.

It's kind of a dark quote, but it's how it happens. People's witness just bring forth what needs to be brought forth in someone's life. Okay. Let us see here. God's mission includes all believers to all people notice in the verse we're going on to Jerusalem, Judea Samaria, and to the ends of the. If you're a follower of Jesus.

If you have the spirit of Christ in you, if you've tasted forgiveness, if you know what grace looks like because of your own journey with the Lord, if you've been justified, you've, you've watched your sin nailed in your place on the cross God's mission involves you. You are a witness by very nature of following Jesus.

You are a witness to what has happened. We participate in this and we have the choice to be an effective witness, or maybe just to kind of cover that up and hide that witness first, Peter three 15, but in your hearts honor, Christ the Lord as holy always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason, for the hope that's in you.

And why, how are you okay. In this situation? Like there's no way you should be joy-filled there's no way you should have hope here. Why do you have that hope? I need that hope. What is it? Slam dunk right there. That is the conversation of witness Titus two. It says how we live is our witness that people would, as they come to bring charges against us, they really don't know how to do that.

They can't bring anything bad to say about us because of the way that we live and function as witnesses to Christ. We've been changed. We live that way. It is our witness in Jerusalem, Judea Sumeria to the ends of the. Jerusalem is right where they were located, their hometown. And then we know it kind of breaks out.

Judea is their own culture kind of in the same region, but it's not really the hometown Symeria then breaks out. It's a nearby culture though, different from Jerusalem culture. And then to the ends of the earth, including everyone not born of Jewish heritage, the Gentiles where Jesus is unknown, those circles keep building out, which we'll get to here in a minute.

John Stott says this Christ's kingdom tolerates, no narrow nationalism. He rules over an international community in which race and rank and gender are no barriers to fellowship. Giving you a second Tertullian quotes two in one sermon. This is like really church Fatheree 2 0 4, a D he's writing in this.

Roman empire he's in the north African region under the emperor. Severus and this is what Tertullian says we are, but of yesterday. And we have filled every place among you. Cities, islands, fortresses towns, marketplaces the very camp tribes companies, palace Senate forum. We have left nothing to you, but the temple of your gods, the pervasive nature of the witness of Christ goes forth.

We're everywhere. We're in every place. All you have left as a place to worship your gods. Those temples ate off Harnick is a German church historian. He says it this way. We cannot hesitate to believe that the great mission of Christianity was in reality, accomplished by means of informal missionaries, informal missionaries.

Does that classify you? Do you feel like you informally have this calling to be a witness where you are never met somebody that doesn't even know that they're a witness, but as you're talking to them, you're like, man, you are a bright shining light for the Lord. And someday that's going to just explode.

People are going to know because of what's inside of you. I met someone this week and a friend called and said, Hey, I'd love for you to connect with this guy. He's newer in his faith, but he's well, I'll let him tell you his story. So he came to my office, we sat for more than two hours and he was telling me his story and something like this involved early in his life with the demonic realm, just chose to kind of go into all of those things of darkness, friends, with many people who claim to worship Satan.

And he describes this long dark and terrifying journey of seeing and visualizing these things happening all around him. He dove headlong into the things of the world, trying to satisfy whatever it is that was missing. And finally, one of the friends, interestingly enough, who introduced him to this Satan worship kind of life said, I don't know why I'm telling you this, but you're supposed to talk to God.

And he said, this is really odd. Okay. I think I'll just, I'll go talk to God, God meeting in the middle of this whole. So he started praying somehow he got ahold of the gospel of John and started reading through the gospel of John. He was given some sermons and he started devouring the truth of God. And what seemed like in a miraculous turn of events with nobody around no formal setting with pews and a pastor, he gave his life to Christ, radically, this immediate release of the weights and struggles he'd been carrying the spirit of God, truly lives inside of this kid.

Someone who'd been depressed and anxious and without hope was now sitting across from me in my office and his eyes were smiling at me. I have chills even thinking about this, but I just couldn't even imagine, like, what was dark is now been made? Totally. With tears in his eyes. He said, I've never known this kind of love and joy and peace before.

It was one of the most moving experiences I've had to date as a pastor at our church bowing and lifting his hands in worship to king Jesus. And I said, man, I got to tell you, this is crazy. God's spirit is so in you. And he's going to use you in some incredible way, just as a witness. And I wondered sitting there, like, why isn't the church more like this?

Why aren't we people more like this? It seems like oftentimes maybe it's just pastor complex, but it's like read your Bible more. Pray more. Love him. He's so good. If you just spend some time with. And I had, I didn't have to do that. This child who had come to Christ was so transformed. He just couldn't get enough of Jesus.

And as we talked back and forth through this tension, he said, well, if the Spirit's alive in somebody, this is what's going to happen to them. And I'm like, do you want to preach on Sunday? Cause this is exactly what I'm talking about.

If the spirit of Jesus is alive among you, you have a story, a sinner once dead is now alive, it's his story. And we ought to tell it, number three, the majesty and the motivation verses nine through 11 here. And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up and a cloud took him out of there.

Let's just pause there. Right? This physically happened, right? This is the nativity last scene. In real time, a cloud took him out of their sight and while they were gazing into heaven, as he went behold, two men stood by them in white robes and said, men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven?

This Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven will come in the same way. You saw him go into heaven. Okay. First year all produces joy and. Jesus departs back in a cloud, the disciples are looking the better translation is they were gazing into heaven. Think of like a child that let's go have a balloon.

I had thought about doing that. And Tim said, yeah, then you could tie it to a string and pull it back down. And I lost it right there, but think about a child losing a balloon. And then you just kind of like, watch it go off into the distance. That's what they were doing. They were just gazing. This cloud just took this man and he's gone.

Like what? And we don't have the specifics in the book of acts, but if you go back to the book of Luke, the end of Luke, Luke 24, you'll find what happens in their amazement 24 verse 53, 53. And he led them out. As far as Bethany and lifting up his hands. He blessed the disciples. He blessed them. And while he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven and they worshiped.

And returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually in the temple blessing. God, it's been one of the craziest 40 day journeys they've ever had. He's resurrected. He's teaching about the kingdom crazy few years. He'll be with them in the spirit is coming and then he's gone. You would expect them to feel so sad and alone and abandoned.

And yet there is joy and there is worship and they race back to the temple. Yes, the places and the spaces that Jesus was just handed over into death. And here they are, the disciples blessing. God it's confirmation of the divinity of Christ possibly motivated them in a way they hadn't been before second here, the promised hope requires us to join.

It's a compelling end to the message. If you think about the last part of the nativity as I was reading it, I'm like, man, pastor Jim's narrative really made sense. A new story was promised and there was great hope, right? He's coming back, go and live in obedience, making disciples, be my witness and wait for the spirit to come.

You will receive power. Jesus had already rebuked them with his words about the kingdom. It's not for you to know times and seasons that God has planned. Romans 13, Paul says, stay awake. Don't fall asleep. Don't forget he's coming back. The promised hope requires that we join being witness to him. He will return think of those parables that he taught about.

He will come and divide the wheat from the weeds. He will come and take back his. Go and live as his witnesses. Now it's customary at the end of a sermon to give some applications action points. I've given you all the fill in the blanks. So here's what I want to do this morning. It seems like this is an incredibly obvious application.

Maybe you've already had a few possibly you've written some down names of people, places where you need to go. So I want to give you a few myths applications, things you should not walk out and continue to do this morning. The first is this. You should not continue focusing your attention, looking for nations and dates and times as to when the kingdom of God is going to come back.

What does that do? That deters us from in real time, right now, being a witness, let God be concerned. With the appointed times for everything be awake now to what he is doing. Second, we should not hold on tight to this earth, his kingdom, his will, whatever that looks like your goals or your aspirations, hopes, and dreams does all.

You want scream. Christ is all you live for. It is all of your money. Point to everything we want is Christ third. We should not witness in our own strength. We have been given the power of the holy spirit who gives us this witness. There's a group of us gathering. And one of the things we're talking about is just learning how to continue to say yes when the holy spirit prompts us, maybe it's in a conversation, maybe it's to not do something or to do.

But what if we practiced just responding? Yes. When the spirit prompts us, maybe gives us a passage or up a piece of scripture that really convicts our hearts. What if we said, yes, I hear you, Lord. This is speaking to me and I do need to move learning to pay attention to ways he's working and just start following him.

And as we learn to follow, we'll see incredible power on display. As we witnessed, maybe it's somebody, this gets brought to your mind out of nowhere. You're driving on the road and somebody's name comes up and you start praying for that person. What's God doing with our witness. We should not forget the word, receive forth in all things in all of life, in all of our stories, God moves first.

He acts, he wills. He intends, he gives, he loves. The first and the best he does, we can't lose this connection to the gratitude that we have. It's not my spirit. That's going and taking over and conquering things in the name of the Lord. I've been given this spirit. Okay. Last one with hesitation. I read these words to you.

We should stop thinking and acting and defining missions as overseas. Now I say that because we have some great missionaries who do not live in our country. Of course they are supporting and carrying the gospel to all nations, as we know they should. But many of us even support overseas, missionaries this formal calling.

And I'm not saying they are not doing the work of the Lord, but I want to speak to. The majority of Christians do not live in the United States. In fact, many countries who we have missionaries in our sending them here, what do we do with that? Missions is not an overseas project or venture. This is not offensive.

This possibly could be an exciting thing that we have just as much opportunity down the street on the sideline at the store, wherever it is to be a witness. And I'll say this, we have missions trips. And I have been man through the years on some incredible times where God has used me. God has used our teams to bring the hope to people.

You should not go there and preach the gospel. If you can't live here and preach the gospel because play this. How many, have you been on a missions trip before? Some of you, okay. A lot of times you get, there you go on this missions trip and surprise. What do you have to do when you go there? Tell people about Jesus.

It's not like you all of a sudden quick switch and you do something different. That's the mission here as it is there. Why would we have to fly across the world to start doing that? If it's how we're living? Yes. Then we should go in always to the ends of the earth, this little graphic at the end, just to remind you, as we pray, is that there acts one eight circles going out, okay.

Jerusalem, Judea, Sumeria, to the ends of the arthritis. They're starting in Jerusalem. They're moving outward to the ends of the earth, and God will do that, but he doesn't say start by traveling a long way away and tell those people about Jesus. He says, Jerusalem.

There's a lot here. Lots of unpack. And the book of acts is so exciting because it's not about a great bunch of men carrying the message. It's about the spirit at work. Let's pray. Jesus. We give you praise this morning. I don't know why you said it would be better if you left, but all I can see is that your spirit is so actively at work and there you are sitting at the right hand of your father and we get to live as your witnesses here and locally and further out.

Just these rings that spread out to the, to the ends of the earth. Lord protect us from sitting here and guessing about times and dates. And when you're going to do this and that and lining up with this kingdom and making our nation most imp. Your kingdom involves the ends of the earth. And so we ask God, lead us here and there.

And wherever you might to be your witnesses in your Spirit's power, we pray these things in your name. Amen. Amen. Thanks for being here this morning. You are dismissed.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/powerful-witnesses-commissioned 1fffcee7-0852-4ad7-adec-e83083c092a0 Sun, 06 Feb 2022 08:06:59 GMT <div data-html="true">Acts 1:6-11 <br /><br /> But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Good morning everybody. Few year here in you are watching online when a welcome you. If you're in Collingswood and watching this, I have a story. Uh, this past week, our pastors had our pastors meeting and we got to go down to the Collingwood campus. And pastor Jerry cooked up a breakfast fit for Kings. We had pancakes, bacon, eggs, and we're never having a staff meeting here. <br /><br /> Again. We're always going to go to Collingswood and he actually offered for the Collingwood campus for you guys to have that every Sunday, if it's something you'd like, he's more than willing to do that on a weekly basis. All right. We are in the book of acts this morning. Go ahead and pull out your Bibles. <br /><br /> If you forget what book we're in, there's a giant sign behind me and also we're going to be here for quite some time. So it's the book of acts we're in there this morning. Um, pastor mark shared a while back that a number of us pastors and some other ministry leaders are part of a, kind of a cohort that are learning to study scripture in some new ways. <br /><br /> And we're doing that in some monthly, every few months gathering with other churches in Pennsylvania. And one of the things we do is kind of go through a whole system of how to study. And one of the first parts of that study is a part of this triangle here. If you pull this up, this triangle is kind of, there it is. <br /><br /> It's questions that you ask and they're not fascinating questions. You probably ask them all. But moving from these basic questions of who, what, when and where to more powerful questions of the text when you come to it, why is this set here? How is this possible what's going on in this story, in this scene? <br /><br /> It's a, it's a great way to study. If you have one of the ax, scripture journals, maybe it's something that you do. Just ask questions, write them down and allow for the Lord to reveal those to you. As you study and kind of come back to them at the end, you'll find that as you study through, you'll be able to answer some of those questions cause you're reading with them in mind. <br /><br /> So we are in the book of acts. Go ahead and turn to page 8 55. If you're in a pew Bible, that's where it is. The morning's message is called powerful witnesses commissioned. Okay. We're going to be in verse six of chapter. So when they had come together, they asked him, Lord, will you, at this time restore the kingdom to Israel. <br /><br /> These are his disciples. They're asking this. And he said to them, it is not for you to know times or seasons that the father has fixed by his own authority, but you will receive power when the holy spirit has come upon you. And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. <br /><br /> When he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven, as he went behold, two men stood by them in white robes and said, men of Galilee, why do you stand here looking into heaven? This Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven will come in the same way as you saw him, go into heaven. <br /><br /> Are you guys hearing a ring? Okay. A little bit of ringing Daniel. I'm hearing ringing in my head. Maybe you can fix that for me in my head. Let's pray, father. We, we are so grateful that you have revealed to us in written word in our day. The story of your Spirit's work, building the church. God, this is not a story about a group of men who had what it took, but a story of your spirit at work in an among and through ordinary and unschooled people. <br /><br /> Your spirit is powerful and God, I pray this morning. Your spirit would have its way among us as well. We pray these things in your name. Okay. So just to quickly recap, Dr. Luke is the writer. He is a physician and he has written two volumes. The first book is Luke, his own book written to a man named Theopolis. <br /><br /> He calls excellent. Theopolis evidently he was a high up government official. And so the first gospel of Luke was written to Theopolis. Then we have the book of acts, which is volume two of this work. And you see the two differences here. The book of Luke, the gospel is Jesus at work, through his life, death, and resurrection. <br /><br /> The book of acts then takes us to the spirit of Jesus at work, through his followers, axes, a selected history of the early church. It's not expensive though. It tells a number of the details because Luke wasn't there for that early church history. He became a Christian later in. And what happened was he joined Paul on this missionary journey and continued his travels later in his life. <br /><br /> And so Luke collected all of this data through personal stories and interviews with people and recorded this down that Theopolis. And in turn us would have this record of the church. The book of acts holds 33 years of this history. And so as you're reading through, again, keep in mind a timeline of when these things happened is not just one after the other, but over 33 years, you probably have written down in your ax, scripture journal or notes, possibly you can even take them on. <br /><br /> Uh, church center app and then download those notes each week, but there are four objectives we will see throughout the book of acts. The holy spirit is working. I just want to review them with you. We're going to hear some of them, even this morning that may come out the first one to carry God's gospel. <br /><br /> The good news to all nations that will show up powerfully today. The second is to sustain God's people amidst every opposition, the third to fulfill God's sovereign purposes and the fourth to unite God's church. Those are the themes. That's what the spirit is doing in and among the book of. Final timeline to set this up, to know where we are today. <br /><br /> We looked at this last week, resurrection, resurrection, Sunday happened. He appeared to Mary and some other women to some disciples. There were 10 disciples, eight days. He spoke to his 11 disciples over the next few weeks. He was in the region of Galilee appearing to 500 followers, seven disciples by the sea of Galilee. <br /><br /> Even his brother, James, we get to the 40th day, which is where today takes place. The Ascension of Jesus on the Mount of olives. The question that I had was why is it super important that the book of acts records, all these numbers of people that he appeared. And something for me as I'm reading, this is how can 500 people who have seen the resurrected Jesus not become an absolute force, eye witness account in passing on that. <br /><br /> There is someone who has come, who is now alive, who was crucified. These eyewitness accounts. I don't know about you, but as I read, especially a book like acts, there's kind of a few ways you can come to it. Postures. Maybe you could come as a scholar, someone who really loves history. How many of you are like scholarly, love history dates, places, timelines. <br /><br /> A few. Yeah, those scholars normally just are like, we are, we don't have to talk about it. Right. Um, possibly you're like the casual admire or maybe a museum goer. That's beautiful. Those are nice events. You're really interested in like a war or something and you'll study in that way. But I would suggest maybe we come, not as those people, not that you have to turn off who you are, but as a disciple, a follower of Jesus studying the book of acts to see the mission of Christ in and among us, the spirit that is still at work today. <br /><br /> Okay. So we come to the first part that we have three headings were kind of, kind of worked through lots of M's this morning. The first is the mix-up and the mystery six and seven are the verses. So let's read it again. So when they had come together, they asked him, Lord, will you, at this time restore the kingdom to. <br /><br /> He said to them, it is not for you to know times or seasons that the father has fixed by his own authority. I don't know about you, but I'm often hard on the disciples. Like, come on guys, how could you not believe and see, understand these things? And we kind of give them a bad name. And I wanted to say this probably is a pretty logical question that the disciples were asking. <br /><br /> Why would that be a logical question? Well, if you go back knowing the last 40 days, Jesus taught about the kingdom, the resurrected risen Christ is standing there in the flesh teaching about the kingdom. So are you setting it up now? They ask, Jesus seems like a reasonable question to ask, but also as you see there and we'll fill in some blanks here for you, each of us are narrowly tempted to agendas, narrow agenda. <br /><br /> And power. Are you restoring the kingdom to here in Israel, in Jerusalem? Are you going to bring back our influence, our power Israel expecting to be a national kingdom here and immediately at this moment, we're going to be part of that kingdom. We've been patient. We've watched your persecution, witnessed your death. <br /><br /> Jesus, here we are. Post-resurrection I mean, let's get down to business, right? Come on to defeat the Romans. And he says, this is not for you to know the times and seasons of which God has appointed. Jesus taught all throughout his ministry on earth, about the kingdom of God in a lot of different ways using parables, they are still effective today. <br /><br /> You and I use them all the time, explaining things to kids, explaining things to people that can't see the things that we do well, it's kind of. This. And so Jesus throughout talks about these different parables. One of them is like the kingdom of God is like a man who's planting a field sowing seeds, and he sows the seeds. <br /><br /> And in some soil, the seeds take root and they grow. But in others, the seed falls by the wayside and is not able to grow. Some will accept the message of hope in Christ. Some will not. The kingdom of heaven is like weeds, right? You sell a whole field of wheat and somebody comes along. The enemy comes along and they sew some weeds in the middle and everything grows up and it's just a confusing mess. <br /><br /> But the master will come and gather the wheat to himself and burn up the weeds. The kingdom of heaven is like hidden treasure. The one who sees this and goes and sells everything. They have an order for this kingdom to be part of their. The kingdom of heaven is like having some fine pearls. He talks about this parable where he gives everything just for this one. <br /><br /> Pearl sells all the rest because of one that is so important. The kingdom of heaven is like a net that catches fish and you catch all sorts of fish. But in the end, there are some good fish that are kept and the ones that are not so good are tossed into the fire. So the disciples, as they're hearing all this, probably have this come on, like separate the weeds out, get rid of the bad fish. <br /><br /> We're here, set up this kingdom. Now these prophecies in Zeke you'll and Joel are, are two that really stick out to them. Here's what it says. I'll pour out my spirit and deliver those that call on my name. And Joel talks about this prophetic hope of rebuilding Jerusalem. So this is not a crazy question for the disciples to ask even the mother of James and John, remember in Matthew chapter 20, she says, Hey, when you're setting up this kingdom with my boys in the kingdom, can one of them sit on the right of you? <br /><br /> And the other will just, he can sit on the left and we'll all do this together. Jesus. And he politely rebukes all three of them by there's this draw to power, to prestige, to influence we're all tempted, narrowly focused on the things that we see instead. Then we pray as Jesus taught us to pray your kingdom come your will be done. <br /><br /> And Deuteronomy 29, 29, it says the secret things belong to the. His plans will always be higher, better, more all encompassing, totally redemptive motivated by the self sacrifice of his son. Jesus. Remember Jesus prayed in the garden. If there's any other way, I'm king for that father, but if not, not my will, but yours be done. <br /><br /> This is the way we ought to pray. We ought to live in this kingdom, not narrowly focusing on our agenda or our draw to power. The second is the means and the mission verse eight, but you will receive power when the holy spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth, Jesus directs their minds away from this earthly kingdom and takes their minds to what is to. <br /><br /> Off of an immediate timeline and foreshadows, what will happen when the spirit comes to bring power? There's a man named Alfred Nobel. You may know him because he's famous for the Nobel prize. He was a Swedish chemist and an engineer who lived in the 18 hundreds and Alfred Nobel. He held more than 355 patents. <br /><br /> He became the largest benefactor to the award. And so named after him, the Nobel prize, his greatest achievement though, was this compound that he made combining diatomaceous earth with nitroglycerin. I have no idea what either of those are, but it was an explosive type substance. His version seemed to be more safe than his competitors. <br /><br /> And so he came up with a really catchy name. Nobel's safety. That explodes kind of get your name out there, make sure people know that it's a safe way of exploding things, but it didn't stick. It wasn't selling it wasn't really popular. And so he asked his friend who was a Greek scholar, what's the word for explosive power. <br /><br /> And he said, well, the word is Dunamus spelled like this dynamism, as we would say it, the word is Dunamus somewhere with this Swiss pronunciation. We get the word dynamite today, which is what he created. He created more versions of that, but that's the word here. You will receive power. You will receive this explosive dynamite power when the holy spirit comes upon you, not some sort of innate thing. <br /><br /> Now that we have Christ in us, we have his spirit and now we March on, in our own. This is a specifically received power. You will receive this power. You don't have it. It's being given to you. We know that power comes from the holy spirit. We also know that spirit filled believers are to be witnesses. As we continue on there, you will receive power to be my witness. <br /><br /> The holy Spirit's work in us produces this witness. This is again, this is his power given to us, but when the life of a Christian becomes changed, because the spirit just won't allow you to do that anymore. And the spirit directs you into things that don't make sense to people as that life begins to change, to look more like. <br /><br /> We are filled with his spirit and look different as his witnesses. It's pretty interesting in the book of Luke and acts the phrase filled with his spirit is used. It's used about 14 times and every single time that somebody is filled with the spirit, there's something that happens right after that. <br /><br /> Almost every time to 14 times, the word of God is spoken boldly. Isn't that crazy? When the spirit fills somebody, we might think what the spirit would do, but every time they just give witness to what's been happening, spirit filled, people testify about Jesus. They bear witness to his. Witnesses, common word. <br /><br /> We know what that means, but maybe you've heard witness before talked about, and you're like, yeah, I don't do witnessing. I don't do evangelizing. Those are big Christian words. How do you do witnessing or evangelizing? Well, if anybody's ever been in a car accident or watched a car accident or something of that nature, you've probably been a witness before we were driving a few weeks ago and all four of us were in the car, my wife and two kids, and we're driving down route 55. <br /><br /> It's like pitch black at night. We're driving to see my nephew's basketball game. And these two cars zoom around us and right in front of us, this just us in these two cars, one of them swerves, flips and lands upside down on the side of the road. We are totally stunned. I'm thinking I'm going to walk across the road and find somebody who didn't make it miraculously. <br /><br /> Everybody was okay, but we became witnesses to that crazy thing that happened. My wife's on the phone with nine 11 and they're like, no, no, no, no. We need an eyewitness walk across route 55 in the dark and go see what you see in that car. And so that's what we did. And again, everybody was okay, thank God. <br /><br /> But we had to have eyes visual on what was happening. We became a witness to what we saw, what we heard and we gave testimony to what happened right in front of us. Maybe you've been a witness maybe in a legal case, or you had to give a testimony about. Oftentimes when you're raising kids, you're looking for a solid witness to all right. <br /><br /> What actually happened here, who started the thing right here? And some of you were like, we have a couple of trustworthy witnesses and one, not so much of this. The Greek word here for witness is Marty Ross. You can kind of see what that word looks like. Right? It looks like martyr. That's where we get the word martyr from. <br /><br /> And interestingly enough, this is just what happens. Certainly through the centuries, many people, including the early followers of Jesus were martyred killed for their faith and in their death. What happens? A powerful witness Springs forth, many came to know and love Jesus because of the way the followers faced. <br /><br /> And gave glory to God. Stephen, we'll see in just a few weeks here is the one that we see early on that is martyred and gives glory to God and people. There's this incredible explosion of people coming to know Jesus because of his death. The early church father Tertullian says the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. <br /><br /> It's kind of a dark quote, but it's how it happens. People's witness just bring forth what needs to be brought forth in someone's life. Okay. Let us see here. God's mission includes all believers to all people notice in the verse we're going on to Jerusalem, Judea Samaria, and to the ends of the. If you're a follower of Jesus. <br /><br /> If you have the spirit of Christ in you, if you've tasted forgiveness, if you know what grace looks like because of your own journey with the Lord, if you've been justified, you've, you've watched your sin nailed in your place on the cross God's mission involves you. You are a witness by very nature of following Jesus. <br /><br /> You are a witness to what has happened. We participate in this and we have the choice to be an effective witness, or maybe just to kind of cover that up and hide that witness first, Peter three 15, but in your hearts honor, Christ the Lord as holy always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason, for the hope that's in you. <br /><br /> And why, how are you okay. In this situation? Like there's no way you should be joy-filled there's no way you should have hope here. Why do you have that hope? I need that hope. What is it? Slam dunk right there. That is the conversation of witness Titus two. It says how we live is our witness that people would, as they come to bring charges against us, they really don't know how to do that. <br /><br /> They can't bring anything bad to say about us because of the way that we live and function as witnesses to Christ. We've been changed. We live that way. It is our witness in Jerusalem, Judea Sumeria to the ends of the. Jerusalem is right where they were located, their hometown. And then we know it kind of breaks out. <br /><br /> Judea is their own culture kind of in the same region, but it's not really the hometown Symeria then breaks out. It's a nearby culture though, different from Jerusalem culture. And then to the ends of the earth, including everyone not born of Jewish heritage, the Gentiles where Jesus is unknown, those circles keep building out, which we'll get to here in a minute. <br /><br /> John Stott says this Christ's kingdom tolerates, no narrow nationalism. He rules over an international community in which race and rank and gender are no barriers to fellowship. Giving you a second Tertullian quotes two in one sermon. This is like really church Fatheree 2 0 4, a D he's writing in this. <br /><br /> Roman empire he's in the north African region under the emperor. Severus and this is what Tertullian says we are, but of yesterday. And we have filled every place among you. Cities, islands, fortresses towns, marketplaces the very camp tribes companies, palace Senate forum. We have left nothing to you, but the temple of your gods, the pervasive nature of the witness of Christ goes forth. <br /><br /> We're everywhere. We're in every place. All you have left as a place to worship your gods. Those temples ate off Harnick is a German church historian. He says it this way. We cannot hesitate to believe that the great mission of Christianity was in reality, accomplished by means of informal missionaries, informal missionaries. <br /><br /> Does that classify you? Do you feel like you informally have this calling to be a witness where you are never met somebody that doesn't even know that they're a witness, but as you're talking to them, you're like, man, you are a bright shining light for the Lord. And someday that's going to just explode. <br /><br /> People are going to know because of what's inside of you. I met someone this week and a friend called and said, Hey, I'd love for you to connect with this guy. He's newer in his faith, but he's well, I'll let him tell you his story. So he came to my office, we sat for more than two hours and he was telling me his story and something like this involved early in his life with the demonic realm, just chose to kind of go into all of those things of darkness, friends, with many people who claim to worship Satan. <br /><br /> And he describes this long dark and terrifying journey of seeing and visualizing these things happening all around him. He dove headlong into the things of the world, trying to satisfy whatever it is that was missing. And finally, one of the friends, interestingly enough, who introduced him to this Satan worship kind of life said, I don't know why I'm telling you this, but you're supposed to talk to God. <br /><br /> And he said, this is really odd. Okay. I think I'll just, I'll go talk to God, God meeting in the middle of this whole. So he started praying somehow he got ahold of the gospel of John and started reading through the gospel of John. He was given some sermons and he started devouring the truth of God. And what seemed like in a miraculous turn of events with nobody around no formal setting with pews and a pastor, he gave his life to Christ, radically, this immediate release of the weights and struggles he'd been carrying the spirit of God, truly lives inside of this kid. <br /><br /> Someone who'd been depressed and anxious and without hope was now sitting across from me in my office and his eyes were smiling at me. I have chills even thinking about this, but I just couldn't even imagine, like, what was dark is now been made? Totally. With tears in his eyes. He said, I've never known this kind of love and joy and peace before. <br /><br /> It was one of the most moving experiences I've had to date as a pastor at our church bowing and lifting his hands in worship to king Jesus. And I said, man, I got to tell you, this is crazy. God's spirit is so in you. And he's going to use you in some incredible way, just as a witness. And I wondered sitting there, like, why isn't the church more like this? <br /><br /> Why aren't we people more like this? It seems like oftentimes maybe it's just pastor complex, but it's like read your Bible more. Pray more. Love him. He's so good. If you just spend some time with. And I had, I didn't have to do that. This child who had come to Christ was so transformed. He just couldn't get enough of Jesus. <br /><br /> And as we talked back and forth through this tension, he said, well, if the Spirit's alive in somebody, this is what's going to happen to them. And I'm like, do you want to preach on Sunday? Cause this is exactly what I'm talking about. <br /><br /> If the spirit of Jesus is alive among you, you have a story, a sinner once dead is now alive, it's his story. And we ought to tell it, number three, the majesty and the motivation verses nine through 11 here. And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up and a cloud took him out of there. <br /><br /> Let's just pause there. Right? This physically happened, right? This is the nativity last scene. In real time, a cloud took him out of their sight and while they were gazing into heaven, as he went behold, two men stood by them in white robes and said, men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? <br /><br /> This Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven will come in the same way. You saw him go into heaven. Okay. First year all produces joy and. Jesus departs back in a cloud, the disciples are looking the better translation is they were gazing into heaven. Think of like a child that let's go have a balloon. <br /><br /> I had thought about doing that. And Tim said, yeah, then you could tie it to a string and pull it back down. And I lost it right there, but think about a child losing a balloon. And then you just kind of like, watch it go off into the distance. That's what they were doing. They were just gazing. This cloud just took this man and he's gone. <br /><br /> Like what? And we don't have the specifics in the book of acts, but if you go back to the book of Luke, the end of Luke, Luke 24, you'll find what happens in their amazement 24 verse 53, 53. And he led them out. As far as Bethany and lifting up his hands. He blessed the disciples. He blessed them. And while he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven and they worshiped. <br /><br /> And returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually in the temple blessing. God, it's been one of the craziest 40 day journeys they've ever had. He's resurrected. He's teaching about the kingdom crazy few years. He'll be with them in the spirit is coming and then he's gone. You would expect them to feel so sad and alone and abandoned. <br /><br /> And yet there is joy and there is worship and they race back to the temple. Yes, the places and the spaces that Jesus was just handed over into death. And here they are, the disciples blessing. God it's confirmation of the divinity of Christ possibly motivated them in a way they hadn't been before second here, the promised hope requires us to join. <br /><br /> It's a compelling end to the message. If you think about the last part of the nativity as I was reading it, I'm like, man, pastor Jim's narrative really made sense. A new story was promised and there was great hope, right? He's coming back, go and live in obedience, making disciples, be my witness and wait for the spirit to come. <br /><br /> You will receive power. Jesus had already rebuked them with his words about the kingdom. It's not for you to know times and seasons that God has planned. Romans 13, Paul says, stay awake. Don't fall asleep. Don't forget he's coming back. The promised hope requires that we join being witness to him. He will return think of those parables that he taught about. <br /><br /> He will come and divide the wheat from the weeds. He will come and take back his. Go and live as his witnesses. Now it's customary at the end of a sermon to give some applications action points. I've given you all the fill in the blanks. So here's what I want to do this morning. It seems like this is an incredibly obvious application. <br /><br /> Maybe you've already had a few possibly you've written some down names of people, places where you need to go. So I want to give you a few myths applications, things you should not walk out and continue to do this morning. The first is this. You should not continue focusing your attention, looking for nations and dates and times as to when the kingdom of God is going to come back. <br /><br /> What does that do? That deters us from in real time, right now, being a witness, let God be concerned. With the appointed times for everything be awake now to what he is doing. Second, we should not hold on tight to this earth, his kingdom, his will, whatever that looks like your goals or your aspirations, hopes, and dreams does all. <br /><br /> You want scream. Christ is all you live for. It is all of your money. Point to everything we want is Christ third. We should not witness in our own strength. We have been given the power of the holy spirit who gives us this witness. There's a group of us gathering. And one of the things we're talking about is just learning how to continue to say yes when the holy spirit prompts us, maybe it's in a conversation, maybe it's to not do something or to do. <br /><br /> But what if we practiced just responding? Yes. When the spirit prompts us, maybe gives us a passage or up a piece of scripture that really convicts our hearts. What if we said, yes, I hear you, Lord. This is speaking to me and I do need to move learning to pay attention to ways he's working and just start following him. <br /><br /> And as we learn to follow, we'll see incredible power on display. As we witnessed, maybe it's somebody, this gets brought to your mind out of nowhere. You're driving on the road and somebody's name comes up and you start praying for that person. What's God doing with our witness. We should not forget the word, receive forth in all things in all of life, in all of our stories, God moves first. <br /><br /> He acts, he wills. He intends, he gives, he loves. The first and the best he does, we can't lose this connection to the gratitude that we have. It's not my spirit. That's going and taking over and conquering things in the name of the Lord. I've been given this spirit. Okay. Last one with hesitation. I read these words to you. <br /><br /> We should stop thinking and acting and defining missions as overseas. Now I say that because we have some great missionaries who do not live in our country. Of course they are supporting and carrying the gospel to all nations, as we know they should. But many of us even support overseas, missionaries this formal calling. <br /><br /> And I'm not saying they are not doing the work of the Lord, but I want to speak to. The majority of Christians do not live in the United States. In fact, many countries who we have missionaries in our sending them here, what do we do with that? Missions is not an overseas project or venture. This is not offensive. <br /><br /> This possibly could be an exciting thing that we have just as much opportunity down the street on the sideline at the store, wherever it is to be a witness. And I'll say this, we have missions trips. And I have been man through the years on some incredible times where God has used me. God has used our teams to bring the hope to people. <br /><br /> You should not go there and preach the gospel. If you can't live here and preach the gospel because play this. How many, have you been on a missions trip before? Some of you, okay. A lot of times you get, there you go on this missions trip and surprise. What do you have to do when you go there? Tell people about Jesus. <br /><br /> It's not like you all of a sudden quick switch and you do something different. That's the mission here as it is there. Why would we have to fly across the world to start doing that? If it's how we're living? Yes. Then we should go in always to the ends of the earth, this little graphic at the end, just to remind you, as we pray, is that there acts one eight circles going out, okay. <br /><br /> Jerusalem, Judea, Sumeria, to the ends of the arthritis. They're starting in Jerusalem. They're moving outward to the ends of the earth, and God will do that, but he doesn't say start by traveling a long way away and tell those people about Jesus. He says, Jerusalem. <br /><br /> There's a lot here. Lots of unpack. And the book of acts is so exciting because it's not about a great bunch of men carrying the message. It's about the spirit at work. Let's pray. Jesus. We give you praise this morning. I don't know why you said it would be better if you left, but all I can see is that your spirit is so actively at work and there you are sitting at the right hand of your father and we get to live as your witnesses here and locally and further out. <br /><br /> Just these rings that spread out to the, to the ends of the earth. Lord protect us from sitting here and guessing about times and dates. And when you're going to do this and that and lining up with this kingdom and making our nation most imp. Your kingdom involves the ends of the earth. And so we ask God, lead us here and there. <br /><br /> And wherever you might to be your witnesses in your Spirit's power, we pray these things in your name. Amen. Amen. Thanks for being here this morning. You are dismissed.</div> false no <![CDATA[The Godhead's Astonishing Plan]]> Acts 1:1-5

“you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”



It's a good thing. He's the leader because none of the rest of us are, um, invite you to take your Bibles to acts chapter one. We're going to look at verses one through five. As we continue in our new series, uh, the spirit at work. To the ends of the earth. As we were looking at the book of acts, acts chapter one verses one through five last week, we did an overview of the book set of a Panorama panoramic view of the book of acts.

Today. We're actually climbing into the first section and I'd like to read verses one through five for you in the first book. Oh, Theopolis I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day when he was taken up after he had given commands through the holy spirit, to the apostles Sumia Giosan, he presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during 40 days.

And speaking about the kingdom of God and while staying with them, he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the father, which he said, you heard from me for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the holy spirit. Not many days from now. Let's pray.

Lord, we echo the statement that Mike said on that video, that you are our center. We want that to be true. And every part of our lives, as we embark on this journey in this passage, as it leads us into the book of acts, surely that was what mark the early church, not their zeal, not their boldness, not their energy.

It was their whole hearted devotion to Christ being centered in their lives, thereby opening their lives to the influence of the spirit of God. So Lord come among us today here in this room. Those watching online and enable us Lord to learn and find application of truth to our own lives. As we seek to walk with you by our spirit in Jesus name, amen,

just by way of introduction this morning, you'll notice that Luke is identifying who he's writing to hear. He says in the first book, oh, Theopolis this guy Theopolis is the same individual that Luke writes to when he writes the gospel of Luke. And as I mentioned last time, Luke wrote two books of the new Testament, the only Gentile road writer, and in these books that comprise about a third of the new Testament.

He addresses the same individual. It's actually him, that he's writing to. He is providing this account first in the gospel of Luke. Secondly, in the second volume that the book of acts. To an individual and this individual Theopolis in chapter and verse one chapter chapter one, verse three of the book of Luke, he says most excellent.

Theopolis the word most excellent. Or the title most excellent is used by Paul three times in the book of acts. Every time he is addressing a Roman leader twice a governor, everyone that, that I've read believes that Theopolis was a Roman official who had whether he was a governor or some other leadership role.

Um, he was a man who had become a believer in Jesus Christ and Luke is addressing his writing to him. And then of course it would eventually be disseminated in days to come throughout the entire church. The beginning of the book of acts focuses on the transition between the first volume, the book of Luke to the second volume, the first series to the next series.

And as we look at this, and as we look at this passage, we find that he is particularly highlighting in this transitional moment, the 40 days that took place between the time that Jesus was resurrected from the dead and the time that he would actually ascend back to heaven. And it's a, it's an interesting discussion.

Luke is the only one in the book of Luke and in the book of acts chapter one that talks about the Ascension. It's not mentioned the other gospels. He focuses on this, this, this period, particularly culminating at the end, in the Ascension, in order to pre present to us, I believe in these five verses the.

All three persons, three members of the Godhead are actively involved in this process. Now the enterprise of God's work in, in the created cosmos is always one where there is a joyous, eternal United effort put forth, uh, among the Godhead, the members of the Godhead, but there are certain elements of. That God seems to highlight the involvement of all three members of the God had one of those, his creation.

Certainly as we, as we look at the creation accounts, it says the father spoke creation into existence. It says the spirit and in, in verse two of Genesis one, and then he gets his God created the heavens earth. talking about the father in verse two. He says the spirit was hovering over the waters in response to the fact that the, the creation was null and void.

That was, it was still chaotic. And the spirit comes in and does a work in, in, in bringing it under control. And bringing order. It says that in Colossians chapter one, Jesus is the one that is holding all of creation together. That the Godhead is clearly defined as, as having unique roles and yet also acting in oneness in new creative enterprise.

The same is true of redemption of Jesus coming to earth in Hebrews chapter 10, Jesus says this it's an amazing passage. It's it's actually God, the son speaking to God, the father, as he comes to the world, and this is what he says, I come to do your will. Oh God. In the volume of the book, it is written of me.

It's an amazing statement. He is coming. He says, father, it's your will that I go to this little orb called earth and I'm coming to do your will. And then he says this and a body you have prepared. Well, who prepared the body? Well, that was the spirit of God who came upon, uh, Mary and, and planted in her, the seed of deity.

And we see that, that, that even in the enterprise of Jesus, coming to earth, we see it in the plan of redemption manifested in the fact that God had purposed salvation, God, the father Christ, the son who is the one who has accomplished it, but it will be the holy spirit that will be applying it to people's lives.

We see it also here in the events of the 40 days, leading up to the Ascension in this passage, we see all three members of the triunity tri unity involved once again. And what I'd like to do this morning simply is to look at the roles of each one and then see why it matters to us. The first thing we find is we look at verses one through three of these verses and acts one is.

We find that Jesus' work will continue. In the first book of the office we read in verse one, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day when he was taken up. The idea is he says that he recorded the earlier works in teaching of Jesus in his first book, but now continues to do so in the second book, if you'll notice what he doesn't say, he doesn't say Jesus did and taught until all the things that Jesus did and taught until the day he was taken up.

That's not what he says. He talked about in the book of Luke. He says this, all the things that Jesus began to do until the day that he was taken up at the essential Lucas saying Jesus began his work. And I'm recording the whole story of it when he came to the earth and, and he did his earthly ministry at the culminated in the cross and the resurrection from the grave and the 40 days.

But he says that was the beginning of Jesus' work. He's continuing his work while on earth was only the beginning of that work. Of course, Jesus said that Jesus said in Matthew 28, verse 19 and 22, his disciples, I will be with you always, even until the end of the age, Christianity is set apart from all other religions.

Those regard their founder as having completed his ministry during his lifetime, Luke says Jesus only began his during his orthotics earthly sojourn, the Jesus of history begins his ministry on earth. The Jesus of glory has been active through his spirit ever since the essential. Is not the loss of Christ.

The Ascension is the increased and heightened presence of Christ. It is, is not the loss of his leadership. The disciples all felt it was not the loss of his leadership has intimacy his protection, but the magnification of it, the infinite magnification of it enacts, the holy spirit is called the spirit of Jesus.

It is Jesus' work, continuing to be done through the agency of the spirit. Jesus is still involved. It's striking. There are certain moments where there are pictures of this where all of a sudden, Stephen as he's being martyred looks up and he says, I see Jesus state. And heaven, Paul, a couple of chapters later in acts chapter nine.

Hey, here's Jesus. Speaking to him. Jesus is constantly continually involved. His work is continuing. The second thing we find in verses one through three about the work of Jesus is, is found in the middle of verse two. And it said after Jesus had given commands to the holy spirit, to the apostles whom he had chosen, he presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many, by many proofs, appearing to them during 40 days.

And speaking about the kingdom of God, his work in those 40 days was very intentional. If we can bring up this chart, um, during this, this chart and the blue, both at the beginning, at the end, those blue sections are all taking place in jurors. Those that are in green, took place in Galilee. Now, this is interesting for a couple of reasons.

One you see on resurrection Sunday, of course, there were, there were a number of events and we have Mary of Magdala who the first one who sees the risen Christ then immediately after her on the arrow below is the women that were at the tomb, the next ones, then Simon Peter, amazing thing that Jesus appeared to Simon.

The first of the apostles and individually, because Simon was the one that felt his own denial of Christ. So acutely, we see the two disciples of, uh, not apostles, but disciples Clovis was the name of one on the road to amass. And then on the top, there again, there are 10 disciples that gather that Sunday night and the only one not there is Thomas who apparently is just absolutely emotionally.

He can't even gather with the boys. He's just had it. Then we find her in the next day days that all 11 disciples were together and the following Sunday, uh, Jesus appears to them again, this time Thomas is there and Jesus said, you know, put your, put your hands into your fingers into my, uh, my hands into the nail prints.

Because Thomas, during the week in those eight days has said the disciples. I I'll never believe in. Uh, they said we've seen him not, can't be, can't be true. We come then. And now the whole thing moves to, to Galilee the Northern province. This is all in Jerusalem, in the Northern province. Actually it's Paul in first Corinthians tells us that the Jesus appeared to about 500 believers.

At one time, he appeared as the gospel of John tells us with seven disciples by the sea of Galilee 11 disciples. On a Mount in Galilee, he gives the great commission to where he says to them. I will be with you always. And one of the most interesting ones is we again are told by Paul in first Corinthians that Jesus appeared to his human brother, brother, of up by his same mom, Mary James, the next oldest of the brothers of Christ.

He had four brothers. He had at least two sisters that talks about the sisters of Jesus. And James had apparently along with his brothers, become believers in Christ. We hear about them later in the book of acts and James became actually the lead. Of the church of Jerusalem. He became a prominent leader.

Jesus appeared to him on the 40th day, the 11 disciples are gathered at Jesus. He brings them back to Jerusalem and they're at the Mount of olives, which was a mountain just to the Eastern side of the city of Jerusalem. Jesus there, uh, tells them to, uh, wait, as Jesus has ascended back up into heaven. He says, wait for the promise of the father, Jesus is at work here.

And Jesus has been continuing his work among his disciples right up to the end. But the reality is the Jesus work doesn't end at that moment, even though he continued to teach right up to the end, he is always looking forward with them in each of these teachings in Matthew 28. He's saying guys, I'll always be.

But now be waiting because the promise of the father is coming, which leads us to the second thing. We see the work of the Godhead during these 40 days, culminating at the day of Pentecost is the work that, that the prom of the father, the father's promise will be fulfilled. This is the promise that the father gave.

We often see in the work of the three members of the Godhead involve this, um, division of role and it's loose, but at least give some sense. Typically, the father is the one that orchestrates or authors the plan. The son is the one that accomplishes the plan. We sit in the course in, in the whole work of.

The spirit is the one that applies the plan, that he is the one that applies it to people, individual lives. It's the spirit that regenerates it. It is the spirit that illuminates that we can come to understand the things of Christ that these are the different member, different roles of the Godhead, but they work in, in, in, in, in concert all of the time.

But here we're told that the father is the one that is giving this promise in the work of kingdom building that will be presented in the book of acts the father ordains. The means of kingdom guilt building the spirit is his promised means of building the kingdom, which Jesus is guiding continually through this day.

As he says, I will build my church. Jesus said that Matthew 18, but the means of doing it will be through the promise spirit. And then the last thing we find is the work of the. The Spirit's role in this new enterprise that will be going on beginning after Jesus ascend. The Spirit's role will become prominent.

He'll be prominent in the lives of the church in the same way that he had been in the life of Jesus. This is, I found this exciting. I don't know why I never really thought about this before, but in verse two, Luke highlights something for us, which I want to just go back to. It says after he, Jesus had given commands through the holy spirit, to the apostles whom he had chosen.

Now, why did he say me? He could have just said after he had given commands to the apostles whom he had chosen, but he says after he had given commands through the holy spirit, I believe it's intentional. And I'll show why in a moment in some other verses, but basically it's highlighting the fact that Jesus' ministry was continually done through the influence.

Of the spirit of God in his life and his ministry, listen to this verse in acts chapter 10, Peter is talking to the Gentile believers at Cornelius house, a Roman Centurion. And he does know how he, Peter was just like, how did this even happen? What am I doing here? But he's there. And he realizes that these Gentile people who he's not even supposed to be in the home of it as a Jew, he's not even supposed to be eating with, and yet God has compelled them to do it.

And God has made himself known to them in such a, an obvious way in the same way. The spirit had done that for the Jews at Pentecost that he summarized. And he looks back in his little talk that he gives to this bunch of Gentiles in, in, uh, Cornelius home. And here's what he says. And what he's talking about is the ministry of Jesus when Jesus was on earth.

And here's how he describes it. You yourselves know what happened throughout all. Beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the holy spirit and with power, he went about doing good and healing. All who were oppressed by the devil for God, was with him.

What were, see, what he's saying is you remember how Jesus ministered among you in the dramatic impact. It had all through the old Palestine, but here's how it happened. He said it happened by the spirit of God being directed by God, the father to empower Jesus, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the holy spirit and with power.

When Jesus came to earth and Philippians chapter two, we have what's known as the kenosis passage kenosis means emptying Jesus in that passage, it says emptied himself. And the sense of most theologians believe is the V in the voluntary. He voluntarily gave up the independent exercise of his attributes.

Now that's a mouthful, but here's what it means. Jesus, in his earthly life did not just decide. I'm going to, you know, I'm going to this, I'm gonna do this. Matter of fact, there are even times when he says, I don't know, uh, how could the God, the son not know there was an independent, there was a voluntary submission of his, of his will to not use all of his attributes that he laid the Messiah.

He end emptied himself. Well, when did he use them? He used those miraculous attributes under the leadership of the spirit of God. The spirit of God directed him, empowered him in the use of those attributes. Here's what, here's what I think Luke is saying to us in the same way. But the spirit of God moved in the life of Jesus in his teaching and his ministry.

He is doing that among you in the days to come, but he is making his glory known through the spirit of God, the same way he even did it through God, this one, he's going to do it through you. And he says, this is the promise. This is the promise in the verses following. We're going to talk more about what that's going to look like, but not focusing on that today.

But the idea is that the Spirit's role will become prominent, not only in life of Christ, but in the life of all of Christ's messengers, verse four and five, he says this, and while staying with them, Jesus ordered the disciples not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the father, which he said, you heard from me for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the holy spirit.

Not many days from now. He says. Don't leave Jerusalem, stay right here. I want you to be right at a, in this location, in the place where I was killed in the place of what seemed to be abject defeat. I want you right here to wait for the promise of the father. As the spirit comes upon you, you will be immersed in him just as Jesus was.

So as we look at this, as we think about this,

sorry, I got my notes out of order.

Oh, I know. Sorry. I tried to turn two pages instead of one Thomas Goodwin, a Puritan pastor. Um, presses into the heart of what Jesus is saying to his disciples. Here's what he says. This is Goodwins. Who's a Puritan of the 16 hundreds. He says, my father, this is Jesus speaking, my father. And I have, but only one friend who lies in the bosom of us, both and proceeds from us, both the holy spirit.

And I will send him to you. He shall be a better comforter unto you than I am. He will comfort you better than I should do with my bodily presence. Here's what he's saying. And I believe this is exactly what Luke is saying. I believe it is what Jesus is saying. When he promises the spirit to come. The spirit in you is better than Jesus beside you.

That is a staggering thought that having the spirit within us. Is more powerful, more, life-changing more influential than having Jesus Christ walking beside us.

Garrison Keillor, the storyteller of lake Wobegon. Tales said this once. If life doesn't break your heart, at least once a day, it shows a real lack of imagination. That's true. Life is hard. So what are you going to do? You can kill your heart. You can numb your imagination. You can stop thinking about life or try to, to, to exit it and avoid it and, and just keep so busy.

You're not really dealing with what is, and the pain that it causes, or you can get a source of glorious joy that does not numb your heart. Or blind you to the brokenness of the world, but lifts you up through it. This is what is promised in the presence of the spirit in people's lives. This is what Jesus means when he says what you're going to have in you, who you're going to have in you is better than me alongside of you.

His Ascension says it can be yours and we must get hold of it. The Ascension says that the triune God has devised a plan that will empower and sustain God's people in the face of their weakness, their sorrow, their exhausted, their confusion. So what are the implications of this for us, I'd like to say three quickly.

Number one, the first implications of this astonishing plan of the. Is that we must be worshipers. The whole plan is about what God will do. The father promises to send the spirit. Jesus continues his work in his people by means of the spirit coming upon them from start to finish. This plan is about God.

The most important question of our lives then is simply this, what will bring me under the influence of God's spirit in my life. If this is the promised reality, if this is what the God had, put their energy into designing and planning for us and saying, this is even better than Jesus next to you. The most important question in my life constantly needs to be what will keep me living under the influence of this.

Not how can I take care of my family, not how can I build my financial portfolio, not how can I get myself in shape, not how I can accomplish my goals, not even what can I do for God, or how can I serve him better? No, the question is how can I bring my life under the influence of God's spirit moment by moment, day by day,

it means we ask God to make us stunned, worshipers and are living our lives. Corum Dayo is the Latin phrase means in the presence of God that knowing him becomes the passion of our lives, because we realized this is the gift of our lives at two simple experiences this week, that just really touched my heart in talking to people.

One was, I was talking to a young man who I had actually been talking to another guy who knew him and had just been mentioning how amazed he was at the seriousness with which this first guy was following Jesus and the choices he'd made in his life. And I was talking with the guy being spoken about, and I, and I told him the story of that.

I said, you know, secondhand compliments of the best. So I'm just going to tell you, this is what somebody else was saying about you. And they were mentioning about, you know, how you, your choices regarding, um, control of alcohol in your life completely because of Christ. And we got talking and he made a statement that struck me.

He said, I've, I've, I'm learning that I don't want to have anything mastered. Other than being mastered by Christ. And then he made, he gave an illustration. He said, for instance, he said, I, you know, I drink coffee and, and, and he said, but I, I, sometimes I I've drunk coffee enough that when I don't drink it, you know, I wake up and I got a headache and he said, I I've been convicted and I've stopped drinking.

I've started drinking a lot less coffee. And he said, I just don't want to be mastered by him. I don't want to be dependent on anything. And the headache tells me, yeah, I'm probably depending on it. I was talking to another brother, an older brother in the Lord this week. And he serves with me in a ministry and it's a ministry where we have a meal for people.

And, um, as we were doing the ministry, the, the meal, um, I noticed he wasn't eating. Everybody else is eating. We're all eating, happily eating. Eating. Um, and I said, have you eaten yet? And he said, uh, no, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not eating. And I said, oh, did you eat before you came? And he said, no. And I could tell you a little awkward.

So I of course plunged right in. I said, oh, why aren't you eating? And, and I then realized he was fasting and you want to talk about, but meant a lot to me just cause me and here we all are running around. It's big man. And I just realized the quietness of his life. He's just, he wants Jesus. Those are just two moments for me that I just felt, Lord, these guys encourage me to ask the question, what am I doing to bring my life under the influence of the spirit of God?

So nothing else is mastering me. So th th that, that I want Christ to be glorified through his spirit in my life.

The first implication

of this astonishing plan of the Godhead is that's consuming passionate of our lives ought to want to be worshipers. The second one is this. We must be tremendously humble. The church is Christ's representatives in the world. Jesus is not here in bodily form. We are his hands and feet. And of course, we get asked a question, how are we doing it?

Loving and serving others, do people at the office say, yeah, that person is a Christian, but do they say, but when things go wrong, she doesn't take responsibility for it. When there's a hard message she needs to deliver to her worker. She doesn't come into work that day. She tends to just shoot an email out when dealing with clients, she doesn't show all the facts.

She's just like all the rest of us. But if consciously living under the influence of the spirit, there is an integrity. There is a transparency. There is a humility. There is an honesty that, that captivates our hearts. Not because we're good people or we've know because we know without Christ, we will not be those things.

It also speaks to our messaging. If we're conscious that we are the recipients of God's messaging and indeed with God's enablement through his spirit. When we are under the Spirit's influence, it leads to a holy and joy-filled seriousness about our calling. Um, George Whitfield was a great evangelist.

And, um, if you haven't read about his life, uh, there's a two volume set by Arnold dollar Maura, which is just fantastic. And in talking about George Fiskville, one of the, one of the, um, incidence of his life was George Whitfield was speaking and sharing the gospel. And, uh, um, he was the guy that just, he was a humble man, but he was deeply constrained that God was, was at work.

And, and, and, and his message was not as, anyway, he was in, uh, he was speaking one night. Uh, don't be nervous if you're in the front, cause I'm not going to do this, but, but he noticed a guy was asleep and he had a, it was a wooden platform. And he just stomped his foot twice. And he wasn't, this kind of guy was a gentle spirited man, but he stomped his foot twice and the guy wake up and he said, brother, I, I did that intentionally, but here's what he said.

He said, if I came here with my own message in my own name, listening to me would be completely unimportant.

But I come in the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ. I come with his message, his truth, representing his kingdom. And because of that, I will be hurt. This is a humble man, but constraints. That he was called to, to a message. Is that how we look at our office is that we look at our school is that we look at the lives of the people around us, that we're doing life with that.

If we have been induced with the, the, the, the spirit in our lives, there is this holy sense, born out of tremendous humility to say, God, you've given me what the disciples didn't even have with Jesus, with them, that I could be your representative to my generation. The third thing we must be patient with other Christians.

This is a day, and I'm guessing it's not uncommon. When it's easy to struggle with people professing to be Christians, people who associate with Christ that are saying, and doing things that seem to have nothing to do with the Christian life and the Christ like life. And it can be very frustrating and it can make you feel, I want to have nothing to do with them.

I don't want to take the name that they take. I mean, I just, there's nothing about that. And,

but I want you to remember that nobody has had their reputation stained or maligned by his followers more than Jesus Christ. He was not afraid to say, I want you to bear my name after 40 days. These guys gathered together as Luke records it in Luke 24 and in acts chapter one and they get there and it's clear, they still have totally screwed up an understanding of his messaging.

And if you were, I would, Jesus, we would probably say something like this, you know what guys, I'm going to have to stay here and do this myself. So this isn't going to work. It's not working out.

GK Chesterton said this. The main evidence against Christianity is the lives of Christians, but there is also beauty in Christians. Paul says it this way. We have this treasure in earthen vessels. The treasure is the message of Christ. The earth and vessels were cheap. Clay pot. He says there's nothing in us that compels, that draws us, that magnetizes, the treasure is not from us.

The church has moved forward and is still expanding around the world. The ignorance and failures of Jesus' followers is proof of the miraculous gift. Jesus gave the church in the holy spirit. It's all of God. And so as we look and we get frustrated, remember that Christ is at work. He's working through broken people like you and me it's because of his spirit.

And for all these centuries, the triune God has taken broken, weak. Self-absorbed egotistical, proud followers. Who are many times awful advertisements for his kingdom, but in spite of their foibles, he continues to build his kingdom. He continues to love and to welcome and to draw to himself people in his own name, he does it in fulfilling a promise that he made of a spirit who was to come the greatest question in our lives.

How can I live under the influence of this spirit? This book is going to present people and some of them really messed up, or all of them messed up to a degree. We're going to see in the brokenness of the church and the conflicts, even in the church and the adversarial relationship the church had with each other and people out.

That there was a spirit that was willing to work. Even in the most amazingly unworthy of followers. God doesn't need a large opening in our lives. He needs a crack. If we are generally willing to say, God, I man, there's so much that needs working here. I don't even know where to begin. I hear pastor mark. I don't know how to live under the influence of the spirit.

I mean, I got to church that's, that's like my first check for a month spiritually. Well, that's great. That's a crack, but allow the spirit of God to be at work in us as he was among these humble, scared, broken, proud followers who we molded somehow into an army of people that could glorify him in their day.

Let's pray, Lord.

it's an amazing thing to think that you, God, God, the father, God, the son, God, the holy spirit, you have chosen people like us to be your representatives in this world. It's an amazing thing to imagine that you've planned for maternity past. How are you going to work in our lives and use our lives? Lord, humble us with that glorious.

Humble us to want to live our lives under the influence of your spirit, who is alive and willing to lead us. Now God, as we close our service today, pursue us. Draw us, deepen our love for you. That you might be glorified within us Lord, who are worthy of all glory in Jesus name. Amen. Now go in peace to love and serve.

Enjoy him.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-godheads-astonishing-plan ef6651fb-8b0d-4516-a89d-4522d61bcdf0 Sun, 30 Jan 2022 12:18:24 GMT <div data-html="true">Acts 1:1-5 <br /><br /> “you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> It's a good thing. He's the leader because none of the rest of us are, um, invite you to take your Bibles to acts chapter one. We're going to look at verses one through five. As we continue in our new series, uh, the spirit at work. To the ends of the earth. As we were looking at the book of acts, acts chapter one verses one through five last week, we did an overview of the book set of a Panorama panoramic view of the book of acts. <br /><br /> Today. We're actually climbing into the first section and I'd like to read verses one through five for you in the first book. Oh, Theopolis I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day when he was taken up after he had given commands through the holy spirit, to the apostles Sumia Giosan, he presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during 40 days. <br /><br /> And speaking about the kingdom of God and while staying with them, he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the father, which he said, you heard from me for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the holy spirit. Not many days from now. Let's pray. <br /><br /> Lord, we echo the statement that Mike said on that video, that you are our center. We want that to be true. And every part of our lives, as we embark on this journey in this passage, as it leads us into the book of acts, surely that was what mark the early church, not their zeal, not their boldness, not their energy. <br /><br /> It was their whole hearted devotion to Christ being centered in their lives, thereby opening their lives to the influence of the spirit of God. So Lord come among us today here in this room. Those watching online and enable us Lord to learn and find application of truth to our own lives. As we seek to walk with you by our spirit in Jesus name, amen, <br /><br /> just by way of introduction this morning, you'll notice that Luke is identifying who he's writing to hear. He says in the first book, oh, Theopolis this guy Theopolis is the same individual that Luke writes to when he writes the gospel of Luke. And as I mentioned last time, Luke wrote two books of the new Testament, the only Gentile road writer, and in these books that comprise about a third of the new Testament. <br /><br /> He addresses the same individual. It's actually him, that he's writing to. He is providing this account first in the gospel of Luke. Secondly, in the second volume that the book of acts. To an individual and this individual Theopolis in chapter and verse one chapter chapter one, verse three of the book of Luke, he says most excellent. <br /><br /> Theopolis the word most excellent. Or the title most excellent is used by Paul three times in the book of acts. Every time he is addressing a Roman leader twice a governor, everyone that, that I've read believes that Theopolis was a Roman official who had whether he was a governor or some other leadership role. <br /><br /> Um, he was a man who had become a believer in Jesus Christ and Luke is addressing his writing to him. And then of course it would eventually be disseminated in days to come throughout the entire church. The beginning of the book of acts focuses on the transition between the first volume, the book of Luke to the second volume, the first series to the next series. <br /><br /> And as we look at this, and as we look at this passage, we find that he is particularly highlighting in this transitional moment, the 40 days that took place between the time that Jesus was resurrected from the dead and the time that he would actually ascend back to heaven. And it's a, it's an interesting discussion. <br /><br /> Luke is the only one in the book of Luke and in the book of acts chapter one that talks about the Ascension. It's not mentioned the other gospels. He focuses on this, this, this period, particularly culminating at the end, in the Ascension, in order to pre present to us, I believe in these five verses the. <br /><br /> All three persons, three members of the Godhead are actively involved in this process. Now the enterprise of God's work in, in the created cosmos is always one where there is a joyous, eternal United effort put forth, uh, among the Godhead, the members of the Godhead, but there are certain elements of. That God seems to highlight the involvement of all three members of the God had one of those, his creation. <br /><br /> Certainly as we, as we look at the creation accounts, it says the father spoke creation into existence. It says the spirit and in, in verse two of Genesis one, and then he gets his God created the heavens earth. talking about the father in verse two. He says the spirit was hovering over the waters in response to the fact that the, the creation was null and void. <br /><br /> That was, it was still chaotic. And the spirit comes in and does a work in, in, in bringing it under control. And bringing order. It says that in Colossians chapter one, Jesus is the one that is holding all of creation together. That the Godhead is clearly defined as, as having unique roles and yet also acting in oneness in new creative enterprise. <br /><br /> The same is true of redemption of Jesus coming to earth in Hebrews chapter 10, Jesus says this it's an amazing passage. It's it's actually God, the son speaking to God, the father, as he comes to the world, and this is what he says, I come to do your will. Oh God. In the volume of the book, it is written of me. <br /><br /> It's an amazing statement. He is coming. He says, father, it's your will that I go to this little orb called earth and I'm coming to do your will. And then he says this and a body you have prepared. Well, who prepared the body? Well, that was the spirit of God who came upon, uh, Mary and, and planted in her, the seed of deity. <br /><br /> And we see that, that, that even in the enterprise of Jesus, coming to earth, we see it in the plan of redemption manifested in the fact that God had purposed salvation, God, the father Christ, the son who is the one who has accomplished it, but it will be the holy spirit that will be applying it to people's lives. <br /><br /> We see it also here in the events of the 40 days, leading up to the Ascension in this passage, we see all three members of the triunity tri unity involved once again. And what I'd like to do this morning simply is to look at the roles of each one and then see why it matters to us. The first thing we find is we look at verses one through three of these verses and acts one is. <br /><br /> We find that Jesus' work will continue. In the first book of the office we read in verse one, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day when he was taken up. The idea is he says that he recorded the earlier works in teaching of Jesus in his first book, but now continues to do so in the second book, if you'll notice what he doesn't say, he doesn't say Jesus did and taught until all the things that Jesus did and taught until the day he was taken up. <br /><br /> That's not what he says. He talked about in the book of Luke. He says this, all the things that Jesus began to do until the day that he was taken up at the essential Lucas saying Jesus began his work. And I'm recording the whole story of it when he came to the earth and, and he did his earthly ministry at the culminated in the cross and the resurrection from the grave and the 40 days. <br /><br /> But he says that was the beginning of Jesus' work. He's continuing his work while on earth was only the beginning of that work. Of course, Jesus said that Jesus said in Matthew 28, verse 19 and 22, his disciples, I will be with you always, even until the end of the age, Christianity is set apart from all other religions. <br /><br /> Those regard their founder as having completed his ministry during his lifetime, Luke says Jesus only began his during his orthotics earthly sojourn, the Jesus of history begins his ministry on earth. The Jesus of glory has been active through his spirit ever since the essential. Is not the loss of Christ. <br /><br /> The Ascension is the increased and heightened presence of Christ. It is, is not the loss of his leadership. The disciples all felt it was not the loss of his leadership has intimacy his protection, but the magnification of it, the infinite magnification of it enacts, the holy spirit is called the spirit of Jesus. <br /><br /> It is Jesus' work, continuing to be done through the agency of the spirit. Jesus is still involved. It's striking. There are certain moments where there are pictures of this where all of a sudden, Stephen as he's being martyred looks up and he says, I see Jesus state. And heaven, Paul, a couple of chapters later in acts chapter nine. <br /><br /> Hey, here's Jesus. Speaking to him. Jesus is constantly continually involved. His work is continuing. The second thing we find in verses one through three about the work of Jesus is, is found in the middle of verse two. And it said after Jesus had given commands to the holy spirit, to the apostles whom he had chosen, he presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many, by many proofs, appearing to them during 40 days. <br /><br /> And speaking about the kingdom of God, his work in those 40 days was very intentional. If we can bring up this chart, um, during this, this chart and the blue, both at the beginning, at the end, those blue sections are all taking place in jurors. Those that are in green, took place in Galilee. Now, this is interesting for a couple of reasons. <br /><br /> One you see on resurrection Sunday, of course, there were, there were a number of events and we have Mary of Magdala who the first one who sees the risen Christ then immediately after her on the arrow below is the women that were at the tomb, the next ones, then Simon Peter, amazing thing that Jesus appeared to Simon. <br /><br /> The first of the apostles and individually, because Simon was the one that felt his own denial of Christ. So acutely, we see the two disciples of, uh, not apostles, but disciples Clovis was the name of one on the road to amass. And then on the top, there again, there are 10 disciples that gather that Sunday night and the only one not there is Thomas who apparently is just absolutely emotionally. <br /><br /> He can't even gather with the boys. He's just had it. Then we find her in the next day days that all 11 disciples were together and the following Sunday, uh, Jesus appears to them again, this time Thomas is there and Jesus said, you know, put your, put your hands into your fingers into my, uh, my hands into the nail prints. <br /><br /> Because Thomas, during the week in those eight days has said the disciples. I I'll never believe in. Uh, they said we've seen him not, can't be, can't be true. We come then. And now the whole thing moves to, to Galilee the Northern province. This is all in Jerusalem, in the Northern province. Actually it's Paul in first Corinthians tells us that the Jesus appeared to about 500 believers. <br /><br /> At one time, he appeared as the gospel of John tells us with seven disciples by the sea of Galilee 11 disciples. On a Mount in Galilee, he gives the great commission to where he says to them. I will be with you always. And one of the most interesting ones is we again are told by Paul in first Corinthians that Jesus appeared to his human brother, brother, of up by his same mom, Mary James, the next oldest of the brothers of Christ. <br /><br /> He had four brothers. He had at least two sisters that talks about the sisters of Jesus. And James had apparently along with his brothers, become believers in Christ. We hear about them later in the book of acts and James became actually the lead. Of the church of Jerusalem. He became a prominent leader. <br /><br /> Jesus appeared to him on the 40th day, the 11 disciples are gathered at Jesus. He brings them back to Jerusalem and they're at the Mount of olives, which was a mountain just to the Eastern side of the city of Jerusalem. Jesus there, uh, tells them to, uh, wait, as Jesus has ascended back up into heaven. He says, wait for the promise of the father, Jesus is at work here. <br /><br /> And Jesus has been continuing his work among his disciples right up to the end. But the reality is the Jesus work doesn't end at that moment, even though he continued to teach right up to the end, he is always looking forward with them in each of these teachings in Matthew 28. He's saying guys, I'll always be. <br /><br /> But now be waiting because the promise of the father is coming, which leads us to the second thing. We see the work of the Godhead during these 40 days, culminating at the day of Pentecost is the work that, that the prom of the father, the father's promise will be fulfilled. This is the promise that the father gave. <br /><br /> We often see in the work of the three members of the Godhead involve this, um, division of role and it's loose, but at least give some sense. Typically, the father is the one that orchestrates or authors the plan. The son is the one that accomplishes the plan. We sit in the course in, in the whole work of. <br /><br /> The spirit is the one that applies the plan, that he is the one that applies it to people, individual lives. It's the spirit that regenerates it. It is the spirit that illuminates that we can come to understand the things of Christ that these are the different member, different roles of the Godhead, but they work in, in, in, in, in concert all of the time. <br /><br /> But here we're told that the father is the one that is giving this promise in the work of kingdom building that will be presented in the book of acts the father ordains. The means of kingdom guilt building the spirit is his promised means of building the kingdom, which Jesus is guiding continually through this day. <br /><br /> As he says, I will build my church. Jesus said that Matthew 18, but the means of doing it will be through the promise spirit. And then the last thing we find is the work of the. The Spirit's role in this new enterprise that will be going on beginning after Jesus ascend. The Spirit's role will become prominent. <br /><br /> He'll be prominent in the lives of the church in the same way that he had been in the life of Jesus. This is, I found this exciting. I don't know why I never really thought about this before, but in verse two, Luke highlights something for us, which I want to just go back to. It says after he, Jesus had given commands through the holy spirit, to the apostles whom he had chosen. <br /><br /> Now, why did he say me? He could have just said after he had given commands to the apostles whom he had chosen, but he says after he had given commands through the holy spirit, I believe it's intentional. And I'll show why in a moment in some other verses, but basically it's highlighting the fact that Jesus' ministry was continually done through the influence. <br /><br /> Of the spirit of God in his life and his ministry, listen to this verse in acts chapter 10, Peter is talking to the Gentile believers at Cornelius house, a Roman Centurion. And he does know how he, Peter was just like, how did this even happen? What am I doing here? But he's there. And he realizes that these Gentile people who he's not even supposed to be in the home of it as a Jew, he's not even supposed to be eating with, and yet God has compelled them to do it. <br /><br /> And God has made himself known to them in such a, an obvious way in the same way. The spirit had done that for the Jews at Pentecost that he summarized. And he looks back in his little talk that he gives to this bunch of Gentiles in, in, uh, Cornelius home. And here's what he says. And what he's talking about is the ministry of Jesus when Jesus was on earth. <br /><br /> And here's how he describes it. You yourselves know what happened throughout all. Beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the holy spirit and with power, he went about doing good and healing. All who were oppressed by the devil for God, was with him. <br /><br /> What were, see, what he's saying is you remember how Jesus ministered among you in the dramatic impact. It had all through the old Palestine, but here's how it happened. He said it happened by the spirit of God being directed by God, the father to empower Jesus, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the holy spirit and with power. <br /><br /> When Jesus came to earth and Philippians chapter two, we have what's known as the kenosis passage kenosis means emptying Jesus in that passage, it says emptied himself. And the sense of most theologians believe is the V in the voluntary. He voluntarily gave up the independent exercise of his attributes. <br /><br /> Now that's a mouthful, but here's what it means. Jesus, in his earthly life did not just decide. I'm going to, you know, I'm going to this, I'm gonna do this. Matter of fact, there are even times when he says, I don't know, uh, how could the God, the son not know there was an independent, there was a voluntary submission of his, of his will to not use all of his attributes that he laid the Messiah. <br /><br /> He end emptied himself. Well, when did he use them? He used those miraculous attributes under the leadership of the spirit of God. The spirit of God directed him, empowered him in the use of those attributes. Here's what, here's what I think Luke is saying to us in the same way. But the spirit of God moved in the life of Jesus in his teaching and his ministry. <br /><br /> He is doing that among you in the days to come, but he is making his glory known through the spirit of God, the same way he even did it through God, this one, he's going to do it through you. And he says, this is the promise. This is the promise in the verses following. We're going to talk more about what that's going to look like, but not focusing on that today. <br /><br /> But the idea is that the Spirit's role will become prominent, not only in life of Christ, but in the life of all of Christ's messengers, verse four and five, he says this, and while staying with them, Jesus ordered the disciples not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the father, which he said, you heard from me for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the holy spirit. <br /><br /> Not many days from now. He says. Don't leave Jerusalem, stay right here. I want you to be right at a, in this location, in the place where I was killed in the place of what seemed to be abject defeat. I want you right here to wait for the promise of the father. As the spirit comes upon you, you will be immersed in him just as Jesus was. <br /><br /> So as we look at this, as we think about this, <br /><br /> sorry, I got my notes out of order. <br /><br /> Oh, I know. Sorry. I tried to turn two pages instead of one Thomas Goodwin, a Puritan pastor. Um, presses into the heart of what Jesus is saying to his disciples. Here's what he says. This is Goodwins. Who's a Puritan of the 16 hundreds. He says, my father, this is Jesus speaking, my father. And I have, but only one friend who lies in the bosom of us, both and proceeds from us, both the holy spirit. <br /><br /> And I will send him to you. He shall be a better comforter unto you than I am. He will comfort you better than I should do with my bodily presence. Here's what he's saying. And I believe this is exactly what Luke is saying. I believe it is what Jesus is saying. When he promises the spirit to come. The spirit in you is better than Jesus beside you. <br /><br /> That is a staggering thought that having the spirit within us. Is more powerful, more, life-changing more influential than having Jesus Christ walking beside us. <br /><br /> Garrison Keillor, the storyteller of lake Wobegon. Tales said this once. If life doesn't break your heart, at least once a day, it shows a real lack of imagination. That's true. Life is hard. So what are you going to do? You can kill your heart. You can numb your imagination. You can stop thinking about life or try to, to, to exit it and avoid it and, and just keep so busy. <br /><br /> You're not really dealing with what is, and the pain that it causes, or you can get a source of glorious joy that does not numb your heart. Or blind you to the brokenness of the world, but lifts you up through it. This is what is promised in the presence of the spirit in people's lives. This is what Jesus means when he says what you're going to have in you, who you're going to have in you is better than me alongside of you. <br /><br /> His Ascension says it can be yours and we must get hold of it. The Ascension says that the triune God has devised a plan that will empower and sustain God's people in the face of their weakness, their sorrow, their exhausted, their confusion. So what are the implications of this for us, I'd like to say three quickly. <br /><br /> Number one, the first implications of this astonishing plan of the. Is that we must be worshipers. The whole plan is about what God will do. The father promises to send the spirit. Jesus continues his work in his people by means of the spirit coming upon them from start to finish. This plan is about God. <br /><br /> The most important question of our lives then is simply this, what will bring me under the influence of God's spirit in my life. If this is the promised reality, if this is what the God had, put their energy into designing and planning for us and saying, this is even better than Jesus next to you. The most important question in my life constantly needs to be what will keep me living under the influence of this. <br /><br /> Not how can I take care of my family, not how can I build my financial portfolio, not how can I get myself in shape, not how I can accomplish my goals, not even what can I do for God, or how can I serve him better? No, the question is how can I bring my life under the influence of God's spirit moment by moment, day by day, <br /><br /> it means we ask God to make us stunned, worshipers and are living our lives. Corum Dayo is the Latin phrase means in the presence of God that knowing him becomes the passion of our lives, because we realized this is the gift of our lives at two simple experiences this week, that just really touched my heart in talking to people. <br /><br /> One was, I was talking to a young man who I had actually been talking to another guy who knew him and had just been mentioning how amazed he was at the seriousness with which this first guy was following Jesus and the choices he'd made in his life. And I was talking with the guy being spoken about, and I, and I told him the story of that. <br /><br /> I said, you know, secondhand compliments of the best. So I'm just going to tell you, this is what somebody else was saying about you. And they were mentioning about, you know, how you, your choices regarding, um, control of alcohol in your life completely because of Christ. And we got talking and he made a statement that struck me. <br /><br /> He said, I've, I've, I'm learning that I don't want to have anything mastered. Other than being mastered by Christ. And then he made, he gave an illustration. He said, for instance, he said, I, you know, I drink coffee and, and, and he said, but I, I, sometimes I I've drunk coffee enough that when I don't drink it, you know, I wake up and I got a headache and he said, I I've been convicted and I've stopped drinking. <br /><br /> I've started drinking a lot less coffee. And he said, I just don't want to be mastered by him. I don't want to be dependent on anything. And the headache tells me, yeah, I'm probably depending on it. I was talking to another brother, an older brother in the Lord this week. And he serves with me in a ministry and it's a ministry where we have a meal for people. <br /><br /> And, um, as we were doing the ministry, the, the meal, um, I noticed he wasn't eating. Everybody else is eating. We're all eating, happily eating. Eating. Um, and I said, have you eaten yet? And he said, uh, no, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not eating. And I said, oh, did you eat before you came? And he said, no. And I could tell you a little awkward. <br /><br /> So I of course plunged right in. I said, oh, why aren't you eating? And, and I then realized he was fasting and you want to talk about, but meant a lot to me just cause me and here we all are running around. It's big man. And I just realized the quietness of his life. He's just, he wants Jesus. Those are just two moments for me that I just felt, Lord, these guys encourage me to ask the question, what am I doing to bring my life under the influence of the spirit of God? <br /><br /> So nothing else is mastering me. So th th that, that I want Christ to be glorified through his spirit in my life. <br /><br /> The first implication <br /><br /> of this astonishing plan of the Godhead is that's consuming passionate of our lives ought to want to be worshipers. The second one is this. We must be tremendously humble. The church is Christ's representatives in the world. Jesus is not here in bodily form. We are his hands and feet. And of course, we get asked a question, how are we doing it? <br /><br /> Loving and serving others, do people at the office say, yeah, that person is a Christian, but do they say, but when things go wrong, she doesn't take responsibility for it. When there's a hard message she needs to deliver to her worker. She doesn't come into work that day. She tends to just shoot an email out when dealing with clients, she doesn't show all the facts. <br /><br /> She's just like all the rest of us. But if consciously living under the influence of the spirit, there is an integrity. There is a transparency. There is a humility. There is an honesty that, that captivates our hearts. Not because we're good people or we've know because we know without Christ, we will not be those things. <br /><br /> It also speaks to our messaging. If we're conscious that we are the recipients of God's messaging and indeed with God's enablement through his spirit. When we are under the Spirit's influence, it leads to a holy and joy-filled seriousness about our calling. Um, George Whitfield was a great evangelist. <br /><br /> And, um, if you haven't read about his life, uh, there's a two volume set by Arnold dollar Maura, which is just fantastic. And in talking about George Fiskville, one of the, one of the, um, incidence of his life was George Whitfield was speaking and sharing the gospel. And, uh, um, he was the guy that just, he was a humble man, but he was deeply constrained that God was, was at work. <br /><br /> And, and, and, and his message was not as, anyway, he was in, uh, he was speaking one night. Uh, don't be nervous if you're in the front, cause I'm not going to do this, but, but he noticed a guy was asleep and he had a, it was a wooden platform. And he just stomped his foot twice. And he wasn't, this kind of guy was a gentle spirited man, but he stomped his foot twice and the guy wake up and he said, brother, I, I did that intentionally, but here's what he said. <br /><br /> He said, if I came here with my own message in my own name, listening to me would be completely unimportant. <br /><br /> But I come in the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ. I come with his message, his truth, representing his kingdom. And because of that, I will be hurt. This is a humble man, but constraints. That he was called to, to a message. Is that how we look at our office is that we look at our school is that we look at the lives of the people around us, that we're doing life with that. <br /><br /> If we have been induced with the, the, the, the spirit in our lives, there is this holy sense, born out of tremendous humility to say, God, you've given me what the disciples didn't even have with Jesus, with them, that I could be your representative to my generation. The third thing we must be patient with other Christians. <br /><br /> This is a day, and I'm guessing it's not uncommon. When it's easy to struggle with people professing to be Christians, people who associate with Christ that are saying, and doing things that seem to have nothing to do with the Christian life and the Christ like life. And it can be very frustrating and it can make you feel, I want to have nothing to do with them. <br /><br /> I don't want to take the name that they take. I mean, I just, there's nothing about that. And, <br /><br /> but I want you to remember that nobody has had their reputation stained or maligned by his followers more than Jesus Christ. He was not afraid to say, I want you to bear my name after 40 days. These guys gathered together as Luke records it in Luke 24 and in acts chapter one and they get there and it's clear, they still have totally screwed up an understanding of his messaging. <br /><br /> And if you were, I would, Jesus, we would probably say something like this, you know what guys, I'm going to have to stay here and do this myself. So this isn't going to work. It's not working out. <br /><br /> GK Chesterton said this. The main evidence against Christianity is the lives of Christians, but there is also beauty in Christians. Paul says it this way. We have this treasure in earthen vessels. The treasure is the message of Christ. The earth and vessels were cheap. Clay pot. He says there's nothing in us that compels, that draws us, that magnetizes, the treasure is not from us. <br /><br /> The church has moved forward and is still expanding around the world. The ignorance and failures of Jesus' followers is proof of the miraculous gift. Jesus gave the church in the holy spirit. It's all of God. And so as we look and we get frustrated, remember that Christ is at work. He's working through broken people like you and me it's because of his spirit. <br /><br /> And for all these centuries, the triune God has taken broken, weak. Self-absorbed egotistical, proud followers. Who are many times awful advertisements for his kingdom, but in spite of their foibles, he continues to build his kingdom. He continues to love and to welcome and to draw to himself people in his own name, he does it in fulfilling a promise that he made of a spirit who was to come the greatest question in our lives. <br /><br /> How can I live under the influence of this spirit? This book is going to present people and some of them really messed up, or all of them messed up to a degree. We're going to see in the brokenness of the church and the conflicts, even in the church and the adversarial relationship the church had with each other and people out. <br /><br /> That there was a spirit that was willing to work. Even in the most amazingly unworthy of followers. God doesn't need a large opening in our lives. He needs a crack. If we are generally willing to say, God, I man, there's so much that needs working here. I don't even know where to begin. I hear pastor mark. I don't know how to live under the influence of the spirit. <br /><br /> I mean, I got to church that's, that's like my first check for a month spiritually. Well, that's great. That's a crack, but allow the spirit of God to be at work in us as he was among these humble, scared, broken, proud followers who we molded somehow into an army of people that could glorify him in their day. <br /><br /> Let's pray, Lord. <br /><br /> it's an amazing thing to think that you, God, God, the father, God, the son, God, the holy spirit, you have chosen people like us to be your representatives in this world. It's an amazing thing to imagine that you've planned for maternity past. How are you going to work in our lives and use our lives? Lord, humble us with that glorious. <br /><br /> Humble us to want to live our lives under the influence of your spirit, who is alive and willing to lead us. Now God, as we close our service today, pursue us. Draw us, deepen our love for you. That you might be glorified within us Lord, who are worthy of all glory in Jesus name. Amen. Now go in peace to love and serve. <br /><br /> Enjoy him.</div> false no <![CDATA[A Panoramic View of Acts]]> Acts 1:1-11

"John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”



Take your Bibles this morning. We're going to be looking at the book of acts chapter one, verses one through 11. How many of you have with you a scripture journal of the book of acts. It's very encouraging and those of you that have gotten one and didn't bring it today. I encourage you to bring it other times we are working on.

I think we may have a source to get more. We actually, w w we basically depleted all the resources of every publisher in the world. Um, we really can't find any more, but we're, I think we may have found some so hoping to get some more and soon be able to order some more. We had somewhere about 240 or 250 adults that have gotten them already really excited about that.

We're going to read acts chapter one verses one through 11. We are beginning a new series this morning. Um, there a little bit of an echo. Okay. There's a little bit of an echo if we can. Um, thank you.

Acts chapter one, verses one through 11 and hated right now by the sound guys, uh, in the first book. Oh, Theopolis I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day when he was taken up after he had given commands to the holy. To the apostles whom he had chosen. He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during 40 days.

And speaking about the kingdom of God and while staying with them, he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the father, which he said, you heard from me for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the holy spirit now many days from now. So when they had come together, they asked him, Lord, will you, at this time restore the kingdom to Israel.

He said to them, it is not for you to know times or seasons that the father has fixed by his own authority, but you will receive power when the holy spirit has come upon you and you will be witnesses my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up and a cloud took him out of there.

And while there are gazing into heaven, as he went behold, two men stood by them in white robes and said, men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven. Let's pray,

Lord, we love your word. Love the scriptures, grateful for each verse chapter book that is in this, this thing, the Bible, but Lord, for many of us, this book, the book of acts has become a source of deep encouragement, deep challenge, deep solace. Even in reaching the days. And so Lord, it is my prayer again, that the spirit that was so prominent in the record of these 33 years of history, and he would move among us again, even in this series that Lord, as we reflect on what these men and women experienced, as they just lived wholeheartedly in desperate dependence on the spirit of God and the way you literally changed an empire through ordinary common people with an extraordinary God.

So Lord teach us today. Even as we try to get this panoramic overview of the book, May you use it to speak into our lives. May you use it to encourage us to want to be listeners and learners in Jesus name? I pray. Amen.

Just a few years before Christ birth Rome had constructed its first ever heated pool. They had put it on a hill called the Equiline hill. It was actually on the outskirts of the ancient walls of the city of Rome. And it was put on a unique location. It was a hill that had never been built on because it actually had a particular purpose in the, in the Roman empire and Roman in particular, it was the place where slaves were crucified.

Whenever there was a result of revolt in that part of the Roman empire, they would bring the vanquished slaves and they would crucify them all over the. When someone revolted or acted rebelliously within the city as a slave, which crucifixion was usually designed and designated for slaves, they would crucify them there.

And now after many generations, just a few years before Jesus' birth, some developers have gotten permission to create what will be on the Aqualine hill, the most opulent villas, and a state in the entire Roman world. The most wealthy, the most distinguished, the most well-known among Roman leaders will live on this hill.

That had been always the place of crucifixion of slaves. There was no place in the Roman empire that presented such a contrast, a contrast of the most distained of the Roman world. And the most privileged for crucifixion was reserved for slave results. In some cases, society, societal, SOC psychopaths would also be crucified people who are a harm, not only to others, but to the whole order of goodness and order of the Roman empire, when a slave result happened, what they would actually do if it was not right in Rome, they would actually take all the slaves that had been, uh, now conquered and were still alive.

And they would line the road leading into the local city and put the slaves on crucifixes. There was no better way to remind people. This is what happens when you mess with Rome, because crucifixion was the place where people rised on a cross in unspeakable pain for hours, often days before they. Those that were crucified within the empire were considered the least worthy of remembrance.

Very few plub public records of crucifixion list ever have the names of the victims. Their insignificance was declared by being buried in a common unmarked grave, which marked the hill of out quinine hill. And when they actually began to dig the footers for the foundations of these majestic estates, they found thousands of skeletons of slaves that had just been marked.

Nobody knew who they were. Nobody had any record of their names to be crucified was a far worse stigma than receiving the electric chair. In our day. It was a symbol of unspeakable shame, revulsion and contempt. We begin our series. With this question, how could a religion who central belief was in the work and teaching of a crucified man become the dominant belief system in the Roman empire.

The book of acts gives us the answer in this book, Luke, the historian will actually write his second volume of a two book set. He's written volume one. It's called the book of Luke and it's basically Jesus at work through his life, death and resurrection in Luke 24, verse 49. The last part Jesus is at the end of the book of Luke recorded as leaving his disciples.

And here's what he says to them in verse 49. And behold, I am sending the promise of my father upon you, but stay in the city until you're clothed with power. From on high, the beginning of acts here in verses one through 11, the verses I just read are basically the beginning of season two. And it's the series season, our opener.

That's saying we want to recap here's what's happened before and it picks up the story where Jesus has says, wait in Jerusalem, wait, wait, wait, wait for the promise. Wait for the promised one. And then we come at the beginning of volume two, and we find a book that is presenting the holy spirit at work through Jesus.

Following. And we're reminded in acts one eight, but you will receive power when the holy spirit comes on upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth, 55 times, the holy spirit is mentioned in the book of acts. He is everywhere. He is at work in everything.

He is changing. Those that are willing to in every one of their lives. I want to just make some general comments. And again, this message is designed to try to give us the, the snapshot aerial view of the book of acts. And there's going to be four principles, four things that I'm going to encourage you to jot down in your journal or in the side of your Bible, or somewhere to constantly go back to, because these will be the big ideas of the book of acts.

Luke is trying to tell us, but a couple of general ideas, access history. It is a history book. It is a history book of the early church. However, acts is a selected history. Luke has reasons for what he records for years, Luke, who has become a Christian later in life. He's a Gentile. He's actually the only Gentile author in the new Testament.

He is writing later. He has joined Paul on his missionary journey, but, but Luke was not there for years of the start of the church. And the story of Jesus is, is only known to him. Through the lives of other people that have encountered the, the, the walking incarnated Christ in volume one, he makes it clear that that is a part of his multiple interviews that he's done in these years.

Leading up to 80, 62, where he's writing the book and looking back over those many actually decades, as he's looking back as he's gathered data, one of the person he certainly interviewed was the Virgin Mary and Mary, the mother of Jesus gives the personal account in her in Luke's gospel that we don't get anywhere else.

She talks about how she felt. She talks about her own processing after hearing from the Andrew. This is what you'll find in the book of acts. He's constantly climbing into the heads. I mean, you see him in, in the presence of, of governors and hearing their private conversations. How did he know that? Well, the.

Isn't just a magic book where God just pours into somebody's head here. I wasn't gonna tell you what they did here and what they were thinking here. Some of that may have happened, but ultimate the primary way people know is they have insiders. They get insider information. We find out that one of the elders in the church at Antioch, it says was a life long friend of Herod these.

He had insiders and, and to really understand acts, you need to see, this is a living document where people were interviewed and talked to and, and he's telling their story. And he tells so many stories, but they're selected stories in this 33 year history, church history, 10 different sermons are recorded.

Three of Peter's, one of Steven's and six of pulse. It takes one third of the history of. To just record 10 sermons. So obviously it took up a lot of space for a lot of very small amount of time. And though the book will cover history and walk us through Palestine and Turkey and Greece and Italy, even up to Spain, those that will go down to S to north Africa.

It is highly selective in what he's chosen. There are obscure stories. Here are some of the stories he's going to talk about. 40 terrorists assassins, church squabbles encounters with demon possessed people, an elder, as I mentioned in, in a church at Antioch who was a lifelong friend of Herod Jesus' apostles are arrested stoned.

One of them beheaded, a Roman emperor, his close associate, a man, very intimately connected to the emperor is struck down by God, as he holds a massive political. Shipwrecks poisonous snake, citywide riots, people raised in the dead Paul's nephew being an informer to a Roman Centurion. How many knew that story?

The husband and wife struck down dead in a worship service, all these little stories and many others. And yet they're selectively chosen over this history that Luke is writing. There are large time periods that are summarized by statements like this. And it in acts 1910, Paul was reasoning daily in the hall of Tyrannus.

This continued for two years, so that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord. And just want to say, wait. Two years, all the residents of Asia, let's talk about emphasis and all the area of modern day turkeys has these people work, we're coming. And he actually says Jews and Gentiles, all the people of Asia and it's all summarized two years.

And you're just going to say, man, a history seems like you'd have more information. No, not if it's a selected history. Everything chosen with a particular reason, whatever is recorded is done. Intentionally to understand the book, we need to understand why he's writing this history, why he chooses what's in the book.

He is highlighting certain elements intentionally to show that the holy spirit is at work and the holy spirit is doing four primary things. The history emphasize. These four objectives of the spirits work, the promise spirits work. And these are the basically are the outline of the remaining things I'm going to mention.

And I do encourage you to, to have these on your mind, because I think you'll find these are really practical things for us as well. But the first thing we find that Paul tells us his Luke tells us his history for is to show us that the spirit has the objective to carry God's gospel to all nations.

This is the one you might've gotten acts chapter one, verse eight. I read it earlier. You receive power. Jesus said when the holy spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and enjoy all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth, this. Portrays that and acts one through seven.

Most people divide the book up. We do as well. I think it's a good way to divide it up. I think it's intentionally designed, uh, in a, in a chronological, uh, geographic, uh, division, but in chapters one through seven, he is talking about the ministry of the spirit in taking the gospel witness primarily to Jerusalem.

You'll notice the dates, 80 29 to 35. There are six years there. And so when you read acts one through seven, you want to remember, it's talking about six full years and when you, cause you can read through it, we, we, we actually read through aloud as pastors this week has just, I mentioned, we read through acts as one through seven, just nobody taken a breath.

We just had one guy chapter, chapter chapter went around the room and just listened to these taps. Well, it's a great exercise, but remember what you're reading about. It's not just what took place in a week. It's six years of time acts chapter eight through 12 is talking about the events of 36 to 45. Ady where the gospel now spread to Judea and Sumeria.

And then an acts 13 to 28, where the gospel goes to the rest of the, the Roman world to the ends of the earth. As it says, verses four first, four years, 45 to 60. The gospel is being carried. The gospel is going forth. It's the spirit that's doing it. It's a spirit that is empowering it. And there are two particular ways in the book of acts where this is highlighted.

First of all, the spirit empowers the gospel to go forth by providing signs and wonders and mighty works. That phrase is used continually in the book of acts. You will find it throughout the book, particularly in the first two sections of the book up through chapter 12, but it is a continual manifestation of the Spirit's work.

And it is just like the ministry of Jesus. Jesus also had a ministry where God did astounding things where the spirit manifested miraculous works and they're similar works. Uh, people are healed. Demons are cast out. People are raised from the dead. There are signs. And we're told that these are not only wonders and mighty works, but they're signs signs of why.

Signs of authenticating the messenger. It's exactly what happened with the ministry of Jesus shirt. Certainly deep Jesus did miracles to benefit people. He didn't just create, you know, a bird into a stone to just say out, you know, let's what, no, he did things that were beneficial, but he also did things that enabled people to see the, the authenticity of who he was as a messenger because of his power.

The same thing is granted to the apostles. And usually when it says signs wonders and mighty works, it says of the apostles. There are a couple of times where they apparently were, were able to designate that to Philip or, or Stephen who also were leaders in the church, but it's striking that in acts chapter seven in Stephen's great message.

Stephen in presenting the history of the, the work of God. Through the centuries goes back to Moses and he talks about how Moses did signs and wonders and mighty works. And then he traces the history of Israel and then he comes to Jesus. And again, it's the focus Jesus and his followers signs and wonders the money.

What's he doing? He's saying, as you, as you look at our history, speaking to Jews there, as you look at our history, realize there have been unique moments in God's working of humankind, where he has brought in great momentous revelation. Like when a guy went up a mountain and came down with 10 commandments, And God established laws for a nation to be his people were, God gave the old covenant God, a friend, the messenger.

And he said, now come through the centuries. Here we are. And God's doing it again. I mean, look through the old Testament, find any period where messages are authenticated and miracles will done like the time of Moses up until the time of Jesus. They're not there. These two moments, the old covenant, the giving of the new covenant, the spirit was at work continually authenticated in miraculous ways, the ministry of the apostles, as they took forward, the message of the new covenant that had happened through the risen Christ.

But it is not only to the apostles that we see the. Work of the spirit, enabling the witness. There is a spiritual empowerment to witness for Christ and acts chapter four, verse 13, when they were brought before the religious leaders. Now, when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were uneducated common men, they were astonished and they recognized they had been with Jesus.

It is not only in their miraculous gifts, but it is in, it is in the transformed character of all of these followers of Christ. That the message was empowered by the spirit. The believers have a boldness to bear witness for Christ and a confidence to trust Christ that his spirit infused. They have little confidence in themselves and they have every reason to have no confidence in themselves.

We'll see this as we play out. There's no reason this worked. There's no reason this church survived. There's no reason that that, that this thing spread, except there was an infused power that these people experienced. The emphasis on prayer in the early church demonstrates their sense of dependence and the dependence on the spirit results in an amazing movement by God's spirit.

I remember hearing David Hocking speak a preacher from California years ago, and he was telling about the story that he had, had the opportunity to go and speak in Korea. And, uh, people were aware, um, Of the great prayer emphasis in South Korea and the expansion of the church, but he was going for the first time to speak and it was going to be speaking at a large gathering.

And it was a gathering where many believers were there, but there were also many unbelievers that would be there and he's supposed to preach a gospel. And David hockey told the story and he's talking to a bunch of, he was at a pastor's conference. Who's telling us all. He said, I went and he said, everything went wrong.

He said I was sick. Uh, I missed flight. If we had flight delays cancellations, I had, you know, I got rerouted and he said, I, I wasn't ready in my mind for my message. Uh, and he said, and I literally got, there was driven from the airport and literally walked up on stage. And he said, and I had a translator I'd never met.

And he said, I don't know if I have ever felt less prepared to preach a message. And he said, my message manifested it. He said, I was struggling. I lost my train of thought. I didn't feel connection with the translator. So I really got messed up. And he said, honestly, also I could think was that I hope this ends soon.

And he got done and the translator just went up and closest service with an invitation. And David Hawking was sitting there and he watched this dozens and then hundreds into the low thousands of people. And he said this in this giant theater where they were amphitheater, where they were. And they said he just sat there and he's just watching.

And the sense of the spirit of God was so profound. He said, I just weeping. And he said, finally, as, as all of these, this mass of humanity was meeting with individual councilors. I turned to the translator and I said, What is happening. He said, that's the worst sermon I've ever preached. And the guy turned to him and he said, Dr.

Ha Dr. Hocking, God is at work in Korea. God is at work in Jerusalem. God was at work in Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. But it's our God, it's our spirit that was moving in ordinary people act six, verse seven says this. And there are so many, one of the things to watch for as you're reading through acts are the summary statements.

There's a bunch of them there. And it just gives you a feel like, okay, you gave me this little story, but this is really what's going on. Here's what it says in acts six, verse seven disciples, the disciples multiplied greatly, including a great many of the priests. Who had become obedient to the faith. I mean, isn't that an exciting thing to read the priest of, of Judaism, there are embracing the gospel.

God was at work. The second thing that the book of acts will continually remind us of is of the spirits priority to sustain God's people amidst every opposition. The opposition in acts is continual acts 1422, where Paul is revisiting some new believers that he had led to Christ. And he's trying to help them get sustained in their faith.

Here's what he says in acts 1422, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith and saying that through many tribulations, we must enter the kingdom of God. I mean, how many follow-up programs. Build that in as one of your three priorities, but it is part of the Christian journey.

And saying, guys, there's going to be opposition. God's spirit is at work, but there are other powers that, and, and, and where there is an anti opposition where there isn't any, it just means you're not aware. You're not sensing it. There's a subtlety going on. The darkness is always opposing the people of God and the kingdom of God in acts two, acts two, verse two, excuse me, acts chapter two to chapter seven.

Again, it's a six year period. Remember it's the same religious establishment that had crucified Jesus, right? Same people, same leaders, the same guys that, that, that Jesus got taken before are the people that Peter and John get taken before. And, and a little while later, all of the apostles are taken. It is the same individuals and the same establishment.

And here's Peter, this guy that, I mean, I mentioned this to the fastest. I just had this visual, when we were reading through of hearing about this, this roaring lion, Peter and I. So what must it have been like for that little servant girl? You know, that, that, that, uh, he had been in the high priest courtyard and, and Jesus has been betrayed and, and Peter's there and she turns to him and says, you are with Jesus.

He's not made no. And he curses him. He uses foul language. He, he and she's no, no. I recognize your, there was something about his dialect from gala, I reckon. No, no, no, no, no. Three times when, what that little girl was thinking as she watches Peter boldly declaring in the temple and coming against all the religious mucky mucks, these were changed, man.

And they make statements like this in Peter's first sermon. Here's what he says. This Jesus in acts chapter two, verse 23, this Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan. And for knowledge of God, you crucify and killed by the hands of lawless men. Again, I tried to say briefly just what crucifixion meant it was for the, the, the dirtiest of the dirt of the, to the Roman authorities.

He says, you not only rejected him, you treated him as the most disdainful commonplace criminal. And yet God. I had him here by definite plan and for knowledge, other things that happened sometime later, going into the temple, Peter and John are there and this cripple is paralyzed, man. They have healed.

He's congenital. He's been that way from birth. And it says the guy was clinging physically. He clung to Peter and John and John and Peter are now preaching actually Peter preaching. And here's what he says there and accept a three verse 14 and 15, but you denied the holy and righteous one and asked for a murderer to be granted to you.

And you killed the author of life.

Who wants to hear that you kill the guy to create an all of us. That's who you killed.

It's no wonder there was opposition. It's no wonder there was heat. But when you, when you really read acts and you, and you get the sense of how much was against the church power authority, and yet God continued things moving Pharisees are recorded as believing priests. It says the great number of police were leaving.

We also see the opposition is very political powers will work against the church heritage soon after being put in charge. And one of the things we did, we, we, we tried to do timelines and that bring in the secular history as well. It's fascinating when you do this, because what you find out is somebody like this Herod Agrippa was actually.

I can't. I could, there's so much I could go into cause I love history and you don't, but I mean, a lot of you do a lot of you do a lot of you do. Sorry, but Herod Agrippa was a buddy of the Roman emperor, a buddy friend. They spend time together as families Herod Agrippa was given the role, not only of being overall Judea, but he just got graduated to having the entire Eastern seaboard of the Mediterranean sea.

This all happened historically. He's been put in charge of the entire Eastern seaboard and is put in charge. One of the first things he does is flex his muscle and he takes James, the brother of John, the apostles. And beheads, it says the executed and by the sword, but most believed that's what it means.

And at the same time he arrests Peter and plans after the holiday to kill him, it says along with the other leaders of the church, That's when Herod got invited to go up to, up to the area of Syria, the town of Cesarea and speak because the people there realized, wow, he's now in charge of us too. So they come and there is this moment where he's at the political rally and it says, they're trying to suck up to him.

They're saying, it's the voice of a God, not a man. And he's, he's taken it in at that moment. God, smote him. And you have this picture. Here's the emperors guy who dared to take out the church. Who's just been given the greatest pat on the back of the emperor, but God took him out. God is at work. God is moving.

We see there are political powers. There are demons constantly bringing in your face attacks. There are Christian there's trouble in the church. There are major conflicts. They have theologically some strategically, what should we do? Certainly those personally, even among the most godly Judaizers, insisting Gentiles do more than embraced Jesus and more than just embraced Jesus.

One of the hardest things for the Jews in the early church, when they saw this thing is if they see these Gentiles being brought in, who they weren't even allowed to eat with or go or, or, or go in the homes of, and now these guys are being brought in on. All they have to do is say, I believe in Jesus as the Messiah.

And they're like, really? That's it. We've given a whole line. To keep the law to protect into keeping the Sabbath to two beings, davening our children, circumstance, every part and all these guys do they just walk in and say, yeah, I'm going to embrace Jesus. Do he's my guy too. So hard. There was conflict.

But the spirit is at work in the midst of all of this conflict winning victoriously. So the church can go forward. Third, the two fulfilled God's sovereign purposes in setting the timetable of events in chapter one, verse seven, Jesus says to them, you know, they say, Lord, you know, just before he leaves is this one you're going to establish a kingdom.

And he, and just before he says, in verse eight, you're going to receive power. He says this, it's not for you to know times or seasons. The father has fixed by his own authority. You're not going to know the plan. God is working a sovereign purpose. You'll receive the power, but you will not get all the ingredients of the plan in accomplishing the overall plan for redemption acceptor.

16. Paul wants that he's up in, in modern day Turkey and he wants to swing left, which would take him to Ephesus the second role in the second, most prominent city in the Roman empire. And God says, no, can't go there. He says, the spirit restrained him. And he says, all right, I'll go north because there's all kinds of things is lots of reasons.

Historically wanted to go. North spirit says, no, I want you to go this way. So he actually goes north to the west and he's run out of space. He's at the ancient Troy, the city of ancient Troy. It's called Troas in his day. And there he is. He's run out of space. Stephen, go. Now, what do I do? And he's asleep.

And he gets this thing called the Macedonian vision. A vision comes and it's a guy across the ocean, the agency in Philippi, sin, come on over here. God is working his sovereign plan. For redemption, what you find as you read acts is there was no methodology that they were following all they needed to do.

Paul did it every time he said I'm supposed to go to the Jews first then to the Gentiles. That's what I do. I try to find the Jews. If they're in the synagogue, I go there. If there's somewhere else, I go there, but I go to the place and, and, and I, I, I preach there and if they respond, I stay there. If they don't, I go to the gents, but I don't know, but they didn't have a big strategy.

And what they found was in one city, they go and they're welcomed. It says many of the Jews believed. And, and even the agenda and the next city, they go to in his first sermon, he gets stoned. They didn't know, they didn't have a strategy. They were utterly dependent for their methodology and for what to do next, I gotta move fast, um, and bringing people to himself.

God is at work. It's the Lord. It constantly read statements like X 16, where it says the Lord opened her heart. The whole story of Saul becoming Paul is just the, the invasion of God into her life. God did things intended for intense things for good. When it was intended for evil. We'll find when we get to the end of the chapter seven, and it says that, uh, Stephen was killed and it then says in the beginning of verse eight chapter eight, that Paul was ravaging the church.

He was the attack dog of the, of the religious establishment. And so what happened? It says it was so hot in Jerusalem that most of the believers were forced out of the city. And guess where they went, they went to Judea and Sumeria God inaugurated the second phase by what was utterly intended for. But he intended it for good to fulfill his purposes.

Um, let me jump down to unite. God's churches to force thing. There are parallel descriptions of Peterson Paul's ministry, which are obviously intentional. He's trying to say, look, Paul went to the Gentiles. Peter was focused on the Jews, but realize that their ministries are parallel. Their ministries are equally because there were churches like Corinth that said we're not of Paul.

Or usually they would say, we're not a Peter because we're not Jews we're of Paul. And then there are others in the church that were Jewish. And they said, no, no, no, our Christianity we're of Peter and we got our group and we'd like to meet at one o'clock and you guys, and Paul says, no, no, we're not Paul or of Peter.

We're both doing the same work. Luke emphasizes that both. Peter. And Paul raised somebody from the dead. Both of them had people want to worship them. And they had to say, no, both of them, uh, healed people who were paralyzed from birth. Both of them, uh, uh, healed people in unique ways. Peter, actually people would get in the shadow of Peter and get healed.

It says the Paul that they touched his handkerchiefs or his apron, both received visions, which gave vital direction to the church's mission in acts 10 for Peter in acts 16 for Paul, the variety of people's stories highlights the unity of the church. Jews Samaritans, Greeks, Romans, and countless other, uh, ethnicities.

Peter says in acts 10, he's gone to Cornelius house, which is his Roman Centurion. He gets this house and, and, and, and he's been led there by a vision. He doesn't want to go and he's there and, and he gets there and he's supposed to meet with this guy, Cornelius and Cornelius pulls a fast one on him. The house is full of people.

They're all Gentiles. And, and while he's there, told the story of how the spirit had come upon them. And he's just, this is Paul. And he's almost like he says to the Gentiles. He says, you know, I'm not allowed to eat with you. I'm not allowed to be in your house, but God's at work here in same ways that worked among us on the day of Pentecost, continually the book focuses on the unit.

As variety of people's stories are told we see in the church are people that are physically handicapped slaves, governor of the island of Cyprus, Roman officers, demon, possessed girls and men for magicians, Greek philosophers, priests, prominent business women, Pharisees prostitutes, and they're all doing church together because of the unifying reality of the spirit.

The connection of oneness with the expansion of the church is one of the beautiful visuals you find in the book of acts, even in chapter two, right at the beginning, and all who believed were together and had all things in common in chapter two, verse 44, and the Lord added to their number day by day.

Those who were being saved, the church grew as the church wrestled through being of oneness in the spirit. We've worked, uh, energetically to prepare for this series. As pastors, as Josiah mentioned this week, we actually came together for two days to just go through our own studies together. What we've been learning.

Um, I know many of you have been reading the book of acts. I hope others of you will feel prompted to do so. This book is our history, but it is also our model. It is a model reminding us of what living by the spirit is intended to look like a reminder of how challenging it can be and how much it must be.

Treasured. I received a letter from a man who attends FCC, a young dad recently when he heard we would be preaching from acts. He told me of a journey that he had been on in the months prior to the note and why ax had become so precious to him. I have his permission to just share it, following the story of the non-believing Jews, salt, turning into Paul and sharing his experience with other non-believing Jews really speaks to me and opened my heart toward Christ.

Since I grew up Jewish, it was a real eye-opener and the entire book holds a special place in my heart. The spirit is still at work. This book is still speaking into our lives. Let's look for him to be so to us as we engage this book together, let's pray, Lord.

I think my biggest takeaway that I want to be true in my own life.

It's to live more fully dependent on the spirit.

Lord Jesus, I thank you that you came among us,

that you live, you suffered, you died, you rose and then sent to us the spirit. Lord, thank you that we can live life with your spirit. The third member of the tri unity of God, Lord, help us to lean into him the way these people just like us learning. Maybe glorified, may we be changed? Me. Jesus. Be exalted in whose name we pray.

Amen. Amen. New every semester. .]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/a-panoramic-view-of-acts 7578bbdd-60e5-42bc-9154-26e6e82879fe Sun, 23 Jan 2022 10:48:13 GMT <div data-html="true">Acts 1:1-11 <br /><br /> "John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Take your Bibles this morning. We're going to be looking at the book of acts chapter one, verses one through 11. How many of you have with you a scripture journal of the book of acts. It's very encouraging and those of you that have gotten one and didn't bring it today. I encourage you to bring it other times we are working on. <br /><br /> I think we may have a source to get more. We actually, w w we basically depleted all the resources of every publisher in the world. Um, we really can't find any more, but we're, I think we may have found some so hoping to get some more and soon be able to order some more. We had somewhere about 240 or 250 adults that have gotten them already really excited about that. <br /><br /> We're going to read acts chapter one verses one through 11. We are beginning a new series this morning. Um, there a little bit of an echo. Okay. There's a little bit of an echo if we can. Um, thank you. <br /><br /> Acts chapter one, verses one through 11 and hated right now by the sound guys, uh, in the first book. Oh, Theopolis I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day when he was taken up after he had given commands to the holy. To the apostles whom he had chosen. He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during 40 days. <br /><br /> And speaking about the kingdom of God and while staying with them, he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the father, which he said, you heard from me for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the holy spirit now many days from now. So when they had come together, they asked him, Lord, will you, at this time restore the kingdom to Israel. <br /><br /> He said to them, it is not for you to know times or seasons that the father has fixed by his own authority, but you will receive power when the holy spirit has come upon you and you will be witnesses my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up and a cloud took him out of there. <br /><br /> And while there are gazing into heaven, as he went behold, two men stood by them in white robes and said, men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven. Let's pray, <br /><br /> Lord, we love your word. Love the scriptures, grateful for each verse chapter book that is in this, this thing, the Bible, but Lord, for many of us, this book, the book of acts has become a source of deep encouragement, deep challenge, deep solace. Even in reaching the days. And so Lord, it is my prayer again, that the spirit that was so prominent in the record of these 33 years of history, and he would move among us again, even in this series that Lord, as we reflect on what these men and women experienced, as they just lived wholeheartedly in desperate dependence on the spirit of God and the way you literally changed an empire through ordinary common people with an extraordinary God. <br /><br /> So Lord teach us today. Even as we try to get this panoramic overview of the book, May you use it to speak into our lives. May you use it to encourage us to want to be listeners and learners in Jesus name? I pray. Amen. <br /><br /> Just a few years before Christ birth Rome had constructed its first ever heated pool. They had put it on a hill called the Equiline hill. It was actually on the outskirts of the ancient walls of the city of Rome. And it was put on a unique location. It was a hill that had never been built on because it actually had a particular purpose in the, in the Roman empire and Roman in particular, it was the place where slaves were crucified. <br /><br /> Whenever there was a result of revolt in that part of the Roman empire, they would bring the vanquished slaves and they would crucify them all over the. When someone revolted or acted rebelliously within the city as a slave, which crucifixion was usually designed and designated for slaves, they would crucify them there. <br /><br /> And now after many generations, just a few years before Jesus' birth, some developers have gotten permission to create what will be on the Aqualine hill, the most opulent villas, and a state in the entire Roman world. The most wealthy, the most distinguished, the most well-known among Roman leaders will live on this hill. <br /><br /> That had been always the place of crucifixion of slaves. There was no place in the Roman empire that presented such a contrast, a contrast of the most distained of the Roman world. And the most privileged for crucifixion was reserved for slave results. In some cases, society, societal, SOC psychopaths would also be crucified people who are a harm, not only to others, but to the whole order of goodness and order of the Roman empire, when a slave result happened, what they would actually do if it was not right in Rome, they would actually take all the slaves that had been, uh, now conquered and were still alive. <br /><br /> And they would line the road leading into the local city and put the slaves on crucifixes. There was no better way to remind people. This is what happens when you mess with Rome, because crucifixion was the place where people rised on a cross in unspeakable pain for hours, often days before they. Those that were crucified within the empire were considered the least worthy of remembrance. <br /><br /> Very few plub public records of crucifixion list ever have the names of the victims. Their insignificance was declared by being buried in a common unmarked grave, which marked the hill of out quinine hill. And when they actually began to dig the footers for the foundations of these majestic estates, they found thousands of skeletons of slaves that had just been marked. <br /><br /> Nobody knew who they were. Nobody had any record of their names to be crucified was a far worse stigma than receiving the electric chair. In our day. It was a symbol of unspeakable shame, revulsion and contempt. We begin our series. With this question, how could a religion who central belief was in the work and teaching of a crucified man become the dominant belief system in the Roman empire. <br /><br /> The book of acts gives us the answer in this book, Luke, the historian will actually write his second volume of a two book set. He's written volume one. It's called the book of Luke and it's basically Jesus at work through his life, death and resurrection in Luke 24, verse 49. The last part Jesus is at the end of the book of Luke recorded as leaving his disciples. <br /><br /> And here's what he says to them in verse 49. And behold, I am sending the promise of my father upon you, but stay in the city until you're clothed with power. From on high, the beginning of acts here in verses one through 11, the verses I just read are basically the beginning of season two. And it's the series season, our opener. <br /><br /> That's saying we want to recap here's what's happened before and it picks up the story where Jesus has says, wait in Jerusalem, wait, wait, wait, wait for the promise. Wait for the promised one. And then we come at the beginning of volume two, and we find a book that is presenting the holy spirit at work through Jesus. <br /><br /> Following. And we're reminded in acts one eight, but you will receive power when the holy spirit comes on upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth, 55 times, the holy spirit is mentioned in the book of acts. He is everywhere. He is at work in everything. <br /><br /> He is changing. Those that are willing to in every one of their lives. I want to just make some general comments. And again, this message is designed to try to give us the, the snapshot aerial view of the book of acts. And there's going to be four principles, four things that I'm going to encourage you to jot down in your journal or in the side of your Bible, or somewhere to constantly go back to, because these will be the big ideas of the book of acts. <br /><br /> Luke is trying to tell us, but a couple of general ideas, access history. It is a history book. It is a history book of the early church. However, acts is a selected history. Luke has reasons for what he records for years, Luke, who has become a Christian later in life. He's a Gentile. He's actually the only Gentile author in the new Testament. <br /><br /> He is writing later. He has joined Paul on his missionary journey, but, but Luke was not there for years of the start of the church. And the story of Jesus is, is only known to him. Through the lives of other people that have encountered the, the, the walking incarnated Christ in volume one, he makes it clear that that is a part of his multiple interviews that he's done in these years. <br /><br /> Leading up to 80, 62, where he's writing the book and looking back over those many actually decades, as he's looking back as he's gathered data, one of the person he certainly interviewed was the Virgin Mary and Mary, the mother of Jesus gives the personal account in her in Luke's gospel that we don't get anywhere else. <br /><br /> She talks about how she felt. She talks about her own processing after hearing from the Andrew. This is what you'll find in the book of acts. He's constantly climbing into the heads. I mean, you see him in, in the presence of, of governors and hearing their private conversations. How did he know that? Well, the. <br /><br /> Isn't just a magic book where God just pours into somebody's head here. I wasn't gonna tell you what they did here and what they were thinking here. Some of that may have happened, but ultimate the primary way people know is they have insiders. They get insider information. We find out that one of the elders in the church at Antioch, it says was a life long friend of Herod these. <br /><br /> He had insiders and, and to really understand acts, you need to see, this is a living document where people were interviewed and talked to and, and he's telling their story. And he tells so many stories, but they're selected stories in this 33 year history, church history, 10 different sermons are recorded. <br /><br /> Three of Peter's, one of Steven's and six of pulse. It takes one third of the history of. To just record 10 sermons. So obviously it took up a lot of space for a lot of very small amount of time. And though the book will cover history and walk us through Palestine and Turkey and Greece and Italy, even up to Spain, those that will go down to S to north Africa. <br /><br /> It is highly selective in what he's chosen. There are obscure stories. Here are some of the stories he's going to talk about. 40 terrorists assassins, church squabbles encounters with demon possessed people, an elder, as I mentioned in, in a church at Antioch who was a lifelong friend of Herod Jesus' apostles are arrested stoned. <br /><br /> One of them beheaded, a Roman emperor, his close associate, a man, very intimately connected to the emperor is struck down by God, as he holds a massive political. Shipwrecks poisonous snake, citywide riots, people raised in the dead Paul's nephew being an informer to a Roman Centurion. How many knew that story? <br /><br /> The husband and wife struck down dead in a worship service, all these little stories and many others. And yet they're selectively chosen over this history that Luke is writing. There are large time periods that are summarized by statements like this. And it in acts 1910, Paul was reasoning daily in the hall of Tyrannus. <br /><br /> This continued for two years, so that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord. And just want to say, wait. Two years, all the residents of Asia, let's talk about emphasis and all the area of modern day turkeys has these people work, we're coming. And he actually says Jews and Gentiles, all the people of Asia and it's all summarized two years. <br /><br /> And you're just going to say, man, a history seems like you'd have more information. No, not if it's a selected history. Everything chosen with a particular reason, whatever is recorded is done. Intentionally to understand the book, we need to understand why he's writing this history, why he chooses what's in the book. <br /><br /> He is highlighting certain elements intentionally to show that the holy spirit is at work and the holy spirit is doing four primary things. The history emphasize. These four objectives of the spirits work, the promise spirits work. And these are the basically are the outline of the remaining things I'm going to mention. <br /><br /> And I do encourage you to, to have these on your mind, because I think you'll find these are really practical things for us as well. But the first thing we find that Paul tells us his Luke tells us his history for is to show us that the spirit has the objective to carry God's gospel to all nations. <br /><br /> This is the one you might've gotten acts chapter one, verse eight. I read it earlier. You receive power. Jesus said when the holy spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and enjoy all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth, this. Portrays that and acts one through seven. <br /><br /> Most people divide the book up. We do as well. I think it's a good way to divide it up. I think it's intentionally designed, uh, in a, in a chronological, uh, geographic, uh, division, but in chapters one through seven, he is talking about the ministry of the spirit in taking the gospel witness primarily to Jerusalem. <br /><br /> You'll notice the dates, 80 29 to 35. There are six years there. And so when you read acts one through seven, you want to remember, it's talking about six full years and when you, cause you can read through it, we, we, we actually read through aloud as pastors this week has just, I mentioned, we read through acts as one through seven, just nobody taken a breath. <br /><br /> We just had one guy chapter, chapter chapter went around the room and just listened to these taps. Well, it's a great exercise, but remember what you're reading about. It's not just what took place in a week. It's six years of time acts chapter eight through 12 is talking about the events of 36 to 45. Ady where the gospel now spread to Judea and Sumeria. <br /><br /> And then an acts 13 to 28, where the gospel goes to the rest of the, the Roman world to the ends of the earth. As it says, verses four first, four years, 45 to 60. The gospel is being carried. The gospel is going forth. It's the spirit that's doing it. It's a spirit that is empowering it. And there are two particular ways in the book of acts where this is highlighted. <br /><br /> First of all, the spirit empowers the gospel to go forth by providing signs and wonders and mighty works. That phrase is used continually in the book of acts. You will find it throughout the book, particularly in the first two sections of the book up through chapter 12, but it is a continual manifestation of the Spirit's work. <br /><br /> And it is just like the ministry of Jesus. Jesus also had a ministry where God did astounding things where the spirit manifested miraculous works and they're similar works. Uh, people are healed. Demons are cast out. People are raised from the dead. There are signs. And we're told that these are not only wonders and mighty works, but they're signs signs of why. <br /><br /> Signs of authenticating the messenger. It's exactly what happened with the ministry of Jesus shirt. Certainly deep Jesus did miracles to benefit people. He didn't just create, you know, a bird into a stone to just say out, you know, let's what, no, he did things that were beneficial, but he also did things that enabled people to see the, the authenticity of who he was as a messenger because of his power. <br /><br /> The same thing is granted to the apostles. And usually when it says signs wonders and mighty works, it says of the apostles. There are a couple of times where they apparently were, were able to designate that to Philip or, or Stephen who also were leaders in the church, but it's striking that in acts chapter seven in Stephen's great message. <br /><br /> Stephen in presenting the history of the, the work of God. Through the centuries goes back to Moses and he talks about how Moses did signs and wonders and mighty works. And then he traces the history of Israel and then he comes to Jesus. And again, it's the focus Jesus and his followers signs and wonders the money. <br /><br /> What's he doing? He's saying, as you, as you look at our history, speaking to Jews there, as you look at our history, realize there have been unique moments in God's working of humankind, where he has brought in great momentous revelation. Like when a guy went up a mountain and came down with 10 commandments, And God established laws for a nation to be his people were, God gave the old covenant God, a friend, the messenger. <br /><br /> And he said, now come through the centuries. Here we are. And God's doing it again. I mean, look through the old Testament, find any period where messages are authenticated and miracles will done like the time of Moses up until the time of Jesus. They're not there. These two moments, the old covenant, the giving of the new covenant, the spirit was at work continually authenticated in miraculous ways, the ministry of the apostles, as they took forward, the message of the new covenant that had happened through the risen Christ. <br /><br /> But it is not only to the apostles that we see the. Work of the spirit, enabling the witness. There is a spiritual empowerment to witness for Christ and acts chapter four, verse 13, when they were brought before the religious leaders. Now, when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were uneducated common men, they were astonished and they recognized they had been with Jesus. <br /><br /> It is not only in their miraculous gifts, but it is in, it is in the transformed character of all of these followers of Christ. That the message was empowered by the spirit. The believers have a boldness to bear witness for Christ and a confidence to trust Christ that his spirit infused. They have little confidence in themselves and they have every reason to have no confidence in themselves. <br /><br /> We'll see this as we play out. There's no reason this worked. There's no reason this church survived. There's no reason that that, that this thing spread, except there was an infused power that these people experienced. The emphasis on prayer in the early church demonstrates their sense of dependence and the dependence on the spirit results in an amazing movement by God's spirit. <br /><br /> I remember hearing David Hocking speak a preacher from California years ago, and he was telling about the story that he had, had the opportunity to go and speak in Korea. And, uh, people were aware, um, Of the great prayer emphasis in South Korea and the expansion of the church, but he was going for the first time to speak and it was going to be speaking at a large gathering. <br /><br /> And it was a gathering where many believers were there, but there were also many unbelievers that would be there and he's supposed to preach a gospel. And David hockey told the story and he's talking to a bunch of, he was at a pastor's conference. Who's telling us all. He said, I went and he said, everything went wrong. <br /><br /> He said I was sick. Uh, I missed flight. If we had flight delays cancellations, I had, you know, I got rerouted and he said, I, I wasn't ready in my mind for my message. Uh, and he said, and I literally got, there was driven from the airport and literally walked up on stage. And he said, and I had a translator I'd never met. <br /><br /> And he said, I don't know if I have ever felt less prepared to preach a message. And he said, my message manifested it. He said, I was struggling. I lost my train of thought. I didn't feel connection with the translator. So I really got messed up. And he said, honestly, also I could think was that I hope this ends soon. <br /><br /> And he got done and the translator just went up and closest service with an invitation. And David Hawking was sitting there and he watched this dozens and then hundreds into the low thousands of people. And he said this in this giant theater where they were amphitheater, where they were. And they said he just sat there and he's just watching. <br /><br /> And the sense of the spirit of God was so profound. He said, I just weeping. And he said, finally, as, as all of these, this mass of humanity was meeting with individual councilors. I turned to the translator and I said, What is happening. He said, that's the worst sermon I've ever preached. And the guy turned to him and he said, Dr. <br /><br /> Ha Dr. Hocking, God is at work in Korea. God is at work in Jerusalem. God was at work in Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. But it's our God, it's our spirit that was moving in ordinary people act six, verse seven says this. And there are so many, one of the things to watch for as you're reading through acts are the summary statements. <br /><br /> There's a bunch of them there. And it just gives you a feel like, okay, you gave me this little story, but this is really what's going on. Here's what it says in acts six, verse seven disciples, the disciples multiplied greatly, including a great many of the priests. Who had become obedient to the faith. I mean, isn't that an exciting thing to read the priest of, of Judaism, there are embracing the gospel. <br /><br /> God was at work. The second thing that the book of acts will continually remind us of is of the spirits priority to sustain God's people amidst every opposition. The opposition in acts is continual acts 1422, where Paul is revisiting some new believers that he had led to Christ. And he's trying to help them get sustained in their faith. <br /><br /> Here's what he says in acts 1422, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith and saying that through many tribulations, we must enter the kingdom of God. I mean, how many follow-up programs. Build that in as one of your three priorities, but it is part of the Christian journey. <br /><br /> And saying, guys, there's going to be opposition. God's spirit is at work, but there are other powers that, and, and, and where there is an anti opposition where there isn't any, it just means you're not aware. You're not sensing it. There's a subtlety going on. The darkness is always opposing the people of God and the kingdom of God in acts two, acts two, verse two, excuse me, acts chapter two to chapter seven. <br /><br /> Again, it's a six year period. Remember it's the same religious establishment that had crucified Jesus, right? Same people, same leaders, the same guys that, that, that Jesus got taken before are the people that Peter and John get taken before. And, and a little while later, all of the apostles are taken. It is the same individuals and the same establishment. <br /><br /> And here's Peter, this guy that, I mean, I mentioned this to the fastest. I just had this visual, when we were reading through of hearing about this, this roaring lion, Peter and I. So what must it have been like for that little servant girl? You know, that, that, that, uh, he had been in the high priest courtyard and, and Jesus has been betrayed and, and Peter's there and she turns to him and says, you are with Jesus. <br /><br /> He's not made no. And he curses him. He uses foul language. He, he and she's no, no. I recognize your, there was something about his dialect from gala, I reckon. No, no, no, no, no. Three times when, what that little girl was thinking as she watches Peter boldly declaring in the temple and coming against all the religious mucky mucks, these were changed, man. <br /><br /> And they make statements like this in Peter's first sermon. Here's what he says. This Jesus in acts chapter two, verse 23, this Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan. And for knowledge of God, you crucify and killed by the hands of lawless men. Again, I tried to say briefly just what crucifixion meant it was for the, the, the dirtiest of the dirt of the, to the Roman authorities. <br /><br /> He says, you not only rejected him, you treated him as the most disdainful commonplace criminal. And yet God. I had him here by definite plan and for knowledge, other things that happened sometime later, going into the temple, Peter and John are there and this cripple is paralyzed, man. They have healed. <br /><br /> He's congenital. He's been that way from birth. And it says the guy was clinging physically. He clung to Peter and John and John and Peter are now preaching actually Peter preaching. And here's what he says there and accept a three verse 14 and 15, but you denied the holy and righteous one and asked for a murderer to be granted to you. <br /><br /> And you killed the author of life. <br /><br /> Who wants to hear that you kill the guy to create an all of us. That's who you killed. <br /><br /> It's no wonder there was opposition. It's no wonder there was heat. But when you, when you really read acts and you, and you get the sense of how much was against the church power authority, and yet God continued things moving Pharisees are recorded as believing priests. It says the great number of police were leaving. <br /><br /> We also see the opposition is very political powers will work against the church heritage soon after being put in charge. And one of the things we did, we, we, we tried to do timelines and that bring in the secular history as well. It's fascinating when you do this, because what you find out is somebody like this Herod Agrippa was actually. <br /><br /> I can't. I could, there's so much I could go into cause I love history and you don't, but I mean, a lot of you do a lot of you do a lot of you do. Sorry, but Herod Agrippa was a buddy of the Roman emperor, a buddy friend. They spend time together as families Herod Agrippa was given the role, not only of being overall Judea, but he just got graduated to having the entire Eastern seaboard of the Mediterranean sea. <br /><br /> This all happened historically. He's been put in charge of the entire Eastern seaboard and is put in charge. One of the first things he does is flex his muscle and he takes James, the brother of John, the apostles. And beheads, it says the executed and by the sword, but most believed that's what it means. <br /><br /> And at the same time he arrests Peter and plans after the holiday to kill him, it says along with the other leaders of the church, That's when Herod got invited to go up to, up to the area of Syria, the town of Cesarea and speak because the people there realized, wow, he's now in charge of us too. So they come and there is this moment where he's at the political rally and it says, they're trying to suck up to him. <br /><br /> They're saying, it's the voice of a God, not a man. And he's, he's taken it in at that moment. God, smote him. And you have this picture. Here's the emperors guy who dared to take out the church. Who's just been given the greatest pat on the back of the emperor, but God took him out. God is at work. God is moving. <br /><br /> We see there are political powers. There are demons constantly bringing in your face attacks. There are Christian there's trouble in the church. There are major conflicts. They have theologically some strategically, what should we do? Certainly those personally, even among the most godly Judaizers, insisting Gentiles do more than embraced Jesus and more than just embraced Jesus. <br /><br /> One of the hardest things for the Jews in the early church, when they saw this thing is if they see these Gentiles being brought in, who they weren't even allowed to eat with or go or, or, or go in the homes of, and now these guys are being brought in on. All they have to do is say, I believe in Jesus as the Messiah. <br /><br /> And they're like, really? That's it. We've given a whole line. To keep the law to protect into keeping the Sabbath to two beings, davening our children, circumstance, every part and all these guys do they just walk in and say, yeah, I'm going to embrace Jesus. Do he's my guy too. So hard. There was conflict. <br /><br /> But the spirit is at work in the midst of all of this conflict winning victoriously. So the church can go forward. Third, the two fulfilled God's sovereign purposes in setting the timetable of events in chapter one, verse seven, Jesus says to them, you know, they say, Lord, you know, just before he leaves is this one you're going to establish a kingdom. <br /><br /> And he, and just before he says, in verse eight, you're going to receive power. He says this, it's not for you to know times or seasons. The father has fixed by his own authority. You're not going to know the plan. God is working a sovereign purpose. You'll receive the power, but you will not get all the ingredients of the plan in accomplishing the overall plan for redemption acceptor. <br /><br /> 16. Paul wants that he's up in, in modern day Turkey and he wants to swing left, which would take him to Ephesus the second role in the second, most prominent city in the Roman empire. And God says, no, can't go there. He says, the spirit restrained him. And he says, all right, I'll go north because there's all kinds of things is lots of reasons. <br /><br /> Historically wanted to go. North spirit says, no, I want you to go this way. So he actually goes north to the west and he's run out of space. He's at the ancient Troy, the city of ancient Troy. It's called Troas in his day. And there he is. He's run out of space. Stephen, go. Now, what do I do? And he's asleep. <br /><br /> And he gets this thing called the Macedonian vision. A vision comes and it's a guy across the ocean, the agency in Philippi, sin, come on over here. God is working his sovereign plan. For redemption, what you find as you read acts is there was no methodology that they were following all they needed to do. <br /><br /> Paul did it every time he said I'm supposed to go to the Jews first then to the Gentiles. That's what I do. I try to find the Jews. If they're in the synagogue, I go there. If there's somewhere else, I go there, but I go to the place and, and, and I, I, I preach there and if they respond, I stay there. If they don't, I go to the gents, but I don't know, but they didn't have a big strategy. <br /><br /> And what they found was in one city, they go and they're welcomed. It says many of the Jews believed. And, and even the agenda and the next city, they go to in his first sermon, he gets stoned. They didn't know, they didn't have a strategy. They were utterly dependent for their methodology and for what to do next, I gotta move fast, um, and bringing people to himself. <br /><br /> God is at work. It's the Lord. It constantly read statements like X 16, where it says the Lord opened her heart. The whole story of Saul becoming Paul is just the, the invasion of God into her life. God did things intended for intense things for good. When it was intended for evil. We'll find when we get to the end of the chapter seven, and it says that, uh, Stephen was killed and it then says in the beginning of verse eight chapter eight, that Paul was ravaging the church. <br /><br /> He was the attack dog of the, of the religious establishment. And so what happened? It says it was so hot in Jerusalem that most of the believers were forced out of the city. And guess where they went, they went to Judea and Sumeria God inaugurated the second phase by what was utterly intended for. But he intended it for good to fulfill his purposes. <br /><br /> Um, let me jump down to unite. God's churches to force thing. There are parallel descriptions of Peterson Paul's ministry, which are obviously intentional. He's trying to say, look, Paul went to the Gentiles. Peter was focused on the Jews, but realize that their ministries are parallel. Their ministries are equally because there were churches like Corinth that said we're not of Paul. <br /><br /> Or usually they would say, we're not a Peter because we're not Jews we're of Paul. And then there are others in the church that were Jewish. And they said, no, no, no, our Christianity we're of Peter and we got our group and we'd like to meet at one o'clock and you guys, and Paul says, no, no, we're not Paul or of Peter. <br /><br /> We're both doing the same work. Luke emphasizes that both. Peter. And Paul raised somebody from the dead. Both of them had people want to worship them. And they had to say, no, both of them, uh, healed people who were paralyzed from birth. Both of them, uh, uh, healed people in unique ways. Peter, actually people would get in the shadow of Peter and get healed. <br /><br /> It says the Paul that they touched his handkerchiefs or his apron, both received visions, which gave vital direction to the church's mission in acts 10 for Peter in acts 16 for Paul, the variety of people's stories highlights the unity of the church. Jews Samaritans, Greeks, Romans, and countless other, uh, ethnicities. <br /><br /> Peter says in acts 10, he's gone to Cornelius house, which is his Roman Centurion. He gets this house and, and, and, and he's been led there by a vision. He doesn't want to go and he's there and, and he gets there and he's supposed to meet with this guy, Cornelius and Cornelius pulls a fast one on him. The house is full of people. <br /><br /> They're all Gentiles. And, and while he's there, told the story of how the spirit had come upon them. And he's just, this is Paul. And he's almost like he says to the Gentiles. He says, you know, I'm not allowed to eat with you. I'm not allowed to be in your house, but God's at work here in same ways that worked among us on the day of Pentecost, continually the book focuses on the unit. <br /><br /> As variety of people's stories are told we see in the church are people that are physically handicapped slaves, governor of the island of Cyprus, Roman officers, demon, possessed girls and men for magicians, Greek philosophers, priests, prominent business women, Pharisees prostitutes, and they're all doing church together because of the unifying reality of the spirit. <br /><br /> The connection of oneness with the expansion of the church is one of the beautiful visuals you find in the book of acts, even in chapter two, right at the beginning, and all who believed were together and had all things in common in chapter two, verse 44, and the Lord added to their number day by day. <br /><br /> Those who were being saved, the church grew as the church wrestled through being of oneness in the spirit. We've worked, uh, energetically to prepare for this series. As pastors, as Josiah mentioned this week, we actually came together for two days to just go through our own studies together. What we've been learning. <br /><br /> Um, I know many of you have been reading the book of acts. I hope others of you will feel prompted to do so. This book is our history, but it is also our model. It is a model reminding us of what living by the spirit is intended to look like a reminder of how challenging it can be and how much it must be. <br /><br /> Treasured. I received a letter from a man who attends FCC, a young dad recently when he heard we would be preaching from acts. He told me of a journey that he had been on in the months prior to the note and why ax had become so precious to him. I have his permission to just share it, following the story of the non-believing Jews, salt, turning into Paul and sharing his experience with other non-believing Jews really speaks to me and opened my heart toward Christ. <br /><br /> Since I grew up Jewish, it was a real eye-opener and the entire book holds a special place in my heart. The spirit is still at work. This book is still speaking into our lives. Let's look for him to be so to us as we engage this book together, let's pray, Lord. <br /><br /> I think my biggest takeaway that I want to be true in my own life. <br /><br /> It's to live more fully dependent on the spirit. <br /><br /> Lord Jesus, I thank you that you came among us, <br /><br /> that you live, you suffered, you died, you rose and then sent to us the spirit. Lord, thank you that we can live life with your spirit. The third member of the tri unity of God, Lord, help us to lean into him the way these people just like us learning. Maybe glorified, may we be changed? Me. Jesus. Be exalted in whose name we pray. <br /><br /> Amen. Amen. New every semester. .</div> false no <![CDATA[Sanctity of Human Life]]> Psalm 8

Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!



Good morning. I just wanted to hear someone say that to me so much. That was great. Thank you. Um, we just sang our last song that we sang, I believe in God, the father, I believe in the three and one, anybody know where that comes from the apostles creed. Yeah. That song is taken from the apostles creed.

And, uh, it was a joy to sing that with you all this morning, the Apostle's creed is the one of the earliest statements that was put together after the Ascension of Christ into heaven, as a statement of what does the church believe. And it's a statement that will sometimes read around here. And today we did that in song.

We're going to be joining. With the church, the ancient church of Jesus Christ today, and something we're going to be looking at. And today uniquely, um, you may know, this may not is called sanctity of human life Sunday. And there are churches that we are partnering with on this day and our nation to celebrate the importance of every human life.

The sanctity of human life is a topic that informs how we do missions. How, uh, we, we work with the underrepresented, how we treat one another, how we understand how God views us and what is our relationship with the unborn. As we do. So, and go into this, this weekend. We've we've, if you're not familiar with fellowship, we've had a thinking like a Christian seminar and, um, have had a couple of few different topics that we talked about going into there.

And then because today landed on sanctity of human life. Sunday are also going to be talking about the unborn, um, as well as some other things. And so just know this is, uh, it's not always easy to talk about these things, but we want to teach the whole counsel of God and believe that he deals with this.

And so we are dealing with this this morning. So a couple of things I want to say, as we begin, it's hard to talk about this topic because it has become so violent, angry, and divided and politicized. There are people in this room that will not agree with my perspective. And my genuine hope is that you will not feel disrespected or misrepresented.

Second, this is not impersonal. It is not a topic for many people in this room. It's not a topic. It's not a discussion or an intellectual conversation. It's your family. It's your story. When we talk about abuse of people, when we talk about abortion, when we talk about, uh, what is it like to welcome the alien in our midst, this is your story.

There's going to be triggers this morning. My prayer is that while we do want to speak into this, because we believe our God deals with. But please know that you are seeing that my desire is that you would know that you are seen and known this morning and God willing, personally represented in some of the points that we are going to make, how we're going to do this.

Um, pastor mark shared on Friday night throughout the seminar, that that there's been different theological conversations happening in within Christianity at different time touch points in church history. And he went back and looked at a few of different, um, discussions that have happened, become the hot bed topics, uh, throughout moments of church history.

And, um, leading to asking the question, what's the hot bed topic of this moment in our history, uh, things that we even talked about over the weekend, but his argument, which I agree with him is that it's circling the same drain and that's on the issue of anthropology. The study of humanity, that what is, what does God say about humanity?

So as we enter in this morning, we're going to try to draw a broader theological understanding and then narrow down of how God views people. And then we'll narrow down to application from there, but here simply if you're a big idea person, this is my big idea. This morning, the way Jesus looked at people should change all of our relationships simply speaking.

And this was the theme that came out of this weekend is we want to have first Corinthians two 16, the mind of Christ and understanding how Jesus looks at Peter. Should inform and change all of our relationships. I'm going to read Psalm chapter eight, a backbone theology of Jesus, and then we'll pray together.

Psalm chapter 8, 4 20 in your pew Bibles. If you have that or it's on the screen as well. Oh Lord our Lord. How majestic is your name in all the earth? Hey, you good looking people over here. Okay. Most of you, um, all you remember that burst. Oh Lord, our Lord. How majestic is your name and all the earth. You have set your glory above the heavens out of the mouths of babes and infants.

You have established strength because of your foes to still the enemy and the Avenger. When I look to the heavens and work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man, that you care for him. Yet you have made them a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory.

And honor, you have given him dominion over the works of your hands. You have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen and beasts of the fields, the birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the sea. Okay. Now you overhear better looking people. Um, you remember this last verse?

What'd ya? You guys. I got no hope for, so the end. Oh Lord. Our Lord. How majestic is your name in all the earth? Pray with me,

father. Will you please be personally close to each in this room? I ask you Lord. Yes. We're going to talk theology. Yes. We're going to look hopefully deep into the eyes of your son Christ and allow that to inform how we see everything else. But in the midst of that, what is it in Genesis? The name you receive that you are the God who sees every single life in here has a lot of story more than I can see as I preach.

Please remind each life listening here, online that you see them dearly. Even as we talk on these difficult things in Jesus name. Amen. We want to have the mind of Christ. First question. What does Jesus see when he looks at all creation, let's start with all creation. What does Jesus see when he looks at all creation?

First, our collagen's opened the, we opened the thinking like a Christian with these verses this weekend and want to punctuate them again. This is verses about Christ and the collage in church. They had a diminishing view of Jesus. Jesus was getting small in their view. And Paul writes this letter and says, you want to shrink Jesus.

Let me tell you who this Jesus is. And Colossians one 15 to 18. He says these words about Christ. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn among creation for, by him. All things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether Thrones or dominions or authorities, all things were created through him.

And for him. And he is before all things and in him, all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church, he is the beginning, the firstborn from among the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. What does Jesus see when he looks at the expanse of creation? Number one, he sees the big, he sees the, the, the extent of all of creation in his preeminence verse 16 and 17 informed that God, Sarah, the Christ sees and holds together that he is the person of the Godhead that was used to create the expanse.

If you take a coffee mug, regular sized coffee mug, and if you took our whole solar system, seemed by know the name of our solar system. Do we have a solar system named Hank Hank, our solar system. I don't know. You take a whole solar system and, and knock it down to the size of a coffee cup. Okay. Coffee cup.

And you took our whole galaxy, which has a name, the right you like candy bars. Got you. Okay. So the whole Milky way and took it down to the same scale. Our solar system we've shrunk down our solar system, new coffee Cub. The same scale for our galaxy Milky way would be the north American continent. Right.

We see some Christ sees the big, he also sees the small. That is not just expanse, but the small Matthew six, that he knows every hair on our head while Psalm 47 says he calls each star by name, take a, take your finger. And just give me a little circle. Just so you got about one inch, one, one square inch of a skin.

You're looking at 9 million feet of DNA you are looking at in that square inch of skin. He sees the big he sees and holds together, acts 17 in him. We live and move and have our being the small he sees. We see in this passage of Colassians the unseen. He sees things that are seen, that we all can see, but he also sees the unseen, the mode of the insecurity, the hope, the fear, the hurt, the opportunity.

The material and the immaterial are not hidden from his sight. He sees the then and the, now he sees all of this, and this is what Paul is talking about this expanse. So a den begs a question. If Jesus sees creates values, loves has invested himself into all of this. What does he see in people? This is a question that, um, poets in the scripture have asked.

What has he see in people job seven 17 Psalms 1 44, 7. Very similar to the same question we have in our text, Psalm eight, four, where very simple. The Psalmist says in light of all this, when I look at your starting in three, when I look at the heavens the work of your fingers, the moon, and all the stars you've set in place.

Verse four, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man, that you care for him and this realizing all that he sees, what does he see in people believe this Psalm eight's the backbone theology of how Christ did minister, how Christ does minister today? What is Christ? Secondly, second question.

So what does Christ see in people? Number one, he, he has given people to be the established. Of his praise, the establishes of his praise early on in the passage, you seen you set the glory among the heavens, but out of the mouths of babes, you have established your phrase, actually nursing children should right.

Not, not a child who is able to contribute to the world, not a child. Who's, who's able to even have a consciousness of who God is. Did Jesus die on the cross? Write from the very lips of babes that the establishment of praise, although it exists throughout creation is uniquely given to people. No other being in all of creation is responsible to establish God's praise.

Like people, it says in the new Testament. If people do not give him praise, what will. The rocks will cry out, but it's not the Rock's responsibility. It might get too. If people don't give praise, he says, if they're quiet, but no, the responsibility, the calling, the ones that establish the worth of God in creation more than any other creatures people.

That's why it's a big deal. When a person worships the living, God, if you go on CNN money and you look at different stock market things, right, you can see green arrows pointing up or red arrows pointing down. And, um, if you, some of you are big into the stock market, I have like really, really, really tiny investments.

The kind that I'm not going to say out loud because it's embarrassing, but let's just say that when I put a little bit of investment. You're not going to go on and see that green arrow start really pointing up. Whoa, Ben's cashing in, right. Or, or the red arrow going down. Ben's got a big influx. No. Cause my, my pennies don't have a big influence on the expanse of the stock market.

A while ago, Warren buffet pumped $5 billion into bank of America, giant bank of America, and immediately a stock rose 23 or 24%. Why? Because when Warren buffet pulls out his wallet, something big happens when Warren buffet pulls out his wallet, people take notice he has an influence due to the size and ability of his resources and his respected intellect.

He is an influencer of the stock. You dear people and everyone that you have ever met. Uniquely in all of creation, including the expanse of the heavens have been given the beautiful needle, moving green arrow, influencing power of establishing the glory of God. Secondly, he has set people over his creation.

Now, if you know yourself pretty well and you know, other people pretty well, you know, that you think, wow, you know, they're, I'm not sure we're always the best managers may. Maybe we're not the best keepers of his creation. Maybe we're not going to do the best job. It has not stopped your God from giving this responsibility to people.

Unlike anyone else. It says right here in this passage, you have given him dominion over the works of your hands and put all things under his feet that is not talking about God, putting all things under people's feet. God has established people over creation says in the passage has made them a little lower than the angels, but also says in first Corinthians six, three, that eventually any eternity for those who are in Christ, that we will be the ones to judge angels.

There is a incredible responsibility and placement of people in creation. Number three. His own image. He has made people in his own image that the God had got together and made people in their own image. Genesis 1 26 says this, the, the, the, the God had assembled in Genesis 1 26 and said, let us make man in our image.

And in the image of God, he created people. This, this is from the very direct image of God. Unlike any other creation that there was the God had in their fiery fellowship created there in the text. Did you see the word crowning creation above all others? Verse five, you have crowned him with glory and honor Christian author and ethicist.

John Kilner wrote this. Uh, right understanding of our creation in the image of God is the strongest ground for human dignity. A misunderstanding of it opens the door to devastating devaluations of humans and the diminishing of human dignity for fourth Firth, one of those days. So first, um, fourth is worth, let's see what I did worth dying for.

So worth dying for, uh, we see this John 10, 11, both John three 16 as well as first John three 16. This, this statement where the, that people mattered enough to God that he would send his own son would, would wrench the Godhead apart would experience the tearing would absorb the sin because people. Matter to God.

I believe that when we look at Jesus with flesh on, and when we see what he believed, how he lived, that there is no concept of deity that has a higher view of people than Jesus. He created them in his own image. He killed himself for them. I just think there's no chance in our limited minds that you or I can truly grasp how important people are to God.

I think so much of the scripture is given to help us like, oh wow, you see that kind shepherd over there. He's the good. Oh of a father relationship. Okay. He's a father. Oh, you know, like you see that chicken caring for her egg. It's like that with this is art is over his feathers over the young, this throughout the scriptures there's example, example, example of like, okay, human, you have this concept of what love and caring and, and importance and worth are.

That is what I'm going to go. And you see this throughout the poetry of the songs and the old Testament. You see this throughout the imagery, in the new Testament of all these different relationships that human beings understand and saying, oh, he is the father. He is the brother. He is the prince of peace.

He is the good king. He is the kind judge, everything that you understand as good and worth establishing is getting a little more helping you get a little more picture of how important people are to meet. And I think we have a great theology and I mean that, cause I think it's the scripture great theology of how sinful and broken we are.

How in need of a savior. We are all completely true, but not worthless. We must, we must never speak or think of a person as worthless. And this, this has gone. I don't know. Maybe I heard this more a couple decades ago is how house coming up and understanding Christ. And I would hear like the Lord loves a worthless person like me.

That's not what the Lord says because the Lord loves because he is established worth in each person to de elevate the importance of God's crowning creation is to de elevate. God himself. The importance of people does not distract from the importance of God. It demonstrates it. Now you guys over here, your verse, you were supposed to remember you remember it?

I forgot it. So let's go. Okay. Oh Lord. Our Lord. This is the beginning of soulmate. How majestic is your name in all the earth and you guys over here? Clearly my favorites. Oh Lord, our Lord. How majestic is your name in all the earth? Super positive reinforcement does, right? It's the same burse, right? It's the same thing.

It's bookended it's kayak. Stickley connect. With the same exact phrase. Oh Lord, our Lord. How majestic is your name and all there? That's the song. That's the song all about? And how is the glory displayed? How is the glory demonstrated by the poet in the Psalms? It is demonstrated the bigness, the glory. Oh Lord.

Our Lord. The majesty of your name is seen in how you have established people so important to you. I believe that when we look at how Jesus lived and how Jesus lives, we see soulmate lived out in real time in every society. And there are people who are treated as less important. That might be less rights, less resources.

It might be less attention, less representation. It might be just, these people are seen as they have less to offer. But if you look at the ancient near Eastern culture, at those who were deemed in the less category you found Jesus say, nah, we don't do less with people. We don't do less with people. 2200 verses in your scripture are about the poor.

And we can talk about what's the best way to deal with the poor, but you can't get away from the calling. If you're opening up this book, mud John chapter four, and many of the different things in the new test. And we looked at this some yesterday is dealing with, with, with racial inequity. The diseased and the unclean that were shoved into camps, because we don't know how to contain this.

So don't touch. They would have to go throughout the streets, yelling unclean, unclean Christ goes and touches goes and heals. Roman culture and Roman law had a very small view of women are such a beautiful new Testament study of how Jesus Christ advocated included an elevated women in his own story.

Psalm eight is how Jesus lived and how Jesus lives today. Lastly, final question. So if this is what Jesus sees in creation, and then this is what Jesus sees in people. How does this change? How does this inform what we see. First off it changes. Our view of ourselves had an Irish preacher one time come to a church in Chicago area and he was, he was in Nevada Angeles.

One of those guys on the screen, on the streets, always talking. And it's not really fair because with his Irish accent, you can say whatever you want. I mean, it's just so fun listening to this guy preach. And he was talking about his experience on the streets of Belfast. And he was talking about God's love and preaching and talking about Christ, crucified, and Christ coming to save the loss.

All these things, a woman comes up to him and starts, starts individually talking with him and sharing some of her own story. Her own triggers her own consternation, her own frustration with this idea of God and his love. And he said, Hey, do you believe that God loves everybody in the world? And she said, yeah, yeah.

Okay. He said, how about everybody in Belfast? It might've been Dublin, not sure actually, for truth to the story, but, and she said, yeah, I believe everyone. And he said, what about this street? Look up and down this street, you think God loves every single one of them. And she's getting annoyed by this point.

That cause he's clearly driving at something. Yes. And he looked at her, he said, how about you? Do you believe God loves you? She said, I don't know.

We don't. I don't mean to go to scripture to have this be a pat on the back of yak, humanity. I want to come humbly to say my God, what a gift you have given us a responsibility. Yes. But a gift that God not only loves. The things of creation, but the God uniquely loves people. And in that way, uniquely loves each one of us.

Secondly, it changes how we see our tribe theologically. When we consider our tribe, it's not our town, state or nation. Our first tribe as created beings is people, right? Some of the other structures we put on and there can be very helpful and good, but our first tribe, our first thing that we are in defense of our macro tribe is all of the world that our minds would not be elevating just our own, what we see as our own, because our own, our first sense of tribe is all of creation.

Second or third. It changes the way of, of sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ, gospel, meaning good news of Jesus, that he came to save redeem centers, that those who would call upon his name would become his. And, um, just to be honest, like the evangelism or telling people about Jesus, I often find that I'll do that as an unfortunate responsibility of valuing God, as in like, oh, I know God wants us to do this.

And so I'll try to talk to people about Jesus. But I'm doing it because of some, maybe begrudging obedience, or I'm supposed to share something about God with you and my workplace around my street or whatever, and I'm doing it. Why? Because I know I'm supposed to, right. And oftentimes that comes across of like, are you just talking about this because you are supposed to, and I'm like, well, thankfully they don't say that, but, but that's often the view, right?

My there's a girl named Sarah. I probably share it. I've shared this with some of you, um, that I've never met that I hope to meet in heaven one day that has had a tremendous impact on me about, about how the sanctity of human life pertains to mission and sharing the gospel. There was a man I was talking to, and I'll just tell you the honest story.

I am walking down the street. And this city, and I see a homeless man walking across the street and I think, oh, I probably should offer to buy him lunch. Why? Because that's probably what I should do. And I have the time and have some money and I'm going to do that. Not with a valuing aspect with a, I probably should do it.

So begrudgingly, I went up and said, probably really, really compassionately. You want a hamburger? And, uh, and he said, sure, okay. Then I was with a friend and we went into this McDonald's and in talking to this individual and I, I believe he probably was, he was dealing with some severe mental breakdowns or some other substances.

And in that conversation, He, he was jamming and a hamburger into his mouth and speaking, and, and it was literally like food was flying out this person also, which I didn't know, was such a known person in this city that we were all removed by the police before this was over. And in the midst of this conversation, I remember thinking, and this is, this is to my shame, right?

I remember thinking, hold eye contact, hold eye contact. But so much of me was just trying to leave. And my friend, the reason why I had that hold eye contact is because I saw my friend just looked down just like, I don't know what to do. I just want to be over this experience. I'm overwhelmed. And through garbled speech, this man asked me, do you know Sarah?

No, I don't think I know Sarah. And he said Sarah would come to me and talk about. And he used these words. He said she glowed. And he used this aspect of what he understood about God through this person and narcissistically. The first thing I thought was I am not glowing, but why is this person glowing?

Why was this person going? What did this person have an experience? And here's what I believe. I believe that Sarah probably had a really big view of God and how beautiful God is, and probably a good understanding of her calling to obey that God. But Sarah had something that, that slipped out of my hand that day.

Sarah had a really high view of this man. This man mattered to her. We talked to other people about the gospel. Not to just worship our God B, but because those people really matter, their stories really matter to

changes our view, fourthly of the unborn and obviously sanctity of human life Sunday connects to this. Um, we're not going to go into the science of when, when does life begin or embryonic research or contraceptives and how they impact. And there's a lot of wonderful study that we, we can't go all into this morning, but would recommend and can give things to recommend on that subject ethically, but simply today's, we're looking theologically when we're talking about the lives of the unborn, we're simply saying they matter so much to God and there's not a, uh, meant to be any.

Argument yelling energy that's dissolved. So winning or losing, it's saying, Hey, those lives don't, uh, have an advocate. And so I'm going to be a voice to the voiceless because I believe that's who my Christ is. I believe that that life is not a potential value. That life is a full value in the sight of God in Greek and Roman culture.

Um, there's, uh, abortion was practiced and not only that was seen as amoral, wasn't seen positive, negatively, just seen as if you want to. You can many different devices used for, um, abortion. During that time in the early church Tertullian, one of this was a letter of Barnabas in the didactic. There was a calling out from a Christian perspective of saying, Hey, we actually believe life in the womb is life indeed and worth defending.

It's a legacy that goes all the way back to when the apostles creed was written. But I also want to say this should change our view of those having to make really hard choices for the unborn.

I'm going to read you a passage from a doctoral paper and that's been meaningful for me. I think I am. Yep. I am.

This is from, uh, Diana SIS and, uh, he wrote an Easter letter around 260 a D church father. Is he's talking about the legacy that you and I find ourselves in. If you are a Christian, the legacy of defending life, this was during the us a great epidemic written in on Easter. And it was written about, uh, about his congregation.

And he said this, most of our brother, Christians showed unbounded love and loyalty, never sparing themselves. And thinking only of one another heedless of danger, they took charge of the sick attending to their, every need and ministering to them in Christ. And with them departed this life, serenely happy many in nursing and curing others transferred their death to themselves and died in their stead.

The best of our brothers lost their lives in this manner, a number of presbyters, deacons, and layman winning high commendation. So the death in this. The result of great piety and strong face seems in every way, equal to martyrdom the heathen behaved in the very opposite way. From the first onset of the disease, they push suffers away and fled the dearest, throwing them into the roads before they were dead and treated unbury corpses as dirt.

I, when we're talking about those, this is where I'm pretty want to be pretty mindful here. So forgive me if I speak slow. Cause I, I want to say what I mean,

I want you to image a burning building if you would. And let's, let's say, I don't know, let's go up 20 stories in this burning building and there's people on the edge of the burning building facing being burned or facing jumping. Life as they're experiencing, it is not tenable for human life. And so they have to make a decision stay and be burned or jump and try somehow to find something that can help.

I think that some, when we're talking about a course, there's people who have abortions as a matter of convenience of poor, of course, there's people who have the unborn treated tritely, but so many situations when people are choosing abortions, this is their experience. They don't know how they can provide, they don't know what they do.

And here's what I would say, dear, dear Christian do not be on the ground yelling advice. Hey, don't do this all. I don't do that. That's not good. Yeah. Don't burn. Don't die.

And don't say that. Okay. Then there is an, our society, unfortunately has made a way out that, that, that doesn't make a way out for the child and they look down and they may see one escape. Don't just stand there and say, don't choose that option. Work hard to build structures, to say, we can get you in the baby, that we could take you both.

Make room in your family to foster and adopt it. That's what God calls you to. If, if abortion is overturned in our country, I personally believe what I was talking to you tomorrow about this. I personally believe in 25 years, and I told them that two years ago, so 23 years left that abortion will be overturned.

I do, I believe it will be overturned in our country, but the thing that we are not ready for in our country is what to do because people, as long as they have been people, there are so many in society, all societies that are walking to the edge of a burning building had dong a lot to do. I can't figure my way out of this.

So build structures and yes. Influence with your conversations and women with your whatever means that you're doing and have ethical conversations with people, but invest time to say, oh man, if this is overturned, which will be amazing, how are we going to give some of our money? Because we can't financially take the generation much, born into poverty without building things to take.

And what I would say about these early Christians is that's where they went. When the early Christians were persecuted in Rome, they were saying, okay, let's get rid of them. There are weirdos, you know, this is new with this, but maybe it's going to be a threat to the Roman empire. So let's get rid of them.

And they did eventually kill them, but this is what they had to wrestle with. If we get rid of these people, What are we going to do with our poor? Because those people were holding and taking care of the poor. And if we get rid of them, we don't know what to do. And so I deeply dearly believe that the value of God is, is to save the unborn.

And it is to look after and take care of those that are sometimes in impossibly hard situations, options, pregnancy. I love what they do. I love their name. They are invested as a Christian organization to say, we want to be here to provide more options for you who don't know what else to do, but follow what society is saying to do with your child.

Just say there are more places where we can catch. Does that make sense? I, uh, I deeply believe in our investment in this, and I think it takes a lot more than thinking. It takes developing structures

in the church, led by the church for the glory of our king. Um, can you stand with me? We'll conclude here

gonna give you a blessing. Uh, often my blessings funnel towards the same language. And I want you to leave here that no matter where you are, no matter what things I've hit on inside of you. No matter what parts of your past or current story are triggered, even as we talk about this. And I just want to remind you of the eyes again, of your God, you are not what you make.

You are not what you own. You are not defined by your capacity or your potential. You are not the sum of your past of your present or your future actions. You are not what your highest ego flexes or your lowest moment despairs you have been and are crowned with so much more. You are the beloved of God.

We are dismissed. .]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/sanctity-of-human-life 54e70fcc-9356-406a-835a-c9505ac3f16e Sun, 16 Jan 2022 10:26:00 GMT <div data-html="true">Psalm 8 <br /><br /> Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Good morning. I just wanted to hear someone say that to me so much. That was great. Thank you. Um, we just sang our last song that we sang, I believe in God, the father, I believe in the three and one, anybody know where that comes from the apostles creed. Yeah. That song is taken from the apostles creed. <br /><br /> And, uh, it was a joy to sing that with you all this morning, the Apostle's creed is the one of the earliest statements that was put together after the Ascension of Christ into heaven, as a statement of what does the church believe. And it's a statement that will sometimes read around here. And today we did that in song. <br /><br /> We're going to be joining. With the church, the ancient church of Jesus Christ today, and something we're going to be looking at. And today uniquely, um, you may know, this may not is called sanctity of human life Sunday. And there are churches that we are partnering with on this day and our nation to celebrate the importance of every human life. <br /><br /> The sanctity of human life is a topic that informs how we do missions. How, uh, we, we work with the underrepresented, how we treat one another, how we understand how God views us and what is our relationship with the unborn. As we do. So, and go into this, this weekend. We've we've, if you're not familiar with fellowship, we've had a thinking like a Christian seminar and, um, have had a couple of few different topics that we talked about going into there. <br /><br /> And then because today landed on sanctity of human life. Sunday are also going to be talking about the unborn, um, as well as some other things. And so just know this is, uh, it's not always easy to talk about these things, but we want to teach the whole counsel of God and believe that he deals with this. <br /><br /> And so we are dealing with this this morning. So a couple of things I want to say, as we begin, it's hard to talk about this topic because it has become so violent, angry, and divided and politicized. There are people in this room that will not agree with my perspective. And my genuine hope is that you will not feel disrespected or misrepresented. <br /><br /> Second, this is not impersonal. It is not a topic for many people in this room. It's not a topic. It's not a discussion or an intellectual conversation. It's your family. It's your story. When we talk about abuse of people, when we talk about abortion, when we talk about, uh, what is it like to welcome the alien in our midst, this is your story. <br /><br /> There's going to be triggers this morning. My prayer is that while we do want to speak into this, because we believe our God deals with. But please know that you are seeing that my desire is that you would know that you are seen and known this morning and God willing, personally represented in some of the points that we are going to make, how we're going to do this. <br /><br /> Um, pastor mark shared on Friday night throughout the seminar, that that there's been different theological conversations happening in within Christianity at different time touch points in church history. And he went back and looked at a few of different, um, discussions that have happened, become the hot bed topics, uh, throughout moments of church history. <br /><br /> And, um, leading to asking the question, what's the hot bed topic of this moment in our history, uh, things that we even talked about over the weekend, but his argument, which I agree with him is that it's circling the same drain and that's on the issue of anthropology. The study of humanity, that what is, what does God say about humanity? <br /><br /> So as we enter in this morning, we're going to try to draw a broader theological understanding and then narrow down of how God views people. And then we'll narrow down to application from there, but here simply if you're a big idea person, this is my big idea. This morning, the way Jesus looked at people should change all of our relationships simply speaking. <br /><br /> And this was the theme that came out of this weekend is we want to have first Corinthians two 16, the mind of Christ and understanding how Jesus looks at Peter. Should inform and change all of our relationships. I'm going to read Psalm chapter eight, a backbone theology of Jesus, and then we'll pray together. <br /><br /> Psalm chapter 8, 4 20 in your pew Bibles. If you have that or it's on the screen as well. Oh Lord our Lord. How majestic is your name in all the earth? Hey, you good looking people over here. Okay. Most of you, um, all you remember that burst. Oh Lord, our Lord. How majestic is your name and all the earth. You have set your glory above the heavens out of the mouths of babes and infants. <br /><br /> You have established strength because of your foes to still the enemy and the Avenger. When I look to the heavens and work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man, that you care for him. Yet you have made them a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory. <br /><br /> And honor, you have given him dominion over the works of your hands. You have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen and beasts of the fields, the birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the sea. Okay. Now you overhear better looking people. Um, you remember this last verse? <br /><br /> What'd ya? You guys. I got no hope for, so the end. Oh Lord. Our Lord. How majestic is your name in all the earth? Pray with me, <br /><br /> father. Will you please be personally close to each in this room? I ask you Lord. Yes. We're going to talk theology. Yes. We're going to look hopefully deep into the eyes of your son Christ and allow that to inform how we see everything else. But in the midst of that, what is it in Genesis? The name you receive that you are the God who sees every single life in here has a lot of story more than I can see as I preach. <br /><br /> Please remind each life listening here, online that you see them dearly. Even as we talk on these difficult things in Jesus name. Amen. We want to have the mind of Christ. First question. What does Jesus see when he looks at all creation, let's start with all creation. What does Jesus see when he looks at all creation? <br /><br /> First, our collagen's opened the, we opened the thinking like a Christian with these verses this weekend and want to punctuate them again. This is verses about Christ and the collage in church. They had a diminishing view of Jesus. Jesus was getting small in their view. And Paul writes this letter and says, you want to shrink Jesus. <br /><br /> Let me tell you who this Jesus is. And Colossians one 15 to 18. He says these words about Christ. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn among creation for, by him. All things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether Thrones or dominions or authorities, all things were created through him. <br /><br /> And for him. And he is before all things and in him, all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church, he is the beginning, the firstborn from among the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. What does Jesus see when he looks at the expanse of creation? Number one, he sees the big, he sees the, the, the extent of all of creation in his preeminence verse 16 and 17 informed that God, Sarah, the Christ sees and holds together that he is the person of the Godhead that was used to create the expanse. <br /><br /> If you take a coffee mug, regular sized coffee mug, and if you took our whole solar system, seemed by know the name of our solar system. Do we have a solar system named Hank Hank, our solar system. I don't know. You take a whole solar system and, and knock it down to the size of a coffee cup. Okay. Coffee cup. <br /><br /> And you took our whole galaxy, which has a name, the right you like candy bars. Got you. Okay. So the whole Milky way and took it down to the same scale. Our solar system we've shrunk down our solar system, new coffee Cub. The same scale for our galaxy Milky way would be the north American continent. Right. <br /><br /> We see some Christ sees the big, he also sees the small. That is not just expanse, but the small Matthew six, that he knows every hair on our head while Psalm 47 says he calls each star by name, take a, take your finger. And just give me a little circle. Just so you got about one inch, one, one square inch of a skin. <br /><br /> You're looking at 9 million feet of DNA you are looking at in that square inch of skin. He sees the big he sees and holds together, acts 17 in him. We live and move and have our being the small he sees. We see in this passage of Colassians the unseen. He sees things that are seen, that we all can see, but he also sees the unseen, the mode of the insecurity, the hope, the fear, the hurt, the opportunity. <br /><br /> The material and the immaterial are not hidden from his sight. He sees the then and the, now he sees all of this, and this is what Paul is talking about this expanse. So a den begs a question. If Jesus sees creates values, loves has invested himself into all of this. What does he see in people? This is a question that, um, poets in the scripture have asked. <br /><br /> What has he see in people job seven 17 Psalms 1 44, 7. Very similar to the same question we have in our text, Psalm eight, four, where very simple. The Psalmist says in light of all this, when I look at your starting in three, when I look at the heavens the work of your fingers, the moon, and all the stars you've set in place. <br /><br /> Verse four, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man, that you care for him and this realizing all that he sees, what does he see in people believe this Psalm eight's the backbone theology of how Christ did minister, how Christ does minister today? What is Christ? Secondly, second question. <br /><br /> So what does Christ see in people? Number one, he, he has given people to be the established. Of his praise, the establishes of his praise early on in the passage, you seen you set the glory among the heavens, but out of the mouths of babes, you have established your phrase, actually nursing children should right. <br /><br /> Not, not a child who is able to contribute to the world, not a child. Who's, who's able to even have a consciousness of who God is. Did Jesus die on the cross? Write from the very lips of babes that the establishment of praise, although it exists throughout creation is uniquely given to people. No other being in all of creation is responsible to establish God's praise. <br /><br /> Like people, it says in the new Testament. If people do not give him praise, what will. The rocks will cry out, but it's not the Rock's responsibility. It might get too. If people don't give praise, he says, if they're quiet, but no, the responsibility, the calling, the ones that establish the worth of God in creation more than any other creatures people. <br /><br /> That's why it's a big deal. When a person worships the living, God, if you go on CNN money and you look at different stock market things, right, you can see green arrows pointing up or red arrows pointing down. And, um, if you, some of you are big into the stock market, I have like really, really, really tiny investments. <br /><br /> The kind that I'm not going to say out loud because it's embarrassing, but let's just say that when I put a little bit of investment. You're not going to go on and see that green arrow start really pointing up. Whoa, Ben's cashing in, right. Or, or the red arrow going down. Ben's got a big influx. No. Cause my, my pennies don't have a big influence on the expanse of the stock market. <br /><br /> A while ago, Warren buffet pumped $5 billion into bank of America, giant bank of America, and immediately a stock rose 23 or 24%. Why? Because when Warren buffet pulls out his wallet, something big happens when Warren buffet pulls out his wallet, people take notice he has an influence due to the size and ability of his resources and his respected intellect. <br /><br /> He is an influencer of the stock. You dear people and everyone that you have ever met. Uniquely in all of creation, including the expanse of the heavens have been given the beautiful needle, moving green arrow, influencing power of establishing the glory of God. Secondly, he has set people over his creation. <br /><br /> Now, if you know yourself pretty well and you know, other people pretty well, you know, that you think, wow, you know, they're, I'm not sure we're always the best managers may. Maybe we're not the best keepers of his creation. Maybe we're not going to do the best job. It has not stopped your God from giving this responsibility to people. <br /><br /> Unlike anyone else. It says right here in this passage, you have given him dominion over the works of your hands and put all things under his feet that is not talking about God, putting all things under people's feet. God has established people over creation says in the passage has made them a little lower than the angels, but also says in first Corinthians six, three, that eventually any eternity for those who are in Christ, that we will be the ones to judge angels. <br /><br /> There is a incredible responsibility and placement of people in creation. Number three. His own image. He has made people in his own image that the God had got together and made people in their own image. Genesis 1 26 says this, the, the, the, the God had assembled in Genesis 1 26 and said, let us make man in our image. <br /><br /> And in the image of God, he created people. This, this is from the very direct image of God. Unlike any other creation that there was the God had in their fiery fellowship created there in the text. Did you see the word crowning creation above all others? Verse five, you have crowned him with glory and honor Christian author and ethicist. <br /><br /> John Kilner wrote this. Uh, right understanding of our creation in the image of God is the strongest ground for human dignity. A misunderstanding of it opens the door to devastating devaluations of humans and the diminishing of human dignity for fourth Firth, one of those days. So first, um, fourth is worth, let's see what I did worth dying for. <br /><br /> So worth dying for, uh, we see this John 10, 11, both John three 16 as well as first John three 16. This, this statement where the, that people mattered enough to God that he would send his own son would, would wrench the Godhead apart would experience the tearing would absorb the sin because people. Matter to God. <br /><br /> I believe that when we look at Jesus with flesh on, and when we see what he believed, how he lived, that there is no concept of deity that has a higher view of people than Jesus. He created them in his own image. He killed himself for them. I just think there's no chance in our limited minds that you or I can truly grasp how important people are to God. <br /><br /> I think so much of the scripture is given to help us like, oh wow, you see that kind shepherd over there. He's the good. Oh of a father relationship. Okay. He's a father. Oh, you know, like you see that chicken caring for her egg. It's like that with this is art is over his feathers over the young, this throughout the scriptures there's example, example, example of like, okay, human, you have this concept of what love and caring and, and importance and worth are. <br /><br /> That is what I'm going to go. And you see this throughout the poetry of the songs and the old Testament. You see this throughout the imagery, in the new Testament of all these different relationships that human beings understand and saying, oh, he is the father. He is the brother. He is the prince of peace. <br /><br /> He is the good king. He is the kind judge, everything that you understand as good and worth establishing is getting a little more helping you get a little more picture of how important people are to meet. And I think we have a great theology and I mean that, cause I think it's the scripture great theology of how sinful and broken we are. <br /><br /> How in need of a savior. We are all completely true, but not worthless. We must, we must never speak or think of a person as worthless. And this, this has gone. I don't know. Maybe I heard this more a couple decades ago is how house coming up and understanding Christ. And I would hear like the Lord loves a worthless person like me. <br /><br /> That's not what the Lord says because the Lord loves because he is established worth in each person to de elevate the importance of God's crowning creation is to de elevate. God himself. The importance of people does not distract from the importance of God. It demonstrates it. Now you guys over here, your verse, you were supposed to remember you remember it? <br /><br /> I forgot it. So let's go. Okay. Oh Lord. Our Lord. This is the beginning of soulmate. How majestic is your name in all the earth and you guys over here? Clearly my favorites. Oh Lord, our Lord. How majestic is your name in all the earth? Super positive reinforcement does, right? It's the same burse, right? It's the same thing. <br /><br /> It's bookended it's kayak. Stickley connect. With the same exact phrase. Oh Lord, our Lord. How majestic is your name and all there? That's the song. That's the song all about? And how is the glory displayed? How is the glory demonstrated by the poet in the Psalms? It is demonstrated the bigness, the glory. Oh Lord. <br /><br /> Our Lord. The majesty of your name is seen in how you have established people so important to you. I believe that when we look at how Jesus lived and how Jesus lives, we see soulmate lived out in real time in every society. And there are people who are treated as less important. That might be less rights, less resources. <br /><br /> It might be less attention, less representation. It might be just, these people are seen as they have less to offer. But if you look at the ancient near Eastern culture, at those who were deemed in the less category you found Jesus say, nah, we don't do less with people. We don't do less with people. 2200 verses in your scripture are about the poor. <br /><br /> And we can talk about what's the best way to deal with the poor, but you can't get away from the calling. If you're opening up this book, mud John chapter four, and many of the different things in the new test. And we looked at this some yesterday is dealing with, with, with racial inequity. The diseased and the unclean that were shoved into camps, because we don't know how to contain this. <br /><br /> So don't touch. They would have to go throughout the streets, yelling unclean, unclean Christ goes and touches goes and heals. Roman culture and Roman law had a very small view of women are such a beautiful new Testament study of how Jesus Christ advocated included an elevated women in his own story. <br /><br /> Psalm eight is how Jesus lived and how Jesus lives today. Lastly, final question. So if this is what Jesus sees in creation, and then this is what Jesus sees in people. How does this change? How does this inform what we see. First off it changes. Our view of ourselves had an Irish preacher one time come to a church in Chicago area and he was, he was in Nevada Angeles. <br /><br /> One of those guys on the screen, on the streets, always talking. And it's not really fair because with his Irish accent, you can say whatever you want. I mean, it's just so fun listening to this guy preach. And he was talking about his experience on the streets of Belfast. And he was talking about God's love and preaching and talking about Christ, crucified, and Christ coming to save the loss. <br /><br /> All these things, a woman comes up to him and starts, starts individually talking with him and sharing some of her own story. Her own triggers her own consternation, her own frustration with this idea of God and his love. And he said, Hey, do you believe that God loves everybody in the world? And she said, yeah, yeah. <br /><br /> Okay. He said, how about everybody in Belfast? It might've been Dublin, not sure actually, for truth to the story, but, and she said, yeah, I believe everyone. And he said, what about this street? Look up and down this street, you think God loves every single one of them. And she's getting annoyed by this point. <br /><br /> That cause he's clearly driving at something. Yes. And he looked at her, he said, how about you? Do you believe God loves you? She said, I don't know. <br /><br /> We don't. I don't mean to go to scripture to have this be a pat on the back of yak, humanity. I want to come humbly to say my God, what a gift you have given us a responsibility. Yes. But a gift that God not only loves. The things of creation, but the God uniquely loves people. And in that way, uniquely loves each one of us. <br /><br /> Secondly, it changes how we see our tribe theologically. When we consider our tribe, it's not our town, state or nation. Our first tribe as created beings is people, right? Some of the other structures we put on and there can be very helpful and good, but our first tribe, our first thing that we are in defense of our macro tribe is all of the world that our minds would not be elevating just our own, what we see as our own, because our own, our first sense of tribe is all of creation. <br /><br /> Second or third. It changes the way of, of sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ, gospel, meaning good news of Jesus, that he came to save redeem centers, that those who would call upon his name would become his. And, um, just to be honest, like the evangelism or telling people about Jesus, I often find that I'll do that as an unfortunate responsibility of valuing God, as in like, oh, I know God wants us to do this. <br /><br /> And so I'll try to talk to people about Jesus. But I'm doing it because of some, maybe begrudging obedience, or I'm supposed to share something about God with you and my workplace around my street or whatever, and I'm doing it. Why? Because I know I'm supposed to, right. And oftentimes that comes across of like, are you just talking about this because you are supposed to, and I'm like, well, thankfully they don't say that, but, but that's often the view, right? <br /><br /> My there's a girl named Sarah. I probably share it. I've shared this with some of you, um, that I've never met that I hope to meet in heaven one day that has had a tremendous impact on me about, about how the sanctity of human life pertains to mission and sharing the gospel. There was a man I was talking to, and I'll just tell you the honest story. <br /><br /> I am walking down the street. And this city, and I see a homeless man walking across the street and I think, oh, I probably should offer to buy him lunch. Why? Because that's probably what I should do. And I have the time and have some money and I'm going to do that. Not with a valuing aspect with a, I probably should do it. <br /><br /> So begrudgingly, I went up and said, probably really, really compassionately. You want a hamburger? And, uh, and he said, sure, okay. Then I was with a friend and we went into this McDonald's and in talking to this individual and I, I believe he probably was, he was dealing with some severe mental breakdowns or some other substances. <br /><br /> And in that conversation, He, he was jamming and a hamburger into his mouth and speaking, and, and it was literally like food was flying out this person also, which I didn't know, was such a known person in this city that we were all removed by the police before this was over. And in the midst of this conversation, I remember thinking, and this is, this is to my shame, right? <br /><br /> I remember thinking, hold eye contact, hold eye contact. But so much of me was just trying to leave. And my friend, the reason why I had that hold eye contact is because I saw my friend just looked down just like, I don't know what to do. I just want to be over this experience. I'm overwhelmed. And through garbled speech, this man asked me, do you know Sarah? <br /><br /> No, I don't think I know Sarah. And he said Sarah would come to me and talk about. And he used these words. He said she glowed. And he used this aspect of what he understood about God through this person and narcissistically. The first thing I thought was I am not glowing, but why is this person glowing? <br /><br /> Why was this person going? What did this person have an experience? And here's what I believe. I believe that Sarah probably had a really big view of God and how beautiful God is, and probably a good understanding of her calling to obey that God. But Sarah had something that, that slipped out of my hand that day. <br /><br /> Sarah had a really high view of this man. This man mattered to her. We talked to other people about the gospel. Not to just worship our God B, but because those people really matter, their stories really matter to <br /><br /> changes our view, fourthly of the unborn and obviously sanctity of human life Sunday connects to this. Um, we're not going to go into the science of when, when does life begin or embryonic research or contraceptives and how they impact. And there's a lot of wonderful study that we, we can't go all into this morning, but would recommend and can give things to recommend on that subject ethically, but simply today's, we're looking theologically when we're talking about the lives of the unborn, we're simply saying they matter so much to God and there's not a, uh, meant to be any. <br /><br /> Argument yelling energy that's dissolved. So winning or losing, it's saying, Hey, those lives don't, uh, have an advocate. And so I'm going to be a voice to the voiceless because I believe that's who my Christ is. I believe that that life is not a potential value. That life is a full value in the sight of God in Greek and Roman culture. <br /><br /> Um, there's, uh, abortion was practiced and not only that was seen as amoral, wasn't seen positive, negatively, just seen as if you want to. You can many different devices used for, um, abortion. During that time in the early church Tertullian, one of this was a letter of Barnabas in the didactic. There was a calling out from a Christian perspective of saying, Hey, we actually believe life in the womb is life indeed and worth defending. <br /><br /> It's a legacy that goes all the way back to when the apostles creed was written. But I also want to say this should change our view of those having to make really hard choices for the unborn. <br /><br /> I'm going to read you a passage from a doctoral paper and that's been meaningful for me. I think I am. Yep. I am. <br /><br /> This is from, uh, Diana SIS and, uh, he wrote an Easter letter around 260 a D church father. Is he's talking about the legacy that you and I find ourselves in. If you are a Christian, the legacy of defending life, this was during the us a great epidemic written in on Easter. And it was written about, uh, about his congregation. <br /><br /> And he said this, most of our brother, Christians showed unbounded love and loyalty, never sparing themselves. And thinking only of one another heedless of danger, they took charge of the sick attending to their, every need and ministering to them in Christ. And with them departed this life, serenely happy many in nursing and curing others transferred their death to themselves and died in their stead. <br /><br /> The best of our brothers lost their lives in this manner, a number of presbyters, deacons, and layman winning high commendation. So the death in this. The result of great piety and strong face seems in every way, equal to martyrdom the heathen behaved in the very opposite way. From the first onset of the disease, they push suffers away and fled the dearest, throwing them into the roads before they were dead and treated unbury corpses as dirt. <br /><br /> I, when we're talking about those, this is where I'm pretty want to be pretty mindful here. So forgive me if I speak slow. Cause I, I want to say what I mean, <br /><br /> I want you to image a burning building if you would. And let's, let's say, I don't know, let's go up 20 stories in this burning building and there's people on the edge of the burning building facing being burned or facing jumping. Life as they're experiencing, it is not tenable for human life. And so they have to make a decision stay and be burned or jump and try somehow to find something that can help. <br /><br /> I think that some, when we're talking about a course, there's people who have abortions as a matter of convenience of poor, of course, there's people who have the unborn treated tritely, but so many situations when people are choosing abortions, this is their experience. They don't know how they can provide, they don't know what they do. <br /><br /> And here's what I would say, dear, dear Christian do not be on the ground yelling advice. Hey, don't do this all. I don't do that. That's not good. Yeah. Don't burn. Don't die. <br /><br /> And don't say that. Okay. Then there is an, our society, unfortunately has made a way out that, that, that doesn't make a way out for the child and they look down and they may see one escape. Don't just stand there and say, don't choose that option. Work hard to build structures, to say, we can get you in the baby, that we could take you both. <br /><br /> Make room in your family to foster and adopt it. That's what God calls you to. If, if abortion is overturned in our country, I personally believe what I was talking to you tomorrow about this. I personally believe in 25 years, and I told them that two years ago, so 23 years left that abortion will be overturned. <br /><br /> I do, I believe it will be overturned in our country, but the thing that we are not ready for in our country is what to do because people, as long as they have been people, there are so many in society, all societies that are walking to the edge of a burning building had dong a lot to do. I can't figure my way out of this. <br /><br /> So build structures and yes. Influence with your conversations and women with your whatever means that you're doing and have ethical conversations with people, but invest time to say, oh man, if this is overturned, which will be amazing, how are we going to give some of our money? Because we can't financially take the generation much, born into poverty without building things to take. <br /><br /> And what I would say about these early Christians is that's where they went. When the early Christians were persecuted in Rome, they were saying, okay, let's get rid of them. There are weirdos, you know, this is new with this, but maybe it's going to be a threat to the Roman empire. So let's get rid of them. <br /><br /> And they did eventually kill them, but this is what they had to wrestle with. If we get rid of these people, What are we going to do with our poor? Because those people were holding and taking care of the poor. And if we get rid of them, we don't know what to do. And so I deeply dearly believe that the value of God is, is to save the unborn. <br /><br /> And it is to look after and take care of those that are sometimes in impossibly hard situations, options, pregnancy. I love what they do. I love their name. They are invested as a Christian organization to say, we want to be here to provide more options for you who don't know what else to do, but follow what society is saying to do with your child. <br /><br /> Just say there are more places where we can catch. Does that make sense? I, uh, I deeply believe in our investment in this, and I think it takes a lot more than thinking. It takes developing structures <br /><br /> in the church, led by the church for the glory of our king. Um, can you stand with me? We'll conclude here <br /><br /> gonna give you a blessing. Uh, often my blessings funnel towards the same language. And I want you to leave here that no matter where you are, no matter what things I've hit on inside of you. No matter what parts of your past or current story are triggered, even as we talk about this. And I just want to remind you of the eyes again, of your God, you are not what you make. <br /><br /> You are not what you own. You are not defined by your capacity or your potential. You are not the sum of your past of your present or your future actions. You are not what your highest ego flexes or your lowest moment despairs you have been and are crowned with so much more. You are the beloved of God. <br /><br /> We are dismissed. .</div> false no <![CDATA[Jesus’ Promise of a Replacement]]> John 14: 12-17

“If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. 



John chapter 14, verses 12 through 17.

And we're going to be looking at this passage in preparation for the Lord's supper this morning. And here's what we read. Truly, truly I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the father, whatever you ask me in my name, this I will do that.

The father may be glorified in the son. If you ask for anything in my name, I will do it. If you love me, you will keep my commandments and I will ask the father and he will give you another helper to be with you forever. Even the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him.

There were no SIM you know him for, he dwells with you and will be in you. Let's pray.

Lord, we gather at this table this morning, we come to celebrate. What Jesus has done for us, what he has come to accomplish for us. Lord, I also praise you that it is not only you God, the father, God, the son that are involved in our journey of faith, but it has God, the spirit and Lord, thank you for this helper that Jesus promised that has come among us, that he offered to his followers there at that first Lord's table, last supper event.

So Lord, as we reflect on what that meant, um, may we love him the spirit, even as we are learning to love you and the son in whose name I pray. Amen. You know, we come to this passage and I want to give you a little context to it.

In these, in these verses of John 13 and 14, Jesus is going to be giving teaching that he has not given to the disciples before this. He's going to be doing things with them that he has not done before this. And, and to just get the, the, the set, the setting of what's going on. This is of course, passion week.

Right now, this is Thursday evening where Jesus is celebrating the law, the, the Passover with them, what we call the last supper, uh, the inauguration of communion meal and the Lord's supper. Jesus, just a few days before this on Sunday has come in on the triumphant entry. He's entered from, uh, the town of Bethany where he's been staying.

He's come over the Mount of olives and he's come down into the town and been met by the throngs. Things have changed dramatically since that entrance on Monday, he's come over again this time without the, the fanfare, without the giant entourage, justice disciples have gathered with him and they've come in and he's been Monday morning, Monday throughout the day has been teaching in the temple and this been by the end of the day, some conflict arising with the religious leaders.

They returned to Bethany and they come again the next day to come. And come into the town. And this day there are all sorts of opposition, awaiting him, every group, uh, Herodians Sadducees, Pharisees, scribes, uh, high priest are waiting for him. And it has been an extraordinarily exhausting day of conflict.

This Tuesday of passion week, where every member of the opposing forces has come against him with attempting to trip him up. And the disciples have just been watching and they have been experiencing with Jesus. The utter exhaustion that conflict is for them, just like for us, they return Tuesday night.

Again, they're back in Bethany. And the Wednesday of Passover week is known as the day of silence. We have nothing recorded. There's some conjectures of various things that went on, but we really don't know anything that happened in most theologians commentators, believe this was a day where Jesus and his disciples are to some degree recovering.

They are exhausted from these two days of tremendous conflict, which had followed this, this, then this initial day of exhaustion, just from the public acclaim of the triumphant entry. Now it's Thursday and Thursday morning, Jesus has sent Peter and John to go into the city early, to prepare a room for them where they can celebrate the Passover meal.

They've come. They found the place. We know it as what we call the upper room. It was an actual upper room in a house where they gathered together. And it is now Thursday evening. Friday will be the day of crucifixion. And Friday night, Jesus is spending his last hours with the excuse me, Thursday night.

She has been his last hours with the disciples and is giving them the teaching that we find in the upper room in John 13 and John 14, John 15 and 16, the teaching about you're on the vine. You're the branches that'll be on the way. John 13 and 14 is what he says at the Lord's supper. The last supper he's washed their feet here in John 13 already.

He's inaugurating the Passover celebration with them. And as he has done this in the midst of the Passover celebration and the sharing of what we know is the last supper Jesus has told them. One of you is going to be training. They're a gas. It just doesn't seem, it seems surreal. The thought that one of them will be betraying and somewhere in there, Judas slips out.

He's also announced that that Peter is going to deny him. And again, this is, this is Peter. I mean, this is the guys, the bold courageous, sometimes nut job. But the guy that just courageously is the most outspoken, he says, Peter, you're going to deny me three times. He has also said to them the most frightening part, he says, I'm going away.

It doesn't say where it doesn't say how long. So I'm just going away. Everybody is troubled and confused. Everybody is feeling the sense of, of confusion. And Jesus here makes this promise to them. He says, I will ask the father in verse 16 and he will give you another helper to be with you forever. Jesus promises them at this point, two particular things in John 14 in verse three, he says, first of all, I am going to come again.

I'll be gone. I'm going to prepare a place for you in verse three, but I'm coming again. It doesn't say when he's coming back, it doesn't say where the places and they're like, what, where, huh? He says, no, I'm going away, but I'll come back after I've prepared a place for you. And then he says this beautiful statement.

I will ask the father. He will give you another helper to be with you forever. Even the spirit of truth. This promise that Jesus gives is spoken to men that are scared men that are thrown men that are rattled. They've just endured. I mean, they are, they are now anticipating heightened conflict because they've seen it building and they've been in hiding for a day, licking their wounds.

And now they're alone in the quietness. And undoubtedly looking forward to enjoying the Passover meal with Jesus and how man let's get it together again. Let's have quiet. Let's have, let's have stillness together. Jesus, isn't going away, but there's somebody else that I'm sending and that somebody else is we want to talk about for the next few minutes, because he tells us a couple of things.

He tells us that this person who he identifies as the holy spirit will be the parent Clinton. The parakletos actually the, what the word means is para means alongside of, we use the word pair off a parallel lines. They're lines that line up next to each other, right? It's like a train track plot us one called the one called alongside of you.

It's someone who will stand by you for your benefit. This is the picture of the one that he is offering. And there are a number of passages in the new Testament where this term is used. First in first Thessalonians five 14, it says this, and we urge you brothers and sisters. One, those who are idle and disruptive encourage the distant hardened, help the weak be patient to everyone here.

First of all, we find that this one who is coming will be an incurred. Secondly the word, when it says that he will be the one coming alongside of is used in second Corinthians seven verse six, where it says, but God who conducts, who comforts the downcast, comforts us by the coming of Titus. The word here says it is translated comfort.

He will be a comforter. He will, first of all, being encouraged giver. Second of all, he will be a comforter third in first Thessalonians, five 14. And we urge your brothers and sisters warn those who are idle and disruptive in courage. That's how it's translated. The dissident heartened help the weak be patient to everyone.

He'll be a comforter. He'll be an encourager and an acts 27 verse 34. I urge you to take some food for it will give you strength. I realized I just read the same verse twice. Didn't I did anybody notice that Dave Burris, did you even notice.

Um, I got thrown because I think I gave them the wrong order back there and I'm reading off their reading. Anyway, there are three words that it's translated by. It says he comforts us. It says he encourages us. And now it says he urges us. Therefore, the word I urge you to take some food for it will give you strength.

The idea here is like, he's, he's going to be an exhorter. He's going to be a coach. He's going to be an, an encourager. He's going to be a comforter. He's going to be an exhorter. And in Matthew chapter eight, verse five, it says when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a century Turin came to him asking for help.

Again, the word is there, the same one from paraklete to us, the same term, he would be a helper. And here Jesus is being asked to come to Centurion, says. My associate, my servant sick. Can you help him? Can you bring to him power that we don't have? So if we put these, these passages together, we find that this term is broad to be a helper, meant to be an encourager, to be a helper, meant to bring comfort.

It meant to bring a power that we don't have in ourselves. It meant to be a trainer, a coach, all of these are involved in the term that the para clay toss, the one who is coming will be our helper. Now, how will the holy spirit be that to us? How will it be a helper to the disciples as well as to us? Well, if you look at verse 16 in our passage this morning, here's what it says.

And I will ask the father and he will give you another helper to be with you forever. Even the spirit of truth, the word another in the original. Then they're more specific in certain areas. The Greek is than Englishes in Greek. There are different words for other or another. There are some that mean other of various kinds is, but this particular one means another of the same kind.

It's a specifically chosen term by Jesus to say the one who's coming after is going to be like me. He's going to be to you the way I have been your helper. So let's think about that. What would they lose if Jesus is gone? Because he's basically saying I'm going away, but I'm giving you another helper and he's going to help you.

Like I help you. So what are they losing? Well, I think there are at least three things that stand out to me. Number one, what would be crossing my mind is you're going to. We're losing the whole power to this whole operation. I mean, we, I mean, Jesus, we're, we're, we're learning to teach a little bit, but you're the, you're the master at this.

Your teaching is breathtaking crowds gathered to hear you were ignorant guys. You've helped us to, to have a capacity to, you know, to, to heal some and to cast out demons. But we keep running into these demons that are beyond us. We're not raising anybody from the dead. You're doing these amazing things.

We need your power. I mean, we're fishermen, but we go fishing and we don't catch anything. We throw the net on the other side. Cause you say, try the other side and we all go throw the net on the other side. And there's all these fishermen. We don't even have the power of fish. Like you. And you're going away and you're leaving us and we're supposed to carry on this operation.

They're faced with their own weakness. They lose their power, they need a helper. That's going to bring power. Like Jesus brought power. I think they also would feel we're losing our way without you they'd left everything to follow him, but they don't know where this thing's gone. I mean, this whole week, can you imagine what this week was like?

I mean, who would not feel like a schizophrenia after this week? They come in on Sunday and, and the crowds are there and they're laying their Palm branches and they know this is all old Testament prophecies, how people are going to respond to the king. And they're like, we finally got. This is it, the crowds are with us.

We're going to, we're going to win and be the king. He's going to set it up. And the next day they go back over and I'm sure Monday morning was an exciting trip over the mountain. They go down into Jerusalem and they get there. And man, it's dicey in the temple. It's hostile. So think, well, hopefully Tuesday will be better.

And they go in and it is a day of tumult and conflict. And they're thinking, I don't know where this is going. I'm very confused. They've left their careers. I mean, James and John, we have indications in the gospel of John that John, it says, knew the members of, of, uh, the high priests household. His family was pretty prominent up in Galilee, apparently enough so that they had relations with the high priest.

Well, the high priest, now he's a mark man to the high priests. Being associated with Jesus is obviously not going to Curry favor, but he's no sons, his devotee, James, John they're now on the outs.

There's so much, they don't get they've bought into Jesus. They still do right now. They really do, but they don't know where the sinks gone. I mean, they keep guessing wrong, right? They want the crowds, Jesus sends him away. We want them to steer away from the despised outcasts. You know, the, the tax collectors, the, the, the, the, the, the, the prostitutes.

He keeps hanging out with these people. It's not the way to do this.

We wish she'd just make nice with the religious leaders, but he holds his most powerful indictment. Towards the most influential people.

And now all this has risen to a state of things are hot here in Jerusalem, and we don't know how to build this thing. We don't know how to organize it. We don't know how to get support for it. We don't know how to avoid crises without Jesus navigating the way. I'm sure that they would have felt Jesus.

You are the way, I mean, we're following your lead. We don't, we keep guessing wrong. If you're going to leave, we need to help her. That's going to show us how to go because we lose our way without you. The third thing I think they would feel they would lose her hope if Jesus is his bagging, this thing, if he's taken off.

I think they would feel, we don't have any hope even for unity among ourselves. I mean, just remember who these guys are. Again, they have little commonality of background. This Matthew tax collector viewed tactile actors, universally, both in Galilee and in Judea were viewed as local thugs who basically could squeeze money out of especially business owners, but basically everyone at whatever price they wanted to set it because the Romans were just happy to get their cut.

And so they were protected by law enforcement. The Jews hated the tax collectors. Matthew was a tax collector. He's one of the 12 guys that are sitting there. There's another group. That's the one side. There's another side that's represented in that room. A guy called Judas, the zealot, not Judas Iscariot, the, the, the betrayer he's left the room, but the Judas is still sitting there.

Excuse me. I misspoke Simon. The zealot, there is another Judas, but this assignment is Ella. Simon is sitting there and , they want to slit the throat of every Roman. They actually were famous to Zelle. Lots were for having a, a, a long knife that they hid under their, their garments, uh, in, in, in hopes, someday of being able to take out Romans the Zelle lots were the anti Roman extremist organization of the day.

If there's one group of people that a zealot would hate more than a Roman. It would be a Jew that had sold himself out to the Romans. You couldn't be father, uh, distanced politically, then a tax collector and a Zella. And here they sit reclining at the same table. It's no wonder that Jesus chose two sets of brothers who were in a fishing business together.

Right? James and John, Andrew and Peter, at least there are some guys. Do you think that are going to have trust for each other, but even those guys have alienated everybody else when James and John one time have asked Jesus, Hey Jesus. You know, when, when we, when you come into your kingdom, can I be, can we be number the number two guy?

And the number three guy in the whole organization will be the, will be the chief executives of the operation. The other guys are all, there's so many potential conflicts among this group of. What has held them together. One person, one person that they all love, they all trust. They all depend on those who, their American history buffs, you know, a little bit about the, the events that took place after the Americans won the revolutionary war.

And in 1781, after a result of a few years of haggling, we finally endorsed what was known as the articles of Confederation. The articles have been Federation was our document. It was to serve. We thought as our constitution. And basically what it said was what it basically did was said that we are 13 different states now.

And basically each state is pretty much autonomous. We don't want anybody that has powered. Uh, beyond the states. So we're going to just have a loose friendship at, with actually w word was used in the articles of Confederation, a friendship, a trust of each other. We certainly don't want an executive branch.

We don't want a position where there is someone in a, a position of a number, one eggs, a chief executive, so that didn't have that. Didn't have a president that didn't have a chief exec. Why? Because they didn't want a king. They didn't want a monarchy. And they operated from 1781 to 1787 with the articles of Confederation.

And it was a total failure. Basically everybody was realizing, you know, we can't make any decisions. We can't do anything. We need somebody to be able to make some decisions and to bring things together. And when there was a thing called the Shay's rebellion, they had no way of really dealing with it when there were realizing that even in terms of economically and in terms of, uh, uh, in relation to other nations, they, they just, it didn't.

So they, they began to say, we've, we've got it. We've got to revisit the entire process. And one guy was sort of challenged and he, he had to come forward and George Washington actually brought the whole thing together. Again, he says, let's, let's, let's try it again. He wasn't a politician, but he had the, he had the weight.

So he brought him together and these boys got together again in 1787. And they, they eventually ratified a new constitution this time with a chief executive, a president. And there was a lot of nervousness about a chief executive. We don't want to king king George was not a positive experience. There was only one.

And I would challenge you to read any historian and ask the question. Did anyone feel that this would work. Other than one person becoming this chief executive, this president, because basically in books, I've read basically what they say is as they were putting the constitution together and they ratified the constitution with a new chief executive with a precedent, everybody.

So one face George Washington, if he's not the guy, this can't work, he didn't want the job. He took the job. He became the source of trust. He's the only president in the United state who was actually elected unanimously in the electoral college. The first time he ran in 1788, it actually ran into 1789. It took ended December to January to elect him.

And then in 1792, when he really wanted to go home to Mount Vernon, they reelected him and the electoral college again for the. Only the second time. And the only other time somebody was elected unanimously, George Washington became the president again, without George Washington, these people are looking around the table and they're saying, I don't think this can work.

That's how I think these guys felt in the upper room. The difference was George Washington. Didn't just say at the S at the constitutional Congress, I'm going away. He said, I'll throw my hat in the ring. If it's what's needed. And Jesus said, I'm gone. I'm going away, but I'm promising you something, there's a helper coming that will be to you.

Everything I have been, he will be the one that will give you. He will be the one we'll show you the way he will be the one that will enable you with divergent policies and political positions and personalities and backgrounds. He'll enable you to work together because he will be the unifying reality.

He will help you. And then he makes this shocking statement in verse 12, leading into this passage. Notice what he says truly, truly I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do and greater works than these will he do, because I'm going to the father. What Jesus is saying is this through his physical body, Jesus could be a mentor teacher, preacher, friend to the disciples.

But the presence of a member of the Godhead inside of them produced deeper, more influential change in them. And through them, this would be for the spirit to accomplish just as God had planned for all eternity. The story of the book of acts is the story of that transformation. It is called the acts of the apostles.

It is ultimately really the acts of the spirit. The astonishing visual of acts is that to the disciples, the presence of God, the spirit within them was even more impactful than the presence of the son of God with them. Uh, think about that for a minute. We have that spirit. We have the presence of God because of what he promised at the last supper, just like they do.

They had experienced the presence of Jesus without which they felt this is hopeless. And he says it won't be hopeless. As matter of fact, you're going to think, do things you haven't done with me. You're going to experience changes in your life that you haven't experienced with me because my helper is coming.

The beautiful reality of the, of the last supper is certainly the portrayal that Jesus makes in the elements. When he says, this is my body broken for you. This is my blood poured out for you. Forgiveness, acceptance with God is available because of what I've done. Heaven is yours because of what I've done on the cross.

All of that is pictured at the last supper, but we miss part of the story of the last supper. If we don't hear the promise that was made, there's a helper that has come. That will be everything I have been to you in bodily form. But through him, you'll do even more because he will be with you and in you as we come to the Lord's table this morning.

And it's weird to look down, see a bunch of flowers here. Um, The the lore, cause we usually have our, our trace here, but I'm going to ask you to take out your, your thing. And if, if you didn't get this, could somebody just watch, um, did anyone knock it? Uh, if we just slip up your hand, if you didn't get one of these, this is okay.

I, there, there are definitely people that didn't get it. Could somebody grab those for us? Mark. Janice? Do you do that for us? Would you go out and grab some of these babies? Thanks. Okay. Um, you know, in first Corinthians 11, it says, Paul says, I've I presented to you what Jesus did on that first night when he was betrayed.

He says it, in these words I receive from the Lord. What I also delivered to you that the Lord Jesus in the night, when he was betrayed, took bread. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, This is my body, which is for you. If you would remove that top flap where the bread is that little piece of bread.

If you know Jesus Christ as your savior, and you have experienced the work of Christ in your life, I invite you to participate with us this morning. As we celebrate what Jesus is offering us here, the, the, the new life that he has offered to us through his body being broken for us. When we take bread, now, this is my body broken for you.

He says,

second thing Jesus said is this cup is the new covenant through my blood. The old covenant was through obedience, uh, putting trust in a covering that was temporary, but he said, no, this covenants for keeps for eternity. You are now forgiven forever. There is no more need of sacrifices of trying to measure up that.

Ultimately I provided eternal forgiveness for you through what I've done as the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And he says to us, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this. As often as you drink it in remembrance of me,

this week as we go. And as we reflect on our communion, And this time at the Lord's table, it is incredible to realize that this is our reminder, that Jesus Christ came to be our savior to take our place, to live the life that we should have lived and to die the death that we should have died. But it was also the time when he reminds us that we should remember that living within us is our helper.

And it is God still living with us, working through us, making himself known to us. The third member of the tri unity of God, the helper, the encourager, the comforter, the coach, the power source of our lives. Let's pray together. Lord.

We're reminded how much you love your people.

Even there with those disciples in the midst of confusion and despair, and you just speak into them, such beautiful words of promise of the one who would come

Lord, we look back even as they looked forward, but we glory in what you have given us in the spirit of God. Lord, may this day be a day in which we just quiet ourselves and remember what it is to do life with God, with God living within our lives, through the tri unity, Lord direct our steps. Thank you for the courage.

The spirit gives the comfort, the encouragement, the guidance, and the power in Jesus name. We pray. Amen. You may be dismissed. Thank you.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/jesus-promise-of-a-replacement 37f24d5a-9150-4dd4-8792-96b8e2ec6ee8 Sun, 09 Jan 2022 10:20:38 GMT <div data-html="true">John 14: 12-17 <br /><br /> <span><span>“If you love me, keep my commands.</span></span> <span><span>And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—</span></span> <span><span>the Spirit of truth. </span></span> <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> John chapter 14, verses 12 through 17. <br /><br /> And we're going to be looking at this passage in preparation for the Lord's supper this morning. And here's what we read. Truly, truly I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the father, whatever you ask me in my name, this I will do that. <br /><br /> The father may be glorified in the son. If you ask for anything in my name, I will do it. If you love me, you will keep my commandments and I will ask the father and he will give you another helper to be with you forever. Even the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him. <br /><br /> There were no SIM you know him for, he dwells with you and will be in you. Let's pray. <br /><br /> Lord, we gather at this table this morning, we come to celebrate. What Jesus has done for us, what he has come to accomplish for us. Lord, I also praise you that it is not only you God, the father, God, the son that are involved in our journey of faith, but it has God, the spirit and Lord, thank you for this helper that Jesus promised that has come among us, that he offered to his followers there at that first Lord's table, last supper event. <br /><br /> So Lord, as we reflect on what that meant, um, may we love him the spirit, even as we are learning to love you and the son in whose name I pray. Amen. You know, we come to this passage and I want to give you a little context to it. <br /><br /> In these, in these verses of John 13 and 14, Jesus is going to be giving teaching that he has not given to the disciples before this. He's going to be doing things with them that he has not done before this. And, and to just get the, the, the set, the setting of what's going on. This is of course, passion week. <br /><br /> Right now, this is Thursday evening where Jesus is celebrating the law, the, the Passover with them, what we call the last supper, uh, the inauguration of communion meal and the Lord's supper. Jesus, just a few days before this on Sunday has come in on the triumphant entry. He's entered from, uh, the town of Bethany where he's been staying. <br /><br /> He's come over the Mount of olives and he's come down into the town and been met by the throngs. Things have changed dramatically since that entrance on Monday, he's come over again this time without the, the fanfare, without the giant entourage, justice disciples have gathered with him and they've come in and he's been Monday morning, Monday throughout the day has been teaching in the temple and this been by the end of the day, some conflict arising with the religious leaders. <br /><br /> They returned to Bethany and they come again the next day to come. And come into the town. And this day there are all sorts of opposition, awaiting him, every group, uh, Herodians Sadducees, Pharisees, scribes, uh, high priest are waiting for him. And it has been an extraordinarily exhausting day of conflict. <br /><br /> This Tuesday of passion week, where every member of the opposing forces has come against him with attempting to trip him up. And the disciples have just been watching and they have been experiencing with Jesus. The utter exhaustion that conflict is for them, just like for us, they return Tuesday night. <br /><br /> Again, they're back in Bethany. And the Wednesday of Passover week is known as the day of silence. We have nothing recorded. There's some conjectures of various things that went on, but we really don't know anything that happened in most theologians commentators, believe this was a day where Jesus and his disciples are to some degree recovering. <br /><br /> They are exhausted from these two days of tremendous conflict, which had followed this, this, then this initial day of exhaustion, just from the public acclaim of the triumphant entry. Now it's Thursday and Thursday morning, Jesus has sent Peter and John to go into the city early, to prepare a room for them where they can celebrate the Passover meal. <br /><br /> They've come. They found the place. We know it as what we call the upper room. It was an actual upper room in a house where they gathered together. And it is now Thursday evening. Friday will be the day of crucifixion. And Friday night, Jesus is spending his last hours with the excuse me, Thursday night. <br /><br /> She has been his last hours with the disciples and is giving them the teaching that we find in the upper room in John 13 and John 14, John 15 and 16, the teaching about you're on the vine. You're the branches that'll be on the way. John 13 and 14 is what he says at the Lord's supper. The last supper he's washed their feet here in John 13 already. <br /><br /> He's inaugurating the Passover celebration with them. And as he has done this in the midst of the Passover celebration and the sharing of what we know is the last supper Jesus has told them. One of you is going to be training. They're a gas. It just doesn't seem, it seems surreal. The thought that one of them will be betraying and somewhere in there, Judas slips out. <br /><br /> He's also announced that that Peter is going to deny him. And again, this is, this is Peter. I mean, this is the guys, the bold courageous, sometimes nut job. But the guy that just courageously is the most outspoken, he says, Peter, you're going to deny me three times. He has also said to them the most frightening part, he says, I'm going away. <br /><br /> It doesn't say where it doesn't say how long. So I'm just going away. Everybody is troubled and confused. Everybody is feeling the sense of, of confusion. And Jesus here makes this promise to them. He says, I will ask the father in verse 16 and he will give you another helper to be with you forever. Jesus promises them at this point, two particular things in John 14 in verse three, he says, first of all, I am going to come again. <br /><br /> I'll be gone. I'm going to prepare a place for you in verse three, but I'm coming again. It doesn't say when he's coming back, it doesn't say where the places and they're like, what, where, huh? He says, no, I'm going away, but I'll come back after I've prepared a place for you. And then he says this beautiful statement. <br /><br /> I will ask the father. He will give you another helper to be with you forever. Even the spirit of truth. This promise that Jesus gives is spoken to men that are scared men that are thrown men that are rattled. They've just endured. I mean, they are, they are now anticipating heightened conflict because they've seen it building and they've been in hiding for a day, licking their wounds. <br /><br /> And now they're alone in the quietness. And undoubtedly looking forward to enjoying the Passover meal with Jesus and how man let's get it together again. Let's have quiet. Let's have, let's have stillness together. Jesus, isn't going away, but there's somebody else that I'm sending and that somebody else is we want to talk about for the next few minutes, because he tells us a couple of things. <br /><br /> He tells us that this person who he identifies as the holy spirit will be the parent Clinton. The parakletos actually the, what the word means is para means alongside of, we use the word pair off a parallel lines. They're lines that line up next to each other, right? It's like a train track plot us one called the one called alongside of you. <br /><br /> It's someone who will stand by you for your benefit. This is the picture of the one that he is offering. And there are a number of passages in the new Testament where this term is used. First in first Thessalonians five 14, it says this, and we urge you brothers and sisters. One, those who are idle and disruptive encourage the distant hardened, help the weak be patient to everyone here. <br /><br /> First of all, we find that this one who is coming will be an incurred. Secondly the word, when it says that he will be the one coming alongside of is used in second Corinthians seven verse six, where it says, but God who conducts, who comforts the downcast, comforts us by the coming of Titus. The word here says it is translated comfort. <br /><br /> He will be a comforter. He will, first of all, being encouraged giver. Second of all, he will be a comforter third in first Thessalonians, five 14. And we urge your brothers and sisters warn those who are idle and disruptive in courage. That's how it's translated. The dissident heartened help the weak be patient to everyone. <br /><br /> He'll be a comforter. He'll be an encourager and an acts 27 verse 34. I urge you to take some food for it will give you strength. I realized I just read the same verse twice. Didn't I did anybody notice that Dave Burris, did you even notice. <br /><br /> Um, I got thrown because I think I gave them the wrong order back there and I'm reading off their reading. Anyway, there are three words that it's translated by. It says he comforts us. It says he encourages us. And now it says he urges us. Therefore, the word I urge you to take some food for it will give you strength. <br /><br /> The idea here is like, he's, he's going to be an exhorter. He's going to be a coach. He's going to be an, an encourager. He's going to be a comforter. He's going to be an exhorter. And in Matthew chapter eight, verse five, it says when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a century Turin came to him asking for help. <br /><br /> Again, the word is there, the same one from paraklete to us, the same term, he would be a helper. And here Jesus is being asked to come to Centurion, says. My associate, my servant sick. Can you help him? Can you bring to him power that we don't have? So if we put these, these passages together, we find that this term is broad to be a helper, meant to be an encourager, to be a helper, meant to bring comfort. <br /><br /> It meant to bring a power that we don't have in ourselves. It meant to be a trainer, a coach, all of these are involved in the term that the para clay toss, the one who is coming will be our helper. Now, how will the holy spirit be that to us? How will it be a helper to the disciples as well as to us? Well, if you look at verse 16 in our passage this morning, here's what it says. <br /><br /> And I will ask the father and he will give you another helper to be with you forever. Even the spirit of truth, the word another in the original. Then they're more specific in certain areas. The Greek is than Englishes in Greek. There are different words for other or another. There are some that mean other of various kinds is, but this particular one means another of the same kind. <br /><br /> It's a specifically chosen term by Jesus to say the one who's coming after is going to be like me. He's going to be to you the way I have been your helper. So let's think about that. What would they lose if Jesus is gone? Because he's basically saying I'm going away, but I'm giving you another helper and he's going to help you. <br /><br /> Like I help you. So what are they losing? Well, I think there are at least three things that stand out to me. Number one, what would be crossing my mind is you're going to. We're losing the whole power to this whole operation. I mean, we, I mean, Jesus, we're, we're, we're learning to teach a little bit, but you're the, you're the master at this. <br /><br /> Your teaching is breathtaking crowds gathered to hear you were ignorant guys. You've helped us to, to have a capacity to, you know, to, to heal some and to cast out demons. But we keep running into these demons that are beyond us. We're not raising anybody from the dead. You're doing these amazing things. <br /><br /> We need your power. I mean, we're fishermen, but we go fishing and we don't catch anything. We throw the net on the other side. Cause you say, try the other side and we all go throw the net on the other side. And there's all these fishermen. We don't even have the power of fish. Like you. And you're going away and you're leaving us and we're supposed to carry on this operation. <br /><br /> They're faced with their own weakness. They lose their power, they need a helper. That's going to bring power. Like Jesus brought power. I think they also would feel we're losing our way without you they'd left everything to follow him, but they don't know where this thing's gone. I mean, this whole week, can you imagine what this week was like? <br /><br /> I mean, who would not feel like a schizophrenia after this week? They come in on Sunday and, and the crowds are there and they're laying their Palm branches and they know this is all old Testament prophecies, how people are going to respond to the king. And they're like, we finally got. This is it, the crowds are with us. <br /><br /> We're going to, we're going to win and be the king. He's going to set it up. And the next day they go back over and I'm sure Monday morning was an exciting trip over the mountain. They go down into Jerusalem and they get there. And man, it's dicey in the temple. It's hostile. So think, well, hopefully Tuesday will be better. <br /><br /> And they go in and it is a day of tumult and conflict. And they're thinking, I don't know where this is going. I'm very confused. They've left their careers. I mean, James and John, we have indications in the gospel of John that John, it says, knew the members of, of, uh, the high priests household. His family was pretty prominent up in Galilee, apparently enough so that they had relations with the high priest. <br /><br /> Well, the high priest, now he's a mark man to the high priests. Being associated with Jesus is obviously not going to Curry favor, but he's no sons, his devotee, James, John they're now on the outs. <br /><br /> There's so much, they don't get they've bought into Jesus. They still do right now. They really do, but they don't know where the sinks gone. I mean, they keep guessing wrong, right? They want the crowds, Jesus sends him away. We want them to steer away from the despised outcasts. You know, the, the tax collectors, the, the, the, the, the, the, the prostitutes. <br /><br /> He keeps hanging out with these people. It's not the way to do this. <br /><br /> We wish she'd just make nice with the religious leaders, but he holds his most powerful indictment. Towards the most influential people. <br /><br /> And now all this has risen to a state of things are hot here in Jerusalem, and we don't know how to build this thing. We don't know how to organize it. We don't know how to get support for it. We don't know how to avoid crises without Jesus navigating the way. I'm sure that they would have felt Jesus. <br /><br /> You are the way, I mean, we're following your lead. We don't, we keep guessing wrong. If you're going to leave, we need to help her. That's going to show us how to go because we lose our way without you. The third thing I think they would feel they would lose her hope if Jesus is his bagging, this thing, if he's taken off. <br /><br /> I think they would feel, we don't have any hope even for unity among ourselves. I mean, just remember who these guys are. Again, they have little commonality of background. This Matthew tax collector viewed tactile actors, universally, both in Galilee and in Judea were viewed as local thugs who basically could squeeze money out of especially business owners, but basically everyone at whatever price they wanted to set it because the Romans were just happy to get their cut. <br /><br /> And so they were protected by law enforcement. The Jews hated the tax collectors. Matthew was a tax collector. He's one of the 12 guys that are sitting there. There's another group. That's the one side. There's another side that's represented in that room. A guy called Judas, the zealot, not Judas Iscariot, the, the, the betrayer he's left the room, but the Judas is still sitting there. <br /><br /> Excuse me. I misspoke Simon. The zealot, there is another Judas, but this assignment is Ella. Simon is sitting there and , they want to slit the throat of every Roman. They actually were famous to Zelle. Lots were for having a, a, a long knife that they hid under their, their garments, uh, in, in, in hopes, someday of being able to take out Romans the Zelle lots were the anti Roman extremist organization of the day. <br /><br /> If there's one group of people that a zealot would hate more than a Roman. It would be a Jew that had sold himself out to the Romans. You couldn't be father, uh, distanced politically, then a tax collector and a Zella. And here they sit reclining at the same table. It's no wonder that Jesus chose two sets of brothers who were in a fishing business together. <br /><br /> Right? James and John, Andrew and Peter, at least there are some guys. Do you think that are going to have trust for each other, but even those guys have alienated everybody else when James and John one time have asked Jesus, Hey Jesus. You know, when, when we, when you come into your kingdom, can I be, can we be number the number two guy? <br /><br /> And the number three guy in the whole organization will be the, will be the chief executives of the operation. The other guys are all, there's so many potential conflicts among this group of. What has held them together. One person, one person that they all love, they all trust. They all depend on those who, their American history buffs, you know, a little bit about the, the events that took place after the Americans won the revolutionary war. <br /><br /> And in 1781, after a result of a few years of haggling, we finally endorsed what was known as the articles of Confederation. The articles have been Federation was our document. It was to serve. We thought as our constitution. And basically what it said was what it basically did was said that we are 13 different states now. <br /><br /> And basically each state is pretty much autonomous. We don't want anybody that has powered. Uh, beyond the states. So we're going to just have a loose friendship at, with actually w word was used in the articles of Confederation, a friendship, a trust of each other. We certainly don't want an executive branch. <br /><br /> We don't want a position where there is someone in a, a position of a number, one eggs, a chief executive, so that didn't have that. Didn't have a president that didn't have a chief exec. Why? Because they didn't want a king. They didn't want a monarchy. And they operated from 1781 to 1787 with the articles of Confederation. <br /><br /> And it was a total failure. Basically everybody was realizing, you know, we can't make any decisions. We can't do anything. We need somebody to be able to make some decisions and to bring things together. And when there was a thing called the Shay's rebellion, they had no way of really dealing with it when there were realizing that even in terms of economically and in terms of, uh, uh, in relation to other nations, they, they just, it didn't. <br /><br /> So they, they began to say, we've, we've got it. We've got to revisit the entire process. And one guy was sort of challenged and he, he had to come forward and George Washington actually brought the whole thing together. Again, he says, let's, let's, let's try it again. He wasn't a politician, but he had the, he had the weight. <br /><br /> So he brought him together and these boys got together again in 1787. And they, they eventually ratified a new constitution this time with a chief executive, a president. And there was a lot of nervousness about a chief executive. We don't want to king king George was not a positive experience. There was only one. <br /><br /> And I would challenge you to read any historian and ask the question. Did anyone feel that this would work. Other than one person becoming this chief executive, this president, because basically in books, I've read basically what they say is as they were putting the constitution together and they ratified the constitution with a new chief executive with a precedent, everybody. <br /><br /> So one face George Washington, if he's not the guy, this can't work, he didn't want the job. He took the job. He became the source of trust. He's the only president in the United state who was actually elected unanimously in the electoral college. The first time he ran in 1788, it actually ran into 1789. It took ended December to January to elect him. <br /><br /> And then in 1792, when he really wanted to go home to Mount Vernon, they reelected him and the electoral college again for the. Only the second time. And the only other time somebody was elected unanimously, George Washington became the president again, without George Washington, these people are looking around the table and they're saying, I don't think this can work. <br /><br /> That's how I think these guys felt in the upper room. The difference was George Washington. Didn't just say at the S at the constitutional Congress, I'm going away. He said, I'll throw my hat in the ring. If it's what's needed. And Jesus said, I'm gone. I'm going away, but I'm promising you something, there's a helper coming that will be to you. <br /><br /> Everything I have been, he will be the one that will give you. He will be the one we'll show you the way he will be the one that will enable you with divergent policies and political positions and personalities and backgrounds. He'll enable you to work together because he will be the unifying reality. <br /><br /> He will help you. And then he makes this shocking statement in verse 12, leading into this passage. Notice what he says truly, truly I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do and greater works than these will he do, because I'm going to the father. What Jesus is saying is this through his physical body, Jesus could be a mentor teacher, preacher, friend to the disciples. <br /><br /> But the presence of a member of the Godhead inside of them produced deeper, more influential change in them. And through them, this would be for the spirit to accomplish just as God had planned for all eternity. The story of the book of acts is the story of that transformation. It is called the acts of the apostles. <br /><br /> It is ultimately really the acts of the spirit. The astonishing visual of acts is that to the disciples, the presence of God, the spirit within them was even more impactful than the presence of the son of God with them. Uh, think about that for a minute. We have that spirit. We have the presence of God because of what he promised at the last supper, just like they do. <br /><br /> They had experienced the presence of Jesus without which they felt this is hopeless. And he says it won't be hopeless. As matter of fact, you're going to think, do things you haven't done with me. You're going to experience changes in your life that you haven't experienced with me because my helper is coming. <br /><br /> The beautiful reality of the, of the last supper is certainly the portrayal that Jesus makes in the elements. When he says, this is my body broken for you. This is my blood poured out for you. Forgiveness, acceptance with God is available because of what I've done. Heaven is yours because of what I've done on the cross. <br /><br /> All of that is pictured at the last supper, but we miss part of the story of the last supper. If we don't hear the promise that was made, there's a helper that has come. That will be everything I have been to you in bodily form. But through him, you'll do even more because he will be with you and in you as we come to the Lord's table this morning. <br /><br /> And it's weird to look down, see a bunch of flowers here. Um, The the lore, cause we usually have our, our trace here, but I'm going to ask you to take out your, your thing. And if, if you didn't get this, could somebody just watch, um, did anyone knock it? Uh, if we just slip up your hand, if you didn't get one of these, this is okay. <br /><br /> I, there, there are definitely people that didn't get it. Could somebody grab those for us? Mark. Janice? Do you do that for us? Would you go out and grab some of these babies? Thanks. Okay. Um, you know, in first Corinthians 11, it says, Paul says, I've I presented to you what Jesus did on that first night when he was betrayed. <br /><br /> He says it, in these words I receive from the Lord. What I also delivered to you that the Lord Jesus in the night, when he was betrayed, took bread. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, This is my body, which is for you. If you would remove that top flap where the bread is that little piece of bread. <br /><br /> If you know Jesus Christ as your savior, and you have experienced the work of Christ in your life, I invite you to participate with us this morning. As we celebrate what Jesus is offering us here, the, the, the new life that he has offered to us through his body being broken for us. When we take bread, now, this is my body broken for you. <br /><br /> He says, <br /><br /> second thing Jesus said is this cup is the new covenant through my blood. The old covenant was through obedience, uh, putting trust in a covering that was temporary, but he said, no, this covenants for keeps for eternity. You are now forgiven forever. There is no more need of sacrifices of trying to measure up that. <br /><br /> Ultimately I provided eternal forgiveness for you through what I've done as the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And he says to us, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this. As often as you drink it in remembrance of me, <br /><br /> this week as we go. And as we reflect on our communion, And this time at the Lord's table, it is incredible to realize that this is our reminder, that Jesus Christ came to be our savior to take our place, to live the life that we should have lived and to die the death that we should have died. But it was also the time when he reminds us that we should remember that living within us is our helper. <br /><br /> And it is God still living with us, working through us, making himself known to us. The third member of the tri unity of God, the helper, the encourager, the comforter, the coach, the power source of our lives. Let's pray together. Lord. <br /><br /> We're reminded how much you love your people. <br /><br /> Even there with those disciples in the midst of confusion and despair, and you just speak into them, such beautiful words of promise of the one who would come <br /><br /> Lord, we look back even as they looked forward, but we glory in what you have given us in the spirit of God. Lord, may this day be a day in which we just quiet ourselves and remember what it is to do life with God, with God living within our lives, through the tri unity, Lord direct our steps. Thank you for the courage. <br /><br /> The spirit gives the comfort, the encouragement, the guidance, and the power in Jesus name. We pray. Amen. You may be dismissed. Thank you.</div> false no <![CDATA[Therefore I Have Hope]]> Lamentations 3:21-26

But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”



Um, Hey, it's good to see you all, uh, happy new year to you. Thank you. This is a, this is amazing. Isn't it? A time to be together to worship the Lord together? Uh, what a great and awesome privilege it is. And so as we spend time together here, for those of you who are online, uh, it's, it's great to be together.

Isn't it? And we just sang a great, I love that song. How great is our God? Don't you? I mean, it reminds us so much of who he is and, and today we want to spend a little bit of time looking at that and, and how we can focus on why we want to focus on who he is as we enter this. So w would you join me again?

I know the judge has prayed, but let's pray one more time. As we begin to go into his word, father, we thank you so much that you are so great. Wow. When we see these songs, sing these songs, lift our hearts to you. We remember who you are. Remember your goodness. We remember your grace, your mercy, and we're looking at a passage today gone, and what you declare, who you are.

And we want to carry that with us throughout the year. Even in these times that are difficult when we don't know exactly what's going on, we know that you do. So I pray that you'll help us these few minutes together, help us to focus on who you are. Take lots of yourself and burn it deeply into our hearts.

I pray in Christ's name. Amen.

I don't know if you have ever read the book or seen the movie 33, it that's a great title, right? 33, but it's a, it's a story about some miners in Chile, 33 men who were trapped underground. It was in a, I think in a copper and gold mine, things caved in. It sounds terrifying to me. I don't like close places anyway and suddenly be there.

Uh, it, it sounds like a horrific thing. And in the book, uh, they described, especially the movie shows it too, but the book especially describes just, uh, the fear that they had in their hearts. And I understand that, and there was a wondering, or what to do. They have a little bit of water. They have very little food.

They have plenty of air at that moment. What are they going to do? And the book describes so well in the movie describes it shows in a good way when suddenly they can hear something coming down to them, they know it's someone drilling, trying to get to them. And, and the sense of awe and hope when suddenly that little drill pokes down into the cavern in which they find themselves that deep sense of hope, because they know because of that, they, they have plenty of air.

They will be able to be given food. They will be given water. And although they stayed there for a long time before they figured out how to rescue them, that first thing coming through that sense of hope. And today what I want to focus on. It's just to remember the incredible sense of hope that we have in God, in Christ, because we do don't wait, now you may have been in some place where you remember, ah, that just brought great hope to my heart.

Great, great hope to my life. I remember this was many years ago. I was on one of our backpack trips in Colorado. Uh, it was, uh, it was a tough situation. We had a kid who was diabetic. Uh, we were about 13,000 feet when all this happened, uh, 13,000 feet above sea level. And, uh, he went off his insulin somehow.

No one knows exactly what happened, but we had to evacuate. And, uh, he was, uh, pretty unresponsive. We, we made a homemade stretcher using, we finally got down to Timberline and we cut a couple of poles. We made a stretcher out of those, uh, poles and some sleeping bags and, and then carried him and carried him, uh, trying to get out.

Cause he desperately needed help. I'd send a couple of campers on a head, uh, to go down the one side to try to get help God intervened in some incredible ways. But it was nighttime by the time we got, we were about a mile from within each pass, which means nothing to you, but it's a low spot and that's the direction we were headed.

We we'd still been carrying Dan. We had one flashlight, uh, among all of us and it didn't work real well. And so we had one person in front shining. Tell us about where rocks were and stumps were. We were tripping. Dan was restless. He would tip off. It was awful. And we went ahead and we had been praying, oh, you can imagine how much we'd been praying.

And I, and I can still envision this so well, we carry him and we break down a little bit and I look up and there right at the head of women each pass a little light

and you talk about hope and joy. And really, cause we knew it was the headlamp of some people who were coming up to help us as we rescue Dan, as we take him on down, the end of the story is Dan survives. God was gracious with that, but I will never forget that sense of hope. That little light brought. Can you imagine that the hope, the joy, the confidence.

That we had even knowing that some help was there, the miners, as they knew that they had been rescued. And we're going to spend some time together here this morning, uh, looking at a passage of scripture that that really focuses on hope, you know, cause we really don't know what lies ahead. Dewey. It's been a crazy year.

We can probably all agree to that. We left one crazy year, a year ago and now we had another crazy year and then other crazy things are happening. We don't know what's going on, do we? But, but we shouldn't let that cause us great despair because we, we focus on who God is. Not our circumstances, not the things around us.

And we begin to settle our hope on who he is that hope that understands the character and nature of. It's it's that hope that gives us that confident expectation of who God is. This is not a hope that, you know, like, I hope like my grandkids were saying, I hope it snows on Christmas. It didn't here. Uh, but it's a hope that is absolutely steadfast.

It's a hope that, that, that raises up. It's that kind of hope. And we're going to look at a portion of scripture. It's for me, it's a very familiar portion. It's one of the, I honestly, I pray many, many times as I open my heart before God, because this certainly is part of my heart cry is found in Laghman stations of all places, Lamentations 3 21 to 26.

Yeah. And I'll tell you a little bit more about Lamentations in Jeremiah here in a minute. We're going to read it here first, but, but I have to be honest, it, laminations is not the place I normally would go to bring all sorts of hope and joy, but here he says this. And if you want to read along with me, it's a Lamentations three.

I'm going to start with verse 21 lemon. Uh, Jeremiah writes this by the spirit of God yet this I call to mind. And therefore I have hope because the Lord's great love or mercies. We are not consumed for his compassions, never fail. They are new every morning. Great. Is your faithfulness. I say to myself, the Lord is my portion.

Therefore, I will wait for him. The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him to the one who seeks. It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. And that is a resounding, uh, writing and, and, uh, expression of great joy. You see, remember what Jeremiah was? Jeremiah is called the weeping prophet.

If you have anything about Jeremiah, he was the one who was called that because he had been given a task to proclaim the truth of God, the direction of God, to Judah. Unfortunately, Judah, at this time, the nation of Judah was really far away from God. They wanted to go their own way. They wanted to do their own thing and they pursued that very much and Jeremiah's task.

And God told him your tasks is going to be preached the truth. You're going to preach even the judgment. That's going to come and to tell you what Jeremiah nobody's going to listen. That's not a job. But Jeremiah was faithful and he writes here, he's called the weeping prophet because he weeps openly. So many times he declares the, the truth of God and, and the sinfulness of the people.

He proclaims that there will be judgment coming and that judgment, by the way, as we look through the old Testament, we realize that judgment is coming. Not because God hates them, but because God loves them and he wants them to come back to him. And eventually they do, but it's a long process. And Jeremiah, every time he would preach and people would not respond.

In fact, in one time that they were so upset with him, they took him and threw him in the actually an a, well, as a prison. They didn't want anything to do with him. In fact, later on in, in the book of Lamentations, he even relates that a little bit about how the water's coming up up to his neck and he doesn't know what's going to happen.

And then he writes this book because now Judah has been taken captive. They have been conquered and there's a lot of them and taken to Babylon already. And Jeremiah writes five limits in which he pours out his heart to God crying out. God. Why, why it's heavy reading. It's not one that you really jump in the new years with, except right in the middle, in the middle of these five laments, Jeremiah.

Suddenly realizes who God is. He remembers in the midst of these things, he understands the mercies and love of God in the middle of all his own personal distress and burdens. He remembers, I think he writes, especially, uh, so the, the people of Judah would, would turn their hearts to God and, and eventually many of them did, but he wants them to remember that God is truly the God of hope.

You want to boil the little book down to this? It's that Jeremiah saying? I remember my afflictions. I remember the judgments on Judah and my soul is downcast on the bummed out, but then. As he writes those things, God puts on his heart. He says, but I remember this. I remember the things that God who God is, and suddenly I have great hope in spite of everything that's going on.

I don't know if he'd been reading in Psalms where the Psalmist says, um, why are you so downcast? Oh my soul. Put your hope in God. I don't know if he'd been just spending time, reflecting on who God is, but whatever the case is, suddenly he says this. I remember in spite of everything else going on this, I remember that's who you are.

God. And since that is true, I have great, great, great hope centered on who God is. Not on the circumstances around me, not on the things I have or don't. But on who God is. And so we're going to take a look at that three things very simply in which he looks at some of the character of God. He starts out here yet.

This, I called him my mind. And therefore I have hope because of the Lord's great love or loving kindness or mercy. I'm going to use the word loving kindness here, but it's all interchange. It's the word that has said in, in Hebrew. And I'm not a great Hebrew scholar, but I can read that much. And that word is translated either mercy, loving, kindness, love.

He says, first of all, because of the Lord's great love his mercy to me. I remember this. I mean, God's love is one of the great characteristics as we remember. When, if I ask you, tell me something about who God is, many of you would say, well, if nothing else he's loved. That's what Jeremiah is reminding us here.

God is love. That's who he is. He shows his love to us, especially now. And, and for things under that loving kindness one is that he's working goodness for our benefit in his loving kindness, he does work good for us. Doesn't he, it may not always seem that way, but when you look at the big picture, you will understand God's been working for you because of his goodness.

I mean, look at the old Testament, look at it. How you worked with people, let's go all the way back to Adam and Eve. Remember what they did. Sure you do. And they disobeyed God. They turned their back on God. They wanted their own way, but God did not just judge them. He did, he put them out of the garden, but he also provided for them.

He provided a way for them to survive. He provided clothes for them. He didn't finish their lives. He, he showed goodness to them. Or how about, I was thinking about Jacob for some reason. Remember when Jacob, uh, he was, he was coming back to his home. He had, uh, his family, he had he'd done. He saw his brother some really wrong and he understood the Esau was coming and he thought he saw was coming after him to do battle.

So, uh, sent his family on head. He stayed there or the one place with his servants in order to do the battle. And that night, Jacob wrestles with the angel of the Lord. I mean, he didn't know that's who it was at the time wrestled all night, Jacob had a hip hurt. But, you know, the whole thing with that is God provided and showed his goodness in that a lot of people don't look at it.

Don't look and see that what's happening is God to say, look, I am restoring you. I am protecting you. And as it turned out, Esau was not coming to do battle. He saw was coming just to greet him as a brother, God showing great goodness, even to the Israelites as they left Egypt. You remember when they left there, God provided for them.

He helped them escape from the Egyptians. And even, even as they went through the wandering in the wilderness because of some of their own stubbornness, God provided for him, didn't he, he provided the manner so that they could eat the quail. He provided water for them. He provided protection for them. God continued to provide.

And even to the place where then he provided the land for them, they could call their own. That was the place he was taking them. God does work. Goodness for, I say him in his loving kindness, he works for us. The two words to stand out here to me are, first of all, he just shows us his grace, right? Grace is defined this way, giving us what we don't deserve.

And God does that far. So many times, doesn't he, he gives us what we don't deserve at all. And yet in his goodness, he says, here, take this, use this. And he deals with us in mercy, which defined this way, not giving us what we do. We know what we're like. I know what I'm like, I know what I deserve. And yet God in his mercy says, no, I'm not doing that.

He did that with people as people all the way through the old Testament and the new Testament. And now he deals with us in his loving kindness. He works good for us. He deals with us in grace and mercy. Secondly, not only is loving kindness showing goodness, I have to use the word love here. It seems like, well, Jim, of course is love.

You're saying loving kindness, but I want us to remind us about his love. Not only does he work goodness for us, but he really does show us his love. I mean, God genuinely and honestly loves. That's amazing. And what's even more amazing. He loves me. That's incredible. That's who God is. And, and as Jeremiah writes here, he wants the people to understand, look, God does love you.

And he starts out this with this. I recall to my mind me remember who God is and remember what God has done and, and all the he is. Uh, I think there's probably a good and healthy thing for us to remember back to recall what God has done for us. Isn't it. I mean, I could ask you to sit here right now and write down, you know, order some of the things God has done for you even this last year in his love.

And as you begin thinking about it, you would probably recall many things that God has done for you because he loves. And, and when we do that, when we remember those things, it brings us to worship, doesn't it remembering who he is and what he has done and how he continues to work. He shows us his love.

God genuinely loves his people. He genuinely loves you. And he sinks to bring us to a place of love and worship in our hearts because of who he is, so that we have a true and lasting relationship with him working goodness, for our benefit, showing us love. He continues on with this, this loving kindness, never failed.

He says here, his compassions never fail. Interestingly enough, the word Compassion's as translated there as actually the same root word for mercy love, loving kindness. He just does it another way. His compassions never fail. God never gives up on loving us. Remember in first Corinthians 13, where Paul writes by the spirit of God, as he talks about the qualities of love and what love looks like at the end, he says, this love never fails.

And that's what Jeremiah is saying. His compassions, the love, the mercy, the loving kindness of God never fails. God that never gives up on us. God never gives up on loving us.

Now I was thinking about this. I, I can hear people saying, well, that's all good gym, but you don't know what I've done. You don't know what I'm like. You don't know how I have responded to things. And I don't, but God does. God understands completely how you've responded and what you've said and what you thought and what you've done.

And God's love does not fail. He didn't stop loving you. And I know some of you have said, I feel like I'm so far from God right now. I mean, because you know, because of the things in the world, because things in my life, because of things I'm facing, I just, I just feel like I'm so far from God. And I want to remind you.

The God's love. Doesn't fail. If you feel a long way from him, I understand that I've been there, but I also want you to understand when God's not the one who moved when you're feeling distant from God and take a look at your own heart because you see God's love, never fails. His compassions don't fail.

He's a, this is what I recall to my mind, the loving kindness of God in his working goodness and his love, it never fails. And he says this, they are new every morning. It's fresh. Most of us like fresh food compared to other things, um, the last several years. And, and I, my wife and I have been empty nesters.

That means the kids are not at the house anymore. They come over and that's great. We love. But w we found out then as just the two of us, we don't cook as much, but we still have leftovers. Right. And most of us like leftovers. Okay. It's good bank Turkey, you know, Thanksgiving, you got to have leftovers, but other times they're still leftovers.

And sometimes you forget that they're there. Do you? Oh yeah. But I asked Anna, if I could say this, she said, okay, this week she was cleaning out our freezer as she does. And as she's pulling things out, suddenly she pulls out a bag of something and says, what is this? We had forgotten to label it. We didn't know if it was some sort of dog food that we'd made.

We didn't know what it was. Turns out. It was some apple fritters and they're good, but not fresh. God's loving kindness is Frank. He says it's new every morning. It's like fresh flowers on the table every morning. They don't grow stale. You get that. This love that he's talking about that he's recalling to his mind.

He says this, I need to know it's fresh. It never is old. It's new every morning. I don't know what that conjures up in your mind. What it does for me is what an amazing sense of love God has. You may have had a hard year. I know some of you have, some of us have been sick. Some of us have lost, loved ones, and some of us have gone through economic things that we weren't.

I just got a letter from my friend, Tim, good missionary in Poland. I think it was three days ago now they woke up and they went to their big auditorium. This is where they've just built the whole new camp and found totally flooded. Yeah, it was awful. He sent some pictures and I just sat there with my mouth open and what had happened, a pipe had burst and it was where they didn't expect it to be.

And before they found it and it's gonna take probably weeks to dry the place out and to fix it. I mean, that's not fun. Some of us have had things like that. Some of us have had a good year. Some of us have done well in our business and we're thankful for it. Some of us have had new babies. What a great joy, you know, it doesn't matter so much as a what kind of year we've had as, as what Jeremiah is saying.

Remember this, recall this to your mind. This is your reason for hope. First reason for hope here is God's loving kindness. His love his mercy is being poured out on you all the time. And that should make us want to just embrace God with all that we have. There's two more here. We'll go a little bit more quickly on these.

Uh, the second thing he says here, not only the loving kindness of God, but also the faithfulness of God, he says, great. Is your faithfulness talking about recalling all the God has this faithfulness. He's the one on whom we can depend. He is the one who is. Growing up on the ranch, you can Colorado. One thing we had to do, we had to build a lot of fences.

My dad was one who believed in very firm's stout fences. And when we, especially when we had the corner posts, if you know anything about a fence, that's when you tie everything to, he wanted to make sure it was solid. And he was a big guy and he would go up and he would just lean against that post after we put it in there.

And if it moved, we had to do it over. It didn't move. It was all good. That's the word faithfulness. It means steady from unshaken and that's who God is in his faithfulness. He is not shaken. He has never let us down. That's his faithfulness to us, even when we don't understand what things are going on, I guarantee you by the script.

That God has never let you down. He is absolutely faithful in all that he has done. He is never false with us. That is he doesn't play games with us. He doesn't pretend one thing and then do another. He is absolutely faithful. He holds us up. I remember the one time in, uh, the Israelites were, they were wandering in the wilderness.

There was a big battle and Moses was instructed, go and stand on the mountain with his hands up. Do you remember that? And as long as he held his hands up, the battle went well for the Israelites. Have you ever tried to hold your hands up for a long period of time? Pretty soon they start getting heavy.

Right? Pretty soon they start dropping. And what happened with Moses as his hands began to drop the battle, went against the Israelites. Now this was not any magical thing. I believe the whole thing was, was about obedience to. But you know what happened, Aaron and her two men came and they propped up Moses's arms.

That's the picture of faithfulness coming and holding up, giving us what we need his faithfulness. We can depend on him. Absolutely. Remember this. According to the scriptures, God is for you. He won't fail you whatever your year has been. Like, I can promise you that God did not abandon you. He is faithful and this coming year or whatever is happening.

And I hear the news the same as you. I hear the things same as you. I will say this. According to the scriptures, God is absolutely faithful and will continue to be that way this year, that. Is a reason for hope. Isn't it reason for hope God's faithfulness unending steadiness toward us is greater than anything we can imagine.

Hold on to that faithfulness and the last characteristic he is good. Verse 25. The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him to the one who seeks him. It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord very quickly, just here. One of the great characteristics of God, one is a great character.

Qualities is he is good. You read that all the way through, through the songs, uh, through the old Testament, through the new Testament, God is good. Absolutely. He's good of old friend of mine said, God is good all the time. And he is, and here he especially relates his goodness to salvage. He says the Lord is good to those whose hope is in him too.

The one who seeks him, it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. Now there, he might be talking in terms of the whole context. He might be using the term salvation in terms of deliverance. That is the God is going to deliver his people from the bondage of Babylonian captivity. And that certainly is probably one of the things in his mind.

He's looking forward to that, but more than that in a much broader sense, he is talking about being delivered from sin. The scriptures declare that we have all fallen short of God's glory. We are all sinners. The Bible says that's no news to us. We know ourselves. We know what we're like, God says. That he is our salvation.

Now salvation that deliver as us from sin, from the, from the penalty of sin, even from the power of sin, we don't have to serve it anymore, even to the place of the presence of sin when we're in glory. And that's what, that's what God has done for us. And it's through the person of his son, Jesus Christ.

That's where our hope is. Especially remember he says this, that as many as received him, that's Jesus to them. He gave the right to become children of God. Even to those that believe on his name, that's who he is. That's what he's done for us. He's made a way for us to have eternal salvation. He's made a way for us to have a relationship with God, absolutely forever.

He's made a way for us to have our sins absolutely forgiven to the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus is.

He also says here in the context very quickly, he also says the goodness has shown in, in sustaining us in this. The Lord is my portion. He just talking about that, that old Testament picture of how the Levi's and priests were cared for people would come and bring offerings. And that's how the priests and Levites were cared for.

They didn't have pieces of land, like the rest of the tribes of Israel. They had a little place for garden and that's that's it. But God provided for them through the offerings of his people. And that was their portion as they reached in and they got what they needed, God provided. And he is saying here, remember this as well.

And the goodness of God, he has provided salvation for you through Jesus Christ. And he has provided for you what you need. We always, probably wish we had more. We probably always wished there was something else, but the truth is God does sustain them. Yeah, many of you know that I just got back from Guatemala on a, on a trip there.

And it was a great trip. God used his word in amazing ways, but when you're in a country like that, you realize how much you have here. God sustains those people down there though, as well as he still sustains us. He says, I am your portion. The reason for hope here in this and the goodness of God that God is good.

And one way he shows his goodness is providing salvation for us, sustaining us with what we need. So Jeremiah writes in all this lament in this hard time. This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope because of who God is. Hope is powerful. How Lindsay wrote in his little book, man can live about 40 days without food, about three days without water, about eight minutes without air, but only for one second without hope.

I think he's right. Randy Alcorn wrote this, the gospel infuses hope and joy into our current circumstances by acknowledging God's greatness over any crisis we'll face. So whatever we faced with this year, whatever has gone on before, remember that our hope is in God, our eternal hope is in the God of the universe and his son, Jesus Christ, who paid the penalty for us, that we might have life.

And since we have that sort of. We can endure. We can continue to move on ahead rather than give up or just bury ourselves. We can move ahead. Jeremiah knew this. Jeremiah knew it. He wrote his laments. He had gray, sorrow and distress over all that was happening. He also remembered the greatness of God and the hope that was in him.

So you're saying, remember, put your hope in God, full of loving kindness, full of faithfulness, full of goodness, not in the circumstances around you, but in the eternal God who loves you hope has come. Hope is what God gives for us.

Father, we thank you for remembering, helping us to remember who you are there. Our hope is in you and the things we hear on news things. We see things are facing us. God help us to put our mind on you and have great hope in you because you are the one that is eternal. You are the one who loves us. You are the one who is faithful.

You are the one who is good. And so God help us to trust you above all things in Christ's name. Amen. Now go and love the Lord and serve him. Thank you.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/therefore-i-have-hope 952e109c-324d-4220-94b9-a62ba0c49c6c Sun, 02 Jan 2022 09:59:19 GMT <div data-html="true">Lamentations 3:21-26 <br /><br /> But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Um, Hey, it's good to see you all, uh, happy new year to you. Thank you. This is a, this is amazing. Isn't it? A time to be together to worship the Lord together? Uh, what a great and awesome privilege it is. And so as we spend time together here, for those of you who are online, uh, it's, it's great to be together. <br /><br /> Isn't it? And we just sang a great, I love that song. How great is our God? Don't you? I mean, it reminds us so much of who he is and, and today we want to spend a little bit of time looking at that and, and how we can focus on why we want to focus on who he is as we enter this. So w would you join me again? <br /><br /> I know the judge has prayed, but let's pray one more time. As we begin to go into his word, father, we thank you so much that you are so great. Wow. When we see these songs, sing these songs, lift our hearts to you. We remember who you are. Remember your goodness. We remember your grace, your mercy, and we're looking at a passage today gone, and what you declare, who you are. <br /><br /> And we want to carry that with us throughout the year. Even in these times that are difficult when we don't know exactly what's going on, we know that you do. So I pray that you'll help us these few minutes together, help us to focus on who you are. Take lots of yourself and burn it deeply into our hearts. <br /><br /> I pray in Christ's name. Amen. <br /><br /> I don't know if you have ever read the book or seen the movie 33, it that's a great title, right? 33, but it's a, it's a story about some miners in Chile, 33 men who were trapped underground. It was in a, I think in a copper and gold mine, things caved in. It sounds terrifying to me. I don't like close places anyway and suddenly be there. <br /><br /> Uh, it, it sounds like a horrific thing. And in the book, uh, they described, especially the movie shows it too, but the book especially describes just, uh, the fear that they had in their hearts. And I understand that, and there was a wondering, or what to do. They have a little bit of water. They have very little food. <br /><br /> They have plenty of air at that moment. What are they going to do? And the book describes so well in the movie describes it shows in a good way when suddenly they can hear something coming down to them, they know it's someone drilling, trying to get to them. And, and the sense of awe and hope when suddenly that little drill pokes down into the cavern in which they find themselves that deep sense of hope, because they know because of that, they, they have plenty of air. <br /><br /> They will be able to be given food. They will be given water. And although they stayed there for a long time before they figured out how to rescue them, that first thing coming through that sense of hope. And today what I want to focus on. It's just to remember the incredible sense of hope that we have in God, in Christ, because we do don't wait, now you may have been in some place where you remember, ah, that just brought great hope to my heart. <br /><br /> Great, great hope to my life. I remember this was many years ago. I was on one of our backpack trips in Colorado. Uh, it was, uh, it was a tough situation. We had a kid who was diabetic. Uh, we were about 13,000 feet when all this happened, uh, 13,000 feet above sea level. And, uh, he went off his insulin somehow. <br /><br /> No one knows exactly what happened, but we had to evacuate. And, uh, he was, uh, pretty unresponsive. We, we made a homemade stretcher using, we finally got down to Timberline and we cut a couple of poles. We made a stretcher out of those, uh, poles and some sleeping bags and, and then carried him and carried him, uh, trying to get out. <br /><br /> Cause he desperately needed help. I'd send a couple of campers on a head, uh, to go down the one side to try to get help God intervened in some incredible ways. But it was nighttime by the time we got, we were about a mile from within each pass, which means nothing to you, but it's a low spot and that's the direction we were headed. <br /><br /> We we'd still been carrying Dan. We had one flashlight, uh, among all of us and it didn't work real well. And so we had one person in front shining. Tell us about where rocks were and stumps were. We were tripping. Dan was restless. He would tip off. It was awful. And we went ahead and we had been praying, oh, you can imagine how much we'd been praying. <br /><br /> And I, and I can still envision this so well, we carry him and we break down a little bit and I look up and there right at the head of women each pass a little light <br /><br /> and you talk about hope and joy. And really, cause we knew it was the headlamp of some people who were coming up to help us as we rescue Dan, as we take him on down, the end of the story is Dan survives. God was gracious with that, but I will never forget that sense of hope. That little light brought. Can you imagine that the hope, the joy, the confidence. <br /><br /> That we had even knowing that some help was there, the miners, as they knew that they had been rescued. And we're going to spend some time together here this morning, uh, looking at a passage of scripture that that really focuses on hope, you know, cause we really don't know what lies ahead. Dewey. It's been a crazy year. <br /><br /> We can probably all agree to that. We left one crazy year, a year ago and now we had another crazy year and then other crazy things are happening. We don't know what's going on, do we? But, but we shouldn't let that cause us great despair because we, we focus on who God is. Not our circumstances, not the things around us. <br /><br /> And we begin to settle our hope on who he is that hope that understands the character and nature of. It's it's that hope that gives us that confident expectation of who God is. This is not a hope that, you know, like, I hope like my grandkids were saying, I hope it snows on Christmas. It didn't here. Uh, but it's a hope that is absolutely steadfast. <br /><br /> It's a hope that, that, that raises up. It's that kind of hope. And we're going to look at a portion of scripture. It's for me, it's a very familiar portion. It's one of the, I honestly, I pray many, many times as I open my heart before God, because this certainly is part of my heart cry is found in Laghman stations of all places, Lamentations 3 21 to 26. <br /><br /> Yeah. And I'll tell you a little bit more about Lamentations in Jeremiah here in a minute. We're going to read it here first, but, but I have to be honest, it, laminations is not the place I normally would go to bring all sorts of hope and joy, but here he says this. And if you want to read along with me, it's a Lamentations three. <br /><br /> I'm going to start with verse 21 lemon. Uh, Jeremiah writes this by the spirit of God yet this I call to mind. And therefore I have hope because the Lord's great love or mercies. We are not consumed for his compassions, never fail. They are new every morning. Great. Is your faithfulness. I say to myself, the Lord is my portion. <br /><br /> Therefore, I will wait for him. The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him to the one who seeks. It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. And that is a resounding, uh, writing and, and, uh, expression of great joy. You see, remember what Jeremiah was? Jeremiah is called the weeping prophet. <br /><br /> If you have anything about Jeremiah, he was the one who was called that because he had been given a task to proclaim the truth of God, the direction of God, to Judah. Unfortunately, Judah, at this time, the nation of Judah was really far away from God. They wanted to go their own way. They wanted to do their own thing and they pursued that very much and Jeremiah's task. <br /><br /> And God told him your tasks is going to be preached the truth. You're going to preach even the judgment. That's going to come and to tell you what Jeremiah nobody's going to listen. That's not a job. But Jeremiah was faithful and he writes here, he's called the weeping prophet because he weeps openly. So many times he declares the, the truth of God and, and the sinfulness of the people. <br /><br /> He proclaims that there will be judgment coming and that judgment, by the way, as we look through the old Testament, we realize that judgment is coming. Not because God hates them, but because God loves them and he wants them to come back to him. And eventually they do, but it's a long process. And Jeremiah, every time he would preach and people would not respond. <br /><br /> In fact, in one time that they were so upset with him, they took him and threw him in the actually an a, well, as a prison. They didn't want anything to do with him. In fact, later on in, in the book of Lamentations, he even relates that a little bit about how the water's coming up up to his neck and he doesn't know what's going to happen. <br /><br /> And then he writes this book because now Judah has been taken captive. They have been conquered and there's a lot of them and taken to Babylon already. And Jeremiah writes five limits in which he pours out his heart to God crying out. God. Why, why it's heavy reading. It's not one that you really jump in the new years with, except right in the middle, in the middle of these five laments, Jeremiah. <br /><br /> Suddenly realizes who God is. He remembers in the midst of these things, he understands the mercies and love of God in the middle of all his own personal distress and burdens. He remembers, I think he writes, especially, uh, so the, the people of Judah would, would turn their hearts to God and, and eventually many of them did, but he wants them to remember that God is truly the God of hope. <br /><br /> You want to boil the little book down to this? It's that Jeremiah saying? I remember my afflictions. I remember the judgments on Judah and my soul is downcast on the bummed out, but then. As he writes those things, God puts on his heart. He says, but I remember this. I remember the things that God who God is, and suddenly I have great hope in spite of everything that's going on. <br /><br /> I don't know if he'd been reading in Psalms where the Psalmist says, um, why are you so downcast? Oh my soul. Put your hope in God. I don't know if he'd been just spending time, reflecting on who God is, but whatever the case is, suddenly he says this. I remember in spite of everything else going on this, I remember that's who you are. <br /><br /> God. And since that is true, I have great, great, great hope centered on who God is. Not on the circumstances around me, not on the things I have or don't. But on who God is. And so we're going to take a look at that three things very simply in which he looks at some of the character of God. He starts out here yet. <br /><br /> This, I called him my mind. And therefore I have hope because of the Lord's great love or loving kindness or mercy. I'm going to use the word loving kindness here, but it's all interchange. It's the word that has said in, in Hebrew. And I'm not a great Hebrew scholar, but I can read that much. And that word is translated either mercy, loving, kindness, love. <br /><br /> He says, first of all, because of the Lord's great love his mercy to me. I remember this. I mean, God's love is one of the great characteristics as we remember. When, if I ask you, tell me something about who God is, many of you would say, well, if nothing else he's loved. That's what Jeremiah is reminding us here. <br /><br /> God is love. That's who he is. He shows his love to us, especially now. And, and for things under that loving kindness one is that he's working goodness for our benefit in his loving kindness, he does work good for us. Doesn't he, it may not always seem that way, but when you look at the big picture, you will understand God's been working for you because of his goodness. <br /><br /> I mean, look at the old Testament, look at it. How you worked with people, let's go all the way back to Adam and Eve. Remember what they did. Sure you do. And they disobeyed God. They turned their back on God. They wanted their own way, but God did not just judge them. He did, he put them out of the garden, but he also provided for them. <br /><br /> He provided a way for them to survive. He provided clothes for them. He didn't finish their lives. He, he showed goodness to them. Or how about, I was thinking about Jacob for some reason. Remember when Jacob, uh, he was, he was coming back to his home. He had, uh, his family, he had he'd done. He saw his brother some really wrong and he understood the Esau was coming and he thought he saw was coming after him to do battle. <br /><br /> So, uh, sent his family on head. He stayed there or the one place with his servants in order to do the battle. And that night, Jacob wrestles with the angel of the Lord. I mean, he didn't know that's who it was at the time wrestled all night, Jacob had a hip hurt. But, you know, the whole thing with that is God provided and showed his goodness in that a lot of people don't look at it. <br /><br /> Don't look and see that what's happening is God to say, look, I am restoring you. I am protecting you. And as it turned out, Esau was not coming to do battle. He saw was coming just to greet him as a brother, God showing great goodness, even to the Israelites as they left Egypt. You remember when they left there, God provided for them. <br /><br /> He helped them escape from the Egyptians. And even, even as they went through the wandering in the wilderness because of some of their own stubbornness, God provided for him, didn't he, he provided the manner so that they could eat the quail. He provided water for them. He provided protection for them. God continued to provide. <br /><br /> And even to the place where then he provided the land for them, they could call their own. That was the place he was taking them. God does work. Goodness for, I say him in his loving kindness, he works for us. The two words to stand out here to me are, first of all, he just shows us his grace, right? Grace is defined this way, giving us what we don't deserve. <br /><br /> And God does that far. So many times, doesn't he, he gives us what we don't deserve at all. And yet in his goodness, he says, here, take this, use this. And he deals with us in mercy, which defined this way, not giving us what we do. We know what we're like. I know what I'm like, I know what I deserve. And yet God in his mercy says, no, I'm not doing that. <br /><br /> He did that with people as people all the way through the old Testament and the new Testament. And now he deals with us in his loving kindness. He works good for us. He deals with us in grace and mercy. Secondly, not only is loving kindness showing goodness, I have to use the word love here. It seems like, well, Jim, of course is love. <br /><br /> You're saying loving kindness, but I want us to remind us about his love. Not only does he work goodness for us, but he really does show us his love. I mean, God genuinely and honestly loves. That's amazing. And what's even more amazing. He loves me. That's incredible. That's who God is. And, and as Jeremiah writes here, he wants the people to understand, look, God does love you. <br /><br /> And he starts out this with this. I recall to my mind me remember who God is and remember what God has done and, and all the he is. Uh, I think there's probably a good and healthy thing for us to remember back to recall what God has done for us. Isn't it. I mean, I could ask you to sit here right now and write down, you know, order some of the things God has done for you even this last year in his love. <br /><br /> And as you begin thinking about it, you would probably recall many things that God has done for you because he loves. And, and when we do that, when we remember those things, it brings us to worship, doesn't it remembering who he is and what he has done and how he continues to work. He shows us his love. <br /><br /> God genuinely loves his people. He genuinely loves you. And he sinks to bring us to a place of love and worship in our hearts because of who he is, so that we have a true and lasting relationship with him working goodness, for our benefit, showing us love. He continues on with this, this loving kindness, never failed. <br /><br /> He says here, his compassions never fail. Interestingly enough, the word Compassion's as translated there as actually the same root word for mercy love, loving kindness. He just does it another way. His compassions never fail. God never gives up on loving us. Remember in first Corinthians 13, where Paul writes by the spirit of God, as he talks about the qualities of love and what love looks like at the end, he says, this love never fails. <br /><br /> And that's what Jeremiah is saying. His compassions, the love, the mercy, the loving kindness of God never fails. God that never gives up on us. God never gives up on loving us. <br /><br /> Now I was thinking about this. I, I can hear people saying, well, that's all good gym, but you don't know what I've done. You don't know what I'm like. You don't know how I have responded to things. And I don't, but God does. God understands completely how you've responded and what you've said and what you thought and what you've done. <br /><br /> And God's love does not fail. He didn't stop loving you. And I know some of you have said, I feel like I'm so far from God right now. I mean, because you know, because of the things in the world, because things in my life, because of things I'm facing, I just, I just feel like I'm so far from God. And I want to remind you. <br /><br /> The God's love. Doesn't fail. If you feel a long way from him, I understand that I've been there, but I also want you to understand when God's not the one who moved when you're feeling distant from God and take a look at your own heart because you see God's love, never fails. His compassions don't fail. <br /><br /> He's a, this is what I recall to my mind, the loving kindness of God in his working goodness and his love, it never fails. And he says this, they are new every morning. It's fresh. Most of us like fresh food compared to other things, um, the last several years. And, and I, my wife and I have been empty nesters. <br /><br /> That means the kids are not at the house anymore. They come over and that's great. We love. But w we found out then as just the two of us, we don't cook as much, but we still have leftovers. Right. And most of us like leftovers. Okay. It's good bank Turkey, you know, Thanksgiving, you got to have leftovers, but other times they're still leftovers. <br /><br /> And sometimes you forget that they're there. Do you? Oh yeah. But I asked Anna, if I could say this, she said, okay, this week she was cleaning out our freezer as she does. And as she's pulling things out, suddenly she pulls out a bag of something and says, what is this? We had forgotten to label it. We didn't know if it was some sort of dog food that we'd made. <br /><br /> We didn't know what it was. Turns out. It was some apple fritters and they're good, but not fresh. God's loving kindness is Frank. He says it's new every morning. It's like fresh flowers on the table every morning. They don't grow stale. You get that. This love that he's talking about that he's recalling to his mind. <br /><br /> He says this, I need to know it's fresh. It never is old. It's new every morning. I don't know what that conjures up in your mind. What it does for me is what an amazing sense of love God has. You may have had a hard year. I know some of you have, some of us have been sick. Some of us have lost, loved ones, and some of us have gone through economic things that we weren't. <br /><br /> I just got a letter from my friend, Tim, good missionary in Poland. I think it was three days ago now they woke up and they went to their big auditorium. This is where they've just built the whole new camp and found totally flooded. Yeah, it was awful. He sent some pictures and I just sat there with my mouth open and what had happened, a pipe had burst and it was where they didn't expect it to be. <br /><br /> And before they found it and it's gonna take probably weeks to dry the place out and to fix it. I mean, that's not fun. Some of us have had things like that. Some of us have had a good year. Some of us have done well in our business and we're thankful for it. Some of us have had new babies. What a great joy, you know, it doesn't matter so much as a what kind of year we've had as, as what Jeremiah is saying. <br /><br /> Remember this, recall this to your mind. This is your reason for hope. First reason for hope here is God's loving kindness. His love his mercy is being poured out on you all the time. And that should make us want to just embrace God with all that we have. There's two more here. We'll go a little bit more quickly on these. <br /><br /> Uh, the second thing he says here, not only the loving kindness of God, but also the faithfulness of God, he says, great. Is your faithfulness talking about recalling all the God has this faithfulness. He's the one on whom we can depend. He is the one who is. Growing up on the ranch, you can Colorado. One thing we had to do, we had to build a lot of fences. <br /><br /> My dad was one who believed in very firm's stout fences. And when we, especially when we had the corner posts, if you know anything about a fence, that's when you tie everything to, he wanted to make sure it was solid. And he was a big guy and he would go up and he would just lean against that post after we put it in there. <br /><br /> And if it moved, we had to do it over. It didn't move. It was all good. That's the word faithfulness. It means steady from unshaken and that's who God is in his faithfulness. He is not shaken. He has never let us down. That's his faithfulness to us, even when we don't understand what things are going on, I guarantee you by the script. <br /><br /> That God has never let you down. He is absolutely faithful in all that he has done. He is never false with us. That is he doesn't play games with us. He doesn't pretend one thing and then do another. He is absolutely faithful. He holds us up. I remember the one time in, uh, the Israelites were, they were wandering in the wilderness. <br /><br /> There was a big battle and Moses was instructed, go and stand on the mountain with his hands up. Do you remember that? And as long as he held his hands up, the battle went well for the Israelites. Have you ever tried to hold your hands up for a long period of time? Pretty soon they start getting heavy. <br /><br /> Right? Pretty soon they start dropping. And what happened with Moses as his hands began to drop the battle, went against the Israelites. Now this was not any magical thing. I believe the whole thing was, was about obedience to. But you know what happened, Aaron and her two men came and they propped up Moses's arms. <br /><br /> That's the picture of faithfulness coming and holding up, giving us what we need his faithfulness. We can depend on him. Absolutely. Remember this. According to the scriptures, God is for you. He won't fail you whatever your year has been. Like, I can promise you that God did not abandon you. He is faithful and this coming year or whatever is happening. <br /><br /> And I hear the news the same as you. I hear the things same as you. I will say this. According to the scriptures, God is absolutely faithful and will continue to be that way this year, that. Is a reason for hope. Isn't it reason for hope God's faithfulness unending steadiness toward us is greater than anything we can imagine. <br /><br /> Hold on to that faithfulness and the last characteristic he is good. Verse 25. The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him to the one who seeks him. It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord very quickly, just here. One of the great characteristics of God, one is a great character. <br /><br /> Qualities is he is good. You read that all the way through, through the songs, uh, through the old Testament, through the new Testament, God is good. Absolutely. He's good of old friend of mine said, God is good all the time. And he is, and here he especially relates his goodness to salvage. He says the Lord is good to those whose hope is in him too. <br /><br /> The one who seeks him, it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. Now there, he might be talking in terms of the whole context. He might be using the term salvation in terms of deliverance. That is the God is going to deliver his people from the bondage of Babylonian captivity. And that certainly is probably one of the things in his mind. <br /><br /> He's looking forward to that, but more than that in a much broader sense, he is talking about being delivered from sin. The scriptures declare that we have all fallen short of God's glory. We are all sinners. The Bible says that's no news to us. We know ourselves. We know what we're like, God says. That he is our salvation. <br /><br /> Now salvation that deliver as us from sin, from the, from the penalty of sin, even from the power of sin, we don't have to serve it anymore, even to the place of the presence of sin when we're in glory. And that's what, that's what God has done for us. And it's through the person of his son, Jesus Christ. <br /><br /> That's where our hope is. Especially remember he says this, that as many as received him, that's Jesus to them. He gave the right to become children of God. Even to those that believe on his name, that's who he is. That's what he's done for us. He's made a way for us to have eternal salvation. He's made a way for us to have a relationship with God, absolutely forever. <br /><br /> He's made a way for us to have our sins absolutely forgiven to the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus is. <br /><br /> He also says here in the context very quickly, he also says the goodness has shown in, in sustaining us in this. The Lord is my portion. He just talking about that, that old Testament picture of how the Levi's and priests were cared for people would come and bring offerings. And that's how the priests and Levites were cared for. <br /><br /> They didn't have pieces of land, like the rest of the tribes of Israel. They had a little place for garden and that's that's it. But God provided for them through the offerings of his people. And that was their portion as they reached in and they got what they needed, God provided. And he is saying here, remember this as well. <br /><br /> And the goodness of God, he has provided salvation for you through Jesus Christ. And he has provided for you what you need. We always, probably wish we had more. We probably always wished there was something else, but the truth is God does sustain them. Yeah, many of you know that I just got back from Guatemala on a, on a trip there. <br /><br /> And it was a great trip. God used his word in amazing ways, but when you're in a country like that, you realize how much you have here. God sustains those people down there though, as well as he still sustains us. He says, I am your portion. The reason for hope here in this and the goodness of God that God is good. <br /><br /> And one way he shows his goodness is providing salvation for us, sustaining us with what we need. So Jeremiah writes in all this lament in this hard time. This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope because of who God is. Hope is powerful. How Lindsay wrote in his little book, man can live about 40 days without food, about three days without water, about eight minutes without air, but only for one second without hope. <br /><br /> I think he's right. Randy Alcorn wrote this, the gospel infuses hope and joy into our current circumstances by acknowledging God's greatness over any crisis we'll face. So whatever we faced with this year, whatever has gone on before, remember that our hope is in God, our eternal hope is in the God of the universe and his son, Jesus Christ, who paid the penalty for us, that we might have life. <br /><br /> And since we have that sort of. We can endure. We can continue to move on ahead rather than give up or just bury ourselves. We can move ahead. Jeremiah knew this. Jeremiah knew it. He wrote his laments. He had gray, sorrow and distress over all that was happening. He also remembered the greatness of God and the hope that was in him. <br /><br /> So you're saying, remember, put your hope in God, full of loving kindness, full of faithfulness, full of goodness, not in the circumstances around you, but in the eternal God who loves you hope has come. Hope is what God gives for us. <br /><br /> Father, we thank you for remembering, helping us to remember who you are there. Our hope is in you and the things we hear on news things. We see things are facing us. God help us to put our mind on you and have great hope in you because you are the one that is eternal. You are the one who loves us. You are the one who is faithful. <br /><br /> You are the one who is good. And so God help us to trust you above all things in Christ's name. Amen. Now go and love the Lord and serve him. Thank you.</div> false no <![CDATA[He's Here: Simeon's Encounter with Infant Jesus]]> Luke 2:22-35

"And when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord"



Good morning, everyone. And Merry Christmas. I hope you're enjoying a meaningful holiday season, celebrating the arrival of Christ. And it's great to. With you today. Thanks for coming this morning or for tuning in online as the case may be. I haven't had the privilege of seeing you all from this vantage point in a little while, and you're looking really good and it's great to be able to study the scripture together this morning.

We're going to be looking at on this final Sunday of advent, we're going to be looking at Luke chapter 22. I would invite you to open your Bible to that passage and, uh, it's page 8 0 5 in those pew Bibles. And we're gonna, we're gonna pick up with the Christmas story. We're where Luke, uh, tells us of the birth of Christ in the stable, the arrival of the shepherds, and then the shepherds leave.

And we pick up what happens next in verse 21 of Luke chapter. So I want you to follow along. As I read out loud, beginning in Luke two verse 21, and we'll go through verse 40. This is what the scripture says. And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

And when the time came for their purification, according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, as it is written in the law of the Lord, every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord and to offer a sacrifice. According to what is said in the law, the Lord, a pair of turtle doves, or two young pigs.

Now there was in Drew's a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. And this man was righteous and devout waiting for the consolation of Israel. And the holy spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the holy spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. And he came in the spirit into the temple.

And when the parents brought in the child, Jesus to do for him, according to the custom of the law, he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace. According to your word for my eyes have seen your salvation, that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples a light.

For revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people, Israel and his father and mother marveled at what was said about him and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother, behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel and for a sign that is opposed and a sword will Pierce through your own soul also, so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.

And there was a prophetess Ana, the daughter of Faneuil of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years. Having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a Virgin. And then as a widow until she was 84, she did not depart from the temple worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. And coming up at that very hour, she began to give thanks to God and to speak of.

To all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem. And when they had performed everything, according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee to their own town of Nazareth. And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favor of God was upon him.

It had been almost six weeks since the birth of Jesus on that day that Mary and Joseph stepped into the crowded temple grounds. Mary looked down at her infant son now 40 days old, no longer having that wrinkled prune look that newborns often have now looking healthy with a little bit of baby fat. Mary took a deep breath.

And wondered again, am I dreaming or is this all really true? The last handful of months had been a whirlwind for Mary from the angelic visit that announced she would become the mother of the world, savior the miraculous conception of a baby in her womb while she was still yet a Virgin. It's a tough conversation with her fiance, Joseph and his subsequent desire to break things off, which he would have done had it not been for an angelic visitor of his own that told him that the baby conceived in Mary was indeed the son of God who is coming to save his people from their sins.

Joseph was instructed to give the baby the name Jesus savior rescuer. Then there was that journey to Bethlehem. To register for the census, no room for anywhere in the end, for them just a dirty, stable, the only place available for her to give birth to her son, thinking about it. Now Mary had to chuckle who would have, right?

Who'd have written a story like this. How's this for a headline, the king of the universe, born to a peasant girl who wraps him in strips of cloth and uses an animal feeding trial is a crib impossible. Maybe I am dreaming the sounds and the smells of the temple grounds woke Mary from her reflections.

The whole place was mobbed. The lines were long and she knew they would not get any preferential treatment poor as they were. They didn't even have a lamb for the sacrifice. Two young pigeons would have to do. Wow. Well, they were here for two purposes. She knew. To offer the sacrifice for her purification 40 days, following the birth of her son as was instructed in the law of God and also to present their first born to the Lord, as God had instructed his people to do since the days of the Exodus in Egypt, the firstborn belongs to the Lord.

Suddenly a man approached an older man. Mary didn't recognize him, but the man seemed as if he knew her. He was making his way through the crowd. Dead set on getting up close to Mary and Joseph and their baby. Do you know that guy? Mary S. Joseph, one of your relatives, maybe. Nope. I have no idea who he is.

Joseph replied. Hello. The man said when he reached them, he was beaming, radiant, energized. I'm Simian. Can I hold your baby? For whatever reason Mary offered no resistance and felt no reluctance in handing the baby over to the stranger. She will never forget his next words as if he were addressing the entire crowd of assembled worshipers in the hearing of everyone.

This man Simeon cried out. He's here. He's finally here.

You can tell I've used a little bit of imagination in the retelling of the events from today's scripture passage, including the words he's here, because swimming is not recorded is actually shouting out he's here. But I, but I think if I were to summarize the words that Simeon did say in two words, that's what I would use.

He's here. He's finally here.

I believe the reason that Luke has decided to include in his gospel, this encounter at the temple with Simeon is because he wants us to know for certain, that Jesus really is the son of God and savior of the world. That's his purpose in all of chapters, one and two, as he's been recounting in well-researched.

The story of Jesus' arrival. And you can't read these accounts in chapters one and two of Luke without realizing that it's true. Jesus is the long awaited and promised rescuer he's here. Believe it, know it for certain, put your faith in him. He says, here he's come to save his people from their sins.

That's really what Luke's stated. Purpose of his whole gospel is you see that in his opening verses of chapter one, where he says in verse four, that you may to speaking to, Theopolis the one to whom he addressed this letter, that you may have certainty concerning the things you've been taught. He wants us to know for sure.

That's his entire point in this encounter of Simeon in the temple Simeon's declaration in the temple while he's holding the baby Jesus in his arms, it serves to further Luke's purpose. That you and I would know and believe that the savior is here, Simeon savior, Israel, savior, the world's savior, your savior and mine.

So I want to look at three things with you today in our study of this passage. First, I want us to look at the context of this temple encounter, because we're going to see an amazing mystery that this baby in the temple is the one to, to whom all the temple activity had always pointed and anticipated.

And now he's here. That's going to be the context. Then we're going to look at the character of this temple messenger Simeon. We're going to see in semi and a holy spirit filled, man. Who's about to make a holy spirit inspired declaration about this baby and the temple. It's a message. Luke does not want us to miss.

And then finally, we'll examine the content of Simeon's temple declaration. And we will see a new that the long awaited savior of us all is now here, he's finally here. So let's jump into the context. Now, this is going to be, I confess to you that, that the toughest part of our study, because we're going to have to delve back into some stuff from the old Testament.

That's a little less, it's a little more obscure than some of the other things. So it's going to take a little work to sort through it, but it's important that we do that. So this context, the context of this temple encounter, what were Joseph and Mary and the infant Jesus doing at the temple in the first place?

What's the context of this encounter. And Luke describes that for us in verses 22 and 24. If you want to look at them again. And when the time came for the purification, according to the law of Moses, what does that mean? It's not immediately apparent to modern readers. We'll have to look into. Uh, the time came to praise for their purification.

According to the law of Moses, they brought him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. As it's written in the law of the Lord, every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord and to offer a sacrifice. According to what was said in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons, what does this mean to offer the sacrifice that was talked about in the law of the Lord?

What old Testament scriptures is Luke quoting here and why? Well, Mary and Joseph are at the temple with their infant son to faithfully follow through and obey to deeply meaningful religious rituals that God had ordained in the law for his people to follow. One is outlined in Leviticus 12, it's the purification for a mother and her child following childbirth.

And the other comes from Exodus 13, the redemption of the firstborn son by presenting him as holy to the Lord. Now we've got to look at these patterns. So I'm going to turn to Leviticus 12 and you can look at it also if you want. And just let me read some of this so that we understand what's going on here and what it means.

So I'm looking at Leviticus 12. I'm gonna start at verse one and see if reading this, we come to a better understanding of what Mary and Joseph were doing at the temple. The Lord spoke to Moses saying, speak to the people of Israel saying this Leviticus 12 one, if a woman, conceives and bears a male child, and she shall be unclean seven days asked at the time of her menstruation, she shall be unclean.

And on the eighth day, the flesh of his four skin shall be circumcised. Then she shall continue for 33 days in, in the blood of her purifying. Gee shall not touch anything. Holy nor come into the sanctuary. Until the days of her purifying are complete jump down to verse six. And when the days of her purifying are completed, whether for a son or for a daughter, she shall bring to the priest at the entrance of the tent of meeting a lamb a year old for a burnt offering and a pigeon or a turtle dove for a sin offering.

And he shall offer it before the Lord and make atonement for her. Then she shall be cleaned from her flow from the flow of her blood. This is the law for her who bears a male who bears a child, either male or female. And if she cannot afford a lamb, then she shall take two turtle doves, or two pigeons, one for a burn offering.

And the other force in offering and the priest shall make a two-man for her. And she shall be clean. Sounds kind of weird. Doesn't it? What's going on? Well, 40 days that seven days among cleanness followed by 33. Of purification following the birth of a male child during which the mother remains apart from the tabernacle or temple, when that time is complete 40 days, she will present an offering to the Lord at the temple.

And that's what Mary and Joseph were doing there. But we have to ask ourselves, why is childbirth? Sinful has the mother by giving birth, done something for which she must make atonement and be forgiven? I think there's the, I think the significance of the ritual is not to say that childbirth is sinful, but a visual reminder that takes us all the way back to the garden of Eden to Adam and Eve when they had sinned against God and the pronouncement of God that as a consequence of sin, which by the way, now all humanity shares in this, there would be pain in childbirth.

So the birth of every child is a reminder of our shared predicament ascendant. So by faith, Mary as was done by countless other women comes to offer a sacrifice for her purification. And in this case of Mary giving birth to Jesus, the great and beautiful mystery is that the one to whom she has given birth 40 days prior is the one sent from God to achieve the ultimate purification of sinners as he would do it by taking the place of sinners in his death.

On the cross, the author of Hebrews talks about this one, when he says of Jesus and his work on the cross, Hebrews one, three, after making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. And Luke wants to highlight for us in this passage that Jesus. The ultimate purifier is here.

He's come to save his people from their sense. You also can't help, but see that Luke is drawing our attention to the humility of the Lord Jesus, as if it were a small enough thing that the king of the universe would condescend to become a human that the eternal, the third, the second person of the Trinity would, would, would condescend to become a human Luke.

Also alludes to the poverty and to which Jesus was born. He quotes Leviticus 12, eight, a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons. But if you read back and we read it together, verse the, the entirety of verse eight, it says this. And if, if the, and if she, she that's, the mother cannot afford a lamp for the sacrifice.

Then she shall take two turtle doves, or two young pigeons. The king of the universe was born into poverty. His parents arrived without a land. But with two small birds for the sacrifice, all they could afford. The apostle Paul expressed the wonder of the mystery that Luke is alluding to here in second Corinthians eight, nine, he wrote for, you know, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, though.

He was rich looking at the universe yet for your sakes. He became poor so that you through his poverty might become rich. And Luke is alluding to this amazing mystery that secured our eternal salvation. There's another reason that Mary and Joseph were at the temple that morning. They had come with Jesus in obedience to another old Testament practice, which is deep with a significance and meaning redemption.

So we see an Exodus, 13 of God's. We read about his miraculous deliverance of his people from slavery, and he. When his angel went through all the homes of the Egyptians, this was the 10th and final play. You might remember killing the firstborn in every home, but sparing or passing over the homes of those Israelites, who by faith had applied the blood of a lamb without blemish to the doorposts of their homes.

Those firstborn of the nation, whom God had spared, God's now said belonged to him. He had spared their lives. And an exit is 13, which is another passage. We need to look at God outlined for his people, this perpetual ordinance in which the first born son of every family was to be presented to the Lord and redeemed by offering a sacrifice in his place.

So if you look at, if you wish to look at it with me, couple of verses in Exodus 13, first two verses say the Lord said to Moses consecrate to me. So this is going all the way back. To the, to the, uh, to their time of slavery in Egypt, the Lord said to Moses consecrate to me all the first born, whatever is the first to open the womb among the people of Israel, both of man and beast is mine.

And jump forward to verse 11. We read this when the Lord brings you, these are instructions for the people back then when the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, as he swore to give to you and your fathers and shall give it to you, you shall set apart to the Lord. All that first opens the womb.

All the first born of your animals that are males shall be the Lords. Every firstborn of a donkey. You shall redeem with a lamb. If you will not redeem it, you shall break its neck. Every firstborn of man among your sons, you shall redeem. And when the time comes and your son asks you, what does this mean?

You shall say. By a strong hand. The Lord brought us out of Egypt from the house of slavery for when Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go. The Lord killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the first born of man and the first born of animals. Therefore I sacrifice to the Lord, all the males that first opened the womb, but all the firstborn of my sons, I redeem.

So that's a little bit about the background of what's going on here. The context of what's going on in Luke chapter two, that brings Mary and Joseph and their infant Jesus to the temple in the first place. And the reason that he includes these details is not simply to highlight what sincere people of faith Mary and Joseph were, though.

They certainly were that he's not doing it to show. But they were being obedient to the law of Moses, which of course though, they were, he's doing it to highlight the fact that the redemption to which that Passover ritual had always anticipate in always pointed was now here, he's here.

It's a beautiful and mysterious irony that this child being dedicated as holy to the Lord by his parents that day and on whose behalf his parents were making a sacrifice and offering, he was the one who in complete surrender to God would offer himself on the cross as the final and complete sacrifice to redeem every one of us and make us holy to the Lord.

He's here. This baby in the temple is the one to whom all this temple activity had always pointed and anticipated. And Luke wants us to know he's here. The one who fulfills it, all the one who it all has been pointing to. The one who had all has been waiting for he's here. And as Simeon would hold that baby in his arms, he knew the one we'd all been waiting for was now, finally here, he's here.

That's the context of this time at the temple. And with that understanding, now we can move on. So it looks, let's look next that the character of this temple messenger, this the character of this man Simeon, and you're going to see a man, a holy spirit filled, man. Who's going to declare a holy spirit inspired message.

And Luke describes who he is in great detail. And I want us to focus on that for a little bit here. Luke's description of Simeon. Before we even hear one word from his mouth seems designed to highlight the extraordinary character of this man, so that we will want to sit up and listen to what he's about to say.

It's not just an average guy. He's a holy spirit filled man. And he's got an inspired message from God to declare looking at it again in verses 25 through 27. Now there was a manager reus alum whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout waiting for the constellation of Israel. And the holy spirit was upon him.

And it had been revealed to him by the holy spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. And he came in the spirit into the temple. What do we know about this guy, Simeon beyond what's written in this account? Nothing. There's several guys in the scriptures named Simeon the most well-known being the second son of Jacob who was named by his mother, Leah as Simeon, which means one who hears, because she said, you read this in Genesis chapter 29 because the Lord has heard that I'm not loved.

So Simeon sounds like the Hebrew word for heres it's an apparent play on words. Well, that doesn't really tell us much about this guy. Jacob, second son seeming of course became the father of the tribe that bears his name. So it was probably a fairly popular and common name over the centuries in Israel.

It's not the name so much, but the man's the Luke's description of this man. That's striking. I want you to notice these first described as righteous and devout, that would seem to certainly give him some credibility as a messenger of God. Second, we see that he was driven by an expectation and a longing that's described as the consolation of Israel.

Did you see that? Did you ask yourself what's the constellation of Israel, that's a rich and meaningful expression, but it only occurs here. You might've noticed, as we got to the end of the chapter, when we were reading ended of the passage, when we were reading through that, Ana was declaring in the temple, talking to everyone who was waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.

Those phrases, the constellation of Israel, redemption of Jerusalem seemed to coincide there's, it's something about a longing, awaiting, an expectation. So what's the constant elevation constellation of visit. I believe it refers to the salvation that God's people for centuries and millennia had been longing and waiting.

It's the fulfillment of all God had promised to do for his people. The constellation of Israel constellation means comfort, right? It was the promise to remove Israel sorrow, to remove the sorrow of sin, to bring comfort. Isaiah speaks of this comfort and chapter 40 verses one and two comfort comfort. My people says your God speak tenderly to Jerusalem and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed and that her sin has been paid for.

And this expectation for the constellation of Israel centers on a person, the Messiah. There's an expectation awaiting for a person who will come to bring comfort and beginning in the garden of Eden. And the promise that the seed of woman would crush the serpent's head to the promise to Abraham, that in him, all families of the earth will be blessed to the promise of God, to Moses that I'll raise up for you, a prophet from among your people, to the promise to David, that one of his descendants would sit forever on the throne of Israel.

The people of God had been waiting long and hoping, expecting the arrival of a Messiah who would be their personal and national savior. And so just imagine being as receiving as Simeon did a promise direct to you from God that your very eyes would see the one. That would be the constellation of Israel, the Messiah, the savior, the one who would fulfill all of God's promises.

So this was the driving passion of Simeon's life and being led by the spirit, into the temple that day. He wondered again, maybe today, today, indeed. You next notice how Simeon's described as a man filled with guided by an empowered by the holy spirit. I want you to think with me about this three times, the holy spirit is mentioned in Luke's description of Simeon.

The holy spirit was upon him. He was a man filled with the spirit. It had been revealed to him by the holy spirit. He was guided by the holy spirit, the spirit of God communicated with him. And he came in the spirit into the temple. He was empowered and directed by the holy spirit. You know, if we are reading the book of acts descriptions like this wouldn't surprise us as much, they wouldn't be nearly as strict.

Because in acts chapter two, just as Jesus promised would happen in his absence after he'd returned to the father in heaven, the holy spirit came upon all believers and filled them and guided them and empowered them. So descriptions like was filled with the holy spirit or the spirit being upon someone or common in the book of acts, not so much in the era prior to that in the pre-Pentecost era that is prior to acts chapter two, the holy spirit operated differently.

He wouldn't come upon all peoples, but only upon specific individuals at specific times, empowering them for specific purposes and specific tasks. Only after Jesus returned to the father to the holy spirit, come to live in indwell, all believers.

And Simeon's connection to the holy spirit, apparently included a very personal and specific promise to the man Simeon himself. It had been revealed to him by the holy spirit that he would not see death until he had seen the Lord's Christ such was the relationship that he enjoyed with God. It included this personal promise that gave meaning to his daily life.

Maybe today. Well, I see him today, so you haven't

to have a man like Simeon described as Luke describes him here to have a connection like that with the holy spirit is very striking and Luke seems to be drawing our attention to Simeon's character and his connection with the spirit as if to say, listen, You're about to hear a truly inspired word from God.

You don't want to miss it. He's about to say something about this infant, Jesus, this baby and his words. Won't be just, well, well-intended words of congratulations to the new parents. His words will be nothing sure of inspired truth from the holy spirit of God. So what's he going to say?

You know, when I was born, very special words were pronounced over me. Did you know that

now my mom and dad raised nine of us and my mom can recount in perfect detail. All of the circumstances about every one of our rivals into this world, every detail seems to be fixed in her memory. She recounts them to us often, particularly on our birthday. So when I was born, you know, in that era, mom would give birth and then stay in the hospital for a few days.

They didn't ship the moms home quite as quick as they do now. And apparently one of the attending nurses who came in to check on me and my mom saw my mom holding me. My mom could still hear the words as if it were yesterday. The nurse said them, boys, they sure are lovers. That pretty much sums up the essence of my existence.

Don't you think

those were well-meaning words, but the words pronounced by Simeon over the Lord, Jesus were far more than well-intentioned platitudes by an attending nurse. They were holy spirit inspired words of absolute truth. I remember when, um, my. Our first daughter, Ellie arrived in our family and believe me, like my ma I can recount for you all the amazing details of her rival into our family.

They're permanently chiseled in my mind, but I remember one morning we had Ellie with us as an infant here at church. And, uh, Jane Davidson came up now, some of you know, Jane though, she's with the Lord now and Jane Davidson came up and she put her hand on Ellie's head and then prayed a prayer of blessing over my daughter's life.

It was a special moment because of the person that Jane was and her love for kids. I don't remember the words. I just know it was a special, the words of her prayer. I just know as a really special moment. But can I tell you something that prayer of blessing over my daughter precious as it was, can not compare to the message declared by over Jesus, by Simeon.

His was to be a message from the holy spirit inspired truth of deep significance it's recorded for us now in God's eternal word, Luke wants us to pay attention to these words. So what did he say? I felt you'd never asked. So let's look quickly at the content of Simeon's temple declaration. He's here. The long awaited savior is finally come.

We read these words. Verse 29 through 32 Lord. He directs us the first part of his declaration as if a prayer to God, Lord. Now you are letting your servant depart in peace. According to your word, for my eyes said, seeing your salvation, that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples. A light for revelation to the Gentiles and glory and for glory to your people.

Israel, I want you to notice first, the first thing Simeon's message tells us is that the infant Jesus is the Lord's Christ. The Messiah. The one God promised that Simeon would say, see this isn't just another baby dedication at the temple. This was the one the holy spirit had promise swimming would see with his own eyes.

Now, surely Simeon seen countless other babies brought to the temple over the years, but on this day he was led specifically by the spirit to the temple, to have this encounter with the infant Jesus. And to know that in seeing Jesus, God was fulfilling his promise, the promise he made to him that he would, that he would indeed see the Lord's Christ in his life.

The Lord's Christ is finally here. You also notice this about Saint Simeon's declaration. The infant Jesus is mankind salvation. See me and said, my eyes have seen your salvation. His eyes saw Christ and his words were, my eyes have seen your salvation. Jesus is mankind salvation. You know, the, the phrase, my eyes I've seen your salvation parallels.

What was described earlier when it says he was, it had been revealed to him by the holy spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. So these Fraser parallel see the Lord's Christ of senior salvation. Lord's Christ and salvation are the same thing. Jesus, this infant, this baby is mankind salvage.

God was not just fulfilling the promise. He made decision. He was fulfilling the promise that he made to Adam and Eve and Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to Israel, to Moses, to David, to you to meet the Messiah is here. He has come to bring salvation. Third thing you observe about Simeon's declaration is the infant.

Jesus brings salvation for everyone that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples. He said a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people. Israel God's salvation is for everyone from Genesis to revelation. The message of the Bible is the God. It's for the whole world. He has a heart for the whole world promising in Genesis to Abraham that in you, your seed will all families of the earth be blessed going all the way through to revelation.

Where we read that before the throne in, in, in the, in heaven will be people from every tongue, tribe, nation, and family giving praise to the lamb who was slain to Jesus. The infant is bringing salvation to everyone. And so Paul would later write, I'm not ashamed of the gospel message of Jesus. It's the power of God for the salvation of all who believe to the Jew first and also to the Gentile later, he'd write to Titus.

The grace of God has appeared bringing salvation to all people. The infant, Jesus arrived, just the Lord's Christ, bringing salvation to everyone for all who believe now the second part of Simeon's declaration equally rich, but somewhat cryptic. It's directed to Mary verses 34 and 35. This is what he said, send me and blessed them and said to Mary, his mother behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel and for a sign that is opposed and a sword will Pierce through your own soul also, so that the thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.

What's he saying? Let's see mean, here's what I think. Despite struggling opposition salvation through Jesus will be accomplished as if in a paranthetically statement. Simeon turns to marry direct. Oh, and by the way, he says, there will be struggle and hardship, rising, falling, and rising of many opposition and conflict.

And even your own heart will break possibly he's alluding to the time when she would see her son on the cross put the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. Jesus, who will be victorious. Light will conquer darkness. God's eternal plans and purposes will be fulfilled.

This is the message that God has in Luke chapter two for all of us he's here. So what shall our response be? I'll suggest a couple of things to you real quick. No, for certain, no, for certain and acknowledge who Jesus is. He's the savior. Now on one level, that's an intellectual certainty about Jesus that you and I can and should have based on all the details and descriptions that Luke has given about Jesus and his arrival into the world at this season, we call it Christmas.

I was thinking if all, if the only part of Luke's gospel we had were chapters one and two, where we get the story of Jesus' arrival, we'd have 90%, 95% of the gospel message there. And he's telling us this, this encounter with Simeon contributes to that certainty, declaring, demonstrating that the long awaited saviors.

Now here, he's the one who fulfills all prophecies. The one whom all of scripture has been pointing and symbolizing and waiting. The one, many hearts have been longing for he's here. Luke's done his research. He spoken to the eyewitnesses, his recorded. So that you and I can know for certain he's here. What did this encounter with Jesus in the temple mean for Simeon his faith.

And God's promised to send a savior was now confirmed in his heart. He'd seen the savior. God had made good on his promise, not just to send the world's savior, but to let Simian see it with his own eyes. Simeon was now good to go. He was ready to die. His faith had become sight. What does it mean for us?

We can know with unwavering conviction and for certain that Jesus was no ordinary child. He is the son of God. The promised savior,

Luke would later write in the book of acts quoting the apostle Peter it's acts four 12. Peter said these words, there is salvation and no one. For there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. But knowing this intellectually is not all there is to it. You must also acknowledge your own need of Jesus as your savior from sin.

We have to personalize Jesus' arrival. Jesus is not just the savior. He is my savior in each of us. Most personalized as Simeon did the coming of Jesus Christ at Christmas. By putting your faith in him as your savior, as my savior Simeon's encounter with Jesus was very personal, right? He held him in his arms, saw him with his eyes.

He knew who he was. He knew in his heart that the savior was here. And now with that in his heart, he acknowledged that he was ready to move on. To eternity. I'm good to go. I'm ready. Did you notice the word that Simeon used to refer to his own physical death departure? He said you are now letting your servant depart in peace.

He's not just being used using a euphemism for his physical death. He's he's using a statement of great confidence. That death is a departure from this life to the next one. And he was ready to make that departure because he had had a personal encounter with Jesus Christ. None of us are ready to make that departure until we too have had a personal encounter by faith with Jesus Christ, who is the savior of the world, son of God, who came at Christmas to rescue and save him.

The arrival of Jesus as savior must be believed and accepted. Personally, he is not just the savior. He is my savior. I love the way the apostle Paul expressed the personal nature of his faith in Christ. When he wrote in first Timothy one 15, these words, the saying is trustworthy and deserving, a full acceptance that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the foremost, I guess you could argue with Paul about whether or not he was, or is the foremost of sinners, but that's not really the point of what he's saying.

Jesus Christ is, did not simply come into the world to save sinners. He came to save me. He personalized his faith in Christ. He's my savior. My eyes have seen your salvation. Simeon said, Maya.

For him, it was literalize for us. It's eyes of faith, not blind faith because we have the confidence of God's word it's recorded for us in the gospel of Luke, that Jesus is the savior of the world. Simeon held him in his arms, literally in his arms for us, arms of faith. We too must hold and embrace Jesus as our savior.

Not simply the savior, but my savior. And when you've done that, you are then able to really understand, know, enjoy and celebrate what the Christmas holiday is all about. Have you done that

semi and handed the baby baby Jesus. Back to me. He put his head hand one last time on Jesus' head as if to confer one final blessing, then saying his goodbyes to Mary and Joseph Semyon slipped off into the crowd and was soon out of sight. Leaving Mary wondering a knew about the miracle she held in her arms, angelic messengers, miraculous conception, prophetic declaration at the table at the temple.

What's next. She wondered she didn't have long to wait for an answer. Young lady, young lady, someone was calling out seems as though someone else had spotted them at the temple and was trying to get Mary's attention. Mary turned around and saw her this time. It was someone she knew it was Ana. The prophetess, everyone knew her.

She practically lived at the temple. Ana was. The oldest living person, Mary knew personally, 84 years old and a real woman of God. It's true on a shout as they reached them. Every word of it's true. I heard the words that Simeon declared about this child and it's all true. This child is our long awaited Messiah come to save us.

It's true. And as Mary and Joseph went about the business that it brought them to the temple in the first place, that it CADing their child to the Lord and offering the required sacrifice honor, the prophet sort of as if an exclamation point on all that Simeon had declared, she worked her way through the crowd, talking to all who would listen.

He's here. She would say over and over. He's finally here. Our long awaited savior is here.

Let's pray.

We thank you God, for your scripture, which gives us the message that our souls have longed for and needed that Jesus Christ is coming in the world to be our savior. I, I thank you Jesus, for your willingness to step down from your throne in heaven, to be our savior, to humble yourself, to take our sin on yourself, that we could be redeemed and rescued.

I thank you that in the sacrifice of yourself, on the cross, our sin, all of it has been paid in full and that we now have a place in your family, in the family of God. We now can, as swimming did depart in peace for our eyes have seen. Your salvation made today. Be a day of salvation for any here who have not put their faith in Jesus Christ as savior.

And may we all be able to go from here on this Christmas holiday rejoicing that you have come to save us and we make this prayer in Jesus' name. Amen.

You are dismissed. Thank you so much for being here today. .]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/hes-here-simeons-encounter-with-infant-jesus 851724b8-80e2-4a1e-82f7-d4ea5870f18b Sun, 26 Dec 2021 13:07:34 GMT <div data-html="true">Luke 2:22-35 <br /><br /> "And when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord" <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Good morning, everyone. And Merry Christmas. I hope you're enjoying a meaningful holiday season, celebrating the arrival of Christ. And it's great to. With you today. Thanks for coming this morning or for tuning in online as the case may be. I haven't had the privilege of seeing you all from this vantage point in a little while, and you're looking really good and it's great to be able to study the scripture together this morning. <br /><br /> We're going to be looking at on this final Sunday of advent, we're going to be looking at Luke chapter 22. I would invite you to open your Bible to that passage and, uh, it's page 8 0 5 in those pew Bibles. And we're gonna, we're gonna pick up with the Christmas story. We're where Luke, uh, tells us of the birth of Christ in the stable, the arrival of the shepherds, and then the shepherds leave. <br /><br /> And we pick up what happens next in verse 21 of Luke chapter. So I want you to follow along. As I read out loud, beginning in Luke two verse 21, and we'll go through verse 40. This is what the scripture says. And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. <br /><br /> And when the time came for their purification, according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, as it is written in the law of the Lord, every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord and to offer a sacrifice. According to what is said in the law, the Lord, a pair of turtle doves, or two young pigs. <br /><br /> Now there was in Drew's a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. And this man was righteous and devout waiting for the consolation of Israel. And the holy spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the holy spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. And he came in the spirit into the temple. <br /><br /> And when the parents brought in the child, Jesus to do for him, according to the custom of the law, he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace. According to your word for my eyes have seen your salvation, that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples a light. <br /><br /> For revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people, Israel and his father and mother marveled at what was said about him and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother, behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel and for a sign that is opposed and a sword will Pierce through your own soul also, so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. <br /><br /> And there was a prophetess Ana, the daughter of Faneuil of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years. Having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a Virgin. And then as a widow until she was 84, she did not depart from the temple worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. And coming up at that very hour, she began to give thanks to God and to speak of. <br /><br /> To all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem. And when they had performed everything, according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee to their own town of Nazareth. And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favor of God was upon him. <br /><br /> It had been almost six weeks since the birth of Jesus on that day that Mary and Joseph stepped into the crowded temple grounds. Mary looked down at her infant son now 40 days old, no longer having that wrinkled prune look that newborns often have now looking healthy with a little bit of baby fat. Mary took a deep breath. <br /><br /> And wondered again, am I dreaming or is this all really true? The last handful of months had been a whirlwind for Mary from the angelic visit that announced she would become the mother of the world, savior the miraculous conception of a baby in her womb while she was still yet a Virgin. It's a tough conversation with her fiance, Joseph and his subsequent desire to break things off, which he would have done had it not been for an angelic visitor of his own that told him that the baby conceived in Mary was indeed the son of God who is coming to save his people from their sins. <br /><br /> Joseph was instructed to give the baby the name Jesus savior rescuer. Then there was that journey to Bethlehem. To register for the census, no room for anywhere in the end, for them just a dirty, stable, the only place available for her to give birth to her son, thinking about it. Now Mary had to chuckle who would have, right? <br /><br /> Who'd have written a story like this. How's this for a headline, the king of the universe, born to a peasant girl who wraps him in strips of cloth and uses an animal feeding trial is a crib impossible. Maybe I am dreaming the sounds and the smells of the temple grounds woke Mary from her reflections. <br /><br /> The whole place was mobbed. The lines were long and she knew they would not get any preferential treatment poor as they were. They didn't even have a lamb for the sacrifice. Two young pigeons would have to do. Wow. Well, they were here for two purposes. She knew. To offer the sacrifice for her purification 40 days, following the birth of her son as was instructed in the law of God and also to present their first born to the Lord, as God had instructed his people to do since the days of the Exodus in Egypt, the firstborn belongs to the Lord. <br /><br /> Suddenly a man approached an older man. Mary didn't recognize him, but the man seemed as if he knew her. He was making his way through the crowd. Dead set on getting up close to Mary and Joseph and their baby. Do you know that guy? Mary S. Joseph, one of your relatives, maybe. Nope. I have no idea who he is. <br /><br /> Joseph replied. Hello. The man said when he reached them, he was beaming, radiant, energized. I'm Simian. Can I hold your baby? For whatever reason Mary offered no resistance and felt no reluctance in handing the baby over to the stranger. She will never forget his next words as if he were addressing the entire crowd of assembled worshipers in the hearing of everyone. <br /><br /> This man Simeon cried out. He's here. He's finally here. <br /><br /> You can tell I've used a little bit of imagination in the retelling of the events from today's scripture passage, including the words he's here, because swimming is not recorded is actually shouting out he's here. But I, but I think if I were to summarize the words that Simeon did say in two words, that's what I would use. <br /><br /> He's here. He's finally here. <br /><br /> I believe the reason that Luke has decided to include in his gospel, this encounter at the temple with Simeon is because he wants us to know for certain, that Jesus really is the son of God and savior of the world. That's his purpose in all of chapters, one and two, as he's been recounting in well-researched. <br /><br /> The story of Jesus' arrival. And you can't read these accounts in chapters one and two of Luke without realizing that it's true. Jesus is the long awaited and promised rescuer he's here. Believe it, know it for certain, put your faith in him. He says, here he's come to save his people from their sins. <br /><br /> That's really what Luke's stated. Purpose of his whole gospel is you see that in his opening verses of chapter one, where he says in verse four, that you may to speaking to, Theopolis the one to whom he addressed this letter, that you may have certainty concerning the things you've been taught. He wants us to know for sure. <br /><br /> That's his entire point in this encounter of Simeon in the temple Simeon's declaration in the temple while he's holding the baby Jesus in his arms, it serves to further Luke's purpose. That you and I would know and believe that the savior is here, Simeon savior, Israel, savior, the world's savior, your savior and mine. <br /><br /> So I want to look at three things with you today in our study of this passage. First, I want us to look at the context of this temple encounter, because we're going to see an amazing mystery that this baby in the temple is the one to, to whom all the temple activity had always pointed and anticipated. <br /><br /> And now he's here. That's going to be the context. Then we're going to look at the character of this temple messenger Simeon. We're going to see in semi and a holy spirit filled, man. Who's about to make a holy spirit inspired declaration about this baby and the temple. It's a message. Luke does not want us to miss. <br /><br /> And then finally, we'll examine the content of Simeon's temple declaration. And we will see a new that the long awaited savior of us all is now here, he's finally here. So let's jump into the context. Now, this is going to be, I confess to you that, that the toughest part of our study, because we're going to have to delve back into some stuff from the old Testament. <br /><br /> That's a little less, it's a little more obscure than some of the other things. So it's going to take a little work to sort through it, but it's important that we do that. So this context, the context of this temple encounter, what were Joseph and Mary and the infant Jesus doing at the temple in the first place? <br /><br /> What's the context of this encounter. And Luke describes that for us in verses 22 and 24. If you want to look at them again. And when the time came for the purification, according to the law of Moses, what does that mean? It's not immediately apparent to modern readers. We'll have to look into. Uh, the time came to praise for their purification. <br /><br /> According to the law of Moses, they brought him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. As it's written in the law of the Lord, every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord and to offer a sacrifice. According to what was said in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons, what does this mean to offer the sacrifice that was talked about in the law of the Lord? <br /><br /> What old Testament scriptures is Luke quoting here and why? Well, Mary and Joseph are at the temple with their infant son to faithfully follow through and obey to deeply meaningful religious rituals that God had ordained in the law for his people to follow. One is outlined in Leviticus 12, it's the purification for a mother and her child following childbirth. <br /><br /> And the other comes from Exodus 13, the redemption of the firstborn son by presenting him as holy to the Lord. Now we've got to look at these patterns. So I'm going to turn to Leviticus 12 and you can look at it also if you want. And just let me read some of this so that we understand what's going on here and what it means. <br /><br /> So I'm looking at Leviticus 12. I'm gonna start at verse one and see if reading this, we come to a better understanding of what Mary and Joseph were doing at the temple. The Lord spoke to Moses saying, speak to the people of Israel saying this Leviticus 12 one, if a woman, conceives and bears a male child, and she shall be unclean seven days asked at the time of her menstruation, she shall be unclean. <br /><br /> And on the eighth day, the flesh of his four skin shall be circumcised. Then she shall continue for 33 days in, in the blood of her purifying. Gee shall not touch anything. Holy nor come into the sanctuary. Until the days of her purifying are complete jump down to verse six. And when the days of her purifying are completed, whether for a son or for a daughter, she shall bring to the priest at the entrance of the tent of meeting a lamb a year old for a burnt offering and a pigeon or a turtle dove for a sin offering. <br /><br /> And he shall offer it before the Lord and make atonement for her. Then she shall be cleaned from her flow from the flow of her blood. This is the law for her who bears a male who bears a child, either male or female. And if she cannot afford a lamb, then she shall take two turtle doves, or two pigeons, one for a burn offering. <br /><br /> And the other force in offering and the priest shall make a two-man for her. And she shall be clean. Sounds kind of weird. Doesn't it? What's going on? Well, 40 days that seven days among cleanness followed by 33. Of purification following the birth of a male child during which the mother remains apart from the tabernacle or temple, when that time is complete 40 days, she will present an offering to the Lord at the temple. <br /><br /> And that's what Mary and Joseph were doing there. But we have to ask ourselves, why is childbirth? Sinful has the mother by giving birth, done something for which she must make atonement and be forgiven? I think there's the, I think the significance of the ritual is not to say that childbirth is sinful, but a visual reminder that takes us all the way back to the garden of Eden to Adam and Eve when they had sinned against God and the pronouncement of God that as a consequence of sin, which by the way, now all humanity shares in this, there would be pain in childbirth. <br /><br /> So the birth of every child is a reminder of our shared predicament ascendant. So by faith, Mary as was done by countless other women comes to offer a sacrifice for her purification. And in this case of Mary giving birth to Jesus, the great and beautiful mystery is that the one to whom she has given birth 40 days prior is the one sent from God to achieve the ultimate purification of sinners as he would do it by taking the place of sinners in his death. <br /><br /> On the cross, the author of Hebrews talks about this one, when he says of Jesus and his work on the cross, Hebrews one, three, after making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. And Luke wants to highlight for us in this passage that Jesus. The ultimate purifier is here. <br /><br /> He's come to save his people from their sense. You also can't help, but see that Luke is drawing our attention to the humility of the Lord Jesus, as if it were a small enough thing that the king of the universe would condescend to become a human that the eternal, the third, the second person of the Trinity would, would, would condescend to become a human Luke. <br /><br /> Also alludes to the poverty and to which Jesus was born. He quotes Leviticus 12, eight, a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons. But if you read back and we read it together, verse the, the entirety of verse eight, it says this. And if, if the, and if she, she that's, the mother cannot afford a lamp for the sacrifice. <br /><br /> Then she shall take two turtle doves, or two young pigeons. The king of the universe was born into poverty. His parents arrived without a land. But with two small birds for the sacrifice, all they could afford. The apostle Paul expressed the wonder of the mystery that Luke is alluding to here in second Corinthians eight, nine, he wrote for, you know, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, though. <br /><br /> He was rich looking at the universe yet for your sakes. He became poor so that you through his poverty might become rich. And Luke is alluding to this amazing mystery that secured our eternal salvation. There's another reason that Mary and Joseph were at the temple that morning. They had come with Jesus in obedience to another old Testament practice, which is deep with a significance and meaning redemption. <br /><br /> So we see an Exodus, 13 of God's. We read about his miraculous deliverance of his people from slavery, and he. When his angel went through all the homes of the Egyptians, this was the 10th and final play. You might remember killing the firstborn in every home, but sparing or passing over the homes of those Israelites, who by faith had applied the blood of a lamb without blemish to the doorposts of their homes. <br /><br /> Those firstborn of the nation, whom God had spared, God's now said belonged to him. He had spared their lives. And an exit is 13, which is another passage. We need to look at God outlined for his people, this perpetual ordinance in which the first born son of every family was to be presented to the Lord and redeemed by offering a sacrifice in his place. <br /><br /> So if you look at, if you wish to look at it with me, couple of verses in Exodus 13, first two verses say the Lord said to Moses consecrate to me. So this is going all the way back. To the, to the, uh, to their time of slavery in Egypt, the Lord said to Moses consecrate to me all the first born, whatever is the first to open the womb among the people of Israel, both of man and beast is mine. <br /><br /> And jump forward to verse 11. We read this when the Lord brings you, these are instructions for the people back then when the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, as he swore to give to you and your fathers and shall give it to you, you shall set apart to the Lord. All that first opens the womb. <br /><br /> All the first born of your animals that are males shall be the Lords. Every firstborn of a donkey. You shall redeem with a lamb. If you will not redeem it, you shall break its neck. Every firstborn of man among your sons, you shall redeem. And when the time comes and your son asks you, what does this mean? <br /><br /> You shall say. By a strong hand. The Lord brought us out of Egypt from the house of slavery for when Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go. The Lord killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the first born of man and the first born of animals. Therefore I sacrifice to the Lord, all the males that first opened the womb, but all the firstborn of my sons, I redeem. <br /><br /> So that's a little bit about the background of what's going on here. The context of what's going on in Luke chapter two, that brings Mary and Joseph and their infant Jesus to the temple in the first place. And the reason that he includes these details is not simply to highlight what sincere people of faith Mary and Joseph were, though. <br /><br /> They certainly were that he's not doing it to show. But they were being obedient to the law of Moses, which of course though, they were, he's doing it to highlight the fact that the redemption to which that Passover ritual had always anticipate in always pointed was now here, he's here. <br /><br /> It's a beautiful and mysterious irony that this child being dedicated as holy to the Lord by his parents that day and on whose behalf his parents were making a sacrifice and offering, he was the one who in complete surrender to God would offer himself on the cross as the final and complete sacrifice to redeem every one of us and make us holy to the Lord. <br /><br /> He's here. This baby in the temple is the one to whom all this temple activity had always pointed and anticipated. And Luke wants us to know he's here. The one who fulfills it, all the one who it all has been pointing to. The one who had all has been waiting for he's here. And as Simeon would hold that baby in his arms, he knew the one we'd all been waiting for was now, finally here, he's here. <br /><br /> That's the context of this time at the temple. And with that understanding, now we can move on. So it looks, let's look next that the character of this temple messenger, this the character of this man Simeon, and you're going to see a man, a holy spirit filled, man. Who's going to declare a holy spirit inspired message. <br /><br /> And Luke describes who he is in great detail. And I want us to focus on that for a little bit here. Luke's description of Simeon. Before we even hear one word from his mouth seems designed to highlight the extraordinary character of this man, so that we will want to sit up and listen to what he's about to say. <br /><br /> It's not just an average guy. He's a holy spirit filled man. And he's got an inspired message from God to declare looking at it again in verses 25 through 27. Now there was a manager reus alum whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout waiting for the constellation of Israel. And the holy spirit was upon him. <br /><br /> And it had been revealed to him by the holy spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. And he came in the spirit into the temple. What do we know about this guy, Simeon beyond what's written in this account? Nothing. There's several guys in the scriptures named Simeon the most well-known being the second son of Jacob who was named by his mother, Leah as Simeon, which means one who hears, because she said, you read this in Genesis chapter 29 because the Lord has heard that I'm not loved. <br /><br /> So Simeon sounds like the Hebrew word for heres it's an apparent play on words. Well, that doesn't really tell us much about this guy. Jacob, second son seeming of course became the father of the tribe that bears his name. So it was probably a fairly popular and common name over the centuries in Israel. <br /><br /> It's not the name so much, but the man's the Luke's description of this man. That's striking. I want you to notice these first described as righteous and devout, that would seem to certainly give him some credibility as a messenger of God. Second, we see that he was driven by an expectation and a longing that's described as the consolation of Israel. <br /><br /> Did you see that? Did you ask yourself what's the constellation of Israel, that's a rich and meaningful expression, but it only occurs here. You might've noticed, as we got to the end of the chapter, when we were reading ended of the passage, when we were reading through that, Ana was declaring in the temple, talking to everyone who was waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem. <br /><br /> Those phrases, the constellation of Israel, redemption of Jerusalem seemed to coincide there's, it's something about a longing, awaiting, an expectation. So what's the constant elevation constellation of visit. I believe it refers to the salvation that God's people for centuries and millennia had been longing and waiting. <br /><br /> It's the fulfillment of all God had promised to do for his people. The constellation of Israel constellation means comfort, right? It was the promise to remove Israel sorrow, to remove the sorrow of sin, to bring comfort. Isaiah speaks of this comfort and chapter 40 verses one and two comfort comfort. My people says your God speak tenderly to Jerusalem and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed and that her sin has been paid for. <br /><br /> And this expectation for the constellation of Israel centers on a person, the Messiah. There's an expectation awaiting for a person who will come to bring comfort and beginning in the garden of Eden. And the promise that the seed of woman would crush the serpent's head to the promise to Abraham, that in him, all families of the earth will be blessed to the promise of God, to Moses that I'll raise up for you, a prophet from among your people, to the promise to David, that one of his descendants would sit forever on the throne of Israel. <br /><br /> The people of God had been waiting long and hoping, expecting the arrival of a Messiah who would be their personal and national savior. And so just imagine being as receiving as Simeon did a promise direct to you from God that your very eyes would see the one. That would be the constellation of Israel, the Messiah, the savior, the one who would fulfill all of God's promises. <br /><br /> So this was the driving passion of Simeon's life and being led by the spirit, into the temple that day. He wondered again, maybe today, today, indeed. You next notice how Simeon's described as a man filled with guided by an empowered by the holy spirit. I want you to think with me about this three times, the holy spirit is mentioned in Luke's description of Simeon. <br /><br /> The holy spirit was upon him. He was a man filled with the spirit. It had been revealed to him by the holy spirit. He was guided by the holy spirit, the spirit of God communicated with him. And he came in the spirit into the temple. He was empowered and directed by the holy spirit. You know, if we are reading the book of acts descriptions like this wouldn't surprise us as much, they wouldn't be nearly as strict. <br /><br /> Because in acts chapter two, just as Jesus promised would happen in his absence after he'd returned to the father in heaven, the holy spirit came upon all believers and filled them and guided them and empowered them. So descriptions like was filled with the holy spirit or the spirit being upon someone or common in the book of acts, not so much in the era prior to that in the pre-Pentecost era that is prior to acts chapter two, the holy spirit operated differently. <br /><br /> He wouldn't come upon all peoples, but only upon specific individuals at specific times, empowering them for specific purposes and specific tasks. Only after Jesus returned to the father to the holy spirit, come to live in indwell, all believers. <br /><br /> And Simeon's connection to the holy spirit, apparently included a very personal and specific promise to the man Simeon himself. It had been revealed to him by the holy spirit that he would not see death until he had seen the Lord's Christ such was the relationship that he enjoyed with God. It included this personal promise that gave meaning to his daily life. <br /><br /> Maybe today. Well, I see him today, so you haven't <br /><br /> to have a man like Simeon described as Luke describes him here to have a connection like that with the holy spirit is very striking and Luke seems to be drawing our attention to Simeon's character and his connection with the spirit as if to say, listen, You're about to hear a truly inspired word from God. <br /><br /> You don't want to miss it. He's about to say something about this infant, Jesus, this baby and his words. Won't be just, well, well-intended words of congratulations to the new parents. His words will be nothing sure of inspired truth from the holy spirit of God. So what's he going to say? <br /><br /> You know, when I was born, very special words were pronounced over me. Did you know that <br /><br /> now my mom and dad raised nine of us and my mom can recount in perfect detail. All of the circumstances about every one of our rivals into this world, every detail seems to be fixed in her memory. She recounts them to us often, particularly on our birthday. So when I was born, you know, in that era, mom would give birth and then stay in the hospital for a few days. <br /><br /> They didn't ship the moms home quite as quick as they do now. And apparently one of the attending nurses who came in to check on me and my mom saw my mom holding me. My mom could still hear the words as if it were yesterday. The nurse said them, boys, they sure are lovers. That pretty much sums up the essence of my existence. <br /><br /> Don't you think <br /><br /> those were well-meaning words, but the words pronounced by Simeon over the Lord, Jesus were far more than well-intentioned platitudes by an attending nurse. They were holy spirit inspired words of absolute truth. I remember when, um, my. Our first daughter, Ellie arrived in our family and believe me, like my ma I can recount for you all the amazing details of her rival into our family. <br /><br /> They're permanently chiseled in my mind, but I remember one morning we had Ellie with us as an infant here at church. And, uh, Jane Davidson came up now, some of you know, Jane though, she's with the Lord now and Jane Davidson came up and she put her hand on Ellie's head and then prayed a prayer of blessing over my daughter's life. <br /><br /> It was a special moment because of the person that Jane was and her love for kids. I don't remember the words. I just know it was a special, the words of her prayer. I just know as a really special moment. But can I tell you something that prayer of blessing over my daughter precious as it was, can not compare to the message declared by over Jesus, by Simeon. <br /><br /> His was to be a message from the holy spirit inspired truth of deep significance it's recorded for us now in God's eternal word, Luke wants us to pay attention to these words. So what did he say? I felt you'd never asked. So let's look quickly at the content of Simeon's temple declaration. He's here. The long awaited savior is finally come. <br /><br /> We read these words. Verse 29 through 32 Lord. He directs us the first part of his declaration as if a prayer to God, Lord. Now you are letting your servant depart in peace. According to your word, for my eyes said, seeing your salvation, that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples. A light for revelation to the Gentiles and glory and for glory to your people. <br /><br /> Israel, I want you to notice first, the first thing Simeon's message tells us is that the infant Jesus is the Lord's Christ. The Messiah. The one God promised that Simeon would say, see this isn't just another baby dedication at the temple. This was the one the holy spirit had promise swimming would see with his own eyes. <br /><br /> Now, surely Simeon seen countless other babies brought to the temple over the years, but on this day he was led specifically by the spirit to the temple, to have this encounter with the infant Jesus. And to know that in seeing Jesus, God was fulfilling his promise, the promise he made to him that he would, that he would indeed see the Lord's Christ in his life. <br /><br /> The Lord's Christ is finally here. You also notice this about Saint Simeon's declaration. The infant Jesus is mankind salvation. See me and said, my eyes have seen your salvation. His eyes saw Christ and his words were, my eyes have seen your salvation. Jesus is mankind salvation. You know, the, the phrase, my eyes I've seen your salvation parallels. <br /><br /> What was described earlier when it says he was, it had been revealed to him by the holy spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. So these Fraser parallel see the Lord's Christ of senior salvation. Lord's Christ and salvation are the same thing. Jesus, this infant, this baby is mankind salvage. <br /><br /> God was not just fulfilling the promise. He made decision. He was fulfilling the promise that he made to Adam and Eve and Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to Israel, to Moses, to David, to you to meet the Messiah is here. He has come to bring salvation. Third thing you observe about Simeon's declaration is the infant. <br /><br /> Jesus brings salvation for everyone that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples. He said a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people. Israel God's salvation is for everyone from Genesis to revelation. The message of the Bible is the God. It's for the whole world. He has a heart for the whole world promising in Genesis to Abraham that in you, your seed will all families of the earth be blessed going all the way through to revelation. <br /><br /> Where we read that before the throne in, in, in the, in heaven will be people from every tongue, tribe, nation, and family giving praise to the lamb who was slain to Jesus. The infant is bringing salvation to everyone. And so Paul would later write, I'm not ashamed of the gospel message of Jesus. It's the power of God for the salvation of all who believe to the Jew first and also to the Gentile later, he'd write to Titus. <br /><br /> The grace of God has appeared bringing salvation to all people. The infant, Jesus arrived, just the Lord's Christ, bringing salvation to everyone for all who believe now the second part of Simeon's declaration equally rich, but somewhat cryptic. It's directed to Mary verses 34 and 35. This is what he said, send me and blessed them and said to Mary, his mother behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel and for a sign that is opposed and a sword will Pierce through your own soul also, so that the thoughts from many hearts may be revealed. <br /><br /> What's he saying? Let's see mean, here's what I think. Despite struggling opposition salvation through Jesus will be accomplished as if in a paranthetically statement. Simeon turns to marry direct. Oh, and by the way, he says, there will be struggle and hardship, rising, falling, and rising of many opposition and conflict. <br /><br /> And even your own heart will break possibly he's alluding to the time when she would see her son on the cross put the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. Jesus, who will be victorious. Light will conquer darkness. God's eternal plans and purposes will be fulfilled. <br /><br /> This is the message that God has in Luke chapter two for all of us he's here. So what shall our response be? I'll suggest a couple of things to you real quick. No, for certain, no, for certain and acknowledge who Jesus is. He's the savior. Now on one level, that's an intellectual certainty about Jesus that you and I can and should have based on all the details and descriptions that Luke has given about Jesus and his arrival into the world at this season, we call it Christmas. <br /><br /> I was thinking if all, if the only part of Luke's gospel we had were chapters one and two, where we get the story of Jesus' arrival, we'd have 90%, 95% of the gospel message there. And he's telling us this, this encounter with Simeon contributes to that certainty, declaring, demonstrating that the long awaited saviors. <br /><br /> Now here, he's the one who fulfills all prophecies. The one whom all of scripture has been pointing and symbolizing and waiting. The one, many hearts have been longing for he's here. Luke's done his research. He spoken to the eyewitnesses, his recorded. So that you and I can know for certain he's here. What did this encounter with Jesus in the temple mean for Simeon his faith. <br /><br /> And God's promised to send a savior was now confirmed in his heart. He'd seen the savior. God had made good on his promise, not just to send the world's savior, but to let Simian see it with his own eyes. Simeon was now good to go. He was ready to die. His faith had become sight. What does it mean for us? <br /><br /> We can know with unwavering conviction and for certain that Jesus was no ordinary child. He is the son of God. The promised savior, <br /><br /> Luke would later write in the book of acts quoting the apostle Peter it's acts four 12. Peter said these words, there is salvation and no one. For there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. But knowing this intellectually is not all there is to it. You must also acknowledge your own need of Jesus as your savior from sin. <br /><br /> We have to personalize Jesus' arrival. Jesus is not just the savior. He is my savior in each of us. Most personalized as Simeon did the coming of Jesus Christ at Christmas. By putting your faith in him as your savior, as my savior Simeon's encounter with Jesus was very personal, right? He held him in his arms, saw him with his eyes. <br /><br /> He knew who he was. He knew in his heart that the savior was here. And now with that in his heart, he acknowledged that he was ready to move on. To eternity. I'm good to go. I'm ready. Did you notice the word that Simeon used to refer to his own physical death departure? He said you are now letting your servant depart in peace. <br /><br /> He's not just being used using a euphemism for his physical death. He's he's using a statement of great confidence. That death is a departure from this life to the next one. And he was ready to make that departure because he had had a personal encounter with Jesus Christ. None of us are ready to make that departure until we too have had a personal encounter by faith with Jesus Christ, who is the savior of the world, son of God, who came at Christmas to rescue and save him. <br /><br /> The arrival of Jesus as savior must be believed and accepted. Personally, he is not just the savior. He is my savior. I love the way the apostle Paul expressed the personal nature of his faith in Christ. When he wrote in first Timothy one 15, these words, the saying is trustworthy and deserving, a full acceptance that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the foremost, I guess you could argue with Paul about whether or not he was, or is the foremost of sinners, but that's not really the point of what he's saying. <br /><br /> Jesus Christ is, did not simply come into the world to save sinners. He came to save me. He personalized his faith in Christ. He's my savior. My eyes have seen your salvation. Simeon said, Maya. <br /><br /> For him, it was literalize for us. It's eyes of faith, not blind faith because we have the confidence of God's word it's recorded for us in the gospel of Luke, that Jesus is the savior of the world. Simeon held him in his arms, literally in his arms for us, arms of faith. We too must hold and embrace Jesus as our savior. <br /><br /> Not simply the savior, but my savior. And when you've done that, you are then able to really understand, know, enjoy and celebrate what the Christmas holiday is all about. Have you done that <br /><br /> semi and handed the baby baby Jesus. Back to me. He put his head hand one last time on Jesus' head as if to confer one final blessing, then saying his goodbyes to Mary and Joseph Semyon slipped off into the crowd and was soon out of sight. Leaving Mary wondering a knew about the miracle she held in her arms, angelic messengers, miraculous conception, prophetic declaration at the table at the temple. <br /><br /> What's next. She wondered she didn't have long to wait for an answer. Young lady, young lady, someone was calling out seems as though someone else had spotted them at the temple and was trying to get Mary's attention. Mary turned around and saw her this time. It was someone she knew it was Ana. The prophetess, everyone knew her. <br /><br /> She practically lived at the temple. Ana was. The oldest living person, Mary knew personally, 84 years old and a real woman of God. It's true on a shout as they reached them. Every word of it's true. I heard the words that Simeon declared about this child and it's all true. This child is our long awaited Messiah come to save us. <br /><br /> It's true. And as Mary and Joseph went about the business that it brought them to the temple in the first place, that it CADing their child to the Lord and offering the required sacrifice honor, the prophet sort of as if an exclamation point on all that Simeon had declared, she worked her way through the crowd, talking to all who would listen. <br /><br /> He's here. She would say over and over. He's finally here. Our long awaited savior is here. <br /><br /> Let's pray. <br /><br /> We thank you God, for your scripture, which gives us the message that our souls have longed for and needed that Jesus Christ is coming in the world to be our savior. I, I thank you Jesus, for your willingness to step down from your throne in heaven, to be our savior, to humble yourself, to take our sin on yourself, that we could be redeemed and rescued. <br /><br /> I thank you that in the sacrifice of yourself, on the cross, our sin, all of it has been paid in full and that we now have a place in your family, in the family of God. We now can, as swimming did depart in peace for our eyes have seen. Your salvation made today. Be a day of salvation for any here who have not put their faith in Jesus Christ as savior. <br /><br /> And may we all be able to go from here on this Christmas holiday rejoicing that you have come to save us and we make this prayer in Jesus' name. Amen. <br /><br /> You are dismissed. Thank you so much for being here today. .</div> false no <![CDATA[Jesus Came as a KING]]> Matthew 2:1-12

“Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose2 and have come to worship him.”



Thanks guys. Invite you to take your Bibles to Matthew chapter two this morning, Matthew chapter two. Um, There were, um, a number of Afghan refugees that were here at the nativity last night. And I didn't know that the, uh, all those boxes had been delivered to Mike's house. So I was just thinking maybe we could have an extra scene at the nativity and just have them go over to his house.

Matthew chapter two, I'm going to read verses one through 12 this morning, familiar passage. If you are familiar with the Christmas story now, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold wise, men from the east came to Jerusalem saying, where is he? Who has been born king of the Jews for, we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.

When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled and all Jerusalem with him and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people. He inquired of them, where the Christ was to be born. They told him in Bethlehem of Judea for, so it is written by the prophet and you will, Bethlehem in the land of Judah are by no means least among the rulers of Judah for, from you shall come a ruler who show shepherd.

My people, Israel then Herod summoned the Wiseman secretly and ascertained from them. What time the star had appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem saying, go and search diligently for the child. And when you have found him, bring me word that I too may come and worship him. After listening to the king, they went on their way and behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them, until it came to rest over the place where the child was, when they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy and going into the house.

They saw the child with Mary, his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then opening their treasures. They offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country. By another way, Lord, we ask your guidance as we open your word this morning, help us, as we look at a familiar passage to remind us of familiar and perhaps new truths as we reflect on it today in Jesus name.

Amen. As you come to this passage, I want to just paint a scenario, the scene. And of course we've been in a series, sort of looking at some of the classic texts of the Christmas story of Jesus being introduced to individuals. And as we continue that we're now coming to a scene that actually has taken place close to two years after Jesus' birth.

If you think of all the events where the shepherd. Were were, uh, directed by the angels to go and see the Christ who had been born in a manger there outside of Bethlehem. It's two years later. And as this has taken these two years have gone by apparently Joseph and Mary have stayed in Bethlehem. They have set up his carpentry business.

It's a new town for them. It's a town where they are beginning their lives as a new couple. And this is life has been going on. So we're now looking at all those events. We've looked at in the, in the angelic, uh, coming to Mary, coming separately to Joseph coming in Nazareth coming now in Bethlehem, the host of angels that have come to the shepherds.

It's two years in the rear view mirror that we see those events, which actually. It's astonishing because here they are. And this young family has settled into the town where all this took place in what appears to be absolute obscurity. And we might wonder, how is this possible? I mean, these angels, apparently the word used of host usually represents thousands of angels to have appeared in the sky.

These shepherds have come and all of this has taken place. He's even been dedicated in the temple, uh, to Simeon where another revelation has come a few days after his birth to, to SIM in it's happening, come to Anna, an older woman there. I mean, all of this is going on and here they are setting up carpentry shop.

Two years later in a town that most people think had a few hundred residents, five miles from Jerusalem. And as we reflect on this, we come to this passage in Matthew chapter two, two years later, and this scene inherits court affirms that Jerusalem, basically slumbers in spiritual ignorance and indifference of the fact that the Messiah just down the road is growing up and is now a toddler right nearby.

We might ask the question why, I mean, how is this possible? And I would suggest that though, there are astonishing miracles associated with Jesus' entrance into the. It was not God's intention to use a megaphone, to announce the birth of Jesus. He did that with individuals. He did that in astonishing, miraculous ways, but he did it selectively and uniquely, he told shepherds who actually weren't even qualified to go into the temple because they were considered unclean.

He did it to an obscure chef, a skewer young carpenter. He did it to a woman, both born up in a town of about three to 400 people in, in the, uh, in the Northern part of Galilee that had no relationship to Jerusalem whatsoever. He did it selectively uniquely, and he did it in the same way when he told the guys that we're going to read about here in Matthew chapter two, these guys called the Wiseman.

This is such a vital view of spiritual reality. God must move first in revealing himself. It's not by wisdom or goodness or zeal or religiosity that people encounter. Jesus, God makes himself known to people. He does it beautifully, and it brings incredible comfort to us. First of all, if you have embraced Jesus Christ as your savior, it is because God has moved into your life by his grace.

If you hear this morning to say, well, it hasn't happened to me and I, and I it's, I just, I hear about this, but as far as personal relationship, well, the very fact that you're here, the very fact that you're under the sound of a biblical teaching is indication that God is moving into your life to one degree or another.

And you say, well, I'm only here because my family makes me come on Christmas morning. And it's only way I get to go out to lunch. You're still here and I would suggest God is pursuing. We certainly see that in these pictures, in these Christmas encounters, we find that God has revealed his son and his entrance into the world with different features, highlighted to some in these, in these miraculous revelations, he has been seen as the savior for sinners.

For some, he is the, the prophesied Messiah as to some, he is the one identified with broken people. I think that's the primary focus in, in, in Matthew chapter one, where he shows the lineage of, of Jesus and he, and he, and he has some appearing to this young, um, probably late teenaged carpenter named Joseph.

Here he comes and is presented as a king. It's not surprising in the context in which he's presented and to whom he's revealed. But as we look at this, I want to just think of three aspects of Jesus being received as king. And we're going to see the first one here in verse one and two, the threat of Jesus as king.

Let me read to you again. Verse one and two of chapter two. Now, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold wise, men from the east came to Jerusalem saying, where is he? You has been born king of the Jews for, we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.

Now, the interesting person. That this news gets to is a guy named Herod, who is the ruler of the juice. Now, when you come to the palace and ask, where is the king? It is going to alarm the guy sitting on the throne, especially this guy. Now I was a history major. I love history to me. I love the stories.

That's what history is to me, but I know not everybody loves history. So I'm going to say this at the beginning. I'm going to spend a little time giving you some history. I think it's going to be worth your while, but hang with me. Okay. Herod is actually a man who is known as Herod. The great. Herod the great has at this point of his life is about seven years old.

Actually, he's going to die within the next year. A couple of years, actually, he's going to die within, um, just about a year. He has been on the throne for almost 35 years as the ruler of Judea. I do Mia, some of the other areas that are along the Mediterranean sea, where he is located, he is ruling, but he is not under an independent rule because he is answerable to the, the oversight of Rome.

But he's still he's the ruler. Uh, here's what took place. And 68 D the Romans reached the farthest they ever reached in their history. After four centuries, they began to reach farther eastward. They now came to the very Eastern most part of the Mediterranean sea to the land that bordered the Mediterranean sea, a land that we know as Palestine or the holy land, and along that Eastern part of the Mediterranean sea.

And if you could, if you've ever done Bible stuff, you know, it's divided this at the low body of water up here, that's called the sea of Galilee. There's a bigger body of water down here. That's the dead sea. And they're both inland from the Mediterranean sea. Okay. See a Galilee dead sea. And there's a river that goes down.

The Jordan river. Most of this area is an area called Judea. There's an area called Samaria and Syria, all that was a part of it. But down here below the dead sea, on the Eastern side of the dead sea, there was this land called. When the Romans came in in 68 D and began to try to take over this whole region, there was a ruling party.

They were Jews. They had been ruling for 103 years at the time they were called . It was a family of Jews that, that had tremendous influence. And they basically had their own little kingdom. It's where the, the, the Jews lived when the Roman started encroaching into this area in 60 BC, the EDA mites. Again, this group down here to the Eastern part of the dead sea, and the area was now called.

I do Mia because the Greek form of Edam is I do Mia. The ado Meehan's supported the Romans particularly. Two prominent members of the, I do means to eat a mites, a guy named, uh, well, I won't even, I'm not going to give it too many names, a father and a son, the son who was Harriet. Okay. You with me so far, the dad died.

Carrot became the primary mover, shaker and tie the Jewish establishment. Even though he was familiar with the Jews, he was, uh, very familiar with the Jewish traditions, the teachings, all that stuff, but he became the local supporter of the Romans coming in. Eventually the Romans completely vanquished the, the, the Israelite stronghold and, and ruling family.

And not surprisingly in 37, BC Herod sailed to Rome and was installed as the. And conferred with the title by the Senate of Rome, with this title king of the Jews hated by the religious ISTEP, the Jewish establishment for now decades.

He was a man that tried during his reign to win the Jews over. He did things like he actually rebuilt the temple and expanded it. That's why in Jesus' day, it was known as Herod's temple. He did many big building establishments and port cities. He was known as Herod the great largely because of the way he expanded the influence of this part of the, the, the, the empire.

He actually, he was married, but he took a second wife who is a Jewish and she was a member of the hazmat Sonian dynasty. She was trying to, he was trying to Curry favor with the fam who had been over the juice, but basically the overwhelming priority inherits life was to protect his throne. It was his greatest ambition.

Anyone who posed a threat was removed. Anyone who's suspected of disloyalty lost their properties and holdings, even though he is known historically as Herod the great, he was despised in Jewish records of the day. He did things like this. He had two brothers in law killed because he felt they weren't loyal.

He killed his mother-in-law, who was one of that Jewish ruling. He also killed his Jewish wife because he thought she was being unfaithful to him over a period of years, he killed three different sons. The latest of which was the very year that the wise men showed up in Jerusalem. Okay. So here's a guy that you don't want to come in and say, Hey, where's the one, that's the rightful heir to the throne.

Where's the real king of the Jews. It's not surprising at all to see Harrod's internal response to the wise men. It's totally in character. Now. It's interesting. If you read the text, the wise men don't first come to the palace. That's how we all think of the story. That's how I think of the story. But basically the wise men are in the town of Jerusalem, about 80,000 people in the town.

And at while they're, their word is getting out that these mucky mucks from Persia have come and they're asking where's he this born king of the Jews and not surprisingly, it, it says that Herod was disturbed. This may be one of the classic understatements of history. He was disturbed and the whole city's disturb.

What is this? What is it going on? The first thing Herod do does is not bring the guys in for a conference. It says he first consulted describes, he knew enough of the scripture to know there were all kinds of old Testament. Prophecy say says, whereas the one that is supposed to be born king of the Jews, the son of David, he knew the he'll Testament, promises of Messiah.

Where's he going to be born? They said Bethlehem, which was just down the street from Jerusalem. Then he brings the Wiseman in and he's, it says it's a secret meeting. This is not a public audience. It's a private audience. He's meeting with them secretly. And it's interesting that he does not do, we will, we might expect him to do, which is to take these guys and to basically put them on the rack and say, where's he going to be born?

What do you know, where did this, what do you, how did you find out about this now? He doesn't use power. He uses guile. He just says, oh yeah, I'm I'm in. I'm I'm excited. About what you're telling us that, that the king, where is it going to be born? Because I want to go and worship him too. And so they promise apparently that they'll tell they'll come back and tell him, of course, as you know, the story of the angel says, don't go because he's going to try to kill the child.

So they leave. But here's the scenario. Herod is doing everything. Why he is determined to not share his throne with anybody, no interlopers, nobody else coming. Nobody going to tell him who his, who who's going to be his heir to the throne. Nobody's going to threaten him. Nobody is going to come and unseat Herod from his own throne, I believe.

And remember, of course, all of the records we have of the gospels are chosen by the spirit of God, from thousands upon thousands of stories and accounts that could have been told to. I believe one of the reason God chose us this account is to just give us a picture of what goes on in our own lives.

When the king comes to the door of our lives, king Herod's reaction to Christ is in a sense, a picture of all of us. If you want to be king and someone else comes along saying he is the king, then one of you has to give in only one person can sit on a throne. Romans chapter eight says an interesting thing about us.

It says for the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God. When it says the mind that is said in Romans chapter eight, it's talking about our natural state. Uh, before we, we embrace Christ and his changing, uh, nature in our lives. He says, this is our natural state. We are hostile to God for it does not submit to God's law.

Indeed. It cannot. Those are in the flesh. Cannot please. God. The focus on highlighting is this word hostile. The word hostile means literally that we are at war that God has an enemy, a threat he's trying to take over at the core of the human heart is the impulse. No one tells me what to do. There is a natural enmity of the human heart against all claims of sovereignty over it.

It rises a little when minor claims are made over us, but Jesus' claims of authority are total. He says, I come as to king. And this picture we have of Herod is, is the fact that when Jesus. Offers himself to come into a person's life. And there is the beauty of grace and there is the beauty of, of, of, uh, forgiveness.

There is also the reality. And if I yield my life to Jesus Christ, if I say yes to Christ, I am saying yes to him as Lord of my life, there is a threat of Jesus coming in as king Tim Keller says it beautifully. I think this way, he says this, we want at all costs to remain on the throne of our lives. We may use religion to stay on that throne, trying to put God in the position of having to do our bidding because we are so righteous rather than serving him unconditionally.

Or we may flee from religion, become atheists and loudly claim that there is no God, either way. We're expressing our natural hostility to the Lordship of the true king. Jesus comes to earth as. And it is threatening initially to our natures to say, what do you mean I'm not in charge anymore? What do you mean?

He comes in as, as Lord I'd I'd like to, I like the free bus ticket to heaven, but what do you mean? Well, it's part of embracing Christ as savior of our lives. The offering of Jesus is interesting in this passage, he's offered to people near to the truth. I mentioned that Herod was raised in this area of Edam or in the day it was called.

I do Mia and historical records of the time indicate that Herod came from a background that was very familiar with the Israelite teaching. As a matter of fact, Eden by this point had sort of been, even though they were a separate cultural state, they largely did practice the, the Israeli faith, at least many of them did.

He was familiar with the scriptures. He knew the religious system of the Jews.

His response to the statement, where is the one that is born king of the Jews is not what I would have expected. You know, this is a guy who has been declined. I mean, I think what he would have done, what I would've expected him to do is where is he? That is born king of the Jews. And he runs into his inner palace office and he brings out this plaque and he says, do you read this plaque from the Roman Senate?

We declare that Herod is the king of the Jews. What do you mean whose born king of the Jews?

But he doesn't do that. Why? Because he knew what the term meant. He was familiar with the concept that there was a coming king on. That would be, that was air to the Davidic throne. He knew he was not that he knew there were promises. He knew truth. Inherit was aware of these things. He knew the promise. He knew the prophecies.

And when he heard the message, Herod was confronted with a choice, will I find out if this is the real one in order that I might yield my life to him, or will I view him as a threat coming after the throne that I want to sit upon both physically and in my life. There's a second group of people where Jesus is offered as king.

It's talking to them as, and I'm calling them the people far off. And this is verse one. And the whole section about the wise men from the east that we see a couple of things in how God moves into people's life. That seemed far off. These are people that may not have that same level of, of spiritual awareness that a heritage would certainly have living just a few miles from.

These are the wise men from the east. And as we read this passage, we hear that what has drawn them is a star that they saw a bright light in the sky. There are different perspectives of what this is. I'll just say that the two most prominent ones that are presented one is the fact that there actually was at this time, historically, a, uh, conjunction of planets that only happens once every 800 years, uh, Johan coupler in the 16 hundreds, saw it again.

It's where Venus and Jupiter sort of combined. And they, they, they both doubled their light and bright light in the sky. And he pressed postulated that it was this, that happened because he looked back and saw the centuries. And he said, this was right around the time in which Jesus was born. It's possible.

It was something like that that got used. It's possible. Also as many have conjectured that this was another manifestation of God's glory though, the pillar of fire by night that led the Israelites. It sort of argues for something like that, because it's pretty localized, right? I mean, when you come and, and, and all of a sudden it disappears and it, when these guys get to Jerusalem and they don't know where to go from there.

And then all of a sudden it shows up and it takes them right to the very place, five miles away when it reappears to Bethlehem. But whatever it was, it was something where God moved to make himself known to these men. We find also that God moved with creativity. And this is my favorite part of the sermon.

We, these wise men were called Majayang is actually what the word Wiseman is translated from the word Majayang is the word we get magic. These were prominent people. It explains why Herod was not inclined to put these guys on the rack or to try to, to try to Powerball them. These were prominent people, Matt Jai, where the individuals that studied the stars.

It's interesting in the book of Daniel, Daniel is called a magic. He was an individual that interpreted for the Kings. They were counselors for Kings. They were individuals that, that, that focused and, uh, particularly on the stellar beings, they were in that sense. Astronomers the word astronomer, Astro stars, no Moss Wiens name.

They, they named and categorized. But they also were astrologers. They studied the stars. They tried to derive messages and meanings from it, both terms, astrology, and astronomy in the match. I were combined together. They had incredible influence in their cultures. As a matter of fact, their nickname was kingmakers.

They were the ones that would actually, uh, have to pass on the coronation of Kings in Persia and Babylon. And these men came certainly with great fanfare and regalia. And the gifts they give to Jesus are astoundingly valuable. They come as prominent individuals, but their focus of life, their language is the stars.

God speaks to them in their own language. God makes himself known in a place that most people would have had no meaning, no value. No, they wouldn't have got it. This bright light. They recognize something there. The language of these men, the students of the heavens are where they looked where others would not Don Richardson, who has written a few books.

Stun Richardson was a missionary in, uh, uh, Erie and Jaya believe it was many years ago. And he, and he ended up becoming a mission executive. He's written a number of books. And one of the books he calls he has written is called eternity in their hearts. It's a book that is, uh, the title comes from Ecclesiastes three 11, where it says God has made everything beautiful in its time.

He has also set eternity in the human heart. His argument in the book is that, and it was his experience on the mission field. And he Chronicles missions experience after missions experience of others that he talked to, that God in every culture has placed, uh, this, this language, this revelation of himself within, uh, even the most seemingly dark and pagan of religions, eternity in their hearts is basically his argument that God creatively makes himself known to people.

He uses the illustration. If any of you have read the story piece child, it's a perfect example. He was dealing with a tribe that was that utterly had it seeming no values of biblical Christianity. As a matter of fact, the highest thing they valued was the, uh, practice of Beatrice. That the more you could win someone's friendship, whether it was a friend or a w uh, particularly whether it was a native tribe, a neighboring tribe, and you could deceive them into thinking you were at peace and then you could kill them.

Was the highest level of, uh, merit that you could gain. B how do you, how do you try to communicate the gospel to people whose value system seems to be completely topsy turvy, to biblical Christianity and, and biblical faith. And so for four years, he was laboring there. And one day there was a great tribal conflict between tribes that had been betraying each other for generations, they were, they were going to war and in the midst of the warfare, the tribe that he was familiar with, decided to end the battle.

And what he did was he actually, the chief brought out his infants. And offered his infant son, uh, to the opposing tribe. And Don Richardson was a gas, you'd know what was going on. And then he found out as he talked to the chief and others, that the only way you could end conflict between people was with the gift of what they called the peace child.

It had to be the son and the king had to be willing to slay the sun in the presence of, or he could give it, it was up to the other. And, and Don Richardson said here was the visual that God, this redemptive analogy, as he called them, the redemptive analogy was built into the culture of these people. And he used that to present.

This is what God has done. He has provided peace with you who are at war with him through the offering of his own son. And Richards is an argues that in every culture there are these redemptive analogy. The picture that I think we're reminded of with the Wiseman is the creativeness of God in reaching people.

It's why God seems to be just completely unlimited in the creativity he can use. He uses dreams of some people to just awaken in them questions. He uses failure. He uses setbacks. He uses other people. He uses, uh, inner disco, disquiet. He uses all these different ways. And sometimes with wise men, he uses stars.

I remember sitting in a doctor's office years ago, and it was a time where I was deeply burdened with some individuals in my life. I just hungered to see that. Embrace Christ. And I just didn't see any movement. And in this doctor's office, I picked up a magazine as those in the waiting room. And it began to read and happened to be about, uh, a doctor of philosophy.

And this doctor philosophy was talking about, um, he had as a, in his doctoral program, he was a specialist in the existentialist and the existentialist, um, Albert Kamoo, uh, John Paul, uh, Starcher these individuals. And if you've studied existentialism at all, I actually love existentialism. Uh, as far as, I mean, it's totally dark.

Christ centered at all, but they're honest. And the result of existentialism is to say basically in ourselves, life is meaningless that we can derive a purpose. That means it's very dark and empty. If you just study honestly, existentialism, it has no answers. And it says life is like that. And it's why the whole concept of the absurd and the theater of the absurd is all associated with existentials.

This guy was studying existentialism and as he studied it, and as he meditated on it, and as the editors, he did his paper and his, his doctoral defenses, he was struck with the emptiness of life. And it was that which caused him to go back to his Sunday school roots and to think about what he had heard there's about, about Christ coming and, and, and the title of the article was this.

Wait a minute. I wonder, I thought I would remember it and I don't. So I'm going to read it, the title of his article.

Oh, I know what it was. I was led to Christ by an existentialist. I love that. And I cried. I sat in the waiting room and I just felt like the Lord said, mark, I'm very creative. I'm very able to move in the lives of people in ways. I mean, who would have thought? Yeah, here's a good evangelism plan. Read some, uh yeah.

What in the world? How can that possibly it can with a God that can take stars to bring people 1200 miles away to come and be drawn. God is so sovereignly creative in working in people's lives. The beautiful hope for us is the answer to the question. Yeah. But what about people that have never heard, you know, that haven't grown up in Jerusalem like Herod did?

Well, God has a way of working with his redemptive analogies and his creativity with the wise men who seemed to be living in the most steep darkness of the vestiges of the Persian empire, where nobody knows the gospel has gone to make himself known.

The result is what our responsibility is. Then the embracing of Jesus is king. It involved pursuit of him. The magi had to leave their Homeland to go to Judea, a journey of between a thousand or 1200 miles. It's why when they first saw the star. And they actually get there. It's somewhere between a year and two years that they've Herod has learned that much because that's the age of the kids he's going to kill in, in Bethlehem and trying to wipe out Jesus.

They were God seekers responding to the light they'd been given in Jeremiah 29, verse 13. It says this, you will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. This is the response that God asks, be a seeker. If God is real. God is able to make himself known if God is real and maybe you're here today, or maybe you're listening online.

You say, God, I don't know. I, I grew up in the church. It didn't work for me and it, and, and, and, but I, I do sort of wish I, you know, I would like to have a God. I would like to be a guy. I would like to be a gun. Then look for him. I challenge you to go to his word, not because, and don't go with your Sunday school class eyes.

Just go to the scripture. I mean, if he's real, if he's big, if this is possibly his book, he can certainly make himself known to you. You might also be surprised to see the unusual ways he'll show up as well. He is creative. God. He is able to make himself known, but don't just sit back, waiting for a zap to come be a seeker.

Listen, look. Pursue God speaks in the languages of astrologists with stars. God speaks in the language of, of pagan warlike people with a, with a redemptive analogy that speaks exactly to the picture of Christ. God is creative and God can make himself known if you seek him. The other thing we find is it involved vowing to him.

It says this in verse 10, when they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. This is after they left Jerusalem and they're sort of waiting for something to show a, they don't know where to go and going into the house. They saw the child with Mary, his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him again.

Maybe the greatest scene for me, the one I loved the most suit, certainly not most theologically important scene, but it's my favorite scene is where the wise man. Kingmakers fall prostrate before Christ. They did that. Herod didn't Harriet had more knowledge. He had more biblical truth. He had more opportunity.

He did not want to yield the throne. It's the one constant reality in the life of anyone that ultimately rejects Christ people with great revelation that have been given to them, people with very little revelation, but there must be the willingness to, to seed the throne of our hearts to Christ. He comes as king.

Maybe, you know him and maybe this morning is challenged to you. As you know, I'm not just designed to be your, your bud and I am your friend and I am your brother. And, and, but I'm also your king. Or maybe you've not embraced Christ. Maybe you've not really gone to the other side of the glass. It's just sort of a look in because you really haven't been willing to say, Lord, I need you.

I want you, I'm willing to give you the throne of my life. I don't know what it means. I don't know what it's going to look like, but Jesus does come as savior, but Jesus also comes as king Lord. We thank you for your willingness to creatively work in our lives. We thank you for the creative way that you pursued.

Every one of us, the names, the name of Christ as savior and king Lord keep doing that, do that in the heart of all those many, many hundreds of people that are represented in each of our lives. As people were just long to see. No, you love you bow the knee to you. Lord creatively. Pursue them. I pray today in Jesus name.

Amen.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/jesus-came-as-a-king 213d8b3b-bc7f-414e-a4ae-2d4457a8c691 Sun, 19 Dec 2021 08:33:29 GMT <div data-html="true">Matthew 2:1-12 <br /><br /> “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose2 and have come to worship him.” <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Thanks guys. Invite you to take your Bibles to Matthew chapter two this morning, Matthew chapter two. Um, There were, um, a number of Afghan refugees that were here at the nativity last night. And I didn't know that the, uh, all those boxes had been delivered to Mike's house. So I was just thinking maybe we could have an extra scene at the nativity and just have them go over to his house. <br /><br /> Matthew chapter two, I'm going to read verses one through 12 this morning, familiar passage. If you are familiar with the Christmas story now, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold wise, men from the east came to Jerusalem saying, where is he? Who has been born king of the Jews for, we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him. <br /><br /> When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled and all Jerusalem with him and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people. He inquired of them, where the Christ was to be born. They told him in Bethlehem of Judea for, so it is written by the prophet and you will, Bethlehem in the land of Judah are by no means least among the rulers of Judah for, from you shall come a ruler who show shepherd. <br /><br /> My people, Israel then Herod summoned the Wiseman secretly and ascertained from them. What time the star had appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem saying, go and search diligently for the child. And when you have found him, bring me word that I too may come and worship him. After listening to the king, they went on their way and behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them, until it came to rest over the place where the child was, when they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy and going into the house. <br /><br /> They saw the child with Mary, his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then opening their treasures. They offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country. By another way, Lord, we ask your guidance as we open your word this morning, help us, as we look at a familiar passage to remind us of familiar and perhaps new truths as we reflect on it today in Jesus name. <br /><br /> Amen. As you come to this passage, I want to just paint a scenario, the scene. And of course we've been in a series, sort of looking at some of the classic texts of the Christmas story of Jesus being introduced to individuals. And as we continue that we're now coming to a scene that actually has taken place close to two years after Jesus' birth. <br /><br /> If you think of all the events where the shepherd. Were were, uh, directed by the angels to go and see the Christ who had been born in a manger there outside of Bethlehem. It's two years later. And as this has taken these two years have gone by apparently Joseph and Mary have stayed in Bethlehem. They have set up his carpentry business. <br /><br /> It's a new town for them. It's a town where they are beginning their lives as a new couple. And this is life has been going on. So we're now looking at all those events. We've looked at in the, in the angelic, uh, coming to Mary, coming separately to Joseph coming in Nazareth coming now in Bethlehem, the host of angels that have come to the shepherds. <br /><br /> It's two years in the rear view mirror that we see those events, which actually. It's astonishing because here they are. And this young family has settled into the town where all this took place in what appears to be absolute obscurity. And we might wonder, how is this possible? I mean, these angels, apparently the word used of host usually represents thousands of angels to have appeared in the sky. <br /><br /> These shepherds have come and all of this has taken place. He's even been dedicated in the temple, uh, to Simeon where another revelation has come a few days after his birth to, to SIM in it's happening, come to Anna, an older woman there. I mean, all of this is going on and here they are setting up carpentry shop. <br /><br /> Two years later in a town that most people think had a few hundred residents, five miles from Jerusalem. And as we reflect on this, we come to this passage in Matthew chapter two, two years later, and this scene inherits court affirms that Jerusalem, basically slumbers in spiritual ignorance and indifference of the fact that the Messiah just down the road is growing up and is now a toddler right nearby. <br /><br /> We might ask the question why, I mean, how is this possible? And I would suggest that though, there are astonishing miracles associated with Jesus' entrance into the. It was not God's intention to use a megaphone, to announce the birth of Jesus. He did that with individuals. He did that in astonishing, miraculous ways, but he did it selectively and uniquely, he told shepherds who actually weren't even qualified to go into the temple because they were considered unclean. <br /><br /> He did it to an obscure chef, a skewer young carpenter. He did it to a woman, both born up in a town of about three to 400 people in, in the, uh, in the Northern part of Galilee that had no relationship to Jerusalem whatsoever. He did it selectively uniquely, and he did it in the same way when he told the guys that we're going to read about here in Matthew chapter two, these guys called the Wiseman. <br /><br /> This is such a vital view of spiritual reality. God must move first in revealing himself. It's not by wisdom or goodness or zeal or religiosity that people encounter. Jesus, God makes himself known to people. He does it beautifully, and it brings incredible comfort to us. First of all, if you have embraced Jesus Christ as your savior, it is because God has moved into your life by his grace. <br /><br /> If you hear this morning to say, well, it hasn't happened to me and I, and I it's, I just, I hear about this, but as far as personal relationship, well, the very fact that you're here, the very fact that you're under the sound of a biblical teaching is indication that God is moving into your life to one degree or another. <br /><br /> And you say, well, I'm only here because my family makes me come on Christmas morning. And it's only way I get to go out to lunch. You're still here and I would suggest God is pursuing. We certainly see that in these pictures, in these Christmas encounters, we find that God has revealed his son and his entrance into the world with different features, highlighted to some in these, in these miraculous revelations, he has been seen as the savior for sinners. <br /><br /> For some, he is the, the prophesied Messiah as to some, he is the one identified with broken people. I think that's the primary focus in, in, in Matthew chapter one, where he shows the lineage of, of Jesus and he, and he, and he has some appearing to this young, um, probably late teenaged carpenter named Joseph. <br /><br /> Here he comes and is presented as a king. It's not surprising in the context in which he's presented and to whom he's revealed. But as we look at this, I want to just think of three aspects of Jesus being received as king. And we're going to see the first one here in verse one and two, the threat of Jesus as king. <br /><br /> Let me read to you again. Verse one and two of chapter two. Now, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold wise, men from the east came to Jerusalem saying, where is he? You has been born king of the Jews for, we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him. <br /><br /> Now, the interesting person. That this news gets to is a guy named Herod, who is the ruler of the juice. Now, when you come to the palace and ask, where is the king? It is going to alarm the guy sitting on the throne, especially this guy. Now I was a history major. I love history to me. I love the stories. <br /><br /> That's what history is to me, but I know not everybody loves history. So I'm going to say this at the beginning. I'm going to spend a little time giving you some history. I think it's going to be worth your while, but hang with me. Okay. Herod is actually a man who is known as Herod. The great. Herod the great has at this point of his life is about seven years old. <br /><br /> Actually, he's going to die within the next year. A couple of years, actually, he's going to die within, um, just about a year. He has been on the throne for almost 35 years as the ruler of Judea. I do Mia, some of the other areas that are along the Mediterranean sea, where he is located, he is ruling, but he is not under an independent rule because he is answerable to the, the oversight of Rome. <br /><br /> But he's still he's the ruler. Uh, here's what took place. And 68 D the Romans reached the farthest they ever reached in their history. After four centuries, they began to reach farther eastward. They now came to the very Eastern most part of the Mediterranean sea to the land that bordered the Mediterranean sea, a land that we know as Palestine or the holy land, and along that Eastern part of the Mediterranean sea. <br /><br /> And if you could, if you've ever done Bible stuff, you know, it's divided this at the low body of water up here, that's called the sea of Galilee. There's a bigger body of water down here. That's the dead sea. And they're both inland from the Mediterranean sea. Okay. See a Galilee dead sea. And there's a river that goes down. <br /><br /> The Jordan river. Most of this area is an area called Judea. There's an area called Samaria and Syria, all that was a part of it. But down here below the dead sea, on the Eastern side of the dead sea, there was this land called. When the Romans came in in 68 D and began to try to take over this whole region, there was a ruling party. <br /><br /> They were Jews. They had been ruling for 103 years at the time they were called . It was a family of Jews that, that had tremendous influence. And they basically had their own little kingdom. It's where the, the, the Jews lived when the Roman started encroaching into this area in 60 BC, the EDA mites. Again, this group down here to the Eastern part of the dead sea, and the area was now called. <br /><br /> I do Mia because the Greek form of Edam is I do Mia. The ado Meehan's supported the Romans particularly. Two prominent members of the, I do means to eat a mites, a guy named, uh, well, I won't even, I'm not going to give it too many names, a father and a son, the son who was Harriet. Okay. You with me so far, the dad died. <br /><br /> Carrot became the primary mover, shaker and tie the Jewish establishment. Even though he was familiar with the Jews, he was, uh, very familiar with the Jewish traditions, the teachings, all that stuff, but he became the local supporter of the Romans coming in. Eventually the Romans completely vanquished the, the, the Israelite stronghold and, and ruling family. <br /><br /> And not surprisingly in 37, BC Herod sailed to Rome and was installed as the. And conferred with the title by the Senate of Rome, with this title king of the Jews hated by the religious ISTEP, the Jewish establishment for now decades. <br /><br /> He was a man that tried during his reign to win the Jews over. He did things like he actually rebuilt the temple and expanded it. That's why in Jesus' day, it was known as Herod's temple. He did many big building establishments and port cities. He was known as Herod the great largely because of the way he expanded the influence of this part of the, the, the, the empire. <br /><br /> He actually, he was married, but he took a second wife who is a Jewish and she was a member of the hazmat Sonian dynasty. She was trying to, he was trying to Curry favor with the fam who had been over the juice, but basically the overwhelming priority inherits life was to protect his throne. It was his greatest ambition. <br /><br /> Anyone who posed a threat was removed. Anyone who's suspected of disloyalty lost their properties and holdings, even though he is known historically as Herod the great, he was despised in Jewish records of the day. He did things like this. He had two brothers in law killed because he felt they weren't loyal. <br /><br /> He killed his mother-in-law, who was one of that Jewish ruling. He also killed his Jewish wife because he thought she was being unfaithful to him over a period of years, he killed three different sons. The latest of which was the very year that the wise men showed up in Jerusalem. Okay. So here's a guy that you don't want to come in and say, Hey, where's the one, that's the rightful heir to the throne. <br /><br /> Where's the real king of the Jews. It's not surprising at all to see Harrod's internal response to the wise men. It's totally in character. Now. It's interesting. If you read the text, the wise men don't first come to the palace. That's how we all think of the story. That's how I think of the story. But basically the wise men are in the town of Jerusalem, about 80,000 people in the town. <br /><br /> And at while they're, their word is getting out that these mucky mucks from Persia have come and they're asking where's he this born king of the Jews and not surprisingly, it, it says that Herod was disturbed. This may be one of the classic understatements of history. He was disturbed and the whole city's disturb. <br /><br /> What is this? What is it going on? The first thing Herod do does is not bring the guys in for a conference. It says he first consulted describes, he knew enough of the scripture to know there were all kinds of old Testament. Prophecy say says, whereas the one that is supposed to be born king of the Jews, the son of David, he knew the he'll Testament, promises of Messiah. <br /><br /> Where's he going to be born? They said Bethlehem, which was just down the street from Jerusalem. Then he brings the Wiseman in and he's, it says it's a secret meeting. This is not a public audience. It's a private audience. He's meeting with them secretly. And it's interesting that he does not do, we will, we might expect him to do, which is to take these guys and to basically put them on the rack and say, where's he going to be born? <br /><br /> What do you know, where did this, what do you, how did you find out about this now? He doesn't use power. He uses guile. He just says, oh yeah, I'm I'm in. I'm I'm excited. About what you're telling us that, that the king, where is it going to be born? Because I want to go and worship him too. And so they promise apparently that they'll tell they'll come back and tell him, of course, as you know, the story of the angel says, don't go because he's going to try to kill the child. <br /><br /> So they leave. But here's the scenario. Herod is doing everything. Why he is determined to not share his throne with anybody, no interlopers, nobody else coming. Nobody going to tell him who his, who who's going to be his heir to the throne. Nobody's going to threaten him. Nobody is going to come and unseat Herod from his own throne, I believe. <br /><br /> And remember, of course, all of the records we have of the gospels are chosen by the spirit of God, from thousands upon thousands of stories and accounts that could have been told to. I believe one of the reason God chose us this account is to just give us a picture of what goes on in our own lives. <br /><br /> When the king comes to the door of our lives, king Herod's reaction to Christ is in a sense, a picture of all of us. If you want to be king and someone else comes along saying he is the king, then one of you has to give in only one person can sit on a throne. Romans chapter eight says an interesting thing about us. <br /><br /> It says for the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God. When it says the mind that is said in Romans chapter eight, it's talking about our natural state. Uh, before we, we embrace Christ and his changing, uh, nature in our lives. He says, this is our natural state. We are hostile to God for it does not submit to God's law. <br /><br /> Indeed. It cannot. Those are in the flesh. Cannot please. God. The focus on highlighting is this word hostile. The word hostile means literally that we are at war that God has an enemy, a threat he's trying to take over at the core of the human heart is the impulse. No one tells me what to do. There is a natural enmity of the human heart against all claims of sovereignty over it. <br /><br /> It rises a little when minor claims are made over us, but Jesus' claims of authority are total. He says, I come as to king. And this picture we have of Herod is, is the fact that when Jesus. Offers himself to come into a person's life. And there is the beauty of grace and there is the beauty of, of, of, uh, forgiveness. <br /><br /> There is also the reality. And if I yield my life to Jesus Christ, if I say yes to Christ, I am saying yes to him as Lord of my life, there is a threat of Jesus coming in as king Tim Keller says it beautifully. I think this way, he says this, we want at all costs to remain on the throne of our lives. We may use religion to stay on that throne, trying to put God in the position of having to do our bidding because we are so righteous rather than serving him unconditionally. <br /><br /> Or we may flee from religion, become atheists and loudly claim that there is no God, either way. We're expressing our natural hostility to the Lordship of the true king. Jesus comes to earth as. And it is threatening initially to our natures to say, what do you mean I'm not in charge anymore? What do you mean? <br /><br /> He comes in as, as Lord I'd I'd like to, I like the free bus ticket to heaven, but what do you mean? Well, it's part of embracing Christ as savior of our lives. The offering of Jesus is interesting in this passage, he's offered to people near to the truth. I mentioned that Herod was raised in this area of Edam or in the day it was called. <br /><br /> I do Mia and historical records of the time indicate that Herod came from a background that was very familiar with the Israelite teaching. As a matter of fact, Eden by this point had sort of been, even though they were a separate cultural state, they largely did practice the, the Israeli faith, at least many of them did. <br /><br /> He was familiar with the scriptures. He knew the religious system of the Jews. <br /><br /> His response to the statement, where is the one that is born king of the Jews is not what I would have expected. You know, this is a guy who has been declined. I mean, I think what he would have done, what I would've expected him to do is where is he? That is born king of the Jews. And he runs into his inner palace office and he brings out this plaque and he says, do you read this plaque from the Roman Senate? <br /><br /> We declare that Herod is the king of the Jews. What do you mean whose born king of the Jews? <br /><br /> But he doesn't do that. Why? Because he knew what the term meant. He was familiar with the concept that there was a coming king on. That would be, that was air to the Davidic throne. He knew he was not that he knew there were promises. He knew truth. Inherit was aware of these things. He knew the promise. He knew the prophecies. <br /><br /> And when he heard the message, Herod was confronted with a choice, will I find out if this is the real one in order that I might yield my life to him, or will I view him as a threat coming after the throne that I want to sit upon both physically and in my life. There's a second group of people where Jesus is offered as king. <br /><br /> It's talking to them as, and I'm calling them the people far off. And this is verse one. And the whole section about the wise men from the east that we see a couple of things in how God moves into people's life. That seemed far off. These are people that may not have that same level of, of spiritual awareness that a heritage would certainly have living just a few miles from. <br /><br /> These are the wise men from the east. And as we read this passage, we hear that what has drawn them is a star that they saw a bright light in the sky. There are different perspectives of what this is. I'll just say that the two most prominent ones that are presented one is the fact that there actually was at this time, historically, a, uh, conjunction of planets that only happens once every 800 years, uh, Johan coupler in the 16 hundreds, saw it again. <br /><br /> It's where Venus and Jupiter sort of combined. And they, they, they both doubled their light and bright light in the sky. And he pressed postulated that it was this, that happened because he looked back and saw the centuries. And he said, this was right around the time in which Jesus was born. It's possible. <br /><br /> It was something like that that got used. It's possible. Also as many have conjectured that this was another manifestation of God's glory though, the pillar of fire by night that led the Israelites. It sort of argues for something like that, because it's pretty localized, right? I mean, when you come and, and, and all of a sudden it disappears and it, when these guys get to Jerusalem and they don't know where to go from there. <br /><br /> And then all of a sudden it shows up and it takes them right to the very place, five miles away when it reappears to Bethlehem. But whatever it was, it was something where God moved to make himself known to these men. We find also that God moved with creativity. And this is my favorite part of the sermon. <br /><br /> We, these wise men were called Majayang is actually what the word Wiseman is translated from the word Majayang is the word we get magic. These were prominent people. It explains why Herod was not inclined to put these guys on the rack or to try to, to try to Powerball them. These were prominent people, Matt Jai, where the individuals that studied the stars. <br /><br /> It's interesting in the book of Daniel, Daniel is called a magic. He was an individual that interpreted for the Kings. They were counselors for Kings. They were individuals that, that, that focused and, uh, particularly on the stellar beings, they were in that sense. Astronomers the word astronomer, Astro stars, no Moss Wiens name. <br /><br /> They, they named and categorized. But they also were astrologers. They studied the stars. They tried to derive messages and meanings from it, both terms, astrology, and astronomy in the match. I were combined together. They had incredible influence in their cultures. As a matter of fact, their nickname was kingmakers. <br /><br /> They were the ones that would actually, uh, have to pass on the coronation of Kings in Persia and Babylon. And these men came certainly with great fanfare and regalia. And the gifts they give to Jesus are astoundingly valuable. They come as prominent individuals, but their focus of life, their language is the stars. <br /><br /> God speaks to them in their own language. God makes himself known in a place that most people would have had no meaning, no value. No, they wouldn't have got it. This bright light. They recognize something there. The language of these men, the students of the heavens are where they looked where others would not Don Richardson, who has written a few books. <br /><br /> Stun Richardson was a missionary in, uh, uh, Erie and Jaya believe it was many years ago. And he, and he ended up becoming a mission executive. He's written a number of books. And one of the books he calls he has written is called eternity in their hearts. It's a book that is, uh, the title comes from Ecclesiastes three 11, where it says God has made everything beautiful in its time. <br /><br /> He has also set eternity in the human heart. His argument in the book is that, and it was his experience on the mission field. And he Chronicles missions experience after missions experience of others that he talked to, that God in every culture has placed, uh, this, this language, this revelation of himself within, uh, even the most seemingly dark and pagan of religions, eternity in their hearts is basically his argument that God creatively makes himself known to people. <br /><br /> He uses the illustration. If any of you have read the story piece child, it's a perfect example. He was dealing with a tribe that was that utterly had it seeming no values of biblical Christianity. As a matter of fact, the highest thing they valued was the, uh, practice of Beatrice. That the more you could win someone's friendship, whether it was a friend or a w uh, particularly whether it was a native tribe, a neighboring tribe, and you could deceive them into thinking you were at peace and then you could kill them. <br /><br /> Was the highest level of, uh, merit that you could gain. B how do you, how do you try to communicate the gospel to people whose value system seems to be completely topsy turvy, to biblical Christianity and, and biblical faith. And so for four years, he was laboring there. And one day there was a great tribal conflict between tribes that had been betraying each other for generations, they were, they were going to war and in the midst of the warfare, the tribe that he was familiar with, decided to end the battle. <br /><br /> And what he did was he actually, the chief brought out his infants. And offered his infant son, uh, to the opposing tribe. And Don Richardson was a gas, you'd know what was going on. And then he found out as he talked to the chief and others, that the only way you could end conflict between people was with the gift of what they called the peace child. <br /><br /> It had to be the son and the king had to be willing to slay the sun in the presence of, or he could give it, it was up to the other. And, and Don Richardson said here was the visual that God, this redemptive analogy, as he called them, the redemptive analogy was built into the culture of these people. And he used that to present. <br /><br /> This is what God has done. He has provided peace with you who are at war with him through the offering of his own son. And Richards is an argues that in every culture there are these redemptive analogy. The picture that I think we're reminded of with the Wiseman is the creativeness of God in reaching people. <br /><br /> It's why God seems to be just completely unlimited in the creativity he can use. He uses dreams of some people to just awaken in them questions. He uses failure. He uses setbacks. He uses other people. He uses, uh, inner disco, disquiet. He uses all these different ways. And sometimes with wise men, he uses stars. <br /><br /> I remember sitting in a doctor's office years ago, and it was a time where I was deeply burdened with some individuals in my life. I just hungered to see that. Embrace Christ. And I just didn't see any movement. And in this doctor's office, I picked up a magazine as those in the waiting room. And it began to read and happened to be about, uh, a doctor of philosophy. <br /><br /> And this doctor philosophy was talking about, um, he had as a, in his doctoral program, he was a specialist in the existentialist and the existentialist, um, Albert Kamoo, uh, John Paul, uh, Starcher these individuals. And if you've studied existentialism at all, I actually love existentialism. Uh, as far as, I mean, it's totally dark. <br /><br /> Christ centered at all, but they're honest. And the result of existentialism is to say basically in ourselves, life is meaningless that we can derive a purpose. That means it's very dark and empty. If you just study honestly, existentialism, it has no answers. And it says life is like that. And it's why the whole concept of the absurd and the theater of the absurd is all associated with existentials. <br /><br /> This guy was studying existentialism and as he studied it, and as he meditated on it, and as the editors, he did his paper and his, his doctoral defenses, he was struck with the emptiness of life. And it was that which caused him to go back to his Sunday school roots and to think about what he had heard there's about, about Christ coming and, and, and the title of the article was this. <br /><br /> Wait a minute. I wonder, I thought I would remember it and I don't. So I'm going to read it, the title of his article. <br /><br /> Oh, I know what it was. I was led to Christ by an existentialist. I love that. And I cried. I sat in the waiting room and I just felt like the Lord said, mark, I'm very creative. I'm very able to move in the lives of people in ways. I mean, who would have thought? Yeah, here's a good evangelism plan. Read some, uh yeah. <br /><br /> What in the world? How can that possibly it can with a God that can take stars to bring people 1200 miles away to come and be drawn. God is so sovereignly creative in working in people's lives. The beautiful hope for us is the answer to the question. Yeah. But what about people that have never heard, you know, that haven't grown up in Jerusalem like Herod did? <br /><br /> Well, God has a way of working with his redemptive analogies and his creativity with the wise men who seemed to be living in the most steep darkness of the vestiges of the Persian empire, where nobody knows the gospel has gone to make himself known. <br /><br /> The result is what our responsibility is. Then the embracing of Jesus is king. It involved pursuit of him. The magi had to leave their Homeland to go to Judea, a journey of between a thousand or 1200 miles. It's why when they first saw the star. And they actually get there. It's somewhere between a year and two years that they've Herod has learned that much because that's the age of the kids he's going to kill in, in Bethlehem and trying to wipe out Jesus. <br /><br /> They were God seekers responding to the light they'd been given in Jeremiah 29, verse 13. It says this, you will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. This is the response that God asks, be a seeker. If God is real. God is able to make himself known if God is real and maybe you're here today, or maybe you're listening online. <br /><br /> You say, God, I don't know. I, I grew up in the church. It didn't work for me and it, and, and, and, but I, I do sort of wish I, you know, I would like to have a God. I would like to be a guy. I would like to be a gun. Then look for him. I challenge you to go to his word, not because, and don't go with your Sunday school class eyes. <br /><br /> Just go to the scripture. I mean, if he's real, if he's big, if this is possibly his book, he can certainly make himself known to you. You might also be surprised to see the unusual ways he'll show up as well. He is creative. God. He is able to make himself known, but don't just sit back, waiting for a zap to come be a seeker. <br /><br /> Listen, look. Pursue God speaks in the languages of astrologists with stars. God speaks in the language of, of pagan warlike people with a, with a redemptive analogy that speaks exactly to the picture of Christ. God is creative and God can make himself known if you seek him. The other thing we find is it involved vowing to him. <br /><br /> It says this in verse 10, when they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. This is after they left Jerusalem and they're sort of waiting for something to show a, they don't know where to go and going into the house. They saw the child with Mary, his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him again. <br /><br /> Maybe the greatest scene for me, the one I loved the most suit, certainly not most theologically important scene, but it's my favorite scene is where the wise man. Kingmakers fall prostrate before Christ. They did that. Herod didn't Harriet had more knowledge. He had more biblical truth. He had more opportunity. <br /><br /> He did not want to yield the throne. It's the one constant reality in the life of anyone that ultimately rejects Christ people with great revelation that have been given to them, people with very little revelation, but there must be the willingness to, to seed the throne of our hearts to Christ. He comes as king. <br /><br /> Maybe, you know him and maybe this morning is challenged to you. As you know, I'm not just designed to be your, your bud and I am your friend and I am your brother. And, and, but I'm also your king. Or maybe you've not embraced Christ. Maybe you've not really gone to the other side of the glass. It's just sort of a look in because you really haven't been willing to say, Lord, I need you. <br /><br /> I want you, I'm willing to give you the throne of my life. I don't know what it means. I don't know what it's going to look like, but Jesus does come as savior, but Jesus also comes as king Lord. We thank you for your willingness to creatively work in our lives. We thank you for the creative way that you pursued. <br /><br /> Every one of us, the names, the name of Christ as savior and king Lord keep doing that, do that in the heart of all those many, many hundreds of people that are represented in each of our lives. As people were just long to see. No, you love you bow the knee to you. Lord creatively. Pursue them. I pray today in Jesus name. <br /><br /> Amen.</div> false no <![CDATA[Glory in the Highest / Glory in the Lowest]]> Luke 2:8-21

"And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear."



We're going to be in Luke chapter two, Luke two, as we continue this series looking at Christmas, Luke, true eight through 21, some of the most famous Bible verses when it comes to the Christmas season, we'll read them together. And then we will pray Luke chapter two, reading verses eight through 21.

And in the same region, there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night and an angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory important word here of the Lord shone around them. And they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, fear, not for behold. I bring you good news of great joy.

That will be for all the people. For onto you is born this day in the city of David, a savior who is Christ the Lord. This will be assigned for you. You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. Suddenly there was with the angel, a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying glory that word again to God in the highest and on earth.

Peace among those with whom he is pleased. When the angel went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us. And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in a manger.

And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning the child, all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her. And the shepherds returned glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen as it had been told them, Lord, we come this morning in the midst of quite a season, we ask you for clarity and the different characters that we see in this story.

We ask you for renewed eyes. There is probably no one in this room whom this story is a brand new story for them. So we ask you for brand new truth in this old, beautiful story that has changed so many of our lives. Thank you for your grace. Thank you for a chance to spend time listening and hearing about you in Jesus name.

Amen. My, my son's, I've got 11 year old son, Atticus, eight year old son, Solomon. And they recently came up with different titles and I don't know where they did it. Some they're doing school something, and they, they came up with titles and I heard them talking and they said, ma Solomon was talking about how his name is the keeper of the dog, Solomon, the keeper of the dog.

And he does a great job taking care of the dog and the 11 year old self-titled himself, the ball of energy, also very appropriate name. And so being narcissistic myself, of course, I wondered. Did I get a name to which they responded? Oh yeah, you are dad. The teller of corny jokes.

There are four characters in this story, and we're going to give them each a title, each person, each character in the story. We'll give an extra title. As we see the glory of Jesus Christ coming to earth intersecting with humanity. The first we're going to start with the shepherds and we're going to get a call then the anonymous, the shepherds, the anonymous few things about the shepherds and that they are nameless in the story.

We know none of their names right in the Christmas story were given Mary and Joseph Elizabeth Simeon, Hannah Rudolph frosty, Elsa dad, the teller of corny jokes. No, we were given many stories or many names in this story, but when it comes to the shepherds, we have no. There's genealogies in Matthew and in Luke, but there's no genealogy of the shepherds.

They are nameless without character quality or back story. Secondly, they're of unknown origin, right? Where the Shepherd's rich, where the Shepherd's poor, where they, what was their status? Where did they come from? Were they from Bethlehem or were they from Jerusalem coming to the fields? Kind of define pasture.

We don't know. They don't have known origin. We're not sure where that they come from or what status that they are. Third thing there without prophecy, there's over 300 old Testament prophecy that that is being told of the coming of this Christ. And part of the miracle of the scripture is to understand all the things for told in all the things fulfilled, but there's not anything said about the shepherd.

They are not foretold in the prophecies at all. A while in this text, the angel and what the angel is saying is speaking fulfillment of prophecies, but not to whom he is saying they shepherds did not have a place in this story before this moment. And lastly, there without influence beyond this point, it's not that we see what happened to the shepherds or that they went to their various communities and, and started an uprising of people who were interested in Christ.

All we know, all we know about these people is directly in the text we read without prophecy before without known influence. After in 1966, Paul McCartney wrote a song along with the Beatles called Eleanor Rigby. My favorite. Uh, beetle song reads more like a poem than even a song in this song. He wrote these words.

Speaking of Eleanor Rigby died in the church and was buried along with her name. Nobody came father McKenzie wiping the dirt from his hands as he walks from the grave. No one was saved all the lonely people. Where do they all come from? All the lonely people. Where do they all belong? In October McCartney wrote an article for the new Yorker about this song and gave some backstory.

He said, growing up, I knew a lot of old lady. Partly through what was called Bob a job week when Scouts did chores for a shilling, you get a shilling for cleaning out a shed or mowing along. I wanted to write a song that would sung, sum them up. Eleanor Rigby is based on an old lady. I got to know very well.

I don't even know how I first met her, but I would go around to her house. Not just once or twice. I found out that she lived on her own. So I would go around there and just chat, which is sort of crazy. If you think about me being some young Liverpool guy, I don't know what that means later. I would offer to go and get her shopping.

She gave me a list and I bring this stuff back and we'd sit in her kitchen. I would visit and just hearing her stories, enriched my soul and influenced the songs I would later. What's McCartney saying McCartney is in the lyrics of his own song, recognizing Eleanor Rigby, a person that was mostly anonymous.

He sang all the lonely people. Where do they all come from? All the lonely people, where do they all belong? And in this story, he sang Eleanor Rigby belongs to me. Her story belongs to me. She has a place of belonging in my heart, the anonymous, the nameless shepherds, the influence lists shepherds those without backstory those without great story.

After this, Jesus is intentional to say even those that might just seem like a blip on the screen. The nameless, the anonymous they belong in the Christmas story. First character is the shepherd. Second character is, is the one they hear about this is the Christ and we're going to give Christ a title here.

We're going to call the Christ the revolution. What do we learn about this Christ in this story? Will the angels come and speak from verse 10 to 14? And they're speaking about this Christ the revolution, first thing they say, first thing the angel said is Jesus is good news. That will cause great joy.

This great warrior of light shows up on the mountain side, in the midst of a dark night, right? This is a dark night where you can barely see the sheep. And all of a sudden the high beams of this warrior of light appear before them. And they are terrified. Why are they're terrified? Because they are saying human beings.

Every single one, none of us would be like, oh, the Lord is here. Right? We would all be terrified at this moment. And so the angel finally speaks this moment. The first proclamation of God coming to earth has now been born and says, do not be afraid. Why for I bring you good news. This good news is actually the one, the Greek word for gospel you and get let, so it's basic.

The word is actually translating gospel Lising what's happening is there's gospel. Lising happening. This good news is the gospel Lising story. It is the that God has come here, but it is not just good news. It is not just some good news that came from there to here. It's not just a beautiful painting that you can see in objectively say it is good news.

It is what it is. Good news that causes a response to those who hear it. I bring you good news of great joy. It is the good news that reaches right into the human soul. To produce, not just joy, but great joy where Jesus is. There is joy, even in mangers, even in lonely fields, even in seasons of obscurity, poverty or pain where Jesus resides so often in those lonely places of human suffering, even there there's good news of great joy.

Why? Because he is for all the people. Second thing, Jesus verse 10. Good news of great joy. That will be for all the people, not just for the elite, not just for the Jewish nation, not just for the Roman citizens who would have more rights than others did. Jesus came for the young, old, rich, poor religious unreligious politician in con.

Jew Gentile slave free. Jesus was the message of hope for the faithful Simeon and for the thief on the cross. The message was for all the people, and here's where we get this name, the revolution, it's a borrowed name. I borrowed from a New York times article New York times article by Peter Weiner wrote an article where he wrote simply Christ.

I could find my notes. That Christ is the Christmas revolution is the article that he wrote in New York times says this because the Christmas story has been told for so long. It's easy for Christians to forget how revolutionary Jesus birth was. The idea that God will become human dwell among us in circumstances, both humble and humility.

Shattered previous assumptions. He went on and say, it's a dramatic overturning of ancient thought. And I wish I could read this whole article for you, but he quotes a secular humanist and French philosopher named Luke ferry who wrote this Christianity was to introduce the notion that humanity was fundamentally identical, that men were created in dignity equally, an unprecedented idea at the time.

And one in which our world owes its entire democratic inheritance Weiner goes on to write. We are part of a great drama that God has chosen to participate in, not the role of a conquering king, but as a suffering servant, not with the tent intention to condemn the world, but to redeem. He saw the inestimable bull worth of human life, regardless of social status, wealth and worldly, achievement intelligence, or national origin Christ coming in the way he came was a revolution that has ripples into our lives and cultures to this day.

He is for all the people. Verse 11, Jesus is the Messiah. Now, now for the people it's not, it's not a surprise that the Messiah would come. It's a surprise on how he came, but the Messiah was longed for, by the nation of Israel. It was in the very bones of the people. Again, the prophecies pointing towards when the Messiah would come, it will be common cultural practice to speak of, think of imagined daydream dream at night about when the Messiah would come, what would it be like?

What would he be like? What would it mean for their people? Wondering why he takes so long as all four gospels begin with this, with this deity of Jesus Christ and Matthew and Luke, they begin with the genealogy, tracing him all the way back. Mark affirm says deity in the first three verses. And John speaks perhaps our greatest discourse on the DD of Christ and the first 10 verses and the opening of his book, all the gospel teachers are saying.

This one who's coming. He is the Messiah, not just a prophet, like guys, Isaiah, not just a high priest, like milk his a deck, not just a king, like David Christ does come wearing the hats of prophet priest and king. But there had been those before the angel says he is the Messiah. The Lord, this is God himself.

Number four. The text says that Jesus is the glory of the father. Jesus is the glory of the father. And I love the statement of glory that we see a couple of different times in this text. And as he speaks of the glory, he says this in verse 14, glory to God in the highest. Throughout the gospel of John. We see Jesus's concern of the glory of the father.

Number five, Jesus is peace to all those who trust him. The angels declaration is on earth. Peace on those to whom his favor rests. What does that mean to whom his favor rests? Hebrews 11. We learned that without faith. It's impossible to please. God, it's impossible to have his favor. Favor is learning to live a life of faith or perhaps more simply spoken favor is living a life of trust.

Ephesians two 14 simply says this. He himself is our peace. He is the royalty of priests, peace, the prince of peace and the peace who had now come to live with those who trust him, third character. We see, and this has been the most fun for me to spend time with this week are the angels. I've got to tell you something.

I don't think about angels a whole lot. I, I, of course talk about and think about, and read Bible verses to some degree, but the angels in the story were always just kind of like in my mind, that ball of light that's talking this week, I spent some time thinking, not just what it would be like to be so blown away as a shepherd, what would it be like to be one of the angels?

What would it be like to be the angel that gives that proclamation or one of the hosts of angels? We don't know how many that filled the sky few things about angels that we learn as scriptures. They've got 196 mentions in the. That's a lot smaller than Peter. Peter comes into like 100, 996 mentions.

These heavenly beings are given in scripture. The majority of the books of the Bible have angels talked about in them old Testament, new Testament, almost about the same amount of mentions in old Testament and new Testament. Literature angels are created by Christ. We learn in John one, one through three, and Colossians one that Christ is actually the agent of creating these heavenly beings.

These angels are not God. They're not all present. Not all powerful, not all. Knowing in Daniel 10 in Jude one, they have limitations that God does not have. They are eternal beings, but they are not deity. They are volitional beings who make choices, who have desires and emotions. We learn this in June 38 first, Peter.

And they're also described as wise, intelligent and discerning in second, Samuel 14, these are not religious robots. These are not drones sent to earth with a little mess, R2D2 message. These are intelligent willful connected warriors of God. They are beings that deeply know him. The greatest. Chris, Emily have a favorite Christmas movie.

Anybody? No one has a favorite Christmas movie. Yeah. Okay. What's a faint. What's one of your favorites. It's a wonderful life. That little predictable. Yeah, no, no, you have to say it. Got it. Okay. What else? Any other favorites Al? Thank you. Who said Alf? Can you stand on the pew? Don't tell Tim, go ahead. Right.

This is the intelligent person right there. Okay. All right. Elvis, the number one, Christmas music movie of all time. And it is because it's just awesome. I love it. There's a scene where buddy, the elf buddy, the elf grew up in the north pole and he came all the way down to New York city, which he found to be slightly different than the, than the north pole.

And he came down there and he was like a fish out of water. Cause he thought he was an elf, very confusing, real identity. That's a deep movie. But anyway, he comes and he finds out that Santa is coming to the place where he works and he goes, crazy. Santa is coming. He's so excited because Santa is coming.

He misses Santa. He grew up with Santa. He knows Santa. And the next day Santa shows up. It's not Santa it's fake. By identity theft, Santa. Right? So Elvis sitting there and he is so bothered. And another thing is all these ignorant children are sitting there saying, it's Santa it's Santa, he's got the beard.

He's got enough of the description that Santa and Alpha's sitting there going, this is not Santa. And so there becomes this dialogue back and forth with Santa because, because the Alf knows this is fake. Santa elf knows and says, you sit on a throne of lies. Not only that Santa doesn't pass the sniff test, what does he say?

You don't smell like Santa. You smell like what? Beef and cheese, even cheese. So eventually he grabs fake SANAS fake beard, holds it up. Like I like a great trophy to see, see I've exposed. I know who Stan is, and this is not him. And it's the greatest fight scene you've ever seen. Lego's and think it's just the best movie.

It's a wonderful life. Come on, elf.

I sort of think when it comes to these angels, they had a moment like that. Elf says, I know him, the angels who came to proclaim Jesus on that field. Weren't surprised they weren't surprised he came this way. Why. Cause they know him. Mary is shocked when she heard the news. Joseph can't believe it.

Shepherds are terrified. The nation of Israel will grapple the rest of the gospels with, is this the Messiah? Is it not the Messiah, but not the angels? I don't think they're surprised Jesus came like this at all. They're not surprised because this is exactly the character and compassion of the one that they know the incarnation of Jesus becoming flesh.

Of course it would happen like this. Of course, not two miles away in Jerusalem where it's expected by. But in this small, mostly forgotten town called the town of thieves. Of course now with friends and family on baby showers in hometown. But, but while on a journey that they had to make to fulfill a decree by a godless Caesar, of course not in a hospital or medical facility, of course not in somebody's home or not even in a rented room, a stable is just the kind of place the angels thought he would come.

A feeding trough that has saliva and half chewed, food of livestock. That's the king. They know a lyric from a song we sang earlier from throne of endless glory to a cradle in the dirt. Of course the angels were not surprised. They were not surprised it was not with Kings and Queens priests and religious rulers.

Of course not with people showered, dressed up and a giant feast to follow. Of course, in the night, of course, to some unsuspecting anonymous people, the Christmas story seems extraordinary because of the events and the details and it is, but you see the Christmas story is so extraordinary because of him and that him is the one they have always known.

It is he who always has been the. Always is the same. Always will be the same as the writer of Hebrew says, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. And while the angels were high fiving and so excited to do this, I think part of the joy was like, they don't know him like we do. This is going to blow their minds, but not the angels.

This is exactly the Christ whom they know the final character. And the one we're going to get our application from this morning is Mary Mary in verse 19 says simply all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherd said to him, them, but Mary treasured up these things and pondered them in her. This word treasured up as from two words, sin and thereto, sin, meaning close thereto, meaning guard.

She's preserving the words translated as keep safe, ponder, keep our treasurer, keep in mind, keep close. It is a valuing word to keep and guard close. These trues and realities that she is seeing very simply. We learned from Mary to treasure the truth of Luke two to treasure and guard the importance of every human life and how we talk about the unborn and how we speak to our family members and how we, how we talk about the people we disagree with and how you think about the immigrant, the dome, different socioeconomic, the different belief structure or tradition.

And how we deal with our enemy. This is exactly the truth. Jesus came to proclaim and now embodies that every human life matters. Secondly, through Mary, we learn to treasure and guard this gospel, right, as, as, as the shepherds come and they tell him this Yueng Goulet, so that they've heard from the angel, Mary treasures, this and ponders this, she enjoys this.

She values this, the gospel, the good news. The gospel is fully good news of great joy that Jesus concerns himself and loves and cares and involves and self sacrifices to love and lead his people that gospel that needs to be said to ourselves, every. To one another to those in need third, the word treasure.

I'm sorry. The word ponder here is from the two words, sun and BOLO sun means together and Balo means to throw. And as Mary treasured up these things and pondered them, it sang to throw them together to throw these thoughts together. She sitting there seeing hearing of angels, seeing shepherds, feeding trough.

Joseph, who's all kinds of confused at this moment, but this Jesus who she is is, is the one who she gave birth to. And the one who will save her soul, she's throwing these thoughts together. I think that's a great place for us to be at Christmas. A lot of these Christmas thoughts are everywhere right now.

And I think that's awesome. You can hear nativity scripts in your head, right? You can go through secular stores and hear the good news of Jesus in song at Christmas. There's a lot of Christmas truth. And what I would say is, is let's not just acknowledge it, not just put some bumper stickers about reason for season.

That's great, but whatever, but like that we would actually mull it over. We toss it around. We think about it. We'd ponder these things, throw these thoughts together. What would have been like to be there? What does Christmas mean? Not just for me last year. What does it mean for me this year? What's my calling.

What's the sense of mission I received. How is Christ on mission for my heart, through these trues at Christmas, at this time to enjoy him be with him, toss around thoughts of him, think about his wonder. And lastly, we're going to just conclude where I'm going to let you apply that thought. It's my favorite Christmas song.

I'm going to have played over us. Very simply. It's the very theme of this glory that glories in the highest glorious and the lowest that the reality of Christmas that we get to toss around our minds is that he is glory everywhere. And so just as we conclude this, be at the end, we're dismissed very simply enjoy and spend a few minutes pondering, tossing around.

Christmas this year, the same old truths tossed around to understand in a fresh new way, we can go ahead and play that song. Thank you.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/glory-in-the-highest-glory-in-the-lowest 8bb51ba9-0399-4be4-a9b4-7de12e9ce063 Sun, 12 Dec 2021 15:04:07 GMT <div data-html="true">Luke 2:8-21 <br /><br /> "And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear." <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> We're going to be in Luke chapter two, Luke two, as we continue this series looking at Christmas, Luke, true eight through 21, some of the most famous Bible verses when it comes to the Christmas season, we'll read them together. And then we will pray Luke chapter two, reading verses eight through 21. <br /><br /> And in the same region, there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night and an angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory important word here of the Lord shone around them. And they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, fear, not for behold. I bring you good news of great joy. <br /><br /> That will be for all the people. For onto you is born this day in the city of David, a savior who is Christ the Lord. This will be assigned for you. You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. Suddenly there was with the angel, a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying glory that word again to God in the highest and on earth. <br /><br /> Peace among those with whom he is pleased. When the angel went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us. And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in a manger. <br /><br /> And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning the child, all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her. And the shepherds returned glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen as it had been told them, Lord, we come this morning in the midst of quite a season, we ask you for clarity and the different characters that we see in this story. <br /><br /> We ask you for renewed eyes. There is probably no one in this room whom this story is a brand new story for them. So we ask you for brand new truth in this old, beautiful story that has changed so many of our lives. Thank you for your grace. Thank you for a chance to spend time listening and hearing about you in Jesus name. <br /><br /> Amen. My, my son's, I've got 11 year old son, Atticus, eight year old son, Solomon. And they recently came up with different titles and I don't know where they did it. Some they're doing school something, and they, they came up with titles and I heard them talking and they said, ma Solomon was talking about how his name is the keeper of the dog, Solomon, the keeper of the dog. <br /><br /> And he does a great job taking care of the dog and the 11 year old self-titled himself, the ball of energy, also very appropriate name. And so being narcissistic myself, of course, I wondered. Did I get a name to which they responded? Oh yeah, you are dad. The teller of corny jokes. <br /><br /> There are four characters in this story, and we're going to give them each a title, each person, each character in the story. We'll give an extra title. As we see the glory of Jesus Christ coming to earth intersecting with humanity. The first we're going to start with the shepherds and we're going to get a call then the anonymous, the shepherds, the anonymous few things about the shepherds and that they are nameless in the story. <br /><br /> We know none of their names right in the Christmas story were given Mary and Joseph Elizabeth Simeon, Hannah Rudolph frosty, Elsa dad, the teller of corny jokes. No, we were given many stories or many names in this story, but when it comes to the shepherds, we have no. There's genealogies in Matthew and in Luke, but there's no genealogy of the shepherds. <br /><br /> They are nameless without character quality or back story. Secondly, they're of unknown origin, right? Where the Shepherd's rich, where the Shepherd's poor, where they, what was their status? Where did they come from? Were they from Bethlehem or were they from Jerusalem coming to the fields? Kind of define pasture. <br /><br /> We don't know. They don't have known origin. We're not sure where that they come from or what status that they are. Third thing there without prophecy, there's over 300 old Testament prophecy that that is being told of the coming of this Christ. And part of the miracle of the scripture is to understand all the things for told in all the things fulfilled, but there's not anything said about the shepherd. <br /><br /> They are not foretold in the prophecies at all. A while in this text, the angel and what the angel is saying is speaking fulfillment of prophecies, but not to whom he is saying they shepherds did not have a place in this story before this moment. And lastly, there without influence beyond this point, it's not that we see what happened to the shepherds or that they went to their various communities and, and started an uprising of people who were interested in Christ. <br /><br /> All we know, all we know about these people is directly in the text we read without prophecy before without known influence. After in 1966, Paul McCartney wrote a song along with the Beatles called Eleanor Rigby. My favorite. Uh, beetle song reads more like a poem than even a song in this song. He wrote these words. <br /><br /> Speaking of Eleanor Rigby died in the church and was buried along with her name. Nobody came father McKenzie wiping the dirt from his hands as he walks from the grave. No one was saved all the lonely people. Where do they all come from? All the lonely people. Where do they all belong? In October McCartney wrote an article for the new Yorker about this song and gave some backstory. <br /><br /> He said, growing up, I knew a lot of old lady. Partly through what was called Bob a job week when Scouts did chores for a shilling, you get a shilling for cleaning out a shed or mowing along. I wanted to write a song that would sung, sum them up. Eleanor Rigby is based on an old lady. I got to know very well. <br /><br /> I don't even know how I first met her, but I would go around to her house. Not just once or twice. I found out that she lived on her own. So I would go around there and just chat, which is sort of crazy. If you think about me being some young Liverpool guy, I don't know what that means later. I would offer to go and get her shopping. <br /><br /> She gave me a list and I bring this stuff back and we'd sit in her kitchen. I would visit and just hearing her stories, enriched my soul and influenced the songs I would later. What's McCartney saying McCartney is in the lyrics of his own song, recognizing Eleanor Rigby, a person that was mostly anonymous. <br /><br /> He sang all the lonely people. Where do they all come from? All the lonely people, where do they all belong? And in this story, he sang Eleanor Rigby belongs to me. Her story belongs to me. She has a place of belonging in my heart, the anonymous, the nameless shepherds, the influence lists shepherds those without backstory those without great story. <br /><br /> After this, Jesus is intentional to say even those that might just seem like a blip on the screen. The nameless, the anonymous they belong in the Christmas story. First character is the shepherd. Second character is, is the one they hear about this is the Christ and we're going to give Christ a title here. <br /><br /> We're going to call the Christ the revolution. What do we learn about this Christ in this story? Will the angels come and speak from verse 10 to 14? And they're speaking about this Christ the revolution, first thing they say, first thing the angel said is Jesus is good news. That will cause great joy. <br /><br /> This great warrior of light shows up on the mountain side, in the midst of a dark night, right? This is a dark night where you can barely see the sheep. And all of a sudden the high beams of this warrior of light appear before them. And they are terrified. Why are they're terrified? Because they are saying human beings. <br /><br /> Every single one, none of us would be like, oh, the Lord is here. Right? We would all be terrified at this moment. And so the angel finally speaks this moment. The first proclamation of God coming to earth has now been born and says, do not be afraid. Why for I bring you good news. This good news is actually the one, the Greek word for gospel you and get let, so it's basic. <br /><br /> The word is actually translating gospel Lising what's happening is there's gospel. Lising happening. This good news is the gospel Lising story. It is the that God has come here, but it is not just good news. It is not just some good news that came from there to here. It's not just a beautiful painting that you can see in objectively say it is good news. <br /><br /> It is what it is. Good news that causes a response to those who hear it. I bring you good news of great joy. It is the good news that reaches right into the human soul. To produce, not just joy, but great joy where Jesus is. There is joy, even in mangers, even in lonely fields, even in seasons of obscurity, poverty or pain where Jesus resides so often in those lonely places of human suffering, even there there's good news of great joy. <br /><br /> Why? Because he is for all the people. Second thing, Jesus verse 10. Good news of great joy. That will be for all the people, not just for the elite, not just for the Jewish nation, not just for the Roman citizens who would have more rights than others did. Jesus came for the young, old, rich, poor religious unreligious politician in con. <br /><br /> Jew Gentile slave free. Jesus was the message of hope for the faithful Simeon and for the thief on the cross. The message was for all the people, and here's where we get this name, the revolution, it's a borrowed name. I borrowed from a New York times article New York times article by Peter Weiner wrote an article where he wrote simply Christ. <br /><br /> I could find my notes. That Christ is the Christmas revolution is the article that he wrote in New York times says this because the Christmas story has been told for so long. It's easy for Christians to forget how revolutionary Jesus birth was. The idea that God will become human dwell among us in circumstances, both humble and humility. <br /><br /> Shattered previous assumptions. He went on and say, it's a dramatic overturning of ancient thought. And I wish I could read this whole article for you, but he quotes a secular humanist and French philosopher named Luke ferry who wrote this Christianity was to introduce the notion that humanity was fundamentally identical, that men were created in dignity equally, an unprecedented idea at the time. <br /><br /> And one in which our world owes its entire democratic inheritance Weiner goes on to write. We are part of a great drama that God has chosen to participate in, not the role of a conquering king, but as a suffering servant, not with the tent intention to condemn the world, but to redeem. He saw the inestimable bull worth of human life, regardless of social status, wealth and worldly, achievement intelligence, or national origin Christ coming in the way he came was a revolution that has ripples into our lives and cultures to this day. <br /><br /> He is for all the people. Verse 11, Jesus is the Messiah. Now, now for the people it's not, it's not a surprise that the Messiah would come. It's a surprise on how he came, but the Messiah was longed for, by the nation of Israel. It was in the very bones of the people. Again, the prophecies pointing towards when the Messiah would come, it will be common cultural practice to speak of, think of imagined daydream dream at night about when the Messiah would come, what would it be like? <br /><br /> What would he be like? What would it mean for their people? Wondering why he takes so long as all four gospels begin with this, with this deity of Jesus Christ and Matthew and Luke, they begin with the genealogy, tracing him all the way back. Mark affirm says deity in the first three verses. And John speaks perhaps our greatest discourse on the DD of Christ and the first 10 verses and the opening of his book, all the gospel teachers are saying. <br /><br /> This one who's coming. He is the Messiah, not just a prophet, like guys, Isaiah, not just a high priest, like milk his a deck, not just a king, like David Christ does come wearing the hats of prophet priest and king. But there had been those before the angel says he is the Messiah. The Lord, this is God himself. <br /><br /> Number four. The text says that Jesus is the glory of the father. Jesus is the glory of the father. And I love the statement of glory that we see a couple of different times in this text. And as he speaks of the glory, he says this in verse 14, glory to God in the highest. Throughout the gospel of John. We see Jesus's concern of the glory of the father. <br /><br /> Number five, Jesus is peace to all those who trust him. The angels declaration is on earth. Peace on those to whom his favor rests. What does that mean to whom his favor rests? Hebrews 11. We learned that without faith. It's impossible to please. God, it's impossible to have his favor. Favor is learning to live a life of faith or perhaps more simply spoken favor is living a life of trust. <br /><br /> Ephesians two 14 simply says this. He himself is our peace. He is the royalty of priests, peace, the prince of peace and the peace who had now come to live with those who trust him, third character. We see, and this has been the most fun for me to spend time with this week are the angels. I've got to tell you something. <br /><br /> I don't think about angels a whole lot. I, I, of course talk about and think about, and read Bible verses to some degree, but the angels in the story were always just kind of like in my mind, that ball of light that's talking this week, I spent some time thinking, not just what it would be like to be so blown away as a shepherd, what would it be like to be one of the angels? <br /><br /> What would it be like to be the angel that gives that proclamation or one of the hosts of angels? We don't know how many that filled the sky few things about angels that we learn as scriptures. They've got 196 mentions in the. That's a lot smaller than Peter. Peter comes into like 100, 996 mentions. <br /><br /> These heavenly beings are given in scripture. The majority of the books of the Bible have angels talked about in them old Testament, new Testament, almost about the same amount of mentions in old Testament and new Testament. Literature angels are created by Christ. We learn in John one, one through three, and Colossians one that Christ is actually the agent of creating these heavenly beings. <br /><br /> These angels are not God. They're not all present. Not all powerful, not all. Knowing in Daniel 10 in Jude one, they have limitations that God does not have. They are eternal beings, but they are not deity. They are volitional beings who make choices, who have desires and emotions. We learn this in June 38 first, Peter. <br /><br /> And they're also described as wise, intelligent and discerning in second, Samuel 14, these are not religious robots. These are not drones sent to earth with a little mess, R2D2 message. These are intelligent willful connected warriors of God. They are beings that deeply know him. The greatest. Chris, Emily have a favorite Christmas movie. <br /><br /> Anybody? No one has a favorite Christmas movie. Yeah. Okay. What's a faint. What's one of your favorites. It's a wonderful life. That little predictable. Yeah, no, no, you have to say it. Got it. Okay. What else? Any other favorites Al? Thank you. Who said Alf? Can you stand on the pew? Don't tell Tim, go ahead. Right. <br /><br /> This is the intelligent person right there. Okay. All right. Elvis, the number one, Christmas music movie of all time. And it is because it's just awesome. I love it. There's a scene where buddy, the elf buddy, the elf grew up in the north pole and he came all the way down to New York city, which he found to be slightly different than the, than the north pole. <br /><br /> And he came down there and he was like a fish out of water. Cause he thought he was an elf, very confusing, real identity. That's a deep movie. But anyway, he comes and he finds out that Santa is coming to the place where he works and he goes, crazy. Santa is coming. He's so excited because Santa is coming. <br /><br /> He misses Santa. He grew up with Santa. He knows Santa. And the next day Santa shows up. It's not Santa it's fake. By identity theft, Santa. Right? So Elvis sitting there and he is so bothered. And another thing is all these ignorant children are sitting there saying, it's Santa it's Santa, he's got the beard. <br /><br /> He's got enough of the description that Santa and Alpha's sitting there going, this is not Santa. And so there becomes this dialogue back and forth with Santa because, because the Alf knows this is fake. Santa elf knows and says, you sit on a throne of lies. Not only that Santa doesn't pass the sniff test, what does he say? <br /><br /> You don't smell like Santa. You smell like what? Beef and cheese, even cheese. So eventually he grabs fake SANAS fake beard, holds it up. Like I like a great trophy to see, see I've exposed. I know who Stan is, and this is not him. And it's the greatest fight scene you've ever seen. Lego's and think it's just the best movie. <br /><br /> It's a wonderful life. Come on, elf. <br /><br /> I sort of think when it comes to these angels, they had a moment like that. Elf says, I know him, the angels who came to proclaim Jesus on that field. Weren't surprised they weren't surprised he came this way. Why. Cause they know him. Mary is shocked when she heard the news. Joseph can't believe it. <br /><br /> Shepherds are terrified. The nation of Israel will grapple the rest of the gospels with, is this the Messiah? Is it not the Messiah, but not the angels? I don't think they're surprised Jesus came like this at all. They're not surprised because this is exactly the character and compassion of the one that they know the incarnation of Jesus becoming flesh. <br /><br /> Of course it would happen like this. Of course, not two miles away in Jerusalem where it's expected by. But in this small, mostly forgotten town called the town of thieves. Of course now with friends and family on baby showers in hometown. But, but while on a journey that they had to make to fulfill a decree by a godless Caesar, of course not in a hospital or medical facility, of course not in somebody's home or not even in a rented room, a stable is just the kind of place the angels thought he would come. <br /><br /> A feeding trough that has saliva and half chewed, food of livestock. That's the king. They know a lyric from a song we sang earlier from throne of endless glory to a cradle in the dirt. Of course the angels were not surprised. They were not surprised it was not with Kings and Queens priests and religious rulers. <br /><br /> Of course not with people showered, dressed up and a giant feast to follow. Of course, in the night, of course, to some unsuspecting anonymous people, the Christmas story seems extraordinary because of the events and the details and it is, but you see the Christmas story is so extraordinary because of him and that him is the one they have always known. <br /><br /> It is he who always has been the. Always is the same. Always will be the same as the writer of Hebrew says, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. And while the angels were high fiving and so excited to do this, I think part of the joy was like, they don't know him like we do. This is going to blow their minds, but not the angels. <br /><br /> This is exactly the Christ whom they know the final character. And the one we're going to get our application from this morning is Mary Mary in verse 19 says simply all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherd said to him, them, but Mary treasured up these things and pondered them in her. This word treasured up as from two words, sin and thereto, sin, meaning close thereto, meaning guard. <br /><br /> She's preserving the words translated as keep safe, ponder, keep our treasurer, keep in mind, keep close. It is a valuing word to keep and guard close. These trues and realities that she is seeing very simply. We learned from Mary to treasure the truth of Luke two to treasure and guard the importance of every human life and how we talk about the unborn and how we speak to our family members and how we, how we talk about the people we disagree with and how you think about the immigrant, the dome, different socioeconomic, the different belief structure or tradition. <br /><br /> And how we deal with our enemy. This is exactly the truth. Jesus came to proclaim and now embodies that every human life matters. Secondly, through Mary, we learn to treasure and guard this gospel, right, as, as, as the shepherds come and they tell him this Yueng Goulet, so that they've heard from the angel, Mary treasures, this and ponders this, she enjoys this. <br /><br /> She values this, the gospel, the good news. The gospel is fully good news of great joy that Jesus concerns himself and loves and cares and involves and self sacrifices to love and lead his people that gospel that needs to be said to ourselves, every. To one another to those in need third, the word treasure. <br /><br /> I'm sorry. The word ponder here is from the two words, sun and BOLO sun means together and Balo means to throw. And as Mary treasured up these things and pondered them, it sang to throw them together to throw these thoughts together. She sitting there seeing hearing of angels, seeing shepherds, feeding trough. <br /><br /> Joseph, who's all kinds of confused at this moment, but this Jesus who she is is, is the one who she gave birth to. And the one who will save her soul, she's throwing these thoughts together. I think that's a great place for us to be at Christmas. A lot of these Christmas thoughts are everywhere right now. <br /><br /> And I think that's awesome. You can hear nativity scripts in your head, right? You can go through secular stores and hear the good news of Jesus in song at Christmas. There's a lot of Christmas truth. And what I would say is, is let's not just acknowledge it, not just put some bumper stickers about reason for season. <br /><br /> That's great, but whatever, but like that we would actually mull it over. We toss it around. We think about it. We'd ponder these things, throw these thoughts together. What would have been like to be there? What does Christmas mean? Not just for me last year. What does it mean for me this year? What's my calling. <br /><br /> What's the sense of mission I received. How is Christ on mission for my heart, through these trues at Christmas, at this time to enjoy him be with him, toss around thoughts of him, think about his wonder. And lastly, we're going to just conclude where I'm going to let you apply that thought. It's my favorite Christmas song. <br /><br /> I'm going to have played over us. Very simply. It's the very theme of this glory that glories in the highest glorious and the lowest that the reality of Christmas that we get to toss around our minds is that he is glory everywhere. And so just as we conclude this, be at the end, we're dismissed very simply enjoy and spend a few minutes pondering, tossing around. <br /><br /> Christmas this year, the same old truths tossed around to understand in a fresh new way, we can go ahead and play that song. Thank you.</div> false no <![CDATA[A Panoramic View of the Christmas Story]]> Matthew 1:1-17

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.



Want to invite you to take your Bibles this morning and we're going to be looking at Matthew chapter one. As we continue in our Christmas series of messages. And while you're turning there, I want to, uh, talk to you about something. We are going to be preaching a series a in the book of acts on the book of acts starting at the end of January.

In the new year. And I know that a number of you have read through the book of acts or actually copied your way through the book of acts. You went from the gospel of John and then went right into the book of acts as a number of us did. But if you have not done that, um, and are not inclined to do that, I have another idea for you.

And this is called a scripture journal. It's on the book of acts, basically what it is, is the book of acts. There's the text, there's a place for notes. Now here's the benefit of something like this. Sometimes we can be squeamish about, you know, circling and highlighting and writing too much stuff in our Bible, because I think, I don't know that I'm gonna, you know, I'm going to take all the space up or maybe I don't even feel right about doing that much in my Bible.

This is a journal. This has the scripture and the encouragement to you is to do it. One simple study. Every time you're reading through a chapter of back circle, the number of times the holy spirit is mentioned, you'll be shocked how many times the holy spirit is mentioned in the book of acts, especially in contrast to how rarely he's highlighted in the gospels, but it also is a place to start writing notes.

So we're just encouraging you to take this journal. And I'm going to tell you how to get it in a minute, take this journal and prepare for our series and the book of acts. Just maybe the next few months you're going to use the book. Vacs is the place to have your devotions. If you want to bring it on Sundays, this could be, you know, you could write your notes from the sermons if you want to do that as well in here.

But most of all, this is a personal journal for you to use. In reading through and reflecting on the book of acts we have on our website, under the events section on our website. If you scroll down and you'll see something called acts scripture journal, you can purchase one. Um, it costs $5. If you do that, when you come the following Sunday, we'll have a record of all the people that have purchased it.

You can pick one of these up. We will have them starting next Sunday at the hub, uh, in the that's the main info hub in the lobby. You can pick yours up. Um, and if you want, you can, you can buy one right at the hub, but we'd prefer you to do it, um, online, just because then we know how many to get ahead of time.

Okay. So we'll have them there. Hope you'll use them, consider it, and, uh, really be a part of the study in the book of acts. Uh, as we begin that in a few weeks, In Matthew chapter one, we're going to read the text in a moment, but if you have ever, if you're a history buff at all, if you're especially a civil war history buff, um, or maybe you just were forced to go there as a kid, you've been to the, the battle of Gettysburg over in Pennsylvania.

One of the things that they have at the battle of Gettysburg on the Villa Gettysburg site, and, and you can go through the whole site, it's 6,000 acres. So there's plenty to see, but if you've ever done that, instead of driven around, even if you've taken the, the thing in the car, you know, you can get a, uh, a video in the car, not a video, but you can get a, it's a CD.

You can listen to it and it'll direct you to the various sites, but still you it's, it's really hard to not get lost in the trees. 'cause you don't see the whole forest of the battlefield, but they have a Panorama building where you can observe a 376 visual of the entire battlefield. And they'll actually light it up for you.

They'll take you through it. You can see the whole three days happenings. It gives you the Panorama picture of the entire battlefield over the three days. And you can see the fish hook, which if you're a civil war person, you know what that's about. That's how the, the, the battle lines were drawn. And it's fascinating.

And basically it's giving you the Panorama view. We started last Sunday, pastor Mike started a series for us on the classic sermons of the Christmas story this morning, we're coming to the second individual that is addressed in the Christmas story. Last week. It was Mary, the mother of Jesus. Today. It is Joseph is his father is adopted.

As we look at this passage, we are going to see the Panorama of the Christmas story. Actually, he's going to start in the first 17 verses 2000 years back. And he's really presenting the lineage of the individual that is going to be addressed here. Jesus, the father of, of Joseph J. Joseph, the father of Jesus.

You knew that, and he's going to be presenting this, this panoramic view. And as we look at this passage this morning, we're going to look at it similarly to the way Mike did last week, because I thought Mike did a really effective job in drawing together. Two things that were going on one was the miraculous, the promise of the miraculous conception that was going to take place in marriage.

And at the same time, just prior to that, the promise of a miraculous conception that was going to take place in a relative of hers, it was actually addressed to the husband's Zachariah, but was about his wife, Elizabeth. And in these two passages, there is the picture of Gabriel. The angel that is going to, first of all, had three months, six months earlier had presented himself to Zachariah and said, your wife, who is, she was a senior at this time.

Well, past childbearing age, she was going to be pregnant. She was going to have a son who would turn out to be John the Baptist. Mary finds. From Gabriel, the same thing is happening to her in her case. It's not, she's an aged woman. Well, past childbearing age, she's a Virgin and has never had relations with a man.

And so he brought these two passages together and in a similar way, I'm going to try to bring together Matthew one verses one through 17 and verses 18 to 25 to give this panoramic view of what's going on as the angel is speaking to Joseph, because the genealogy is very important.

I'd like to read and I'm not going to read all the verses just for time. I'm going to read verse one and 17 of the genealogy. And then we're going to look down at verse 18 to 25. We read this in verse one, Matthew chapter one, and I should have said, this is page 757. If you're using a Bible there in front of you, the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David.

The son of Abraham. Now, if you jump down to verse 17, here's the summary. So all the generations from Abraham to David were 14 generations and from David to the deportation to Babylon 14 generations and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ 14 generations. Now we continue now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way.

When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph before they came together, she was found to be with child from the holy spirit and her husband, Joseph being adjust, man and unwilling to put her to shame resolved to divorce her quietly. But as you consider these things behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream saying Joseph son of David do not fear to take Mary as your wife for that, which is conceived in her is from the holy spirit.

She will bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus for, he will save his people from their sins. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet behold, the Virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which means God with us. When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him.

He took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son and he called his name. Jesus let's pray,

Lord, we come to this, this room, some of us joining in online this morning and God, it is our desire in the midst of the holidays to really put the holy back in that our focus really be on the event of Jesus Christ. Coming to this world. And Lord, as we look at this passage and reflect on the, the millennia of time, that was part of this process of your bringing him to earth.

Lord, may you teach us, may you compel us to want to know this Christ, want to worship this Christ, want to do life more fully with this Christ who you have offered to us as the one who brought to us yourself in Jesus' name? I pray. Amen. It's going to be two things. We're going to look at this morning.

First of all, I'm going to give an overview of what I think is the first part of this panoramic view of the, of the Jesus story, the Christmas story, the lineage of Jesus, which is what he is presenting here in chapter one, verse one to 17. And then we're going to actually look at the birth. And it's interesting how Matthew introduces this in verse one, he says the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ.

Then he begins verse 18 with this statement. Now the birth of Jesus Christ. So he's talking about the genealogy of Jesus Christ, then the birth of Jesus Christ. These are the two focuses we want to have this morning. First of all, we focus on crisis. Lineage his genealogy for us, genealogies are, are not really that significant.

The only time you really interested in learning about your genealogy is maybe a member of your family gets this, this, this passionate curiosity to know about your background or the other time is when there's a contested inheritance. But other than that, we don't tend to spend a lot of time reflecting on genealogies.

And so to start off his entire book, as a matter of fact, to start off the entire new Testament with 17 verses on genealogy, just to us seems absurd. It's in comprehensible because a book is supposed to start to grab your attention, right? I mean the first few pages it person decides whether I'm interested or uninterested with this book disinterested well, genealogy is how he starts.

But for the ancient Jews, genealogy was actually more of a resume. If you wanted to buy land in Israel, if you wanted to sell land in Israel, you had to bring the documents that proved your genealogy because you are not allowed to sell land outside of your tribal inheritance of which there were 12 tribes.

You are not allowed to buy land outside of your tribal inheritance. If you wanted to participate in the worship experience in some way in Israel. You had to bring your genealogy to demonstrate your fitness, to be a singer in the choirs. You had to be a part of the political background you had to be if you want it.

Certainly if you want to be a priest, or if you wanted to support in the role of the priesthood, there are all kinds of ways that the genealogies were necessary in both the civil and religious life of the, the, of the Jews. This provided for them a degree of resume that qualified them for the role or the, or the action they sought to do.

Matthew is citing Jesus, Jenny genealogy at the outset of his book to show that Jesus has the credentials for the role that he is coming to perform two particular ways. That's highlighted in the genealogy. First of all, his lineage showed he is the promised. In verse one, it highlights what it's all about.

It's tracing him back to Abraham and then jumping many centuries forward to David and proving. And again, this is all aligned. Uh, it's not everybody that went from Abraham all the way down through the same parentage and actually had David in their family tree. And then a particular part of David's family tree that came all the way down to Joseph, the, the father of Jesus.

And all of it is trying to demonstrate that Jesus has the creds to actually be viewed as the promised son of David. If there was a king in Israel at this day, that sat on the throne of Jerusalem, the appropriate individual is the one that is the culmination of this genealogy. Fixture look at it this way.

Some of you watched X men and you know, the story, uh, professor X Xavier is, uh, he has this thing that is called Cerebro and Cerebro is this, this, this device that he uses to identify all the mutants mutants are, he is a mutant. There are others that are just, they have these special power, special abilities.

They're different from typical people. And he's able to use Cerebro. And all of a sudden this Cerebro thing shows up on this like giant screen. And it identifies all the highlights, all of these people in all places on earth and they, they brought up and you can see them and see their picture. All of them are identify if Cerebro was used in the first century, a D and said, who is.

That actually is qualified today to be the king of Israel sitting on the throne of David and it searches all the earth. They would have come down to this individual named Jesus, the son of Joseph and Mary living at that time as a, as a child in the town of either Bethlehem or later Nazareth, he is the one.

He is the promised one. He has all of the credentials in his lineage to sit as the throne on the throne as the king of Israel, the son of David. But as Lenny, it also shows that he is the mercy giving one in this God-ordained line and lineage of Jesus Christ, which. Intentionally chose and protected promised, and then brought to pass.

We see some remarkable things while we're told that there were 14 generations, uh, and then there was another 14 generations, but actually there were a lot more than that actually in the 2200, somewhere 21, 2200 years from Abraham to the birth of Jesus Christ. There were a lot more than that. Number of generations in you.

If you study the, the individuals that are listed in Matthew's gospel and chapter one, verse one through 17, you can come up with about 800 years, uh, of generations, but it was 2100 2200 year. In other words, the individuals that identified here are identified by specific. God is highlighting them in Matthew.

One is saying, here's the family tree. It traces all the way down. We're leaving some gaps in there because, but you can, you know, you skipped from these generations, but you get to here and you know how you had to get there to get to here. But ultimately we're not highlighting every individual. We are highlighting certain select peoples.

Now, if it were you or me on a resume, what we would tend to do is we'd highlight the good stuff, right? I mean, we'd highlight, well, my first job I got fired. I'm going to give myself a Mulligan on that one. And I'm not going to include that baby in there because we don't have to, but in God's resume in God's credentialed lineage of Christ, he does.

Well, we would say is the opposite. He actually does something. Unique in two ways, one, he includes in this lineage, something the, the average do would not do and did not do. He includes some of the women, uh, and the moms, rather than the fathers, typically the did the fathers, but the moms he highlights are done intentionally.

Now we could look at some of the guys that are in this list and I could come up with illustration. So like I'm going to do with the women, but I'm highlighting the women just because these were so unique to be included in the lineage that obviously God included them to say something specific to us.

Okay. We got that. So here here's, here's some of the gals, we look at this passage and we find, uh, there is this individual that is known as. And Tamar, um, in verse three, it she's, she's there identified with her father-in-law Judah and the striking thing about Tamar story. Here's her story. Tamar was married to Judah's son.

Um, he died. She asked for a replacement son, which was the appropriate role in, in Israel for them to do. And, uh, she was frustrated that, that this wasn't happening because usually the brother would keep the line going through his brother's wife. Wouldn't do that. She got a little bit frustrated with this, her Judas ignoring her.

And so one day she dressed up as a prostitute by the side of the road, Judah came along, took her, didn't recognize her, slept with her, and she had a son. And that son is part of the. Uh, that is presented here. There's another gal it's mentioned in verse five, her name's Ray Hab. You may remember her. We all know her by her, her nickname in the scriptures, Ray Hab, the harlot, she was in Jericho, part of the red light district of Jericho.

The, she is the one that who's most commendable. The greatest thing we know that she ever did in her life, her most exemplary deed was she lied and she hid the Jews despise. She became a follower of Jehovah, but her background is not the kind that you would expect that would be highlighted to qualify.

One, to be the, you would expect heroes of the faith or heroines of the faith. Her greatest deed was. There's a woman named Ruth, well, a more godly woman and certainly known as a lovely, but she was a Moabite is Samoa bitus Moabites were the people that were constantly a Burr in the saddle to the Israelites.

She was an outsider in every sense yet. She also is a part of the family ancestry. We come to one other one in verse 10, verse six, Beth Sheba, Uriah, Riaz, wife Uriah, one of the close friends of, of one of the mighty men of David who was out in the battlefield, fighting for David, um, a loyal soldier. And while he's gone, David sees his beautiful wife and takes her and sleeps with her.

And the most sorted story, perhaps in the entire old Testament, particularly in light of who David was. David not only slept with his friend's wife. But actually has his friend killed on the battlefield. Now you look at all this and you say, God, I don't why. I mean, what David had so many wives, you mean, why did you have to choose Beth's Sheba of all women to be the one that's going to be the, the, the, the ancestor of Jesus.

The question is really important because this first set of verses screams God is saying, read these names, think of these stories and realize that Jesus intentionally is identified with these individuals, prostitutes, murderers, manipulators, liars. He came. To be associated with such people. He came to do life with such people.

He came for such people. The good news, the gospel is that Jesus Christ came for people just like that. And you may say, well, I'm not like that. Well, quite honestly, I've said a million times, the seat of every sin is in every one of our hearts. The idea is that God associated with this and said, everybody sits down at the same table of grace.

It doesn't matter what you've done, where you've been, how you failed. Jesus says in my church, Those things don't disqualify. Sin cannot halt. God's saving grace. There is more grace in Jesus Christ than there is sin in your life. There is more grace in Jesus Christ than there is sin in your life. It's why in Romans, Paul says it this way, where sin, abounds, grace, super abounds.

It overwhelms it, it overwhelms everything you've done. It won't be WellMed. Every one you've heard it overwhelms the failures because Jesus, even in his lineage is portrayed as identifying and associating with such people. Then we come to Christ birth. The second part of this, this passage. And he talks in this account to Jesus.

Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place this way. Just want to connect the dots of the story with where we were last Sunday, last Sunday, we saw the story of Mary who had been told by the angel Gabriel, you're going to be pregnant. She stunned. And it says immediately while the angel then told her a second thing, and you're your relative?

Elizabeth is now six months pregnant. Well, this was not a small thing because this is like her grandmother. And maybe even older than that, this is a very old woman. And so it says that Mary immediately that's the term immediately left where she was in Nazareth to go to the one person. Who could possibly understand what was taking place in this Virgin's body, a miraculous conception.

She spent three months with Mary w with Elizabeth, until Elizabeth delivered her son, John, the Baptist, then Mary returned to Nazareth. And it is at this time that she tells her betrothed husband, which was, uh, meant they had actually drawn, entered into as families and as individuals of binding legal covenant to be married.

But they had not consummated that marriage. It was usually a year long and they were in that, that waiting period to consummate their relationship to live together. The Mary comes to Joseph and says, um, we need to talk. And that's when we come to our passage here in verse 18 and following.

Jesus' birth. Joseph is told, is conceived by the holy spirit. Now, what did this mean to Joseph? Well, everything I've read is that typically in marriages, such as this, which was normal for ancient Israel in the time of Christ as well, the guy would be older than the girl. Usually the guy would be somewhere around 19 or 20 years old.

Typically the girl would be somewhere 13, 14, maybe 15 years old to us does sound like a couple of kids, right? They didn't have a deep, intimate, romantic relationship at this time. I would guess Joseph knew Mary's FA Mary Mary's parents better than he knows. They don't know each other that well, they know of each other.

They're in a little town called Nazareth, which the estimates based on archeological digs and everything else today is to, we're probably four or 500 people that live there. I mean, you knew who everybody was and now Mary lowers the boom I'm pregnant. We don't know what he told her, what she told him.

Maybe she told him about the angel Gabriel. But again, he doesn't know her this well to believe that, I mean, the angel Gabriel hadn't appeared to him and here's a young girl and she said, oh, here's what happened. And here's what God took. Maybe she told him, maybe she didn't even tell him. Maybe she didn't even feel she could understand, but we read this, this passage and we put ourselves in Joseph's state and he responds actually with great grace.

He will not continue the relationship he'll break off the patrol. So that's what it means. It says he'll divorce her, but he doesn't do what actually the custom required him to do, which was to publicly take this to the courts and let them know. And they have the option of stoning her for her unfaithfulness or just treating her has a, as a loose woman for the rest of her life.

He opts to do the best that he can to protect her and not continue with the relationship. But it says to do it quietly. It's a beautiful decision, but it's not the decision God wants for Joseph. So the angel appears to him and makes this statement. Don't be afraid. To take her. Now that's such an interesting word.

Don't be afraid. Well, what's your afraid of, I mean, you say, well, if he's such a good man and she, okay. She, she made a mistake, she messed up, but we're not married the girl. Why is he afraid to do that? I mean, it's not that he's, that he's, that he's disgusted to do it. It's not that he's angry. And so he's not, he's afraid.

What's he afraid of parleys afraid of doing the wrong thing of disobeying God. The, the entire sense of the patrol for the period of a year was for it to be a time to prove that they actually were still sell it, but they were still pure and right in the middle of the thing she's pregnant. The other reason I can't imagine he didn't feel afraid it's because he thought he knew him.

He thought he got her. He knew her family. He knew her character. He knew her reputation. He's a good and godly man. She's a good and godly young woman, young girl. And I'm sure Joseph's gone. She's not who I thought she was. You think he, wasn't also imagining there's four or 500 people in town. Which guy?

Who is it? You think he wasn't thinking that may, how could you not be thinking that? Well, who did I see her with? Who carried her books to score parchments or whatever they were, man. Who was it? You think I, I can't enter into this really. I'd be scared to death of what I'm getting into. And angel said, just don't be afraid.

I want you to do something really big. I want you to proceed. As if things are normal and yes, it would be obvious that she conceived out of wedlock actually later, Jesus, one of the things they talk about Jesus is he's a son of a, of an immoral relationship. That's one of the accusations people make and they knew this town knew they, you didn't hide stuff in small towns, but don't be afraid.

Why three reasons what's conceived in her is of the holy spirit. This is why this message also speaks to us. What it means to everyone is that what has taken place is done supernaturally by God. The second thing that's true is his name highlights. What he'll do. He says he'll be called. You are to call him.

It says to Joseph, you are to call him. Jesus, the word Jesus is the, is the Aramaic translation of the name? Joshua. I don't know if he knew that the name Joshua means savior, uh, call him Jesus, because he will deliver his people from their sins. They go back to a minute to the genealogy, right? The one that's coming, this Jesus he's associated with throughout his genealogy, with the people that God specifically chose as his ancestral parentage he's associated with broken people.

He's associated with people in need. He's associated with people that have screwed up royally,

but he doesn't just associate with them. He doesn't just have a heritage with them. He delivers them. He rescues them from themselves. He comes to intervene in the lives of Ray rehabs and David's a spiritual giant, but did a horribly horrible godless thing. He comes to

the people of our day that have messed up. He comes to you. He comes to me. He comes to be a deliverer. And then it says this other thing in this passage and in fulfillment of the profit statement in verse 23 of Matthew, one from Isaiah behold, the Virgin shall conceive and bear a son and they shall call his name Emmanuel.

Now you may have the question, wait a minute. It says. You're going to call him Jesus. And it says he's going to be called Emmanuel. So what do you call him? Is the name actually Jesus Emmanuel Christ. What's the deal? Well, Emmanuel was more a title that his, his, the understanding of who he is will be that he is Emmanuel.

His human name would be Jesus.

He is Emmanuel God with us. You'll notice it. Doesn't say he'll be God over us. That's not the focus. He's not primarily, ultimately. Come to take charge, to straighten us out, to get our behavior up to snuff and our moral religiosity in line, the Pharisees thought this would be great. Yeah. We want a God over us because we know it will be first in line because we've measured up in their own perception, but he's not a God over us in the ways to describe.

He's not a God in front of us. This is a little better. That he'd be a God that would lead us. That would direct us. I mean, it sounds better, more helpful, less pushy, but he still feels distant apart, separated our leader and director, but, and he's not the one we often would like him to be. He's not got under it.

This would be great, a God that, is there a vending machine, God, to give us what we want when we want it a God, we can boss around a God. We can control a God. We can a weekend. We can look at as of, of incredible power, like the, the majestic genie and, and he's at our Beck and call. He's not that either. He's God with us.

He's the guy that's always associated by his grace with broken people. He's a God that's always willing to enter in where we sense our brokenness. He's the God that is with you in your sorrows. He is the God that is with you in your fierce with people who need someone to be with. He is with us. And we face the daunting and at times dreaded realities and demands of life.

He is with us. He is with us in our aloneness. Jesus is the one that has come to say, I am with you. I, God am with you. Yes, I'm over you, but that's not the focus. Yes. I'm there to be, to be, to be appropriated by you. But this is the focus. Yes, I'll lead you, but that's not the focus I'm with you. It's interesting.

The holy spirit is called the paraklete the one who is alongside of, I mean, God just seems to constantly say I am with you. I've talked about the scripture that talks about fearing God and how God and how God's being awed by God overcomes our fear. The most often repeated statement where God says to us, don't be.

This is the next phrase. He says, don't be afraid. I am with you. I'm here. I'm the God I'm Emmanuelle. I came among you. The triune God sent Jesus Christ to be God with us. Christianity is not about straightening up. He didn't come as the God over us. Christianity is not about following at a distance. He didn't come as the God in front of us.

It's not about living out our own. Self-centeredness he's not the God under us. Christianity is about not being left on our own to our own resources, our own devices,

because God is with us. So what does this say to us? We close this morning, what the story says, both the genealogy and. The account to Matthew, that Jesus is drawn to broken people. He's drawn to people that know they need forgiveness. They need grace to I, Micah says he delights to show mercy. He delights to show mercy.

Secondly, Jesus came to provide the way to forgiveness and he came to provide forgiveness himself by living the life that we should have lived and dying the death that we should have died. He paid the penalty for our sins. He earned a righteous standing in his own righteous living that Jesus came to bring God to us in our aloneness.

And Jesus invites us to know God and enjoy him for. This is the story of Matthew one. It's why Matthew opens the book. It sounds boring to genealogies, but when you dive in there, wow, this is an incredible story. It is the story, the Christmas story. It's a story of Christ. God, the God who associates with people of brokenness is with us.

I'm going to pray and then we're going to close. It's going to be a song. It's a song Michael Carr did years ago. He's going to be singing it to us. It's called Emmanuel Lord.

My prayer this morning is particularly for people in the sound of my voice, who feel that brokenness by your grace, maybe for the first time, they're really coming to understand. They are center. If they can't measure up, they can't be good enough. God, such a mercy. When you show us that when you show us the insufficiency, the inadequacy of ourselves, because I don't believe you ever show us our hearts except to show us yours.

So Lord show grace make these individuals know the beauty of Christ coming for people, just like them. Sinners, broken people, the Negro race. Lord, I speak to loan for lonely people this morning and I bring them to you. The holidays are such a loud time to remind us of how much we need to have got with us.

Lord grace them with the reality of what it means to do life with a God who chooses to call himself Emmanuel Lord, all the other needs that are represented in this room and online this morning, do what we believe is your best gift to us. Show us yourself, allow us to drink at the well of grace and a good God who chooses to do life with us.

I pray in Jesus name. Amen.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/a-panoramic-view-of-the-christmas-story 7aa8e7b7-056c-42cd-b2d4-abc0b0672b27 Sun, 05 Dec 2021 14:22:33 GMT <div data-html="true">Matthew 1:1-17 <br /><br /> The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Want to invite you to take your Bibles this morning and we're going to be looking at Matthew chapter one. As we continue in our Christmas series of messages. And while you're turning there, I want to, uh, talk to you about something. We are going to be preaching a series a in the book of acts on the book of acts starting at the end of January. <br /><br /> In the new year. And I know that a number of you have read through the book of acts or actually copied your way through the book of acts. You went from the gospel of John and then went right into the book of acts as a number of us did. But if you have not done that, um, and are not inclined to do that, I have another idea for you. <br /><br /> And this is called a scripture journal. It's on the book of acts, basically what it is, is the book of acts. There's the text, there's a place for notes. Now here's the benefit of something like this. Sometimes we can be squeamish about, you know, circling and highlighting and writing too much stuff in our Bible, because I think, I don't know that I'm gonna, you know, I'm going to take all the space up or maybe I don't even feel right about doing that much in my Bible. <br /><br /> This is a journal. This has the scripture and the encouragement to you is to do it. One simple study. Every time you're reading through a chapter of back circle, the number of times the holy spirit is mentioned, you'll be shocked how many times the holy spirit is mentioned in the book of acts, especially in contrast to how rarely he's highlighted in the gospels, but it also is a place to start writing notes. <br /><br /> So we're just encouraging you to take this journal. And I'm going to tell you how to get it in a minute, take this journal and prepare for our series and the book of acts. Just maybe the next few months you're going to use the book. Vacs is the place to have your devotions. If you want to bring it on Sundays, this could be, you know, you could write your notes from the sermons if you want to do that as well in here. <br /><br /> But most of all, this is a personal journal for you to use. In reading through and reflecting on the book of acts we have on our website, under the events section on our website. If you scroll down and you'll see something called acts scripture journal, you can purchase one. Um, it costs $5. If you do that, when you come the following Sunday, we'll have a record of all the people that have purchased it. <br /><br /> You can pick one of these up. We will have them starting next Sunday at the hub, uh, in the that's the main info hub in the lobby. You can pick yours up. Um, and if you want, you can, you can buy one right at the hub, but we'd prefer you to do it, um, online, just because then we know how many to get ahead of time. <br /><br /> Okay. So we'll have them there. Hope you'll use them, consider it, and, uh, really be a part of the study in the book of acts. Uh, as we begin that in a few weeks, In Matthew chapter one, we're going to read the text in a moment, but if you have ever, if you're a history buff at all, if you're especially a civil war history buff, um, or maybe you just were forced to go there as a kid, you've been to the, the battle of Gettysburg over in Pennsylvania. <br /><br /> One of the things that they have at the battle of Gettysburg on the Villa Gettysburg site, and, and you can go through the whole site, it's 6,000 acres. So there's plenty to see, but if you've ever done that, instead of driven around, even if you've taken the, the thing in the car, you know, you can get a, uh, a video in the car, not a video, but you can get a, it's a CD. <br /><br /> You can listen to it and it'll direct you to the various sites, but still you it's, it's really hard to not get lost in the trees. 'cause you don't see the whole forest of the battlefield, but they have a Panorama building where you can observe a 376 visual of the entire battlefield. And they'll actually light it up for you. <br /><br /> They'll take you through it. You can see the whole three days happenings. It gives you the Panorama picture of the entire battlefield over the three days. And you can see the fish hook, which if you're a civil war person, you know what that's about. That's how the, the, the battle lines were drawn. And it's fascinating. <br /><br /> And basically it's giving you the Panorama view. We started last Sunday, pastor Mike started a series for us on the classic sermons of the Christmas story this morning, we're coming to the second individual that is addressed in the Christmas story. Last week. It was Mary, the mother of Jesus. Today. It is Joseph is his father is adopted. <br /><br /> As we look at this passage, we are going to see the Panorama of the Christmas story. Actually, he's going to start in the first 17 verses 2000 years back. And he's really presenting the lineage of the individual that is going to be addressed here. Jesus, the father of, of Joseph J. Joseph, the father of Jesus. <br /><br /> You knew that, and he's going to be presenting this, this panoramic view. And as we look at this passage this morning, we're going to look at it similarly to the way Mike did last week, because I thought Mike did a really effective job in drawing together. Two things that were going on one was the miraculous, the promise of the miraculous conception that was going to take place in marriage. <br /><br /> And at the same time, just prior to that, the promise of a miraculous conception that was going to take place in a relative of hers, it was actually addressed to the husband's Zachariah, but was about his wife, Elizabeth. And in these two passages, there is the picture of Gabriel. The angel that is going to, first of all, had three months, six months earlier had presented himself to Zachariah and said, your wife, who is, she was a senior at this time. <br /><br /> Well, past childbearing age, she was going to be pregnant. She was going to have a son who would turn out to be John the Baptist. Mary finds. From Gabriel, the same thing is happening to her in her case. It's not, she's an aged woman. Well, past childbearing age, she's a Virgin and has never had relations with a man. <br /><br /> And so he brought these two passages together and in a similar way, I'm going to try to bring together Matthew one verses one through 17 and verses 18 to 25 to give this panoramic view of what's going on as the angel is speaking to Joseph, because the genealogy is very important. <br /><br /> I'd like to read and I'm not going to read all the verses just for time. I'm going to read verse one and 17 of the genealogy. And then we're going to look down at verse 18 to 25. We read this in verse one, Matthew chapter one, and I should have said, this is page 757. If you're using a Bible there in front of you, the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David. <br /><br /> The son of Abraham. Now, if you jump down to verse 17, here's the summary. So all the generations from Abraham to David were 14 generations and from David to the deportation to Babylon 14 generations and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ 14 generations. Now we continue now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. <br /><br /> When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph before they came together, she was found to be with child from the holy spirit and her husband, Joseph being adjust, man and unwilling to put her to shame resolved to divorce her quietly. But as you consider these things behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream saying Joseph son of David do not fear to take Mary as your wife for that, which is conceived in her is from the holy spirit. <br /><br /> She will bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus for, he will save his people from their sins. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet behold, the Virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which means God with us. When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him. <br /><br /> He took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son and he called his name. Jesus let's pray, <br /><br /> Lord, we come to this, this room, some of us joining in online this morning and God, it is our desire in the midst of the holidays to really put the holy back in that our focus really be on the event of Jesus Christ. Coming to this world. And Lord, as we look at this passage and reflect on the, the millennia of time, that was part of this process of your bringing him to earth. <br /><br /> Lord, may you teach us, may you compel us to want to know this Christ, want to worship this Christ, want to do life more fully with this Christ who you have offered to us as the one who brought to us yourself in Jesus' name? I pray. Amen. It's going to be two things. We're going to look at this morning. <br /><br /> First of all, I'm going to give an overview of what I think is the first part of this panoramic view of the, of the Jesus story, the Christmas story, the lineage of Jesus, which is what he is presenting here in chapter one, verse one to 17. And then we're going to actually look at the birth. And it's interesting how Matthew introduces this in verse one, he says the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ. <br /><br /> Then he begins verse 18 with this statement. Now the birth of Jesus Christ. So he's talking about the genealogy of Jesus Christ, then the birth of Jesus Christ. These are the two focuses we want to have this morning. First of all, we focus on crisis. Lineage his genealogy for us, genealogies are, are not really that significant. <br /><br /> The only time you really interested in learning about your genealogy is maybe a member of your family gets this, this, this passionate curiosity to know about your background or the other time is when there's a contested inheritance. But other than that, we don't tend to spend a lot of time reflecting on genealogies. <br /><br /> And so to start off his entire book, as a matter of fact, to start off the entire new Testament with 17 verses on genealogy, just to us seems absurd. It's in comprehensible because a book is supposed to start to grab your attention, right? I mean the first few pages it person decides whether I'm interested or uninterested with this book disinterested well, genealogy is how he starts. <br /><br /> But for the ancient Jews, genealogy was actually more of a resume. If you wanted to buy land in Israel, if you wanted to sell land in Israel, you had to bring the documents that proved your genealogy because you are not allowed to sell land outside of your tribal inheritance of which there were 12 tribes. <br /><br /> You are not allowed to buy land outside of your tribal inheritance. If you wanted to participate in the worship experience in some way in Israel. You had to bring your genealogy to demonstrate your fitness, to be a singer in the choirs. You had to be a part of the political background you had to be if you want it. <br /><br /> Certainly if you want to be a priest, or if you wanted to support in the role of the priesthood, there are all kinds of ways that the genealogies were necessary in both the civil and religious life of the, the, of the Jews. This provided for them a degree of resume that qualified them for the role or the, or the action they sought to do. <br /><br /> Matthew is citing Jesus, Jenny genealogy at the outset of his book to show that Jesus has the credentials for the role that he is coming to perform two particular ways. That's highlighted in the genealogy. First of all, his lineage showed he is the promised. In verse one, it highlights what it's all about. <br /><br /> It's tracing him back to Abraham and then jumping many centuries forward to David and proving. And again, this is all aligned. Uh, it's not everybody that went from Abraham all the way down through the same parentage and actually had David in their family tree. And then a particular part of David's family tree that came all the way down to Joseph, the, the father of Jesus. <br /><br /> And all of it is trying to demonstrate that Jesus has the creds to actually be viewed as the promised son of David. If there was a king in Israel at this day, that sat on the throne of Jerusalem, the appropriate individual is the one that is the culmination of this genealogy. Fixture look at it this way. <br /><br /> Some of you watched X men and you know, the story, uh, professor X Xavier is, uh, he has this thing that is called Cerebro and Cerebro is this, this, this device that he uses to identify all the mutants mutants are, he is a mutant. There are others that are just, they have these special power, special abilities. <br /><br /> They're different from typical people. And he's able to use Cerebro. And all of a sudden this Cerebro thing shows up on this like giant screen. And it identifies all the highlights, all of these people in all places on earth and they, they brought up and you can see them and see their picture. All of them are identify if Cerebro was used in the first century, a D and said, who is. <br /><br /> That actually is qualified today to be the king of Israel sitting on the throne of David and it searches all the earth. They would have come down to this individual named Jesus, the son of Joseph and Mary living at that time as a, as a child in the town of either Bethlehem or later Nazareth, he is the one. <br /><br /> He is the promised one. He has all of the credentials in his lineage to sit as the throne on the throne as the king of Israel, the son of David. But as Lenny, it also shows that he is the mercy giving one in this God-ordained line and lineage of Jesus Christ, which. Intentionally chose and protected promised, and then brought to pass. <br /><br /> We see some remarkable things while we're told that there were 14 generations, uh, and then there was another 14 generations, but actually there were a lot more than that actually in the 2200, somewhere 21, 2200 years from Abraham to the birth of Jesus Christ. There were a lot more than that. Number of generations in you. <br /><br /> If you study the, the individuals that are listed in Matthew's gospel and chapter one, verse one through 17, you can come up with about 800 years, uh, of generations, but it was 2100 2200 year. In other words, the individuals that identified here are identified by specific. God is highlighting them in Matthew. <br /><br /> One is saying, here's the family tree. It traces all the way down. We're leaving some gaps in there because, but you can, you know, you skipped from these generations, but you get to here and you know how you had to get there to get to here. But ultimately we're not highlighting every individual. We are highlighting certain select peoples. <br /><br /> Now, if it were you or me on a resume, what we would tend to do is we'd highlight the good stuff, right? I mean, we'd highlight, well, my first job I got fired. I'm going to give myself a Mulligan on that one. And I'm not going to include that baby in there because we don't have to, but in God's resume in God's credentialed lineage of Christ, he does. <br /><br /> Well, we would say is the opposite. He actually does something. Unique in two ways, one, he includes in this lineage, something the, the average do would not do and did not do. He includes some of the women, uh, and the moms, rather than the fathers, typically the did the fathers, but the moms he highlights are done intentionally. <br /><br /> Now we could look at some of the guys that are in this list and I could come up with illustration. So like I'm going to do with the women, but I'm highlighting the women just because these were so unique to be included in the lineage that obviously God included them to say something specific to us. <br /><br /> Okay. We got that. So here here's, here's some of the gals, we look at this passage and we find, uh, there is this individual that is known as. And Tamar, um, in verse three, it she's, she's there identified with her father-in-law Judah and the striking thing about Tamar story. Here's her story. Tamar was married to Judah's son. <br /><br /> Um, he died. She asked for a replacement son, which was the appropriate role in, in Israel for them to do. And, uh, she was frustrated that, that this wasn't happening because usually the brother would keep the line going through his brother's wife. Wouldn't do that. She got a little bit frustrated with this, her Judas ignoring her. <br /><br /> And so one day she dressed up as a prostitute by the side of the road, Judah came along, took her, didn't recognize her, slept with her, and she had a son. And that son is part of the. Uh, that is presented here. There's another gal it's mentioned in verse five, her name's Ray Hab. You may remember her. We all know her by her, her nickname in the scriptures, Ray Hab, the harlot, she was in Jericho, part of the red light district of Jericho. <br /><br /> The, she is the one that who's most commendable. The greatest thing we know that she ever did in her life, her most exemplary deed was she lied and she hid the Jews despise. She became a follower of Jehovah, but her background is not the kind that you would expect that would be highlighted to qualify. <br /><br /> One, to be the, you would expect heroes of the faith or heroines of the faith. Her greatest deed was. There's a woman named Ruth, well, a more godly woman and certainly known as a lovely, but she was a Moabite is Samoa bitus Moabites were the people that were constantly a Burr in the saddle to the Israelites. <br /><br /> She was an outsider in every sense yet. She also is a part of the family ancestry. We come to one other one in verse 10, verse six, Beth Sheba, Uriah, Riaz, wife Uriah, one of the close friends of, of one of the mighty men of David who was out in the battlefield, fighting for David, um, a loyal soldier. And while he's gone, David sees his beautiful wife and takes her and sleeps with her. <br /><br /> And the most sorted story, perhaps in the entire old Testament, particularly in light of who David was. David not only slept with his friend's wife. But actually has his friend killed on the battlefield. Now you look at all this and you say, God, I don't why. I mean, what David had so many wives, you mean, why did you have to choose Beth's Sheba of all women to be the one that's going to be the, the, the, the ancestor of Jesus. <br /><br /> The question is really important because this first set of verses screams God is saying, read these names, think of these stories and realize that Jesus intentionally is identified with these individuals, prostitutes, murderers, manipulators, liars. He came. To be associated with such people. He came to do life with such people. <br /><br /> He came for such people. The good news, the gospel is that Jesus Christ came for people just like that. And you may say, well, I'm not like that. Well, quite honestly, I've said a million times, the seat of every sin is in every one of our hearts. The idea is that God associated with this and said, everybody sits down at the same table of grace. <br /><br /> It doesn't matter what you've done, where you've been, how you failed. Jesus says in my church, Those things don't disqualify. Sin cannot halt. God's saving grace. There is more grace in Jesus Christ than there is sin in your life. There is more grace in Jesus Christ than there is sin in your life. It's why in Romans, Paul says it this way, where sin, abounds, grace, super abounds. <br /><br /> It overwhelms it, it overwhelms everything you've done. It won't be WellMed. Every one you've heard it overwhelms the failures because Jesus, even in his lineage is portrayed as identifying and associating with such people. Then we come to Christ birth. The second part of this, this passage. And he talks in this account to Jesus. <br /><br /> Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place this way. Just want to connect the dots of the story with where we were last Sunday, last Sunday, we saw the story of Mary who had been told by the angel Gabriel, you're going to be pregnant. She stunned. And it says immediately while the angel then told her a second thing, and you're your relative? <br /><br /> Elizabeth is now six months pregnant. Well, this was not a small thing because this is like her grandmother. And maybe even older than that, this is a very old woman. And so it says that Mary immediately that's the term immediately left where she was in Nazareth to go to the one person. Who could possibly understand what was taking place in this Virgin's body, a miraculous conception. <br /><br /> She spent three months with Mary w with Elizabeth, until Elizabeth delivered her son, John, the Baptist, then Mary returned to Nazareth. And it is at this time that she tells her betrothed husband, which was, uh, meant they had actually drawn, entered into as families and as individuals of binding legal covenant to be married. <br /><br /> But they had not consummated that marriage. It was usually a year long and they were in that, that waiting period to consummate their relationship to live together. The Mary comes to Joseph and says, um, we need to talk. And that's when we come to our passage here in verse 18 and following. <br /><br /> Jesus' birth. Joseph is told, is conceived by the holy spirit. Now, what did this mean to Joseph? Well, everything I've read is that typically in marriages, such as this, which was normal for ancient Israel in the time of Christ as well, the guy would be older than the girl. Usually the guy would be somewhere around 19 or 20 years old. <br /><br /> Typically the girl would be somewhere 13, 14, maybe 15 years old to us does sound like a couple of kids, right? They didn't have a deep, intimate, romantic relationship at this time. I would guess Joseph knew Mary's FA Mary Mary's parents better than he knows. They don't know each other that well, they know of each other. <br /><br /> They're in a little town called Nazareth, which the estimates based on archeological digs and everything else today is to, we're probably four or 500 people that live there. I mean, you knew who everybody was and now Mary lowers the boom I'm pregnant. We don't know what he told her, what she told him. <br /><br /> Maybe she told him about the angel Gabriel. But again, he doesn't know her this well to believe that, I mean, the angel Gabriel hadn't appeared to him and here's a young girl and she said, oh, here's what happened. And here's what God took. Maybe she told him, maybe she didn't even tell him. Maybe she didn't even feel she could understand, but we read this, this passage and we put ourselves in Joseph's state and he responds actually with great grace. <br /><br /> He will not continue the relationship he'll break off the patrol. So that's what it means. It says he'll divorce her, but he doesn't do what actually the custom required him to do, which was to publicly take this to the courts and let them know. And they have the option of stoning her for her unfaithfulness or just treating her has a, as a loose woman for the rest of her life. <br /><br /> He opts to do the best that he can to protect her and not continue with the relationship. But it says to do it quietly. It's a beautiful decision, but it's not the decision God wants for Joseph. So the angel appears to him and makes this statement. Don't be afraid. To take her. Now that's such an interesting word. <br /><br /> Don't be afraid. Well, what's your afraid of, I mean, you say, well, if he's such a good man and she, okay. She, she made a mistake, she messed up, but we're not married the girl. Why is he afraid to do that? I mean, it's not that he's, that he's, that he's disgusted to do it. It's not that he's angry. And so he's not, he's afraid. <br /><br /> What's he afraid of parleys afraid of doing the wrong thing of disobeying God. The, the entire sense of the patrol for the period of a year was for it to be a time to prove that they actually were still sell it, but they were still pure and right in the middle of the thing she's pregnant. The other reason I can't imagine he didn't feel afraid it's because he thought he knew him. <br /><br /> He thought he got her. He knew her family. He knew her character. He knew her reputation. He's a good and godly man. She's a good and godly young woman, young girl. And I'm sure Joseph's gone. She's not who I thought she was. You think he, wasn't also imagining there's four or 500 people in town. Which guy? <br /><br /> Who is it? You think he wasn't thinking that may, how could you not be thinking that? Well, who did I see her with? Who carried her books to score parchments or whatever they were, man. Who was it? You think I, I can't enter into this really. I'd be scared to death of what I'm getting into. And angel said, just don't be afraid. <br /><br /> I want you to do something really big. I want you to proceed. As if things are normal and yes, it would be obvious that she conceived out of wedlock actually later, Jesus, one of the things they talk about Jesus is he's a son of a, of an immoral relationship. That's one of the accusations people make and they knew this town knew they, you didn't hide stuff in small towns, but don't be afraid. <br /><br /> Why three reasons what's conceived in her is of the holy spirit. This is why this message also speaks to us. What it means to everyone is that what has taken place is done supernaturally by God. The second thing that's true is his name highlights. What he'll do. He says he'll be called. You are to call him. <br /><br /> It says to Joseph, you are to call him. Jesus, the word Jesus is the, is the Aramaic translation of the name? Joshua. I don't know if he knew that the name Joshua means savior, uh, call him Jesus, because he will deliver his people from their sins. They go back to a minute to the genealogy, right? The one that's coming, this Jesus he's associated with throughout his genealogy, with the people that God specifically chose as his ancestral parentage he's associated with broken people. <br /><br /> He's associated with people in need. He's associated with people that have screwed up royally, <br /><br /> but he doesn't just associate with them. He doesn't just have a heritage with them. He delivers them. He rescues them from themselves. He comes to intervene in the lives of Ray rehabs and David's a spiritual giant, but did a horribly horrible godless thing. He comes to <br /><br /> the people of our day that have messed up. He comes to you. He comes to me. He comes to be a deliverer. And then it says this other thing in this passage and in fulfillment of the profit statement in verse 23 of Matthew, one from Isaiah behold, the Virgin shall conceive and bear a son and they shall call his name Emmanuel. <br /><br /> Now you may have the question, wait a minute. It says. You're going to call him Jesus. And it says he's going to be called Emmanuel. So what do you call him? Is the name actually Jesus Emmanuel Christ. What's the deal? Well, Emmanuel was more a title that his, his, the understanding of who he is will be that he is Emmanuel. <br /><br /> His human name would be Jesus. <br /><br /> He is Emmanuel God with us. You'll notice it. Doesn't say he'll be God over us. That's not the focus. He's not primarily, ultimately. Come to take charge, to straighten us out, to get our behavior up to snuff and our moral religiosity in line, the Pharisees thought this would be great. Yeah. We want a God over us because we know it will be first in line because we've measured up in their own perception, but he's not a God over us in the ways to describe. <br /><br /> He's not a God in front of us. This is a little better. That he'd be a God that would lead us. That would direct us. I mean, it sounds better, more helpful, less pushy, but he still feels distant apart, separated our leader and director, but, and he's not the one we often would like him to be. He's not got under it. <br /><br /> This would be great, a God that, is there a vending machine, God, to give us what we want when we want it a God, we can boss around a God. We can control a God. We can a weekend. We can look at as of, of incredible power, like the, the majestic genie and, and he's at our Beck and call. He's not that either. He's God with us. <br /><br /> He's the guy that's always associated by his grace with broken people. He's a God that's always willing to enter in where we sense our brokenness. He's the God that is with you in your sorrows. He is the God that is with you in your fierce with people who need someone to be with. He is with us. And we face the daunting and at times dreaded realities and demands of life. <br /><br /> He is with us. He is with us in our aloneness. Jesus is the one that has come to say, I am with you. I, God am with you. Yes, I'm over you, but that's not the focus. Yes. I'm there to be, to be, to be appropriated by you. But this is the focus. Yes, I'll lead you, but that's not the focus I'm with you. It's interesting. <br /><br /> The holy spirit is called the paraklete the one who is alongside of, I mean, God just seems to constantly say I am with you. I've talked about the scripture that talks about fearing God and how God and how God's being awed by God overcomes our fear. The most often repeated statement where God says to us, don't be. <br /><br /> This is the next phrase. He says, don't be afraid. I am with you. I'm here. I'm the God I'm Emmanuelle. I came among you. The triune God sent Jesus Christ to be God with us. Christianity is not about straightening up. He didn't come as the God over us. Christianity is not about following at a distance. He didn't come as the God in front of us. <br /><br /> It's not about living out our own. Self-centeredness he's not the God under us. Christianity is about not being left on our own to our own resources, our own devices, <br /><br /> because God is with us. So what does this say to us? We close this morning, what the story says, both the genealogy and. The account to Matthew, that Jesus is drawn to broken people. He's drawn to people that know they need forgiveness. They need grace to I, Micah says he delights to show mercy. He delights to show mercy. <br /><br /> Secondly, Jesus came to provide the way to forgiveness and he came to provide forgiveness himself by living the life that we should have lived and dying the death that we should have died. He paid the penalty for our sins. He earned a righteous standing in his own righteous living that Jesus came to bring God to us in our aloneness. <br /><br /> And Jesus invites us to know God and enjoy him for. This is the story of Matthew one. It's why Matthew opens the book. It sounds boring to genealogies, but when you dive in there, wow, this is an incredible story. It is the story, the Christmas story. It's a story of Christ. God, the God who associates with people of brokenness is with us. <br /><br /> I'm going to pray and then we're going to close. It's going to be a song. It's a song Michael Carr did years ago. He's going to be singing it to us. It's called Emmanuel Lord. <br /><br /> My prayer this morning is particularly for people in the sound of my voice, who feel that brokenness by your grace, maybe for the first time, they're really coming to understand. They are center. If they can't measure up, they can't be good enough. God, such a mercy. When you show us that when you show us the insufficiency, the inadequacy of ourselves, because I don't believe you ever show us our hearts except to show us yours. <br /><br /> So Lord show grace make these individuals know the beauty of Christ coming for people, just like them. Sinners, broken people, the Negro race. Lord, I speak to loan for lonely people this morning and I bring them to you. The holidays are such a loud time to remind us of how much we need to have got with us. <br /><br /> Lord grace them with the reality of what it means to do life with a God who chooses to call himself Emmanuel Lord, all the other needs that are represented in this room and online this morning, do what we believe is your best gift to us. Show us yourself, allow us to drink at the well of grace and a good God who chooses to do life with us. <br /><br /> I pray in Jesus name. Amen.</div> false no <![CDATA[Let It Be]]> Luke 1: 26-38

"In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary."



Uh, we are celebrating the first Sunday of advent and we're going to be looking at different passages of scripture each week. Leading up to Christmas. Advent literally comes from the Latin word Adventis meaning coming or arrival. It's not a fellowship specific tradition that we do lighting candles and reading scripture.

It is a time honored tradition through church history to look forward to the coming of. And the same way that lent kind of leads up to Easter, the resurrection lent and also advent help us celebrate in a long fashion, the way to Easter and to Christmas. And so during this time we will be doing that in a couple different ways.

The first one is contemplation and the second one is celebration contemplation to just slow down to pause repent of our sin, resting in God's faithfulness and the celebration of Christ actively remembering and enjoying him in our lives. Uh, probably at your house. Uh, light is a really big part of the Christmas season for you lighting the Christmas tree lights on the house, uh, candles.

And so light is the theme that we're going to be reading through all the scriptures, uh, leading up to Christmas during our advent readings, this. Ah, Jesus enters the world in a period of darkness as the light of the world, as we read in John one. So I want to read you this quote by Stuart Briscoe, that talks about, uh, the spirit of Christmas and the spirit of Christ.

Listen to this. The spirit of Christmas needs to be superseded by the spirit of Christ. The spirit of Christmas is annual. The spirit of Christ is eternal. The spirit of Christmas is sentimental. The spirit of Christ is supernatural. The spirit of Christmas is a human product. The spirit of Christ is a divine person, and that makes all the difference in the world.

And so we focus in on Christ. Um, we are also going to be lighting candles. They are leading up to again the different weeks toward Christmas, and we'll be excited to do that. I know a number of women gathered together a few weeks back to make these advent wreaths. Um, it is not just to be done in church.

It is also to be done at your house. And so if you have an advent reef, if you have candles, you can do this at home. In fact, we're going to resource you each week that you come, uh, when you leave or on the way in, you can pick it up today. Uh, there are a little packets of advent tells you why we do it. It gives you the scripture to read and to contemplate gives you questions for your kids to do.

Um, parents, take them, please take them. Uh, don't miss the Christmas spirit of Christ in this season. And so, uh, go ahead and grab those on the way. Just to highlight. We do have books that are out in the lobby. Um, all advent leading up to Christmas devotionals, you can do each day. Um, John Piper has one.

Paul Tripp has an incredible one. Ann Voskamp has one Marty Michalski, one that involves your kids as well. Uh, go and take a picture of those books. Find them. They're incredible. Uh, great resources, um, this morning. Okay. Want to start with a quick story here? My wife, Joanna and I have been married for a while, but on our first wedding anniversary, um, we celebrated it the whole weekend.

It was a great time. Um, but we played in a soccer game. Uh, our church was involved in a church soccer league, highly competitive church soccer league, uh, both campuses, Collingswood and Mount Laurel, not going to say which was the better team, but I think it was Mount Laurel. Um, came. Um, local churches in our area all played.

It was a really fun time. And so we played in that for years and we were part of this, the soccer game. And I remember distinctly, um, on our anniversary, it was after a Saturday morning soccer game, um, ma the marriage had not been going super great as of late, you know, coming up on the one year anniversary.

And there's a specific quote. My wife said, which I'll never forget. She said, either we need serious marital counseling or I'm pregnant, neither of which I wanted to happen at the moment, but we marched on and found ourselves pregnant. We were going to have a child on our, uh, here, here we go. And we're marching ahead.

Um, and one of the things that really stuck out to me was okay, now that we know we're pregnant, this news is sinking in and you kind of maybe know where I'm going to go with this, but what does that do to a person? Maybe you've had those words spoken to you, or you've seen those little lines on the pregnancy test and thought I'm shocked.

I'm surprised. I'm scared. I'm nervous. I don't know what is coming next. Um, well for us, it involved maybe communicating with our friends and our family and, uh, sharing with us. And at the time Joanna and I were both youth leaders. I was youth pastor. And so worked with kids a lot. And so naturally the big reveal that maybe some of you do on Facebook, I did with youth group kids, weirdest thing in the whole world did it twice with both of my kids, but I show the youth group kids, the ultrasound picture, and it was like this big moment.

Lots of fun. Some of you were probably there for that moment, too. But we also did one more thing. Facebook was still like young at that point. And so there is this thing that we found, it was kind of like a baby generator. And what you did was you put your picture and your wife's picture in the generator and thank you, mark Zuckerberg out pops your baby.

And we had this moment where it came up on the screen and it said, meet your baby. And here's what we saw

that picture. I feel like we post every year, just to never forget. Um, we were confused on as many levels as you think we were confused. Well, we had a lot of questions. We had a ton of questions about what being a parents was going to be like. Thankfully, I've never found the same website. Again, it's probably been deleted, but we're going to be in Luke chapter one about the birth of Christ.

The announcement that you are pregnant. Mary comes in Luke chapter one, page 8 0 3, turn with me there this morning. We're going to be working through the major characters in the Christmas story over the next number of weeks. The Mary, the Joseph angels, we have Wiseman and shepherds. And then also this guy named Simeon, who we're not going to overlook.

These are probably familiar encounters. If you've been part of our church or even been a part of the living nativity, maybe you've heard some of these scriptures spoken over you as you walk through and maybe can quote some of them because of how familiar you are with them. Luke chapter 1 26, we'll begin reading.

In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth to a Virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David. And the Virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, greetings, oh, favored one. The Lord is with you. But she was greatly troubled at the saying and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be.

And the angel said to her, do not be afraid, Mary, for you found favor with God and behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son and you shall call his name. Jesus. He will be great and will be called the son of the most high. And the Lord, God will give to him the throne of his father, David. And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom.

There will be no end. And Mary said to the angel, how will this be? Since I am a. And the angel answered her. The holy spirit will come upon you. And the power of the most high will overshadow you. Therefore, the child to be born will be called holy the son of God and behold. Your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son.

And this is the sixth month with her who was called barren for nothing will be impossible with God. And Mary said, behold, I am the servant of the Lord. Let it be to me, according to your word. And the angel departed from her. Pray with me this morning,

Lord God, we come expectant to your word and thankful we believe your word has the power to change hearts and lives. We believe that you come as the answer to the sin scarred. Not only do you come to bring light in the darkness, you came to bring followers to you. And we joined in this advent waiting season, again, looking forward to your birth, but we know as a church, now we look forward in the season of advent, again, to your second coming, make us a blessing to our community, to the rich and the poor, the educated and uneducated to the emotionally wounded and the atheist to the orphan and the widow.

God, you have come to bring hope to a dark world. So we ask that you would fill us with your hope that we might reflect that to the people around us. We pray these things in your name. Amen. As we jump into these various accounts, we have to start with who wrote the book of Luke. Does anybody know.

Some of you thought you were really sure Luke, come on guys. It's the book of Luke. Okay. Luke, Luke wrote the book of Luke. He is the author and he wrote with specific things in mind, more appropriate. He called it's called a letter that Luke wrote to Theopolis. You'll find that in the first few verses that Theopolis was this man who was evidently a Gentile, not a Jew who had grown up in this spiritual tradition heritage and he was converted to following Jesus.

And so Luke is writing here to a man named Theopolis this gospel account. And he says, I'm writing this so that you would have full assurance, that you would know the things that are true and that you would walk in them. This man Theopolis was a high up official says that he kind of was an important person in this, in this.

And he was in need of this encouragement. And so Luke writes an orderly account. Luke is a physician, a doctor. And so the things that he writes intentionally are an orderly account to give assurance to the readers. That to me is a fun letter to read. I'm going to be assured of who Christ is, and I'm gonna be able to walk in this.

And so we read this morning, Theopolis would have certainty about a few things from this letter. Number one, that this was God's plan for salvation outlined in the book of Luke, that God was faithful to the promises that he's made to bring a savior that the savior would have come to bring inclusion to both the Jews on the included part and also to the Gentiles, the whole nations, and that he would also give a picture of what true followers of Christ looked like in the book of.

A few passages that we're going to break into sections this morning. The first is the arrival of the angel, the angels arrival. If you're filling in the blanks there, we see the angel coming to, uh, to coming to Mary Gabriel is here. We know that from the texts, the angels, a messenger sent by God. And oddly enough, there are only two angels that are named and Gabriel is one of them.

And the scriptures, the rest are just called angels. And so Gabriel is mentioned here and he was sent by God in the middle of this time to a particular place, to a specific individual. With a specific message. Luke records, all of them intentionally that we might catch what is happening here. He came in the sixth month.

Well, what in the world does the sixth month mean? Um, well, if you read it in context here, you know, that just before this reading in the first part of Luke, there was another appearance that Gabriel made to a woman, to a man named Zechariah that he and his wife Elizabeth were going to have a baby named John John would prepare the way for Jesus.

And so he comes to a specific moment in history. It was Elizabeth six month of pregnancy. The angel came to a specific city, the city of Galilee to the town of Nazareth, which was about 80 miles from Jerusalem. And he was on this trade route through the hill country. And then you find Nazareth kind of an insignificant, not super important.

It was a poor peasant village, a stop along the way. Gabriel came to Mary, a Virgin who was betrothed to Joseph. not a current, uh, tradition that we have, but it's like engagement on steroids. Like if you were betrothed, marriage was imminent, it was happening. You were committed. You weren't living together, but you were committed and connected an intense commitment.

We know that Joseph came from the house of king David and Mary from the family line of David and Gabriel came with a specific message. And the first part of his message is spoken greetings. Oh, favored one. The Lord is with you. Mary just remained silent and kind of has this puzzled look on her face.

What is going on here? What kind of greeting is this? She wasn't. It's almost like as Luke is recording this orderly account of the gospel, he's intentionally highlighting things for a reason, because if we look back, the backdrop is there had been a lot of prophecies foretold about Jesus, about the Messiah that would come and people had been longing in this expectation waiting for that day.

This Jesus would preach and follow he's. The fulfillment of all these ancient Jewish prophecies Genesis three 15, the Messiah will be born of a woman. Isaiah seven 14 Messiah would be born of a Virgin. Isaiah nine seven Messiah would come to be the heir of king David's throne, Isaiah 43 through five, a messenger.

John would prepare the way for Messiah Isaiah 11. One Messiah would be called a Nazarene. Isaiah nine one and two Messiah would bring light to Galilee. Now, if you think back before these gospel accounts were written at this time, there was darkness. God had spoken through these profits. People were longing.

There was expectation, truly advent waiting, but before the light Jesus came into the world, there was darkness. Silence, no communication from God for 400 years, no prophetic words, truly a time of waiting. And the angel Gabriel appears at the beginning and he shows up and says, it's time. The light has come.

Advent is over. The Messiah is on his way. Imagine some of the first heavenly words spoken after 400 years of darkness and silence from. To a young Virgin girl in a small insignificant village greetings. Oh, favored one. The Lord is with you. What an incredible moment for Mary to experience this was good news.

And it would bring confidence not only to Mary, as she would carry the Christ, but it also bring confidence to the reader. Theopolis as he's reading this letter here and saying, I know that this is rooted, not just in somebody's account, but in prophetic history over time. Second here, the angels announcement.

What does the angel say? Verse 30. If you look there with me, the angel said to her, do not be afraid. Mary, for you found favor with God and behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son. You shall call his name. Jesus. He will be great. It will be called the son of the most high and the Lord. God will give him the throne over his father.

And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom. There will be no end. Mary has given his name that he's going to beat named Jesus. He's also going to have a position, the son of the most high God and ruler of Israel that has authority. He'd be seated on David's throne and his kingdom will never end.

Now, if you're tracking at this point, reading through the texts and you are thinking like Mary, not only did an angel show up after 400 years of silence to your house, but now he's telling you that you're going to conceive and give birth to this incredible bully. That's going to rise up and be ruler over.

Throughout history. Uh, there've been many P works of art created to kind of capture this enunciation moment. And, um, Mary is pictured there on the right. This is Michael Angelo's version, and she's kind of like, what's going on. Dumb founded, thankfully art doesn't talk because Mary didn't at this point. Um, but she's just kind of like, what, what do I make of all this?

What kind of news are you bringing?

Mary responds with a question. How will this be since I am a Virgin? And it's important to note what Mary's not asking. She's not saying, uh, if this could happen, she's saying, how is this going to happen? It's a practical question. If I'm a Virgin, literally I've not known a man before in that way. How am I going to have a baby in the sense that you're talking about I'm in, but how is this going to take place?

The angel answered the holy spirit will come upon you in the power of the most high will overshadow you. Therefore, the child to be born will be called holy the son of God and behold. Your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son. And this is the sixth month with her who was called barren.

Nothing will be impossible with God. You catch whispers of like the creation account. In this moment, the holy spirit is hovering over. There's been darkness and all of a sudden the light comes into the. The spirit of God, hovered over the darkness. And he said, let there be light this creation of something to come and bring light.

The God man Jesus was coming. This would be divinely created inside of her womb. And oh, by the way, Mary, nothing is impossible with God. I want to let you know that because your relative Elizabeth, who is barren can have kids. She is already pregnant. Let me remind you of that. And Mary's incredible response for a teenager.

She's comprehending all this information. She says behold, verse 38. I am the servant of the Lord. Let it be to me, according to your word and the angel departed from her, you can almost picture it right. Mary's hands, open bowing, low on her knees. Let it be to me. As you've said, I have no idea how this is going to happen, but I believe that it will happen.

Whatever you say, Lord, I'm yours. Now this whole narrative about Elizabeth also being pregnant. Her relative is kind of in the middle of all this too, because if we zoom back out for a second, remember who's writing. Luke is writing to Theopolis and he intentionally puts two of these announcement narratives right next to each other.

The first one is around, uh, when the, the angel Gabriel appears to Zechariah in the temple. I want to read to you this account, uh, that happened six months before Gabriel comes to Mary. It's the very beginning of Luke, same page. That is actually unnumbered in your pew Bible, but it is 8 0 3 still. Uh, it comes after 8 0 2 and before.

Okay. Uh, go to Luke chapter one, verse five.

In the days of Herod king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah of the division of Abijah and he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God walking blamelessly and all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. But they had no child because Elizabeth was barren and both were advanced in years, probably more than 60 years old.

Now, while he was serving as a priest before God, when his division was on-duty, according to the customs of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn into. Now, if we pause here, this was kind of a rotation. The priest would go in every six months, they would go and burn this incense.

The people would gather and pray outside, and the priest would be part of this, but there were 24 divisions of these priests and in each division near a thousand priests, uh, people that would be able to do this work. And so one in 24,000 shot of you being called in your lifetime, probably to get pulled in to do this task.

I think God was at work when he chose Zechariah to do this verse 10. And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense. And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. He's in the temple, in this specific place alone with the Lord.

And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him and fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him, do not be afraid. Zechariah for your prayer has been heard. And your wife, Elizabeth will bear you a son and you shall call his name, John, and you will have joy and gladness and many will rejoice at his birth for, he will be great before the Lord, and he must not drink wine or strong drink.

And he will be filled with the holy spirit, even from his mother's womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord, their God. And he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers, to the children and the disobedient, to the wisdom of the, just to make ready for the Lord.

A people prepared. Now these are loaded with prophetic fulfillment here, things that have been spoken in the past that John was coming as, uh, the fulfillment of. Also note that this specific priest and his wife, Elizabeth had been actively praying and asking God to provide them a child. God heard their prayer.

And surely if you are a priest of this caliber that gets selected to go in before on the altar of incense and burn this, you would have called to mind pretty easily. The fact that God has done this before he's opened the wounds of people before and brought forth children where it seemed like there was no way.

And Zechariah verse 18 said to the angel, how shall I know this or translated, but what will I know by what will I know this? Or how will I know this for certain, for I'm an old man and my wife has advanced in years like Gabriel, come on, give me a sign. How's this going to happen? What are we gonna do? And the angel answered him.

I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news translation. I'm your sign, bro. Okay. And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.

And the people were waiting for Zechariah. And they were wondering at his delay in the temple, typically following this burning of incense, the priest would come out to the edge of the temple steps and he would deliver kind of a benediction. He maybe would have a song, a Psalm that was sung. He would pour out the drink, offering things were done after he came out of the temple.

And when he came out, he wasn't able to speak to them. And they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple and he kept making signs to them and remained mute. And when his time of service was ended, he went to his home. I mean, imagine the pastor coming up and you're ready to hear the words of God and he gets to the edge

and it's just mute. Nothing is coming out. What would you eventually do? You probably would look around and get up and go home and leave because you can't understand what is happening while the people just kind of walked out of this really significant religious ceremony and just left, like an anticlimactic end to this most in special moment in Zechariah's life.

A once in a lifetime chance to serve God in this profound way, you go in, you do your thing, you smell like the presence of God and you come out mute. Verse 24. After these days, his wife, Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she kept herself hidden saying, thus, the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked on me to take away my reproach among people he's given me this child.

Okay. There are the two stories side-by-side at the beginning of the book of Luke, both of them are visited by the angel. Gabriel, both are promised a miraculous birth of a son, a picture of God's grace, both are equally unfit to have a child Zachariah's wife is barren and Mary is a Virgin and both respond with what seems like equal perplexity.

But Zacharias is a question of doubt. How can I be sure that this is true? And Mary is this sounds like a question filled with one. How's this can happen. Mary's submissive, obedient, faith filled response. Let it be to me. As you have said on paper, Zechariah had every reason to celebrate. He was visited by Gabriel.

His wife would give birth and answer to the prayers. They've been praying for many, many years. And quite honestly, Elizabeth was probably shamed at this point because being barren meant either you had some sort of secret sin that people were talking about behind your back, or you were just cursed by God or whatever it was.

And that was going to be lifted too. And he doubted, and on the flip side, Mary had every reason to run and hide. In fact, what we find in Deuteronomy is that this in chapter 22, if a man happens to meet in a town, a Virgin pledged to be married and he sleeps. You shall take both of them to the gate of that town and stone them to death.

We don't know how this might've happened, but it didn't happen that she was stoned to death, but it very well possibly could have happened. If people thought something had happened here, the laws were to make an example of them and stone them to death, a cause for shame and for hiding, we see that same process at work in Joseph's life as he finds out as well.

And yet her faith, her humility to carry king, Jesus turns into number three Mary's adoration. Now you could probably pick a better word worship her overflow, her surrender, all those different things, but we're just going with AEs this morning. So Mary's adoration is the third day. Verse 39, Mary takes off and she's running to go visit her relative.

Elizabeth. She goes with haste into the hill country, married, received this incredible gift of God's grace. And now, as she was invited to carry the, the Christ, the one who would be savior of the world, she's just overjoyed, listened to the way in. Voskamp writes about this divine mystery that had taken place.

But God, when he comes, he shows up in this fetal ball, he who carved the edges of the cosmos curved himself into a fetal ball in the dark tethered himself to the uterine wall of a Virgin and let his cells divide. He gave up the heavens that were not even large enough to contain him and let himself be held in hand the mystery.

So large becomes the baby so small. An infinite God becomes infant. The giver becomes the gift. Elizabeth is there in this home and she's hearing as Mary comes rushing in verse 41, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb, that's John inside of her and Elizabeth was filled with the holy spirit and she exclaimed with a loud cry.

Blessed. Are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me for behold when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb, leaped for joy and blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord worshiping the unborn Jesus in her presence.

An incredible gift of God's grace. What must it have been like if you happen to be in that house and your name was Zechariah, you can't speak at this point. And here are these two women who have been just given this divine gift and they're celebrating joyously and you hear your wife speak the words blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.

I just imagine he's running through that moment again in the temple Zacharias there, I should have believed I should have trusted that God would do just this. And then Mary chimes in with one of the most beautiful songs recorded in scripture. The Magnificat my soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God.

My savior for he has looked on the humble estate of his. For behold from now on all generations will call me blessed for he who has mighty has done great things for me. And holy is his name verse 50. And this mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm.

He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the mighty from their Thrones and exalted those of humble estate. He has filled the hungry with good things and the rich he has sent away empty. He has helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy, as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever.

And Mary remained with her about three months and returned home. So once John the Baptist had been born, Mary returns home, the gracious savior received by Mary, this impossible task. Move the humble servant to worship. Let it be to me, as you have said. So my question to you this morning is how do we apply this, our application?

What do we do as we respond to the grace of God coming to us? I think first we have to ask what would have Theopolis thought about all of this as he's reading these two juxtaposed birth accounts or announcement accounts

for Theopolis a Gentile, someone who hasn't been raised in this tradition, this faith history over time, it probably gave him incredible confidence. The humble surrender of a peasant girl was elevated and this religious elite Zachariah who doubted was muted. He was invited in the high status or the, uh, history of your religious background mattered nothing though.

You're not a Jew. You are set free in the name of Jesus. He probably thought to proclaim this good news. Maybe you two were not born into a home, a Christian home, as you've heard people say before, maybe your heritage is a little less like the priest Zachariah this line all the way through and a little more like Theopolis the Gentile kind of just making your way midway through life.

Be confident of your salvation. John writes this and chapter one, this is an incredible passage here. The true light Jesus who gives light to every man was coming into the world. He was in the world and though the world was made through him, the world didn't recognize. He came to his own people and his own people did not receive him.

But to all who did receive him, Jesus, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, children born, not of blood, nor the desire of, or will of man, but born of God, possibly you've been raised in the church and you've been around proximity to all of these scriptures and things being taught over time.

And I want to suggest this morning that that isn't enough, his own people. He came through. He didn't, he wasn't recognized they didn't receive him. And so this morning don't assume that, you know, Jesus simply because you've been around church your whole life. We just finished the sermon on the Mount, Matthew seven, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven.

But the one who does the will of my father, who is in heaven on that day, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name and do many mighty works in your name? And then I will declare I never knew you depart from me. You workers of lawlessness, a true faith in Christ lives out the gospel as a humble follower of him.

Maybe the application for you this morning is a little more, this worship aspect. These two women who worshiped with all that they've been given as a grace recipient. God meets you the songs of Mary and Elizabeth pouring out their worship and surrender in the presence of God. And though you and I often surrender most times out of powerlessness or like we've come to the end of our rope.

What if we began our day on the carpet, humbled hands open before we go out, we say, God, it's all yours. Let it be to me, whatever you have for me this day, it's yours, I'm yours. It's possible. As you read this account, you've considered the life of Marion. Um, as a child, as a 13 year old, she is not to be worshiped.

She's not to be prayed to or asked for help. She would. And has this morning even spoken that that all of the power is in. She's a vessel that God chose and used to enter the world. I wonder if Mary's life up to this point is part of the application and the takeaway for me this morning. It seems as if Mary's way had been steeped in being in God's word all along, you see the Magnificant the song that she sang was rooted in scripture.

It's all the Psalms she's singing words back to God that have been recorded in scripture. Possibly. This is part of Mary's way of life that she knew the scriptures and it became her language as she worshiped. Maybe it's the way we celebrate advent this year. Possibly the very best thing we could do is to contemplate who this Jesus is and celebrate him actively in our families, in our homes with our friends, receiving Jesus.

John. Wesley has a quote that I hate, but I have to read it. It says this nothing is more repugnant to capable reasonable people than grace at Christmas. The baby comes and says, would you receive the life that I can give you? Would you receive forgiveness? And many of us capable reasonable people think, no, no, no, no.

We've got to earn this. You've got to do all these things to make our way back to God. And he's saying, would you just receive this gift? That's been given his invitation to broken sinners and overly religious people is the same receive. I am sufficient for you. My power is made perfect in your weakness.

I'm going to ask you to stand this morning. As we close our service. It's a commission us as we go from here, knowing these things and living them out.

May you receive with open hands, the grace of God this week, wherever you are in life, whatever you're walking through right now, whatever lies ahead, might you contemplate and celebrate Jesus with the words of Mary song, my soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God. My savior father, we worship you this morning.

You are king, and we thank you for the season to celebrate Christ in whose name we pray. Amen. Amen. Thanks for being here this morning. You are dismissed.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/let-it-be 01a61ec1-2dc2-49e5-994e-ba823c33a341 Sun, 28 Nov 2021 08:34:43 GMT <div data-html="true">Luke 1: 26-38 <br /><br /> "In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary." <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Uh, we are celebrating the first Sunday of advent and we're going to be looking at different passages of scripture each week. Leading up to Christmas. Advent literally comes from the Latin word Adventis meaning coming or arrival. It's not a fellowship specific tradition that we do lighting candles and reading scripture. <br /><br /> It is a time honored tradition through church history to look forward to the coming of. And the same way that lent kind of leads up to Easter, the resurrection lent and also advent help us celebrate in a long fashion, the way to Easter and to Christmas. And so during this time we will be doing that in a couple different ways. <br /><br /> The first one is contemplation and the second one is celebration contemplation to just slow down to pause repent of our sin, resting in God's faithfulness and the celebration of Christ actively remembering and enjoying him in our lives. Uh, probably at your house. Uh, light is a really big part of the Christmas season for you lighting the Christmas tree lights on the house, uh, candles. <br /><br /> And so light is the theme that we're going to be reading through all the scriptures, uh, leading up to Christmas during our advent readings, this. Ah, Jesus enters the world in a period of darkness as the light of the world, as we read in John one. So I want to read you this quote by Stuart Briscoe, that talks about, uh, the spirit of Christmas and the spirit of Christ. <br /><br /> Listen to this. The spirit of Christmas needs to be superseded by the spirit of Christ. The spirit of Christmas is annual. The spirit of Christ is eternal. The spirit of Christmas is sentimental. The spirit of Christ is supernatural. The spirit of Christmas is a human product. The spirit of Christ is a divine person, and that makes all the difference in the world. <br /><br /> And so we focus in on Christ. Um, we are also going to be lighting candles. They are leading up to again the different weeks toward Christmas, and we'll be excited to do that. I know a number of women gathered together a few weeks back to make these advent wreaths. Um, it is not just to be done in church. <br /><br /> It is also to be done at your house. And so if you have an advent reef, if you have candles, you can do this at home. In fact, we're going to resource you each week that you come, uh, when you leave or on the way in, you can pick it up today. Uh, there are a little packets of advent tells you why we do it. It gives you the scripture to read and to contemplate gives you questions for your kids to do. <br /><br /> Um, parents, take them, please take them. Uh, don't miss the Christmas spirit of Christ in this season. And so, uh, go ahead and grab those on the way. Just to highlight. We do have books that are out in the lobby. Um, all advent leading up to Christmas devotionals, you can do each day. Um, John Piper has one. <br /><br /> Paul Tripp has an incredible one. Ann Voskamp has one Marty Michalski, one that involves your kids as well. Uh, go and take a picture of those books. Find them. They're incredible. Uh, great resources, um, this morning. Okay. Want to start with a quick story here? My wife, Joanna and I have been married for a while, but on our first wedding anniversary, um, we celebrated it the whole weekend. <br /><br /> It was a great time. Um, but we played in a soccer game. Uh, our church was involved in a church soccer league, highly competitive church soccer league, uh, both campuses, Collingswood and Mount Laurel, not going to say which was the better team, but I think it was Mount Laurel. Um, came. Um, local churches in our area all played. <br /><br /> It was a really fun time. And so we played in that for years and we were part of this, the soccer game. And I remember distinctly, um, on our anniversary, it was after a Saturday morning soccer game, um, ma the marriage had not been going super great as of late, you know, coming up on the one year anniversary. <br /><br /> And there's a specific quote. My wife said, which I'll never forget. She said, either we need serious marital counseling or I'm pregnant, neither of which I wanted to happen at the moment, but we marched on and found ourselves pregnant. We were going to have a child on our, uh, here, here we go. And we're marching ahead. <br /><br /> Um, and one of the things that really stuck out to me was okay, now that we know we're pregnant, this news is sinking in and you kind of maybe know where I'm going to go with this, but what does that do to a person? Maybe you've had those words spoken to you, or you've seen those little lines on the pregnancy test and thought I'm shocked. <br /><br /> I'm surprised. I'm scared. I'm nervous. I don't know what is coming next. Um, well for us, it involved maybe communicating with our friends and our family and, uh, sharing with us. And at the time Joanna and I were both youth leaders. I was youth pastor. And so worked with kids a lot. And so naturally the big reveal that maybe some of you do on Facebook, I did with youth group kids, weirdest thing in the whole world did it twice with both of my kids, but I show the youth group kids, the ultrasound picture, and it was like this big moment. <br /><br /> Lots of fun. Some of you were probably there for that moment, too. But we also did one more thing. Facebook was still like young at that point. And so there is this thing that we found, it was kind of like a baby generator. And what you did was you put your picture and your wife's picture in the generator and thank you, mark Zuckerberg out pops your baby. <br /><br /> And we had this moment where it came up on the screen and it said, meet your baby. And here's what we saw <br /><br /> that picture. I feel like we post every year, just to never forget. Um, we were confused on as many levels as you think we were confused. Well, we had a lot of questions. We had a ton of questions about what being a parents was going to be like. Thankfully, I've never found the same website. Again, it's probably been deleted, but we're going to be in Luke chapter one about the birth of Christ. <br /><br /> The announcement that you are pregnant. Mary comes in Luke chapter one, page 8 0 3, turn with me there this morning. We're going to be working through the major characters in the Christmas story over the next number of weeks. The Mary, the Joseph angels, we have Wiseman and shepherds. And then also this guy named Simeon, who we're not going to overlook. <br /><br /> These are probably familiar encounters. If you've been part of our church or even been a part of the living nativity, maybe you've heard some of these scriptures spoken over you as you walk through and maybe can quote some of them because of how familiar you are with them. Luke chapter 1 26, we'll begin reading. <br /><br /> In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth to a Virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David. And the Virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, greetings, oh, favored one. The Lord is with you. But she was greatly troubled at the saying and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. <br /><br /> And the angel said to her, do not be afraid, Mary, for you found favor with God and behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son and you shall call his name. Jesus. He will be great and will be called the son of the most high. And the Lord, God will give to him the throne of his father, David. And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom. <br /><br /> There will be no end. And Mary said to the angel, how will this be? Since I am a. And the angel answered her. The holy spirit will come upon you. And the power of the most high will overshadow you. Therefore, the child to be born will be called holy the son of God and behold. Your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son. <br /><br /> And this is the sixth month with her who was called barren for nothing will be impossible with God. And Mary said, behold, I am the servant of the Lord. Let it be to me, according to your word. And the angel departed from her. Pray with me this morning, <br /><br /> Lord God, we come expectant to your word and thankful we believe your word has the power to change hearts and lives. We believe that you come as the answer to the sin scarred. Not only do you come to bring light in the darkness, you came to bring followers to you. And we joined in this advent waiting season, again, looking forward to your birth, but we know as a church, now we look forward in the season of advent, again, to your second coming, make us a blessing to our community, to the rich and the poor, the educated and uneducated to the emotionally wounded and the atheist to the orphan and the widow. <br /><br /> God, you have come to bring hope to a dark world. So we ask that you would fill us with your hope that we might reflect that to the people around us. We pray these things in your name. Amen. As we jump into these various accounts, we have to start with who wrote the book of Luke. Does anybody know. <br /><br /> Some of you thought you were really sure Luke, come on guys. It's the book of Luke. Okay. Luke, Luke wrote the book of Luke. He is the author and he wrote with specific things in mind, more appropriate. He called it's called a letter that Luke wrote to Theopolis. You'll find that in the first few verses that Theopolis was this man who was evidently a Gentile, not a Jew who had grown up in this spiritual tradition heritage and he was converted to following Jesus. <br /><br /> And so Luke is writing here to a man named Theopolis this gospel account. And he says, I'm writing this so that you would have full assurance, that you would know the things that are true and that you would walk in them. This man Theopolis was a high up official says that he kind of was an important person in this, in this. <br /><br /> And he was in need of this encouragement. And so Luke writes an orderly account. Luke is a physician, a doctor. And so the things that he writes intentionally are an orderly account to give assurance to the readers. That to me is a fun letter to read. I'm going to be assured of who Christ is, and I'm gonna be able to walk in this. <br /><br /> And so we read this morning, Theopolis would have certainty about a few things from this letter. Number one, that this was God's plan for salvation outlined in the book of Luke, that God was faithful to the promises that he's made to bring a savior that the savior would have come to bring inclusion to both the Jews on the included part and also to the Gentiles, the whole nations, and that he would also give a picture of what true followers of Christ looked like in the book of. <br /><br /> A few passages that we're going to break into sections this morning. The first is the arrival of the angel, the angels arrival. If you're filling in the blanks there, we see the angel coming to, uh, to coming to Mary Gabriel is here. We know that from the texts, the angels, a messenger sent by God. And oddly enough, there are only two angels that are named and Gabriel is one of them. <br /><br /> And the scriptures, the rest are just called angels. And so Gabriel is mentioned here and he was sent by God in the middle of this time to a particular place, to a specific individual. With a specific message. Luke records, all of them intentionally that we might catch what is happening here. He came in the sixth month. <br /><br /> Well, what in the world does the sixth month mean? Um, well, if you read it in context here, you know, that just before this reading in the first part of Luke, there was another appearance that Gabriel made to a woman, to a man named Zechariah that he and his wife Elizabeth were going to have a baby named John John would prepare the way for Jesus. <br /><br /> And so he comes to a specific moment in history. It was Elizabeth six month of pregnancy. The angel came to a specific city, the city of Galilee to the town of Nazareth, which was about 80 miles from Jerusalem. And he was on this trade route through the hill country. And then you find Nazareth kind of an insignificant, not super important. <br /><br /> It was a poor peasant village, a stop along the way. Gabriel came to Mary, a Virgin who was betrothed to Joseph. not a current, uh, tradition that we have, but it's like engagement on steroids. Like if you were betrothed, marriage was imminent, it was happening. You were committed. You weren't living together, but you were committed and connected an intense commitment. <br /><br /> We know that Joseph came from the house of king David and Mary from the family line of David and Gabriel came with a specific message. And the first part of his message is spoken greetings. Oh, favored one. The Lord is with you. Mary just remained silent and kind of has this puzzled look on her face. <br /><br /> What is going on here? What kind of greeting is this? She wasn't. It's almost like as Luke is recording this orderly account of the gospel, he's intentionally highlighting things for a reason, because if we look back, the backdrop is there had been a lot of prophecies foretold about Jesus, about the Messiah that would come and people had been longing in this expectation waiting for that day. <br /><br /> This Jesus would preach and follow he's. The fulfillment of all these ancient Jewish prophecies Genesis three 15, the Messiah will be born of a woman. Isaiah seven 14 Messiah would be born of a Virgin. Isaiah nine seven Messiah would come to be the heir of king David's throne, Isaiah 43 through five, a messenger. <br /><br /> John would prepare the way for Messiah Isaiah 11. One Messiah would be called a Nazarene. Isaiah nine one and two Messiah would bring light to Galilee. Now, if you think back before these gospel accounts were written at this time, there was darkness. God had spoken through these profits. People were longing. <br /><br /> There was expectation, truly advent waiting, but before the light Jesus came into the world, there was darkness. Silence, no communication from God for 400 years, no prophetic words, truly a time of waiting. And the angel Gabriel appears at the beginning and he shows up and says, it's time. The light has come. <br /><br /> Advent is over. The Messiah is on his way. Imagine some of the first heavenly words spoken after 400 years of darkness and silence from. To a young Virgin girl in a small insignificant village greetings. Oh, favored one. The Lord is with you. What an incredible moment for Mary to experience this was good news. <br /><br /> And it would bring confidence not only to Mary, as she would carry the Christ, but it also bring confidence to the reader. Theopolis as he's reading this letter here and saying, I know that this is rooted, not just in somebody's account, but in prophetic history over time. Second here, the angels announcement. <br /><br /> What does the angel say? Verse 30. If you look there with me, the angel said to her, do not be afraid. Mary, for you found favor with God and behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son. You shall call his name. Jesus. He will be great. It will be called the son of the most high and the Lord. God will give him the throne over his father. <br /><br /> And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom. There will be no end. Mary has given his name that he's going to beat named Jesus. He's also going to have a position, the son of the most high God and ruler of Israel that has authority. He'd be seated on David's throne and his kingdom will never end. <br /><br /> Now, if you're tracking at this point, reading through the texts and you are thinking like Mary, not only did an angel show up after 400 years of silence to your house, but now he's telling you that you're going to conceive and give birth to this incredible bully. That's going to rise up and be ruler over. <br /><br /> Throughout history. Uh, there've been many P works of art created to kind of capture this enunciation moment. And, um, Mary is pictured there on the right. This is Michael Angelo's version, and she's kind of like, what's going on. Dumb founded, thankfully art doesn't talk because Mary didn't at this point. Um, but she's just kind of like, what, what do I make of all this? <br /><br /> What kind of news are you bringing? <br /><br /> Mary responds with a question. How will this be since I am a Virgin? And it's important to note what Mary's not asking. She's not saying, uh, if this could happen, she's saying, how is this going to happen? It's a practical question. If I'm a Virgin, literally I've not known a man before in that way. How am I going to have a baby in the sense that you're talking about I'm in, but how is this going to take place? <br /><br /> The angel answered the holy spirit will come upon you in the power of the most high will overshadow you. Therefore, the child to be born will be called holy the son of God and behold. Your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son. And this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. <br /><br /> Nothing will be impossible with God. You catch whispers of like the creation account. In this moment, the holy spirit is hovering over. There's been darkness and all of a sudden the light comes into the. The spirit of God, hovered over the darkness. And he said, let there be light this creation of something to come and bring light. <br /><br /> The God man Jesus was coming. This would be divinely created inside of her womb. And oh, by the way, Mary, nothing is impossible with God. I want to let you know that because your relative Elizabeth, who is barren can have kids. She is already pregnant. Let me remind you of that. And Mary's incredible response for a teenager. <br /><br /> She's comprehending all this information. She says behold, verse 38. I am the servant of the Lord. Let it be to me, according to your word and the angel departed from her, you can almost picture it right. Mary's hands, open bowing, low on her knees. Let it be to me. As you've said, I have no idea how this is going to happen, but I believe that it will happen. <br /><br /> Whatever you say, Lord, I'm yours. Now this whole narrative about Elizabeth also being pregnant. Her relative is kind of in the middle of all this too, because if we zoom back out for a second, remember who's writing. Luke is writing to Theopolis and he intentionally puts two of these announcement narratives right next to each other. <br /><br /> The first one is around, uh, when the, the angel Gabriel appears to Zechariah in the temple. I want to read to you this account, uh, that happened six months before Gabriel comes to Mary. It's the very beginning of Luke, same page. That is actually unnumbered in your pew Bible, but it is 8 0 3 still. Uh, it comes after 8 0 2 and before. <br /><br /> Okay. Uh, go to Luke chapter one, verse five. <br /><br /> In the days of Herod king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah of the division of Abijah and he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God walking blamelessly and all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. But they had no child because Elizabeth was barren and both were advanced in years, probably more than 60 years old. <br /><br /> Now, while he was serving as a priest before God, when his division was on-duty, according to the customs of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn into. Now, if we pause here, this was kind of a rotation. The priest would go in every six months, they would go and burn this incense. <br /><br /> The people would gather and pray outside, and the priest would be part of this, but there were 24 divisions of these priests and in each division near a thousand priests, uh, people that would be able to do this work. And so one in 24,000 shot of you being called in your lifetime, probably to get pulled in to do this task. <br /><br /> I think God was at work when he chose Zechariah to do this verse 10. And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense. And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. He's in the temple, in this specific place alone with the Lord. <br /><br /> And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him and fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him, do not be afraid. Zechariah for your prayer has been heard. And your wife, Elizabeth will bear you a son and you shall call his name, John, and you will have joy and gladness and many will rejoice at his birth for, he will be great before the Lord, and he must not drink wine or strong drink. <br /><br /> And he will be filled with the holy spirit, even from his mother's womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord, their God. And he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers, to the children and the disobedient, to the wisdom of the, just to make ready for the Lord. <br /><br /> A people prepared. Now these are loaded with prophetic fulfillment here, things that have been spoken in the past that John was coming as, uh, the fulfillment of. Also note that this specific priest and his wife, Elizabeth had been actively praying and asking God to provide them a child. God heard their prayer. <br /><br /> And surely if you are a priest of this caliber that gets selected to go in before on the altar of incense and burn this, you would have called to mind pretty easily. The fact that God has done this before he's opened the wounds of people before and brought forth children where it seemed like there was no way. <br /><br /> And Zechariah verse 18 said to the angel, how shall I know this or translated, but what will I know by what will I know this? Or how will I know this for certain, for I'm an old man and my wife has advanced in years like Gabriel, come on, give me a sign. How's this going to happen? What are we gonna do? And the angel answered him. <br /><br /> I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news translation. I'm your sign, bro. Okay. And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time. <br /><br /> And the people were waiting for Zechariah. And they were wondering at his delay in the temple, typically following this burning of incense, the priest would come out to the edge of the temple steps and he would deliver kind of a benediction. He maybe would have a song, a Psalm that was sung. He would pour out the drink, offering things were done after he came out of the temple. <br /><br /> And when he came out, he wasn't able to speak to them. And they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple and he kept making signs to them and remained mute. And when his time of service was ended, he went to his home. I mean, imagine the pastor coming up and you're ready to hear the words of God and he gets to the edge <br /><br /> and it's just mute. Nothing is coming out. What would you eventually do? You probably would look around and get up and go home and leave because you can't understand what is happening while the people just kind of walked out of this really significant religious ceremony and just left, like an anticlimactic end to this most in special moment in Zechariah's life. <br /><br /> A once in a lifetime chance to serve God in this profound way, you go in, you do your thing, you smell like the presence of God and you come out mute. Verse 24. After these days, his wife, Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she kept herself hidden saying, thus, the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked on me to take away my reproach among people he's given me this child. <br /><br /> Okay. There are the two stories side-by-side at the beginning of the book of Luke, both of them are visited by the angel. Gabriel, both are promised a miraculous birth of a son, a picture of God's grace, both are equally unfit to have a child Zachariah's wife is barren and Mary is a Virgin and both respond with what seems like equal perplexity. <br /><br /> But Zacharias is a question of doubt. How can I be sure that this is true? And Mary is this sounds like a question filled with one. How's this can happen. Mary's submissive, obedient, faith filled response. Let it be to me. As you have said on paper, Zechariah had every reason to celebrate. He was visited by Gabriel. <br /><br /> His wife would give birth and answer to the prayers. They've been praying for many, many years. And quite honestly, Elizabeth was probably shamed at this point because being barren meant either you had some sort of secret sin that people were talking about behind your back, or you were just cursed by God or whatever it was. <br /><br /> And that was going to be lifted too. And he doubted, and on the flip side, Mary had every reason to run and hide. In fact, what we find in Deuteronomy is that this in chapter 22, if a man happens to meet in a town, a Virgin pledged to be married and he sleeps. You shall take both of them to the gate of that town and stone them to death. <br /><br /> We don't know how this might've happened, but it didn't happen that she was stoned to death, but it very well possibly could have happened. If people thought something had happened here, the laws were to make an example of them and stone them to death, a cause for shame and for hiding, we see that same process at work in Joseph's life as he finds out as well. <br /><br /> And yet her faith, her humility to carry king, Jesus turns into number three Mary's adoration. Now you could probably pick a better word worship her overflow, her surrender, all those different things, but we're just going with AEs this morning. So Mary's adoration is the third day. Verse 39, Mary takes off and she's running to go visit her relative. <br /><br /> Elizabeth. She goes with haste into the hill country, married, received this incredible gift of God's grace. And now, as she was invited to carry the, the Christ, the one who would be savior of the world, she's just overjoyed, listened to the way in. Voskamp writes about this divine mystery that had taken place. <br /><br /> But God, when he comes, he shows up in this fetal ball, he who carved the edges of the cosmos curved himself into a fetal ball in the dark tethered himself to the uterine wall of a Virgin and let his cells divide. He gave up the heavens that were not even large enough to contain him and let himself be held in hand the mystery. <br /><br /> So large becomes the baby so small. An infinite God becomes infant. The giver becomes the gift. Elizabeth is there in this home and she's hearing as Mary comes rushing in verse 41, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb, that's John inside of her and Elizabeth was filled with the holy spirit and she exclaimed with a loud cry. <br /><br /> Blessed. Are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me for behold when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb, leaped for joy and blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord worshiping the unborn Jesus in her presence. <br /><br /> An incredible gift of God's grace. What must it have been like if you happen to be in that house and your name was Zechariah, you can't speak at this point. And here are these two women who have been just given this divine gift and they're celebrating joyously and you hear your wife speak the words blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord. <br /><br /> I just imagine he's running through that moment again in the temple Zacharias there, I should have believed I should have trusted that God would do just this. And then Mary chimes in with one of the most beautiful songs recorded in scripture. The Magnificat my soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God. <br /><br /> My savior for he has looked on the humble estate of his. For behold from now on all generations will call me blessed for he who has mighty has done great things for me. And holy is his name verse 50. And this mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm. <br /><br /> He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the mighty from their Thrones and exalted those of humble estate. He has filled the hungry with good things and the rich he has sent away empty. He has helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy, as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever. <br /><br /> And Mary remained with her about three months and returned home. So once John the Baptist had been born, Mary returns home, the gracious savior received by Mary, this impossible task. Move the humble servant to worship. Let it be to me, as you have said. So my question to you this morning is how do we apply this, our application? <br /><br /> What do we do as we respond to the grace of God coming to us? I think first we have to ask what would have Theopolis thought about all of this as he's reading these two juxtaposed birth accounts or announcement accounts <br /><br /> for Theopolis a Gentile, someone who hasn't been raised in this tradition, this faith history over time, it probably gave him incredible confidence. The humble surrender of a peasant girl was elevated and this religious elite Zachariah who doubted was muted. He was invited in the high status or the, uh, history of your religious background mattered nothing though. <br /><br /> You're not a Jew. You are set free in the name of Jesus. He probably thought to proclaim this good news. Maybe you two were not born into a home, a Christian home, as you've heard people say before, maybe your heritage is a little less like the priest Zachariah this line all the way through and a little more like Theopolis the Gentile kind of just making your way midway through life. <br /><br /> Be confident of your salvation. John writes this and chapter one, this is an incredible passage here. The true light Jesus who gives light to every man was coming into the world. He was in the world and though the world was made through him, the world didn't recognize. He came to his own people and his own people did not receive him. <br /><br /> But to all who did receive him, Jesus, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, children born, not of blood, nor the desire of, or will of man, but born of God, possibly you've been raised in the church and you've been around proximity to all of these scriptures and things being taught over time. <br /><br /> And I want to suggest this morning that that isn't enough, his own people. He came through. He didn't, he wasn't recognized they didn't receive him. And so this morning don't assume that, you know, Jesus simply because you've been around church your whole life. We just finished the sermon on the Mount, Matthew seven, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven. <br /><br /> But the one who does the will of my father, who is in heaven on that day, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name and do many mighty works in your name? And then I will declare I never knew you depart from me. You workers of lawlessness, a true faith in Christ lives out the gospel as a humble follower of him. <br /><br /> Maybe the application for you this morning is a little more, this worship aspect. These two women who worshiped with all that they've been given as a grace recipient. God meets you the songs of Mary and Elizabeth pouring out their worship and surrender in the presence of God. And though you and I often surrender most times out of powerlessness or like we've come to the end of our rope. <br /><br /> What if we began our day on the carpet, humbled hands open before we go out, we say, God, it's all yours. Let it be to me, whatever you have for me this day, it's yours, I'm yours. It's possible. As you read this account, you've considered the life of Marion. Um, as a child, as a 13 year old, she is not to be worshiped. <br /><br /> She's not to be prayed to or asked for help. She would. And has this morning even spoken that that all of the power is in. She's a vessel that God chose and used to enter the world. I wonder if Mary's life up to this point is part of the application and the takeaway for me this morning. It seems as if Mary's way had been steeped in being in God's word all along, you see the Magnificant the song that she sang was rooted in scripture. <br /><br /> It's all the Psalms she's singing words back to God that have been recorded in scripture. Possibly. This is part of Mary's way of life that she knew the scriptures and it became her language as she worshiped. Maybe it's the way we celebrate advent this year. Possibly the very best thing we could do is to contemplate who this Jesus is and celebrate him actively in our families, in our homes with our friends, receiving Jesus. <br /><br /> John. Wesley has a quote that I hate, but I have to read it. It says this nothing is more repugnant to capable reasonable people than grace at Christmas. The baby comes and says, would you receive the life that I can give you? Would you receive forgiveness? And many of us capable reasonable people think, no, no, no, no. <br /><br /> We've got to earn this. You've got to do all these things to make our way back to God. And he's saying, would you just receive this gift? That's been given his invitation to broken sinners and overly religious people is the same receive. I am sufficient for you. My power is made perfect in your weakness. <br /><br /> I'm going to ask you to stand this morning. As we close our service. It's a commission us as we go from here, knowing these things and living them out. <br /><br /> May you receive with open hands, the grace of God this week, wherever you are in life, whatever you're walking through right now, whatever lies ahead, might you contemplate and celebrate Jesus with the words of Mary song, my soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God. My savior father, we worship you this morning. <br /><br /> You are king, and we thank you for the season to celebrate Christ in whose name we pray. Amen. Amen. Thanks for being here this morning. You are dismissed.</div> false no <![CDATA[An Astounding Sermon]]> Matthew 7:28-29

And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.



Matthew chapter seven now through chapter seven, I'm going to look at the verses that Mike mentioned earlier, verse 28 and 29.

As you turn in there. I want to tell you a story. It's a story of a young preacher and the preacher had really not had many opportunities to speak. And he was given the opportunity to preach at his church and he was all excited. He, he was confident that God had given him the message. He was confident how God was going to use it, who he was.

He was just filled with zeal and fire for how this was going to impact people's lives. And he literally bound up the steps to the platform and got there and preached and. As soon as he was speaking, he totally flamed out. I mean, he lost his words. He lost where he was in the sermon. Uh, he began to question the co press the sermons, clarity.

I mean, it was a disaster. And by the end of the sermon, he just sort of staggered down the platform steps. As the music director came up to close the service, uh, with a song and an agent man in the church, a beloved Saint of Christ who loved Jesus, came alongside of them. And he made the statement to him.

He said, if you had gone up the steps, the way you came down, you might've come down the way you went up. I'll give you a chance to think about it. The reason I mentioned that is you may have seen the title of the sermon. It is entitled and astonishing Sterman. And I wanted to address that quickly and just say, if that has raised expectations for this sermon, I want you to know you will surely be disappointed.

Secondly, if it has led to the conviction that today's preacher is a total narcissist, I hope to dispel it at least minimally to say the title is not referring to the sermon. You're going to hear over the next 35 minutes. It's referring to the sermon that we've been studying these last weeks, the sermon on the Mount Jesus, most thorough presentation of what it means to live as members of his kingdom.

We're going to be looking at this in a moment, highlighting some things from it. But I do want to read the texts that Mike read Matthew chapter seven, verse 28 and 29. And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching. For, he was teaching them as one who had authority and not as describes let's pray,

Lord, we want to come to the feet of this same Jesus and ask that we too would be staggered as we think of what it must have felt like to be in that crowd with these people and why it was that they were astonished not only what he said, but how he said it. Lord, show us what that means to our own lives today.

I pray in Jesus name. Amen. The word astonished here in these verses is actually the word that is translated the new Testament to smite or to strike literally these people. We're punched in the mouth by the teaching ministry of Jesus in the sermon on the Mount. And what I'd like to talk about in the next few minutes is just why, I mean, why did this, this sermon of Jesus hit him right, right.

Between the eyes. Why was it so profoundly astonishing to them? That's what I'd like to look at together. First of all, what, what is it that astonished people in his teaching? And certainly it is, it is what he said. As we've seen in this sermon, there is the blueprint of the lifestyles, the attitude, and the responses that Jesus anticipates that that members of his kingdom will have as they live their lives.

But, and there are things in it that are, that are radical, even shocking, but there's also stuff in here that is some truth that people that would not embrace these principles as a lifestyle. I mean, he's talked about the golden rule. That's where the golden rule is first summarized do to others. What you would like them to do to you.

He talks about the value of being peacemakers. He talks about the value of showing mercy to people. He talks about, uh, being faithful to your marriage partner. He talks about, uh, telling the truth. Let your yes. Be yes. And you know, be no, I mean, be honest, be a person of integrity. I mean, everybody would say, yeah, I get it.

Those are commendable characteristics of doing human life. But he also says stuff here that is just shocking. He talks as he talks about the commandments and any, and he talks about that the commandment don't commit murder. And he says, you know, this principle that this, this law, this commandment is not just talking about killing somebody.

It's talking to me, says, I, you, you know, you've heard him say don't that said, don't commit murder. I tell you what that means is. Don't treat people with unbridled, anger and harsh words, because you are destroying a part of their personhood. He talks about, you've heard, it said don't commit adultery. I'm telling you that means if you look at a woman with lust, you have committed the AA, an act of sexual unfaithfulness to your spouse.

He talks about religious acts that it's not only that you do. Praying fasting, giving, uh, arms to people. He says, it's a spirit. It's the motivation. As a matter of fact, if your motivation stinks, he says, it's actually a sinful act for you. He talks about the fact that money can become the ruling reality in our lives.

And in many people's life, does it in a way in all of our lives, at some point or another, it does that. It can become a common form of idolatry where we trust in money when we make money central to us. And then he talks about stuff like forgiveness, and he says, you know, you don't just forgive the person that comes to you and says, you know, I'm so sorry I get it.

I'm sorry. Would you forgive me? He says, no, you forgive the jerk that keeps doing it and doing it and doing it. And he says an innumerable time. You forgive them. That doesn't mean you necessarily stay close doing life so they can beach every moment. But the idea is there's a continual pattern of forgiveness that is manifesting itself in the member of this kingdom.

We've called this series, the upside down life, because it turns our normal way of looking at life on its head. We live in a world of me first, be strong, and self-sufficient where in God we trust on the dollar actually should really say in this God we trust and Jesus points to an others centric life, a life of dependence on him, a life of implicit trust in his care and Lordship Jesus teachings in Matthew five through seven.

Feel at times unrealistic, it's just too much. And we are struck with our own insufficiency in our own lacks. Ultimately this sermon, these chapters point us to the reality that we need someone else to empower us to live this life. The sermon is intended to compel us to live in the principle that Paul lived.

When he says in Galatians two, it's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me and the life. I now live in the flesh. I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. The sermon was shocking in its content because it presented a life that no one could actually live apart from the supernatural intervention of God, through his spirit continually in their life.

What he says is shocking. Different demanding, but that's not actually what caused these people to be as astonished as they are. It's not just what Jesus said that blew their minds, punched him in the face. It's how he said it. And whereas we street in this word in verse 29, he taught as one who had authority, not like one of the scribes.

Now we got to unpack this and hang with me here. As we do this. He didn't teach like the scribe who are the scribes. So the scribes actually, uh, found their, their first person identified as a scribe in the scripture. And Jewish history was, was a man named Ezra. He was a priest and scribes were of the police Lee Levitical line.

And basically a scribe was an individual. That certainly was the one that, that meticulously recorded the scripture. You know, they didn't have printing presses. They were the ones that wrote it out. There were many holy, uh, standards and guidelines of how you do that even to this day. But the scribes wrote the law, but maybe even more importantly, the scribes interpreted the law.

They were the primary voice. When the Sanhedrin had questions about how do we apply the, the civil, uh, standards that are presented in the, in the Torah and the law of God, they called to the scribes. They said, you know, how do we interpret this, this law? And how do we, how do we handle this case? Even secular authorities in Israel would come to the scribes.

Very famous one at this time of year was in Matthew chapter two when the wise men showed up, Herod called together the scribes. And he says, where is this king of the Jews supposed to come from? And they say immediately met Micah chapter five. Verse two says, it'll be, he'll be born in, in a little town called Bethlehem, which people hardly even knew anything about.

They passed on most importantly, the oral tr traditional interpretations of the scriptures. Now this is where it gets really. These oral laws put in six different categories, had hundreds of descriptions of how you lived out the law. How far you actually could walk on the Sabbath day and not be working, whether you could light a fire to cook your meal on the Sabbath day, or if you could, what you could light at four and what you could not light it for.

There's there's hundreds of these oral laws that were passed down and the people that hold held onto them and reminded people of them where the scribes they continually held on to the oral tradition and throughout the history, these oral traditions had come by rabbis and teachers of the law that would say, well, this is what it means to, to not work on the Sabbath.

That means this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, and it was. These previous teachers that they see, they cited and they quoted, it was the rabbinical tradition, the oral tradition. It was like legal precedence. When rabbis taught or scribes taught in Jesus' day, they would take precedence in illegal cases.

When you're, you know, you're trying to figure out what do we do in this case? When we look at legal precedent, what did the courts say? In other cases, similar to this and lawyers cite them and courts turned to them. This was similar. This is how they taught by quoting those traditions. Two weeks ago, uh, our church staff visited a local synagogue.

Pastor Mike had lined it up for us, was a fantastic experience. The rabbi was incredibly gracious to us, gave us time, uh, tour. Uh, the best part was he brought us in to the, to the auditory. And we all, he brought us rack up on the Baymont to the platform and he showed us at the back of the, the alter. There, there was a, um, a beautiful metallic structure.

That was a picture of the burning Bush. And to our surprise, the thing opened and it was locked. He had to unlock it because in there on these shelves were the scrolls. The scrolls were the Torah, the scripture, there were five of them. The oldest was 300 years old, big, massive thing. And it was meticulously written on the appropriate animal skin.

All of these are by rabbinical law by scribes. And he graciously brought it out for us, brought it there on the altered, laid it out. He told us if I drop this and he was serious, he said, if I drop this, which I never have done and don't plan on doing it. I am responsible to fast for the next 40 days. He says it means a rabbinical fast, which means I can eat at night, but still I'm not, I'm not excited, so I'm not planning on dropping it, but he put it there.

And so he says, and he talked about how in their services, he would read the scripture reading for that day. He would read it in Hebrew and then he would translate in English and he would, he talked about how he would give commentary on it. And he talked about how he had studied and really a brilliant guy and a really pleasant guy.

And he talked about how he regularly studied the Talmud. Now this is where stay with me for two more minutes and I'm going to bring all this together. The Talmud is actually the written record that was put together in 78 D and it, and post that. And it is combined of two. The Talman actually, when, when Jerusalem was destroyed and now the center of Israel of Judaism was destroyed.

They said, we need more than the oral traditions that we've had for centuries. We now need it written down. So they wrote it down in what is called the Mishnah and the Mishnah are, these are these records, these, these volumes that record all of the oral traditions of those centuries, uh, before Christ of old test, basically old Testament commentaries.

And they wrote them all down. Then after that, in the next handful of years, they also put together a thing called the Gamara and the Gomorrah is actually 38, large volumes long where they even added the oral tradition to the oral traditions. And today the Talmud. The Jewish rabbis go to, and he talked about how he studies the Talmud every day.

It is basically studying these, these record of the scribes throughout history who have taught, how do we interpret the Torah? How do we look at these principles and all these volumes and volumes and, and he, they speak. And he says, as a rabbi, I speak, certainly I, I use my mind and process. And, but he said, I also speak out of the volume of understanding of the ages, how to interpret these passages and, and how to see these laws.

That's what they did in Jesus' day. The scribes would be the ones and they would say here's a passage. Here's what it means. Rabbi so-and-so said this rabbi so-and-so Hillel and Shammai were the two most famous in the two centuries before Jesus. And he says, this is how they interpret it. This is how they interpreted.

This is how they interpreted. This is, this is ways we can look at this passage. They interpreted things by taking the volume of, of oral tradition. And there's a sense in which it's, it's a very close knit, historic interpretation. It is revered.

And when they presented their teaching in Jesus' day, as well as today, they are honoring those teachings that have come and interpretations that have come through the years. Now. Here's why Jesus teaching a stunning. And why it auto astonished you, Jesus came and taught very differently. The first thing he did, he spoke like his words were of greater weight than the ancient rabbis.

He spoke with authority. Now, what does the word authority mean? Authority? You can meet a couple of things. It can means he he's an expert in the field. Well, I think that's what it's talking about. That Jesus was an authority because we're plenty of rabbis and scribes that taught with they were experts.

We also talk about authority would be an individual that is, um, that speaks with confidence and passion. Like a preacher man, man, he speaks with authority now. I don't think that's where there were rabbis and teachers that taught that way. Well, what did he mean? The authority, which Jesus demonstrated was that of someone who knew.

That what he was speaking was absolutely true. So let's leak. Look at how Jesus talked. He opens the passage, he begins to talk about passages and he speaks with authority. Here's how he talks. He says it this way in Matthew chapter five, the first chapter six times, he says this you've heard that it was said, but I tell you, what's he saying, you've heard with this rabbinical tradition, this oral tradition.

This is how we look at this, but I tell you it was astonishingly arrogant. Look, you have the volume of the, of the Mishnah, uh, of, of all of the oral traditions of all Gmail, Hillel and Shammai, and, and now chameleon, who is the primary teacher in Israel of the day. All these. They say this, but I'm telling you, it was a statement where Jesus is it.

I've tried to imagine it like this. I've tried to imagine Jesus showing up to temple Emmanuel at a Sabbath. And again, I, we all came away with the highest respect and appreciation for the graciousness and the intelligence and the seriousness of this rabbis work and life. I'm not addressing anything of what they do or believe or anything.

I am just trying to say how it must have felt to his listeners and trying to give a present day context. It would be as if Jesus showed up at the Sabbath meeting at temple Emmanuel and did this.

Let's turn to Deuteronomy 24, because he actually does this in the sermon on the mountain. And what, no, I'm not saying you do that. We're in the synagogue. And he says, go to chapter 24 of Deuteronomy, where it talks about divorce. And he says, you have heard that it was said, give her a certificate of divorce.

And basically that was the summary teaching. There were two religious leaders that were the primary teachers who led schools of rabbinical thought. One of them was a guy named Shammai, excuse me, Hallel and Hallel took a little more liberal perspective. And he basically say, you can get a divorce from any, from your spouse for anything.

And his famous illustration was if she burns your dinner, this is the literal statement. If you've she burns it in, you can get a divorce. There's nothing too trivial. If it just doesn't work. Silver Shammai was a little more, uh, he put a little more restrictions in it, but basically, you know, he says, well, you ought to be a little more careful, but basically what he said was the same thing.

He says, look, if you're dissatisfied in the marriage, if it's not working out for any reason, get a divorce. So Jesus comes in Matthew chapter five and he says, this you've heard that it was said, but these rabbinical teachers and scribes and, and, and, and th the oral tradition just given a certificate of divorce, but here's what he says.

But I tell you that everyone who divorces his wife on the sec, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery. And whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery. Here's what Jesus was saying.

The traditions are wrong. The interpretations are wrong. I tell you, do you feel this? This was so offensive. This was so seemingly brazen in its arrogance to say, yes, you've got all these volumes and, and all this you have, you have carefully kept as your oral interpretation, the orally verbally through the centuries.

I want you to know what I'm telling you here in the sermon on the Mount, what they had is wrong. What I have is truth. One of the reasons these people were shocked, nobody ever talked like this. Nobody stands up and says, you know, all those God, nah, there's not really anybody there you can. Nah, I tell ya.

This is what it means. And he does it on item after item, after item of key spiritual living stuff, the Mishnah the Talmud, the Gamara they say this, I tell you this second thing he does. He spoke like God's words and his words were of equal weight. Matthew chapter seven, verse 27, the word, the passage, just before this, Jesus summarized this way.

Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. I mean, CS Lewis is right. This man is either a liar or he's a nut job. He's a lunatic. Or he really is the Lord. He says, my words are what you build your lives on. Not the traditions, not the interpretation by words, he chairs.

He declares equal authority with God's teaching. The third thing he does is he spoke like he had the right to give them commands. This is the basic concept of authority. It's interesting, the right to excuse me, rule or command. It's affirmed the next few chapters of Matthew. Just look at Matthew chapter eight, verse nine, the Centurion comes.

Jesus says I too am a man under authority with soldiers under me. And I say to one go and he goes into another comm and he comes, he says, this is. I have the ability to command my soldiers, what to do. Come, go. When I say it, they do it. This is what authority means. Next chapter two chapters later in Matthew, chapter 10, verse one, Jesus says this and he called to him and his 12 disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits to cast them out.

He says, you guys have now have the authority to command demons, to come out of people. The idea of authority that they heard in Christ was he is speaking as someone who feels he has the right to tell us what to do, not just to say, here's the rabbinical traditions and the, and the oral Stan. Now he said, I'm commanding you to do this.

I have the authority to tell you how to live your lives. I have the authority to tell, you know, this is what it means. And these people are sitting there and he said, nobody ever taught like this. Nobody ever dare teach like this. It's no wonder the Pharisees and those who turned against him, who refuse to embrace his teaching and the beautiful story in the book of acts.

As we'll see, when we get to that series in late January is how many of the Pharisees and priests did embrace Jesus as their savior after the resurrection. But at this time, they're just thinking, they say, he's a, blasphemer why he's acting like this. God, he's talking like, he's God, he's talking like hasty authority to command us what to do with our lives.

Not just teach us as the scribes do, which is to say, this is what has been the understanding through the ages. So if that's how Jesus taught the sermon on the Mount, what does that mean to you? Me three quick things. Number one, what this means to us is to be citizens of Jesus' kingdom. We must be utterly surrendered to the kingship of Jesus in our lives.

We must seek his will. Matthew six, 10 describes the prayer. We are to pray in response to the Lordship of Jesus. God, your kingdom come your will be done praying for his kingdom to come and be developed on earth, follows parallel tracks to praying Lord your will be done. Most importantly, in me, in my life.

I want to know your will. I want to hear your will. Maybe the most, the eight most important words in the Christian life are simply this Lord. What do you want me to do recently had conversations with my financial advisor and, uh, you know, there's all kinds of things you're asking, processing, thinking about and planning and, and, and all that stuff.

Directions and guidance and skills that I don't have and perspectives that I don't have and questions that I don't know to ask. But the bottom line is I don't want to make my decisions just on what my financial advisor says. We put in, we had, we have a cement pool in our back back of our house and baby's 50 years old and it was showing it in about a year ago.

Uh, we, we found a guy that repairs pools, and we couldn't even use it because of the pipe was messed up underneath. So we, and he came on, he just looked at our pool and he basically did this. And he basically said, oh my goodness. And he was gracious and good old Emilio became a good friend, but, but you know, he's saying you got to do this and a, okay, you can get it working, but come on.

I mean, this is nice house and it, you gotta, you gotta do coping. You gotta do pavers. You gotta, you know, Now we did a lot of what he suggested, but I can tell you when he told us that we didn't say, okay. Yeah, sure. You know, we must, we must need to do that because that's what a pool guy says. We must need to do this because that's what a finance guy.

No, we said, God, here's what we're hearing. What do we do? What do you want us to do? What do you want us to do? Because our money, isn't ours, this pool, isn't ours, this house, isn't ours. We belong to you. And it's all yours. The child of God says, Lord, what do you want me to do? Now? You can look at this and say, well, that's, that's a whole lot easier when Jesus is there.

Right? So Jesus, you know, got a meeting tomorrow and go, you know, what do I say? How do you know you come with me and sorta, you know, as you hear me talking and, but Jesus isn't here, right? I mean, he's, we don't see him. We can't. One of the most exciting things that you're going to experience when we study the book of acts together is one of the most exciting things has been impressing me about when you read through the book of acts and those of you that were scripted have scripturally written through it.

I'm sure this has stood out to you and if you haven't done it, or if you haven't noticed that, go through the book of acts, get it on paper and circle. Every time the holy spirit has mentioned. It's crazy. I mean, you think a few weeks before the book of acts is really taking place. You read the gospels, it doesn't say anything about the holy spirit.

I'm in the last few days that Jesus is alive in John 14, through 16, he starts talking about the holy spirit is going to come and all it's going to have. And then you get to the book of acts and these guys don't have any other reference point. Everything it's the holy spirit led me to do that. We saw the, it was demonstration of the holy spirit and power of the holy spirit came upon them.

You know, the holy spirit came among us. Where did this come from? And it struck me as I was reading this one day to these guys. In the book of acts, the presence of the spirit of God in their life was as real to them. As the physical presence of Jesus had been when they walked with him, that he was just as present with them to have the second member of the Trinity reproduced, uh, replaced for the third.

They didn't lose a beat. You have him, you have him, the spirit of God lives in you. The spirit of God is willing to direct you. We have his spirit to guide us. We can look to him to lead us and find out the will of God. Secondly, we must obey and surrender to as well. We live as people under authority, we're called to obey.

We're called to bend our wills to the will of God. Jesus modeled. He says in the garden the most acute. Painful moment of his life. He says, Lord, not my will, but yours be done.

When we talk about living out the sermon on the Mount, Jesus is not just saying, you know, here's some cool principles. He's saying, I'm saying this with the 40. If you're a part of my kingdom, this is the guiding reality of your life. I'm commanding you to live this way. During world war II, the Nazis had the, the Italians who had been associates with the Nazis, basically bagged the whole thing.

Mussolini stepped down. It was, and they had been fighting the allies and they had a bunch of British soldiers, uh, us, Australian soldiers. In their prisons. And now the Italians has said we're out. And what happened then is the German swept in? And all of a sudden these GIS and British soldiers and Australian soldiers are wandering around literally the streets, particularly of Rome freed, but were with nowhere to go.

And that the Nazis are sweeping in to fill the power vacuum and take over. And certainly are looking for these former soldiers or the soldiers that are now free. At the same time, there are Jews who have not really been ostracized and persecuted to the degrees that Nazis would, and they're wandering around Rome and the Nazis are coming and there was a man named Juan Sr, Hugh a flight.

Who chose. And I believe he's absolutely a born again, believer, chose to actively live out the principles of the sermon on the Mount. And he began to, he formed a network to hide these GIS, these soldiers, these Jewish people. And over the course of time, he personally was responsible for getting out a little over 6,500 individuals, a handful at a time at a time during that time.

And it took place over two years, the Gestapo leader was a man named major. Herbert Kepler and Kepler was a tiger. His office was in Rome and it didn't take him long to find out that the head of the operation was this month senior. And so. Not wanting to alienate the church who is in this difficult situation.

But what he eventually did was he began to take people that were associated with the Monsignor who, oh, flattery to torture them. He killed a number of them, women, families, close associates, beloved, lifelong friends. He even sent two guys in as, as masquerading, as Jews. And they were actually there to assassinate fewer flattery, but he got wind of it.

And just at the last minute, his life was spared. This man did horrible barbaric, brutal things. He hated the Monsignor. He did everything to break him and his organization and killed and destroyed the lives of many people, precious to hue off lottery. And then the tide turned and the allies came up through Sicily, into Italy and they were marching on.

And he flattery was called once again to the office of major Kepler. And this time, all of the associates of Kepler were lovable, put out of the room and Kepler turned to him and he says, we both know the allies are coming. And he brought out a picture and he said, I know that you have an organization that gets people out.

This is my wife and children. I want you to get my children out of Italy. You are flattery looked at this guy sitting there. And of course the visual of all the people that this man has destroyed, that this guy had left. He all flattery did it, his children and his wife got out, but that isn't all of you, a flattery.

Your flattery, not only chose to overlook what this man had done. And you might say, well, of course, because that, you know, this family they're victims, they're innocent, but here's also what he did. Kepler was put into a lockdown facility. And for 12 years after his arrest, he only had one visitor and he was, he was visited every week.

He all flattery showed up every single week to visit Kepler sometime during the 12th year of this man, visiting him, looking out for him, loving him with a love only Christ could give Kepler bow the knee to Jesus Christ and was baptized by. QR flattery

to live as members of the kingdom means that we bow the knee. And we say, Lord, now that I know what you want me to do, because you've laid it out in Matthew five through seven, I now choose to obey and to live in a way that I can't live on my own, but you've told me I can forgive through you. You've told me I can.

Grace people that have wronged me horribly through you. And the last thing we find that I think is involved, if Jesus really is the authority, then we respond to his Lordship in our lives, by glorying in his will.

Sometimes the Lord brings into our lives. Things we really don't understand. And our hard, right? And the one who says he's the Lord, the king, he allows things to come that are very confusing. And he says, will you trust me with this? Will you love me with this? Will you serve me? Well, will you bow the knee handful of years ago, we had a young couple in our church who had tried prayed diligently for four years to have a child during the last two years of that, they had started fertility treatments and nothing had.

And then finally, just before Christmas time, they found out that she was pregnant and.

As they went for their 20 week ultrasound, they were overwhelmed with joy to find out that they were going to have a girl, but the ultrasound also revealed some abnormality. It revealed a thing called skeletal dysplasia, which means the bone structure would not grow. And if it didn't grow, it, couldn't protect the organs and enable them to grow.

And so they told this young couple, if your baby is allowed to live, she will not live more than two hours. It will probably be minutes. And so this couple left with this decision determined two things. One, they would bring this child to life because they felt that was in the hands of. But secondly, they contacted me and they said we would like to dedicate our baby.

So always been our goal to dedicate any children. The Lord gives us, we want to dedicate this job, but we need to do it before the birth. If things go as it is designed. So on a Sunday morning, and I have their permission to share all this, Jason and Shannon Newcomb stood with me. She was pregnant carrying their little child in order to say, we're dedicating this child to the Lord and his will.

And I just wanted to read this and I'm going to wrap it up here. I ask people that are dedicating a child. Why are you doing it? And this was their response in letter. I said, why do you guys want to do the dedication? And what are you saying in it? This is what they wrote. We want to dedicate our daughter because we are fulfilling the promise we made before God, when we found out we were expecting, even though this situation is not how we wanted everything to turn out, we desire to honor our commitment, like many other families.

We want to outwardly express our faith. In our knowing of God's sovereignty. We're not doing this at home or in pastor Mark's office, but in front of our church family, we need the love prayer support and accountability from everyone to stay Christ centered through the grieving process and our continued growth as Christ followers.

In addition, we also desire for God to be glorified. We want to make a public statement saying we don't understand, but we have a God who does. We only see a four by six picture you'd got is working on the full mural. He's working in orchestrating events to further his kingdom, to make his name known, to draw people to himself and through it all, he's using our little girl to somehow accomplish his plan.

A plan. We don't understand, we don't think we're called to understand his plans, but we are called to trust him and lay everything in his feet. We take great comfort from the fact that God is going before us and his love knows no end there. A little girl was born. They had her for about an hour and Jason wrote to me after it.

And he said this, we saw her enter this world and saw her enter the next sequel to the story by God's mercy is they have two other little children. Doing great.

If Jesus is the authority, there can be no sane response except to say, yes, Lord, I want to know your will. I'm willing to do your will. I want to glory in your will. That's what it means. If Jesus really is who he's claiming to be in Matthew five through seven, he's saying I'm for you. I'm with you. I love you in a way I'm safer than any human being you'll ever do life with, but I am the Lord.

So we look at this passage then, and we look at the sermon

and it reminds us us of what it was like to live. And what it is like as members of Jesus' kingdom, let's pray together. Lord Jesus, we've been studying about your kingdom, Lord, you're the king where your people, if we have named your name is Lord and savior, you're worthy of our seeking your will. You're worthy of our doing your will.

You're worthy of her, glorifying you for your will. So Lord, with the words of the song, we say, God, build your kingdom here. Rule and reign in our hearts, set our hearts of blaze. Oh, holy spirit, come and invade us. Now do it. We seek your kingdom,

your kingdom here in us in Jesus name. Amen.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/an-astounding-sermon dcf34791-6f7e-479c-8065-668f5b3fff36 Sun, 21 Nov 2021 13:01:46 GMT <div data-html="true">Matthew 7:28-29 <br /><br /> And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes. <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Matthew chapter seven now through chapter seven, I'm going to look at the verses that Mike mentioned earlier, verse 28 and 29. <br /><br /> As you turn in there. I want to tell you a story. It's a story of a young preacher and the preacher had really not had many opportunities to speak. And he was given the opportunity to preach at his church and he was all excited. He, he was confident that God had given him the message. He was confident how God was going to use it, who he was. <br /><br /> He was just filled with zeal and fire for how this was going to impact people's lives. And he literally bound up the steps to the platform and got there and preached and. As soon as he was speaking, he totally flamed out. I mean, he lost his words. He lost where he was in the sermon. Uh, he began to question the co press the sermons, clarity. <br /><br /> I mean, it was a disaster. And by the end of the sermon, he just sort of staggered down the platform steps. As the music director came up to close the service, uh, with a song and an agent man in the church, a beloved Saint of Christ who loved Jesus, came alongside of them. And he made the statement to him. <br /><br /> He said, if you had gone up the steps, the way you came down, you might've come down the way you went up. I'll give you a chance to think about it. The reason I mentioned that is you may have seen the title of the sermon. It is entitled and astonishing Sterman. And I wanted to address that quickly and just say, if that has raised expectations for this sermon, I want you to know you will surely be disappointed. <br /><br /> Secondly, if it has led to the conviction that today's preacher is a total narcissist, I hope to dispel it at least minimally to say the title is not referring to the sermon. You're going to hear over the next 35 minutes. It's referring to the sermon that we've been studying these last weeks, the sermon on the Mount Jesus, most thorough presentation of what it means to live as members of his kingdom. <br /><br /> We're going to be looking at this in a moment, highlighting some things from it. But I do want to read the texts that Mike read Matthew chapter seven, verse 28 and 29. And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching. For, he was teaching them as one who had authority and not as describes let's pray, <br /><br /> Lord, we want to come to the feet of this same Jesus and ask that we too would be staggered as we think of what it must have felt like to be in that crowd with these people and why it was that they were astonished not only what he said, but how he said it. Lord, show us what that means to our own lives today. <br /><br /> I pray in Jesus name. Amen. The word astonished here in these verses is actually the word that is translated the new Testament to smite or to strike literally these people. We're punched in the mouth by the teaching ministry of Jesus in the sermon on the Mount. And what I'd like to talk about in the next few minutes is just why, I mean, why did this, this sermon of Jesus hit him right, right. <br /><br /> Between the eyes. Why was it so profoundly astonishing to them? That's what I'd like to look at together. First of all, what, what is it that astonished people in his teaching? And certainly it is, it is what he said. As we've seen in this sermon, there is the blueprint of the lifestyles, the attitude, and the responses that Jesus anticipates that that members of his kingdom will have as they live their lives. <br /><br /> But, and there are things in it that are, that are radical, even shocking, but there's also stuff in here that is some truth that people that would not embrace these principles as a lifestyle. I mean, he's talked about the golden rule. That's where the golden rule is first summarized do to others. What you would like them to do to you. <br /><br /> He talks about the value of being peacemakers. He talks about the value of showing mercy to people. He talks about, uh, being faithful to your marriage partner. He talks about, uh, telling the truth. Let your yes. Be yes. And you know, be no, I mean, be honest, be a person of integrity. I mean, everybody would say, yeah, I get it. <br /><br /> Those are commendable characteristics of doing human life. But he also says stuff here that is just shocking. He talks as he talks about the commandments and any, and he talks about that the commandment don't commit murder. And he says, you know, this principle that this, this law, this commandment is not just talking about killing somebody. <br /><br /> It's talking to me, says, I, you, you know, you've heard him say don't that said, don't commit murder. I tell you what that means is. Don't treat people with unbridled, anger and harsh words, because you are destroying a part of their personhood. He talks about, you've heard, it said don't commit adultery. I'm telling you that means if you look at a woman with lust, you have committed the AA, an act of sexual unfaithfulness to your spouse. <br /><br /> He talks about religious acts that it's not only that you do. Praying fasting, giving, uh, arms to people. He says, it's a spirit. It's the motivation. As a matter of fact, if your motivation stinks, he says, it's actually a sinful act for you. He talks about the fact that money can become the ruling reality in our lives. <br /><br /> And in many people's life, does it in a way in all of our lives, at some point or another, it does that. It can become a common form of idolatry where we trust in money when we make money central to us. And then he talks about stuff like forgiveness, and he says, you know, you don't just forgive the person that comes to you and says, you know, I'm so sorry I get it. <br /><br /> I'm sorry. Would you forgive me? He says, no, you forgive the jerk that keeps doing it and doing it and doing it. And he says an innumerable time. You forgive them. That doesn't mean you necessarily stay close doing life so they can beach every moment. But the idea is there's a continual pattern of forgiveness that is manifesting itself in the member of this kingdom. <br /><br /> We've called this series, the upside down life, because it turns our normal way of looking at life on its head. We live in a world of me first, be strong, and self-sufficient where in God we trust on the dollar actually should really say in this God we trust and Jesus points to an others centric life, a life of dependence on him, a life of implicit trust in his care and Lordship Jesus teachings in Matthew five through seven. <br /><br /> Feel at times unrealistic, it's just too much. And we are struck with our own insufficiency in our own lacks. Ultimately this sermon, these chapters point us to the reality that we need someone else to empower us to live this life. The sermon is intended to compel us to live in the principle that Paul lived. <br /><br /> When he says in Galatians two, it's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me and the life. I now live in the flesh. I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. The sermon was shocking in its content because it presented a life that no one could actually live apart from the supernatural intervention of God, through his spirit continually in their life. <br /><br /> What he says is shocking. Different demanding, but that's not actually what caused these people to be as astonished as they are. It's not just what Jesus said that blew their minds, punched him in the face. It's how he said it. And whereas we street in this word in verse 29, he taught as one who had authority, not like one of the scribes. <br /><br /> Now we got to unpack this and hang with me here. As we do this. He didn't teach like the scribe who are the scribes. So the scribes actually, uh, found their, their first person identified as a scribe in the scripture. And Jewish history was, was a man named Ezra. He was a priest and scribes were of the police Lee Levitical line. <br /><br /> And basically a scribe was an individual. That certainly was the one that, that meticulously recorded the scripture. You know, they didn't have printing presses. They were the ones that wrote it out. There were many holy, uh, standards and guidelines of how you do that even to this day. But the scribes wrote the law, but maybe even more importantly, the scribes interpreted the law. <br /><br /> They were the primary voice. When the Sanhedrin had questions about how do we apply the, the civil, uh, standards that are presented in the, in the Torah and the law of God, they called to the scribes. They said, you know, how do we interpret this, this law? And how do we, how do we handle this case? Even secular authorities in Israel would come to the scribes. <br /><br /> Very famous one at this time of year was in Matthew chapter two when the wise men showed up, Herod called together the scribes. And he says, where is this king of the Jews supposed to come from? And they say immediately met Micah chapter five. Verse two says, it'll be, he'll be born in, in a little town called Bethlehem, which people hardly even knew anything about. <br /><br /> They passed on most importantly, the oral tr traditional interpretations of the scriptures. Now this is where it gets really. These oral laws put in six different categories, had hundreds of descriptions of how you lived out the law. How far you actually could walk on the Sabbath day and not be working, whether you could light a fire to cook your meal on the Sabbath day, or if you could, what you could light at four and what you could not light it for. <br /><br /> There's there's hundreds of these oral laws that were passed down and the people that hold held onto them and reminded people of them where the scribes they continually held on to the oral tradition and throughout the history, these oral traditions had come by rabbis and teachers of the law that would say, well, this is what it means to, to not work on the Sabbath. <br /><br /> That means this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, and it was. These previous teachers that they see, they cited and they quoted, it was the rabbinical tradition, the oral tradition. It was like legal precedence. When rabbis taught or scribes taught in Jesus' day, they would take precedence in illegal cases. <br /><br /> When you're, you know, you're trying to figure out what do we do in this case? When we look at legal precedent, what did the courts say? In other cases, similar to this and lawyers cite them and courts turned to them. This was similar. This is how they taught by quoting those traditions. Two weeks ago, uh, our church staff visited a local synagogue. <br /><br /> Pastor Mike had lined it up for us, was a fantastic experience. The rabbi was incredibly gracious to us, gave us time, uh, tour. Uh, the best part was he brought us in to the, to the auditory. And we all, he brought us rack up on the Baymont to the platform and he showed us at the back of the, the alter. There, there was a, um, a beautiful metallic structure. <br /><br /> That was a picture of the burning Bush. And to our surprise, the thing opened and it was locked. He had to unlock it because in there on these shelves were the scrolls. The scrolls were the Torah, the scripture, there were five of them. The oldest was 300 years old, big, massive thing. And it was meticulously written on the appropriate animal skin. <br /><br /> All of these are by rabbinical law by scribes. And he graciously brought it out for us, brought it there on the altered, laid it out. He told us if I drop this and he was serious, he said, if I drop this, which I never have done and don't plan on doing it. I am responsible to fast for the next 40 days. He says it means a rabbinical fast, which means I can eat at night, but still I'm not, I'm not excited, so I'm not planning on dropping it, but he put it there. <br /><br /> And so he says, and he talked about how in their services, he would read the scripture reading for that day. He would read it in Hebrew and then he would translate in English and he would, he talked about how he would give commentary on it. And he talked about how he had studied and really a brilliant guy and a really pleasant guy. <br /><br /> And he talked about how he regularly studied the Talmud. Now this is where stay with me for two more minutes and I'm going to bring all this together. The Talmud is actually the written record that was put together in 78 D and it, and post that. And it is combined of two. The Talman actually, when, when Jerusalem was destroyed and now the center of Israel of Judaism was destroyed. <br /><br /> They said, we need more than the oral traditions that we've had for centuries. We now need it written down. So they wrote it down in what is called the Mishnah and the Mishnah are, these are these records, these, these volumes that record all of the oral traditions of those centuries, uh, before Christ of old test, basically old Testament commentaries. <br /><br /> And they wrote them all down. Then after that, in the next handful of years, they also put together a thing called the Gamara and the Gomorrah is actually 38, large volumes long where they even added the oral tradition to the oral traditions. And today the Talmud. The Jewish rabbis go to, and he talked about how he studies the Talmud every day. <br /><br /> It is basically studying these, these record of the scribes throughout history who have taught, how do we interpret the Torah? How do we look at these principles and all these volumes and volumes and, and he, they speak. And he says, as a rabbi, I speak, certainly I, I use my mind and process. And, but he said, I also speak out of the volume of understanding of the ages, how to interpret these passages and, and how to see these laws. <br /><br /> That's what they did in Jesus' day. The scribes would be the ones and they would say here's a passage. Here's what it means. Rabbi so-and-so said this rabbi so-and-so Hillel and Shammai were the two most famous in the two centuries before Jesus. And he says, this is how they interpret it. This is how they interpreted. <br /><br /> This is how they interpreted. This is, this is ways we can look at this passage. They interpreted things by taking the volume of, of oral tradition. And there's a sense in which it's, it's a very close knit, historic interpretation. It is revered. <br /><br /> And when they presented their teaching in Jesus' day, as well as today, they are honoring those teachings that have come and interpretations that have come through the years. Now. Here's why Jesus teaching a stunning. And why it auto astonished you, Jesus came and taught very differently. The first thing he did, he spoke like his words were of greater weight than the ancient rabbis. <br /><br /> He spoke with authority. Now, what does the word authority mean? Authority? You can meet a couple of things. It can means he he's an expert in the field. Well, I think that's what it's talking about. That Jesus was an authority because we're plenty of rabbis and scribes that taught with they were experts. <br /><br /> We also talk about authority would be an individual that is, um, that speaks with confidence and passion. Like a preacher man, man, he speaks with authority now. I don't think that's where there were rabbis and teachers that taught that way. Well, what did he mean? The authority, which Jesus demonstrated was that of someone who knew. <br /><br /> That what he was speaking was absolutely true. So let's leak. Look at how Jesus talked. He opens the passage, he begins to talk about passages and he speaks with authority. Here's how he talks. He says it this way in Matthew chapter five, the first chapter six times, he says this you've heard that it was said, but I tell you, what's he saying, you've heard with this rabbinical tradition, this oral tradition. <br /><br /> This is how we look at this, but I tell you it was astonishingly arrogant. Look, you have the volume of the, of the Mishnah, uh, of, of all of the oral traditions of all Gmail, Hillel and Shammai, and, and now chameleon, who is the primary teacher in Israel of the day. All these. They say this, but I'm telling you, it was a statement where Jesus is it. <br /><br /> I've tried to imagine it like this. I've tried to imagine Jesus showing up to temple Emmanuel at a Sabbath. And again, I, we all came away with the highest respect and appreciation for the graciousness and the intelligence and the seriousness of this rabbis work and life. I'm not addressing anything of what they do or believe or anything. <br /><br /> I am just trying to say how it must have felt to his listeners and trying to give a present day context. It would be as if Jesus showed up at the Sabbath meeting at temple Emmanuel and did this. <br /><br /> Let's turn to Deuteronomy 24, because he actually does this in the sermon on the mountain. And what, no, I'm not saying you do that. We're in the synagogue. And he says, go to chapter 24 of Deuteronomy, where it talks about divorce. And he says, you have heard that it was said, give her a certificate of divorce. <br /><br /> And basically that was the summary teaching. There were two religious leaders that were the primary teachers who led schools of rabbinical thought. One of them was a guy named Shammai, excuse me, Hallel and Hallel took a little more liberal perspective. And he basically say, you can get a divorce from any, from your spouse for anything. <br /><br /> And his famous illustration was if she burns your dinner, this is the literal statement. If you've she burns it in, you can get a divorce. There's nothing too trivial. If it just doesn't work. Silver Shammai was a little more, uh, he put a little more restrictions in it, but basically, you know, he says, well, you ought to be a little more careful, but basically what he said was the same thing. <br /><br /> He says, look, if you're dissatisfied in the marriage, if it's not working out for any reason, get a divorce. So Jesus comes in Matthew chapter five and he says, this you've heard that it was said, but these rabbinical teachers and scribes and, and, and, and th the oral tradition just given a certificate of divorce, but here's what he says. <br /><br /> But I tell you that everyone who divorces his wife on the sec, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery. And whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery. Here's what Jesus was saying. <br /><br /> The traditions are wrong. The interpretations are wrong. I tell you, do you feel this? This was so offensive. This was so seemingly brazen in its arrogance to say, yes, you've got all these volumes and, and all this you have, you have carefully kept as your oral interpretation, the orally verbally through the centuries. <br /><br /> I want you to know what I'm telling you here in the sermon on the Mount, what they had is wrong. What I have is truth. One of the reasons these people were shocked, nobody ever talked like this. Nobody stands up and says, you know, all those God, nah, there's not really anybody there you can. Nah, I tell ya. <br /><br /> This is what it means. And he does it on item after item, after item of key spiritual living stuff, the Mishnah the Talmud, the Gamara they say this, I tell you this second thing he does. He spoke like God's words and his words were of equal weight. Matthew chapter seven, verse 27, the word, the passage, just before this, Jesus summarized this way. <br /><br /> Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. I mean, CS Lewis is right. This man is either a liar or he's a nut job. He's a lunatic. Or he really is the Lord. He says, my words are what you build your lives on. Not the traditions, not the interpretation by words, he chairs. <br /><br /> He declares equal authority with God's teaching. The third thing he does is he spoke like he had the right to give them commands. This is the basic concept of authority. It's interesting, the right to excuse me, rule or command. It's affirmed the next few chapters of Matthew. Just look at Matthew chapter eight, verse nine, the Centurion comes. <br /><br /> Jesus says I too am a man under authority with soldiers under me. And I say to one go and he goes into another comm and he comes, he says, this is. I have the ability to command my soldiers, what to do. Come, go. When I say it, they do it. This is what authority means. Next chapter two chapters later in Matthew, chapter 10, verse one, Jesus says this and he called to him and his 12 disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits to cast them out. <br /><br /> He says, you guys have now have the authority to command demons, to come out of people. The idea of authority that they heard in Christ was he is speaking as someone who feels he has the right to tell us what to do, not just to say, here's the rabbinical traditions and the, and the oral Stan. Now he said, I'm commanding you to do this. <br /><br /> I have the authority to tell you how to live your lives. I have the authority to tell, you know, this is what it means. And these people are sitting there and he said, nobody ever taught like this. Nobody ever dare teach like this. It's no wonder the Pharisees and those who turned against him, who refuse to embrace his teaching and the beautiful story in the book of acts. <br /><br /> As we'll see, when we get to that series in late January is how many of the Pharisees and priests did embrace Jesus as their savior after the resurrection. But at this time, they're just thinking, they say, he's a, blasphemer why he's acting like this. God, he's talking like, he's God, he's talking like hasty authority to command us what to do with our lives. <br /><br /> Not just teach us as the scribes do, which is to say, this is what has been the understanding through the ages. So if that's how Jesus taught the sermon on the Mount, what does that mean to you? Me three quick things. Number one, what this means to us is to be citizens of Jesus' kingdom. We must be utterly surrendered to the kingship of Jesus in our lives. <br /><br /> We must seek his will. Matthew six, 10 describes the prayer. We are to pray in response to the Lordship of Jesus. God, your kingdom come your will be done praying for his kingdom to come and be developed on earth, follows parallel tracks to praying Lord your will be done. Most importantly, in me, in my life. <br /><br /> I want to know your will. I want to hear your will. Maybe the most, the eight most important words in the Christian life are simply this Lord. What do you want me to do recently had conversations with my financial advisor and, uh, you know, there's all kinds of things you're asking, processing, thinking about and planning and, and, and all that stuff. <br /><br /> Directions and guidance and skills that I don't have and perspectives that I don't have and questions that I don't know to ask. But the bottom line is I don't want to make my decisions just on what my financial advisor says. We put in, we had, we have a cement pool in our back back of our house and baby's 50 years old and it was showing it in about a year ago. <br /><br /> Uh, we, we found a guy that repairs pools, and we couldn't even use it because of the pipe was messed up underneath. So we, and he came on, he just looked at our pool and he basically did this. And he basically said, oh my goodness. And he was gracious and good old Emilio became a good friend, but, but you know, he's saying you got to do this and a, okay, you can get it working, but come on. <br /><br /> I mean, this is nice house and it, you gotta, you gotta do coping. You gotta do pavers. You gotta, you know, Now we did a lot of what he suggested, but I can tell you when he told us that we didn't say, okay. Yeah, sure. You know, we must, we must need to do that because that's what a pool guy says. We must need to do this because that's what a finance guy. <br /><br /> No, we said, God, here's what we're hearing. What do we do? What do you want us to do? What do you want us to do? Because our money, isn't ours, this pool, isn't ours, this house, isn't ours. We belong to you. And it's all yours. The child of God says, Lord, what do you want me to do? Now? You can look at this and say, well, that's, that's a whole lot easier when Jesus is there. <br /><br /> Right? So Jesus, you know, got a meeting tomorrow and go, you know, what do I say? How do you know you come with me and sorta, you know, as you hear me talking and, but Jesus isn't here, right? I mean, he's, we don't see him. We can't. One of the most exciting things that you're going to experience when we study the book of acts together is one of the most exciting things has been impressing me about when you read through the book of acts and those of you that were scripted have scripturally written through it. <br /><br /> I'm sure this has stood out to you and if you haven't done it, or if you haven't noticed that, go through the book of acts, get it on paper and circle. Every time the holy spirit has mentioned. It's crazy. I mean, you think a few weeks before the book of acts is really taking place. You read the gospels, it doesn't say anything about the holy spirit. <br /><br /> I'm in the last few days that Jesus is alive in John 14, through 16, he starts talking about the holy spirit is going to come and all it's going to have. And then you get to the book of acts and these guys don't have any other reference point. Everything it's the holy spirit led me to do that. We saw the, it was demonstration of the holy spirit and power of the holy spirit came upon them. <br /><br /> You know, the holy spirit came among us. Where did this come from? And it struck me as I was reading this one day to these guys. In the book of acts, the presence of the spirit of God in their life was as real to them. As the physical presence of Jesus had been when they walked with him, that he was just as present with them to have the second member of the Trinity reproduced, uh, replaced for the third. <br /><br /> They didn't lose a beat. You have him, you have him, the spirit of God lives in you. The spirit of God is willing to direct you. We have his spirit to guide us. We can look to him to lead us and find out the will of God. Secondly, we must obey and surrender to as well. We live as people under authority, we're called to obey. <br /><br /> We're called to bend our wills to the will of God. Jesus modeled. He says in the garden the most acute. Painful moment of his life. He says, Lord, not my will, but yours be done. <br /><br /> When we talk about living out the sermon on the Mount, Jesus is not just saying, you know, here's some cool principles. He's saying, I'm saying this with the 40. If you're a part of my kingdom, this is the guiding reality of your life. I'm commanding you to live this way. During world war II, the Nazis had the, the Italians who had been associates with the Nazis, basically bagged the whole thing. <br /><br /> Mussolini stepped down. It was, and they had been fighting the allies and they had a bunch of British soldiers, uh, us, Australian soldiers. In their prisons. And now the Italians has said we're out. And what happened then is the German swept in? And all of a sudden these GIS and British soldiers and Australian soldiers are wandering around literally the streets, particularly of Rome freed, but were with nowhere to go. <br /><br /> And that the Nazis are sweeping in to fill the power vacuum and take over. And certainly are looking for these former soldiers or the soldiers that are now free. At the same time, there are Jews who have not really been ostracized and persecuted to the degrees that Nazis would, and they're wandering around Rome and the Nazis are coming and there was a man named Juan Sr, Hugh a flight. <br /><br /> Who chose. And I believe he's absolutely a born again, believer, chose to actively live out the principles of the sermon on the Mount. And he began to, he formed a network to hide these GIS, these soldiers, these Jewish people. And over the course of time, he personally was responsible for getting out a little over 6,500 individuals, a handful at a time at a time during that time. <br /><br /> And it took place over two years, the Gestapo leader was a man named major. Herbert Kepler and Kepler was a tiger. His office was in Rome and it didn't take him long to find out that the head of the operation was this month senior. And so. Not wanting to alienate the church who is in this difficult situation. <br /><br /> But what he eventually did was he began to take people that were associated with the Monsignor who, oh, flattery to torture them. He killed a number of them, women, families, close associates, beloved, lifelong friends. He even sent two guys in as, as masquerading, as Jews. And they were actually there to assassinate fewer flattery, but he got wind of it. <br /><br /> And just at the last minute, his life was spared. This man did horrible barbaric, brutal things. He hated the Monsignor. He did everything to break him and his organization and killed and destroyed the lives of many people, precious to hue off lottery. And then the tide turned and the allies came up through Sicily, into Italy and they were marching on. <br /><br /> And he flattery was called once again to the office of major Kepler. And this time, all of the associates of Kepler were lovable, put out of the room and Kepler turned to him and he says, we both know the allies are coming. And he brought out a picture and he said, I know that you have an organization that gets people out. <br /><br /> This is my wife and children. I want you to get my children out of Italy. You are flattery looked at this guy sitting there. And of course the visual of all the people that this man has destroyed, that this guy had left. He all flattery did it, his children and his wife got out, but that isn't all of you, a flattery. <br /><br /> Your flattery, not only chose to overlook what this man had done. And you might say, well, of course, because that, you know, this family they're victims, they're innocent, but here's also what he did. Kepler was put into a lockdown facility. And for 12 years after his arrest, he only had one visitor and he was, he was visited every week. <br /><br /> He all flattery showed up every single week to visit Kepler sometime during the 12th year of this man, visiting him, looking out for him, loving him with a love only Christ could give Kepler bow the knee to Jesus Christ and was baptized by. QR flattery <br /><br /> to live as members of the kingdom means that we bow the knee. And we say, Lord, now that I know what you want me to do, because you've laid it out in Matthew five through seven, I now choose to obey and to live in a way that I can't live on my own, but you've told me I can forgive through you. You've told me I can. <br /><br /> Grace people that have wronged me horribly through you. And the last thing we find that I think is involved, if Jesus really is the authority, then we respond to his Lordship in our lives, by glorying in his will. <br /><br /> Sometimes the Lord brings into our lives. Things we really don't understand. And our hard, right? And the one who says he's the Lord, the king, he allows things to come that are very confusing. And he says, will you trust me with this? Will you love me with this? Will you serve me? Well, will you bow the knee handful of years ago, we had a young couple in our church who had tried prayed diligently for four years to have a child during the last two years of that, they had started fertility treatments and nothing had. <br /><br /> And then finally, just before Christmas time, they found out that she was pregnant and. <br /><br /> As they went for their 20 week ultrasound, they were overwhelmed with joy to find out that they were going to have a girl, but the ultrasound also revealed some abnormality. It revealed a thing called skeletal dysplasia, which means the bone structure would not grow. And if it didn't grow, it, couldn't protect the organs and enable them to grow. <br /><br /> And so they told this young couple, if your baby is allowed to live, she will not live more than two hours. It will probably be minutes. And so this couple left with this decision determined two things. One, they would bring this child to life because they felt that was in the hands of. But secondly, they contacted me and they said we would like to dedicate our baby. <br /><br /> So always been our goal to dedicate any children. The Lord gives us, we want to dedicate this job, but we need to do it before the birth. If things go as it is designed. So on a Sunday morning, and I have their permission to share all this, Jason and Shannon Newcomb stood with me. She was pregnant carrying their little child in order to say, we're dedicating this child to the Lord and his will. <br /><br /> And I just wanted to read this and I'm going to wrap it up here. I ask people that are dedicating a child. Why are you doing it? And this was their response in letter. I said, why do you guys want to do the dedication? And what are you saying in it? This is what they wrote. We want to dedicate our daughter because we are fulfilling the promise we made before God, when we found out we were expecting, even though this situation is not how we wanted everything to turn out, we desire to honor our commitment, like many other families. <br /><br /> We want to outwardly express our faith. In our knowing of God's sovereignty. We're not doing this at home or in pastor Mark's office, but in front of our church family, we need the love prayer support and accountability from everyone to stay Christ centered through the grieving process and our continued growth as Christ followers. <br /><br /> In addition, we also desire for God to be glorified. We want to make a public statement saying we don't understand, but we have a God who does. We only see a four by six picture you'd got is working on the full mural. He's working in orchestrating events to further his kingdom, to make his name known, to draw people to himself and through it all, he's using our little girl to somehow accomplish his plan. <br /><br /> A plan. We don't understand, we don't think we're called to understand his plans, but we are called to trust him and lay everything in his feet. We take great comfort from the fact that God is going before us and his love knows no end there. A little girl was born. They had her for about an hour and Jason wrote to me after it. <br /><br /> And he said this, we saw her enter this world and saw her enter the next sequel to the story by God's mercy is they have two other little children. Doing great. <br /><br /> If Jesus is the authority, there can be no sane response except to say, yes, Lord, I want to know your will. I'm willing to do your will. I want to glory in your will. That's what it means. If Jesus really is who he's claiming to be in Matthew five through seven, he's saying I'm for you. I'm with you. I love you in a way I'm safer than any human being you'll ever do life with, but I am the Lord. <br /><br /> So we look at this passage then, and we look at the sermon <br /><br /> and it reminds us us of what it was like to live. And what it is like as members of Jesus' kingdom, let's pray together. Lord Jesus, we've been studying about your kingdom, Lord, you're the king where your people, if we have named your name is Lord and savior, you're worthy of our seeking your will. You're worthy of our doing your will. <br /><br /> You're worthy of her, glorifying you for your will. So Lord, with the words of the song, we say, God, build your kingdom here. Rule and reign in our hearts, set our hearts of blaze. Oh, holy spirit, come and invade us. Now do it. We seek your kingdom, <br /><br /> your kingdom here in us in Jesus name. Amen.</div> false no <![CDATA[The BIBLE, Yes That's the Book for Me]]> 2 Timothy 3:14-17

"All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work."



Good morning everyone. I'm gonna move that to the middle. The chair is here just in case I get. It's good to be here together. Isn't it. It's always good to worship the Lord, bring hearts before him and thanking him for who he is. And it's a, it's a rich, wonderful time. Isn't it? It really is really as good for those of you who may not know me.

I'm Jim painter. I was one of the pastors here for about a thousand years, something like that. Um, and uh, recently retired and somebody asks, what does that mean as a pastor to retire? Didn't know pastors retired and what it means is I don't come into the office every day. Uh, still do a lot of things. In fact, you know, I get to preach here once in a while, which I love, um, Lord willing in a couple of weeks, I'm going to be going down to.

Yeah, preaching at a camp down there, youth camp and doing all the Bible time there and devotions and everything. So I'm looking forward to that a little bit later, Lord willing, we'll be going back to Guatemala with a medical missions team. And, uh, that's very, very exciting. Uh, in fact, I was just talking with our friends as well, and for LA who were here from Belize and they're wanting to put together a, um, a pastors conference by way of.

Zoom somehow in Belize. So we're looking at that and also a pastor's conference possibly a little bit later on in Guatemala. There seems to be a theme here suddenly believes in Guatemala. And I'm the one who likes cold weather. Oh, well, uh, so anyway, uh, that's what I wanted to say. A couple of other things, first of all, uh, operation Christmas child, if you have a chance to do that, get involved.

It is a wonderful, great ministry. Actually, one of our missionaries that we support in Billy's nail Ramirez, uh, actually is an operation. Christmas child recipient. Uh, he got a box. He knew nothing about the Lord, didn't know, want to know anything about the Lord. And as he told me, he said, but I heard they were giving out presents at this church.

I thought I would go. And over the process of time, not immediately process of time, he came to know the Lord and then the rest of his family. Uh, so it is a wonderful thing. So, uh, secondly, um, also wanted to let you know, pastor mark is not here today because he's in Collingswood our campus down there and he wanted to make sure to let you know that he, uh, is down there and we'll pray for him even as he preaches.

And he'll be back here next week, finishing up the series in Matthew chapter seven. And so we will be looking forward to that. So why don't we just join our hearts together here just for a minute as we pray and then we'll jump into. Father, we thank you so much for who you are. Thank you. That you love us with an everlasting love.

Thank you that we can shout out your praise because of the breath you give us. Thank you that you love us with an enduring and lasting love.

Thank you for your word. And as we spend time in it today, as we think about it, please pour into our hearts, burn into our hearts, the things that we need to know and understand. And remember, I pray for pastor mark as he's there in Collingswood. Make that a special time there. I pray. Give him freedom as he speaks and great blessing as he proclaimed your word down there.

We love you Lord, in Christ's name. Amen.

So I was thinking here, I knew a couple of weeks ago, pastor mark market asked me to go ahead and preach here. And I was thinking about what is going to do on one thing I was just thinking about is what is valuable, what is valuable to you? If I were to ask you right now, tell me what is valuable. Why did your most valuable.

And some of us would come up with, you know, for men, some of her toys, women, some of the things that we have, we're here in church. And so I know some of us say, oh, well, I guess I have to say it, the Bible or God, cause I'm in church and that's all right. Some of you is like, well, I guess I better say my family, my wife, my husband.

And that's good. That's true. But, but what you hold on to, what do you think is really valuable? I was thinking about that because there are things I value greatly and I was remembering the story. You probably have read it this story by mark Twain of Tom Sawyer. You remember Thomas Sawyer here? He was this kid who was like off the charts crazy.

And one time he was in trouble, he gotten in trouble. And so his punishment was he had to spend his Saturday. Whitewashing the fence. And that means, you know, it's kind of like painting the fence. And so Tom was really embarrassed about this. He knew his friends would be going and play in and, and they would be making fun of him.

And so Tom, in his own unique way decided that he would become the entrepreneur. And so he's sitting there and carefully whitewashing the fence and, and his friends start going by like one at a time and they start making fun of him and you have to do that. And we're going to go down to the swimming hole.

He says, oh no. So this is a particularly careful job. Not everybody can do this. And before long, he convinces them. This would be a good thing to do. And Tom being Tom, well, you're going to have to pay. And according to the story, mark Twain, what he writes down there is at the end of the day, they had whitewashed the whole fence three times because all the guys coming and giving their, their valuables to him, the things he wrote down, I looked this up just to make sure the things that Tom saw your gut.

These are true valuables. He got a piece of blue bottle glass to look through six firecrackers, uh, one high, getting four pieces of orange peel, one dead rat, and a string to swing it with. Those are valuable. So we we've changed. Now. What we think is valuable now. There's a whole lot different. And so I continue to look this up and you may have seen this at some point.

This was, I think, on the internet a little while back that a list of the 10, most expensive, uh, things sold on eBay. And when I looked at it, I couldn't believe it. I'm not going to give you all, but I'm going to give you, uh, three of them here. Uh, number five on the list was a 1909 Honus Wagner baseball card sold for 1.2, six, $5 million.

Wow. Now it was rare because it was Honus Wagner. It was actually tobacco company and it started doing it and he didn't want his name associated with the tobacco. And so they had to shut the rundown and there were just, uh, just a handful of those cards made. But 1.26 side million. I don't know. Another one.

Here we go. This was number four. Someone on eBay bought a town, Albert Texas for $2.5 million on eBay. It was an old ghost town. You can see there had five residents and the guy who bought it decided he was going to make it in some sort of a tourist attraction. And as far as I know, he was fairly successful with it.

Number one, I was intrigued by this giga yacht. I'm not even sure what a gig yacht is, except it's a big boat. I read a little bit about it. I forget how many state rooms that had that were just incredible. And the things were on there. I mean, you look there, you see the picture sold on eBay for $168 million.

Wow. Now, I don't know if I had $168 million to spend. I am not sure that I would buy a Giggy yacht, robo. Maybe I went on because this, this intrigued me. What people thinks are valuable. There is another site and it says what to collect store, keep for valuable investments for the future. You may have some of these things around one of them, old maps.

I didn't know that couldn't be valuable. Another one comic books, I knew comic books were a little bit mostly. I thought they were to decorate your room with when you were a boy and a, another one was old computers. Uh, just recently an original apple, one sold for $213,000. So hang on to those old computers.

So now, you know what? Hang on to. But, you know, the lot, even as I looked at that and I have to admit, I laughed, there are things are far, far, far more valuable than these things that we see here. And we know that we know there are things more valuable than just that what I want to look at is something that is extremely valuable.

In fact, I would suggest it is the most valuable thing that you can have that anyone can have, whether you live in Poland or Papa, new Guinea or Bangladesh, or here in the U S what I'm talking about here becomes very, very real. When we begin to look at it, it is God's word, the Bible, the scriptures immensely valuable, you know, a couple of weeks ago, Jared has spoken.

He, as he spoke there, he really looked at a passage that we're going to look at and told us a little bit about it. And it was a great remembrance of all the things you remember, what he talked about, about the foundation, the strong foundation of the word of God. And I want to build on that a little bit more.

Pastor mark, last week in his sermon, he also talked a little bit just about the, the value and, and, and the power of God's word, the scriptures. And so we want to build on that as we look at what he has to say, the passage is second Timothy, three 14 to 17. It's familiar, Jared, read it. We're going to read it here together.

If you have a chance there to look along in your Bible. Second Timothy three 14 to 17. It's here on the screen. If you want to follow along, he says this. But as for you, continue on what you have learned and have become convinced of because you know those from whom you learned it and how from infancy, you have known the holy scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ.

Jesus, all scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work and Paul in his own simple stuff. By the spirit of God boils down the value of the scriptures, really into two things that they make us wise into salvation and the equipments for life.

And for godliness, let me tell you a little bit about, uh, first or second Timothy here. Paul is writing here to Timothy. Timothy is one he'd raised up in the scriptures and who he taught and who was really one of his followers and helpers and all the ministry. And at this point, Paul is in prison and as he writes his I'm in prison, I'm in chains.

At this point, he does not expect to be released. He expects to die. Because of the sake of the gospel. And he says, even this, because I have proclaimed the gospel, I've stood for it firmly. I've proclaimed the word of God. And now I'm in chains because of that. And you Timothy, I'm putting these, in my words, you Timothy need to continue on with that.

You need to proclaim the truth of the word of God as you teach. And as you disciple and as you go through life. And so as he writes that he gets to this passage and he says this, he reminds Timothy that even though there are evil people in the world, and that's the verse, just before I read there, there are evil people.

There are people who want to detract from who God is and what God is doing. He was talking about some false teachers who had crept in among the church. He was talking about. Those are just evil because of they are, and they really beat down things. And that's what Paul has been experiencing. And he says, Timothy, even though there are these evil people in the world, even though there might be persecuted.

There are those who will seek to DC view and DC, others, you Timothy have something else. And that's what we have. We have God's word. It has far greater, has greater impact than anything else that you are. I might have. And he starts, he says, you know, Timothy, you've known these things as a little child. The word used here is actually an infant from an infant.

You've known these things. You've heard these sayings, how, when you look at other passages and it would seem like he's talking to her specially about from his mother and grandmother, he learned those things later on. He couldn't even talk about Paul himself. Although at that point, Timothy wouldn't have been an infant.

The point is Timothy had heard these things. He learned these things. I think you could easily make a point here just on the side is why it's so important. To invest in your children. What God has to say as why fellowship kids, I believe become so important. That's why spending time with your kids in some sort of devotions.

That's why, you know, summer camps or vacation Bible school or whatever else, it can become very, very important because they help your children know more about God's word. He says here, Timothy, you've known that you've been taught that. And you've learned, first of all, he said that they've made you wise for salvation.

He's talking here about the old Testament, because that's what they knew at the time. That's what they had. The new Testament was being written at that point. So in the old Testament, that's what Timothy had heard from his mother and his grandmother later on from Paul, what the scriptures have to say, and these scriptures teach, they teach certain things.

You look at these things, even from the old Testament, I have some here, cause I think it's so important to understand that even in the old Testament declares something about who God is and the truth and reality of salvation. I think these verses going to be up here, but read quick, I'm going to read quickly Isaiah 53, 5 and six, but he was pierced for our transgressions.

He was crushed for our new equities. The punishment that brought us peace was on him. And by his wounds, we are healed. We all like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned to our own way and the Lord has laid on him talking about the Messiah, the iniquity of us, all Isaiah 45. Isaiah writes this by the spirit of God.

He's speaking, God is speaking here. And he says, I am the Lord. And there is no other, apart from me, there is no God, I will strengthen you. And then a little bit later, he says, turn to me and be saved all you ends of the earth for. I am God. And there is no. In Psalm, David writes have mercy on me. Oh God.

According to your unfailing, love, according to your great compassion, bought out my transgressions, wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin and Psalm 32. He also says this blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one whose sin. The Lord does not count against them.

And in whose spirit is no deceit. And the last one I have here, and there are many others, but Jeremiah 14 at the end, he says this, no, it is you Lord our God. Therefore our hope is in you for you are the one who does all this. I'm reading all those things. Just to let you know, remind you that the scriptures, even in the old Testament, do talk about salvation.

And then they make us wise for salvation. They teach you several things. I, I wrote down three things here that the teachers T the scriptures teach us the holiness of God who God is and his holiness, who he is these absolutely without sin, absolutely pure, absolutely righteous. And he is worthy of our worship.

God is holy and the scriptures declare that the scriptures also declare we have a desperate need that need is because we are completely utterly sinful. That's what we're born into. And that sin, according to the scripture, separates us from God, absolutely forever. And there's nothing that I can do about that.

Nothing that you can do about. That's what the scriptures teach. It teaches the holiness of God, our desperate need, and it teaches that a Redeemer will and has come. He has provided a way for forgiveness of sin, for joy and, and, and complete freedom in what God has done. The scriptures teach that all the way through the old Testament.

And it continues to teach in the new Testament as we'll see. I mean, on a personal note, I know there are many of you here who have already noticed that and have embraced Jesus Christ as your personal savior. And Lord you've understood the holiness of God and your own desperate need. And the truth is that the Redeemer has come and you have placed your faith and trust in him.

That is absolutely the most important thing you can do. There are some of you. Possibly here, or maybe you watching online, maybe you haven't come to that place yet. Maybe you haven't understood completely your own need. Maybe you haven't come to the place where you really placed your faith and trust in Jesus for your forgiveness.

And you need to do that. The Bible says that's the only way as it's as the scriptures teach. The last thing here that salvation comes, it tells us salvation comes in Christ Jesus Messiah, and is in faith in him alone. And those of you who are here, and maybe if you haven't believed you can do that right now.

It's not about coming to church is not about being good. It's not about becoming religious in any way. What it does mean is that you understand your own heart need. You understand that you are sinner. That's probably not a hard one. Understand. And remember, your sin has separated you from God. The scripture say for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus.

Our Lord, the Bible says to place our faith or trust in him alone for that redemption, for that salvation, you can do that right? Where you sit, you want to talk to me afterwards, I'd be glad to share it with you from the scriptures, what he has to say. You know, this is one of the reasons why we teach the Bible here so much, because we understand the truth of what God has said, what we need in our own lives, what we need in terms of eternal redemption.

And so we proclaim that in all sorts of different ways, wherever we are, whatever we do, we do want to proclaim that one of the things. And that we have going on here is the living nativity, you know, and coming up to that, we want to proclaim the truth of who Jesus is this year. Ben and Melissa have rewritten some of the script just to, uh, to make it a little plainer with some of the things.

And, and we've looked at it as really, really good. And it carries us all away, understanding the need for Messiah all the way to Messiah has come and all that he has done, because we want to proclaim the truth. Understand the scriptures, make us wise for salvation. In his first book to Timothy, Paul says, he says, don't get caught up in quarrels and arguments.

Even if they're spiritual things, focus on what he calls the word of truth. That's the first thing, the scriptures, the value of scriptures. They make us wise to salvation. The second thing, the scriptures, the value of his it equips believers, as he talks there, he says this, that all scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness so that the man of God or the woman of God, that child of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

God's word gives you everything that you need to help you be completely equipped for life and godliness. Harry Ironside said, this God's word gives you everything you need so that you are completely equipped for life and godliness and fact, not just doing every good work, but the most excellent thing.

Uh, about a week and a half ago, and step-sister joy, uh, went home to be with the Lord. She'd been fighting cancer for five years and, and she went home peacefully. Uh, and on Thursday night there was a Memorial service for joy. And, uh, and it was a great time of remembrance of joy and all that. She was her love for family, her love for friends, her deep love for God.

And one things, several of the family members shared. And I asked her sister, Barb, who had shared if I could share this. Cause I thought it was so good. Yeah. If you don't know joy in many of you probably do not. Joy was a very creative person. Joy was that sort of person who could take as, as was said is, uh, take a pile of rocks, a bunch of leaves, a few weeds, a couple of marbles and make a most incredible centerpiece you can imagine.

And it's really true. She could, I can do the same thing. I can take marbles and rocks and leaves and twigs. You know what? It looks like. Marbles, rocks leaves and twigs joy was a missionary. And Barbara shared that as they traveled joy collected things, and she collected napkins, she collected teabags because of the different languages on them.

She collected maps where they'd been, where they'd traveled and his barber shared. I thought it was such a good picture. She says, as joy went through this time of cancer and battle the things, the things that took her through so strongly, so well, one was her friends. The other was God's word. God's word was her map.

God's word was what led her in the way to go. God's word was what she used to understand and know her destination. That's what God's word does it equips us. It brings us to a place where we are, are fully outfitted to live life. He says, here in the equipment is it's inspired by God. It is, it is God breathe is God's word with life.

And without any error, someone has said this, that God is the source of the content of scripture. So what it says is what God said. We believe that he says all scripture, not just certain ones, not just the ones we like. Or the one or just the old Testament, because the old Testament, certainly the context here, I would suggest to you that they also understood the new Testament was w was included in this.

Because even as the, they wrote that he, they say several things. And again, a list of verses I want to read here. I want you to understand here real quickly. They understood the new Testament as being the scriptures of God. First, Peter one, uh, he writes this, he, that is Messiah. Jesus was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake, through him, you believe in God who raised him from the dead and glorified him.

And so your faith and hope are in God, but the word of the Lord endures forever. And this is the word that was preached to you. First Corinthians. He says this, however, as it is. What no eye has seen what no ear has heard. What no human mind has conceived the things God has prepared for those who love him later on, these are the things God has revealed to us by his spirit.

And then this is what we speak. Not in words taught us by human wisdom, but in words taught by the spirit. You understand, they're saying what we're saying by the spirit of God is God's word Hebrews. The writer there's, as in the past, God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times, and in various ways.

But in these last days, he has spoken to us by his son whom he appointed heir of all things and through whom also he made the universe. And again, Peter. Is he speaking about Paul? He, that has Paul writes the same way in all his letters. Speaking in them of these matters, his letters contain certain things that are hard to understand which ignorant and unstable people distort as they do the other scriptures to their own destruction.

They understood very much, even as they wrote by the spirit and power of God that they were writing God's word, they were writing scripture. It's inspired by God is God breathed. And he said, it's useful. And he lists four things is useful for the sayings, not just for a test, you know, not just so we can have stories in Sunday.

It is useful. He says these four things for teaching the word there is doctrine. And as soon as you hear the word doctrine, I hear many people just grown doctrine. Oh, that's dry as dust stuff. No, it's not. Doctrine is just teaching about what is true about God, about his way, his character. Well, we've been doing doctrine here.

I bet you didn't even know it. I mean, we're talking about the holiness of God and our desperate need and the Redeemer coming though, that's doctrine, it's useful for teaching us what we need to know about who God is and how God works is useful for rebuking or your translation might say reproving confronting us with the issues of our heart and lives of where we're not living according to God's standard.

And he says, look, this is the way you need to go. I've just recently read in first Corinthians. Uh, I've been reading in there and I'm out of Corinthians now with my quiet time, but there are one place Paul, by the spirit of God confronts them. He says, look, this is what needs to be happening. That's what God does work does for us.

It's useful for correcting that is giving us the things we need by his grace and his spirit. So we can change when we see what is needed, that we can change by the spirit of God and the areas we need to change by his grace. That's what he does for us and training in righteousness, helping us to learn by live by grace and hope and joy because of what Christ has done in us, so that we really do live godly in Christ Jesus showing the reality of Christ in us.

We use the word do life here. We do life together and here is doing life because of the presence and spirit of God in us, because we've read his word and we know his word. You want it. You really want to live that way. You really want to be that way. You're going to have to take time to know God's word.

And you know, it doesn't mean hours of day in the scripture, possibly a might but might mean. And Jared had said this, you're not just, not just a verse a day. That's wonderful, but taking a little bit of time to read right now, I'm doing something that we'd done before. I think Mike was the one who suggested the idea and just write 10 verses a day, write the whole thing out and then maybe make some comment on it or questions or whatever.

That's one way to do it. There's lots of other ways. And again, if you want some ideas come to, I have lots of ideas that might help you in beginning. This process of learning God's word.

It equips us. It is fully inspired by God. It is useful. And it equips us for godly living that honors God and impacts others, shows the reality that we have in Christ. Paul Tripp in his book, dangerous calling says this. The ultimate purpose of the word of God is not theological information, but heart and life transformation again, in the first book that Paul writes Timothy, he says, there look, I'm in chains.

I'm very limited. I'm in prison. Evidently he had gotten back out, but at that time he says I'm in prison. I'm in chain. But in verse nine of chapter two, he says, God's word is not in chains. It can go anywhere. It can go anywhere. And its power is not diminished. So that's what God's word, the value of it is.

And always come to a place when it looked at us. And I asked the question so many times, so what, what does that mean? What's it matter to me and Paul goes on and I think he answers that he answers it in the sense of how it equips us, make us thoroughly equipped for every good and perfect work gift in our life.

But in chapter four, verse two, he continues on in another way. Cause then he says to Timothy, this preach the word because of these things, preach the word, be prepared in season and out of season, correct? Rebuke and encourage with great patience and careful instruction. I mean the, so what here is then as we let the word of God equip us change us.

We are to proclaim his word specifically to Timothy. He says, preach the word and I'm going to hear some people already. I'm not a preacher. I can't preach. There's no way I could get up in there and do that. That's not the point. That's not what he's saying. What he's saying, the word there is to proclaim.

And that's what we are to do. We are to proclaim his word because we know what it is. We know the value of it. We need to let others know. So preach the word because we've taken time to know it, to let it change us, to let it equip us and then actively tell others about God, the God who is revealed in the Bible lovingly honestly carefully, but tell them the truth of who God is, their need for salvation, their need to let God change their lives and hearts.

And that's why we look at his word. That's why we come to. It is valuable. God's word is immensely valuable. Isn't it? It's important to us. It's important to the community of faith here. Many of you know, Ben Carlene my son-in-law. They were missionaries up in Quebec for quite a while. They lived out in west Texas, involved in a little church plant out there two years ago, Ben and Carrie and the family had been down here.

They were driving back up to Quebec and in the Northern part of New York, he got stopped by a patrolman for speeding, and the patrolman pulls him over and he loves it. Ben's license since. So it comes back. What are you doing? And so Ben tells him, he says, I'm a Bible teacher. I teach it a little Bible college.

And I also help with a little church there and building it. And the patrolman let's say that is amazing. He says, I'm not a particularly religious person, but I've just started going to a little church right here. It's called a Bible church. And you know what they do, they study the Bible. He was astounded.

He said, that's all they do. They look at the Bible. He was astounded and, and we trust did it change that patrolman? He gave him the ticket

is valuable in our lives. Personally tells of a holy powerful, loving God. The word shows us what we're really like. It reveals how God has made a way to salvation for each of us through Jesus Christ. It proclaims the life we can have in him. Remember when Jared preached a couple of weeks ago, he was, he was talking about that passage in Matthew seven and, and the parable of building on the firm foundation.

That's what we want. We do that because it's God's word because it is as valuable. So it's the greatest, most valuable gift God has ever given besides his son, the Lord, Jesus, the question is this, what are you doing with it personally, taking time to read and listen, learn, invest in your life as a it as a community of faith here as a church to declare, to proclaim.

Who Jesus is through his word. We're doing that through the living nativity. And this year, we want to continue that we want to proclaim the truth. And the reality of who Christ is, we have a short little snippet here of some of the new recording of the living nativity

Jesus was the son of God, but he was also fully human. And so he grew up as an ordinary Jewish boy in a small town in Galilee, experiencing all the normal joys and sorrows that you and I are familiar with at the age of 30, Jesus began his public ministry. He called 12 men, his disciples. To be his closest friends and helpers, but he did not choose men that were powerful, extra spiritual or influential.

The disciples included several ordinary fishermen, a reviled tax collector, a political revolutionist and more, but they all found a new identity in what Jesus taught. He came to offer himself to everyone rich and poor men and women, adults, and children has Jesus traveled from town to town. He taught people in a new way and he heightened the people's excitement for the coming of God's kingdom.

He told people that God is our father in heaven who loves us. He taught that the two most important commandments were to love God and love others. Even our enemies, vast crowds, flocked to him. What God's kingdom is like, but Jesus was not just a good teacher. He claimed that he had the power to forgive sins, to bring us back to God and to fix what was broken.

His many miracles showed that he had the power to do what he promised.

Let's pray together. Father, we thank you so much for your word, for what it does in us, through your power, through your spirit. God help us to go away today, even again, knowing the great power to make us wise to salvation and do equip us for life. And then God help us to proclaim that as we learn it by your spirit, by your grace.

In Christ's name. Amen. So let's go this week and the power of the Lord to know his word and to proclaim it. .]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-bible-yes-thats-the-book-for-me 756bc2cd-a265-4a98-850f-227cfcea064a Sun, 14 Nov 2021 10:13:43 GMT <div data-html="true">2 Timothy 3:14-17 <br /><br /> "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work." <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Good morning everyone. I'm gonna move that to the middle. The chair is here just in case I get. It's good to be here together. Isn't it. It's always good to worship the Lord, bring hearts before him and thanking him for who he is. And it's a, it's a rich, wonderful time. Isn't it? It really is really as good for those of you who may not know me. <br /><br /> I'm Jim painter. I was one of the pastors here for about a thousand years, something like that. Um, and uh, recently retired and somebody asks, what does that mean as a pastor to retire? Didn't know pastors retired and what it means is I don't come into the office every day. Uh, still do a lot of things. In fact, you know, I get to preach here once in a while, which I love, um, Lord willing in a couple of weeks, I'm going to be going down to. <br /><br /> Yeah, preaching at a camp down there, youth camp and doing all the Bible time there and devotions and everything. So I'm looking forward to that a little bit later, Lord willing, we'll be going back to Guatemala with a medical missions team. And, uh, that's very, very exciting. Uh, in fact, I was just talking with our friends as well, and for LA who were here from Belize and they're wanting to put together a, um, a pastors conference by way of. <br /><br /> Zoom somehow in Belize. So we're looking at that and also a pastor's conference possibly a little bit later on in Guatemala. There seems to be a theme here suddenly believes in Guatemala. And I'm the one who likes cold weather. Oh, well, uh, so anyway, uh, that's what I wanted to say. A couple of other things, first of all, uh, operation Christmas child, if you have a chance to do that, get involved. <br /><br /> It is a wonderful, great ministry. Actually, one of our missionaries that we support in Billy's nail Ramirez, uh, actually is an operation. Christmas child recipient. Uh, he got a box. He knew nothing about the Lord, didn't know, want to know anything about the Lord. And as he told me, he said, but I heard they were giving out presents at this church. <br /><br /> I thought I would go. And over the process of time, not immediately process of time, he came to know the Lord and then the rest of his family. Uh, so it is a wonderful thing. So, uh, secondly, um, also wanted to let you know, pastor mark is not here today because he's in Collingswood our campus down there and he wanted to make sure to let you know that he, uh, is down there and we'll pray for him even as he preaches. <br /><br /> And he'll be back here next week, finishing up the series in Matthew chapter seven. And so we will be looking forward to that. So why don't we just join our hearts together here just for a minute as we pray and then we'll jump into. Father, we thank you so much for who you are. Thank you. That you love us with an everlasting love. <br /><br /> Thank you that we can shout out your praise because of the breath you give us. Thank you that you love us with an enduring and lasting love. <br /><br /> Thank you for your word. And as we spend time in it today, as we think about it, please pour into our hearts, burn into our hearts, the things that we need to know and understand. And remember, I pray for pastor mark as he's there in Collingswood. Make that a special time there. I pray. Give him freedom as he speaks and great blessing as he proclaimed your word down there. <br /><br /> We love you Lord, in Christ's name. Amen. <br /><br /> So I was thinking here, I knew a couple of weeks ago, pastor mark market asked me to go ahead and preach here. And I was thinking about what is going to do on one thing I was just thinking about is what is valuable, what is valuable to you? If I were to ask you right now, tell me what is valuable. Why did your most valuable. <br /><br /> And some of us would come up with, you know, for men, some of her toys, women, some of the things that we have, we're here in church. And so I know some of us say, oh, well, I guess I have to say it, the Bible or God, cause I'm in church and that's all right. Some of you is like, well, I guess I better say my family, my wife, my husband. <br /><br /> And that's good. That's true. But, but what you hold on to, what do you think is really valuable? I was thinking about that because there are things I value greatly and I was remembering the story. You probably have read it this story by mark Twain of Tom Sawyer. You remember Thomas Sawyer here? He was this kid who was like off the charts crazy. <br /><br /> And one time he was in trouble, he gotten in trouble. And so his punishment was he had to spend his Saturday. Whitewashing the fence. And that means, you know, it's kind of like painting the fence. And so Tom was really embarrassed about this. He knew his friends would be going and play in and, and they would be making fun of him. <br /><br /> And so Tom, in his own unique way decided that he would become the entrepreneur. And so he's sitting there and carefully whitewashing the fence and, and his friends start going by like one at a time and they start making fun of him and you have to do that. And we're going to go down to the swimming hole. <br /><br /> He says, oh no. So this is a particularly careful job. Not everybody can do this. And before long, he convinces them. This would be a good thing to do. And Tom being Tom, well, you're going to have to pay. And according to the story, mark Twain, what he writes down there is at the end of the day, they had whitewashed the whole fence three times because all the guys coming and giving their, their valuables to him, the things he wrote down, I looked this up just to make sure the things that Tom saw your gut. <br /><br /> These are true valuables. He got a piece of blue bottle glass to look through six firecrackers, uh, one high, getting four pieces of orange peel, one dead rat, and a string to swing it with. Those are valuable. So we we've changed. Now. What we think is valuable now. There's a whole lot different. And so I continue to look this up and you may have seen this at some point. <br /><br /> This was, I think, on the internet a little while back that a list of the 10, most expensive, uh, things sold on eBay. And when I looked at it, I couldn't believe it. I'm not going to give you all, but I'm going to give you, uh, three of them here. Uh, number five on the list was a 1909 Honus Wagner baseball card sold for 1.2, six, $5 million. <br /><br /> Wow. Now it was rare because it was Honus Wagner. It was actually tobacco company and it started doing it and he didn't want his name associated with the tobacco. And so they had to shut the rundown and there were just, uh, just a handful of those cards made. But 1.26 side million. I don't know. Another one. <br /><br /> Here we go. This was number four. Someone on eBay bought a town, Albert Texas for $2.5 million on eBay. It was an old ghost town. You can see there had five residents and the guy who bought it decided he was going to make it in some sort of a tourist attraction. And as far as I know, he was fairly successful with it. <br /><br /> Number one, I was intrigued by this giga yacht. I'm not even sure what a gig yacht is, except it's a big boat. I read a little bit about it. I forget how many state rooms that had that were just incredible. And the things were on there. I mean, you look there, you see the picture sold on eBay for $168 million. <br /><br /> Wow. Now, I don't know if I had $168 million to spend. I am not sure that I would buy a Giggy yacht, robo. Maybe I went on because this, this intrigued me. What people thinks are valuable. There is another site and it says what to collect store, keep for valuable investments for the future. You may have some of these things around one of them, old maps. <br /><br /> I didn't know that couldn't be valuable. Another one comic books, I knew comic books were a little bit mostly. I thought they were to decorate your room with when you were a boy and a, another one was old computers. Uh, just recently an original apple, one sold for $213,000. So hang on to those old computers. <br /><br /> So now, you know what? Hang on to. But, you know, the lot, even as I looked at that and I have to admit, I laughed, there are things are far, far, far more valuable than these things that we see here. And we know that we know there are things more valuable than just that what I want to look at is something that is extremely valuable. <br /><br /> In fact, I would suggest it is the most valuable thing that you can have that anyone can have, whether you live in Poland or Papa, new Guinea or Bangladesh, or here in the U S what I'm talking about here becomes very, very real. When we begin to look at it, it is God's word, the Bible, the scriptures immensely valuable, you know, a couple of weeks ago, Jared has spoken. <br /><br /> He, as he spoke there, he really looked at a passage that we're going to look at and told us a little bit about it. And it was a great remembrance of all the things you remember, what he talked about, about the foundation, the strong foundation of the word of God. And I want to build on that a little bit more. <br /><br /> Pastor mark, last week in his sermon, he also talked a little bit just about the, the value and, and, and the power of God's word, the scriptures. And so we want to build on that as we look at what he has to say, the passage is second Timothy, three 14 to 17. It's familiar, Jared, read it. We're going to read it here together. <br /><br /> If you have a chance there to look along in your Bible. Second Timothy three 14 to 17. It's here on the screen. If you want to follow along, he says this. But as for you, continue on what you have learned and have become convinced of because you know those from whom you learned it and how from infancy, you have known the holy scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ. <br /><br /> Jesus, all scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work and Paul in his own simple stuff. By the spirit of God boils down the value of the scriptures, really into two things that they make us wise into salvation and the equipments for life. <br /><br /> And for godliness, let me tell you a little bit about, uh, first or second Timothy here. Paul is writing here to Timothy. Timothy is one he'd raised up in the scriptures and who he taught and who was really one of his followers and helpers and all the ministry. And at this point, Paul is in prison and as he writes his I'm in prison, I'm in chains. <br /><br /> At this point, he does not expect to be released. He expects to die. Because of the sake of the gospel. And he says, even this, because I have proclaimed the gospel, I've stood for it firmly. I've proclaimed the word of God. And now I'm in chains because of that. And you Timothy, I'm putting these, in my words, you Timothy need to continue on with that. <br /><br /> You need to proclaim the truth of the word of God as you teach. And as you disciple and as you go through life. And so as he writes that he gets to this passage and he says this, he reminds Timothy that even though there are evil people in the world, and that's the verse, just before I read there, there are evil people. <br /><br /> There are people who want to detract from who God is and what God is doing. He was talking about some false teachers who had crept in among the church. He was talking about. Those are just evil because of they are, and they really beat down things. And that's what Paul has been experiencing. And he says, Timothy, even though there are these evil people in the world, even though there might be persecuted. <br /><br /> There are those who will seek to DC view and DC, others, you Timothy have something else. And that's what we have. We have God's word. It has far greater, has greater impact than anything else that you are. I might have. And he starts, he says, you know, Timothy, you've known these things as a little child. The word used here is actually an infant from an infant. <br /><br /> You've known these things. You've heard these sayings, how, when you look at other passages and it would seem like he's talking to her specially about from his mother and grandmother, he learned those things later on. He couldn't even talk about Paul himself. Although at that point, Timothy wouldn't have been an infant. <br /><br /> The point is Timothy had heard these things. He learned these things. I think you could easily make a point here just on the side is why it's so important. To invest in your children. What God has to say as why fellowship kids, I believe become so important. That's why spending time with your kids in some sort of devotions. <br /><br /> That's why, you know, summer camps or vacation Bible school or whatever else, it can become very, very important because they help your children know more about God's word. He says here, Timothy, you've known that you've been taught that. And you've learned, first of all, he said that they've made you wise for salvation. <br /><br /> He's talking here about the old Testament, because that's what they knew at the time. That's what they had. The new Testament was being written at that point. So in the old Testament, that's what Timothy had heard from his mother and his grandmother later on from Paul, what the scriptures have to say, and these scriptures teach, they teach certain things. <br /><br /> You look at these things, even from the old Testament, I have some here, cause I think it's so important to understand that even in the old Testament declares something about who God is and the truth and reality of salvation. I think these verses going to be up here, but read quick, I'm going to read quickly Isaiah 53, 5 and six, but he was pierced for our transgressions. <br /><br /> He was crushed for our new equities. The punishment that brought us peace was on him. And by his wounds, we are healed. We all like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned to our own way and the Lord has laid on him talking about the Messiah, the iniquity of us, all Isaiah 45. Isaiah writes this by the spirit of God. <br /><br /> He's speaking, God is speaking here. And he says, I am the Lord. And there is no other, apart from me, there is no God, I will strengthen you. And then a little bit later, he says, turn to me and be saved all you ends of the earth for. I am God. And there is no. In Psalm, David writes have mercy on me. Oh God. <br /><br /> According to your unfailing, love, according to your great compassion, bought out my transgressions, wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin and Psalm 32. He also says this blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one whose sin. The Lord does not count against them. <br /><br /> And in whose spirit is no deceit. And the last one I have here, and there are many others, but Jeremiah 14 at the end, he says this, no, it is you Lord our God. Therefore our hope is in you for you are the one who does all this. I'm reading all those things. Just to let you know, remind you that the scriptures, even in the old Testament, do talk about salvation. <br /><br /> And then they make us wise for salvation. They teach you several things. I, I wrote down three things here that the teachers T the scriptures teach us the holiness of God who God is and his holiness, who he is these absolutely without sin, absolutely pure, absolutely righteous. And he is worthy of our worship. <br /><br /> God is holy and the scriptures declare that the scriptures also declare we have a desperate need that need is because we are completely utterly sinful. That's what we're born into. And that sin, according to the scripture, separates us from God, absolutely forever. And there's nothing that I can do about that. <br /><br /> Nothing that you can do about. That's what the scriptures teach. It teaches the holiness of God, our desperate need, and it teaches that a Redeemer will and has come. He has provided a way for forgiveness of sin, for joy and, and, and complete freedom in what God has done. The scriptures teach that all the way through the old Testament. <br /><br /> And it continues to teach in the new Testament as we'll see. I mean, on a personal note, I know there are many of you here who have already noticed that and have embraced Jesus Christ as your personal savior. And Lord you've understood the holiness of God and your own desperate need. And the truth is that the Redeemer has come and you have placed your faith and trust in him. <br /><br /> That is absolutely the most important thing you can do. There are some of you. Possibly here, or maybe you watching online, maybe you haven't come to that place yet. Maybe you haven't understood completely your own need. Maybe you haven't come to the place where you really placed your faith and trust in Jesus for your forgiveness. <br /><br /> And you need to do that. The Bible says that's the only way as it's as the scriptures teach. The last thing here that salvation comes, it tells us salvation comes in Christ Jesus Messiah, and is in faith in him alone. And those of you who are here, and maybe if you haven't believed you can do that right now. <br /><br /> It's not about coming to church is not about being good. It's not about becoming religious in any way. What it does mean is that you understand your own heart need. You understand that you are sinner. That's probably not a hard one. Understand. And remember, your sin has separated you from God. The scripture say for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus. <br /><br /> Our Lord, the Bible says to place our faith or trust in him alone for that redemption, for that salvation, you can do that right? Where you sit, you want to talk to me afterwards, I'd be glad to share it with you from the scriptures, what he has to say. You know, this is one of the reasons why we teach the Bible here so much, because we understand the truth of what God has said, what we need in our own lives, what we need in terms of eternal redemption. <br /><br /> And so we proclaim that in all sorts of different ways, wherever we are, whatever we do, we do want to proclaim that one of the things. And that we have going on here is the living nativity, you know, and coming up to that, we want to proclaim the truth of who Jesus is this year. Ben and Melissa have rewritten some of the script just to, uh, to make it a little plainer with some of the things. <br /><br /> And, and we've looked at it as really, really good. And it carries us all away, understanding the need for Messiah all the way to Messiah has come and all that he has done, because we want to proclaim the truth. Understand the scriptures, make us wise for salvation. In his first book to Timothy, Paul says, he says, don't get caught up in quarrels and arguments. <br /><br /> Even if they're spiritual things, focus on what he calls the word of truth. That's the first thing, the scriptures, the value of scriptures. They make us wise to salvation. The second thing, the scriptures, the value of his it equips believers, as he talks there, he says this, that all scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness so that the man of God or the woman of God, that child of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. <br /><br /> God's word gives you everything that you need to help you be completely equipped for life and godliness. Harry Ironside said, this God's word gives you everything you need so that you are completely equipped for life and godliness and fact, not just doing every good work, but the most excellent thing. <br /><br /> Uh, about a week and a half ago, and step-sister joy, uh, went home to be with the Lord. She'd been fighting cancer for five years and, and she went home peacefully. Uh, and on Thursday night there was a Memorial service for joy. And, uh, and it was a great time of remembrance of joy and all that. She was her love for family, her love for friends, her deep love for God. <br /><br /> And one things, several of the family members shared. And I asked her sister, Barb, who had shared if I could share this. Cause I thought it was so good. Yeah. If you don't know joy in many of you probably do not. Joy was a very creative person. Joy was that sort of person who could take as, as was said is, uh, take a pile of rocks, a bunch of leaves, a few weeds, a couple of marbles and make a most incredible centerpiece you can imagine. <br /><br /> And it's really true. She could, I can do the same thing. I can take marbles and rocks and leaves and twigs. You know what? It looks like. Marbles, rocks leaves and twigs joy was a missionary. And Barbara shared that as they traveled joy collected things, and she collected napkins, she collected teabags because of the different languages on them. <br /><br /> She collected maps where they'd been, where they'd traveled and his barber shared. I thought it was such a good picture. She says, as joy went through this time of cancer and battle the things, the things that took her through so strongly, so well, one was her friends. The other was God's word. God's word was her map. <br /><br /> God's word was what led her in the way to go. God's word was what she used to understand and know her destination. That's what God's word does it equips us. It brings us to a place where we are, are fully outfitted to live life. He says, here in the equipment is it's inspired by God. It is, it is God breathe is God's word with life. <br /><br /> And without any error, someone has said this, that God is the source of the content of scripture. So what it says is what God said. We believe that he says all scripture, not just certain ones, not just the ones we like. Or the one or just the old Testament, because the old Testament, certainly the context here, I would suggest to you that they also understood the new Testament was w was included in this. <br /><br /> Because even as the, they wrote that he, they say several things. And again, a list of verses I want to read here. I want you to understand here real quickly. They understood the new Testament as being the scriptures of God. First, Peter one, uh, he writes this, he, that is Messiah. Jesus was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake, through him, you believe in God who raised him from the dead and glorified him. <br /><br /> And so your faith and hope are in God, but the word of the Lord endures forever. And this is the word that was preached to you. First Corinthians. He says this, however, as it is. What no eye has seen what no ear has heard. What no human mind has conceived the things God has prepared for those who love him later on, these are the things God has revealed to us by his spirit. <br /><br /> And then this is what we speak. Not in words taught us by human wisdom, but in words taught by the spirit. You understand, they're saying what we're saying by the spirit of God is God's word Hebrews. The writer there's, as in the past, God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times, and in various ways. <br /><br /> But in these last days, he has spoken to us by his son whom he appointed heir of all things and through whom also he made the universe. And again, Peter. Is he speaking about Paul? He, that has Paul writes the same way in all his letters. Speaking in them of these matters, his letters contain certain things that are hard to understand which ignorant and unstable people distort as they do the other scriptures to their own destruction. <br /><br /> They understood very much, even as they wrote by the spirit and power of God that they were writing God's word, they were writing scripture. It's inspired by God is God breathed. And he said, it's useful. And he lists four things is useful for the sayings, not just for a test, you know, not just so we can have stories in Sunday. <br /><br /> It is useful. He says these four things for teaching the word there is doctrine. And as soon as you hear the word doctrine, I hear many people just grown doctrine. Oh, that's dry as dust stuff. No, it's not. Doctrine is just teaching about what is true about God, about his way, his character. Well, we've been doing doctrine here. <br /><br /> I bet you didn't even know it. I mean, we're talking about the holiness of God and our desperate need and the Redeemer coming though, that's doctrine, it's useful for teaching us what we need to know about who God is and how God works is useful for rebuking or your translation might say reproving confronting us with the issues of our heart and lives of where we're not living according to God's standard. <br /><br /> And he says, look, this is the way you need to go. I've just recently read in first Corinthians. Uh, I've been reading in there and I'm out of Corinthians now with my quiet time, but there are one place Paul, by the spirit of God confronts them. He says, look, this is what needs to be happening. That's what God does work does for us. <br /><br /> It's useful for correcting that is giving us the things we need by his grace and his spirit. So we can change when we see what is needed, that we can change by the spirit of God and the areas we need to change by his grace. That's what he does for us and training in righteousness, helping us to learn by live by grace and hope and joy because of what Christ has done in us, so that we really do live godly in Christ Jesus showing the reality of Christ in us. <br /><br /> We use the word do life here. We do life together and here is doing life because of the presence and spirit of God in us, because we've read his word and we know his word. You want it. You really want to live that way. You really want to be that way. You're going to have to take time to know God's word. <br /><br /> And you know, it doesn't mean hours of day in the scripture, possibly a might but might mean. And Jared had said this, you're not just, not just a verse a day. That's wonderful, but taking a little bit of time to read right now, I'm doing something that we'd done before. I think Mike was the one who suggested the idea and just write 10 verses a day, write the whole thing out and then maybe make some comment on it or questions or whatever. <br /><br /> That's one way to do it. There's lots of other ways. And again, if you want some ideas come to, I have lots of ideas that might help you in beginning. This process of learning God's word. <br /><br /> It equips us. It is fully inspired by God. It is useful. And it equips us for godly living that honors God and impacts others, shows the reality that we have in Christ. Paul Tripp in his book, dangerous calling says this. The ultimate purpose of the word of God is not theological information, but heart and life transformation again, in the first book that Paul writes Timothy, he says, there look, I'm in chains. <br /><br /> I'm very limited. I'm in prison. Evidently he had gotten back out, but at that time he says I'm in prison. I'm in chain. But in verse nine of chapter two, he says, God's word is not in chains. It can go anywhere. It can go anywhere. And its power is not diminished. So that's what God's word, the value of it is. <br /><br /> And always come to a place when it looked at us. And I asked the question so many times, so what, what does that mean? What's it matter to me and Paul goes on and I think he answers that he answers it in the sense of how it equips us, make us thoroughly equipped for every good and perfect work gift in our life. <br /><br /> But in chapter four, verse two, he continues on in another way. Cause then he says to Timothy, this preach the word because of these things, preach the word, be prepared in season and out of season, correct? Rebuke and encourage with great patience and careful instruction. I mean the, so what here is then as we let the word of God equip us change us. <br /><br /> We are to proclaim his word specifically to Timothy. He says, preach the word and I'm going to hear some people already. I'm not a preacher. I can't preach. There's no way I could get up in there and do that. That's not the point. That's not what he's saying. What he's saying, the word there is to proclaim. <br /><br /> And that's what we are to do. We are to proclaim his word because we know what it is. We know the value of it. We need to let others know. So preach the word because we've taken time to know it, to let it change us, to let it equip us and then actively tell others about God, the God who is revealed in the Bible lovingly honestly carefully, but tell them the truth of who God is, their need for salvation, their need to let God change their lives and hearts. <br /><br /> And that's why we look at his word. That's why we come to. It is valuable. God's word is immensely valuable. Isn't it? It's important to us. It's important to the community of faith here. Many of you know, Ben Carlene my son-in-law. They were missionaries up in Quebec for quite a while. They lived out in west Texas, involved in a little church plant out there two years ago, Ben and Carrie and the family had been down here. <br /><br /> They were driving back up to Quebec and in the Northern part of New York, he got stopped by a patrolman for speeding, and the patrolman pulls him over and he loves it. Ben's license since. So it comes back. What are you doing? And so Ben tells him, he says, I'm a Bible teacher. I teach it a little Bible college. <br /><br /> And I also help with a little church there and building it. And the patrolman let's say that is amazing. He says, I'm not a particularly religious person, but I've just started going to a little church right here. It's called a Bible church. And you know what they do, they study the Bible. He was astounded. <br /><br /> He said, that's all they do. They look at the Bible. He was astounded and, and we trust did it change that patrolman? He gave him the ticket <br /><br /> is valuable in our lives. Personally tells of a holy powerful, loving God. The word shows us what we're really like. It reveals how God has made a way to salvation for each of us through Jesus Christ. It proclaims the life we can have in him. Remember when Jared preached a couple of weeks ago, he was, he was talking about that passage in Matthew seven and, and the parable of building on the firm foundation. <br /><br /> That's what we want. We do that because it's God's word because it is as valuable. So it's the greatest, most valuable gift God has ever given besides his son, the Lord, Jesus, the question is this, what are you doing with it personally, taking time to read and listen, learn, invest in your life as a it as a community of faith here as a church to declare, to proclaim. <br /><br /> Who Jesus is through his word. We're doing that through the living nativity. And this year, we want to continue that we want to proclaim the truth. And the reality of who Christ is, we have a short little snippet here of some of the new recording of the living nativity <br /><br /> Jesus was the son of God, but he was also fully human. And so he grew up as an ordinary Jewish boy in a small town in Galilee, experiencing all the normal joys and sorrows that you and I are familiar with at the age of 30, Jesus began his public ministry. He called 12 men, his disciples. To be his closest friends and helpers, but he did not choose men that were powerful, extra spiritual or influential. <br /><br /> The disciples included several ordinary fishermen, a reviled tax collector, a political revolutionist and more, but they all found a new identity in what Jesus taught. He came to offer himself to everyone rich and poor men and women, adults, and children has Jesus traveled from town to town. He taught people in a new way and he heightened the people's excitement for the coming of God's kingdom. <br /><br /> He told people that God is our father in heaven who loves us. He taught that the two most important commandments were to love God and love others. Even our enemies, vast crowds, flocked to him. What God's kingdom is like, but Jesus was not just a good teacher. He claimed that he had the power to forgive sins, to bring us back to God and to fix what was broken. <br /><br /> His many miracles showed that he had the power to do what he promised. <br /><br /> Let's pray together. Father, we thank you so much for your word, for what it does in us, through your power, through your spirit. God help us to go away today, even again, knowing the great power to make us wise to salvation and do equip us for life. And then God help us to proclaim that as we learn it by your spirit, by your grace. <br /><br /> In Christ's name. Amen. So let's go this week and the power of the Lord to know his word and to proclaim it. .</div> false no <![CDATA[The Change from BC to AD]]> Ephesians 2:4-10

"But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ"



But you take your Bibles this morning to Ephesians chapter two, as Randy mentioned, and did Jared, we are going to be looking at some people getting baptized this morning here in their stories, but I'd like to look at a passage that really highlights what they're celebrating. And we are celebrating with them this morning.

In Ephesians chapter two, we have a pre and post picture of people's lives. Um, we are familiar with what up until 2012 was called the BC a D a method of, uh, time reckoning, uh, BC standing for before Christ. Uh, Ady standing for ANOVA Domini a year of our Lord. Literally that meant that's been changed now to BC and BCE.

Um, but still both, even with the modern day change of the tourmanent terms from BC Ady to BCE BC, they're still dividing time into two categories. There was before the time of Christ there is after the time of Christ. And even though we're calling it the common error and before the common error, basically the common error that is, is recognized in the world as a time, uh, after, uh, Jesus was born is pointing back to the point that Christ was the, the changer of all of world history.

As we come to Ephesians chapter two, the apostle Paul is writing the book of Ephesians. Telling the believers that they also can divide their lives into two eras, a pre Christ error, BC, a post Christ error, a D. And I'd like to just simply this morning, take a few minutes to remind us what that means, because that's what we're visualizing this morning and being baptized.

And you'll actually hear, uh, statements made that reference that change. But I'd say, like to look first at verses one through three eight, Ephesians chapter two, and here's what we read. And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind.

And we're by nature, children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. Let's pray together. As we dive into this passage, Lord, we come and we celebrate the entrance of new life into our world, into our own individual worlds because Christ came and Lord, as we look at this passage, I pray that you would speak to all of us who have embraced the new life in Christ, just reminding of what that means and the, the beauty of that experience.

But then you would also speak to people that may have not entered into the new life in Christ, and to see what you are offering them in this passage in Jesus' name. Amen. BC. We see a couple of things here. And the first phrase that jumps out to us immediately is he says that as for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins.

We are in our humanist, the walking dead, spiritually dead. We are dead spiritually. Verse one tells us and death in the Bible. As I've said, a million times in this pulpit death in the Bible is always is, is defined as separation. We look at physical death that way as well. We look at when we die, we talk about giving up the ghost or giving up the spirit.

We recognize that the, the immaterial part, the real us, the soul spirit has gone, but our physical body has remained our earth. Certs left behind and physical death is the separation of the material from the immaterial. That's how the Bible looks at it, but there is not only physical death in the scripture.

As this passage is reminding us, there is what is called spiritual death. It is. Separation. It is our spirit separated from a relationship with God verse one and two, go on to talk more about this, this separation. And in terms that, that, that clarify that it's talking about a disconnect that we're still walking around physically alive, but there is a disconnect in our relationship with God and he describes it with terms like these.

All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. He said, this is the way all humans lived, including us and do live. And what are you saying is among other things? We live our lives under the influence of what is called the flesh or the sinful nature.

And here's is not talking about the physical flesh. He's talking about the bent of the whole person to live independently from. And you may be our bent may orient you to be, uh, may manifest itself. That you're a violent person. You may even be a criminal. You may be an immoral person, or you may be a moral, generous giving person, but BC, your bent is towards living your life independently from God.

This is what he means by. We lived in the flash. We were living our lives independently and we follow these various things. But even if there was morality in our lives, it was goodness in our lives. It was religious practices in our lives. Our bent is to live independently. Ultimately again, to be in the flesh.

What he's describing here in verses one through three does not mean you're constantly breaking God's laws or, or an obviously wicked person to be in the flesh means that you are using. Either obviously bad conduct or potentially seeming good conduct to avoid having depend on Christ as your savior and to avoid having God as your king.

So this is what he's saying. We live this way, that, that even if we were re religious person, ultimately we are bent towards living independently. We'll do it. We'll take it from here. We're going to live our lives, maybe moral to here in moral here. But our conduct was marked by living separately from God disconnected, from a personal relationship with him.

Even if we were doing moral and religious things, she says, this is the way we all are living our lives, ultimately. But then the Bible here in this passage, beginning with verse four, says two of the sweetest words that are in the entire. And verse four begins with these tours, but God, but God, and they talks now about how God moves into people's lives and offers them to be freed from the BC way of life to come into the Ady way of life.

But God being rich in mercy in verse four and five, but God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ by grace, you have been saved. The first thing we find is we get connection with God. We were living in separation and spiritual death is just we're dead men walking.

We may be a religious person. We may be a moral person. We may be a violently wicked person, either way. We're living independent. We have not been made alive in the relationship with God that Christ came to offer. So what he does is provide a way for us to be spiritually connected, reconnected with God.

First, Peter three verse 18 says it this way for Christ died for our sins. Once for all the righteous, for the unrighteous, why to bring you to God, to restore the relationship, to bring connection in the place of disconnection, Jesus, even promises. This is what's going to happen. I am the way the truth and the life, no one comes to the father, but through me, Jesus is the venue for connection with.

We can't bring about this change. We can't move from BC where God is distant, where God seems we may know about. And we may know Bible stories. We may know nothing, but either place, we are disconnected from a relationship with God and every person on earth experiences, the practical impact of this lack of connection though.

Many don't realize that it is God that they are missing Augustine, the great church father and the fourth century stayed. This statement. You made us for yourself and our hearts are restless until they rest in you. This sense of, of abject continual restlessness with checking with a baptismal tank is for all of you that are hoping I'm going to keep going.

There's a restlessness. That ultimately X is explained by this disconnect with God in our BC state, Paul trip, current theologian says it this way in his book, a shelter in the time of storm, as a rational, purposeful, emotional being, you cry for a deep and abiding sense of wellbeing. In your quest, you are actually discovering what you are actually discovering is that you are hardwired to be connected to another in this way.

Every human being is on a quest for God. The problem is we don't know that. And in our quest for stability, we attempt to stand on an endless catalog of God replacements that end up sinking us, but there is a rock to be found. That rock is Christ and you were hardwired to find what you are seeking in him.

He says Christ has come as the, the, the means of, of restoring a relationship with God, without which there is a restlessness. There is a lack of really landing in our humanist. And we constantly live our lives feeling like there's gotta be more, there's gotta be more.

And Christ came to offer that more. The second reality that he offers us in this bah, but God's section of the AED that we experienced in Christ is that we get a whole new orientation to spiritual things. Listen to this statement. As he says it in verse six, a couple of phrases, he says we're raised with Christ.

We're seated with Christ in the heavenlies in verse two and three, we saw that our whole orientation is toward things of the. It's it's horizontal ultimately, but in verse four and five verse six, he is highlighting that there's a new orientation that the vertical connection is now operative. We've passed from before Christ into the, the, the antidotal anti untied Domini of, of life experience, where now we are reconnected into a relationship with God, and I'd like to suggest, and I'm going to wrap with this, that there were four practical results that take place in our lives.

When we have embraced Christ as our savior and who have received life. And I'd like to run through them. Number one, there's a different view of the Bible that the moral person might admire applaud. The truth may even believe some of the truth, but the Christian. And by that, I mean, the person that has embraced Christ as savior, the Christian feeds on the truth in the BC state, before you're a Christian, you need, you could never really imagine wanting to read the Bible.

At least not habitually, at least not continually enjoying the Bible just for itself, for pleasure. Maybe you went to it in a crisis, but to just feed on it every day, as, as your guide, as your, as your food spiritually, it isn't there. But when a person embrace this Christ, when a person is reconnected to God through Christ, what happens is that there is a hunger for the scriptures.

And so you start hearing preaching, lead, preaching differently. And you're listening to somebody talk about the Bible and you say, I know what you're saying. Matter of fact, I've understood this for years. But you don't therefore go. So I don't want to hear it anymore. You say, but I love it. As a matter of fact, I want more, even though I've heard this, I want to know more of the scripture.

It's like a guy that says I had a fantastic pinky week breakfast two weeks ago on Tuesday. I haven't eaten since it's been wonderful. I just, every day I start to feel hungry. I think. Awe. Oh, but those pancakes, no, you want more pancakes, right? You want something else? Does a continuing hunger for more because the scripture becomes our food.

We love it. It speaks into us and brings us hope. It brings clarity. It brings to election. It brings direction. It really is a light to. This is what happens when a person passes from BC before Christ to, to after Christ. When a person passes from being the walking spiritually dead, even though maybe a very religious person into being alive and their relationship with God is second thing that takes place.

And this, this, I love there's different views of failure, different views of failure. All of the religions say to us and philosophy say, pull yourself together, get a grip. This is what salvation means. You do it, you work and you accomplish it to, to, to other faith. The agent's religions would faith.

Christians know we are failures, Christians embrace failure. Everybody here, census that you should be perfect to have a relationship to God, to be acceptable to God. And everybody here recognizes that ain't going to work too well. Well, I'll say Christians agree. We believe that the standard of acceptance with God is perfection.

It is total righteousness. The difference for the born again, Christian is where every other religion says, you got to do it. You got to do your best. And, and hopefully it'll be enough. The Christian says, no, the standard is perfection and none of us will make it. But someone did the Jesus Christ lived the life that I should have lived.

And he died the death that I should have died. And it is in him that I find my hope and my acceptance. Now, how does that play out in our lives? Well, the compelling reality for the spiritual life person becomes the mercy of God. It becomes the reality that we have, like parents that God operates us the same way we do with as parents of little kids that your kids, or one of them gets the croup or the flu.

And of course, what does is it draws your heart to them and you feel for them, unless of course you completely exhausted in which case you want to kill them. But, but, but you, your heart is drawn. You feel their pain and, and, and you want to help them in their need. Your child's suffering, awakens your pity, and you reach out to relieve the condition in any way possible.

Your child's mercy, your misery has called forth your.

When you enter into a relationship with God through Christ in the aid of life, you are beginning to realize you have come to know a God for whom your murder, your misery always elicits his mercy that you begin to realize I don't have to get it. All right. I operate on the basis of a merciful. God who embraces my failures.

It is what changes even the way you look at other people, Liat wall or Lee Atwater was a henchman in the, in the Republican movement in years past and was a master at it. Perfected the art of reputation, destroying room. He used many of them against Michael Dukakis, Scott word got any was hated by, uh, the opposing party.

And they characterized him as the happy hatchet man and the Darth Vader of the Republican party. But something happened to Lee, Atwater Lee Atwater got cancer and faced his own potential end. And it began to cause him to look at his life and he repented of what he'd done. And he turned towards Christ and he actually wrote letters to Michael caucus and asked his forgiveness.

It was another man. You may have heard of him. His name is Ted Bundy, 10 Bundy, brutally murdered, at least 30 women. And on his deathbed profess to renounce his sin. Sought to apologized and turn to Christ. Now, the question in both cases is how do people respond? Well, the world has no perspective to a Ted Bundy, even to some degree to a Leo Atwater, but to say, who do they think they are at this point in time to just say, I'm sorry, forgive me.

It sounds so heinous. So blind to think that you can just, okay, now deathbed confession it's done. But when you have been the recipient of God's mercy in Christ, when you have embraced the reality, and you're starting to realize, you know, the seed of every known sin is in my. I may not have done them all, but they're there.

The potential is there. And that the basis of my acceptance with God is not because I'm a good Christian. The basis of my acceptance of God with God is Christ that he provided a way that I could be forgiven. It begins to change the way you look at failures, that you begin to embrace failure, begin to realize that God's mercy is moved by people's misery.

It changes the way you look at your own life and your own screw ups. It changes the way you look at others and, and your happiest moments are when other people begin to embrace their failures and say, and be able to say, I am a selfish person. I am a proud person. I'm an envious person. I'm a gossip, but in Christ, I'm, I'm finding his mercy.

And his love of me is freeing me for a lot of the reasons I lived that. It's just to be approved. It's be accepted it's to be loved, but I, but I have it. I have the love of the one that knows me best and he still loves me most there's different views of failure that come to the person that's spiritually alive to others.

And they'll be quick with these. Another result of the AAD life is there's different views of God. The spiritual renewed person is drawn to God as a, as a shepherd, as a father, they become the compelling realities in their life. That God though invisible is as real to them as any flesh and blood associate, they sense his presence discern his guidance.

They find real answers to their prayers. They can trace his hand in all the circumstances of their lives. This is the third characteristic of spiritually alive. And then fourth, there are different views of living with God. The spiritually alive person is focused on how to please and enjoy God as a response.

It's not, I've got to do it because he's going to zap me. It's not, I'm going to do it because the heavenly policemen is going to come after me. If I don't it's how could I not want to live a holy life and a life that is pleasing to him because of what he is to me. If people who really know God, don't tend to press the envelope on what they can do without God tests coming down.

Another one say, I wonder how much I can really do of this before God is going to come after me. I mean, it's like a, it's like a kid with a beloved grandparent and grandfather and the kid says. You know, I, I know my, I know my granddad is excited about my playing a game with them, but I'll get it. I'll bet I can get him to go spend three hours with me at the mall.

Or the thought is, I know he hates red ties, but he'll wear it if I get it for him, or I know he'd probably prefer watching an older suspense movie or something, you know, with me, but, but he'll watch Ernest goes to camp. If I ask him to sure he will, because he's for you. And he's crazy about you, but why would you want to constantly be treating him like an enemy or a person who's not really wholly on your side

when you have embraced Christ and been embraced by Christ and you've passed from spiritual death into spiritually alive, from disconnected to connected. You find out living the Christian life. Isn't because you're scared. He's going to be after you. It's because you love him. You know him, your mercy by him.

This is the reality. And this is the glory of saying that we've passed from, from this dead state, even being a religious person, even being a person, never missing church. But when we embrace Christ as our savior, the whole thing changes, failure changes. Our view of God changes. Our view of the Bible changes our view of living with God changes.

Why 'cause, he's changing us. He's letting us know and walk with him and enjoy him every day. If you've been born again, if you've passed from BC to Ady the old life of disconnection and independence from God is. It's because you have been made alive, reconnected to God. It's now our journey to just keep living it out and embracing it and imbibing it more.

It's a gift given. It's not a goal. You attain, it's a gift. Jesus paid it all and offered it all to us. And when we talked this morning, then the baptismal tank and these folks are share their brief testimony is basically what they're saying is, you know what he's saying? It's true. I tasted it. I'm experiencing it.

I've passed from BC to a D because Jesus paid it all. Lord, we come this morning and our gathering here on a Sunday morning with those that are in the room with those that are watching on.

It's because of Jesus, Lord Jesus. Thank you for coming. Thank you for coming that there could be a way that we could be connected with God, your father, that we could do life with the Godhead and the Bible has become so different to us. Even our own screw ups and failures have been seen differently in light of your mercy.

You become so precious to us. We love living life with you because you, Jesus, you took care of it all there on the cross for us, and we love you for it in Jesus name. Amen.

I'm reading from Romans chapter six, Romans chapter six, verse three and four says this. Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death. We were buried therefore with him by baptism into. In order to just as Christ was raised from the dead, by the glory of the father, we too might walk in newness of life.

That passage highlights two things in light of what we're doing this morning. It says what baptism is about is the visual baptism is the expression, uh, the outward expression of an inner reality. And as individuals have done what is described here, that before we lived in death, but now we've been raised to a new way of life in Christ.

They're visualizing that in their baptism and though their testimonies we're going to hear, there are three or four minute testimony this morning. Their biggest testimony is what they're doing this morning. And you'll hear me say, as I baptized. Um, in the likeness of his death, which is what's pictured there picturing by their action.

I died to an old way of life and I've risen to a new way of life in Christ, BC EDD, because of Christ. Now we're doing something a little special this morning. They're actually good. This is gonna be our, uh, we're going to have three pastors involved in this baptism. This is the most spiritual baptism we have ever had.

I'm going to be baptizing. Um, Gladys and Jessica pastor Ben is going to come and baptize, uh, Deanna and Michael, a couple that he has been, uh, doing premarital counseling with. And pastor Jared is going to baptize. Um, Ben, uh, Dan, Dan, um, uh, who's a part of the youth ministry and requested Jared to do that.

So I want you to know why there's a little more up and down going on here this morning. Hopefully it will be smooth. Jared will show up on time and everything will happen. All right. We're going to have, uh, Gladys is going to join me.

Gladys. Have you received Jesus Christ as your savior? Yes, I have. Okay. We're going to hear about that right now. Hello, this is Gladys sequel. And today I'm here for show my miracle testimony about what happened in my life on June 19th, 2019, I was diagnosed with a very rare illness called. I blessed tic anemia.

It's only 25 people in this country have that. And of course I got it. Only few. They recover completely the rest for the rest of their life. They need to take medication. University of Penn became to be my second home with that, the wild shack, my specialist, the whole team, my husband, my incredible kids, my grandkids, and a group of friends they're always released sustain me and helped me by their most important thing is I feel unbelievable help for my Lord, Jesus Christ, who sustain me every moment, every situation and crucial pain.

I had it in the hospital bed and in my house, I was for almost a year and a half dealing with this until. Just recently two weeks ago, I was really completely in recovery with no medications. And I feel like this is the great miracle I receive. Um, I had a group of warrior prayers who they really sustained me and helped me to run.

I know that's this again, another help God gave it to me and put me people around around me. And today I am here to proclaim my testimony and also my belief and publicly to say, I'm a sinner and God is my savior. And he died for me on a rice again. And I have a Proverbs 3, 5, 6, where I read. Um, sustain me all the time.

And I really remind and my back and my beliefs, and I always say trust in the Lord with all my heart lean, not on my own understanding and knowledge, the law in all my ways. And he will make my path straight. Thank you again for being with me.

Thank you, pastor mark and everybody. Thank you very much.

the loudest. Is that your desire to publicly testify of that relationship to Christ by being baptized?

Gladys. It's my joy to baptize you in the name of the father, the son, and the holy spirit in the likeness of his death, the likeness of his resurrection.

Jessica is now going to come.

Jessica, have you received Jesus as your savior? Yes. All right, we're going to hear it. Hi, my name is Jessica. I was baptized as a child, but I wasn't raised in the church. My parents stopped taking me at about seven or eight years old. So I never really learned Jesus' message until much later in life. I was going through life and with my own broken moral compass, when I was in my early thirties, I got married and had two kids.

When my youngest was eight months old, my husband Steve died. Well, it wasn't a happy marriage. I was suddenly alone with two children and it was overwhelming and terrifying, and I felt really alone. And I didn't realize that God was there the whole time with me. He was planning for me the whole time too.

And. In February of 2019, it was when Steve died. And that September was w I had my 20 year high school reunion. And I was really looking forward to it. By that time I was out of the fog of grief and, um, but a few days prior to it, I started feeling anxious and thought, oh, who am I going to have to talk to you?

None of my good friends from high school were going to be there, but I'm glad I went because that's when I met Jackson, he happened to stop being, as I was walking across the room at the reunion, and we started talking when you really hit it off and talk the whole night though, it took a bit of convincing for him to get, uh, from him to get me to go out with him.

But eventually I said, yes, and as I got to know, He taught me about Jesus, his message. He actually explained a lot of things to me about God and Bible and Jesus that I had misunderstood with my limited spiritual education. And soon after that, I asked God for forgiveness for my sins and asked Jesus to be the Lord of my life and my heart.

And, um, it's funny because the occasional times that I would go to church before this, as an adult, every once in a while, I'd feel the holy Spirit's presence in me. And, but once I accepted Jesus into my heart, I can feel him anytime. I really reach out to God, which is an amazing feeling. And so long, not long after.

And Matt Jackson, we got married and we had a baby together and we really look forward to raising our kids in to know Christ Psalm 68 5 says a father to the fatherless defender of widows is God in his holy dwelling. It really means a lot to me because he, he didn't provide a father to my children and husband to me and brought me to know him throughout the, in the process.

And his plan is just, was just amazing. It was just wonderful. And that's why I want to get baptized. I wanted to share that story with everyone and, uh, just let everyone know how amazing God is.

Jessica is your desire to publicly testify of Christ by being baptized? Yes,

Jessica, it's my joy to baptize you in the name of the father, the son, and the holy spirit in the likeness of his death likeness, resurrection

this is Deanna and, uh, I'm very excited and honor to be here with you today. It's a really special person. Deanna, have you profess Christ as your personal savior, we're gonna watch a video. See a little bit more about that. Good morning. My name is Deanna and it is my desire to be baptized today. My journey of faith started at a very young age and I wasn't even aware of it yet.

During my birth, there were a lot of complications due to my mom's pregnancy. One being, uh, she had really high blood pressure and that calls me to have a stroke along with other complicated. And this resulted in permanent left side weakness and other issues. And I was born premature and I was only three pounds at the time of my birth.

And I was in the NICU for a couple months and there were some close calls, but the Lord had some other plans for me. And I was able to pull through the doctors said that I would never walk or talk, but he allowed it to happen that I'm here today. And I always say that I am a living miracle and I faced a lot of challenges along the way, particularly during the school years.

And I was always behind in school and I had a lot of physical issues. They, I always grew up in a Christian home, a supportive Christian home, and I went to school or Sunday school and church on a regular basis. And, uh, I knew off the Lord, but I never had a personal relationship with him until the middle of my middle school years.

We went on a, a weekend retreat and, um, there was one night during that weekend, there was, uh, an invitation to accept the Lord into our hearts. And I felt in that moment that the Lord was talking to me and prompting me to accept him into my heart. And I knew as soon as I said, the prayer, that my life has changed for the better.

And it was the best decision that I had made in my life. And since then, um, I have still faced the challenges. They continue to be there every day, but thanks to him. He, I know that he is there every step of the way, and he is. I have the S his strength to carry me through. And when I hit high school, my faith in Christ gave me a desire to become a member of the fellowship of Christian athletes.

And I assume, felt called to become a co-captain of the fellowship of Christian athletes. And this was an awesome experience because I was able to share my faith and deepen my faith, as well as, um, bring others to the Lord as well. Having a relationship with the Lord has really been awesome. And it has really given me a purpose for my life.

And I just want to live for him. I no longer want to live for myself. I want my actions and my words to reflect him. And that is why. I want to be baptized today. And I know that it's not always going to be easy, but that is why Proverbs three, five to six are some of my favorite verses. They say trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean, not on your own understanding in all your ways, acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight.

And I just continually remember that verse because it reminds me that I don't have to lean on my own strength that I have his strength with me at all times. And I can just call on his name. So that leads me to why I want to be baptized today. And that is because I have fully embraced Jesus Christ as my savior.

And I have my trust in him and I want to live for him and put him first above everything else. And I want to follow him and make disciples and spread the gospel. So I appreciate you being here today to celebrate this next step in my journey. And I am excited to be able to share this with my fiance, Mike safe, and who also be being baptized today.

And I appreciate you being here. Thank you.

Michael. You can come around from the corner if you'd like, there you go. See, Michael wanted to get some pictures. He's next. But just to tell, you know, he wants some pictures, the Ana it is an incredible honor to be here. I agree with you getting to know you more. A living miracle is a wonderful way to describe your life.

Is it your desire today in the presence of these friends and family to declare your faith in Christ through baptism

is my honor to baptize you in the name of the. The son and the holy spirit, the likeness and the likeness of his resurrection.

this is Michael and wanting to ask you, can you guys see the video you can now? Oh, okay. I was going to say you could turn around, but if you can see it there, that's great. Michael, it's an honor to be here with you today. Have you accepted Jesus as your personal savior? Yes. The video. Tell us a little bit more about them.

I know all you awesome people out there today. My name is Mike safe, and I'm here to get baptized today. Well, it all begins in a normal Christian home, myself, my sister and parents, pretty much. I was not to get baptized. And my sister also, until we understood what Jesus Christ stood for, this is what my mom wanted from me and my sister.

But today I know what Jesus Christ is. He died on the cross for my sins and for others. And he rose from the dead on the third day, a few years passed and I was in middle school, my first middle school, and I had a disability and this disability held me back from. Going the same pace as other students. So me and my parents decided to transfer it to a new middle school, which is quite in township.

And I met this wonderful woman named Mrs. Austin. She was my one-on-one aid. She helped me stay on track with math, English, social studies, all those great school subjects. But now like a few years passed and it was CNF eighth grade year, Mrs. Austin Noster husband. And he died. So I was invited to the Vietnam wall and I thought it was going to be a sad time and everything.

But when I got there, I looked at everyone and they were happy and they celebrated his tonight. They celebrating knowing him. He was such an impact every once in knives. And that made my Christian faith stronger. And Jesus Christ. Well, a few years past, and this is after high school, I was going to call a niche and I felt the press.

I found a node and I went back and forth between my Christian faith. I didn't have that many friends or barely had any friends at all. Then I didn't feel supported. And during those start times, I just turned to my study center. I went and I I'm just going to get a job. After my college degree, I got a $10 per hour job in my engineering field.

And I felt like, eh, it's not the best thing by any say I have the job, but like I prayed out to the Nord, cried out to the north, going like priests helped me find something better. And two years ago, 2015 head. I got a job in Boeing as a contractor, but I still pray because it wasn't a permanent stable job.

And then I got a job with the Navy and this wonderful man that gave me the job, which I still consider as my mentor today, he has helped me grow into the man that I am today. Why do I want to get baptized today? That's pretty much an easy answer for me to this question. I want to tell people that I'm a Christian, that I'm a firm believer in Jesus Christ.

I want to say God, I am with you all the way, and I don't want to stop anything. And I want to tell everyone out there that I'm affirmed bunny for

Michael, is it your desire to do. And the presence of these witnesses to publicly declare your faith through baptism.

Now you got to bend your knees. This one, I, we say this back there, but this one I have to remind them. Um, we do this in the name of the father, the son, and the holy spirit and the likeness of his death and the likeness of his resurrection.

Danny, have you received Jesus Christ as your Lord and savior? Yes, let's hear about it. Hello. Um, I'm Dan baker. I'm 15 years old and today I've decided to be baptized. I grew up here at FCC, which has played an immense role in my coming to Jesus. I grew up in a Christian household with God loving parents and two older brothers.

And because of that, I always knew of the fact that Jesus died for my sins. Even though I went to Sunday school with my family and hearing that God loved me. I never understood the weight of that. But when I got older around 10, 11 years old really is when I understood that being saved was an important thing in a Christian's life.

So when Sunday school, what came around. I asked one of the teachers to pray with me and I asked Jesus to be part of my life. So yeah, years after that passed and I sort of entered this cycle, I entered just a cycle of trying to get through life through struggles, just on my own. But I realized that I couldn't do it.

And I had the epiphany that like, oh, I need Jesus. And then I kind of entered the spiritual high, I guess. And then I would just be really happy. But then I would just drift back to that struggle that I was really going through. And that kind of cycle was just basically my entire pre-teen years. And then my biggest struggle so far hit.

And that was COVID and during COVID, it really just was a terrible time for me. I was kind of just lonely disconnected from my friends. Locked in my house. It was just really tough. It was tough for everyone. I know I would waste hours watching TV or being on my phone. And just because of that, there would be nights where I wouldn't sleep well or sleep at all.

It was a time when I needed God, but looking back now, it was pride that kept me from realizing that I ran to other things to try and fulfill me, but none of them worked and I just became really depressed. And my mental health was just not at a good state and I had so much to rely on, but I just felt so much selfishness and shame that I couldn't really do it.

I didn't really tell anyone how I was feeling, not a soul, not my parents or my brothers. And so just one night in like may of 2021, I. Kinda just broke down. I cried out to God, lamented, I guess I was just praying to God and I don't really recall exactly what I said, but a phrase I remember saying is God, I'm scared.

And it was just the time where I was just vulnerable and broken is the term I like to keep using for that. And so just after that night, it took a while for me to just heal and recovered. I could definitely see Jesus working in me. I could see God giving me opportunities to enhance my faith in him. He's given me opportunities and some are ministries that.

Especially this mission trip to West Virginia, where I really grew closer to him and that tons of amazing people. And also just other things at FCC, like youth group and Sunday school and all sorts of things. And even today, uh, he still works in me, still brings me down low to try and teach me things. And he's working in me to try and be more open about my faith in my more secular relationships in communities.

All in all, I was made new in Christ. I call out to him and he answered me and he gave me something to live for a purpose and identity. And I understand that as I'm entering high school right now, figuring out my identity is important. So identifying in Christ is I is what I believe to be key. And so, because of all that I've said to.

I'm getting baptized as an act of obedience to God. And did you use this? A proclamation of my identity and faith in Jesus and just the celebration of what Jesus did, not just for me, but for everyone I'd like to thank you all for celebrating with me today. I hope you all have a good day.

Danny. Is it your desire to publicly testify of that work? The work of Christ in your life today? Publicly by baptism. It's my absolute joy to baptize you in the name of the father, the son, and the holy spirit, the likeness of his death, the likeness of his resurrection.

It is amazing to hear people's stories. Um, the stories of Christ working through breaking down walls, breaking through. And struggles and disease and whatever he needs to, to enter into their heart. Maybe, um, you are sitting here in the sanctuary today and you're thinking, man, I would love to do that, man.

I just saw someone my age in high school or middle school or, or someone older than me that saying, no, this is the time right now to do that. We would love to talk to you about that. We would love for you to do that. And I asked that you would just reach out to one of the pastors or the staff. Um, if that is your desire to publicly testify of that faith, um, let's go before the Lord, before we dispense

gal, we seen and heard a lot of victories this morning. A lot of triumphs Lord, you are so much bigger than whatever this life throws at us. God, you meet us in our lowest, in our darkest. God, and you are truly the hope that we can hold on to God. I pray that you would use each and every one of the stories heard today, got to impact everyone in this room or that my hope God, but that even that the stories spoken today would be the reason for someone leading them to you, God.

Or if there's anyone in this room who was saying to me, maybe this is for me, or maybe I don't actually know the Lord. Like I thought I did God, would you continue that work? Or would you bring us all to a knowledge of your saving grace? That saves us God, that brings us out of the darkness and into light Lord.

We love you. I want to give you pray. Praise this morning in Jesus name. Amen.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-change-from-bc-to-ad 2631fad6-74ca-4d93-9a9e-1b4c54d47639 Sun, 07 Nov 2021 10:03:02 GMT <div data-html="true">Ephesians 2:4-10 <br /><br /> "But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ" <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> But you take your Bibles this morning to Ephesians chapter two, as Randy mentioned, and did Jared, we are going to be looking at some people getting baptized this morning here in their stories, but I'd like to look at a passage that really highlights what they're celebrating. And we are celebrating with them this morning. <br /><br /> In Ephesians chapter two, we have a pre and post picture of people's lives. Um, we are familiar with what up until 2012 was called the BC a D a method of, uh, time reckoning, uh, BC standing for before Christ. Uh, Ady standing for ANOVA Domini a year of our Lord. Literally that meant that's been changed now to BC and BCE. <br /><br /> Um, but still both, even with the modern day change of the tourmanent terms from BC Ady to BCE BC, they're still dividing time into two categories. There was before the time of Christ there is after the time of Christ. And even though we're calling it the common error and before the common error, basically the common error that is, is recognized in the world as a time, uh, after, uh, Jesus was born is pointing back to the point that Christ was the, the changer of all of world history. <br /><br /> As we come to Ephesians chapter two, the apostle Paul is writing the book of Ephesians. Telling the believers that they also can divide their lives into two eras, a pre Christ error, BC, a post Christ error, a D. And I'd like to just simply this morning, take a few minutes to remind us what that means, because that's what we're visualizing this morning and being baptized. <br /><br /> And you'll actually hear, uh, statements made that reference that change. But I'd say, like to look first at verses one through three eight, Ephesians chapter two, and here's what we read. And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind. <br /><br /> And we're by nature, children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. Let's pray together. As we dive into this passage, Lord, we come and we celebrate the entrance of new life into our world, into our own individual worlds because Christ came and Lord, as we look at this passage, I pray that you would speak to all of us who have embraced the new life in Christ, just reminding of what that means and the, the beauty of that experience. <br /><br /> But then you would also speak to people that may have not entered into the new life in Christ, and to see what you are offering them in this passage in Jesus' name. Amen. BC. We see a couple of things here. And the first phrase that jumps out to us immediately is he says that as for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins. <br /><br /> We are in our humanist, the walking dead, spiritually dead. We are dead spiritually. Verse one tells us and death in the Bible. As I've said, a million times in this pulpit death in the Bible is always is, is defined as separation. We look at physical death that way as well. We look at when we die, we talk about giving up the ghost or giving up the spirit. <br /><br /> We recognize that the, the immaterial part, the real us, the soul spirit has gone, but our physical body has remained our earth. Certs left behind and physical death is the separation of the material from the immaterial. That's how the Bible looks at it, but there is not only physical death in the scripture. <br /><br /> As this passage is reminding us, there is what is called spiritual death. It is. Separation. It is our spirit separated from a relationship with God verse one and two, go on to talk more about this, this separation. And in terms that, that, that clarify that it's talking about a disconnect that we're still walking around physically alive, but there is a disconnect in our relationship with God and he describes it with terms like these. <br /><br /> All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. He said, this is the way all humans lived, including us and do live. And what are you saying is among other things? We live our lives under the influence of what is called the flesh or the sinful nature. <br /><br /> And here's is not talking about the physical flesh. He's talking about the bent of the whole person to live independently from. And you may be our bent may orient you to be, uh, may manifest itself. That you're a violent person. You may even be a criminal. You may be an immoral person, or you may be a moral, generous giving person, but BC, your bent is towards living your life independently from God. <br /><br /> This is what he means by. We lived in the flash. We were living our lives independently and we follow these various things. But even if there was morality in our lives, it was goodness in our lives. It was religious practices in our lives. Our bent is to live independently. Ultimately again, to be in the flesh. <br /><br /> What he's describing here in verses one through three does not mean you're constantly breaking God's laws or, or an obviously wicked person to be in the flesh means that you are using. Either obviously bad conduct or potentially seeming good conduct to avoid having depend on Christ as your savior and to avoid having God as your king. <br /><br /> So this is what he's saying. We live this way, that, that even if we were re religious person, ultimately we are bent towards living independently. We'll do it. We'll take it from here. We're going to live our lives, maybe moral to here in moral here. But our conduct was marked by living separately from God disconnected, from a personal relationship with him. <br /><br /> Even if we were doing moral and religious things, she says, this is the way we all are living our lives, ultimately. But then the Bible here in this passage, beginning with verse four, says two of the sweetest words that are in the entire. And verse four begins with these tours, but God, but God, and they talks now about how God moves into people's lives and offers them to be freed from the BC way of life to come into the Ady way of life. <br /><br /> But God being rich in mercy in verse four and five, but God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ by grace, you have been saved. The first thing we find is we get connection with God. We were living in separation and spiritual death is just we're dead men walking. <br /><br /> We may be a religious person. We may be a moral person. We may be a violently wicked person, either way. We're living independent. We have not been made alive in the relationship with God that Christ came to offer. So what he does is provide a way for us to be spiritually connected, reconnected with God. <br /><br /> First, Peter three verse 18 says it this way for Christ died for our sins. Once for all the righteous, for the unrighteous, why to bring you to God, to restore the relationship, to bring connection in the place of disconnection, Jesus, even promises. This is what's going to happen. I am the way the truth and the life, no one comes to the father, but through me, Jesus is the venue for connection with. <br /><br /> We can't bring about this change. We can't move from BC where God is distant, where God seems we may know about. And we may know Bible stories. We may know nothing, but either place, we are disconnected from a relationship with God and every person on earth experiences, the practical impact of this lack of connection though. <br /><br /> Many don't realize that it is God that they are missing Augustine, the great church father and the fourth century stayed. This statement. You made us for yourself and our hearts are restless until they rest in you. This sense of, of abject continual restlessness with checking with a baptismal tank is for all of you that are hoping I'm going to keep going. <br /><br /> There's a restlessness. That ultimately X is explained by this disconnect with God in our BC state, Paul trip, current theologian says it this way in his book, a shelter in the time of storm, as a rational, purposeful, emotional being, you cry for a deep and abiding sense of wellbeing. In your quest, you are actually discovering what you are actually discovering is that you are hardwired to be connected to another in this way. <br /><br /> Every human being is on a quest for God. The problem is we don't know that. And in our quest for stability, we attempt to stand on an endless catalog of God replacements that end up sinking us, but there is a rock to be found. That rock is Christ and you were hardwired to find what you are seeking in him. <br /><br /> He says Christ has come as the, the, the means of, of restoring a relationship with God, without which there is a restlessness. There is a lack of really landing in our humanist. And we constantly live our lives feeling like there's gotta be more, there's gotta be more. <br /><br /> And Christ came to offer that more. The second reality that he offers us in this bah, but God's section of the AED that we experienced in Christ is that we get a whole new orientation to spiritual things. Listen to this statement. As he says it in verse six, a couple of phrases, he says we're raised with Christ. <br /><br /> We're seated with Christ in the heavenlies in verse two and three, we saw that our whole orientation is toward things of the. It's it's horizontal ultimately, but in verse four and five verse six, he is highlighting that there's a new orientation that the vertical connection is now operative. We've passed from before Christ into the, the, the antidotal anti untied Domini of, of life experience, where now we are reconnected into a relationship with God, and I'd like to suggest, and I'm going to wrap with this, that there were four practical results that take place in our lives. <br /><br /> When we have embraced Christ as our savior and who have received life. And I'd like to run through them. Number one, there's a different view of the Bible that the moral person might admire applaud. The truth may even believe some of the truth, but the Christian. And by that, I mean, the person that has embraced Christ as savior, the Christian feeds on the truth in the BC state, before you're a Christian, you need, you could never really imagine wanting to read the Bible. <br /><br /> At least not habitually, at least not continually enjoying the Bible just for itself, for pleasure. Maybe you went to it in a crisis, but to just feed on it every day, as, as your guide, as your, as your food spiritually, it isn't there. But when a person embrace this Christ, when a person is reconnected to God through Christ, what happens is that there is a hunger for the scriptures. <br /><br /> And so you start hearing preaching, lead, preaching differently. And you're listening to somebody talk about the Bible and you say, I know what you're saying. Matter of fact, I've understood this for years. But you don't therefore go. So I don't want to hear it anymore. You say, but I love it. As a matter of fact, I want more, even though I've heard this, I want to know more of the scripture. <br /><br /> It's like a guy that says I had a fantastic pinky week breakfast two weeks ago on Tuesday. I haven't eaten since it's been wonderful. I just, every day I start to feel hungry. I think. Awe. Oh, but those pancakes, no, you want more pancakes, right? You want something else? Does a continuing hunger for more because the scripture becomes our food. <br /><br /> We love it. It speaks into us and brings us hope. It brings clarity. It brings to election. It brings direction. It really is a light to. This is what happens when a person passes from BC before Christ to, to after Christ. When a person passes from being the walking spiritually dead, even though maybe a very religious person into being alive and their relationship with God is second thing that takes place. <br /><br /> And this, this, I love there's different views of failure, different views of failure. All of the religions say to us and philosophy say, pull yourself together, get a grip. This is what salvation means. You do it, you work and you accomplish it to, to, to other faith. The agent's religions would faith. <br /><br /> Christians know we are failures, Christians embrace failure. Everybody here, census that you should be perfect to have a relationship to God, to be acceptable to God. And everybody here recognizes that ain't going to work too well. Well, I'll say Christians agree. We believe that the standard of acceptance with God is perfection. <br /><br /> It is total righteousness. The difference for the born again, Christian is where every other religion says, you got to do it. You got to do your best. And, and hopefully it'll be enough. The Christian says, no, the standard is perfection and none of us will make it. But someone did the Jesus Christ lived the life that I should have lived. <br /><br /> And he died the death that I should have died. And it is in him that I find my hope and my acceptance. Now, how does that play out in our lives? Well, the compelling reality for the spiritual life person becomes the mercy of God. It becomes the reality that we have, like parents that God operates us the same way we do with as parents of little kids that your kids, or one of them gets the croup or the flu. <br /><br /> And of course, what does is it draws your heart to them and you feel for them, unless of course you completely exhausted in which case you want to kill them. But, but, but you, your heart is drawn. You feel their pain and, and, and you want to help them in their need. Your child's suffering, awakens your pity, and you reach out to relieve the condition in any way possible. <br /><br /> Your child's mercy, your misery has called forth your. <br /><br /> When you enter into a relationship with God through Christ in the aid of life, you are beginning to realize you have come to know a God for whom your murder, your misery always elicits his mercy that you begin to realize I don't have to get it. All right. I operate on the basis of a merciful. God who embraces my failures. <br /><br /> It is what changes even the way you look at other people, Liat wall or Lee Atwater was a henchman in the, in the Republican movement in years past and was a master at it. Perfected the art of reputation, destroying room. He used many of them against Michael Dukakis, Scott word got any was hated by, uh, the opposing party. <br /><br /> And they characterized him as the happy hatchet man and the Darth Vader of the Republican party. But something happened to Lee, Atwater Lee Atwater got cancer and faced his own potential end. And it began to cause him to look at his life and he repented of what he'd done. And he turned towards Christ and he actually wrote letters to Michael caucus and asked his forgiveness. <br /><br /> It was another man. You may have heard of him. His name is Ted Bundy, 10 Bundy, brutally murdered, at least 30 women. And on his deathbed profess to renounce his sin. Sought to apologized and turn to Christ. Now, the question in both cases is how do people respond? Well, the world has no perspective to a Ted Bundy, even to some degree to a Leo Atwater, but to say, who do they think they are at this point in time to just say, I'm sorry, forgive me. <br /><br /> It sounds so heinous. So blind to think that you can just, okay, now deathbed confession it's done. But when you have been the recipient of God's mercy in Christ, when you have embraced the reality, and you're starting to realize, you know, the seed of every known sin is in my. I may not have done them all, but they're there. <br /><br /> The potential is there. And that the basis of my acceptance with God is not because I'm a good Christian. The basis of my acceptance of God with God is Christ that he provided a way that I could be forgiven. It begins to change the way you look at failures, that you begin to embrace failure, begin to realize that God's mercy is moved by people's misery. <br /><br /> It changes the way you look at your own life and your own screw ups. It changes the way you look at others and, and your happiest moments are when other people begin to embrace their failures and say, and be able to say, I am a selfish person. I am a proud person. I'm an envious person. I'm a gossip, but in Christ, I'm, I'm finding his mercy. <br /><br /> And his love of me is freeing me for a lot of the reasons I lived that. It's just to be approved. It's be accepted it's to be loved, but I, but I have it. I have the love of the one that knows me best and he still loves me most there's different views of failure that come to the person that's spiritually alive to others. <br /><br /> And they'll be quick with these. Another result of the AAD life is there's different views of God. The spiritual renewed person is drawn to God as a, as a shepherd, as a father, they become the compelling realities in their life. That God though invisible is as real to them as any flesh and blood associate, they sense his presence discern his guidance. <br /><br /> They find real answers to their prayers. They can trace his hand in all the circumstances of their lives. This is the third characteristic of spiritually alive. And then fourth, there are different views of living with God. The spiritually alive person is focused on how to please and enjoy God as a response. <br /><br /> It's not, I've got to do it because he's going to zap me. It's not, I'm going to do it because the heavenly policemen is going to come after me. If I don't it's how could I not want to live a holy life and a life that is pleasing to him because of what he is to me. If people who really know God, don't tend to press the envelope on what they can do without God tests coming down. <br /><br /> Another one say, I wonder how much I can really do of this before God is going to come after me. I mean, it's like a, it's like a kid with a beloved grandparent and grandfather and the kid says. You know, I, I know my, I know my granddad is excited about my playing a game with them, but I'll get it. I'll bet I can get him to go spend three hours with me at the mall. <br /><br /> Or the thought is, I know he hates red ties, but he'll wear it if I get it for him, or I know he'd probably prefer watching an older suspense movie or something, you know, with me, but, but he'll watch Ernest goes to camp. If I ask him to sure he will, because he's for you. And he's crazy about you, but why would you want to constantly be treating him like an enemy or a person who's not really wholly on your side <br /><br /> when you have embraced Christ and been embraced by Christ and you've passed from spiritual death into spiritually alive, from disconnected to connected. You find out living the Christian life. Isn't because you're scared. He's going to be after you. It's because you love him. You know him, your mercy by him. <br /><br /> This is the reality. And this is the glory of saying that we've passed from, from this dead state, even being a religious person, even being a person, never missing church. But when we embrace Christ as our savior, the whole thing changes, failure changes. Our view of God changes. Our view of the Bible changes our view of living with God changes. <br /><br /> Why 'cause, he's changing us. He's letting us know and walk with him and enjoy him every day. If you've been born again, if you've passed from BC to Ady the old life of disconnection and independence from God is. It's because you have been made alive, reconnected to God. It's now our journey to just keep living it out and embracing it and imbibing it more. <br /><br /> It's a gift given. It's not a goal. You attain, it's a gift. Jesus paid it all and offered it all to us. And when we talked this morning, then the baptismal tank and these folks are share their brief testimony is basically what they're saying is, you know what he's saying? It's true. I tasted it. I'm experiencing it. <br /><br /> I've passed from BC to a D because Jesus paid it all. Lord, we come this morning and our gathering here on a Sunday morning with those that are in the room with those that are watching on. <br /><br /> It's because of Jesus, Lord Jesus. Thank you for coming. Thank you for coming that there could be a way that we could be connected with God, your father, that we could do life with the Godhead and the Bible has become so different to us. Even our own screw ups and failures have been seen differently in light of your mercy. <br /><br /> You become so precious to us. We love living life with you because you, Jesus, you took care of it all there on the cross for us, and we love you for it in Jesus name. Amen. <br /><br /> I'm reading from Romans chapter six, Romans chapter six, verse three and four says this. Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death. We were buried therefore with him by baptism into. In order to just as Christ was raised from the dead, by the glory of the father, we too might walk in newness of life. <br /><br /> That passage highlights two things in light of what we're doing this morning. It says what baptism is about is the visual baptism is the expression, uh, the outward expression of an inner reality. And as individuals have done what is described here, that before we lived in death, but now we've been raised to a new way of life in Christ. <br /><br /> They're visualizing that in their baptism and though their testimonies we're going to hear, there are three or four minute testimony this morning. Their biggest testimony is what they're doing this morning. And you'll hear me say, as I baptized. Um, in the likeness of his death, which is what's pictured there picturing by their action. <br /><br /> I died to an old way of life and I've risen to a new way of life in Christ, BC EDD, because of Christ. Now we're doing something a little special this morning. They're actually good. This is gonna be our, uh, we're going to have three pastors involved in this baptism. This is the most spiritual baptism we have ever had. <br /><br /> I'm going to be baptizing. Um, Gladys and Jessica pastor Ben is going to come and baptize, uh, Deanna and Michael, a couple that he has been, uh, doing premarital counseling with. And pastor Jared is going to baptize. Um, Ben, uh, Dan, Dan, um, uh, who's a part of the youth ministry and requested Jared to do that. <br /><br /> So I want you to know why there's a little more up and down going on here this morning. Hopefully it will be smooth. Jared will show up on time and everything will happen. All right. We're going to have, uh, Gladys is going to join me. <br /><br /> Gladys. Have you received Jesus Christ as your savior? Yes, I have. Okay. We're going to hear about that right now. Hello, this is Gladys sequel. And today I'm here for show my miracle testimony about what happened in my life on June 19th, 2019, I was diagnosed with a very rare illness called. I blessed tic anemia. <br /><br /> It's only 25 people in this country have that. And of course I got it. Only few. They recover completely the rest for the rest of their life. They need to take medication. University of Penn became to be my second home with that, the wild shack, my specialist, the whole team, my husband, my incredible kids, my grandkids, and a group of friends they're always released sustain me and helped me by their most important thing is I feel unbelievable help for my Lord, Jesus Christ, who sustain me every moment, every situation and crucial pain. <br /><br /> I had it in the hospital bed and in my house, I was for almost a year and a half dealing with this until. Just recently two weeks ago, I was really completely in recovery with no medications. And I feel like this is the great miracle I receive. Um, I had a group of warrior prayers who they really sustained me and helped me to run. <br /><br /> I know that's this again, another help God gave it to me and put me people around around me. And today I am here to proclaim my testimony and also my belief and publicly to say, I'm a sinner and God is my savior. And he died for me on a rice again. And I have a Proverbs 3, 5, 6, where I read. Um, sustain me all the time. <br /><br /> And I really remind and my back and my beliefs, and I always say trust in the Lord with all my heart lean, not on my own understanding and knowledge, the law in all my ways. And he will make my path straight. Thank you again for being with me. <br /><br /> Thank you, pastor mark and everybody. Thank you very much. <br /><br /> the loudest. Is that your desire to publicly testify of that relationship to Christ by being baptized? <br /><br /> Gladys. It's my joy to baptize you in the name of the father, the son, and the holy spirit in the likeness of his death, the likeness of his resurrection. <br /><br /> Jessica is now going to come. <br /><br /> Jessica, have you received Jesus as your savior? Yes. All right, we're going to hear it. Hi, my name is Jessica. I was baptized as a child, but I wasn't raised in the church. My parents stopped taking me at about seven or eight years old. So I never really learned Jesus' message until much later in life. I was going through life and with my own broken moral compass, when I was in my early thirties, I got married and had two kids. <br /><br /> When my youngest was eight months old, my husband Steve died. Well, it wasn't a happy marriage. I was suddenly alone with two children and it was overwhelming and terrifying, and I felt really alone. And I didn't realize that God was there the whole time with me. He was planning for me the whole time too. <br /><br /> And. In February of 2019, it was when Steve died. And that September was w I had my 20 year high school reunion. And I was really looking forward to it. By that time I was out of the fog of grief and, um, but a few days prior to it, I started feeling anxious and thought, oh, who am I going to have to talk to you? <br /><br /> None of my good friends from high school were going to be there, but I'm glad I went because that's when I met Jackson, he happened to stop being, as I was walking across the room at the reunion, and we started talking when you really hit it off and talk the whole night though, it took a bit of convincing for him to get, uh, from him to get me to go out with him. <br /><br /> But eventually I said, yes, and as I got to know, He taught me about Jesus, his message. He actually explained a lot of things to me about God and Bible and Jesus that I had misunderstood with my limited spiritual education. And soon after that, I asked God for forgiveness for my sins and asked Jesus to be the Lord of my life and my heart. <br /><br /> And, um, it's funny because the occasional times that I would go to church before this, as an adult, every once in a while, I'd feel the holy Spirit's presence in me. And, but once I accepted Jesus into my heart, I can feel him anytime. I really reach out to God, which is an amazing feeling. And so long, not long after. <br /><br /> And Matt Jackson, we got married and we had a baby together and we really look forward to raising our kids in to know Christ Psalm 68 5 says a father to the fatherless defender of widows is God in his holy dwelling. It really means a lot to me because he, he didn't provide a father to my children and husband to me and brought me to know him throughout the, in the process. <br /><br /> And his plan is just, was just amazing. It was just wonderful. And that's why I want to get baptized. I wanted to share that story with everyone and, uh, just let everyone know how amazing God is. <br /><br /> Jessica is your desire to publicly testify of Christ by being baptized? Yes, <br /><br /> Jessica, it's my joy to baptize you in the name of the father, the son, and the holy spirit in the likeness of his death likeness, resurrection <br /><br /> this is Deanna and, uh, I'm very excited and honor to be here with you today. It's a really special person. Deanna, have you profess Christ as your personal savior, we're gonna watch a video. See a little bit more about that. Good morning. My name is Deanna and it is my desire to be baptized today. My journey of faith started at a very young age and I wasn't even aware of it yet. <br /><br /> During my birth, there were a lot of complications due to my mom's pregnancy. One being, uh, she had really high blood pressure and that calls me to have a stroke along with other complicated. And this resulted in permanent left side weakness and other issues. And I was born premature and I was only three pounds at the time of my birth. <br /><br /> And I was in the NICU for a couple months and there were some close calls, but the Lord had some other plans for me. And I was able to pull through the doctors said that I would never walk or talk, but he allowed it to happen that I'm here today. And I always say that I am a living miracle and I faced a lot of challenges along the way, particularly during the school years. <br /><br /> And I was always behind in school and I had a lot of physical issues. They, I always grew up in a Christian home, a supportive Christian home, and I went to school or Sunday school and church on a regular basis. And, uh, I knew off the Lord, but I never had a personal relationship with him until the middle of my middle school years. <br /><br /> We went on a, a weekend retreat and, um, there was one night during that weekend, there was, uh, an invitation to accept the Lord into our hearts. And I felt in that moment that the Lord was talking to me and prompting me to accept him into my heart. And I knew as soon as I said, the prayer, that my life has changed for the better. <br /><br /> And it was the best decision that I had made in my life. And since then, um, I have still faced the challenges. They continue to be there every day, but thanks to him. He, I know that he is there every step of the way, and he is. I have the S his strength to carry me through. And when I hit high school, my faith in Christ gave me a desire to become a member of the fellowship of Christian athletes. <br /><br /> And I assume, felt called to become a co-captain of the fellowship of Christian athletes. And this was an awesome experience because I was able to share my faith and deepen my faith, as well as, um, bring others to the Lord as well. Having a relationship with the Lord has really been awesome. And it has really given me a purpose for my life. <br /><br /> And I just want to live for him. I no longer want to live for myself. I want my actions and my words to reflect him. And that is why. I want to be baptized today. And I know that it's not always going to be easy, but that is why Proverbs three, five to six are some of my favorite verses. They say trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean, not on your own understanding in all your ways, acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight. <br /><br /> And I just continually remember that verse because it reminds me that I don't have to lean on my own strength that I have his strength with me at all times. And I can just call on his name. So that leads me to why I want to be baptized today. And that is because I have fully embraced Jesus Christ as my savior. <br /><br /> And I have my trust in him and I want to live for him and put him first above everything else. And I want to follow him and make disciples and spread the gospel. So I appreciate you being here today to celebrate this next step in my journey. And I am excited to be able to share this with my fiance, Mike safe, and who also be being baptized today. <br /><br /> And I appreciate you being here. Thank you. <br /><br /> Michael. You can come around from the corner if you'd like, there you go. See, Michael wanted to get some pictures. He's next. But just to tell, you know, he wants some pictures, the Ana it is an incredible honor to be here. I agree with you getting to know you more. A living miracle is a wonderful way to describe your life. <br /><br /> Is it your desire today in the presence of these friends and family to declare your faith in Christ through baptism <br /><br /> is my honor to baptize you in the name of the. The son and the holy spirit, the likeness and the likeness of his resurrection. <br /><br /> this is Michael and wanting to ask you, can you guys see the video you can now? Oh, okay. I was going to say you could turn around, but if you can see it there, that's great. Michael, it's an honor to be here with you today. Have you accepted Jesus as your personal savior? Yes. The video. Tell us a little bit more about them. <br /><br /> I know all you awesome people out there today. My name is Mike safe, and I'm here to get baptized today. Well, it all begins in a normal Christian home, myself, my sister and parents, pretty much. I was not to get baptized. And my sister also, until we understood what Jesus Christ stood for, this is what my mom wanted from me and my sister. <br /><br /> But today I know what Jesus Christ is. He died on the cross for my sins and for others. And he rose from the dead on the third day, a few years passed and I was in middle school, my first middle school, and I had a disability and this disability held me back from. Going the same pace as other students. So me and my parents decided to transfer it to a new middle school, which is quite in township. <br /><br /> And I met this wonderful woman named Mrs. Austin. She was my one-on-one aid. She helped me stay on track with math, English, social studies, all those great school subjects. But now like a few years passed and it was CNF eighth grade year, Mrs. Austin Noster husband. And he died. So I was invited to the Vietnam wall and I thought it was going to be a sad time and everything. <br /><br /> But when I got there, I looked at everyone and they were happy and they celebrated his tonight. They celebrating knowing him. He was such an impact every once in knives. And that made my Christian faith stronger. And Jesus Christ. Well, a few years past, and this is after high school, I was going to call a niche and I felt the press. <br /><br /> I found a node and I went back and forth between my Christian faith. I didn't have that many friends or barely had any friends at all. Then I didn't feel supported. And during those start times, I just turned to my study center. I went and I I'm just going to get a job. After my college degree, I got a $10 per hour job in my engineering field. <br /><br /> And I felt like, eh, it's not the best thing by any say I have the job, but like I prayed out to the Nord, cried out to the north, going like priests helped me find something better. And two years ago, 2015 head. I got a job in Boeing as a contractor, but I still pray because it wasn't a permanent stable job. <br /><br /> And then I got a job with the Navy and this wonderful man that gave me the job, which I still consider as my mentor today, he has helped me grow into the man that I am today. Why do I want to get baptized today? That's pretty much an easy answer for me to this question. I want to tell people that I'm a Christian, that I'm a firm believer in Jesus Christ. <br /><br /> I want to say God, I am with you all the way, and I don't want to stop anything. And I want to tell everyone out there that I'm affirmed bunny for <br /><br /> Michael, is it your desire to do. And the presence of these witnesses to publicly declare your faith through baptism. <br /><br /> Now you got to bend your knees. This one, I, we say this back there, but this one I have to remind them. Um, we do this in the name of the father, the son, and the holy spirit and the likeness of his death and the likeness of his resurrection. <br /><br /> Danny, have you received Jesus Christ as your Lord and savior? Yes, let's hear about it. Hello. Um, I'm Dan baker. I'm 15 years old and today I've decided to be baptized. I grew up here at FCC, which has played an immense role in my coming to Jesus. I grew up in a Christian household with God loving parents and two older brothers. <br /><br /> And because of that, I always knew of the fact that Jesus died for my sins. Even though I went to Sunday school with my family and hearing that God loved me. I never understood the weight of that. But when I got older around 10, 11 years old really is when I understood that being saved was an important thing in a Christian's life. <br /><br /> So when Sunday school, what came around. I asked one of the teachers to pray with me and I asked Jesus to be part of my life. So yeah, years after that passed and I sort of entered this cycle, I entered just a cycle of trying to get through life through struggles, just on my own. But I realized that I couldn't do it. <br /><br /> And I had the epiphany that like, oh, I need Jesus. And then I kind of entered the spiritual high, I guess. And then I would just be really happy. But then I would just drift back to that struggle that I was really going through. And that kind of cycle was just basically my entire pre-teen years. And then my biggest struggle so far hit. <br /><br /> And that was COVID and during COVID, it really just was a terrible time for me. I was kind of just lonely disconnected from my friends. Locked in my house. It was just really tough. It was tough for everyone. I know I would waste hours watching TV or being on my phone. And just because of that, there would be nights where I wouldn't sleep well or sleep at all. <br /><br /> It was a time when I needed God, but looking back now, it was pride that kept me from realizing that I ran to other things to try and fulfill me, but none of them worked and I just became really depressed. And my mental health was just not at a good state and I had so much to rely on, but I just felt so much selfishness and shame that I couldn't really do it. <br /><br /> I didn't really tell anyone how I was feeling, not a soul, not my parents or my brothers. And so just one night in like may of 2021, I. Kinda just broke down. I cried out to God, lamented, I guess I was just praying to God and I don't really recall exactly what I said, but a phrase I remember saying is God, I'm scared. <br /><br /> And it was just the time where I was just vulnerable and broken is the term I like to keep using for that. And so just after that night, it took a while for me to just heal and recovered. I could definitely see Jesus working in me. I could see God giving me opportunities to enhance my faith in him. He's given me opportunities and some are ministries that. <br /><br /> Especially this mission trip to West Virginia, where I really grew closer to him and that tons of amazing people. And also just other things at FCC, like youth group and Sunday school and all sorts of things. And even today, uh, he still works in me, still brings me down low to try and teach me things. And he's working in me to try and be more open about my faith in my more secular relationships in communities. <br /><br /> All in all, I was made new in Christ. I call out to him and he answered me and he gave me something to live for a purpose and identity. And I understand that as I'm entering high school right now, figuring out my identity is important. So identifying in Christ is I is what I believe to be key. And so, because of all that I've said to. <br /><br /> I'm getting baptized as an act of obedience to God. And did you use this? A proclamation of my identity and faith in Jesus and just the celebration of what Jesus did, not just for me, but for everyone I'd like to thank you all for celebrating with me today. I hope you all have a good day. <br /><br /> Danny. Is it your desire to publicly testify of that work? The work of Christ in your life today? Publicly by baptism. It's my absolute joy to baptize you in the name of the father, the son, and the holy spirit, the likeness of his death, the likeness of his resurrection. <br /><br /> It is amazing to hear people's stories. Um, the stories of Christ working through breaking down walls, breaking through. And struggles and disease and whatever he needs to, to enter into their heart. Maybe, um, you are sitting here in the sanctuary today and you're thinking, man, I would love to do that, man. <br /><br /> I just saw someone my age in high school or middle school or, or someone older than me that saying, no, this is the time right now to do that. We would love to talk to you about that. We would love for you to do that. And I asked that you would just reach out to one of the pastors or the staff. Um, if that is your desire to publicly testify of that faith, um, let's go before the Lord, before we dispense <br /><br /> gal, we seen and heard a lot of victories this morning. A lot of triumphs Lord, you are so much bigger than whatever this life throws at us. God, you meet us in our lowest, in our darkest. God, and you are truly the hope that we can hold on to God. I pray that you would use each and every one of the stories heard today, got to impact everyone in this room or that my hope God, but that even that the stories spoken today would be the reason for someone leading them to you, God. <br /><br /> Or if there's anyone in this room who was saying to me, maybe this is for me, or maybe I don't actually know the Lord. Like I thought I did God, would you continue that work? Or would you bring us all to a knowledge of your saving grace? That saves us God, that brings us out of the darkness and into light Lord. <br /><br /> We love you. I want to give you pray. Praise this morning in Jesus name. Amen.</div> false no <![CDATA[Build Your House on the Rock]]> Matthew 7:24-27

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.



Thank you, pastor Mike. Um, my name is pastor Jay. Uh, I was going to dress up as pastor mark this morning because it is October 31st, but they ran out of white hair dyes. So just, I just cut it. Um, we're going to be in Matthew chapter seven this morning verses 24, starting in verses 24, finishing off, um, our series on the sermon on the Mount, looking at the last words that Jesus recorded here, um, on the sermon on the Mount.

So it's Matthew. Chapter 7 24, the 20 sevens on the screen. If you don't have it says this, everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock and the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat on that house. But it did not fall because it had been founded on the rock and everyone who hears these words of mine and does not.

We'll be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand and the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat against that house and it fell and great was the fall of it this morning. We need to build our lives on the foundation of God's word so that we can be ready to face the storms of life.

Because if we don't it be like the house built on the sand and we'll fall. Let's pray together this morning.

Learn. We come before you this morning, God looking for your wisdom, asking for your spirit to move and be alive. God, we know you're in this room. God, we pray that you would show up in tangible ways this morning. God, I pray that you would shut my mouth, God, and speak through me that your word would be the loudest thing in this room.

God. And that you would. Just transform our lives. Even this morning, we pray this in Jesus name. Amen. Um, I love going to the beach. I've always gone to the beach growing up. My family is huge beach people, ocean city favorites in my adulthood. I'm leaning towards like LBI now, but ocean city as so many memories for me and a particular day, I was about 10 or 12 years old, probably.

Um, we went to the beach and you know how, when you go to the beach, sometimes the shore will like randomly come up. Like it's not the dunes quite yet, but somehow like the tie took out a bunch of seeds. So there's like a sand pile here along the whole beach and then like goes down like this. So it was one of the particular days and it was very, very hot.

Summer day was like 90 degrees. And I'm looking everywhere. Like, man, like there's no shade on the beach. Like the water's like even warm. Like I have nowhere to cool off. Oh, I'll make a tunnel. This is a beautiful, beautiful idea. So I start digging into this mound of sand and where my family's camped up on top of it here.

So I started digging into this Mount of sand and I make this giant tunnel. So like, if you picture this would be the sand and like, this is where I started tunneling. I'm so deep in where my knee. Are like the only thing sticking out and I'm like fully submerged in this tunnel. And I'm just like the sands.

Cool. Like I'm out of the sun. I'm like living life right now, but I'm like, hold on, hold on. Something could go wrong here. So I go out as a youngest of five brothers have learned to do is send out the warning. Right. I go out and I'm like, listen, no one step right here. Like, whatever you do, don't step here.

Because there's a tunnel here and I don't have a super strong infrastructure. I'm not an engineer. I'm 12 years old with a shovel. So like no one step here. Of course, I, I go back into my tunnel. Um, I'm enjoying my time. I'm enjoying getting cooled off by the cool sand in the shade. And my brother decides to come right up and just, and I mean, it absolutely caved in on.

And I, I thought this through my head, I was like, surely there's not enough sand where like, okay, I'll get Sandy. And then I'll be able to go off. Sand is really heavy, like really heavy. It caved in on me. And I tried to move and I couldn't move. And I tried to like, I just started fully panicking. I'm opening my mouth, Sans, filling in my mouth.

At this point. I can't move. My legs are flailing out. My brothers are watching my legs flail and having a ball outside. Meanwhile, I'm suffocating under the neath the same. And I'm losing my mind. Luckily, my brother comes to his senses, grabs my ankles, rips me out of the sand. I run to the ocean. I'm like walk off.

I was like done for the rest of day. I was just on the blanket. I'm like, I'll get a sunburn. I will sweat. I don't care anymore. No more tunnels after that. No more tunnels. My foundation, I thought was good. My foundation, I thought was, was comfortable and stable, but it was not stable. As I thought it might be.

We would come to a similar illustration that Jesus uses here on the sermon of the Mount, right. A house built on a rock and a house built on the sand. And that house bit on the sand is not always as stable as we think. To look at some context here, we've been going through this series the past couple of weeks and even months we've seen pastors highlight different sections of the sermon of the Mount.

We know that this is one of the largest collections of Jesus's teachings. He was on the mountain, right? Crowd start the foul. He brought his disciples up and these crowds started to form and he started to preach. And we see now at the end of this. At the end of this sermon after he's given very, very challenging things, challenging how we should deal with the poor, how should we deal with lust, anger, all these challenging things and challenging what people thought of the law and challenging how, how good of a Christian they thought they were, how, how it was checking off all the right boxes and just, just turns everyone's head upside down.

And we come to these last words and Jesus says, everyone. Who hears these words? Yes. He's talking to his disciples. Yes. He's talking to the crowds that have now gathered, but now we know that these words are now directed at us, everyone. Then who hears these words? Listen up. We see a parallel account to this in Luke's gospel.

And Luke chapter six verses 46 through 49. It says this. Why do you call me Lord? And do not do what I tell you, everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like. He is like a man building a house who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it because it hadn't been well built.

We need to build our lives on God's word by listening and doing what it says, because if. Our foundations will be easily washed away. Like the great theologically sound band Weezer says a castle built in the sand will only last one day. So we come to this, this passage, this, this imagery that Jesus has given to us, this.

And we're, we're saying why, right. Why, why is this important? Why does Jesus? And with this, he just gave a beautiful sermon. He challenged so many different topics and subjects, and here he is. And he leaves us with this picture, this application of a picture of everyone who hears these words of mine will be like this or this.

So why is this important one? I think, why do we need to build our house on the rock of God's word? Because God's word is essential to our lives. First, second, Timothy three 16 through 17 says this all scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness that the man of God may be complete.

Uh, equipped it for every good work. All scripture is breathed out by God. Why do we need to build our house on this rock, this rock of God's word, because it's essential to our lives for all these different things, for training and righteousness that we may be equipped, right? That me, that we may be complete ready for anything that life throws at us.

This is why this is important because God's word is essential in our life. Secondly, storms of life are ahead of us. This has promised right? In both scenarios, the storms and strong winds come and beat against that house. And the house built on the rock stays up and the house built on the sand gets flooded away right here.

The storms are coming. We know that Jesus promised that the one thing I love about Jesus' teaching, he never butters anything up, right. He just gave us, gives it to you. He never promises you things you can't, you know, hold on to or can't, or can't really grab on to now, he's saying the storms are coming right.

The storms of life throwing at us are, are, are, are going to be coming. Whether it's losing a job, whether it's a family member getting sick, whether it's it's losing someone, maybe it's, uh, a broken relationship. Maybe it's conflict within your family, but the storms are coming, but Jesus tells us exactly what we can do to prepare for this.

Don't be, don't be like the foolish man who builds his house on the sand that when the storms come, it easily gets washed away. The be like the man that the man on the rock that builds his life on God's word. So when the storms come, when the winds start to beat. He can stand on something. He can stand on solid ground because when we find ourselves, when we build our lives on something else, maybe for you, it's your job.

Maybe that's your firm foundation. And you're like, I'm really good at my job. I work all the time. I work overtime. I don't even get paid for the overtime. I work. I work so much like I'm so good at it. My boss compliments me. I'm ready for the I'm ready for the raise. I'm ready for the promotion. Maybe it's your family.

Maybe you're like found it in your identity as a father or a mother. And you're like, I am the best at, out there. Grilling. Got it. Down. Sports games. Got it down. Right? Maybe it's if you're a student, maybe you are a, a plus plus student, it's the type of students. We all hate to be in our class and they're like, oh, and you're like, whoa, what's wrong.

I got. And I'm like, are you kidding me? I'm celebrating in a 70 over here. Like this is algebra two. I didn't know. You could get higher than this, right? Maybe that's, that's your thing. You're, you're finding your life on your, your intelligence, your academics, maybe it's your giftings, right? Maybe it's even your giftings from God that you are so proud of.

That you've staked your, your whole life on, but when these things fall, when you lose your job, when you get the 97, when you fail as a parent or a child, or a brother or a sister, where is your foundation? Because if it's found there, if that's where your identity is, If that's where you're grounded, but it's all going to become Washington away.

But he says here, the wise man built his house on the rock. He builds this house on the word of God. The storms are coming. They're promised here. We took a, a trip for the youth. We always do it. Um, most, most summers it's called wilderness camp. I happen to be a part of wilderness camp, um, growing up, and this was my first year.

And senior wilderness camp. So I was, I was very excited. I was very pumped up. Um, I was there with my older brother. I was like, I was like, man, like, not only am I in, but like my older brother's here. And like I know his friends. So like I know the old guys and I got to stay in their tent, which is like, Real good kudos.

They got the best snacks they've been here before. Like they all know the things I'm like, all right, this is one of my first time camping. Like, this is perfect. I'm with the big boys. So we go and we come into camp and the first thing you need to come to the campus, pick your campsite. Right. You know, girls are over here, guys over here.

So you're looking like, all right, where's the best spot for our tent. And like, the boys are already planning like, oh, we're going to be up late. Like we got a bunch of snacks. We've got candy. We got mountain Dew. W w we got to like separate ourselves from the pack, because like, we're not sleeping tonight.

I'm like, yeah, this is awesome. Like now thinking about that, I'm like really, that's a horrible idea. So we're, we're looking for a spot and we find this spot about, you know, 50 or so yards away from everyone else. And it's perfect. Like, it's like, man, this is separated from that. We got some tree coverage.

It's beautiful, beautiful little scenic. It's peaceful. So we make our tent and we set it up. It takes us forever. Cause it's like a six to eight person tent built in 1985. And like, they didn't have like metal poles yet. So, you know, you're, you're trying to do it. And we go to sleep that night. Actually, we actually did go to sleep and I woke up.

In a river, like I woke up and my whole sleeping bag was soaked. First off, that goes to your head. Did I just pee the bed? Then you start looking over and you feel the puddles over everyone else. I'm like, did we all pee the bed here? Then you start thinking, okay, something's very, very wrong. We built our tent.

We camped our tent and a beautiful Sandy area that was lower than everywhere else. So rain came. And absolutely just flooded right. Under our tent. We had no other foundation. We didn't have one of those nice tarps or anything. So the rain came and absolutely flooded us. And I mean, it was the worst night of my life.

Like, you're just like, what do I do for. It's dark. My sleeping bag is soaking wet. The area where I was just laying is wet. It's literally a puddle there. I mean, the rest of the week, our sleeping bags are drying out like that. We're trying to dry the 10 out. We realized the next morning after we moved tent, like, wow, we camped in a hole.

Like this was like basically a glorified hole here. And I'm like, geez, these guys let me down. Like, they're supposed to be, they're supposed to figure out how to do this already. Like, I'm just trusting. But this is what happens when we camp our lives on things that, that can't stand, the storms that can't bear, the storms, we camp our lives on these things.

That, that don't last, but don't matter. So when the rain comes, it all is good. Right? All is good until something bad had. All is good with your job. All is good with your, your education. All is good with your skill set and your intelligence or your, your role here, there until something fails until someone gets sick.

And if our lives are, are built on that, on built on that sand foundation, it'll easily be washed away. The storms of life are ahead of us. This is important. Why? Because God's word is essential. So our lives essential for correcting teaching training up in righteousness that may, we may be equipped it for every good work and two, the storms are coming, so we have to be ready.

We have to be ready. We can all agree that this is important to build our house on the rock. This is important to build our house on God's word and be dependent on him and his. But how do we do this? Right. Jesus never is like, so you build your house on the rock this way. Right? We must spend time in God's word.

Jesus said here, everyone. Then who hears my word and does them is like a man who built his house on the rock. We must spend time in God's word. And I don't mean. Checking the verse of the day, every day, I'd be like, well, check that box off. Cool. All right. Zeke you'll eight, 12, whatever that means. All right.

Let's move on for the day, right? It needs to be more than that. We need to spend quality time in God's word. Psalms one, one to three describes a man. Who delights in the law of the Lord. It says this, bless it. As the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked nor stands in the way of sinners nor sits in the seat of scoffers.

But his delight is in the law of the Lord and on his law, he meditates day and night, he is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields. And its season and its leaf does not wither and all that he does. He prospers. We must be like this man described here as a man who delights in the law of the Lord.

It says all in all he does. He prospers why? Because he delights in the law of the Lord and meditates on it day and night. We he's planted by the stream. He's planted by this, the word of God. And it doesn't matter what comes against them. Right? If the winds beat against this tree, if there's a dry season, if something starts picking off this tree, no, because it's planted in its source.

It's planted by its life source. It's like the man who delights in the law of the Lord meditating on a day and night, we need to spend time in God's word. And I promise you, this will be the first thing to go in your schedule. It's kind of like working out, like we're all too busy to work out until the people that aren't like the CrossFit people like Mike are just weird.

Um, right. But w it's like the first thing to go, like as soon as something happens of life, it's like, well, there goes my divorce. I stayed up too late. So I, I can't wake up and read and, you know, I, I got caught up doing this, so, you know, I guess I'll, I got to go do this and I can't, I can't read God's word because this came up and well, I got a phone call or, you know, someone like my Instagram post or someone's arguing with me on Facebook.

So I got to go deal with that. Right. But we have to make time for this spending quality time in God's word, because this is the thing that stands up in the store. Not our way, not, not what we want to be founded in, not our strength, but in God's word and all he does. He prospers because he meditates on it day.

I like to think about this as a equation of, we live in a broken sinful world and we're fed lies every day. I mean, we all are really good at scrolling and, and w our intake is more now than it ever has. And we love this. And we hear from a lot of sinful people and a lot of broken people, and we're just fed with all these things about, we gotta be doing this, we gotta have this, you got to have this.

You're not cool. If you have this, you're not worthy. You're not making enough money. If you don't have this car or this or this brand, or, and the list goes on and on and on. But we're fed these things because we live in this broken fallen world. So if we do not have truth, right, the greater than sign is always going to be on the.

But if we don't have truth to plug in, to plug into our lives, that to rest in on to build our, our firm foundation on God's word, then we're going to start believing the lies. We're going to start believing we're not good enough. We're going to start believing the lies of the devil that say, no, you're actually, you're just average.

You're not, you're not better than anyone else. God doesn't have something special for you. God doesn't have a plan for you. You're not a, you're not a good father and mother, because you're not doing this for your kids. You're not a good son or daughter because you're not doing this right. We're going to start believing these lies.

If we don't have truth to go to we, if we don't have truth to fight against these lies, we will start believing them. We must spend time in God's word. Secondly, we must be doers of God's words, not just hears. Right. This is, this would be really easy if we could just be like, all right, everyone who hears the word of God.

Okay, cool. Check. We're good check, please. We're out of here, but Jesus knew this was going to happen. Right? He knew, he knew we were going to decide to like cut and run, like, oh, we heard the words of God. We heard, we read God's word. Let's just go now. But he said everyone then who hears my words? And does that.

We must be doers of God's word, not just here as James 1 22 through 25 says it pretty simply here, but be doers of the word, not hearers, only deceiving yourself. So if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror for you, looks at himself and goes away and.

Forgets what he was like, but the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of Liberty, sorry, cut off there. The law of Liberty and perseveres being no here who forgets, but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. Don't be like the man who looks in the mirror and forgets instantly who he is as he goes, but hear God's word and do.

Here, his word, his perfect law, the law of Liberty and perseveres being no here who forgets, but a doer who acts this takes work. We can't just read God's word. We have to digest it. We have to spend time in it. And we have to actively be thinking, am I doing God's word? Am I following God's word? And we can't be following God's word.

We can't be doers of God's word. If we're not first reading God's word. If we're first not listening to God's word, we have to be doers of God, not people that. Not people that, that forget when they walk away or once they set their Bible in the morning, they say, all right, I'm going to go on my day and they don't apply it to anyone else.

This speaks pretty clearly to the people that Jesus was speaking to that day on the sermon on the Mount, they thought they had it all figured it out. Couple months ago, we looked at, um, some of the beginning passage. Of the sermon of the Mount or did you just says you have heard it was this way, but I say it was this way, right?

He says, you have heard that do not commit adultery. And everyone's like, all right, I can check that one off, but Jesus says, but I tell you, whoever looks at a woman lustfully has committed adultery. He says you have heard it this way, that don't commit murder. And everyone's like, okay, check. We got that box.

Good. I didn't kill anyone today. But Jesus says the one who hates his brother has committed murder in his heart. We need to not just be reading God's word and saying, yeah, I'm doing the bare minimum of this, but letting it transform our lives, letting it be the guide of our lives, letting it be the foundation.

The rock of our lives so that whatever we do, when the storms come, when the winds come, we're grounded on the rock of God's firm, foundation of his word is true. His perfect law, the law of Liberty that's useful for all things

or challenge this morning by Jesus' words to hold fastest command. And to build our life, not on anything else, but his word, as we close, I want to encourage you. Who are like me sitting out there and you're feeling, how am I supposed to do this? How am I supposed to be a doer of God's word all the time? I already messed up this morning coming into church.

I screamed at my kids on the way over here. How am I supposed to do this? Or, or what do I do when I. What I do when I fall short of this at three o'clock this afternoon, what do I do when I, when I fall into sin and temptation, I want to leave you with this encouragement. Jesus is the ultimate example of what it looks like to follow.

God's word. Jesus is the only one who could ever do this perfectly. And.

He came on earth and lived a perfect life following every one of God's commands and then took the place that was meant for us on the cross defeating death and accomplishing something. We could never accomplish all of us fall short of this, all of us fall short over and over again. But when we remember.

That crisis already accomplished this. God sees us not as the struggling Christian that can't get this right, but as the complete it work of Christ. So when we build our house on the sand and fail to stay grounded on the rock, we will fix our eyes on Jesus, the author, and perfecter of our faith, embracing his love and mercy and grace.

That is new. Morning, because we all need it. So if you're here this morning and you're like, I haven't gotten this right. I haven't gotten this right this week or the next week or a couple months from now. I'm right there with you. But this is why we have a savior who perfected this. This is why we have a savior that we can look to them.

When we were wondering, what is, what does God's word really looked like? Lived out. It is him. It is Jesus. And don't believe the lies of the devil to say, you're not good enough. You're not a good enough, Christian. You haven't checked off your boxes. You haven't followed his commands. Like you shouldn't be.

Because when God sees us, he doesn't see you as the struggling Christian. He doesn't see you as the guy or girl who just screwed up beforehand. He sees you as the complete it work of Christ. When Jesus said it was finished on the cross, he meant it. He did it for us so that we could live this life that we could build our lives on the.

Of his word. Let's pray.

Got we come before you this morning

with a million other things. God trying to keep our attention and promising to be a firm foundation to us. We come to you this morning, Lord. With doubts with fears, God, with a whole lot of sin,

I pray Lord that you would teach us that you would transform us by your word God, that we would be people described here, like the wise man who built his house on the word storms are coming. God. The winds feel so loud to some of us right now, but God, I pray that your word would be the loudest thing here that your word would speak true to our lives.

Lord, that your word would transform us, that it would give us power God in your spirit, that you would empower us Lord to live out your word, that we would be examples.

To the world that seems like they're fading away on their sandcastles. They're building God that we would be people of lifeboats with, from foundations, pulling them up, teaching them of you and your wonder. Thank you Lord, for being here with us this morning, we pray this in Jesus's name. Amen. You're dismissed.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/build-your-house-on-the-rock b53f02fe-813b-410e-b9e4-ac60cb5707c7 Sun, 31 Oct 2021 09:44:25 GMT <div data-html="true">Matthew 7:24-27 <br /><br /> “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Thank you, pastor Mike. Um, my name is pastor Jay. Uh, I was going to dress up as pastor mark this morning because it is October 31st, but they ran out of white hair dyes. So just, I just cut it. Um, we're going to be in Matthew chapter seven this morning verses 24, starting in verses 24, finishing off, um, our series on the sermon on the Mount, looking at the last words that Jesus recorded here, um, on the sermon on the Mount. <br /><br /> So it's Matthew. Chapter 7 24, the 20 sevens on the screen. If you don't have it says this, everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock and the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat on that house. But it did not fall because it had been founded on the rock and everyone who hears these words of mine and does not. <br /><br /> We'll be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand and the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat against that house and it fell and great was the fall of it this morning. We need to build our lives on the foundation of God's word so that we can be ready to face the storms of life. <br /><br /> Because if we don't it be like the house built on the sand and we'll fall. Let's pray together this morning. <br /><br /> Learn. We come before you this morning, God looking for your wisdom, asking for your spirit to move and be alive. God, we know you're in this room. God, we pray that you would show up in tangible ways this morning. God, I pray that you would shut my mouth, God, and speak through me that your word would be the loudest thing in this room. <br /><br /> God. And that you would. Just transform our lives. Even this morning, we pray this in Jesus name. Amen. Um, I love going to the beach. I've always gone to the beach growing up. My family is huge beach people, ocean city favorites in my adulthood. I'm leaning towards like LBI now, but ocean city as so many memories for me and a particular day, I was about 10 or 12 years old, probably. <br /><br /> Um, we went to the beach and you know how, when you go to the beach, sometimes the shore will like randomly come up. Like it's not the dunes quite yet, but somehow like the tie took out a bunch of seeds. So there's like a sand pile here along the whole beach and then like goes down like this. So it was one of the particular days and it was very, very hot. <br /><br /> Summer day was like 90 degrees. And I'm looking everywhere. Like, man, like there's no shade on the beach. Like the water's like even warm. Like I have nowhere to cool off. Oh, I'll make a tunnel. This is a beautiful, beautiful idea. So I start digging into this mound of sand and where my family's camped up on top of it here. <br /><br /> So I started digging into this Mount of sand and I make this giant tunnel. So like, if you picture this would be the sand and like, this is where I started tunneling. I'm so deep in where my knee. Are like the only thing sticking out and I'm like fully submerged in this tunnel. And I'm just like the sands. <br /><br /> Cool. Like I'm out of the sun. I'm like living life right now, but I'm like, hold on, hold on. Something could go wrong here. So I go out as a youngest of five brothers have learned to do is send out the warning. Right. I go out and I'm like, listen, no one step right here. Like, whatever you do, don't step here. <br /><br /> Because there's a tunnel here and I don't have a super strong infrastructure. I'm not an engineer. I'm 12 years old with a shovel. So like no one step here. Of course, I, I go back into my tunnel. Um, I'm enjoying my time. I'm enjoying getting cooled off by the cool sand in the shade. And my brother decides to come right up and just, and I mean, it absolutely caved in on. <br /><br /> And I, I thought this through my head, I was like, surely there's not enough sand where like, okay, I'll get Sandy. And then I'll be able to go off. Sand is really heavy, like really heavy. It caved in on me. And I tried to move and I couldn't move. And I tried to like, I just started fully panicking. I'm opening my mouth, Sans, filling in my mouth. <br /><br /> At this point. I can't move. My legs are flailing out. My brothers are watching my legs flail and having a ball outside. Meanwhile, I'm suffocating under the neath the same. And I'm losing my mind. Luckily, my brother comes to his senses, grabs my ankles, rips me out of the sand. I run to the ocean. I'm like walk off. <br /><br /> I was like done for the rest of day. I was just on the blanket. I'm like, I'll get a sunburn. I will sweat. I don't care anymore. No more tunnels after that. No more tunnels. My foundation, I thought was good. My foundation, I thought was, was comfortable and stable, but it was not stable. As I thought it might be. <br /><br /> We would come to a similar illustration that Jesus uses here on the sermon of the Mount, right. A house built on a rock and a house built on the sand. And that house bit on the sand is not always as stable as we think. To look at some context here, we've been going through this series the past couple of weeks and even months we've seen pastors highlight different sections of the sermon of the Mount. <br /><br /> We know that this is one of the largest collections of Jesus's teachings. He was on the mountain, right? Crowd start the foul. He brought his disciples up and these crowds started to form and he started to preach. And we see now at the end of this. At the end of this sermon after he's given very, very challenging things, challenging how we should deal with the poor, how should we deal with lust, anger, all these challenging things and challenging what people thought of the law and challenging how, how good of a Christian they thought they were, how, how it was checking off all the right boxes and just, just turns everyone's head upside down. <br /><br /> And we come to these last words and Jesus says, everyone. Who hears these words? Yes. He's talking to his disciples. Yes. He's talking to the crowds that have now gathered, but now we know that these words are now directed at us, everyone. Then who hears these words? Listen up. We see a parallel account to this in Luke's gospel. <br /><br /> And Luke chapter six verses 46 through 49. It says this. Why do you call me Lord? And do not do what I tell you, everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like. He is like a man building a house who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it because it hadn't been well built. <br /><br /> We need to build our lives on God's word by listening and doing what it says, because if. Our foundations will be easily washed away. Like the great theologically sound band Weezer says a castle built in the sand will only last one day. So we come to this, this passage, this, this imagery that Jesus has given to us, this. <br /><br /> And we're, we're saying why, right. Why, why is this important? Why does Jesus? And with this, he just gave a beautiful sermon. He challenged so many different topics and subjects, and here he is. And he leaves us with this picture, this application of a picture of everyone who hears these words of mine will be like this or this. <br /><br /> So why is this important one? I think, why do we need to build our house on the rock of God's word? Because God's word is essential to our lives. First, second, Timothy three 16 through 17 says this all scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness that the man of God may be complete. <br /><br /> Uh, equipped it for every good work. All scripture is breathed out by God. Why do we need to build our house on this rock, this rock of God's word, because it's essential to our lives for all these different things, for training and righteousness that we may be equipped, right? That me, that we may be complete ready for anything that life throws at us. <br /><br /> This is why this is important because God's word is essential in our life. Secondly, storms of life are ahead of us. This has promised right? In both scenarios, the storms and strong winds come and beat against that house. And the house built on the rock stays up and the house built on the sand gets flooded away right here. <br /><br /> The storms are coming. We know that Jesus promised that the one thing I love about Jesus' teaching, he never butters anything up, right. He just gave us, gives it to you. He never promises you things you can't, you know, hold on to or can't, or can't really grab on to now, he's saying the storms are coming right. <br /><br /> The storms of life throwing at us are, are, are, are going to be coming. Whether it's losing a job, whether it's a family member getting sick, whether it's it's losing someone, maybe it's, uh, a broken relationship. Maybe it's conflict within your family, but the storms are coming, but Jesus tells us exactly what we can do to prepare for this. <br /><br /> Don't be, don't be like the foolish man who builds his house on the sand that when the storms come, it easily gets washed away. The be like the man that the man on the rock that builds his life on God's word. So when the storms come, when the winds start to beat. He can stand on something. He can stand on solid ground because when we find ourselves, when we build our lives on something else, maybe for you, it's your job. <br /><br /> Maybe that's your firm foundation. And you're like, I'm really good at my job. I work all the time. I work overtime. I don't even get paid for the overtime. I work. I work so much like I'm so good at it. My boss compliments me. I'm ready for the I'm ready for the raise. I'm ready for the promotion. Maybe it's your family. <br /><br /> Maybe you're like found it in your identity as a father or a mother. And you're like, I am the best at, out there. Grilling. Got it. Down. Sports games. Got it down. Right? Maybe it's if you're a student, maybe you are a, a plus plus student, it's the type of students. We all hate to be in our class and they're like, oh, and you're like, whoa, what's wrong. <br /><br /> I got. And I'm like, are you kidding me? I'm celebrating in a 70 over here. Like this is algebra two. I didn't know. You could get higher than this, right? Maybe that's, that's your thing. You're, you're finding your life on your, your intelligence, your academics, maybe it's your giftings, right? Maybe it's even your giftings from God that you are so proud of. <br /><br /> That you've staked your, your whole life on, but when these things fall, when you lose your job, when you get the 97, when you fail as a parent or a child, or a brother or a sister, where is your foundation? Because if it's found there, if that's where your identity is, If that's where you're grounded, but it's all going to become Washington away. <br /><br /> But he says here, the wise man built his house on the rock. He builds this house on the word of God. The storms are coming. They're promised here. We took a, a trip for the youth. We always do it. Um, most, most summers it's called wilderness camp. I happen to be a part of wilderness camp, um, growing up, and this was my first year. <br /><br /> And senior wilderness camp. So I was, I was very excited. I was very pumped up. Um, I was there with my older brother. I was like, I was like, man, like, not only am I in, but like my older brother's here. And like I know his friends. So like I know the old guys and I got to stay in their tent, which is like, Real good kudos. <br /><br /> They got the best snacks they've been here before. Like they all know the things I'm like, all right, this is one of my first time camping. Like, this is perfect. I'm with the big boys. So we go and we come into camp and the first thing you need to come to the campus, pick your campsite. Right. You know, girls are over here, guys over here. <br /><br /> So you're looking like, all right, where's the best spot for our tent. And like, the boys are already planning like, oh, we're going to be up late. Like we got a bunch of snacks. We've got candy. We got mountain Dew. W w we got to like separate ourselves from the pack, because like, we're not sleeping tonight. <br /><br /> I'm like, yeah, this is awesome. Like now thinking about that, I'm like really, that's a horrible idea. So we're, we're looking for a spot and we find this spot about, you know, 50 or so yards away from everyone else. And it's perfect. Like, it's like, man, this is separated from that. We got some tree coverage. <br /><br /> It's beautiful, beautiful little scenic. It's peaceful. So we make our tent and we set it up. It takes us forever. Cause it's like a six to eight person tent built in 1985. And like, they didn't have like metal poles yet. So, you know, you're, you're trying to do it. And we go to sleep that night. Actually, we actually did go to sleep and I woke up. <br /><br /> In a river, like I woke up and my whole sleeping bag was soaked. First off, that goes to your head. Did I just pee the bed? Then you start looking over and you feel the puddles over everyone else. I'm like, did we all pee the bed here? Then you start thinking, okay, something's very, very wrong. We built our tent. <br /><br /> We camped our tent and a beautiful Sandy area that was lower than everywhere else. So rain came. And absolutely just flooded right. Under our tent. We had no other foundation. We didn't have one of those nice tarps or anything. So the rain came and absolutely flooded us. And I mean, it was the worst night of my life. <br /><br /> Like, you're just like, what do I do for. It's dark. My sleeping bag is soaking wet. The area where I was just laying is wet. It's literally a puddle there. I mean, the rest of the week, our sleeping bags are drying out like that. We're trying to dry the 10 out. We realized the next morning after we moved tent, like, wow, we camped in a hole. <br /><br /> Like this was like basically a glorified hole here. And I'm like, geez, these guys let me down. Like, they're supposed to be, they're supposed to figure out how to do this already. Like, I'm just trusting. But this is what happens when we camp our lives on things that, that can't stand, the storms that can't bear, the storms, we camp our lives on these things. <br /><br /> That, that don't last, but don't matter. So when the rain comes, it all is good. Right? All is good until something bad had. All is good with your job. All is good with your, your education. All is good with your skill set and your intelligence or your, your role here, there until something fails until someone gets sick. <br /><br /> And if our lives are, are built on that, on built on that sand foundation, it'll easily be washed away. The storms of life are ahead of us. This is important. Why? Because God's word is essential. So our lives essential for correcting teaching training up in righteousness that may, we may be equipped it for every good work and two, the storms are coming, so we have to be ready. <br /><br /> We have to be ready. We can all agree that this is important to build our house on the rock. This is important to build our house on God's word and be dependent on him and his. But how do we do this? Right. Jesus never is like, so you build your house on the rock this way. Right? We must spend time in God's word. <br /><br /> Jesus said here, everyone. Then who hears my word and does them is like a man who built his house on the rock. We must spend time in God's word. And I don't mean. Checking the verse of the day, every day, I'd be like, well, check that box off. Cool. All right. Zeke you'll eight, 12, whatever that means. All right. <br /><br /> Let's move on for the day, right? It needs to be more than that. We need to spend quality time in God's word. Psalms one, one to three describes a man. Who delights in the law of the Lord. It says this, bless it. As the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked nor stands in the way of sinners nor sits in the seat of scoffers. <br /><br /> But his delight is in the law of the Lord and on his law, he meditates day and night, he is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields. And its season and its leaf does not wither and all that he does. He prospers. We must be like this man described here as a man who delights in the law of the Lord. <br /><br /> It says all in all he does. He prospers why? Because he delights in the law of the Lord and meditates on it day and night. We he's planted by the stream. He's planted by this, the word of God. And it doesn't matter what comes against them. Right? If the winds beat against this tree, if there's a dry season, if something starts picking off this tree, no, because it's planted in its source. <br /><br /> It's planted by its life source. It's like the man who delights in the law of the Lord meditating on a day and night, we need to spend time in God's word. And I promise you, this will be the first thing to go in your schedule. It's kind of like working out, like we're all too busy to work out until the people that aren't like the CrossFit people like Mike are just weird. <br /><br /> Um, right. But w it's like the first thing to go, like as soon as something happens of life, it's like, well, there goes my divorce. I stayed up too late. So I, I can't wake up and read and, you know, I, I got caught up doing this, so, you know, I guess I'll, I got to go do this and I can't, I can't read God's word because this came up and well, I got a phone call or, you know, someone like my Instagram post or someone's arguing with me on Facebook. <br /><br /> So I got to go deal with that. Right. But we have to make time for this spending quality time in God's word, because this is the thing that stands up in the store. Not our way, not, not what we want to be founded in, not our strength, but in God's word and all he does. He prospers because he meditates on it day. <br /><br /> I like to think about this as a equation of, we live in a broken sinful world and we're fed lies every day. I mean, we all are really good at scrolling and, and w our intake is more now than it ever has. And we love this. And we hear from a lot of sinful people and a lot of broken people, and we're just fed with all these things about, we gotta be doing this, we gotta have this, you got to have this. <br /><br /> You're not cool. If you have this, you're not worthy. You're not making enough money. If you don't have this car or this or this brand, or, and the list goes on and on and on. But we're fed these things because we live in this broken fallen world. So if we do not have truth, right, the greater than sign is always going to be on the. <br /><br /> But if we don't have truth to plug in, to plug into our lives, that to rest in on to build our, our firm foundation on God's word, then we're going to start believing the lies. We're going to start believing we're not good enough. We're going to start believing the lies of the devil that say, no, you're actually, you're just average. <br /><br /> You're not, you're not better than anyone else. God doesn't have something special for you. God doesn't have a plan for you. You're not a, you're not a good father and mother, because you're not doing this for your kids. You're not a good son or daughter because you're not doing this right. We're going to start believing these lies. <br /><br /> If we don't have truth to go to we, if we don't have truth to fight against these lies, we will start believing them. We must spend time in God's word. Secondly, we must be doers of God's words, not just hears. Right. This is, this would be really easy if we could just be like, all right, everyone who hears the word of God. <br /><br /> Okay, cool. Check. We're good check, please. We're out of here, but Jesus knew this was going to happen. Right? He knew, he knew we were going to decide to like cut and run, like, oh, we heard the words of God. We heard, we read God's word. Let's just go now. But he said everyone then who hears my words? And does that. <br /><br /> We must be doers of God's word, not just here as James 1 22 through 25 says it pretty simply here, but be doers of the word, not hearers, only deceiving yourself. So if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror for you, looks at himself and goes away and. <br /><br /> Forgets what he was like, but the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of Liberty, sorry, cut off there. The law of Liberty and perseveres being no here who forgets, but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. Don't be like the man who looks in the mirror and forgets instantly who he is as he goes, but hear God's word and do. <br /><br /> Here, his word, his perfect law, the law of Liberty and perseveres being no here who forgets, but a doer who acts this takes work. We can't just read God's word. We have to digest it. We have to spend time in it. And we have to actively be thinking, am I doing God's word? Am I following God's word? And we can't be following God's word. <br /><br /> We can't be doers of God's word. If we're not first reading God's word. If we're first not listening to God's word, we have to be doers of God, not people that. Not people that, that forget when they walk away or once they set their Bible in the morning, they say, all right, I'm going to go on my day and they don't apply it to anyone else. <br /><br /> This speaks pretty clearly to the people that Jesus was speaking to that day on the sermon on the Mount, they thought they had it all figured it out. Couple months ago, we looked at, um, some of the beginning passage. Of the sermon of the Mount or did you just says you have heard it was this way, but I say it was this way, right? <br /><br /> He says, you have heard that do not commit adultery. And everyone's like, all right, I can check that one off, but Jesus says, but I tell you, whoever looks at a woman lustfully has committed adultery. He says you have heard it this way, that don't commit murder. And everyone's like, okay, check. We got that box. <br /><br /> Good. I didn't kill anyone today. But Jesus says the one who hates his brother has committed murder in his heart. We need to not just be reading God's word and saying, yeah, I'm doing the bare minimum of this, but letting it transform our lives, letting it be the guide of our lives, letting it be the foundation. <br /><br /> The rock of our lives so that whatever we do, when the storms come, when the winds come, we're grounded on the rock of God's firm, foundation of his word is true. His perfect law, the law of Liberty that's useful for all things <br /><br /> or challenge this morning by Jesus' words to hold fastest command. And to build our life, not on anything else, but his word, as we close, I want to encourage you. Who are like me sitting out there and you're feeling, how am I supposed to do this? How am I supposed to be a doer of God's word all the time? I already messed up this morning coming into church. <br /><br /> I screamed at my kids on the way over here. How am I supposed to do this? Or, or what do I do when I. What I do when I fall short of this at three o'clock this afternoon, what do I do when I, when I fall into sin and temptation, I want to leave you with this encouragement. Jesus is the ultimate example of what it looks like to follow. <br /><br /> God's word. Jesus is the only one who could ever do this perfectly. And. <br /><br /> He came on earth and lived a perfect life following every one of God's commands and then took the place that was meant for us on the cross defeating death and accomplishing something. We could never accomplish all of us fall short of this, all of us fall short over and over again. But when we remember. <br /><br /> That crisis already accomplished this. God sees us not as the struggling Christian that can't get this right, but as the complete it work of Christ. So when we build our house on the sand and fail to stay grounded on the rock, we will fix our eyes on Jesus, the author, and perfecter of our faith, embracing his love and mercy and grace. <br /><br /> That is new. Morning, because we all need it. So if you're here this morning and you're like, I haven't gotten this right. I haven't gotten this right this week or the next week or a couple months from now. I'm right there with you. But this is why we have a savior who perfected this. This is why we have a savior that we can look to them. <br /><br /> When we were wondering, what is, what does God's word really looked like? Lived out. It is him. It is Jesus. And don't believe the lies of the devil to say, you're not good enough. You're not a good enough, Christian. You haven't checked off your boxes. You haven't followed his commands. Like you shouldn't be. <br /><br /> Because when God sees us, he doesn't see you as the struggling Christian. He doesn't see you as the guy or girl who just screwed up beforehand. He sees you as the complete it work of Christ. When Jesus said it was finished on the cross, he meant it. He did it for us so that we could live this life that we could build our lives on the. <br /><br /> Of his word. Let's pray. <br /><br /> Got we come before you this morning <br /><br /> with a million other things. God trying to keep our attention and promising to be a firm foundation to us. We come to you this morning, Lord. With doubts with fears, God, with a whole lot of sin, <br /><br /> I pray Lord that you would teach us that you would transform us by your word God, that we would be people described here, like the wise man who built his house on the word storms are coming. God. The winds feel so loud to some of us right now, but God, I pray that your word would be the loudest thing here that your word would speak true to our lives. <br /><br /> Lord, that your word would transform us, that it would give us power God in your spirit, that you would empower us Lord to live out your word, that we would be examples. <br /><br /> To the world that seems like they're fading away on their sandcastles. They're building God that we would be people of lifeboats with, from foundations, pulling them up, teaching them of you and your wonder. Thank you Lord, for being here with us this morning, we pray this in Jesus's name. Amen. You're dismissed.</div> false no <![CDATA[We Who are Many are One]]> 1 Corinthians 10:16-17

The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.



Well, good morning everyone. Um, last night, my wife and I endured a very cold and rainy, uh, field hockey game. We watched our granddaughter play down at the, uh, Kingsway regional school. It was pouring down rain, which just made me wonder how in the world the human race has survived without heated car seats.

Um, They are wonderful. As I thought about, uh, coming to my, my, the, the rules that I was given for this mornings addresses that it has to be brief. And so I've worked really hard to keep this brief, but as I thought about celebrating communion with you here this morning, uh, we realized Linda and I realized my wife, Linda is here as well.

First I'm Jerry Costello. I always forget that Marx has remembered. Introduce yourself, Jerry Costello. I'm the campus pastor at our, at our colleagues, uh, campus. But as we were thinking about coming here this morning, we realized we've never observed communion here at this campus before. Um, and so we just want to say, thank you for sharing this with us this morning.

The word communion itself is derived from the Latin word communio, which means sharing in common. That in turn is the Latin translation of the Greek word, a word that many of you, or most of you're familiar with the word koinonia, which we find in our English Bible it's translated fellowship, which is our typical understanding of that word, fellowship, communion sharing in and participation in.

I need you to remember that one, the last one participation in, because that will come up again later. Whenever I approach this table. And I guess I'm thinking about this because I, uh, this is my first time observing it with you. But whenever I come to this table to the celebration from the time I was just a boy, I can never not think of how it is that we came to observe this and what it has come to mean in our lives.

I remember. The little plastic communion cup in my hand, or I guess back then they were, they were always glass, this little glass communion cup that we were used actually remember spilling at one time I was sitting in the front row as I was toying with it, but the thought of what is this thing that we're doing here and wondering always, are we doing it right?

And is there a right way to do it? My mind lately is all, has gone back to the disciples to those men. Uh, in that upper room and it could be that it was all of the disciples, not just the 12, but all of them may, could have been men and women up there observing this final communion with their friend. The one they've come to call Lord and savior and to recognize as the one who is God's own Messiah.

They're sitting in that room. As their friend, their Lord, their master pulls from these very common elements from their very familiar celebration of the Passover.

What did this table mean to them as they left that room and spread out across first their region, and then the globe tradition has it that St. Thomas, that Thomas the apostle. Was in India by the year 50 to 80, all the way to India, to Southern India. What did this table mean to them as they spread out and began to share the gospel with people who were not there on that night?

How precious did this table become? As they taught new disciples to remember events that they were not there to observe. And what significance did they place on this table on these elements as they spread out around their world, we know that as history of the church has unfolded, there's great controversy around this celebration, great division, great conflict, even bloodshed for some Christian traditions, you know, the Catholic tradition when we first bought our, uh, our colleagues would build them.

It was, had been a Lutheran church and right in the middle of the floor, there was a, I would call it a massive alter. The thing, probably ways we just put it on rollers and pushed it to the back. And now it's our stage, but the thing probably weighs 2,500 pounds. And what the elaborate setup they had around it, because in the Lutheran tradition, the Eucharist is central to their worship.

Much different than ours for us, we observed communion, like we're going to today and it's semi-regular and we don't put the same emphasis on it, that other traditions to do much of the controversy. And you know this as well as I do much of the controversy swirls around Jesus' words in John six. I just want to read a part of that for you this morning.

Jesus said to them truly, truly I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood. You have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks, my blood has ever lasting life and I will raise him up on the last day. My flesh is true food. My blood is true. Drink, whoever feeds on my flesh and drink some of my blood abides in me and I in him as the living father sent me and I live because of the.

So whoever feeds on me, he also has life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread that the fathers ate and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever. And I don't know about you, but these are difficult words to read and understand. It sounds as, I don't know how else we could describe it.

It sounds like what he's referring to is cannibalism. Which to us humans, all of us humans, isn't a horrible thought. And it was to those who heard it on that day, as well. As a matter of fact, John continues after this. Many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. Even as I read these words again this morning, even as you heard these words again this morning, I can't not wonder.

How this relates to what we're observing this morning. And I wonder, does it have anything to do with our observation this morning?

Thankfully, there's a passage in first Corinthians chapter 10, that kind of helps me understand, uh, how this all works together. Our own observation, as well as Jesus' words on that day. You need to understand, I don't want in any way to minimize, uh, the elements that we observe. And I also don't want to spiritualize Jesus' words or the celebration or the elements and chapter 10 of first Corinthians Paul is warning the believers regarding their continued participation, that word koinonia, their continued participation in.

The temples of their former gods. So you live in the city of Corinth and there's the temple of Apollo and you used to worship there. And now you've heard the word of Christ. You've heard the gospel and you've come to know Jesus as your savior, but you still walk by Apollo's temple on your way home from work or on your way to the market or on your way.

And you still bump into your fellow, your former fellow worshipers in that place. But now you're a believer. I don't have time to sum up this whole to read you this whole passage, but I would encourage you when you have some time this week, maybe this afternoon read first Corinthians chapter 10. It's fascinating.

Paul says much. So let me just kind of sum up what Paul is doing, especially towards the latter part of this chapter is he relates, and this is very important. He relates. The bread and the cup are elements from communion, the ones who are delivered from our, by our Lord, to his disciples, to both the Jewish sacrificial system and to the sacrifices made to the idols there in Corinth.

What Paul does is he compares these events. With an understanding to the significance that they hold for the participants in each, the Jews and their sacrificial system, the idols, I mean, the, the worshipers of the idol worshipers in Corinth and, and the Christians observing, he compares these three observations with an understanding to the significant.

That they hold for the participation participants in each in no way. This is very important in no way. Does Paul downplay the significance of an offering to an idol, to the worshiper, to the participant instead later on in the passage, he is actually going to warn the Corinthians, not to downplay or not to make light of this significant.

But the offering to an idol has on the participant on the one, making the offering in the weight behind this warning is significant. Is this significance that the believers have been taught to find in their own participation in the Lord's table? Think of it when you're thinking of that former idol, worshiper and his offering sacrifice to his idol.

I think of it. In terms of the significance you give to these elements, the significance significance you've been taught to give to these elements. As we observe the Lord's table,

it's deeply sacred. It's deeply significant. So right here in the middle of chapter 10, I just want to read this verse for you. These two verses verses 16 and 17, the cup of blessing that we bless. Is it not participation in koinonia? The blood of Christ, the bread that we break? Is it not participation in koininia?

The body of Christ and listen, because there is one bread we who are many are one body for we all partake of the one bread. I think Eugene Peterson in his. His version of the, of the Bible. He calls it, the message does a beautiful job. And I want to read this passage to you in that, because it expands on what Paul is saying here.

The message says this. When we drink the cup of blessing, aren't we taking into ourselves. The blood, the very life of Christ and isn't it in the same, isn't it the same with the loaf of bread we break and eat. Don't we take into ourselves, the body, the very life of Christ, because there is one loaf. Our many newness becomes oneness Christ.

Doesn't become fragmented in us. Rather we become unified. In him, we don't reduce Christ to what we are. He raises us to what he is now. Eugene Peterson certainly adds more than what is in the original language here. He embellishes quite a bit, but he does. So to make clear the point that Paul is making the weight of Paul's argument.

And this is beautiful when we take Christ into. As we observe as we partake of this bread, that was broken. When we take Christ into us, he does not become an infinite number of Christ. Rather we, the partakers, the sharers, the participants in become one in him. Did you get that? We're going to take little individual pieces of.

Matsa there were created that were broken in a factory somewhere and plugged into this little snack pack communion kit for us. And when we do so, what Christ is, or Paul is saying is that we are not separating Christ. Uh, bread that was broken there then does not become separate things, but rather it becomes one.

As we partake of it, we need to not take the significance of what we do here this morning. Lightly. Am I suggesting maybe this is magical, mystical. Maybe, maybe I am something significant is happening here. It's not a casual observance that we partake this morning. What was broken for us is made whole in us, not in us, individually in us as we are one in him, what we need to understand and what is symbolized here?

Is that our union with one another in Christ, it's not a secondary matter to our faith. This is the point of communion again and again, and again, it is not a secondary matter of our faith that we are one in Christ. It is part and parcel of the whole thing.

It doesn't matter that you and I are about to sh to partake of a broken piece of matzah that came from a factory somewhere. It's a matter of fact, it really is not about the loaf at all, or who broke it or where it was broken. And it can never become about the loaf that was broken because then the loaf can become an idol.

The very thing it can not be allowed to become. This is all about the one who was broken for us. The one who gave his life blood for us, we are shares in participants in the one, not the one loaf, but the one that, that loaf symbolizes we are shares in participants in Christ. Excuse me. We have fellowship quite an ear participation in.

Him with him. We are in communion with, we are in communion with him.

This is our communion. This is what makes us one. We are made to be one in the one who lived and died and rose. That we might be one in him. We are made to be one in the one who, who lived and died and rose again, that we might be one in him. John chapter 17. Jesus makes this perfectly abundantly clear in that prayer to his father on that last night.

Talking candidly with the one who sent him, the one who came from the one he has known forever. He lets us know his disciples know as they are witnesses, as they are observers participants in. As they listen to him, talk to his father, they find out that this has been the plan all along. This is what the son came to a.

Not only our oneness in him. I seen him and him and the father, but that we together his disciples, the participants, the observance, the fellowship of this table that we together together would know it perfectly together. And participated in it together as one we take what was broken and in our ingesting it, what was meant, what goes, what goes into many becomes one.

And it does so in us because there is one bread we who are many. We we who are one body, we read it again because there is one bread. We who are many are one body for we all partake of the one bread. Pastor Mike is going to come now and lead us in the observance of the Lord's table.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/we-who-are-many-are-one fd968c15-1126-4ac5-8421-e848a002bfd9 Sun, 24 Oct 2021 12:01:13 GMT <div data-html="true">1 Corinthians 10:16-17 <br /><br /> The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Well, good morning everyone. Um, last night, my wife and I endured a very cold and rainy, uh, field hockey game. We watched our granddaughter play down at the, uh, Kingsway regional school. It was pouring down rain, which just made me wonder how in the world the human race has survived without heated car seats. <br /><br /> Um, They are wonderful. As I thought about, uh, coming to my, my, the, the rules that I was given for this mornings addresses that it has to be brief. And so I've worked really hard to keep this brief, but as I thought about celebrating communion with you here this morning, uh, we realized Linda and I realized my wife, Linda is here as well. <br /><br /> First I'm Jerry Costello. I always forget that Marx has remembered. Introduce yourself, Jerry Costello. I'm the campus pastor at our, at our colleagues, uh, campus. But as we were thinking about coming here this morning, we realized we've never observed communion here at this campus before. Um, and so we just want to say, thank you for sharing this with us this morning. <br /><br /> The word communion itself is derived from the Latin word communio, which means sharing in common. That in turn is the Latin translation of the Greek word, a word that many of you, or most of you're familiar with the word koinonia, which we find in our English Bible it's translated fellowship, which is our typical understanding of that word, fellowship, communion sharing in and participation in. <br /><br /> I need you to remember that one, the last one participation in, because that will come up again later. Whenever I approach this table. And I guess I'm thinking about this because I, uh, this is my first time observing it with you. But whenever I come to this table to the celebration from the time I was just a boy, I can never not think of how it is that we came to observe this and what it has come to mean in our lives. <br /><br /> I remember. The little plastic communion cup in my hand, or I guess back then they were, they were always glass, this little glass communion cup that we were used actually remember spilling at one time I was sitting in the front row as I was toying with it, but the thought of what is this thing that we're doing here and wondering always, are we doing it right? <br /><br /> And is there a right way to do it? My mind lately is all, has gone back to the disciples to those men. Uh, in that upper room and it could be that it was all of the disciples, not just the 12, but all of them may, could have been men and women up there observing this final communion with their friend. The one they've come to call Lord and savior and to recognize as the one who is God's own Messiah. <br /><br /> They're sitting in that room. As their friend, their Lord, their master pulls from these very common elements from their very familiar celebration of the Passover. <br /><br /> What did this table mean to them as they left that room and spread out across first their region, and then the globe tradition has it that St. Thomas, that Thomas the apostle. Was in India by the year 50 to 80, all the way to India, to Southern India. What did this table mean to them as they spread out and began to share the gospel with people who were not there on that night? <br /><br /> How precious did this table become? As they taught new disciples to remember events that they were not there to observe. And what significance did they place on this table on these elements as they spread out around their world, we know that as history of the church has unfolded, there's great controversy around this celebration, great division, great conflict, even bloodshed for some Christian traditions, you know, the Catholic tradition when we first bought our, uh, our colleagues would build them. <br /><br /> It was, had been a Lutheran church and right in the middle of the floor, there was a, I would call it a massive alter. The thing, probably ways we just put it on rollers and pushed it to the back. And now it's our stage, but the thing probably weighs 2,500 pounds. And what the elaborate setup they had around it, because in the Lutheran tradition, the Eucharist is central to their worship. <br /><br /> Much different than ours for us, we observed communion, like we're going to today and it's semi-regular and we don't put the same emphasis on it, that other traditions to do much of the controversy. And you know this as well as I do much of the controversy swirls around Jesus' words in John six. I just want to read a part of that for you this morning. <br /><br /> Jesus said to them truly, truly I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood. You have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks, my blood has ever lasting life and I will raise him up on the last day. My flesh is true food. My blood is true. Drink, whoever feeds on my flesh and drink some of my blood abides in me and I in him as the living father sent me and I live because of the. <br /><br /> So whoever feeds on me, he also has life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread that the fathers ate and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever. And I don't know about you, but these are difficult words to read and understand. It sounds as, I don't know how else we could describe it. <br /><br /> It sounds like what he's referring to is cannibalism. Which to us humans, all of us humans, isn't a horrible thought. And it was to those who heard it on that day, as well. As a matter of fact, John continues after this. Many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. Even as I read these words again this morning, even as you heard these words again this morning, I can't not wonder. <br /><br /> How this relates to what we're observing this morning. And I wonder, does it have anything to do with our observation this morning? <br /><br /> Thankfully, there's a passage in first Corinthians chapter 10, that kind of helps me understand, uh, how this all works together. Our own observation, as well as Jesus' words on that day. You need to understand, I don't want in any way to minimize, uh, the elements that we observe. And I also don't want to spiritualize Jesus' words or the celebration or the elements and chapter 10 of first Corinthians Paul is warning the believers regarding their continued participation, that word koinonia, their continued participation in. <br /><br /> The temples of their former gods. So you live in the city of Corinth and there's the temple of Apollo and you used to worship there. And now you've heard the word of Christ. You've heard the gospel and you've come to know Jesus as your savior, but you still walk by Apollo's temple on your way home from work or on your way to the market or on your way. <br /><br /> And you still bump into your fellow, your former fellow worshipers in that place. But now you're a believer. I don't have time to sum up this whole to read you this whole passage, but I would encourage you when you have some time this week, maybe this afternoon read first Corinthians chapter 10. It's fascinating. <br /><br /> Paul says much. So let me just kind of sum up what Paul is doing, especially towards the latter part of this chapter is he relates, and this is very important. He relates. The bread and the cup are elements from communion, the ones who are delivered from our, by our Lord, to his disciples, to both the Jewish sacrificial system and to the sacrifices made to the idols there in Corinth. <br /><br /> What Paul does is he compares these events. With an understanding to the significance that they hold for the participants in each, the Jews and their sacrificial system, the idols, I mean, the, the worshipers of the idol worshipers in Corinth and, and the Christians observing, he compares these three observations with an understanding to the significant. <br /><br /> That they hold for the participation participants in each in no way. This is very important in no way. Does Paul downplay the significance of an offering to an idol, to the worshiper, to the participant instead later on in the passage, he is actually going to warn the Corinthians, not to downplay or not to make light of this significant. <br /><br /> But the offering to an idol has on the participant on the one, making the offering in the weight behind this warning is significant. Is this significance that the believers have been taught to find in their own participation in the Lord's table? Think of it when you're thinking of that former idol, worshiper and his offering sacrifice to his idol. <br /><br /> I think of it. In terms of the significance you give to these elements, the significance significance you've been taught to give to these elements. As we observe the Lord's table, <br /><br /> it's deeply sacred. It's deeply significant. So right here in the middle of chapter 10, I just want to read this verse for you. These two verses verses 16 and 17, the cup of blessing that we bless. Is it not participation in koinonia? The blood of Christ, the bread that we break? Is it not participation in koininia? <br /><br /> The body of Christ and listen, because there is one bread we who are many are one body for we all partake of the one bread. I think Eugene Peterson in his. His version of the, of the Bible. He calls it, the message does a beautiful job. And I want to read this passage to you in that, because it expands on what Paul is saying here. <br /><br /> The message says this. When we drink the cup of blessing, aren't we taking into ourselves. The blood, the very life of Christ and isn't it in the same, isn't it the same with the loaf of bread we break and eat. Don't we take into ourselves, the body, the very life of Christ, because there is one loaf. Our many newness becomes oneness Christ. <br /><br /> Doesn't become fragmented in us. Rather we become unified. In him, we don't reduce Christ to what we are. He raises us to what he is now. Eugene Peterson certainly adds more than what is in the original language here. He embellishes quite a bit, but he does. So to make clear the point that Paul is making the weight of Paul's argument. <br /><br /> And this is beautiful when we take Christ into. As we observe as we partake of this bread, that was broken. When we take Christ into us, he does not become an infinite number of Christ. Rather we, the partakers, the sharers, the participants in become one in him. Did you get that? We're going to take little individual pieces of. <br /><br /> Matsa there were created that were broken in a factory somewhere and plugged into this little snack pack communion kit for us. And when we do so, what Christ is, or Paul is saying is that we are not separating Christ. Uh, bread that was broken there then does not become separate things, but rather it becomes one. <br /><br /> As we partake of it, we need to not take the significance of what we do here this morning. Lightly. Am I suggesting maybe this is magical, mystical. Maybe, maybe I am something significant is happening here. It's not a casual observance that we partake this morning. What was broken for us is made whole in us, not in us, individually in us as we are one in him, what we need to understand and what is symbolized here? <br /><br /> Is that our union with one another in Christ, it's not a secondary matter to our faith. This is the point of communion again and again, and again, it is not a secondary matter of our faith that we are one in Christ. It is part and parcel of the whole thing. <br /><br /> It doesn't matter that you and I are about to sh to partake of a broken piece of matzah that came from a factory somewhere. It's a matter of fact, it really is not about the loaf at all, or who broke it or where it was broken. And it can never become about the loaf that was broken because then the loaf can become an idol. <br /><br /> The very thing it can not be allowed to become. This is all about the one who was broken for us. The one who gave his life blood for us, we are shares in participants in the one, not the one loaf, but the one that, that loaf symbolizes we are shares in participants in Christ. Excuse me. We have fellowship quite an ear participation in. <br /><br /> Him with him. We are in communion with, we are in communion with him. <br /><br /> This is our communion. This is what makes us one. We are made to be one in the one who lived and died and rose. That we might be one in him. We are made to be one in the one who, who lived and died and rose again, that we might be one in him. John chapter 17. Jesus makes this perfectly abundantly clear in that prayer to his father on that last night. <br /><br /> Talking candidly with the one who sent him, the one who came from the one he has known forever. He lets us know his disciples know as they are witnesses, as they are observers participants in. As they listen to him, talk to his father, they find out that this has been the plan all along. This is what the son came to a. <br /><br /> Not only our oneness in him. I seen him and him and the father, but that we together his disciples, the participants, the observance, the fellowship of this table that we together together would know it perfectly together. And participated in it together as one we take what was broken and in our ingesting it, what was meant, what goes, what goes into many becomes one. <br /><br /> And it does so in us because there is one bread we who are many. We we who are one body, we read it again because there is one bread. We who are many are one body for we all partake of the one bread. Pastor Mike is going to come now and lead us in the observance of the Lord's table.</div> false no <![CDATA[Valid Evidence before the Court of Heaven]]> Matthew 7:21-23

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.



We're  going to be looking at Matthew chapter seven before we do. I'd like to pray together this morning.

Father, we gather in this room, gather with others that are watching and worshiping with us online.

Lord, we glory in the truth. We've just sung. You are worthy. Lord, this people in this room right now, to whom those words cost, because there's things going on in their lives. There's losses, they've experienced there's pain. And so when they say is he worthy? He is there's weight behind it. I think of Nick Rehmann TOF this morning Lord in the hospital and the long road that he's been on.

God, I pray that you would come alongside of Nick this morning, bringing again the affirmation of your presence of your guidance. I pray with the sommeliers. Show him signs of your favor. Lord may be the expression of his heart. Also, Lord you're worthy. Lord. We proclaim your worthiness from the last two days for women's lives that were impacted to love you more, to trust you more, to yield to you more for women who were born again at the retreat for all those things.

Lord, we gathered today and by our corporate presence, we'd declare it's true. There's a God that's big and a God, that's good. And a God that's present than a God. That's active. And we proclaimed together. He is a God that is worthy of our honor and our worship and our praise and our obedience. So God, we come to your word.

We ask you to teach us. You've led us today to a challenging solemn passage, but also one that is beautiful with invitation. So teach us Lord, cause we want to know you more in Jesus name. Amen. Matthew chapter seven. We're going to be looking at verses 21 to 23. We've been studying the upside down life.

The sermon on the Mount. We've been spending many weeks together, reflecting on these. Kingdom life teaching of Jesus, what it means to live as a member of the family, of God, of the kingdom of Jesus, what life looks like when Jesus is at the center of our lives. We've come now to this last portion. And as we're going through this section, we're actually looking at four different comparisons that Jesus is making.

And in a sense on the negative side, they're all warnings on the positive side, they're all invitations that he is speaking about a comparison in each of these four things I'd like to just highlight them quickly. He's talked about two gates to make sure that you have entered into spiritual life. I think, do we have a picture there?

Okay. We've secondly, there are two trees. To make sure you're influenced by the right things in your spiritual life. The reason for that is the two gates. It's how you become a citizen of his kingdom that you enter by the right gate, the two trees. It's how you live the Christian life, the kingdom life.

This morning, there are two claims to make sure that you're using the right criteria to evaluate your spiritual life. And it's how you will know you are a member of the kingdom next time to foundations to make sure you are building your spiritual life on the right infrastructure. I'd like to read Matthew chapter seven, verse 21 to 23.

As we consider these two claims, making sure you're using the right criteria to evaluate your spiritual life. Here's what he says in verse 21. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven. But the one who does the will of my father, who is in heaven on that day, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name and do mighty works in your name?

And then I will declare to them. I never knew you depart from me. You workers of lawlessness this morning, we're looking at this passage and it is the most solemn warning of the four. Jesus is talking about the criteria by which we evaluate our standing in our spiritual lives, particularly in our membership, in the kingdom of God.

He's talking here. He says on that day, that day is talking about a future. Real moment in chronological history. When the eternal destiny of people will be declared and affirmed, it's described in revelation 20, where individuals will go into eternal life in heaven, and others will go into what is called eternal separation or death in hell.

It's a somber conversation that Jesus has here, although filled with a beautiful invitation. It's a striking passage as we'll see, because the criteria that he's comparing of these two different groups that he's going to talk about on the face they're standing in their mind seems to be the same that both of these groups believe they are members of Jesus' kingdom.

Both of these groups believe. That they will go to heaven. Both of these groups believe that they have claim on Jesus Christ in their lives. Now it's somewhat shocking that Jesus makes this statement because what he's actually saying is there are people that know a lot of the gospel. There are people that know a lot of my teaching.

There are people that are even in the group that are around me. You know, the, the, the masses that are following me, those, some of them, even that are working for me, you'll see that in verse 22. And he says, but many of them

are not actually a part of my kingdom. The reason it's shocking is because who would do that in Jesus. I mean, who wants to associate with Jesus with the, the obvious opposition of the religious leaders that is growing, and this is a hot place to be, to be among the followers of Christ. So we say, why, why would anybody?

And I think there's two answers to two. Maybe the dilemma of that one is there are always hangers on, there are always people that, that, uh, feel their part, but I would also suggest that Jesus is talking with this warning, not only to those he's directly addressing, but he is talking about all of those through world history through the millennia of time, from that moment until the great judgment day and saying there will be many, the name, the name that associate with the movement that seemed to feel they are Christian that are not.

So he gives us this warning. It's a warning that is certainly relevant to us. Culturally, we'll look at that in a moment, but he's going to give here a brief overview of what professing Christians might use. One, the criteria of false disciples. We'll look at verse 22 and 23 first, and then the criteria of true disciples.

The criteria faults disciples is found in verse 22 and 23. Can I just read it again quickly? He says this, he says on that day, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, didn't we prophesy in your name, cast out demons in your name too many mighty works in your name. And then I will declare to them depart from me. I never knew you.

The first thing we find about the criteria false disciples is that it is common for this criteria to be used, that they're going to use. Lord Lord is he says, is used by both groups. The ch the faults and the true those that are actually members of the kingdom and those that are actually not members of the kingdom and the criteria being Lord, Lord, we've made you, you know, we've associated you, you mean, you're the guy for us.

In other words, these are not people that would say, um, Mohammed is my Lord. I he's my master. I'm a follower of Mohammed. They would not say I'm a, I'm a follower of Buddha. They would not say I'm a follower of Moses. They would not be agnostics. They would not be atheists. They would be people that said, if they got a registration form and it said, what religion are you?

They would say. They would be among the 70% in the United States. That would take that title. According to the, uh, public religion research institutes, 2020 census of American religion, which was a six year study. They, they summarize and they did an annual each. He was a little bit up and down, but the average for the seven years was that 70% of Americans said their religion was Christian.

Now it's interesting that that number in 1990 was 85%, but 70% of Christians of Americans would still identify the same EFI, my religious position. And of course the, the number of nones has gone up significantly, but would still say Christian of that 48% identified as Protestants 22% identified as Catholic, as far as the biggest categories.

And Jesus says, this many will say to me, Lord, we did all this for you. We w w w you were our guy. I mean, we said we were Christian. We didn't say we were Jewish or Islamic or, or, or Buddhist or, or animistic. I didn't even say I was an agnostic or an atheist. I said, I'm not a non I'm a Christian. And Jesus says many will say that it's easy to think.

Well, you know, you listen to those numbers. And I said, the 70%, and it's easy to think of. Of course of the 70%. I mean, think of it. I mean, think of how many of those people are in liberal churches. How many of those people are, you know, that don't preach the gospel that don't even believe the Bible swear to God.

Think of how many of those people are in, in, uh, churches and denominations. That really it's all about works. It's not about faith and sure. I get all that. But when we really hear what Jesus is saying here, Jesus is also talking to the evangelical church. And he's saying there are people that deed to do some serious, honest heart examination.

There are many, it is based on external activities, not internal yieldedness is the second characteristic he says on that day, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, didn't we prophesied didn't we cast out demons didn't we do mighty works all in your name. I mean, it was in association with. Prophesied means too.

There is both foretelling, which means telling things ahead of time. There's also forthtelling, which means it was a prophetic message. Preaching today would be a form of, of, of prophetic preaching. It's admonition, it's exhortation, as well as teaching. And you say, wait, man, we've been out there preaching, you know, we were preaching for you.

We're doing it in your name. Others said that we're casting out demons, whether they actually had the power to do this or not. I honestly don't know, but it certainly, they felt they did. They would end there when they were casting out demons or trying to do exorcism, they felt they were doing it in Jesus name.

Others said we did many mighty works in your name. Interestingly, in the book of acts, that term mighty works dunemas actually were, were works. The apostles did miraculous things. I don't know. Honestly, if that meant some of these people did spectacular things, maybe by the power of darkness when they thought it was, I don't know, but what we do.

Is that these individuals in there thinking we're doing this stuff that should have been getting some brownie points and should have been helping them to say, yeah, I'm, I'm Christian. It's a, it's a big statement. Jesus talks in a, a parable and the like, just read it quickly for you. Matthew chapter 13, it's later on in the book of Matthew and here's what he says in verse 24.

And following he put another parable before them saying the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while these men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds also. And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, master went, did you not sow good seed in your field?

How then does it have weeds? He said to them, an enemy has done this. So the servant said to him, then do you want us to go and gather them, get the weeds out in other words. But he said no less than gathering the weeds. You wrote up the wheat of all, along with them, let us let both grow together until the harvest.

And at harvest time, I'll tell the reapers, gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned. Then gather the wheat into my barn. It's a SOP somber picture, but he's saying again, this is in the field of the people of God. And he says, is wheat growing up and bearing fruit? But he says, it's also those that are not truly the plant of faith.

So the second thing we know here is that there are individuals. Even among the people of God that he is speaking to here, Jesus is doing this the same way that a Puritan Richard Baxter used to say that anybody was, he made this startling statement. He says, anybody that can preach on hell without tears in his eyes is disqualified from preaching.

That's how I hear Jesus here. This is a serious message that he's raising for all of us. The third characteristic is he says it results in eternal separation depart from me. I never knew, you know, that Jesus knows them. Jesus knows. He says, I know the hair. I know the number of hairs on your head. I knew everything about you.

I know you, I know you infinitely better than you know yourself. So what's your. Well, the word here is good. Nosco and the original, it actually is the word that means relational knowledge. You could say to me, mark, your shirt is wrinkled this morning. And I could say, I know that my wife told me and I should've listened to her, but now it's too late because I'm in the spotlight.

I know that, but that's a whole different thing than the term is used here. That's cognitive knowledge. I have information the know here is I know this person I'm in, I'm doing life with them. I'm in relationship with him. And Jesus is saying basically, uh, I don't have a relationship with you. You never allowed me to have that relationship with you.

And now you have to depart from me. This is heavy-hitting stuff. I mean, this is. Jesus's and Thompson softballs here. This is the heat. So let's get to the good news. What is the criteria of true disciples? Verse 21. Okay. So here's where we are right on the one side. He's saying people that believe or think they're Christians, they certainly would put that on a, on a registration form.

Uh, they, they, they have some degree of familiarity with Christian teaching Christian experience, but what they have is not what is needed to enter heaven. It's not real. So here's what he does. He says on the other hand, he says, first of all, in verse 21, he says it this way. Let me just read it. Verse 21, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven.

But so now he's going to say, Bob, On the other hand are the group of people that are going to enter the kingdom of heaven that already a part of the kingdom of heaven are going to eternally be a part of the kingdom. Now, if you were there and you had, I just wrote about this in my musings and you were writing in the scripture, you know, you're writing the scripture out and you write all the phrase you can remember and you say, um, uh, Jesus says, you know, some of them are going to say this and this, and they're not going to be in heaven, but on the other hand, and you just wrote all that.

And now you're going to think, what are you going to say about those other people? What would go through your mind? I'll get you a bed. It would be like this. If you, if you know the gospel of Christ, you would think, well, what Jesus is about to say is this, but on the other hand is the person who believes on me as the person.

Or maybe better theology and say, but on the other hand is the person who has repented of their sins and claim my forgiveness that the Jesus provided and received me as Lord and savior of their life. Right? I mean, isn't that? What do we expect? That's not what he says. How do we understand that? Here's what Jesus says.

He kind of shocks us. He says, but on the other hand is the person that does the will of my father. Who's in heaven. I mean, did all of a sudden Jesus changes, theology and become work salvation. You need to earn your way. It's gotta be, what's he doing here? What's happening. Jesus. Do you know the gospel?

Well, what we find and I'm going to take you to another passage that I think is going to illustrate. This is not talking here about the basis. Of their relationship with Christ. He is talking about the fruit of their life. That's the same thing he's talking about. The other guys, these guys think because they have this fruit in their lives, that it means that they have actually become members of my kingdom.

And he says, no, the people that have actually become members of my kingdom have this fruit in their lives. He still remembers that entrance to heaven is by grace alone. That entrance to heaven is by faith in Jesus Christ alone. He still remembers the verse for by grace. Are you saved through faith? Not by works so that no one can boast, but what are you saying is that a person that has put their faith in Christ has embraced Jesus into their life as savior and Lord will have evidences in his or her life that there will be fruit.

And he is now saying what that evidence is. It is the person that does the will of my father. The word does is in the present tense in the original, which simply means it's continuous action. It does not mean he will without fail, never screw up in doing the will of his father. My father. He's not saying you'll never sin.

He's not saying you never really have things you are ashamed of that you do even as a, a member of Christ kingdom, but he is saying this the habitual life, the trajectory of the life is going towards the will of father. More and more, there is the desire to do the will of my father to find out the will of my father.

So what does that mean? And I'd like to suggest two things doing the will of my father is to embrace the reality that what the world offers is not what I most want. Now here, I want to go to another passage because I actually believe the apostle John was influenced by Jesus teaching in this passage when he speaks something in first, John chapter five.

And so I'd like to read this for you first, John chapter five, it's up on the screen, do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the father is not in him for all that is in the father, the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and the pride of life is not from the father, but it's from the world and the world is passing away.

Along with us desires. Here we are. Whoever does the will of God abides forever. Same thing. I mean, you want to say to John, John, did you forget the gospel? What do you mean? Whoever does the will of God abides forever. What you mean to say is we've embraced Jesus Christ as your savior is the one that will live forever because that's heaven and that's what life is.

And, and that's what this is about. I mean, no he's saying it in the same way. Jesus saying it. He's saying the one who has chosen in their life to not love the things of the world, but to rather love the will of the father demonstrates.

And for them, Jesus has. Entered their lives, that he has become their center, that they have received the transformation of the new birth that they have been born. Again are literally born above as the term means from God that the will of God is the driving passion of their lives. Does it mean they never screw up?

Of course not, but it does mean the continual trajectory of their lives is to say, I want God. I want God's purposes for my life. And in first John chapter five, John is saying there are three things that will constantly vie for those things. If the will of God is not your driving passion, one of these things.

That's what he's saying. It could be all three, but one of these things, at least these are things that become central to us. And what are you saying? Even people doing cool spiritual activities who are devout in terms of faithful church attendance and, and everything else that might go with that. If those things are what they love, if those things are the driving center and passion of their lives, not the will of the father, they have every reason to question if they actually, apart of the kingdom.

It's interesting that John here is talking as much of the new Testament does in what we might call the language of love. If you notice first on five, I'll read it to you. Do not love the world of the things that are in the world. He concludes an. Whoever does the will of God abides forever the scriptures regularly.

Talk about our relationship with God in love language. It's a relationship. It's why turning from God to these other things is called often in the scripture, spiritual adultery. It is betrayal. It is turning away from, from the relationship. And what he's talking about here is what grabs our heart and what are these things.

So I'd like to look at them quickly here in first, John chapter five, just again, because I believe it is a commentary on our texts this morning in Matthew seven, there are three things he highlights that can be our heart love and be a center of our lives. One is he says the desires of the flesh pleasures.

Gluttony can be there. And he said, I'll come on. I mean, gluttony, Paul said it this way and Philippians whose God is their stomach. It's talking about people who say, ah, that's ridiculous. It wasn't my idea. It's what he says. He says now, does that mean if you overeat, you can't go to heaven? No, I'm just saying that he's talking about pleasures that we can, we can allow things.

Pornography certainly can be things that, that we find pleasure and we look towards to satisfy and they can become central. They can be a love relationship. Gossip, you know, Proverbs constantly talks about gossip in terms like this gossip is listen to gossip is, is like, it's like eating choice. Morsels of food.

I mean, it's like, it's like caviar. If you like caviar it's shrimp cocktail. It's it's whatever it's man, it's the lash stubble. It's it's, it's, it's appealing because to be brought in, but he says, man, to just be continually giving way to the pleasure of listening and supporting and promoting gossip, he said, it's, it's, it's making something else.

Central. There are all kinds of illustrations. Titus chapter two says this, the grace of God teaches us to say no, literally it makes this statement. The grace of God, trains us to say no to ungodliness and worldly passions.

Told about this commercial probably years ago now. But I remember used to watch this during the football games. And there was a commercial where a guy was sitting out at an outdoor table and it downtown in a city and they're sitting there and they're both having a beer, he and his girlfriend, and he's got his dog line at his feet and he turns to his girlfriend, talks to him and she's real serious.

And she says, John, if, if a fire came, who would you safe? Would you save me or your mother? And he says, well, I don't really want this to go very far, babe, but you I'd say to you, she said, if you, if we were in a fire and you could only save me or your dog. Which the dog sort of looks up. Who would you say if, and he says, well, I see you.

And then she says, John, if you could save me or your beer, who would you save? And for way too long, there's silence. At which point she gets up and storms out. Why? Because she concluded what really held his heart.

The question is in our lives, do you love it more than Christ? And that is really the only question that matters. Second Timothy, one five says this God has not given us a spirit of fear. Well, what has he given us? He says this, but a spirit of power and love and self care. That he says those who have the spirit of God within them can turn from habitual lifestyle, enslavement of other pleasures through the power of Christ.

He says, our lives can be changed and transformed, but he says, if we're living for that pleasure, if we're, if we're living towards that pleasure, if, if comfort and, and, and security and all the things that come with pleasures of life, if that's really what's driving me, he says, that's probably what you love.

And that's an option, but that's not the picture of a person. That's a member of the kingdom. The second one I'll move faster is desires of the eyes. He says here in first John chapter, I mean, we already saw the false teachers are driven by grade. We talked about that last week. Fear of man, we could put here possessions position, people, uh, control by other people's opinion.

I want the approval of others more than the approval of God. I think John would say, that's your choice. That's your option. But you need to understand you've declared who you'd save in the fire. You declared whose approval you laugh, you live for. He says the pride of life, prideful accomplishments. I mean, this hits everybody even hit the disciples.

You may remember the story of, uh, before Jesus was at the cross, he was still teaching the disciples and, and, uh, he's talking more and more about coming into his kingdom and John and James, two of the hero. Uh, came to him and they said, Lord, Lord, you know, we're excited and we're with you, we're with you to the end.

And when you come into your kingdom, could we be on one of us on the right side? And one of us on the left side, it's interesting in a parallel passage, their mother actually brought the same. It's an awesome fixer, this little Jewish mother coming up to Jesus and saying, Jesus, when you come into your kingdom, can you have my boy, John on the left and James on the right.

You'll still be in the middle, but always. So we all have it, the desire to be somebody, the desire to, but when that is the passion of her life, when that is what is driving our schedule, our energy, our thinking.

It displaces the capacity to say, Lord, I want everything. Whether my career goes forward, whether it's stagnates, whether it diminishes, I want to be like John, the Baptist that says he must increase. Absolutely ready to decrease that the driving passion of our lives is Christ. Now the seed of every known sin is in all of us and the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, the pride of life are battling in all of us.

The quest in Jesus and later, John here in first, John is asking is what is your life center? What is the consuming passion? Is it Christ and what he wants from your life? That's what he's talking about. The will of my father, is that the driving reality of your life. He says, if not, you may have cast out demons.

You may have preached the gospel to people. You may have done wondrous works in my name,

but are you sure that I know you and you know me,

the other thing that I think is involved here is this what Jesus commands is what I most seek to live. He's talking in the context of Matthew five through seven. It's interesting in Luke's gospel in Luke chapter six, when Jesus gives this teaching and he says, doing the will of my father, he actually changed it to doing my will.

The idea, is there one in the same and in the context there, it's clearly the sermon on the Mount. He's talking about this life of Jesus. It is what the life that the life of Jesus lived within us is a life that is lived for the will of the father. And it is a life. If you look at John, if you've been reflecting in Matthew five through seven at all, you notice a life that is way beyond you.

It is impossible to live apart from Jesus Christ. He's the only one that can live it, but he will live it through you. It's striking that it is the Jesus life. Here's what it says in John five 30. I can do nothing on my own. I seek not my own will, but the will of him who sent me John 6 38 for I've come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me, it is the life.

That is the truest form of worship. Romans 12 one. I appeal to you, therefore brothers by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual. To doing the will of God to, to yielding ourselves to the Lord is our ultimate form of worship is as the songwriter says it this way, the child of God, the born, again, believer the redeemed man or woman or child says with the songwriter, this, if the stars were made to worship so alive, if the mountains bow to reverence.

So ally, if the oceans roar with greatness. So will I for if everything exists to lift you high? So will I,

we sang, is he worthy? We declare it not only by our songs. We declare it most prominently by our lives, by our choices. Do I want Christ? Do I want his pleasure, his glory, his will in.

He says it matters. It matters. It is the recognition that my greatest expression of worship is SU is seeking to do his will in my life. I don't know where you are today or what God is speaking into your life. But this text is certainly intended to prompt. Self-examination it's designed to compel us to ask which of these professed Christians we are.

And our experience with Christ, he says is our best indicator. Are you embracing Jesus Christ as savior and Lord in the choices you're making day by day because embracing Jesus Christ as savior and Lord is not simply securing a plane ticket to heaven in a life to come. It is the entering into a life of transformation and surrender.

It is as Roman six saying Romans six says when we tr when we were translated from the kingdom of death, as he called it, where sin was our master, we transferred to a life where we said, righteousness is our master and Christ is our ma. And he actually says there, we begin to say yes to Jesus. That's actually a Roman success that we now affirm.

Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes.

If you're here and you're listening online this morning, and God's speaking to your heart, I'd love the chance to process this out with you sometime in the scripture. Or maybe you've got enough this morning and you just say, Lord, man, I thank God for this, this study this morning, because it was for me because.

I'm on that person. I'm not sure that the trajectory of my life, again, not sinlessness and some of you with real strong conscience, these are the ones I'm worried about. But by this message, because some of you that are the best livers are going to be beating yourself up by this, but just wreck. Yeah.

Maybe the Lord is speaking and saying, are you sure that you've embraced Jesus Christ as your savior and as the Lord of your life for others, maybe it's just a reminder Lord, by your grace. The trajectory of my life has been in is towards you, but I'm not sure it is right now, the way I'm living there's stuff going on.

There's there's a coldness. There's a distance. There's an aloofness. Well, his invitation to you is to just come again. The beauty of repentance is we, we changed tracks in a moment of time. As we yield ourselves again to the Lord, let's pray together.

Lord. I want to thank you that you love us enough to speak Turkey with us at the share you share with us the challenging, confrontational messages, as well as the beautiful invitations and the encouraging words.

Lord, I wanted to know,

and I know I won't know till glory, but I want every person in this room to be there one day,

hearing the voice enter now into the joy of the Lord.

I want every person in my family, in my church, family.

To know you,

I believe

with every part of my being that you are worthy of giving our lives to have interesting our destiny, to

pleasures position, all this other stuff that's here.

It's just going to burn. Lord, may we be drawn to Christ? May we join with all creation and say, as the songwriter said, man, everything in creation is designed to live for the glory of God and to proclaim the glory of God. Uh, a lie, God close to that this morning, I pray in Jesus name. Amen.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/valid-evidence-before-the-court-of-heaven 49e4a049-686f-4f9d-a4fc-63451c522c58 Sun, 17 Oct 2021 15:11:34 GMT <div data-html="true">Matthew 7:21-23 <br /><br /> “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> We're  going to be looking at Matthew chapter seven before we do. I'd like to pray together this morning. <br /><br /> Father, we gather in this room, gather with others that are watching and worshiping with us online. <br /><br /> Lord, we glory in the truth. We've just sung. You are worthy. Lord, this people in this room right now, to whom those words cost, because there's things going on in their lives. There's losses, they've experienced there's pain. And so when they say is he worthy? He is there's weight behind it. I think of Nick Rehmann TOF this morning Lord in the hospital and the long road that he's been on. <br /><br /> God, I pray that you would come alongside of Nick this morning, bringing again the affirmation of your presence of your guidance. I pray with the sommeliers. Show him signs of your favor. Lord may be the expression of his heart. Also, Lord you're worthy. Lord. We proclaim your worthiness from the last two days for women's lives that were impacted to love you more, to trust you more, to yield to you more for women who were born again at the retreat for all those things. <br /><br /> Lord, we gathered today and by our corporate presence, we'd declare it's true. There's a God that's big and a God, that's good. And a God that's present than a God. That's active. And we proclaimed together. He is a God that is worthy of our honor and our worship and our praise and our obedience. So God, we come to your word. <br /><br /> We ask you to teach us. You've led us today to a challenging solemn passage, but also one that is beautiful with invitation. So teach us Lord, cause we want to know you more in Jesus name. Amen. Matthew chapter seven. We're going to be looking at verses 21 to 23. We've been studying the upside down life. <br /><br /> The sermon on the Mount. We've been spending many weeks together, reflecting on these. Kingdom life teaching of Jesus, what it means to live as a member of the family, of God, of the kingdom of Jesus, what life looks like when Jesus is at the center of our lives. We've come now to this last portion. And as we're going through this section, we're actually looking at four different comparisons that Jesus is making. <br /><br /> And in a sense on the negative side, they're all warnings on the positive side, they're all invitations that he is speaking about a comparison in each of these four things I'd like to just highlight them quickly. He's talked about two gates to make sure that you have entered into spiritual life. I think, do we have a picture there? <br /><br /> Okay. We've secondly, there are two trees. To make sure you're influenced by the right things in your spiritual life. The reason for that is the two gates. It's how you become a citizen of his kingdom that you enter by the right gate, the two trees. It's how you live the Christian life, the kingdom life. <br /><br /> This morning, there are two claims to make sure that you're using the right criteria to evaluate your spiritual life. And it's how you will know you are a member of the kingdom next time to foundations to make sure you are building your spiritual life on the right infrastructure. I'd like to read Matthew chapter seven, verse 21 to 23. <br /><br /> As we consider these two claims, making sure you're using the right criteria to evaluate your spiritual life. Here's what he says in verse 21. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven. But the one who does the will of my father, who is in heaven on that day, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name and do mighty works in your name? <br /><br /> And then I will declare to them. I never knew you depart from me. You workers of lawlessness this morning, we're looking at this passage and it is the most solemn warning of the four. Jesus is talking about the criteria by which we evaluate our standing in our spiritual lives, particularly in our membership, in the kingdom of God. <br /><br /> He's talking here. He says on that day, that day is talking about a future. Real moment in chronological history. When the eternal destiny of people will be declared and affirmed, it's described in revelation 20, where individuals will go into eternal life in heaven, and others will go into what is called eternal separation or death in hell. <br /><br /> It's a somber conversation that Jesus has here, although filled with a beautiful invitation. It's a striking passage as we'll see, because the criteria that he's comparing of these two different groups that he's going to talk about on the face they're standing in their mind seems to be the same that both of these groups believe they are members of Jesus' kingdom. <br /><br /> Both of these groups believe. That they will go to heaven. Both of these groups believe that they have claim on Jesus Christ in their lives. Now it's somewhat shocking that Jesus makes this statement because what he's actually saying is there are people that know a lot of the gospel. There are people that know a lot of my teaching. <br /><br /> There are people that are even in the group that are around me. You know, the, the, the masses that are following me, those, some of them, even that are working for me, you'll see that in verse 22. And he says, but many of them <br /><br /> are not actually a part of my kingdom. The reason it's shocking is because who would do that in Jesus. I mean, who wants to associate with Jesus with the, the obvious opposition of the religious leaders that is growing, and this is a hot place to be, to be among the followers of Christ. So we say, why, why would anybody? <br /><br /> And I think there's two answers to two. Maybe the dilemma of that one is there are always hangers on, there are always people that, that, uh, feel their part, but I would also suggest that Jesus is talking with this warning, not only to those he's directly addressing, but he is talking about all of those through world history through the millennia of time, from that moment until the great judgment day and saying there will be many, the name, the name that associate with the movement that seemed to feel they are Christian that are not. <br /><br /> So he gives us this warning. It's a warning that is certainly relevant to us. Culturally, we'll look at that in a moment, but he's going to give here a brief overview of what professing Christians might use. One, the criteria of false disciples. We'll look at verse 22 and 23 first, and then the criteria of true disciples. <br /><br /> The criteria faults disciples is found in verse 22 and 23. Can I just read it again quickly? He says this, he says on that day, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, didn't we prophesy in your name, cast out demons in your name too many mighty works in your name. And then I will declare to them depart from me. I never knew you. <br /><br /> The first thing we find about the criteria false disciples is that it is common for this criteria to be used, that they're going to use. Lord Lord is he says, is used by both groups. The ch the faults and the true those that are actually members of the kingdom and those that are actually not members of the kingdom and the criteria being Lord, Lord, we've made you, you know, we've associated you, you mean, you're the guy for us. <br /><br /> In other words, these are not people that would say, um, Mohammed is my Lord. I he's my master. I'm a follower of Mohammed. They would not say I'm a, I'm a follower of Buddha. They would not say I'm a follower of Moses. They would not be agnostics. They would not be atheists. They would be people that said, if they got a registration form and it said, what religion are you? <br /><br /> They would say. They would be among the 70% in the United States. That would take that title. According to the, uh, public religion research institutes, 2020 census of American religion, which was a six year study. They, they summarize and they did an annual each. He was a little bit up and down, but the average for the seven years was that 70% of Americans said their religion was Christian. <br /><br /> Now it's interesting that that number in 1990 was 85%, but 70% of Christians of Americans would still identify the same EFI, my religious position. And of course the, the number of nones has gone up significantly, but would still say Christian of that 48% identified as Protestants 22% identified as Catholic, as far as the biggest categories. <br /><br /> And Jesus says, this many will say to me, Lord, we did all this for you. We w w w you were our guy. I mean, we said we were Christian. We didn't say we were Jewish or Islamic or, or, or Buddhist or, or animistic. I didn't even say I was an agnostic or an atheist. I said, I'm not a non I'm a Christian. And Jesus says many will say that it's easy to think. <br /><br /> Well, you know, you listen to those numbers. And I said, the 70%, and it's easy to think of. Of course of the 70%. I mean, think of it. I mean, think of how many of those people are in liberal churches. How many of those people are, you know, that don't preach the gospel that don't even believe the Bible swear to God. <br /><br /> Think of how many of those people are in, in, uh, churches and denominations. That really it's all about works. It's not about faith and sure. I get all that. But when we really hear what Jesus is saying here, Jesus is also talking to the evangelical church. And he's saying there are people that deed to do some serious, honest heart examination. <br /><br /> There are many, it is based on external activities, not internal yieldedness is the second characteristic he says on that day, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, didn't we prophesied didn't we cast out demons didn't we do mighty works all in your name. I mean, it was in association with. Prophesied means too. <br /><br /> There is both foretelling, which means telling things ahead of time. There's also forthtelling, which means it was a prophetic message. Preaching today would be a form of, of, of prophetic preaching. It's admonition, it's exhortation, as well as teaching. And you say, wait, man, we've been out there preaching, you know, we were preaching for you. <br /><br /> We're doing it in your name. Others said that we're casting out demons, whether they actually had the power to do this or not. I honestly don't know, but it certainly, they felt they did. They would end there when they were casting out demons or trying to do exorcism, they felt they were doing it in Jesus name. <br /><br /> Others said we did many mighty works in your name. Interestingly, in the book of acts, that term mighty works dunemas actually were, were works. The apostles did miraculous things. I don't know. Honestly, if that meant some of these people did spectacular things, maybe by the power of darkness when they thought it was, I don't know, but what we do. <br /><br /> Is that these individuals in there thinking we're doing this stuff that should have been getting some brownie points and should have been helping them to say, yeah, I'm, I'm Christian. It's a, it's a big statement. Jesus talks in a, a parable and the like, just read it quickly for you. Matthew chapter 13, it's later on in the book of Matthew and here's what he says in verse 24. <br /><br /> And following he put another parable before them saying the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while these men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds also. And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, master went, did you not sow good seed in your field? <br /><br /> How then does it have weeds? He said to them, an enemy has done this. So the servant said to him, then do you want us to go and gather them, get the weeds out in other words. But he said no less than gathering the weeds. You wrote up the wheat of all, along with them, let us let both grow together until the harvest. <br /><br /> And at harvest time, I'll tell the reapers, gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned. Then gather the wheat into my barn. It's a SOP somber picture, but he's saying again, this is in the field of the people of God. And he says, is wheat growing up and bearing fruit? But he says, it's also those that are not truly the plant of faith. <br /><br /> So the second thing we know here is that there are individuals. Even among the people of God that he is speaking to here, Jesus is doing this the same way that a Puritan Richard Baxter used to say that anybody was, he made this startling statement. He says, anybody that can preach on hell without tears in his eyes is disqualified from preaching. <br /><br /> That's how I hear Jesus here. This is a serious message that he's raising for all of us. The third characteristic is he says it results in eternal separation depart from me. I never knew, you know, that Jesus knows them. Jesus knows. He says, I know the hair. I know the number of hairs on your head. I knew everything about you. <br /><br /> I know you, I know you infinitely better than you know yourself. So what's your. Well, the word here is good. Nosco and the original, it actually is the word that means relational knowledge. You could say to me, mark, your shirt is wrinkled this morning. And I could say, I know that my wife told me and I should've listened to her, but now it's too late because I'm in the spotlight. <br /><br /> I know that, but that's a whole different thing than the term is used here. That's cognitive knowledge. I have information the know here is I know this person I'm in, I'm doing life with them. I'm in relationship with him. And Jesus is saying basically, uh, I don't have a relationship with you. You never allowed me to have that relationship with you. <br /><br /> And now you have to depart from me. This is heavy-hitting stuff. I mean, this is. Jesus's and Thompson softballs here. This is the heat. So let's get to the good news. What is the criteria of true disciples? Verse 21. Okay. So here's where we are right on the one side. He's saying people that believe or think they're Christians, they certainly would put that on a, on a registration form. <br /><br /> Uh, they, they, they have some degree of familiarity with Christian teaching Christian experience, but what they have is not what is needed to enter heaven. It's not real. So here's what he does. He says on the other hand, he says, first of all, in verse 21, he says it this way. Let me just read it. Verse 21, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven. <br /><br /> But so now he's going to say, Bob, On the other hand are the group of people that are going to enter the kingdom of heaven that already a part of the kingdom of heaven are going to eternally be a part of the kingdom. Now, if you were there and you had, I just wrote about this in my musings and you were writing in the scripture, you know, you're writing the scripture out and you write all the phrase you can remember and you say, um, uh, Jesus says, you know, some of them are going to say this and this, and they're not going to be in heaven, but on the other hand, and you just wrote all that. <br /><br /> And now you're going to think, what are you going to say about those other people? What would go through your mind? I'll get you a bed. It would be like this. If you, if you know the gospel of Christ, you would think, well, what Jesus is about to say is this, but on the other hand is the person who believes on me as the person. <br /><br /> Or maybe better theology and say, but on the other hand is the person who has repented of their sins and claim my forgiveness that the Jesus provided and received me as Lord and savior of their life. Right? I mean, isn't that? What do we expect? That's not what he says. How do we understand that? Here's what Jesus says. <br /><br /> He kind of shocks us. He says, but on the other hand is the person that does the will of my father. Who's in heaven. I mean, did all of a sudden Jesus changes, theology and become work salvation. You need to earn your way. It's gotta be, what's he doing here? What's happening. Jesus. Do you know the gospel? <br /><br /> Well, what we find and I'm going to take you to another passage that I think is going to illustrate. This is not talking here about the basis. Of their relationship with Christ. He is talking about the fruit of their life. That's the same thing he's talking about. The other guys, these guys think because they have this fruit in their lives, that it means that they have actually become members of my kingdom. <br /><br /> And he says, no, the people that have actually become members of my kingdom have this fruit in their lives. He still remembers that entrance to heaven is by grace alone. That entrance to heaven is by faith in Jesus Christ alone. He still remembers the verse for by grace. Are you saved through faith? Not by works so that no one can boast, but what are you saying is that a person that has put their faith in Christ has embraced Jesus into their life as savior and Lord will have evidences in his or her life that there will be fruit. <br /><br /> And he is now saying what that evidence is. It is the person that does the will of my father. The word does is in the present tense in the original, which simply means it's continuous action. It does not mean he will without fail, never screw up in doing the will of his father. My father. He's not saying you'll never sin. <br /><br /> He's not saying you never really have things you are ashamed of that you do even as a, a member of Christ kingdom, but he is saying this the habitual life, the trajectory of the life is going towards the will of father. More and more, there is the desire to do the will of my father to find out the will of my father. <br /><br /> So what does that mean? And I'd like to suggest two things doing the will of my father is to embrace the reality that what the world offers is not what I most want. Now here, I want to go to another passage because I actually believe the apostle John was influenced by Jesus teaching in this passage when he speaks something in first, John chapter five. <br /><br /> And so I'd like to read this for you first, John chapter five, it's up on the screen, do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the father is not in him for all that is in the father, the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and the pride of life is not from the father, but it's from the world and the world is passing away. <br /><br /> Along with us desires. Here we are. Whoever does the will of God abides forever. Same thing. I mean, you want to say to John, John, did you forget the gospel? What do you mean? Whoever does the will of God abides forever. What you mean to say is we've embraced Jesus Christ as your savior is the one that will live forever because that's heaven and that's what life is. <br /><br /> And, and that's what this is about. I mean, no he's saying it in the same way. Jesus saying it. He's saying the one who has chosen in their life to not love the things of the world, but to rather love the will of the father demonstrates. <br /><br /> And for them, Jesus has. Entered their lives, that he has become their center, that they have received the transformation of the new birth that they have been born. Again are literally born above as the term means from God that the will of God is the driving passion of their lives. Does it mean they never screw up? <br /><br /> Of course not, but it does mean the continual trajectory of their lives is to say, I want God. I want God's purposes for my life. And in first John chapter five, John is saying there are three things that will constantly vie for those things. If the will of God is not your driving passion, one of these things. <br /><br /> That's what he's saying. It could be all three, but one of these things, at least these are things that become central to us. And what are you saying? Even people doing cool spiritual activities who are devout in terms of faithful church attendance and, and everything else that might go with that. If those things are what they love, if those things are the driving center and passion of their lives, not the will of the father, they have every reason to question if they actually, apart of the kingdom. <br /><br /> It's interesting that John here is talking as much of the new Testament does in what we might call the language of love. If you notice first on five, I'll read it to you. Do not love the world of the things that are in the world. He concludes an. Whoever does the will of God abides forever the scriptures regularly. <br /><br /> Talk about our relationship with God in love language. It's a relationship. It's why turning from God to these other things is called often in the scripture, spiritual adultery. It is betrayal. It is turning away from, from the relationship. And what he's talking about here is what grabs our heart and what are these things. <br /><br /> So I'd like to look at them quickly here in first, John chapter five, just again, because I believe it is a commentary on our texts this morning in Matthew seven, there are three things he highlights that can be our heart love and be a center of our lives. One is he says the desires of the flesh pleasures. <br /><br /> Gluttony can be there. And he said, I'll come on. I mean, gluttony, Paul said it this way and Philippians whose God is their stomach. It's talking about people who say, ah, that's ridiculous. It wasn't my idea. It's what he says. He says now, does that mean if you overeat, you can't go to heaven? No, I'm just saying that he's talking about pleasures that we can, we can allow things. <br /><br /> Pornography certainly can be things that, that we find pleasure and we look towards to satisfy and they can become central. They can be a love relationship. Gossip, you know, Proverbs constantly talks about gossip in terms like this gossip is listen to gossip is, is like, it's like eating choice. Morsels of food. <br /><br /> I mean, it's like, it's like caviar. If you like caviar it's shrimp cocktail. It's it's whatever it's man, it's the lash stubble. It's it's, it's, it's appealing because to be brought in, but he says, man, to just be continually giving way to the pleasure of listening and supporting and promoting gossip, he said, it's, it's, it's making something else. <br /><br /> Central. There are all kinds of illustrations. Titus chapter two says this, the grace of God teaches us to say no, literally it makes this statement. The grace of God, trains us to say no to ungodliness and worldly passions. <br /><br /> Told about this commercial probably years ago now. But I remember used to watch this during the football games. And there was a commercial where a guy was sitting out at an outdoor table and it downtown in a city and they're sitting there and they're both having a beer, he and his girlfriend, and he's got his dog line at his feet and he turns to his girlfriend, talks to him and she's real serious. <br /><br /> And she says, John, if, if a fire came, who would you safe? Would you save me or your mother? And he says, well, I don't really want this to go very far, babe, but you I'd say to you, she said, if you, if we were in a fire and you could only save me or your dog. Which the dog sort of looks up. Who would you say if, and he says, well, I see you. <br /><br /> And then she says, John, if you could save me or your beer, who would you save? And for way too long, there's silence. At which point she gets up and storms out. Why? Because she concluded what really held his heart. <br /><br /> The question is in our lives, do you love it more than Christ? And that is really the only question that matters. Second Timothy, one five says this God has not given us a spirit of fear. Well, what has he given us? He says this, but a spirit of power and love and self care. That he says those who have the spirit of God within them can turn from habitual lifestyle, enslavement of other pleasures through the power of Christ. <br /><br /> He says, our lives can be changed and transformed, but he says, if we're living for that pleasure, if we're, if we're living towards that pleasure, if, if comfort and, and, and security and all the things that come with pleasures of life, if that's really what's driving me, he says, that's probably what you love. <br /><br /> And that's an option, but that's not the picture of a person. That's a member of the kingdom. The second one I'll move faster is desires of the eyes. He says here in first John chapter, I mean, we already saw the false teachers are driven by grade. We talked about that last week. Fear of man, we could put here possessions position, people, uh, control by other people's opinion. <br /><br /> I want the approval of others more than the approval of God. I think John would say, that's your choice. That's your option. But you need to understand you've declared who you'd save in the fire. You declared whose approval you laugh, you live for. He says the pride of life, prideful accomplishments. I mean, this hits everybody even hit the disciples. <br /><br /> You may remember the story of, uh, before Jesus was at the cross, he was still teaching the disciples and, and, uh, he's talking more and more about coming into his kingdom and John and James, two of the hero. Uh, came to him and they said, Lord, Lord, you know, we're excited and we're with you, we're with you to the end. <br /><br /> And when you come into your kingdom, could we be on one of us on the right side? And one of us on the left side, it's interesting in a parallel passage, their mother actually brought the same. It's an awesome fixer, this little Jewish mother coming up to Jesus and saying, Jesus, when you come into your kingdom, can you have my boy, John on the left and James on the right. <br /><br /> You'll still be in the middle, but always. So we all have it, the desire to be somebody, the desire to, but when that is the passion of her life, when that is what is driving our schedule, our energy, our thinking. <br /><br /> It displaces the capacity to say, Lord, I want everything. Whether my career goes forward, whether it's stagnates, whether it diminishes, I want to be like John, the Baptist that says he must increase. Absolutely ready to decrease that the driving passion of our lives is Christ. Now the seed of every known sin is in all of us and the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, the pride of life are battling in all of us. <br /><br /> The quest in Jesus and later, John here in first, John is asking is what is your life center? What is the consuming passion? Is it Christ and what he wants from your life? That's what he's talking about. The will of my father, is that the driving reality of your life. He says, if not, you may have cast out demons. <br /><br /> You may have preached the gospel to people. You may have done wondrous works in my name, <br /><br /> but are you sure that I know you and you know me, <br /><br /> the other thing that I think is involved here is this what Jesus commands is what I most seek to live. He's talking in the context of Matthew five through seven. It's interesting in Luke's gospel in Luke chapter six, when Jesus gives this teaching and he says, doing the will of my father, he actually changed it to doing my will. <br /><br /> The idea, is there one in the same and in the context there, it's clearly the sermon on the Mount. He's talking about this life of Jesus. It is what the life that the life of Jesus lived within us is a life that is lived for the will of the father. And it is a life. If you look at John, if you've been reflecting in Matthew five through seven at all, you notice a life that is way beyond you. <br /><br /> It is impossible to live apart from Jesus Christ. He's the only one that can live it, but he will live it through you. It's striking that it is the Jesus life. Here's what it says in John five 30. I can do nothing on my own. I seek not my own will, but the will of him who sent me John 6 38 for I've come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me, it is the life. <br /><br /> That is the truest form of worship. Romans 12 one. I appeal to you, therefore brothers by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual. To doing the will of God to, to yielding ourselves to the Lord is our ultimate form of worship is as the songwriter says it this way, the child of God, the born, again, believer the redeemed man or woman or child says with the songwriter, this, if the stars were made to worship so alive, if the mountains bow to reverence. <br /><br /> So ally, if the oceans roar with greatness. So will I for if everything exists to lift you high? So will I, <br /><br /> we sang, is he worthy? We declare it not only by our songs. We declare it most prominently by our lives, by our choices. Do I want Christ? Do I want his pleasure, his glory, his will in. <br /><br /> He says it matters. It matters. It is the recognition that my greatest expression of worship is SU is seeking to do his will in my life. I don't know where you are today or what God is speaking into your life. But this text is certainly intended to prompt. Self-examination it's designed to compel us to ask which of these professed Christians we are. <br /><br /> And our experience with Christ, he says is our best indicator. Are you embracing Jesus Christ as savior and Lord in the choices you're making day by day because embracing Jesus Christ as savior and Lord is not simply securing a plane ticket to heaven in a life to come. It is the entering into a life of transformation and surrender. <br /><br /> It is as Roman six saying Romans six says when we tr when we were translated from the kingdom of death, as he called it, where sin was our master, we transferred to a life where we said, righteousness is our master and Christ is our ma. And he actually says there, we begin to say yes to Jesus. That's actually a Roman success that we now affirm. <br /><br /> Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes. <br /><br /> If you're here and you're listening online this morning, and God's speaking to your heart, I'd love the chance to process this out with you sometime in the scripture. Or maybe you've got enough this morning and you just say, Lord, man, I thank God for this, this study this morning, because it was for me because. <br /><br /> I'm on that person. I'm not sure that the trajectory of my life, again, not sinlessness and some of you with real strong conscience, these are the ones I'm worried about. But by this message, because some of you that are the best livers are going to be beating yourself up by this, but just wreck. Yeah. <br /><br /> Maybe the Lord is speaking and saying, are you sure that you've embraced Jesus Christ as your savior and as the Lord of your life for others, maybe it's just a reminder Lord, by your grace. The trajectory of my life has been in is towards you, but I'm not sure it is right now, the way I'm living there's stuff going on. <br /><br /> There's there's a coldness. There's a distance. There's an aloofness. Well, his invitation to you is to just come again. The beauty of repentance is we, we changed tracks in a moment of time. As we yield ourselves again to the Lord, let's pray together. <br /><br /> Lord. I want to thank you that you love us enough to speak Turkey with us at the share you share with us the challenging, confrontational messages, as well as the beautiful invitations and the encouraging words. <br /><br /> Lord, I wanted to know, <br /><br /> and I know I won't know till glory, but I want every person in this room to be there one day, <br /><br /> hearing the voice enter now into the joy of the Lord. <br /><br /> I want every person in my family, in my church, family. <br /><br /> To know you, <br /><br /> I believe <br /><br /> with every part of my being that you are worthy of giving our lives to have interesting our destiny, to <br /><br /> pleasures position, all this other stuff that's here. <br /><br /> It's just going to burn. Lord, may we be drawn to Christ? May we join with all creation and say, as the songwriter said, man, everything in creation is designed to live for the glory of God and to proclaim the glory of God. Uh, a lie, God close to that this morning, I pray in Jesus name. Amen.</div> false no <![CDATA[Watch Out for False Prophets]]> Matthew 7:15-20

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves."



I want to everybody, if I, you to take your Bibles today, we're going to be looking at Matthew chapter seven. Again, Matthew chapter seven. We're going to look at verses 15 to 20, um, as we continue in our series. And as we're heading, as Mike mentioned towards the end of the sermon on the Mount, which we have entitled the upside down life this morning, I want to start before we read verses 15 through 20, just a recounting, an historical event.

It began with a guy that was born in the 1930s in rural Indiana. He was a, uh, Uh, communicative type of young guy. Uh, he was enamored in high school and early college with two groups of people. One was the Pentecostal preachers that was, uh, associated with his background, how he marveled at, they were at their ability to draw people, to follow them, particularly through their faith healing services.

But the other group that he was drawn to was he really started reading in late high school. And during college, he began to read strong minded, um, despotic leaders, uh, Hitler, uh, read a lot of the Mark's writings, um, other individuals of history and was struck with how they were effective at getting people to follow them.

And one of the things he noticed was one of the, one of the most effective way to get people to follow you was to get a common enemy. And I'll say we're against this. This is destroying whatever. And, uh, so he would rally people around. This young man eventually started an organization. Many of you very familiar with called the people's temple.

Jim Jones was his name and Jim Jones began to build a following. He had his own brand of initially sort of starting with a Pentecostal type of a Pentecostal oriented Christianity, but deviated from that pretty dramatically, uh, more and more became about him and about people, um, following him, but also very socially involved, uh, did a lot of wonderful things as a group, but.

Became more and more of a deeply, um, authoritarian leader eventually due to some investigations that were starting to place by the United States government. He moved the whole group of about a thousand people down to Guyana, south America on the north coast of south America, which is where really the fame of Jim Jones and Jonestown occurs.

If you remember the story, basically what happened was while they were there. Uh, a us Congressman Leo Ryan, uh, had enough families come to him and say they had relatives who had, uh, they believe been brainwashed, had joined his group, or actually now some of them being held captive. We're not able to leave.

He got, uh, some media together and went in and visited the compound in guy. I actually took some of the family members with him. And while they were there, a handful of people from the group asked to leave with him. It was quite upsetting to Jim Jones. And I eventually what happened as the group left with this entourage of 15 or 16 individuals from the group that people's temple, uh, they were actually, as they were boarding their plane, the gunfire came, they were gunned down.

Leo Ryan, and four others were killed. And that same day, November 20, excuse me, November 18th, 1978. Jim Jones led the people in something they had practiced beforehand, a mass suicide. Some believe there was also murder involved because not everybody bought in, but they, they, uh, had everybody take the drink, which poisoned them.

Um, Took the life of 909 individuals one-third of which were under 17 and this horrific, terrible story, which many of you remembered? It's where we get the phrase drinking the Kool-Aid from. And it's easy to be appalled at how easily people can be swayed to donate their life savings, to follow seemingly blindly, a despotic seemingly maniacal individual to move to a, a country that none of them had ever heard of.

And they seem to be a bunch of crazies, but Tim Reiterman, who was one of the men that was with Leo Ryan, one of the media that was there was wounded by the shots at the plane, but escaped running into the, the, uh, the jungle wrote a book and in the book he makes this state. Though Jones' followers would later be stereotyped as sinister brainwashed idiots, many were decent, hardworking, socially conscious people, some highly educated who wanted to help their fellow man and serve God, not embrace a self-proclaimed deity on earth.

Jonestown is frightening and heartening as an example of falling under the sway of the wrong influence. As we approach the end of the sermon on the Mount. Jesus is presenting a series of comp comparisons to gates, to trees, to foundations. They're all warnings. We looked last time at two gates. He said there are two ways.

And if you want it, there is talking about entrance into his kingdom. All the principles there of the sermon on the Mount that are presented are presenting what Jesus says life should look like for those that live as members of his kingdom, who have embraced him as Lord savior king. And he says to actually enter into that relationship and to become a member, a citizen of my kingdom, he says, you will not enter through the broad gate rather Obie through the narrow gate.

So it was a reminder of the importance of, of understanding what embracing Jesus Christ really is and why most of humanity do not do it this time. He talks about two trees. And he talks about here, not the entrance into the kingdom, but rather to examine the evidence of those, that profess to be a part of the kingdom.

And also in living that life to watch what influence you are coming under his, where he talks about false prophets as we come to this passage. And the third one we'll look at next week is two foundations. He's talking about the edge of a building. He's talking about the energy with which we live this life as citizens.

Okay. Two, two trees, two influences. We're going to look at this morning and now I'd like you to read verse 15 through 20 of Matthew chapter seven. If you'd follow along in your Bible, I'll read out loud,

be aware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits are grapes gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles. So every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the disease tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit nor can a disease tree bear.

Good fruit, every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, you will recognize them by their fruits. Let's pray together. And then we're going to jump into this text this morning. Lord, we gather in this room, both those of us that are here in person, others watching online.

God, we've already heard thousands of messages this week. We've got our own messaging that goes on in our own heads. As we speak into ourselves with our thinking, we've heard it media, we've heard it in conversations. We've heard it through the television. An astonishing amount of information, but there's only one thing that you tell us is designed ultimately to be a guide for our lives.

And that's the scripture that we've opened this morning. So Lord, we ask you to teach us, may we hear your voice? May we discern the other influencing voices that may be in our lives that we can live as people that are called into your kingdom and live the unique upside down life that Jesus offers to us here in whose name I pray.

Amen. It's going to look at two things this morning, fairly simple outline regarding the influence of false profits. Number one is going to be why we must watch out for them. And secondly is how we recognize. And I want to make this statement at the beginning, sort of a disclaimer, it more of a note, I guess it's easy to think of this passage when he talks about beware of false prophets to sort of individualize it or personify it in a person.

For instance, it's easy to think. Do I have a Jim Jones in my life that I'm listening to, or, or, or maybe not the extremity of that, but who is the person that I'm listening to, but here's the thing in the first century D when this was written, think of the medium of communication they did not have, they did not have a cell phones or radios or TVs or books.

They did not have tablets or social media platforms. They only had in-person communication. Right? So the way that they would be influenced would be by individuals, by by groups, speak to a degree culturally, but preeminently, it would be teachers that were traveling around. And so for them, it really was individuals that were these false teachers, but for us false teaching comes through innumerable platforms and venues.

It is the influence of such that he's talking about. He's really saying, examine what is coming your way, what you're embracing, what you're applying your life towards can be an individual, but it also often is a, uh, an amalgamation of a variety of things. So the first thing why we must watch out for false prophets and false messaging, First of all, because they look and sound legit.

You'll notice how they're described here in verse 15, beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. Jesus constantly calls his children, sheep, John Tenney, devotes the whole passage to talking about he's the shepherd, we're the sheep. One of the most beautiful pictures of, of, and beloved pictures of our relationship to Jesus is he's the good shepherd.

We are the sheep. And he says, these, these individuals, this messaging comms, looking the jet, these people come in in the outfit, in the garment and in the, and the costume of sheep, they look like sheep. They sound like sheep, the influence, but he says inwardly they're ravenous. Wolf's. He presents this as a visual to us, I think to force us to ask a practical question.

Are these believers he's talking about. I mean, if people can look at them and say, well, they look sheepish, they sound like sheep. Are they sheep? And I think the answer is typically no, but there are passage of new Testament that give us pause. For instance, in acts chapter 20 verse 29 and 30, Paul takes this exact, excuse me, Luke takes this exact concept of Savage wolves and ravenous will Savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock.

Even from your own number. Men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. What he's saying is. The messaging can be very insidious. It can come from people that seem to be, and perhaps are Orthodox people. And I'm Orthodox. I mean, people that are true gospel preaching people, but he says, there is a messaging here that is actually one that can devour.

So who go on and they say, why, why do we watch, whoa, we better watch what we're listening to, what we're being influenced by what we're embracing, because it can come look and real good. The second reason we have to watch it is because the message is contrary to Jesus' message of kingdom living. It is a false prophet.

It looks good. It sounds good. But he says it is contrary. Now, why is Jesus saying this? I mean, Man we've had such a cool three chapters, Jesus, Matthew five through seven, you know, all this profound teach. And then you, then you, kind of a downer false prophets, you know, devouring, wool, ravenous wolves. Why is he doing this?

He's saying it's going to be easy to be influenced away from this upside down life. Thinking the default mode of your flesh is always going to be moving towards the false teaching. Whereas the spirit is going to be constantly trying to prompt us towards the teaching of Matthew five through seven of what kingdom livers are to live.

Like I think in the immediate context, it's clear, he's talking about, uh, that there will be non narrow gate focus. He says, watch it be careful. And we w we get this, I mean, he's just said, be aware of, of, uh, be aware that you only way you're really going to get into my kingdom is by entering by the narrow gate, not the broad gate, false teachers are going to come.

Well, one of the things they're going to do is say that's that's, that is so exclusive. That is so narrow. It's bigoted. Certainly the greatest antagonism towards biblical Christianity today, culturally is the exclusivity of the. Right. I mean, to say, as Paul, as G as a Peter does in his sermon in acts four 12, and there is salvation in no one else for, there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

He's there talking about Jesus says this, this is one way. And, and, and, and not only is it a one gate it's a narrow gate, most people won't go there. He says, in terms of world history, world civilizations, this is repellent. Of course, if any of you have ever gone to university have taken philosophy class, if you've ever been involved in, in, um, uh, comparative religions classes in a secular university, you will probably have heard, you've probably had friends talk to you about the fact of, you know, that, that, that our approach to God is illustrated.

You know how we should look at it. And we should look at world religions and world thinking like the elephant, you know, the, the four blind guys, Neil, and I'm sure many of it for this illustration, I've mentioned it before. Basically. It's just a picture of this that says, you know, flora for blind guys, uh, were brought to describe an elephant.

They never seen an elephant before they would brought up. They were, they were, they were brought to the elephant and as they were brought there, they said, would you just touch the elephant? And then describe them for us? And the first one, uh, handled his trunk. And so he describes the trunk. Is this long, soft, gooey thing.

I've actually not ever felt an elephant's trunk. Um, probably have picked that up by now. Um, the second guy comes in and he is led to the elephant's leg and he says, wow. It's like, it's like a tree. You know, an elephant is a tree. It's this big, massive thing. And, and, and it sounds like, it feels like there's, there's there's muscle in there.

And then he's led the other guy's led to the tusk and he says, Aw, man, it's hard as a rock. An elephant is just this, this lifeless hard as a rock thing. And even at the end, it's kind of plenty and it's long and, and it's sorta, you know, bored. And then the other guys led to the elephant's tail and he says, oh, it's this little tiny stringy thing.

You know, it feels like a piece of string who's right there. All right. They're all describing the elephant. Right. But they only have part of the story. And this is the picture of a pluralistic mindset that says there are all kinds of ways to God. There's all kinds of paths going up. And, and just like the, that, that no one can say, I've got, I've got the whole picture.

You know, I see the whole elephant in it, and this is the way to God. And it's the only way. And you Christians that only you say D you're the only gate you see, it's a narrow gate that a lot of people won't even go there. It's so exclusive. It's so narrow minded. Here's the thing.

Philosophically, the only way someone can say, and basically this is what they're saying, you know, the, the, the Islam they've got the, the trunk and, and, and a Judaism that has the task and, and Christianity, you got, you got the tail and, and, uh, uh, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Buddhism has the leg and they're, but they're all leading the same.

It's the same elephant it's describing the Sullivan elephant. They're all going there. I mean, who is Christians to say, you've got the one path, neither. Is there salvation in any other, but, but the name of Jesus it's so exclusive, right? It's so narrow, but here's the deal in order for me to be able to say no, all of these paths.

Are going to God is to have the most narrow and exclusive perspective, because I am saying, I see all you guys and I see all of you are going to the same place. That I'm the only one, you know, you, Buddhist thinks it's this way and you, you Islam, Muslim, think it's this way. And you Jews think it's this way and you, Kristin thinks this.

I see it's I see where I see it, how it all works. It's they're actually the most exclusive perspective. It is saying, you don't know, your Jews are wrong to think it's your way. Muslims are wrong. Think it's your way. Chris's wrong thing. It's your way. I'm only saying that to say we don't need to be cowed by cultural pluralistic thinking that says now you're, you're, you're, you're narrow.

Now. That is the most narrow perspective, claiming a vantage point that none of these religions have, they just have.

But Jesus is reminding us here. This is going to be insidious teaching all the time. That's always going to question. There'll be another thing he's talked about is, is the bro the hard road. He said this last time we looked at verse 13 and 14, the hard road where he said part of this road of following as a member of his kingdom is going to involve suffering.

The word there is affliction. It actually means to be pressed. As I mentioned last week, like pressed grips, it's going to be a road of affliction. There is teaching in evangelical Christianity that would say suffering is wrong suffering. It cannot be viewed as part of the Christian experience. If you're suffering.

It's because you're sinful that you're not living by faith. I don't usually term specific things, but I feel this one, the proliferation of this is pretty prominent. The prosperity gospel is saying, you know, name it, claim it, anything you want God's goal for you is to be wealthy. God's goal for you is to be a sickness free God's goal for you is to not have affliction.

I believe that falls in the category that he's warning us against because he says, I'm telling you that suffering is one of the gifts of Christian experience, that you are privileged to enter into the sufferings of Jesus. And you will learn things about Jesus. You will find your joy in life in Christ, not in a problem free life.

It will rather be a hard road, but it was be a road well-worth choosing because of what you will find in Christ. But he says, be careful, be careful what you're listening to be careful. The messaging you're getting. If it's seeing that suffering is is, is a, uh, an enemy to Christian experience. I don't mean we go out and look.

I'm not signing up for that class, but am saying that that can be part of what is, is influencing us to think wrongly Christian experience. He had just a couple of other examples, a life of dependence and humility. Um, this is the whole focus of the sermon on the Mount. It is teaching the prompts believers to feel that they can live the principles of the sermon on the Mount and their own strength,

which is contrary to the very foundational principles of the sermon on the Mount. He starts with these two statements in the beatitudes. Blessed are the poor in spirit. It meant begging poor. What is he saying? He says you enter the kingdom with the reality that I am desperately broken that living the Christian life is not.

It's impossible for anyone other than Jesus Christ. And he says any teaching that that causes you to be, to be stirred up, that I gotta be better. And I gotta be, I be a good witness, and this is all about me getting a ride. And now I've got to do the list and, and that stirs you up pride fully to move forward.

He says, that's teaching. That is contrary to what I'm talking about here. That's an influence that will lead you away from desperate, joyful dependence on Jesus and say, well, thank you, Jesus. You know, you got me in, it was all a grace that led me to Christ and it led me to you. And I'll sort of take it from here.

It's not what he's saying. He says we're impoverished where people desperately dependent to live in the power of Christ and the other things he talks about a life of forgiving and forbearing self-control meekness. The teaching of the Pharisees of Jesus' day, which worked got by far, the sternest rebukes of Jesus were utterly contrary to these concepts for them.

They were showing how others did not measure up. And that the whole goal was to compare yourself to others and try to be in the superior group. A spirit of us against them being in the right group, keeping from being tainted by others. And Jesus then hung out with all the wrong people. Jesus chose love over rigid, getting it rightness and recognized that living in the kingdom was messy.

That things weren't all, all, all clear and starkly, right? Or starkly wrong. That, that, yes, there were principles of life, but, but you lived and loved and did life with people and, and, and you forgave and you didn't hold it against and all these principles and any teaching that leads us away from that. Is an influence that Jesus would say is destructive, which leads us to the third reason why watching out for false teaching is important because the influence is powerful.

He says, they look like sheeps, but this teaching is actually ravenous. Wolf's, it's quite an indictment because these guys he's talking about are influential in the faith community, but their influence is devouring. The souls of Jesus, people are flesh easily response. And by our flesh, I mean, um, our, our nature, uh, because of sin, which all of us have and which fights against.

The new life of Christ in him with his spirit in our lives. Our flesh is that orientation towards self. We all have it. And our flesh easily gets stirred up in finding a common enemy, right? Build your group around what you're against. Jim Jones learned early on that to find enemies, to rally people around would get people to embrace him as their leader.

That can be political enemies. That can be social issue enemies, but what happens is Christians can become fighters. I don't mean there isn't a place. We are in a spiritual warfare for a times taking stands and, and honor Christ. But if our whole focus is we've got to save America from and restore them to righteous as we've got, we've got to save the church from compromise.

Yes, those are important principles perhaps at times. But if that becomes our orientation, which it can with the proliferation of voices, we're hearing all the time, it does not feed your soul. It does not cause you to deal with your flesh. It does not cause you, it does not cause you to process. Am I condemning others?

Uh, am I dealing with my own anger? It makes you stirred up proud, secure, and your rightness and to use Jesus' words. Eventually, if we stay in that space all the time, it will devour our souls. It will not feed our enjoyment of Christ. And he is saying here, be beware of what is influencing you in your lives.

Okay. How do we recognize false profits? What does it look like? This faults infants? Well, one by what comes out of their mouth, their faults, profit, their profits, their speakers. And certainly what they've teached, not just in contrast to Jesus' teaching, but in the ignoring of Jesus' teaching. I think as long I'm going to say on this one, because there've been talking about this, what they're saying, basically, if, if I am being influenced all the time, if what I'm listening to is not leading me to the principles of Matthew five through seven in my spiritual life, then I am ignoring what Jesus has said is the important stuff and being focused on other stuff.

They also influence by what comes out of their lives. Here's what he says in verse 16, in verse 20, by their fruits, you will know them a bad tree. BA bears, bad fruit is what he says. We can bring that picture up. It's a bad apple tree, a good tree bears, good fruit. He says, you're not going to have great apples by that first tree because the tree is sick and, and its soul is not prospering.

And so it is not bringing the right fruit. So here's the challenge. Here's what he's saying. If you can't tell false teaching false profits by their teaching, look at what comes out of their lives. Now we would understand that in the first century, because they're living with these people, how do we do this today, man?

How do we, I mean, are we supposed to be always supposed to be, you know, anybody that I hear do a sermon I'm supposed to read their whole life story. I'm supposed to, you know, ask his wife. Would you please, how do you feel he's following Jesus these days what's coming out of his life at home. Obviously we can't do that.

These what we're getting influenced by. Our news broadcast, live streams, books, radio, speakers, podcasts, lot of people we don't know. So how do we know what the fruit of their lives is? Here's what I think the answer is you don't, but you can see what the fruit in your life is becoming. Jesus said it this way, the student is not above the teacher in Luke six 40, but everyone who is fully trained will be like their teacher.

So I don't know what's going on in somebody's life that, you know, uh, th th CNN broadcaster or a Fox broadcast. I don't know. I don't know what's going on. And I mean more commentators. I don't know what's going on with this radio preacher or this podcast. I don't know. But I do know if I'm honest, what it's doing.

And he says, examine the fruit that is being produced because the student will be like the teacher. So in the new Testament, there are some clear characteristics that come out of the life of false teaching. And I like to share three and I'm going to move him fairly quickly. But basically he said, if you want to look at somebody who is as a false teacher, who is influencing with faults teaching, whether it is whether he's wearing sheep's clothes or not, he said, you'll see these characteristics and they will tend to become yours as well as you are imbibing this teaching.

All right. So what are the three things? Number one, as you listen, you will tend to see in yourself or in them. Is equal. And this is, uh, these are illustrative passages I'm using is equal 22. I think I have it up there 25 to 29. The conspiracy of her prophets in their midst is like a roaring line tearing the, tearing the prey.

I'm going to read it this way. They have devoured human lives. They have taken treasure and precious things. They have made many widows in her midst. Her princes in our midst are like wolves tearing the prey, shedding blood destroying lives to get dishonest game. The people of the land of practice extortion and committed robbery.

In this passage, the teachers are stirring and they said the motive of the heart motivation is greed. And the result is the people because the princes have become ingredient. The people have become ingredient. It's stirring up an atmosphere of avarice and covetousness. And Discontentment the spirit of the sermon on the Mount leads to contentment.

The spirit of false profits leads to discontent. The spirit of the sermon on the Mount prompts towards generosity. The spirit of the false prophet is towards selfishness and covetousness. The dangers of gospels and teaching that focuses on how God wants to prosper. You. God wants to bless you. God wants you to be rich, is it does not stir up a spirit of contentment and generosity.

It stirs a spirit of greed and, and contentment and entitlement, the love of a life of comfort, hatred of a life of difficulty, but there is a spirit of greed. There is a second characteristic. He says that comes with false teaching or false influencing that we can imbibe into our lives. Secondly, it tends to advance.

He says this in acts 20 passage, she's talking to the people at Ephesus. Paul says, I know that after I leave, Savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number, men will rise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. Here's what he says.

He says, you will know these are, these are false teachers because they're actually leading people toward themselves. And that it's about them. It's, it's not ultimately leading towards Christ that they become that you become their followers. Now, how, how does that happen? I mean, in the church had emphasis, how has it happened that these believers that's Paul spent more time discipling than any other believers.

He spent more time and emphasis there over three years than anywhere else by far. And how are they going to be influenced to follow guys that actually there are so enamored with that. It's leading them away from Jesus and towards the. The same way. It happens for you and me. They give us what we want.

They speak to something within us that causes us to be drawn. We all want to be greater than right. You know, mathematical, nobody wants to be with the arrow pointing our way. That I'm a less than we all want to be over here on the greater than side. We can be very generous hearted greater than, but as long as I look good, as long as my body shape is better than the guy I'm working out with next to me, everything is good today.

Long as my house, little nicer than my sister's house or my brother's house or my sister-in-law's house, whatever it is,

we love being a part of a group that's winners. We love being a part of the group. That's right. We love being a part of the group where we get it. It's why in Corinth, Paul writes to the Corinthian believers and he says, what are you guys doing? You're saying this. He says it in chapter one in chapter three, you're saying here's the group.

And it's all divided in some say we're of Paul. He's our guy. And others say, no, no, no. We're of a Polish, this great Greek preacher in the church. Others say we're of CFUs, which was none named for Peter one. And Paul says, what are you doing? He responds to them. And he says, in verse, in first Corinthians one, he says, who is Paul?

Who is a palace? Who is Peter? Was Paul crucified for you? What are we? But slaves of Jesus doing what he tells us to do. This is exactly what he says. He says you guys are, but why would they do. They knew, Jesus, why are they drawn to Paul? Why they're drawn to CIF is why are they drawn to a palace? Because there's something within us that just loves being in the right group, seeing it the right way, having it figured out.

And Jesus says, man, be careful, be careful for how it appeals to you. That, that, that there is that desire. It's why Christian movements are so dangerous because we flocked to him because we want to be a part of the right group. And, and it's secure there and we want to be in the right. We want to be in the right denomination.

We want to be we around in the right. You know, what's going on.

Uh, Paul says be careful because one of the things you'll find is you are drawn to a movement that is ultimately causing you. Be drawn to self feed yourself and also to find people that are seeking knowingly or unknowingly drawing disciples after them, not after Christ. Third thing, arrogance in Matthew, chapter three, Jesus is talking to the Pharisees and Sadducees, and here's what he says when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism.

He said to them, you brood of Vipers who warned you to flee from the wrath to come bear fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, we have Abraham and as our father for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham, where it presume here is used in the Oxford dictionary definition.

One of the three definitions is to act with overconfidence means to be presumptuous, to have unjustified confidence, the false prophets. He says, you Pharisees, Sadducees, you have an inflated view of yourselves. You presume because your ancestors, Abraham, that you're the chosen few and you're in and others are out, but he says, you got to deal with your own hearts.

Like everybody else pride is in this. I'm going to land on. I want it. I want to just close with this. Pride is an insidious thing. It is the great evil. It is what historically in the church is always called the most foundational sin in our lives. CS Lewis, who is chapter in mere Christiania and pride is still the best thing I've ever read makes this statement.

Pride is essentially competitive. It's competitive by its very nature while the other vices are competitive only. So to speak by accident. Pride gets no pleasure out of having something only out of having more only out of having more of it than the next man. We say that people are proud of being rich or clever or good looking, but they're not, they are proud of being richer or cleverer or better looking than others.

If someone else becomes equally rich or clever, a good looking, there would be nothing to be proud about. It is the comparison that makes you proud. The pleasure of being above the rest. In first Corinthians four, Paul talks to the believers in Corinth about being proud. He used the word being puffed up and he says this to them.

Who makes you different from anybody else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not, he says you are comparing yourselves, you are elevating yourselves, and you're listening to teacher and teaching an influence that is causing you to find your security in that.

And so he makes this startling statement. He says, this, we on the other hands are fools for Christ, but you're so Weiss. We are weak. You're strong. You are honored. We are dishonored to this very hour. We go hungry and thirsty were in rags, were brutally treated. We're homeless. We work hard with our own hands.

When we're cursed. We bless when we are persecuted. We endure it. When we're slandered, we answer kindly we have become the scum of the earth, the garbage of the world, right up to this. Jesus it, Paul is saying this, we're not pretending to be anybody. Don't look to us. Don't say I'm a Paul or I'm of a palace, or I'm a Peter.

And try to get your satisfaction by being a part of that group. He says, we know we're desperate for Christ. We don't have anything else. We don't have any other resume to, except we are preaching Christ Jesus crucified. He is the life. He is the hope he is the glory. It's interesting what Paul then says in the latter part of first Corinthians four, he says, I'm not writing to shame you, but to warn you as my dear children, if you add 10,000 guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers for in Christ.

Jesus. I became your father through the gospel. Here's the kicker. Therefore, I urge you to imitate me for this reason. I've sent you Timothy, my son, whom I love who has faith in the Lord, he will remind you of my way of life in Christ. Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church. Here's what Paul is saying.

He says, guys, Timothy will remind you of what is true. I'm living the sermon on the Mount. I got nothing else. I don't want you to follow me. I don't want you to be impressed with me. Quite frankly, the word looks me as the scum of the earth as the, as, as garbage, he says, I don't, I don't have anything that commends me to you, except I am trying to lead you to Christ.

Christ is everything. And he says, this is my way of life. He says, I see the seed of every known sin in my own heart. I'm dealing with my pride, my anger, my self absorption. I'm desperate for Jesus. Delighting in him seeking to know him and letting him love me that I can love others through him. He says all that, that's all I've got and whatever is prompting you to say, well, we got to figure it out and we're going to save a culture.

We're going to, we're going to do this, or we're going to be that. Or, or, or, uh, we're going to now have the right narrow perspective that no other Christians have. He says, it's a trap. It doesn't feed your soul. And false teaching is trying to feed pride faults, influencing and teaching is trying to, to make it about what I can become.

And Jesus has, you know, quite frankly, when I'm looking for, in my citizens and they're just willing to sit in the place and stay there and say, you know what? I'm a broken person, but I serve a living Christ that knows everything about. Loves me is for me that the gospel is really embracing the fact that I am more corrupt than self-centered and evil than I ever dared believe, but I am more accepted and cherished and loved than I ever dared hope.

This is the life. This is the perspective. So here's my question to you after this long monologue, is this question, what is influencing you today? What are you listening to?

Is it making you a gentler person? Is it making you kinder? Is it making you more in love with Jesus? Is it prompting you to go inside and deal with the insights or, or is it all the battles with that? Is it causing you to allow Christ to change you? Are you more in love with Jesus? Is it making you more winsome in your witness?

Because you are at peace in a restless culture and a restless workplace, but your soul is at peace faults. Influences will cause us to have our soul sick. And Jesus is just saying, come on back, read again. The sermon on the Mount read again, of, of, of, of that. This is not for powerful people that get it, that that are able to fight all the battles.

And I'm not saying there's never a place for that. I'm just saying there is danger in that being our, our, the place we sit in is what's influencing your life today. All the TV you're watching all the sports radio. You listen to. The stuff that you're listening to with podcasts, is it quieting your spirit?

Is it making you love Jesus more than Paul says you're being influenced by that which causes soul sickness. Even if it's in the guise of sheep, even if it's in the clothing of sheep, look at what it's doing in your soul,

and then turn to that, which will bring health and healing in Christ. Lord, we pray this why pray that you would speak into our lives. However you want to, with this sermon,

I acknowledged Lord my own propensity to want to be great. I want to be a greater than. Yeah, I don't love living as a broken man

except, and I'm embracing my brokenness in the face of a God that has says he is completely for me. He is with me. Lord, let us sit in that place. Let us look to your word. Uh, maybe some of us just need to shut off media and shut off other voices. And just this afternoon, hear you speak into us quietly, Lord.

If that's true, don't let us get away from doing it. I pray in Jesus name. Amen. Now, go in peace to love and serve and enjoy.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/watch-out-for-false-prophets b8a0f349-d704-42a8-bb13-37ce819f3a76 Sun, 10 Oct 2021 13:29:39 GMT <div data-html="true">Matthew 7:15-20 <br /><br /> “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves." <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> I want to everybody, if I, you to take your Bibles today, we're going to be looking at Matthew chapter seven. Again, Matthew chapter seven. We're going to look at verses 15 to 20, um, as we continue in our series. And as we're heading, as Mike mentioned towards the end of the sermon on the Mount, which we have entitled the upside down life this morning, I want to start before we read verses 15 through 20, just a recounting, an historical event. <br /><br /> It began with a guy that was born in the 1930s in rural Indiana. He was a, uh, Uh, communicative type of young guy. Uh, he was enamored in high school and early college with two groups of people. One was the Pentecostal preachers that was, uh, associated with his background, how he marveled at, they were at their ability to draw people, to follow them, particularly through their faith healing services. <br /><br /> But the other group that he was drawn to was he really started reading in late high school. And during college, he began to read strong minded, um, despotic leaders, uh, Hitler, uh, read a lot of the Mark's writings, um, other individuals of history and was struck with how they were effective at getting people to follow them. <br /><br /> And one of the things he noticed was one of the, one of the most effective way to get people to follow you was to get a common enemy. And I'll say we're against this. This is destroying whatever. And, uh, so he would rally people around. This young man eventually started an organization. Many of you very familiar with called the people's temple. <br /><br /> Jim Jones was his name and Jim Jones began to build a following. He had his own brand of initially sort of starting with a Pentecostal type of a Pentecostal oriented Christianity, but deviated from that pretty dramatically, uh, more and more became about him and about people, um, following him, but also very socially involved, uh, did a lot of wonderful things as a group, but. <br /><br /> Became more and more of a deeply, um, authoritarian leader eventually due to some investigations that were starting to place by the United States government. He moved the whole group of about a thousand people down to Guyana, south America on the north coast of south America, which is where really the fame of Jim Jones and Jonestown occurs. <br /><br /> If you remember the story, basically what happened was while they were there. Uh, a us Congressman Leo Ryan, uh, had enough families come to him and say they had relatives who had, uh, they believe been brainwashed, had joined his group, or actually now some of them being held captive. We're not able to leave. <br /><br /> He got, uh, some media together and went in and visited the compound in guy. I actually took some of the family members with him. And while they were there, a handful of people from the group asked to leave with him. It was quite upsetting to Jim Jones. And I eventually what happened as the group left with this entourage of 15 or 16 individuals from the group that people's temple, uh, they were actually, as they were boarding their plane, the gunfire came, they were gunned down. <br /><br /> Leo Ryan, and four others were killed. And that same day, November 20, excuse me, November 18th, 1978. Jim Jones led the people in something they had practiced beforehand, a mass suicide. Some believe there was also murder involved because not everybody bought in, but they, they, uh, had everybody take the drink, which poisoned them. <br /><br /> Um, Took the life of 909 individuals one-third of which were under 17 and this horrific, terrible story, which many of you remembered? It's where we get the phrase drinking the Kool-Aid from. And it's easy to be appalled at how easily people can be swayed to donate their life savings, to follow seemingly blindly, a despotic seemingly maniacal individual to move to a, a country that none of them had ever heard of. <br /><br /> And they seem to be a bunch of crazies, but Tim Reiterman, who was one of the men that was with Leo Ryan, one of the media that was there was wounded by the shots at the plane, but escaped running into the, the, uh, the jungle wrote a book and in the book he makes this state. Though Jones' followers would later be stereotyped as sinister brainwashed idiots, many were decent, hardworking, socially conscious people, some highly educated who wanted to help their fellow man and serve God, not embrace a self-proclaimed deity on earth. <br /><br /> Jonestown is frightening and heartening as an example of falling under the sway of the wrong influence. As we approach the end of the sermon on the Mount. Jesus is presenting a series of comp comparisons to gates, to trees, to foundations. They're all warnings. We looked last time at two gates. He said there are two ways. <br /><br /> And if you want it, there is talking about entrance into his kingdom. All the principles there of the sermon on the Mount that are presented are presenting what Jesus says life should look like for those that live as members of his kingdom, who have embraced him as Lord savior king. And he says to actually enter into that relationship and to become a member, a citizen of my kingdom, he says, you will not enter through the broad gate rather Obie through the narrow gate. <br /><br /> So it was a reminder of the importance of, of understanding what embracing Jesus Christ really is and why most of humanity do not do it this time. He talks about two trees. And he talks about here, not the entrance into the kingdom, but rather to examine the evidence of those, that profess to be a part of the kingdom. <br /><br /> And also in living that life to watch what influence you are coming under his, where he talks about false prophets as we come to this passage. And the third one we'll look at next week is two foundations. He's talking about the edge of a building. He's talking about the energy with which we live this life as citizens. <br /><br /> Okay. Two, two trees, two influences. We're going to look at this morning and now I'd like you to read verse 15 through 20 of Matthew chapter seven. If you'd follow along in your Bible, I'll read out loud, <br /><br /> be aware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits are grapes gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles. So every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the disease tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit nor can a disease tree bear. <br /><br /> Good fruit, every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, you will recognize them by their fruits. Let's pray together. And then we're going to jump into this text this morning. Lord, we gather in this room, both those of us that are here in person, others watching online. <br /><br /> God, we've already heard thousands of messages this week. We've got our own messaging that goes on in our own heads. As we speak into ourselves with our thinking, we've heard it media, we've heard it in conversations. We've heard it through the television. An astonishing amount of information, but there's only one thing that you tell us is designed ultimately to be a guide for our lives. <br /><br /> And that's the scripture that we've opened this morning. So Lord, we ask you to teach us, may we hear your voice? May we discern the other influencing voices that may be in our lives that we can live as people that are called into your kingdom and live the unique upside down life that Jesus offers to us here in whose name I pray. <br /><br /> Amen. It's going to look at two things this morning, fairly simple outline regarding the influence of false profits. Number one is going to be why we must watch out for them. And secondly is how we recognize. And I want to make this statement at the beginning, sort of a disclaimer, it more of a note, I guess it's easy to think of this passage when he talks about beware of false prophets to sort of individualize it or personify it in a person. <br /><br /> For instance, it's easy to think. Do I have a Jim Jones in my life that I'm listening to, or, or, or maybe not the extremity of that, but who is the person that I'm listening to, but here's the thing in the first century D when this was written, think of the medium of communication they did not have, they did not have a cell phones or radios or TVs or books. <br /><br /> They did not have tablets or social media platforms. They only had in-person communication. Right? So the way that they would be influenced would be by individuals, by by groups, speak to a degree culturally, but preeminently, it would be teachers that were traveling around. And so for them, it really was individuals that were these false teachers, but for us false teaching comes through innumerable platforms and venues. <br /><br /> It is the influence of such that he's talking about. He's really saying, examine what is coming your way, what you're embracing, what you're applying your life towards can be an individual, but it also often is a, uh, an amalgamation of a variety of things. So the first thing why we must watch out for false prophets and false messaging, First of all, because they look and sound legit. <br /><br /> You'll notice how they're described here in verse 15, beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. Jesus constantly calls his children, sheep, John Tenney, devotes the whole passage to talking about he's the shepherd, we're the sheep. One of the most beautiful pictures of, of, and beloved pictures of our relationship to Jesus is he's the good shepherd. <br /><br /> We are the sheep. And he says, these, these individuals, this messaging comms, looking the jet, these people come in in the outfit, in the garment and in the, and the costume of sheep, they look like sheep. They sound like sheep, the influence, but he says inwardly they're ravenous. Wolf's. He presents this as a visual to us, I think to force us to ask a practical question. <br /><br /> Are these believers he's talking about. I mean, if people can look at them and say, well, they look sheepish, they sound like sheep. Are they sheep? And I think the answer is typically no, but there are passage of new Testament that give us pause. For instance, in acts chapter 20 verse 29 and 30, Paul takes this exact, excuse me, Luke takes this exact concept of Savage wolves and ravenous will Savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. <br /><br /> Even from your own number. Men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. What he's saying is. The messaging can be very insidious. It can come from people that seem to be, and perhaps are Orthodox people. And I'm Orthodox. I mean, people that are true gospel preaching people, but he says, there is a messaging here that is actually one that can devour. <br /><br /> So who go on and they say, why, why do we watch, whoa, we better watch what we're listening to, what we're being influenced by what we're embracing, because it can come look and real good. The second reason we have to watch it is because the message is contrary to Jesus' message of kingdom living. It is a false prophet. <br /><br /> It looks good. It sounds good. But he says it is contrary. Now, why is Jesus saying this? I mean, Man we've had such a cool three chapters, Jesus, Matthew five through seven, you know, all this profound teach. And then you, then you, kind of a downer false prophets, you know, devouring, wool, ravenous wolves. Why is he doing this? <br /><br /> He's saying it's going to be easy to be influenced away from this upside down life. Thinking the default mode of your flesh is always going to be moving towards the false teaching. Whereas the spirit is going to be constantly trying to prompt us towards the teaching of Matthew five through seven of what kingdom livers are to live. <br /><br /> Like I think in the immediate context, it's clear, he's talking about, uh, that there will be non narrow gate focus. He says, watch it be careful. And we w we get this, I mean, he's just said, be aware of, of, uh, be aware that you only way you're really going to get into my kingdom is by entering by the narrow gate, not the broad gate, false teachers are going to come. <br /><br /> Well, one of the things they're going to do is say that's that's, that is so exclusive. That is so narrow. It's bigoted. Certainly the greatest antagonism towards biblical Christianity today, culturally is the exclusivity of the. Right. I mean, to say, as Paul, as G as a Peter does in his sermon in acts four 12, and there is salvation in no one else for, there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. <br /><br /> He's there talking about Jesus says this, this is one way. And, and, and, and not only is it a one gate it's a narrow gate, most people won't go there. He says, in terms of world history, world civilizations, this is repellent. Of course, if any of you have ever gone to university have taken philosophy class, if you've ever been involved in, in, um, uh, comparative religions classes in a secular university, you will probably have heard, you've probably had friends talk to you about the fact of, you know, that, that, that our approach to God is illustrated. <br /><br /> You know how we should look at it. And we should look at world religions and world thinking like the elephant, you know, the, the four blind guys, Neil, and I'm sure many of it for this illustration, I've mentioned it before. Basically. It's just a picture of this that says, you know, flora for blind guys, uh, were brought to describe an elephant. <br /><br /> They never seen an elephant before they would brought up. They were, they were, they were brought to the elephant and as they were brought there, they said, would you just touch the elephant? And then describe them for us? And the first one, uh, handled his trunk. And so he describes the trunk. Is this long, soft, gooey thing. <br /><br /> I've actually not ever felt an elephant's trunk. Um, probably have picked that up by now. Um, the second guy comes in and he is led to the elephant's leg and he says, wow. It's like, it's like a tree. You know, an elephant is a tree. It's this big, massive thing. And, and, and it sounds like, it feels like there's, there's there's muscle in there. <br /><br /> And then he's led the other guy's led to the tusk and he says, Aw, man, it's hard as a rock. An elephant is just this, this lifeless hard as a rock thing. And even at the end, it's kind of plenty and it's long and, and it's sorta, you know, bored. And then the other guys led to the elephant's tail and he says, oh, it's this little tiny stringy thing. <br /><br /> You know, it feels like a piece of string who's right there. All right. They're all describing the elephant. Right. But they only have part of the story. And this is the picture of a pluralistic mindset that says there are all kinds of ways to God. There's all kinds of paths going up. And, and just like the, that, that no one can say, I've got, I've got the whole picture. <br /><br /> You know, I see the whole elephant in it, and this is the way to God. And it's the only way. And you Christians that only you say D you're the only gate you see, it's a narrow gate that a lot of people won't even go there. It's so exclusive. It's so narrow minded. Here's the thing. <br /><br /> Philosophically, the only way someone can say, and basically this is what they're saying, you know, the, the, the Islam they've got the, the trunk and, and, and a Judaism that has the task and, and Christianity, you got, you got the tail and, and, uh, uh, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Buddhism has the leg and they're, but they're all leading the same. <br /><br /> It's the same elephant it's describing the Sullivan elephant. They're all going there. I mean, who is Christians to say, you've got the one path, neither. Is there salvation in any other, but, but the name of Jesus it's so exclusive, right? It's so narrow, but here's the deal in order for me to be able to say no, all of these paths. <br /><br /> Are going to God is to have the most narrow and exclusive perspective, because I am saying, I see all you guys and I see all of you are going to the same place. That I'm the only one, you know, you, Buddhist thinks it's this way and you, you Islam, Muslim, think it's this way. And you Jews think it's this way and you, Kristin thinks this. <br /><br /> I see it's I see where I see it, how it all works. It's they're actually the most exclusive perspective. It is saying, you don't know, your Jews are wrong to think it's your way. Muslims are wrong. Think it's your way. Chris's wrong thing. It's your way. I'm only saying that to say we don't need to be cowed by cultural pluralistic thinking that says now you're, you're, you're, you're narrow. <br /><br /> Now. That is the most narrow perspective, claiming a vantage point that none of these religions have, they just have. <br /><br /> But Jesus is reminding us here. This is going to be insidious teaching all the time. That's always going to question. There'll be another thing he's talked about is, is the bro the hard road. He said this last time we looked at verse 13 and 14, the hard road where he said part of this road of following as a member of his kingdom is going to involve suffering. <br /><br /> The word there is affliction. It actually means to be pressed. As I mentioned last week, like pressed grips, it's going to be a road of affliction. There is teaching in evangelical Christianity that would say suffering is wrong suffering. It cannot be viewed as part of the Christian experience. If you're suffering. <br /><br /> It's because you're sinful that you're not living by faith. I don't usually term specific things, but I feel this one, the proliferation of this is pretty prominent. The prosperity gospel is saying, you know, name it, claim it, anything you want God's goal for you is to be wealthy. God's goal for you is to be a sickness free God's goal for you is to not have affliction. <br /><br /> I believe that falls in the category that he's warning us against because he says, I'm telling you that suffering is one of the gifts of Christian experience, that you are privileged to enter into the sufferings of Jesus. And you will learn things about Jesus. You will find your joy in life in Christ, not in a problem free life. <br /><br /> It will rather be a hard road, but it was be a road well-worth choosing because of what you will find in Christ. But he says, be careful, be careful what you're listening to be careful. The messaging you're getting. If it's seeing that suffering is is, is a, uh, an enemy to Christian experience. I don't mean we go out and look. <br /><br /> I'm not signing up for that class, but am saying that that can be part of what is, is influencing us to think wrongly Christian experience. He had just a couple of other examples, a life of dependence and humility. Um, this is the whole focus of the sermon on the Mount. It is teaching the prompts believers to feel that they can live the principles of the sermon on the Mount and their own strength, <br /><br /> which is contrary to the very foundational principles of the sermon on the Mount. He starts with these two statements in the beatitudes. Blessed are the poor in spirit. It meant begging poor. What is he saying? He says you enter the kingdom with the reality that I am desperately broken that living the Christian life is not. <br /><br /> It's impossible for anyone other than Jesus Christ. And he says any teaching that that causes you to be, to be stirred up, that I gotta be better. And I gotta be, I be a good witness, and this is all about me getting a ride. And now I've got to do the list and, and that stirs you up pride fully to move forward. <br /><br /> He says, that's teaching. That is contrary to what I'm talking about here. That's an influence that will lead you away from desperate, joyful dependence on Jesus and say, well, thank you, Jesus. You know, you got me in, it was all a grace that led me to Christ and it led me to you. And I'll sort of take it from here. <br /><br /> It's not what he's saying. He says we're impoverished where people desperately dependent to live in the power of Christ and the other things he talks about a life of forgiving and forbearing self-control meekness. The teaching of the Pharisees of Jesus' day, which worked got by far, the sternest rebukes of Jesus were utterly contrary to these concepts for them. <br /><br /> They were showing how others did not measure up. And that the whole goal was to compare yourself to others and try to be in the superior group. A spirit of us against them being in the right group, keeping from being tainted by others. And Jesus then hung out with all the wrong people. Jesus chose love over rigid, getting it rightness and recognized that living in the kingdom was messy. <br /><br /> That things weren't all, all, all clear and starkly, right? Or starkly wrong. That, that, yes, there were principles of life, but, but you lived and loved and did life with people and, and, and you forgave and you didn't hold it against and all these principles and any teaching that leads us away from that. Is an influence that Jesus would say is destructive, which leads us to the third reason why watching out for false teaching is important because the influence is powerful. <br /><br /> He says, they look like sheeps, but this teaching is actually ravenous. Wolf's, it's quite an indictment because these guys he's talking about are influential in the faith community, but their influence is devouring. The souls of Jesus, people are flesh easily response. And by our flesh, I mean, um, our, our nature, uh, because of sin, which all of us have and which fights against. <br /><br /> The new life of Christ in him with his spirit in our lives. Our flesh is that orientation towards self. We all have it. And our flesh easily gets stirred up in finding a common enemy, right? Build your group around what you're against. Jim Jones learned early on that to find enemies, to rally people around would get people to embrace him as their leader. <br /><br /> That can be political enemies. That can be social issue enemies, but what happens is Christians can become fighters. I don't mean there isn't a place. We are in a spiritual warfare for a times taking stands and, and honor Christ. But if our whole focus is we've got to save America from and restore them to righteous as we've got, we've got to save the church from compromise. <br /><br /> Yes, those are important principles perhaps at times. But if that becomes our orientation, which it can with the proliferation of voices, we're hearing all the time, it does not feed your soul. It does not cause you to deal with your flesh. It does not cause you, it does not cause you to process. Am I condemning others? <br /><br /> Uh, am I dealing with my own anger? It makes you stirred up proud, secure, and your rightness and to use Jesus' words. Eventually, if we stay in that space all the time, it will devour our souls. It will not feed our enjoyment of Christ. And he is saying here, be beware of what is influencing you in your lives. <br /><br /> Okay. How do we recognize false profits? What does it look like? This faults infants? Well, one by what comes out of their mouth, their faults, profit, their profits, their speakers. And certainly what they've teached, not just in contrast to Jesus' teaching, but in the ignoring of Jesus' teaching. I think as long I'm going to say on this one, because there've been talking about this, what they're saying, basically, if, if I am being influenced all the time, if what I'm listening to is not leading me to the principles of Matthew five through seven in my spiritual life, then I am ignoring what Jesus has said is the important stuff and being focused on other stuff. <br /><br /> They also influence by what comes out of their lives. Here's what he says in verse 16, in verse 20, by their fruits, you will know them a bad tree. BA bears, bad fruit is what he says. We can bring that picture up. It's a bad apple tree, a good tree bears, good fruit. He says, you're not going to have great apples by that first tree because the tree is sick and, and its soul is not prospering. <br /><br /> And so it is not bringing the right fruit. So here's the challenge. Here's what he's saying. If you can't tell false teaching false profits by their teaching, look at what comes out of their lives. Now we would understand that in the first century, because they're living with these people, how do we do this today, man? <br /><br /> How do we, I mean, are we supposed to be always supposed to be, you know, anybody that I hear do a sermon I'm supposed to read their whole life story. I'm supposed to, you know, ask his wife. Would you please, how do you feel he's following Jesus these days what's coming out of his life at home. Obviously we can't do that. <br /><br /> These what we're getting influenced by. Our news broadcast, live streams, books, radio, speakers, podcasts, lot of people we don't know. So how do we know what the fruit of their lives is? Here's what I think the answer is you don't, but you can see what the fruit in your life is becoming. Jesus said it this way, the student is not above the teacher in Luke six 40, but everyone who is fully trained will be like their teacher. <br /><br /> So I don't know what's going on in somebody's life that, you know, uh, th th CNN broadcaster or a Fox broadcast. I don't know. I don't know what's going on. And I mean more commentators. I don't know what's going on with this radio preacher or this podcast. I don't know. But I do know if I'm honest, what it's doing. <br /><br /> And he says, examine the fruit that is being produced because the student will be like the teacher. So in the new Testament, there are some clear characteristics that come out of the life of false teaching. And I like to share three and I'm going to move him fairly quickly. But basically he said, if you want to look at somebody who is as a false teacher, who is influencing with faults teaching, whether it is whether he's wearing sheep's clothes or not, he said, you'll see these characteristics and they will tend to become yours as well as you are imbibing this teaching. <br /><br /> All right. So what are the three things? Number one, as you listen, you will tend to see in yourself or in them. Is equal. And this is, uh, these are illustrative passages I'm using is equal 22. I think I have it up there 25 to 29. The conspiracy of her prophets in their midst is like a roaring line tearing the, tearing the prey. <br /><br /> I'm going to read it this way. They have devoured human lives. They have taken treasure and precious things. They have made many widows in her midst. Her princes in our midst are like wolves tearing the prey, shedding blood destroying lives to get dishonest game. The people of the land of practice extortion and committed robbery. <br /><br /> In this passage, the teachers are stirring and they said the motive of the heart motivation is greed. And the result is the people because the princes have become ingredient. The people have become ingredient. It's stirring up an atmosphere of avarice and covetousness. And Discontentment the spirit of the sermon on the Mount leads to contentment. <br /><br /> The spirit of false profits leads to discontent. The spirit of the sermon on the Mount prompts towards generosity. The spirit of the false prophet is towards selfishness and covetousness. The dangers of gospels and teaching that focuses on how God wants to prosper. You. God wants to bless you. God wants you to be rich, is it does not stir up a spirit of contentment and generosity. <br /><br /> It stirs a spirit of greed and, and contentment and entitlement, the love of a life of comfort, hatred of a life of difficulty, but there is a spirit of greed. There is a second characteristic. He says that comes with false teaching or false influencing that we can imbibe into our lives. Secondly, it tends to advance. <br /><br /> He says this in acts 20 passage, she's talking to the people at Ephesus. Paul says, I know that after I leave, Savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number, men will rise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. Here's what he says. <br /><br /> He says, you will know these are, these are false teachers because they're actually leading people toward themselves. And that it's about them. It's, it's not ultimately leading towards Christ that they become that you become their followers. Now, how, how does that happen? I mean, in the church had emphasis, how has it happened that these believers that's Paul spent more time discipling than any other believers. <br /><br /> He spent more time and emphasis there over three years than anywhere else by far. And how are they going to be influenced to follow guys that actually there are so enamored with that. It's leading them away from Jesus and towards the. The same way. It happens for you and me. They give us what we want. <br /><br /> They speak to something within us that causes us to be drawn. We all want to be greater than right. You know, mathematical, nobody wants to be with the arrow pointing our way. That I'm a less than we all want to be over here on the greater than side. We can be very generous hearted greater than, but as long as I look good, as long as my body shape is better than the guy I'm working out with next to me, everything is good today. <br /><br /> Long as my house, little nicer than my sister's house or my brother's house or my sister-in-law's house, whatever it is, <br /><br /> we love being a part of a group that's winners. We love being a part of the group. That's right. We love being a part of the group where we get it. It's why in Corinth, Paul writes to the Corinthian believers and he says, what are you guys doing? You're saying this. He says it in chapter one in chapter three, you're saying here's the group. <br /><br /> And it's all divided in some say we're of Paul. He's our guy. And others say, no, no, no. We're of a Polish, this great Greek preacher in the church. Others say we're of CFUs, which was none named for Peter one. And Paul says, what are you doing? He responds to them. And he says, in verse, in first Corinthians one, he says, who is Paul? <br /><br /> Who is a palace? Who is Peter? Was Paul crucified for you? What are we? But slaves of Jesus doing what he tells us to do. This is exactly what he says. He says you guys are, but why would they do. They knew, Jesus, why are they drawn to Paul? Why they're drawn to CIF is why are they drawn to a palace? Because there's something within us that just loves being in the right group, seeing it the right way, having it figured out. <br /><br /> And Jesus says, man, be careful, be careful for how it appeals to you. That, that, that there is that desire. It's why Christian movements are so dangerous because we flocked to him because we want to be a part of the right group. And, and it's secure there and we want to be in the right. We want to be in the right denomination. <br /><br /> We want to be we around in the right. You know, what's going on. <br /><br /> Uh, Paul says be careful because one of the things you'll find is you are drawn to a movement that is ultimately causing you. Be drawn to self feed yourself and also to find people that are seeking knowingly or unknowingly drawing disciples after them, not after Christ. Third thing, arrogance in Matthew, chapter three, Jesus is talking to the Pharisees and Sadducees, and here's what he says when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism. <br /><br /> He said to them, you brood of Vipers who warned you to flee from the wrath to come bear fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, we have Abraham and as our father for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham, where it presume here is used in the Oxford dictionary definition. <br /><br /> One of the three definitions is to act with overconfidence means to be presumptuous, to have unjustified confidence, the false prophets. He says, you Pharisees, Sadducees, you have an inflated view of yourselves. You presume because your ancestors, Abraham, that you're the chosen few and you're in and others are out, but he says, you got to deal with your own hearts. <br /><br /> Like everybody else pride is in this. I'm going to land on. I want it. I want to just close with this. Pride is an insidious thing. It is the great evil. It is what historically in the church is always called the most foundational sin in our lives. CS Lewis, who is chapter in mere Christiania and pride is still the best thing I've ever read makes this statement. <br /><br /> Pride is essentially competitive. It's competitive by its very nature while the other vices are competitive only. So to speak by accident. Pride gets no pleasure out of having something only out of having more only out of having more of it than the next man. We say that people are proud of being rich or clever or good looking, but they're not, they are proud of being richer or cleverer or better looking than others. <br /><br /> If someone else becomes equally rich or clever, a good looking, there would be nothing to be proud about. It is the comparison that makes you proud. The pleasure of being above the rest. In first Corinthians four, Paul talks to the believers in Corinth about being proud. He used the word being puffed up and he says this to them. <br /><br /> Who makes you different from anybody else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not, he says you are comparing yourselves, you are elevating yourselves, and you're listening to teacher and teaching an influence that is causing you to find your security in that. <br /><br /> And so he makes this startling statement. He says, this, we on the other hands are fools for Christ, but you're so Weiss. We are weak. You're strong. You are honored. We are dishonored to this very hour. We go hungry and thirsty were in rags, were brutally treated. We're homeless. We work hard with our own hands. <br /><br /> When we're cursed. We bless when we are persecuted. We endure it. When we're slandered, we answer kindly we have become the scum of the earth, the garbage of the world, right up to this. Jesus it, Paul is saying this, we're not pretending to be anybody. Don't look to us. Don't say I'm a Paul or I'm of a palace, or I'm a Peter. <br /><br /> And try to get your satisfaction by being a part of that group. He says, we know we're desperate for Christ. We don't have anything else. We don't have any other resume to, except we are preaching Christ Jesus crucified. He is the life. He is the hope he is the glory. It's interesting what Paul then says in the latter part of first Corinthians four, he says, I'm not writing to shame you, but to warn you as my dear children, if you add 10,000 guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers for in Christ. <br /><br /> Jesus. I became your father through the gospel. Here's the kicker. Therefore, I urge you to imitate me for this reason. I've sent you Timothy, my son, whom I love who has faith in the Lord, he will remind you of my way of life in Christ. Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church. Here's what Paul is saying. <br /><br /> He says, guys, Timothy will remind you of what is true. I'm living the sermon on the Mount. I got nothing else. I don't want you to follow me. I don't want you to be impressed with me. Quite frankly, the word looks me as the scum of the earth as the, as, as garbage, he says, I don't, I don't have anything that commends me to you, except I am trying to lead you to Christ. <br /><br /> Christ is everything. And he says, this is my way of life. He says, I see the seed of every known sin in my own heart. I'm dealing with my pride, my anger, my self absorption. I'm desperate for Jesus. Delighting in him seeking to know him and letting him love me that I can love others through him. He says all that, that's all I've got and whatever is prompting you to say, well, we got to figure it out and we're going to save a culture. <br /><br /> We're going to, we're going to do this, or we're going to be that. Or, or, or, uh, we're going to now have the right narrow perspective that no other Christians have. He says, it's a trap. It doesn't feed your soul. And false teaching is trying to feed pride faults, influencing and teaching is trying to, to make it about what I can become. <br /><br /> And Jesus has, you know, quite frankly, when I'm looking for, in my citizens and they're just willing to sit in the place and stay there and say, you know what? I'm a broken person, but I serve a living Christ that knows everything about. Loves me is for me that the gospel is really embracing the fact that I am more corrupt than self-centered and evil than I ever dared believe, but I am more accepted and cherished and loved than I ever dared hope. <br /><br /> This is the life. This is the perspective. So here's my question to you after this long monologue, is this question, what is influencing you today? What are you listening to? <br /><br /> Is it making you a gentler person? Is it making you kinder? Is it making you more in love with Jesus? Is it prompting you to go inside and deal with the insights or, or is it all the battles with that? Is it causing you to allow Christ to change you? Are you more in love with Jesus? Is it making you more winsome in your witness? <br /><br /> Because you are at peace in a restless culture and a restless workplace, but your soul is at peace faults. Influences will cause us to have our soul sick. And Jesus is just saying, come on back, read again. The sermon on the Mount read again, of, of, of, of that. This is not for powerful people that get it, that that are able to fight all the battles. <br /><br /> And I'm not saying there's never a place for that. I'm just saying there is danger in that being our, our, the place we sit in is what's influencing your life today. All the TV you're watching all the sports radio. You listen to. The stuff that you're listening to with podcasts, is it quieting your spirit? <br /><br /> Is it making you love Jesus more than Paul says you're being influenced by that which causes soul sickness. Even if it's in the guise of sheep, even if it's in the clothing of sheep, look at what it's doing in your soul, <br /><br /> and then turn to that, which will bring health and healing in Christ. Lord, we pray this why pray that you would speak into our lives. However you want to, with this sermon, <br /><br /> I acknowledged Lord my own propensity to want to be great. I want to be a greater than. Yeah, I don't love living as a broken man <br /><br /> except, and I'm embracing my brokenness in the face of a God that has says he is completely for me. He is with me. Lord, let us sit in that place. Let us look to your word. Uh, maybe some of us just need to shut off media and shut off other voices. And just this afternoon, hear you speak into us quietly, Lord. <br /><br /> If that's true, don't let us get away from doing it. I pray in Jesus name. Amen. Now, go in peace to love and serve and enjoy.</div> false no <![CDATA[Two Gates]]> Matthew 7:13-14

“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”



I encourage you to take your Bibles. We're going to turn to again, Matthew chapter seven, as we continue and return to our series, the upside down life, the sermon on the Mount, the greatest summary of Jesus' teaching, we have. Ever recorded, uh, here in Matthew chapter five through seven, we're going to be looking at two verses this morning.

Um, and they're found in Matthew chapter seven, verse 13 and 14, and I'm going to go ahead and read those

enter by the narrow gate for the gate is wide. And the way is easy. That leads to destruction. And those who enter by it are many for the gate is narrow. And the way is hard, that leads to life. And those who find it are few let's pray, Lord, thank you for all these many weeks, we've already spent studying this passage of scripture.

Thank you God. For the convicting work of the spirit that you've done continue to do, as we reflect on. This portrayal of what life is designed to look like. And the reminder is we look at it just that we can't begin to live this way apart from Christ. Thank you Lord, for the encouragements, we've found already to just want to walk with you and lean into you and just the joy of being able to do life with you and live it out.

As it's seen in this passage, Lord. Now, as you challenge us to enter in to this life, I pray that you would speak to each of us wherever we are on our journey of life in Jesus name. Amen.

We come to the crescendo moment in the sermon on the Mount. Really Jesus has been presenting a variety of things. Quickly, give a snapshot of those. There are three different directions that Jesus points us in the sermon on the Mount one, preeminently perhaps is outward. He is continually working to remind us that those that are citizens of his kingdom are individuals that are to have a unique lifestyle toward others.

He talks about anger and he actually says he quotes the commandment murder. And he says, actually the spirit of murder is manifested. Whenever you are angry. He talks about lust as being the spirit of adultery. He talks about how we are to be truth tellers, how we are to not retaliate, but rather to forgive how we are to show love for our enemies, how we're not to be condemning others with a judging.

As if we were God to be living by the golden rule, these are just some of the qualities he's talking about, about what it means to live out the Jesus life. Then he talks about an inward focus and here he talks in chapter six, as he focuses on three different, uh, very serious spiritual activities, but he says even these can be in, it can be a destructive in your spiritual life.

If you are not doing the hard work of inner examination, he talks about inward motivation for things like, uh, giving to the needy, praying fast. In the beatitudes, you continually causes us to look inside. He says we're to be people that recognize our poverty of spirit, our desperate need for God we're to be people that are mourning, mourning over our sin and, and our need of God and what li live out when we are not leaning into God.

He said this outward look, he said, this inward look. And of course he has the upward look as in chapter six. And then in chapter seven, he talks about that. The propensity, we have to make money, our treasure, rather than God, that money becomes what we depend on and trust in and define ourselves by. And it's where we find our security.

And he speaks towards that. He speaks towards the need of replacing. With trust. He speaks about continually asking and depending on God, in chapter seven in the passages, just before this one, all these things have been things he's talking about. And now he comes here in chapter seven, verse 13 and 14.

He's concluding his sermon in the next number of verses. And as he's doing so he prevents people with a choice. He presents the choice using three different metaphors. He presents them and he says, there's two gates. There's two trees. There's two house foundations. And he says, there's two gates, which we'll look at this morning.

And he's talking about the entrance to kingdom living. He says there's two trees. And one gives the evidence of kingdom living. One gives the evidence. Of something else. He says, there's two house, house foundations. And he, and he says, here's the energy for living the life that I'm offering. You, you can, you can build your house on the rock or you can build your house on something else.

But really he's coming to us with an invitation to enter in to the, through these three metaphors, to this kingdom life that he is offering to us in Matthew chapter five through seven, he's saying to us in these verses verse 13 and 14, if you want to be a part of my kingdom, you have to enter into it.

You have to go through the gate in the teaching ministry of Jesus is interesting. How many times he uses the word entering into the kingdom? Let me just. Three quick ones, mark chapter nine, verse 47. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It's better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell in mark chapter 10, verse 15, he says, truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God.

Like a little child shall not enter into it in Matthew chapter five, verse 20 here in the sermon on the Mount for, I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. He's talking here in this passage about how do we get into the kingdom?

How do we become a member? How do, how do we enter into this, this life that you're talking about? The upside down life, which seems quite frankly impossible. And quite frankly, it is impossible. Only Jesus Christ can live this life, but he is offering to us as kingdom dwellers, as individuals that are citizens of this kingdom to live that life through us.

So how do you get in? Well, that's what he's talking about and what are the choices that are involved. And so he presents to gates and again, to read our passage, this is what he says enter by the narrow gate for the gate is wide. And the way is easy. That leads to destruction. And those who enter by it are many for the gate is narrow.

And the way is hard, that leads to life. And those who find it are few on a race, an answer, three simple questions there where each one is by comparison. As we look at the two gates where the gates lead. Um, I can't remember what other questions off the top of my head. I gotta cheat ahead. Um, where do the gates lead?

Uh, we'll, we'll see it when we get there. Um, all right. Where do the gates lead? First one leads to destroy. He says, take the narrow gate. And then he says, because the gate is wide and the way is easy. That leads to destruction of this word. Destruction is just about as heavy sounding heavy as it is heavy sounding.

The word actually is, is used in a couple of passages, actually choose a number of passages. But two I'd mentioned second, Peter, three, seven. He says the heavens and earth are stored up until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly in Romans 9 22. He says people who reject God's salvation are vessels of.

Prepared for destruction. There's a heavy new Testament term. It is a heavy new Testament concept. He is talking about that, which the Bible describes as the eternal separation from God. It is, it is called eternal death. It is still actually, we are still existing. We are living in that sense, but an individual that is in this state, he's talking about of destruction is eternally alive, separated from God.

And so it's actually called an eternal death in the scripture. It's what we call hell. It is the place. Um, real though, as I've shared before, I don't think the picture depicted from symbolic language in the Bible is, is necessarily accurate that we draw. I don't think hell is primarily, I don't think the focus of it is, is a fiery fomenting.

Uh, I think the idea is of a barren wasteland, the picture, and in scripture of this destruction is a place of sorrow and emptiness. The word destruction here is actually the word waste it's used of the disciples. And they say to Jesus, they say to him, one time, Jesus has this woman come. And she anoints him with this, this, this, um, wealthy, uh, expensive exquisite ointment.

And they say it's worth 300. Denarii well, it doesn't mean a whole lot until you know that the denari was one day's wages. This is most of a year's salary went into this one anointing and the boys are sitting there going, why was this wasted like this? I mean, we've got to solve this stuff and, and given money to the.

Jesus rebukes them because he sees the heart behind the action. But the idea is that is the word it is. And they say, why was that? What that ointment wasted like that the concept he's talking about this eternal state of separation from God is basically saying it is life that is lived eternally, not the way it was designed to be used.

It is wasted. It is in that sense, lost if you will. It is this sense of destructiveness. He is referring to hell is real separation from God is real life after death is real. And he is saying there is a path, a gate that leads there, but he says, there's another gate as well. And he says this gate, the narrow gate leads to life.

So what is he referring to when he says we're at where this leads? Well, Romans chapter 6, 23 says the wages of sin is death. What we've we've earned, but the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ. Our Lord, the idea is that life begins at the moment of entering the narrow gate. The reference to life is actually saying, this is an entrance into life, as it is designed to be, this is real life.

It is life that is eternal. It continues forever, but it is not only life that is, is about the future because he says, the moment you pass through this gate, you experience. Life. And Jesus said, I've come to bring life. And it is life that you would live. He says, I've come to bring life. And that abundantly in others, it isn't just, it's a bus ticket to heaven.

Now you get life rather than eternal death. He says, I've come to give you life. And when you pass through this gate, you experience yes, the guarantee of eternal life forever, but you also begin life. You start life, as it is designed to be lived.

What does that look like? Matthew chapter five through seven is a great place to start. There begins to be a power to forgive instead of retaliating to begins to be a capacity, to, to trust in God, rather than other things. For our definition of who we are and where our security can come, the responses to people, the compassion towards it can begin through the power of Christ.

The life that we experience is the life of Christ that he enters our lives and begins by his grace to live his life. And the more we allow him to do so, the more he manifests this abundancy of life that he talks about, but he says here's where the two paths lead death, continual separation from God that continues forever.

The other gate narrower gate leads to life eternal life, but it isn't just a bus ticket. It's actually the beginning of a life experience. It's interesting that John, John Piper has a book that I think, and I was interested as I was rereading it again recently, how he refers to some of these very passages about, um, destructiveness and waste.

Uh, being in that term, the book is called don't waste your life. He's talking particularly to believers, and he's saying we can live as if we are headed towards destruction. We can, we can not imbibe in our lives, the abundancy of life that we are destined for. And if we do we're, we're living as if life is wasted, it won't be wasted eternally, but he says don't waste.

It don't live as if you are headed towards destruction towards wasteland. I think it's an appropriate perspective. Jesus is saying you don't have to, if you've enter the narrow gate, or if you choose by God's grace to enter the narrow gate. What you find on the other side is life who the gates draw.

That's my second question. And I couldn't remember many and few for the gate is wide, and the way is easy. That leads to destruction. Verse 13 tells us, and those who enter by it are many. It's a picture of, of the main gate into the city of Jerusalem. And that's how it was. And of course the city was much larger than that, but that's just some of the existing walls, but big gay people go through the main gate.

Most people look to find their lives, invest their lives, to prepare for life, to come life, to come through the wide gate, the big gate, the main gate, if you will, they go with the flow and the flow, Jesus says leads. Towards this gate. This is where they're looking to find life. This is where they look to, to find eternal life.

Now you may say, well, that seems like two very different statements. I disagree. Here's why I think the same modus operandi that we have as fallen people, as people who have been scarred by sin to generate energy for our lives is what we expect to be the same methodology we use to experience eternal life.

Here's what I mean. If you listen to marketing advertisers, slogans will regularly come out in trying to get people to, to buy in things like, just do it. If you look at philosophies, they argue for it. Secularism, humanism, hedonism, and everything else will basically say it's. It's up to you. It's about you figure it out.

Religious systems, every religion in the world, except biblical Christianity could be defined by this word. Do it's what you have to do for some, it might be stronger on you must do benevolent behavior. Some of it might be higher on you must do personal sacrifice. You must do devotional practices. People are measured as worthy based on their own works that they, they are viewed as accepted by God from the same playing field that we use to measure ourselves in our lives.

I'll come back to this in a minute. Then he says, so he says, this is what most people do. And this is where most people are going. They think it's about them because that's how they're valuing every other part of their lives. But he says there are the few relatively speaking in world civilization. The choose the narrow gate.

And he says it this way for the narrow gate in verse 14 is narrow. And the way is hard, that leads to life. And those who find it are few. So here's the question, of course. Why do few find it? Because the foundational drive of our hearts, all of us is to self life. Self-centeredness self absorption.

Self-sufficiency self reliance. Only God convinced, convince you that you don't have the goods. Our entire lives are lived trying to, to measure up in parts of our lives. And so when we say, I need to find God, I need to get to God. We just naturally default to the same methodology. What am I going to do?

How do I, how can I measure up? What can I.

But then we're told that Christianity, biblical Christianity, and I would argue the narrow gate says it is not about do it's about done. He did it. There's someone that did it now. Now that sounds wonderful until you have to embrace the fact of why he did it. He did it because we are utterly incapable of doing it ourselves, that we are broken sinful, corrupt, needy people, and that we cannot do what is necessary to earn God's acceptance.

Now this, that starts to get a little unpalatable, you know, and say, Hey. Here's this broad gate, you know, you can go in and you do. If you have to do all these things and you have to measure up and you have to, but, but if you do enough good things to outweigh the bad things, you know, that's, that's how we do it, right.

Or you can go to this narrow gate and here's the slogan for the narrow gate and ran all here who are broken. Self-centered held deserving. Wicked people will sign me up. No, we don't want to go there. Naturally. We say, I, I know I'm a doer, my whole life. I'm trying to measure. I'm trying to compare it. I don't want to be around people that are better than me, because I don't like that.

You know that mathematical thing. I want to be a, I don't want to be a grid. I want to be a spiritually greater than, because God's looking for spiritually greater than engine. That's what the gate's all about. So, but to go to that gate now, utterly helpless. Hell deserve it. Come on. That's why Jesus says in John chapter six, verse 44, no one can come to the father.

He says, no one can come to me. Jesus is speaking. Unless the father who sent me draws him. Now, this statement is amazing because the word that he uses there is fishermen talk. The word draw is actually the word that is usually used in the gospels to talk about a net that the fishermen throw and they draw in with the catch of fish.

Now I'm not a fisherman, but I've watched finding Nemo. And in finding Nemo, if you remember the scene, there's a scene towards the end where we're Dory is caught in a thing. And, and there, I think it's. Yeah, so that, and it's pulling the big crane is pulling the fish net up and, and Nimo gets the idea with his dad.

And he says, did everybody flipping their fins that way away from the boat? And you remember, they're trying to get escape, trying to get away. Right? So all the fishers are in, they get it in and we're all happy except for the fishermen whose net gets broken in, their crane gets broken. But the idea is the fish don't want to get in the boat.

Jesus says, no fish are jumping into the boat saying, sign me up. Deserving. Hell yeah, just by nature, we don't do that. But he says some, do some, do some go the narrow gate, some recognize it's not do it's done. He did it for me. And he says, they're the ones that my father has drawn. What that says to us, just like Ephesians two, eight and nine for by grace.

Are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It's the gift of God. Well, what's the gift of God. The, that is talking about even our faith. It's saying those who do, and if you have gone through the narrow gate, if you have said, I embrace the fact that I can do nothing to deserve God's favor and acceptance, that I am deserving of eternal separation, that, that I am a broken corrupt sinner, but I realized Jesus died for me.

Then God has enabled you to see that in his grace, he has drawn you. And he says, it's narrow because we don't naturally want to go. This is not the natural choice we would make. And if, if, if God has been allowing you through his spirit to, to come to a place in your life and you say, I don't, I don't really know all this Jesus stuff.

I mean, I know some stories and, and, and, and, uh, but I, I don't, I don't know. I mean, I'm just trying to find God, but if you're sensing, but I, I don't know what to do with my sin. I do see my unit. I mean, I know you are being funny mark about saying who's going to sign up, but there's a part of me that would sign up because I'm sensing my sin.

And I am sensing that, that, that I'm corrupt in ways I never saw before. And then I want to say to you, God's at work in you, God is mercifully enabling you to understand through his spirit, your need of Christ. He is by his grace drawing you toward that narrow gate, because in ourselves we don't go. All right.

What are the gates entail? There's an easy way. There's a hard way now on first swing. Well, once you really start climbing into this passage and reading commentaries and stuff, you find out this there's a little bit of a naughty question here, and here's the question he talks about, uh, the gate, but he also talks about the way which means road.

And he says, you know, there's a narrow gate and the road is hard. And the question is, which comes first. I mean, is it a road leading to the gate or is it a road that results from the gate? And here's why it's a little hard if it's a road leading to the gate. That means that that, uh, it's about me somehow performing in order to get through the gate.

We don't believe that jives with anything in the new Testament. We believe it's all of grace. On the other hand, he makes this statement and he says, the road is hard. That leads to life or life is through the gate. Right? So, so mark, which is it that the, the, uh, the road or the gate and the answer is yes. I don't believe Jesus is trying to distinguish these things.

I think he, what he's saying is when you embrace life, when you come to become a member of, of God's kingdom and his child, and, and, and enter into life, there's a road, there's a gate he's picturing that he says is narrower. There's even a part of it. He says that is harder. So let's think about that. He says here, first of all, it's a, the wide gate is an easier way now.

Why is it easy? I believe because it makes sense to us. It's about me deciding to suck it up and get better. It's me choosing a religion that says to me, do more measure up, you know, checklists, these things give enough to the church, be faithful, do whatever it is. And, and you'll get in. That's how we do life, right?

I mean, how do I get in shape? I work harder. How do I get more sales? I make more calls. I get out there, do it. How do I get better grades or study more hopefully, but how do we do it? I trust in me. My effort, my discipline, myself adjustments, these the, the, the Broadway makes sense. It's life to us. It's how we do life.

But Jesus says it leads to destruction because you can't do it. You can't work yourself out spiritually enough. You can't be benevolent enough. You sin is that serious that it can only be taken care of by someone else doing it for you, God, the son himself. And because it is done, it is available to people that say, you know what?

That gate, I go to load it up with all my righteousness and deeds that gate. I walk in like this. I got nothing. I got nothing except one thing he did it all it's done. So why is it hard? Cause he says the narrow road is hard to two ways. I think it's a hard door to embrace Matthew 19. Jesus talks about this and Jesus said to his disciples, truly, I say to you only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven.

Again, I tell you it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished saying who then can be saved. But Jesus looked at them and said with man, this is impossible with gods. All things are possible.

He says wealthy people are used to being self-sufficient. Many wealthy people are there because they are, they are doers. They've trusted in that. They've leaned on that. And he says that becomes an impediment because they just think, well, T T you know, to earn life must be, I just gotta follow my, my life modus operandi,

but they really do have to come with the shocking realization. I am not the good person I thought I was, or at least I thought I could become, I really am a sinner. I really do deserve hell. I really can't do anything to make up for my, my sinful actions. I really am utterly without hope, unless there is a savior

who has done it. But he says the more self-sufficient you have been, if you have leaned into your brilliance with a brilliant intellect and have always succeeded, if you have leaned into your money, cause you've always have money, you've never felt the insecurity and, and the, and the scare and the, and the insufficiency, he said, it's harder.

It's harder to say. You mean, when you say empty hands, you mean empty hands. So it's harder to come by this. I say the same. And as people, all the time through the years, I say the easiest thing I ever did was receive Jesus Christ as my savior. The hardest thing I ever did was to receive Jesus Christ as my savior.

It's completely easy. I get it. The gospel, he died for me. It's all about him. It's done. But what I had to embrace about me was not so fun. It was hard. But the second thing I think has evolved here is not only, it's a hard door to embrace. It's a hard road to embrace the word hard here is fascinating to me.

It actually is the word that means squeezed or pressed. And now he's talking about the road that's involved with this, this door when you're associated with the narrow way. He says, here's the road that you are now on. As you are a part of that doorway, the word hard or squeezed or pressed it's used in a number of new Testament pastures, almost all of them translated by the word, afflicted or suffering.

Just a couple of examples. Paul's second Corinthians four passage in verse eight. We are afflicted on every side, but not. Perplexed, but not driven to despair. Hebrews 1137 talking about believers. They were stoned. They were sawn in two. They were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated.

He says, when you enter the narrow path, the narrow door, when you embrace Christ and receive life, you are also entering a lifestyle. That's pressed. That's hard. He said, you want to live out Matthew five through seven, really forgiving your enemies. Really? When they smack you in the face, let them do it again.

And again, he says, you really want to embrace this lifestyle. You're going to find it. It, it presses you. It feels affliction because the narrow gate is associated with the hard road. I've been divorced inning in second, Timothy for awhile now, cop writing it out and meditating on it. Paul whole his whole message to Timothy.

And this is the last letter Paul ever road, this young preacher boy that he's discipled. He's talking about the affliction and the suffering and, and encouraging him to stay at, stay the course. But he says an interesting thing in the book. He says he refers to, uh, a handful of times other believers that have been with him that have either chosen to embrace his suffering, which he only gives one example.

And then he gives it a number of examples of people that have left that they, and he makes this striking statement. And I want to, even though I'm going to another passage, this is where I want to land at the end here. He uses this phrase. He says they were. He says, in one case, this is the refrain shamed of Christ.

In another case, he says, they're ashamed of me. In another case, he says there they're ashamed of my chains. And Paul said, I actually am. When he was in Rome, he was bound in chains. And apparently these believers came to him and they looked and they thought, this looks terrible. I mean, this is what we signed on for.

I mean, this is our hero. This is our, the guy starting their churches, looking at music. He's an absolute cast out criminal in the Roman empire. We didn't sign on for this kind of humiliation and. And he says they're ashamed. And I really was curious to know what does the word ashamed of mean? And I noted that in Hebrews 11, 16, I think that's there.

He was loving. Uh, okay. I went backwards, Hebrews two 11. It's talking about Jesus. He is not ashamed to call them brothers in Hebrews 11, 16. God is not ashamed to be called their God. He's talking about us. What ashamed mean? Here's the definition that is used. It means they're not worth the effort. They're not worthy to be associated with.

We're embarrassed by what God is saying in Hebrews 11, God is God considers you worth the effort to call himself your God. He consider. Jesus says that they're worthy to, to be associated with, I call them brothers. This is what I think, as I try to pull this together, Polish. And then how it ties with Matthew chapter seven, Jesus is saying, you're going to feel pressed.

Is it worth it? Is he worth it? Or are we responding with some degree of embarrassment that man, I don't die. Yeah. I'm grateful I enter the narrow gate. And, but, but this stuff of, of, of, you know, I, I mean, Paul was in chains. I mean, I don't want to be associated with, uh, with criminal activity. And how will people look at me?

How long to check my job, how would affect my job? If people think I'm hyper religious, you know, if they know I'm a Jesus guy, Jesus girl. Now on the one hand, everybody suffers, right? I mean, everybody suffers. There's nobody in this room. There's nobody in this town. There's nobody on this planet that doesn't face.

Everybody has kids get illnesses. They have their kids come home crying from school because they were rejected by other things in every parent suffers. Your spouse hurts you. Your finances are stressful. You have relation issues with family members. You have a hard neighbor, a coworker, who's a jerk.

Everybody has stuff like that. So what's Jesus. Meaning when he says w when you, when you become a member of my kingdom, when, when you embrace me, you're going to be hard pressed. I mean, isn't everybody, hard-pressed Jesus. I mean, everybody's got stuff. I think he means we will suffer in the same way. Jesus does.

It doesn't mean that every time I lose a sale, I think it's because of. No, and it may not have anything to do with you losing sales, but there is the sense that as I am identifying with Christ, I know there is an opposition to me. I know there is an enemy. I know there is a, there is a force and a darkness that is coming my way, and I believe it would be intellectual dishonesty for me to not say to you, if you have not ever received Christ as your savior to say, you're coming to Jesus is not an invitation to say, come to Jesus.

And you'll never have problems. You'll find suffering that you have not experienced before,

but he's forfeit a beautiful song we sing. Is he worthy? He is. And I would say, I don't mean you're going to, oh no. Now that I'm come a Christian, I'm going to lose my job. Or, oh, now G mark is saying Monday morning, I got to go in. I started putting tracks out. You know, I got to start wearing a Jesus shirt.

You know, I'm not saying any of that. I mean the Lord, man, I don't know, but, but I'm not. But what I am seeing is you wholeheartedly walk with Jesus. There will be hard stuff that wouldn't be there. If you didn't, there will be hard stuff that some of you are not experiencing because you have gone through the narrow gate, but you're not really living as a person destined to life.

You're living as a person destined to destruction. You may not be by God's grace, but you're wasting the life that you could be. As one destined to life. And you will find that even as you hear the story and you think, how did I miss it, man? I see this Christian. I, I look at a guy like Paul and he's in chains.

And how can anybody be happy? How can anybody, I mean, I don't want that. Nobody. Well, nobody does. However, I will guarantee you if we had Paul here today and Paul and we said, Paul, come on up here, brother.

What was it like having those chains with Christ? What was it like having those brothers that rejected you a guarantee? He would say something like this, you know what? I thank God for the chains. I thank God for the people that reject me. I got to know things about Jesus. I never knew. Jesus was more to me than he had ever been because he took me and he made himself known to me in places.

I had never known him in before he is worth it. But the invitation is this. He says we can go our default mode, which is the broad way. It's natural to us. It's about me. I do, I do I do it. Do I get it? I got it. You know, all, we can go the neuro and say he did it because he did it. I joyfully embrace him as my savior as my Lord, as my king and realize that just like the father once said in Romans eight, he, that did not spare his own son.

How will he not with him freely, give you everything.

So we come at the end of this, this study and we're confronted with an invitation to say, yeah, I, I do acknowledge sin. Self-centeredness I acknowledge that I need Jesus, that if he didn't do it, I would never be able to earn my way to a relationship with God. If you believe that if you're embracing that you do, because God is at work in your life, we are do people until the spirit convicts us and changes us.

I invite you this morning to embrace Christ as your savior, you will never, never regret it. I also invite you who are here that by grades. Great. God's grace. He said I have gone through the narrow. But I'm doing everything I can to live like a person that's, that's destined for destruction. I don't live any different.

I don't make any choices. I mean, I come to church. I'm here today. I mean, come on, mark. Thank you. I'm glad you're here, but, but your life is not permeated with passion for Christ. Well, I want to honestly say that you're missing out on life

and John Piper's words, you wasting it because he calls us to live sometimes the hard road, but you'll look back at every part of that heart journey. And you'll say I wouldn't trade what I experienced from Christ for anything, including avoiding the. We're going to close our service in a minute, the worship team's going to come and just lead us in the song I surrender.

And I'd like to, I'd like to pray, Lord, we come to you this morning.

God, the invitation to grace is so astonishing. Thank you Lord, for drawing us fish, kicking our way out of the boat. Lord, thank you for inviting us to live for you and in you Lord for any that are here. That need to say aye. Aye, sir. May it be now I pray in Jesus name.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/two-gates c6e4718c-8e36-4a05-8928-965799533530 Sun, 03 Oct 2021 10:26:49 GMT <div data-html="true">Matthew 7:13-14 <br /><br /> “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> I encourage you to take your Bibles. We're going to turn to again, Matthew chapter seven, as we continue and return to our series, the upside down life, the sermon on the Mount, the greatest summary of Jesus' teaching, we have. Ever recorded, uh, here in Matthew chapter five through seven, we're going to be looking at two verses this morning. <br /><br /> Um, and they're found in Matthew chapter seven, verse 13 and 14, and I'm going to go ahead and read those <br /><br /> enter by the narrow gate for the gate is wide. And the way is easy. That leads to destruction. And those who enter by it are many for the gate is narrow. And the way is hard, that leads to life. And those who find it are few let's pray, Lord, thank you for all these many weeks, we've already spent studying this passage of scripture. <br /><br /> Thank you God. For the convicting work of the spirit that you've done continue to do, as we reflect on. This portrayal of what life is designed to look like. And the reminder is we look at it just that we can't begin to live this way apart from Christ. Thank you Lord, for the encouragements, we've found already to just want to walk with you and lean into you and just the joy of being able to do life with you and live it out. <br /><br /> As it's seen in this passage, Lord. Now, as you challenge us to enter in to this life, I pray that you would speak to each of us wherever we are on our journey of life in Jesus name. Amen. <br /><br /> We come to the crescendo moment in the sermon on the Mount. Really Jesus has been presenting a variety of things. Quickly, give a snapshot of those. There are three different directions that Jesus points us in the sermon on the Mount one, preeminently perhaps is outward. He is continually working to remind us that those that are citizens of his kingdom are individuals that are to have a unique lifestyle toward others. <br /><br /> He talks about anger and he actually says he quotes the commandment murder. And he says, actually the spirit of murder is manifested. Whenever you are angry. He talks about lust as being the spirit of adultery. He talks about how we are to be truth tellers, how we are to not retaliate, but rather to forgive how we are to show love for our enemies, how we're not to be condemning others with a judging. <br /><br /> As if we were God to be living by the golden rule, these are just some of the qualities he's talking about, about what it means to live out the Jesus life. Then he talks about an inward focus and here he talks in chapter six, as he focuses on three different, uh, very serious spiritual activities, but he says even these can be in, it can be a destructive in your spiritual life. <br /><br /> If you are not doing the hard work of inner examination, he talks about inward motivation for things like, uh, giving to the needy, praying fast. In the beatitudes, you continually causes us to look inside. He says we're to be people that recognize our poverty of spirit, our desperate need for God we're to be people that are mourning, mourning over our sin and, and our need of God and what li live out when we are not leaning into God. <br /><br /> He said this outward look, he said, this inward look. And of course he has the upward look as in chapter six. And then in chapter seven, he talks about that. The propensity, we have to make money, our treasure, rather than God, that money becomes what we depend on and trust in and define ourselves by. And it's where we find our security. <br /><br /> And he speaks towards that. He speaks towards the need of replacing. With trust. He speaks about continually asking and depending on God, in chapter seven in the passages, just before this one, all these things have been things he's talking about. And now he comes here in chapter seven, verse 13 and 14. <br /><br /> He's concluding his sermon in the next number of verses. And as he's doing so he prevents people with a choice. He presents the choice using three different metaphors. He presents them and he says, there's two gates. There's two trees. There's two house foundations. And he says, there's two gates, which we'll look at this morning. <br /><br /> And he's talking about the entrance to kingdom living. He says there's two trees. And one gives the evidence of kingdom living. One gives the evidence. Of something else. He says, there's two house, house foundations. And he, and he says, here's the energy for living the life that I'm offering. You, you can, you can build your house on the rock or you can build your house on something else. <br /><br /> But really he's coming to us with an invitation to enter in to the, through these three metaphors, to this kingdom life that he is offering to us in Matthew chapter five through seven, he's saying to us in these verses verse 13 and 14, if you want to be a part of my kingdom, you have to enter into it. <br /><br /> You have to go through the gate in the teaching ministry of Jesus is interesting. How many times he uses the word entering into the kingdom? Let me just. Three quick ones, mark chapter nine, verse 47. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It's better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell in mark chapter 10, verse 15, he says, truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God. <br /><br /> Like a little child shall not enter into it in Matthew chapter five, verse 20 here in the sermon on the Mount for, I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. He's talking here in this passage about how do we get into the kingdom? <br /><br /> How do we become a member? How do, how do we enter into this, this life that you're talking about? The upside down life, which seems quite frankly impossible. And quite frankly, it is impossible. Only Jesus Christ can live this life, but he is offering to us as kingdom dwellers, as individuals that are citizens of this kingdom to live that life through us. <br /><br /> So how do you get in? Well, that's what he's talking about and what are the choices that are involved. And so he presents to gates and again, to read our passage, this is what he says enter by the narrow gate for the gate is wide. And the way is easy. That leads to destruction. And those who enter by it are many for the gate is narrow. <br /><br /> And the way is hard, that leads to life. And those who find it are few on a race, an answer, three simple questions there where each one is by comparison. As we look at the two gates where the gates lead. Um, I can't remember what other questions off the top of my head. I gotta cheat ahead. Um, where do the gates lead? <br /><br /> Uh, we'll, we'll see it when we get there. Um, all right. Where do the gates lead? First one leads to destroy. He says, take the narrow gate. And then he says, because the gate is wide and the way is easy. That leads to destruction of this word. Destruction is just about as heavy sounding heavy as it is heavy sounding. <br /><br /> The word actually is, is used in a couple of passages, actually choose a number of passages. But two I'd mentioned second, Peter, three, seven. He says the heavens and earth are stored up until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly in Romans 9 22. He says people who reject God's salvation are vessels of. <br /><br /> Prepared for destruction. There's a heavy new Testament term. It is a heavy new Testament concept. He is talking about that, which the Bible describes as the eternal separation from God. It is, it is called eternal death. It is still actually, we are still existing. We are living in that sense, but an individual that is in this state, he's talking about of destruction is eternally alive, separated from God. <br /><br /> And so it's actually called an eternal death in the scripture. It's what we call hell. It is the place. Um, real though, as I've shared before, I don't think the picture depicted from symbolic language in the Bible is, is necessarily accurate that we draw. I don't think hell is primarily, I don't think the focus of it is, is a fiery fomenting. <br /><br /> Uh, I think the idea is of a barren wasteland, the picture, and in scripture of this destruction is a place of sorrow and emptiness. The word destruction here is actually the word waste it's used of the disciples. And they say to Jesus, they say to him, one time, Jesus has this woman come. And she anoints him with this, this, this, um, wealthy, uh, expensive exquisite ointment. <br /><br /> And they say it's worth 300. Denarii well, it doesn't mean a whole lot until you know that the denari was one day's wages. This is most of a year's salary went into this one anointing and the boys are sitting there going, why was this wasted like this? I mean, we've got to solve this stuff and, and given money to the. <br /><br /> Jesus rebukes them because he sees the heart behind the action. But the idea is that is the word it is. And they say, why was that? What that ointment wasted like that the concept he's talking about this eternal state of separation from God is basically saying it is life that is lived eternally, not the way it was designed to be used. <br /><br /> It is wasted. It is in that sense, lost if you will. It is this sense of destructiveness. He is referring to hell is real separation from God is real life after death is real. And he is saying there is a path, a gate that leads there, but he says, there's another gate as well. And he says this gate, the narrow gate leads to life. <br /><br /> So what is he referring to when he says we're at where this leads? Well, Romans chapter 6, 23 says the wages of sin is death. What we've we've earned, but the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ. Our Lord, the idea is that life begins at the moment of entering the narrow gate. The reference to life is actually saying, this is an entrance into life, as it is designed to be, this is real life. <br /><br /> It is life that is eternal. It continues forever, but it is not only life that is, is about the future because he says, the moment you pass through this gate, you experience. Life. And Jesus said, I've come to bring life. And it is life that you would live. He says, I've come to bring life. And that abundantly in others, it isn't just, it's a bus ticket to heaven. <br /><br /> Now you get life rather than eternal death. He says, I've come to give you life. And when you pass through this gate, you experience yes, the guarantee of eternal life forever, but you also begin life. You start life, as it is designed to be lived. <br /><br /> What does that look like? Matthew chapter five through seven is a great place to start. There begins to be a power to forgive instead of retaliating to begins to be a capacity, to, to trust in God, rather than other things. For our definition of who we are and where our security can come, the responses to people, the compassion towards it can begin through the power of Christ. <br /><br /> The life that we experience is the life of Christ that he enters our lives and begins by his grace to live his life. And the more we allow him to do so, the more he manifests this abundancy of life that he talks about, but he says here's where the two paths lead death, continual separation from God that continues forever. <br /><br /> The other gate narrower gate leads to life eternal life, but it isn't just a bus ticket. It's actually the beginning of a life experience. It's interesting that John, John Piper has a book that I think, and I was interested as I was rereading it again recently, how he refers to some of these very passages about, um, destructiveness and waste. <br /><br /> Uh, being in that term, the book is called don't waste your life. He's talking particularly to believers, and he's saying we can live as if we are headed towards destruction. We can, we can not imbibe in our lives, the abundancy of life that we are destined for. And if we do we're, we're living as if life is wasted, it won't be wasted eternally, but he says don't waste. <br /><br /> It don't live as if you are headed towards destruction towards wasteland. I think it's an appropriate perspective. Jesus is saying you don't have to, if you've enter the narrow gate, or if you choose by God's grace to enter the narrow gate. What you find on the other side is life who the gates draw. <br /><br /> That's my second question. And I couldn't remember many and few for the gate is wide, and the way is easy. That leads to destruction. Verse 13 tells us, and those who enter by it are many. It's a picture of, of the main gate into the city of Jerusalem. And that's how it was. And of course the city was much larger than that, but that's just some of the existing walls, but big gay people go through the main gate. <br /><br /> Most people look to find their lives, invest their lives, to prepare for life, to come life, to come through the wide gate, the big gate, the main gate, if you will, they go with the flow and the flow, Jesus says leads. Towards this gate. This is where they're looking to find life. This is where they look to, to find eternal life. <br /><br /> Now you may say, well, that seems like two very different statements. I disagree. Here's why I think the same modus operandi that we have as fallen people, as people who have been scarred by sin to generate energy for our lives is what we expect to be the same methodology we use to experience eternal life. <br /><br /> Here's what I mean. If you listen to marketing advertisers, slogans will regularly come out in trying to get people to, to buy in things like, just do it. If you look at philosophies, they argue for it. Secularism, humanism, hedonism, and everything else will basically say it's. It's up to you. It's about you figure it out. <br /><br /> Religious systems, every religion in the world, except biblical Christianity could be defined by this word. Do it's what you have to do for some, it might be stronger on you must do benevolent behavior. Some of it might be higher on you must do personal sacrifice. You must do devotional practices. People are measured as worthy based on their own works that they, they are viewed as accepted by God from the same playing field that we use to measure ourselves in our lives. <br /><br /> I'll come back to this in a minute. Then he says, so he says, this is what most people do. And this is where most people are going. They think it's about them because that's how they're valuing every other part of their lives. But he says there are the few relatively speaking in world civilization. The choose the narrow gate. <br /><br /> And he says it this way for the narrow gate in verse 14 is narrow. And the way is hard, that leads to life. And those who find it are few. So here's the question, of course. Why do few find it? Because the foundational drive of our hearts, all of us is to self life. Self-centeredness self absorption. <br /><br /> Self-sufficiency self reliance. Only God convinced, convince you that you don't have the goods. Our entire lives are lived trying to, to measure up in parts of our lives. And so when we say, I need to find God, I need to get to God. We just naturally default to the same methodology. What am I going to do? <br /><br /> How do I, how can I measure up? What can I. <br /><br /> But then we're told that Christianity, biblical Christianity, and I would argue the narrow gate says it is not about do it's about done. He did it. There's someone that did it now. Now that sounds wonderful until you have to embrace the fact of why he did it. He did it because we are utterly incapable of doing it ourselves, that we are broken sinful, corrupt, needy people, and that we cannot do what is necessary to earn God's acceptance. <br /><br /> Now this, that starts to get a little unpalatable, you know, and say, Hey. Here's this broad gate, you know, you can go in and you do. If you have to do all these things and you have to measure up and you have to, but, but if you do enough good things to outweigh the bad things, you know, that's, that's how we do it, right. <br /><br /> Or you can go to this narrow gate and here's the slogan for the narrow gate and ran all here who are broken. Self-centered held deserving. Wicked people will sign me up. No, we don't want to go there. Naturally. We say, I, I know I'm a doer, my whole life. I'm trying to measure. I'm trying to compare it. I don't want to be around people that are better than me, because I don't like that. <br /><br /> You know that mathematical thing. I want to be a, I don't want to be a grid. I want to be a spiritually greater than, because God's looking for spiritually greater than engine. That's what the gate's all about. So, but to go to that gate now, utterly helpless. Hell deserve it. Come on. That's why Jesus says in John chapter six, verse 44, no one can come to the father. <br /><br /> He says, no one can come to me. Jesus is speaking. Unless the father who sent me draws him. Now, this statement is amazing because the word that he uses there is fishermen talk. The word draw is actually the word that is usually used in the gospels to talk about a net that the fishermen throw and they draw in with the catch of fish. <br /><br /> Now I'm not a fisherman, but I've watched finding Nemo. And in finding Nemo, if you remember the scene, there's a scene towards the end where we're Dory is caught in a thing. And, and there, I think it's. Yeah, so that, and it's pulling the big crane is pulling the fish net up and, and Nimo gets the idea with his dad. <br /><br /> And he says, did everybody flipping their fins that way away from the boat? And you remember, they're trying to get escape, trying to get away. Right? So all the fishers are in, they get it in and we're all happy except for the fishermen whose net gets broken in, their crane gets broken. But the idea is the fish don't want to get in the boat. <br /><br /> Jesus says, no fish are jumping into the boat saying, sign me up. Deserving. Hell yeah, just by nature, we don't do that. But he says some, do some, do some go the narrow gate, some recognize it's not do it's done. He did it for me. And he says, they're the ones that my father has drawn. What that says to us, just like Ephesians two, eight and nine for by grace. <br /><br /> Are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It's the gift of God. Well, what's the gift of God. The, that is talking about even our faith. It's saying those who do, and if you have gone through the narrow gate, if you have said, I embrace the fact that I can do nothing to deserve God's favor and acceptance, that I am deserving of eternal separation, that, that I am a broken corrupt sinner, but I realized Jesus died for me. <br /><br /> Then God has enabled you to see that in his grace, he has drawn you. And he says, it's narrow because we don't naturally want to go. This is not the natural choice we would make. And if, if, if God has been allowing you through his spirit to, to come to a place in your life and you say, I don't, I don't really know all this Jesus stuff. <br /><br /> I mean, I know some stories and, and, and, and, uh, but I, I don't, I don't know. I mean, I'm just trying to find God, but if you're sensing, but I, I don't know what to do with my sin. I do see my unit. I mean, I know you are being funny mark about saying who's going to sign up, but there's a part of me that would sign up because I'm sensing my sin. <br /><br /> And I am sensing that, that, that I'm corrupt in ways I never saw before. And then I want to say to you, God's at work in you, God is mercifully enabling you to understand through his spirit, your need of Christ. He is by his grace drawing you toward that narrow gate, because in ourselves we don't go. All right. <br /><br /> What are the gates entail? There's an easy way. There's a hard way now on first swing. Well, once you really start climbing into this passage and reading commentaries and stuff, you find out this there's a little bit of a naughty question here, and here's the question he talks about, uh, the gate, but he also talks about the way which means road. <br /><br /> And he says, you know, there's a narrow gate and the road is hard. And the question is, which comes first. I mean, is it a road leading to the gate or is it a road that results from the gate? And here's why it's a little hard if it's a road leading to the gate. That means that that, uh, it's about me somehow performing in order to get through the gate. <br /><br /> We don't believe that jives with anything in the new Testament. We believe it's all of grace. On the other hand, he makes this statement and he says, the road is hard. That leads to life or life is through the gate. Right? So, so mark, which is it that the, the, uh, the road or the gate and the answer is yes. I don't believe Jesus is trying to distinguish these things. <br /><br /> I think he, what he's saying is when you embrace life, when you come to become a member of, of God's kingdom and his child, and, and, and enter into life, there's a road, there's a gate he's picturing that he says is narrower. There's even a part of it. He says that is harder. So let's think about that. He says here, first of all, it's a, the wide gate is an easier way now. <br /><br /> Why is it easy? I believe because it makes sense to us. It's about me deciding to suck it up and get better. It's me choosing a religion that says to me, do more measure up, you know, checklists, these things give enough to the church, be faithful, do whatever it is. And, and you'll get in. That's how we do life, right? <br /><br /> I mean, how do I get in shape? I work harder. How do I get more sales? I make more calls. I get out there, do it. How do I get better grades or study more hopefully, but how do we do it? I trust in me. My effort, my discipline, myself adjustments, these the, the, the Broadway makes sense. It's life to us. It's how we do life. <br /><br /> But Jesus says it leads to destruction because you can't do it. You can't work yourself out spiritually enough. You can't be benevolent enough. You sin is that serious that it can only be taken care of by someone else doing it for you, God, the son himself. And because it is done, it is available to people that say, you know what? <br /><br /> That gate, I go to load it up with all my righteousness and deeds that gate. I walk in like this. I got nothing. I got nothing except one thing he did it all it's done. So why is it hard? Cause he says the narrow road is hard to two ways. I think it's a hard door to embrace Matthew 19. Jesus talks about this and Jesus said to his disciples, truly, I say to you only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven. <br /><br /> Again, I tell you it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished saying who then can be saved. But Jesus looked at them and said with man, this is impossible with gods. All things are possible. <br /><br /> He says wealthy people are used to being self-sufficient. Many wealthy people are there because they are, they are doers. They've trusted in that. They've leaned on that. And he says that becomes an impediment because they just think, well, T T you know, to earn life must be, I just gotta follow my, my life modus operandi, <br /><br /> but they really do have to come with the shocking realization. I am not the good person I thought I was, or at least I thought I could become, I really am a sinner. I really do deserve hell. I really can't do anything to make up for my, my sinful actions. I really am utterly without hope, unless there is a savior <br /><br /> who has done it. But he says the more self-sufficient you have been, if you have leaned into your brilliance with a brilliant intellect and have always succeeded, if you have leaned into your money, cause you've always have money, you've never felt the insecurity and, and the, and the scare and the, and the insufficiency, he said, it's harder. <br /><br /> It's harder to say. You mean, when you say empty hands, you mean empty hands. So it's harder to come by this. I say the same. And as people, all the time through the years, I say the easiest thing I ever did was receive Jesus Christ as my savior. The hardest thing I ever did was to receive Jesus Christ as my savior. <br /><br /> It's completely easy. I get it. The gospel, he died for me. It's all about him. It's done. But what I had to embrace about me was not so fun. It was hard. But the second thing I think has evolved here is not only, it's a hard door to embrace. It's a hard road to embrace the word hard here is fascinating to me. <br /><br /> It actually is the word that means squeezed or pressed. And now he's talking about the road that's involved with this, this door when you're associated with the narrow way. He says, here's the road that you are now on. As you are a part of that doorway, the word hard or squeezed or pressed it's used in a number of new Testament pastures, almost all of them translated by the word, afflicted or suffering. <br /><br /> Just a couple of examples. Paul's second Corinthians four passage in verse eight. We are afflicted on every side, but not. Perplexed, but not driven to despair. Hebrews 1137 talking about believers. They were stoned. They were sawn in two. They were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated. <br /><br /> He says, when you enter the narrow path, the narrow door, when you embrace Christ and receive life, you are also entering a lifestyle. That's pressed. That's hard. He said, you want to live out Matthew five through seven, really forgiving your enemies. Really? When they smack you in the face, let them do it again. <br /><br /> And again, he says, you really want to embrace this lifestyle. You're going to find it. It, it presses you. It feels affliction because the narrow gate is associated with the hard road. I've been divorced inning in second, Timothy for awhile now, cop writing it out and meditating on it. Paul whole his whole message to Timothy. <br /><br /> And this is the last letter Paul ever road, this young preacher boy that he's discipled. He's talking about the affliction and the suffering and, and encouraging him to stay at, stay the course. But he says an interesting thing in the book. He says he refers to, uh, a handful of times other believers that have been with him that have either chosen to embrace his suffering, which he only gives one example. <br /><br /> And then he gives it a number of examples of people that have left that they, and he makes this striking statement. And I want to, even though I'm going to another passage, this is where I want to land at the end here. He uses this phrase. He says they were. He says, in one case, this is the refrain shamed of Christ. <br /><br /> In another case, he says, they're ashamed of me. In another case, he says there they're ashamed of my chains. And Paul said, I actually am. When he was in Rome, he was bound in chains. And apparently these believers came to him and they looked and they thought, this looks terrible. I mean, this is what we signed on for. <br /><br /> I mean, this is our hero. This is our, the guy starting their churches, looking at music. He's an absolute cast out criminal in the Roman empire. We didn't sign on for this kind of humiliation and. And he says they're ashamed. And I really was curious to know what does the word ashamed of mean? And I noted that in Hebrews 11, 16, I think that's there. <br /><br /> He was loving. Uh, okay. I went backwards, Hebrews two 11. It's talking about Jesus. He is not ashamed to call them brothers in Hebrews 11, 16. God is not ashamed to be called their God. He's talking about us. What ashamed mean? Here's the definition that is used. It means they're not worth the effort. They're not worthy to be associated with. <br /><br /> We're embarrassed by what God is saying in Hebrews 11, God is God considers you worth the effort to call himself your God. He consider. Jesus says that they're worthy to, to be associated with, I call them brothers. This is what I think, as I try to pull this together, Polish. And then how it ties with Matthew chapter seven, Jesus is saying, you're going to feel pressed. <br /><br /> Is it worth it? Is he worth it? Or are we responding with some degree of embarrassment that man, I don't die. Yeah. I'm grateful I enter the narrow gate. And, but, but this stuff of, of, of, you know, I, I mean, Paul was in chains. I mean, I don't want to be associated with, uh, with criminal activity. And how will people look at me? <br /><br /> How long to check my job, how would affect my job? If people think I'm hyper religious, you know, if they know I'm a Jesus guy, Jesus girl. Now on the one hand, everybody suffers, right? I mean, everybody suffers. There's nobody in this room. There's nobody in this town. There's nobody on this planet that doesn't face. <br /><br /> Everybody has kids get illnesses. They have their kids come home crying from school because they were rejected by other things in every parent suffers. Your spouse hurts you. Your finances are stressful. You have relation issues with family members. You have a hard neighbor, a coworker, who's a jerk. <br /><br /> Everybody has stuff like that. So what's Jesus. Meaning when he says w when you, when you become a member of my kingdom, when, when you embrace me, you're going to be hard pressed. I mean, isn't everybody, hard-pressed Jesus. I mean, everybody's got stuff. I think he means we will suffer in the same way. Jesus does. <br /><br /> It doesn't mean that every time I lose a sale, I think it's because of. No, and it may not have anything to do with you losing sales, but there is the sense that as I am identifying with Christ, I know there is an opposition to me. I know there is an enemy. I know there is a, there is a force and a darkness that is coming my way, and I believe it would be intellectual dishonesty for me to not say to you, if you have not ever received Christ as your savior to say, you're coming to Jesus is not an invitation to say, come to Jesus. <br /><br /> And you'll never have problems. You'll find suffering that you have not experienced before, <br /><br /> but he's forfeit a beautiful song we sing. Is he worthy? He is. And I would say, I don't mean you're going to, oh no. Now that I'm come a Christian, I'm going to lose my job. Or, oh, now G mark is saying Monday morning, I got to go in. I started putting tracks out. You know, I got to start wearing a Jesus shirt. <br /><br /> You know, I'm not saying any of that. I mean the Lord, man, I don't know, but, but I'm not. But what I am seeing is you wholeheartedly walk with Jesus. There will be hard stuff that wouldn't be there. If you didn't, there will be hard stuff that some of you are not experiencing because you have gone through the narrow gate, but you're not really living as a person destined to life. <br /><br /> You're living as a person destined to destruction. You may not be by God's grace, but you're wasting the life that you could be. As one destined to life. And you will find that even as you hear the story and you think, how did I miss it, man? I see this Christian. I, I look at a guy like Paul and he's in chains. <br /><br /> And how can anybody be happy? How can anybody, I mean, I don't want that. Nobody. Well, nobody does. However, I will guarantee you if we had Paul here today and Paul and we said, Paul, come on up here, brother. <br /><br /> What was it like having those chains with Christ? What was it like having those brothers that rejected you a guarantee? He would say something like this, you know what? I thank God for the chains. I thank God for the people that reject me. I got to know things about Jesus. I never knew. Jesus was more to me than he had ever been because he took me and he made himself known to me in places. <br /><br /> I had never known him in before he is worth it. But the invitation is this. He says we can go our default mode, which is the broad way. It's natural to us. It's about me. I do, I do I do it. Do I get it? I got it. You know, all, we can go the neuro and say he did it because he did it. I joyfully embrace him as my savior as my Lord, as my king and realize that just like the father once said in Romans eight, he, that did not spare his own son. <br /><br /> How will he not with him freely, give you everything. <br /><br /> So we come at the end of this, this study and we're confronted with an invitation to say, yeah, I, I do acknowledge sin. Self-centeredness I acknowledge that I need Jesus, that if he didn't do it, I would never be able to earn my way to a relationship with God. If you believe that if you're embracing that you do, because God is at work in your life, we are do people until the spirit convicts us and changes us. <br /><br /> I invite you this morning to embrace Christ as your savior, you will never, never regret it. I also invite you who are here that by grades. Great. God's grace. He said I have gone through the narrow. But I'm doing everything I can to live like a person that's, that's destined for destruction. I don't live any different. <br /><br /> I don't make any choices. I mean, I come to church. I'm here today. I mean, come on, mark. Thank you. I'm glad you're here, but, but your life is not permeated with passion for Christ. Well, I want to honestly say that you're missing out on life <br /><br /> and John Piper's words, you wasting it because he calls us to live sometimes the hard road, but you'll look back at every part of that heart journey. And you'll say I wouldn't trade what I experienced from Christ for anything, including avoiding the. We're going to close our service in a minute, the worship team's going to come and just lead us in the song I surrender. <br /><br /> And I'd like to, I'd like to pray, Lord, we come to you this morning. <br /><br /> God, the invitation to grace is so astonishing. Thank you Lord, for drawing us fish, kicking our way out of the boat. Lord, thank you for inviting us to live for you and in you Lord for any that are here. That need to say aye. Aye, sir. May it be now I pray in Jesus name.</div> false no <![CDATA[Forgiving the Monsters in Your Life]]> Ephesians 4:32

"Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ, God forgave you."



You're not going to believe this Chip guy. He has gotta be the worst guy ever. He came to work. I thought he was a good guy, but then he was stealing my work. He even told lies to my boss and I got fired, which was even worse. He was telling him those lies to my wife and she divorced me. I hate this guy. I usually gotta be the worst guy that you ever want to see.

Uh, Kneel. I said, kneel!,

what'd you say I can't take this anymore. I forgive chip for everything he ever did to me.

If you don't hear anything else that I say today, whoever you don't forgive controls you

we've all been hurt. It must have been hurting lower cash, 12 point font. Some of us have been hurt. Uppercase underlined bolded in a 36.5.

I was to stout. I was probably hurting 30 point font. 36 has particularly a young man or young woman who was hurt either physically or sexually by a family member, which went deep into their lives. Wait a minute, we all have hurt other people. Sometimes the hurt is intended, a nasty. Some of comes out of our shellfish furnace.

Ladies. How many of you have set? Can say my wife, my husband never hurt me or husbands. My wife never hurt me. Well, there's the question of what did we do? With this hurt, who are the people that you, that you have a hard time forgetting, giving your mind, think about who's 1, 2, 3 people who have hurt you, that you have a hard time forgiving.

Some of that candidates, parents, siblings, spouse, ex spouse, children, perpetrator self for God. We're all of the above.

Well, when we have bitterness that puts us into a jail cell that we're serving time for someone else's crime. We have a desire to get back at. Who wronged you? I am so angry that I want to get back in any way I can, but you know, something is good. A nice pick. So I'm going to take my ice pick and oh, am I going to get back at them for what they did, but wait a minute.

If I do that, there's blood all over the place and I'm likely to go to jail. I know what I'll do. I will find a way that I will swallow this ice pick. Now I can go and attack them with the ice pick and they won't know it.

Unforgiveness is not forgiving and you're in that jail cell, a bitterness, but you hold the key for getting out of that jail cell.

But what does God have to say about this dilemma?

So Chuck get re God says, get rid of all bitterness, rage, and anger, brawling, and slander along with every form of malice. And here's the key be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as Christ in Christ. God forgave you.

Where does it begin? It begins with Jesus died on the cross.

Jesus died on the cross because God Jesus, they were kind and compassionate.

Think about yourself, kneeling at the foot of the cross, receiving that confident, that kindness, the compassion that is poured out on you. Now, as you look at that and start to copy Jesus, you become kind and compassionate and out of that kindness and compassionate commerce forgiveness, there's not a Quinn.

You will be kind and compassionate. You will forgive. No God has given to us and of that. We can forgive. The other, but wait a minute, Paul, aren't you being a little bit harsh here. I mean, look at what they did to me and you want me to forgive them? Well, let's see. What did Jesus say? The disciples said, Jesus, how do we pray?

And you said, you pray in this way. I'm asking you father, forgive me in the very same way I forgive others. Wait boy, what got I'm not sure I want you to take that fully, uh, objectively,

because I don't always want to forgive others. Well, God says be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another as Christ for behavior.

The bottom line is forgiveness is accepting the inequity I was hurting. I'm going to accept that inequity being kind and compassionate,

but any child can tell you, but that's not fair.

Well, it is not fair that we have to forgive others, but was it forgive fair that Jesus had to die on the cross for you? And for me

now, going to there through this forgiveness, it's not bang, especially if you're at the 20, 30 or 36. There's a process. Now, if we're out in the lobby and I've got a cup of hot coffee and you carelessly turn around and bumping and spill it all over my hand, it's going to take just about as long as it takes from my hand to cool off to forgive you.

Unless of course, it's the last cup of coffee and that's another story,

but you don't know what he, you don't know what she did to me. Story of two men are in Bataan, death, March. Those, you don't know a bunch of our guys who are captured in the Philippines, the Japanese mark shim to the Baton. Very cruel on the way many of them died. So here's two guys that were on that time, death by.

They survive. They come home now, which one was hurt. The worst. The one guy focuses on the cruel mistreatment and he becomes more and more bitter and you dies this awful shrugged up nasty guy. The other one goes into this process of forgiving works at true forgives. His tormentors ends up going to Bible school and it goes back to Japan as a missionary.

Well, there were both heard at the 35 level. The other guy drew grew to a 36 or maybe even a 40 level. The other one went down to a 12. Where he could receive God's love and take that love and pass it on to the people who had hurt him. He gave up the right to hate and retaliate. He gave up the right to get, even he gave up the right to bitterness and he even gave up the right to have that icepick to attack his man.

His tormentors.

No. How do I do this? What's this process of forgiving. How do I forgive this month?

This is a function of how you view them, but how can I forget? How can I forgive them? They even haven't even asked for forgiveness. Well, in this first order, is the perpetrator show up? What does the perpetrator have to do so that you can be kind and compassionate to one another forgiving each other, just as Christ forgave.

You perfect judge. Not that this is something between you and the holy spirit.

Many times the person does even know that they hurt you and you're waiting for them to come and apologize. Verdict chapel. Let me tell you, say, I say to you, well, pastor mark came in, you know what he told me about you when I say all sorts of bad things. So now you're angry in bed, right? Pastor mark. Well, it turns out he didn't say it at all.

I did. I lied and you're waiting for him to come back and apologize for something he didn't do.

So we need to admit that we are holding bitterness,

the ice pick in our stomach, wanting to get back and to punish the others, the other, the other person. Now we all have bitterness. She's not a matter of fact, do we have it? It's a matter of how much. And does, do we control it or does it control you? One of my mentors, Jim Wilson wrote a book called how to be free, free from bitterness.

I've got a few of them out there. There's also, uh, where you can get a line and you can also get, download it for free as a PDF, actually can load it down and download it and about 18 language. So if you've got a problem with your Mandarin, you need to practice your Mandarin. You can get this in Mandarin and practice.

Whereas one woman, I know has a Bible study with a bunch of ladies in Kazakhstan

when she sent this PDF to them in Russian. So people you can't talk to because of language from you can send this to.

But one becomes kind and compassionate attitudes change one things I'll say to the Chinese, when I'm talking to them, Christianity, isn't a matter of do this, do this, don't do that. Don't do that. It's a matter of having the attitudes of Jesus. For example, he was trying gentle and patient. If any of us become more kind gentle and patient, our behavior will change.

But if I have rule that says be more patient, okay. I won't be, I will be more patient.

And then I'll say to guys, if that's the guy that I'm talking to guys, what'd you like it? If your wife became more kind channel and patient. Yeah, I would. It's a lady. Lady. Would you like your husband to become more kind? Gentle and patient? Oh yeah.

So we're looking at how God forgave you picture yourself kneeling before the cross,

God pours out his love and his forgiveness. It's not that we're all of a sudden I am so strong. I can do this, but she, when one becomes a believer, God pours out his love and his forgiveness opens a bank account for each one of us. A bank account of love, a bank account of forgiveness. Now, if you start writing checks out of your bank account, a bank account will go down, down, down, it'll go to zero, but the more we write a love check, the more God deposits in, in that.

The more we forgive, the more that sense of forgiveness. God depends puts into our account.

love and forgive comes not from my strength, but from what my heavenly father who signed died at the cross gave to me.

But shouldn't they be punished well, what's God saying don't repay anybody evil for evil, but be careful to do what is right in the eyes I've ever been. If it is possible, as far as depends upon you live at peace with everyone, but here's the key do not take revenge. My dear friends, but leave room for God tracks.

For it is written. It is mine to avenge. I will repay says the Lord. Now who's the best one at punishing people for when they do bad things, who's the best one who's going to punish you. When you do bad things, your husband, your wife, your sibling, how do they do and punishing you, or how do you react?

Gotcha. Just let me do it. I'm good at it. And sometimes if there's this person who has done something bad and I'm going to go and I'm going to focus on them, God's out there saying, what'd you get out of the way so I can do it. Or if it's something he needs to do, he's going to do it and we've become collateral damage.

But the question. Should I tell them I forgive them absolutely positively. Without a doubt, maybe will that request for forgiveness, enhance the forgiving, the reading re unification, improving that relationship. There are times it would be absolutely awful because you're saying to this person, you did something wrong.

Yeah. When you say I forgive you, you're saying they did something wrong. Is there something that within you that you keep it within you and when you take, keep it within you guess what you take that I expect out of your stomach?

Let me tell you about Ron story. I worked with right here with celebrate recovery. We were in the men's anger group. I understand all about men's anger. And I taught a seminar with this material. A couple of months later, Ron and Phil were in my house. We're having pizza. I said, would you like me to go over this?

And I know that both of them are having problems with their father. Let me tell you two stories with Ryan from Martin's life. Number one, when he was eight years old, two ten-year-old bullish chased him home. You've mentioned in the door, locked the door. Well, his father was there, got the story out of him and he said, okay, you've got two choices.

You can either stay in here and face my fish, or you can go out there and face their face. Well, he faced his father's fish. Many times. It was easy for him to go out and that's these two, ten-year-olds beat him up second story at his mother's funeral, he was standing over the casket. She was there, tears running down his eyes, apologize and asking her forgiveness because he couldn't protect her from his father's fish.

Well, as we talked about this, that to forgive as God forgive us, Ron says, well, how do you know God has forgiven you? Huh? So I shared the gospel with him and at the end, which is in short form, which I've done quite often is okay, I'm going to pray. Like I'm asking Jesus into my heart. You can pray after me out loud, silently.

We're just thinking about it.

Lord Jesus. I admit I've done wrong things. I deserve your wrath. I just, I deserve your punishment, but I know that Jesus died on the cross to take that punishment. And I asked you to put that onto me. And as a result, I want to become the person that you want me to be

finished. The prayer. And I asked Ron, well, what happened? Oh, I prayed with you. I meant every word. Well, but do you feel he looked around and said, I feel that I wage has been lifted it's light. And I had them write the initials of the people that had a hard time. Forgive. I knew who was at the top of his list.

And Ron says re points to it. He says I'm free. I'm free. I'm free. I'm at least 15 times. He's shouting. I'm free.

Well, when you consider Ron's story about your head, a huge, huge I'm pre what about you right now? Are you in that jail cell, a betterness, or are you free, free to be the person God made you to be free to be the person that Jesus died on the cross to save let's pray, father God, I just come before you. And I thank you that Jesus did go to the car.

Father Jesus went to the cross and in spite of who I am died for my sin and father, you poured out that love on me. Now give me wisdom and the grace to pour out that love and that forgiveness on others as pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/forgiving-the-monsters-in-your-life 86bc46c6-e50e-4543-8f12-15a7c3c91746 Sun, 26 Sep 2021 10:12:48 GMT <div data-html="true">Ephesians 4:32 <br /><br /> "Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ, God forgave you." <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> You're not going to believe this Chip guy. He has gotta be the worst guy ever. He came to work. I thought he was a good guy, but then he was stealing my work. He even told lies to my boss and I got fired, which was even worse. He was telling him those lies to my wife and she divorced me. I hate this guy. I usually gotta be the worst guy that you ever want to see. <br /><br /> Uh, Kneel. I said, kneel!, <br /><br /> what'd you say I can't take this anymore. I forgive chip for everything he ever did to me. <br /><br /> If you don't hear anything else that I say today, whoever you don't forgive controls you <br /><br /> we've all been hurt. It must have been hurting lower cash, 12 point font. Some of us have been hurt. Uppercase underlined bolded in a 36.5. <br /><br /> I was to stout. I was probably hurting 30 point font. 36 has particularly a young man or young woman who was hurt either physically or sexually by a family member, which went deep into their lives. Wait a minute, we all have hurt other people. Sometimes the hurt is intended, a nasty. Some of comes out of our shellfish furnace. <br /><br /> Ladies. How many of you have set? Can say my wife, my husband never hurt me or husbands. My wife never hurt me. Well, there's the question of what did we do? With this hurt, who are the people that you, that you have a hard time forgetting, giving your mind, think about who's 1, 2, 3 people who have hurt you, that you have a hard time forgiving. <br /><br /> Some of that candidates, parents, siblings, spouse, ex spouse, children, perpetrator self for God. We're all of the above. <br /><br /> Well, when we have bitterness that puts us into a jail cell that we're serving time for someone else's crime. We have a desire to get back at. Who wronged you? I am so angry that I want to get back in any way I can, but you know, something is good. A nice pick. So I'm going to take my ice pick and oh, am I going to get back at them for what they did, but wait a minute. <br /><br /> If I do that, there's blood all over the place and I'm likely to go to jail. I know what I'll do. I will find a way that I will swallow this ice pick. Now I can go and attack them with the ice pick and they won't know it. <br /><br /> Unforgiveness is not forgiving and you're in that jail cell, a bitterness, but you hold the key for getting out of that jail cell. <br /><br /> But what does God have to say about this dilemma? <br /><br /> So Chuck get re God says, get rid of all bitterness, rage, and anger, brawling, and slander along with every form of malice. And here's the key be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as Christ in Christ. God forgave you. <br /><br /> Where does it begin? It begins with Jesus died on the cross. <br /><br /> Jesus died on the cross because God Jesus, they were kind and compassionate. <br /><br /> Think about yourself, kneeling at the foot of the cross, receiving that confident, that kindness, the compassion that is poured out on you. Now, as you look at that and start to copy Jesus, you become kind and compassionate and out of that kindness and compassionate commerce forgiveness, there's not a Quinn. <br /><br /> You will be kind and compassionate. You will forgive. No God has given to us and of that. We can forgive. The other, but wait a minute, Paul, aren't you being a little bit harsh here. I mean, look at what they did to me and you want me to forgive them? Well, let's see. What did Jesus say? The disciples said, Jesus, how do we pray? <br /><br /> And you said, you pray in this way. I'm asking you father, forgive me in the very same way I forgive others. Wait boy, what got I'm not sure I want you to take that fully, uh, objectively, <br /><br /> because I don't always want to forgive others. Well, God says be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another as Christ for behavior. <br /><br /> The bottom line is forgiveness is accepting the inequity I was hurting. I'm going to accept that inequity being kind and compassionate, <br /><br /> but any child can tell you, but that's not fair. <br /><br /> Well, it is not fair that we have to forgive others, but was it forgive fair that Jesus had to die on the cross for you? And for me <br /><br /> now, going to there through this forgiveness, it's not bang, especially if you're at the 20, 30 or 36. There's a process. Now, if we're out in the lobby and I've got a cup of hot coffee and you carelessly turn around and bumping and spill it all over my hand, it's going to take just about as long as it takes from my hand to cool off to forgive you. <br /><br /> Unless of course, it's the last cup of coffee and that's another story, <br /><br /> but you don't know what he, you don't know what she did to me. Story of two men are in Bataan, death, March. Those, you don't know a bunch of our guys who are captured in the Philippines, the Japanese mark shim to the Baton. Very cruel on the way many of them died. So here's two guys that were on that time, death by. <br /><br /> They survive. They come home now, which one was hurt. The worst. The one guy focuses on the cruel mistreatment and he becomes more and more bitter and you dies this awful shrugged up nasty guy. The other one goes into this process of forgiving works at true forgives. His tormentors ends up going to Bible school and it goes back to Japan as a missionary. <br /><br /> Well, there were both heard at the 35 level. The other guy drew grew to a 36 or maybe even a 40 level. The other one went down to a 12. Where he could receive God's love and take that love and pass it on to the people who had hurt him. He gave up the right to hate and retaliate. He gave up the right to get, even he gave up the right to bitterness and he even gave up the right to have that icepick to attack his man. <br /><br /> His tormentors. <br /><br /> No. How do I do this? What's this process of forgiving. How do I forgive this month? <br /><br /> This is a function of how you view them, but how can I forget? How can I forgive them? They even haven't even asked for forgiveness. Well, in this first order, is the perpetrator show up? What does the perpetrator have to do so that you can be kind and compassionate to one another forgiving each other, just as Christ forgave. <br /><br /> You perfect judge. Not that this is something between you and the holy spirit. <br /><br /> Many times the person does even know that they hurt you and you're waiting for them to come and apologize. Verdict chapel. Let me tell you, say, I say to you, well, pastor mark came in, you know what he told me about you when I say all sorts of bad things. So now you're angry in bed, right? Pastor mark. Well, it turns out he didn't say it at all. <br /><br /> I did. I lied and you're waiting for him to come back and apologize for something he didn't do. <br /><br /> So we need to admit that we are holding bitterness, <br /><br /> the ice pick in our stomach, wanting to get back and to punish the others, the other, the other person. Now we all have bitterness. She's not a matter of fact, do we have it? It's a matter of how much. And does, do we control it or does it control you? One of my mentors, Jim Wilson wrote a book called how to be free, free from bitterness. <br /><br /> I've got a few of them out there. There's also, uh, where you can get a line and you can also get, download it for free as a PDF, actually can load it down and download it and about 18 language. So if you've got a problem with your Mandarin, you need to practice your Mandarin. You can get this in Mandarin and practice. <br /><br /> Whereas one woman, I know has a Bible study with a bunch of ladies in Kazakhstan <br /><br /> when she sent this PDF to them in Russian. So people you can't talk to because of language from you can send this to. <br /><br /> But one becomes kind and compassionate attitudes change one things I'll say to the Chinese, when I'm talking to them, Christianity, isn't a matter of do this, do this, don't do that. Don't do that. It's a matter of having the attitudes of Jesus. For example, he was trying gentle and patient. If any of us become more kind gentle and patient, our behavior will change. <br /><br /> But if I have rule that says be more patient, okay. I won't be, I will be more patient. <br /><br /> And then I'll say to guys, if that's the guy that I'm talking to guys, what'd you like it? If your wife became more kind channel and patient. Yeah, I would. It's a lady. Lady. Would you like your husband to become more kind? Gentle and patient? Oh yeah. <br /><br /> So we're looking at how God forgave you picture yourself kneeling before the cross, <br /><br /> God pours out his love and his forgiveness. It's not that we're all of a sudden I am so strong. I can do this, but she, when one becomes a believer, God pours out his love and his forgiveness opens a bank account for each one of us. A bank account of love, a bank account of forgiveness. Now, if you start writing checks out of your bank account, a bank account will go down, down, down, it'll go to zero, but the more we write a love check, the more God deposits in, in that. <br /><br /> The more we forgive, the more that sense of forgiveness. God depends puts into our account. <br /><br /> love and forgive comes not from my strength, but from what my heavenly father who signed died at the cross gave to me. <br /><br /> But shouldn't they be punished well, what's God saying don't repay anybody evil for evil, but be careful to do what is right in the eyes I've ever been. If it is possible, as far as depends upon you live at peace with everyone, but here's the key do not take revenge. My dear friends, but leave room for God tracks. <br /><br /> For it is written. It is mine to avenge. I will repay says the Lord. Now who's the best one at punishing people for when they do bad things, who's the best one who's going to punish you. When you do bad things, your husband, your wife, your sibling, how do they do and punishing you, or how do you react? <br /><br /> Gotcha. Just let me do it. I'm good at it. And sometimes if there's this person who has done something bad and I'm going to go and I'm going to focus on them, God's out there saying, what'd you get out of the way so I can do it. Or if it's something he needs to do, he's going to do it and we've become collateral damage. <br /><br /> But the question. Should I tell them I forgive them absolutely positively. Without a doubt, maybe will that request for forgiveness, enhance the forgiving, the reading re unification, improving that relationship. There are times it would be absolutely awful because you're saying to this person, you did something wrong. <br /><br /> Yeah. When you say I forgive you, you're saying they did something wrong. Is there something that within you that you keep it within you and when you take, keep it within you guess what you take that I expect out of your stomach? <br /><br /> Let me tell you about Ron story. I worked with right here with celebrate recovery. We were in the men's anger group. I understand all about men's anger. And I taught a seminar with this material. A couple of months later, Ron and Phil were in my house. We're having pizza. I said, would you like me to go over this? <br /><br /> And I know that both of them are having problems with their father. Let me tell you two stories with Ryan from Martin's life. Number one, when he was eight years old, two ten-year-old bullish chased him home. You've mentioned in the door, locked the door. Well, his father was there, got the story out of him and he said, okay, you've got two choices. <br /><br /> You can either stay in here and face my fish, or you can go out there and face their face. Well, he faced his father's fish. Many times. It was easy for him to go out and that's these two, ten-year-olds beat him up second story at his mother's funeral, he was standing over the casket. She was there, tears running down his eyes, apologize and asking her forgiveness because he couldn't protect her from his father's fish. <br /><br /> Well, as we talked about this, that to forgive as God forgive us, Ron says, well, how do you know God has forgiven you? Huh? So I shared the gospel with him and at the end, which is in short form, which I've done quite often is okay, I'm going to pray. Like I'm asking Jesus into my heart. You can pray after me out loud, silently. <br /><br /> We're just thinking about it. <br /><br /> Lord Jesus. I admit I've done wrong things. I deserve your wrath. I just, I deserve your punishment, but I know that Jesus died on the cross to take that punishment. And I asked you to put that onto me. And as a result, I want to become the person that you want me to be <br /><br /> finished. The prayer. And I asked Ron, well, what happened? Oh, I prayed with you. I meant every word. Well, but do you feel he looked around and said, I feel that I wage has been lifted it's light. And I had them write the initials of the people that had a hard time. Forgive. I knew who was at the top of his list. <br /><br /> And Ron says re points to it. He says I'm free. I'm free. I'm free. I'm at least 15 times. He's shouting. I'm free. <br /><br /> Well, when you consider Ron's story about your head, a huge, huge I'm pre what about you right now? Are you in that jail cell, a betterness, or are you free, free to be the person God made you to be free to be the person that Jesus died on the cross to save let's pray, father God, I just come before you. And I thank you that Jesus did go to the car. <br /><br /> Father Jesus went to the cross and in spite of who I am died for my sin and father, you poured out that love on me. Now give me wisdom and the grace to pour out that love and that forgiveness on others as pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.</div> false no <![CDATA[The Golden Rule]]> Matthew 7:12

"So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets."



We're going to be looking at Matthew chapter seven, verse 12 this morning, as we continue in our series, the sermon on the Mount, uh, which we've entitled the upside down life. We've got a one verse passage today doesn't necessarily promise the sermon is that much shorter, but we'll only be looking at one verse.

This statement that we're going to be reading this morning is recognized as the standard for righteous living throughout the centuries of the church. As a matter of fact, throughout the centuries of the church, since Jesus said this statement, it has been identified as one of the most complete summaries of what is called the natural.

That Paul talks about in Romans chapter two to is written on the hearts of people, Christians non-Christians other religions. Basically this statement is reiterated, uh, in many different religions in one form or another. It is also a statement, which I think most of us when we hear it, just say, well, yeah, I mean, that makes sense.

That, that, that, that fence, the statement is this, which we call the golden rule in Matthew chapter seven, verse 12. So whatever you wish that others would do to you do also to them for this is the law and the profits let's pray together. And then we're going to dive into this together.

Lord again, we thank you for truth. We thank you for the practicality. Uh, your word and God, this passage is just so practical for us. I pray you teach us. I pray that, um, as we sort of wrestle with what it's saying, what it's not saying, what it means, how it's lived out that Lord, you would speak into our lives today, your truth in Jesus name, amen.

This passage, this verse of course, uh, king James is do unto others, as you would have them do unto you, um, is the golden rule. And it is perceived as the gold standard of Christian conduct, actually human conduct. Right? It's interesting that the title gold, um, golden rule, while we would look at it, meaning the gold standard.

And it certainly does mean that it also has a more unique historic context. Actually there is a, a emperor of Rome emperor. Severus Alexander writing in the mid two hundreds, 2 22 to 2 35, actually that's when he was emperor, this slide shows him the ones to the left are the sculptors. That's all they had today is the, the contemporary, um, photo rendering.

If, uh, if he looks like his descendant is Ben Simmons have to say to you, I feel the same way. Um, you can tell me later if you think this looks like Ben Simmons, uh, to, to my knowledge, I don't know if there's any actual relation, but emperor Saveras Alexander embraced this motto for his reign. He put it in public buildings and.

Uniquely in his palace in the main, main throne room. He put this slogan, this verse, this as his motto, and he inscribed it on the wall in gold and many believe. This is actually where the statement, the golden rule came from. Ben Simmons, great node, Antonio severity, severity Alexander, uh, put it there, but throughout time, since Jesus spoke these words and even predating Jesus to some degree, this statement has stood as a effective.

Perspective of how we are to behave in true human experience, which of course is what Jesus came to do. Jesus came to live and not give us a contrary, um, human experience. He actually came to enable us to live Schuman experience. As it was designed to be lived. He gives a supernatural power to live the true natural human life.

We're going to look at two things this morning. I'm going to focus on two issues from this verse, why we should live according to the golden rule and what living according to the golden rule looks like why we should live according to the golden rule or a two reasons, because first of all, of what God is to us, you'll notice the beginning of verse 12 starts with the word.

So, or on the basis. And he's looking back to the verses that we studied last week in verses seven through 11. And I want to just read those to ask and it will be given to you seek and you will find knock, and it will be open to you for everyone who we see ask to receive. And the one who seeks finds and to the one who knocks it will be open.

Or which of you, if his son asks him for bread will give him a stone. Or if he asks for a fish will give him a serpent. If you then who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your father who is in heaven? Give good gifts to those who ask him. So. On the basis of that, Jesus is challenging us in verses seven through 11 to come to the father.

And he says, you have a good father, a father that is utterly for you. And he encourages you to come to him. Continually, let him meet your needs. Let him be the one that you cast your cares on rather than carrying them in Peter's words of first Peter five cry out to God for help. And he emphasizes how good the father is.

He says he wants to take care of you. He wants to sustain you. He wants to open doors. He wants to show you his will in chapter six, he's talked about this father and he says, you don't need to be anxious. You don't need to be driven by fears. You can live peacefully as you seek him and do life with him as your center.

There can be an inner quietness, not an agitation, not a negativity, not an anger because of your father. And he says so on the basis of this reality that you can live this way. This is how you pass on this goodness to others. But the foundational reality to this verse is the soul. And we just got a GRA grapple with this for a minute, because he's not saying just go out there and, and treat other people how you want to be treated.

He says, no, no, no. I'm talking to a specific demographic in culture. And that demographic is those that are living in continual relationship with this good father. Without it, we cannot pull off the printer. Of Matthew seven, 12, few years ago, I was reading an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer back when I was still reading newspapers.

And sorry, if you're a newspaper person, I, I always try not to do those kinds of things. It, but in the Philadelphia Inquirer, it's reading this editorial and it was written by a younger editorialist and she was telling of her own story. She had just returned from a month long vacation and she, in her own words said I had to get away.

I just had to get away. She went to a, a beach. She actually went to an island, spent a month there and she said I was becoming a frazzled, edgy, agitated, and angry. And so she went away and she just spent the time, the only conversations she really had were with friends, quiet, enjoyable. She had lighthearted fun that she did, but a lot of times she just chilled and relaxed and sort of settled and tried to get quiet and came back.

And she describes in the article, her experience, she was telling of arriving back early in the weekends, Monday morning, she got up a little bit edgy as she was doing the commute to downtown Philly to her office. And she told the story of how, as she got in the car a little bit nervous, but, but hopeful.

And she started down the highway, the scoop kill, and somebody cut her off. And it just agitated her and she found herself getting up. She said she wanted another couple of miles and all of a sudden she wasn't going fast enough or something. And somebody came by and was honking her horn. Somebody else shared a finger with her and all this is going on.

And she is just, she says, I could just feel myself losing control. And finally, she's trying to settle, try. And finally, she just pulls off the road onto the shoulder. Stops, turns off the engine and breaks down in tears, just overwhelmed with her own helplessness to control her own agitation, anger, and frustration.

What Jesus is reminding us here is we're utterly incapable on our own to really live. Quiet lives and quiet lives. Peaceful lives. Inner turmoil in life is what is required for what he's going to talk about in living out the golden rule. I mean, your stored up beach reserves just are going to get depleted real quick.

There is the need of continual quietness in the presence of God pestered. Ben talked about this last week as he preached on Matthew chapter seven, he used the example of George Mueller, a guy that was responsible of 10,000 orphans in Bristol, England, and never put out public requests for money. Had no government aid live by faith.

Just an amazing story. I mean, imagine what it would be like in humanness every, every week. You're wondering wisdom. When you gonna come from, how are we going to provide for this? I mean, the sense of agitation. I mean, why wasn't the guy continually controlled by anger and frustration and anxiety? Well, it's been pointed out the every morning, George Mueller, it's called George Mueller spiritual secret, and he says, this is my secret.

Every morning I spend time reading the scripture and then I go out into the field around. And I talk to God about those very things that he shared with me and have converse conversation with him. And he said, and I stay out there until, and this is his famous quote until my soul is happy in Jesus and Tom saddled.

But Jesus is saying, we're going to need to continually draw upon that resource. This passage, Matthew seven through 12, the golden rule does not work with our default mode of leaning into what's called our flesh or our, our sinful orientation. It only comes in the power of God in our lives. So, but he's saying you can live this way.

You can do this. This is the first reason he says, I want you to do the golden rule because you can continually be drinking at the well of your father's presence on the basis of that. You can live the golden rule. The second thing he says. We're to live the golden rule because of what God's law is all about.

He says for this is the law and the profits. There are two ways of teaching the law of God, the principles of God, the commandments of God. One is to give a million applications of them. This is what the Mishnah. And a lot of the Talmud is the Jewish, you know, all this traditions that came back and there's value in that, they went way too far.

They, they, they, I idolized it. But the idea is to give lots of, of, of pictures, case studies, if you will, the other way is to just give a summary mission statement. This is what it's about. This is what it means on the horizontal level to live, loving your neighbor as yourself and all the commandments that talk about that, whatever you wish that others would do to you.

Do also to them, he says, this fulfills the law and the profits, the laws, the first five books of the old Testament. The prophets are all the rest of the teaching material in the old Testament, which explains both God and how people are to do life under God. It's interesting that this Jesus is not the first person to ever make this statement.

In the first century BC, there was a Jewish. Who was the head of the Sanhedrin? The Sanhedrin was the men 70. It was the 70 rules of Israel, a very famous rabbi. His name was Hillel, and he actually lived for over a hundred years. He died in, in 10 Ady and Hallel actually made told in his teaching ministry, this, this story, that actually was a true thing that actually happened.

And here's what happened. This guy came to him, the pagan came to Hillel and says, make me a process, a light on the condition that you teach me the whole Torah while I stand on one foot. And I would just give me a summary of what it is. And Hillel said this, what is hateful to you do not do to your neighbor.

That's the whole Torah while the rest is commentary there on go and learn it. Sand golden rule. Don't do to other people, what you don't want them to do to you. He says, this is a summary. Jesus is picking up on that statement. He changes it a little bit. Well, which we'll look at it later, but basically he is acknowledging, this is the summary of God's law for us on the horizontal level, treat other people in the way you would want them to treat you later.

Teachers will follow Jesus in this perception of God's law. There's a thing called the DACA or did a K. It was written in the late first century. It, it did. I K actually means teaching. And the whole title of it is the teaching of the 12 apostles. They said, first love the love, the God who made you. And second, your neighbor as yourself and whatever you do not want to happen.

Do not do to another, this golden rule has continually been reaffirmed as the foundation of God's whole calling upon our lives in relation to two other people. So why are we to live according to the golden rule? Well, first, because we can by God's presence in our lives and our dependence on him, we can live this out, secondly, because it is the mission statement of the whole Jesus' life in us, towards others.

Okay. Now we want to put some shoes, toss. What does living, according to the golden rule look like, and I'd like to share five principles. You only have four slots. And so if you're taking notes, you're going to get a free one. Alright. And this is really the mindset of Jesus toward others, right? That's what this is talking about.

Treat others in the way you would want them to treat you whatever you wish others would do to you do to them. So what does it look like? Well, here are some principles. Number one, you invest yourself in what is helpful to others, not just restrain yourself from what is hurtful. If you'll notice the statement by Hillel, he said, This way, he said it negatively.

He said to not do to others. What you don't want them to do to you? Well, that's part of it. If you don't enjoy being robbed, don't Rob others. If you don't like being curse, don't curse others. If you don't enjoy being hated, don't hate others. But Jesus goes beyond the statement. What is hateful to you do not do to your neighbor.

He says, whatever you wish that others would do to you also do to them. He says, this is active. This is not permission to draw into a world where my whole goal is to not offend anyone, but I accomplished no positive. Good for anybody else that I just retreat and cloister away and, and keep my distance.

He's saying no, it's, it's active. It's it's it's intentional. What would you like done to you? We'll do a toughness. How would you like to be treated by? People will treat others. The second thing, and this is the longest one. You base it on what all humans wish for, not your personal preferences or perceptions.

I'm going to play this out again. Here's what he says, whatever you wish that others would do to you, to also to them, it's not based on your personal preferences. He's not talking about your love language. Okay. Like the woman says my love language is acts of service that I love when people do things to help me and look out for me.

And so I love my husband that way, you know, that's how I'd want him to do to me. So I do to him. And so I cleaned his car and so I keep his Carney. And so I keep the bedroom nice. And so I do other things around, I even put his tools away and clean up his workshop, which some of us. Thanks, but no thanks.

But, but, but you say doulas, but he doesn't seem to, you know, it doesn't seem to have any effect. Well, maybe his love language is babe. I just want to listen to, have you listened to me. I just want to tell you about my day. I want, I want, I want time to go. I wish you'd stop working with the, the, you know, the cleaning and we can be together.

And so it isn't our love language, right? It isn't, it isn't the guy that says my sister's in the hospital and she gets out tomorrow. I remember when I was in the hospital and, uh, man, the first day I got home, all my buddies came over and we watched the ball game together who was so great. So tomorrow my sister gets out of the hospital.

I've lined up meals for her. Every day. People are coming in. I've got people coming in that are going to clean for her. I've got people coming in that are just going to touch base and see how she's doing. Now. Here's the deal with his sister. His sister is the kind of person that takes on everybody's pain.

That immediately senses where everybody is. And it is a listener and takes responsibility for other people. And the thought of people bringing meals in every meal, the thought of people in her house cleaning, make sure say, I will probably stay in my bedroom 24 7 until his string runs out. Maybe she'll be under the bed.

That's not what it's saying. It's not saying my personal wiring, how I want to be looked after is how all look after. That's not what he's saying. All right. Second thing it's not talking about it is not based.

Sorry, it's not based on our personal perceptions of others. There's a person at work that holds a completely different vision of what our nation needs than you do. Or there's a person who has chosen a completely different lifestyle than you value. And when you think about this person and you think about the golden rule, you can go like this, that woman.

Yeah. I'm trying to live out the golden rule with her, some thinking, what do I want her to do towards me? Therefore, I will do that to her. What do I want from that woman? Nothing. I want enough not to talk to me. I want to not to, to come my way. I don't want to see her. What do I want from her space distance.

So that's what I'm giving her now. Quite honestly, if that's your attitude, that might be the best thing you can do. But I think we all sent somehow that doesn't seem to be what Jesus is saying here. Exactly. But I'm not sure why what's wrong. What is he saying when he says whatever you wish others would do for you do for them.

If it's not love language, if it's not, I can't stand that person. And the best thing that she could do for me stay out of my life. So the kindness thing I can do for her is stay at her. What is it? Well, that's what I want to talk with you for the next couple of minutes. The command is based on love for others.

What is best for others? It is loving other people in the way we would all want to be loved. So how do all of us want to be loved? First Corinthians 13 tells us a few things. Here are some of the characteristics. It says love is patient love is kind. It does not dishonor others. It is not easily angered.

It keeps no record of wrongs. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. If you look at those and spend some time with those verses, you will find that there are four specific things that Paul is saying are what love looks like towards others. If you want to seek the best of others, which is really what you want to get from others towards you, you want to be loved.

There are four particular things that we give to each other. I'd like to highlight them for you quickly. And just say a little bit about them. I'll tell you the fourth. Tolerance kindness, respect and trust. He says, first of all, what all of us want is tolerance from other people. He says, this love is patient.

It's not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs there in first Corinthians 13, of course I screw up. Of course I make mistakes. I'm not perfect. Nobody is you overlook your foibles mess, ups, screw ups, and you want others to do that. You know, not to completely cut your slack if you've done something terrible, but, but overall you, you, you long for some toleration that people, my wife, my husband, my parents, my kids, that there'll be tolerant.

We all want that, right? We all want some forbearance. We give it to ourselves. And one of the ways that we give to others, what we all want is toleration and pulses. Three times, three different ways. He says you're patient with each other. Love is not easily angered love. Doesn't keep record of wrongs.

Tolerance is part of the golden rule. Secondly, there's kindness. Love is in first Corinthians 13 kind. There's nobody that wants to be around a boss. That's harsh. That's overly demanding at times feels. No matter what your wiring, isn't her personalities. You want to be an environment where, where the individual that is responsible for you and over you.

Even if they're a tough disciplinarian, everything there's kindness, there's compassion. We all long for that. We all long, for some level of kindness to be coming our way. And Paul is saying, you want to be tolerated. You want to be treated kindly say, excuse me. Jesus is saying, those are how we live under the golden rule.

Third living, the golden rule is showing respect. You'll notice in first Corinthians 13, it says love does not dishonor others. I want to be treated. With honor and respect. I want to be paid what I'm worth. I want a little appreciation. I want encouragement, not criticism all the time. I want my opinion to matter my voice, to be heard.

My oldest daughter, oldest child Laura, is, is out in Michigan. Her husband's a pilot for United and been off work with all this stuff. And she got a, she got a job, um, with, um, the postal service. And she's a carrier doing, doing this, this job. And she's, she's not permanent yet. Well, she's permanent, but she's not yet got a route.

So she's basically doing all these rural routes. And her job is to basically fill in every day, whoever isn't going to be there. So it's a lot of training and it's a lot of, she told me that. Of her first training day, she went in and Laura's pretty capable, pretty quick study, but, but it's a lot to learn.

And, and so they're in this, this postal truck, there's no air conditioning, it's burning hot. It was summer. And she, the guy's letting her drive and he's on his phone, the trainer. And as she goes out, she's messing up making mistakes and the guy is making fun of her and texting his wife, showing pictures of Laura, messing up and mistakes.

She's making look, Laura said she barely made it through the day. She's now done real well with it. But she says to this day, and she said, actually, he is the easiest route of any of the. And it's one of the shortest ones, but she says to this day, when he's not there and I have to do his route, she says, I actually break out.

It's a nervous. And I always mess something up. What happened? She, she felt demeaned, disrespected. We all need respect. We all need appreciation and encouragement. And Paul saying part of the golden rule is that I respect others. I honor them. The fourth thing is trust. First Corinthians 13 says love, always protects, always trusts, always hopes.

It gives people the benefit of the doubt and not assume I know the whole story. We always highlight our own motives. Right. I mean, if we've messed up first in that goes through our mind when we've messed up, but we know it's trying to do the right thing. I was trying. I just screwed. We immediately think my motives were.

We don't typically do that as a first response when somebody else has screwed up, we don't often go trusting is assuming I don't have the whole story. And my initial reaction is I am going to try to look for the best in others. Just like I tend to look for the best in my self. I received, uh, a very meaningful letter for me, from somebody from our church.

Uh, after I preached a couple of weeks ago on, on judging in John chapter seven, and the individual was telling a story from her own career and with her permission without names and everything. Um, I want to just share what she wrote because it was an illustration that I think is so applicable to this idea.

We're looking for the best. We're looking to trust others and not immediately thinking we have the whole story after your sermon. I thought about an incident that occurred several years ago. It was an especially busy day in the emergency department with multiple strokes and heart attacks and very ill people coming through our doors.

Very sick people were w were in the waiting room and desperately needed to be seen. People were receiving blood transfusions in the hallway. We had run out of heart monitors. There were multiple ambulance crews at our back door, and we had started sitting the sick and chairs. I heard one of my colleagues complaining about the 10th floor and that one of the nurses up there had an empty room, but was refusing to take the report, which was so a patient could leave us and free up one of our beds from one of our nurses because she needed 10 minutes, 10 minutes.

I'd like to have 10 minutes, one year, one nurse. This wasn't my patient or I might've been the one sharing her opinion. Moving forward to the next day, I was in a meeting with the chief nursing officer and she shared her concern for the nurses on the 10th floor. She was concerned because all of their patients were isolation patients and they were asked to take more patients than normal.

And several nurses had turned in their resignations. Isolation requires the nurse to gown up with a plastic gown, used gloves mask, head covering, and sometimes shoe coverings. Before going into a patient's room, then it all has to come off. You scrub your hands and start all over before going into another patient's room.

You hope no one needs anything while you're in a patient's room, because they are going to be very angry that it's taking you so long to get to them after 12. Hours of this, you are hot, sweaty, you stink, you're exhausted. And probably half of your patients are going to write negative comments on their surveys and they will be sure to use your name.

I have only ever had one or two patients in isolation at a time, and it's quite awful. I am forever grateful that I heard our CNO share her concern. I share all the details because like the Jews and Gentiles of Romans 1514, that was in the sermon, both sides had reasons to feel the way they did and neither side knew or cared to understand the plight of the other it's destructive.

And without hope I'm in a place where I needed to remember this. Thank you. We are all in places that remind us that we need to remember the golden rule do to others. What we would wish others would do for us. And that means extending tolerance. Respect kindness trust. The third principle is you grow in your capacity to live because live it because of God's appointed life experiences.

Just a couple of things here, just thinking of how this works out. It works out that we are better able to understand the life experiences and, and of others. For instance, I love it when we have pastors, former pastors, especially preaching pastors, and we've got some that are a part of our church family.

Because they know what it's like, and they're the ones that will be out there nod. And when you're speaking and you're really not making a lot of sense, but they're just encouraging you. They laugh at the joke that nobody else gets or wishes. They didn't get that. They encourage why they know what it's like.

They get it leaders that, that have all that had people that have never been in a leadership position. And now they're responsible for something and in your office and all of a sudden they know what it's like and realize you got people from both sides that don't get it. And, and you've never been in that place before.

You'd never been in charge of the group. You begin to understand, we have a capacity to live out the golden rule better as we understand and grow in our own things. Wow. Ah, man, I'd love to have people respond to me in this way as the leader of our group. Well, the people that will best be able to do that are going to be people that have experienced it.

A fourth principle is you need to apply this principle in all areas of your life. This principle of the golden rule is not just for the brother or sister that you go to church with. It's for your work team. It's for your family. It's for your extended family. It's for your spouse's extended family. It's for the neighbors that are tough.

It is processing kindness, tolerance, respect, trust. That might my default position is I want to go to those things because those are the things I want people to give me. Those are the things that I long for. In my life. We have a, we have a forum that we put together years ago. It's called serving as a team together.

It's just, these are all biblical passages and these are principles. We use this and review this often as a pastoral team, as, as a church staff, um, many of our, our leadership groups go through this. We actually encourage every leadership group to go through it. Basically it's commitments. I agree to in serving together, what it's basically talking about is what would all of us want to have?

What are we committing to each other? Because this is what we would want to, I'm just going to discuss real quickly. These kinds of things, encourage I'll seek to be an encourager. My teammates realizing that encouragement is one of the primary reasons for being. Speaking for others, I will not speak for someone else in the team without their permission handling criticism of teammates.

If someone comes to me with a concern about another team member, either what they did or did not do, or a personal issues, I will encourage that person to go to the team member personally, rather than try to resolve their concerns, myself, supporting each other I'll support and build up other team members.

In my context with other people extinguish, not inflame. When someone comes with a concern about the overall ministry, I'll listen sincerely, but we'll be careful not to inflame a spirit of critical illness, but rather to emphasize the positives, we talk about having a bucket of water, not a bucket of gasoline.

In-person truth telling I'll try to share things in persons that may feel negative rather than through a letter or an email, make things right. If I have reacted in a way that is hurtful to a team member, I will seek to make it right by asking for you. These are just things all of us would want, right?

They're just saying, we're going to try to follow the golden rule, which is we believe these things honor each other. These things share kindness to each other. These things show trust for each other. And so these are practical things that we're trying to live out. We want to be doing that in all aspects of our life.

And the last thing here, I'm going to wrap up. You will need your heavenly father to live this out. That's the cell. There is no verse 12 without the earlier verses reminding us that the resort. For living this prince, we are too self-absorbed. We are too much about how this circumstance affects me apart from the freeing power of the spirit of God, to be freed from our own self absorbed sin and self centered orientation to be looking at others.

This is why the vertical is essential for the horizontal, that everything we're talking about this morning, and you may be here and this may be your first time in our church or any church. It may be, or maybe a return. But, but, but for you, you know, the Christian faith thing is, is something you're sort of wondering about, oh, I want to be completely candid with you and say, even though you're probably very familiar with the golden rule, this golden rule is designed.

And dependent on God, himself working his life through people. We don't have this, we don't have the capacity to live selflessly except, but the incredible thing is there is a father who loves us, who is for us, who is making himself available to us. He sent his own son that you could enter into a relationship with him that we can live differently because he has come to make that difference in our lives.

It's what salvation is about. It's what being born again is about. It's the new life that is offered to us. And Jesus says, this is true human experience, looking out for what you would want and doing that towards others. But the power for that, the fuel that drives the engine of that in our lives is God himself and a personal relationship.

Let's pray, Lord, thank you for

just reminders from your word.

There is a life that is not one where we are controlled by anger or factiousness or me first or getting mine, but it's a life that because of sin is not natural to us. We need supernatural aid, but Lord enable us, prompt us with the potential and the essentialness of drawing near to you that you might live that life in us and through us in Jesus name.

Amen now go in peace to love and serve and enjoy the Lord.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-golden-rule 044ef37f-345b-4f35-be49-24c469d86271 Sun, 19 Sep 2021 14:24:46 GMT <div data-html="true">Matthew 7:12 <br /><br /> "So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets." <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> We're going to be looking at Matthew chapter seven, verse 12 this morning, as we continue in our series, the sermon on the Mount, uh, which we've entitled the upside down life. We've got a one verse passage today doesn't necessarily promise the sermon is that much shorter, but we'll only be looking at one verse. <br /><br /> This statement that we're going to be reading this morning is recognized as the standard for righteous living throughout the centuries of the church. As a matter of fact, throughout the centuries of the church, since Jesus said this statement, it has been identified as one of the most complete summaries of what is called the natural. <br /><br /> That Paul talks about in Romans chapter two to is written on the hearts of people, Christians non-Christians other religions. Basically this statement is reiterated, uh, in many different religions in one form or another. It is also a statement, which I think most of us when we hear it, just say, well, yeah, I mean, that makes sense. <br /><br /> That, that, that, that fence, the statement is this, which we call the golden rule in Matthew chapter seven, verse 12. So whatever you wish that others would do to you do also to them for this is the law and the profits let's pray together. And then we're going to dive into this together. <br /><br /> Lord again, we thank you for truth. We thank you for the practicality. Uh, your word and God, this passage is just so practical for us. I pray you teach us. I pray that, um, as we sort of wrestle with what it's saying, what it's not saying, what it means, how it's lived out that Lord, you would speak into our lives today, your truth in Jesus name, amen. <br /><br /> This passage, this verse of course, uh, king James is do unto others, as you would have them do unto you, um, is the golden rule. And it is perceived as the gold standard of Christian conduct, actually human conduct. Right? It's interesting that the title gold, um, golden rule, while we would look at it, meaning the gold standard. <br /><br /> And it certainly does mean that it also has a more unique historic context. Actually there is a, a emperor of Rome emperor. Severus Alexander writing in the mid two hundreds, 2 22 to 2 35, actually that's when he was emperor, this slide shows him the ones to the left are the sculptors. That's all they had today is the, the contemporary, um, photo rendering. <br /><br /> If, uh, if he looks like his descendant is Ben Simmons have to say to you, I feel the same way. Um, you can tell me later if you think this looks like Ben Simmons, uh, to, to my knowledge, I don't know if there's any actual relation, but emperor Saveras Alexander embraced this motto for his reign. He put it in public buildings and. <br /><br /> Uniquely in his palace in the main, main throne room. He put this slogan, this verse, this as his motto, and he inscribed it on the wall in gold and many believe. This is actually where the statement, the golden rule came from. Ben Simmons, great node, Antonio severity, severity Alexander, uh, put it there, but throughout time, since Jesus spoke these words and even predating Jesus to some degree, this statement has stood as a effective. <br /><br /> Perspective of how we are to behave in true human experience, which of course is what Jesus came to do. Jesus came to live and not give us a contrary, um, human experience. He actually came to enable us to live Schuman experience. As it was designed to be lived. He gives a supernatural power to live the true natural human life. <br /><br /> We're going to look at two things this morning. I'm going to focus on two issues from this verse, why we should live according to the golden rule and what living according to the golden rule looks like why we should live according to the golden rule or a two reasons, because first of all, of what God is to us, you'll notice the beginning of verse 12 starts with the word. <br /><br /> So, or on the basis. And he's looking back to the verses that we studied last week in verses seven through 11. And I want to just read those to ask and it will be given to you seek and you will find knock, and it will be open to you for everyone who we see ask to receive. And the one who seeks finds and to the one who knocks it will be open. <br /><br /> Or which of you, if his son asks him for bread will give him a stone. Or if he asks for a fish will give him a serpent. If you then who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your father who is in heaven? Give good gifts to those who ask him. So. On the basis of that, Jesus is challenging us in verses seven through 11 to come to the father. <br /><br /> And he says, you have a good father, a father that is utterly for you. And he encourages you to come to him. Continually, let him meet your needs. Let him be the one that you cast your cares on rather than carrying them in Peter's words of first Peter five cry out to God for help. And he emphasizes how good the father is. <br /><br /> He says he wants to take care of you. He wants to sustain you. He wants to open doors. He wants to show you his will in chapter six, he's talked about this father and he says, you don't need to be anxious. You don't need to be driven by fears. You can live peacefully as you seek him and do life with him as your center. <br /><br /> There can be an inner quietness, not an agitation, not a negativity, not an anger because of your father. And he says so on the basis of this reality that you can live this way. This is how you pass on this goodness to others. But the foundational reality to this verse is the soul. And we just got a GRA grapple with this for a minute, because he's not saying just go out there and, and treat other people how you want to be treated. <br /><br /> He says, no, no, no. I'm talking to a specific demographic in culture. And that demographic is those that are living in continual relationship with this good father. Without it, we cannot pull off the printer. Of Matthew seven, 12, few years ago, I was reading an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer back when I was still reading newspapers. <br /><br /> And sorry, if you're a newspaper person, I, I always try not to do those kinds of things. It, but in the Philadelphia Inquirer, it's reading this editorial and it was written by a younger editorialist and she was telling of her own story. She had just returned from a month long vacation and she, in her own words said I had to get away. <br /><br /> I just had to get away. She went to a, a beach. She actually went to an island, spent a month there and she said I was becoming a frazzled, edgy, agitated, and angry. And so she went away and she just spent the time, the only conversations she really had were with friends, quiet, enjoyable. She had lighthearted fun that she did, but a lot of times she just chilled and relaxed and sort of settled and tried to get quiet and came back. <br /><br /> And she describes in the article, her experience, she was telling of arriving back early in the weekends, Monday morning, she got up a little bit edgy as she was doing the commute to downtown Philly to her office. And she told the story of how, as she got in the car a little bit nervous, but, but hopeful. <br /><br /> And she started down the highway, the scoop kill, and somebody cut her off. And it just agitated her and she found herself getting up. She said she wanted another couple of miles and all of a sudden she wasn't going fast enough or something. And somebody came by and was honking her horn. Somebody else shared a finger with her and all this is going on. <br /><br /> And she is just, she says, I could just feel myself losing control. And finally, she's trying to settle, try. And finally, she just pulls off the road onto the shoulder. Stops, turns off the engine and breaks down in tears, just overwhelmed with her own helplessness to control her own agitation, anger, and frustration. <br /><br /> What Jesus is reminding us here is we're utterly incapable on our own to really live. Quiet lives and quiet lives. Peaceful lives. Inner turmoil in life is what is required for what he's going to talk about in living out the golden rule. I mean, your stored up beach reserves just are going to get depleted real quick. <br /><br /> There is the need of continual quietness in the presence of God pestered. Ben talked about this last week as he preached on Matthew chapter seven, he used the example of George Mueller, a guy that was responsible of 10,000 orphans in Bristol, England, and never put out public requests for money. Had no government aid live by faith. <br /><br /> Just an amazing story. I mean, imagine what it would be like in humanness every, every week. You're wondering wisdom. When you gonna come from, how are we going to provide for this? I mean, the sense of agitation. I mean, why wasn't the guy continually controlled by anger and frustration and anxiety? Well, it's been pointed out the every morning, George Mueller, it's called George Mueller spiritual secret, and he says, this is my secret. <br /><br /> Every morning I spend time reading the scripture and then I go out into the field around. And I talk to God about those very things that he shared with me and have converse conversation with him. And he said, and I stay out there until, and this is his famous quote until my soul is happy in Jesus and Tom saddled. <br /><br /> But Jesus is saying, we're going to need to continually draw upon that resource. This passage, Matthew seven through 12, the golden rule does not work with our default mode of leaning into what's called our flesh or our, our sinful orientation. It only comes in the power of God in our lives. So, but he's saying you can live this way. <br /><br /> You can do this. This is the first reason he says, I want you to do the golden rule because you can continually be drinking at the well of your father's presence on the basis of that. You can live the golden rule. The second thing he says. We're to live the golden rule because of what God's law is all about. <br /><br /> He says for this is the law and the profits. There are two ways of teaching the law of God, the principles of God, the commandments of God. One is to give a million applications of them. This is what the Mishnah. And a lot of the Talmud is the Jewish, you know, all this traditions that came back and there's value in that, they went way too far. <br /><br /> They, they, they, I idolized it. But the idea is to give lots of, of, of pictures, case studies, if you will, the other way is to just give a summary mission statement. This is what it's about. This is what it means on the horizontal level to live, loving your neighbor as yourself and all the commandments that talk about that, whatever you wish that others would do to you. <br /><br /> Do also to them, he says, this fulfills the law and the profits, the laws, the first five books of the old Testament. The prophets are all the rest of the teaching material in the old Testament, which explains both God and how people are to do life under God. It's interesting that this Jesus is not the first person to ever make this statement. <br /><br /> In the first century BC, there was a Jewish. Who was the head of the Sanhedrin? The Sanhedrin was the men 70. It was the 70 rules of Israel, a very famous rabbi. His name was Hillel, and he actually lived for over a hundred years. He died in, in 10 Ady and Hallel actually made told in his teaching ministry, this, this story, that actually was a true thing that actually happened. <br /><br /> And here's what happened. This guy came to him, the pagan came to Hillel and says, make me a process, a light on the condition that you teach me the whole Torah while I stand on one foot. And I would just give me a summary of what it is. And Hillel said this, what is hateful to you do not do to your neighbor. <br /><br /> That's the whole Torah while the rest is commentary there on go and learn it. Sand golden rule. Don't do to other people, what you don't want them to do to you. He says, this is a summary. Jesus is picking up on that statement. He changes it a little bit. Well, which we'll look at it later, but basically he is acknowledging, this is the summary of God's law for us on the horizontal level, treat other people in the way you would want them to treat you later. <br /><br /> Teachers will follow Jesus in this perception of God's law. There's a thing called the DACA or did a K. It was written in the late first century. It, it did. I K actually means teaching. And the whole title of it is the teaching of the 12 apostles. They said, first love the love, the God who made you. And second, your neighbor as yourself and whatever you do not want to happen. <br /><br /> Do not do to another, this golden rule has continually been reaffirmed as the foundation of God's whole calling upon our lives in relation to two other people. So why are we to live according to the golden rule? Well, first, because we can by God's presence in our lives and our dependence on him, we can live this out, secondly, because it is the mission statement of the whole Jesus' life in us, towards others. <br /><br /> Okay. Now we want to put some shoes, toss. What does living, according to the golden rule look like, and I'd like to share five principles. You only have four slots. And so if you're taking notes, you're going to get a free one. Alright. And this is really the mindset of Jesus toward others, right? That's what this is talking about. <br /><br /> Treat others in the way you would want them to treat you whatever you wish others would do to you do to them. So what does it look like? Well, here are some principles. Number one, you invest yourself in what is helpful to others, not just restrain yourself from what is hurtful. If you'll notice the statement by Hillel, he said, This way, he said it negatively. <br /><br /> He said to not do to others. What you don't want them to do to you? Well, that's part of it. If you don't enjoy being robbed, don't Rob others. If you don't like being curse, don't curse others. If you don't enjoy being hated, don't hate others. But Jesus goes beyond the statement. What is hateful to you do not do to your neighbor. <br /><br /> He says, whatever you wish that others would do to you also do to them. He says, this is active. This is not permission to draw into a world where my whole goal is to not offend anyone, but I accomplished no positive. Good for anybody else that I just retreat and cloister away and, and keep my distance. <br /><br /> He's saying no, it's, it's active. It's it's it's intentional. What would you like done to you? We'll do a toughness. How would you like to be treated by? People will treat others. The second thing, and this is the longest one. You base it on what all humans wish for, not your personal preferences or perceptions. <br /><br /> I'm going to play this out again. Here's what he says, whatever you wish that others would do to you, to also to them, it's not based on your personal preferences. He's not talking about your love language. Okay. Like the woman says my love language is acts of service that I love when people do things to help me and look out for me. <br /><br /> And so I love my husband that way, you know, that's how I'd want him to do to me. So I do to him. And so I cleaned his car and so I keep his Carney. And so I keep the bedroom nice. And so I do other things around, I even put his tools away and clean up his workshop, which some of us. Thanks, but no thanks. <br /><br /> But, but, but you say doulas, but he doesn't seem to, you know, it doesn't seem to have any effect. Well, maybe his love language is babe. I just want to listen to, have you listened to me. I just want to tell you about my day. I want, I want, I want time to go. I wish you'd stop working with the, the, you know, the cleaning and we can be together. <br /><br /> And so it isn't our love language, right? It isn't, it isn't the guy that says my sister's in the hospital and she gets out tomorrow. I remember when I was in the hospital and, uh, man, the first day I got home, all my buddies came over and we watched the ball game together who was so great. So tomorrow my sister gets out of the hospital. <br /><br /> I've lined up meals for her. Every day. People are coming in. I've got people coming in that are going to clean for her. I've got people coming in that are just going to touch base and see how she's doing. Now. Here's the deal with his sister. His sister is the kind of person that takes on everybody's pain. <br /><br /> That immediately senses where everybody is. And it is a listener and takes responsibility for other people. And the thought of people bringing meals in every meal, the thought of people in her house cleaning, make sure say, I will probably stay in my bedroom 24 7 until his string runs out. Maybe she'll be under the bed. <br /><br /> That's not what it's saying. It's not saying my personal wiring, how I want to be looked after is how all look after. That's not what he's saying. All right. Second thing it's not talking about it is not based. <br /><br /> Sorry, it's not based on our personal perceptions of others. There's a person at work that holds a completely different vision of what our nation needs than you do. Or there's a person who has chosen a completely different lifestyle than you value. And when you think about this person and you think about the golden rule, you can go like this, that woman. <br /><br /> Yeah. I'm trying to live out the golden rule with her, some thinking, what do I want her to do towards me? Therefore, I will do that to her. What do I want from that woman? Nothing. I want enough not to talk to me. I want to not to, to come my way. I don't want to see her. What do I want from her space distance. <br /><br /> So that's what I'm giving her now. Quite honestly, if that's your attitude, that might be the best thing you can do. But I think we all sent somehow that doesn't seem to be what Jesus is saying here. Exactly. But I'm not sure why what's wrong. What is he saying when he says whatever you wish others would do for you do for them. <br /><br /> If it's not love language, if it's not, I can't stand that person. And the best thing that she could do for me stay out of my life. So the kindness thing I can do for her is stay at her. What is it? Well, that's what I want to talk with you for the next couple of minutes. The command is based on love for others. <br /><br /> What is best for others? It is loving other people in the way we would all want to be loved. So how do all of us want to be loved? First Corinthians 13 tells us a few things. Here are some of the characteristics. It says love is patient love is kind. It does not dishonor others. It is not easily angered. <br /><br /> It keeps no record of wrongs. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. If you look at those and spend some time with those verses, you will find that there are four specific things that Paul is saying are what love looks like towards others. If you want to seek the best of others, which is really what you want to get from others towards you, you want to be loved. <br /><br /> There are four particular things that we give to each other. I'd like to highlight them for you quickly. And just say a little bit about them. I'll tell you the fourth. Tolerance kindness, respect and trust. He says, first of all, what all of us want is tolerance from other people. He says, this love is patient. <br /><br /> It's not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs there in first Corinthians 13, of course I screw up. Of course I make mistakes. I'm not perfect. Nobody is you overlook your foibles mess, ups, screw ups, and you want others to do that. You know, not to completely cut your slack if you've done something terrible, but, but overall you, you, you long for some toleration that people, my wife, my husband, my parents, my kids, that there'll be tolerant. <br /><br /> We all want that, right? We all want some forbearance. We give it to ourselves. And one of the ways that we give to others, what we all want is toleration and pulses. Three times, three different ways. He says you're patient with each other. Love is not easily angered love. Doesn't keep record of wrongs. <br /><br /> Tolerance is part of the golden rule. Secondly, there's kindness. Love is in first Corinthians 13 kind. There's nobody that wants to be around a boss. That's harsh. That's overly demanding at times feels. No matter what your wiring, isn't her personalities. You want to be an environment where, where the individual that is responsible for you and over you. <br /><br /> Even if they're a tough disciplinarian, everything there's kindness, there's compassion. We all long for that. We all long, for some level of kindness to be coming our way. And Paul is saying, you want to be tolerated. You want to be treated kindly say, excuse me. Jesus is saying, those are how we live under the golden rule. <br /><br /> Third living, the golden rule is showing respect. You'll notice in first Corinthians 13, it says love does not dishonor others. I want to be treated. With honor and respect. I want to be paid what I'm worth. I want a little appreciation. I want encouragement, not criticism all the time. I want my opinion to matter my voice, to be heard. <br /><br /> My oldest daughter, oldest child Laura, is, is out in Michigan. Her husband's a pilot for United and been off work with all this stuff. And she got a, she got a job, um, with, um, the postal service. And she's a carrier doing, doing this, this job. And she's, she's not permanent yet. Well, she's permanent, but she's not yet got a route. <br /><br /> So she's basically doing all these rural routes. And her job is to basically fill in every day, whoever isn't going to be there. So it's a lot of training and it's a lot of, she told me that. Of her first training day, she went in and Laura's pretty capable, pretty quick study, but, but it's a lot to learn. <br /><br /> And, and so they're in this, this postal truck, there's no air conditioning, it's burning hot. It was summer. And she, the guy's letting her drive and he's on his phone, the trainer. And as she goes out, she's messing up making mistakes and the guy is making fun of her and texting his wife, showing pictures of Laura, messing up and mistakes. <br /><br /> She's making look, Laura said she barely made it through the day. She's now done real well with it. But she says to this day, and she said, actually, he is the easiest route of any of the. And it's one of the shortest ones, but she says to this day, when he's not there and I have to do his route, she says, I actually break out. <br /><br /> It's a nervous. And I always mess something up. What happened? She, she felt demeaned, disrespected. We all need respect. We all need appreciation and encouragement. And Paul saying part of the golden rule is that I respect others. I honor them. The fourth thing is trust. First Corinthians 13 says love, always protects, always trusts, always hopes. <br /><br /> It gives people the benefit of the doubt and not assume I know the whole story. We always highlight our own motives. Right. I mean, if we've messed up first in that goes through our mind when we've messed up, but we know it's trying to do the right thing. I was trying. I just screwed. We immediately think my motives were. <br /><br /> We don't typically do that as a first response when somebody else has screwed up, we don't often go trusting is assuming I don't have the whole story. And my initial reaction is I am going to try to look for the best in others. Just like I tend to look for the best in my self. I received, uh, a very meaningful letter for me, from somebody from our church. <br /><br /> Uh, after I preached a couple of weeks ago on, on judging in John chapter seven, and the individual was telling a story from her own career and with her permission without names and everything. Um, I want to just share what she wrote because it was an illustration that I think is so applicable to this idea. <br /><br /> We're looking for the best. We're looking to trust others and not immediately thinking we have the whole story after your sermon. I thought about an incident that occurred several years ago. It was an especially busy day in the emergency department with multiple strokes and heart attacks and very ill people coming through our doors. <br /><br /> Very sick people were w were in the waiting room and desperately needed to be seen. People were receiving blood transfusions in the hallway. We had run out of heart monitors. There were multiple ambulance crews at our back door, and we had started sitting the sick and chairs. I heard one of my colleagues complaining about the 10th floor and that one of the nurses up there had an empty room, but was refusing to take the report, which was so a patient could leave us and free up one of our beds from one of our nurses because she needed 10 minutes, 10 minutes. <br /><br /> I'd like to have 10 minutes, one year, one nurse. This wasn't my patient or I might've been the one sharing her opinion. Moving forward to the next day, I was in a meeting with the chief nursing officer and she shared her concern for the nurses on the 10th floor. She was concerned because all of their patients were isolation patients and they were asked to take more patients than normal. <br /><br /> And several nurses had turned in their resignations. Isolation requires the nurse to gown up with a plastic gown, used gloves mask, head covering, and sometimes shoe coverings. Before going into a patient's room, then it all has to come off. You scrub your hands and start all over before going into another patient's room. <br /><br /> You hope no one needs anything while you're in a patient's room, because they are going to be very angry that it's taking you so long to get to them after 12. Hours of this, you are hot, sweaty, you stink, you're exhausted. And probably half of your patients are going to write negative comments on their surveys and they will be sure to use your name. <br /><br /> I have only ever had one or two patients in isolation at a time, and it's quite awful. I am forever grateful that I heard our CNO share her concern. I share all the details because like the Jews and Gentiles of Romans 1514, that was in the sermon, both sides had reasons to feel the way they did and neither side knew or cared to understand the plight of the other it's destructive. <br /><br /> And without hope I'm in a place where I needed to remember this. Thank you. We are all in places that remind us that we need to remember the golden rule do to others. What we would wish others would do for us. And that means extending tolerance. Respect kindness trust. The third principle is you grow in your capacity to live because live it because of God's appointed life experiences. <br /><br /> Just a couple of things here, just thinking of how this works out. It works out that we are better able to understand the life experiences and, and of others. For instance, I love it when we have pastors, former pastors, especially preaching pastors, and we've got some that are a part of our church family. <br /><br /> Because they know what it's like, and they're the ones that will be out there nod. And when you're speaking and you're really not making a lot of sense, but they're just encouraging you. They laugh at the joke that nobody else gets or wishes. They didn't get that. They encourage why they know what it's like. <br /><br /> They get it leaders that, that have all that had people that have never been in a leadership position. And now they're responsible for something and in your office and all of a sudden they know what it's like and realize you got people from both sides that don't get it. And, and you've never been in that place before. <br /><br /> You'd never been in charge of the group. You begin to understand, we have a capacity to live out the golden rule better as we understand and grow in our own things. Wow. Ah, man, I'd love to have people respond to me in this way as the leader of our group. Well, the people that will best be able to do that are going to be people that have experienced it. <br /><br /> A fourth principle is you need to apply this principle in all areas of your life. This principle of the golden rule is not just for the brother or sister that you go to church with. It's for your work team. It's for your family. It's for your extended family. It's for your spouse's extended family. It's for the neighbors that are tough. <br /><br /> It is processing kindness, tolerance, respect, trust. That might my default position is I want to go to those things because those are the things I want people to give me. Those are the things that I long for. In my life. We have a, we have a forum that we put together years ago. It's called serving as a team together. <br /><br /> It's just, these are all biblical passages and these are principles. We use this and review this often as a pastoral team, as, as a church staff, um, many of our, our leadership groups go through this. We actually encourage every leadership group to go through it. Basically it's commitments. I agree to in serving together, what it's basically talking about is what would all of us want to have? <br /><br /> What are we committing to each other? Because this is what we would want to, I'm just going to discuss real quickly. These kinds of things, encourage I'll seek to be an encourager. My teammates realizing that encouragement is one of the primary reasons for being. Speaking for others, I will not speak for someone else in the team without their permission handling criticism of teammates. <br /><br /> If someone comes to me with a concern about another team member, either what they did or did not do, or a personal issues, I will encourage that person to go to the team member personally, rather than try to resolve their concerns, myself, supporting each other I'll support and build up other team members. <br /><br /> In my context with other people extinguish, not inflame. When someone comes with a concern about the overall ministry, I'll listen sincerely, but we'll be careful not to inflame a spirit of critical illness, but rather to emphasize the positives, we talk about having a bucket of water, not a bucket of gasoline. <br /><br /> In-person truth telling I'll try to share things in persons that may feel negative rather than through a letter or an email, make things right. If I have reacted in a way that is hurtful to a team member, I will seek to make it right by asking for you. These are just things all of us would want, right? <br /><br /> They're just saying, we're going to try to follow the golden rule, which is we believe these things honor each other. These things share kindness to each other. These things show trust for each other. And so these are practical things that we're trying to live out. We want to be doing that in all aspects of our life. <br /><br /> And the last thing here, I'm going to wrap up. You will need your heavenly father to live this out. That's the cell. There is no verse 12 without the earlier verses reminding us that the resort. For living this prince, we are too self-absorbed. We are too much about how this circumstance affects me apart from the freeing power of the spirit of God, to be freed from our own self absorbed sin and self centered orientation to be looking at others. <br /><br /> This is why the vertical is essential for the horizontal, that everything we're talking about this morning, and you may be here and this may be your first time in our church or any church. It may be, or maybe a return. But, but, but for you, you know, the Christian faith thing is, is something you're sort of wondering about, oh, I want to be completely candid with you and say, even though you're probably very familiar with the golden rule, this golden rule is designed. <br /><br /> And dependent on God, himself working his life through people. We don't have this, we don't have the capacity to live selflessly except, but the incredible thing is there is a father who loves us, who is for us, who is making himself available to us. He sent his own son that you could enter into a relationship with him that we can live differently because he has come to make that difference in our lives. <br /><br /> It's what salvation is about. It's what being born again is about. It's the new life that is offered to us. And Jesus says, this is true human experience, looking out for what you would want and doing that towards others. But the power for that, the fuel that drives the engine of that in our lives is God himself and a personal relationship. <br /><br /> Let's pray, Lord, thank you for <br /><br /> just reminders from your word. <br /><br /> There is a life that is not one where we are controlled by anger or factiousness or me first or getting mine, but it's a life that because of sin is not natural to us. We need supernatural aid, but Lord enable us, prompt us with the potential and the essentialness of drawing near to you that you might live that life in us and through us in Jesus name. <br /><br /> Amen now go in peace to love and serve and enjoy the Lord.</div> false no <![CDATA[Teach Us to Pray]]> Matthew 7:7-12

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened."



And good morning. It is great to be with you this morning. The what's happening let me nerd out just for a second. What's happening theologically. While we gather to worship, we don't. Just sing to God this moment that we have, when we gather to say, I am no longer a slave to fear, I am a child of God is a confession of worship from person to God, but we learn in Colossians there's more going on.

It says to bring a song, a him, a spiritual song to be sung one to another. So we are singing our worship with God, but worship is a team sport. We are also singing to one another. So this, this young family block that's like stuck over here. Okay. I don't know what, how you took over, but like over here, you're confessing as your raising your children as your living your lives.

You're confessing to this group, which is much more diverse by the way, over here, you're confessing something and you're building the trust of God in one another. This is why we gather this is why we gather together. Because together with one voice, we worship our God and we confess the testimony of truth.

One to another. It is a Juul. To be with you this morning. I'm ready for fall off. Let's get this thing. All right. Okay. We are in Matthew chapter seven. We are in the sermon on the Mount we're in the last chapter. Partially. If I had my way, we, then we just start with chapter five over again. I love the sermon on the Mount.

Love the teaching of Jesus found here, but you'll meet us there in Matthew chapter seven. There's a man named who conducted a now famous experiment. Jang realized how little that he enjoyed asking things of other people, how he would go so far out of his way to never inconvenience or ask anything from anyone.

Jang as a method of self exposure, he did a method of self exposure therapy, which eventually turned into a big internet thing. And then also ended up in the now famous Ted talk on this. What he did is he decided to do a series of exposure therapy experiments. And for he did 100 in 100 days, he did 100 crazy requests to other people so that he could overcome his fear of asking of them.

These included asking a stranger to borrow $100, asking for a burger refill, asking to be a weather person on live TV, asking to race a random. Asking to plant a flower in someone's yard and all of these different random asks and he like journaled on this exp uh, experiment, what it did inside of him. And one of the things he found out is that when you ask crazy things, people often give the crazy answer.

Okay. And so it's a fascinating read or fascinating watch on his experiment. I listened to years ago and dug up again this week to watch this realizing, asking things of other people is something that is difficult for me, but there's another neglect in my asking that is something much deeper for me.

This sense of self-trust hating risk hating the disappointment of being told no. Impacts my life with God. Another sermon that I dug up this week was from 20 years ago of a man who talked on prayer. And in this sermon, I was reminded against reminded 20 years ago. And then when I dug it up this week to just listen to this patriarch of the faith for me talk on prayer, I was reminded how hard it is for me to ask big things of God, this man Howard Hendricks, many of you know him, prolific author came and spoke.

And he said this quote that has resonated very much with me. He said, if you were anything like me, the one area in your Christian life in which you are constantly shot down in flames is your prayer life. He went on to talk about the spiritual forces that keep us from our lives of prayer. James four two says you do not have, because you do not ask God.

Charles Spurgeon says prayer does not enable the greater works. Prayer is the greater work in this passage. We have Jesus teaching us on how to pray when you are in need. This, then Jesus says is how we are to ask of God. This is one of the great attacks. Perhaps the greatest attack we have on our faith is keeping God's people from praying.

I'm going to read Matthew chapter seven, seven through 12. It's in your pew Bible. If you brought your Bible this morning, I'm supposed to be clicking something and I don't know what I'm supposed to click, but I'm clicking. I'm telling you what I want you to know that I'm turning off turning on. Oh, it doesn't go there.

I'm watching that TV show you way too much. Okay. Here's the, here's the text. Matthew chapter seven verses seven through 11 ask. And it will be given to you seek and you will find knock, and it will be open to you for everyone who asks, receives. And the one who seeks, find into the one who knocks it will be opened.

Or which of you, if his son asks for some bread will give him a stone or if he asks for a fish will give him a. If you then who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your father, who is in heaven? Give good gifts to those who ask him father. We come today to learn from your son to learn from your son.

What does it mean to pray? We thank you for how you continually have raised up in this room. People who pray and at the same time, we're all discovering deeper in of what it means to pray. And we pray that we ask. We pray that this moment learning from you, that you might give us wisdom into these words in the name of Jesus.

We pray amen. Five questions that I want to approach as we look at this text. And if you've got your Bible. Yeah, you gotta mark this thing up. This passage is so cool. If you got, if you don't have a Bible, grab a pew Bible use on your phone, but stay with the texts. I was trying to think of how do we just keep the texts on screen and it's difficult to do when we're making other points, but stay with this text, right?

Don't let's not learn just, Hey, does Ben have some insights into this? Keep with the. Because these words of Jesus are what we want to learn from. He is the one who is preaching the sermon and who we want to be continually going back to, what did he say about prayer? First question is who is talking, as we said, this is Christ talking, but not only is this Christ talking.

He is talking as the master of prayer. Jesus lived a life of prayer, 29 different times in the new Testament, we have prayers of Jesus or moments when Jesus went away from teaching, went away from miracle. Ling, went away from being with people to go pray over and over. As you look 29 different times within these four gospels, we see instances where Jesus is praying out loud in front of people, publicly or withdrawing and praying privately.

He lived a life of prayer. Not only. He taught on prayer 22 times in the new Testament, Jesus taught. This is what it means to pray Jesus. So connected to the father continually was seeking to bridge a relationship between man kind and the father so much. So he gave of himself. And in that process, as he would go, come to live to die, to rise again, he taught, this is how the prayer connection works.

22 times new Testament, three of those times are. In Matthew chapter five, six and seven. Most recently, pastor Jim spoke on the Lord's prayer. Wonderful sermon again, how we should pray. There's a passage in Matthew five, one in Matthew six. And now here in Matthew seven, these famous words of Christ are specifically about how to.

When we need something from God, question is how do we, oh, I'm sorry. Also Jesus lives now a life of prayer. This is Hebrews seven, Romans eight, that Jesus lives now in the presence of the father interceding on our behalf, it is this Christ that we learn from, as we learn to pray. Second question. How do I pray when I am need?

There are different types of prayer. This was a conversation we had this last Monday. We were in the car and my 11 year old randomly said this, Hey, how come we pray? If God controls everything? And I thought the same thing you would think if you were preaching this Sunday, oh, I'm going to use this Sunday.

Right? So I didn't give an answer. I just filed it. How come we pray if God controls everything. And so in the silence of me being like, all right, there's this illustration one down my eight year old pops up and says maybe just to be with him, that's an adorable answer. Okay. That's worth every one of those.

All. It's not exactly theologically sound, but it's a great answer, right? We do pray to be with God. That is true. We learned even when a pastor Jim was talking of a few, couple of months ago on the Lord's prayer, right? There is different reasons that we pray. We pray to worship our father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name.

Jesus says, pray like this. We pray to submit our wills to him that will be done by kingdom. Come on earth. As it is in heaven. We pray for different reasons other than just needing something from. But we would be remiss in this text and many others. If prayer does not have an impact on life than it is to be with God, it is to share life in relationship with God.

But Jesus says prayer is also because we need something from him. Noticing the passage you ask. Why? Because you don't have you seek why? Because you can't find you knock. Why? Because the door is shut. You're coming to cry. Coming to God through Christ is saying God in prayer includes those moments. So when we say, God, I need you to work.

Not all prayer is asking things of. This is. So how do we, how do we ask things that we need from God? A few things in the text. The first is this persistence. There's a verb tense that's being used as present, active, indicative. I know that means so much to you, but, but let me just talk about this. All right.

Present active. I'm sorry. Present active imperative. Imperative is what what's imperative. It's a command, right? It's saying you ask, ask, cause it's you second person, plural. It's saying plural. You, you, people of God ask of God, seek of God, knock on the door of God. This is a command being, given the activist saying that you do the.

You are the ones acting, you are the ones going to God, but the present is the most important here because we lose it more in the English language, the present. And it's so important for new Testament verbs. It can mean a past completed action, which is how we normally in English communicate present action verbs.

I was falling present in English. The present in Greek is more, is more frequently. I am falling or I fall, like I continually fall like Dennis, right? I mean, but it's this sense of like a continued action that happens when we are looking for, it's not just. Seek knock. It's continual be asking of God, be seeking God, be knocking at the door of God in the sister text or connected test text.

Luke uses the same words, ask, seek, and knock in this present active imperative in this passage in Luke chapter 11 says this. And he said to them, which of you, which of you who, which of you has a friend who will go to him at midnight and say, friend lend me three loaves for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey and I have nothing to set before him.

He will answer from within, do not bother me. The door is now shut and my children are in bed with me. I cannot get up and give you anything. I tell you though, he will not get up and give him anything because he's his friend yet because of his impudence, he will rise and give him whatever he needs. And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you seek and you will find knock and the door will be open to you.

This passage that Jesus is talking about is asking for persistent prayer, Howard Hendricks. The one I mentioned preaching a message on prayer 20 years ago that had such a profound impact on me. Do a quote I used in the beginning, he did an experiment that has been with me ever since he used a discipleship group of 12 guys who the seminary professor had to discipleship group 12 guys, and he wanted to do an experiment on prayer.

And he said, what I want you to do 12 guys. I want you to come back in one week with a three by five card. And I want you to come back with the names of people you think will never find their way. They will never be ever. They will never confess Jesus as their Lord. These give me the impossible ones you think, oh, never will they give up?

Self-reliance in order for Christ and four weeks, all they did with these people in the car through no other means, all they did was pray. After a long time, they had 69 names. 37 of them came to faith. In a matter of months through only the means of prayer. Hendrix said this, following it up, simply words that reverberated in my soul, ladies and gentlemen, we have not begun to understand the power of prayer where prayer focuses power fall.

Persistently we pray. Secondly, how do we pray when we're in need in need with passionate trust, check out the Greek of these guys. The definition of terms this word ask is , which has asked petition or even demand seek is search knock Harris. That day is to knock or beat a door with a stick. I love this.

It's not Laura. I really would love this. It is literally to take a staff and it's used for this and to beat a door it's very similar to what is probably happening in the Luke passage, right? It's not, Hey, could you wake up and give me some bread? Like I got an awkward situation. I need some bread for my friend.

Who's coming to town. No, it's that that person was beating so hard on the door. The stick, the guide didn't want his kids to wake up. So he finally relented. This is Jesus communicating how to pray. I had a friend, Sam, such a humble guy, and he would pray like this and he would pray, God, I know you're really busy and you got a lot going on and I'm just Sam here.

But if you could, I'd love it if you could. And then he would pray. That is really humble and really bad theology. Right? What, what God is saying here is beat down the door with a stick, invest yourself in prayer. When you're knocking down a knocking on a door with the stick, it's hard to be like, I'm going to see what's on the other thing on the phone, right.

It's hard to, to be doing other things, this passionate trust. It's an investment of a person. And I know oftentimes when I'm praying for people, I'm like, oh, I'm supposed to pray for this. Or I pray to Smith and bless them. And then them, and then just, just bless them, bless them. This guy bless him, Lord.

Right. And, and that's okay. Right? Like we get through our lists and we're doing things and we've got things, but this type of prayer, when we need from God, it is a full focus involvement as a person, God, I need your help. I will invest myself like someone waking his neighbor from their slumber. Lord, I need you here.

Jesus. In Hebrews chapter five, speaking of Jesus, it says this in the days of his flesh, Jesus offered his prayers up when supplication with loud cries and tears to him who was able to save him from death. And he was heard because of his reverence. Now I don't think passionate trust just means volume or just means who can say things.

The loudest, I think passionate trust this knocking on the door with the stick is this sense of, I can't get this door down any other way. God. I trust and invest my whole self into this work of prayer. Lastly, how to pray when I'm I need in need is purpose James four, two and three. We mentioned this earlier.

You do not have, because you do not ask God. James says, when you ask you do not receive different words in words of Christ, because he says this because you ask with wrong motives that what you may spend, what you get on your pleasures. God is a loving father, not a magic genie. We will always be disappointed in prayer.

If we use it for the purpose of our ego or our false treasures. Second question. How to pray when we are in need. Third question is. Why does prayer work? Why does prayer work back to Atticus's question that I didn't really answer well on Monday. Why does this work? And if you're following along in your notes, you also can put a slash here and put who is this passage really all about?

You see this passage is about prayer. These passage is an imperative of how God's people are to pray. But this passage is ultimately about the father it's ultimately as Jesus. So many of Jesus's teaching are many of you wrote through the book of John and you wrote through the whole book of John a few months ago, we did it as a church and over and over, you see in the book of John, Jesus loves talking about his dad.

Jesus over and over is talking about the father, the importance of, of, of two people. How important the father is that isn't, this is another one of those texts. Ultimately, this is what the passage I believe is about. I'm going to just say this real quick. Why does prayer work that this passage is not about magic, the magic formula of how to get God to do things.

This passage is about get grasping how much God knows and loves to care for your needs. This is what enables all through prayer. This passage again is not about a magic formula. It's about the father who loves to see know and care for your needs. And that is what enables all true. Paul Miller wrote a phenomenal book called the life of prayer.

And in that he talks about, he's talking about, listen, I'm not some super spiritual guy, I'm a guy, but through things in his own life, God transformed his life deeper into a praying life. And in that he talked about the struggle of what it means to be a man who is committed and continually in prayer.

Paul trip about this book and about this struggle has a wonderful quote. It says this talking about this struggle of prayer. It is the story of our struggle to actually live. Like we believe that our heavenly father really does love us. If we. Nothing could keep us from being committed to the day by day hard work of prayer.

Look at these verses. Why does prayer work? Jesus says which one of you of his son asks for bread will give him a stone. Or if he asks for a fish will give him a serpent. If you then who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your father in heaven give good gifts to those that ask him?

Jesus is saying, okay, I want to tell you about the father. First. Let's talk about normal dads, right? Y'all normal dads is what are you saying to these people gathered? He's saying there's a lot of dads here. This is how normal dads operate. He said normal dads. They don't want harm for their kids. Right? If normal dads don't say, Hey, I really want, I really want to fish.

I'm going to give you a snake. He's saying, okay, that's not normal, but for normal approach to children, We do not want harm for our kids first 10. Secondly, there's a sense of normal that know their child have an awareness. So what child that your child would like, and not like verse 12, the normal dads would having an awareness of knowing who their children are, know how to give gifts to their child.

He's saying that's the setup of a father, child relationship, but then he just uses these words. I love how much more, how much more. He said, that's, that's the normal dads. We've got evil and all kinds of other stuff going on. They still want this, but there's a much more father, not just like normal dads, the much more father also desires, no harm and can prevent it.

Wow. Jesus lost a really, really big leg of an argument. Right. Couldn't Jesus have said, this is why you ask of God, because if not, he will get his smoking on. He will be all smoked on you. Right? And he's the biggest toughest strongest. You pray. Why? Because he can harm you right away. It takes out that leg of argument.

He's saying just like normal dads don't want harm. The father is not about harm. He does not want to harm you. The mobilization of prayer is. Terror or the mobilization of prayer is the goodness of the much more father. The much more father completely knows his child. Just a few passages earlier knows every hair on their heads and loves to give agathos is the Greek word here?

It's intrinsically good. Fully good. Good. All the way loves to give fully good gifts. What does God delight in God? The much more father delights in giving good gifts to his children? The much more father's goal is not to ruin your life. It's not to leave you in depression over your sin. It's not to work you to the misery bone in Christian service.

The much more father does not want a snake bit life for you. John Piper in a beautiful book, desiring God talks about joint ventures and he talks about his great desire for the glory of God. And he talks about this internal constant desire. He had to be sold deep happy, and he talks about the revolution of his face when he realized those are joint ventures, reading in the book of acts right now, my wife and I are going through, and there's a lot of things happening.

There's like people being killed by their faith in prison for their faith. There's, there's a lot of difficult things happening in the book of acts, but the word that's just all over. There's just so much joy. There's so much deep seated joy because where the father is, there is joy and joy marks a life of prayer, not dread, not, oh, I got to do this because it's supposed to be an oh.

And he listened to that perse sermon on Sunday. Right? It's as an invitation, Jesus says, why do we pray? Why do we pray? Because it makes a difference because doors get open, things get found. This is why we pray. We ask, seek and knock because it has an impact. Why? Because the joyous much more father just loves to give good things to his kids.

George Mueller, who's a famous. Man of prayer led an orphanage. I'm sure if you've been around here a little while, you've heard of George Mueller, basically he led an orphanage and raised the food and the needs of all of these individual people. So close to God by praying and over and over, he believed the way we do this is by prayer.

He said this the first and primary business to which I ought to attend every day is to have my soul happy in the Lord.

When we know that God really loves us. That is when we pray. That is when, in our needs, which are our very vulnerabilities. We say, yeah, I can't do this. I got to go to the one I trust the much more father who just loves to give good gifts to his kids. Now there's a painful question here. And if you've probably already felt it, even as we're talking and looking at this passage, what about when it sounds like God says no.

What about when I prayed for my child, that they might know Jesus and they don't. What about when I prayed for my mom who wouldn't pass from cancer and she died? What about when I prayed for a spouse? When I begged God for a child and I remained single or Baron, where are Jesus's formulaic words? Where is the much more.

Am I not pounding hard enough long enough. Why are there seasons of faith where walls seem to fall down the sick get well and seasons where they don't. This is the painful question. It's not in the text, but I think it's important to address what happens when the much more father gives me much less than what I thought I needed.

Answers are not easy here. This question sounds universal, but unresolved pain is intensely personal, not just pain in general. It's the loss that I feel now. It's the unanswered prayer I have not seen answered until now. It's the unheard unresolved, unrelenting suffering of those. And I'd be trite and honestly, pretty cruel to try to just throw giant theological principles at you in this short amount of time.

The couple of things, I just want to say one church father lived in early four hundreds. Uh, I don't know how to say his name. I'm going to have to read it. Daya docus of pho TKI. Didn't win a lot of awards in that one. One of the signers of the council of Chalcedon, perhaps the greatest document that we have outside of scripture about the preeminence of Christ.

He talks on this about, on answer prayer that seems unanswered or seems like good prayer that gets told no talks about educated desolation. It's worth looking, looking up and understanding some of his thoughts here, but really quickly. My own story for me, God has done as much. Good. For me in seasons of unresolved prayer as he have, when he has come through quickly, when he has said, no, he has also immensely shaped my life for the good, a personal story, because I think it's important to be in personal stories in the Psalms are so crucial when dealing with this question, because David wrestles with this, the whole book, but I just want to take you to one that has meant so much to me when I have not understood why God would not answer the door quicker.

It's this from second Corinthians 12 from the Paul, he says I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me three times. I pleaded with the Lord to take it away. But he said to me, my grace is sufficient for you. For my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that Christ's power may rest on me.

That is why for Christ's sake, I delight in my weaknesses and insults in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties for when I am weak there I am strong. We don't have a chance to walk through this, but quickly when God withholds, what seems like good things, it is often to give the greater thing of himself.

Sometimes not what we thought we wanted, but it is the greatest gift that we can receive. Question five, there's a secondary application of these words. This is kind of a funny passage. Actually. It seems like the passages. And then there's these words that are included by Jesus. So after going through and, and, uh, talking about ask and receiving and, and the character of the father and why he gives it, says this at the very end.

So whatever you wish that others would do to you do also to them for this is the law and the profits now in your Bible, that might be a part of a new section. But I think it actually is a part of this previous section because of the word. So, right. It's making a point about praying and making a point about the character of the father, and then use the word.

So, so do this, which seems like a funny place for this application. Again, whatever you wish others do to you do to them. This sums up the law of the profits. Here's my understanding of what's going on when the father. Who doesn't want harm, who completely knows and completely gives good gifts when your life is so blessed by the father.

So in turn live that way to others, don't do harm to others. Don't wish harm upon others. Don't do harm upon others in your own soul, with your judgements towards them, know the needs of those around you. Like the father. Does you and give really good gifts to others as the much more father delights to do good to you, delight to do good to others.

Join the much more father and his unconditional love to those who around this sums up the entirety of the law and the prophets. Jesus said, this is the much more culture in the kingdom of God. The culture. That's not bound by fear. It's not bound by lack of resources. It's not bound by. I have to protect otherwise.

I'm going to get attacked. It's a belief that there's enough to go around. It's a belief that the much more father is enough for every one in this culture. In this kingdom, there's no rich or poor. There's no haves or have nots. There are just those who are on the inside. There is enough to go around in this much more nervous culture.

This is the culture of no harm. This is the culture of deep knowing. This is the culture of giving good gifts.

who I started the sermon talking about with the hundred different accrual crest requests to weird asks of people. Actually, if you look for the video, it's called a hundred days of. Because that was what was really going on for him asking was hard because deep down he realized he had a deep fear of being rejected.

I think that really plays into our prayer life. I really do. I think, deep down when we have these large needs, we know how do we know? Cause what we worry about is when we think about when we're not really thinking about anything, how am I going to get this accomplished or fix this or figure this. And then we think, why am I not praying about this?

Why? Because deep down, I think if I can figure this out, that's probably better. We're afraid. Oftentimes if we take to God, these things that he might in turn reject or disappoint us in some way, my challenge about prayer, simple God's allowed needs in your life. There's places where you're asking you have like, you don't have answers.

And with the words of Jesus. Ask their sings. You're searching for whether it be hope or peace or, or, or it's some resolution to a conflict you're searching. What can, how can we figure this out or where there's a financial difficulty in your searching for answers? What I'd say is seek there's places where you got a door slammed in your face, right?

And you're trying windows, you're trying to Jerry lake the rock, you're trying to smash your car into the door. You're trying to anything humanly possible to get past whatever this door is and what I'd say, Jesus is like, I love that door. Knock, beat it down with a stick of prayer. So my challenge is if God's given you those God-given opportunities, once you take a hundred days, take a hundred days and pray for it every day with persistence, pray for it within passion trust.

Do I know what God's going to do? But when God's people pray, God does you say, well, what if God doesn't answer the best person I've ever known to handle the difficulty of one answer prayer is God going to him through that enables deeper trust. It's an amazing how he works that. So that would be my challenge this morning.

Take those chances, give it a hundred days. See what God does. We stand as you receive the blessing for today. Whereas you may have heard from me before probably say them again. They're words that I believe enable all through prayer. They're words that I believe are the very mechanism are speaking to the truth.

That is the very reality, which is why we pray and why when receiving from God, we live that culture out to other people. It is this true. You are not what you make. You are not what you do. You are not defined by the pile of things you have accomplished, or the pile of things that you haven't. You are not what your highest ego moment flexes or what's your lowest moment.

Despairs. You have so much more, you are so much more. You are the beloved of God dearly beloved from that positional place. Blood bought by Christ Jesus live lives of trust, live lives of prayer. Great to be with you this morning. We are.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/teach-us-to-pray c4e29ed5-007e-43f3-aa2a-2a689ba7c90d Sun, 12 Sep 2021 12:51:28 GMT <div data-html="true">Matthew 7:7-12 <br /><br /> “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened." <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> And good morning. It is great to be with you this morning. The what's happening let me nerd out just for a second. What's happening theologically. While we gather to worship, we don't. Just sing to God this moment that we have, when we gather to say, I am no longer a slave to fear, I am a child of God is a confession of worship from person to God, but we learn in Colossians there's more going on. <br /><br /> It says to bring a song, a him, a spiritual song to be sung one to another. So we are singing our worship with God, but worship is a team sport. We are also singing to one another. So this, this young family block that's like stuck over here. Okay. I don't know what, how you took over, but like over here, you're confessing as your raising your children as your living your lives. <br /><br /> You're confessing to this group, which is much more diverse by the way, over here, you're confessing something and you're building the trust of God in one another. This is why we gather this is why we gather together. Because together with one voice, we worship our God and we confess the testimony of truth. <br /><br /> One to another. It is a Juul. To be with you this morning. I'm ready for fall off. Let's get this thing. All right. Okay. We are in Matthew chapter seven. We are in the sermon on the Mount we're in the last chapter. Partially. If I had my way, we, then we just start with chapter five over again. I love the sermon on the Mount. <br /><br /> Love the teaching of Jesus found here, but you'll meet us there in Matthew chapter seven. There's a man named who conducted a now famous experiment. Jang realized how little that he enjoyed asking things of other people, how he would go so far out of his way to never inconvenience or ask anything from anyone. <br /><br /> Jang as a method of self exposure, he did a method of self exposure therapy, which eventually turned into a big internet thing. And then also ended up in the now famous Ted talk on this. What he did is he decided to do a series of exposure therapy experiments. And for he did 100 in 100 days, he did 100 crazy requests to other people so that he could overcome his fear of asking of them. <br /><br /> These included asking a stranger to borrow $100, asking for a burger refill, asking to be a weather person on live TV, asking to race a random. Asking to plant a flower in someone's yard and all of these different random asks and he like journaled on this exp uh, experiment, what it did inside of him. And one of the things he found out is that when you ask crazy things, people often give the crazy answer. <br /><br /> Okay. And so it's a fascinating read or fascinating watch on his experiment. I listened to years ago and dug up again this week to watch this realizing, asking things of other people is something that is difficult for me, but there's another neglect in my asking that is something much deeper for me. <br /><br /> This sense of self-trust hating risk hating the disappointment of being told no. Impacts my life with God. Another sermon that I dug up this week was from 20 years ago of a man who talked on prayer. And in this sermon, I was reminded against reminded 20 years ago. And then when I dug it up this week to just listen to this patriarch of the faith for me talk on prayer, I was reminded how hard it is for me to ask big things of God, this man Howard Hendricks, many of you know him, prolific author came and spoke. <br /><br /> And he said this quote that has resonated very much with me. He said, if you were anything like me, the one area in your Christian life in which you are constantly shot down in flames is your prayer life. He went on to talk about the spiritual forces that keep us from our lives of prayer. James four two says you do not have, because you do not ask God. <br /><br /> Charles Spurgeon says prayer does not enable the greater works. Prayer is the greater work in this passage. We have Jesus teaching us on how to pray when you are in need. This, then Jesus says is how we are to ask of God. This is one of the great attacks. Perhaps the greatest attack we have on our faith is keeping God's people from praying. <br /><br /> I'm going to read Matthew chapter seven, seven through 12. It's in your pew Bible. If you brought your Bible this morning, I'm supposed to be clicking something and I don't know what I'm supposed to click, but I'm clicking. I'm telling you what I want you to know that I'm turning off turning on. Oh, it doesn't go there. <br /><br /> I'm watching that TV show you way too much. Okay. Here's the, here's the text. Matthew chapter seven verses seven through 11 ask. And it will be given to you seek and you will find knock, and it will be open to you for everyone who asks, receives. And the one who seeks, find into the one who knocks it will be opened. <br /><br /> Or which of you, if his son asks for some bread will give him a stone or if he asks for a fish will give him a. If you then who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your father, who is in heaven? Give good gifts to those who ask him father. We come today to learn from your son to learn from your son. <br /><br /> What does it mean to pray? We thank you for how you continually have raised up in this room. People who pray and at the same time, we're all discovering deeper in of what it means to pray. And we pray that we ask. We pray that this moment learning from you, that you might give us wisdom into these words in the name of Jesus. <br /><br /> We pray amen. Five questions that I want to approach as we look at this text. And if you've got your Bible. Yeah, you gotta mark this thing up. This passage is so cool. If you got, if you don't have a Bible, grab a pew Bible use on your phone, but stay with the texts. I was trying to think of how do we just keep the texts on screen and it's difficult to do when we're making other points, but stay with this text, right? <br /><br /> Don't let's not learn just, Hey, does Ben have some insights into this? Keep with the. Because these words of Jesus are what we want to learn from. He is the one who is preaching the sermon and who we want to be continually going back to, what did he say about prayer? First question is who is talking, as we said, this is Christ talking, but not only is this Christ talking. <br /><br /> He is talking as the master of prayer. Jesus lived a life of prayer, 29 different times in the new Testament, we have prayers of Jesus or moments when Jesus went away from teaching, went away from miracle. Ling, went away from being with people to go pray over and over. As you look 29 different times within these four gospels, we see instances where Jesus is praying out loud in front of people, publicly or withdrawing and praying privately. <br /><br /> He lived a life of prayer. Not only. He taught on prayer 22 times in the new Testament, Jesus taught. This is what it means to pray Jesus. So connected to the father continually was seeking to bridge a relationship between man kind and the father so much. So he gave of himself. And in that process, as he would go, come to live to die, to rise again, he taught, this is how the prayer connection works. <br /><br /> 22 times new Testament, three of those times are. In Matthew chapter five, six and seven. Most recently, pastor Jim spoke on the Lord's prayer. Wonderful sermon again, how we should pray. There's a passage in Matthew five, one in Matthew six. And now here in Matthew seven, these famous words of Christ are specifically about how to. <br /><br /> When we need something from God, question is how do we, oh, I'm sorry. Also Jesus lives now a life of prayer. This is Hebrews seven, Romans eight, that Jesus lives now in the presence of the father interceding on our behalf, it is this Christ that we learn from, as we learn to pray. Second question. How do I pray when I am need? <br /><br /> There are different types of prayer. This was a conversation we had this last Monday. We were in the car and my 11 year old randomly said this, Hey, how come we pray? If God controls everything? And I thought the same thing you would think if you were preaching this Sunday, oh, I'm going to use this Sunday. <br /><br /> Right? So I didn't give an answer. I just filed it. How come we pray if God controls everything. And so in the silence of me being like, all right, there's this illustration one down my eight year old pops up and says maybe just to be with him, that's an adorable answer. Okay. That's worth every one of those. <br /><br /> All. It's not exactly theologically sound, but it's a great answer, right? We do pray to be with God. That is true. We learned even when a pastor Jim was talking of a few, couple of months ago on the Lord's prayer, right? There is different reasons that we pray. We pray to worship our father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. <br /><br /> Jesus says, pray like this. We pray to submit our wills to him that will be done by kingdom. Come on earth. As it is in heaven. We pray for different reasons other than just needing something from. But we would be remiss in this text and many others. If prayer does not have an impact on life than it is to be with God, it is to share life in relationship with God. <br /><br /> But Jesus says prayer is also because we need something from him. Noticing the passage you ask. Why? Because you don't have you seek why? Because you can't find you knock. Why? Because the door is shut. You're coming to cry. Coming to God through Christ is saying God in prayer includes those moments. So when we say, God, I need you to work. <br /><br /> Not all prayer is asking things of. This is. So how do we, how do we ask things that we need from God? A few things in the text. The first is this persistence. There's a verb tense that's being used as present, active, indicative. I know that means so much to you, but, but let me just talk about this. All right. <br /><br /> Present active. I'm sorry. Present active imperative. Imperative is what what's imperative. It's a command, right? It's saying you ask, ask, cause it's you second person, plural. It's saying plural. You, you, people of God ask of God, seek of God, knock on the door of God. This is a command being, given the activist saying that you do the. <br /><br /> You are the ones acting, you are the ones going to God, but the present is the most important here because we lose it more in the English language, the present. And it's so important for new Testament verbs. It can mean a past completed action, which is how we normally in English communicate present action verbs. <br /><br /> I was falling present in English. The present in Greek is more, is more frequently. I am falling or I fall, like I continually fall like Dennis, right? I mean, but it's this sense of like a continued action that happens when we are looking for, it's not just. Seek knock. It's continual be asking of God, be seeking God, be knocking at the door of God in the sister text or connected test text. <br /><br /> Luke uses the same words, ask, seek, and knock in this present active imperative in this passage in Luke chapter 11 says this. And he said to them, which of you, which of you who, which of you has a friend who will go to him at midnight and say, friend lend me three loaves for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey and I have nothing to set before him. <br /><br /> He will answer from within, do not bother me. The door is now shut and my children are in bed with me. I cannot get up and give you anything. I tell you though, he will not get up and give him anything because he's his friend yet because of his impudence, he will rise and give him whatever he needs. And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you seek and you will find knock and the door will be open to you. <br /><br /> This passage that Jesus is talking about is asking for persistent prayer, Howard Hendricks. The one I mentioned preaching a message on prayer 20 years ago that had such a profound impact on me. Do a quote I used in the beginning, he did an experiment that has been with me ever since he used a discipleship group of 12 guys who the seminary professor had to discipleship group 12 guys, and he wanted to do an experiment on prayer. <br /><br /> And he said, what I want you to do 12 guys. I want you to come back in one week with a three by five card. And I want you to come back with the names of people you think will never find their way. They will never be ever. They will never confess Jesus as their Lord. These give me the impossible ones you think, oh, never will they give up? <br /><br /> Self-reliance in order for Christ and four weeks, all they did with these people in the car through no other means, all they did was pray. After a long time, they had 69 names. 37 of them came to faith. In a matter of months through only the means of prayer. Hendrix said this, following it up, simply words that reverberated in my soul, ladies and gentlemen, we have not begun to understand the power of prayer where prayer focuses power fall. <br /><br /> Persistently we pray. Secondly, how do we pray when we're in need in need with passionate trust, check out the Greek of these guys. The definition of terms this word ask is , which has asked petition or even demand seek is search knock Harris. That day is to knock or beat a door with a stick. I love this. <br /><br /> It's not Laura. I really would love this. It is literally to take a staff and it's used for this and to beat a door it's very similar to what is probably happening in the Luke passage, right? It's not, Hey, could you wake up and give me some bread? Like I got an awkward situation. I need some bread for my friend. <br /><br /> Who's coming to town. No, it's that that person was beating so hard on the door. The stick, the guide didn't want his kids to wake up. So he finally relented. This is Jesus communicating how to pray. I had a friend, Sam, such a humble guy, and he would pray like this and he would pray, God, I know you're really busy and you got a lot going on and I'm just Sam here. <br /><br /> But if you could, I'd love it if you could. And then he would pray. That is really humble and really bad theology. Right? What, what God is saying here is beat down the door with a stick, invest yourself in prayer. When you're knocking down a knocking on a door with the stick, it's hard to be like, I'm going to see what's on the other thing on the phone, right. <br /><br /> It's hard to, to be doing other things, this passionate trust. It's an investment of a person. And I know oftentimes when I'm praying for people, I'm like, oh, I'm supposed to pray for this. Or I pray to Smith and bless them. And then them, and then just, just bless them, bless them. This guy bless him, Lord. <br /><br /> Right. And, and that's okay. Right? Like we get through our lists and we're doing things and we've got things, but this type of prayer, when we need from God, it is a full focus involvement as a person, God, I need your help. I will invest myself like someone waking his neighbor from their slumber. Lord, I need you here. <br /><br /> Jesus. In Hebrews chapter five, speaking of Jesus, it says this in the days of his flesh, Jesus offered his prayers up when supplication with loud cries and tears to him who was able to save him from death. And he was heard because of his reverence. Now I don't think passionate trust just means volume or just means who can say things. <br /><br /> The loudest, I think passionate trust this knocking on the door with the stick is this sense of, I can't get this door down any other way. God. I trust and invest my whole self into this work of prayer. Lastly, how to pray when I'm I need in need is purpose James four, two and three. We mentioned this earlier. <br /><br /> You do not have, because you do not ask God. James says, when you ask you do not receive different words in words of Christ, because he says this because you ask with wrong motives that what you may spend, what you get on your pleasures. God is a loving father, not a magic genie. We will always be disappointed in prayer. <br /><br /> If we use it for the purpose of our ego or our false treasures. Second question. How to pray when we are in need. Third question is. Why does prayer work? Why does prayer work back to Atticus's question that I didn't really answer well on Monday. Why does this work? And if you're following along in your notes, you also can put a slash here and put who is this passage really all about? <br /><br /> You see this passage is about prayer. These passage is an imperative of how God's people are to pray. But this passage is ultimately about the father it's ultimately as Jesus. So many of Jesus's teaching are many of you wrote through the book of John and you wrote through the whole book of John a few months ago, we did it as a church and over and over, you see in the book of John, Jesus loves talking about his dad. <br /><br /> Jesus over and over is talking about the father, the importance of, of, of two people. How important the father is that isn't, this is another one of those texts. Ultimately, this is what the passage I believe is about. I'm going to just say this real quick. Why does prayer work that this passage is not about magic, the magic formula of how to get God to do things. <br /><br /> This passage is about get grasping how much God knows and loves to care for your needs. This is what enables all through prayer. This passage again is not about a magic formula. It's about the father who loves to see know and care for your needs. And that is what enables all true. Paul Miller wrote a phenomenal book called the life of prayer. <br /><br /> And in that he talks about, he's talking about, listen, I'm not some super spiritual guy, I'm a guy, but through things in his own life, God transformed his life deeper into a praying life. And in that he talked about the struggle of what it means to be a man who is committed and continually in prayer. <br /><br /> Paul trip about this book and about this struggle has a wonderful quote. It says this talking about this struggle of prayer. It is the story of our struggle to actually live. Like we believe that our heavenly father really does love us. If we. Nothing could keep us from being committed to the day by day hard work of prayer. <br /><br /> Look at these verses. Why does prayer work? Jesus says which one of you of his son asks for bread will give him a stone. Or if he asks for a fish will give him a serpent. If you then who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your father in heaven give good gifts to those that ask him? <br /><br /> Jesus is saying, okay, I want to tell you about the father. First. Let's talk about normal dads, right? Y'all normal dads is what are you saying to these people gathered? He's saying there's a lot of dads here. This is how normal dads operate. He said normal dads. They don't want harm for their kids. Right? If normal dads don't say, Hey, I really want, I really want to fish. <br /><br /> I'm going to give you a snake. He's saying, okay, that's not normal, but for normal approach to children, We do not want harm for our kids first 10. Secondly, there's a sense of normal that know their child have an awareness. So what child that your child would like, and not like verse 12, the normal dads would having an awareness of knowing who their children are, know how to give gifts to their child. <br /><br /> He's saying that's the setup of a father, child relationship, but then he just uses these words. I love how much more, how much more. He said, that's, that's the normal dads. We've got evil and all kinds of other stuff going on. They still want this, but there's a much more father, not just like normal dads, the much more father also desires, no harm and can prevent it. <br /><br /> Wow. Jesus lost a really, really big leg of an argument. Right. Couldn't Jesus have said, this is why you ask of God, because if not, he will get his smoking on. He will be all smoked on you. Right? And he's the biggest toughest strongest. You pray. Why? Because he can harm you right away. It takes out that leg of argument. <br /><br /> He's saying just like normal dads don't want harm. The father is not about harm. He does not want to harm you. The mobilization of prayer is. Terror or the mobilization of prayer is the goodness of the much more father. The much more father completely knows his child. Just a few passages earlier knows every hair on their heads and loves to give agathos is the Greek word here? <br /><br /> It's intrinsically good. Fully good. Good. All the way loves to give fully good gifts. What does God delight in God? The much more father delights in giving good gifts to his children? The much more father's goal is not to ruin your life. It's not to leave you in depression over your sin. It's not to work you to the misery bone in Christian service. <br /><br /> The much more father does not want a snake bit life for you. John Piper in a beautiful book, desiring God talks about joint ventures and he talks about his great desire for the glory of God. And he talks about this internal constant desire. He had to be sold deep happy, and he talks about the revolution of his face when he realized those are joint ventures, reading in the book of acts right now, my wife and I are going through, and there's a lot of things happening. <br /><br /> There's like people being killed by their faith in prison for their faith. There's, there's a lot of difficult things happening in the book of acts, but the word that's just all over. There's just so much joy. There's so much deep seated joy because where the father is, there is joy and joy marks a life of prayer, not dread, not, oh, I got to do this because it's supposed to be an oh. <br /><br /> And he listened to that perse sermon on Sunday. Right? It's as an invitation, Jesus says, why do we pray? Why do we pray? Because it makes a difference because doors get open, things get found. This is why we pray. We ask, seek and knock because it has an impact. Why? Because the joyous much more father just loves to give good things to his kids. <br /><br /> George Mueller, who's a famous. Man of prayer led an orphanage. I'm sure if you've been around here a little while, you've heard of George Mueller, basically he led an orphanage and raised the food and the needs of all of these individual people. So close to God by praying and over and over, he believed the way we do this is by prayer. <br /><br /> He said this the first and primary business to which I ought to attend every day is to have my soul happy in the Lord. <br /><br /> When we know that God really loves us. That is when we pray. That is when, in our needs, which are our very vulnerabilities. We say, yeah, I can't do this. I got to go to the one I trust the much more father who just loves to give good gifts to his kids. Now there's a painful question here. And if you've probably already felt it, even as we're talking and looking at this passage, what about when it sounds like God says no. <br /><br /> What about when I prayed for my child, that they might know Jesus and they don't. What about when I prayed for my mom who wouldn't pass from cancer and she died? What about when I prayed for a spouse? When I begged God for a child and I remained single or Baron, where are Jesus's formulaic words? Where is the much more. <br /><br /> Am I not pounding hard enough long enough. Why are there seasons of faith where walls seem to fall down the sick get well and seasons where they don't. This is the painful question. It's not in the text, but I think it's important to address what happens when the much more father gives me much less than what I thought I needed. <br /><br /> Answers are not easy here. This question sounds universal, but unresolved pain is intensely personal, not just pain in general. It's the loss that I feel now. It's the unanswered prayer I have not seen answered until now. It's the unheard unresolved, unrelenting suffering of those. And I'd be trite and honestly, pretty cruel to try to just throw giant theological principles at you in this short amount of time. <br /><br /> The couple of things, I just want to say one church father lived in early four hundreds. Uh, I don't know how to say his name. I'm going to have to read it. Daya docus of pho TKI. Didn't win a lot of awards in that one. One of the signers of the council of Chalcedon, perhaps the greatest document that we have outside of scripture about the preeminence of Christ. <br /><br /> He talks on this about, on answer prayer that seems unanswered or seems like good prayer that gets told no talks about educated desolation. It's worth looking, looking up and understanding some of his thoughts here, but really quickly. My own story for me, God has done as much. Good. For me in seasons of unresolved prayer as he have, when he has come through quickly, when he has said, no, he has also immensely shaped my life for the good, a personal story, because I think it's important to be in personal stories in the Psalms are so crucial when dealing with this question, because David wrestles with this, the whole book, but I just want to take you to one that has meant so much to me when I have not understood why God would not answer the door quicker. <br /><br /> It's this from second Corinthians 12 from the Paul, he says I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me three times. I pleaded with the Lord to take it away. But he said to me, my grace is sufficient for you. For my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that Christ's power may rest on me. <br /><br /> That is why for Christ's sake, I delight in my weaknesses and insults in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties for when I am weak there I am strong. We don't have a chance to walk through this, but quickly when God withholds, what seems like good things, it is often to give the greater thing of himself. <br /><br /> Sometimes not what we thought we wanted, but it is the greatest gift that we can receive. Question five, there's a secondary application of these words. This is kind of a funny passage. Actually. It seems like the passages. And then there's these words that are included by Jesus. So after going through and, and, uh, talking about ask and receiving and, and the character of the father and why he gives it, says this at the very end. <br /><br /> So whatever you wish that others would do to you do also to them for this is the law and the profits now in your Bible, that might be a part of a new section. But I think it actually is a part of this previous section because of the word. So, right. It's making a point about praying and making a point about the character of the father, and then use the word. <br /><br /> So, so do this, which seems like a funny place for this application. Again, whatever you wish others do to you do to them. This sums up the law of the profits. Here's my understanding of what's going on when the father. Who doesn't want harm, who completely knows and completely gives good gifts when your life is so blessed by the father. <br /><br /> So in turn live that way to others, don't do harm to others. Don't wish harm upon others. Don't do harm upon others in your own soul, with your judgements towards them, know the needs of those around you. Like the father. Does you and give really good gifts to others as the much more father delights to do good to you, delight to do good to others. <br /><br /> Join the much more father and his unconditional love to those who around this sums up the entirety of the law and the prophets. Jesus said, this is the much more culture in the kingdom of God. The culture. That's not bound by fear. It's not bound by lack of resources. It's not bound by. I have to protect otherwise. <br /><br /> I'm going to get attacked. It's a belief that there's enough to go around. It's a belief that the much more father is enough for every one in this culture. In this kingdom, there's no rich or poor. There's no haves or have nots. There are just those who are on the inside. There is enough to go around in this much more nervous culture. <br /><br /> This is the culture of no harm. This is the culture of deep knowing. This is the culture of giving good gifts. <br /><br /> who I started the sermon talking about with the hundred different accrual crest requests to weird asks of people. Actually, if you look for the video, it's called a hundred days of. Because that was what was really going on for him asking was hard because deep down he realized he had a deep fear of being rejected. <br /><br /> I think that really plays into our prayer life. I really do. I think, deep down when we have these large needs, we know how do we know? Cause what we worry about is when we think about when we're not really thinking about anything, how am I going to get this accomplished or fix this or figure this. And then we think, why am I not praying about this? <br /><br /> Why? Because deep down, I think if I can figure this out, that's probably better. We're afraid. Oftentimes if we take to God, these things that he might in turn reject or disappoint us in some way, my challenge about prayer, simple God's allowed needs in your life. There's places where you're asking you have like, you don't have answers. <br /><br /> And with the words of Jesus. Ask their sings. You're searching for whether it be hope or peace or, or, or it's some resolution to a conflict you're searching. What can, how can we figure this out or where there's a financial difficulty in your searching for answers? What I'd say is seek there's places where you got a door slammed in your face, right? <br /><br /> And you're trying windows, you're trying to Jerry lake the rock, you're trying to smash your car into the door. You're trying to anything humanly possible to get past whatever this door is and what I'd say, Jesus is like, I love that door. Knock, beat it down with a stick of prayer. So my challenge is if God's given you those God-given opportunities, once you take a hundred days, take a hundred days and pray for it every day with persistence, pray for it within passion trust. <br /><br /> Do I know what God's going to do? But when God's people pray, God does you say, well, what if God doesn't answer the best person I've ever known to handle the difficulty of one answer prayer is God going to him through that enables deeper trust. It's an amazing how he works that. So that would be my challenge this morning. <br /><br /> Take those chances, give it a hundred days. See what God does. We stand as you receive the blessing for today. Whereas you may have heard from me before probably say them again. They're words that I believe enable all through prayer. They're words that I believe are the very mechanism are speaking to the truth. <br /><br /> That is the very reality, which is why we pray and why when receiving from God, we live that culture out to other people. It is this true. You are not what you make. You are not what you do. You are not defined by the pile of things you have accomplished, or the pile of things that you haven't. You are not what your highest ego moment flexes or what's your lowest moment. <br /><br /> Despairs. You have so much more, you are so much more. You are the beloved of God dearly beloved from that positional place. Blood bought by Christ Jesus live lives of trust, live lives of prayer. Great to be with you this morning. We are.</div> false no <![CDATA[Do Not Judge]]> Matthew 7:1-6

“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you."



Matthew chapter seven verse one, judge, not that you be not judged for, with the judgment you pronounce, you will be judged.

And with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, let me take the speck out of your eye. When there is the log in your own eye, you hypocrite first, take the log out of your own eye.

Then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye. Do not give dogs. What is holy and do not throw your pearls before pigs less. They trample them underfoot and turn who attack you. Let's pray as we enter this really interesting passage together, Lord, we thank you for a beautiful day.

Just so amazing to drive over and be reminded again that you love beauty. You create days like this and allow us to experience all of life and nature to remind us that. You've done this for us, that we could experience a creation. That is one which reflects your glory, your handiwork Lord. Now I ask for your guidance again, in this passage, I pray that we would have ears to hear hearts, to respond in Jesus name.

Amen.

Singer Demi Lovato says it this way. Don't judge me, you know my name, but now my story actress, Kristin Stewart said it this way. Nobody, nobody lived my life. Nobody cried my tears. So don't judge me business executive ditcher. Oop Dorff said this don't judge me because I sin differently from you author and motivational speakers.

Zig Ziglar said, don't judge me by my past. I don't live there anymore. And country singer Dolly Parton. Don't judge me by the cover because I'm a real good book. If there is one statement of Jesus in the sermon on the Mount, that almost everybody we'll embrace it is this statement this morning, don't judge.

It is probably the most popular message from the sermon on the Mount, by the most people, but it is also probably one of the most misunderstood. So I'd like to look at this passage this morning and as we do so we're going to look at three aspects of judging others, a definition for it, the dangers of it, and then culminate briefly with some practical steps to try to get deliverance from a spirit of judging.

First of all, the definition of judging others. We find in verse one, we'll also see it in verse six and other scriptures. And we're going to look at a number of other pastors, cause I do want to say this. It is striking how many times the new Testament, this statement do not judge is expressed and elucidated explained.

So we're going to look at some of those as well as we try to get, uh, uh, a full picture of what Jesus is talking about. This passage does not mean certain things. And I just want to put this as a disclaimer and we're going to see even within the passage itself, why I say that sometimes it has been perceived that Jesus is saying, don't judge me.

I don't believe that there are any moral rights and wrongs that, that everybody has the right to live their own life. And that no one has the right to say, well, there are things that are wrong. Jesus is not saying that there are no standards of right and wrong that there is no description of moral behavior that he has given.

And that, because we don't know a person's background, there can never be the statement. What you did was wrong. We find that Jesus himself has called out behavior here in the sermon, on the Mount, right? I mean, he's called out adultery, laziness, greed, lying, anger, even spiritual activities that people are doing.

He has rebuked. If they're doing it with the wrong spirit church discipline. Is a real thing. There is a place for if someone is living as a professed believer in Jesus Christ in habitual, uh, uh, denial of the Lordship of Christ in their life to remove them from, from places of influence in the church.

It's it's it's right. Sometimes false teaching has to be called out. Jesus will say 10 verses later in verse 15, watch out for false prophets. They come and sheep's close, but are inwardly ferocious wolves, verse six itself in this passage seems to be Jesus saying after five verses of saying don't judge don't judge don't judge don't condemn.

We'll see what that means. And then in verse six, he says, but I'm not saying don't be discerning. There is a place for discernment. He says, as matter of fact, there will be times when you discern it would be unwise to even share truth because the person's heart is so oriented in such a way like the mocker and Proverbs that they will not hear your message and will not respond.

Jesus himself said this in John 16, verse 12, wasn't talking to people that were violently opposed to his message, but he says you have to show some discernment at times. And he says to the disciples, this amazing statement, he says, I still have many things to say to you guys. The guys was from me. I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.

I mean, he says I have to make some discernment here and have some discernment in my treatment of you. So what does it mean when Jesus says do not judge? Well, I also need to start by saying this. There are different ways. The word judge. Or two judges use in the new Testament. There are at least four. So we needed a certain, what is he talking?

Which one is mean? And it's not hard to get that one is just the concept of moral discernment syncing. Something is right or wrong, knowing good from bad. He is certainly not condemning that. There are times when then the new Testament to judge is talking about rulings in lawsuits. There are times in governmental decisions where it says they, they, they pass the judgment.

There are also times when the word to judge the word is talking about condemnation by God, for evil. And I believe the latter one is the one he is, he is leaning towards. And I want to give a definition of what I believe judging others means in this and a number of other new Testament passages judging others means to condemn others.

And I would explain that by this statement, it is condemning others. Assuming that we have the capacity to pass on them as God does, is an assumption that we discern the measure of their guilt in a way that only God can, I'm going to try to illustrate that in the rest of the sermon, but this whole passage is a bout a spirit, a demeanor and attitude.

It is assuming that we have a capacity to pass on others as God does with a measure of understanding that only God has. So let's, let's look at some of the things that help us to know if we are judging others. And we're going to look at a few of them, some in this passage, some that are they're shown in other passages, we are judging others when we put ourselves in the place.

James chapter four, verse 11 and 12 says this do not speak evil against one another brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges, his brother speaks evil against the law and judges law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law, but a judge here comes, there is only one law giver and judge he who is able to save and to destroy.

But who are you to judge your neighbor? It is the spirit that, that I'm sort of holding myself as I'm in the place of God that I see this as God does not doesn't mean that, that when you see a brother, a sister that's committed adultery, you can't say to them that's wrong, but it does mean that you don't behave and carry yourself and speak.

And again, we're going to try to play all this out in a way that, that you, you think you see the full picture. Paul explains this even more. Interestingly, in first Corinthians chapter four, four verses three through five, and here he says this, but with me, it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court.

In fact, I do not even judge myself for, I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not there by acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me therefore, to not pronounce judgment before the time before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of heart.

Paul says. I know you guys are, are, are beaten on my helmet. I know you're you're, you're criticizing me. I know you are passing judgment on me. You are condemning the way I do, and I don't do the way I behave and I don't behave. And that's exactly what they were doing. Corinth. There were people rising up that was slandering Paul and Paul says, I'm not going to go on the basis of your analysis because I don't even go on the basis of my analysis of me.

Ultimately, he says, I know that I don't see the real picture. The only one that can ultimately truly evaluate my life and my heart. And my motives is God to judge others is to assume we have the whole story that I see people and know their story because, because I happen to see one part of it.

I've said this a number of times I've said this in our, our seminar, we've done twice on, uh, thinking like a Christian. We need to be really careful as matter of fact, I would say it this way. I don't think you should be talking about people whose lifestyles you would consider very abberant from yours.

Maybe you have a perception of a gay lifestyle or a transgender lifestyle. I don't think you should talk about, I don't think you should, should trust your responses to that. If you're a believer in Christ, if you don't have a face, if you don't have someone that you're doing life with, who you love and who you value and who is in his chosen that lifestyle and who you look at and see such beauty in that, you would be honest enough to say, you know, There are qualities in that person that are more beautiful than our qualities I see in myself, certainly in that arena, if you don't have someone that you look at and you say, I see their beauty, be very careful and how you evaluate or process or think about people who have chosen another lifestyle, because that's not who they are.

That's part of just like part of your chosen sins is part of who you are, but that's not all you want to be evaluated by. He is saying here it's a spirit of not condemning. And assuming that I, I see the whole picture. Can you imagine how people felt about Jesus having a prostitute washes? We know how the Pharisee felt.

He went to dinner at the Pharisee's house and, and, and it says this woman who lived in sin, which was a euphemism for prostitution, most belief, and she comes in and she's crying and her tears are falling on Jesus' feet. And she starts using wiping his feet with her, with their tears. She's putting ointment on him.

And the Pharisee is sitting there thinking this guy can't be anybody. He doesn't even realize the type of woman. That's the course, Jesus knew a type of woman, but he saw more in the woman. Then a life of prostitution. He saw a person. He saw beauty and the spirit of condemnation is that we don't see all that God sees.

God sees your beauty, but he also sees others. It's why it's so important as believers. To recognize that this spirit of condemning comes when we see people that disagree with us. And that's how we identify them. They're just liberals. They're just, Trumpites, they're crooked politicians or authorities.

They're BLM agitators. And we condemn them as if that's all they are. We look at them as if that's all they are. We place ourselves in our spirit, in the throne of God and say in our hearts, I would never say it this way, but frankly, I hate them. I hate what they're doing to my country. I hate how they're trampling on my values.

That's why it's so important. Toys have faces and toys. See people's beauty if people are and their positions, but we respond and we condemn and we do it in the church and I'm in the church at large. We also do it when we speak with evil and slander about people. James says this in chapter four, verses 11 and 12, do not speak evil against one another brothers, the one who speaks against a brother or judges, his brother.

And then he goes on to talk about why it's wrong, but basically be saying, speaking evil against somebody and condemning or judging someone follow parallel tracks. It is saying critical, potentially reputation, destroying stuff against others. Now there are times where you may discern a spirit in someone or an action or, or behavior that is, that is destructive and ungodly.

And you think, well to not judge means I should never say anything. And you see this person and they're going to be put into a leadership maybe in the church, uh, or in spiritual leadership somewhere. And, and you think, well, I'm not supposed to know. That's not what it's saying. That may be God prompting, but it is saying, examine your heart process.

Be careful, be careful, the spirit that we, that we bring, that you are not extrapolating your limited experience to every part of their life because of how you have, have experienced them here, nor are you assuming that how you have experienced them is how everybody's experienced. So them social media can be toxic in this region.

Can talk about people based on one thing, you know about them, about one thing that they believe or teach differently and you bury them as people, the danger is we start making our heroes, those who expose era. Now there's a role for exposing era. Of course, there's a role for, for truth telling, but when our heroes are the ones that are smashing everybody else and they show what's wrong with him, what's wrong with him.

What's wrong with her? What's wrong with her with this? Those are not the heroes Paul has in the new Testament. I'll show you that a little bit. What he's highlighting to us here in this passage, Jesus is, is when there's a spirit of negative and critical talking, he says it's invariably falling parallel tracks with judges.

And condemning as if I see the whole picture and I have the right to do this many years ago. Uh, we were a part, I was part of a, uh, Baptist group and we had a quarterly meeting and technically I'm still part of the group, but, but, but we had quarterly meetings and I remember going one time and I was about 30 years old.

So I was a relatively speaking compared to a lot of these guys. I was, I was a puppy. Uh, I was not heavyweight in my eyes and although they were very gracious and I knew a lot of them pretty well. And there was one guy that was from another part of the state and he hadn't really been involved in the meetings much, but he was kind of known as a.

You know, he was one of these guys that had a newsletter that exposed error and all this stuff. And, and, uh, this was sort of his, this was his trademark and he came to the meeting and in the quarterly eating, after we'd had our, our seminar, whatever it was on, it was sort of the business side. And, and he brought a recommendation.

It was a resolution, uh, and a petition. We were all going to sign. That was basically he, he shared about, I don't remember if it was a Monsignor or what, it was some guy in a religious position, uh, in America, in, in America. And he was doing a seminar in New Jersey and he didn't hold to the Virgin birth, I think was the doctrine.

And, uh, he was going to talk on that. And so this guy had a petition for us to sign. That he was going to post, uh, well, they didn't have posts back then he was going to publish it in his newsletter and he wanted us to all sign that our group condemned disagreed with this teacher and I'm sitting there and I'm a, I'm a 30 old preacher.

And, uh, I'm thinking, okay, um, who's going to read this newsletter. Well, everybody's going to read the newsletter already beliefs in the Virgin birth because they're on this guy's mailing list. And, but, um, I, so I'm trying to think, and I'm trying to think what, I don't know. I've never been asked to sign this kind of a petition.

So somebody against somebody, I don't know. So I didn't know that I'm going to ask me to stand. I raised my hand and they had me stand mark, you know, younger guy. Whoo. Second mark, you know, and, and, uh, so I said, well, I, um, I said, I guess my question, I have two questions because I was what was going through my mind was how do we confront sin or whatever, do you know, air?

And so I was going through the pan. I said, does anybody know Monsignor somebody? And if we don't know him, will anybody be going to him personally to share our concerns? And Chris, the air went out of the balloon and the room just got very quiet. All my friends are looking at me or looking away from me to not.

And the answer of course was no, no, we don't w we're going to publish this and we're going to make our steam. So when the vote came. You were supposed to raise your and I voted, no, I would not sign it. And happily seven or eight, others did have happily to me, but I, to this day,

I feel like we were condemning. Nobody was asking us. I mean, if they asked our group, how do you feel that? Well, sure. We'll talk. Well, we believe in the Virgin birth. Here's why it just felt like we should not be known for pointing out what is wrong with anybody else now, honestly, I struggled with even using this illustration because I'm kind of doing this to the guy.

Right. Um, but I'm trying to say in this, Christians don't want to be known. It's pointing out the error and everybody else. That's not the goal. There are times when you have to stand for truth. The time of you're confronted with error and you need to boldly Stanford, Jesus. But then what a habitual position becomes where we're error, error, smelters out, and that we're speaking constantly naming names.

I, I just, I think that's contrary to the whole spirit of this passage. The third thing he says, it's when don't judge is when people hold different convictions or interpretations than we do Romans 14, verse 10 through 12. Here's what Paul says you then. Who, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother for, we will all stand before God's judgment seat bow before me, every tongue will confess to God.

So then each of us will give an account of himself to God. Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead make up your mind to not put a stumbling block or obstacle in your brother's okay. To give some context, because this passage is incredibly important. The book of Romans was written to the church in Rome, which was made up of smaller house churches that had a very unique combination of people.

They had Gentile, Christians who had come out of complete paganism. I mean, worshiped of hundreds in some cases, thousands of vitals. And then you had people that were Jewish in background. Who knew the law knew the old Testament had the heritage of the covenants of God. And they had now recognized that Jesus was to fulfilled fulfill the promises of the Messiah.

And these guys are coming together. And to really understand the book of Romans, you have to understand that Paul's intent in this letter is not to give a doctrinal discourse on the doctrine of salvation. He does that the best of new Testament, but it's a letter from a pastor to people. It's a pastoral letter.

And he's saying, I want you guys to be one and enrollments 12 through 16, everything in his message is trying to get these people to work together. What's just happened before he wrote this letter is acts chapter 18, verse one, it says Claudius the emperor of Rome had thrown out all Jews. They have now just returned.

These Jewish Christians have, have been banned from Rome. They're now coming back. And now after a couple of years, the church is even more Gentile. It's even more seeped in a lack of the old Testament, covenants and circumcision and the history of, of the patriarchs and these Jewish Christians come in.

And now they're aghast that these Gentile Christians are doing stuff like this. Romans 14 talks about they are also first Corinthians does, but they are going to the marketplace and they're buying meat at the butcher shop. That was meat. That was actually from animals that had been sacrificed on pig and altars by pagan priest and pagan worshipers.

And, and now. Basically in the Jews mind, you're supporting this whole enterprise by buying that meat. I mean, this is real stuff, right? I mean, and so here are the Jewish Christian saying we've lost everything to follow Christ. We've been thrown out of the synagogues. We we've we've, we've embraced Jesus.

And we're bringing our gift to you as an understanding of the old Testament and understanding of the covenants and understanding of the beauty of who Christ is. And you guys are just demeaning the whole thing

by doing all these practices. And Romans 14 is talking about, you know, their view of alcohol, their, their view of, of, uh, uh, how they related to each other was, was tense and hard. And, and they've got questionable issues. And Paul steps into this, this, this mouse strum of conflict and says, The weaker brothers are the Jewish Christians who feel we can't eat meat, uh, because it's been offered to idols the stronger brothers.

He actually uses his terms. And I, even though I'm a Jew, I tend to agree with them. You're free to eat the meat, but he says you're both free to follow your conscience. They also have a totally different view of national heritage. The Jews hate the Romans, the Romans have are in the process of destroying Jerusalem around the same period.

They have persecuted destroyed cast these very Jewish Christians out of. And so enrollments 13. Paul has to say, guys, guys, guys, we can meet here. You Gentiles have been raised in Rome. You love the empire. You've benefited the empire. A lot of you have served in the military to you. It's the glory of Rome.

And, and here you're Jews, you can't stand this. And so let's, let's talk about it. So Romans 13, he talks about how do we view the government together? What is our responsibility to government? And he says, what he's saying is, look, we have different views of national priorities. We have different views about spiritual values.

We have different and ACEs. I'm trying to put you guys together. Now, what would have been the easiest sting for Paul would have been to do this said, you know what? You Jewish Christians, you made over here. You meet in this side of town, Gentile Christians, you meet in this side of town, or even you come at three o'clock and you come at 10 o'clock in the morning, have your worship services.

You both love Jesus is great, but this is too hard to put together. It's not what he says. He says, I'm writing the whole book of Romans and I'm emphasizing in chapters one through 11, what you share together in Jesus. So that you'll take that theology and be stunned with the grace of Christ who was for all sinners.

Like all of you in order that you can say, I can let it go. It's not the priority. My view of, of, of national stuff. My view of government is not the priority. My view of, of convictions and practices is not the priority. And Paul says I'm I'm way in over here. But what I'm saying to you guys is don't condemn each other.

Don't talk against each other, do life together. Why? Because chapter one through 11 says here's what matters. It's Christ it's reality of living with Christ that you're accepted in the beloved son. So when Paul says statement like this, guys, why are you judging your brother? Stop passing judgment on one another.

He's talking to Jewish Christians that are really struggling because they've lost a lot. And they're wondering why is it most of Israel responding to Jesus? This is hard. We've given up everything for Jesus and the Gentiles. Why are these these Gentiles just seemed to not care in the, and they compromise and, and they're not serious about purity and holiness and the 10,000 scene.

Why are these Jews? These crotchety narrow minded, critical people that that seem to think we're less than in the, in spiritual realms. And, and that we don't really value Jesus because we don't get all the old Testament teaching about him being in the Messiah.

my understanding of the book. Romans tells me this. If Jesus Christ were pastoring a church in America today, he would not want a church where everybody was part of the same political party. He is not looking to have a church where everybody is a part of the same ethnicity. He is saying, I want you to do the hard work.

Of saying we're going to meet at Romans one through 11. We're going to centralize the beauty of standing in Jesus. And yeah, we're, it would be more comfortable to be with our group. It'd be more comfortable to be with our group and pulses. That's not, that's not a message to the world. That's exactly what the world does.

They go here and they go here and he says, I want you to have your own convictions, your own perspectives. And he allows both in Romans 14, you hear that he allows both and they don't agree, but he says don't condemn each other. Don't speak evil against each other. The beauty of the Crow of the church is that in a day of discord, it can be together because of majors and Romans one through 11.

I know I gotta move fast. All right. Number four, when we base our evaluations on appearance, John 7 24, do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment. The word appearance here is, uh, is from the word optics. It literally means don't go by the optics. I mean, in the, in the life of public figures, they deal with this all the time.

Ben Simmons is a star basketball player for the 76 years and had a really bad playoff series and very upsetting to six or fans. And soon after the. NBA championships. Ben Simmons was seen, um, peering and even posted on his social media, you know, at, at big parties and was seen, uh, with a new girlfriend at Wimbledon tennis.

And I remember, uh, a sports show host was speaking for many when he actually made this statement. He says, I guess there's nothing wrong with it, but the optics are bad. And what was he saying? He's saying Ben Simmons shouldn't look happy. I'm not happy had how the playoffs went out. He shouldn't be happy.

He shouldn't look happy. He, the guy should be squirreled away in a gym somewhere every day and practicing his shooting.

But Jesus is saying you can't evaluate people based on the optics. We don't know why. Hi people do what they do. We don't know what they're thinking. And we do it a lot.

The only reason they won't get the vaccine is because they don't care about other people

that may not be true. Right. That may not be true. I've talked to a lot of people that haven't got the vaccine and they have their own perspective on it. They genuinely believe there is more danger in the Baton. And you may say, well, that's just ignorant. That's just stupid. Maybe, maybe that would be your perspective or understanding, but I can tell you that the issues of whether people get a vaccine or not, or countless other issues that are out there, that people are all riled up about.

We're no, Than what those Jewish Christians and those Gentile Christians were dealing with in Rome. And Paul says don't condemn each other. Don't judge and appearances, don't say, and I have nobody in mind when I'm saying this, this is more a statement at large, that I'm making, but I think that's what he's saying.

Don't go by the optics. We don't know

Stephen Covey made this statement. Many of you know, he's a leadership guru. We judge ourselves by our intentions. We judge others by their actions. That's really important. I give myself the benefit of that all the time. Well, I didn't do it, but I, I wanted to, my motives were right. You know, I, I tried, I couldn't, but when somebody else doesn't show up or somebody else does, my immediate reaction is they don't care that I guess.

So something more important that we don't go over the optics.

Fifth, when we prioritize being right over being kind, James two, 12 and 13. So speaking, so act is those who are to be judged under the law of Liberty for judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy, mercy triumphs over judgment. I'm going to keep going. I have an illustration. I'm going to just jump.

Um,

I'm gonna leave that one. I it's not that I don't agree with it. It's that I want to get done. Um, before you all leave, um, okay. That it was my longest point of the three. All right. The second thing is the danger of judging others. Three quick things here in verses two through five, the danger of judging others of condemning others.

As we're trying to describe it in this message is you will be accountable for the same standard you use. Standard is judgment without mercy, for what the judgment you pronounce, you will be judged. And with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Jesus was harshest in his ministry to those who judged other people with a spirit of condemnation, right?

We know that the Pharisees, right, they were always evaluating people. They're always condemning people. Jesus showed less gentleness and less forbearance with those that did not prioritize mercy, but prioritized being fault. Pointer, outers, condemning others. And that's what he's saying here. I mean, he, Jesus, do you really, you wanna, um, live your life as the dispenser of being the air?

Pointer outer because you're shutting down the capacity to really be graced and mercy and dealt with in the way that I delight to treat people. He says, secondly, it becomes habitual to do so. Look at verse three, he says, why do you see the speck that is in your brother's side? But don't notice the log that's in your own eye.

He says, um, why do you see the word it's in the present tense? Which literally means why are you continually doing that? Why do you continually see that the, the arch critic is thoroughly at home with all the passages in the Bible, which encourage us to spot false profits by their fruit. I'm not being judgmental.

I'm just being a fruit inspector. You know, I died this, I see this, I see that. I say, well, Jesus says. Where to be focused, not on inspection, but intro section, he says, why are you looking at everybody else? Look in side. The third thing he says, danger of it is it fosters hypocrisy. This is an interesting statement.

It's a real question. He says why? And he doesn't say, why do you look at the verb is actually the word. Why do you see it's from the word sight? In other words, why is what is filling your gaze, other people's stuff and not yours now? I don't think he's just asking this as a, as a, you know, sort of getting them think, you know, you should be doing.

And so I think he's honestly saying, you need to think about why you're doing that. Why is that your focus? Why is your heroes, all the people that condemn and see what's wrong with everybody else, whether it's Christian teachers or whatever, what is there about you he's saying, or me that makes me so happy to be a fruit inspector of other people's lives, but he says, they've got a splinter in their eye and you've got a whole beam, literally the log that was the beam, like the, you know, the beam and the holding up the roof.

And he says, you've got that in your why? Why, why is your tension going there? And I believe the focus that he's prioritize on, are you focused on inspection? Not introspection is because you don't really want to deal with yourself.

There are lots of times in my life when I'm happy to see what's bad. I get tired of seeing what's bad. There are times I just, I just it's energizing to sort of hear, you know, what struggles other people are having or, or, or, or w we were watching a TV show recently. And I just, she said, is this too heavy?

And I said, you know, honestly, I'm fine dealing with somebody else's problems and watching somebody else's problem. He say, why, why, why don't you want to look at yourself? It's a spirit of pride. It's a spirit of not wanting to go inside. And it's a real question. And he says, it's making you a hypocrite.

Now, these people didn't see themselves as hypocrites. They were the, the fruit inspectors, they were the truth tellers. They were the error exposers, but he says, there's something wrong with this being your orientation. Why think about it. Why does this draw you so much? When what should be drawing you is the personal inward inspection.

That the more you look at yourself and see your own stuff, the more you invariably will be a mercy giver to others. Okay. Quick practical things to think about how do we deliver ourselves from, from the spirit number one, and these are going to be quick. Number one, remember what you will be evaluated on.

James two says so speak. And so act as those sort of being judged under the law of Liberty. That was another term for the law of love. For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy, mercy triumphs over judgment. He says, be known for being merciful and generous in your perception of others.

This is what is the voice. Oh. The the, the gospel in people's lives. It's striking to me in Philippians chapter two, Paul is talking about having the mind of Christ and, and he goes on and he says, do it without murmurings and disputing the word disputing means arguing. And he says, when you do this, you shine as lights in the world.

And it's how do you have, how has the church having lights to the world, not by disputing and, and, and shooting each other. It's by a lack of disputing hearts that are content that are not murmuring, that are going inside, introspection, not inspection. Number two, don't evaluate from a distance. Don't go on the optics.

Be very careful. You probably don't know. And you certainly don't know all that is true of that. Number three listened to the right voices. This is Philippians two and three. And Paul is just talking in those passages. He says, he says, I got people here in Philippians one. I got people in Rome that are just preaching Christ, but they're doing of envy and strife and personal ambition.

And there it's hard for me because their spirit is wearing me down. And he says, let's all have the mind of Christ in Philippians two. And he says, let's all celebrate what we have. And he says, and then he gets to chapter three, verse 17, and he says, brothers, join in imitating me and keep your eyes on those who walk.

According to the example you have in us for focus on what you share with all believers, not what you differ on. That's why Paul and Philippians two says this. If there's any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the spirit, any affection and sympathy complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love being in full accord and of one mind.

And then he says for this is the mind of Christ and the whole book of Philippians. He keeps talking about how to think as Christians, how to have the mind of Christ think mind, think mind. It also is the book where he uses the word joy more than any others. He's saying, how do we have oneness? How in the world do those churches in Rome have oneness different view of national issues, different view of, of, of, of even religious practices.

I mean, the whole thing was so rife with conflict.

They focused on the fact that they all shared the encouragement of Christ. They all had the comfort from his love. They all participated in the same spirit

before I get to the last one. I just want to say this

yesterday. Uh, this can sound heavy. It's not, the illustration is not heavy. Sorry. Um, this is about wasps. Um, yesterday my neighbor pointed out to me that in my pear tree, which is we have eight of them running down our driveway. And I, you know, I mow under them with my little ride Mo lawn mower and a branch.

It was about that high and I'm riding and I'm about this high I, and I could hit that branch that neither of us, he or I could be share. The driveway had noticed that there was a, a nest. That I'm not exaggerating. It was over 18 inches, high, big it's one of those things you just go and they were the black Hornets with white stripes, not friendly guys.

And I saw them who just shortened me yesterday. And so happily I've already been doing battle with yellow jackets. So I have two jars of the spray I'm ready and I know how to do this cause I've been out there and I know you don't go during the day. If you have any donor during the day, get them when they all go to bed at night and then you spray and you get a, you get like a 15 foot shot.

So I went out and I thought I was fine with it, not nervous with it at all. And, uh, I had on my LL bean baseball cap, which has two lights. You click a button and it shoots flashlights out. I love it. Go ahead. And as they say, don't judge me. Okay. All right. The second. I had a flashlight in my hand, a powerful flashlight, and I had my spray and I was ready and I'm walking along and I'm thinking I'm okay.

You know, I, I, but I had seen them earlier and I mean, they were dozens. It was unpleasant to see. So I was going over and I'm getting close and I'm shaking, you know, cause it's supposed to shake up the camp. And I realized just before I'm ready to spray, then I actually was not shaking the light. I mean, I was not shaking the can.

I was shaking the light. That was when I realized maybe I'm more nervous than I thought I was. And so I sprayed and this morning was a beautiful experience to see my friends. Um, we'll no longer be buzzing, but

there's a part of me that I came to this message this morning and there's a part of me shaking. Because I don't know what everybody's hearing.

I really, I really want us to meet at Jesus. I want this for the whole body of Christ so much. And so this last one I'm introducing with this statement. If you don't hear anything else, I'm saying, this is the one the gotta take hold. The passage is saying, make introspection your priority, not inspection.

Look to your own heart. Are you contending? Jesus. Are you known for loving others for encouraging others or with people only be aware of what you're against or what you feel needs to change or who you think isn't doing the right things and compromise those Roman believers are great encouragement to me because I get.

I understand where the Jewish Christians were coming from. I feel their pain. I feel the pain of the Gentile, Christians. And I feel for Paul. I mean, how in the world are you going to get these guys together? And he says, I'm going to have to give the longest presentation on the doctrine of salvation of any other part of the new Testament.

These people have to remind it, be reminded of the beauty of knowing Christ of that. This is where the church of Christ meets. Instead. It's a group of broken sinners with different theological perspectives on some things, different political positions on some things, different racial interpretation on some things.

But where we meet is Romans 11. The centrality, the beauty, the glory of Christ. We're broken sinners. Say, God, I don't even want to live today. Unless you're the Lord of my life, unless you are the one that's empowering and strengthening me. I had somebody that's not a believer asked me a while back. And they said to me, why do you want to be a Christian?

And I said, probably more than anything else, because I don't like who I am without Christ. He's everything. He's everything. That's where we meet. That's our glory. That's our message. That's our banner. That's the message. That's a light to the world. Lord, we come to you. Lot angles and things have run down this morning.

Lord, we want to love you. We want to know you. We want to do life with you because we don't like who we are without you. So Lord, let us meet at the cross here in our little tiny puddle of Christendom called fellowship community church, but I pray it for the whole body. Lord, do whatever you have to do to restore among your people.

The union that comes only when we focus on our fellowship in Christ, our encouragement in Christ, doing life in the spirit, lead us to him. Father. I pray that we might not be condemned. Criticizing inspectors, but introspective

in Jesus' name. Amen.

Go in peace to love and serve and enjoy the Lord.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/do-not-judge d88aceb5-394f-48e3-80ab-40c3c12edba1 Sun, 05 Sep 2021 10:01:32 GMT <div data-html="true">Matthew 7:1-6 <br /><br /> “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you." <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Matthew chapter seven verse one, judge, not that you be not judged for, with the judgment you pronounce, you will be judged. <br /><br /> And with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, let me take the speck out of your eye. When there is the log in your own eye, you hypocrite first, take the log out of your own eye. <br /><br /> Then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye. Do not give dogs. What is holy and do not throw your pearls before pigs less. They trample them underfoot and turn who attack you. Let's pray as we enter this really interesting passage together, Lord, we thank you for a beautiful day. <br /><br /> Just so amazing to drive over and be reminded again that you love beauty. You create days like this and allow us to experience all of life and nature to remind us that. You've done this for us, that we could experience a creation. That is one which reflects your glory, your handiwork Lord. Now I ask for your guidance again, in this passage, I pray that we would have ears to hear hearts, to respond in Jesus name. <br /><br /> Amen. <br /><br /> Singer Demi Lovato says it this way. Don't judge me, you know my name, but now my story actress, Kristin Stewart said it this way. Nobody, nobody lived my life. Nobody cried my tears. So don't judge me business executive ditcher. Oop Dorff said this don't judge me because I sin differently from you author and motivational speakers. <br /><br /> Zig Ziglar said, don't judge me by my past. I don't live there anymore. And country singer Dolly Parton. Don't judge me by the cover because I'm a real good book. If there is one statement of Jesus in the sermon on the Mount, that almost everybody we'll embrace it is this statement this morning, don't judge. <br /><br /> It is probably the most popular message from the sermon on the Mount, by the most people, but it is also probably one of the most misunderstood. So I'd like to look at this passage this morning and as we do so we're going to look at three aspects of judging others, a definition for it, the dangers of it, and then culminate briefly with some practical steps to try to get deliverance from a spirit of judging. <br /><br /> First of all, the definition of judging others. We find in verse one, we'll also see it in verse six and other scriptures. And we're going to look at a number of other pastors, cause I do want to say this. It is striking how many times the new Testament, this statement do not judge is expressed and elucidated explained. <br /><br /> So we're going to look at some of those as well as we try to get, uh, uh, a full picture of what Jesus is talking about. This passage does not mean certain things. And I just want to put this as a disclaimer and we're going to see even within the passage itself, why I say that sometimes it has been perceived that Jesus is saying, don't judge me. <br /><br /> I don't believe that there are any moral rights and wrongs that, that everybody has the right to live their own life. And that no one has the right to say, well, there are things that are wrong. Jesus is not saying that there are no standards of right and wrong that there is no description of moral behavior that he has given. <br /><br /> And that, because we don't know a person's background, there can never be the statement. What you did was wrong. We find that Jesus himself has called out behavior here in the sermon, on the Mount, right? I mean, he's called out adultery, laziness, greed, lying, anger, even spiritual activities that people are doing. <br /><br /> He has rebuked. If they're doing it with the wrong spirit church discipline. Is a real thing. There is a place for if someone is living as a professed believer in Jesus Christ in habitual, uh, uh, denial of the Lordship of Christ in their life to remove them from, from places of influence in the church. <br /><br /> It's it's it's right. Sometimes false teaching has to be called out. Jesus will say 10 verses later in verse 15, watch out for false prophets. They come and sheep's close, but are inwardly ferocious wolves, verse six itself in this passage seems to be Jesus saying after five verses of saying don't judge don't judge don't judge don't condemn. <br /><br /> We'll see what that means. And then in verse six, he says, but I'm not saying don't be discerning. There is a place for discernment. He says, as matter of fact, there will be times when you discern it would be unwise to even share truth because the person's heart is so oriented in such a way like the mocker and Proverbs that they will not hear your message and will not respond. <br /><br /> Jesus himself said this in John 16, verse 12, wasn't talking to people that were violently opposed to his message, but he says you have to show some discernment at times. And he says to the disciples, this amazing statement, he says, I still have many things to say to you guys. The guys was from me. I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. <br /><br /> I mean, he says I have to make some discernment here and have some discernment in my treatment of you. So what does it mean when Jesus says do not judge? Well, I also need to start by saying this. There are different ways. The word judge. Or two judges use in the new Testament. There are at least four. So we needed a certain, what is he talking? <br /><br /> Which one is mean? And it's not hard to get that one is just the concept of moral discernment syncing. Something is right or wrong, knowing good from bad. He is certainly not condemning that. There are times when then the new Testament to judge is talking about rulings in lawsuits. There are times in governmental decisions where it says they, they, they pass the judgment. <br /><br /> There are also times when the word to judge the word is talking about condemnation by God, for evil. And I believe the latter one is the one he is, he is leaning towards. And I want to give a definition of what I believe judging others means in this and a number of other new Testament passages judging others means to condemn others. <br /><br /> And I would explain that by this statement, it is condemning others. Assuming that we have the capacity to pass on them as God does, is an assumption that we discern the measure of their guilt in a way that only God can, I'm going to try to illustrate that in the rest of the sermon, but this whole passage is a bout a spirit, a demeanor and attitude. <br /><br /> It is assuming that we have a capacity to pass on others as God does with a measure of understanding that only God has. So let's, let's look at some of the things that help us to know if we are judging others. And we're going to look at a few of them, some in this passage, some that are they're shown in other passages, we are judging others when we put ourselves in the place. <br /><br /> James chapter four, verse 11 and 12 says this do not speak evil against one another brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges, his brother speaks evil against the law and judges law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law, but a judge here comes, there is only one law giver and judge he who is able to save and to destroy. <br /><br /> But who are you to judge your neighbor? It is the spirit that, that I'm sort of holding myself as I'm in the place of God that I see this as God does not doesn't mean that, that when you see a brother, a sister that's committed adultery, you can't say to them that's wrong, but it does mean that you don't behave and carry yourself and speak. <br /><br /> And again, we're going to try to play all this out in a way that, that you, you think you see the full picture. Paul explains this even more. Interestingly, in first Corinthians chapter four, four verses three through five, and here he says this, but with me, it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. <br /><br /> In fact, I do not even judge myself for, I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not there by acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me therefore, to not pronounce judgment before the time before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of heart. <br /><br /> Paul says. I know you guys are, are, are beaten on my helmet. I know you're you're, you're criticizing me. I know you are passing judgment on me. You are condemning the way I do, and I don't do the way I behave and I don't behave. And that's exactly what they were doing. Corinth. There were people rising up that was slandering Paul and Paul says, I'm not going to go on the basis of your analysis because I don't even go on the basis of my analysis of me. <br /><br /> Ultimately, he says, I know that I don't see the real picture. The only one that can ultimately truly evaluate my life and my heart. And my motives is God to judge others is to assume we have the whole story that I see people and know their story because, because I happen to see one part of it. <br /><br /> I've said this a number of times I've said this in our, our seminar, we've done twice on, uh, thinking like a Christian. We need to be really careful as matter of fact, I would say it this way. I don't think you should be talking about people whose lifestyles you would consider very abberant from yours. <br /><br /> Maybe you have a perception of a gay lifestyle or a transgender lifestyle. I don't think you should talk about, I don't think you should, should trust your responses to that. If you're a believer in Christ, if you don't have a face, if you don't have someone that you're doing life with, who you love and who you value and who is in his chosen that lifestyle and who you look at and see such beauty in that, you would be honest enough to say, you know, There are qualities in that person that are more beautiful than our qualities I see in myself, certainly in that arena, if you don't have someone that you look at and you say, I see their beauty, be very careful and how you evaluate or process or think about people who have chosen another lifestyle, because that's not who they are. <br /><br /> That's part of just like part of your chosen sins is part of who you are, but that's not all you want to be evaluated by. He is saying here it's a spirit of not condemning. And assuming that I, I see the whole picture. Can you imagine how people felt about Jesus having a prostitute washes? We know how the Pharisee felt. <br /><br /> He went to dinner at the Pharisee's house and, and, and it says this woman who lived in sin, which was a euphemism for prostitution, most belief, and she comes in and she's crying and her tears are falling on Jesus' feet. And she starts using wiping his feet with her, with their tears. She's putting ointment on him. <br /><br /> And the Pharisee is sitting there thinking this guy can't be anybody. He doesn't even realize the type of woman. That's the course, Jesus knew a type of woman, but he saw more in the woman. Then a life of prostitution. He saw a person. He saw beauty and the spirit of condemnation is that we don't see all that God sees. <br /><br /> God sees your beauty, but he also sees others. It's why it's so important as believers. To recognize that this spirit of condemning comes when we see people that disagree with us. And that's how we identify them. They're just liberals. They're just, Trumpites, they're crooked politicians or authorities. <br /><br /> They're BLM agitators. And we condemn them as if that's all they are. We look at them as if that's all they are. We place ourselves in our spirit, in the throne of God and say in our hearts, I would never say it this way, but frankly, I hate them. I hate what they're doing to my country. I hate how they're trampling on my values. <br /><br /> That's why it's so important. Toys have faces and toys. See people's beauty if people are and their positions, but we respond and we condemn and we do it in the church and I'm in the church at large. We also do it when we speak with evil and slander about people. James says this in chapter four, verses 11 and 12, do not speak evil against one another brothers, the one who speaks against a brother or judges, his brother. <br /><br /> And then he goes on to talk about why it's wrong, but basically be saying, speaking evil against somebody and condemning or judging someone follow parallel tracks. It is saying critical, potentially reputation, destroying stuff against others. Now there are times where you may discern a spirit in someone or an action or, or behavior that is, that is destructive and ungodly. <br /><br /> And you think, well to not judge means I should never say anything. And you see this person and they're going to be put into a leadership maybe in the church, uh, or in spiritual leadership somewhere. And, and you think, well, I'm not supposed to know. That's not what it's saying. That may be God prompting, but it is saying, examine your heart process. <br /><br /> Be careful, be careful, the spirit that we, that we bring, that you are not extrapolating your limited experience to every part of their life because of how you have, have experienced them here, nor are you assuming that how you have experienced them is how everybody's experienced. So them social media can be toxic in this region. <br /><br /> Can talk about people based on one thing, you know about them, about one thing that they believe or teach differently and you bury them as people, the danger is we start making our heroes, those who expose era. Now there's a role for exposing era. Of course, there's a role for, for truth telling, but when our heroes are the ones that are smashing everybody else and they show what's wrong with him, what's wrong with him. <br /><br /> What's wrong with her? What's wrong with her with this? Those are not the heroes Paul has in the new Testament. I'll show you that a little bit. What he's highlighting to us here in this passage, Jesus is, is when there's a spirit of negative and critical talking, he says it's invariably falling parallel tracks with judges. <br /><br /> And condemning as if I see the whole picture and I have the right to do this many years ago. Uh, we were a part, I was part of a, uh, Baptist group and we had a quarterly meeting and technically I'm still part of the group, but, but, but we had quarterly meetings and I remember going one time and I was about 30 years old. <br /><br /> So I was a relatively speaking compared to a lot of these guys. I was, I was a puppy. Uh, I was not heavyweight in my eyes and although they were very gracious and I knew a lot of them pretty well. And there was one guy that was from another part of the state and he hadn't really been involved in the meetings much, but he was kind of known as a. <br /><br /> You know, he was one of these guys that had a newsletter that exposed error and all this stuff. And, and, uh, this was sort of his, this was his trademark and he came to the meeting and in the quarterly eating, after we'd had our, our seminar, whatever it was on, it was sort of the business side. And, and he brought a recommendation. <br /><br /> It was a resolution, uh, and a petition. We were all going to sign. That was basically he, he shared about, I don't remember if it was a Monsignor or what, it was some guy in a religious position, uh, in America, in, in America. And he was doing a seminar in New Jersey and he didn't hold to the Virgin birth, I think was the doctrine. <br /><br /> And, uh, he was going to talk on that. And so this guy had a petition for us to sign. That he was going to post, uh, well, they didn't have posts back then he was going to publish it in his newsletter and he wanted us to all sign that our group condemned disagreed with this teacher and I'm sitting there and I'm a, I'm a 30 old preacher. <br /><br /> And, uh, I'm thinking, okay, um, who's going to read this newsletter. Well, everybody's going to read the newsletter already beliefs in the Virgin birth because they're on this guy's mailing list. And, but, um, I, so I'm trying to think, and I'm trying to think what, I don't know. I've never been asked to sign this kind of a petition. <br /><br /> So somebody against somebody, I don't know. So I didn't know that I'm going to ask me to stand. I raised my hand and they had me stand mark, you know, younger guy. Whoo. Second mark, you know, and, and, uh, so I said, well, I, um, I said, I guess my question, I have two questions because I was what was going through my mind was how do we confront sin or whatever, do you know, air? <br /><br /> And so I was going through the pan. I said, does anybody know Monsignor somebody? And if we don't know him, will anybody be going to him personally to share our concerns? And Chris, the air went out of the balloon and the room just got very quiet. All my friends are looking at me or looking away from me to not. <br /><br /> And the answer of course was no, no, we don't w we're going to publish this and we're going to make our steam. So when the vote came. You were supposed to raise your and I voted, no, I would not sign it. And happily seven or eight, others did have happily to me, but I, to this day, <br /><br /> I feel like we were condemning. Nobody was asking us. I mean, if they asked our group, how do you feel that? Well, sure. We'll talk. Well, we believe in the Virgin birth. Here's why it just felt like we should not be known for pointing out what is wrong with anybody else now, honestly, I struggled with even using this illustration because I'm kind of doing this to the guy. <br /><br /> Right. Um, but I'm trying to say in this, Christians don't want to be known. It's pointing out the error and everybody else. That's not the goal. There are times when you have to stand for truth. The time of you're confronted with error and you need to boldly Stanford, Jesus. But then what a habitual position becomes where we're error, error, smelters out, and that we're speaking constantly naming names. <br /><br /> I, I just, I think that's contrary to the whole spirit of this passage. The third thing he says, it's when don't judge is when people hold different convictions or interpretations than we do Romans 14, verse 10 through 12. Here's what Paul says you then. Who, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother for, we will all stand before God's judgment seat bow before me, every tongue will confess to God. <br /><br /> So then each of us will give an account of himself to God. Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead make up your mind to not put a stumbling block or obstacle in your brother's okay. To give some context, because this passage is incredibly important. The book of Romans was written to the church in Rome, which was made up of smaller house churches that had a very unique combination of people. <br /><br /> They had Gentile, Christians who had come out of complete paganism. I mean, worshiped of hundreds in some cases, thousands of vitals. And then you had people that were Jewish in background. Who knew the law knew the old Testament had the heritage of the covenants of God. And they had now recognized that Jesus was to fulfilled fulfill the promises of the Messiah. <br /><br /> And these guys are coming together. And to really understand the book of Romans, you have to understand that Paul's intent in this letter is not to give a doctrinal discourse on the doctrine of salvation. He does that the best of new Testament, but it's a letter from a pastor to people. It's a pastoral letter. <br /><br /> And he's saying, I want you guys to be one and enrollments 12 through 16, everything in his message is trying to get these people to work together. What's just happened before he wrote this letter is acts chapter 18, verse one, it says Claudius the emperor of Rome had thrown out all Jews. They have now just returned. <br /><br /> These Jewish Christians have, have been banned from Rome. They're now coming back. And now after a couple of years, the church is even more Gentile. It's even more seeped in a lack of the old Testament, covenants and circumcision and the history of, of the patriarchs and these Jewish Christians come in. <br /><br /> And now they're aghast that these Gentile Christians are doing stuff like this. Romans 14 talks about they are also first Corinthians does, but they are going to the marketplace and they're buying meat at the butcher shop. That was meat. That was actually from animals that had been sacrificed on pig and altars by pagan priest and pagan worshipers. <br /><br /> And, and now. Basically in the Jews mind, you're supporting this whole enterprise by buying that meat. I mean, this is real stuff, right? I mean, and so here are the Jewish Christian saying we've lost everything to follow Christ. We've been thrown out of the synagogues. We we've we've, we've embraced Jesus. <br /><br /> And we're bringing our gift to you as an understanding of the old Testament and understanding of the covenants and understanding of the beauty of who Christ is. And you guys are just demeaning the whole thing <br /><br /> by doing all these practices. And Romans 14 is talking about, you know, their view of alcohol, their, their view of, of, uh, uh, how they related to each other was, was tense and hard. And, and they've got questionable issues. And Paul steps into this, this, this mouse strum of conflict and says, The weaker brothers are the Jewish Christians who feel we can't eat meat, uh, because it's been offered to idols the stronger brothers. <br /><br /> He actually uses his terms. And I, even though I'm a Jew, I tend to agree with them. You're free to eat the meat, but he says you're both free to follow your conscience. They also have a totally different view of national heritage. The Jews hate the Romans, the Romans have are in the process of destroying Jerusalem around the same period. <br /><br /> They have persecuted destroyed cast these very Jewish Christians out of. And so enrollments 13. Paul has to say, guys, guys, guys, we can meet here. You Gentiles have been raised in Rome. You love the empire. You've benefited the empire. A lot of you have served in the military to you. It's the glory of Rome. <br /><br /> And, and here you're Jews, you can't stand this. And so let's, let's talk about it. So Romans 13, he talks about how do we view the government together? What is our responsibility to government? And he says, what he's saying is, look, we have different views of national priorities. We have different views about spiritual values. <br /><br /> We have different and ACEs. I'm trying to put you guys together. Now, what would have been the easiest sting for Paul would have been to do this said, you know what? You Jewish Christians, you made over here. You meet in this side of town, Gentile Christians, you meet in this side of town, or even you come at three o'clock and you come at 10 o'clock in the morning, have your worship services. <br /><br /> You both love Jesus is great, but this is too hard to put together. It's not what he says. He says, I'm writing the whole book of Romans and I'm emphasizing in chapters one through 11, what you share together in Jesus. So that you'll take that theology and be stunned with the grace of Christ who was for all sinners. <br /><br /> Like all of you in order that you can say, I can let it go. It's not the priority. My view of, of, of national stuff. My view of government is not the priority. My view of, of convictions and practices is not the priority. And Paul says I'm I'm way in over here. But what I'm saying to you guys is don't condemn each other. <br /><br /> Don't talk against each other, do life together. Why? Because chapter one through 11 says here's what matters. It's Christ it's reality of living with Christ that you're accepted in the beloved son. So when Paul says statement like this, guys, why are you judging your brother? Stop passing judgment on one another. <br /><br /> He's talking to Jewish Christians that are really struggling because they've lost a lot. And they're wondering why is it most of Israel responding to Jesus? This is hard. We've given up everything for Jesus and the Gentiles. Why are these these Gentiles just seemed to not care in the, and they compromise and, and they're not serious about purity and holiness and the 10,000 scene. <br /><br /> Why are these Jews? These crotchety narrow minded, critical people that that seem to think we're less than in the, in spiritual realms. And, and that we don't really value Jesus because we don't get all the old Testament teaching about him being in the Messiah. <br /><br /> my understanding of the book. Romans tells me this. If Jesus Christ were pastoring a church in America today, he would not want a church where everybody was part of the same political party. He is not looking to have a church where everybody is a part of the same ethnicity. He is saying, I want you to do the hard work. <br /><br /> Of saying we're going to meet at Romans one through 11. We're going to centralize the beauty of standing in Jesus. And yeah, we're, it would be more comfortable to be with our group. It'd be more comfortable to be with our group and pulses. That's not, that's not a message to the world. That's exactly what the world does. <br /><br /> They go here and they go here and he says, I want you to have your own convictions, your own perspectives. And he allows both in Romans 14, you hear that he allows both and they don't agree, but he says don't condemn each other. Don't speak evil against each other. The beauty of the Crow of the church is that in a day of discord, it can be together because of majors and Romans one through 11. <br /><br /> I know I gotta move fast. All right. Number four, when we base our evaluations on appearance, John 7 24, do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment. The word appearance here is, uh, is from the word optics. It literally means don't go by the optics. I mean, in the, in the life of public figures, they deal with this all the time. <br /><br /> Ben Simmons is a star basketball player for the 76 years and had a really bad playoff series and very upsetting to six or fans. And soon after the. NBA championships. Ben Simmons was seen, um, peering and even posted on his social media, you know, at, at big parties and was seen, uh, with a new girlfriend at Wimbledon tennis. <br /><br /> And I remember, uh, a sports show host was speaking for many when he actually made this statement. He says, I guess there's nothing wrong with it, but the optics are bad. And what was he saying? He's saying Ben Simmons shouldn't look happy. I'm not happy had how the playoffs went out. He shouldn't be happy. <br /><br /> He shouldn't look happy. He, the guy should be squirreled away in a gym somewhere every day and practicing his shooting. <br /><br /> But Jesus is saying you can't evaluate people based on the optics. We don't know why. Hi people do what they do. We don't know what they're thinking. And we do it a lot. <br /><br /> The only reason they won't get the vaccine is because they don't care about other people <br /><br /> that may not be true. Right. That may not be true. I've talked to a lot of people that haven't got the vaccine and they have their own perspective on it. They genuinely believe there is more danger in the Baton. And you may say, well, that's just ignorant. That's just stupid. Maybe, maybe that would be your perspective or understanding, but I can tell you that the issues of whether people get a vaccine or not, or countless other issues that are out there, that people are all riled up about. <br /><br /> We're no, Than what those Jewish Christians and those Gentile Christians were dealing with in Rome. And Paul says don't condemn each other. Don't judge and appearances, don't say, and I have nobody in mind when I'm saying this, this is more a statement at large, that I'm making, but I think that's what he's saying. <br /><br /> Don't go by the optics. We don't know <br /><br /> Stephen Covey made this statement. Many of you know, he's a leadership guru. We judge ourselves by our intentions. We judge others by their actions. That's really important. I give myself the benefit of that all the time. Well, I didn't do it, but I, I wanted to, my motives were right. You know, I, I tried, I couldn't, but when somebody else doesn't show up or somebody else does, my immediate reaction is they don't care that I guess. <br /><br /> So something more important that we don't go over the optics. <br /><br /> Fifth, when we prioritize being right over being kind, James two, 12 and 13. So speaking, so act is those who are to be judged under the law of Liberty for judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy, mercy triumphs over judgment. I'm going to keep going. I have an illustration. I'm going to just jump. <br /><br /> Um, <br /><br /> I'm gonna leave that one. I it's not that I don't agree with it. It's that I want to get done. Um, before you all leave, um, okay. That it was my longest point of the three. All right. The second thing is the danger of judging others. Three quick things here in verses two through five, the danger of judging others of condemning others. <br /><br /> As we're trying to describe it in this message is you will be accountable for the same standard you use. Standard is judgment without mercy, for what the judgment you pronounce, you will be judged. And with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Jesus was harshest in his ministry to those who judged other people with a spirit of condemnation, right? <br /><br /> We know that the Pharisees, right, they were always evaluating people. They're always condemning people. Jesus showed less gentleness and less forbearance with those that did not prioritize mercy, but prioritized being fault. Pointer, outers, condemning others. And that's what he's saying here. I mean, he, Jesus, do you really, you wanna, um, live your life as the dispenser of being the air? <br /><br /> Pointer outer because you're shutting down the capacity to really be graced and mercy and dealt with in the way that I delight to treat people. He says, secondly, it becomes habitual to do so. Look at verse three, he says, why do you see the speck that is in your brother's side? But don't notice the log that's in your own eye. <br /><br /> He says, um, why do you see the word it's in the present tense? Which literally means why are you continually doing that? Why do you continually see that the, the arch critic is thoroughly at home with all the passages in the Bible, which encourage us to spot false profits by their fruit. I'm not being judgmental. <br /><br /> I'm just being a fruit inspector. You know, I died this, I see this, I see that. I say, well, Jesus says. Where to be focused, not on inspection, but intro section, he says, why are you looking at everybody else? Look in side. The third thing he says, danger of it is it fosters hypocrisy. This is an interesting statement. <br /><br /> It's a real question. He says why? And he doesn't say, why do you look at the verb is actually the word. Why do you see it's from the word sight? In other words, why is what is filling your gaze, other people's stuff and not yours now? I don't think he's just asking this as a, as a, you know, sort of getting them think, you know, you should be doing. <br /><br /> And so I think he's honestly saying, you need to think about why you're doing that. Why is that your focus? Why is your heroes, all the people that condemn and see what's wrong with everybody else, whether it's Christian teachers or whatever, what is there about you he's saying, or me that makes me so happy to be a fruit inspector of other people's lives, but he says, they've got a splinter in their eye and you've got a whole beam, literally the log that was the beam, like the, you know, the beam and the holding up the roof. <br /><br /> And he says, you've got that in your why? Why, why is your tension going there? And I believe the focus that he's prioritize on, are you focused on inspection? Not introspection is because you don't really want to deal with yourself. <br /><br /> There are lots of times in my life when I'm happy to see what's bad. I get tired of seeing what's bad. There are times I just, I just it's energizing to sort of hear, you know, what struggles other people are having or, or, or, or w we were watching a TV show recently. And I just, she said, is this too heavy? <br /><br /> And I said, you know, honestly, I'm fine dealing with somebody else's problems and watching somebody else's problem. He say, why, why, why don't you want to look at yourself? It's a spirit of pride. It's a spirit of not wanting to go inside. And it's a real question. And he says, it's making you a hypocrite. <br /><br /> Now, these people didn't see themselves as hypocrites. They were the, the fruit inspectors, they were the truth tellers. They were the error exposers, but he says, there's something wrong with this being your orientation. Why think about it. Why does this draw you so much? When what should be drawing you is the personal inward inspection. <br /><br /> That the more you look at yourself and see your own stuff, the more you invariably will be a mercy giver to others. Okay. Quick practical things to think about how do we deliver ourselves from, from the spirit number one, and these are going to be quick. Number one, remember what you will be evaluated on. <br /><br /> James two says so speak. And so act as those sort of being judged under the law of Liberty. That was another term for the law of love. For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy, mercy triumphs over judgment. He says, be known for being merciful and generous in your perception of others. <br /><br /> This is what is the voice. Oh. The the, the gospel in people's lives. It's striking to me in Philippians chapter two, Paul is talking about having the mind of Christ and, and he goes on and he says, do it without murmurings and disputing the word disputing means arguing. And he says, when you do this, you shine as lights in the world. <br /><br /> And it's how do you have, how has the church having lights to the world, not by disputing and, and, and shooting each other. It's by a lack of disputing hearts that are content that are not murmuring, that are going inside, introspection, not inspection. Number two, don't evaluate from a distance. Don't go on the optics. <br /><br /> Be very careful. You probably don't know. And you certainly don't know all that is true of that. Number three listened to the right voices. This is Philippians two and three. And Paul is just talking in those passages. He says, he says, I got people here in Philippians one. I got people in Rome that are just preaching Christ, but they're doing of envy and strife and personal ambition. <br /><br /> And there it's hard for me because their spirit is wearing me down. And he says, let's all have the mind of Christ in Philippians two. And he says, let's all celebrate what we have. And he says, and then he gets to chapter three, verse 17, and he says, brothers, join in imitating me and keep your eyes on those who walk. <br /><br /> According to the example you have in us for focus on what you share with all believers, not what you differ on. That's why Paul and Philippians two says this. If there's any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the spirit, any affection and sympathy complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love being in full accord and of one mind. <br /><br /> And then he says for this is the mind of Christ and the whole book of Philippians. He keeps talking about how to think as Christians, how to have the mind of Christ think mind, think mind. It also is the book where he uses the word joy more than any others. He's saying, how do we have oneness? How in the world do those churches in Rome have oneness different view of national issues, different view of, of, of, of even religious practices. <br /><br /> I mean, the whole thing was so rife with conflict. <br /><br /> They focused on the fact that they all shared the encouragement of Christ. They all had the comfort from his love. They all participated in the same spirit <br /><br /> before I get to the last one. I just want to say this <br /><br /> yesterday. Uh, this can sound heavy. It's not, the illustration is not heavy. Sorry. Um, this is about wasps. Um, yesterday my neighbor pointed out to me that in my pear tree, which is we have eight of them running down our driveway. And I, you know, I mow under them with my little ride Mo lawn mower and a branch. <br /><br /> It was about that high and I'm riding and I'm about this high I, and I could hit that branch that neither of us, he or I could be share. The driveway had noticed that there was a, a nest. That I'm not exaggerating. It was over 18 inches, high, big it's one of those things you just go and they were the black Hornets with white stripes, not friendly guys. <br /><br /> And I saw them who just shortened me yesterday. And so happily I've already been doing battle with yellow jackets. So I have two jars of the spray I'm ready and I know how to do this cause I've been out there and I know you don't go during the day. If you have any donor during the day, get them when they all go to bed at night and then you spray and you get a, you get like a 15 foot shot. <br /><br /> So I went out and I thought I was fine with it, not nervous with it at all. And, uh, I had on my LL bean baseball cap, which has two lights. You click a button and it shoots flashlights out. I love it. Go ahead. And as they say, don't judge me. Okay. All right. The second. I had a flashlight in my hand, a powerful flashlight, and I had my spray and I was ready and I'm walking along and I'm thinking I'm okay. <br /><br /> You know, I, I, but I had seen them earlier and I mean, they were dozens. It was unpleasant to see. So I was going over and I'm getting close and I'm shaking, you know, cause it's supposed to shake up the camp. And I realized just before I'm ready to spray, then I actually was not shaking the light. I mean, I was not shaking the can. <br /><br /> I was shaking the light. That was when I realized maybe I'm more nervous than I thought I was. And so I sprayed and this morning was a beautiful experience to see my friends. Um, we'll no longer be buzzing, but <br /><br /> there's a part of me that I came to this message this morning and there's a part of me shaking. Because I don't know what everybody's hearing. <br /><br /> I really, I really want us to meet at Jesus. I want this for the whole body of Christ so much. And so this last one I'm introducing with this statement. If you don't hear anything else, I'm saying, this is the one the gotta take hold. The passage is saying, make introspection your priority, not inspection. <br /><br /> Look to your own heart. Are you contending? Jesus. Are you known for loving others for encouraging others or with people only be aware of what you're against or what you feel needs to change or who you think isn't doing the right things and compromise those Roman believers are great encouragement to me because I get. <br /><br /> I understand where the Jewish Christians were coming from. I feel their pain. I feel the pain of the Gentile, Christians. And I feel for Paul. I mean, how in the world are you going to get these guys together? And he says, I'm going to have to give the longest presentation on the doctrine of salvation of any other part of the new Testament. <br /><br /> These people have to remind it, be reminded of the beauty of knowing Christ of that. This is where the church of Christ meets. Instead. It's a group of broken sinners with different theological perspectives on some things, different political positions on some things, different racial interpretation on some things. <br /><br /> But where we meet is Romans 11. The centrality, the beauty, the glory of Christ. We're broken sinners. Say, God, I don't even want to live today. Unless you're the Lord of my life, unless you are the one that's empowering and strengthening me. I had somebody that's not a believer asked me a while back. And they said to me, why do you want to be a Christian? <br /><br /> And I said, probably more than anything else, because I don't like who I am without Christ. He's everything. He's everything. That's where we meet. That's our glory. That's our message. That's our banner. That's the message. That's a light to the world. Lord, we come to you. Lot angles and things have run down this morning. <br /><br /> Lord, we want to love you. We want to know you. We want to do life with you because we don't like who we are without you. So Lord, let us meet at the cross here in our little tiny puddle of Christendom called fellowship community church, but I pray it for the whole body. Lord, do whatever you have to do to restore among your people. <br /><br /> The union that comes only when we focus on our fellowship in Christ, our encouragement in Christ, doing life in the spirit, lead us to him. Father. I pray that we might not be condemned. Criticizing inspectors, but introspective <br /><br /> in Jesus' name. Amen. <br /><br /> Go in peace to love and serve and enjoy the Lord.</div> false no <![CDATA[The Gospel, The Meal, The Call]]> Ephesians 2:1-10

"But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved"



&nbsp;]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-gospel-the-meal-the-call 4704f6bf-a684-4384-b7a2-a86e33dbbeac Sun, 29 Aug 2021 15:58:13 GMT <div data-html="true">Ephesians 2:1-10 <br /><br /> "But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved" <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> &amp;nbsp;</div> false no <![CDATA[Do Not Be Anxious]]> Matthew 6:25-34

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on."



Morning everybody, invite you to take your Bibles. So we're going to be looking at Matthew chapter six, verse 25 to 34 this morning, as we continue in our series, the upside down life on the sermon on the Mount.

This passage is we're going to read in a few minutes or a few moments is, uh, focused on a statement Jesus made, and the statement is, do not be anxious. It's a striking statement. It's a statement to a person with an anxiety disorder or who deeply struggles with worry. That sounds a lot like Billy Bass villi, big mouth bass, you know, the fish that talks and he used to sing.

Don't worry. Be happy. It can be a frustrating statement, a confusing statement by Jesus because of the powerful and pervasive thing that worry and anxiety can be in our lives. A CBS television documentary entitled the age of anxiety revealed that the world health organization now lists anxiety is the most prevalent mental health problem across the globe.

It also showed that mental and emotional problems. Now top physical problems for worker absenteeism. The Mayo clinic claims 80 to 85% of total case loads is due directly to symptoms from worry and anxiety. Medical science has closely tied, worry to heart trouble, blood pressure problems, ulcers, thyroid malfunction, migraine headaches, and a host of stomach disorders.

Jesus is here. Addressing the subject of worry of being anxious and he's putting it in the context of the teaching for the people of his kingdom. It's a striking thought actually, that Jesus is talking about this emotional issue in our lives and saying for those that are part of my kingdom as a specific teaching, I want to give to you as we come to this passage, I want to remind you of the context I mentioned last week, as I preached on the passage just before this, that in these two passages, Matthew six verse 19 to 24, and then Matthew six, verse 25 to 34.

He is talking about choices in our lives. And the choice that he gave us last week is choose your treasure. You can choose God, or you can choose money as the central reality and the guiding thing in your life. Choose your treasure this morning. He says, choose your outlook, trust or worry. We'll seek to impact this, unpack this teaching in just a moment.

But before we do, I, I do want to put a simple disclaimer out here. Some people I believe clearly are by temperament, more wired, to worry than other people. It is much more a part of their physical, emotional makeup. Some people really do benefit and really, uh, need some type of anxiety medication. It is not a way of keeping them from having to trust God.

As a matter of fact, I believe. For many people, medication just helps them get back to a realistic state of being able to evaluate things, to make the determination will I give into worry or will I give in or will I lean towards trust? I want to make this statement because some of us are not prone toward anxiety or worry by physical wire.

And we all struggle with it. But for those that are, this is a real issue for others like Michael Jordan or Teddy, right? Roosevelt. They probably didn't struggle much with anxiety issues in their lives. Some people are prone to getting ulcers. Some people are prone to giving other people ulcers. Neither one are condemn are commendable or condemned bubble in themselves.

They're just realities. But to some degree, wary being anxious impacts all of us. And to that regard, we want to have you listen to Jesus' teaching here in Matthew chapter five and hear what he is saying in Matthew chapter six. What he's saying to all of us today, Matthew chapter six, beginning of verse 25, therefore, no, you do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink nor about your body.

What you will put on is not life more than food and the body more than clothing. Look at the birds of the air. They neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns. And yet your heavenly father feeds feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life.

And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin yet. I tell you even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these, but if God, so clothes, the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven. Will he not much more clothe you?

Oh, you of little faith, therefore do not be anxious saying what shall we eat or what should we drink? Or what shall we wear for the Gentiles seek after all these things and your heavenly father knows that you need them all, but seek first, the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you.

Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Let's pray.

Or it over and over as we come to the scriptures, we are reminded of the astonishing practicality. If your word, truly, this book gives a sufficient message for all the issues, circumstances of our lives that you speak into the practical part of life. Lord, I love the way you use theology in this passage to speak to our emotional lives.

And I ask you father, that you would teach us as we gather here in Mount Laurel, in Collingswood, in our homes or on our vacations, uh, online Lord, be our teacher today. I pray in Jesus name. Amen. I want to look at two things this morning, first of all, the responsibility to not be controlled by worry. And secondly, the resource that Jesus offers to us to do so first again, a little context.

I mean, what arena is Jesus talking, but here, when he talks about anxiety or worry or not being anxious, and we find that he starts this passage off here in verse 25 with the statement, therefore, well, what does that talking about? What, what is that therefore, therefore, what's it pointing back to? Well, it's pointing back to the immediate passage before this in verses 19 to 24, in which he talked about.

Not making your resources, your financial resources, what you depended on, what is your ultimate treasure? It is encouragement in that passage, as we looked last week to not make, to, to, to make God and his kingdom, your ultimate treasure. And we talked about how we do that. He said in verse 24, no one can serve two masters.

Either. You will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You can't serve both God. And money says, may God the central reality in your life. And as I mentioned last week throughout the scriptures, something that is identified as an idol in our lives, and we could cover the old new Testament passages.

You'll find that every time someone is making something, an idle, one of three things has happened either. They are serving it more than the living. God, they are loving it more than the living God, or they are trusting in it more than the living God. And often all three. And he says, don't make money, the central reality in your life and the security that it brings, make God that central reality.

Now he comes up with this beautiful passage in response to the obvious issue that a lot of people might raise in response to that teaching you might've been here last week. And you say, mark, I know you said that the, the gift of making God that I have this gift of making God my treasure and that he gives me the gift of contentment.

We saw that in those passages, however, There still is the reality that when we, when we make God the center of our lives with our money, we give it over to him, which I did say partly involves setting aside the first fruits as our means of identifying that it all belongs to the Lord and those fruits, fruits, where their offerings, their ties.

And you say, well, that's great. I mean, I appreciate that, but I'll feel completely content in the thought of that. Does God have anything for me? Because the whole thought makes me anxious. Well, Jesus then sweeps in with the second choice that's involved. And he say, you can, you, you can, if you are imbibing the teaching I'm giving in verse 1924 and saying, yes, God, I want you to be the central reality of my life.

He said, now you can choose to wear to worry or to try. And so we come to this and of course in this passage, he's going to talk about basic life necessities. He's going to talk about the fact that there's food and drink and clothing. Basically, he's talking about the stuff that you need to take care of your family.

And he says, I know this is the thing that the reason that you clutch finances, the reason that you want to take care of things, the reason you want to resolve the big issues of your life is because you feel responsible and, and you feel you like you need to, to have the essentials that are there. He says.

So let's talk about another choice, the choice of worrying or the choice of trusting. The reaction that he's talking about then is, do not be anxious. Anxious is a derivative of the word. It means you're there's division going on in our minds. We'll see what that means in a moment, both in, in biblical truth and terminology and in modern psychological expression, there's a subtle difference between fear and anxiety.

Fear is associated with a tangible, obvious, specific threat. There's a danger that I can, I can quantify. And I can tell you what it is. It's the fact that, that as I'm going down this dark street, I see up there a gang of thugs look like they're waiting for just some Patsy like me. And there's a, there's a, there's a, there's a fear there.

Anxiety is just a sense of walking down a dark street and just feeling uneasy. You don't know really what's there. You don't have, you can sort of imagine it, but it's just an unknown worry, tends to be not only about specific things that are really feeling dangerous to us, worry can come just because of we are having too much stuff going worry is the sense he said of being divided.

It is being distracted. I use the analogy. It's like Kevin, a bunch of flies around your head. It's just too much. Doesn't have to be things that you know, and you say, well, what are you w w w w mark? What's my wife might say mark. What's what are you worried about? I said, honestly, A lot of the stuff is not anything that I can say, this is a bad, it's just too much.

I got too much going on. And so I had this, this general state of, of uneasiness. This is the sense of worry. Now it can involve some specific things. But the reality is that is one statement was made by the Caplin and Sadek synopsis of psychiatry. They put it this way. Anxiety is a diffuse, unpleasant, vague sense of apprehension.

Now, again, you might jump into this passion and say, wait a minute, mark, to be worried about food and water and having clothes seems pretty specific to me. Well, I get. But if you think about it, Jesus is actually taking the three most general realities of life necessities for them having water was real, having drink.

Having food was real. They didn't have refrigerators to keep stuff. They didn't, they didn't go to the supermarket. They didn't have Uber's that were, uh, not Uber's. Um, you know, the food grub, whatever they all, they are, all those. Forget it. I don't get them, uh, all appealed to break. My son even did this.

Nike. I remember them. All right. You know who I'm talking about and if you're a driver, forgive me and I promise to order from you soon. Okay. They didn't have any of that. It just had, oh, we got to take care of this. And we went every day was a, was a, was a, a daily thing. So Jesus had, let's just talk about life.

That's why he says in the first verse, don't be anxious about your life. And he's saying, okay, when generally we're going to talk about a, don't be, you know, it could be, food could be water, could be Claude. It could be anything he said, if you have this general sense that life's just out of control, that's what he's talking about.

He says, you feel like, I don't know where he's gone and I just feel overwhelmed. They just feel the natural flying around me. I feel distracted. I feel divided. He says, let's, let's talk about that. And he says in Proverbs 12 verse 25 anxiety, a man's heart weighs him down. I guess a lot of you listening to me this morning, I are saying who.

That sense of too much. That sense of so much. I don't even know where to rest in my mind is feel uneasy easy. Yeah. I do feel way down. I mean, I don't feel energized. I feel tired all the time. I feel confused. I feel weighty. Andrew Alexander McLaren. Great Scottish pastor of days gone by said it this way.

What does your anxiety do? It does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, but it does empty today of its strength. It does not make you escape the evil. It makes you unfit to cope with it. When it comes. Jesus has said, I don't want my people to have to live with this, this sense of worry and anxiousness that weighs them down.

So what resources does he offer to him? Well, let's at verse 26 to 2034. He's going to talk about it. And he tells us a couple of things. First of all, he tells us what we need to remember what we need to remember about God. There's a lot of theology in these verses. First of all, he talks about God's provenance.

He says things like this in verse 26, look at the birds of the air. They neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns. And yet your heavenly father feeds them in verse 28. And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin yet. I tell you even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed.

Like one of these. He says, God is sovereignly controlling and caring for everything in his creation. I had taken some pictures and I forgot to send them to Lisa to, um, put in this. But my mother-in-law, my, my parents in law live with us in an in-laws suite. Um, and outside their window, they've put all kinds of flowers and a couple of them are hibiscus plants.

If you don't know what a hibiscus plant is, it's a flowering plant that it has. The flowers are like small plates. I mean, they're, they're big. Couple of almost looked like dinner plates. They're gigantic. They're beautiful. They have a pink one, but they, she has this, this yellow one and it has red and aura.

I mean, it's the most beautiful flower I've ever seen. It's just majestic, you know, in our area, hibiscus plants are grown all time. You start looking for them, look them up online. If you don't know what hibiscus is now, watch from, you'll see hibiscus, uh, bushes around that are just full of these flowers.

They're just out there. I remember years ago, uh, pastor Ralph was a pastor had served with me the longest here at fellowship. I was just with him last week and Ralph is a hunter Fisher. I mean, he's missed a deer Slayer and, and, and then there's Mr. Suburbia. And we were on a raft trip together, going up, coming down the Delaware, way up, uh, up by the Delaware water gap.

And as we came around the bend, uh, there was an entire mountain side of white and I got us, I got, uh, far enough over with the raft and I realized it was entire mountains. I mean, hundreds of feet, high, 150. Of wild rhododendrons. Now, if you don't know what a rhododendron, and so it's a Bush with flowers and it's pretty.

And so I said to Ralph, I mean, Ralph spends most of his waking hours out in the woods somewhere and either in a tree that he gets to before it's light. And then he goes home after it's light in the middle of winter, this is my view of hunting. And so, so I said, Ralph, look at that whole mountainside is rhododendrons.

I mean, I didn't know the group. Well, I was overwhelmed and he says, Rhoda watt. I said, rhododendrons. To me looking at the, I was overwhelmed with the beauty of it. I know what a rhododendron looks like. I have some my yard. I know. And again, I should have had a picture of this if you don't know what they are, but you get up close to a road dinner, and it's amazing how beautiful they are.

It's stunning the intricacy. And he was a whole mountain side. And I, this first came to my mind. I still remember this was years ago and I just got all emotional. I didn't do that with Ralph, but I got all emotional inside thinking, oh my goodness. Got all those rhododendrons today. You're just taking care of every year.

They're growing. Nobody's watching them. Nobody's watering and nobody's cared for. You're just taking care of all your rotos that's garden center. Talk for Rhoda den.

There's all creation that God. Overseas every second of every day of every generation, he is sovereignly providentially watching over. He even says this in a parallel passage in Matthew 10 29 are not two sparrows sold for a penny yet. Not one of them will fall to the ground outside your father's care.

He's watching the birds, he's overseeing all of creation. So why? Yes. He tell us this in the context of worry, because God, isn't just talking about his Providence here. He's talking about his priority in his Providence, which is what we look at next verse 28. Are you not much more valuable than they are verse 30?

Will he not much more clothe you. Oh, you of little faith saying I'm taking care of my father. He says, my father is taking care of all the stuff,

but you are infinitely more important to him than there in Matthew chapter 10 verse, I just read, he says are not two sparrows sold for a penny yet. Now one of them will fall to the ground outside your father's care. That penny was the cheapest. It was like our penny. It was the smallest, most insignificant coin in the Roman empire.

And if you could buy two birds for it, it meant they are cheap indeed. In the book of Luke and interesting thing, follow-up sequel to the story. If you will, is found in Luke 12, verse six, Jesus on another occasion said are not five Sparrow. Sold for two pennies. Now you remember he said to penny to two sparrows for one penny.

Now he says five sparrows for two pennies. This is a better deal. What's he saying, if I can say it this way, he goes on to say in Luke 12, here's what he says are not five sparrows sold for two pennies yet. Now one of them is forgotten by God. Don't be afraid. You're worth more than many sparrows. Here's what he's saying.

Two for one, even though it's a cheapest amount of money, one, but you can also get five for two, which means one of those sparrows has no value at all. It's just a throw in and Luke says, but the father watches over a mall and you are so much more important to God than those birds. He is arguing for his priority.

Some of you today feel like a throw away from just a Sparrow with no value. Well, first of all, God's taking care of the birds that are the is, but you are infinite more value to God. God constantly needs to affirm that to us. Doesn't he, to, to remind us as Myron and I often pray Lord in the Psalms it's Lord show assigned to your favor that we forget because it theologically, we see you, of course, I'm more important than a bird and more important than a, than a Rodo.

I'm more important than lilies of the field. And, and, but I feel like dirt. We needed to be reminded. And the Lord says to overcome worry, overcome that sense that, that I gotta, I gotta be responsible to life where you start is, remember, God is overseeing it all. And where his eye is most directed is that as people,

I had a conversation this week, the guy from our church, an influence in our church family, that was just going back over and just telling his stories. And he shared his story with many people. So I'm not divulging anything, but there was a time in his life where he went through some incredibly difficult things.

As he said, the statement to me, I lost everything. And he told me about the day when he was crying out to God. And he said, God, I just, I need to hear something. And at that moment, a song came on the radio. That was just a song still is so precious to him too. That just spoke the exact words that he needed to hear.

And he knew theologically what was true, but he needed to have reaffirmed again as all of us to God, remind me again that I'm not just to throw away that that I'm valued. That, that, that you're for me, that you're behind me. Why does he tell us all this? So we'll trust him so we won't feel okay. God, thanks for saving me.

I'll take it from here.

Okay. There's a third theological thing. He tells us here and that's found in verse 30, 1 32.

He says it this way.

Therefore to not be anxious saying, what shall we eat or what shall we drink or what shall we wear for the Gentiles seek after all those things? And your heavenly father knows that you need the mall. He says, everybody has certain needs, food, drink, clothing, basic life necessities, God isn't rebuking us for being concerned about those things.

He says, everybody's concerned about those things,

but I know I know what you need. I know what's going on. I know w w the bill that came this week just overwhelmed. I know all the circumstances of your life. I know the things that are plaguing your, I know how distracted you feel. I know all those things that are coming at you, sovereignly I'm providential, orchestrating it all.

I know

you can trust me. You can choose to hold onto wary, but you can choose trust. It's interesting in Philippians chapter four in verses four through nine, one of the most powerful passage in the new Testament on worry, he starts it off. This is his opening phrase. The Lord is at hand, do not be anxious about anything.

Paul says, why. Factor in the presence of the Lord. He is providential caring for everything. He who says you are the, the, the focus of his attention, more than anything else. He who says he knows your needs. And the Lord says, man, remember he's at hand he's involved.

He says, remember God, the second thing he says that we need to, uh, think about and to focus on trying to remember my exact words there. What we need to remember is things about where he says this in verse 27. Can any of you by wearing out a single hour of your life, do not worry in verse 34, worry about tomorrow for tomorrow, worry about itself.

He says, w will possible benefit. Are you getting. By being distracted by all these things and letting these things dominate. Yes. Again, Alexander McLaren said it this way. What does anxiety do? It does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, but it does empty today of its strength. God gives us the power. He continues to bear all the sorrow of his making, but he does not guaranteed to give us strength to bear the burdens of our own making.

Such as worry, induces. I think what he's saying is God will give you the grace to deal with everything that comes, but he's not giving you the grace now to anticipate all those things and to try to, you know, what I called, uh, w when, when I feel the water has been hit with a rock, I want to anticipate all the, all the ripples.

And he says, I'm not gonna, I'm not going to give you grace to tie yourself. And when you tie yourself in knots, trying to resolve all the potential ripples, I'll give you the race. If any of those ripples hit the shore, if any of those ripples come to you, I'll give you that grace, but I'm not going to give you grace because of self-induced, uh, anxiousness that you are bringing on yourself when you could be giving it to me and trusting me, we all have our tells when we're anxious.

My tell is sign. My mom was a master. I apparently have inherited it. Others of you are our teeth grinders few wake up in the morning and you find your jaw constantly hurts. You probably got more going on than you realize. And you're, you're tending to, to process it. Even in your dreams. Some people have digestive issues, some have headaches, some have chest pain, some break out in a rash.

Your whole body can react to it. Some of us have a variety of those, but he says, first of all, what you need to do is remember what's true. And then he says, this is what we need to do. Well, we need to do is found in verse 33, but seek first, the kingdom of God and his righteousness. This is presented as a contrast to anxious, anxiousness, the verb seek here in this context.

And you'll notice it's used. If you look at your passage, verse 32 and 33. He talks about seek in this context, it means to devote serious effort to go out of the same way we were there. You're looking for you're pursuing it, but there's a difference here in verse 32, you'll notice he talks about the Gentiles and that just means those that are outside of the faith.

It doesn't mean we're all Gentiles, but the ideas, the word actually is nations. It means anyone that's outside of the household of faith he's talking about. And in verse 32, he says it this way

for the Gentiles seek after all these things. And your heavenly father knows that you need them all, but seek first the kingdom of God. There's an interesting thing that happens here that really isn't brought out in her English. Very well. The word sit in there, both from the same word, but in verse 32, there's a prefix put to it.

The word epi, which means hyper, it means it's, it's ramped up and he says the Gentile people are seeking these things. They're pursuing them. And there's this, there's this rabid sense of having to get them, uh, resolved and brought under control. There's a hunger seeking after stuff to make them feel safe.

And then he says to the Christian in verse 33, I want you to seek something else. But it doesn't have the hyper park. There's a calm seeking. He says, you can, you can be like that. And, and he's already said, yeah, there's some things out there that they're seeking that, that you would seek as well. But he says there is a calmness that comes in the process of seeking after my kingdom.

So what does he mean when he says, seek first Christ kingdom and his righteousness? When we talk about a kingdom, we're talking about Jesus reign in our lives, right? I mean, if we talked about king David's kingdom, we're talking about his, his rain. We could be talking about two things, you know, maybe the, the, the locale where he ruled spatially and the people that he rolled well in this era, Jesus' kingdom is not spatial.

It will be one day when all of the kingdoms abroad under the authority of Jesus in a day, uh, to come on earth. But preeminently, it's talking about his reign over people's lives. And he says, seek the reign of Christ in your life. Seek to bring all things under his Lordship, his kingdom. Um,

he says our passionate pursuit of Christ is not a passionate pursuit to not be worried. It is a passionate pursuit of Christ. The by-product is it does overcome worry. As we allow Christ Lordship to take over those pieces in our lives. Hudson Taylor said it this way, a missionary to China, he pioneered the gospel into China.

Let us give up all our work, our plans, ourselves, our lives, our loved ones, our influence, our all. Right into God's hand. And then when we have given all over to him, there will be nothing left for us to be troubled about. That's what Jesus is talking about. Be so full of Christ, being glorified piece of full of giving things over the Lord said, Lord, I don't want to take responsibility for this.

I want to give it to you. I want to give you every part of my life. Not saying Lord, take away my worry. Take away my worry. Take away. Wait. No it's saying Lord, I'm giving you all my life and what he does as he takes all of your life, it does resolve our worry. He says, seek it first. This can mean one of two things it can mean seeking at first in time.

And certainly there is an element of that, that that's the first thing we should do with this stuff. That's plaguing us, but it's preeminently talking about that, that it's our priority. Luke 11 is the passage that all of us that are task oriented people, which I would probably put my task self in, get kind of bummed out about it's Jesus talking to Mary and Martha.

And some of you already all know Mary and Martha story, but you know, Mary is the one that's associated with devotion and introspection thoughtfulness. And, and Martha's the doer, the activist, you know, and, and this was, this was not Martha's finest hour in Luke 11. They've invited Jesus to their house and Jesus is there.

And here's what's going on in Luke chapter 11, verse 39. It says Mary who sat at the Lord's feet and listening to his team. Verse 40. You find out what Mary Martha was doing, but Martha was distracted. Ah, remember that word, distracted divided with much serving. And she went up to him and said, Lord, don't you care that my sister has left Peter serve alone, tell her to help me.

Martha said that Jesus said this, Martha, Martha, whenever somebody mentions your name twice, it's not good. Martha, Martha you're anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her. This is not about wiring. Yeah. I think probably Martha probably got more stuff accomplished in a day than Mary, as far as just checklist, but the issue.

Martha allowed the work to be distractions. There were gnats and, and so much so that, oh, I have to get that. Oh, we have to get this. And here was Jesus' teaching. She completely missed the teaching, why she was so caught up in the stuff of life and she's distracted and worried. And Jesus says, Martha, Martha, mark, mark, bill, bill, Mary Mary.

Well, not Mary cause she's good. But

you missed the first. It's not, you don't want to have a clean house. Have stuff served to people, have everything, but it can be a way of welcoming, but he says that's not the priority. The priority. Is quieting your hearts and being brought into the reign of Christ in your life. And he says, when you do that, you'll find a lot of the stuff that is distracting you.

That feels aren't going to get the, I can't even think about, I'm just going to keep motoring through life. You find it. A lot of that stuff didn't need to be done. It's a first Peter two, um, Peter talks about how do you determine what you're supposed to do, even in terms of ministry and serve for Jesus.

And it says this statement we are to serve in the strength we're given. I can tell you this, a lot of stuff that we do, even in ministry that probably we weren't called to do, because we're doing it in our strength, not Jesus. So how do we make the different, well, we've got to make the priority listening the priority, being still, it takes time to do that.

And in our culture, anybody that's sitting. Seemingly relaxing, which might be you just doing the work of seeking the face of God. That seems lazy. Well, that's not what it's saying here saying the first thing, the priority thing is that I make sure that I'm bringing the stuff that seems to be flying all around my head.

That I'm, I'm bringing an under the reign of Christ. All right. Let me just throw five quick things to think about steps to overcoming worry. And I realize, anytime you say five steps to this, it sounds trite, but these are suggestions to consider. Number one, embrace the battle between trust and worry. This is a battle.

It's a real battle. If you're a Mary, it's a battle. If you're a Martha, it's a battle. It's just a battle to live. Trusting it it's natural terrain. It's default mode for us to be worried because we're trying to take respond. We use the word wide, just trying to be responsible. And so I'm going to, I feel all distracted.

I feel worked up, I feel agitated. So I'm just going to motor my way through it. Well, you'll probably put a lot of energy to stuff that Jesus never asked you to be concerned about. The first thing we've got to just say, there's a battle here, and there's a battle in us that doesn't want to do the work of being quiet.

That doesn't want to do the work of seeking God and his kingdom. First, just understand this. Isn't going to be a natural flow necessarily. Secondly, refresh your mind with truth. That's what Jesus is doing here in Matthew seven, six, come back to this. Remember the Providence of God, how he's taking care of stuff, lot bigger stuff than is going on in your life.

God's taken care of. He's running the cosmos. He can take care of your Monday.

Remember that you are the priority to God, not the meteors, not the Milky way, the people that he's made in his own image and that he knows what you need. And what's going on.

This is the dicey one. Number three, record your worries. When we're anxious, this is usually what's happening. We're feeling that's flying around our head with you and your spouse or your kids or your coworker. Somebody say what's bothering you.

Reminds me of my favorite teller I ever had at my grocery store, who was a cheerfully negative person. And I would go to her aisle. I just loved her. And I remember my favorite day was I said to her, so how's the day gone? And she said, oh, oh, don't even ask such a perfect response because, but then of course she went on and tell me, but, but that's how we feel.

You know, somebody asked me, don't even ask, I don't want to, why are we saying, I don't want to think about, I don't want to, I don't want to have to think about all the things that are flying around my brain. You have to think about it because they're affecting you. They're running you. And right now some of you are already starting to feel sick in your stomach and say, I don't make me go there.

Don't I don't want to think about, I come here to church to, to just focus on God and, and, but you have got to. What's going on, you have got to go. Some of those things are not really dangerous things. They're just too much stuff. Right. But the sense of anxiety, the sense of worry, the sense of being distracted and divided comes because we have not brought those things to God specifically.

That's why the fourth thing is this cast, your worries. First, Peter five of course says it this way, cast all your anxieties on him because he cares for you. You can't cast something you haven't identified. He's saying you take those specific things. That sense of unsettlement that, that you're feeling.

What are you, what are those things that you're concerned about? Bring them one by one. This is why I've talked to you many times in the past about sometimes we just need to do a worry list. Bring it to the Lord. Here it is. Here it is. Here. It is. Philippians four, six says by everything he's talking about overcoming worry, he says, don't be worried about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition with Thanksgiving, present your request to God.

If you're just coming to God and say, God blessed today, you know, helped me through take care of the missionaries, you know, watch over my children. And you're an agitated mess. You haven't really prayed. You haven't really brought what's ruling your life. He says, take some time and present those things. To me, that's what casting your cares is.

And then as Philippians four highlights, practice Thanksgiving, but in everything by prayer and petition with Thanksgiving, Psalm 34 is one of my favorite portions of scripture. I quoted every night as I'm going to sleep. I've probably said that before it's 22 verses I don't often make it through because they usually fall.

But I do it every night. Here's the first verse of, as, as the Psalmist is dealing with replacing the fear of circumstances with the offer of God, here's his first statement. He says, I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise will continually be in my mouth. He said, I've learned that the way that I displace fear with the law of God is I live in a habitual, intentional pattern of blessing, the Lord, which means to, to express praise for what he is, what he's doing.

He says, I bless the Lord at all times. His praise is constantly what's coming out of my mouth. Now David had a lot of stuff. He struggled with stuff. I don't mean that he didn't deal with stuff like we do, but he was cultivating the habit. That's a habit in our lives as well. That's involved in. Overcoming that time of anxiousness and worry.

Jesus again, is not using the sermon on the Mount to beat us up. He's using the sermon on the Mount to invite us to do in life. As it's designed to be lived, where he is the Lord of our lives, the one loving us caring for us carrying us. And so he presents to us, you, you don't have to do this. Oh, ye of little faith.

You don't have to a little faith means you have faith in yourself to do life, but you don't have much in me. And he says, have it in me. I want to carry it. I'm doing it with the birds. They don't know it. I'm doing it with you a lot more than you know it, but I'm willing to do it with all those things that are agitating.

You let me carry them. Let's pray, Lord.

Most of us are really, really, really busy people. And most of us very easily

pretend this sense of anxiety being a distraction, a division of our minds.

Yeah. And so now Lord, we pray that you would teach us more about this passage, truth of turning from worry to trust. Thank you for the invitation to do that. Thank you for the ways you have taught us through the years of our journey with you or the months of the weeks. Lord, just keep deepening our trust in you.

We were stunned that that is your greatest joy is that we, as the Salma said that we hold. In your unfailing, love that. That's what you delight in that we hope and trust in the fact that your love won't fail us. Lord, lead us to do that. I pray, and we love you for it in Jesus name. Amen. Now, go in peace to love and serve and enjoy the Lord.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/do-not-be-anxious 2f8179ef-d5b7-42b0-9e5b-aba596e9b552 Sun, 22 Aug 2021 15:52:34 GMT <div data-html="true">Matthew 6:25-34 <br /><br /> “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on." <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Morning everybody, invite you to take your Bibles. So we're going to be looking at Matthew chapter six, verse 25 to 34 this morning, as we continue in our series, the upside down life on the sermon on the Mount. <br /><br /> This passage is we're going to read in a few minutes or a few moments is, uh, focused on a statement Jesus made, and the statement is, do not be anxious. It's a striking statement. It's a statement to a person with an anxiety disorder or who deeply struggles with worry. That sounds a lot like Billy Bass villi, big mouth bass, you know, the fish that talks and he used to sing. <br /><br /> Don't worry. Be happy. It can be a frustrating statement, a confusing statement by Jesus because of the powerful and pervasive thing that worry and anxiety can be in our lives. A CBS television documentary entitled the age of anxiety revealed that the world health organization now lists anxiety is the most prevalent mental health problem across the globe. <br /><br /> It also showed that mental and emotional problems. Now top physical problems for worker absenteeism. The Mayo clinic claims 80 to 85% of total case loads is due directly to symptoms from worry and anxiety. Medical science has closely tied, worry to heart trouble, blood pressure problems, ulcers, thyroid malfunction, migraine headaches, and a host of stomach disorders. <br /><br /> Jesus is here. Addressing the subject of worry of being anxious and he's putting it in the context of the teaching for the people of his kingdom. It's a striking thought actually, that Jesus is talking about this emotional issue in our lives and saying for those that are part of my kingdom as a specific teaching, I want to give to you as we come to this passage, I want to remind you of the context I mentioned last week, as I preached on the passage just before this, that in these two passages, Matthew six verse 19 to 24, and then Matthew six, verse 25 to 34. <br /><br /> He is talking about choices in our lives. And the choice that he gave us last week is choose your treasure. You can choose God, or you can choose money as the central reality and the guiding thing in your life. Choose your treasure this morning. He says, choose your outlook, trust or worry. We'll seek to impact this, unpack this teaching in just a moment. <br /><br /> But before we do, I, I do want to put a simple disclaimer out here. Some people I believe clearly are by temperament, more wired, to worry than other people. It is much more a part of their physical, emotional makeup. Some people really do benefit and really, uh, need some type of anxiety medication. It is not a way of keeping them from having to trust God. <br /><br /> As a matter of fact, I believe. For many people, medication just helps them get back to a realistic state of being able to evaluate things, to make the determination will I give into worry or will I give in or will I lean towards trust? I want to make this statement because some of us are not prone toward anxiety or worry by physical wire. <br /><br /> And we all struggle with it. But for those that are, this is a real issue for others like Michael Jordan or Teddy, right? Roosevelt. They probably didn't struggle much with anxiety issues in their lives. Some people are prone to getting ulcers. Some people are prone to giving other people ulcers. Neither one are condemn are commendable or condemned bubble in themselves. <br /><br /> They're just realities. But to some degree, wary being anxious impacts all of us. And to that regard, we want to have you listen to Jesus' teaching here in Matthew chapter five and hear what he is saying in Matthew chapter six. What he's saying to all of us today, Matthew chapter six, beginning of verse 25, therefore, no, you do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink nor about your body. <br /><br /> What you will put on is not life more than food and the body more than clothing. Look at the birds of the air. They neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns. And yet your heavenly father feeds feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life. <br /><br /> And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin yet. I tell you even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these, but if God, so clothes, the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven. Will he not much more clothe you? <br /><br /> Oh, you of little faith, therefore do not be anxious saying what shall we eat or what should we drink? Or what shall we wear for the Gentiles seek after all these things and your heavenly father knows that you need them all, but seek first, the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you. <br /><br /> Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Let's pray. <br /><br /> Or it over and over as we come to the scriptures, we are reminded of the astonishing practicality. If your word, truly, this book gives a sufficient message for all the issues, circumstances of our lives that you speak into the practical part of life. Lord, I love the way you use theology in this passage to speak to our emotional lives. <br /><br /> And I ask you father, that you would teach us as we gather here in Mount Laurel, in Collingswood, in our homes or on our vacations, uh, online Lord, be our teacher today. I pray in Jesus name. Amen. I want to look at two things this morning, first of all, the responsibility to not be controlled by worry. And secondly, the resource that Jesus offers to us to do so first again, a little context. <br /><br /> I mean, what arena is Jesus talking, but here, when he talks about anxiety or worry or not being anxious, and we find that he starts this passage off here in verse 25 with the statement, therefore, well, what does that talking about? What, what is that therefore, therefore, what's it pointing back to? Well, it's pointing back to the immediate passage before this in verses 19 to 24, in which he talked about. <br /><br /> Not making your resources, your financial resources, what you depended on, what is your ultimate treasure? It is encouragement in that passage, as we looked last week to not make, to, to, to make God and his kingdom, your ultimate treasure. And we talked about how we do that. He said in verse 24, no one can serve two masters. <br /><br /> Either. You will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You can't serve both God. And money says, may God the central reality in your life. And as I mentioned last week throughout the scriptures, something that is identified as an idol in our lives, and we could cover the old new Testament passages. <br /><br /> You'll find that every time someone is making something, an idle, one of three things has happened either. They are serving it more than the living. God, they are loving it more than the living God, or they are trusting in it more than the living God. And often all three. And he says, don't make money, the central reality in your life and the security that it brings, make God that central reality. <br /><br /> Now he comes up with this beautiful passage in response to the obvious issue that a lot of people might raise in response to that teaching you might've been here last week. And you say, mark, I know you said that the, the gift of making God that I have this gift of making God my treasure and that he gives me the gift of contentment. <br /><br /> We saw that in those passages, however, There still is the reality that when we, when we make God the center of our lives with our money, we give it over to him, which I did say partly involves setting aside the first fruits as our means of identifying that it all belongs to the Lord and those fruits, fruits, where their offerings, their ties. <br /><br /> And you say, well, that's great. I mean, I appreciate that, but I'll feel completely content in the thought of that. Does God have anything for me? Because the whole thought makes me anxious. Well, Jesus then sweeps in with the second choice that's involved. And he say, you can, you, you can, if you are imbibing the teaching I'm giving in verse 1924 and saying, yes, God, I want you to be the central reality of my life. <br /><br /> He said, now you can choose to wear to worry or to try. And so we come to this and of course in this passage, he's going to talk about basic life necessities. He's going to talk about the fact that there's food and drink and clothing. Basically, he's talking about the stuff that you need to take care of your family. <br /><br /> And he says, I know this is the thing that the reason that you clutch finances, the reason that you want to take care of things, the reason you want to resolve the big issues of your life is because you feel responsible and, and you feel you like you need to, to have the essentials that are there. He says. <br /><br /> So let's talk about another choice, the choice of worrying or the choice of trusting. The reaction that he's talking about then is, do not be anxious. Anxious is a derivative of the word. It means you're there's division going on in our minds. We'll see what that means in a moment, both in, in biblical truth and terminology and in modern psychological expression, there's a subtle difference between fear and anxiety. <br /><br /> Fear is associated with a tangible, obvious, specific threat. There's a danger that I can, I can quantify. And I can tell you what it is. It's the fact that, that as I'm going down this dark street, I see up there a gang of thugs look like they're waiting for just some Patsy like me. And there's a, there's a, there's a, there's a fear there. <br /><br /> Anxiety is just a sense of walking down a dark street and just feeling uneasy. You don't know really what's there. You don't have, you can sort of imagine it, but it's just an unknown worry, tends to be not only about specific things that are really feeling dangerous to us, worry can come just because of we are having too much stuff going worry is the sense he said of being divided. <br /><br /> It is being distracted. I use the analogy. It's like Kevin, a bunch of flies around your head. It's just too much. Doesn't have to be things that you know, and you say, well, what are you w w w w mark? What's my wife might say mark. What's what are you worried about? I said, honestly, A lot of the stuff is not anything that I can say, this is a bad, it's just too much. <br /><br /> I got too much going on. And so I had this, this general state of, of uneasiness. This is the sense of worry. Now it can involve some specific things. But the reality is that is one statement was made by the Caplin and Sadek synopsis of psychiatry. They put it this way. Anxiety is a diffuse, unpleasant, vague sense of apprehension. <br /><br /> Now, again, you might jump into this passion and say, wait a minute, mark, to be worried about food and water and having clothes seems pretty specific to me. Well, I get. But if you think about it, Jesus is actually taking the three most general realities of life necessities for them having water was real, having drink. <br /><br /> Having food was real. They didn't have refrigerators to keep stuff. They didn't, they didn't go to the supermarket. They didn't have Uber's that were, uh, not Uber's. Um, you know, the food grub, whatever they all, they are, all those. Forget it. I don't get them, uh, all appealed to break. My son even did this. <br /><br /> Nike. I remember them. All right. You know who I'm talking about and if you're a driver, forgive me and I promise to order from you soon. Okay. They didn't have any of that. It just had, oh, we got to take care of this. And we went every day was a, was a, was a, a daily thing. So Jesus had, let's just talk about life. <br /><br /> That's why he says in the first verse, don't be anxious about your life. And he's saying, okay, when generally we're going to talk about a, don't be, you know, it could be, food could be water, could be Claude. It could be anything he said, if you have this general sense that life's just out of control, that's what he's talking about. <br /><br /> He says, you feel like, I don't know where he's gone and I just feel overwhelmed. They just feel the natural flying around me. I feel distracted. I feel divided. He says, let's, let's talk about that. And he says in Proverbs 12 verse 25 anxiety, a man's heart weighs him down. I guess a lot of you listening to me this morning, I are saying who. <br /><br /> That sense of too much. That sense of so much. I don't even know where to rest in my mind is feel uneasy easy. Yeah. I do feel way down. I mean, I don't feel energized. I feel tired all the time. I feel confused. I feel weighty. Andrew Alexander McLaren. Great Scottish pastor of days gone by said it this way. <br /><br /> What does your anxiety do? It does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, but it does empty today of its strength. It does not make you escape the evil. It makes you unfit to cope with it. When it comes. Jesus has said, I don't want my people to have to live with this, this sense of worry and anxiousness that weighs them down. <br /><br /> So what resources does he offer to him? Well, let's at verse 26 to 2034. He's going to talk about it. And he tells us a couple of things. First of all, he tells us what we need to remember what we need to remember about God. There's a lot of theology in these verses. First of all, he talks about God's provenance. <br /><br /> He says things like this in verse 26, look at the birds of the air. They neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns. And yet your heavenly father feeds them in verse 28. And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin yet. I tell you even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed. <br /><br /> Like one of these. He says, God is sovereignly controlling and caring for everything in his creation. I had taken some pictures and I forgot to send them to Lisa to, um, put in this. But my mother-in-law, my, my parents in law live with us in an in-laws suite. Um, and outside their window, they've put all kinds of flowers and a couple of them are hibiscus plants. <br /><br /> If you don't know what a hibiscus plant is, it's a flowering plant that it has. The flowers are like small plates. I mean, they're, they're big. Couple of almost looked like dinner plates. They're gigantic. They're beautiful. They have a pink one, but they, she has this, this yellow one and it has red and aura. <br /><br /> I mean, it's the most beautiful flower I've ever seen. It's just majestic, you know, in our area, hibiscus plants are grown all time. You start looking for them, look them up online. If you don't know what hibiscus is now, watch from, you'll see hibiscus, uh, bushes around that are just full of these flowers. <br /><br /> They're just out there. I remember years ago, uh, pastor Ralph was a pastor had served with me the longest here at fellowship. I was just with him last week and Ralph is a hunter Fisher. I mean, he's missed a deer Slayer and, and, and then there's Mr. Suburbia. And we were on a raft trip together, going up, coming down the Delaware, way up, uh, up by the Delaware water gap. <br /><br /> And as we came around the bend, uh, there was an entire mountain side of white and I got us, I got, uh, far enough over with the raft and I realized it was entire mountains. I mean, hundreds of feet, high, 150. Of wild rhododendrons. Now, if you don't know what a rhododendron, and so it's a Bush with flowers and it's pretty. <br /><br /> And so I said to Ralph, I mean, Ralph spends most of his waking hours out in the woods somewhere and either in a tree that he gets to before it's light. And then he goes home after it's light in the middle of winter, this is my view of hunting. And so, so I said, Ralph, look at that whole mountainside is rhododendrons. <br /><br /> I mean, I didn't know the group. Well, I was overwhelmed and he says, Rhoda watt. I said, rhododendrons. To me looking at the, I was overwhelmed with the beauty of it. I know what a rhododendron looks like. I have some my yard. I know. And again, I should have had a picture of this if you don't know what they are, but you get up close to a road dinner, and it's amazing how beautiful they are. <br /><br /> It's stunning the intricacy. And he was a whole mountain side. And I, this first came to my mind. I still remember this was years ago and I just got all emotional. I didn't do that with Ralph, but I got all emotional inside thinking, oh my goodness. Got all those rhododendrons today. You're just taking care of every year. <br /><br /> They're growing. Nobody's watching them. Nobody's watering and nobody's cared for. You're just taking care of all your rotos that's garden center. Talk for Rhoda den. <br /><br /> There's all creation that God. Overseas every second of every day of every generation, he is sovereignly providentially watching over. He even says this in a parallel passage in Matthew 10 29 are not two sparrows sold for a penny yet. Not one of them will fall to the ground outside your father's care. <br /><br /> He's watching the birds, he's overseeing all of creation. So why? Yes. He tell us this in the context of worry, because God, isn't just talking about his Providence here. He's talking about his priority in his Providence, which is what we look at next verse 28. Are you not much more valuable than they are verse 30? <br /><br /> Will he not much more clothe you. Oh, you of little faith saying I'm taking care of my father. He says, my father is taking care of all the stuff, <br /><br /> but you are infinitely more important to him than there in Matthew chapter 10 verse, I just read, he says are not two sparrows sold for a penny yet. Now one of them will fall to the ground outside your father's care. That penny was the cheapest. It was like our penny. It was the smallest, most insignificant coin in the Roman empire. <br /><br /> And if you could buy two birds for it, it meant they are cheap indeed. In the book of Luke and interesting thing, follow-up sequel to the story. If you will, is found in Luke 12, verse six, Jesus on another occasion said are not five Sparrow. Sold for two pennies. Now you remember he said to penny to two sparrows for one penny. <br /><br /> Now he says five sparrows for two pennies. This is a better deal. What's he saying, if I can say it this way, he goes on to say in Luke 12, here's what he says are not five sparrows sold for two pennies yet. Now one of them is forgotten by God. Don't be afraid. You're worth more than many sparrows. Here's what he's saying. <br /><br /> Two for one, even though it's a cheapest amount of money, one, but you can also get five for two, which means one of those sparrows has no value at all. It's just a throw in and Luke says, but the father watches over a mall and you are so much more important to God than those birds. He is arguing for his priority. <br /><br /> Some of you today feel like a throw away from just a Sparrow with no value. Well, first of all, God's taking care of the birds that are the is, but you are infinite more value to God. God constantly needs to affirm that to us. Doesn't he, to, to remind us as Myron and I often pray Lord in the Psalms it's Lord show assigned to your favor that we forget because it theologically, we see you, of course, I'm more important than a bird and more important than a, than a Rodo. <br /><br /> I'm more important than lilies of the field. And, and, but I feel like dirt. We needed to be reminded. And the Lord says to overcome worry, overcome that sense that, that I gotta, I gotta be responsible to life where you start is, remember, God is overseeing it all. And where his eye is most directed is that as people, <br /><br /> I had a conversation this week, the guy from our church, an influence in our church family, that was just going back over and just telling his stories. And he shared his story with many people. So I'm not divulging anything, but there was a time in his life where he went through some incredibly difficult things. <br /><br /> As he said, the statement to me, I lost everything. And he told me about the day when he was crying out to God. And he said, God, I just, I need to hear something. And at that moment, a song came on the radio. That was just a song still is so precious to him too. That just spoke the exact words that he needed to hear. <br /><br /> And he knew theologically what was true, but he needed to have reaffirmed again as all of us to God, remind me again that I'm not just to throw away that that I'm valued. That, that, that you're for me, that you're behind me. Why does he tell us all this? So we'll trust him so we won't feel okay. God, thanks for saving me. <br /><br /> I'll take it from here. <br /><br /> Okay. There's a third theological thing. He tells us here and that's found in verse 30, 1 32. <br /><br /> He says it this way. <br /><br /> Therefore to not be anxious saying, what shall we eat or what shall we drink or what shall we wear for the Gentiles seek after all those things? And your heavenly father knows that you need the mall. He says, everybody has certain needs, food, drink, clothing, basic life necessities, God isn't rebuking us for being concerned about those things. <br /><br /> He says, everybody's concerned about those things, <br /><br /> but I know I know what you need. I know what's going on. I know w w the bill that came this week just overwhelmed. I know all the circumstances of your life. I know the things that are plaguing your, I know how distracted you feel. I know all those things that are coming at you, sovereignly I'm providential, orchestrating it all. <br /><br /> I know <br /><br /> you can trust me. You can choose to hold onto wary, but you can choose trust. It's interesting in Philippians chapter four in verses four through nine, one of the most powerful passage in the new Testament on worry, he starts it off. This is his opening phrase. The Lord is at hand, do not be anxious about anything. <br /><br /> Paul says, why. Factor in the presence of the Lord. He is providential caring for everything. He who says you are the, the, the focus of his attention, more than anything else. He who says he knows your needs. And the Lord says, man, remember he's at hand he's involved. <br /><br /> He says, remember God, the second thing he says that we need to, uh, think about and to focus on trying to remember my exact words there. What we need to remember is things about where he says this in verse 27. Can any of you by wearing out a single hour of your life, do not worry in verse 34, worry about tomorrow for tomorrow, worry about itself. <br /><br /> He says, w will possible benefit. Are you getting. By being distracted by all these things and letting these things dominate. Yes. Again, Alexander McLaren said it this way. What does anxiety do? It does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, but it does empty today of its strength. God gives us the power. He continues to bear all the sorrow of his making, but he does not guaranteed to give us strength to bear the burdens of our own making. <br /><br /> Such as worry, induces. I think what he's saying is God will give you the grace to deal with everything that comes, but he's not giving you the grace now to anticipate all those things and to try to, you know, what I called, uh, w when, when I feel the water has been hit with a rock, I want to anticipate all the, all the ripples. <br /><br /> And he says, I'm not gonna, I'm not going to give you grace to tie yourself. And when you tie yourself in knots, trying to resolve all the potential ripples, I'll give you the race. If any of those ripples hit the shore, if any of those ripples come to you, I'll give you that grace, but I'm not going to give you grace because of self-induced, uh, anxiousness that you are bringing on yourself when you could be giving it to me and trusting me, we all have our tells when we're anxious. <br /><br /> My tell is sign. My mom was a master. I apparently have inherited it. Others of you are our teeth grinders few wake up in the morning and you find your jaw constantly hurts. You probably got more going on than you realize. And you're, you're tending to, to process it. Even in your dreams. Some people have digestive issues, some have headaches, some have chest pain, some break out in a rash. <br /><br /> Your whole body can react to it. Some of us have a variety of those, but he says, first of all, what you need to do is remember what's true. And then he says, this is what we need to do. Well, we need to do is found in verse 33, but seek first, the kingdom of God and his righteousness. This is presented as a contrast to anxious, anxiousness, the verb seek here in this context. <br /><br /> And you'll notice it's used. If you look at your passage, verse 32 and 33. He talks about seek in this context, it means to devote serious effort to go out of the same way we were there. You're looking for you're pursuing it, but there's a difference here in verse 32, you'll notice he talks about the Gentiles and that just means those that are outside of the faith. <br /><br /> It doesn't mean we're all Gentiles, but the ideas, the word actually is nations. It means anyone that's outside of the household of faith he's talking about. And in verse 32, he says it this way <br /><br /> for the Gentiles seek after all these things. And your heavenly father knows that you need them all, but seek first the kingdom of God. There's an interesting thing that happens here that really isn't brought out in her English. Very well. The word sit in there, both from the same word, but in verse 32, there's a prefix put to it. <br /><br /> The word epi, which means hyper, it means it's, it's ramped up and he says the Gentile people are seeking these things. They're pursuing them. And there's this, there's this rabid sense of having to get them, uh, resolved and brought under control. There's a hunger seeking after stuff to make them feel safe. <br /><br /> And then he says to the Christian in verse 33, I want you to seek something else. But it doesn't have the hyper park. There's a calm seeking. He says, you can, you can be like that. And, and he's already said, yeah, there's some things out there that they're seeking that, that you would seek as well. But he says there is a calmness that comes in the process of seeking after my kingdom. <br /><br /> So what does he mean when he says, seek first Christ kingdom and his righteousness? When we talk about a kingdom, we're talking about Jesus reign in our lives, right? I mean, if we talked about king David's kingdom, we're talking about his, his rain. We could be talking about two things, you know, maybe the, the, the locale where he ruled spatially and the people that he rolled well in this era, Jesus' kingdom is not spatial. <br /><br /> It will be one day when all of the kingdoms abroad under the authority of Jesus in a day, uh, to come on earth. But preeminently, it's talking about his reign over people's lives. And he says, seek the reign of Christ in your life. Seek to bring all things under his Lordship, his kingdom. Um, <br /><br /> he says our passionate pursuit of Christ is not a passionate pursuit to not be worried. It is a passionate pursuit of Christ. The by-product is it does overcome worry. As we allow Christ Lordship to take over those pieces in our lives. Hudson Taylor said it this way, a missionary to China, he pioneered the gospel into China. <br /><br /> Let us give up all our work, our plans, ourselves, our lives, our loved ones, our influence, our all. Right into God's hand. And then when we have given all over to him, there will be nothing left for us to be troubled about. That's what Jesus is talking about. Be so full of Christ, being glorified piece of full of giving things over the Lord said, Lord, I don't want to take responsibility for this. <br /><br /> I want to give it to you. I want to give you every part of my life. Not saying Lord, take away my worry. Take away my worry. Take away. Wait. No it's saying Lord, I'm giving you all my life and what he does as he takes all of your life, it does resolve our worry. He says, seek it first. This can mean one of two things it can mean seeking at first in time. <br /><br /> And certainly there is an element of that, that that's the first thing we should do with this stuff. That's plaguing us, but it's preeminently talking about that, that it's our priority. Luke 11 is the passage that all of us that are task oriented people, which I would probably put my task self in, get kind of bummed out about it's Jesus talking to Mary and Martha. <br /><br /> And some of you already all know Mary and Martha story, but you know, Mary is the one that's associated with devotion and introspection thoughtfulness. And, and Martha's the doer, the activist, you know, and, and this was, this was not Martha's finest hour in Luke 11. They've invited Jesus to their house and Jesus is there. <br /><br /> And here's what's going on in Luke chapter 11, verse 39. It says Mary who sat at the Lord's feet and listening to his team. Verse 40. You find out what Mary Martha was doing, but Martha was distracted. Ah, remember that word, distracted divided with much serving. And she went up to him and said, Lord, don't you care that my sister has left Peter serve alone, tell her to help me. <br /><br /> Martha said that Jesus said this, Martha, Martha, whenever somebody mentions your name twice, it's not good. Martha, Martha you're anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her. This is not about wiring. Yeah. I think probably Martha probably got more stuff accomplished in a day than Mary, as far as just checklist, but the issue. <br /><br /> Martha allowed the work to be distractions. There were gnats and, and so much so that, oh, I have to get that. Oh, we have to get this. And here was Jesus' teaching. She completely missed the teaching, why she was so caught up in the stuff of life and she's distracted and worried. And Jesus says, Martha, Martha, mark, mark, bill, bill, Mary Mary. <br /><br /> Well, not Mary cause she's good. But <br /><br /> you missed the first. It's not, you don't want to have a clean house. Have stuff served to people, have everything, but it can be a way of welcoming, but he says that's not the priority. The priority. Is quieting your hearts and being brought into the reign of Christ in your life. And he says, when you do that, you'll find a lot of the stuff that is distracting you. <br /><br /> That feels aren't going to get the, I can't even think about, I'm just going to keep motoring through life. You find it. A lot of that stuff didn't need to be done. It's a first Peter two, um, Peter talks about how do you determine what you're supposed to do, even in terms of ministry and serve for Jesus. <br /><br /> And it says this statement we are to serve in the strength we're given. I can tell you this, a lot of stuff that we do, even in ministry that probably we weren't called to do, because we're doing it in our strength, not Jesus. So how do we make the different, well, we've got to make the priority listening the priority, being still, it takes time to do that. <br /><br /> And in our culture, anybody that's sitting. Seemingly relaxing, which might be you just doing the work of seeking the face of God. That seems lazy. Well, that's not what it's saying here saying the first thing, the priority thing is that I make sure that I'm bringing the stuff that seems to be flying all around my head. <br /><br /> That I'm, I'm bringing an under the reign of Christ. All right. Let me just throw five quick things to think about steps to overcoming worry. And I realize, anytime you say five steps to this, it sounds trite, but these are suggestions to consider. Number one, embrace the battle between trust and worry. This is a battle. <br /><br /> It's a real battle. If you're a Mary, it's a battle. If you're a Martha, it's a battle. It's just a battle to live. Trusting it it's natural terrain. It's default mode for us to be worried because we're trying to take respond. We use the word wide, just trying to be responsible. And so I'm going to, I feel all distracted. <br /><br /> I feel worked up, I feel agitated. So I'm just going to motor my way through it. Well, you'll probably put a lot of energy to stuff that Jesus never asked you to be concerned about. The first thing we've got to just say, there's a battle here, and there's a battle in us that doesn't want to do the work of being quiet. <br /><br /> That doesn't want to do the work of seeking God and his kingdom. First, just understand this. Isn't going to be a natural flow necessarily. Secondly, refresh your mind with truth. That's what Jesus is doing here in Matthew seven, six, come back to this. Remember the Providence of God, how he's taking care of stuff, lot bigger stuff than is going on in your life. <br /><br /> God's taken care of. He's running the cosmos. He can take care of your Monday. <br /><br /> Remember that you are the priority to God, not the meteors, not the Milky way, the people that he's made in his own image and that he knows what you need. And what's going on. <br /><br /> This is the dicey one. Number three, record your worries. When we're anxious, this is usually what's happening. We're feeling that's flying around our head with you and your spouse or your kids or your coworker. Somebody say what's bothering you. <br /><br /> Reminds me of my favorite teller I ever had at my grocery store, who was a cheerfully negative person. And I would go to her aisle. I just loved her. And I remember my favorite day was I said to her, so how's the day gone? And she said, oh, oh, don't even ask such a perfect response because, but then of course she went on and tell me, but, but that's how we feel. <br /><br /> You know, somebody asked me, don't even ask, I don't want to, why are we saying, I don't want to think about, I don't want to, I don't want to have to think about all the things that are flying around my brain. You have to think about it because they're affecting you. They're running you. And right now some of you are already starting to feel sick in your stomach and say, I don't make me go there. <br /><br /> Don't I don't want to think about, I come here to church to, to just focus on God and, and, but you have got to. What's going on, you have got to go. Some of those things are not really dangerous things. They're just too much stuff. Right. But the sense of anxiety, the sense of worry, the sense of being distracted and divided comes because we have not brought those things to God specifically. <br /><br /> That's why the fourth thing is this cast, your worries. First, Peter five of course says it this way, cast all your anxieties on him because he cares for you. You can't cast something you haven't identified. He's saying you take those specific things. That sense of unsettlement that, that you're feeling. <br /><br /> What are you, what are those things that you're concerned about? Bring them one by one. This is why I've talked to you many times in the past about sometimes we just need to do a worry list. Bring it to the Lord. Here it is. Here it is. Here. It is. Philippians four, six says by everything he's talking about overcoming worry, he says, don't be worried about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition with Thanksgiving, present your request to God. <br /><br /> If you're just coming to God and say, God blessed today, you know, helped me through take care of the missionaries, you know, watch over my children. And you're an agitated mess. You haven't really prayed. You haven't really brought what's ruling your life. He says, take some time and present those things. To me, that's what casting your cares is. <br /><br /> And then as Philippians four highlights, practice Thanksgiving, but in everything by prayer and petition with Thanksgiving, Psalm 34 is one of my favorite portions of scripture. I quoted every night as I'm going to sleep. I've probably said that before it's 22 verses I don't often make it through because they usually fall. <br /><br /> But I do it every night. Here's the first verse of, as, as the Psalmist is dealing with replacing the fear of circumstances with the offer of God, here's his first statement. He says, I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise will continually be in my mouth. He said, I've learned that the way that I displace fear with the law of God is I live in a habitual, intentional pattern of blessing, the Lord, which means to, to express praise for what he is, what he's doing. <br /><br /> He says, I bless the Lord at all times. His praise is constantly what's coming out of my mouth. Now David had a lot of stuff. He struggled with stuff. I don't mean that he didn't deal with stuff like we do, but he was cultivating the habit. That's a habit in our lives as well. That's involved in. Overcoming that time of anxiousness and worry. <br /><br /> Jesus again, is not using the sermon on the Mount to beat us up. He's using the sermon on the Mount to invite us to do in life. As it's designed to be lived, where he is the Lord of our lives, the one loving us caring for us carrying us. And so he presents to us, you, you don't have to do this. Oh, ye of little faith. <br /><br /> You don't have to a little faith means you have faith in yourself to do life, but you don't have much in me. And he says, have it in me. I want to carry it. I'm doing it with the birds. They don't know it. I'm doing it with you a lot more than you know it, but I'm willing to do it with all those things that are agitating. <br /><br /> You let me carry them. Let's pray, Lord. <br /><br /> Most of us are really, really, really busy people. And most of us very easily <br /><br /> pretend this sense of anxiety being a distraction, a division of our minds. <br /><br /> Yeah. And so now Lord, we pray that you would teach us more about this passage, truth of turning from worry to trust. Thank you for the invitation to do that. Thank you for the ways you have taught us through the years of our journey with you or the months of the weeks. Lord, just keep deepening our trust in you. <br /><br /> We were stunned that that is your greatest joy is that we, as the Salma said that we hold. In your unfailing, love that. That's what you delight in that we hope and trust in the fact that your love won't fail us. Lord, lead us to do that. I pray, and we love you for it in Jesus name. Amen. Now, go in peace to love and serve and enjoy the Lord.</div> false no <![CDATA[The Treasure Worth Everything]]> Matthew 6:19-24

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."



I brought this up this morning just so you can spend the entire time wondering what it is. Um, I will get to it at the end. Uh, if you're a guest with us today, my name is pastor mark. One of the pastors here really excited to have you worshiping with us. And now we'd like to go to the scripture, invite you to go with me to Matthew chapter six, Matthew chapter six.

We're going to be looking at verses 19 to 24. As we return again to our series, the upside down life on the sermon on the Mount Jesus in Matthew five, three. We're going to be reading verses 19 to 24 in a little bit. But first I wanted to just give, um, a few practical insights about finances that various speakers have shared with us.

Um, well-known economists like Bob hope bill Murray have contributed to these. A bank is a place that will lend you money. If you can prove you don't need it. Think about that. If you think that nobody cares, whether you're alive, try missing a couple of payments. The best way to teach your kids about taxes is by eating 30% of their ice cream.

Bill Murray contributed that one, a study of economics reveals that the best time to buy anything. Was it a couple of years ago, the morning I look at the Forbes list of the wealthiest Americans. If I am not on the list, I go to work our servers today, we'll focus on money. So I thought I would keep it light as long as possible.

We're going to be looking at this passage, which actually is an incredibly exciting passage as it challenges us again, as all of the sermon on the Mount is to make Jesus central in our lives. The context of this sermon is following up three sermons that were presented, um, uh, basically talking about a triad of lessons that Jesus gives in the beginning of Matthew six on our motives.

And what he does is take the three most sacred, uh, or the pillars of spirituality for the Jews of his day, uh, generosity, prayer, and fasting. And in each of them, he has been talking about the fact that it, isn't only what you do. It is the reasons you do it, that we can be self-absorbed even in the best of our activities.

He talks about motives and what drives us. Now, he goes into two sections beginning in verse 19 of chapter six. In talking about choices, significant choices that we need to make in our lives. If we are going to live the upside down life, the kingdom life, Jesus offers. He's going to tell us here in verses 19 to 24, 2, use your treasure money or God.

The second choice is going to present to us next week will be to choose your outlet. Look, worry or trust Jesus in the sermon on the Mount is providing a corrective teaching, but it is not a corrective teaching designed to beat us up and to rebuke us and who convict us primarily. It is primarily to correct?

Yes. To restore us to life. As it ought to be. Jesus has continually presented in the sermon on the Mount life as God designed human life to be lived life, as it ought to be life as God designed human experience to be life that is lived with and through God, one of the most sub subtle substitutes to living with God as the center of your life is presented here in Matthew chapter six, verse 19 to 24.

A parallel teaching is a lesson that Jesus gave in Luke chapter 12, where he talks about being on your guard. Here's what he says. Watch out beyond your guard against all kinds of greed for a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possession. So it's an interesting statement. A man's life doesn't consist in the abundance of his possessions.

I remember growing up as a kid and there was a game that was out that was called the game of life was a board game. Many of you remember it, some of you may have had it as kids. And even if you're younger, but you basically got this little car and you've got these little sticks that you see you put in and blue is for guys and pink was for girls.

I think that's how it went. And you could have more kids and, and you went around the board, but the entire way that you won the game of life was to end up with the most money that life was defined by the abundance of what you had. You want it life. If you had the most. And Jesus has man be on your guard or a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.

We come now to Matthew chapter six and Jesus is giving the same letter, but it's broadened. And in this passage, Jesus is presenting three lessons on valuing the right treasure in our lives. Now it's interesting that in Luke chapter 16, it's recorded that Jesus gave this same talk on another occasion.

And in that one, there were a bunch of Pharisees there. And this was their response to this sermon. We're looking at this morning, the Pharisees who were lovers of money, heard all these things and they ridiculed Jesus. I'm hoping that's not the takeaway. We're going to have this. As we come to Matthew chapter six, verse 19 and 24.

He speaking to us, all of us, as he talks about the beautiful privilege of having our value be in the true treasure. I'd like to read this passage for you. Matthew chapter six, verse 19 to 24. Here's what Jesus says. Again, you've heard that w excuse me, I'm read the wrong. That's Matthew chapter five, lay it.

Do not lay up for yourselves, treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves, treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal for where your treasure is there. Your heart will be also the eyes, the lamp of the body.

So if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness. How great is the darkness? No one can serve two masters for either. You will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.

You cannot serve God and money. Let's pray. Lord, we gather here in Mount Laurel, we gather here in Collingswood, we gather here in. Are homes watching online or on a vacation. And Lord, we ask you to be our teacher. God, there's nobody. There's not one of us. That doesn't sense the pole of having our life defined by stuff.

So Lord instruct us this morning, beauty of having our lives defined when we value the true treasure, teach us what that means and change us by it. I pray in Jesus name. Amen. Three lessons. Jesus gives about valuing the right treasure in our lives. The first thing we notice is that what you value is what your heart loves.

He says this in verses 19 to 21, and he talks about, uh, making your treasure treasures on earth. Laying up means to store up and literally means to invest in that becomes a priority. You're gathering, you're gaining it. You're putting your energy there. You're, you're finding your security there. And he basically says, w w where do you have your treasure?

What is the thing that is compelling you is, is that your 401k, your, your home, your car, your funds. And he says, don't be ultimately invested in those things. Why? Well, he gives practical reasons. They won't last there. Their loses will. They are things that you can't protect. Ultimately, uh, if nothing else, you won't take them with you.

He says the moth and rust can, can destroy them while the moth w w would basically eat much of the thing that they, uh, would find pride in would be if they had luxurious garments, the word rust is actually the word to eat. Probably shouldn't be translated rust, which has little to no narrow. It, it can mean that, but it also can mean, uh, anything that is, that is eaten, that is devoured.

And the idea here is whether it's crops or it's metals that are corroded, but something that can be lost. The volatility of the market just reminds us that things are, things are not necessarily always sure. And he says, why do you love these things that can't be counted on? There is something that will never be lost and can always be counted on that should be your ultimate treasure.

Now he's not talking about amount. He's talking about affection. He's not saying you shouldn't invest in 401k. You shouldn't be, Hey, you can't have nice clothes or he, you can't have a nice home. He's not saying it. The issue is. Where is your heart. And he says, cause where are your hardest? That is what your true treasure is.

So it's not primarily, it's not a focus case about, should I have any of this? It's ultimately is what do you love most? What are you devoted to? We'll see that more as we go through this study, he compares that with treasure in heaven. Now, what does it mean to have your treasure in heaven that you're, you're investing in heavenly treasures?

Well, one of the primary principles of Bible study, when you're trying to figure out what a, what a concept means is to find out how it's used in other places. The most significant place is the one that is in your immediate context, because you find out this is what the author was referring to and what God was saying through the author in Matthew chapter six, Matthew chapter five and six in the sermon on the Mount, the word heaven has already been used 14 times, and it's been used in two ways.

And I think it beautifully pictures. What is being talked about, about having our treasures, our ultimate investments in heaven. The word is first of all, used of the kingdom of the father, excuse me, the kingdom. Of heaven. Jesus talked about the superior value of this as being our treasure. Here's what he says in Matthew chapter 13, verse 44 and 45.

The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hit it again. And then in his joy went and sold all he had in bought that field. And again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of the great one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought.

And he says, the kingdom of heaven is what we invest our lives in the kingdom of heaven is the kingdom that Jesus brought to earth offers to us. It is those that have embraced him as Lord and savior of their lives. He's talking about investing your life in the work of the kingdom, investing your life in as a member of that kingdom, serving it.

Serving to the glory of Christ in that kingdom, he says, invest your life in those things. Either way. Heaven is used in Matthew five and six prior to this time, six times is the term father in heaven. He, somebody says your father in heaven reward you. Your father in heaven is watching your father in heaven is present.

They sing, invest in that, which delights the one who's watching you. Who's doing life with you, investing in that, which pleases the father, the goal is to enjoy, and please him, the consuming passion of your life, you sing, the joy of your life is to know and glorify your father and to invest in his work.

This is what it means to invest in the treasure of heaven. Being your treasure. For where your treasure is. He says in verse 21 is where your heart will be. Also. Now of course, now we need to put a little shoes to this. So the question is, what do you love? What are you devoted to? This is the whole thing he's saying in verse 21, because I mean, if, if what you love, if what you're devoted to, if what you're investing your life in, it's your focus at what's keeps you alive and keeps you moving is the accumulation of things.

Uh, the, the, the, the safety and security that is found there, he says that is your consuming treasure. On the other hand, if it's your father and his work and him and the establishment of his son's kingdom in the world, then you're investing in that, which he says is the enduring kingdom.

So, what is it? Lights your fire is the foundation and driving reality in our lives. I was 28 years old. The first time I ever went into my dad's office at what was then RCA and eventually is now Lockheed Martin. Wasn't keeping me out of Mel. I think he was ashamed of having me there, but it just never had, had me come over and to security.

He had always been involved in Naval defense companies, but he brought me in and. I knew my dad was, uh, had had a significant role there. My father was a wonderful follower of Christ by the way, he got saved, uh, well into his well, his early adulthood after he was married just about time, he had me, I think he was terrorized.

Um, and, but I was there and, and while security checks were happening, he had to come all the way down from the top floor and get me and bring me up. And while I was there, I was just sort of hanging over them side. And I noticed this, this wall plaque and this wall plaque was a, a description of the mucky monks of the company and particularly of, of the plant here in Morristown.

And to my amazement, my father's name was very prominently displayed as a direct report to the general manager of the entire operation. I had no idea. It was just surprising to me. We got taken up, we went up and we, we got on the fourth floor, which happened to be the, the primary movers. And I went to my dad's office.

We're sitting there and a guy came in, knocked on the door, came into my dad's office. And, uh, honestly the guy intimidated me. I just, they're just some people that have a presence. This guy had a presence and I thought, oh my God, oh my goodness, this, this has gotta be the, the, uh, the guy, well, didn't turn out to be the guy.

It was a guy that reported to my dad and he's apologized. I'm like what? In the world. I used to test my father all the time and went through this whole long one, but I wouldn't tell him my father for, you know, as I remember as a teenager, he didn't understand the real world, yo, blah, blah, blah. Looking at this and wonder what this guy would think.

He's not saying it to my father. So again, my dad then said, look, I, I, you know, we talked for a while in his office and he said, I want to take you down to the factory. And he takes me out of the factory and we get down there and people are coming up to me. And, and when they find out I'm gene Willie's son, they said, your dad's the only guy from the fourth floor ever come or whatever it was.

I don't remember. It was third or fourth week. He he's the only guy that ever comes through here. And, uh, so we're meeting, um, all the people that are putting little circuit boards together. I think that's what they're called and, and doing all this work and, and, uh, he's introducing me to everybody by name.

I just, I was, it was weird and he finally broke. He said, I want you to meet somebody. He takes me over to this, to this kid. He's probably in his early twenties. And he introduced me enthusiastically and he says, you know, here, here, um, so-and-so just won an award for, um, the, he, his, his effectiveness in putting these little boards together, his accuracy, and he says, my son, mark, would you, you tell him, you know, how you do that.

And this guy turned out to be a believer. And he goes on. He said, before I ever start a circuit board, I lay it down in front of me. And I talked to Jesus and I said, Lord, help me to do this in a way that honors you give me recall, give me ability, because I want to, I want to help this company succeed. But most of all, I wanna do everything I do here to the glory of Jesus Christ.

That guy just lit my dad's fire. There were so many other stories I could tell about this. This was not shocking to me because it fit my perspective of my dad. But I want to tell you, I came out of that. Yeah, I was just revisiting this in the last couple of weeks. So I was thinking about this sermon and I, I came out of there absolutely convinced of this.

Well, my father loves his Jesus Christ. It's the glory of Christ. He doesn't, he's not devoted to the fact and finding his joy in the fact that he reports to the top guy. Not that he has impressive people reporting to him. Not that he's got this influence. My father loves Christ.

Jesus is saying to us here,

What would the people in our lives that know us best say lights, our fire, you may love golf. That's great. But if that's what lights your fire in the eyes of other people, you may love your job. You may love your family, but Jesus is saying, where's your heart. What's the thing that just your, your life is lighting up about.

He says, because that's your treasure and your treasure can be the, the kingdom of heaven. It can be the father of heaven.

I hope it is. He says because that's, what is the design for the people of my kingdom. The second thing, he tells us about our values. And I'll tell you, the first two are longer than the third, just so you don't panic

is found in verse 22 and 23. What your value is, is where you set your sights. First 22, the eyes, the lamp of the body. So if your eyes healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness. How great is the darkness?

The I was viewed first, what it means the, I was viewed as the means of light getting into the person. Basically it says if, if your eyes are looking at the right stuff, if the, if they're focused the right way, what you're going to do is you're going to take in things that are going to bring light into your life, into your interior life.

There's going to be health. If you're, if you're focused on the wrong things, if you're fixated on the wrong things, it's going to take in not enough light and there's going to be darkness and it's going to be unhealthy in the interior life. Now it's in the context of talking about. Money and the accumulation of stuff.

Now we get this visual, right? The idea of eyes. I mean, I remember watching cartoons and we'd have these kinds of visuals. And what is it saying? This person they're excited about money. I mean, they're just looking at his landing with Jesus says it's inside. They're going to be darkening, their intention, soul life, the, all the I is all about where you set your sights.

Arthur Momand and his wife lived on long island in the early 20th century. They lived among fairly affluent neighbors. And as he described it, life for us was a constant truck struggle of trying to live far beyond our means in our endeavor to keep up with the well-to-do class. Eventually, Arthur.

Parlayed his own life experience into the development of a comic strip and the comic strip. He actually got sold to Joseph Pulitzer's New York, uh, world, uh, newspaper in New York city. And it depicted the attempts of Alysia and Claris McGinis attempts to live comparatively with their neighbors. There was a phrase that Arthur Momand, uh, embraced as an expression that has worked its way into contemporary language.

You have all heard it. He talked about the McGinnis attempt to keep up with the Joneses. We all get it. We all live with the struggle of competitiveness. We can set our sights on keeping up with others, comparing ourselves. We can set our sights on our own financial goals and a life of ease and comfort.

But this passage is saying, if you belong to Christ, you're called to set yourself on the glory of God and the service of God. Now we see how our values are played out in practical life. If your value, which I certainly hope a high value for you is your family. When you have a job offer, come, let's say you're offered a position.

It would require you to move, but it's more, more pay. It's a better position. It's a career for you,

but you have a child with a rare disease. And you know that living in the Philly area, there happens to be a particular hospital with this particular department that is unique in the entire United States. And your child is regularly going to that special department because they're the best specialists among the only real specialists in the country to care for your child's disease.

It's likely that if your value is your family and you value the care of your family, you will make the decision to turn down that opportunity. Out of concern for your child, right? And that's commendable. We agree with it. We endorse it. But quite honestly, a lot of your neighbors would do the same thing that have nothing to do with Jesus Christ.

That's not really what Jesus is saying here. Jesus is saying this, how much do you value me? Now? You could say, well, it's because of my value of Christ that I value my child. I get it. But let me try to illustrate like this, that same job comes and that opportunity to move comes.

If our eyes are fixated on Christ, we will likely also ask questions and make determinations based on questions like this. I may need to turn down this sales job, which pays me more because I've already seen that I can't trust myself self in a hotel room on the road that much with the visuals that will be available to me and the TV and the internet that is there when nobody else will know, I'll turn down the lucrative offer because I have a ministry to my coworkers for Jesus in the job I have.

Now, maybe I'll ask the question I need to turn. Should I turn down that offer because I'll not be able to continue in my small group that has absolutely revolutionized my passion for Jesus Christ. I'm not saying to any of those questions, you should automatically say I shouldn't take the job, but I am saying, will we ask those questions?

Will we say I value Christ and the glory of Christ above everything else. It's the number one priority that I use to determine the next steps in my life. It's above my career. It's above my position. It's above my influence. It's above the accumulation of stuff and, and a life of ease.

And why it matters is told us in the next verse, if your eyes healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eyes bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness. How great is the darkness now? What is he talking to me? He says the darkness. What's the darkness in inside and our interior life.

I think a parallel passage is first Timothy six. Let me just read it to you quickly. Big packages. But godliness with contentment is great gain for, we brought nothing into the world and we can't take anything out of the world, but if we have goods and clothing with these will be content, but those who desire to be rich, fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction for the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils.

It is true. This craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. The darkness I think is described here in phrases like this, they fall in temptations and snares, sinful, senseless, and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction through this craving.

People have wandered away from the faith and stabbed themselves with many pangs. Now that is more extreme darkness, but he says, this is what happens. If we are driven. If our eyes are fixated in the wrong place. Even though we know Christ, we named the name of Christ and our members of his kingdom. And he says many have wandered from the faith and stabbed themselves with many pangs.

But the darkness is also something else in this passage. See, Paul is writing a rebuttal to teachers in the section, right before that first time of the six that were saying godliness, let me get the exact phrase. Godliness is a means to gain. In other words, follow God because that's where you'll get your money.

It is an ultimate first century prosperity gospel that the do this, and God will abundantly bless you financially impulses. That's not no that isn't the gain. Th th the, the focus is not getting money. The great gift of godliness he says is not financial gain. The great gift of godliness is contentment.

That you don't have to be driven prosperity. Gospel stirs up discontent. He saying godliness is the gift. Excuse me. Contentment is the gift of godliness. We live in a culture that encourages you to define yourself, your financial position, your status, your success, your security, but you are not what you make.

You are not where you live. You are not your position in your company.

You're not what your portfolio is. And the degree to which you're dividing, defining yourself by your position, your income, your. Is the degree to which darkness will seep into your life in which you're fixated on something that he says is unhealthy to your soul, to the interior life. And he says, yeah, there's temptations to come their snares to come.

But he says, also you will find yourself discontent. He's not just talking to rich people. Of course, right. He's talking to everybody, we get it. We can be in any financial situation and be fixated on either what I have. And, and it's what I, what I depend on or what I don't have and I need to have, but he said, there's, that's not where your treasure to be.

He says, you'll, you'll find yourself never satisfied because you'll always be looking. To be a little more secure. And he, Paul says the author of Ecclesiastes. He says it this way in chapter five, the one who loves money, same expression used in first, Timothy six is never satisfied with money and whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with income.

All right, that's the darkness. That's the darkness that comes in when, when we're fixating on the wrong thing. So what happens with the light? What happens when we fixate on the right thing, God, and his purposes in our life in glorifying him. What brings this, this light? When he says, what comes with the light is contentment.

The godliness with contentment is great gain. was speaking to the graduating class of McGill university and he said, one day you'll meet a man who doesn't care much for wealth or fame. And then you will realize how poor you are. Jesus saying. That's rich. Everybody's trying to get more to be content. So you don't have to have more to be content if your treasure is in the right place.

So how do you keep your eyes from being focused on money and greed? I personally believe one of the gifts of tithing and giving regularly to the work of the Lord is that it helps curtail, okay. Our eyes being fixed and motivated by greed. You entrust yourself to the Lord by saying, Lord, you own it all.

And I am giving this portion of it to you. The practical principle old testing was 10%. Maybe you're not giving anything. Well, I don't know that you're going to tomorrow start giving 10%, but I believe you need to start giving. What it does. And what giving always is, is this word is used in the new Testament and the old Testament, it says, give the first fruits, the first fruits.

This means you gave the first part to Lord. You made sure his gut taken care of. It was not because he has that. And now I got mine. No, it was a way of saying, Lord, this, this harvest that we have, it's all yours and all that we are getting. And all that we're going to, we're going to use is to be used to your purposes, but we are acknowledging you own it all by giving you this part.

Yeah. I rarely see someone who is regularly given faithfully and generously who is consumed with greed. Usually grade greed is the thing that keeps us from giving. It helps us to not be fixated

in a misplace. Way the third thing, last thing, what you value is what you'll serve. And Jesus says here in verse 24 for where, uh, no one can serve two masters for either. He will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. It's interesting.

Jesus is not talking about employers here. I mean, you can serve two employers, right? You can have a full-time job and a part-time job or three part-time jobs you got to, but an employer is not same as a master because a master is absolutely ruthless in getting his, and he basically, what he's saying is you can't really be completely under the authority of one thing.

And there's going to be someone who is going, especially in times of crisis when finances are short, where's it going to be? Where are you going to cut corners? And in all realms, like he's saying. Serving one or serving the other. It's interesting. He talks about serving money. We tend to look at money as serving us, but most of us struggle not being under the servant hood to money.

And it is a tyrannous master. It's interesting in this passage that Jesus is basically deifying money. I was struck and I did a series years ago called American idols. And I was struck as I had studied through the scriptures that there are three things that an idol has, three things I give to an idol that I should give to God.

And if you remember them, which probably you don't, but I'll say them, we love something more than we love God. That's exactly what he talks about in the first three verses here. Where your treasure is, there's your heart. The second thing is we, we serve something more than God. That's exactly what he's talking about here in the last part.

It's our master. The third one is we trust in it more than God. And I would say it to me, that being fixated on the thing is, is because it's what we hope. And it's what we're, depending on toward trusting, he's defining in this passage money as a potential rival S D a T in our lives and the strike. It it's interesting how Paul says it in these two passages in Ephesians chapter five, everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is greedy and, and the parenthesis section is Paul's.

That is an idolater. He says same thing. Galoshins three verse five greed, which is idolatry Colossians chapter three, verse five. It is. Placing that entity. It is personifying it as an idol in our lives and the striking thing he says, and nobody, no one gets a pass on this, that everyone is capable of having their loyalty be deflected from God, because no one is capable of having two ultimate loyalty.

So where are we this morning?

Are you continually discontent?

Is it largely about money? Are you continually frustrated? You continually discontent? Do you find yourself? Continually constantly worried about money. Do you find yourself unwilling to give

it may be because the wrong treasure is being deified in your life. So mark, what now? Maybe you're here and some of you in this room here in Mount Laurel here in Collingswood here in your own home or at the shore or vacation place, you're saying, oh God, what am I doing? I mean, I, I just, I, what am I doing?

And you're convicted that your value you've been living with values that are screwed up. You actually have two responses to this message. One, maybe you're convicted that you're living with values or that you're sort of screwed up in your heart outlook right now, or your practices. The second thing response to this message is you feel like you want to punch me in the mouth for making you feel so uncomfortable.

You came to church to feel good. Well, this is my suggestion. I would suggest that you resist the second.

And it's the feeling of conviction I want to speak to

number of years ago. I put together, I'd studied a couple of years, the book of Proverbs, and I just started putting something together in our family and ended up doing it with about 35 men in our church. Um, these family nights we did, but one of the things we did was we put together a board, which was a, a board game.

We had cards and all kinds of stuff, and it was on the book of Proverbs. And basically the idea was you go down the path of wisdom is the plan, the hope, um, I don't know,

no, this is that much you really want to see. Then there was the path of folly, which it says is a crooked path and twisted, and there all these things along the path of falling, here's the deal it's really easy. And these are all snares. That laid you the path of folly. It's easy to get on the path that far.

It's easy to feel. I've been walking the path five for a long time. Talk about money. I've been on that path for a long time, even though I'm a Christian. So what's the result response. What do you do you say? Oh my goodness. I'm all the way over here. I guess climbing back. Oh no, that's not what the Bible says.

The Bible has this beautiful thing called repentance. You say, God, I, yeah, I just, yeah, I didn't see it. Yeah. I am. My, my eyes are fixated on, on, this is why I'm upset. It's why I'm consuming. It's why am I giving a smile on blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Here I am. And I bet, man, I'm in my, I wouldn't want anybody to know the place money has in my life.

Well, God doesn't say okay. Then let's start the slow walk home, buddy. No, he says, man, I've been waiting for you girl. I've been waiting for you. You say it Lord. I'm sorry. I want to love you most. I want to be fixated on you and your purposes. I want people to look at my life and say, there's a guy. There's a girl that is absolutely in love with Jesus Christ.

It's the consuming reality in his life. And even if people say, you know, the guys are not, but man, he loves Jesus.

We get there by just saying, Lord, restore that to me. And he says, okay, here we go. Boom. We're back on the path of wisdom. There may be things he leads you to do. There may be changes. He'll make it. Have you make, but you don't have to say I am hopeless. Now you move from here, here, here, here, immediately back on path of wisdom simply by repentance.

It's what grace is all about.

Jesus is taking this whole sermon to do one thing.

He said. I want to tell you about life. As it's designed to be left, you were never designed to do life on your own. You were never designed to, to, to pursue things in your own research. Lean into me. Trust in me, watch what I do, and you'll find there's a peace. There's a joy. There's a contentment.

It is found with no other deity in your life, wherever you are this morning, whatever God's saying to you, if he's asking you say Lord I'm, um, I'm recommitting again. I'm I'm offering myself again, hear that still small voice Lord. We come to you today. Thank you that you want us. Thank you. That you pursue us.

Lord, may our treasure

that lights our fire and leads our, I S

be you in Jesus name. I pray. Amen now go in peace to love and serve and enjoy .]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-treasure-worth-everything 9b332238-88af-44d2-832a-eeba9c103cfe Sun, 15 Aug 2021 11:30:52 GMT <div data-html="true">Matthew 6:19-24 <br /><br /> “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> I brought this up this morning just so you can spend the entire time wondering what it is. Um, I will get to it at the end. Uh, if you're a guest with us today, my name is pastor mark. One of the pastors here really excited to have you worshiping with us. And now we'd like to go to the scripture, invite you to go with me to Matthew chapter six, Matthew chapter six. <br /><br /> We're going to be looking at verses 19 to 24. As we return again to our series, the upside down life on the sermon on the Mount Jesus in Matthew five, three. We're going to be reading verses 19 to 24 in a little bit. But first I wanted to just give, um, a few practical insights about finances that various speakers have shared with us. <br /><br /> Um, well-known economists like Bob hope bill Murray have contributed to these. A bank is a place that will lend you money. If you can prove you don't need it. Think about that. If you think that nobody cares, whether you're alive, try missing a couple of payments. The best way to teach your kids about taxes is by eating 30% of their ice cream. <br /><br /> Bill Murray contributed that one, a study of economics reveals that the best time to buy anything. Was it a couple of years ago, the morning I look at the Forbes list of the wealthiest Americans. If I am not on the list, I go to work our servers today, we'll focus on money. So I thought I would keep it light as long as possible. <br /><br /> We're going to be looking at this passage, which actually is an incredibly exciting passage as it challenges us again, as all of the sermon on the Mount is to make Jesus central in our lives. The context of this sermon is following up three sermons that were presented, um, uh, basically talking about a triad of lessons that Jesus gives in the beginning of Matthew six on our motives. <br /><br /> And what he does is take the three most sacred, uh, or the pillars of spirituality for the Jews of his day, uh, generosity, prayer, and fasting. And in each of them, he has been talking about the fact that it, isn't only what you do. It is the reasons you do it, that we can be self-absorbed even in the best of our activities. <br /><br /> He talks about motives and what drives us. Now, he goes into two sections beginning in verse 19 of chapter six. In talking about choices, significant choices that we need to make in our lives. If we are going to live the upside down life, the kingdom life, Jesus offers. He's going to tell us here in verses 19 to 24, 2, use your treasure money or God. <br /><br /> The second choice is going to present to us next week will be to choose your outlet. Look, worry or trust Jesus in the sermon on the Mount is providing a corrective teaching, but it is not a corrective teaching designed to beat us up and to rebuke us and who convict us primarily. It is primarily to correct? <br /><br /> Yes. To restore us to life. As it ought to be. Jesus has continually presented in the sermon on the Mount life as God designed human life to be lived life, as it ought to be life as God designed human experience to be life that is lived with and through God, one of the most sub subtle substitutes to living with God as the center of your life is presented here in Matthew chapter six, verse 19 to 24. <br /><br /> A parallel teaching is a lesson that Jesus gave in Luke chapter 12, where he talks about being on your guard. Here's what he says. Watch out beyond your guard against all kinds of greed for a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possession. So it's an interesting statement. A man's life doesn't consist in the abundance of his possessions. <br /><br /> I remember growing up as a kid and there was a game that was out that was called the game of life was a board game. Many of you remember it, some of you may have had it as kids. And even if you're younger, but you basically got this little car and you've got these little sticks that you see you put in and blue is for guys and pink was for girls. <br /><br /> I think that's how it went. And you could have more kids and, and you went around the board, but the entire way that you won the game of life was to end up with the most money that life was defined by the abundance of what you had. You want it life. If you had the most. And Jesus has man be on your guard or a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. <br /><br /> We come now to Matthew chapter six and Jesus is giving the same letter, but it's broadened. And in this passage, Jesus is presenting three lessons on valuing the right treasure in our lives. Now it's interesting that in Luke chapter 16, it's recorded that Jesus gave this same talk on another occasion. <br /><br /> And in that one, there were a bunch of Pharisees there. And this was their response to this sermon. We're looking at this morning, the Pharisees who were lovers of money, heard all these things and they ridiculed Jesus. I'm hoping that's not the takeaway. We're going to have this. As we come to Matthew chapter six, verse 19 and 24. <br /><br /> He speaking to us, all of us, as he talks about the beautiful privilege of having our value be in the true treasure. I'd like to read this passage for you. Matthew chapter six, verse 19 to 24. Here's what Jesus says. Again, you've heard that w excuse me, I'm read the wrong. That's Matthew chapter five, lay it. <br /><br /> Do not lay up for yourselves, treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves, treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal for where your treasure is there. Your heart will be also the eyes, the lamp of the body. <br /><br /> So if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness. How great is the darkness? No one can serve two masters for either. You will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. <br /><br /> You cannot serve God and money. Let's pray. Lord, we gather here in Mount Laurel, we gather here in Collingswood, we gather here in. Are homes watching online or on a vacation. And Lord, we ask you to be our teacher. God, there's nobody. There's not one of us. That doesn't sense the pole of having our life defined by stuff. <br /><br /> So Lord instruct us this morning, beauty of having our lives defined when we value the true treasure, teach us what that means and change us by it. I pray in Jesus name. Amen. Three lessons. Jesus gives about valuing the right treasure in our lives. The first thing we notice is that what you value is what your heart loves. <br /><br /> He says this in verses 19 to 21, and he talks about, uh, making your treasure treasures on earth. Laying up means to store up and literally means to invest in that becomes a priority. You're gathering, you're gaining it. You're putting your energy there. You're, you're finding your security there. And he basically says, w w where do you have your treasure? <br /><br /> What is the thing that is compelling you is, is that your 401k, your, your home, your car, your funds. And he says, don't be ultimately invested in those things. Why? Well, he gives practical reasons. They won't last there. Their loses will. They are things that you can't protect. Ultimately, uh, if nothing else, you won't take them with you. <br /><br /> He says the moth and rust can, can destroy them while the moth w w would basically eat much of the thing that they, uh, would find pride in would be if they had luxurious garments, the word rust is actually the word to eat. Probably shouldn't be translated rust, which has little to no narrow. It, it can mean that, but it also can mean, uh, anything that is, that is eaten, that is devoured. <br /><br /> And the idea here is whether it's crops or it's metals that are corroded, but something that can be lost. The volatility of the market just reminds us that things are, things are not necessarily always sure. And he says, why do you love these things that can't be counted on? There is something that will never be lost and can always be counted on that should be your ultimate treasure. <br /><br /> Now he's not talking about amount. He's talking about affection. He's not saying you shouldn't invest in 401k. You shouldn't be, Hey, you can't have nice clothes or he, you can't have a nice home. He's not saying it. The issue is. Where is your heart. And he says, cause where are your hardest? That is what your true treasure is. <br /><br /> So it's not primarily, it's not a focus case about, should I have any of this? It's ultimately is what do you love most? What are you devoted to? We'll see that more as we go through this study, he compares that with treasure in heaven. Now, what does it mean to have your treasure in heaven that you're, you're investing in heavenly treasures? <br /><br /> Well, one of the primary principles of Bible study, when you're trying to figure out what a, what a concept means is to find out how it's used in other places. The most significant place is the one that is in your immediate context, because you find out this is what the author was referring to and what God was saying through the author in Matthew chapter six, Matthew chapter five and six in the sermon on the Mount, the word heaven has already been used 14 times, and it's been used in two ways. <br /><br /> And I think it beautifully pictures. What is being talked about, about having our treasures, our ultimate investments in heaven. The word is first of all, used of the kingdom of the father, excuse me, the kingdom. Of heaven. Jesus talked about the superior value of this as being our treasure. Here's what he says in Matthew chapter 13, verse 44 and 45. <br /><br /> The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hit it again. And then in his joy went and sold all he had in bought that field. And again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of the great one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought. <br /><br /> And he says, the kingdom of heaven is what we invest our lives in the kingdom of heaven is the kingdom that Jesus brought to earth offers to us. It is those that have embraced him as Lord and savior of their lives. He's talking about investing your life in the work of the kingdom, investing your life in as a member of that kingdom, serving it. <br /><br /> Serving to the glory of Christ in that kingdom, he says, invest your life in those things. Either way. Heaven is used in Matthew five and six prior to this time, six times is the term father in heaven. He, somebody says your father in heaven reward you. Your father in heaven is watching your father in heaven is present. <br /><br /> They sing, invest in that, which delights the one who's watching you. Who's doing life with you, investing in that, which pleases the father, the goal is to enjoy, and please him, the consuming passion of your life, you sing, the joy of your life is to know and glorify your father and to invest in his work. <br /><br /> This is what it means to invest in the treasure of heaven. Being your treasure. For where your treasure is. He says in verse 21 is where your heart will be. Also. Now of course, now we need to put a little shoes to this. So the question is, what do you love? What are you devoted to? This is the whole thing he's saying in verse 21, because I mean, if, if what you love, if what you're devoted to, if what you're investing your life in, it's your focus at what's keeps you alive and keeps you moving is the accumulation of things. <br /><br /> Uh, the, the, the, the safety and security that is found there, he says that is your consuming treasure. On the other hand, if it's your father and his work and him and the establishment of his son's kingdom in the world, then you're investing in that, which he says is the enduring kingdom. <br /><br /> So, what is it? Lights your fire is the foundation and driving reality in our lives. I was 28 years old. The first time I ever went into my dad's office at what was then RCA and eventually is now Lockheed Martin. Wasn't keeping me out of Mel. I think he was ashamed of having me there, but it just never had, had me come over and to security. <br /><br /> He had always been involved in Naval defense companies, but he brought me in and. I knew my dad was, uh, had had a significant role there. My father was a wonderful follower of Christ by the way, he got saved, uh, well into his well, his early adulthood after he was married just about time, he had me, I think he was terrorized. <br /><br /> Um, and, but I was there and, and while security checks were happening, he had to come all the way down from the top floor and get me and bring me up. And while I was there, I was just sort of hanging over them side. And I noticed this, this wall plaque and this wall plaque was a, a description of the mucky monks of the company and particularly of, of the plant here in Morristown. <br /><br /> And to my amazement, my father's name was very prominently displayed as a direct report to the general manager of the entire operation. I had no idea. It was just surprising to me. We got taken up, we went up and we, we got on the fourth floor, which happened to be the, the primary movers. And I went to my dad's office. <br /><br /> We're sitting there and a guy came in, knocked on the door, came into my dad's office. And, uh, honestly the guy intimidated me. I just, they're just some people that have a presence. This guy had a presence and I thought, oh my God, oh my goodness, this, this has gotta be the, the, uh, the guy, well, didn't turn out to be the guy. <br /><br /> It was a guy that reported to my dad and he's apologized. I'm like what? In the world. I used to test my father all the time and went through this whole long one, but I wouldn't tell him my father for, you know, as I remember as a teenager, he didn't understand the real world, yo, blah, blah, blah. Looking at this and wonder what this guy would think. <br /><br /> He's not saying it to my father. So again, my dad then said, look, I, I, you know, we talked for a while in his office and he said, I want to take you down to the factory. And he takes me out of the factory and we get down there and people are coming up to me. And, and when they find out I'm gene Willie's son, they said, your dad's the only guy from the fourth floor ever come or whatever it was. <br /><br /> I don't remember. It was third or fourth week. He he's the only guy that ever comes through here. And, uh, so we're meeting, um, all the people that are putting little circuit boards together. I think that's what they're called and, and doing all this work and, and, uh, he's introducing me to everybody by name. <br /><br /> I just, I was, it was weird and he finally broke. He said, I want you to meet somebody. He takes me over to this, to this kid. He's probably in his early twenties. And he introduced me enthusiastically and he says, you know, here, here, um, so-and-so just won an award for, um, the, he, his, his effectiveness in putting these little boards together, his accuracy, and he says, my son, mark, would you, you tell him, you know, how you do that. <br /><br /> And this guy turned out to be a believer. And he goes on. He said, before I ever start a circuit board, I lay it down in front of me. And I talked to Jesus and I said, Lord, help me to do this in a way that honors you give me recall, give me ability, because I want to, I want to help this company succeed. But most of all, I wanna do everything I do here to the glory of Jesus Christ. <br /><br /> That guy just lit my dad's fire. There were so many other stories I could tell about this. This was not shocking to me because it fit my perspective of my dad. But I want to tell you, I came out of that. Yeah, I was just revisiting this in the last couple of weeks. So I was thinking about this sermon and I, I came out of there absolutely convinced of this. <br /><br /> Well, my father loves his Jesus Christ. It's the glory of Christ. He doesn't, he's not devoted to the fact and finding his joy in the fact that he reports to the top guy. Not that he has impressive people reporting to him. Not that he's got this influence. My father loves Christ. <br /><br /> Jesus is saying to us here, <br /><br /> What would the people in our lives that know us best say lights, our fire, you may love golf. That's great. But if that's what lights your fire in the eyes of other people, you may love your job. You may love your family, but Jesus is saying, where's your heart. What's the thing that just your, your life is lighting up about. <br /><br /> He says, because that's your treasure and your treasure can be the, the kingdom of heaven. It can be the father of heaven. <br /><br /> I hope it is. He says because that's, what is the design for the people of my kingdom. The second thing, he tells us about our values. And I'll tell you, the first two are longer than the third, just so you don't panic <br /><br /> is found in verse 22 and 23. What your value is, is where you set your sights. First 22, the eyes, the lamp of the body. So if your eyes healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness. How great is the darkness? <br /><br /> The I was viewed first, what it means the, I was viewed as the means of light getting into the person. Basically it says if, if your eyes are looking at the right stuff, if the, if they're focused the right way, what you're going to do is you're going to take in things that are going to bring light into your life, into your interior life. <br /><br /> There's going to be health. If you're, if you're focused on the wrong things, if you're fixated on the wrong things, it's going to take in not enough light and there's going to be darkness and it's going to be unhealthy in the interior life. Now it's in the context of talking about. Money and the accumulation of stuff. <br /><br /> Now we get this visual, right? The idea of eyes. I mean, I remember watching cartoons and we'd have these kinds of visuals. And what is it saying? This person they're excited about money. I mean, they're just looking at his landing with Jesus says it's inside. They're going to be darkening, their intention, soul life, the, all the I is all about where you set your sights. <br /><br /> Arthur Momand and his wife lived on long island in the early 20th century. They lived among fairly affluent neighbors. And as he described it, life for us was a constant truck struggle of trying to live far beyond our means in our endeavor to keep up with the well-to-do class. Eventually, Arthur. <br /><br /> Parlayed his own life experience into the development of a comic strip and the comic strip. He actually got sold to Joseph Pulitzer's New York, uh, world, uh, newspaper in New York city. And it depicted the attempts of Alysia and Claris McGinis attempts to live comparatively with their neighbors. There was a phrase that Arthur Momand, uh, embraced as an expression that has worked its way into contemporary language. <br /><br /> You have all heard it. He talked about the McGinnis attempt to keep up with the Joneses. We all get it. We all live with the struggle of competitiveness. We can set our sights on keeping up with others, comparing ourselves. We can set our sights on our own financial goals and a life of ease and comfort. <br /><br /> But this passage is saying, if you belong to Christ, you're called to set yourself on the glory of God and the service of God. Now we see how our values are played out in practical life. If your value, which I certainly hope a high value for you is your family. When you have a job offer, come, let's say you're offered a position. <br /><br /> It would require you to move, but it's more, more pay. It's a better position. It's a career for you, <br /><br /> but you have a child with a rare disease. And you know that living in the Philly area, there happens to be a particular hospital with this particular department that is unique in the entire United States. And your child is regularly going to that special department because they're the best specialists among the only real specialists in the country to care for your child's disease. <br /><br /> It's likely that if your value is your family and you value the care of your family, you will make the decision to turn down that opportunity. Out of concern for your child, right? And that's commendable. We agree with it. We endorse it. But quite honestly, a lot of your neighbors would do the same thing that have nothing to do with Jesus Christ. <br /><br /> That's not really what Jesus is saying here. Jesus is saying this, how much do you value me? Now? You could say, well, it's because of my value of Christ that I value my child. I get it. But let me try to illustrate like this, that same job comes and that opportunity to move comes. <br /><br /> If our eyes are fixated on Christ, we will likely also ask questions and make determinations based on questions like this. I may need to turn down this sales job, which pays me more because I've already seen that I can't trust myself self in a hotel room on the road that much with the visuals that will be available to me and the TV and the internet that is there when nobody else will know, I'll turn down the lucrative offer because I have a ministry to my coworkers for Jesus in the job I have. <br /><br /> Now, maybe I'll ask the question I need to turn. Should I turn down that offer because I'll not be able to continue in my small group that has absolutely revolutionized my passion for Jesus Christ. I'm not saying to any of those questions, you should automatically say I shouldn't take the job, but I am saying, will we ask those questions? <br /><br /> Will we say I value Christ and the glory of Christ above everything else. It's the number one priority that I use to determine the next steps in my life. It's above my career. It's above my position. It's above my influence. It's above the accumulation of stuff and, and a life of ease. <br /><br /> And why it matters is told us in the next verse, if your eyes healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eyes bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness. How great is the darkness now? What is he talking to me? He says the darkness. What's the darkness in inside and our interior life. <br /><br /> I think a parallel passage is first Timothy six. Let me just read it to you quickly. Big packages. But godliness with contentment is great gain for, we brought nothing into the world and we can't take anything out of the world, but if we have goods and clothing with these will be content, but those who desire to be rich, fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction for the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. <br /><br /> It is true. This craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. The darkness I think is described here in phrases like this, they fall in temptations and snares, sinful, senseless, and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction through this craving. <br /><br /> People have wandered away from the faith and stabbed themselves with many pangs. Now that is more extreme darkness, but he says, this is what happens. If we are driven. If our eyes are fixated in the wrong place. Even though we know Christ, we named the name of Christ and our members of his kingdom. And he says many have wandered from the faith and stabbed themselves with many pangs. <br /><br /> But the darkness is also something else in this passage. See, Paul is writing a rebuttal to teachers in the section, right before that first time of the six that were saying godliness, let me get the exact phrase. Godliness is a means to gain. In other words, follow God because that's where you'll get your money. <br /><br /> It is an ultimate first century prosperity gospel that the do this, and God will abundantly bless you financially impulses. That's not no that isn't the gain. Th th the, the focus is not getting money. The great gift of godliness he says is not financial gain. The great gift of godliness is contentment. <br /><br /> That you don't have to be driven prosperity. Gospel stirs up discontent. He saying godliness is the gift. Excuse me. Contentment is the gift of godliness. We live in a culture that encourages you to define yourself, your financial position, your status, your success, your security, but you are not what you make. <br /><br /> You are not where you live. You are not your position in your company. <br /><br /> You're not what your portfolio is. And the degree to which you're dividing, defining yourself by your position, your income, your. Is the degree to which darkness will seep into your life in which you're fixated on something that he says is unhealthy to your soul, to the interior life. And he says, yeah, there's temptations to come their snares to come. <br /><br /> But he says, also you will find yourself discontent. He's not just talking to rich people. Of course, right. He's talking to everybody, we get it. We can be in any financial situation and be fixated on either what I have. And, and it's what I, what I depend on or what I don't have and I need to have, but he said, there's, that's not where your treasure to be. <br /><br /> He says, you'll, you'll find yourself never satisfied because you'll always be looking. To be a little more secure. And he, Paul says the author of Ecclesiastes. He says it this way in chapter five, the one who loves money, same expression used in first, Timothy six is never satisfied with money and whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with income. <br /><br /> All right, that's the darkness. That's the darkness that comes in when, when we're fixating on the wrong thing. So what happens with the light? What happens when we fixate on the right thing, God, and his purposes in our life in glorifying him. What brings this, this light? When he says, what comes with the light is contentment. <br /><br /> The godliness with contentment is great gain. was speaking to the graduating class of McGill university and he said, one day you'll meet a man who doesn't care much for wealth or fame. And then you will realize how poor you are. Jesus saying. That's rich. Everybody's trying to get more to be content. So you don't have to have more to be content if your treasure is in the right place. <br /><br /> So how do you keep your eyes from being focused on money and greed? I personally believe one of the gifts of tithing and giving regularly to the work of the Lord is that it helps curtail, okay. Our eyes being fixed and motivated by greed. You entrust yourself to the Lord by saying, Lord, you own it all. <br /><br /> And I am giving this portion of it to you. The practical principle old testing was 10%. Maybe you're not giving anything. Well, I don't know that you're going to tomorrow start giving 10%, but I believe you need to start giving. What it does. And what giving always is, is this word is used in the new Testament and the old Testament, it says, give the first fruits, the first fruits. <br /><br /> This means you gave the first part to Lord. You made sure his gut taken care of. It was not because he has that. And now I got mine. No, it was a way of saying, Lord, this, this harvest that we have, it's all yours and all that we are getting. And all that we're going to, we're going to use is to be used to your purposes, but we are acknowledging you own it all by giving you this part. <br /><br /> Yeah. I rarely see someone who is regularly given faithfully and generously who is consumed with greed. Usually grade greed is the thing that keeps us from giving. It helps us to not be fixated <br /><br /> in a misplace. Way the third thing, last thing, what you value is what you'll serve. And Jesus says here in verse 24 for where, uh, no one can serve two masters for either. He will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. It's interesting. <br /><br /> Jesus is not talking about employers here. I mean, you can serve two employers, right? You can have a full-time job and a part-time job or three part-time jobs you got to, but an employer is not same as a master because a master is absolutely ruthless in getting his, and he basically, what he's saying is you can't really be completely under the authority of one thing. <br /><br /> And there's going to be someone who is going, especially in times of crisis when finances are short, where's it going to be? Where are you going to cut corners? And in all realms, like he's saying. Serving one or serving the other. It's interesting. He talks about serving money. We tend to look at money as serving us, but most of us struggle not being under the servant hood to money. <br /><br /> And it is a tyrannous master. It's interesting in this passage that Jesus is basically deifying money. I was struck and I did a series years ago called American idols. And I was struck as I had studied through the scriptures that there are three things that an idol has, three things I give to an idol that I should give to God. <br /><br /> And if you remember them, which probably you don't, but I'll say them, we love something more than we love God. That's exactly what he talks about in the first three verses here. Where your treasure is, there's your heart. The second thing is we, we serve something more than God. That's exactly what he's talking about here in the last part. <br /><br /> It's our master. The third one is we trust in it more than God. And I would say it to me, that being fixated on the thing is, is because it's what we hope. And it's what we're, depending on toward trusting, he's defining in this passage money as a potential rival S D a T in our lives and the strike. It it's interesting how Paul says it in these two passages in Ephesians chapter five, everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is greedy and, and the parenthesis section is Paul's. <br /><br /> That is an idolater. He says same thing. Galoshins three verse five greed, which is idolatry Colossians chapter three, verse five. It is. Placing that entity. It is personifying it as an idol in our lives and the striking thing he says, and nobody, no one gets a pass on this, that everyone is capable of having their loyalty be deflected from God, because no one is capable of having two ultimate loyalty. <br /><br /> So where are we this morning? <br /><br /> Are you continually discontent? <br /><br /> Is it largely about money? Are you continually frustrated? You continually discontent? Do you find yourself? Continually constantly worried about money. Do you find yourself unwilling to give <br /><br /> it may be because the wrong treasure is being deified in your life. So mark, what now? Maybe you're here and some of you in this room here in Mount Laurel here in Collingswood here in your own home or at the shore or vacation place, you're saying, oh God, what am I doing? I mean, I, I just, I, what am I doing? <br /><br /> And you're convicted that your value you've been living with values that are screwed up. You actually have two responses to this message. One, maybe you're convicted that you're living with values or that you're sort of screwed up in your heart outlook right now, or your practices. The second thing response to this message is you feel like you want to punch me in the mouth for making you feel so uncomfortable. <br /><br /> You came to church to feel good. Well, this is my suggestion. I would suggest that you resist the second. <br /><br /> And it's the feeling of conviction I want to speak to <br /><br /> number of years ago. I put together, I'd studied a couple of years, the book of Proverbs, and I just started putting something together in our family and ended up doing it with about 35 men in our church. Um, these family nights we did, but one of the things we did was we put together a board, which was a, a board game. <br /><br /> We had cards and all kinds of stuff, and it was on the book of Proverbs. And basically the idea was you go down the path of wisdom is the plan, the hope, um, I don't know, <br /><br /> no, this is that much you really want to see. Then there was the path of folly, which it says is a crooked path and twisted, and there all these things along the path of falling, here's the deal it's really easy. And these are all snares. That laid you the path of folly. It's easy to get on the path that far. <br /><br /> It's easy to feel. I've been walking the path five for a long time. Talk about money. I've been on that path for a long time, even though I'm a Christian. So what's the result response. What do you do you say? Oh my goodness. I'm all the way over here. I guess climbing back. Oh no, that's not what the Bible says. <br /><br /> The Bible has this beautiful thing called repentance. You say, God, I, yeah, I just, yeah, I didn't see it. Yeah. I am. My, my eyes are fixated on, on, this is why I'm upset. It's why I'm consuming. It's why am I giving a smile on blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Here I am. And I bet, man, I'm in my, I wouldn't want anybody to know the place money has in my life. <br /><br /> Well, God doesn't say okay. Then let's start the slow walk home, buddy. No, he says, man, I've been waiting for you girl. I've been waiting for you. You say it Lord. I'm sorry. I want to love you most. I want to be fixated on you and your purposes. I want people to look at my life and say, there's a guy. There's a girl that is absolutely in love with Jesus Christ. <br /><br /> It's the consuming reality in his life. And even if people say, you know, the guys are not, but man, he loves Jesus. <br /><br /> We get there by just saying, Lord, restore that to me. And he says, okay, here we go. Boom. We're back on the path of wisdom. There may be things he leads you to do. There may be changes. He'll make it. Have you make, but you don't have to say I am hopeless. Now you move from here, here, here, here, immediately back on path of wisdom simply by repentance. <br /><br /> It's what grace is all about. <br /><br /> Jesus is taking this whole sermon to do one thing. <br /><br /> He said. I want to tell you about life. As it's designed to be left, you were never designed to do life on your own. You were never designed to, to, to pursue things in your own research. Lean into me. Trust in me, watch what I do, and you'll find there's a peace. There's a joy. There's a contentment. <br /><br /> It is found with no other deity in your life, wherever you are this morning, whatever God's saying to you, if he's asking you say Lord I'm, um, I'm recommitting again. I'm I'm offering myself again, hear that still small voice Lord. We come to you today. Thank you that you want us. Thank you. That you pursue us. <br /><br /> Lord, may our treasure <br /><br /> that lights our fire and leads our, I S <br /><br /> be you in Jesus name. I pray. Amen now go in peace to love and serve and enjoy .</div> false no <![CDATA[What Do You Want?]]> Matthew 6:16-18

“And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you."



Well, good morning. This is a, I have written in my notes because it's the first thing I forget to do every time I'm here and it's to say this well, good morning. My name is pastor Jerry, and I'm the, I'm the campus pastor at the Collinswood campus. And it is my privilege. My joy to bring to you greetings from Collingswood.

Um, we in colleagues would have been following along in this series from the beginning. We were running right now, about two weeks behind you. Um, but keep throwing us curve balls in the schedule where you guys will throw something in there we're not expecting. And then we have to, so anyway, we do the best we can, but we have enjoyed this to me.

I believe the sermon, this sermon is the probably it is not probably, it is the most important teaching of Jesus. It's the most important teaching we have in the, in the scripture. And the more time we can spend in it, the more we will be like our king. So first of all, just by way of introduction, I want to say, where are, where are we in the sermon and where are we in this section?

Um, if my count is right, this is the 21st, the 21st sermon in this series. Um, and we're calling it the upside down life, which is a perfect, I believe a perfect title for the sermon. Um, the sermon that Jesus taught there on, on the hillside in Galilee, think about this. This just seems a little bit crazy if you think about it for too long, but this sermon that we've spent, we've had 21 sermons in this was Jesus' sermon and he probably preached it in about, I don't know, 45 minutes at the time I'm done today, we will have spent about 16 hours.

And we're only halfway through that sermon. That is a little crazy

of the things we learn in this sermon, especially if you're studying it from, uh, from this side, is that Jesus was a great speaker and he was a great preacher. And if you ha, if you need any other proof of that, then you just need to study this sermon because he does a great job. So as he works through it, this is the proof that he is a, he's a, he's a re redder.

How do you say it? Writer, writer, rhetorician. He is a, he's a, he's a master of rhetoric. So as he's moving through now, listen to this. He started with the beatitudes and nine times and the beatitudes, he says, bless, bless, bless it are bless. It are bless it are. And you begin probably by about the second, second or third.

One of those you begin to realize, oh, there's a pattern here. Your ears perk up, perk up and you start to pay very close attention. Bless it are bless. It are blessed. And then he clarifies his relation to the law, his relationship to the law. And then he moves into a section challenging what his hearers have been taught their entire life about anger and loss and divorce, oaths, and retaliation, and their relationship to their enemies, to the people around them who are not necessarily kind to them.

Six times. He says, you have heard it said, but I say six times you have heard it said, but I say, you have heard it said, but I say again, what's the why? What is he doing? These people didn't have pens and pens and notepads. They couldn't take notes. So what is he doing? He's trying to give them devices to remember exactly what he's saying.

We would call those mnemonics. And I'll, we'll talk about that in a minute. He's purposefully employing repetition in his sermon and that's no big revelation. Two weeks ago, pastor mark introduced this section. And I just wonder if I can look, if you can just pop up that grid, that first grid I want you to see, because what Jesus does, do we lose the grid?

There it is. I'll give you a minute to memorize that. What, if you can see what Jesus does is here in this section, right in the middle, he tightens up the repetition. It becomes so repetitive that we, that is not difficult for us to surmise that he's really not talking at all about giving and praying and fasting.

He's making a different point. Giving, praying, and fasting are merely illustrations. There are illustrative of the point that he is trying to make. And that's what we want to talk about today. And that's really what pastor mark talked about two weeks ago as well. You'll notice in my grid verses seven through 15 are not there.

And it would seem that in his, when he gets to. Instead of just passing on and going to the next, uh, the next one, whenever you fast, he pauses, he takes it a little aside in his sermon. That happens when you're preaching all of a sudden, like you'll be talking and you'll feel, I believe it's the holy spirit drop something in there and you just stop and you take a minute.

Maybe that's what happened to Jesus. I don't know. He had a tighter connection to the holy spirit and he was a better speaker, but maybe that happened, maybe he just stopped. And he said, you know what? Just pause for a moment. Let's talk about this praying for a minute before we go on. So it doesn't really fit in that tight repetition, uh, that this, this pattern of repetition that he's developing last week.

Pastor Jim preach on that. And I just have to say, um, don't always seem to go. You don't know what you got until it's gone. Who said that Joni Mitchell or somebody like that? Now not a gym. Isn't I believe that was, I was more moved by that sermon of pastor Jim's last week than I was of anything else that I've heard, pastor Jim preach, it just seemed to me like it came right from his,

geez. I just would have used repetition like this, like, as I said, to help his listeners to hear what he's saying and to remember what he's saying

and remember, he's not saying he's not talking about giving, praying and fasting. He's making a bigger, a broader point. And these are his illustrations. Jesus, doesn't say anywhere that you should pray. I mean that you should give, you should pray. You should fast. He doesn't say you shouldn't. It seems rather that he assumes that you are, and that you will do those things now.

It falls to me to talk about fasting. A few months ago, I mentioned to mark in a meeting I was having with him, pastor mark, my boss. I mentioned to him that, uh, for my own health sake, I really was in need of doing, uh, of entering into an extended fast. I've done extended fast in my life. The longest one I ever did was seven days.

Fasting is a phenomenal thing for your health. I'm bragging to you right now, but this has nothing to do with spiritual fasting. So I'm allowed to do it. You can do it, you really candidate, and it is such a, a good thing for your body. And that's, that's a different thing I can preach for. We'll talk about later.

But so I said to mark, I need to, I need to do a fast and he's like, really, Jerry you fast. Cause look, look at me. I look like I fast don't I, he said, really you. And when did you know it? Two weeks later, I get the invitation to preach this sermon about fasting. Like, this'll be. So lesson learned, be careful what you say to your boss.

Fasting, as I was saying, fasting has become a very popular thing. It wasn't too long ago. Uh, Dr. Atkins throughout the word like ketosis and everybody wanted to string the man up. And now almost any diet that all of the diet crazes right now, the fads all are about ketosis and slipping your body into that state, where you begin to eat the things that are in you.

Not, that's not the energy you stored, but to go after the other things, the things that don't belong in your body, it's all the rage right now. So we have, and anybody engaged, intermittent fasting, has he hands it's fabulous. Isn't it? It's a life changing things. It's and it's easy. It fits right into your life.

If you're fasting to lose weight, it doesn't work. If you're fasting for health, you're going to lose weight. I'm just saying, so we have juice fast, some, a juice, faster water fasting, intermittent fasting, extended fasting. And it is like I said, you can pick up any number of books will tell you, um, we'll preach the gospel of fasting to you.

And I know that's not my plan tonight, but in Christendom, fasting really has fallen on hard times. There are not, we do not often here are not even often encouraged to fast for spiritual reasons. Now there are, and there always have been some who have incorporated fasting into their regular spiritual disciplines.

But again, not many of us done my fair share of fasting, both for my health and for spiritual reasons. And I would want you to just say this about that. These are just a few words about fasting for me. And what I understand about fasting is that fasting is to the body. What prayer is to the soul. It's not an easy thing.

It's effort. It requires concentration. But when we fast, somehow when you get to that place where somehow food begins, and this is if you're not, if you're not a faster, you're going to not believe when I say this, the longer you fast, the less you think of food, it becomes, uh, uh, of secondary nature to you.

Instead you do begin to come in tune with in a very spiritual way, your own body, and all of a sudden, there's this opportunity that opens up where your body and your soul together as one whole, the way God made you engages or can engage with your maker. Why. Because you are in a very different state, a state that you are not accustomed to walking in, God created us body and soul and fasting does allow us to engage with our maker.

In that way.

I would also say this about fasting. Fasting is very natural. It's very natural. Actually. As a matter of fact, each one of you fasted last night, fasting begins when you finish your last meal and it ends when you take the next bite. That's simple. So you ate dinner last night or maybe a snack before he went to bed.

Soon as you finished that last bite, your fast began. And then you woke up this morning and you did what you broke your fast. You had break fast, right? You broke it, you do it. We all do it all the time. It also happens. Naturally. Your body will tell you I don't want food right now. When does that happen?

You're ill. You're sad. There's a tragedy. You receive bad news and it has troubled you to your core. And so what do you do your body starts? Your body says to you, somebody says you should eat and you say, no, I'm really not hungry. Well, that's fast. And you're in a fast, your body responds to disaster, to distress with fasting.

It's a very natural thing in the law. There is one time where fasting is prescribed and that was as the children of Israel were entering into their day of atonement. And God said on that day in preparation for the day they were to afflict themselves, that's the word, a flicked. And this interpreted, this affliction is fasting, not a fun thing, right?

I'm going to flick myself. They were preparing their hearts. Why? Because this was the day when their sin would be a tone. A major thing would happen in that tabernacle in there camp. And on this day they would be to be preparing themselves. That's the only thing time, the only prescription, but what we do see throughout the old Testament is that the people were called the fast.

There were national days of fasting. When an enemy was at their gate, the king would say everybody fast and pray. We need to get God's attention and maybe God will relent. And maybe he will turn them away. When there were times of natural disaster, they would fast, there were famines or droughts, they would fast and they would pray.

There were times rare as HRA and Nehemiah and coming back from captivity, there were fast. Of repentance. We were all put on sackcloth and Ash. Nobody is going to eat among all of us, the city of Nineveh, that wicked city, they, they put on sackcloth and ed even put it on their animals and they stopped because maybe that God that we just heard about, maybe he will relent and maybe we can do something.

So everybody from the king to the animals were sackcloth and cash, and nobody ate at some point point in the old Testament, private fasting comes into the picture. It comes on to the religious scene in Jesus' day. By the time Jesus is on the scene, the devout was fast twice a week. It was on Mondays and Thursday.

They would, there was a whole, there's a, it's called the scroll of fasting written. It gives us a great bit of detail about it, but what is not mentioned really until after the destruction of the temple is why are they fasting? What's the point of this private fast. See me taking two days a week. We're from sunrise sunset the day before, until sun set of the next day.

I'm not going to put a food in a bite of food in my mouth. And instead I'm going to pray what it seems like. It had something to do with ideas, notions of atonement, of a man or of men standing bef between a holy God and their, and his and his sinful wayward people. There was a rabbi who fasted two days a week for 40 years, 40 years, two days a week.

Honed hint was that he would, could hold back the judgment of God. And that may be God would not destroy Jerusalem.

People participate in this type of fasting are devout. Nope. There's no two ways about it when Jesus stood on that mountain. And he said to those people, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees, you will not see the kingdom of God. The people who were not fair farracies on that mountain, their shoulders dipped a little bit.

That means I can't do this. Can I? These are devout people. Now, maybe that's why Jesus saves, saves fasting in his list of three giving, praying, fasting. Maybe that's why he saves fasting to the very end, because it's almost it's. It's like the capstone of our devotion of devotion to God for these people.

Everybody gives everybody praise, but not everybody fast. But there are those men in the synagogue who we know they've actually gotten permission so that they can continue their fast. Even if it falls on a feasting day when fasting is not allowed. So they've made their intentions known. Everybody knows who's here and who's fasting.

There's that picture? Jesus gives us in Luke, the man who walks into fairs, who walks into the temple and says, Lord, I fast twice a week. And I give every I have, and I'm not like that guy over there.

These people were devout. They may have been misguided, but they worked with that. But again, this is important. Fasting is not the point. Fasting is not the point that Jesus is making. So what is Jesus' point? I think the answer is found in Jesus repetition. It's in his mnemonics mnemonics. I had a conversation with pastor van the other day.

He was looking at my notes and he said, that's how you spell mnemonics. I didn't know that he said, I use that word all the time. I started to started with a P my wife told me today. She thought I started with a P it starts with an M right now, to be honest with you, how often do you even hear the word mnemonic?

And so I think just me standing up here and saying it all these times, that I'm saying it is at least worth the price of admission, right.

He crafted this section in his sermon so that his heroes will know what he's saying. And so that they will remember what he's saying. If you can get my chart back up here, there are only in, in this tight. Um, th th th th the tightened repetition, there are only two phrases that Jesus says verbatim word for word, he repeats.

And they're this. The first mnemonic is. Amen. The word amen in Greek is amen. Amen. I say to you, they have received their award. He says that three times, this is related to the, the warning, the BeAware that pastor mark talked about two weeks ago. Amen. I say to you, they have received their reward and he says it word for word.

I can show you in my Greek, if you want. He says it exactly the same way in Greek, as he does in English. I said to you, they have received their reward. He said it three times, they heard it three times their ears have perked up. They know he's making, he's making a point that we need to remember. It's really important.

And I think it's kind of really fascinating that Jesus really isn't making a moral judgment here at all. Is he, look, you want to receive praise of men, you do things to receive praise of men. You receive praise. You got what you wanted, no harm, no foul. It's what you wanted. It's what you got. We can move on

in our world. This is right side up thinking, isn't it? This is the way the world works,

this doing things. So we will be noticed by people. This is what makes the world spin around you. And I were raised in this world. Weren't we? Our parents, our children, our grandchildren are being raised in this world. Teachers, coaches, bosses, friends, even enemies, doing things to be noticed and rewarded is what makes our world spin around.

And it's because. Jesus is speaking to people who live in this world. Who've only known our entire lives, this kind of right side up thinking that he gives a warning and he says, beware, this kind of thinking thrives in religious settings. Matter of fact, most religions, including ours, encourage and promote this kind of thinking.

Think about it from what you wear to church. My wife told me, I look handsome today. I come in, you're all wearing shorts and t-shirts, but I have to just say, my wife trusts me this morning and she's told me three times how handsome I look. So, so it was worth it. Um, my clothes were hanging on the back of the door.

Not ready for me wear those shoes to look over it. Those shoes, um, Lynn, my wife, Linda is right here. You can talk to her later, but from what we wear to church, not as big a thing as it used to be, but what we give to how well behaved our children are to how ragged and used our Bible looks. Maybe somebody down the pew will look at, look at all those look at all that outlining that he does in his Bible.

All of these things have the potential to become nothing more than a display for others to see. And I know it's true in my heart and I can only assume that it's true in some of yours as well.

So the second mnemonic is this. See if you can pull up that second one for us. You already did. You're good. And your father who sees in secret will reward you. And your father who sees in secret will reward you. And your father who sees in secret will reward you. Jesus offers an alternative, an alternative rewarder and an alternate reward to two weeks ago.

Pastor mark made this point. The reward is God. He stood right here and he said it, the reward is God. And in the time I have remaining, I just want to drive home that point. Hebrews 11 says this, um, right in the middle of Hebrews 11, is that great? That hall of faith, we call it right. Um, right between Enoch and Noah.

He's moving right along right between Enoch and Noah. He stops, he interjects this statement and without God, it is impossible to please, without faith. It is impossible to please him for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he is the reward and that he rewards those who seek.

He says for whoever would draw near to God, must one believe that he exists to believe that he rewards those who seek him believe who exists. I think our first song said that something about he's the God who is he's the God who is not that there is a God, we don't believe that there is a God. There's a lot of people who believe that there is a God or more than one God's.

It's not that we believe that there is a God it's that we believe in the God who is the God who is the God who has made himself known to us. If you want to know who he is, look at what, who can, who he says he is. Don't look around, look at him, he's revealed himself. And that one who has revealed himself, that is the one that.

And then we believe that he rewards those who seek him. Let me ask you a question. If I'm seeking buried treasure, what's my reward, finding it tink. I found it and I'm rewarded. If I'm seeking a career in the field of my choice, what's my reward. You can talk, you get a job offer letter. I could pay off my loans.

What's your reward for seeking a healthy lifestyle health. What's your reward for seeking God, God, God. The reason that if I'm seeking him and he's going to reward me for, for seeking him, what am I going to? What is he going to get? He's going to give me him as a matter of fact, it's the best thing he's got to give.

He's got nothing better, nothing. And so he gives me him. Not only is God, the rewarder God is the reward. Not only has God the reward, God is the rewarder. The writer shoves this in this kind of is funny thing. It's like he doesn't, he doesn't, he can't take for granted or assume that you're going to know what it is.

He's saying as he's talking about faith, so right between the Enoch and Noah, he just shoves this in there. And when an author shoves something in there, you got to stop and pay attention.

So first let's talk about the reward and I need to move quickly through this. Cause what time are you supposed to be done?

I heard two. There you go. Thank you. I like you. The reward. An exit is 33 and 34. And I don't have time to read these. So you're going to, I asked you take the time today, go to Exodus 33 and 34. We find that Moses set up a tent outside the camp. He called it the tent of meeting. Anybody could go there seeking God.

But when Moses went there, you know, the story Moses goes to the tent. The pillar, the glory of God picks up from over the holy place in the tabernacle. So Moses is walking into the tent of meeting and the presence of God lifts up and sits down. And it says there that all, all of the people in the camp you've never seen anything like this before all of the people in the camp would go to the front of their tent and they watched the glory move and it would sit down where Moses was and they would worship God for the time that it was there.

They would worship God.

Now, wouldn't you think that's enough? God, I go to my secret place and you meet me in my secret place. That's not enough. I don't know what it is. And all of that, you better believe he's receiving the praise of men here too. Right? Everybody knows Moses moves. Why? Because the cloud moved with him,

but Moses wants some more. And he said, ask God in one of these encounters, God, show me, show me your glory. And God's immediate response is we can do that. I know just how to make this happen. And he says to him, come back up the mountain, he's got to go back up the mountain. He's got to take up his own stones.

Cause he already smashed the stone tablets that God gave him. So he's got to go back up. They already have a date. And God says to him, when you come, there's a spot near me. And I. Hide you in that spot. And I'll put my hand in front of you cause you can't see my face friend. Cause if you do, you'll die, nobody can see me.

So I'm going to, I'm going to cover you up and as I cover you up, my glory will go by you and I will speak to you my name. And when I get past I'll move my hand. You can see my back. That way you can live and you will know my glory. So the next morning Moses gets up, wouldn't you? And he goes up Mount Sinai.

He's got his tablets with him and the Lord meets him there,

tucked away in that secret place, just, just Moses and his God and the Lord passes before him. And he proclaims this, the outweigh Yahweh. A God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. Keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving inequity and transgressions and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children to the third and the fourth generation God meets with Noah in secret.

He rewards him there in secret. He reveals to Moses who he is and proclaims to him. Name. Remember that name y'all way y'all way a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. Keeping steadfast love has said for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgressions, and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty visiting the inequity of the fathers on the children and the children's children.

The third and the fourth. He gives him his name. He tells him, this is who I am. Moses, if you want it, me, this is the me that you want. This is the me, I am me. I am the one. And if you're going to come to me, you get me or nothing else.

That's his reward. Moses, that Moses gets God and his God is delighted to give his servant himself. So now let's move on to the rewarder. And this is the tricky part. This is the part I'm going to say, and you're not going to like it. You're not gonna like it. I don't like it. They didn't like it when he first said it.

And I don't like saying it to you. We don't like hearing it. They didn't like it when Jesus said it and here it goes, you can't prepare a sermon on fast. And not come across Isaiah 58. Can't happen now, Isaiah 58, the word fast is you seven times, seven times. That's more than any other more than it's used in any other book in the Bible.

And so as you're doing your study, you come here. Why? Because this is dense. He's talking about fasting and we're going to talk about fasting. We got to talk about this. Here's the rub. We don't want to hear this part. This is the part that's going to talk about a God and about a people who want God, but not that God.

So here we go. God says to Isaiah cry aloud to not hold back, lift up your voice, like a trumpet declare to my people, their transgression, to the house of Judah, their sins ready? Here's their sins. Yet they seek me daily. And delight to know my ways as if they were a nation that did righteousness. It did not forsake the judgment of their God.

They asked me for righteous judgments, they delight to draw near to God and that people reply. Remember fasting is the capstone of devotion. They say back to their God, why have we fasted? And you not see it? Why have we humbled ourselves? And you take no knowledge of it and God answers them. Tell me this doesn't sound like seeking the praise of man behold.

And the day of your fast, you seek your own business, your press, all your workers. You hold you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with the wicked fist fasting like yours this day will not make your voice heard on high. Is this. The fast that I choose the day for a person to humble himself. Is it the bow down his head, like a read the spread sackcloth and ashes under him.

Will you call this a fast, a day acceptable way, but this is the fast I choose to lose the bonds of wickedness to undo the straps of the yoke to let the oppressed go free to break every yoke. Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house? When you see the naked to cover him, not to hide yourself from your own flesh, then shine your light break forth like the Dawn and your healing shall spring up.

Speedily. Your righteousness shall go before you, the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then you shall cry and Lord will answer. You shall cry. And he will say. Here I am. If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, the speaking wickedness, if you pour yourselves out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noon day, kind of hits hard.

The truth is, and this is a true statement. If you really want to know someone find out what makes him angry, what pricks his heart. If we're going to deal with this, God, then this God is the one that we have to deal with. And when he reveals himself to us, he's the one that we have to deal with.

God's people here want God to act on their behalf, but they refuse to act on his behalf. And how do we know. What does y'all way say to them, just look at the way you treat your neighbors, especially those who are in greatest need need to hear me. When I say this to you, this is not about, this is a message about you and your God.

And if in any way you hear me saying something that might sound political, or somehow you think I'm banging on a, uh, social justice drum, you need to hear me. This is a message about you and that God, before whom you stand period, period, that's all I'm saying. It's all just, Jesus is talking about.

This warning is as pertinent to us today as it was in Isaiah's day. Why? Because we are the people of God. We are that people and this risk is always before us, that we would make God into our image because he's so much easier to worship when he just cooperates with us

and our God, doesn't cooperate with us in this regard. He is who he is. And if you're going to come to me, then you're gonna come to me, who I am, who I've declared myself,

Jesus in his warning and in his offer, beware of practicing your righteousness before men, that you can be seen by men that you'd be seen by men, that you can be seen by men. You have your reward, you have your reward, you have your reward. And in his offer, your God who sees in secret will reward you two of those repetitions.

He says, your God, who is in secret. That God in that hidden place, the one who hides his servant so that he can reveal himself to his servant,

this is who Jesus offers. And what Jesus is saying is you can have one, you can have one reward or you can have the other, you can have the praise of men and all that that entails, or you can have God, but you can't ever have both. You can't ever seek both. He'll say just a few, just a few minutes in his sermon.

He'll say you can't serve God and possessions. You can't do it because you're going to serve possessions. And somehow in serving possessions, you're going to decide that the better thing for me is to change God so that I can, I can worship my possession. Because it's not a very convenient God. This really gets to the heart of all of Israel's idolatry, all of it.

Well jettison our God to go after that. God, cause that God makes his people rich. That God makes us people happy that God brings rain. We'll go after him. And he doesn't care that God lets us clean up. Clip, pick air green of every, every, um, yeah. Kernel of grain from our field. We don't have to leave any of it, but our God makes us leave grain, hanging a good grain that we could sell.

He leaves, it tells us to leave it hanging there. Why? So the poor can come and pick it up after so that they can eat to our crazy. God says every 50 years you let every, all the slaves go every 50 years. And it doesn't matter. Where in the cycle you, you took out your mortgage. I took out my mortgage at year 47, near 50.

Guess what your mortgage is? It's forgiving. That's a crazy God, that's an upside down kind of thinking it doesn't fit in any world in any system in this world. And yet that's our God. So here's the real question. This is really what it gets down to is what it always gets down to with our God to get us to this point.

And usually in our lives, he does it gently. He does it kindly and patiently because he knows you way better than you know you, but he always pushes us to this place. And the question is, what do you want? What do you want? God works at this place. It's what do you want? What's in your heart? What is your heart desire?

What are you pursuing? Is it me? Or is it a thousand other things that keep you from me?

And this is the beautiful part about Jesus in his sermon and his life. I said, Jesus is crazy about his father. He doesn't love anything in the universe. As much as he loves his father. Jesus has known his father forever, right there hasn't been before. There were moments. Jesus knew his father there. And he's crazy about him.

What does Jesus offer these people sitting on this hill when he says, but when you pray, when he's talking to his disciples, not the Pharisees scattered around, who already had figured out God who already had dismissed God or recreated God in a way that was convenient for them and their lifestyle. When he, when Jesus says, but when you fast, make yourself look pretty clean yourself up, nobody needs to know your fasting, but your God, your father, who is in secret.

He'll know, and he'll reward you. He offers us his father. He offers the world, his father. This is Jesus' mission. It's the one thing he's here to do. He's here to offer us his father. He said, you know what? Those miracles that I do, they don't prove that I'm God. They were never intended to prove that I'm God they're intended to prove to you.

Stiff-necked people who sent me, the father sent me, I don't speak a word. He didn't say he didn't tell me to speak. I don't do a work that he didn't give me to do. I am here to show you him.

It says eternal life. He says to his father, this is eternal life that they might know you and Jesus Christ whom you've sent. Listen. The father is all that Jesus has to offer. The father is dead. It's not the father plus something else. The father's hit. And when I say the father is all that Jesus has to offer, you need to hear me saying that Jesus is offering us.

Everything is father. There is everything is everything. There was a moment in a garden. Sometimes that garden is displayed right here as a moment in a garden where there's nothing in between God and the ones that he created to image him, nothing in between. That's the good moment in our history. That one, she just wants to get us back to this moment.

There's one good moment that we knew for such a brief period of time. Let's get back there and how are we going to get back there? It's gotta be with God. It's gotta be with the father. You have to know the father. This is all that I have to give you. And if he's not enough, please don't make up a religion around me.

That supports anything else

I want to end on this God, through the prophet, Joel, Joel wrote, Joel's a minor prophet, but Joel wrote like Isaiah, he wrote to those people who are just about to be carted off God is going to bring great calamity upon his people. And they're just about to be carted off and they're gonna be there for 70 years.

Well, 70 years is like a death sentence, right? So whoever's leaving Jerusalem. Now isn't coming back. And if there's any hope, it's an, a next generation, a new generation. And the prophets had to bring this bad news to the stiff-necked people of God. And the prophet, Joel says, this returned to me with all your heart.

This is, this is you always speaking to his people. He's talking about the time that's coming, when I'll bring you back. Returned to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping and with mourning and Ren your hearts, not your garments. Okay. If you tear your clothes, you don't get my attention by ripping your clothes.

Tear your hearts, wrench your heart in front of me. Return to the Lord, your God. Now listen. Remember this name, return to the Lord. Your God for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast. Love that sound familiar. Have you heard that name before? It's exactly what God said to Moses return.

Not to some God you can make up returned to me for. I am gracious and merciful. I am slow to act. I am abounding in steadfast love. I relent over disaster and the good news, and this is Jesus' good news is that our God is still there. That God who revealed himself to Moses is still there. And he still delights to meet with you in that secret, in that secret place.

If you want him, let me pray.

Lord God draws to that place where you are to that place, where it's just you. And as you draw us to that place, Lord in largest to receive you the God who you are. Not petty gods of our own making, but the one God who made us for yourself, that we might know you, that we might possess you, that we might be possessed by you alone.

Lord, we, your people, Paul tells us that we, your people living now in this new covenant era inaugurated by our Lord Jesus at his death because of what you've had done for us in Christ, that we're no longer hidden in the, in a, in a hollow spot. It's no longer unsafe for us to see your face. Rather, we, your people stand before you face to face.

We see the glory of our. In the face of our Lord Jesus Christ. And it's their Lord in that posture, in that face to face encounter with our God that we're transformed from one degree of glory to another Lord. It's that place next to you? Where you do this work in our hearts to make us like yourself.

Lord, I ask that you will give us the courage, give us the faith that we need as we learn to delight in you. Our father, can I ask Lord that you will make us like you, that our hearts will be like your heart, that our thoughts will be your thoughts that the mind of Christ would be our mind collectively and as individually.

That we would have the mind of Christ. And from there that we would engage this wicked world that doesn't know you at all that to them, your way seems upside down. But in proximity to you, we realized, Lord, this is not the upside down life. We only thought it was because we were living upside down. Lord, yours is the life.

Yours is the way yours is the goodness. Yours is the reward. Lord prepare our hearts to receive you and make us seekers of you. I ask these things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom you have done all of the work that will ever need to be done or behalf what's his name? I pray. Amen. Go in peace.

You're dismissed.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/what-do-you-want 36fd475b-dbc4-4448-84cc-a1b8a6a84c37 Sun, 08 Aug 2021 09:49:35 GMT <div data-html="true">Matthew 6:16-18 <br /><br /> “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you." <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Well, good morning. This is a, I have written in my notes because it's the first thing I forget to do every time I'm here and it's to say this well, good morning. My name is pastor Jerry, and I'm the, I'm the campus pastor at the Collinswood campus. And it is my privilege. My joy to bring to you greetings from Collingswood. <br /><br /> Um, we in colleagues would have been following along in this series from the beginning. We were running right now, about two weeks behind you. Um, but keep throwing us curve balls in the schedule where you guys will throw something in there we're not expecting. And then we have to, so anyway, we do the best we can, but we have enjoyed this to me. <br /><br /> I believe the sermon, this sermon is the probably it is not probably, it is the most important teaching of Jesus. It's the most important teaching we have in the, in the scripture. And the more time we can spend in it, the more we will be like our king. So first of all, just by way of introduction, I want to say, where are, where are we in the sermon and where are we in this section? <br /><br /> Um, if my count is right, this is the 21st, the 21st sermon in this series. Um, and we're calling it the upside down life, which is a perfect, I believe a perfect title for the sermon. Um, the sermon that Jesus taught there on, on the hillside in Galilee, think about this. This just seems a little bit crazy if you think about it for too long, but this sermon that we've spent, we've had 21 sermons in this was Jesus' sermon and he probably preached it in about, I don't know, 45 minutes at the time I'm done today, we will have spent about 16 hours. <br /><br /> And we're only halfway through that sermon. That is a little crazy <br /><br /> of the things we learn in this sermon, especially if you're studying it from, uh, from this side, is that Jesus was a great speaker and he was a great preacher. And if you ha, if you need any other proof of that, then you just need to study this sermon because he does a great job. So as he works through it, this is the proof that he is a, he's a, he's a re redder. <br /><br /> How do you say it? Writer, writer, rhetorician. He is a, he's a, he's a master of rhetoric. So as he's moving through now, listen to this. He started with the beatitudes and nine times and the beatitudes, he says, bless, bless, bless it are bless. It are bless it are. And you begin probably by about the second, second or third. <br /><br /> One of those you begin to realize, oh, there's a pattern here. Your ears perk up, perk up and you start to pay very close attention. Bless it are bless. It are blessed. And then he clarifies his relation to the law, his relationship to the law. And then he moves into a section challenging what his hearers have been taught their entire life about anger and loss and divorce, oaths, and retaliation, and their relationship to their enemies, to the people around them who are not necessarily kind to them. <br /><br /> Six times. He says, you have heard it said, but I say six times you have heard it said, but I say, you have heard it said, but I say again, what's the why? What is he doing? These people didn't have pens and pens and notepads. They couldn't take notes. So what is he doing? He's trying to give them devices to remember exactly what he's saying. <br /><br /> We would call those mnemonics. And I'll, we'll talk about that in a minute. He's purposefully employing repetition in his sermon and that's no big revelation. Two weeks ago, pastor mark introduced this section. And I just wonder if I can look, if you can just pop up that grid, that first grid I want you to see, because what Jesus does, do we lose the grid? <br /><br /> There it is. I'll give you a minute to memorize that. What, if you can see what Jesus does is here in this section, right in the middle, he tightens up the repetition. It becomes so repetitive that we, that is not difficult for us to surmise that he's really not talking at all about giving and praying and fasting. <br /><br /> He's making a different point. Giving, praying, and fasting are merely illustrations. There are illustrative of the point that he is trying to make. And that's what we want to talk about today. And that's really what pastor mark talked about two weeks ago as well. You'll notice in my grid verses seven through 15 are not there. <br /><br /> And it would seem that in his, when he gets to. Instead of just passing on and going to the next, uh, the next one, whenever you fast, he pauses, he takes it a little aside in his sermon. That happens when you're preaching all of a sudden, like you'll be talking and you'll feel, I believe it's the holy spirit drop something in there and you just stop and you take a minute. <br /><br /> Maybe that's what happened to Jesus. I don't know. He had a tighter connection to the holy spirit and he was a better speaker, but maybe that happened, maybe he just stopped. And he said, you know what? Just pause for a moment. Let's talk about this praying for a minute before we go on. So it doesn't really fit in that tight repetition, uh, that this, this pattern of repetition that he's developing last week. <br /><br /> Pastor Jim preach on that. And I just have to say, um, don't always seem to go. You don't know what you got until it's gone. Who said that Joni Mitchell or somebody like that? Now not a gym. Isn't I believe that was, I was more moved by that sermon of pastor Jim's last week than I was of anything else that I've heard, pastor Jim preach, it just seemed to me like it came right from his, <br /><br /> geez. I just would have used repetition like this, like, as I said, to help his listeners to hear what he's saying and to remember what he's saying <br /><br /> and remember, he's not saying he's not talking about giving, praying and fasting. He's making a bigger, a broader point. And these are his illustrations. Jesus, doesn't say anywhere that you should pray. I mean that you should give, you should pray. You should fast. He doesn't say you shouldn't. It seems rather that he assumes that you are, and that you will do those things now. <br /><br /> It falls to me to talk about fasting. A few months ago, I mentioned to mark in a meeting I was having with him, pastor mark, my boss. I mentioned to him that, uh, for my own health sake, I really was in need of doing, uh, of entering into an extended fast. I've done extended fast in my life. The longest one I ever did was seven days. <br /><br /> Fasting is a phenomenal thing for your health. I'm bragging to you right now, but this has nothing to do with spiritual fasting. So I'm allowed to do it. You can do it, you really candidate, and it is such a, a good thing for your body. And that's, that's a different thing I can preach for. We'll talk about later. <br /><br /> But so I said to mark, I need to, I need to do a fast and he's like, really, Jerry you fast. Cause look, look at me. I look like I fast don't I, he said, really you. And when did you know it? Two weeks later, I get the invitation to preach this sermon about fasting. Like, this'll be. So lesson learned, be careful what you say to your boss. <br /><br /> Fasting, as I was saying, fasting has become a very popular thing. It wasn't too long ago. Uh, Dr. Atkins throughout the word like ketosis and everybody wanted to string the man up. And now almost any diet that all of the diet crazes right now, the fads all are about ketosis and slipping your body into that state, where you begin to eat the things that are in you. <br /><br /> Not, that's not the energy you stored, but to go after the other things, the things that don't belong in your body, it's all the rage right now. So we have, and anybody engaged, intermittent fasting, has he hands it's fabulous. Isn't it? It's a life changing things. It's and it's easy. It fits right into your life. <br /><br /> If you're fasting to lose weight, it doesn't work. If you're fasting for health, you're going to lose weight. I'm just saying, so we have juice fast, some, a juice, faster water fasting, intermittent fasting, extended fasting. And it is like I said, you can pick up any number of books will tell you, um, we'll preach the gospel of fasting to you. <br /><br /> And I know that's not my plan tonight, but in Christendom, fasting really has fallen on hard times. There are not, we do not often here are not even often encouraged to fast for spiritual reasons. Now there are, and there always have been some who have incorporated fasting into their regular spiritual disciplines. <br /><br /> But again, not many of us done my fair share of fasting, both for my health and for spiritual reasons. And I would want you to just say this about that. These are just a few words about fasting for me. And what I understand about fasting is that fasting is to the body. What prayer is to the soul. It's not an easy thing. <br /><br /> It's effort. It requires concentration. But when we fast, somehow when you get to that place where somehow food begins, and this is if you're not, if you're not a faster, you're going to not believe when I say this, the longer you fast, the less you think of food, it becomes, uh, uh, of secondary nature to you. <br /><br /> Instead you do begin to come in tune with in a very spiritual way, your own body, and all of a sudden, there's this opportunity that opens up where your body and your soul together as one whole, the way God made you engages or can engage with your maker. Why. Because you are in a very different state, a state that you are not accustomed to walking in, God created us body and soul and fasting does allow us to engage with our maker. <br /><br /> In that way. <br /><br /> I would also say this about fasting. Fasting is very natural. It's very natural. Actually. As a matter of fact, each one of you fasted last night, fasting begins when you finish your last meal and it ends when you take the next bite. That's simple. So you ate dinner last night or maybe a snack before he went to bed. <br /><br /> Soon as you finished that last bite, your fast began. And then you woke up this morning and you did what you broke your fast. You had break fast, right? You broke it, you do it. We all do it all the time. It also happens. Naturally. Your body will tell you I don't want food right now. When does that happen? <br /><br /> You're ill. You're sad. There's a tragedy. You receive bad news and it has troubled you to your core. And so what do you do your body starts? Your body says to you, somebody says you should eat and you say, no, I'm really not hungry. Well, that's fast. And you're in a fast, your body responds to disaster, to distress with fasting. <br /><br /> It's a very natural thing in the law. There is one time where fasting is prescribed and that was as the children of Israel were entering into their day of atonement. And God said on that day in preparation for the day they were to afflict themselves, that's the word, a flicked. And this interpreted, this affliction is fasting, not a fun thing, right? <br /><br /> I'm going to flick myself. They were preparing their hearts. Why? Because this was the day when their sin would be a tone. A major thing would happen in that tabernacle in there camp. And on this day they would be to be preparing themselves. That's the only thing time, the only prescription, but what we do see throughout the old Testament is that the people were called the fast. <br /><br /> There were national days of fasting. When an enemy was at their gate, the king would say everybody fast and pray. We need to get God's attention and maybe God will relent. And maybe he will turn them away. When there were times of natural disaster, they would fast, there were famines or droughts, they would fast and they would pray. <br /><br /> There were times rare as HRA and Nehemiah and coming back from captivity, there were fast. Of repentance. We were all put on sackcloth and Ash. Nobody is going to eat among all of us, the city of Nineveh, that wicked city, they, they put on sackcloth and ed even put it on their animals and they stopped because maybe that God that we just heard about, maybe he will relent and maybe we can do something. <br /><br /> So everybody from the king to the animals were sackcloth and cash, and nobody ate at some point point in the old Testament, private fasting comes into the picture. It comes on to the religious scene in Jesus' day. By the time Jesus is on the scene, the devout was fast twice a week. It was on Mondays and Thursday. <br /><br /> They would, there was a whole, there's a, it's called the scroll of fasting written. It gives us a great bit of detail about it, but what is not mentioned really until after the destruction of the temple is why are they fasting? What's the point of this private fast. See me taking two days a week. We're from sunrise sunset the day before, until sun set of the next day. <br /><br /> I'm not going to put a food in a bite of food in my mouth. And instead I'm going to pray what it seems like. It had something to do with ideas, notions of atonement, of a man or of men standing bef between a holy God and their, and his and his sinful wayward people. There was a rabbi who fasted two days a week for 40 years, 40 years, two days a week. <br /><br /> Honed hint was that he would, could hold back the judgment of God. And that may be God would not destroy Jerusalem. <br /><br /> People participate in this type of fasting are devout. Nope. There's no two ways about it when Jesus stood on that mountain. And he said to those people, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees, you will not see the kingdom of God. The people who were not fair farracies on that mountain, their shoulders dipped a little bit. <br /><br /> That means I can't do this. Can I? These are devout people. Now, maybe that's why Jesus saves, saves fasting in his list of three giving, praying, fasting. Maybe that's why he saves fasting to the very end, because it's almost it's. It's like the capstone of our devotion of devotion to God for these people. <br /><br /> Everybody gives everybody praise, but not everybody fast. But there are those men in the synagogue who we know they've actually gotten permission so that they can continue their fast. Even if it falls on a feasting day when fasting is not allowed. So they've made their intentions known. Everybody knows who's here and who's fasting. <br /><br /> There's that picture? Jesus gives us in Luke, the man who walks into fairs, who walks into the temple and says, Lord, I fast twice a week. And I give every I have, and I'm not like that guy over there. <br /><br /> These people were devout. They may have been misguided, but they worked with that. But again, this is important. Fasting is not the point. Fasting is not the point that Jesus is making. So what is Jesus' point? I think the answer is found in Jesus repetition. It's in his mnemonics mnemonics. I had a conversation with pastor van the other day. <br /><br /> He was looking at my notes and he said, that's how you spell mnemonics. I didn't know that he said, I use that word all the time. I started to started with a P my wife told me today. She thought I started with a P it starts with an M right now, to be honest with you, how often do you even hear the word mnemonic? <br /><br /> And so I think just me standing up here and saying it all these times, that I'm saying it is at least worth the price of admission, right. <br /><br /> He crafted this section in his sermon so that his heroes will know what he's saying. And so that they will remember what he's saying. If you can get my chart back up here, there are only in, in this tight. Um, th th th th the tightened repetition, there are only two phrases that Jesus says verbatim word for word, he repeats. <br /><br /> And they're this. The first mnemonic is. Amen. The word amen in Greek is amen. Amen. I say to you, they have received their award. He says that three times, this is related to the, the warning, the BeAware that pastor mark talked about two weeks ago. Amen. I say to you, they have received their reward and he says it word for word. <br /><br /> I can show you in my Greek, if you want. He says it exactly the same way in Greek, as he does in English. I said to you, they have received their reward. He said it three times, they heard it three times their ears have perked up. They know he's making, he's making a point that we need to remember. It's really important. <br /><br /> And I think it's kind of really fascinating that Jesus really isn't making a moral judgment here at all. Is he, look, you want to receive praise of men, you do things to receive praise of men. You receive praise. You got what you wanted, no harm, no foul. It's what you wanted. It's what you got. We can move on <br /><br /> in our world. This is right side up thinking, isn't it? This is the way the world works, <br /><br /> this doing things. So we will be noticed by people. This is what makes the world spin around you. And I were raised in this world. Weren't we? Our parents, our children, our grandchildren are being raised in this world. Teachers, coaches, bosses, friends, even enemies, doing things to be noticed and rewarded is what makes our world spin around. <br /><br /> And it's because. Jesus is speaking to people who live in this world. Who've only known our entire lives, this kind of right side up thinking that he gives a warning and he says, beware, this kind of thinking thrives in religious settings. Matter of fact, most religions, including ours, encourage and promote this kind of thinking. <br /><br /> Think about it from what you wear to church. My wife told me, I look handsome today. I come in, you're all wearing shorts and t-shirts, but I have to just say, my wife trusts me this morning and she's told me three times how handsome I look. So, so it was worth it. Um, my clothes were hanging on the back of the door. <br /><br /> Not ready for me wear those shoes to look over it. Those shoes, um, Lynn, my wife, Linda is right here. You can talk to her later, but from what we wear to church, not as big a thing as it used to be, but what we give to how well behaved our children are to how ragged and used our Bible looks. Maybe somebody down the pew will look at, look at all those look at all that outlining that he does in his Bible. <br /><br /> All of these things have the potential to become nothing more than a display for others to see. And I know it's true in my heart and I can only assume that it's true in some of yours as well. <br /><br /> So the second mnemonic is this. See if you can pull up that second one for us. You already did. You're good. And your father who sees in secret will reward you. And your father who sees in secret will reward you. And your father who sees in secret will reward you. Jesus offers an alternative, an alternative rewarder and an alternate reward to two weeks ago. <br /><br /> Pastor mark made this point. The reward is God. He stood right here and he said it, the reward is God. And in the time I have remaining, I just want to drive home that point. Hebrews 11 says this, um, right in the middle of Hebrews 11, is that great? That hall of faith, we call it right. Um, right between Enoch and Noah. <br /><br /> He's moving right along right between Enoch and Noah. He stops, he interjects this statement and without God, it is impossible to please, without faith. It is impossible to please him for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he is the reward and that he rewards those who seek. <br /><br /> He says for whoever would draw near to God, must one believe that he exists to believe that he rewards those who seek him believe who exists. I think our first song said that something about he's the God who is he's the God who is not that there is a God, we don't believe that there is a God. There's a lot of people who believe that there is a God or more than one God's. <br /><br /> It's not that we believe that there is a God it's that we believe in the God who is the God who is the God who has made himself known to us. If you want to know who he is, look at what, who can, who he says he is. Don't look around, look at him, he's revealed himself. And that one who has revealed himself, that is the one that. <br /><br /> And then we believe that he rewards those who seek him. Let me ask you a question. If I'm seeking buried treasure, what's my reward, finding it tink. I found it and I'm rewarded. If I'm seeking a career in the field of my choice, what's my reward. You can talk, you get a job offer letter. I could pay off my loans. <br /><br /> What's your reward for seeking a healthy lifestyle health. What's your reward for seeking God, God, God. The reason that if I'm seeking him and he's going to reward me for, for seeking him, what am I going to? What is he going to get? He's going to give me him as a matter of fact, it's the best thing he's got to give. <br /><br /> He's got nothing better, nothing. And so he gives me him. Not only is God, the rewarder God is the reward. Not only has God the reward, God is the rewarder. The writer shoves this in this kind of is funny thing. It's like he doesn't, he doesn't, he can't take for granted or assume that you're going to know what it is. <br /><br /> He's saying as he's talking about faith, so right between the Enoch and Noah, he just shoves this in there. And when an author shoves something in there, you got to stop and pay attention. <br /><br /> So first let's talk about the reward and I need to move quickly through this. Cause what time are you supposed to be done? <br /><br /> I heard two. There you go. Thank you. I like you. The reward. An exit is 33 and 34. And I don't have time to read these. So you're going to, I asked you take the time today, go to Exodus 33 and 34. We find that Moses set up a tent outside the camp. He called it the tent of meeting. Anybody could go there seeking God. <br /><br /> But when Moses went there, you know, the story Moses goes to the tent. The pillar, the glory of God picks up from over the holy place in the tabernacle. So Moses is walking into the tent of meeting and the presence of God lifts up and sits down. And it says there that all, all of the people in the camp you've never seen anything like this before all of the people in the camp would go to the front of their tent and they watched the glory move and it would sit down where Moses was and they would worship God for the time that it was there. <br /><br /> They would worship God. <br /><br /> Now, wouldn't you think that's enough? God, I go to my secret place and you meet me in my secret place. That's not enough. I don't know what it is. And all of that, you better believe he's receiving the praise of men here too. Right? Everybody knows Moses moves. Why? Because the cloud moved with him, <br /><br /> but Moses wants some more. And he said, ask God in one of these encounters, God, show me, show me your glory. And God's immediate response is we can do that. I know just how to make this happen. And he says to him, come back up the mountain, he's got to go back up the mountain. He's got to take up his own stones. <br /><br /> Cause he already smashed the stone tablets that God gave him. So he's got to go back up. They already have a date. And God says to him, when you come, there's a spot near me. And I. Hide you in that spot. And I'll put my hand in front of you cause you can't see my face friend. Cause if you do, you'll die, nobody can see me. <br /><br /> So I'm going to, I'm going to cover you up and as I cover you up, my glory will go by you and I will speak to you my name. And when I get past I'll move my hand. You can see my back. That way you can live and you will know my glory. So the next morning Moses gets up, wouldn't you? And he goes up Mount Sinai. <br /><br /> He's got his tablets with him and the Lord meets him there, <br /><br /> tucked away in that secret place, just, just Moses and his God and the Lord passes before him. And he proclaims this, the outweigh Yahweh. A God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. Keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving inequity and transgressions and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children to the third and the fourth generation God meets with Noah in secret. <br /><br /> He rewards him there in secret. He reveals to Moses who he is and proclaims to him. Name. Remember that name y'all way y'all way a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. Keeping steadfast love has said for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgressions, and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty visiting the inequity of the fathers on the children and the children's children. <br /><br /> The third and the fourth. He gives him his name. He tells him, this is who I am. Moses, if you want it, me, this is the me that you want. This is the me, I am me. I am the one. And if you're going to come to me, you get me or nothing else. <br /><br /> That's his reward. Moses, that Moses gets God and his God is delighted to give his servant himself. So now let's move on to the rewarder. And this is the tricky part. This is the part I'm going to say, and you're not going to like it. You're not gonna like it. I don't like it. They didn't like it when he first said it. <br /><br /> And I don't like saying it to you. We don't like hearing it. They didn't like it when Jesus said it and here it goes, you can't prepare a sermon on fast. And not come across Isaiah 58. Can't happen now, Isaiah 58, the word fast is you seven times, seven times. That's more than any other more than it's used in any other book in the Bible. <br /><br /> And so as you're doing your study, you come here. Why? Because this is dense. He's talking about fasting and we're going to talk about fasting. We got to talk about this. Here's the rub. We don't want to hear this part. This is the part that's going to talk about a God and about a people who want God, but not that God. <br /><br /> So here we go. God says to Isaiah cry aloud to not hold back, lift up your voice, like a trumpet declare to my people, their transgression, to the house of Judah, their sins ready? Here's their sins. Yet they seek me daily. And delight to know my ways as if they were a nation that did righteousness. It did not forsake the judgment of their God. <br /><br /> They asked me for righteous judgments, they delight to draw near to God and that people reply. Remember fasting is the capstone of devotion. They say back to their God, why have we fasted? And you not see it? Why have we humbled ourselves? And you take no knowledge of it and God answers them. Tell me this doesn't sound like seeking the praise of man behold. <br /><br /> And the day of your fast, you seek your own business, your press, all your workers. You hold you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with the wicked fist fasting like yours this day will not make your voice heard on high. Is this. The fast that I choose the day for a person to humble himself. Is it the bow down his head, like a read the spread sackcloth and ashes under him. <br /><br /> Will you call this a fast, a day acceptable way, but this is the fast I choose to lose the bonds of wickedness to undo the straps of the yoke to let the oppressed go free to break every yoke. Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house? When you see the naked to cover him, not to hide yourself from your own flesh, then shine your light break forth like the Dawn and your healing shall spring up. <br /><br /> Speedily. Your righteousness shall go before you, the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then you shall cry and Lord will answer. You shall cry. And he will say. Here I am. If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, the speaking wickedness, if you pour yourselves out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noon day, kind of hits hard. <br /><br /> The truth is, and this is a true statement. If you really want to know someone find out what makes him angry, what pricks his heart. If we're going to deal with this, God, then this God is the one that we have to deal with. And when he reveals himself to us, he's the one that we have to deal with. <br /><br /> God's people here want God to act on their behalf, but they refuse to act on his behalf. And how do we know. What does y'all way say to them, just look at the way you treat your neighbors, especially those who are in greatest need need to hear me. When I say this to you, this is not about, this is a message about you and your God. <br /><br /> And if in any way you hear me saying something that might sound political, or somehow you think I'm banging on a, uh, social justice drum, you need to hear me. This is a message about you and that God, before whom you stand period, period, that's all I'm saying. It's all just, Jesus is talking about. <br /><br /> This warning is as pertinent to us today as it was in Isaiah's day. Why? Because we are the people of God. We are that people and this risk is always before us, that we would make God into our image because he's so much easier to worship when he just cooperates with us <br /><br /> and our God, doesn't cooperate with us in this regard. He is who he is. And if you're going to come to me, then you're gonna come to me, who I am, who I've declared myself, <br /><br /> Jesus in his warning and in his offer, beware of practicing your righteousness before men, that you can be seen by men that you'd be seen by men, that you can be seen by men. You have your reward, you have your reward, you have your reward. And in his offer, your God who sees in secret will reward you two of those repetitions. <br /><br /> He says, your God, who is in secret. That God in that hidden place, the one who hides his servant so that he can reveal himself to his servant, <br /><br /> this is who Jesus offers. And what Jesus is saying is you can have one, you can have one reward or you can have the other, you can have the praise of men and all that that entails, or you can have God, but you can't ever have both. You can't ever seek both. He'll say just a few, just a few minutes in his sermon. <br /><br /> He'll say you can't serve God and possessions. You can't do it because you're going to serve possessions. And somehow in serving possessions, you're going to decide that the better thing for me is to change God so that I can, I can worship my possession. Because it's not a very convenient God. This really gets to the heart of all of Israel's idolatry, all of it. <br /><br /> Well jettison our God to go after that. God, cause that God makes his people rich. That God makes us people happy that God brings rain. We'll go after him. And he doesn't care that God lets us clean up. Clip, pick air green of every, every, um, yeah. Kernel of grain from our field. We don't have to leave any of it, but our God makes us leave grain, hanging a good grain that we could sell. <br /><br /> He leaves, it tells us to leave it hanging there. Why? So the poor can come and pick it up after so that they can eat to our crazy. God says every 50 years you let every, all the slaves go every 50 years. And it doesn't matter. Where in the cycle you, you took out your mortgage. I took out my mortgage at year 47, near 50. <br /><br /> Guess what your mortgage is? It's forgiving. That's a crazy God, that's an upside down kind of thinking it doesn't fit in any world in any system in this world. And yet that's our God. So here's the real question. This is really what it gets down to is what it always gets down to with our God to get us to this point. <br /><br /> And usually in our lives, he does it gently. He does it kindly and patiently because he knows you way better than you know you, but he always pushes us to this place. And the question is, what do you want? What do you want? God works at this place. It's what do you want? What's in your heart? What is your heart desire? <br /><br /> What are you pursuing? Is it me? Or is it a thousand other things that keep you from me? <br /><br /> And this is the beautiful part about Jesus in his sermon and his life. I said, Jesus is crazy about his father. He doesn't love anything in the universe. As much as he loves his father. Jesus has known his father forever, right there hasn't been before. There were moments. Jesus knew his father there. And he's crazy about him. <br /><br /> What does Jesus offer these people sitting on this hill when he says, but when you pray, when he's talking to his disciples, not the Pharisees scattered around, who already had figured out God who already had dismissed God or recreated God in a way that was convenient for them and their lifestyle. When he, when Jesus says, but when you fast, make yourself look pretty clean yourself up, nobody needs to know your fasting, but your God, your father, who is in secret. <br /><br /> He'll know, and he'll reward you. He offers us his father. He offers the world, his father. This is Jesus' mission. It's the one thing he's here to do. He's here to offer us his father. He said, you know what? Those miracles that I do, they don't prove that I'm God. They were never intended to prove that I'm God they're intended to prove to you. <br /><br /> Stiff-necked people who sent me, the father sent me, I don't speak a word. He didn't say he didn't tell me to speak. I don't do a work that he didn't give me to do. I am here to show you him. <br /><br /> It says eternal life. He says to his father, this is eternal life that they might know you and Jesus Christ whom you've sent. Listen. The father is all that Jesus has to offer. The father is dead. It's not the father plus something else. The father's hit. And when I say the father is all that Jesus has to offer, you need to hear me saying that Jesus is offering us. <br /><br /> Everything is father. There is everything is everything. There was a moment in a garden. Sometimes that garden is displayed right here as a moment in a garden where there's nothing in between God and the ones that he created to image him, nothing in between. That's the good moment in our history. That one, she just wants to get us back to this moment. <br /><br /> There's one good moment that we knew for such a brief period of time. Let's get back there and how are we going to get back there? It's gotta be with God. It's gotta be with the father. You have to know the father. This is all that I have to give you. And if he's not enough, please don't make up a religion around me. <br /><br /> That supports anything else <br /><br /> I want to end on this God, through the prophet, Joel, Joel wrote, Joel's a minor prophet, but Joel wrote like Isaiah, he wrote to those people who are just about to be carted off God is going to bring great calamity upon his people. And they're just about to be carted off and they're gonna be there for 70 years. <br /><br /> Well, 70 years is like a death sentence, right? So whoever's leaving Jerusalem. Now isn't coming back. And if there's any hope, it's an, a next generation, a new generation. And the prophets had to bring this bad news to the stiff-necked people of God. And the prophet, Joel says, this returned to me with all your heart. <br /><br /> This is, this is you always speaking to his people. He's talking about the time that's coming, when I'll bring you back. Returned to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping and with mourning and Ren your hearts, not your garments. Okay. If you tear your clothes, you don't get my attention by ripping your clothes. <br /><br /> Tear your hearts, wrench your heart in front of me. Return to the Lord, your God. Now listen. Remember this name, return to the Lord. Your God for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast. Love that sound familiar. Have you heard that name before? It's exactly what God said to Moses return. <br /><br /> Not to some God you can make up returned to me for. I am gracious and merciful. I am slow to act. I am abounding in steadfast love. I relent over disaster and the good news, and this is Jesus' good news is that our God is still there. That God who revealed himself to Moses is still there. And he still delights to meet with you in that secret, in that secret place. <br /><br /> If you want him, let me pray. <br /><br /> Lord God draws to that place where you are to that place, where it's just you. And as you draw us to that place, Lord in largest to receive you the God who you are. Not petty gods of our own making, but the one God who made us for yourself, that we might know you, that we might possess you, that we might be possessed by you alone. <br /><br /> Lord, we, your people, Paul tells us that we, your people living now in this new covenant era inaugurated by our Lord Jesus at his death because of what you've had done for us in Christ, that we're no longer hidden in the, in a, in a hollow spot. It's no longer unsafe for us to see your face. Rather, we, your people stand before you face to face. <br /><br /> We see the glory of our. In the face of our Lord Jesus Christ. And it's their Lord in that posture, in that face to face encounter with our God that we're transformed from one degree of glory to another Lord. It's that place next to you? Where you do this work in our hearts to make us like yourself. <br /><br /> Lord, I ask that you will give us the courage, give us the faith that we need as we learn to delight in you. Our father, can I ask Lord that you will make us like you, that our hearts will be like your heart, that our thoughts will be your thoughts that the mind of Christ would be our mind collectively and as individually. <br /><br /> That we would have the mind of Christ. And from there that we would engage this wicked world that doesn't know you at all that to them, your way seems upside down. But in proximity to you, we realized, Lord, this is not the upside down life. We only thought it was because we were living upside down. Lord, yours is the life. <br /><br /> Yours is the way yours is the goodness. Yours is the reward. Lord prepare our hearts to receive you and make us seekers of you. I ask these things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom you have done all of the work that will ever need to be done or behalf what's his name? I pray. Amen. Go in peace. <br /><br /> You're dismissed.</div> false no <![CDATA[The Heart of Prayer]]> Matthew 6:5-15

5 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

9 “This, then, is how you should pray:

“‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, 10 your kingdom come, your will be done,     on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us today our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts,     as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation,[a]     but deliver us from the evil one.[b]’



14 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.





Good morning, everybody. The chair here is just in case I need it. Uh, mostly just because I'm lazy. Not as, not already true. Uh, let let's again, let's just open our hearts before the Lord here, and then we'll jump into his word father. We thank you so much for who you are. We thank you.

Yes, you are the high king of glory. We can worship you. You allow us to do that. You put that in our hearts and we are so grateful for that. And as we spend these few moments together here, Lord, as we look into your word as we, um, again, look at your heart, see what you want to do in us in this upside down, sort of.

Help us to listen to you, take what's of yourself and burn it deeply into our hearts. I pray in Jesus name. Amen. I was sort of expecting a stand here, but that's all right. Uh, we'll work out, you know what, uh, pastor market was looking, trying to get somebody. Ah, thank you. Appreciate that. Um, uh, just for somebody to, uh, to take this, uh, this particular week here and so on as a SAF, they, they decided, you know what we need to do.

We want to get the best speaker that we know of, but they couldn't get him. So then they said, well, you know what? We can't do that least let's get the best theologian. Uh, but they couldn't get him either. And buying me, they finally said, well, at least let's get the best looking person we know. Yeah. Not that either, but we're going to spend some time here together, you know?

Uh, it's a passage we're gonna look at here. It's very familiar to us and it draws our attention, especially hopefully to God, but so often that our heart, oh, I want to start with something many years ago, I was leading a group of kids on a backpack trip. We were in college. And we were climbing Pagosa peak Pagosa peak is pretty tall.

Peak gets it's a little short of 13,000 feet and we're backpacking up there. And as, as we're going along, a couple of things that happen, first of all, we got a little bit late start on the day. I think this was the second or third day into the trip. And as we're going along, it's steep, it's high it's high altitude.

And I realized there was one person, especially who was not very fast. And so we're trying to keep everything going. And as we're getting closer to the peak, if you know anything about the Colorado, the Colorado mountains, you can guarantee in July, there are probably going to be thunderstorms. And as we're going up climbing up, I'm trying to get people to move and suddenly the clouds come up and there is this big thunderstorm building close to Pagosa peak.

And we're in a place here where you can't get off. There's no place to go. Those, those lightening storms are incredible. They're scary. And I wasn't quite sure what to do. We couldn't go back. And I, I've been thinking a lot even about this passage that we're going to look at. And so I did all that I knew to do first of all, to try to get the kids to walk faster and then the prey.

Cause that was my resource. We'll come back to that. Yeah, bro. Prayer can be sometimes, uh, a confusing thing to some of us, those of us who pray. And even if you don't pray sometimes. What, what is God doing? Why did he give us this? Um, I mean, sometimes we pray out of despair. Sometimes we pray out of confusion.

Sometimes we don't pray because we don't trust. Sometimes we ignore what God is doing. Sometimes we just focus on ourselves. I mean, it it's all wrapped up in that, in how we pray and how we approach God and what we do. I don't know if you find yourself that way. I do. I find myself sometimes becoming lazy because I think I can do it.

I sometimes think it's about me when I know that's not true. And yet, um, I understand, and I think you understand that God has given us this avenue, this privilege, this, this joy Y of prayer, it's a, it can be a dangerous thing. Uh, we, we, sometimes we pray somehow in order to convince God to our way of thinking, rather than looking to him, uh, we can use it to manipulate others when we're in a group and we pray in some way to manipulate that happens.

Yeah. It also is something that draws our heart to God that said it's something dangerous, dangerous in the sense that sometimes we just try to confuse things or we try to bring things around our way. And that, that is a dangerous thing. It's sort of like the guy, I, I saw this story this week and I thought it was humorous a coworker, um, um, asked a friend of mine, why he got donuts while he's trying to diet.

And the main answer. Well, I come around the corner where the donut shop is, and I told God if he wanted me to buy a donut to open up a pace for me right there in front of the donuts, And sure enough, eight times around the block, one finally opened up.

We do that, unfortunately, maybe not quite as crass as that, but we do that. We kind of try to manipulate God. We tried to convince him, or it can be dangerous in the way because of the way that God works in our hearts. And that's a wonderful thing. I don't know if you've been watching the Olympics at all.

I've watched some things. I like doing some of the weird days and I was watching the not as exciting as some things, but those guys are, don't pick a fight with them. They are really good. Vincent Hancock is the U S guy. He won gold medal, uh, in skeet shoot. He hit 59 out of 60. Uh, that's really good shooting.

He's a believer in Christ and, uh, sports spectrum, uh, gave this as a, as a testimony to him. He'd been hitting a rough time. He said, this is Vincent's word. The turning point came in 2011 a few years ago when he seriously decided he was thinking about quitting the sport, he'd lost his love for shooting. Uh, he was struggling with world cup circuit.

All those things sound very sad, but then Rebecca, his wife encouraged him to pray on his own and with her, and within months, he started to see some improvement in his shooting. Uh, and he suddenly realized I attributed this. This is him talking that God is working through me and opening up my mind and saying, you know what?

You have an opportunity to do something great here. And it's not just about winning metals. It's for me, that's for God to have a platform, to introduce people, to Christ, to show people that he's what he's capable of. And to Seth in it, And Hancock began to realize that ultimately his time and skeet shooting or the Olympics have, can have greater results than personal accolades.

Did you get the point? The point started the whole thing with this turmoil it started with, with praying, just opening himself up before God. We're a place here. And we've been going along here looking at the sermon on the Mount and together that, you know, Jesus has been talking about, uh, the life he desires for us not to be caught up in the old ways and the old tradition, but, but really working in our life, the, the, the kingdom of God at work in us.

And we come to this place, chapter six, he begins to talk about things. Don't be this way, but be this way. And pastor mark last week, as he began to talk about the whole situation there with giving and, and very clearly to talk about the fact is it's not the idea of giving nearly so much as what is your art.

Don't be like these others, these hypocrites. Give out of a heart, have the right heart before God. And, and Jesus continues this whole pattern there. After he's done that, then he comes to chapter six, verse five, we begin. And it's a section a week called the Lord's prayer. We're going to look at it here.

And then we're going to spend just a little bit of time. It's a big passage. I know it's a big passage and we're only going to hit some highlights. Okay. Pastor mark goes, spoke on this. He did a series. If you remember about a year or so ago on, on the Lord's prayer, we're going to just hit the highlights here, but this is what Jesus says.

Then in Matthew chapter six, five to 15, and he says this, and when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites for, they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth. They have received the reward. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your father who is unseen.

Then your father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans for, they think they will be heard because of their many words do not be like them for your father knows what you need before you ask him this then is how you should pray. Our father in heaven, hallowed, be your name, your kingdom, come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread, forgive us our debts. As we also have forgiven our debtors and lead us, not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one four. If you forgive men, when they sin against you, your heavenly father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men, their sins, your father will not forgive your sin.

Familiar passage isn't it, many of us have memorized it. Many of us have said it and prayed it at some time sometimes with whole hearts, just sometime because of the people. What I want to look at is very simply two things here today. One is what prayer is not because Jesus highlights that doesn't he?

This is what prayer is not. And then secondly, what prayer is, according to what Jesus is saying here, prayer is not, first of all, he says, don't be like the, don't be like the HIPAA kids. Don't be like those Pharisees who stand on the street corners and pray loudly and longly with eloquent words. It's not, first of all, a religious exercise is not done to be seen by others.

And we tend to understand that maybe a little bit more here in America. Because even as we pray, and even as we pray together, it's not always a show. Unfortunately, sometimes it becomes that. But in this time during this culture, remember Jesus is talking about those Pharisees, those people, who they made it, their business to stand before others and pray loudly and longly so that others could see them and not see God.

So he's saying, first of all, prayer is not just a religious exercise is not to draw attention to ourselves. And we understand that we don't pray because we want God to like us more. We don't pray in order to make a deal with God. Somehow it is not a religious exercise. And again, coming back to what Jesus is talking about, what about the Pharisees praying and on the street corners?

Remember, I think it was in, in Luke, he talked and he gave the example. In fact, he pointed out the Pharisee standing there praying loudly and long. And then to the center to the side and said the comparison between the two, it's not a religious exercise. It's not to be seen by men. In fact, Jesus says here, and we could spend a lot of time on it and we can't this morning, but he said, instead, a goal in secret, go to your secret room and I need him and probably a store room here.

It has a door close it. So you can go there just you and God and what God sees and hears in private. He rewards. I mean, that's the heart that remember the movie. I don't know if you've seen the movie war. Whether you like the movie or not. One thing that is absolutely apparent is that the dear lady there in her house was one who trusted the Lord completely and loved him so much and had this little room that she devoted.

This was where she prayed. And she called it her war room. It was in secret. It was silent. It was between her in God. That's Jesus is talking about here that we're bringing our hearts before him, not before others. It's not a religious exercise. Secondly, it's not. And I use the word here, a magic incantation.

I didn't know what else to call it here, because he talks about the pagans and what they are. And he says, don't be like the pagans, because the way that they pray with many words and the babblings and the carrying on it, don't be like that. These, this is not some sorta special magic word power, and it's not what it is.

I was thinking here, the example of this might be, do you remember in first Kings where Elijah, the prophet had this great contest, really with the prophets of bale, you remember that time and they were setting up their altars and they were going to pray, pray to their God and the God who answered with fire.

He is God, you remember the story. Right. And what happened at first, the profits of bail got to go. There were 400 of them. They did everything and they did. And he describes what they did. The many words, the shouting, the dancing, the cutting, all sorts of things. That's the idea, the pagans babbling carrying on, and it was to no avail.

So not like that. And it's not just repetition of same words over and over and over. There are groups today, and you are aware as I am of today, that somehow you just say certain words over and over that that is some sort of prayer that is something to do. And that happens all over the world. I've seen pictures of it.

I seen it in person and just words. Sometimes it is the word to hear actually is, is naming the name of their gods over and over. And that happens. It's not just a listing of the names of God, whoever they worship. The name of Jesus is power. You know, even as we price, we think about that there is power in the name of Jesus, but it's in the name of Jesus, not in the great repetition of his name, over and over.

And the pagans. He says, don't be like them, another movie. And, and I watched, oh, maybe a week and a half, maybe two weeks ago. It's a story of Martin Luther. And one of the things they depicted MIS before he really came to faith, he was, uh, he was a monk. He'd gone to Rome to find out some things. And this was during the time of the indulgences and everything, lot of, a lot of horrible things going on.

And so he had asked, he asked, one of the priests are, what do I do? How do I gain the favor of God? And the priest said this, it was to go up this whole long flight of stairs on his knees and that each step to give this whole incantation, that lots of names of God and just the repetition each time over and over and over.

And even as I watched the movie, I thought this is so, so sad. And at the end of it, Martin Luther came to the occlusion. This is so, so sad because that's not the heart of God. It was shortly after that. The evidently he really began to search the scriptures and come to the place of understanding who God is, who Jesus is.

And the redemption and is found in Jesus Christ alone by grace. Prayer is not some sort of magic incantation that we do. It is not repetition over and over and over. It's not the amount of loudness.

It's not religious exercise. It's not a magic incantation. And I would say this, it is not convincing. God is not convincing God to my way of thinking. There are times I'm afraid I've done it. I suspect some of you have done it that we pray in ways that we somehow are trying to convince God, my way is.

Listen to my plans, listen to what I think is good and go that way. God, that is not what prayer is and is not bringing things to his attention. Just in case he forgot chapter or verse eight may be the most significant little phrase in this whole thing. Do not be like them for your father knows what you need before you ask him

Benson in his commentary in, in his own particular style, he said it this way, we do not pray to inform God of our wants omniscient as he is. He cannot be informed of anything, which he knew not before. And he is always willing to relieve. The chief thing wanting is a fit disposition on our part to receive his grace and blessing.

Consequently one great office of prayer is to produce such a disposition in us to exercise our dependence on God, to increase our desire of the things we asked for to make so sensible of our wants that we may never see wrestling till we have prevailed for the blessing. Very simply in his old English wave speaking, he's saying, look, the power and purpose of prayer is that we are learning to be dependent on God because he knows we're falling in line with that.

So that's what prayer is. And it's important to understand that it's important for me to understand that in my own life, what it is not as I take time to pray and whatever I do, that it is not this. So the question of what is it then? What are you talking about here? Jesus. I mean, raises a good, good question.

Why should I even pray then if God already knows what's going on? Why should I pray? And I think Jesus answers that to some degree here. Prayer, what prayer is in this upside down sort of life that we've been talking about here and what Jesus is talking about here in the sermon on the mountain, not following the old traditions, not the ways of the Pharisees on the street corners.

Certainly not like the pagans living as one. Who's actually living in the power and the, and the grace of Jesus Christ for God's glory and our. This is what he says. You should pray it. And again, one of the thing in Luke, you're going to find the same prayer, a little bit abbreviated, the same thing, but there, the context is the disciples had come to Jesus.

They'd seen him bring and they asked him, Lord, teach us to pray. And Jesus does this here in Matthew. That is not the question. This is Jesus. As he's giving a sermon, as he's talking about things, don't be this way. Don't follow the old ways. He just very simply comes to this. Let this be your heart. As you pray.

What is prayer? First of all, remember who is the object of your prayer? He says something here. He uses a phrase that is, that is powerful to all of us. Probably he starts to prayer how our. And today we have heard that phrase so often, and we've used that phrase so many times and it is a good phrase. It is a good thing, but you have to understand that when Jesus is talking to the disciples here, when he's talking to the people here in the sermon, they have not heard this phrase very often.

Jesus has just been talking before. He's bringing up the whole idea of our father, who father is in the old Testament economy, the old covenant, that covenant, that God made with Israel, a wonderful thing, and all his promises and all was going to happen. But as you look at there in the, in terms of how they looked out for God, who he is, they didn't use the term.

Our father very many times, as far as I could find, there are four times in the old Testament. And each time that phrase is connected to the whole nation of Israel, not on a personal basis, but as a whole nation, you understand that. And then Jesus comes to this and what this is, is really an indication of what the new covenant God's promised to us found in Jeremiah, in Jeremiah 31, he talks about this new covenant.

This new covenant is, is not just wrapped around Israel. It is for all people. It becomes a very personal sort of covenant. And in that he says, my law will be on their hearts. I will be their God. They will know me the words and what he says there. It becomes very, very personal. And so when Jesus starts his prayer, our father, he's talking about that relationship chip that we have, that we can have with the God of the universe, not as someone who is way out there, but someone who is deeply personally.

To us by his grace, by the blood of Jesus, knowing who God is, is very, very powerful. And you look at the scriptures, you can see who he is and, and the names of God do mean something. You know, when you read and you see God almighty else had, I, that means something doesn't it. As to who God is, or Jehovah Gyra, the one, the God who provides or add NAI Lord, and there are many more, you look at those, those names are very, very powerful, and it does describe who he is and what he is like to us.

But now, now he says, there's something else. He is my father. He is your father. If you know him, that's the power prayer. What prayer is, is remembering, first of all, who it is, you're talking to, you are talking to your father. Okay. And with that as a father, he knows what is best. Some people don't always understand that some people have had, uh, a hard time with their father growing up.

And I understand that I understand there is that pain. Sometimes there is that disconnect and, and I was talking to someone, oh, uh, maybe three weeks ago. And they were relating to me the, the whole idea of God being a father that said, I have a hard time with that because of their relationship with their earthly father.

Man, I get that our fathers have influenced us whether we agree or not, whether we see or not, they have influenced even how we think about who God is. As our father, many of us have had great experiences. I I'm very thankful for my dad. There were many things he wasn't perfect. There were some things that I do not ever want to be like with him, but there were so many good things that he taught me.

And I think some of that, I relate to God as being father, but, but whether you're that way or not, you know, whether you're listening here online and you're sitting here just listening, don't fixate so much on walls. I don't like my father. I don't like what he did perhaps perhaps think about who God is in the fullest sense, whatever you understand, being a good father.

God is the best of all that you can think of, of what a father is. It all that is good and loving and helpful and kind that's who God is. So if you're struggling with something with your earthly father, put that aside and think about that, which would be the best father you can think of. And that at least partly is who God is our father.

He knows us. Yeah. A little bit later in chapter seven is Jesus continues here on the sermon. He does talk a little bit more about prayer and what he gives, and he talks about the goodness of the father. He doesn't give the child evil gifts, but he gives good gifts. That's that's who he is, understand who he is.

And I was wondering, well, what's a good way to work in that in my heart. How can I focus on him more and understand the goodness and the greatness of who God is? I would suggest this. That as you read the Bible, and I hope you take time to read the Bible. And as you do that, take time to see who God is. As you read a passage, you suddenly see others.

That's one of the character qualities of God. Many of you want to write that down. Maybe as you look at a passage and you see how God has worked, you might want to note that this is who God is. And as you begin to take time, as you look at that, you begin to build a picture of the greatness and goodness of who God is and understand that that God is your father and that God, as your father, you can trust you see he is our father and he does know exactly what is best for us.

And so you come before him, my friend, Dave Clemens writes in his prayer letter sometimes. And sometimes even talking things are difficult things they're questioning. And he uses this phrase so many times, but father knows. Yeah. That's our father. We pray to him what a great thing that's remembering who remembering what, and we don't have time here to go over the whole prayer.

There are six petitions here. Most people say, but let me boil it down here real quickly. Uh, as he talks here, our father who art in heaven, you can tell how I memorized this. How would be your name, your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread, forgive us our debts.

As we also forgive our debtors and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one, four things here real quickly, maybe to focus on in remembering what

the prayer is not remember. He's speaking here of what it is not, is not long. Great. Repetitions is not necessarily loud. It is not continuing as the Pharisees on the corners or the pagans. He's singing it very simply make it, make it this number one, pray that God's will, will be accomplished. All he's saying is I'm putting my heart and my mind life in alignment with what Christ wants.

Uh, I, I pray. I want really, God, I really want what you want. Not my desires are not my priority, your heart, your desires. I want that to be my priority. So first of all, just what you pray that God's will, will be accomplished in me and the situation God, on looking to you, secondly, praying for God to provide.

And this is the whole thing of giving us our daily bread. Most people think it goes beyond just the bread, but he's talking about mice. What I need, what we need in order to fulfill God's purposes in our lives. I'm praying for God's to provide Matthew Henry in his commentary. He, he said it this way, we asked for bread that that teaches us sobriety and temperance.

And we ask only for bread, not for what we do not need. We asked for our bread that teaches us honesty. And in industry, we do not ask for the bread of others. No, the bread of deceit, nor the bread of idleness, but the bread honestly gotten. We asked for our daily bread, which teaches us constantly to depend upon divine Providence.

We beg of God to give it to us, not sell it to us, not lend it us, but give us it. I mean, he's just saying, God, we really want you to provide. And rather than me to somehow connive and scheme and come up with all other things, God, just very simply, I'm asking you to provide that doesn't mean we become idle.

That doesn't mean we don't use common sense, but we're saying God, I'm asking you, I'm trusting you to provide God's remembering God's gracious. Forgiveness has come to forgive us, our debts, the word there is our moral fallings. Remember his gracious forgiveness to us. It leads to personal confession of our sin.

When we recognize that we have fallen short and, and he redeems us in first, John one nine, he says, but he forgives us as we come before him. It's not holding grudges then on to others in first, John, if we confess our sins, he's faithful. And just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness and then our response to others, Ephesians 4 32, be kind to one another tenderhearted forgiving one another as God in Christ, forgave, you is that hard.

And it's so important that Jesus gives a little bit of commentary even there at the end, but we're praying God, look at my heart, help me understand your forgiveness and live in that forgiveness. And the last thing God's guiding hand and protection, the keep us from temptation is a little bit different, a difficult passage, but, but most people would say, and I would agree that it did he say not that you're not going to get into some sort of temptation.

Now God doesn't tempt us to evil. But he does allow some things in our life that are hard to use to, to increase us and to cause us to depend on him. But don't lead us into temptation. The ID here probably is especially don't lead me into something. Don't take me somewhere in something that is so hard that I'm most likely to fail to fall away.

The temptations are things that God uses in our heart and our lives. We know that, but here are the prayer is don't take me so far. God, that I can't, I can't endure. And I think God does that. Doesn't he, he goes on to say, and also

to deliver us from the evil one there he's talking, I think is there especially about the great enemy about Satan, about not letting him come in and really somehow take over or to tear us apart to keep the enemy from bringing, um, pain division and distress. You know, even with job and you remember the story there, that what Satan did, and God gave him certain leeway to come and, and test the job in so many ways, but he still didn't have all control.

And so I believe part of the priority here is keep, it keeps Satan away from us. Remember greater is he that's in us. That's Jesus that he's used in the world. Remember that Satan is a defeated enemy, but he is an enemy this last couple of years, some of us met together. We feel like there were ways here that we felt like maybe we were expended experiencing like the attack of the enemy more than maybe we ever have.

And so we prayed often keep away that I was talking with Ann about that just the other day. And she said, Since, you know, a church is moving ahead so much, doing so much for the glory of God, Satan's going to come and attack, but we don't have to give into that. And part of the prayer is God protect us, protect us.

Yeah, Jesus here. He's not talking about, uh, the heart of dependence and the need that he talks about that more in chapter seven, about ass seek not, there are other things that we can pray about. Absolutely. There are other parts of prayer. There are absolutely important. And through the scriptures to see those, but here Jesus is just very simply saying the point here is your heart before God remember who you're praying to remember what it is.

I'm going to very simply remember why three very simple things here is more than just asking for things. It is a worship of God. Our heart before him saying, God, I know who you are. I want to know who you are. I see what you've done. And I seek you with a heart, whole heart. It is a heart of worship, but why would be dependence on God?

We've mentioned that the truth is that as we come before God, we are saying, God, I desperately need to depend on you. Not on myself. I'm not sufficient. You are. I trust you and your work. And I grow in humility before God there's. I understand my pride can tear me away from praying to pray the wrong thing, to pray for the wrong, with the wrong attitude that pride can do that.

Prayer with humility says, God, God, I really do want your way. I do want you in my life. I understand my need for forgiveness. I understand my need to not hold grudges. I understand that. I want you to work in me and I am not the answer. Why both God dependence on God to grow in humility for God. That's the heart of prayer.

What it is not what it is. James talks about the prayer of a righteous man, uh, is very, very effective. And there is talking about James and especially the time when, when, uh, Elijah, Elijah came in before taking a Haben and he prayed that it wouldn't rain and it didn't rain. And then three years later, he prayed that it would be.

And it did rain. That's, that's the heart of prayer. But as I was thinking about that, going back to Elijah, remember I talked about the time with bail and all the things and going on there. Cause it's also there that as he is in that whole contest, finally, after most of the day, the profits of bail had been doing all their things.

And then Elijah steps up and said, it's my turn. And then a very simple, simple prayer found in first Kings 1836 and 37. And at the time of the ablation, that's the evening Elijah, the prophet came near and said, oh Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant.

And that I have done all these things in you. Answer me a Lord, answer me that this people may know that you, oh Lord our God. And that you have turned their hearts back. A simple prayer, not loud, not right repetition just before God. That's the kind of prayer that Jesus is talking about here. That's the heart that he wants to work in us, understanding, knowing who he is, our father, knowing what to ask for knowing that we can worship him and depend on him and humble ourselves before him and let him work in you for his glory and your good climbing Pagosa peak, looking at everything that was going on there.

God had been working in and very simply I prayed the God. I, I have no idea what to do here. I prayed our father. I need your help. And I don't know how it's going to happen, but somehow we need that storm to go around so we can get up over puddles. So peak in many ways, praying the heart here. God, I need you.

And I would say this to the glory of God. I've never seen this happen before or since in the mountains of Colorado, but that storm came up closer and closer and then it went around. I have no idea what happened. All I know is I was very thankful. And we got up over, spent enough time. We got to spend two minutes on top of Pagosa peak for, we got down the other side, another storm coming up.

My faith was not so much as to pray again. We got down to a safe place and an incredible storm game, but I learned, I learned a heart before God crying out to our father, asking for his will humbly, depending on him is absolutely absolutely the best way to go. And I'm going to suggest the same thing for you.

Take time to invest in praying, take time to invest and learning about your father. And coming before him and worship and dependence and humility bat, that is a life turned upside down father. We thank you so much for who you are. Thank you that you have given us the avenue of prayer. Thank you. That you are so true and real and loving.

Thank you that you indeed are our father that we can cry out to. So teach us again. I pray about what it means to depend on you in Jesus name. Amen. Now go and serve and love the Lord and pray this week.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-heart-of-prayer 7df52994-752e-4269-aa3a-808a6ab5b48e Sun, 01 Aug 2021 09:00:30 GMT <div data-html="true">Matthew 6:5-15 <br /><br /> <span><span><sup>5 </sup>“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.</span></span> <span><span><sup>6 </sup>But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.</span></span> <span><span><sup>7 </sup>And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.</span></span> <span><span><sup>8 </sup>Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.</span></span> <br /><br /> <span><span><sup>9 </sup>“This, then, is how you should pray:</span></span> <div> <p><span><span>“‘Our Father in heaven,</span></span> <span><span>hallowed be your name,</span></span> <span><span><sup>10 </sup>your kingdom come,</span></span> <span><span>your will be done,</span></span> <span><span>    </span><span><span>on earth as it is in heaven.</span></span></span> <span><span><sup>11 </sup>Give us today our daily bread.</span></span> <span><span><sup>12 </sup>And forgive us our debts,</span></span> <span><span>    </span><span><span>as we also have forgiven our debtors.</span></span></span> <span><span><sup>13 </sup>And lead us not into temptation,<sup>[<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%206%3A5-15&amp;version=NIV#fen-NIV-23296a">a</a>]</sup></span></span> <span><span>    </span><span><span>but deliver us from the evil one.<sup>[<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%206%3A5-15&amp;version=NIV#fen-NIV-23296b">b</a>]</sup>’</span></span></span></p> <br /><br /> </div> <p><span><span><sup>14 </sup>For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.</span></span> <span><span><sup>15 </sup>But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.</span></span></p> <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Good morning, everybody. The chair here is just in case I need it. Uh, mostly just because I'm lazy. Not as, not already true. Uh, let let's again, let's just open our hearts before the Lord here, and then we'll jump into his word father. We thank you so much for who you are. We thank you. <br /><br /> Yes, you are the high king of glory. We can worship you. You allow us to do that. You put that in our hearts and we are so grateful for that. And as we spend these few moments together here, Lord, as we look into your word as we, um, again, look at your heart, see what you want to do in us in this upside down, sort of. <br /><br /> Help us to listen to you, take what's of yourself and burn it deeply into our hearts. I pray in Jesus name. Amen. I was sort of expecting a stand here, but that's all right. Uh, we'll work out, you know what, uh, pastor market was looking, trying to get somebody. Ah, thank you. Appreciate that. Um, uh, just for somebody to, uh, to take this, uh, this particular week here and so on as a SAF, they, they decided, you know what we need to do. <br /><br /> We want to get the best speaker that we know of, but they couldn't get him. So then they said, well, you know what? We can't do that least let's get the best theologian. Uh, but they couldn't get him either. And buying me, they finally said, well, at least let's get the best looking person we know. Yeah. Not that either, but we're going to spend some time here together, you know? <br /><br /> Uh, it's a passage we're gonna look at here. It's very familiar to us and it draws our attention, especially hopefully to God, but so often that our heart, oh, I want to start with something many years ago, I was leading a group of kids on a backpack trip. We were in college. And we were climbing Pagosa peak Pagosa peak is pretty tall. <br /><br /> Peak gets it's a little short of 13,000 feet and we're backpacking up there. And as, as we're going along, a couple of things that happen, first of all, we got a little bit late start on the day. I think this was the second or third day into the trip. And as we're going along, it's steep, it's high it's high altitude. <br /><br /> And I realized there was one person, especially who was not very fast. And so we're trying to keep everything going. And as we're getting closer to the peak, if you know anything about the Colorado, the Colorado mountains, you can guarantee in July, there are probably going to be thunderstorms. And as we're going up climbing up, I'm trying to get people to move and suddenly the clouds come up and there is this big thunderstorm building close to Pagosa peak. <br /><br /> And we're in a place here where you can't get off. There's no place to go. Those, those lightening storms are incredible. They're scary. And I wasn't quite sure what to do. We couldn't go back. And I, I've been thinking a lot even about this passage that we're going to look at. And so I did all that I knew to do first of all, to try to get the kids to walk faster and then the prey. <br /><br /> Cause that was my resource. We'll come back to that. Yeah, bro. Prayer can be sometimes, uh, a confusing thing to some of us, those of us who pray. And even if you don't pray sometimes. What, what is God doing? Why did he give us this? Um, I mean, sometimes we pray out of despair. Sometimes we pray out of confusion. <br /><br /> Sometimes we don't pray because we don't trust. Sometimes we ignore what God is doing. Sometimes we just focus on ourselves. I mean, it it's all wrapped up in that, in how we pray and how we approach God and what we do. I don't know if you find yourself that way. I do. I find myself sometimes becoming lazy because I think I can do it. <br /><br /> I sometimes think it's about me when I know that's not true. And yet, um, I understand, and I think you understand that God has given us this avenue, this privilege, this, this joy Y of prayer, it's a, it can be a dangerous thing. Uh, we, we, sometimes we pray somehow in order to convince God to our way of thinking, rather than looking to him, uh, we can use it to manipulate others when we're in a group and we pray in some way to manipulate that happens. <br /><br /> Yeah. It also is something that draws our heart to God that said it's something dangerous, dangerous in the sense that sometimes we just try to confuse things or we try to bring things around our way. And that, that is a dangerous thing. It's sort of like the guy, I, I saw this story this week and I thought it was humorous a coworker, um, um, asked a friend of mine, why he got donuts while he's trying to diet. <br /><br /> And the main answer. Well, I come around the corner where the donut shop is, and I told God if he wanted me to buy a donut to open up a pace for me right there in front of the donuts, And sure enough, eight times around the block, one finally opened up. <br /><br /> We do that, unfortunately, maybe not quite as crass as that, but we do that. We kind of try to manipulate God. We tried to convince him, or it can be dangerous in the way because of the way that God works in our hearts. And that's a wonderful thing. I don't know if you've been watching the Olympics at all. <br /><br /> I've watched some things. I like doing some of the weird days and I was watching the not as exciting as some things, but those guys are, don't pick a fight with them. They are really good. Vincent Hancock is the U S guy. He won gold medal, uh, in skeet shoot. He hit 59 out of 60. Uh, that's really good shooting. <br /><br /> He's a believer in Christ and, uh, sports spectrum, uh, gave this as a, as a testimony to him. He'd been hitting a rough time. He said, this is Vincent's word. The turning point came in 2011 a few years ago when he seriously decided he was thinking about quitting the sport, he'd lost his love for shooting. Uh, he was struggling with world cup circuit. <br /><br /> All those things sound very sad, but then Rebecca, his wife encouraged him to pray on his own and with her, and within months, he started to see some improvement in his shooting. Uh, and he suddenly realized I attributed this. This is him talking that God is working through me and opening up my mind and saying, you know what? <br /><br /> You have an opportunity to do something great here. And it's not just about winning metals. It's for me, that's for God to have a platform, to introduce people, to Christ, to show people that he's what he's capable of. And to Seth in it, And Hancock began to realize that ultimately his time and skeet shooting or the Olympics have, can have greater results than personal accolades. <br /><br /> Did you get the point? The point started the whole thing with this turmoil it started with, with praying, just opening himself up before God. We're a place here. And we've been going along here looking at the sermon on the Mount and together that, you know, Jesus has been talking about, uh, the life he desires for us not to be caught up in the old ways and the old tradition, but, but really working in our life, the, the, the kingdom of God at work in us. <br /><br /> And we come to this place, chapter six, he begins to talk about things. Don't be this way, but be this way. And pastor mark last week, as he began to talk about the whole situation there with giving and, and very clearly to talk about the fact is it's not the idea of giving nearly so much as what is your art. <br /><br /> Don't be like these others, these hypocrites. Give out of a heart, have the right heart before God. And, and Jesus continues this whole pattern there. After he's done that, then he comes to chapter six, verse five, we begin. And it's a section a week called the Lord's prayer. We're going to look at it here. <br /><br /> And then we're going to spend just a little bit of time. It's a big passage. I know it's a big passage and we're only going to hit some highlights. Okay. Pastor mark goes, spoke on this. He did a series. If you remember about a year or so ago on, on the Lord's prayer, we're going to just hit the highlights here, but this is what Jesus says. <br /><br /> Then in Matthew chapter six, five to 15, and he says this, and when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites for, they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth. They have received the reward. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your father who is unseen. <br /><br /> Then your father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans for, they think they will be heard because of their many words do not be like them for your father knows what you need before you ask him this then is how you should pray. Our father in heaven, hallowed, be your name, your kingdom, come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. <br /><br /> Give us today our daily bread, forgive us our debts. As we also have forgiven our debtors and lead us, not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one four. If you forgive men, when they sin against you, your heavenly father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men, their sins, your father will not forgive your sin. <br /><br /> Familiar passage isn't it, many of us have memorized it. Many of us have said it and prayed it at some time sometimes with whole hearts, just sometime because of the people. What I want to look at is very simply two things here today. One is what prayer is not because Jesus highlights that doesn't he? <br /><br /> This is what prayer is not. And then secondly, what prayer is, according to what Jesus is saying here, prayer is not, first of all, he says, don't be like the, don't be like the HIPAA kids. Don't be like those Pharisees who stand on the street corners and pray loudly and longly with eloquent words. It's not, first of all, a religious exercise is not done to be seen by others. <br /><br /> And we tend to understand that maybe a little bit more here in America. Because even as we pray, and even as we pray together, it's not always a show. Unfortunately, sometimes it becomes that. But in this time during this culture, remember Jesus is talking about those Pharisees, those people, who they made it, their business to stand before others and pray loudly and longly so that others could see them and not see God. <br /><br /> So he's saying, first of all, prayer is not just a religious exercise is not to draw attention to ourselves. And we understand that we don't pray because we want God to like us more. We don't pray in order to make a deal with God. Somehow it is not a religious exercise. And again, coming back to what Jesus is talking about, what about the Pharisees praying and on the street corners? <br /><br /> Remember, I think it was in, in Luke, he talked and he gave the example. In fact, he pointed out the Pharisee standing there praying loudly and long. And then to the center to the side and said the comparison between the two, it's not a religious exercise. It's not to be seen by men. In fact, Jesus says here, and we could spend a lot of time on it and we can't this morning, but he said, instead, a goal in secret, go to your secret room and I need him and probably a store room here. <br /><br /> It has a door close it. So you can go there just you and God and what God sees and hears in private. He rewards. I mean, that's the heart that remember the movie. I don't know if you've seen the movie war. Whether you like the movie or not. One thing that is absolutely apparent is that the dear lady there in her house was one who trusted the Lord completely and loved him so much and had this little room that she devoted. <br /><br /> This was where she prayed. And she called it her war room. It was in secret. It was silent. It was between her in God. That's Jesus is talking about here that we're bringing our hearts before him, not before others. It's not a religious exercise. Secondly, it's not. And I use the word here, a magic incantation. <br /><br /> I didn't know what else to call it here, because he talks about the pagans and what they are. And he says, don't be like the pagans, because the way that they pray with many words and the babblings and the carrying on it, don't be like that. These, this is not some sorta special magic word power, and it's not what it is. <br /><br /> I was thinking here, the example of this might be, do you remember in first Kings where Elijah, the prophet had this great contest, really with the prophets of bale, you remember that time and they were setting up their altars and they were going to pray, pray to their God and the God who answered with fire. <br /><br /> He is God, you remember the story. Right. And what happened at first, the profits of bail got to go. There were 400 of them. They did everything and they did. And he describes what they did. The many words, the shouting, the dancing, the cutting, all sorts of things. That's the idea, the pagans babbling carrying on, and it was to no avail. <br /><br /> So not like that. And it's not just repetition of same words over and over and over. There are groups today, and you are aware as I am of today, that somehow you just say certain words over and over that that is some sort of prayer that is something to do. And that happens all over the world. I've seen pictures of it. <br /><br /> I seen it in person and just words. Sometimes it is the word to hear actually is, is naming the name of their gods over and over. And that happens. It's not just a listing of the names of God, whoever they worship. The name of Jesus is power. You know, even as we price, we think about that there is power in the name of Jesus, but it's in the name of Jesus, not in the great repetition of his name, over and over. <br /><br /> And the pagans. He says, don't be like them, another movie. And, and I watched, oh, maybe a week and a half, maybe two weeks ago. It's a story of Martin Luther. And one of the things they depicted MIS before he really came to faith, he was, uh, he was a monk. He'd gone to Rome to find out some things. And this was during the time of the indulgences and everything, lot of, a lot of horrible things going on. <br /><br /> And so he had asked, he asked, one of the priests are, what do I do? How do I gain the favor of God? And the priest said this, it was to go up this whole long flight of stairs on his knees and that each step to give this whole incantation, that lots of names of God and just the repetition each time over and over and over. <br /><br /> And even as I watched the movie, I thought this is so, so sad. And at the end of it, Martin Luther came to the occlusion. This is so, so sad because that's not the heart of God. It was shortly after that. The evidently he really began to search the scriptures and come to the place of understanding who God is, who Jesus is. <br /><br /> And the redemption and is found in Jesus Christ alone by grace. Prayer is not some sort of magic incantation that we do. It is not repetition over and over and over. It's not the amount of loudness. <br /><br /> It's not religious exercise. It's not a magic incantation. And I would say this, it is not convincing. God is not convincing God to my way of thinking. There are times I'm afraid I've done it. I suspect some of you have done it that we pray in ways that we somehow are trying to convince God, my way is. <br /><br /> Listen to my plans, listen to what I think is good and go that way. God, that is not what prayer is and is not bringing things to his attention. Just in case he forgot chapter or verse eight may be the most significant little phrase in this whole thing. Do not be like them for your father knows what you need before you ask him <br /><br /> Benson in his commentary in, in his own particular style, he said it this way, we do not pray to inform God of our wants omniscient as he is. He cannot be informed of anything, which he knew not before. And he is always willing to relieve. The chief thing wanting is a fit disposition on our part to receive his grace and blessing. <br /><br /> Consequently one great office of prayer is to produce such a disposition in us to exercise our dependence on God, to increase our desire of the things we asked for to make so sensible of our wants that we may never see wrestling till we have prevailed for the blessing. Very simply in his old English wave speaking, he's saying, look, the power and purpose of prayer is that we are learning to be dependent on God because he knows we're falling in line with that. <br /><br /> So that's what prayer is. And it's important to understand that it's important for me to understand that in my own life, what it is not as I take time to pray and whatever I do, that it is not this. So the question of what is it then? What are you talking about here? Jesus. I mean, raises a good, good question. <br /><br /> Why should I even pray then if God already knows what's going on? Why should I pray? And I think Jesus answers that to some degree here. Prayer, what prayer is in this upside down sort of life that we've been talking about here and what Jesus is talking about here in the sermon on the mountain, not following the old traditions, not the ways of the Pharisees on the street corners. <br /><br /> Certainly not like the pagans living as one. Who's actually living in the power and the, and the grace of Jesus Christ for God's glory and our. This is what he says. You should pray it. And again, one of the thing in Luke, you're going to find the same prayer, a little bit abbreviated, the same thing, but there, the context is the disciples had come to Jesus. <br /><br /> They'd seen him bring and they asked him, Lord, teach us to pray. And Jesus does this here in Matthew. That is not the question. This is Jesus. As he's giving a sermon, as he's talking about things, don't be this way. Don't follow the old ways. He just very simply comes to this. Let this be your heart. As you pray. <br /><br /> What is prayer? First of all, remember who is the object of your prayer? He says something here. He uses a phrase that is, that is powerful to all of us. Probably he starts to prayer how our. And today we have heard that phrase so often, and we've used that phrase so many times and it is a good phrase. It is a good thing, but you have to understand that when Jesus is talking to the disciples here, when he's talking to the people here in the sermon, they have not heard this phrase very often. <br /><br /> Jesus has just been talking before. He's bringing up the whole idea of our father, who father is in the old Testament economy, the old covenant, that covenant, that God made with Israel, a wonderful thing, and all his promises and all was going to happen. But as you look at there in the, in terms of how they looked out for God, who he is, they didn't use the term. <br /><br /> Our father very many times, as far as I could find, there are four times in the old Testament. And each time that phrase is connected to the whole nation of Israel, not on a personal basis, but as a whole nation, you understand that. And then Jesus comes to this and what this is, is really an indication of what the new covenant God's promised to us found in Jeremiah, in Jeremiah 31, he talks about this new covenant. <br /><br /> This new covenant is, is not just wrapped around Israel. It is for all people. It becomes a very personal sort of covenant. And in that he says, my law will be on their hearts. I will be their God. They will know me the words and what he says there. It becomes very, very personal. And so when Jesus starts his prayer, our father, he's talking about that relationship chip that we have, that we can have with the God of the universe, not as someone who is way out there, but someone who is deeply personally. <br /><br /> To us by his grace, by the blood of Jesus, knowing who God is, is very, very powerful. And you look at the scriptures, you can see who he is and, and the names of God do mean something. You know, when you read and you see God almighty else had, I, that means something doesn't it. As to who God is, or Jehovah Gyra, the one, the God who provides or add NAI Lord, and there are many more, you look at those, those names are very, very powerful, and it does describe who he is and what he is like to us. <br /><br /> But now, now he says, there's something else. He is my father. He is your father. If you know him, that's the power prayer. What prayer is, is remembering, first of all, who it is, you're talking to, you are talking to your father. Okay. And with that as a father, he knows what is best. Some people don't always understand that some people have had, uh, a hard time with their father growing up. <br /><br /> And I understand that I understand there is that pain. Sometimes there is that disconnect and, and I was talking to someone, oh, uh, maybe three weeks ago. And they were relating to me the, the whole idea of God being a father that said, I have a hard time with that because of their relationship with their earthly father. <br /><br /> Man, I get that our fathers have influenced us whether we agree or not, whether we see or not, they have influenced even how we think about who God is. As our father, many of us have had great experiences. I I'm very thankful for my dad. There were many things he wasn't perfect. There were some things that I do not ever want to be like with him, but there were so many good things that he taught me. <br /><br /> And I think some of that, I relate to God as being father, but, but whether you're that way or not, you know, whether you're listening here online and you're sitting here just listening, don't fixate so much on walls. I don't like my father. I don't like what he did perhaps perhaps think about who God is in the fullest sense, whatever you understand, being a good father. <br /><br /> God is the best of all that you can think of, of what a father is. It all that is good and loving and helpful and kind that's who God is. So if you're struggling with something with your earthly father, put that aside and think about that, which would be the best father you can think of. And that at least partly is who God is our father. <br /><br /> He knows us. Yeah. A little bit later in chapter seven is Jesus continues here on the sermon. He does talk a little bit more about prayer and what he gives, and he talks about the goodness of the father. He doesn't give the child evil gifts, but he gives good gifts. That's that's who he is, understand who he is. <br /><br /> And I was wondering, well, what's a good way to work in that in my heart. How can I focus on him more and understand the goodness and the greatness of who God is? I would suggest this. That as you read the Bible, and I hope you take time to read the Bible. And as you do that, take time to see who God is. As you read a passage, you suddenly see others. <br /><br /> That's one of the character qualities of God. Many of you want to write that down. Maybe as you look at a passage and you see how God has worked, you might want to note that this is who God is. And as you begin to take time, as you look at that, you begin to build a picture of the greatness and goodness of who God is and understand that that God is your father and that God, as your father, you can trust you see he is our father and he does know exactly what is best for us. <br /><br /> And so you come before him, my friend, Dave Clemens writes in his prayer letter sometimes. And sometimes even talking things are difficult things they're questioning. And he uses this phrase so many times, but father knows. Yeah. That's our father. We pray to him what a great thing that's remembering who remembering what, and we don't have time here to go over the whole prayer. <br /><br /> There are six petitions here. Most people say, but let me boil it down here real quickly. Uh, as he talks here, our father who art in heaven, you can tell how I memorized this. How would be your name, your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread, forgive us our debts. <br /><br /> As we also forgive our debtors and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one, four things here real quickly, maybe to focus on in remembering what <br /><br /> the prayer is not remember. He's speaking here of what it is not, is not long. Great. Repetitions is not necessarily loud. It is not continuing as the Pharisees on the corners or the pagans. He's singing it very simply make it, make it this number one, pray that God's will, will be accomplished. All he's saying is I'm putting my heart and my mind life in alignment with what Christ wants. <br /><br /> Uh, I, I pray. I want really, God, I really want what you want. Not my desires are not my priority, your heart, your desires. I want that to be my priority. So first of all, just what you pray that God's will, will be accomplished in me and the situation God, on looking to you, secondly, praying for God to provide. <br /><br /> And this is the whole thing of giving us our daily bread. Most people think it goes beyond just the bread, but he's talking about mice. What I need, what we need in order to fulfill God's purposes in our lives. I'm praying for God's to provide Matthew Henry in his commentary. He, he said it this way, we asked for bread that that teaches us sobriety and temperance. <br /><br /> And we ask only for bread, not for what we do not need. We asked for our bread that teaches us honesty. And in industry, we do not ask for the bread of others. No, the bread of deceit, nor the bread of idleness, but the bread honestly gotten. We asked for our daily bread, which teaches us constantly to depend upon divine Providence. <br /><br /> We beg of God to give it to us, not sell it to us, not lend it us, but give us it. I mean, he's just saying, God, we really want you to provide. And rather than me to somehow connive and scheme and come up with all other things, God, just very simply, I'm asking you to provide that doesn't mean we become idle. <br /><br /> That doesn't mean we don't use common sense, but we're saying God, I'm asking you, I'm trusting you to provide God's remembering God's gracious. Forgiveness has come to forgive us, our debts, the word there is our moral fallings. Remember his gracious forgiveness to us. It leads to personal confession of our sin. <br /><br /> When we recognize that we have fallen short and, and he redeems us in first, John one nine, he says, but he forgives us as we come before him. It's not holding grudges then on to others in first, John, if we confess our sins, he's faithful. And just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness and then our response to others, Ephesians 4 32, be kind to one another tenderhearted forgiving one another as God in Christ, forgave, you is that hard. <br /><br /> And it's so important that Jesus gives a little bit of commentary even there at the end, but we're praying God, look at my heart, help me understand your forgiveness and live in that forgiveness. And the last thing God's guiding hand and protection, the keep us from temptation is a little bit different, a difficult passage, but, but most people would say, and I would agree that it did he say not that you're not going to get into some sort of temptation. <br /><br /> Now God doesn't tempt us to evil. But he does allow some things in our life that are hard to use to, to increase us and to cause us to depend on him. But don't lead us into temptation. The ID here probably is especially don't lead me into something. Don't take me somewhere in something that is so hard that I'm most likely to fail to fall away. <br /><br /> The temptations are things that God uses in our heart and our lives. We know that, but here are the prayer is don't take me so far. God, that I can't, I can't endure. And I think God does that. Doesn't he, he goes on to say, and also <br /><br /> to deliver us from the evil one there he's talking, I think is there especially about the great enemy about Satan, about not letting him come in and really somehow take over or to tear us apart to keep the enemy from bringing, um, pain division and distress. You know, even with job and you remember the story there, that what Satan did, and God gave him certain leeway to come and, and test the job in so many ways, but he still didn't have all control. <br /><br /> And so I believe part of the priority here is keep, it keeps Satan away from us. Remember greater is he that's in us. That's Jesus that he's used in the world. Remember that Satan is a defeated enemy, but he is an enemy this last couple of years, some of us met together. We feel like there were ways here that we felt like maybe we were expended experiencing like the attack of the enemy more than maybe we ever have. <br /><br /> And so we prayed often keep away that I was talking with Ann about that just the other day. And she said, Since, you know, a church is moving ahead so much, doing so much for the glory of God, Satan's going to come and attack, but we don't have to give into that. And part of the prayer is God protect us, protect us. <br /><br /> Yeah, Jesus here. He's not talking about, uh, the heart of dependence and the need that he talks about that more in chapter seven, about ass seek not, there are other things that we can pray about. Absolutely. There are other parts of prayer. There are absolutely important. And through the scriptures to see those, but here Jesus is just very simply saying the point here is your heart before God remember who you're praying to remember what it is. <br /><br /> I'm going to very simply remember why three very simple things here is more than just asking for things. It is a worship of God. Our heart before him saying, God, I know who you are. I want to know who you are. I see what you've done. And I seek you with a heart, whole heart. It is a heart of worship, but why would be dependence on God? <br /><br /> We've mentioned that the truth is that as we come before God, we are saying, God, I desperately need to depend on you. Not on myself. I'm not sufficient. You are. I trust you and your work. And I grow in humility before God there's. I understand my pride can tear me away from praying to pray the wrong thing, to pray for the wrong, with the wrong attitude that pride can do that. <br /><br /> Prayer with humility says, God, God, I really do want your way. I do want you in my life. I understand my need for forgiveness. I understand my need to not hold grudges. I understand that. I want you to work in me and I am not the answer. Why both God dependence on God to grow in humility for God. That's the heart of prayer. <br /><br /> What it is not what it is. James talks about the prayer of a righteous man, uh, is very, very effective. And there is talking about James and especially the time when, when, uh, Elijah, Elijah came in before taking a Haben and he prayed that it wouldn't rain and it didn't rain. And then three years later, he prayed that it would be. <br /><br /> And it did rain. That's, that's the heart of prayer. But as I was thinking about that, going back to Elijah, remember I talked about the time with bail and all the things and going on there. Cause it's also there that as he is in that whole contest, finally, after most of the day, the profits of bail had been doing all their things. <br /><br /> And then Elijah steps up and said, it's my turn. And then a very simple, simple prayer found in first Kings 1836 and 37. And at the time of the ablation, that's the evening Elijah, the prophet came near and said, oh Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant. <br /><br /> And that I have done all these things in you. Answer me a Lord, answer me that this people may know that you, oh Lord our God. And that you have turned their hearts back. A simple prayer, not loud, not right repetition just before God. That's the kind of prayer that Jesus is talking about here. That's the heart that he wants to work in us, understanding, knowing who he is, our father, knowing what to ask for knowing that we can worship him and depend on him and humble ourselves before him and let him work in you for his glory and your good climbing Pagosa peak, looking at everything that was going on there. <br /><br /> God had been working in and very simply I prayed the God. I, I have no idea what to do here. I prayed our father. I need your help. And I don't know how it's going to happen, but somehow we need that storm to go around so we can get up over puddles. So peak in many ways, praying the heart here. God, I need you. <br /><br /> And I would say this to the glory of God. I've never seen this happen before or since in the mountains of Colorado, but that storm came up closer and closer and then it went around. I have no idea what happened. All I know is I was very thankful. And we got up over, spent enough time. We got to spend two minutes on top of Pagosa peak for, we got down the other side, another storm coming up. <br /><br /> My faith was not so much as to pray again. We got down to a safe place and an incredible storm game, but I learned, I learned a heart before God crying out to our father, asking for his will humbly, depending on him is absolutely absolutely the best way to go. And I'm going to suggest the same thing for you. <br /><br /> Take time to invest in praying, take time to invest and learning about your father. And coming before him and worship and dependence and humility bat, that is a life turned upside down father. We thank you so much for who you are. Thank you that you have given us the avenue of prayer. Thank you. That you are so true and real and loving. <br /><br /> Thank you that you indeed are our father that we can cry out to. So teach us again. I pray about what it means to depend on you in Jesus name. Amen. Now go and serve and love the Lord and pray this week.</div> false no <![CDATA[Eyes Open Christian Living]]> Matthew 6:1-4

“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.

2 “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.



Right. Should I take your Bibles this morning? As we reflect on the teaching of that high and lifted up God, Matthew chapter six, we're going to be looking at verses one through four this morning. As we return again to our series sermon on the Mount, which is entitled, we're entitling the upside down life.

We're going to be looking at these verses in a little bit, um, verses one through four, but you know, there's a natural progression that children make. First, they start as infants and they move into being toddlers. And then around age four, they become detectives. A lot of questions. I was reading, um, a site this week.

I don't remember how I got there, but it was about, um, Questions that kids had to parents. And I just had a, a few here. One of this was written by a father it's it's him talking about the child, the child's question and his response to it at dinner. My five-year-old asks what's the difference between cooking and baking.

I said, that's easy. You bake things like cookies. And then my mind exploded. Uh, mom said, my son asked me, where does poo come from? I was a little uncomfortable, but gave him an honest explanation. He looked a little perplexed and stared at me in stunned silence for a few seconds and asked and Tigger

And of course, many of those questions become why questions, mom? Why does dad's car. Go so much faster than yours. Some of us are in the grandparent stage and are getting questions like grandpa. Why do you have wrinkles on your neck and the worst one, which literally made me feel like a a hundred year old, man.

Why did you say hang up the phone?

then there can be pretty significant why questions that are a little more unveiling.

Why are you guys so angry as we drive to church? And so nice when we get there. Jesus, in Matthew chapter six is beginning a passage. Emphasizing the question why it's an yeah, interesting passage because it is an eyeopening passage and it would have been that to those that were listening because he deals with the three practices sometimes called the pillars of Jewish faith of those of the day.

He talks to them about giving, particularly giving to the needy. He talks to them about prayer beginning at verse five to verse 15. And in verse 16 to 18, he talks about fasting. These were spiritual practices that were foundational to ones devotion to God. If you were faithful in fasting and praying and giving faithfully and generously, you would feel you were punching the right buttons in your spiritual life.

As a matter of fact, those who were most faith. Most prayerful, most delis and giving most consistent in fasting. We're perceived as God's 18 and Jesus comes along and says not so fast. And in this passage, Jesus looks beneath the surface. Not only on those practices, he actually takes their best practices, which seemed most spiritual, most devoted, devoted to God oriented and causes us to ask the question, why, why am I doing this?

Why am I doing it this way? Why am I doing it here? Jesus is trying to open the eyes of his listeners about what living as a Christian is really about the why of what you do is vitally important. Now, as we begin this passage and I'm going to read it now in just a moment, Verse one is actually a summary statement for the next 18 verses.

It's the principle he's going to address. And then he's going to do it, uh, by illustration with giving with prayer and with fasting. My focus this morning is going to be primarily on verse one. I'll talk a little bit about verses two through four, as it illustrates the principle. Here's what we read in Matthew chapter six, verses one through four, be aware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them for then you will have no reward from your father who is in heaven.

Thus, when you give to the needy sound, no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets that they may be praised by others. Truly I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing so that you're giving maybe in secret and your father who sees in secret we'll reward you father.

We do come to you this morning, Lord week, um, in the midst of all that's going on in our lives. And we ask that now your spirit would still us to interact with truth, Lord, thank you that our calling is not to focus on an external religious performance, but an internal spiritual transformation. Thank you that you give us the power to experience that every day.

So Lord, speak to us from this, this passage in this simple study together, I pray in Jesus. Amen in verse one, we see three vital aspects of living as a member of Jesus' kingdom. And we're going to see him talk about our approach, our audience, and our ambition, your approach, while living in Jesus' kingdom.

He says this in the beginning of verse one, beware of practicing your righteousness before others, right out of the gate, he talks about the fact that we must focus on inward motivation. We must be asking the why it's interesting. He uses the word, be aware, be aware, take note of it, focus on it. Process what is really driving your heart when you, these activities, whether it's giving or praying or fasting, or actually whatever you're doing in your daily lives.

Not only those things that are purportedly spiritual activities as all should be actually. But evaluate what is the heart motive in this situation? Now, Jesus is saying here, if you're making donations or giving to the poor and you don't get a plaque for it, do you want to do it? And he says, why, why do you need a plaque?

Why do you need to be recognized? Why? And he's talking about motivation. One of the best ways to check our motivation I think is to watch our emotions, right? I mean, this can happen in spiritual ministry. It can be a planning, meeting, a church or an activity that you sponsor or you're in charge of. And you have a certain number of people you're prepared for.

You're expecting to come and less than half of them show up and the others didn't tell you, they weren't coming. And you're ticked off for half the meeting, maybe the whole meeting, but part of it's really your, your lunch. And I think Jesus would come and say why? Because actually.

Jesus is still at work with the people that are there. Jesus is still involved. Half the people did show up. You still have half the people to invest in, but why are we upset? Well, it could be a variety of things. One, we don't want to have to have another meeting to make up and to have to bring the people along with us.

Another is a might be ticked off. It's just, we had this vision of how the meeting would go and I would look in the camera, common thread. We will find for all the reasons why we're upset as basically as it's about us. We're irritated, we're frustrated, we're disappointed and it's manifesting itself. And Jesus is saying just because you're doing good things, make sure the motivation behind them.

Now Jesus, in this passage is talking about giving, but I don't think his primary focus is about giving money in the right spot. He's primarily talking about, you need to face your heart, you need to do it. And you're giving you need to do it in every aspect of your life. Spiritual people must face their heart because the heart is the control center of all that we do.

He also emphasizes in this word, be aware, we must exercise constant inventory, the word, be aware. It's actually a very, it's an imperative verb. He is saying that it's in the present tense, which simply means it's a continuous activity. You got to keep doing this constantly having to be vigilant. It's a constant priority in practice to be evaluating.

What's driving me here. My emotions can be tip-off. Um, as one author, I think brilliantly said it, it, whenever you find your emotions out of control or you see ungodly emotions or responses, and you pull the plant of that activity up, you will find it. The roots, some idol, the idol that is actually controlling your heart.

There's this constant evaluation. He says, it's why I personally, I believe as a card carrying wooden headed male journaling is essential for me, man. I don't know that I really knew anything that was really going on inside of me until years ago, I started journaling and writing down my prayers, writing down things I'm hearing from scripture and interacting and writing down the things I'm concerned about or worried about, and then giving them over to God.

It enables us to evaluate and see what's going on. Why am I upset? What did I want? What's happening here. Jesus is directing us and he is seeing your approach to spiritual life. To living with God has to be foundationally inward addressed an inward addressing because it is out of the heart that everything flows.

The second thing he talks about in terms. Spiritual living, living as a member of his kingdom is our audience. He says this in verse one again, don't do your acts of righteousness. Don't practice your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them for then you will have no reward from your father who is in heaven.

He later talks about in terms of giving, do it in secret. Don't let anyone else be aware of it. Don't make them the object. Because your father then is the one that you serve and you kiss your audience while living in Jesus' kingdom can be other people. Now, this is a little confusing because in Matthew chapter five in the sermon on the Mount, Jesus has already said this in verse 16, let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your father in heaven.

So, so how do you put these two together? He says, do things anonymously and then he says, do it. So others will see, well, of course the motivation is the issue. He says, if you're doing it before others in order that they will commend you, you have actually turned even a good thing into a destructive thing in your own life.

Or you can do it in order that they may give glory to your father in heaven. The question is where the glory going to go to me or to somebody or to God.

In verse two, we read this as he illustrates this in the area of giving verse two. Thus, when you give to the needy sound, no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets that they may be praised by others. Truly. I say to you, they have received their reward. He doesn't say, if you give, he says, whenever, when you give there's an assumption, and he's not saying these practices are not appropriate and necessary in the kingdom living with him, but he does say the way you do it, don't do it as the hypocrites.

Do the word hypocrite Hippocratic treatise is actually it's the word translated mask. It was what the actors wore. It actually was. If you wanted to play the role of somebody or something, you, you put a mask and that mask identified your character. It's the role you're playing. And Jesus says, don't, don't be like those that wear the mask when they give, what is he saying?

He's saying, well, the mask is, I am a benevolent, generous hearted, devoted to God person. That's why I'm giving this money. I'm moved with the needs of others, but he says, it's a, it's a mask. It's an act job. That's not, what's really driving their heart. It's actually to be identified by other people and to be praised by others.

He says those hypocrites are those that announce it with trumpets as a variety of interpretations of this. Some people say that actual were trumpets, but there's no record historical record anywhere of anybody actually having trumpets that announced giving some people, which is a little more palatable, I think say, identify that the box where you gave your gift.

Well, it's actually in the shape of a trumpet. And the idea was you, you, you deliberately flipped your coins in, so they made noise when they went in. I personally think he's not real. He's more speaking symbolically. It's sort of like, don't toot your own horn. I mean, don't draw attention to yourself. Don't, don't do that, which is going to give you praise and recognition from others.

Do it rather in secret. That can be one audience, other people somehow being esteemed and appreciated admire, but he says the other alternative is your father in heaven.

Jesus, in Matthew five through seven presents the theme of God as our father in a dramatic way, you can see that on the. Screen up until this time and throughout the old Testament, God, his father is a very obscure concept. It is there, but usually it is presenting God as a fatherly figure that he's the father of Israel or, or as a father, does it pities his children?

So God does, but Jesus is saying something more as he really dives into the heart of kingdom, living teaching in Matthew five through seven, he's saying, no, no, I'm inviting you to join the fan. I'm inviting you to make God your father and 17 times he talks about God as our father. It is the emphasis of the intimacy, the personal nature of our relationship with the cosmos, creating the cosmic.

Overseeing God J I packer his classic work, knowing God says it this way, you sum up the whole of new Testament, religion. If you describe it as the knowledge of God is one's holy father. If you want to judge how well a person understands Christianity, find out how much he makes of the thought of God, of being God's child and having God as his father.

If this is not the thought that prompts and controls his worship and prayers in his whole outlook on life, it means that he does not understand Christian, not very well at all. Father is the Christian name for God.

Some talk about the audience of one. It's a beautiful concept that we're living in the secret parts of our lives. That what we're doing, even overtly that when we examine our hearts, we say, God, as much as I can discern my soul. I want you to be my audience. I want you to be the one that I trust in. I want to believe that you are at work in my life and that whatever you're allowing, whatever you're purposing for my life.

This is a moment for me to glorify you and, and not to look how I can, can exalt myself or be exp be impressing others. We're called to live in the,

the theater where the audience has God, the old Christian historians and theologians had a term Corum Dale in the presence of God. That's how they challenged people to live their lives. No matter where you are, no matter what's going on this morning, as you're here in church in your car, when you're going all the things that are going to go on today and tomorrow and the next.

It says live as if you're in the aware that you're in your corn Dale in the very presence of God and that the things that are be allowed into your life, God is giving you the opportunity to respond in such a way that you would say God, in this go her fire yourself. You're my audience. Jesus is pulling it back and saying, man, if you're giving and the audience is people, if you're praying and the audience is people, if you're fast, I think in the audiences, people, you have turned something healthy, just something drew tremendously unhealthy in your life.

And then he talks about our ambition while living in Jesus' kingdom. He talks about here in verse one, You will have no reward from your father. And I'd like to read down through verses two through four, one more time. Thus, when you give to the needy sound, no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogue and in the streets that they may be praised by others.

Truly. I say to you that they have received their reward, but when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing so that you're giving may be in secret. And your father who is in secret reward, you it's a comparison of two sources of reward. You can seek your reward in one of those two places, you can do it from others, from people.

And he says, you might be able to do things to be praised by others. You might be able to receive from them, their appreciation, maybe their admiration, and you may be successful. But when you get that it's over, that's all there is. I think that that is something where God is now bringing those same things, or he says, you can look to God for it's seeking God's praise.

God's commendation, honestly, embracing the concept of the audience of one that which is found in the secret place of a heart devoted to God. And he says to us in verses two through four, that we will be rewarded in the arena we pursue. And your father who sees in secret will reward you. That's true in this life that I believe God clearly is indicating we will have.

Reward from God in this world. Now I don't believe that it's talking about prosperity position finances, uh, as a guarantee, I don't think God is saying you do this and I'll, I'll, I'll do all these things for you. I think the motivation that I, you know, I wanna, I wanna give right nearly to the Lord ties my money because then God will, will shower, blessing upon me.

He may, I think that's the motivation. He say we do it because we love him. And we are blessed by him, but not necessary verily that we're going to find our finances have exploded. So what is he talking about when he says, and your father who sees in secret rule reward you well, The problem that he's talking about is the danger is saying is you're living to get the approval and the appreciation and the praise of people.

And if you get that, he says you have it and maybe enjoy it, but that's all there is, that's it. So what is the other side? I believe it's talking about the approval, the appreciation, the enjoyment of God. He's saying we can live our lives to have God's favor in our lives. God's enjoyment in Psalm 1 47 university has become very special in my own life.

In verse 11, God is talking about, he says I don't delight in, in the, the, uh, the legs of, of the warrior. I don't delight in him is war Steed. He says, but I delight in the purse who hopes in my my unfailing love. He says those who trust and hope in my unfilling of those are the ones. It's not their skills, their power, their strength this past week on Tuesday, I got a phone call from a guy that I served on, uh, the mission board with for a number of years, he had actually become our interim director, did an incredible job.

And we talked for quite a while. He just was calling to check in. And as we talked, we had, uh, connection about life, family, what was going on and get thinking about ministry. And he told the story I had not known years ago. He had been a very, I knew this part. He had been a very prominent pastor in Florida.

He had a mega church and evangelical church, and there were things that were. Slanderous statements that were made about him years ago. And

it came loud enough, even though there was an investigation and he was completely cleared. He said, I wasn't cleared in the church. And he said, I had to step down. And he said for 17 years, um, I was never allowed to go back or invited to speak at the church or anything. And he said at the end of 17 years, they invited me to come back and they, they did, uh, a public apology to him and to his wife, Janie.

And he said to me, mark, 17 years, a long time, but then he said this,

but what God showed me about himself, I wouldn't trade it for it. What's he saying, he's the reward. He's the reward to have him delight in you to have him say, this is what I want. I love my children that, that are, that are holding onto one thing. They're, they're hoping that my love won't fail. That they're trusting in that I was with a friend from our church this week and they have gone through astounding circumstances as a couple, as a family.

And he was talking about passage in first Corinthians 13 about faith and hope and love. And it was an interesting take on it. And he said, you know, I believe love endures because love is who God is. It will never end, never stop, but he says faith and hope. They're the means for us to embrace. God's love.

We, we trust him. We, we believe in him. We hope in him and they've gone through real suffering as, as parents and circumstantially, but he said, you know, my wife is, we've been talking about this. She made this statement. She said,

the invitation, uh, faith and hope comes in an envelope. And it's the invitation to put our faith and hope in God's love. But she said, usually the envelope is suffering. I love that. I found the true moon life that God allows purposes, hard things in our lives and says, this is an opportunity. This is an invitation to put your faith and your trust and your hope in me and my unfailing love that's exactly what Psalm 1 47 verse 11 is saying, what does God delight in those who hope, who take the invitation to hope?

Now, there are some of us that get the invitation and it comes in the form of suffering. We say, I'm not open to that invitation. I don't want anything to do with it. I want to run from him. Oh, God says you can embrace the invitation because here's the invitation to put your hope and your faith in love.

The reward is God. It's his delight in you? It's his enjoyment of you. It's you tasting. And his unfailing love,

but there also is the reward in the life to come. The whole subject of rewards of course, is kinda hard for us because it sounds like, man, it sounds like a barter system. You, you walk with God and you get this, but I'd like to try to present it this way. As I wrap things up in revelation, chapter four and many times the scripture, a number of times, the scripture talks about rewards as crowns as a crown of life.

There's other crowns that are given as, as honoring, like you've run the race and you are honored and revelation. Chapter four is the picture in heaven. And it talks about the 24 elders who most people believe. A representative of the 12 disciples of the, the era of the church and the 12 patriarchs of, of the tribes of Israel.

And so it's all of God's people gathered together in these elders. And it says this in verse 10 and 11 chapter four, the 24 elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever, they cast their crowns before the throne saying worthy, are you, oh Lord and God to receive glory and honor and power for you created all things.

And by your will they existed and were created the rewards in the picture of it is yes there's there's honor. There's some sense that the Bema, the judgment seat of Christ, which is for believers in which he says well done. And there were, there were special ways that you allowed me to be real in your life and to work through your life and to sustain you.

You received the letters with grace of invitation, even when they came in the form of the envelope of suffering. And you said, I will trust him. I will love him. I will depend on him. I will hope in his unfailing love,

but they take those crowns and they just, Lord, it's all you from start to finish. Now, if you're like me, you think, yeah, but there's still this, since you're going to feel uncomfortable. Oh man, I didn't have enough of those. I don't believe that's going to be the feel. I think we're going to then be in the presence of the Lord and there's going to just be joy.

And even with other people casting their crap, maybe you don't have as many crowds. But the joy of seeing crowns going before the feet of Christ is just going to be such a compelling picture. We're all going to gather there, say he was, is worthy and it's glorious to just say, Jesus, it was all you. It was all you, Jesus is saying to us here in Matthew, chapter six, he says, man, take time to evaluate your heart.

Be still before the Lord, make sure that your heart's motivation is towards me. The more you do that, the more you enjoy me, the more you get the ultimate price, which is, you know, me more, you enjoy me more. You feel my delight. As you hope in my unfailing love.

There are times in most of our lives. If we've walked with Jesus for a while, when we've been tempted and whether it's to lust or to worry, or to fear anger or whatever. And God's enabled us to withstand that temptation and just say, Lord, I want you more when you've done that, didn't you find joy in the Lord, man.

It didn't make you feel like what a marvelous Christian I'm walking around as no, you think Lark I'm so grateful when I got the envelope and it was hard. And I said, I'm choosing to hope in your unfailing love, and then he sustains you and does something you didn't see and couldn't imagine happening.

And you look back and say, God, that was so wonderful that you were able me to trust you. What's so wonderful to hope in your unfailing. Love. Even the journey is our reward going to close with this? I do think Jesus is talking about giving it's important. It's a vital part, but he's focusing on something here.

I don't think Jesus is saying you have to give anonymously. We don't give a check because somebody will see it. Don't give in order to get the IRS Bennett, you know, which is which isn't a good anymore. Anyway, but, but, but I would suggest this maybe just a practical thought sometimes give anonymous.

Sometimes just

hear if somebody's in need, get some money together in cash and give it to them on the sly I've found in those times when God has prompted Marin and I to do that, it's felt like the purest giving we've probably ever done. Nobody knew we don't really even know in many of the cases, how it was perceived, what was done with it.

But I would suggest that just sometimes say, you know, let's just spontaneously give and nobody will know. Even they will know.

The Lord always goes for the heart. It's the control center of our lives. It's not only our will. It's our passion. He wants you passion. He wants your heart. He wants you to hope in his unfailing. Love to complete all these metaphors. I've thrown at you this morning. If right now you're getting one of those envelopes and it's in the envelope of suffering.

Remember it is an invitation to hope in his unfailing. Love. The beauty is as we do, we get him the best reward of all. Lord, you look in our hearts this morning, man. It's so easy for us to be caught up in the rush and hurry of life even here in the summer. Lord, thank you that you pursue us. Even in Matthew five through seven, it's just total pursuit.

Of Jesus after the hearts of people to not settle for other stuff, when they could have you Lord draws to you in Jesus name. Amen. Now go on peace to love and serve. Enjoy .]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/eyes-open-christian-living 80202408-762a-4a7f-8f6b-67cd243cc673 Sun, 25 Jul 2021 09:00:32 GMT <div data-html="true">Matthew 6:1-4 <p><span><span>“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.</span></span></p> <span><span><sup>2 </sup>“So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.</span></span> <span><span><sup>3 </sup>But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,</span></span> <span><span><sup>4 </sup>so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.</span></span> <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Right. Should I take your Bibles this morning? As we reflect on the teaching of that high and lifted up God, Matthew chapter six, we're going to be looking at verses one through four this morning. As we return again to our series sermon on the Mount, which is entitled, we're entitling the upside down life. <br /><br /> We're going to be looking at these verses in a little bit, um, verses one through four, but you know, there's a natural progression that children make. First, they start as infants and they move into being toddlers. And then around age four, they become detectives. A lot of questions. I was reading, um, a site this week. <br /><br /> I don't remember how I got there, but it was about, um, Questions that kids had to parents. And I just had a, a few here. One of this was written by a father it's it's him talking about the child, the child's question and his response to it at dinner. My five-year-old asks what's the difference between cooking and baking. <br /><br /> I said, that's easy. You bake things like cookies. And then my mind exploded. Uh, mom said, my son asked me, where does poo come from? I was a little uncomfortable, but gave him an honest explanation. He looked a little perplexed and stared at me in stunned silence for a few seconds and asked and Tigger <br /><br /> And of course, many of those questions become why questions, mom? Why does dad's car. Go so much faster than yours. Some of us are in the grandparent stage and are getting questions like grandpa. Why do you have wrinkles on your neck and the worst one, which literally made me feel like a a hundred year old, man. <br /><br /> Why did you say hang up the phone? <br /><br /> then there can be pretty significant why questions that are a little more unveiling. <br /><br /> Why are you guys so angry as we drive to church? And so nice when we get there. Jesus, in Matthew chapter six is beginning a passage. Emphasizing the question why it's an yeah, interesting passage because it is an eyeopening passage and it would have been that to those that were listening because he deals with the three practices sometimes called the pillars of Jewish faith of those of the day. <br /><br /> He talks to them about giving, particularly giving to the needy. He talks to them about prayer beginning at verse five to verse 15. And in verse 16 to 18, he talks about fasting. These were spiritual practices that were foundational to ones devotion to God. If you were faithful in fasting and praying and giving faithfully and generously, you would feel you were punching the right buttons in your spiritual life. <br /><br /> As a matter of fact, those who were most faith. Most prayerful, most delis and giving most consistent in fasting. We're perceived as God's 18 and Jesus comes along and says not so fast. And in this passage, Jesus looks beneath the surface. Not only on those practices, he actually takes their best practices, which seemed most spiritual, most devoted, devoted to God oriented and causes us to ask the question, why, why am I doing this? <br /><br /> Why am I doing it this way? Why am I doing it here? Jesus is trying to open the eyes of his listeners about what living as a Christian is really about the why of what you do is vitally important. Now, as we begin this passage and I'm going to read it now in just a moment, Verse one is actually a summary statement for the next 18 verses. <br /><br /> It's the principle he's going to address. And then he's going to do it, uh, by illustration with giving with prayer and with fasting. My focus this morning is going to be primarily on verse one. I'll talk a little bit about verses two through four, as it illustrates the principle. Here's what we read in Matthew chapter six, verses one through four, be aware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them for then you will have no reward from your father who is in heaven. <br /><br /> Thus, when you give to the needy sound, no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets that they may be praised by others. Truly I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing so that you're giving maybe in secret and your father who sees in secret we'll reward you father. <br /><br /> We do come to you this morning, Lord week, um, in the midst of all that's going on in our lives. And we ask that now your spirit would still us to interact with truth, Lord, thank you that our calling is not to focus on an external religious performance, but an internal spiritual transformation. Thank you that you give us the power to experience that every day. <br /><br /> So Lord, speak to us from this, this passage in this simple study together, I pray in Jesus. Amen in verse one, we see three vital aspects of living as a member of Jesus' kingdom. And we're going to see him talk about our approach, our audience, and our ambition, your approach, while living in Jesus' kingdom. <br /><br /> He says this in the beginning of verse one, beware of practicing your righteousness before others, right out of the gate, he talks about the fact that we must focus on inward motivation. We must be asking the why it's interesting. He uses the word, be aware, be aware, take note of it, focus on it. Process what is really driving your heart when you, these activities, whether it's giving or praying or fasting, or actually whatever you're doing in your daily lives. <br /><br /> Not only those things that are purportedly spiritual activities as all should be actually. But evaluate what is the heart motive in this situation? Now, Jesus is saying here, if you're making donations or giving to the poor and you don't get a plaque for it, do you want to do it? And he says, why, why do you need a plaque? <br /><br /> Why do you need to be recognized? Why? And he's talking about motivation. One of the best ways to check our motivation I think is to watch our emotions, right? I mean, this can happen in spiritual ministry. It can be a planning, meeting, a church or an activity that you sponsor or you're in charge of. And you have a certain number of people you're prepared for. <br /><br /> You're expecting to come and less than half of them show up and the others didn't tell you, they weren't coming. And you're ticked off for half the meeting, maybe the whole meeting, but part of it's really your, your lunch. And I think Jesus would come and say why? Because actually. <br /><br /> Jesus is still at work with the people that are there. Jesus is still involved. Half the people did show up. You still have half the people to invest in, but why are we upset? Well, it could be a variety of things. One, we don't want to have to have another meeting to make up and to have to bring the people along with us. <br /><br /> Another is a might be ticked off. It's just, we had this vision of how the meeting would go and I would look in the camera, common thread. We will find for all the reasons why we're upset as basically as it's about us. We're irritated, we're frustrated, we're disappointed and it's manifesting itself. And Jesus is saying just because you're doing good things, make sure the motivation behind them. <br /><br /> Now Jesus, in this passage is talking about giving, but I don't think his primary focus is about giving money in the right spot. He's primarily talking about, you need to face your heart, you need to do it. And you're giving you need to do it in every aspect of your life. Spiritual people must face their heart because the heart is the control center of all that we do. <br /><br /> He also emphasizes in this word, be aware, we must exercise constant inventory, the word, be aware. It's actually a very, it's an imperative verb. He is saying that it's in the present tense, which simply means it's a continuous activity. You got to keep doing this constantly having to be vigilant. It's a constant priority in practice to be evaluating. <br /><br /> What's driving me here. My emotions can be tip-off. Um, as one author, I think brilliantly said it, it, whenever you find your emotions out of control or you see ungodly emotions or responses, and you pull the plant of that activity up, you will find it. The roots, some idol, the idol that is actually controlling your heart. <br /><br /> There's this constant evaluation. He says, it's why I personally, I believe as a card carrying wooden headed male journaling is essential for me, man. I don't know that I really knew anything that was really going on inside of me until years ago, I started journaling and writing down my prayers, writing down things I'm hearing from scripture and interacting and writing down the things I'm concerned about or worried about, and then giving them over to God. <br /><br /> It enables us to evaluate and see what's going on. Why am I upset? What did I want? What's happening here. Jesus is directing us and he is seeing your approach to spiritual life. To living with God has to be foundationally inward addressed an inward addressing because it is out of the heart that everything flows. <br /><br /> The second thing he talks about in terms. Spiritual living, living as a member of his kingdom is our audience. He says this in verse one again, don't do your acts of righteousness. Don't practice your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them for then you will have no reward from your father who is in heaven. <br /><br /> He later talks about in terms of giving, do it in secret. Don't let anyone else be aware of it. Don't make them the object. Because your father then is the one that you serve and you kiss your audience while living in Jesus' kingdom can be other people. Now, this is a little confusing because in Matthew chapter five in the sermon on the Mount, Jesus has already said this in verse 16, let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your father in heaven. <br /><br /> So, so how do you put these two together? He says, do things anonymously and then he says, do it. So others will see, well, of course the motivation is the issue. He says, if you're doing it before others in order that they will commend you, you have actually turned even a good thing into a destructive thing in your own life. <br /><br /> Or you can do it in order that they may give glory to your father in heaven. The question is where the glory going to go to me or to somebody or to God. <br /><br /> In verse two, we read this as he illustrates this in the area of giving verse two. Thus, when you give to the needy sound, no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets that they may be praised by others. Truly. I say to you, they have received their reward. He doesn't say, if you give, he says, whenever, when you give there's an assumption, and he's not saying these practices are not appropriate and necessary in the kingdom living with him, but he does say the way you do it, don't do it as the hypocrites. <br /><br /> Do the word hypocrite Hippocratic treatise is actually it's the word translated mask. It was what the actors wore. It actually was. If you wanted to play the role of somebody or something, you, you put a mask and that mask identified your character. It's the role you're playing. And Jesus says, don't, don't be like those that wear the mask when they give, what is he saying? <br /><br /> He's saying, well, the mask is, I am a benevolent, generous hearted, devoted to God person. That's why I'm giving this money. I'm moved with the needs of others, but he says, it's a, it's a mask. It's an act job. That's not, what's really driving their heart. It's actually to be identified by other people and to be praised by others. <br /><br /> He says those hypocrites are those that announce it with trumpets as a variety of interpretations of this. Some people say that actual were trumpets, but there's no record historical record anywhere of anybody actually having trumpets that announced giving some people, which is a little more palatable, I think say, identify that the box where you gave your gift. <br /><br /> Well, it's actually in the shape of a trumpet. And the idea was you, you, you deliberately flipped your coins in, so they made noise when they went in. I personally think he's not real. He's more speaking symbolically. It's sort of like, don't toot your own horn. I mean, don't draw attention to yourself. Don't, don't do that, which is going to give you praise and recognition from others. <br /><br /> Do it rather in secret. That can be one audience, other people somehow being esteemed and appreciated admire, but he says the other alternative is your father in heaven. <br /><br /> Jesus, in Matthew five through seven presents the theme of God as our father in a dramatic way, you can see that on the. Screen up until this time and throughout the old Testament, God, his father is a very obscure concept. It is there, but usually it is presenting God as a fatherly figure that he's the father of Israel or, or as a father, does it pities his children? <br /><br /> So God does, but Jesus is saying something more as he really dives into the heart of kingdom, living teaching in Matthew five through seven, he's saying, no, no, I'm inviting you to join the fan. I'm inviting you to make God your father and 17 times he talks about God as our father. It is the emphasis of the intimacy, the personal nature of our relationship with the cosmos, creating the cosmic. <br /><br /> Overseeing God J I packer his classic work, knowing God says it this way, you sum up the whole of new Testament, religion. If you describe it as the knowledge of God is one's holy father. If you want to judge how well a person understands Christianity, find out how much he makes of the thought of God, of being God's child and having God as his father. <br /><br /> If this is not the thought that prompts and controls his worship and prayers in his whole outlook on life, it means that he does not understand Christian, not very well at all. Father is the Christian name for God. <br /><br /> Some talk about the audience of one. It's a beautiful concept that we're living in the secret parts of our lives. That what we're doing, even overtly that when we examine our hearts, we say, God, as much as I can discern my soul. I want you to be my audience. I want you to be the one that I trust in. I want to believe that you are at work in my life and that whatever you're allowing, whatever you're purposing for my life. <br /><br /> This is a moment for me to glorify you and, and not to look how I can, can exalt myself or be exp be impressing others. We're called to live in the, <br /><br /> the theater where the audience has God, the old Christian historians and theologians had a term Corum Dale in the presence of God. That's how they challenged people to live their lives. No matter where you are, no matter what's going on this morning, as you're here in church in your car, when you're going all the things that are going to go on today and tomorrow and the next. <br /><br /> It says live as if you're in the aware that you're in your corn Dale in the very presence of God and that the things that are be allowed into your life, God is giving you the opportunity to respond in such a way that you would say God, in this go her fire yourself. You're my audience. Jesus is pulling it back and saying, man, if you're giving and the audience is people, if you're praying and the audience is people, if you're fast, I think in the audiences, people, you have turned something healthy, just something drew tremendously unhealthy in your life. <br /><br /> And then he talks about our ambition while living in Jesus' kingdom. He talks about here in verse one, You will have no reward from your father. And I'd like to read down through verses two through four, one more time. Thus, when you give to the needy sound, no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogue and in the streets that they may be praised by others. <br /><br /> Truly. I say to you that they have received their reward, but when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing so that you're giving may be in secret. And your father who is in secret reward, you it's a comparison of two sources of reward. You can seek your reward in one of those two places, you can do it from others, from people. <br /><br /> And he says, you might be able to do things to be praised by others. You might be able to receive from them, their appreciation, maybe their admiration, and you may be successful. But when you get that it's over, that's all there is. I think that that is something where God is now bringing those same things, or he says, you can look to God for it's seeking God's praise. <br /><br /> God's commendation, honestly, embracing the concept of the audience of one that which is found in the secret place of a heart devoted to God. And he says to us in verses two through four, that we will be rewarded in the arena we pursue. And your father who sees in secret will reward you. That's true in this life that I believe God clearly is indicating we will have. <br /><br /> Reward from God in this world. Now I don't believe that it's talking about prosperity position finances, uh, as a guarantee, I don't think God is saying you do this and I'll, I'll, I'll do all these things for you. I think the motivation that I, you know, I wanna, I wanna give right nearly to the Lord ties my money because then God will, will shower, blessing upon me. <br /><br /> He may, I think that's the motivation. He say we do it because we love him. And we are blessed by him, but not necessary verily that we're going to find our finances have exploded. So what is he talking about when he says, and your father who sees in secret rule reward you well, The problem that he's talking about is the danger is saying is you're living to get the approval and the appreciation and the praise of people. <br /><br /> And if you get that, he says you have it and maybe enjoy it, but that's all there is, that's it. So what is the other side? I believe it's talking about the approval, the appreciation, the enjoyment of God. He's saying we can live our lives to have God's favor in our lives. God's enjoyment in Psalm 1 47 university has become very special in my own life. <br /><br /> In verse 11, God is talking about, he says I don't delight in, in the, the, uh, the legs of, of the warrior. I don't delight in him is war Steed. He says, but I delight in the purse who hopes in my my unfailing love. He says those who trust and hope in my unfilling of those are the ones. It's not their skills, their power, their strength this past week on Tuesday, I got a phone call from a guy that I served on, uh, the mission board with for a number of years, he had actually become our interim director, did an incredible job. <br /><br /> And we talked for quite a while. He just was calling to check in. And as we talked, we had, uh, connection about life, family, what was going on and get thinking about ministry. And he told the story I had not known years ago. He had been a very, I knew this part. He had been a very prominent pastor in Florida. <br /><br /> He had a mega church and evangelical church, and there were things that were. Slanderous statements that were made about him years ago. And <br /><br /> it came loud enough, even though there was an investigation and he was completely cleared. He said, I wasn't cleared in the church. And he said, I had to step down. And he said for 17 years, um, I was never allowed to go back or invited to speak at the church or anything. And he said at the end of 17 years, they invited me to come back and they, they did, uh, a public apology to him and to his wife, Janie. <br /><br /> And he said to me, mark, 17 years, a long time, but then he said this, <br /><br /> but what God showed me about himself, I wouldn't trade it for it. What's he saying, he's the reward. He's the reward to have him delight in you to have him say, this is what I want. I love my children that, that are, that are holding onto one thing. They're, they're hoping that my love won't fail. That they're trusting in that I was with a friend from our church this week and they have gone through astounding circumstances as a couple, as a family. <br /><br /> And he was talking about passage in first Corinthians 13 about faith and hope and love. And it was an interesting take on it. And he said, you know, I believe love endures because love is who God is. It will never end, never stop, but he says faith and hope. They're the means for us to embrace. God's love. <br /><br /> We, we trust him. We, we believe in him. We hope in him and they've gone through real suffering as, as parents and circumstantially, but he said, you know, my wife is, we've been talking about this. She made this statement. She said, <br /><br /> the invitation, uh, faith and hope comes in an envelope. And it's the invitation to put our faith and hope in God's love. But she said, usually the envelope is suffering. I love that. I found the true moon life that God allows purposes, hard things in our lives and says, this is an opportunity. This is an invitation to put your faith and your trust and your hope in me and my unfailing love that's exactly what Psalm 1 47 verse 11 is saying, what does God delight in those who hope, who take the invitation to hope? <br /><br /> Now, there are some of us that get the invitation and it comes in the form of suffering. We say, I'm not open to that invitation. I don't want anything to do with it. I want to run from him. Oh, God says you can embrace the invitation because here's the invitation to put your hope and your faith in love. <br /><br /> The reward is God. It's his delight in you? It's his enjoyment of you. It's you tasting. And his unfailing love, <br /><br /> but there also is the reward in the life to come. The whole subject of rewards of course, is kinda hard for us because it sounds like, man, it sounds like a barter system. You, you walk with God and you get this, but I'd like to try to present it this way. As I wrap things up in revelation, chapter four and many times the scripture, a number of times, the scripture talks about rewards as crowns as a crown of life. <br /><br /> There's other crowns that are given as, as honoring, like you've run the race and you are honored and revelation. Chapter four is the picture in heaven. And it talks about the 24 elders who most people believe. A representative of the 12 disciples of the, the era of the church and the 12 patriarchs of, of the tribes of Israel. <br /><br /> And so it's all of God's people gathered together in these elders. And it says this in verse 10 and 11 chapter four, the 24 elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever, they cast their crowns before the throne saying worthy, are you, oh Lord and God to receive glory and honor and power for you created all things. <br /><br /> And by your will they existed and were created the rewards in the picture of it is yes there's there's honor. There's some sense that the Bema, the judgment seat of Christ, which is for believers in which he says well done. And there were, there were special ways that you allowed me to be real in your life and to work through your life and to sustain you. <br /><br /> You received the letters with grace of invitation, even when they came in the form of the envelope of suffering. And you said, I will trust him. I will love him. I will depend on him. I will hope in his unfailing love, <br /><br /> but they take those crowns and they just, Lord, it's all you from start to finish. Now, if you're like me, you think, yeah, but there's still this, since you're going to feel uncomfortable. Oh man, I didn't have enough of those. I don't believe that's going to be the feel. I think we're going to then be in the presence of the Lord and there's going to just be joy. <br /><br /> And even with other people casting their crap, maybe you don't have as many crowds. But the joy of seeing crowns going before the feet of Christ is just going to be such a compelling picture. We're all going to gather there, say he was, is worthy and it's glorious to just say, Jesus, it was all you. It was all you, Jesus is saying to us here in Matthew, chapter six, he says, man, take time to evaluate your heart. <br /><br /> Be still before the Lord, make sure that your heart's motivation is towards me. The more you do that, the more you enjoy me, the more you get the ultimate price, which is, you know, me more, you enjoy me more. You feel my delight. As you hope in my unfailing love. <br /><br /> There are times in most of our lives. If we've walked with Jesus for a while, when we've been tempted and whether it's to lust or to worry, or to fear anger or whatever. And God's enabled us to withstand that temptation and just say, Lord, I want you more when you've done that, didn't you find joy in the Lord, man. <br /><br /> It didn't make you feel like what a marvelous Christian I'm walking around as no, you think Lark I'm so grateful when I got the envelope and it was hard. And I said, I'm choosing to hope in your unfailing love, and then he sustains you and does something you didn't see and couldn't imagine happening. <br /><br /> And you look back and say, God, that was so wonderful that you were able me to trust you. What's so wonderful to hope in your unfailing. Love. Even the journey is our reward going to close with this? I do think Jesus is talking about giving it's important. It's a vital part, but he's focusing on something here. <br /><br /> I don't think Jesus is saying you have to give anonymously. We don't give a check because somebody will see it. Don't give in order to get the IRS Bennett, you know, which is which isn't a good anymore. Anyway, but, but, but I would suggest this maybe just a practical thought sometimes give anonymous. <br /><br /> Sometimes just <br /><br /> hear if somebody's in need, get some money together in cash and give it to them on the sly I've found in those times when God has prompted Marin and I to do that, it's felt like the purest giving we've probably ever done. Nobody knew we don't really even know in many of the cases, how it was perceived, what was done with it. <br /><br /> But I would suggest that just sometimes say, you know, let's just spontaneously give and nobody will know. Even they will know. <br /><br /> The Lord always goes for the heart. It's the control center of our lives. It's not only our will. It's our passion. He wants you passion. He wants your heart. He wants you to hope in his unfailing. Love to complete all these metaphors. I've thrown at you this morning. If right now you're getting one of those envelopes and it's in the envelope of suffering. <br /><br /> Remember it is an invitation to hope in his unfailing. Love. The beauty is as we do, we get him the best reward of all. Lord, you look in our hearts this morning, man. It's so easy for us to be caught up in the rush and hurry of life even here in the summer. Lord, thank you that you pursue us. Even in Matthew five through seven, it's just total pursuit. <br /><br /> Of Jesus after the hearts of people to not settle for other stuff, when they could have you Lord draws to you in Jesus name. Amen. Now go on peace to love and serve. Enjoy .</div> false no <![CDATA[Responding to Our Enemies]]> Matthew 5:43-48

43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor[a] and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.



Great to have you back around, but you have to take your Bibles. We're going to turn to Matthew chapter five. We're going to be looking at Matthew five, verse 40 43 to 48 this morning. I'm pestering. If you don't know who I am and probably means, I don't know who you are or glad to have you here.

And we're looking forward to spending a few minutes, a little more abbreviated time in the scriptures this morning, Matthew 5 43 to 48. I'd like to read them before we jump into the text this morning, I feel like I've got a ringing. Is there a little bit of a ringing? Do I sound like I'm ready? Okay.

I'd rather be D-rings if I can. Okay. Matthew chapter five, verse 43, you have heard that it was said, you show love, love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you so that you may be sons of your father, who is in heaven for he makes his son rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the, just and on the unjust for if you love those who love you, what reward do you have do not even the tax collectors do the same.

And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others do not even the Gentiles do the same. You therefore must be perfect as your father. Your heavenly father is perfect. Let's pray,

Lord. It's an incredible thing that you call us to love in the model of it is you hold up yourself and to be children of yours means that there is a capacity to tap into you, to live and to respond even to those that are hard for us in ways that are just not default to who we are. So Lord teach us this morning.

We're living right now in a day in which culturally lines are so loudly drawn. And we want to know what it means in our personal individual, walk with you, what it looks like practically to just love people that are different love people that think differently, love people that live differently. So Lord, we look to your word to be our guide in love in Jesus name.

Amen. We've mentioned many times as we've talked about this series, Matthew five through seven, the upside down life, that Jesus is actually using the same playbook that the people of his day are using. He's using and referring to the old Testament law of which there were 613 commands. But on top of those 613 commands, people of the previous decades had put together what is called the oral tradition later on in, in decades later after Jesus, they would actually take all those oral traditions and would write them all down in a writing called the Mishnah.

And basically it takes every one of those 613 commands and gives a long thorough commentary on it. For instance, the command keep the Sabbath holy and do no work on the Sabbath. They had multiple statements that were made of what it meant to work on the Sabbath, what constituted word, but you could lift up what kind of cooking you could do that was appropriate kind of cooking or what kind of cooking and with what types of utensils would move you.

Work people that are out there are familiar with this oral tradition. And in the midst of this volume missed material, which were actually designed in many ways with, with a good intent, they were trying to help people. They call them fences, this distant to be able to live, you know, people would say, well, well, what does that mean?

Don't work on the Sabbath. I mean, I mean, does that mean I can water my animals? I mean, what does that mean? That I can, you know, I can bring in my, my, my hay when it's gonna rain tomorrow, what does it mean? So in order to help people, they built these fences and we understand how they got there. We get it, we do it ourselves.

But what happened is these became as binding in many people's minds as the scriptures, Jesus is now coming and he is presenting his interpretation of God's standards of righteousness. And it sounds shockingly different. Upside down, not only to us, but to them in this presentation, Jesus is asked in his teaching the same question that perhaps a teacher of law would be asked.

What's the purpose of the law of God. And one time Jesus was addressed in Matthew chapter 22, and they were actually trying to catch him and the Pharisees and scribes and the sad disease had their turn. And now the scribes of the law came and they had their turn and there's a big crowd of people. Most of them hostile to Jesus.

And this guy comes and he says, teacher, what is the most important commandment? And Jesus responded with this statement there actually two. Love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And secondly, love your neighbor as yourself. And then he makes this astonishing statement. He says this all the law and all the prophets, hang on these two commandments.

In other words, he says, take all the 613, take all the appropriate part of the oral tradition and it all fits under one umbrella statement set in two ways. Love God and love your neighbor. The common statement is the word love. Now, if you were to go to those that had put together this oral tradition and particularly those that are teaching it in Jesus' day, and you said what's the purpose of the law?

They would have said something like this to show God's people, how to keep themselves. Separated from evil influences to be worthy of God. And we would say, well, that isn't all bad. I mean, that's, there's a part of that is holy. But the problem was, it was utterly me centered. How do I become worthy to God?

How do I keep myself pure? How do I keep myself from being, from being defiled and separated from influences? And then they said, Jesus, what's the whole purpose of this, of the law. And he says, love, love God, love people. Love your neighbors yourself, and love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.

That is the foundational difference that is playing itself out in this upside down teaching of Jesus in Matthew chapter five through seven. Now hang with me here because this is really important to me. This is not only the people of Jesus' day that missed this. This is us. I've talked to many adults who have been raised in the evangelical church, including ours, who would say they have left Christianity because they felt Christianity was like the oral tradition.

And they would say something like this. I've had this various statements made.

I tried to be good. I tried to get it right. It just didn't work for me. And for them, they feel the church is a place where their lifestyle. Now they just feel condemnation. They feel the church is not safe. They feel Jesus is not safe. Now the problem is they had a perception in my opinion, Christ and Christianity, that was more like the, those that had imbibed, the oral tradition.

It's all about me getting it right than what grace living is, right. That it's about loving God. It's about loving others. Now we can blame ourselves as parents. We didn't do it. We can blame the church and we didn't do a better cheat. I mean the church at large, but I'm not excluding us, but alternately, we can say, well, ultimately it's the spirit of God that enables any of us to really understand it's about grace.

So we understand the natural heart of any of our lives is going to tend to, to get it wrong. But the reality is this passage is not just for the Jews of Jesus' day. This is for the believers of 2021, because we can imbibe this and we can live this and we can foster this ourselves. Jesus says it's about.

It's about learning to love vertically and horizontally. And he says everything I'm talking about flows from that. So in Matthew chapter five through seven, Jesus is giving a picture of what doing life with God is about, about loving him and loving people and Leviticus chapter 19 verse 12, verse verse 18 is actually the verse behind this passage.

And here's what it says. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. Jesus is referring to that verse when he quotes here in the beginning in verse 43. And he says, you've heard that it was said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. Well, The last part was not in the verse. We'll we'll mention that in a moment, but what Jesus is actually expressing in his little sermonette here in verse 43 to 48 is the object of love.

Everybody agreed. Leviticus. 19 says that we should love our neighbor. They agreed the oral tradition. People agree, the Pharisees agree. Oh yeah, yeah. Everybody, you have to look. The issue was who are we supposed to love? How, I mean, how, why does this neighbor thing extend? And that's where Jesus is going to rock world.

And maybe to some degree ours, because they felt that some people were deserving of love and others were not neighbor. Yes. Enemy. No, I've put in my sermon outline. If you got one, the word ethos, and I want to just tell you what that means. The word ethos actually refers to practices and values that distinguish a person or.

And it's a way of thinking. It's way of valuing and the ethos in regards to people that are my enemies or feel like my enemies is actually what he's talking about here. How do we look at them? How do we perceive them and respond to them? If your ethos is to be pure untainted separated, it will be answered one way.

If your ethos is that your life exists to love, the ethos will be answered another way. And in verses 43 to 45. And I'll tell you right now, I'm going to, I'm going to just sorta first by verse through this passage, there's not going to be lots of illustrations and stuff. It's, to me it's pretty straightforward.

The good news of that also is it will help us get out on time. But verses 43 to 45, he speaks in general terms. It's just the theology of what love my neighbor. Then in verse 46 to 48, he's going to get a little more specific about treating your enemies. He's speaking on both the macro level national, because this was a very national time for the people of Israel.

He's also spoken, speaking on a micro level. How do I respond when my brother-in-law is treating me like an enemy? All right. Let's look. The ethos of responding to your enemy verses 43 to 45 and the extreme cultural ethos about your enemy is here. You have heard that it was said, love your enemy. Love your neighbor.

Hate your enemy. Well, that's nowhere in the Bible that, but it was a contemporary accepted practice. Not by everybody, certainly in Israel. There are certainly people in Israel at the time that loved you. That loved God that walked with God and really were trying to live out this concept of love that would have said I don't, I don't know about this.

Hate your enemy. But culturally in, in the, the thinking the, the, the ethos of thinking in Israel, there was a large acceptance of this reality that, yes, I have to love my neighbor, but that's in contrast to loving my enemy and it all hinged on this question, who is my neighbor, because Jesus says here in Luke Leviticus 19, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Now, the word neighbor is actually from the word near it's somebody near me. When Mr. Rogers sings, it's a beautiful day. There we get that. He's talking about it's near where he is. Mr. Rogers is not singing about. It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood. It's a beautiful day in Afghanistan. It's a beautiful day in Madagascar.

No, he's talking about, it's a beautiful day right there, where he is, where Mr. McFeeley is. And officer Clemmons is, and, and Daniel striped tiger is right. It's a beautiful day there to be with those folks. And he even says, well, won't you be my neighbor? Come on, come on into the orbit, come near. And for many people in Israel, those that were near with Israelites, the Jews, those that were far the outsiders, the Gentiles, most of all the Romans and quite frankly, it's okay to hate them.

Who is the enemy? Then they were the Gentiles. The Romans, the Jews were famous in the Roman empire. We see this in, in an extent Roman writings for being the Jews were known as being a hostile, arrogant people to, to, to govern. And the proud Romans as an occupying military force certainly exacerbated the situation.

There were certainly a national sense that's involved in this, but Jesus teaching here in Matthew five through seven is not only relevant for people living under an occupying force that they hate. It's talking about how do I respond to people that feel like they're against me, that they set themselves against me?

The question here is who is an enemy? Well, again, one more definition. The word enemy is actually talking about. In opposition. Here's a couple of verses, same words used acts 13, 10, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, you're against righteousness. You're opposed to it. You're hostile to it in James four, he says, therefore he wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

If you're imbibing, the world's thinking and the world's practices, you're actually saying I'm an opposition. I'm hostile to God's pattern of life. And he says, when you're an enemy, when somebody feels like an enemy, they feel hostile to you. They feel the post to you. Now, sometimes we assume people are enemies just because they stand in our way.

They're opposed to us. They seem to be hostile to us. They may not think they're doing that. But the question is, from our standpoint, when I feel somebody is against. Be it nationally as a people like the Romans or, or, or, or our large body of people who think differently or personally when it's, when it's a relative or a coworker or a boss or neighbor, how do I spawned to a person that feels hostile to me that feels an opposition to me.

And they said, hate them. I mean, view them as the enemy because they're acting that way. They're thinking that way they're behaving that way. They're persecuting us. Then we read what Jesus says in his ethos and the ethos of Jesus about your enemy has given him verse 44 and 45. And here's what it says, but I tell you love your enemy.

Pray for those who persecute you love, of course, is seeking people's best, meaning God's formative pers purpose for their lives. Jesus. We want to say, here's the problem with that? Loving my enemies, praying for purpose people persecuting me. It muddies the line. I mean, I understand people near to me doing life with me, but when you talk about those that are, are out there, shot taking shots who are undermining me?

How do I make them? My neighbor? Well, Jesus is here talking about the question of who your neighbor is. He is not saying there are two groups, there's enemies and there's neighbors. He is rather saying the enemies are part of your neighbors.

One time Jesus is addressed with this very question. Here's what the lawyer said, stood up to him saying teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And he said to him, what's written in the law. How do you read it? And he says, the two commands of Jesus. And he answered, you shall love the Lord, your God with all your heart and soul and mind and with all your strength.

And then he said, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I mean, this guy absolutely nailed it. And Jesus said to him, you have answered correctly, do this. And you will live. But the lawyer desiring to justify himself said to Jesus and who is my neighbor? You know, same deal. Right? Wait a minute. I just said this, but who are you talking about?

I know I'm talking about who do you mean when you say my neighbor and Jesus said, will they tell, let me tell you a story. And you know, the story, here's the story. He says, the sky was going down road. And he got mugged. Left for dead. They took everything. He had. It says he took his stuff, they took his clothes.

They left him, stripped their bleeding, bloody left for dead. And he says, and a priest came along and walked on the other side of the road. This was a Jew, by the way. And then he says, and then a Levi came along who are like the second level priests. They weren't really priest, but they did a lot of the priestly support work.

And he went on the other side of her. I mean, these were the best of Israel. And then he says in a Samaritan came along and he stopped and cared for the sky, took him to an end. He, he paid out of his own pocket, completely took care of this guy's needs. And then he says to the, the, the lawyer, he says, who do you think was the neighbor to this man?

He said, the guy that took care of him, that was a shocking thing that Jesus did to this guy, because. The Samaritans were the enemy. The Samaritans were the people that were considered the total sell out to the Israelites. The Samaritans existed here was how Israel, when there was Galilee in the north, all Jews, the south is Judea, all Jews.

And then there was the Jordan river. And so you've got like a, like a sea here. Okay. And that's how they traveled. When they came down for the, for the festivals, they came down on the east side, east side of the Jordan river because they didn't want to walk through an area in the middle called Samaria.

The reason is the Samaritans lived in Samira. The Samaritans were people in centuries past that had been imported by foreign powers, notably Assyria and Babylon, and had been brought in and had been pushed in. That's what they did. When they defeated a group, they took a bunch of them and they export them out to weaken the, the, the, the, the nations that they had conquered.

And they stuck them there. And these guys had imbibed some of the beliefs of Israel after all, there was surrounded by the Israelites and they brought in some of their own stuff. It was a mixed faith. And to the Jews, these guys were a disgrace. That's why in John chapter four, when Jesus talks to the Samaritan woman, the disciples are like, wow, doing the scene.

Not only is this a woman, she's a enemy woman. And Jesus said, the guy says, who's my neighbor. And he says, well, the Samaritan guy shows. Not only is it wasn't a Samaritan guy who was bruised and bloody and a magnanimous Jew came along and cared for me. He says, no, the Samaritan, your enemy showed you how to treat your neighbor.

So what Jesus says is there's no categories of neighbor and enemy. He says, there's one category neighbors. And it includes your enemies. I say, love your neighbor. And then he says this, pray for those who persecute you now, what do we pray? Well, we pray for their best. We pray for God's formative work to be done in their life.

But I think most of us know that field, there have been people in our lives that really have a post-test that have done things that are hurtful to us, whether known or not known, particularly for those that are known, it's hard to pray for them. It's hard to even think about them. Right? The problem with praying is you have to think about the person you visualize, what you want to do most.

They're just, they don't exist to me, but to you, he's just waiting for me to do life. But Jesus says, visualize them, bring them, pray for them. It's hard to think about them. It brings a sense of danger or fear even to remember them, frankly, you don't want them to prosper. And again, when I mean prosper, I mean, in sense of God's formative work, being done with them, quite honestly, what you want for your enemy.

And I'm just trying to be real here, what you want for them. What I wanted for the people. Is to see, I want them to see they were wrong about me. I want them to see they were wrong about the situation I want them to see. I don't want them to prosper because it will affirm them. It will give them confidence in the way they're thinking and their behavior, their power, their influence.

So what are we praying for the persecutor? The ex-husband it's behaving in a monstrous way for the former or current boss that has really wronged you for the relatives that have stood against you and made this, this family conflict and a host of other examples, all of which are represented in, in, in lives here this morning.

What do we pray? We pray asking for God's best God's formative work in their lives. And what that doesn't mean is the Lord is not asking us necessarily. To pray for them to be back in our lives. Wisdom may be that that would not be helpful for you or for them. I think we can. I think we can pray and maybe we don't word it this way, but it's kind of how we're feeling.

And the Lord knows our heart. We pray the rabbi's prayer. You remember I've said this before and Fiddler on the roof, they came to the rabbi and they said, and the czar was putting his pogroms down on the, on the Jews persecution. And they say, rabbi, how do we pray for the czar? And he said, God bless and keep the czar far away from us.

We get that right. I mean, when somebody is really here, I don't think the Lord says pray that this person will now be back in your life. They can do it all over again. What are you saying is such a heart that they're not your enemy that you can at least say, God, do your formative work in their lives, which, you know, Not vindictively, but you know, will be the same as it is for you when God does his formative work in you, he does show you things about yourself.

He does show you things about your thinking that can, that's part of praying for a heart persecutors for, for people that have wronged us. But he says, you don't look at them as the enemy. You don't also say, well God, as soon as I put them on my Perlis, you're going to bring them back into my life. In this giant, the Lord knows what he's dealing with in us.

He knows what we can handle, but he is saying, we recognize even those that have heard us are our neighbors, who we are to love. As we love ourselves. He goes on to say in verse 45, why we're to do this? Why we're to make these folks part of the neighbor. And it's a great statement so that you may be sons of your father who's in heaven for, he makes his son rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the, just and on the unjust.

I think we might think that, well, I need to start praying for so-and-so because with my magnanimous Christ centered, loving spirit, it will bring them to Jesus. If that's how you pray, you're going to probably get more ticked at them when they don't change. That's not what he says. That's not the motivation.

The motivation is this. You include them as your neighbor.

You love them because that's what God is saying. And that's what God does in people's hearts. And that's how we know that God is making himself real in us. He enables us to, to embrace people that are, we would easily say enemy out of my life. We can embrace and say again, not that they're going to now do life and we're going to be best friends or whatever, but that I'm not going to look at that person.

Isn't, I'm going to embrace them as a neighbor too.

the specific application of this is found in verse 46 to 48. I'm going to step it up. He says in verse 46, you can't just love those who love you for, if you love those who love you, what reward do you have do not even the tax collectors do the same. The standard of love you're showing is no better than tax collectors, Manheim that much to tick people off in the Roman empire.

I've read this a number of places. I I'm positive and confident. This is a truism. They had a thing called tax farming. Here's what they would do. Romans would take over a people group, a nation they've conquered. They would bring them, they would bless them by bringing them into the Roman empire. And what they would do is they would put an individual who's over the taxation for that group.

And they would give them an amount of money that they were responsible to raise. And then they would appoint individuals often from the people group, perhaps at a lower level from the people group, but they would, and they would say, look, this is what you have to bring in. And then you get people to help you do it.

And they are given the response. And all that you are charged with was this. You get to bring in this amount of money, there was no rate of what people had to pay. There was no standard rate. There was no, okay. On your income, you got to pay 12%. Well, now you're in a 22% bracket. They just, the tax collectors had astonishing power and they went, and so of course it was, it was just rife with bribe and corruption because you would, you would have your favorites.

You would, you would, you would build these people and you would be nice to these people because they could, they could protect your back. And here's how you made your money. As long as you reached your quota, everything above the quota was yours. You can imagine this system and you can imagine how people that were Jews were viewed by the rest of the people.

That's why we sensed that in there. The tax collectors and sinners are put together often in the gospels

in this system, Jesus said, well, tax collectors love people that love them. You may remember the story of, of Matthew who was a tax collector, one of Jesus' disciples. And when he came to Jesus, do you remember daddy threw a party? He threw a dinner and he invited guests who came to his party tax collectors.

They were the only people that liked him. So he brought them to his party and they heard Jesus. What Jesus is saying is if your standard is to only love the people that are near, that are doing life with you, that are thinking like you, how is that godly? How is that supernatural? How is that Christ in you?

The hope of glory manifesting itself? The other thing he says is this inverse,

which I'll just say this. Christians must love people who don't like them. There's no other way around that. I mean, if there's anyone truth in this passage is this that if people are loud and screaming at you at Facebook, you don't scream back. You don't respond back. You don't insult when insulted you don't when you're persecuting wrong.

When you respond supernaturally like God did when he was a man praying for people that were, were hanging them on the cross says, Lord, forgive them. He says, tax collectors can love people. Love them. What about people that think you're a dog treat you like a dog? He says, call him your neighbors and love him like yourself.

And then he says this, you can't just embrace those who are like you verse 47. And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others do not even the Gentiles do the same. The literal rendering of verse 47 is this, if you greet only your own people, I love that, that expression. If you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others?

I mean, I mean, everybody does that Marion years ago, we were both history majors. So we read a lot of history stuff and she was talking about, she had been reading a number of books about native Americans and she said, I am finding something fascinating. She said in every native American tribe that I have found their name in their dialect means the people we went to the natural museum, natural history museum.

No natural museum, New York city. That's a museum of history. We went there. It was right by central park. I promise. And anyway, we went there and, and we w we went through, we were going through the exhibit and there was a little inscription there. We were reading. And here's what it said. This, I don't remember what the, this, this title that the Egyptians use to describe themselves meant the people.

I was like, it's everywhere. We all want to view ourselves as we are the people. Now, this gets dicey for Christian's light, because when God says you are my people, she said, oh, we're fellow people, but Jesus is saying. Don't only greet your people.

Great. Those that are different. So the one last definition, what does the word greet mean? It doesn't mean there's oh, there he is. No, the word greet here literally means to embrace, to welcome, to spend time listening to it even talks about when you're leaving, it says, do this, do this farewell that's involved in, in the term greeting.

He says there is an embracing of people that are not, your people speaks to us in the political arena, right? Speaks to us in the cultural arena, Christians, people with other lifestyles and practices. In their fight for an America that may not be your vision for it at all.

It speaks to the person at work that you just look at and think, man, I hope my kids don't become that guy. I hope that that, that this way of thinking just gets obliterated in, in, in, in our culture because of what it's doing to my,

maybe that that's the very person that God is saying to you. I want you to look at that person as your neighbor. I want you to embrace them as your neighbor. I want you to know them. I want you to pray for them. I want you to realize that that they're a person who has been marked in their own story of life.

Just like you. Different incidents, different results, but there are a person that has a story. I want you to know their story. I want you to hear their story. I want you to enter into their story after all, they're your neighbor. In my perspective, Jesus is saying they're part of the near ones that I've placed in your world.

And then Jesus makes this amazing statement. Here's how he finishes verse 48. You therefore must be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect. And we all close our Bibles and say, good, I'm completely free because that's impossible. Well, here's what he's saying. The word perfect is just, it means to bring to completion.

It means to wholeheartedly love.

God wholeheartedly loves you. And quite frankly, and I'm starting with me looking out at you. There's a lot, that's hard to love for all of us. I don't mean you didn't come quite as a one of the two I'm speaking to me. And there's a lot that's hard to love,

but God does he's for you. He's crazy about you. And he says, I want you to love people that are different, who are not your people who are not loving you, because that's how I love. You only love me. God says, because I loved you.

So be the initiators to those relatives, to those kids, to those parents, to those coworkers, to those students. Who it's easy to say, they're them and there's us. And God says, they're all there. They're all neighbors. God loves him. And God wants to love him through you, Lord.

it's only as we grow in the stunned reality and stunned awareness of what it means that the cosmos creating God deigns to love us, that we can even begin to think of loving people this way. We can only love to the degree we're loved and that love comes from you. So Lord, as believers as your kids, Help us to embrace people in our lives that we're sort of looking at as enemies.

And you're asking us to begin to learn how to look at them. As neighbors worthy of love. Lord, we trust you to do it. We don't have it in ourselves, but we have it in. You teach us how to embrace it. I pray in Jesus name. Amen. Now, go in peace to love and serve and enjoy that Lord.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/responding-to-our-enemies c8c72aac-5413-4791-93ff-20bb968f2d11 Sun, 18 Jul 2021 09:00:19 GMT <div data-html="true">Matthew 5:43-48 <br /><br /> <span><span><sup>43 </sup>“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor<sup>[<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%205%3A43-48&amp;version=NIV#fen-NIV-23278a">a</a>]</sup> and hate your enemy.’</span></span> <span><span><sup>44 </sup>But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,</span></span> <span><span><sup>45 </sup>that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.</span></span> <span><span><sup>46 </sup>If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?</span></span> <span><span><sup>47 </sup>And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?</span></span> <span><span><sup>48 </sup>Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.</span></span> <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Great to have you back around, but you have to take your Bibles. We're going to turn to Matthew chapter five. We're going to be looking at Matthew five, verse 40 43 to 48 this morning. I'm pestering. If you don't know who I am and probably means, I don't know who you are or glad to have you here. <br /><br /> And we're looking forward to spending a few minutes, a little more abbreviated time in the scriptures this morning, Matthew 5 43 to 48. I'd like to read them before we jump into the text this morning, I feel like I've got a ringing. Is there a little bit of a ringing? Do I sound like I'm ready? Okay. <br /><br /> I'd rather be D-rings if I can. Okay. Matthew chapter five, verse 43, you have heard that it was said, you show love, love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you so that you may be sons of your father, who is in heaven for he makes his son rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the, just and on the unjust for if you love those who love you, what reward do you have do not even the tax collectors do the same. <br /><br /> And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others do not even the Gentiles do the same. You therefore must be perfect as your father. Your heavenly father is perfect. Let's pray, <br /><br /> Lord. It's an incredible thing that you call us to love in the model of it is you hold up yourself and to be children of yours means that there is a capacity to tap into you, to live and to respond even to those that are hard for us in ways that are just not default to who we are. So Lord teach us this morning. <br /><br /> We're living right now in a day in which culturally lines are so loudly drawn. And we want to know what it means in our personal individual, walk with you, what it looks like practically to just love people that are different love people that think differently, love people that live differently. So Lord, we look to your word to be our guide in love in Jesus name. <br /><br /> Amen. We've mentioned many times as we've talked about this series, Matthew five through seven, the upside down life, that Jesus is actually using the same playbook that the people of his day are using. He's using and referring to the old Testament law of which there were 613 commands. But on top of those 613 commands, people of the previous decades had put together what is called the oral tradition later on in, in decades later after Jesus, they would actually take all those oral traditions and would write them all down in a writing called the Mishnah. <br /><br /> And basically it takes every one of those 613 commands and gives a long thorough commentary on it. For instance, the command keep the Sabbath holy and do no work on the Sabbath. They had multiple statements that were made of what it meant to work on the Sabbath, what constituted word, but you could lift up what kind of cooking you could do that was appropriate kind of cooking or what kind of cooking and with what types of utensils would move you. <br /><br /> Work people that are out there are familiar with this oral tradition. And in the midst of this volume missed material, which were actually designed in many ways with, with a good intent, they were trying to help people. They call them fences, this distant to be able to live, you know, people would say, well, well, what does that mean? <br /><br /> Don't work on the Sabbath. I mean, I mean, does that mean I can water my animals? I mean, what does that mean? That I can, you know, I can bring in my, my, my hay when it's gonna rain tomorrow, what does it mean? So in order to help people, they built these fences and we understand how they got there. We get it, we do it ourselves. <br /><br /> But what happened is these became as binding in many people's minds as the scriptures, Jesus is now coming and he is presenting his interpretation of God's standards of righteousness. And it sounds shockingly different. Upside down, not only to us, but to them in this presentation, Jesus is asked in his teaching the same question that perhaps a teacher of law would be asked. <br /><br /> What's the purpose of the law of God. And one time Jesus was addressed in Matthew chapter 22, and they were actually trying to catch him and the Pharisees and scribes and the sad disease had their turn. And now the scribes of the law came and they had their turn and there's a big crowd of people. Most of them hostile to Jesus. <br /><br /> And this guy comes and he says, teacher, what is the most important commandment? And Jesus responded with this statement there actually two. Love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And secondly, love your neighbor as yourself. And then he makes this astonishing statement. He says this all the law and all the prophets, hang on these two commandments. <br /><br /> In other words, he says, take all the 613, take all the appropriate part of the oral tradition and it all fits under one umbrella statement set in two ways. Love God and love your neighbor. The common statement is the word love. Now, if you were to go to those that had put together this oral tradition and particularly those that are teaching it in Jesus' day, and you said what's the purpose of the law? <br /><br /> They would have said something like this to show God's people, how to keep themselves. Separated from evil influences to be worthy of God. And we would say, well, that isn't all bad. I mean, that's, there's a part of that is holy. But the problem was, it was utterly me centered. How do I become worthy to God? <br /><br /> How do I keep myself pure? How do I keep myself from being, from being defiled and separated from influences? And then they said, Jesus, what's the whole purpose of this, of the law. And he says, love, love God, love people. Love your neighbors yourself, and love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. <br /><br /> That is the foundational difference that is playing itself out in this upside down teaching of Jesus in Matthew chapter five through seven. Now hang with me here because this is really important to me. This is not only the people of Jesus' day that missed this. This is us. I've talked to many adults who have been raised in the evangelical church, including ours, who would say they have left Christianity because they felt Christianity was like the oral tradition. <br /><br /> And they would say something like this. I've had this various statements made. <br /><br /> I tried to be good. I tried to get it right. It just didn't work for me. And for them, they feel the church is a place where their lifestyle. Now they just feel condemnation. They feel the church is not safe. They feel Jesus is not safe. Now the problem is they had a perception in my opinion, Christ and Christianity, that was more like the, those that had imbibed, the oral tradition. <br /><br /> It's all about me getting it right than what grace living is, right. That it's about loving God. It's about loving others. Now we can blame ourselves as parents. We didn't do it. We can blame the church and we didn't do a better cheat. I mean the church at large, but I'm not excluding us, but alternately, we can say, well, ultimately it's the spirit of God that enables any of us to really understand it's about grace. <br /><br /> So we understand the natural heart of any of our lives is going to tend to, to get it wrong. But the reality is this passage is not just for the Jews of Jesus' day. This is for the believers of 2021, because we can imbibe this and we can live this and we can foster this ourselves. Jesus says it's about. <br /><br /> It's about learning to love vertically and horizontally. And he says everything I'm talking about flows from that. So in Matthew chapter five through seven, Jesus is giving a picture of what doing life with God is about, about loving him and loving people and Leviticus chapter 19 verse 12, verse verse 18 is actually the verse behind this passage. <br /><br /> And here's what it says. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. Jesus is referring to that verse when he quotes here in the beginning in verse 43. And he says, you've heard that it was said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. Well, The last part was not in the verse. We'll we'll mention that in a moment, but what Jesus is actually expressing in his little sermonette here in verse 43 to 48 is the object of love. <br /><br /> Everybody agreed. Leviticus. 19 says that we should love our neighbor. They agreed the oral tradition. People agree, the Pharisees agree. Oh yeah, yeah. Everybody, you have to look. The issue was who are we supposed to love? How, I mean, how, why does this neighbor thing extend? And that's where Jesus is going to rock world. <br /><br /> And maybe to some degree ours, because they felt that some people were deserving of love and others were not neighbor. Yes. Enemy. No, I've put in my sermon outline. If you got one, the word ethos, and I want to just tell you what that means. The word ethos actually refers to practices and values that distinguish a person or. <br /><br /> And it's a way of thinking. It's way of valuing and the ethos in regards to people that are my enemies or feel like my enemies is actually what he's talking about here. How do we look at them? How do we perceive them and respond to them? If your ethos is to be pure untainted separated, it will be answered one way. <br /><br /> If your ethos is that your life exists to love, the ethos will be answered another way. And in verses 43 to 45. And I'll tell you right now, I'm going to, I'm going to just sorta first by verse through this passage, there's not going to be lots of illustrations and stuff. It's, to me it's pretty straightforward. <br /><br /> The good news of that also is it will help us get out on time. But verses 43 to 45, he speaks in general terms. It's just the theology of what love my neighbor. Then in verse 46 to 48, he's going to get a little more specific about treating your enemies. He's speaking on both the macro level national, because this was a very national time for the people of Israel. <br /><br /> He's also spoken, speaking on a micro level. How do I respond when my brother-in-law is treating me like an enemy? All right. Let's look. The ethos of responding to your enemy verses 43 to 45 and the extreme cultural ethos about your enemy is here. You have heard that it was said, love your enemy. Love your neighbor. <br /><br /> Hate your enemy. Well, that's nowhere in the Bible that, but it was a contemporary accepted practice. Not by everybody, certainly in Israel. There are certainly people in Israel at the time that loved you. That loved God that walked with God and really were trying to live out this concept of love that would have said I don't, I don't know about this. <br /><br /> Hate your enemy. But culturally in, in the, the thinking the, the, the ethos of thinking in Israel, there was a large acceptance of this reality that, yes, I have to love my neighbor, but that's in contrast to loving my enemy and it all hinged on this question, who is my neighbor, because Jesus says here in Luke Leviticus 19, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. <br /><br /> Now, the word neighbor is actually from the word near it's somebody near me. When Mr. Rogers sings, it's a beautiful day. There we get that. He's talking about it's near where he is. Mr. Rogers is not singing about. It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood. It's a beautiful day in Afghanistan. It's a beautiful day in Madagascar. <br /><br /> No, he's talking about, it's a beautiful day right there, where he is, where Mr. McFeeley is. And officer Clemmons is, and, and Daniel striped tiger is right. It's a beautiful day there to be with those folks. And he even says, well, won't you be my neighbor? Come on, come on into the orbit, come near. And for many people in Israel, those that were near with Israelites, the Jews, those that were far the outsiders, the Gentiles, most of all the Romans and quite frankly, it's okay to hate them. <br /><br /> Who is the enemy? Then they were the Gentiles. The Romans, the Jews were famous in the Roman empire. We see this in, in an extent Roman writings for being the Jews were known as being a hostile, arrogant people to, to, to govern. And the proud Romans as an occupying military force certainly exacerbated the situation. <br /><br /> There were certainly a national sense that's involved in this, but Jesus teaching here in Matthew five through seven is not only relevant for people living under an occupying force that they hate. It's talking about how do I respond to people that feel like they're against me, that they set themselves against me? <br /><br /> The question here is who is an enemy? Well, again, one more definition. The word enemy is actually talking about. In opposition. Here's a couple of verses, same words used acts 13, 10, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, you're against righteousness. You're opposed to it. You're hostile to it in James four, he says, therefore he wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. <br /><br /> If you're imbibing, the world's thinking and the world's practices, you're actually saying I'm an opposition. I'm hostile to God's pattern of life. And he says, when you're an enemy, when somebody feels like an enemy, they feel hostile to you. They feel the post to you. Now, sometimes we assume people are enemies just because they stand in our way. <br /><br /> They're opposed to us. They seem to be hostile to us. They may not think they're doing that. But the question is, from our standpoint, when I feel somebody is against. Be it nationally as a people like the Romans or, or, or, or our large body of people who think differently or personally when it's, when it's a relative or a coworker or a boss or neighbor, how do I spawned to a person that feels hostile to me that feels an opposition to me. <br /><br /> And they said, hate them. I mean, view them as the enemy because they're acting that way. They're thinking that way they're behaving that way. They're persecuting us. Then we read what Jesus says in his ethos and the ethos of Jesus about your enemy has given him verse 44 and 45. And here's what it says, but I tell you love your enemy. <br /><br /> Pray for those who persecute you love, of course, is seeking people's best, meaning God's formative pers purpose for their lives. Jesus. We want to say, here's the problem with that? Loving my enemies, praying for purpose people persecuting me. It muddies the line. I mean, I understand people near to me doing life with me, but when you talk about those that are, are out there, shot taking shots who are undermining me? <br /><br /> How do I make them? My neighbor? Well, Jesus is here talking about the question of who your neighbor is. He is not saying there are two groups, there's enemies and there's neighbors. He is rather saying the enemies are part of your neighbors. <br /><br /> One time Jesus is addressed with this very question. Here's what the lawyer said, stood up to him saying teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And he said to him, what's written in the law. How do you read it? And he says, the two commands of Jesus. And he answered, you shall love the Lord, your God with all your heart and soul and mind and with all your strength. <br /><br /> And then he said, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I mean, this guy absolutely nailed it. And Jesus said to him, you have answered correctly, do this. And you will live. But the lawyer desiring to justify himself said to Jesus and who is my neighbor? You know, same deal. Right? Wait a minute. I just said this, but who are you talking about? <br /><br /> I know I'm talking about who do you mean when you say my neighbor and Jesus said, will they tell, let me tell you a story. And you know, the story, here's the story. He says, the sky was going down road. And he got mugged. Left for dead. They took everything. He had. It says he took his stuff, they took his clothes. <br /><br /> They left him, stripped their bleeding, bloody left for dead. And he says, and a priest came along and walked on the other side of the road. This was a Jew, by the way. And then he says, and then a Levi came along who are like the second level priests. They weren't really priest, but they did a lot of the priestly support work. <br /><br /> And he went on the other side of her. I mean, these were the best of Israel. And then he says in a Samaritan came along and he stopped and cared for the sky, took him to an end. He, he paid out of his own pocket, completely took care of this guy's needs. And then he says to the, the, the lawyer, he says, who do you think was the neighbor to this man? <br /><br /> He said, the guy that took care of him, that was a shocking thing that Jesus did to this guy, because. The Samaritans were the enemy. The Samaritans were the people that were considered the total sell out to the Israelites. The Samaritans existed here was how Israel, when there was Galilee in the north, all Jews, the south is Judea, all Jews. <br /><br /> And then there was the Jordan river. And so you've got like a, like a sea here. Okay. And that's how they traveled. When they came down for the, for the festivals, they came down on the east side, east side of the Jordan river because they didn't want to walk through an area in the middle called Samaria. <br /><br /> The reason is the Samaritans lived in Samira. The Samaritans were people in centuries past that had been imported by foreign powers, notably Assyria and Babylon, and had been brought in and had been pushed in. That's what they did. When they defeated a group, they took a bunch of them and they export them out to weaken the, the, the, the, the nations that they had conquered. <br /><br /> And they stuck them there. And these guys had imbibed some of the beliefs of Israel after all, there was surrounded by the Israelites and they brought in some of their own stuff. It was a mixed faith. And to the Jews, these guys were a disgrace. That's why in John chapter four, when Jesus talks to the Samaritan woman, the disciples are like, wow, doing the scene. <br /><br /> Not only is this a woman, she's a enemy woman. And Jesus said, the guy says, who's my neighbor. And he says, well, the Samaritan guy shows. Not only is it wasn't a Samaritan guy who was bruised and bloody and a magnanimous Jew came along and cared for me. He says, no, the Samaritan, your enemy showed you how to treat your neighbor. <br /><br /> So what Jesus says is there's no categories of neighbor and enemy. He says, there's one category neighbors. And it includes your enemies. I say, love your neighbor. And then he says this, pray for those who persecute you now, what do we pray? Well, we pray for their best. We pray for God's formative work to be done in their life. <br /><br /> But I think most of us know that field, there have been people in our lives that really have a post-test that have done things that are hurtful to us, whether known or not known, particularly for those that are known, it's hard to pray for them. It's hard to even think about them. Right? The problem with praying is you have to think about the person you visualize, what you want to do most. <br /><br /> They're just, they don't exist to me, but to you, he's just waiting for me to do life. But Jesus says, visualize them, bring them, pray for them. It's hard to think about them. It brings a sense of danger or fear even to remember them, frankly, you don't want them to prosper. And again, when I mean prosper, I mean, in sense of God's formative work, being done with them, quite honestly, what you want for your enemy. <br /><br /> And I'm just trying to be real here, what you want for them. What I wanted for the people. Is to see, I want them to see they were wrong about me. I want them to see they were wrong about the situation I want them to see. I don't want them to prosper because it will affirm them. It will give them confidence in the way they're thinking and their behavior, their power, their influence. <br /><br /> So what are we praying for the persecutor? The ex-husband it's behaving in a monstrous way for the former or current boss that has really wronged you for the relatives that have stood against you and made this, this family conflict and a host of other examples, all of which are represented in, in, in lives here this morning. <br /><br /> What do we pray? We pray asking for God's best God's formative work in their lives. And what that doesn't mean is the Lord is not asking us necessarily. To pray for them to be back in our lives. Wisdom may be that that would not be helpful for you or for them. I think we can. I think we can pray and maybe we don't word it this way, but it's kind of how we're feeling. <br /><br /> And the Lord knows our heart. We pray the rabbi's prayer. You remember I've said this before and Fiddler on the roof, they came to the rabbi and they said, and the czar was putting his pogroms down on the, on the Jews persecution. And they say, rabbi, how do we pray for the czar? And he said, God bless and keep the czar far away from us. <br /><br /> We get that right. I mean, when somebody is really here, I don't think the Lord says pray that this person will now be back in your life. They can do it all over again. What are you saying is such a heart that they're not your enemy that you can at least say, God, do your formative work in their lives, which, you know, Not vindictively, but you know, will be the same as it is for you when God does his formative work in you, he does show you things about yourself. <br /><br /> He does show you things about your thinking that can, that's part of praying for a heart persecutors for, for people that have wronged us. But he says, you don't look at them as the enemy. You don't also say, well God, as soon as I put them on my Perlis, you're going to bring them back into my life. In this giant, the Lord knows what he's dealing with in us. <br /><br /> He knows what we can handle, but he is saying, we recognize even those that have heard us are our neighbors, who we are to love. As we love ourselves. He goes on to say in verse 45, why we're to do this? Why we're to make these folks part of the neighbor. And it's a great statement so that you may be sons of your father who's in heaven for, he makes his son rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the, just and on the unjust. <br /><br /> I think we might think that, well, I need to start praying for so-and-so because with my magnanimous Christ centered, loving spirit, it will bring them to Jesus. If that's how you pray, you're going to probably get more ticked at them when they don't change. That's not what he says. That's not the motivation. <br /><br /> The motivation is this. You include them as your neighbor. <br /><br /> You love them because that's what God is saying. And that's what God does in people's hearts. And that's how we know that God is making himself real in us. He enables us to, to embrace people that are, we would easily say enemy out of my life. We can embrace and say again, not that they're going to now do life and we're going to be best friends or whatever, but that I'm not going to look at that person. <br /><br /> Isn't, I'm going to embrace them as a neighbor too. <br /><br /> the specific application of this is found in verse 46 to 48. I'm going to step it up. He says in verse 46, you can't just love those who love you for, if you love those who love you, what reward do you have do not even the tax collectors do the same. The standard of love you're showing is no better than tax collectors, Manheim that much to tick people off in the Roman empire. <br /><br /> I've read this a number of places. I I'm positive and confident. This is a truism. They had a thing called tax farming. Here's what they would do. Romans would take over a people group, a nation they've conquered. They would bring them, they would bless them by bringing them into the Roman empire. And what they would do is they would put an individual who's over the taxation for that group. <br /><br /> And they would give them an amount of money that they were responsible to raise. And then they would appoint individuals often from the people group, perhaps at a lower level from the people group, but they would, and they would say, look, this is what you have to bring in. And then you get people to help you do it. <br /><br /> And they are given the response. And all that you are charged with was this. You get to bring in this amount of money, there was no rate of what people had to pay. There was no standard rate. There was no, okay. On your income, you got to pay 12%. Well, now you're in a 22% bracket. They just, the tax collectors had astonishing power and they went, and so of course it was, it was just rife with bribe and corruption because you would, you would have your favorites. <br /><br /> You would, you would, you would build these people and you would be nice to these people because they could, they could protect your back. And here's how you made your money. As long as you reached your quota, everything above the quota was yours. You can imagine this system and you can imagine how people that were Jews were viewed by the rest of the people. <br /><br /> That's why we sensed that in there. The tax collectors and sinners are put together often in the gospels <br /><br /> in this system, Jesus said, well, tax collectors love people that love them. You may remember the story of, of Matthew who was a tax collector, one of Jesus' disciples. And when he came to Jesus, do you remember daddy threw a party? He threw a dinner and he invited guests who came to his party tax collectors. <br /><br /> They were the only people that liked him. So he brought them to his party and they heard Jesus. What Jesus is saying is if your standard is to only love the people that are near, that are doing life with you, that are thinking like you, how is that godly? How is that supernatural? How is that Christ in you? <br /><br /> The hope of glory manifesting itself? The other thing he says is this inverse, <br /><br /> which I'll just say this. Christians must love people who don't like them. There's no other way around that. I mean, if there's anyone truth in this passage is this that if people are loud and screaming at you at Facebook, you don't scream back. You don't respond back. You don't insult when insulted you don't when you're persecuting wrong. <br /><br /> When you respond supernaturally like God did when he was a man praying for people that were, were hanging them on the cross says, Lord, forgive them. He says, tax collectors can love people. Love them. What about people that think you're a dog treat you like a dog? He says, call him your neighbors and love him like yourself. <br /><br /> And then he says this, you can't just embrace those who are like you verse 47. And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others do not even the Gentiles do the same. The literal rendering of verse 47 is this, if you greet only your own people, I love that, that expression. If you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? <br /><br /> I mean, I mean, everybody does that Marion years ago, we were both history majors. So we read a lot of history stuff and she was talking about, she had been reading a number of books about native Americans and she said, I am finding something fascinating. She said in every native American tribe that I have found their name in their dialect means the people we went to the natural museum, natural history museum. <br /><br /> No natural museum, New York city. That's a museum of history. We went there. It was right by central park. I promise. And anyway, we went there and, and we w we went through, we were going through the exhibit and there was a little inscription there. We were reading. And here's what it said. This, I don't remember what the, this, this title that the Egyptians use to describe themselves meant the people. <br /><br /> I was like, it's everywhere. We all want to view ourselves as we are the people. Now, this gets dicey for Christian's light, because when God says you are my people, she said, oh, we're fellow people, but Jesus is saying. Don't only greet your people. <br /><br /> Great. Those that are different. So the one last definition, what does the word greet mean? It doesn't mean there's oh, there he is. No, the word greet here literally means to embrace, to welcome, to spend time listening to it even talks about when you're leaving, it says, do this, do this farewell that's involved in, in the term greeting. <br /><br /> He says there is an embracing of people that are not, your people speaks to us in the political arena, right? Speaks to us in the cultural arena, Christians, people with other lifestyles and practices. In their fight for an America that may not be your vision for it at all. <br /><br /> It speaks to the person at work that you just look at and think, man, I hope my kids don't become that guy. I hope that that, that this way of thinking just gets obliterated in, in, in, in our culture because of what it's doing to my, <br /><br /> maybe that that's the very person that God is saying to you. I want you to look at that person as your neighbor. I want you to embrace them as your neighbor. I want you to know them. I want you to pray for them. I want you to realize that that they're a person who has been marked in their own story of life. <br /><br /> Just like you. Different incidents, different results, but there are a person that has a story. I want you to know their story. I want you to hear their story. I want you to enter into their story after all, they're your neighbor. In my perspective, Jesus is saying they're part of the near ones that I've placed in your world. <br /><br /> And then Jesus makes this amazing statement. Here's how he finishes verse 48. You therefore must be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect. And we all close our Bibles and say, good, I'm completely free because that's impossible. Well, here's what he's saying. The word perfect is just, it means to bring to completion. <br /><br /> It means to wholeheartedly love. <br /><br /> God wholeheartedly loves you. And quite frankly, and I'm starting with me looking out at you. There's a lot, that's hard to love for all of us. I don't mean you didn't come quite as a one of the two I'm speaking to me. And there's a lot that's hard to love, <br /><br /> but God does he's for you. He's crazy about you. And he says, I want you to love people that are different, who are not your people who are not loving you, because that's how I love. You only love me. God says, because I loved you. <br /><br /> So be the initiators to those relatives, to those kids, to those parents, to those coworkers, to those students. Who it's easy to say, they're them and there's us. And God says, they're all there. They're all neighbors. God loves him. And God wants to love him through you, Lord. <br /><br /> it's only as we grow in the stunned reality and stunned awareness of what it means that the cosmos creating God deigns to love us, that we can even begin to think of loving people this way. We can only love to the degree we're loved and that love comes from you. So Lord, as believers as your kids, Help us to embrace people in our lives that we're sort of looking at as enemies. <br /><br /> And you're asking us to begin to learn how to look at them. As neighbors worthy of love. Lord, we trust you to do it. We don't have it in ourselves, but we have it in. You teach us how to embrace it. I pray in Jesus name. Amen. Now, go in peace to love and serve and enjoy that Lord.</div> false no <![CDATA[Jesus Is Precious]]> 1 Peter 2:4-8

4 As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— 5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house[a] to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For in Scripture it says:

“See, I lay a stone in Zion,     a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him     will never be put to shame.”[b]



7 Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,



“The stone the builders rejected     has become the cornerstone,”[c]



8 and,



“A stone that causes people to stumble     and a rock that makes them fall.”[d]



They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.





morning everybody. Welcome you here in the room here online. Great to have you here. We're going to be looking at first Peter chapter two this morning, and then we're going to be moving to the Lord's table. Uh, the latter part of our service close our time together. First, Peter chapter two, uh, verses four through 10 is where we're going to be looking this morning.

reading a story number of years ago about a visitor to London, England, uh, in the late 18 hundreds. And he went there, uh, was a Christian was interested to go to a church at that time in London, there were a number of, uh, famous and eloquent preachers, uh, gospel preachers in churches. And so this guy went to a local, uh, Christian.

And he said, uh, where would you recommend? I've got a Sunday morning on a Sunday night. Where would you recommend? I go? And he mentioned a number of different people and one particular guy. And I remember one of the people he said was, if you go in here and it might've been Joseph Parker, I don't remember which man it was, but he said, um, if you go there, you will hear a wonderful sermon.

Then he talked about Charles Spurgeon and he said this, if you go in here, Charles Spurgeon, you'll hear about a wonderful savior. That impacted me. I actually heard that back when I was in seminary. And it was a salient moment for me thinking about what preaching is ultimately about more importantly, what living is ultimately about.

I've been reading recently, um, You know, Mike got us to Hester. Mike got us to read through the gospel of John and got a lot of us, uh, writing the gospel of John out and a lot of us in the habit of writing scripture. And I know a number of you continued with other books. Uh, I've done a couple since then.

I've done. I'm now in the, in the epistle letter to the Philippians. And I have been struck as I've read about Paul's relationship. Now we believe as believers, we all relate to God in his tri unity father, son, holy spirit, but it has stunned me with how central Jesus is in the law and the relationship that Paul has with God.

What he say in verse one, he says I'm a servant of Christ in verse eight. He says I long after all you believers in Philippians with the affection I've received. From Christ in chapter 12 in verse 21 of chapter one, he says, life for me is Christ. For me to live is Christ in verse 23. He says, my desire is to depart and be with Christ.

And then he makes this statement in the beginning of chapter two in verse one, he says my motivation to live and think certain ways is the encouragement and love that I feel from Christ. Paul never encountered Jesus physically. He was a violent opposer of the gospel until years after Jesus had died and resurrected and gone back to heaven.

Yet Jesus was so real to him. There's a book that, uh, actually pastor Ben mentioned it last Sunday. We have it out on our book, display recommended reading and uh, I want to highlight it all. It's called gentle and lowly. It's written by Dane Portland. I'm in the middle of it. It's a fabulous book. You really do commend it to you.

The book is actually, um, his reflections on a book that he read from the 16 hundreds by Thomas Goodman, which is entitled the heart of Christ and that book, which I think we can bring that one up to, uh, the heart of Christ by Thomas Goodman also focuses on Christ, but in a unique sense is focusing on the potential for a believer to have a living relationship with Jesus Christ that not only is similar to what it was like for the apostles to do life with Jesus, but actually can exceed that.

And in the book, here's what it's entitled and. Thomas Goodman Goodwin's book is entitled the heart of Christ, but here's the full title, the heart of Christ. And this is a typical Puritan thing by the 16 hundreds, the heart of Christ in heaven, towards sinners on earth. It a treatise demonstrating the gracious disposition and tender affection of Christ in his human nature.

Now in glory unto his members under all sorts of infirmities, either of sin or misery for both Dean Cortland and Thomas Goodwin and the apostle Paul Jesus is the center of their day today. Experience with God, for them. The second member of the Trinity has become the face and central reality of spiritual experience.

I've found the longer I've journeyed in these now decades with Christ. That my relationship has more and more becoming centered in Christ. I think much of my relationship in the early years with God, uh, though it was through Christ because of Christ that I entered the family of God, much of my thinking was about God.

And I was looking, but, and, and certainly God is the father, son, holy spirit. But I'm talking about the specific member of the tri unity more and more. It is Jesus. I think that's exactly what it was for Peter. When he went, I wrote this letter, he was so full of the wonders of Christ. So with all that, let's look at what he says here in first, Peter chapter two, don't let that long introduction scare you.

This is not reflective of the rest of the day. First Peter chapter two, verse four. He says, as you have come to him, a living stone rejected by men, but in the sight of God chosen and precious you yourselves, like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ for it stands in scripture, behold, I am laying in Zion, a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious.

And whoever believes in him will not be put to shame. So the honor is for you who believe, but those who do not believe that stone, that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. And he's quoting from Psalms now and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. And thirdly, they stumbled because they disobey the word as they were destined to do.

But you are a chosen race. A Royal priesthood, a holy nation of people for his own possession that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you are not a people, but now you are God's people once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Let's pray as we dive in for a few minutes on this passage, Lord,

we come to you as our father, that you have deigned to call yourself and be that to us as your, your spiritual children, your kids,

but Lord, you have chosen to most of all, make yourself known through Jesus.

Just like Paul said, his passion in life was to know Christ. Lord, teach us a little bit more this morning about the precious. Of your son through whom we know you through whom we see you and to whom now we come with gratitude for the joy of being able to do life with you. So guide us into truth father and Jesus name.

Amen. There's two things I want to look at simply, but I want to focus on, uh, on the phrase in verse four, as you have come to know him, a living stone rejected by men, but in the sight of God chosen and precious, he's going to say later on in this passage in verse six, quote from Psalms behold, I am laying in Zion, a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious.

This term precious is a monetary term, actually in the original. It meant it has a lot of value. It's something deeply valued. It has become precious to the industry. And I want to think this morning for a few moments about what it means that Jesus is precious. The reality that Jesus is precious is found here in verses four through eight.

And first of all, we find out he's precious to the father. Verse one verse four says, but in the sight of God, Jesus is chosen and precious

to God. The father Jesus has infinite extraordinary value. He is precious to him. He's proud of him. He delights in him. We would expect that, but he also tells us of another group of individuals and he says he is not precious to the world. Verse four. He says, he's the living stone rejected by men in verse seven and eight.

But for those who don't believe. The stone talking about Jesus, that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. They rejected him in verse eight, a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. They stumble because they disobey the word and they are, as they were destined to do most people in our world do not embrace Jesus as the center of their lives.

To most people in the world. He is not their cornerstone. As we'll read about in a moment, they've heard about it. People in churches do not necessarily embrace Jesus as precious as the most valuable commodity in their lives. The most valuable reality.

Certainly the hardest thing in many of our lives is people that we deeply, deeply love and do life. To whom Jesus is not precious because to us, he is the most precious person, the most precious reality in our lives, which leads us to the third grouping. He is precious to all who believe verse seven says in verse seven, it says, so the honor is for you who believe.

And literally he's saying for you who believe you have the honor of experience, his preciousness NIV actually translates it this way now to you who believe the stone is precious saying you, the honor is he is precious to you. He's precious to you. Like he is to God. The father you're separate from those who don't believe in that you have been given the gift of knowing the viciousness of Christ

I've been married for over 40 years and the beautiful part of, of Jesus being precious. As soon as we enter into the family of God, we are already on that journey of growing in the enjoyment of the people of Jesus. It is one of the ultimate marks of a person who has passed as the Bible describes from death to life is that Jesus is precious to us central to us, but it's a growing thing, right?

I've been married for 40 years and way over half of my life now has been spent with my wife. It's hard for me to even envision a time of my life when I did not love Marianne. She is precious to me is no one I pray with, like, I pray with Marin. There's no one that understands me or that I understand, like Marianne, there's no other human being as important to me as my wife.

She is sincerely more precious to me than I would have been dreamed possible. But I remember days in the past, I remember when I was watching from my fourth floor. Dorm Sammy Morris dorm at Taylor university. And I was looking out the windows and I had had become aware of this girl. And I dated her a little bit and, and I was watching her and she had a mail route.

She would be actually had a carriage and she was delivering mail to the professors. Her dad was a professor, and I remember watching it on the sidewalk is she would pass my dorm. She didn't know I was watching, but I was looking out there at her. And I was thinking, man, I had girls precious to me. I remember the day of our wedding.

I remember standing there at the aisle where you guys have stood that are married and looking up and seeing my Bri coming in with her dad and then saying these words that were my written vows, where I actually state made this statement. I gratefully receive you as the most precious earthly gift God has ever given.

She's always been precious to me, but not like she is now

for every child of God, for every believer in Jesus Christ who has entered the family of God. He's precious. The beauty is he becomes more precious. We know his heart more. We grow in the sense of this, but very early in your walk with Jesus, he has become precious to you. It's what marks us as his people.

Jesus has become precious to us more precious than our job. Even our families, our positions, our relationships, why? Well, that's what Paul tells us in the next couple of verses. The reason Jesus is precious in verse seven. Is, we have embraced him as our corner stone. We have made him the cornerstone of her lives, Chrissy familiar with building it all, you know, especially in the past, cornerstone was the first thing they placed.

They made sure that, that it was completely square because it was going to set the angle for that long. It was going to set the angle for that wall. It was going to set the angles for the, the, the, the vertical walls. Everything came off stone, it centered everything. And the degree, which the cornerstone was messed up, your building would be screwed up.

Everything was aligned around the cornerstone. Every person on earth has a cornerstone. There's something we're building our lives around. Now that can fluctuate sometimes, maybe your job at some times when you start having kids and maybe it be starting your kids and everything's preoccupying, you want it to be a good life for them.

You want to do well for them. You want to make money for them. It can be a variety of things, can be things that change over time, but we're all living towards something. There is something that when it is threatened, we find that it is the thing that we depended on. That was that which gave us value in personhood significance.

Yeah. Scripture is saying to us, Jesus is that cornerstone. That is, we've embraced him as our savior and Lord, as we grow more and more centering our lives around him, he becomes more and more precious to us. The reason for that is he has proven to be the cornerstone we need. There are lots of other cornerstones.

We can build our lives around Ecclesiastes. These talks have been about a bunch. It says you can build your life around money or position or relationships or pleasures or accomplishments. But Solomon said, I've had them all. I've tried them all. And he did an astonishingly successful way. And he says, what I found is one after another, we're just a chasing after the wind.

I thought this, I just need this. If I just get this, but it just kept blown away. I thought I had it. It was meaningless. It didn't satisfy in most of our lives. It is not until we see our competing cornerstones fail us. And we really cast ourselves on Christ as our cornerstone. But what we find is he is not a cornerstone that fills us.

He does bring rest to our souls. We don't find anywhere else. If we were asked to describe him, I'll say it this way. If you were asked to describe the person that you feel you are closest to, and most loves you. And we said, would you describe him or her for us? And you could start giving their qualities and attributes, but it would be when we asked this question, would you describe his heart towards you?

That the way we would describe them would be different. This is what it is about Christ. We feel his love. We feel his concern. We feel his protection. We feel his, his discipline and realize looking back, oh my goodness. He saved me from so much though. I hated what he was doing at the time, but I see how trustworthy has become.

He's a cornerstone worth building my life on and aligning my life with he's precious to me. He's of infinite value. It's interesting. Paul Peter starts this section, but this statement in verse four, as you come to him,

the more you come to him, the more you cast your cares on him, the more you draw near to him, the more you turn to him in trouble, the more precious he grows, the more valuable he's seen. I've shared this quote from a book by burning Manning in the past, but I'd like to share it again. Brennan Manning, um, flawed man, as we are all flawed people, he was just more transparent about it than most of us are free to be.

But he was talking about in his book, a glimpse of Jesus about going to his high school reunion. Uh, 50th high school reunion. Here's what he wrote in the book. Never have been attending by high school reunion in the 49 years since graduation in February, 1952 and motivated by guilt, nostalgia and curiosity, I returned to Xaverian high school, Brooklyn, New York in April, 2002 for the celebration of our golden Jubilee.

The reunion was both happy and sad. Seven in our class of 44 had died in the unavoidably intimate setting of a relatively small class. My introvert self longing to spend the night in a shoe was summoned to socialize. As the cocktails multiplied and tongues were lubricated formalities disappeared ties got shucked coats were tossed aside.

Laughter exploded and conviviality reign the disdain for the Brooklyn Dodgers departure for Los Angeles and the treachery of the teams, president Walter O'Malley wailed. It was a calamity of biblical proportion. Several illusions were made to the unforgivable sin against the holy spirit, which he had done.

I'm just glad my old friend Sal said solidly that Abraham Lincoln wasn't alive to see it. As the evening progressed, I was asked in Brooklyn dialect, the sweetest sound I've ever heard. What the hell you been doing? What yourself? The last 50 years without a second's hesitation. I answered, it's been a half century of sin and grace with a twinkle in his eyes.

Jack asked, would you share a little about the foist part? Yes. I've been a drunk and I've been divorced. I've been sexually promiscuous faithful during my marriage, but unfaithful to celibacy a liar envious of the gifts of others, the priest who was insufferably arrogant, a people pleaser and a braggart, which I'm probably being right now to give you the impression that I'm humbling on it.

The twinkle from Jack's eyes vanished and part two by sheer undeserved, grace, I've been able to abandon myself in unshaken trust to the compassion and mercy of Jesus Christ.

I need to talk with you Jack whispered. Can we step outside?

Brennan Manning is just talking about someone who had become precious to him.

Someone he had learned. Was it a person that was for him that was gracious toward him? The way Peter looked at him, the way Paul looked at him, Thomas Goodwin and Dana Portland, the way the Psalmist David looked at him when he said. Apart from you. I have no good thing. Well, David had good things, but he said it doesn't matter.

Nothing's really good without you, as the cornerstone of it all, you was the center of it. All Samuel Rutherford in the 17 hundreds made this remarkable statement. He journaled this Lord. I would rather be in hell with you than in heaven without you for if I were in heaven without you, it would be held to me.

And if I were in hell with you, it would be a heaven to me.

I don't know where you are this morning. Maybe you hear and think, wow, you know, I've heard about Christ and Christianity, and maybe you've even grown up in some Christian backgrounds, but you say. I have no concept of that sense of doing life with Jesus, where he's that personally engaged in my life. Well, and maybe your response as well.

I, I wouldn't, I would need to do a lot more cleaning up in my life. I need to be a lot more worthy of that kind of relationship with Jesus. There's not anything you need to do, but there is something you need to face and that's this, you must face the fact that you will never be worthy of Christ, that he is not waiting until that time that you become worthy.

He comes to you. He offers you forgiveness and a new life. He offers to become the one you can align your life with to become your cornerstone. And he stands at the door of your heart and says, this, I have come for center. I've come for the unworthy. I've come for people who have tried to center their lives on many other things who have made other things, their cornerstone,

but who are coming to realize that those cornerstones have failed them. He comes to you and offers to be your cornerstone. He does it by becoming your savior by providing you with forgiveness for you sins. And he says to you this morning, will you not accept his forgiveness and embrace him as your savior as your Lord, as the cornerstone of your life.

And this morning as we come to this table, if you're there and you're out there and you're saying, I couldn't thus, yeah, I've tried this and this and it yet. The chasing after the wind, I get it still torn up inside, empty inside, but I'm not worthy. I mean, I see the sins I've done. I said, Man this, this service, this worship experience is designed by God for you, for him to say to you, will you not come to Christ?

Will you not embrace the one who loves you enough to die for you? The one who offers to provide forgiveness for you, the one that offers to be the cornerstone for the remaining building of your life. You may also be here as a believer in Jesus, and you have embraced him as your savior, but as we all know, the chaos and clutter and fast lane of life can cause us to

not be aligning ourselves with Jesus. The way we could. Remember how Peter started this passage. He says this as you come to him some morning as we go to the Lord's table and actually you stay where you are and we do these things. The song is going to be played, come to Jesus, come to Jesus, let him in thrall you again.

Let him fill you again with that reminder. Of course, yes, he's precious to me, but I'm not living that way. I'm living as if my job is precious or my, or my energy is precious on my yard is precious. So I'm my, my family's precious. All those things can be secondarily valuable, but they will not be something to align your cornerstone as your cornerstone.

We come to the Lord's table this morning because it's a place we're invited. To realign ourselves with Christ

in a moment I'm going to pray in a song is going to be played. And I'm just going to give you an opportunity to quiet your hearts. Before I lead you through the elements as we close our service,

if Jesus is prompting your heart right now, and you have never personally embraced Jesus Christ as your savior, man, I would love the opportunity ed, as would any of the members of our church staff to talk to you afterwards or this week about how to embrace Jesus as your savior. I want to give directions then, uh, it'll be done.

It, you should have gotten one of these as you came in. Are there people here that didn't get one of these that would like, okay, there are a few, can I just, whose who's it? Barry, can I impose on you? Would you okay. Thanks. If you can just have a few and, uh, they will make those available to you basically for hygienic purposes in a post pandemic, pandemic, or pandemic world.

Um, we're going to partake of these and I'm going to lead us through. And also you're going to have to do is tear off the top and take it. I'm trying to get through the logistics of this. So I'm out of logistic world and back to spiritual thinking, uh, in a moment. Um, and then we're going to do the same with the cup.

We're going to start with the, the bread and the bottom. Let's pray. And then, um, and even though I'm praying, if you are here without these, just slip up your hand and the guys will bring you some let's pray, Lord, we come to you today. Lord Jesus, you are precious.

We love you that you came here. It's astonishing to think that you walked around and bodies just like ours, that you're still seated with the body at like hours though. Glorified and Lord. It is so compelling to think that

we can now know you as intimately S closely. Yeah. And love you as passionately as those that actually walk day by day through the streets of Nazareth did that. You are not a far off that through your spirit. You are actually within us. Lord, we're coming to you this morning. Fill our gaze Jesus. We worship you are precious friends.

Savior and Lord in Jesus name, amen. In the quietness of where you are, what I'd like you to do. God maybe has spoken to you through the last 20, 25 minutes. I'd like you to talk back to God about what he's talked to you about as a way of coming to Jesus. And then I'll lead us through the elements. The song's going to be quietly prayed.

Talk to God about what he's talked to you about today.

We can move lost and left to die. Raise your head.

Come to Jesus. Come to Jesus, come to Jesus.

Now you're a burden in care and farro precious blood is washed away.

So seeing the GS, seeing the genes, uh, seeing the

like a newborn baby, don't be afraid to Crow. And remember when you walk.

So fall on

sometimes their way is lonely steep. And so if you sky's dark and cried at GS cried at GS cried at

love spills over.

When you can contain your joy

then go in peace, laugh foam glory, sir.

the apostle Paul said for, I received from the Lord. What I also delivered to you that the Lord Jesus on the night he was betrayed, took bread when he had given. Thanks. He broke it. This is my body, which is for you do this in remembrance of me. You haven't done this already. Go ahead and take the way for out.

This is my body, which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me.

in the same way. Also, he took the cup after supper saying this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this. As often as you drink it in remembrance of me,

This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this in remembrance of me.

Lord we've,

we're grateful to gather together. It's such an amazing thing to come together with people. Many of whom have made Jesus their cornerstone and would declare he is precious to gather corporately. And just by singing together by participating in worship together, we're saying to each other, it's true. He's real.

He's changing my life.

Lord. I pray for those that are here with us. And you're watching online today to whom you have not yet become the cornerstone of their life, their savior, their Lord, Lord. Do the work on the, you can do show them truth, draw their hearts. Lord, my prayer this morning is they might find how precious Jesus is for themselves

in Jesus' name. Amen. We are dismissed. Go in peace to love and serve and enjoy the Lord.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/jesus-is-precious 4a74e4fc-a097-446a-ad42-d9541c8e514a Sun, 11 Jul 2021 09:00:36 GMT <div data-html="true">1 Peter 2:4-8 <br /><br /> <span><sup>4 </sup>As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him—</span> <span><sup>5 </sup>you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house<sup>[<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Peter%202%3A4-8&amp;version=NIV#fen-NIV-30405a">a</a>]</sup> to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.</span> <span><sup>6 </sup>For in Scripture it says:</span> <div> <p><span>“See, I lay a stone in Zion,</span> <span><span>    </span><span>a chosen and precious cornerstone,</span></span> <span>and the one who trusts in him</span> <span><span>    </span><span>will never be put to shame.”<sup>[<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Peter%202%3A4-8&amp;version=NIV#fen-NIV-30406b">b</a>]</sup></span></span></p> <br /><br /> </div> <p><span><sup>7 </sup>Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,</span></p> <br /><br /> <div> <p><span>“The stone the builders rejected</span> <span><span>    </span><span>has become the cornerstone,”<sup>[<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Peter%202%3A4-8&amp;version=NIV#fen-NIV-30407c">c</a>]</sup></span></span></p> <br /><br /> </div> <p><span><sup>8 </sup>and,</span></p> <br /><br /> <div> <p><span>“A stone that causes people to stumble</span> <span><span>    </span><span>and a rock that makes them fall.”<sup>[<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Peter%202%3A4-8&amp;version=NIV#fen-NIV-30408d">d</a>]</sup></span></span></p> <br /><br /> </div> <p><span>They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.</span></p> <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> morning everybody. Welcome you here in the room here online. Great to have you here. We're going to be looking at first Peter chapter two this morning, and then we're going to be moving to the Lord's table. Uh, the latter part of our service close our time together. First, Peter chapter two, uh, verses four through 10 is where we're going to be looking this morning. <br /><br /> reading a story number of years ago about a visitor to London, England, uh, in the late 18 hundreds. And he went there, uh, was a Christian was interested to go to a church at that time in London, there were a number of, uh, famous and eloquent preachers, uh, gospel preachers in churches. And so this guy went to a local, uh, Christian. <br /><br /> And he said, uh, where would you recommend? I've got a Sunday morning on a Sunday night. Where would you recommend? I go? And he mentioned a number of different people and one particular guy. And I remember one of the people he said was, if you go in here and it might've been Joseph Parker, I don't remember which man it was, but he said, um, if you go there, you will hear a wonderful sermon. <br /><br /> Then he talked about Charles Spurgeon and he said this, if you go in here, Charles Spurgeon, you'll hear about a wonderful savior. That impacted me. I actually heard that back when I was in seminary. And it was a salient moment for me thinking about what preaching is ultimately about more importantly, what living is ultimately about. <br /><br /> I've been reading recently, um, You know, Mike got us to Hester. Mike got us to read through the gospel of John and got a lot of us, uh, writing the gospel of John out and a lot of us in the habit of writing scripture. And I know a number of you continued with other books. Uh, I've done a couple since then. <br /><br /> I've done. I'm now in the, in the epistle letter to the Philippians. And I have been struck as I've read about Paul's relationship. Now we believe as believers, we all relate to God in his tri unity father, son, holy spirit, but it has stunned me with how central Jesus is in the law and the relationship that Paul has with God. <br /><br /> What he say in verse one, he says I'm a servant of Christ in verse eight. He says I long after all you believers in Philippians with the affection I've received. From Christ in chapter 12 in verse 21 of chapter one, he says, life for me is Christ. For me to live is Christ in verse 23. He says, my desire is to depart and be with Christ. <br /><br /> And then he makes this statement in the beginning of chapter two in verse one, he says my motivation to live and think certain ways is the encouragement and love that I feel from Christ. Paul never encountered Jesus physically. He was a violent opposer of the gospel until years after Jesus had died and resurrected and gone back to heaven. <br /><br /> Yet Jesus was so real to him. There's a book that, uh, actually pastor Ben mentioned it last Sunday. We have it out on our book, display recommended reading and uh, I want to highlight it all. It's called gentle and lowly. It's written by Dane Portland. I'm in the middle of it. It's a fabulous book. You really do commend it to you. <br /><br /> The book is actually, um, his reflections on a book that he read from the 16 hundreds by Thomas Goodman, which is entitled the heart of Christ and that book, which I think we can bring that one up to, uh, the heart of Christ by Thomas Goodman also focuses on Christ, but in a unique sense is focusing on the potential for a believer to have a living relationship with Jesus Christ that not only is similar to what it was like for the apostles to do life with Jesus, but actually can exceed that. <br /><br /> And in the book, here's what it's entitled and. Thomas Goodman Goodwin's book is entitled the heart of Christ, but here's the full title, the heart of Christ. And this is a typical Puritan thing by the 16 hundreds, the heart of Christ in heaven, towards sinners on earth. It a treatise demonstrating the gracious disposition and tender affection of Christ in his human nature. <br /><br /> Now in glory unto his members under all sorts of infirmities, either of sin or misery for both Dean Cortland and Thomas Goodwin and the apostle Paul Jesus is the center of their day today. Experience with God, for them. The second member of the Trinity has become the face and central reality of spiritual experience. <br /><br /> I've found the longer I've journeyed in these now decades with Christ. That my relationship has more and more becoming centered in Christ. I think much of my relationship in the early years with God, uh, though it was through Christ because of Christ that I entered the family of God, much of my thinking was about God. <br /><br /> And I was looking, but, and, and certainly God is the father, son, holy spirit. But I'm talking about the specific member of the tri unity more and more. It is Jesus. I think that's exactly what it was for Peter. When he went, I wrote this letter, he was so full of the wonders of Christ. So with all that, let's look at what he says here in first, Peter chapter two, don't let that long introduction scare you. <br /><br /> This is not reflective of the rest of the day. First Peter chapter two, verse four. He says, as you have come to him, a living stone rejected by men, but in the sight of God chosen and precious you yourselves, like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ for it stands in scripture, behold, I am laying in Zion, a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious. <br /><br /> And whoever believes in him will not be put to shame. So the honor is for you who believe, but those who do not believe that stone, that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. And he's quoting from Psalms now and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. And thirdly, they stumbled because they disobey the word as they were destined to do. <br /><br /> But you are a chosen race. A Royal priesthood, a holy nation of people for his own possession that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you are not a people, but now you are God's people once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. <br /><br /> Let's pray as we dive in for a few minutes on this passage, Lord, <br /><br /> we come to you as our father, that you have deigned to call yourself and be that to us as your, your spiritual children, your kids, <br /><br /> but Lord, you have chosen to most of all, make yourself known through Jesus. <br /><br /> Just like Paul said, his passion in life was to know Christ. Lord, teach us a little bit more this morning about the precious. Of your son through whom we know you through whom we see you and to whom now we come with gratitude for the joy of being able to do life with you. So guide us into truth father and Jesus name. <br /><br /> Amen. There's two things I want to look at simply, but I want to focus on, uh, on the phrase in verse four, as you have come to know him, a living stone rejected by men, but in the sight of God chosen and precious, he's going to say later on in this passage in verse six, quote from Psalms behold, I am laying in Zion, a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious. <br /><br /> This term precious is a monetary term, actually in the original. It meant it has a lot of value. It's something deeply valued. It has become precious to the industry. And I want to think this morning for a few moments about what it means that Jesus is precious. The reality that Jesus is precious is found here in verses four through eight. <br /><br /> And first of all, we find out he's precious to the father. Verse one verse four says, but in the sight of God, Jesus is chosen and precious <br /><br /> to God. The father Jesus has infinite extraordinary value. He is precious to him. He's proud of him. He delights in him. We would expect that, but he also tells us of another group of individuals and he says he is not precious to the world. Verse four. He says, he's the living stone rejected by men in verse seven and eight. <br /><br /> But for those who don't believe. The stone talking about Jesus, that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. They rejected him in verse eight, a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. They stumble because they disobey the word and they are, as they were destined to do most people in our world do not embrace Jesus as the center of their lives. <br /><br /> To most people in the world. He is not their cornerstone. As we'll read about in a moment, they've heard about it. People in churches do not necessarily embrace Jesus as precious as the most valuable commodity in their lives. The most valuable reality. <br /><br /> Certainly the hardest thing in many of our lives is people that we deeply, deeply love and do life. To whom Jesus is not precious because to us, he is the most precious person, the most precious reality in our lives, which leads us to the third grouping. He is precious to all who believe verse seven says in verse seven, it says, so the honor is for you who believe. <br /><br /> And literally he's saying for you who believe you have the honor of experience, his preciousness NIV actually translates it this way now to you who believe the stone is precious saying you, the honor is he is precious to you. He's precious to you. Like he is to God. The father you're separate from those who don't believe in that you have been given the gift of knowing the viciousness of Christ <br /><br /> I've been married for over 40 years and the beautiful part of, of Jesus being precious. As soon as we enter into the family of God, we are already on that journey of growing in the enjoyment of the people of Jesus. It is one of the ultimate marks of a person who has passed as the Bible describes from death to life is that Jesus is precious to us central to us, but it's a growing thing, right? <br /><br /> I've been married for 40 years and way over half of my life now has been spent with my wife. It's hard for me to even envision a time of my life when I did not love Marianne. She is precious to me is no one I pray with, like, I pray with Marin. There's no one that understands me or that I understand, like Marianne, there's no other human being as important to me as my wife. <br /><br /> She is sincerely more precious to me than I would have been dreamed possible. But I remember days in the past, I remember when I was watching from my fourth floor. Dorm Sammy Morris dorm at Taylor university. And I was looking out the windows and I had had become aware of this girl. And I dated her a little bit and, and I was watching her and she had a mail route. <br /><br /> She would be actually had a carriage and she was delivering mail to the professors. Her dad was a professor, and I remember watching it on the sidewalk is she would pass my dorm. She didn't know I was watching, but I was looking out there at her. And I was thinking, man, I had girls precious to me. I remember the day of our wedding. <br /><br /> I remember standing there at the aisle where you guys have stood that are married and looking up and seeing my Bri coming in with her dad and then saying these words that were my written vows, where I actually state made this statement. I gratefully receive you as the most precious earthly gift God has ever given. <br /><br /> She's always been precious to me, but not like she is now <br /><br /> for every child of God, for every believer in Jesus Christ who has entered the family of God. He's precious. The beauty is he becomes more precious. We know his heart more. We grow in the sense of this, but very early in your walk with Jesus, he has become precious to you. It's what marks us as his people. <br /><br /> Jesus has become precious to us more precious than our job. Even our families, our positions, our relationships, why? Well, that's what Paul tells us in the next couple of verses. The reason Jesus is precious in verse seven. Is, we have embraced him as our corner stone. We have made him the cornerstone of her lives, Chrissy familiar with building it all, you know, especially in the past, cornerstone was the first thing they placed. <br /><br /> They made sure that, that it was completely square because it was going to set the angle for that long. It was going to set the angle for that wall. It was going to set the angles for the, the, the, the vertical walls. Everything came off stone, it centered everything. And the degree, which the cornerstone was messed up, your building would be screwed up. <br /><br /> Everything was aligned around the cornerstone. Every person on earth has a cornerstone. There's something we're building our lives around. Now that can fluctuate sometimes, maybe your job at some times when you start having kids and maybe it be starting your kids and everything's preoccupying, you want it to be a good life for them. <br /><br /> You want to do well for them. You want to make money for them. It can be a variety of things, can be things that change over time, but we're all living towards something. There is something that when it is threatened, we find that it is the thing that we depended on. That was that which gave us value in personhood significance. <br /><br /> Yeah. Scripture is saying to us, Jesus is that cornerstone. That is, we've embraced him as our savior and Lord, as we grow more and more centering our lives around him, he becomes more and more precious to us. The reason for that is he has proven to be the cornerstone we need. There are lots of other cornerstones. <br /><br /> We can build our lives around Ecclesiastes. These talks have been about a bunch. It says you can build your life around money or position or relationships or pleasures or accomplishments. But Solomon said, I've had them all. I've tried them all. And he did an astonishingly successful way. And he says, what I found is one after another, we're just a chasing after the wind. <br /><br /> I thought this, I just need this. If I just get this, but it just kept blown away. I thought I had it. It was meaningless. It didn't satisfy in most of our lives. It is not until we see our competing cornerstones fail us. And we really cast ourselves on Christ as our cornerstone. But what we find is he is not a cornerstone that fills us. <br /><br /> He does bring rest to our souls. We don't find anywhere else. If we were asked to describe him, I'll say it this way. If you were asked to describe the person that you feel you are closest to, and most loves you. And we said, would you describe him or her for us? And you could start giving their qualities and attributes, but it would be when we asked this question, would you describe his heart towards you? <br /><br /> That the way we would describe them would be different. This is what it is about Christ. We feel his love. We feel his concern. We feel his protection. We feel his, his discipline and realize looking back, oh my goodness. He saved me from so much though. I hated what he was doing at the time, but I see how trustworthy has become. <br /><br /> He's a cornerstone worth building my life on and aligning my life with he's precious to me. He's of infinite value. It's interesting. Paul Peter starts this section, but this statement in verse four, as you come to him, <br /><br /> the more you come to him, the more you cast your cares on him, the more you draw near to him, the more you turn to him in trouble, the more precious he grows, the more valuable he's seen. I've shared this quote from a book by burning Manning in the past, but I'd like to share it again. Brennan Manning, um, flawed man, as we are all flawed people, he was just more transparent about it than most of us are free to be. <br /><br /> But he was talking about in his book, a glimpse of Jesus about going to his high school reunion. Uh, 50th high school reunion. Here's what he wrote in the book. Never have been attending by high school reunion in the 49 years since graduation in February, 1952 and motivated by guilt, nostalgia and curiosity, I returned to Xaverian high school, Brooklyn, New York in April, 2002 for the celebration of our golden Jubilee. <br /><br /> The reunion was both happy and sad. Seven in our class of 44 had died in the unavoidably intimate setting of a relatively small class. My introvert self longing to spend the night in a shoe was summoned to socialize. As the cocktails multiplied and tongues were lubricated formalities disappeared ties got shucked coats were tossed aside. <br /><br /> Laughter exploded and conviviality reign the disdain for the Brooklyn Dodgers departure for Los Angeles and the treachery of the teams, president Walter O'Malley wailed. It was a calamity of biblical proportion. Several illusions were made to the unforgivable sin against the holy spirit, which he had done. <br /><br /> I'm just glad my old friend Sal said solidly that Abraham Lincoln wasn't alive to see it. As the evening progressed, I was asked in Brooklyn dialect, the sweetest sound I've ever heard. What the hell you been doing? What yourself? The last 50 years without a second's hesitation. I answered, it's been a half century of sin and grace with a twinkle in his eyes. <br /><br /> Jack asked, would you share a little about the foist part? Yes. I've been a drunk and I've been divorced. I've been sexually promiscuous faithful during my marriage, but unfaithful to celibacy a liar envious of the gifts of others, the priest who was insufferably arrogant, a people pleaser and a braggart, which I'm probably being right now to give you the impression that I'm humbling on it. <br /><br /> The twinkle from Jack's eyes vanished and part two by sheer undeserved, grace, I've been able to abandon myself in unshaken trust to the compassion and mercy of Jesus Christ. <br /><br /> I need to talk with you Jack whispered. Can we step outside? <br /><br /> Brennan Manning is just talking about someone who had become precious to him. <br /><br /> Someone he had learned. Was it a person that was for him that was gracious toward him? The way Peter looked at him, the way Paul looked at him, Thomas Goodwin and Dana Portland, the way the Psalmist David looked at him when he said. Apart from you. I have no good thing. Well, David had good things, but he said it doesn't matter. <br /><br /> Nothing's really good without you, as the cornerstone of it all, you was the center of it. All Samuel Rutherford in the 17 hundreds made this remarkable statement. He journaled this Lord. I would rather be in hell with you than in heaven without you for if I were in heaven without you, it would be held to me. <br /><br /> And if I were in hell with you, it would be a heaven to me. <br /><br /> I don't know where you are this morning. Maybe you hear and think, wow, you know, I've heard about Christ and Christianity, and maybe you've even grown up in some Christian backgrounds, but you say. I have no concept of that sense of doing life with Jesus, where he's that personally engaged in my life. Well, and maybe your response as well. <br /><br /> I, I wouldn't, I would need to do a lot more cleaning up in my life. I need to be a lot more worthy of that kind of relationship with Jesus. There's not anything you need to do, but there is something you need to face and that's this, you must face the fact that you will never be worthy of Christ, that he is not waiting until that time that you become worthy. <br /><br /> He comes to you. He offers you forgiveness and a new life. He offers to become the one you can align your life with to become your cornerstone. And he stands at the door of your heart and says, this, I have come for center. I've come for the unworthy. I've come for people who have tried to center their lives on many other things who have made other things, their cornerstone, <br /><br /> but who are coming to realize that those cornerstones have failed them. He comes to you and offers to be your cornerstone. He does it by becoming your savior by providing you with forgiveness for you sins. And he says to you this morning, will you not accept his forgiveness and embrace him as your savior as your Lord, as the cornerstone of your life. <br /><br /> And this morning as we come to this table, if you're there and you're out there and you're saying, I couldn't thus, yeah, I've tried this and this and it yet. The chasing after the wind, I get it still torn up inside, empty inside, but I'm not worthy. I mean, I see the sins I've done. I said, Man this, this service, this worship experience is designed by God for you, for him to say to you, will you not come to Christ? <br /><br /> Will you not embrace the one who loves you enough to die for you? The one who offers to provide forgiveness for you, the one that offers to be the cornerstone for the remaining building of your life. You may also be here as a believer in Jesus, and you have embraced him as your savior, but as we all know, the chaos and clutter and fast lane of life can cause us to <br /><br /> not be aligning ourselves with Jesus. The way we could. Remember how Peter started this passage. He says this as you come to him some morning as we go to the Lord's table and actually you stay where you are and we do these things. The song is going to be played, come to Jesus, come to Jesus, let him in thrall you again. <br /><br /> Let him fill you again with that reminder. Of course, yes, he's precious to me, but I'm not living that way. I'm living as if my job is precious or my, or my energy is precious on my yard is precious. So I'm my, my family's precious. All those things can be secondarily valuable, but they will not be something to align your cornerstone as your cornerstone. <br /><br /> We come to the Lord's table this morning because it's a place we're invited. To realign ourselves with Christ <br /><br /> in a moment I'm going to pray in a song is going to be played. And I'm just going to give you an opportunity to quiet your hearts. Before I lead you through the elements as we close our service, <br /><br /> if Jesus is prompting your heart right now, and you have never personally embraced Jesus Christ as your savior, man, I would love the opportunity ed, as would any of the members of our church staff to talk to you afterwards or this week about how to embrace Jesus as your savior. I want to give directions then, uh, it'll be done. <br /><br /> It, you should have gotten one of these as you came in. Are there people here that didn't get one of these that would like, okay, there are a few, can I just, whose who's it? Barry, can I impose on you? Would you okay. Thanks. If you can just have a few and, uh, they will make those available to you basically for hygienic purposes in a post pandemic, pandemic, or pandemic world. <br /><br /> Um, we're going to partake of these and I'm going to lead us through. And also you're going to have to do is tear off the top and take it. I'm trying to get through the logistics of this. So I'm out of logistic world and back to spiritual thinking, uh, in a moment. Um, and then we're going to do the same with the cup. <br /><br /> We're going to start with the, the bread and the bottom. Let's pray. And then, um, and even though I'm praying, if you are here without these, just slip up your hand and the guys will bring you some let's pray, Lord, we come to you today. Lord Jesus, you are precious. <br /><br /> We love you that you came here. It's astonishing to think that you walked around and bodies just like ours, that you're still seated with the body at like hours though. Glorified and Lord. It is so compelling to think that <br /><br /> we can now know you as intimately S closely. Yeah. And love you as passionately as those that actually walk day by day through the streets of Nazareth did that. You are not a far off that through your spirit. You are actually within us. Lord, we're coming to you this morning. Fill our gaze Jesus. We worship you are precious friends. <br /><br /> Savior and Lord in Jesus name, amen. In the quietness of where you are, what I'd like you to do. God maybe has spoken to you through the last 20, 25 minutes. I'd like you to talk back to God about what he's talked to you about as a way of coming to Jesus. And then I'll lead us through the elements. The song's going to be quietly prayed. <br /><br /> Talk to God about what he's talked to you about today. <br /><br /> We can move lost and left to die. Raise your head. <br /><br /> Come to Jesus. Come to Jesus, come to Jesus. <br /><br /> Now you're a burden in care and farro precious blood is washed away. <br /><br /> So seeing the GS, seeing the genes, uh, seeing the <br /><br /> like a newborn baby, don't be afraid to Crow. And remember when you walk. <br /><br /> So fall on <br /><br /> sometimes their way is lonely steep. And so if you sky's dark and cried at GS cried at GS cried at <br /><br /> love spills over. <br /><br /> When you can contain your joy <br /><br /> then go in peace, laugh foam glory, sir. <br /><br /> the apostle Paul said for, I received from the Lord. What I also delivered to you that the Lord Jesus on the night he was betrayed, took bread when he had given. Thanks. He broke it. This is my body, which is for you do this in remembrance of me. You haven't done this already. Go ahead and take the way for out. <br /><br /> This is my body, which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me. <br /><br /> in the same way. Also, he took the cup after supper saying this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this. As often as you drink it in remembrance of me, <br /><br /> This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this in remembrance of me. <br /><br /> Lord we've, <br /><br /> we're grateful to gather together. It's such an amazing thing to come together with people. Many of whom have made Jesus their cornerstone and would declare he is precious to gather corporately. And just by singing together by participating in worship together, we're saying to each other, it's true. He's real. <br /><br /> He's changing my life. <br /><br /> Lord. I pray for those that are here with us. And you're watching online today to whom you have not yet become the cornerstone of their life, their savior, their Lord, Lord. Do the work on the, you can do show them truth, draw their hearts. Lord, my prayer this morning is they might find how precious Jesus is for themselves <br /><br /> in Jesus' name. Amen. We are dismissed. Go in peace to love and serve and enjoy the Lord.</div> false no <![CDATA[Threat and the Kingdom of God]]> Matthew 5:38-42


38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’[a] 39 But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. 40 And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. 41 If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. 42 Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.



Can you hear me now? It makes me really nervous. Cause I did just flip the switch. So I wonder what else you heard when I thought the switch was off. Uh, grateful for representing the freedom and, uh, some of the beautiful things of July 4th. I want to mention some of the other things that we've done with our freedom, that would be a little less, uh, noble.

Um, here are some dangerous things that used to be legal, dangerous things in our country that used to be. And we'll go right into our passage this morning. Go ahead and flip one up this. Okay. Any of you ever written in the back of a pickup, anybody ever fallen out of the back of a pickup? Okay. That makes a lot of sense sound guy.

Yup. Nothing's ever right with the sound guy. Anybody ever knocked somebody out of the back of the pickup? Shelly Bicking. I did 17 years. Right out the back. Okay. Um, this used to be illegal thing. Now this wizard of Oz used to be legal. That's a problem in and of itself, but the snow, you might not know.

This was toxic. 100% toxic ex Bestos that was used in this scene as with asbestos, for many different things that we, they used it in stage props. So that scarecrow was a little funny, for many reasons, other things that used to be legal. Okay. You can sort of see this. This is an actual photo of a mail carrier carrying mail.

That mail is a child. In 1913 in Ohio, they had there's many different things you could send in the mail and someone decided I'm going to send my baby to the grandparents' house. And for 15 cents of stamps in 1913, a child was sent in the mail to the grandparents' house. Now, some of you who have one child, you're absolutely horrified.

If you're up to like child four or five, you're like, oh 15 cents. Okay. Existed from 1913 to 1916, the longest distance a child was ever carried by mail was 720 miles. Another thing that used to be legal. These were called baby cages and early and right around the late 18 hundreds. Some doctor smarty pants said that babies need to be in, use this word aired out.

They need to be exposed. And so in New York city, they were having trouble figuring out how could you air out babies when they need to be inside so much, these were built into high rises. You could purchase them and put these in high rises. Eleanor Roosevelt did this with their child. Anna, these baby cages were put out of high rises and you would sit the baby in there to air the baby.

It's amazing. Some of y'all lived. Yeah. Have made me remember this thing. Yes. Now this is a merry-go-round and I know some of you are like, man, I used to love that thing. Some you sicko parents are like men. Did I spin the heck out of my kids? Right? These became illegal. Not that many years ago because of many lawsuits, primarily in New Jersey go figure.

And then lastly, cocaine to thank drops, instantaneous cure, go figure, right? Selling cocaine and various places, dangerous things that used to be legal. We come this morning into Matthew chapter five. Matthew chapter five is we've been talking about the longest sermon. Jesus gives, goes through the beatitudes, talking about the values of the kingdom of God.

And then after the beatitudes transitions to these life statements about practical living in the kingdom of God, and we have walked through the different segments of practical life, of what life looks like under the governorship under the king ship, under the benevolent reign of Jesus. And today we come to a passage about retaliation.

How does retaliation and the kingdom of God operate? And this is in verse 38, this, as we read it, I want us to really recognize these are not idealistic words that Jesus spoke. They are extreme. They are significant. They are dangerous. And I'll share why I believe they are in just a minute. Verse 38 to 42.

Jesus says this, you've heard that it was said, and I for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I say to you, don't resist the one who is evil. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him, the other also, and if anyone would Sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles, give to the one who begs from you and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.

Lord, we give you our time morning. We thank you for the place and space and time to do so. Can we pray for understanding to treat your words seriously and Jesus' name. Amen. I want to speak of the danger of this passage. Number one, this passage is dangerous because what Jesus is asking of his followers is significant.

The kingdom calling is not a small one. These principles of the kingdom, how we live together, it's with people, it's with mess it's with pain. It's with being hurt by one another. And that's specifically what is talking about how we are called to operate when we are hurt and mistreated by one another.

This calling takes a tremendous amount of holy spirit strength, strength to quiet our vindictive responses. And strength to love when it's really hard. And we see in the passage that love includes my body, my stuff, my time, my energy and my wealth. Larry crab offers a quote that has meant much to me in my own journey with Christ.

He said, this simply you can live to be comfortable, or you can live to know God, not many people, people who followed this. Jesus who heard these words for the first time would end up losing their very lives. This significance of this calling is tremendous. Secondly, the danger of this passage is because Christ is offering a threat to our felt sense of comfort, comfort that's first.

Secondly, is that oppressor. And abusers can use this passage to destroy people. What does it mean to turn the other cheek for a nine-year-old that's getting physically beaten by one of his parents. What does it mean when someone is being harassed or discriminated against in the workplace and the here, this passage, what does it mean to give to the person who asked you and don't turn away from the ones who wants to borrow you when a friend or a relative is draining your finances dry because of their life choices.

What does it mean? When a spouse continues to lie, manipulate and take advantage of the other spouse financially, sexually, emotionally, and oppresses them with various types of aggression. Jesus, what does this mean? This passage, this passage. Has been used by many oppressors to demand forgiveness and manipulate people into accepting further mistreatment for hundreds of years.

What do we do with these words? These dangerous words of Christ. Simply as we enter, we need to recognize what do we do with danger of any type, what we quickly do when faced with anything that feels threatening. We rival against it. We rival against it. We want to fight it. We want to flee it. We want to rationalize it.

Let's approach this sacred passage, not with trying to write around it, get away from it. But with compassion recognition, there's a lot of trauma in this room. There's a lot of trigger in this. Room. Some of that trigger is like own, what does God want of my stuff? As I look at this passage, some of it is what is this passage?

I mean, when I am being mistreated today, so let's enter with compassion. As we recognize the significance of the text, look at the interpretation here of what Jesus is saying. First Jesus enters with this statement. You've heard that it said an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, but I say onto you, what he's referring back to.

And then he goes on to give some situations of what he is saying, but he's referring back to what it means. An eye for an eye or a tooth for a tooth. This is going back to a few different, three different, um, old Testament passages. Two of them for you, Exodus 2124 says if there is serious injury, You are to take life for life.

Eye for eye tooth for tooth hand, for hand, foot for foot burn for bam burn wound for wound bruise for bruise Exodus 2124 Leviticus 24 20 fracture for fracture, eye for eye tooth for tooth. The one who has inflicted the energy injury must suffer the same injury. Going back again to the mosaic law in these passages, in what Jesus referring to it's, it's obvious to see that these offenses can be severe.

Every person who has been hurt by someone else deeply knows that offenses have various types can be severe. We humans have incredible ability to hurt one another. Eyes and teeth is what Jesus pulls out to speak of this, taking something that cannot be replaced, something that would have caused tremendous pain to the individual to lose an eye or a tooth.

These offenses required punishment. These punishment should be of equal severity to the offense. This is retribution equivalency. Let the punishment fit the crime. Now these passages and these rule of law, this, this in the mosaic covenant was given litigiously. It was given to the judges. It was given for how the Jewish nation should operate legally.

However, the, the laws of the land and the punishment for the crime. However, this law became used as a principle for spiritual living. Retribution became a supported principle of how to treat one another. And Jesus is coming in light of this type of thinking this type of work and saying, this is not the way that my spiritual kingdom operates.

And these for images that are for situations that he will talk about confront the attitude of revenge or retribution and yeah, the situations I'm going to be honest as I'm looking through the situations, even as I was reading commentary, you want to dumb down what Jesus is saying. You want to dilute it so it can go down a little easier.

But what he is, the situations that he or he is using, they really are significant first Jesus says, what I say onto you is when someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to the other also. First situation, it's significant that Jesus uses the right cheek. Okay. So, so using a slap would typically be given by the right hand in lots of different cultures throughout history.

And definitely in this culture, the left hand was used for some things that are not, you didn't use your left hand for a lot of other things. So with the right hand to slap on the right cheek would actually be a backhand slap. This backhanded slap was one of insult or ins or subordination. It was a get in line.

Do what I say I am higher than you type of slap across the cheek. What is, and the calling then was not to just retaliate with a similar her response. Jesus is saying that there is no such thing as revenge in the kingdom of God. Look through the texts. We've just looked at Jesus talks about anger. Is there a place for anger in the kingdom of God?

Yes, there is. There's not an outlawing of anger. There can be sexuality. Right? We talked about loss. Is there a place for sexuality in the kingdom of God based upon our texts? Yes. Is there a place for divorce a couple passages ago? Yes. There are biblical allowances for divorce. It is going through different operations of the kingdom of God and saying, and saying how we should do certain things.

When it comes to revenge, there is not an allowance. There's not room for revenge in the kingdom of God, any activity or action by a made by a heart of GYN, even showing them there's wanting them to pay for their simply is not from. The heart of Christ. Dallas Willard says the reason why we withhold good from someone, the grounds of this will never be personal retaliation.

And there were never, as I live be room in the kingdom of God forgetting even Mike Tyson, big time, theologian says everyone has a plan until you're what till you're punched in the face. Peter says when you are, when you absorb a blow, this is the ethic of the church. First, Peter three nine, do not repay evil for evil or insult with insult on the contrary, repay evil with blessing.

Second thing that Jesus talks about says if you Sue, if you are sued, right, this is, this is suing of possessions. If you're in a lawsuit and someone takes your cloak, give him your church, someone takes your tunic, give him your cloak as well. The mechanics of this is that's all you got, you got sandals, some headgear and a cloak and tunic.

If someone typically someone would have one tunic that goes over the coat or cloak this week, I found myself again, trying to head, what does this exactly mean? This is meaning most literally Jesus is saying and use whatever possession you have for the sake of the kingdom of God, often case your clear your outer tunic was used as your bedding.

It was your pillow that you slept on. It was what kept you warm to take away these two garments. If you did not have garments to replace them, you would have nothing less left, but foot and head gear. It is to say it is the first we look at attorney of the cheek. It is our body. Now Jesus turns to our possessions what that our possessions matter less than our message.

So that if my position by the giving up of my possessions demonstrates to this person or who is suing me a greater message of my Christ, that matters more than my stuff. Our dignity ladders matters less than our message. This is what Christ did when he was stripped of cloak and tunic and laid naked on the cross.

Why? Because Christ's love was more important than his possession or his dignity all was given for the sake of the rattle radical calling of living love for another Craig keener talks on this part. He says nothing. Anyone takes from us matters in the end. Anyway, we must love our enemies and seek to turn them into friends.

Number three, the asking two says if one asks you to go one mile, go with him two miles and enrollment culture. A Roman soldier could ask you to go. War could tell you, you must go with me one mile on carry my stuff. Carry carry my, my bedding, my armor, my equipment, and, and he could enlist anyone that he wanted to carry the, the, his stuff for him of distance up to one mile Jesus in this, can you, man, I mean, can you imagine the inconvenience of what this would be?

It's not like people were just sitting there waiting in line. What are you doing, man? I'm just, I'm looking for the next Roman soldier because I wouldn't get my mile in today. Right. I got my steps to get, and I want some good equipment to carry. No people have their own day. They have their own stuff.

They're carrying their own things. They're doing their own work. They're spending time with their own family. But at any time a Roman soldier could tap you on the shoulder and say, Hey, you go with me one mile, which we all know means, carry stuff one mile and then walk one mile back. Jesus is saying how about two miles, two miles back.

Instead of going with him one mile, go with him two miles.

Instead of being begrudgingly obedient citizen who obeys out of fear, live a life of love and go further. Number four. So that's, , I'm sorry. Number three. The request is for your time and your energy, you see what Jesus is doing here. He says your very body. Number one, your, your, your very stuff, your possessions, number two, number three, your time and your energy.

And lastly, Jesus comes to this fourth request. If anyone asks of you, give them if anyone desires to borrow from you, respond with benevolence. John who watched Jesus operate says this in first, John three 17 says if anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need, but has no pity on them.

How can the love of God be in that person? This is the calling that God himself lives later in this chapter. There's a very similar phrasing to this. Give to the one who asks you don't turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. It's in it's when Jesus is talking about the father, he says, ask, and it will be given to you seek and you shall find and talks about how the father does not hold good.

This is not convenient generosity. This is not if I can comfortably afford them. These are radical things. These are things that if we're completely honest, we don't really want Jesus to say, and I know there are phrases I'm even using that. Some of you're like too far. And I understand, and maybe some of my phrases aren't clear enough, but Jesus has our, what Jesus is saying here is significant.

And we can't for the sake of comfort, pretend he's not saying it they're radical things to do in response to mistreatment harm or severe inconvenience. How do we do this? Cause this is not just theory. This is everyday life that you and I face. These types of situations. I've wrestled with that this week, we got a very rickety gate here and we've got a very sturdy door.

I built that one. Thank you, Tim. Um, I want it talk practically about when we come up against difficult situations, how do we, how do we handle them? How do we deal with the fact that we have limited time, money, resources? How do we handle this passage? And, and these, this is not to be clever. It's to be clear, three things I want to say to advocate for, for us to be a door, not a swinging gate, be a door, not a swinging gate.

First thing I want to mention about a door when it comes to this situation, is that a door opens from the inside, right? A good door. Right, right. A good door opens from the inside. It's important. It's important. A door doesn't get knocked in by whoever wants to at whatever time the power in a good door is not that it, it can be accessed at any time by anyone from the outside.

The importance is that it is up to the one inside the one inside has. And this word, I mean in a really good way, power a swinging gate is different. A swinging gate, whoever pushes or pulls on it, they have the power to determine who gets in and good get out. It is the decision of the one being harmed of the one who has experienced some type of personal injury.

It is their choice. How to respond. The power is not in the hand of those asking or those harming. It is in the control of the person being harmed. This passage is not given to people of how to break down doors. This passage is given to people who have the strength and the power to respond. Jesus is not saying, give this choice to someone else.

He is not saying surrender your power to someone else's choices. He is saying with your power, choose love. But that door opens from the inside. It is the choice of the person. The swinging gate has no strength to decide what gets. In what gets out, ultimately it just has to receive whatever comes its way.

It's too hard to say, no, there's not enough resistance there to block anything out. If you push hard enough, you will get in to a swinging gate. A dear friend of mine, a person I love said this to me one time. She said, Hey, Ben, you know why we make you feel guilty? Guilt is a thing I'm good at guilt. Right?

I feel like guilty really easily sometimes. So I wanted to know why do people make me feel guilty? You know, she said, she said, we make you feel guilty because we can. And I thought people are like that, right? Because what she's saying is when we make you feel guilty, we take your power. You're not deciding what is love, what is good?

What, what should be done when you're guilty, you're weak. And this has happened in some of you understand this when I can make you afraid. When I can make you feel guilty, I can come in and out, ask of whatever I want and you will do it. Another person that church person was saying, man, what I like a bit, Ben is he'll just say yes to everything.

And I'm like, watch, you can say that out loud. You can say you like that. No. Why? Because, because you know what? I can just do whatever I want. It was a long time ago. They said that by the way, but I'm much healthier, right? But a swinging gate just accepts. Whatever comes its way. And it's not seen by the person as man, that person really loves me is not seen as love.

It's seen as opportunity. It's very important to know the door opens from the inside because power is an important thing to maintain. When oppressed an abuser tries to remove power from you. That is not the calling text. There is also a wisdom. There was a wisdom to know when to open the door and when not to open the door, even in the passage, someone strikes you on the right cheek, give them the, the other.

Also Jesus did not always practice that Jesus in fact, was struck on the right cheek. He did not turn the other also on the night when he was betrayed, Paul himself was struck. Physically did not turn the other cheek, but stood up for himself. Neither of them retaliated in anger. But this situation, there is a situational understanding here of when to yield PA when to give of self.

And when not to number three, I'm sorry, in this understanding power, understanding wisdom and understanding love this gate looks real noble and said, wow, wow. Look at all the people going in and out of there, all the stuff they want to move. Yeah. I'll go help you move. You want to do nursery? Oh yeah. I can do nursery.

Right? There's this sense of I'll do whatever you need me to do. It's like, man, you want to get something done? Get somebody who's a swinging gate. Cause they're a yes machine. Right. And it can feel like maybe that's love. Calvin has a great quote, John Calvin, a great quote on this. He calls the mischief maker as the one who pounds the door or tries to get through the gate.

And he speaks of how it's not always love for the mischief maker to be allowed to do or get whatever they want. It is not the strength of love to let someone be in a continual oppressor. The greatest act to many mischief makers is to say, no, the door is not open for you. Right. Why because it's the greatest act of love.

And for many can be the very beginning of their salvation. Second thing door opens from the inside second thing. And from that. Adore has the ability to protect, whereas a swinging gate can prevent no harm. Th th the adore can, if you think of a door of a house, it prevents danger. Part of the function is that it's a door, not a doorway.

If you try to get in on a door part of its function, is it protects those inside from those on the outside, there are situations where it is dangerous, and that word is important where the people trying to come in are a significant threat to the individual on the inside the door has the ability to protect a swinging gate, literally goes open and shut for anyone at any time with any request, without regard to who lives on the inside.

It can prevent harm also adore protecting. There's a matter of development here. You don't ask a seven-year-old to apply this passage. You don't in the same way you ask someone who's known Christ for a long time, you got a seven year old is getting pounded at your school. You don't sit there and say, listen, Johnny, we don't really know if you believe in Jesus or not, but here's what you do.

You sit there and you take it over and over and over. That's the calling. That's not the calling for a seven-year-old. It's not, there is a developmental process. I believe this, the Peter talks about the spiritual development Jesus in John 16, 12 talks about the spiritual development of when we are even able to hear certain truths.

Calling of responding with over the top love and gratitude. When O pressed is a, a, there is some matter of spiritual and emotional development, you need to have something to give something also matters of limitation. Jesus did not say yes to every situation. Jesus protected his earthly body and situations.

At times this morning, I walked in and noticed the books that we have on our resource show. The ruthless elimination of hurry. This is a great book seeking rest. This is by our own Joanne and Sarah wrote this wonderful devotional rest missionaries that we support Sean and Harold ever saw. Dear people wrote a book called rest Dane Orland.

So a wonderful book about the character of our Jesus gentle and lowly. You can't live this stuff out. If you say yes to everything, if you say yes to everything, you're not going to rest. You can't eliminate hurry. You don't have the disposition left to be gentle and lowly and receiving a door must operate with some protection.

And, and what I will say for, for those of us who struggle with, um, swinging gate NUS and CR we have a healthy word called codependency for this, where we can just allow really any need or any situation to kind of take us in. It's not just terrible bullies that go in and out of swinging gates. That's important to know.

It's not just how awful people are that they come in and out sometimes it's just because we don't have the door type strength to say no, even to good things. Within the first couple years of being a pastor here, I was burning out for probably 18 months. And the responsibilities I had were, were, they were bigger than me and they were bigger than I was called to have with Christ.

And I kept pushing and I literally would daydream about one of the other pastors. Coming up and saying, I'm making this choice for you. You're doing too much. You got a young family. You're burning out. You're done in this ministry. So you can focus on this ministry. I would daydream about it, but I wouldn't do anything myself.

I just let opportunities and ministries. And can you do this? Come in and out? Does that mean people were bad? How dare they ask me if something no knocking is never bad. Requesting is not bad. It was the, I did not have the strength to give good people any type of, no, I can't do that. The swinging gate cannot blame other people pull that go in and out all the time.

A swinging gate must recognize it needs more strength to protect. It is on those of us who struggle with this to stand up. It is what makes us grow in our faith. Awesome. Awful often, lastly, a swinging door welcomes. This is the very point of entry into a home. The very place where we welcome mothers and a swinging gate has nothing left to give.

Everything has been taken. If all we ever do is take blow after blow. If all you do is walk mile after mile, you'll have nothing left to give. If we just experienced mistreatment, people will eventually not even being, knowing they're being bad. We'll take all of our resources from us. I know there are many in this room and many online that know this truth deeply.

You cannot tend to others. Well, after you have been beaten and walked into the ground and some of you are like, Jess, DOR Christianity, keep it tough, buddy. I saw there's this tough guy, pastors talking about his church. Who's no longer there, but he's really mad at him this last week. And he called this church a bunch of something like even jelly Coles, first off, I'm like, that's kind of clever, right?

But just like a bunch of softies, Christians just let themselves walk over, right? Yes. Can't be a swinging gate. Got to protect so many sissy Christians out there. People have to learn to stand up for themselves. Right. I understand some of you have that tough energy, but this is not primarily. What the passage is about.

I mean, I'm sorry, this is, this is what the PA the, the primary purpose of the passage is not how to shut your door and hold it. This is what I want to say. The primary disposition of our lives it's meant to have an open door. Yes. The ability to close, we can't do everything. Yes. The power retains in our decisions and what, and when to give.

But this calling here that Jesus is saying it's not small

as dearly loved children. Paul writes walk in the way of love. I don't believe this. This is meant to be a checklist passage. I don't believe it's meant to be a, this one thing happened. So what's the direct response. It's meant to be a principle of how the disposition of our life operates. We operate in absorbing a lot of things that happen wrong to us.

We operate in forgiveness and we operate in hosting others in generosity. And some of the people we will host, they're going to hurt us. And that's, that really is rough, but it really is. At times are calling the normal state of those who know that they're deeply loved by the father. Is to respond with open doors, not defensive, not suspicious, not gaining a single ounce of energy by rallying against those.

They feel like are their enemies. We absorb some blows from one another. We're ready to offer help to one another, the resources of forgiveness and positive regard flow freely here, doors that can close. Yes. When it's wise and loving to do so. But the natural disposition of our souls is that our doors are open and available to host the needs of others.

We operate in trust, forgiveness, and generosity because we learn this from our king, who knows what fear is. He knows what sin is. He knows what relational and physical and spiritual trauma. And still he opened his arms to receive and give love. You see, it's this gospel of Jesus, this open door gospel Jesus that opens and has room for a weary and cynical and burnout resource deprived to world.

If the community of Christ is a neighborhood of closed doors, why would anyone want to move in our very testimony of Christ? Our very calling when being wrong is to say there is room for you here, room for you to make mistakes for you to hurt and be hurt. We here can absorb and even hosts. The messiness of life to that great end.

We're willing to give of our own stuff, our own body, our own time, our own wealth. First Corinthians 13 is probably the most famous passage in the new Testament. Matt Smith Hirst writes about this passage and says this in order to embody the majority of the descriptions of love. In first Corinthians 13, someone has to hurt you first.

I'm going to conclude with this beautiful passage, and then we will be dismissed if I speak can the tongues of men and angel, but do not have love. I'm a noisy gong or a clanging symbol. If I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge. If I have all faith. So as to remove mountains, but have not love, I'm nothing.

If I give away all I have, if I turn my body to be over to body, to be burned, my gosh, there's so much swinging gate here, but have not love. I gain nothing. Love is patient and it's kind love. Doesn't envy or boast. It's not arrogant. It's not rude. Does not insist on its own way. It's not irritable or resentful.

It does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. Love, bears. All things believes, all things, hopes, all things endures. All things love is an open door. We are dismissed.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/threat-and-the-kingdom-of-god ce80c328-02b5-49a6-86e4-97630429df11 Sun, 04 Jul 2021 09:00:45 GMT <div data-html="true">Matthew 5:38-42 <div> <br /><br /> <span><span><sup>38 </sup>“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’<sup>[<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%205:38-42&amp;version=NIV#fen-NIV-23273a">a</a>]</sup></span></span> <span><span><sup>39 </sup>But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also.</span></span> <span><span><sup>40 </sup>And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well.</span></span> <span><span><sup>41 </sup>If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles.</span></span> <span><span><sup>42 </sup>Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.</span></span> <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Can you hear me now? It makes me really nervous. Cause I did just flip the switch. So I wonder what else you heard when I thought the switch was off. Uh, grateful for representing the freedom and, uh, some of the beautiful things of July 4th. I want to mention some of the other things that we've done with our freedom, that would be a little less, uh, noble. <br /><br /> Um, here are some dangerous things that used to be legal, dangerous things in our country that used to be. And we'll go right into our passage this morning. Go ahead and flip one up this. Okay. Any of you ever written in the back of a pickup, anybody ever fallen out of the back of a pickup? Okay. That makes a lot of sense sound guy. <br /><br /> Yup. Nothing's ever right with the sound guy. Anybody ever knocked somebody out of the back of the pickup? Shelly Bicking. I did 17 years. Right out the back. Okay. Um, this used to be illegal thing. Now this wizard of Oz used to be legal. That's a problem in and of itself, but the snow, you might not know. <br /><br /> This was toxic. 100% toxic ex Bestos that was used in this scene as with asbestos, for many different things that we, they used it in stage props. So that scarecrow was a little funny, for many reasons, other things that used to be legal. Okay. You can sort of see this. This is an actual photo of a mail carrier carrying mail. <br /><br /> That mail is a child. In 1913 in Ohio, they had there's many different things you could send in the mail and someone decided I'm going to send my baby to the grandparents' house. And for 15 cents of stamps in 1913, a child was sent in the mail to the grandparents' house. Now, some of you who have one child, you're absolutely horrified. <br /><br /> If you're up to like child four or five, you're like, oh 15 cents. Okay. Existed from 1913 to 1916, the longest distance a child was ever carried by mail was 720 miles. Another thing that used to be legal. These were called baby cages and early and right around the late 18 hundreds. Some doctor smarty pants said that babies need to be in, use this word aired out. <br /><br /> They need to be exposed. And so in New York city, they were having trouble figuring out how could you air out babies when they need to be inside so much, these were built into high rises. You could purchase them and put these in high rises. Eleanor Roosevelt did this with their child. Anna, these baby cages were put out of high rises and you would sit the baby in there to air the baby. <br /><br /> It's amazing. Some of y'all lived. Yeah. Have made me remember this thing. Yes. Now this is a merry-go-round and I know some of you are like, man, I used to love that thing. Some you sicko parents are like men. Did I spin the heck out of my kids? Right? These became illegal. Not that many years ago because of many lawsuits, primarily in New Jersey go figure. <br /><br /> And then lastly, cocaine to thank drops, instantaneous cure, go figure, right? Selling cocaine and various places, dangerous things that used to be legal. We come this morning into Matthew chapter five. Matthew chapter five is we've been talking about the longest sermon. Jesus gives, goes through the beatitudes, talking about the values of the kingdom of God. <br /><br /> And then after the beatitudes transitions to these life statements about practical living in the kingdom of God, and we have walked through the different segments of practical life, of what life looks like under the governorship under the king ship, under the benevolent reign of Jesus. And today we come to a passage about retaliation. <br /><br /> How does retaliation and the kingdom of God operate? And this is in verse 38, this, as we read it, I want us to really recognize these are not idealistic words that Jesus spoke. They are extreme. They are significant. They are dangerous. And I'll share why I believe they are in just a minute. Verse 38 to 42. <br /><br /> Jesus says this, you've heard that it was said, and I for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I say to you, don't resist the one who is evil. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him, the other also, and if anyone would Sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles, give to the one who begs from you and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you. <br /><br /> Lord, we give you our time morning. We thank you for the place and space and time to do so. Can we pray for understanding to treat your words seriously and Jesus' name. Amen. I want to speak of the danger of this passage. Number one, this passage is dangerous because what Jesus is asking of his followers is significant. <br /><br /> The kingdom calling is not a small one. These principles of the kingdom, how we live together, it's with people, it's with mess it's with pain. It's with being hurt by one another. And that's specifically what is talking about how we are called to operate when we are hurt and mistreated by one another. <br /><br /> This calling takes a tremendous amount of holy spirit strength, strength to quiet our vindictive responses. And strength to love when it's really hard. And we see in the passage that love includes my body, my stuff, my time, my energy and my wealth. Larry crab offers a quote that has meant much to me in my own journey with Christ. <br /><br /> He said, this simply you can live to be comfortable, or you can live to know God, not many people, people who followed this. Jesus who heard these words for the first time would end up losing their very lives. This significance of this calling is tremendous. Secondly, the danger of this passage is because Christ is offering a threat to our felt sense of comfort, comfort that's first. <br /><br /> Secondly, is that oppressor. And abusers can use this passage to destroy people. What does it mean to turn the other cheek for a nine-year-old that's getting physically beaten by one of his parents. What does it mean when someone is being harassed or discriminated against in the workplace and the here, this passage, what does it mean to give to the person who asked you and don't turn away from the ones who wants to borrow you when a friend or a relative is draining your finances dry because of their life choices. <br /><br /> What does it mean? When a spouse continues to lie, manipulate and take advantage of the other spouse financially, sexually, emotionally, and oppresses them with various types of aggression. Jesus, what does this mean? This passage, this passage. Has been used by many oppressors to demand forgiveness and manipulate people into accepting further mistreatment for hundreds of years. <br /><br /> What do we do with these words? These dangerous words of Christ. Simply as we enter, we need to recognize what do we do with danger of any type, what we quickly do when faced with anything that feels threatening. We rival against it. We rival against it. We want to fight it. We want to flee it. We want to rationalize it. <br /><br /> Let's approach this sacred passage, not with trying to write around it, get away from it. But with compassion recognition, there's a lot of trauma in this room. There's a lot of trigger in this. Room. Some of that trigger is like own, what does God want of my stuff? As I look at this passage, some of it is what is this passage? <br /><br /> I mean, when I am being mistreated today, so let's enter with compassion. As we recognize the significance of the text, look at the interpretation here of what Jesus is saying. First Jesus enters with this statement. You've heard that it said an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, but I say onto you, what he's referring back to. <br /><br /> And then he goes on to give some situations of what he is saying, but he's referring back to what it means. An eye for an eye or a tooth for a tooth. This is going back to a few different, three different, um, old Testament passages. Two of them for you, Exodus 2124 says if there is serious injury, You are to take life for life. <br /><br /> Eye for eye tooth for tooth hand, for hand, foot for foot burn for bam burn wound for wound bruise for bruise Exodus 2124 Leviticus 24 20 fracture for fracture, eye for eye tooth for tooth. The one who has inflicted the energy injury must suffer the same injury. Going back again to the mosaic law in these passages, in what Jesus referring to it's, it's obvious to see that these offenses can be severe. <br /><br /> Every person who has been hurt by someone else deeply knows that offenses have various types can be severe. We humans have incredible ability to hurt one another. Eyes and teeth is what Jesus pulls out to speak of this, taking something that cannot be replaced, something that would have caused tremendous pain to the individual to lose an eye or a tooth. <br /><br /> These offenses required punishment. These punishment should be of equal severity to the offense. This is retribution equivalency. Let the punishment fit the crime. Now these passages and these rule of law, this, this in the mosaic covenant was given litigiously. It was given to the judges. It was given for how the Jewish nation should operate legally. <br /><br /> However, the, the laws of the land and the punishment for the crime. However, this law became used as a principle for spiritual living. Retribution became a supported principle of how to treat one another. And Jesus is coming in light of this type of thinking this type of work and saying, this is not the way that my spiritual kingdom operates. <br /><br /> And these for images that are for situations that he will talk about confront the attitude of revenge or retribution and yeah, the situations I'm going to be honest as I'm looking through the situations, even as I was reading commentary, you want to dumb down what Jesus is saying. You want to dilute it so it can go down a little easier. <br /><br /> But what he is, the situations that he or he is using, they really are significant first Jesus says, what I say onto you is when someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to the other also. First situation, it's significant that Jesus uses the right cheek. Okay. So, so using a slap would typically be given by the right hand in lots of different cultures throughout history. <br /><br /> And definitely in this culture, the left hand was used for some things that are not, you didn't use your left hand for a lot of other things. So with the right hand to slap on the right cheek would actually be a backhand slap. This backhanded slap was one of insult or ins or subordination. It was a get in line. <br /><br /> Do what I say I am higher than you type of slap across the cheek. What is, and the calling then was not to just retaliate with a similar her response. Jesus is saying that there is no such thing as revenge in the kingdom of God. Look through the texts. We've just looked at Jesus talks about anger. Is there a place for anger in the kingdom of God? <br /><br /> Yes, there is. There's not an outlawing of anger. There can be sexuality. Right? We talked about loss. Is there a place for sexuality in the kingdom of God based upon our texts? Yes. Is there a place for divorce a couple passages ago? Yes. There are biblical allowances for divorce. It is going through different operations of the kingdom of God and saying, and saying how we should do certain things. <br /><br /> When it comes to revenge, there is not an allowance. There's not room for revenge in the kingdom of God, any activity or action by a made by a heart of GYN, even showing them there's wanting them to pay for their simply is not from. The heart of Christ. Dallas Willard says the reason why we withhold good from someone, the grounds of this will never be personal retaliation. <br /><br /> And there were never, as I live be room in the kingdom of God forgetting even Mike Tyson, big time, theologian says everyone has a plan until you're what till you're punched in the face. Peter says when you are, when you absorb a blow, this is the ethic of the church. First, Peter three nine, do not repay evil for evil or insult with insult on the contrary, repay evil with blessing. <br /><br /> Second thing that Jesus talks about says if you Sue, if you are sued, right, this is, this is suing of possessions. If you're in a lawsuit and someone takes your cloak, give him your church, someone takes your tunic, give him your cloak as well. The mechanics of this is that's all you got, you got sandals, some headgear and a cloak and tunic. <br /><br /> If someone typically someone would have one tunic that goes over the coat or cloak this week, I found myself again, trying to head, what does this exactly mean? This is meaning most literally Jesus is saying and use whatever possession you have for the sake of the kingdom of God, often case your clear your outer tunic was used as your bedding. <br /><br /> It was your pillow that you slept on. It was what kept you warm to take away these two garments. If you did not have garments to replace them, you would have nothing less left, but foot and head gear. It is to say it is the first we look at attorney of the cheek. It is our body. Now Jesus turns to our possessions what that our possessions matter less than our message. <br /><br /> So that if my position by the giving up of my possessions demonstrates to this person or who is suing me a greater message of my Christ, that matters more than my stuff. Our dignity ladders matters less than our message. This is what Christ did when he was stripped of cloak and tunic and laid naked on the cross. <br /><br /> Why? Because Christ's love was more important than his possession or his dignity all was given for the sake of the rattle radical calling of living love for another Craig keener talks on this part. He says nothing. Anyone takes from us matters in the end. Anyway, we must love our enemies and seek to turn them into friends. <br /><br /> Number three, the asking two says if one asks you to go one mile, go with him two miles and enrollment culture. A Roman soldier could ask you to go. War could tell you, you must go with me one mile on carry my stuff. Carry carry my, my bedding, my armor, my equipment, and, and he could enlist anyone that he wanted to carry the, the, his stuff for him of distance up to one mile Jesus in this, can you, man, I mean, can you imagine the inconvenience of what this would be? <br /><br /> It's not like people were just sitting there waiting in line. What are you doing, man? I'm just, I'm looking for the next Roman soldier because I wouldn't get my mile in today. Right. I got my steps to get, and I want some good equipment to carry. No people have their own day. They have their own stuff. <br /><br /> They're carrying their own things. They're doing their own work. They're spending time with their own family. But at any time a Roman soldier could tap you on the shoulder and say, Hey, you go with me one mile, which we all know means, carry stuff one mile and then walk one mile back. Jesus is saying how about two miles, two miles back. <br /><br /> Instead of going with him one mile, go with him two miles. <br /><br /> Instead of being begrudgingly obedient citizen who obeys out of fear, live a life of love and go further. Number four. So that's, , I'm sorry. Number three. The request is for your time and your energy, you see what Jesus is doing here. He says your very body. Number one, your, your, your very stuff, your possessions, number two, number three, your time and your energy. <br /><br /> And lastly, Jesus comes to this fourth request. If anyone asks of you, give them if anyone desires to borrow from you, respond with benevolence. John who watched Jesus operate says this in first, John three 17 says if anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need, but has no pity on them. <br /><br /> How can the love of God be in that person? This is the calling that God himself lives later in this chapter. There's a very similar phrasing to this. Give to the one who asks you don't turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. It's in it's when Jesus is talking about the father, he says, ask, and it will be given to you seek and you shall find and talks about how the father does not hold good. <br /><br /> This is not convenient generosity. This is not if I can comfortably afford them. These are radical things. These are things that if we're completely honest, we don't really want Jesus to say, and I know there are phrases I'm even using that. Some of you're like too far. And I understand, and maybe some of my phrases aren't clear enough, but Jesus has our, what Jesus is saying here is significant. <br /><br /> And we can't for the sake of comfort, pretend he's not saying it they're radical things to do in response to mistreatment harm or severe inconvenience. How do we do this? Cause this is not just theory. This is everyday life that you and I face. These types of situations. I've wrestled with that this week, we got a very rickety gate here and we've got a very sturdy door. <br /><br /> I built that one. Thank you, Tim. Um, I want it talk practically about when we come up against difficult situations, how do we, how do we handle them? How do we deal with the fact that we have limited time, money, resources? How do we handle this passage? And, and these, this is not to be clever. It's to be clear, three things I want to say to advocate for, for us to be a door, not a swinging gate, be a door, not a swinging gate. <br /><br /> First thing I want to mention about a door when it comes to this situation, is that a door opens from the inside, right? A good door. Right, right. A good door opens from the inside. It's important. It's important. A door doesn't get knocked in by whoever wants to at whatever time the power in a good door is not that it, it can be accessed at any time by anyone from the outside. <br /><br /> The importance is that it is up to the one inside the one inside has. And this word, I mean in a really good way, power a swinging gate is different. A swinging gate, whoever pushes or pulls on it, they have the power to determine who gets in and good get out. It is the decision of the one being harmed of the one who has experienced some type of personal injury. <br /><br /> It is their choice. How to respond. The power is not in the hand of those asking or those harming. It is in the control of the person being harmed. This passage is not given to people of how to break down doors. This passage is given to people who have the strength and the power to respond. Jesus is not saying, give this choice to someone else. <br /><br /> He is not saying surrender your power to someone else's choices. He is saying with your power, choose love. But that door opens from the inside. It is the choice of the person. The swinging gate has no strength to decide what gets. In what gets out, ultimately it just has to receive whatever comes its way. <br /><br /> It's too hard to say, no, there's not enough resistance there to block anything out. If you push hard enough, you will get in to a swinging gate. A dear friend of mine, a person I love said this to me one time. She said, Hey, Ben, you know why we make you feel guilty? Guilt is a thing I'm good at guilt. Right? <br /><br /> I feel like guilty really easily sometimes. So I wanted to know why do people make me feel guilty? You know, she said, she said, we make you feel guilty because we can. And I thought people are like that, right? Because what she's saying is when we make you feel guilty, we take your power. You're not deciding what is love, what is good? <br /><br /> What, what should be done when you're guilty, you're weak. And this has happened in some of you understand this when I can make you afraid. When I can make you feel guilty, I can come in and out, ask of whatever I want and you will do it. Another person that church person was saying, man, what I like a bit, Ben is he'll just say yes to everything. <br /><br /> And I'm like, watch, you can say that out loud. You can say you like that. No. Why? Because, because you know what? I can just do whatever I want. It was a long time ago. They said that by the way, but I'm much healthier, right? But a swinging gate just accepts. Whatever comes its way. And it's not seen by the person as man, that person really loves me is not seen as love. <br /><br /> It's seen as opportunity. It's very important to know the door opens from the inside because power is an important thing to maintain. When oppressed an abuser tries to remove power from you. That is not the calling text. There is also a wisdom. There was a wisdom to know when to open the door and when not to open the door, even in the passage, someone strikes you on the right cheek, give them the, the other. <br /><br /> Also Jesus did not always practice that Jesus in fact, was struck on the right cheek. He did not turn the other also on the night when he was betrayed, Paul himself was struck. Physically did not turn the other cheek, but stood up for himself. Neither of them retaliated in anger. But this situation, there is a situational understanding here of when to yield PA when to give of self. <br /><br /> And when not to number three, I'm sorry, in this understanding power, understanding wisdom and understanding love this gate looks real noble and said, wow, wow. Look at all the people going in and out of there, all the stuff they want to move. Yeah. I'll go help you move. You want to do nursery? Oh yeah. I can do nursery. <br /><br /> Right? There's this sense of I'll do whatever you need me to do. It's like, man, you want to get something done? Get somebody who's a swinging gate. Cause they're a yes machine. Right. And it can feel like maybe that's love. Calvin has a great quote, John Calvin, a great quote on this. He calls the mischief maker as the one who pounds the door or tries to get through the gate. <br /><br /> And he speaks of how it's not always love for the mischief maker to be allowed to do or get whatever they want. It is not the strength of love to let someone be in a continual oppressor. The greatest act to many mischief makers is to say, no, the door is not open for you. Right. Why because it's the greatest act of love. <br /><br /> And for many can be the very beginning of their salvation. Second thing door opens from the inside second thing. And from that. Adore has the ability to protect, whereas a swinging gate can prevent no harm. Th th the adore can, if you think of a door of a house, it prevents danger. Part of the function is that it's a door, not a doorway. <br /><br /> If you try to get in on a door part of its function, is it protects those inside from those on the outside, there are situations where it is dangerous, and that word is important where the people trying to come in are a significant threat to the individual on the inside the door has the ability to protect a swinging gate, literally goes open and shut for anyone at any time with any request, without regard to who lives on the inside. <br /><br /> It can prevent harm also adore protecting. There's a matter of development here. You don't ask a seven-year-old to apply this passage. You don't in the same way you ask someone who's known Christ for a long time, you got a seven year old is getting pounded at your school. You don't sit there and say, listen, Johnny, we don't really know if you believe in Jesus or not, but here's what you do. <br /><br /> You sit there and you take it over and over and over. That's the calling. That's not the calling for a seven-year-old. It's not, there is a developmental process. I believe this, the Peter talks about the spiritual development Jesus in John 16, 12 talks about the spiritual development of when we are even able to hear certain truths. <br /><br /> Calling of responding with over the top love and gratitude. When O pressed is a, a, there is some matter of spiritual and emotional development, you need to have something to give something also matters of limitation. Jesus did not say yes to every situation. Jesus protected his earthly body and situations. <br /><br /> At times this morning, I walked in and noticed the books that we have on our resource show. The ruthless elimination of hurry. This is a great book seeking rest. This is by our own Joanne and Sarah wrote this wonderful devotional rest missionaries that we support Sean and Harold ever saw. Dear people wrote a book called rest Dane Orland. <br /><br /> So a wonderful book about the character of our Jesus gentle and lowly. You can't live this stuff out. If you say yes to everything, if you say yes to everything, you're not going to rest. You can't eliminate hurry. You don't have the disposition left to be gentle and lowly and receiving a door must operate with some protection. <br /><br /> And, and what I will say for, for those of us who struggle with, um, swinging gate NUS and CR we have a healthy word called codependency for this, where we can just allow really any need or any situation to kind of take us in. It's not just terrible bullies that go in and out of swinging gates. That's important to know. <br /><br /> It's not just how awful people are that they come in and out sometimes it's just because we don't have the door type strength to say no, even to good things. Within the first couple years of being a pastor here, I was burning out for probably 18 months. And the responsibilities I had were, were, they were bigger than me and they were bigger than I was called to have with Christ. <br /><br /> And I kept pushing and I literally would daydream about one of the other pastors. Coming up and saying, I'm making this choice for you. You're doing too much. You got a young family. You're burning out. You're done in this ministry. So you can focus on this ministry. I would daydream about it, but I wouldn't do anything myself. <br /><br /> I just let opportunities and ministries. And can you do this? Come in and out? Does that mean people were bad? How dare they ask me if something no knocking is never bad. Requesting is not bad. It was the, I did not have the strength to give good people any type of, no, I can't do that. The swinging gate cannot blame other people pull that go in and out all the time. <br /><br /> A swinging gate must recognize it needs more strength to protect. It is on those of us who struggle with this to stand up. It is what makes us grow in our faith. Awesome. Awful often, lastly, a swinging door welcomes. This is the very point of entry into a home. The very place where we welcome mothers and a swinging gate has nothing left to give. <br /><br /> Everything has been taken. If all we ever do is take blow after blow. If all you do is walk mile after mile, you'll have nothing left to give. If we just experienced mistreatment, people will eventually not even being, knowing they're being bad. We'll take all of our resources from us. I know there are many in this room and many online that know this truth deeply. <br /><br /> You cannot tend to others. Well, after you have been beaten and walked into the ground and some of you are like, Jess, DOR Christianity, keep it tough, buddy. I saw there's this tough guy, pastors talking about his church. Who's no longer there, but he's really mad at him this last week. And he called this church a bunch of something like even jelly Coles, first off, I'm like, that's kind of clever, right? <br /><br /> But just like a bunch of softies, Christians just let themselves walk over, right? Yes. Can't be a swinging gate. Got to protect so many sissy Christians out there. People have to learn to stand up for themselves. Right. I understand some of you have that tough energy, but this is not primarily. What the passage is about. <br /><br /> I mean, I'm sorry, this is, this is what the PA the, the primary purpose of the passage is not how to shut your door and hold it. This is what I want to say. The primary disposition of our lives it's meant to have an open door. Yes. The ability to close, we can't do everything. Yes. The power retains in our decisions and what, and when to give. <br /><br /> But this calling here that Jesus is saying it's not small <br /><br /> as dearly loved children. Paul writes walk in the way of love. I don't believe this. This is meant to be a checklist passage. I don't believe it's meant to be a, this one thing happened. So what's the direct response. It's meant to be a principle of how the disposition of our life operates. We operate in absorbing a lot of things that happen wrong to us. <br /><br /> We operate in forgiveness and we operate in hosting others in generosity. And some of the people we will host, they're going to hurt us. And that's, that really is rough, but it really is. At times are calling the normal state of those who know that they're deeply loved by the father. Is to respond with open doors, not defensive, not suspicious, not gaining a single ounce of energy by rallying against those. <br /><br /> They feel like are their enemies. We absorb some blows from one another. We're ready to offer help to one another, the resources of forgiveness and positive regard flow freely here, doors that can close. Yes. When it's wise and loving to do so. But the natural disposition of our souls is that our doors are open and available to host the needs of others. <br /><br /> We operate in trust, forgiveness, and generosity because we learn this from our king, who knows what fear is. He knows what sin is. He knows what relational and physical and spiritual trauma. And still he opened his arms to receive and give love. You see, it's this gospel of Jesus, this open door gospel Jesus that opens and has room for a weary and cynical and burnout resource deprived to world. <br /><br /> If the community of Christ is a neighborhood of closed doors, why would anyone want to move in our very testimony of Christ? Our very calling when being wrong is to say there is room for you here, room for you to make mistakes for you to hurt and be hurt. We here can absorb and even hosts. The messiness of life to that great end. <br /><br /> We're willing to give of our own stuff, our own body, our own time, our own wealth. First Corinthians 13 is probably the most famous passage in the new Testament. Matt Smith Hirst writes about this passage and says this in order to embody the majority of the descriptions of love. In first Corinthians 13, someone has to hurt you first. <br /><br /> I'm going to conclude with this beautiful passage, and then we will be dismissed if I speak can the tongues of men and angel, but do not have love. I'm a noisy gong or a clanging symbol. If I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge. If I have all faith. So as to remove mountains, but have not love, I'm nothing. <br /><br /> If I give away all I have, if I turn my body to be over to body, to be burned, my gosh, there's so much swinging gate here, but have not love. I gain nothing. Love is patient and it's kind love. Doesn't envy or boast. It's not arrogant. It's not rude. Does not insist on its own way. It's not irritable or resentful. <br /><br /> It does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. Love, bears. All things believes, all things, hopes, all things endures. All things love is an open door. We are dismissed. <br /><br /> </div></div> false no <![CDATA[A Fully Honest Person]]> Matthew 5:33-37

33 “Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made.’ 34 But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; 35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. 36 And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. 37 All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.



When everybody like you to take your Bibles to Matthew chapter five of this morning, we returned to the sermon on the Mount. I feel like I haven't been doing this in a while and glad to be back in the, as much as we have a pulpit, the pulpit this morning, Matthew chapter five, we're going to be looking at verses 33 to 37.
As we returned to this series, the upside down life, Jesus picture of what it means to live as a kingdom dweller as a kingdom inhabitant in Jesus' kingdom. And this morning, we're looking at his perspectives on honesty, Matthew chapter five, verse 33. Here's what we read again. You have heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.
But I say to you do not take an oath at all, either by heaven for it is the throne of God or by the earth. Ford is the footstool or by Jerusalem for it is the city of the great king and do not take an oath by your head for you cannot make one hair white or black. That what you say be simply yes or no.
Anything more comes from evil. Let's pray.
Lord would come this morning to not only worship through song, but we also come father to come under the teaching of the school. Lord, we thank you for your word. Thank you. It's timeless. It's the only book. It's the only truth that has ever been given. That is absolutely without an era of relevancy. It is timely in every generation, in every culture to every gender, every people group.
So Lord, we look to you to teach us today, open our hearts to this whole perspective. I pray of what it means to be fully honest people in Jesus name. Amen.
Jesus in the sermon on the Mount, as we have mentioned, a number of times in this series is continually making statements like you have heard that it was said, or, or they, those of old said, and, and what he's referring to is the thing called the oral tradition. He isn't only quoting the old Testament. He is often referring to this set of commentaries on the old Testament that had come down through history.
It was not written down. It was actually written down in 70 a D in what is called, or just post 78 D uh, called the Mishnah. And the word wish Mishnah actually means repetition or studied by repetition. Basically, they were taking the oral traditions that had come through. Couple of centuries and began to write them down.
The reason they wrote them down is because in 78, D Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans and they began to think, you know, everything's fallen apart in our nation, we're all getting dispersed and we need to have a written record of these case studies, which was basically what the oral tradition was.
The oral tradition was okay. God says don't, um, uh, travel on the Sabbath day. It should be a day of rest. So what they did was they, they put all these case studies well, does does traveling on the seven SAB does work on the Sabbath day. Me and I can travel a mile two miles and a half. I actually brought all this out there and each of the, of the, uh, 63 categories of the oral tradition.
Had a million case studies under it. And in all these case studies, they tried to say, well, this is what it means. So this is what, and they would try to come to some, uh, cohesive perspective. The problem was in building these case studies and these commentaries, they regularly took God's principles in his law and actually, while trying to make it more understandable and more specific.
And if you will more practical by application to know exactly what to do in a situation, they actually dumbed it all down. They actually try to explain in such specificity that they lost in many ways, the heart of these broad principles of God. And so in Jesus teaching in Matthew five through seven, Jesus is saying.
This is what you're operating on, what they've said in the oral tradition, but here's what it actually means. And so he says stuff like, as we've looked, he starts talking about the commandment do not murder. And he says, you know, the, the, the oral tradition says, do not murder. And if you commit murder, you're, you're guilty of you.
You'll be subject to judgment. But I tell you what that commandment actually meant was a broad principle. That if you do harm to your neighbor, if you're angry at your neighbor, if you, if you call them a full ride, if he, if you speak in a way that is somehow destructive, removing, if you will, part of their, their, their life you've committed murder, he says, you heard, it said don't commit adultery.
And he says, but I want you to understand that, that this actually is talking about. Heart adultery as well. It's speaking about lusting after a woman, he talks about divorce and he says, you heard it was saying, you know, basically you can get a divorce for any reason, which is what the oral tradition tended to say.
And they had all these case studies and it even meant that if your wife over cooked a meal, you could give her a department needs. These are really there. And he said the only allowance for divorce, and even that's by the hardness of your heart, the only allowance for divorce is if your, your spouse has been sexually unfaithful.
So what he's doing is saying, when we look at the Pharisees and the scribes, and we think, oh man, these guys were so preoccupied with the law, LA LA LA LA LA. It's all about doing, doing, doing. And we think they're making so much of the law. Actually, they were doing the opposite. They didn't, the law to them was not too big.
It was not too high. It was too low. They acted as if a person in their own strength can do these things. And Jesus comes along and says, this is how the law of God is designed. The principles of God's standard of righteousness and holiness are so high. Hi, that they speak to the very heart motivations of people's lives that no one can fulfill the law of God apart from the spirit of God working in their lives.
And so for the, the, the religionists, the scribes, the Pharisees for the most part, religion became an external thing. As long as they did the externals and seemed to do the right things. And Jesus said, no, but your heart's bad. Your motivation is self-centered. You're you're you're. You're not compassionate.
You're not kind, which is the very foundation of how you treat one another. And so he says this, I'm going to tell you what, what it really means to live as a member of my kingdom in Matthew five through seven. And so now he comes to this principle where he now, the topic that he's taking is the topic of honesty.
And the issue here is going to do the same thing. It's going to raise the bar above what they were expecting and what they had in these oral traditions that the rabbis continually week after week expounded. And he's going to talk about what was standard of, of honesty and what now is the true standard of honesty in Jesus' kingdom.
What we're going to see in this message is five principles. And then we're going to end with three questions. And the last question, which is not in your sermon summary is the most important part of the whole sermon. All right. So, so if I completely lose you, I'm going to try to reel you back in at least at the end.
All right. Five principles regarding honesty and truth, telling that Jesus gives us number one, don't look for loopholes to get out of being honest. He says this in chapter five, verse 33. Again, you've heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord. What you have sworn the standard of honesty was this do not fail to keep what you have sworn with God as your witness.
That's actually what he's saying. They have fixed God's name as a witness in certain situations, it could be in court, but it also was regularly in private. And they, it was basically a way of saying this. Look, you can be sure I'm telling you the truth. Because God is my witness. I'm calling God as my witness to this statement and he affirms that it's true.
And so the, the, the oral tradition that was passed down was, man, if you call God as your witness, you better not screw it up. If you take God and bring him in as your witness, you better be telling the truth. And so they, they, they, they basically did what we do as God is my witness. This is true. I swear to God, may God strike me dead if this isn't true.
I swear on a stack of Bibles that I didn't go there. Years ago, 2004 Tio Terrell Owens joined the Eagle. We were all happy, greatest receiver in football, Donovan McNabb, a quarterback was happy and they were going to form this, this amazing partnership, which they did for a year. And they formed this, this, this, this tandem of two phenoms working together.
And it all began to fall apart when Tio got frustrated with the management and was frustrated that Donovan was not joining with him and wanted him to join in his voice. And basically at one time Tio quoted Donovan or at least what he perceived was Donovan's perspective, which he said, basically, Donovan's my witness.
He feels the same way. And if you remember the famous statement, some of you are saying it right now, Donovan said, don't. He said, get my name out of your mouth. What he was saying was, don't call me as your witness. I'm not affirming the things you're saying. I want my name out of your mouth. What they're saying here in this statement that Jesus quoting, which is that the normative view of truth-telling was, if you're going to put God's name in your mouth, if you're going to say, God's my witness that this cow I'm selling to you gives 12 gallons of milk a week.
Then you better really have a cow that gives 12 gallons of milk a week, because you've now asked God to sign as a guaranteer of your statement. That was the standard of righteousness for honesty. And Jesus said, This is an abysmal standard of honesty, basically as the standard of honesty, of course it's woefully and, and you, Mick, what resulted was anything you did not swear with God as your witness, and it's not primarily talking about the court.
This is what they did in private conversations. Now, of course, we do this culturally as well. Um, you know, we really want people to know. I mean, I swear to God, this is true. This is the way it is. I mean, I, I mean, I put my hand on a stack of Bible, but what it basically does is give a loophole for anything that you haven't done that with.
So the first thing he's saying is that can't be a loophole for dishonesty. The second thing he's saying here is don't treat some things or situations as more worthy of honesty than others. Notice verse 34 to 36. Here's what he says. But I say to you do not take an oath at all, either by heaven for it is the throne of God or by the earth.
Where is his footstool or by Jerusalem for it is a city of the Greek. And do not take an oath by your head for you cannot make one hair white or black. Now the first time we read those supers, we go, what in the world is Jesus talking about? Here's what Jesus is talking about, what they did. And a few, if you could, if you read the Mishnah, which is actually the compilation of the oral tradition that was there for centuries, you will find that they have a whole section on truth-telling under the subject of oats.
And basically these are a number of the things that they said. I swear by heaven. I don't want to quite go to God, but heaven. You know, the place of God, I'll swear by that. And Jesus, that's ridiculous. He says swearing by heaven is not less than swearing by God, because heaven is God's throne. And then they swore a little lower with swear by earth, you know, Swearing by earth.
He says is not lower than heaven because it is God's footstool. He says swearing by Jerusalem. Well, it's God's city swearing by your head, which basically was a statement like this MEI MEI MEI. I lose my head. May my head beat because off, if I'm not telling the truth again, we do this kind of stuff. I don't know if they still say this, but I remember as kids, we used to say it, cross my heart and hope to die.
If this isn't the truth, it's the same thing to say, oh man. I mean, by my very life, I swear, this is true. And Jesus is saying to this look, you can try to get in. And so, and the idea was by swearing, by my life, it's less holy and sacred than swearing. Jerusalem and sworn by Jerusalem, less sacred than swearing by heaven and God, and Jesus is saying guys, all of these things, you know, you swear by your own head where you can't control your head, you can't make your hair turn white or black.
I wish you could, frankly, but, but which, if you do it artificially, some of us had learned, we decided that way too late. So anyway, but he's saying you can't control these things. You aren't over heaven. Your God is over heaven. God is over Jerusalem. God's over earth. God's over your life. He says, when you swear, when you say yes or no about stuff, thing, God is always a witness.
He's always.
Bearing witness, whether this is true or this is untrue, basically what he's saying is your, your concept of saying, well, this is a big thing. No, my wife, I, I have not been unfaithful to you. That's a big one. I swear to God. No, no, I, you know, this, this, uh, this, this, uh, motorcycle I'm selling you for 600 bucks.
It really, there's nothing wrong with it. Cross my heart. Hope to die. I'll swear on me. Yeah. It's not quite as big. Well, what he's saying is there's not to be categories of truth telling that summer. Okay. And some are less significant.
This speaks to us, right? Because we might say, well, I would never, I would never lie under oath. You got to be kidding me. I'm in there. And put my hand in the Bible and swear that you know that I'm going to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. I would never lie there. Or if I've signed a contract, I would never break my contractual commitment.
Well, Jesus is saying you shouldn't have, you have to sign a doc for your word to be valid. Now I'm not saying there isn't a place for contracts, but what Jesus is saying is that your word should be enough. Or I would never, I would never lie to my partner. I might lie to my customer a little bit, but no, I mean, we have to have a trust relationship as partners in business.
And Jesus is saying the playing field is level. There's not to be different levels of honesty. I'd never deceived my partner, but yeah, sometimes you just, you know, you gotta, what is, well, I, I, I, if I'm a, I'm a sports leader, I never lie to my players, but to the media, c'mon, Jesus is saying truth is truth.
And so here's where he comes down in verse 37. He says, this is what I'm actually saying. Always always tell the truth. And as we come to this, he says your yes. When somebody asks you, will you do something your yeses? Yes. If somebody asked you if you did it and you say, yes, it's a, yes. It's real. Your no is a no.
He said people of my kingdom are so honest. There's no need for old S there's no need for ultimately written signed contrast contracts. There's no need for measuring how close to me is this person? My people are truth tellers.
And now this starts to get a little dicier.
Yeah. There's a statement that. Scottish began. It actually was built into their court system that a verbal agreement was acceptable binding legally, historically, for them it was the statement. My word is my bond. The word bond, their little means is my binding agreement. The word bond is from the same root to bind.
My word is like, I signed a binding agreement now again, is there a place for contracts you sin and we should never have anything written down. Yes. Part of it is just practical. Some of you are like me. We are verbal. Excuse me. We are visual learners. I don't remember a lot. What I'm told. I do a hotline.
I'm terrible. I wish I could be on the treadmill and do what Tim hunt does. The guy reads millions of books, just listening to them. I have to see the words to remember. My wife learned this years ago and she years ago by many negative experiences like this, where it would go like this mark. I just get home from work.
Mark, did you, did you get the groceries? What groceries? You told me last night that when you came home from work, you would get the fruit for the fruit salad that I'm making for people coming over tonight.
Are you sure it was me? I totally don't remember. Now. Verbally VIT contractual agreements are helpful just because they remind us where we legitimately don't remember. There's value in that. But what Jesus is saying here is this is your word trustworthy. Is your word sacred? Is it your bond? Is it that yes.
When I say yes, I don't mean yes, unless it's not convenient or unless another offer comes along or, or he says you're yes. Is yes. Are you known as a truth teller at all times, if you think right now of the most honest person in your world can be a family member, it can be a coworker. It can be a friend could be in.
You will find a person that you realize they tell the truth all the time. Even when it hurts, they are a truth teller. Jesus is saying move, and he's trying to move his followers away from a thin veneer of technical honesty, then masked deception. Now, again, here's where we get dicey. One of the things that we often talk to our kids about was the fact that telling the truth
evolves not only what I say, but the message that the people here
this is harder to do with cell phones, but you can still call landline and people won't know really how many times you've called. How many of us have. Called somebody and realized we weren't very diligent in getting back to them. We made one quick cursory call and, and they say they see us. And we find ourselves saying, oh man, I've been, I've been trying to get ahold of you.
And I've been calling and I've called a number of times. Now one is a number. Right. But what they hear, they heard, oh my goodness. I can't believe I've been missing all these calls from poor mark has been caught. It's not only what I say. It's what I know. They hear me say, Jesus is saying. Don't play around.
He says, you guys are playing around you. You swear to God with this you'll square to Jerusalem at this just, you know, you get all these levels and all these maneuvering, what you're doing is just, you're not saying I am going to be honest.
It isn't only what you say. It's also the message that people hear. I love this one, the old one you want to, you want to get people, you want to get your opinion across, you know, lots of people agree with me. Lots of people are saying stuff to me. You just want to say who, how many, almost every time that has ever happened in my life, what I have found is there's one.
And that one happens to be his daughter. Yeah. And, and, and we, we, we've gotta be careful. With truth. And Jesus is saying, be careful because we're slippery on this stuff. There's a couple of principles that are
sorry. This is what people do have pulpits. The there's a couple of principles relating to honesty that are important also to see in the sermon on the Mount that speak to this, because one of the dangers of reading his lofty statements on honesty is that it can be seen in isolation. For instance, a fourth principle regarding honesty is we must accompany honesty with kindness and gentleness in Matthew chapter five, he talks about you are to love your enemies, but most importantly, he says this in Matthew chapter seven, treat others as you would want to be.
Do that in the realm of honesty, all these things are interconnected. We expect for people to be honest with us, right? I mean, w w when we're not, w w w we feel disrespected, we feel demeaned, but we also want to be spoken to with kindness, Ephesians four verse 15 says to be speaking the truth in the context, love,
it's easy to look at this, and maybe you're this kind of an individual, and you think I, man, I got issues, but I don't, I am a truth teller. As a matter of fact, I am a person that sees it as it is. Maybe you say I have the gift of prophecy, just be careful because I've found the first time that I meet with somebody and they come in and I'm having a conversation with them.
And the first thing they start saying, I'm a truth teller. I tell it the way it is or I'm my gift is prophecy. I know where this is gone. There's going to be of their perception. Jesus is saying, yes, we need to be truth tellers, but we need to have it impact people the way we would want their truth to impact us,
which leads to number five, embrace truth, telling to yourself, this is really, really important. There's two aspects of this in Matthew five through seven. One is found in chapter seven, where he talks about judging others. He says, you, you guys see the sawdust specked in your neighbor's eye, but you're blind to the log in your own eye.
Now truth telling could be to go up to a person and say, I see a speck there. And Jesus is before you run over and start pointing out specs as a truth-teller. Now start with a spirit of humility this first saying, man, I got to deal with the law before I deal with their spec. That part of being truth tellers is being truth tellers to ourselves.
That also means not only that our truth telling is tempered by humility, but we are dealing with our own insides in matcha, in Matthew seven. Again, the latter part of the sermon on the Mount. He talks about these teachers and he says they come in sheep's clothing, but inside they're ravenous. Wolf's that the idea is they are not seeing themselves.
They think there's something different than they are. And he says, beware of them. And he would also say to the wolves, be aware of yourself. There must be speaking truth to ourselves. Chronic liars are always deceivers of themselves. First. They began to look at life. They have so habitually consistently sometimes months, sometimes, often years, sometimes decades of just developing a view of life that they, they naturally are untrustworthy.
But I believe with all my being, it starts because they're not really speaking truth and didn't themselves. How do we combat this? There's two really important things. You must allow truth tellers in your own life. We become manic liars by not hearing truth about ourselves, about our own logs, about what's really ruling our own hearts.
Now, some people avoid doing this Proverbs talks about this, the king who, uh, the person in leadership who surrounds themselves with flatter riffs. They don't want to hear anything. We can do that. I just, I keep anybody that's got anything that's gets in closer as questioning, keep them away, but there's another way we do it.
We've become schmoozers. Some people are very good at at what they do, and we can all do this to a degree, but you can become very good at, at keeping the conversation always about other people. You can do it by being a complimenter. You can do it by being seemingly very. But what you're doing is keeping people away.
You can't be a truth teller. If you are not first being a truth receiver, we must let people be truth-tellers into our lives because our voice to ourselves is often not trustworthy. So again, I'm trying to temper this statement. Yes. We need to always be telling the truth. I believe that however truth telling starts with being truth receivers.
The other aspect of this is we must immerse ourselves in God's truth. I recommend for anybody journaling for this. What happens when you journal and you, you, you, you put your prayers there. You put your responses to scripture there. When you write it down, you really understand what's going on inside of you.
You will find out what's your thinking. What's your process. You will then be able to speak truth into yourself to take you just read the Bible. That's wonderful and beautiful. I'm not saying don't do that, but take it the next step where you're allowing a scripture to speak in your writing. You're listening.
Hear yourself here. What am I learning here? Wow. I wasn't even thinking this. The way I'm looking at this is so contrary to what I'm reading. Be a truth receiver. Okay. What about three quick? What about questions? Number one. What about, should Christian speak under oath? There are many, not many. There are some Christian groups.
That take this passage in Matthew 5 30, 3 to 37 to say, we should never take an oath. And they, as conscientious objectors were, will not put their hand on a Bible and swear because he says, don't swear by anything I don't in any way. Think that's what Jesus is saying. I think he's saying, he's not saying you can't swear in that way, any more than he's saying there's not value in signing a contract, but he's saying you shouldn't have, you have to need to, your word should be your bond.
Secondly, aren't there times it has conjured a lot. Hmm. Now I'm going to get all the, yeah, but probably through emails or texts or conversations, but no, there are not times when it is kind of to lie, but of course it's going to be a, but, but there are times when it is kinder to not say all that. Now it was not Jack Nicholson in a few good men who first came up with this statement.
You want the truth? You can't handle the truth. You know who first we know came up with that statement. The very person that spoke Matthew five through seven, John 16, 12, Jesus said this to his Boyce, the disciples. I still have many things to say to you, but you can't bear them now. Jesus lying saying, oh, I got more to say, and I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna not tell you because I don't want you to know or because I, you know, I don't want you to know that what he's saying is there are times when you don't have to dump the whole darn load.
That kindness is not saying everything, you know, that speaks to those of us that love to be truth-tellers into other's lives. Sometimes it's kinder to just bear with. But I don't believe Jesus is giving us an out here saying, well it's yeah. It's kindness too. To lie. I don't think he's allowing that here.
Here's my last question. And to me, it's the most important part of this study. Here's my question. Why do we lie? Why do we lie? And if, if there's anybody in here that say, I never lie,
you just did. Okay. Why do we lie? We lie to protect ourselves. Say why it's not always true. I do it for other people. It bear with me. We lie when we're scared. We fear. Well, again, what's fear. Fear is the sense of feeling threatened a feeling in danger. Now, maybe that is for someone else. Usually it's for ourselves we're associated with, but it could be.
The last time you lied I'll guarantee it was one of these types of things you feared looking bad, you fear being embarrassed or you feared conflict or pain, or your feared loss. You didn't fully disclose everything with the house when you put on them. I, and I, you know, I remember the first house we ever bought was such a, I didn't know what I was doing, but we went in with a realtor and, uh, there was, I didn't even see it.
It was house we wanted, we're all excited. And there's a kitchen table and the beautiful teak wood floor under the dining room in the dining room. And I didn't notice this, but the, the realtor off to the side pulled a chair out from the table, the dining room table. And he lifted that carpet up and I happened to be there and I watched and.
Under the, under the carpet, there were no tiles, they were all missing. It was all jagged. They'd been broken. I don't know what happened. Maybe there's water damage. So they hidden under the carpet. And I just saw him very kindly, gently go up to when he says, you know, you probably ought to get that, that floor fixed in the, in the dining room.
It was my first experience with, wow. Now they weren't maybe on the final inspection, I would have been smart enough to look into the carpet, although probably not, but there's all kinds of reasons we can deceive and we can lie. But in VR, carry a blade, there's something or afraid of there's danger.
There's threat.
So what do we do with that? The beauty of walking with Jesus. Is that the one that is asking us to always be truth tellers and to be famous for speaking, always the truth with a spirit of humility and love of is that Jesus empowers truth telling when we let him love us, the more you believe you are God's beloved son or daughter that he is for you, that he is crazy about you, that he not only loves you, but likes you, that he delights in you, the freer from the fears that cause you to lie, you will be the more, you know him.
Trust him. Enjoy him, rely on him. The more you'll delight in being a truth teller free from lying and change to a person who can be trusted. I love this passage and I'm pulling it all together here in Psalm 34. It's one of my favorite passage of the scripture. It's the one I quote every night as I go to sleep.
Psalm 34, 22 verses is talking about overcoming fear by the fear of God in verse 11, he says, come now children, I will teach you the fear of the Lord. I'll teach you about being awed by God. And then he says this, what is the person in verse 12? What does the person look like? Who's the God fear. And then he answers it in verse 13.
He keeps his tongues from evil and his lips from speaking deceit. What is he saying? When we're awed by God, when he's the biggest thing in our lives, when he's the center of our being, I don't mean that he's just big and Lord majestic and powerful. He's all those things, but that he's our God that he's our father, that he's our friend that we're his kids that he's crazy about.
He says, when you are awed by him, God fearers
are truth tellers. Why? Because they're not scared. They're not on the line. They're not having to get people's approval all the time. They're not having to worry about, about risk and, and. Shared in that series, these characteristics of God that are called the loss that he's stronger than anything you might face he's sweeter than anything you might lose.
He's standing with you anywhere. You might go. He surrounds you against any enemy that comes against you. He safer than anything you might trust in. He sovereign over anything you might encounter. When you really imbibe. This is the God that's doing life with me.
You begin to not be so scared. And you begin to find the freedom to be truth tellers,
because you have a God, it frees you. Lord, we come to you this morning.
Every one of us. For honest with ourselves knows we shade the truth, which is just another way of lying. We exaggerate, we flatter
Lord. The more we know you, the more we let you love us
freer. We find ourselves from fear and it has such beautiful practical impact in our lives. We've become truth tellers because we live out the reality of ultimate truth that God has for us.
Lord, we love you for it all in Jesus name. Amen. Go in peace to love and serve and enjoy the Lord.
]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/a-fully-honest-person 2a365117-f4bb-4233-a007-2a28dbd6961e Sun, 27 Jun 2021 09:00:05 GMT <div data-html="true">Matthew 5:33-37 <br /><br /> <span><span><sup>33 </sup>“Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made.’</span></span> <span><span><sup>34 </sup>But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne;</span></span> <span><span><sup>35 </sup>or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King.</span></span> <span><span><sup>36 </sup>And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black.</span></span> <span><span><sup>37 </sup>All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.</span></span> <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> <div> <div><span><span>When</span></span><span> everybody like you to take your Bibles to Matthew chapter five of this morning, we returned to the sermon on the Mount. I feel like I haven't been doing this in a while and glad to be back in the, as much as we have a pulpit, the pulpit this morning, Matthew chapter five, we're going to be looking at verses 33 to 37.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>As</span><span> we returned to this series, the upside down life, Jesus picture of what it means to live as a kingdom dweller as </span><span><span>a</span></span><span> kingdom inhabitant in Jesus' kingdom. And this morning, we're looking at his perspectives on honesty, Matthew chapter five, verse 33. Here's what we read again. You have heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>But</span><span> I say to you do not take an oath at all, either by heaven for it is the throne of God or by the earth. Ford is the footstool or by Jerusalem for it is the city of the great king and do not take an oath by your head for you cannot make one hair white or black. That what you say be simply yes or no.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>Anything</span><span> more comes from evil. Let's </span><span><span>pray.</span></span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>Lord</span><span> would come this morning to not only worship through song, but we also come father to come under the teaching of the school. Lord, we thank you for your word. Thank you. It's timeless. It's the only book. It's the only truth that has ever been given. That is absolutely without an era of relevancy. It is timely in every generation, in every culture to every gender, every people group.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>So</span><span> Lord, we look to you to teach us today, open our hearts to this whole perspective. I pray of what it means to be fully honest people in Jesus name. </span><span><span>Amen.</span></span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>Jesus</span><span> in the sermon on the Mount, as we have mentioned, a number of times in this series is continually making statements like you have heard that it was said, </span><span>or,</span><span> or they, those of old said, </span><span>and,</span><span> and what he's referring to is the thing called the oral tradition. He isn't only quoting the old Testament. He is often referring to this set of commentaries on the old Testament that had come down through history.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>It</span><span> was not written down. It was actually written down in 70 a D in what is called, or just post 78 D </span><span><span>uh,</span></span><span> called the Mishnah. And the word wish Mishnah actually means repetition or studied by repetition. Basically, they were taking the oral traditions that had come through. Couple of centuries and began to write them down.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>The</span><span> reason they wrote them down is because in 78, D Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans and they began to think, </span><span>you</span> <span>know,</span><span> everything's fallen apart in our nation, we're all getting dispersed and we need to have a written record of these case studies, which was basically what the oral tradition was.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>The</span><span> oral tradition was okay. God says don't, </span><span><span>um,</span></span> <span><span>uh,</span></span><span> travel on the Sabbath day. It should be a day of rest. So what they did was </span><span>they,</span><span> they put all these case studies well, </span><span>does</span><span> does traveling on the seven SAB does work on the Sabbath day. Me and I can travel a mile two miles and a half. I actually brought all this out there and each </span><span>of</span> <span>the,</span><span> of the, </span><span><span>uh,</span></span><span> 63 categories of the oral tradition.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>Had</span><span> a million case studies under it. And in all these case studies, they tried to say, </span><span>well,</span><span> this is what it means. So this is what, and they would try to come to some, </span><span><span>uh,</span></span><span> cohesive perspective. The problem was in building these case studies and these commentaries, they regularly took God's principles in his law and actually, while trying to make it more understandable and more specific.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>And</span><span> if you will more practical by application to know exactly what to do in a situation, they actually dumbed it all down. They actually try to explain in such specificity that they lost in many ways, the heart of these broad principles of God. And so in Jesus teaching in Matthew five through seven, Jesus is saying.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>This</span><span> is what you're operating on, what they've said in the oral tradition, but here's what it actually means. And so he says stuff like, as we've looked, he starts talking about the commandment do not murder. And he says, </span><span>you</span> <span>know,</span> <span>the,</span> <span>the,</span><span> the oral tradition says, do not murder. And if you commit murder, </span><span>you're,</span><span> you're guilty of you.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>You'll</span><span> be subject to judgment. But I tell you what that commandment actually meant was a broad principle. That if you do harm to your neighbor, if you're angry at your neighbor, </span><span>if</span> <span>you,</span><span> if you call them a full ride, if he, if you speak in a way that is somehow destructive, removing, if you will, part of </span><span>their,</span> <span>their,</span><span> their life you've committed murder, he says, you heard, it said don't commit adultery.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>And</span><span> he says, but I want you to understand </span><span>that,</span><span> that this actually is talking about. Heart adultery as well. It's speaking about lusting after a woman, he talks about divorce and he says, you heard it was saying, </span><span>you</span> <span>know,</span><span> basically you can get a divorce for any reason, which is what the oral tradition tended to say.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>And</span><span> they had all these case studies and it even meant that if your wife over cooked a meal, you could give her a department needs. These are really there. And he said the only allowance for divorce, and even that's by the hardness of your heart, the only allowance for divorce is if </span><span>your,</span><span> your spouse has been sexually unfaithful.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>So</span><span> what he's doing is saying, when we look at the Pharisees and the scribes, and we think, oh man, these guys were so preoccupied with the law, </span><span>LA</span> <span>LA</span> <span>LA</span> <span>LA</span><span> LA. It's all about </span><span>doing,</span> <span>doing,</span><span> doing. And we think they're making so much of the law. Actually, they were doing the opposite. They didn't, the law to them was not too big.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>It</span><span> was not too high. It was too low. They acted as if a person in their own strength can do these things. And Jesus comes along and says, this is how the law of God is designed. The principles of God's standard of righteousness and holiness are so high. Hi, that they speak to the very heart motivations of people's lives that no one can fulfill the law of God apart from the spirit of God working in their lives.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>And</span><span> so for </span><span>the,</span> <span>the,</span><span> the religionists, the scribes, the Pharisees for the most part, religion became an external thing. As long as they did the externals and seemed to do the right things. And Jesus said, no, but your heart's bad. Your motivation is self-centered. </span><span>You're</span><span> you're you're. You're not compassionate.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>You're</span><span> not kind, which is the very foundation of how you treat one another. And so he says this, I'm going to tell you </span><span>what,</span><span> what it really means to live as a member of my kingdom in Matthew five through seven. And so now he comes to this principle where he now, the topic that he's taking is the topic of honesty.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>And</span><span> the issue here is going to do the same thing. It's going to raise the bar above what they were expecting and what they had in these oral traditions that the rabbis continually week after week expounded. And he's going to talk about what was standard </span><span>of,</span><span> of honesty and what now is the true standard of honesty in Jesus' kingdom.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>What</span><span> we're going to see in this message is five principles. And then we're going to end with three questions. And the last question, which is not in your sermon summary is the most important part of the whole sermon. All right. </span><span>So,</span><span> so if I completely lose you, I'm going to try to reel you back in at least at the end.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>All</span><span> right. Five principles regarding honesty and truth, telling that Jesus gives us number one, don't look for loopholes to get out of being honest. He says this in chapter five, verse 33. Again, you've heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord. What you have sworn the standard of honesty was this do not fail to keep what you have sworn with God as your witness.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>That's</span><span> actually what he's saying. They have fixed God's name as a witness in certain situations, it could be in court, but it also was regularly in private. And they, it was basically a way of saying this. Look, you can be sure I'm telling you the truth. Because God is my witness. I'm calling God as my witness to this statement and he affirms that it's true.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>And</span><span> so </span><span>the,</span> <span>the,</span><span> the oral tradition that was passed down was, man, if you call God as your witness, you better not screw it up. If you take God and bring him in as your witness, you better be telling the truth. And so </span><span>they,</span> <span>they,</span> <span>they,</span><span> they basically did what we do as God is my witness. This is true. I swear to God, may God strike me dead if this isn't true.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>I</span><span> swear on a stack of Bibles that I didn't go there. Years ago, 2004 Tio Terrell Owens joined the Eagle. We were all happy, greatest receiver in football, Donovan McNabb, a quarterback was happy and they were going to form </span><span>this,</span><span> this amazing partnership, which they did for a year. And they formed </span><span>this,</span> <span>this,</span> <span>this,</span><span> this tandem of two phenoms working together.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>And</span><span> it all began to fall apart when Tio got frustrated with the management and was frustrated that Donovan was not joining with him and wanted him to join in his voice. And basically at one time Tio quoted Donovan or at least what he perceived was Donovan's perspective, which he said, basically, Donovan's my witness.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>He</span><span> feels the same way. And if you remember the famous statement, some of you are saying it right now, Donovan said, don't. He said, get my name out of your mouth. What he was saying was, don't call me as your witness. I'm not affirming the things you're saying. I want my name out of your mouth. What they're saying here in this statement that Jesus quoting, which is that the normative view of truth-telling was, if you're going to put God's name in your mouth, if you're going to say, God's my witness that this cow I'm selling to you gives 12 gallons of milk a week.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>Then</span><span> you better really have a cow that gives 12 gallons of milk a week, because you've now asked God to sign as a guaranteer of your statement. That was the standard of righteousness for honesty. And Jesus said, This is an abysmal standard of honesty, basically as the standard of honesty, of course it's woefully </span><span>and,</span><span> and you, Mick, what resulted was anything you did not swear with God as your witness, and it's not primarily talking about the court.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>This</span><span> is what they did in private conversations. Now, of course, we do this culturally as well. </span><span><span>Um,</span></span> <span>you</span> <span>know,</span><span> we really want people to know. </span><span>I</span> <span>mean,</span><span> I swear to God, this is true. This is the way it is. </span><span>I</span> <span>mean,</span> <span>I,</span> <span>I</span> <span>mean,</span><span> I put my hand on a stack of Bible, but what it basically does is give a loophole for anything that you haven't done that with.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>So</span><span> the first thing he's saying is that can't be a loophole for dishonesty. The second thing he's saying here is don't treat some things or situations as more worthy of honesty than others. Notice verse 34 to 36. Here's what he says. But I say to you do not take an oath at all, either by heaven for it is the throne of God or by the earth.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>Where</span><span> is his footstool or by Jerusalem for it is a city of the Greek. And do not take an oath by your head for you cannot make one hair white or black. Now the first time we read those supers, we go, what in the world is Jesus talking about? Here's what Jesus is talking about, what they did. And a few, if you could, if you read the Mishnah, which is actually the compilation of the oral tradition that was there for centuries, you will find that they have a whole section on truth-telling under the subject of oats.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>And</span><span> basically these are a number of the things that they said. I swear by heaven. I don't want to quite go to God, but heaven. </span><span>You</span> <span>know,</span><span> the place of God, I'll swear by that. And Jesus, that's ridiculous. He says swearing by heaven is not less than swearing by God, because heaven is God's throne. And then they swore a little lower with swear by earth, </span><span>you</span> <span>know,</span><span> Swearing by earth.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>He</span><span> says is not lower than heaven because it is God's footstool. He says swearing by Jerusalem. </span><span>Well,</span><span> it's God's city swearing by your head, which basically was a statement like this </span><span>MEI</span> <span>MEI</span><span> MEI. I lose my head. May my head beat because off, if I'm not telling the truth again, we do this kind of stuff. I don't know if they still say this, but I remember as kids, we used to say it, cross my heart and hope to die.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>If</span><span> this isn't the truth, it's the same thing to say, oh man. </span><span>I</span> <span>mean,</span><span> by my very life, I swear, this is true. And Jesus is saying to this look, you can try to get in. And </span><span>so,</span><span> and the idea was by swearing, by my life, it's less holy and sacred than swearing. Jerusalem and sworn by Jerusalem, less sacred than swearing by heaven and God, and Jesus is saying guys, all of these things, </span><span>you</span> <span>know,</span><span> you swear by your own head where you can't control your head, you can't make your hair turn white or black.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>I</span><span> wish you could, frankly, </span><span>but,</span><span> but which, if you do it artificially, some of us had learned, we decided that way too late. So anyway, but he's saying you can't control these things. You aren't over heaven. Your God is over heaven. God is over Jerusalem. God's over earth. God's over your life. He says, when you swear, when you say yes or no about stuff, thing, God is always a witness.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>He's</span> <span><span>always.</span></span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>Bearing</span><span> witness, whether this is true or this is untrue, basically what he's saying is </span><span>your,</span><span> your concept of saying, </span><span>well,</span><span> this is a big thing. No, my wife, </span><span>I,</span><span> I have not been unfaithful to you. That's a big one. I swear to God. </span><span>No,</span><span> no, I, </span><span>you</span> <span>know,</span> <span>this,</span><span> this, </span><span><span>uh,</span></span> <span>this,</span><span> this, </span><span><span>uh,</span></span><span> motorcycle I'm selling you for 600 bucks.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>It</span><span> really, there's nothing wrong with it. Cross my heart. Hope to die. I'll swear on me. Yeah. It's not quite as big. </span><span>Well,</span><span> what he's saying is there's not to be categories of truth telling that summer. Okay. And some are less </span><span><span>significant.</span></span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>This</span><span> speaks to us, right? Because we might say, </span><span>well,</span> <span>I</span> <span>would</span> <span>never,</span><span> I would never lie under oath. You got to be kidding me. I'm in there. And put my hand in the Bible and swear that you know that I'm going to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. I would never lie there. Or if I've signed a contract, I would never break my contractual commitment.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>Well,</span><span> Jesus is saying you shouldn't have, you have to sign a doc for your word to be valid. Now I'm not saying there isn't a place for contracts, but what Jesus is saying is that your word should be enough. Or </span><span>I</span> <span>would</span> <span>never,</span><span> I would never lie to my partner. I might lie to my customer a little bit, but no, </span><span>I</span> <span>mean,</span><span> we have to have a trust relationship as partners in business.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>And</span><span> Jesus is saying the playing field is level. There's not to be different levels of honesty. I'd never deceived my partner, but yeah, sometimes you just, </span><span>you</span> <span>know,</span><span> you gotta, what is, </span><span>well,</span> <span>I,</span> <span>I,</span><span> I, if </span><span>I'm</span> <span>a,</span><span> I'm a sports leader, I never lie to my players, but to the media, c'mon, Jesus is saying truth is truth.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>And</span><span> so here's where he comes down in verse 37. He says, this is what I'm actually saying. </span><span>Always</span><span> always tell the truth. And as we come to this, he says your yes. When somebody asks you, will you do something your yeses? Yes. If somebody asked you if you did it and you say, yes, it's a, yes. It's real. Your no is a no.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>He</span><span> said people of my kingdom are so honest. There's no need for old S there's no need for ultimately written signed contrast contracts. There's no need for measuring how close to me is this person? My people are truth </span><span><span>tellers.</span></span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>And</span><span> now this starts to get a little </span><span><span>dicier.</span></span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>Yeah.</span><span> There's a statement that. Scottish began. It actually was built into their court system that a verbal agreement was acceptable binding legally, historically, for them it was the statement. My word is my bond. The word bond, their little means is my binding agreement. The word bond is from the same root to bind.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>My</span><span> word is </span><span>like,</span><span> I signed a binding agreement now again, is there a place for contracts you sin and we should never have anything written down. Yes. Part of it is just practical. Some of you are like me. We are verbal. Excuse me. We are visual learners. I don't remember a lot. What I'm told. I do a hotline.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>I'm</span><span> terrible. I wish I could be on the treadmill and do what Tim hunt does. The guy reads millions of books, just listening to them. I have to see the words to remember. My wife learned this years ago and she years ago by many negative experiences like this, where it would go like this mark. I just get home from work.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>Mark,</span> <span>did</span> <span>you,</span><span> did you get the groceries? What groceries? You told me last night that when you came home from work, you would get the fruit for the fruit salad that I'm making for people coming over </span><span><span>tonight.</span></span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>Are</span><span> you sure it was me? I totally don't remember. Now. Verbally VIT contractual agreements are helpful just because they remind us where we legitimately don't remember. There's value in that. But what Jesus is saying here is this is your word trustworthy. Is your word sacred? Is it your bond? Is it that yes.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>When</span><span> I say yes, I don't mean yes, unless it's not convenient or unless another offer comes along </span><span>or,</span><span> or he says you're yes. Is yes. Are you known as a truth teller at all times, if you think right now of the most honest person in your world can be a family member, it can be a coworker. It can be a friend could be in.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>You</span><span> will find a person that you realize they tell the truth all the time. Even when it hurts, they are a truth teller. Jesus is saying move, and he's trying to move his followers away from a thin veneer of technical honesty, then masked deception. Now, again, here's where we get dicey. One of the things that we often talk to our kids about was the fact that telling the </span><span><span>truth</span></span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>evolves</span><span> not only what I say, but the message that the people </span><span><span>here</span></span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>this</span><span> is harder to do with cell phones, but you can still call landline and people won't know really how many times you've called. How many of us have. Called somebody and realized we weren't very diligent in getting back to them. We made one quick cursory call </span><span>and,</span><span> and they say they see us. And we find ourselves saying, oh man, </span><span>I've</span> <span>been,</span><span> I've been trying to get ahold of you.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>And</span><span> I've been calling and I've called a number of times. Now one is a number. </span><span>Right.</span><span> But what they hear, they heard, oh my goodness. I can't believe I've been missing all these calls from poor mark has been caught. It's not only what I say. It's what I know. They hear me say, Jesus is saying. Don't play around.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>He</span><span> says, you guys are playing around you. You swear to God with this you'll square to Jerusalem at this just, </span><span>you</span> <span>know,</span><span> you get all these levels and all these maneuvering, what you're doing is just, you're not saying I am going to be </span><span><span>honest.</span></span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>It</span><span> isn't only what you say. It's also the message that people hear. I love this one, the old one </span><span>you</span> <span>want</span> <span>to,</span><span> you want to get people, you want to get your opinion across, </span><span>you</span> <span>know,</span><span> lots of people agree with me. Lots of people are saying stuff to me. You just want to say who, how many, almost every time that has ever happened in my life, what I have found is there's one.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>And</span><span> that one happens to be his daughter. Yeah. </span><span>And,</span> <span>and,</span><span> and </span><span>we,</span> <span>we,</span><span> we've gotta be careful. With truth. And Jesus is saying, be careful because we're slippery on this stuff. There's a couple of principles that </span><span><span>are</span></span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>sorry.</span><span> This is what people do have pulpits. The there's a couple of principles relating to honesty that are important also to see in the sermon on the Mount that speak to this, because one of the dangers of reading his lofty statements on honesty is that it can be seen in isolation. For instance, a fourth principle regarding honesty is we must accompany honesty with kindness and gentleness in Matthew chapter five, he talks about you are to love your enemies, but most importantly, he says this in Matthew chapter seven, treat others as you would want to be.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>Do</span><span> that in the realm of honesty, all these things are interconnected. We expect for people to be honest with us, right? </span><span>I</span> <span>mean,</span> <span>w</span><span> w when we're not, </span><span>w</span> <span>w</span><span> w we feel disrespected, we feel demeaned, but we also want to be spoken to with kindness, Ephesians four verse 15 says to be speaking the truth in the context, </span><span><span>love,</span></span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>it's</span><span> easy to look at this, and maybe you're this kind of an individual, and you think I, man, I got issues, but I don't, I am a truth teller. As a matter of fact, I am a person that sees it as it is. Maybe you say I have the gift of prophecy, just be careful because I've found the first time that I meet with somebody and they come in and I'm having a conversation with them.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>And</span><span> the first thing they start saying, I'm a truth teller. I tell it the way it is or I'm my gift is prophecy. I know where this is gone. There's going to be of their perception. Jesus is saying, yes, we need to be truth tellers, but we need to have it impact people the way we would want their truth to impact </span><span><span>us,</span></span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>which</span><span> leads to number five, embrace truth, telling to yourself, this is </span><span>really,</span><span> really important. There's two aspects of this in Matthew five through seven. One is found in chapter seven, where he talks about judging others. He says, </span><span>you,</span><span> you guys see the sawdust specked in your neighbor's eye, but you're blind to the log in your own eye.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>Now</span><span> truth telling could be to go up to a person and say, I see a speck there. And Jesus is before you run over and start pointing out specs as a truth-teller. Now start with a spirit of humility this first saying, man, I got to deal with the law before I deal with their spec. That part of being truth tellers is being truth tellers to ourselves.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>That</span><span> also means not only that our truth telling is tempered by humility, but we are dealing with our own insides in matcha, in Matthew seven. Again, the latter part of the sermon on the Mount. He talks about these teachers and he says they come in sheep's clothing, but inside they're ravenous. Wolf's that the idea is they are not seeing themselves.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>They</span><span> think there's something different than they are. And he says, beware of them. And he would also say to the wolves, be aware of yourself. There must be speaking truth to ourselves. Chronic liars are always deceivers of themselves. First. They began to look at life. They have so habitually consistently sometimes months, sometimes, often years, sometimes decades of just developing a view of life that </span><span>they,</span><span> they naturally are untrustworthy.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>But</span><span> I believe with all my being, it starts because they're not really speaking truth and didn't themselves. How do we combat this? There's two really important things. You must allow truth tellers in your own life. We become manic liars by not hearing truth about ourselves, about our own logs, about what's really ruling our own hearts.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>Now,</span><span> some people avoid doing this Proverbs talks about this, the king who, </span><span><span>uh,</span></span><span> the person in leadership who surrounds themselves with flatter riffs. They don't want to hear anything. We can do that. I just, I keep anybody that's got anything that's gets in closer as questioning, keep them away, but there's another way we do it.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>We've</span><span> become schmoozers. Some people are very good </span><span>at</span><span> at what they do, and we can all do this to a degree, but you can become very good </span><span>at,</span><span> at keeping the conversation always about other people. You can do it by being a complimenter. You can do it by being seemingly very. But what you're doing is keeping people away.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>You</span><span> can't be a truth teller. If you are not first being a truth receiver, we must let people be truth-tellers into our lives because our voice to ourselves is often not trustworthy. So again, I'm trying to temper this statement. Yes. We need to always be telling the truth. I believe that however truth telling starts with being truth receivers.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>The</span><span> other aspect of this is we must immerse ourselves in God's truth. I recommend for anybody journaling for this. What happens when you journal and </span><span>you,</span> <span>you,</span> <span>you,</span><span> you put your prayers there. You put your responses to scripture there. When you write it down, you really understand what's going on inside of you.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>You</span><span> will find out what's your thinking. What's your process. You will then be able to speak truth into yourself to take you just read the Bible. That's wonderful and beautiful. I'm not saying don't do that, but take it the next step where you're allowing a scripture to speak in your writing. You're listening.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>Hear</span><span> yourself here. What am I learning here? Wow. I wasn't even thinking this. The way I'm looking at this is so contrary to what I'm reading. Be a truth receiver. Okay. What about three quick? What about questions? Number one. What about, should Christian speak under oath? There are many, not many. There are some Christian groups.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>That</span><span> take this passage in Matthew 5 30, 3 to 37 to say, we should never take an oath. And they, as conscientious objectors were, will not put their hand on a Bible and swear because he says, don't swear by anything I don't in any way. Think that's what Jesus is saying. I think he's saying, he's not saying you can't swear in that way, any more than he's saying there's not value in signing a contract, but he's saying you shouldn't have, you have to need to, your word should be your bond.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>Secondly,</span><span> aren't there times it has conjured a lot. </span><span>Hmm.</span><span> Now I'm going to get all the, yeah, but probably through emails or texts or conversations, but no, there are not times when it is </span><span>kind</span> <span>of</span><span> to lie, but of course it's going to be a, </span><span>but,</span><span> but there are times when it is kinder to not say all that. Now it was not Jack Nicholson in a few good men who first came up with this statement.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>You</span><span> want the truth? You can't handle the truth. You know who first we know came up with that statement. The very person that spoke Matthew five through seven, John 16, 12, Jesus said this to his Boyce, the disciples. I still have many things to say to you, but you can't bear them now. Jesus lying saying, oh, I got more to say, and I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna not tell you because I don't want you to know or because I, </span><span>you</span> <span>know,</span><span> I don't want you to know that what he's saying is there are times when you don't have to dump the whole darn load.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>That</span><span> kindness is not saying everything, </span><span>you</span> <span>know,</span><span> that speaks to those of us that love to be truth-tellers into other's lives. Sometimes it's kinder to just bear with. But I don't believe Jesus is giving us an out here saying, </span><span>well</span><span> it's yeah. It's kindness too. To lie. I don't think he's allowing that here.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>Here's</span><span> my last question. And to me, it's the most important part of this study. Here's my question. Why do we lie? Why do we lie? And </span><span>if,</span><span> if there's anybody in here that say, I never </span><span><span>lie,</span></span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>you</span><span> just did. Okay. Why do we lie? We lie to protect ourselves. Say why it's not always true. I do it for other people. It bear with me. We lie when we're scared. We fear. </span><span>Well,</span><span> again, what's fear. Fear is the sense of feeling threatened a feeling in danger. Now, maybe that is for someone else. Usually it's for ourselves we're associated with, but it could be.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>The</span><span> last time you lied I'll guarantee it was one of these types of things you feared looking bad, you fear being embarrassed or you feared conflict or pain, or your feared loss. You didn't fully disclose everything with the house when you put on them. I, and I, </span><span>you</span> <span>know,</span><span> I remember the first house we ever bought was such a, I didn't know what I was doing, but we went in with a realtor and, </span><span><span>uh,</span></span><span> there was, I didn't even see it.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>It</span><span> was house we wanted, we're all excited. And there's a kitchen table and the beautiful teak wood floor under the dining room in the dining room. And I didn't notice this, but </span><span>the,</span><span> the realtor off to the side pulled a chair out from the table, the dining room table. And he lifted that carpet up and I happened to be there and I watched and.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>Under</span> <span>the,</span><span> under the carpet, there were no tiles, they were all missing. It was all jagged. They'd been broken. I don't know what happened. Maybe there's water damage. So they hidden under the carpet. And I just saw him very kindly, gently go up to when he says, </span><span>you</span> <span>know,</span><span> you probably ought to get </span><span>that,</span><span> that floor fixed </span><span>in</span> <span>the,</span><span> in the dining room.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>It</span><span> was my first experience with, wow. Now they weren't maybe on the final inspection, I would have been smart enough to look into the carpet, although probably not, but there's all kinds of reasons we can deceive and we can lie. But in VR, carry a blade, there's something or afraid of there's danger.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>There's</span> <span><span>threat.</span></span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>So</span><span> what do we do with that? The beauty of walking with Jesus. Is that the one that is asking us to always be truth tellers and to be famous for speaking, always the truth with a spirit of humility and love of is that Jesus empowers truth telling when we let him love us, the more you believe you are God's beloved son or daughter that he is for you, that he is crazy about you, that he not only loves you, but likes you, that he delights in you, the freer from the fears that cause you to lie, you will be the more, you know him.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>Trust</span><span> him. Enjoy him, rely on him. The more you'll delight in being a truth teller free from lying and change to a person who can be trusted. I love this passage and I'm pulling it all together here in Psalm 34. It's one of my favorite passage of the scripture. It's the one I quote every night as I go to sleep.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>Psalm</span><span> 34, 22 verses is talking about overcoming fear by the fear of God in verse 11, he says, come now children, I will teach you the fear of the Lord. I'll teach you about being awed by God. And then he says this, what is the person in verse 12? What does the person look like? Who's the God fear. And then he answers it in verse 13.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>He</span><span> keeps his tongues from evil and his lips from speaking deceit. What is he saying? When we're awed by God, when he's the biggest thing in our lives, when he's the center of our being, I don't mean that he's just big and Lord majestic and powerful. He's all those things, but that he's our God that he's our father, that he's our friend that we're his kids that he's crazy about.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>He</span><span> says, when you are awed by him, God </span><span><span>fearers</span></span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>are</span><span> truth tellers. Why? Because they're not scared. They're not on the line. They're not having to get people's approval all the time. They're not having to worry </span><span>about,</span><span> about risk </span><span>and,</span><span> and. Shared in that series, these characteristics of God that are called the loss that he's stronger than anything you might face he's sweeter than anything you might lose.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>He's</span><span> standing with you anywhere. You might go. He surrounds you against any enemy that comes against you. He safer than anything you might trust in. He sovereign over anything you might encounter. When you really imbibe. This is the God that's doing life with </span><span><span>me.</span></span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>You</span><span> begin to not be so scared. And you begin to find the freedom to be truth </span><span><span>tellers,</span></span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>because</span><span> you have a God, it frees you. Lord, we come to you this </span><span><span>morning.</span></span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>Every</span><span> one of us. For honest with ourselves knows we shade the truth, which is just another way of lying. We exaggerate, we </span><span><span>flatter</span></span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>Lord.</span><span> The more we know you, the more we let you love </span><span><span>us</span></span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>freer.</span><span> We find ourselves from fear and it has such beautiful practical impact in our lives. We've become truth tellers because we live out the reality of ultimate truth that God has for </span><span><span>us.</span></span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>Lord,</span><span> we love you for it all in Jesus name. Amen. Go in peace to love and serve and enjoy the Lord.</span></div> </div></div> false no <![CDATA[I Am Just A Child]]> 1Peter 5:5-9

In the same way, you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because,

“God opposes the proud     but shows favor to the humble.”[a]



6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

8 Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.



Good morning. Happy father's day to all of you. Once again. That was a fantastic video. Thank you for the fantastic introduction. Uh, pastor mark mentioned that we have been representing fellowship for the last 34 years in Brazil, where my wife grew up. My wife is on the third row. She can stand up. Today's a really special day, not just because it's father's day, but it's also my wife's birthday and I, I would never embarrass her by telling you her age.
But I will say she was born in 1960 and has enjoyed many fruitful decades, uh, together. And we've been 34 years in Brazil, 39 years. Almost we've been married. Our ministry is focused in training leaders over 3000. Now that have gone out from Brazil throughout the rest of the world. We also have ministered over all of these years at first Baptist church about to buy.
I've been the pastor of biblical exposition for the last 20 years have relinquished much of that role now because our son, our oldest son is now one of three senior pastors at the church recently going through a pastoral transition. So he's now my boss and he preaches a lot more than, than I did.
Church of about 1300 members in Brazil that has, uh, a global and God's blessed us with a large family. We've actually been in family reunions. The last two weeks. This photo is not updated, but we have six children and believe it or not 18, soon to be 19 grandchildren. I can not believe that I am married to a grandmother.
I never thought that that would would happen to me. You have a sermon summary that you should have received when you came in and it may be a little bit of an ironic title. I'm just a child on father's day. I don't want talk about that aspect of biblical aspect of the greatest gift perhaps that we can give to our children, to our grandchildren.
And as we all reflect on our own fathers, our grandparents. I think there's something for each one of us here. One of the biggest struggles we have at father's day is what to give to a dad. Even Mike struggled cause you can't give a Carnation to a dad typically on a father's day. And I can remember back the plaster Paris handprints that I would give to my dad, maybe a tie in the old days, maybe a gift certificate for a back massage or a shoe shine.
I don't know what you did. Maybe you gave your dad has sixth weed eater for his father's day. This year. One of the biggest struggles we have, what to give to that some years ago, our kids gave to us, our grandkids and our kids, this display, which sits in our breakfast area of our family. Every morning, we pray for one of our girls and kids, but as I reflect, because they looked at each of the kids and periodically they send us new pictures.
And so we, we trade out the old ones and put in the new ones and wow. It looks like tally grew six inches in the last year here. Do you see how strong Jack's getting note the progress and the growth and growth and independence of our children and our own little family group. We call it merch clings. As we exchange videos of the kids, taking their first solid foods, the first crawl time to Teeter and toddler and walk the first day at school, we mark their progress.
Probably a lot of you have some place in one of the homes. You've lived that, those markets things on the wall or the closet, we have a paper that's all crumpled and torn and taped that shows the growth of our kids. Physical growth. We measure normally in growing independence two weeks ago, we had the privilege as a family to have a family reunion, 28 of our kids and grandkids sons-in-law and daughters-in-law all together in a log cabin mansion in Colorado, just outside of winter park missionaries, can't usually do that, but it was given to us for a week.
Can you imagine someone allowing 16 children to invade their home for a week? And we didn't break anything? It was a miracle, but one of our kids gave as a gift to all of the cousins, all of their nieces and nephews, a Brazil shirt of the Brazilian national team, because most of them speak Portuguese were raised in Brazil or have those.
Each Jersey was personalized with the birth order of each one of our grandkids, a couple were missing. One is with the Lord from one to 18, it was a special moment. But yet again, we had an opportunity to measure growth. I imagine in a few years, we'll look back and at that gallery of kids and grandkids and say, wow, how much they've grown physical growth.
We measure in increasing independence, what our kids say. I can do it myself. When our teenagers start the flex, their muscles of independence. That's a good thing. It's hard for us sometimes as parents go,
but there's a paradox in the Christian life. And it has a lot to do with our role as parents also as children, but not just dads, but also moms and grandparents. It says, well, spiritual growth is marked by increasing dependence. As we grow when Christ and the Christian life, we discover not I, but Christ.
I'm just a little child. I can't do it sometimes in our triumphalistic culture and the name it, and claim it, theologies that have swept the church. We try to stick out our chest and show God that we deserve it, that we merit, whatever things we want in life and that we can overcome them. We're more than concrete, but sometimes we forget.
In Christ.
John said it really well. He must increase. I must decrease. I love that verse. I'd love it to be a life theme for me, but I'd have to confess that my life and my ministry it's been more like Jesus must increase and I want to grow with him, but his kingdom come and my will be done.
Spiritual growth is measured, an increasing dependence. Wow. We've learned that the last time, what years
the unexpected has become the norm. All of us control freaks. I have my schedule planned out almost two years. Everything felt to the, to earth, unexpected illnesses, emergency gallbladder surgery, and so much more. Here's the big idea that I'd like to leave with us this morning based on a passage that God has been kneading into my soul for the last several months along these lines.
And I think especially appropriate on a father's day. So often as dads, we're expected to be everything for everyone, the great conqueror defender shepherd, and sometimes we're afraid to admit I'm just a child. That's a message that resounds in the scriptures blessed are the poor in spirit. There's is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are the meek for, they shall inherit the earth. Let the little children come to me unless you become like a little child. You will never enter into the kingdom of heaven. God loves that declaration. Hope God, I'm just a child. So here's what I want you to take home this week. And that God has been pounding into my soul and I've been trying to rehearse and, and recite and remember and humble myself.
God wants us to grow in smallness independence. Hello. I have a verse in Proverbs, which talks about that as well. When it says in Proverbs 14, 26, and the fear of the Lord one has strong confidence and his children will have a refuge. The fear of the Lord starts with a little me and a big.
Not a big me and a little God. I'd like you to open your Bibles this morning to first Peter chapter five, an amazing passage, which I want to excavate with you this morning. We're going to do an archeological dig in this amazing, amazing texts. First, Peter chapter five, verses five through nine, and we're going to scratch the surface and dig and brush and try to discover artifacts, treasures that God has left here for us.
But at two points in this text, when we get to the, really the heart of the text, we're going to dig shafts deeper to understand the heart of this passage. Here's what it says. First, Peter chapter five, verses five. I'll go all the way to verse 10 is page nine five five, nine hundred and fifty five in your Puba.
If you're using that, starting with verse five, it says this, likewise, you who are younger subject to the elders, both the older ones, as well as the leaders of the body. That's in the context, close yourselves, all of you with humility. That's the theme of this text toward one another. He started out with a vertical aspect towards your elders.
Now he talks about the horizontal aspect to one another for God. And now he quotes the old Testament James and a parallel passage does the exact same thing. This verse must be important. He quotes Proverbs chapter three and he says for God, opposes the process loud, but gives great. To the humble, that's the heart of this text.
Now he goes on and explains humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that at the proper time, he may exalt you casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. Be sober-minded be watchful, your adversary, the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
It's still the same context, pride and humility resist him firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of sufferings are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you to him.
Be the dominion forever. And. God, I pray that you would teach us by your spirit, from your word that Christ would be exalted, that we would be appropriately humbled, that you would challenge each of us. But especially today, the dads that we can't do it alone, that we're just little children and that we need you above all.
We pray by Christ's merits alone. Amen. Got to unearth some of the amazing trues that we get. I'm going to just list seven things here for you briefly twice. We're going to dig deeper into this text. The first thing we discover in first, Peter chapter five, where the theme really is humility, childlike dependence.
That submission to authority is. Primal manifestation of humility. Look at verse five in your Bible. Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. As you watch children respond to teachers, coaches, 40 figures. It is amazing to me how I can trace the way moms and dads respond to authority. By the way their kids respond to authority.
The first manifestation of a humble heart is lining yourself up. That's the idea of subjection, a military idea of the rank and file file with liner solves up under those who are in authority, both church leaders, as well as those who are older. Now, we all know that a characteristic of you is I'm going to do it my way.
I'm going to do it myself and I'll take on any. But for all of us, this is a reminder that God works through authority structures. We, as parents cannot simply abandon our kids because they turned the 18 is an observation. My wife and I have made as we come back into the north American culture, it seems like we just abandoned our roles as shepherds of our own children, as guides and counselors of our kids, because they turned 18.
That's when they most need us in young people. That's when you really need your parents as your best friends, those were invested in your life for 18 years, from 18 to 25. Maybe when they most need that parental authority and humility. That they subject themselves. The second thing we see in this text in verse five, the second part is that humility.
And this is really good news for all of us, especially those who have not had the privilege of being raised in a Christian home humility. He has a Christian virtue that can be acquired and developed that says this clothe yourselves, all of you with humility. And now the horizontal aspect toward one another.
This sounds like the life of Christ and us in Philippians chapter two, where he, who was God in flesh serve, he did not come to be served, but to serve. Now, the neat thing about this is that we can put this on it. Doesn't come genetically. It's just like the fear of God or the true biblical wisdom. You don't have to be raised in a Christian home to acquire that it's open to anyone who will humble himself trust in the Lord with all your heart.
Don't lean on your own understanding, acknowledge him, or literally know him in all your ways and heal, direct your paths
we can put on not false modesty, not manipulation that looks like humility.
It is acquired. They're seeking not genetically. That's good news for all of us who haven't had that privilege. Now here's the third thing. And now we've really get to the heart of this past verse five, the last part, explain. The two principles we've just seen when it says four. And now the quotation marks.
If you're using the ESL are the pew Bible. God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble we covered. God's grace. We covered God's favor old God, pour out, open up the windows of avid. Bless me. Bless my family. Bless my children. Bless my grandchildren. But how do you become a candidate for God's grace?
He gives two answers in the heart of this passage. First. He reminds us the proud don't get it. Those who think they deserve it, have disqualified themselves from the race. Yes,
God literally lines himself against. I dunno. How many of you were football lineman in high school? Imagine a five foot, 10, 160 pound offensive guard. And he's been playing neighborhood ball for years and he actually, by a lot of exertion has made the varsity team, but they play little schools from little towns and he's pretty much having his way with a lot of people until they come up against the state champions and that five foot, 10, 160 pound guy looks up.
And on the other side of the line is a six foot five, 310 pound Lyman. Who's going to go to Alabama.
Now, imagine yourself, little you, little me on the line. And we look up and up and up and it's God
the word here. Brings that description. God actively resists the proud, because you are a jewelry thief, not the also Lord, not the us, but to your name, give glory Psalm 115. God hates glory, thieves all, but he loves to pour out his grace on the humble. We could paraphrase by saying if God is against us, who can be for us?
That's terrifying. I want to dig a shaft here. I'd like us to dig a little bit deeper as though we're doing this excavation. We're finding these, these incredible relics and artifacts and treasures on the surface, but the passage is actually quoting the old ones. Proverbs chapter three, which says, God resists the proud, but as we dig this shaft a deeper into our archeological site, we discover that God resisting the product of the long and infamous history.
Think with me about king Herod in the days of the early church, acts chapter 12 tells how, how he imprisoned James, the brother of John, one of the inner circle of Jesus. He kills James, nothing happens. It goes on his Merry way. And he sees that it pleases the people in the priests. And so he now gets Peter and he puts him in the jail.
I want you to open your Bible in acts chapter 12. And look what happens at the end of the chapter. This is amazing. This illustrates for us as we dig deeper into the scriptures, how God resists actively, those who exalt themselves
as though we were the strong
acts chapter 12, verse 20, the same herd has already killed James. The leader of the church is already in prison. Peter, it says his now heard, was angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon, and they came to him with one accord and having persuaded blast this, the King's Chamberlain, they asked for peace because their country depended on the Kings country.
On an appointed day, heard put on his world robes, took his seat upon the throne and delivered an oration to them. And the people were shouting the voice of a God and not of a man immediately, an angel, oh, Lord struck him down because he did not give God the glory. And he was eaten by worms and breathe.
His last, he persecuted God's church. He killed God's apostle. He placed Peter in prison. Nothing happens, but you steal God's glory. Watch out.
We're going to dig deeper into the scriptures, to the story of Nebuchadnezzar, amazing story. Look in your Bibles at Daniel chapter four. Now you can answer how to dream. God gracious. Warned him what was about to happen if he did not humble himself and recognize the sovereignty of our great God, he had every opportunity, but a year passes and his chest swells, and he thinks he's hot stuff.
And we've read in verse 28 of chapter four, Daniel 4 28, all this came upon king Nebuchadnezzar. At the end of 12 months, he was walking on the roof of the Royal palace of Babylon. And the king answered and said is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as a Royal residence. And for the glory of my majesty,
while the words were still in the King's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven O king Nebula. To you, it is spoken. The kingdom has departed from you and you shall be driven from among men and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. You shall be made the grass like an ox, seven periods of time shall pass over you until you know that the most high rules, the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will immediately, the word was filled
and he became an ox like an ox. Interesting earlier in the chapter verse 17, the sentence is by the decree of the Watchers, the decision by the word of the holy ones to the end, that the living may know that the most high rules, the kingdom of man, and he gives it to whom he will and sets over it. The loneliest of names.
God plays us in positions of authority of leadership and yes, fatherhood the least so that he can be the greatest.
The gallery of faith in heaven is filled with the unworthy, the undeserving, because God resists the proud all, but he loves to give grace to the humble. That's the next race quoting Proverbs chapter three, go back in your Bibles to first Peter five back to the surface. Here's the good news. Oh, he resists the proud who steal his glory, but he loves the poor is grazed on the undeserving, on the unworthy who cry out.
Oh God, I'm just a little child. Everyone in this room. Qualified. Except those were full of themselves is not this great career that I made because of my hard work and study is not this scholarship that I gained because I was a great athlete is not this wonderful family that I have because I have done so many things, right?
God resists, this is the gospel, but God gives his favor, his grace to the humble. That's what we've seen on the sermon on the Mount. That's what Jesus meant when he said, unless you become like a little child, you will know by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. This is the gospel. It's Jesus, not high, but Christ for by grace.
Are you saved through faith? And there's not of yourselves. It's the gift of God. Not of works lest any man should boast. It's all about Jesus. If you've never heard the simple, pure message of the gospel, it's simply this, you and I are miserable sinners. We deserve nothing, but hell God graciously gave his only son to die on Calvary for us, everyone who says I can't get to heaven.
I can't do enough. I'm not worthy enough and takes that step of faith over the pit of hell into the arms of Jesus. The Bible says you are saved because now Jesus gets all the glory. If you've never, we've done that. If you've ever said that God has got, I'm just a child. I deserve nothing but death. I can't do it on my own.
I can't run my family. I can't run my business. I can't keep my own heart straight. My mind, my mind.
God desires, the poor grace unmerited favor that Jesus merit. And I wanted to get a little deeper here again, quickly.
God resists proud, but gives grace to the humble. Where does that come from? What comes from Proverbs chapter three, which says this toward the scorners. The mockers the proud he is scornful, but to the humble he gives favor grace, the wise woman inherit honor, but fools get disgrace. Who said that? Solomon,
where did Solomon get that from his daddy?
Because king Solomon, when he had the opportunity.
When God appears to him in a vision and says, Solomon, ask for anything, he's a newly minted king. He could ask for riches. He could ask for glory. He could ask for victory. He could ask for territory. And here's what he says, oh Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of David, Mike daddy.
Although I am, but a little child, Simon, wasn't a little child. He was a grown man. He says this, I don't know how to go out or come in. It's like a little baby, a little child. He he's toddling. And he doesn't know how to get back into the house. Give your servant, therefore, to understanding mine, to govern your people that I may discern between good and evil for who is able to govern this great people.
God loves this.
I'm just a child. God have mercy on me. Is that your prayer? Is that how you wake up in the day? When you face insurmountable obstacles, are you just going to triumph currently, take them on and your own strength. Are you going to humble yourself and demonstrate that for your kids? Even to the point at times when you get down on your knees, look your son or grandson or granddaughter in the face and say, daddy, sins.
I'm just a child. What a great gift. But where did Solomon get that? If we dig a little bit deeper, we discover that that's how his dad. That's what David had said to Solomon. In fact, he records it just a few verses later when Solomon says this, when I saw with him was a son with my father, David tender, the only one in the sight of my mother.
He taught me and said to me, Solomon, let your heart hold fast. My word, this was their family devotions, something we've lost that are they, we saw in the video, the shepherding role of the parents, my commandments, and live saw them and whatever you do get wisdom. The fear of the Lord humility, small, meet big God trust in the Lord with all your heart.
Get insight. Do not forget, do not turn away from the words of my mouth. Do not forsake her. She will keep you love her. She will guard you the beginning of wisdom. Solomon is this get wisdom and whatever you get, get insight. Ah, he didn't miss them because his dad taught him. In fact, David lived that way with all of his failures.
He was a friend of God who prayed. Oh Lord. My heart is not lifted up. My eyes are not raised too high. I do not occupy myself with things too great into marvelous for me, but I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother. Like a weaned child is my soul within the oh, Israel, hope in the Lord from this time and forever more.
That's the prayer that God wants to answer. Oh Lord. I'm just a little child in my studies in the workplace am my unemployment in my ministry and my finances as I leave my home, as I raise my children in the face of temptation and the hard decisions I need to make and yes, in the midst of a global pandemic.
God gives grace to the humble. And then he exalts the humble in his time. When it's clear in the heavenly corridors that God's going to get all the glory, then he can risk exalting the hump. He did it with Joseph, with Moses. He did it with David. He did it with Daniel and he's doing it with you and me not to us, Lord, not to us.
I love what I call it. The four seven principle, which comes from first Corinthians four, seven and second Corinthians four seven first Corinthians four seven. And that's a simple question. What do you have that you didn't first receive? And if you received the, why are you glorying as though you hadn't been.
Second Corinthians four seven is my wife's favorite passage. It says we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the glory would be his and not ours
opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble, humble yourselves, therefore under the mighty hand of God. So that at the proper time, when it's less of you and more of him, he may exalt you. Now. Here's where it gets really good. I love these last two prints as we finish. I've used verse seven of first Peter chapter five, so many times in pastoral ministry, you know it, but I've always taken it out of context, looks at what it says.
Verse seven, casting all your anxieties, your worries on him, because he cares for you.
As a generic principle. That's true. What I didn't perceive is that anxiety worry is actually a form of pride. That's the context, the whole passage flows. That's, it's still continuing casting. As you humble yourself, realize that you are not God, I'm not God. This God complex, which we collectively have individually had as the, we had control over the universe, really diminishes God and exalts ourselves.
As though we could change our destiny control the opinions of others as we frenetically promote ourselves and our accomplishments, Facebook and Twitter and Tik TOK and everything else, anxiety worry, really puts us on the throne. And diminishes guide. It's a form of pride and here's the last one. This is also amazing in this exact same context, we get this order be sober-minded be watchful, your adversary, the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour, resist him firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of sufferings are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.
Here's what the passage is saying. The devil it's prowling around sniffing out pride. That's the context. It's like a perfume of filet Minyard. The devil it's like spraying yourself with this. Meat. And because he is characterized from the beginning with pride, he is the father of pride. He wanted to put his throne above the throne of God, himself.
He wanted to be Jesus in the universe when he sniffs out his own kind bounces
resistance. How
magical formulas sign of the cross declarations evidences of pride. And triumphalism no humble yourself. Humility is the anti devil repellent.
Because he hates humility because it exalts God. The parallel passage in James is fascinating because it says this.
He gives more grace. Therefore it says that he quotes the same passage. God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble submit yourselves, therefore to God resist the devil. And he will flee from you. The end of the passage says humble yourselves before the Lord. And he will exalt chew a spray a day, keeps the devil away
of humility, genuine, not false modesty.
So here's the prayer that God, most slights most likes to. Oh, God, I'm a dad, but I'm just a child. I don't understand the emphasis new world. These technologies, these, these waves that are inundating my family. Oh God. Give me grace. Uh, I don't know how to be a godly husband. I don't know how to be a grandpa.
I don't know how to be a leader in the church and in my home, in my business, I'm just a child.
And I wonder if God, with his angels in the breakfast area of heaven, instead of looking at a display of his children, us look how John is so much stronger and independent. He doesn't need us anymore. Oh, look how Susie just diminished six inches. Well, Cal mark is it's just a little bit weaker and dependent on us, more grace Grice,
because God wants us to grow smallness. What a gift to give children, spouse, grandchildren, not I, but Christ. Thank you Lord for your word. Thank you. Thank you for the unanimous message of the scriptures. Forgive us for so often exalting ourselves, showing how strong we are flexing our independent muscles this week.
Less of us, more of you. May you increase? May we decrease? You'll be glorified, not toss. So Lord, not to us, but to your name, give glory. Amen. God bless you.
]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/i-am-just-a-child 72ed3fbf-2e30-48e1-86a7-fc278a00c8a1 Sun, 20 Jun 2021 09:00:11 GMT <div data-html="true">1Peter 5:5-9 <br /><br /> <span>In the same way, you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because,</span> <div> <p><span>“God opposes the proud</span> <span><span>    </span><span>but shows favor to the humble.”<sup>[<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Peter%205%3A5-9&amp;version=NIV#fen-NIV-30471a">a</a>]</sup></span></span></p> <br /><br /> </div> <p><span><sup>6 </sup>Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.</span> <span><sup>7 </sup>Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.</span></p> <span><sup>8 </sup>Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.</span> <span><sup>9 </sup>Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.</span> <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> <div> <div><span><span>Good</span></span><span> morning. Happy father's day to all of you. Once again. That was a fantastic video. Thank you for the fantastic introduction. </span><span><span>Uh,</span></span><span> pastor mark mentioned that we have been representing fellowship for the last 34 years in Brazil, where my wife grew up. My wife is on the third row. She can stand up. Today's a really special day, not just because it's father's day, but it's also my wife's birthday and I, I would never embarrass her by telling you her age.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>But</span><span> I will say she was born in 1960 and has enjoyed many fruitful decades, </span><span><span>uh,</span></span><span> together. And we've been 34 years in Brazil, 39 years. Almost we've been married. Our ministry is focused in training leaders over 3000. Now that have gone out from Brazil throughout the rest of the world. We also have ministered over all of these years at first Baptist church about to buy.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>I've</span><span> been the pastor of biblical exposition for the last 20 years have relinquished much of that role now because our son, our oldest son is now one of three senior pastors at the church recently going through a pastoral transition. So he's now my boss and he preaches a lot more </span><span>than,</span><span> than I did.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>Church</span><span> of about 1300 members in Brazil that has, </span><span><span>uh,</span></span><span> a global and God's blessed us with a large family. We've actually been in family reunions. The last two weeks. This photo is not updated, but we have six children and believe it or not 18, soon to be 19 grandchildren. I can not believe that I am married to a grandmother.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>I</span><span> never thought </span><span>that</span><span> that </span><span>would</span><span> would happen to me. You have a sermon summary that you should have received when you came in and it may be a little bit of an ironic title. I'm just a child on father's day. I don't want talk about that aspect of biblical aspect of the greatest gift perhaps that we can give to our children, to our grandchildren.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>And</span><span> as we all reflect on our own fathers, our grandparents. I think there's something for each one of us here. One of the biggest struggles we have at father's day is what to give to a dad. Even Mike struggled cause you can't give a Carnation to a dad typically on a father's day. And I can remember back the plaster Paris handprints that I would give to my dad, maybe a tie in the old days, maybe a gift certificate for a back massage or a shoe shine.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>I</span><span> don't know what you did. Maybe you gave your dad has sixth weed eater for his father's day. This year. One of the biggest struggles we have, what to give to that some years ago, our kids gave to us, our grandkids and our kids, this display, which sits in our breakfast area of our family. Every morning, we pray for one of our girls and kids, but as I reflect, because they looked at each of the kids and periodically they send us new pictures.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>And</span><span> so we, we trade out the old ones and put in the new ones and wow. It looks like tally grew six inches in the last year here. Do you see how strong Jack's getting note the progress and the </span><span>growth</span> <span>and</span><span> growth and independence of our children and our own little family group. We call it merch clings. As we exchange videos of the kids, taking their first solid foods, the first crawl time to Teeter and toddler and walk the first day at school, we mark their progress.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>Probably</span><span> a lot of you have some place in one of the homes. You've lived that, those markets things on the wall or the closet, we have a paper that's all crumpled and torn and taped that shows the growth of our kids. Physical growth. We measure normally in growing independence two weeks ago, we had the privilege as a family to have a family reunion, 28 of our kids and grandkids sons-in-law and daughters-in-law all together in a log cabin mansion in Colorado, just outside of winter park missionaries, can't usually do that, but it was given to us for a week.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>Can</span><span> you imagine someone allowing 16 children to invade their home for a week? And we didn't break anything? It was a miracle, but one of our kids gave as a gift to all of the cousins, all of their nieces and nephews, a Brazil shirt of the Brazilian national team, because most of them speak Portuguese were raised in Brazil or have those.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>Each</span><span> Jersey was personalized with the birth order of each one of our grandkids, a couple were missing. One is with the Lord from one to 18, it was a special moment. But yet again, we had an opportunity to measure growth. I imagine in a few years, we'll look back and at that gallery of kids and grandkids and say, wow, how much they've grown physical growth.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>We</span><span> measure in increasing independence, what our kids say. I can do it myself. When our teenagers start the flex, their muscles of independence. That's a good thing. It's hard for us sometimes as parents </span><span><span>go,</span></span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>but</span><span> there's a paradox in the Christian life. And it has a lot to do with our role as parents also as children, but not just dads, but also moms and grandparents. It says, </span><span>well,</span><span> spiritual growth is marked by increasing dependence. As we grow when Christ and the Christian life, we discover not I, but Christ.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>I'm</span><span> just a little child. I can't do it sometimes in our triumphalistic culture and the name it, and claim it, theologies that have swept the church. We try to stick out our chest and show God that we deserve it, that we merit, whatever things we want in life and that we can overcome them. We're more than concrete, but sometimes we forget.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>In</span> <span><span>Christ.</span></span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>John</span><span> said it really well. He must increase. I must decrease. I love that verse. I'd love it to be a life theme for me, but I'd have to confess that my life and my ministry it's been more like Jesus must increase and I want to grow with him, but his kingdom come and my will be </span><span><span>done.</span></span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>Spiritual</span><span> growth is measured, an increasing dependence. Wow. We've learned that the last time, what </span><span><span>years</span></span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>the</span><span> unexpected has become the norm. All of us control freaks. I have my schedule planned out almost two years. Everything felt to the, to earth, unexpected illnesses, emergency gallbladder surgery, and so much more. Here's the big idea that I'd like to leave with us this morning based on a passage that God has been kneading into my soul for the last several months along these lines.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>And</span><span> I think especially appropriate on a father's day. So often as dads, we're expected to be everything for everyone, the great conqueror defender shepherd, and sometimes we're afraid to admit I'm just a child. That's a message that resounds in the scriptures blessed are the poor in spirit. There's is the kingdom of heaven.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>Blessed</span><span> are the meek for, they shall inherit the earth. Let the little children come to me unless you become like a little child. You will never enter into the kingdom of heaven. God loves that declaration. Hope God, I'm just a child. So here's what I want you to take home this week. And that God has been pounding into my soul and I've been trying to rehearse </span><span>and,</span><span> and recite and remember and humble myself.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>God</span><span> wants us to grow in smallness independence. Hello. I have a verse in Proverbs, which talks about that as well. When it says in Proverbs 14, 26, and the fear of the Lord one has strong confidence and his children will have a refuge. The fear of the Lord starts with a little me and a </span><span><span>big.</span></span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>Not</span><span> a big me and a little God. I'd like you to open your Bibles this morning to first Peter chapter five, an amazing passage, which I want to excavate with you this morning. We're going to do an archeological dig in this </span><span>amazing,</span><span> amazing texts. First, Peter chapter five, verses five through nine, and we're going to scratch the surface and dig and brush and try to discover artifacts, treasures that God has left here for us.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>But</span><span> at two points in this text, when we get to the, really the heart of the text, we're going to dig shafts deeper to understand the heart of this passage. Here's what it says. First, Peter chapter five, verses five. I'll go all the way to verse 10 is page nine five five, nine hundred and fifty five in your Puba.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>If</span><span> you're using that, starting with verse five, it says this, likewise, you who are younger subject to the elders, both the older ones, as well as the leaders of the body. That's in the context, close yourselves, all of you with humility. That's the theme of this text toward one another. He started out with a vertical aspect towards your elders.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>Now</span><span> he talks about the horizontal aspect to one another for God. And now he quotes the old Testament James and a parallel passage does the exact same thing. This verse must be important. He quotes Proverbs chapter three and he says for God, opposes the process loud, but gives great. To the humble, that's the heart of this text.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>Now</span><span> he goes on and explains humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that at the proper time, he may exalt you casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. Be sober-minded be watchful, your adversary, the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>It's</span><span> still the same context, pride and humility resist him firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of sufferings are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you to him.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>Be</span><span> the dominion forever. And. God, I pray that you would teach us by your spirit, from your word that Christ would be exalted, that we would be appropriately humbled, that you would challenge each of us. But especially today, the dads that we can't do it alone, that we're just little children and that we need you above all.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>We</span><span> pray by Christ's merits alone. Amen. Got to unearth some of the amazing trues that we get. I'm going to just list seven things here for you briefly twice. We're going to dig deeper into this text. The first thing we discover in first, Peter chapter five, where the theme really is humility, childlike dependence.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>That</span><span> submission to authority is. Primal manifestation of humility. Look at verse five in your Bible. Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. As you watch children respond to teachers, coaches, 40 figures. It is amazing to me how I can trace the way moms and dads respond to authority. By the way their kids respond to authority.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>The</span><span> first manifestation of a humble heart is lining yourself up. That's the idea of subjection, a military idea of the rank and </span><span>file</span><span> file with liner solves up under those who are in authority, both church leaders, as well as those who are older. Now, we all know that a characteristic of you is I'm going to do it my way.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>I'm</span><span> going to do it myself and I'll take on any. But for all of us, this is a reminder that God works through authority structures. We, as parents cannot simply abandon our kids because they turned the 18 is an observation. My wife and I have made as we come back into the north American culture, it seems like we just abandoned our roles as shepherds of our own children, as guides and counselors of our kids, because they turned 18.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>That's</span><span> when they most need us in young people. That's when you really need your parents as your best friends, those were invested in your life for 18 years, from 18 to 25. Maybe when they most need that parental authority and humility. That they subject themselves. The second thing we see in this text in verse five, the second part is that humility.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>And</span><span> this is really good news for all of us, especially those who have not had the privilege of being raised in a Christian home humility. He has a Christian virtue that can be acquired and developed that says this clothe yourselves, all of you with humility. And now the horizontal aspect toward one another.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>This</span><span> sounds like the life of Christ and us in Philippians chapter two, where he, who was God in flesh serve, he did not come to be served, but to serve. Now, the neat thing about this is that we can put this on it. Doesn't come genetically. It's just like the fear of God or the true biblical wisdom. You don't have to be raised in a Christian home to acquire that it's open to anyone who will humble himself trust in the Lord with all your heart.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>Don't</span><span> lean on your own understanding, acknowledge him, or literally know him in all your ways and heal, direct your </span><span><span>paths</span></span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>we</span><span> can put on not false modesty, not manipulation that looks like </span><span><span>humility.</span></span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>It</span><span> is acquired. They're seeking not genetically. That's good news for all of us who haven't had that privilege. Now here's the third thing. And now we've really get to the heart of this past verse five, the last part, explain. The two principles we've just seen when it says four. And now the quotation marks.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>If</span><span> you're using the ESL are the pew Bible. God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble we covered. God's grace. We covered God's favor old God, pour out, open up the windows of avid. Bless me. Bless my family. Bless my children. Bless my grandchildren. But how do you become a candidate for God's grace?</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>He</span><span> gives two answers in the heart of this passage. First. He reminds us the proud don't get it. Those who think they deserve it, have disqualified themselves from the race. </span><span><span>Yes,</span></span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>God</span><span> literally lines himself against. I dunno. How many of you were football lineman in high school? Imagine a five foot, 10, 160 pound offensive guard. And he's been playing neighborhood ball for years and he actually, by a lot of exertion has made the varsity team, but they play little schools from little towns and he's pretty much having his way with a lot of people until they come up against the state champions and that five foot, 10, 160 pound guy looks up.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>And</span><span> on the other side of the line is a six foot five, 310 pound Lyman. Who's going to go to </span><span><span>Alabama.</span></span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>Now,</span><span> imagine yourself, little you, little me on the line. And we look </span><span>up</span> <span>and</span><span> up and up and it's </span><span><span>God</span></span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>the</span><span> word here. Brings that description. God actively resists the proud, because you are a jewelry thief, not the also Lord, not the us, but to your name, give glory Psalm 115. God hates glory, thieves all, but he loves to pour out his grace on the humble. We could paraphrase by saying if God is against us, who can be for us?</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>That's</span><span> terrifying. I want to dig a shaft here. I'd like us to dig a little bit deeper as though we're doing this excavation. We're finding </span><span>these,</span><span> these incredible relics and artifacts and treasures on the surface, but the passage is actually quoting the old ones. Proverbs chapter three, which says, God resists the proud, but as we dig this shaft a deeper into our archeological site, we discover that God resisting the product of the long and infamous history.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>Think</span><span> with me about king Herod in the days of the early church, acts chapter 12 tells </span><span>how,</span><span> how he imprisoned James, the brother of John, one of the inner circle of Jesus. He kills James, nothing happens. It goes on his Merry way. And he sees that it pleases the people in the priests. And so he now gets Peter and he puts him in the jail.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>I</span><span> want you to open your Bible in acts chapter 12. And look what happens at the end of the chapter. This is amazing. This illustrates for us as we dig deeper into the scriptures, how God resists actively, those who exalt </span><span><span>themselves</span></span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>as</span><span> though we were the </span><span><span>strong</span></span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>acts</span><span> chapter 12, verse 20, the same herd has already killed James. The leader of the church is already in prison. Peter, it says his now heard, was angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon, and they came to him with one accord and having persuaded blast this, the King's Chamberlain, they asked for peace because their country depended on the Kings country.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>On</span><span> an appointed day, heard put on his world robes, took his seat upon the throne and delivered an oration to them. And the people were shouting the voice of a God and not of a man immediately, an angel, oh, Lord struck him down because he did not give God the glory. And he was eaten by worms and breathe.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>His</span><span> last, he persecuted God's church. He killed God's apostle. He placed Peter in prison. Nothing happens, but you steal God's glory. Watch </span><span><span>out.</span></span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>We're</span><span> going to dig deeper into the scriptures, to the story of Nebuchadnezzar, amazing story. Look in your Bibles at Daniel chapter four. Now you can answer how to dream. God gracious. Warned him what was about to happen if he did not humble himself and recognize the sovereignty of our great God, he had every opportunity, but a year passes and his chest swells, and he thinks he's hot stuff.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>And</span><span> we've read in verse 28 of chapter four, Daniel 4 28, all this came upon king Nebuchadnezzar. At the end of 12 months, he was walking on the roof of the Royal palace of Babylon. And the king answered and said is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as a Royal residence. And for the glory of my </span><span><span>majesty,</span></span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>while</span><span> the words were still in the King's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven O king Nebula. To you, it is spoken. The kingdom has departed from you and you shall be driven from among men and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. You shall be made the grass like an ox, seven periods of time shall pass over you until you know that the most high rules, the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will immediately, the word was </span><span><span>filled</span></span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>and</span><span> he became an ox like an ox. Interesting earlier in the chapter verse 17, the sentence is by the decree of the Watchers, the decision by the word of the holy ones to the end, that the living may know that the most high rules, the kingdom of man, and he gives it to whom he will and sets over it. The loneliest of </span><span><span>names.</span></span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>God</span><span> plays us in positions of authority of leadership and yes, fatherhood the least so that he can be the </span><span><span>greatest.</span></span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>The</span><span> gallery of faith in heaven is filled with the unworthy, the undeserving, because God resists the proud all, but he loves to give grace to the humble. That's the next race quoting Proverbs chapter three, go back in your Bibles to first Peter five back to the surface. Here's the good news. Oh, he resists the proud who steal his glory, but he loves the poor is grazed on the undeserving, on the unworthy who cry out.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>Oh</span><span> God, I'm just a little child. Everyone in this room. Qualified. Except those were full of themselves is not this great career that I made because of my hard work and study is not this scholarship that I gained because I was a great athlete is not this wonderful family that I have because I have done so many things, right?</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>God</span><span> resists, this is the gospel, but God gives his favor, his grace to the humble. That's what we've seen on the sermon on the Mount. That's what Jesus meant when he said, unless you become like a little child, you will know by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. This is the gospel. It's Jesus, not high, but Christ for by grace.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>Are</span><span> you saved through faith? And there's not of yourselves. It's the gift of God. Not of works lest any man should boast. It's all about Jesus. If you've never heard the simple, pure message of the gospel, it's simply this, you and I are miserable sinners. We deserve nothing, but hell God graciously gave his only son to die on Calvary for us, everyone who says I can't get to heaven.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>I</span><span> can't do enough. I'm not worthy enough and takes that step of faith over the pit of hell into the arms of Jesus. The Bible says you are saved because now Jesus gets all the glory. If you've never, we've done that. If you've ever said that God has got, I'm just a child. I deserve nothing but death. I can't do it on my own.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>I</span><span> can't run my family. I can't run my business. I can't keep my own heart straight. </span><span>My</span> <span>mind,</span><span> my </span><span><span>mind.</span></span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>God</span><span> desires, the poor grace unmerited favor that Jesus merit. And I wanted to get a little deeper here again, </span><span><span>quickly.</span></span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>God</span><span> resists proud, but gives grace to the humble. Where does that come from? What comes from Proverbs chapter three, which says this toward the scorners. The mockers the proud he is scornful, but to the humble he gives favor grace, the wise woman inherit honor, but fools get disgrace. Who said that? </span><span><span>Solomon,</span></span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>where</span><span> did Solomon get that from his </span><span><span>daddy?</span></span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>Because</span><span> king Solomon, when he had the </span><span><span>opportunity.</span></span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>When</span><span> God appears to him in a vision and says, Solomon, ask for anything, he's a newly minted king. He could ask for riches. He could ask for glory. He could ask for victory. He could ask for territory. And here's what he says, oh Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of David, Mike daddy.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>Although</span><span> I am, but a little child, Simon, wasn't a little child. He was a grown man. He says this, I don't know how to go out or come in. It's like a little baby, a little child. </span><span>He</span><span> he's toddling. And he doesn't know how to get back into the house. Give your servant, therefore, to understanding mine, to govern your people that I may discern between good and evil for who is able to govern this great </span><span><span>people.</span></span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>God</span><span> loves </span><span><span>this.</span></span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>I'm</span><span> just a child. God have mercy on me. Is that your prayer? Is that how you wake up in the day? When you face insurmountable obstacles, are you just going to triumph currently, take them on and your own strength. Are you going to humble yourself and demonstrate that for your kids? Even to the point at times when you get down on your knees, look your son or grandson or granddaughter in the face and say, daddy, </span><span><span>sins.</span></span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>I'm</span><span> just a child. What a great gift. But where did Solomon get that? If we dig a little bit deeper, we discover </span><span>that</span><span> that's how his dad. That's what David had said to Solomon. In fact, he records it just a few verses later when Solomon says this, when I saw with him was a son with my father, David tender, the only one in the sight of my mother.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>He</span><span> taught me and said to me, Solomon, let your heart hold fast. My word, this was their family devotions, something we've lost that are they, we saw in the video, the shepherding role of the parents, my commandments, and live saw them and whatever you do get wisdom. The fear of the Lord humility, small, meet big God trust in the Lord with all your heart.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>Get</span><span> insight. Do not forget, do not turn away from the words of my mouth. Do not forsake her. She will keep you love her. She will guard you the beginning of wisdom. Solomon is this get wisdom and whatever you get, get insight. Ah, he didn't miss them because his dad taught him. In fact, David lived that way with all of his failures.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>He</span><span> was a friend of God who prayed. Oh Lord. My heart is not lifted up. My eyes are not raised too high. I do not occupy myself with things too great into marvelous for me, but I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother. Like a weaned child is my soul within the oh, Israel, hope in the Lord from this time and forever more.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>That's</span><span> the prayer that God wants to answer. Oh Lord. I'm just a little child in my studies in the workplace am my unemployment in my ministry and my finances as I leave my home, as I raise my children in the face of temptation and the hard decisions I need to make and yes, in the midst of a global pandemic.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>God</span><span> gives grace to the humble. And then he exalts the humble in his time. When it's clear in the heavenly corridors that God's going to get all the glory, then he can risk exalting the hump. He did it with Joseph, with Moses. He did it with David. He did it with Daniel and he's doing it with you and me not to us, Lord, not to us.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>I</span><span> love what I call it. The four seven principle, which comes from first Corinthians four, seven and second Corinthians four seven first Corinthians four seven. And that's a simple question. What do you have that you didn't first receive? And if you received the, why are you glorying as though you hadn't been.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>Second</span><span> Corinthians four seven is my wife's favorite passage. It says we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the glory would be his and not </span><span><span>ours</span></span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>opposes</span><span> the proud, but gives grace to the </span><span>humble,</span><span> humble yourselves, therefore under the mighty hand of God. So that at the proper time, when it's less of you and more of him, he may exalt you. Now. Here's where it gets really good. I love these last two prints as we finish. I've used verse seven of first Peter chapter five, so many times in pastoral ministry, you know it, but I've always taken it out of context, looks at what it says.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>Verse</span><span> seven, casting all your anxieties, your worries on him, because he cares for </span><span><span>you.</span></span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>As</span><span> a generic principle. That's true. What I didn't perceive is that anxiety worry is actually a form of pride. That's the context, the whole passage flows. That's, it's still continuing casting. As you humble yourself, realize that you are not God, I'm not God. This God complex, which we collectively have individually had as the, we had control over the universe, really diminishes God and exalts ourselves.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>As</span><span> though we could change our destiny control the opinions of others as we frenetically promote ourselves and our accomplishments, Facebook and Twitter and Tik TOK and everything else, anxiety worry, really puts us on the throne. And diminishes guide. It's a form of pride and here's the last one. This is also amazing in this exact same context, we get this order be sober-minded be watchful, your adversary, the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour, resist him firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of sufferings are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>Here's</span><span> what the passage is saying. The devil it's prowling around sniffing out pride. That's the context. It's like a perfume of filet Minyard. The devil it's like spraying yourself with this. Meat. And because he is characterized from the beginning with pride, he is the father of pride. He wanted to put his throne above the throne of God, himself.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>He</span><span> wanted to be Jesus in the universe when he sniffs out his own kind </span><span><span>bounces</span></span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>resistance.</span><span> How</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>magical</span><span> formulas sign of the cross declarations evidences of pride. And triumphalism no humble yourself. Humility is the anti devil </span><span><span>repellent.</span></span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>Because</span><span> he hates humility because it exalts God. The parallel passage in James is fascinating because it says </span><span><span>this.</span></span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>He</span><span> gives more grace. Therefore it says that he quotes the same passage. God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble submit yourselves, therefore to God resist the devil. And he will flee from you. The end of the passage says humble yourselves before the Lord. And he will exalt chew a spray a day, keeps the devil </span><span><span>away</span></span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>of</span><span> humility, genuine, not false </span><span><span>modesty.</span></span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>So</span><span> here's the prayer that God, most slights most likes to. Oh, God, I'm a dad, but I'm just a child. I don't understand the emphasis new world. These technologies, </span><span>these,</span><span> these waves that are inundating my family. Oh God. Give me grace. </span><span><span>Uh,</span></span><span> I don't know how to be a godly husband. I don't know how to be a grandpa.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>I</span><span> don't know how to be a leader in the church and in my home, in my business, I'm just a </span><span><span>child.</span></span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>And</span><span> I wonder if God, with his angels in the breakfast area of heaven, instead of looking at a display of his children, us look how John is so much stronger and independent. He doesn't need us anymore. Oh, look how Susie just diminished six inches. </span><span>Well,</span><span> Cal mark is it's just a little bit weaker and dependent on us, more grace </span><span><span>Grice,</span></span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>because</span><span> God wants us to grow smallness. What a gift to give children, spouse, grandchildren, not I, but Christ. Thank you Lord for your word. Thank you. Thank you for the unanimous message of the scriptures. Forgive us for so often exalting ourselves, showing how strong we are flexing our independent muscles this week.</span></div> </div> <div> <div><span>Less</span><span> of us, more of you. May you increase? May we decrease? You'll be glorified, not toss. So Lord, not to us, but to your name, give glory. Amen. God bless you.</span></div> </div> <div></div></div> false no <![CDATA[A Posture Of Prayer]]> Psalm 143:5-6 “I remember the days of old; I meditate on all that you have done; I ponder the work of your hands. I stretch out my hands to you; my soul thirsts for you like a parched land.”

Psalm 95:6-7 “Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker! 7 For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.”

Exodus 14:14 — “The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”

Psalm 46:10  — “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

Psalm 59:16-17 “But I will sing of your strength; I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning. For you have been to me a fortress and a refuge in the day of my distress. 17 O my Strength, I will sing praises to you, for you, O God, are my fortress, the God who shows me steadfast love.”




okay. So I shared that, um, our service would be a little bit different this morning. Um, and there's one main reason for that. Um, we spent our time, uh, throughout each week praying and thinking, praying through that what the service will be like. And as we've decided, as the Lord has led us, um, he's brought us back to one thing that we want to be about Galatians five, um, is all centered around following the spirit.

If you have the spirit live life, walk in the spirit and trust him. And so our staff gathered earlier this week and just felt the spirit prompting us to have a service to just pray together this morning. And so we're going to be leading you through. Uh, four different passages of scripture that really tied to four different postures of prayer.

Now you may be feeling like, okay, what are we supposed to do here? This is kind of feeling a little bit weird. Um, postures is nothing more than just a, uh, a position to symbolize yourself saying, Lord we're here. Um, there's going to be the posture of just opening your hands before him and just receiving the posture of kneeling before the Lord and just begging the posture of silence and we'll have others as well this morning.

Um, and so we want to just begin our time, um, really centered on the fact that a number of weeks ago, pastor mark had emergency gallbladder surgery and is still facing complications around that. Um, his own frustration, not wanting to be away and wanting to preach, uh, was kind of one of the things that we held in our minds.

Uh, earlier this week, well, last Sunday, um, his wife Marion went into the hospital. She was having a pretty severe head pain and, um, is still there with, uh, undergoing lots of different tests, trying to figure out what's going on. Um, but we just felt constrained to say, Lord, we don't know in this moment of suffering what you're doing, but we want to pray.

That's the core function of, of our church. There are many other needs in our own church, family, physically that we've heard about, or that you've. Written to us about, and we've actually taken all of those needs that have been given to us and put them on some cards. Hopefully you got one of those, either strips of paper or card on the way in with a specific prayer need of people that are in our church.

If not, they are stationed right back there. And just a minute, I'm going to ask you to go get one, just to have that person or that family in mind, as you pray this morning. Um, the first passage we, um, want to talk through is out of, uh, the book of Psalms. And, um, this passage is written by David and the posture that we're going to ask you to have this morning.

And we'll ask you to do that in just a minute, but it's just your hands open to receive. Uh, let's read this together. Some 1 43, 5 and six. I remember the days of old, I meditate on all that you have done. I ponder the work of your hands. I stretch out my hands to you, my soul thirsts for you like a parched land.

The words that stuck out to me, I remember I meditate. I ponder, and then I stretch out my hands to you knowing all that you are all that you've done. All that. You've been just going to stretch out my hands to you and my soul. Just longing for you. Like my, my soul thirst for Heartland.

Say a couple of things, as far as prayer free for maybe if you're here and you're visiting and you're like, what did I come to this morning? This is the worst service for me to be at. I'm going to say, this is one of the very best services that you could be at because we're not forcing you to do anything this morning.

Maybe you don't feel comfortable praying at all. Well, certainly as we maybe gather in some smaller groups, you can just be parked. Let's your heart. Join with people talking to the Lord. And that's as simple as prayer needs to be. Just you talking to God. You'll have a chance even to listen as just the spirit gives you these words from the scriptures up here, just to meditate on those things, to let them sink in.

Um, we're going to be in a couple of times, we'll be in a little small group, just maybe three or four of you around in your section, just to gather other times we'll direct you to just be on your own. Um, and so we'll have you do that. Um, when you're in your groups together, we're not going to spend a long time sharing or talking or catching up, not chat time.

Although there is plenty of time for that after the service, we really are coming with the core belief that we are just coming into sit before the Lord and pray. And so when we lead you through that section, just head right in to prayer as the time segment kind of finishes up, um, we'll kind of gather you back around and refocus our hearts and to, uh, another passage of scripture this morning.

So, uh, I'm going to ask you as, um, As people that come here that want to know Christ to join me in the posture of prayer this morning with just your hands open and so gathering a little group around you, maybe you have some of those prayer needs there. Um, and you will just take that time over the next few minutes here, just to pray together with your hands open to the Lord, meditating on, uh, Psalm 1 43.

So go ahead and do that now. Again, there are prayer cards in the back. Joe is going to be playing and, um, go ahead and go to prayer.

father. We do come with open hands. We don't particularly like having open hands because open hands, we're reminded of our emptiness of the fact that we can't conjure up things.

We do hold our hands to you. We lift up the specific requests that we have.

We say, God, do what only you can do. We do remember what you have done and we pray God do it again. Name of Jesus. We pray with our hands and our hearts and our lives. Amen. Thank you, dear people of God for praying, we know that this is, um, bright. This brings up some social anxiety for some, this brings up, um, some concerns.

I'm thinking I coming, I'd be receiving this morning and I'm asked more of than, um, I thought I might be. We just thank you for your labor in prayer. Uh, It is a gift to our Lord. It is a gift to us. Something is, um, for some of you, you there's, it, it feels like man, everyone is getting prayer, except for me, everyone knows how to do it.

Never everyone's comfortable in this kind of situation, but me and the distraction when it comes to prayers, pretty significant. Uh, Paul Miller, a dear teacher on prayer talks about how nobody really feels like they're very good at prayer. And I think that's part of the humility of prayer is God, we, we only sorta know what we're doing.

Another one of my favorite teachers talks about what does it mean to face distraction as we pray, which we will face as we pray. He says a thousand distractions is a thousand compassionate ways to return to God. So don't judge yourself, beat yourself up, say, what am I doing? Just remember I'm loved, I'm known.

And in the midst of my brain, a million miles from God, I have the compassionate chance to return to him our next posture. Um, for those of you who are able and willing to do this is the posture of kneeling. Kneeling is, is ultimately a very vulnerable posture. Here's a scripture that we are associating with that, oh, come let us worship and bow down.

Let us kneel before the Lord, our maker for he is our God. We are the people of his pasture, the sheep of his hand and kneeling. What kneeling is, is a posture. It's an incredibly vulnerable posture. I'm not ready to defend myself very well. I don't have the access to my eyes, my legs, my hands. Like I would, if I were standing, coming before God and kneeling is ultimate lead, laying down so much of what I use to feel confident or strong and saying, I need someone else to do this.

I submit myself to one greater than I for he can is the only one who can do this. Kneeling is like the fetal position, right? That's the very position of it. And it is crying out to our father. The image of sheep here is a very vulnerable position. So if you are able, we would love for you to take a moment and Neil.

And we realized that's, that's a big ass and people who are online, we love for you to do this as individuals or in your families as well. And as you come in, as you kneel to honestly, come with that image that I am a child, I am a child submitting myself and asking God, please, please help. Please help the situation.

But I'm holding in my hand as a request, please help other requests that I'm aware of in my head that didn't ever make it to paper this morning, as we pray. And we take this next time, if you would, and this one's going to be by yourself in the Lord, take a moment to Neil. You're welcome to come and do that at up here.

You're welcome to do that in your seat, but we ask you to do that. Now, as we enter into this next segment, in this posture of prayer, as you read with me one more time, this passage, oh, come. Let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord, our maker for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his kneel with me, a few words.

Thank you for joining our hearts together this morning in a posture of kneeling, I, uh, asked Joe to during this time in this posture, we'd like to consider silence, which is certainly something we're not very attuned to in our culture. Um, but it's, it's a way that an, this posture of personal prayer of silence, um, and listening to the spirit, it's just a beautiful way.

Uh, quieting one's own thoughts, making oneself present to God. So during our time of kneeling, we were in that position that Ben described really well of. Um, being vulnerable and bringing our requests. So we had these thoughts and these people that are on our hearts and we were just crying out to God.

And now we'd like to think, um, about how being quiet with God and listening is such a valuable, I set in our time of prayer. The place in the posture of prayer, uh, really does matter. Uh, Jesus withdrew to a solitary place for a reason, Henry. Now, instead of like this solitude and silence can never be separated.

They are the context within which prayer is practiced. Oftentimes I find myself when I go to prayer, I'm rushing in either with a, a list for God or whether it's a grocery list of concerns or things that we're asking. And, um, I think there's such value in being able to come quietly, uh, and listen. And so that's what we're going to ask this morning for four, five minutes of your time to just in your place, whether you can kneel again, you can sit, you can move to another spot if you want, but we're going to ask you just to listen, listen to God's spirit speaking to you, um, and asking him to do that.

Um, and so we're going to do that without Joe playing in the background, it's going to be quiet and that is good. We're going to center our thoughts on a couple of verses, um,

Exodus 14, 14. The Lord will fight for you and you have only to be silent Psalm 46, 10. Be still and know that I am God, I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth. So let's just take a few moments. 3, 4, 5 minutes to just listen to the spirit of God. Speaking to us.

Good morning. Um, I've been given the opportunity to speak a little bit about praise and worship and Thanksgiving. You know, often we go through our prayer life and sometimes we forget to talk to the Lord about praise and Thanksgiving. You know, I, I just think that, uh, we forget that in the spiritual realm that there's such power, such power when we're praising our Lord, when we're thanking him for what we've been given.

And so often I think we forget that we have the opportunity to be praising and thanking the Lord for the gifts that we've been given. You know? Um, so often when we're in that pain, when we're in those trials, when we're really hurting. It's really difficult for us to praise and thank the Lord. You know, we just are, we've run out of gas.

We're just, we're spent. And yet our Lord is asking us in those times to come before him and to praise him and thank him. And you know, what I think is so interesting about that is when we are lifting up our praises and thanking him and worshiping God, think about this, we're really changing the atmosphere.

That's around us, the atmosphere that's around us. And when we walk in that atmosphere, it stays with us during the day. And so often we don't think we can do that, but. It's just a beautiful thing when we are worshiping and praising the Lord and we take it that atmosphere, that spiritual atmosphere you're with us, wherever we go.

So this morning, we're going to take a few minutes and we're going to be praising and worshiping and thanking the Lord for all we have, you know, it's something we should be doing every day. And so often I think there's times that we forget to do that. So this is a beautiful time when we can come together as a community of faith and let us praise him and worship him.

And we have a Psalm that goes along with that, but I will sing of your strength. I will sing a loud of the steadfast love in the morning for you. Have been to me, a fortress and a refuge and the day of my distress. Oh my strength. I will sing praises to you for you. Oh God are my fortress. The God who shows me steadfast love for me personally, there's two beautiful well things that I look at when I look at this part of the Psalm, I look at his strength, his spiritual strength that he gives us.

And then I go down to that steadfast love that unfailing love that we receive so that when you go into prayer today, think about that spiritual strength that only the Lord can give us. Think about that. Steadfast love that unfailing love that only the Lord can give us. These are all things that come from the Lord.

So let's spend some time. Praising the Lord and thanking the Lord for what he's done for us today.

we're so thankful for you being with us this morning. Thank you for who you are and for your presence here, we realize that, uh, not everyone may read every email. That has come from us. Uh, we also recognize that many of you might be newer people and didn't even get an email that we were doing such a service as this, and there may be requests that you have that didn't make it to a card this morning.

And that, that might be because you weren't aware of what was going on and didn't get a chance to write that in. It might be because you didn't feel comfortable with what that particular request was and thought it wouldn't be great to distribute to everyone in the body or to people who might get your card.

What we're going to do is we're going to dismiss in a moment, but if anyone's here would like to just stay and receive some prayer this morning, we're asking two things we're asking that you would stay, that we could pray over you. And we also ask that some of you. Um, might stay and be able to lend some prayer support as we recognize in these postures that our Lord is great.

And so is our need of him. And the beauty of prayer is that it is the matching of two wonderful things of the king of the universe and the wonderful people he has made. So if you would like to stay, we'd love to spend some time praying for you specifically, um, so that you are not missed in the midst of all of these other requests.

Would you stand as we receive the blessing and are dismissed, and if you are not going to stay in the sanctuary and actually yet to leave quickly, um, so that those who would like to stay, uh, would be able to do so, just want to remind you this morning, even as we pray, even as we enter that you are not what you make.

You are not the, what you do. You are not the sum of all your relationships. You are not your greatest fierce. You are not your greatest triumphs that you are something and someone so much more, you are the beloved of God. It's great to be with you dear beloved. And then we'll exit silently and quickly, um, that those who would like to remain can do so now thank you.

]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/a-posture-of-prayer 7d37c36d-b5d7-4eb5-9c8f-fcefab001850 Sun, 13 Jun 2021 09:00:03 GMT <div data-html="true"><a href="https://biblia.com/bible/esv/Ps%20143.5-6" target="_blank">Psalm 143:5-6</a> “I remember the days of old; I meditate on all that you have done; I ponder the work of your hands. I stretch out my hands to you; my soul thirsts for you like a parched land.” <br /><br /> <a href="https://biblia.com/bible/esv/Ps%2095.6-7" target="_blank">Psalm 95:6-7</a> “Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker! 7 For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.” <br /><br /> <a href="https://biblia.com/bible/esv/Exod%2014.14" target="_blank">Exodus 14:14</a> — “The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.” <br /><br /> <a href="https://biblia.com/bible/esv/Ps%2046.10" target="_blank">Psalm 46:10</a>  — “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” <br /><br /> <a href="https://biblia.com/bible/esv/Ps%2059.16-17" target="_blank">Psalm 59:16-17</a> “But I will sing of your strength; I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning. For you have been to me a fortress and a refuge in the day of my distress. 17 O my Strength, I will sing praises to you, for you, O God, are my fortress, the God who shows me steadfast love.” <div> <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> okay. So I shared that, um, our service would be a little bit different this morning. Um, and there's one main reason for that. Um, we spent our time, uh, throughout each week praying and thinking, praying through that what the service will be like. And as we've decided, as the Lord has led us, um, he's brought us back to one thing that we want to be about Galatians five, um, is all centered around following the spirit. <br /><br /> If you have the spirit live life, walk in the spirit and trust him. And so our staff gathered earlier this week and just felt the spirit prompting us to have a service to just pray together this morning. And so we're going to be leading you through. Uh, four different passages of scripture that really tied to four different postures of prayer. <br /><br /> Now you may be feeling like, okay, what are we supposed to do here? This is kind of feeling a little bit weird. Um, postures is nothing more than just a, uh, a position to symbolize yourself saying, Lord we're here. Um, there's going to be the posture of just opening your hands before him and just receiving the posture of kneeling before the Lord and just begging the posture of silence and we'll have others as well this morning. <br /><br /> Um, and so we want to just begin our time, um, really centered on the fact that a number of weeks ago, pastor mark had emergency gallbladder surgery and is still facing complications around that. Um, his own frustration, not wanting to be away and wanting to preach, uh, was kind of one of the things that we held in our minds. <br /><br /> Uh, earlier this week, well, last Sunday, um, his wife Marion went into the hospital. She was having a pretty severe head pain and, um, is still there with, uh, undergoing lots of different tests, trying to figure out what's going on. Um, but we just felt constrained to say, Lord, we don't know in this moment of suffering what you're doing, but we want to pray. <br /><br /> That's the core function of, of our church. There are many other needs in our own church, family, physically that we've heard about, or that you've. Written to us about, and we've actually taken all of those needs that have been given to us and put them on some cards. Hopefully you got one of those, either strips of paper or card on the way in with a specific prayer need of people that are in our church. <br /><br /> If not, they are stationed right back there. And just a minute, I'm going to ask you to go get one, just to have that person or that family in mind, as you pray this morning. Um, the first passage we, um, want to talk through is out of, uh, the book of Psalms. And, um, this passage is written by David and the posture that we're going to ask you to have this morning. <br /><br /> And we'll ask you to do that in just a minute, but it's just your hands open to receive. Uh, let's read this together. Some 1 43, 5 and six. I remember the days of old, I meditate on all that you have done. I ponder the work of your hands. I stretch out my hands to you, my soul thirsts for you like a parched land. <br /><br /> The words that stuck out to me, I remember I meditate. I ponder, and then I stretch out my hands to you knowing all that you are all that you've done. All that. You've been just going to stretch out my hands to you and my soul. Just longing for you. Like my, my soul thirst for Heartland. <br /><br /> Say a couple of things, as far as prayer free for maybe if you're here and you're visiting and you're like, what did I come to this morning? This is the worst service for me to be at. I'm going to say, this is one of the very best services that you could be at because we're not forcing you to do anything this morning. <br /><br /> Maybe you don't feel comfortable praying at all. Well, certainly as we maybe gather in some smaller groups, you can just be parked. Let's your heart. Join with people talking to the Lord. And that's as simple as prayer needs to be. Just you talking to God. You'll have a chance even to listen as just the spirit gives you these words from the scriptures up here, just to meditate on those things, to let them sink in. <br /><br /> Um, we're going to be in a couple of times, we'll be in a little small group, just maybe three or four of you around in your section, just to gather other times we'll direct you to just be on your own. Um, and so we'll have you do that. Um, when you're in your groups together, we're not going to spend a long time sharing or talking or catching up, not chat time. <br /><br /> Although there is plenty of time for that after the service, we really are coming with the core belief that we are just coming into sit before the Lord and pray. And so when we lead you through that section, just head right in to prayer as the time segment kind of finishes up, um, we'll kind of gather you back around and refocus our hearts and to, uh, another passage of scripture this morning. <br /><br /> So, uh, I'm going to ask you as, um, As people that come here that want to know Christ to join me in the posture of prayer this morning with just your hands open and so gathering a little group around you, maybe you have some of those prayer needs there. Um, and you will just take that time over the next few minutes here, just to pray together with your hands open to the Lord, meditating on, uh, Psalm 1 43. <br /><br /> So go ahead and do that now. Again, there are prayer cards in the back. Joe is going to be playing and, um, go ahead and go to prayer. <br /><br /> father. We do come with open hands. We don't particularly like having open hands because open hands, we're reminded of our emptiness of the fact that we can't conjure up things. <br /><br /> We do hold our hands to you. We lift up the specific requests that we have. <br /><br /> We say, God, do what only you can do. We do remember what you have done and we pray God do it again. Name of Jesus. We pray with our hands and our hearts and our lives. Amen. Thank you, dear people of God for praying, we know that this is, um, bright. This brings up some social anxiety for some, this brings up, um, some concerns. <br /><br /> I'm thinking I coming, I'd be receiving this morning and I'm asked more of than, um, I thought I might be. We just thank you for your labor in prayer. Uh, It is a gift to our Lord. It is a gift to us. Something is, um, for some of you, you there's, it, it feels like man, everyone is getting prayer, except for me, everyone knows how to do it. <br /><br /> Never everyone's comfortable in this kind of situation, but me and the distraction when it comes to prayers, pretty significant. Uh, Paul Miller, a dear teacher on prayer talks about how nobody really feels like they're very good at prayer. And I think that's part of the humility of prayer is God, we, we only sorta know what we're doing. <br /><br /> Another one of my favorite teachers talks about what does it mean to face distraction as we pray, which we will face as we pray. He says a thousand distractions is a thousand compassionate ways to return to God. So don't judge yourself, beat yourself up, say, what am I doing? Just remember I'm loved, I'm known. <br /><br /> And in the midst of my brain, a million miles from God, I have the compassionate chance to return to him our next posture. Um, for those of you who are able and willing to do this is the posture of kneeling. Kneeling is, is ultimately a very vulnerable posture. Here's a scripture that we are associating with that, oh, come let us worship and bow down. <br /><br /> Let us kneel before the Lord, our maker for he is our God. We are the people of his pasture, the sheep of his hand and kneeling. What kneeling is, is a posture. It's an incredibly vulnerable posture. I'm not ready to defend myself very well. I don't have the access to my eyes, my legs, my hands. Like I would, if I were standing, coming before God and kneeling is ultimate lead, laying down so much of what I use to feel confident or strong and saying, I need someone else to do this. <br /><br /> I submit myself to one greater than I for he can is the only one who can do this. Kneeling is like the fetal position, right? That's the very position of it. And it is crying out to our father. The image of sheep here is a very vulnerable position. So if you are able, we would love for you to take a moment and Neil. <br /><br /> And we realized that's, that's a big ass and people who are online, we love for you to do this as individuals or in your families as well. And as you come in, as you kneel to honestly, come with that image that I am a child, I am a child submitting myself and asking God, please, please help. Please help the situation. <br /><br /> But I'm holding in my hand as a request, please help other requests that I'm aware of in my head that didn't ever make it to paper this morning, as we pray. And we take this next time, if you would, and this one's going to be by yourself in the Lord, take a moment to Neil. You're welcome to come and do that at up here. <br /><br /> You're welcome to do that in your seat, but we ask you to do that. Now, as we enter into this next segment, in this posture of prayer, as you read with me one more time, this passage, oh, come. Let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord, our maker for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his kneel with me, a few words. <br /><br /> Thank you for joining our hearts together this morning in a posture of kneeling, I, uh, asked Joe to during this time in this posture, we'd like to consider silence, which is certainly something we're not very attuned to in our culture. Um, but it's, it's a way that an, this posture of personal prayer of silence, um, and listening to the spirit, it's just a beautiful way. <br /><br /> Uh, quieting one's own thoughts, making oneself present to God. So during our time of kneeling, we were in that position that Ben described really well of. Um, being vulnerable and bringing our requests. So we had these thoughts and these people that are on our hearts and we were just crying out to God. <br /><br /> And now we'd like to think, um, about how being quiet with God and listening is such a valuable, I set in our time of prayer. The place in the posture of prayer, uh, really does matter. Uh, Jesus withdrew to a solitary place for a reason, Henry. Now, instead of like this solitude and silence can never be separated. <br /><br /> They are the context within which prayer is practiced. Oftentimes I find myself when I go to prayer, I'm rushing in either with a, a list for God or whether it's a grocery list of concerns or things that we're asking. And, um, I think there's such value in being able to come quietly, uh, and listen. And so that's what we're going to ask this morning for four, five minutes of your time to just in your place, whether you can kneel again, you can sit, you can move to another spot if you want, but we're going to ask you just to listen, listen to God's spirit speaking to you, um, and asking him to do that. <br /><br /> Um, and so we're going to do that without Joe playing in the background, it's going to be quiet and that is good. We're going to center our thoughts on a couple of verses, um, <br /><br /> Exodus 14, 14. The Lord will fight for you and you have only to be silent Psalm 46, 10. Be still and know that I am God, I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth. So let's just take a few moments. 3, 4, 5 minutes to just listen to the spirit of God. Speaking to us. <br /><br /> Good morning. Um, I've been given the opportunity to speak a little bit about praise and worship and Thanksgiving. You know, often we go through our prayer life and sometimes we forget to talk to the Lord about praise and Thanksgiving. You know, I, I just think that, uh, we forget that in the spiritual realm that there's such power, such power when we're praising our Lord, when we're thanking him for what we've been given. <br /><br /> And so often I think we forget that we have the opportunity to be praising and thanking the Lord for the gifts that we've been given. You know? Um, so often when we're in that pain, when we're in those trials, when we're really hurting. It's really difficult for us to praise and thank the Lord. You know, we just are, we've run out of gas. <br /><br /> We're just, we're spent. And yet our Lord is asking us in those times to come before him and to praise him and thank him. And you know, what I think is so interesting about that is when we are lifting up our praises and thanking him and worshiping God, think about this, we're really changing the atmosphere. <br /><br /> That's around us, the atmosphere that's around us. And when we walk in that atmosphere, it stays with us during the day. And so often we don't think we can do that, but. It's just a beautiful thing when we are worshiping and praising the Lord and we take it that atmosphere, that spiritual atmosphere you're with us, wherever we go. <br /><br /> So this morning, we're going to take a few minutes and we're going to be praising and worshiping and thanking the Lord for all we have, you know, it's something we should be doing every day. And so often I think there's times that we forget to do that. So this is a beautiful time when we can come together as a community of faith and let us praise him and worship him. <br /><br /> And we have a Psalm that goes along with that, but I will sing of your strength. I will sing a loud of the steadfast love in the morning for you. Have been to me, a fortress and a refuge and the day of my distress. Oh my strength. I will sing praises to you for you. Oh God are my fortress. The God who shows me steadfast love for me personally, there's two beautiful well things that I look at when I look at this part of the Psalm, I look at his strength, his spiritual strength that he gives us. <br /><br /> And then I go down to that steadfast love that unfailing love that we receive so that when you go into prayer today, think about that spiritual strength that only the Lord can give us. Think about that. Steadfast love that unfailing love that only the Lord can give us. These are all things that come from the Lord. <br /><br /> So let's spend some time. Praising the Lord and thanking the Lord for what he's done for us today. <br /><br /> we're so thankful for you being with us this morning. Thank you for who you are and for your presence here, we realize that, uh, not everyone may read every email. That has come from us. Uh, we also recognize that many of you might be newer people and didn't even get an email that we were doing such a service as this, and there may be requests that you have that didn't make it to a card this morning. <br /><br /> And that, that might be because you weren't aware of what was going on and didn't get a chance to write that in. It might be because you didn't feel comfortable with what that particular request was and thought it wouldn't be great to distribute to everyone in the body or to people who might get your card. <br /><br /> What we're going to do is we're going to dismiss in a moment, but if anyone's here would like to just stay and receive some prayer this morning, we're asking two things we're asking that you would stay, that we could pray over you. And we also ask that some of you. Um, might stay and be able to lend some prayer support as we recognize in these postures that our Lord is great. <br /><br /> And so is our need of him. And the beauty of prayer is that it is the matching of two wonderful things of the king of the universe and the wonderful people he has made. So if you would like to stay, we'd love to spend some time praying for you specifically, um, so that you are not missed in the midst of all of these other requests. <br /><br /> Would you stand as we receive the blessing and are dismissed, and if you are not going to stay in the sanctuary and actually yet to leave quickly, um, so that those who would like to stay, uh, would be able to do so, just want to remind you this morning, even as we pray, even as we enter that you are not what you make. <br /><br /> You are not the, what you do. You are not the sum of all your relationships. You are not your greatest fierce. You are not your greatest triumphs that you are something and someone so much more, you are the beloved of God. It's great to be with you dear beloved. And then we'll exit silently and quickly, um, that those who would like to remain can do so now thank you. <br /><br /> </div></div> false no <![CDATA[There Is A Redeemer]]> 1Peter 1:13-21 "Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God."



For those of you don't know? My name is Jim Panter. I was a pastor here for ages and ages, and it's good to be here. We're continuing to be here. Pastor mark asked me to speak today, lead in the Lord's supper and a little devotional here beforehand.

Uh, he's here somewhere. I don't see him, but look for him, he's feeling better, uh, for those who have you been aware of some of the things he's been going through, be sure to say hi to him. He did say that and make yourself known to him. So it's good to be here. Uh, being retired is a little bit different and that first of all, the weirdest thing was getting up every morning that didn't have to come in here.

Uh, so I got up. Little later. And the first decision of the day is what to have for breakfast. That's a big decision. We've we've had had the chance to travel son. Some of you know, we've been out in west Texas for a while with our daughter, Carrie and her family. And that was a great time. And, and I were just up in Maine and we're with Ralph and Ruth and a couple of the grandsons there and Ralph and the boys.

And I did a lot of fishing and, and, and Ruth went all over the place, enjoyed the time. So retirement sounds rough. Doesn't it. Yesterday I saw a mug. We were with a couple of the other grants at aunt Charlotte's in Merchantville and besides candy, they have all sorts of other stuff and they had some mugs there.

And one of the mugs, I did not buy it, but I was very tempted. Cause it said I'm retired. I'm now a professional grandpa. And that's kinda how I feel. So it's good to be here. We're going to spend some time in the word of God here and just enjoy our time together. And also we're going to celebrate the Lord's supper together.

I'm digging here to make sure that I have, if you did not get a chance to pick up, these are the elements that we're going to be using. We do this yet. So we're just not passing stuff around. If you did not get one of these and you want to participate in the Lord's supper in a little bit, feel free to jump up and go get one.

I will not be offended if you don't come back. I might say something. It is good to be here together with the people who love the Lord. Isn't it. And those of you who are online watching it, I'm glad you're here. And I'm glad you're able to be a part of this with us. Let's just join our hearts together for a minute in prayer father, we do want to thank you so much for who you are.

Uh, some of these, uh, songs we've just sung. Just remember you are enough. And we'll talk about that today. A little bit that you love us with an everlasting love. You are the one who has been risen for our sake, for our redemption. And so today we want to worship you. We want to lift your name up and as we spend time together and looking at you and then celebrating the Lord's supper, God, we want to remember all that you are to us guide us.

Now, as we look in your word for these few minutes in Christ's name. Amen. Um, I'm, I'm looking at a passage here. It's one certainly is a familiar one. I have a question here. When you hear the word, my precious, what just came to your mind. How many of you thought of Gollum? Yeah. Most of us thought of Gollum.

Remember, if you are not aware of Lord of the rings, the whole trilogy, there is written. Gollum is a character who had possession of the ring for a long, long time. The ring was the one ring to rule them all and everything with that. And you get the picture, you see the picture that's there. That's the real ring.

No, it's not it's. Uh, but you know, it was his precious. That was everything to him, everything in life. It was always about my precious. And if you read all the way from the story from Bilbo Baggins, you know, all the way through, it's my precious. And that struck me as I, every time I hear that I think is, is that was what consumed him.

Now. We don't use the word precious so much anymore. Do we? For the things that we have, at least I don't. But I think there are things that are precious to us, things that are really, really important. And if I were to ask you to come up here and share with you, and you would all say, I'm not coming up there, but if you think in your mind, what, what is precious to, what is most precious to you?

And, and some of you would say, well, my family, my wife, her husband, God, and I hope that's true. I really hope that's true. But beyond that, I expect that many of us have other things that we kind of hold on to, right. Things are really, really precious. We think we can't get by without them. I did a little bit of reading research and, and some people who've done some studies with this had men, the things that they are precious are their toys.

That is, you know, cars, sports, hobbies, things like that. That is the overriding thing that they hold. Dear precious women. I better get this right. Otherwise I'll be in trouble. It said this, that this was what the study that what they hold most, dear is comfort that is being needed, listened to, to their status.

That becomes very, very important to them. And I expect a lot of that is very true. How do you, these things are oppression. How do you, how do you react to them? I remember this was many, many years ago. I bought a fishing rod at that time. It was the best fishing rod I'd ever had in my life. For those of, you know, anything about fishing had very good action.

Very light did a lot of fishing in the Colorado streams and things like that. And I got my rod I'm going out and I'm on the ranch on the women H and I'm walking out to the stream and I get out there. And I honestly don't know exactly. I can't remember everything that went on. I know I was in the middle of a cow field and there were cows everywhere, but that's okay.

I'm a cowboy. I understand that. And I'm getting ready to go down the stream. And for some reason I laid my new rod on the ground. I think what I was doing, I was tying on all the swivel or something. And I wasn't paying attention. Cows are very curious creatures. Yeah. I don't know if you knew that. And there were some cows now these are wild cows, you know, but they come and they're looking there and they're talking to, Hey, Jim, how you do it, you know?

And, and one cow keeps it and I still wouldn't pay an intention. And all of that, I heard. Snap that cow had the audacity step on my new fishing rod. And at that point, life was over. I had, I mean, that was my fishing rod. That was my best fishing rod. It was something at that point I was holding. So dear and I think maybe God allowed that to happen because I started to learn a lesson, a lesson about what are you really holding?

It was a hard lesson. I was really angry with that. Cow. Didn't have a thing in the world to beat her with right then, but it was a good lesson. What do you, when you hold on to things, what, what are you holding on to? What, what do they mean to you? We're going to look at a passage here real quickly. In first, Peter and Peter in writing to the believers in Asia minor, um, he he's talking to them about what's important to them.

You see, they've been suffering an awful lot because of their faith. Uh, some of them are from Jewish heritage. Some from Gentile, the Jews have been dispersed all over the known world. At that time they've been incredible suffering. Um, and he writes, Peter writes to encourage them. First of all, to warn them of what their true enemies really are and to help strengthen their faith.

That's a real quick synopsis of the book of first Peter. And, and as he writes the things they face, he does ask the question, not in this word, but this is what it means. What is most important to you? And what has eternal value? First Peter chapter one verses 13 to 21 is where we're looking at is the whole book of first Peter and more, but first Peter one 13 to 21.

And Peter writes this by the spirit of God. I did not look up to see what it is in the pew Bible. Look at the index, find first Peter, go there. Okay. Okay. He says this therefore with minds that are alert and fully sober set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed, it is coming as obedient.

Children do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance, but just as he who called you is holy. So be holy in. All you do for it is written. And be holy because I am holy. Since you call on a father who judges each person's work impartially live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear for, you know, that it is not with perishable things, such as silver or gold, that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with a, and here's that word precious, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect, he was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake through him, you believe in God who raised him from the dead and glorified him.

And so your faith and hope are in God. That's, uh, that's quite a passage and there's so much in there that we could look at. What I want to really focus on today. Here is just what is important. And what Peter really starts here is, is the first thing is really asking the question where, or what is your hope?

Verse 13. He starts therefore with minds alert and fully sober set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus traces revealed it is coming. The idea of hope and hope here we use the word hope. Sometimes it's just kind of, I hope we win the game. I hope I have lasagna for supper. I hope, but, and that's a weak form of how the word hope is the word hope here used scripturally is really the idea.

Someone has said it this way. Confident expectation. It is. It is assurance of living. It is the reason to keep ongoing. It's the assurance of things that are eternal. It's all wrapped up in the, my hope is it's not a week. We, she watched, he sorta thing. It is, it is my great confidence in what God is doing and why Christ is doing.

So when he says, when it says there, your hope, what is your hope? What are you really hanging onto? And as Peter writes here, he does say these. He says, this is what it is not the hope that he's talking about is not in what you have and will not, not in what you have in terms of wealth, in what you have in any sort of riches, your status, your position.

That's not where our hope ultimately lies. Unfortunately, you know, and I know that there are many people that that is where their hope is in the world right now and what they have. And Peter says, don't, don't go there. Especially those of you who are believers in Jesus Christ. That is not where your hope is.

It is not in the way of life you've been is not. Your philosophy of life is not even about church is not about morals because those things can only go so far, especially when they're not wrapped up in the person of Jesus. There is no eternal value enriches. There's no eternal value in the sort of philosophy you might choose to live by.

You can't take these things with you. He uses a term, they are corruptible. They pass away his empty way of life. He talks about that you had from their forefathers and all that. It can be talking to those who were pagans or those who were religious religious in the sense of trying to please God, by what they did, rather than their belief, those who were pagans.

Politically at that time, they were living largely in anarchy. As you look at that history of that time and things were, were very volatile socially. They tend to live in isolation. It was their little group, us four and no more sort of, yeah, morally. They lived into Bockarie mentally. They were in despair because they had no hope and they didn't know where to go and they didn't know what to do with it.

Those who were religious and again, religious in the sense of just somehow trying to reach God on their own religiously. They lived in legalism so much. If I do enough, maybe God will accept me socially. They tended to be kind of smug and superior over others. I was just reading the book of Romans. That's where I am in my quiet time right now and there, as Paul writes, he talks about that very thing, what they're like, and he's said, you're just like these other people, but you lift your head above others, your noses in the air.

That's my morally, they lived by appearances, but maybe not so much what they did mentally consumed with guilt because they knew what they were and all these things here. Peter is saying, here you bar, what's your hope. It is not in what you have, not at all. And we need to remember that you and I both need to remember that, that our hope in God, our hope in Christ is not in what we have.

He says here is what it is. Your hope is this. It is that you have been redeemed. And if you were one of the people reading this for the first time, you probably would have said, wow, that is a great thing. I have been redeemed. I've been bought, I've been paid for is the idea. It was a horrible thing. And we all recognized how slavery was a horrible thing, but has gone on through the world for many, many thousands of years.

But there were people who were slaves and sometimes they would be sought and bought and sold. And sometimes they were set up on this auction, Bach and people would buy them. That was the word redeem. They would buy them whether they were valuable or not valuable. And here he says here, Jesus has redeemed us.

He's bought us. He's paid for us. Even as damaged goods. He still said, I I'm going to buy you. You remember the story of Hosea in the old Testament? I don't know if you remember, let me remind you. Hosea is one of the minor prophets. You don't always read that all the time, but there's a great story there that God did with Hosea.

God instructed Hosea to marry Gomer, his wife. And I know that's a funny name for a girl Gomer. I think of an Andy Griffith right away, but, but Gomer was his wife and, and they had some children and began to suspect by the third one, uh, that it may not be my child. And it turns out that Gomer was very unfaithful.

She went away and absolutely lived a life of debauchery and, and probably prostitution and everything. And it was awful. And then came a time when God instructed Hosea. To go buy Gomer back there. Gomer was, if you can imagine that picture, there she is. She's up on the auction block as a slave, she has been used.

She has been defiled. She is, she is in an awful state. She has left him. And I can just imagine Jose, is that, what are you talking about? God? And God says, go redeem her. And so being faithful to God and obedient to God, Hosea goes, and he does redeem Gomer. He pays the price. She is damaged goods. There is nothing that she can claim of him.

There is nothing on her part that she deserves. And yet hoses redeems are in that a wonderful picture. And it is a picture of what Christ has done for us. We were up on that block. We were the ones. And Jesus redeemed us. He paid the price for us. We need to understand your, what was the price of redemption.

And again, it goes that he goes back to this. It was not money. It was not what you have that redeemed. You, you can't buy your way into eternity in terms of salvation. There's no amount of money that can pay for your sin. People try to redeem themselves. And you know, this, Peter tried to redeem themselves by, by doing good works, by going to church, getting baptized, being better people, giving money.

And those are worthy things. Those are, those are not bad things, but those things can never, ever redeem us. Understand this. Remember. It's never enough what we have your sin. And my sin has killed us and our money, our riches, our good works church will never give you life. You cannot do not. Remember. The Bible talks about the wages of sin is death.

In another place. It says this, that all have sinned and fall short of God's glory. Our sin has separated us from God and there's not a single thing in the world we can do. And, and many of us know that, you know that I know that, but it's a good thing to remember. That is nothing that I have. It is not money, not what I have, not what I do that redeems me the price of redemption, the price of redemption.

We come here to the precious blood of Christ that. Is what redeems us. Peter gets to a place where he, he begins to paint a picture for them, mind of the Passover lamb. Remember where the Passover Lam, when, when Israel was first in Egypt and they were getting ready to go, and God instructed them to kill this Passover lamb.

They were to eat it. They would put the blood on the doorpost of the house. It was a picture of God's deliverance. It was a picture of God's redemption. It was a BA a lamb without blemish or spot. And that's what he says here is Jesus. The precious blood. It was a lamb without blemish or spot. And if you were a good Jewish person, you would have understood that picture.

Absolutely. You would have understood that heart. It's the heart of Isaiah in Isaiah chapter 53. And there as Isaiah writes, he says this, but he. Talking about the Redeemer Jesus, but he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was on him.

And by his wounds, we are healed. We all like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned to our own way and the Lord has laid on him. The iniquity of us all is that idea of when John the Baptist saw Jesus and he, and he cried out behold, look, the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. Peter is painting that picture and he is saying this, this is the perfect sacrifice.

This is the lamb without blood, without blemish or spot. This is your redemption is the precious blood of Christ. That is what the cost is, what we need to remember here. And then I have a little chart here now helps me a little bit, um, to just put the things, what I have put in one column. You, if you have the notes, you'll see there on one column.

What I have on the other column, the precious blood of Christ and the one called him what I have, whatever it is. And you can put it down there. I could put down their, my fishing pole. I could put down there, whatever it is. And the question of the is, is it enough

never as good as those things might be. Even if you put family, even if you put church, is it never, never. Go to the other column, the precious blood of Christ is the precious blood of Christ enough. And it is absolutely. Yes, it is enough for our redemption. Is it eternal on my side? Whatever I write down there is it journal never.

It is not eternal. Whatever you put there on the other side, the precious blood of Christ is it eternal and we ought to be shouting out. It is enough. You know what? That's what we need to remember as we focus on who Christ is and what he has done. I mean, Peter just wants these people. Remember that you're going through some hard times.

Remember this what's the result in verse 20 and 21. Or 20 and actually 23, we didn't read it. Um, he was chosen before creation of the world, but it was revealed in these last times for your sake though, through him, you believe in God who raised him from the dead and glorified him. And so your faith and hope are in God.

And then in verse 23, he says this for you have been born again, not a perishable seed, but of imperishable through the living and enduring word of God. The result of all that, as we understand who he is, that there is that price of redemption. It is the precious blood of Christ. It's not the things I do.

And when I embrace that, I faith, I become a child of God. I believed in him, in him alone for eternity, for life, for forgiveness of sin, those scriptures say I've been born again. I met a new person. Um, I've become a child of God by faith. And the same thing is true for you. If you have believed this, if you understand the redemption that's in Christ, you've embraced that by faith.

You are a child of God. And once again, if we understand that we probably ought to be saying, yeah, maybe we could even clap because the truth is that's who we are.

We can't stop there. And Peter, doesn't stop there very quickly here. He says, well, if that's true, then how should I live? I mean, watch the difference. Then I'm not living by the things I declare precious. I'm living by the preciousness of the blood of Christ. What am I doing? Well, first of all, just not being consumed with the things of the world, not being conformed to the world and its ways, not being conformed to my own evil desires.

Verse 14 as obedient children do not conform to the evil desires you had. When you lived in ignorance, go, don't go there. Don't consume. Forget those things. As the things, the world, whether good or bad are not eternal and do not bring life don't live direction. In fact, he says, do this be holy when you first hear that?

I don't know what goes through your mind. I know what goes through my mind. Holy, are you kidding me? I mean, I'm no mother Teresa and I know you're not either. I don't want to be a holy Joe. I mean, I know what people say about that. That's not the idea. The idea of holiness very simply here. The word means to be set apart different.

Not weird. Just set apart, set apart from sin. That means that I'm not going to be actively pursuing sin as much as the grace of God allows me. Do we sin as believers in Christ? Unfortunately we do. But the idea of being set apart is that I'm not going to live in that direction. I don't want to go that way.

That is not my lifestyle. Do I sin? Yes. Does God forgive me? Absolutely. But so set apart means that's not what I'm pursuing it. Being set apart to God. That is as much as I have by the spirit of God. I'm following him. I'm following his command. I'm doing, I'm doing what he wants to work in my heart. That's the simple part of holiness.

We have some core values here at FCC. We got part of our DNA. And the very first one is that says that we absolutely committed to Jesus and his word Jesus, and his word are central to everything we are. And it's true. That's what we want to be. I mean, when, when it comes to Jesus, we want to love him the most, as much as we were able, when it comes to obedience, we want to obey him first and foremost in everything.

When it comes to dependence, we want to depend on him fully. That's what being set apart is that's what being, holy is not walking around with some sort of halo is just that I'm loving Jesus. I'm following him with my heart as much as I know how. And I'm depending on him in every circumstance, Peter says, that's what we want.

That's what you meet as you have embraced. That redemption, then let him work that in your life. So what is precious to you? There's a holdup in the test of eternity. What side of the ledger, what you hold on to does a fall on, if it's anything apart from the precious blood of Christ, it is not enough. It is never eternal.

You know what? Life can get hard candidate. And we know that we've experienced that this whole year and a little more. We face things hard in life, on the job in our families, with our health that can tear us down. They can cause despair, maybe even make this question God, but Peter says, remember, remember, well, who or what your hope is.

Some of you have been getting letters from a Harold Ebersol. Harold is a missionary that we support from Bangladesh. They've been part of the body here for many, many years. And as you know, Harold has been going through some hard things. The last few years, uh, was diagnosed with cancer and to the glory of God right now that cancer's in remission, they are able to go back to Bangladesh for a little bit.

Uh, and volume was air. He got COVID. It turns out he got COVID very badly. He's able to be back there in Tennessee now, but over the past few weeks, he's struggling with breathing, struggling with weakness. And finally, it was the beginning of this week or our guests on last weekend. They finally had to take him to the ER, he was so weak.

He wrote the yesterday so weak that he couldn't even walk. And, you know, Harold that's like what? And his, his O two levels, his oxygen levels were down to 70. That's bad. And as by the glory of God, and yet yesterday he wrote, and I asked if I could share this. He said, yeah, I'd love you to share that by the glory of God, uh, his oxygen levels came back up.

They thought he'd had a heart attack. Probably not. It was just those levels down so much. Um, he was able to start eating and gain weight for a Herald. That probably means two ounces, but he's getting stronger. And he was, he was discharged yesterday. He so has oxygen. Every time he stood up, his oxygen levels went down, but they wouldn't let him go until they stayed up.

And now that is all good. So now he's praying and what he said and reason I'm relating this, cause it relates so much to the hope he says this. He is continuing to trust God. They've been hard times. No question about that. But he, and these, this is his, some of his words that God is his rock. Jesus is his rock.

He is my life. He is my hope. That's what we come to here. Our hope in Jesus Christ. It gives us a right perspective. Our problems may not go away. In fact, they might get worse, but we know that he is with us where his children by faith, he has bought us. He has redeemed us. He helps us live with an eternal perspective, knowing what the true grace of God really is because he is our Redeemer.

Keith Green many years ago wrote a song. And the part of the words of this. The song is there is a Redeemer. There is a Redeemer Jesus God's own son, precious lamb of God, Messiah. Holy one, Jesus, my Redeemer name above all names. Precious lamb of God. Messiah. Oh for sinners. Slain. Thank you. Oh my father for giving us your son and leaving your spirit to the work on earth is done.

We want to rejoice in Christ our Redeemer. We're going to take some time and just celebrate the Lord's table together very quickly. Just to take some time here to rejoice. And the truth of who Christ is that he is our Redeemer. And again, if you had not picked up the elements and want to, you can run out and pick them up real quickly, I am terrified of these things because how many of you are really afraid that you're going to spill the juice?

Okay. If it happens, it happens. Okay. You know what? The Lord's supper just very quickly remembering. It's a, it's a time to celebrate who he is, that he is our redemption. Once you remember taking these elements will not redeem you. That would be one of the things wouldn't it taking. These elements will not redeem you.

The redemption only comes through the precious blood of Christ. Taking these elements. Won't make you a better Christian taking these elements is very simply, we are remembering that we have trusted Christ as our savior. We have trusted in his redemption for us apart from any good work that we do. And we celebrate him.

If you have not trusted Christ as your savior taking these elements will just mean you get a little bit of cracker, a little bit of juice if you do that. But you know what, if you don't know, Christ is your savior. If you haven't really embraced that redemption, you could do that right now, right? Where you sit by very simply putting your faith and trust in Jesus as the one who has redeemed you.

The Bible says about as many as received him to them. He gave the right to become children of God. Even to those that believe on his name, you could do that right where you sit and trust Christ. The Redeemer, Paul writes in first Corinthians, this four I received from the Lord, but I also passed on to you, Lord Jesus.

On the night he was betrayed, took bread. And when he'd given thanks, he broke it and said, this is my body, which is for you do this in remembrance of me in the same way after supper, he took the cup saying this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this whenever you drink it in remembrance of me for whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

And then he does give a warning. He says, don't take it in an unworthy manner. Don't take it. I would say, if you know, there's known sin in your life, you need to confess that first. If you have something between you and a brother, you need to make that right. If you're a follower, if you're not a follower of Jesus, I would suggest you not take part until that time have come to understand that redemption and embrace that.

But for those of us who have embraced Christ, we want to remember so carefully. If you will take the. Little cover off the bread parts, a little cracker there. And he did say this, remember, this is from the, this is from the Passover. This is the bread. This is the, the bread that was hidden. He, this is my body.

He says, which is for you. Take it in remembrance of me. So let's pray. Let's thank the Lord together, father. Thank you for giving yourself. Thank you for Jesus. Willing to go to the cross, giving up himself, his body, which was beaten, which was hung on that cross for us. We do remember that and rejoice in that in Christ's name.

Amen. So let's eat together

and then he said he took the cup. This is the cup of the new covenant of my blood. Do this whenever you drink it. In remembrance of me again in the Passover Seder, most people will believe it was the third cup he's talking about. It's called the cup of redemption. He gave his life for us. He revealed to us father.

We thank you from the bottom of our hearts that you have redeemed us. Not because we deserve it, but very simply because you love us. We want to remember you and thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Amen. So carefully take your top off. If you haven't already, it makes the juice ready and together.

Let's drink this to the group

father. We rejoice in you Christ our savior, our true and absolute redemption. In Christ's name. Amen. It's good to be together today. Isn't it. Let's enjoy each other's company and go out and this week serve and honor the Lord .]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/there-is-a-redeemer b210fc92-cb25-44c5-86f6-04164e7ced2a Sun, 06 Jun 2021 11:24:55 GMT <div data-html="true">1Peter 1:13-21 "Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God." <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> For those of you don't know? My name is Jim Panter. I was a pastor here for ages and ages, and it's good to be here. We're continuing to be here. Pastor mark asked me to speak today, lead in the Lord's supper and a little devotional here beforehand. <br /><br /> Uh, he's here somewhere. I don't see him, but look for him, he's feeling better, uh, for those who have you been aware of some of the things he's been going through, be sure to say hi to him. He did say that and make yourself known to him. So it's good to be here. Uh, being retired is a little bit different and that first of all, the weirdest thing was getting up every morning that didn't have to come in here. <br /><br /> Uh, so I got up. Little later. And the first decision of the day is what to have for breakfast. That's a big decision. We've we've had had the chance to travel son. Some of you know, we've been out in west Texas for a while with our daughter, Carrie and her family. And that was a great time. And, and I were just up in Maine and we're with Ralph and Ruth and a couple of the grandsons there and Ralph and the boys. <br /><br /> And I did a lot of fishing and, and, and Ruth went all over the place, enjoyed the time. So retirement sounds rough. Doesn't it. Yesterday I saw a mug. We were with a couple of the other grants at aunt Charlotte's in Merchantville and besides candy, they have all sorts of other stuff and they had some mugs there. <br /><br /> And one of the mugs, I did not buy it, but I was very tempted. Cause it said I'm retired. I'm now a professional grandpa. And that's kinda how I feel. So it's good to be here. We're going to spend some time in the word of God here and just enjoy our time together. And also we're going to celebrate the Lord's supper together. <br /><br /> I'm digging here to make sure that I have, if you did not get a chance to pick up, these are the elements that we're going to be using. We do this yet. So we're just not passing stuff around. If you did not get one of these and you want to participate in the Lord's supper in a little bit, feel free to jump up and go get one. <br /><br /> I will not be offended if you don't come back. I might say something. It is good to be here together with the people who love the Lord. Isn't it. And those of you who are online watching it, I'm glad you're here. And I'm glad you're able to be a part of this with us. Let's just join our hearts together for a minute in prayer father, we do want to thank you so much for who you are. <br /><br /> Uh, some of these, uh, songs we've just sung. Just remember you are enough. And we'll talk about that today. A little bit that you love us with an everlasting love. You are the one who has been risen for our sake, for our redemption. And so today we want to worship you. We want to lift your name up and as we spend time together and looking at you and then celebrating the Lord's supper, God, we want to remember all that you are to us guide us. <br /><br /> Now, as we look in your word for these few minutes in Christ's name. Amen. Um, I'm, I'm looking at a passage here. It's one certainly is a familiar one. I have a question here. When you hear the word, my precious, what just came to your mind. How many of you thought of Gollum? Yeah. Most of us thought of Gollum. <br /><br /> Remember, if you are not aware of Lord of the rings, the whole trilogy, there is written. Gollum is a character who had possession of the ring for a long, long time. The ring was the one ring to rule them all and everything with that. And you get the picture, you see the picture that's there. That's the real ring. <br /><br /> No, it's not it's. Uh, but you know, it was his precious. That was everything to him, everything in life. It was always about my precious. And if you read all the way from the story from Bilbo Baggins, you know, all the way through, it's my precious. And that struck me as I, every time I hear that I think is, is that was what consumed him. <br /><br /> Now. We don't use the word precious so much anymore. Do we? For the things that we have, at least I don't. But I think there are things that are precious to us, things that are really, really important. And if I were to ask you to come up here and share with you, and you would all say, I'm not coming up there, but if you think in your mind, what, what is precious to, what is most precious to you? <br /><br /> And, and some of you would say, well, my family, my wife, her husband, God, and I hope that's true. I really hope that's true. But beyond that, I expect that many of us have other things that we kind of hold on to, right. Things are really, really precious. We think we can't get by without them. I did a little bit of reading research and, and some people who've done some studies with this had men, the things that they are precious are their toys. <br /><br /> That is, you know, cars, sports, hobbies, things like that. That is the overriding thing that they hold. Dear precious women. I better get this right. Otherwise I'll be in trouble. It said this, that this was what the study that what they hold most, dear is comfort that is being needed, listened to, to their status. <br /><br /> That becomes very, very important to them. And I expect a lot of that is very true. How do you, these things are oppression. How do you, how do you react to them? I remember this was many, many years ago. I bought a fishing rod at that time. It was the best fishing rod I'd ever had in my life. For those of, you know, anything about fishing had very good action. <br /><br /> Very light did a lot of fishing in the Colorado streams and things like that. And I got my rod I'm going out and I'm on the ranch on the women H and I'm walking out to the stream and I get out there. And I honestly don't know exactly. I can't remember everything that went on. I know I was in the middle of a cow field and there were cows everywhere, but that's okay. <br /><br /> I'm a cowboy. I understand that. And I'm getting ready to go down the stream. And for some reason I laid my new rod on the ground. I think what I was doing, I was tying on all the swivel or something. And I wasn't paying attention. Cows are very curious creatures. Yeah. I don't know if you knew that. And there were some cows now these are wild cows, you know, but they come and they're looking there and they're talking to, Hey, Jim, how you do it, you know? <br /><br /> And, and one cow keeps it and I still wouldn't pay an intention. And all of that, I heard. Snap that cow had the audacity step on my new fishing rod. And at that point, life was over. I had, I mean, that was my fishing rod. That was my best fishing rod. It was something at that point I was holding. So dear and I think maybe God allowed that to happen because I started to learn a lesson, a lesson about what are you really holding? <br /><br /> It was a hard lesson. I was really angry with that. Cow. Didn't have a thing in the world to beat her with right then, but it was a good lesson. What do you, when you hold on to things, what, what are you holding on to? What, what do they mean to you? We're going to look at a passage here real quickly. In first, Peter and Peter in writing to the believers in Asia minor, um, he he's talking to them about what's important to them. <br /><br /> You see, they've been suffering an awful lot because of their faith. Uh, some of them are from Jewish heritage. Some from Gentile, the Jews have been dispersed all over the known world. At that time they've been incredible suffering. Um, and he writes, Peter writes to encourage them. First of all, to warn them of what their true enemies really are and to help strengthen their faith. <br /><br /> That's a real quick synopsis of the book of first Peter. And, and as he writes the things they face, he does ask the question, not in this word, but this is what it means. What is most important to you? And what has eternal value? First Peter chapter one verses 13 to 21 is where we're looking at is the whole book of first Peter and more, but first Peter one 13 to 21. <br /><br /> And Peter writes this by the spirit of God. I did not look up to see what it is in the pew Bible. Look at the index, find first Peter, go there. Okay. Okay. He says this therefore with minds that are alert and fully sober set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed, it is coming as obedient. <br /><br /> Children do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance, but just as he who called you is holy. So be holy in. All you do for it is written. And be holy because I am holy. Since you call on a father who judges each person's work impartially live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear for, you know, that it is not with perishable things, such as silver or gold, that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with a, and here's that word precious, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect, he was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake through him, you believe in God who raised him from the dead and glorified him. <br /><br /> And so your faith and hope are in God. That's, uh, that's quite a passage and there's so much in there that we could look at. What I want to really focus on today. Here is just what is important. And what Peter really starts here is, is the first thing is really asking the question where, or what is your hope? <br /><br /> Verse 13. He starts therefore with minds alert and fully sober set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus traces revealed it is coming. The idea of hope and hope here we use the word hope. Sometimes it's just kind of, I hope we win the game. I hope I have lasagna for supper. I hope, but, and that's a weak form of how the word hope is the word hope here used scripturally is really the idea. <br /><br /> Someone has said it this way. Confident expectation. It is. It is assurance of living. It is the reason to keep ongoing. It's the assurance of things that are eternal. It's all wrapped up in the, my hope is it's not a week. We, she watched, he sorta thing. It is, it is my great confidence in what God is doing and why Christ is doing. <br /><br /> So when he says, when it says there, your hope, what is your hope? What are you really hanging onto? And as Peter writes here, he does say these. He says, this is what it is not the hope that he's talking about is not in what you have and will not, not in what you have in terms of wealth, in what you have in any sort of riches, your status, your position. <br /><br /> That's not where our hope ultimately lies. Unfortunately, you know, and I know that there are many people that that is where their hope is in the world right now and what they have. And Peter says, don't, don't go there. Especially those of you who are believers in Jesus Christ. That is not where your hope is. <br /><br /> It is not in the way of life you've been is not. Your philosophy of life is not even about church is not about morals because those things can only go so far, especially when they're not wrapped up in the person of Jesus. There is no eternal value enriches. There's no eternal value in the sort of philosophy you might choose to live by. <br /><br /> You can't take these things with you. He uses a term, they are corruptible. They pass away his empty way of life. He talks about that you had from their forefathers and all that. It can be talking to those who were pagans or those who were religious religious in the sense of trying to please God, by what they did, rather than their belief, those who were pagans. <br /><br /> Politically at that time, they were living largely in anarchy. As you look at that history of that time and things were, were very volatile socially. They tend to live in isolation. It was their little group, us four and no more sort of, yeah, morally. They lived into Bockarie mentally. They were in despair because they had no hope and they didn't know where to go and they didn't know what to do with it. <br /><br /> Those who were religious and again, religious in the sense of just somehow trying to reach God on their own religiously. They lived in legalism so much. If I do enough, maybe God will accept me socially. They tended to be kind of smug and superior over others. I was just reading the book of Romans. That's where I am in my quiet time right now and there, as Paul writes, he talks about that very thing, what they're like, and he's said, you're just like these other people, but you lift your head above others, your noses in the air. <br /><br /> That's my morally, they lived by appearances, but maybe not so much what they did mentally consumed with guilt because they knew what they were and all these things here. Peter is saying, here you bar, what's your hope. It is not in what you have, not at all. And we need to remember that you and I both need to remember that, that our hope in God, our hope in Christ is not in what we have. <br /><br /> He says here is what it is. Your hope is this. It is that you have been redeemed. And if you were one of the people reading this for the first time, you probably would have said, wow, that is a great thing. I have been redeemed. I've been bought, I've been paid for is the idea. It was a horrible thing. And we all recognized how slavery was a horrible thing, but has gone on through the world for many, many thousands of years. <br /><br /> But there were people who were slaves and sometimes they would be sought and bought and sold. And sometimes they were set up on this auction, Bach and people would buy them. That was the word redeem. They would buy them whether they were valuable or not valuable. And here he says here, Jesus has redeemed us. <br /><br /> He's bought us. He's paid for us. Even as damaged goods. He still said, I I'm going to buy you. You remember the story of Hosea in the old Testament? I don't know if you remember, let me remind you. Hosea is one of the minor prophets. You don't always read that all the time, but there's a great story there that God did with Hosea. <br /><br /> God instructed Hosea to marry Gomer, his wife. And I know that's a funny name for a girl Gomer. I think of an Andy Griffith right away, but, but Gomer was his wife and, and they had some children and began to suspect by the third one, uh, that it may not be my child. And it turns out that Gomer was very unfaithful. <br /><br /> She went away and absolutely lived a life of debauchery and, and probably prostitution and everything. And it was awful. And then came a time when God instructed Hosea. To go buy Gomer back there. Gomer was, if you can imagine that picture, there she is. She's up on the auction block as a slave, she has been used. <br /><br /> She has been defiled. She is, she is in an awful state. She has left him. And I can just imagine Jose, is that, what are you talking about? God? And God says, go redeem her. And so being faithful to God and obedient to God, Hosea goes, and he does redeem Gomer. He pays the price. She is damaged goods. There is nothing that she can claim of him. <br /><br /> There is nothing on her part that she deserves. And yet hoses redeems are in that a wonderful picture. And it is a picture of what Christ has done for us. We were up on that block. We were the ones. And Jesus redeemed us. He paid the price for us. We need to understand your, what was the price of redemption. <br /><br /> And again, it goes that he goes back to this. It was not money. It was not what you have that redeemed. You, you can't buy your way into eternity in terms of salvation. There's no amount of money that can pay for your sin. People try to redeem themselves. And you know, this, Peter tried to redeem themselves by, by doing good works, by going to church, getting baptized, being better people, giving money. <br /><br /> And those are worthy things. Those are, those are not bad things, but those things can never, ever redeem us. Understand this. Remember. It's never enough what we have your sin. And my sin has killed us and our money, our riches, our good works church will never give you life. You cannot do not. Remember. The Bible talks about the wages of sin is death. <br /><br /> In another place. It says this, that all have sinned and fall short of God's glory. Our sin has separated us from God and there's not a single thing in the world we can do. And, and many of us know that, you know that I know that, but it's a good thing to remember. That is nothing that I have. It is not money, not what I have, not what I do that redeems me the price of redemption, the price of redemption. <br /><br /> We come here to the precious blood of Christ that. Is what redeems us. Peter gets to a place where he, he begins to paint a picture for them, mind of the Passover lamb. Remember where the Passover Lam, when, when Israel was first in Egypt and they were getting ready to go, and God instructed them to kill this Passover lamb. <br /><br /> They were to eat it. They would put the blood on the doorpost of the house. It was a picture of God's deliverance. It was a picture of God's redemption. It was a BA a lamb without blemish or spot. And that's what he says here is Jesus. The precious blood. It was a lamb without blemish or spot. And if you were a good Jewish person, you would have understood that picture. <br /><br /> Absolutely. You would have understood that heart. It's the heart of Isaiah in Isaiah chapter 53. And there as Isaiah writes, he says this, but he. Talking about the Redeemer Jesus, but he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was on him. <br /><br /> And by his wounds, we are healed. We all like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned to our own way and the Lord has laid on him. The iniquity of us all is that idea of when John the Baptist saw Jesus and he, and he cried out behold, look, the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. Peter is painting that picture and he is saying this, this is the perfect sacrifice. <br /><br /> This is the lamb without blood, without blemish or spot. This is your redemption is the precious blood of Christ. That is what the cost is, what we need to remember here. And then I have a little chart here now helps me a little bit, um, to just put the things, what I have put in one column. You, if you have the notes, you'll see there on one column. <br /><br /> What I have on the other column, the precious blood of Christ and the one called him what I have, whatever it is. And you can put it down there. I could put down their, my fishing pole. I could put down there, whatever it is. And the question of the is, is it enough <br /><br /> never as good as those things might be. Even if you put family, even if you put church, is it never, never. Go to the other column, the precious blood of Christ is the precious blood of Christ enough. And it is absolutely. Yes, it is enough for our redemption. Is it eternal on my side? Whatever I write down there is it journal never. <br /><br /> It is not eternal. Whatever you put there on the other side, the precious blood of Christ is it eternal and we ought to be shouting out. It is enough. You know what? That's what we need to remember as we focus on who Christ is and what he has done. I mean, Peter just wants these people. Remember that you're going through some hard times. <br /><br /> Remember this what's the result in verse 20 and 21. Or 20 and actually 23, we didn't read it. Um, he was chosen before creation of the world, but it was revealed in these last times for your sake though, through him, you believe in God who raised him from the dead and glorified him. And so your faith and hope are in God. <br /><br /> And then in verse 23, he says this for you have been born again, not a perishable seed, but of imperishable through the living and enduring word of God. The result of all that, as we understand who he is, that there is that price of redemption. It is the precious blood of Christ. It's not the things I do. <br /><br /> And when I embrace that, I faith, I become a child of God. I believed in him, in him alone for eternity, for life, for forgiveness of sin, those scriptures say I've been born again. I met a new person. Um, I've become a child of God by faith. And the same thing is true for you. If you have believed this, if you understand the redemption that's in Christ, you've embraced that by faith. <br /><br /> You are a child of God. And once again, if we understand that we probably ought to be saying, yeah, maybe we could even clap because the truth is that's who we are. <br /><br /> We can't stop there. And Peter, doesn't stop there very quickly here. He says, well, if that's true, then how should I live? I mean, watch the difference. Then I'm not living by the things I declare precious. I'm living by the preciousness of the blood of Christ. What am I doing? Well, first of all, just not being consumed with the things of the world, not being conformed to the world and its ways, not being conformed to my own evil desires. <br /><br /> Verse 14 as obedient children do not conform to the evil desires you had. When you lived in ignorance, go, don't go there. Don't consume. Forget those things. As the things, the world, whether good or bad are not eternal and do not bring life don't live direction. In fact, he says, do this be holy when you first hear that? <br /><br /> I don't know what goes through your mind. I know what goes through my mind. Holy, are you kidding me? I mean, I'm no mother Teresa and I know you're not either. I don't want to be a holy Joe. I mean, I know what people say about that. That's not the idea. The idea of holiness very simply here. The word means to be set apart different. <br /><br /> Not weird. Just set apart, set apart from sin. That means that I'm not going to be actively pursuing sin as much as the grace of God allows me. Do we sin as believers in Christ? Unfortunately we do. But the idea of being set apart is that I'm not going to live in that direction. I don't want to go that way. <br /><br /> That is not my lifestyle. Do I sin? Yes. Does God forgive me? Absolutely. But so set apart means that's not what I'm pursuing it. Being set apart to God. That is as much as I have by the spirit of God. I'm following him. I'm following his command. I'm doing, I'm doing what he wants to work in my heart. That's the simple part of holiness. <br /><br /> We have some core values here at FCC. We got part of our DNA. And the very first one is that says that we absolutely committed to Jesus and his word Jesus, and his word are central to everything we are. And it's true. That's what we want to be. I mean, when, when it comes to Jesus, we want to love him the most, as much as we were able, when it comes to obedience, we want to obey him first and foremost in everything. <br /><br /> When it comes to dependence, we want to depend on him fully. That's what being set apart is that's what being, holy is not walking around with some sort of halo is just that I'm loving Jesus. I'm following him with my heart as much as I know how. And I'm depending on him in every circumstance, Peter says, that's what we want. <br /><br /> That's what you meet as you have embraced. That redemption, then let him work that in your life. So what is precious to you? There's a holdup in the test of eternity. What side of the ledger, what you hold on to does a fall on, if it's anything apart from the precious blood of Christ, it is not enough. It is never eternal. <br /><br /> You know what? Life can get hard candidate. And we know that we've experienced that this whole year and a little more. We face things hard in life, on the job in our families, with our health that can tear us down. They can cause despair, maybe even make this question God, but Peter says, remember, remember, well, who or what your hope is. <br /><br /> Some of you have been getting letters from a Harold Ebersol. Harold is a missionary that we support from Bangladesh. They've been part of the body here for many, many years. And as you know, Harold has been going through some hard things. The last few years, uh, was diagnosed with cancer and to the glory of God right now that cancer's in remission, they are able to go back to Bangladesh for a little bit. <br /><br /> Uh, and volume was air. He got COVID. It turns out he got COVID very badly. He's able to be back there in Tennessee now, but over the past few weeks, he's struggling with breathing, struggling with weakness. And finally, it was the beginning of this week or our guests on last weekend. They finally had to take him to the ER, he was so weak. <br /><br /> He wrote the yesterday so weak that he couldn't even walk. And, you know, Harold that's like what? And his, his O two levels, his oxygen levels were down to 70. That's bad. And as by the glory of God, and yet yesterday he wrote, and I asked if I could share this. He said, yeah, I'd love you to share that by the glory of God, uh, his oxygen levels came back up. <br /><br /> They thought he'd had a heart attack. Probably not. It was just those levels down so much. Um, he was able to start eating and gain weight for a Herald. That probably means two ounces, but he's getting stronger. And he was, he was discharged yesterday. He so has oxygen. Every time he stood up, his oxygen levels went down, but they wouldn't let him go until they stayed up. <br /><br /> And now that is all good. So now he's praying and what he said and reason I'm relating this, cause it relates so much to the hope he says this. He is continuing to trust God. They've been hard times. No question about that. But he, and these, this is his, some of his words that God is his rock. Jesus is his rock. <br /><br /> He is my life. He is my hope. That's what we come to here. Our hope in Jesus Christ. It gives us a right perspective. Our problems may not go away. In fact, they might get worse, but we know that he is with us where his children by faith, he has bought us. He has redeemed us. He helps us live with an eternal perspective, knowing what the true grace of God really is because he is our Redeemer. <br /><br /> Keith Green many years ago wrote a song. And the part of the words of this. The song is there is a Redeemer. There is a Redeemer Jesus God's own son, precious lamb of God, Messiah. Holy one, Jesus, my Redeemer name above all names. Precious lamb of God. Messiah. Oh for sinners. Slain. Thank you. Oh my father for giving us your son and leaving your spirit to the work on earth is done. <br /><br /> We want to rejoice in Christ our Redeemer. We're going to take some time and just celebrate the Lord's table together very quickly. Just to take some time here to rejoice. And the truth of who Christ is that he is our Redeemer. And again, if you had not picked up the elements and want to, you can run out and pick them up real quickly, I am terrified of these things because how many of you are really afraid that you're going to spill the juice? <br /><br /> Okay. If it happens, it happens. Okay. You know what? The Lord's supper just very quickly remembering. It's a, it's a time to celebrate who he is, that he is our redemption. Once you remember taking these elements will not redeem you. That would be one of the things wouldn't it taking. These elements will not redeem you. <br /><br /> The redemption only comes through the precious blood of Christ. Taking these elements. Won't make you a better Christian taking these elements is very simply, we are remembering that we have trusted Christ as our savior. We have trusted in his redemption for us apart from any good work that we do. And we celebrate him. <br /><br /> If you have not trusted Christ as your savior taking these elements will just mean you get a little bit of cracker, a little bit of juice if you do that. But you know what, if you don't know, Christ is your savior. If you haven't really embraced that redemption, you could do that right now, right? Where you sit by very simply putting your faith and trust in Jesus as the one who has redeemed you. <br /><br /> The Bible says about as many as received him to them. He gave the right to become children of God. Even to those that believe on his name, you could do that right where you sit and trust Christ. The Redeemer, Paul writes in first Corinthians, this four I received from the Lord, but I also passed on to you, Lord Jesus. <br /><br /> On the night he was betrayed, took bread. And when he'd given thanks, he broke it and said, this is my body, which is for you do this in remembrance of me in the same way after supper, he took the cup saying this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this whenever you drink it in remembrance of me for whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. <br /><br /> And then he does give a warning. He says, don't take it in an unworthy manner. Don't take it. I would say, if you know, there's known sin in your life, you need to confess that first. If you have something between you and a brother, you need to make that right. If you're a follower, if you're not a follower of Jesus, I would suggest you not take part until that time have come to understand that redemption and embrace that. <br /><br /> But for those of us who have embraced Christ, we want to remember so carefully. If you will take the. Little cover off the bread parts, a little cracker there. And he did say this, remember, this is from the, this is from the Passover. This is the bread. This is the, the bread that was hidden. He, this is my body. <br /><br /> He says, which is for you. Take it in remembrance of me. So let's pray. Let's thank the Lord together, father. Thank you for giving yourself. Thank you for Jesus. Willing to go to the cross, giving up himself, his body, which was beaten, which was hung on that cross for us. We do remember that and rejoice in that in Christ's name. <br /><br /> Amen. So let's eat together <br /><br /> and then he said he took the cup. This is the cup of the new covenant of my blood. Do this whenever you drink it. In remembrance of me again in the Passover Seder, most people will believe it was the third cup he's talking about. It's called the cup of redemption. He gave his life for us. He revealed to us father. <br /><br /> We thank you from the bottom of our hearts that you have redeemed us. Not because we deserve it, but very simply because you love us. We want to remember you and thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Amen. So carefully take your top off. If you haven't already, it makes the juice ready and together. <br /><br /> Let's drink this to the group <br /><br /> father. We rejoice in you Christ our savior, our true and absolute redemption. In Christ's name. Amen. It's good to be together today. Isn't it. Let's enjoy each other's company and go out and this week serve and honor the Lord .</div> false no <![CDATA[Bad News, Good News]]> Matthew 5:27-30

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart."

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Okay. We're going to be in Matthew chapter five this morning. Great to be here with you all. Go ahead and pull out your Bibles. You can turn there in the pew Bible. You know, I didn't look up the page number. It's the first book in the new Testament. Um, Turn to your neighbor and help them. If they need help.

We are continuing our series in the upside down kingdom, the upside on life. What it looks like to follow Christ. Sometimes if you compare it with the world, it looks pretty upside down and backwards, but we are living for his kingdom. We've worked through the beatitudes are blessed and statements given by Jesus in the very beginning.

And we're moving on now to the practical outworkings of living as followers of Jesus Christ in the new covenant. You follow Jesus. And here's what it should look like in his kingdom. Today is the second of the, but I say to you statements, there are actually six of them that we're going to be working through not today.

Um, but they, uh, pastor Ben taught on anger last week. There's a way to look at all these things here. I have a list of them and these are going to be week after week. So. You might want to just schedule when you don't want to be here. Um, these are not light issues, but I want to encourage you do not Dodge, uh, weeks that feel like, man, I do not want to hear about that.

Um, and unfortunately you have no option today because you're here. Uh, so come and join us. As we study God's word together, the year was 1995. I was a, a little boy at the time, 10 years old fellowship was only 14 years old at that point. Think of only the old part of the building being here. Now you could be sitting here saying which part is the old part.

It's only the gym. We call this. If you've were part of that old generation, this is the new building, which may seem pretty old to some of you. And though I'm a little bit more comfortable in my skin today. I had some insecurities at that point in my life. While I can't blame them on anybody. I kind of want to thank my parents publicly this morning for allowing this one thing to continue at this point in my life.

You see, I had a Bible, but I hadn't really graduated to one of those really cool, like zip up Bibles yet. I didn't have tabs yet, but I would come later. No, I had the salty Bible, this kid's Bible right here, salty the singing song book. And I think it continued farther than it should. And my parents just, they didn't see that coming.

And, um, in fact, actually a greater source of my childhood insecurity was the fact that we in our class as a kid, went through the 10 commandments and in the 10 commandments, there are. 10 commandments. Right? And so each week as we were working through them over what seemed like five years, um, we would go on and quote the different commandments and our teachers would work through week by week teaching them and we'd memorize them as a class.

And at that point, um, in my life, when I got called on, it was like the worst moment in my entire life. Maybe some of you are still that way. Um, all the way through high school, I was like, I turned bright red. I hated being in front of people. God has a way of being humorous and like that, that's what I do now for a living, but I hated that.

And I would sit there and dread as we walked around and we would get through the 10 commandments. I'd have to say which commandment I got. And week after week, as I'm sitting there, even amidst my best abilities to try to Dodge. Count around and sure enough, commandment number seven, do not commit adultery would come up.

And I would have to say that every stinking week at Sunday school, uh, watcher what it was in my life that the Lord wanted to do, but having to quote that every single week and learning what it meant as a 10 year old was pretty terrible. And so we approached the text this morning. I shared the same awkwardness that maybe you do this morning when we think about adultery and lust, not just the topic, but because of my childhood trauma.

Okay. So we're going to read Matthew chapter five, 27 through 30. You have heard that it was said you shall not commit adultery, but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away.

For it's better that you lose one of your members then that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away for it's better that you lose one of your members than that. Your whole body. Let me go into hell Lord. We come to this passage, recognizing our own inability to really enter into what you were saying at that time.

Apart from the spirit, we ask God that the spirit would, would take your word and make it come alive in our lives this morning. We want to understand your truth. We want to be your people that live in a, in a world that you would call upside down. Um, but God, we want to be people that live right before you, holy spirit, teach us.

Now we pray these things in your name. Amen. Well, we're going to start with just the first chunk of this, this passage here in verse 27, you have heard that it was said, do not commit adultery. And at this time, many in the Roman culture believed sex was a purely physical act. Nothing more than a bodily function, just like eating or drinking or sleeping.

That's all. It was much like today's society makes sex common and normal cheap, maybe encourages freedom and a misuse in a perversion of God's original design. Someone came to me just this week and said, I want to share this article with you. And I did not read the article, but, but it works great for my sermon this morning.

It said recently in teen Vogue, they're publishing this article that is, um, teaching kids how to have sex. The target audience for teen Vogue is 12 years old. This is the culture that we live in the famed Swiss theologian. Carl Bart said, take your Bible and take your newspaper. He's a little older than we are.

Now. Take your Bible and take your phone, take your Bible and take whatever it is that you're reading and read both, but interpret the newspapers from your Bible. We look around and see a culture that is broken is in need of redemption. Moral standards are up for interpretation, whatever. I feel, whatever.

I think, whatever feels good, just do it. But God designed sex to be within a marriage relationship, a covenant between a husband and a wife in exclusive relationship, husband, wife, no others. In fact, this singular commitment was so important to the personal, but also to the community of people that God designed and stitched it right into the 10 commandments.

These will be principals. They would not only follow but use as part of their community living. And so when you think about this commandment or this statement, that Jesus makes, it was not just don't do these things, but do this so that you would have good in the community and among your personal lives.

So some who were there in the crowd with Jesus, you know, he was up on the mountain side, teaching the sermon on the Mount. And so as people are listening there, many probably harken back to Genesis, chapter 39 with a man named Joseph. The concept of adultery here, the man who was sold into slavery, he was the youngest of his other 11 brothers.

They were a kind bunch sold him into slavery. He found his way into Egypt and he happened to be placed into Pharaoh's highest adviser. Pottipher into his household. God blessed Joseph and gave him some incredible abilities to manage this house. But what happened was Pottipher the head of the household, his wife kind of had this thing for Joseph and she begged him time and time again to come to bed with her.

And he refused because she was married. And so one time when nobody else is in the house, Potiphar's wife grabbed Joseph literally by the cloak to pull him in, to tempt him. And he ran away leaving the cloak behind and fled the house. Going to engage physically with someone's wife was considered adults really violating God's design boundary for the protection of marriage, between a husband and a wife don't go there.

And while adultery was commonly seen as a violation or a pollution of marriage, Jesus here in the new Testament, on the sermon on the Mount expands this concept in the statements ahead verse 28. But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

This is a striking statement. And if you were someone listening in the crowd, you probably would have known the quote from the old Testament, do not commit adultery. And then Jesus comes and says, but I say to you, and as we spend the next few weeks looking at these statements, they're striking because.

You didn't overstep the law of Moses. This was like passed from generation to generation. Who are you Jesus to say, but I say, you're going to step on top of that and redefine our heritage by doing that. And what does Jesus say? But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

The word looks here is actually looks and continues to look it's a constant look, keeps looking a drawn outlook or an intentional staring a drinking in or imbibing the visual before you meditating on this person, a repeated gazing and those who look at a woman with lustful intent. Well, what does that mean?

Well, it means there's some sort of action behind the look in your brain, in your heart. There's an intention. There's a goal in mind, a purpose in my stair, a desire to satisfy my own thinking with the person before me, that is lust. If we look at another example in scripture, you have the example of king David, right?

This is the classic adultery example, but it's also, and I think even more importantly, an example of what lust looks like David is appointed by God to be king. He is known for having victory in battle. And if we get through there to second Samuel chapter 11, he's known for winning these incredible battles and going to war as king as conqueror.

Second, Samuel 11 in the spring. At that time, when Kings go off to war, David sent Joe app with the King's men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabba, but David remained in Jerusalem. One evening, David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace from the roof.

He saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful. And David sent someone to find out about her. The man said she is best Sheba. The daughter of alignment, the wife of Uriah, the Hittite. Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him and slept with him. And then she went back home, the woman conceived and sent word to David saying, I am pregnant.

So David committed the act of adultery and it's 10 tends to be where we focus our attention in that passage. But adultery was born out of a heart, filled with lust, the precursor to adultery. I look, I look again, and then I act. Less happens in the heart even before the physical act of adultery takes place.

And so when Jesus speaks of loss, this concept really isn't a new thing. If you were a good Jew following along with your scriptures at that time, you probably had some examples come up, but it wasn't highlighted as one of the 10 commandments adultery. That's what you do. What comes before that? Not so important, but Jesus reminds his followers and his listeners at that point of one of the most foundational truths for the Christian yesterday, today, and forever.

Sin is first a matter of my heart before anything else. Sin is first a matter of my heart before anything else, James, as he would write the brother of Jesus, he writes this in the very first chapter of his book. Clearly, as he walked with Jesus, he knew this truth. Let no one say when he's tempted, I'm being tempted by God for God cannot be tempted with evil and he himself tempts, no one, but each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desires and desire.

When it's conceived gives birth to sin and sin, when it is fully grown, brings forth death, Jesus himself would later on in the book of Matthew, as he records it, there, say these words as the Pharisees came to try to really catch him and his followers in breaking some rules. Well, you're so good. Jesus.

What about this question? That happens a bunch throughout the gospels and they catch him breaking a Jewish tradition of ceremonially washing before they would eat food. And Jesus would say this, but what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart and this defiles a person for out of the heart.

Comes evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. It's a great list. These are what the file a person, but to eat with unwashed. Hands is not the file anyone. And if you and I are here this morning, and we're looking at the scriptures, even just a few verses this morning about lust, and then the focus on the heart, we just kinda, we kind of have to agree that this is where sin originates.

We can't simply have the knowledge of sin in our hearts. And then only look at actions that we do as according to the rules. The way of an enlightened Christian knows that sin is a matter of our hearts quickly here, just a few quotes throughout the scriptures about the way the Lord looks at our hearts.

Proverbs 44, 21 would not God discover this for. He knows the secrets. Of the heart, Hebrews four 12, the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword piercing, soul and spirit joints, and marrow discerning the thoughts and the intentions of the heart. This is what God's word does.

Jeremiah 17, 10, I, the Lord search the heart and test the mind. Proverbs 16 two, all the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the heart. Second Chronicles 16 for the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. Not only his sin birthed out of the heart, but it's the very place that God focuses his attention.

If you marched into church today and maybe thought actions was where it stopped, that God knows the motivation behind your actions. That he's actually concerned with the intention before you even lift a finger to do wrong. That all the good external action in the world cannot erase a hidden heart motive of sin in my life.

This could be a moment of real conviction, possibly fear or dread, or like, oh no, he can see what's going on in my life. I'm going to ask you to stay with me because the full gospel is first bad news before it is good news. Apart from Christ my sin, my hidden sin. My intention in my heart is bad news before it is good news.

Romans six 23, the wages of our sin is death. That's what we deserve. My hidden motivation is bad news. My inability to live righteous perfect is bad news. And it would take the life, the death and the reservoir action of Jesus to bring good news. That is the gospel. Okay. We got to get to the eyes and the hands part of this verse, this passage here, we know what adultery and lust are.

We know that sin lives first in our heart, before it ever becomes inaction. What do we do with this temptation to lust and adultery versus 29? If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away for it's better that you lose one of your members and that your whole body be thrown into hell.

And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away for it's better that you lose one of your members, the whole body go into hell. Now Matthew records the words of Christ and they are absolutely intense. Gouge out your eye. Cut off your hand. Isn't that an application for us this morning, as we think about the scriptures.

Well, if you were still around there and you weren't really thrown off by Jesus restating the law and inserting himself in places where you would have thought, whoa, this is a lot, Jesus, cut off your hand and tear out your eye that may have raised some eyebrows. Maybe the crowd begins to look around.

Maybe there's even some body language here. Some like, oh, that's pretty surprising. Or like, come on, really cut. Really cut off your hand, gouge out your eye. Or like, oh my gosh, she wants me to chop my hand off in order to face this sin. But whatever it is, he's got your attention. And I want to ask you this morning.

Can you, would you, I beg you to read your scriptures, not just flat as words on a page. What if you were in the crowd that day? What if you were one of his disciples? Would you have listened with a straight face or would these words evoke a dynamic and real response for you? You see if we just breeze through this passage and we say, and then we pluck out our eye and we chop off our hand what a great sermon keep going and just go on through.

We really miss the instructions here. He's calling for a treatment of sin that is violent and we can't Dodge these words. And for me, I'm asking the question, does anybody really do that? Are you here this morning? And you're like, this is ancient texts. I wonder if someone throughout the span of time has really taken this literally and actually chopped off their hand or plucked out.

And that's a fair question. Okay. Early church, father origin in the year, 200, heard these words and responded by actually having himself castrated. This causes me to sin. I don't want to sin. I'm done with this. The Victorian view attempted to make sex, the whole thing evil by condemning it and avoiding this crime altogether.

Saint Anthony is told to have been part of the monastic movement. One of the early people that was following after God, and they said, this world is evil. I need to flee and hide away from temptation. And he fled to the Egyptian desert and spent his life in poverty for 35 years. So the answer to your question is, yes, these others have practically put this into action, but I don't want you to come out with the wrong idea of what will work in this fight, because think about this right in your physical mutilation does not remove lust.

If you chop off one hand, what are you left with a hand? If you gouge out one eye. There's still the other eye. It works like that abstinence or the avoidance of just the act of sex does not remove the temptation and nor the ability to lust in my heart and running away from this world does not prevent loss.

Actually, this was the experience of St. Anthony, because unfortunately I take me and my heart of sin wherever I go. And so do you St. Anthony came to this conclusion in the desert, right? My heart is still in the world. In fact, what I found is that Satan had no trouble me here all the way in the desert to avoid to run.

So if Jesus is saying that loss is a matter of the heart before anything else, and we can't actually cut off lust or adultery from our bodies, our sin weakness and failure is with us. Why in the world does Matthew record this statement of Christ? What is the purpose here, writing down these physicals actions.

Again, read your scriptures as though this was written to the people of New Jersey, where the people of this area here in north America, or for the people of the 21st century, and here, what I'm saying, not saying that this is not written for you and you can't listen to it, but the original writing Matthew recorded this for a specific audience in which we can hear so much more depth in.

It was part of the tradition in the ancient near east Jewish culture. That your right hand was actually the dominant hand, the powerful hand, the one you earned your wages with. The right eye was the best eye. The one with valuable skill required its use for, for making a living and, and performing these tasks.

And so while Jesus may not be advocating for physical mutilation, what he is saying is hold nothing back. I don't care if you're making a living off of this or this, do whatever it takes to conquer this sin of lust, do violence and don't mess around and give up your very livelihood. Maybe you hear that Jesus so values the covenant of marriage between a husband and wife.

He knows the destructive nature of loss within a human heart. And so we, we say along with him that we want to remove what may hold us back from this unity. We're capable of much evil in our hearts. So whatever you need to put in that blank, Remove it to throw it out, turn it off, remove the temptation.

Okay. Let's move on to some, uh, application here of these truths together. Maybe we should first ask ourselves the question. What's the point of this teaching? Like we're in the middle of the sermon on the Mount. We're getting some of these blessing statements. Now we have some practical stuff. Why is this one here?

Why are these really difficult sins? The things that Jesus tackles here. Well, if you were there and you were hearing the law be reinterpreted or, or deepened or expanded in some ways you would think to yourself, well, keeping the law is a really difficult thing, but I've been doing it as a, as a good Jewish follower.

And I'm going to keep going here. I'm just going to mark this off and keep making some strides here. I have to keep the law follow the rules. So maybe it's teaching seems redundant to you. But when you think of the sermon on the Mount, maybe how I have previously thought of the sermon on the Mount, it's a really nice, warm, fuzzy feeling.

It's a great teaching. It's beautiful until you actually realize what each section is saying. I bet people in the crowd didn't have a warm, fuzzy feeling when they heard how they were to follow in the kingdom of Christ. Maybe these intense statements were not as warm and fuzzy as I've previously read them.

Jesus, you're telling me not just to keep the law, which is already pretty difficult. Um, but to make this so much more exhaustingly difficult, how could any one you do this? How could anyone keep these standards? I think that's the goal of the teaching of Christ here. And the crowd probably had this grief, like.

We can't, we can't do this. We're we're longing for like, to be able to do this, but I'm, I know I'm not capable. Maybe there's this expectation or like this feeling of a pressure cooker building up with all the things that you have to do, and you are not able to keep those. This is impossible and Jesus would continue on his message, the whole sermon on the Mount and go through and speak these words to the people who just were beginning to realize with this teaching, they needed a rescuer knock and the door will be open to you.

That would come in a few chapters, enter through the narrow gate. That's me Jesus. To see the father build your lives on me as the foundation, people might say to the crowd there. Well, I'm unable to be righteous. I, I really, I can't do this. Jesus would say. I will be your righteousness. Heart is a wicked breeding ground for sin.

It's beyond repair. I will give you a new heart. I am helpless. Well, Jesus says I'm sufficient and able to save you. You see that teacher Jesus, as he's moving them to understand their inability, to keep the law is doing that on purpose. And he invites them to let him win the war. Romans eight three, the law of Moses was unable to save us the law of Moses, the Torah, the things that he was redefining right now that wasn't able to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature.

This is clear. This is so obvious. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own son in a body like the bodies we sinners have, and in that body, God declared an end. To sins control over us, his son, by giving us his son as a sacrifice for our sins, the laws and rules were never made so that we could achieve righteous this, or get to heaven.

Maybe you've been taught that truth. Your entire life, Romans eight, three says false. You cannot earn it. You don't deserve it. It's a free gift available to you. Second, the ins five 21 for our sake, he, God made him Jesus to be sin who knew no sin. He was perfectly sinless so that in him, Jesus, we might become the righteousness of God.

So in Christ, we become the righteousness that God designs and desires for us and requires that is tremendously good news. It's not an earned righteousness. They're keeping these rules and making no mistakes. This is imputed righteousness assigned to the people that would believe and trust in Jesus freely.

Given in Ephesians four, a there are those who walk according to their own thoughts and in their own ways and in their own minds. And here's the words in Ephesians chapter four, but that's not the way you learned in Christ. Assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him as the truth is in Jesus to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds and to put on the new self created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

So I wanna gather us this morning, possibly around a few resolutions. I want to ask you to make, maybe you write them down this morning and say, I'll think about it. Okay. Even just write them down so that you can come back later and think about these resolutions from the scriptures and from this passage this morning, number one, we agree that it's only ever the sin inside of us.

That magnetizes us to the sin outside of us. Don't read all four, sorry. I probably should've made them on like an animation or whatever. I'm not blaming others for my sin. I'm not pointing other people. I'm not pointing the finger at people who dress immodestly their problem. That's them. They should help me out so that I don't have to lust for producers who make shows with inappropriate content.

It's their fault for the culture who has lowered its standards. Oh, it's just the culture these days. I will point at my own heart. Number two, we agree. It is biblical to face the temptation in our hearts. Before we moved to action. Now hear what I'm not saying, pastor Mike just said that we don't have to really do anything with our actions.

It's all about the heart. So just leave the actions. Don't forget about it. What I am saying is face your heart on the way to the action. Don't put the cart before the horse. If you focus simply on action, I've heard it said once that it's kind of like trying to take good fruit and put it on a bad or dead tree, maybe you would like take it and try to staple it up onto a tree.

It doesn't make any sense unless the heart is rebirthed Christ. We cannot have any good fruit. So I'm going to be honest then about my own heart desires, I'm engaging in confession to God and to the others in my life, sharing with my wife, my husband, my mom, or my dad, brother or sister, call that friend who knows you.

We expose the dark corners of our hearts, not just look good on the outside confession and forgiveness, trusting in Christ's forgiveness and his righteousness alone. Number three, we agree to face lust and adultery with the same measure and intensity that Jesus shares. We will as a family block out shows or sites or media that encourage our are already our heart.

When we will do violence to the things that we cherish for the sake of Christ, right hand and right eye type stuff, whether it's a friendship or a relationship. People at work that you should not be hanging out with or talking to apps or locations or computer access or things on your phone, whatever the case might be.

You're your whole livelihood. Right-hand your whole livelihood. You're right. I cut it off. Nothing stands in the way between me and obedience to Christ, moms and dads. I want to just speak to you this morning. I'm convinced that many families don't know how to confront or talk about the sin of lust and adultery, because there's probably some shared idolatry in the family.

Maybe talk about it with your kids. Well, how can I do that? If that's my own heart wickedness, how do I do this? If I'm struggling with pornography myself, how can I talk to my kids about it? Might I suggest to you this morning that as a parent, it is not okay. Perfection that Christ is calling you to it is to repentance and to turn from your wickedness, but it's to be an ambassador of Christ.

And so in the midst of your failure, your sin, might there be a redemptive family moment that exposes your heart and trust that the Lord will do his work in your family, whatever he says, you represent the King's way in your family, confessing your own sin and representing that to your kids. There's one thing I've learned as a youth pastor, these last number of years, it's that your kids are far better at technology than you think they are.

I'm sorry. All of you kids that just were exposed with that, don't wait for your kids to come running to you that one day they get it and they're like, this is wrong. What I'm looking at, what I'm seeing or what I'm engaged in, in my heart. Isn't okay. I need help. Don't wait for that moment, run to them and pursue them.

Open conversations covered in God's grace, bringing them to rescue and freedom. Don't wait for those moments to happen, where you catch. Number four, we agree to fight as dead men and women convinced of grace might be the most important of the four here. This is not a legalistic fight to get it right. The law strict code or rules for your family is not self-effort.

This is not grit your teeth and just get it right. This is individuals who in Christ are dead to sin and alive. Trusting the spirit of Christ in them. Done out of obedience. Our motivation then becomes everything. What'd you pray with me this morning.

Father, we hear the words you you've sent in Christ on this earth that he preached to a crowd of people who were faced with their own inability to keep the law and the codes that you set up. And maybe God, they had that same longing that we can have this morning. This life apart from Christ is impossible.

I don't measure up. And so what you do did and making Christ sin, who knew no sin, that we might become the righteousness of God. Oh God. I pray that there are those here this morning processing and unpacking their own heart motivations. Even before the action happens, God, might we be a people who run with grace to one another and to you confessing our sin, that we might be healed, that we might be forgiven and know true freedom in this space.

Lord you desire for oneness in marriages and among families. And I pray God, you would not allow anything to stand in the way of that. We worship you. And we give you this time. Now we pray these things in your name. Amen. Thanks for being here this morning. You are dismissed. .]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/bad-news-good-news 0dee159c-9c19-4d3c-b4d3-37bec518232c Sun, 30 May 2021 12:51:33 GMT <div data-html="true">Matthew 5:27-30 <br /><br /> “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart." <br /><br /> &amp;nbsp; <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Okay. We're going to be in Matthew chapter five this morning. Great to be here with you all. Go ahead and pull out your Bibles. You can turn there in the pew Bible. You know, I didn't look up the page number. It's the first book in the new Testament. Um, Turn to your neighbor and help them. If they need help. <br /><br /> We are continuing our series in the upside down kingdom, the upside on life. What it looks like to follow Christ. Sometimes if you compare it with the world, it looks pretty upside down and backwards, but we are living for his kingdom. We've worked through the beatitudes are blessed and statements given by Jesus in the very beginning. <br /><br /> And we're moving on now to the practical outworkings of living as followers of Jesus Christ in the new covenant. You follow Jesus. And here's what it should look like in his kingdom. Today is the second of the, but I say to you statements, there are actually six of them that we're going to be working through not today. <br /><br /> Um, but they, uh, pastor Ben taught on anger last week. There's a way to look at all these things here. I have a list of them and these are going to be week after week. So. You might want to just schedule when you don't want to be here. Um, these are not light issues, but I want to encourage you do not Dodge, uh, weeks that feel like, man, I do not want to hear about that. <br /><br /> Um, and unfortunately you have no option today because you're here. Uh, so come and join us. As we study God's word together, the year was 1995. I was a, a little boy at the time, 10 years old fellowship was only 14 years old at that point. Think of only the old part of the building being here. Now you could be sitting here saying which part is the old part. <br /><br /> It's only the gym. We call this. If you've were part of that old generation, this is the new building, which may seem pretty old to some of you. And though I'm a little bit more comfortable in my skin today. I had some insecurities at that point in my life. While I can't blame them on anybody. I kind of want to thank my parents publicly this morning for allowing this one thing to continue at this point in my life. <br /><br /> You see, I had a Bible, but I hadn't really graduated to one of those really cool, like zip up Bibles yet. I didn't have tabs yet, but I would come later. No, I had the salty Bible, this kid's Bible right here, salty the singing song book. And I think it continued farther than it should. And my parents just, they didn't see that coming. <br /><br /> And, um, in fact, actually a greater source of my childhood insecurity was the fact that we in our class as a kid, went through the 10 commandments and in the 10 commandments, there are. 10 commandments. Right? And so each week as we were working through them over what seemed like five years, um, we would go on and quote the different commandments and our teachers would work through week by week teaching them and we'd memorize them as a class. <br /><br /> And at that point, um, in my life, when I got called on, it was like the worst moment in my entire life. Maybe some of you are still that way. Um, all the way through high school, I was like, I turned bright red. I hated being in front of people. God has a way of being humorous and like that, that's what I do now for a living, but I hated that. <br /><br /> And I would sit there and dread as we walked around and we would get through the 10 commandments. I'd have to say which commandment I got. And week after week, as I'm sitting there, even amidst my best abilities to try to Dodge. Count around and sure enough, commandment number seven, do not commit adultery would come up. <br /><br /> And I would have to say that every stinking week at Sunday school, uh, watcher what it was in my life that the Lord wanted to do, but having to quote that every single week and learning what it meant as a 10 year old was pretty terrible. And so we approached the text this morning. I shared the same awkwardness that maybe you do this morning when we think about adultery and lust, not just the topic, but because of my childhood trauma. <br /><br /> Okay. So we're going to read Matthew chapter five, 27 through 30. You have heard that it was said you shall not commit adultery, but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. <br /><br /> For it's better that you lose one of your members then that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away for it's better that you lose one of your members than that. Your whole body. Let me go into hell Lord. We come to this passage, recognizing our own inability to really enter into what you were saying at that time. <br /><br /> Apart from the spirit, we ask God that the spirit would, would take your word and make it come alive in our lives this morning. We want to understand your truth. We want to be your people that live in a, in a world that you would call upside down. Um, but God, we want to be people that live right before you, holy spirit, teach us. <br /><br /> Now we pray these things in your name. Amen. Well, we're going to start with just the first chunk of this, this passage here in verse 27, you have heard that it was said, do not commit adultery. And at this time, many in the Roman culture believed sex was a purely physical act. Nothing more than a bodily function, just like eating or drinking or sleeping. <br /><br /> That's all. It was much like today's society makes sex common and normal cheap, maybe encourages freedom and a misuse in a perversion of God's original design. Someone came to me just this week and said, I want to share this article with you. And I did not read the article, but, but it works great for my sermon this morning. <br /><br /> It said recently in teen Vogue, they're publishing this article that is, um, teaching kids how to have sex. The target audience for teen Vogue is 12 years old. This is the culture that we live in the famed Swiss theologian. Carl Bart said, take your Bible and take your newspaper. He's a little older than we are. <br /><br /> Now. Take your Bible and take your phone, take your Bible and take whatever it is that you're reading and read both, but interpret the newspapers from your Bible. We look around and see a culture that is broken is in need of redemption. Moral standards are up for interpretation, whatever. I feel, whatever. <br /><br /> I think, whatever feels good, just do it. But God designed sex to be within a marriage relationship, a covenant between a husband and a wife in exclusive relationship, husband, wife, no others. In fact, this singular commitment was so important to the personal, but also to the community of people that God designed and stitched it right into the 10 commandments. <br /><br /> These will be principals. They would not only follow but use as part of their community living. And so when you think about this commandment or this statement, that Jesus makes, it was not just don't do these things, but do this so that you would have good in the community and among your personal lives. <br /><br /> So some who were there in the crowd with Jesus, you know, he was up on the mountain side, teaching the sermon on the Mount. And so as people are listening there, many probably harken back to Genesis, chapter 39 with a man named Joseph. The concept of adultery here, the man who was sold into slavery, he was the youngest of his other 11 brothers. <br /><br /> They were a kind bunch sold him into slavery. He found his way into Egypt and he happened to be placed into Pharaoh's highest adviser. Pottipher into his household. God blessed Joseph and gave him some incredible abilities to manage this house. But what happened was Pottipher the head of the household, his wife kind of had this thing for Joseph and she begged him time and time again to come to bed with her. <br /><br /> And he refused because she was married. And so one time when nobody else is in the house, Potiphar's wife grabbed Joseph literally by the cloak to pull him in, to tempt him. And he ran away leaving the cloak behind and fled the house. Going to engage physically with someone's wife was considered adults really violating God's design boundary for the protection of marriage, between a husband and a wife don't go there. <br /><br /> And while adultery was commonly seen as a violation or a pollution of marriage, Jesus here in the new Testament, on the sermon on the Mount expands this concept in the statements ahead verse 28. But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. <br /><br /> This is a striking statement. And if you were someone listening in the crowd, you probably would have known the quote from the old Testament, do not commit adultery. And then Jesus comes and says, but I say to you, and as we spend the next few weeks looking at these statements, they're striking because. <br /><br /> You didn't overstep the law of Moses. This was like passed from generation to generation. Who are you Jesus to say, but I say, you're going to step on top of that and redefine our heritage by doing that. And what does Jesus say? But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. <br /><br /> The word looks here is actually looks and continues to look it's a constant look, keeps looking a drawn outlook or an intentional staring a drinking in or imbibing the visual before you meditating on this person, a repeated gazing and those who look at a woman with lustful intent. Well, what does that mean? <br /><br /> Well, it means there's some sort of action behind the look in your brain, in your heart. There's an intention. There's a goal in mind, a purpose in my stair, a desire to satisfy my own thinking with the person before me, that is lust. If we look at another example in scripture, you have the example of king David, right? <br /><br /> This is the classic adultery example, but it's also, and I think even more importantly, an example of what lust looks like David is appointed by God to be king. He is known for having victory in battle. And if we get through there to second Samuel chapter 11, he's known for winning these incredible battles and going to war as king as conqueror. <br /><br /> Second, Samuel 11 in the spring. At that time, when Kings go off to war, David sent Joe app with the King's men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabba, but David remained in Jerusalem. One evening, David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace from the roof. <br /><br /> He saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful. And David sent someone to find out about her. The man said she is best Sheba. The daughter of alignment, the wife of Uriah, the Hittite. Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him and slept with him. And then she went back home, the woman conceived and sent word to David saying, I am pregnant. <br /><br /> So David committed the act of adultery and it's 10 tends to be where we focus our attention in that passage. But adultery was born out of a heart, filled with lust, the precursor to adultery. I look, I look again, and then I act. Less happens in the heart even before the physical act of adultery takes place. <br /><br /> And so when Jesus speaks of loss, this concept really isn't a new thing. If you were a good Jew following along with your scriptures at that time, you probably had some examples come up, but it wasn't highlighted as one of the 10 commandments adultery. That's what you do. What comes before that? Not so important, but Jesus reminds his followers and his listeners at that point of one of the most foundational truths for the Christian yesterday, today, and forever. <br /><br /> Sin is first a matter of my heart before anything else. Sin is first a matter of my heart before anything else, James, as he would write the brother of Jesus, he writes this in the very first chapter of his book. Clearly, as he walked with Jesus, he knew this truth. Let no one say when he's tempted, I'm being tempted by God for God cannot be tempted with evil and he himself tempts, no one, but each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desires and desire. <br /><br /> When it's conceived gives birth to sin and sin, when it is fully grown, brings forth death, Jesus himself would later on in the book of Matthew, as he records it, there, say these words as the Pharisees came to try to really catch him and his followers in breaking some rules. Well, you're so good. Jesus. <br /><br /> What about this question? That happens a bunch throughout the gospels and they catch him breaking a Jewish tradition of ceremonially washing before they would eat food. And Jesus would say this, but what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart and this defiles a person for out of the heart. <br /><br /> Comes evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. It's a great list. These are what the file a person, but to eat with unwashed. Hands is not the file anyone. And if you and I are here this morning, and we're looking at the scriptures, even just a few verses this morning about lust, and then the focus on the heart, we just kinda, we kind of have to agree that this is where sin originates. <br /><br /> We can't simply have the knowledge of sin in our hearts. And then only look at actions that we do as according to the rules. The way of an enlightened Christian knows that sin is a matter of our hearts quickly here, just a few quotes throughout the scriptures about the way the Lord looks at our hearts. <br /><br /> Proverbs 44, 21 would not God discover this for. He knows the secrets. Of the heart, Hebrews four 12, the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword piercing, soul and spirit joints, and marrow discerning the thoughts and the intentions of the heart. This is what God's word does. <br /><br /> Jeremiah 17, 10, I, the Lord search the heart and test the mind. Proverbs 16 two, all the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the heart. Second Chronicles 16 for the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. Not only his sin birthed out of the heart, but it's the very place that God focuses his attention. <br /><br /> If you marched into church today and maybe thought actions was where it stopped, that God knows the motivation behind your actions. That he's actually concerned with the intention before you even lift a finger to do wrong. That all the good external action in the world cannot erase a hidden heart motive of sin in my life. <br /><br /> This could be a moment of real conviction, possibly fear or dread, or like, oh no, he can see what's going on in my life. I'm going to ask you to stay with me because the full gospel is first bad news before it is good news. Apart from Christ my sin, my hidden sin. My intention in my heart is bad news before it is good news. <br /><br /> Romans six 23, the wages of our sin is death. That's what we deserve. My hidden motivation is bad news. My inability to live righteous perfect is bad news. And it would take the life, the death and the reservoir action of Jesus to bring good news. That is the gospel. Okay. We got to get to the eyes and the hands part of this verse, this passage here, we know what adultery and lust are. <br /><br /> We know that sin lives first in our heart, before it ever becomes inaction. What do we do with this temptation to lust and adultery versus 29? If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away for it's better that you lose one of your members and that your whole body be thrown into hell. <br /><br /> And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away for it's better that you lose one of your members, the whole body go into hell. Now Matthew records the words of Christ and they are absolutely intense. Gouge out your eye. Cut off your hand. Isn't that an application for us this morning, as we think about the scriptures. <br /><br /> Well, if you were still around there and you weren't really thrown off by Jesus restating the law and inserting himself in places where you would have thought, whoa, this is a lot, Jesus, cut off your hand and tear out your eye that may have raised some eyebrows. Maybe the crowd begins to look around. <br /><br /> Maybe there's even some body language here. Some like, oh, that's pretty surprising. Or like, come on, really cut. Really cut off your hand, gouge out your eye. Or like, oh my gosh, she wants me to chop my hand off in order to face this sin. But whatever it is, he's got your attention. And I want to ask you this morning. <br /><br /> Can you, would you, I beg you to read your scriptures, not just flat as words on a page. What if you were in the crowd that day? What if you were one of his disciples? Would you have listened with a straight face or would these words evoke a dynamic and real response for you? You see if we just breeze through this passage and we say, and then we pluck out our eye and we chop off our hand what a great sermon keep going and just go on through. <br /><br /> We really miss the instructions here. He's calling for a treatment of sin that is violent and we can't Dodge these words. And for me, I'm asking the question, does anybody really do that? Are you here this morning? And you're like, this is ancient texts. I wonder if someone throughout the span of time has really taken this literally and actually chopped off their hand or plucked out. <br /><br /> And that's a fair question. Okay. Early church, father origin in the year, 200, heard these words and responded by actually having himself castrated. This causes me to sin. I don't want to sin. I'm done with this. The Victorian view attempted to make sex, the whole thing evil by condemning it and avoiding this crime altogether. <br /><br /> Saint Anthony is told to have been part of the monastic movement. One of the early people that was following after God, and they said, this world is evil. I need to flee and hide away from temptation. And he fled to the Egyptian desert and spent his life in poverty for 35 years. So the answer to your question is, yes, these others have practically put this into action, but I don't want you to come out with the wrong idea of what will work in this fight, because think about this right in your physical mutilation does not remove lust. <br /><br /> If you chop off one hand, what are you left with a hand? If you gouge out one eye. There's still the other eye. It works like that abstinence or the avoidance of just the act of sex does not remove the temptation and nor the ability to lust in my heart and running away from this world does not prevent loss. <br /><br /> Actually, this was the experience of St. Anthony, because unfortunately I take me and my heart of sin wherever I go. And so do you St. Anthony came to this conclusion in the desert, right? My heart is still in the world. In fact, what I found is that Satan had no trouble me here all the way in the desert to avoid to run. <br /><br /> So if Jesus is saying that loss is a matter of the heart before anything else, and we can't actually cut off lust or adultery from our bodies, our sin weakness and failure is with us. Why in the world does Matthew record this statement of Christ? What is the purpose here, writing down these physicals actions. <br /><br /> Again, read your scriptures as though this was written to the people of New Jersey, where the people of this area here in north America, or for the people of the 21st century, and here, what I'm saying, not saying that this is not written for you and you can't listen to it, but the original writing Matthew recorded this for a specific audience in which we can hear so much more depth in. <br /><br /> It was part of the tradition in the ancient near east Jewish culture. That your right hand was actually the dominant hand, the powerful hand, the one you earned your wages with. The right eye was the best eye. The one with valuable skill required its use for, for making a living and, and performing these tasks. <br /><br /> And so while Jesus may not be advocating for physical mutilation, what he is saying is hold nothing back. I don't care if you're making a living off of this or this, do whatever it takes to conquer this sin of lust, do violence and don't mess around and give up your very livelihood. Maybe you hear that Jesus so values the covenant of marriage between a husband and wife. <br /><br /> He knows the destructive nature of loss within a human heart. And so we, we say along with him that we want to remove what may hold us back from this unity. We're capable of much evil in our hearts. So whatever you need to put in that blank, Remove it to throw it out, turn it off, remove the temptation. <br /><br /> Okay. Let's move on to some, uh, application here of these truths together. Maybe we should first ask ourselves the question. What's the point of this teaching? Like we're in the middle of the sermon on the Mount. We're getting some of these blessing statements. Now we have some practical stuff. Why is this one here? <br /><br /> Why are these really difficult sins? The things that Jesus tackles here. Well, if you were there and you were hearing the law be reinterpreted or, or deepened or expanded in some ways you would think to yourself, well, keeping the law is a really difficult thing, but I've been doing it as a, as a good Jewish follower. <br /><br /> And I'm going to keep going here. I'm just going to mark this off and keep making some strides here. I have to keep the law follow the rules. So maybe it's teaching seems redundant to you. But when you think of the sermon on the Mount, maybe how I have previously thought of the sermon on the Mount, it's a really nice, warm, fuzzy feeling. <br /><br /> It's a great teaching. It's beautiful until you actually realize what each section is saying. I bet people in the crowd didn't have a warm, fuzzy feeling when they heard how they were to follow in the kingdom of Christ. Maybe these intense statements were not as warm and fuzzy as I've previously read them. <br /><br /> Jesus, you're telling me not just to keep the law, which is already pretty difficult. Um, but to make this so much more exhaustingly difficult, how could any one you do this? How could anyone keep these standards? I think that's the goal of the teaching of Christ here. And the crowd probably had this grief, like. <br /><br /> We can't, we can't do this. We're we're longing for like, to be able to do this, but I'm, I know I'm not capable. Maybe there's this expectation or like this feeling of a pressure cooker building up with all the things that you have to do, and you are not able to keep those. This is impossible and Jesus would continue on his message, the whole sermon on the Mount and go through and speak these words to the people who just were beginning to realize with this teaching, they needed a rescuer knock and the door will be open to you. <br /><br /> That would come in a few chapters, enter through the narrow gate. That's me Jesus. To see the father build your lives on me as the foundation, people might say to the crowd there. Well, I'm unable to be righteous. I, I really, I can't do this. Jesus would say. I will be your righteousness. Heart is a wicked breeding ground for sin. <br /><br /> It's beyond repair. I will give you a new heart. I am helpless. Well, Jesus says I'm sufficient and able to save you. You see that teacher Jesus, as he's moving them to understand their inability, to keep the law is doing that on purpose. And he invites them to let him win the war. Romans eight three, the law of Moses was unable to save us the law of Moses, the Torah, the things that he was redefining right now that wasn't able to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. <br /><br /> This is clear. This is so obvious. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own son in a body like the bodies we sinners have, and in that body, God declared an end. To sins control over us, his son, by giving us his son as a sacrifice for our sins, the laws and rules were never made so that we could achieve righteous this, or get to heaven. <br /><br /> Maybe you've been taught that truth. Your entire life, Romans eight, three says false. You cannot earn it. You don't deserve it. It's a free gift available to you. Second, the ins five 21 for our sake, he, God made him Jesus to be sin who knew no sin. He was perfectly sinless so that in him, Jesus, we might become the righteousness of God. <br /><br /> So in Christ, we become the righteousness that God designs and desires for us and requires that is tremendously good news. It's not an earned righteousness. They're keeping these rules and making no mistakes. This is imputed righteousness assigned to the people that would believe and trust in Jesus freely. <br /><br /> Given in Ephesians four, a there are those who walk according to their own thoughts and in their own ways and in their own minds. And here's the words in Ephesians chapter four, but that's not the way you learned in Christ. Assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him as the truth is in Jesus to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds and to put on the new self created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. <br /><br /> So I wanna gather us this morning, possibly around a few resolutions. I want to ask you to make, maybe you write them down this morning and say, I'll think about it. Okay. Even just write them down so that you can come back later and think about these resolutions from the scriptures and from this passage this morning, number one, we agree that it's only ever the sin inside of us. <br /><br /> That magnetizes us to the sin outside of us. Don't read all four, sorry. I probably should've made them on like an animation or whatever. I'm not blaming others for my sin. I'm not pointing other people. I'm not pointing the finger at people who dress immodestly their problem. That's them. They should help me out so that I don't have to lust for producers who make shows with inappropriate content. <br /><br /> It's their fault for the culture who has lowered its standards. Oh, it's just the culture these days. I will point at my own heart. Number two, we agree. It is biblical to face the temptation in our hearts. Before we moved to action. Now hear what I'm not saying, pastor Mike just said that we don't have to really do anything with our actions. <br /><br /> It's all about the heart. So just leave the actions. Don't forget about it. What I am saying is face your heart on the way to the action. Don't put the cart before the horse. If you focus simply on action, I've heard it said once that it's kind of like trying to take good fruit and put it on a bad or dead tree, maybe you would like take it and try to staple it up onto a tree. <br /><br /> It doesn't make any sense unless the heart is rebirthed Christ. We cannot have any good fruit. So I'm going to be honest then about my own heart desires, I'm engaging in confession to God and to the others in my life, sharing with my wife, my husband, my mom, or my dad, brother or sister, call that friend who knows you. <br /><br /> We expose the dark corners of our hearts, not just look good on the outside confession and forgiveness, trusting in Christ's forgiveness and his righteousness alone. Number three, we agree to face lust and adultery with the same measure and intensity that Jesus shares. We will as a family block out shows or sites or media that encourage our are already our heart. <br /><br /> When we will do violence to the things that we cherish for the sake of Christ, right hand and right eye type stuff, whether it's a friendship or a relationship. People at work that you should not be hanging out with or talking to apps or locations or computer access or things on your phone, whatever the case might be. <br /><br /> You're your whole livelihood. Right-hand your whole livelihood. You're right. I cut it off. Nothing stands in the way between me and obedience to Christ, moms and dads. I want to just speak to you this morning. I'm convinced that many families don't know how to confront or talk about the sin of lust and adultery, because there's probably some shared idolatry in the family. <br /><br /> Maybe talk about it with your kids. Well, how can I do that? If that's my own heart wickedness, how do I do this? If I'm struggling with pornography myself, how can I talk to my kids about it? Might I suggest to you this morning that as a parent, it is not okay. Perfection that Christ is calling you to it is to repentance and to turn from your wickedness, but it's to be an ambassador of Christ. <br /><br /> And so in the midst of your failure, your sin, might there be a redemptive family moment that exposes your heart and trust that the Lord will do his work in your family, whatever he says, you represent the King's way in your family, confessing your own sin and representing that to your kids. There's one thing I've learned as a youth pastor, these last number of years, it's that your kids are far better at technology than you think they are. <br /><br /> I'm sorry. All of you kids that just were exposed with that, don't wait for your kids to come running to you that one day they get it and they're like, this is wrong. What I'm looking at, what I'm seeing or what I'm engaged in, in my heart. Isn't okay. I need help. Don't wait for that moment, run to them and pursue them. <br /><br /> Open conversations covered in God's grace, bringing them to rescue and freedom. Don't wait for those moments to happen, where you catch. Number four, we agree to fight as dead men and women convinced of grace might be the most important of the four here. This is not a legalistic fight to get it right. The law strict code or rules for your family is not self-effort. <br /><br /> This is not grit your teeth and just get it right. This is individuals who in Christ are dead to sin and alive. Trusting the spirit of Christ in them. Done out of obedience. Our motivation then becomes everything. What'd you pray with me this morning. <br /><br /> Father, we hear the words you you've sent in Christ on this earth that he preached to a crowd of people who were faced with their own inability to keep the law and the codes that you set up. And maybe God, they had that same longing that we can have this morning. This life apart from Christ is impossible. <br /><br /> I don't measure up. And so what you do did and making Christ sin, who knew no sin, that we might become the righteousness of God. Oh God. I pray that there are those here this morning processing and unpacking their own heart motivations. Even before the action happens, God, might we be a people who run with grace to one another and to you confessing our sin, that we might be healed, that we might be forgiven and know true freedom in this space. <br /><br /> Lord you desire for oneness in marriages and among families. And I pray God, you would not allow anything to stand in the way of that. We worship you. And we give you this time. Now we pray these things in your name. Amen. Thanks for being here this morning. You are dismissed. .</div> false no <![CDATA[Jesus Talks About Anger]]> Matthew 5:21-26

“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’



Good morning. We are in Matthew chapter five, as we have been, uh, last. Three months or so as we're in this series, the upside down life this morning, we're going to be hearing about Jesus speaking words about anger. And I know when you hear the sermon topic, you probably do something like I do like immediately.

Okay. Sermon topic about anger. You start filtering through like, oh boy, um, how much do I have to listen? How much does my kid or spouse have to listen, but we enjoy what Jesus says in this, this sermon. He gives the Matthew five, six, and seven, ultimately a sermon about living the free life in the kingdom of God.

Read this about someone's experience. Um, this last week there was a man who went with his wife. To go to her new boss. So his wife had a new boss and just recently hired onto the company. And they, as a couple went to her house, she was a single woman to, um, have dinner. And in this well-to-do apartment, the wife talked to the husband before this happened and said to her, please be careful, be on your P's.

And Q's be socially responsible in this situation. This man wrote of his experience. He said in response to her saying I scoffed and arrogantly and for my wife that I always make good impressions. My wife's boss, a single lady in her fifties, and it was just the three of us. So we chit chat it over drinks and salad and seemed to be really hitting it off.

She laughed at my well-timed perfectly appropriate jokes and my wife. Seemed pleased evening is going well. But soon what happened is the woman who is serving the meal, brought out the steak, said it was a nice, big, juicy steak she had, and she had cooked it for each of them. As I began to cut into my steak.

I was discouraged to discover how under cooked this steak was. I probably could have resuscitated the cow had. I tried instead, I sat there fidgeting with my knife and fork worrying about how well I was going to be a way going to get away with not eating this steak. How many are a little uncomfortable already?

He had started to feel like, where is this going? Just then our host is excused herself to the kitchen to take care of some dessert preparations. As I looked across the fancy dining room table at the open window of this it's fancy third story apartment, a cartoon light bulb appeared over my head. He writes, I knew I had to be decisive realizing that she could return at any moment.

I committed. I grabbed the steak with my hand, gently shook off the juice and executed a perfect throw right through the center of the open window here was by big mistake. He writes the window wasn't open. It was the cleanest window you've ever seen in your life. That is until my raw slab of steak slammed up against it.

And slowly slid down, leaving a trail of bloody juice in its wake. My wife, who steak was a nice medium rare was unaware of my predicament. Turned jaw dropped this look then slowly morphed into more of a, there is no place on this planet you can ever hide from me. Expression of demonic, anger. My wife's boss heard the thud of the steak on window impact and came quickly.

She took in the scene, the steak sitting on the window, sill the blood trail, my empty plate, and gave me a puzzled look. Both women continued to stare at me. As I smeared the blood around the wind with my cloth, napkin, dusted off the snake and continued to mutter in incoherent explanation. He writes, I knew what I had to do.

I sheepishly returned to my seat, proceeded to eat every bite of that disgusting cold chewy, bloody raw steak. I remained pretty quiet for the rest of the evening and any person that knows what smoldering anger is, can identify with this. My wife's only two words to me since the incident are. I'm fine.

Anger is not something that operates in the prettiness of life. It's not something that we can just sit and talk about when we're, um, put together thought through centered anger doesn't happen. That way. Anger happens in messy, uncomfortable, unpredictable situations. And we have here the radical teaching of Jesus about anger.

And it is, as we have said, the upside down way, it is a counter or it is an alter cultural way of understanding this very common experience that we have about anger in Matthew chapter five, we looked at the beatitudes talking about the values of the kingdom of God. And we are now in this section talking about the practical living, how this benevolent reign of Jesus looks, what it looks like in our every day life.

This phrase that will come up in Matthew five. But I say onto you, Jesus talks about an old way of understanding how to live, but he says, but I say onto you, and he talks about the principle of what life now looks like in the new covenant kingdom of God. So, but I sent you and he will say it about these different situations.

He will say about anger in our passage today. He'll say it about lust. He'll say it about divorce. He'll say it about words or language. Then he'll say it about conflict and then about enemies, again, a natural understanding. But I say to you, and Jesus will give these words, read with me if you would, as I, or follow along.

As I read in Matthew chapter five, these words of Christ about anger starting in verse 21. You have heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not murder. And whoever murders will be liable to judgment, but I say unto you, everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment. Whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council.

Whoever says you fool will be liable to the hell of fire. So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there, remember your brother has something against you. Leave your gift there before the altar and go first, be reconciled to your brother, then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court.

Bless your accuser, hand you over to the judge and the judge to the guard and you be put in prison. Truly. I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny Lord, we come to your word this morning. We come to your teaching. We come to. Words that, uh, can easily create concern for us. As we recognize the anger that lives often in our outside experience, and often recognize the anger that lives in our inside experience.

We pray that we might not dismiss your teaching as some radical, too idealistic, but that we might accept this as the new and living way that you Jesus' work. And you work such that our anger even can be transformed. Thank you for your kindness as I'm reminded of my own anger this week and reminder, remember my need of a savior.

Thank you. Bless our time in Jesus name. Amen. As we look at anger, want to talk simply of what is anger, right? You can call anger a lot of different things. There's a lot of different aspects of what you might say. This is a part of anger. This is a part of anger. The way I want to define anger force this morning is simply anger is destructive energy, not just saying anger is an action.

Not just saying it's an inward reality, but destructive energy. Now anger is a power emotion, right? Um, sadness, fear. These are more vulnerable spaces. And when we feel things, negative insecurity, sadness, fear, vulnerable emotions. We quickly, often cover those with what feels more powerful. And one of the common emotions that once we experienced something negative, we want to not sit in that vulnerability, but rise up against it and try to destroy whatever is causing it.

Anger. When we feel hurt, insecure, afraid we run to what that makes us feel strong. Anger gives us energy. What kind of energy anger gives energy to destroy. Think of even actions, even healthy actions of what to do with anger, right? You don't tell your kid to go build a sand castle. It's punch a pillow, right?

There's a sense of, of when you have this, it is anger that feels like destruction. There's two pictures given by Jesus in the text. Verse 22 Jesus likens, anger to murder. He goes the whole way, right? You, Jesus knows that in the code written in our hearts, in the code written in his scripture, in the code reflected in most places.

And most societies around the world, his anger is not, or murder is not a good thing. And so he goes and likens this anger to the destructive force to murder. Now we know that, uh, there are times when Jesus himself was angry and I we're going to talk about Jesus in the temple, but I want to be careful here because I think a lot of times when we feel anger, We rushed to Jesus in the temple, right?

And we're like, well, I can be mad at this situation, this national thing, this, this local thing, this thing in my business, this thing with my kids. Why? Because it's a righteous anger. The longer I live, the more, I really believe that, that this is a righteous anger. Is most often used as a covering for I'm just scared or himself protecting something good.

And so I have a right to anger and, but we will talk about it. So in the passage of Jesus in the temple, there is the muscle of anger being used and it is the muscle of destruction. Jesus enters the 10th temple in Matthew chapter 21, and he destroys a system that was violating the sacredness of God.

Right. It's right there in the temple. They're turning into a marketplace. They're exploiting poor people who are trying to pay for sacrifices. And he walks in and says this, I want no part of, and he uses destructive the energy to accomplish something good. Uh, west Stafford. As a man who started compassion international and incredible gentle holy man who started this incredible organization, he traces back the seeds of compassion.

International. Many of you are supporting compassionate international children. He chases the seed back to that to a moment when he, as a child was experiencing deep, deep abuse at the hands of other people. And there was a moment when he was very young in the 1960s, which he calls a moment of anger, where he stood up for his own dignity.

And that moment was the seed of what will become an incredibly compassionate. Good. Organization to defend and look out for exploited children. Anger can be used for good. Sometimes things need to be destroyed. I don't want my sons to say I've never seen my dad angry. Ephesians four 26 says in your anger do not.

Sin does not say your anger is necessarily sin, but in your anger do not sin. But for me, most of the things that I am willing to spend my anger energy on are the things that are selfish. Most of the time when my anger is mobilized and goes unchecked. I do sin. And this force is like a fire can accomplish good, but has such power to destroy.

Here's the first question. If you're doing your notes, I want you to write down in our anger. First question is what am I seeking to destroy and like destroy, that's kind of. Extreme, right. Well, well, let's talk about the classic, right? We're we're Jersey folks. So let's talk about road rage. Um, nearly 80% of people in the last year or so, according to a study done in 2006, or at that time, um, have experienced some type of road rage within the last year.

Not yet you all, but some people, right? That's the benefit of studies. I actually don't like road rage is a little comical to me. Like, I just feel like I don't want to get that upset about someone not using a blinker, but so I've told my wife, like, I don't really think I have road rage. I think I'm in the 20%.

And she has very kindly said, babe, it's true. You don't have road rage, but you cause so much. So I'm sorry. You 80 percenters. It's my fault. Okay. So, and I tell her, it's only when you're in the car, I'm really a good driver when you're not here. But, but in road rage, right? It's a little, there is a little part where it's funny.

It's like, what is that person trying to accomplish? Right. It's most of the time they're not ripping out a baseball bat and going to the hood of your car. Most of the time, it's a honk, it's a universal signal of disapproval. It's some type of like, uh, or some screaming in the car or some yelling, or even speeding up next to you and giving the glare.

What's the hope, right? Like, how is that supposed to alter someone's life? What is the desire? If I'm experiencing road rage, what do I desire for the other person? Or maybe what do you desire for me? Some might say my road rage is trying to help that person observe the law for rules of the road. I'm out there for their safety.

They're they're endangering other people. And I feel for them, all I want is their preservation and protection. No, it's, it's the deep down. I want you to know how terrible of a driver you really are. I want you to know that the fact that you hit your brakes two seconds before I thought was appropriate, makes you a stupid person.

And I want you to wallow in your stupidity all day. I want you to go home and say, oh, I really am a stupid person. That's the goal, right? It's a, somehow you feel worse about you. Our greatest hope for people that we're mad at when they're dumb is we just really hope they know how dumb that they are, right?

Because that is destructive energy. I want you to know, I want to destroy your image of yourself. I want your day a little bit worse, because that's what I feel like you did to me in traffic, but it doesn't just stay in the car. Does it? I've realized this with my kids. I have the weirdest thing with my kids.

I think I may have mentioned this before. Like I'll have my, my eight year old who weighs, I don't know, like 55 pounds or something. He'll come and he'll accidentally knock into me or something will happen. He might drop a cup and it hits my foot all act like I had a limb severed. I don't know why. Like I'll have this reaction, like, Aw, sob, man, what are you doing?

Like, and it'd be my gut reaction. I'm like that didn't hurt at all. Like, why am I acting like this was such a violation. There's nothing more important to me as a human being and as a dad than the happiness of my kids, but not when I'm mad, not when I'm inconvenienced. I want to say, did you see how much this hurt dad is devastating?

Do you see how much I have to clean up? If I've told you once I've told you a thousand times, or how about this classic parenting one, you need to wipe that smile off your face, right? I hate how happy you are. So stop it, right? This is the energy. What are we really saying? Are you unhappy with yourself enough yet?

I want to you to realize the exact amount of inconvenience, and I want you to be miserable about it. I want to destroy even your joy. Anger wants to destroy. The second image is Rocca. Okay. And it says, if you say this, where rock on this, where we can all feel good, because unless you're a weirdo, you don't walk around, you know, just saying to people rock, you know, like if you do, I don't know, you got a lot of other things we could talk about, but this rock has not normally a word.

You know, we only know this word because it's mentioned, this is a bad word. Right. But what is, what is rock, huh? I mean, it's a word of diminishing dignity. It's calling someone empty, worthless or shallow brains. That's this term rock rock has saying you are nothing. You deserve nothing. You matter less. I wish for you nothing.

When I'm feeling towards someone or something, I want them to understand. How pitiful that they are. And when that word is used, it is the demonstration of, I want you to see what a mess up you are. What, how bad that you are, how little that you are. My rock hall, anger. Is that what says that it's saying what you want is less important than what I want.

I'm willing to destroy your desires, will argument ideas and very dignity. So that I get to feel what I think that I need. This is emotional Darwinism, survival of the fittest. My needs matter more than yours. And, and some of this we can laugh at because this is, this is what it means to be human.

Sometimes like we live in a world that's, it's just got things going on left when we want them to co-write and, and. We're dealing with frustration and disappointment insecurity and sadness. And, and we don't have all of these great Juju resources to just all of a sudden be like, man, it's all cool. Right?

Like we're tired, we're stretched. We're we're worried. And so when things happen, we understand we have this energy source that happens within us. So what do we do? What do we do with our anger? And I love the sermon is so precious to me, a few things. And you have them in your notes of, in the kingdom of God, what is Jesus saying about how anger should work?

What do we do with this? How do we respond to this? Which Wells inside of us? More often than we want it to. First thing I think in dealing with anger in the kingdom of God is simply recognizing the theology of anger, which is to recognize the damage that it causes so important in this discussion of anger is asking the question, who am I speaking to?

Who am I thinking this about? Who am I telling off in my head? And they aren't even there. Who am I wishing. Less for Psalm eight talks about this as such a dear passage that people, whether they're, uh, doesn't matter with what placement they are, what resources they've accumulated, what belief system they have, that people, human beings of all types, all creeds, all times, all places are deeply precious to God that they have been given a unique and beautiful placement in creation.

Hebrews one speaks of this Genesis. The whole design is that that human beings have incredible worth. And, and we, at times in with the Christian message where we say that humans have a misbehaving heart, we can go be on that. I'm not careful and say things like, oh, I am worthless. No. That's bad theology.

And it's a shot at the king. Who said you are so worth it. I will die for you. Human beings have incredible worth. There is, there is no book that establishes the incredible weight of glory that God puts on the human being like the account we have in scripture, human beings matter much. And they matter much, God, anger is a direct shot at that value.

While humans are sinful, they are never worthless. And when we speak and act and even think, cause it results in how our atmosphere of our person is we are shooting against that, which is so proof of so holy to God. Anger is the message that reinforces the voices. We all have. Pastor mark talks about the voices, a lot, the voices that we have as human beings, that the self rejecting voices, the voices that we have about ourselves that say you should be ashamed of yourself.

You're so different than everyone else. You'll never get your stuff together. Uh, people like you are really okay, but nothing special that the voice that say I'm too ugly, too afraid, too stupid, too bad with people too unsuccessful. Not good enough at this, that or the other, these voices. They live inside of us.

Anger. When we are angry with someone else, we are reinforcing those voices. When we are reinforcing someone else's insecurity and the worst part is we like it. We enjoy it. We want people to sit there and feel these voices. Why? Because that will destroy them a little bit. Anger is such a big deal to God because it really wounds people who are such a big deal to God harming the design dignity of who God created is so precious to him.

He says that that's murder. That deserves incredible weight. We see in this passage, the profane part of anger is that it recklessly stomps on which that, which God hold so precious. Secondly, to recognize the cause of anger. Where's the anger coming from. Yes. Recognizing that, that, that has great damage from the theology of, of anger.

Is it? It is a great shot against God because it is treating profane. What he determined is precious, but taking a step back, what, what usually causes this anger is a secondary emotion. My buddy often says, it's not what you feel first. Now we can get there and microseconds cause we're talented like that.

But why knowing the question of why we are angry and, um, someone usually why we're angry as someone has determined our feelings, our rights, our will is not that important. When someone steps on my dignity or triggers my insecurity or of my tribe, then it feels okay to trigger, to jump back. That is when we start lashing out.

And this I think is really important. Every time you were an eye are worked up to have a rock hub response to have a murderous response. It's because ourselves or something that we love is being threatened. We don't care. Otherwise it's, it's gotta be something close that I hold dear. That feels this type of threat.

I think this is the second question we need to ask in the cause of anger. Okay. What's right now, how do I, or my expectations feel threatened in this moment? And you're like, man, you are way over. Sophisticating what happens in the blink of an eye? I don't think I am. I think even if we go back to the simple cutting off of traffic, there is a sense of how dare you.

Do you know, this was my right away. There's something that, that cutting off demeaned about me. And I really think that, or I expected to get home in five minutes and now I'm getting home in six hours, hear you. There is a sense of what we have have we hold so tight that the very threat of it produces this desire to restore or destroy.

Tim Keller says the anger. I love this is ultimately a form of love, but oftentimes much of what we love is my time, my money, my rights, my view of what things should be my rest, but recognizing what exactly is the cause of this is so important to rooting out and to dealing with it. Third. Recognize the economy of ag anger.

You're you're seeing like, the way we're going about this is, is recognized, recognized, recognized, because I think inventory of anger, what is really going on is the first steps. And then we'll move beyond that. But third again, recognize, recognize the anger, the, the economy of anger, anger, begets anger. An angry person builds anger in other people.

This is Proverbs 22 speaks to this. Proverbs speaks on anger all the time. Proverbs 22, 24 and 25 says make no friendship with a man given to anger nor go with a wrathful man, lest you learn his ways and entangled for self in a snare. Matthew, our Proverbs chapter 1518 says this hot tempered man, stirs up strife.

A hot tempered, man. His anger builds strife. Anger has anger babies. When there is anger, it will produce more anger. Okay. Here's a phrase for you. Crabby makes grabby. Here's what I mean by that. Crabby makes grabby when you are angry, it creates a world that everyone is trying to grab for themselves in a home.

That's always on talking about how unfair your boss is when he treats you, how and how you want to him to get his in a workplace that thrives on drama, temper and gossip. In a, in a political environment where we're, there's this sense of what's wrong with every other people when that exists in a home or workplace or environment.

When, when you have a kid on a sports team and you're complaining how much your daughter or son should get more playing time. And that coach is so incompetent when we're always discern, asserting, or defending our right to the last piece of pizza to control the remote, whose argument is the most, right?

When we're always fending for ourselves, what happens, resources run out. So every, it creates an environment of, I got to grab first. I have to produce my argument. First. I have to get my playing time. First, that type of culture that exists in homes, it exists in churches and workplaces. It's an environment when I am angry and need to get mine.

It will produce that. And other people, the kingdom of God, such a core principle is that there's enough to go around. And when we feel violated, we have the very chance to build a different way of life. That's what the beatitudes speak to over and over and over the kingdom way, or just real quick, we talk about worldliness and we often associate with substances and sex, and I understand there's some biblical precedent for talking about worldliness that way, but worldliness at its core when John and other people are talking about what it means to be worldly, it's this inner life of, I need to get mine, look out for mine.

I need to win. I need to the world of pride and anger and ego are very. Root system of worldliness. Yes. And often we'll say, whoa, look at the fruit. That was a really naughty thing. Someone did well, worldliness happens in the heart. Worldliness happens when it says deep down, I got to make sure I get mine and I don't care if anyone else gets there.

That's worldliness. The kingdom of God, Jesus comes to establish and say, does not need to operate that way. It must be a place of dignity. Listen, generosity, a place of overflow, a place where there's enough to go around a place where there is forgiveness that flows freely in and out of relationships. We can live differently because he's given us enough, love and care for each.

And for all. To live this way as the upside down life. That's what he came to bring the up there down here, a serve each other type of existence, a limitless resources of love, where we treat each other, not as competitors, but as people who need and deserve blessing. Okay. These are the recognize areas. Now quickly three points of living that out.

First thing I'd say about that. So number four, be kind to yourself. I know that sounds counter-intuitive to what we're saying. This is what I mean, those, I have seen this over and over and over in pastoral ministry. Those that are most judgmental. Have the most angry and dissatisfied view of themselves often takes time to unwind that cause judgmental people just, I mean, but when you really get to know and sit with the things that even call that things where our bitterness and frustration and people who just are lashing out and experiencing a lot of anger.

So often, often there is such a tight unkind view to, of self in the deep parts of them. By far, I am least compassionate and most angry when I, I am most depleted and dealing with a lot of self rejection. I am way crueler of a person. When I am being, I am experiencing all of my own self rejection. It said when you are a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

And we know it's tough to live with hammers, right? They want everybody to get knocked down and see this. And there's a, there's this problem with that. But like, there's always a problem with somebody in something, but you know, who else has a hard time living with the hammer, a hammer as painful? Why destroying a lot of things inside yourself as well?

I don't mean spoil yourself, but if you're in Christ, Jesus, there's a compassion towards yourself. It says, following the teachings of Jesus is love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, soul, mind, heart, soul, and mind. And the second is like, it love your neighbor. As your self, loving yourself in Christ is a calling of utmost importance.

I love this. The university of Bergen, they did an article and their article was how to control anger. And there's older articles of this. Eat a banana and get enough sleep. I think when we're mindful and compassionate of our own true need of resources, that's the first step in being able to be a compassionate person to others.

Fifth reconcile with those who are angry with you. Verse 23 in our passage says if you're offering gift at your altar, remember the brother or sister has something against you. Leave your gift in front of the altar, go and be reconciled. Then come and offer your gift before you give gifts of value to the church or to other people, make sure we are living the value of people in our relationships.

Financial gifts are important. Worshiping is important. But they're not fundamentally more important than how we treat each other, this isn't. And the interesting part of the passage, it's not just dealing with anger or hatred that we might feel towards someone else it's anger or hatred that someone else might feel towards us, which asks the question, what is my responsibility?

Because in this world, there are people who don't always like us or who are upset. So what is my responsibility to someone who is upset with me? Couple of qualifications that I think are important with Jesus's words here is one. I don't think we're responsible for what others hold against us when it's not owing to real sin or blunder on our part.

There are times when people will, will have incredible judgment towards you as a person. And that doesn't mean you're responsible to fix all of those judgments. We are says, it says in Romans 12, if possible, so far as it depends on you live at peace with all men. There are times when peace is not only dependent on you.

We are responsible to actively continually, openly pursue reconciliation, but we also live with the pain. If it does not succeed. In other words, we're not responsible to make reconciliation happen as far as we can, we reach out. But there are times when there's levels of anger and bitterness and judgment towards us that we can't fix.

But I think we often can hide behind that too. Right. And let bad relationships linger because we think, oh, we've done all that we can. And I think that's where wisdom and prayer and counsel is important to decipher. Lastly, deal with this quickly, the consequences of anger in our passage don't age. Well.

Settle matters quickly with your adversary. Who's taking you to court, do it while you're along the way, or they may hand you to a judge. Judge to the officer may be thrown into prison. Won't get out. So you've paid the last penny. Obviously it's a specific analogy he's using of some debt and recompense kind of thing here, but, and he's talking in this anger passage, anger when anger is hit a relationship, it doesn't usually age well.

And so we want to deal quickly a gold rush, man. I love that show is a discovery channel show. And they're usually up in the Klondike or somewhere like freezing cold. And they've got a season with which they can deal with the ground, right? Because otherwise the ground freezes and doesn't work well to get gold out of.

So they have, they're trying to beat the frost. They're trying to beat the cold because there's a time where. The soil becomes less able to be mined. And I think in relationships, when anger's had a relationship, it doesn't age well, bitterness usually makes the situation worse, not better. And that's often what happens.

Bitterness, the drinking of poison and waiting for someone else to die is, is something that grows with time. And so as soon as we can deal with those relationships that have been broken by anger, we are called to in conclusion, Christ has set us free from destructive anger. This is one of those passages that can feel real idealistic, right?

Like, okay. I already knew anger was bad and now I know it's bad and that's cool. But the question is like, is Jesus for real? Like, this is one of the things in James. I love it says don't just listen. Do what it says, it's the words going through my head this week of just, what if I really didn't just see my anger as, yeah.

I already knew it was kinda wrong and I go in and out of it and I try not to, but what if, what if, when we would go through these passages on anger and lust and words that we say, this is the king talking the king who enables me and is the very strength within me to live free, that he really can free us from anger.

He really can break generational patterns of anger. He really can make us humble, quiet, internally, quiet people in the midst of angry cultures. He really can settle my heart that I am not living this way. May we take these words and the words he'll speak in this passions seriously, that Jesus Christ died and rose again, and is victorious.

Even over the messy stuff like anger, will you stand and receive the blessing as we conclude. I just want to say this over us as a church, may we be a village, a people who lives in this upside down way, uh, people who takes our will and our own way, a little less seriously, who is less afraid to give ground, uh, people who are loved and free and who are free to love, uh, people who do get stressed.

Who do feel upset at ourselves and do feel angry towards others at times, a people that fears, fear and threat, but that chooses to employ our anger as a defense of others, not an often sense of our own territories. May we know the love of Jesus. It is only in this love. We can live on afraid unthreatened on defended for anger lives in the kingdom of fear.

May we live, grow, build function, and enjoy his kingdom of love. We are dismissed.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/jesus-talks-about-anger 1012746c-1409-4e6f-a0d6-ceac48441830 Sun, 23 May 2021 14:02:55 GMT <div data-html="true">Matthew 5:21-26 <br /><br /> “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Good morning. We are in Matthew chapter five, as we have been, uh, last. Three months or so as we're in this series, the upside down life this morning, we're going to be hearing about Jesus speaking words about anger. And I know when you hear the sermon topic, you probably do something like I do like immediately. <br /><br /> Okay. Sermon topic about anger. You start filtering through like, oh boy, um, how much do I have to listen? How much does my kid or spouse have to listen, but we enjoy what Jesus says in this, this sermon. He gives the Matthew five, six, and seven, ultimately a sermon about living the free life in the kingdom of God. <br /><br /> Read this about someone's experience. Um, this last week there was a man who went with his wife. To go to her new boss. So his wife had a new boss and just recently hired onto the company. And they, as a couple went to her house, she was a single woman to, um, have dinner. And in this well-to-do apartment, the wife talked to the husband before this happened and said to her, please be careful, be on your P's. <br /><br /> And Q's be socially responsible in this situation. This man wrote of his experience. He said in response to her saying I scoffed and arrogantly and for my wife that I always make good impressions. My wife's boss, a single lady in her fifties, and it was just the three of us. So we chit chat it over drinks and salad and seemed to be really hitting it off. <br /><br /> She laughed at my well-timed perfectly appropriate jokes and my wife. Seemed pleased evening is going well. But soon what happened is the woman who is serving the meal, brought out the steak, said it was a nice, big, juicy steak she had, and she had cooked it for each of them. As I began to cut into my steak. <br /><br /> I was discouraged to discover how under cooked this steak was. I probably could have resuscitated the cow had. I tried instead, I sat there fidgeting with my knife and fork worrying about how well I was going to be a way going to get away with not eating this steak. How many are a little uncomfortable already? <br /><br /> He had started to feel like, where is this going? Just then our host is excused herself to the kitchen to take care of some dessert preparations. As I looked across the fancy dining room table at the open window of this it's fancy third story apartment, a cartoon light bulb appeared over my head. He writes, I knew I had to be decisive realizing that she could return at any moment. <br /><br /> I committed. I grabbed the steak with my hand, gently shook off the juice and executed a perfect throw right through the center of the open window here was by big mistake. He writes the window wasn't open. It was the cleanest window you've ever seen in your life. That is until my raw slab of steak slammed up against it. <br /><br /> And slowly slid down, leaving a trail of bloody juice in its wake. My wife, who steak was a nice medium rare was unaware of my predicament. Turned jaw dropped this look then slowly morphed into more of a, there is no place on this planet you can ever hide from me. Expression of demonic, anger. My wife's boss heard the thud of the steak on window impact and came quickly. <br /><br /> She took in the scene, the steak sitting on the window, sill the blood trail, my empty plate, and gave me a puzzled look. Both women continued to stare at me. As I smeared the blood around the wind with my cloth, napkin, dusted off the snake and continued to mutter in incoherent explanation. He writes, I knew what I had to do. <br /><br /> I sheepishly returned to my seat, proceeded to eat every bite of that disgusting cold chewy, bloody raw steak. I remained pretty quiet for the rest of the evening and any person that knows what smoldering anger is, can identify with this. My wife's only two words to me since the incident are. I'm fine. <br /><br /> Anger is not something that operates in the prettiness of life. It's not something that we can just sit and talk about when we're, um, put together thought through centered anger doesn't happen. That way. Anger happens in messy, uncomfortable, unpredictable situations. And we have here the radical teaching of Jesus about anger. <br /><br /> And it is, as we have said, the upside down way, it is a counter or it is an alter cultural way of understanding this very common experience that we have about anger in Matthew chapter five, we looked at the beatitudes talking about the values of the kingdom of God. And we are now in this section talking about the practical living, how this benevolent reign of Jesus looks, what it looks like in our every day life. <br /><br /> This phrase that will come up in Matthew five. But I say onto you, Jesus talks about an old way of understanding how to live, but he says, but I say onto you, and he talks about the principle of what life now looks like in the new covenant kingdom of God. So, but I sent you and he will say it about these different situations. <br /><br /> He will say about anger in our passage today. He'll say it about lust. He'll say it about divorce. He'll say it about words or language. Then he'll say it about conflict and then about enemies, again, a natural understanding. But I say to you, and Jesus will give these words, read with me if you would, as I, or follow along. <br /><br /> As I read in Matthew chapter five, these words of Christ about anger starting in verse 21. You have heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not murder. And whoever murders will be liable to judgment, but I say unto you, everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment. Whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council. <br /><br /> Whoever says you fool will be liable to the hell of fire. So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there, remember your brother has something against you. Leave your gift there before the altar and go first, be reconciled to your brother, then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court. <br /><br /> Bless your accuser, hand you over to the judge and the judge to the guard and you be put in prison. Truly. I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny Lord, we come to your word this morning. We come to your teaching. We come to. Words that, uh, can easily create concern for us. As we recognize the anger that lives often in our outside experience, and often recognize the anger that lives in our inside experience. <br /><br /> We pray that we might not dismiss your teaching as some radical, too idealistic, but that we might accept this as the new and living way that you Jesus' work. And you work such that our anger even can be transformed. Thank you for your kindness as I'm reminded of my own anger this week and reminder, remember my need of a savior. <br /><br /> Thank you. Bless our time in Jesus name. Amen. As we look at anger, want to talk simply of what is anger, right? You can call anger a lot of different things. There's a lot of different aspects of what you might say. This is a part of anger. This is a part of anger. The way I want to define anger force this morning is simply anger is destructive energy, not just saying anger is an action. <br /><br /> Not just saying it's an inward reality, but destructive energy. Now anger is a power emotion, right? Um, sadness, fear. These are more vulnerable spaces. And when we feel things, negative insecurity, sadness, fear, vulnerable emotions. We quickly, often cover those with what feels more powerful. And one of the common emotions that once we experienced something negative, we want to not sit in that vulnerability, but rise up against it and try to destroy whatever is causing it. <br /><br /> Anger. When we feel hurt, insecure, afraid we run to what that makes us feel strong. Anger gives us energy. What kind of energy anger gives energy to destroy. Think of even actions, even healthy actions of what to do with anger, right? You don't tell your kid to go build a sand castle. It's punch a pillow, right? <br /><br /> There's a sense of, of when you have this, it is anger that feels like destruction. There's two pictures given by Jesus in the text. Verse 22 Jesus likens, anger to murder. He goes the whole way, right? You, Jesus knows that in the code written in our hearts, in the code written in his scripture, in the code reflected in most places. <br /><br /> And most societies around the world, his anger is not, or murder is not a good thing. And so he goes and likens this anger to the destructive force to murder. Now we know that, uh, there are times when Jesus himself was angry and I we're going to talk about Jesus in the temple, but I want to be careful here because I think a lot of times when we feel anger, We rushed to Jesus in the temple, right? <br /><br /> And we're like, well, I can be mad at this situation, this national thing, this, this local thing, this thing in my business, this thing with my kids. Why? Because it's a righteous anger. The longer I live, the more, I really believe that, that this is a righteous anger. Is most often used as a covering for I'm just scared or himself protecting something good. <br /><br /> And so I have a right to anger and, but we will talk about it. So in the passage of Jesus in the temple, there is the muscle of anger being used and it is the muscle of destruction. Jesus enters the 10th temple in Matthew chapter 21, and he destroys a system that was violating the sacredness of God. <br /><br /> Right. It's right there in the temple. They're turning into a marketplace. They're exploiting poor people who are trying to pay for sacrifices. And he walks in and says this, I want no part of, and he uses destructive the energy to accomplish something good. Uh, west Stafford. As a man who started compassion international and incredible gentle holy man who started this incredible organization, he traces back the seeds of compassion. <br /><br /> International. Many of you are supporting compassionate international children. He chases the seed back to that to a moment when he, as a child was experiencing deep, deep abuse at the hands of other people. And there was a moment when he was very young in the 1960s, which he calls a moment of anger, where he stood up for his own dignity. <br /><br /> And that moment was the seed of what will become an incredibly compassionate. Good. Organization to defend and look out for exploited children. Anger can be used for good. Sometimes things need to be destroyed. I don't want my sons to say I've never seen my dad angry. Ephesians four 26 says in your anger do not. <br /><br /> Sin does not say your anger is necessarily sin, but in your anger do not sin. But for me, most of the things that I am willing to spend my anger energy on are the things that are selfish. Most of the time when my anger is mobilized and goes unchecked. I do sin. And this force is like a fire can accomplish good, but has such power to destroy. <br /><br /> Here's the first question. If you're doing your notes, I want you to write down in our anger. First question is what am I seeking to destroy and like destroy, that's kind of. Extreme, right. Well, well, let's talk about the classic, right? We're we're Jersey folks. So let's talk about road rage. Um, nearly 80% of people in the last year or so, according to a study done in 2006, or at that time, um, have experienced some type of road rage within the last year. <br /><br /> Not yet you all, but some people, right? That's the benefit of studies. I actually don't like road rage is a little comical to me. Like, I just feel like I don't want to get that upset about someone not using a blinker, but so I've told my wife, like, I don't really think I have road rage. I think I'm in the 20%. <br /><br /> And she has very kindly said, babe, it's true. You don't have road rage, but you cause so much. So I'm sorry. You 80 percenters. It's my fault. Okay. So, and I tell her, it's only when you're in the car, I'm really a good driver when you're not here. But, but in road rage, right? It's a little, there is a little part where it's funny. <br /><br /> It's like, what is that person trying to accomplish? Right. It's most of the time they're not ripping out a baseball bat and going to the hood of your car. Most of the time, it's a honk, it's a universal signal of disapproval. It's some type of like, uh, or some screaming in the car or some yelling, or even speeding up next to you and giving the glare. <br /><br /> What's the hope, right? Like, how is that supposed to alter someone's life? What is the desire? If I'm experiencing road rage, what do I desire for the other person? Or maybe what do you desire for me? Some might say my road rage is trying to help that person observe the law for rules of the road. I'm out there for their safety. <br /><br /> They're they're endangering other people. And I feel for them, all I want is their preservation and protection. No, it's, it's the deep down. I want you to know how terrible of a driver you really are. I want you to know that the fact that you hit your brakes two seconds before I thought was appropriate, makes you a stupid person. <br /><br /> And I want you to wallow in your stupidity all day. I want you to go home and say, oh, I really am a stupid person. That's the goal, right? It's a, somehow you feel worse about you. Our greatest hope for people that we're mad at when they're dumb is we just really hope they know how dumb that they are, right? <br /><br /> Because that is destructive energy. I want you to know, I want to destroy your image of yourself. I want your day a little bit worse, because that's what I feel like you did to me in traffic, but it doesn't just stay in the car. Does it? I've realized this with my kids. I have the weirdest thing with my kids. <br /><br /> I think I may have mentioned this before. Like I'll have my, my eight year old who weighs, I don't know, like 55 pounds or something. He'll come and he'll accidentally knock into me or something will happen. He might drop a cup and it hits my foot all act like I had a limb severed. I don't know why. Like I'll have this reaction, like, Aw, sob, man, what are you doing? <br /><br /> Like, and it'd be my gut reaction. I'm like that didn't hurt at all. Like, why am I acting like this was such a violation. There's nothing more important to me as a human being and as a dad than the happiness of my kids, but not when I'm mad, not when I'm inconvenienced. I want to say, did you see how much this hurt dad is devastating? <br /><br /> Do you see how much I have to clean up? If I've told you once I've told you a thousand times, or how about this classic parenting one, you need to wipe that smile off your face, right? I hate how happy you are. So stop it, right? This is the energy. What are we really saying? Are you unhappy with yourself enough yet? <br /><br /> I want to you to realize the exact amount of inconvenience, and I want you to be miserable about it. I want to destroy even your joy. Anger wants to destroy. The second image is Rocca. Okay. And it says, if you say this, where rock on this, where we can all feel good, because unless you're a weirdo, you don't walk around, you know, just saying to people rock, you know, like if you do, I don't know, you got a lot of other things we could talk about, but this rock has not normally a word. <br /><br /> You know, we only know this word because it's mentioned, this is a bad word. Right. But what is, what is rock, huh? I mean, it's a word of diminishing dignity. It's calling someone empty, worthless or shallow brains. That's this term rock rock has saying you are nothing. You deserve nothing. You matter less. I wish for you nothing. <br /><br /> When I'm feeling towards someone or something, I want them to understand. How pitiful that they are. And when that word is used, it is the demonstration of, I want you to see what a mess up you are. What, how bad that you are, how little that you are. My rock hall, anger. Is that what says that it's saying what you want is less important than what I want. <br /><br /> I'm willing to destroy your desires, will argument ideas and very dignity. So that I get to feel what I think that I need. This is emotional Darwinism, survival of the fittest. My needs matter more than yours. And, and some of this we can laugh at because this is, this is what it means to be human. <br /><br /> Sometimes like we live in a world that's, it's just got things going on left when we want them to co-write and, and. We're dealing with frustration and disappointment insecurity and sadness. And, and we don't have all of these great Juju resources to just all of a sudden be like, man, it's all cool. Right? <br /><br /> Like we're tired, we're stretched. We're we're worried. And so when things happen, we understand we have this energy source that happens within us. So what do we do? What do we do with our anger? And I love the sermon is so precious to me, a few things. And you have them in your notes of, in the kingdom of God, what is Jesus saying about how anger should work? <br /><br /> What do we do with this? How do we respond to this? Which Wells inside of us? More often than we want it to. First thing I think in dealing with anger in the kingdom of God is simply recognizing the theology of anger, which is to recognize the damage that it causes so important in this discussion of anger is asking the question, who am I speaking to? <br /><br /> Who am I thinking this about? Who am I telling off in my head? And they aren't even there. Who am I wishing. Less for Psalm eight talks about this as such a dear passage that people, whether they're, uh, doesn't matter with what placement they are, what resources they've accumulated, what belief system they have, that people, human beings of all types, all creeds, all times, all places are deeply precious to God that they have been given a unique and beautiful placement in creation. <br /><br /> Hebrews one speaks of this Genesis. The whole design is that that human beings have incredible worth. And, and we, at times in with the Christian message where we say that humans have a misbehaving heart, we can go be on that. I'm not careful and say things like, oh, I am worthless. No. That's bad theology. <br /><br /> And it's a shot at the king. Who said you are so worth it. I will die for you. Human beings have incredible worth. There is, there is no book that establishes the incredible weight of glory that God puts on the human being like the account we have in scripture, human beings matter much. And they matter much, God, anger is a direct shot at that value. <br /><br /> While humans are sinful, they are never worthless. And when we speak and act and even think, cause it results in how our atmosphere of our person is we are shooting against that, which is so proof of so holy to God. Anger is the message that reinforces the voices. We all have. Pastor mark talks about the voices, a lot, the voices that we have as human beings, that the self rejecting voices, the voices that we have about ourselves that say you should be ashamed of yourself. <br /><br /> You're so different than everyone else. You'll never get your stuff together. Uh, people like you are really okay, but nothing special that the voice that say I'm too ugly, too afraid, too stupid, too bad with people too unsuccessful. Not good enough at this, that or the other, these voices. They live inside of us. <br /><br /> Anger. When we are angry with someone else, we are reinforcing those voices. When we are reinforcing someone else's insecurity and the worst part is we like it. We enjoy it. We want people to sit there and feel these voices. Why? Because that will destroy them a little bit. Anger is such a big deal to God because it really wounds people who are such a big deal to God harming the design dignity of who God created is so precious to him. <br /><br /> He says that that's murder. That deserves incredible weight. We see in this passage, the profane part of anger is that it recklessly stomps on which that, which God hold so precious. Secondly, to recognize the cause of anger. Where's the anger coming from. Yes. Recognizing that, that, that has great damage from the theology of, of anger. <br /><br /> Is it? It is a great shot against God because it is treating profane. What he determined is precious, but taking a step back, what, what usually causes this anger is a secondary emotion. My buddy often says, it's not what you feel first. Now we can get there and microseconds cause we're talented like that. <br /><br /> But why knowing the question of why we are angry and, um, someone usually why we're angry as someone has determined our feelings, our rights, our will is not that important. When someone steps on my dignity or triggers my insecurity or of my tribe, then it feels okay to trigger, to jump back. That is when we start lashing out. <br /><br /> And this I think is really important. Every time you were an eye are worked up to have a rock hub response to have a murderous response. It's because ourselves or something that we love is being threatened. We don't care. Otherwise it's, it's gotta be something close that I hold dear. That feels this type of threat. <br /><br /> I think this is the second question we need to ask in the cause of anger. Okay. What's right now, how do I, or my expectations feel threatened in this moment? And you're like, man, you are way over. Sophisticating what happens in the blink of an eye? I don't think I am. I think even if we go back to the simple cutting off of traffic, there is a sense of how dare you. <br /><br /> Do you know, this was my right away. There's something that, that cutting off demeaned about me. And I really think that, or I expected to get home in five minutes and now I'm getting home in six hours, hear you. There is a sense of what we have have we hold so tight that the very threat of it produces this desire to restore or destroy. <br /><br /> Tim Keller says the anger. I love this is ultimately a form of love, but oftentimes much of what we love is my time, my money, my rights, my view of what things should be my rest, but recognizing what exactly is the cause of this is so important to rooting out and to dealing with it. Third. Recognize the economy of ag anger. <br /><br /> You're you're seeing like, the way we're going about this is, is recognized, recognized, recognized, because I think inventory of anger, what is really going on is the first steps. And then we'll move beyond that. But third again, recognize, recognize the anger, the, the economy of anger, anger, begets anger. An angry person builds anger in other people. <br /><br /> This is Proverbs 22 speaks to this. Proverbs speaks on anger all the time. Proverbs 22, 24 and 25 says make no friendship with a man given to anger nor go with a wrathful man, lest you learn his ways and entangled for self in a snare. Matthew, our Proverbs chapter 1518 says this hot tempered man, stirs up strife. <br /><br /> A hot tempered, man. His anger builds strife. Anger has anger babies. When there is anger, it will produce more anger. Okay. Here's a phrase for you. Crabby makes grabby. Here's what I mean by that. Crabby makes grabby when you are angry, it creates a world that everyone is trying to grab for themselves in a home. <br /><br /> That's always on talking about how unfair your boss is when he treats you, how and how you want to him to get his in a workplace that thrives on drama, temper and gossip. In a, in a political environment where we're, there's this sense of what's wrong with every other people when that exists in a home or workplace or environment. <br /><br /> When, when you have a kid on a sports team and you're complaining how much your daughter or son should get more playing time. And that coach is so incompetent when we're always discern, asserting, or defending our right to the last piece of pizza to control the remote, whose argument is the most, right? <br /><br /> When we're always fending for ourselves, what happens, resources run out. So every, it creates an environment of, I got to grab first. I have to produce my argument. First. I have to get my playing time. First, that type of culture that exists in homes, it exists in churches and workplaces. It's an environment when I am angry and need to get mine. <br /><br /> It will produce that. And other people, the kingdom of God, such a core principle is that there's enough to go around. And when we feel violated, we have the very chance to build a different way of life. That's what the beatitudes speak to over and over and over the kingdom way, or just real quick, we talk about worldliness and we often associate with substances and sex, and I understand there's some biblical precedent for talking about worldliness that way, but worldliness at its core when John and other people are talking about what it means to be worldly, it's this inner life of, I need to get mine, look out for mine. <br /><br /> I need to win. I need to the world of pride and anger and ego are very. Root system of worldliness. Yes. And often we'll say, whoa, look at the fruit. That was a really naughty thing. Someone did well, worldliness happens in the heart. Worldliness happens when it says deep down, I got to make sure I get mine and I don't care if anyone else gets there. <br /><br /> That's worldliness. The kingdom of God, Jesus comes to establish and say, does not need to operate that way. It must be a place of dignity. Listen, generosity, a place of overflow, a place where there's enough to go around a place where there is forgiveness that flows freely in and out of relationships. We can live differently because he's given us enough, love and care for each. <br /><br /> And for all. To live this way as the upside down life. That's what he came to bring the up there down here, a serve each other type of existence, a limitless resources of love, where we treat each other, not as competitors, but as people who need and deserve blessing. Okay. These are the recognize areas. Now quickly three points of living that out. <br /><br /> First thing I'd say about that. So number four, be kind to yourself. I know that sounds counter-intuitive to what we're saying. This is what I mean, those, I have seen this over and over and over in pastoral ministry. Those that are most judgmental. Have the most angry and dissatisfied view of themselves often takes time to unwind that cause judgmental people just, I mean, but when you really get to know and sit with the things that even call that things where our bitterness and frustration and people who just are lashing out and experiencing a lot of anger. <br /><br /> So often, often there is such a tight unkind view to, of self in the deep parts of them. By far, I am least compassionate and most angry when I, I am most depleted and dealing with a lot of self rejection. I am way crueler of a person. When I am being, I am experiencing all of my own self rejection. It said when you are a hammer, everything looks like a nail. <br /><br /> And we know it's tough to live with hammers, right? They want everybody to get knocked down and see this. And there's a, there's this problem with that. But like, there's always a problem with somebody in something, but you know, who else has a hard time living with the hammer, a hammer as painful? Why destroying a lot of things inside yourself as well? <br /><br /> I don't mean spoil yourself, but if you're in Christ, Jesus, there's a compassion towards yourself. It says, following the teachings of Jesus is love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, soul, mind, heart, soul, and mind. And the second is like, it love your neighbor. As your self, loving yourself in Christ is a calling of utmost importance. <br /><br /> I love this. The university of Bergen, they did an article and their article was how to control anger. And there's older articles of this. Eat a banana and get enough sleep. I think when we're mindful and compassionate of our own true need of resources, that's the first step in being able to be a compassionate person to others. <br /><br /> Fifth reconcile with those who are angry with you. Verse 23 in our passage says if you're offering gift at your altar, remember the brother or sister has something against you. Leave your gift in front of the altar, go and be reconciled. Then come and offer your gift before you give gifts of value to the church or to other people, make sure we are living the value of people in our relationships. <br /><br /> Financial gifts are important. Worshiping is important. But they're not fundamentally more important than how we treat each other, this isn't. And the interesting part of the passage, it's not just dealing with anger or hatred that we might feel towards someone else it's anger or hatred that someone else might feel towards us, which asks the question, what is my responsibility? <br /><br /> Because in this world, there are people who don't always like us or who are upset. So what is my responsibility to someone who is upset with me? Couple of qualifications that I think are important with Jesus's words here is one. I don't think we're responsible for what others hold against us when it's not owing to real sin or blunder on our part. <br /><br /> There are times when people will, will have incredible judgment towards you as a person. And that doesn't mean you're responsible to fix all of those judgments. We are says, it says in Romans 12, if possible, so far as it depends on you live at peace with all men. There are times when peace is not only dependent on you. <br /><br /> We are responsible to actively continually, openly pursue reconciliation, but we also live with the pain. If it does not succeed. In other words, we're not responsible to make reconciliation happen as far as we can, we reach out. But there are times when there's levels of anger and bitterness and judgment towards us that we can't fix. <br /><br /> But I think we often can hide behind that too. Right. And let bad relationships linger because we think, oh, we've done all that we can. And I think that's where wisdom and prayer and counsel is important to decipher. Lastly, deal with this quickly, the consequences of anger in our passage don't age. Well. <br /><br /> Settle matters quickly with your adversary. Who's taking you to court, do it while you're along the way, or they may hand you to a judge. Judge to the officer may be thrown into prison. Won't get out. So you've paid the last penny. Obviously it's a specific analogy he's using of some debt and recompense kind of thing here, but, and he's talking in this anger passage, anger when anger is hit a relationship, it doesn't usually age well. <br /><br /> And so we want to deal quickly a gold rush, man. I love that show is a discovery channel show. And they're usually up in the Klondike or somewhere like freezing cold. And they've got a season with which they can deal with the ground, right? Because otherwise the ground freezes and doesn't work well to get gold out of. <br /><br /> So they have, they're trying to beat the frost. They're trying to beat the cold because there's a time where. The soil becomes less able to be mined. And I think in relationships, when anger's had a relationship, it doesn't age well, bitterness usually makes the situation worse, not better. And that's often what happens. <br /><br /> Bitterness, the drinking of poison and waiting for someone else to die is, is something that grows with time. And so as soon as we can deal with those relationships that have been broken by anger, we are called to in conclusion, Christ has set us free from destructive anger. This is one of those passages that can feel real idealistic, right? <br /><br /> Like, okay. I already knew anger was bad and now I know it's bad and that's cool. But the question is like, is Jesus for real? Like, this is one of the things in James. I love it says don't just listen. Do what it says, it's the words going through my head this week of just, what if I really didn't just see my anger as, yeah. <br /><br /> I already knew it was kinda wrong and I go in and out of it and I try not to, but what if, what if, when we would go through these passages on anger and lust and words that we say, this is the king talking the king who enables me and is the very strength within me to live free, that he really can free us from anger. <br /><br /> He really can break generational patterns of anger. He really can make us humble, quiet, internally, quiet people in the midst of angry cultures. He really can settle my heart that I am not living this way. May we take these words and the words he'll speak in this passions seriously, that Jesus Christ died and rose again, and is victorious. <br /><br /> Even over the messy stuff like anger, will you stand and receive the blessing as we conclude. I just want to say this over us as a church, may we be a village, a people who lives in this upside down way, uh, people who takes our will and our own way, a little less seriously, who is less afraid to give ground, uh, people who are loved and free and who are free to love, uh, people who do get stressed. <br /><br /> Who do feel upset at ourselves and do feel angry towards others at times, a people that fears, fear and threat, but that chooses to employ our anger as a defense of others, not an often sense of our own territories. May we know the love of Jesus. It is only in this love. We can live on afraid unthreatened on defended for anger lives in the kingdom of fear. <br /><br /> May we live, grow, build function, and enjoy his kingdom of love. We are dismissed.</div> false no <![CDATA[Jesus Fulfills the Law]]> Matthew 5:17-20

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them."



We're rejoining Jesus. And the story of Jesus on the mountain. Matthew chapter five. Through seven is the story of the sermon on the Mount. It's an actual amount was in Capernaum or near Capernaum and in Galilee, which is in the north.

And Matthew presents to us at the end of chapter four, what has just taken place? And what's just taken place. He says at the end of chapter four, is these hoards of people from all over Israel, from the oldest Southern areas to Jerusalem, Judea, the Northern areas above Galilee, even the Eastern side, beyond the Jordan river, people are coming from everywhere to be around Jesus.

They've heard of his miracle. Some of them are coming to help people get sick healed that are sick. Many of them are coming just to be around this miracle worker. Others are drawn to, to hear him and to learn from him. And they've gathered together at this moment. And at this apex moment in the ministry of Jesus, he pulls them aside and does this remarkable sermon body of teaching called the sermon on the Mount.

It's striking. He'll go through Matthew chapter five through seven, and then in chapter eight and nine, Matthew will present to us Jesus in some of his continually astounding works. He will see him casting out demons. They'll see it. We'll see many healings that take place. And after all this body of work is done, where Jesus has presented his, his ultimate teaching in Matthew five through seven.

And then he has demonstrated his power in innumerable situations. In Matthew chapter 10, he sends his disciples out for the first time to go out on their own. They've got the truth. They've got the message of the kingdom. They've got the visual of the power of the king, and then they're going forth. And here in this passage in Matthew chapter five through seven, we have this remarkable teaching about the kingdom.

Of heaven and this term kingdom of heaven, I think pastor Ben did a great job. If you haven't seen that sermon last week sermon, he, he, he, he unpacks the whole concept of what it really means this kingdom of heaven, but basically the idea of it is it is not a king. It's not a geographic location. It is a Kings dominion.

It is the king that is ruling over the lives of his children. And he is describing her in Matthew five through seven, the lifestyle that he expects them to have as subjects, citizens since of his kingdom in the first part. And he gives the values they're going to have, we looked at those to be attitudes, and then he's turning.

Now he's turning to begin to talk about the practice of their lifestyle, the way they behave, the way spun last week talked about the, the influence of this kingdom being salt and light today. Jesus presents to us. A message about connection with the old Testament scriptures. Now, this passage that we're going to read in a moment has great relevance to us.

It enables us to understand how to benefit from the old Testament, how to read the old Testament, how to look at Jesus in light of the old Testament and how to understand the role of his commandments in our lives. But for the people that were listening, it was utterly foundational. It was life-changing because their entire lives, they had lived in light of the old Testament scriptures.

That's all they had. And Jesus is now saying, here's how I connect the two, how I connect the profits. Most specifically, here's how I connect the law that you've lived your lives under and how my principles relate to that. It gives us great understanding of how the read the old Testament for ourselves.

So it's, it's a pregnant passage and here's what we read in Matthew chapter five, verse 17 to 20. Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them for truly, I say to you until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot will pass in the law until all is accomplished.

Therefore, whoever relaxes, one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For, I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will never end dear the kingdom of heaven.

We're gonna look this morning in a moment at five things, we learn about Jesus and the law of God, but first let's pray together. Lord we gather in this place or watching online and this beautiful Sunday morning, Lord, thank you for all that. You've shown us already this morning, that reminds us of your love of beauty, your value of giving a creation that we can enjoy, because it is your desire that we know and enjoy you.

Lord teach us today. This is a confusing topic. How do the commandments, the law relate to Jesus? How do we understand the old Testament? How do we understand Jesus commands? And Lord, I pray you teach us changes. In Jesus' name. Amen. We're five things we find here in this passage. The first of which is Jesus' kingdom is not about new priorities for human behavior.

Jesus says this don't think I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I haven't come to abolish them, but to fulfill them for truly, I say to you until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot will pass no law until all is accomplished. Now, this statement, I don't think that I've come to abolish.

The law was important because that is exactly what a lot of his listeners thought. They thought he had come to abolish the law. This is the main criticism of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law. This guy is disregarding the law of Moses. Jesus gathers on his own Mount in order to look back to Mount Sinai and say, no, no, I haven't come to abolish these.

The word abolish actually means to destroy. It's used in the new Testament of demolishing a house. He says, I haven't come to bring an entirely new set of priorities. It isn't like, you know, God had one thing that he gave to Moses. And now I'm giving you a whole new set of priorities. This is not a hostile takeover.

You know, a corporation buys at another corporation or, or a big company buys out another company and you have a S you have a company that has certain values and priorities, right? Maybe it's a, a that they would say we are all about quality and relationships. We get our market share by, by knowing our clients, our customers, and treating them well for being known for quality.

We will sell less, but charge more or, and make it worth a desire. Something that has our, our customers want a bias because of the way we treat them the way we treat our employees and the standard of quality that we produce, we will sell less, but for more, and all of a sudden this company is bought out.

And now this small company is brought in under a new regime and this new regime has a totally different set of criteria. They say, we are not all about quality and relationships. We are all about numbers and well numbers, and we value different things. We will get our market share by cutting corners, a lesser product, but it will be cheaper.

We will charge less. But sell more. And quite honestly, they would not put this on their value statement on the core values. We'll make it work by getting cheaper, largely unskilled employees and work them to the bone, two completely different philosophies and priorities of way of doing business. And we might say, well, I think you ought to merge the two and so to work well fine, but we understand that's a hostile, that feels hostile when you're an employee in that setting, maybe it would feel hostile to the customers that have been with the previous company.

And Jesus is saying, this is not a hostile takeover. I'm not bringing in a whole new set of priorities. I remember reading the story years ago of, uh, when Lou Holtz became the coach of the Notre Dame football squad, it was replacing a man named Jerry Faust. Jerry Fallis had been a high school coach before he went to Notre Dame, who was a, it was, uh, a real, uh, correct role.

They took a high school guy and put him in the story. Position of the coach of Notre Dame. It didn't actually work out real well. He was a wonderful man, but, but he was a fairly loose loosey goosey type of guy. And they were barely above 500, which at Notre Dame at the time was not successful. And so he was let go.

And Lou Holtz was brought in or remembering the story of the first meeting you had with the team. The team had, you know, they had been now under the regime of the former coach for a number of years and it was very relaxed and, and, and, and Lou Holtz got up and the guys are sitting in the meeting and they're all slouched there.

And, and some of them sort of bored and they're slouching the chairs. They've got their legs crossed, sort of sitting there. And Lou Holtz came in and they introduced Lou Holtz. He didn't even say hello. He didn't even say, hi, I'm Lou. This is how he came up to the podium. He stood there and this little guy who describes himself as like a chicken and he looks out and he says, sit up straight.

And one of the big tackles recorded FL moment, we knew there was a new sheriff in town. Jesus is saying, I'm not a new sheriff. I'm not bringing in a whole new way of doing stuff. I don't have a whole new bag of rules. I'm coming in with the same priorities. I am not abolished shame the law and the profits.

The second thing he says that we are taught here in verse 17 is Jesus himself. Is this righteous way of life that is required for his kingdom. He says, I am not come to abolish the law or profits. I haven't come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. Now, it's not hard to figure out what he means when he sits to fill the profits.

Right. We know there are so many, there are hundreds of old Testament prophecies about Jesus. It's going to be born in Bethlehem. We know there are certain things he's going to actually say upon the cross, he's going to quote those passages and fulfill them. There are hundreds of, of, of, of old Testament prophecies, and they are fulfilled in Christ.

He himself did accomplished what they said would happen, but how does he fulfill the law? The commandments? Well, by accomplishing all, they required that they focused on him. Now, again, we might ask the question, wait a minute. This is the problem. I mean, it says to honor the Sabbath, but Jesus does things that we don't think are appropriate on the Sabbath.

I mean, Jesus hardly ever washes his hands ceremony. I mean, we never see him washing his hands away. You're supposed to, you know, wash your hands and they had all these rules of how many washed he, he, he does things that don't, it seem appropriate with the law. What do you mean? He fulfilled them. He seemed, well, Jesus says I am the fulfillment of the law.

And I think this is what he meant. First of all, he's saying there are things in the law that were uniquely given to Israel. There were civil laws because they were a nation, but he said, now the people of God are going to be a part of every nation. I will be their law. I will teach them how to live as citizens of my kingdom within the kingdom that they live there will be.

These laws of the Sabbath. And he says the whole principle of Sabbath was to have one day that was different of the seven. It would be in the word Sabbath, Sabbath, Shabbat means rest. And Jesus says, I will bring you wrist. You will find that rest. Ultimately, relationship with me practicing one day of seven of being different from others is, is, is wise.

That even goes back to the creation account in some passages, God rested on the seventh day. There's value in that. But he says, as far as the command, the way that they will experience rest is in me. In me, you will find your rest. He makes that specific state. He talks about how he will be the fulfillment of the sacrificial laws, which are part of the law.

He says, you, you had temporary. Coverings for your sin. And you would do this by sacrificing animals, particularly lambs. I am the lamb. I am the one these commandments ultimately says are fulfilled in me, but there are commence the moral law of God that are universal. And I will reiterate those in my teaching.

I will present them and embellish them and, and, and, and unpack them them for you. But this is what he says. And this, this to me is one of the most powerful things of his statement he says, but I am the fulfillment. Those laws are fulfilled to me. What's he saying this, those laws describe the way I live.

Those laws. Describe what God looks like in human form. He said, if you want to describe, how would God live if he walked on planet earth, read the Bible, read the commandments because God's incarnated form lives the way of the commandments. And so he says the very way I believe humans are created in the image of God to live is the way I live.

I come among you. The laws are fulfilled in me. They visualize me, me. I live those laws. They are my laws. Now, what is Jesus telling us when he says the law is fulfilled? Yes.

Well, one thing is telling us is how to read the old Testament. Because from a read from this point on reading the old Testament from a purely historical rendering, what it meant to the people of that time will be unsatisfactories. If things have changed, Jesus says, if you really want to understand the profits and understand the law, you must read toward Christ the way someone has learned to read a good novel.

If you've read the Lord of the rings or really any great novel, and you read through it once the whole time you're reading the story, you're reading towards the end, right. You know, what's going to happen. What's going to happen. What's going to happen. What's going to happen once. You've read it once, once you know the ending.

And if you're like, uh, a number of, of us, a lot of us have read the Lord of rings a number of times, but I know how it's going to end. And now I read and, and I'm engrossed in the story and said, oh, I didn't, I didn't pick that up the first time. Oh, I see how that, but all the while I'm reading it with the end in view, I know where it's going.

I recently been reading a book, one of the guys in our church road, Mike McNair, maybe it's a story about the Phillies in 2008. And I think I have that there. Yeah. Hard to believe this is, there's a promo for Mike's book, but, uh, he doesn't know I'm doing this, but it's a story of the Phillies championship.

Why does anybody want to read Mike's book? Because they won the championship. I mean, if he wrote a different year, but you go at it and you hear the groundskeepers stories, you hear the reporter's stories, your players and coaches, you hear the guy that sells hotdogs. You hear all their stories to the year and it all is interesting.

Because it gives you a feel of what was going on, what was going on, what was, but the reason it matters is because you know how it ends, what Jesus is saying. When you read the old Testament, you now read it differently. You sort of read the story with the end. He says, they all point to me. I'm the center of it.

Even those, the ceremonial action, even though civil laws, even those moral laws, I would be, you're really reading about what does God looked like in human form? When Jesus, when the, when, when Moses says you're, you're, you're, you're not to commit murder or commit adultery. When, when you're to live in faithfulness, what does God look like?

What does it present about Jesus? When you're reading those, those different sacrifices, because they're all foreshadowing Christ. Jesus says it's all my story. And so we read the story from the end, through the beginning laws, these laws, Jesus said a describing my life, the lifestyle, and both advocating and practicing they're describing me and anyone that is building their lives around me as their center.

The third thing he tells us is in verse 19 greatness in this kingdom is living this righteous way of life and helping others do the same verse 19. Therefore, whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

He says, I'm not trying to dumb down the laws. I'm not trying to diss these standards of righteousness. I do believe this is a particular way to live and I'm commanding those that commending, those that seek to live at this way. It's how I live as a human. He says, it's the best way. It's the most normative way.

It's the most holistic way to live a truly Schumann experience. So those that are great in the kingdom are those that live that way. And those that command others to live that way. He says the laws are important. The scriptures then old Testament scriptures are important. My principles of godliness are important.

Now, he's speaking to the Pharisees and in a minute, he's going to hammer these guys. She's going to shock them actually by something he says, but at this moment, they would have been very excited because he he's commending embracing the principles of, of godliness and building them into your life. I read, man.

It was actually telling me a story recently of an individual friend of hers who was raised in legalism and was talking to a Bible teacher. And she was grieving over what felt like lost years. And many of us have, have, have struggled with this last years. Cause she just lived so much in legalism and where those years just lost, you know, that I thought wrong.

And I, I majored on the minors and all the things we do is in legalism. And this wise Bible teacher asked her question. He says, when you were raised in a legalistic culture, did you learn the Bible? She said, oh yeah, everybody had to memorize all kinds of Bible. We did as kids, we did all the way through.

And, uh, we were always taught. Yes, got a lot of Bible. And he said, well, he said all that Bible that went in, all the truth that went in will be a bedrock for you as you live your life. I cannot tell you the number of people that I have, I have been involved with through the years, I've found a true in my own journey.

That would say I was raised in somewhat of a legalistic background, but I thank God for how much the Bible was built into me because now in the difficult circumstances of life, I just find, I have the scripture to flow back to I it's the foundation that I'm grateful was built in for me, Jesus is here saying.

Those that, that, that build in a foundation, even some of it's, if, if it's tempered and he's going to speak to this and it to the legalism, there is value. There is commensurability. There is honor. If we have embraced scripture and these truths, what Jesus is going to talk about is not that the law and the principles of godliness are wrong.

He's going to talk about, I'll tell you what, what he's talking about in just a moment. He is about to give this shocking broadside to the legalist, but he is also saying that anyone that embraces the scriptures, all the scriptures, old Testament, new Testament, and helps others to do the same is honored.

The fourth thing, the standards of live living righteously are impossibly higher than you tend to imagine. This is where he, he knocked them right out of their socks. Verse 24. I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Oh my goodness.

I mean, this is like saying, um, unless your righteousness exceeds the CS Lewis and the Francis Chan and the Tim Keller and whoever your spiritual hero is today, uh, you got no chance being a part of the kingdom of heaven. I mean, this was, this was smoking hot statements. The Pharisees were, we're not a political group.

The Pharisees were just a group of people that were known as the most devout and the most serious about their faith. The teachers of the law were the scribes. They were the ones that taught the scriptures. The priests were the ones that then led to the, but he says, unless your righteousness exceeds that.

You'll never enter the kingdom of God. Jesus is prepping them for what he's going to talk about in the rest of the sermon on the mountain. And this is really important. If you write anything down, write this down, that the problem with the people, if his day was not that they had a high view of God's law, it was that their view of God's law was too low.

They felt they could do it. They felt they could accomplish it, that they could. And if you went to a Pharisee and said, do you have a problem with anger? No. No. Do you ever problem with, with, with your language? No. No. Do you have a problem with, with, with, um, adultery night? I don't, I don't know. I'm I'm circumspect.

Many of them would have said I check off every one of them, 10 commandments. That's why Jesus in the next few verses is going to unpack. What does it really mean when he says don't commit murder? What does it really mean when he says don't commit adultery, he's going to take it heart deep and say, you guys think you're keeping the law.

You're not keeping the law because the law is he is going to present. It is continually speaking to a level where they had not taken it in order to make it obtainable and attainable. They dumbed down the standards, frankly, we all tend to do that. So in the next section, in the six sections of Matthews, chapter five, Jesus is going to address that.

And he's going to address these topics. He's going to say it this way, anger, I'm going to talk about anger and the next topic is going to, and the next statement is going to make is you've heard that they said that meant this. But I tell you, he's going to do that with each of these teachings. First, he's going to say anger.

You heard this, but I'm telling you it's this, you heard last, you heard it was this. I'm going to tell you it's this, you heard divorce. I'm going to tell you it's this. You heard oath, retaliation love for enemies. He says, you've heard this, this perspective on it. I'm not froing out those laws. He says, I just want you to, to, to see what they really say, that when it says don't murder and actually means if you're ever angry at somebody, if he ever call him a harsh name, you've committed against the commandment, do commit murder.

And people are sitting there and going to have a Hama Hama, Hama, Hama, what? And he says, don't commit adultery. And they're saying to say, what are you talking? And then he says, don't look at a woman with lusting highest. What are you talking about? Jesus. He says, you guys think you're not an adulterer. You think you're not a murderer, understand what the law is really saying?

Jesus is, I'm not abrogating. I'm not abolishing. I'm not demolishing the law. I'm just keeping it real guys. And I'm telling you what it's really saying. And I'm saying to you, if you think you are attaining a relationship with God, if you think you are attaining entrance into heaven, by your ability to keep the law, then you better be a lot farther along than the Pharisees and the scribes and the, and the most godly people.

You know, if that's the basis on which you're living your Christian life and, and expecting your spiritual. Verdict of acceptance. So he says things like this to the Pharisees who were external focused, who are not thinking about motives, thoughts, desires, Matthew 23, verse 13, whoa, do you, teachers of the law enforce the same group of people.

You're hypocrites. You shut the kingdom of heaven and men's faces yourselves. Don't inter no. Where you let those enter, who are trying to, why is that local 1152 tells us here's what he says. What are you experts in law? Because you've taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have an entered and you have hindered.

Those who are entering. He says the keys to entering into the relationship are understanding. The laws are understanding the standards of righteousness. You've dumb them down to a way that, that people think they can meet them. You think you can meet them. You've taken away. The very key that opens the door to life.

By communicating to people you can measure up in your own righteousness.

Jesus says you got to understand it's righteousness from the inside out. It's a righteousness that in your own resources, you cannot and will not attain. All of this is preparing us for the alternate message that Jesus is trying to present in saying this. When he says the laws fulfilled in me, it's centered in me.

Jesus is the only one who lives righteously and he is willing to do so through broken people. Here's what he's saying. These laws are fulfilled in me. They are not fulfilled in you. Without me. That's why we read this in Romans chapter eight for God has done what the law weakened by the flesh could not do, but sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh.

Listen to this verse in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us. Walk, not according to the flesh, but according to the spirit in Romans chapter seven, Paul is talking about living the Christian life in your own strength. He never mentions the word, the holy spirit in all his Roman seven.

It is a total picture of defeat of somebody trying to live. The Christian life. Romans six is it's a person that has embraced Christ as savior. Romans seven is this sad defeatist view of the Christian life. And he says what I want to do. I don't, I don't do what I don't want to do. I ended up doing, I mean, I, I can't do it.

I can't do it. I can't do it. And then he comes to Romans chapter eight and I believe it's 21 times the holy spirit is presented. In other words, he's saying, how do you live the Christian life? How do you fulfill the law of God? How do you fulfill the standards of God's righteousness? They are fulfilled in you by walking in the power of Jesus spirit.

The only, the, the greatest heresy in the Christian Church is this somebody other than Jesus Christ can live the Christian life. There is nobody else only. Jesus Jesus's. Aye. Fulfilling. I live the life I live righteously and those who live, not according to their flesh, their own resources, but live in dependence on me.

They also are fulfilling that law in their lives, but it is the only way. And so what Jesus is going to do in the next few passes is going to help us understand, well, what does it mean don't murder? And I would guess most of us here today would say, well, as I understand the world's co you know, the concept of murder, I haven't killed anybody.

No, maybe you have, uh, there's grace for that. If you have, but most of us would say, no, I have not murdered anyone physically volitionally, but just going to say, well, yeah, let me just tell you, what's really behind that statement. Don't murder. Let me tell you what it means to not be an adulterer in the true spirit of the commitment.

The whole purpose of what Jesus is going to say is to be drying, to drive us to one place. We can't do this on our own. We need to not be Roman sevening it, which we all try cross over to Romans eight and say only as I'm living and walking in the power of the spirit, can I fulfill these principles of righteousness, but that Jesus who is the fulfillment, this whole life fulfills, the law is willing to fulfill that in me.

I want to close just with a short story. I'm not going to read the whole story. I'm going to highlight it. Try to tell it to you. It's a story that the first time I read it, it blew me away. It's a, it's a story by Flannery O'Connor it's called revelation and Flannery O'Connor. She wrote a number of unique stories.

This is my favorite. At least of the ones I have read of hers. And it's called revelation because it is about what was revealed to a woman named Mrs. Turpin. Mrs. Turpin was a good Christian woman and she attended a good Christian Church in the south. And the story is about her in a doctor's waiting room.

And Mrs. Turpin goes in and she's with her husband, Claude, who never says a word the whole time. They're there, but. She's there and she's analyzing the room and everything's sort of through the eyes of Mrs. Turpin. And she looks at the other people in the room. She sees another woman there who is, um, lower class.

She believes in her son is dirty and he's sniffling and not really clean. And, and there's another lady there. That's an obviously put together woman and nice clothes and she connects with her. There's a number of other people in the room. There's one older woman there who has a college aged daughter.

And, and she's just sort of reading the room she comes in and she's frustrated because the only seat would have been on the bench with the woman, with the, the, the, the little boy and the little boy is sorta taken up two people see, and he does slide over and impolitely is unaware. And Mrs. Turpin is irritated as she looks at this kid and catches the eye of the nice appearing woman.

Uh, and, and the, the Pullman basically looks back at her sympathetically as if to say, well, if that was my son, he certainly moved over. I understand your frustration just to sit in a wooden chair off to the side, as you go through the story, I just want to highlight a couple of things. She's, she's thinking she looks at this little boy, if, if that were my child, he'd, he'd certainly make room for a person.

As she's making these assessments, she's sitting down now and show she addresses the woman that she connects with. Um, and so she talks about the clock and she says, wow, that is a nice looking clock. And the other woman responds to her. Yes, very accurate, perfect time. And then what, then the woman with the little boy wants to get in the conversation and she says, you want to know why you can get one of them, their clocks.

And she says to herself, no, I have a clock, but she says to Mrs. Turpin, you can get one with green stamps. That's most likely where he'd gotten his save you up enough. You can get most anything. I got some jewelry through migraine stamps and Mrs. Turpin of course looks at her benevolently, but actually is saying inwardly, you ought to have bought yourself a wash, Ragen, some soap.

She then talks in the course of the conversation. She and her husband are pig farmers. They have a very successful farm. They have other things as well, but it's her pig she's most proud of. And so she's talking with this other lady and they're talking about how it's important to diversify. We have pigs, but we also have cows.

We also do, uh, crop, uh, for, for, you know, for sale. The mother of the little boy says, one thing I don't want is Hawks, nasty stinking things, a grunting, and a rutin all over the place to which Mrs. Turpin replies, our hogs are not dirty and they don't stink. We host them down every day. They're far cleaner than some children.

I know the woman catches this one and she looks towards the wall and then she looks to the wall. She just mutters. Well, I know I wouldn't scoot down, no hugs with water. All this is continuing to go on. And of course, Mrs. Turpin is internalizing this statement. You wouldn't have no hog to scoot down. Mrs.

Turpin said to herself again, she's not saying this out loud. This is internalized, right? All the while there is a woman with a college aged daughter and this college aged daughter is reading a book, but she is beginning to be an issue to Mrs. Turpin, because she is sensing that particularly when she's Mrs.

Turpin is talking, this girl looks above her book. And just as a hostile expression, she's a student at a liberal college, actually Wesley college. I think it's Massachusetts. If I know where it is, but she's looking and she is glaring at Mrs. Terpenes, patronizing demeanor, her name, the young girl is Mary grace.

And so this is going on and, and every little while Mrs. Turpin and the well-dressed lady are giving each other a knowing, look at that same moment, she's getting a glaring. Picture a glaring response from the college age girl. All right. Let me just get to the end. Mrs. Turpin says this one time that she sensing all the night, she just feels led to say this.

She said, if it's one thing I am, it's grateful when I think all who I could have been besides myself and what I got a little of everything in a good disposition besides I just feel like shouting. Thank you Jesus, for making everything the way it is. I could have been different for one thing. Somebody else could have got Claude who has not said a word at the thought of this.

She was flooded with gratitude and a terrible Pang of joy ran through her. Oh, thank you. Jesus. Jesus. Thank you. She cried aloud. And at that moment, the book hit, uh, right above the eye. The college girl lost it and flung it. Mrs. Turpin is. Stunned falls to the ground. Cause everybody in the room rushes to care for Mrs.

Turpin is furious at the young woman. And as she fired the book, the young woman says to Mrs. Turpin, go back to hell where you came from old warthog. Now Mrs. Turpin goes home to her farm. And this is the culmination of story. She's very upset. She's upset with the girl. Of course, she's also upset with God and she's out there by her hogs, looking over the hogs and looking up to the sky.

And as she's there, she she's angry for God allowing such a scenario with all she does to help people all she does for the church. And how could anybody see her the way this girl sees her?

Here's the significance of the story?

The author gives the girl the name, Mary grace, because she is going to be the means of grace to Mrs. Turpin, Mrs. Turpin is there and she says this to God. Why did you send a message like that for? She said, how am I a hog and me both, how am I saved? And from hell too, how can you allow someone to say this to me?

And at that moment, at the end of the story, she's looking up, God enables her to see a vision. And the vision is of this walkway that is going up to heaven. She's standing there. And the end of the story is this. And the story is, as she's watching, she sees all of these individuals, all the people around her, in her life, that, that, that she is aware of a great tribe of people.

And she recognizes them. And she sees her and Claude and others like her, but she also sees sort of before they come, she sees this great group of people that are laughing and jumping and cheering. And there's sort of the, the lessons in her mind and they're singing and it isn't particularly on key, but it's abandoned with joy.

And then she sees another group and she realizes it's her people and they are going to heaven. But they're walking with sort of shocked expressions on their faces. They're singing to quieter, definitely on key,

but they look stunned because they realize there was a back and these crazy people are running ahead. The people that she would have called the broken people. People that really couldn't quite make it in her estimation of life. And the whole picture that is presented there is that Mrs. Turpin and her friends were confronted with themselves and how little of grace they had really.

Yeah. Jesus wants us to hear in the sermon on the Mount, we are broken people. Okay. We are not people that are, are going to put ourselves together enough. And, and that being a Christian means I've got to have it together and I've got to, I've got to be a good testimony, which often means I gotta have it together.

And I don't want anybody see me in my weakness. Usually Jesus will use your brokenness and your desperate need for Jesus to be a far louder message for him and all the times in your life. When you feel good about how together things are. In this sermon on the Mount, he's going to remind us it's all about Christ, the whole Testament story.

It's just a prelude to say, we're pointing the way to Jesus and everything about our lives is about Jesus. It's really about broken, desperate, dependent people and all the things that are going on in your life. Now that make you feel like my life's out of control. I, things have never been worse. I've never been uglier.

Maybe they're the gift of a Mary grace of something that God is using to just say, it's not about you. It's about embracing Christ. It's the freedom to say. Everything is designed to be centered and fulfilled in Jesus, all those commandments. They're just pointing the way to the Jesus life, but they certainly weren't presented to say, okay, now go and do this and be this.

They're rather saying, Lord, I see myself and I'm not living like that. I need Christ. I need them every moment I need them every hour. I need them every day. The more God graces us with failure, the more it reminds us, how desperately we need him. He says the law and the profits. I'm not trying to get rid of them, not trying to demolish them.

Now there's not a new, there's not a new regime in town. There's not a new sheriff. I'm bringing the same principles of righteousness, but I'm saying. You can live these, you can live differently, but not because of you because I come among broken people.

I come to live through them. I come to be with them

that we can live differently because we have Christ. Lord, we come to you today.

There's so much of Mrs. Turpin in us. Lord. If we were allowed to have all of our thoughts, put on paper and all of our responses to others was recorded. In what we were really thinking in circumstances. I wonder how much of Mrs. Turpin would really be there. So Lord, we want to embrace the things you throw in our lives that humble us that are making us feel more dependent out of control, because Lord, it seems so common that those are things that drive us to Jesus, Lord Jesus.

We love you. We adore you. We've tried living without you. We've tried as Christians at times to live without you. You are our everything.

So Lord do what you need to do with, with us, to bring us as those people that skip and find our joy in Christ.

All right, thanks for coming that we can in Jesus name. Amen. Now go in peace to love and serve and enjoy this Lord. Amen.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/jesus-fulfills-the-law 26391987-dac0-4350-b715-8b116c0299f0 Sun, 16 May 2021 14:41:42 GMT <div data-html="true">Matthew 5:17-20 <br /><br /> “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them." <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> We're rejoining Jesus. And the story of Jesus on the mountain. Matthew chapter five. Through seven is the story of the sermon on the Mount. It's an actual amount was in Capernaum or near Capernaum and in Galilee, which is in the north. <br /><br /> And Matthew presents to us at the end of chapter four, what has just taken place? And what's just taken place. He says at the end of chapter four, is these hoards of people from all over Israel, from the oldest Southern areas to Jerusalem, Judea, the Northern areas above Galilee, even the Eastern side, beyond the Jordan river, people are coming from everywhere to be around Jesus. <br /><br /> They've heard of his miracle. Some of them are coming to help people get sick healed that are sick. Many of them are coming just to be around this miracle worker. Others are drawn to, to hear him and to learn from him. And they've gathered together at this moment. And at this apex moment in the ministry of Jesus, he pulls them aside and does this remarkable sermon body of teaching called the sermon on the Mount. <br /><br /> It's striking. He'll go through Matthew chapter five through seven, and then in chapter eight and nine, Matthew will present to us Jesus in some of his continually astounding works. He will see him casting out demons. They'll see it. We'll see many healings that take place. And after all this body of work is done, where Jesus has presented his, his ultimate teaching in Matthew five through seven. <br /><br /> And then he has demonstrated his power in innumerable situations. In Matthew chapter 10, he sends his disciples out for the first time to go out on their own. They've got the truth. They've got the message of the kingdom. They've got the visual of the power of the king, and then they're going forth. And here in this passage in Matthew chapter five through seven, we have this remarkable teaching about the kingdom. <br /><br /> Of heaven and this term kingdom of heaven, I think pastor Ben did a great job. If you haven't seen that sermon last week sermon, he, he, he, he unpacks the whole concept of what it really means this kingdom of heaven, but basically the idea of it is it is not a king. It's not a geographic location. It is a Kings dominion. <br /><br /> It is the king that is ruling over the lives of his children. And he is describing her in Matthew five through seven, the lifestyle that he expects them to have as subjects, citizens since of his kingdom in the first part. And he gives the values they're going to have, we looked at those to be attitudes, and then he's turning. <br /><br /> Now he's turning to begin to talk about the practice of their lifestyle, the way they behave, the way spun last week talked about the, the influence of this kingdom being salt and light today. Jesus presents to us. A message about connection with the old Testament scriptures. Now, this passage that we're going to read in a moment has great relevance to us. <br /><br /> It enables us to understand how to benefit from the old Testament, how to read the old Testament, how to look at Jesus in light of the old Testament and how to understand the role of his commandments in our lives. But for the people that were listening, it was utterly foundational. It was life-changing because their entire lives, they had lived in light of the old Testament scriptures. <br /><br /> That's all they had. And Jesus is now saying, here's how I connect the two, how I connect the profits. Most specifically, here's how I connect the law that you've lived your lives under and how my principles relate to that. It gives us great understanding of how the read the old Testament for ourselves. <br /><br /> So it's, it's a pregnant passage and here's what we read in Matthew chapter five, verse 17 to 20. Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them for truly, I say to you until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot will pass in the law until all is accomplished. <br /><br /> Therefore, whoever relaxes, one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For, I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will never end dear the kingdom of heaven. <br /><br /> We're gonna look this morning in a moment at five things, we learn about Jesus and the law of God, but first let's pray together. Lord we gather in this place or watching online and this beautiful Sunday morning, Lord, thank you for all that. You've shown us already this morning, that reminds us of your love of beauty, your value of giving a creation that we can enjoy, because it is your desire that we know and enjoy you. <br /><br /> Lord teach us today. This is a confusing topic. How do the commandments, the law relate to Jesus? How do we understand the old Testament? How do we understand Jesus commands? And Lord, I pray you teach us changes. In Jesus' name. Amen. We're five things we find here in this passage. The first of which is Jesus' kingdom is not about new priorities for human behavior. <br /><br /> Jesus says this don't think I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I haven't come to abolish them, but to fulfill them for truly, I say to you until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot will pass no law until all is accomplished. Now, this statement, I don't think that I've come to abolish. <br /><br /> The law was important because that is exactly what a lot of his listeners thought. They thought he had come to abolish the law. This is the main criticism of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law. This guy is disregarding the law of Moses. Jesus gathers on his own Mount in order to look back to Mount Sinai and say, no, no, I haven't come to abolish these. <br /><br /> The word abolish actually means to destroy. It's used in the new Testament of demolishing a house. He says, I haven't come to bring an entirely new set of priorities. It isn't like, you know, God had one thing that he gave to Moses. And now I'm giving you a whole new set of priorities. This is not a hostile takeover. <br /><br /> You know, a corporation buys at another corporation or, or a big company buys out another company and you have a S you have a company that has certain values and priorities, right? Maybe it's a, a that they would say we are all about quality and relationships. We get our market share by, by knowing our clients, our customers, and treating them well for being known for quality. <br /><br /> We will sell less, but charge more or, and make it worth a desire. Something that has our, our customers want a bias because of the way we treat them the way we treat our employees and the standard of quality that we produce, we will sell less, but for more, and all of a sudden this company is bought out. <br /><br /> And now this small company is brought in under a new regime and this new regime has a totally different set of criteria. They say, we are not all about quality and relationships. We are all about numbers and well numbers, and we value different things. We will get our market share by cutting corners, a lesser product, but it will be cheaper. <br /><br /> We will charge less. But sell more. And quite honestly, they would not put this on their value statement on the core values. We'll make it work by getting cheaper, largely unskilled employees and work them to the bone, two completely different philosophies and priorities of way of doing business. And we might say, well, I think you ought to merge the two and so to work well fine, but we understand that's a hostile, that feels hostile when you're an employee in that setting, maybe it would feel hostile to the customers that have been with the previous company. <br /><br /> And Jesus is saying, this is not a hostile takeover. I'm not bringing in a whole new set of priorities. I remember reading the story years ago of, uh, when Lou Holtz became the coach of the Notre Dame football squad, it was replacing a man named Jerry Faust. Jerry Fallis had been a high school coach before he went to Notre Dame, who was a, it was, uh, a real, uh, correct role. <br /><br /> They took a high school guy and put him in the story. Position of the coach of Notre Dame. It didn't actually work out real well. He was a wonderful man, but, but he was a fairly loose loosey goosey type of guy. And they were barely above 500, which at Notre Dame at the time was not successful. And so he was let go. <br /><br /> And Lou Holtz was brought in or remembering the story of the first meeting you had with the team. The team had, you know, they had been now under the regime of the former coach for a number of years and it was very relaxed and, and, and, and Lou Holtz got up and the guys are sitting in the meeting and they're all slouched there. <br /><br /> And, and some of them sort of bored and they're slouching the chairs. They've got their legs crossed, sort of sitting there. And Lou Holtz came in and they introduced Lou Holtz. He didn't even say hello. He didn't even say, hi, I'm Lou. This is how he came up to the podium. He stood there and this little guy who describes himself as like a chicken and he looks out and he says, sit up straight. <br /><br /> And one of the big tackles recorded FL moment, we knew there was a new sheriff in town. Jesus is saying, I'm not a new sheriff. I'm not bringing in a whole new way of doing stuff. I don't have a whole new bag of rules. I'm coming in with the same priorities. I am not abolished shame the law and the profits. <br /><br /> The second thing he says that we are taught here in verse 17 is Jesus himself. Is this righteous way of life that is required for his kingdom. He says, I am not come to abolish the law or profits. I haven't come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. Now, it's not hard to figure out what he means when he sits to fill the profits. <br /><br /> Right. We know there are so many, there are hundreds of old Testament prophecies about Jesus. It's going to be born in Bethlehem. We know there are certain things he's going to actually say upon the cross, he's going to quote those passages and fulfill them. There are hundreds of, of, of, of old Testament prophecies, and they are fulfilled in Christ. <br /><br /> He himself did accomplished what they said would happen, but how does he fulfill the law? The commandments? Well, by accomplishing all, they required that they focused on him. Now, again, we might ask the question, wait a minute. This is the problem. I mean, it says to honor the Sabbath, but Jesus does things that we don't think are appropriate on the Sabbath. <br /><br /> I mean, Jesus hardly ever washes his hands ceremony. I mean, we never see him washing his hands away. You're supposed to, you know, wash your hands and they had all these rules of how many washed he, he, he does things that don't, it seem appropriate with the law. What do you mean? He fulfilled them. He seemed, well, Jesus says I am the fulfillment of the law. <br /><br /> And I think this is what he meant. First of all, he's saying there are things in the law that were uniquely given to Israel. There were civil laws because they were a nation, but he said, now the people of God are going to be a part of every nation. I will be their law. I will teach them how to live as citizens of my kingdom within the kingdom that they live there will be. <br /><br /> These laws of the Sabbath. And he says the whole principle of Sabbath was to have one day that was different of the seven. It would be in the word Sabbath, Sabbath, Shabbat means rest. And Jesus says, I will bring you wrist. You will find that rest. Ultimately, relationship with me practicing one day of seven of being different from others is, is, is wise. <br /><br /> That even goes back to the creation account in some passages, God rested on the seventh day. There's value in that. But he says, as far as the command, the way that they will experience rest is in me. In me, you will find your rest. He makes that specific state. He talks about how he will be the fulfillment of the sacrificial laws, which are part of the law. <br /><br /> He says, you, you had temporary. Coverings for your sin. And you would do this by sacrificing animals, particularly lambs. I am the lamb. I am the one these commandments ultimately says are fulfilled in me, but there are commence the moral law of God that are universal. And I will reiterate those in my teaching. <br /><br /> I will present them and embellish them and, and, and, and unpack them them for you. But this is what he says. And this, this to me is one of the most powerful things of his statement he says, but I am the fulfillment. Those laws are fulfilled to me. What's he saying this, those laws describe the way I live. <br /><br /> Those laws. Describe what God looks like in human form. He said, if you want to describe, how would God live if he walked on planet earth, read the Bible, read the commandments because God's incarnated form lives the way of the commandments. And so he says the very way I believe humans are created in the image of God to live is the way I live. <br /><br /> I come among you. The laws are fulfilled in me. They visualize me, me. I live those laws. They are my laws. Now, what is Jesus telling us when he says the law is fulfilled? Yes. <br /><br /> Well, one thing is telling us is how to read the old Testament. Because from a read from this point on reading the old Testament from a purely historical rendering, what it meant to the people of that time will be unsatisfactories. If things have changed, Jesus says, if you really want to understand the profits and understand the law, you must read toward Christ the way someone has learned to read a good novel. <br /><br /> If you've read the Lord of the rings or really any great novel, and you read through it once the whole time you're reading the story, you're reading towards the end, right. You know, what's going to happen. What's going to happen. What's going to happen. What's going to happen once. You've read it once, once you know the ending. <br /><br /> And if you're like, uh, a number of, of us, a lot of us have read the Lord of rings a number of times, but I know how it's going to end. And now I read and, and I'm engrossed in the story and said, oh, I didn't, I didn't pick that up the first time. Oh, I see how that, but all the while I'm reading it with the end in view, I know where it's going. <br /><br /> I recently been reading a book, one of the guys in our church road, Mike McNair, maybe it's a story about the Phillies in 2008. And I think I have that there. Yeah. Hard to believe this is, there's a promo for Mike's book, but, uh, he doesn't know I'm doing this, but it's a story of the Phillies championship. <br /><br /> Why does anybody want to read Mike's book? Because they won the championship. I mean, if he wrote a different year, but you go at it and you hear the groundskeepers stories, you hear the reporter's stories, your players and coaches, you hear the guy that sells hotdogs. You hear all their stories to the year and it all is interesting. <br /><br /> Because it gives you a feel of what was going on, what was going on, what was, but the reason it matters is because you know how it ends, what Jesus is saying. When you read the old Testament, you now read it differently. You sort of read the story with the end. He says, they all point to me. I'm the center of it. <br /><br /> Even those, the ceremonial action, even though civil laws, even those moral laws, I would be, you're really reading about what does God looked like in human form? When Jesus, when the, when, when Moses says you're, you're, you're, you're not to commit murder or commit adultery. When, when you're to live in faithfulness, what does God look like? <br /><br /> What does it present about Jesus? When you're reading those, those different sacrifices, because they're all foreshadowing Christ. Jesus says it's all my story. And so we read the story from the end, through the beginning laws, these laws, Jesus said a describing my life, the lifestyle, and both advocating and practicing they're describing me and anyone that is building their lives around me as their center. <br /><br /> The third thing he tells us is in verse 19 greatness in this kingdom is living this righteous way of life and helping others do the same verse 19. Therefore, whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. <br /><br /> He says, I'm not trying to dumb down the laws. I'm not trying to diss these standards of righteousness. I do believe this is a particular way to live and I'm commanding those that commending, those that seek to live at this way. It's how I live as a human. He says, it's the best way. It's the most normative way. <br /><br /> It's the most holistic way to live a truly Schumann experience. So those that are great in the kingdom are those that live that way. And those that command others to live that way. He says the laws are important. The scriptures then old Testament scriptures are important. My principles of godliness are important. <br /><br /> Now, he's speaking to the Pharisees and in a minute, he's going to hammer these guys. She's going to shock them actually by something he says, but at this moment, they would have been very excited because he he's commending embracing the principles of, of godliness and building them into your life. I read, man. <br /><br /> It was actually telling me a story recently of an individual friend of hers who was raised in legalism and was talking to a Bible teacher. And she was grieving over what felt like lost years. And many of us have, have, have struggled with this last years. Cause she just lived so much in legalism and where those years just lost, you know, that I thought wrong. <br /><br /> And I, I majored on the minors and all the things we do is in legalism. And this wise Bible teacher asked her question. He says, when you were raised in a legalistic culture, did you learn the Bible? She said, oh yeah, everybody had to memorize all kinds of Bible. We did as kids, we did all the way through. <br /><br /> And, uh, we were always taught. Yes, got a lot of Bible. And he said, well, he said all that Bible that went in, all the truth that went in will be a bedrock for you as you live your life. I cannot tell you the number of people that I have, I have been involved with through the years, I've found a true in my own journey. <br /><br /> That would say I was raised in somewhat of a legalistic background, but I thank God for how much the Bible was built into me because now in the difficult circumstances of life, I just find, I have the scripture to flow back to I it's the foundation that I'm grateful was built in for me, Jesus is here saying. <br /><br /> Those that, that, that build in a foundation, even some of it's, if, if it's tempered and he's going to speak to this and it to the legalism, there is value. There is commensurability. There is honor. If we have embraced scripture and these truths, what Jesus is going to talk about is not that the law and the principles of godliness are wrong. <br /><br /> He's going to talk about, I'll tell you what, what he's talking about in just a moment. He is about to give this shocking broadside to the legalist, but he is also saying that anyone that embraces the scriptures, all the scriptures, old Testament, new Testament, and helps others to do the same is honored. <br /><br /> The fourth thing, the standards of live living righteously are impossibly higher than you tend to imagine. This is where he, he knocked them right out of their socks. Verse 24. I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Oh my goodness. <br /><br /> I mean, this is like saying, um, unless your righteousness exceeds the CS Lewis and the Francis Chan and the Tim Keller and whoever your spiritual hero is today, uh, you got no chance being a part of the kingdom of heaven. I mean, this was, this was smoking hot statements. The Pharisees were, we're not a political group. <br /><br /> The Pharisees were just a group of people that were known as the most devout and the most serious about their faith. The teachers of the law were the scribes. They were the ones that taught the scriptures. The priests were the ones that then led to the, but he says, unless your righteousness exceeds that. <br /><br /> You'll never enter the kingdom of God. Jesus is prepping them for what he's going to talk about in the rest of the sermon on the mountain. And this is really important. If you write anything down, write this down, that the problem with the people, if his day was not that they had a high view of God's law, it was that their view of God's law was too low. <br /><br /> They felt they could do it. They felt they could accomplish it, that they could. And if you went to a Pharisee and said, do you have a problem with anger? No. No. Do you ever problem with, with, with your language? No. No. Do you have a problem with, with, with, um, adultery night? I don't, I don't know. I'm I'm circumspect. <br /><br /> Many of them would have said I check off every one of them, 10 commandments. That's why Jesus in the next few verses is going to unpack. What does it really mean when he says don't commit murder? What does it really mean when he says don't commit adultery, he's going to take it heart deep and say, you guys think you're keeping the law. <br /><br /> You're not keeping the law because the law is he is going to present. It is continually speaking to a level where they had not taken it in order to make it obtainable and attainable. They dumbed down the standards, frankly, we all tend to do that. So in the next section, in the six sections of Matthews, chapter five, Jesus is going to address that. <br /><br /> And he's going to address these topics. He's going to say it this way, anger, I'm going to talk about anger and the next topic is going to, and the next statement is going to make is you've heard that they said that meant this. But I tell you, he's going to do that with each of these teachings. First, he's going to say anger. <br /><br /> You heard this, but I'm telling you it's this, you heard last, you heard it was this. I'm going to tell you it's this, you heard divorce. I'm going to tell you it's this. You heard oath, retaliation love for enemies. He says, you've heard this, this perspective on it. I'm not froing out those laws. He says, I just want you to, to, to see what they really say, that when it says don't murder and actually means if you're ever angry at somebody, if he ever call him a harsh name, you've committed against the commandment, do commit murder. <br /><br /> And people are sitting there and going to have a Hama Hama, Hama, Hama, what? And he says, don't commit adultery. And they're saying to say, what are you talking? And then he says, don't look at a woman with lusting highest. What are you talking about? Jesus. He says, you guys think you're not an adulterer. You think you're not a murderer, understand what the law is really saying? <br /><br /> Jesus is, I'm not abrogating. I'm not abolishing. I'm not demolishing the law. I'm just keeping it real guys. And I'm telling you what it's really saying. And I'm saying to you, if you think you are attaining a relationship with God, if you think you are attaining entrance into heaven, by your ability to keep the law, then you better be a lot farther along than the Pharisees and the scribes and the, and the most godly people. <br /><br /> You know, if that's the basis on which you're living your Christian life and, and expecting your spiritual. Verdict of acceptance. So he says things like this to the Pharisees who were external focused, who are not thinking about motives, thoughts, desires, Matthew 23, verse 13, whoa, do you, teachers of the law enforce the same group of people. <br /><br /> You're hypocrites. You shut the kingdom of heaven and men's faces yourselves. Don't inter no. Where you let those enter, who are trying to, why is that local 1152 tells us here's what he says. What are you experts in law? Because you've taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have an entered and you have hindered. <br /><br /> Those who are entering. He says the keys to entering into the relationship are understanding. The laws are understanding the standards of righteousness. You've dumb them down to a way that, that people think they can meet them. You think you can meet them. You've taken away. The very key that opens the door to life. <br /><br /> By communicating to people you can measure up in your own righteousness. <br /><br /> Jesus says you got to understand it's righteousness from the inside out. It's a righteousness that in your own resources, you cannot and will not attain. All of this is preparing us for the alternate message that Jesus is trying to present in saying this. When he says the laws fulfilled in me, it's centered in me. <br /><br /> Jesus is the only one who lives righteously and he is willing to do so through broken people. Here's what he's saying. These laws are fulfilled in me. They are not fulfilled in you. Without me. That's why we read this in Romans chapter eight for God has done what the law weakened by the flesh could not do, but sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh. <br /><br /> Listen to this verse in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us. Walk, not according to the flesh, but according to the spirit in Romans chapter seven, Paul is talking about living the Christian life in your own strength. He never mentions the word, the holy spirit in all his Roman seven. <br /><br /> It is a total picture of defeat of somebody trying to live. The Christian life. Romans six is it's a person that has embraced Christ as savior. Romans seven is this sad defeatist view of the Christian life. And he says what I want to do. I don't, I don't do what I don't want to do. I ended up doing, I mean, I, I can't do it. <br /><br /> I can't do it. I can't do it. And then he comes to Romans chapter eight and I believe it's 21 times the holy spirit is presented. In other words, he's saying, how do you live the Christian life? How do you fulfill the law of God? How do you fulfill the standards of God's righteousness? They are fulfilled in you by walking in the power of Jesus spirit. <br /><br /> The only, the, the greatest heresy in the Christian Church is this somebody other than Jesus Christ can live the Christian life. There is nobody else only. Jesus Jesus's. Aye. Fulfilling. I live the life I live righteously and those who live, not according to their flesh, their own resources, but live in dependence on me. <br /><br /> They also are fulfilling that law in their lives, but it is the only way. And so what Jesus is going to do in the next few passes is going to help us understand, well, what does it mean don't murder? And I would guess most of us here today would say, well, as I understand the world's co you know, the concept of murder, I haven't killed anybody. <br /><br /> No, maybe you have, uh, there's grace for that. If you have, but most of us would say, no, I have not murdered anyone physically volitionally, but just going to say, well, yeah, let me just tell you, what's really behind that statement. Don't murder. Let me tell you what it means to not be an adulterer in the true spirit of the commitment. <br /><br /> The whole purpose of what Jesus is going to say is to be drying, to drive us to one place. We can't do this on our own. We need to not be Roman sevening it, which we all try cross over to Romans eight and say only as I'm living and walking in the power of the spirit, can I fulfill these principles of righteousness, but that Jesus who is the fulfillment, this whole life fulfills, the law is willing to fulfill that in me. <br /><br /> I want to close just with a short story. I'm not going to read the whole story. I'm going to highlight it. Try to tell it to you. It's a story that the first time I read it, it blew me away. It's a, it's a story by Flannery O'Connor it's called revelation and Flannery O'Connor. She wrote a number of unique stories. <br /><br /> This is my favorite. At least of the ones I have read of hers. And it's called revelation because it is about what was revealed to a woman named Mrs. Turpin. Mrs. Turpin was a good Christian woman and she attended a good Christian Church in the south. And the story is about her in a doctor's waiting room. <br /><br /> And Mrs. Turpin goes in and she's with her husband, Claude, who never says a word the whole time. They're there, but. She's there and she's analyzing the room and everything's sort of through the eyes of Mrs. Turpin. And she looks at the other people in the room. She sees another woman there who is, um, lower class. <br /><br /> She believes in her son is dirty and he's sniffling and not really clean. And, and there's another lady there. That's an obviously put together woman and nice clothes and she connects with her. There's a number of other people in the room. There's one older woman there who has a college aged daughter. <br /><br /> And, and she's just sort of reading the room she comes in and she's frustrated because the only seat would have been on the bench with the woman, with the, the, the, the little boy and the little boy is sorta taken up two people see, and he does slide over and impolitely is unaware. And Mrs. Turpin is irritated as she looks at this kid and catches the eye of the nice appearing woman. <br /><br /> Uh, and, and the, the Pullman basically looks back at her sympathetically as if to say, well, if that was my son, he certainly moved over. I understand your frustration just to sit in a wooden chair off to the side, as you go through the story, I just want to highlight a couple of things. She's, she's thinking she looks at this little boy, if, if that were my child, he'd, he'd certainly make room for a person. <br /><br /> As she's making these assessments, she's sitting down now and show she addresses the woman that she connects with. Um, and so she talks about the clock and she says, wow, that is a nice looking clock. And the other woman responds to her. Yes, very accurate, perfect time. And then what, then the woman with the little boy wants to get in the conversation and she says, you want to know why you can get one of them, their clocks. <br /><br /> And she says to herself, no, I have a clock, but she says to Mrs. Turpin, you can get one with green stamps. That's most likely where he'd gotten his save you up enough. You can get most anything. I got some jewelry through migraine stamps and Mrs. Turpin of course looks at her benevolently, but actually is saying inwardly, you ought to have bought yourself a wash, Ragen, some soap. <br /><br /> She then talks in the course of the conversation. She and her husband are pig farmers. They have a very successful farm. They have other things as well, but it's her pig she's most proud of. And so she's talking with this other lady and they're talking about how it's important to diversify. We have pigs, but we also have cows. <br /><br /> We also do, uh, crop, uh, for, for, you know, for sale. The mother of the little boy says, one thing I don't want is Hawks, nasty stinking things, a grunting, and a rutin all over the place to which Mrs. Turpin replies, our hogs are not dirty and they don't stink. We host them down every day. They're far cleaner than some children. <br /><br /> I know the woman catches this one and she looks towards the wall and then she looks to the wall. She just mutters. Well, I know I wouldn't scoot down, no hugs with water. All this is continuing to go on. And of course, Mrs. Turpin is internalizing this statement. You wouldn't have no hog to scoot down. Mrs. <br /><br /> Turpin said to herself again, she's not saying this out loud. This is internalized, right? All the while there is a woman with a college aged daughter and this college aged daughter is reading a book, but she is beginning to be an issue to Mrs. Turpin, because she is sensing that particularly when she's Mrs. <br /><br /> Turpin is talking, this girl looks above her book. And just as a hostile expression, she's a student at a liberal college, actually Wesley college. I think it's Massachusetts. If I know where it is, but she's looking and she is glaring at Mrs. Terpenes, patronizing demeanor, her name, the young girl is Mary grace. <br /><br /> And so this is going on and, and every little while Mrs. Turpin and the well-dressed lady are giving each other a knowing, look at that same moment, she's getting a glaring. Picture a glaring response from the college age girl. All right. Let me just get to the end. Mrs. Turpin says this one time that she sensing all the night, she just feels led to say this. <br /><br /> She said, if it's one thing I am, it's grateful when I think all who I could have been besides myself and what I got a little of everything in a good disposition besides I just feel like shouting. Thank you Jesus, for making everything the way it is. I could have been different for one thing. Somebody else could have got Claude who has not said a word at the thought of this. <br /><br /> She was flooded with gratitude and a terrible Pang of joy ran through her. Oh, thank you. Jesus. Jesus. Thank you. She cried aloud. And at that moment, the book hit, uh, right above the eye. The college girl lost it and flung it. Mrs. Turpin is. Stunned falls to the ground. Cause everybody in the room rushes to care for Mrs. <br /><br /> Turpin is furious at the young woman. And as she fired the book, the young woman says to Mrs. Turpin, go back to hell where you came from old warthog. Now Mrs. Turpin goes home to her farm. And this is the culmination of story. She's very upset. She's upset with the girl. Of course, she's also upset with God and she's out there by her hogs, looking over the hogs and looking up to the sky. <br /><br /> And as she's there, she she's angry for God allowing such a scenario with all she does to help people all she does for the church. And how could anybody see her the way this girl sees her? <br /><br /> Here's the significance of the story? <br /><br /> The author gives the girl the name, Mary grace, because she is going to be the means of grace to Mrs. Turpin, Mrs. Turpin is there and she says this to God. Why did you send a message like that for? She said, how am I a hog and me both, how am I saved? And from hell too, how can you allow someone to say this to me? <br /><br /> And at that moment, at the end of the story, she's looking up, God enables her to see a vision. And the vision is of this walkway that is going up to heaven. She's standing there. And the end of the story is this. And the story is, as she's watching, she sees all of these individuals, all the people around her, in her life, that, that, that she is aware of a great tribe of people. <br /><br /> And she recognizes them. And she sees her and Claude and others like her, but she also sees sort of before they come, she sees this great group of people that are laughing and jumping and cheering. And there's sort of the, the lessons in her mind and they're singing and it isn't particularly on key, but it's abandoned with joy. <br /><br /> And then she sees another group and she realizes it's her people and they are going to heaven. But they're walking with sort of shocked expressions on their faces. They're singing to quieter, definitely on key, <br /><br /> but they look stunned because they realize there was a back and these crazy people are running ahead. The people that she would have called the broken people. People that really couldn't quite make it in her estimation of life. And the whole picture that is presented there is that Mrs. Turpin and her friends were confronted with themselves and how little of grace they had really. <br /><br /> Yeah. Jesus wants us to hear in the sermon on the Mount, we are broken people. Okay. We are not people that are, are going to put ourselves together enough. And, and that being a Christian means I've got to have it together and I've got to, I've got to be a good testimony, which often means I gotta have it together. <br /><br /> And I don't want anybody see me in my weakness. Usually Jesus will use your brokenness and your desperate need for Jesus to be a far louder message for him and all the times in your life. When you feel good about how together things are. In this sermon on the Mount, he's going to remind us it's all about Christ, the whole Testament story. <br /><br /> It's just a prelude to say, we're pointing the way to Jesus and everything about our lives is about Jesus. It's really about broken, desperate, dependent people and all the things that are going on in your life. Now that make you feel like my life's out of control. I, things have never been worse. I've never been uglier. <br /><br /> Maybe they're the gift of a Mary grace of something that God is using to just say, it's not about you. It's about embracing Christ. It's the freedom to say. Everything is designed to be centered and fulfilled in Jesus, all those commandments. They're just pointing the way to the Jesus life, but they certainly weren't presented to say, okay, now go and do this and be this. <br /><br /> They're rather saying, Lord, I see myself and I'm not living like that. I need Christ. I need them every moment I need them every hour. I need them every day. The more God graces us with failure, the more it reminds us, how desperately we need him. He says the law and the profits. I'm not trying to get rid of them, not trying to demolish them. <br /><br /> Now there's not a new, there's not a new regime in town. There's not a new sheriff. I'm bringing the same principles of righteousness, but I'm saying. You can live these, you can live differently, but not because of you because I come among broken people. <br /><br /> I come to live through them. I come to be with them <br /><br /> that we can live differently because we have Christ. Lord, we come to you today. <br /><br /> There's so much of Mrs. Turpin in us. Lord. If we were allowed to have all of our thoughts, put on paper and all of our responses to others was recorded. In what we were really thinking in circumstances. I wonder how much of Mrs. Turpin would really be there. So Lord, we want to embrace the things you throw in our lives that humble us that are making us feel more dependent out of control, because Lord, it seems so common that those are things that drive us to Jesus, Lord Jesus. <br /><br /> We love you. We adore you. We've tried living without you. We've tried as Christians at times to live without you. You are our everything. <br /><br /> So Lord do what you need to do with, with us, to bring us as those people that skip and find our joy in Christ. <br /><br /> All right, thanks for coming that we can in Jesus name. Amen. Now go in peace to love and serve and enjoy this Lord. Amen.</div> false no <![CDATA[Salt and Light, Here and Now]]> Matthew 5:13-16

Kingdom Life is Detailed in Matthew 5-7



Good morning. Great to be here with you this morning, setting up some arts and crafts in honor of mother's day, we're going to be continuing in our series in Matthew chapter five. You've got the pupil Bible with you. This morning is going to be in on page seven 59. This is the densest teaching we have from Jesus often called the sermon, the sermon on the Mount, and we've made our ways through the beatitudes, all the blesseds.

And now we're moving on to the next section that we have in Matthew five, but I'd like to read through the beatitudes and then get to our section this morning,

starting Matthew chapter five, verse two, he opened his mouth and taught them saying. Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be satisfied.

Blessed are the merciful for they shall be shown. Mercy blessed are the pure in heart for, they will see God bless it are the peacemakers for, they shall be called children of God. Bless it are those who persecute you for heaven sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you, falsely on my account, rejoice, and be glad for your reward is great in heaven for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you, and then our passage here this morning, you are the salt of the earth.

But if the salt has lost its taste house, shall its saltiness be restored. It's no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. You are the light of the world. A city set on a Hill that cannot be hidden, or do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand.

And it gives light to all in the house in the same way. Let your light shine before others so that they may see your good work and give you glory to your father who is in heaven. Father. We come to this passage this morning. We come on this special mother's day, acknowledging that for so many of us, the salt and light of redemption has come, come through.

The stories told to us by our mom and we give you thanks for that. We also come this morning, echoing. Your words of blessed are those who mourn. And we recognize that there's a mother wounds that run deep. In many people this morning, confusions frustrations, prayers that have seemed to go unanswered. And as for those who find this day less of a celebration and more as a trigger of loss, we remember your words of comfort.

Bless it are those who mourn for they will be comforted guide and direct us this morning in Jesus name. Amen. So here's what we're going to do today. We are going to do an introduction to this next section. There's two major sections we have said in Matthew chapter five, there's the beatitudes, which we're calling the values of the kingdom of heaven, the values of the upside down life.

And then the next part is the practical living, the practical teaching of Jesus, of what that kingdom life looks like in the every day. And we are entering that section, that second larger section, which we will intro today. We're going to do this by doing some arts and crafts. Now my personal version of hell is being at a VBS craft table for the rest of eternity.

How many are with me? When they asked for volunteers, I never put, sign me up for anything. Okay. That's that's rookie mistake. Why? Cause I might end up changing diapers or in, or doing the craft table and whatever volunteers, fear. I don't like them. I don't enjoy them. I don't do them with my children. I'm convinced that the day that, uh, creation fell was the very day when Play-Doh was made.

Okay. Glitter. Glitter's not fun to begin with. It's not fun for the years after that it's embedded into your carpet. Glitter glue is its own form of evil. That should be anyway, but we're going to do some things up on the board today and we're going to give it a shot. And then we're going to conclude with a 10 minute sermon.

So you have a short sermon today, but I'm going to take a little bit to get there. When we're talking about ways of introduction, practice, typical living, we want to return to talking about what is this kingdom of God that we're talking about? I think there's a lot of confusion that we can have around this concept of the kingdom of God.

Again, in scripture, this is an incredibly important concept. The teaching of Jesus all over the place includes this phrase kingdom of God. But what exactly is it? Matthew? Three, two before Jesus came, John, the Baptist said the message of the kingdom of God. Is coming. I think we have that to pop on the screen there.

In those days, John, the Baptist came preaching repent for the kingdom of God is at hand. The kingdom of heaven is at hand Mark one 14 and 15 as Jesus came. We read this here is the message of the kingdom of God saying the time has been fulfilled. The kingdom of God is at hand Luke eight one. When Jesus came and sent out his messengers, he sending out his messengers with this.

He called the 12 together, gave them power authority over demons, cure diseases. He sent them out to proclaim what the kingdom of God and to heal Luke nine again, reiterate he called the, um, yes. Sent them out the kingdom of God. Then acts chapter one, three. He presented himself. This is after the resurrection.

After his suffering by many proofs appearing to them 40 days. And speaking to them about what the kingdom of God, Paul himself, who would then write much of the necks of the rest of the new Testament acts tells his story, says this at the end of his life, he lived two whole years at his own expense, welcomed all who came to him, proclaiming what the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.

The question is what is the kingdom of God? So what we're going to do here, you have some notes. I think, um, if you want to fill these out, we're going to put kingdom of God here on top. Okay. And we're not doing this to be clever. We're doing this to seek to be clear. Cause I think there can be a lot of confusion.

About well, what exactly is the kingdom of God? Okay. So we'll put that on top. Talking about the kingdom of God. This has mentioned 61 times in the teaching of Jesus. Now most of the gospels, right, are telling stories, their narratives about Jesus and some of the gospels, including our section here, Matthew five, six and seven are when Jesus is teaching in the sections, just in the sections where he's is teaching 61 times.

He speaks of the kingdom of God. What it is is the kingdom of God. Very simply. We'll say the kingdom of God is this. That which is under the benevolent and intimate governance of God, anywhere where God is in charge anywhere where Jesus is King. That is where the kingdom of God is simply John Ortberg writes and he has been very helpful for me in understanding this, the kingdom of God is the width.

God life, it's the width, God, life it's wherever God is wherever God is there. There, the kingdom of God is the kingdom of God is the width God life. Now we don't use kingdom language a lot. You know, if you came to my house or apartment or some you got in my car, it wouldn't be like, welcome. You have entered.

My kingdom. Right? You'd be like, thank you. You are a creep, right? That that's weird. We don't use that kind of language. We don't talk that way. Right. In a lot of us think, Oh, kingdom monarchy was that kind of a bad idea? 1776 something. Right. We don't typically think of kingdoms as a way of governance, nor is a way we want to be governed.

So when we talk about this language under the kingship of Christ, how can we make sense of it? First of all, I think something that's helpful is the word dominion. All right. Cause we do speak in language of dominion. So we're going to put dominion here.

Okay. So dominion kingdom of God, understanding of dominion, we have an innate sense of possession or dominion this morning, I got up my two-year-old crashes into bed, right. She's learned to crawl out of her crib, which is wonderful. And she, um, I actually meant that, but now that I heard myself anyway, she, she crashes into bed.

It's six 30, seven o'clock. And what is she immediately finds in the room, my phone. Now she sees my phone. She doesn't say daddy, nice phone. Right? She doesn't even say, Hey dad, can I use, you know, maybe your phone? She says what? My phone. Right? That's the declaration. Because in two year old economics, if ball see it, I then possess it.

Right. So it's my phone. Why? Because in Nate, in her. Innate in us is this idea of possession of dominion. This is a God planted idea. Very much in the design, in the garden of Eden, it says this Genesis one 26, let us make man in our image after our own likeness. So people like God, let them have dominion over the fish of the sea birds of the heavens over the livestock, over all the earth and over everything creeping on the earth.

There is a sense the amigo day, the image of God, we understand this concept of possession or dominion. This is why we innately inside of us. Know the evil of abuse. Abuse is the infringing of my kingdom onto the borders of your kingdom, forcing that, which is meant for your control and making it underneath mine control.

Physical abuse is taking over a thorny over someone else's body. Emotional abuse is taking dominion over someone else's mind or. Sense of identity spiritual abuse is the attempt to take control of the outcome of someone else's soul. It is infringing upon a territory that is not mine to have. Now we set up in our world, all kinds of earthly kingdoms.

Now we're down here. Okay. Earthly kingdoms. This is PTA days. Um, this is, uh, lots of different family structure. Wow. That does not say kingdoms for all of you falling at home that says heavens.

Not quite sure why I did that. Okay. Earthly kingdoms. Okay. So these are all kinds of structures that we set up. This is, this is governments. This is chains of command. This is having different authority structure. This is Geneva Geneva's rules of war. This is Robert's rules of order. This is a sense where we have around us structures and townships and municipalities and authorities that we establish as a part of earthly kingdoms.

That doesn't mean that they're bad. It doesn't mean that they're good. They are just ways that we have in the image of God constructed. Different types of complicated kingdoms, all of these kingdoms and structures that we find ourselves in, whether you're a participant in a sports league, whether you're a person at school right now, whether you're a person in a business person, a family, you are within many different kingdoms.

And if I asked you what's the structure, you could pretty quickly ratified the structure, the territory of that kingdom, the kingdom of God, simply. Is that, which is under God's governance, his dominion, secondly, the kingdom and design. Okay. So we have the kingdom understanding of by dominion, but also this concept of design scripture teaches right in the very beginning, right?

God designed the world, he designed it and continually gave it an affirmation. God made whatever he made. And he said, this was what. Good. I've designed it to be this way. A word we've talked about is Shalom. Everything made in complete harmony, everything fitting together, such that all of the parts are elevating one, another working in complete togetherness on the seventh day, what happened?

Jesus, or God rested the seventh day. He rested. That doesn't just mean he was tired of making camels. Right? What happened when he rested is that the world was finally at rest. It did not need more creating. It was, as it was intended to be all things were with God. And God was with all things. This is the design.

When God made the human being, he made them to operate at most themselves at mode to function right here in the kingdom of God, John 17, Jesus is talking to, is this start praying to the father about his disciples. And he says for, they are not of the world any more than I have am of the world. What they are about is the kingdom of God.

That is what they were made for. This is ultimately the Amal go day sign is the width, God kingdom. This is what we have the beatitudes spelling out what we call the upside down world. The, the sense of these principles, these values that are given are to describe what life is like under the governance of Jesus.

What life is like when he is King, when what life is like, when all things, our Shalom, this is the kingdom of God. But I think we get a little confused. All right. And so we're going to put here where, so where exactly is the kingdom we're going to we'll use that for abbreviation. Where, where is the kingdom?

Right? Don't kingdoms have a place, isn't it? A land don't they've got castles and walls and boundaries. That's our construct or concept of kingdoms is there's a place and a princess and an ogre and all of those things, it's it seems like it should be a land with borders. And I think that's sometimes why we associate the kingdom.

Oh God. And we say, uh, well, I probably just means heaven. Right? So where we say, where is it? It's there. It's out there. It's a nice, wonderful place. We go to where we die. Right? The kingdom of God is talking about that place. Why? Because that place has God there all the time. So the place must be the shiny streets of gold heaven.

A wonderful land that we do hear about in scripture. I don't believe when the kingdom of God is spoken about. And if you take that lens in to the teachings of Jesus, it doesn't fit. The kingdom of God is not just talking about there. Does the governance of God direct the land of heaven. Absolutely. But that's not the extent of the governance of God.

But when we see kingdom of God, kingdom of heaven, our concept often says, it's that bright, shiny, beautiful, happy place I go to when I die, but it doesn't fit. When we look at how Jesus teaches in the new Testament. I love this Dallas Willard. Who's been so helpful in this understanding of the kingdom of God.

He talks about heaven. He says, incidentally, who goes to heaven? God lets anyone go to heaven. That can stand being there. Why. Because heaven is ultimately a with God place. It's a place where the kingdom of God rules and ultimately to live and to die and to go to heaven is to be, and to want to be where he is.

And so this is what we often see. We see I'm just get I'll slick move. Right. That was pretty slick, Dennis. You liked that. Okay. So what we often see is what salvation is, is a rescue story of getting people out of the bad and into the good. Right. This is often what we see and our goal, our desire is to endure all of this stuff down here.

So finally, we can be scooped up and get out there. And if we're really good, then we can get a couple of other people that are way down here, you know, and, and maybe scoop them up too. So that salvation is taking people from this earthly place to finally endure this terrible spot. And to then finally get up to the place of heaven when we die and what the kingdom of God is, we think oftentimes is just, or what we think salvation is, is just getting people out of earth and in to heaven that plays much into what we think salvation is not just about getting us into heaven.

It is about this getting heaven into earth. In the teaching that we will have coming up of Jesus. He says, this here is how you should pray. Our father who is in heaven, hallowed, be your name, your kingdom, come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Our sense of place is not just how to endure here to get to a place there because one we're talking about the kingdom of God. We're talking about a place that is here as well as there. It's so influential on how you view scripture. John Ortberg says what he came to do is bring up there down here, John 17, Jesus says this, this is eternal life.

What's eternal life. Isn't eternal life about heaven. No, he says this. This is eternal life that they may know you. The one true God and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent eternal life is life with God. It is that Greek word. Gunnoe SCO Jesus is using that intimate knowing that does not wait until a place we go to when we die, the kingdom of God is not just a land.

It is here as much as it is there. What, okay, what does that mean about how we view our place here? Oftentimes we can view earth as a place we're trying to get out of. We see it as evil or oppressive, and we just have to hang on until we're helicoptered out. But, but what we learn is that what this earth is, is a place where the kingdom of God is breaking through and the darkness and the hopeless places are the greatest opportunities for the kingdom of God, as it is in heaven to crash down and come to the places in earth.

Earth is not a dark and ugly place. It is a beautiful place where darkest places have become the greatest chances to be redeemed and healed and set free. Why? Because the kingdom of God is not just there. Jesus came to preach the kingdom. Is at hand, it has come to earth. Okay. So that's time or that's a place we're going to talk about time wrong.

Marker. I'm very particular about that. Okay. So let me go where our win. Okay. So that's where we'll win. When is the kingdom? And again, if our view is that doesn't it mean heaven or something in place? Our, our idea is that it's later, right? That when is the kingdom it's later it's in Timesy it's it's after death or something.

That construct doesn't mean much for me. Now that new Testament teaching doesn't mean much for me now. But if it is here, it's not a, then it's a now old view of salvation is trying to you wait until then. But the kingdom is not just coming. The kingdom is here. I love this, uh, Tom Wright. Who's been very influential.

Um, author speaks much about salvation and, and the full extent of what it means, not just in the escape hatch, but a way where God is crashing through. Now, he says this, he says, I'm living life after death now. Life after death begins, when the kingdom of God enters into a person's life. That's when life after death begins, he says I'm looking forward to life after life, after death, but life after death has already begun.

Okay. Now it's time for 10 minute sermon because we're left with this question. How, how does the okay. Kingdom of God enter the kingdoms of earth? How does the benevolent intimate reign of God take place? In our places in our families, in our businesses, in our parts of the world, how can the kingdom take ground here?

And Jesus takes these values of the kingdom right into our passage and says, yes, you are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world. The with God, life is brought from heaven to earth. Through the people, God lives with you are the invention of God to bring Christ all around this us, a community of misfits people with all kinds of brokenness of fears of ungoverned places still left in our lives.

Are the very Torchbearers to represent what a width God, life is the very place where the up there crashes down into the down here, little bit about salt and life. Roman soldiers used to receive wages in salt. It was of such value. The Greeks considered salt to be divine. Salt can be a preservative and antiseptic, a fire catalyst, a flavoring, a flavoring, or a fertilizer.

It has different uses. And it's hard to know exactly if Jesus is meeting a specific use or many of them. When salt loses its saltiness, you saw that in the passage in the first century, it would be thrown on the ground. To be trampled, very similar to what Jesus is saying, because if it lost all its other good uses, it would at least speed good for hardening the soil.

Um, so that paths may be a little more from the picture of light or read this. This week. Light is the essence of life itself. Without it, we simply would have nothing. Light is the main source of energy for all living organisms plants. The main sustainers of life are crucial in this conversion process and need light for photosynthesis that enables them to make their food and to be food for others, salt and light.

They're good things. They're necessary. Things. Nothing else can serve the function of light or salt. They are valuable things. They are in tremendous import in value. And Jesus is saying the good, necessary, valuable vehicle of the up there coming down here is the people who live under the governance of God.

And T Wright says this. We have been so used to seeing heaven as a place, separated from earth somewhere far away, way beyond the blue. That's not how the Bible sees it. Not at all the point of God's split-level what we're talking about here. Creation, heaven and earth is not that earth is some type of training ground for heaven, but that heaven are, is designed.

Heaven and earth are designed to overlap and interlock. He's describing this pretty pathetic drawing I'm doing here is he's describing these, the connection between the two. And how is he saying? And how is that interlap interlock? How does it take place? Jesus says that point of connection because you are the salt of the earth in light of the world.

This means when we take money that we've seen just for our own kingdoms, And we give it to increase the other, the wellbeing of others. That's up there. Crashing down here when men are too afraid to let their wives know about their insecurity and fear, and they open themselves up vulnerably to their need of love.

That's heaven breaking through to earth when generational sin is broken, when the territory of our lives, which used to grow weeds now begin to grow fruit and then end that disease of generational sin. That is up there coming down here. When bridges are made between groups of people who were distanced by history or race or socioeconomic status that is up there coming down here, when there's drama in your workplace or your family and pride is getting in the way of relationships and someone steps forward and honest, humble, apologetic, humility.

That's up there coming down here when churches who used to fight over small things, turn their hearts to the needs of others up there coming down here, you can, you can see that's when those beatitudes are beginning to happen. When Jesus is saying, this is my kingdom, these are the values. When poverty of spirit, when we look out for the morning, when we care for the meek, when we satisfy the longings of the hungry, when we celebrate peacemakers and pure and hard.

And we look after those who are persecuted, that is up there, that is now coming here and coming. Now the rest of the sermon that Jesus will give will talk about what is that life mean for my sex life? My thought life, my anger life. My words that I speak to others. What does it mean for my prayer life?

What does it mean for my spiritual disciplines? What does it mean for anxiety? This is what Jesus says will end. This is what he will teach is how the kingdom of God, God lives on earth very quickly by point of application. Well, how do we be salt and light? First off, I'd say this don't be an alarmist.

Don't don't be walking around saying, Oh my goodness. I can't believe how bad it is out there. Right. Can't believe of this is going to hell in a hand basket, whatever that means, right. That sure. Ain't what it used to be. You know what I mean? Like, um, like we can't be people who are looking at earthly Kings saying, Hmm, I sure wish that was better.

We need to clean up all of those earthly kingdoms. Don't be quiet. Don't be alarmist. Don't be quality control. One of the verses that God brings to my mind the most when I'm staring into evil situations. And there's a lot of evil that we all stare into at times, he'll remind you put the scripture my mind and she says this don't be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good to which I say, but cut.

There's a lie evil. And he says don't be, don't be so caught up in quality control and being an alarmist about here, be about this breaking through, overcome evil with good, and then also be a detective be looking. I love this. And what Jesus says about the church. My favorite verse about the church in Matthew 16 says, Jesus simply says this.

I will build my church. The kingdom of God is at hand. God is on the move. And in those places we think on kingdom of God, can't you hear look, watch, where is the kingdom of God moving in my marriage? Where is the kingdom of God moving in my school? Where is the kingdom of God moving in South Jersey, Henry Blackaby.

He wrote a book it's experiencing God, like, I don't know, a thousand years ago or something. And, uh, They in this book, he has a phrase that, that meant so much to me, back in high school, he said this, he said, go S uh, ask the question. Where is God? And then join him. Where is God on the move? The kingdom of God is not about yanking heaven into earth, manipulating God to somehow sprinkle some good heaven dust on earth.

The reality is that Jesus is on the move. Jesus is doing good, and it can feel like, Oh my goodness, earthly kingdoms just drown out. God. Don't sell God short. The resurrection, the victory of Jesus means that he is at work. If you're in a business and you're like, I can't see God anywhere here. Start praying.

God, let me see where you might be working and join him in your family. It feels like man, things are just crumbling and falling apart. Look, pray God, give me eyes to see not just what is falling apart, but what you are healing, what you are building and help me put my shoulders. They're beyond that are behind that because he is the one who makes salt.

He is the one who makes light and he, along with us, Colossians three allows us to be his coworkers. As he carries the beauty of heaven and walks onto this earth, the churches, the church of Jesus Christ. Is thus not gathered because we offer the coolest sports programs or we have, it's not, our hallmark is not that we get the greatest, um, music or the most clever preaching or the most beautiful artwork you've ever seen.

The church of Jesus Christ is a gathering of misfit. People who dare to not exist for themselves, but to join Jesus in his glorious B attitude, ridden kingdom, being a blessing to those around them. This is why we are to be known by how we love, how we serve, how we benefit and how we bless. We're going to closing an invite, the worship team to come up and.

Normally when I preach, I like to offer a blessing at the end to just kind of the, in my mind, when we come together to worship, what we're doing is, is your giving yourself and your singing to overhear to tell these people, these truth and your singing over there to declare the same truth in our presence.

You're giving something. And at the end of a service, I want to just give you something, but I'm going to ask you to be a part of the blessing. I'm going to ask you to not just receive a blessing, but to give it. And this is what I mean, Mike and I talked about this stuff a lot. I called them this week on Tuesday and they asked if we could end this song.

And he said this, he says, Ben, can you please say this line? He says, tell them that formation. Is for mission. We come to be formed to the image of Jesus Christ. Mike says so that we can go with Jesus Christ into the world. So that up there may come down here and see spread formation is for mission. And as we sing this song, I want you to join us.

And this song is actually a song that that's less to God and more to people about God. And, and to imagine your workplaces, your families, that this, that your South Jersey communities or Philadelphia communities, or where you're watching from online, that this song would be a blessing that your giving that, your praying.

So they, in the kingdoms that you're in the you're saying, God, won't you move won't you help me see how you want to bless how you want to heal. How do you want to love it is a song that is a blessing blessing over people. And so sing it over Mount Laurel, sing it over, Collingswood, sing it over your communities.

That our desire that with God, we might be a part of his beautiful kingdom. As we delight to join him in his blessing and South Jersey. So if you would stand with me, if you know the words, please sing out. As you sing in your mind, a prayer over the earthly kingdoms that you are in a blessing of the kingdom of God may take ground.

And with this, we will be dismissed.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/salt-and-light-here-and-now 23170f16-e319-4d1c-a923-0dfb7defaedc Sun, 09 May 2021 13:45:33 GMT <div data-html="true">Matthew 5:13-16 <br /><br /> Kingdom Life is Detailed in Matthew 5-7 <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Good morning. Great to be here with you this morning, setting up some arts and crafts in honor of mother's day, we're going to be continuing in our series in Matthew chapter five. You've got the pupil Bible with you. This morning is going to be in on page seven 59. This is the densest teaching we have from Jesus often called the sermon, the sermon on the Mount, and we've made our ways through the beatitudes, all the blesseds. <br /><br /> And now we're moving on to the next section that we have in Matthew five, but I'd like to read through the beatitudes and then get to our section this morning, <br /><br /> starting Matthew chapter five, verse two, he opened his mouth and taught them saying. Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be satisfied. <br /><br /> Blessed are the merciful for they shall be shown. Mercy blessed are the pure in heart for, they will see God bless it are the peacemakers for, they shall be called children of God. Bless it are those who persecute you for heaven sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you, falsely on my account, rejoice, and be glad for your reward is great in heaven for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you, and then our passage here this morning, you are the salt of the earth. <br /><br /> But if the salt has lost its taste house, shall its saltiness be restored. It's no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. You are the light of the world. A city set on a Hill that cannot be hidden, or do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand. <br /><br /> And it gives light to all in the house in the same way. Let your light shine before others so that they may see your good work and give you glory to your father who is in heaven. Father. We come to this passage this morning. We come on this special mother's day, acknowledging that for so many of us, the salt and light of redemption has come, come through. <br /><br /> The stories told to us by our mom and we give you thanks for that. We also come this morning, echoing. Your words of blessed are those who mourn. And we recognize that there's a mother wounds that run deep. In many people this morning, confusions frustrations, prayers that have seemed to go unanswered. And as for those who find this day less of a celebration and more as a trigger of loss, we remember your words of comfort. <br /><br /> Bless it are those who mourn for they will be comforted guide and direct us this morning in Jesus name. Amen. So here's what we're going to do today. We are going to do an introduction to this next section. There's two major sections we have said in Matthew chapter five, there's the beatitudes, which we're calling the values of the kingdom of heaven, the values of the upside down life. <br /><br /> And then the next part is the practical living, the practical teaching of Jesus, of what that kingdom life looks like in the every day. And we are entering that section, that second larger section, which we will intro today. We're going to do this by doing some arts and crafts. Now my personal version of hell is being at a VBS craft table for the rest of eternity. <br /><br /> How many are with me? When they asked for volunteers, I never put, sign me up for anything. Okay. That's that's rookie mistake. Why? Cause I might end up changing diapers or in, or doing the craft table and whatever volunteers, fear. I don't like them. I don't enjoy them. I don't do them with my children. I'm convinced that the day that, uh, creation fell was the very day when Play-Doh was made. <br /><br /> Okay. Glitter. Glitter's not fun to begin with. It's not fun for the years after that it's embedded into your carpet. Glitter glue is its own form of evil. That should be anyway, but we're going to do some things up on the board today and we're going to give it a shot. And then we're going to conclude with a 10 minute sermon. <br /><br /> So you have a short sermon today, but I'm going to take a little bit to get there. When we're talking about ways of introduction, practice, typical living, we want to return to talking about what is this kingdom of God that we're talking about? I think there's a lot of confusion that we can have around this concept of the kingdom of God. <br /><br /> Again, in scripture, this is an incredibly important concept. The teaching of Jesus all over the place includes this phrase kingdom of God. But what exactly is it? Matthew? Three, two before Jesus came, John, the Baptist said the message of the kingdom of God. Is coming. I think we have that to pop on the screen there. <br /><br /> In those days, John, the Baptist came preaching repent for the kingdom of God is at hand. The kingdom of heaven is at hand Mark one 14 and 15 as Jesus came. We read this here is the message of the kingdom of God saying the time has been fulfilled. The kingdom of God is at hand Luke eight one. When Jesus came and sent out his messengers, he sending out his messengers with this. <br /><br /> He called the 12 together, gave them power authority over demons, cure diseases. He sent them out to proclaim what the kingdom of God and to heal Luke nine again, reiterate he called the, um, yes. Sent them out the kingdom of God. Then acts chapter one, three. He presented himself. This is after the resurrection. <br /><br /> After his suffering by many proofs appearing to them 40 days. And speaking to them about what the kingdom of God, Paul himself, who would then write much of the necks of the rest of the new Testament acts tells his story, says this at the end of his life, he lived two whole years at his own expense, welcomed all who came to him, proclaiming what the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance. <br /><br /> The question is what is the kingdom of God? So what we're going to do here, you have some notes. I think, um, if you want to fill these out, we're going to put kingdom of God here on top. Okay. And we're not doing this to be clever. We're doing this to seek to be clear. Cause I think there can be a lot of confusion. <br /><br /> About well, what exactly is the kingdom of God? Okay. So we'll put that on top. Talking about the kingdom of God. This has mentioned 61 times in the teaching of Jesus. Now most of the gospels, right, are telling stories, their narratives about Jesus and some of the gospels, including our section here, Matthew five, six and seven are when Jesus is teaching in the sections, just in the sections where he's is teaching 61 times. <br /><br /> He speaks of the kingdom of God. What it is is the kingdom of God. Very simply. We'll say the kingdom of God is this. That which is under the benevolent and intimate governance of God, anywhere where God is in charge anywhere where Jesus is King. That is where the kingdom of God is simply John Ortberg writes and he has been very helpful for me in understanding this, the kingdom of God is the width. <br /><br /> God life, it's the width, God, life it's wherever God is wherever God is there. There, the kingdom of God is the kingdom of God is the width God life. Now we don't use kingdom language a lot. You know, if you came to my house or apartment or some you got in my car, it wouldn't be like, welcome. You have entered. <br /><br /> My kingdom. Right? You'd be like, thank you. You are a creep, right? That that's weird. We don't use that kind of language. We don't talk that way. Right. In a lot of us think, Oh, kingdom monarchy was that kind of a bad idea? 1776 something. Right. We don't typically think of kingdoms as a way of governance, nor is a way we want to be governed. <br /><br /> So when we talk about this language under the kingship of Christ, how can we make sense of it? First of all, I think something that's helpful is the word dominion. All right. Cause we do speak in language of dominion. So we're going to put dominion here. <br /><br /> Okay. So dominion kingdom of God, understanding of dominion, we have an innate sense of possession or dominion this morning, I got up my two-year-old crashes into bed, right. She's learned to crawl out of her crib, which is wonderful. And she, um, I actually meant that, but now that I heard myself anyway, she, she crashes into bed. <br /><br /> It's six 30, seven o'clock. And what is she immediately finds in the room, my phone. Now she sees my phone. She doesn't say daddy, nice phone. Right? She doesn't even say, Hey dad, can I use, you know, maybe your phone? She says what? My phone. Right? That's the declaration. Because in two year old economics, if ball see it, I then possess it. <br /><br /> Right. So it's my phone. Why? Because in Nate, in her. Innate in us is this idea of possession of dominion. This is a God planted idea. Very much in the design, in the garden of Eden, it says this Genesis one 26, let us make man in our image after our own likeness. So people like God, let them have dominion over the fish of the sea birds of the heavens over the livestock, over all the earth and over everything creeping on the earth. <br /><br /> There is a sense the amigo day, the image of God, we understand this concept of possession or dominion. This is why we innately inside of us. Know the evil of abuse. Abuse is the infringing of my kingdom onto the borders of your kingdom, forcing that, which is meant for your control and making it underneath mine control. <br /><br /> Physical abuse is taking over a thorny over someone else's body. Emotional abuse is taking dominion over someone else's mind or. Sense of identity spiritual abuse is the attempt to take control of the outcome of someone else's soul. It is infringing upon a territory that is not mine to have. Now we set up in our world, all kinds of earthly kingdoms. <br /><br /> Now we're down here. Okay. Earthly kingdoms. This is PTA days. Um, this is, uh, lots of different family structure. Wow. That does not say kingdoms for all of you falling at home that says heavens. <br /><br /> Not quite sure why I did that. Okay. Earthly kingdoms. Okay. So these are all kinds of structures that we set up. This is, this is governments. This is chains of command. This is having different authority structure. This is Geneva Geneva's rules of war. This is Robert's rules of order. This is a sense where we have around us structures and townships and municipalities and authorities that we establish as a part of earthly kingdoms. <br /><br /> That doesn't mean that they're bad. It doesn't mean that they're good. They are just ways that we have in the image of God constructed. Different types of complicated kingdoms, all of these kingdoms and structures that we find ourselves in, whether you're a participant in a sports league, whether you're a person at school right now, whether you're a person in a business person, a family, you are within many different kingdoms. <br /><br /> And if I asked you what's the structure, you could pretty quickly ratified the structure, the territory of that kingdom, the kingdom of God, simply. Is that, which is under God's governance, his dominion, secondly, the kingdom and design. Okay. So we have the kingdom understanding of by dominion, but also this concept of design scripture teaches right in the very beginning, right? <br /><br /> God designed the world, he designed it and continually gave it an affirmation. God made whatever he made. And he said, this was what. Good. I've designed it to be this way. A word we've talked about is Shalom. Everything made in complete harmony, everything fitting together, such that all of the parts are elevating one, another working in complete togetherness on the seventh day, what happened? <br /><br /> Jesus, or God rested the seventh day. He rested. That doesn't just mean he was tired of making camels. Right? What happened when he rested is that the world was finally at rest. It did not need more creating. It was, as it was intended to be all things were with God. And God was with all things. This is the design. <br /><br /> When God made the human being, he made them to operate at most themselves at mode to function right here in the kingdom of God, John 17, Jesus is talking to, is this start praying to the father about his disciples. And he says for, they are not of the world any more than I have am of the world. What they are about is the kingdom of God. <br /><br /> That is what they were made for. This is ultimately the Amal go day sign is the width, God kingdom. This is what we have the beatitudes spelling out what we call the upside down world. The, the sense of these principles, these values that are given are to describe what life is like under the governance of Jesus. <br /><br /> What life is like when he is King, when what life is like, when all things, our Shalom, this is the kingdom of God. But I think we get a little confused. All right. And so we're going to put here where, so where exactly is the kingdom we're going to we'll use that for abbreviation. Where, where is the kingdom? <br /><br /> Right? Don't kingdoms have a place, isn't it? A land don't they've got castles and walls and boundaries. That's our construct or concept of kingdoms is there's a place and a princess and an ogre and all of those things, it's it seems like it should be a land with borders. And I think that's sometimes why we associate the kingdom. <br /><br /> Oh God. And we say, uh, well, I probably just means heaven. Right? So where we say, where is it? It's there. It's out there. It's a nice, wonderful place. We go to where we die. Right? The kingdom of God is talking about that place. Why? Because that place has God there all the time. So the place must be the shiny streets of gold heaven. <br /><br /> A wonderful land that we do hear about in scripture. I don't believe when the kingdom of God is spoken about. And if you take that lens in to the teachings of Jesus, it doesn't fit. The kingdom of God is not just talking about there. Does the governance of God direct the land of heaven. Absolutely. But that's not the extent of the governance of God. <br /><br /> But when we see kingdom of God, kingdom of heaven, our concept often says, it's that bright, shiny, beautiful, happy place I go to when I die, but it doesn't fit. When we look at how Jesus teaches in the new Testament. I love this Dallas Willard. Who's been so helpful in this understanding of the kingdom of God. <br /><br /> He talks about heaven. He says, incidentally, who goes to heaven? God lets anyone go to heaven. That can stand being there. Why. Because heaven is ultimately a with God place. It's a place where the kingdom of God rules and ultimately to live and to die and to go to heaven is to be, and to want to be where he is. <br /><br /> And so this is what we often see. We see I'm just get I'll slick move. Right. That was pretty slick, Dennis. You liked that. Okay. So what we often see is what salvation is, is a rescue story of getting people out of the bad and into the good. Right. This is often what we see and our goal, our desire is to endure all of this stuff down here. <br /><br /> So finally, we can be scooped up and get out there. And if we're really good, then we can get a couple of other people that are way down here, you know, and, and maybe scoop them up too. So that salvation is taking people from this earthly place to finally endure this terrible spot. And to then finally get up to the place of heaven when we die and what the kingdom of God is, we think oftentimes is just, or what we think salvation is, is just getting people out of earth and in to heaven that plays much into what we think salvation is not just about getting us into heaven. <br /><br /> It is about this getting heaven into earth. In the teaching that we will have coming up of Jesus. He says, this here is how you should pray. Our father who is in heaven, hallowed, be your name, your kingdom, come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. <br /><br /> Our sense of place is not just how to endure here to get to a place there because one we're talking about the kingdom of God. We're talking about a place that is here as well as there. It's so influential on how you view scripture. John Ortberg says what he came to do is bring up there down here, John 17, Jesus says this, this is eternal life. <br /><br /> What's eternal life. Isn't eternal life about heaven. No, he says this. This is eternal life that they may know you. The one true God and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent eternal life is life with God. It is that Greek word. Gunnoe SCO Jesus is using that intimate knowing that does not wait until a place we go to when we die, the kingdom of God is not just a land. <br /><br /> It is here as much as it is there. What, okay, what does that mean about how we view our place here? Oftentimes we can view earth as a place we're trying to get out of. We see it as evil or oppressive, and we just have to hang on until we're helicoptered out. But, but what we learn is that what this earth is, is a place where the kingdom of God is breaking through and the darkness and the hopeless places are the greatest opportunities for the kingdom of God, as it is in heaven to crash down and come to the places in earth. <br /><br /> Earth is not a dark and ugly place. It is a beautiful place where darkest places have become the greatest chances to be redeemed and healed and set free. Why? Because the kingdom of God is not just there. Jesus came to preach the kingdom. Is at hand, it has come to earth. Okay. So that's time or that's a place we're going to talk about time wrong. <br /><br /> Marker. I'm very particular about that. Okay. So let me go where our win. Okay. So that's where we'll win. When is the kingdom? And again, if our view is that doesn't it mean heaven or something in place? Our, our idea is that it's later, right? That when is the kingdom it's later it's in Timesy it's it's after death or something. <br /><br /> That construct doesn't mean much for me. Now that new Testament teaching doesn't mean much for me now. But if it is here, it's not a, then it's a now old view of salvation is trying to you wait until then. But the kingdom is not just coming. The kingdom is here. I love this, uh, Tom Wright. Who's been very influential. <br /><br /> Um, author speaks much about salvation and, and the full extent of what it means, not just in the escape hatch, but a way where God is crashing through. Now, he says this, he says, I'm living life after death now. Life after death begins, when the kingdom of God enters into a person's life. That's when life after death begins, he says I'm looking forward to life after life, after death, but life after death has already begun. <br /><br /> Okay. Now it's time for 10 minute sermon because we're left with this question. How, how does the okay. Kingdom of God enter the kingdoms of earth? How does the benevolent intimate reign of God take place? In our places in our families, in our businesses, in our parts of the world, how can the kingdom take ground here? <br /><br /> And Jesus takes these values of the kingdom right into our passage and says, yes, you are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world. The with God, life is brought from heaven to earth. Through the people, God lives with you are the invention of God to bring Christ all around this us, a community of misfits people with all kinds of brokenness of fears of ungoverned places still left in our lives. <br /><br /> Are the very Torchbearers to represent what a width God, life is the very place where the up there crashes down into the down here, little bit about salt and life. Roman soldiers used to receive wages in salt. It was of such value. The Greeks considered salt to be divine. Salt can be a preservative and antiseptic, a fire catalyst, a flavoring, a flavoring, or a fertilizer. <br /><br /> It has different uses. And it's hard to know exactly if Jesus is meeting a specific use or many of them. When salt loses its saltiness, you saw that in the passage in the first century, it would be thrown on the ground. To be trampled, very similar to what Jesus is saying, because if it lost all its other good uses, it would at least speed good for hardening the soil. <br /><br /> Um, so that paths may be a little more from the picture of light or read this. This week. Light is the essence of life itself. Without it, we simply would have nothing. Light is the main source of energy for all living organisms plants. The main sustainers of life are crucial in this conversion process and need light for photosynthesis that enables them to make their food and to be food for others, salt and light. <br /><br /> They're good things. They're necessary. Things. Nothing else can serve the function of light or salt. They are valuable things. They are in tremendous import in value. And Jesus is saying the good, necessary, valuable vehicle of the up there coming down here is the people who live under the governance of God. <br /><br /> And T Wright says this. We have been so used to seeing heaven as a place, separated from earth somewhere far away, way beyond the blue. That's not how the Bible sees it. Not at all the point of God's split-level what we're talking about here. Creation, heaven and earth is not that earth is some type of training ground for heaven, but that heaven are, is designed. <br /><br /> Heaven and earth are designed to overlap and interlock. He's describing this pretty pathetic drawing I'm doing here is he's describing these, the connection between the two. And how is he saying? And how is that interlap interlock? How does it take place? Jesus says that point of connection because you are the salt of the earth in light of the world. <br /><br /> This means when we take money that we've seen just for our own kingdoms, And we give it to increase the other, the wellbeing of others. That's up there. Crashing down here when men are too afraid to let their wives know about their insecurity and fear, and they open themselves up vulnerably to their need of love. <br /><br /> That's heaven breaking through to earth when generational sin is broken, when the territory of our lives, which used to grow weeds now begin to grow fruit and then end that disease of generational sin. That is up there coming down here. When bridges are made between groups of people who were distanced by history or race or socioeconomic status that is up there coming down here, when there's drama in your workplace or your family and pride is getting in the way of relationships and someone steps forward and honest, humble, apologetic, humility. <br /><br /> That's up there coming down here when churches who used to fight over small things, turn their hearts to the needs of others up there coming down here, you can, you can see that's when those beatitudes are beginning to happen. When Jesus is saying, this is my kingdom, these are the values. When poverty of spirit, when we look out for the morning, when we care for the meek, when we satisfy the longings of the hungry, when we celebrate peacemakers and pure and hard. <br /><br /> And we look after those who are persecuted, that is up there, that is now coming here and coming. Now the rest of the sermon that Jesus will give will talk about what is that life mean for my sex life? My thought life, my anger life. My words that I speak to others. What does it mean for my prayer life? <br /><br /> What does it mean for my spiritual disciplines? What does it mean for anxiety? This is what Jesus says will end. This is what he will teach is how the kingdom of God, God lives on earth very quickly by point of application. Well, how do we be salt and light? First off, I'd say this don't be an alarmist. <br /><br /> Don't don't be walking around saying, Oh my goodness. I can't believe how bad it is out there. Right. Can't believe of this is going to hell in a hand basket, whatever that means, right. That sure. Ain't what it used to be. You know what I mean? Like, um, like we can't be people who are looking at earthly Kings saying, Hmm, I sure wish that was better. <br /><br /> We need to clean up all of those earthly kingdoms. Don't be quiet. Don't be alarmist. Don't be quality control. One of the verses that God brings to my mind the most when I'm staring into evil situations. And there's a lot of evil that we all stare into at times, he'll remind you put the scripture my mind and she says this don't be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good to which I say, but cut. <br /><br /> There's a lie evil. And he says don't be, don't be so caught up in quality control and being an alarmist about here, be about this breaking through, overcome evil with good, and then also be a detective be looking. I love this. And what Jesus says about the church. My favorite verse about the church in Matthew 16 says, Jesus simply says this. <br /><br /> I will build my church. The kingdom of God is at hand. God is on the move. And in those places we think on kingdom of God, can't you hear look, watch, where is the kingdom of God moving in my marriage? Where is the kingdom of God moving in my school? Where is the kingdom of God moving in South Jersey, Henry Blackaby. <br /><br /> He wrote a book it's experiencing God, like, I don't know, a thousand years ago or something. And, uh, They in this book, he has a phrase that, that meant so much to me, back in high school, he said this, he said, go S uh, ask the question. Where is God? And then join him. Where is God on the move? The kingdom of God is not about yanking heaven into earth, manipulating God to somehow sprinkle some good heaven dust on earth. <br /><br /> The reality is that Jesus is on the move. Jesus is doing good, and it can feel like, Oh my goodness, earthly kingdoms just drown out. God. Don't sell God short. The resurrection, the victory of Jesus means that he is at work. If you're in a business and you're like, I can't see God anywhere here. Start praying. <br /><br /> God, let me see where you might be working and join him in your family. It feels like man, things are just crumbling and falling apart. Look, pray God, give me eyes to see not just what is falling apart, but what you are healing, what you are building and help me put my shoulders. They're beyond that are behind that because he is the one who makes salt. <br /><br /> He is the one who makes light and he, along with us, Colossians three allows us to be his coworkers. As he carries the beauty of heaven and walks onto this earth, the churches, the church of Jesus Christ. Is thus not gathered because we offer the coolest sports programs or we have, it's not, our hallmark is not that we get the greatest, um, music or the most clever preaching or the most beautiful artwork you've ever seen. <br /><br /> The church of Jesus Christ is a gathering of misfit. People who dare to not exist for themselves, but to join Jesus in his glorious B attitude, ridden kingdom, being a blessing to those around them. This is why we are to be known by how we love, how we serve, how we benefit and how we bless. We're going to closing an invite, the worship team to come up and. <br /><br /> Normally when I preach, I like to offer a blessing at the end to just kind of the, in my mind, when we come together to worship, what we're doing is, is your giving yourself and your singing to overhear to tell these people, these truth and your singing over there to declare the same truth in our presence. <br /><br /> You're giving something. And at the end of a service, I want to just give you something, but I'm going to ask you to be a part of the blessing. I'm going to ask you to not just receive a blessing, but to give it. And this is what I mean, Mike and I talked about this stuff a lot. I called them this week on Tuesday and they asked if we could end this song. <br /><br /> And he said this, he says, Ben, can you please say this line? He says, tell them that formation. Is for mission. We come to be formed to the image of Jesus Christ. Mike says so that we can go with Jesus Christ into the world. So that up there may come down here and see spread formation is for mission. And as we sing this song, I want you to join us. <br /><br /> And this song is actually a song that that's less to God and more to people about God. And, and to imagine your workplaces, your families, that this, that your South Jersey communities or Philadelphia communities, or where you're watching from online, that this song would be a blessing that your giving that, your praying. <br /><br /> So they, in the kingdoms that you're in the you're saying, God, won't you move won't you help me see how you want to bless how you want to heal. How do you want to love it is a song that is a blessing blessing over people. And so sing it over Mount Laurel, sing it over, Collingswood, sing it over your communities. <br /><br /> That our desire that with God, we might be a part of his beautiful kingdom. As we delight to join him in his blessing and South Jersey. So if you would stand with me, if you know the words, please sing out. As you sing in your mind, a prayer over the earthly kingdoms that you are in a blessing of the kingdom of God may take ground. <br /><br /> And with this, we will be dismissed.</div> false no <![CDATA[Mephibosheth's Unlikely Seat at the Table]]> 2 Samuel 9:7

“Don’t be afraid,” David said to him, “for I will surely show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan. I will restore to you all the land that belonged to your grandfather Saul, and you will always eat at my table.”



Good morning. I don't think this is going to work like that. How's everyone doing this morning? Um, like Mike said, I am pastor Jared. Um, I am the youth pastor here and I love getting the teach to adults. Um, it's a, uh, it's a good change up. Don't get me wrong. I love teaching to high school and even middle school.

Um, but there's something about teaching adults. You know, kids are hard to teach too, because as soon as you start boring them, it's like a quick, like, get out your phone, you know, start talking to your neighbor. Adults have mastered this skill of even when they're not listening though. Pretend they're listening.

So I thank you for that. The story,

um, this morning, we're going to be talking about being in a position you don't deserve to be in. Um, and that's my question for you this morning is have you ever been in a position you don't deserve to be in. I played soccer all my life. I grew up playing. Um, that was the sport in my household. That's what we played.

I don't think I had a choice in that, but my senior season of high school, I was at the Kings Christian school. And I know you guys are already impressed private school soccer. Right. Really, really impressive. But we had a really, really good season that year. We went 17 and zero. We had an undefeated season.

It was my senior year. Um, and I, I was super pumped and everyone knows at the end of the season, there's a game that comes up and it's called the all-star game. And, you know, as, as a senior, you're hoping like, ah, I think this is my year. I think this is my year that, you know, I'm going to be all star. I'm going to, I'm going to play in the all-star game.

Like here we go. Like I've had a really good season. I've played well. So towards the end of the season, My coach pulls me aside. Um, he puts his arm around my shoulder and I'm like, this is the top. You know, this is it. Let's sit. And he said, Jerry, do you know, you're not even playing well, this season you've been a leader on the field on and off the field.

You've helped us win games. You've encouraged people, but unfortunately you're not an all-star this year. Um, and as he listed the three people that were all stars from our team, I said, you know, a coach. I think that makes a lot of sense. You know, I, I think they deserve to be the all-star. Some of you know, those all-stars in that game.

One of them was Josh Myers. Um, out another one you might know is Ryan Anderson, right? He, he leads our junior high ministry here and something really gracious happened to me. Ryan had a Academy soccer game. He had to be at. That was happened to be on the same day as the all-star game. So he said, you know what, I've done this three years already.

I've already been in the all star game already. Coach, why don't you give it to the fourth string? Okay. Why don't, why don't you give it to the fourth person? So I graciously was able to attend the all star game. I went in as the sub. Um, I actually ended up scoring in the all-star game and I'm, I'm having a great time.

My team won, but the whole time I'm like, I'm putting on the t-shirt and in the game and I just can't help. But think I'm not supposed to be here. I don't deserve to be here. I wasn't on the list. Right? I wasn't in the top three. So why here am I playing in the all-star game this morning? We are going to be looking at a story about a man who gets something he does not believe he deserves.

Please turn your Bibles to second Samuel chapter nine. Or swipe your Bibles. If you're using new version this morning,

if you're using a Pew Bible in front of you, the page should be two 43. I could be absolutely wrong on that, but it should be that give you a couple seconds through to get there. We're going to be reading the whole chapter this morning. Second Samuel chapter nine,

let's read this morning. And David said, is there still anyone left of the house of Saul that I may show kindness for Jonathan's sake? Now there was a servant of the house of Saul, whose name was Zeba and they called him to David and the King said, I'm are you Ziva? And he said, I am your servant. And the King said, is there not still someone of the house of Saul that I may show the kindness of God to him?

Seba said to the King, there's still a son of Jonathan. He is crippled in his feet. The King said to him, where is he? And Ziva said to the King, he is in the house of Makir the son of Ammiel at lo Debar. Then King David sent and brought him from the house of Makir the son of Ammiel at load bar and the Phibbah chef, the son of Jonathan son of Saul, came to David and fell on his face and paid homage.

And David said, Mephibosheth's, he answered behold, I'm your servant. And David said to him, do not fear for, I will show you kindness for the sake of your father, Jonathan and I will restore to you all the land of your soul, your father, and you shall eat at my table always. And he paid homage and said, what is your servant that you should show regard for a dead dog, such as I.

Then the King called Zeba Saul seven said to him, all that belonged to Saul and to all his house I've given to your master's grandson and you and your sons and your servants. Y'all till the land for him and shall bring in the produce that your masters grants on may have bread to eat. But my favorite chef, your fat masters grants shall always eat at my table.

Now zebra had 15 sons and 27 sins. Eva said to the King, according to all that, my Lord, the King commands his servants. So will your servant do some of the feathers shifts ate at David's table? Like one of his, the King sons and the fish chef had a young son whose name was Micah and all who lives. Eva's house became a food chef servants.

Some, a Fibber chef lived in Jerusalem for, he always ate at the King's table. Now he was lame in both his feet. Let's pray this morning,

Lord. I thank you so much for bringing us here this morning. God. Thank you so much that we are able to meet in the open God. Um, we know that our brothers and sisters overseas are getting persecuted for speaking your name God. And we get to come here on a Sunday morning and praise you and sing loud and worship you.

God, Lord, I pray that your word and your Holy spirit would be viewed loudest things in this room this morning, Lord, that it would not be anything clever I come up with or any words I have to speak, but it would that be your word? Speaking through me, Lord, I pray that you would prepare our hearts for your spirit this morning in Jesus name.

Amen. Before we really jump into this scripture and kind of just start dissecting it. I want to walk us through some context. Um, I want to take, take a look back at a couple of chapters before. Um, the previous chapters we see David is kind of just overwhelmed with blessings from the Lord chapter seven.

We see God make a covenant with Dave David. We know this covenant would be establishing his kingdom forever. We know this covenant would be that the line that Jesus would come through establishing his kingship forever being fulfilled in Christ chapter eight. We see David recount his many victories over his enemies that God delivered him from.

Then we come to chapter nine and David is just so overwhelmed with gratitude. So overwhelmed with blessings from the Lord that he's, he's actively looking. Who can I show kindness to? He's just so filled that he just wants to find someone that he can bless, find someone he can show kindness to. And he seeks out.

I'm a famous chef. Now, maybe you're wondering who is my favorite chef and why is his name so hard to pronounce? Um, I'm wondering the same thing this morning. Uh, we're going to break down here. Ma fib, uh, chef. Okay. Say it with me here. Ma uh, chef. Okay. So now that you have grace on me, if I say the name wrong, here we go.

Who is the food? The chef. He was a son of Jonathan, right? We know that was David's beloved friend, Jonathan and David had a close friendship. And this is Jonathan son. He was crippled. If we read second Samuel chapter four, if you flip back a couple chapters. Second Samuel chapter four, verse four, it says this Jonathan, the son of Saul had a son who was crippled in his feet.

He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel and his nurse took him, pick him, picked him up and fled. And Ashley fled in her haste. He fell and became lame and his name was muffled. The chef. She also won the award for worst nurse of the year, that year.

Right? So after my fibia, chef heard this news of his not only his father and his grandfather dying, his nurse drops him and he's crippled. He was also Saul's grandson. We know this from this as well. He was the last descendant of Saul who would have the rights to the throne if he was not crippled and knows these, the custom was to kill the previous King's family line.

David does not do this. He also would be considered an enemy of David because he was in the line of solve. Those family ties were at war. At that time, they were on edge with one another. He lived in a place called lo Debar, which literally means no pasture. I don't think that would be a nice place to live in.

We also know he did not own his own house. He lived in the house of Makir, right. He was crashing on someone's couch. And we also know that the fibs Sheth was in hiding verse four. David asks, where is he? The reason David asks, where is he? Because he would actually be in hiding because his family ties made him an enemy to the throne, made him an enemy to King David.

So he was actually hiding from the King. Now I want to walk through the passage with you, right? We know David is overwhelmed with blessings and he's actively looking to show someone kindness. He asked if there's anyone left of the house of Saul. Again, he does not know because the house of David in the house of Saul would be at odds.

David asks where he is because he would be in hiding. And then we come on this visual of Mephibosheth's coming in to the King's presence. We know he's lame in both his feet, likely he was on some kind of crutches or could have been carried in. And he doesn't kneel before the King because he's crippled in both his feet.

No, he, he falls on his face before the King. This was not a normal bowel. This is not a, a normal thing that someone do. He, he falls flat on his face. He's crippled before the King.

I imagine he's just going in behold. I'm your servant. Imagine your enemy to the throne, your enemy, to the King. And now the King is so many new to his presence. I can't imagine what was going through his head. David actually tells him do not afraid. He probably was very afraid for his life. Maybe he thought, this is the moment.

This is where King David will kill me off. Or this is the moment. This is where I'll be imprisoned or, or made to work as a servant for him. But David says, do not be afraid. David says he will show kindness to him, not because of what an amphibious chef had had done or our accomplish, but because of his father, Jonathan David awards him with all the land that belonged to Saul a seat at his table where he'd not just get a seat at the King's table.

He got all the land that was promised. To his grandfather and servants to work that land, this, he was set up for the rest of his life. He no longer had to crash at someone's house. He no longer had to sleep at someone's house. He, he owned his own land now and also his own. And I want to point out this. It says always, he always see the table.

We see it three different times, verse seven. It says this. I will restore to you. The land of saw your father. Shall I eat at my table? Always verse 10. It says it again, but Mephibosheth your master's grandson shout. Always eat at my table and at verse 13 again, so I'm a famous chef, lived in Jerusalem for eight, always.

At the King's table, David promised him a seat. And this becomes very important towards the later in, in second champion where we see in chapter 21, the enemies of saw someone who, who saw persecuted, went to war against. They come to David and they're angry. And they're saying, David, you owe us this. You have to wipe out the line of salt.

You have to kill these people. And that would have included the fibia Sheth. See this in second Samuel chapter 21, verse seven, but the King space, Mephibosheth the son of Saul's son, Jonathan, because of the oath that was between them, between David and Jonathan, the son of Saul, this oath all the way back to when David made an oath to show minus to all of Jonathon's descendants.

This was, it's not a promise that David just Willy nilly just said, Oh, here you go. Yeah, you can eat at my table. No, this was always and forever. You will have a place. This was a unheard of kindness. Back then. We don't even understand what that would look like now. And we see Mephibosheth's kind of respond to that kindness.

He goes in verse eight, he says this, what is your servant that you should show regard for a dead dog? Such as I, we see a similar response to a King in the new Testament with John, the Baptist, Matthew three, verse 11. He says this, but after me comes one who is more powerful than I, who sandals, I am not worthy to carry.

We know John, the Baptist, he was preparing the way for Jesus to come. He was, he was baptizing people preaching a message of repentance. The Lord is to come soon. And as he talks about Jesus, he says, there's someone coming who sandals? I am not even worry worthy to carry. This is how the Fibber chef felt completely and utterly unworthy before King David.

I don't deserve this. He falls on his safe. I am a dead dog before you. I am better off dead. And yet you're showing me this kindness. This minus David shows us declaring Mephibosheth's as one of his own to have a seat at the King's table would be so exclusive that it would be for his, his family or his highest ranking officials.

This was a huge honor to be invited to the King's table. He was provided the best meals, the best food, the best service verse 11 says. And yet David calls him his son and sits him at his table. He regarded him as one of his own. Someone who was supposed to be an enemy to his throne. Someone who could have been a threat to his kingship, he calls his own.

He calls him his son. We see Jesus give a similar promise to his disciples. After they are arguing amongst themselves, Luke 22 verse 28 says this, you are those who have stayed with me in my trials. And I assigned you as my father assigned me a kingdom that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom.

And sit on the Thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel. Jesus liked David has called his followers to have a seat at his table. He offered him this, this table, that that was that he was supposed to be dead. Right. He was in hiding yet. David went after him. He pursued him, show him the kindness, overwhelmed with blessings.

Now, if you're sitting here this morning and you're like, this is all awesome story, Jared. I just don't really know why you're telling it why. Right? So what, why are we studying this? Why are we reading this this morning? Well, I think there's three lessons we can learn from this passage. I think the first one is we need to learn from David's kindness.

David had reached out to the poor, uh, needy, let his pride get in his way. We know the former King of Israel was a guy named Saul, right? The best man for the job. He was tall and he was handsome and he was prideful and he let his pride get in the way. But David, we see doesn't let his pride get in the way David truly extended love.

He even loved his enemies. Love someone that could have been a threat to him. David extended the kindness he had received from the Lord. To everyone around him. This is right after David had many victories and future blessings from the Lord. I want to put this in perspective cause Mafibisha, wasn't just right.

Uh, enemy to David. He was also crippled back then him being crippled, him being lame in his feet practically made him useless, right? He wasn't able to provide for him or his family. He wasn't able to work. He was looked down upon in society, but David extends his love to him, extends kindness and grace to him.

This is what we're called to do as Christians, right? This is our call of kindness. This is our call of love to be so filled up with blessings and grace and love from the Lord to just anyone we've run into it would be an overflow, right. And a spill over on them. This is our call as Christians to show kindness, not just to the people who are kind to us or our coworkers who are easy to deal with, but the ones who curse us, the ones who are, do everything they can to go against us.

The driver on two 95, who cuts you off

our job as Christians to show that kindness. Secondly, Mafibisha was a beneficiary of his father. Jonathan a Google describes a beneficiary as a person who derives the advantage from something especially a trust will or life insurance policy, many of you know what this means, right. But if you don't, it would be, if you are a child, right.

And your parents put in their will, that you inherit the right to their house. Right? And if your parents end up dying, that you would inherit that, that you would inherit that, that will, that trust that you would gain advantage to that. Right? This is what Jonathan was to his son. It wasn't, that Mitsubishi fit anything special.

It wasn't that he was a good warrior or, or really wise or intelligent. No, he gained advantage of something because of his father. Jesus is our benefactor and we received his life insurance policy of eternal life because of what Jesus has done for us. We can now enter into his fellowship with God, because Jesus represents us just like Jonathan represent his son.

Mephibosheth. It is not about what we make or how good we look or what we can accomplish for the Lord. No, the Lord looks at us and he sees our representation are represented or Jesus Christ.

Thirdly, David bringing the fibia chef to his table. It was a beautiful representation of God's grace to us. We are just like the phobia chef, dead dogs that are deserving of death. We were stuck in our ways. We, we were, some of us were in hiding. Some of us are still in hiding. We associate ourselves with past sins, past handicaps, past crippled.

We, we feel like we can't get over these things. We were not so clean when Jesus came to us.

Right. And I, I want to challenge a thought process. This morning that I think a lot of us have. Um, cause I know I get caught in it and I know, I know have it, but, but God is not waiting for you to get your act together. God is not waiting for you to clean yourself up that he can extend his loving grace to you.

He's not waiting for you to stop sinning or to be smarter or a better person or a better Christian or more attractive or more useful to him. He's not waiting for that. He's waiting for you to go like Mephibosheth's falling on your face and say, God, I'm here a dead dog before you behold, here's your servant.

God, I know I'm crippled and capable, but you are all I need. You are enough for me. We no longer have to be in hiding. We can sit at his table. You can be called. His son or his daughter,

we try to understand what God's love is, and we can't help, but associate what we do as Christians or what we do as humans. Right? In order to be loved, we have to try to earn something. We have to try to earn someone's respect or trust or acceptance. So we try to do some things and we carry this over to our relationship with God.

I often find myself talking to myself in my head and saying, God, I'll come out. I'll come back out of hiding. I'll come to you. But I got to get a good weekend. Me first, I got to, I got to start following your commands again. Before I come forward, I have to start being more obedient to you before I can come before you.

But this isn't it. That's not how God works. That's not how his grace works. He's actively waiting for you to call on his name. He's not waiting for you to stop being disobedient. He's not waiting for you to get your act together. He's waiting for you to call on his name coming before him broken sinful disobedient, lonely, depressed, worried, afraid, scared, feeling hopeless.

We know this is a promise. Romans 10 13 says this for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Doesn't say everyone who calls on the name of the Lord that reads their Bible every day will be saved. No it's for those for desiring, for the Lord coming before him broken, empty and ashamed.

God wants us all. God wants a saw. We're going to close, um, with the time of song and I want to invite the worship team up. Um, and they're gonna, they're gonna sing a song for us in, but I just want to kind of introduce it. It's a song called carriage to the table. Um, it is, uh, by the band Leland. Um, and I just wanna read the lyrics to this song because this song was actually written, um, from the story of my fibia chef.

And I just want to read the lyrics to you this morning, wounded and forsaken. I was shattered by the fall, broken and forgotten, feeling lost and all alone, summoned by the King and to the masters courts lifted by the savior and cradled in his arms. I was carried to the table seated where I don't belong, carried to the table, swept away by his love.

And I don't see my brokenness anymore when I'm seated at the table of the Lord. I'm carried to the table, the table of the Lord fighting thoughts of fear and wondering why he called my name. Am I good enough to share this cup? This world has left me lame, even in my weakness, the savior called my name in his Holy presence.

&nbsp;]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/mephibosheths-unlikely-seat-at-the-table 9000ecb7-85e9-4df8-ae53-2337876cf9f1 Sun, 02 May 2021 14:30:07 GMT <div data-html="true">2 Samuel 9:7 <br /><br /> “Don’t be afraid,” David said to him, “for I will surely show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan. I will restore to you all the land that belonged to your grandfather Saul, and you will always eat at my table.” <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Good morning. I don't think this is going to work like that. How's everyone doing this morning? Um, like Mike said, I am pastor Jared. Um, I am the youth pastor here and I love getting the teach to adults. Um, it's a, uh, it's a good change up. Don't get me wrong. I love teaching to high school and even middle school. <br /><br /> Um, but there's something about teaching adults. You know, kids are hard to teach too, because as soon as you start boring them, it's like a quick, like, get out your phone, you know, start talking to your neighbor. Adults have mastered this skill of even when they're not listening though. Pretend they're listening. <br /><br /> So I thank you for that. The story, <br /><br /> um, this morning, we're going to be talking about being in a position you don't deserve to be in. Um, and that's my question for you this morning is have you ever been in a position you don't deserve to be in. I played soccer all my life. I grew up playing. Um, that was the sport in my household. That's what we played. <br /><br /> I don't think I had a choice in that, but my senior season of high school, I was at the Kings Christian school. And I know you guys are already impressed private school soccer. Right. Really, really impressive. But we had a really, really good season that year. We went 17 and zero. We had an undefeated season. <br /><br /> It was my senior year. Um, and I, I was super pumped and everyone knows at the end of the season, there's a game that comes up and it's called the all-star game. And, you know, as, as a senior, you're hoping like, ah, I think this is my year. I think this is my year that, you know, I'm going to be all star. I'm going to, I'm going to play in the all-star game. <br /><br /> Like here we go. Like I've had a really good season. I've played well. So towards the end of the season, My coach pulls me aside. Um, he puts his arm around my shoulder and I'm like, this is the top. You know, this is it. Let's sit. And he said, Jerry, do you know, you're not even playing well, this season you've been a leader on the field on and off the field. <br /><br /> You've helped us win games. You've encouraged people, but unfortunately you're not an all-star this year. Um, and as he listed the three people that were all stars from our team, I said, you know, a coach. I think that makes a lot of sense. You know, I, I think they deserve to be the all-star. Some of you know, those all-stars in that game. <br /><br /> One of them was Josh Myers. Um, out another one you might know is Ryan Anderson, right? He, he leads our junior high ministry here and something really gracious happened to me. Ryan had a Academy soccer game. He had to be at. That was happened to be on the same day as the all-star game. So he said, you know what, I've done this three years already. <br /><br /> I've already been in the all star game already. Coach, why don't you give it to the fourth string? Okay. Why don't, why don't you give it to the fourth person? So I graciously was able to attend the all star game. I went in as the sub. Um, I actually ended up scoring in the all-star game and I'm, I'm having a great time. <br /><br /> My team won, but the whole time I'm like, I'm putting on the t-shirt and in the game and I just can't help. But think I'm not supposed to be here. I don't deserve to be here. I wasn't on the list. Right? I wasn't in the top three. So why here am I playing in the all-star game this morning? We are going to be looking at a story about a man who gets something he does not believe he deserves. <br /><br /> Please turn your Bibles to second Samuel chapter nine. Or swipe your Bibles. If you're using new version this morning, <br /><br /> if you're using a Pew Bible in front of you, the page should be two 43. I could be absolutely wrong on that, but it should be that give you a couple seconds through to get there. We're going to be reading the whole chapter this morning. Second Samuel chapter nine, <br /><br /> let's read this morning. And David said, is there still anyone left of the house of Saul that I may show kindness for Jonathan's sake? Now there was a servant of the house of Saul, whose name was Zeba and they called him to David and the King said, I'm are you Ziva? And he said, I am your servant. And the King said, is there not still someone of the house of Saul that I may show the kindness of God to him? <br /><br /> Seba said to the King, there's still a son of Jonathan. He is crippled in his feet. The King said to him, where is he? And Ziva said to the King, he is in the house of Makir the son of Ammiel at lo Debar. Then King David sent and brought him from the house of Makir the son of Ammiel at load bar and the Phibbah chef, the son of Jonathan son of Saul, came to David and fell on his face and paid homage. <br /><br /> And David said, Mephibosheth's, he answered behold, I'm your servant. And David said to him, do not fear for, I will show you kindness for the sake of your father, Jonathan and I will restore to you all the land of your soul, your father, and you shall eat at my table always. And he paid homage and said, what is your servant that you should show regard for a dead dog, such as I. <br /><br /> Then the King called Zeba Saul seven said to him, all that belonged to Saul and to all his house I've given to your master's grandson and you and your sons and your servants. Y'all till the land for him and shall bring in the produce that your masters grants on may have bread to eat. But my favorite chef, your fat masters grants shall always eat at my table. <br /><br /> Now zebra had 15 sons and 27 sins. Eva said to the King, according to all that, my Lord, the King commands his servants. So will your servant do some of the feathers shifts ate at David's table? Like one of his, the King sons and the fish chef had a young son whose name was Micah and all who lives. Eva's house became a food chef servants. <br /><br /> Some, a Fibber chef lived in Jerusalem for, he always ate at the King's table. Now he was lame in both his feet. Let's pray this morning, <br /><br /> Lord. I thank you so much for bringing us here this morning. God. Thank you so much that we are able to meet in the open God. Um, we know that our brothers and sisters overseas are getting persecuted for speaking your name God. And we get to come here on a Sunday morning and praise you and sing loud and worship you. <br /><br /> God, Lord, I pray that your word and your Holy spirit would be viewed loudest things in this room this morning, Lord, that it would not be anything clever I come up with or any words I have to speak, but it would that be your word? Speaking through me, Lord, I pray that you would prepare our hearts for your spirit this morning in Jesus name. <br /><br /> Amen. Before we really jump into this scripture and kind of just start dissecting it. I want to walk us through some context. Um, I want to take, take a look back at a couple of chapters before. Um, the previous chapters we see David is kind of just overwhelmed with blessings from the Lord chapter seven. <br /><br /> We see God make a covenant with Dave David. We know this covenant would be establishing his kingdom forever. We know this covenant would be that the line that Jesus would come through establishing his kingship forever being fulfilled in Christ chapter eight. We see David recount his many victories over his enemies that God delivered him from. <br /><br /> Then we come to chapter nine and David is just so overwhelmed with gratitude. So overwhelmed with blessings from the Lord that he's, he's actively looking. Who can I show kindness to? He's just so filled that he just wants to find someone that he can bless, find someone he can show kindness to. And he seeks out. <br /><br /> I'm a famous chef. Now, maybe you're wondering who is my favorite chef and why is his name so hard to pronounce? Um, I'm wondering the same thing this morning. Uh, we're going to break down here. Ma fib, uh, chef. Okay. Say it with me here. Ma uh, chef. Okay. So now that you have grace on me, if I say the name wrong, here we go. <br /><br /> Who is the food? The chef. He was a son of Jonathan, right? We know that was David's beloved friend, Jonathan and David had a close friendship. And this is Jonathan son. He was crippled. If we read second Samuel chapter four, if you flip back a couple chapters. Second Samuel chapter four, verse four, it says this Jonathan, the son of Saul had a son who was crippled in his feet. <br /><br /> He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel and his nurse took him, pick him, picked him up and fled. And Ashley fled in her haste. He fell and became lame and his name was muffled. The chef. She also won the award for worst nurse of the year, that year. <br /><br /> Right? So after my fibia, chef heard this news of his not only his father and his grandfather dying, his nurse drops him and he's crippled. He was also Saul's grandson. We know this from this as well. He was the last descendant of Saul who would have the rights to the throne if he was not crippled and knows these, the custom was to kill the previous King's family line. <br /><br /> David does not do this. He also would be considered an enemy of David because he was in the line of solve. Those family ties were at war. At that time, they were on edge with one another. He lived in a place called lo Debar, which literally means no pasture. I don't think that would be a nice place to live in. <br /><br /> We also know he did not own his own house. He lived in the house of Makir, right. He was crashing on someone's couch. And we also know that the fibs Sheth was in hiding verse four. David asks, where is he? The reason David asks, where is he? Because he would actually be in hiding because his family ties made him an enemy to the throne, made him an enemy to King David. <br /><br /> So he was actually hiding from the King. Now I want to walk through the passage with you, right? We know David is overwhelmed with blessings and he's actively looking to show someone kindness. He asked if there's anyone left of the house of Saul. Again, he does not know because the house of David in the house of Saul would be at odds. <br /><br /> David asks where he is because he would be in hiding. And then we come on this visual of Mephibosheth's coming in to the King's presence. We know he's lame in both his feet, likely he was on some kind of crutches or could have been carried in. And he doesn't kneel before the King because he's crippled in both his feet. <br /><br /> No, he, he falls on his face before the King. This was not a normal bowel. This is not a, a normal thing that someone do. He, he falls flat on his face. He's crippled before the King. <br /><br /> I imagine he's just going in behold. I'm your servant. Imagine your enemy to the throne, your enemy, to the King. And now the King is so many new to his presence. I can't imagine what was going through his head. David actually tells him do not afraid. He probably was very afraid for his life. Maybe he thought, this is the moment. <br /><br /> This is where King David will kill me off. Or this is the moment. This is where I'll be imprisoned or, or made to work as a servant for him. But David says, do not be afraid. David says he will show kindness to him, not because of what an amphibious chef had had done or our accomplish, but because of his father, Jonathan David awards him with all the land that belonged to Saul a seat at his table where he'd not just get a seat at the King's table. <br /><br /> He got all the land that was promised. To his grandfather and servants to work that land, this, he was set up for the rest of his life. He no longer had to crash at someone's house. He no longer had to sleep at someone's house. He, he owned his own land now and also his own. And I want to point out this. It says always, he always see the table. <br /><br /> We see it three different times, verse seven. It says this. I will restore to you. The land of saw your father. Shall I eat at my table? Always verse 10. It says it again, but Mephibosheth your master's grandson shout. Always eat at my table and at verse 13 again, so I'm a famous chef, lived in Jerusalem for eight, always. <br /><br /> At the King's table, David promised him a seat. And this becomes very important towards the later in, in second champion where we see in chapter 21, the enemies of saw someone who, who saw persecuted, went to war against. They come to David and they're angry. And they're saying, David, you owe us this. You have to wipe out the line of salt. <br /><br /> You have to kill these people. And that would have included the fibia Sheth. See this in second Samuel chapter 21, verse seven, but the King space, Mephibosheth the son of Saul's son, Jonathan, because of the oath that was between them, between David and Jonathan, the son of Saul, this oath all the way back to when David made an oath to show minus to all of Jonathon's descendants. <br /><br /> This was, it's not a promise that David just Willy nilly just said, Oh, here you go. Yeah, you can eat at my table. No, this was always and forever. You will have a place. This was a unheard of kindness. Back then. We don't even understand what that would look like now. And we see Mephibosheth's kind of respond to that kindness. <br /><br /> He goes in verse eight, he says this, what is your servant that you should show regard for a dead dog? Such as I, we see a similar response to a King in the new Testament with John, the Baptist, Matthew three, verse 11. He says this, but after me comes one who is more powerful than I, who sandals, I am not worthy to carry. <br /><br /> We know John, the Baptist, he was preparing the way for Jesus to come. He was, he was baptizing people preaching a message of repentance. The Lord is to come soon. And as he talks about Jesus, he says, there's someone coming who sandals? I am not even worry worthy to carry. This is how the Fibber chef felt completely and utterly unworthy before King David. <br /><br /> I don't deserve this. He falls on his safe. I am a dead dog before you. I am better off dead. And yet you're showing me this kindness. This minus David shows us declaring Mephibosheth's as one of his own to have a seat at the King's table would be so exclusive that it would be for his, his family or his highest ranking officials. <br /><br /> This was a huge honor to be invited to the King's table. He was provided the best meals, the best food, the best service verse 11 says. And yet David calls him his son and sits him at his table. He regarded him as one of his own. Someone who was supposed to be an enemy to his throne. Someone who could have been a threat to his kingship, he calls his own. <br /><br /> He calls him his son. We see Jesus give a similar promise to his disciples. After they are arguing amongst themselves, Luke 22 verse 28 says this, you are those who have stayed with me in my trials. And I assigned you as my father assigned me a kingdom that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom. <br /><br /> And sit on the Thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel. Jesus liked David has called his followers to have a seat at his table. He offered him this, this table, that that was that he was supposed to be dead. Right. He was in hiding yet. David went after him. He pursued him, show him the kindness, overwhelmed with blessings. <br /><br /> Now, if you're sitting here this morning and you're like, this is all awesome story, Jared. I just don't really know why you're telling it why. Right? So what, why are we studying this? Why are we reading this this morning? Well, I think there's three lessons we can learn from this passage. I think the first one is we need to learn from David's kindness. <br /><br /> David had reached out to the poor, uh, needy, let his pride get in his way. We know the former King of Israel was a guy named Saul, right? The best man for the job. He was tall and he was handsome and he was prideful and he let his pride get in the way. But David, we see doesn't let his pride get in the way David truly extended love. <br /><br /> He even loved his enemies. Love someone that could have been a threat to him. David extended the kindness he had received from the Lord. To everyone around him. This is right after David had many victories and future blessings from the Lord. I want to put this in perspective cause Mafibisha, wasn't just right. <br /><br /> Uh, enemy to David. He was also crippled back then him being crippled, him being lame in his feet practically made him useless, right? He wasn't able to provide for him or his family. He wasn't able to work. He was looked down upon in society, but David extends his love to him, extends kindness and grace to him. <br /><br /> This is what we're called to do as Christians, right? This is our call of kindness. This is our call of love to be so filled up with blessings and grace and love from the Lord to just anyone we've run into it would be an overflow, right. And a spill over on them. This is our call as Christians to show kindness, not just to the people who are kind to us or our coworkers who are easy to deal with, but the ones who curse us, the ones who are, do everything they can to go against us. <br /><br /> The driver on two 95, who cuts you off <br /><br /> our job as Christians to show that kindness. Secondly, Mafibisha was a beneficiary of his father. Jonathan a Google describes a beneficiary as a person who derives the advantage from something especially a trust will or life insurance policy, many of you know what this means, right. But if you don't, it would be, if you are a child, right. <br /><br /> And your parents put in their will, that you inherit the right to their house. Right? And if your parents end up dying, that you would inherit that, that you would inherit that, that will, that trust that you would gain advantage to that. Right? This is what Jonathan was to his son. It wasn't, that Mitsubishi fit anything special. <br /><br /> It wasn't that he was a good warrior or, or really wise or intelligent. No, he gained advantage of something because of his father. Jesus is our benefactor and we received his life insurance policy of eternal life because of what Jesus has done for us. We can now enter into his fellowship with God, because Jesus represents us just like Jonathan represent his son. <br /><br /> Mephibosheth. It is not about what we make or how good we look or what we can accomplish for the Lord. No, the Lord looks at us and he sees our representation are represented or Jesus Christ. <br /><br /> Thirdly, David bringing the fibia chef to his table. It was a beautiful representation of God's grace to us. We are just like the phobia chef, dead dogs that are deserving of death. We were stuck in our ways. We, we were, some of us were in hiding. Some of us are still in hiding. We associate ourselves with past sins, past handicaps, past crippled. <br /><br /> We, we feel like we can't get over these things. We were not so clean when Jesus came to us. <br /><br /> Right. And I, I want to challenge a thought process. This morning that I think a lot of us have. Um, cause I know I get caught in it and I know, I know have it, but, but God is not waiting for you to get your act together. God is not waiting for you to clean yourself up that he can extend his loving grace to you. <br /><br /> He's not waiting for you to stop sinning or to be smarter or a better person or a better Christian or more attractive or more useful to him. He's not waiting for that. He's waiting for you to go like Mephibosheth's falling on your face and say, God, I'm here a dead dog before you behold, here's your servant. <br /><br /> God, I know I'm crippled and capable, but you are all I need. You are enough for me. We no longer have to be in hiding. We can sit at his table. You can be called. His son or his daughter, <br /><br /> we try to understand what God's love is, and we can't help, but associate what we do as Christians or what we do as humans. Right? In order to be loved, we have to try to earn something. We have to try to earn someone's respect or trust or acceptance. So we try to do some things and we carry this over to our relationship with God. <br /><br /> I often find myself talking to myself in my head and saying, God, I'll come out. I'll come back out of hiding. I'll come to you. But I got to get a good weekend. Me first, I got to, I got to start following your commands again. Before I come forward, I have to start being more obedient to you before I can come before you. <br /><br /> But this isn't it. That's not how God works. That's not how his grace works. He's actively waiting for you to call on his name. He's not waiting for you to stop being disobedient. He's not waiting for you to get your act together. He's waiting for you to call on his name coming before him broken sinful disobedient, lonely, depressed, worried, afraid, scared, feeling hopeless. <br /><br /> We know this is a promise. Romans 10 13 says this for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Doesn't say everyone who calls on the name of the Lord that reads their Bible every day will be saved. No it's for those for desiring, for the Lord coming before him broken, empty and ashamed. <br /><br /> God wants us all. God wants a saw. We're going to close, um, with the time of song and I want to invite the worship team up. Um, and they're gonna, they're gonna sing a song for us in, but I just want to kind of introduce it. It's a song called carriage to the table. Um, it is, uh, by the band Leland. Um, and I just wanna read the lyrics to this song because this song was actually written, um, from the story of my fibia chef. <br /><br /> And I just want to read the lyrics to you this morning, wounded and forsaken. I was shattered by the fall, broken and forgotten, feeling lost and all alone, summoned by the King and to the masters courts lifted by the savior and cradled in his arms. I was carried to the table seated where I don't belong, carried to the table, swept away by his love. <br /><br /> And I don't see my brokenness anymore when I'm seated at the table of the Lord. I'm carried to the table, the table of the Lord fighting thoughts of fear and wondering why he called my name. Am I good enough to share this cup? This world has left me lame, even in my weakness, the savior called my name in his Holy presence. <br /><br /> &amp;nbsp;</div> false no <![CDATA[Blessed are the Persecuted]]> Matthew 5:12

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.



We're on everybody. Invite you to take your Bibles again to Matthew chapter five.  Um, we're going to be looking at the last of the beatitudes this morning, but I'm going to read down through the list again. One more time. Uh, Matthew chapter five, we're going to begin at verse one down through verse 12, seeing the crowds.

He went up on the mountain and when he sat down, his disciples came to him and he opened his mouth and taught them saying blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shell. See God blessed are the peacemakers for, they shall be called sons of God and blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you, falsely on my account, rejoice, and be glad for your reward is great in heaven for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you let's pray.

Lord, I thank you again this morning for the picture of what it means to walk with Jesus in this passage, living as citizens of the upside down life. Lord, as we reflect on this last one, the one you gave the most commentary on, I pray you, it, you would teach us, teach us what it doesn't mean, teach us what it does mean and draw us deeper in our love and desire to walk with you because of it.

And Jesus' name. Amen week, I was driving down Hainesport road, which is the road right out front of our property. And I was heading East and I was, I was driving down East. I saw an interesting guy who was running. He had dark hair. He had a dark beard, dark mustache, and a trim guy. He was running and as he was running, um, he was, he had an unusual outfit on.

I noticed that he had a leopard skin top and a leopard skin pair of shorts. They were like one unit. He had a. Uh, apparently a wig that was about halfway down his back and it was pink. I'm getting a little bit of, I'm hearing something in back of me. It's like somebody is talking if somebody back there talking and no, I think, I think there may be feedback from one of the speakers.

I don't know, but everybody else hears it. So anyway, this guy's running and he's got pink hair and he has a long frilly wrap, like an eight foot wrap that's around his neck and he's got it. It goes around his arm. So he's holding onto it and he's running and he's, and he's a runner. I mean, he's, he looks like a runner and he's running and I'm just miserable and watching.

And I notice every car that goes by he waves to, or, and he does it. It's not really like a. Uh, smiling saying, hello, it's almost like a dutiful wave. Well, I drove down and I'm thinking about this guy and about 15 minutes later, I'd finished where I w where I went up the road four and I came in and he was still running.

He actually, actually, he had had a, how do I say this? He had gone up and now he was running my way. So now I'm running with him and riding with him. And it was, it was at least he probably had been running. It was probably a half an hour. So he's really running. And again, every car that goes by, he's just doing one of these two.

He hears you. He's not really looking at, it's like a dutiful wave. So of course. I'm alone in the car and I'm trying to figure out what is this guy doing? I mean, he's got this long frilly yellow wrap. He's got, he's got leopard skin outfit on, he's got a black beard, but he's got long pink hair. What is his statement?

Is he make wise doing this? So I came up with a variety of theories. The first theory was that, uh, he was advertising something and I thought, I don't see any, I don't know what he's advertising. The, the, the second thing I thought he was making some statement about, bout his sexuality. I wasn't sure what that was, but, but maybe that was something, another thought I thought.

And I don't think this is true because it was a good run about maybe he's on drugs, but this is the, the, the, the thought I came up with most. It's my favorite one. I wonder if the guy lost a bet. And the bad was you have to run and down the road in this outfit and you have to wave at every car that came by.

So that's the one I've landed on. If you're here today, if you could tell me, I'd really be grateful. I want you to know you got my up attention.

He got me thinking about now. He was obviously doing this for a reason and he got me thinking about it when we come to the eighth beatitude Jesus does stuff to get us thinking about this. Beatitude more exceptionally than any of the other beatitudes. It's the only beatitude he gives a commentary on it's as if he is saying, look, I, this one in particular, there's, there's stuff about it that you're going to need to really process.

And I wanna, I wanna, I want you to think about it with me. Couple of things. We, we notice it's the only one that Jesus gives a commentary on that's verse 11 and 12. It's the only one he changes from peak speaking generally, where he says blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

In this one, he goes to the first person. He says, bless it. Are you it's as if he wants to come, come alongside and say, Hey, I want you to really understand this. I want you to think about this. I want you to, to, to, to reflect on what this is about. I think there's a couple of weeks reasons why that may have been true, why he gives us extraordinary emphasis on this particular.

Beatitude. One of those I think is because this one is really the fruit of all the others, all the other beatitudes. He says, if you are poor in spirit, if you are, if you hunger and thirst for righteousness, if you're meek, if you're merciful, if you're a peace maker, then this is what you can expect. Number eight.

Okay. Another reason I think he's talking about this exceptionally is because this one is done to you by others. You mourn, you are poor in spirit. You are merciful. You are to be in peacemaker, but you are the recipient of persecution. And the third thing. I think because persecution feels really bad and can be very confusing.

So I'd like to just try to unpack this a little bit this morning and try to understand what is Jesus saying here and simple three point outline reality of persecution. If you belong to Jesus kingdom, those who are persecuted it's as inferred it's expect the word persecute is literally the word to pursue or to hunt down.

It's often used in the new Testament, translated by persecution, but also in those other ways, a definition of persecution. And this is a broad definition is the act of practice of pursuing others with malicious intent on the basis of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or beliefs that differ from those of the persecutor.

I intentionally take the broadest sense of the definition to highlight that it isn't just Christians that are persecuted Jews have been persecuted for centuries all over the world. Gays are persecuted now in our culture, minorities in any culture will tend to be persecuted in any culture at any time anyone's singled out and penalized for being different tends to be persecuted.

Police officers tend to be persecuted today, lumped in with everyone out there. There is just a sense of which many, many people can be persecuted. Now, the reason I'm saying that is to say Christians don't have a monopoly on being persecuted, but Christians do have a monopoly on the reason they are persecuted.

And that's what Jesus highlights here. Jesus is saying, if you are a member of my kingdom, you will be persecuted with malicious and pursued with malicious intent. It's connection to be attitude. One is striking. If you notice the attitude one, he says this back in verse three, blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

He comes down to the last one. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. The same statement. I mentioned this when I did the first sermon on the poor in spirit, that this is a, a. An exegetical methodology of what's called inclusion. In other words, you say something about the first one, and you say the same thing about the last one, and it's a way of saying, and it's true of all the rest that basically this is a package and he is saying those that are a part of my kingdom are those that have these qualities of life.

They will experience these things. And just as they have poverty of spirit and, and sense the desperateness of their need for Christ, they will just as surely be marked by the fact that they will be pursued with malicious intent because of righteousness. Second, Timothy chapter three verse 12 says, Paul says it this way.

In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ, Jesus will be persecuted. Now this persecution comes in different forms to some of the boys that were listening to the first presentation of this. Sermon of Jesus. This sermon on the Mount, the 12 apostles. This is how fairly a reputable church tradition and history has summarized their lives.

Their ending James, the brother of John was beheaded. Phillip was whipped thrown into prison, and then crucified. Matthew was slain with the sword. James, the less, the other James in the apostles was stoned to death Mathias who became the apostle that replaced Judas was stoned. And then beheaded, Andrew was crucified and then left hanging on the cross for three days.

Peter was crucified upside down at his own request because he didn't feel worthy to be crucified in the same way. Jesus was Jude or also called Thaddeus was crucified Bartholomew also called Nathaniel was beaten with clubs and then crucified. Thomas was speared to death. Simon, the zealot was crucified, John.

Was the only one that wasn't martyred and he was exiled to the Island of Patmos, where he died as a prisoner, many believers in the world today are facing persecution in the extreme form, death incarceration, torture. Now, if you're not a believer in Jesus Christ this morning and you're listening online or you're listening in the room, I know what you're thinking.

You're thinking, sign me up. I mean, that is the most compelling challenge to become a Christian th th the most effective, um, recruitment speech I've ever heard. Well, of course it's not. And happily, most of us will not experience the extremity of persecution as many brothers and sisters around the world will, but.

X there will be persecution. Persecution can come in the signed form of disdain, mockery, history, hostility, rejection, accusation, slander, and verse 11 lists. Some of those. Here's what it says in verse 11 of our text. When others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you, falsely on my account, a number of you face sarcasm or painful separation from a spouse or family member that does not appreciate your faith.

Some of you have a promotion at work that seems elusive because of your principles as a follower of Jesus, some of you may feel mockery for the seriousness of your faith. The practice of your convictions are refusing to go along with the crowd. And here's my question. Why? I mean, Jesus is a really nice guy, right?

I mean, who doesn't like Jesus. There was a big survey done a number of years ago. And they said, what's the one word this has done of secular people of everybody. What's the one word that describes Jesus. And the most commonly expressed word was gentle. I mean, who persecutes a gentle person? I mean, why, why persecute Christians?

I mean, I mean, we have principles of honesty and integrity and, and be kind and love your neighbor, man, who wants to persecute those people? Well, somebody does, because Jesus says that all who pursue righteousness who want to live godly in Christ, Jesus will face persecution. So my second question is this why, the reasons for persecution, if you belong to Jesus kingdom and he says it.

You are persecuted for righteousness. But before I get to that, I want to talk about bogus reasons for being persecuted. Now, this is kind of where I think I'm going to step into it, but there are things we bring on ourselves, right? And I think this is important to just remind ourselves of, because this whole persecution thing, you know, they call it the old persecution complex.

Well, that's certainly, uh, inherent in the Christian circles as well. It's very possible to feel we're being persecuted because we are a Jesus follower when we are getting what is normal human reaction to ignorant or unpleasant human behavior. It is not saying, bless it are they, which are persecuted because they're obnoxious or arrogant or mocking of others.

You may be suffering ostracism people avoiding you, talking about you, but it's not your Christ likeness. That is, they are reacting to. It's just your way of responding to people who believe and live differently than you do. And I think that's important. I would, I would go this far. It is also not saying bless it or those who are persecuted because they're trying to make people follow their standards.

Now, this one, I want you to process with me in the early church and in the, uh, season of the Roman empire, when the church was, was exploding and people were coming to Jesus, there was an accusation that was made of believers. And they were often ostracized. It was one of the things that Roman governors or tribunals would, would, would list.

And it was the word they are. Midler's I'm going to read a passage for you where that word is used and how Paul talks about it. And it was basically that they were trying to make everyone else behave. Like Christians think like Christians act like Christians and Paul, even in passages said, be careful because there are there, there are people that have a form of godliness, you know, they have the verbiage, but they deny its power.

And he says, we, Christians can, can expect people without the spirit to produce what it can only be produced by the spirit. Let me read you a passage that Paul wrote, excuse me, Peter wrote and Peter, the gospel of first Peter, the epistle first, Peter is the primary new Testament book on suffering. By the way, he talks more about suffering persecution and ostracism for our faith than anything else.

And he says this beloved do not be surprised at the fiery trial. When it comes upon you to test you as though something strange were happening to you, but rejoice in so far as you share, Christ's sufferings that you also may rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you're blessed because the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you, but not let let none of you suffer as a murder or a thief or an evildoer or a Mettler.

It's the very work you had. If anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glory in that name. What he's saying is. That if you're suffering as a murderer, if you're suffering, don't, don't say that being persecuted, but he also says be careful of this thing that they're accusing us of, which is meddling.

So what does this actually mean? Welfare? Who is one of the preeminent, uh, lexicographers, who, who actually, uh, dealt with the Greek language everybody looks to in seminaries. Here's what he says about the term. The word Medlar here in first, Peter four, Peter seems to refer to those who with Holy, but in temperate zeal metal, with the affairs of the Gentiles, whether public or private, civil, or sacred in order to make them conform to the Christian standard.

In other words, trying to make your cubicle mate at work act with your convictions, Vogel, like you view their moral choices. Like you screen their music, their movies, their entertainment, like you. They will consider you a Medler. If we are known for our politics or our social convictions, more than our love for Christ, more than our love for people, then we have moved into, they just view us as the Mendler.

Jesus is saying here, that's not what I'm talking about. When you are persecuted, you're persecuted

for righteousness. So what does that mean? Well, that's what I want to look at together.

And Peter is saying here, if you're suffering for yielding to Jesus, Lord, he says don't be ashamed. But if you're suffering for being a Medler telling everyone else how to live their lives, acting like they're perverted and less than because they disagree with you. You may be persecuted. But it's unlikely.

It's for Jesus. All right. That's where I stepped into it. I'm trying to step out now. Bless had reasons for being persecuted righteousness. What's he saying here? If you have your Bible, look at first Peter chapter, excuse me, Matthew chapter five. Again, if you look at Matthew chapter five, you'll notice he says this in verse nine, verse 10.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake or for righteousness, depends on which we're seeing the same. Then you jump down to verse 11 and he says, this blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account, he says, there's two reasons you can be persecuted one.

He says for righteousness, literally the word. That that goes before righteousness is the word on account of righteousness. Okay. Then he comes to verse 11 and he says, another reason you can be persecuted is on my account. And literally it is word is exactly the same phrase that he see. He says, you can be persecuted for the sake of, or on account of righteousness.

You can be persecuted in verse 11 for the sake of, or on account of me. So what Jesus is saying is what causes us to be persecuted. He says pursuing righteousness, pursuing me. When we talked to earlier about one of the beatitudes, it was, we are marked and we value in Jesus' kingdom, hungering and thirsting for.

Righteousness. I mentioned there that most of all, this is saying that the thing that, that is the passion of our lives, what, what we, what we hunger for, what we thirst for, what we can't live without is Jesus himself, and then living for his glory. That's what he's talking about. He's saying if Jesus is your heartthrob, if he is what you long for and what you, what you love, if it is desiring to please see him as an expression of your love, he says, you will, you will be persecuted if Jesus is first.

Now, does that mean when I, what I said earlier that we're, we're not meddling, does it mean we don't live out our convictions? Absolutely not. We do live out our convictions. We gently, but faithfully stand with those things that are priorities to us. We just don't ask non-Christians to be those that have the spirit when they don't have the spirit.

But certainly we walk with the passion and Jesus says, if I am your passion, if I'm what you hunger for, if I'm what lights, the fire of your life and doing what I want you to do, if you're crazy about me, more than anything else you will find. Okay. Persecution. Now again, I come back to my question. Why? I mean, people like Jesus, most of all, pretty much, um, people, Christian principles, pretty much.

Why does he say if you love Jesus, most, if you love doing Jesus will most, you will suffer persecution.

Because Jesus has an enemy. And he's your enemy because you identify with him and the enemy is not usually going to be person at work that is mocking about your faith. The ultimate enemy is the enemy. It is the one that insights and, and, and why there's so many times when people react to us negatively.

And I'll show us this later on in a couple of practical thoughts where people are, are mistreating and, and, and yes, we can say, well, it's, it's because I love Jesus, but honestly, that's not their motivation. Their motivation is just they're ticked off because of, of it's inconveniencing them somehow.

They're not ultimately the enemy, but there is an insider. That's why, as we'll see, persecution can come from even God's children. Persecution can come from people that are not against us personally, but there can be an incitement to that. They might even feel they're doing God's work. The Pharisee certainly will persecution will come in the most unexpected places.

Sometimes workmates, sometimes classmates, sometimes teachers, sometimes family members, sometimes friends, sometimes other believers, they might feel they're doing God's work. The Pharisee certainly felt that way. Taking the moral high road, I feel you're being too rigid in your convictions. They may feel you're being a compromiser or too.

Open-minded what you have to know is where Jesus is leading you and you have to stay with him. And you have to have the courage to believe this is what God's called me to do. This is my convictions. These are my, my personal beliefs that I'm holding onto. I won't compromise. And on account of those, there will be opposition, but we need to realize who the real enemy is when we're persecuted.

There's no question. I'll say it this way. I have persecuted people that are believers. I don't think I did it intentionally, but looking back, I realized my way, my expectations, my response, that they felt the weight and the heart, and we've all been used to make life harder. Even for other people. We love the ultimate enemy is the enemy.

So, how do we respond to persecution? If we belong to Jesus well, wrong ways and been, just touch on these. We don't retaliate Romans 12, 17 says it this way. Repay no one evil for evil, Matthew 10 verse 16. How are we to behave before the world? Jesus tells you, I'm sending you out a sheep in the midst of wolves.

So be wise and serpents as serpents and innocent as doves, we have to be very careful as believers that we don't have a bunch of triggers. It's really easy. We're in a trigger day, right? We're in we're in a day where, where people have short fuses to mix my metaphors, that it's possible. It's easy to have triggers that cause us to respond with anger, angry that Christians are the people always getting taken advantage of.

That our freedoms are taken away. Our rights are not honored. And so we blast the cyber world with our perceived injustices, but we will likely more sound more like the wolfs than the doves and the sheep that Jesus says he is sending us to be that we don't retaliate that we're not angry. People that we don't speak in retaliatory verbiage.

We don't respond with resentment. Bitter makes bitterness makes everybody scary people. I mean, there's no such thing as somebody that's consumed with bitterness, that is a welcoming person. You just sense it. It's, it's an aura that we all have when we're carrying betterness within us. It repels people.

Learning to forgive is so much the principle of Jesus. As we talked about, when we talked about what it means that, that in his upside down world, his people are meek. They don't fight for perceived rights. They, they yield, they forgive, they the model, the, the truly remarkably supernatural quality of forgiving people, the wrong them.

So how do we respond when we are persecuted number one, he tells us in this passage, rejoice in your identity. He says it this way, rejoice, and be glad from the same way they persecuted the prophets before you, if you're pursuing righteousness in Jesus and feeling the fiery rejection of hostility of others, he says rejoice, because it identifies you with the best of God's people.

The profits here are held as, as the examples of those courageous men and women of, of old Testament times, he said, you're, you're sharing in their life in their experience. It's why the disciples, when they were persecuted, it says they rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer for his sake. Why did they rejoice while back Marianne, um, threw a party for me and Marion's not a, a big group person.

I like things like last night with the painters and the celebration. Um, this wasn't that big a party, but we, she threw a party for me unexpectedly and meant a lot to me. And I knew what had been going on in her life and all that she was working through. And I knew the cost. It was to her. And I, I talked to her about it afterwards and I said, you know, it meant so much to me.

And you did, you must, must've done so much. And it turned out there was more than I knew that she had sacrificed to do it. But I remember what she said to me. She said, this, you're sorry, you're worth it.

What a lovely thing. As God's kids, to be able to experience things, because we belong to him that are hard and say you're worth it. I mean, it's worth it to me to not be understood, to be slandered to me, to mirror whatever it is that you experience in your life for, for, to, to be ostracized. He says if, if it is because this is coming to some degree, simply because I belong to you and then.

You're worth it. That's what the prophet said. And he says, you're like one of the prophets, you're one of my people that say he's worth it to lose a promotion. If it costs that for following Christ, you're worth it to be misunderstood and misrepresented he's worth it. And he says, you, you joined with all my people that have made that statement.

Jesus you're worth it. You're worth it to me. He says another thing. He says, rejoice in that. And the disciples said, Christ, we rejoice that were counted worthy to suffer for you to identify with you. Why? Because those guys 11 of whom died as martyrs. One who lived alone on an Island. To his death. They all felt Jesus was absolutely worth it.

He says also rejoice for a second reason in this passage, he says, rejoice in your reward. Great. Is your reward in heaven? Verse 12? I don't think any of us really know what the reward is. I don't think he's talking about stuff that you're going to get a bigger house. You're going to get a cooler mansion.

Uh, I, I don't think that's what he's talking about. One thing I know he's talking about is he talks about statements that, that Jesus is going to make well done. Good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of the Lord. There's going to be some sense of joy of the reward, looking back and saying I'm so glad.

I didn't take the easy way. I'm so glad that I did believe Jesus was worth it. And yeah. And then I did experiencing things because I wanted Christ most of all, that, that sense of pleasure. And I don't think heaven's going to be a place of horrible shame or anything like that. But I do think this is real, that there is going to be that sense where we're going to have a moment of reckoning and remembering and thinking, man, I'm so glad I, I didn't bag it.

I didn't weasel out. I stood with Jesus and I sensed the pleasure of one who he identifies as a guy who said, Jesus, you, you are worth it. You're worth it. He says, remember the source. This is the third thing to remember in persecution. I mentioned this briefly, Ephesians six verse 12 says the fiery arrows of Satan come against us.

I mean, real they're scary. Many times the persecutor is not your enemy. He or she may be at that moment, a tool of the enemy, and it can be anybody often. They are attacking you because they perceive you're doing them harm illustration recently. And, uh, it was a story from Franklin Graham. Uh, it actually was, well, I'll read you what happened.

Here's what happened. Sam dogger had been a maitre D at the world, famous Phoenicia hotel in Beirut before Lebanon's terrible civil war just before the war broke out. He left the hotel to plant a small church in one of the poorest areas of the city. When he approached the hotel manager to inform him that he was resigning, the following dialogue occurred.

God has called me to preach Sam till the manager I'm leaving the hotel. You're full. You're crazy a man in your position, making good money and you quit. I leave for something more important than money. I'm going to preach the name of Jesus. You're going to give up this good position to preach for some God, you must be crazy.

No, I'll tell you the right thing to do. You stay here and make money. I need you. He responded. I can't stay any longer. I've prayed about this and this is what I must do. Then the hotel manager grew angry and shouted. I curse you one day. You will come to the threshold of my door and you will beg for a crust of bread.

And I won't give it to you. I will let you starve. You hear my words, not a crust. Now in, in Franklin, Graham's sequel to this story, he talks about how after the Beirut, uh, all that went on in Lebanon, this a guy actually showed up at Sam's door. Begging for food, but I want to, this is the part of the story I want to highlight.

I don't think that hotel manager hated Jesus. I don't think he even hated Sam. I think he felt I need you. I know you mean you're gonna, you're gonna leave me here high and dry. You're going to go off and do something else. I need you here. Do you know how hard this is to run this stinking hotel? And you're one of my key people and you're, you're a productive worker and you're now going to go.

I think if he had said that he was going to go and go to a rival restaurant, or if he had said he was going to go, he always wanted to be a carpenter and he was going to give it a run and be a carpenter. I think the guy would have responded exactly the same way. Why? Because Sam was inconveniencing him.

Here's what I'm saying. There's a lot of times people are not responding to us because they hate Christ. And they're, they're, anti-God, they're just responding because your Christian faith makes them uncomfortable. The decisions you make, make work harder for them. And just practical things. I'm saying all this to say this, they're not usually the enemy.

They're not your enemy. They're not God's enemy. And, and, and now they're being used that way. But I find it when I have been in a position where I feel I'm a recipient of something it's really important for me to remember. I need to not look at this situation that this is my enemy. This is a victim of the enemy.

Now, still some really hard things, right? Some things people do very personally, some things people hurt you with. But if you really got it in their lives, you'd find out like the home, tell the manager, this guys, he's dying to keep this hotel running. He's ticked because you're making his life so much more complicated.

Now that's not what the devil has in mind. The devil wants to keep Sam from starting this church. The devil wants to the devil's against him, but the hotel manager, you know, it would be easy as a Christian walk away and say that hotel manager, he is just dirt. He hates God. He hates me because I'm a Christian.

Now. He just was frustrated. Now he had more work on his plate. Now, again, was this guy persecuted? Absolutely. But I don't know. Tell him manager was the primary persecutor. It was the enemy. And I think it helps us to remember. That our persecutors are not in most cases, our enemy and nor are they intentionally.

Sometimes they are intentionally gods. I think this is true. I've known many families have had young families that have felt called to go to the mission field and grandparents who are not believers or even some that are believers are very upset, very frustrated, very Y. And it feels like they're against the call of God and, and they're against, uh, serving Jesus.

And, and they're just, they're just against doing life with their only grandkids. It's, it's, it's just remembering the enemy is not the people usually, but there is an enemy. And persecution will feel how it feels, but it does affect how we respond to the people which leads to two quick, other things, restrain your response.

Romans 12 verse 19 says it this way. Beloved never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God for it is written. Vengeance is mine. I will repay says the Lord when you're persecuted, when you're harassed, when people treat, you mean, you need to believe that God is big enough to care for it in his own way.

He says, leave room for God's mad wrath. Well, we want to move in and fill the space. We'll take care of it. We'll retaliate. We'll we'll declare the injustice, no leave room for it. We need to have the faith in God that we don't have to avenge ourselves. We can trust him to protect us. We can trust him to make right.

What's been wrong. And then the last thing which that ties into. Rest in God, Psalm 37, verse seven, be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him. Fret, not yourself. Over the one who prospers in his way over the man who carries out evil devices.

God is enough. And if he's allowing you right now to be suffering, to be pursued, to feel ostracism, to feel loss, he says, man delight in the fact that this has always been true. My children, that there's an enemy that is he, he knows that the greatest way to hurt the father is by hurting his kids. So he attacks you.

He says glory in that say, Lord, you're worth it. And I'm resting in you. I'm trusting in you. I'm leaning into you now to give me the strength and the grace to respond with gentleness. Returning good for evil to the glory of God, Lord, you know where everybody in this room and online is this morning, you know exactly where application needs to take place.

I pray you would do that father in Jesus name. Amen. Now go in peace to love and serve and enjoy the Lord.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/blessed-are-the-persecuted 463d732e-a24e-4557-a99f-a240dc6c46e3 Sun, 25 Apr 2021 14:32:48 GMT <div data-html="true">Matthew 5:12 <br /><br /> Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> We're on everybody. Invite you to take your Bibles again to Matthew chapter five.  Um, we're going to be looking at the last of the beatitudes this morning, but I'm going to read down through the list again. One more time. Uh, Matthew chapter five, we're going to begin at verse one down through verse 12, seeing the crowds. <br /><br /> He went up on the mountain and when he sat down, his disciples came to him and he opened his mouth and taught them saying blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth. <br /><br /> Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shell. See God blessed are the peacemakers for, they shall be called sons of God and blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. <br /><br /> Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you, falsely on my account, rejoice, and be glad for your reward is great in heaven for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you let's pray. <br /><br /> Lord, I thank you again this morning for the picture of what it means to walk with Jesus in this passage, living as citizens of the upside down life. Lord, as we reflect on this last one, the one you gave the most commentary on, I pray you, it, you would teach us, teach us what it doesn't mean, teach us what it does mean and draw us deeper in our love and desire to walk with you because of it. <br /><br /> And Jesus' name. Amen week, I was driving down Hainesport road, which is the road right out front of our property. And I was heading East and I was, I was driving down East. I saw an interesting guy who was running. He had dark hair. He had a dark beard, dark mustache, and a trim guy. He was running and as he was running, um, he was, he had an unusual outfit on. <br /><br /> I noticed that he had a leopard skin top and a leopard skin pair of shorts. They were like one unit. He had a. Uh, apparently a wig that was about halfway down his back and it was pink. I'm getting a little bit of, I'm hearing something in back of me. It's like somebody is talking if somebody back there talking and no, I think, I think there may be feedback from one of the speakers. <br /><br /> I don't know, but everybody else hears it. So anyway, this guy's running and he's got pink hair and he has a long frilly wrap, like an eight foot wrap that's around his neck and he's got it. It goes around his arm. So he's holding onto it and he's running and he's, and he's a runner. I mean, he's, he looks like a runner and he's running and I'm just miserable and watching. <br /><br /> And I notice every car that goes by he waves to, or, and he does it. It's not really like a. Uh, smiling saying, hello, it's almost like a dutiful wave. Well, I drove down and I'm thinking about this guy and about 15 minutes later, I'd finished where I w where I went up the road four and I came in and he was still running. <br /><br /> He actually, actually, he had had a, how do I say this? He had gone up and now he was running my way. So now I'm running with him and riding with him. And it was, it was at least he probably had been running. It was probably a half an hour. So he's really running. And again, every car that goes by, he's just doing one of these two. <br /><br /> He hears you. He's not really looking at, it's like a dutiful wave. So of course. I'm alone in the car and I'm trying to figure out what is this guy doing? I mean, he's got this long frilly yellow wrap. He's got, he's got leopard skin outfit on, he's got a black beard, but he's got long pink hair. What is his statement? <br /><br /> Is he make wise doing this? So I came up with a variety of theories. The first theory was that, uh, he was advertising something and I thought, I don't see any, I don't know what he's advertising. The, the, the second thing I thought he was making some statement about, bout his sexuality. I wasn't sure what that was, but, but maybe that was something, another thought I thought. <br /><br /> And I don't think this is true because it was a good run about maybe he's on drugs, but this is the, the, the, the thought I came up with most. It's my favorite one. I wonder if the guy lost a bet. And the bad was you have to run and down the road in this outfit and you have to wave at every car that came by. <br /><br /> So that's the one I've landed on. If you're here today, if you could tell me, I'd really be grateful. I want you to know you got my up attention. <br /><br /> He got me thinking about now. He was obviously doing this for a reason and he got me thinking about it when we come to the eighth beatitude Jesus does stuff to get us thinking about this. Beatitude more exceptionally than any of the other beatitudes. It's the only beatitude he gives a commentary on it's as if he is saying, look, I, this one in particular, there's, there's stuff about it that you're going to need to really process. <br /><br /> And I wanna, I wanna, I want you to think about it with me. Couple of things. We, we notice it's the only one that Jesus gives a commentary on that's verse 11 and 12. It's the only one he changes from peak speaking generally, where he says blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. <br /><br /> In this one, he goes to the first person. He says, bless it. Are you it's as if he wants to come, come alongside and say, Hey, I want you to really understand this. I want you to think about this. I want you to, to, to, to reflect on what this is about. I think there's a couple of weeks reasons why that may have been true, why he gives us extraordinary emphasis on this particular. <br /><br /> Beatitude. One of those I think is because this one is really the fruit of all the others, all the other beatitudes. He says, if you are poor in spirit, if you are, if you hunger and thirst for righteousness, if you're meek, if you're merciful, if you're a peace maker, then this is what you can expect. Number eight. <br /><br /> Okay. Another reason I think he's talking about this exceptionally is because this one is done to you by others. You mourn, you are poor in spirit. You are merciful. You are to be in peacemaker, but you are the recipient of persecution. And the third thing. I think because persecution feels really bad and can be very confusing. <br /><br /> So I'd like to just try to unpack this a little bit this morning and try to understand what is Jesus saying here and simple three point outline reality of persecution. If you belong to Jesus kingdom, those who are persecuted it's as inferred it's expect the word persecute is literally the word to pursue or to hunt down. <br /><br /> It's often used in the new Testament, translated by persecution, but also in those other ways, a definition of persecution. And this is a broad definition is the act of practice of pursuing others with malicious intent on the basis of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or beliefs that differ from those of the persecutor. <br /><br /> I intentionally take the broadest sense of the definition to highlight that it isn't just Christians that are persecuted Jews have been persecuted for centuries all over the world. Gays are persecuted now in our culture, minorities in any culture will tend to be persecuted in any culture at any time anyone's singled out and penalized for being different tends to be persecuted. <br /><br /> Police officers tend to be persecuted today, lumped in with everyone out there. There is just a sense of which many, many people can be persecuted. Now, the reason I'm saying that is to say Christians don't have a monopoly on being persecuted, but Christians do have a monopoly on the reason they are persecuted. <br /><br /> And that's what Jesus highlights here. Jesus is saying, if you are a member of my kingdom, you will be persecuted with malicious and pursued with malicious intent. It's connection to be attitude. One is striking. If you notice the attitude one, he says this back in verse three, blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. <br /><br /> He comes down to the last one. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. The same statement. I mentioned this when I did the first sermon on the poor in spirit, that this is a, a. An exegetical methodology of what's called inclusion. In other words, you say something about the first one, and you say the same thing about the last one, and it's a way of saying, and it's true of all the rest that basically this is a package and he is saying those that are a part of my kingdom are those that have these qualities of life. <br /><br /> They will experience these things. And just as they have poverty of spirit and, and sense the desperateness of their need for Christ, they will just as surely be marked by the fact that they will be pursued with malicious intent because of righteousness. Second, Timothy chapter three verse 12 says, Paul says it this way. <br /><br /> In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ, Jesus will be persecuted. Now this persecution comes in different forms to some of the boys that were listening to the first presentation of this. Sermon of Jesus. This sermon on the Mount, the 12 apostles. This is how fairly a reputable church tradition and history has summarized their lives. <br /><br /> Their ending James, the brother of John was beheaded. Phillip was whipped thrown into prison, and then crucified. Matthew was slain with the sword. James, the less, the other James in the apostles was stoned to death Mathias who became the apostle that replaced Judas was stoned. And then beheaded, Andrew was crucified and then left hanging on the cross for three days. <br /><br /> Peter was crucified upside down at his own request because he didn't feel worthy to be crucified in the same way. Jesus was Jude or also called Thaddeus was crucified Bartholomew also called Nathaniel was beaten with clubs and then crucified. Thomas was speared to death. Simon, the zealot was crucified, John. <br /><br /> Was the only one that wasn't martyred and he was exiled to the Island of Patmos, where he died as a prisoner, many believers in the world today are facing persecution in the extreme form, death incarceration, torture. Now, if you're not a believer in Jesus Christ this morning and you're listening online or you're listening in the room, I know what you're thinking. <br /><br /> You're thinking, sign me up. I mean, that is the most compelling challenge to become a Christian th th the most effective, um, recruitment speech I've ever heard. Well, of course it's not. And happily, most of us will not experience the extremity of persecution as many brothers and sisters around the world will, but. <br /><br /> X there will be persecution. Persecution can come in the signed form of disdain, mockery, history, hostility, rejection, accusation, slander, and verse 11 lists. Some of those. Here's what it says in verse 11 of our text. When others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you, falsely on my account, a number of you face sarcasm or painful separation from a spouse or family member that does not appreciate your faith. <br /><br /> Some of you have a promotion at work that seems elusive because of your principles as a follower of Jesus, some of you may feel mockery for the seriousness of your faith. The practice of your convictions are refusing to go along with the crowd. And here's my question. Why? I mean, Jesus is a really nice guy, right? <br /><br /> I mean, who doesn't like Jesus. There was a big survey done a number of years ago. And they said, what's the one word this has done of secular people of everybody. What's the one word that describes Jesus. And the most commonly expressed word was gentle. I mean, who persecutes a gentle person? I mean, why, why persecute Christians? <br /><br /> I mean, I mean, we have principles of honesty and integrity and, and be kind and love your neighbor, man, who wants to persecute those people? Well, somebody does, because Jesus says that all who pursue righteousness who want to live godly in Christ, Jesus will face persecution. So my second question is this why, the reasons for persecution, if you belong to Jesus kingdom and he says it. <br /><br /> You are persecuted for righteousness. But before I get to that, I want to talk about bogus reasons for being persecuted. Now, this is kind of where I think I'm going to step into it, but there are things we bring on ourselves, right? And I think this is important to just remind ourselves of, because this whole persecution thing, you know, they call it the old persecution complex. <br /><br /> Well, that's certainly, uh, inherent in the Christian circles as well. It's very possible to feel we're being persecuted because we are a Jesus follower when we are getting what is normal human reaction to ignorant or unpleasant human behavior. It is not saying, bless it are they, which are persecuted because they're obnoxious or arrogant or mocking of others. <br /><br /> You may be suffering ostracism people avoiding you, talking about you, but it's not your Christ likeness. That is, they are reacting to. It's just your way of responding to people who believe and live differently than you do. And I think that's important. I would, I would go this far. It is also not saying bless it or those who are persecuted because they're trying to make people follow their standards. <br /><br /> Now, this one, I want you to process with me in the early church and in the, uh, season of the Roman empire, when the church was, was exploding and people were coming to Jesus, there was an accusation that was made of believers. And they were often ostracized. It was one of the things that Roman governors or tribunals would, would, would list. <br /><br /> And it was the word they are. Midler's I'm going to read a passage for you where that word is used and how Paul talks about it. And it was basically that they were trying to make everyone else behave. Like Christians think like Christians act like Christians and Paul, even in passages said, be careful because there are there, there are people that have a form of godliness, you know, they have the verbiage, but they deny its power. <br /><br /> And he says, we, Christians can, can expect people without the spirit to produce what it can only be produced by the spirit. Let me read you a passage that Paul wrote, excuse me, Peter wrote and Peter, the gospel of first Peter, the epistle first, Peter is the primary new Testament book on suffering. By the way, he talks more about suffering persecution and ostracism for our faith than anything else. <br /><br /> And he says this beloved do not be surprised at the fiery trial. When it comes upon you to test you as though something strange were happening to you, but rejoice in so far as you share, Christ's sufferings that you also may rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you're blessed because the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you, but not let let none of you suffer as a murder or a thief or an evildoer or a Mettler. <br /><br /> It's the very work you had. If anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glory in that name. What he's saying is. That if you're suffering as a murderer, if you're suffering, don't, don't say that being persecuted, but he also says be careful of this thing that they're accusing us of, which is meddling. <br /><br /> So what does this actually mean? Welfare? Who is one of the preeminent, uh, lexicographers, who, who actually, uh, dealt with the Greek language everybody looks to in seminaries. Here's what he says about the term. The word Medlar here in first, Peter four, Peter seems to refer to those who with Holy, but in temperate zeal metal, with the affairs of the Gentiles, whether public or private, civil, or sacred in order to make them conform to the Christian standard. <br /><br /> In other words, trying to make your cubicle mate at work act with your convictions, Vogel, like you view their moral choices. Like you screen their music, their movies, their entertainment, like you. They will consider you a Medler. If we are known for our politics or our social convictions, more than our love for Christ, more than our love for people, then we have moved into, they just view us as the Mendler. <br /><br /> Jesus is saying here, that's not what I'm talking about. When you are persecuted, you're persecuted <br /><br /> for righteousness. So what does that mean? Well, that's what I want to look at together. <br /><br /> And Peter is saying here, if you're suffering for yielding to Jesus, Lord, he says don't be ashamed. But if you're suffering for being a Medler telling everyone else how to live their lives, acting like they're perverted and less than because they disagree with you. You may be persecuted. But it's unlikely. <br /><br /> It's for Jesus. All right. That's where I stepped into it. I'm trying to step out now. Bless had reasons for being persecuted righteousness. What's he saying here? If you have your Bible, look at first Peter chapter, excuse me, Matthew chapter five. Again, if you look at Matthew chapter five, you'll notice he says this in verse nine, verse 10. <br /><br /> Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake or for righteousness, depends on which we're seeing the same. Then you jump down to verse 11 and he says, this blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account, he says, there's two reasons you can be persecuted one. <br /><br /> He says for righteousness, literally the word. That that goes before righteousness is the word on account of righteousness. Okay. Then he comes to verse 11 and he says, another reason you can be persecuted is on my account. And literally it is word is exactly the same phrase that he see. He says, you can be persecuted for the sake of, or on account of righteousness. <br /><br /> You can be persecuted in verse 11 for the sake of, or on account of me. So what Jesus is saying is what causes us to be persecuted. He says pursuing righteousness, pursuing me. When we talked to earlier about one of the beatitudes, it was, we are marked and we value in Jesus' kingdom, hungering and thirsting for. <br /><br /> Righteousness. I mentioned there that most of all, this is saying that the thing that, that is the passion of our lives, what, what we, what we hunger for, what we thirst for, what we can't live without is Jesus himself, and then living for his glory. That's what he's talking about. He's saying if Jesus is your heartthrob, if he is what you long for and what you, what you love, if it is desiring to please see him as an expression of your love, he says, you will, you will be persecuted if Jesus is first. <br /><br /> Now, does that mean when I, what I said earlier that we're, we're not meddling, does it mean we don't live out our convictions? Absolutely not. We do live out our convictions. We gently, but faithfully stand with those things that are priorities to us. We just don't ask non-Christians to be those that have the spirit when they don't have the spirit. <br /><br /> But certainly we walk with the passion and Jesus says, if I am your passion, if I'm what you hunger for, if I'm what lights, the fire of your life and doing what I want you to do, if you're crazy about me, more than anything else you will find. Okay. Persecution. Now again, I come back to my question. Why? I mean, people like Jesus, most of all, pretty much, um, people, Christian principles, pretty much. <br /><br /> Why does he say if you love Jesus, most, if you love doing Jesus will most, you will suffer persecution. <br /><br /> Because Jesus has an enemy. And he's your enemy because you identify with him and the enemy is not usually going to be person at work that is mocking about your faith. The ultimate enemy is the enemy. It is the one that insights and, and, and why there's so many times when people react to us negatively. <br /><br /> And I'll show us this later on in a couple of practical thoughts where people are, are mistreating and, and, and yes, we can say, well, it's, it's because I love Jesus, but honestly, that's not their motivation. Their motivation is just they're ticked off because of, of it's inconveniencing them somehow. <br /><br /> They're not ultimately the enemy, but there is an insider. That's why, as we'll see, persecution can come from even God's children. Persecution can come from people that are not against us personally, but there can be an incitement to that. They might even feel they're doing God's work. The Pharisee certainly will persecution will come in the most unexpected places. <br /><br /> Sometimes workmates, sometimes classmates, sometimes teachers, sometimes family members, sometimes friends, sometimes other believers, they might feel they're doing God's work. The Pharisee certainly felt that way. Taking the moral high road, I feel you're being too rigid in your convictions. They may feel you're being a compromiser or too. <br /><br /> Open-minded what you have to know is where Jesus is leading you and you have to stay with him. And you have to have the courage to believe this is what God's called me to do. This is my convictions. These are my, my personal beliefs that I'm holding onto. I won't compromise. And on account of those, there will be opposition, but we need to realize who the real enemy is when we're persecuted. <br /><br /> There's no question. I'll say it this way. I have persecuted people that are believers. I don't think I did it intentionally, but looking back, I realized my way, my expectations, my response, that they felt the weight and the heart, and we've all been used to make life harder. Even for other people. We love the ultimate enemy is the enemy. <br /><br /> So, how do we respond to persecution? If we belong to Jesus well, wrong ways and been, just touch on these. We don't retaliate Romans 12, 17 says it this way. Repay no one evil for evil, Matthew 10 verse 16. How are we to behave before the world? Jesus tells you, I'm sending you out a sheep in the midst of wolves. <br /><br /> So be wise and serpents as serpents and innocent as doves, we have to be very careful as believers that we don't have a bunch of triggers. It's really easy. We're in a trigger day, right? We're in we're in a day where, where people have short fuses to mix my metaphors, that it's possible. It's easy to have triggers that cause us to respond with anger, angry that Christians are the people always getting taken advantage of. <br /><br /> That our freedoms are taken away. Our rights are not honored. And so we blast the cyber world with our perceived injustices, but we will likely more sound more like the wolfs than the doves and the sheep that Jesus says he is sending us to be that we don't retaliate that we're not angry. People that we don't speak in retaliatory verbiage. <br /><br /> We don't respond with resentment. Bitter makes bitterness makes everybody scary people. I mean, there's no such thing as somebody that's consumed with bitterness, that is a welcoming person. You just sense it. It's, it's an aura that we all have when we're carrying betterness within us. It repels people. <br /><br /> Learning to forgive is so much the principle of Jesus. As we talked about, when we talked about what it means that, that in his upside down world, his people are meek. They don't fight for perceived rights. They, they yield, they forgive, they the model, the, the truly remarkably supernatural quality of forgiving people, the wrong them. <br /><br /> So how do we respond when we are persecuted number one, he tells us in this passage, rejoice in your identity. He says it this way, rejoice, and be glad from the same way they persecuted the prophets before you, if you're pursuing righteousness in Jesus and feeling the fiery rejection of hostility of others, he says rejoice, because it identifies you with the best of God's people. <br /><br /> The profits here are held as, as the examples of those courageous men and women of, of old Testament times, he said, you're, you're sharing in their life in their experience. It's why the disciples, when they were persecuted, it says they rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer for his sake. Why did they rejoice while back Marianne, um, threw a party for me and Marion's not a, a big group person. <br /><br /> I like things like last night with the painters and the celebration. Um, this wasn't that big a party, but we, she threw a party for me unexpectedly and meant a lot to me. And I knew what had been going on in her life and all that she was working through. And I knew the cost. It was to her. And I, I talked to her about it afterwards and I said, you know, it meant so much to me. <br /><br /> And you did, you must, must've done so much. And it turned out there was more than I knew that she had sacrificed to do it. But I remember what she said to me. She said, this, you're sorry, you're worth it. <br /><br /> What a lovely thing. As God's kids, to be able to experience things, because we belong to him that are hard and say you're worth it. I mean, it's worth it to me to not be understood, to be slandered to me, to mirror whatever it is that you experience in your life for, for, to, to be ostracized. He says if, if it is because this is coming to some degree, simply because I belong to you and then. <br /><br /> You're worth it. That's what the prophet said. And he says, you're like one of the prophets, you're one of my people that say he's worth it to lose a promotion. If it costs that for following Christ, you're worth it to be misunderstood and misrepresented he's worth it. And he says, you, you joined with all my people that have made that statement. <br /><br /> Jesus you're worth it. You're worth it to me. He says another thing. He says, rejoice in that. And the disciples said, Christ, we rejoice that were counted worthy to suffer for you to identify with you. Why? Because those guys 11 of whom died as martyrs. One who lived alone on an Island. To his death. They all felt Jesus was absolutely worth it. <br /><br /> He says also rejoice for a second reason in this passage, he says, rejoice in your reward. Great. Is your reward in heaven? Verse 12? I don't think any of us really know what the reward is. I don't think he's talking about stuff that you're going to get a bigger house. You're going to get a cooler mansion. <br /><br /> Uh, I, I don't think that's what he's talking about. One thing I know he's talking about is he talks about statements that, that Jesus is going to make well done. Good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of the Lord. There's going to be some sense of joy of the reward, looking back and saying I'm so glad. <br /><br /> I didn't take the easy way. I'm so glad that I did believe Jesus was worth it. And yeah. And then I did experiencing things because I wanted Christ most of all, that, that sense of pleasure. And I don't think heaven's going to be a place of horrible shame or anything like that. But I do think this is real, that there is going to be that sense where we're going to have a moment of reckoning and remembering and thinking, man, I'm so glad I, I didn't bag it. <br /><br /> I didn't weasel out. I stood with Jesus and I sensed the pleasure of one who he identifies as a guy who said, Jesus, you, you are worth it. You're worth it. He says, remember the source. This is the third thing to remember in persecution. I mentioned this briefly, Ephesians six verse 12 says the fiery arrows of Satan come against us. <br /><br /> I mean, real they're scary. Many times the persecutor is not your enemy. He or she may be at that moment, a tool of the enemy, and it can be anybody often. They are attacking you because they perceive you're doing them harm illustration recently. And, uh, it was a story from Franklin Graham. Uh, it actually was, well, I'll read you what happened. <br /><br /> Here's what happened. Sam dogger had been a maitre D at the world, famous Phoenicia hotel in Beirut before Lebanon's terrible civil war just before the war broke out. He left the hotel to plant a small church in one of the poorest areas of the city. When he approached the hotel manager to inform him that he was resigning, the following dialogue occurred. <br /><br /> God has called me to preach Sam till the manager I'm leaving the hotel. You're full. You're crazy a man in your position, making good money and you quit. I leave for something more important than money. I'm going to preach the name of Jesus. You're going to give up this good position to preach for some God, you must be crazy. <br /><br /> No, I'll tell you the right thing to do. You stay here and make money. I need you. He responded. I can't stay any longer. I've prayed about this and this is what I must do. Then the hotel manager grew angry and shouted. I curse you one day. You will come to the threshold of my door and you will beg for a crust of bread. <br /><br /> And I won't give it to you. I will let you starve. You hear my words, not a crust. Now in, in Franklin, Graham's sequel to this story, he talks about how after the Beirut, uh, all that went on in Lebanon, this a guy actually showed up at Sam's door. Begging for food, but I want to, this is the part of the story I want to highlight. <br /><br /> I don't think that hotel manager hated Jesus. I don't think he even hated Sam. I think he felt I need you. I know you mean you're gonna, you're gonna leave me here high and dry. You're going to go off and do something else. I need you here. Do you know how hard this is to run this stinking hotel? And you're one of my key people and you're, you're a productive worker and you're now going to go. <br /><br /> I think if he had said that he was going to go and go to a rival restaurant, or if he had said he was going to go, he always wanted to be a carpenter and he was going to give it a run and be a carpenter. I think the guy would have responded exactly the same way. Why? Because Sam was inconveniencing him. <br /><br /> Here's what I'm saying. There's a lot of times people are not responding to us because they hate Christ. And they're, they're, anti-God, they're just responding because your Christian faith makes them uncomfortable. The decisions you make, make work harder for them. And just practical things. I'm saying all this to say this, they're not usually the enemy. <br /><br /> They're not your enemy. They're not God's enemy. And, and, and now they're being used that way. But I find it when I have been in a position where I feel I'm a recipient of something it's really important for me to remember. I need to not look at this situation that this is my enemy. This is a victim of the enemy. <br /><br /> Now, still some really hard things, right? Some things people do very personally, some things people hurt you with. But if you really got it in their lives, you'd find out like the home, tell the manager, this guys, he's dying to keep this hotel running. He's ticked because you're making his life so much more complicated. <br /><br /> Now that's not what the devil has in mind. The devil wants to keep Sam from starting this church. The devil wants to the devil's against him, but the hotel manager, you know, it would be easy as a Christian walk away and say that hotel manager, he is just dirt. He hates God. He hates me because I'm a Christian. <br /><br /> Now. He just was frustrated. Now he had more work on his plate. Now, again, was this guy persecuted? Absolutely. But I don't know. Tell him manager was the primary persecutor. It was the enemy. And I think it helps us to remember. That our persecutors are not in most cases, our enemy and nor are they intentionally. <br /><br /> Sometimes they are intentionally gods. I think this is true. I've known many families have had young families that have felt called to go to the mission field and grandparents who are not believers or even some that are believers are very upset, very frustrated, very Y. And it feels like they're against the call of God and, and they're against, uh, serving Jesus. <br /><br /> And, and they're just, they're just against doing life with their only grandkids. It's, it's, it's just remembering the enemy is not the people usually, but there is an enemy. And persecution will feel how it feels, but it does affect how we respond to the people which leads to two quick, other things, restrain your response. <br /><br /> Romans 12 verse 19 says it this way. Beloved never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God for it is written. Vengeance is mine. I will repay says the Lord when you're persecuted, when you're harassed, when people treat, you mean, you need to believe that God is big enough to care for it in his own way. <br /><br /> He says, leave room for God's mad wrath. Well, we want to move in and fill the space. We'll take care of it. We'll retaliate. We'll we'll declare the injustice, no leave room for it. We need to have the faith in God that we don't have to avenge ourselves. We can trust him to protect us. We can trust him to make right. <br /><br /> What's been wrong. And then the last thing which that ties into. Rest in God, Psalm 37, verse seven, be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him. Fret, not yourself. Over the one who prospers in his way over the man who carries out evil devices. <br /><br /> God is enough. And if he's allowing you right now to be suffering, to be pursued, to feel ostracism, to feel loss, he says, man delight in the fact that this has always been true. My children, that there's an enemy that is he, he knows that the greatest way to hurt the father is by hurting his kids. So he attacks you. <br /><br /> He says glory in that say, Lord, you're worth it. And I'm resting in you. I'm trusting in you. I'm leaning into you now to give me the strength and the grace to respond with gentleness. Returning good for evil to the glory of God, Lord, you know where everybody in this room and online is this morning, you know exactly where application needs to take place. <br /><br /> I pray you would do that father in Jesus name. Amen. Now go in peace to love and serve and enjoy the Lord.</div> false no <![CDATA[Blessed are the Peacemakers]]> Matthew 5:9

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.



Man, you know, it's a good worship time when you're like eating your mask as you're singing. Do you get that? Like, ah, so good. Um, it doesn't taste so good, but it is so good, man. It's good to be here with you. Um, to hear you guys singing praise the father, praise the son, the spirit three in one. This is our, our calling as followers of Christ is to just worshiped him in spirit and in truth.

And we're doing that over this next little bit of time here together in our series called the upside down life. We're continuing there. We've been in the book of Matthew. So you can open Bibles there. Matthew chapter five, um, beginning of the sermon on the Mount is called thus sermon, the greatest sermon ever preached because it was by Jesus.

The first eight statements therefore are called the beatitudes, the eight blessing statements that Jesus makes, which are valid use of life, how to live in the kingdom of Jesus. We're on statement number seven out of eight today. And maybe you're like me where you've gone through the first six. And you feel like you've just perfected everything in the Christian life thus far, and you have arrived.

And so seven and eight are going to be great. Or maybe you're like other people may be more like me. Where you're reading, God's word, you're studying God's word. We're hearing things that we should be in the kingdom of Jesus. And it seems like the next week you just find yourself seeing more and more of how much you can't do it.

I think that is the Christian life that we read. God's word, it illuminates the dark corners of our life and just points out ways that the spirit hasn't finished, its work in us yet. There's this hope. There's this expectation that he is continuing his work in us. We invite that process actually in Romans chapter eight.

I want to read this, this verse to you here. Eight, nine through 11. You, however, this is talking about followers of Christ. Those who have the spirit in them are not in the flesh, but in the spirit. If in fact, the spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the spirit of Christ does not belong to him.

But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is life because of righteousness. If the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you. This is the work, his spirit prompts us, and we respond to his leading to his word, um, all those different things.

So for the sake of context, in the book of Matthew, the first four chapters really set up to get us to chapter five. And so once we get there, we have a really great sermon, but the before is important, right? We have the genealogy of Jesus kind of where his heritage comes from through the line of David.

The birth of Christ. This is kind of an important one. John, the Baptist preparing the way for his ministry. And then we have Jesus led by the spirit, into the wilderness to be tempted and to have this battle with Satan. And we find the spirit using his power in Christ in an incredible way of an account of his, his work there then begins his ministry, calling his disciples.

We have Simon, Peter and Andrew, James and John are called to himself. Then Jesus begins healing people. There's preaching in the center, God, all around the sea of Galilee. And even beyond the sea of Galilee is about 14 miles. If you'd go all the way around it. And so he's kind of wandering around teaching and preaching in these different places, casting out demons, you know, as they do well, continuing to follow him from surrounding areas.

And all of a sudden these crowds are gathering. People are like, well, I've been healed. I'm going to follow this man here. And I've heard that he can do this. I'm going to keep wandering along in this way, the fame is increasing. And then we get to chapter five. It's almost like the lights dim, the conductor like taps the edge of the stand here.

And he's ready for the main event. We read this in chapter five,

seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain side. And when he sat down, which if you were a rabbi following Jew, at this point, you would know in the teacher, the rabbi sits down and begins a formal teaching time. And so you were really keyed in. And when he sat down, his disciples came to him and probably many other followers were there as well.

Listening. And he opened his mouth, which if you're just reading your Bible probably sounds like a funky way to say Jesus said, but when he opened his mouth, if we read that in the Greek, I'm not going to butcher it, but it's a new ego stoma. And it literally means this is a person who says, I'm going to share the deepest parts of my heart.

I'm going to share something so core to who I am, that I'm going to open my mouth and deliver this to you. So formal teaching most important part of who I am. Um, and here we go. Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted.

Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart for, they shall see God blessed are the peacemakers for, they shall be called sons of God, Lord, I thank you for this teaching that you gave to your followers many years ago, and that we get to also sit under this teaching of you this morning.

We thank you that you have given us values and principles and ways that the spirit wants to work in us as your followers, this kingdom, that you are making, that you represent, that you started and began. We want to live in. So Lord, I pray you would open. Our hearts are open our minds, the spirits at work in this room this morning.

Not only Lord, just in our time of worshiping you, but the spirits at work in each heart, pulling them. And I pray God that we would respond to your leading. I pray these things in your name. Amen. Well in verse nine, which is where we're going to land this morning. There's not a lot there. Right? Blessed are the peacemakers for, they shall be called sons of God.

And I asked four questions. I actually asked a bunch of questions, but I figured maybe you would ask a similar for that we could agree on this morning. Cause that's all we have time for. But for questions, I'm going to ask you to join me in these questions, honestly. And what I mean by that is not like answering it before we answer the question.

We want to honestly ask it and say, what does it really mean? And so the four questions are this. What is peace? Which you may think you have an answer for. What is a peace maker? Who are the sons of God? And then how do I make peace? It is important to come to the text without all of our lenses on, even though that's kind of how we're made, we just read into this.

But to say, what did these people here? What did the original listeners hear when Jesus spoke these things? We may have ideas about what peace looks like. Actually, maybe for you. It's a cup of coffee and a really good book for others of you. It's actually putting your kids to bed at night. The aftermath is peace.

Some of you, it's your Bible, a journal, and like a really good view, whether it's early in the morning or a sunset for some crazy people, it's like after they go for a run or have a really good workout, their body just feels at peace at rest. Seeing God's sovereignty over creation in this, uh, the, the ocean just kind of rolling in and sitting on the beach is your sense of peace.

Also culture has given us symbols and define kind of what peace looks like for us. We have the dove and olive branch symbol. You've probably seen this. You just naturally think peace when you see this. And that really stems back to the book, the story of Noah and when the flood came and 40 days and 40 nights of rain and storm Noah sent out the dove and he came back with this olive branch signifying that the flood waters have gone down enough that the storm was over.

They could leave the Ark. There's also this one, which is a peace symbol, which you may know, but you may not know where it came from, maybe for a younger crowd. Um, if this is where the peace symbol came from, it actually is from a system of flag signaling, which is where it came from. Nuclear disarmament was what it stood for.

And, and you actually, if you had the flags down, that was an end for nuclear. And if you had one down, one up that was D for disarmament. And so there, we got the peace symbol. Um, this is called the Semafore flag system. That's all I know about it. And the next one we have is the finger peace symbol, which we commonly see.

We have seen that over the times through history as a V for victory marking the end of war, and those used it for also the protests of, or this peace symbol. And so we come to the tax with ideas of what peace is. We have symbols of peace, our own ideas of what gives us peace, but there are really two concepts in scripture of peace, two main words that the text uses and actually you were an early listener.

All you would have known is the first one, Shalom the old Testament word for peace. It's a common greeting that was given among people to wish somebody well to seek the highest good of other people. This word Shalom also means prosperity and security wholeness. In every sense of the word it's, it's a really beautiful word.

And so when they used it as a common greeting, it meant that you really wanted the very best for the other person Shalom. This piece was associated also with peace offerings. And so when people came to make their sacrifice, when they sinned against God and they had to go in this system of, of bringing sacrifices to God, they would make the sin atonement sacrifice.

And then they would be able to make this peace offering, which came after everything was done. And it was in celebration of this right standing that they had with God, the peace offering then was made to celebrate. Interestingly, it was actually the only one of the sacrifices that was made that then you ate, it was kind of a feast, right?

And so after everything was good and we're celebrating this right, standing with God, we would get to eat and celebrate who God is to us. A feast that's Shalom. The new Testament word is I reign a, which is not a word that they probably would have known. It was a Greek term. And so the concept of that really in the new Testament, scriptures focuses on Jesus.

Now I want to say again, if you were a reader here, or if you were a listener to Jesus's topic about peacemaking, you would've gotten the old Testament, but the new Testament, Jesus peace has yet to come. Right? We as readers now can look back and know, man. He was going to go to the cross. He was going to be our sacrifice.

He would be RP, but these people didn't know that at the time Jesus comes as the very fulfillment of the old Testament scriptures. Romans five one says this, therefore, since we have been justified made right by faith, We have peace with God through our lives. Lord Jesus Christ. I mean, the gospel is first bad news before.

It's good news. The bad news is we are broken and we are separated from God. And we can't do anything to fix that, that, but Jesus came and was our sacrifice. The peace also is used in Jesus as he speaking peace, not over a lots of different, a lot of different things, but specifically one of the ones that stands out to me is Jesus speaking, peace over creation, peace.

Be still, as the disciples are in the boat, things are going crazy. He this calm the silence. And so what does peace, not just a negative term where while there's this absence of conflict or the end of a war, but really in the old and new Testament, there's this sense of wholeness, all things. Are right. The enjoyment or celebration of God's favor.

This is peace. So then what is a peace maker? Okay. That's the next question that maybe you would ask and I'll just give three observations about what a peace maker is in God's kingdom. Peace makers really tied to the first point here, understand their debt has been forgiven by God, Isaiah 53 says this, surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering.

Yet we considered him Jesus punished by God stricken by him and afflicted, but he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our inequities. The punishment that brought us peace was upon him. And by his wounds, we are healed. We all like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned to our own way and the Lord has laid on him.

The iniquity of us all. Jesus came to make peace. And so peacemakers understand their debt has been forgiven when the conflict we're not tapping into some like internal Zen or relying on some mix or blend of essential oils to give us peace. We're recognizing that our debt has been so forgiven. We start as peace with God between us and God.

We can start there and begin to live. As people who know peace deep to their core, not some fabrication of a worldly piece. We're resting in the cross of Jesus. Who's initiated this peace between God and man. The second thing is peace makers are actively engaging in bringing about good and wholeness through Jesus.

Romans 1419 says this, let us therefore make every effort. To do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. Man, if I really understand the goldmine of forgiveness that I'm sitting upon, my whole goal in life is not self-focused. Then it becomes this matter of making every effort to do all that I can saying I've been forgiven so much.

The whole goal as a follower of Christ as a peace maker is to say, how can I bring about that same peace mutually edifying one another. Now also read in second Corinthians a really important reality check chapter five. It says this for the love of Christ controls us before we get to the next phrase, here is the love of Christ controlling you.

So continue on if not ask some questions. In the kingdom of Jesus, the love of Christ controls us because we've concluded this one has died for all. Therefore all have died and he died for all that. Those who might live might no longer live for them selves, but for him who, for their sake died and was raised verse 18, here's this incredible invitation.

This is from God who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation that is in Christ. God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them. And interesting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, verse 20, we are ambassadors for Christ.

Man that is worth a million pounds like that. That is the most incredible verse to me. We are invited in to be ministers of God's reconciliation in our world as ambassadors. What are you kidding me? Some of you were like, yeah, I don't want that invitation. Um, but a peacemaker is someone who takes on a completely new job title.

They're an ambassador for Christ. What does an ambassador do? Whatever the King tells them to do. They just represent, who's sending them a peacemaker is someone who has a new mission. The ministry of reconciliation, pointing people to the one who reconciles us to God, Jesus, and bringing about wholeness and peace among those around us.

The third one, peacemakers do not stir up conflict or retaliate, but respond with peace. Matthew five 38 through 40. You've heard it, that it was said eye for an eye tooth for tooth. But I tell you do not resist an evil person. I'll read this one, slow. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them, the other cheek also.

And if anyone wants to Sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well, all right, we're all falling to this point, except when he's like, turn your cheek. They're slapping one, you turn the other, this is just not how I was raised. And frankly, it's not how I'm raising my kids either. We want the kids to kind of fight back, right?

Or like protect yourself or stand up when things are wrong. This is what we do. This is how we live in our world today. But in a kingdom that's upside down shortly after Jesus preaches the sermon. He goes, Matthew chapter five, a little bit more in depth and says. This is the new way of the kingdom. The people who make peace.

What I am saying here is to just, I guess, be careful that if you are a follower of Christ, your highest and biggest and most important thing that you say to your kids, to your family, to your friends, how you dictate your life is really from the scriptures. And not just a mantra that maybe you've been handed down, down in your life, turn the other cheek, Matthew 2236.

You shall love the Lord, your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the called the Shema. And people quoted this from old Testament. All these followers would have heard this and then Jesus takes it one step further in the new Testament. He quoting this, quoting this part here.

This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like, it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself on these to command tank, all the law and the prophets. So what is a peacemaker? A peacemaker is an individual who knows their debts been forgiven, and now they work for King Jesus as ambassadors with this ministry of reconciling, they simply represent what the King is asking them to do.

Okay. Third question here, who are the sons of God? Right? Um, this is a small part of the verse, the verse here, but this question might come as you're reading this. Okay, well, uh, what is peace? What's a peace maker and what are they going to call me? The sons of God for it? This could be a really simple answer.

And I think the answer is kind of simple, but you might be able to see this though, as a formula. Like if I want to be a son of God, I'll just make peace and be a peaceful person and I'll get son of God. And what I don't think is happening there is that, um, the formula for salvation is very clear. It is by grace alone, through faith alone, not anything that we can do to earn or to receive this.

And so what's happening here is we're being called sons of God, because we kind of look like the father who is peace. Jesus, who is peace. Maybe you've had this happen before where you're going somewhere and you're talking and you're like, Oh man, you, you sound exactly like your dad. And some of you were like, yes, I have had that experienced before.

And it's not been a good pleasant one because my dad was a horrible person. Or maybe like me, your dad is just a touch above like tolerable. And so it's a really good thing. When you enjoy someone saying that you look like your dad? No, my dad is a wonderful person. Um, probably teaching the kids in the kid's ministry this morning.

But you hear that and it's good news, right? If I look like my dad, that's a, that's a really good thing. And so here, if we're being called sons of God, it's because we're looking like the one who sent us, those who are part of God's upside down kingdom, make peace and look like the one who very much is peace, but they will be called out, right?

They will be called sons of God. People might ask you why in the world would you show this person love? What's the point of reconciling that relationship, cut them off. It's done. They moved away. You've moved on. There's no point. What are you going to do now? Why would you engage in this reconciliation?

And you say, no, I I'm reading the scriptures. And what he's saying here is to align yourself with King. Jesus is to be a peacemaker. I'm his child. And therefore I engage in this way of living John 1334, a new commandment. I give you to love one another as I have loved you. So you must also love one another.

And hi this, everyone will know that you are my disciples. If you love one another, you'll be known by love. You'll be known by the way that you make peace. And if maybe people know you in a different way, I guess you would ask the question. Do I really look like God? Why are they calling me a son of God here?

Or are they calling me a pretty angry person or a person who stirs up conflict? First, Peter actually encourages us even deeper here. It says, uh, first, first, Peter three, look at this. But even if you should say offer for righteousness sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as Holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you.

A reason for the hope that you have, that is in you. You do it with gentleness yet. I'm sorry. Yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience so that when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior, Christ may be put to shame. You get an attack for being a good follower of Christ.

You feeling like, w who are you? Like, you're going to be nice to this person. Why are you doing that plan on it? It's coming, it's happening. This is the point, right? That when they stick up and they point at you and say how ridiculous you are being so kind and a peacemaker here, you say, I'm telling you why.

Here's the reason for the hope that I have Christ. This is my purpose. One final part of this section here, who are the sons of God, man, if you are a lady in the room, you could be like, here we go again. The scriptures talking about the dudes, not including the ladies. And I want to say, I don't get it cause I'm not a woman.

But what I do want to say is be careful, be careful not to run ahead and just say, and they also really mean the women as well, because what's being said here specifically in this text is intentional. Okay. There is a cultural revolution that happens when Jesus says to a crowd, not only of his disciples, but followers, men and women who have just been healed demons have been cast out there listening.

And he says, you will be called sons. Of God. Why is that important? Well, if you're an ancient near Eastern Jewish person, you understood that the heir to the father's inheritance was only the male in the family. And so men of the household will then in turn, provide for the women. But when Jesus says in particular sons of God and here and in other places as well, he's saying men, women in Christ, you were all heirs to the throne.

You are heirs to the throne. This is not some family lineage thing. You are an heir to the throne, each one. So who are the sons of God, followers of Christ, Christians living part of God's kingdom and actively engaging in making peace in such a way that people would call it out in our very lives. Okay.

Last thing here, how do I make peace? While we talked about the nature of peace in the old Testament, this Shalom, we talked about irony in the new Testament, Jesus being the eternal sacrifice for our sins. We have peace with God. So here are a couple of examples of ways this works out, possibly pursuing reconciliation with one another.

Are there people in your life who you've wronged? Are there people maybe in your life who have wronged you. We have a ministry here called celebrate recovery. Um, it's out of Saddleback church in California. It's an incredible ministry based off of the principles in the beatitudes. What we've been studying.

Those are the principles that they work through in the steps to, to work toward recovery. And so I want you to listen to steps eight and nine this morning out of Matthew five, verses five and seven here's. Here's the steps for self recovery, eight, eight, and nine. Evaluate all my relationships, offer forgiveness to those who have hurt me and make amends for harm.

I've done to others when possible, except when to do so would harm them or others. And then the versus happy or blessed are the merciful happy or blessed? Are the peacemakers. Possibly as you're saturated with God's forgiveness, you know, their relationships that you've either cut off or walled off or pushed away, or we just don't talk to them anymore.

Part of our family, Proverbs 16, seven says when a man's ways, please, the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him. And if we're following after the Lord and we're aligning with who he is, even our enemies as we live in this way of peace will be a peace with us. Now, there is one caveat here that we found kind of in the step and also in the scriptures that there are going to be people who are like, don't ever talk to me again.

You cannot make amends with me. I don't want to see you or hear from you ever again. And some of your like, yeah. Um, You can't fix someone else's brokenness. You can only do your part. So Romans 12, 18, if possible. So far as it depends on you live peaceably with everyone of living. As God's people in his kingdom is living this completely upside down, down backwards way of life.

And so here's another example of another backwards way or an example of living out this peacemaking, um, way of life, Matthew, 1815. If your brother sins against you go and rebuke him in private, if he listens to you, you've won over your brother. Jesus is saying this and we're kind of like, wait just a minute, like someone's sins against me.

I'm going to go and talk with them. Like they should come apologize to me. I'm the one who's hurt here. Why are you telling me to go and have a conversation with the one who is unkind to me? The simple answer. Well, because Jesus said so, um, in Matthew 18, 15, he says, go initiate this conversation. Among those that know him, he also says, this is about this unity among the body of Christ, Ephesians four, as a prisoner for the Lord.

Then I urge you to live a life of the calling. You've received. Be completely humble and gentle. Be patient bearing with one another in love, make every effort to keep the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace. Then verse 14, then we will no longer be infants tossed back and forth by the waves and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people and their deceitful scheming.

Instead speaking the truth in love, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every aspect. Every respect, the mature body of him, who is the head that is Christ. We make peace. When there's a disagreement, when there's something difficult, we walk and we speak in love. We bring things up. We don't just let them fester.

Oftentimes it's easier to just avoid. And maybe you could even say, people would think I'm a peaceful person, but on the inside, I am living a chaotic life because I have just, just stuffed and stuffed and stuffed. That's not peace. That's not biblical peace making either that is avoiding, but speaking the truth in love, we confront with grace, notice that this does not just say in the body of Christ at fellowship community church, but it also includes the body of Christ at large.

And so keeping this bond of peace because of the spirit, man, if there's a church that's really hurt you. If there are people in other places in your life that are tied to other places, keep the bond of peace and unity through the spirit. By having some really honest conversations, man, if that's a confusing statement to you, I'd love to talk with you because especially as a pastor, I would love nothing more than if there is a disagreement that we could have conversations and that we could be part of that reconciliation, wherever God leads us.

We live in a country who sees brokenness and divide all over in the last month. And the last month here in the United States, there have been 45 mass shootings. It's an astounding statistic. When you think about this conversation of peacemaking, a nation is screaming out in anger and hate and often confusion.

And Jesus says life in my kingdom, my children will be known as peace makers as the people who were sitting on the Hill, listening to Jesus speak, you would have heard this beatitude as a laser focused bomb. That goes off, be a peacemaker. He says, these are my children. Well Shalom. Yeah. We know that we can give that to you.

We, we have greetings and we talk and we say Shalom to people, peace be with you. And they leave and all those things, but the Jewish people would not offer peace to everyone. They would not give this Shalom to those that were Samaritans. Or if you were a pagan, in fact, many Jews would take very careful measures to not give you Shalom.

And they would actually give you a curse as you walked by like a muttering under your breath. And I don't know where this comes from, but there's evidence that it was actually sometimes like they would curse your mother too. Like the mom jokes come from this biblical heritage of like people cursing each other.

If you are a Samaritan, you would be cursed by Jewish people, not greeted with peace, just because you are a Samaritan. Jesus gave the parable of the good Samaritan as an example of this love as he comes in contact with two different cultural norms, here's a quote, just summarizing it that I love that talks about this.

The fact that there was such dislike and hostility between Jews and Samaritans is what gives the use of the Samaritan in the parable of the good Samaritan such force. The Samaritan is the one who is able to rise above the bigotry and prejudice of centuries and show mercy and compassion for the injured Jewish man.

After the Jews own countrymen had passed him by keeping this long running feud in mind, Jesus, as he goes and meets the woman at the well was like completely counter-cultural why would he be doing this? It was surprising. It was shocking. It was the way of his kingdom. He would usher in a kingdom of peace and peacemakers.

This is active and engaging and just like Jesus did. In most cases, it doesn't first start big, right? Like. Miss America pageant, I think is where they say like, and world peace, you know, like this is what I want for me and for my people and for the whole world is just peace, but who really goes and accomplishes world peace, unless they first, as Jesus directs us here in the scriptures all throughout to say, what am I doing in my own heart?

Do I have peace with God? And then am I a minister of that reconciliation before we aim corporate and national, no peace with God wrestle in your own heart. The eighth blessed beatitude is an invitation to bring hope to a lost world. The hope of Jesus, the peace of Jesus. So convinced of his grace that we speak of it often the one who made peace between, and God freely offers you the chance to have forgiveness.

And peace and be part of that mission this morning, an invitation to pursue peace in the midst of conflict, not shying away from difficult, but speaking the truth in love and invitation to engage in building bridges, among cultures, with peace. And so we ask and we lament and we join in when things are hard and we listen to stories because your experience is different than mine.

As his ambassadors. We joined in this ministry. God, thank you for making, uh, Jesus to come and be our peace Lord. The old Testament system of sacrificing to find our right standing with you accomplished in Christ the new Testament. And so when he comes to speak about being a peace maker, these people were one day going to understand.

One day they would get it, that you were the ultimate initiator of peace. Lord, make us a blessing to our world that we would be people that make peace and be our part of peace. Not just avoid me. Thank you God, for the opportunity that you bring to help us to know you. Um, you want to be known and you invite us into this journey with you.

Uh, we thank you and pray these things in your name. Amen. May you carry his peace to the world this week? You are dismissed.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/blessed-are-the-peacemakers cc689a42-836b-41de-bdd2-151772ae17e5 Sun, 18 Apr 2021 14:43:55 GMT <div data-html="true">Matthew 5:9 <br /><br /> “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Man, you know, it's a good worship time when you're like eating your mask as you're singing. Do you get that? Like, ah, so good. Um, it doesn't taste so good, but it is so good, man. It's good to be here with you. Um, to hear you guys singing praise the father, praise the son, the spirit three in one. This is our, our calling as followers of Christ is to just worshiped him in spirit and in truth. <br /><br /> And we're doing that over this next little bit of time here together in our series called the upside down life. We're continuing there. We've been in the book of Matthew. So you can open Bibles there. Matthew chapter five, um, beginning of the sermon on the Mount is called thus sermon, the greatest sermon ever preached because it was by Jesus. <br /><br /> The first eight statements therefore are called the beatitudes, the eight blessing statements that Jesus makes, which are valid use of life, how to live in the kingdom of Jesus. We're on statement number seven out of eight today. And maybe you're like me where you've gone through the first six. And you feel like you've just perfected everything in the Christian life thus far, and you have arrived. <br /><br /> And so seven and eight are going to be great. Or maybe you're like other people may be more like me. Where you're reading, God's word, you're studying God's word. We're hearing things that we should be in the kingdom of Jesus. And it seems like the next week you just find yourself seeing more and more of how much you can't do it. <br /><br /> I think that is the Christian life that we read. God's word, it illuminates the dark corners of our life and just points out ways that the spirit hasn't finished, its work in us yet. There's this hope. There's this expectation that he is continuing his work in us. We invite that process actually in Romans chapter eight. <br /><br /> I want to read this, this verse to you here. Eight, nine through 11. You, however, this is talking about followers of Christ. Those who have the spirit in them are not in the flesh, but in the spirit. If in fact, the spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the spirit of Christ does not belong to him. <br /><br /> But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is life because of righteousness. If the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you. This is the work, his spirit prompts us, and we respond to his leading to his word, um, all those different things. <br /><br /> So for the sake of context, in the book of Matthew, the first four chapters really set up to get us to chapter five. And so once we get there, we have a really great sermon, but the before is important, right? We have the genealogy of Jesus kind of where his heritage comes from through the line of David. <br /><br /> The birth of Christ. This is kind of an important one. John, the Baptist preparing the way for his ministry. And then we have Jesus led by the spirit, into the wilderness to be tempted and to have this battle with Satan. And we find the spirit using his power in Christ in an incredible way of an account of his, his work there then begins his ministry, calling his disciples. <br /><br /> We have Simon, Peter and Andrew, James and John are called to himself. Then Jesus begins healing people. There's preaching in the center, God, all around the sea of Galilee. And even beyond the sea of Galilee is about 14 miles. If you'd go all the way around it. And so he's kind of wandering around teaching and preaching in these different places, casting out demons, you know, as they do well, continuing to follow him from surrounding areas. <br /><br /> And all of a sudden these crowds are gathering. People are like, well, I've been healed. I'm going to follow this man here. And I've heard that he can do this. I'm going to keep wandering along in this way, the fame is increasing. And then we get to chapter five. It's almost like the lights dim, the conductor like taps the edge of the stand here. <br /><br /> And he's ready for the main event. We read this in chapter five, <br /><br /> seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain side. And when he sat down, which if you were a rabbi following Jew, at this point, you would know in the teacher, the rabbi sits down and begins a formal teaching time. And so you were really keyed in. And when he sat down, his disciples came to him and probably many other followers were there as well. <br /><br /> Listening. And he opened his mouth, which if you're just reading your Bible probably sounds like a funky way to say Jesus said, but when he opened his mouth, if we read that in the Greek, I'm not going to butcher it, but it's a new ego stoma. And it literally means this is a person who says, I'm going to share the deepest parts of my heart. <br /><br /> I'm going to share something so core to who I am, that I'm going to open my mouth and deliver this to you. So formal teaching most important part of who I am. Um, and here we go. Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted. <br /><br /> Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart for, they shall see God blessed are the peacemakers for, they shall be called sons of God, Lord, I thank you for this teaching that you gave to your followers many years ago, and that we get to also sit under this teaching of you this morning. <br /><br /> We thank you that you have given us values and principles and ways that the spirit wants to work in us as your followers, this kingdom, that you are making, that you represent, that you started and began. We want to live in. So Lord, I pray you would open. Our hearts are open our minds, the spirits at work in this room this morning. <br /><br /> Not only Lord, just in our time of worshiping you, but the spirits at work in each heart, pulling them. And I pray God that we would respond to your leading. I pray these things in your name. Amen. Well in verse nine, which is where we're going to land this morning. There's not a lot there. Right? Blessed are the peacemakers for, they shall be called sons of God. <br /><br /> And I asked four questions. I actually asked a bunch of questions, but I figured maybe you would ask a similar for that we could agree on this morning. Cause that's all we have time for. But for questions, I'm going to ask you to join me in these questions, honestly. And what I mean by that is not like answering it before we answer the question. <br /><br /> We want to honestly ask it and say, what does it really mean? And so the four questions are this. What is peace? Which you may think you have an answer for. What is a peace maker? Who are the sons of God? And then how do I make peace? It is important to come to the text without all of our lenses on, even though that's kind of how we're made, we just read into this. <br /><br /> But to say, what did these people here? What did the original listeners hear when Jesus spoke these things? We may have ideas about what peace looks like. Actually, maybe for you. It's a cup of coffee and a really good book for others of you. It's actually putting your kids to bed at night. The aftermath is peace. <br /><br /> Some of you, it's your Bible, a journal, and like a really good view, whether it's early in the morning or a sunset for some crazy people, it's like after they go for a run or have a really good workout, their body just feels at peace at rest. Seeing God's sovereignty over creation in this, uh, the, the ocean just kind of rolling in and sitting on the beach is your sense of peace. <br /><br /> Also culture has given us symbols and define kind of what peace looks like for us. We have the dove and olive branch symbol. You've probably seen this. You just naturally think peace when you see this. And that really stems back to the book, the story of Noah and when the flood came and 40 days and 40 nights of rain and storm Noah sent out the dove and he came back with this olive branch signifying that the flood waters have gone down enough that the storm was over. <br /><br /> They could leave the Ark. There's also this one, which is a peace symbol, which you may know, but you may not know where it came from, maybe for a younger crowd. Um, if this is where the peace symbol came from, it actually is from a system of flag signaling, which is where it came from. Nuclear disarmament was what it stood for. <br /><br /> And, and you actually, if you had the flags down, that was an end for nuclear. And if you had one down, one up that was D for disarmament. And so there, we got the peace symbol. Um, this is called the Semafore flag system. That's all I know about it. And the next one we have is the finger peace symbol, which we commonly see. <br /><br /> We have seen that over the times through history as a V for victory marking the end of war, and those used it for also the protests of, or this peace symbol. And so we come to the tax with ideas of what peace is. We have symbols of peace, our own ideas of what gives us peace, but there are really two concepts in scripture of peace, two main words that the text uses and actually you were an early listener. <br /><br /> All you would have known is the first one, Shalom the old Testament word for peace. It's a common greeting that was given among people to wish somebody well to seek the highest good of other people. This word Shalom also means prosperity and security wholeness. In every sense of the word it's, it's a really beautiful word. <br /><br /> And so when they used it as a common greeting, it meant that you really wanted the very best for the other person Shalom. This piece was associated also with peace offerings. And so when people came to make their sacrifice, when they sinned against God and they had to go in this system of, of bringing sacrifices to God, they would make the sin atonement sacrifice. <br /><br /> And then they would be able to make this peace offering, which came after everything was done. And it was in celebration of this right standing that they had with God, the peace offering then was made to celebrate. Interestingly, it was actually the only one of the sacrifices that was made that then you ate, it was kind of a feast, right? <br /><br /> And so after everything was good and we're celebrating this right, standing with God, we would get to eat and celebrate who God is to us. A feast that's Shalom. The new Testament word is I reign a, which is not a word that they probably would have known. It was a Greek term. And so the concept of that really in the new Testament, scriptures focuses on Jesus. <br /><br /> Now I want to say again, if you were a reader here, or if you were a listener to Jesus's topic about peacemaking, you would've gotten the old Testament, but the new Testament, Jesus peace has yet to come. Right? We as readers now can look back and know, man. He was going to go to the cross. He was going to be our sacrifice. <br /><br /> He would be RP, but these people didn't know that at the time Jesus comes as the very fulfillment of the old Testament scriptures. Romans five one says this, therefore, since we have been justified made right by faith, We have peace with God through our lives. Lord Jesus Christ. I mean, the gospel is first bad news before. <br /><br /> It's good news. The bad news is we are broken and we are separated from God. And we can't do anything to fix that, that, but Jesus came and was our sacrifice. The peace also is used in Jesus as he speaking peace, not over a lots of different, a lot of different things, but specifically one of the ones that stands out to me is Jesus speaking, peace over creation, peace. <br /><br /> Be still, as the disciples are in the boat, things are going crazy. He this calm the silence. And so what does peace, not just a negative term where while there's this absence of conflict or the end of a war, but really in the old and new Testament, there's this sense of wholeness, all things. Are right. The enjoyment or celebration of God's favor. <br /><br /> This is peace. So then what is a peace maker? Okay. That's the next question that maybe you would ask and I'll just give three observations about what a peace maker is in God's kingdom. Peace makers really tied to the first point here, understand their debt has been forgiven by God, Isaiah 53 says this, surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering. <br /><br /> Yet we considered him Jesus punished by God stricken by him and afflicted, but he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our inequities. The punishment that brought us peace was upon him. And by his wounds, we are healed. We all like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned to our own way and the Lord has laid on him. <br /><br /> The iniquity of us all. Jesus came to make peace. And so peacemakers understand their debt has been forgiven when the conflict we're not tapping into some like internal Zen or relying on some mix or blend of essential oils to give us peace. We're recognizing that our debt has been so forgiven. We start as peace with God between us and God. <br /><br /> We can start there and begin to live. As people who know peace deep to their core, not some fabrication of a worldly piece. We're resting in the cross of Jesus. Who's initiated this peace between God and man. The second thing is peace makers are actively engaging in bringing about good and wholeness through Jesus. <br /><br /> Romans 1419 says this, let us therefore make every effort. To do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. Man, if I really understand the goldmine of forgiveness that I'm sitting upon, my whole goal in life is not self-focused. Then it becomes this matter of making every effort to do all that I can saying I've been forgiven so much. <br /><br /> The whole goal as a follower of Christ as a peace maker is to say, how can I bring about that same peace mutually edifying one another. Now also read in second Corinthians a really important reality check chapter five. It says this for the love of Christ controls us before we get to the next phrase, here is the love of Christ controlling you. <br /><br /> So continue on if not ask some questions. In the kingdom of Jesus, the love of Christ controls us because we've concluded this one has died for all. Therefore all have died and he died for all that. Those who might live might no longer live for them selves, but for him who, for their sake died and was raised verse 18, here's this incredible invitation. <br /><br /> This is from God who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation that is in Christ. God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them. And interesting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, verse 20, we are ambassadors for Christ. <br /><br /> Man that is worth a million pounds like that. That is the most incredible verse to me. We are invited in to be ministers of God's reconciliation in our world as ambassadors. What are you kidding me? Some of you were like, yeah, I don't want that invitation. Um, but a peacemaker is someone who takes on a completely new job title. <br /><br /> They're an ambassador for Christ. What does an ambassador do? Whatever the King tells them to do. They just represent, who's sending them a peacemaker is someone who has a new mission. The ministry of reconciliation, pointing people to the one who reconciles us to God, Jesus, and bringing about wholeness and peace among those around us. <br /><br /> The third one, peacemakers do not stir up conflict or retaliate, but respond with peace. Matthew five 38 through 40. You've heard it, that it was said eye for an eye tooth for tooth. But I tell you do not resist an evil person. I'll read this one, slow. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them, the other cheek also. <br /><br /> And if anyone wants to Sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well, all right, we're all falling to this point, except when he's like, turn your cheek. They're slapping one, you turn the other, this is just not how I was raised. And frankly, it's not how I'm raising my kids either. We want the kids to kind of fight back, right? <br /><br /> Or like protect yourself or stand up when things are wrong. This is what we do. This is how we live in our world today. But in a kingdom that's upside down shortly after Jesus preaches the sermon. He goes, Matthew chapter five, a little bit more in depth and says. This is the new way of the kingdom. The people who make peace. <br /><br /> What I am saying here is to just, I guess, be careful that if you are a follower of Christ, your highest and biggest and most important thing that you say to your kids, to your family, to your friends, how you dictate your life is really from the scriptures. And not just a mantra that maybe you've been handed down, down in your life, turn the other cheek, Matthew 2236. <br /><br /> You shall love the Lord, your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the called the Shema. And people quoted this from old Testament. All these followers would have heard this and then Jesus takes it one step further in the new Testament. He quoting this, quoting this part here. <br /><br /> This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like, it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself on these to command tank, all the law and the prophets. So what is a peacemaker? A peacemaker is an individual who knows their debts been forgiven, and now they work for King Jesus as ambassadors with this ministry of reconciling, they simply represent what the King is asking them to do. <br /><br /> Okay. Third question here, who are the sons of God? Right? Um, this is a small part of the verse, the verse here, but this question might come as you're reading this. Okay, well, uh, what is peace? What's a peace maker and what are they going to call me? The sons of God for it? This could be a really simple answer. <br /><br /> And I think the answer is kind of simple, but you might be able to see this though, as a formula. Like if I want to be a son of God, I'll just make peace and be a peaceful person and I'll get son of God. And what I don't think is happening there is that, um, the formula for salvation is very clear. It is by grace alone, through faith alone, not anything that we can do to earn or to receive this. <br /><br /> And so what's happening here is we're being called sons of God, because we kind of look like the father who is peace. Jesus, who is peace. Maybe you've had this happen before where you're going somewhere and you're talking and you're like, Oh man, you, you sound exactly like your dad. And some of you were like, yes, I have had that experienced before. <br /><br /> And it's not been a good pleasant one because my dad was a horrible person. Or maybe like me, your dad is just a touch above like tolerable. And so it's a really good thing. When you enjoy someone saying that you look like your dad? No, my dad is a wonderful person. Um, probably teaching the kids in the kid's ministry this morning. <br /><br /> But you hear that and it's good news, right? If I look like my dad, that's a, that's a really good thing. And so here, if we're being called sons of God, it's because we're looking like the one who sent us, those who are part of God's upside down kingdom, make peace and look like the one who very much is peace, but they will be called out, right? <br /><br /> They will be called sons of God. People might ask you why in the world would you show this person love? What's the point of reconciling that relationship, cut them off. It's done. They moved away. You've moved on. There's no point. What are you going to do now? Why would you engage in this reconciliation? <br /><br /> And you say, no, I I'm reading the scriptures. And what he's saying here is to align yourself with King. Jesus is to be a peacemaker. I'm his child. And therefore I engage in this way of living John 1334, a new commandment. I give you to love one another as I have loved you. So you must also love one another. <br /><br /> And hi this, everyone will know that you are my disciples. If you love one another, you'll be known by love. You'll be known by the way that you make peace. And if maybe people know you in a different way, I guess you would ask the question. Do I really look like God? Why are they calling me a son of God here? <br /><br /> Or are they calling me a pretty angry person or a person who stirs up conflict? First, Peter actually encourages us even deeper here. It says, uh, first, first, Peter three, look at this. But even if you should say offer for righteousness sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as Holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you. <br /><br /> A reason for the hope that you have, that is in you. You do it with gentleness yet. I'm sorry. Yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience so that when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior, Christ may be put to shame. You get an attack for being a good follower of Christ. <br /><br /> You feeling like, w who are you? Like, you're going to be nice to this person. Why are you doing that plan on it? It's coming, it's happening. This is the point, right? That when they stick up and they point at you and say how ridiculous you are being so kind and a peacemaker here, you say, I'm telling you why. <br /><br /> Here's the reason for the hope that I have Christ. This is my purpose. One final part of this section here, who are the sons of God, man, if you are a lady in the room, you could be like, here we go again. The scriptures talking about the dudes, not including the ladies. And I want to say, I don't get it cause I'm not a woman. <br /><br /> But what I do want to say is be careful, be careful not to run ahead and just say, and they also really mean the women as well, because what's being said here specifically in this text is intentional. Okay. There is a cultural revolution that happens when Jesus says to a crowd, not only of his disciples, but followers, men and women who have just been healed demons have been cast out there listening. <br /><br /> And he says, you will be called sons. Of God. Why is that important? Well, if you're an ancient near Eastern Jewish person, you understood that the heir to the father's inheritance was only the male in the family. And so men of the household will then in turn, provide for the women. But when Jesus says in particular sons of God and here and in other places as well, he's saying men, women in Christ, you were all heirs to the throne. <br /><br /> You are heirs to the throne. This is not some family lineage thing. You are an heir to the throne, each one. So who are the sons of God, followers of Christ, Christians living part of God's kingdom and actively engaging in making peace in such a way that people would call it out in our very lives. Okay. <br /><br /> Last thing here, how do I make peace? While we talked about the nature of peace in the old Testament, this Shalom, we talked about irony in the new Testament, Jesus being the eternal sacrifice for our sins. We have peace with God. So here are a couple of examples of ways this works out, possibly pursuing reconciliation with one another. <br /><br /> Are there people in your life who you've wronged? Are there people maybe in your life who have wronged you. We have a ministry here called celebrate recovery. Um, it's out of Saddleback church in California. It's an incredible ministry based off of the principles in the beatitudes. What we've been studying. <br /><br /> Those are the principles that they work through in the steps to, to work toward recovery. And so I want you to listen to steps eight and nine this morning out of Matthew five, verses five and seven here's. Here's the steps for self recovery, eight, eight, and nine. Evaluate all my relationships, offer forgiveness to those who have hurt me and make amends for harm. <br /><br /> I've done to others when possible, except when to do so would harm them or others. And then the versus happy or blessed are the merciful happy or blessed? Are the peacemakers. Possibly as you're saturated with God's forgiveness, you know, their relationships that you've either cut off or walled off or pushed away, or we just don't talk to them anymore. <br /><br /> Part of our family, Proverbs 16, seven says when a man's ways, please, the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him. And if we're following after the Lord and we're aligning with who he is, even our enemies as we live in this way of peace will be a peace with us. Now, there is one caveat here that we found kind of in the step and also in the scriptures that there are going to be people who are like, don't ever talk to me again. <br /><br /> You cannot make amends with me. I don't want to see you or hear from you ever again. And some of your like, yeah. Um, You can't fix someone else's brokenness. You can only do your part. So Romans 12, 18, if possible. So far as it depends on you live peaceably with everyone of living. As God's people in his kingdom is living this completely upside down, down backwards way of life. <br /><br /> And so here's another example of another backwards way or an example of living out this peacemaking, um, way of life, Matthew, 1815. If your brother sins against you go and rebuke him in private, if he listens to you, you've won over your brother. Jesus is saying this and we're kind of like, wait just a minute, like someone's sins against me. <br /><br /> I'm going to go and talk with them. Like they should come apologize to me. I'm the one who's hurt here. Why are you telling me to go and have a conversation with the one who is unkind to me? The simple answer. Well, because Jesus said so, um, in Matthew 18, 15, he says, go initiate this conversation. Among those that know him, he also says, this is about this unity among the body of Christ, Ephesians four, as a prisoner for the Lord. <br /><br /> Then I urge you to live a life of the calling. You've received. Be completely humble and gentle. Be patient bearing with one another in love, make every effort to keep the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace. Then verse 14, then we will no longer be infants tossed back and forth by the waves and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people and their deceitful scheming. <br /><br /> Instead speaking the truth in love, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every aspect. Every respect, the mature body of him, who is the head that is Christ. We make peace. When there's a disagreement, when there's something difficult, we walk and we speak in love. We bring things up. We don't just let them fester. <br /><br /> Oftentimes it's easier to just avoid. And maybe you could even say, people would think I'm a peaceful person, but on the inside, I am living a chaotic life because I have just, just stuffed and stuffed and stuffed. That's not peace. That's not biblical peace making either that is avoiding, but speaking the truth in love, we confront with grace, notice that this does not just say in the body of Christ at fellowship community church, but it also includes the body of Christ at large. <br /><br /> And so keeping this bond of peace because of the spirit, man, if there's a church that's really hurt you. If there are people in other places in your life that are tied to other places, keep the bond of peace and unity through the spirit. By having some really honest conversations, man, if that's a confusing statement to you, I'd love to talk with you because especially as a pastor, I would love nothing more than if there is a disagreement that we could have conversations and that we could be part of that reconciliation, wherever God leads us. <br /><br /> We live in a country who sees brokenness and divide all over in the last month. And the last month here in the United States, there have been 45 mass shootings. It's an astounding statistic. When you think about this conversation of peacemaking, a nation is screaming out in anger and hate and often confusion. <br /><br /> And Jesus says life in my kingdom, my children will be known as peace makers as the people who were sitting on the Hill, listening to Jesus speak, you would have heard this beatitude as a laser focused bomb. That goes off, be a peacemaker. He says, these are my children. Well Shalom. Yeah. We know that we can give that to you. <br /><br /> We, we have greetings and we talk and we say Shalom to people, peace be with you. And they leave and all those things, but the Jewish people would not offer peace to everyone. They would not give this Shalom to those that were Samaritans. Or if you were a pagan, in fact, many Jews would take very careful measures to not give you Shalom. <br /><br /> And they would actually give you a curse as you walked by like a muttering under your breath. And I don't know where this comes from, but there's evidence that it was actually sometimes like they would curse your mother too. Like the mom jokes come from this biblical heritage of like people cursing each other. <br /><br /> If you are a Samaritan, you would be cursed by Jewish people, not greeted with peace, just because you are a Samaritan. Jesus gave the parable of the good Samaritan as an example of this love as he comes in contact with two different cultural norms, here's a quote, just summarizing it that I love that talks about this. <br /><br /> The fact that there was such dislike and hostility between Jews and Samaritans is what gives the use of the Samaritan in the parable of the good Samaritan such force. The Samaritan is the one who is able to rise above the bigotry and prejudice of centuries and show mercy and compassion for the injured Jewish man. <br /><br /> After the Jews own countrymen had passed him by keeping this long running feud in mind, Jesus, as he goes and meets the woman at the well was like completely counter-cultural why would he be doing this? It was surprising. It was shocking. It was the way of his kingdom. He would usher in a kingdom of peace and peacemakers. <br /><br /> This is active and engaging and just like Jesus did. In most cases, it doesn't first start big, right? Like. Miss America pageant, I think is where they say like, and world peace, you know, like this is what I want for me and for my people and for the whole world is just peace, but who really goes and accomplishes world peace, unless they first, as Jesus directs us here in the scriptures all throughout to say, what am I doing in my own heart? <br /><br /> Do I have peace with God? And then am I a minister of that reconciliation before we aim corporate and national, no peace with God wrestle in your own heart. The eighth blessed beatitude is an invitation to bring hope to a lost world. The hope of Jesus, the peace of Jesus. So convinced of his grace that we speak of it often the one who made peace between, and God freely offers you the chance to have forgiveness. <br /><br /> And peace and be part of that mission this morning, an invitation to pursue peace in the midst of conflict, not shying away from difficult, but speaking the truth in love and invitation to engage in building bridges, among cultures, with peace. And so we ask and we lament and we join in when things are hard and we listen to stories because your experience is different than mine. <br /><br /> As his ambassadors. We joined in this ministry. God, thank you for making, uh, Jesus to come and be our peace Lord. The old Testament system of sacrificing to find our right standing with you accomplished in Christ the new Testament. And so when he comes to speak about being a peace maker, these people were one day going to understand. <br /><br /> One day they would get it, that you were the ultimate initiator of peace. Lord, make us a blessing to our world that we would be people that make peace and be our part of peace. Not just avoid me. Thank you God, for the opportunity that you bring to help us to know you. Um, you want to be known and you invite us into this journey with you. <br /><br /> Uh, we thank you and pray these things in your name. Amen. May you carry his peace to the world this week? You are dismissed.</div> false no <![CDATA[Blessed are the Pure in Heart]]> Matthew 5:8

Blessed are the pure in heart for, they will see God



Matthew chapter five, I'm going to read verses three through eight, which are the beatitudes, and we're going to be focusing this morning in verse eight.

Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek for, they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled. Bless it are the merciful for, they will be shown mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart for, they will see God let's pray.

Lord. I worship you this morning that you want to be seen that it's your pleasure to make yourself known to your children and that we can know you personally, we can do life with you. We can find the, the freedom of basking in the enjoyment of yourself. So Lord teach us what it means to be pure and heart that we can see God in Jesus name.

Amen. We've been looking at the sermon on the Mount, the upside down life is the series title that we've given to it. Uh, we've been looking initially at the beatitudes, these eight first emphases, the blesseds where Jesus is giving us the values of the kingdom life that he is talking about. This, this life that, that really turns life.

As we know it on its head, the beatitudes do that. They give us a world, turned upside down. Pastor Ben talked about this last time when he talked about the fifth, beatitude bless it. The merciful for they will be shown mercy in his message. He highlighted the fact that. This B attitude speaks to the world of power.

He mentioned how typically it is those in positions of power that are most responsible to show mercy. And this of course goes against our perspective of, of power. Power is revered because it gives you influence and prestige control power becomes something then to be protected and preserved and guarded.

It tends to manifest itself. Then in, in attitudes like greed or manipulation or self ambition, those are much more identifiable characteristics of people in power, us in power than showing mercy. Yet Jesus says in his kingdom power is an opportunity to be merciful. It is an opportunity in power as a leader, as a parent, as a boss, as an owner, to be mercy extenders, this bad attitude speaks to the world of power.

The bad attitude we're looking at this morning speaks to the world of religion and spirituality, three aspects that we're going to look at this morning of this concept of being pure in heart. Let's look at them together. The first is simply where being pure or being clean is focused. The word being pure, uh, the pure in heart is actually the word pure means clean or unmixed.

And the first thing we find is where people often focus this purity or their sense of being clean. Now up to this point, Any Pharisees that were in the audience. And we know there were some in the audience would have been utterly befuddled by everything. Jesus has said. I mean, these five be attitudes he's talking about just don't make a lot of sense with their worldview of the faith.

But number six, he says this, or bless it, or the pure God. Finally, they've got something to fist bump Jesus about, they understand this concept, purity, unmixed stuff in your life, having your life clean. This is their whole company concept of spirituality and religiosity. And of course, for us, it isn't that alien.

We talk about things about individuals who are godly and righteous of having cleanness cleanliness in their lives. We talk about dirty jokes. We talk about filthy behavior. We talk about foul language. We want to have clean records. We want to have a reputation that is spotless and decide idea of purity, of not having mixed stuff that, that dirties the mix is a valid when we understand it, the fact that purity is a priority was not a radical concept in Jesus' day, in terms of religion, it was the primary reality to Pharisaical, religion.

Everyone recognized the need of having an unmixed life of purity. Back before my time, which you may wonder if you're a young person, if there really was time before my time. But back when dinosaurs ruled the earth in a series of an a period of time called fundamentalism, there was a Diddy that came out and this was the Diddy.

And the people used to say, I don't drink smoke or chew. And I don't hang with the girls that do the first is, would have loved that kind of thing. I'm not going to do this. I'm not going to do this. I'm not going to do this. I'm not even going to hang with people do do this because I am living a pure life.

I am living an un-mic next life with uncleanliness. So Jesus is entering into the sweet spot of religious faith of his day. As he speaks this until he speaks the mindblower bless it, or the pure. In heart, see for the people of his day. And I would suggest for many of us today, and certainly the concept of religion today, cleanliness is about behavior.

The Pharisees were the best. They were the best at following the externals of the law. Their spiritual life was a checklist of things to maintain. Quite frankly, that can be true of our lives as well. That's how we view spiritual life. It's it's I, I do the right things. I don't do the wrong things. I check them off on for others.

Beliefs are the checklist. There's purity of belief. I've I, man, I'm, I'm ruthless about having things that the T's crossed and the I's dotted course behaviors, important beliefs are important, but that's not where Jesus is centering. The spiritual lifestyle of his kingdom. Jesus rather focus it on this thing.

He calls the heart level and where Jesus focused purity is not primarily focused on the arena of behavior. It is not primarily focused on the arena of beliefs. It is focused on the arena of worship. It is about what will be central in my life. He is saying, God wants to be unmixed with other things at the control center of your life.

It is purity of our heart. And so he says to the Pharisees on different occasions, Matthew 23, verse 25, he says woe to you, scribes and Pharisees. You hypocrites. For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate meaning has their own lives, but inside you're full of greed and self-indulgence you blind Pharisee first clean.

It's the same word, pure first purify, clean the inside of the cup that the outside also maybe clean. He talks about the whole matter of spiritual life. It is not primarily on the externals, but on the internal. Now just a sidebar here. It's really easy for us to write off the Pharisees, right? I mean, who wants to be a Pharisee?

I mean, how many of you have as your model? Your goal in life is to be fair to say ethical. So anytime I start talking about the, the Pharisees it's us and them, external guys, the legalistic guys, the performance related guys, however.

You know, desire to not get hung up on external religion. We need to remember another thing that Jesus said in Matthew 23. And here's what he said. He say again, he's, he's talking to the Pharisee and he says, you tie and have neglected the weightier matters of the law justice and mercy and faithfulness.

These you are to have done without neglecting the former. What is he saying? You guys tie, then he doesn't say that doesn't matter. What matters is, is, is justice and mercy and kindness. No, he says, yes. Hi guys. That's good. But the way we matters, the manner of the heart, you don't do. Sue's not saying that externals don't matter.

He's not saying that that obedience and faithfulness to the things of God don't matter, but he is saying the spirit with which they are done is dramatically. Important. He's saying that the most important is she is what is going on in your heart. Your motive matters, your desire matters, but he's not saying obedience doesn't matter to pure in heart means that the reason you tie the reason you do what you do is God-centered, that's what he's saying.

That God's the focus it's not to be seen by other people it's not to, to, to, to Mark off your checkbook. It's not because you're scared to death that, you know, if you don't do it, this might have no, you love God. He says, there's this desire that, that the, that the pure unmixed heart's spirit is. I want God to be in control.

I want God to be central in every part of your life. The problem with the Pharisees season, we'll see this in chapter six is they were doing good things in order to be able to do a Facebook post about it. They wanted people to see, they wanted people to hear they wanted to be known. And he says this nullifies, the value of the whole work doesn't mean the work was wrong,

but it means the spirit behind it corrupted. The whole thing in Jesus' kingdom, the people are compelled. We are compelled to go heart deep to ask what is ruling my heart? What am I worshiping in the way I'm talking? The way I'm acting, the way I'm thinking, what we worship at the heart level. Is our God at that moment, this is the picture of, of, of spiritual life from cover to cover of the scripture that Jesus is addressing the level of the heart, because he says, what is ruling your heart is what matters.

It is an issue of worship. And he says, I don't want mixed in there. Other things that hold your heart. I don't want other mixed in gods. So what, what, what is this all about when he talks to the heart level? Well, back in Zika, chapter 14, Jesus, God gives a, a picture of, I think, a parallel perspective there.

He talks about this thing called idols of the heart. Things that become prominent to us that become centralized in our lives. And here's what he says. And he's equal chapter 14, verse five. God says, I'll do this to recapture the hearts of the people of Israel who have all deserted me for their idols. He says, they've let other things control their hearts.

These things are mixed in. I want purity. I want devotion that is focused on me. It doesn't mean they'll ever screw up, but it means that trajectory of their heart is to come back and say, Lord, I want you to be God. I want you to be Lord. I want you to be the object of all my life, the trajectory of all that I'm doing in desiring.

So how do we know that something is idolized in our life? What is there that, that demarcates and idle, and I'd like to share three things. And this is again, a far broader study than this morning would allow, however, I think it's foundational understanding when he says don't have unmixed things, ruling your heart.

Well, how, how do we get them to be there? Number one, we love something more than God. There's a commercial. Um, probably was a couple of years ago now, but it used to be during all the ball games. It was a, it was an, a beer commercial. And a guy was sitting in a, in a bar outside, actually on the street, outside tables, on the sidewalk with his girlfriend.

And he's got his dog at his feet and he's, they've got the beer on the table with them. And, and she's asking him this question, she's trying to test his devotion. And she said, if there was a fire, would you save me first? Or your mom? He says, babe, I'd save you. She says, secondly, if there was a fire, would you save me or your dog first?

And he looks down at the dog and the dog looks up sort of a sad expression. And he says, babe, I I'd save you. And then she says, the kicker, would you save me or your beer? And it's met with too long, a moment of silence. And the next thing you see is her storming off away. Why? Because she found out what it captured, this guy's heart.

In his case, a bottle of beer, he was devoted to it. What you love is what holds your heart. It's what you feel. You can't live without Chuck Swindoll tells the story of one time talking to Corrie 10, boom and Corrie 10 boom, who wrote the hiding play of the story of the cutting place about her and. Had lived through the Holocaust, loved Christ and late in her life was meeting with chucks and doll, a pastor.

And she said to him, Chuck, hold nothing tightly, whatever you hold tightly, God will have to pry open your hand to take it out of your hand, that he can be the central reality in life. Jesus is saying, I want to be first in my kingdom. Purity of heart means there's not a whole bunch. There's not other stuff that's, that's mixed in that.

That is dearest to you.

There were a number of people were told during the days of Jesus, among the religious leaders that believed in him, but in John 12, that makes this sobering statement. It says.

Get the exact phrase. They, they did not openly evolve their faith in him because, and here's the phrase. They loved the praise of men more than the praise of God that was mixed in their hearts were not to Christ enough. Something else ruled their hearts to refuse to act with integrity at work is to say, I love my job more than Christ to refuse to break off a relationship that you know, that God is prompting you to do is to say, I love that person more than Jesus to say that I am refusing to give means you love your financial security more than Christ.

He is saying. Purity of heart. That, that, that devotion to me is unmixed with other things. The second thing that tells us that something has been mixed in as a God in our hearts is that we trust it more than God, Isaiah 44 verse 17 says this, he's talking about an idol maker. And he says, he makes a God, his idol.

He bows down to it and worships, he prays to it and says, save me. You are my God. And we would laugh at the picture of building something and then saying, okay, we bow down and now save me. But what he's saying is when we have an idol in our heart, we're doing the same thing, trusting it. It's what we are, depending on I watched a recent video.

Somebody in our church gave me to watch, and it was about a, it was a guy speaking on the, on the subject of finances and it was only about 10 minute videos. Maybe maybe 15, it was really powerful. And basically he was just doing it sort of a winsome way. He was showing a history of, of, of America and basically presenting the fact, which we probably all know that basically the way that we Americans live is unique in world history.

Basically the average American lives at a level of the aristocracy and in past generations, I mean, it is without precedent. We are the most wealthy, uh, uh, civilization in the history of the world. This is without dispute yet. And this was the thought that just was striking to me. We are the nation that has the greatest debt personally, as well as nationally in the history of the world.

There is no question. The greed is our national sin. Now there are others. But the reality he was trying to say is we are astonishingly

addicted to financial security and protecting ourselves. And even beyond buying beyond what we really can afford

trust in money is just one of many things. And I'm just, I'm going to say this because I do believe this is an issue that we, as Christians have to take some ownership of

at every level of your life. You will find reasons to not trust God with your money. And by that, I'm partly saying giving. Well, I can't really give now because you know, at every level of your life, you will find reasons I'm speaking now to, to younger adults will certainly I can't give now because I'm paying off college loans will then you'll find I can't give now because we're saving for our first house and then you'll find, well, I can't give now because we need a bigger house.

Our family is beginning to grow and then you'll find I've got to save for, for college bills and my girls are getting married and then you'll find you need money to travel, to do things, to be with your family because your kids are scattered. And then you'll find you need money to save for your retirement.

You've got to have the nest egg. You will always find reasons at every stage of life to say this isn't a good time. It's just not.

But what he's saying to us is money along with other things, but money. And our response to it. If we're trusting in our money, that has become a mixed in idolatry. And he sang my people. The kingdom is marked by purity of heart. There's one God, there's one person. There's one thing they lean into and trust.

That's why he says in Matthew chapter six, nobody can serve two masters either. You'll hate the one and love the other, or you'll be devoted to the one and despise the other. You can't serve both God and money, which leads to the third thing. An idol is something that we love more than God. It is a something we trust in the place of God.

And it is something we serve in the place or more than God. Romans one 25 says it this way. They worshiped and served, created things more than the creator. Idols make demands on us. They require sacrifice and servants and service. We become their servants. Athletes will risk, health and reputation taking banned substances, serving the idol of making it to the next level.

People compromise their integrity, do business practices. They know that a wrong that they would never have considered imagining themselves doing in order to meet the demands of a position, which they can't bear to lose. It has become what they trust in, in men. It becomes what they serve. Young women do harm to their emotional and physical health and serving the elusive God of beauty and a hundred other examples could be given Rebecca pepper says it this way, whatever controls us is our Lord.

The person who seeks power is controlled by power. The person who seeks acceptance is controlled by the people he or she wants to please, we do not control ourselves. We are controlled by whatever is the Lord of our lives. Jesus says to have our lives pure at the heart level. Unmixed is that we have one Lord Christ is Lord.

He is the one we love most. He is the one we trust most. He is the one we then serve most. All right, I'm going to go quick on these other things. What being clean involves. It means not being controlled by other things. So just been talking about that, but basically our lives are to have Jesus at the control center.

Not, not every second. I mean, ideally, but we won't, but the trajectory of our life is clearly toward Jesus. We're under his Spirit's control, not other things, other people, but it also means that we are not compartmentalized in our lives. Pure of heart. Again means we don't have mixtures of Lordship where Christ is over certain parts and then other parts.

Not so much, Chris ocean liners are like this. They have a thing there they're intentionally compartmentalized. The Titanic was, was built that way. And as any great ship, it has different compartments. And the reason is when one of the compartments is compromised by a leak. The water may pour in there, but it doesn't have access to the other compartments.

What happened to the Titanic was in the front of that in the bow where you see the blue, what has taken place was a, they scraped against a big iceberg and it actually ripped a number of those compartments over open. What happened, the water poured in, and there was enough weight that the ship began to tilt down.

And on top of those compartments, there was an opening. Nobody imagined they would fill up with water. They filled up with water and they began to spill one after another, after another, until the entire ship went down the picture. Of a ship is the idea that, that we should be compartmentalized. That's how we naturally live our lives.

This part I'll have this part, I'll have this part. And, and, and it's what the Pharisees would do. And externally, they were doing a lot of good things. They would give him their money. He said, it's pretty commendable. They were tithing regularly. But as far as how they treated people, as far as how they viewed themselves, there were parts of their lives that were utterly compartmentalised away from God.

And they were absolutely serving other things. We can serve greed. We can serve lust. We can serve, uh, allow compartments that are, that are built around bitterness. There can be relationships in there that are compartments and say, well, well, I love God and I want God to be Lord of my life, but. But not this compartment, not this part.

And our lives can be compartmentalized. We can allow envy. And one of the compartments, Jesus is saying, I want the whole boat. I want the whole heart.

I want to be Lord of all. And he says in my kingdom, purity is not just the external stuff. It's not that that's not important, but that's actually an outflow of hearts that are yielded to me and belong to me. So what does being clean in this sense? Unmixed in our hearts, what does it produce? They will see God, John 14.

Jesus said it this way. Whoever has my commandments and keeps them. He is the one who loves me and he loves him. He will be loved by my father and I will love him and manifest myself to him. I will make myself known to him. When you surrender your heart to the Lord, you will see God. He makes himself known to us

last couple of weeks. Um, I was, uh, uh, especially about 10 days ago, I was just really overwhelmed with responsibilities and stuff on every level of my life and, and we in our community group, um, which I, Marin Alita community group of young marrieds. And I asked one of the girls to bring a question, um, Jay that we can all interact with.

And it ended up being the entire focus of the night and her question, which I didn't know she was going to do this to me. But the question was it asked this with the cross that God is allowing you to bear. Now, the burdens you have, are you responding with a spirit of gratitude or grumbling? Okay. And I, of course, this was the worst question to come at this moment.

And I found out the question the afternoon of that Wednesday and couldn't get out of going. I was in charge. So I went and I had to sit there. And again, our groups real, we talk real and Marianne wasn't with me that night. She had just gotten her second vaccine and she wasn't feeling well. And that was true.

But in the course of the night, I had to point to the chair and say, Marin's not here because she doesn't really want to be with me right now because she's afraid I'm going to be upset with something she says, because somehow it will be a reflection on now we've done a lot for a long time with these guys and they know us and they know the dirt and they know the, that was, that was the reason that that's what I was bringing.

I was agitated and upset. And so any little thing that might cause me to have more, to carry and more burdens to bear, but I'm saying that is this. After that Wednesday night, when the Lord just reached out, grabbed me around the throat. I repented. I turned to the Lord, gave him all those things. One after another, all these silly things that are just eating me up one after another, I yielded them and I cannot overstate the incredible freedom with Christ.

The joy of the Lord that the Psalm four said this, this is one of our nighttime readings Varian. And I had recently. And I just thought that is so true. It says, but I know the Lord has set apart. The godly for himself. The Lord hears when I called him some four or five, you says these people they're mine.

I want them to drink it. The well of my goodness. I want them to find comfort and satisfaction and contentment and joy in me. He says, don't settle for other things. You're trusting in your own resources, trusting in something else, loving something else fearful because of other things, I don't know where you are, but I guess this is a bunch of you online or in this room right now that will say, am I quiet?

Hardly my living in the joy of the Lord. Am I living where, where my whole, the whole trajectory of my life is just enjoying God,

if you'd say no. Can I just say this to you? He delights to reach people to reach out to you. If you are he delights to say, come yield, surrender, give it to me. Because when you do that, you open the door for you to see me. That's what he's saying. Right? Bless it are the pure in heart. Four, they see God, the alternative is those who are living with unmixed.

God's ruling their heart, their own resources, their own strength, money, whatever else he says, you miss the joy of embracing and experiencing and seeing me, it's why Jesus said, if you love me, keep my commandments because not only will I be the door, be open for me to express my love juices. I will make myself known to you.

You'll have all of me, but you won't have all of me. If you've got other gods that are pushing their way in. If your heart is mixed,

it's different ways. We've gone with this series on the beatitudes. Some really feeling prompted to just talk about the beauty of God. It is the beauty of God that is behind this sermon. But this sermon also is a challenge. It's a challenge to surrender. Say, Lord, I'm not living pure. I'm not living unmixed mixed.

There's other things, ruling my heart. There's other things grasping at me. There's other things that I love. There's other things I'm serving. There's other things I'm depending on, but right here right now, I want to say, God, I give him, I surrender. I want you to take it. I all those things. So I've asked the worship team this morning and they're going to come after I finished praying.

And they're going to lead us in a song that expresses that desire. I surrender Lord. It is stunning to us it over and over and over. As you watch us wander away as you watch us fill our lives with other things, as we, as we fight against your Lordship in certain areas of her life. Every time

when we show that small inclination to say, Lord, I want to yield. I want to surrender. I want to give it over to you. You seem to just delight, loving on us and making yourself known to a Scott. There are people here this morning that aren't seeing you because of other things that are mixed into their lives.

Lord, may this moment, this song be the expression of their hearts in Jesus' name. I pray.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/blessed-are-the-pure-in-heart 8996674c-8a9e-4be0-bebe-86ee4edba8ab Sun, 11 Apr 2021 15:45:52 GMT <div data-html="true">Matthew 5:8 <br /><br /> Blessed are the pure in heart for, they will see God <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Matthew chapter five, I'm going to read verses three through eight, which are the beatitudes, and we're going to be focusing this morning in verse eight. <br /><br /> Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek for, they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled. Bless it are the merciful for, they will be shown mercy. <br /><br /> Blessed are the pure in heart for, they will see God let's pray. <br /><br /> Lord. I worship you this morning that you want to be seen that it's your pleasure to make yourself known to your children and that we can know you personally, we can do life with you. We can find the, the freedom of basking in the enjoyment of yourself. So Lord teach us what it means to be pure and heart that we can see God in Jesus name. <br /><br /> Amen. We've been looking at the sermon on the Mount, the upside down life is the series title that we've given to it. Uh, we've been looking initially at the beatitudes, these eight first emphases, the blesseds where Jesus is giving us the values of the kingdom life that he is talking about. This, this life that, that really turns life. <br /><br /> As we know it on its head, the beatitudes do that. They give us a world, turned upside down. Pastor Ben talked about this last time when he talked about the fifth, beatitude bless it. The merciful for they will be shown mercy in his message. He highlighted the fact that. This B attitude speaks to the world of power. <br /><br /> He mentioned how typically it is those in positions of power that are most responsible to show mercy. And this of course goes against our perspective of, of power. Power is revered because it gives you influence and prestige control power becomes something then to be protected and preserved and guarded. <br /><br /> It tends to manifest itself. Then in, in attitudes like greed or manipulation or self ambition, those are much more identifiable characteristics of people in power, us in power than showing mercy. Yet Jesus says in his kingdom power is an opportunity to be merciful. It is an opportunity in power as a leader, as a parent, as a boss, as an owner, to be mercy extenders, this bad attitude speaks to the world of power. <br /><br /> The bad attitude we're looking at this morning speaks to the world of religion and spirituality, three aspects that we're going to look at this morning of this concept of being pure in heart. Let's look at them together. The first is simply where being pure or being clean is focused. The word being pure, uh, the pure in heart is actually the word pure means clean or unmixed. <br /><br /> And the first thing we find is where people often focus this purity or their sense of being clean. Now up to this point, Any Pharisees that were in the audience. And we know there were some in the audience would have been utterly befuddled by everything. Jesus has said. I mean, these five be attitudes he's talking about just don't make a lot of sense with their worldview of the faith. <br /><br /> But number six, he says this, or bless it, or the pure God. Finally, they've got something to fist bump Jesus about, they understand this concept, purity, unmixed stuff in your life, having your life clean. This is their whole company concept of spirituality and religiosity. And of course, for us, it isn't that alien. <br /><br /> We talk about things about individuals who are godly and righteous of having cleanness cleanliness in their lives. We talk about dirty jokes. We talk about filthy behavior. We talk about foul language. We want to have clean records. We want to have a reputation that is spotless and decide idea of purity, of not having mixed stuff that, that dirties the mix is a valid when we understand it, the fact that purity is a priority was not a radical concept in Jesus' day, in terms of religion, it was the primary reality to Pharisaical, religion. <br /><br /> Everyone recognized the need of having an unmixed life of purity. Back before my time, which you may wonder if you're a young person, if there really was time before my time. But back when dinosaurs ruled the earth in a series of an a period of time called fundamentalism, there was a Diddy that came out and this was the Diddy. <br /><br /> And the people used to say, I don't drink smoke or chew. And I don't hang with the girls that do the first is, would have loved that kind of thing. I'm not going to do this. I'm not going to do this. I'm not going to do this. I'm not even going to hang with people do do this because I am living a pure life. <br /><br /> I am living an un-mic next life with uncleanliness. So Jesus is entering into the sweet spot of religious faith of his day. As he speaks this until he speaks the mindblower bless it, or the pure. In heart, see for the people of his day. And I would suggest for many of us today, and certainly the concept of religion today, cleanliness is about behavior. <br /><br /> The Pharisees were the best. They were the best at following the externals of the law. Their spiritual life was a checklist of things to maintain. Quite frankly, that can be true of our lives as well. That's how we view spiritual life. It's it's I, I do the right things. I don't do the wrong things. I check them off on for others. <br /><br /> Beliefs are the checklist. There's purity of belief. I've I, man, I'm, I'm ruthless about having things that the T's crossed and the I's dotted course behaviors, important beliefs are important, but that's not where Jesus is centering. The spiritual lifestyle of his kingdom. Jesus rather focus it on this thing. <br /><br /> He calls the heart level and where Jesus focused purity is not primarily focused on the arena of behavior. It is not primarily focused on the arena of beliefs. It is focused on the arena of worship. It is about what will be central in my life. He is saying, God wants to be unmixed with other things at the control center of your life. <br /><br /> It is purity of our heart. And so he says to the Pharisees on different occasions, Matthew 23, verse 25, he says woe to you, scribes and Pharisees. You hypocrites. For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate meaning has their own lives, but inside you're full of greed and self-indulgence you blind Pharisee first clean. <br /><br /> It's the same word, pure first purify, clean the inside of the cup that the outside also maybe clean. He talks about the whole matter of spiritual life. It is not primarily on the externals, but on the internal. Now just a sidebar here. It's really easy for us to write off the Pharisees, right? I mean, who wants to be a Pharisee? <br /><br /> I mean, how many of you have as your model? Your goal in life is to be fair to say ethical. So anytime I start talking about the, the Pharisees it's us and them, external guys, the legalistic guys, the performance related guys, however. <br /><br /> You know, desire to not get hung up on external religion. We need to remember another thing that Jesus said in Matthew 23. And here's what he said. He say again, he's, he's talking to the Pharisee and he says, you tie and have neglected the weightier matters of the law justice and mercy and faithfulness. <br /><br /> These you are to have done without neglecting the former. What is he saying? You guys tie, then he doesn't say that doesn't matter. What matters is, is, is justice and mercy and kindness. No, he says, yes. Hi guys. That's good. But the way we matters, the manner of the heart, you don't do. Sue's not saying that externals don't matter. <br /><br /> He's not saying that that obedience and faithfulness to the things of God don't matter, but he is saying the spirit with which they are done is dramatically. Important. He's saying that the most important is she is what is going on in your heart. Your motive matters, your desire matters, but he's not saying obedience doesn't matter to pure in heart means that the reason you tie the reason you do what you do is God-centered, that's what he's saying. <br /><br /> That God's the focus it's not to be seen by other people it's not to, to, to, to Mark off your checkbook. It's not because you're scared to death that, you know, if you don't do it, this might have no, you love God. He says, there's this desire that, that the, that the pure unmixed heart's spirit is. I want God to be in control. <br /><br /> I want God to be central in every part of your life. The problem with the Pharisees season, we'll see this in chapter six is they were doing good things in order to be able to do a Facebook post about it. They wanted people to see, they wanted people to hear they wanted to be known. And he says this nullifies, the value of the whole work doesn't mean the work was wrong, <br /><br /> but it means the spirit behind it corrupted. The whole thing in Jesus' kingdom, the people are compelled. We are compelled to go heart deep to ask what is ruling my heart? What am I worshiping in the way I'm talking? The way I'm acting, the way I'm thinking, what we worship at the heart level. Is our God at that moment, this is the picture of, of, of spiritual life from cover to cover of the scripture that Jesus is addressing the level of the heart, because he says, what is ruling your heart is what matters. <br /><br /> It is an issue of worship. And he says, I don't want mixed in there. Other things that hold your heart. I don't want other mixed in gods. So what, what, what is this all about when he talks to the heart level? Well, back in Zika, chapter 14, Jesus, God gives a, a picture of, I think, a parallel perspective there. <br /><br /> He talks about this thing called idols of the heart. Things that become prominent to us that become centralized in our lives. And here's what he says. And he's equal chapter 14, verse five. God says, I'll do this to recapture the hearts of the people of Israel who have all deserted me for their idols. He says, they've let other things control their hearts. <br /><br /> These things are mixed in. I want purity. I want devotion that is focused on me. It doesn't mean they'll ever screw up, but it means that trajectory of their heart is to come back and say, Lord, I want you to be God. I want you to be Lord. I want you to be the object of all my life, the trajectory of all that I'm doing in desiring. <br /><br /> So how do we know that something is idolized in our life? What is there that, that demarcates and idle, and I'd like to share three things. And this is again, a far broader study than this morning would allow, however, I think it's foundational understanding when he says don't have unmixed things, ruling your heart. <br /><br /> Well, how, how do we get them to be there? Number one, we love something more than God. There's a commercial. Um, probably was a couple of years ago now, but it used to be during all the ball games. It was a, it was an, a beer commercial. And a guy was sitting in a, in a bar outside, actually on the street, outside tables, on the sidewalk with his girlfriend. <br /><br /> And he's got his dog at his feet and he's, they've got the beer on the table with them. And, and she's asking him this question, she's trying to test his devotion. And she said, if there was a fire, would you save me first? Or your mom? He says, babe, I'd save you. She says, secondly, if there was a fire, would you save me or your dog first? <br /><br /> And he looks down at the dog and the dog looks up sort of a sad expression. And he says, babe, I I'd save you. And then she says, the kicker, would you save me or your beer? And it's met with too long, a moment of silence. And the next thing you see is her storming off away. Why? Because she found out what it captured, this guy's heart. <br /><br /> In his case, a bottle of beer, he was devoted to it. What you love is what holds your heart. It's what you feel. You can't live without Chuck Swindoll tells the story of one time talking to Corrie 10, boom and Corrie 10 boom, who wrote the hiding play of the story of the cutting place about her and. Had lived through the Holocaust, loved Christ and late in her life was meeting with chucks and doll, a pastor. <br /><br /> And she said to him, Chuck, hold nothing tightly, whatever you hold tightly, God will have to pry open your hand to take it out of your hand, that he can be the central reality in life. Jesus is saying, I want to be first in my kingdom. Purity of heart means there's not a whole bunch. There's not other stuff that's, that's mixed in that. <br /><br /> That is dearest to you. <br /><br /> There were a number of people were told during the days of Jesus, among the religious leaders that believed in him, but in John 12, that makes this sobering statement. It says. <br /><br /> Get the exact phrase. They, they did not openly evolve their faith in him because, and here's the phrase. They loved the praise of men more than the praise of God that was mixed in their hearts were not to Christ enough. Something else ruled their hearts to refuse to act with integrity at work is to say, I love my job more than Christ to refuse to break off a relationship that you know, that God is prompting you to do is to say, I love that person more than Jesus to say that I am refusing to give means you love your financial security more than Christ. <br /><br /> He is saying. Purity of heart. That, that, that devotion to me is unmixed with other things. The second thing that tells us that something has been mixed in as a God in our hearts is that we trust it more than God, Isaiah 44 verse 17 says this, he's talking about an idol maker. And he says, he makes a God, his idol. <br /><br /> He bows down to it and worships, he prays to it and says, save me. You are my God. And we would laugh at the picture of building something and then saying, okay, we bow down and now save me. But what he's saying is when we have an idol in our heart, we're doing the same thing, trusting it. It's what we are, depending on I watched a recent video. <br /><br /> Somebody in our church gave me to watch, and it was about a, it was a guy speaking on the, on the subject of finances and it was only about 10 minute videos. Maybe maybe 15, it was really powerful. And basically he was just doing it sort of a winsome way. He was showing a history of, of, of America and basically presenting the fact, which we probably all know that basically the way that we Americans live is unique in world history. <br /><br /> Basically the average American lives at a level of the aristocracy and in past generations, I mean, it is without precedent. We are the most wealthy, uh, uh, civilization in the history of the world. This is without dispute yet. And this was the thought that just was striking to me. We are the nation that has the greatest debt personally, as well as nationally in the history of the world. <br /><br /> There is no question. The greed is our national sin. Now there are others. But the reality he was trying to say is we are astonishingly <br /><br /> addicted to financial security and protecting ourselves. And even beyond buying beyond what we really can afford <br /><br /> trust in money is just one of many things. And I'm just, I'm going to say this because I do believe this is an issue that we, as Christians have to take some ownership of <br /><br /> at every level of your life. You will find reasons to not trust God with your money. And by that, I'm partly saying giving. Well, I can't really give now because you know, at every level of your life, you will find reasons I'm speaking now to, to younger adults will certainly I can't give now because I'm paying off college loans will then you'll find I can't give now because we're saving for our first house and then you'll find, well, I can't give now because we need a bigger house. <br /><br /> Our family is beginning to grow and then you'll find I've got to save for, for college bills and my girls are getting married and then you'll find you need money to travel, to do things, to be with your family because your kids are scattered. And then you'll find you need money to save for your retirement. <br /><br /> You've got to have the nest egg. You will always find reasons at every stage of life to say this isn't a good time. It's just not. <br /><br /> But what he's saying to us is money along with other things, but money. And our response to it. If we're trusting in our money, that has become a mixed in idolatry. And he sang my people. The kingdom is marked by purity of heart. There's one God, there's one person. There's one thing they lean into and trust. <br /><br /> That's why he says in Matthew chapter six, nobody can serve two masters either. You'll hate the one and love the other, or you'll be devoted to the one and despise the other. You can't serve both God and money, which leads to the third thing. An idol is something that we love more than God. It is a something we trust in the place of God. <br /><br /> And it is something we serve in the place or more than God. Romans one 25 says it this way. They worshiped and served, created things more than the creator. Idols make demands on us. They require sacrifice and servants and service. We become their servants. Athletes will risk, health and reputation taking banned substances, serving the idol of making it to the next level. <br /><br /> People compromise their integrity, do business practices. They know that a wrong that they would never have considered imagining themselves doing in order to meet the demands of a position, which they can't bear to lose. It has become what they trust in, in men. It becomes what they serve. Young women do harm to their emotional and physical health and serving the elusive God of beauty and a hundred other examples could be given Rebecca pepper says it this way, whatever controls us is our Lord. <br /><br /> The person who seeks power is controlled by power. The person who seeks acceptance is controlled by the people he or she wants to please, we do not control ourselves. We are controlled by whatever is the Lord of our lives. Jesus says to have our lives pure at the heart level. Unmixed is that we have one Lord Christ is Lord. <br /><br /> He is the one we love most. He is the one we trust most. He is the one we then serve most. All right, I'm going to go quick on these other things. What being clean involves. It means not being controlled by other things. So just been talking about that, but basically our lives are to have Jesus at the control center. <br /><br /> Not, not every second. I mean, ideally, but we won't, but the trajectory of our life is clearly toward Jesus. We're under his Spirit's control, not other things, other people, but it also means that we are not compartmentalized in our lives. Pure of heart. Again means we don't have mixtures of Lordship where Christ is over certain parts and then other parts. <br /><br /> Not so much, Chris ocean liners are like this. They have a thing there they're intentionally compartmentalized. The Titanic was, was built that way. And as any great ship, it has different compartments. And the reason is when one of the compartments is compromised by a leak. The water may pour in there, but it doesn't have access to the other compartments. <br /><br /> What happened to the Titanic was in the front of that in the bow where you see the blue, what has taken place was a, they scraped against a big iceberg and it actually ripped a number of those compartments over open. What happened, the water poured in, and there was enough weight that the ship began to tilt down. <br /><br /> And on top of those compartments, there was an opening. Nobody imagined they would fill up with water. They filled up with water and they began to spill one after another, after another, until the entire ship went down the picture. Of a ship is the idea that, that we should be compartmentalized. That's how we naturally live our lives. <br /><br /> This part I'll have this part, I'll have this part. And, and, and it's what the Pharisees would do. And externally, they were doing a lot of good things. They would give him their money. He said, it's pretty commendable. They were tithing regularly. But as far as how they treated people, as far as how they viewed themselves, there were parts of their lives that were utterly compartmentalised away from God. <br /><br /> And they were absolutely serving other things. We can serve greed. We can serve lust. We can serve, uh, allow compartments that are, that are built around bitterness. There can be relationships in there that are compartments and say, well, well, I love God and I want God to be Lord of my life, but. But not this compartment, not this part. <br /><br /> And our lives can be compartmentalized. We can allow envy. And one of the compartments, Jesus is saying, I want the whole boat. I want the whole heart. <br /><br /> I want to be Lord of all. And he says in my kingdom, purity is not just the external stuff. It's not that that's not important, but that's actually an outflow of hearts that are yielded to me and belong to me. So what does being clean in this sense? Unmixed in our hearts, what does it produce? They will see God, John 14. <br /><br /> Jesus said it this way. Whoever has my commandments and keeps them. He is the one who loves me and he loves him. He will be loved by my father and I will love him and manifest myself to him. I will make myself known to him. When you surrender your heart to the Lord, you will see God. He makes himself known to us <br /><br /> last couple of weeks. Um, I was, uh, uh, especially about 10 days ago, I was just really overwhelmed with responsibilities and stuff on every level of my life and, and we in our community group, um, which I, Marin Alita community group of young marrieds. And I asked one of the girls to bring a question, um, Jay that we can all interact with. <br /><br /> And it ended up being the entire focus of the night and her question, which I didn't know she was going to do this to me. But the question was it asked this with the cross that God is allowing you to bear. Now, the burdens you have, are you responding with a spirit of gratitude or grumbling? Okay. And I, of course, this was the worst question to come at this moment. <br /><br /> And I found out the question the afternoon of that Wednesday and couldn't get out of going. I was in charge. So I went and I had to sit there. And again, our groups real, we talk real and Marianne wasn't with me that night. She had just gotten her second vaccine and she wasn't feeling well. And that was true. <br /><br /> But in the course of the night, I had to point to the chair and say, Marin's not here because she doesn't really want to be with me right now because she's afraid I'm going to be upset with something she says, because somehow it will be a reflection on now we've done a lot for a long time with these guys and they know us and they know the dirt and they know the, that was, that was the reason that that's what I was bringing. <br /><br /> I was agitated and upset. And so any little thing that might cause me to have more, to carry and more burdens to bear, but I'm saying that is this. After that Wednesday night, when the Lord just reached out, grabbed me around the throat. I repented. I turned to the Lord, gave him all those things. One after another, all these silly things that are just eating me up one after another, I yielded them and I cannot overstate the incredible freedom with Christ. <br /><br /> The joy of the Lord that the Psalm four said this, this is one of our nighttime readings Varian. And I had recently. And I just thought that is so true. It says, but I know the Lord has set apart. The godly for himself. The Lord hears when I called him some four or five, you says these people they're mine. <br /><br /> I want them to drink it. The well of my goodness. I want them to find comfort and satisfaction and contentment and joy in me. He says, don't settle for other things. You're trusting in your own resources, trusting in something else, loving something else fearful because of other things, I don't know where you are, but I guess this is a bunch of you online or in this room right now that will say, am I quiet? <br /><br /> Hardly my living in the joy of the Lord. Am I living where, where my whole, the whole trajectory of my life is just enjoying God, <br /><br /> if you'd say no. Can I just say this to you? He delights to reach people to reach out to you. If you are he delights to say, come yield, surrender, give it to me. Because when you do that, you open the door for you to see me. That's what he's saying. Right? Bless it are the pure in heart. Four, they see God, the alternative is those who are living with unmixed. <br /><br /> God's ruling their heart, their own resources, their own strength, money, whatever else he says, you miss the joy of embracing and experiencing and seeing me, it's why Jesus said, if you love me, keep my commandments because not only will I be the door, be open for me to express my love juices. I will make myself known to you. <br /><br /> You'll have all of me, but you won't have all of me. If you've got other gods that are pushing their way in. If your heart is mixed, <br /><br /> it's different ways. We've gone with this series on the beatitudes. Some really feeling prompted to just talk about the beauty of God. It is the beauty of God that is behind this sermon. But this sermon also is a challenge. It's a challenge to surrender. Say, Lord, I'm not living pure. I'm not living unmixed mixed. <br /><br /> There's other things, ruling my heart. There's other things grasping at me. There's other things that I love. There's other things I'm serving. There's other things I'm depending on, but right here right now, I want to say, God, I give him, I surrender. I want you to take it. I all those things. So I've asked the worship team this morning and they're going to come after I finished praying. <br /><br /> And they're going to lead us in a song that expresses that desire. I surrender Lord. It is stunning to us it over and over and over. As you watch us wander away as you watch us fill our lives with other things, as we, as we fight against your Lordship in certain areas of her life. Every time <br /><br /> when we show that small inclination to say, Lord, I want to yield. I want to surrender. I want to give it over to you. You seem to just delight, loving on us and making yourself known to a Scott. There are people here this morning that aren't seeing you because of other things that are mixed into their lives. <br /><br /> Lord, may this moment, this song be the expression of their hearts in Jesus' name. I pray.</div> false no <![CDATA[Jesus Is Risen - So What?]]> I Corinthians 15:12-19

“And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.”



Good morning everybody. If you were, you can turn with me to your Bibles to first Corinthians chapter 15, which is where we're going to be going this morning. If you were not here at sunrise service, you missed a record crowd. We had to close our nine o'clock and 10 o'clock registrations early yesterday. And I think a lot of them switched over to the sunrise.

We had way over 300 people out there at six 30 in the morning, little ominous, because not only was it dark, uh, it didn't really ever get totally light because the clouds hid the sun, which came up. I kept promising it was going to rise at six 39. But it w it was a great, great time. Just beautiful time out there.

First Corinthians chapter 15. I am pastor Mark. Um, we're trying to identify ourselves this morning and looking at first Corinthians chapter 15, verses 12 through 19. Here's what we read. But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?

If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless. And so is your faith more than that? We are then found to be false witnesses about God. For, we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead, but he did not read it, but if he did not raise him, in fact, the dead are not raised for if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either.

And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile. You are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life, we have hope in Christ. We are of all people, most to be pitied. Lord, we look to you this morning. We thank you for the chance to gather here.

And in homes, watching online, God, we pray that you would enable us now, as we reflect on the truths of the resurrection of Jesus to so what's, I pray that you would, um, shape us, mold us and yeah. And Lord enable us particularly to think, well, what does this mean in my own life today in Jesus name? Amen.

I've had a chance over the years, talked to a number of different. Pastors preachers in particular. And when they're just talking, we're having conversations just about what are some principles. I always bring up this principle. I said that one of the key things in preaching is to make sure that at the end of the message, you will have answered the question.

So what I mean, it's, it's important to share truth and, and we believe the Bible histories, but people want to be able to walk away. And it isn't just a, the dactic presentation where you're, you're, you're presenting. You want to say, this is why it matters. This is why it's significant in your own personal life.

This morning, we're looking at chapter 15 of the book Corinthians. It is the most thorough presentation on the resurrection of Jesus Christ in the whole Bible. It is a passage, particularly the one we just read. That focuses on the soul Watts. What difference does it make about the resurrection of Jesus Christ?

Well, first one thing I want to, I want to say, as we enter this passage, many people like the idea of the resurrection. I mean, it's a great story. It's a, it's a, a symbol of a fresh start. It's a picture of a man standing against tyranny, sorta like the hunger games, you know, vanquish defeated and yet rising and, and throwing over the, the desk spot.

It's a picture of good triumphing over evil, but for the apostle Paul and the writers of the new Testament, this was not an interesting fable or an uplifting story of morality and hope. This was factual history to them. Guys like Paul we're literally staking their entire lives reputation. The, the, the whole trajectory of, of, uh, how they live their lives was based on this.

Either being true or not true. And that's exactly what Paul's talking about in first Corinthians 15. He says, what if he didn't rise from the dead? I mean, I mean, what if this is just a cool story and, and what if we did really pull it off and, and, and get the message out there that Jesus is raised, but really we know he died and he, you know, and that was the end of the story.

What does it mean if he did rise and what does it mean if he didn't rise? What are the, so walk about the resurrection now, the writers of the new Testament believed in factly and implicitly that Jesus 33 year old carpenter from Galilee. Was executed on the electric chair of his day was wrapped in Glade grave clothes, laid in a cold rock, hewn tomb, as dead as a human can possibly be.

And three days later came back to life. He was not in a coma. He was not drugged and appear dead to these writers. And to hundreds of other eyewitnesses, he was a literal corpse and had been in the grave three days and he Rose literally from the dead. And here, Paul is telling us the ramifications of that to his own life.

It wasn't just that Jesus was his teacher. And he had arranged himself around, under the teachings of Jesus. He says, everything is dependent on one truth. Jesus was dead and Jesus is alive. And so there are three things that I want to just simply highlight in a, in a fairly simply simple study this morning.

The first thing is if Jesus is raised from the dead the first, so what is something is over? He says this in verse 16, and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile. You are still in your sins. He says, if Jesus is still dead, if he is still in the grave, if he is still honestly a corpse, then you have hitched your wagon into the wrong horse.

Nothing's different. He says we are still in our sins now, what, what does that mean? Well, to be in your sins simply means what does it mean to be in your sins? It means that you are still in the grip of sin, that all the results from your statin is still yours. Nothing's really changed now just to play this out a little bit to be in, in our sins, mean that we are still in the state, the position of bearing the consequence of sin, the Bible makes clear what that is.

It says the way Jews of sin is death. He says, you're still in the grip of death. Now, what does that mean? Well, it's, it means two things. There are two types of, of death that are, that are prominent here. The first of those, and, and as I've mentioned this before, when the Bible uses the term death, it's talking about, uh, another way of describing that would be the one word separation.

We do, we do it that way as well. We talk about what he's given up the ghost. Uh, but that means as a spirit, as departed, that that, that person has died. That, that the material part, the body has been separated from the soul spirit. If I dropped dead on the stage this morning, I'll still be here. At least this fart will be, but my spirit soul has departed.

I have become a separated entity body here. Earth suit, if you will. But the soul spirit has departed that as physical death. It's, it's, it's been looked at that way. Uh, historically we look at it that way today. The other ramification of sin is what is called spiritual death. And this is the most important part.

Spiritual death is also separation. It is our spirit, which is our orientation towards God, where we have two orientations in our immaterial part, we have what's called the soul, which is the horizontal part. It's the word SU cost. The word we get psychology from psychology is, is, uh, evaluating and the study of how I do life with others.

And with myself, it's the horizontal level. I have a soul soulless person, but I am also a new mosque, a spirit person. There is a vertical dimension to my immaterial part, and this is what has become separated from God through sin. And Paul is saying if Jesus isn't raised you, haven't changed in the whole reality of death in your life.

First of all, when you die, that will be it. Second of all. You will never escape this state of spiritual separation or disconnection with God. Now some of you have been attending church here and maybe other places, and maybe you've gone, or maybe you've listened to a preacher on TV and you've listened to see.

That is so interesting. I mean, those people talk about God. Like he's somebody you can personally do life with and personally know, and, and maybe your honest expression, maybe never sanitation buddy, maybe just processing is I just feel like I'm, I'm sort of looking through a glass and, and I I'm there, but I don't get this idea of personal relationship and, and, and knowing God M's.

And I mean, I'm an, I believe in God. I believe God's real. I believe he's big. I believe he's loving all of a sudden, but I don't get the, the, the, the personal relationship part. Well, what the Bible says is there is because of sin, all of us are born in a state of disconnection with God. We can learn about God.

We can believe things about God, but as far as being connected with him in relationship, the way we were originally designed to be and was broken because of sin, Jesus, resurrection has everything to do with that being repaired. Paul says we're still in that state of disconnection with God. If Jesus hasn't been raised from the dead, but he says, if Jesus Rose, first of all, when we physically die, it's not the end.

He is the first fruits of the scene. He's the one that enables us to experience something beyond this grave, ultimately life beyond this grave, but he says also. He's the one that enables us to have connection with God, to have a relationship with God where our spirits have been, been separated and disconnection disconnected.

There's a disease that I would guess some of you you have, or, or have, have known of. It's called my Estonia gravis. And it's basically a disease where the, the, uh, whenever I do my wife's father was a, uh, biology professor. Whenever I do a science illustration, she's nervous. Um, uh, but I'm just, so I am not a medical doctor or medical, anything, but, um, my Estonia gravis, as, as I've understood, it is basically the nerve impulses from the brain are sent, but they do not find that the receptors.

At the muscles are able to receive the nerve impulses. And so with my Estonia gravis, it's possible that your, your, your muscles atrophy actually begin to atrophy and other things take place because the nerve impulses are not received when we are in our sins, as he's describing here, which is the state of all of us originally, when we are not reconnected with God, when you read the Bible, it doesn't speak to you the way it speaks.

You know, you hear other people talking about God spoke me through his words. I don't hear it. I mean, I, I, we, we don't understand. We don't, we don't, we don't see, we don't interpret life the same way, where God is just working in my life. There is a disconnect that disconnect is healed. Because Jesus can be healed because Jesus Christ Rose from the grave.

And Paul says, if he didn't rise, there's no hope beyond the grave, the spirit physical death, and that's the end. And secondly, they're spiritual deaths and that's not going to be paired. We can't be reconnected. He says death is raining and death is inevitable in both of those realities. Some of you watch the cartoon story.

Maybe a few of you have even gone so far as to read the jungle book by Rudyard Kipling. And in it Mowgli, the man CLA Cub asked the animals. What's the most feared animal in the juggle. And I feared thing in the jungle. And he's told when two animals meet on a narrow path that, uh, the most feared thing is the one that will, everyone will give sway.

And some people say it's an elephant that nobody's going to try to push their way past. Other people say Elian. And finally, the wise old owl says this, the most feared thing in the jungle is death. It steps aside for no one, but Paul is saying here, one has come, who has conquered physical death doesn't mean we won't experience it, but it means that we will pass through it to the other side, just like he did.

And he has conquered spiritual death, that there is a new spiritual reconnection with God, because Jesus Rose from the dead. Christ died for our sins. He says the righteous for the unrighteous to bring us to relate to God through Jesus resurrection. Something is over the state of, of, of being captive and physical death with nothing beyond this state of being disconnected from God and spirit actually dead.

He says the potential is for that to be over. The second thing he says of the, so what of the resurrection is something new has begun in verse 20. He says this, but Christ has indeed been raised from the dead. The first fruits of those who have fallen asleep, but each in turn Christ the first roots. Then when he comes, those who belong to him, this, this is such a beautiful picture.

He is saying, Jesus is the first fruits. Of the resurrection. He says, there's a world coming that he is the first fruits of now. The first fruits is simply an expression of saying, this is the first part of the, of the, of the product out of the field. This, these are the first apples taken out of the tree.

And in during Apple harvest time, these are the first tomatoes you pick in the old Testament. You were to give a portion of your first fruits to God, as a way of saying everything I got in the field you own. And I'm just acknowledging it by, by giving this first fruit portion. And here it's saying, Jesus is first.

He's the, he's the first one out of the field. He leaves the way he is expressing the reality of what is true for all that come after him and embrace the reality of him in their lives. Christ says this believe in me and the resurrection will come into your life. What I have experienced can be yours.

That doesn't mean you'll get inspired. It doesn't mean that you're going to have warm feelings. It doesn't mean you're going to have superhuman strength, but it does mean that in your life, you will begin to experience a taste of what is coming and what it means to be made new in Romans chapter six. It says it this way, just as Christ was raised from the dead for the glory of the father, we too may live a new life.

He says there is an inner transformation that can begin to take place in our lives because of what Jesus has done. Basically, he's saying he's the first fruits of this resurrection. Jesus has risen beyond the grave. Jesus has risen to a newness of life. It says you can begin to taste that future reality in your own lives because it has.

Excuse me. It has already begun the old stuff. Self dominated life is still potentially in charge, but in the resurrected life of Christ power for a new life change in what you bring to relationships, a capacity to forgive other people, a new peace that passes understanding hope self-control a contentment in circumstances because there is a newness of life.

As we are reconnected with God through the resurrecting power of Christ in our lives, the resurrection of Jesus was the beginning of the incredible change. He came back from death and apparent defeat, and he says, you can do your life can be irrevocably changed.

There've been historic comebacks that have been mentioned. I read us a sports illustrated article, a number of years back, and it was talking about the 10 greatest comebacks in history. It was an interesting article because it sort of weighed, it went outside of sports. Although I mentioned a couple of sports, the greatest comebacks of all time included Muhammad Ali, uh, when he returned from his, his seven year exile from, from boxing and then reclaim the world championship.

It talked about Michael Jordan. When he, when he had left after three D three consecutive NBA championships and then went into baseball to the oppression of all of us, and then came back and won three more, three straight NBA championships. Again, they had a historic events, the story of Japan and Germany devastated in the second world war, but becoming world economic powers again within a generation.

They even waxed somewhat, uh, world history in a big way, historic. And they talked about humanity returning from the black plague of the 14th century when 25 million Europeans, somewhere between 30 and 40% of every human in Europe died, but it survived. But the number one named by the editors of sports illustrated magazine, the greatest comeback of all time took place in 80 33 by Jesus Christ.

When he came back from the grave, when he Rose victorious, maybe you need comeback maybe in your life. Life has you down and defeated, hopeless, and weak, and trying to live in your own strength in capable of fighting your destructive habits and passions in your own resources, place your hope and trust your faith.

In the greatest comeback of all time, Jesus Christ conquered death. He offers hope beyond the grave to you. He offers transformed power, where you are brought into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ through Jesus Christ. With God, the father that your life can be changed with this new life that he offers.

Something is over something new has begun. And third, this passage, the resurrection of Jesus Christ guarantees that some things will never end first Corinthians 15 verse 58. The end of the passage. He says, therefore, my dear brothers and sisters stand firm, let nothing move. You always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord because you know that your labor.

In the Lord is not in vain. The resurrection of Jesus Christ means that investing your life and following Christ makes ultimate sense. There what's done in Christ's name has eternal value because ultimately the one who conquered death will conquer all in 1930, there was a man named Nikolai Evanovich Bukara one of the most powerful men.

I think I have his picture there. One of the most powerful men that had existed on planet earth at the time close associate of Lennon, he was a member of the Politburo. He was the editor of prov, the, the Soviet newspaper, uh, in, in the Soviet union. And Russia at the time. And now he had become the primary spokesman for Joseph Stalin.

They appeared on stage all the time when they did speeches. And in 1930, this was 13 years after the, the, the Russian revolution took over. Uh, communism took over Russia, BU Caren was sent to do a mass speech at Kev in Russia. The Russians were still the Soviet, excuse me. The communists were, we're trying hard to eradicate any vestiges of Christianity at the time was an atheistic system of belief in communism.

And he was a, a magnificent, compelling speaker. And so he went and he was arguing against. Christianity religion at large, but Christianity in particular. And he presented this, uh, heavy artillery filled with facts and intellectual data speech, trying to destroy the faith of people that listen that might possibly be.

They're still identifying as Christians. And he got done. He spoke for literally an hour and as at the end of his speech, in the apparent smoldering ashes of peoples dismantled faith Bukara then said, are there any questions? And it was totally silent for awhile. And then finally this older man got up and actually came forward and walked onto the platform and he stood next to Bukharian and he turned to this mass.

There were thousands of people there.

And he said, this Christ is risen

and almost the entire crowd stood and said, Christ is risen. Indeed. The resurrection of Jesus Christ guarantees Jesus is going to win. It is the declaration that he, who has conquered death, who has risen to offer new life to people in every corner of the world. In every age, in every Epic, in every generation is allowing his church and his kingdom to go forth today.

But ultimately what he's done in rising from the dead is just the first fruits of the change life. Of the rising above death, into eternal life and heaven that he's offering to anyone that chooses to embrace Christ, a savior, maybe you're here and you say, well, yeah, I'm a, I'm a Christian and me and I were, what else would I be?

I mean, a it's what most people seem to be today, or they're a non, you know, nothing, but, but have you embraced Christ as your savior? Have you personally said, I want Christ to be mine or are you looking through the glass and say, I hear about it. I like it. I mean, I, uh, I like Christian people at least, but, but ultimately.

Do you know, Jesus Christ as a living power in your life. Have you ever realized the significance of his dying on the cross for sinners like you and like me rising from the dead and saying I did this as a first fruits of what you can become. You're that field? You're the apples. You're the peaches.

You're the tomatoes. You're the harvest. I want to bring in, to share in my resurrection. I did it for somebody just like you.

Maybe you're here today. Didn't expect this, but maybe you're here today and you're just here because your family says you got to go to church. If you're going to get Easter dinner at our house, but maybe there was a higher plan than lunch. Maybe Jesus wanted you to know he died and Rose for you. And he who's the first fruits just for you.

And that this hope beyond the grave and this transforming inner power that he offers because of his resurrection he's offering to you. Maybe that's why you're here today. In his idea,

Paul closes with this statement stand firm. This is the end of first Corinthians 15 stand firm. Let nothing move you. Your labor is not in vain in the Lord. Why? Because Christ's gonna win desk Barts and dictators have their moments of bullying and dominance, atheist mockers faults profits, have their say.

But the one who Rose from the dead will conquer his purposes will stand. His kingdom will conquer. Jesus is alive. Maybe you're here and you've heard of the resurrection. It's a nice story. Cool.

But what if it's true? What if it's true? What are the, so what's, if you embrace Jesus as the living Lord and savior of your life, well, one, something will be over your spiritual disconnection from God. Number two, something new will begin. This connection will God will bring change empowerment to live in a power that is beyond yourselves.

The power of the spirit of God, of the triune third member of the triune deity. God. And something will never end your life takes on eternal consequence because you are a part of a kingdom that is eternal and purposes that will be fulfilled through the power of Christ. Maybe God is speaking to you right now, right in this room, or right in your home about you re embracing Jesus Christ as your savior and Lord, there is no, there is an experience that Jesus says is the means by which this resurrection is made operative in our lives.

He talks about having a new birth experience that we, we actually are spiritually reborn. That disconnection is broken we're. Now there is life in that relationship, it involves acknowledging that you are a sinner. Acknowledge admitting that you need God's forgiveness for your sins, because ultimately your sin has been against him and his commands and an involves personally, individually receiving Jesus Christ as one savior for your sins and Lord of your lives.

I'm going to close this service on this Easter Sunday morning with an invitation to you personally, right? Where you are. It's an invitation to personally embrace Jesus Christ as your savior. There's a prayer that has been used for generations called the sinner's prayer. It's just a simple way of embracing Jesus Christ as savior.

You don't have to use these exact words. God knows your heart. But I'm going to share these. These are my way of saying it, the sinner's prayer. And if you would like to pray and you hear, and you say, I, yeah, I'm a sinner. I don't deserve to go to heaven. I'm not going to get, I know I'm not going to be good enough.

Nobody is. But yeah, I, I, I knew if realized how important it was that Jesus Christ died on the cross. I never really thought this was for me, but he Rose for me. Yeah. Right now, pastor Mark, I would love to receive Christ as my savior. Would you help me to do that? Love too. What I'd like to do is just as I close.

I'm going to pray. And then I'm going to invite you to write where nobody's talking out loud. You don't have to stand up. You don't have to move around all as you're doing silently is from your heart. You're speaking to God. If this is your prayer to him this morning, I'll tell you the words. And I'm going to ask you to pray.

I'm going to ask you to pray. I acknowledge that I'm a sinner. I realized that I need your forgiveness for my sins. And I ask you Jesus to enter my life as my savior and my Lord. We're going to do that in just a moment. Lord, you look at every heart here today. Online,

you see the people in whom your spirit is right now, drawing Lord it's about those people. I'm specifically praying, protect them from distraction, protect them from anything that would take them from this eternal moment in their lives. And may your spirit enable them to pray and receive Christ right now with every head bowed and every eye closed believers praying right now for people.

If God has spoken to your heart, I invite you from your own heart to God's to pray these words, silently God, I acknowledge that I am a sinner.

I realized that I need your forgiveness for my sins.

Jesus. I ask you to enter my life as my savior and as my Lord right now,

with every head bowed. And I mean this sincerely, every head bowed and eye closed right now in this room. If you'd prayed this prayer, I'm going to ask you. And I am the only one that's looking and God just slip up your hand and is totally just cause I want to pray for you. If you've prayed that prayer just now, would you just slip up your hands?

Say yeah. Wow. Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Wow. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Thank you. God,

John makes very clear that nobody turns to you apart from you drawing us. We sent your work right now in this room and maybe in homes. Oh Lord. Or each of these that has raised their hand and prayed this prayer bird. May they now grow? May they imbibe the truth of what it means to be a child of God. May they get that?

The fostering and the deepening that comes as we get into your word and we spend time with your people. And most of all, spend time with you, Lord, Lord Jesus. We love you for coming to God, goth this Hill. We love you for being willing on those moments in the cross to be separated from the father that we would never have to be.

We love that you Rose. We love that you offer the life of reconnection with God because you have risen victorious over all that sin did in our lives. In breaking connection. We worship you. Jesus. In whose name we pray. Amen. We're going to close in a second. If God spoke to your heart this morning in this room or online, and you raised your hand, you prayed to Christ.

There's nothing. Any of us as pastors or ministry staff would love more than to be able to sit with you and just get you started on your spiritual journey. Please reach out to one of us, let us know that we can, uh, just get you started on, on a relationship with Jesus. All right, we're going to close. Here we go.

He is risen. Yes. Enjoy your Easter. . .]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/jesus-is-risen-so-what 23ad8fff-2eaa-4057-ac52-4069196139fd Sun, 04 Apr 2021 17:56:04 GMT <div data-html="true">I Corinthians 15:12-19 <br /><br /> “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.” <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Good morning everybody. If you were, you can turn with me to your Bibles to first Corinthians chapter 15, which is where we're going to be going this morning. If you were not here at sunrise service, you missed a record crowd. We had to close our nine o'clock and 10 o'clock registrations early yesterday. And I think a lot of them switched over to the sunrise. <br /><br /> We had way over 300 people out there at six 30 in the morning, little ominous, because not only was it dark, uh, it didn't really ever get totally light because the clouds hid the sun, which came up. I kept promising it was going to rise at six 39. But it w it was a great, great time. Just beautiful time out there. <br /><br /> First Corinthians chapter 15. I am pastor Mark. Um, we're trying to identify ourselves this morning and looking at first Corinthians chapter 15, verses 12 through 19. Here's what we read. But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? <br /><br /> If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless. And so is your faith more than that? We are then found to be false witnesses about God. For, we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead, but he did not read it, but if he did not raise him, in fact, the dead are not raised for if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. <br /><br /> And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile. You are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life, we have hope in Christ. We are of all people, most to be pitied. Lord, we look to you this morning. We thank you for the chance to gather here. <br /><br /> And in homes, watching online, God, we pray that you would enable us now, as we reflect on the truths of the resurrection of Jesus to so what's, I pray that you would, um, shape us, mold us and yeah. And Lord enable us particularly to think, well, what does this mean in my own life today in Jesus name? Amen. <br /><br /> I've had a chance over the years, talked to a number of different. Pastors preachers in particular. And when they're just talking, we're having conversations just about what are some principles. I always bring up this principle. I said that one of the key things in preaching is to make sure that at the end of the message, you will have answered the question. <br /><br /> So what I mean, it's, it's important to share truth and, and we believe the Bible histories, but people want to be able to walk away. And it isn't just a, the dactic presentation where you're, you're, you're presenting. You want to say, this is why it matters. This is why it's significant in your own personal life. <br /><br /> This morning, we're looking at chapter 15 of the book Corinthians. It is the most thorough presentation on the resurrection of Jesus Christ in the whole Bible. It is a passage, particularly the one we just read. That focuses on the soul Watts. What difference does it make about the resurrection of Jesus Christ? <br /><br /> Well, first one thing I want to, I want to say, as we enter this passage, many people like the idea of the resurrection. I mean, it's a great story. It's a, it's a, a symbol of a fresh start. It's a picture of a man standing against tyranny, sorta like the hunger games, you know, vanquish defeated and yet rising and, and throwing over the, the desk spot. <br /><br /> It's a picture of good triumphing over evil, but for the apostle Paul and the writers of the new Testament, this was not an interesting fable or an uplifting story of morality and hope. This was factual history to them. Guys like Paul we're literally staking their entire lives reputation. The, the, the whole trajectory of, of, uh, how they live their lives was based on this. <br /><br /> Either being true or not true. And that's exactly what Paul's talking about in first Corinthians 15. He says, what if he didn't rise from the dead? I mean, I mean, what if this is just a cool story and, and what if we did really pull it off and, and, and get the message out there that Jesus is raised, but really we know he died and he, you know, and that was the end of the story. <br /><br /> What does it mean if he did rise and what does it mean if he didn't rise? What are the, so walk about the resurrection now, the writers of the new Testament believed in factly and implicitly that Jesus 33 year old carpenter from Galilee. Was executed on the electric chair of his day was wrapped in Glade grave clothes, laid in a cold rock, hewn tomb, as dead as a human can possibly be. <br /><br /> And three days later came back to life. He was not in a coma. He was not drugged and appear dead to these writers. And to hundreds of other eyewitnesses, he was a literal corpse and had been in the grave three days and he Rose literally from the dead. And here, Paul is telling us the ramifications of that to his own life. <br /><br /> It wasn't just that Jesus was his teacher. And he had arranged himself around, under the teachings of Jesus. He says, everything is dependent on one truth. Jesus was dead and Jesus is alive. And so there are three things that I want to just simply highlight in a, in a fairly simply simple study this morning. <br /><br /> The first thing is if Jesus is raised from the dead the first, so what is something is over? He says this in verse 16, and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile. You are still in your sins. He says, if Jesus is still dead, if he is still in the grave, if he is still honestly a corpse, then you have hitched your wagon into the wrong horse. <br /><br /> Nothing's different. He says we are still in our sins now, what, what does that mean? Well, to be in your sins simply means what does it mean to be in your sins? It means that you are still in the grip of sin, that all the results from your statin is still yours. Nothing's really changed now just to play this out a little bit to be in, in our sins, mean that we are still in the state, the position of bearing the consequence of sin, the Bible makes clear what that is. <br /><br /> It says the way Jews of sin is death. He says, you're still in the grip of death. Now, what does that mean? Well, it's, it means two things. There are two types of, of death that are, that are prominent here. The first of those, and, and as I've mentioned this before, when the Bible uses the term death, it's talking about, uh, another way of describing that would be the one word separation. <br /><br /> We do, we do it that way as well. We talk about what he's given up the ghost. Uh, but that means as a spirit, as departed, that that, that person has died. That, that the material part, the body has been separated from the soul spirit. If I dropped dead on the stage this morning, I'll still be here. At least this fart will be, but my spirit soul has departed. <br /><br /> I have become a separated entity body here. Earth suit, if you will. But the soul spirit has departed that as physical death. It's, it's, it's been looked at that way. Uh, historically we look at it that way today. The other ramification of sin is what is called spiritual death. And this is the most important part. <br /><br /> Spiritual death is also separation. It is our spirit, which is our orientation towards God, where we have two orientations in our immaterial part, we have what's called the soul, which is the horizontal part. It's the word SU cost. The word we get psychology from psychology is, is, uh, evaluating and the study of how I do life with others. <br /><br /> And with myself, it's the horizontal level. I have a soul soulless person, but I am also a new mosque, a spirit person. There is a vertical dimension to my immaterial part, and this is what has become separated from God through sin. And Paul is saying if Jesus isn't raised you, haven't changed in the whole reality of death in your life. <br /><br /> First of all, when you die, that will be it. Second of all. You will never escape this state of spiritual separation or disconnection with God. Now some of you have been attending church here and maybe other places, and maybe you've gone, or maybe you've listened to a preacher on TV and you've listened to see. <br /><br /> That is so interesting. I mean, those people talk about God. Like he's somebody you can personally do life with and personally know, and, and maybe your honest expression, maybe never sanitation buddy, maybe just processing is I just feel like I'm, I'm sort of looking through a glass and, and I I'm there, but I don't get this idea of personal relationship and, and, and knowing God M's. <br /><br /> And I mean, I'm an, I believe in God. I believe God's real. I believe he's big. I believe he's loving all of a sudden, but I don't get the, the, the, the personal relationship part. Well, what the Bible says is there is because of sin, all of us are born in a state of disconnection with God. We can learn about God. <br /><br /> We can believe things about God, but as far as being connected with him in relationship, the way we were originally designed to be and was broken because of sin, Jesus, resurrection has everything to do with that being repaired. Paul says we're still in that state of disconnection with God. If Jesus hasn't been raised from the dead, but he says, if Jesus Rose, first of all, when we physically die, it's not the end. <br /><br /> He is the first fruits of the scene. He's the one that enables us to experience something beyond this grave, ultimately life beyond this grave, but he says also. He's the one that enables us to have connection with God, to have a relationship with God where our spirits have been, been separated and disconnection disconnected. <br /><br /> There's a disease that I would guess some of you you have, or, or have, have known of. It's called my Estonia gravis. And it's basically a disease where the, the, uh, whenever I do my wife's father was a, uh, biology professor. Whenever I do a science illustration, she's nervous. Um, uh, but I'm just, so I am not a medical doctor or medical, anything, but, um, my Estonia gravis, as, as I've understood, it is basically the nerve impulses from the brain are sent, but they do not find that the receptors. <br /><br /> At the muscles are able to receive the nerve impulses. And so with my Estonia gravis, it's possible that your, your, your muscles atrophy actually begin to atrophy and other things take place because the nerve impulses are not received when we are in our sins, as he's describing here, which is the state of all of us originally, when we are not reconnected with God, when you read the Bible, it doesn't speak to you the way it speaks. <br /><br /> You know, you hear other people talking about God spoke me through his words. I don't hear it. I mean, I, I, we, we don't understand. We don't, we don't, we don't see, we don't interpret life the same way, where God is just working in my life. There is a disconnect that disconnect is healed. Because Jesus can be healed because Jesus Christ Rose from the grave. <br /><br /> And Paul says, if he didn't rise, there's no hope beyond the grave, the spirit physical death, and that's the end. And secondly, they're spiritual deaths and that's not going to be paired. We can't be reconnected. He says death is raining and death is inevitable in both of those realities. Some of you watch the cartoon story. <br /><br /> Maybe a few of you have even gone so far as to read the jungle book by Rudyard Kipling. And in it Mowgli, the man CLA Cub asked the animals. What's the most feared animal in the juggle. And I feared thing in the jungle. And he's told when two animals meet on a narrow path that, uh, the most feared thing is the one that will, everyone will give sway. <br /><br /> And some people say it's an elephant that nobody's going to try to push their way past. Other people say Elian. And finally, the wise old owl says this, the most feared thing in the jungle is death. It steps aside for no one, but Paul is saying here, one has come, who has conquered physical death doesn't mean we won't experience it, but it means that we will pass through it to the other side, just like he did. <br /><br /> And he has conquered spiritual death, that there is a new spiritual reconnection with God, because Jesus Rose from the dead. Christ died for our sins. He says the righteous for the unrighteous to bring us to relate to God through Jesus resurrection. Something is over the state of, of, of being captive and physical death with nothing beyond this state of being disconnected from God and spirit actually dead. <br /><br /> He says the potential is for that to be over. The second thing he says of the, so what of the resurrection is something new has begun in verse 20. He says this, but Christ has indeed been raised from the dead. The first fruits of those who have fallen asleep, but each in turn Christ the first roots. Then when he comes, those who belong to him, this, this is such a beautiful picture. <br /><br /> He is saying, Jesus is the first fruits. Of the resurrection. He says, there's a world coming that he is the first fruits of now. The first fruits is simply an expression of saying, this is the first part of the, of the, of the product out of the field. This, these are the first apples taken out of the tree. <br /><br /> And in during Apple harvest time, these are the first tomatoes you pick in the old Testament. You were to give a portion of your first fruits to God, as a way of saying everything I got in the field you own. And I'm just acknowledging it by, by giving this first fruit portion. And here it's saying, Jesus is first. <br /><br /> He's the, he's the first one out of the field. He leaves the way he is expressing the reality of what is true for all that come after him and embrace the reality of him in their lives. Christ says this believe in me and the resurrection will come into your life. What I have experienced can be yours. <br /><br /> That doesn't mean you'll get inspired. It doesn't mean that you're going to have warm feelings. It doesn't mean you're going to have superhuman strength, but it does mean that in your life, you will begin to experience a taste of what is coming and what it means to be made new in Romans chapter six. It says it this way, just as Christ was raised from the dead for the glory of the father, we too may live a new life. <br /><br /> He says there is an inner transformation that can begin to take place in our lives because of what Jesus has done. Basically, he's saying he's the first fruits of this resurrection. Jesus has risen beyond the grave. Jesus has risen to a newness of life. It says you can begin to taste that future reality in your own lives because it has. <br /><br /> Excuse me. It has already begun the old stuff. Self dominated life is still potentially in charge, but in the resurrected life of Christ power for a new life change in what you bring to relationships, a capacity to forgive other people, a new peace that passes understanding hope self-control a contentment in circumstances because there is a newness of life. <br /><br /> As we are reconnected with God through the resurrecting power of Christ in our lives, the resurrection of Jesus was the beginning of the incredible change. He came back from death and apparent defeat, and he says, you can do your life can be irrevocably changed. <br /><br /> There've been historic comebacks that have been mentioned. I read us a sports illustrated article, a number of years back, and it was talking about the 10 greatest comebacks in history. It was an interesting article because it sort of weighed, it went outside of sports. Although I mentioned a couple of sports, the greatest comebacks of all time included Muhammad Ali, uh, when he returned from his, his seven year exile from, from boxing and then reclaim the world championship. <br /><br /> It talked about Michael Jordan. When he, when he had left after three D three consecutive NBA championships and then went into baseball to the oppression of all of us, and then came back and won three more, three straight NBA championships. Again, they had a historic events, the story of Japan and Germany devastated in the second world war, but becoming world economic powers again within a generation. <br /><br /> They even waxed somewhat, uh, world history in a big way, historic. And they talked about humanity returning from the black plague of the 14th century when 25 million Europeans, somewhere between 30 and 40% of every human in Europe died, but it survived. But the number one named by the editors of sports illustrated magazine, the greatest comeback of all time took place in 80 33 by Jesus Christ. <br /><br /> When he came back from the grave, when he Rose victorious, maybe you need comeback maybe in your life. Life has you down and defeated, hopeless, and weak, and trying to live in your own strength in capable of fighting your destructive habits and passions in your own resources, place your hope and trust your faith. <br /><br /> In the greatest comeback of all time, Jesus Christ conquered death. He offers hope beyond the grave to you. He offers transformed power, where you are brought into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ through Jesus Christ. With God, the father that your life can be changed with this new life that he offers. <br /><br /> Something is over something new has begun. And third, this passage, the resurrection of Jesus Christ guarantees that some things will never end first Corinthians 15 verse 58. The end of the passage. He says, therefore, my dear brothers and sisters stand firm, let nothing move. You always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord because you know that your labor. <br /><br /> In the Lord is not in vain. The resurrection of Jesus Christ means that investing your life and following Christ makes ultimate sense. There what's done in Christ's name has eternal value because ultimately the one who conquered death will conquer all in 1930, there was a man named Nikolai Evanovich Bukara one of the most powerful men. <br /><br /> I think I have his picture there. One of the most powerful men that had existed on planet earth at the time close associate of Lennon, he was a member of the Politburo. He was the editor of prov, the, the Soviet newspaper, uh, in, in the Soviet union. And Russia at the time. And now he had become the primary spokesman for Joseph Stalin. <br /><br /> They appeared on stage all the time when they did speeches. And in 1930, this was 13 years after the, the, the Russian revolution took over. Uh, communism took over Russia, BU Caren was sent to do a mass speech at Kev in Russia. The Russians were still the Soviet, excuse me. The communists were, we're trying hard to eradicate any vestiges of Christianity at the time was an atheistic system of belief in communism. <br /><br /> And he was a, a magnificent, compelling speaker. And so he went and he was arguing against. Christianity religion at large, but Christianity in particular. And he presented this, uh, heavy artillery filled with facts and intellectual data speech, trying to destroy the faith of people that listen that might possibly be. <br /><br /> They're still identifying as Christians. And he got done. He spoke for literally an hour and as at the end of his speech, in the apparent smoldering ashes of peoples dismantled faith Bukara then said, are there any questions? And it was totally silent for awhile. And then finally this older man got up and actually came forward and walked onto the platform and he stood next to Bukharian and he turned to this mass. <br /><br /> There were thousands of people there. <br /><br /> And he said, this Christ is risen <br /><br /> and almost the entire crowd stood and said, Christ is risen. Indeed. The resurrection of Jesus Christ guarantees Jesus is going to win. It is the declaration that he, who has conquered death, who has risen to offer new life to people in every corner of the world. In every age, in every Epic, in every generation is allowing his church and his kingdom to go forth today. <br /><br /> But ultimately what he's done in rising from the dead is just the first fruits of the change life. Of the rising above death, into eternal life and heaven that he's offering to anyone that chooses to embrace Christ, a savior, maybe you're here and you say, well, yeah, I'm a, I'm a Christian and me and I were, what else would I be? <br /><br /> I mean, a it's what most people seem to be today, or they're a non, you know, nothing, but, but have you embraced Christ as your savior? Have you personally said, I want Christ to be mine or are you looking through the glass and say, I hear about it. I like it. I mean, I, uh, I like Christian people at least, but, but ultimately. <br /><br /> Do you know, Jesus Christ as a living power in your life. Have you ever realized the significance of his dying on the cross for sinners like you and like me rising from the dead and saying I did this as a first fruits of what you can become. You're that field? You're the apples. You're the peaches. <br /><br /> You're the tomatoes. You're the harvest. I want to bring in, to share in my resurrection. I did it for somebody just like you. <br /><br /> Maybe you're here today. Didn't expect this, but maybe you're here today and you're just here because your family says you got to go to church. If you're going to get Easter dinner at our house, but maybe there was a higher plan than lunch. Maybe Jesus wanted you to know he died and Rose for you. And he who's the first fruits just for you. <br /><br /> And that this hope beyond the grave and this transforming inner power that he offers because of his resurrection he's offering to you. Maybe that's why you're here today. In his idea, <br /><br /> Paul closes with this statement stand firm. This is the end of first Corinthians 15 stand firm. Let nothing move you. Your labor is not in vain in the Lord. Why? Because Christ's gonna win desk Barts and dictators have their moments of bullying and dominance, atheist mockers faults profits, have their say. <br /><br /> But the one who Rose from the dead will conquer his purposes will stand. His kingdom will conquer. Jesus is alive. Maybe you're here and you've heard of the resurrection. It's a nice story. Cool. <br /><br /> But what if it's true? What if it's true? What are the, so what's, if you embrace Jesus as the living Lord and savior of your life, well, one, something will be over your spiritual disconnection from God. Number two, something new will begin. This connection will God will bring change empowerment to live in a power that is beyond yourselves. <br /><br /> The power of the spirit of God, of the triune third member of the triune deity. God. And something will never end your life takes on eternal consequence because you are a part of a kingdom that is eternal and purposes that will be fulfilled through the power of Christ. Maybe God is speaking to you right now, right in this room, or right in your home about you re embracing Jesus Christ as your savior and Lord, there is no, there is an experience that Jesus says is the means by which this resurrection is made operative in our lives. <br /><br /> He talks about having a new birth experience that we, we actually are spiritually reborn. That disconnection is broken we're. Now there is life in that relationship, it involves acknowledging that you are a sinner. Acknowledge admitting that you need God's forgiveness for your sins, because ultimately your sin has been against him and his commands and an involves personally, individually receiving Jesus Christ as one savior for your sins and Lord of your lives. <br /><br /> I'm going to close this service on this Easter Sunday morning with an invitation to you personally, right? Where you are. It's an invitation to personally embrace Jesus Christ as your savior. There's a prayer that has been used for generations called the sinner's prayer. It's just a simple way of embracing Jesus Christ as savior. <br /><br /> You don't have to use these exact words. God knows your heart. But I'm going to share these. These are my way of saying it, the sinner's prayer. And if you would like to pray and you hear, and you say, I, yeah, I'm a sinner. I don't deserve to go to heaven. I'm not going to get, I know I'm not going to be good enough. <br /><br /> Nobody is. But yeah, I, I, I knew if realized how important it was that Jesus Christ died on the cross. I never really thought this was for me, but he Rose for me. Yeah. Right now, pastor Mark, I would love to receive Christ as my savior. Would you help me to do that? Love too. What I'd like to do is just as I close. <br /><br /> I'm going to pray. And then I'm going to invite you to write where nobody's talking out loud. You don't have to stand up. You don't have to move around all as you're doing silently is from your heart. You're speaking to God. If this is your prayer to him this morning, I'll tell you the words. And I'm going to ask you to pray. <br /><br /> I'm going to ask you to pray. I acknowledge that I'm a sinner. I realized that I need your forgiveness for my sins. And I ask you Jesus to enter my life as my savior and my Lord. We're going to do that in just a moment. Lord, you look at every heart here today. Online, <br /><br /> you see the people in whom your spirit is right now, drawing Lord it's about those people. I'm specifically praying, protect them from distraction, protect them from anything that would take them from this eternal moment in their lives. And may your spirit enable them to pray and receive Christ right now with every head bowed and every eye closed believers praying right now for people. <br /><br /> If God has spoken to your heart, I invite you from your own heart to God's to pray these words, silently God, I acknowledge that I am a sinner. <br /><br /> I realized that I need your forgiveness for my sins. <br /><br /> Jesus. I ask you to enter my life as my savior and as my Lord right now, <br /><br /> with every head bowed. And I mean this sincerely, every head bowed and eye closed right now in this room. If you'd prayed this prayer, I'm going to ask you. And I am the only one that's looking and God just slip up your hand and is totally just cause I want to pray for you. If you've prayed that prayer just now, would you just slip up your hands? <br /><br /> Say yeah. Wow. Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Wow. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Thank you. God, <br /><br /> John makes very clear that nobody turns to you apart from you drawing us. We sent your work right now in this room and maybe in homes. Oh Lord. Or each of these that has raised their hand and prayed this prayer bird. May they now grow? May they imbibe the truth of what it means to be a child of God. May they get that? <br /><br /> The fostering and the deepening that comes as we get into your word and we spend time with your people. And most of all, spend time with you, Lord, Lord Jesus. We love you for coming to God, goth this Hill. We love you for being willing on those moments in the cross to be separated from the father that we would never have to be. <br /><br /> We love that you Rose. We love that you offer the life of reconnection with God because you have risen victorious over all that sin did in our lives. In breaking connection. We worship you. Jesus. In whose name we pray. Amen. We're going to close in a second. If God spoke to your heart this morning in this room or online, and you raised your hand, you prayed to Christ. <br /><br /> There's nothing. Any of us as pastors or ministry staff would love more than to be able to sit with you and just get you started on your spiritual journey. Please reach out to one of us, let us know that we can, uh, just get you started on, on a relationship with Jesus. All right, we're going to close. Here we go. <br /><br /> He is risen. Yes. Enjoy your Easter. . .</div> false no <![CDATA[Blessed are the Merciful]]> Matthew 5:7

And we will be continuing again in Matthew chapter five, reading the beatitudes.

If you would join with me, I'm going to be reading the beatitudes, starting in the beginning, and then going through our beatitude this morning, which is blessed are the merciful this in Matthew chapter five. Now, when Jesus saw the crowd, he went up on the mountain side and sat down. His disciples, came to him and he began to teach them.

He said, blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek for, they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful for, they will be shown mercy.

Pray with me this morning.

father. We pray along with David in Psalm 86, that you O Lord or a God full of compassion and gracious, long suffering and abundant in mercy and truth. We confess in Psalm one 45, that you are gracious full of compassion, slow to anger and great in mercy. The Lord is good to all his tender mercies are overall his works.

And even as we begin looking at scripture this morning, we pray for your merciful. Continual gracious hand over Don and his family. We rejoice with the fruit of his pastoral ministry here that will live on for decades to come. When we pray for those of us who have been deeply blessed under his teaching and care, the mercy we have received from his gifting and love and pray that you would watch over us, have mercy on us as we, um, seek to digest and, um, go on from this morning after hearing difficult news in Jesus' name.

Amen. Difficult, but good news. It is good news. Four things I want to talk about in this passage on blessed are the merciful for, they will be shown mercy. The first things is the dimensions. Have mercy that, what is the dimensions? What is this idea of mercy mean? Believe that it is multi-dimensional this Greek word for mercy or merciful comes from the root root word.

Ellie OS Les has two components. It has both an outside and an inside dimension to it. The outside the actions. Of mercy mercy that is done through action from one person to another in Matthews, we see how he uses this word throughout his gospel. We have a phrase that goes along with Les it's. This phrase have mercy and four times in the gospel.

This phrase have mercy is shouted out to Christ in Matthew nine 27, a blind blind men come to Jesus and say, have mercy on us. Matthew 1522, a mother cries out for their child have mercy on me. Matthew 17, 15, a father cries out have mercy on my son, Matthew 2030 blind men come to Jesus and say, have mercy on us.

The response, the request for mercy. Is one of action. It's interesting that, that it is, it is the giving of an undeserved gift or relief or help. Mercy is not just about forgiveness. Mercy and forgiveness are incredibly linked to one another, but mercy is not just about sparing judgment. In fact, in all of the have mercy upon us, the call was not have mercy and spare me the bad things I deserve.

The call was have mercy and grant me the gift that I don't forgiveness and that, and mercy are connected. Forgiveness is an undeserved gift, but this mercy incorporates more than just relief. It is the action of a gift relief or help. There's an outward action, but mercy also has an inside life in inside dimension.

Strongs calls this, the feeling excited by someone's misery. There is more than action. There is an inner depth. This is why we see in the new Testament. So often before Jesus does an act of mercy. He is described as one with compassion. Mercy is motivated by the action motivated by the inner life, which leads to the outer life of mercy.

Jesus tells a story and good Samaritan in Luke chapter 10, and they come to him. The religious teachers come and say, all right, tell me what's the greatest commandment. And he says, love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and love your neighbor as ourself. Okay. All right. That's pretty good answer.

So who's my neighbor says, so he tells them the story tells them the story of, of a man who was beaten and left by the side of the road in a dangerous part of town. And the Levi goes by CS crosses over. Make sure he doesn't get close to the damage and goes by the priest. A priest comes by, sees him again, thinks all, man, this could be a trick.

I don't know exactly what's going to happen. This is too risky, too unsafe and passes the other side. Then a Samaritan man comes and it says this. He took, it was, he was affected. He took pity on this person. His inner life led him to extreme self-sacrificing outer mercy. And he goes, and he helps. The man gives of himself, gives him his time, gives up his money to provide for this person.

Jesus says, which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell in the hands of the robbers? The experts in the law said the one who had mercy on him. Jesus told them go and do likewise. Now if mercy just lives in the inner dimension just lives on our insides. We feel bad. We take pity.

We, we, we are sorry, but it just doesn't lead to outer action. Mercy is pointless and gutless, but if mercy also is only on the outside is only action. It's usually sourced injustice desire for us to feel good about ourselves. Or to relieve guilt because we know it's probably what we should do anyway.

This type of mercy that we outwardly do something, but are not inwardly impacted by the pain or loss or sense of need of someone else. Doesn't last, very long. There's a scene from a show Superstore. The Superstore is a comedy and, and, uh, during this, their store is doing a drive in one of their shows is doing a dry for underprivileged children in the store.

And so as customers come in the main character, Jonah and, and Amy, they're asking people to give to this charity. And so one comes in and they asked him to do a man comes in, they ask him to donate, and the man said this, I would have donated, but I already gave to the St. Louis Samaritans earlier today, I already gave, and I posted on social media about it.

So it'd be weird to post again. And so Jonah said, couldn't you just donate and not post. And the guy said, so like you would post it and then tag me. And then he said, or you would just be helping some underprivileged kids from Jonah. And the guy said, and they would post it. Do those underprivileged kids have phones.

Like this was the concern. This is the nature of when we are outwardly motivated, we can get us a good status or it can get us a quick trip to help out. But when we are out with the motivated, uh, driven by the excitement of helping someone out, but are not inwardly motivated by deeply caring for the plight of another individual.

It doesn't last past self-motivation real mercy extends farther than that, or it will be cheap and never remain truly merciful when it's hard dimensions of mercy inside and outside. Secondly, the source of mercy, the source of mercy, where does mercy, what is mercy all about as I've looked into what mercy is and how it's being used in the new Testament?

This is what I believe the source of mercy is power. Mercy has everything to do with power. The fundamental mercy fundamentally is someone who has power, giving a gift to someone who doesn't in a particular situation. Now that power could be power of position, someone indebted by sin, and you have that position of being right.

When they have been wrong, that position could be one of money. It could be a position of being an employer or a teacher or a parent. It is someone who has the power who can call the shot in a given situation and uses that power. Self-sacrificing only for someone in this situation who doesn't could be the power of influence, those who are secure and a group using their influence to care and look out for those who are not the power of ownership, the power of ownership over our pets, over our property, over our stuff, over our land, the power of indebtedness, someone being wronged or sinned against.

Have the power over them, the power of resource, those who have resources have and giving it to those who don't mercy is not just about the muscle of forgiveness. It is about the, the godly Christ orientation of using the muscle of power. Now, power has owned has earned its own bad reputation. For me, I had to do my masters and my master's project and did it on the generation I grew up in and a lot of that research was done in study done is what happened in the relationship of my generation.

To authority to power be it, when I grew up in my generation, every generation has their story. Power was not seen as something benevolent. It was became seen as something corrupt news cycles took off in ways that that hadn't been understood before video cameras became much more prolific and news cycles, new stations, news, media outlets, the internet kicking off allowed lots of news of bad things happening for those in power and the safe structures, which we thought were safe soon became suspect schools.

Shooting of Columbine happened when I was in high school and all of a sudden that safe place, that event ripped up our idea that this is a safe structure. Now there are, um, Right drills for when shooters might come in and then all of the prolific news coverage post Columbine that has happened because of school shootings.

We watched the Rodney King beatings happen on TV by police officers, deeply disruptive politicians. This was right in the middle of the bill Clinton in the scandals. And that happened, those public servants are now seen as corrupt. This is happening right as the scandals within the Catholic church, particularly not that it doesn't happen in other churches, including Protestant, but the sex scandals from what happened in many rings within the priests of the Catholic church, became very public and Ron and, and all of the corruption that has shown in big business mixed with child labor laws and people finding out where their goods were, what happened was structures that were thought to be safe.

Those power places were now seen as corrupt. My generation had more money pumped into it than any generation in the history of the world in order to advertise. So what naturally happens in my generation when we see an advertising, we think, ah, they are just after my money, they're lying to me. There's an immediate cynicism.

If it comes from power, it is corrupt to have power became. So having something dirty, public servants were slimy politicians or officers on power trips, concerned. Parents were overly oppressive. Jerks. Wholly leaders were creepy. Clergy leaders of the free market were just privileged CEOs, hoarding their wealth and exploiting others.

This is just, and you say, wow, who are those people that have that mindset? Me? I am most people. I have a hard time with power. I, what I say when we talk about even leadership is I love leadership. I don't love authority, right? Like I don't that whole sense of power and control for me feels dirty. And I grew up in a general ration that had even less access to information than ones that many of you who are younger are growing up in now.

Power control just seems corrupt this last week, as we had seven mass shootings in seven days, the last of which in Boulder, Colorado. The last of which that I'm aware of, there may have been more forgive me if I don't know that in Boulder, Colorado, there was at a grocery store, an hour long standoff, I believe was seven people, including an officer killed.

There was a man who was interviewed at the scene, who's from Boulder. And he said, Boulder's like a bubble. He said, I felt like this was a safe place. And he was quoted about this. He says, it doesn't feel like there's anywhere safe anymore. That's a lot, our relationship with power power. Absolutely. I've had a hard time with power.

So it's connection to mercy at first is not an attractive one. To me. Power can be use to exploit or preserve the one empower. The reason that many of us have a hard time with power is because we have seen how selfishly and cruelly it can be used. But when we look at the scripture power while so often use to exploit and hurt, ultimately is a gift of God.

And hear me what I am saying, what I'm not saying here. Psalm eight says this, talking about how God created people. You have made them a little lower than the angels and crying, crown them with glory and honor, you have made them rulers over the works of your hands. You put everything under their feet, Psalm eight, five, and six.

When God created people, he gave them this theological concept of dominion of power over creation. You are a powerful. Being every one of us has power. And that is we are called to steward that in the way that our cane operates, every one of us has power and everywhere here, this that we have power. It is a gift to be used.

Benevolently. It is an incredible chance to build the kingdom of God with Christ because here is how power is used in the kingdom. Blessed are the merciful for, they will be shown mercy. See, and very obvious from that logical step is without mercy from power. Mercy cannot exist. If those in power do not give mercy, mercy will never ever happen.

If by definition cannot. And this is what I would say, dear Christian, dear one, who follows the name of Jesus. And if you are here and you're like, do not call me dear Christian first, Deere's weird. Okay. I mean, if you're here and you're like, not, you're not saying I want to follow this Christ. I would say you might even be put off by how Christians have used power, but if you claim the name of Jesus, you who, us, who in our place in the world hold so much of the world's wealth hold much of the world's privilege.

We must use power for mercy. If I asked your children, if I asked your employees, if I asked those who have wronged you past or present, if I asked your vendors that you work with, that you buy from and do business with. So if I ask those who have I asked your spouse, who you have mistreated, if I asked your customers, if I asked your friends with different political views from you, if I saw how I spent your money, would we be known as those use our power for mercy?

Would we be known as those who are merciful, invest in mercy, practice her mercy when it's easy, when it's hard, Micah six, eight. Says, he has shown you a mortal. What is good? What is the Lord required to act justly and love mercy to walk humbly with your God? If, if we could see all of what, how we deal, would we be known as people that man, they just love mercy because mercy has everything to do with the gifts of power that we have in our lives.

Third, the application of mercy, the application of mercy, mercy needs to be seasoned when it is served, mercy needs to be done well, like all of the gifts that we've been given, all the commandments that we are called to, it must be done well, mercy without love. Gains nothing. First Corinthians 13 three. If I give away all, I have an act of mercy.

If I deliver up my body to be burned an act of mercy, but do not have love. I gain nothing. It profits the mercy giver nothing. If it is done outside of love, outward mercy without inward love is not mercy or does not. And does not produce secondly, mercy without wisdom is reckless. First Corinthians five, a Paul takes on a situation in the Corinthian church and he takes it on strong.

You would not walk away and say, wow, in that instance, Paul was so calm and passive and quiet and gentle and merciful. He actually takes on a person and says this about someone in the first Corinthians church. He says, when you are assembled in my spirit is present with the power of our Lord Jesus hand, this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh.

So his spirit may be saved on the day day of the Lord. The goal that Paul has for this individual is that he might be awoken and understand the great, he has the highest spiritual good in mind for this person, but the way that he applies that mercy is intense. It's not gentle. It is for the sake of the person, but wisdom is required for how we apply such mercy.

So, and here's where I want us to be real careful, because oftentimes what happens is those of those in situations that are not in a power position are told, you're the ones who are always supposed to be merciful, be merciful and take it easy on those who are in power. It's a tough job, right? And so what can happen when we're talking about blessed are the merciful.

If we don't apply, wisdom is we can enable abuse. If you are in an abusive relationship, it is not wise. To simply act like nothing has happened forgiven. No problem. If you are being oppressed by a system, a person, a situation, and the calling of be merciful and just keep on forgiving is being used as a club over your head.

The great action of love is not passive acceptance. Honestly, this is where we need to be talking with wise people in our life, not just being held under water by, Hey, you have to be merciful because the action of mercy is the calling for those in power. There is a calling in wisdom for benevolent resistance, and it could be a great act of courage when being held under.

And forgive me if any of my words. Land on you as, Oh, my calling is just to be always mistreated and to never speak up

last mercy without sacrifice is cowardly. We learned this from our King to truly have mercy. It's not to just give when it feels convenient or simple. It's to give of our very selves, who is Jesus. He is the broken body of God's mercy. He is the actual display of God's mercy on us. Uh, the Syrian immigration crisis that peaked about four years ago.

Um, was the greatest immigration refugee crisis that happened since world war II. And at, during that time, uh, my wife and I started talking a lot and of course everything gets politicized and we weren't entering into the politics of it as much as entering into what is the calling of Christ. I had a chance to write a four page letter.

I really want to know if anyone read it, but who knows four pages as long, um, it to Collingswood about what is the Christian call a Mister refugee crisis. And I was able to talk through theologically and looking through some old Testament, new Testament structures of what it calls to, to, to be looking out for the needs of the refugee, that those of us who were in power of, of, of citizenship and power of influence and power of finances would be taking our power and looking towards mercy.

But I had to ask a really tough question. What about my home? What about if it took sacrifice for me beyond just writing a letter? And that was a real difficult question. And one that we had to ask as a family of what if some Syrian refugees are allowed into our country more and there's no place to stay.

That's when mercy gets really hard and it takes great commitment because money's hard to be merciful with our space and time. It's hard to be merciful with forgiveness is hard. One of the three regrets of the dying and article just published to someone. You can find many of these online of people who have worked in end of life care.

And you'll often find this among the great desires of the end of life, people, the regret of the dying as they didn't forgive. Why? Cause it's hard. It's really, really, it's hard, but mercy requires sacrifice or else it has. No teeth has no power. Lastly, and we'll conclude with this. What is the promise to the merciful in the passage?

Bless it are the merciful for, they will receive mercy. This is where this and the beatitudes are a lot less about how do we maybe do all these things? How do we become poor in spirit? How do we become me? How do we become merciful? And this is a step back and say, Hey, let's just talk about who's talking here.

Cause this is about Jesus. This is about his kingdom. This is about his gift to us. When he says blessed are the merciful for, they shall obtain mercy a little bit. You say, well, well, who are you? Like? You're just a guy on a mountain side with a little following. And you're saying, while you are standing there and helping the crowd sort of get ordered and walking amongst sins is the Roman guards.

Now there's tower, right? Who really holds the power in the situation, the guy in the Hill who's offering some words or the ones who represent the dynastic empire. And, and as Jesus comes up and speaks these words, all of these words, it's sort of like, who are you. To be able to say merciful receives mercy, right?

I mean, what happens when, how blessed are the merciful read our meats? How real life works? Can Jesus actually say, Oh, I'll give mercy to those who are merciful. Well, the 48 laws of power is a book that was written a couple of decades ago. And it's been called like a Machiavellian or a, uh, yes, like the art of war type of book.

And in, in these 48 laws of power, the author tries to draw on what the world actually operates like. And in that book, it talks about things like if you are just appealing for mercy, you are not living the life of power. A New York magazine said, this says, just reading the contents of this is enough to stir a little corner office lust.

One of the reviewers of this book says this. He says some people have trouble with this book because it's so blatantly power oriented. He said most of their trouble stems from reviewers that believe all people are good inside. And that unicorns deliver their vegan, low fat cappuccino with cream. Well, most people aren't kind, and this book prepared me for reality.

And I think that's the question, right? What is real here? So Jesus saying, yes, those who live in this kingdom of giving power away of, of using their power for mercy. And they will be in the very kingdom where mercy is the economy. The hard people who are merciful will obtain mercy. Won't who are you?

Jesus. Because what often happens is those who are merciful gets stumped on. Let's talk about the real world, real messy families, where raw, where love can run low and tempers run high real workplaces where money is tight and mistakes need accountability, real communities where needy and difficult people are needy and difficult.

How does this play out? When those around us are competing for scant resources, trying to, to get the next position or posture for the higher place who is Jesus to say the merciful receive mercy. When in real life, it often seems like the merciful, just get run over. Let's talk about the beatitudes. If Jesus, his kingdom is not that real real quick.

Look, look at these blessed are the poor in spirit. Well, without Jesus promise, those people are just broken. Blessed are those who mourn? What if Jesus, his world is not that real. They're just in despair. Blessed are the meek. They're just taking advantage of less than are those who hunger and thirst.

They're just left. Unsatisfied. Blessed are the merciful. Well, they're just destroyed. This is why the fundamental question. When we come to this and we come to these beatitudes is not just what the promises are. It's, who's making them, it's the question of what is real life?

What is most real? Because if the beatitudes are absolutely pathetic and terrible, if Jesus is not a King. With real power to Institute them. This is Palm Sunday. This is Jesus getting up on a donkey that has never been written before and is probably skiddish and running around. Like, what are all those dudes with giant branches waving at my face and he's going through, but how he's entering the city, he's entering into the Gates of the city and Jesus on that skiddish donkey.

While along with probably not get a permit for this all kinds of other people and travelers who are annoyed at this scene, Jesus walks through that gate. And what he's doing is an act of war. He is coming into the city into the powers that be being declared King. And Jesus coming, operating, living, enacting the great Samaritan with his own body and blood declares in a blood bought fashion that this kingdom is real.

And on Easter Sunday Rose again from the dead to say that ultimately to live this way to live downward, to live in, in this meekness and humility, and mercy is not an act of weakness. It is an act of kingdom power. And the question for every single one of us is simply this, how real is this King? Bless it.

Or the merciful. For in this reality, they can be shown mercy because their King has benevolent power. If you would stand and receive the benediction this morning,

this is again, given in the plural blessed are they? It's not blessed to just the one or blessed it as the man, less than as the woman it's blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy received this blessing this morning. Bless it are the people that have been so covered in the mercy of the King, that mercy drips off of them everywhere they go.

Bless it are those that use their power to give mercy not hoard privilege, retain position, or use resource just as a way to take care of themselves. Blessing is the community. That shows mercy in places where mercy is most scarce in business practices, where it is most disrespected in homes where it is most foreign, that the kingdom of Jesus Christ may grain ground.

Even there may the reality of the real merciful King. So bind this village together that they operate with mercy that begets mercy, that begets mercy so that it becomes the very economy of real kingdom life. Each looking to give to the other always enough to go around. Bless it is the gift that they give to a tired and judgment filled world that can look on and find lasting hope that there is another real life.

For there is a real and living King who still find Samaritans and ditches and loves to bring them into the family of mercy. God bless you. We are dismissed.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/blessed-are-the-merciful 2184888d-12e7-4cef-9c69-e052c3d6330b Mon, 29 Mar 2021 20:57:40 GMT <div data-html="true">Matthew 5:7 <br /><br /> And we will be continuing again in Matthew chapter five, reading the beatitudes. <br /><br /> If you would join with me, I'm going to be reading the beatitudes, starting in the beginning, and then going through our beatitude this morning, which is blessed are the merciful this in Matthew chapter five. Now, when Jesus saw the crowd, he went up on the mountain side and sat down. His disciples, came to him and he began to teach them. <br /><br /> He said, blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek for, they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful for, they will be shown mercy. <br /><br /> Pray with me this morning. <br /><br /> father. We pray along with David in Psalm 86, that you O Lord or a God full of compassion and gracious, long suffering and abundant in mercy and truth. We confess in Psalm one 45, that you are gracious full of compassion, slow to anger and great in mercy. The Lord is good to all his tender mercies are overall his works. <br /><br /> And even as we begin looking at scripture this morning, we pray for your merciful. Continual gracious hand over Don and his family. We rejoice with the fruit of his pastoral ministry here that will live on for decades to come. When we pray for those of us who have been deeply blessed under his teaching and care, the mercy we have received from his gifting and love and pray that you would watch over us, have mercy on us as we, um, seek to digest and, um, go on from this morning after hearing difficult news in Jesus' name. <br /><br /> Amen. Difficult, but good news. It is good news. Four things I want to talk about in this passage on blessed are the merciful for, they will be shown mercy. The first things is the dimensions. Have mercy that, what is the dimensions? What is this idea of mercy mean? Believe that it is multi-dimensional this Greek word for mercy or merciful comes from the root root word. <br /><br /> Ellie OS Les has two components. It has both an outside and an inside dimension to it. The outside the actions. Of mercy mercy that is done through action from one person to another in Matthews, we see how he uses this word throughout his gospel. We have a phrase that goes along with Les it's. This phrase have mercy and four times in the gospel. <br /><br /> This phrase have mercy is shouted out to Christ in Matthew nine 27, a blind blind men come to Jesus and say, have mercy on us. Matthew 1522, a mother cries out for their child have mercy on me. Matthew 17, 15, a father cries out have mercy on my son, Matthew 2030 blind men come to Jesus and say, have mercy on us. <br /><br /> The response, the request for mercy. Is one of action. It's interesting that, that it is, it is the giving of an undeserved gift or relief or help. Mercy is not just about forgiveness. Mercy and forgiveness are incredibly linked to one another, but mercy is not just about sparing judgment. In fact, in all of the have mercy upon us, the call was not have mercy and spare me the bad things I deserve. <br /><br /> The call was have mercy and grant me the gift that I don't forgiveness and that, and mercy are connected. Forgiveness is an undeserved gift, but this mercy incorporates more than just relief. It is the action of a gift relief or help. There's an outward action, but mercy also has an inside life in inside dimension. <br /><br /> Strongs calls this, the feeling excited by someone's misery. There is more than action. There is an inner depth. This is why we see in the new Testament. So often before Jesus does an act of mercy. He is described as one with compassion. Mercy is motivated by the action motivated by the inner life, which leads to the outer life of mercy. <br /><br /> Jesus tells a story and good Samaritan in Luke chapter 10, and they come to him. The religious teachers come and say, all right, tell me what's the greatest commandment. And he says, love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and love your neighbor as ourself. Okay. All right. That's pretty good answer. <br /><br /> So who's my neighbor says, so he tells them the story tells them the story of, of a man who was beaten and left by the side of the road in a dangerous part of town. And the Levi goes by CS crosses over. Make sure he doesn't get close to the damage and goes by the priest. A priest comes by, sees him again, thinks all, man, this could be a trick. <br /><br /> I don't know exactly what's going to happen. This is too risky, too unsafe and passes the other side. Then a Samaritan man comes and it says this. He took, it was, he was affected. He took pity on this person. His inner life led him to extreme self-sacrificing outer mercy. And he goes, and he helps. The man gives of himself, gives him his time, gives up his money to provide for this person. <br /><br /> Jesus says, which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell in the hands of the robbers? The experts in the law said the one who had mercy on him. Jesus told them go and do likewise. Now if mercy just lives in the inner dimension just lives on our insides. We feel bad. We take pity. <br /><br /> We, we, we are sorry, but it just doesn't lead to outer action. Mercy is pointless and gutless, but if mercy also is only on the outside is only action. It's usually sourced injustice desire for us to feel good about ourselves. Or to relieve guilt because we know it's probably what we should do anyway. <br /><br /> This type of mercy that we outwardly do something, but are not inwardly impacted by the pain or loss or sense of need of someone else. Doesn't last, very long. There's a scene from a show Superstore. The Superstore is a comedy and, and, uh, during this, their store is doing a drive in one of their shows is doing a dry for underprivileged children in the store. <br /><br /> And so as customers come in the main character, Jonah and, and Amy, they're asking people to give to this charity. And so one comes in and they asked him to do a man comes in, they ask him to donate, and the man said this, I would have donated, but I already gave to the St. Louis Samaritans earlier today, I already gave, and I posted on social media about it. <br /><br /> So it'd be weird to post again. And so Jonah said, couldn't you just donate and not post. And the guy said, so like you would post it and then tag me. And then he said, or you would just be helping some underprivileged kids from Jonah. And the guy said, and they would post it. Do those underprivileged kids have phones. <br /><br /> Like this was the concern. This is the nature of when we are outwardly motivated, we can get us a good status or it can get us a quick trip to help out. But when we are out with the motivated, uh, driven by the excitement of helping someone out, but are not inwardly motivated by deeply caring for the plight of another individual. <br /><br /> It doesn't last past self-motivation real mercy extends farther than that, or it will be cheap and never remain truly merciful when it's hard dimensions of mercy inside and outside. Secondly, the source of mercy, the source of mercy, where does mercy, what is mercy all about as I've looked into what mercy is and how it's being used in the new Testament? <br /><br /> This is what I believe the source of mercy is power. Mercy has everything to do with power. The fundamental mercy fundamentally is someone who has power, giving a gift to someone who doesn't in a particular situation. Now that power could be power of position, someone indebted by sin, and you have that position of being right. <br /><br /> When they have been wrong, that position could be one of money. It could be a position of being an employer or a teacher or a parent. It is someone who has the power who can call the shot in a given situation and uses that power. Self-sacrificing only for someone in this situation who doesn't could be the power of influence, those who are secure and a group using their influence to care and look out for those who are not the power of ownership, the power of ownership over our pets, over our property, over our stuff, over our land, the power of indebtedness, someone being wronged or sinned against. <br /><br /> Have the power over them, the power of resource, those who have resources have and giving it to those who don't mercy is not just about the muscle of forgiveness. It is about the, the godly Christ orientation of using the muscle of power. Now, power has owned has earned its own bad reputation. For me, I had to do my masters and my master's project and did it on the generation I grew up in and a lot of that research was done in study done is what happened in the relationship of my generation. <br /><br /> To authority to power be it, when I grew up in my generation, every generation has their story. Power was not seen as something benevolent. It was became seen as something corrupt news cycles took off in ways that that hadn't been understood before video cameras became much more prolific and news cycles, new stations, news, media outlets, the internet kicking off allowed lots of news of bad things happening for those in power and the safe structures, which we thought were safe soon became suspect schools. <br /><br /> Shooting of Columbine happened when I was in high school and all of a sudden that safe place, that event ripped up our idea that this is a safe structure. Now there are, um, Right drills for when shooters might come in and then all of the prolific news coverage post Columbine that has happened because of school shootings. <br /><br /> We watched the Rodney King beatings happen on TV by police officers, deeply disruptive politicians. This was right in the middle of the bill Clinton in the scandals. And that happened, those public servants are now seen as corrupt. This is happening right as the scandals within the Catholic church, particularly not that it doesn't happen in other churches, including Protestant, but the sex scandals from what happened in many rings within the priests of the Catholic church, became very public and Ron and, and all of the corruption that has shown in big business mixed with child labor laws and people finding out where their goods were, what happened was structures that were thought to be safe. <br /><br /> Those power places were now seen as corrupt. My generation had more money pumped into it than any generation in the history of the world in order to advertise. So what naturally happens in my generation when we see an advertising, we think, ah, they are just after my money, they're lying to me. There's an immediate cynicism. <br /><br /> If it comes from power, it is corrupt to have power became. So having something dirty, public servants were slimy politicians or officers on power trips, concerned. Parents were overly oppressive. Jerks. Wholly leaders were creepy. Clergy leaders of the free market were just privileged CEOs, hoarding their wealth and exploiting others. <br /><br /> This is just, and you say, wow, who are those people that have that mindset? Me? I am most people. I have a hard time with power. I, what I say when we talk about even leadership is I love leadership. I don't love authority, right? Like I don't that whole sense of power and control for me feels dirty. And I grew up in a general ration that had even less access to information than ones that many of you who are younger are growing up in now. <br /><br /> Power control just seems corrupt this last week, as we had seven mass shootings in seven days, the last of which in Boulder, Colorado. The last of which that I'm aware of, there may have been more forgive me if I don't know that in Boulder, Colorado, there was at a grocery store, an hour long standoff, I believe was seven people, including an officer killed. <br /><br /> There was a man who was interviewed at the scene, who's from Boulder. And he said, Boulder's like a bubble. He said, I felt like this was a safe place. And he was quoted about this. He says, it doesn't feel like there's anywhere safe anymore. That's a lot, our relationship with power power. Absolutely. I've had a hard time with power. <br /><br /> So it's connection to mercy at first is not an attractive one. To me. Power can be use to exploit or preserve the one empower. The reason that many of us have a hard time with power is because we have seen how selfishly and cruelly it can be used. But when we look at the scripture power while so often use to exploit and hurt, ultimately is a gift of God. <br /><br /> And hear me what I am saying, what I'm not saying here. Psalm eight says this, talking about how God created people. You have made them a little lower than the angels and crying, crown them with glory and honor, you have made them rulers over the works of your hands. You put everything under their feet, Psalm eight, five, and six. <br /><br /> When God created people, he gave them this theological concept of dominion of power over creation. You are a powerful. Being every one of us has power. And that is we are called to steward that in the way that our cane operates, every one of us has power and everywhere here, this that we have power. It is a gift to be used. <br /><br /> Benevolently. It is an incredible chance to build the kingdom of God with Christ because here is how power is used in the kingdom. Blessed are the merciful for, they will be shown mercy. See, and very obvious from that logical step is without mercy from power. Mercy cannot exist. If those in power do not give mercy, mercy will never ever happen. <br /><br /> If by definition cannot. And this is what I would say, dear Christian, dear one, who follows the name of Jesus. And if you are here and you're like, do not call me dear Christian first, Deere's weird. Okay. I mean, if you're here and you're like, not, you're not saying I want to follow this Christ. I would say you might even be put off by how Christians have used power, but if you claim the name of Jesus, you who, us, who in our place in the world hold so much of the world's wealth hold much of the world's privilege. <br /><br /> We must use power for mercy. If I asked your children, if I asked your employees, if I asked those who have wronged you past or present, if I asked your vendors that you work with, that you buy from and do business with. So if I ask those who have I asked your spouse, who you have mistreated, if I asked your customers, if I asked your friends with different political views from you, if I saw how I spent your money, would we be known as those use our power for mercy? <br /><br /> Would we be known as those who are merciful, invest in mercy, practice her mercy when it's easy, when it's hard, Micah six, eight. Says, he has shown you a mortal. What is good? What is the Lord required to act justly and love mercy to walk humbly with your God? If, if we could see all of what, how we deal, would we be known as people that man, they just love mercy because mercy has everything to do with the gifts of power that we have in our lives. <br /><br /> Third, the application of mercy, the application of mercy, mercy needs to be seasoned when it is served, mercy needs to be done well, like all of the gifts that we've been given, all the commandments that we are called to, it must be done well, mercy without love. Gains nothing. First Corinthians 13 three. If I give away all, I have an act of mercy. <br /><br /> If I deliver up my body to be burned an act of mercy, but do not have love. I gain nothing. It profits the mercy giver nothing. If it is done outside of love, outward mercy without inward love is not mercy or does not. And does not produce secondly, mercy without wisdom is reckless. First Corinthians five, a Paul takes on a situation in the Corinthian church and he takes it on strong. <br /><br /> You would not walk away and say, wow, in that instance, Paul was so calm and passive and quiet and gentle and merciful. He actually takes on a person and says this about someone in the first Corinthians church. He says, when you are assembled in my spirit is present with the power of our Lord Jesus hand, this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh. <br /><br /> So his spirit may be saved on the day day of the Lord. The goal that Paul has for this individual is that he might be awoken and understand the great, he has the highest spiritual good in mind for this person, but the way that he applies that mercy is intense. It's not gentle. It is for the sake of the person, but wisdom is required for how we apply such mercy. <br /><br /> So, and here's where I want us to be real careful, because oftentimes what happens is those of those in situations that are not in a power position are told, you're the ones who are always supposed to be merciful, be merciful and take it easy on those who are in power. It's a tough job, right? And so what can happen when we're talking about blessed are the merciful. <br /><br /> If we don't apply, wisdom is we can enable abuse. If you are in an abusive relationship, it is not wise. To simply act like nothing has happened forgiven. No problem. If you are being oppressed by a system, a person, a situation, and the calling of be merciful and just keep on forgiving is being used as a club over your head. <br /><br /> The great action of love is not passive acceptance. Honestly, this is where we need to be talking with wise people in our life, not just being held under water by, Hey, you have to be merciful because the action of mercy is the calling for those in power. There is a calling in wisdom for benevolent resistance, and it could be a great act of courage when being held under. <br /><br /> And forgive me if any of my words. Land on you as, Oh, my calling is just to be always mistreated and to never speak up <br /><br /> last mercy without sacrifice is cowardly. We learned this from our King to truly have mercy. It's not to just give when it feels convenient or simple. It's to give of our very selves, who is Jesus. He is the broken body of God's mercy. He is the actual display of God's mercy on us. Uh, the Syrian immigration crisis that peaked about four years ago. <br /><br /> Um, was the greatest immigration refugee crisis that happened since world war II. And at, during that time, uh, my wife and I started talking a lot and of course everything gets politicized and we weren't entering into the politics of it as much as entering into what is the calling of Christ. I had a chance to write a four page letter. <br /><br /> I really want to know if anyone read it, but who knows four pages as long, um, it to Collingswood about what is the Christian call a Mister refugee crisis. And I was able to talk through theologically and looking through some old Testament, new Testament structures of what it calls to, to, to be looking out for the needs of the refugee, that those of us who were in power of, of, of citizenship and power of influence and power of finances would be taking our power and looking towards mercy. <br /><br /> But I had to ask a really tough question. What about my home? What about if it took sacrifice for me beyond just writing a letter? And that was a real difficult question. And one that we had to ask as a family of what if some Syrian refugees are allowed into our country more and there's no place to stay. <br /><br /> That's when mercy gets really hard and it takes great commitment because money's hard to be merciful with our space and time. It's hard to be merciful with forgiveness is hard. One of the three regrets of the dying and article just published to someone. You can find many of these online of people who have worked in end of life care. <br /><br /> And you'll often find this among the great desires of the end of life, people, the regret of the dying as they didn't forgive. Why? Cause it's hard. It's really, really, it's hard, but mercy requires sacrifice or else it has. No teeth has no power. Lastly, and we'll conclude with this. What is the promise to the merciful in the passage? <br /><br /> Bless it are the merciful for, they will receive mercy. This is where this and the beatitudes are a lot less about how do we maybe do all these things? How do we become poor in spirit? How do we become me? How do we become merciful? And this is a step back and say, Hey, let's just talk about who's talking here. <br /><br /> Cause this is about Jesus. This is about his kingdom. This is about his gift to us. When he says blessed are the merciful for, they shall obtain mercy a little bit. You say, well, well, who are you? Like? You're just a guy on a mountain side with a little following. And you're saying, while you are standing there and helping the crowd sort of get ordered and walking amongst sins is the Roman guards. <br /><br /> Now there's tower, right? Who really holds the power in the situation, the guy in the Hill who's offering some words or the ones who represent the dynastic empire. And, and as Jesus comes up and speaks these words, all of these words, it's sort of like, who are you. To be able to say merciful receives mercy, right? <br /><br /> I mean, what happens when, how blessed are the merciful read our meats? How real life works? Can Jesus actually say, Oh, I'll give mercy to those who are merciful. Well, the 48 laws of power is a book that was written a couple of decades ago. And it's been called like a Machiavellian or a, uh, yes, like the art of war type of book. <br /><br /> And in, in these 48 laws of power, the author tries to draw on what the world actually operates like. And in that book, it talks about things like if you are just appealing for mercy, you are not living the life of power. A New York magazine said, this says, just reading the contents of this is enough to stir a little corner office lust. <br /><br /> One of the reviewers of this book says this. He says some people have trouble with this book because it's so blatantly power oriented. He said most of their trouble stems from reviewers that believe all people are good inside. And that unicorns deliver their vegan, low fat cappuccino with cream. Well, most people aren't kind, and this book prepared me for reality. <br /><br /> And I think that's the question, right? What is real here? So Jesus saying, yes, those who live in this kingdom of giving power away of, of using their power for mercy. And they will be in the very kingdom where mercy is the economy. The hard people who are merciful will obtain mercy. Won't who are you? <br /><br /> Jesus. Because what often happens is those who are merciful gets stumped on. Let's talk about the real world, real messy families, where raw, where love can run low and tempers run high real workplaces where money is tight and mistakes need accountability, real communities where needy and difficult people are needy and difficult. <br /><br /> How does this play out? When those around us are competing for scant resources, trying to, to get the next position or posture for the higher place who is Jesus to say the merciful receive mercy. When in real life, it often seems like the merciful, just get run over. Let's talk about the beatitudes. If Jesus, his kingdom is not that real real quick. <br /><br /> Look, look at these blessed are the poor in spirit. Well, without Jesus promise, those people are just broken. Blessed are those who mourn? What if Jesus, his world is not that real. They're just in despair. Blessed are the meek. They're just taking advantage of less than are those who hunger and thirst. <br /><br /> They're just left. Unsatisfied. Blessed are the merciful. Well, they're just destroyed. This is why the fundamental question. When we come to this and we come to these beatitudes is not just what the promises are. It's, who's making them, it's the question of what is real life? <br /><br /> What is most real? Because if the beatitudes are absolutely pathetic and terrible, if Jesus is not a King. With real power to Institute them. This is Palm Sunday. This is Jesus getting up on a donkey that has never been written before and is probably skiddish and running around. Like, what are all those dudes with giant branches waving at my face and he's going through, but how he's entering the city, he's entering into the Gates of the city and Jesus on that skiddish donkey. <br /><br /> While along with probably not get a permit for this all kinds of other people and travelers who are annoyed at this scene, Jesus walks through that gate. And what he's doing is an act of war. He is coming into the city into the powers that be being declared King. And Jesus coming, operating, living, enacting the great Samaritan with his own body and blood declares in a blood bought fashion that this kingdom is real. <br /><br /> And on Easter Sunday Rose again from the dead to say that ultimately to live this way to live downward, to live in, in this meekness and humility, and mercy is not an act of weakness. It is an act of kingdom power. And the question for every single one of us is simply this, how real is this King? Bless it. <br /><br /> Or the merciful. For in this reality, they can be shown mercy because their King has benevolent power. If you would stand and receive the benediction this morning, <br /><br /> this is again, given in the plural blessed are they? It's not blessed to just the one or blessed it as the man, less than as the woman it's blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy received this blessing this morning. Bless it are the people that have been so covered in the mercy of the King, that mercy drips off of them everywhere they go. <br /><br /> Bless it are those that use their power to give mercy not hoard privilege, retain position, or use resource just as a way to take care of themselves. Blessing is the community. That shows mercy in places where mercy is most scarce in business practices, where it is most disrespected in homes where it is most foreign, that the kingdom of Jesus Christ may grain ground. <br /><br /> Even there may the reality of the real merciful King. So bind this village together that they operate with mercy that begets mercy, that begets mercy so that it becomes the very economy of real kingdom life. Each looking to give to the other always enough to go around. Bless it is the gift that they give to a tired and judgment filled world that can look on and find lasting hope that there is another real life. <br /><br /> For there is a real and living King who still find Samaritans and ditches and loves to bring them into the family of mercy. God bless you. We are dismissed.</div> false no <![CDATA[Baptism Service]]> Thank you, Mike, to everybody here and all those watching online. Just wanted to explain why I'm standing, with half of my body under water and why others will be doing that with me. This is, um, we believe in what is called believers. Baptism in the new Testament, talks about a sequence that was followed of people believed, and then they were baptized and then they became regularly participated, became members of the church.

But that, that sequence of believe and baptized is important because I think in Romans chapter six, where it talks about the visual of baptism, it talks about we were baptized, um, as an expression or are baptized as an expression, an outward expression of an inner reality. That we are individuals this morning that are being baptized or those that have personally embraced Jesus Christ as the Lord and savior of their lives.

And they are not becoming Christians this morning by being baptized. They are rather publicly proclaiming that they have by faith accepted Jesus Christ as savior and Lord. And that inner reality is one they're visualizing this morning. Now they're visualizing it by their testimony as you'll hear in the video as each of them speaks, but they're also testifying their action and the statement I'm going to make as I baptized them.

I'm going to make these this statement. I'm saying, I'm going to say, I baptize you in the name of the father, the son, and the Holy spirit. And then I'm going to make this statement. As I put them below the water. I'm going to say in the likeness of his death and bringing them up, I'm going to say in the likeness of his resurrection, I do that intentionally because that is what baptism is picturing.

We died to an old way of life, where we were the Lord and master. We were on the throne of our lives and we in our relationship to Christ have risen to a new way of life where Jesus is now, Lord doesn't mean we don't ever screw up or sin. But what it does mean is the trajectory of our life has been changed before the trajectory of our life was we were on the throne when we've embraced Christ as savior, we've died to that old trajectory, been raised to a new where Jesus Christ is the Lord and savior of our lives.

So as these eight individuals come, uh, and you're going to hear brief testimonies of them by the video. Um, you will hear me say that likenesses depth and the likenesses resurrection just want you to know what that was all about. First person that's going to be baptized this morning and the good news.

Um, if you're beginning to feel, wow, there's a lot of testimonies. There's eight different peoples. There's no sermon this morning. So this is stop clapping, ushers. Okay, Ryan, Anderson's going to join me.

yeah, it is warm. It is so warm. It feels really good. Uh, Ryan, if you received Jesus Christ as your savior. Yes, I have. Okay. We're going to hear about it. Hey, I'm Ryan and I'm here to share my baptism story with you. Um, I was born and raised in a Christian home church involvement and Sunday services were a big part of my life as a child and throughout my teen years.

Um, I grew up in a home where I had to be deathly ill or no longer on planet earth to miss Sunday service. Uh, but I'm so blessed and thankful to have grown up in a home, um, where my parents set an example for me as followers of Christ and continue to still recognize him as the center of their life and of my life.

Um, I received Jesus as my savior and Lord of my life on September 25th, 2013 at a high school retreat through my school. Um, going into that retreat, I knew who Jesus was and what he had done for me on the cross, but I never really took it to a personal level. Um, I was definitely complacent and honestly, pretty reliant on myself.

I didn't really need God. Um, I had all that I thought I needed at the time. Um, but I don't remember what the speaker actually said. Um, but I do remember the song that was played throughout the conference. Almost like a theme song it's called completely done by sovereign grace music, which quotes second Corinthians five 17, which says that if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come.

The oldest gone, the new is here and convicted of my pride and my sin and my shame. I gave everything to Christ. Um, I knew that I couldn't stand before God as righteous and definitely not. Holy. I knew that I needed Jesus. So I fell on my knees during that worship song. And I didn't say a word. I cried like a baby.

I felt the weight of who I was as a sinner. But in that very same moment, I felt the release of all my burdens. I was a freshman in high school at the time. And afterwards I spent some time hanging with a senior. Who w we were just kind of talking about what happened during that worship song. Um, and after hanging with him, I decided to verbally pray to Jesus and repeat what had happened in my heart.

Uh, several moments ago that I knew that I was a sinner and that I needed a savior as pastor Mark says a lot. I knew that my report card wasn't good enough, but I knew that Jesus was filled with abundant grace and that he loved me all the more, and he desired my heart. He had redeemed me and I knew that he died for me and that he didn't just die.

He Rose again from that grave, defeating death and defeating my sin. All that I had to do was received the free gift that he already gave me. Um, so I received the Lord that day, but more recently about a year ago, uh, I went through a really, really hard season of anxiety and some depression, um, back around kind of when COVID started in March, I learned how anxiety radically.

Changes you and how you view the world, um, and how it can almost feel crippling. I had a, I had a really, really hard time seeing Jesus and even relying on him. And I felt at times he wasn't really there and that was really challenging for my faith. Um, but I continued to try to diligently read the word and spend time abiding with him, even when I felt like he wasn't there.

I knew that he was the only option that I had when anxiety was at its height, its highest moments. Um, sometimes it was really challenging and I was waiting for those life-changing moments where you read a verse and all of your thoughts and problems vanish in thin air. Um, but I can definitely say that I didn't really experience that in most moments, but what I did find was just the consistency and going back to his word, spending time with him in prayer, meditating on, on certain verses and phrases that he says.

Um, one thing that really stuck with me and that my mom told me one night is Philippians four, six and seven, which says don't be anxious about anything, but in every situation by prayer and petition with Thanksgiving, present your requests to God and the peace of God, which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

And after a couple of crazy life altering months, my fiance and I lead junior high youth group alongside of Mike and Jared, where I am now pursuing a career in ministry. So why do I want to get baptized? I feel like I should have been baptized a while ago, but baptism is an outward symbol of an inward reality in my heart.

And I want to share that with you all today, that Jesus Christ is my joy and my strength, my delight. And most importantly, he is my savior.

Brian is your desire to publicly proclaim a relationship to Christ by being baptized? Yes,

Brian, it's my joy to baptize you in the name of the father and the son and the Holy spirit and the likeness of his death.

Jill buck is going to join us.

Jill, have you received Jesus as your savior? Yes, I have. All right, we're going to hear it back. Okay. Hi, I'm Jillian buck and I'm a firm believer in Jesus Christ. And I'm here today to give my testimony when I was 16. Um, I accepted Jesus Christ into my life. Shortly after that, um, at the age of 16, I encountered a very rare medical condition and it has still in my life today.

It's still there and it has been a very difficult, um, 23 years of that at the age of 21, when I married my husband, I was a static, things were very good in the beginning. And at the age of 24, I gave birth to our first child Gabriela. And after she was born, she suffered, uh, some medical issues where she was hospitalized for a while.

And my husband and I were very scared. We were scared that we were going to lose her and it was very fearful. But shortly after too, she had came home. Um, symptoms of my medical condition started to come back and I was starting to suffer a very, very greatly. And, um, I started to have a lot of pain and it was a very difficult time for me after a while my marriage started to sh to really struggle at that point.

But also in that timeframe, I was very distant from God. Um, I stopped praying. I attended church, but physically was here, but mentally was not, um, my hopes that my marriage would be better. It did not happen. There were many nights that I cried and many days that I just try to talk myself out of this and try it and want to get better.

And I just couldn't. And in April of 2018, I mean, I was driving my car and I came across this radio station called Caleb. And I'm just listening to these words of this music. I just started crying. And I just said, I can't seem to turn off this radio station and listen to these people that God has came into their lives and has changed so many things.

And I knew about celebrate recovery. I don't know, church, and I often wanted to go, but felt like I never had the time to do that. And one Thursday I decided I'm going to go. And they were so. Heart whelming. And they were there for me and they were listening to me and I just had this major breakthrough that I said, yes, I, I, you know, I want God back in my life.

I want to pray again. I want to believe that, you know, he's there for me and that I'm a child of God and yes, I want this to happen. And shortly after time, I discovered that my husband was having an affair and my whole world spiral out of control. My worst fear was happening and. I had to, I had to have some time with God and say, you know, why is this happening?

Like I'm doing everything you're telling me to do is save my marriage. And I now in this whole again, and I don't know where to go from here. And he just basically told me to stay still, just cast it to God. And he's going to be in control. I am not in control of this. He is going to be in control of this.

And I often thought that you had to get five ties when you know, your life was perfect and everything was perfect, but I know that's not the case and whatever happens. I know that I'm so glad that God has came back into my life. And I just wanted to share a verse with you. It's Deuteronomy 31, six that says be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or terrified because of them for the Lord.

Your God goes with you. He will never leave you nor forsake you. And I chose this first because I don't want to live in fear and I don't want to be afraid of whatever the outcome is. And I also feel that you need to just cast and I need to cast everything to God and leave it in his hands because he's in control.

And I want to thank you for letting me share my testimony today.

Jillian. Is it your desire to testify of your relations? Yes,

Jillian, it's my joy to baptize you in the name of the father, the son, and the Holy spirit in the likeness of his death.

next is a couple by are coming. Uh, Marco's going to come first. And then Maria

Marco, have you received Jesus Christ as his savior? Yes, I have.

My name is Marco. Uh, I'm uh, from South America, especially from Chile, uh, glad to be here. And I share my story with you. So I've been a Christian since I have a 10 years old because of my parents and I was baptized when I was 12. Um, I feel like a lot of things have happened already in between. And, uh, I have the need on, um, being bow ties.

Now, the I I'm an old guy. I mean, my tour guy, for me, baptize, it's, uh, a way to show my love to God, my surrender, and to live the old man that I was to start this new life with him. Even if I've been Christian for so long, this is a moment that I want to say to the world publicly that, uh, I'm not afraid to move on on God.

I'm not afraid to be Christian. Uh, I'm not afraid to share my, my experiences, uh, and to give my life to God. And, uh, because of that, I also want my family to be involved. Thank you.

Marco is a young man. It's a delight for me to be able to baptize an old guy today. Is it your desire to be baptized? Yes, absolutely. All right, Marco, it's my joy to baptize you in the name of the father, the son, and the Holy spirit. In the likeness of his death.

Maria. Have you received Jesus as your savior? Okay. We're going to hear her testimony now. Hi, my name is Maria and I'm from T okay.

[spanish]

Maria. Do you desire today to testify to Jesus by being baptized?

It's my privilege to baptize you Maria, in the name of the father, the son, and the Holy spirit in the likeness of his death.

So, and Brian is going to join me.

So, and have you received Jesus Christ as your savior? Yes, I absolutely have. All right, we're going to hear about it absolutely morning. My name is Sue Ann, Brian, my faith walk and becoming closer to Christ has been a gradual one since my early childhood life as a child was not easy. My father was an alcoholic.

So as you can imagine, it was difficult in our life, in our family. And there was turmoil created in our family. Fortunately, I had a mother who was a Christian woman and she said examples for me as to what it was like to depend upon the Lord in all times, even when things appear to be hopeless, she taught me that if you give God.

His time first, every day, he will give you the time you need for all other things, because of the situation with my father and some other things that were going on within our family. At that time, I had to take one, a lot of the adult responsibilities within the family. I loved going to church as a child.

I found that it was fun. It was a safe place to be, and it was a calm place for me. And I love being part of the church activities. When I was in seventh grade, I was part of the junior high youth group. And I decided to share my home situation with the youth pastor. He gave me a verse from Matthew 11, 28 and 29.

And it's one, that's probably very familiar to all of you come to me who are weary and burdened, and I will give you peace. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. For, I am gentle and humble at heart, and I will give your soul rest. That is a verse that I memorized at that early age and have held onto and leaned upon for all of my life, for all of my different decisions.

And it's interesting that that verse has helped me through all kinds of decisions, whether it be a difficult time in my life, whether it be a job or career decision that I needed to make, whether it be during a time when everything in life just seemed to be going too well, better than could possibly be true.

Or when my sinful nature took over a situation, and I know I needed to make a change. These verses have reminded me that Jesus takes the weight of my life upon himself, and that I need to give that control to the Lord. Oftentimes I want to control the situation, but I have found that when I give the control over to him, He will answer those prayers and do it in a way that oftentimes I don't expect in my early twenties, I believe that I came to understand the true meaning of being born again in Christ.

I was baptized as a baby, but believe that adult baptism is important for me to be able to profess my face publicly, to share my belief with others and to share in the life of Jesus. I was a sinner. I am a sinner and I will always be a sinner, but I know that through God's grace, I can change those sinful ways.

God's grace and unconditional love and forgiveness have been something that I have leaned on throughout my life. I believe that God's hand has orchestrated every moment of my life. He has shown me his purposes and explained to me. How I can continue on my faith journey and how I can get to know Christ better.

God has answered prayers over and over again. For me throughout my life, he has directed my life. His answers are usually very different from what I expect or what I want, but his answers are always the correct ones. I have learned to listen to him and rely on him for those answers when I'm tested. And I know that I praise the Lord and give him Thanksgiving that Christ is there living in my heart in order to help me.

In those times of temptation, there is a praise song that is very important to me, and it says there is great power in the name of Jesus. Amen.

So Anna is you desire today to publicly testify of that relationship to Christ by being baptized? Yes. Okay.

So, and it's my joy to baptize you in the name of the father, the son, and the Holy spirit in the likeness of his death.

the other half of the marriage is Greg. Greg is going to join me now.

Well, this is, yeah, this is a home run, man. This is great. Yeah, we did right by it today. Good thing. I don't know if this really even counts as a baptism when it's this comfortable. Maybe we'll see you again next week, right? That's fine. Make sure the heaters. No, that's the idea, Greg, have you received Jesus as your savior?

Yes, I have. Okay. We're going to hear about it. Good morning. My name is Greg Brian, and I'm here to give a testimony to you about being baptized in the church. As a youngster growing up, I was always aware of Jesus Christ, our Lord and savior, and my parents would always give us a, uh, you know, a reason to do so.

I have had a chance to. No, that it's something in my heart and in my soul and my mind is what I should be giving to him. Uh, when you a young, uh, and you have heard it all, or you think you have, but then not have not experienced certain situations, um, that how can you apply some of these teachings that you've heard as a little kid?

Uh, one day you have an encounter and in that encounter a little voice inside your head says, Hmm, how can I go through this situation? You make attempts or situations, and many times they succeed or they fail. Uh, the learning curve is like a rollercoaster of life. Um, they has its ups and downs. Uh, seeds are planted, you know, in what, into us, but it's for us to follow Christ and little by little, I began to make those attempts to follow Christ.

As I began reading the scriptures, um, I found a necessity by surrounding myself with many other Christians. Um, and in order to. To waylay, any fears I may have had and learn from them. And I want to thank you community groups for helping with that as stated in first, Peter three 15, 16, um, Revere Christ as your Lord and savior and become a firm believer in Jesus Christ.

As I have grown up into, um, adulthood, I see how the power of the Lord has come into my life. Many times. My problem for so long, um, was to, um, know that that he was with me and never doubt him. But listen to that little voice inside your head, that's going to give that answer to what you should be doing. I had things that were sneaking into my, into my mind.

Um, I found out that when I was in 26 years old, I had a terrible. Nervous disease, a mirror of disease that attacked my nervous system. And I just started teaching school for two years and I couldn't understand what was this. I was falling apart right in front of my students and wasn't doing well at all.

And this was, this was bothering me. I blamed myself for not being with God all my life. I blamed myself for not following his word and doing things that I shouldn't be doing. I became upset about this, but it wasn't God's fault. You know, God gives you trials and tribulations. And this was a trial for me, an older gentlemen of friend of mine who told me at one time, some words he says, don't, don't be dissolved.

Don't be despaired in about what says, look at, look at the Psalm 55, 22, very plain, very simple, give everything to the Lord and rejoice that he will take care of everything. And he will do all for you. My prayer therefore is to thank Jesus. You know, for being there for me, allowing me this time that I could be in front of my congregation, um, to be baptized as an adult baptism solidifies that I am a follower of Christ and all the things that I do I do for his namesake.

Um, Jesus is my Lord and savior. I profess that to anybody. I have found also that I am thankful that Jesus has heightened my senses, um, that he has supported my life. Um, and I am Slack suggested that my church, family and my wife have been behind me and strong with me and have gone through all kinds of trials and tribulations.

As I said, a little while ago, Jesus has heightened my senses. You know, he has given me the sight to see, uh, what creation see he has made for me to be all in all of what those are. He has given me the sound. So I can listen to the word and hopefully, maybe give that word other people. Uh, he's given me the, the scent of, of, um, what he has produced for us in the world and on land and sea and air.

And he's giving me the touch and the taste, the taste of, of what is good and the touch of him being in our back. And to know that Jesus Christ was always our savior and Lord. Um, I am so thankful that I am going to be baptized, um, with, with my church. You're there with me in my heart and my mind and my soul.

Right. Um, and we profess that the truth be told that Jesus Christ is our Lord and savior. And knowing how blessed I am is where my strength comes from.

Greg. Do you want to testify to Christ by being baptized today? Yes, I do. Okay.

Greg, it's my joy to baptize you in the name of the father, the son, and the Holy spirit in the likeness of his death.

you may have noticed in the first out in laughter. The reason is when Greg came up and he looked at me and he said, did I come up?

Emily Krebs is going to join me now.

Emily. Have you received Jesus as your savior? Yes, I have. Okay. I'm gonna hear about it and look right there. Okay. Hi, I'm Emily Krebs and I've been attending FCC since 2016. I was raised in a Christian home and Christian school, but like so many others. I was baptized as an infant around the age of three, my family moved.

And while they were trying to find a church that they were familiar with, they bumped into a Bible church and it was at this church that pretty, our family changed forever and they realized that it wasn't by baptism that we are saved, but by the grace of God and. Um, believing that he died on the cross for our sin.

So we could have eternal life around the age of five. I accepted Christ as my savior. And while that seems young, I, it was a, I knew that it was the knowledge that Christ lived inside me and it started in Sunday school and continued. I just continued to mature. And at the time though, of course, the church wanted you to be a little bit older before you made that decision on your own.

And so by the time I was able to make that decision, I also became aware that I'm not a huge fan of speaking in front of people and large groups of people. And so I kept putting it off and knowing that it's not by baptism, that we're saved, it does not define or that if we are or are not a Christian, I just put it off.

And I have a daughter that I want to lead by example, and are probably over a decade. It's been on my heart and I just. Just couldn't do it. And now I, I feel the Lord is just tapping on my shoulder saying it's time. It's time to put your fear behind you and step out and surrender to me. And in acts two 38, Peter says to them, repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.

And you will receive the gift of the Holy spirit today. I'm getting baptized as an active obedience to proclaim that, that I'm a follower of Jesus Christ in front of my church and my family.

that your desire to be baptized to profess your relationship to Christ

Emily. It's my joy to baptize you in the name of the father and the son and the Holy spirit. In the likeness of his death.

I just want to say something before our last candidate this morning, um, you may be here and the wonderful part of baptisms, as you're, as you're sitting out there is, they're all different stories. I mean, all different stories. This is how God works. I mean, we're hearing their story, but it's really the Lord's story in people's lives.

Maybe you're identifying with someone's story and saying, I'd like to know Christ. I I'd like to have that relationship where, where Jesus is real and the Lord and savior of my life, or maybe you're out there. And you're saying, you know, that's me, I've waited all these years. I know I should. Publicly identify with the Lord through baptism and just haven't done it.

Maybe God will use the testimony of these folks this morning to speak to some of you. However, he speaks to you. If you would like to talk to myself or one of our other pastors, we would be happy to do that, um, about how you can personally have a relationship with Christ. Uh, if you want to learn more about being baptized, we'd be glad to talk to you about that as well.

Our last candidate, um, we have a new pastor on our church. He started in January. He's our youngest pastor, our newest pastor, our craziest pastor, um, uh, Jared hacking and Jared is going to perform the last baptism because he is baptizing his wife, JC

Good morning,

JC, have you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and savior?

Hi, my name is JC and I'm going to share a little bit of my story with you. I was raised in a Christian home with two loving parents and an older sister in Fort Myers, Florida, and I accepted Christ when I was four years old. I remember coming home from preschool one day after learning what it meant to accept Jesus in your heart.

And I told my mom that was something that I wanted and we prayed and read a book. And from that day on, I considered myself a Christian. Um, it really wasn't until my junior year of high school that I found myself crying out to God. I had recently realized that I've failed the standardized tests going into my junior year.

And I was very embarrassed and I felt kind of ashamed. And I was really confused about what was going on. So I had to take an intensive reading course and retake the test over again. And then it was time to start applying for colleges. And I had to take the act and quickly realized that that was going to be a similar struggle.

So my parents decided that we should reach out to tutors to see what we could do. And the tutors actually turned us away and said that I needed to get tested for a learning disability. So I was very confused. I remember asking like, God, why is this happening to me right now? You know, all of my friends were talking about what colleges they wanted to go to.

And I was beginning to realize that might not be a reality for me. And. I got the test done and found out that I did have two learning disabilities and anxiety that were really hindering my ability to perform well on these exams. And, um, we applied for extended time and I was able to get that. And then I did end up passing the test and applying for colleges.

And in that time I was finally able to, um, think about what was going on. You know, it's a lot to find out about yourself at the age of 17. And I really was thinking, you know, why, how is this in God's plan? What is the purpose of all of this? And I realized that I had found that my identity wasn't in the scores that I kept perceiving that were really low or the exec, the acceptances that I was going to receive, but that my identity was always going to be rooted in Christ.

And that was a huge. Realization after all of that. So I went into college, very anxious to fail and nervous about school. It was not my favorite thing in the world, but I pursued it and was eager to see what would happen. I decided to go away for a summer serving on mission trips and pursued a couple of internships with my church.

A lot of the people that I was near, they were nonbelievers, but I took it as a missions opportunity and continued on. And then, um, the summer of 2019, I was reunited with a fun loving Christian man that is a familiar face to most of you. And, um, we quickly began pursuing a God-centered relationship after that week.

We spent together. And honestly, he was the breath of fresh air that I needed and the huge answered prayer. Um, I wasn't really surrounded by a lot of people my age, who understood my faith in Christ. And we were very much on the same page and it was such a blessing. So, um, after we started dating, I was coming to the end of my senior year of college and realizing I'm not really sure what I want to do, but I think I definitely want to be closer to Jared.

So I kept praying, you know, God, if I can find a job that I would honor you in, in New Jersey, please just make that clear to me. And a lot of doors were open very quickly. I had an interview and a job offer and a place to live all in the same day and it was such a blessing. So. In the middle of COVID. I moved to New Jersey and now I'm married to that man.

And it is such a blessing to be able to serve alongside of him and his ministry here at FCC. So I knew, um, God would always work this plan out for me. And I really realized that I had to let go of my own. So, um, I'm very excited to be getting baptized today. I was baptized as an infant, but this is the first time I've able, I've been able to, um, make that declaration for myself.

Thank you so much for welcoming me here at FCC. Um, it's been a little under a year, but it's already feeling like home and I'm really excited to be taking this step in my faith with all of you by my side.

JC, is it your desire to be baptized this morning? Yes. Yes. I'm incredibly proud of you. And it is my joy to baptize you in the name of the father, the son, and the Holy spirit and likeness of his death, his resurrection]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/baptism-service 112b7ef6-3137-4739-b1af-df60e8389e3e Sun, 21 Mar 2021 19:22:27 GMT <div data-html="true">Thank you, Mike, to everybody here and all those watching online. Just wanted to explain why I'm standing, with half of my body under water and why others will be doing that with me. This is, um, we believe in what is called believers. Baptism in the new Testament, talks about a sequence that was followed of people believed, and then they were baptized and then they became regularly participated, became members of the church. <br /><br /> But that, that sequence of believe and baptized is important because I think in Romans chapter six, where it talks about the visual of baptism, it talks about we were baptized, um, as an expression or are baptized as an expression, an outward expression of an inner reality. That we are individuals this morning that are being baptized or those that have personally embraced Jesus Christ as the Lord and savior of their lives. <br /><br /> And they are not becoming Christians this morning by being baptized. They are rather publicly proclaiming that they have by faith accepted Jesus Christ as savior and Lord. And that inner reality is one they're visualizing this morning. Now they're visualizing it by their testimony as you'll hear in the video as each of them speaks, but they're also testifying their action and the statement I'm going to make as I baptized them. <br /><br /> I'm going to make these this statement. I'm saying, I'm going to say, I baptize you in the name of the father, the son, and the Holy spirit. And then I'm going to make this statement. As I put them below the water. I'm going to say in the likeness of his death and bringing them up, I'm going to say in the likeness of his resurrection, I do that intentionally because that is what baptism is picturing. <br /><br /> We died to an old way of life, where we were the Lord and master. We were on the throne of our lives and we in our relationship to Christ have risen to a new way of life where Jesus is now, Lord doesn't mean we don't ever screw up or sin. But what it does mean is the trajectory of our life has been changed before the trajectory of our life was we were on the throne when we've embraced Christ as savior, we've died to that old trajectory, been raised to a new where Jesus Christ is the Lord and savior of our lives. <br /><br /> So as these eight individuals come, uh, and you're going to hear brief testimonies of them by the video. Um, you will hear me say that likenesses depth and the likenesses resurrection just want you to know what that was all about. First person that's going to be baptized this morning and the good news. <br /><br /> Um, if you're beginning to feel, wow, there's a lot of testimonies. There's eight different peoples. There's no sermon this morning. So this is stop clapping, ushers. Okay, Ryan, Anderson's going to join me. <br /><br /> yeah, it is warm. It is so warm. It feels really good. Uh, Ryan, if you received Jesus Christ as your savior. Yes, I have. Okay. We're going to hear about it. Hey, I'm Ryan and I'm here to share my baptism story with you. Um, I was born and raised in a Christian home church involvement and Sunday services were a big part of my life as a child and throughout my teen years. <br /><br /> Um, I grew up in a home where I had to be deathly ill or no longer on planet earth to miss Sunday service. Uh, but I'm so blessed and thankful to have grown up in a home, um, where my parents set an example for me as followers of Christ and continue to still recognize him as the center of their life and of my life. <br /><br /> Um, I received Jesus as my savior and Lord of my life on September 25th, 2013 at a high school retreat through my school. Um, going into that retreat, I knew who Jesus was and what he had done for me on the cross, but I never really took it to a personal level. Um, I was definitely complacent and honestly, pretty reliant on myself. <br /><br /> I didn't really need God. Um, I had all that I thought I needed at the time. Um, but I don't remember what the speaker actually said. Um, but I do remember the song that was played throughout the conference. Almost like a theme song it's called completely done by sovereign grace music, which quotes second Corinthians five 17, which says that if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. <br /><br /> The oldest gone, the new is here and convicted of my pride and my sin and my shame. I gave everything to Christ. Um, I knew that I couldn't stand before God as righteous and definitely not. Holy. I knew that I needed Jesus. So I fell on my knees during that worship song. And I didn't say a word. I cried like a baby. <br /><br /> I felt the weight of who I was as a sinner. But in that very same moment, I felt the release of all my burdens. I was a freshman in high school at the time. And afterwards I spent some time hanging with a senior. Who w we were just kind of talking about what happened during that worship song. Um, and after hanging with him, I decided to verbally pray to Jesus and repeat what had happened in my heart. <br /><br /> Uh, several moments ago that I knew that I was a sinner and that I needed a savior as pastor Mark says a lot. I knew that my report card wasn't good enough, but I knew that Jesus was filled with abundant grace and that he loved me all the more, and he desired my heart. He had redeemed me and I knew that he died for me and that he didn't just die. <br /><br /> He Rose again from that grave, defeating death and defeating my sin. All that I had to do was received the free gift that he already gave me. Um, so I received the Lord that day, but more recently about a year ago, uh, I went through a really, really hard season of anxiety and some depression, um, back around kind of when COVID started in March, I learned how anxiety radically. <br /><br /> Changes you and how you view the world, um, and how it can almost feel crippling. I had a, I had a really, really hard time seeing Jesus and even relying on him. And I felt at times he wasn't really there and that was really challenging for my faith. Um, but I continued to try to diligently read the word and spend time abiding with him, even when I felt like he wasn't there. <br /><br /> I knew that he was the only option that I had when anxiety was at its height, its highest moments. Um, sometimes it was really challenging and I was waiting for those life-changing moments where you read a verse and all of your thoughts and problems vanish in thin air. Um, but I can definitely say that I didn't really experience that in most moments, but what I did find was just the consistency and going back to his word, spending time with him in prayer, meditating on, on certain verses and phrases that he says. <br /><br /> Um, one thing that really stuck with me and that my mom told me one night is Philippians four, six and seven, which says don't be anxious about anything, but in every situation by prayer and petition with Thanksgiving, present your requests to God and the peace of God, which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. <br /><br /> And after a couple of crazy life altering months, my fiance and I lead junior high youth group alongside of Mike and Jared, where I am now pursuing a career in ministry. So why do I want to get baptized? I feel like I should have been baptized a while ago, but baptism is an outward symbol of an inward reality in my heart. <br /><br /> And I want to share that with you all today, that Jesus Christ is my joy and my strength, my delight. And most importantly, he is my savior. <br /><br /> Brian is your desire to publicly proclaim a relationship to Christ by being baptized? Yes, <br /><br /> Brian, it's my joy to baptize you in the name of the father and the son and the Holy spirit and the likeness of his death. <br /><br /> Jill buck is going to join us. <br /><br /> Jill, have you received Jesus as your savior? Yes, I have. All right, we're going to hear it back. Okay. Hi, I'm Jillian buck and I'm a firm believer in Jesus Christ. And I'm here today to give my testimony when I was 16. Um, I accepted Jesus Christ into my life. Shortly after that, um, at the age of 16, I encountered a very rare medical condition and it has still in my life today. <br /><br /> It's still there and it has been a very difficult, um, 23 years of that at the age of 21, when I married my husband, I was a static, things were very good in the beginning. And at the age of 24, I gave birth to our first child Gabriela. And after she was born, she suffered, uh, some medical issues where she was hospitalized for a while. <br /><br /> And my husband and I were very scared. We were scared that we were going to lose her and it was very fearful. But shortly after too, she had came home. Um, symptoms of my medical condition started to come back and I was starting to suffer a very, very greatly. And, um, I started to have a lot of pain and it was a very difficult time for me after a while my marriage started to sh to really struggle at that point. <br /><br /> But also in that timeframe, I was very distant from God. Um, I stopped praying. I attended church, but physically was here, but mentally was not, um, my hopes that my marriage would be better. It did not happen. There were many nights that I cried and many days that I just try to talk myself out of this and try it and want to get better. <br /><br /> And I just couldn't. And in April of 2018, I mean, I was driving my car and I came across this radio station called Caleb. And I'm just listening to these words of this music. I just started crying. And I just said, I can't seem to turn off this radio station and listen to these people that God has came into their lives and has changed so many things. <br /><br /> And I knew about celebrate recovery. I don't know, church, and I often wanted to go, but felt like I never had the time to do that. And one Thursday I decided I'm going to go. And they were so. Heart whelming. And they were there for me and they were listening to me and I just had this major breakthrough that I said, yes, I, I, you know, I want God back in my life. <br /><br /> I want to pray again. I want to believe that, you know, he's there for me and that I'm a child of God and yes, I want this to happen. And shortly after time, I discovered that my husband was having an affair and my whole world spiral out of control. My worst fear was happening and. I had to, I had to have some time with God and say, you know, why is this happening? <br /><br /> Like I'm doing everything you're telling me to do is save my marriage. And I now in this whole again, and I don't know where to go from here. And he just basically told me to stay still, just cast it to God. And he's going to be in control. I am not in control of this. He is going to be in control of this. <br /><br /> And I often thought that you had to get five ties when you know, your life was perfect and everything was perfect, but I know that's not the case and whatever happens. I know that I'm so glad that God has came back into my life. And I just wanted to share a verse with you. It's Deuteronomy 31, six that says be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or terrified because of them for the Lord. <br /><br /> Your God goes with you. He will never leave you nor forsake you. And I chose this first because I don't want to live in fear and I don't want to be afraid of whatever the outcome is. And I also feel that you need to just cast and I need to cast everything to God and leave it in his hands because he's in control. <br /><br /> And I want to thank you for letting me share my testimony today. <br /><br /> Jillian. Is it your desire to testify of your relations? Yes, <br /><br /> Jillian, it's my joy to baptize you in the name of the father, the son, and the Holy spirit in the likeness of his death. <br /><br /> next is a couple by are coming. Uh, Marco's going to come first. And then Maria <br /><br /> Marco, have you received Jesus Christ as his savior? Yes, I have. <br /><br /> My name is Marco. Uh, I'm uh, from South America, especially from Chile, uh, glad to be here. And I share my story with you. So I've been a Christian since I have a 10 years old because of my parents and I was baptized when I was 12. Um, I feel like a lot of things have happened already in between. And, uh, I have the need on, um, being bow ties. <br /><br /> Now, the I I'm an old guy. I mean, my tour guy, for me, baptize, it's, uh, a way to show my love to God, my surrender, and to live the old man that I was to start this new life with him. Even if I've been Christian for so long, this is a moment that I want to say to the world publicly that, uh, I'm not afraid to move on on God. <br /><br /> I'm not afraid to be Christian. Uh, I'm not afraid to share my, my experiences, uh, and to give my life to God. And, uh, because of that, I also want my family to be involved. Thank you. <br /><br /> Marco is a young man. It's a delight for me to be able to baptize an old guy today. Is it your desire to be baptized? Yes, absolutely. All right, Marco, it's my joy to baptize you in the name of the father, the son, and the Holy spirit. In the likeness of his death. <br /><br /> Maria. Have you received Jesus as your savior? Okay. We're going to hear her testimony now. Hi, my name is Maria and I'm from T okay. <br /><br /> [spanish] <br /><br /> Maria. Do you desire today to testify to Jesus by being baptized? <br /><br /> It's my privilege to baptize you Maria, in the name of the father, the son, and the Holy spirit in the likeness of his death. <br /><br /> So, and Brian is going to join me. <br /><br /> So, and have you received Jesus Christ as your savior? Yes, I absolutely have. All right, we're going to hear about it absolutely morning. My name is Sue Ann, Brian, my faith walk and becoming closer to Christ has been a gradual one since my early childhood life as a child was not easy. My father was an alcoholic. <br /><br /> So as you can imagine, it was difficult in our life, in our family. And there was turmoil created in our family. Fortunately, I had a mother who was a Christian woman and she said examples for me as to what it was like to depend upon the Lord in all times, even when things appear to be hopeless, she taught me that if you give God. <br /><br /> His time first, every day, he will give you the time you need for all other things, because of the situation with my father and some other things that were going on within our family. At that time, I had to take one, a lot of the adult responsibilities within the family. I loved going to church as a child. <br /><br /> I found that it was fun. It was a safe place to be, and it was a calm place for me. And I love being part of the church activities. When I was in seventh grade, I was part of the junior high youth group. And I decided to share my home situation with the youth pastor. He gave me a verse from Matthew 11, 28 and 29. <br /><br /> And it's one, that's probably very familiar to all of you come to me who are weary and burdened, and I will give you peace. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. For, I am gentle and humble at heart, and I will give your soul rest. That is a verse that I memorized at that early age and have held onto and leaned upon for all of my life, for all of my different decisions. <br /><br /> And it's interesting that that verse has helped me through all kinds of decisions, whether it be a difficult time in my life, whether it be a job or career decision that I needed to make, whether it be during a time when everything in life just seemed to be going too well, better than could possibly be true. <br /><br /> Or when my sinful nature took over a situation, and I know I needed to make a change. These verses have reminded me that Jesus takes the weight of my life upon himself, and that I need to give that control to the Lord. Oftentimes I want to control the situation, but I have found that when I give the control over to him, He will answer those prayers and do it in a way that oftentimes I don't expect in my early twenties, I believe that I came to understand the true meaning of being born again in Christ. <br /><br /> I was baptized as a baby, but believe that adult baptism is important for me to be able to profess my face publicly, to share my belief with others and to share in the life of Jesus. I was a sinner. I am a sinner and I will always be a sinner, but I know that through God's grace, I can change those sinful ways. <br /><br /> God's grace and unconditional love and forgiveness have been something that I have leaned on throughout my life. I believe that God's hand has orchestrated every moment of my life. He has shown me his purposes and explained to me. How I can continue on my faith journey and how I can get to know Christ better. <br /><br /> God has answered prayers over and over again. For me throughout my life, he has directed my life. His answers are usually very different from what I expect or what I want, but his answers are always the correct ones. I have learned to listen to him and rely on him for those answers when I'm tested. And I know that I praise the Lord and give him Thanksgiving that Christ is there living in my heart in order to help me. <br /><br /> In those times of temptation, there is a praise song that is very important to me, and it says there is great power in the name of Jesus. Amen. <br /><br /> So Anna is you desire today to publicly testify of that relationship to Christ by being baptized? Yes. Okay. <br /><br /> So, and it's my joy to baptize you in the name of the father, the son, and the Holy spirit in the likeness of his death. <br /><br /> the other half of the marriage is Greg. Greg is going to join me now. <br /><br /> Well, this is, yeah, this is a home run, man. This is great. Yeah, we did right by it today. Good thing. I don't know if this really even counts as a baptism when it's this comfortable. Maybe we'll see you again next week, right? That's fine. Make sure the heaters. No, that's the idea, Greg, have you received Jesus as your savior? <br /><br /> Yes, I have. Okay. We're going to hear about it. Good morning. My name is Greg Brian, and I'm here to give a testimony to you about being baptized in the church. As a youngster growing up, I was always aware of Jesus Christ, our Lord and savior, and my parents would always give us a, uh, you know, a reason to do so. <br /><br /> I have had a chance to. No, that it's something in my heart and in my soul and my mind is what I should be giving to him. Uh, when you a young, uh, and you have heard it all, or you think you have, but then not have not experienced certain situations, um, that how can you apply some of these teachings that you've heard as a little kid? <br /><br /> Uh, one day you have an encounter and in that encounter a little voice inside your head says, Hmm, how can I go through this situation? You make attempts or situations, and many times they succeed or they fail. Uh, the learning curve is like a rollercoaster of life. Um, they has its ups and downs. Uh, seeds are planted, you know, in what, into us, but it's for us to follow Christ and little by little, I began to make those attempts to follow Christ. <br /><br /> As I began reading the scriptures, um, I found a necessity by surrounding myself with many other Christians. Um, and in order to. To waylay, any fears I may have had and learn from them. And I want to thank you community groups for helping with that as stated in first, Peter three 15, 16, um, Revere Christ as your Lord and savior and become a firm believer in Jesus Christ. <br /><br /> As I have grown up into, um, adulthood, I see how the power of the Lord has come into my life. Many times. My problem for so long, um, was to, um, know that that he was with me and never doubt him. But listen to that little voice inside your head, that's going to give that answer to what you should be doing. I had things that were sneaking into my, into my mind. <br /><br /> Um, I found out that when I was in 26 years old, I had a terrible. Nervous disease, a mirror of disease that attacked my nervous system. And I just started teaching school for two years and I couldn't understand what was this. I was falling apart right in front of my students and wasn't doing well at all. <br /><br /> And this was, this was bothering me. I blamed myself for not being with God all my life. I blamed myself for not following his word and doing things that I shouldn't be doing. I became upset about this, but it wasn't God's fault. You know, God gives you trials and tribulations. And this was a trial for me, an older gentlemen of friend of mine who told me at one time, some words he says, don't, don't be dissolved. <br /><br /> Don't be despaired in about what says, look at, look at the Psalm 55, 22, very plain, very simple, give everything to the Lord and rejoice that he will take care of everything. And he will do all for you. My prayer therefore is to thank Jesus. You know, for being there for me, allowing me this time that I could be in front of my congregation, um, to be baptized as an adult baptism solidifies that I am a follower of Christ and all the things that I do I do for his namesake. <br /><br /> Um, Jesus is my Lord and savior. I profess that to anybody. I have found also that I am thankful that Jesus has heightened my senses, um, that he has supported my life. Um, and I am Slack suggested that my church, family and my wife have been behind me and strong with me and have gone through all kinds of trials and tribulations. <br /><br /> As I said, a little while ago, Jesus has heightened my senses. You know, he has given me the sight to see, uh, what creation see he has made for me to be all in all of what those are. He has given me the sound. So I can listen to the word and hopefully, maybe give that word other people. Uh, he's given me the, the scent of, of, um, what he has produced for us in the world and on land and sea and air. <br /><br /> And he's giving me the touch and the taste, the taste of, of what is good and the touch of him being in our back. And to know that Jesus Christ was always our savior and Lord. Um, I am so thankful that I am going to be baptized, um, with, with my church. You're there with me in my heart and my mind and my soul. <br /><br /> Right. Um, and we profess that the truth be told that Jesus Christ is our Lord and savior. And knowing how blessed I am is where my strength comes from. <br /><br /> Greg. Do you want to testify to Christ by being baptized today? Yes, I do. Okay. <br /><br /> Greg, it's my joy to baptize you in the name of the father, the son, and the Holy spirit in the likeness of his death. <br /><br /> you may have noticed in the first out in laughter. The reason is when Greg came up and he looked at me and he said, did I come up? <br /><br /> Emily Krebs is going to join me now. <br /><br /> Emily. Have you received Jesus as your savior? Yes, I have. Okay. I'm gonna hear about it and look right there. Okay. Hi, I'm Emily Krebs and I've been attending FCC since 2016. I was raised in a Christian home and Christian school, but like so many others. I was baptized as an infant around the age of three, my family moved. <br /><br /> And while they were trying to find a church that they were familiar with, they bumped into a Bible church and it was at this church that pretty, our family changed forever and they realized that it wasn't by baptism that we are saved, but by the grace of God and. Um, believing that he died on the cross for our sin. <br /><br /> So we could have eternal life around the age of five. I accepted Christ as my savior. And while that seems young, I, it was a, I knew that it was the knowledge that Christ lived inside me and it started in Sunday school and continued. I just continued to mature. And at the time though, of course, the church wanted you to be a little bit older before you made that decision on your own. <br /><br /> And so by the time I was able to make that decision, I also became aware that I'm not a huge fan of speaking in front of people and large groups of people. And so I kept putting it off and knowing that it's not by baptism, that we're saved, it does not define or that if we are or are not a Christian, I just put it off. <br /><br /> And I have a daughter that I want to lead by example, and are probably over a decade. It's been on my heart and I just. Just couldn't do it. And now I, I feel the Lord is just tapping on my shoulder saying it's time. It's time to put your fear behind you and step out and surrender to me. And in acts two 38, Peter says to them, repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. <br /><br /> And you will receive the gift of the Holy spirit today. I'm getting baptized as an active obedience to proclaim that, that I'm a follower of Jesus Christ in front of my church and my family. <br /><br /> that your desire to be baptized to profess your relationship to Christ <br /><br /> Emily. It's my joy to baptize you in the name of the father and the son and the Holy spirit. In the likeness of his death. <br /><br /> I just want to say something before our last candidate this morning, um, you may be here and the wonderful part of baptisms, as you're, as you're sitting out there is, they're all different stories. I mean, all different stories. This is how God works. I mean, we're hearing their story, but it's really the Lord's story in people's lives. <br /><br /> Maybe you're identifying with someone's story and saying, I'd like to know Christ. I I'd like to have that relationship where, where Jesus is real and the Lord and savior of my life, or maybe you're out there. And you're saying, you know, that's me, I've waited all these years. I know I should. Publicly identify with the Lord through baptism and just haven't done it. <br /><br /> Maybe God will use the testimony of these folks this morning to speak to some of you. However, he speaks to you. If you would like to talk to myself or one of our other pastors, we would be happy to do that, um, about how you can personally have a relationship with Christ. Uh, if you want to learn more about being baptized, we'd be glad to talk to you about that as well. <br /><br /> Our last candidate, um, we have a new pastor on our church. He started in January. He's our youngest pastor, our newest pastor, our craziest pastor, um, uh, Jared hacking and Jared is going to perform the last baptism because he is baptizing his wife, JC <br /><br /> Good morning, <br /><br /> JC, have you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and savior? <br /><br /> Hi, my name is JC and I'm going to share a little bit of my story with you. I was raised in a Christian home with two loving parents and an older sister in Fort Myers, Florida, and I accepted Christ when I was four years old. I remember coming home from preschool one day after learning what it meant to accept Jesus in your heart. <br /><br /> And I told my mom that was something that I wanted and we prayed and read a book. And from that day on, I considered myself a Christian. Um, it really wasn't until my junior year of high school that I found myself crying out to God. I had recently realized that I've failed the standardized tests going into my junior year. <br /><br /> And I was very embarrassed and I felt kind of ashamed. And I was really confused about what was going on. So I had to take an intensive reading course and retake the test over again. And then it was time to start applying for colleges. And I had to take the act and quickly realized that that was going to be a similar struggle. <br /><br /> So my parents decided that we should reach out to tutors to see what we could do. And the tutors actually turned us away and said that I needed to get tested for a learning disability. So I was very confused. I remember asking like, God, why is this happening to me right now? You know, all of my friends were talking about what colleges they wanted to go to. <br /><br /> And I was beginning to realize that might not be a reality for me. And. I got the test done and found out that I did have two learning disabilities and anxiety that were really hindering my ability to perform well on these exams. And, um, we applied for extended time and I was able to get that. And then I did end up passing the test and applying for colleges. <br /><br /> And in that time I was finally able to, um, think about what was going on. You know, it's a lot to find out about yourself at the age of 17. And I really was thinking, you know, why, how is this in God's plan? What is the purpose of all of this? And I realized that I had found that my identity wasn't in the scores that I kept perceiving that were really low or the exec, the acceptances that I was going to receive, but that my identity was always going to be rooted in Christ. <br /><br /> And that was a huge. Realization after all of that. So I went into college, very anxious to fail and nervous about school. It was not my favorite thing in the world, but I pursued it and was eager to see what would happen. I decided to go away for a summer serving on mission trips and pursued a couple of internships with my church. <br /><br /> A lot of the people that I was near, they were nonbelievers, but I took it as a missions opportunity and continued on. And then, um, the summer of 2019, I was reunited with a fun loving Christian man that is a familiar face to most of you. And, um, we quickly began pursuing a God-centered relationship after that week. <br /><br /> We spent together. And honestly, he was the breath of fresh air that I needed and the huge answered prayer. Um, I wasn't really surrounded by a lot of people my age, who understood my faith in Christ. And we were very much on the same page and it was such a blessing. So, um, after we started dating, I was coming to the end of my senior year of college and realizing I'm not really sure what I want to do, but I think I definitely want to be closer to Jared. <br /><br /> So I kept praying, you know, God, if I can find a job that I would honor you in, in New Jersey, please just make that clear to me. And a lot of doors were open very quickly. I had an interview and a job offer and a place to live all in the same day and it was such a blessing. So. In the middle of COVID. I moved to New Jersey and now I'm married to that man. <br /><br /> And it is such a blessing to be able to serve alongside of him and his ministry here at FCC. So I knew, um, God would always work this plan out for me. And I really realized that I had to let go of my own. So, um, I'm very excited to be getting baptized today. I was baptized as an infant, but this is the first time I've able, I've been able to, um, make that declaration for myself. <br /><br /> Thank you so much for welcoming me here at FCC. Um, it's been a little under a year, but it's already feeling like home and I'm really excited to be taking this step in my faith with all of you by my side. <br /><br /> JC, is it your desire to be baptized this morning? Yes. Yes. I'm incredibly proud of you. And it is my joy to baptize you in the name of the father, the son, and the Holy spirit and likeness of his death, his resurrection</div> false no <![CDATA[Blessed are Those Who Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness]]> Matthew 5:6

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.



Well everybody, I invite you to take your Bibles to Matthew chapter five, going to be looking at Matthew chapter five, verse six this morning as we continue this series.

, on the sermon on the Mount, the upside down life. And here's what we read as we read these verses together. Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain side and when he sat down, his disciples came to him and he opened his mouth and taught them saying blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be satisfied. Let's pray, Lord, we gathered today in this beautiful sunny Sunday morning, Lord, we've already been reminded as we ride over to this place, nice or at our homes this morning watching online and that, um, this is the day the Lord has made your Mark.

Susan knew every morning. Your faithfulness is great. We see it revealed even in beauty around us. Lord as we look to you now, as we seek to, um, interact with scripture, we pray that we would be taught. Um, God, I love this passage. It's ministered to my own soul. I pray that that would be true of all of us that are listening this morning in Jesus name.

Amen. Marin and I recently were away for our anniversary. We were, uh, out of state downstate, uh, down South. And while we were there one day I wore my, my Jersey, which has on it, a logo for the Philadelphia Eagles, uh, like the Jersey and I was walking around town and I found out I had a lot of friends there that I didn't know I had as friends.

And I remember I was getting off a bus. We had taken a shuttle and I was getting off the bus.

there was a guy getting on. He, so my Jersey immediately connects with me. Uh, I was walking, we were sitting at a table. There were a couple of girls that were crossing the street, and one of them happened to glance back. They saw me. And they broke out into, uh, the Eagles fight song, fly Eagles, fly.

It was so much fun. Um, and there were like five or six people. And I didn't wear my shirt in order to find my friends. The first time, the second time I actually wore it, just like, like a badge I would wear around town, seeing who my people were that were there and the logo, uh, enabled me to have a connection that identified me to my new friends in that part of the country.

My question this morning is what is the logo of the members of Jesus' kingdom. Now in a broad sense, all of these beatitudes would be that logo. These are the things that Jesus says are the qualities that. Mark and identify those that are a part of his kingdom, but this particular beatitude blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.

I think more than any other identifies us as individuals that are a part of Jesus' kingdom. Monica, just to review, when we're talking about the sermon on the Mount, we're talking about this passage, which has been identified throughout church history as the most, uh, clear presentation of what Jesus' kingdom is all about.

It has taken the title actually was a Gustin in the fourth century. That first called it the sermon on the Mount and most speakers. Now, most of the logins throughout history often refer to it as just the sermon, uh, in the earliest days, following the new Testament. Somewhere between 60 and 90 a D there was a thing called the that came out and the deadlock K act actually is a, uh, uh, it, the subtitle of it is, is the teaching dedicate means, uh, of the 12, the teaching of the 12 apostles.

And basically it was taking the, the, it was the training manual for the early church outside of the scriptures. At that point, a lot of the scriptures actually, hadn't been all put together. So they took what they had learned and they put these principles. And interestingly, the statement that is made. In the beginning of the did our case says this, there are two ways, one of life and one of death.

And there is a big difference between the two. That's almost a direct statement from Matthew seven, where it talks about there are two trees, um, one bringing forth fruit unto eternal life. Uh, there is, it talks about two Gates. It talks about two ways or paths. And the dinner actually was a commentary on the sermon on the Mount.

This was the teaching, uh, focus of the early church, understanding what Jesus said in the sermon here in Matthew, chapter five through seven. We've been looking at the first few verses of Matthew five through seven, the upside down life, life. That sorta turns, uh, our understanding of life on its head. And the be attitudes are the values of that kingdom.

The values of the citizens of the kingdom. They are individuals who are poor in spirit. They have learned their own deficiency. Uh, they are well, those who mourn, they have experienced loss and suffering. Ben talked about that, that this is, this is not just mourning over death of an individual, though. It certainly can involve that it's any dream.

It's, it's any hope. It's a sense of loss since, and God uses that sense of loss so much in our own spiritual journeys, they let go of their aggression and anger. We talked about that last time, uh, they're individuals that are meek and today. They long for righteousness above everything else, be attitude for what they long for, I think is the identifying Mark.

It's the logo of, of members of Jesus' kingdom. Um, and the first thing we find is we look at this passage is that they long, for one thing, this longing actually defines their lives. He says they hunger and thirst for righteousness. It's an interesting turn of phrase because the two qualities in our lives, the two need in our lives, the two deficiency in our lives, without which we cannot survive is thirst and hunger.

From the beginning of our life, to the end of our life, we cannot live without water and we cannot live without food. And Jesus says. You can't live without this. If you are truly a member of my kingdom, this is the consuming driving passion. This is the essential reality of the life of those that are members of my kingdom.

And there is one thing identified here. He doesn't say the hunger and thirst for this and this and this and this. He says, there's one thing they hunger for. There is one essential thing. There's a book that I've read that I've really enjoyed. It's called essentialism by Mark McKinnon. And the book is, uh, a focus on.

Leadership and principles. And, but he makes this statement in it. The word priority came into the English language. In the 14 hundreds, it was singular. It meant the very first or priority thing or prior thing, it stayed singular for the next 500 years. Only in the 19 hundreds, did we pluralize determined, start talking about priorities.

Somehow we would now be able to have multiple first things. Greg McKeon argues, there needs to be one priority, one driving passion, one, longing above everything else. Now this is vitally important because we are faced with a multitude of choices every day, right? There are constant choices and these choices.

Are probably more prominent to us in our era of history than anyone else has ever faced. Peter Drucker, who was actually the father of the, the modern, uh, management leadership development program. He actually was the first chair of the first program at a university in America. That was actually training people in principles of management.

I was a new enterprise in, in, in, in training people and education. And as he was talking about this, this sense of choices that people have, here's what he said. He said in a few hundred years, when the history of our time will be written from a long-term perspective, it's likely that the most important event historians will see is not technology, not the internet, not e-commerce.

It is an unprecedented change in the human condition for the first time, literally substantial and rapidly growing numbers of people. Have choices for the first time they will have to manage themselves. And society is totally unprepared for it. Now talk to any life coach, and they will tell you the Greg McCann and Peter Drucker are really onto something.

You have a multitude of choices, and some of those choices have come just by living in the era. When we live of an, of an industrialized age, in a time of a fluence and a time of, of unprecedented health. But there are so many choices that it's hard to manage your life, but what they are both emphasizing.

And certainly this is the thrust of McCain's book essentialism, is that in order to really manage your life. You must have one overarching passion. There is something that directs your life. And so the question is, what is your passion? What is your objective in life? Jesus speaks to that objective here in be attitude for, as he talks about the one ultimate reality, one of the ultimate priority.

Now I want to play this out for, I I'd say, well, I maybe, maybe it's somebody pretend you are with a life coach or a pastor or, or a, um, a therapist or someone is coming along and they ask you the question. What is it that drives you, that centers you, that causes you to wake up with a sense of excitement and expectation?

What are you hungry for thirsting for craving in your life? Ultimately. And you might respond well, I, I need some more specificity. I mean, what area of my life? I mean, I mean, I've, I've got things I could answer for my career of there. Things I could answer for my marriage. I've got things I could answer for my, for my family.

I've got things I could answer, even for my own lifestyle, that, that I've got certain priorities and concerns and, and objectives and goals that I want to be warm winter. It may be getting more specific than just saying what's my, what's my passion, but your ultimate longing needs to be big enough for all of those areas or you might respond well.

Uh, but, but I need some more specifics in terms of what stage of life, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm a middle schooler. So when you ask what's my passion while, you know yeah. I think my passion is going to probably different as a middle schooler than when I'm older, man, it seems like that's going to happen anyway.

Or maybe I'm a college student and you know, I've got certain, certain, this is where I'm headed or, or I'm just, I just got married and we're just starting our family or, or my kids or, or older. Now we're looking to launch them or now I'm even starting to think towards retirement. And you know, in this stage of life, you know, I've got different objectives and, or I'm in retirement and I'm asking the question, what's next?

I mean can on you. And he asked me what my passion and what's driving me. Is it, isn't it dependent on the stage of life? No, no. It's not to be a follower of Jesus says that there is a passion that goes through all the stages of our life that goes through all the, the areas of our, of our life. All those areas.

We might have individual objectives for fall under this overriding. And what is this overriding thing? Well, Jesus says it this way. My people hunger and thirst for righteousness. Now, if you're honest, probably like most of the people watching online and most of the people in this room, you asked this, you're, you're having this reaction, hunger and thirst for righteousness.

What the heck does that mean? Well, that's what I want to talk about, because this is really important because this is what he says. We hunger for. We are, are parched for. That this is what is the foundation of our lives. If we are members of Jesus' question, and if we don't get this question answered, right?

All your goals, objectives, action plans is going to be skewered as a person who wants to live as a follower of Jesus. So I want to tell you what it means in a few, in, in the next few moments, but first I want to mention one other thing about this longing, this longing results in pursuing it, not a passive longing.

It's a longing that manifest itself in pursuit. You'll notice here in this same passage of the sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter six 30 to three 33, Jesus says this, but seek first, the kingdom of God and his righteousness. And all these other things will be added to you as well to seek means to pursue.

And the pursuit follows the longing that the assumption is that those who long for it, hunger and thirst for it are also actively engaged. So let's see what this one thing we are to desire. And the one thing that they are long for too, we are too long for his righteousness now quickly. There are three primary, uh, perspectives unrighteousness because all of the, that could be used too, because all of them are used in the new Testament.

The first of those is what is known as imputed righteousness. This is one option of what this is referring to when it says we hunger and thirst for righteousness, we hung for hunger, for the righteousness of Christ that has been offered to us simply what that means. I've talked about this many times, the imputed righteousness of Christ means that we who don't have our own inherent righteousness.

We are unrighteous. We, we are not accepted on the basis of our role behavior and, and getting it right. Jesus did it for us. Jesus not only died the death. We should have died and taking the penalty for our sin. Jesus lived the life that we should have lived. And so our guilt, our unrighteousness is laid on Christ imputed to him.

If you will. And his righteous standing is acceptance with God. The father is laid on us. It's an unbelievably grace filled transaction and imputed righteousness is that I stand accepted in Jesus, in the righteousness that he lived all. That's true, but I don't think that's what being talked about here.

Matthew chapter six, as a matter of fact, the whole gospel of Matthew talks about righteousness a lot. That is not the righteousness that he's focusing on. There's a second form of righteousness. That's used the new Testament that could be used here. And that is the one that is called societal righteousness, that there is a long for others to be treated fairly and justly to be looking out for others, not overlooking the poor, the disenfranchised, the forgotten that's a possible rendering here, but that does not seem to be even in the sermon on the Mount, the primary focus of this term righteousness, the primary focus is this thing that we would call personal practical righteousness.

Certainly option two includes that, but personal righteousness is identified as the thing that we S we hunger and thirst for as members of Jesus' kingdom. If we are to free followers of Christ, which is what our goal is. We who are called into his kingdom are then to model our lives and to reflect his priorities.

We would have the same craving that Jesus had. We would have the same thirsting that Jesus had. So what did Jesus say? He craved? What did he hunger for? Well, he tells us in John chapter four in verse 34, this statement is made my food. Jesus said is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work to hunger and thirst for righteousness doing what's right, is basically to want the, all of God to be accomplished in my life, to accomplish his calling for my life.

We want to glorify God. We want to please God, we want our whole lives to be spent doing the will of gods. Everything else falls under that overriding one single priority of life. It rules your job. It rules your family. It rules your marriage. It rules your retirement. It rules your schools. It rules your major in college.

It tells you it directs you who to marry, who to date, where they work, where you live. It is the hunger to live righteously and involves a couple of things. First of all, and involves externally living in Matthew chapter six, the very next chapter here is still part of the sermon. Jesus says this beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them.

There's a practice of righteousness. We live righteously. We, we externally do that and there it's talking particularly about caring of other people. But he says, this practice of righteousness is one in which we show kindness and generosity and care for others is a beautiful example of this in, in Matthew chapter one, with Joseph who the betroth husband of Mary.

And it says in that passage, that, and, and Joseph has just found out that Mary's pregnant, they're betrothed to be married, which meant they are in a state of, of legal commitment to each other. It was way more than engagement. It was binding unless one of them proved during these months before they came together, physically that they had been unfaithful to the other.

And Mary had just apparently proven to be so because she's pregnant and Joseph is now left with this, this heartbreaking scenario where the woman, he loves. Has now proven herself faults. The angel has not come to him at this point and told him don't sweat it. You know, you can take her. This is what the Holy spirit all see knows this, his wife is pregnant.

She's just told him. And here's what he responds in Matthew chapter one verse 19, and her husband, Joseph being a righteous man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. The first thing we find in him is that he is acting as a righteous man, but in his righteousness, he also shows mercy.

He will. He had every right. Actually it would have been totally just for him to put Mary aside and to then clear his own name. People. Aren't going to know why they've divorced people. Aren't gonna know a separate, well, it was the former divorce. Aren't going to know what's going on. But Joseph says, I'm going to do this as quietly, as, as carefully as I can.

For the sake of Mary, I was in a conversation with someone recently and they made a statement that I've thought about a lot and I really embrace it. And he said, I believe it is Christian for anyone power to always seek, to show mercy, to go beyond justice. But when you can not to deny justice, but to go beyond justice, to, to act mercifully when you have power, whether that is a parent, whether that is a pastor, whether that is a civil leader, whether that is anyone and administrator at work, a boss that we are always called in our team to not just act just, but also to extend, seek to show mercy as well.

Joseph did that. It was the kind of righteousness he showed. It was a justice that also included mercy. In this case toward his be throne spouse. It's an external expression, but it is also something internally driven. Matthew chapter five, just a few verses later in chapter 20, it says this about righteousness for, I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Now, what does he mean by this? Because these guys were their righteousness, their external righteousness was, was astonishing. They fasted two days a week. They, they never missed a church service. They were always there. They, they quoted the Bible all the time. They knew lots of scripture. I mean, they had all come in and are you supposed to out zeal?

These guys? Well, Jesus tells us what he meant in Matthew chapter 23, where he says to the Pharisees. So you're, you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you're full of hypocrisy and lawlessness, woe to you, scribes and Pharisees hypocrites, he deals on the heart level and he says, righteousness is peeling back the onion skin, and S and, and con realizing that we grow in righteousness as God keeps taking us deeper and deeper peeling back more.

There's so much of our lives. When we first know Jesus. Where we are, are devoutly. Following Christ in our hearts are truly desirous of living for the Lord. But we look back now years. In some cases, some of us decades from when we first came to Christ, we realized, we realized how much of, of our lives were still controlled by, by selfish ambition.

Sometimes even in the Christian world, uh, th that, that there was, there was more on onion. Layers is still more today that we are growing internally aware that we are continually seeing that's where the value of seeing things in our lives that, that are making us become focused on internal righteousness.

That's the value of suffering, uh, failures of even rejection by others. It helps us evaluate our hearts and go deeper, have more of the onion skin peeled back that this idea of loving righteousness is loving. The internal that we're being changed from the inside out and growing in righteousness is having your inner person changed from pride to humility, from sufficiency to dependence and from serving you to serving others.

but there's an incredible beauty in this passage.

the beauty is this Jesus doesn't say blessed are those who do righteousness. As I said, he says, blessed are those who hunger and thirst who long. For righteousness, who long to live to the glory of God, who long to please the Lord, he says, it's your hearts trajectory that I look for? It's not you getting it, right?

It's not you crossing the T's and dotting the ice. It's not you being able to look back and say, Oh, I followed unswervingly man. If you've walked with Jesus for years, you look back and you say, I can't believe how much self-centeredness still rule my life still does today. I can't believe how many things I thought I was doing, uh, with right motivation.

And there was so much of me involved in them. And Jesus says to you, Hey, I'm not asking you to do it. All right. I'm not asking you to, to be this guy, this woman of perfect righteousness. I'm just saying, have your heart trajectory going my way, have your passion say, Lord, I want you, every follower of Jesus looks back with regrets and sorrows, every single one, but Jesus is not asking or expecting that you would always do.

Righteously is simply asking that trajectory of your life be toward pleasing him. That ties in then to the third thing, the blessing of this longing, they will be satisfied. The word here, uh, some versions translated, filled. It's actually, if you look at all the uses in the new Testament, which I had a chance to do every use in the new Testament is talking about food, uh, filling you.

It is food satisfying you that you have, you have, you you've been, uh, cared for you're you're filled you're you're you're not still dealing with the hunger pains. That is a satisfying spirit. What is it that satisfies us? Well, what satisfies us is righteousness. He says those that long for it will be satisfied with it.

Well, what does this mean? Well, I'd suggest it this way. Psalm 46, Psalm 40 verse eight. Sorry. David says this. I delight to do your Willow God. He says, I find pleasure in this there's satisfaction and joy in me in doing righteously. Jesus is saying this too. If your heart trajectory is say, Lord, I want the ruling passion of my life over my job, over my marriage, over my family, over my career, over, over, over every part, over my lifestyle over it,

Jesus is saying, then you will experience the satisfaction of that righteousness doesn't mean you'll always live righteously. You'll have lots of twists and turns doesn't mean you'll always eat. The healthy food of righteousness has me. Plenty of junk food. You'll lead along the way. Choices you'll make cravings.

You'll seek that should have been met and in following Christ and you turned to other things, but he says, if the trajectory of your life is towards me, if you're allowing me to be Lord of your life, you will taste the satisfaction, the joy of living righteously. He gives the opposite of this in Isaiah were those that choose not to live righteously.

He describes what these terms, Isaiah 57, but the wicked are like the tossing sea for it cannot be quiet and it's waters toss up mire and dirt. There's no peace says my God for the wicked

I was in a conversation with a woman in her early thirties, a while back. And she's someone I've known for a number of years and she has not embraced Christ. And we were having an interesting conversation and, and she was asking me, you know, at my, basically when I was her age, um, did you struggle with fears and struggle?

And I said, I did more than I think I realized or embrace or took ownership of. And, uh, And she knew I was a pastor. We were talking about that. And she said, do you have regrets? I said, I do. I said, I think my perspective of God at times was far more about people getting it right. And measuring up and pushing people.

I don't think I did. Uh, often I did not appropriately present the beauty and the grace and the consuming love of God the way I wish I, the way I know him now, she asked me this question. She said, well then how can you be confident that Christianity is true? If you still had fears and struggles and now have regrets,

this is all I knew to say to her. I said, okay. I do think I misrepresented in pieces. The character of God, the beauty of God's love and grace in my own striving to get things right. Even as a pastor and as a person. But I said, it's that very reality that though I misrepresentative representative though.

I misunderstood him in my own ways. He still wants me now. And I said,

well, I want Christianity. And why I believe in Christianity is because I believe in Christ

and I want to do life with Jesus because I like who I am with him. And I don't like who I am without him. It isn't because I got it right or wrong. That I love him. It's because even in the face of failures and misses and, and mistakes and blind spots and, and thinking I was his mom South piece in all of these ways, thinking I had it all right, he still wants me.

He's the safest person in my life. This is what I was taught is the safest person. I know. I never worry that he's going to all of a sudden change his mind on me. I don't ever worry that he's going to prove untrustworthy or get frustrated with me. I believe in Christianity because I believe in Christ.

Here's what I think this beatitude reminds us. Let me say it this way. I want to speak to three groups and this I'm going to close with the first group of people I want to talk to is some of you are here and you need to hear this beatitude as a challenge. Maybe to change the trajectory of your life toward this priority and say, well, yeah, you know, business is business and, and I'm ruled this way here.

And church, life is church. Now that's now there's one priority. There's one overarching longing. That has to be the umbrella over the doesn't mean you're going to get it all right. But it does mean that trajectory of your whole life needs to be going towards righteousness and pleasing and glorifying and enjoying God.

Maybe there's a challenge in that for you, for others, perhaps this P attitude is for you an invitation to embrace the one that says, yeah, you, you, you enter my King and Viacom porn spirit. You see it's for broken people who are sinners. Who are broken in life and feel the need of someone beyond their, themselves to mercy, then to forgive them, to love them.

And you see it, you're not going to mess you up. You're you're impoverished. Just see there this morning and maybe losses of life are the very things God is using to help you see that you don't have it in yourself. You need someone more. That's exactly whose Jesus' kingdom is for. Maybe there's an invitation here to embrace Jesus as yours,

but the other group of people is her. I want to just focus on for a moment and maybe you need to hear this be attitude as an encouragement. Maybe you live for a long life. Maybe you're later in life or midlife perhaps, and you look back and there's regrets and there's misses and there's failures and there's blind spots.

Jesus, it says only ever asked for one thing of your life. And that is the trajectory of your life being towards him.

It was never about you getting it right. It was about you wanting him. And if you look back in your life and say, Lord, I just see so many misses. I see so many ways I would have wished this, any SIS taught her son. I didn't ask you to be mined. So you got it. All right. I asked you to make me what's your life trajectory is towards, and you need to find the beauty of this promise that he is saying, you are blessed.

He blesses you. He says, don't make the same misses. You don't have to now, you know, but embrace the fact that what I've asked for is those whose hearts are inclined towards me. There are many, many people in the Christian Church that are older, that are absolutely tormented with their failures. You've got them, we've all got them, but you can embrace the beauty of if your heart trajectory is ultimately been.

Lord, I, I do want

I don't know how much he wants you. And that he is still saying to you, it's grace, you got in it's grace, you stayed in it's grace. I delight in you as a member of my kingdom, wherever you are in those lists. Seeing this as an invitation, as a challenge, as an encouragement, this beatitude is about a righteous God offering to do life with unrighteous people who simply say, Lord, I want you to be central.

And first in my life, I want to know you more. You are, you are the safest person I've ever known because just like Paul said, in Romans eight, I'm learning more and more. You are for me. And you who spared, not your own son, how you not with him also freely, give us all things. Lord, we look to you today. I'm asking you to take this simple study and apply it to people's hearts for some, to be a challenge and motivation for some, to be an invitation that by your grace, they might walk through and want to know this, this Jesus so different who's for us and who beckons us to embrace his grace and Lord.

For those that need encouragement today, I pray you would encourage them with the beauty of this beatitude and this blessing in Jesus name. Amen. Now go in peace to love and serve and enjoy the Lord . . .]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/blessed-are-those-who-hunger-and-thirst-for-righteousness 5aebf808-7119-4b37-bf90-864ee3beac5e Tue, 16 Mar 2021 19:45:52 GMT <div data-html="true">Matthew 5:6 <br /><br /> Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. <br /><br /> <hr /> <br /><br /> Well everybody, I invite you to take your Bibles to Matthew chapter five, going to be looking at Matthew chapter five, verse six this morning as we continue this series. <br /><br /> , on the sermon on the Mount, the upside down life. And here's what we read as we read these verses together. Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain side and when he sat down, his disciples came to him and he opened his mouth and taught them saying blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. <br /><br /> Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be satisfied. Let's pray, Lord, we gathered today in this beautiful sunny Sunday morning, Lord, we've already been reminded as we ride over to this place, nice or at our homes this morning watching online and that, um, this is the day the Lord has made your Mark. <br /><br /> Susan knew every morning. Your faithfulness is great. We see it revealed even in beauty around us. Lord as we look to you now, as we seek to, um, interact with scripture, we pray that we would be taught. Um, God, I love this passage. It's ministered to my own soul. I pray that that would be true of all of us that are listening this morning in Jesus name. <br /><br /> Amen. Marin and I recently were away for our anniversary. We were, uh, out of state downstate, uh, down South. And while we were there one day I wore my, my Jersey, which has on it, a logo for the Philadelphia Eagles, uh, like the Jersey and I was walking around town and I found out I had a lot of friends there that I didn't know I had as friends. <br /><br /> And I remember I was getting off a bus. We had taken a shuttle and I was getting off the bus. <br /><br /> there was a guy getting on. He, so my Jersey immediately connects with me. Uh, I was walking, we were sitting at a table. There were a couple of girls that were crossing the street, and one of them happened to glance back. They saw me. And they broke out into, uh, the Eagles fight song, fly Eagles, fly. <br /><br /> It was so much fun. Um, and there were like five or six people. And I didn't wear my shirt in order to find my friends. The first time, the second time I actually wore it, just like, like a badge I would wear around town, seeing who my people were that were there and the logo, uh, enabled me to have a connection that identified me to my new friends in that part of the country. <br /><br /> My question this morning is what is the logo of the members of Jesus' kingdom. Now in a broad sense, all of these beatitudes would be that logo. These are the things that Jesus says are the qualities that. Mark and identify those that are a part of his kingdom, but this particular beatitude blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. <br /><br /> I think more than any other identifies us as individuals that are a part of Jesus' kingdom. Monica, just to review, when we're talking about the sermon on the Mount, we're talking about this passage, which has been identified throughout church history as the most, uh, clear presentation of what Jesus' kingdom is all about. <br /><br /> It has taken the title actually was a Gustin in the fourth century. That first called it the sermon on the Mount and most speakers. Now, most of the logins throughout history often refer to it as just the sermon, uh, in the earliest days, following the new Testament. Somewhere between 60 and 90 a D there was a thing called the that came out and the deadlock K act actually is a, uh, uh, it, the subtitle of it is, is the teaching dedicate means, uh, of the 12, the teaching of the 12 apostles. <br /><br /> And basically it was taking the, the, it was the training manual for the early church outside of the scriptures. At that point, a lot of the scriptures actually, hadn't been all put together. So they took what they had learned and they put these principles. And interestingly, the statement that is made. In the beginning of the did our case says this, there are two ways, one of life and one of death. <br /><br /> And there is a big difference between the two. That's almost a direct statement from Matthew seven, where it talks about there are two trees, um, one bringing forth fruit unto eternal life. Uh, there is, it talks about two Gates. It talks about two ways or paths. And the dinner actually was a commentary on the sermon on the Mount. <br /><br /> This was the teaching, uh, focus of the early church, understanding what Jesus said in the sermon here in Matthew, chapter five through seven. We've been looking at the first few verses of Matthew five through seven, the upside down life, life. That sorta turns, uh, our understanding of life on its head. And the be attitudes are the values of that kingdom. <br /><br /> The values of the citizens of the kingdom. They are individuals who are poor in spirit. They have learned their own deficiency. Uh, they are well, those who mourn, they have experienced loss and suffering. Ben talked about that, that this is, this is not just mourning over death of an individual, though. It certainly can involve that it's any dream. <br /><br /> It's, it's any hope. It's a sense of loss since, and God uses that sense of loss so much in our own spiritual journeys, they let go of their aggression and anger. We talked about that last time, uh, they're individuals that are meek and today. They long for righteousness above everything else, be attitude for what they long for, I think is the identifying Mark. <br /><br /> It's the logo of, of members of Jesus' kingdom. Um, and the first thing we find is we look at this passage is that they long, for one thing, this longing actually defines their lives. He says they hunger and thirst for righteousness. It's an interesting turn of phrase because the two qualities in our lives, the two need in our lives, the two deficiency in our lives, without which we cannot survive is thirst and hunger. <br /><br /> From the beginning of our life, to the end of our life, we cannot live without water and we cannot live without food. And Jesus says. You can't live without this. If you are truly a member of my kingdom, this is the consuming driving passion. This is the essential reality of the life of those that are members of my kingdom. <br /><br /> And there is one thing identified here. He doesn't say the hunger and thirst for this and this and this and this. He says, there's one thing they hunger for. There is one essential thing. There's a book that I've read that I've really enjoyed. It's called essentialism by Mark McKinnon. And the book is, uh, a focus on. <br /><br /> Leadership and principles. And, but he makes this statement in it. The word priority came into the English language. In the 14 hundreds, it was singular. It meant the very first or priority thing or prior thing, it stayed singular for the next 500 years. Only in the 19 hundreds, did we pluralize determined, start talking about priorities. <br /><br /> Somehow we would now be able to have multiple first things. Greg McKeon argues, there needs to be one priority, one driving passion, one, longing above everything else. Now this is vitally important because we are faced with a multitude of choices every day, right? There are constant choices and these choices. <br /><br /> Are probably more prominent to us in our era of history than anyone else has ever faced. Peter Drucker, who was actually the father of the, the modern, uh, management leadership development program. He actually was the first chair of the first program at a university in America. That was actually training people in principles of management. <br /><br /> I was a new enterprise in, in, in, in training people and education. And as he was talking about this, this sense of choices that people have, here's what he said. He said in a few hundred years, when the history of our time will be written from a long-term perspective, it's likely that the most important event historians will see is not technology, not the internet, not e-commerce. <br /><br /> It is an unprecedented change in the human condition for the first time, literally substantial and rapidly growing numbers of people. Have choices for the first time they will have to manage themselves. And society is totally unprepared for it. Now talk to any life coach, and they will tell you the Greg McCann and Peter Drucker are really onto something. <br /><br /> You have a multitude of choices, and some of those choices have come just by living in the era. When we live of an, of an industrialized age, in a time of a fluence and a time of, of unprecedented health. But there are so many choices that it's hard to manage your life, but what they are both emphasizing. <br /><br /> And certainly this is the thrust of McCain's book essentialism, is that in order to really manage your life. You must have one overarching passion. There is something that directs your life. And so the question is, what is your passion? What is your objective in life? Jesus speaks to that objective here in be attitude for, as he talks about the one ultimate reality, one of the ultimate priority. <br /><br /> Now I want to play this out for, I I'd say, well, I maybe, maybe it's somebody pretend you are with a life coach or a pastor or, or a, um, a therapist or someone is coming along and they ask you the question. What is it that drives you, that centers you, that causes you to wake up with a sense of excitement and expectation? <br /><br /> What are you hungry for thirsting for craving in your life? Ultimately. And you might respond well, I, I need some more specificity. I mean, what area of my life? I mean, I mean, I've, I've got things I could answer for my career of there. Things I could answer for my marriage. I've got things I could answer for my, for my family. <br /><br /> I've got things I could answer, even for my own lifestyle, that, that I've got certain priorities and concerns and, and objectives and goals that I want to be warm winter. It may be getting more specific than just saying what's my, what's my passion, but your ultimate longing needs to be big enough for all of those areas or you might respond well. <br /><br /> Uh, but, but I need some more specifics in terms of what stage of life, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm a middle schooler. So when you ask what's my passion while, you know yeah. I think my passion is going to probably different as a middle schooler than when I'm older, man, it seems like that's going to happen anyway. <br /><br /> Or maybe I'm a college student and you know, I've got certain, certain, this is where I'm headed or, or I'm just, I just got married and we're just starting our family or, or my kids or, or older. Now we're looking to launch them or now I'm even starting to think towards retirement. And you know, in this stage of life, you know, I've got different objectives and, or I'm in retirement and I'm asking the question, what's next? <br /><br /> I mean can on you. And he asked me what my passion and what's driving me. Is it, isn't it dependent on the stage of life? No, no. It's not to be a follower of Jesus says that there is a passion that goes through all the stages of our life that goes through all the, the areas of our, of our life. All those areas. <br /><br /> We might have individual objectives for fall under this overriding. And what is this overriding thing? Well, Jesus says it this way. My people hunger and thirst for righteousness. Now, if you're honest, probably like most of the people watching online and most of the people in this room, you asked this, you're, you're having this reaction, hunger and thirst for righteousness. <br /><br /> What the heck does that mean? Well, that's what I want to talk about, because this is really important because this is what he says. We hunger for. We are, are parched for. That this is what is the foundation of our lives. If we are members of Jesus' question, and if we don't get this question answered, right? <br /><br /> All your goals, objectives, action plans is going to be skewered as a person who wants to live as a follower of Jesus. So I want to tell you what it means in a few, in, in the next few moments, but first I want to mention one other thing about this longing, this longing results in pursuing it, not a passive longing. <br /><br /> It's a longing that manifest itself in pursuit. You'll notice here in this same passage of the sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter six 30 to three 33, Jesus says this, but seek first, the kingdom of God and his righteousness. And all these other things will be added to you as well to seek means to pursue. <br /><br /> And the pursuit follows the longing that the assumption is that those who long for it, hunger and thirst for it are also actively engaged. So let's see what this one thing we are to desire. And the one thing that they are long for too, we are too long for his righteousness now quickly. There are three primary, uh, perspectives unrighteousness because all of the, that could be used too, because all of them are used in the new Testament. <br /><br /> The first of those is what is known as imputed righteousness. This is one option of what this is referring to when it says we hunger and thirst for righteousness, we hung for hunger, for the righteousness of Christ that has been offered to us simply what that means. I've talked about this many times, the imputed righteousness of Christ means that we who don't have our own inherent righteousness. <br /><br /> We are unrighteous. We, we are not accepted on the basis of our role behavior and, and getting it right. Jesus did it for us. Jesus not only died the death. We should have died and taking the penalty for our sin. Jesus lived the life that we should have lived. And so our guilt, our unrighteousness is laid on Christ imputed to him. <br /><br /> If you will. And his righteous standing is acceptance with God. The father is laid on us. It's an unbelievably grace filled transaction and imputed righteousness is that I stand accepted in Jesus, in the righteousness that he lived all. That's true, but I don't think that's what being talked about here. <br /><br /> Matthew chapter six, as a matter of fact, the whole gospel of Matthew talks about righteousness a lot. That is not the righteousness that he's focusing on. There's a second form of righteousness. That's used the new Testament that could be used here. And that is the one that is called societal righteousness, that there is a long for others to be treated fairly and justly to be looking out for others, not overlooking the poor, the disenfranchised, the forgotten that's a possible rendering here, but that does not seem to be even in the sermon on the Mount, the primary focus of this term righteousness, the primary focus is this thing that we would call personal practical righteousness. <br /><br /> Certainly option two includes that, but personal righteousness is identified as the thing that we S we hunger and thirst for as members of Jesus' kingdom. If we are to free followers of Christ, which is what our goal is. We who are called into his kingdom are then to model our lives and to reflect his priorities. <br /><br /> We would have the same craving that Jesus had. We would have the same thirsting that Jesus had. So what did Jesus say? He craved? What did he hunger for? Well, he tells us in John chapter four in verse 34, this statement is made my food. Jesus said is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work to hunger and thirst for righteousness doing what's right, is basically to want the, all of God to be accomplished in my life, to accomplish his calling for my life. <br /><br /> We want to glorify God. We want to please God, we want our whole lives to be spent doing the will of gods. Everything else falls under that overriding one single priority of life. It rules your job. It rules your family. It rules your marriage. It rules your retirement. It rules your schools. It rules your major in college. <br /><br /> It tells you it directs you who to marry, who to date, where they work, where you live. It is the hunger to live righteously and involves a couple of things. First of all, and involves externally living in Matthew chapter six, the very next chapter here is still part of the sermon. Jesus says this beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them. <br /><br /> There's a practice of righteousness. We live righteously. We, we externally do that and there it's talking particularly about caring of other people. But he says, this practice of righteousness is one in which we show kindness and generosity and care for others is a beautiful example of this in, in Matthew chapter one, with Joseph who the betroth husband of Mary. <br /><br /> And it says in that passage, that, and, and Joseph has just found out that Mary's pregnant, they're betrothed to be married, which meant they are in a state of, of legal commitment to each other. It was way more than engagement. It was binding unless one of them proved during these months before they came together, physically that they had been unfaithful to the other. <br /><br /> And Mary had just apparently proven to be so because she's pregnant and Joseph is now left with this, this heartbreaking scenario where the woman, he loves. Has now proven herself faults. The angel has not come to him at this point and told him don't sweat it. You know, you can take her. This is what the Holy spirit all see knows this, his wife is pregnant. <br /><br /> She's just told him. And here's what he responds in Matthew chapter one verse 19, and her husband, Joseph being a righteous man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. The first thing we find in him is that he is acting as a righteous man, but in his righteousness, he also shows mercy. <br /><br /> He will. He had every right. Actually it would have been totally just for him to put Mary aside and to then clear his own name. People. Aren't going to know why they've divorced people. Aren't gonna know a separate, well, it was the former divorce. Aren't going to know what's going on. But Joseph says, I'm going to do this as quietly, as, as carefully as I can. <br /><br /> For the sake of Mary, I was in a conversation with someone recently and they made a statement that I've thought about a lot and I really embrace it. And he said, I believe it is Christian for anyone power to always seek, to show mercy, to go beyond justice. But when you can not to deny justice, but to go beyond justice, to, to act mercifully when you have power, whether that is a parent, whether that is a pastor, whether that is a civil leader, whether that is anyone and administrator at work, a boss that we are always called in our team to not just act just, but also to extend, seek to show mercy as well. <br /><br /> Joseph did that. It was the kind of righteousness he showed. It was a justice that also included mercy. In this case toward his be throne spouse. It's an external expression, but it is also something internally driven. Matthew chapter five, just a few verses later in chapter 20, it says this about righteousness for, I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. <br /><br /> Now, what does he mean by this? Because these guys were their righteousness, their external righteousness was, was astonishing. They fasted two days a week. They, they never missed a church service. They were always there. They, they quoted the Bible all the time. They knew lots of scripture. I mean, they had all come in and are you supposed to out zeal? <br /><br /> These guys? Well, Jesus tells us what he meant in Matthew chapter 23, where he says to the Pharisees. So you're, you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you're full of hypocrisy and lawlessness, woe to you, scribes and Pharisees hypocrites, he deals on the heart level and he says, righteousness is peeling back the onion skin, and S and, and con realizing that we grow in righteousness as God keeps taking us deeper and deeper peeling back more. <br /><br /> There's so much of our lives. When we first know Jesus. Where we are, are devoutly. Following Christ in our hearts are truly desirous of living for the Lord. But we look back now years. In some cases, some of us decades from when we first came to Christ, we realized, we realized how much of, of our lives were still controlled by, by selfish ambition. <br /><br /> Sometimes even in the Christian world, uh, th that, that there was, there was more on onion. Layers is still more today that we are growing internally aware that we are continually seeing that's where the value of seeing things in our lives that, that are making us become focused on internal righteousness. <br /><br /> That's the value of suffering, uh, failures of even rejection by others. It helps us evaluate our hearts and go deeper, have more of the onion skin peeled back that this idea of loving righteousness is loving. The internal that we're being changed from the inside out and growing in righteousness is having your inner person changed from pride to humility, from sufficiency to dependence and from serving you to serving others. <br /><br /> but there's an incredible beauty in this passage. <br /><br /> the beauty is this Jesus doesn't say blessed are those who do righteousness. As I said, he says, blessed are those who hunger and thirst who long. For righteousness, who long to live to the glory of God, who long to please the Lord, he says, it's your hearts trajectory that I look for? It's not you getting it, right? <br /><br /> It's not you crossing the T's and dotting the ice. It's not you being able to look back and say, Oh, I followed unswervingly man. If you've walked with Jesus for years, you look back and you say, I can't believe how much self-centeredness still rule my life still does today. I can't believe how many things I thought I was doing, uh, with right motivation. <br /><br /> And there was so much of me involved in them. And Jesus says to you, Hey, I'm not asking you to do it. All right. I'm not asking you to, to be this guy, this woman of perfect righteousness. I'm just saying, have your heart trajectory going my way, have your passion say, Lord, I want you, every follower of Jesus looks back with regrets and sorrows, every single one, but Jesus is not asking or expecting that you would always do. <br /><br /> Righteously is simply asking that trajectory of your life be toward pleasing him. That ties in then to the third thing, the blessing of this longing, they will be satisfied. The word here, uh, some versions translated, filled. It's actually, if you look at all the uses in the new Testament, which I had a chance to do every use in the new Testament is talking about food, uh, filling you. <br /><br /> It is food satisfying you that you have, you have, you you've been, uh, cared for you're you're filled you're you're you're not still dealing with the hunger pains. That is a satisfying spirit. What is it that satisfies us? Well, what satisfies us is righteousness. He says those that long for it will be satisfied with it. <br /><br /> Well, what does this mean? Well, I'd suggest it this way. Psalm 46, Psalm 40 verse eight. Sorry. David says this. I delight to do your Willow God. He says, I find pleasure in this there's satisfaction and joy in me in doing righteously. Jesus is saying this too. If your heart trajectory is say, Lord, I want the ruling passion of my life over my job, over my marriage, over my family, over my career, over, over, over every part, over my lifestyle over it, <br /><br /> Jesus is saying, then you will experience the satisfaction of that righteousness doesn't mean you'll always live righteously. You'll have lots of twists and turns doesn't mean you'll always eat. The healthy food of righteousness has me. Plenty of junk food. You'll lead along the way. Choices you'll make cravings. <br /><br /> You'll seek that should have been met and in following Christ and you turned to other things, but he says, if the trajectory of your life is towards me, if you're allowing me to be Lord of your life, you will taste the satisfaction, the joy of living righteously. He gives the opposite of this in Isaiah were those that choose not to live righteously. <br /><br /> He describes what these terms, Isaiah 57, but the wicked are like the tossing sea for it cannot be quiet and it's waters toss up mire and dirt. There's no peace says my God for the wicked <br /><br /> I was in a conversation with a woman in her early thirties, a while back. And she's someone I've known for a number of years and she has not embraced Christ. And we were having an interesting conversation and, and she was asking me, you know, at my, basically when I was her age, um, did you struggle with fears and struggle? <br /><br /> And I said, I did more than I think I realized or embrace or took ownership of. And, uh, And she knew I was a pastor. We were talking about that. And she said, do you have regrets? I said, I do. I said, I think my perspective of God at times was far more about people getting it right. And measuring up and pushing people. <br /><br /> I don't think I did. Uh, often I did not appropriately present the beauty and the grace and the consuming love of God the way I wish I, the way I know him now, she asked me this question. She said, well then how can you be confident that Christianity is true? If you still had fears and struggles and now have regrets, <br /><br /> this is all I knew to say to her. I said, okay. I do think I misrepresented in pieces. The character of God, the beauty of God's love and grace in my own striving to get things right. Even as a pastor and as a person. But I said, it's that very reality that though I misrepresentative representative though. <br /><br /> I misunderstood him in my own ways. He still wants me now. And I said, <br /><br /> well, I want Christianity. And why I believe in Christianity is because I believe in Christ <br /><br /> and I want to do life with Jesus because I like who I am with him. And I don't like who I am without him. It isn't because I got it right or wrong. That I love him. It's because even in the face of failures and misses and, and mistakes and blind spots and, and thinking I was his mom South piece in all of these ways, thinking I had it all right, he still wants me. <br /><br /> He's the safest person in my life. This is what I was taught is the safest person. I know. I never worry that he's going to all of a sudden change his mind on me. I don't ever worry that he's going to prove untrustworthy or get frustrated with me. I believe in Christianity because I believe in Christ. <br /><br /> Here's what I think this beatitude reminds us. Let me say it this way. I want to speak to three groups and this I'm going to close with the first group of people I want to talk to is some of you are here and you need to hear this beatitude as a challenge. Maybe to change the trajectory of your life toward this priority and say, well, yeah, you know, business is business and, and I'm ruled this way here. <br /><br /> And church, life is church. Now that's now there's one priority. There's one overarching longing. That has to be the umbrella over the doesn't mean you're going to get it all right. But it does mean that trajectory of your whole life needs to be going towards righteousness and pleasing and glorifying and enjoying God. <br /><br /> Maybe there's a challenge in that for you, for others, perhaps this P attitude is for you an invitation to embrace the one that says, yeah, you, you, you enter my King and Viacom porn spirit. You see it's for broken people who are sinners. Who are broken in life and feel the need of someone beyond their, themselves to mercy, then to forgive them, to love them. <br /><br /> And you see it, you're not going to mess you up. You're you're impoverished. Just see there this morning and maybe losses of life are the very things God is using to help you see that you don't have it in yourself. You need someone more. That's exactly whose Jesus' kingdom is for. Maybe there's an invitation here to embrace Jesus as yours, <br /><br /> but the other group of people is her. I want to just focus on for a moment and maybe you need to hear this be attitude as an encouragement. Maybe you live for a long life. Maybe you're later in life or midlife perhaps, and you look back and there's regrets and there's misses and there's failures and there's blind spots. <br /><br /> Jesus, it says only ever asked for one thing of your life. And that is the trajectory of your life being towards him. <br /><br /> It was never about you getting it right. It was about you wanting him. And if you look back in your life and say, Lord, I just see so many misses. I see so many ways I would have wished this, any SIS taught her son. I didn't ask you to be mined. So you got it. All right. I asked you to make me what's your life trajectory is towards, and you need to find the beauty of this promise that he is saying, you are blessed. <br /><br /> He blesses you. He says, don't make the same misses. You don't have to now, you know, but embrace the fact that what I've asked for is those whose hearts are inclined towards me. There are many, many people in the Christian Church that are older, that are absolutely tormented with their failures. You've got them, we've all got them, but you can embrace the beauty of if your heart trajectory is ultimately been. <br /><br /> Lord, I, I do want <br /><br /> I don't know how much he wants you. And that he is still saying to you, it's grace, you got in it's grace, you stayed in it's grace. I delight in you as a member of my kingdom, wherever you are in those lists. Seeing this as an invitation, as a challenge, as an encouragement, this beatitude is about a righteous God offering to do life with unrighteous people who simply say, Lord, I want you to be central. <br /><br /> And first in my life, I want to know you more. You are, you are the safest person I've ever known because just like Paul said, in Romans eight, I'm learning more and more. You are for me. And you who spared, not your own son, how you not with him also freely, give us all things. Lord, we look to you today. I'm asking you to take this simple study and apply it to people's hearts for some, to be a challenge and motivation for some, to be an invitation that by your grace, they might walk through and want to know this, this Jesus so different who's for us and who beckons us to embrace his grace and Lord. <br /><br /> For those that need encouragement today, I pray you would encourage them with the beauty of this beatitude and this blessing in Jesus name. Amen. Now go in peace to love and serve and enjoy the Lord . . .</div> false no <![CDATA[The Meaning and Purpose of the Lord's Supper]]> 1 Corinthians 11:17-29

The Lord’s Supper: a repeated ordinance tied to the community of believers’ continuance in the faith



Morning everybody. Thank you, Mike, for leading us to this point today, did you get one of these on the way in. So I have one of these nearby, we'll get to that in a little bit, because yes, we're celebrating the Lord's supper today. Want to welcome you as well as welcome those who are joining us this morning, online.

Um, the church, uh,

the church, um, the new Testament Christians, the church has celebrated two ordinances. Baptism being the first and then the second being the Lord's supper, whereas baptism in water was instituted by the Lord Jesus and his apostles as a one time. One time ordinance, that's tied closely to, uh, a Christian's entrance into the faith and into the church family, the Lord's supper while likewise being instituted by Jesus and the apostles is an ongoing or a repeated ordinance practiced by the community of Christians.

And it's closely tied to our not entrance into the faith, but our continuance in the faith. And in the church. So today I want to talk about the Lord's supper, the meaning and purpose of the Lord's supper. And I want to recognize it. That's what a privilege privilege we have today to celebrate this together after a long season, not being able to do so.

And you know, what else is good news two weeks from today, we're also going to be celebrating baptism as a church family. And I think there's eight individuals who are going to be baptized. And again, After a long season of not being able to do that. So it's going to be, it's going to be great. Well, for 2000 plus years, the Lord's supper has been practiced worldwide by every church or denomination that claims to follow Jesus Christ.

Now there's some differences in how it's practiced for instance, like whether we call it the Lord's supper. Or an ordinance or mass or a sacrament. And there's a variety of views about what Jesus means precisely when he says this is my body and this is my blood, but nonetheless, the church of Jesus, since the days of the apostles has affirmed practice, valued and prioritize this event that we call the Lord's supper.

Why. W what does it mean? Why do we do it? What is its purpose? Well, we're going to look at the scripture, the synoptic gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke record for us. The moment at the last supper that Jesus shared with his closest followers, his disciples on the night of his arrest, when in the upper room with them, he took bread and wine and declared.

This is my body. And this is my blood, the apostle Paul also recounts that event for us in first Corinthians 11. And that's the scripture where I'd like you to turn. If you have your Bible today and, and the apostle Paul in this text, elaborates on what it means as an ongoing ordinance for the church. So let's read that passage together.

We're in first Corinthians chapter 11. And we're going to start at verse 17, follow along as I read it out loud

in the following directives, I have no praise for you for your meetings. Do more harm than good in the first place. I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you. And to some extent, I believe it. No doubt. There have to be differences among you to show which of you have God's approval when you come together.

It is not the Lord's supper you eat for as you eat. Each of you goes ahead without waiting for anybody else. One remains hungry. Another gets drunk. Don't you have homes to eat and drink in. Where do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing, which shall I say to you? Shall I praise you for this?

Certainly not for I received from the Lord. What I passed on to you, the Lord Jesus on the night he was betrayed, took bread. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, This is my body, which is for you do this in remembrance of me in the same way after supper, he took the cup saying this cup is the new covenant in my blood.

Do this whenever you drink it in remembrance of me for whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks, the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. A man ought to examine himself before he eats the bread and drink.

So the cup for anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself, that is why many among you are weak and sick. And a number of you have fallen asleep. But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment when we are judged by the Lord we're being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.

So then my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for each other, if any was, if anyone is hungry, he should eat at home so that when you meet together, it may not result in judgment. And when I come, I will give further directions. Well, that's the word of the Lord and it's, this is a passage that, uh, raises questions in my mind and makes me realize there's things going on in the Corinthian church that I don't quite follow it's it makes me feel like I'm listening to one side of a conversation without the chance to listen to what the other side is saying.

And then Paul's words at the end there he says, and when I come, I'll give further directions. There certainly seems to be more going on in the Corinthian church than we grasp as we read that passage. And really, I feel that way in a lot of this book of first Corinthians, but they know what Paul's talking about.

And Paul knows what he's talking. He's talking to them about. And nonetheless, the principle that we have is build a scripture, does not answer every question that we might have. It answers every question we need to know. It tells us everything we need to know. And there is a lot we can learn about the Lord's supper from this passage.

Now from this text, which was probably penned by the apostle apostle Paul, about 55 a day is clear that the ordinance of the Lord's supper was already being practiced by Jesus' followers. Right? You could gather that in the passage now, true. There were some abuses and problems in the way that the Corinthians were were, were behaving.

And, and doing the Lord's supper. Um, but we also note that in the text that Paul's quotations of Jesus' words in verse 24 and 25 correspond, very closely to Luke's account of the last supper that he records in his gospel. And that's not too surprising. It may be that Luke had already penned his gospel at this point.

And Paul was familiar with it, but even if not, Paul and Luke were, uh, ministry partners and traveling companions. So it would make sense that Paul would have been familiar with Luke's version of that last supper event. It's also interesting to me that Paul says in verse 23, that he received from the Lord.

The instructions about the Lord's supper. And then he passed those on to the Corinthian church at some point. So this morning, I wanna, I wanna attempt to ask and answer some basic questions about the Lord's supper based on this text that we just read as well as the account of the last supper in Matthew, Mark, and Luke.

So we can get a better handle on what the Lord's supper is all about. So here's our first question. It's an easy one. Why do we call it the Lord's supper? Well, the first reason that's because it's so designated in scripture, Paul calls it the Lord's supper. Maybe you saw that here in verse, in the text in verse 20, when you come together, he says, it's not the Lord supper you eat.

Now. It presumably was the Lord's supper, but had it degenerated into selfishness, unfortunately, and something much less. Then the ideal worship event and Christian of Christian fellowship and remembrance and chapter 10 across the page, you can see Paul referred to this event as the cup of the Lord or the Lord's table.

And we use those expressions also to talk about this event, but the main reason we call it, the Lord's supper is because it was established by the Lord Jesus himself. Paul says in verse 23, the Lord Jesus. On the night he was betrayed, took bread. Again, Paul talks about how he received from the Lord, the instructions about the Lord's supper, and then he passed them onto the Corinthian believers.

Exactly how Paul received those instructions is not entirely clear. Was it directly from the Lord? Jesus at some point, following his conversion to Christ. And before he launched himself into public ministry, Um, was it indirectly from the Lord through the testimony of Luke or the other apostles? In either case the ordinance is called the Lord's supper, because it was instituted by the Lord Jesus himself as, as is clearly seen in the gospels.

Matthew, Mark, and Luke, our second question then why does the church practice the Lord's supper repeatedly or with regularity? Yeah, some churches, uh, take the Lord's supper every Sunday, others, monthly other churches do it only at their good Friday service or Easter others with the consistency of whenever we can fit it into the schedule.

But unlike baptism, which is a one-time event for the believer, all churches practice, the Lord's supper repeatedly with some kind of regularity. Why is that? Well, though note directive is given in scripture about the frequency of the Lord's supper. You can see the repeated nature of the Lord's supper. It, once again, goes back to Jesus himself in Luke's account, in the gospel of Luke chapter 22, verse 19, we read these words of Jesus, do this in remembrance of me.

So, yeah, that's a curious statement. If the Lord's supper is just intended to be a one special event. One time between Jesus and his apostles. You see, because he wants them to use this as a way to remember him. I mean, you don't need to remember someone who's standing right there with you who are sitting at the table with you.

The remembering comes later right after they are gone. So the repeated nature of this ordinance is inherent in its purpose as expressed by Jesus himself to remember him and his work on the cross. And apparently. We need a continued or repeated remembrance of Jesus' death for us. And then going back back to first Corinthians 11, the repeated nature of the ordinance is obvious in, in, in this passage here, because when Paul quotes Jesus about the cup representing the, the blood, he includes these words from Jesus.

No, he adds this commentary after Jesus. Do. Sorry, let's go back to the glasses. Yeah. So he quotes Jesus, um, in verse 25, do this whenever you drink it in remembrance of me. So just think of that phrase whenever you drink it. What does that suggest to you? Repetition is something is going to be repeated that Jesus instituted this ordinance as an act to be repeated.

Then Paul adds this commentary in the next verse. He says, for whenever you eat this bread or drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. Think of that phrase until he comes, it implies. Perpetuity it suggest strongly once again, but this has to be an ongoing part of the church's worship and ritual from now on until Christ returns.

So we practice it repeatedly with regularity. All right. Those first two questions were pretty easy, right? So let's move on to number three is we talk about the significance of this, this event. How do the elements of bread and wine represent the significance of Jesus' death for us? And this is where it's really, really beautiful and fascinating.

The words of Jesus make clear that the bread and the wine are intended to commemorate his death for us, Luke 2219. And he took bread gave thanks and. Broke it and gave it to them saying, this is my body, which has given for you do this in remembrance of me. I believe there's great significance in the breaking of the bread that Jesus did in view of his disciples.

And that's the significance that may be lost on us today in that we're going to have before us a, a tiny little piece of chicklet sized bread, that's already been broken and conveniently packaged for us. But that's just the way it is and that's okay. But the visual of Jesus and I really am happy about the way the table is spread before us today.

You can, you can get the sense, the visualize. So Jesus breaking that bread and saying, this is my Bible.

I want us to visualize Jesus taking that big piece of unleavened bread and breaking it. Because Jesus Christ, who is God himself took on a human body in a body that was broken. It's a body like ours, a body that could break a body that could suffer a body that could feel pain, a body that could be wounded, a body that could die.

There's no religion in the world. That speaks of God, becoming a human being to share in our humanity for the express purpose of entering into our suffering and to suffer for us none, except the Christian gospel for that is what Jesus did in his death. His body was broken for us and Peter. Peter explains it this way.

He says he himself. Speaking of Jesus, he himself is first Peter two 24. He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross so that we might die to sins and live to righteousness. And then he quotes from Isaiah 53 for by his wounds. We are healed. Jesus' body was broken, wounded and died so that we might be restored and healed from the stain and pain and penalty of sin.

The broken bread we eat today speaks of his body, broken for us, and Jesus' works. Also connect the wine to his wife, his blood Luke 2220. This cup is the new covenant in my. Blood, which is poured out for you. And once again, the practicality of serving a large group, such as we are here today, as well as adhering to modern health and safety practices, the small individual cups we use today, uh, we, we, that might obscure to some degree, what I think was the symbolism that was inherent.

And Jesus lifting up that one cop, that one goblet at again, our visual on the table is great to illustrate this forest today, lifting up that one cup and saying drink from it. All of you. This is the blood of the covenant. Just shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. And then they passed it. One to another and they all drank from it.

You see that symbolism there, there is one cup. There is one savior. There is one blood. There is one way. There is one death. There is one lamb, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And then Paul reiterate to the Corinthians that by eating this bread and drinking this cup, we do something.

What do we do? He says, In verse 26 for whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death. So we share today in the Lord's supper with one, with the bread and the cup to remember his death on our behalf and his love that compelled him to suffer in our place and the bread and the cup allow us to commemorate the death of Jesus.

On which our salvation rests. So let's ask question, uh, number four now, which is another really important one. I think what benefit accompanies those who partake in the Lord's supper. Now, this is the question on which various churches and denominations differ be they Catholic Lutheran, reformed or Baptist.

Essentially the question comes down to this. Is there a grace that is conferred by the act of taking the Lord's supper? That is, is there a benefit afforded to me by the mere eating of the bread and drinking of the cup? Or is the benefit received dependent in some way on what I, as the individual believer bring to the equation.

It's in my heart, in my attitude, in my faith. Now, generally those churches or denominations, which practice the Lord's supper most frequently are the ones which affirmed the benefit or grace that's inherent in the mere taking of the communion. And why not for, if grace can be conferred in the mirror, eating and drinking, then it would behoove us to do it as often as possible.

But when we think of, for instance, and compare this to baptism, you can get into the baptismal tank a million times, but that water will not wash away your sins. The value of that baptism is in the symbolism that is inherent in that act of getting into the water of visually dying to yourself and being raised with Christ and in the power of the declaration.

That a believer makes when he or she does baptism. And I think similarly, you can, you can eat as much of the matzah bread or drink as much of the grape juice as you want, but it's the benefit does not come from the mere act of doing that. But from the symbolism that is inherent in that act and from the worship and renewal, that ensues when we participate in it, You know, and if you look at first Corinthians 11, which we've read together, you know, it would seem odd from what Paul says here, that there is, it seems clear that from what he says here, that there's no real benefit in the mere eating of it because they were eating of it.

But in a way that was bringing judgment upon themselves and in an unworthy manner, that was not resulting in grace and blessing. But in judgment. So it would seem then, but the chief benefit of the Lord's supper is tied not to the mere act of eating and drinking, but to the remembering and the reflecting on all that is symbolized and commemorated about the Lord's death on our behalf.

And it's seeing with, with eyes a new, our faith, Which laid on Jesus, our sin, who was willing to suffer and die in our place. So Jesus said, and these words, right? Okay. Do this. How in remembrance of me, the benefit of remembering Christ's death will be a renewal of our love for him. As we remember his love for us, it's it will be a renewal of genuine worship and a recommitment and surrender of our lives to him as is only appropriate when we reflect on what he has done for us and his sacrifice on the cross.

Finally, I think we'll experience a renewal of our connection as part of his body, as part of his church. As we share together in this moment of worship and renewal drink from it, he said, all of you. In remembrance of me. And this brings us to our fifth and final question this morning, who should participate in the Lord's supper?

Well, we can infer from scripture that the ordinance of the Lord's supper is intended for genuine believers in the Lord, Jesus Christ, who are living lives of surrender and obedience to him lives that are free from ongoing or flagrant sin. And believers who have the maturity to discern the significance of Christ's death for them.

So let's break that down a little bit. First of all, genuine believers, Jesus Institute, the ordinance of the Lord's supper with his closest, most intimate followers. He didn't do it. He didn't Institute this ordinance for the masses of people that were following him for the big crowds. He didn't do it in a mixed company of skeptics and believers, faithful and faithless.

He did it with his closest most into it, intimate and devoted followers, followers, and even his group of apostles needed to be purified of Judas who had determined to betray him. So this is an ordinance for genuine believers. Genuine believers who are next living lives of surrender and obedience. Paul suggested some that participants examine themselves.

He says the person ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup questions like this are worth asking. Am I a true believer? Am I fully surrendered to Jesus? Is there some area of my life that is out of line with what the fits a true disciple? Is there any sin, public or private that I need to confess and forsake?

Next a genuine believers who are flipped free of ongoing or flagrant sin. Now Paul suggests the trivialize trivializing, the significance of Christ death by partaking in and of the Lord's supper in an unworthy manner had resulted in sickness and even death for some of the Corinthians. None of us of course are without sin.

But if we're knowingly and deliberately tolerating known sin in our life, we ought to forego the ordinance of the Lord's supper for the time being finally with the maturity to discern the significance of Christ's death. For me, I think parents can help evaluate their children's readiness for that. And even for adults, we can each evaluate.

Our heart in this moment to determine am I in a good place in my heart, my devotion to Christ, to solomnly embrace the fullness and depth of Jesus' sacrifice on the cross in my place. So if you are then as we prepare to share in this moment together, I want to invite you to. Take a moment for personal reflection and silent prayer to prepare your heart, to share in this together.

So would you take a moment just to value your head and close your eyes and spend a moment of quiet reflection with the Lord? Maybe the guys that the controls can put up some music, or if not, that's fine too. Just take a moment to prepare your heart, to celebrate the Lord's supper together.

we thank you, Lord Jesus for what you were willing to do for us on the cross. And, um, We feel, um, so limited in our ability to really take in the magnitude and wonder of your,

of your gift of suffering in our place. But we know that it is only on what you've done for us, that we can base our hope of, of forgiveness and salvation. So as we celebrate this together as a church, we give you our worship and gratitude. Amen.

Well, we come to the moment to eat the bread together first, and I was tempted to, uh, practice with one of these earlier, but then I decided, no, we're all, we're all doing this for the first time. So I'll just go along with you. So if you would take out the bread and just hold it. And, uh, yeah, when we're ready, I'd like to repeat the words that Jesus said to his disciples on that on the night of the last supper.

And then we'll, we'll eat it together. Mine open pretty easily. You do. All right with it. Okay. Let me see, let me see the bread and hold that up so I know you're ready. Okay.

the Lord Jesus. On the night he was betrayed, took bread. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, this is my body, which is for you do this in remembrance of me. Yeah,

well, flip it over. Be careful now.

in the same way after supper, he took the cup saying this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this whenever you drink it in remembrance of me.

and the music that the, uh, that they put on for us just a moment ago was a, him from 250 years ago by Charles Westlake entitled end. Can it be. Let me close by reading you the first stands of that him. And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior's blood died? He, for me, who caused his pain for me, who?

Him to death pursued. Amazing love. How can it be that thou my God should stay for me.

And I'll ask you to be dismissed this morning, uh, reflecting on those words and the greatness of God's love for you as we've been able to share and celebrate it today were dismissed.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-meaning-and-purpose-of-the-lords-supper 1e5461b7-6569-40cd-b784-a6b31282d535 Sun, 07 Mar 2021 20:09:03 GMT <div data-html="true">1 Corinthians 11:17-29 <br /><br /> The Lord’s Supper: a repeated ordinance tied to the community of believers’ continuance in the faith <br /><br /> <br /><br /> Morning everybody. Thank you, Mike, for leading us to this point today, did you get one of these on the way in. So I have one of these nearby, we'll get to that in a little bit, because yes, we're celebrating the Lord's supper today. Want to welcome you as well as welcome those who are joining us this morning, online. <br /><br /> Um, the church, uh, <br /><br /> the church, um, the new Testament Christians, the church has celebrated two ordinances. Baptism being the first and then the second being the Lord's supper, whereas baptism in water was instituted by the Lord Jesus and his apostles as a one time. One time ordinance, that's tied closely to, uh, a Christian's entrance into the faith and into the church family, the Lord's supper while likewise being instituted by Jesus and the apostles is an ongoing or a repeated ordinance practiced by the community of Christians. <br /><br /> And it's closely tied to our not entrance into the faith, but our continuance in the faith. And in the church. So today I want to talk about the Lord's supper, the meaning and purpose of the Lord's supper. And I want to recognize it. That's what a privilege privilege we have today to celebrate this together after a long season, not being able to do so. <br /><br /> And you know, what else is good news two weeks from today, we're also going to be celebrating baptism as a church family. And I think there's eight individuals who are going to be baptized. And again, After a long season of not being able to do that. So it's going to be, it's going to be great. Well, for 2000 plus years, the Lord's supper has been practiced worldwide by every church or denomination that claims to follow Jesus Christ. <br /><br /> Now there's some differences in how it's practiced for instance, like whether we call it the Lord's supper. Or an ordinance or mass or a sacrament. And there's a variety of views about what Jesus means precisely when he says this is my body and this is my blood, but nonetheless, the church of Jesus, since the days of the apostles has affirmed practice, valued and prioritize this event that we call the Lord's supper. <br /><br /> Why. W what does it mean? Why do we do it? What is its purpose? Well, we're going to look at the scripture, the synoptic gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke record for us. The moment at the last supper that Jesus shared with his closest followers, his disciples on the night of his arrest, when in the upper room with them, he took bread and wine and declared. <br /><br /> This is my body. And this is my blood, the apostle Paul also recounts that event for us in first Corinthians 11. And that's the scripture where I'd like you to turn. If you have your Bible today and, and the apostle Paul in this text, elaborates on what it means as an ongoing ordinance for the church. So let's read that passage together. <br /><br /> We're in first Corinthians chapter 11. And we're going to start at verse 17, follow along as I read it out loud <br /><br /> in the following directives, I have no praise for you for your meetings. Do more harm than good in the first place. I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you. And to some extent, I believe it. No doubt. There have to be differences among you to show which of you have God's approval when you come together. <br /><br /> It is not the Lord's supper you eat for as you eat. Each of you goes ahead without waiting for anybody else. One remains hungry. Another gets drunk. Don't you have homes to eat and drink in. Where do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing, which shall I say to you? Shall I praise you for this? <br /><br /> Certainly not for I received from the Lord. What I passed on to you, the Lord Jesus on the night he was betrayed, took bread. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, This is my body, which is for you do this in remembrance of me in the same way after supper, he took the cup saying this cup is the new covenant in my blood. <br /><br /> Do this whenever you drink it in remembrance of me for whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks, the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. A man ought to examine himself before he eats the bread and drink. <br /><br /> So the cup for anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself, that is why many among you are weak and sick. And a number of you have fallen asleep. But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment when we are judged by the Lord we're being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world. <br /><br /> So then my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for each other, if any was, if anyone is hungry, he should eat at home so that when you meet together, it may not result in judgment. And when I come, I will give further directions. Well, that's the word of the Lord and it's, this is a passage that, uh, raises questions in my mind and makes me realize there's things going on in the Corinthian church that I don't quite follow it's it makes me feel like I'm listening to one side of a conversation without the chance to listen to what the other side is saying. <br /><br /> And then Paul's words at the end there he says, and when I come, I'll give further directions. There certainly seems to be more going on in the Corinthian church than we grasp as we read that passage. And really, I feel that way in a lot of this book of first Corinthians, but they know what Paul's talking about. <br /><br /> And Paul knows what he's talking. He's talking to them about. And nonetheless, the principle that we have is build a scripture, does not answer every question that we might have. It answers every question we need to know. It tells us everything we need to know. And there is a lot we can learn about the Lord's supper from this passage. <br /><br /> Now from this text, which was probably penned by the apostle apostle Paul, about 55 a day is clear that the ordinance of the Lord's supper was already being practiced by Jesus' followers. Right? You could gather that in the passage now, true. There were some abuses and problems in the way that the Corinthians were were, were behaving. <br /><br /> And, and doing the Lord's supper. Um, but we also note that in the text that Paul's quotations of Jesus' words in verse 24 and 25 correspond, very closely to Luke's account of the last supper that he records in his gospel. And that's not too surprising. It may be that Luke had already penned his gospel at this point. <br /><br /> And Paul was familiar with it, but even if not, Paul and Luke were, uh, ministry partners and traveling companions. So it would make sense that Paul would have been familiar with Luke's version of that last supper event. It's also interesting to me that Paul says in verse 23, that he received from the Lord. <br /><br /> The instructions about the Lord's supper. And then he passed those on to the Corinthian church at some point. So this morning, I wanna, I wanna attempt to ask and answer some basic questions about the Lord's supper based on this text that we just read as well as the account of the last supper in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. <br /><br /> So we can get a better handle on what the Lord's supper is all about. So here's our first question. It's an easy one. Why do we call it the Lord's supper? Well, the first reason that's because it's so designated in scripture, Paul calls it the Lord's supper. Maybe you saw that here in verse, in the text in verse 20, when you come together, he says, it's not the Lord supper you eat. <br /><br /> Now. It presumably was the Lord's supper, but had it degenerated into selfishness, unfortunately, and something much less. Then the ideal worship event and Christian of Christian fellowship and remembrance and chapter 10 across the page, you can see Paul referred to this event as the cup of the Lord or the Lord's table. <br /><br /> And we use those expressions also to talk about this event, but the main reason we call it, the Lord's supper is because it was established by the Lord Jesus himself. Paul says in verse 23, the Lord Jesus. On the night he was betrayed, took bread. Again, Paul talks about how he received from the Lord, the instructions about the Lord's supper, and then he passed them onto the Corinthian believers. <br /><br /> Exactly how Paul received those instructions is not entirely clear. Was it directly from the Lord? Jesus at some point, following his conversion to Christ. And before he launched himself into public ministry, Um, was it indirectly from the Lord through the testimony of Luke or the other apostles? In either case the ordinance is called the Lord's supper, because it was instituted by the Lord Jesus himself as, as is clearly seen in the gospels. <br /><br /> Matthew, Mark, and Luke, our second question then why does the church practice the Lord's supper repeatedly or with regularity? Yeah, some churches, uh, take the Lord's supper every Sunday, others, monthly other churches do it only at their good Friday service or Easter others with the consistency of whenever we can fit it into the schedule. <br /><br /> But unlike baptism, which is a one-time event for the believer, all churches practice, the Lord's supper repeatedly with some kind of regularity. Why is that? Well, though note directive is given in scripture about the frequency of the Lord's supper. You can see the repeated nature of the Lord's supper. It, once again, goes back to Jesus himself in Luke's account, in the gospel of Luke chapter 22, verse 19, we read these words of Jesus, do this in remembrance of me. <br /><br /> So, yeah, that's a curious statement. If the Lord's supper is just intended to be a one special event. One time between Jesus and his apostles. You see, because he wants them to use this as a way to remember him. I mean, you don't need to remember someone who's standing right there with you who are sitting at the table with you. <br /><br /> The remembering comes later right after they are gone. So the repeated nature of this ordinance is inherent in its purpose as expressed by Jesus himself to remember him and his work on the cross. And apparently. We need a continued or repeated remembrance of Jesus' death for us. And then going back back to first Corinthians 11, the repeated nature of the ordinance is obvious in, in, in this passage here, because when Paul quotes Jesus about the cup representing the, the blood, he includes these words from Jesus. <br /><br /> No, he adds this commentary after Jesus. Do. Sorry, let's go back to the glasses. Yeah. So he quotes Jesus, um, in verse 25, do this whenever you drink it in remembrance of me. So just think of that phrase whenever you drink it. What does that suggest to you? Repetition is something is going to be repeated that Jesus instituted this ordinance as an act to be repeated. <br /><br /> Then Paul adds this commentary in the next verse. He says, for whenever you eat this bread or drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. Think of that phrase until he comes, it implies. Perpetuity it suggest strongly once again, but this has to be an ongoing part of the church's worship and ritual from now on until Christ returns. <br /><br /> So we practice it repeatedly with regularity. All right. Those first two questions were pretty easy, right? So let's move on to number three is we talk about the significance of this, this event. How do the elements of bread and wine represent the significance of Jesus' death for us? And this is where it's really, really beautiful and fascinating. <br /><br /> The words of Jesus make clear that the bread and the wine are intended to commemorate his death for us, Luke 2219. And he took bread gave thanks and. Broke it and gave it to them saying, this is my body, which has given for you do this in remembrance of me. I believe there's great significance in the breaking of the bread that Jesus did in view of his disciples. <br /><br /> And that's the significance that may be lost on us today in that we're going to have before us a, a tiny little piece of chicklet sized bread, that's already been broken and conveniently packaged for us. But that's just the way it is and that's okay. But the visual of Jesus and I really am happy about the way the table is spread before us today. <br /><br /> You can, you can get the sense, the visualize. So Jesus breaking that bread and saying, this is my Bible. <br /><br /> I want us to visualize Jesus taking that big piece of unleavened bread and breaking it. Because Jesus Christ, who is God himself took on a human body in a body that was broken. It's a body like ours, a body that could break a body that could suffer a body that could feel pain, a body that could be wounded, a body that could die. <br /><br /> There's no religion in the world. That speaks of God, becoming a human being to share in our humanity for the express purpose of entering into our suffering and to suffer for us none, except the Christian gospel for that is what Jesus did in his death. His body was broken for us and Peter. Peter explains it this way. <br /><br /> He says he himself. Speaking of Jesus, he himself is first Peter two 24. He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross so that we might die to sins and live to righteousness. And then he quotes from Isaiah 53 for by his wounds. We are healed. Jesus' body was broken, wounded and died so that we might be restored and healed from the stain and pain and penalty of sin. <br /><br /> The broken bread we eat today speaks of his body, broken for us, and Jesus' works. Also connect the wine to his wife, his blood Luke 2220. This cup is the new covenant in my. Blood, which is poured out for you. And once again, the practicality of serving a large group, such as we are here today, as well as adhering to modern health and safety practices, the small individual cups we use today, uh, we, we, that might obscure to some degree, what I think was the symbolism that was inherent. <br /><br /> And Jesus lifting up that one cop, that one goblet at again, our visual on the table is great to illustrate this forest today, lifting up that one cup and saying drink from it. All of you. This is the blood of the covenant. Just shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. And then they passed it. One to another and they all drank from it. <br /><br /> You see that symbolism there, there is one cup. There is one savior. There is one blood. There is one way. There is one death. There is one lamb, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And then Paul reiterate to the Corinthians that by eating this bread and drinking this cup, we do something. <br /><br /> What do we do? He says, In verse 26 for whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death. So we share today in the Lord's supper with one, with the bread and the cup to remember his death on our behalf and his love that compelled him to suffer in our place and the bread and the cup allow us to commemorate the death of Jesus. <br /><br /> On which our salvation rests. So let's ask question, uh, number four now, which is another really important one. I think what benefit accompanies those who partake in the Lord's supper. Now, this is the question on which various churches and denominations differ be they Catholic Lutheran, reformed or Baptist. <br /><br /> Essentially the question comes down to this. Is there a grace that is conferred by the act of taking the Lord's supper? That is, is there a benefit afforded to me by the mere eating of the bread and drinking of the cup? Or is the benefit received dependent in some way on what I, as the individual believer bring to the equation. <br /><br /> It's in my heart, in my attitude, in my faith. Now, generally those churches or denominations, which practice the Lord's supper most frequently are the ones which affirmed the benefit or grace that's inherent in the mere taking of the communion. And why not for, if grace can be conferred in the mirror, eating and drinking, then it would behoove us to do it as often as possible. <br /><br /> But when we think of, for instance, and compare this to baptism, you can get into the baptismal tank a million times, but that water will not wash away your sins. The value of that baptism is in the symbolism that is inherent in that act of getting into the water of visually dying to yourself and being raised with Christ and in the power of the declaration. <br /><br /> That a believer makes when he or she does baptism. And I think similarly, you can, you can eat as much of the matzah bread or drink as much of the grape juice as you want, but it's the benefit does not come from the mere act of doing that. But from the symbolism that is inherent in that act and from the worship and renewal, that ensues when we participate in it, You know, and if you look at first Corinthians 11, which we've read together, you know, it would seem odd from what Paul says here, that there is, it seems clear that from what he says here, that there's no real benefit in the mere eating of it because they were eating of it. <br /><br /> But in a way that was bringing judgment upon themselves and in an unworthy manner, that was not resulting in grace and blessing. But in judgment. So it would seem then, but the chief benefit of the Lord's supper is tied not to the mere act of eating and drinking, but to the remembering and the reflecting on all that is symbolized and commemorated about the Lord's death on our behalf. <br /><br /> And it's seeing with, with eyes a new, our faith, Which laid on Jesus, our sin, who was willing to suffer and die in our place. So Jesus said, and these words, right? Okay. Do this. How in remembrance of me, the benefit of remembering Christ's death will be a renewal of our love for him. As we remember his love for us, it's it will be a renewal of genuine worship and a recommitment and surrender of our lives to him as is only appropriate when we reflect on what he has done for us and his sacrifice on the cross. <br /><br /> Finally, I think we'll experience a renewal of our connection as part of his body, as part of his church. As we share together in this moment of worship and renewal drink from it, he said, all of you. In remembrance of me. And this brings us to our fifth and final question this morning, who should participate in the Lord's supper? <br /><br /> Well, we can infer from scripture that the ordinance of the Lord's supper is intended for genuine believers in the Lord, Jesus Christ, who are living lives of surrender and obedience to him lives that are free from ongoing or flagrant sin. And believers who have the maturity to discern the significance of Christ's death for them. <br /><br /> So let's break that down a little bit. First of all, genuine believers, Jesus Institute, the ordinance of the Lord's supper with his closest, most intimate followers. He didn't do it. He didn't Institute this ordinance for the masses of people that were following him for the big crowds. He didn't do it in a mixed company of skeptics and believers, faithful and faithless. <br /><br /> He did it with his closest most into it, intimate and devoted followers, followers, and even his group of apostles needed to be purified of Judas who had determined to betray him. So this is an ordinance for genuine believers. Genuine believers who are next living lives of surrender and obedience. Paul suggested some that participants examine themselves. <br /><br /> He says the person ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup questions like this are worth asking. Am I a true believer? Am I fully surrendered to Jesus? Is there some area of my life that is out of line with what the fits a true disciple? Is there any sin, public or private that I need to confess and forsake? <br /><br /> Next a genuine believers who are flipped free of ongoing or flagrant sin. Now Paul suggests the trivialize trivializing, the significance of Christ death by partaking in and of the Lord's supper in an unworthy manner had resulted in sickness and even death for some of the Corinthians. None of us of course are without sin. <br /><br /> But if we're knowingly and deliberately tolerating known sin in our life, we ought to forego the ordinance of the Lord's supper for the time being finally with the maturity to discern the significance of Christ's death. For me, I think parents can help evaluate their children's readiness for that. And even for adults, we can each evaluate. <br /><br /> Our heart in this moment to determine am I in a good place in my heart, my devotion to Christ, to solomnly embrace the fullness and depth of Jesus' sacrifice on the cross in my place. So if you are then as we prepare to share in this moment together, I want to invite you to. Take a moment for personal reflection and silent prayer to prepare your heart, to share in this together. <br /><br /> So would you take a moment just to value your head and close your eyes and spend a moment of quiet reflection with the Lord? Maybe the guys that the controls can put up some music, or if not, that's fine too. Just take a moment to prepare your heart, to celebrate the Lord's supper together. <br /><br /> we thank you, Lord Jesus for what you were willing to do for us on the cross. And, um, We feel, um, so limited in our ability to really take in the magnitude and wonder of your, <br /><br /> of your gift of suffering in our place. But we know that it is only on what you've done for us, that we can base our hope of, of forgiveness and salvation. So as we celebrate this together as a church, we give you our worship and gratitude. Amen. <br /><br /> Well, we come to the moment to eat the bread together first, and I was tempted to, uh, practice with one of these earlier, but then I decided, no, we're all, we're all doing this for the first time. So I'll just go along with you. So if you would take out the bread and just hold it. And, uh, yeah, when we're ready, I'd like to repeat the words that Jesus said to his disciples on that on the night of the last supper. <br /><br /> And then we'll, we'll eat it together. Mine open pretty easily. You do. All right with it. Okay. Let me see, let me see the bread and hold that up so I know you're ready. Okay. <br /><br /> the Lord Jesus. On the night he was betrayed, took bread. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, this is my body, which is for you do this in remembrance of me. Yeah, <br /><br /> well, flip it over. Be careful now. <br /><br /> in the same way after supper, he took the cup saying this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this whenever you drink it in remembrance of me. <br /><br /> and the music that the, uh, that they put on for us just a moment ago was a, him from 250 years ago by Charles Westlake entitled end. Can it be. Let me close by reading you the first stands of that him. And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior's blood died? He, for me, who caused his pain for me, who? <br /><br /> Him to death pursued. Amazing love. How can it be that thou my God should stay for me. <br /><br /> And I'll ask you to be dismissed this morning, uh, reflecting on those words and the greatness of God's love for you as we've been able to share and celebrate it today were dismissed.</div> false no <![CDATA[Blessed are the Meek]]> Matthew 5:5

“Blessed are those who are meek, for they will inherit the earth.”



Good morning everbody, invite you to take your Bibles this morning. Once again, to Matthew chapter five, verses one through five. And, uh, that video Ben painter put together wrote it. And, uh, he and Melissa lead a number of different things related to financial ministries here. And, uh, I thought that was a great job they did with that Matthew chapter five verses one through five.

And when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountain side and sat down. His disciples, came to him and he began to teach them saying, bless it. Or the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom. Heaven blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted, blessed are the meek for, they will inherit the earth.

We're going to be looking at verse five this morning, our third beatitude. But before we do, let's pray. Lord. We gather together many of us in this room, many others joining us, virtually Lord. We all come the result of busy lives, many things that feel out of our control and God, we come to you today and we desire to hear truth.

We believe that this Bible presents truth, that is timeless because it is the message of a timeless eternal God. So Lord teach us from your word. As we seek to understand the values of your kingdom, of living under the reign of Jesus in our individual lives and in our corporate lives together in Jesus name, I pray.

Amen. When I introduce this series that we're involved in, which is called the upside down life, uh, four weeks ago, I talked about the fact that there are different ways to approach these first view versus called the beatitudes, which are the first part of this, the sermon, the sermon on the mountain by Jesus.

And I mentioned there that, that some of us can look at that. This is just it's sore. Aphorisms that basically they are pithy statements with a general truth. Like the early bird catches the worm, an Apple a day, keeps the doctor away, or we can look at it in the way that I think they're intended to be a part of a presentation of a unique shockingly different way of living our lives, living our lives.

Under the gracious reign of Jesus as our King and these beatitudes, these first few verses of the sermon are talking about the values of that way of life. In deep contrast to the world world's perspective around us, the world of which we are part do life, but the view of values there. Then the second part of the sermon, the larger part.

Is the pattern of life or the practices of that way of life. But here, we're looking at the values and as been preached last Sunday, he talked about the value being not only poor in spirit, which was the first of those, but the second being Jesus values, those who mourn. And I just wanted to highlight, if you didn't hear it, just a couple of things as a way of leading into our message this morning that he mentioned.

And he said that those who mourn are those who experienced death or loss, it can be loss of a person. It can be death of a dream. It can be death of a reputation, death of a relationship. If it is for those who tend to have grieved for an known timeline and for all of us who have since loss, it can seem unending.

He talked about how grief is often being in the place of being misunderstood. It feels very alone that it feels like a place where it's hard to share the burden. Cause it's hard to explain what's really going on. And maybe the most challenging in grief is grief as a time where you lack answers, you lack the answers to the questions.

Like, why is this happening? How long will this go on? When will it end? But he also mentioned in this value that Jesus offers things to those who mourn. He offers that this truth, that there is room. For your pain. Secondly, the story is not over third. Your wounds will be the means by which you see the beautifulness and the beautiful in others.

Those who suffer loss, sorrow death are those that find a rich place in Jesus' kingdom. Mourning is a value. It opens the door to life in Jesus' kingdom. Today. We're looking at the third of those values. Bless said, are the meek again, this one stands the world's value system on its head. And I want to look this morning.

I'm going to try to answer three questions as I go through sort of a two-part outline, who are the meek? Secondly, what is it they receive? And third, practically, just some simple steps at the end. How do we live as the meek? The characteristics of meekness answers. The first of those questions, who are the meek and what does the meek receive in Matthew chapter five?

Verse five, we are reminded that it is the opposite of anger because Matthew chapter five verse five is quoting Psalm 37 and in Psalm 37, we read these words beginning at verse eight in verse eight, we read. Refrain from anger and forsake wrath threatened by yourself. It tends only to evil, but the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace.

In the context of the passage, it's obvious that he's contrasting two ways of life. Two individuals, the individual that is angry. That is given to wrath and the individual that is manifesting a spirit of meekness. We see this throughout the scripture, that meekness is actually the opposite to anger. The anger of course, is the emotional response to perceived mistreatment to be angry is to be in the state of being controlled by that emotional response to anger.

Anger is a response. It's a response to not receiving what I expected. What I perceive would be just for me to receive the word. Meekness is actually the word. It wasn't a word used a lot by the Greeks because they didn't admire the quality. It actually is the word that refers to the teaming of, of an animal, particularly of a horse that is often used in their writings where a horse horse is trained and brought it to the control of the rider or the, or the, the Coachman, uh, the basically to be meek is to be tamed.

Now, what is tamed? Well, I believe what it's saying is tamed. Is our natural response to being wronged. So how, how does this work when it says that, that we tame our anger? That what transpires, well, let me try to just play it out this way. Anger is typically something beneath the, the, the anger. That we have is a sense of entitlement that I believe that I have a right to certain treatment.

I believe that I am entitled to it. I am owed it, but the issue in the kingdom of Jesus is that we yielded our rights to Jesus as our King, as our Lord, that when he purchased us. And that's what it says throughout the scripture, he purchased us. We belong to him. We have yielded those rights and interest in ourselves to him and his care.

There is then no place in his kingdom ultimately to say, I'm owed certain treatment. I'm owed space to do what I want. I'm owed the right to be appreciated for my efforts. I'm owed the right to do what makes me feel good. Entitlement generated anger is a deeply held value in our world today, but it is not a value commended in the kingdom of Jesus.

It is in stark contrast. Jesus says, I want to tame that anger, that sense of entitlement driven anger. I want to bring it under control. I want to manifest something else in its place, but our world is driven by the perspectives. Don't tell me what to do. Don't tread on me. I deserve a break today. It gives people permission to be vitriolic in their communication.

It gives people permissive permission to be dismissive of those who have different convictions. Beliefs are members of different tribes. But Jesus' kingdom values, the meek, it honors those who have tamed their anger, not their convictions and beliefs, but it teams us so that we are not controlled by a spirit of anger that demands that blasts, that belittles others.

Now, I just want to say this I, somewhere in here, I wanted in certain, this notice I'm going to do it now. I'm not saying that we should overlook injustice, but I am saying that our spirit in facing injustice is dramatically important. It's what this whole beatitude is about. The second quality of, of meekness.

Is that it comes across as gentleness and an inner stillness. Matthew chapter 21 uses the word meekness, uh, as Matthew again, talks about it. And there he describes Jesus coming in, uh, at the triumphant inch or after the triumphant entry. Actually he's talking about, see, your King is coming to you, meek and riding on a donkey.

That the whole idea is to show a contrast. He is not coming as a warrior with an iron fist. He is not coming as a typical near Eastern King. His goal is not to intimidate and threaten. He comes on a donkey, not on a, on a war stallion and he comes in meekness under control. It is the utter contrast of the frothing at the mouth butt-kicking chest pumping war, Lord, that they were expecting to come and deliver them from Rome.

He came with all of that under control with a spirit and a demeanor of gentleness. Meekness is not perceived by as a strength by the Greeks typically. I would suggest it is not perceived as a strength, typically in our culture and our world as well. We don't honor people that are bullies, hopefully, but we do tend to value people that are powerful and pushy.

Whether it's a talk show host, who's, quick-witted able to cut down people to their size abled and willing to mock and insult others. Or even sometimes when it's a preacher who speaks about unregenerate people in a way that is, that is disdainful, that the Lord is saying that we are to respond with a spirit that has been tamed.

We don't diminish our convictions. We don't, we don't cast aside our concern for injustices, but our demeanor, our spirit is foundationally different. As members of Jesus' kingdom. It's why in Ephesians chapter four, verse two, Paul says it this way. Be completely humble and be patient bearing with one another.

He says, don't weaponize your convictions. He says, don't be partly humble and meek be completely humbled and teamed. Holds your convictions, but don't weaponize them into destructive, insulting belittling, harmful things. Make this comes across as gentleness, rising from an inner stillness. The third characteristic of meekness is meekness is a quality.

The spirit of God produces in the children of God. It's interesting. The word meekness is one of the fruits of the spirit in Galatians five 23. The more you let the spirit be in control of your life. The more you will manifest the spirit of meekness, the taming of anger, regardless of your personality, you can be a type, a, a type, a choleric personality as some of us are, and this'll be a struggle in your life, but it is a struggle that Jesus wants to win.

And you may say, well, you know, I, I didn't really relate to this last message about morning. I don't know. I don't know. I've been pretty successful. I don't, I don't. I and the poor in spirit. Yeah, but anger. Yeah, I got it. Well, this one's for you. This one's about taming ourselves by the spirit of God.

Meekness has incredible influence. He says here, the meek shall inherit the earth. There's two ways. We see this incredible influence of meekness. First of all, it's on you yourself. He says in Matthew five, five, blessed are the meek for, they will inherit the earth. This is a direct quote from Psalm 37, where he says the meek will inherit the earth or the land actually in Psalm 37, it says five times.

They will inherit the land it's in contrast to, he says, and the evil will be cut off. The land is basically the, the synonym for the Israelites of, of God's blessing. And it doesn't necessarily mean that they're going to get a portion of ground, but the idea is they are going to hint inherent and prosper.

As a matter of fact, Psalm 37 verse 11, here's the whole verse. It says the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace. It's another way of saying meekness wins meet this results in what anger and, and domination does not result in. It re it, it results in peacefulness it results in, in finding satisfaction.

And he says, this is the result on the, on the individual. Now, Peter, the apostle said more about the influence of, of, of meekness than anybody else in his writings. And it's striking because this was an absolute issue for Peter, right? I mean this, there they are in the garden and Jesus is, is, is, is apparently being arrested and this is wrong, the ultimate wrong.

So how does Jesus respond? How does Peter? Well, he responds in the way that, uh, when a fish and tries to be a warrior and he brings out a sword that he's probably never used in violence in his life and swings and probably is trying to cut the guy's head off, but just gets his ear. He responds.

With vitriol with a way of retaliating, he didn't show meekness. Jesus did in the garden, but later it would be Peter who would be talking about the benefits of meekness, not only in his own life, but in the life of others. This we'll see in just a second, as we look at his letter. But Peter, when he identifies himself in, in, in writing his letter says this in second Peter chapter one, verse one, he said, I am an apostle of Jesus Christ.

And then he says this and I am his slave. I'm a sent one. I I'm I'm, I'm a, uh, the one who is sent with a mission, that's my role. But as far as my position, I'm a slave, not a servant, not at the . I'm a, I'm a doula. I'm a slave, a cent, 1 cent. I'm an apostle man. He was sent with the mission, a slave man that he had voluntarily recognized that he no longer had ownership of his own life, that he no longer had rights to claim.

Peter had become a man. Growing in meekness, who was yielding his entitlements, as he saw himself belonging to Christ, he talks then in his letter about the influence of meekness, not only on oneself, but on others. Here's what he says in second, Peter first, Peter chapter three. And Peter argued there that our power as believers is not in fighting with the world's weapons of mockery or harshness or power or anger or overpowering by our wills.

He says this in second, in first, Peter chapter three, he's talking about women in the church. Number of them had come to Jesus, but apparently many of their husbands had not embraced the faith. And so he says this. He says some do not obey the word. They may be one without a word by the conduct of their wives when they see your respectful and pure conduct and then verse four.

So let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a, in the word gentle is actually the word meek, a meek and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious. Number of years ago, Marian and I were friends with. A couple, uh, Jim and Becky Hamilton, they were older than us.

And they had had a number of years of ministry. We were early on going out in our ministry and, uh, they were called to minister among native Americans on a couple of different reservations. And they had been ministering for a number of years. And one of the things they found, it was a fairly male dominated culture.

And. Many of the women who had been brought to Jesus had husbands that were harsh in their treatment, uh, were dominating. Number of them had, had had alcohol struggles and they were trying to help these women's know how to live and, and their greatest desire to see their husbands come to Jesus. And, and they studied this passage and Jim and Becky Hamilton actually put a training program together that they used with wives whose husbands were not believers.

And they taught them this and they, and they talked about the spirit of meekness and they taught about th they taught in a way that they were not telling these women, you know, just be, uh, let your husband brow beat. You, let them dominate. You let no. What they did was say have an inner strength. Which causes you to not need to retaliate and to fight, but to have a strength where you are contending yourself, you are not dependent on your husband's view of you, that you are so content and centered in Jesus, that you respond to your husbands with an inner strength of self-control and gentleness.

And Jim and Becky told us the story of one husband after another. Looking at his wife and seeing a woman who had not become a weak woman, but who had become a woman of strength who is able to, to not find her identity in her husband. And so she, you know, and of course, first Peter is saying, don't let your adorning be the outward, trying to please everybody by your looks.

Let it be the beauty of a spirit that is strong inside that is able to control one's anger. And he talked about, it was a beautiful illustration just of the influence that meekness can have. Peter goes on to say this in chapter three later in chapter three, in verse 16, 15 and 16 talks about meekness.

Again, he says this in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as Holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason, for the hope that is in you. You do it with meekness and respect. Having a good content so that when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.

Peter's argument is one of the most powerful forms of evangelism is a spirit that is tamed where we are not angry people. Where we are not known as believers that yeah, they're, they're the angry ones. They're the ones that are, that, that, that are divisive. That no, it's, it's spirit where, where there's a gentle spirit.

There's a compassionate spirit. There's a humble spirit. There's a chained spirit. So how do we have this? Well, Jesus, just some practical suggestions for you. Um, I'm on the last part now I want to put some shoes to this second page, basically. How do we have a meek spirit in a rage filled world seven quick things.

Number one, focus on maintain a quiet restful spirit. You won't do that without being in the word you just want. It is the way the spirit of God brings us under his influence. The spirit of God uses the word of God. That's just the way he's designed. You say, well, how can that be? Um, why don't we need to read a book every day.

You'll have to talk to the Lord about this one day. He designed it, that it is by meditating on his scripture, that the spirit renews our minds and renews our inner life. If you're not doing the reading through John thing and you thought, well, I missed my chance or I'm doing something else, but now I would sorta like to get involved.

I'll tell you right where we are this week. If you started this week, the middle of this week. In John chapter 12, you would be right on schedule with two things. Number one, John chapter 12 is the beginning of the final week of Jesus' life. John 12 to 21 is, is seven days of activity. You can pick up at the beginning of passion week this week.

Number two, if you start reading in John chapter 12 and do your 10 verses, that's what we're doing, where we're copying 10 verses a day under, under pastor Mike's plan. Basically. You will complete chapter 21, which is the story of the resurrection right on Easter Sunday. So it's perfect time if you're looking for a place to, to get in the scripture and get some practical way of being brought under God's influence, that could be a way number two, make sure you are only doing what God has told you to do.

Years ago, my wife shared a verse with me when we were wrestling. Uh, you know, what should we do? And I CA I had a million ideas. I need to do this. We need to get this started. I mean, and she quoted first Peter chapter two, where it says this, that we are to serve in the strength we're given. It's talking about believers.

It's a verse. We coat to each other all the time now, and it's come from her. But the verse is basically a principle for us to remember. That if God doesn't give us the strength to do something, we better not be doing it because what we do in our strength is going to burn, right? I mean, it's not, you mean by that?

The judgment. See if you don't know what that means. The, the idea is it's, it's a waste. We have to learn to say no, there's, there's so many options that you have as an individual. And so many more options that you have as a family. You have to say, Lord, we're going to do what you give us the strength to do with a spirit of quietness.

But if we're agitated all the time, we're upset all the time. Maybe we're just doing and more than we should be doing. And of course, pandemic gave a lot of us a chance to sort of reboot well in your reboot. Don't just add everything back that you had before. Maybe. It's a time to say, Lord, what have you given us strength to do?

Make sure you're only doing what God has told you to do. Number three, remember that anything done in anger could be better done without it, for those of us that that are of a personality that tends to be initiatory and likes to be in charge. That's hard to believe, right? Yeah. You just feel like why just sometimes you just gotta muscle your way through.

And that was a real convicting statement that I, I actually had an, it sounds like a very simple statement was one I really had to embrace. There is no situation I'm in that is better done when I do it with anger. Disciplining children, whatever it is, there is nothing that is done better with anger.

Number three, number four, always make things right with those. You have sinned against to have to apologize for your anger, tends to minimize how often you want to use it. Practical thing, but, and keep short accounts. We're going to see that later in Matthew five, where you're just going to say, if your brother has something against you before come to worship, make it right.

Number five, avoid things that feed your anger years ago. Uh, I read a book by a man named Matthew Henry, and he's a Puritan. And the book is, is called in quest. Of quietness, meekness and quietness spirit. It's a typical Puritan type of long title. And, but the first time I read it, I, it, no, no with God I would lead read it at least once a year until he told me not to.

And I did for a number of years. I needed, I needed to keep, but one of the principles that he shared in there that was tremendously helpful with me was he was talking about how do you overcome anger? How do you, how do you, how do you have this spirit of meekness? This, this, the spirit of being teamed. And one of his principles was stop being so curious.

I'm not sure what passage he got that from, but it worked for me. Stop feeling like you have to know everything. Some of you need to stop watching the news song. Some of you need to stop having every one of your teenagers tell you everything they're doing everywhere and every teenager, and you're saying amen, but I got other stuff I could get.

I got other stuff I could say to you, but

stop feeling like you have to be on social media all the time. If you find your spirit, then it's not restful. Get off, give it space, stop being so curious is a part of the quest for meekness and quietness of spirit. Number six, don't hang with people who have an angry spirit. Proverbs 2224 says this. Make no friendship with an angry with a man given to anger.

No go with the wrathful man, less, you learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare. Um, you know, the people that you interface with that are stirring you up, you know, the people that are angry and, and anger is contagious. And part of a meek spirit is choosing who the Lord would have you be rubbing on your life and influencing your spirit.

And the last thing. Learn to process your own heart by asking the right questions. It's interesting. The first person that had an anger problem in the Bible is a guy named Cain. And the first question that he was asked was Cain. Why are you so angry? That's what Jesus said in Genesis. God said in Genesis chapter four, why are you angry?

We have to, you may say one, you know, I'm not a, not an introspective type of person and well, you better learn to ask this question when you're angry, here's three vital questions. What do I want, what do I feel like I have a right to, and how would Jesus want me to respond? Don't start with the third.

Because you first need to own it. You need to know what, what do I want right now? Why am I agitated? Why am I worked up? What right. Am I feeling I'm owed at this moment? That's causing me to feel all worked up. I had one of those phone calls this week, where it was, uh, pursuing something with my uncle's estate and I'm the executor.

And so I, I got on a phone call and it was such a simple question. And I got on and I, I w I was directed to the organization and I went and they sent me to five different people. And by the fifth person, I was just beside myself. I thought it was gonna be 10 minutes. It was a 70 minute process. And then, and here's the open ended.

Oh, You've called the wrong office. And so, and I had a chance at that process to respond in the w with one way I wanted to and, and let her know everything that was wrong with her organization. Even though she's only been on the phone with me for 67 seconds, we have those moments all the time. Right. I, I didn't, by the way, I should mercifully that.

That was not the way I've always responded. What do I do want, what do I feel I deserve? What do I insisted I'm owed and how would Jesus want me to respond? We are called, we are given the privilege of being a part of Jesus' kingdom and Jesus kingdom values, meekness people that are tamed. Ben did something something last week and I'd like to do it as well in my own way.

And just put a blessing over us because I do agree that this set of beatitudes is not done individuals individualized. It is said, bless it. Are they it's in the plural. Blessed said are the ones who show meekness? Bless it are the people that operate in a new way. Bless it. As the community that has tamed their anger to their own mistreatments, blessed are the people who see the unjust treatment of others and respond to it without the weapons of violence, fury and insult, but with the Westmans of listening, truth, telling and compassion.

Bless it as the community who rides with their King on steeds of gentleness and kindness and quietness and forgiveness, such a community enters the land of his promises and the enjoyment of his peace and influences others towards such a King and such a kingdom. Lord make us that kind. Of people. I pray regardless of how you have created us with our own wiring.

Our flesh needs to be tamed our propensity for demanding our own rights. Our own perceived entitlements

can only be conquered under the power of your spirit. Lord, let us live in this, this lofty, beautiful place called your kingdom and Merrill lives reflect the spirit of the one who came among us meek and lowly of heart. It whose name? I pray. Amen. We are dismissed. Thanks.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/blessed-are-the-meek a82727b1-d5c7-4a2a-9d93-9dcb3aa06dd7 Sun, 28 Feb 2021 19:06:07 GMT <div data-html="true">Matthew 5:5 <br /><br /> “Blessed are those who are meek, for they will inherit the earth.” <br /><br /> <br /><br /> Good morning everbody, invite you to take your Bibles this morning. Once again, to Matthew chapter five, verses one through five. And, uh, that video Ben painter put together wrote it. And, uh, he and Melissa lead a number of different things related to financial ministries here. And, uh, I thought that was a great job they did with that Matthew chapter five verses one through five. <br /><br /> And when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountain side and sat down. His disciples, came to him and he began to teach them saying, bless it. Or the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom. Heaven blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted, blessed are the meek for, they will inherit the earth. <br /><br /> We're going to be looking at verse five this morning, our third beatitude. But before we do, let's pray. Lord. We gather together many of us in this room, many others joining us, virtually Lord. We all come the result of busy lives, many things that feel out of our control and God, we come to you today and we desire to hear truth. <br /><br /> We believe that this Bible presents truth, that is timeless because it is the message of a timeless eternal God. So Lord teach us from your word. As we seek to understand the values of your kingdom, of living under the reign of Jesus in our individual lives and in our corporate lives together in Jesus name, I pray. <br /><br /> Amen. When I introduce this series that we're involved in, which is called the upside down life, uh, four weeks ago, I talked about the fact that there are different ways to approach these first view versus called the beatitudes, which are the first part of this, the sermon, the sermon on the mountain by Jesus. <br /><br /> And I mentioned there that, that some of us can look at that. This is just it's sore. Aphorisms that basically they are pithy statements with a general truth. Like the early bird catches the worm, an Apple a day, keeps the doctor away, or we can look at it in the way that I think they're intended to be a part of a presentation of a unique shockingly different way of living our lives, living our lives. <br /><br /> Under the gracious reign of Jesus as our King and these beatitudes, these first few verses of the sermon are talking about the values of that way of life. In deep contrast to the world world's perspective around us, the world of which we are part do life, but the view of values there. Then the second part of the sermon, the larger part. <br /><br /> Is the pattern of life or the practices of that way of life. But here, we're looking at the values and as been preached last Sunday, he talked about the value being not only poor in spirit, which was the first of those, but the second being Jesus values, those who mourn. And I just wanted to highlight, if you didn't hear it, just a couple of things as a way of leading into our message this morning that he mentioned. <br /><br /> And he said that those who mourn are those who experienced death or loss, it can be loss of a person. It can be death of a dream. It can be death of a reputation, death of a relationship. If it is for those who tend to have grieved for an known timeline and for all of us who have since loss, it can seem unending. <br /><br /> He talked about how grief is often being in the place of being misunderstood. It feels very alone that it feels like a place where it's hard to share the burden. Cause it's hard to explain what's really going on. And maybe the most challenging in grief is grief as a time where you lack answers, you lack the answers to the questions. <br /><br /> Like, why is this happening? How long will this go on? When will it end? But he also mentioned in this value that Jesus offers things to those who mourn. He offers that this truth, that there is room. For your pain. Secondly, the story is not over third. Your wounds will be the means by which you see the beautifulness and the beautiful in others. <br /><br /> Those who suffer loss, sorrow death are those that find a rich place in Jesus' kingdom. Mourning is a value. It opens the door to life in Jesus' kingdom. Today. We're looking at the third of those values. Bless said, are the meek again, this one stands the world's value system on its head. And I want to look this morning. <br /><br /> I'm going to try to answer three questions as I go through sort of a two-part outline, who are the meek? Secondly, what is it they receive? And third, practically, just some simple steps at the end. How do we live as the meek? The characteristics of meekness answers. The first of those questions, who are the meek and what does the meek receive in Matthew chapter five? <br /><br /> Verse five, we are reminded that it is the opposite of anger because Matthew chapter five verse five is quoting Psalm 37 and in Psalm 37, we read these words beginning at verse eight in verse eight, we read. Refrain from anger and forsake wrath threatened by yourself. It tends only to evil, but the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace. <br /><br /> In the context of the passage, it's obvious that he's contrasting two ways of life. Two individuals, the individual that is angry. That is given to wrath and the individual that is manifesting a spirit of meekness. We see this throughout the scripture, that meekness is actually the opposite to anger. The anger of course, is the emotional response to perceived mistreatment to be angry is to be in the state of being controlled by that emotional response to anger. <br /><br /> Anger is a response. It's a response to not receiving what I expected. What I perceive would be just for me to receive the word. Meekness is actually the word. It wasn't a word used a lot by the Greeks because they didn't admire the quality. It actually is the word that refers to the teaming of, of an animal, particularly of a horse that is often used in their writings where a horse horse is trained and brought it to the control of the rider or the, or the, the Coachman, uh, the basically to be meek is to be tamed. <br /><br /> Now, what is tamed? Well, I believe what it's saying is tamed. Is our natural response to being wronged. So how, how does this work when it says that, that we tame our anger? That what transpires, well, let me try to just play it out this way. Anger is typically something beneath the, the, the anger. That we have is a sense of entitlement that I believe that I have a right to certain treatment. <br /><br /> I believe that I am entitled to it. I am owed it, but the issue in the kingdom of Jesus is that we yielded our rights to Jesus as our King, as our Lord, that when he purchased us. And that's what it says throughout the scripture, he purchased us. We belong to him. We have yielded those rights and interest in ourselves to him and his care. <br /><br /> There is then no place in his kingdom ultimately to say, I'm owed certain treatment. I'm owed space to do what I want. I'm owed the right to be appreciated for my efforts. I'm owed the right to do what makes me feel good. Entitlement generated anger is a deeply held value in our world today, but it is not a value commended in the kingdom of Jesus. <br /><br /> It is in stark contrast. Jesus says, I want to tame that anger, that sense of entitlement driven anger. I want to bring it under control. I want to manifest something else in its place, but our world is driven by the perspectives. Don't tell me what to do. Don't tread on me. I deserve a break today. It gives people permission to be vitriolic in their communication. <br /><br /> It gives people permissive permission to be dismissive of those who have different convictions. Beliefs are members of different tribes. But Jesus' kingdom values, the meek, it honors those who have tamed their anger, not their convictions and beliefs, but it teams us so that we are not controlled by a spirit of anger that demands that blasts, that belittles others. <br /><br /> Now, I just want to say this I, somewhere in here, I wanted in certain, this notice I'm going to do it now. I'm not saying that we should overlook injustice, but I am saying that our spirit in facing injustice is dramatically important. It's what this whole beatitude is about. The second quality of, of meekness. <br /><br /> Is that it comes across as gentleness and an inner stillness. Matthew chapter 21 uses the word meekness, uh, as Matthew again, talks about it. And there he describes Jesus coming in, uh, at the triumphant inch or after the triumphant entry. Actually he's talking about, see, your King is coming to you, meek and riding on a donkey. <br /><br /> That the whole idea is to show a contrast. He is not coming as a warrior with an iron fist. He is not coming as a typical near Eastern King. His goal is not to intimidate and threaten. He comes on a donkey, not on a, on a war stallion and he comes in meekness under control. It is the utter contrast of the frothing at the mouth butt-kicking chest pumping war, Lord, that they were expecting to come and deliver them from Rome. <br /><br /> He came with all of that under control with a spirit and a demeanor of gentleness. Meekness is not perceived by as a strength by the Greeks typically. I would suggest it is not perceived as a strength, typically in our culture and our world as well. We don't honor people that are bullies, hopefully, but we do tend to value people that are powerful and pushy. <br /><br /> Whether it's a talk show host, who's, quick-witted able to cut down people to their size abled and willing to mock and insult others. Or even sometimes when it's a preacher who speaks about unregenerate people in a way that is, that is disdainful, that the Lord is saying that we are to respond with a spirit that has been tamed. <br /><br /> We don't diminish our convictions. We don't, we don't cast aside our concern for injustices, but our demeanor, our spirit is foundationally different. As members of Jesus' kingdom. It's why in Ephesians chapter four, verse two, Paul says it this way. Be completely humble and be patient bearing with one another. <br /><br /> He says, don't weaponize your convictions. He says, don't be partly humble and meek be completely humbled and teamed. Holds your convictions, but don't weaponize them into destructive, insulting belittling, harmful things. Make this comes across as gentleness, rising from an inner stillness. The third characteristic of meekness is meekness is a quality. <br /><br /> The spirit of God produces in the children of God. It's interesting. The word meekness is one of the fruits of the spirit in Galatians five 23. The more you let the spirit be in control of your life. The more you will manifest the spirit of meekness, the taming of anger, regardless of your personality, you can be a type, a, a type, a choleric personality as some of us are, and this'll be a struggle in your life, but it is a struggle that Jesus wants to win. <br /><br /> And you may say, well, you know, I, I didn't really relate to this last message about morning. I don't know. I don't know. I've been pretty successful. I don't, I don't. I and the poor in spirit. Yeah, but anger. Yeah, I got it. Well, this one's for you. This one's about taming ourselves by the spirit of God. <br /><br /> Meekness has incredible influence. He says here, the meek shall inherit the earth. There's two ways. We see this incredible influence of meekness. First of all, it's on you yourself. He says in Matthew five, five, blessed are the meek for, they will inherit the earth. This is a direct quote from Psalm 37, where he says the meek will inherit the earth or the land actually in Psalm 37, it says five times. <br /><br /> They will inherit the land it's in contrast to, he says, and the evil will be cut off. The land is basically the, the synonym for the Israelites of, of God's blessing. And it doesn't necessarily mean that they're going to get a portion of ground, but the idea is they are going to hint inherent and prosper. <br /><br /> As a matter of fact, Psalm 37 verse 11, here's the whole verse. It says the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace. It's another way of saying meekness wins meet this results in what anger and, and domination does not result in. It re it, it results in peacefulness it results in, in finding satisfaction. <br /><br /> And he says, this is the result on the, on the individual. Now, Peter, the apostle said more about the influence of, of, of meekness than anybody else in his writings. And it's striking because this was an absolute issue for Peter, right? I mean this, there they are in the garden and Jesus is, is, is, is apparently being arrested and this is wrong, the ultimate wrong. <br /><br /> So how does Jesus respond? How does Peter? Well, he responds in the way that, uh, when a fish and tries to be a warrior and he brings out a sword that he's probably never used in violence in his life and swings and probably is trying to cut the guy's head off, but just gets his ear. He responds. <br /><br /> With vitriol with a way of retaliating, he didn't show meekness. Jesus did in the garden, but later it would be Peter who would be talking about the benefits of meekness, not only in his own life, but in the life of others. This we'll see in just a second, as we look at his letter. But Peter, when he identifies himself in, in, in writing his letter says this in second Peter chapter one, verse one, he said, I am an apostle of Jesus Christ. <br /><br /> And then he says this and I am his slave. I'm a sent one. I I'm I'm, I'm a, uh, the one who is sent with a mission, that's my role. But as far as my position, I'm a slave, not a servant, not at the . I'm a, I'm a doula. I'm a slave, a cent, 1 cent. I'm an apostle man. He was sent with the mission, a slave man that he had voluntarily recognized that he no longer had ownership of his own life, that he no longer had rights to claim. <br /><br /> Peter had become a man. Growing in meekness, who was yielding his entitlements, as he saw himself belonging to Christ, he talks then in his letter about the influence of meekness, not only on oneself, but on others. Here's what he says in second, Peter first, Peter chapter three. And Peter argued there that our power as believers is not in fighting with the world's weapons of mockery or harshness or power or anger or overpowering by our wills. <br /><br /> He says this in second, in first, Peter chapter three, he's talking about women in the church. Number of them had come to Jesus, but apparently many of their husbands had not embraced the faith. And so he says this. He says some do not obey the word. They may be one without a word by the conduct of their wives when they see your respectful and pure conduct and then verse four. <br /><br /> So let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a, in the word gentle is actually the word meek, a meek and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious. Number of years ago, Marian and I were friends with. A couple, uh, Jim and Becky Hamilton, they were older than us. <br /><br /> And they had had a number of years of ministry. We were early on going out in our ministry and, uh, they were called to minister among native Americans on a couple of different reservations. And they had been ministering for a number of years. And one of the things they found, it was a fairly male dominated culture. <br /><br /> And. Many of the women who had been brought to Jesus had husbands that were harsh in their treatment, uh, were dominating. Number of them had, had had alcohol struggles and they were trying to help these women's know how to live and, and their greatest desire to see their husbands come to Jesus. And, and they studied this passage and Jim and Becky Hamilton actually put a training program together that they used with wives whose husbands were not believers. <br /><br /> And they taught them this and they, and they talked about the spirit of meekness and they taught about th they taught in a way that they were not telling these women, you know, just be, uh, let your husband brow beat. You, let them dominate. You let no. What they did was say have an inner strength. Which causes you to not need to retaliate and to fight, but to have a strength where you are contending yourself, you are not dependent on your husband's view of you, that you are so content and centered in Jesus, that you respond to your husbands with an inner strength of self-control and gentleness. <br /><br /> And Jim and Becky told us the story of one husband after another. Looking at his wife and seeing a woman who had not become a weak woman, but who had become a woman of strength who is able to, to not find her identity in her husband. And so she, you know, and of course, first Peter is saying, don't let your adorning be the outward, trying to please everybody by your looks. <br /><br /> Let it be the beauty of a spirit that is strong inside that is able to control one's anger. And he talked about, it was a beautiful illustration just of the influence that meekness can have. Peter goes on to say this in chapter three later in chapter three, in verse 16, 15 and 16 talks about meekness. <br /><br /> Again, he says this in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as Holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason, for the hope that is in you. You do it with meekness and respect. Having a good content so that when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. <br /><br /> Peter's argument is one of the most powerful forms of evangelism is a spirit that is tamed where we are not angry people. Where we are not known as believers that yeah, they're, they're the angry ones. They're the ones that are, that, that, that are divisive. That no, it's, it's spirit where, where there's a gentle spirit. <br /><br /> There's a compassionate spirit. There's a humble spirit. There's a chained spirit. So how do we have this? Well, Jesus, just some practical suggestions for you. Um, I'm on the last part now I want to put some shoes to this second page, basically. How do we have a meek spirit in a rage filled world seven quick things. <br /><br /> Number one, focus on maintain a quiet restful spirit. You won't do that without being in the word you just want. It is the way the spirit of God brings us under his influence. The spirit of God uses the word of God. That's just the way he's designed. You say, well, how can that be? Um, why don't we need to read a book every day. <br /><br /> You'll have to talk to the Lord about this one day. He designed it, that it is by meditating on his scripture, that the spirit renews our minds and renews our inner life. If you're not doing the reading through John thing and you thought, well, I missed my chance or I'm doing something else, but now I would sorta like to get involved. <br /><br /> I'll tell you right where we are this week. If you started this week, the middle of this week. In John chapter 12, you would be right on schedule with two things. Number one, John chapter 12 is the beginning of the final week of Jesus' life. John 12 to 21 is, is seven days of activity. You can pick up at the beginning of passion week this week. <br /><br /> Number two, if you start reading in John chapter 12 and do your 10 verses, that's what we're doing, where we're copying 10 verses a day under, under pastor Mike's plan. Basically. You will complete chapter 21, which is the story of the resurrection right on Easter Sunday. So it's perfect time if you're looking for a place to, to get in the scripture and get some practical way of being brought under God's influence, that could be a way number two, make sure you are only doing what God has told you to do. <br /><br /> Years ago, my wife shared a verse with me when we were wrestling. Uh, you know, what should we do? And I CA I had a million ideas. I need to do this. We need to get this started. I mean, and she quoted first Peter chapter two, where it says this, that we are to serve in the strength we're given. It's talking about believers. <br /><br /> It's a verse. We coat to each other all the time now, and it's come from her. But the verse is basically a principle for us to remember. That if God doesn't give us the strength to do something, we better not be doing it because what we do in our strength is going to burn, right? I mean, it's not, you mean by that? <br /><br /> The judgment. See if you don't know what that means. The, the idea is it's, it's a waste. We have to learn to say no, there's, there's so many options that you have as an individual. And so many more options that you have as a family. You have to say, Lord, we're going to do what you give us the strength to do with a spirit of quietness. <br /><br /> But if we're agitated all the time, we're upset all the time. Maybe we're just doing and more than we should be doing. And of course, pandemic gave a lot of us a chance to sort of reboot well in your reboot. Don't just add everything back that you had before. Maybe. It's a time to say, Lord, what have you given us strength to do? <br /><br /> Make sure you're only doing what God has told you to do. Number three, remember that anything done in anger could be better done without it, for those of us that that are of a personality that tends to be initiatory and likes to be in charge. That's hard to believe, right? Yeah. You just feel like why just sometimes you just gotta muscle your way through. <br /><br /> And that was a real convicting statement that I, I actually had an, it sounds like a very simple statement was one I really had to embrace. There is no situation I'm in that is better done when I do it with anger. Disciplining children, whatever it is, there is nothing that is done better with anger. <br /><br /> Number three, number four, always make things right with those. You have sinned against to have to apologize for your anger, tends to minimize how often you want to use it. Practical thing, but, and keep short accounts. We're going to see that later in Matthew five, where you're just going to say, if your brother has something against you before come to worship, make it right. <br /><br /> Number five, avoid things that feed your anger years ago. Uh, I read a book by a man named Matthew Henry, and he's a Puritan. And the book is, is called in quest. Of quietness, meekness and quietness spirit. It's a typical Puritan type of long title. And, but the first time I read it, I, it, no, no with God I would lead read it at least once a year until he told me not to. <br /><br /> And I did for a number of years. I needed, I needed to keep, but one of the principles that he shared in there that was tremendously helpful with me was he was talking about how do you overcome anger? How do you, how do you, how do you have this spirit of meekness? This, this, the spirit of being teamed. And one of his principles was stop being so curious. <br /><br /> I'm not sure what passage he got that from, but it worked for me. Stop feeling like you have to know everything. Some of you need to stop watching the news song. Some of you need to stop having every one of your teenagers tell you everything they're doing everywhere and every teenager, and you're saying amen, but I got other stuff I could get. <br /><br /> I got other stuff I could say to you, but <br /><br /> stop feeling like you have to be on social media all the time. If you find your spirit, then it's not restful. Get off, give it space, stop being so curious is a part of the quest for meekness and quietness of spirit. Number six, don't hang with people who have an angry spirit. Proverbs 2224 says this. Make no friendship with an angry with a man given to anger. <br /><br /> No go with the wrathful man, less, you learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare. Um, you know, the people that you interface with that are stirring you up, you know, the people that are angry and, and anger is contagious. And part of a meek spirit is choosing who the Lord would have you be rubbing on your life and influencing your spirit. <br /><br /> And the last thing. Learn to process your own heart by asking the right questions. It's interesting. The first person that had an anger problem in the Bible is a guy named Cain. And the first question that he was asked was Cain. Why are you so angry? That's what Jesus said in Genesis. God said in Genesis chapter four, why are you angry? <br /><br /> We have to, you may say one, you know, I'm not a, not an introspective type of person and well, you better learn to ask this question when you're angry, here's three vital questions. What do I want, what do I feel like I have a right to, and how would Jesus want me to respond? Don't start with the third. <br /><br /> Because you first need to own it. You need to know what, what do I want right now? Why am I agitated? Why am I worked up? What right. Am I feeling I'm owed at this moment? That's causing me to feel all worked up. I had one of those phone calls this week, where it was, uh, pursuing something with my uncle's estate and I'm the executor. <br /><br /> And so I, I got on a phone call and it was such a simple question. And I got on and I, I w I was directed to the organization and I went and they sent me to five different people. And by the fifth person, I was just beside myself. I thought it was gonna be 10 minutes. It was a 70 minute process. And then, and here's the open ended. <br /><br /> Oh, You've called the wrong office. And so, and I had a chance at that process to respond in the w with one way I wanted to and, and let her know everything that was wrong with her organization. Even though she's only been on the phone with me for 67 seconds, we have those moments all the time. Right. I, I didn't, by the way, I should mercifully that. <br /><br /> That was not the way I've always responded. What do I do want, what do I feel I deserve? What do I insisted I'm owed and how would Jesus want me to respond? We are called, we are given the privilege of being a part of Jesus' kingdom and Jesus kingdom values, meekness people that are tamed. Ben did something something last week and I'd like to do it as well in my own way. <br /><br /> And just put a blessing over us because I do agree that this set of beatitudes is not done individuals individualized. It is said, bless it. Are they it's in the plural. Blessed said are the ones who show meekness? Bless it are the people that operate in a new way. Bless it. As the community that has tamed their anger to their own mistreatments, blessed are the people who see the unjust treatment of others and respond to it without the weapons of violence, fury and insult, but with the Westmans of listening, truth, telling and compassion. <br /><br /> Bless it as the community who rides with their King on steeds of gentleness and kindness and quietness and forgiveness, such a community enters the land of his promises and the enjoyment of his peace and influences others towards such a King and such a kingdom. Lord make us that kind. Of people. I pray regardless of how you have created us with our own wiring. <br /><br /> Our flesh needs to be tamed our propensity for demanding our own rights. Our own perceived entitlements <br /><br /> can only be conquered under the power of your spirit. Lord, let us live in this, this lofty, beautiful place called your kingdom and Merrill lives reflect the spirit of the one who came among us meek and lowly of heart. It whose name? I pray. Amen. We are dismissed. Thanks.</div> false no <![CDATA[Blessed are Those Who Mourn]]> Matthew 4:23, Matthew 9:35, Matthew 5:4

"Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted."



Good morning. It's an honor to be here with you this morning. Uh, we're going to be again in Matthew chapter five through seven. Um, this is the sermon on the Mount, the sermon we've called it the most significant, uh, most weighty. Most lengthy sermon that we have from Christ. Even if you go there and your own Bibles, crinkle the pages a little bit so that when you open your scripture, it falls often to this place.

This is a dear dear passage. And as we begin, I realized I just choked myself with my microphone cable. So.

I think that worked Matthew five through seven, we're going to read, we're gonna be focusing on the beatitudes, the eight first statements that Christ made giving the values of the kingdom of God. And we'll eventually get to the rest of the sermon, giving what life looks like practically in the kingdom of God.

But as we read, I'm going to begin again from the beginning. Of Matthew five and then go through verse four, which is what we'll focus on this morning. Now, when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountain side and sat down. His disciples, came to him and he began to teach them. He said, blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted. Father we come before you today in recognition of your message, recognizing that it is so shockingly different from the message that we often give to one another, from the messages that we find in, in the cultures of the world, we recognize this different, beautiful, tangible, Gift that you've given us in your word and we pray, uh, we'd be with you this morning as we spend this time together in Jesus name.

Amen. Couple of things that we first off, well, let me just say. I know that there are certain passages that we opened two in the scripture. And if you've been around the scripture while there are certain ones that you're like, Oh, yes, I love, I love this one. When I, when we hit Romans eight, it's like, It's going to be good.

Right. And then when you hit one of those things about like, uh, confessing or sin, you're like, Oh boy, I wonder how this is going to go. Right. And that's just being honest, when it comes to a verse like this blessed are those who mourn. I think it has tendency for some people to lean in and some people to lean out.

And what I just want to say is no matter how you approach this morning, I'm really glad that you're here and believe either way that you approach is okay. Two routes that we want to give is we're in this series, in this thing, this, what we talked about these last week with these beatitudes, with this whole sermon in Matthew five, six, and seven, the first route is the kingdom of God.

The kingdom of God or kingdom of heaven, as it's talked about in the verse three, and then again in the eighth be attitude. What this is, this kingdom of God, kingdom of heaven is used all over scripture. Jesus came to teach the good news of the gospel to teach the good news of themself, but he also came specifically, it says in scripture, many times in the new Testament to preach.

The kingdom of God. Here are a couple of verses that bookend our passage in Matthew five through seven first, Matthew four 23 says this Jesus went throughout Galilee teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. Among the people. And then by Matthew nine, we have this, Jesus went through all the towns and villages teaching in the synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.

This good news of the kingdom is not talking about a happy place that people go when they die. It's talking about the reality of Jesus's reign and his ultimate. Benevolent kingship over his people. Now there is a physical kingdom that is coming revelation 20 talks much about that, but Christ came to teach and preach the good news of the spiritual kingdom of God, which is here.

Now true spiritual life begins as an inside reality. It begins as a community of people living out what it means to follow this radical King that takes the principles of the world and says, I'm going to turn them upside down. The upside down life is the kingdom life. And these beatitudes have the most dense teaching about the values of the kingdom of anywhere.

I believe the scripture second root thing we want to know. The kingdom of God is just talking about how the kingdom of God operates. Second thing. Is this word Makarios or blessed? Each one of these verses begins with blessed or new Greek Makarios. We said this last week that this word means happiness or fortune wellbeing, but it's not just any type of happiness.

It's not a generic. Happy word. It's a word. That means that it was mostly used by Greek scholars to refer to a specific happiness that was only known by the gods. Like Ambrosia is the food or drink of the gods Makarios. Was known as the happiness or wellbeing of the gods. Rob Morgan talked about Homer and HESI had, as they spoke of the Greek gods as being happy within themselves because they were unaffected by men who are subject to poverty, disease, weakness, misfortune in death, Plato, Aristotle.

All referred to Makarios, Jesus's coming and saying, the happiness you have said is only for the gods Makarios, Makarios to those who mourn. And we come to this passage and I just want to give three, three questions and we have your notes if you want them. But three questions. Number one, who is talking here?

Second question will be. Who is he talking about? Who are these mourners that he is speaking about? And lastly, what does the kingdom mean to those who mourn. So first who is talking K, want to talk back, look back again at how God's come on the scene. Right? You've got Greco, Roman culture, the collision of the Roman empire Greek thought come together and you've got great thinkers that are coming.

And so these, these great thinkers, there's a lot of scholarship. There's a lot of thought. And just going back from Socrates and Plato and Aristotle, and many other people that are, um, Offering different perspective. Honestly, the society has become wealthy enough that people can go around and think, go and think and educate and philosophize this not just how do we kill the next Buffalo and get some food, right?

There's not just, how do we go do the next thing and survive? There's an ability. There's an affluency now that there are people investing their lives. Into the life of thought. And there's, there's these conversations about these gods, right. And we see the now of Marvel's brought them all back in discussion and these gods are thought about of how would these gods operate?

How would they be one of the major traditions that, that, um, early, even early church fathers would have some been influenced by as the stoic tradition. This is one of the largest philosophical perspectives of the time it's present in Rome. It's present in Greece. Phylo of Alexandria. Actually, when he wrestled with the text was what had an impact?

Well, it's they say in one foot in Moses and one foot in the stoic tradition marrying these together, and this idea of the stoic tradition is that the gods or God himself. Even the Judeo-Christian God, Joe, it had had an aspect of being above, being impacted by people above being impacted by what happens on creation to be without grief is an attribute of God.

He is above grief. He is above pain. He is unaffected by it is the teaching in this stoic tradition. Then we have this Christ come onto the world. Isaiah 53. Three teaches that Christ would you want to flash that up? That'd be great that he was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows acquainted with grief.

And as one whom men hide their faces, he was despised and we esteemed him. Not that he was acquainted with grief. He was aware, involved, touched, affected by grief. The Talmud, which would come a few hundred years later had this teaching. It was a man, um, came up to Elijah, the prophet while he's standing at the entrance of a cave.

And he asked Elijah when, when will the Messiah come? And Elijah replied, go ask the Messiah himself. He said, well, where is he sitting at the Gates of the city? Well, how shall I know him? He's sitting on among the poor covered with wounds. There are 40 miracles that are done in the new Testament. 28 with them dealt with physical healing or deliverance.

Jesus came and was acquainted. This God. Came and was acquainted among grief. It also says he was a man of sorrows. He wasn't just aware of others' grief. He wasn't just impacted by others' grief, but he came to carry his own grief in pain. He came among poverty. He came among disease. His family members potentially dying from disease.

He lived as a refugee for 10 of the first 12 years of his life. He lived under Roman rule for the rest of his life. He saw others suffer without providing them healing. This to me would be one of the most difficult things as Christ as your aunt lays, they're sick, dying of a disease Christ 28 years old.

Doesn't heal. Y says like before it, his first miracle, it hadn't come his time yet. He had to experience the grief of not helping those. He loved one other thought is we talk about how Jesus bled for people, but also people bled because of him. We have the story of when, uh, the wise men come to heritage, right?

And they come to heritage and say, Hey, the Messiah is going to be born. And Herod says, I want to eliminate every Jewish child, every Jewish male that's two years and younger. So I can exterminate this threat to my kingdom. Well, that's a story that's deeply embedded in all of his friends and family. Jesus walks around as a 14 year old, and people are still grieving and talking about how Herod had killed their babies.

And Jesus knows. That was because of me. Jesus carried this sorrow in him. He was a man of sorrows. He dealt with the disbelief in his own family and friends. And as we know, so dearly. Dealt with the abandonment of those who are closest to him. Tony Morrison wrote a book called Sula and in this book, a character named Nell was betrayed and abandoned by a couple of people, very close to her.

And she described the feeling of abandonment in this way. Talking about nail the character. It was a fine cry loud and long. But it had no bottom and it had no top just circles of sorrow. Jesus came, who is talking here is one, not only impacted by grief, but one who he himself experienced it. So when he comes up onto the mountain side, Gathering, as we see in Matthew, his disciples, we see in Luke, even other crowds around him and he says, these words, bless it.

Makarios us to those who mourn. He spoke as one among those who mourn that's who is talking, what is he talking about? Or who is he talking about? What does it mean? To be those who mourn, what does it mean to be a morning and why in the world does he attach Makarios type happiness to morning? Why isn't he saying Makarios to those who don't have to mourn Makarios to those who don't know morning Makarios to those above morning?

Why does this morning Christ say Makarios? In response to morning, first thing, what does it mean to be those who mourn it means to experience death? This word 10th. Oh, to mourn it has an aspect of being tied to a lament. That's connected to a death many times when this word is used, it is connected directly to a death of a situation.

And when we experience death, right when to experience death is so final, so painful, and this can be a death of a person, death of reputation. Experiencing our own spiritual death, the morning of sin, death of a long desired dream in Les Miz fan teen. Was a character that had made some mistakes in her life and had a daughter and eventually couldn't care for her daughter.

And she was able to, to finally get employment, but it came out that she had this daughter out of wedlock. And so then she was removed from her employment. She eventually sold her body in order to help supply finances for her daughter. CO's that eventually that wasn't enough. And in the story cut her hair.

And pulled out her teeth to be sold so that she could somehow provide for her daughter. And there is this scene where she sings about this death of her dream or desired life. She says this, there she goes through and sings the long course about her, what her desires was for her life, but then writes, then sings this.

There are dreams that cannot be, and there are storms. We cannot weather. I had a dream. My life would be so different from this hell. I'm living so different now, from what it seemed now, life has killed the dream I dreamed morning is to experience death. And it is to deeply feel the result of that death and something we want to say about morning.

I don't believe that what Jesus is doing is elevating pain. Like, Hey, life is way better when it's bad. And those of you who have gone through deep and dark and difficult days and circumstances, and I even apologize for using the word days. Because, I mean, years and decades, often times this feeling of death is not noble.

It's not interesting. It's devastating. CS Lewis who writes a book called the problem of pain and CS Lewis in this book, uh, addresses by page one Oh four. He says you would like to know how I behave. When I experienced pain, CS Lewis is saying, okay, after all my teaching about pain, do you wonder how I do it?

How do I handle this sense of pain? And he says, you need not guess I will tell you I am a great coward. When I think of pain of anxiety that gnaws like fire and loneliness that spreads out like a desert. And the heartbreaking routine of monotonous misery. If I knew any way to escape, I would crawl through sewers to find it.

But what is the good of telling you about my feelings? You know, the more ready they are, the same as yours. I am not arguing that pain is not painful. Pain hurts. That's what the word means to prove it palatable. Is beyond my design to mourn is not some cute passing sadness. It is to feel the weight of death.

Secondly, It is to accept an unknown timeline to mourn is to accept an unknown timeline. I think of Abraham and Sarah, right? These are well-off people and early Genesis and God comes and he's like, Abraham, this is going to be amazing. You're going to be called the friend of God. And, and, and you, as you've been dreaming about your ancestors and how you're going to set up your family and you've got your finances in order and your.

Farms in order, you've got, you've got all this. What I'm going to ask you to do, Abraham is I'm going to ask you to take all that and take it on the road. Okay. And I'm not going to, I'm going to give you a land and I'm going to give you ancestors more than stars of the sky. And I'm going to do all of these things.

And Abraham for decade after decade wanders around. Yes. Experiencing the comfort of God, but experiencing the confusion of why has God not provided my ancestors? Why has God not come through on his promise? And as he dealt with barrenness and Sarah dealt with barrenness for decade after decade, and you think, wow, we see that timeline in a matter of like eight verses or something.

I don't know, 10 verses, but the reality of that sense of loss. Took an unknown and great amount of time in John six. There's this guy who was born blind and the disciples come in and they're so spiritual and they come and they're talking amongst themselves. What did this guy do? Or what did his parents do?

Or maybe grandparents, if we're going to go there to make it. So this person deserved to be born blind. And, and they're talking amongst themselves and they asked you, you just, okay, Jesus, tell us, tell us, where's the problem. Where's the thing to blame that we can find out why this person is suffering. And Jesus says, Jesus says it is not because of any sin of him or his parents.

It's because the glory of God to be revealed that day. And it's a beautiful story. But I also do imagine what it's like for that kid at five years old, who had been born blind with no answers to those questions for him 10 years old, when he can't go out in play, when he can't, when he knows his financial future is going to be dependent for his parents who are sitting there and shame thinking, what did we do that maybe was our fault that this happened for the decades leading up to that miracle to mourn.

Is to experience pain, almost always for an extended painful amount of time, the normative way. And I wish this weren't. So the normative way for morning is to happen is to happen is very messy and over a long time. The process for Makarios to move into that morning, usually operates the same way. The normal way for morning is a lengthy amount of time.

And for the miracle of comfort and Makarios to enter morning, it takes a long time normally to. Third to mourn is to meet misunderstood to mourn is to be misunderstood. There's a beautiful passage in first Thessalonians, five 14 as it's just a wonderful passage for you. As, as we're dealing with with other people, it says we urge you brothers admonish, the idol, encourage the faint hearted, help the weak be patient with the mall.

The reality is, is often what we do is we admonish the week. W we try to encourage the week. We try to encourage those sore or admonish them that that are often in the morning. And there's not a person who has experienced deep mourning in their life that has not known the pain of what it means to be deeply misunderstood for any of us to say, we get grief and loss.

It is kind of trite and unintentionally cruel. All we can say is we've understood mourning for this part of our lives, but the moment we think, Oh, I've done, I've dealt with this. So I've dealt with that. We cheapen and misunderstand the depth of pain that someone is experiencing.

Had the opportunity to, uh, become a chaplain for the college would police force. And I walk in there not knowing anything, right? Like, and I go in there and we just hear the process that police have to go through and the firefighters have to go through and what they experience. And they actually show videos to let you know, this is the things that they see.

This is what they experience. And we're having this in a nice room with snacks and it's devastating. It's these men and women's lives. And you walk out after this training and you're like, Oh my goodness. I don't know what it means to be a police officer. I don't know what it means to be a firefighter, but I know that I need to be a little more quiet in guessing.

And the divorce rates and the suicide rates and the mental health breakdowns. Whoa, I don't know as much as I thought. Just finished a be the bridge group here, where we gathered people from our congregation of, uh, different backgrounds and different minority groups. And we gathered as a, as a whole group of people.

And just listen to stories and I don't pretend to come out of listening to that and say, I know exactly what it's like being an Asian American, or I know exactly what it's like to be a black male. I can't come out of that saying I know, but what I can come out of and saying, Oh my people I trust and love.

I need to listen. I need to be careful to not assume I get. What someone else's experience is if you are dealing with someone who's morning, talk less, you are standing on Holy ground. Fourth to mourn is to grieve a lack of answers. Whenever any of us has any amount of pain, any amount of difficulty in the amount of disappointment, any amount of death, of a dream death of a hope death of someone else.

The question is, why did this happen? It's just natural. We all do it. Right? Why did this happen? Something bad happened. Well, why, why did it happen to me? And then if you're like me, it's the next question is how in the world do I get out of it? Why did it happen? How do I get out of it? A man that I just deeply love and have come to deeply trust in this place of mourning came to me.

He went through things that I cannot imagine going through and cannot pretend that I could know faithful. Man. He came to me, told me this. He said, after looking at job, he says that God never tells job. Or never tells the sufferer why he is suffering during the suffering. God never told Jobe why he was going through it when he was going through it.

Confusion, not knowing is one of the most difficult parts of morning. W when will I finally get over this death of a loved one? When will I finally get over this, this death of what I hoped life would be like, when will I finally get over this sense of depression that is over me? Why is it caused? And how can I get out of it?

One of the hardest things is the confusion. Never knowing what God is doing until later. Perhaps, perhaps one of the very hardest parts of the mourning process is the unanswered. Why number five to mourn is to engage in a profound act of courage. I think we're all CS Lewis. I know I am CS Lewis that I am a coward when it comes.

To things that need to be mourned. I am an avoider. I am a try to positive Polly the police, this aspect of my mind, but I also deeply believe that in order to understand this comfort of God that Jesus is talking about is we have to have the courage to mourn. Many do not receive comfort because they refused to look on sorrow.

I, uh, looked at some different artwork this week on morning, looking up, what are paintings or pictures of someone who mourns. And there are, there are two things that, that kind of jump out has jumped out at me as I've looked at this. One is the sense of balling up, right? The constriction that comes from emotional or physical pain, you see people mourning this way.

They ball up, they hunker in. And the second thing I saw is the amount of morning is images or paintings of people who are alone. I think this is the easy way. No, there is no easy way to more. And forgive me. This is perhaps the natural way to mourn is to ball up and to feel so alone. Cynthia Bourgeault says this morning is indeed a brutal form of emptiness, but in this emptiness, if we can remain open.

We discover a mysterious something does indeed reach back to us to mourn his touch, to touch directly the substance of divine compassion, being honest with loss and grief being open in our loss and grief is one of the most courageous things I have ever seen human beings do.

Lastly, what is Jesus saying to those who mourn first, he sang there's room for your pain in this kingdom, and then kingdom that he is establishing as he went up and the band stopped playing and he is giving these principles and he is daring to use this loaded word Makarios. This is what he says, not who can get here, achieve this.

And finally, you can make the cut past the test, beat the others out. You can be among the few and the proud. Now Jesus is saying this kingdom is different. Why I'm not having you come to the kingdom. The kingdom is coming to you. And those who know so morning there's room for you here. You're not forgotten here, not only for the gods and Kings and powerful.

This kingdom is built on the back of those who have broken backs. There is not a person who knows deep grief and loss that does not know what it's like to have someone not have space or perhaps better to run out of space. For your morning, why it takes time to mourn. Darkness comes from morning triggers seem to come from everywhere.

We know this world does not stop. Right. And it's not fair to ask it to one of the most devastating things about loss. Is that everything else in the world operates like that loss didn't happen. There's no space carved out for sadness and grief and Jesus is coming and saying no. In my kingdom there's room.

There's time for you to hurt there's opportunity to slowly heal. There is no judgment for your limp and there is compassion for your continued triggers. Secondly, the kingdom means this is a long one. I couldn't, I couldn't shorten it. It means that our King can stare straight into our hell and declare the story is not over.

I realize even saying that I realized the arrogance, it might feel of me sitting there saying, Nope, your story. Story's not over. When you're looking and saying, you want to bet, you want to bet. And here I'm not at all trying to speak on any wisdom that I'm coming with, but I'm trying to deal with the reality of the text.

Jesus, who knows mourning does use this word Makarios. He does say, bless it are those who mourn for they will be comforted. He does say that even in pain, comfort, and even Makarios can happen. And I love that he does this, the ability to stare into the darkest moments of life. There was a situation. Um, I was dealing with somebody trying to help somebody out.

And, uh, I went to this, this woman's house, this, this man was actually staying on her porch and, uh, we didn't have a home at that time and, and she didn't want him in the house. So we stayed on the porch. Um, it was. Had lots of layers and complications, um, that the house was in a place that was in a very difficult, uh, state of repair.

And I remember walking up, going up the steps with, with my friend who was homeless at the time, and then talking with the woman and she was, uh, had. Great physical suffering and, and looking in her house and what she was dealing with was overwhelming to me. And I remember the feeling of standing there talking with both of them and trying to think through of, of how can we help your relationship out and what does this look like and what help can we find what comfort is there?

And I remember there was part of that conversation where I literally felt like my body ran to my car. Like, I really felt like I was still standing there because that's what good people are probably supposed to do. At least I imagined it, but I emotionally was gone. I could not handle the intensity and the layers and the mess of this situation.

It was too much for me. I mentally checked out and could imagine me driving away and could not wait for that moment to come. Because I couldn't, I ran out, I ran out of my ability to move towards. I ran out of when I stared into the difficulty of that situation. I blinked and I couldn't take its intensity.

That's happened to me more often than I want to admit. And I love that Jesus is not this way. Jesus moved towards didn't run away from those that were too needy for the village to manage too difficult for the others to heal too complicated for others to deal with. He dealt with the racially profiled Samaritan.

He dealt with childless mothers. He dealt with the sick and financially devastated. He dealt with people in the moment of their loss. He was condemned by how he cared for those that were thought of to spiritually dead with the tax collector and the prostitute. He can stare straight in and say, this story is not over third.

And last, our wounds will be that, which slows us to see the beautiful, how in this passage, if you look at it, The morning is the trigger for the Makarios, right? It's Jesus is saying where's the blessing go? The blessing goes to the mourners. There is something about the mourners, their mornings. That is, that is, um, the very touch point of where more cardios comes.

It's not blessed are those who never mourn. It's not the absence of morning. It's that morning is the gateway. And I just lastly, want to say this, I want to talk first off. I used the word slow here. I think people who deeply mourn who have deeply mourned, even when they experienced comfort, Makarios walk slower.

I think the, the wound, the scars is still somewhat there, but I think that those scars and those wounds are the very thing that God uses to slow us enough. To see the miraculous. One of the interesting things to me is that Jesus, when he rises from the dead, he still has the scars in his hands and his feet.

And the puncture point in his side, why there was a lot of things that broke down in his body. Apparently all of those came back, but why not? The skin around his, his widen that he'll like the other parts of his body healed. Says this thing it's in the book of John, I forgot to put the reference. Eight days later, his disciples were inside.

Thomas was with them. The doors were locked. Jesus came and stood among them and said, peace. Be with you. He said to Thomas, put your finger here, see my hands, put your hand and place it. My side do not disbelieve, but believe Thomas answered him. My Lord and my God. By touching the scars and seeing the scars.

Jesus said, now you can believe. And Thomas answered one of, if not the greatest declaration of Christ's divinity from his disciples, my Lord and my God, the scars in his hands and feet were not noble. They weren't, they weren't exciting. They were from torture. They were given not from someone he ministered with all of his life.

They were from the hands of a disbelieving and mocking stranger. What is so special about the torture places set? The scars told the beautiful story. It was his pain and scars that provided the beautiful comfort to Thomas. It was the scars that led to the beauty of belief and the declaration, my Lord and my God.

Lastly, in the passage, again, this is in the plural, bless that. Are they. A lot of times you have in, in different scriptures, blessed is the one or bless it as the man. Bless it. As the woman it's talking in singular, but here he's talking in plural. Bless it. Are they who mourn blessed? It is the village judge that operates in the new and living way.

Blessed is the community that accepts loss pain in sadness as part of its way of life. Bless. It are the people that have big ears to listen, strong shoulders to help carry and slow tongues to give advice. Bless it are the people who do not shoot their sick, overlook, their lonely, or judge others by how much productivity that they can bring.

Blessed are the people that can with their Christ stare into hell and say, the story is not over. A wounded and scarred village that operates with such compassion and love from their King. That village can lead a lonely and weary world to turn to him and say, my Lord and my God, we are dismissed.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/blessed-are-those-who-mourn b9fe2cc2-7e8d-4705-b7ec-0700d84525a3 Sun, 21 Feb 2021 21:37:00 GMT <div data-html="true">Matthew 4:23, Matthew 9:35, Matthew 5:4 <br /><br /> "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted." <br /><br /> <br /><br /> Good morning. It's an honor to be here with you this morning. Uh, we're going to be again in Matthew chapter five through seven. Um, this is the sermon on the Mount, the sermon we've called it the most significant, uh, most weighty. Most lengthy sermon that we have from Christ. Even if you go there and your own Bibles, crinkle the pages a little bit so that when you open your scripture, it falls often to this place. <br /><br /> This is a dear dear passage. And as we begin, I realized I just choked myself with my microphone cable. So. <br /><br /> I think that worked Matthew five through seven, we're going to read, we're gonna be focusing on the beatitudes, the eight first statements that Christ made giving the values of the kingdom of God. And we'll eventually get to the rest of the sermon, giving what life looks like practically in the kingdom of God. <br /><br /> But as we read, I'm going to begin again from the beginning. Of Matthew five and then go through verse four, which is what we'll focus on this morning. Now, when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountain side and sat down. His disciples, came to him and he began to teach them. He said, blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. <br /><br /> Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted. Father we come before you today in recognition of your message, recognizing that it is so shockingly different from the message that we often give to one another, from the messages that we find in, in the cultures of the world, we recognize this different, beautiful, tangible, Gift that you've given us in your word and we pray, uh, we'd be with you this morning as we spend this time together in Jesus name. <br /><br /> Amen. Couple of things that we first off, well, let me just say. I know that there are certain passages that we opened two in the scripture. And if you've been around the scripture while there are certain ones that you're like, Oh, yes, I love, I love this one. When I, when we hit Romans eight, it's like, It's going to be good. <br /><br /> Right. And then when you hit one of those things about like, uh, confessing or sin, you're like, Oh boy, I wonder how this is going to go. Right. And that's just being honest, when it comes to a verse like this blessed are those who mourn. I think it has tendency for some people to lean in and some people to lean out. <br /><br /> And what I just want to say is no matter how you approach this morning, I'm really glad that you're here and believe either way that you approach is okay. Two routes that we want to give is we're in this series, in this thing, this, what we talked about these last week with these beatitudes, with this whole sermon in Matthew five, six, and seven, the first route is the kingdom of God. <br /><br /> The kingdom of God or kingdom of heaven, as it's talked about in the verse three, and then again in the eighth be attitude. What this is, this kingdom of God, kingdom of heaven is used all over scripture. Jesus came to teach the good news of the gospel to teach the good news of themself, but he also came specifically, it says in scripture, many times in the new Testament to preach. <br /><br /> The kingdom of God. Here are a couple of verses that bookend our passage in Matthew five through seven first, Matthew four 23 says this Jesus went throughout Galilee teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. Among the people. And then by Matthew nine, we have this, Jesus went through all the towns and villages teaching in the synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. <br /><br /> This good news of the kingdom is not talking about a happy place that people go when they die. It's talking about the reality of Jesus's reign and his ultimate. Benevolent kingship over his people. Now there is a physical kingdom that is coming revelation 20 talks much about that, but Christ came to teach and preach the good news of the spiritual kingdom of God, which is here. <br /><br /> Now true spiritual life begins as an inside reality. It begins as a community of people living out what it means to follow this radical King that takes the principles of the world and says, I'm going to turn them upside down. The upside down life is the kingdom life. And these beatitudes have the most dense teaching about the values of the kingdom of anywhere. <br /><br /> I believe the scripture second root thing we want to know. The kingdom of God is just talking about how the kingdom of God operates. Second thing. Is this word Makarios or blessed? Each one of these verses begins with blessed or new Greek Makarios. We said this last week that this word means happiness or fortune wellbeing, but it's not just any type of happiness. <br /><br /> It's not a generic. Happy word. It's a word. That means that it was mostly used by Greek scholars to refer to a specific happiness that was only known by the gods. Like Ambrosia is the food or drink of the gods Makarios. Was known as the happiness or wellbeing of the gods. Rob Morgan talked about Homer and HESI had, as they spoke of the Greek gods as being happy within themselves because they were unaffected by men who are subject to poverty, disease, weakness, misfortune in death, Plato, Aristotle. <br /><br /> All referred to Makarios, Jesus's coming and saying, the happiness you have said is only for the gods Makarios, Makarios to those who mourn. And we come to this passage and I just want to give three, three questions and we have your notes if you want them. But three questions. Number one, who is talking here? <br /><br /> Second question will be. Who is he talking about? Who are these mourners that he is speaking about? And lastly, what does the kingdom mean to those who mourn. So first who is talking K, want to talk back, look back again at how God's come on the scene. Right? You've got Greco, Roman culture, the collision of the Roman empire Greek thought come together and you've got great thinkers that are coming. <br /><br /> And so these, these great thinkers, there's a lot of scholarship. There's a lot of thought. And just going back from Socrates and Plato and Aristotle, and many other people that are, um, Offering different perspective. Honestly, the society has become wealthy enough that people can go around and think, go and think and educate and philosophize this not just how do we kill the next Buffalo and get some food, right? <br /><br /> There's not just, how do we go do the next thing and survive? There's an ability. There's an affluency now that there are people investing their lives. Into the life of thought. And there's, there's these conversations about these gods, right. And we see the now of Marvel's brought them all back in discussion and these gods are thought about of how would these gods operate? <br /><br /> How would they be one of the major traditions that, that, um, early, even early church fathers would have some been influenced by as the stoic tradition. This is one of the largest philosophical perspectives of the time it's present in Rome. It's present in Greece. Phylo of Alexandria. Actually, when he wrestled with the text was what had an impact? <br /><br /> Well, it's they say in one foot in Moses and one foot in the stoic tradition marrying these together, and this idea of the stoic tradition is that the gods or God himself. Even the Judeo-Christian God, Joe, it had had an aspect of being above, being impacted by people above being impacted by what happens on creation to be without grief is an attribute of God. <br /><br /> He is above grief. He is above pain. He is unaffected by it is the teaching in this stoic tradition. Then we have this Christ come onto the world. Isaiah 53. Three teaches that Christ would you want to flash that up? That'd be great that he was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows acquainted with grief. <br /><br /> And as one whom men hide their faces, he was despised and we esteemed him. Not that he was acquainted with grief. He was aware, involved, touched, affected by grief. The Talmud, which would come a few hundred years later had this teaching. It was a man, um, came up to Elijah, the prophet while he's standing at the entrance of a cave. <br /><br /> And he asked Elijah when, when will the Messiah come? And Elijah replied, go ask the Messiah himself. He said, well, where is he sitting at the Gates of the city? Well, how shall I know him? He's sitting on among the poor covered with wounds. There are 40 miracles that are done in the new Testament. 28 with them dealt with physical healing or deliverance. <br /><br /> Jesus came and was acquainted. This God. Came and was acquainted among grief. It also says he was a man of sorrows. He wasn't just aware of others' grief. He wasn't just impacted by others' grief, but he came to carry his own grief in pain. He came among poverty. He came among disease. His family members potentially dying from disease. <br /><br /> He lived as a refugee for 10 of the first 12 years of his life. He lived under Roman rule for the rest of his life. He saw others suffer without providing them healing. This to me would be one of the most difficult things as Christ as your aunt lays, they're sick, dying of a disease Christ 28 years old. <br /><br /> Doesn't heal. Y says like before it, his first miracle, it hadn't come his time yet. He had to experience the grief of not helping those. He loved one other thought is we talk about how Jesus bled for people, but also people bled because of him. We have the story of when, uh, the wise men come to heritage, right? <br /><br /> And they come to heritage and say, Hey, the Messiah is going to be born. And Herod says, I want to eliminate every Jewish child, every Jewish male that's two years and younger. So I can exterminate this threat to my kingdom. Well, that's a story that's deeply embedded in all of his friends and family. Jesus walks around as a 14 year old, and people are still grieving and talking about how Herod had killed their babies. <br /><br /> And Jesus knows. That was because of me. Jesus carried this sorrow in him. He was a man of sorrows. He dealt with the disbelief in his own family and friends. And as we know, so dearly. Dealt with the abandonment of those who are closest to him. Tony Morrison wrote a book called Sula and in this book, a character named Nell was betrayed and abandoned by a couple of people, very close to her. <br /><br /> And she described the feeling of abandonment in this way. Talking about nail the character. It was a fine cry loud and long. But it had no bottom and it had no top just circles of sorrow. Jesus came, who is talking here is one, not only impacted by grief, but one who he himself experienced it. So when he comes up onto the mountain side, Gathering, as we see in Matthew, his disciples, we see in Luke, even other crowds around him and he says, these words, bless it. <br /><br /> Makarios us to those who mourn. He spoke as one among those who mourn that's who is talking, what is he talking about? Or who is he talking about? What does it mean? To be those who mourn, what does it mean to be a morning and why in the world does he attach Makarios type happiness to morning? Why isn't he saying Makarios to those who don't have to mourn Makarios to those who don't know morning Makarios to those above morning? <br /><br /> Why does this morning Christ say Makarios? In response to morning, first thing, what does it mean to be those who mourn it means to experience death? This word 10th. Oh, to mourn it has an aspect of being tied to a lament. That's connected to a death many times when this word is used, it is connected directly to a death of a situation. <br /><br /> And when we experience death, right when to experience death is so final, so painful, and this can be a death of a person, death of reputation. Experiencing our own spiritual death, the morning of sin, death of a long desired dream in Les Miz fan teen. Was a character that had made some mistakes in her life and had a daughter and eventually couldn't care for her daughter. <br /><br /> And she was able to, to finally get employment, but it came out that she had this daughter out of wedlock. And so then she was removed from her employment. She eventually sold her body in order to help supply finances for her daughter. CO's that eventually that wasn't enough. And in the story cut her hair. <br /><br /> And pulled out her teeth to be sold so that she could somehow provide for her daughter. And there is this scene where she sings about this death of her dream or desired life. She says this, there she goes through and sings the long course about her, what her desires was for her life, but then writes, then sings this. <br /><br /> There are dreams that cannot be, and there are storms. We cannot weather. I had a dream. My life would be so different from this hell. I'm living so different now, from what it seemed now, life has killed the dream I dreamed morning is to experience death. And it is to deeply feel the result of that death and something we want to say about morning. <br /><br /> I don't believe that what Jesus is doing is elevating pain. Like, Hey, life is way better when it's bad. And those of you who have gone through deep and dark and difficult days and circumstances, and I even apologize for using the word days. Because, I mean, years and decades, often times this feeling of death is not noble. <br /><br /> It's not interesting. It's devastating. CS Lewis who writes a book called the problem of pain and CS Lewis in this book, uh, addresses by page one Oh four. He says you would like to know how I behave. When I experienced pain, CS Lewis is saying, okay, after all my teaching about pain, do you wonder how I do it? <br /><br /> How do I handle this sense of pain? And he says, you need not guess I will tell you I am a great coward. When I think of pain of anxiety that gnaws like fire and loneliness that spreads out like a desert. And the heartbreaking routine of monotonous misery. If I knew any way to escape, I would crawl through sewers to find it. <br /><br /> But what is the good of telling you about my feelings? You know, the more ready they are, the same as yours. I am not arguing that pain is not painful. Pain hurts. That's what the word means to prove it palatable. Is beyond my design to mourn is not some cute passing sadness. It is to feel the weight of death. <br /><br /> Secondly, It is to accept an unknown timeline to mourn is to accept an unknown timeline. I think of Abraham and Sarah, right? These are well-off people and early Genesis and God comes and he's like, Abraham, this is going to be amazing. You're going to be called the friend of God. And, and, and you, as you've been dreaming about your ancestors and how you're going to set up your family and you've got your finances in order and your. <br /><br /> Farms in order, you've got, you've got all this. What I'm going to ask you to do, Abraham is I'm going to ask you to take all that and take it on the road. Okay. And I'm not going to, I'm going to give you a land and I'm going to give you ancestors more than stars of the sky. And I'm going to do all of these things. <br /><br /> And Abraham for decade after decade wanders around. Yes. Experiencing the comfort of God, but experiencing the confusion of why has God not provided my ancestors? Why has God not come through on his promise? And as he dealt with barrenness and Sarah dealt with barrenness for decade after decade, and you think, wow, we see that timeline in a matter of like eight verses or something. <br /><br /> I don't know, 10 verses, but the reality of that sense of loss. Took an unknown and great amount of time in John six. There's this guy who was born blind and the disciples come in and they're so spiritual and they come and they're talking amongst themselves. What did this guy do? Or what did his parents do? <br /><br /> Or maybe grandparents, if we're going to go there to make it. So this person deserved to be born blind. And, and they're talking amongst themselves and they asked you, you just, okay, Jesus, tell us, tell us, where's the problem. Where's the thing to blame that we can find out why this person is suffering. And Jesus says, Jesus says it is not because of any sin of him or his parents. <br /><br /> It's because the glory of God to be revealed that day. And it's a beautiful story. But I also do imagine what it's like for that kid at five years old, who had been born blind with no answers to those questions for him 10 years old, when he can't go out in play, when he can't, when he knows his financial future is going to be dependent for his parents who are sitting there and shame thinking, what did we do that maybe was our fault that this happened for the decades leading up to that miracle to mourn. <br /><br /> Is to experience pain, almost always for an extended painful amount of time, the normative way. And I wish this weren't. So the normative way for morning is to happen is to happen is very messy and over a long time. The process for Makarios to move into that morning, usually operates the same way. The normal way for morning is a lengthy amount of time. <br /><br /> And for the miracle of comfort and Makarios to enter morning, it takes a long time normally to. Third to mourn is to meet misunderstood to mourn is to be misunderstood. There's a beautiful passage in first Thessalonians, five 14 as it's just a wonderful passage for you. As, as we're dealing with with other people, it says we urge you brothers admonish, the idol, encourage the faint hearted, help the weak be patient with the mall. <br /><br /> The reality is, is often what we do is we admonish the week. W we try to encourage the week. We try to encourage those sore or admonish them that that are often in the morning. And there's not a person who has experienced deep mourning in their life that has not known the pain of what it means to be deeply misunderstood for any of us to say, we get grief and loss. <br /><br /> It is kind of trite and unintentionally cruel. All we can say is we've understood mourning for this part of our lives, but the moment we think, Oh, I've done, I've dealt with this. So I've dealt with that. We cheapen and misunderstand the depth of pain that someone is experiencing. <br /><br /> Had the opportunity to, uh, become a chaplain for the college would police force. And I walk in there not knowing anything, right? Like, and I go in there and we just hear the process that police have to go through and the firefighters have to go through and what they experience. And they actually show videos to let you know, this is the things that they see. <br /><br /> This is what they experience. And we're having this in a nice room with snacks and it's devastating. It's these men and women's lives. And you walk out after this training and you're like, Oh my goodness. I don't know what it means to be a police officer. I don't know what it means to be a firefighter, but I know that I need to be a little more quiet in guessing. <br /><br /> And the divorce rates and the suicide rates and the mental health breakdowns. Whoa, I don't know as much as I thought. Just finished a be the bridge group here, where we gathered people from our congregation of, uh, different backgrounds and different minority groups. And we gathered as a, as a whole group of people. <br /><br /> And just listen to stories and I don't pretend to come out of listening to that and say, I know exactly what it's like being an Asian American, or I know exactly what it's like to be a black male. I can't come out of that saying I know, but what I can come out of and saying, Oh my people I trust and love. <br /><br /> I need to listen. I need to be careful to not assume I get. What someone else's experience is if you are dealing with someone who's morning, talk less, you are standing on Holy ground. Fourth to mourn is to grieve a lack of answers. Whenever any of us has any amount of pain, any amount of difficulty in the amount of disappointment, any amount of death, of a dream death of a hope death of someone else. <br /><br /> The question is, why did this happen? It's just natural. We all do it. Right? Why did this happen? Something bad happened. Well, why, why did it happen to me? And then if you're like me, it's the next question is how in the world do I get out of it? Why did it happen? How do I get out of it? A man that I just deeply love and have come to deeply trust in this place of mourning came to me. <br /><br /> He went through things that I cannot imagine going through and cannot pretend that I could know faithful. Man. He came to me, told me this. He said, after looking at job, he says that God never tells job. Or never tells the sufferer why he is suffering during the suffering. God never told Jobe why he was going through it when he was going through it. <br /><br /> Confusion, not knowing is one of the most difficult parts of morning. W when will I finally get over this death of a loved one? When will I finally get over this, this death of what I hoped life would be like, when will I finally get over this sense of depression that is over me? Why is it caused? And how can I get out of it? <br /><br /> One of the hardest things is the confusion. Never knowing what God is doing until later. Perhaps, perhaps one of the very hardest parts of the mourning process is the unanswered. Why number five to mourn is to engage in a profound act of courage. I think we're all CS Lewis. I know I am CS Lewis that I am a coward when it comes. <br /><br /> To things that need to be mourned. I am an avoider. I am a try to positive Polly the police, this aspect of my mind, but I also deeply believe that in order to understand this comfort of God that Jesus is talking about is we have to have the courage to mourn. Many do not receive comfort because they refused to look on sorrow. <br /><br /> I, uh, looked at some different artwork this week on morning, looking up, what are paintings or pictures of someone who mourns. And there are, there are two things that, that kind of jump out has jumped out at me as I've looked at this. One is the sense of balling up, right? The constriction that comes from emotional or physical pain, you see people mourning this way. <br /><br /> They ball up, they hunker in. And the second thing I saw is the amount of morning is images or paintings of people who are alone. I think this is the easy way. No, there is no easy way to more. And forgive me. This is perhaps the natural way to mourn is to ball up and to feel so alone. Cynthia Bourgeault says this morning is indeed a brutal form of emptiness, but in this emptiness, if we can remain open. <br /><br /> We discover a mysterious something does indeed reach back to us to mourn his touch, to touch directly the substance of divine compassion, being honest with loss and grief being open in our loss and grief is one of the most courageous things I have ever seen human beings do. <br /><br /> Lastly, what is Jesus saying to those who mourn first, he sang there's room for your pain in this kingdom, and then kingdom that he is establishing as he went up and the band stopped playing and he is giving these principles and he is daring to use this loaded word Makarios. This is what he says, not who can get here, achieve this. <br /><br /> And finally, you can make the cut past the test, beat the others out. You can be among the few and the proud. Now Jesus is saying this kingdom is different. Why I'm not having you come to the kingdom. The kingdom is coming to you. And those who know so morning there's room for you here. You're not forgotten here, not only for the gods and Kings and powerful. <br /><br /> This kingdom is built on the back of those who have broken backs. There is not a person who knows deep grief and loss that does not know what it's like to have someone not have space or perhaps better to run out of space. For your morning, why it takes time to mourn. Darkness comes from morning triggers seem to come from everywhere. <br /><br /> We know this world does not stop. Right. And it's not fair to ask it to one of the most devastating things about loss. Is that everything else in the world operates like that loss didn't happen. There's no space carved out for sadness and grief and Jesus is coming and saying no. In my kingdom there's room. <br /><br /> There's time for you to hurt there's opportunity to slowly heal. There is no judgment for your limp and there is compassion for your continued triggers. Secondly, the kingdom means this is a long one. I couldn't, I couldn't shorten it. It means that our King can stare straight into our hell and declare the story is not over. <br /><br /> I realize even saying that I realized the arrogance, it might feel of me sitting there saying, Nope, your story. Story's not over. When you're looking and saying, you want to bet, you want to bet. And here I'm not at all trying to speak on any wisdom that I'm coming with, but I'm trying to deal with the reality of the text. <br /><br /> Jesus, who knows mourning does use this word Makarios. He does say, bless it are those who mourn for they will be comforted. He does say that even in pain, comfort, and even Makarios can happen. And I love that he does this, the ability to stare into the darkest moments of life. There was a situation. Um, I was dealing with somebody trying to help somebody out. <br /><br /> And, uh, I went to this, this woman's house, this, this man was actually staying on her porch and, uh, we didn't have a home at that time and, and she didn't want him in the house. So we stayed on the porch. Um, it was. Had lots of layers and complications, um, that the house was in a place that was in a very difficult, uh, state of repair. <br /><br /> And I remember walking up, going up the steps with, with my friend who was homeless at the time, and then talking with the woman and she was, uh, had. Great physical suffering and, and looking in her house and what she was dealing with was overwhelming to me. And I remember the feeling of standing there talking with both of them and trying to think through of, of how can we help your relationship out and what does this look like and what help can we find what comfort is there? <br /><br /> And I remember there was part of that conversation where I literally felt like my body ran to my car. Like, I really felt like I was still standing there because that's what good people are probably supposed to do. At least I imagined it, but I emotionally was gone. I could not handle the intensity and the layers and the mess of this situation. <br /><br /> It was too much for me. I mentally checked out and could imagine me driving away and could not wait for that moment to come. Because I couldn't, I ran out, I ran out of my ability to move towards. I ran out of when I stared into the difficulty of that situation. I blinked and I couldn't take its intensity. <br /><br /> That's happened to me more often than I want to admit. And I love that Jesus is not this way. Jesus moved towards didn't run away from those that were too needy for the village to manage too difficult for the others to heal too complicated for others to deal with. He dealt with the racially profiled Samaritan. <br /><br /> He dealt with childless mothers. He dealt with the sick and financially devastated. He dealt with people in the moment of their loss. He was condemned by how he cared for those that were thought of to spiritually dead with the tax collector and the prostitute. He can stare straight in and say, this story is not over third. <br /><br /> And last, our wounds will be that, which slows us to see the beautiful, how in this passage, if you look at it, The morning is the trigger for the Makarios, right? It's Jesus is saying where's the blessing go? The blessing goes to the mourners. There is something about the mourners, their mornings. That is, that is, um, the very touch point of where more cardios comes. <br /><br /> It's not blessed are those who never mourn. It's not the absence of morning. It's that morning is the gateway. And I just lastly, want to say this, I want to talk first off. I used the word slow here. I think people who deeply mourn who have deeply mourned, even when they experienced comfort, Makarios walk slower. <br /><br /> I think the, the wound, the scars is still somewhat there, but I think that those scars and those wounds are the very thing that God uses to slow us enough. To see the miraculous. One of the interesting things to me is that Jesus, when he rises from the dead, he still has the scars in his hands and his feet. <br /><br /> And the puncture point in his side, why there was a lot of things that broke down in his body. Apparently all of those came back, but why not? The skin around his, his widen that he'll like the other parts of his body healed. Says this thing it's in the book of John, I forgot to put the reference. Eight days later, his disciples were inside. <br /><br /> Thomas was with them. The doors were locked. Jesus came and stood among them and said, peace. Be with you. He said to Thomas, put your finger here, see my hands, put your hand and place it. My side do not disbelieve, but believe Thomas answered him. My Lord and my God. By touching the scars and seeing the scars. <br /><br /> Jesus said, now you can believe. And Thomas answered one of, if not the greatest declaration of Christ's divinity from his disciples, my Lord and my God, the scars in his hands and feet were not noble. They weren't, they weren't exciting. They were from torture. They were given not from someone he ministered with all of his life. <br /><br /> They were from the hands of a disbelieving and mocking stranger. What is so special about the torture places set? The scars told the beautiful story. It was his pain and scars that provided the beautiful comfort to Thomas. It was the scars that led to the beauty of belief and the declaration, my Lord and my God. <br /><br /> Lastly, in the passage, again, this is in the plural, bless that. Are they. A lot of times you have in, in different scriptures, blessed is the one or bless it as the man. Bless it. As the woman it's talking in singular, but here he's talking in plural. Bless it. Are they who mourn blessed? It is the village judge that operates in the new and living way. <br /><br /> Blessed is the community that accepts loss pain in sadness as part of its way of life. Bless. It are the people that have big ears to listen, strong shoulders to help carry and slow tongues to give advice. Bless it are the people who do not shoot their sick, overlook, their lonely, or judge others by how much productivity that they can bring. <br /><br /> Blessed are the people that can with their Christ stare into hell and say, the story is not over. A wounded and scarred village that operates with such compassion and love from their King. That village can lead a lonely and weary world to turn to him and say, my Lord and my God, we are dismissed.</div> false no <![CDATA[Blessed are the Poor in Spirit]]> Matthew 5:3

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.



We're in the sermon on the Mount and this, I was even getting ready a few minutes ago, thinking about this. I don't know any other passage that I just love to talk about more than this passage deeply. Um, I am thankful and grateful for this season. Pastor Mark introed this time in our bodies life, where we are entering into the sermon on the Mount.

He en entered this last week called the sermon the largest. Sermon that we have by Christ in the entire scripture, the greatest sermon that we have, the most quoted sermon that we have in bit of scripture in the early church, part of the early deduc, K the teaching of the early church included this at even fast forward to our church.

This is the foundation for our celebrate recovery program. These verses in the beginning of this sermon, this sermon on the Mount. Has everything to do with the Christian life. And I am so grateful to March into it with you. And today we're coming to the beginning. Part of this sermon last week looked, he went on the mountain side, gathered the people, his disciples to him, the people beyond him.

And he said these words, and it begins with the beatitudes, which are eight statements of blessing are the, and he goes through poor in spirit, the mourn, the meek, the peacemakers, and so on from there, he. Speaks these blessing words. And pastor Mark mentioned last week that these beatitudes, these eight blessing statements describe the values of the kingdom of God.

And then the sermon will go on and speak about what life is like practically in the kingdom of God. But today we come to this first one. Where Jesus says blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. I just love to pray with you. As we enter

Lord, you have said many things in your word. So many things you have taught us. So many things that you have given us. Here in this introductory statement to your most dense teaching on what it means to live out your kingdom on earth. We thank you for this radical statement that you give us some pray for wisdom and Holy spirit power.

As we look into it. In Jesus' name. Amen. Two routes that I want to give us of thinking that as we enter into these beatitudes statements that I think are going to be really important, the first route is this concept of kingdom of God. In this verse, blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven or kingdom of God.

This concept is decorated. All throughout the new Testament at matter of fact, once you start looking for it, you realize, Oh my goodness, Jesus is talking about this constantly. There is a future physical kingdom that will come revelations 20 speaks of this coming kingdom that will come in the future.

But most of the time when Jesus is talking about the kingdom, he's not just referring to a future reality. He's saying the kingdom has come now. Christ is talking about a spiritual kingdom that lives inside of his people. The benevolent rule of Christ that is occurring now that is happening within his people.

A true spiritual. Kingdom is an inside reality at this moment. And they be attitudes is the most dense teaching of what the values of the kingdom looks like. If you want to know what Jesus values in the spiritual life, how the King has laid out his kingdom, it is on this foundation. The second thing I wanted and we see this teaching.

That he gives where it says Jesus went through Galilee. This is Matthew four. Before he gives the sermon. Jesus went throughout Galilee teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness among the people. We see this after the teaching in Matthew nine, Jesus went through all the towns and villages teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom.

And healing every disease and sickness, the kingdom, the rule of Jesus has now come to his people. Second route kingdom of God. First, route second, route I want to mention is this word Makarios. This word, Makarios who used is the word blessing blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are those who mourn blessed are the meek using this word?

Bless it. In each of these beatitudes, this word is not a generic word. This word is a very specific word. Greek philosophers and authors would use this word, meaning happiness or fortune or wellbeing. But it wasn't just any type of happiness or fortune or wellbeing. It was a state of happiness that was reserved for the gods.

It was what Ambrosia, if you're familiar, that term Ambrosia is the food or drink of the gods Makarios. Is the happiness or satisfaction. One of the gods Mark, Rob Morgan writes this about grief, Greek authors and poets, Homer who wrote the Iliad and the Odyssey and HESI had both Homer and HESI had spoke of the Greek gods as being happy Makarios within themselves.

Because they were unaffected by the world of men who were subject to poverty, disease, weakness, misfortune, and death. If you had to read any homework in high school where you're one of those smart kids and are still reading homework, if you, you realize that Homer used a lot of words, It's estimated that he's only use this word, this specific word Makarios eight times.

This is not just a generic happiness. This is a specific happiness, a Supreme state of happiness. Play-Doh use the word not to just describe the gods, but also use the word to describe someone who was very successful in business that, that happiness usually reserved for the gods could be known on earth.

If someone was extremely wealthy Aristotle, and this is my favorite use of the word in Greek literature, Aristotle, use this word in juxtaposition to something else. He said this, if Makarios is here, the absolute opposite of Makarios is what he called the needy one Makarios for those who have all their needs met.

And the opposite is being in need. Makarios is a special state of happiness, only known to the gods or those who are extremely wealthy. Jesus goes on a mountain, gathers people around him, common folk around him and says Maccari OS for the poor in spirit. For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. What does it mean to be poor spear?

We're gonna look at three questions. I think you may have gotten the notes on the way in, so no one complained if you haven't received Ballantine notes. Yeah. Anyway, um, you got your notes on the way in, um, you liked that Shannon didn't you? Yeah. Thank you. Um, And there's three questions. We're going to be shaping this, talk around this.

Uh, what does it mean to be poor in spirit? How do we become poor in spirit? And what is the kingdom mean for those who are poor in spirit? So again, you have, what does it mean to you? Poor in spirit, you have this biggest rally, right? You've got Jesus, who's healing doing these diseases, talking about the kingdom and he comes to this mountain side and he comes to this mountain side with the people spread out in the acoustics, just writing.

Here's the big rally. Here's the big teaching point. Here's the densest teaching. And here comes Jesus. The band stops. He walks out and he says to those who are inner poor. And they say, what does that mean? How can a King of spirituality say blessed are those who are poor in spirituality? What does it mean to be poor in spirit?

Well, when we look at poverty, we, poverty is a little bit defining something. What it isn't right. We ask, well, what is, what's the definition of darkness? It's what absence of light, right? It is. And what it isn't. Well, what is poverty? Physical poverty. Is the absence or the lack of necessary resources or the ability to get them that's physical poverty.

It is found in what it isn't in, what it doesn't have spiritual poverty. On the other hand is the lack of being able to meet our own needs in the false treasures of the heart. It is found in what it isn't. It is the inability to achieve Makarios us on our own. Scripture Jesus in particular teaches a lot about false treasures.

He speaks about this in Matthew six, he speaks about this in the gospel of John talks about the temptation of being caught up in these false treasures. And I want to talk about three false treasures, three things. We look for Makarios. In, and we actually do not find them there, but we find them in the poverty of not getting them right.

And I want to do that by looking at Matthew four, if you would, if you're in your Bibles, we're going to go back from Matthew five and Matthew four, because in Matthew four, we've got a famous passage of Satan coming to Jesus, right? Satan comes to Jesus in the wilderness, not really a fair time to come to Jesus.

Hasn't eaten for 40 days, 40 nights. This fully man person has not eaten for 40 days. He is, he is on his death bed and many houses. Starving to death at this point. And Satan comes to him to entice him three times. And I believe in each of these enticing, he is, he is going after idols that are in our hearts are in the hearts of people for all time and culture.

This is the passage in Matthew four. Jesus was led by the spirit, into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting 40 days and 40 nights, he was hungry. That's an understatement. The tempter came to him and said, if you are a son of God, tell these stones to become bread. Jesus answered. It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God, then the devil took him to the Holy city and had him stand at the highest point of the temple.

If you are the son of God, he said, throw yourself down for it is written. He'll command his angels concerning you. They will lift up your hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. Jesus answered him. It is also written. Don't put the Lord, your God to the test. Again, the devil third time took him to the high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor.

All their, I will give to you. He said, if you bow down and worship me, Jesus said to him away from me, Satan. It is written worship. It is written worship the Lord, your God, and serve him only. Then the devil left him and the angels came and attended him. Want to look at three treasures of the heart in this passage, the first treasure false treasure is self self-sufficiency self-sufficiency is satisfying my own, or others needs as a way of gaining my own sense.

Of happiness, spiritual poverty is moving away from the temptation to find my worth in what I can achieve or I can do self-sufficiency is an age old one. And here you have Satan coming to Jesus and being like Jesus. Wow. King of the universe. This is a little pathetic. Right. It came, some angel saw you when you were born, then you come amongst the poor.

Not that smart, come and start doing some miracles and, and maybe start in this thing. But now like, look at Jews before he had disciples and he says, look, this is, this is the King of the world dying on this hillside. And he says, Jesus, if you were really something. If you were even a little something, if you had even a little bit of magic powers in those paws, you could make that piece of rock, become a pizza.

Like, come on, man. This is pathetic. This is all you got. And he's saying to Jesus, who of course could have fed himself anytime show that you actually can take care of your own needs. You think you're going to change the world? You can't even feed yourself and he's playing on this temptation that lived, that lives in the heart of every one of us to show who we are by the fact that we can take care of me and mine.

The kingdom of man says I am satisfied because I am successful enough to take care of my own needs. It's this temptation is to say that I am I'm good, or I am at peace. Uh, if I make enough, if I work hard enough people who struggle with this false treasure, see, see that, uh, find it easy to describe the world in terms of winners and losers and are desperately trying to push themselves in the winner category.

They love to be seen for how busy and capable they are. They value external signs of achievement, and they hate being thought of as a needy person, people who live by this kingdom experience pride when they can be self-sufficient or shame when they feel like they can't first false treasure.

Self-sufficiency secondly, the approval of others, right. Satan comes to Jesus and he's like, all right, okay. You're not going to do the rocks pizza things. This what we're going to do. Jesus. You see Jerusalem here. You see all those important people walking around in the temple courts. Okay. I got the plan.

What you're going to do is you're going to jump. And right, as you jump, the horns are gonna blow. The angels are going to come cause you can command them and they will Swift you up. And it's this magical moment. You had one of these when you were born, but you wasted it on the shepherds. Now you can have it again in front of everybody and you will finally prove.

Who you are to people. If you just bow down to me, I'm just asking for that. But you will then have the approval of all these people. Your family will see what you are, right? Your town. We'll see what you are. News will spread of the God that you are. If you just were jumped, you can see this what a scene it will be.

You will come out of this obscurity and finally matter. And Satan is playing on this temptation that you are something based upon the admiration that you receive. Spiritual poverty is moving away from the temptation to find our security, our meaning in our relationships. And that relationships could be the relationship with, um, uh, your, your, your work.

Your, your business, the people around you, your family, the disapproval of others feels like maybe if I get the approval of others, then I can take a sip at that Makarios. It is a false treasure as a incredibly intelligent anthropologist. Michael Scott says this of the sensation he says, would I rather be feared or loved?

Easy both. I want people to be afraid of how much they love me. Right. This is the temptation of the heart of wanting to find ourselves in the approval of others. People who are very susceptible to this false treasure. Those of us who are susceptible to that, we work hard to be noticed by our families are our friends, our neighborhoods.

We can't seem to get funny enough, spiritual enough. Beautiful enough, likable enough. And, and people, when we struggle with this, this, this desire, this false treasure to be approved of by others, we find it difficult to work on our inner world. Why? Because no one sees us working on our inner world. It's because we are often so concerned with how we look on the outside this kingdom, the kingdom of approval.

Produces jealousy and loneliness comparison is the thief of joy. And when we are trying to find our way in the approval of others, we're always trying to claw head and are always upset when someone claws ahead of us. Third false treasure. We see temptation to Jesus that can lead us into this understanding of poverty of spirit, moral authority.

Satan says to Jesus, if you only bow to me, I will give you moral power. I'm going to make these places, Jesus nations, you can have all these nations and people, you will have the deep satisfaction of ruling these people and being the one who defines what's good and what's bad. Jesus speaks to this HeartSpace and the Pharisees.

All the time spiritual poverty is moving away from the temptation to find our identity in being good and right to find maybe we don't, maybe we haven't achieved. Maybe aren't self-sufficient as much as we want to be Maine. Maybe we don't have the approval of others as much as we want, but at least at the end of the day, I can hang my hat on the fact that I'm a good one.

And I can gain my sense of identity in being better than other people. The kingdom of man says my source of happiness and satisfaction is that I am a better person and that those I disagree with or I'm in conflict with are worse. I am right. And it feels good. It is almost happy for those of us who struggle with this false treasure, this false kingdom to view the world as a dirty place.

We want to see it as so dirty and bad because it makes me feel more clean and special. Jesus was very strong against those who worked so hard to do good. On their own, this type of kingdom, this type of false treasure, so sneaky and insidious, it produces godlessness and it is poison to the gospel godlessness because it is choosing to try to do good without God.

Trying to be good without God is a slap in God's face. This is how he spoke to the Pharisees. No matter how many Christian tattoos they tried to put on it was about themselves and poisonous because we know of nothing more discouraging to sinners than those who try to use their morality as a club. It teaches that Christ is not for everyone.

It is only for the good ones.

And I, I belabor that point of the false treasures because I think they are identifying and understanding them is the means to which we can understand this next question. And these last two will be shorter. How do we become poor in spirit? I don't think there's anyone in here. It's like, man, I love being a proud person.

I love finding my identity meat. No, we we've tasted enough of that world. Enough of that kind of thinking that we know the sour after taste of it, we know the competitive and fearful world that it. Means to when we try after these false treasures worse here, right. And we're gathering here and online because we want to understand what is real Makarios, what is real treasure?

So how do we, how do we get more poor in always going after, get more, do less to go after these false treasures. And I feel very, or go after these things that Chris Webb calls cancers to our soul. Here's what I say. I don't think this is a willpower thing. I don't think we become poor in spirit by just shoveling out the false treasures.

And then finally attaining it. We become poor in spirit when we are truly shown the emptiness of the false treasures. We become poor when we realized that is not the way to get rich when we come to the place in our life and say, that is not Makarios. That much is not just for those who can be self-sufficient approved by others and have some sense of moral authority.

Ruth Riemer wife of Ralph Riemer. Who's retired. Uh, from here, dear person to many of us, we were singing a song and callings where they attend Collingswood and Ruth was doing the worship song and the song was Christ is enough. And I just turned to Ruth and I said, Ruth, I know you believe that. And actually people of your generation like that, I've seen follow Jesus for a long time.

They believe that the Christ is enough. But I said, honestly, a lot of us who, who aren't quite in that generation yet, we feel like Christ probably is enough, but what we want is Christ. And we want Christ and a good marriage Christ and the sad, uh, satisfying reputation Christ and some sense of moral authority Christ.

And we don't just want Christ. How did you find out Christ was enough? She kind of blew me off. Bruce Ramer believe it or not. She said this, she said, Oh, Ben, that wasn't smacking me by the way. I don't know. I don't know what that was. She said, Ben, it's just what she said, words right around these. We have tried all of those things too.

We have played those games. We have just done it longer. We have seen how empty. Those false treasures are and truly seeing it in truly living our lives in pursuit of it. We finally come to more belief. This is not Makarios. That is poverty of spirit saying this does not hold my real treasure. The kingdom of God, muck is comes often through suffering SU seeing the emptiness of treasures.

It also comes through success through getting some false treasures and being like, this is not what it's cracked up to be. But the kingdom of God is not for those who muscle, their way to spiritual poverty. It's not for those who will their way to poverty and spirit. The kingdom of God is for those who can't get.

It's great. I don't know why you're here this morning. Didn't read your Bible this week. Didn't fight off temptation like Jesus did in Matthew four, the kingdom of God is made for those. Who have tried and sought after false treasures and probably still would if they were any good at it, the kingdom of God.

And you can imagine as he's teaching these people who probably don't know much, well, who've never not achieved power and who, who have a sense of, we just can't get Makarios. And he said, guess what? The kingdom.

There is a better land and it's a land where the King is King question three. What does the kingdom of God for though mean for those who feel who are spiritually poor? First off, it means wealth. Future images of the kingdom of God in the future includes feasts. There's enough to go around. There's unhindered joy.

There's no risk of loss or death. There's no need to fear. There's opulence. There's there's beauty. There's overwhelming sense of fortune and wealth. That physical reality is a spiritual reality now, but here's the beauty, the kingdom, the beauty. The spiritual riches com from the pain of being poor Henry now and says this, how can we embrace poverty as a way to God?

When everyone around us just wants to become rich poverty has many forms. We have to ask ourself, what is my poverty? Is it lack of money? Lack of emotional stability, lack of a loving partner, lack of security, lack of safety, lack of self-confidence. Each human being has a place of poverty. That's the place God wants to dwell.

How blessed are the poor Jesus says in Matthew five, three. This means that our blessing is hidden in our poverty. We are so inclined to cover up our poverty and ignore it that we met often miss the opportunity, who to discover God who dwells in it. Let's dare to see the poverty as the land, where our treasure is hidden.

It means wealth. The kingdom of God for the spiritual poor means rest. This is the message of Jesus. It's not that we attain or achieve the kingdom. It is that the King brings his kingdom to us, nothing to prove here, nothing to achieve here, don't have to fight for territory or your corner of real estate here.

You don't have to be more beautiful, more likable. You don't have to mask your dysfunctions, your disorders, your mental health, your struggles, your temptations, just as I am just as you are. Because the kingdom is ultimately not mine or yours. It's his, and the risen Kings reign of Makarios joy has enough room for each of us as a message paraphrase of Matthew 11, that I just love 28 to three 30, where Jesus says, are you tired?

Worn out, burned out on religion. Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me, work with me, watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly.

It means rest. And lastly it means love. It means love because love is the very fabric of every place where Jesus is. It is the thread that ties all of history together. Under this King. It is the very DNA of God. It is a, and I've, I've mentioned this to you before. It is one thing to say, God can love it is a deeper thing to say that God loves me.

It is an even deeper and truer thing to say that God is love. And we say that type of land is so far. From the world we live in, that type of thinking is so far CS Lewis has a great quote on this. He says, if we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy the most probable the nation is that we were made for another world.

Jesus said this, my kingdom is not of this world. To which we say this upside down life, this different way of being with Jesus. So, uh, pastor Mark said last week, shockingly, different than the principles of the world. I would just simply say, we are not made for this world, but there is a world, a kingdom made for you

in conclusion. This is all written in the plural, which is interesting. It's not blessed. It is the man who is poor in spirit. Blessed. It is the woman who is poor in spirit. Not bless it is the one who is poor in spirit. How much old Testament blesseds are written? It's they it's plural. Bless it is the community that operates not as this world blesses the community that doesn't play popularity games.

Blessed is the community that does not hoard power, but submits to one another. Bless it are the ones in the kingdom who listened to each other's story and pain, and don't take advantage of each other because of it. Bless it is this village that does not operate in self-sufficiency approval of others and moral authority, but one that operates in spiritual wealth where there's always enough to go around.

And an unprotected rest that includes all and love that binds them all together with their King, whose very name is love, love, Makarios love. And would you stand as we conclude, I'm going to do a prayer over you over me from awe Tozer, who, who loves and speaks often of this, these beatitudes. And then we will go.

This is from AWI Tozer, who will conclude our time. Pray with me father. I wanted though, no, the, but my coward heart fears to give up its toys. I can't part with them without inward bleeding. I don't know how to try to hide from the, the terror of the parting I come trembling, but I do come. Please root from my heart, all those things, which I have cherished so long and which have become a very part of my living self.

So that thou may enter and dwell there without rival. Then shell thou make a place of your feet glorious then. Show my heart have no need of the sun to shine in it for the ice self will be the light of it. And there shall be no night there in Jesus. The King's name. Amen. We are dismissed.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/blessed-are-the-poor-in-spirit aea66a04-c5d4-448c-b9aa-79c06a9e3284 Sun, 14 Feb 2021 18:22:09 GMT <div data-html="true">Matthew 5:3 <br /><br /> Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. <br /><br /> <br /><br /> We're in the sermon on the Mount and this, I was even getting ready a few minutes ago, thinking about this. I don't know any other passage that I just love to talk about more than this passage deeply. Um, I am thankful and grateful for this season. Pastor Mark introed this time in our bodies life, where we are entering into the sermon on the Mount. <br /><br /> He en entered this last week called the sermon the largest. Sermon that we have by Christ in the entire scripture, the greatest sermon that we have, the most quoted sermon that we have in bit of scripture in the early church, part of the early deduc, K the teaching of the early church included this at even fast forward to our church. <br /><br /> This is the foundation for our celebrate recovery program. These verses in the beginning of this sermon, this sermon on the Mount. Has everything to do with the Christian life. And I am so grateful to March into it with you. And today we're coming to the beginning. Part of this sermon last week looked, he went on the mountain side, gathered the people, his disciples to him, the people beyond him. <br /><br /> And he said these words, and it begins with the beatitudes, which are eight statements of blessing are the, and he goes through poor in spirit, the mourn, the meek, the peacemakers, and so on from there, he. Speaks these blessing words. And pastor Mark mentioned last week that these beatitudes, these eight blessing statements describe the values of the kingdom of God. <br /><br /> And then the sermon will go on and speak about what life is like practically in the kingdom of God. But today we come to this first one. Where Jesus says blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. I just love to pray with you. As we enter <br /><br /> Lord, you have said many things in your word. So many things you have taught us. So many things that you have given us. Here in this introductory statement to your most dense teaching on what it means to live out your kingdom on earth. We thank you for this radical statement that you give us some pray for wisdom and Holy spirit power. <br /><br /> As we look into it. In Jesus' name. Amen. Two routes that I want to give us of thinking that as we enter into these beatitudes statements that I think are going to be really important, the first route is this concept of kingdom of God. In this verse, blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven or kingdom of God. <br /><br /> This concept is decorated. All throughout the new Testament at matter of fact, once you start looking for it, you realize, Oh my goodness, Jesus is talking about this constantly. There is a future physical kingdom that will come revelations 20 speaks of this coming kingdom that will come in the future. <br /><br /> But most of the time when Jesus is talking about the kingdom, he's not just referring to a future reality. He's saying the kingdom has come now. Christ is talking about a spiritual kingdom that lives inside of his people. The benevolent rule of Christ that is occurring now that is happening within his people. <br /><br /> A true spiritual. Kingdom is an inside reality at this moment. And they be attitudes is the most dense teaching of what the values of the kingdom looks like. If you want to know what Jesus values in the spiritual life, how the King has laid out his kingdom, it is on this foundation. The second thing I wanted and we see this teaching. <br /><br /> That he gives where it says Jesus went through Galilee. This is Matthew four. Before he gives the sermon. Jesus went throughout Galilee teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness among the people. We see this after the teaching in Matthew nine, Jesus went through all the towns and villages teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom. <br /><br /> And healing every disease and sickness, the kingdom, the rule of Jesus has now come to his people. Second route kingdom of God. First, route second, route I want to mention is this word Makarios. This word, Makarios who used is the word blessing blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are those who mourn blessed are the meek using this word? <br /><br /> Bless it. In each of these beatitudes, this word is not a generic word. This word is a very specific word. Greek philosophers and authors would use this word, meaning happiness or fortune or wellbeing. But it wasn't just any type of happiness or fortune or wellbeing. It was a state of happiness that was reserved for the gods. <br /><br /> It was what Ambrosia, if you're familiar, that term Ambrosia is the food or drink of the gods Makarios. Is the happiness or satisfaction. One of the gods Mark, Rob Morgan writes this about grief, Greek authors and poets, Homer who wrote the Iliad and the Odyssey and HESI had both Homer and HESI had spoke of the Greek gods as being happy Makarios within themselves. <br /><br /> Because they were unaffected by the world of men who were subject to poverty, disease, weakness, misfortune, and death. If you had to read any homework in high school where you're one of those smart kids and are still reading homework, if you, you realize that Homer used a lot of words, It's estimated that he's only use this word, this specific word Makarios eight times. <br /><br /> This is not just a generic happiness. This is a specific happiness, a Supreme state of happiness. Play-Doh use the word not to just describe the gods, but also use the word to describe someone who was very successful in business that, that happiness usually reserved for the gods could be known on earth. <br /><br /> If someone was extremely wealthy Aristotle, and this is my favorite use of the word in Greek literature, Aristotle, use this word in juxtaposition to something else. He said this, if Makarios is here, the absolute opposite of Makarios is what he called the needy one Makarios for those who have all their needs met. <br /><br /> And the opposite is being in need. Makarios is a special state of happiness, only known to the gods or those who are extremely wealthy. Jesus goes on a mountain, gathers people around him, common folk around him and says Maccari OS for the poor in spirit. For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. What does it mean to be poor spear? <br /><br /> We're gonna look at three questions. I think you may have gotten the notes on the way in, so no one complained if you haven't received Ballantine notes. Yeah. Anyway, um, you got your notes on the way in, um, you liked that Shannon didn't you? Yeah. Thank you. Um, And there's three questions. We're going to be shaping this, talk around this. <br /><br /> Uh, what does it mean to be poor in spirit? How do we become poor in spirit? And what is the kingdom mean for those who are poor in spirit? So again, you have, what does it mean to you? Poor in spirit, you have this biggest rally, right? You've got Jesus, who's healing doing these diseases, talking about the kingdom and he comes to this mountain side and he comes to this mountain side with the people spread out in the acoustics, just writing. <br /><br /> Here's the big rally. Here's the big teaching point. Here's the densest teaching. And here comes Jesus. The band stops. He walks out and he says to those who are inner poor. And they say, what does that mean? How can a King of spirituality say blessed are those who are poor in spirituality? What does it mean to be poor in spirit? <br /><br /> Well, when we look at poverty, we, poverty is a little bit defining something. What it isn't right. We ask, well, what is, what's the definition of darkness? It's what absence of light, right? It is. And what it isn't. Well, what is poverty? Physical poverty. Is the absence or the lack of necessary resources or the ability to get them that's physical poverty. <br /><br /> It is found in what it isn't in, what it doesn't have spiritual poverty. On the other hand is the lack of being able to meet our own needs in the false treasures of the heart. It is found in what it isn't. It is the inability to achieve Makarios us on our own. Scripture Jesus in particular teaches a lot about false treasures. <br /><br /> He speaks about this in Matthew six, he speaks about this in the gospel of John talks about the temptation of being caught up in these false treasures. And I want to talk about three false treasures, three things. We look for Makarios. In, and we actually do not find them there, but we find them in the poverty of not getting them right. <br /><br /> And I want to do that by looking at Matthew four, if you would, if you're in your Bibles, we're going to go back from Matthew five and Matthew four, because in Matthew four, we've got a famous passage of Satan coming to Jesus, right? Satan comes to Jesus in the wilderness, not really a fair time to come to Jesus. <br /><br /> Hasn't eaten for 40 days, 40 nights. This fully man person has not eaten for 40 days. He is, he is on his death bed and many houses. Starving to death at this point. And Satan comes to him to entice him three times. And I believe in each of these enticing, he is, he is going after idols that are in our hearts are in the hearts of people for all time and culture. <br /><br /> This is the passage in Matthew four. Jesus was led by the spirit, into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting 40 days and 40 nights, he was hungry. That's an understatement. The tempter came to him and said, if you are a son of God, tell these stones to become bread. Jesus answered. It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God, then the devil took him to the Holy city and had him stand at the highest point of the temple. <br /><br /> If you are the son of God, he said, throw yourself down for it is written. He'll command his angels concerning you. They will lift up your hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. Jesus answered him. It is also written. Don't put the Lord, your God to the test. Again, the devil third time took him to the high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. <br /><br /> All their, I will give to you. He said, if you bow down and worship me, Jesus said to him away from me, Satan. It is written worship. It is written worship the Lord, your God, and serve him only. Then the devil left him and the angels came and attended him. Want to look at three treasures of the heart in this passage, the first treasure false treasure is self self-sufficiency self-sufficiency is satisfying my own, or others needs as a way of gaining my own sense. <br /><br /> Of happiness, spiritual poverty is moving away from the temptation to find my worth in what I can achieve or I can do self-sufficiency is an age old one. And here you have Satan coming to Jesus and being like Jesus. Wow. King of the universe. This is a little pathetic. Right. It came, some angel saw you when you were born, then you come amongst the poor. <br /><br /> Not that smart, come and start doing some miracles and, and maybe start in this thing. But now like, look at Jews before he had disciples and he says, look, this is, this is the King of the world dying on this hillside. And he says, Jesus, if you were really something. If you were even a little something, if you had even a little bit of magic powers in those paws, you could make that piece of rock, become a pizza. <br /><br /> Like, come on, man. This is pathetic. This is all you got. And he's saying to Jesus, who of course could have fed himself anytime show that you actually can take care of your own needs. You think you're going to change the world? You can't even feed yourself and he's playing on this temptation that lived, that lives in the heart of every one of us to show who we are by the fact that we can take care of me and mine. <br /><br /> The kingdom of man says I am satisfied because I am successful enough to take care of my own needs. It's this temptation is to say that I am I'm good, or I am at peace. Uh, if I make enough, if I work hard enough people who struggle with this false treasure, see, see that, uh, find it easy to describe the world in terms of winners and losers and are desperately trying to push themselves in the winner category. <br /><br /> They love to be seen for how busy and capable they are. They value external signs of achievement, and they hate being thought of as a needy person, people who live by this kingdom experience pride when they can be self-sufficient or shame when they feel like they can't first false treasure. <br /><br /> Self-sufficiency secondly, the approval of others, right. Satan comes to Jesus and he's like, all right, okay. You're not going to do the rocks pizza things. This what we're going to do. Jesus. You see Jerusalem here. You see all those important people walking around in the temple courts. Okay. I got the plan. <br /><br /> What you're going to do is you're going to jump. And right, as you jump, the horns are gonna blow. The angels are going to come cause you can command them and they will Swift you up. And it's this magical moment. You had one of these when you were born, but you wasted it on the shepherds. Now you can have it again in front of everybody and you will finally prove. <br /><br /> Who you are to people. If you just bow down to me, I'm just asking for that. But you will then have the approval of all these people. Your family will see what you are, right? Your town. We'll see what you are. News will spread of the God that you are. If you just were jumped, you can see this what a scene it will be. <br /><br /> You will come out of this obscurity and finally matter. And Satan is playing on this temptation that you are something based upon the admiration that you receive. Spiritual poverty is moving away from the temptation to find our security, our meaning in our relationships. And that relationships could be the relationship with, um, uh, your, your, your work. <br /><br /> Your, your business, the people around you, your family, the disapproval of others feels like maybe if I get the approval of others, then I can take a sip at that Makarios. It is a false treasure as a incredibly intelligent anthropologist. Michael Scott says this of the sensation he says, would I rather be feared or loved? <br /><br /> Easy both. I want people to be afraid of how much they love me. Right. This is the temptation of the heart of wanting to find ourselves in the approval of others. People who are very susceptible to this false treasure. Those of us who are susceptible to that, we work hard to be noticed by our families are our friends, our neighborhoods. <br /><br /> We can't seem to get funny enough, spiritual enough. Beautiful enough, likable enough. And, and people, when we struggle with this, this, this desire, this false treasure to be approved of by others, we find it difficult to work on our inner world. Why? Because no one sees us working on our inner world. It's because we are often so concerned with how we look on the outside this kingdom, the kingdom of approval. <br /><br /> Produces jealousy and loneliness comparison is the thief of joy. And when we are trying to find our way in the approval of others, we're always trying to claw head and are always upset when someone claws ahead of us. Third false treasure. We see temptation to Jesus that can lead us into this understanding of poverty of spirit, moral authority. <br /><br /> Satan says to Jesus, if you only bow to me, I will give you moral power. I'm going to make these places, Jesus nations, you can have all these nations and people, you will have the deep satisfaction of ruling these people and being the one who defines what's good and what's bad. Jesus speaks to this HeartSpace and the Pharisees. <br /><br /> All the time spiritual poverty is moving away from the temptation to find our identity in being good and right to find maybe we don't, maybe we haven't achieved. Maybe aren't self-sufficient as much as we want to be Maine. Maybe we don't have the approval of others as much as we want, but at least at the end of the day, I can hang my hat on the fact that I'm a good one. <br /><br /> And I can gain my sense of identity in being better than other people. The kingdom of man says my source of happiness and satisfaction is that I am a better person and that those I disagree with or I'm in conflict with are worse. I am right. And it feels good. It is almost happy for those of us who struggle with this false treasure, this false kingdom to view the world as a dirty place. <br /><br /> We want to see it as so dirty and bad because it makes me feel more clean and special. Jesus was very strong against those who worked so hard to do good. On their own, this type of kingdom, this type of false treasure, so sneaky and insidious, it produces godlessness and it is poison to the gospel godlessness because it is choosing to try to do good without God. <br /><br /> Trying to be good without God is a slap in God's face. This is how he spoke to the Pharisees. No matter how many Christian tattoos they tried to put on it was about themselves and poisonous because we know of nothing more discouraging to sinners than those who try to use their morality as a club. It teaches that Christ is not for everyone. <br /><br /> It is only for the good ones. <br /><br /> And I, I belabor that point of the false treasures because I think they are identifying and understanding them is the means to which we can understand this next question. And these last two will be shorter. How do we become poor in spirit? I don't think there's anyone in here. It's like, man, I love being a proud person. <br /><br /> I love finding my identity meat. No, we we've tasted enough of that world. Enough of that kind of thinking that we know the sour after taste of it, we know the competitive and fearful world that it. Means to when we try after these false treasures worse here, right. And we're gathering here and online because we want to understand what is real Makarios, what is real treasure? <br /><br /> So how do we, how do we get more poor in always going after, get more, do less to go after these false treasures. And I feel very, or go after these things that Chris Webb calls cancers to our soul. Here's what I say. I don't think this is a willpower thing. I don't think we become poor in spirit by just shoveling out the false treasures. <br /><br /> And then finally attaining it. We become poor in spirit when we are truly shown the emptiness of the false treasures. We become poor when we realized that is not the way to get rich when we come to the place in our life and say, that is not Makarios. That much is not just for those who can be self-sufficient approved by others and have some sense of moral authority. <br /><br /> Ruth Riemer wife of Ralph Riemer. Who's retired. Uh, from here, dear person to many of us, we were singing a song and callings where they attend Collingswood and Ruth was doing the worship song and the song was Christ is enough. And I just turned to Ruth and I said, Ruth, I know you believe that. And actually people of your generation like that, I've seen follow Jesus for a long time. <br /><br /> They believe that the Christ is enough. But I said, honestly, a lot of us who, who aren't quite in that generation yet, we feel like Christ probably is enough, but what we want is Christ. And we want Christ and a good marriage Christ and the sad, uh, satisfying reputation Christ and some sense of moral authority Christ. <br /><br /> And we don't just want Christ. How did you find out Christ was enough? She kind of blew me off. Bruce Ramer believe it or not. She said this, she said, Oh, Ben, that wasn't smacking me by the way. I don't know. I don't know what that was. She said, Ben, it's just what she said, words right around these. We have tried all of those things too. <br /><br /> We have played those games. We have just done it longer. We have seen how empty. Those false treasures are and truly seeing it in truly living our lives in pursuit of it. We finally come to more belief. This is not Makarios. That is poverty of spirit saying this does not hold my real treasure. The kingdom of God, muck is comes often through suffering SU seeing the emptiness of treasures. <br /><br /> It also comes through success through getting some false treasures and being like, this is not what it's cracked up to be. But the kingdom of God is not for those who muscle, their way to spiritual poverty. It's not for those who will their way to poverty and spirit. The kingdom of God is for those who can't get. <br /><br /> It's great. I don't know why you're here this morning. Didn't read your Bible this week. Didn't fight off temptation like Jesus did in Matthew four, the kingdom of God is made for those. Who have tried and sought after false treasures and probably still would if they were any good at it, the kingdom of God. <br /><br /> And you can imagine as he's teaching these people who probably don't know much, well, who've never not achieved power and who, who have a sense of, we just can't get Makarios. And he said, guess what? The kingdom. <br /><br /> There is a better land and it's a land where the King is King question three. What does the kingdom of God for though mean for those who feel who are spiritually poor? First off, it means wealth. Future images of the kingdom of God in the future includes feasts. There's enough to go around. There's unhindered joy. <br /><br /> There's no risk of loss or death. There's no need to fear. There's opulence. There's there's beauty. There's overwhelming sense of fortune and wealth. That physical reality is a spiritual reality now, but here's the beauty, the kingdom, the beauty. The spiritual riches com from the pain of being poor Henry now and says this, how can we embrace poverty as a way to God? <br /><br /> When everyone around us just wants to become rich poverty has many forms. We have to ask ourself, what is my poverty? Is it lack of money? Lack of emotional stability, lack of a loving partner, lack of security, lack of safety, lack of self-confidence. Each human being has a place of poverty. That's the place God wants to dwell. <br /><br /> How blessed are the poor Jesus says in Matthew five, three. This means that our blessing is hidden in our poverty. We are so inclined to cover up our poverty and ignore it that we met often miss the opportunity, who to discover God who dwells in it. Let's dare to see the poverty as the land, where our treasure is hidden. <br /><br /> It means wealth. The kingdom of God for the spiritual poor means rest. This is the message of Jesus. It's not that we attain or achieve the kingdom. It is that the King brings his kingdom to us, nothing to prove here, nothing to achieve here, don't have to fight for territory or your corner of real estate here. <br /><br /> You don't have to be more beautiful, more likable. You don't have to mask your dysfunctions, your disorders, your mental health, your struggles, your temptations, just as I am just as you are. Because the kingdom is ultimately not mine or yours. It's his, and the risen Kings reign of Makarios joy has enough room for each of us as a message paraphrase of Matthew 11, that I just love 28 to three 30, where Jesus says, are you tired? <br /><br /> Worn out, burned out on religion. Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me, work with me, watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly. <br /><br /> It means rest. And lastly it means love. It means love because love is the very fabric of every place where Jesus is. It is the thread that ties all of history together. Under this King. It is the very DNA of God. It is a, and I've, I've mentioned this to you before. It is one thing to say, God can love it is a deeper thing to say that God loves me. <br /><br /> It is an even deeper and truer thing to say that God is love. And we say that type of land is so far. From the world we live in, that type of thinking is so far CS Lewis has a great quote on this. He says, if we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy the most probable the nation is that we were made for another world. <br /><br /> Jesus said this, my kingdom is not of this world. To which we say this upside down life, this different way of being with Jesus. So, uh, pastor Mark said last week, shockingly, different than the principles of the world. I would just simply say, we are not made for this world, but there is a world, a kingdom made for you <br /><br /> in conclusion. This is all written in the plural, which is interesting. It's not blessed. It is the man who is poor in spirit. Blessed. It is the woman who is poor in spirit. Not bless it is the one who is poor in spirit. How much old Testament blesseds are written? It's they it's plural. Bless it is the community that operates not as this world blesses the community that doesn't play popularity games. <br /><br /> Blessed is the community that does not hoard power, but submits to one another. Bless it are the ones in the kingdom who listened to each other's story and pain, and don't take advantage of each other because of it. Bless it is this village that does not operate in self-sufficiency approval of others and moral authority, but one that operates in spiritual wealth where there's always enough to go around. <br /><br /> And an unprotected rest that includes all and love that binds them all together with their King, whose very name is love, love, Makarios love. And would you stand as we conclude, I'm going to do a prayer over you over me from awe Tozer, who, who loves and speaks often of this, these beatitudes. And then we will go. <br /><br /> This is from AWI Tozer, who will conclude our time. Pray with me father. I wanted though, no, the, but my coward heart fears to give up its toys. I can't part with them without inward bleeding. I don't know how to try to hide from the, the terror of the parting I come trembling, but I do come. Please root from my heart, all those things, which I have cherished so long and which have become a very part of my living self. <br /><br /> So that thou may enter and dwell there without rival. Then shell thou make a place of your feet glorious then. Show my heart have no need of the sun to shine in it for the ice self will be the light of it. And there shall be no night there in Jesus. The King's name. Amen. We are dismissed.</div> false no <![CDATA[The Upside Down Life]]> Matthew 5-7

Series kickoff on the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount



Okay. We're going to be starting a new series today.

One I'm very, very excited about. It is a series called the upside down life. It is a series that is focusing on Matthew five through seven, the sermon on the Mount. And I'd like to read just the first verse, first two verses of this great passage, many theologians Bible teachers called this the sermon because it is the most prominent of all the teachings of Jesus.

And it says this in Matthew chapter five, verse one. Now, when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountain side and sat down. His disciples came to him and he began to teach them. Let's pray together. Lord, we come today and God in the midst of the storm and in the quietness of our homes, uh, I pray that your spirit would take truth.

Um, apply it to our lives. As we just launched this incredible study into this incredible sermon. Lord teach us what it means to, um, allow you to turn our lives upside down and to change us and transform us into the people that it is your intention, that your people be as parts of your kingdom in Jesus name.

I pray. Amen. Many of you grew up in your English lit class in high school, or perhaps in college with a thing called aphorisms and an aphorism is a pithy observation that contains a general truth. There's lots of them. Maybe you're familiar with some of these, a picture's worth a thousand words, actions speak louder than words.

An Apple a day keeps the doctor away. He who hesitates is lost. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. The early bird catches the worm. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. These are all aphorisms and we're familiar with these, but sometimes we find that they are overgeneralizations. For instance, does one Apple really keep the doctor away.

Does the early bird always beat out the other birds to the worm. Sometimes it's better to fix something, even if it isn't broken. And sometimes a prisms actually have conflicting messages. One of my favorites is the fact that we often say absence makes the heart grow fonder, but we also say out of sight, out of mind, the reason I'm mentioning these.

Is because I think many of us view the sermon on the Mount as a series of aphorisms, cool phrases, catchy sound bites. We're familiar with. Maybe we even quote them, but Jesus presented them as specific living evidences of his existence in a person's life. That more than this, they are presented as a real life.

Shockingly different way to live in our culture that exalts rich, flamboyant ruthless individuals, often we are told blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are the merciful blessed are the peacemakers in a world that talks of personal worth in terms of money. We read in this sermon, do not lay up for yourselves, treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal.

But lay up for yourselves, Trey in heaven in adult tread on me. If you get hit, hit back harder world. We get this from Jesus. If you do not forgive him, brothers Dan trespasses, neither will your father forgive your trespasses. Love your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you. How about this? If anyone slaps you on the right, she turned to him the other also, and if anyone would Sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.

And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. And bless it. Are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you, falsely on my account to gay, where today we're beginning a multi-month journey into this sermon of Jesus. And today what I'd like to do is just takes our, our moments together to give a quick overview of what this whole thing is about.

And there are four things. That this sermon shows us. First of all, Matthew five through seven shows us the values and lifestyle of Jesus' kingdom. The values are the beatitudes. The lifestyle is the remainder of Matthew five through seven, which followed the beatitudes. They are all about kingdom living.

Living under the reign of God on our, in our lives, the reign of Jesus in particular, it's interesting that it starts off the first beatitude in verse three, he says, blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. They belong to the kingdom of heaven, but it also says that about the last one, blessed are those that are persecuted for, they belong to the kingdom of heaven.

Most Bible scholars believe this is a principle called inclusion. That is the first one is said to belong to the kingdom. And the last one is said to belong to the kingdom. Then it is, it is an inclusive statement of saying these are the characteristics, all of them that belong, that belong, that are manifest in the life of those that belong in the, to the kingdom of heaven.

This is about Jesus' kingdom. As John Stott said it. In Matthew five through seven regarding Jesus' kingdom. It describes what human life, if it looks like when it comes under the gracious rule of God in the early church and the first 100 years, which is called that is the time the primitive or early churches it's known by church historians.

This passage was quoted more than any other passage of the new Testament. In 98 D there's a writing called the D dot K, which literally means teaching the full title was the teaching of the 12 apostles. It was the, the catechism. It was the, the training manual for the early church for the, for the years after the, uh, Jesus had left.

And most of the disciples, all the disciples ultimately had passed away. And in this training manual, which we still have today, By far, the sermon on the Mount is the passage that is most highlighted, that is most talked about and commented on as the way, way that we live out the Christian life. I truly believe if Jesus visited our church for a month of meetings, his first choice to teach us would be Matthew five through seven.

It shows us the values and the lifestyles of Jesus' kingdom. It is in total contrast to the system of the world. And this was really our second principle. This passage shows the contrast of the world. To the kingdom of Jesus. We're told in first John chapter two verse 15 and 16, about the system of the world, the values and the lifestyle, the values and the priority of the system of the world, which means the system not under the reign of Christ in those verses.

Here's what it says. Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love the love of the father is not in them. For everything in the world. And here they are, the three things that Mark the world as priorities and values, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life comes not from the father, but from the world, the values and the priorities of the world are presented in contrast to that, of the kingdom of Jesus.

And here he says three things. He says, first of all, one priority and value. Is the lust of the flesh pleasures of life, whether it's sex or food or comfort or delicacies, he says, that's one of the things that people seek to find satisfaction and contentment, and, and that drives them as a passion of life.

Uh, second is the lust of the eyes. The greed, the looking and avarice and coveting and desiring things, whether it is possessions or money or, or something that I feel I need to have. There's pleasures the lust of the flesh, there's possessions, the lust of the eyes. And then he says the pride of life.

Literally it could be rendered the boasting of who we are and what we've accomplished. It is positioned in power. That I am somebody that I've done, something that I have influenced that, that I have control over circumstances. And God says to us here through the apostle John and first chapter first, John chapter two, verse 15 and 16.

This is what compels the world pleasure or possessions or position the sermon on the Mount says an a completely contrary message. It says those things do not bring Makarios. The word Makarios is blessing. They do not lead to blessedness or happiness. There's a wonderful old Testament story that I think, I think it is a parallel of all of this.

It's a story of a actually a very prominent world figure. His name was never . He was the King of Babylon and a very powerful King in the ancient Erie East. And if we can bring up his picture, this is actually a picture of . Do we have that picture? Okay. Oh, it's not on the screen. Sorry. Um, and never could, Nesser was famous because of what, uh, what he did in his kingdom and in the kingdom of Babylon.

He had what is known as the hanging gardens. And this is actually a rendering based on archeological digs. These hanging gardens, where we're one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. The city was a city where the river flowed through it. It is a city of astonishing, uh, influence and magnificence. It is a city whose walls were so large, it was famous that you could have a chariot of four horses that would pass a chariot of four horses going the other direction.

And they would actually have races up there and it was 80 feet wide. These walls, there were 320 feet high to put that in perspective, a football field is shorter than that. And they were 50. The walls were 56 miles. Why this was a magnificent city and Daniel chapter four records, a scene that takes place on this city.

And Nebuchadnezzar now is up on the top of his palace. And here's what happened when the King was walking on the roof of the Royal palace of Babylon, he said is not this the great Babylon I have built as the Royal residence. By my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty, even as the words, Ron, his lips, a voice came from heaven.

This is what I decreed for you. King Nebuchadnezzar, your Royal authority has been taken from you. You will be driven away from people and will live with the wild animals. You will eat grass like the ox and seven periods of time shall pass over you until you know that the most high rules, the kingdom of men and gives it to whom you will.

God says he's he hears the, the, the, the arrogant statement of Nebuchadnezzar as he looks at his re splendid steady, and he says, you're gonna, you're gonna actually be out in the field. And for seven periods, his debate was at seven weeks, seven months, you're going to live like an animal. And this picture that depicts the rendering of what actually happened.

And at the end of that period, he came to his senses. And again, Daniel for records, the result at the end of the days, I never could miss or lifted my eyes to heaven. And my reason returned to me and I blessed the most time and praised and honored him who lives forever. Now I never could never praise and extol and honor the King of heaven for all his works are right.

And his ways are just, and those who walk in pride, he is able to humble. This story highlights. The

resulting in him seeing the reality of the living God, but the value system of Matthew five through seven reminds us of a deeper message in the story of Nebuchadnezzar Jesus' sermon on the Mount tells us that the real insanity of Nebuchadnezzar. Was not when he was crawling around on the field, the real insanity of never connector took place on the roofs of his palace, where he looked at life thinking that he was in control and that he could find lasting and real satisfaction in what he accomplished and gained.

His whole world view was turned upside down. From a deceived self-sufficiency we're power and possessions and position and pleasures were the essence of life. He came, I'm in contact with the reality of the kingdom of heaven, the way of life experienced in heaven, and ultimately brought to earth later through King Jesus.

A life that considers it insanity to seek your happiness and contentment in power and possessions and position and pleasure. And his whole world was turned up that I sat upside down when he had the daunting reality of what life was really about. The lifestyle and the values that Jesus is presenting in Matthew five through seven are in utter contrast with the lifestyle in the world, around us and the world in which we live number three, Matthew five through seven, shows us what Jesus commands and produces in a person's life.

Jesus commends this life. He says, bless it are those that embrace the values of the beatitudes. And the actions of the remainder of this sermon, the word blessing Makarios, uh, means a couple of things. It certainly does mean happiness. It is talking about a level of genuine happiness. It is also talking about a happiness that is out of the favor of God being poured out in people's lives.

But it is not only that the Jesus commends this way of life and says it is the means to satisfaction. It is also Jesus. Producing this life, this lifestyle of Matthew five through seven is counter-cultural not only to this world. Nope. But also to us, it is counter-cultural to our flesh or sinful nature.

Um, which are two ways of saying the same thing are our propensity away from things of God. Only Jesus can live. The life that is described in Matthew five 27. He is willing to begin living that life through us here. It enables us to begin in baby steps to live. It was the life of heaven on earth. That's why Jesus will say in Matthew chapter six, as he gives the Lord's prayer, this model prayer.

And he says, this is how, how I want you to pray our father who's in heaven, your kingdom come your will be done. Just like it is in heaven. What is he saying? Lord? Let us experience here life, as it is experienced in your presence, inevit, as it will, one day be when heaven, the new heavens and new earth control all of the, where all the cosmos, but he says, Jesus has come to bring the potential to not only enter that kingdom, but to be the source of living this new life of Matthew five through seven in our lives.

This is what John the Baptist was saying. As he talked about repent for the kingdom of heaven is near repent means to change your mind. And he says, get your minds around this thing, that what Jesus know, what the King is bringing is something new and different. It means to get your mind around the fact that repenting means to change your mind about yourselves, that, that this life is not something you do.

To recognize that you will not find your happiness in your own pursuits to respect repent of your insufficiency and failures, to be ready to embrace the kingdom rule of PA and power of Jesus in your life. And John, the Baptist was the preparer. The one that went before and says, he's coming, he's bringing the kingdom here, this new way of life, this new set of values.

He's bringing it. Turn your mind towards it. Dallas Willard has an illustration in his book. The divine conspiracy that that I think is a beautiful expression of this. Here's what he says. I'd like to just read this section quickly as a child, I lived in an area of Southern Missouri, where electricity was available only in the form of lightning.

We had more of that than we could use. But in my senior year of high school, the REA the rural electrification administration extended its lines into the area where we lived in electrical power became available to households and farms. When those lines came by our farm, a very different way of life presented itself.

Our relationships to fundamental aspects of life, daylight and dark, hot and cold, clean, and dirty work and leisure preparing food and preserving. It could then be vastly changed for the better, but we still had to believe in the electricity and its arrangements, understand them and take the practical steps involved, involved in relying on it.

He says it was like, this was like somebody came and said, repent. For electricity is at hand repent or turn from your kerosene lamps and lanterns your iceboxes and cellars, your scrub, scrub boards, and rug beaters, your woman powered sewing machines and your radios with dry cell batteries. He says strangely a few did not.

They did not enter the kingdom of electricity. Some just didn't want to change. Others could not afford it. Or so they thought that illustration is perfect to me, John, the Baptist is saying there's one coming that is bringing a dynamic way of life. He's providing not only the opportunity for you to enter it, but for you to live it, he's the power of it.

But change your minds. Embrace it. Prepare to, to imbibe it. This life that is it's described in Matthew five through seven. The fourth thing we find in this passage is this. It shows us what brings God's blessing to a person's life. Jonathan Edwards, pastor of the 17 hundreds and the theologian of the first great awakening in America.

Made this statement, the soul of every man necessarily craves happiness. This is a universal appetite of human nature. That is alike in the good and the bad Blaise Pascal talked about mans in variable, hunger to be happy and pursuit of being happy. He says that this sway all men seek happiness. This is without exception.

Whatever different means they employ the, they all tend to this end, the cause of some going to war and of others avoiding it. It is the same desire in both attended with different views. They will never take the least step, but to this object, this is the motive of every action of every man to be happy.

Jesus says in Matthew five, seven, the path to blessedness, to happiness, to contentedness and satisfaction has been made available to us. It is embracing the values and practices of Jesus' kingdom. And we might ask as we close. So why don't we all embrace them? I would suggest it's for this reason,

because this set of values and priorities and lifestyle practices will probably turn our life upside down. And for many of us, we would rather fly wrong side up. If most people around us are doing it. But for those who want the reign of Jesus in their lives and the incredible fruit that comes with it.

Jesus invites us to drink at the well of Matthew five through seven, this incredible sermon on the mountain Lord. As we launch into this series over these weeks and months. I pray that we would have the courage to be listeners and livers of these truths. There are things you say here that are so contrary to what even culturally we view as practical wisdom.

God, may we not just hear these as pithy sayings and interesting concepts?

But the very principles of life that you expect to be lived by those that live under the reign of Jesus. So Lord, give us the conviction and the courage to live in your strength. This lifestyle. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Have a great week guys, go in peace to love and serve and enjoy the Lord

.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-upside-down-life f5f97a58-c535-4f50-9d35-593a3164bbd9 Sun, 07 Feb 2021 21:38:14 GMT <div data-html="true">Matthew 5-7 <br /><br /> Series kickoff on the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount <br /><br /> <br /><br /> Okay. We're going to be starting a new series today. <br /><br /> One I'm very, very excited about. It is a series called the upside down life. It is a series that is focusing on Matthew five through seven, the sermon on the Mount. And I'd like to read just the first verse, first two verses of this great passage, many theologians Bible teachers called this the sermon because it is the most prominent of all the teachings of Jesus. <br /><br /> And it says this in Matthew chapter five, verse one. Now, when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountain side and sat down. His disciples came to him and he began to teach them. Let's pray together. Lord, we come today and God in the midst of the storm and in the quietness of our homes, uh, I pray that your spirit would take truth. <br /><br /> Um, apply it to our lives. As we just launched this incredible study into this incredible sermon. Lord teach us what it means to, um, allow you to turn our lives upside down and to change us and transform us into the people that it is your intention, that your people be as parts of your kingdom in Jesus name. <br /><br /> I pray. Amen. Many of you grew up in your English lit class in high school, or perhaps in college with a thing called aphorisms and an aphorism is a pithy observation that contains a general truth. There's lots of them. Maybe you're familiar with some of these, a picture's worth a thousand words, actions speak louder than words. <br /><br /> An Apple a day keeps the doctor away. He who hesitates is lost. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. The early bird catches the worm. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. These are all aphorisms and we're familiar with these, but sometimes we find that they are overgeneralizations. For instance, does one Apple really keep the doctor away. <br /><br /> Does the early bird always beat out the other birds to the worm. Sometimes it's better to fix something, even if it isn't broken. And sometimes a prisms actually have conflicting messages. One of my favorites is the fact that we often say absence makes the heart grow fonder, but we also say out of sight, out of mind, the reason I'm mentioning these. <br /><br /> Is because I think many of us view the sermon on the Mount as a series of aphorisms, cool phrases, catchy sound bites. We're familiar with. Maybe we even quote them, but Jesus presented them as specific living evidences of his existence in a person's life. That more than this, they are presented as a real life. <br /><br /> Shockingly different way to live in our culture that exalts rich, flamboyant ruthless individuals, often we are told blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are the merciful blessed are the peacemakers in a world that talks of personal worth in terms of money. We read in this sermon, do not lay up for yourselves, treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. <br /><br /> But lay up for yourselves, Trey in heaven in adult tread on me. If you get hit, hit back harder world. We get this from Jesus. If you do not forgive him, brothers Dan trespasses, neither will your father forgive your trespasses. Love your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you. How about this? If anyone slaps you on the right, she turned to him the other also, and if anyone would Sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. <br /><br /> And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. And bless it. Are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you, falsely on my account to gay, where today we're beginning a multi-month journey into this sermon of Jesus. And today what I'd like to do is just takes our, our moments together to give a quick overview of what this whole thing is about. <br /><br /> And there are four things. That this sermon shows us. First of all, Matthew five through seven shows us the values and lifestyle of Jesus' kingdom. The values are the beatitudes. The lifestyle is the remainder of Matthew five through seven, which followed the beatitudes. They are all about kingdom living. <br /><br /> Living under the reign of God on our, in our lives, the reign of Jesus in particular, it's interesting that it starts off the first beatitude in verse three, he says, blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. They belong to the kingdom of heaven, but it also says that about the last one, blessed are those that are persecuted for, they belong to the kingdom of heaven. <br /><br /> Most Bible scholars believe this is a principle called inclusion. That is the first one is said to belong to the kingdom. And the last one is said to belong to the kingdom. Then it is, it is an inclusive statement of saying these are the characteristics, all of them that belong, that belong, that are manifest in the life of those that belong in the, to the kingdom of heaven. <br /><br /> This is about Jesus' kingdom. As John Stott said it. In Matthew five through seven regarding Jesus' kingdom. It describes what human life, if it looks like when it comes under the gracious rule of God in the early church and the first 100 years, which is called that is the time the primitive or early churches it's known by church historians. <br /><br /> This passage was quoted more than any other passage of the new Testament. In 98 D there's a writing called the D dot K, which literally means teaching the full title was the teaching of the 12 apostles. It was the, the catechism. It was the, the training manual for the early church for the, for the years after the, uh, Jesus had left. <br /><br /> And most of the disciples, all the disciples ultimately had passed away. And in this training manual, which we still have today, By far, the sermon on the Mount is the passage that is most highlighted, that is most talked about and commented on as the way, way that we live out the Christian life. I truly believe if Jesus visited our church for a month of meetings, his first choice to teach us would be Matthew five through seven. <br /><br /> It shows us the values and the lifestyles of Jesus' kingdom. It is in total contrast to the system of the world. And this was really our second principle. This passage shows the contrast of the world. To the kingdom of Jesus. We're told in first John chapter two verse 15 and 16, about the system of the world, the values and the lifestyle, the values and the priority of the system of the world, which means the system not under the reign of Christ in those verses. <br /><br /> Here's what it says. Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love the love of the father is not in them. For everything in the world. And here they are, the three things that Mark the world as priorities and values, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life comes not from the father, but from the world, the values and the priorities of the world are presented in contrast to that, of the kingdom of Jesus. <br /><br /> And here he says three things. He says, first of all, one priority and value. Is the lust of the flesh pleasures of life, whether it's sex or food or comfort or delicacies, he says, that's one of the things that people seek to find satisfaction and contentment, and, and that drives them as a passion of life. <br /><br /> Uh, second is the lust of the eyes. The greed, the looking and avarice and coveting and desiring things, whether it is possessions or money or, or something that I feel I need to have. There's pleasures the lust of the flesh, there's possessions, the lust of the eyes. And then he says the pride of life. <br /><br /> Literally it could be rendered the boasting of who we are and what we've accomplished. It is positioned in power. That I am somebody that I've done, something that I have influenced that, that I have control over circumstances. And God says to us here through the apostle John and first chapter first, John chapter two, verse 15 and 16. <br /><br /> This is what compels the world pleasure or possessions or position the sermon on the Mount says an a completely contrary message. It says those things do not bring Makarios. The word Makarios is blessing. They do not lead to blessedness or happiness. There's a wonderful old Testament story that I think, I think it is a parallel of all of this. <br /><br /> It's a story of a actually a very prominent world figure. His name was never . He was the King of Babylon and a very powerful King in the ancient Erie East. And if we can bring up his picture, this is actually a picture of . Do we have that picture? Okay. Oh, it's not on the screen. Sorry. Um, and never could, Nesser was famous because of what, uh, what he did in his kingdom and in the kingdom of Babylon. <br /><br /> He had what is known as the hanging gardens. And this is actually a rendering based on archeological digs. These hanging gardens, where we're one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. The city was a city where the river flowed through it. It is a city of astonishing, uh, influence and magnificence. It is a city whose walls were so large, it was famous that you could have a chariot of four horses that would pass a chariot of four horses going the other direction. <br /><br /> And they would actually have races up there and it was 80 feet wide. These walls, there were 320 feet high to put that in perspective, a football field is shorter than that. And they were 50. The walls were 56 miles. Why this was a magnificent city and Daniel chapter four records, a scene that takes place on this city. <br /><br /> And Nebuchadnezzar now is up on the top of his palace. And here's what happened when the King was walking on the roof of the Royal palace of Babylon, he said is not this the great Babylon I have built as the Royal residence. By my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty, even as the words, Ron, his lips, a voice came from heaven. <br /><br /> This is what I decreed for you. King Nebuchadnezzar, your Royal authority has been taken from you. You will be driven away from people and will live with the wild animals. You will eat grass like the ox and seven periods of time shall pass over you until you know that the most high rules, the kingdom of men and gives it to whom you will. <br /><br /> God says he's he hears the, the, the, the arrogant statement of Nebuchadnezzar as he looks at his re splendid steady, and he says, you're gonna, you're gonna actually be out in the field. And for seven periods, his debate was at seven weeks, seven months, you're going to live like an animal. And this picture that depicts the rendering of what actually happened. <br /><br /> And at the end of that period, he came to his senses. And again, Daniel for records, the result at the end of the days, I never could miss or lifted my eyes to heaven. And my reason returned to me and I blessed the most time and praised and honored him who lives forever. Now I never could never praise and extol and honor the King of heaven for all his works are right. <br /><br /> And his ways are just, and those who walk in pride, he is able to humble. This story highlights. The <br /><br /> resulting in him seeing the reality of the living God, but the value system of Matthew five through seven reminds us of a deeper message in the story of Nebuchadnezzar Jesus' sermon on the Mount tells us that the real insanity of Nebuchadnezzar. Was not when he was crawling around on the field, the real insanity of never connector took place on the roofs of his palace, where he looked at life thinking that he was in control and that he could find lasting and real satisfaction in what he accomplished and gained. <br /><br /> His whole world view was turned upside down. From a deceived self-sufficiency we're power and possessions and position and pleasures were the essence of life. He came, I'm in contact with the reality of the kingdom of heaven, the way of life experienced in heaven, and ultimately brought to earth later through King Jesus. <br /><br /> A life that considers it insanity to seek your happiness and contentment in power and possessions and position and pleasure. And his whole world was turned up that I sat upside down when he had the daunting reality of what life was really about. The lifestyle and the values that Jesus is presenting in Matthew five through seven are in utter contrast with the lifestyle in the world, around us and the world in which we live number three, Matthew five through seven, shows us what Jesus commands and produces in a person's life. <br /><br /> Jesus commends this life. He says, bless it are those that embrace the values of the beatitudes. And the actions of the remainder of this sermon, the word blessing Makarios, uh, means a couple of things. It certainly does mean happiness. It is talking about a level of genuine happiness. It is also talking about a happiness that is out of the favor of God being poured out in people's lives. <br /><br /> But it is not only that the Jesus commends this way of life and says it is the means to satisfaction. It is also Jesus. Producing this life, this lifestyle of Matthew five through seven is counter-cultural not only to this world. Nope. But also to us, it is counter-cultural to our flesh or sinful nature. <br /><br /> Um, which are two ways of saying the same thing are our propensity away from things of God. Only Jesus can live. The life that is described in Matthew five 27. He is willing to begin living that life through us here. It enables us to begin in baby steps to live. It was the life of heaven on earth. That's why Jesus will say in Matthew chapter six, as he gives the Lord's prayer, this model prayer. <br /><br /> And he says, this is how, how I want you to pray our father who's in heaven, your kingdom come your will be done. Just like it is in heaven. What is he saying? Lord? Let us experience here life, as it is experienced in your presence, inevit, as it will, one day be when heaven, the new heavens and new earth control all of the, where all the cosmos, but he says, Jesus has come to bring the potential to not only enter that kingdom, but to be the source of living this new life of Matthew five through seven in our lives. <br /><br /> This is what John the Baptist was saying. As he talked about repent for the kingdom of heaven is near repent means to change your mind. And he says, get your minds around this thing, that what Jesus know, what the King is bringing is something new and different. It means to get your mind around the fact that repenting means to change your mind about yourselves, that, that this life is not something you do. <br /><br /> To recognize that you will not find your happiness in your own pursuits to respect repent of your insufficiency and failures, to be ready to embrace the kingdom rule of PA and power of Jesus in your life. And John, the Baptist was the preparer. The one that went before and says, he's coming, he's bringing the kingdom here, this new way of life, this new set of values. <br /><br /> He's bringing it. Turn your mind towards it. Dallas Willard has an illustration in his book. The divine conspiracy that that I think is a beautiful expression of this. Here's what he says. I'd like to just read this section quickly as a child, I lived in an area of Southern Missouri, where electricity was available only in the form of lightning. <br /><br /> We had more of that than we could use. But in my senior year of high school, the REA the rural electrification administration extended its lines into the area where we lived in electrical power became available to households and farms. When those lines came by our farm, a very different way of life presented itself. <br /><br /> Our relationships to fundamental aspects of life, daylight and dark, hot and cold, clean, and dirty work and leisure preparing food and preserving. It could then be vastly changed for the better, but we still had to believe in the electricity and its arrangements, understand them and take the practical steps involved, involved in relying on it. <br /><br /> He says it was like, this was like somebody came and said, repent. For electricity is at hand repent or turn from your kerosene lamps and lanterns your iceboxes and cellars, your scrub, scrub boards, and rug beaters, your woman powered sewing machines and your radios with dry cell batteries. He says strangely a few did not. <br /><br /> They did not enter the kingdom of electricity. Some just didn't want to change. Others could not afford it. Or so they thought that illustration is perfect to me, John, the Baptist is saying there's one coming that is bringing a dynamic way of life. He's providing not only the opportunity for you to enter it, but for you to live it, he's the power of it. <br /><br /> But change your minds. Embrace it. Prepare to, to imbibe it. This life that is it's described in Matthew five through seven. The fourth thing we find in this passage is this. It shows us what brings God's blessing to a person's life. Jonathan Edwards, pastor of the 17 hundreds and the theologian of the first great awakening in America. <br /><br /> Made this statement, the soul of every man necessarily craves happiness. This is a universal appetite of human nature. That is alike in the good and the bad Blaise Pascal talked about mans in variable, hunger to be happy and pursuit of being happy. He says that this sway all men seek happiness. This is without exception. <br /><br /> Whatever different means they employ the, they all tend to this end, the cause of some going to war and of others avoiding it. It is the same desire in both attended with different views. They will never take the least step, but to this object, this is the motive of every action of every man to be happy. <br /><br /> Jesus says in Matthew five, seven, the path to blessedness, to happiness, to contentedness and satisfaction has been made available to us. It is embracing the values and practices of Jesus' kingdom. And we might ask as we close. So why don't we all embrace them? I would suggest it's for this reason, <br /><br /> because this set of values and priorities and lifestyle practices will probably turn our life upside down. And for many of us, we would rather fly wrong side up. If most people around us are doing it. But for those who want the reign of Jesus in their lives and the incredible fruit that comes with it. <br /><br /> Jesus invites us to drink at the well of Matthew five through seven, this incredible sermon on the mountain Lord. As we launch into this series over these weeks and months. I pray that we would have the courage to be listeners and livers of these truths. There are things you say here that are so contrary to what even culturally we view as practical wisdom. <br /><br /> God, may we not just hear these as pithy sayings and interesting concepts? <br /><br /> But the very principles of life that you expect to be lived by those that live under the reign of Jesus. So Lord, give us the conviction and the courage to live in your strength. This lifestyle. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Have a great week guys, go in peace to love and serve and enjoy the Lord <br /><br /> .</div> false no <![CDATA[My Favorite Verse]]> Each Pastor shares a verse that has greatly impacted their lives and ministries.



Doesn't seem too different so far, does it? We are, um, starting next Sunday, a series called the upside down life. It's a series on the greatest sermon that was ever written by the greatest preacher that ever lived. It's Jesus sermon on the Mount. We're calling it the upside down life because it really is the presentation.

Of life that is upside down from what people culturally understand the values of life to be really excited about the series. And we'll be starting that, as I said next Sunday morning, today, we're going to have something a little different in that I've asked, um, all of our pastors to come and take three to five minutes to share a life.

And ministry of averse that has impacted their life and ministry. I just want you to hear from them. Now. One of them is not here. Don is away, Don preached last Sunday, but seven of us will be here. Jerry Costello, who is our campus Pastor down at Collingswood is doing this via video. He'll be the first one, but then we'll be hearing from our other pastors.

They'll introduce themselves just by name. If you don't know who everybody is. Uh, and then they're going to share the verse. It will be up on the screen so you can see the verse they're sharing and they'll be sharing for three to five minutes. I think after four of us, there's a, a song. Um, uh, if we're getting tiresome, we can break it up and you can sing and then we'll come back and have the remaining three.

But the first one of us that is going to share this morning is Jerry. Uh, as he shares on video this morning,

Good morning, breedings from Collingswood. Mark asked that, uh, that I share the verse that has most shaped my life and ministry. And I believe I can argue rather convincingly that of necessity. The verse that is most shaped my life would be the verse that is most shaped ministry or service to the body of Christ.

As soon as somebody asks that question, which is kind of a strange question, your favorite verse? Well, it's like asking what's your favorite food? Well, yes. Um, but, but when somebody asks the question, poses that question, favorite verse or life verse impacting verse, my mind immediately always goes to, uh, Colossians chapter three.

And I think the one verse would be. Verse three of chapter three for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. My mind goes back immediately to, um, the first time I, that, that, that verse washed over me. I was in my early thirties. Um, I was embracing God's grace, understanding after living a very legalistic life, understanding that there is more to this life in Christ than what I had believed.

I remember reading Paul reading Colassians in particular and I taking a long time in chapter two, reading it again and again, and allowing it to wash over me and wrestling with the notion. That maybe it's true. Maybe that what Paul is saying is actually what he means. Maybe it really is as good as it sounds than it is too good to be true.

And yet it is true. Paul had just said at the end of chapter two, that, um, we've died to the spirits of this world. And then why do we still submit ourselves to these regulations? Don't handle don't taste on touch and. And the reason that we do is because we believe there, there is wisdom. There's an appearance of wisdom, and we believe that following these rules denying ourselves, certain things will help us in this battle against our flesh.

And yet. He lets us know categorically, but that's not where the answer lies and they are of no value. He says in, in fight and battling the flesh. And then he goes on in chapter three. It says if then you've been raised with Christ, seek the things above where Christ is seated at God's right hand. Set your mind on things above, not on things of the earth.

For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ, who is your life is appears, you also will appear with him in glory. I memorized that struck me as a young man, as that washed over me that I have died. And now my life is hidden with Christ in God and Christ. Where is he? He's seated at the father's right hand, waiting for a day when he will appear.

And during this time, where am I? Paul says seated there with him, that I am there in that place where he is. And this is my hope in this life. It's that mystical yeah. Union. And that I have with him, that I am found in him that I exist right now in him. And then hope that I might have over the battling, my flesh battling the things that were against me.

It's found in this, that I am his, I am found in him. I am hidden in him. I think as I approach life, that truth has changed my life as a young man, it changed the direction, the course of my family's life, my children, my wife, like my relationships with them set us as a family on a course that would lead us to where we all are.

Now, it's this the simple truth that I'm in Christ that you are in Christ. It's where I run back to again and again, as I still deal with, um, overcoming the flesh in my life, it's where I run, not to what I have to do, but to who I am and where I am in Christ. And I hope that it's, that that truth resonates in everything that I say and everything that anybody would hear me say, the truth is our hope is that we are in Christ.

This is where life is to be found. And this is in a very real though mystical, but very real sense where I am aware off where you are right now in Christ seated at God's right hand.

Um, I'm passing Jared. That's the first time I ever introduced myself as that Mark made sure I went first in case I mess up as the new pastor. I got a couple more veteran pastors coming in behind me, saved my salvation. Um, the verse I chose this morning, um, it's Exodus 14, 14. It says the Lord will fight for you.

You need only to be still. Um, God really spoke this verse into my life about when I was a freshman in high school. Um, some, a lot of, you know, my brother and my dad got in a really, really bad accident car accident. And my life was kind of just flipped around and I was just like, wow, what, what is going on?

How can I get through the day? There's all these things I have to face. I got to go. Do these things and face these questions at school and at home and all these things. And this is right as the Israelites are coming out of Egypt, they've just escaped. And God leads them right up to the red sea and they start to panic.

They start to lose their minds. They start to question God, they start to question their leader, Moses, and like, God, why did you lead us out here? Why did you lead us out here to die in the desert? Why can't we be. Back in Egypt, at least we got fed there and Moses kind of just gives them this word that the Lord will fight for you.

You need only to be still. And this just spoke so much in my life. I remember reading through this story and just saying like, wow, like I serve and follow a God. Who will fight for me. I don't have to go face those questions today. I'll have to go face those people, or even the fight to get out of bed in the morning.

Now the Lord's going to be there right with me. And God has continually used this in my ministry, um, to, to remind me and continually bring me to places to say, cause my stubbornness says, now I'm going to fight. I'm going to go out. I'm going to do this myself. And God says, no, just, just be still, just be still.

And let me fight for you. Let me be God in your life. Um, and he's used that in very impactful ways. And my ministry. So that's my verse this morning.

There's a mic here. Hi, good morning. Start off. As Jared said, um, my verse that I really love and kind of where God has led us to is Joshua 2314. Um, and it says, now I'm about to go the way of all the earth, you know, with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the Lord, your God gave you has failed.

Every promise has been fulfilled. Uh, not one has failed. Um, I just loved God's faithfulness in this and that God's truth. And God's promises in our lives always are going to come true are always are being fulfilled. Um, Joshua is bout to die and here in the verse, we can see it's not anything new to anyone he says, I am now I'm about to go the way of the earth, right?

I'm there. I know this is coming I'm at the end. I am older. I've gone through so much of life up until this journey and I feel that God's been faithful. And now I am about to go. I'm ready to go home. I'm ready to leave. I'm ready to pass this on. And it tells us here. It says, but before I go, he says, right, there's these promises, but I want you to know something before I go, I need to, to convey something to you, I need to share something to you and I need to speak something into your life from God.

And he gathers all of his leaders at this time right together. And he says, I want you to remember who God is. Right. As a nation, they came out of the Exodus. Right. They were slaves for years and years and years, and God led them out of the Exodus, right. He, even to the point where he blessed the nation so much that it sells us in scripture, that they were able to, they robbed the Egyptians of all of their gold and jewels that they were just, God blessed him so much that the gypsum gave these things to them to start their nation.

And then we see them, they wander through the desert after their sin. After their doubt when they get to the edge of the promised land, Joshua Caleb, they go in there, the two of the 12 that, that bring back a great report. And, and they're right there on the edge. And everybody else says, no, we can't.

They're just too big, too strong. And, and, and they're pushing, and God then says, you know what, we're going to going to have you wander, but I'm going to provide for you in this, right? I'm not gonna leave you my promises that I will be there for. You are going to continue. And God led them through that. And he.

It brings them also then into the promised land, where they had years of Wars, 32 Wars, 31 Kings defeated, and yet God was still there still fulfilling his promise that he would give him this land, that he would lead them to it, that he would take them to this point. And these victories were of such a nature that.

They knew God was leading and God was faithful. Right. They were such victories that you had to turn your eyes to the Lord. Right? Why would you think that marching around a city would allow it to fall? Right? That's not what happens. I've I've walked around this place a bunch of times just praying and talking has it's still standing.

So it was never my intention to make it fall, but, you know, right. But God was faithful and his promises were true. And this is a new chapter for the nation of Israel that we're coming to this point, right? Moses has already gone and Joshua is about to go. And he says, I need you to remember this right.

God's promises are here for you. God has fulfilled them along this way, along this journey. That was crazy that we would have not taken that we didn't want to take. Right. As Jared said, we got to the edge of the red sea and they started to complain, right. We just might as well go back. They fed us.

The job of conquering, the promised land was over and it tells us in the verse that now they get to rest in verse one of this chapter, it says, and they get to rest. My family has been on a journey for four years now. And, and this is a verse that stuck out about halfway through these four years. Um, we adopted our son, Luke on November 20th, this past year of 2020, um, after a four-year journey.

And we're just thankful for God's promises. We have some highs and lows through that journey, right? Sometimes we're art. God, we see you working so much. And then something comes and it's like, all right, God, I know you're there, but I don't see how this is going to end this way. And halfway through these four years, uh, I truly believe that the Lord gave this verse to my wife for us.

This was posted above my kitchen sink. One day when I came home. I was doing dishes cleaning up, helping in this verse was on a little note card posted there, surrounded by other verses, as my wife has started to do is just posting, verses all over the house, just as reminders of who God is. And I, I read this and I was like, Oh, that's a good one.

And then every time I continued to read it as I went back and, and just knowing after that, talking to my wife and just hearing how God gave this to her, this promise that Luke would be ours. This promise that he gave us that he was at the end of this, no matter how long this is going to take, whether this is going to be four years, five years, whether it's going to be another three months, we knew that he was going to be ours.

So we felt this from the spirit that the Lord said, my promises never fail. And I am promising this to you. And we held on to that verse through our adoption. We held onto that verse as, as we got good news, as we got some bad news. It was a good time, whereas it was a bad time. And our family held onto this.

We knew that promises of God come true. We know that he is faithful in our journey and he desires to be faithful in others. And as we've gone through ups and downs, as I said, we knew, and every time we met with our social work and she said, do you have any questions? Do you have anything? We said, no, we know where this is ending.

And we were able to share with her here and there, that this is where we feel God leading us. This is where God is taking us this faithfulness. Now, if we jump back to Joshua, right, God's promises have been fulfilled for the nation of Israel, right? The promise that they now have the promised land and they're now having a time of rest, but this doesn't mean slacking off.

This doesn't mean relaxing on our faithfulness. Right. We have Luke in our lives, but this doesn't mean that God is not still at work. This doesn't mean that I get to Slack off and Sarah, God, your promises are done. They came true for us. No more. Right. This is where I continue to step in that faith. This is where it is.

Israel. The nation continued and needed to go. And that's what Joshua was saying here, saying, I'm not going to be here. I'm going away, but you need to know of the promises. You need to remember the faithfulness of God. You need to be continually faithful to what the Lord is going to do now in your nation.

I'm not here anymore to continue to bring this back. Moses, isn't here any more to continue to bring us back to this point, but we need your faithfulness. To be true. We need your faithfulness and God desires that in each of our lives, God desires us to remember the promises that he has for us to remember what he did before us remember that his promises never fail, that they will always come to pass.

And we've seen this in ministry. We've seen this. In our church recently, as we've opened back up, we just see God's promises and his faithfulness bringing back. We see the children's ministry continue to grow right now, where we're maxed out on space and in our pre-K class, which we are so thankful and blessed that this week, God raised up eight volunteers out of nowhere just to come and serve.

And we are blessed as we continue to see his faithfulness. And I want to leave us with the fact or the thought. That God is still active in the world. God is still having promises for our lives. He desires us to continue to be faithful to him, continue to go to him, continue to focus on him, continue to spend time with him and remember that his promises never fail.

I don't know which one do you use? One says my name on it. The other one says somebody else's name. Do you want me to be Randy or pastor Mike right now? Kit. I'll be Randy. Have a much better voice. No comment on that, please. Okay. Uh, Luke, uh, five 16. Um, I'm really excited because we did not talk about all the verses we were going to do as pastors.

And there's been a really neat theme, um, of stillness of presence that God is to us, of remaining in him. Um, and this one is. No deviation from that theme, Luke five 16, but Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed great verse. Great stand-alone verse makes a great like back of the shirt or for your idea of how you're going to do, uh, your prayer time or devotion time this next year.

But if you have context of it, it's a completely different verse up until this point, Jesus was in the desert tempted. In with Satan. And then he wandered over to the synagogue. He began teaching such teaching. Did he give that they actually guided him to a cliff and attempted to throw him off of it? And it says Jesus made his way through the crowd and walked on back what he was doing, which is just a weird biblical.

Thing that these people that were going to murder him, he just kind of wandered through them and said, no, not now. Um, then they began bringing him sick people and he just began touching them and healing them. And then there were demon possessions. At one point, it says that there were so many demon possessed that came like.

Many demon possessed. Like one is good enough, but many are coming and just flocking to him. And there's this crowd forming more teaching, larger crowds. The ministry of Jesus is picking up. And this is when we get Luke five 16. He often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. If you're a, uh, if Jesus had like a small business and this would be like, sales is going great right now, why would you stop?

Uh, if he was a startup, he probably just landed a corporate partner. Everybody is getting healed and they're like, we're in for you. Jesus. Let's do this. If he was an athlete, he'd be a captain. He'd be on the eighth team. This was his moment. People were flocking to him. And if you were a leader, actually before this, he had just appointed a couple M a disciples and brought them in close, and then he withdrew to a lonely place to pray.

And I guess the question is why would he pause now? There's momentum, earthly momentum, maybe even you could say kingdom of God momentum. Well, I think maybe possibly, because none of us know what it's like. To have crowds gathered large numbers of crowds of people to be teaching ongoing. And the whole idea of time and scripture is really odd because it doesn't say like this day, then the next day, it kind of just, it could all have been really tight together.

It could all have had a little bit of gaps, but large crowds of sick and demon possessed people and teaching ongoing, ongoing, ongoing. There's probably a little bit of exhaustion because he was human, but it's also possible that he just knew. That has fully God fully, man. He needed to remain connected to his father.

And so he withdrew, I think the gospel Jesus, withdrawaling two lonely paces places and praying is just all over and especially around specific moments. And you could read this and take this passage and say, I want to have a special Kairos moment with God in my life. So I'm going to go away and pray. You could strategically maybe think that that's how the scriptures work.

And I think it is a good thing to go away and pray, but I think what's the reality is, is we don't know what is coming. And so Jesus often withdrew. Jesus made it a practice to do it ongoing, even though he was in the midst of his own ministry, he often withdrew. Um, and I guess the, the thing that I leave you with the question before we just, uh, have a chance to sing again, is, um, what would your prayer life be like?

For me as I'm reading this, I'm thinking, man, the God of the universe sent down in the flesh, Jesus often withdrew to pray. What does it say about my dependence? Um, on myself or on my savior with my prayer life. If I could like categorize how I prayed in the way that I prayed and how long I prayed. What does it say about my own dependence on myself?

What does it say about my remaining with, um, the King who's given us power. Who's given us authority. Who's given us his son. Jesus. So, um, I just want to pray and thank God for the way that he's reminding us this morning of the need to be settled and, uh, remain in him. Our gracious God, we do. Thank you. We love that.

You ask us to come to you. We love that. You've displayed that in, um, Jesus often going to desolate places to pray. Lord, it's no surprise that even around some of those times where he prayed were really significant moments in his life and God as we, um, I don't know what's coming next. We never really have just reminded of, uh, people that are terminally ill.

They often talk about how the people that are well, uh, think that they're well, but they don't even know that they're actually no less guaranteed tomorrow. We are as terminally ill people. So Lord, we don't know. And we just want to remain in you with what's next. We want to develop the vision for what's next out of a settled alone time with you, might it reflect our passion?

Might it reflect the God who invites us, not just demands things of us to get it right, but says, would you come with me? Would you just be away, be alone and just listen to me. We thank you God, for this invitation. We thank you for the chance now to gather and worship you through your word and through song.

We pray these things in your name. Amen. You guys can stand as we sing together.

thank you. It's an honor this morning to be here with you. It's um, an honor to hear from the men that we've heard from. Um, my favorite thing about serving with these men is not just that they love church or love music or love the ministry. It's not even first that they love you, which they do, but it's that they love and know him and the depth of that.

Um, they speak from, and, and the depth of that they live from. And it's an honor to serve alongside of them. My name is Ben. I'm a grateful believer in the Lord. Jesus Christ. I'm in recovery for co-dependence fear and pride and the various methods of coping and control that have woven their ways into my habits in life.

This is how I introduced myself at celebrate recovery on Thursday night. And it's the reality of what I walk with in a daily basis. The scripture that has meaning most to my life in ministry right now, just read for you simply this, you know, this song, the Lord is my shepherd. I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside quiet waters. He refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his namesake. Even though I walk through the darkest Valley, I will fear no evil for you are with me, your rod and your staff. They comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows, surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life.

And I will dwell house of the Lord forever since I was very young. Um, I knew that my inside world, uh, the life of my own mind was going to be a struggle. Um, I am not one that has a simple inside world. One of my buddies, one time I was sharing all the things I was wrestling with and, and working through and, and processing and worried about.

And he looked at me and he said, Ben, it's kinda like Shrek. I'm like Shrek. And you're like the donkey. Thanks Joe. But in coming to faith in God and reading and understanding scriptures like this, I had to recognize that there's a distinct difference between my inner life with God. And when I live in my flesh, there's an urgency difference.

There's a noise level difference. There's a belief in my flesh or my false self that says it's all dependent on me. I have to figure it out. It is as if in my inside life, things are all going to go downhill unless I am extra vigilant to make sure I control and make sure everything happens the way it should.

But there's an exercise that I do. That's. Kind of annoying and I may have done it with you that when people tell me they've been in the presence of God, And they said, I just felt God's presence so much. I always follow up with the question. What did it feel like? What was it like right there? Because that's one of the most fun times to talk about the one we love together.

And it's like this sense of like, Oh man, I know what he's like too. And it's just this beautiful sense over and over and over of hive. I ask that questions of dozens of people who have expressed their deep experiences with God. And they talk about God like this. Yes, there was total peace. When I was with him, he was complete love.

And this phrase that I hear said in various ways, basically this. When I was with him, I knew it was all going to be okay. This place with God, this dwelling, that word is the most meaningful word in this song. For me, the dwelling I shall dwell in the house of the Lord, uh, is very important to me because often where my, I dwell in my own mind and my own emotions and my own fears.

Is a place that is extremely volatile. It's scared. It's triggerable. And to know this God, because only when I spend the time to visit and do well with him, can I say the Lord is my shepherd? And in him because of him with him. I lack no thing.

Uh, I thank you for allowing us the chance to just be here together to share our thoughts. And I just want to follow up just briefly on what Ben said about loving, uh, serving with, uh, these guys. They, um, we truly do have a band of brothers. Um, we love each other and I just really, I love Ben. He's a. He's an overachiever because pastor Mark asked us if we would share a life verse, something that God's really used in our lives.

He went with the whole chapter and he got in and out and under four minutes, I think. So, um, Uh, my name's Scott I'm one of the pastors here. Um, the, um, one of the oldest. So therefore I have a ch uh, shorter memory and one that is, um, shall I say, uh, not like these guys that only have to look back on the last 10 or 15 years of their lives for a verse that really shaped their, their Christian life.

But, but one that has to look back 30 some years. So when pastor Mark asked us to do this, I said, or I thought what was a verse? And I had to look back really far. Um, and then it was one that Jerry picked. So Jerry did a great job. Hope you enjoyed it. And thanks. Uh, we'll move on to our next one. So then that gave me, it was, I was.

Challenge to think. So what, what is it? What, what was the principle that God used in my life to really shape my life back when I was a fairly young believer. Uh, I was brought up in, uh, a mainline Protestant church, one that was maybe fuller with, uh, liturgy, but, but still yet very God centered. Um, but it was never super personal to me.

And then later, a few years later in, when I was a senior in high school, God got ahold of my life and showed me, um, that there was a personal relationship with Jesus. And, uh, but then, um, as for, for the next few years, um, because I was brought up in, in a, um, an, a church where there was a lot regarding, um, what you do, um, how you do it.

Um, I struggled and came to a place in my life where through some personal, uh, failures, uh, both on the business side and the relational side. God, um, bottom to me. Yeah. Now, and I was looking for this Christian life to, um, do more than just, uh, what it had done and which was leading to frustration. Um, but God used this first, along with some of the others that, uh, that we've even heard this morning, but I thought of this shortly after I realized that Jerry had taken Colossians three verse three, I've been crucified with Christ and I now no longer live, but Christ lives in me.

The life I now live in the body. I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. So what was the, what was the underlying principle spiritual principle there that God led me to this first to say this really changed my life and, and it was really. A pretty simple one, but maybe not so simple, not I, but Christ.

Um, it's the, the, the fact that Christ lives in us and that we died just like Jerry said earlier that we died and now Christ we're hidden with Christ and God. Um, so. Let me just move on to just briefly say that I was reading just recently in a, in one of my favorite devotionals that God's use over the last number of years with about justice thing.

And this is, uh, a dear brother, uh, major Ian Thomas and a book called, um, What did we, what did you anyway here? I'll the indwelling life of Christ. There's a wonderful discovery. God wants you to make one that is absolutely basic to an intelligent understanding of the Christian life is the discovery is not only charged with comfort and encouragement for your soul, but is calculated to deliver you from the heartbreak, frustration, and despair, which are the unhappy lot of so many sincere Christians and their earnest endeavors.

To please God, in the energy of the flesh, it's not a question of improving or being reformed, but of substitution receiving a God given life, a life for which we have nothing to offer an exchange to be crucified with Christ is to be executed judicially with him, to expire to those who expire in this way.

God has given the very life that he restored to the Lord Jesus. When he raised him from the dead. So that we can say, not only I've been crucified with Christ, but also it's no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. That's really what, what God has used to, um, really carry me through and, and our family through difficult times trials.

It's basically that God, it was in us and that we no longer live. We can depend on him. Thank you.

certainly I echo everything that has been said about the incredible privilege of serving with these guys. I want to jump down to a verse that God has used in my life. He actually gave me this verse, the very first year of our ministry here at fellowship. And to put that in a historic context. This month, January is actually 40 years since we started this church in a basement finished basement in Marlton New Jersey.

And so 40 years ago, God laid this verse on my heart. First Timothy four 16, keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching persist in this for by so doing, you will save both yourself and your hearers. This particular verse. Um, God really challenged me with two simple things. He says, keep a close watch on two things.

The first one is yourself. Um, the word keep watch on, or keep close watch. We would also translate, pay attention to focus on, make it a priority, which is a little bit strange. It sounds pretty self-absorbed and narcissistic to make your priority yourself. We all say, well, these are my priorities. God family, church work.

However you define the next few. But I learned early on that the greatest just impediment to my being able to fulfill any of the rest of that verse was going to be making a priority of myself that my own life. Was going to be a lifelong battle struggling between what's called the flesh, the sinful nature and the spirit God's spirit in my life.

And I saw an incredible difference there. I saw an angry young man. I saw a self-centered young man. I saw a self ambitious young man when my flesh was in control. I saw a different quality of life. And I saw that when I prioritized Christ being in control of my life, when I paid attention to myself, very different people came out of my life one or the other, the flesh, or the spirit that angry, driven self-centered man can still be seen, is still seen.

Because my flesh, my sinful nature is still very much around. And so still having to keep a watch on myself. Uh, these four decades in giving attention to myself, I found was really essential because the thing that drove me and can still drive me is the sense of. Wanting to be sufficient of not being enough of, of needing to be more.

And the only antidote that I have found to that loud voice in my head that causes me to be an angry person, an ambitious person, a driven person, which is driven by, I gotta be more, I've gotta be more is two realities that God is impressed in my heart over and over. The first reality is one. I didn't want to learn.

I've said this before. It is the fact that I am more corrupt self-centered and evil than I ever did believe, but that is answered by God. But the second reality, I am more cherished, valued, and accepted by God than I ever dared hope. As I have learned more of that first, I have come to be stunned with the reality of the second.

And for me, giving attention to me is to let God love me and change me. It is to remind myself over and over through his word. God's for me, he accepts me. He enjoys me. He likes me. And I've found that my greatest prayer, that I pray far more than any other prayer for the people that I love in my life is this

Lord help them to know how much you love with them. It is deliberating reality of my life. Paying attention to me is allowing God to stun me with his love. And the second reality that God has given to me, the second challenge in this, and I'll be quicker with this one is to watch your teaching. I enjoy leading.

I really enjoy, um, directing things. God made me that way, but my greatest calling I believe, has been to preach. Uh, I believe deeply in the gift of leadership and I've tried to grow as a leader, but there have often been times in my ministry, in my life where God has convicted me. You're reading too much about leading.

You're paying too much about it. I have never been convicted when I have been drawn to grow as a preacher. To read more widely to study more deeply. And I believe God has constantly reminded me that where at least with my life, the little bit of influence that I'm supposed to make in God's purposes in my life, through my life, come by keeping a watch on myself and on my teaching on trying to be a preacher.

I'll close with this. You may be out there and you gonna say, well, if, if you've devoted all that energy to preaching, why aren't you better at it? And I just want to say my response would be this, um, up in Northern Michigan. There's a guy there, he's a Christian. Um, but he's a cantankerous old guy and. He's not good with people.

And one time we were up there and Marion was telling the story about how someone had asked, how does this guy, how can this guy be a Christian to which Marian's aunt who had a lovely woman, um, been a missionary in Africa for years. And she just made this statement. We'll imagine what he'd be like. If he wasn't a Christian.

And I guess my response would be in regard to my preaching. If, imagine if I hadn't given attention to it, what it would be like those verse has guided me, give attention to yourself, give attention to your teaching, our purpose in this morning and doing this partly it's just to get the passengers up there, mind you, who they are for those who don't know, but it also largely was just.

Hopefully to have you here versus maybe the God will prompt you with, as you think, what are the life verses that God has used in your life? Because he does speak to us along the way, way. Right? All right. We got close. Um, let's pray together, Lord. Thank you for meeting with us today. Thank you for the incredible practical power of the scriptures.

For decades, some of us have lived out a versus you gave us many years ago and you, you, you bring us back to them over and over. Thank you for the timelessness of your word. Thank you for the sufficiency of its messages. Lord, may we be people that hunger to listen and to learn and Lord, I do thank you for the incredible gift.

To all of us this past, just to serve this body of people in Jesus name. Amen. Now, go in peace to love and serve and enjoy the Lord.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/my-favorite-verse 7c0c5d3e-0e5c-4d6f-b0ad-b9384147039e Sun, 31 Jan 2021 22:03:06 GMT <div data-html="true">Each Pastor shares a verse that has greatly impacted their lives and ministries. <br /><br /> <br /><br /> Doesn't seem too different so far, does it? We are, um, starting next Sunday, a series called the upside down life. It's a series on the greatest sermon that was ever written by the greatest preacher that ever lived. It's Jesus sermon on the Mount. We're calling it the upside down life because it really is the presentation. <br /><br /> Of life that is upside down from what people culturally understand the values of life to be really excited about the series. And we'll be starting that, as I said next Sunday morning, today, we're going to have something a little different in that I've asked, um, all of our pastors to come and take three to five minutes to share a life. <br /><br /> And ministry of averse that has impacted their life and ministry. I just want you to hear from them. Now. One of them is not here. Don is away, Don preached last Sunday, but seven of us will be here. Jerry Costello, who is our campus Pastor down at Collingswood is doing this via video. He'll be the first one, but then we'll be hearing from our other pastors. <br /><br /> They'll introduce themselves just by name. If you don't know who everybody is. Uh, and then they're going to share the verse. It will be up on the screen so you can see the verse they're sharing and they'll be sharing for three to five minutes. I think after four of us, there's a, a song. Um, uh, if we're getting tiresome, we can break it up and you can sing and then we'll come back and have the remaining three. <br /><br /> But the first one of us that is going to share this morning is Jerry. Uh, as he shares on video this morning, <br /><br /> Good morning, breedings from Collingswood. Mark asked that, uh, that I share the verse that has most shaped my life and ministry. And I believe I can argue rather convincingly that of necessity. The verse that is most shaped my life would be the verse that is most shaped ministry or service to the body of Christ. <br /><br /> As soon as somebody asks that question, which is kind of a strange question, your favorite verse? Well, it's like asking what's your favorite food? Well, yes. Um, but, but when somebody asks the question, poses that question, favorite verse or life verse impacting verse, my mind immediately always goes to, uh, Colossians chapter three. <br /><br /> And I think the one verse would be. Verse three of chapter three for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. My mind goes back immediately to, um, the first time I, that, that, that verse washed over me. I was in my early thirties. Um, I was embracing God's grace, understanding after living a very legalistic life, understanding that there is more to this life in Christ than what I had believed. <br /><br /> I remember reading Paul reading Colassians in particular and I taking a long time in chapter two, reading it again and again, and allowing it to wash over me and wrestling with the notion. That maybe it's true. Maybe that what Paul is saying is actually what he means. Maybe it really is as good as it sounds than it is too good to be true. <br /><br /> And yet it is true. Paul had just said at the end of chapter two, that, um, we've died to the spirits of this world. And then why do we still submit ourselves to these regulations? Don't handle don't taste on touch and. And the reason that we do is because we believe there, there is wisdom. There's an appearance of wisdom, and we believe that following these rules denying ourselves, certain things will help us in this battle against our flesh. <br /><br /> And yet. He lets us know categorically, but that's not where the answer lies and they are of no value. He says in, in fight and battling the flesh. And then he goes on in chapter three. It says if then you've been raised with Christ, seek the things above where Christ is seated at God's right hand. Set your mind on things above, not on things of the earth. <br /><br /> For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ, who is your life is appears, you also will appear with him in glory. I memorized that struck me as a young man, as that washed over me that I have died. And now my life is hidden with Christ in God and Christ. Where is he? He's seated at the father's right hand, waiting for a day when he will appear. <br /><br /> And during this time, where am I? Paul says seated there with him, that I am there in that place where he is. And this is my hope in this life. It's that mystical yeah. Union. And that I have with him, that I am found in him that I exist right now in him. And then hope that I might have over the battling, my flesh battling the things that were against me. <br /><br /> It's found in this, that I am his, I am found in him. I am hidden in him. I think as I approach life, that truth has changed my life as a young man, it changed the direction, the course of my family's life, my children, my wife, like my relationships with them set us as a family on a course that would lead us to where we all are. <br /><br /> Now, it's this the simple truth that I'm in Christ that you are in Christ. It's where I run back to again and again, as I still deal with, um, overcoming the flesh in my life, it's where I run, not to what I have to do, but to who I am and where I am in Christ. And I hope that it's, that that truth resonates in everything that I say and everything that anybody would hear me say, the truth is our hope is that we are in Christ. <br /><br /> This is where life is to be found. And this is in a very real though mystical, but very real sense where I am aware off where you are right now in Christ seated at God's right hand. <br /><br /> Um, I'm passing Jared. That's the first time I ever introduced myself as that Mark made sure I went first in case I mess up as the new pastor. I got a couple more veteran pastors coming in behind me, saved my salvation. Um, the verse I chose this morning, um, it's Exodus 14, 14. It says the Lord will fight for you. <br /><br /> You need only to be still. Um, God really spoke this verse into my life about when I was a freshman in high school. Um, some, a lot of, you know, my brother and my dad got in a really, really bad accident car accident. And my life was kind of just flipped around and I was just like, wow, what, what is going on? <br /><br /> How can I get through the day? There's all these things I have to face. I got to go. Do these things and face these questions at school and at home and all these things. And this is right as the Israelites are coming out of Egypt, they've just escaped. And God leads them right up to the red sea and they start to panic. <br /><br /> They start to lose their minds. They start to question God, they start to question their leader, Moses, and like, God, why did you lead us out here? Why did you lead us out here to die in the desert? Why can't we be. Back in Egypt, at least we got fed there and Moses kind of just gives them this word that the Lord will fight for you. <br /><br /> You need only to be still. And this just spoke so much in my life. I remember reading through this story and just saying like, wow, like I serve and follow a God. Who will fight for me. I don't have to go face those questions today. I'll have to go face those people, or even the fight to get out of bed in the morning. <br /><br /> Now the Lord's going to be there right with me. And God has continually used this in my ministry, um, to, to remind me and continually bring me to places to say, cause my stubbornness says, now I'm going to fight. I'm going to go out. I'm going to do this myself. And God says, no, just, just be still, just be still. <br /><br /> And let me fight for you. Let me be God in your life. Um, and he's used that in very impactful ways. And my ministry. So that's my verse this morning. <br /><br /> There's a mic here. Hi, good morning. Start off. As Jared said, um, my verse that I really love and kind of where God has led us to is Joshua 2314. Um, and it says, now I'm about to go the way of all the earth, you know, with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the Lord, your God gave you has failed. <br /><br /> Every promise has been fulfilled. Uh, not one has failed. Um, I just loved God's faithfulness in this and that God's truth. And God's promises in our lives always are going to come true are always are being fulfilled. Um, Joshua is bout to die and here in the verse, we can see it's not anything new to anyone he says, I am now I'm about to go the way of the earth, right? <br /><br /> I'm there. I know this is coming I'm at the end. I am older. I've gone through so much of life up until this journey and I feel that God's been faithful. And now I am about to go. I'm ready to go home. I'm ready to leave. I'm ready to pass this on. And it tells us here. It says, but before I go, he says, right, there's these promises, but I want you to know something before I go, I need to, to convey something to you, I need to share something to you and I need to speak something into your life from God. <br /><br /> And he gathers all of his leaders at this time right together. And he says, I want you to remember who God is. Right. As a nation, they came out of the Exodus. Right. They were slaves for years and years and years, and God led them out of the Exodus, right. He, even to the point where he blessed the nation so much that it sells us in scripture, that they were able to, they robbed the Egyptians of all of their gold and jewels that they were just, God blessed him so much that the gypsum gave these things to them to start their nation. <br /><br /> And then we see them, they wander through the desert after their sin. After their doubt when they get to the edge of the promised land, Joshua Caleb, they go in there, the two of the 12 that, that bring back a great report. And, and they're right there on the edge. And everybody else says, no, we can't. <br /><br /> They're just too big, too strong. And, and, and they're pushing, and God then says, you know what, we're going to going to have you wander, but I'm going to provide for you in this, right? I'm not gonna leave you my promises that I will be there for. You are going to continue. And God led them through that. And he. <br /><br /> It brings them also then into the promised land, where they had years of Wars, 32 Wars, 31 Kings defeated, and yet God was still there still fulfilling his promise that he would give him this land, that he would lead them to it, that he would take them to this point. And these victories were of such a nature that. <br /><br /> They knew God was leading and God was faithful. Right. They were such victories that you had to turn your eyes to the Lord. Right? Why would you think that marching around a city would allow it to fall? Right? That's not what happens. I've I've walked around this place a bunch of times just praying and talking has it's still standing. <br /><br /> So it was never my intention to make it fall, but, you know, right. But God was faithful and his promises were true. And this is a new chapter for the nation of Israel that we're coming to this point, right? Moses has already gone and Joshua is about to go. And he says, I need you to remember this right. <br /><br /> God's promises are here for you. God has fulfilled them along this way, along this journey. That was crazy that we would have not taken that we didn't want to take. Right. As Jared said, we got to the edge of the red sea and they started to complain, right. We just might as well go back. They fed us. <br /><br /> The job of conquering, the promised land was over and it tells us in the verse that now they get to rest in verse one of this chapter, it says, and they get to rest. My family has been on a journey for four years now. And, and this is a verse that stuck out about halfway through these four years. Um, we adopted our son, Luke on November 20th, this past year of 2020, um, after a four-year journey. <br /><br /> And we're just thankful for God's promises. We have some highs and lows through that journey, right? Sometimes we're art. God, we see you working so much. And then something comes and it's like, all right, God, I know you're there, but I don't see how this is going to end this way. And halfway through these four years, uh, I truly believe that the Lord gave this verse to my wife for us. <br /><br /> This was posted above my kitchen sink. One day when I came home. I was doing dishes cleaning up, helping in this verse was on a little note card posted there, surrounded by other verses, as my wife has started to do is just posting, verses all over the house, just as reminders of who God is. And I, I read this and I was like, Oh, that's a good one. <br /><br /> And then every time I continued to read it as I went back and, and just knowing after that, talking to my wife and just hearing how God gave this to her, this promise that Luke would be ours. This promise that he gave us that he was at the end of this, no matter how long this is going to take, whether this is going to be four years, five years, whether it's going to be another three months, we knew that he was going to be ours. <br /><br /> So we felt this from the spirit that the Lord said, my promises never fail. And I am promising this to you. And we held on to that verse through our adoption. We held onto that verse as, as we got good news, as we got some bad news. It was a good time, whereas it was a bad time. And our family held onto this. <br /><br /> We knew that promises of God come true. We know that he is faithful in our journey and he desires to be faithful in others. And as we've gone through ups and downs, as I said, we knew, and every time we met with our social work and she said, do you have any questions? Do you have anything? We said, no, we know where this is ending. <br /><br /> And we were able to share with her here and there, that this is where we feel God leading us. This is where God is taking us this faithfulness. Now, if we jump back to Joshua, right, God's promises have been fulfilled for the nation of Israel, right? The promise that they now have the promised land and they're now having a time of rest, but this doesn't mean slacking off. <br /><br /> This doesn't mean relaxing on our faithfulness. Right. We have Luke in our lives, but this doesn't mean that God is not still at work. This doesn't mean that I get to Slack off and Sarah, God, your promises are done. They came true for us. No more. Right. This is where I continue to step in that faith. This is where it is. <br /><br /> Israel. The nation continued and needed to go. And that's what Joshua was saying here, saying, I'm not going to be here. I'm going away, but you need to know of the promises. You need to remember the faithfulness of God. You need to be continually faithful to what the Lord is going to do now in your nation. <br /><br /> I'm not here anymore to continue to bring this back. Moses, isn't here any more to continue to bring us back to this point, but we need your faithfulness. To be true. We need your faithfulness and God desires that in each of our lives, God desires us to remember the promises that he has for us to remember what he did before us remember that his promises never fail, that they will always come to pass. <br /><br /> And we've seen this in ministry. We've seen this. In our church recently, as we've opened back up, we just see God's promises and his faithfulness bringing back. We see the children's ministry continue to grow right now, where we're maxed out on space and in our pre-K class, which we are so thankful and blessed that this week, God raised up eight volunteers out of nowhere just to come and serve. <br /><br /> And we are blessed as we continue to see his faithfulness. And I want to leave us with the fact or the thought. That God is still active in the world. God is still having promises for our lives. He desires us to continue to be faithful to him, continue to go to him, continue to focus on him, continue to spend time with him and remember that his promises never fail. <br /><br /> I don't know which one do you use? One says my name on it. The other one says somebody else's name. Do you want me to be Randy or pastor Mike right now? Kit. I'll be Randy. Have a much better voice. No comment on that, please. Okay. Uh, Luke, uh, five 16. Um, I'm really excited because we did not talk about all the verses we were going to do as pastors. <br /><br /> And there's been a really neat theme, um, of stillness of presence that God is to us, of remaining in him. Um, and this one is. No deviation from that theme, Luke five 16, but Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed great verse. Great stand-alone verse makes a great like back of the shirt or for your idea of how you're going to do, uh, your prayer time or devotion time this next year. <br /><br /> But if you have context of it, it's a completely different verse up until this point, Jesus was in the desert tempted. In with Satan. And then he wandered over to the synagogue. He began teaching such teaching. Did he give that they actually guided him to a cliff and attempted to throw him off of it? And it says Jesus made his way through the crowd and walked on back what he was doing, which is just a weird biblical. <br /><br /> Thing that these people that were going to murder him, he just kind of wandered through them and said, no, not now. Um, then they began bringing him sick people and he just began touching them and healing them. And then there were demon possessions. At one point, it says that there were so many demon possessed that came like. <br /><br /> Many demon possessed. Like one is good enough, but many are coming and just flocking to him. And there's this crowd forming more teaching, larger crowds. The ministry of Jesus is picking up. And this is when we get Luke five 16. He often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. If you're a, uh, if Jesus had like a small business and this would be like, sales is going great right now, why would you stop? <br /><br /> Uh, if he was a startup, he probably just landed a corporate partner. Everybody is getting healed and they're like, we're in for you. Jesus. Let's do this. If he was an athlete, he'd be a captain. He'd be on the eighth team. This was his moment. People were flocking to him. And if you were a leader, actually before this, he had just appointed a couple M a disciples and brought them in close, and then he withdrew to a lonely place to pray. <br /><br /> And I guess the question is why would he pause now? There's momentum, earthly momentum, maybe even you could say kingdom of God momentum. Well, I think maybe possibly, because none of us know what it's like. To have crowds gathered large numbers of crowds of people to be teaching ongoing. And the whole idea of time and scripture is really odd because it doesn't say like this day, then the next day, it kind of just, it could all have been really tight together. <br /><br /> It could all have had a little bit of gaps, but large crowds of sick and demon possessed people and teaching ongoing, ongoing, ongoing. There's probably a little bit of exhaustion because he was human, but it's also possible that he just knew. That has fully God fully, man. He needed to remain connected to his father. <br /><br /> And so he withdrew, I think the gospel Jesus, withdrawaling two lonely paces places and praying is just all over and especially around specific moments. And you could read this and take this passage and say, I want to have a special Kairos moment with God in my life. So I'm going to go away and pray. You could strategically maybe think that that's how the scriptures work. <br /><br /> And I think it is a good thing to go away and pray, but I think what's the reality is, is we don't know what is coming. And so Jesus often withdrew. Jesus made it a practice to do it ongoing, even though he was in the midst of his own ministry, he often withdrew. Um, and I guess the, the thing that I leave you with the question before we just, uh, have a chance to sing again, is, um, what would your prayer life be like? <br /><br /> For me as I'm reading this, I'm thinking, man, the God of the universe sent down in the flesh, Jesus often withdrew to pray. What does it say about my dependence? Um, on myself or on my savior with my prayer life. If I could like categorize how I prayed in the way that I prayed and how long I prayed. What does it say about my own dependence on myself? <br /><br /> What does it say about my remaining with, um, the King who's given us power. Who's given us authority. Who's given us his son. Jesus. So, um, I just want to pray and thank God for the way that he's reminding us this morning of the need to be settled and, uh, remain in him. Our gracious God, we do. Thank you. We love that. <br /><br /> You ask us to come to you. We love that. You've displayed that in, um, Jesus often going to desolate places to pray. Lord, it's no surprise that even around some of those times where he prayed were really significant moments in his life and God as we, um, I don't know what's coming next. We never really have just reminded of, uh, people that are terminally ill. <br /><br /> They often talk about how the people that are well, uh, think that they're well, but they don't even know that they're actually no less guaranteed tomorrow. We are as terminally ill people. So Lord, we don't know. And we just want to remain in you with what's next. We want to develop the vision for what's next out of a settled alone time with you, might it reflect our passion? <br /><br /> Might it reflect the God who invites us, not just demands things of us to get it right, but says, would you come with me? Would you just be away, be alone and just listen to me. We thank you God, for this invitation. We thank you for the chance now to gather and worship you through your word and through song. <br /><br /> We pray these things in your name. Amen. You guys can stand as we sing together. <br /><br /> thank you. It's an honor this morning to be here with you. It's um, an honor to hear from the men that we've heard from. Um, my favorite thing about serving with these men is not just that they love church or love music or love the ministry. It's not even first that they love you, which they do, but it's that they love and know him and the depth of that. <br /><br /> Um, they speak from, and, and the depth of that they live from. And it's an honor to serve alongside of them. My name is Ben. I'm a grateful believer in the Lord. Jesus Christ. I'm in recovery for co-dependence fear and pride and the various methods of coping and control that have woven their ways into my habits in life. <br /><br /> This is how I introduced myself at celebrate recovery on Thursday night. And it's the reality of what I walk with in a daily basis. The scripture that has meaning most to my life in ministry right now, just read for you simply this, you know, this song, the Lord is my shepherd. I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures. <br /><br /> He leads me beside quiet waters. He refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his namesake. Even though I walk through the darkest Valley, I will fear no evil for you are with me, your rod and your staff. They comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows, surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life. <br /><br /> And I will dwell house of the Lord forever since I was very young. Um, I knew that my inside world, uh, the life of my own mind was going to be a struggle. Um, I am not one that has a simple inside world. One of my buddies, one time I was sharing all the things I was wrestling with and, and working through and, and processing and worried about. <br /><br /> And he looked at me and he said, Ben, it's kinda like Shrek. I'm like Shrek. And you're like the donkey. Thanks Joe. But in coming to faith in God and reading and understanding scriptures like this, I had to recognize that there's a distinct difference between my inner life with God. And when I live in my flesh, there's an urgency difference. <br /><br /> There's a noise level difference. There's a belief in my flesh or my false self that says it's all dependent on me. I have to figure it out. It is as if in my inside life, things are all going to go downhill unless I am extra vigilant to make sure I control and make sure everything happens the way it should. <br /><br /> But there's an exercise that I do. That's. Kind of annoying and I may have done it with you that when people tell me they've been in the presence of God, And they said, I just felt God's presence so much. I always follow up with the question. What did it feel like? What was it like right there? Because that's one of the most fun times to talk about the one we love together. <br /><br /> And it's like this sense of like, Oh man, I know what he's like too. And it's just this beautiful sense over and over and over of hive. I ask that questions of dozens of people who have expressed their deep experiences with God. And they talk about God like this. Yes, there was total peace. When I was with him, he was complete love. <br /><br /> And this phrase that I hear said in various ways, basically this. When I was with him, I knew it was all going to be okay. This place with God, this dwelling, that word is the most meaningful word in this song. For me, the dwelling I shall dwell in the house of the Lord, uh, is very important to me because often where my, I dwell in my own mind and my own emotions and my own fears. <br /><br /> Is a place that is extremely volatile. It's scared. It's triggerable. And to know this God, because only when I spend the time to visit and do well with him, can I say the Lord is my shepherd? And in him because of him with him. I lack no thing. <br /><br /> Uh, I thank you for allowing us the chance to just be here together to share our thoughts. And I just want to follow up just briefly on what Ben said about loving, uh, serving with, uh, these guys. They, um, we truly do have a band of brothers. Um, we love each other and I just really, I love Ben. He's a. He's an overachiever because pastor Mark asked us if we would share a life verse, something that God's really used in our lives. <br /><br /> He went with the whole chapter and he got in and out and under four minutes, I think. So, um, Uh, my name's Scott I'm one of the pastors here. Um, the, um, one of the oldest. So therefore I have a ch uh, shorter memory and one that is, um, shall I say, uh, not like these guys that only have to look back on the last 10 or 15 years of their lives for a verse that really shaped their, their Christian life. <br /><br /> But, but one that has to look back 30 some years. So when pastor Mark asked us to do this, I said, or I thought what was a verse? And I had to look back really far. Um, and then it was one that Jerry picked. So Jerry did a great job. Hope you enjoyed it. And thanks. Uh, we'll move on to our next one. So then that gave me, it was, I was. <br /><br /> Challenge to think. So what, what is it? What, what was the principle that God used in my life to really shape my life back when I was a fairly young believer. Uh, I was brought up in, uh, a mainline Protestant church, one that was maybe fuller with, uh, liturgy, but, but still yet very God centered. Um, but it was never super personal to me. <br /><br /> And then later, a few years later in, when I was a senior in high school, God got ahold of my life and showed me, um, that there was a personal relationship with Jesus. And, uh, but then, um, as for, for the next few years, um, because I was brought up in, in a, um, an, a church where there was a lot regarding, um, what you do, um, how you do it. <br /><br /> Um, I struggled and came to a place in my life where through some personal, uh, failures, uh, both on the business side and the relational side. God, um, bottom to me. Yeah. Now, and I was looking for this Christian life to, um, do more than just, uh, what it had done and which was leading to frustration. Um, but God used this first, along with some of the others that, uh, that we've even heard this morning, but I thought of this shortly after I realized that Jerry had taken Colossians three verse three, I've been crucified with Christ and I now no longer live, but Christ lives in me. <br /><br /> The life I now live in the body. I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. So what was the, what was the underlying principle spiritual principle there that God led me to this first to say this really changed my life and, and it was really. A pretty simple one, but maybe not so simple, not I, but Christ. <br /><br /> Um, it's the, the, the fact that Christ lives in us and that we died just like Jerry said earlier that we died and now Christ we're hidden with Christ and God. Um, so. Let me just move on to just briefly say that I was reading just recently in a, in one of my favorite devotionals that God's use over the last number of years with about justice thing. <br /><br /> And this is, uh, a dear brother, uh, major Ian Thomas and a book called, um, What did we, what did you anyway here? I'll the indwelling life of Christ. There's a wonderful discovery. God wants you to make one that is absolutely basic to an intelligent understanding of the Christian life is the discovery is not only charged with comfort and encouragement for your soul, but is calculated to deliver you from the heartbreak, frustration, and despair, which are the unhappy lot of so many sincere Christians and their earnest endeavors. <br /><br /> To please God, in the energy of the flesh, it's not a question of improving or being reformed, but of substitution receiving a God given life, a life for which we have nothing to offer an exchange to be crucified with Christ is to be executed judicially with him, to expire to those who expire in this way. <br /><br /> God has given the very life that he restored to the Lord Jesus. When he raised him from the dead. So that we can say, not only I've been crucified with Christ, but also it's no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. That's really what, what God has used to, um, really carry me through and, and our family through difficult times trials. <br /><br /> It's basically that God, it was in us and that we no longer live. We can depend on him. Thank you. <br /><br /> certainly I echo everything that has been said about the incredible privilege of serving with these guys. I want to jump down to a verse that God has used in my life. He actually gave me this verse, the very first year of our ministry here at fellowship. And to put that in a historic context. This month, January is actually 40 years since we started this church in a basement finished basement in Marlton New Jersey. <br /><br /> And so 40 years ago, God laid this verse on my heart. First Timothy four 16, keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching persist in this for by so doing, you will save both yourself and your hearers. This particular verse. Um, God really challenged me with two simple things. He says, keep a close watch on two things. <br /><br /> The first one is yourself. Um, the word keep watch on, or keep close watch. We would also translate, pay attention to focus on, make it a priority, which is a little bit strange. It sounds pretty self-absorbed and narcissistic to make your priority yourself. We all say, well, these are my priorities. God family, church work. <br /><br /> However you define the next few. But I learned early on that the greatest just impediment to my being able to fulfill any of the rest of that verse was going to be making a priority of myself that my own life. Was going to be a lifelong battle struggling between what's called the flesh, the sinful nature and the spirit God's spirit in my life. <br /><br /> And I saw an incredible difference there. I saw an angry young man. I saw a self-centered young man. I saw a self ambitious young man when my flesh was in control. I saw a different quality of life. And I saw that when I prioritized Christ being in control of my life, when I paid attention to myself, very different people came out of my life one or the other, the flesh, or the spirit that angry, driven self-centered man can still be seen, is still seen. <br /><br /> Because my flesh, my sinful nature is still very much around. And so still having to keep a watch on myself. Uh, these four decades in giving attention to myself, I found was really essential because the thing that drove me and can still drive me is the sense of. Wanting to be sufficient of not being enough of, of needing to be more. <br /><br /> And the only antidote that I have found to that loud voice in my head that causes me to be an angry person, an ambitious person, a driven person, which is driven by, I gotta be more, I've gotta be more is two realities that God is impressed in my heart over and over. The first reality is one. I didn't want to learn. <br /><br /> I've said this before. It is the fact that I am more corrupt self-centered and evil than I ever did believe, but that is answered by God. But the second reality, I am more cherished, valued, and accepted by God than I ever dared hope. As I have learned more of that first, I have come to be stunned with the reality of the second. <br /><br /> And for me, giving attention to me is to let God love me and change me. It is to remind myself over and over through his word. God's for me, he accepts me. He enjoys me. He likes me. And I've found that my greatest prayer, that I pray far more than any other prayer for the people that I love in my life is this <br /><br /> Lord help them to know how much you love with them. It is deliberating reality of my life. Paying attention to me is allowing God to stun me with his love. And the second reality that God has given to me, the second challenge in this, and I'll be quicker with this one is to watch your teaching. I enjoy leading. <br /><br /> I really enjoy, um, directing things. God made me that way, but my greatest calling I believe, has been to preach. Uh, I believe deeply in the gift of leadership and I've tried to grow as a leader, but there have often been times in my ministry, in my life where God has convicted me. You're reading too much about leading. <br /><br /> You're paying too much about it. I have never been convicted when I have been drawn to grow as a preacher. To read more widely to study more deeply. And I believe God has constantly reminded me that where at least with my life, the little bit of influence that I'm supposed to make in God's purposes in my life, through my life, come by keeping a watch on myself and on my teaching on trying to be a preacher. <br /><br /> I'll close with this. You may be out there and you gonna say, well, if, if you've devoted all that energy to preaching, why aren't you better at it? And I just want to say my response would be this, um, up in Northern Michigan. There's a guy there, he's a Christian. Um, but he's a cantankerous old guy and. He's not good with people. <br /><br /> And one time we were up there and Marion was telling the story about how someone had asked, how does this guy, how can this guy be a Christian to which Marian's aunt who had a lovely woman, um, been a missionary in Africa for years. And she just made this statement. We'll imagine what he'd be like. If he wasn't a Christian. <br /><br /> And I guess my response would be in regard to my preaching. If, imagine if I hadn't given attention to it, what it would be like those verse has guided me, give attention to yourself, give attention to your teaching, our purpose in this morning and doing this partly it's just to get the passengers up there, mind you, who they are for those who don't know, but it also largely was just. <br /><br /> Hopefully to have you here versus maybe the God will prompt you with, as you think, what are the life verses that God has used in your life? Because he does speak to us along the way, way. Right? All right. We got close. Um, let's pray together, Lord. Thank you for meeting with us today. Thank you for the incredible practical power of the scriptures. <br /><br /> For decades, some of us have lived out a versus you gave us many years ago and you, you, you bring us back to them over and over. Thank you for the timelessness of your word. Thank you for the sufficiency of its messages. Lord, may we be people that hunger to listen and to learn and Lord, I do thank you for the incredible gift. <br /><br /> To all of us this past, just to serve this body of people in Jesus name. Amen. Now, go in peace to love and serve and enjoy the Lord.</div> false no <![CDATA[Water Into Wine]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/water-into-wine 6a830fb7-b755-4dfc-b8fa-9c59fef14d48 Sun, 24 Jan 2021 13:26:42 GMT <div data-html="true">John 2:1-11 <h3>How Jesus' First Miracle Reveals Our Poverty and His Provision</h3> <br /><br /> Morning, everybody. It's great to see you. It's uh, appreciate you coming out to today. Also greet those who are joining us online. Thank I wanna thank, uh, Randy and the worship team. I don't think I could have chosen a better set of songs to set the stage for our study of the scripture. Today. We're going to be looking at John chapter two. <br /><br /> It's the account of Jesus' first public miracle, turning water into wine. So if you have a Bible can pull that up and, uh, put your eyes on it. I'd like to begin our time by reading that. Out loud. And if you would just follow along <br /><br /> so what the scripture says on the third day, and we'll just pause to say that phrase would make more sense if you also read John chapter one, but it really means third day, the third day, since Jesus had this encounter with Nathaniel. He's outlining the first week of Jesus' public ministry. So on the third day, a wedding took place at Caina in Galilee. <br /><br /> Jesus' mother was there and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone. Jesus' mother said to him, they have no more wine. Dear woman, why do you involve me? Jesus replied. My time has not yet come. His mother said to the servants, do whatever he tells you nearby stood six stone water jars. <br /><br /> The kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing each holding from 20 to 30 gallons. Jesus said to the servants, fill the jars with water. So they filled them to the brim. Then he told them, now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet they did. So, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. <br /><br /> He did not realize where it had come from though. The servants who had drawn the water. No. Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, everyone brings out the choice wine first. And then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink, but you have saved the best till now this, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee and his disciples put their faith in him. <br /><br /> some have considered Jesus' first public miracle, turning water into wine as a luxury miracle asking the question. What did this miracle really accomplish? Was it truly necessary? Was it not just a miracle of convenience or luxury? It's not as if a demon possessed person, um, Was released and freed from the clutches of Satan or a sick person, freed from a debilitating illness or a dead person brought back to life. <br /><br /> It was water turned into wine for a wedding. What was accomplished here? Was it simply the saving the newlywed couple from the embarrassment of running out of wine? Is that it. Or is it possible that there's more going on here than at first is then as obvious at first? And I believe that there is, I want us to see in Jesus' first public miracle, some significant truths about his message and his mission. <br /><br /> Not just for the wedding guests, but for us as well now to do that, our study is going to need to focus center around three questions that we're going to attempt to answer the first is why did John include this miracle in his gospel? How does it fit in his overall purpose for writing? Our second question then is how are we to understand this seemingly awkward question conversation between Jesus and his mother? <br /><br /> And then finally, we'll ask. How does the water to wine miracle point to Jesus' suffering and to our salvation. So let's start with this first question. Why did John include this miracle in his gospel? And I'll give you a couple answers. First. First is this it's not to address the propriety or impropriety of drinking wine. <br /><br /> So let's just deal with this at, at the outset. No first century reader was wrestling with the question of whether Christians should drink wine. If you drank or enjoy a glass of wine, and if you appeal to this event from Jesus' life to support that decision, you are not incorrect. Jesus miraculously creates a lot of high-quality wine for his friends to enjoy, but you might also be missing. <br /><br /> The reason for which John includes this miracle in his gospel. There's something more important going on here now, I'll just tell you where I am on that question. I made the decision that I'm not going to drink alcoholic beverages at all. And I've got a variety of reasons for that. Not the least of which is my desire to stand in solidarity solidarity with my brothers and sisters in recovery. <br /><br /> I've got 54 years of life of not drinking except for a sample here and there. And I can't find a compelling reason why I should start now, but I've got a handful of good reasons why I shouldn't and I don't hesitate to commend that position to all of you. I do expect to drink eventually one day with Jesus kingdom. <br /><br /> He said to his disciples, I will not own the last at the last supper. The night of his betrayal. I. I will not drink the fruit of the vine again with you until that day we drink it a new in the father's kingdom. So I think that's going to be a good time for me to, uh, join Jesus in celebration like that. <br /><br /> But again, this is not a question that any good John's readers in the first century were wrestling with. So here's the second reason that I think we need to consider. John doesn't include this because it was Jesus' first miracle. Now the beginning is a very good place to start. But John's goal is not to present a chronological biography of Jesus life. <br /><br /> If it were you might've expected it, he would include the details of Jesus, amazing and miraculous, but he does not. His purpose in writing is far bigger than mere biography. It's a purpose. He's got a, the purpose for including this water to wine miracle. Which incidentally, none of the other gospel writers talk about it's. <br /><br /> If you read through the first chapter of John, you make wonder, uh, there's uh, an unnamed disciple who's who's talked about there, uh, as a friend of Andrew's and some believed that John was that unnamed disciple. Now, if that's the case, then John was clearly one of the guests at this wedding and hence an eye witness of Jesus doing this. <br /><br /> First miracle. And I suspect that if that's true that over time, as John got to know Jesus and more of his message and mission, the significance of this miracle became so much more clear in John's mind that he felt compelled to include it in his gospel. Here's a third thing to think about. He didn't include this because he lacked material to write about. <br /><br /> Clearly John had a lot of material from which to choose as he put together his gospel. In fact, he concludes his gospel with a, uh, a statement which, which I think has an apparent touch of hyperbole. He says, Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose, that not even the whole world. <br /><br /> Would have room for the books that would be written. So clearly John had to deliberately pick and choose which events from the life of Jesus, the narrate in his gospel, 21 chapters only gives you so much room. And yes, I know the chapter divisions came later. Certainly John has a purpose for every event, miracle teaching conversation that he has chosen to narrate for us in his gospel will. <br /><br /> Why then. And I think a lot of the answer lies right here. John wanted to convey truth about Jesus Jesus' message and mission that would bring us to faith and him. So again, yeah, as you move towards the end of his gospel, John says this Jesus did many other miraculous signs. In the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book, but these, these miraculous signs are written that you may believe that Jesus is the son of the Christ, the son of God. <br /><br /> And that by believing you might have life in his name. In other words, everything John has chosen to narrate for us. In his gospel is chosen with very specific salvage ethic intent. That is, he wants them to lead us to salvation that by believing you may have life in his name, he says, and John, at the end of this account of the miracle, it Cain of the wedding miracle. <br /><br /> He calls this the first of Jesus' miraculous signs. And assign of course, is an indicator, a point or a specific, uh, it's pointing in a specific direction. Yeah. That direction is that his, his disciples then would put their faith in him. This miracle is a sign and indicator with salvation implications for all who hear it now. <br /><br /> So there's far more to this miracle than just sparing the newlyweds, the, the embarrassment of this photo, Paul of running out of wine. And I'll mention just, you have to understand the culturally, why, why a wedding last like a week? In that culture. So it's probably pretty hard with people coming and going all the time for a week. <br /><br /> It's hard to judge how much you're going to need. And I think understanding that helps us understand the context here a little bit more, but this brings it to our second question then how are we to understand the seemingly awkward conversation between Jesus and his mother? And this is so very interesting and I think it's key. <br /><br /> To understanding this miracle and its purpose. You see, you can't help, but feel puzzled. Did you feel puzzled? When we read it of Jesus' conversation with his mom first, he calls her woman to doesn't feel too, particularly endearing. He seems reluctant to get involved in fixing this lack of wine. When he says, why do you involve me? <br /><br /> And then he makes this seemingly mysterious reference to his time or his hour. Not yet having come my time has not yet come. What's going on here. Are he and his mom even talking about the same thing. I think we'll see that in this, this, this conversation lied, lies the key to understanding the deeper meaning of this miraculous science. <br /><br /> So let's think about this. First of all, I just think it's very interesting to trace is to think about him, how he addressed his mom here. Now I do my daily Bible reading in the 1984 edition of the new international version. And that's what I read from this morning. So Jesus addresses his mother with these words, dear woman, but you know what? <br /><br /> In the Greek text, there's no deer. It's just woman. So apparently the NIV editors felt they needed to soften the apparent, awkward sound of that designation calling his mom woman. So they added the word. Dear now this Jesus addresses a variety of women throughout the gospels. This exact same way. It's the Greek word guru NAI woman. <br /><br /> So for instance, in John four you'll, you'll see him talk to the Samaritan woman. Believe me, woman, a time is coming. Uh, there's a Canaanite woman with a demon possessed daughter, and Jesus says, woman, you have great faith, same name, same word goo. And I. She's a, a crippled woman that Jesus healed says, woman, you are set free. <br /><br /> There was the woman caught in adultery. John narrates that force in chapter eight, he says, woman, where are your accusers? Mary Magdalene? After Jesus' resurrection at the tomb, he says, Jesus says to her woman, why are you crying? And yet none of those, since the assisted, the NIV editors feel the need to add the word dear. <br /><br /> But apparently they did. And when he's talking to his mom, Now, interestingly, when you fast forward to the 2011 edition of the new international version, dear woman is changed back to just woman, but with a footnote that reads the Greek word for woman does not denote any disrespect. Well, perhaps not, but it still doesn't feel like a very endearing way to address your mom. <br /><br /> And I can't help, but think that Jesus, in this kind of formal way of speaking to her is possibly highlighting that he and Mary are not necessarily entirely on the same page in their thinking. Now she's appropriately concerned about the matter at hand, but Jesus seems to have more on his mind and that feeling of distance is also felt in Jesus' next words. <br /><br /> Why do you involve me? Now listen, idiomatic phrase that it's, it literally is what to you and to me, which doesn't really make any sense in English, but you could also translate that what has this concern of yours to do with me? And the idea seems to be that Jesus recognizes that he and his mom are not entirely on the same page while she's concerned about the lack of wine. <br /><br /> At a wedding, he is focused on fulfilling the bigger mission for which the father has sent him into the world. It's as if Jesus is saying to his mother, mom, you're thinking about saving this couple from embarrassment, which is fine and good, but I'm thinking on a deeper level of my greater mission to save the world from sin. <br /><br /> And then finally he answers her my. Time has not yet come. It should literally, my hour, my hour has not yet come. What hour? What time? The hour to launch himself publicly as a miracle worker, the hour to go public, the time to show his power to the world. No, you have to see that in the gospel of John, the discussion of Jesus hour or Jesus time coming. <br /><br /> Having come, having not yet come, it's a clear reference to the events surrounding his suffering death on the cross. That is his, our, and you got to do a quick survey of John's gospel and you'll see this. You can page through it with me. And I'll just talk, talk your real quickly through some of these references to Jesus, our Jesus time in the gospel of John. <br /><br /> So in chapter seven, verse 30 says that this, they tried to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him because his time had not yet come. Similarly in chapter eight, verse 20, he spoke these words while teaching at the temple near the place where the offerings for put in yet no one seized him because his time had not yet come as John, John narrates the story into the final week of Jesus' life, the forest crucifix, he records these words of Christ in John chapter 1223 and 24 for the hour has come. <br /><br /> For the son of man to be glorified. I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies. It remains a single seed, but if it dies, it produces many seeds. So again, we're seeing that Jesus hour centered on his suffering and death. And now that he's entered into that final week of ministry, he's able to announce that the hour has come. <br /><br /> You see this also in chapter 12, verse 27, he says, now my heart is troubled and what shall I say, father saved me from this hour? No, it was for this very reason. I came to this hour, John 13 one John tells us it was just before the Passover feast. Jesus knew that the time had come. For him to leave this world and go to the father, having loved his own, who were in the world. <br /><br /> He now showed them the full extent of his love. And so with these words, John begins his narration of the events surrounding Jesus' suffering and death, the primary way in which he would show the full extent of his love. Finally, on the night of his betrayal and an arrest, Jesus praise John 17 one father. <br /><br /> The time has come. Glorify your son, that your son may glorify you. And so it should be clear as we surveyed John's gospel with these verses that he uses that concept of Jesus hour or time to revert, to refer very specifically to his passion, his suffering his death on the cross, in the place of sinners, the event upon which our salvation depends in John's gospel. <br /><br /> He shows how Jesus from the very beginning. Was moving inexorably and unstoppably toward this hour, the hour of history for which every believer is eternally grateful the hour in which the wine of his blood would be poured out for you and for me. So now jumping back to chapter two in the miracle, it Caina in the first week of Jesus' public ministry at that wedding. <br /><br /> We're seven days into it. His focus and mindset takes him three years into the future to those events to take place in his final week of ministry is suffering the shedding of his blood and his death. So how does, uh, how does wine at a wedding point to the saving work of Christ and his death on the cross? <br /><br /> Uh, Share with you a quote from an author. Who's also the publisher with Lifeway Christian resources rate Clendenen Clinton den, and he suggested Jesus' words to Mary. And especially the comment about this hour is passion on the cross are almost unintelligible unless we see that he was associating the need for wine at a wedding, with the need for his own. <br /><br /> Sacrificial blood to be shed on the cross in order for us to receive the eternal life that he came to provide. So let's flesh that out a little bit then with our third question this morning, how does the water to wine miracle point to Jesus suffering and to our salvation? Put it another way. How does the miracle in the first week of his ministry foreshadow the redemptive work. <br /><br /> Is the redemptive work in the final week of his ministry, give you three things to think about. And the first is this the lack of wine as a symbol of our spiritual poverty now lack of wine. That was a temporary problem to be sure, but it's a picture of a bigger problem. Our spiritual poverty, our spiritual bankruptcy, our sinfulness, and our falling short. <br /><br /> Now here's something I find very interesting. The word John uses in chapter two to describe the crisis at the wedding was this. He says when the wine was gone, literally ran out or fell short. It's the very same Greek word used by the apostle Paul. In Romans three 23 to describe the universal human prediction all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. <br /><br /> Now there's no way to know if John who wrote his gospel after Paul had already written Romans. There's no way to know if John was familiar with Paul's book of Romans. Um, and I don't want to read more into the text and is truly there. It's a fairly common word to run out or fall short. Uh, but it certainly seems appropriate to see in the dilemma of the wine, it picture of a bigger problem that of are falling short of God's Holy and righteous standard. <br /><br /> In addition to that, the old Testament often uses the scarcity of wine as a sign of God's disfavor judgment. Or as a consequence for the covenantal disobedience of his people, for example, in Deuteronomy 28, Moses recites and blessings that will come to God's people, if they're faithful to the covenant, and then he follows it up with curses that will become, uh, come upon them. <br /><br /> If they are unfaithful to the, to the covenant, he says, you will. And then rooted in this curse. He says, you will plant vineyards and cultivate them, but you will not drink the wine. Or gathered the grapes because the worms will eat them. Isaiah predicts a similar consequence for covenantal unfaithfulness. <br /><br /> He says a 10 acre vineyard will produce only a bath of wine. Just a few gallons further in Isaiah. He fleshes this out a little bit more. Isaiah 24 says a curse consumes the earth. Its people must bear their guilt, the new wine dries up and the vine Withers. All the MerryMakers grown no longer. Do they drink wine with a song, another prophet Hosea chapter two, verse eight Morins Israel has not acknowledged that I was the one who gave her the new grain, the wine and the oil. <br /><br /> See the wine has run out. We have all fallen short. Everyone has to come to the point. One point or another, in which we face our own spiritual poverty and see that like the wine at the wedding, our best efforts have fallen short. The wine has run out. We do not measure up. We cannot stand before a Holy and righteous. <br /><br /> God, have you recognized your own spiritual poverty that your wine has run out, that you stand in a desperate state before a righteous God. That's an uncomfortable, but important moment painful though. It may be it's a moment to be embraced because the good news of the death and resurrection of Jesus won't mean anything until we face the bad news of our falling short are running out and not measuring up. <br /><br /> The good news of John's gospel is that in the hour of Jesus' suffering and death, he would become poor for us. So that we might become rich through his suffering. Paul says a similar thing in John and second Corinthians eight, nine, he says for, you know, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, though, he was rich yet for your sakes, he became poor. <br /><br /> So that by his poverty. You might become rich. This was the hour on which Jesus was so resolutely focused the hour in which he would on the cross, embrace our poverty and sin, make it his own so that we could be granted the riches of his righteousness. Here's the second thing to think about and the significance of this miracle, the quality of wine as a symbol of Jesus' superiority. <br /><br /> The wine Jesus made with superior of the highest quality. Even the, the steward of the manager of the banquet had to comment upon it. He said, you've saved the best for last, the wine then serves as a symbol of the eternal value and efficacy of Jesus' work and provision on the cross. Jesus provision for us on the cross is far superior superior to what, to all our attempts at self-improvement and self-effort or anything on which we might rely to make ourselves acceptable to God. <br /><br /> It's interesting to think about those six stone water jars that Jesus used for this miracle. There were huge 20 to 30 gallons each, and they were described by John. With these words, the kind used by Jews for ceremonial washing. What was ceremonial washing? The old Testament has very little to say about this. <br /><br /> In fact, the only real mandate in the law for the use of water for cereal, ceremonial, prayer for vacation was for a person to bathe after they'd had a bodily discharge. That's about it, but by the time we get to the new Testament, it seems the use of water for ceremonial cleansing had become a complex ordeal of rules and regulations for the washing of hands and of washing of utensils. <br /><br /> Not really to kill germs, but for ceremonial purification. And the gigantic size of these water jars, uh, attest to how big this had become on another occasion. Religious leaders criticized Jesus because his disciples dare to eat without washing their hands. It wasn't germs. They were concerned with, but the strict adherence to man-made rules and regulations to make one self acceptable to God pure before God. <br /><br /> It's been suggested that perhaps the empty condition of the water jars, conserved to symbolize the emptiness of that way of life. So by using the stone water jars now to hold wine it's as if Jesus is saying let's use those stone jars for a better purpose. And symbolically, we see the stone water jars and all the manmade ritualistic self-effort religious system replaced by something far superior Jesus' work on the cross is superior to all our attempts to please God on our own, or to make ourselves acceptable to him. <br /><br /> Again, everyone. One of us must come to the place where we realized there's nothing we can do to make ourselves acceptable to God or on our own to overcome our spiritual poverty by outward rituals, impossible standards, empty religious efforts. And Jesus is illustrating that there's a big difference. <br /><br /> Between external cleansing of human effort and the internal transformation that only he can provide. There's nothing we can do on our own to make ourselves acceptable to God. Self-effort sincerity, religious fervor, church, attendance, ritual, observation, any other human activity or endeavor. It's a dead end approach. <br /><br /> Here's why it leads to one of two things pride. If you think you're succeeding. And despair when you realize you're not, you know, and in the next chapter of John's gospel, you get to chapter three, Jesus would make clear in his conversation with Nicodemus that only by a spiritual rebirth, can anyone see the kingdom of God? <br /><br /> Thomas Boston, who was a Scottish minister from the early 17 hundreds. He wrote, if you are not born again, all your outward reformation is nothing. You have shut the door, but the thief is still in the house. If you're working hard to live right. To follow the rules to measure up. There's something you need to know. <br /><br /> Jesus wine is better. Jesus did for us, what we could never do for herself, for ourselves, his sacrifices, so superior to any and all manmade attempts to reach God his death on the cross that hour. For which he was focused on, which he was focused and towards which he was moving his death on the cross and what he would accomplish there is of eternal value. <br /><br /> It is efficacious to cover all sins for all time for centers of every age, in every country and culture, no matter the sin. And he is the only, the only way to a right relationship with God and the hope of eternal life. He is superior in every way. Thirdly. And finally, the provision of wine as a symbol of God's favor and blessing, you know, in the old Testament, the abundance of wine was viewed as evidence of God's favor and blessing, grain, new wine and olive oil are promised to the faithful. <br /><br /> Celebrating and the enjoyment of wine were prescribed as part of Israel's annual festival, uh, Deuteronomy 14, 26, by whatever you like, cattle, sheep, wine, or other fermented drink or anything you wish then you and your household shall eat there in the presence of the Lord, your God and rejoice. Jesus' suffering and death is the ultimate brushing of God's favor and blessing on you and me. <br /><br /> Jesus marched toward this hour of suffering and death. For this hour. I have come into the world. He came to die for you. And for me that we might taste God's favor and blessing now and forever. You know, John and his gospel, as you moved towards the end of it, he narrates quite a bit of what happened of the events in the upper room with Jesus and his disciples on the night that he was betrayed. <br /><br /> He talks about Jesus, washing the disciples. Feet. He talks about the announcement that one of them is going to be Trey him. He predicts Peter's denial. He gives them quite a bit of teaching and John chapter 14 through 16. But it's interesting that John doesn't include a description of that moment in which Jesus held up the glass of wine and said, this is my blood shed for you. <br /><br /> This is the new covenant. In my blood, the other gospels writers give those details. And surely John was present when he heard those words and I can't help, but wonder if over time as he reflected on Jesus' suffering and death. And as he considered that first public miracle of water to wine, if he didn't begin to connect in his heart and his mind. <br /><br /> The wine at Jesus' first week of ministry and the wine of his blood announced at the last second and shed on the cross, the following day, and also about how there's no greater expression of God's love than the cross later he would write in his first epistle first, John three 16. This is how we know what love is. <br /><br /> Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. <br /><br /> The wine is more than just the provision of a beverage at a village wedding. It's a sign John called it that a miraculous sign, a foreshadowing, a taste in Jesus' first week of ministry of the salvation. He would provide in the God appointed hour of suffering in his final week. Jesus cares, of course, for all of the details of our lives. <br /><br /> He's not unmoved by the predicament of the wedding, but he knows that his greater purpose is the ultimate provision of God's favor made available through the wine of his shed blood on the cross. <br /><br /> well, I want to wrap up just by referring you to a verse of scripture from, from the book of Hebrews, the author of Hebrews includes this description of Jesus says for the joy set before him, he endured the cross. You could spend a lot of time pondering that. What is there about suffering and death and pain and shame. <br /><br /> That would be a source of joy for him. Probably a variety of things, but I believe that at least part of the answer is you and me. We are his joy. You are his joy. He died for you and your restoration to the place of God's favor and blessing is what Jesus' death was all about. You are his joy. He loves you. <br /><br /> And that is what the wine is all about. Let's pray. <br /><br /> Jesus, we thank you that in this passage, we see how you are touched by the, by the needs of the people you love on the temporal needs, as well as their eternal needs. And we pause right now to thank you for the sacrifice that you made for us, so that we could be re reunited to our heavenly father and he, to us, that everything that was forfeited and at the fall would be undone and overturned. <br /><br /> Sure. Power of your death on the cross for us. And we worship you. And thank you. With all of our hearts and in all sincerity for what you've done for us, I pray for each person here and listening today that we would be touched in a new way with the immensity of your love for us. And in return, we give our love to you and our worship, and we make this prayer in your name. <br /><br /> Amen</div> false no <![CDATA[Living Out Truth - pt. 2]]> James 1:22-27

The believers in the early churches were in danger of "deceiving themselves" and not keepin' it real! How do we keep it real as Christ followers?



We're going to be looking at James chapter one again this morning, James chapter one, verse 22 to 27. Uh, we started this last week. We're going to come back to it again today and I'm going to read the passage in a few moments. There's a lot of messaging out there right now. There's a lot of noise. In such a time, we can easily be swept along with the wrong messages and embrace dangerous narratives. I think that is more true today than any time I have ever seen in my lifetime with the number of cultural messages that are you're out there. Uh, this poor former had going on at Thanksgiving time for him. I'll give you a chance. Is this really that hard to understand, um, okay. There's faults messaging, there's narratives that can fool us and trick us. And we all have that potential of getting drawn in, but the greatest threat, the greatest challenge, the most invasive false Meredith is the one that we actually spend for ourselves. As a phrase that we have culturally, uh, keeping it real. And it's a phrase that talks about the importance of seeing things as it really is. I was struck this week that Steve Steph Curry from the golden state warriors. Was in a game, he scored 35 points, but his team still lost by 10. And so they were talking to him after the game, how he felt and, and, uh, how frustrating it must have been discouraging for the team. And he made this statement. He said, night tonight, it's hard with a new group. When you're playing really talented teams, we need to just be real with ourselves. And what we need to do better, not get in our feelings when we don't play well now what's he saying, when he says we need to knock into our feelings, we need to keep it real. He's saying we not, we need to not hear this louder than it is. We need to not, not have a different impression. Uh, we need to not think, Oh, we're no good. We can't improve. We're hopeless. He's saying we can play better. We just need to get back to certain things and, and we'll be fine. Older players on a team tend to bring that kind of perspective, right? They have the ability to come alongside of the young hot shots and help them not think too much of themselves. They also have the ability to come along with players that are struggling and to not, and to help them not think too little of themselves, what older players can do. Is to help them fight against a deceptive self analysis. That's exactly what James is doing in James chapter two in these verses, he is speaking. He who is the physical brother of Jesus Christ. Half-brother he's the pastor of the Jerusalem church. And he's writing a general letter to all the, all the believers at this point throughout the Roman empire. And he's helping them not be deceived about themselves as followers of Jesus Christ. He's trying to help them keep it real with that in mind, I'd like you to look at James chapter one, verse 22 to 27, and here's what we read and I'm reading from the ESB, but be doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving yourselves. For, if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he was like, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror for, he looks at himself and goes away. And at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of Liberty and perseveres being no here who forgets, but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. If anyone thinks he's religious and does not bridle his tongue, but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God. The father is this to visit orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained from the world. Let's pray together. Lord, we thank you for truth. And as Mike prayed earlier, We do thank you for the word of God. We thank you that we can love your word and we can learn from it. But Lord, we love your word because it takes us to the one that we love. And we want to love you. We want to know you. We want you to become the central reality and the most important person in our lives. And Lord, as we look at this passage and. How it directs us ultimately to you, and then how it directs us out to being extenders of love to others. I pray that you would speak to us this morning in Jesus name. Amen. Last week we looked at verses 19 to 21, where we saw that James was admonishing us to be listeners to truth. And he says there's three ways first year. You're quick to listen. Quick to hear, we talked about the intentional role and I rolled into that. The idea of joining with pastor Mike, uh, with the writing out 10 verses a day, there needs to be some intentionality. If we're going to be listening to the scriptures, he says also be slow to speak. I think there's certainly means that we're, we're listening too much to our own voice, but it also means we're not listening. W we avoid listening too much to other voices, which then become our voice and drown out the voice of God. He also says, if you're going to really be listening to God and being shaped by God, you're going to have to be slow to wrath. You're going to have to be slow to anger. Yeah. Letting your soul be stirred up, not on angry, unsettled, aggressive spirited. Because it makes it impossible to really be living in quietness with the spirit of God, soul vital to Kristin experience so much though, that he says in the next phrase, because the anger of man does not produce the righteous life, God desires. We need to be imbibing and listening to truth. But today we want to be living out truth. And the believers in the early churches were in danger of deceiving themselves and not really keeping it real. They had truth. They even to some degree were listeners of truth, but they weren't living it. So I'd like to look at just a couple of things. First of all, how do we keep it real as Christians? And there are two ways. We're going to look at number one by doing what God tells you to do. He says this in verse 22 and following I'm just going to read a couple of phrases here, but be doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving yourselves. He tells us, I think we first need to think about what it means, and he illustrates this here of what it means. If you are not keeping it real. It's interesting that the word that is translated here in this passage is only used four times in the new year. Estimate. Three of them are in verses 22 to 25. The other ones John is found in Romans chapter two, verse 13, where Paul makes almost an exact same statement. And he says this for it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. Now the word here, here is a little different than the normal one. This there's a normal word for hear or listen, or being a hear, or a listener choosed countless times in the new Testament, but this particular word takes the root of that word and adds a, an accelerator to it. It basically is saying. These people who are listening are hyper listeners it's as if James could come to us and say, Hey, Hey, are you listening to the word? And we respond. I am an on steroid listener. I am on a sugar listener. I mean, I'm listening. I'm a note taking listener. As a matter of fact, I take screenshots of my notes. I'm listening, James. I am a hyper listener and James says good, but I'm really not that hot on how well and how much you're listening. My question is when you listen, are you a liver? I'm not just looking for listeners. I'm looking for livers and that's cool. You're hyper. And it's interesting. He says these are hyper listeners. These are hot listeners. I mean, they're taking notes, which I love by the way, but they're taking notes. They're, they're hanging on every word, but he says, that's not the goal, so that's good. But he says, are you living what you're listening to? And it's great. You may be the person out there and saying, you know, 10 verses a day. You gotta be, I'm doing 20 verses a day. I'm a hyper listener. And James says, well, if you're not living, you're listening, then you're like a guy that stares into the mirror and see stuff. And it says he gazes in he's he's intently. I mean, he's the guy that's coming to the mirror. And he saying, I think between my lateral incisor and my canine. That's a big piece of broccoli and wait, I got sleepy seeds and this year cut. I got I'll bet. Wait a minute. They want above year here and there almost an inch and a half down. I mean, wait a minute. My fault eyelid is actually upside down and then you walk away. And you just go do life and Paul's, and James is saying, that's you, if you're a listener, but you're not a liver, this is not keeping it real. He says, so what is it? How does it look if we're keeping it real? But what it looks like is found in verse 25, but the one who looks into the perfect law. The law of Liberty and perseveres being no here who forgets, but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. There's two things about this. Number one, you're looking in order to live it. It says you're persevering. You're not just here. You're staying at it. You keep letting it change you. God tells you stuff and you're trying to put it into action. It's not how much truth, you know, it's how much truth you live. That's why enrollments chapter two. I mentioned earlier that this word, the hyper listener is used there and he says, you know, it, the one that's a hyper listener, but doesn't do it is not the one that's declared righteous. What he says in the next verse is shocking. He's talking to the Jews, they're the Jewish Christians. He says, then there are Gentiles who don't even have the Bible and they're just living what they know by conscience to be right. He says, they're the ones that God's justifying, declaring righteous, putting his, his approval upon. They have hardly any truth compared to, to you guys. But it's lived truth. It is not how long you've been a Christian or how much knowledge you have required. It's how much you are living it out in daily experience. I would even suggest to you that there is much evidence in the new Testament and the old actually that a lot of knowledge when it's not being lived has one constant fruit pride. And spiritual coldness. We are not imbibing in order to live. It is actually destructive. The truth that is within us. We become proud people. We become Pharisaical people. We become harsh people. It is not only looking in and listening to the scripture in order to live. And this to me is as important. A part of this passage is anything we're going to say. You are looking to become loving. This is what it means to keep it real, because look at what he says. He says you are to be looking into the perfect law of Liberty. Now w w what's that about? Well, in chapter two, he tells us in chapter two, verse 12, he talks about the law of Liberty. And that passage is where he's talking about people that were not living out the 10 commandments and even cites a couple of the commandments there. And basically he's saying the law of Liberty and this principle new Testament is God's moral law. I don't mean the, the civil law or the ceremonial law or the millions of laws of the old Testament. He's talking about the general 10 commandments of God, which basically Jesus says in Matthew 22 have two summary statements in Matthew, 22, verse 30, uh, 37 to 40. They were, he was asking, what are the greatest commandments? And he says, he says, well, here are the two commandments. Really love the Lord, your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and love your neighbor as yourself. He says, everything else hangs on these. When he talks about the law that has been implanted in us and other places, it's called the law of Christ. It's the principles of righteousness that are lived out and the Christians now have the freedom to live that law. So what is it? It is the law. Of love it is what James in chapter two is going to talk about. You're not following the law of Liberty, the law that you've been liberated to live. You're not loving you're partisan. You're you discriminate, talks about in chapter, true to the law. That he's the scripture that he's preeminently talking about is saying what the scripture will do. Is, it will teach you to love. He said, if you're really looking in the law, it'll teach you. If you really reading the scripture, you'll get theology, you'll get other things. But how do you know if you're really looking in the mirror and being changed, you love God and you love other people. This is really important to understand. Because it is tremendously easy as believers, as followers of Christ to think that because we're getting more knowledge or because we're, we're getting a broader perspective of life and the worldview that we're, we're, we're getting it and we're keeping it real. If we are not growing in love with Jesus, if we are not growing in our love and kindness and compassion to other people, James would say to us guys, you're not keeping it real. You're not, you're either looking at the wrong mirror or you're not hearing the message that is there and living it out in your life. Love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength is what it means to be living out truth. Blue light. Jazz is booked by Donald Miller has written a few years ago. And, uh, the last chapter of blue light jazz, which is subtitled non-religious thoughts on Christian spirituality, the last chapter of his book, he closes with the chapter title. Jesus. The lines on his face. And in that chapter, he talks about a guy named Alan and this guy named Alan had gone around the country and interviewed, uh, spiritual leaders. And he was recounting this guy's Allen visit with a man named bill. It was a guy named bill bright who is ahead of, um, uh, a major Christian organization. And as he visited bill bright, he asked him the questions. He asked everybody. And then he asked the final question. He always asked of everybody. And Donald Miller was recording. What happened when Allen interviewed bill bright and he asked bill break the question, what does Jesus mean to you? And bill bright was sitting behind his desk and he said, Dr. Bright, couldn't answer the question. He said, Dr. Bright just started to cry. He sat there and his big chair and wept overwhelmed with love Christ and Donald Miller. And his typical, if you've read anything by, I mean, no, this fits right with his style. He said, when Alan told that story, I wondered what it was like to love Jesus, that way I knew then that I would like to know Jesus like that. With my heart, not just my head. I felt that would be the key to something. It is. It's the key to what it means to keep it real, the whole purpose of God, giving us the scripture, the whole purpose that, that we have church like this, and we gather. Is that we will love Jesus more that we'll know and more that we will be overwhelmed with with the beauty and the glory and the spectacularness of Christ. James says, guys, I don't care how much data you've got. I don't know. I don't care how so many things you're listening to. How many books you're reading, how many websites, how many podcasts sermons you got and you're all stirred, I'm fired up and you think, Oh, I'm getting it now. I'm getting in now. If it's not making you love Jesus more, you're not keeping it real because that's what it's about. But there's something else. It's not only about loving God, it's about loving others. This law of God, this law of Liberty, the law that we're liberated to live out in Christ is to love our neighbors as ourselves. That is actually the whole focus of the book of James. James' concern is that people in the early church were starting to get knowledge without becoming kind. It happens a lot. Doesn't it? And so he wrote the book of James. And he talks to them about stuff like this. Here we are at verse 22 to 2025. We're in verse 25 in the very next verse. He's going to talk about harsh words. He's going to talk about overlooking the poor and in need in chapter two, he's going to talk about partisan behavior and discrimination of others. In chapter three, he's going to talk almost the entire chapter on our words and our tongue. And he describes that the tongue it's a fire as poison, polluted water flowing out of a, of a foul spraying. And he saying, watch, be careful. Your words are so important in chapter four. He's going to talk about quarrels and fights. And PRI and chapter five is going to talk about greed and grumbling against others who take money away from you. Hey, in the last 10 months, we've lived through a lot of noise, racial tensions, pandemic election cycle, and conspiracy theories in abundance. Christians are reading, watching podcasts tuned into one view of reality or another. The question is with all your learning and all you're hearing, are you loving Jesus more? Well, I'm getting a bigger world yet. It's not what I'm asking you. I'm asking you, are you more in love with Jesus Christ? And are you more in love with people? All people. Even the other side of the aisle. People, if we're not growing in love, we're not keeping it real. And Jen, James is saying, my concern for your brothers and sisters is that you think you're learning and, and you're growing and you're getting it, but you're not keeping it real if you're not living off. If you can't process with people, if, if you're living out the us and them, and my question is not, are you becoming a better American? Cause now I understand things. Are you becoming a better Christian? And you know, because you're loving Jesus more and you're loving people better. The other thing we find here is by doing in verse 26 and 27, what God told all Christians to, and he says two things. He says, we keep it real by yielding to Jesus control, verse 26. If anyone thinks he's religious and does not bridle his tongue, but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. He says, start by getting rid of contemptuous words towards others. Stop thinking in terms of us and them love people, all people here, people value people and not take on words that are unbridled because you're deceiving your heart. If you think you're keeping it real as a believer. And then he says, yield to Jesus priorities, verse 27, religion that is pure and undefiled before God. The father is this to visit orphans and widows in their affliction and affliction. Invest yourselves in the lives of people around you. He said orphans and widows. Now this was representative of the two most needy classes in ancient society. They are the ones that are most highlighted in the old Testament as needing care. The reason for that is we understand orphans, right? Orphans are those that have no parents to take care of them. There was no, um, social system to do that, but widows, I mean, w w what about. What about, you know, couldn't couldn't women work? Well, it was a male dominated workforce and also they didn't have life insurance policies. They didn't usually have, uh, savings. They, they, it was an agrarian culture. And so he says there were many people, particularly in the Roman world where widows and orphans were those that were most destitute and he says, visit. Orphans and widows. Now this doesn't mean to have a friendly social call and stop by the word visit here meant to go in with the aim of caring for, and supplying the needs of those visited. First Timothy five widows were actually put on a list. Four and the churches they would, when the widows that were in the church, they, they actually qualified for a list where they would be financially cared for by the church, because there was not anything culturally for them early church, not only cared for their own widows and orphans, but they were famous for caring for those of people around them. Plenty in the air. That's a guy's name. This actually, historically we hear of plenty of the elder and applied to the younger. I don't remember which one this is, but plenty. Anyway, one of the boys and he was a governor in the area of Turkey and he hated Christians, but they drove him crazy because he had acknowledged certain things about them and actually talks with shock and dismay. Because he said this pagan, religion of Christianity does something. We don't understand their followers. Not only care for their own widows in needy. But those are the Romans as well. They not only care for their own families when disease hits their home and what the Romans would usually do as a way of protecting themselves is they would literally take their family members out and leave them in a field to die. And the Christians would go and take care of when they infanticide was one of the pre pre. Uh, lost the word was one of the largest practices in the Roman empire. Especially if you got a girl and you wanted a boy, you would just leave your child out on the hillside. Kristin scoured, the hillside for the infant was money cost to do that. I'm not being political with this. I'm just saying this from my heart. Whatever your political stance is, make sure what's driving. It is Christian faith. You may be totally against big government and I get it completely get it, but think of why you're against big government. I don't want social pro well, that's fine, but if you're a Christian. If you cut all social programs, you better be ready to ante up. Like the early church did and do what they did in the place of government programs. And you say, well, I'm willing to do that. And I love to see the church grow, but that will be beautiful, but just recognize when we want to minimize everything and we're getting recognized. The church has always been about compassion and if we don't have the government do it, then we need to be ready to do it. Say we're ready to do it. That's awesome. We hate immigrant immigrants, faults, immigrants, alien immigrants here. Okay. We want them to obey the law and that's against. I get it. That's a, a proper motivation, but if your motivation is because they come and they take my money and they take my services, I don't, I think that's how the early believers would have processed whether we should have immigrants or not. If you want to say they should obey the law. Fine. But if you want to say, they're not taking my money or not, is that Christian? I have a hard time thinking it is. And again, I'm not saying politically, well, we should do this or that. I'm just talking. We've got to say what's my motive. You may come out to very clear that this is, is wrong to have these practices. That's fine. Just check why? Just check what's ruling our hearts. It is such a beautiful thing. In my opinion, to see the multitudes of families in our church that have entered the, the foster care program that are adopting children through the foster care system, simply because that is the orphans of our culture, nearly church. It said this Bishop of Athens ethanol, agurus wrote a letter to emperor markets, a Relias titled. A plea for the Christians. And after his presenting, the principles of the sermon on the Mount is the standard of believers lifestyles. He wrote this, but among us, you will find uneducated persons and artisans and old women who, if they are unable and words, to prove the benefit of our doctrine yet by their deeds exhibit, the benefit arising from their persuasion it's truth. They don't rehearse speeches. But exhibit good works when struck, they do not strike again. When Rob, they do not go to law, they give to those that ask of them and love their neighbors as themselves. This was the defense to the civil government of the lifestyle of Christians. Is it ours? Is it ours? When it says, when they're struck, they don't strike again. When Rob, they don't go to law, they give to those who ask him, love their neighbors as themselves. Is there a spirit of wanting to have a counter cultural lifestyle as a people? I think that's what Jesus is saying when there is the ultimate Mark of Christians is there is a gentle compassion. He says in verse 27, the latter part divest yourselves of the values of the world around you and keep oneself unstained from the, the world. The world's fighting for rights. The world's fighting for their view of America. I just. Are we buying into the world's agenda, whatever political side you're on or we are, we are, are we buying into Jesus? Is there a gentle compassion that is ruling our hearts? We can hold our, our political persuasions with great intensity personally, but our, what we known for should be is a gentle. Humility and kindness. Jesus James is saying to fight for Christ's view of righteousness in the building of his kingdom. It comes by Christians, keeping it real, letting God's word, speak into our lives, causing us to fall in love with Jesus. Amy Carmichael was a missionary to India and. They had countless orphans and they were caring for, and she tells the story in her book, the, uh, gold, the gold cord, um, of one day they were, were there and they were, they were taking care of these children and the kids were just screaming and crying. And there was one of the Indian women, was there a believer and she was more and more agitated and, and, uh, And they were terribly understaffed. And she finally just said to Amy, she said, here was her statement. She said, I I'm sorry. I have to go. I must do the Lord's work. And Amy was so mad and she looked around this room and she said, what do you think we're doing? I don't know what the Lord's work is for you, but it will be done. If it's in the Lord's power with kindness, with gentleness, with truth at times with boldness, but it will be done with a humble boldness, but the Lord says if we're really looking into the law of Liberty, if we're really looking into the, the scripture speaking into our lives, it will help us love Jesus. And it will help us love others, all others. Lord, I'm just asking you to apply this message where you see the name. I want you to do it first in may, but I do pray that you would speak to all of us Lord in the noise. In the cultural contentiousness, we want to live Christ help us to do that. Lord. We want to keep it real in Jesus name. Amen. Now, go in peace to love and serve and enjoy the Lord.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/living-out-truth-pt-2 2ff05d23-ae1e-4c58-a173-540ff4821f07 Sun, 17 Jan 2021 20:52:51 GMT <div data-html="true">James 1:22-27 <br /><br /> The believers in the early churches were in danger of "deceiving themselves" and not keepin' it real! How do we keep it real as Christ followers? <br /><br /> <br /><br /> We're going to be looking at James chapter one again this morning, James chapter one, verse 22 to 27. Uh, we started this last week. We're going to come back to it again today and I'm going to read the passage in a few moments. There's a lot of messaging out there right now. There's a lot of noise. In such a time, we can easily be swept along with the wrong messages and embrace dangerous narratives. I think that is more true today than any time I have ever seen in my lifetime with the number of cultural messages that are you're out there. Uh, this poor former had going on at Thanksgiving time for him. I'll give you a chance. Is this really that hard to understand, um, okay. There's faults messaging, there's narratives that can fool us and trick us. And we all have that potential of getting drawn in, but the greatest threat, the greatest challenge, the most invasive false Meredith is the one that we actually spend for ourselves. As a phrase that we have culturally, uh, keeping it real. And it's a phrase that talks about the importance of seeing things as it really is. I was struck this week that Steve Steph Curry from the golden state warriors. Was in a game, he scored 35 points, but his team still lost by 10. And so they were talking to him after the game, how he felt and, and, uh, how frustrating it must have been discouraging for the team. And he made this statement. He said, night tonight, it's hard with a new group. When you're playing really talented teams, we need to just be real with ourselves. And what we need to do better, not get in our feelings when we don't play well now what's he saying, when he says we need to knock into our feelings, we need to keep it real. He's saying we not, we need to not hear this louder than it is. We need to not, not have a different impression. Uh, we need to not think, Oh, we're no good. We can't improve. We're hopeless. He's saying we can play better. We just need to get back to certain things and, and we'll be fine. Older players on a team tend to bring that kind of perspective, right? They have the ability to come alongside of the young hot shots and help them not think too much of themselves. They also have the ability to come along with players that are struggling and to not, and to help them not think too little of themselves, what older players can do. Is to help them fight against a deceptive self analysis. That's exactly what James is doing in James chapter two in these verses, he is speaking. He who is the physical brother of Jesus Christ. Half-brother he's the pastor of the Jerusalem church. And he's writing a general letter to all the, all the believers at this point throughout the Roman empire. And he's helping them not be deceived about themselves as followers of Jesus Christ. He's trying to help them keep it real with that in mind, I'd like you to look at James chapter one, verse 22 to 27, and here's what we read and I'm reading from the ESB, but be doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving yourselves. For, if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he was like, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror for, he looks at himself and goes away. And at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of Liberty and perseveres being no here who forgets, but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. If anyone thinks he's religious and does not bridle his tongue, but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God. The father is this to visit orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained from the world. Let's pray together. Lord, we thank you for truth. And as Mike prayed earlier, We do thank you for the word of God. We thank you that we can love your word and we can learn from it. But Lord, we love your word because it takes us to the one that we love. And we want to love you. We want to know you. We want you to become the central reality and the most important person in our lives. And Lord, as we look at this passage and. How it directs us ultimately to you, and then how it directs us out to being extenders of love to others. I pray that you would speak to us this morning in Jesus name. Amen. Last week we looked at verses 19 to 21, where we saw that James was admonishing us to be listeners to truth. And he says there's three ways first year. You're quick to listen. Quick to hear, we talked about the intentional role and I rolled into that. The idea of joining with pastor Mike, uh, with the writing out 10 verses a day, there needs to be some intentionality. If we're going to be listening to the scriptures, he says also be slow to speak. I think there's certainly means that we're, we're listening too much to our own voice, but it also means we're not listening. W we avoid listening too much to other voices, which then become our voice and drown out the voice of God. He also says, if you're going to really be listening to God and being shaped by God, you're going to have to be slow to wrath. You're going to have to be slow to anger. Yeah. Letting your soul be stirred up, not on angry, unsettled, aggressive spirited. Because it makes it impossible to really be living in quietness with the spirit of God, soul vital to Kristin experience so much though, that he says in the next phrase, because the anger of man does not produce the righteous life, God desires. We need to be imbibing and listening to truth. But today we want to be living out truth. And the believers in the early churches were in danger of deceiving themselves and not really keeping it real. They had truth. They even to some degree were listeners of truth, but they weren't living it. So I'd like to look at just a couple of things. First of all, how do we keep it real as Christians? And there are two ways. We're going to look at number one by doing what God tells you to do. He says this in verse 22 and following I'm just going to read a couple of phrases here, but be doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving yourselves. He tells us, I think we first need to think about what it means, and he illustrates this here of what it means. If you are not keeping it real. It's interesting that the word that is translated here in this passage is only used four times in the new year. Estimate. Three of them are in verses 22 to 25. The other ones John is found in Romans chapter two, verse 13, where Paul makes almost an exact same statement. And he says this for it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. Now the word here, here is a little different than the normal one. This there's a normal word for hear or listen, or being a hear, or a listener choosed countless times in the new Testament, but this particular word takes the root of that word and adds a, an accelerator to it. It basically is saying. These people who are listening are hyper listeners it's as if James could come to us and say, Hey, Hey, are you listening to the word? And we respond. I am an on steroid listener. I am on a sugar listener. I mean, I'm listening. I'm a note taking listener. As a matter of fact, I take screenshots of my notes. I'm listening, James. I am a hyper listener and James says good, but I'm really not that hot on how well and how much you're listening. My question is when you listen, are you a liver? I'm not just looking for listeners. I'm looking for livers and that's cool. You're hyper. And it's interesting. He says these are hyper listeners. These are hot listeners. I mean, they're taking notes, which I love by the way, but they're taking notes. They're, they're hanging on every word, but he says, that's not the goal, so that's good. But he says, are you living what you're listening to? And it's great. You may be the person out there and saying, you know, 10 verses a day. You gotta be, I'm doing 20 verses a day. I'm a hyper listener. And James says, well, if you're not living, you're listening, then you're like a guy that stares into the mirror and see stuff. And it says he gazes in he's he's intently. I mean, he's the guy that's coming to the mirror. And he saying, I think between my lateral incisor and my canine. That's a big piece of broccoli and wait, I got sleepy seeds and this year cut. I got I'll bet. Wait a minute. They want above year here and there almost an inch and a half down. I mean, wait a minute. My fault eyelid is actually upside down and then you walk away. And you just go do life and Paul's, and James is saying, that's you, if you're a listener, but you're not a liver, this is not keeping it real. He says, so what is it? How does it look if we're keeping it real? But what it looks like is found in verse 25, but the one who looks into the perfect law. The law of Liberty and perseveres being no here who forgets, but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. There's two things about this. Number one, you're looking in order to live it. It says you're persevering. You're not just here. You're staying at it. You keep letting it change you. God tells you stuff and you're trying to put it into action. It's not how much truth, you know, it's how much truth you live. That's why enrollments chapter two. I mentioned earlier that this word, the hyper listener is used there and he says, you know, it, the one that's a hyper listener, but doesn't do it is not the one that's declared righteous. What he says in the next verse is shocking. He's talking to the Jews, they're the Jewish Christians. He says, then there are Gentiles who don't even have the Bible and they're just living what they know by conscience to be right. He says, they're the ones that God's justifying, declaring righteous, putting his, his approval upon. They have hardly any truth compared to, to you guys. But it's lived truth. It is not how long you've been a Christian or how much knowledge you have required. It's how much you are living it out in daily experience. I would even suggest to you that there is much evidence in the new Testament and the old actually that a lot of knowledge when it's not being lived has one constant fruit pride. And spiritual coldness. We are not imbibing in order to live. It is actually destructive. The truth that is within us. We become proud people. We become Pharisaical people. We become harsh people. It is not only looking in and listening to the scripture in order to live. And this to me is as important. A part of this passage is anything we're going to say. You are looking to become loving. This is what it means to keep it real, because look at what he says. He says you are to be looking into the perfect law of Liberty. Now w w what's that about? Well, in chapter two, he tells us in chapter two, verse 12, he talks about the law of Liberty. And that passage is where he's talking about people that were not living out the 10 commandments and even cites a couple of the commandments there. And basically he's saying the law of Liberty and this principle new Testament is God's moral law. I don't mean the, the civil law or the ceremonial law or the millions of laws of the old Testament. He's talking about the general 10 commandments of God, which basically Jesus says in Matthew 22 have two summary statements in Matthew, 22, verse 30, uh, 37 to 40. They were, he was asking, what are the greatest commandments? And he says, he says, well, here are the two commandments. Really love the Lord, your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and love your neighbor as yourself. He says, everything else hangs on these. When he talks about the law that has been implanted in us and other places, it's called the law of Christ. It's the principles of righteousness that are lived out and the Christians now have the freedom to live that law. So what is it? It is the law. Of love it is what James in chapter two is going to talk about. You're not following the law of Liberty, the law that you've been liberated to live. You're not loving you're partisan. You're you discriminate, talks about in chapter, true to the law. That he's the scripture that he's preeminently talking about is saying what the scripture will do. Is, it will teach you to love. He said, if you're really looking in the law, it'll teach you. If you really reading the scripture, you'll get theology, you'll get other things. But how do you know if you're really looking in the mirror and being changed, you love God and you love other people. This is really important to understand. Because it is tremendously easy as believers, as followers of Christ to think that because we're getting more knowledge or because we're, we're getting a broader perspective of life and the worldview that we're, we're, we're getting it and we're keeping it real. If we are not growing in love with Jesus, if we are not growing in our love and kindness and compassion to other people, James would say to us guys, you're not keeping it real. You're not, you're either looking at the wrong mirror or you're not hearing the message that is there and living it out in your life. Love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength is what it means to be living out truth. Blue light. Jazz is booked by Donald Miller has written a few years ago. And, uh, the last chapter of blue light jazz, which is subtitled non-religious thoughts on Christian spirituality, the last chapter of his book, he closes with the chapter title. Jesus. The lines on his face. And in that chapter, he talks about a guy named Alan and this guy named Alan had gone around the country and interviewed, uh, spiritual leaders. And he was recounting this guy's Allen visit with a man named bill. It was a guy named bill bright who is ahead of, um, uh, a major Christian organization. And as he visited bill bright, he asked him the questions. He asked everybody. And then he asked the final question. He always asked of everybody. And Donald Miller was recording. What happened when Allen interviewed bill bright and he asked bill break the question, what does Jesus mean to you? And bill bright was sitting behind his desk and he said, Dr. Bright, couldn't answer the question. He said, Dr. Bright just started to cry. He sat there and his big chair and wept overwhelmed with love Christ and Donald Miller. And his typical, if you've read anything by, I mean, no, this fits right with his style. He said, when Alan told that story, I wondered what it was like to love Jesus, that way I knew then that I would like to know Jesus like that. With my heart, not just my head. I felt that would be the key to something. It is. It's the key to what it means to keep it real, the whole purpose of God, giving us the scripture, the whole purpose that, that we have church like this, and we gather. Is that we will love Jesus more that we'll know and more that we will be overwhelmed with with the beauty and the glory and the spectacularness of Christ. James says, guys, I don't care how much data you've got. I don't know. I don't care how so many things you're listening to. How many books you're reading, how many websites, how many podcasts sermons you got and you're all stirred, I'm fired up and you think, Oh, I'm getting it now. I'm getting in now. If it's not making you love Jesus more, you're not keeping it real because that's what it's about. But there's something else. It's not only about loving God, it's about loving others. This law of God, this law of Liberty, the law that we're liberated to live out in Christ is to love our neighbors as ourselves. That is actually the whole focus of the book of James. James' concern is that people in the early church were starting to get knowledge without becoming kind. It happens a lot. Doesn't it? And so he wrote the book of James. And he talks to them about stuff like this. Here we are at verse 22 to 2025. We're in verse 25 in the very next verse. He's going to talk about harsh words. He's going to talk about overlooking the poor and in need in chapter two, he's going to talk about partisan behavior and discrimination of others. In chapter three, he's going to talk almost the entire chapter on our words and our tongue. And he describes that the tongue it's a fire as poison, polluted water flowing out of a, of a foul spraying. And he saying, watch, be careful. Your words are so important in chapter four. He's going to talk about quarrels and fights. And PRI and chapter five is going to talk about greed and grumbling against others who take money away from you. Hey, in the last 10 months, we've lived through a lot of noise, racial tensions, pandemic election cycle, and conspiracy theories in abundance. Christians are reading, watching podcasts tuned into one view of reality or another. The question is with all your learning and all you're hearing, are you loving Jesus more? Well, I'm getting a bigger world yet. It's not what I'm asking you. I'm asking you, are you more in love with Jesus Christ? And are you more in love with people? All people. Even the other side of the aisle. People, if we're not growing in love, we're not keeping it real. And Jen, James is saying, my concern for your brothers and sisters is that you think you're learning and, and you're growing and you're getting it, but you're not keeping it real if you're not living off. If you can't process with people, if, if you're living out the us and them, and my question is not, are you becoming a better American? Cause now I understand things. Are you becoming a better Christian? And you know, because you're loving Jesus more and you're loving people better. The other thing we find here is by doing in verse 26 and 27, what God told all Christians to, and he says two things. He says, we keep it real by yielding to Jesus control, verse 26. If anyone thinks he's religious and does not bridle his tongue, but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. He says, start by getting rid of contemptuous words towards others. Stop thinking in terms of us and them love people, all people here, people value people and not take on words that are unbridled because you're deceiving your heart. If you think you're keeping it real as a believer. And then he says, yield to Jesus priorities, verse 27, religion that is pure and undefiled before God. The father is this to visit orphans and widows in their affliction and affliction. Invest yourselves in the lives of people around you. He said orphans and widows. Now this was representative of the two most needy classes in ancient society. They are the ones that are most highlighted in the old Testament as needing care. The reason for that is we understand orphans, right? Orphans are those that have no parents to take care of them. There was no, um, social system to do that, but widows, I mean, w w what about. What about, you know, couldn't couldn't women work? Well, it was a male dominated workforce and also they didn't have life insurance policies. They didn't usually have, uh, savings. They, they, it was an agrarian culture. And so he says there were many people, particularly in the Roman world where widows and orphans were those that were most destitute and he says, visit. Orphans and widows. Now this doesn't mean to have a friendly social call and stop by the word visit here meant to go in with the aim of caring for, and supplying the needs of those visited. First Timothy five widows were actually put on a list. Four and the churches they would, when the widows that were in the church, they, they actually qualified for a list where they would be financially cared for by the church, because there was not anything culturally for them early church, not only cared for their own widows and orphans, but they were famous for caring for those of people around them. Plenty in the air. That's a guy's name. This actually, historically we hear of plenty of the elder and applied to the younger. I don't remember which one this is, but plenty. Anyway, one of the boys and he was a governor in the area of Turkey and he hated Christians, but they drove him crazy because he had acknowledged certain things about them and actually talks with shock and dismay. Because he said this pagan, religion of Christianity does something. We don't understand their followers. Not only care for their own widows in needy. But those are the Romans as well. They not only care for their own families when disease hits their home and what the Romans would usually do as a way of protecting themselves is they would literally take their family members out and leave them in a field to die. And the Christians would go and take care of when they infanticide was one of the pre pre. Uh, lost the word was one of the largest practices in the Roman empire. Especially if you got a girl and you wanted a boy, you would just leave your child out on the hillside. Kristin scoured, the hillside for the infant was money cost to do that. I'm not being political with this. I'm just saying this from my heart. Whatever your political stance is, make sure what's driving. It is Christian faith. You may be totally against big government and I get it completely get it, but think of why you're against big government. I don't want social pro well, that's fine, but if you're a Christian. If you cut all social programs, you better be ready to ante up. Like the early church did and do what they did in the place of government programs. And you say, well, I'm willing to do that. And I love to see the church grow, but that will be beautiful, but just recognize when we want to minimize everything and we're getting recognized. The church has always been about compassion and if we don't have the government do it, then we need to be ready to do it. Say we're ready to do it. That's awesome. We hate immigrant immigrants, faults, immigrants, alien immigrants here. Okay. We want them to obey the law and that's against. I get it. That's a, a proper motivation, but if your motivation is because they come and they take my money and they take my services, I don't, I think that's how the early believers would have processed whether we should have immigrants or not. If you want to say they should obey the law. Fine. But if you want to say, they're not taking my money or not, is that Christian? I have a hard time thinking it is. And again, I'm not saying politically, well, we should do this or that. I'm just talking. We've got to say what's my motive. You may come out to very clear that this is, is wrong to have these practices. That's fine. Just check why? Just check what's ruling our hearts. It is such a beautiful thing. In my opinion, to see the multitudes of families in our church that have entered the, the foster care program that are adopting children through the foster care system, simply because that is the orphans of our culture, nearly church. It said this Bishop of Athens ethanol, agurus wrote a letter to emperor markets, a Relias titled. A plea for the Christians. And after his presenting, the principles of the sermon on the Mount is the standard of believers lifestyles. He wrote this, but among us, you will find uneducated persons and artisans and old women who, if they are unable and words, to prove the benefit of our doctrine yet by their deeds exhibit, the benefit arising from their persuasion it's truth. They don't rehearse speeches. But exhibit good works when struck, they do not strike again. When Rob, they do not go to law, they give to those that ask of them and love their neighbors as themselves. This was the defense to the civil government of the lifestyle of Christians. Is it ours? Is it ours? When it says, when they're struck, they don't strike again. When Rob, they don't go to law, they give to those who ask him, love their neighbors as themselves. Is there a spirit of wanting to have a counter cultural lifestyle as a people? I think that's what Jesus is saying when there is the ultimate Mark of Christians is there is a gentle compassion. He says in verse 27, the latter part divest yourselves of the values of the world around you and keep oneself unstained from the, the world. The world's fighting for rights. The world's fighting for their view of America. I just. Are we buying into the world's agenda, whatever political side you're on or we are, we are, are we buying into Jesus? Is there a gentle compassion that is ruling our hearts? We can hold our, our political persuasions with great intensity personally, but our, what we known for should be is a gentle. Humility and kindness. Jesus James is saying to fight for Christ's view of righteousness in the building of his kingdom. It comes by Christians, keeping it real, letting God's word, speak into our lives, causing us to fall in love with Jesus. Amy Carmichael was a missionary to India and. They had countless orphans and they were caring for, and she tells the story in her book, the, uh, gold, the gold cord, um, of one day they were, were there and they were, they were taking care of these children and the kids were just screaming and crying. And there was one of the Indian women, was there a believer and she was more and more agitated and, and, uh, And they were terribly understaffed. And she finally just said to Amy, she said, here was her statement. She said, I I'm sorry. I have to go. I must do the Lord's work. And Amy was so mad and she looked around this room and she said, what do you think we're doing? I don't know what the Lord's work is for you, but it will be done. If it's in the Lord's power with kindness, with gentleness, with truth at times with boldness, but it will be done with a humble boldness, but the Lord says if we're really looking into the law of Liberty, if we're really looking into the, the scripture speaking into our lives, it will help us love Jesus. And it will help us love others, all others. Lord, I'm just asking you to apply this message where you see the name. I want you to do it first in may, but I do pray that you would speak to all of us Lord in the noise. In the cultural contentiousness, we want to live Christ help us to do that. Lord. We want to keep it real in Jesus name. Amen. Now, go in peace to love and serve and enjoy the Lord.</div> false no <![CDATA[Listening to and Living Out Truth: pt. 1]]> James 1:19-21

"take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry"



I'm going to start this sermon with an apology, which is simply that we had announced I'd announced last week that we're going to beginning a series this morning on the sermon on the Mount. We're tremendously excited about it, but decided earlier this week, we wanted to take a little more time to try to get everything together in terms of coordinating services and other things around the themes.

So we're waiting until the beginning of February, the theme of the series is the upside down life. The life that Jesus presents to us in Matthew five through seven. Is in many ways the antithesis, it is the turning upside down of the perspective of life that a sinful world offers us. And so we're going to look at that and we're looking at an excited this morning, we're going to begin a two-part series on James chapter one, which is where I invite you to turn with me this morning, James chapter one verses 19 to 25.

The focus of this series is just listening to and living out truth. Listening to is what we're going to be looking at this morning next week, God willing learning to live out that truth. Here's what we read in James. One 19 to 21. Know this, my beloved brothers, let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger.

For the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant, wickedness and receive with meekness, the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. It was one of the most successful advertising campaigns in history, the effectiveness of the television commercials.

Because this company's CEO, Robert Fullman to take this large brokerage house and build a 29 story executive headquarters in downtown Manhattan. It was this particular campaign that presented and it's TV commercials scenes like this. You would be in a busy, uh, active dishes, clattering, fancy restaurant.

You could hear the forks and knives. You could hear people talking. And all of a sudden, somebody at one table would turn to their partner and said, well, my broker is eff Hutton and he says, and everything goes, silence. You remember it? Some of you go stone silence. And the idea was, everybody wanted to hear what had to say.

And the marketing voice would then come on at the end when he EF Hutton speaks people, listen, I don't know where you stand on but I think you've got to say the advertising campaign was fantastic. Don Maxwell in his book, 21 irrefutable laws of leadership calls law, number five, the eff Hutton law, and the law is simply saying that if you want to really find out.

The movers and shakers, the power brokers, the, the influencers in a room, you don't look for the person that is in charge necessarily. You look for the person that when that man or woman speaks, everybody just sort of tilts their heads a little more. They lean over a little more that you realize, even if the individual doesn't say much, when they talk, everybody is hanging on every word.

He says, that's the influencer in the room. Now, some of you do that naturally, who are born leaders. You just naturally smell out the power in a room, but his principle, we all recognize

individuals whose voice just carries tremendous significance. What about when God speaks? Are we leaning forward to hear it? Are we, are we saying, this is the voice I need when, when God is speaking, that's what I need to listen to. When James chapter one, these verses are talking about God speaking, and there, this is how you listen.

And secondly, this is then how you respond and live out what he says. The primary way. He's going to talk to us in these verses about God's speaking through his word. It's why in verses 2020, excuse me, 19 to 25, three times, he talks about the word, the scriptures. It's what he's talking about. So what are we to do when God speaks his truth?

Well, let's look today how we are to listen. And here's what he says for a number of things we're going to highlight this morning. First thing is just, and I'm going to do it by way of questions. First of all, who is it that listens to God's word, who is a God listener? And he associates this passage with the opening statement.

He says, know this my beloved brothers or my dear brothers. He is. He is doing this continually in the book of James, which was the earliest book written in the new Testament. It was written for the believers that had just recently come to know Jesus Christ as savior, and it had associated themselves with him and James, the physical brother, the half brother of Jesus is writing this letter to the, to the Christians at large.

And in it, he is identifying those preeminently. Who are God listeners. And I feel it important just at the beginning of this short sermon this morning to highlight this, that there is an assumption here. If we're going to talk about really being God listeners, that we have also become God's children that we have entered, as he says, my brothers.

That we have entered the family of God that we have personally embraced Jesus Christ as savior and Lord, we said yes to Christ in a, in a volitional conscious reality. We saw I need God's forgiveness, which Jesus Christ came to give. I need Christ as the, as the Lord of my life, which he came to be offering himself to be.

I have embraced the gospel. I've been born again into the family of God. That's who he's talking to here. And to really hear God's voice in this book and in all of the books of the scripture, you really need to be one of God's kids, because it is to them that this is preeminently addressed. The beauty is that anyone can become a part of his family by personally embracing Christ as savior.

First Corinthians talks about this. He says the man without the spirit. And another way of saying the man who is not been born again, who is not have the life of Christ in him. Does not accept the things that come from the spirit of God for they're foolishness to him. And he can't understand them because they're spiritually discerned.

The second question I want to ask simply is where is this truth found? And in verse 21, he talks about the implanted word, this word that has been placed within you. Now God does use some unique and special ways to communicate to his, to his children. We have read about remarkable happenings all over the middle East and, uh, at some cases less, I've heard less stories.

Of primitive cultures, where God has actually used dreams to speak truth into people and countless illustrations of people, of Islamic backgrounds and, and an atheistic cultures where, where missionaries have come or someone's come with the message of Christ. And they say, I know him, I've seen him. I didn't know him, but God, they, they knew of him.

There was a prepare prayer, preparatory work. God had spoken in a unique way to them to prepare them, to hear the message of Christ. He speaks into our lives personally, with the Holy spirit, the longer you walk with Jesus, the more you know that God does give little nudges along the way, his spirit does prompt us and lead us.

He, in this sense, he does speak to us. Colossians three says, let the peace of God rule in your hearts. Since as members of one body are called the peace. What's he talking about? Well, it literally means the word a rule is the word be the umpire. Let God's peace. The peace that the spirit gives about this decision.

Uh, let that be a, an, an umpire in your life. Let that prompt you and lead you. God, God speaks to us. If you will. In that way, my wife grew up and early on. She was a Jesus follower in contrast to many of us that was years later, but when she was a young girl, she had given her life to the Lord and, uh, Uh, she was with a cousin, Steve, who, who also is a believer, but at the time was, well, his personality leads towards questioning and they were together one time.

And my wife leaned over or was said to him, they were talking together and Marianne said, Jesus speaks to me too. Which Steve replied? No, he doesn't. She says, yes, he does. Jesus speaks to me. So he looked around and he said, I don't believe it. Jesus. Jesus said, I don't hear anything. What usually he doesn't speak audibly.

Even the nudges are, are more internal. They are the prompting, it's this piece of the spirit from within. But the primary way that he speaks is through his word, his normal way. Is speaking through what he is talking about as the word planted in us. In other words, the word took root as a seed in our lives.

It's where we started in our faith. First, Peter one says it this way. For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable through the living and abiding word of God. It's, it's a seed in your life. It's planted, but he says, if you want it to grow, keep feeding with the scripture, keep growing this new life that has taken place in your life.

It is word of God that created the growth created the birth created. It was the seed and it continues to need to grow. Now we are too. Do certain things in recess response to that. And that's where I want to focus for the remainder of my time in verses 19 to 21, he talks about how we are to listen to God's truth.

And he says, first of all, you got to be quick to hear you look for opportunities to hear that there is an intention in listening to God and. Letting him speak into your life, that there is a desire to personally make time to be with the Lord. The Bible is referred to as the milk for the infant or the new believer.

And is described as the meat or literally solid food for the growing believer. But the one commonality between milk and solid food is it's all food. It's all what is needed at that particular time in our life, whether you're an infant and you can't eat steaks yet, you get melt. But as you grow along, just as in physical life and spiritual life, you grow, you, you get more, you, you, you mature through that.

That there is food at every stage of the spiritual journey. And the food is the scripture. This past week, pastor Mike was at a seminary course escalate. He was doing online cause they're meeting remotely right now. And he was challenged by the professor. I don't know if it was in the little class or it was offline individually, but.

The guy challenged Mike with a challenge that has actually really taken root with many of us that I want to pass on to you. The challenge to Mike was to take the gospel of John and write it out. Handwritten, you know, with a pen, you may not remember how to do that, but to write it out every day. Take 10 to 10 verses a day and just write out the scripture, write out the gospel of John.

And if you do it every day and it starts tomorrow every day until Easter, you will conclude the gospel of John right at Easter Sunday. And Mike, then. Typically, if he was going to do work, Mike wanted to share the wealth. So he appealed to all of us on staff. Do you want to join me on this? He threw it on his Facebook.

A number of you have have joined. I'm sharing that with you as well. I invite you to join us. There were three things that appealed at different things, appealed to us. Number one, some of us had struck just as a very meaningful exercise. I know for me, I'm a visual learner and I know when I'm listening to somebody preach or I'm in a class.

I don't remember a thing they say until I write it down. If you're, if you're a visual learner rather than verbal or an oral learner, uh, you're probably like me writing it out, helps me to interact with the, to process with it. And it struck me as I love this idea. I've never actually done this written my way through a book of scripture, but I'm really looking forward to it.

Some it hit two just because it was novel. Well, the word of God tells us that it is living. But our reading can get really stale, right? If we're doing the same way, the Santa's well, you change up your approach. This is possibly an approach that God would prompt you to do as a way of invoking this passage, which says be quick to listen.

And it's primarily talking about in the scripture. And the third thing I think that affected some of us was just the thought of. This is going to be a fantastic way to prepare me for Easter celebration. This year, I am going to be walking through the life of Jesus and the teachings of Jesus all the way up to the resurrection, and I'm going to be doing it every single day.

And if you want to be a part, you can go to Mike's Facebook, you can indicate you want to be a part. You can check again at the, what I can figure. We call hub the hub. You can just, uh, online, you can just let somebody know in the office. Just take a, do a quick. Memo to the church office on our website. And we'll get you involved in that.

But bottom line, I'm just trying to say if, if we are quick to listen, we are looking for opportunities to hear. We also are teachable when you do hear, I grew up in it church where there's a pastor. I was over in cherry Hill, Bethel Baptist. Um, I actually, we moved down in high school when I was there. Dr.

Carla, Gina was the pastor. And I'll never forget him saying this. Um, he was talking about sermons. He had heard, and he had heard a lot of them over the years. And I remember him making the statement and he said, I have never heard a sermon where I didn't get something out of it for my own life. And then what a twinkle in his eye.

And if you know him, you could, you could imagine this, the twinkle in his eye, he said, I've had some close calls. Well, we get it. The idea was, he said, I'm always in learner mode. I'm always, I'm coming to script saying, God feed me. This is my food. We come teachable to hear the word of God. It's not a road exercise.

And if your scripture reading or your devotions is, is maybe you need to switch up. Maybe, maybe you need to write out. Well, we come teachable third. We're not focused on what you'll say to others. Now this is particularly those of us that are in ministries of, of handling the word teaching or instructing, or maybe you're gifted, encouragement.

You love, we don't come just to hear what I'll learn so I can tell others one of the most meaningful things I ever read about preaching was written by a guy named Phillip Brooks, the art of preaching. He wrote it back in the 17 hundreds and he said, this. The child of God who is involved in any kind of ministry of the word must not come to the word just as a conduit.

In other words, I get what I, I get my information, I get my sermon and I comment I'm just a conduit to flow through. He said, no, it must be like the reservoir that we are, our own lives are drinking in the scripture. So that what our preaching is, is just an old overflow of the reservoir. Like a waterfall.

I love that because quite honestly, when I'm falling behind in my own soul being fed and I'm trying to put sermons together. It's dry, it's draining. And I feel like all manager, he went to study and shoot. Now it's gone, but, but I need more to live out of. We need a reservoir. We need to be spilling over in what we share with each other.

But our hearts and lives are a refreshed as a reservoir, as a repository of truth, we need to be listeners to truth. Second of all. We need to be slow to speak as it is often pointed out, God gave us two ears, one mouth we're called to listen more than to talk. Now that certainly has relevance in our marriages and our relationships, but James is not trying primarily to focus and make us good listeners in our marriages and relationships.

It's a great principle, but the focus is on listening to God in these verses. We must be slow to speak if we are to listen. Well, you remember the passage where Peter is up there on the mountain of transfiguration and there he's seen the glory of Christ and only three men would ever see Christ, glorified and revealed in his glory, in his earthly life like Peter, James and John did on the Mount of transfiguration.

And he's so pumped up because Moses shows up and, and Elijah shows up and it's just this miraculous experience and they're there to credit Christ and worship Christ. And so Peter comes up with this idea. He said, Lord, it's good for us to be here. If you wish I'll put up three shelters, one for you, one for Moses, one for Elijah.

I mean, I got ideas. I mean, I've, I've been waiting for an opportunity. I've got some great designs on it. You know, a simple tent that I can put up in timer night. And all of a sudden this booming voice comes and says this while he was still speaking, a bright cloud, enveloped them and a voice in the cloud says, this is my son whom I love with whom I am.

Well pleased. Listen to him. He came into God's presence full of his own on ideas and his own thoughts. Hey, we do that all the time. Right? We come to pray. We come to listen to scripture and we find her so, so distract you so much going on. So what do we do with that? When, when your minds are, are so heavy?

Well, number one, that's why I believe the greatest time of day to get with the Lord is the first thing in the morning. Don't start with the Dow Jones TV shows. Don't start with, with stock advice. Don't start with sports radio. Don't start with God. Let them be the first voice. Let him fill your mind first.

But some of us are still constantly agitated mind. So what do you do when you have these distractions? I've found the only way I can deal with the distractions that come to me when I'm trying to reflect on scriptures or I'm trying to pray, I just take those thoughts and I jot them down. Right. And I make them apart.

I say, Lord, in my prayer, I immediately bring that in. If, if I'm reading the scripture, I put them aside and I, I know I'm going to address them. I make them a part of it. If I can't keep them out of it, I bring them apart as well. But, but listening means that we are slow to speak that our own thoughts.

Aren't what we are hearing loudest. We're putting those aside. We listened to the Lord and then we are slow to anger. Now there are two words for anger in the new Testament, in the Greek. The first word is the word that is, uh, it actually through Moss. It is the word that refers to this, this explosive, uh, anger it is, is volcanic is the idea.

This is the blowup kind of anger. We have terms for this kind of anger, lose your temper, blow your pool. Uh, somebody went off, what's a picture of a volcano. We get it. This is somebody that just popped their cork. This is, this is the, the, the, the blow up type of anger. This is the kind of anger that, uh, gives other people ulcers, but there's another word for anger in the new Testament.

It's the word or gay. It is the word that talks about an internal anger. It's, it's pictured by this coil where we're adding. It just goes in and in and in downtown, this is the kind of anger it gives you ulcers. It's what we associate with bitterness and resentment. It's the clam up type of anger. Both are expressions of sinful anger.

However, the unique thing is, and the word for clam up anger is the one used in this passage. This word can also be used in a positive sense, but here's what he's saying. First, I'm going to come back to it. He uses this word, this, this word of internalized anger. And he says to us, be careful with it. Now what was happening in the book of James is these early Christians were being terribly mistreated.

They were the objects of, of serious injustice for their faith. Many of them were facing social ostracism, as we know, some of them were killed and the response was there was a sense of anger. Now the question could be asked, well, why isn't any anger as in their anger sometimes justified. I mean, isn't there a righteous anger?

Yes, there is. And this word is the one that is used a new Testament to talk about that righteous anger in Ephesians chapter four, verse 25 and 26. It says this be angry and do not sin. In other words, you can be angry. You can have this settled state. There is a righteous sense of anger and not sin. He says be angry and do not sin.

So what happens to make this. Appropriate anger, inappropriate and destructive. Well, he goes on to tell us in Ephesians four, here's what he says. Be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger and give no opportunity to the devil. Here's what I think he's saying. He's saying you can have this righteous anger, you can have this sense of, of this is not right, and this is wrong.

And, and I'm, I'm gonna, I'm going to stand against this and it's absolutely appropriate. But he said, be very careful because that anger can take root. And that's why he says, you know, it's why many people take this passage and say in a marriage, don't go to bed angry. I think there's great wisdom in that.

But the principle is basically this. Make sure that you don't hold on to that for too long and that it doesn't become consuming to you because you give opportunity to the devil and your experience. So what does all this have to do with James one? Mark? Well, you can have a righteous anger, but it can start to consume you.

It can start to completely take over you. Can't let it go, man. What's going on culturally and you find yourself, you can't stay away from the internet. I can't still not going to watch another video. I gotta hit another website. I gotta, I gotta, I gotta get out there. I gotta post and I got to read the Postmate or fight their posts.

We're going to hear another one. And you say, what are you doing? They say, well, I'm, I'm, I'm I'm righteously angry. Well, may be. You were, but maybe you're not anymore. Maybe the way you're talking has more effect from righteous anger, where you were letting God speak into you too. Now you are letting the devil.

Direct you that's exactly what Paul was warning about in Ephesians four. He said be angry. Good. Okay. But watch out, not let the devil gain an opportunity with you. Righteous anger can become poisonous because the devil makes it. Poison.

You mean need to ask yourself the question and your passion to spread the message of righteousness? Are you an angry writer or was one young woman? I was talking to this week was talking about somebody else. And she made a statement and had not heard many of you probably have, who are more active in social media than I am, but, but she said, um, no that person's an attacker.

She was talking about another believer, but they're an attacker. I don't think you want to be known as an attacker. I don't think we want to be known as an attacker. Do we want to have righteous convictions? Do we want to at times feel appropriate righteous indignation? Yes. It reminded me of years ago I was watching a talk show and I believe in how I think I was home and I haven't, I don't even, I don't remember what it was.

But it's just a daytime deal. And there was a couple that was presenting and this couple was talking, um, they were representing their work in New York city, which they owned. It was either 10 or 12 abortion clinics and they were presenting their work and they had people come and come up to the microphone and ask them questions.

And there was a significant representation of pro-life people. I'll say category. I am pro-life, um, and would identify with where they were coming from in terms of position wholeheartedly, but when they got to the microphone and it just grew more vociferous, if you prove more, more, um, attack mode and it was, it was awful.

And, and as they were talking, and, and finally there was one older woman that was just. Had lost her mind with anger and she was attacking this woman. And I remember sitting there and the owner of the abortion clinic made this statement. She said, um, where do I have it?

This is going to be a Willie paraphrase because I didn't write down the quote bottom line. She lost her marbles and the lady responded something like, wow, that really sounds like Jesus. And I sat there and thought you're right. It doesn't, I can't imagine Jesus talking that way. I just can't imagine it, but I believe that woman knew Jesus and I believe she was passionately burdened for unborn shorter, but at that moment, in that place, on that medium opportunity, she was, it was allowing the devil to have an opportunity in her art.

Anger had crossed the line when you are that revved up. When you are that charged, you're going to have a hard time being a listener. You're going to have a hard time having a quiet spirit with Jesus. He is saying in James chapter, one part of really being able to live quietly with Jesus is, you know, the.

Place where you are able to say, I just have to pull back. I just, it's not helping me. It's it's turning me into an angry, volatile. I'm consumed with this,

to the Lord where you're giving room for God in your ear. Two probably giving opportunity for the devil in your heart. I'm saying that I know that's heavy, but I think it's important because we want to have the Lord rule. Every part of our lives. We want to be listeners who want to hear, and that involves specifically intentionally listening.

It involves specifically not talking so much of their own thoughts and letting our own thoughts, consume our thinking. It also involves not being consumed with anger. We want to be listeners to this, and I want to invite you to join us as we scroll our way through the gospel of John. Uh, all the pressure's on pastor Mike, he says, he's going to keep us on track.

Um, I'm delighted to have him in that role, but I invite you to join us. Marin. We're both doing it. We're excited to do it. You're welcome to join us. As we journey through the gospel of John being listeners to truly celebrate the resurrection in days to come Lord, take these. Practical words. I hope they're practical words,

Lord, thank you. That you speak in the midst of the chaos and the confusion and the volatility and the tension, which probably is going to be with us for awhile. Culturally, we believe you call us to be people that. Stand with deep convictions for truth and righteousness,

who, who are most of all known as people who listen, who here, who are shaped by the spirit of God speaking quietly into our lives. And we're not attackers. Jesus didn't have to attack, but he spoke truth. That was powerful to people. Lord, let us learn and let us grow and let us show Jesus. I pray in Jesus name.

Amen. Now go in peace to love and serve and enjoy the Lord.

No.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/listening-to-and-living-by-truth a353ea6d-17a9-43c0-bae3-30959ee169c6 Sun, 10 Jan 2021 19:28:54 GMT <div data-html="true">James 1:19-21 <br /><br /> "take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry" <br /><br /> <br /><br /> I'm going to start this sermon with an apology, which is simply that we had announced I'd announced last week that we're going to beginning a series this morning on the sermon on the Mount. We're tremendously excited about it, but decided earlier this week, we wanted to take a little more time to try to get everything together in terms of coordinating services and other things around the themes. <br /><br /> So we're waiting until the beginning of February, the theme of the series is the upside down life. The life that Jesus presents to us in Matthew five through seven. Is in many ways the antithesis, it is the turning upside down of the perspective of life that a sinful world offers us. And so we're going to look at that and we're looking at an excited this morning, we're going to begin a two-part series on James chapter one, which is where I invite you to turn with me this morning, James chapter one verses 19 to 25. <br /><br /> The focus of this series is just listening to and living out truth. Listening to is what we're going to be looking at this morning next week, God willing learning to live out that truth. Here's what we read in James. One 19 to 21. Know this, my beloved brothers, let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger. <br /><br /> For the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant, wickedness and receive with meekness, the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. It was one of the most successful advertising campaigns in history, the effectiveness of the television commercials. <br /><br /> Because this company's CEO, Robert Fullman to take this large brokerage house and build a 29 story executive headquarters in downtown Manhattan. It was this particular campaign that presented and it's TV commercials scenes like this. You would be in a busy, uh, active dishes, clattering, fancy restaurant. <br /><br /> You could hear the forks and knives. You could hear people talking. And all of a sudden, somebody at one table would turn to their partner and said, well, my broker is eff Hutton and he says, and everything goes, silence. You remember it? Some of you go stone silence. And the idea was, everybody wanted to hear what had to say. <br /><br /> And the marketing voice would then come on at the end when he EF Hutton speaks people, listen, I don't know where you stand on but I think you've got to say the advertising campaign was fantastic. Don Maxwell in his book, 21 irrefutable laws of leadership calls law, number five, the eff Hutton law, and the law is simply saying that if you want to really find out. <br /><br /> The movers and shakers, the power brokers, the, the influencers in a room, you don't look for the person that is in charge necessarily. You look for the person that when that man or woman speaks, everybody just sort of tilts their heads a little more. They lean over a little more that you realize, even if the individual doesn't say much, when they talk, everybody is hanging on every word. <br /><br /> He says, that's the influencer in the room. Now, some of you do that naturally, who are born leaders. You just naturally smell out the power in a room, but his principle, we all recognize <br /><br /> individuals whose voice just carries tremendous significance. What about when God speaks? Are we leaning forward to hear it? Are we, are we saying, this is the voice I need when, when God is speaking, that's what I need to listen to. When James chapter one, these verses are talking about God speaking, and there, this is how you listen. <br /><br /> And secondly, this is then how you respond and live out what he says. The primary way. He's going to talk to us in these verses about God's speaking through his word. It's why in verses 2020, excuse me, 19 to 25, three times, he talks about the word, the scriptures. It's what he's talking about. So what are we to do when God speaks his truth? <br /><br /> Well, let's look today how we are to listen. And here's what he says for a number of things we're going to highlight this morning. First thing is just, and I'm going to do it by way of questions. First of all, who is it that listens to God's word, who is a God listener? And he associates this passage with the opening statement. <br /><br /> He says, know this my beloved brothers or my dear brothers. He is. He is doing this continually in the book of James, which was the earliest book written in the new Testament. It was written for the believers that had just recently come to know Jesus Christ as savior, and it had associated themselves with him and James, the physical brother, the half brother of Jesus is writing this letter to the, to the Christians at large. <br /><br /> And in it, he is identifying those preeminently. Who are God listeners. And I feel it important just at the beginning of this short sermon this morning to highlight this, that there is an assumption here. If we're going to talk about really being God listeners, that we have also become God's children that we have entered, as he says, my brothers. <br /><br /> That we have entered the family of God that we have personally embraced Jesus Christ as savior and Lord, we said yes to Christ in a, in a volitional conscious reality. We saw I need God's forgiveness, which Jesus Christ came to give. I need Christ as the, as the Lord of my life, which he came to be offering himself to be. <br /><br /> I have embraced the gospel. I've been born again into the family of God. That's who he's talking to here. And to really hear God's voice in this book and in all of the books of the scripture, you really need to be one of God's kids, because it is to them that this is preeminently addressed. The beauty is that anyone can become a part of his family by personally embracing Christ as savior. <br /><br /> First Corinthians talks about this. He says the man without the spirit. And another way of saying the man who is not been born again, who is not have the life of Christ in him. Does not accept the things that come from the spirit of God for they're foolishness to him. And he can't understand them because they're spiritually discerned. <br /><br /> The second question I want to ask simply is where is this truth found? And in verse 21, he talks about the implanted word, this word that has been placed within you. Now God does use some unique and special ways to communicate to his, to his children. We have read about remarkable happenings all over the middle East and, uh, at some cases less, I've heard less stories. <br /><br /> Of primitive cultures, where God has actually used dreams to speak truth into people and countless illustrations of people, of Islamic backgrounds and, and an atheistic cultures where, where missionaries have come or someone's come with the message of Christ. And they say, I know him, I've seen him. I didn't know him, but God, they, they knew of him. <br /><br /> There was a prepare prayer, preparatory work. God had spoken in a unique way to them to prepare them, to hear the message of Christ. He speaks into our lives personally, with the Holy spirit, the longer you walk with Jesus, the more you know that God does give little nudges along the way, his spirit does prompt us and lead us. <br /><br /> He, in this sense, he does speak to us. Colossians three says, let the peace of God rule in your hearts. Since as members of one body are called the peace. What's he talking about? Well, it literally means the word a rule is the word be the umpire. Let God's peace. The peace that the spirit gives about this decision. <br /><br /> Uh, let that be a, an, an umpire in your life. Let that prompt you and lead you. God, God speaks to us. If you will. In that way, my wife grew up and early on. She was a Jesus follower in contrast to many of us that was years later, but when she was a young girl, she had given her life to the Lord and, uh, Uh, she was with a cousin, Steve, who, who also is a believer, but at the time was, well, his personality leads towards questioning and they were together one time. <br /><br /> And my wife leaned over or was said to him, they were talking together and Marianne said, Jesus speaks to me too. Which Steve replied? No, he doesn't. She says, yes, he does. Jesus speaks to me. So he looked around and he said, I don't believe it. Jesus. Jesus said, I don't hear anything. What usually he doesn't speak audibly. <br /><br /> Even the nudges are, are more internal. They are the prompting, it's this piece of the spirit from within. But the primary way that he speaks is through his word, his normal way. Is speaking through what he is talking about as the word planted in us. In other words, the word took root as a seed in our lives. <br /><br /> It's where we started in our faith. First, Peter one says it this way. For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable through the living and abiding word of God. It's, it's a seed in your life. It's planted, but he says, if you want it to grow, keep feeding with the scripture, keep growing this new life that has taken place in your life. <br /><br /> It is word of God that created the growth created the birth created. It was the seed and it continues to need to grow. Now we are too. Do certain things in recess response to that. And that's where I want to focus for the remainder of my time in verses 19 to 21, he talks about how we are to listen to God's truth. <br /><br /> And he says, first of all, you got to be quick to hear you look for opportunities to hear that there is an intention in listening to God and. Letting him speak into your life, that there is a desire to personally make time to be with the Lord. The Bible is referred to as the milk for the infant or the new believer. <br /><br /> And is described as the meat or literally solid food for the growing believer. But the one commonality between milk and solid food is it's all food. It's all what is needed at that particular time in our life, whether you're an infant and you can't eat steaks yet, you get melt. But as you grow along, just as in physical life and spiritual life, you grow, you, you get more, you, you, you mature through that. <br /><br /> That there is food at every stage of the spiritual journey. And the food is the scripture. This past week, pastor Mike was at a seminary course escalate. He was doing online cause they're meeting remotely right now. And he was challenged by the professor. I don't know if it was in the little class or it was offline individually, but. <br /><br /> The guy challenged Mike with a challenge that has actually really taken root with many of us that I want to pass on to you. The challenge to Mike was to take the gospel of John and write it out. Handwritten, you know, with a pen, you may not remember how to do that, but to write it out every day. Take 10 to 10 verses a day and just write out the scripture, write out the gospel of John. <br /><br /> And if you do it every day and it starts tomorrow every day until Easter, you will conclude the gospel of John right at Easter Sunday. And Mike, then. Typically, if he was going to do work, Mike wanted to share the wealth. So he appealed to all of us on staff. Do you want to join me on this? He threw it on his Facebook. <br /><br /> A number of you have have joined. I'm sharing that with you as well. I invite you to join us. There were three things that appealed at different things, appealed to us. Number one, some of us had struck just as a very meaningful exercise. I know for me, I'm a visual learner and I know when I'm listening to somebody preach or I'm in a class. <br /><br /> I don't remember a thing they say until I write it down. If you're, if you're a visual learner rather than verbal or an oral learner, uh, you're probably like me writing it out, helps me to interact with the, to process with it. And it struck me as I love this idea. I've never actually done this written my way through a book of scripture, but I'm really looking forward to it. <br /><br /> Some it hit two just because it was novel. Well, the word of God tells us that it is living. But our reading can get really stale, right? If we're doing the same way, the Santa's well, you change up your approach. This is possibly an approach that God would prompt you to do as a way of invoking this passage, which says be quick to listen. <br /><br /> And it's primarily talking about in the scripture. And the third thing I think that affected some of us was just the thought of. This is going to be a fantastic way to prepare me for Easter celebration. This year, I am going to be walking through the life of Jesus and the teachings of Jesus all the way up to the resurrection, and I'm going to be doing it every single day. <br /><br /> And if you want to be a part, you can go to Mike's Facebook, you can indicate you want to be a part. You can check again at the, what I can figure. We call hub the hub. You can just, uh, online, you can just let somebody know in the office. Just take a, do a quick. Memo to the church office on our website. And we'll get you involved in that. <br /><br /> But bottom line, I'm just trying to say if, if we are quick to listen, we are looking for opportunities to hear. We also are teachable when you do hear, I grew up in it church where there's a pastor. I was over in cherry Hill, Bethel Baptist. Um, I actually, we moved down in high school when I was there. Dr. <br /><br /> Carla, Gina was the pastor. And I'll never forget him saying this. Um, he was talking about sermons. He had heard, and he had heard a lot of them over the years. And I remember him making the statement and he said, I have never heard a sermon where I didn't get something out of it for my own life. And then what a twinkle in his eye. <br /><br /> And if you know him, you could, you could imagine this, the twinkle in his eye, he said, I've had some close calls. Well, we get it. The idea was, he said, I'm always in learner mode. I'm always, I'm coming to script saying, God feed me. This is my food. We come teachable to hear the word of God. It's not a road exercise. <br /><br /> And if your scripture reading or your devotions is, is maybe you need to switch up. Maybe, maybe you need to write out. Well, we come teachable third. We're not focused on what you'll say to others. Now this is particularly those of us that are in ministries of, of handling the word teaching or instructing, or maybe you're gifted, encouragement. <br /><br /> You love, we don't come just to hear what I'll learn so I can tell others one of the most meaningful things I ever read about preaching was written by a guy named Phillip Brooks, the art of preaching. He wrote it back in the 17 hundreds and he said, this. The child of God who is involved in any kind of ministry of the word must not come to the word just as a conduit. <br /><br /> In other words, I get what I, I get my information, I get my sermon and I comment I'm just a conduit to flow through. He said, no, it must be like the reservoir that we are, our own lives are drinking in the scripture. So that what our preaching is, is just an old overflow of the reservoir. Like a waterfall. <br /><br /> I love that because quite honestly, when I'm falling behind in my own soul being fed and I'm trying to put sermons together. It's dry, it's draining. And I feel like all manager, he went to study and shoot. Now it's gone, but, but I need more to live out of. We need a reservoir. We need to be spilling over in what we share with each other. <br /><br /> But our hearts and lives are a refreshed as a reservoir, as a repository of truth, we need to be listeners to truth. Second of all. We need to be slow to speak as it is often pointed out, God gave us two ears, one mouth we're called to listen more than to talk. Now that certainly has relevance in our marriages and our relationships, but James is not trying primarily to focus and make us good listeners in our marriages and relationships. <br /><br /> It's a great principle, but the focus is on listening to God in these verses. We must be slow to speak if we are to listen. Well, you remember the passage where Peter is up there on the mountain of transfiguration and there he's seen the glory of Christ and only three men would ever see Christ, glorified and revealed in his glory, in his earthly life like Peter, James and John did on the Mount of transfiguration. <br /><br /> And he's so pumped up because Moses shows up and, and Elijah shows up and it's just this miraculous experience and they're there to credit Christ and worship Christ. And so Peter comes up with this idea. He said, Lord, it's good for us to be here. If you wish I'll put up three shelters, one for you, one for Moses, one for Elijah. <br /><br /> I mean, I got ideas. I mean, I've, I've been waiting for an opportunity. I've got some great designs on it. You know, a simple tent that I can put up in timer night. And all of a sudden this booming voice comes and says this while he was still speaking, a bright cloud, enveloped them and a voice in the cloud says, this is my son whom I love with whom I am. <br /><br /> Well pleased. Listen to him. He came into God's presence full of his own on ideas and his own thoughts. Hey, we do that all the time. Right? We come to pray. We come to listen to scripture and we find her so, so distract you so much going on. So what do we do with that? When, when your minds are, are so heavy? <br /><br /> Well, number one, that's why I believe the greatest time of day to get with the Lord is the first thing in the morning. Don't start with the Dow Jones TV shows. Don't start with, with stock advice. Don't start with sports radio. Don't start with God. Let them be the first voice. Let him fill your mind first. <br /><br /> But some of us are still constantly agitated mind. So what do you do when you have these distractions? I've found the only way I can deal with the distractions that come to me when I'm trying to reflect on scriptures or I'm trying to pray, I just take those thoughts and I jot them down. Right. And I make them apart. <br /><br /> I say, Lord, in my prayer, I immediately bring that in. If, if I'm reading the scripture, I put them aside and I, I know I'm going to address them. I make them a part of it. If I can't keep them out of it, I bring them apart as well. But, but listening means that we are slow to speak that our own thoughts. <br /><br /> Aren't what we are hearing loudest. We're putting those aside. We listened to the Lord and then we are slow to anger. Now there are two words for anger in the new Testament, in the Greek. The first word is the word that is, uh, it actually through Moss. It is the word that refers to this, this explosive, uh, anger it is, is volcanic is the idea. <br /><br /> This is the blowup kind of anger. We have terms for this kind of anger, lose your temper, blow your pool. Uh, somebody went off, what's a picture of a volcano. We get it. This is somebody that just popped their cork. This is, this is the, the, the, the blow up type of anger. This is the kind of anger that, uh, gives other people ulcers, but there's another word for anger in the new Testament. <br /><br /> It's the word or gay. It is the word that talks about an internal anger. It's, it's pictured by this coil where we're adding. It just goes in and in and in downtown, this is the kind of anger it gives you ulcers. It's what we associate with bitterness and resentment. It's the clam up type of anger. Both are expressions of sinful anger. <br /><br /> However, the unique thing is, and the word for clam up anger is the one used in this passage. This word can also be used in a positive sense, but here's what he's saying. First, I'm going to come back to it. He uses this word, this, this word of internalized anger. And he says to us, be careful with it. Now what was happening in the book of James is these early Christians were being terribly mistreated. <br /><br /> They were the objects of, of serious injustice for their faith. Many of them were facing social ostracism, as we know, some of them were killed and the response was there was a sense of anger. Now the question could be asked, well, why isn't any anger as in their anger sometimes justified. I mean, isn't there a righteous anger? <br /><br /> Yes, there is. And this word is the one that is used a new Testament to talk about that righteous anger in Ephesians chapter four, verse 25 and 26. It says this be angry and do not sin. In other words, you can be angry. You can have this settled state. There is a righteous sense of anger and not sin. He says be angry and do not sin. <br /><br /> So what happens to make this. Appropriate anger, inappropriate and destructive. Well, he goes on to tell us in Ephesians four, here's what he says. Be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger and give no opportunity to the devil. Here's what I think he's saying. He's saying you can have this righteous anger, you can have this sense of, of this is not right, and this is wrong. <br /><br /> And, and I'm, I'm gonna, I'm going to stand against this and it's absolutely appropriate. But he said, be very careful because that anger can take root. And that's why he says, you know, it's why many people take this passage and say in a marriage, don't go to bed angry. I think there's great wisdom in that. <br /><br /> But the principle is basically this. Make sure that you don't hold on to that for too long and that it doesn't become consuming to you because you give opportunity to the devil and your experience. So what does all this have to do with James one? Mark? Well, you can have a righteous anger, but it can start to consume you. <br /><br /> It can start to completely take over you. Can't let it go, man. What's going on culturally and you find yourself, you can't stay away from the internet. I can't still not going to watch another video. I gotta hit another website. I gotta, I gotta, I gotta get out there. I gotta post and I got to read the Postmate or fight their posts. <br /><br /> We're going to hear another one. And you say, what are you doing? They say, well, I'm, I'm, I'm I'm righteously angry. Well, may be. You were, but maybe you're not anymore. Maybe the way you're talking has more effect from righteous anger, where you were letting God speak into you too. Now you are letting the devil. <br /><br /> Direct you that's exactly what Paul was warning about in Ephesians four. He said be angry. Good. Okay. But watch out, not let the devil gain an opportunity with you. Righteous anger can become poisonous because the devil makes it. Poison. <br /><br /> You mean need to ask yourself the question and your passion to spread the message of righteousness? Are you an angry writer or was one young woman? I was talking to this week was talking about somebody else. And she made a statement and had not heard many of you probably have, who are more active in social media than I am, but, but she said, um, no that person's an attacker. <br /><br /> She was talking about another believer, but they're an attacker. I don't think you want to be known as an attacker. I don't think we want to be known as an attacker. Do we want to have righteous convictions? Do we want to at times feel appropriate righteous indignation? Yes. It reminded me of years ago I was watching a talk show and I believe in how I think I was home and I haven't, I don't even, I don't remember what it was. <br /><br /> But it's just a daytime deal. And there was a couple that was presenting and this couple was talking, um, they were representing their work in New York city, which they owned. It was either 10 or 12 abortion clinics and they were presenting their work and they had people come and come up to the microphone and ask them questions. <br /><br /> And there was a significant representation of pro-life people. I'll say category. I am pro-life, um, and would identify with where they were coming from in terms of position wholeheartedly, but when they got to the microphone and it just grew more vociferous, if you prove more, more, um, attack mode and it was, it was awful. <br /><br /> And, and as they were talking, and, and finally there was one older woman that was just. Had lost her mind with anger and she was attacking this woman. And I remember sitting there and the owner of the abortion clinic made this statement. She said, um, where do I have it? <br /><br /> This is going to be a Willie paraphrase because I didn't write down the quote bottom line. She lost her marbles and the lady responded something like, wow, that really sounds like Jesus. And I sat there and thought you're right. It doesn't, I can't imagine Jesus talking that way. I just can't imagine it, but I believe that woman knew Jesus and I believe she was passionately burdened for unborn shorter, but at that moment, in that place, on that medium opportunity, she was, it was allowing the devil to have an opportunity in her art. <br /><br /> Anger had crossed the line when you are that revved up. When you are that charged, you're going to have a hard time being a listener. You're going to have a hard time having a quiet spirit with Jesus. He is saying in James chapter, one part of really being able to live quietly with Jesus is, you know, the. <br /><br /> Place where you are able to say, I just have to pull back. I just, it's not helping me. It's it's turning me into an angry, volatile. I'm consumed with this, <br /><br /> to the Lord where you're giving room for God in your ear. Two probably giving opportunity for the devil in your heart. I'm saying that I know that's heavy, but I think it's important because we want to have the Lord rule. Every part of our lives. We want to be listeners who want to hear, and that involves specifically intentionally listening. <br /><br /> It involves specifically not talking so much of their own thoughts and letting our own thoughts, consume our thinking. It also involves not being consumed with anger. We want to be listeners to this, and I want to invite you to join us as we scroll our way through the gospel of John. Uh, all the pressure's on pastor Mike, he says, he's going to keep us on track. <br /><br /> Um, I'm delighted to have him in that role, but I invite you to join us. Marin. We're both doing it. We're excited to do it. You're welcome to join us. As we journey through the gospel of John being listeners to truly celebrate the resurrection in days to come Lord, take these. Practical words. I hope they're practical words, <br /><br /> Lord, thank you. That you speak in the midst of the chaos and the confusion and the volatility and the tension, which probably is going to be with us for awhile. Culturally, we believe you call us to be people that. Stand with deep convictions for truth and righteousness, <br /><br /> who, who are most of all known as people who listen, who here, who are shaped by the spirit of God speaking quietly into our lives. And we're not attackers. Jesus didn't have to attack, but he spoke truth. That was powerful to people. Lord, let us learn and let us grow and let us show Jesus. I pray in Jesus name. <br /><br /> Amen. Now go in peace to love and serve and enjoy the Lord. <br /><br /> No.</div> false no <![CDATA[Jars of Clay in a World of Bling]]> 2 Corinthians 4:7-10

"But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us."



Corinthians chapter four, verses seven through 10. Uh, we read this biographical statement of Paul. Here's what he says. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed perplexed, but not in despair, persecuted, but not abandoned, struck down, but not destroyed.

Always carry around in our body, the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus. May also be revealed in our body. Let's pray, Lord, come to the beginning of a new year. And for many, many of us, it can happen in a moment too soon yet. Lord, we know that as Mike was just saying, you're always at work all the time and God, we.

Praise you. We thank you for the goodness of God that we have seen in this, uh, stretching year of, of our lives. And now Lord, we want to look ahead. We want to look ahead as Jared joins our pastoral staff for the first Sunday today, we want to look ahead as individuals, as we seek to minister and serve and be on mission in our own lives with you.

So Lord use this passage in this simple study too, to reorient it and re position our minds and priorities where they ought to be, that we can be vessels in the master's hand fit for the master's use in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, we made it through 2020 and for most of us, we're okay with it now being in the rear view window.

But as I mentioned yesterday, or I guess a couple of days ago, one of the things I mentioned was the benefits that I saw 2020. And one of those is decidedly. The fact that it put all of us back in startup mode. It's a season for us to reflect, to make changes. A lot of things, we are familiar with the way we've done.

Life has been sort of thrown up in the air, large corporations, small businesses, churches, schools, families are restarting in the way that they look at life and the way they do life and the way they carry on their businesses, their ministries, their family life. As we come to a new year, it's a great time to do that.

And there's a challenge that I want to bring to us this morning of the priority way. We need to look at life. If we are really going to reboot ourselves as people who are called to be representatives of the King of Kings to our generation. Now I mentioned that this is Jared hacking's first, Sunday as pastor and part of this service and the end of this service is directed to commissioning Jared to that calling.

And in a way, this message is certainly to Jared, because it is talking about priority and perspective as you minister, but all of us are called to be on point in ministry in our mission. And so the message is for all of us to just remember number what's true. If we are in that place, where many of us are just trying to say, you know, I'm rebooting, um, I'm reprocessing.

Um, I'm gonna restart personally family church business, whatever it is the context of, of second Corinthians as Paul writes, this letter is important to understand in light of what he says. Because Paul is actually writing his third letter to the church of Corinth. We only have two of them, but the first one he wrote soon after he had started the church there and it had been a tough go.

He had been there about three months. It had been a challenging thing. And then he left and he got some very discouraging words about what was taking place in the church. And he, he apparently fired off a quick letter, which in some parts of the church was misunderstood. I mean, it was just, it was a tough thing.

He got word back that maybe he'd done more harm than good with that letter in some ways, although it was well-intentioned. And so he wrote a much more extensive letter to them, which is called first Corinthians. And this letter, which is scripture, was a presentation of his concerns, but his, his heartbeat and was very thoroughly stated.

Now he's writing a follow-up after hearing really encouraging words from the church, there's been real repentance. There's some been some wonderful change. However, there also is a remaining pocket of dissident voices that are really anti poll. And they're seeing things about him that are tough for him who loves this church and loves these people.

And they're, these voices are, are, are, are making a variety of statements about him in two primary ways. One, they talk about the fact that Paul doesn't have the goods. They, they say he's powerful from a distance in his letters. Okay. And I, Oh, wow. He's heavy he's but, but honestly, when the guy's here, he's just not that impressive.

And he addresses that in secondly, and they're talking about his physical appearance and they're talking about his manner and his presence. And apparently Paul wasn't as brilliant as his mind was. He wasn't necessarily a winsome speaker. He wasn't necessarily that quick on his feet apparently. And they see, you know, in presence, he's pretty unimpressive.

He's pretty good ordinary. Secondly, they said, not only does he have the goods, but he doesn't even have the results. And they talk about the fact, I mean, the guy's always in jail, he's always in trouble. He's always sick. And they said, where's the blessing of God. Where is the evidence that God has for this guy with all that's going on in his life.

And Paul is, is this is weighing on Paul as he writes this letter. And so Paul is then speaking in this very personal autobiographical section of second Corinthians four. And we would look at it as this is sort of his defense to the people that are saying, why do we listen to him? Why should we listen to him?

I mean, He's, he's not that impressive. He's not that effective. And this is how Paul response as he shares the aspects of vision at any of us must have. If we are going to be functioning in the role of our mission as called people being used of God in our generation. And quite frankly, the passage is a little bit surprising.

The first thing he tells us is we have to have a vision of our treasure. He says this treasure in verse seven in other treasuries talking about our, from chapter three in the beginning of chapter four. And they're talking about, he's talking about the gospel of grace. It's all been about the gospel of grace.

This truth, the treasure is truth. It is truth. He says it's been entrusted to us. And he says in those chapters, people are, are inherently blind to the truth and they don't, they don't inherently embrace them treasure. And he's talking particularly about unbelievers, but also to believers, he's saying if we, if we just grasp the significance of, of this treasure, that we have this gospel of grace, well, what is he talking about?

There are three particular things he talks about. He talks about the gospel declares that people can be forgiven if there's no sin too deep, but God's grace is deeper still. And he says, this is, this is a treasure that people can find forgiveness for their guilt and an answer to their shame and the forgiveness that Jesus Christ came to provide.

Secondly, he says this gospel of grace. Is a treasure because it declares that you can be accepted by God as his very own son or daughter that you don't have to live your life on the line that you don't have to live in the freedom in the fear that comes of living on the performance trap. He says, we can live freely.

We don't have to struggle with, am I a greater than am I less than which side of my arm? I'm not on the line because I'm excepted eternally in Christ. It's my opinion that 90% of the struggles in our lives, 90% of our contribution. To the struggles in our marriages, in the dysfunctional relationships with others is because we are not living in the air of that acceptance that we have not imbibed the power of what it means to stand accepted in the beloved in Christ.

We're not on the line. Well, Mark Lang, I'm not sure about your numbers, man. I mean, I mean, that's kind of crazy. You're saying here's what I'm hearing you say. The 90% of the struggles in my inner life, my relational dysfunction is because I don't breathe the air of God's acceptance of me. Come on. I mean, well, here's my response.

You may be right. It might be 95%. It is the liberating reality of the gospel. The more that we drink the air of what it means to stand accepted in Jesus. And Paul says, every person you run into this week, Is struggling to, to be a greater than they're struggling to be accepted. And they don't know it all traces back to what happened in the garden.

When all of a sudden they, they, they turned their back on God and now they, they, they sensed condemnation and they sensed shaming themselves and they're hiding themselves. And that everybody's striving in a thousand places to just feel okay about themselves. And Paul says you have the antidote. You have the treasure, it's the gospel of grace, the acceptance in Christ, the forgiveness through Christ.

And the third reality of that treasure is that God is for you. And he who gave his own son will not shirk to freely give you all things that God is the safest person in your life. The treasure is truth, a life liberating, truth of grace and acceptance and forgiveness and love. And Paul says, who am I? I'm a person that has been entrusted with that treasure, but he says the second thing, he has a vision of, he has a vision of himself.

He says, we have this treasure in jars of clay. Now, Corinth was a city. You probably have heard this. It was a city that was famous for architecture. There is Corinthian architecture. This is Corinthian columns, but it was also a city that was famous for its ornate pottery. Here's just a few vases. We can just run through these three.

I mean, these are, these are actually ones that are still available. They found an archeological digs from Corinth and those three pieces are reflective of the beauty and the ornate and, and these pots ordained the homes of, of, uh, fluent Corinthians. Now they didn't have, um, the kind of, of where that, yeah, they didn't have copper pans or cast iron pots or stainless steel pots.

They used pottery and then their dinner where they used preeminently pottery. Sometimes if they were very affluent, they had silver versus, uh, dinnerware or, or gold dinnerware. But most of them, even that were. Middle-class and above say would, would have these ornate silverware, excuse me, dinnerware the plates, the cups, the bowls, but somewhere, even in these expensive homes, they would have these cooking pots, these cheap pots that looked like this baby, which also was, is from archeological digs.

And Paul talks about this in second Timothy. Here's what he says in verse 20, but in a great house, there are not only vessels of gold and of silver. But also would in earth in some to honor and some to dishonor. And he said in the great house, they have the different, but they would never bring out these cheap clay pots.

I mean, nobody's going to bring them out with company. And Paul says, but that's me. And the treasure that we're given is not in. The extraordinary newness of who we are. It's rather found in the earthiness, in the simple, ordinary, insignificant quality. He says, you're right. I don't have a lot of presence when I talk to you.

I am not a particularly physically attractive man. Most believe that a lot of historical records, he, he had really bad eyesight. He said I had a lot of limitations. I'm a clay pot. I'm not the urinate pot. I'm just a clay pot with treasure. The treasure is truth. There will be seasons in ministry. And in life where you are going to fear that your weaknesses are going to stand in the way of what God wants to do, that you don't have the goods that you're not enough that you're in so far over your head, whether you're a pastor or you're a representative God, in your business or your school or your neighborhood, and in those moments, When you are overwhelmed with how clay potty, you really are.

You can do certain things. You can turn on people. I've known a number of pastors that I believe did that out of their own vulnerability or their own inadequacy. They've just turned on others. You can turn on yourselves. You can give up. You can say, I'm just not going to try to, I, I'm not going to try to play the game anymore.

I don't, God can't use me. I don't have it. Uh, I'm just gonna, I'm gonna even, I'm not even gonna try to make a difference for Jesus in my workplace. Who am I? Anyway, you can turn on God and grow bitter and cynical because he hasn't given you the, the appropriate goods that you think you need to make the difference that you should be making.

Or you can turn to something other than God to feel good about yourself. And it's exactly the moments when Christians jump into bed with someone else or turn to some substance, uh, if to find solve for the pain they feel, or you can do what Paul did when he felt bad when he was hurting. When he was reminded by other people, as well as the voice in his own head.

I am not that much. I'm not that impressive. I am. I'm just a jar that nobody would bring out and decorate their home with.

He reminded himself

that his sufficiency was part of the whole purpose of God. And cried out in desperation for God's self and yielded to whatever purposes God had for him, whether fruitfulness or unfruitfulness, whether renown or in the shadows, because God was his goal. And his glory was his heart's longing.

Did Jared is becoming a pastor to all of you that are seeking to serve God. You will never outgrow your sense of inadequacy. That's what happens about part, one of the ones I look forward to the most is you're shutting up the voices in my head. You'll never outgrow that sense of inadequacy. It's what are you gonna do with it?

Where are you going to take it? Are you going to just strive more and more to just, if I just, I just won't be around people that make me feel bad about myself. I'm not going to be in circumstances that I'm just going to run. I'm going to hide or are you just going to bluff it or you're going to remember who you are.

You are a clay pot, but you're a clay pot with treasure. The truth that says, I stand accepting Christ. I'm not on the line. And that is the message. Every single person you will meet this week desperately needs here.

The third thing is he had a vision of God. This all surpassing power is from God. Remember the context of second Corinthians. When Paul's talking, people are bad mouth in him. He doesn't have the goods. He's weak, he's unimpressive. He's common. He's ordinary. He doesn't have the fruit, his lack of success and influence is proof.

He's not the real article. He's always suffering. He's involved in ministries that don't seem to be growing the guys constantly in jail. How does he answer them? He answers them this way. He says you were bright. I'm just a jar, but you know, something, God chooses clay pots in order that the surpassing greatness of the power may be of God.

And not of me, that formula makes it very, very clear that the power. Is coming, not from you, but from God, there's a story I heard years ago. It's a, it's a story that, um, is verified in the circles of varsity the ministry. It was about a guy on a college university campus, a state university. He was a believer and he was, uh, sort of, uh, um, The kind of guy that, that, that really has never elected to leadership in anything.

He's just good guy, but, but not a lot that was noteworthy about him. And there was a guy in his floor that was a big time influential guy on campus. And for some reason he just distained this, this young Christian and this guy was, was, was very serious in his faith with Jesus and this big dude. Just just beat on his helmet.

Distained him mocked him. And of course, a big dude, like this can influence, I will tell you this story. The big dude later became, uh, an influential voice in inner varsity. That's how we know the story, but he talked about how he would turn people against the sky. And of course, you know, the, the hangers on would join in the mockery.

And, but this young guy on the floor of his dorm, just, he loved Jesus. Any, any. He cared about this big dude. He was praying for him and the guy knew it and it irritated him and he would, he would, he would, uh, accept what he said. He didn't do what most of us would do would be to just give this big guy a lot of room.

You know, just see him come and go the other way. He just acted. Normally he, he hung with them. And finally this guy, the, the big dude just got so irritated of it, that he literally one day took one of his shoes and fired it down the hall and hit him in the back and then took another issues and fired it down, people laughing.

And then we went on and did what he did. And the next morning he woke up and they're outside. His door were shoes. Polished by this Christian Guy and a broken, it just broke him. And he told the story of how this guy's love for him. Humility, taking what he gave returning. Good for evil, absolutely transformed his heart.

I want to tell you that if I designed a ministry to reach that big dude for Jesus, that's not what I would have chosen. I would have done what you would have done. I would have thought, you know what we need, we need the football team captain to get saved and go on that floor. And wow, this guy that a big manly, tough guy, like, like the quarterback of our team has come to Jesus.

And, and, and, and that's the guy that's going to reach this guy. But it wasn't, it was a clay pot with treasure. It was the treasure in the surpassing power of God that spoke into this guy's life and led him to Jesus.

You may feel. Where you work like you are nobody. I mean, there's people there, it could be in your school could be in your workplace. They're more successful than you. They're more better looking than you. They've got more friends than you. That girl is more beautiful, stylish, wealthy. They have it all. But you have treasure.

You may be and think, well, I need to have high grades. But they're in the grades that don't count the grades of affluence or beauty or charisma or popularity or power or sex appeal or money. Those aren't the grades that matter because we have treasure, but we've gotta be willing to do what Paul did and said, God, you know, here are people beating them up.

And, you know, the flesh one to see who, who are you? And he says, not your writing. I'm not impressed. I'm just, I'm just a clay jar, but brother, I have treasure and I'm in bribing the treasure and I'm living out of the treasure. And I love you enough that I want you to know this treasure that I found. The surpassing power of God was seen in Paul when he wrote the book of Corinthians the F what was actually his second letter, but we call it the first letter to the Corinthians.

He talks about he's looking back and he's saying to them in chapter one of first Corinthians, he says, guys, Y Y you're exalting yourselves and you're boasting and you're, and you're measuring yourselves by all the wrong things. And, and he's challenging them to not find their confidence in their group or their position or their intelligence or their standing or their, a fluence, all the things they were doing, even though there were believers.

And here's what he says. At the end of chapter, one of first Corinthians one, he says, rather than let him who boasts boast in the Lord. And then he tells about himself the very next verse in chapter two, he says this. And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaim to you, the testimony about God.

Four. I resolved to know nothing while I was with you, except Jesus Christ and him crucified. Now, listen, I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling my message. My preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power. So your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God's power, Paul says, and I came to Corinth.

I was tired and lonely. I was daunted by the, and I was dismayed by the opposition, the antagonism, the bigness of the city. He said, I felt small. I felt real clay jars fish, but I still came

because I had treasure. I had the treasure of truth empowered by the power of the eternal God. That enabled me to be a representative. You have that same treasure and you have that same power, no matter where you work, no matter where you go to school, no matter who you're doing life with and what the devil will constantly try to do to you is to get you to compare yourself on the grading scale.

That doesn't matter. You don't have to be an ornate pottery. A matter of fact, it's probably going to get in the way, the more you are. That's why Jesus said the more wealth you have, the harder it is to live humbly.

We need a vision of the treasure. We need a vision of ourselves. Most of all, we need a vision of God. It's God that works through humble, broken people. As you begin your ministry as pastor of this church, there's going to be days where you really feel discouraged and you are reminded you're not all you think you need to be.

And you think you should be. You're not the God's not asking you to be. He gave you treasure and he is going to give you a supernatural power. If you turn to him in your weakness, let's pray, Lord.

Speaking as one clay pot for many others in this room and online this morning, I thank you for the surpassing power that you offer. Lord, how I thank you for the treasure.

God help us be renewed in our vision. We're not going to wow. People to Jesus by our strength. We're going to be used by the spirit of God, in our weakness, in our humility, but most powerfully in our contentment that we stand as people accepted in Jesus. And we're not on the line. Lord teach us to imbibe the air and drink the air of that reality.

But we have been given the treasure in our own lives, not only to declare, but most importantly, to live in Jesus' name. Amen.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/jars-of-clay-in-a-world-of-bling 3262a372-0a23-4f33-8b9e-74e1bb12a65a Sun, 03 Jan 2021 18:32:18 GMT <div data-html="true">2 Corinthians 4:7-10 <br /><br /> "But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us." <br /><br /> <br /><br /> Corinthians chapter four, verses seven through 10. Uh, we read this biographical statement of Paul. Here's what he says. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed perplexed, but not in despair, persecuted, but not abandoned, struck down, but not destroyed. <br /><br /> Always carry around in our body, the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus. May also be revealed in our body. Let's pray, Lord, come to the beginning of a new year. And for many, many of us, it can happen in a moment too soon yet. Lord, we know that as Mike was just saying, you're always at work all the time and God, we. <br /><br /> Praise you. We thank you for the goodness of God that we have seen in this, uh, stretching year of, of our lives. And now Lord, we want to look ahead. We want to look ahead as Jared joins our pastoral staff for the first Sunday today, we want to look ahead as individuals, as we seek to minister and serve and be on mission in our own lives with you. <br /><br /> So Lord use this passage in this simple study too, to reorient it and re position our minds and priorities where they ought to be, that we can be vessels in the master's hand fit for the master's use in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, we made it through 2020 and for most of us, we're okay with it now being in the rear view window. <br /><br /> But as I mentioned yesterday, or I guess a couple of days ago, one of the things I mentioned was the benefits that I saw 2020. And one of those is decidedly. The fact that it put all of us back in startup mode. It's a season for us to reflect, to make changes. A lot of things, we are familiar with the way we've done. <br /><br /> Life has been sort of thrown up in the air, large corporations, small businesses, churches, schools, families are restarting in the way that they look at life and the way they do life and the way they carry on their businesses, their ministries, their family life. As we come to a new year, it's a great time to do that. <br /><br /> And there's a challenge that I want to bring to us this morning of the priority way. We need to look at life. If we are really going to reboot ourselves as people who are called to be representatives of the King of Kings to our generation. Now I mentioned that this is Jared hacking's first, Sunday as pastor and part of this service and the end of this service is directed to commissioning Jared to that calling. <br /><br /> And in a way, this message is certainly to Jared, because it is talking about priority and perspective as you minister, but all of us are called to be on point in ministry in our mission. And so the message is for all of us to just remember number what's true. If we are in that place, where many of us are just trying to say, you know, I'm rebooting, um, I'm reprocessing. <br /><br /> Um, I'm gonna restart personally family church business, whatever it is the context of, of second Corinthians as Paul writes, this letter is important to understand in light of what he says. Because Paul is actually writing his third letter to the church of Corinth. We only have two of them, but the first one he wrote soon after he had started the church there and it had been a tough go. <br /><br /> He had been there about three months. It had been a challenging thing. And then he left and he got some very discouraging words about what was taking place in the church. And he, he apparently fired off a quick letter, which in some parts of the church was misunderstood. I mean, it was just, it was a tough thing. <br /><br /> He got word back that maybe he'd done more harm than good with that letter in some ways, although it was well-intentioned. And so he wrote a much more extensive letter to them, which is called first Corinthians. And this letter, which is scripture, was a presentation of his concerns, but his, his heartbeat and was very thoroughly stated. <br /><br /> Now he's writing a follow-up after hearing really encouraging words from the church, there's been real repentance. There's some been some wonderful change. However, there also is a remaining pocket of dissident voices that are really anti poll. And they're seeing things about him that are tough for him who loves this church and loves these people. <br /><br /> And they're, these voices are, are, are, are making a variety of statements about him in two primary ways. One, they talk about the fact that Paul doesn't have the goods. They, they say he's powerful from a distance in his letters. Okay. And I, Oh, wow. He's heavy he's but, but honestly, when the guy's here, he's just not that impressive. <br /><br /> And he addresses that in secondly, and they're talking about his physical appearance and they're talking about his manner and his presence. And apparently Paul wasn't as brilliant as his mind was. He wasn't necessarily a winsome speaker. He wasn't necessarily that quick on his feet apparently. And they see, you know, in presence, he's pretty unimpressive. <br /><br /> He's pretty good ordinary. Secondly, they said, not only does he have the goods, but he doesn't even have the results. And they talk about the fact, I mean, the guy's always in jail, he's always in trouble. He's always sick. And they said, where's the blessing of God. Where is the evidence that God has for this guy with all that's going on in his life. <br /><br /> And Paul is, is this is weighing on Paul as he writes this letter. And so Paul is then speaking in this very personal autobiographical section of second Corinthians four. And we would look at it as this is sort of his defense to the people that are saying, why do we listen to him? Why should we listen to him? <br /><br /> I mean, He's, he's not that impressive. He's not that effective. And this is how Paul response as he shares the aspects of vision at any of us must have. If we are going to be functioning in the role of our mission as called people being used of God in our generation. And quite frankly, the passage is a little bit surprising. <br /><br /> The first thing he tells us is we have to have a vision of our treasure. He says this treasure in verse seven in other treasuries talking about our, from chapter three in the beginning of chapter four. And they're talking about, he's talking about the gospel of grace. It's all been about the gospel of grace. <br /><br /> This truth, the treasure is truth. It is truth. He says it's been entrusted to us. And he says in those chapters, people are, are inherently blind to the truth and they don't, they don't inherently embrace them treasure. And he's talking particularly about unbelievers, but also to believers, he's saying if we, if we just grasp the significance of, of this treasure, that we have this gospel of grace, well, what is he talking about? <br /><br /> There are three particular things he talks about. He talks about the gospel declares that people can be forgiven if there's no sin too deep, but God's grace is deeper still. And he says, this is, this is a treasure that people can find forgiveness for their guilt and an answer to their shame and the forgiveness that Jesus Christ came to provide. <br /><br /> Secondly, he says this gospel of grace. Is a treasure because it declares that you can be accepted by God as his very own son or daughter that you don't have to live your life on the line that you don't have to live in the freedom in the fear that comes of living on the performance trap. He says, we can live freely. <br /><br /> We don't have to struggle with, am I a greater than am I less than which side of my arm? I'm not on the line because I'm excepted eternally in Christ. It's my opinion that 90% of the struggles in our lives, 90% of our contribution. To the struggles in our marriages, in the dysfunctional relationships with others is because we are not living in the air of that acceptance that we have not imbibed the power of what it means to stand accepted in the beloved in Christ. <br /><br /> We're not on the line. Well, Mark Lang, I'm not sure about your numbers, man. I mean, I mean, that's kind of crazy. You're saying here's what I'm hearing you say. The 90% of the struggles in my inner life, my relational dysfunction is because I don't breathe the air of God's acceptance of me. Come on. I mean, well, here's my response. <br /><br /> You may be right. It might be 95%. It is the liberating reality of the gospel. The more that we drink the air of what it means to stand accepted in Jesus. And Paul says, every person you run into this week, Is struggling to, to be a greater than they're struggling to be accepted. And they don't know it all traces back to what happened in the garden. <br /><br /> When all of a sudden they, they, they turned their back on God and now they, they, they sensed condemnation and they sensed shaming themselves and they're hiding themselves. And that everybody's striving in a thousand places to just feel okay about themselves. And Paul says you have the antidote. You have the treasure, it's the gospel of grace, the acceptance in Christ, the forgiveness through Christ. <br /><br /> And the third reality of that treasure is that God is for you. And he who gave his own son will not shirk to freely give you all things that God is the safest person in your life. The treasure is truth, a life liberating, truth of grace and acceptance and forgiveness and love. And Paul says, who am I? I'm a person that has been entrusted with that treasure, but he says the second thing, he has a vision of, he has a vision of himself. <br /><br /> He says, we have this treasure in jars of clay. Now, Corinth was a city. You probably have heard this. It was a city that was famous for architecture. There is Corinthian architecture. This is Corinthian columns, but it was also a city that was famous for its ornate pottery. Here's just a few vases. We can just run through these three. <br /><br /> I mean, these are, these are actually ones that are still available. They found an archeological digs from Corinth and those three pieces are reflective of the beauty and the ornate and, and these pots ordained the homes of, of, uh, fluent Corinthians. Now they didn't have, um, the kind of, of where that, yeah, they didn't have copper pans or cast iron pots or stainless steel pots. <br /><br /> They used pottery and then their dinner where they used preeminently pottery. Sometimes if they were very affluent, they had silver versus, uh, dinnerware or, or gold dinnerware. But most of them, even that were. Middle-class and above say would, would have these ornate silverware, excuse me, dinnerware the plates, the cups, the bowls, but somewhere, even in these expensive homes, they would have these cooking pots, these cheap pots that looked like this baby, which also was, is from archeological digs. <br /><br /> And Paul talks about this in second Timothy. Here's what he says in verse 20, but in a great house, there are not only vessels of gold and of silver. But also would in earth in some to honor and some to dishonor. And he said in the great house, they have the different, but they would never bring out these cheap clay pots. <br /><br /> I mean, nobody's going to bring them out with company. And Paul says, but that's me. And the treasure that we're given is not in. The extraordinary newness of who we are. It's rather found in the earthiness, in the simple, ordinary, insignificant quality. He says, you're right. I don't have a lot of presence when I talk to you. <br /><br /> I am not a particularly physically attractive man. Most believe that a lot of historical records, he, he had really bad eyesight. He said I had a lot of limitations. I'm a clay pot. I'm not the urinate pot. I'm just a clay pot with treasure. The treasure is truth. There will be seasons in ministry. And in life where you are going to fear that your weaknesses are going to stand in the way of what God wants to do, that you don't have the goods that you're not enough that you're in so far over your head, whether you're a pastor or you're a representative God, in your business or your school or your neighborhood, and in those moments, When you are overwhelmed with how clay potty, you really are. <br /><br /> You can do certain things. You can turn on people. I've known a number of pastors that I believe did that out of their own vulnerability or their own inadequacy. They've just turned on others. You can turn on yourselves. You can give up. You can say, I'm just not going to try to, I, I'm not going to try to play the game anymore. <br /><br /> I don't, God can't use me. I don't have it. Uh, I'm just gonna, I'm gonna even, I'm not even gonna try to make a difference for Jesus in my workplace. Who am I? Anyway, you can turn on God and grow bitter and cynical because he hasn't given you the, the appropriate goods that you think you need to make the difference that you should be making. <br /><br /> Or you can turn to something other than God to feel good about yourself. And it's exactly the moments when Christians jump into bed with someone else or turn to some substance, uh, if to find solve for the pain they feel, or you can do what Paul did when he felt bad when he was hurting. When he was reminded by other people, as well as the voice in his own head. <br /><br /> I am not that much. I'm not that impressive. I am. I'm just a jar that nobody would bring out and decorate their home with. <br /><br /> He reminded himself <br /><br /> that his sufficiency was part of the whole purpose of God. And cried out in desperation for God's self and yielded to whatever purposes God had for him, whether fruitfulness or unfruitfulness, whether renown or in the shadows, because God was his goal. And his glory was his heart's longing. <br /><br /> Did Jared is becoming a pastor to all of you that are seeking to serve God. You will never outgrow your sense of inadequacy. That's what happens about part, one of the ones I look forward to the most is you're shutting up the voices in my head. You'll never outgrow that sense of inadequacy. It's what are you gonna do with it? <br /><br /> Where are you going to take it? Are you going to just strive more and more to just, if I just, I just won't be around people that make me feel bad about myself. I'm not going to be in circumstances that I'm just going to run. I'm going to hide or are you just going to bluff it or you're going to remember who you are. <br /><br /> You are a clay pot, but you're a clay pot with treasure. The truth that says, I stand accepting Christ. I'm not on the line. And that is the message. Every single person you will meet this week desperately needs here. <br /><br /> The third thing is he had a vision of God. This all surpassing power is from God. Remember the context of second Corinthians. When Paul's talking, people are bad mouth in him. He doesn't have the goods. He's weak, he's unimpressive. He's common. He's ordinary. He doesn't have the fruit, his lack of success and influence is proof. <br /><br /> He's not the real article. He's always suffering. He's involved in ministries that don't seem to be growing the guys constantly in jail. How does he answer them? He answers them this way. He says you were bright. I'm just a jar, but you know, something, God chooses clay pots in order that the surpassing greatness of the power may be of God. <br /><br /> And not of me, that formula makes it very, very clear that the power. Is coming, not from you, but from God, there's a story I heard years ago. It's a, it's a story that, um, is verified in the circles of varsity the ministry. It was about a guy on a college university campus, a state university. He was a believer and he was, uh, sort of, uh, um, The kind of guy that, that, that really has never elected to leadership in anything. <br /><br /> He's just good guy, but, but not a lot that was noteworthy about him. And there was a guy in his floor that was a big time influential guy on campus. And for some reason he just distained this, this young Christian and this guy was, was, was very serious in his faith with Jesus and this big dude. Just just beat on his helmet. <br /><br /> Distained him mocked him. And of course, a big dude, like this can influence, I will tell you this story. The big dude later became, uh, an influential voice in inner varsity. That's how we know the story, but he talked about how he would turn people against the sky. And of course, you know, the, the hangers on would join in the mockery. <br /><br /> And, but this young guy on the floor of his dorm, just, he loved Jesus. Any, any. He cared about this big dude. He was praying for him and the guy knew it and it irritated him and he would, he would, he would, uh, accept what he said. He didn't do what most of us would do would be to just give this big guy a lot of room. <br /><br /> You know, just see him come and go the other way. He just acted. Normally he, he hung with them. And finally this guy, the, the big dude just got so irritated of it, that he literally one day took one of his shoes and fired it down the hall and hit him in the back and then took another issues and fired it down, people laughing. <br /><br /> And then we went on and did what he did. And the next morning he woke up and they're outside. His door were shoes. Polished by this Christian Guy and a broken, it just broke him. And he told the story of how this guy's love for him. Humility, taking what he gave returning. Good for evil, absolutely transformed his heart. <br /><br /> I want to tell you that if I designed a ministry to reach that big dude for Jesus, that's not what I would have chosen. I would have done what you would have done. I would have thought, you know what we need, we need the football team captain to get saved and go on that floor. And wow, this guy that a big manly, tough guy, like, like the quarterback of our team has come to Jesus. <br /><br /> And, and, and, and that's the guy that's going to reach this guy. But it wasn't, it was a clay pot with treasure. It was the treasure in the surpassing power of God that spoke into this guy's life and led him to Jesus. <br /><br /> You may feel. Where you work like you are nobody. I mean, there's people there, it could be in your school could be in your workplace. They're more successful than you. They're more better looking than you. They've got more friends than you. That girl is more beautiful, stylish, wealthy. They have it all. But you have treasure. <br /><br /> You may be and think, well, I need to have high grades. But they're in the grades that don't count the grades of affluence or beauty or charisma or popularity or power or sex appeal or money. Those aren't the grades that matter because we have treasure, but we've gotta be willing to do what Paul did and said, God, you know, here are people beating them up. <br /><br /> And, you know, the flesh one to see who, who are you? And he says, not your writing. I'm not impressed. I'm just, I'm just a clay jar, but brother, I have treasure and I'm in bribing the treasure and I'm living out of the treasure. And I love you enough that I want you to know this treasure that I found. The surpassing power of God was seen in Paul when he wrote the book of Corinthians the F what was actually his second letter, but we call it the first letter to the Corinthians. <br /><br /> He talks about he's looking back and he's saying to them in chapter one of first Corinthians, he says, guys, Y Y you're exalting yourselves and you're boasting and you're, and you're measuring yourselves by all the wrong things. And, and he's challenging them to not find their confidence in their group or their position or their intelligence or their standing or their, a fluence, all the things they were doing, even though there were believers. <br /><br /> And here's what he says. At the end of chapter, one of first Corinthians one, he says, rather than let him who boasts boast in the Lord. And then he tells about himself the very next verse in chapter two, he says this. And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaim to you, the testimony about God. <br /><br /> Four. I resolved to know nothing while I was with you, except Jesus Christ and him crucified. Now, listen, I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling my message. My preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power. So your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God's power, Paul says, and I came to Corinth. <br /><br /> I was tired and lonely. I was daunted by the, and I was dismayed by the opposition, the antagonism, the bigness of the city. He said, I felt small. I felt real clay jars fish, but I still came <br /><br /> because I had treasure. I had the treasure of truth empowered by the power of the eternal God. That enabled me to be a representative. You have that same treasure and you have that same power, no matter where you work, no matter where you go to school, no matter who you're doing life with and what the devil will constantly try to do to you is to get you to compare yourself on the grading scale. <br /><br /> That doesn't matter. You don't have to be an ornate pottery. A matter of fact, it's probably going to get in the way, the more you are. That's why Jesus said the more wealth you have, the harder it is to live humbly. <br /><br /> We need a vision of the treasure. We need a vision of ourselves. Most of all, we need a vision of God. It's God that works through humble, broken people. As you begin your ministry as pastor of this church, there's going to be days where you really feel discouraged and you are reminded you're not all you think you need to be. <br /><br /> And you think you should be. You're not the God's not asking you to be. He gave you treasure and he is going to give you a supernatural power. If you turn to him in your weakness, let's pray, Lord. <br /><br /> Speaking as one clay pot for many others in this room and online this morning, I thank you for the surpassing power that you offer. Lord, how I thank you for the treasure. <br /><br /> God help us be renewed in our vision. We're not going to wow. People to Jesus by our strength. We're going to be used by the spirit of God, in our weakness, in our humility, but most powerfully in our contentment that we stand as people accepted in Jesus. And we're not on the line. Lord teach us to imbibe the air and drink the air of that reality. <br /><br /> But we have been given the treasure in our own lives, not only to declare, but most importantly, to live in Jesus' name. Amen.</div> false no <![CDATA[Christmas Through the Eyes of God]]> Matthew 1:18-25

God counted the cost of Christmas and said, "Yes, I will do it!"



It's good to be here. Uh, got to focus yet. Cause it's Christmas time. Yeah, really? I mean, we still celebrated a couple of days ago, but I still want to focus on who Jesus says, so let's do that together.

All right. Rejoice in who he is. And I've got a couple of things we want to look at here, but again, let's just look at the Lord and thank him for all that. He is. Father, I do want to thank you from the bottom of my heart, for the great love that you have for us. Thank you for the time that we are able to spend together here and online that we can again, look to you, look into your work word.

God, I pray that you'll take your word, take it and burn it into our hearts. Cause us to remember again, who you are and change our hearts. God. By your spirit and by your grace in Christ's name. Amen. I was thinking as I was preparing this and doing some of the things is what, when you think about Christmas, one of the things know if you're like me kind of greedy, you think about the presence that you get or, or the things that you're going to give.

Cause I do like to give one of my great joys right now is just being able to give. Uh, some sort of gifts to people that I know, I just really, really enjoy that. But, you know, and I know that as you look at Christmas and the way things have happened down through the years is that, um, there has become quite a cost to Christmas.

I think it happens some because there is a commercial aspect to it. And we know that, and we understand that. I think it also happens because, uh, people just. You know, this time of year, they just kind of gather things together and, and, and they spend their money is spent as you look at things. And I was looking at a couple of statistics, how much money is spent during Christmas time.

Now this year might be a little bit different, but money is spent on gifts, spent on vacations, uh, spent on lights, uh, all sorts of things. I did see one thing. That may be not as much was spent in stores, but Amazon evidently did really well. A lot of things. So I was looking here and I think I've actually done this before, but, uh, people do a research, you know, the 12 days of Christmas, right.

Nod your head this way. This song called and somebody has figured out, okay, how much does it actually cost in order to do that? And every year, I don't know who has this much time to figure out how much it really costs. And this year it was different believer or not. The cost went down financially for the 12 days of Christmas, they look at each thing.

And so, you know, for instance, here, a Partridge in a pear tree, it was $210 and 18 cents. That's pretty precise. The whole cost for the 12 days of Christmas was considerably less this year. It was $16,168 and 14 cents. The reason it was less though is because they didn't do anything from day eight on because those could not be socially distanced.

No, I know it was awful. I looked at that. What are you talking about? Uh, that's a lot of money. That's the cost. There's a cost of Christmases, some people too, this far worse. So some people go into debt. Some people have guilt, there's family, discord, there's loneliness, and that that's a cost to that certainly is part of it.

What I want to do is take that thought of what a cost is because we all did something probably for this Christmas. I want to look at it this way. I want to look at it through the eyes of God, if we can do that. Uh, what was the cost to him? What did it mean to him? And we're going to do that. Looking at a very familiar passage of scripture.

Now it's really wrapped up in two things. He says about himself. We're going to look at Matthew chapter one verses 18 to 25. It's familiar. I I'm sure too. Probably all of us, he says this, this is just how the birth of Jesus Christ came about his Mary mother, his mother, Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy spirit because Joseph, her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace.

He had in mind to divorce her quietly. Okay. And then, but after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, Joseph son of David do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy spirit, she will give birth to a son and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet. The Virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son and they will call him Emmanuel, which means God with us. When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife, but he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son and he gave him the name.

Jesus. That's a great reading, isn't it a great story, remembering of all the app and, and I wanted to focus on two things. What the cost is to God, what the cost of Christmas is to him wrapped up in the two names that he uses here. The one name is, and as in verse 23 here, you know, the word Emmanuel.

Emmanuel God with us. I mean, we have to remember that. We have to remember who he is. Remember in John one and John one, it says this in the beginning was the word and the word was with God. And the word was, God, the word is talking about who Jesus is. He is, he is God with us in Philippians. He says this.

Talking about Jesus, who being in very nature. God did not consider equality with God, something to be used to his own advantage or grasped. Rather he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant being made in human likeness. Remembering that, that whole idea, Emmanuel God with us. Remember who he is?

He is God, isn't. He. Uh, he, he is co equal with God that, that passage in Philippians, he says, uh, equality with God was not a thing to be grasped after because he already was God, he has all the attributes of God. He has all the character of God. He has got Emmanuel God with us. And we're going to look at that.

It was really significant. It was a John McCarty, Arthur, who said it this way, the old Testament repeatedly promises that God is present with his people to secure their destiny in his covenant, the tabernacle and temple were intended to be symbols of that divine presence. Just remembering who he is. And he goes on to say and remind us that the th this child, this Jesus was born to be the Shekhinah the glory, the true tabernacle of God, God, with us, in a sense and reality far greater than the temple or tabernacle, every good be.

And the people of Israel would understand that. And so the cost of God with us centers, I'm going to suggest three things. First of all the cost is that he left Kevin. I don't know if you've had to leave a place that you really enjoyed. I, I was reading, uh, actually my, my daughter, Carrie sent me a little thing for my birthday and it was 70 remembrances of her with me.

And one, a few of them were early remembrances in Pagosa Springs in Colorado, and one of them was leaving. The Rocky mountains, leaving mountains to come East and the tears that were there. And that was really true. I remember watching those mountains reside and knowing that I was not going to be going back there to live, at least as I had hoped.

And it was sad cause I love the mountains. Can you imagine how much more, what it must have been like for Jesus? For God to have Jesus leave heaven there, to leave where he was eternally loved and incredibly honored far beyond anything that we can imagine to leave heaven, to go to a place where he would be looked down on the spiced, rejected and killed.

That's a cost, isn't it? The cost of Christmas, Emmanuel God with us is that he left heaven for us. Another part of that is he became man. I mean, just to understand just a little bit, and I think maybe in our frail human minds, we may not get the whole. Whole gist of it, but the truth is the God of the universe became like you and me.

He took on flesh and Philippians. Uh, uh, again, we, we looked at that in Philippians. It says that rather he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant being made in human likeness. And he's he did that. He talks about he emptied himself as is the phrase that is often used there. It, it, it didn't, he didn't become less God, but he did set aside certain of his attributes, for instance, what are some of the things God with Jesus would have had to set his omnipresence.

He, as a human, he couldn't be present everywhere. Right? There was a, he set aside the, the vast glory of God, because if we would see the glory of God all the time, we would be blinded. We probably wouldn't live. Remember when Jesus was, uh, w with three of the disciples as they went up and, and what we call the, um, um, the transfiguration, when Jesus in a, in a very real way, began to show his glory.

That was the only time the disciples saw that. Yeah. He had emptied himself with those things, but he was absolutely man. He still understands us. He still knows us. Someone had said, how would you get somebody? Who is God? How would you have someone really understand you? And they use the analogy. What if you saw this ant pile?

We all probably despise ants, but then, and pilot, and say, I want these ants to do something particular. I want them to go to this place. How would you do that? Well, you could like put things in their way to make them go around, but aunts being what they are, they either just go around or they move what you put there.

You don't like what they're doing. Is there a stomp on him, but that's not what you want. I mean, and the person who gave the illustration is that how would you really get ants to understand what you wanted and the way to do it would be to become an aunt yourself so that you can go among them and say, however, it's taught lot.

This is why they need you to do this as what I want for you. Now, it may be a silly illustration, but, but it's really true. I mean, that's what God did for us. He became a man that he might direct us in the way that he wants us to go. He absolutely understands us. He absolutely knows us. And again, in John, as John writes there, he's talking about this word a little bit later, he says the word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.

We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only son who came from the father full of grace and truth. He dwelt with us as he became became man. He emptied himself and he dwelt with us. The word that's used there, that Jesus came and pitched his tent among us. He lived among us. That was the cost. You are mafia writer from many years ago, wrote this the, in the incarnation that is Jesus becoming man in the incarnation.

Jesus Christ was wed to the human race forever and ever. That was the cost. Jesus became, man. Forever for you. And for me, that's what he did. That's the cost, the cost is he left heaven. He became man. And I would suggest one other thing. And whether this is a cost or, or park one of the two, the truth is that as he became, man, he revealed the father.

He revealed what God is really, really like. Perhaps when I've read lots of little illustrations, one was a little boy he's furiously drawing and picture. And his mom asked him, what are you drawing? He says, I'm drawing a picture of God, mothers as well. Uh, Johnny, you know that nobody knows what God looks like.

Johnny looks up. They will, when I'm through,

you know what? We can know what God is like. Because of Jesus. He revealed who the father is showing on human terms, what God is really like in the old Testament, God reveals himself and power and majesty. I do think he shows a great, yes, he does show judgment. And when Jesus came, he reveals what God is like on human terms.

For instance, He shows what unconditional love really looks like when he talks to Peter. And he says, Peter feed my sheep. This was after Peter had denied him. That was after he had been traded or not be trading, but denied. He ever knew him. The love that Jesus had for him, he reveals. What it means to have vast compassion on people.

Remember when Jesus, it was walking through the crowds and there was this woman with some sort of issue of blood. It says, we, we don't even know for sure what it was, but, but Jesus heals her just out of compassion because he cared. That's what God is linked. He reveals a hatred of sin, a true godly righteous hatred of sin.

On one thing. Remember when he drove the money changers from the temple, it wasn't, Jesus just was checked off with those people. It wasn't that he thought, ah, what are you doing it? What was happening is those people is you read it and you understand where they were. They were preventing people from coming to the place of worship.

They were preventing Gentiles from coming to the place of worship. And, and Jesus said that can't be. And so he drove them out.

He reveals a deep desire for people to come to God. Remember when Jesus was SAF and just wept over Jerusalem because he wanted them to know him. Emmanuelle, it's a powerful name and it reveals certainly something of the cost of Christmas to God and Jesus had to leave heaven. He became, man. He reveals the father.

It's a rich name. It's a good name. And then the other name that. Matthew records here by the spirit of God. The second cost wrapped up in the name. Jesus, the name Jesus simply means savior. That's what he talks about. That's who he is. You will call his name. Jesus. Because he will save his people from their sins.

Again, it was John MacArthur who said it this way, and I thought it was really good. All other men who had those names, Joshua Joelle, uh, Josiah names like that, that all talked about, uh, uh, the savior of God being savior, all other men who had those names testified by their names to the Lord salvation. So every time you said the name, you remember the Lord's salvation, but this one who would be born to Mary, not only would testify of God's salvation, but would himself be that salvation?

That's amazing. I want to give you a quick little history lesson to help walk through this. I know that you know this, but I want us to think about what it means as, as Jesus came at the beginning and remember God created. God traded the heavens to the earth. And remember, what did he say? It was good. It was very good.

Uh, Adam and Eve had fellowship with God. There was harmony. There was completeness. There was life. That was the garden of Eden. That was what was there. And it was so rich and so full. And I don't think we begin to have a clue as to how wonderful it really was. But then, you know, sin entered the world.

We've done it here for, with the living nativity. As that we had acted here and Eve takes that fruit and she takes a bite. She gives it to Adam and he takes a bite. I don't know how many years you sit there. I sit and I feel like yelling at me. No, don't do that. But they did. We would have, and the Bible says sin, enter the world.

Romans five 12 says therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man and death through sin. And in this way, death came to all people because all sin. The awfulness of what we call the fall sin enter the world. Fellowship is broken, is discord between people between God and man. There is a great goal for really between there is emptiness.

There is death where have been separated from God. Absolutely. Because of our sin. That's the awful fact of what has happened. Mankind was unable to change the fact of the sin, the penalty of sin, which is death, the deadliness of sin. It's an awful, awful story, but. And this is where the class comes in and this is where Christmas comes in.

Well, the joy comes in God declared that he would provide a way of escape. He said he would do it through a blood sacrifice. And you remember in the old Testament, he had arranged a way for sacrifices to be made of lambs of bulls of goats and all sorts of ways. But those things never actually took away the sin.

Did they. Uh, the writer of Hebrews says day after day, every priest stands reforms, his religious duties again and again, he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. Those sacrifices didn't take away. It pointed ahead it was a covering,

but then something happened. Jesus came. Christmas was here and in John one, John, the Baptist talks about on verse 29. He says this the next day, John, that is John. The Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him and said, look, it's a strong word, behold, take a look. Don't miss this. The lamb of God. Who takes away the sin of the world.

I would suggest you that may be the most powerful earth-shaking statement in the Bible because suddenly hear John, the Baptist is saying, look, here is a lamb who actually takes away sin. Doesn't cover it. Doesn't look ahead. This is the lamb who takes away the sin of the world. That's an incredible thing.

This is going to happen. The lamb of God takes away this into the world. That means that lamb had to die, which Jesus, the savior did. He died for us, Romans five. Again, he says this, you see at just the right time when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person though, for a good person, someone might possibly dare to die.

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this while we were still sinners Christ died for us. Jesus, who is the lamb of God became the lamb of God that he might pay that sacrifice for sin that was required. That the beginning of time began to show the need. That's who he is when he says Jesus, that's who he's talking about.

That is the cost of Christmas. There's Jesus. He becomes the lamb of God. And I would put with us, he also becomes love incarnate. That is loved, completely wrapped up in showing himself. Years ago, there was a guy Dawson Trotman. He was the guy who began navigators that whole ministry there. And he was, this was in 1956.

He was up at strewn Lake at the we're life there. He was out in a boat with Jack works in a couple of, uh, other, uh, campers actually in one of the campers, a girl, uh, suddenly fell overboard, knots and jumped in. Slammed down, not a good swimmer, swam down, grabbed her, brought her up and held her up. And they took her and put her back in the boat, saved her, and then he sank beneath the water.

And at his funeral, it was Billy Graham. He said that was just like DAS, always lifting others up. But you see, he didn't plan on that. He didn't plan on perishing that day, but Jesus savior, the lamb of God love incarnate. The cost of Christmas. God knew he was sending his son to die. He knew that death was going to take place.

He understood being God, the agony. You understood the heartbreak. I look up my boys. I look at my grandsons. There's no wait. I could offer them for someone else. And yet God love incarnate. The separation that was going to happen on the cross as Jesus became sin for us. That was the love, the cost. Well, the cost he left heaven.

It costs the life of his son. It costs the precious blood of the son of God, because he was the only one who could be a perfect sacrifice. You hear the. Phrase or you hear the song. Jesus is the reason for the season. It's absolutely true. Absolutely true. But we need to remember there is a cost of Christmas and I know that some of us probably got it very well.

Some of us have not gotten our bills yet and we'll see it. We, um, we think of it, you know, often think of Christmas in terms of giving and receiving gifts, you know, how much. Uh, can I spend how much will be spent on me? Can I afford it? What's the cost. I remember I was, uh, I think it was first grade. I live in a little town called the heart soul, Colorado, and we were given, uh, $5 to go and buy presents for everybody in the family.

And that, for me, I was alone money and ISO. I have two sisters. I have a brother, mom and dad. And I had to take that $5 and buy something for them for Christmas. And we would go to the town of saliva and I can remember so much Oh, wow. Looking around wagon and me being the greedy little guy that I was, I always made sure I kept a little bit of that $5 so I could buy something for me.

The cost.

Rather than just monetary. And I know it's there and I'm not even being a little in that, but what I really want us to think about we wind up this year is we wind up towards the end of what we call Christmas season to think about the real cost, what it costs God, what it cost Jesus. Because that really is what's important.

That really is where our worship goes. We worship him because he was willing to pay such a high, high cost for me personally, for you, because he knows you,

a guy named Alfred E O lacak wrote in the daily bread. Many of you read the daily bread. He wrote this a few years ago, we can become so charmed with the story of a baby that we grow sentimental about it. It does not ask that we do anything about it. It does not demand any vital change in our way of thinking or living.

The great question for us is this is our Christmas still only a story about a baby, or is it more. Um, a story about a person into whom this baby grew, who can and does redeem the world from its sins and who calls us into partnership with his great and mighty purposes. It's true. We want to focus on who he is.

That gift wrapped up for us in two names. Uh, an immense, an immense cost of Christmas to God being Emmanuel and Jesus. And for us to immerse ourselves again in that cost take time to worship the savior, not just a little baby, as sweet as that is. And his dear is that is to us. But as Emmanuel God with us, Jesus savior for, he will save his people from their sins.

I wrote this, God counted the cost of Christmas and said, yes, I will do it. Let's worship him for that. Father as we take time here again this morning, just to reflect again on who you are on who Jesus is on, what Jesus became for us. God, help us again to worship you because the cost was great far more than we can imagine.

And yet you paid it. Help us to understand our own desperate need and Christ came to pay that God help us, even as we go through the rest of this week into a new year to take time to worship you deeply to hold you dearly because you paid the cost for us. In Christ's name. Amen. So now go and serve the Lord.

Love him and take time to worship him as Emmanuel and Jesus.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/christmas-through-the-eyes-of-god 82e38770-6b0c-4d04-90ed-11d81056d759 Sun, 27 Dec 2020 17:07:33 GMT <div data-html="true">Matthew 1:18-25 <br /><br /> God counted the cost of Christmas and said, "Yes, I will do it!" <br /><br /> <br /><br /> It's good to be here. Uh, got to focus yet. Cause it's Christmas time. Yeah, really? I mean, we still celebrated a couple of days ago, but I still want to focus on who Jesus says, so let's do that together. <br /><br /> All right. Rejoice in who he is. And I've got a couple of things we want to look at here, but again, let's just look at the Lord and thank him for all that. He is. Father, I do want to thank you from the bottom of my heart, for the great love that you have for us. Thank you for the time that we are able to spend together here and online that we can again, look to you, look into your work word. <br /><br /> God, I pray that you'll take your word, take it and burn it into our hearts. Cause us to remember again, who you are and change our hearts. God. By your spirit and by your grace in Christ's name. Amen. I was thinking as I was preparing this and doing some of the things is what, when you think about Christmas, one of the things know if you're like me kind of greedy, you think about the presence that you get or, or the things that you're going to give. <br /><br /> Cause I do like to give one of my great joys right now is just being able to give. Uh, some sort of gifts to people that I know, I just really, really enjoy that. But, you know, and I know that as you look at Christmas and the way things have happened down through the years is that, um, there has become quite a cost to Christmas. <br /><br /> I think it happens some because there is a commercial aspect to it. And we know that, and we understand that. I think it also happens because, uh, people just. You know, this time of year, they just kind of gather things together and, and, and they spend their money is spent as you look at things. And I was looking at a couple of statistics, how much money is spent during Christmas time. <br /><br /> Now this year might be a little bit different, but money is spent on gifts, spent on vacations, uh, spent on lights, uh, all sorts of things. I did see one thing. That may be not as much was spent in stores, but Amazon evidently did really well. A lot of things. So I was looking here and I think I've actually done this before, but, uh, people do a research, you know, the 12 days of Christmas, right. <br /><br /> Nod your head this way. This song called and somebody has figured out, okay, how much does it actually cost in order to do that? And every year, I don't know who has this much time to figure out how much it really costs. And this year it was different believer or not. The cost went down financially for the 12 days of Christmas, they look at each thing. <br /><br /> And so, you know, for instance, here, a Partridge in a pear tree, it was $210 and 18 cents. That's pretty precise. The whole cost for the 12 days of Christmas was considerably less this year. It was $16,168 and 14 cents. The reason it was less though is because they didn't do anything from day eight on because those could not be socially distanced. <br /><br /> No, I know it was awful. I looked at that. What are you talking about? Uh, that's a lot of money. That's the cost. There's a cost of Christmases, some people too, this far worse. So some people go into debt. Some people have guilt, there's family, discord, there's loneliness, and that that's a cost to that certainly is part of it. <br /><br /> What I want to do is take that thought of what a cost is because we all did something probably for this Christmas. I want to look at it this way. I want to look at it through the eyes of God, if we can do that. Uh, what was the cost to him? What did it mean to him? And we're going to do that. Looking at a very familiar passage of scripture. <br /><br /> Now it's really wrapped up in two things. He says about himself. We're going to look at Matthew chapter one verses 18 to 25. It's familiar. I I'm sure too. Probably all of us, he says this, this is just how the birth of Jesus Christ came about his Mary mother, his mother, Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy spirit because Joseph, her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace. <br /><br /> He had in mind to divorce her quietly. Okay. And then, but after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, Joseph son of David do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy spirit, she will give birth to a son and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. <br /><br /> All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet. The Virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son and they will call him Emmanuel, which means God with us. When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife, but he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son and he gave him the name. <br /><br /> Jesus. That's a great reading, isn't it a great story, remembering of all the app and, and I wanted to focus on two things. What the cost is to God, what the cost of Christmas is to him wrapped up in the two names that he uses here. The one name is, and as in verse 23 here, you know, the word Emmanuel. <br /><br /> Emmanuel God with us. I mean, we have to remember that. We have to remember who he is. Remember in John one and John one, it says this in the beginning was the word and the word was with God. And the word was, God, the word is talking about who Jesus is. He is, he is God with us in Philippians. He says this. <br /><br /> Talking about Jesus, who being in very nature. God did not consider equality with God, something to be used to his own advantage or grasped. Rather he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant being made in human likeness. Remembering that, that whole idea, Emmanuel God with us. Remember who he is? <br /><br /> He is God, isn't. He. Uh, he, he is co equal with God that, that passage in Philippians, he says, uh, equality with God was not a thing to be grasped after because he already was God, he has all the attributes of God. He has all the character of God. He has got Emmanuel God with us. And we're going to look at that. <br /><br /> It was really significant. It was a John McCarty, Arthur, who said it this way, the old Testament repeatedly promises that God is present with his people to secure their destiny in his covenant, the tabernacle and temple were intended to be symbols of that divine presence. Just remembering who he is. And he goes on to say and remind us that the th this child, this Jesus was born to be the Shekhinah the glory, the true tabernacle of God, God, with us, in a sense and reality far greater than the temple or tabernacle, every good be. <br /><br /> And the people of Israel would understand that. And so the cost of God with us centers, I'm going to suggest three things. First of all the cost is that he left Kevin. I don't know if you've had to leave a place that you really enjoyed. I, I was reading, uh, actually my, my daughter, Carrie sent me a little thing for my birthday and it was 70 remembrances of her with me. <br /><br /> And one, a few of them were early remembrances in Pagosa Springs in Colorado, and one of them was leaving. The Rocky mountains, leaving mountains to come East and the tears that were there. And that was really true. I remember watching those mountains reside and knowing that I was not going to be going back there to live, at least as I had hoped. <br /><br /> And it was sad cause I love the mountains. Can you imagine how much more, what it must have been like for Jesus? For God to have Jesus leave heaven there, to leave where he was eternally loved and incredibly honored far beyond anything that we can imagine to leave heaven, to go to a place where he would be looked down on the spiced, rejected and killed. <br /><br /> That's a cost, isn't it? The cost of Christmas, Emmanuel God with us is that he left heaven for us. Another part of that is he became man. I mean, just to understand just a little bit, and I think maybe in our frail human minds, we may not get the whole. Whole gist of it, but the truth is the God of the universe became like you and me. <br /><br /> He took on flesh and Philippians. Uh, uh, again, we, we looked at that in Philippians. It says that rather he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant being made in human likeness. And he's he did that. He talks about he emptied himself as is the phrase that is often used there. It, it, it didn't, he didn't become less God, but he did set aside certain of his attributes, for instance, what are some of the things God with Jesus would have had to set his omnipresence. <br /><br /> He, as a human, he couldn't be present everywhere. Right? There was a, he set aside the, the vast glory of God, because if we would see the glory of God all the time, we would be blinded. We probably wouldn't live. Remember when Jesus was, uh, w with three of the disciples as they went up and, and what we call the, um, um, the transfiguration, when Jesus in a, in a very real way, began to show his glory. <br /><br /> That was the only time the disciples saw that. Yeah. He had emptied himself with those things, but he was absolutely man. He still understands us. He still knows us. Someone had said, how would you get somebody? Who is God? How would you have someone really understand you? And they use the analogy. What if you saw this ant pile? <br /><br /> We all probably despise ants, but then, and pilot, and say, I want these ants to do something particular. I want them to go to this place. How would you do that? Well, you could like put things in their way to make them go around, but aunts being what they are, they either just go around or they move what you put there. <br /><br /> You don't like what they're doing. Is there a stomp on him, but that's not what you want. I mean, and the person who gave the illustration is that how would you really get ants to understand what you wanted and the way to do it would be to become an aunt yourself so that you can go among them and say, however, it's taught lot. <br /><br /> This is why they need you to do this as what I want for you. Now, it may be a silly illustration, but, but it's really true. I mean, that's what God did for us. He became a man that he might direct us in the way that he wants us to go. He absolutely understands us. He absolutely knows us. And again, in John, as John writes there, he's talking about this word a little bit later, he says the word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. <br /><br /> We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only son who came from the father full of grace and truth. He dwelt with us as he became became man. He emptied himself and he dwelt with us. The word that's used there, that Jesus came and pitched his tent among us. He lived among us. That was the cost. You are mafia writer from many years ago, wrote this the, in the incarnation that is Jesus becoming man in the incarnation. <br /><br /> Jesus Christ was wed to the human race forever and ever. That was the cost. Jesus became, man. Forever for you. And for me, that's what he did. That's the cost, the cost is he left heaven. He became man. And I would suggest one other thing. And whether this is a cost or, or park one of the two, the truth is that as he became, man, he revealed the father. <br /><br /> He revealed what God is really, really like. Perhaps when I've read lots of little illustrations, one was a little boy he's furiously drawing and picture. And his mom asked him, what are you drawing? He says, I'm drawing a picture of God, mothers as well. Uh, Johnny, you know that nobody knows what God looks like. <br /><br /> Johnny looks up. They will, when I'm through, <br /><br /> you know what? We can know what God is like. Because of Jesus. He revealed who the father is showing on human terms, what God is really like in the old Testament, God reveals himself and power and majesty. I do think he shows a great, yes, he does show judgment. And when Jesus came, he reveals what God is like on human terms. <br /><br /> For instance, He shows what unconditional love really looks like when he talks to Peter. And he says, Peter feed my sheep. This was after Peter had denied him. That was after he had been traded or not be trading, but denied. He ever knew him. The love that Jesus had for him, he reveals. What it means to have vast compassion on people. <br /><br /> Remember when Jesus, it was walking through the crowds and there was this woman with some sort of issue of blood. It says, we, we don't even know for sure what it was, but, but Jesus heals her just out of compassion because he cared. That's what God is linked. He reveals a hatred of sin, a true godly righteous hatred of sin. <br /><br /> On one thing. Remember when he drove the money changers from the temple, it wasn't, Jesus just was checked off with those people. It wasn't that he thought, ah, what are you doing it? What was happening is those people is you read it and you understand where they were. They were preventing people from coming to the place of worship. <br /><br /> They were preventing Gentiles from coming to the place of worship. And, and Jesus said that can't be. And so he drove them out. <br /><br /> He reveals a deep desire for people to come to God. Remember when Jesus was SAF and just wept over Jerusalem because he wanted them to know him. Emmanuelle, it's a powerful name and it reveals certainly something of the cost of Christmas to God and Jesus had to leave heaven. He became, man. He reveals the father. <br /><br /> It's a rich name. It's a good name. And then the other name that. Matthew records here by the spirit of God. The second cost wrapped up in the name. Jesus, the name Jesus simply means savior. That's what he talks about. That's who he is. You will call his name. Jesus. Because he will save his people from their sins. <br /><br /> Again, it was John MacArthur who said it this way, and I thought it was really good. All other men who had those names, Joshua Joelle, uh, Josiah names like that, that all talked about, uh, uh, the savior of God being savior, all other men who had those names testified by their names to the Lord salvation. So every time you said the name, you remember the Lord's salvation, but this one who would be born to Mary, not only would testify of God's salvation, but would himself be that salvation? <br /><br /> That's amazing. I want to give you a quick little history lesson to help walk through this. I know that you know this, but I want us to think about what it means as, as Jesus came at the beginning and remember God created. God traded the heavens to the earth. And remember, what did he say? It was good. It was very good. <br /><br /> Uh, Adam and Eve had fellowship with God. There was harmony. There was completeness. There was life. That was the garden of Eden. That was what was there. And it was so rich and so full. And I don't think we begin to have a clue as to how wonderful it really was. But then, you know, sin entered the world. <br /><br /> We've done it here for, with the living nativity. As that we had acted here and Eve takes that fruit and she takes a bite. She gives it to Adam and he takes a bite. I don't know how many years you sit there. I sit and I feel like yelling at me. No, don't do that. But they did. We would have, and the Bible says sin, enter the world. <br /><br /> Romans five 12 says therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man and death through sin. And in this way, death came to all people because all sin. The awfulness of what we call the fall sin enter the world. Fellowship is broken, is discord between people between God and man. There is a great goal for really between there is emptiness. <br /><br /> There is death where have been separated from God. Absolutely. Because of our sin. That's the awful fact of what has happened. Mankind was unable to change the fact of the sin, the penalty of sin, which is death, the deadliness of sin. It's an awful, awful story, but. And this is where the class comes in and this is where Christmas comes in. <br /><br /> Well, the joy comes in God declared that he would provide a way of escape. He said he would do it through a blood sacrifice. And you remember in the old Testament, he had arranged a way for sacrifices to be made of lambs of bulls of goats and all sorts of ways. But those things never actually took away the sin. <br /><br /> Did they. Uh, the writer of Hebrews says day after day, every priest stands reforms, his religious duties again and again, he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. Those sacrifices didn't take away. It pointed ahead it was a covering, <br /><br /> but then something happened. Jesus came. Christmas was here and in John one, John, the Baptist talks about on verse 29. He says this the next day, John, that is John. The Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him and said, look, it's a strong word, behold, take a look. Don't miss this. The lamb of God. Who takes away the sin of the world. <br /><br /> I would suggest you that may be the most powerful earth-shaking statement in the Bible because suddenly hear John, the Baptist is saying, look, here is a lamb who actually takes away sin. Doesn't cover it. Doesn't look ahead. This is the lamb who takes away the sin of the world. That's an incredible thing. <br /><br /> This is going to happen. The lamb of God takes away this into the world. That means that lamb had to die, which Jesus, the savior did. He died for us, Romans five. Again, he says this, you see at just the right time when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person though, for a good person, someone might possibly dare to die. <br /><br /> But God demonstrates his own love for us in this while we were still sinners Christ died for us. Jesus, who is the lamb of God became the lamb of God that he might pay that sacrifice for sin that was required. That the beginning of time began to show the need. That's who he is when he says Jesus, that's who he's talking about. <br /><br /> That is the cost of Christmas. There's Jesus. He becomes the lamb of God. And I would put with us, he also becomes love incarnate. That is loved, completely wrapped up in showing himself. Years ago, there was a guy Dawson Trotman. He was the guy who began navigators that whole ministry there. And he was, this was in 1956. <br /><br /> He was up at strewn Lake at the we're life there. He was out in a boat with Jack works in a couple of, uh, other, uh, campers actually in one of the campers, a girl, uh, suddenly fell overboard, knots and jumped in. Slammed down, not a good swimmer, swam down, grabbed her, brought her up and held her up. And they took her and put her back in the boat, saved her, and then he sank beneath the water. <br /><br /> And at his funeral, it was Billy Graham. He said that was just like DAS, always lifting others up. But you see, he didn't plan on that. He didn't plan on perishing that day, but Jesus savior, the lamb of God love incarnate. The cost of Christmas. God knew he was sending his son to die. He knew that death was going to take place. <br /><br /> He understood being God, the agony. You understood the heartbreak. I look up my boys. I look at my grandsons. There's no wait. I could offer them for someone else. And yet God love incarnate. The separation that was going to happen on the cross as Jesus became sin for us. That was the love, the cost. Well, the cost he left heaven. <br /><br /> It costs the life of his son. It costs the precious blood of the son of God, because he was the only one who could be a perfect sacrifice. You hear the. Phrase or you hear the song. Jesus is the reason for the season. It's absolutely true. Absolutely true. But we need to remember there is a cost of Christmas and I know that some of us probably got it very well. <br /><br /> Some of us have not gotten our bills yet and we'll see it. We, um, we think of it, you know, often think of Christmas in terms of giving and receiving gifts, you know, how much. Uh, can I spend how much will be spent on me? Can I afford it? What's the cost. I remember I was, uh, I think it was first grade. I live in a little town called the heart soul, Colorado, and we were given, uh, $5 to go and buy presents for everybody in the family. <br /><br /> And that, for me, I was alone money and ISO. I have two sisters. I have a brother, mom and dad. And I had to take that $5 and buy something for them for Christmas. And we would go to the town of saliva and I can remember so much Oh, wow. Looking around wagon and me being the greedy little guy that I was, I always made sure I kept a little bit of that $5 so I could buy something for me. <br /><br /> The cost. <br /><br /> Rather than just monetary. And I know it's there and I'm not even being a little in that, but what I really want us to think about we wind up this year is we wind up towards the end of what we call Christmas season to think about the real cost, what it costs God, what it cost Jesus. Because that really is what's important. <br /><br /> That really is where our worship goes. We worship him because he was willing to pay such a high, high cost for me personally, for you, because he knows you, <br /><br /> a guy named Alfred E O lacak wrote in the daily bread. Many of you read the daily bread. He wrote this a few years ago, we can become so charmed with the story of a baby that we grow sentimental about it. It does not ask that we do anything about it. It does not demand any vital change in our way of thinking or living. <br /><br /> The great question for us is this is our Christmas still only a story about a baby, or is it more. Um, a story about a person into whom this baby grew, who can and does redeem the world from its sins and who calls us into partnership with his great and mighty purposes. It's true. We want to focus on who he is. <br /><br /> That gift wrapped up for us in two names. Uh, an immense, an immense cost of Christmas to God being Emmanuel and Jesus. And for us to immerse ourselves again in that cost take time to worship the savior, not just a little baby, as sweet as that is. And his dear is that is to us. But as Emmanuel God with us, Jesus savior for, he will save his people from their sins. <br /><br /> I wrote this, God counted the cost of Christmas and said, yes, I will do it. Let's worship him for that. Father as we take time here again this morning, just to reflect again on who you are on who Jesus is on, what Jesus became for us. God, help us again to worship you because the cost was great far more than we can imagine. <br /><br /> And yet you paid it. Help us to understand our own desperate need and Christ came to pay that God help us, even as we go through the rest of this week into a new year to take time to worship you deeply to hold you dearly because you paid the cost for us. In Christ's name. Amen. So now go and serve the Lord. <br /><br /> Love him and take time to worship him as Emmanuel and Jesus.</div> false no <![CDATA[God as a Middleschooler]]> Luke 2:39-52

What did God look like as a 12 year old boy?



Hey, everybody. Welcome to my office this morning. Sorry. I can't be with you, but glad you can be with me here in my office. I'd like you to turn with me in your Bibles to Luke chapter two. I know the pastor, Mike has already explained why I can't be with you this morning. And Luke chapter two, verse 39 to 59.

When Joseph and Mary, I had done everything required by the law of the Lord. They returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth. And the child grew and became strong. He was filled with wisdom and the grace of God was upon him every year. His parents went to Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover.

When he was 12 years old, they went up to the feast. According to the custom, after the feast was over while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. Thinking it was in their company. They traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends.

When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. After three days, they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished.

His mother said to him, Son. Why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you. Why were you searching for me? He asked didn't, you know, I had to be in my father's house, but they didn't understand what he was saying to them. Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them.

But his mother treasured, all these things in her heart. And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature favor with God and men, father. We come to you this morning and we thank you for. This passage and this story, Lord, as we gather on this Christmas Sunday, and we celebrate the advent, the coming of Jesus to our world, we look today and grateful for this glimpse.

You give us when he was a middle schooler and pray Lord that as we reflect on what we see and his interaction with his parents here. We might learn more about the nature of, of Jesus coming as God and becoming one of us in Jesus name. Amen. You know, 12, 13 years old is an interesting time in a young man's life.

Physical changes occur, his voice, his complexion, his personality, quiet kids often become talk a holics. Outgoing kids can become somewhat silent or morose muscles start showing up. So to zits, maybe even whiskers. I remember the seventh grade. I was a chunky guy. And I remember, um, one time in a church supper, a potluck supper.

I was there and I had a pretty good heaping on my plate as usual and Lorraine. Whitmarsh a couple years older and a sharp tongue woman, girl. Um, she made a statement as I walked by that I still remember as I was walking by with my plate, she looked at it and she said, you better not eat all that. Or you'll get fat or man at earth was a, was a, was a knife.

Year later, I had grown a bunch of inches and dropped a lot of weight. I'd send it out, stretched it all out. It was now playing basketball and I was playing on a baseball team and I was pitching. And I as always hurling my undoubted undoubted 98 mile an hour, fastballs. I still remember this guy over to the side, yelling out about me.

What is that bag of bones doing on the mound? I mean, sheesh. It can be tough to be a middle school aged kid. This story is the retelling. Of the Christmas story extended. It is where we tend to look at the Christmas story ending at the wise men coming to Jesus and worshiping Jesus. This actually is the next part of the story.

It actually is after the time that Jesus and his earthly parents. Moved from Bethlehem. They had fled to Egypt and then had come back and rather than settling in Bethlehem, they went up to Nazareth and Jesus while living there the first few years of his life is in Otter silence to us until this passage.

This passage presents Jesus as a 12 year old boy. And it is an amazing story. As we see Jesus as an adolescent. It is a tremendously significant passage because we have the opportunities to see the dawning understanding of who Jesus is, both by Jesus himself and by his parents. This is a time of transition and change.

Apparently the most exceptional thing about Jesus in those early years is that there was not. A great deal. That was exceptional about him. We don't see things are here of things, or even in the events we see here, the, he was, he was a normal kid in their home. The family of Joseph this year is seen attending the feast of Passover in Jerusalem as they are going.

It is one of the three annual feast. And as they go, shockingly, As they leave the feasts to go back up North to Nazareth, they arrive home and find out that Jesus is not in the large entourage of family members and relatives and friends that have traveled with them. You can imagine the, the horror story parents as they, as they make their way, all the way back to Jerusalem and forth three long days are wondering what has happened to their son.

They find him he's in the temple with the religious leaders. It must've been a shocking experience for them. This interchange we have between Jesus' parents, particularly his mom and him show us some things about Jesus. What is it like? To have the God of heaven become human. What is it like for him to grow up from an infant in your home?

This passage presenting Jesus as a 12 year old boy is the first glimpse of the combination of humanity and deity in Jesus Christ. The confession of CALSEIA Don and four 51 Ady city. That is the modern day. Istanbul. Was the, was the, um, synopsis that could be the gathering of church leaders. That was the first one that really wrestled to put in print the merging of the two natures of Jesus.

Here's what they said. Following the Holy fathers, we unanimously teaching confess one in the same son, our Lord Jesus Christ. The same perfect individuality and perfect in humanity. The same, truly God and truly man composed of rational soul and body consubstantial with the father as to his divinity and consubstantial with us as to his humanity, like us in all things.

But sin here in Luke two, we have these two natures of. The God man revealed we see in this passage, what God in human form will look like in a mid schoolers body. We see them interacting with the parents who have raised him in this passage, I believe is given to help us understand and be better worshipers.

As we better see Jesus, there are five quick things I want to focus on as we think of God becoming human. And now living that out as a 12 year old. Child. The first thing we find is he lived under authority under God appointed human authority. At first glance it's this passage might argue against that.

It seems like, uh, Mary is somewhat ticked off at least fearful. And it seems like he just, he didn't live under the authority, makes a statement. You know, why expecting me to do that? But if you look at the passage closely, Marion verse 48 is, is astonished that his behavior, how could you wander off and not check with us?

I mean, this is so unlike him in, in the 12 years that he spent in their home, she's amazed at his seeming insensitivity and breach of respect for their authority in verse 51, Luke seems to be trying to highlight the fact that this was such an abberant moment in Jesus' life, because he says. He went down to our back to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them.

It seems like he's emphasizing using the regular pattern of yieldedness that Jesus had to the authority of his human parents. Jesus came God among us living under human authority. Secondly, he lived under God's laws for people it's tradition at age 12 for Jewish boys to be made quote a son of the commandments.

Actually the word son of the commandment is what bar mitzvah actually means. We hear about juices Jewish boys who have that experience even today. That is what is taking place in Jesus' life. He's coming in. And this is his coming out party. If you will, as a son of the commandment himself, placing himself willingly, not just under the authority of his parents, but now he himself uniquely, specifically responsible.

To live under the laws of God. Jesus came to live under the laws and be under the commandment. It's striking in another passage. In the book of Hebrews, it says Jesus fulfilled all righteousness. He always lived under the commandments. The second characteristic we find is Jesus came limiting, limiting his exercise of deity.

Verse 52 says a remarkable thing about God. It says about the son of God. He grew in wisdom, Philippians chapter two, verses five through seven. Explains a little bit about how this is possible. It says Christ Jesus who thought he would, who though he was in the form of God did not count equality with God, a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself.

By taking the form of a servant being born in the likeness of men, this phrase, he emptied himself and a literally is the word empty. Uh, it's used often in this, in the old Testament to talk and the new to talk about being empty handed. The idea of you come without anything. There's no gift. There's no offering.

Uh, you don't, you come with empty hands. Jesus came. Emptying himself. He did not bring all that he had before. There were things he left behind. Those were his attributes. He did not, he did not give them up in the sense that he had them, but he did not exercise them. Mostly logins, believe this is what Philippians two is talking about.

Jesus was omniscient as God. He knew everything. He knew everything that it was was conceivable. But he grew in wisdom because he emptied himself limited himself of the expression of some of his attributes. It's why in Mark chapter 13, verse 32, Jesus said this, no one knows about the day or the hour of his return.

He's saying not even the angels in heaven nor the son. But only the father. Now this leads to a really interesting question. I think when did Jesus know he was God? I mean, did he know the, the moment he was born? I would argue, no. When did he come to the, to the realization? If he had laid aside limited himself, emptied himself of some of the expressions of his attributes of deity.

I think there was a progressive realization to Jesus as he lived his young life in the old movie, in the original movie, the original Superman back in the late 1970s, there was a scene where Superman is now grown up on Clark Kent, and he's talking to Mrs. Kent. Um, and he says, um, he had seen a ball and, and he'd gone and gotten it and, and he brought it to her and he was troubled and he said, I didn't find it by looking in back of the rock.

I saw it through the rock Lake or when he's in, what's called the fortress of solitude. He's talking in a, in, in sort of a recorded thing that his, uh, earthly father had done and a guy named GRL and Superman's talking to him and he says, who am I. And the voice comes. Your name is kolel. You are the only survivor of the planet Krypton, even though you've been raised as a human, you are not one of them.

You have great powers, only some of which you have as yet. Discover. I think this is the sense, th th there was a growing awareness that Jesus had who he was and what he was to do. The third thing we find is he transcended the understanding of everyone. Even those are doing best. Your heart goes out to Mary and Joseph, especially his mom here in verse 48 is your anguish.

I mean, she's found her son. You can imagine how, how relieved she is and, and how worried sick she been. And she comes in, she said, Jesus, I don't get it. This is, this is, this is so unlike you. What she didn't know was there was more to Jesus than even she could grasp. Now, Mary knew in pest in John chapter one, the first miracle that Jesus will do.

She, she knows he can do it before anybody else. It's the miracle of the changing of the water into wine and, and they've run out of wine. And she says, um, to a servant. Um, well, first she says to Jesus, they've run out of wine and he says, woman, my time has not yet come. And she turns to the servants and she says, whatever he tells you to do, do it.

And he ends up in response, turning the water, water into wine. So they had more wine, Mary recognized and striking thing. In that passage, it says this was the first time he revealed his glory. But she already knew she already saw something in Jesus. Nobody else I saw, but even Mary did not grasp the full picture.

Again, going back to the Superman flick after Clark has, has this, this guy named Brad that's a football player and he sort of always marched clock mops Clark because Clark doesn't participate in the sports activities. He doesn't because he would pull rise all these guys, but he's frustrated one day and he knows that Brad is driving by his road.

And so he actually leaves him and he, and well, Brad is driving Clark runs zooms ahead. And so he's there when the guy comes by and his father watches the old thing and his father says to him, been shown off a bit. Haven't you son? And he says, Oh, I didn't mean to show off pop. It's just that well guys like that, Brad, I just want to, well, you know, I shouldn't, but Jonathan Kent then said this, I know you can do all these amazing things.

And sometimes you think that you'll burst wide open, unless you can tell someone about it. Don't you. There's one thing I know for sure son. And that is you are here for a reason. I don't know what it is exactly. But I do know this much. It's not score touchdowns. Mary and Joseph had that kind of relationship with Jesus.

They knew he was here for a purpose, something big, something majestic in human experience. They knew they had been singled out to raise a son of supernatural origin in power, but he, they were limited in their understanding of the scope. The third, fourth thing is he obeyed the will of God. The father that when Jesus came at 12 years old, he's feeling a necessity, a compulsion to do something that seems utterly out of character that is hurtful to his mom, especially.

But it's because he senses that, that in this coming out party, as a son of the commandment, he is now called to do something unique. He actually goes in among those that are the teachers of those commandments and instructs them to their astonishment.

Jesus came and before he arrived on earth and experienced the willing limitation. Of his attributes. This is the statement he made. It's one, it's an amazing statement. It's actually Jesus talking to the father as he leaves heaven to come to that Bethlehem major. Here's what he says in Hebrews 10, verse five, consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, sacrifice and offerings.

You have not desired, but a body you have prepared for me in burnt offerings and sin offerings. You've taken no pleasure. Then I said, behold, I have come to do your will. Oh God. As it is written of me in the scroll of the book at this moment, as Mary comes and she says, what I don't understand, this is so unlike you Jesus.

And he says, mom, don't, you know, I had to be in my father's house. There's there's, there's a will beyond even yours that I have to submit to an honor. Jesus came to obey the will of God, the father. And lastly, he came to reveal what God does implied in this passage, but not directly stated is that Jesus came to do God's work.

All that Jesus did has as its goal to make known the father and his works. He says that over and over in the gospels, I come to do the works of the one who sent me. This explains the miracles of Jesus and the nature of them. They are not these, uh, bizarre, uh, tricks of a charlatan just to get attention.

He always does miracles that operate according to the laws and principles that God has built in for the benefit of others. When he does a miracle, he doesn't, uh, make mice sing two while the crowds or, or makes rocks all of a sudden start dancing. No, he turns water into wine. Well, wine comes from water, water waters, the plants and, and, and the vines reach their roots in and out of the water.

The vines produce grapes, which are, are crushed and form wine. He takes water and he makes it into wine. So does the father, when he heals people, he does things that the body already is working to do to, to fight against affliction and disease and death. Jesus, every one of his miracles is not sensationalist and bizarre and odd.

They all follow according to the principles of how God works in the, in the benefit of creation and his creatures, Jesus performs on a small scale at a faster speed, what God the father is doing all the time. That's why CS Lewis in his book miracle says this. The miracles are a retelling in small letters of the very same story, which is written across the whole world.

In letters too large for some of us to see Jesus came to bring God to us. He was born as one of us grew as one of us died as one of us. And for us that you don't have to live a life separate from him or on your own. God is a middle-schooler. Gives us a glimpse of the whole story of why he came Lord on this Christmas, Sunday, we worship you and she did come among us.

Lord, thank you. That you have revealed

your nature, your purpose, your design in coming to this world. Even as a teenager, even as a 12 year old. Jesus. We love you for it. Whose name we pray? Amen. Now go in peace to love and serve and enjoy the Lord. Merry Christmas.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/god-as-a-middleschooler 62b31922-52dd-4d99-bfaf-9b1c0f038865 Sun, 20 Dec 2020 17:22:38 GMT <div data-html="true">Luke 2:39-52 <br /><br /> What did God look like as a 12 year old boy? <br /><br /> <br /><br /> Hey, everybody. Welcome to my office this morning. Sorry. I can't be with you, but glad you can be with me here in my office. I'd like you to turn with me in your Bibles to Luke chapter two. I know the pastor, Mike has already explained why I can't be with you this morning. And Luke chapter two, verse 39 to 59. <br /><br /> When Joseph and Mary, I had done everything required by the law of the Lord. They returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth. And the child grew and became strong. He was filled with wisdom and the grace of God was upon him every year. His parents went to Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover. <br /><br /> When he was 12 years old, they went up to the feast. According to the custom, after the feast was over while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. Thinking it was in their company. They traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. <br /><br /> When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. After three days, they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished. <br /><br /> His mother said to him, Son. Why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you. Why were you searching for me? He asked didn't, you know, I had to be in my father's house, but they didn't understand what he was saying to them. Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. <br /><br /> But his mother treasured, all these things in her heart. And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature favor with God and men, father. We come to you this morning and we thank you for. This passage and this story, Lord, as we gather on this Christmas Sunday, and we celebrate the advent, the coming of Jesus to our world, we look today and grateful for this glimpse. <br /><br /> You give us when he was a middle schooler and pray Lord that as we reflect on what we see and his interaction with his parents here. We might learn more about the nature of, of Jesus coming as God and becoming one of us in Jesus name. Amen. You know, 12, 13 years old is an interesting time in a young man's life. <br /><br /> Physical changes occur, his voice, his complexion, his personality, quiet kids often become talk a holics. Outgoing kids can become somewhat silent or morose muscles start showing up. So to zits, maybe even whiskers. I remember the seventh grade. I was a chunky guy. And I remember, um, one time in a church supper, a potluck supper. <br /><br /> I was there and I had a pretty good heaping on my plate as usual and Lorraine. Whitmarsh a couple years older and a sharp tongue woman, girl. Um, she made a statement as I walked by that I still remember as I was walking by with my plate, she looked at it and she said, you better not eat all that. Or you'll get fat or man at earth was a, was a, was a knife. <br /><br /> Year later, I had grown a bunch of inches and dropped a lot of weight. I'd send it out, stretched it all out. It was now playing basketball and I was playing on a baseball team and I was pitching. And I as always hurling my undoubted undoubted 98 mile an hour, fastballs. I still remember this guy over to the side, yelling out about me. <br /><br /> What is that bag of bones doing on the mound? I mean, sheesh. It can be tough to be a middle school aged kid. This story is the retelling. Of the Christmas story extended. It is where we tend to look at the Christmas story ending at the wise men coming to Jesus and worshiping Jesus. This actually is the next part of the story. <br /><br /> It actually is after the time that Jesus and his earthly parents. Moved from Bethlehem. They had fled to Egypt and then had come back and rather than settling in Bethlehem, they went up to Nazareth and Jesus while living there the first few years of his life is in Otter silence to us until this passage. <br /><br /> This passage presents Jesus as a 12 year old boy. And it is an amazing story. As we see Jesus as an adolescent. It is a tremendously significant passage because we have the opportunities to see the dawning understanding of who Jesus is, both by Jesus himself and by his parents. This is a time of transition and change. <br /><br /> Apparently the most exceptional thing about Jesus in those early years is that there was not. A great deal. That was exceptional about him. We don't see things are here of things, or even in the events we see here, the, he was, he was a normal kid in their home. The family of Joseph this year is seen attending the feast of Passover in Jerusalem as they are going. <br /><br /> It is one of the three annual feast. And as they go, shockingly, As they leave the feasts to go back up North to Nazareth, they arrive home and find out that Jesus is not in the large entourage of family members and relatives and friends that have traveled with them. You can imagine the, the horror story parents as they, as they make their way, all the way back to Jerusalem and forth three long days are wondering what has happened to their son. <br /><br /> They find him he's in the temple with the religious leaders. It must've been a shocking experience for them. This interchange we have between Jesus' parents, particularly his mom and him show us some things about Jesus. What is it like? To have the God of heaven become human. What is it like for him to grow up from an infant in your home? <br /><br /> This passage presenting Jesus as a 12 year old boy is the first glimpse of the combination of humanity and deity in Jesus Christ. The confession of CALSEIA Don and four 51 Ady city. That is the modern day. Istanbul. Was the, was the, um, synopsis that could be the gathering of church leaders. That was the first one that really wrestled to put in print the merging of the two natures of Jesus. <br /><br /> Here's what they said. Following the Holy fathers, we unanimously teaching confess one in the same son, our Lord Jesus Christ. The same perfect individuality and perfect in humanity. The same, truly God and truly man composed of rational soul and body consubstantial with the father as to his divinity and consubstantial with us as to his humanity, like us in all things. <br /><br /> But sin here in Luke two, we have these two natures of. The God man revealed we see in this passage, what God in human form will look like in a mid schoolers body. We see them interacting with the parents who have raised him in this passage, I believe is given to help us understand and be better worshipers. <br /><br /> As we better see Jesus, there are five quick things I want to focus on as we think of God becoming human. And now living that out as a 12 year old. Child. The first thing we find is he lived under authority under God appointed human authority. At first glance it's this passage might argue against that. <br /><br /> It seems like, uh, Mary is somewhat ticked off at least fearful. And it seems like he just, he didn't live under the authority, makes a statement. You know, why expecting me to do that? But if you look at the passage closely, Marion verse 48 is, is astonished that his behavior, how could you wander off and not check with us? <br /><br /> I mean, this is so unlike him in, in the 12 years that he spent in their home, she's amazed at his seeming insensitivity and breach of respect for their authority in verse 51, Luke seems to be trying to highlight the fact that this was such an abberant moment in Jesus' life, because he says. He went down to our back to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. <br /><br /> It seems like he's emphasizing using the regular pattern of yieldedness that Jesus had to the authority of his human parents. Jesus came God among us living under human authority. Secondly, he lived under God's laws for people it's tradition at age 12 for Jewish boys to be made quote a son of the commandments. <br /><br /> Actually the word son of the commandment is what bar mitzvah actually means. We hear about juices Jewish boys who have that experience even today. That is what is taking place in Jesus' life. He's coming in. And this is his coming out party. If you will, as a son of the commandment himself, placing himself willingly, not just under the authority of his parents, but now he himself uniquely, specifically responsible. <br /><br /> To live under the laws of God. Jesus came to live under the laws and be under the commandment. It's striking in another passage. In the book of Hebrews, it says Jesus fulfilled all righteousness. He always lived under the commandments. The second characteristic we find is Jesus came limiting, limiting his exercise of deity. <br /><br /> Verse 52 says a remarkable thing about God. It says about the son of God. He grew in wisdom, Philippians chapter two, verses five through seven. Explains a little bit about how this is possible. It says Christ Jesus who thought he would, who though he was in the form of God did not count equality with God, a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself. <br /><br /> By taking the form of a servant being born in the likeness of men, this phrase, he emptied himself and a literally is the word empty. Uh, it's used often in this, in the old Testament to talk and the new to talk about being empty handed. The idea of you come without anything. There's no gift. There's no offering. <br /><br /> Uh, you don't, you come with empty hands. Jesus came. Emptying himself. He did not bring all that he had before. There were things he left behind. Those were his attributes. He did not, he did not give them up in the sense that he had them, but he did not exercise them. Mostly logins, believe this is what Philippians two is talking about. <br /><br /> Jesus was omniscient as God. He knew everything. He knew everything that it was was conceivable. But he grew in wisdom because he emptied himself limited himself of the expression of some of his attributes. It's why in Mark chapter 13, verse 32, Jesus said this, no one knows about the day or the hour of his return. <br /><br /> He's saying not even the angels in heaven nor the son. But only the father. Now this leads to a really interesting question. I think when did Jesus know he was God? I mean, did he know the, the moment he was born? I would argue, no. When did he come to the, to the realization? If he had laid aside limited himself, emptied himself of some of the expressions of his attributes of deity. <br /><br /> I think there was a progressive realization to Jesus as he lived his young life in the old movie, in the original movie, the original Superman back in the late 1970s, there was a scene where Superman is now grown up on Clark Kent, and he's talking to Mrs. Kent. Um, and he says, um, he had seen a ball and, and he'd gone and gotten it and, and he brought it to her and he was troubled and he said, I didn't find it by looking in back of the rock. <br /><br /> I saw it through the rock Lake or when he's in, what's called the fortress of solitude. He's talking in a, in, in sort of a recorded thing that his, uh, earthly father had done and a guy named GRL and Superman's talking to him and he says, who am I. And the voice comes. Your name is kolel. You are the only survivor of the planet Krypton, even though you've been raised as a human, you are not one of them. <br /><br /> You have great powers, only some of which you have as yet. Discover. I think this is the sense, th th there was a growing awareness that Jesus had who he was and what he was to do. The third thing we find is he transcended the understanding of everyone. Even those are doing best. Your heart goes out to Mary and Joseph, especially his mom here in verse 48 is your anguish. <br /><br /> I mean, she's found her son. You can imagine how, how relieved she is and, and how worried sick she been. And she comes in, she said, Jesus, I don't get it. This is, this is, this is so unlike you. What she didn't know was there was more to Jesus than even she could grasp. Now, Mary knew in pest in John chapter one, the first miracle that Jesus will do. <br /><br /> She, she knows he can do it before anybody else. It's the miracle of the changing of the water into wine and, and they've run out of wine. And she says, um, to a servant. Um, well, first she says to Jesus, they've run out of wine and he says, woman, my time has not yet come. And she turns to the servants and she says, whatever he tells you to do, do it. <br /><br /> And he ends up in response, turning the water, water into wine. So they had more wine, Mary recognized and striking thing. In that passage, it says this was the first time he revealed his glory. But she already knew she already saw something in Jesus. Nobody else I saw, but even Mary did not grasp the full picture. <br /><br /> Again, going back to the Superman flick after Clark has, has this, this guy named Brad that's a football player and he sort of always marched clock mops Clark because Clark doesn't participate in the sports activities. He doesn't because he would pull rise all these guys, but he's frustrated one day and he knows that Brad is driving by his road. <br /><br /> And so he actually leaves him and he, and well, Brad is driving Clark runs zooms ahead. And so he's there when the guy comes by and his father watches the old thing and his father says to him, been shown off a bit. Haven't you son? And he says, Oh, I didn't mean to show off pop. It's just that well guys like that, Brad, I just want to, well, you know, I shouldn't, but Jonathan Kent then said this, I know you can do all these amazing things. <br /><br /> And sometimes you think that you'll burst wide open, unless you can tell someone about it. Don't you. There's one thing I know for sure son. And that is you are here for a reason. I don't know what it is exactly. But I do know this much. It's not score touchdowns. Mary and Joseph had that kind of relationship with Jesus. <br /><br /> They knew he was here for a purpose, something big, something majestic in human experience. They knew they had been singled out to raise a son of supernatural origin in power, but he, they were limited in their understanding of the scope. The third, fourth thing is he obeyed the will of God. The father that when Jesus came at 12 years old, he's feeling a necessity, a compulsion to do something that seems utterly out of character that is hurtful to his mom, especially. <br /><br /> But it's because he senses that, that in this coming out party, as a son of the commandment, he is now called to do something unique. He actually goes in among those that are the teachers of those commandments and instructs them to their astonishment. <br /><br /> Jesus came and before he arrived on earth and experienced the willing limitation. Of his attributes. This is the statement he made. It's one, it's an amazing statement. It's actually Jesus talking to the father as he leaves heaven to come to that Bethlehem major. Here's what he says in Hebrews 10, verse five, consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, sacrifice and offerings. <br /><br /> You have not desired, but a body you have prepared for me in burnt offerings and sin offerings. You've taken no pleasure. Then I said, behold, I have come to do your will. Oh God. As it is written of me in the scroll of the book at this moment, as Mary comes and she says, what I don't understand, this is so unlike you Jesus. <br /><br /> And he says, mom, don't, you know, I had to be in my father's house. There's there's, there's a will beyond even yours that I have to submit to an honor. Jesus came to obey the will of God, the father. And lastly, he came to reveal what God does implied in this passage, but not directly stated is that Jesus came to do God's work. <br /><br /> All that Jesus did has as its goal to make known the father and his works. He says that over and over in the gospels, I come to do the works of the one who sent me. This explains the miracles of Jesus and the nature of them. They are not these, uh, bizarre, uh, tricks of a charlatan just to get attention. <br /><br /> He always does miracles that operate according to the laws and principles that God has built in for the benefit of others. When he does a miracle, he doesn't, uh, make mice sing two while the crowds or, or makes rocks all of a sudden start dancing. No, he turns water into wine. Well, wine comes from water, water waters, the plants and, and, and the vines reach their roots in and out of the water. <br /><br /> The vines produce grapes, which are, are crushed and form wine. He takes water and he makes it into wine. So does the father, when he heals people, he does things that the body already is working to do to, to fight against affliction and disease and death. Jesus, every one of his miracles is not sensationalist and bizarre and odd. <br /><br /> They all follow according to the principles of how God works in the, in the benefit of creation and his creatures, Jesus performs on a small scale at a faster speed, what God the father is doing all the time. That's why CS Lewis in his book miracle says this. The miracles are a retelling in small letters of the very same story, which is written across the whole world. <br /><br /> In letters too large for some of us to see Jesus came to bring God to us. He was born as one of us grew as one of us died as one of us. And for us that you don't have to live a life separate from him or on your own. God is a middle-schooler. Gives us a glimpse of the whole story of why he came Lord on this Christmas, Sunday, we worship you and she did come among us. <br /><br /> Lord, thank you. That you have revealed <br /><br /> your nature, your purpose, your design in coming to this world. Even as a teenager, even as a 12 year old. Jesus. We love you for it. Whose name we pray? Amen. Now go in peace to love and serve and enjoy the Lord. Merry Christmas.</div> false no <![CDATA[Light In Your Darkness]]> Isaiah 9:1-2

Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress.



All right. We're going to be looking this morning at Isaiah chapter nine. If you want to look there in your Bibles, uh, Isaiah chapter nine, we're going to look at verse one and two, and then jump down to verse six. Oh, and I can take this off.

Thank you for figuring that. Goodness. Um, did you understand that? I said Isaiah chapter nine. Okay. I say chapter nine, we're going to be looking verses one and two. And then at verse six. Here's what we read, but there will be no gloom for her who was an anguish in the former time, he brought into contempt, the land of Zebulun and the land of NAFTA lie.

But in the latter time, he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan Galilee of the nations, the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness on them has light shown. Jumping down to verse six for, to us, a child is born to us. A son is given and the government shall be upon his shoulder.

And his name shall be called wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting father, Prince of peace. Right?

Lord, we come to you this morning in a season of life, which. Does feel dark? Um, it feels wearing, it feels confusing for many. It has been a season of adversity. And Lord, we come to remember him who is the light and God, I pray as we reflect on what these verses are saying. I pray that you would teach us that you would dress more deeply to drink in the well of worship and enjoyment of Jesus in whose name I pray.

Amen. The whole context of Isaiah chapter eight and nine is talking about the nation of Israel and particularly the nation of Judah, the Southern tribes, who were in a period of darkness and gloom. So matter of fact, at the end of, of Isaiah eight, the verses just before the ones I read, it says this. And they will look to the earth, but behold distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish, they will be thrust into thick darkness.

This is the scene. People are living in a time of darkness and gloominess. And this metaphor is one that is the foundation to the promise that a light will come, that will dispel darkness. What I'd like to think this morning, and then we're going to, it's going to form the basis of our study this morning is to think about the metaphor of darkness because throughout the scripture, this metaphor is used in our lives.

And it's talking about how God enters our life too, bell, our darkness, but there are three metaphors, three senses of the metaphor of darkness that I think are you used not only biblically, but psychologically, and that. We, we sense in our own lives. Number one, when we talk about darkness, we're talking about a lack of sight that you put out your headlights in a dark light, a dark night, and you can't drive because you have no capacity to see a lack of sight is a prominent sense of the metaphor of darkness.

A second one is lack of security. We fear the dark. We feel afraid far more and unsafe because of unknown dangers at nighttime. Right? I mean, you, you, you don't see kids that are particularly concerned about what's under the bed and the afternoon nap or what might be lurking somewhere else. The, the concept is nighttime can be scarier because.

It's darker. The third aspect of darkness as a metaphor is that it refers to a lack of hope. This is actually the one that is particularly used here. And Isaiah eight and nine, we talk about she's in a dark place. He's man, it's a dark mood he's bringing today. The sense of darkness is manifested in all those three things.

And that's going to be what we look at this morning, but you'll notice here. There is a promised light here and in other passages of the scripture and it is not a, what. It's a hoop. Here's what he says to people who walked in darkness. And in verse two have seen a great light. Those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness on them has light shown.

Verse six for to us, a child is born. To us a son is given Matthew quotes, this passage in Matthew chapter four, when he's, when he is a situation where Jesus is going into the very regions of Zebulun and Naphtali that are recorded here. And he says this in Matthew chapter four, Jesus went and lived in Capernaum so that what was spoken by the prophet, Isaiah might be fulfilled.

The people dwelling in darkness. Have seen a great light. And for those willing in this region and shadow of death on them, a light has dawned. It's not a what, it's a who now this is tremendously important. And frankly, very exciting when we think of the culture in which we live, many authors are today writing about a shift in understanding of spirituality within our culture.

The spirituality has rejected scientism the idea of science and reason being what we need more of a secularist pick perspective, this new spirituality though, which is a really heightened spirituality, also rejects what we might call moralism or religiosity. Um, Many people will say to you. I'm sure.

Probably every person in this room and every way worse working in line, who's talked to somebody that has said, yeah, I I'm, I'm a spiritual person, but I'm not religious. And there are more nones that are answering the question. What religion are you than at any time in American history, people are rejecting religion.

And yet there is this explosive. Spirituality or interest in spiritual things in our culture. This can be a tremendously exciting thing. As we think of biblical truth for the gospel says, come meet a person, come and see Jesus. Jesus directs attention to himself, not to a religion, to a relationship. Jean twinge.

The professor of psychology at San Diego university state university wrote the book, the me generation. And in that particular study, actually not only that study, but in the writings at large, she argues that the, that this very emphasis of evangelical Christianity is what accounts for its growth among young adults today.

The concept of a faith. That is ultimately a relationship. This is biblical Christianity. This is what it is about. It is about a person it's about relating to a person. It's not a dogma. It's not a religion. Ultimately it's a relationship. And this person came to dispel darkness. And these three things that are involved in this metaphor or what I want to just look at quickly this morning.

The first of those is that Jesus dispels darkness by giving us sight in Jesus. We see CS Lewis famously said in his, in his book. Um, well actually it was a speech that he gave at Oxford university and he made this statement about Christ. He said, I believe in Christianity as I believe that the son has risen.

Not only because I see it. But because by it, I see everything else. This is exactly what is, is involved in this statement that Jesus himself is light. It, isn't only seeing him. It's seeing everything else as a result of knowing him and doing life with him. The light of Jesus gives us Ives new eyes to see things.

The light changes the way you look at God. This is one of the intentions of Jesus coming the world and coming into our lives. The incarnation of Jesus is designed to help us see God, the incarnation form from two words in the original end, meaning in a Carness in the flesh, he came in the flesh, God came in the flesh that we could, we could see God, he could be a light to us.

In her, in her writing, the greatest drama ever staged. Dorothy Sayers says it this way. The incarnation means that for whatever reason, God chose to let us fall to suffer, to be subject to sorrows and death. He has nonetheless had the honesty and the courage to take his own medicine. He can exact nothing from man that he is not exacted from himself.

He himself has gone through the whole of human experience from the trivial irritations of family life and the cramping restrictions of hard work and lack of money to the worst horrors of pain and humiliation, defeat, despair, and death. He was born in poverty and suffered infinite pain all for us. And thought it well worth his while Jesus came to show us that he is such a God, it is not a God.

That is a far off aloof disconcerned unaware. He actually came and experienced all that we experienced in a broken world. This truth I was struck with. In a, in a very unique way. A number of years ago when I went to Turkey and I spoke at the Cru, uh, w what was then campus crusade, uh, uh, conference of all of their missionaries and staff members throughout, uh, the Soviet block and the Islamic world.

And they came together. And one time when Mary and I were out with a young woman and this young woman had been, uh, was, uh, Was a member of their staff now, but she had grown up in a communist country. She was, uh, she was brilliant. I mean, she had a doctorate, but she had, uh, been able to get permission from your communist country, which is utterly atheistic and had gone to a, an, a country in the Arab world.

Uh, state religion entirely Islamic. And while she had gone to university, she had begun to have a, a burgeoning hunger to know about God. And so she was introduced to the Qur'an and began to study it and process it. And in her conversation with Mary and I, she explained to us her experience. She said, I read about God.

But a God, that was a God of power. God, that was a God with, with moral standards and principles, but a God of power in might was what I read. And she said, I understood power growing up where I grew up, I understood how it did not seem that different to me. I had seen the powers of the world. I had seen powerful figures run our nations and she said a God, that was a God of power.

Just didn't seem that divine, if you will. That, that distinct from what I had seen. And then she said someone shared with me a new Testament and I read about a God who also was a God of power, but who took upon human humanity and came among us. And felt what we feel and embraced every part of our human experience and even took our own punishment on himself.

She said, such a God overwhelmed me. And in her statement, she said, this was the God I long to know and who was worthy of my devotion and love in Jesus in what Jesus. Did and coming among us and embracing this Jesus and getting to know him and present,

there is light to have a different view of God for he himself personifies in his incarnation. The reality of a God of humility and grace and mercy. Jesus also gives light to us. And it changes the way we look at ourselves. Jesus brings light by showing us things about ourselves that we would prefer not to face.

John three talks about that in verse 19, the light has come into the world, talking of Christ and people love the darkness rather than the light, because their works for evil. He shines the light on us and we see sin as it is. As people were around Christ and they saw true righteousness. True goodness.

Some hated him for it because it was a reflection of himself. As you go to the scriptures. What the light of Christ does is it exposes, right. It shows things. But the ultimate reason, Jesus shine that light into our lives is not to expose or to condemn because in that very passage in John three, it says this.

That his purpose in illuminating you John three 17. God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him, the light of Jesus shows you that you are more evil, corrupt, and self-centered than you ever dared belief. But. It also shows you that you are more valued and accepted and loved than you ever dared hope.

This is a light that Jesus brings. It enables us to embrace. All the ugly, all the broken, because the one who knows us most says, I want that boy, I want that girl. I want them enough that I will come among them and become them and be a substitute for them that they can know me and do life with me. The light changes the way you look at yourself and you realize you are a person of integrity, incredible value to God so much so that he would come in your brokenness to rescue and save.

The light, gives a sight in changing the way you look at other people. CS Lewis again, this time in his book, the weight of glory says this. I just think so powerful. Here's what he says. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal nations cultures, arts civilizations. These are mortal and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat, but it is a moral immortals whom we joke with.

Work with marry snub and exploit immortal horrors or everlasting splendors. This does not mean that we are to be perpetually solemn. We must play, but our mirror image must be that of a kind. And it is in fact, the mirror is kind, which exists between people who have from the outset taken each other.

Seriously, no flippancy, no superiority, no presumption. There are no ordinary people. He says. We are all eternal beings, everlasting beings. We are all people created in the image of God. God made them all. He values them all. Just like he does you. They are evil, corrupt. And self-centered just like, you. But they are also just like you, those who, the more, they don't know how much God loves them.

The more they will feel condemned and unlovely, and driven to be meaningful in a thousand ways and will have terrible triggers that are the result of their neediness and broken goodness, just like you. What they need is to know God's left. His forgiveness and whether their names are M and M or LeBron, Ryan Reynolds, or Beyonce, Nancy Pelosi, or Donald Trump Bladimir Putin or mother Teresa.

They're valued by God made in the image of God. Desperately needing mercy and acceptance from God that can ultimately be found only in repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. And the light of Jesus comes to display well, our darkness about people, about God, about ourselves. He gives us sight. Secondly, Jesus dispels darkness by giving us security.

You know, darkness is frightening, right? Darkness is, uh, creates increased, dangerous. I don't worry very much about my wife going somewhere in the daytime. But if she's going some isolated place at night, I want to make sure the phone is charged. I want to know where she is. I want to know when she's going to go get there.

Why? Because darkness is increase at nighttime. Muggers are more bold at night. Roberts tended to hit your house. At night. Darkness creates increased, dangerous. Darkness also creates imagined dangerous, dangerous. You developed imagine dangerous because you can't see that they are not there in every youth group.

Probably there has been this event. I had a way back when I was in high school with the, uh, we had campus life group church about 40 kids were there and they set up this obstacle course and they chose me to be the Guinea pig. And, um, they showed me the obstacle course and they showed me there. They're putting a chair here, they've got these things you had to step over here.

There was a table you had to crawl onto here, then all these things and being an engineer's boy and also being fairly arrogant, which is probably why I was chosen for the event. I said, well, can I, you know, as I do it, cause they said, you know, remember where these are and go through it. And I said, well, can I check it out?

So, you know, I, I measured it out and I said, all right, 10 steps. I was going to nail this baby. And so I started. And I was, I was offering myself. I mean, I was stepping over and I was going around and I wasn't hitting anything. And L the campus life guy would give me, okay, you're getting close to the, you're getting close to the, the, um, the Chester draws we put there and you got to step around that.

And, and so he's helping a little bit, honestly, I was. Pretty impressive. Not touching anything, anything. Now, if you've been youth groups, you know, what was going on and everybody's laughing, I didn't really understand it, but, um, and by the way, I'm blindfolded, I guess you'd got that part. I'm going. And finally, it's beginning to Dawn on me.

I'm good, but I'm not this good. I don't even touch anything. I don't feel anything. And of course now I'm realizing, wait a minute. There's nothing here. They cleared the whole obstacle course, and I'm just stepping all over and, you know, moving around and all this stuff and there's nothing there. And so they're watching and looking, he looks like a buffoon, so, but, but I wasn't done because I, you know, there was a table to go and there was a wooden table and a dining, big dining room, heavy dine.

And so you said you're at the table, so I'm going down and I'm in the underneath. The table. And I'm trying to think, is there a table? I mean, not, it's probably not a table cause they moved everything else. So I'm just going to stand up and say, I get it. But what if there's a table I'm going to smash my head.

I'm going to re so I went through, I, I know I had a mess imagine dangerous, even though I had thought I had resolved them. I wasn't sure. So I did the whole thing and of course the table was gone. And so I ran the whole thing through this. This non-existent obstacle course, but we have imagined dangerous

and darkness causes us to do that. We need perspective. We need light. We're told in Psalm one, 19 verse 30, the entrance of your word gives light it in our darkness. And our sense of fear. Fear of the unknown fear of what might be fear of the table. We're not sure if it's coming, if it's there or not. Fear of just what's there.

Jesus speaks to us his word. He does it all the time. Right. Many years ago, when, one of my, well, my boy Ben, uh, who spoke last week. Ben really struggled with nightmares at one part of his life. And we were praying with him and I finally, I didn't know what to do. So I just said, look, I took a verse and yeah, the verse was Psalm one, four 41.

Excuse me, Isaiah 41, verse 10. Here's what it says. Fear. Not for, I am with you. Do not be dismayed for, I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. And I started off and I wrote, I wrote the verse out and I started off when I said, dear Ben. And I wrote the verse, fear, not I'm with you.

Don't be dismayed on. And then I signed it, love God. And I put this little card and I taped it right next to his bed on his wall. And I said, Ben, this is what the Lord is saying. And I noticed. We talked to him and he seemed to be doing a lot better with the, the, the dreams by God's grace. And I talk, I went in his room about four days later and I noticed that the paper was sort of crumpled.

Uh, it was still on the wall, but it's sort of crying. I said, Ben, what, what happened? He said, every time I'm in bed and I start to get scared. I just reach over and I sort of grabbed and he said, and it helps me not to have the dreams it's truth. Right? I'm not promising if your kids have a dreams, they'll say that's a trick.

I'm just saying that the Lord uses Jesus uses the word. He, the entrance of your word gives light in, in the darkness in the scary times in the scary moments. And then not only the dark shadows of bedrooms, but many places can feel foreboding and overwhelming when living in the shadows without the light of God's word, speaking into you, everything seems darker, scarier, more overwhelming.

And if you've walked with Jesus for a number of years, you know how powerful jesus' words through the scriptures can be as he speaks into your life, you have some of you've got. Scary things right now. Some of you, it feels dark. I don't know where this is going. I don't know if we're going to make it. I don't know how this is going to play out.

Jesus said I'll be the light. I'll speak into you, Allah. Well, you to see what you need to see as far as you need to go, but I'll also help to dispel the darkness that fear in the fearsomeness of that darkness. Third Jesus dispels darkness by giving us hope. Isaiah nine says then they will look and see only distress and darkness and fearful gloom.

That's the last verse of 20 of chapter eight. And then he says, nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who are in distress. The people walking in darkness have seen a great light on those living in the land of deep darkness. A light has dawned. For to us, a child is born. When people are put into darkness, it depresses them humanly, physically speaking.

This happens of course, people in places like Alaska or Scandinavia have what's called polar nights. Polar nights are a 24 hour period where the sun never shines. There are places of the world, which, uh, have 60 polar nights in a row, 60 nights, never seeing anything but darkness in those places, there is a specific title for them, depression and gloom that people experience it's called the winter sad, seasonal affective disorder.

It's a winter depression. It reminds us that darkness does that to us. When we are in darkness. When we're in sadness, when we're in relational conflict, it feels dark. It feels heavy. It feels gloomy, right? When things are, are, are worrying us, it feels dark and gloomy.

And Jesus again, is the one that comes to bring us light Charleston. And it's one of the most famous preachers in the history of the English language. She was in, uh, London, uh, a little over a century ago. And Charles Spurgeon, if you've ever read him, he just had an. Astonishing love of Christ and a real gift with words, actors would go to just sit in his thing and listen to him to learn how he communicated.

But Charles Spurgeon dealt with, uh, depression and one time. And the greatest depression is a very big people person. One of the hardest things for him was people, um, criticized him. People being against him. Um, and one time he was really struggling with the darkness as he used the expression, actually the word, the darkness of, of people's attacks and, and, um, the more he became well-known of course the more attacks he received and his wife actually.

One night, um, what she had done it before they went to bed, but the lights were out. So we didn't know it. She had actually painted on the ceiling, this verse and the verse says this it's from Matthew five. Blessed are you? When people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me rejoice and be glad.

Because great is your reward in heaven for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you and Spurgeon talks about waking up. And there's this, this visual that his wife has put to just remind you, Charles, this is what Jesus says. These are jesus' own words from Matthew chapter five in the sermon on the Mount.

Jesus speaks into us in our darkness. Some of you are in real darkness right now. Some of you are, are experiencing the gloom, the border line, moving from depression, into despair. Historically the people of the church have always called that darkness. Uh, Saint John of the cross in early century made this, he wrote a whole book called the dark night of the soul.

Kristen struggle like everybody else. But there is light that speaks into our struggles. There is light that speaks into our darkness and it is found because to us, a child is born. A son is given, Jesus has come among us. He knows your wiring. He knows your struggles. He knows your brokenness. He knows your needs.

He wants to speak into you and be light to you. Maybe his light to you will be reminding you who you are. That's what the light does. Maybe it'll be reminding you who he is maybe bit or reminding you of, of what he's promised in your circumstances. But Jesus has come as the light. To close this morning. I just want to, I guess I just want to speak this admonition.

Many of you are aware culturally that there has been a big movement of many kids. Now, millennials, some of them that have left the church and left, uh, turn their back. Many of them still very spiritual. But have renounced what they understand of Christianity. Maybe you're here in one of those, maybe you're online in one of those.

I just want to speak to you today for those who are like the number that have said to me and have maybe said, or maybe you've said this. Yeah, I tried Christianity. It didn't work for me. This is what I want to say to you. It's not an, it

it's a heat and the degree to which you learned Christianity, was it, or the degree to which you interpreted Christianity that way is the degree to which your perception of Christianity was mistaken. Jesus Christ. Is the light. He came through a lumen darkness, the darkness that makes life scary, that makes life hopeless.

That makes life not make sense. Jesus Christ is the safest person in your life. And many have embraced and our own kids have of, of, of, uh, generations. Certainly some of us from our parents, what we've embraced of Christianity is it's about doing the right thing and measuring up and it's not. Jesus Christ is not there saying I'm waiting for you to screw up, or if you do right, I'll bless you.

If you do wrong, sorry. You know, you really make it. Jesus Christ is the safest person. He won't let you down. He won't tell you that you have to straighten up or get it right as his primary focus. What he will do is show you that you were not wired to do life on your own. That he loves you with a love.

You cannot fathom a gentleness and compassion that you will never find anywhere else. And if he prompts things in your life and says, I'd like this to change, it's only because he is so for you, you will never have to worry that he's on safe because today's going to be this way. And tomorrow it's going to be this way and I'm going to, I'm going to hit the wrong trigger because he's needy.

And he, sir, no. He's utterly sufficient in himself, but he is offering that sufficiency to you. Christianity is not an, it it's a heat. It's a him, the safest person in all the universe is the one that came for that, that, that woman I talked to in Turkey and she said, Oh my goodness, this, this view of, of spirituality where God.

Comes among us and, and rescues us and wants us. I want to know this guy. I want to worship this God and the degree to which you have learned or interpreted a different guy or God, it wasn't Christ because he is the safest person you'll ever know. Let's pray, Lord.

We all have darkness. We all need light. Thank you, Lord that you chose this metaphor because it, it makes sense. It works for us. We know what it feels to feel dark and to feel fearful. We need light. Lord, we need Christ. Lord, how I pray it. What is the takeaway of this simple sermon? This morning would just be a hunger to know a Christ who is the safest person we could ever know that we'd want to know him more.

We want to live with them more. Thank you for wanting to be known in Jesus name. Amen. Now go on peace to love and serve and enjoy the Lord.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/light-in-your-darkness 1c12ed88-1165-4eb1-bf7f-97869363ac37 Sun, 13 Dec 2020 18:40:39 GMT <div data-html="true">Isaiah 9:1-2 <br /><br /> Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. <br /><br /> <br /><br /> All right. We're going to be looking this morning at Isaiah chapter nine. If you want to look there in your Bibles, uh, Isaiah chapter nine, we're going to look at verse one and two, and then jump down to verse six. Oh, and I can take this off. <br /><br /> Thank you for figuring that. Goodness. Um, did you understand that? I said Isaiah chapter nine. Okay. I say chapter nine, we're going to be looking verses one and two. And then at verse six. Here's what we read, but there will be no gloom for her who was an anguish in the former time, he brought into contempt, the land of Zebulun and the land of NAFTA lie. <br /><br /> But in the latter time, he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan Galilee of the nations, the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness on them has light shown. Jumping down to verse six for, to us, a child is born to us. A son is given and the government shall be upon his shoulder. <br /><br /> And his name shall be called wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting father, Prince of peace. Right? <br /><br /> Lord, we come to you this morning in a season of life, which. Does feel dark? Um, it feels wearing, it feels confusing for many. It has been a season of adversity. And Lord, we come to remember him who is the light and God, I pray as we reflect on what these verses are saying. I pray that you would teach us that you would dress more deeply to drink in the well of worship and enjoyment of Jesus in whose name I pray. <br /><br /> Amen. The whole context of Isaiah chapter eight and nine is talking about the nation of Israel and particularly the nation of Judah, the Southern tribes, who were in a period of darkness and gloom. So matter of fact, at the end of, of Isaiah eight, the verses just before the ones I read, it says this. And they will look to the earth, but behold distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish, they will be thrust into thick darkness. <br /><br /> This is the scene. People are living in a time of darkness and gloominess. And this metaphor is one that is the foundation to the promise that a light will come, that will dispel darkness. What I'd like to think this morning, and then we're going to, it's going to form the basis of our study this morning is to think about the metaphor of darkness because throughout the scripture, this metaphor is used in our lives. <br /><br /> And it's talking about how God enters our life too, bell, our darkness, but there are three metaphors, three senses of the metaphor of darkness that I think are you used not only biblically, but psychologically, and that. We, we sense in our own lives. Number one, when we talk about darkness, we're talking about a lack of sight that you put out your headlights in a dark light, a dark night, and you can't drive because you have no capacity to see a lack of sight is a prominent sense of the metaphor of darkness. <br /><br /> A second one is lack of security. We fear the dark. We feel afraid far more and unsafe because of unknown dangers at nighttime. Right? I mean, you, you, you don't see kids that are particularly concerned about what's under the bed and the afternoon nap or what might be lurking somewhere else. The, the concept is nighttime can be scarier because. <br /><br /> It's darker. The third aspect of darkness as a metaphor is that it refers to a lack of hope. This is actually the one that is particularly used here. And Isaiah eight and nine, we talk about she's in a dark place. He's man, it's a dark mood he's bringing today. The sense of darkness is manifested in all those three things. <br /><br /> And that's going to be what we look at this morning, but you'll notice here. There is a promised light here and in other passages of the scripture and it is not a, what. It's a hoop. Here's what he says to people who walked in darkness. And in verse two have seen a great light. Those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness on them has light shown. <br /><br /> Verse six for to us, a child is born. To us a son is given Matthew quotes, this passage in Matthew chapter four, when he's, when he is a situation where Jesus is going into the very regions of Zebulun and Naphtali that are recorded here. And he says this in Matthew chapter four, Jesus went and lived in Capernaum so that what was spoken by the prophet, Isaiah might be fulfilled. <br /><br /> The people dwelling in darkness. Have seen a great light. And for those willing in this region and shadow of death on them, a light has dawned. It's not a what, it's a who now this is tremendously important. And frankly, very exciting when we think of the culture in which we live, many authors are today writing about a shift in understanding of spirituality within our culture. <br /><br /> The spirituality has rejected scientism the idea of science and reason being what we need more of a secularist pick perspective, this new spirituality though, which is a really heightened spirituality, also rejects what we might call moralism or religiosity. Um, Many people will say to you. I'm sure. <br /><br /> Probably every person in this room and every way worse working in line, who's talked to somebody that has said, yeah, I I'm, I'm a spiritual person, but I'm not religious. And there are more nones that are answering the question. What religion are you than at any time in American history, people are rejecting religion. <br /><br /> And yet there is this explosive. Spirituality or interest in spiritual things in our culture. This can be a tremendously exciting thing. As we think of biblical truth for the gospel says, come meet a person, come and see Jesus. Jesus directs attention to himself, not to a religion, to a relationship. Jean twinge. <br /><br /> The professor of psychology at San Diego university state university wrote the book, the me generation. And in that particular study, actually not only that study, but in the writings at large, she argues that the, that this very emphasis of evangelical Christianity is what accounts for its growth among young adults today. <br /><br /> The concept of a faith. That is ultimately a relationship. This is biblical Christianity. This is what it is about. It is about a person it's about relating to a person. It's not a dogma. It's not a religion. Ultimately it's a relationship. And this person came to dispel darkness. And these three things that are involved in this metaphor or what I want to just look at quickly this morning. <br /><br /> The first of those is that Jesus dispels darkness by giving us sight in Jesus. We see CS Lewis famously said in his, in his book. Um, well actually it was a speech that he gave at Oxford university and he made this statement about Christ. He said, I believe in Christianity as I believe that the son has risen. <br /><br /> Not only because I see it. But because by it, I see everything else. This is exactly what is, is involved in this statement that Jesus himself is light. It, isn't only seeing him. It's seeing everything else as a result of knowing him and doing life with him. The light of Jesus gives us Ives new eyes to see things. <br /><br /> The light changes the way you look at God. This is one of the intentions of Jesus coming the world and coming into our lives. The incarnation of Jesus is designed to help us see God, the incarnation form from two words in the original end, meaning in a Carness in the flesh, he came in the flesh, God came in the flesh that we could, we could see God, he could be a light to us. <br /><br /> In her, in her writing, the greatest drama ever staged. Dorothy Sayers says it this way. The incarnation means that for whatever reason, God chose to let us fall to suffer, to be subject to sorrows and death. He has nonetheless had the honesty and the courage to take his own medicine. He can exact nothing from man that he is not exacted from himself. <br /><br /> He himself has gone through the whole of human experience from the trivial irritations of family life and the cramping restrictions of hard work and lack of money to the worst horrors of pain and humiliation, defeat, despair, and death. He was born in poverty and suffered infinite pain all for us. And thought it well worth his while Jesus came to show us that he is such a God, it is not a God. <br /><br /> That is a far off aloof disconcerned unaware. He actually came and experienced all that we experienced in a broken world. This truth I was struck with. In a, in a very unique way. A number of years ago when I went to Turkey and I spoke at the Cru, uh, w what was then campus crusade, uh, uh, conference of all of their missionaries and staff members throughout, uh, the Soviet block and the Islamic world. <br /><br /> And they came together. And one time when Mary and I were out with a young woman and this young woman had been, uh, was, uh, Was a member of their staff now, but she had grown up in a communist country. She was, uh, she was brilliant. I mean, she had a doctorate, but she had, uh, been able to get permission from your communist country, which is utterly atheistic and had gone to a, an, a country in the Arab world. <br /><br /> Uh, state religion entirely Islamic. And while she had gone to university, she had begun to have a, a burgeoning hunger to know about God. And so she was introduced to the Qur'an and began to study it and process it. And in her conversation with Mary and I, she explained to us her experience. She said, I read about God. <br /><br /> But a God, that was a God of power. God, that was a God with, with moral standards and principles, but a God of power in might was what I read. And she said, I understood power growing up where I grew up, I understood how it did not seem that different to me. I had seen the powers of the world. I had seen powerful figures run our nations and she said a God, that was a God of power. <br /><br /> Just didn't seem that divine, if you will. That, that distinct from what I had seen. And then she said someone shared with me a new Testament and I read about a God who also was a God of power, but who took upon human humanity and came among us. And felt what we feel and embraced every part of our human experience and even took our own punishment on himself. <br /><br /> She said, such a God overwhelmed me. And in her statement, she said, this was the God I long to know and who was worthy of my devotion and love in Jesus in what Jesus. Did and coming among us and embracing this Jesus and getting to know him and present, <br /><br /> there is light to have a different view of God for he himself personifies in his incarnation. The reality of a God of humility and grace and mercy. Jesus also gives light to us. And it changes the way we look at ourselves. Jesus brings light by showing us things about ourselves that we would prefer not to face. <br /><br /> John three talks about that in verse 19, the light has come into the world, talking of Christ and people love the darkness rather than the light, because their works for evil. He shines the light on us and we see sin as it is. As people were around Christ and they saw true righteousness. True goodness. <br /><br /> Some hated him for it because it was a reflection of himself. As you go to the scriptures. What the light of Christ does is it exposes, right. It shows things. But the ultimate reason, Jesus shine that light into our lives is not to expose or to condemn because in that very passage in John three, it says this. <br /><br /> That his purpose in illuminating you John three 17. God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him, the light of Jesus shows you that you are more evil, corrupt, and self-centered than you ever dared belief. But. It also shows you that you are more valued and accepted and loved than you ever dared hope. <br /><br /> This is a light that Jesus brings. It enables us to embrace. All the ugly, all the broken, because the one who knows us most says, I want that boy, I want that girl. I want them enough that I will come among them and become them and be a substitute for them that they can know me and do life with me. The light changes the way you look at yourself and you realize you are a person of integrity, incredible value to God so much so that he would come in your brokenness to rescue and save. <br /><br /> The light, gives a sight in changing the way you look at other people. CS Lewis again, this time in his book, the weight of glory says this. I just think so powerful. Here's what he says. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal nations cultures, arts civilizations. These are mortal and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat, but it is a moral immortals whom we joke with. <br /><br /> Work with marry snub and exploit immortal horrors or everlasting splendors. This does not mean that we are to be perpetually solemn. We must play, but our mirror image must be that of a kind. And it is in fact, the mirror is kind, which exists between people who have from the outset taken each other. <br /><br /> Seriously, no flippancy, no superiority, no presumption. There are no ordinary people. He says. We are all eternal beings, everlasting beings. We are all people created in the image of God. God made them all. He values them all. Just like he does you. They are evil, corrupt. And self-centered just like, you. But they are also just like you, those who, the more, they don't know how much God loves them. <br /><br /> The more they will feel condemned and unlovely, and driven to be meaningful in a thousand ways and will have terrible triggers that are the result of their neediness and broken goodness, just like you. What they need is to know God's left. His forgiveness and whether their names are M and M or LeBron, Ryan Reynolds, or Beyonce, Nancy Pelosi, or Donald Trump Bladimir Putin or mother Teresa. <br /><br /> They're valued by God made in the image of God. Desperately needing mercy and acceptance from God that can ultimately be found only in repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. And the light of Jesus comes to display well, our darkness about people, about God, about ourselves. He gives us sight. Secondly, Jesus dispels darkness by giving us security. <br /><br /> You know, darkness is frightening, right? Darkness is, uh, creates increased, dangerous. I don't worry very much about my wife going somewhere in the daytime. But if she's going some isolated place at night, I want to make sure the phone is charged. I want to know where she is. I want to know when she's going to go get there. <br /><br /> Why? Because darkness is increase at nighttime. Muggers are more bold at night. Roberts tended to hit your house. At night. Darkness creates increased, dangerous. Darkness also creates imagined dangerous, dangerous. You developed imagine dangerous because you can't see that they are not there in every youth group. <br /><br /> Probably there has been this event. I had a way back when I was in high school with the, uh, we had campus life group church about 40 kids were there and they set up this obstacle course and they chose me to be the Guinea pig. And, um, they showed me the obstacle course and they showed me there. They're putting a chair here, they've got these things you had to step over here. <br /><br /> There was a table you had to crawl onto here, then all these things and being an engineer's boy and also being fairly arrogant, which is probably why I was chosen for the event. I said, well, can I, you know, as I do it, cause they said, you know, remember where these are and go through it. And I said, well, can I check it out? <br /><br /> So, you know, I, I measured it out and I said, all right, 10 steps. I was going to nail this baby. And so I started. And I was, I was offering myself. I mean, I was stepping over and I was going around and I wasn't hitting anything. And L the campus life guy would give me, okay, you're getting close to the, you're getting close to the, the, um, the Chester draws we put there and you got to step around that. <br /><br /> And, and so he's helping a little bit, honestly, I was. Pretty impressive. Not touching anything, anything. Now, if you've been youth groups, you know, what was going on and everybody's laughing, I didn't really understand it, but, um, and by the way, I'm blindfolded, I guess you'd got that part. I'm going. And finally, it's beginning to Dawn on me. <br /><br /> I'm good, but I'm not this good. I don't even touch anything. I don't feel anything. And of course now I'm realizing, wait a minute. There's nothing here. They cleared the whole obstacle course, and I'm just stepping all over and, you know, moving around and all this stuff and there's nothing there. And so they're watching and looking, he looks like a buffoon, so, but, but I wasn't done because I, you know, there was a table to go and there was a wooden table and a dining, big dining room, heavy dine. <br /><br /> And so you said you're at the table, so I'm going down and I'm in the underneath. The table. And I'm trying to think, is there a table? I mean, not, it's probably not a table cause they moved everything else. So I'm just going to stand up and say, I get it. But what if there's a table I'm going to smash my head. <br /><br /> I'm going to re so I went through, I, I know I had a mess imagine dangerous, even though I had thought I had resolved them. I wasn't sure. So I did the whole thing and of course the table was gone. And so I ran the whole thing through this. This non-existent obstacle course, but we have imagined dangerous <br /><br /> and darkness causes us to do that. We need perspective. We need light. We're told in Psalm one, 19 verse 30, the entrance of your word gives light it in our darkness. And our sense of fear. Fear of the unknown fear of what might be fear of the table. We're not sure if it's coming, if it's there or not. Fear of just what's there. <br /><br /> Jesus speaks to us his word. He does it all the time. Right. Many years ago, when, one of my, well, my boy Ben, uh, who spoke last week. Ben really struggled with nightmares at one part of his life. And we were praying with him and I finally, I didn't know what to do. So I just said, look, I took a verse and yeah, the verse was Psalm one, four 41. <br /><br /> Excuse me, Isaiah 41, verse 10. Here's what it says. Fear. Not for, I am with you. Do not be dismayed for, I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. And I started off and I wrote, I wrote the verse out and I started off when I said, dear Ben. And I wrote the verse, fear, not I'm with you. <br /><br /> Don't be dismayed on. And then I signed it, love God. And I put this little card and I taped it right next to his bed on his wall. And I said, Ben, this is what the Lord is saying. And I noticed. We talked to him and he seemed to be doing a lot better with the, the, the dreams by God's grace. And I talk, I went in his room about four days later and I noticed that the paper was sort of crumpled. <br /><br /> Uh, it was still on the wall, but it's sort of crying. I said, Ben, what, what happened? He said, every time I'm in bed and I start to get scared. I just reach over and I sort of grabbed and he said, and it helps me not to have the dreams it's truth. Right? I'm not promising if your kids have a dreams, they'll say that's a trick. <br /><br /> I'm just saying that the Lord uses Jesus uses the word. He, the entrance of your word gives light in, in the darkness in the scary times in the scary moments. And then not only the dark shadows of bedrooms, but many places can feel foreboding and overwhelming when living in the shadows without the light of God's word, speaking into you, everything seems darker, scarier, more overwhelming. <br /><br /> And if you've walked with Jesus for a number of years, you know how powerful jesus' words through the scriptures can be as he speaks into your life, you have some of you've got. Scary things right now. Some of you, it feels dark. I don't know where this is going. I don't know if we're going to make it. I don't know how this is going to play out. <br /><br /> Jesus said I'll be the light. I'll speak into you, Allah. Well, you to see what you need to see as far as you need to go, but I'll also help to dispel the darkness that fear in the fearsomeness of that darkness. Third Jesus dispels darkness by giving us hope. Isaiah nine says then they will look and see only distress and darkness and fearful gloom. <br /><br /> That's the last verse of 20 of chapter eight. And then he says, nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who are in distress. The people walking in darkness have seen a great light on those living in the land of deep darkness. A light has dawned. For to us, a child is born. When people are put into darkness, it depresses them humanly, physically speaking. <br /><br /> This happens of course, people in places like Alaska or Scandinavia have what's called polar nights. Polar nights are a 24 hour period where the sun never shines. There are places of the world, which, uh, have 60 polar nights in a row, 60 nights, never seeing anything but darkness in those places, there is a specific title for them, depression and gloom that people experience it's called the winter sad, seasonal affective disorder. <br /><br /> It's a winter depression. It reminds us that darkness does that to us. When we are in darkness. When we're in sadness, when we're in relational conflict, it feels dark. It feels heavy. It feels gloomy, right? When things are, are, are worrying us, it feels dark and gloomy. <br /><br /> And Jesus again, is the one that comes to bring us light Charleston. And it's one of the most famous preachers in the history of the English language. She was in, uh, London, uh, a little over a century ago. And Charles Spurgeon, if you've ever read him, he just had an. Astonishing love of Christ and a real gift with words, actors would go to just sit in his thing and listen to him to learn how he communicated. <br /><br /> But Charles Spurgeon dealt with, uh, depression and one time. And the greatest depression is a very big people person. One of the hardest things for him was people, um, criticized him. People being against him. Um, and one time he was really struggling with the darkness as he used the expression, actually the word, the darkness of, of people's attacks and, and, um, the more he became well-known of course the more attacks he received and his wife actually. <br /><br /> One night, um, what she had done it before they went to bed, but the lights were out. So we didn't know it. She had actually painted on the ceiling, this verse and the verse says this it's from Matthew five. Blessed are you? When people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me rejoice and be glad. <br /><br /> Because great is your reward in heaven for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you and Spurgeon talks about waking up. And there's this, this visual that his wife has put to just remind you, Charles, this is what Jesus says. These are jesus' own words from Matthew chapter five in the sermon on the Mount. <br /><br /> Jesus speaks into us in our darkness. Some of you are in real darkness right now. Some of you are, are experiencing the gloom, the border line, moving from depression, into despair. Historically the people of the church have always called that darkness. Uh, Saint John of the cross in early century made this, he wrote a whole book called the dark night of the soul. <br /><br /> Kristen struggle like everybody else. But there is light that speaks into our struggles. There is light that speaks into our darkness and it is found because to us, a child is born. A son is given, Jesus has come among us. He knows your wiring. He knows your struggles. He knows your brokenness. He knows your needs. <br /><br /> He wants to speak into you and be light to you. Maybe his light to you will be reminding you who you are. That's what the light does. Maybe it'll be reminding you who he is maybe bit or reminding you of, of what he's promised in your circumstances. But Jesus has come as the light. To close this morning. I just want to, I guess I just want to speak this admonition. <br /><br /> Many of you are aware culturally that there has been a big movement of many kids. Now, millennials, some of them that have left the church and left, uh, turn their back. Many of them still very spiritual. But have renounced what they understand of Christianity. Maybe you're here in one of those, maybe you're online in one of those. <br /><br /> I just want to speak to you today for those who are like the number that have said to me and have maybe said, or maybe you've said this. Yeah, I tried Christianity. It didn't work for me. This is what I want to say to you. It's not an, it <br /><br /> it's a heat and the degree to which you learned Christianity, was it, or the degree to which you interpreted Christianity that way is the degree to which your perception of Christianity was mistaken. Jesus Christ. Is the light. He came through a lumen darkness, the darkness that makes life scary, that makes life hopeless. <br /><br /> That makes life not make sense. Jesus Christ is the safest person in your life. And many have embraced and our own kids have of, of, of, uh, generations. Certainly some of us from our parents, what we've embraced of Christianity is it's about doing the right thing and measuring up and it's not. Jesus Christ is not there saying I'm waiting for you to screw up, or if you do right, I'll bless you. <br /><br /> If you do wrong, sorry. You know, you really make it. Jesus Christ is the safest person. He won't let you down. He won't tell you that you have to straighten up or get it right as his primary focus. What he will do is show you that you were not wired to do life on your own. That he loves you with a love. <br /><br /> You cannot fathom a gentleness and compassion that you will never find anywhere else. And if he prompts things in your life and says, I'd like this to change, it's only because he is so for you, you will never have to worry that he's on safe because today's going to be this way. And tomorrow it's going to be this way and I'm going to, I'm going to hit the wrong trigger because he's needy. <br /><br /> And he, sir, no. He's utterly sufficient in himself, but he is offering that sufficiency to you. Christianity is not an, it it's a heat. It's a him, the safest person in all the universe is the one that came for that, that, that woman I talked to in Turkey and she said, Oh my goodness, this, this view of, of spirituality where God. <br /><br /> Comes among us and, and rescues us and wants us. I want to know this guy. I want to worship this God and the degree to which you have learned or interpreted a different guy or God, it wasn't Christ because he is the safest person you'll ever know. Let's pray, Lord. <br /><br /> We all have darkness. We all need light. Thank you, Lord that you chose this metaphor because it, it makes sense. It works for us. We know what it feels to feel dark and to feel fearful. We need light. Lord, we need Christ. Lord, how I pray it. What is the takeaway of this simple sermon? This morning would just be a hunger to know a Christ who is the safest person we could ever know that we'd want to know him more. <br /><br /> We want to live with them more. Thank you for wanting to be known in Jesus name. Amen. Now go on peace to love and serve and enjoy the Lord.</div> false no <![CDATA[Demon Possessed Man: Jesus Dresses, Seats, and Puts Us in Our Right Minds]]> Mark 5:1-20

“Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.”

It great to be with you this morning as we head towards Christmas. Um, think I'm going to be doing the last sermon in the series we've been doing of looking at individual, uh, biographical sermons. We're going to be in the book of Mark chapter five. Um, as you turn there, want to tell you, we, I had a chance to be in Israel a couple years ago.

I've shared this with you. And one of the things that we were able to do while we were in Israel's, we were with, um, a group of people who did the Shabbat, the Sabbath together, and, uh, the man of the house where we went to who led us through that ceremony. And that time had lasting impact on me that. They took the rhythm of life to take this time and how they did it.

And, and we, we took some of those, uh, traditional aspects and moved it to, to my family and how it fit in the rhythms of our family. And we do something called the Friday night feast. On our Friday night feast week, we spend the day making sure we get all the details done. We try to get the house picked up.

One of our rules is you have to wear comfortable clothes and we get comfortable clothes. And we go, and we have a big meal as a family on Friday night. And we talk over, uh, what has happened in this. The past week, where have we seen evidences of God through love and peace and laughter. And we tell stories and recall the times we quote the beatitudes together, as we seek to remember how God moves throughout our week.

And it's been a special time for us. But getting to Friday night, feast is full of what, um, the word that I learned in Israel was Bala Balogun, which is a word for chaos. And before the Sabbath happens in Israel, you can go in the streets of Jerusalem and it is packed. It is chaos. It is Balogun everyone getting.

Yeah. Everything that they need so that they're ready so that they can rest. That has become a part of our lives. That Friday is filled with a lot of different stress and chaos, so we can finally get to feasting and rest. I think the goal of my inner life, the goal of my life would be to live more in feasting Friday type space.

And less in the ball of how can my life embrace the patterns of Jesus and live in that grace live in that rest more rest and less in the stressed. How does Jesus bring rest to the weary and light weakness to our load? If you will pray with me in the, meet me in Mark chapter five.

Lord. It is an honor to be here with people, Mount Laurel people, online, people of Collingswood would lock watching online today and recognize that it takes a lot of extra effort and time and figuring and registering to attend a service. We thank you for the commitment of your people or the grace that you've given us in one another, we ask you Lord during a really wild season for our whole world where we feel fear everywhere, conflict, which is hand in hand with fear everywhere.

We pray God for. We know our outer lives, no much bile Lagon, much chaos may our lives with you. Our inner worlds be marked by peace. Give us grace in this time as we enjoy your son. Jesus. Amen. So, what we're going to do is simply on the slides this morning is I just got the scripture and we're just going to walk through the scripture this morning and enjoy this story.

I love this story, a title of the sermon, a couple of different things. One spiritually. I call this Jesus dresses, seats, and places us in our right minds. Um, What I kind of would also call it as Jesus and the demon pigs. That's kind of what you'll remember anyway, but, um, this aspect of what does it take for Jesus to give us this re-ask and you've just flashed up the first slide and we'll just start walking through the scripture here.

And the very first verse, it says they came to the other side and they went across the Lake to the region of the Garrison scenes. Now. We talked about this in Collingswood, um, Aerie, the map of Israel you've may have seen a bunch of different times. And if you look at the map of Israel, now it's different than the map of Israel before the easiest way, for me to remember what the map of Israel looks like is a tater tot with a string to a hot dog.

Okay. Imagine a tater tot with a string to a hot dog, and literally all the events or majority of the events in the, in the story of Christ happens around the tater tot string and hotdog. The tater tot is the sea of Galilee. The string is the Jordan river and the hot dog is the dead sea. And if you follow a lot of the ministry, you can kind of place it around that very unhealthy meal.

The tater tot. Is where we are today. And what happens is Jesus crosses over. He's gone, he's above Samarria. Now he's up in this region and he is gone across the, you know, the story of the storm going across the sea of Galilee and is now arrived in the Garcia's presumably never been here before. This is a new place for Jesus's ministry.

And this is where this story takes place. The text says immediately when Jesus got out of the boat and man of impure spirit immediately, it's not in this version, but the word is youth. This and it's important for us came from the tombs to meet him. The reason why this word immediately or youth, this translated here as came, um, is important is because it shows up in Mark all the time actually was reading in the book of Mark and, uh, I was just going through and I'm like, why does Mark always use this word immediately?

And if you look at the different gospels, how many of you are action movie type people. Okay. How many of you action, movie type people out of you? Action, movie type people. Have you ever tried to watch down to Natty? I tried. Oh my goodness. So many people, I love, love that show. And I'm just like, is this scene ever going to end?

And then people are like, do you see the nuance? Of the way the color is on their costume. And I'm like, I don't. Care, blow something up, right? If you are an action movie person, Downton Abbey is not your show, but the gospel of Mark is your gospel. Mark uses this word youth this immediately 41 times of the 59 that it's in the new Testament, 41 in Mark 18.

And the rest of the new Testament. Mark is continually. Is this the way of telling his story is the action and reaction of what happens in the ministry of Jesus. It is an action packed gospel, and this story begins with this same word youth. This there's a readiness that happens in the, in the ministry of Christ and we see often Christ immediately acting or someone immediately.

Acting and coming upon him, causing him to react. And that is what's happening in this place. Ministry is done in real time. His love was given with real people with real needs coming youth. This immediately, all the time good text goes on from there and says, this, this man lived in the tombs and no one could bind him.

Any more. Okay. Any more. So there's a sense of growing empower could bind him before can not anymore, not even with a chain for, he had often been chained his hand and his foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him night and day among the tombs and in the Hills.

He would cry out and cut himself with stones. This dude lived in the graveyards. He has been subdued by chains, right? The text is clear irons, right? It's not talking, it's talking in the most extreme language of, they have tried. Everything may be successful in the beginning, but nothing is successful any more.

I want you to imagine your hometown. All right, wherever your town you're coming from, whether you're online this morning or you're here today, where's your hometown. Imagine this dude hung out in the graveyard of your town. Right. I maybe you get a newspaper, right? Your town, maybe you're just part of a County newspaper.

Maybe you're on a Facebook of your town of people talking about things in the town. Have you registered for soccer? And what do you think about the fireworks schedule? Whatever happens in the talk of your town with your neighbors. This dude lives there. Imagine. How preoccupied your town would be with this threat people calling together meetings at the town hall saying, what can we do?

We can't stop him legends happening all around neighboring towns of like, can move into that town. It's the town with the graveyard crazy man. Right? You can't it's this sense of legend, right? I got little kids. My lifestyle's like beauty and the beast, right? This is my kind of world, the Gaston, if not beauty, the beast, there's this great beast out there.

And he said, I'm not coming home. Tell his head is mounted on my wall. And you can imagine the upstart youth in this area thinking all figure out a way to bind him. Little kids play, acting what it would be like to, to, to face this person, no other legends necessary, no Jersey devils or Sasquatches watches or other things needed in lore because I can hear him at night and he screaming and cutting himself with stones.

This is a man who holds his area hostage in fear. We do not know from the text if he harmed any person, but he was seen as such a threat. That they risked life and limb to try to shackle him, imagine what they did to get him into those chains that couldn't hold him. Imagine a man, more powerful enough to break through chains.

What did it take to subdue him to get those chains on? You can only imagine the fear and energy that would take of this community to be preoccupied with this man. A couple of things here. This man we learned in the passage has a 2000 demons inside of him. The power of hell is tougher than the strongest amongst us.

Scripture does not teach that we are tougher than the attacks of Satan by ourselves. You might ask and you might say, Ooh, Satan, you know, doubly rude spirits. Like I'm, uh, I warm to the idea of God and in the sense of love and, and I'm in on Jesus and all those stories. But like, are you going to tell me like little horny, like horned Dean demons are running around, like trying to attack, um, trying to attack us and those kinds of things.

Well, in scripture it does speak of an enemy. An enemy that is not, uh, other people, but that there are spiritual attacks. And while we say God is personal, I believe so. Is darkness the longer I know Jesus, the deeper, I understand who he is. The more I'm convinced that there is one. Who hates God, an enemy of love.

And that enemy is not a vague darkness out there. It is an enemy with a name and a plan and the enemy that is exceedingly clever and opportunistic. And what we can see in scripture is simply this Satan hates you. I don't know if you've ever been hated in your life. It's a horrible, horrible feeling. But if you are God's child, Satan hates you.

And it's a reality that we can't pretend is not there. He hates your father so much. That he wants your destruction. He wants the destruction in your homes. He wants to destructions in your outer life, in your inner life. He wants your confusion, your, and your fear. First, Peter five eight says this. Be alert.

And of sober mind, your enemy, the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. And while we elevate the wonder of Christ, we need to be honest with the fact that our enemy is really scary.

Verse six. When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran, fell on his knees in front of him. He shouted at the top of his voice. What do you want with me? Jesus, son of the most high God in God's name, don't torture me for Jesus had said to him, come out of this man. You impure spirit. Now notice the verbs. I love the verbs of this passage.

The way that that Mark is using his action words, you, you can see this. And you can see the physical posture that's happening in these birds. Okay. Verse three, he's wrenching chains apart. He's dicing his body and cutting himself with rocks. He's running, he's yelling among the Hills. He would not be submitted by any person or chain.

And now look at the burbs. He runs. Falls on his feet, on his knees in front and shout at the top of his voice in submission to God. And even his appeal is in God's name, his name don't torture me. He does this in the passage youth. This immediately. Speaking of this passion, Charles Spurgeon said, this dog of hell knows it's master.

The powers of hell could go no further than they were allowed. They immediately submitted and begged for mercy against the God who has never lost a battle or a war to Satan that was not intended for a greater victory. Something else just interesting in this passage. And as you look in the new Testament conversations with demons or darkness are rather short.

It's not a going back and forth and well, maybe you can hear it in like the conversations. And I think this is important for us as we deal with spiritual darkness, spend our time with the God who protects and make any conversation where you're addressing hell being a short one, because there is no time or energy or strength to lose on the darkness.

Verse nine says this, then Jesus asked him, what is your name? My name is Legion. He replied for, we are many. And he begged again, this word begged Jesus again and again, not to send him out of this area. This is my jurisdiction. This is where I know how to get these feet. How I know to breed fear. This is how I, this is the place where I've become comfortable.

I've become comfortable in this principality to rule over these people. I know what I'm doing here. Don't let me leave. If you go to the next slide of scripture and a large herd of pigs was feeding on the nearby hillside demons, begged Jesus, send us among the pigs, allow us to go into them. He gave them permission.

The impure spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd about 2000, a number rushed down the steep bank and into the Lake and were drowned. Now there's a lot of spiritual stuff going on here. My question is do pink stampede, like what a pink stampede, like I watched lion King. I don't want a, will the beast stampedes, like, okay.

That's for real, but like a little pink stampede. I mean, that's a little cute to me. I got it. Doesn't seem that intense. And do pigs even do that. I mean, I sorta imagine pigs being like, uh, Right. Like you can go, I don't care. Right. Run over me. Um, I'm due for bacon anyway. Like I can't see it being that big of a deal.

So I looked it up and this is why we have the internet for questions like this. Pigs do stampede. And actually there was a case, a court case, um, in England because 2000 pigs stampeded. Similar to this, many of them ended up dead and it cause a great cost to farmers. And the question was what made the pig stampede?

And they went in the course, the court case took a long time and they were able to prove that a hot air balloon had like done its jet thing and two near the pigs. And it scared them. And eventually the hot air balloon company went out of business because they had to pay for the pigs and all that, this kind of stuff.

So pigs do stampede. And next question, you have deeply spiritually we'll do pigs swim. Like can pigs do this little thing? Like I'm, I don't know. Like, and you don't know, they say fat floats more than strength is a lot of fat on those things. It turns out pigs can swim, but you need really good condition.

Okay. They're not great swimmers, but some pig farmers say that pigs can infection them. Some people say it's only a certain kind of pig, but apparently this kind of pig in these conditions with the stamp page, with the demon in their head, don't swim, they did not do well. Next deep spiritual question.

What happens to all that bacon? You know what I mean? Like who cleans this up? I said a lot of pig. Right. And is that recoverable like, is that salting pork? Like, I don't know. What do you do then? Like this community? So I'm like, well then how much money do they just lose on pig? Like, and then, and so I looked that up right now.

If you get a pig, you can buy a pig for 600 bucks. So that's $1.2 million worth of pigs that just drown. Now was some of that recoverable that they could use for meat, et cetera. I don't know that the internet stopped working for me at that point, but perhaps they could recover some of the money regardless.

This was not necessarily the miracle in the way that people wanted. Right? Yes. They want removal of this threat, but there was a cost. There was something that would be changed about them. Presumably there's called talks about herdsmen that this may have not just been one herd of pigs, but maybe several, maybe several families impacted by this miracle miracle, the wha what, the miracle that they wanted, but not the way that they wanted.

Real interestingly here though is also a little nugget that we have. That's more important than little piggy stories. Is this a demon could not even enter a pig without the permission of God. He will not let his people be bothered. Be persecuted, be harmed, be harassed. Without having something greater in mind, the powers of hell are great, but they can't even enter swine without the permission of the almighty verse 14.

Those who were tending the pigs ran off and reported this to the town and countryside the people. Went out to see what happened when they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the Legion of demons, sitting there dressed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. Cause again, follow the verbs in the story.

The man under the possession of hell is crying out, causing harm, wrenching change, uh, sleepless nights, causing other threats, running screaming, shouting, lots of begging there's a misery and an exhaustion to bearing the weight of hell and notice this man with Jesus. Notice the verbs. He's sitting, he's dressed.

He is placed in his right mind. One of the coolest things to me about this passage is how present this man becomes in this story. This man who's had a crazy past and undoubtedly, a very interesting future right here is simply dressed. He seated. There's a calmness. There's a difference in the way Marcus talking about him here versus the youth, this craze from before.

I think what were, what he could have been doing is filled with regret. Falling on his face and complete shame. I can't face anyone or the things that I have been allowed to happen, or what could have been is, is he could have been filled with anxiety for the future. Like, dude, I'm the pig guy for forever, right?

Like, do I have to pay for those pigs? Do I have to pay for the harm I've caused? How could I ever live down the reputation of there's the graveyard man, but what was he. Mark is describing him. So present, he's just sitting there dressed and in his right mind, in that moment with his God, he was most himself.

He was most comfortable and most whole in his own skin. There is a sense that now after his rushing around and his crazed energy that has possessed him now, he is fully himself. The, when we truly are with God, when our lives are lived with God, there is a comfort about being in our own skin. We are most ourselves when we are with most of him, Luke four, uh, 18 and 19, Jesus talked about this kind of thing that this is why he came.

He says the spirit of the Lord is upon me. He has anointed me to proclaim this good news to the poor. He sent me different claim, freedom for the prisoners. Why. Cause they're meant to be free and recovery of sight for the blind. Why? Because eyes are supposed to see, to set the oppressed free. Why? Because there's not supposed to be, Oh, oppression to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.

Jesus came to restore and to bring us back into what it is, the highest and holiest and most human of all living. Dallas Willard theologian that, uh, pastor Jerry and I are always quoting. Um, question was he asked this question? Yes. Someone, how would you describe Jesus now? Let me just say those kinds of questions are annoying because you can't ever get it.

Right. Right. How are you gonna describe Jesus, son of God? Okay. Okay. Actually I think this right. He's getting somewhere. So the person he was talking to a guy named bill, I think bill probably dodged the question. Okay. Dallas, how would you describe Jesus? Dallas Willard says this. I would describe Jesus in this word, relaxed, which is kind of a crazy word to me.

Now, does that fully describe every action of Jesus? No. But when you're reading the gospels and taking and looking at what is the posture of how Jesus lived his everyday life, even in the midst of immediate youth, this ministry. The word relaxed has a very high amount of application. I was thinking about this, this, this, she has this compassionate unhurried presence about him.

I was thinking about the nativity scenes in regards to this right. Jesus and the kids, right. The kids come to Jesus and instead it was like, no, no, no, no, no, no. There is more important stuff here. We can have like a real miracle here. Let's get these kids out of here. Like, and Jesus says, no, no, no, let them come.

Kingdom of God belongs to such as I'll spend time with them. Then you go right in the naitivity to the boat scene and the boat scene. It's all filled with youth. This we're going to die. We're out here, we're going back and forth. We're going to die on this boat. Where's Jesus, he's sleeping. I get that.

He's God. But man, is that guy out of it sometimes, like how can he not realize what's going on? And they finally wake him up and he says, be still. And he rebukes them for the lack of faith. Lazarus it come and come to Lazarus. And that's when everyone's God bless all of you acting, whoever acted in the Lazarus scene.

It is hard to cry that hard that often, but in the Lazarus scene, right? If you follow the text, what happens? Lazarus sister comes out and says, Oh, great. To have me in Jesus. If only you had been here two days ago, if only you would have gotten here fast enough, if only you would've gotten here, when we sent the messenger.

Right. If only you would have been a little more useless, a little more immediate, a little more urgent, and Jesus comes, calms their fears and raises the dead. Then he goes and receives a cross where Peter's like, no, Oh, I got cut off in here. Somehow avoid this. Jesus says, no, this is to be received. Then you go to the resurrection scene.

Right. And what's the deal with do not fear. Death, can't beat him either. It's going to be okay in the Ascension scene. Now he's gone. What do we do? Angel comes don't fear. He'll be back. It's going to be okay. There is a consistent unhurried presence about Christ in the gospels. And those with him that really are with him.

This man is one of them are able to be in the midst of what has happened in the past. What might happen in the future, simply dressed, seated in their right mind in a place that everything is okay. Verse 15 continues after it says they were afraid. Now the question is, well, why, why are they afraid? This is a good thing.

Well, I think great power always causes fear, and this is great power, right? I mean, there is a great sense of power. Jesus had done without a posse without chains, without mechanism, what they could not. And it caused them fear and gets to this very fascinating part of the passage in verse 16, those who had seen it, told the people what had happened to the demon possessed man and told them about the pigs as well.

Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region. Jesus, this is a power, but we don't want you here. There is. And again, the word is begging probably better translated. There's a lot of begging in this passage and there, and Jesus, please be out. Jesus was too disruptive. They had learned to cope with their fear.

They had learned to deal with what was obsessing them and bothering them. They had learned they could live with this. Jesus was a threat to their sanity. They were trying to, they're trying to keep their sanity as best they could by, by dealing and coping with this demon guy. But to give all up their mechanisms of control.

To have that great of a power here. No, they rather live with the devil. They knew than the Jesus that they didn't know. Were they right? Were they right? See, Jesus has a threat. This Jesus who comes, who dresses, seats them and puts them in the right minds. Is this Christ coming as a threat? I would say in some ways, yes.

I think they were right too, too many to, to see him as a disruptive being to them to follow Jesus was a different way of life than they were used to. Many of the followers of Christ would give their ultimate and be killed. They would hear teaching these followers about what it would mean to take up their cross and follow him.

They would themselves be subject to potentially the hatred of the enemies of darkness by following him, we see Jesus does not play well with idols, the grace and wonder of Jesus calls his people to serve the kindness of this. Jesus will lead us to change and repentance. Jesus is a threat to the urgency.

Of the self life, self righteousness he taught, no, you're not enough on your own, your ego and morality. Don't cut it to self-sufficiency that you can't do this life in your own strength to self-love. You're not the highest thing that there is. To love and worship to self-promotion that, that addiction, we have to comparing ourselves to others to try to get ahead to self independence that this life is only about me or my family.

Jesus is a different way of living than that. And in that way, he is a threat. The kingdom is full of beauty. But you cannot enjoy the beauty of God and cling to the lavishness of false treasure. You may have heard this. There's a way of catching monkeys is actually a YouTube of this. So, you know, it's real there's um, this type of gourd it's called the Kala Bosch.

It's a new Guinea and a collar Bosch kind of looks like a decapitated snowman. It's like two humps. Okay. And, um, what they do is they hollow out. A little bit of the capita snowman, and then they put some food in the bottom, but they only put a little tiny hole. And actually when they drill the hole, you think like, I don't think this is going to work when the monkey comes, the monkey goes and goes down and grabs the food in the Cala BOSH, Gord.

And it tries to pull its hand out, but now it has made a fist and because it's made a fist, it now is bigger than the width of the hole. And so it cannot pull out the food. All the monkey needs to do is say, you know, this is not my day. Let go of the food. And the monkey is freed from bondage, but the monkey won't let go.

It it's something in its brain cannot can't tell itself that that is even an option. And so they can catch monkeys. You can see them, even though it's like go and it just holds on, holds on. And like they approached the monkey and he's like trying to rip out of this gourd thing. Like, like it's trapping him, but he's trapping himself.

He can't let go of the false treasure in order to be free. Verse 18 says this. This Jesus was getting in the boat. The man who has been demon possessed, begged again, a begging so much in this passage to go with him. Jesus did not let him, but said, go home to your own. People. Tell them how much the Lord has done for you, how he has had mercy on you.

So the man went way and began to tell in the Decapolis, this is a little bit lower on the tater tot. Um, how much Jesus had done for him. And the people were amazed. I love this. As Jesus getting boat, the man who had been zest begged to go with him, he's not asking for something from Christ. He's not not saying well now, can you make sure these people know it wasn't my fault.

And can you teach them some things or can you get this, his desire? What he knows of when he is able to be dressy in his right mind? It was with him. It was with him. Rest comes not from a rival, but it comes from who is walking with you rest doesn't come from, from being rid of Al outward urgency or Balogun.

It comes from living in inner life with the one who is unhurried with the one who is at risk. It's so important. Yeah. Okay. I'll just, I got, um, this wasn't in my notes. I'm doing counseling right now. I do some counseling, but I'm also in counseling. Um, and I am receiving counseling and I've been processing a lot of different things with my therapist.

And is this okay to do? You're all like, Whoa, awesome planning on this. Can he say therapist in the pulpit? Um, So, yes, I see a therapist and I can't walk it back now. And, um, we were talking and he was, we were talking about processing some different things and it's been meaningful for me, but it really came down to like him asking me, honestly, like, where are your practices with God?

And I'm like, I know God, I got the God thing. I even preach about him. Hello. Right. But he just, like, we just talked and I realized like, My practices have gotten dusty sloppy. Yes. I pray. Yes. Read the Bible, um, those things, but the sense of deep walking intentionally with God slipped and, you know, came a whole lot of urgency, whole lot of energy.

And I work pretty hard. I try to work really hard in my home to be a good dad and clean up and help out, try to do lot of stuff at the church out of urgency.

But how much was I really just spending time with God? And I realized a lot of my inner chaos siloed that outer chaos. To stop my time, my time to simply be my wife does this. She goes away and on silent retreats and just spends time with God. And you're like, man, you can do a lot in those two days. She doesn't.

And honestly, it's been a lot through her walk with Jesus, her stillness and silence and presence with God that I realize. I'm letting the outer Balogun get in and I need to reprioritize. And simply in the passage, what's the calling. How do we become dressed, seated in our right minds? How do we live centered lives?

It's just with him. It's living with him. The Christian life is not a destination. The Christian life is not fundamentally about getting to a nice place when we die. The Christian life is not even first a journey. It's not just about the transformation of how we become different over time. Yes.

Destination. Beautiful. Yes. Journey. Beautiful. But the Christian life, the mentally is companionship. It's an every day reality that we can live with God each day in each circumstance. And that we can be centered with him in the midst of everything else. If you would stand, I'm going to give you the benediction for this morning,

for those of you here in person. For those of you online this morning, just read this over you. May you on this day. And even in this moment, be filled with the rest that comes from your unhurried Christ. May you in the midst of potential past regret and future anxiety, be able to be simply present for his sufficient love.

Now. May we relax into accepting daily bread, which is only meant to get us through today that we may trust that tomorrow will come with its own. In short, may we live this moment and the next one, it comes with Jesus for wherever he is with us. We have. All we need wonderful to be with you this morning.

We are dismissed.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/demon-possessed-man-jesus-dresses-seats-and-puts-us-in-our-right-minds 38631608-7588-4ae6-9f9c-7ae40ebe60e3 Sun, 06 Dec 2020 20:32:19 GMT <div data-html="true">Mark 5:1-20 <br /><br /> “Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” <br /><br /> It great to be with you this morning as we head towards Christmas. Um, think I'm going to be doing the last sermon in the series we've been doing of looking at individual, uh, biographical sermons. We're going to be in the book of Mark chapter five. Um, as you turn there, want to tell you, we, I had a chance to be in Israel a couple years ago. <br /><br /> I've shared this with you. And one of the things that we were able to do while we were in Israel's, we were with, um, a group of people who did the Shabbat, the Sabbath together, and, uh, the man of the house where we went to who led us through that ceremony. And that time had lasting impact on me that. They took the rhythm of life to take this time and how they did it. <br /><br /> And, and we, we took some of those, uh, traditional aspects and moved it to, to my family and how it fit in the rhythms of our family. And we do something called the Friday night feast. On our Friday night feast week, we spend the day making sure we get all the details done. We try to get the house picked up. <br /><br /> One of our rules is you have to wear comfortable clothes and we get comfortable clothes. And we go, and we have a big meal as a family on Friday night. And we talk over, uh, what has happened in this. The past week, where have we seen evidences of God through love and peace and laughter. And we tell stories and recall the times we quote the beatitudes together, as we seek to remember how God moves throughout our week. <br /><br /> And it's been a special time for us. But getting to Friday night, feast is full of what, um, the word that I learned in Israel was Bala Balogun, which is a word for chaos. And before the Sabbath happens in Israel, you can go in the streets of Jerusalem and it is packed. It is chaos. It is Balogun everyone getting. <br /><br /> Yeah. Everything that they need so that they're ready so that they can rest. That has become a part of our lives. That Friday is filled with a lot of different stress and chaos, so we can finally get to feasting and rest. I think the goal of my inner life, the goal of my life would be to live more in feasting Friday type space. <br /><br /> And less in the ball of how can my life embrace the patterns of Jesus and live in that grace live in that rest more rest and less in the stressed. How does Jesus bring rest to the weary and light weakness to our load? If you will pray with me in the, meet me in Mark chapter five. <br /><br /> Lord. It is an honor to be here with people, Mount Laurel people, online, people of Collingswood would lock watching online today and recognize that it takes a lot of extra effort and time and figuring and registering to attend a service. We thank you for the commitment of your people or the grace that you've given us in one another, we ask you Lord during a really wild season for our whole world where we feel fear everywhere, conflict, which is hand in hand with fear everywhere. <br /><br /> We pray God for. We know our outer lives, no much bile Lagon, much chaos may our lives with you. Our inner worlds be marked by peace. Give us grace in this time as we enjoy your son. Jesus. Amen. So, what we're going to do is simply on the slides this morning is I just got the scripture and we're just going to walk through the scripture this morning and enjoy this story. <br /><br /> I love this story, a title of the sermon, a couple of different things. One spiritually. I call this Jesus dresses, seats, and places us in our right minds. Um, What I kind of would also call it as Jesus and the demon pigs. That's kind of what you'll remember anyway, but, um, this aspect of what does it take for Jesus to give us this re-ask and you've just flashed up the first slide and we'll just start walking through the scripture here. <br /><br /> And the very first verse, it says they came to the other side and they went across the Lake to the region of the Garrison scenes. Now. We talked about this in Collingswood, um, Aerie, the map of Israel you've may have seen a bunch of different times. And if you look at the map of Israel, now it's different than the map of Israel before the easiest way, for me to remember what the map of Israel looks like is a tater tot with a string to a hot dog. <br /><br /> Okay. Imagine a tater tot with a string to a hot dog, and literally all the events or majority of the events in the, in the story of Christ happens around the tater tot string and hotdog. The tater tot is the sea of Galilee. The string is the Jordan river and the hot dog is the dead sea. And if you follow a lot of the ministry, you can kind of place it around that very unhealthy meal. <br /><br /> The tater tot. Is where we are today. And what happens is Jesus crosses over. He's gone, he's above Samarria. Now he's up in this region and he is gone across the, you know, the story of the storm going across the sea of Galilee and is now arrived in the Garcia's presumably never been here before. This is a new place for Jesus's ministry. <br /><br /> And this is where this story takes place. The text says immediately when Jesus got out of the boat and man of impure spirit immediately, it's not in this version, but the word is youth. This and it's important for us came from the tombs to meet him. The reason why this word immediately or youth, this translated here as came, um, is important is because it shows up in Mark all the time actually was reading in the book of Mark and, uh, I was just going through and I'm like, why does Mark always use this word immediately? <br /><br /> And if you look at the different gospels, how many of you are action movie type people. Okay. How many of you action, movie type people out of you? Action, movie type people. Have you ever tried to watch down to Natty? I tried. Oh my goodness. So many people, I love, love that show. And I'm just like, is this scene ever going to end? <br /><br /> And then people are like, do you see the nuance? Of the way the color is on their costume. And I'm like, I don't. Care, blow something up, right? If you are an action movie person, Downton Abbey is not your show, but the gospel of Mark is your gospel. Mark uses this word youth this immediately 41 times of the 59 that it's in the new Testament, 41 in Mark 18. <br /><br /> And the rest of the new Testament. Mark is continually. Is this the way of telling his story is the action and reaction of what happens in the ministry of Jesus. It is an action packed gospel, and this story begins with this same word youth. This there's a readiness that happens in the, in the ministry of Christ and we see often Christ immediately acting or someone immediately. <br /><br /> Acting and coming upon him, causing him to react. And that is what's happening in this place. Ministry is done in real time. His love was given with real people with real needs coming youth. This immediately, all the time good text goes on from there and says, this, this man lived in the tombs and no one could bind him. <br /><br /> Any more. Okay. Any more. So there's a sense of growing empower could bind him before can not anymore, not even with a chain for, he had often been chained his hand and his foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him night and day among the tombs and in the Hills. <br /><br /> He would cry out and cut himself with stones. This dude lived in the graveyards. He has been subdued by chains, right? The text is clear irons, right? It's not talking, it's talking in the most extreme language of, they have tried. Everything may be successful in the beginning, but nothing is successful any more. <br /><br /> I want you to imagine your hometown. All right, wherever your town you're coming from, whether you're online this morning or you're here today, where's your hometown. Imagine this dude hung out in the graveyard of your town. Right. I maybe you get a newspaper, right? Your town, maybe you're just part of a County newspaper. <br /><br /> Maybe you're on a Facebook of your town of people talking about things in the town. Have you registered for soccer? And what do you think about the fireworks schedule? Whatever happens in the talk of your town with your neighbors. This dude lives there. Imagine. How preoccupied your town would be with this threat people calling together meetings at the town hall saying, what can we do? <br /><br /> We can't stop him legends happening all around neighboring towns of like, can move into that town. It's the town with the graveyard crazy man. Right? You can't it's this sense of legend, right? I got little kids. My lifestyle's like beauty and the beast, right? This is my kind of world, the Gaston, if not beauty, the beast, there's this great beast out there. <br /><br /> And he said, I'm not coming home. Tell his head is mounted on my wall. And you can imagine the upstart youth in this area thinking all figure out a way to bind him. Little kids play, acting what it would be like to, to, to face this person, no other legends necessary, no Jersey devils or Sasquatches watches or other things needed in lore because I can hear him at night and he screaming and cutting himself with stones. <br /><br /> This is a man who holds his area hostage in fear. We do not know from the text if he harmed any person, but he was seen as such a threat. That they risked life and limb to try to shackle him, imagine what they did to get him into those chains that couldn't hold him. Imagine a man, more powerful enough to break through chains. <br /><br /> What did it take to subdue him to get those chains on? You can only imagine the fear and energy that would take of this community to be preoccupied with this man. A couple of things here. This man we learned in the passage has a 2000 demons inside of him. The power of hell is tougher than the strongest amongst us. <br /><br /> Scripture does not teach that we are tougher than the attacks of Satan by ourselves. You might ask and you might say, Ooh, Satan, you know, doubly rude spirits. Like I'm, uh, I warm to the idea of God and in the sense of love and, and I'm in on Jesus and all those stories. But like, are you going to tell me like little horny, like horned Dean demons are running around, like trying to attack, um, trying to attack us and those kinds of things. <br /><br /> Well, in scripture it does speak of an enemy. An enemy that is not, uh, other people, but that there are spiritual attacks. And while we say God is personal, I believe so. Is darkness the longer I know Jesus, the deeper, I understand who he is. The more I'm convinced that there is one. Who hates God, an enemy of love. <br /><br /> And that enemy is not a vague darkness out there. It is an enemy with a name and a plan and the enemy that is exceedingly clever and opportunistic. And what we can see in scripture is simply this Satan hates you. I don't know if you've ever been hated in your life. It's a horrible, horrible feeling. But if you are God's child, Satan hates you. <br /><br /> And it's a reality that we can't pretend is not there. He hates your father so much. That he wants your destruction. He wants the destruction in your homes. He wants to destructions in your outer life, in your inner life. He wants your confusion, your, and your fear. First, Peter five eight says this. Be alert. <br /><br /> And of sober mind, your enemy, the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. And while we elevate the wonder of Christ, we need to be honest with the fact that our enemy is really scary. <br /><br /> Verse six. When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran, fell on his knees in front of him. He shouted at the top of his voice. What do you want with me? Jesus, son of the most high God in God's name, don't torture me for Jesus had said to him, come out of this man. You impure spirit. Now notice the verbs. I love the verbs of this passage. <br /><br /> The way that that Mark is using his action words, you, you can see this. And you can see the physical posture that's happening in these birds. Okay. Verse three, he's wrenching chains apart. He's dicing his body and cutting himself with rocks. He's running, he's yelling among the Hills. He would not be submitted by any person or chain. <br /><br /> And now look at the burbs. He runs. Falls on his feet, on his knees in front and shout at the top of his voice in submission to God. And even his appeal is in God's name, his name don't torture me. He does this in the passage youth. This immediately. Speaking of this passion, Charles Spurgeon said, this dog of hell knows it's master. <br /><br /> The powers of hell could go no further than they were allowed. They immediately submitted and begged for mercy against the God who has never lost a battle or a war to Satan that was not intended for a greater victory. Something else just interesting in this passage. And as you look in the new Testament conversations with demons or darkness are rather short. <br /><br /> It's not a going back and forth and well, maybe you can hear it in like the conversations. And I think this is important for us as we deal with spiritual darkness, spend our time with the God who protects and make any conversation where you're addressing hell being a short one, because there is no time or energy or strength to lose on the darkness. <br /><br /> Verse nine says this, then Jesus asked him, what is your name? My name is Legion. He replied for, we are many. And he begged again, this word begged Jesus again and again, not to send him out of this area. This is my jurisdiction. This is where I know how to get these feet. How I know to breed fear. This is how I, this is the place where I've become comfortable. <br /><br /> I've become comfortable in this principality to rule over these people. I know what I'm doing here. Don't let me leave. If you go to the next slide of scripture and a large herd of pigs was feeding on the nearby hillside demons, begged Jesus, send us among the pigs, allow us to go into them. He gave them permission. <br /><br /> The impure spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd about 2000, a number rushed down the steep bank and into the Lake and were drowned. Now there's a lot of spiritual stuff going on here. My question is do pink stampede, like what a pink stampede, like I watched lion King. I don't want a, will the beast stampedes, like, okay. <br /><br /> That's for real, but like a little pink stampede. I mean, that's a little cute to me. I got it. Doesn't seem that intense. And do pigs even do that. I mean, I sorta imagine pigs being like, uh, Right. Like you can go, I don't care. Right. Run over me. Um, I'm due for bacon anyway. Like I can't see it being that big of a deal. <br /><br /> So I looked it up and this is why we have the internet for questions like this. Pigs do stampede. And actually there was a case, a court case, um, in England because 2000 pigs stampeded. Similar to this, many of them ended up dead and it cause a great cost to farmers. And the question was what made the pig stampede? <br /><br /> And they went in the course, the court case took a long time and they were able to prove that a hot air balloon had like done its jet thing and two near the pigs. And it scared them. And eventually the hot air balloon company went out of business because they had to pay for the pigs and all that, this kind of stuff. <br /><br /> So pigs do stampede. And next question, you have deeply spiritually we'll do pigs swim. Like can pigs do this little thing? Like I'm, I don't know. Like, and you don't know, they say fat floats more than strength is a lot of fat on those things. It turns out pigs can swim, but you need really good condition. <br /><br /> Okay. They're not great swimmers, but some pig farmers say that pigs can infection them. Some people say it's only a certain kind of pig, but apparently this kind of pig in these conditions with the stamp page, with the demon in their head, don't swim, they did not do well. Next deep spiritual question. <br /><br /> What happens to all that bacon? You know what I mean? Like who cleans this up? I said a lot of pig. Right. And is that recoverable like, is that salting pork? Like, I don't know. What do you do then? Like this community? So I'm like, well then how much money do they just lose on pig? Like, and then, and so I looked that up right now. <br /><br /> If you get a pig, you can buy a pig for 600 bucks. So that's $1.2 million worth of pigs that just drown. Now was some of that recoverable that they could use for meat, et cetera. I don't know that the internet stopped working for me at that point, but perhaps they could recover some of the money regardless. <br /><br /> This was not necessarily the miracle in the way that people wanted. Right? Yes. They want removal of this threat, but there was a cost. There was something that would be changed about them. Presumably there's called talks about herdsmen that this may have not just been one herd of pigs, but maybe several, maybe several families impacted by this miracle miracle, the wha what, the miracle that they wanted, but not the way that they wanted. <br /><br /> Real interestingly here though is also a little nugget that we have. That's more important than little piggy stories. Is this a demon could not even enter a pig without the permission of God. He will not let his people be bothered. Be persecuted, be harmed, be harassed. Without having something greater in mind, the powers of hell are great, but they can't even enter swine without the permission of the almighty verse 14. <br /><br /> Those who were tending the pigs ran off and reported this to the town and countryside the people. Went out to see what happened when they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the Legion of demons, sitting there dressed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. Cause again, follow the verbs in the story. <br /><br /> The man under the possession of hell is crying out, causing harm, wrenching change, uh, sleepless nights, causing other threats, running screaming, shouting, lots of begging there's a misery and an exhaustion to bearing the weight of hell and notice this man with Jesus. Notice the verbs. He's sitting, he's dressed. <br /><br /> He is placed in his right mind. One of the coolest things to me about this passage is how present this man becomes in this story. This man who's had a crazy past and undoubtedly, a very interesting future right here is simply dressed. He seated. There's a calmness. There's a difference in the way Marcus talking about him here versus the youth, this craze from before. <br /><br /> I think what were, what he could have been doing is filled with regret. Falling on his face and complete shame. I can't face anyone or the things that I have been allowed to happen, or what could have been is, is he could have been filled with anxiety for the future. Like, dude, I'm the pig guy for forever, right? <br /><br /> Like, do I have to pay for those pigs? Do I have to pay for the harm I've caused? How could I ever live down the reputation of there's the graveyard man, but what was he. Mark is describing him. So present, he's just sitting there dressed and in his right mind, in that moment with his God, he was most himself. <br /><br /> He was most comfortable and most whole in his own skin. There is a sense that now after his rushing around and his crazed energy that has possessed him now, he is fully himself. The, when we truly are with God, when our lives are lived with God, there is a comfort about being in our own skin. We are most ourselves when we are with most of him, Luke four, uh, 18 and 19, Jesus talked about this kind of thing that this is why he came. <br /><br /> He says the spirit of the Lord is upon me. He has anointed me to proclaim this good news to the poor. He sent me different claim, freedom for the prisoners. Why. Cause they're meant to be free and recovery of sight for the blind. Why? Because eyes are supposed to see, to set the oppressed free. Why? Because there's not supposed to be, Oh, oppression to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. <br /><br /> Jesus came to restore and to bring us back into what it is, the highest and holiest and most human of all living. Dallas Willard theologian that, uh, pastor Jerry and I are always quoting. Um, question was he asked this question? Yes. Someone, how would you describe Jesus now? Let me just say those kinds of questions are annoying because you can't ever get it. <br /><br /> Right. Right. How are you gonna describe Jesus, son of God? Okay. Okay. Actually I think this right. He's getting somewhere. So the person he was talking to a guy named bill, I think bill probably dodged the question. Okay. Dallas, how would you describe Jesus? Dallas Willard says this. I would describe Jesus in this word, relaxed, which is kind of a crazy word to me. <br /><br /> Now, does that fully describe every action of Jesus? No. But when you're reading the gospels and taking and looking at what is the posture of how Jesus lived his everyday life, even in the midst of immediate youth, this ministry. The word relaxed has a very high amount of application. I was thinking about this, this, this, she has this compassionate unhurried presence about him. <br /><br /> I was thinking about the nativity scenes in regards to this right. Jesus and the kids, right. The kids come to Jesus and instead it was like, no, no, no, no, no, no. There is more important stuff here. We can have like a real miracle here. Let's get these kids out of here. Like, and Jesus says, no, no, no, let them come. <br /><br /> Kingdom of God belongs to such as I'll spend time with them. Then you go right in the naitivity to the boat scene and the boat scene. It's all filled with youth. This we're going to die. We're out here, we're going back and forth. We're going to die on this boat. Where's Jesus, he's sleeping. I get that. <br /><br /> He's God. But man, is that guy out of it sometimes, like how can he not realize what's going on? And they finally wake him up and he says, be still. And he rebukes them for the lack of faith. Lazarus it come and come to Lazarus. And that's when everyone's God bless all of you acting, whoever acted in the Lazarus scene. <br /><br /> It is hard to cry that hard that often, but in the Lazarus scene, right? If you follow the text, what happens? Lazarus sister comes out and says, Oh, great. To have me in Jesus. If only you had been here two days ago, if only you would have gotten here fast enough, if only you would've gotten here, when we sent the messenger. <br /><br /> Right. If only you would have been a little more useless, a little more immediate, a little more urgent, and Jesus comes, calms their fears and raises the dead. Then he goes and receives a cross where Peter's like, no, Oh, I got cut off in here. Somehow avoid this. Jesus says, no, this is to be received. Then you go to the resurrection scene. <br /><br /> Right. And what's the deal with do not fear. Death, can't beat him either. It's going to be okay in the Ascension scene. Now he's gone. What do we do? Angel comes don't fear. He'll be back. It's going to be okay. There is a consistent unhurried presence about Christ in the gospels. And those with him that really are with him. <br /><br /> This man is one of them are able to be in the midst of what has happened in the past. What might happen in the future, simply dressed, seated in their right mind in a place that everything is okay. Verse 15 continues after it says they were afraid. Now the question is, well, why, why are they afraid? This is a good thing. <br /><br /> Well, I think great power always causes fear, and this is great power, right? I mean, there is a great sense of power. Jesus had done without a posse without chains, without mechanism, what they could not. And it caused them fear and gets to this very fascinating part of the passage in verse 16, those who had seen it, told the people what had happened to the demon possessed man and told them about the pigs as well. <br /><br /> Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region. Jesus, this is a power, but we don't want you here. There is. And again, the word is begging probably better translated. There's a lot of begging in this passage and there, and Jesus, please be out. Jesus was too disruptive. They had learned to cope with their fear. <br /><br /> They had learned to deal with what was obsessing them and bothering them. They had learned they could live with this. Jesus was a threat to their sanity. They were trying to, they're trying to keep their sanity as best they could by, by dealing and coping with this demon guy. But to give all up their mechanisms of control. <br /><br /> To have that great of a power here. No, they rather live with the devil. They knew than the Jesus that they didn't know. Were they right? Were they right? See, Jesus has a threat. This Jesus who comes, who dresses, seats them and puts them in the right minds. Is this Christ coming as a threat? I would say in some ways, yes. <br /><br /> I think they were right too, too many to, to see him as a disruptive being to them to follow Jesus was a different way of life than they were used to. Many of the followers of Christ would give their ultimate and be killed. They would hear teaching these followers about what it would mean to take up their cross and follow him. <br /><br /> They would themselves be subject to potentially the hatred of the enemies of darkness by following him, we see Jesus does not play well with idols, the grace and wonder of Jesus calls his people to serve the kindness of this. Jesus will lead us to change and repentance. Jesus is a threat to the urgency. <br /><br /> Of the self life, self righteousness he taught, no, you're not enough on your own, your ego and morality. Don't cut it to self-sufficiency that you can't do this life in your own strength to self-love. You're not the highest thing that there is. To love and worship to self-promotion that, that addiction, we have to comparing ourselves to others to try to get ahead to self independence that this life is only about me or my family. <br /><br /> Jesus is a different way of living than that. And in that way, he is a threat. The kingdom is full of beauty. But you cannot enjoy the beauty of God and cling to the lavishness of false treasure. You may have heard this. There's a way of catching monkeys is actually a YouTube of this. So, you know, it's real there's um, this type of gourd it's called the Kala Bosch. <br /><br /> It's a new Guinea and a collar Bosch kind of looks like a decapitated snowman. It's like two humps. Okay. And, um, what they do is they hollow out. A little bit of the capita snowman, and then they put some food in the bottom, but they only put a little tiny hole. And actually when they drill the hole, you think like, I don't think this is going to work when the monkey comes, the monkey goes and goes down and grabs the food in the Cala BOSH, Gord. <br /><br /> And it tries to pull its hand out, but now it has made a fist and because it's made a fist, it now is bigger than the width of the hole. And so it cannot pull out the food. All the monkey needs to do is say, you know, this is not my day. Let go of the food. And the monkey is freed from bondage, but the monkey won't let go. <br /><br /> It it's something in its brain cannot can't tell itself that that is even an option. And so they can catch monkeys. You can see them, even though it's like go and it just holds on, holds on. And like they approached the monkey and he's like trying to rip out of this gourd thing. Like, like it's trapping him, but he's trapping himself. <br /><br /> He can't let go of the false treasure in order to be free. Verse 18 says this. This Jesus was getting in the boat. The man who has been demon possessed, begged again, a begging so much in this passage to go with him. Jesus did not let him, but said, go home to your own. People. Tell them how much the Lord has done for you, how he has had mercy on you. <br /><br /> So the man went way and began to tell in the Decapolis, this is a little bit lower on the tater tot. Um, how much Jesus had done for him. And the people were amazed. I love this. As Jesus getting boat, the man who had been zest begged to go with him, he's not asking for something from Christ. He's not not saying well now, can you make sure these people know it wasn't my fault. <br /><br /> And can you teach them some things or can you get this, his desire? What he knows of when he is able to be dressy in his right mind? It was with him. It was with him. Rest comes not from a rival, but it comes from who is walking with you rest doesn't come from, from being rid of Al outward urgency or Balogun. <br /><br /> It comes from living in inner life with the one who is unhurried with the one who is at risk. It's so important. Yeah. Okay. I'll just, I got, um, this wasn't in my notes. I'm doing counseling right now. I do some counseling, but I'm also in counseling. Um, and I am receiving counseling and I've been processing a lot of different things with my therapist. <br /><br /> And is this okay to do? You're all like, Whoa, awesome planning on this. Can he say therapist in the pulpit? Um, So, yes, I see a therapist and I can't walk it back now. And, um, we were talking and he was, we were talking about processing some different things and it's been meaningful for me, but it really came down to like him asking me, honestly, like, where are your practices with God? <br /><br /> And I'm like, I know God, I got the God thing. I even preach about him. Hello. Right. But he just, like, we just talked and I realized like, My practices have gotten dusty sloppy. Yes. I pray. Yes. Read the Bible, um, those things, but the sense of deep walking intentionally with God slipped and, you know, came a whole lot of urgency, whole lot of energy. <br /><br /> And I work pretty hard. I try to work really hard in my home to be a good dad and clean up and help out, try to do lot of stuff at the church out of urgency. <br /><br /> But how much was I really just spending time with God? And I realized a lot of my inner chaos siloed that outer chaos. To stop my time, my time to simply be my wife does this. She goes away and on silent retreats and just spends time with God. And you're like, man, you can do a lot in those two days. She doesn't. <br /><br /> And honestly, it's been a lot through her walk with Jesus, her stillness and silence and presence with God that I realize. I'm letting the outer Balogun get in and I need to reprioritize. And simply in the passage, what's the calling. How do we become dressed, seated in our right minds? How do we live centered lives? <br /><br /> It's just with him. It's living with him. The Christian life is not a destination. The Christian life is not fundamentally about getting to a nice place when we die. The Christian life is not even first a journey. It's not just about the transformation of how we become different over time. Yes. <br /><br /> Destination. Beautiful. Yes. Journey. Beautiful. But the Christian life, the mentally is companionship. It's an every day reality that we can live with God each day in each circumstance. And that we can be centered with him in the midst of everything else. If you would stand, I'm going to give you the benediction for this morning, <br /><br /> for those of you here in person. For those of you online this morning, just read this over you. May you on this day. And even in this moment, be filled with the rest that comes from your unhurried Christ. May you in the midst of potential past regret and future anxiety, be able to be simply present for his sufficient love. <br /><br /> Now. May we relax into accepting daily bread, which is only meant to get us through today that we may trust that tomorrow will come with its own. In short, may we live this moment and the next one, it comes with Jesus for wherever he is with us. We have. All we need wonderful to be with you this morning. <br /><br /> We are dismissed.</div> false no <![CDATA[Assets of Gratitude]]> 1 Thess. 5:18

"Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God."



Good morning by the way. Good morning. Um, we're going to be looking at one verse of scripture. It's in first Thessalonians chapter five, verse 18. What I want to talk to you this morning about is the assets, the assets, or the benefits of gratitude.

And as we look at this, we're going to look at a variety of things, but I want to remind you in this verse of who it is talking about when it says we are to express Thanksgiving, and it says this in first Thessalonians chapter five, verse 16, give thanks in all circumstances for this is God's will for you in Christ.

Jesus. We're going to look at that in a moment, but let's, let's pray together.

Lord, we come and we give our praise to you that we're able to meet this morning. Lord, thank you for the joy of not doing Christian faith alone. Thank you for the community of believers and the body of Christ and. The family of God at all those pictures that remind us that we are, no, we are not doing a solo flight.

We're we're designed to do this in community with others. And thank you for the chance to, to meet either in the room or online together today. Lord guide us what we think about being grateful, um, why we tend not to be, and more importantly, why we should be. In jesus' name. Amen. We are going to talk this morning about the benefits or the assets of gratitude, but I just want to give a couple of thoughts as we launch into that, because this passage says to us where to give thanks in all circumstances.

And of course there's a very Godward component in that, like, when we say. Thank you and teach our kids from the earliest days too, to say, thank you. There's a you part, right? We don't just say thank we. Who is the you that he's talking about? Who's the you in this passage, who's the you and the scripture preeminently.

It is God. It is God. That is the you, that we are ultimately to be grateful for. And what he says is God's will. For us in Christ. Jesus it's interesting years ago, Phillips Schalfly was talking to a group of congressmen and she was talking about how we teach American history or fail to teach American history in our culture.

And she was, uh, giving as an illustration of a recent survey that had just been taken of 150, uh, elementary Stu school kids on a Wednesday the day before Thanksgiving. And as they had been interviewed, these kids had been asked three questions. And the first question is, what holiday are you celebrating tomorrow?

Almost a hundred percent of them said Thanksgiving, second question, who first celebrated it happily, surprisingly, maybe almost a hundred percent said the pilgrims. And she said, who were they thinking? And almost a hundred percent again said. The Indians or the native Americans. Now, if that would be your answer, I want you to know they were thanking God.

That's what the first Thanksgiving was. And this Thanksgiving that is being talked about here in first Thessalonians five is the same. It is a spirit of gratitude. Ultimately to God, but permeates every part of our lives. So he says, give thanks in all circumstances. And just two questions I want to float out there.

And I'm sorry that I don't have, uh, uh, slides this morning. You're going to have to listen today. Um, first question I want to ask is why don't we express gratitude in all circumstances? And the second question. Which is really the one focusing on the assets. The benefits is why should we express gratitude?

Why don't we express gratitude in all circumstances? And I'd suggest there are two primary reasons. Um, and they tend to be in different circumstances. Often we don't express gratitude in our circumstances or find it difficult to because we feel anger. Toward God's works in some circumstances, this was the great habitual sin.

Of course, if the people of Israel in the wilderness journeys, which in Romans chapter 15 are told that these were given as an example for us at these people, their greatest sin. Repeated over and over their chronic sin was, they were murmurs or complainer's other words were used. They grumbled, uh, we might throw in the word they groused all the time.

Basically they didn't express gratitude to God. Cause they were ticked off at God. I mean, why did God allow this? Why did God do this? And so their spirit was one of continual room. Well, why, why don't we go back to Egypt and expressed in, in verse like Exodus 16 and the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.

And the people of Israel said to them would that we had died by the hand of the Lord and the hand in the land of Egypt. When we sat by the meter. Pots and a bread to the full for you have brought us out into wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger. A lot of times when we find it difficult to be people of gratitude.

It's our own sense that what do I have to be grateful for? Why would I be grateful in this? Which is in my life and yet the scriptures from cover to cover say that God is the one sovereignly at work in our lives and whatever is in our lives has ultimately come by the allowance of God that God has purposed to use, even that in our lives.

Now there are some times that are really. Heavy. There are some times when God asks us to be grateful for something that just seems, um, beyond the pale of what we think we can accomplish. Maybe one of the greatest examples I've ever heard of that, uh, was of, uh, dr. Helen Roosevelt, Helen Roosevelt was a medical missionary to the Congo.

Uh, now's a year, uh, in the fifties, 1950s, 1960s. And when she was there, there was a continual threat of, uh, the rebels coming to the missionary compound, the medical compound, where they were. And, uh, one day their fears were, were, were fulfilled. Yeah. As, as they heard that a local, uh, chief had been taken brutally murdered by the rebels and they were on their way and they did come to the medical center and they did at, um, At spear point and bayonet point capture Helen and she then was, um, mistreated in the most vile way imaginable for a woman.

And in her brokenness on the first night of the dark night after she had been so brutally mistreated and raped, she said this, I felt unalterably alone. For a brief moment. I felt God had failed me. He could have stepped in and prevented the rising crescendo of wickedness and cruelty. He could have saved me out of their hands.

Why didn't he speak? Why didn't he intervene? And then Helen Roseveare says that the question that came to my heart was this

Helen, can you thank me? For trusting you with this experience, even if I never tell you why she talks about how it was a life-changing moment in her life, where she was willing to even thank God for allowing something, she didn't understand why, but she would trust God with it. Now, your scenario of life, no matter how hard it's probably not going to be something of that level.

But we all experienced seasons. When you say God, I do not know what, I don't know how this can be good. I don't know why you've allowed this or why you're not doing this. And God says, will you thank me? Will you say God? I know I don't understand that at the time, but you have a picture I don't have, I will.

Thank you. Believe that you have trusted me with this experience, whether you ever tell me why. One of the reasons we find it very difficult to be grateful in all circumstances is anger toward the things that God has lot a second reason. I think we find it difficult to.

Tort to, uh, I'm trying to think of how I want to express this. Well, why we find it difficult to express gratitude in all circumstances is because we feel apathy toward God's work. In some circumstances, there were some circumstances we feel apathy towards God work. Here's how he told us in Deuteronomy chapter eight, he says, take care of less when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them.

And when you're heading. Herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied. And all that you have is multiplied. Then your heart will be lifted up and you forget the Lord, your God. He says, you're going to multiply. He keeps saying it, things are gonna multiply. They're gonna, they're gonna multiply, multiply and multiply.

And he says, that's going to be a time when you're going to find it difficult. To remain continually grateful in all circumstances. Now you see it's the opposite, right? One is a circumstance we hate and say, God, how can I think of the other is a circumstance where we, we are joyful in the provision, but he says, you know, when you're multiplying, when things are multiplying, it might be a season where you're going to find it difficult to be.

Expressing gratitude, Luke 17 is the classic new Testament picture of this, the 10 lepers that come to Jesus and he heals them all. And, uh, nine of them immediately, uh, walk away. The one guy follows Jesus in order to thank him. And it's the picture of w what happened to the 90 percenters. Now, I don't want to be too hard on these guys because there's a lot of things these guys probably were doing.

I mean, they're lepers, they've been cast out of society. They weren't even be able to be with their own family and relatives and loved ones. And now they're healed. And understandably, we can imagine that some of them were just wanting to go and see their family. Some of them were just so overwhelmed with exuberance and joy.

Some of them probably. Later on thought. Well, you know, I ought to, I ought to thank Jesus, but at that point, the window had closed because Jesus had gone on to another part of the area. What happened was it wasn't necessarily always a calloused who cares shrugging of the shoulders. Sometimes it's just that being grateful is sorta down the line of priorities.

You know, it's fourth or fifth. These guys, I guess, see my wife, I got to see my kids,

but that's exactly what happens in our lives. We have been blessed. We have multiplied. And then what happens is we find ourselves not remembering to be grateful. And so we go on and, and what it does is it begins to, to almost being grateful, becomes an indifference to us. I think both of those are reasons why we find it difficult to and why we don't express gratitude in all circumstances.

So why should we express gratitude in all circumstances? And I'm going to give a few quick reasons. Number one, gratitude transports us into the presence of God in Psalm 100, which is a song that is subtitled a Psalm for giving. Thanks. In other words, it's an aid to help you give thanks and be a person of gratitude.

He says, enter his Gates with Thanksgiving and his courts with praise in this particular song, he talks about two reasons to express thanks to God. And he says, these are the motivating realities. He says, first of all, one is the Lord is God. He says that in verse three in verse five, he says, The Lord is good.

He says, this is the motivation that, that, that if your mind is wrapped around these realities and you, you, you, you are constantly disciplining yourself. Say, Lord, I'm going to be grateful. I'm going to continually seek to be a person that is thinking about who you are, your, your bigness, your goodness. I'm going to be expressing praise, but it will be an intentional.

Practice that we build into our lives, that as we look at this song in Psalm 100, he's basically talking, he uses adjectives there of God, of good, and he's loving and faithful. Those are all terms that are used there, but if we are not expressing our awareness of that and our gratitude, what gratitude does is transport us into God's pleasure and remind us God.

Yeah. You, you did do this. And I, and I don't want to forget, I don't want to be the leper that gets so busy with life. Now, remember, man, I need to intentionally take time. If you don't do that, what will happen, Ben is you tend to do what we all tend to do. You know, sorta start looking at God-like. Kirk did fictitious Kirk, Kirk's lying in bed.

One day. It's a bad day. Everything went wrong, completely exhausted, more and more upset as he reflects on his circumstances. And he falls asleep and in his sleep, he, he dreams and he blurts out to God. Why me? God, why does everything always go wrong with me? And suddenly in his dream, the ceiling of his room was pulled back and a huge hand with an outstretched finger came down and poked him in the chest and allowed voice said, because you bug me Kurt.

I'm glad you left. Gratitude reminds us. That's not what God is. Like. He can feel like that. And, and when troubles come, you just sort of feel your shoulders and caring and God's distant and you feel like God is just something that you don't measure up to on the other hand. If you're praising, if you're expressing gratitude, you're just finding yourself, lifted into the enjoyment of God.

He says, enter his Gates, come into his presence. And the way you do it is with Thanksgiving. One of the reasons we want to be expressing gratitude in all our circumstances is because it transports us into the presence of God. Secondly, It protects us from a downward spiral into sin. Romans chapter one, if you're familiar with Romans chapter one, it's this sobering picture of, of humanity.

And it's a picture of how civilizations and individuals, 10, uh, people groups tend to progress and into severe immorality, severe violent behavior, all these things that are shown there. But I don't know if you know or have thought about where that progression starts. Here's what he says in Romans one 21 at the beginning of that passage for all they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him to not be praising is to open ourselves to an inevitable downward spiral towards sin.

Dr. James Kennedy said it this way. And ungrateful person is only one step away from getting his or her needs met in illegitimate ways. In other words, when we're growing and if you think of your own life experience, and I can certainly think of mine and identify with this when I'm a, grumbler when I'm not, when I, when I'm a Wiener and not a worshiper when I'm not giving it to the Lord and remembering and looking at circumstances.

Through the goodness and bigness of God, I don't just stay as a grumbler. I find myself, I become more greedy. I become more, um, uh, Tencent and, and able to fly off the handle. I would suggest you will find yourself starting to cut corners. You wouldn't have cut people. You see what, how did all this happen?

I can't how many people I've heard over the years? How in the world did I give here? Almost inevitably, there is a spirit of, of, of forgetting to just be a, praiser a person of gratitude to God at the beginning of that. It protects us from a downward spiral. Number three, it freezes from worry. This is what Paul is saying in Philippians four, where he says in verses four through six, he says, do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation by prayer and petition with Thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ. Jesus. I've often talked about the value that I've found in at times doing my worry list. Just putting all the things down that I'm worried about or are, are gnats flying around my brain that I know are there, but I couldn't really, you know, I only want to think about them all.

But I actually log them all down and then I go to Philippians four and I, I give them to the Lord, but I also give them a Thanksgiving. God, thank you for allowing this. Thank you for what you're going to do in this. Thank you for this circumstance. And what happens is you begin to look at the very things you're worried about through the perspective of a God.

You can trust God. I'm trusting you. I thank you. This didn't come unexpectedly to you. You have allowed this into my life. That gratitude as an antidote to being controlled by worry fourth, it frees us from envy. This is an important one. You see the heart of envy rises from the belief that we deserve better than we've got.

Right? One of the classic examples of this in, in film photography, cinematography is the film, uh, Amadeus, which was. Back in the eighties, probably it's the, it's a story, a loosely built on the lives of, uh, of, uh, Amadeus, Mozart and Antonio, Sally, Eric, and Sally Ari was the court musician, the court master music master in Vienna, Austria.

Under the, the emperor of Austria at the time, a fellow named emperor, Joseph, the second, a lover of music, and he had a court, as many of the courts did in Europe. At the time his court musician was an, was this guy, Sally RA, and the movie starts with Sally airy. In an insane asylum as an old man, he just tried to commit suicide and he's talking and he's telling his story to a young priest and he tells the story about how he was joyfully serving God as he served the emperor and wrote music in the court.

And then he heard of this young phenom that was coming, who was name of Moser. And he was excited to have me wrote a piece of music for him and everything. And the guy came and he turned out to be this, this. Beyond brilliant composer, but he was a crude, foul mouth, um, disreputable guy and Sally at each scarily air up because the more he listened to his music, the more he realized he would never have the genius of this young composer.

And yet he looked at his life and thought, why in the world would God entrust such gifts to a man like this? And not to me? And he actually in his bitterness, uh, plotted the downfall of Mozart and through the whole thing, it caused him to lose his own mind. And now he was an insane and silent where he's just tried to take his life.

And he makes this interesting statement, uh, as he bitterly declares to the young priest, this statement, I am the patron sate, Saint of mediocrity. What happened? He got his perspective off of what he had been given by God and his acceptance and joy in that to an envious perspective, because he thought I deserve more.

If he's got it, I should have it. I mean, I'm more deserving. Compare that to a woman in our church who years ago. I was talking to one time and she would just have me talking and it sort of came up in a conversation. Um, she was telling about, she's not a good singer, but she loves to come to worship. She loves worship music and, and she said, and many times I'll be sitting in front of someone who has a beautiful voice.

And she said, I. I will, I will sing, but I sing quietly because I, I, I hear the, I hear the singing of the person in back of me. And she said, I feel like all of our gifts have come from God. And she said, I feel like I share in their gift of music. So in a way I feel it's me also singing this beautiful perspective.

I did notice she has never sat in front of me that I could ever remember, but, but there was this beautiful picture where she was saying, I'm not an envious of I'm sharing in the voice. Why? Because she was praising the giver. This is the exact opposite of Sally Ari. He is saying, I want it. I have to have it.

I deserve more, but a spirit of gratitude frees us from having to be envious that we haven't been given because our true joy is in the giver, not in the gifts. It frees us from this contentment in Genesis chapter three, Satan comes to Eve. And what does he do? He gets her to look at what she doesn't have.

Right. I mean, she's got everything except for one little tree that has one little fruit on this paradise on earth that any human being would kill to live in. But what he did was enabled her to get her, to forget her riches. And focus on the restriction. Gratitude helps you to be content with what you have, not what you don't have.

It's like the story of the two old friends that met up one time. They hadn't seen each other for awhile and they happened to bump each other in a pump public place. And, and the one guy. Realized his friend looked, looked depressed. I mean, he had a foul expression in his face and he didn't even seem to be able to work up a, even a weak smile with his friend.

And so the guy said, well, what's the trouble man. And so his friend told him and he said, Oh, let me tell you three weeks ago, my uncle died and he left me $40,000. I said, really. He said, yeah, two weeks ago, my cousin who I hardly know died and he left me 85,000 though in last week, my great aunt passed away and she left me a quarter of a million dollars to which his friend says you got to be kidding me.

Then why the long face, the guy responds this week? Nothing.

when we are ungrateful, we're like a container with a hole in it and just it's leaking out every blessing that's come to us and we gotta get, we gotta get another hit quick. Oh, we're going to be grumbling and mumbling rather than embracing the blessings. We let the, we let the blessings flow through the holes.

Robert Emmons and Michael McCullough, two psychologists from the university of California. And back around 2000, they began a whole movement of studying the impact of gratitudes now, uh, uh, a nationwide SU uh, uh, confab of a number of, uh, Psychiatrist and psychologist, but in their early studies, what they did was they did a lot of, uh, trying to test what is the influence of gratitude when people choose to be grateful.

And one of their early ones was, they got together about 200 college students and they put them into three groups for over a 10 week period. And they said, okay, the first group. They didn't tell him this, but they, they told they called them the gratitude group. They had another one that called the hassles group.

And another one was just sort of the, the control neutral control group. The gratitude group were given this instruction each week. This week. We want you to take some time and come up with at least five things that you're grateful for. That's going on in your life right now. The S the hassle group, we'd like you to write down as you look at your life, and you're thinking about things, what are five hassles that are going on?

I mean, you know, things that are happening that you're frustrated with that are, that are sort of eating your lunch and the control group, they just said, write down five things that are going on in your life. They didn't tell one or the other. And during the same time, They were asking them questions, psychological questions, their wellbeing, how they were viewing life, how were they feeling about life?

Right. And they would do in this as a separate process, but for 10 weeks, these individuals and they were astounded, even though they expected it, they were astounded with the results of the participants in the gratitude group, felt habitually continually better about life on the whole. We're far more optimistic about the coming week and reported even fewer physical complaints than participants in the other groups.

Particularly the hassle group, the only difference was focus. The only difference was where they put their attention.

The last thing, the last benefit, the asset of. Gratitude in all circumstances, it, it centers you in God's will in first Thessalonians five 17, our texts this morning, or where we started our, he says, give thanks in all circumstances for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you, many of us struggle, and probably a number of you are, are right now struggling to find, you know, what is God's will, what does God want me to do?

What should I do? Well, One of the best ways to get you centered in God's will, is to do exactly what he says we know is his will for us to be grateful in all circumstances. It's my belief that God is more desirous of us finding as well than we are. It's my only if that it's not a secret code book that he's trying to get us to, you know, make it tough on us as we can.

He delights to show us as well, but we do it. As our line, our lives are centered with him. The way that we are centered, he tells us here is by pinging, by pink being people that choose to be grateful. I'm just going to run back through it. Why don't we express gratitude in all circumstances often it's anger, hostility, because we don't like what has come our way.

Probably more often, it's just apathy and indifference. We're the lepers that are moving on to the next thing we got to keep gone. We got things to do. Why should we express gratitude in all circumstances, it transports us into the presence of God. It protects us from a downward spiral. It frees us from worry.

It frees us from envy. It frees us from Discontentment and it will send it. Are you in God's will there's a lot of assets, a lot of things on the plus side of the ledger. When we talk about being grateful in all circumstances, Lord.

we thank you that you have revealed to us that you're a sovereign God that you are working through all circumstances in our lives. It's the basis of us being able to be grateful. Lord, I believe that our gratitude is ultimately the expression of our trust. So God enable us with this simple study, maybe to just take one thing as we leave the room that we can reflect on live on.

We can be people of gratitude in jesus' name. Amen. Now go in peace to love and serve and enjoy the Lord.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/assets-of-gratitude 23f15deb-be7c-4347-a44d-409f5ab485de Sun, 29 Nov 2020 20:31:15 GMT <div data-html="true">1 Thess. 5:18 <br /><br /> "Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God." <br /><br /> <br /><br /> Good morning by the way. Good morning. Um, we're going to be looking at one verse of scripture. It's in first Thessalonians chapter five, verse 18. What I want to talk to you this morning about is the assets, the assets, or the benefits of gratitude. <br /><br /> And as we look at this, we're going to look at a variety of things, but I want to remind you in this verse of who it is talking about when it says we are to express Thanksgiving, and it says this in first Thessalonians chapter five, verse 16, give thanks in all circumstances for this is God's will for you in Christ. <br /><br /> Jesus. We're going to look at that in a moment, but let's, let's pray together. <br /><br /> Lord, we come and we give our praise to you that we're able to meet this morning. Lord, thank you for the joy of not doing Christian faith alone. Thank you for the community of believers and the body of Christ and. The family of God at all those pictures that remind us that we are, no, we are not doing a solo flight. <br /><br /> We're we're designed to do this in community with others. And thank you for the chance to, to meet either in the room or online together today. Lord guide us what we think about being grateful, um, why we tend not to be, and more importantly, why we should be. In jesus' name. Amen. We are going to talk this morning about the benefits or the assets of gratitude, but I just want to give a couple of thoughts as we launch into that, because this passage says to us where to give thanks in all circumstances. <br /><br /> And of course there's a very Godward component in that, like, when we say. Thank you and teach our kids from the earliest days too, to say, thank you. There's a you part, right? We don't just say thank we. Who is the you that he's talking about? Who's the you in this passage, who's the you and the scripture preeminently. <br /><br /> It is God. It is God. That is the you, that we are ultimately to be grateful for. And what he says is God's will. For us in Christ. Jesus it's interesting years ago, Phillips Schalfly was talking to a group of congressmen and she was talking about how we teach American history or fail to teach American history in our culture. <br /><br /> And she was, uh, giving as an illustration of a recent survey that had just been taken of 150, uh, elementary Stu school kids on a Wednesday the day before Thanksgiving. And as they had been interviewed, these kids had been asked three questions. And the first question is, what holiday are you celebrating tomorrow? <br /><br /> Almost a hundred percent of them said Thanksgiving, second question, who first celebrated it happily, surprisingly, maybe almost a hundred percent said the pilgrims. And she said, who were they thinking? And almost a hundred percent again said. The Indians or the native Americans. Now, if that would be your answer, I want you to know they were thanking God. <br /><br /> That's what the first Thanksgiving was. And this Thanksgiving that is being talked about here in first Thessalonians five is the same. It is a spirit of gratitude. Ultimately to God, but permeates every part of our lives. So he says, give thanks in all circumstances. And just two questions I want to float out there. <br /><br /> And I'm sorry that I don't have, uh, uh, slides this morning. You're going to have to listen today. Um, first question I want to ask is why don't we express gratitude in all circumstances? And the second question. Which is really the one focusing on the assets. The benefits is why should we express gratitude? <br /><br /> Why don't we express gratitude in all circumstances? And I'd suggest there are two primary reasons. Um, and they tend to be in different circumstances. Often we don't express gratitude in our circumstances or find it difficult to because we feel anger. Toward God's works in some circumstances, this was the great habitual sin. <br /><br /> Of course, if the people of Israel in the wilderness journeys, which in Romans chapter 15 are told that these were given as an example for us at these people, their greatest sin. Repeated over and over their chronic sin was, they were murmurs or complainer's other words were used. They grumbled, uh, we might throw in the word they groused all the time. <br /><br /> Basically they didn't express gratitude to God. Cause they were ticked off at God. I mean, why did God allow this? Why did God do this? And so their spirit was one of continual room. Well, why, why don't we go back to Egypt and expressed in, in verse like Exodus 16 and the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. <br /><br /> And the people of Israel said to them would that we had died by the hand of the Lord and the hand in the land of Egypt. When we sat by the meter. Pots and a bread to the full for you have brought us out into wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger. A lot of times when we find it difficult to be people of gratitude. <br /><br /> It's our own sense that what do I have to be grateful for? Why would I be grateful in this? Which is in my life and yet the scriptures from cover to cover say that God is the one sovereignly at work in our lives and whatever is in our lives has ultimately come by the allowance of God that God has purposed to use, even that in our lives. <br /><br /> Now there are some times that are really. Heavy. There are some times when God asks us to be grateful for something that just seems, um, beyond the pale of what we think we can accomplish. Maybe one of the greatest examples I've ever heard of that, uh, was of, uh, dr. Helen Roosevelt, Helen Roosevelt was a medical missionary to the Congo. <br /><br /> Uh, now's a year, uh, in the fifties, 1950s, 1960s. And when she was there, there was a continual threat of, uh, the rebels coming to the missionary compound, the medical compound, where they were. And, uh, one day their fears were, were, were fulfilled. Yeah. As, as they heard that a local, uh, chief had been taken brutally murdered by the rebels and they were on their way and they did come to the medical center and they did at, um, At spear point and bayonet point capture Helen and she then was, um, mistreated in the most vile way imaginable for a woman. <br /><br /> And in her brokenness on the first night of the dark night after she had been so brutally mistreated and raped, she said this, I felt unalterably alone. For a brief moment. I felt God had failed me. He could have stepped in and prevented the rising crescendo of wickedness and cruelty. He could have saved me out of their hands. <br /><br /> Why didn't he speak? Why didn't he intervene? And then Helen Roseveare says that the question that came to my heart was this <br /><br /> Helen, can you thank me? For trusting you with this experience, even if I never tell you why she talks about how it was a life-changing moment in her life, where she was willing to even thank God for allowing something, she didn't understand why, but she would trust God with it. Now, your scenario of life, no matter how hard it's probably not going to be something of that level. <br /><br /> But we all experienced seasons. When you say God, I do not know what, I don't know how this can be good. I don't know why you've allowed this or why you're not doing this. And God says, will you thank me? Will you say God? I know I don't understand that at the time, but you have a picture I don't have, I will. <br /><br /> Thank you. Believe that you have trusted me with this experience, whether you ever tell me why. One of the reasons we find it very difficult to be grateful in all circumstances is anger toward the things that God has lot a second reason. I think we find it difficult to. <br /><br /> Tort to, uh, I'm trying to think of how I want to express this. Well, why we find it difficult to express gratitude in all circumstances is because we feel apathy toward God's work. In some circumstances, there were some circumstances we feel apathy towards God work. Here's how he told us in Deuteronomy chapter eight, he says, take care of less when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them. <br /><br /> And when you're heading. Herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied. And all that you have is multiplied. Then your heart will be lifted up and you forget the Lord, your God. He says, you're going to multiply. He keeps saying it, things are gonna multiply. They're gonna, they're gonna multiply, multiply and multiply. <br /><br /> And he says, that's going to be a time when you're going to find it difficult. To remain continually grateful in all circumstances. Now you see it's the opposite, right? One is a circumstance we hate and say, God, how can I think of the other is a circumstance where we, we are joyful in the provision, but he says, you know, when you're multiplying, when things are multiplying, it might be a season where you're going to find it difficult to be. <br /><br /> Expressing gratitude, Luke 17 is the classic new Testament picture of this, the 10 lepers that come to Jesus and he heals them all. And, uh, nine of them immediately, uh, walk away. The one guy follows Jesus in order to thank him. And it's the picture of w what happened to the 90 percenters. Now, I don't want to be too hard on these guys because there's a lot of things these guys probably were doing. <br /><br /> I mean, they're lepers, they've been cast out of society. They weren't even be able to be with their own family and relatives and loved ones. And now they're healed. And understandably, we can imagine that some of them were just wanting to go and see their family. Some of them were just so overwhelmed with exuberance and joy. <br /><br /> Some of them probably. Later on thought. Well, you know, I ought to, I ought to thank Jesus, but at that point, the window had closed because Jesus had gone on to another part of the area. What happened was it wasn't necessarily always a calloused who cares shrugging of the shoulders. Sometimes it's just that being grateful is sorta down the line of priorities. <br /><br /> You know, it's fourth or fifth. These guys, I guess, see my wife, I got to see my kids, <br /><br /> but that's exactly what happens in our lives. We have been blessed. We have multiplied. And then what happens is we find ourselves not remembering to be grateful. And so we go on and, and what it does is it begins to, to almost being grateful, becomes an indifference to us. I think both of those are reasons why we find it difficult to and why we don't express gratitude in all circumstances. <br /><br /> So why should we express gratitude in all circumstances? And I'm going to give a few quick reasons. Number one, gratitude transports us into the presence of God in Psalm 100, which is a song that is subtitled a Psalm for giving. Thanks. In other words, it's an aid to help you give thanks and be a person of gratitude. <br /><br /> He says, enter his Gates with Thanksgiving and his courts with praise in this particular song, he talks about two reasons to express thanks to God. And he says, these are the motivating realities. He says, first of all, one is the Lord is God. He says that in verse three in verse five, he says, The Lord is good. <br /><br /> He says, this is the motivation that, that, that if your mind is wrapped around these realities and you, you, you, you are constantly disciplining yourself. Say, Lord, I'm going to be grateful. I'm going to continually seek to be a person that is thinking about who you are, your, your bigness, your goodness. I'm going to be expressing praise, but it will be an intentional. <br /><br /> Practice that we build into our lives, that as we look at this song in Psalm 100, he's basically talking, he uses adjectives there of God, of good, and he's loving and faithful. Those are all terms that are used there, but if we are not expressing our awareness of that and our gratitude, what gratitude does is transport us into God's pleasure and remind us God. <br /><br /> Yeah. You, you did do this. And I, and I don't want to forget, I don't want to be the leper that gets so busy with life. Now, remember, man, I need to intentionally take time. If you don't do that, what will happen, Ben is you tend to do what we all tend to do. You know, sorta start looking at God-like. Kirk did fictitious Kirk, Kirk's lying in bed. <br /><br /> One day. It's a bad day. Everything went wrong, completely exhausted, more and more upset as he reflects on his circumstances. And he falls asleep and in his sleep, he, he dreams and he blurts out to God. Why me? God, why does everything always go wrong with me? And suddenly in his dream, the ceiling of his room was pulled back and a huge hand with an outstretched finger came down and poked him in the chest and allowed voice said, because you bug me Kurt. <br /><br /> I'm glad you left. Gratitude reminds us. That's not what God is. Like. He can feel like that. And, and when troubles come, you just sort of feel your shoulders and caring and God's distant and you feel like God is just something that you don't measure up to on the other hand. If you're praising, if you're expressing gratitude, you're just finding yourself, lifted into the enjoyment of God. <br /><br /> He says, enter his Gates, come into his presence. And the way you do it is with Thanksgiving. One of the reasons we want to be expressing gratitude in all our circumstances is because it transports us into the presence of God. Secondly, It protects us from a downward spiral into sin. Romans chapter one, if you're familiar with Romans chapter one, it's this sobering picture of, of humanity. <br /><br /> And it's a picture of how civilizations and individuals, 10, uh, people groups tend to progress and into severe immorality, severe violent behavior, all these things that are shown there. But I don't know if you know or have thought about where that progression starts. Here's what he says in Romans one 21 at the beginning of that passage for all they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him to not be praising is to open ourselves to an inevitable downward spiral towards sin. <br /><br /> Dr. James Kennedy said it this way. And ungrateful person is only one step away from getting his or her needs met in illegitimate ways. In other words, when we're growing and if you think of your own life experience, and I can certainly think of mine and identify with this when I'm a, grumbler when I'm not, when I, when I'm a Wiener and not a worshiper when I'm not giving it to the Lord and remembering and looking at circumstances. <br /><br /> Through the goodness and bigness of God, I don't just stay as a grumbler. I find myself, I become more greedy. I become more, um, uh, Tencent and, and able to fly off the handle. I would suggest you will find yourself starting to cut corners. You wouldn't have cut people. You see what, how did all this happen? <br /><br /> I can't how many people I've heard over the years? How in the world did I give here? Almost inevitably, there is a spirit of, of, of forgetting to just be a, praiser a person of gratitude to God at the beginning of that. It protects us from a downward spiral. Number three, it freezes from worry. This is what Paul is saying in Philippians four, where he says in verses four through six, he says, do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation by prayer and petition with Thanksgiving, present your requests to God. <br /><br /> And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ. Jesus. I've often talked about the value that I've found in at times doing my worry list. Just putting all the things down that I'm worried about or are, are gnats flying around my brain that I know are there, but I couldn't really, you know, I only want to think about them all. <br /><br /> But I actually log them all down and then I go to Philippians four and I, I give them to the Lord, but I also give them a Thanksgiving. God, thank you for allowing this. Thank you for what you're going to do in this. Thank you for this circumstance. And what happens is you begin to look at the very things you're worried about through the perspective of a God. <br /><br /> You can trust God. I'm trusting you. I thank you. This didn't come unexpectedly to you. You have allowed this into my life. That gratitude as an antidote to being controlled by worry fourth, it frees us from envy. This is an important one. You see the heart of envy rises from the belief that we deserve better than we've got. <br /><br /> Right? One of the classic examples of this in, in film photography, cinematography is the film, uh, Amadeus, which was. Back in the eighties, probably it's the, it's a story, a loosely built on the lives of, uh, of, uh, Amadeus, Mozart and Antonio, Sally, Eric, and Sally Ari was the court musician, the court master music master in Vienna, Austria. <br /><br /> Under the, the emperor of Austria at the time, a fellow named emperor, Joseph, the second, a lover of music, and he had a court, as many of the courts did in Europe. At the time his court musician was an, was this guy, Sally RA, and the movie starts with Sally airy. In an insane asylum as an old man, he just tried to commit suicide and he's talking and he's telling his story to a young priest and he tells the story about how he was joyfully serving God as he served the emperor and wrote music in the court. <br /><br /> And then he heard of this young phenom that was coming, who was name of Moser. And he was excited to have me wrote a piece of music for him and everything. And the guy came and he turned out to be this, this. Beyond brilliant composer, but he was a crude, foul mouth, um, disreputable guy and Sally at each scarily air up because the more he listened to his music, the more he realized he would never have the genius of this young composer. <br /><br /> And yet he looked at his life and thought, why in the world would God entrust such gifts to a man like this? And not to me? And he actually in his bitterness, uh, plotted the downfall of Mozart and through the whole thing, it caused him to lose his own mind. And now he was an insane and silent where he's just tried to take his life. <br /><br /> And he makes this interesting statement, uh, as he bitterly declares to the young priest, this statement, I am the patron sate, Saint of mediocrity. What happened? He got his perspective off of what he had been given by God and his acceptance and joy in that to an envious perspective, because he thought I deserve more. <br /><br /> If he's got it, I should have it. I mean, I'm more deserving. Compare that to a woman in our church who years ago. I was talking to one time and she would just have me talking and it sort of came up in a conversation. Um, she was telling about, she's not a good singer, but she loves to come to worship. She loves worship music and, and she said, and many times I'll be sitting in front of someone who has a beautiful voice. <br /><br /> And she said, I. I will, I will sing, but I sing quietly because I, I, I hear the, I hear the singing of the person in back of me. And she said, I feel like all of our gifts have come from God. And she said, I feel like I share in their gift of music. So in a way I feel it's me also singing this beautiful perspective. <br /><br /> I did notice she has never sat in front of me that I could ever remember, but, but there was this beautiful picture where she was saying, I'm not an envious of I'm sharing in the voice. Why? Because she was praising the giver. This is the exact opposite of Sally Ari. He is saying, I want it. I have to have it. <br /><br /> I deserve more, but a spirit of gratitude frees us from having to be envious that we haven't been given because our true joy is in the giver, not in the gifts. It frees us from this contentment in Genesis chapter three, Satan comes to Eve. And what does he do? He gets her to look at what she doesn't have. <br /><br /> Right. I mean, she's got everything except for one little tree that has one little fruit on this paradise on earth that any human being would kill to live in. But what he did was enabled her to get her, to forget her riches. And focus on the restriction. Gratitude helps you to be content with what you have, not what you don't have. <br /><br /> It's like the story of the two old friends that met up one time. They hadn't seen each other for awhile and they happened to bump each other in a pump public place. And, and the one guy. Realized his friend looked, looked depressed. I mean, he had a foul expression in his face and he didn't even seem to be able to work up a, even a weak smile with his friend. <br /><br /> And so the guy said, well, what's the trouble man. And so his friend told him and he said, Oh, let me tell you three weeks ago, my uncle died and he left me $40,000. I said, really. He said, yeah, two weeks ago, my cousin who I hardly know died and he left me 85,000 though in last week, my great aunt passed away and she left me a quarter of a million dollars to which his friend says you got to be kidding me. <br /><br /> Then why the long face, the guy responds this week? Nothing. <br /><br /> when we are ungrateful, we're like a container with a hole in it and just it's leaking out every blessing that's come to us and we gotta get, we gotta get another hit quick. Oh, we're going to be grumbling and mumbling rather than embracing the blessings. We let the, we let the blessings flow through the holes. <br /><br /> Robert Emmons and Michael McCullough, two psychologists from the university of California. And back around 2000, they began a whole movement of studying the impact of gratitudes now, uh, uh, a nationwide SU uh, uh, confab of a number of, uh, Psychiatrist and psychologist, but in their early studies, what they did was they did a lot of, uh, trying to test what is the influence of gratitude when people choose to be grateful. <br /><br /> And one of their early ones was, they got together about 200 college students and they put them into three groups for over a 10 week period. And they said, okay, the first group. They didn't tell him this, but they, they told they called them the gratitude group. They had another one that called the hassles group. <br /><br /> And another one was just sort of the, the control neutral control group. The gratitude group were given this instruction each week. This week. We want you to take some time and come up with at least five things that you're grateful for. That's going on in your life right now. The S the hassle group, we'd like you to write down as you look at your life, and you're thinking about things, what are five hassles that are going on? <br /><br /> I mean, you know, things that are happening that you're frustrated with that are, that are sort of eating your lunch and the control group, they just said, write down five things that are going on in your life. They didn't tell one or the other. And during the same time, They were asking them questions, psychological questions, their wellbeing, how they were viewing life, how were they feeling about life? <br /><br /> Right. And they would do in this as a separate process, but for 10 weeks, these individuals and they were astounded, even though they expected it, they were astounded with the results of the participants in the gratitude group, felt habitually continually better about life on the whole. We're far more optimistic about the coming week and reported even fewer physical complaints than participants in the other groups. <br /><br /> Particularly the hassle group, the only difference was focus. The only difference was where they put their attention. <br /><br /> The last thing, the last benefit, the asset of. Gratitude in all circumstances, it, it centers you in God's will in first Thessalonians five 17, our texts this morning, or where we started our, he says, give thanks in all circumstances for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you, many of us struggle, and probably a number of you are, are right now struggling to find, you know, what is God's will, what does God want me to do? <br /><br /> What should I do? Well, One of the best ways to get you centered in God's will, is to do exactly what he says we know is his will for us to be grateful in all circumstances. It's my belief that God is more desirous of us finding as well than we are. It's my only if that it's not a secret code book that he's trying to get us to, you know, make it tough on us as we can. <br /><br /> He delights to show us as well, but we do it. As our line, our lives are centered with him. The way that we are centered, he tells us here is by pinging, by pink being people that choose to be grateful. I'm just going to run back through it. Why don't we express gratitude in all circumstances often it's anger, hostility, because we don't like what has come our way. <br /><br /> Probably more often, it's just apathy and indifference. We're the lepers that are moving on to the next thing we got to keep gone. We got things to do. Why should we express gratitude in all circumstances, it transports us into the presence of God. It protects us from a downward spiral. It frees us from worry. <br /><br /> It frees us from envy. It frees us from Discontentment and it will send it. Are you in God's will there's a lot of assets, a lot of things on the plus side of the ledger. When we talk about being grateful in all circumstances, Lord. <br /><br /> we thank you that you have revealed to us that you're a sovereign God that you are working through all circumstances in our lives. It's the basis of us being able to be grateful. Lord, I believe that our gratitude is ultimately the expression of our trust. So God enable us with this simple study, maybe to just take one thing as we leave the room that we can reflect on live on. <br /><br /> We can be people of gratitude in jesus' name. Amen. Now go in peace to love and serve and enjoy the Lord.</div> false no <![CDATA[Uzziah: The Biggest Threat in Your Life]]> 2 Chronicles 26

"What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it? What do you have that you did not receive."

We're going to be looking at second Chronicles, 26, and we're going to look at one verse this morning. It's verse 16. But this morning, I want to talk to you about the greatest threat to your life. Now, there are a lot of threats right now, we feel right. Uh, there's a lot of things that can feel threatening.

Uh, the pandemic feels threatening, uh, a governmental regime, whichever one you're concerned about can feel threatening, present, or future, uh, economic down, turn losing your job cancer diagnosis. Crisis in your family. It's possible that one of those or a number of those or a number of other things feel threatening to you, but I want to talk to this morning about the greatest danger and threat.

It is actually a character quality one, which will do more to deter your relationship with God and your relationship with others than any other element in your life. It is the issue of pride. It is the sin we most hate in others, but at least recognize in ourselves. It is the sin where the more we have of it, the more we dislike it in others, it is the root of every other sin in our lives.

You had to do something that we not only tend to minimize. But even find difficulty in identifying it as destructive because we have, uh, used the term pride in a positive way. We talk about school pride or national pride, or if we want somebody to do a good job, we say sakes and pride in your work. And I think the contemporary sense of the word pride is actually to see value in something and be glad to be associated with it.

But the Bible's focus on pride is something very different. Now we're going to look at a guy's life this morning that illustrates the, the four-step progression that pride can take in our lives. We're going to end with, I hope some very hopeful, good news, but we're going to look at this individual's life who gave himself to pride.

With the reminder that this particular issue in the Christian's life has always been identified as the most dangerous church leader, early church had a Gregory, the great who was the first to put together. What is historically known as the seven deadly sins called pride, the root of all evil. Augusta and roading writing in the four hundreds, Ady said that pride is the first sin in that it encourages the person to displace God in the middle ages.

Thomas Aquinas wrote that pride is the mother of all sins. And more recently, 70 years ago in his classic work mere Christianity, CS Lewis devoted a whole chapter to pride under the title. The great sin. This morning, we consider a man named you. Zaja a King of Judah for 55 years. He was an individual who again, were presenting as a part of this series on, uh, still speaking the voices, the lives of people, biographically in the scripture that speak to us.

And we look at this guy's life and we see. Summarized this progression of pride in his life in verse 16. Here's what we read. But after you Zaja became powerful, his pride led to his downfall. He was unfaithful to the Lord, his God, and entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense.

Let's pray,

Lord, we sung some. Incredible songs this morning, we've talked about surrendering to you. We've talked about the stunning reality that we are chosen. We're adopted where your kids you've made it. So. And Lord those realities of surrendering our lives to you and of embracing who we are, are so much at the heart.

I believe of, of deliverance from the domination of pride, which is so much a part of our, our default lives. So Lord teach us this morning. Maybe we learn from this guy, may we examine our own lives? May we be stunned again with the glory of being called your children? And the freedom that that really can bring from all things, including this dominating sin in our life, in Jesus name, amen.

In this forest step progression in pride. We see, first of all, that you Zaja became strong, but after you Zaja became powerful. When he was strong, you, Zion was a godly man in the verses prior to verse 16, that's presented to us and delineated of, of how he was a godly man. And yet something took place in his life.

And it's described under this phrase when he was strong or when he became powerful. It was a dangerous time for you Zaja because things were going well for him. He had some strength. He had some, some power in his life. If ever a guy had a reason not to worry, it was him. He was the King. You can't take them out unless you happen to, to do a coup, but there was no threat of that during his reign, no one reviewed his performance.

He's the King. After all, he had no sales quotas to meet no boards to account for no per performance standards in his prosperity. He became proud. He didn't give thanks to God or acknowledge God is the source of his blessings. It is inevitably those times when we feel most secure that we are most facing the propensity to pride and to the security, the false security of strength in his book, the winner's curse, Richard Fowler, a renowned economist.

Presents his re research into various. He first he started, uh, studying gamblers in Las Vegas. Then he, then he built it much more to looking at successful business people. And what he discovered is, is what we would intuitively expect. That the people that, uh, that most gamblers that hit it big, ended up blowing it because they get overconfident.

And he talked about how many business people had been successful. And they began to feel like they, they were above the rules of how to do things. And they took unwise gambles. They took, they took two bigger risks and he says, it's the winner's curse. It's the danger of success. It's the danger of feeling strong.

Now there are all kinds of moments in our lives when this can happen. Of course. It can happen as a young person, as a young adult, when you feel your prowess and energy, when, when everything's ahead of you, when there's in a way, there are not many big worries of life, you can feel strong. It can happen.

You when you're in your twenties and you're just starting out in your career and starting to see things come together and you can feel like it's on the basis of your hard work, your discipline, your sweat, your energy. You can feel strong, can happen in your thirties. And now you are, as you started to build your family.

And now you've, you've got a couple of kids and, and life is coming together. Maybe you own your own home and you can see a path and it's, and you're settling in and, and things are not quite as frenzied and you can feel strong. You can do it in your late thirties, into your forties, into your fifties. When you've put your time, serving your family.

Now, the kids are starting to be raised. And now you've got a little more time. Life is a little bit quiet or maybe, and you can start to feel strong. You can do it in the retirement years. You did your bit, you're ratcheting down, you're enjoying the grandkids. You start feeling strong and maybe you're out there.

And you're saying, you know what? I've never felt that way. I get it. But my guess is. If you look back at your life journey those times when you felt less threatened by external circumstances, you had the most propensity to go and cruise control you. Zaja here is in a season of his life where he felt strong and it became the most treacherous time to have a false sense of what life was all about.

The second thing we find is at that time, he grew proud. Now the Hebrew word for pride means lifted up. Now we, we see that, you know, dictionary, I looked in different dictionaries dictionary, definitions of pride, where things like this and an ordinance self-esteem and unreasonable conceit. Of superiority and over winning weaning opinion of one's qualities, we target things.

Guy has a big head he's full of himself. He knows it all eyes puffed up. This idea of being lifted up is the word for pride. And that's the biblical definition that, that one is lifted up now and lifted up above. What, what are we lifted up? Well, inevitably it is in comparison. With something else. And typically it is income with, with others, at least how we perceive our relationship and our position in relation to others.

Paul talks about this in one of the classic, uh, addresses to pride in the book of first Corinthians chapter four, verse six and seven, where he says this praying that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another. For who sees anything different in you? What do you have? You didn't receive if you then received it.

Why do you boast as if you did not, what do you have that you did not receive? He says you're comparing yourselves and you're finding benchmarks. CS Lewis brilliantly says it this way. In mere Christianity, he gives this definition of pride. He said, pride gets no pleasure out of having something only out of having more of it.

Then the next man, we say people are proud of being rich or clever or good looking, but they're not, they're proud of being richer or cleverer or better looking than others. It is the comparison that makes you proud. The pleasure of being above the rest. Once the element of competition has gone, pride has gone.

Many of you have heard the expression keeping up with the Joneses. You may not know that that phrase comes from a comic strip in New York papers from 1913, it was by a guy that was actually living in Hempstead long Island, New York, and was writing about a fictitious character who was living in a nice, uh, upscale suburban neighborhood who had some neighbors come in though.

Jones. And everything about the June Jones made them he and his wife. Uh, looking like less than in the, in their own mathematical evaluated of things. And, and their neighbors constantly was pointing the signal to them. We feel like less than neighbors weren't doing it on purpose. It was just, they seem to be cultured.

They seem to have money. They had charm, they had intelligence beauty. So the whole comic strip was built out of these people. Trying to keep up with the Joneses. Well, we fast forward a century later, and we're still there, right? Because this is built into our lives. Our hearts, Paul tells us that pride actually a diluted view of self we're trying to elevate ourselves comparatively with others.

But he says, I mean, look at this. He says, what do you have? You didn't receive. And if you then received it, why do you boast as if you didn't receive it? Why, why are you evaluating yourself, finding your identity in those things, you didn't choose your race, your IQ, your time in history, your family, your early childhood experiences, which everybody says is so formative your personality, your physical appearance.

They're the choice of God. Of course we say, well, Yeah, but I have the position I have because I work harder than anyone else. Really, no advantages experienced along the way. You think if you were raised in a Hava with a dirt floor, with drug controlled parents, everything would be the same in your life. I get straight A's because I study more than my classmates.

Really IQ had nothing to do with it. Family support had nothing to play a role in getting to this place. I'm somebody because I'm beautiful, attractive, intelligent, you received it. Pulses. Why Boston? It, he says we're, we're finding our identity in, in stuff that only makes us feel a little bit higher, a little bit better than others.

And he says it's just a, it's a deck of cards. The problem with pride. Is it a false view of reality? Now, if this feels like I'm beating on the helmet, understand I've been beaten on mine all week. I get this, we all are comparative. We all want to be greater than not less than, but Paul is saying mean have an honest evaluation of, of life.

Well, you Zaja because he had been successful as a King because things were going well in the kingdom. This man who was a godly man, grew strong, nothing wrong with growing strong and having strength and success. However, it caused him to grow proud, which caused him to leave God. He was unfaithful to the Lord.

I was interested in this word thinking, what does it mean to be, what is he saying that he was unfaithful to God that he do bad things? We did some, but, but I don't. And I looked at how the word was used in the old Testament. And I specifically focused on how is it used by the chronicler. And I found that in second Chronicles, 29.

The exact word is used and explained. Here's what it says in second Chronicles, 29 verse six. It says our parents were unfaithful, did evil in the eyes of the Lord, our God. And for silk him, they turn their faces away from the Lord's dwelling place and turn their backs on him to hear everything about unfaithful.

Here's what it is. They forsook the Lord. They. Turn their faces from the Lord. They turned their backs on the Lord. Every part of that sense of unfaithfulness is not that they did the wrong things. It's not that they didn't perform right. It was we're unfaithful in the relationship to him. We use that exact same word to talk about a spouse that is that betrays a partner.

The idea that. I have been unfaithful to my spouse. I gave to other someone else what deservedly was only given to her or to him. This is the beautiful thing God is saying. God is not really that worked up about the things you do. Accept. Because he only is concerned because of it. What they say, they say that he doesn't matter.

They say that you want to turn to something else. Use Zaja turned his heart to other stuff to define him. He turned it. Wow. I'm a King. He grew proud. I'm a successful King. I've done all this. That's where he found his identity. That's how he, he marked his life with a grade. That's where he found his joy and hope and satisfaction and in doing so, he had a false view of himself because he was comparing himself to other people, maybe other smaller kingdom,

but in finding his satisfaction, his joy, his identity, there. He betrayed the true place where he could find true satisfaction, true joy, true contentment. He betrayed and wandered away from the Lord. Whether it's an immoral relationship. Typically out of need somebody feeling bad about themselves, be out about themselves and they get a wandering eye and they get affirmation before they know what they're they're in somebody's face.

But ultimately it's, it's, it's the same sense that we're looking for someone else's bed. Maybe it'll be my job. Maybe it will be getting a new house. Maybe it'll be having more money. Maybe it's my kids succeeding. But what, what happens is we begin to say, okay, I'm feeling better about myself because you know, things are going good here.

And that's where I'll find my identity. And it's a Mirage it's wandering away from the one place. The one relationship that will satisfy us, the one true definition of what our real identity can be and is in Christ. He wandered away. He left God. And what he found was he fell flat. It says in verse 16, this was to his destruction.

In his case, he started ending up like the rules weren't for him. That he, God didn't need to be in control of his life. He could take it. And he ended up going into the Holy of Holies and wanting to do the incense thing himself. And God made him a leper and he was humbled. He fell flat. Proverbs 16, 18 says it this way.

Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. What he found out.

is that God graced him with leprosy because there is something worse than falling. There is succeeding in something that takes you away from God, because you will never be satisfied. Especially if you have tasted the goodness of God and you have wandered away. The worst thing you can do is succeed.

Temporarily in that arena where you think you will find your satisfaction. God then mercifully in many of our lives has allowed false. He's allowed our pride and our sense of, of independence and, and are now putting ourselves on the evaluation skid and wanting to be a greater than, and trying to succeed in this.

And. For many of us, I mean, there's so many stories in this room and online, just in our church, family of God's merciful, allowing things to be what we would look at and say, wow, what a fall. But you, what you find out there when you embrace God's grace is there is something far worse than falling. It's succeeding in the thing that takes you away from God.

But this falling flat can be a gift of God. Phil Vischer found this out. Phil Vischer is a brilliant animation. Just a born again, Christian. He started VeggieTales incredibly successful.

His idol in his own description was Walt Disney. His life goal, he said became to be Walt Disney or maybe to be the Christian, Walt Disney. Phil Visser has Vischer has written a book called me, myself and Bob. I think we have it. We have a picture of that. Oh, it's not there. It's up there. Um, it highlights his journey in his company.

It's a, it's a fascinating read. It's a fun, it's an easy read. As you read through the book, you're drawn with the creativity and the energy of this guy and a guy who genuinely desired to bring glory to God, but in his own recognition, his goal shifted. Toward his own glory and God humbled him. He lost his company.

And in a salient moment in the book he describes it's late in the book. He describes a profound moment afterwards in his journey with Christ. When he visited Disneyland again. And this time, I'll just read it to you quickly. I had lunch by Tom Sawyer Island, then headed to the place I knew it would be the end of my journey, the very center of the park hub in front of the castle, where stands the bronze statue of Walt and Mickey.

Created by fable Disney, sculptor, Blaine Gibson. Now an official legend Gibson is the man responsible for every American president, the hall of presidents, and most of the pirates in the pirates of the Caribbean for Disney files. This spot in Disneyland is the Holy of Holies. I took a seat on one of the benches, just in front, just in front and to the right of Walt and the mouse that had made him famous.

Then I thought.

And I thought about the prior 14 years of my life, my breathless pursuit of, of something impact creativity, legacy identity. I wasn't sure I thought about, and he goes on to talk about Chris Olson who helped me drywall his first little, little, uh, business. And then he tells all these memories and then he says this.

And I thought about Marie, the 65 year old woman who worked at our reception desk, the woman who on the day that I had to clean out my office had looked deep into my eyes and said, God is about to explode in your life. I smiled, as I realized how right she had been, I looked up at Walt. He seems so happy.

So calm. Like everything had been a breeze, a walk in the park, then something caught my attention. It was a woman in her adolescent daughter, Cameron hand walking toward me with big smiles. Oh, I thought I've been spotted. It happens a lot. Fans will spot me somewhere and ask for a picture and autograph I've gotten used to it in the years.

Since I first put myself at the front of a veggie tales video. Some want to tell me stories or introduced me to their kids. Other simply want to say, thanks. Watching the smiling mother and daughter approach, I quickly switched into gracious fan reception mode and smiled back. I was after all the creator of VeggieTales, it was part of my job.

Excuse me. The woman said, would you take a picture of us with Walt?

Choke. They weren't there for me. They didn't even know me from Adam. I was just a stranger on a bench, a stranger who could take a picture of them with their real hero. Walt Disney, I cheerfully obliged, snapping their pictures. They stood beaming in front of the bronze likeness of the man who had inspired them.

Thank you so much. They said, and hurried away. I turned back to continue my thinking only to find somebody else already sitting in my spot. I scan the circle of Brent benches, not a single open space. I couldn't help, but smile. As I looked up at Walt, well, I guess it's time to go. I said, then turn and headed toward the front gate wall would be Walt.

And I would not know even the next Walt or the Christian, Walt. And that was for the first time in my life. Fine with me. I love what that lady said. God is about to explode in your life. This is at the moment of his failure. This is when he feels rock bottom. I don't know where you are today with some of you undoubtedly.

Or identifying with the feeling, ah, life is just overwhelming. That things are not what I thought. I I'm struggling with who I am, what I am, where I'm going, what I'm going to be able to kind of am I going to be able to hold what I have? Let me just say this to you. If God is allowing you to be humbled, God is willing to explode in your life.

God wants us to find our joy and satisfaction in him. It is pride that indeed, that, that encourages us to feel that we can find it somewhere else. The Bible mercies us by humbling us, and there are two ways that God uses. Often he will not choose the first. If we choose the second, the first way God humbles us is to just let all the things that we are trying to find our identity in, or some of those things begin to be a faulty foundation and crumble, and he brings us down.

We've elevated ourself. He lets us see what's real. God does humble us. I would say if you walked with God for any amount of time, you have probably experienced that.

The kind, God also offers another way. He says in first Peter chapter five, he says humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God. And then he says this bye. Casting your cares on him. What's he saying the way that we humble ourselves under God is saying, Lord, I'm not going to carry on my issues. I'm going to intentionally every day, I'm going to bring them to you.

And what happens if you don't, you may not think you're growing in pride. You may think you're going in fear. You may think you're growing in anxiety, which will probably be true. But what also is going on is you are acting a spirit of independence. I've got it. I'm so busy. I don't have time to pray. I mean, come on.

I got work to do. I got stuff calling for me. I got, I've got so much on me and he says, well, go ahead. But what you're going to find is you can be a carrier. Oh, you can be a caster. And a castor is a person who humbles themselves, unders God and says, Lord, I may think I can carry it, but I know better given this to you.

I got these meetings tomorrow. Here they are one, this one, a 10 is this one? This one is 11 tomorrow. This one is it to Lord. I'm praying through everyone because Laura , we can humble ourselves. The other thing we can do is to remember who we are. I was talking w in a context of a few of us with a young woman in our church who attended one of the two most prestigious academic institutions in our, in our nation.

Um, these are where the brainiacs go. And she was talking about, she knew Christ. She had known the Lord younger, went to school. Um, and she said, I didn't realize how much my brain and my intellect was my identity until for the first time in her life, she actually had to drop a class because she was in danger of failing and it rocked her world.

And she said, I didn't really. Displace that feeling until, and she talked about being in, in a, uh, training class. We have here called people, helping people, but basically the design of it is to have you look at your own heart and because you can't help somebody else know their heart until you know your own.

And she talked about how the truth that set me free was who I am in Christ. My identity. That I am as the song, we sang a few moments ago that you are accepted and chosen that

when the sun sets you free free, you're free. Indeed. What does that mean? You're free from being on the line. He's she's it, the song says when the sun sets you free, you are free. Indeed. And what's the next refrains. I'm a child of God. I'm accepted. I'm chosen. He wanted me.

You're not going to be free by getting that new, beautiful house. You're not going to be free from the voices by getting that next promotion. You're not going to be free by, by running away with somebody because they make you feel good. And, and you think, well, this, this fling will do it. You're going to be free.

When your identity is really seeped with the reality that you're a child of God. If you've embraced Jesus Christ as your savior, he wants you. He knows you. He loves you. He, he, he, he desires to pour into your life. What nothing else can do. Our only part is to look at things realistically and say, you know what?

God. I'm dependent. I can't do this on my own. I need to yield to you the Lordship of my life. I need to find my identity in you right now. If you're in a position and I know a lot of people feel they're not, but if you're in a position where you feel well, if things are not so Rocky, I mean, I see a lot of good going well, watch out because when we grow strong, We can grow proud.

And when we grow up proud, we have already begun to leave. God, God may have to bring something in to, and I'm not doing this as a warning. I think it's a mercy. I thank God. The most humbling experiences of my life when God made me most aware of my inadequacies. When I would say these are the times of my life, I absolutely feel like an abject failure.

I feel in those moments, I saw reality and I was overwhelmed with the love of God, who I was, what I am in him. I wouldn't trade those failures for anything. They are my ultimate successes. And you know, if you know what I'm talking about, if you're, if you know the Lord, let's pray, Lord,

thank you that you want us. Thank you that you don't just let us go. Thank you. That

you freed Phil. Vishner

the great success of this man's life is not VeggieTales is that he's growing more and more into the joy of being loved by God. Because you were willing to explode in his life, in that season when he felt most like a failure, Lord, thank you that you do that with us. Thank you. That you give us the grace and the opportunity to avoid some false by humbling ourselves.

Lord, thank you. That you Love us in jesus' name. Amen. I go in peace to love and serve and enjoy the Lord.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/uzziah-the-biggest-threat-in-your-life 12bff7b1-aa0d-44f6-a274-700a51e3458a Sun, 22 Nov 2020 20:34:43 GMT <div data-html="true">2 Chronicles 26 <br /><br /> "What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it? What do you have that you did not receive." <br /><br /> We're going to be looking at second Chronicles, 26, and we're going to look at one verse this morning. It's verse 16. But this morning, I want to talk to you about the greatest threat to your life. Now, there are a lot of threats right now, we feel right. Uh, there's a lot of things that can feel threatening. <br /><br /> Uh, the pandemic feels threatening, uh, a governmental regime, whichever one you're concerned about can feel threatening, present, or future, uh, economic down, turn losing your job cancer diagnosis. Crisis in your family. It's possible that one of those or a number of those or a number of other things feel threatening to you, but I want to talk to this morning about the greatest danger and threat. <br /><br /> It is actually a character quality one, which will do more to deter your relationship with God and your relationship with others than any other element in your life. It is the issue of pride. It is the sin we most hate in others, but at least recognize in ourselves. It is the sin where the more we have of it, the more we dislike it in others, it is the root of every other sin in our lives. <br /><br /> You had to do something that we not only tend to minimize. But even find difficulty in identifying it as destructive because we have, uh, used the term pride in a positive way. We talk about school pride or national pride, or if we want somebody to do a good job, we say sakes and pride in your work. And I think the contemporary sense of the word pride is actually to see value in something and be glad to be associated with it. <br /><br /> But the Bible's focus on pride is something very different. Now we're going to look at a guy's life this morning that illustrates the, the four-step progression that pride can take in our lives. We're going to end with, I hope some very hopeful, good news, but we're going to look at this individual's life who gave himself to pride. <br /><br /> With the reminder that this particular issue in the Christian's life has always been identified as the most dangerous church leader, early church had a Gregory, the great who was the first to put together. What is historically known as the seven deadly sins called pride, the root of all evil. Augusta and roading writing in the four hundreds, Ady said that pride is the first sin in that it encourages the person to displace God in the middle ages. <br /><br /> Thomas Aquinas wrote that pride is the mother of all sins. And more recently, 70 years ago in his classic work mere Christianity, CS Lewis devoted a whole chapter to pride under the title. The great sin. This morning, we consider a man named you. Zaja a King of Judah for 55 years. He was an individual who again, were presenting as a part of this series on, uh, still speaking the voices, the lives of people, biographically in the scripture that speak to us. <br /><br /> And we look at this guy's life and we see. Summarized this progression of pride in his life in verse 16. Here's what we read. But after you Zaja became powerful, his pride led to his downfall. He was unfaithful to the Lord, his God, and entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense. <br /><br /> Let's pray, <br /><br /> Lord, we sung some. Incredible songs this morning, we've talked about surrendering to you. We've talked about the stunning reality that we are chosen. We're adopted where your kids you've made it. So. And Lord those realities of surrendering our lives to you and of embracing who we are, are so much at the heart. <br /><br /> I believe of, of deliverance from the domination of pride, which is so much a part of our, our default lives. So Lord teach us this morning. Maybe we learn from this guy, may we examine our own lives? May we be stunned again with the glory of being called your children? And the freedom that that really can bring from all things, including this dominating sin in our life, in Jesus name, amen. <br /><br /> In this forest step progression in pride. We see, first of all, that you Zaja became strong, but after you Zaja became powerful. When he was strong, you, Zion was a godly man in the verses prior to verse 16, that's presented to us and delineated of, of how he was a godly man. And yet something took place in his life. <br /><br /> And it's described under this phrase when he was strong or when he became powerful. It was a dangerous time for you Zaja because things were going well for him. He had some strength. He had some, some power in his life. If ever a guy had a reason not to worry, it was him. He was the King. You can't take them out unless you happen to, to do a coup, but there was no threat of that during his reign, no one reviewed his performance. <br /><br /> He's the King. After all, he had no sales quotas to meet no boards to account for no per performance standards in his prosperity. He became proud. He didn't give thanks to God or acknowledge God is the source of his blessings. It is inevitably those times when we feel most secure that we are most facing the propensity to pride and to the security, the false security of strength in his book, the winner's curse, Richard Fowler, a renowned economist. <br /><br /> Presents his re research into various. He first he started, uh, studying gamblers in Las Vegas. Then he, then he built it much more to looking at successful business people. And what he discovered is, is what we would intuitively expect. That the people that, uh, that most gamblers that hit it big, ended up blowing it because they get overconfident. <br /><br /> And he talked about how many business people had been successful. And they began to feel like they, they were above the rules of how to do things. And they took unwise gambles. They took, they took two bigger risks and he says, it's the winner's curse. It's the danger of success. It's the danger of feeling strong. <br /><br /> Now there are all kinds of moments in our lives when this can happen. Of course. It can happen as a young person, as a young adult, when you feel your prowess and energy, when, when everything's ahead of you, when there's in a way, there are not many big worries of life, you can feel strong. It can happen. <br /><br /> You when you're in your twenties and you're just starting out in your career and starting to see things come together and you can feel like it's on the basis of your hard work, your discipline, your sweat, your energy. You can feel strong, can happen in your thirties. And now you are, as you started to build your family. <br /><br /> And now you've, you've got a couple of kids and, and life is coming together. Maybe you own your own home and you can see a path and it's, and you're settling in and, and things are not quite as frenzied and you can feel strong. You can do it in your late thirties, into your forties, into your fifties. When you've put your time, serving your family. <br /><br /> Now, the kids are starting to be raised. And now you've got a little more time. Life is a little bit quiet or maybe, and you can start to feel strong. You can do it in the retirement years. You did your bit, you're ratcheting down, you're enjoying the grandkids. You start feeling strong and maybe you're out there. <br /><br /> And you're saying, you know what? I've never felt that way. I get it. But my guess is. If you look back at your life journey those times when you felt less threatened by external circumstances, you had the most propensity to go and cruise control you. Zaja here is in a season of his life where he felt strong and it became the most treacherous time to have a false sense of what life was all about. <br /><br /> The second thing we find is at that time, he grew proud. Now the Hebrew word for pride means lifted up. Now we, we see that, you know, dictionary, I looked in different dictionaries dictionary, definitions of pride, where things like this and an ordinance self-esteem and unreasonable conceit. Of superiority and over winning weaning opinion of one's qualities, we target things. <br /><br /> Guy has a big head he's full of himself. He knows it all eyes puffed up. This idea of being lifted up is the word for pride. And that's the biblical definition that, that one is lifted up now and lifted up above. What, what are we lifted up? Well, inevitably it is in comparison. With something else. And typically it is income with, with others, at least how we perceive our relationship and our position in relation to others. <br /><br /> Paul talks about this in one of the classic, uh, addresses to pride in the book of first Corinthians chapter four, verse six and seven, where he says this praying that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another. For who sees anything different in you? What do you have? You didn't receive if you then received it. <br /><br /> Why do you boast as if you did not, what do you have that you did not receive? He says you're comparing yourselves and you're finding benchmarks. CS Lewis brilliantly says it this way. In mere Christianity, he gives this definition of pride. He said, pride gets no pleasure out of having something only out of having more of it. <br /><br /> Then the next man, we say people are proud of being rich or clever or good looking, but they're not, they're proud of being richer or cleverer or better looking than others. It is the comparison that makes you proud. The pleasure of being above the rest. Once the element of competition has gone, pride has gone. <br /><br /> Many of you have heard the expression keeping up with the Joneses. You may not know that that phrase comes from a comic strip in New York papers from 1913, it was by a guy that was actually living in Hempstead long Island, New York, and was writing about a fictitious character who was living in a nice, uh, upscale suburban neighborhood who had some neighbors come in though. <br /><br /> Jones. And everything about the June Jones made them he and his wife. Uh, looking like less than in the, in their own mathematical evaluated of things. And, and their neighbors constantly was pointing the signal to them. We feel like less than neighbors weren't doing it on purpose. It was just, they seem to be cultured. <br /><br /> They seem to have money. They had charm, they had intelligence beauty. So the whole comic strip was built out of these people. Trying to keep up with the Joneses. Well, we fast forward a century later, and we're still there, right? Because this is built into our lives. Our hearts, Paul tells us that pride actually a diluted view of self we're trying to elevate ourselves comparatively with others. <br /><br /> But he says, I mean, look at this. He says, what do you have? You didn't receive. And if you then received it, why do you boast as if you didn't receive it? Why, why are you evaluating yourself, finding your identity in those things, you didn't choose your race, your IQ, your time in history, your family, your early childhood experiences, which everybody says is so formative your personality, your physical appearance. <br /><br /> They're the choice of God. Of course we say, well, Yeah, but I have the position I have because I work harder than anyone else. Really, no advantages experienced along the way. You think if you were raised in a Hava with a dirt floor, with drug controlled parents, everything would be the same in your life. I get straight A's because I study more than my classmates. <br /><br /> Really IQ had nothing to do with it. Family support had nothing to play a role in getting to this place. I'm somebody because I'm beautiful, attractive, intelligent, you received it. Pulses. Why Boston? It, he says we're, we're finding our identity in, in stuff that only makes us feel a little bit higher, a little bit better than others. <br /><br /> And he says it's just a, it's a deck of cards. The problem with pride. Is it a false view of reality? Now, if this feels like I'm beating on the helmet, understand I've been beaten on mine all week. I get this, we all are comparative. We all want to be greater than not less than, but Paul is saying mean have an honest evaluation of, of life. <br /><br /> Well, you Zaja because he had been successful as a King because things were going well in the kingdom. This man who was a godly man, grew strong, nothing wrong with growing strong and having strength and success. However, it caused him to grow proud, which caused him to leave God. He was unfaithful to the Lord. <br /><br /> I was interested in this word thinking, what does it mean to be, what is he saying that he was unfaithful to God that he do bad things? We did some, but, but I don't. And I looked at how the word was used in the old Testament. And I specifically focused on how is it used by the chronicler. And I found that in second Chronicles, 29. <br /><br /> The exact word is used and explained. Here's what it says in second Chronicles, 29 verse six. It says our parents were unfaithful, did evil in the eyes of the Lord, our God. And for silk him, they turn their faces away from the Lord's dwelling place and turn their backs on him to hear everything about unfaithful. <br /><br /> Here's what it is. They forsook the Lord. They. Turn their faces from the Lord. They turned their backs on the Lord. Every part of that sense of unfaithfulness is not that they did the wrong things. It's not that they didn't perform right. It was we're unfaithful in the relationship to him. We use that exact same word to talk about a spouse that is that betrays a partner. <br /><br /> The idea that. I have been unfaithful to my spouse. I gave to other someone else what deservedly was only given to her or to him. This is the beautiful thing God is saying. God is not really that worked up about the things you do. Accept. Because he only is concerned because of it. What they say, they say that he doesn't matter. <br /><br /> They say that you want to turn to something else. Use Zaja turned his heart to other stuff to define him. He turned it. Wow. I'm a King. He grew proud. I'm a successful King. I've done all this. That's where he found his identity. That's how he, he marked his life with a grade. That's where he found his joy and hope and satisfaction and in doing so, he had a false view of himself because he was comparing himself to other people, maybe other smaller kingdom, <br /><br /> but in finding his satisfaction, his joy, his identity, there. He betrayed the true place where he could find true satisfaction, true joy, true contentment. He betrayed and wandered away from the Lord. Whether it's an immoral relationship. Typically out of need somebody feeling bad about themselves, be out about themselves and they get a wandering eye and they get affirmation before they know what they're they're in somebody's face. <br /><br /> But ultimately it's, it's, it's the same sense that we're looking for someone else's bed. Maybe it'll be my job. Maybe it will be getting a new house. Maybe it'll be having more money. Maybe it's my kids succeeding. But what, what happens is we begin to say, okay, I'm feeling better about myself because you know, things are going good here. <br /><br /> And that's where I'll find my identity. And it's a Mirage it's wandering away from the one place. The one relationship that will satisfy us, the one true definition of what our real identity can be and is in Christ. He wandered away. He left God. And what he found was he fell flat. It says in verse 16, this was to his destruction. <br /><br /> In his case, he started ending up like the rules weren't for him. That he, God didn't need to be in control of his life. He could take it. And he ended up going into the Holy of Holies and wanting to do the incense thing himself. And God made him a leper and he was humbled. He fell flat. Proverbs 16, 18 says it this way. <br /><br /> Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. What he found out. <br /><br /> is that God graced him with leprosy because there is something worse than falling. There is succeeding in something that takes you away from God, because you will never be satisfied. Especially if you have tasted the goodness of God and you have wandered away. The worst thing you can do is succeed. <br /><br /> Temporarily in that arena where you think you will find your satisfaction. God then mercifully in many of our lives has allowed false. He's allowed our pride and our sense of, of independence and, and are now putting ourselves on the evaluation skid and wanting to be a greater than, and trying to succeed in this. <br /><br /> And. For many of us, I mean, there's so many stories in this room and online, just in our church, family of God's merciful, allowing things to be what we would look at and say, wow, what a fall. But you, what you find out there when you embrace God's grace is there is something far worse than falling. It's succeeding in the thing that takes you away from God. <br /><br /> But this falling flat can be a gift of God. Phil Vischer found this out. Phil Vischer is a brilliant animation. Just a born again, Christian. He started VeggieTales incredibly successful. <br /><br /> His idol in his own description was Walt Disney. His life goal, he said became to be Walt Disney or maybe to be the Christian, Walt Disney. Phil Visser has Vischer has written a book called me, myself and Bob. I think we have it. We have a picture of that. Oh, it's not there. It's up there. Um, it highlights his journey in his company. <br /><br /> It's a, it's a fascinating read. It's a fun, it's an easy read. As you read through the book, you're drawn with the creativity and the energy of this guy and a guy who genuinely desired to bring glory to God, but in his own recognition, his goal shifted. Toward his own glory and God humbled him. He lost his company. <br /><br /> And in a salient moment in the book he describes it's late in the book. He describes a profound moment afterwards in his journey with Christ. When he visited Disneyland again. And this time, I'll just read it to you quickly. I had lunch by Tom Sawyer Island, then headed to the place I knew it would be the end of my journey, the very center of the park hub in front of the castle, where stands the bronze statue of Walt and Mickey. <br /><br /> Created by fable Disney, sculptor, Blaine Gibson. Now an official legend Gibson is the man responsible for every American president, the hall of presidents, and most of the pirates in the pirates of the Caribbean for Disney files. This spot in Disneyland is the Holy of Holies. I took a seat on one of the benches, just in front, just in front and to the right of Walt and the mouse that had made him famous. <br /><br /> Then I thought. <br /><br /> And I thought about the prior 14 years of my life, my breathless pursuit of, of something impact creativity, legacy identity. I wasn't sure I thought about, and he goes on to talk about Chris Olson who helped me drywall his first little, little, uh, business. And then he tells all these memories and then he says this. <br /><br /> And I thought about Marie, the 65 year old woman who worked at our reception desk, the woman who on the day that I had to clean out my office had looked deep into my eyes and said, God is about to explode in your life. I smiled, as I realized how right she had been, I looked up at Walt. He seems so happy. <br /><br /> So calm. Like everything had been a breeze, a walk in the park, then something caught my attention. It was a woman in her adolescent daughter, Cameron hand walking toward me with big smiles. Oh, I thought I've been spotted. It happens a lot. Fans will spot me somewhere and ask for a picture and autograph I've gotten used to it in the years. <br /><br /> Since I first put myself at the front of a veggie tales video. Some want to tell me stories or introduced me to their kids. Other simply want to say, thanks. Watching the smiling mother and daughter approach, I quickly switched into gracious fan reception mode and smiled back. I was after all the creator of VeggieTales, it was part of my job. <br /><br /> Excuse me. The woman said, would you take a picture of us with Walt? <br /><br /> Choke. They weren't there for me. They didn't even know me from Adam. I was just a stranger on a bench, a stranger who could take a picture of them with their real hero. Walt Disney, I cheerfully obliged, snapping their pictures. They stood beaming in front of the bronze likeness of the man who had inspired them. <br /><br /> Thank you so much. They said, and hurried away. I turned back to continue my thinking only to find somebody else already sitting in my spot. I scan the circle of Brent benches, not a single open space. I couldn't help, but smile. As I looked up at Walt, well, I guess it's time to go. I said, then turn and headed toward the front gate wall would be Walt. <br /><br /> And I would not know even the next Walt or the Christian, Walt. And that was for the first time in my life. Fine with me. I love what that lady said. God is about to explode in your life. This is at the moment of his failure. This is when he feels rock bottom. I don't know where you are today with some of you undoubtedly. <br /><br /> Or identifying with the feeling, ah, life is just overwhelming. That things are not what I thought. I I'm struggling with who I am, what I am, where I'm going, what I'm going to be able to kind of am I going to be able to hold what I have? Let me just say this to you. If God is allowing you to be humbled, God is willing to explode in your life. <br /><br /> God wants us to find our joy and satisfaction in him. It is pride that indeed, that, that encourages us to feel that we can find it somewhere else. The Bible mercies us by humbling us, and there are two ways that God uses. Often he will not choose the first. If we choose the second, the first way God humbles us is to just let all the things that we are trying to find our identity in, or some of those things begin to be a faulty foundation and crumble, and he brings us down. <br /><br /> We've elevated ourself. He lets us see what's real. God does humble us. I would say if you walked with God for any amount of time, you have probably experienced that. <br /><br /> The kind, God also offers another way. He says in first Peter chapter five, he says humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God. And then he says this bye. Casting your cares on him. What's he saying the way that we humble ourselves under God is saying, Lord, I'm not going to carry on my issues. I'm going to intentionally every day, I'm going to bring them to you. <br /><br /> And what happens if you don't, you may not think you're growing in pride. You may think you're going in fear. You may think you're growing in anxiety, which will probably be true. But what also is going on is you are acting a spirit of independence. I've got it. I'm so busy. I don't have time to pray. I mean, come on. <br /><br /> I got work to do. I got stuff calling for me. I got, I've got so much on me and he says, well, go ahead. But what you're going to find is you can be a carrier. Oh, you can be a caster. And a castor is a person who humbles themselves, unders God and says, Lord, I may think I can carry it, but I know better given this to you. <br /><br /> I got these meetings tomorrow. Here they are one, this one, a 10 is this one? This one is 11 tomorrow. This one is it to Lord. I'm praying through everyone because Laura , we can humble ourselves. The other thing we can do is to remember who we are. I was talking w in a context of a few of us with a young woman in our church who attended one of the two most prestigious academic institutions in our, in our nation. <br /><br /> Um, these are where the brainiacs go. And she was talking about, she knew Christ. She had known the Lord younger, went to school. Um, and she said, I didn't realize how much my brain and my intellect was my identity until for the first time in her life, she actually had to drop a class because she was in danger of failing and it rocked her world. <br /><br /> And she said, I didn't really. Displace that feeling until, and she talked about being in, in a, uh, training class. We have here called people, helping people, but basically the design of it is to have you look at your own heart and because you can't help somebody else know their heart until you know your own. <br /><br /> And she talked about how the truth that set me free was who I am in Christ. My identity. That I am as the song, we sang a few moments ago that you are accepted and chosen that <br /><br /> when the sun sets you free free, you're free. Indeed. What does that mean? You're free from being on the line. He's she's it, the song says when the sun sets you free, you are free. Indeed. And what's the next refrains. I'm a child of God. I'm accepted. I'm chosen. He wanted me. <br /><br /> You're not going to be free by getting that new, beautiful house. You're not going to be free from the voices by getting that next promotion. You're not going to be free by, by running away with somebody because they make you feel good. And, and you think, well, this, this fling will do it. You're going to be free. <br /><br /> When your identity is really seeped with the reality that you're a child of God. If you've embraced Jesus Christ as your savior, he wants you. He knows you. He loves you. He, he, he, he desires to pour into your life. What nothing else can do. Our only part is to look at things realistically and say, you know what? <br /><br /> God. I'm dependent. I can't do this on my own. I need to yield to you the Lordship of my life. I need to find my identity in you right now. If you're in a position and I know a lot of people feel they're not, but if you're in a position where you feel well, if things are not so Rocky, I mean, I see a lot of good going well, watch out because when we grow strong, We can grow proud. <br /><br /> And when we grow up proud, we have already begun to leave. God, God may have to bring something in to, and I'm not doing this as a warning. I think it's a mercy. I thank God. The most humbling experiences of my life when God made me most aware of my inadequacies. When I would say these are the times of my life, I absolutely feel like an abject failure. <br /><br /> I feel in those moments, I saw reality and I was overwhelmed with the love of God, who I was, what I am in him. I wouldn't trade those failures for anything. They are my ultimate successes. And you know, if you know what I'm talking about, if you're, if you know the Lord, let's pray, Lord, <br /><br /> thank you that you want us. Thank you that you don't just let us go. Thank you. That <br /><br /> you freed Phil. Vishner <br /><br /> the great success of this man's life is not VeggieTales is that he's growing more and more into the joy of being loved by God. Because you were willing to explode in his life, in that season when he felt most like a failure, Lord, thank you that you do that with us. Thank you. That you give us the grace and the opportunity to avoid some false by humbling ourselves. <br /><br /> Lord, thank you. That you Love us in jesus' name. Amen. I go in peace to love and serve and enjoy the Lord.</div> false no <![CDATA[David: The Inexhaustible Mercy and Grace of God]]> The Holes in David’s Armor: How David’s struggles and sins, failures and foibles, could never exhaust or overwhelm the mercy and grace of God…and neither will yours.

It's great to see you here and thank you for being part of this today. Also greet those who are are, uh, joining us online. Thank you for making this part of your day. I, uh, We'll be going outside, uh, later for the outside service. And I brought just so you know how cool this is a magnetic clip to hold my notes in case the wind starts blowing out there.

Does that not cool. I'm prepared today. Don't need it here. However, we're going to be looking at the life of David. So we're going to be all over the book of second Samuel, but we're going to start in second, Samuel chapter 15 and 16. So if you want to look at that in your Bible, it's not a passage from sec about David's life.

That's very well known, but I chose it to start with, because it illustrates some of the pain heartache and struggle that characterize his life. And it's important for us to get a glimpse of that here in our opening scripture reading. So if you would look with me second, Samuel 15, I'm going to start reading at verse 13,

a messenger came and told David the hearts of the men of Israel are with Absalom. David said to all his officials who are with him in Jerusalem, come, we must flee. Or none of us will escape from Absalom. Must leave immediately here. We'll move quickly to overtake us and bring ruin upon us and put the city to the sword.

The King's officials answered him. Your servants are ready to do whatever our Lord, the King chooses the King set out with his entire household following him, but he left 10 concubines to take care of the palace. So the King set out with all the people following him and they halted at a place. Some distance away, jump over to chapter 16 and verse five.

And we'll pick up with this story. As King David approached Bob, Hareem a man from the same clan as Saul's family came out from there. His name was Shemei son of Garah and he cursed as he came out. He pelted David and all the Kings officials with stones. Though all the troops and special guard were on David's right and left.

As he cursed shim, I said, get out, get out you man of blood you scoundrel. The Lord is repaid you for all the blood you shed in the household of Saul in whose place you have reigned. The Lord has handed the kingdom over to your son. Absalom. You have come to ruin because you are a man of blood. Then Avishai son of Ziri Riah said to the King, why should this dead dog curse my Lord, the King, let me go over and cut off his head.

But the King said, what do you and I have in common? You sons of if he is cursing, because the Lord said to him, curse, David, who can ask, why do you do this? David den said to Abishai and to all his officials, my son. Who is my own flesh is trying to take my life how much more than this. Benjamite leave him alone.

Let him curse for the Lord has told him to, it may be that the Lord will see my distress and repay me with good for the cursing I am receiving today. So David and his men continued along road will shim. I was going along the hillside opposite him. Cursing as he went and throwing stones at him and showering him with dirt, the King and all the people with him arrived at their destination exhausted and there he refreshed himself.

Okay. So this account, this event from the life of David, in which while fleeing for his life, and he's the becomes the victim of cursing and stone throwing and refusing to retaliate. It's not one of the highlights in the life of David as a man of faith in Israel's greatest King. This was a low point, but I chose to begin our study today with this event, as it highlights the deep pain, trauma struggle and sadness, which was such a huge part of David's story.

And apart from which we will not truly be able to understand the message. Of his life attempting to talk about the life of David in one message is possibly a bigger challenge than, than we should take, but we're going to try to do it today. I've entitled the study, the holes in David's armor, how David struggles and sins failures and foibles could never exhaust her overwhelm the mercy and grace of God.

And neither will ours. I know that's a mouthful. You know, we don't typically remember David for the struggles of his life or the pain in his life. Do we, we focus on the positive. What did he do? He killed the giant Goliath. He was Israel's greatest King. He wrote so much poetry in the Psalms was a man of worship.

He had the privilege of being the ancestor of Jesus Christ, our savior, and he's designated. And then the scripture as the man, after God's own heart. And all of that of course is true. In fact, some of the accounts of David's life, particularly the ones in first Chronicles are so glowing that the, the author of Chronicles doesn't even mention his sin with best Sheba or the revolt of his son Absalom let alone this event of being cursed and pelted with stones by Shemei while he was fleeing for his life.

But in second Samuel, we get a picture that brings to light. So many of the painful details of his struggles and his sins. In fact, reading through second Samuel recently, I. I felt myself so entering into the story that I could almost feel the pain and it became burdensome reading. It is the struggles in his family, his sins and failures, the subsequent repercussions, turmoil, the conflicts, all culminating in this evil plot of his own son to kill him and overthrow him.

And I entered in that. I just wanted to move on. I wanted to get past this. David had so many holes in his armor. I mean that figuratively, so many blind spots, significant failures, debilitating struggles, weaknesses, mistakes, how I asked myself that this guy ever become the man after God's own heart. And here's the answer that I think I've come to David came to see, understand and embrace the reality of his sins, failures and struggles that they could never would not end, could never extinguisher or use up exhaust, overwhelmed the grace and mercy of God in his life.

And I believe this is the message of David's life. At least one of them. Which though dad, as he, the author of Hebrews says he continues to speak. And when I find myself suffocating in the reality of the holes in my armor, which I know better than anybody, a renewed focus on the inexhaustible, grace and mercy of God is exactly what I need as well.

And maybe you do too, too. But to see the overarching beauty of God's grace and mercy in David's life, we have to take an uncomfortable look at his sins and failures, weak spots, his struggles, the Bible doesn't conceal them from us. In fact, it's the Bibles Frank portrayal of the failings of its heroes that makes the Bible's message so compelling and also so relevant because in them we see so much of.

Ourselves. So what I want to do first is to give a survey of these holes in David's armor, illustrating his desperate need of God's mercy and grace. Now I'm not trying to bout, I'm not trying to bad mouth David, but I want to highlight a few of the holes in his armor by taking a candid look at some of these failures and weaknesses.

And they're painful to talk about. But they serve as a mirror to our own lives and weaknesses, not as a means to discourage us, but as a means of forcing us to throw ourselves as David did on the mercy and the grace of God, here's, here's the first hole in David's armor. It's not one. We talk about a lot.

It's his polygamy. David was a polygamist. He had, he had a handful of wives and several concubines. Uh, we don't talk about this very much, but it was true of several notable heroes of faith in the Bible seems to talk about it. Matter of faculty, I got a 1500 page Bible dictionary that covers every Bible topic from a to Z.

But when you look under pay, there's no entry for polygamy.

But I want to talk about it with you a little bit, because I think it served as one of the big holes in David's armor. His polygamy resulted in a, in a, in a degrading of women and turning women and his wives into objects of his pleasure at his Beck and call, instead of letting him enjoy the intimate friendship and oneness that God has in mind for marriage.

When he gave marriage as a gift to humanity. So instead of marriage being for David, a relationship to be enjoyed his wives and his family became an organization to be managed. And as we'll see later, he wasn't up to the task, but who would be it? Wasn't what God intended. Now, whether David's polygamy was culturally acceptable, at least for Kings and rulers in that culture.

In that day and age, it's kind of an irrelevant question. It's irrelevant to the propriety and permissability of it in God's eyes because in scripture, every description of, of a polygamous relationship is characterized by rivalry. Stress and family problems. God never intended to for marriage when God saw in the very beginning that it was not good for man to be alone.

He brought Adam life, not a harem and Jesus himself. Then the apostle Paul would refer to the Genesis account of the first marriage as the foundation on which our view of marriage should be based. Later Moses was writing in Deuteronomy. He gave these instructions in advance for the day when Israel would have Kings and he gave them the instructions that they were not to accumulate for themselves.

Wives violations of the principal always have brought grief and heartache for all concerned. For example, It's sad to read of the ways. One of David's wives, Michael, who was the daughter of King salt was used very much as a political chess piece, taken from David and given to another man. When David was on the, on the flea from saw later, David demands her back as part of the deal and ascending to the throne.

It's. It's heartbreaking, the degradation of women and Israel's culture may not be entirely David's fault, but he was certainly a participant. It was a big hole. Now you might be asking, why are we addressing this? Polygamy is no longer a thing in our culture. This is irrelevant, maybe so, but I want to suggest to you, and I'm going to try to speak very clearly, yet carefully and sensitively.

I want to suggest to you that visual, virtual and emotional polygamy continues today on our computers, TVs, Mark phone screens, and the degrading, devaluing, and corrupting of the marriage relationship continues to take place today. And the church has not been unaffected. We've bought in to our cultures.

Corruption of God's plan for marriage and just like David's polygamy, it's become acceptable. So we hardly notice it. The Israelites may have said, it's just what Kings do. They have a harem today. We say, it's just what men do. They like to look at women. It's just what women do they enjoy their shows. It's just what everybody does.

It's, it's no big deal. And much of the degradation of marriage in our culture comes from websites. We visit compromising movies and TV shows that we watch and binge on and suggestive novels that we read.

statistics state that 56% of divorce cases involve one of the parties. Having an obsessive interest in inappropriate websites. One in five searches on mobile phones are for inappropriate content. 64% of Christian men and 15% of Christian women admit to viewing these sites at least once a month. And this was in so interesting to me, many teens and young adults between ages 13 and 24.

When examining a list of sins and evaluating them, found that the failure to recycle our garbage is more significant error than viewing inappropriate websites,

just you today. Sadly, that visual and emotional polygamy continues to be practiced today. And the impact of it on our homes, our marriages, our families, our communities, our churches. Is just as devastating as polygamy was in David's life. It's a big hole. It's a big mess. So it wasn't David's fault that he was just doing what everybody else, at least the other Kings were doing.

Since it was to some degree accepted in the culture or whose fault is it that so many of us struggle with these things when it's such an accepted part of our culture. And that's a good question, but I need you to understand that my point in discussing it, it's not to identify,

but to acknowledge that all of us we're impacted by it and without, without the grace and mercy of God. To help us confront it and overcome it. These holes in our armor are going to continue and create problems. If you're alive and breathing today, you are impacted by this. But here's what I want you to know if.

No matter your age, no matter what your struggle with in sin may be, or how you got there, we have a God of limitless forgiveness, and that is what David would come to know and build his life on the limitless forgiveness of God, regardless of what you've done, where regardless of what you keep doing, regardless of how you got there, regardless of how deep our struggle was sin, as David would come to build his life on this word.

Forgiven. We're going to come back to that. I believe David's polygamy also contributed to the next hole we see in David's armor, because I suppose if you have multiple wives at your disposal, you may come to think you're entitled to any woman you want. So here's the second hole in David's armor. We should think about his adultery and subsequent coverup, which included murder of one of his friends.

Now second Samuel chapter 11 is one of the most painful chapters in all of the Bible to read. It's almost like you're reading it in slow motion and watching David, which light unravel because of the choices that he's making. We read of his sin of adultery and the coverup, which resulted in conspiring to kill your Riah.

The Hittite. Whom you may not realize was one of David's friends and counted among David's mighty men of Valor. Okay. I find myself when reading that chapter, talking to David. Screaming into my Bible. I'm saying things like this, David. No. Get away from that balcony, David, stop. David. Get back inside. David.

You've no right to be looking at that woman. David stopped. That is another man's wife. David don't. You dare command to have her brought to you, David. This is wrong, David. This is going to cause so much pain

and the author of Samuel. Seems to very deliberately highlight the great evil of David's conspiracy to do away with Uriah. By contrasting David's treachery with your Riaz integrity, Uriah he refuses to do as David is trying to coerce him to do go home and be with his wife. He's not going to do that his honor and integrity.

Won't permit him to do that while the armies of Israel are out at war. And the contrast in the character of these two men is striking and it's also supremely sad. You're Riaz, noble character David's lack of thereof. David even sends your Riaz death sentence, order to the commander, Joe AB by your Riaz own hand, the gaping hole in David's Armour's devastating and deeply disappointing.

But I want to recommend you never read second Samuel 11 without also reading second Samuel 12, because chapter 12 covers the prophet Nathan's confrontation of David and shows the amazing mercy and grace of God expressed in his forgiveness of David's sin. Something. Every one of us desperately needs the account of David's.

Uh, life shows that no matter what we've done, no matter how gaping the holes in our armor, there is something called forgiveness. I've said it to you in the past. Um, none of us not David, not me, not you is too far gone because you know what? We're all too far gone. We all desperate for God's mercy and grace.

And as we'll see, in a moment God's forgiveness would become the foundation of David's life, but there's one more hole in David's armor for us to mention. And that would be this, his mistakes as a,

I launched into the book of first Kings, uh, in my Bible reading this week. And it begins with the story of David's son. ADOT Nijah. Improperly trying to claim the throne for himself, take it from his aging father, despite the fact that it was David's son, Solomon, to whom the throne had been promised, it's almost like reading a soap opera.

You read through David's story. There's so much drama, turmoil, struggled, difficulty in David's family. Absalom's conspiracy was so tumultuous. And now here we go again, without an idea. And in this account of, of attempted takeover, there's this editorial comment that the author of first Kings puts in there and the NIV Bible actually puts the comment in quote, in parentheses, reflecting on David's role as a father.

It, it makes me sad when I, when I read it, listen to how it reads now. I don't Nijah. Whose mother was Huggies, put himself forward and said, I will be King. So he got chariots and horses ready with 50 men to run ahead of him. And then here comes the editorial comment. His father had never interfered with him by asking, why do you behave as you do?

I'm like Adam Niger is the bad guy here. Do we really need to throw David under the bus here? The guy's on his death bed for crying out loud, but the comment serves as a, a very sad commentary on David's role as a father, a big miss. On David's part. He was either too busy or too distracted or too something.

I don't know what to stand up to speak truth to, to confront a guide to properly lead his son. This was a big hole in David's armor. Big miss serious mistake. Parenting is tough. I was an outstanding parent. Until such a time as the kids came along now I'm outstanding in the rain. It's tough. Right. And I think for those of us who are parents, no one is more aware of the holes in our parenting armor than we are ourselves.

We looked around at other families and we wonder what. What am I doing wrong? We play the comparison game so much. We get down on ourselves. We, we know the whole holes in our armor. As parents, David had holes, many holes, mistakes, failure, sins, weaknesses, painting David in a bad light might look like that's what I've done so far this morning, but that's not really my goal except to make this point.

Those holes in his armor. Drove him to God desperate for his mercy and grace. And there was no defect, no hole, no miss, no mistake, no sin in David's life, which was beyond the reach of God's mercy and grace. So let's go back to this question as we transitioned, what was it about David, despite his holes and miss MIS and mistakes and sins that made him a man after God's own heart.

Why, why do we consider him Israel's greatest King? Why did he become the benchmark against two's life? The reign of every other subsequent King of Israel and Judah was compared to any Val evaluated. Why did God make a covenant with David promising that the Messiah would come from David's line and that God would establish his reign forever?

Why, why him? By the way our salvation flows from this promise that God made to David, the prophet Nathan had delivered God's promise to David. He said, when your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body. And I will establish his kingdom forever.

Your throne shall be established forever. The apostles in the new Testament recognize the coming of Jesus Christ as savior and Messiah to be the ultimate fulfillment of that promise God made to David. And so for good reason, Jesus was called the son of David, not simply a reference to his, uh, genetic descendant of David, but as the fulfillment.

Of God's promise to David that brings salvation to all the world. Now, I believe that the message of David's life is that his heart was attuned to the mercy and grace of God that he so desperately needed. And so thoroughly enjoyed. So let's take us, let's do a summary of those qualities that I think kept David connected and attuned.

To God's grace and mercy. Here's the first one he learned to live in the joy of forgiveness. David got to write his own life verse. I think it might be this one from Psalm 32 verse one. Bless it. Is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed it as the man. The Lord does not. Whose sin the Lord does not count against him.

And in whose spirit is no deceit celebrating God's forgiveness begins by saying these words. I have sinned. So remember when Nathan the prophet confronted David for his adultery and murder and he poked his finger in David's chest and said, the words you are the man. And he proceeded to recount, to David the details of his sin, what he had done and what the consequences would be.

Do you remember what David's next words where he said, I have sinned against the Lord. Okay. He didn't say, how dare you confront me? How dare, how you know, what do you think? You're the only perfect one around here. He said, I have sinned. Against the Lord. And that is where forgiveness begins. I believe the profits confrontation came as a gift to David, a huge relief to a man whose guilty conscience was eating him up on the inside.

Psalm 32 continues. When I kept silent about my sin, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. It was eating him up. The apostle Paul would tell us later that it is God's kindness. That leads us to repentance. It's a gift to get caught and a gift to be able to own up to your guilt. But then what were Nathan's next words David said, I have sinned against the Lord and Nathan said the Lord has taken away your sin.

You are not going to die.

And so for David also for us to have the humility, to utter the words I have sinned against the Lord opens up the flood Gates of mercy and grace, the forgiveness we so desperately need. David continues in Psalm 32. Then I acknowledged my sin to you. And did not cover up my iniquity. I said, I will confess my transgressions, the Lord, and you forgave the guilt of my sin.

David lived in the joy of forgiveness. Happy is the one who sins are covered, not covered up. That brings guilt and shame, but covered over by the grace and mercy of a forgiving. God, you understand the difference. I've come to realize that there's no sin that you or I have or could commit that hasn't already been committed by someone else.

Whose story we read in this book. Now, maybe some of you think you are especially a unique that you've done thought or said things worse than anybody else on the planet. None of us is that creative. It's already been done before, but here's what I want you to know. Not only has it already been done before, what you've done and what I've done, but there's more, not only is someone already committed that same sin as you have, but someone has already been forgiven of that sin.

And that means that you and I can be forgiven too murder. David's been there, done that. Treachery conspiracies lies cover up. David knew all about it. Immorality last talk to David and he was forgiven. And that means there is forgiveness enough for me and for you as well. I don't care what you've done.

How, how, how low you think you've sung God's mercy and forgiveness goes deep enough to reach you with his divine forgiveness. Our sins can be covered, not covered up, but covered over these words. The Lord has taken the Lord has forgiven your sin. You are not going to die. We're spoken for David. But also for us that who soever believes should not perish, you're not going to die.

God offers forgiveness. Is your armor filled with the holes of sins that you re you regret. And that try to tell you that you're worthless, unforgivable a fraud. There's hope. Every one of those sins, even ones we have not yet committed were born by the Lord, Jesus Christ in his body. When he died on the cross, his death in your place means that on limited forgiveness is available to you.

And to me, we can know that joy forgiveness and live in it. Here's the second thing that kept David attuned to God's mercy and grace. He rested in the sovereignty of God. Sovereignty that word does appear in my Bible dictionary. He rested in the knowledge that God is sovereign and has bigger purposes.

God's sovereign purposes are bigger than ours, and they are bigger than our ability to figure them out. David wrote Psalm 24 one, the earth is the Lords and everything in it. The world and all who live in it, it didn't so on that basis that he owns it all and controls it all with that foundation that our lives can make sense.

See, the sovereignty of God means that God is in control of all things and moves all things toward his own good purposes and ends. Nothing is random. Nothing is purposeless, nothing is outside of his control. So we began today reading that account of David fleeing from Absalom, who was attempting to destroy David and overtake the throne.

And this man shim I, or a relative of the former King saw who has the result apparently has a bone to pick with David. It's following along and cursing David to his face and pelting him with stones and dirt in that moment. Why did David put up with that instead of retaliating? And I think the answer is this because apparently David found more comfort in letting God be in control of things than in taking control of things himself.

That's what it means to rest. In the sovereignty of God. So David said, leave him alone. Let him curse for the Lord has told him to, it may be that the Lord will see my distress and repay me for the cursing I am receiving today. It is putting it in God's hands and not holding onto it with my own. This was a theme of David's life.

He rested in God's sovereign control. Of the details of his life. It was evil to be sure what shim I was doing. And later David would instruct his son Solomon to deal with Shem. I, for the wrong, he had done him. But in that moment of fleeing for his life, David's comfort and rest came not from being in control, but in submitting to the will of the one whom David had come to know.

Was in control of all things and who was far more trustworthy than his own instincts plans or abilities he chose to rest right there in a God who stopped Fearnley controls all things. Pastor Mark, put it this way. I think really well. The Bible declares to God's children. That life is safe. Not because we can control it, but because someone already does.

And, uh, and a century ago, British preacher, Charles Spurgeon said, the sovereignty of God is the pillow upon which you can lay your head. You can rest well, child of God, because he is in control. Pastor Greg Laurie tweeted earlier this week, sovereignty means that God is in control. So when things in your life are not making sense, go back to what you do understand.

God is in control, resting in God's sovereignty meant that David could trust God for his present and even for the unknowns of the future. And so can I, so can you final thing that I think kept David attuned to God's mercy, grace and forgiveness was this, he was a relentless worshiper. You see, it's one thing to know, God is sovereign, but you add to the fact that he loves you and cares for you.

Personally, you'll respond in worship, David wasn't indefatigable worship or relentless. Untiring unstoppable. He loved God and God loved him. And he loved to put his thoughts and feelings about God. Into words, which is what I believe is the essence of worship. We think of worship often as music. And certainly David was a great musician and songwriter and music is a great medium of expression for admiring a good and loving God.

But there's more to worship than just music. It's recognizing that God is sovereign. That God is big thing. God loves me. God can be trusted. You remember when David prayed? And fasted pleading with God to spare the life of his infant son. You remember this, but when the child died, as God had said through the prophet, Nathan, that would happen, David arose and did what worshiped

I asked. Why would you pray to God to spare the life of a child that God had already. When Nathan had already delivered the message that the, the child would die. And I think it's because David knew that God wasn't God who loved to show mercy. And David also knew that no matter what happened is God was trustworthy and that's the God you can worship.

Scripture says, then David got up from the ground after he had washed put on lotions and changed his clothes. He went to the house of the Lord and worshiped knowing that God not only loves you, but likes you leads you to worship. And I think David knew that God liked him and he liked God. And so it was easy.

For him amazed by God's forgiveness and grace to put his love for God into words. The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer. My God is my rock in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation. I call to the Lord who is worthy of praise and I am saved from my enemies. So David's worship grew out of his experience of God's goodness and care for him.

Relentless worship became a theme of his existence. God's grace and mercy means that despite the holes in our armor of which we all are so acutely aware our sins and struggles or failures and foibles. All are covered by the blood of Christ. We can rest in his sovereignty, receive his love, rejoice in who he is for his grace is greater than all our sin.

So what, what will you do today? Will you embrace his grace and mercy and accept his forgiveness? Will you rest? In his good and loving control of your life, will you respond in worship?]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/david-the-inexhaustible-mercy-and-grace-of-god 8030371b-2cf5-401a-b248-f5b712c5c397 Sun, 15 Nov 2020 20:29:26 GMT <div data-html="true">The Holes in David’s Armor: How David’s struggles and sins, failures and foibles, could never exhaust or overwhelm the mercy and grace of God…and neither will yours. <br /><br /> It's great to see you here and thank you for being part of this today. Also greet those who are are, uh, joining us online. Thank you for making this part of your day. I, uh, We'll be going outside, uh, later for the outside service. And I brought just so you know how cool this is a magnetic clip to hold my notes in case the wind starts blowing out there. <br /><br /> Does that not cool. I'm prepared today. Don't need it here. However, we're going to be looking at the life of David. So we're going to be all over the book of second Samuel, but we're going to start in second, Samuel chapter 15 and 16. So if you want to look at that in your Bible, it's not a passage from sec about David's life. <br /><br /> That's very well known, but I chose it to start with, because it illustrates some of the pain heartache and struggle that characterize his life. And it's important for us to get a glimpse of that here in our opening scripture reading. So if you would look with me second, Samuel 15, I'm going to start reading at verse 13, <br /><br /> a messenger came and told David the hearts of the men of Israel are with Absalom. David said to all his officials who are with him in Jerusalem, come, we must flee. Or none of us will escape from Absalom. Must leave immediately here. We'll move quickly to overtake us and bring ruin upon us and put the city to the sword. <br /><br /> The King's officials answered him. Your servants are ready to do whatever our Lord, the King chooses the King set out with his entire household following him, but he left 10 concubines to take care of the palace. So the King set out with all the people following him and they halted at a place. Some distance away, jump over to chapter 16 and verse five. <br /><br /> And we'll pick up with this story. As King David approached Bob, Hareem a man from the same clan as Saul's family came out from there. His name was Shemei son of Garah and he cursed as he came out. He pelted David and all the Kings officials with stones. Though all the troops and special guard were on David's right and left. <br /><br /> As he cursed shim, I said, get out, get out you man of blood you scoundrel. The Lord is repaid you for all the blood you shed in the household of Saul in whose place you have reigned. The Lord has handed the kingdom over to your son. Absalom. You have come to ruin because you are a man of blood. Then Avishai son of Ziri Riah said to the King, why should this dead dog curse my Lord, the King, let me go over and cut off his head. <br /><br /> But the King said, what do you and I have in common? You sons of if he is cursing, because the Lord said to him, curse, David, who can ask, why do you do this? David den said to Abishai and to all his officials, my son. Who is my own flesh is trying to take my life how much more than this. Benjamite leave him alone. <br /><br /> Let him curse for the Lord has told him to, it may be that the Lord will see my distress and repay me with good for the cursing I am receiving today. So David and his men continued along road will shim. I was going along the hillside opposite him. Cursing as he went and throwing stones at him and showering him with dirt, the King and all the people with him arrived at their destination exhausted and there he refreshed himself. <br /><br /> Okay. So this account, this event from the life of David, in which while fleeing for his life, and he's the becomes the victim of cursing and stone throwing and refusing to retaliate. It's not one of the highlights in the life of David as a man of faith in Israel's greatest King. This was a low point, but I chose to begin our study today with this event, as it highlights the deep pain, trauma struggle and sadness, which was such a huge part of David's story. <br /><br /> And apart from which we will not truly be able to understand the message. Of his life attempting to talk about the life of David in one message is possibly a bigger challenge than, than we should take, but we're going to try to do it today. I've entitled the study, the holes in David's armor, how David struggles and sins failures and foibles could never exhaust her overwhelm the mercy and grace of God. <br /><br /> And neither will ours. I know that's a mouthful. You know, we don't typically remember David for the struggles of his life or the pain in his life. Do we, we focus on the positive. What did he do? He killed the giant Goliath. He was Israel's greatest King. He wrote so much poetry in the Psalms was a man of worship. <br /><br /> He had the privilege of being the ancestor of Jesus Christ, our savior, and he's designated. And then the scripture as the man, after God's own heart. And all of that of course is true. In fact, some of the accounts of David's life, particularly the ones in first Chronicles are so glowing that the, the author of Chronicles doesn't even mention his sin with best Sheba or the revolt of his son Absalom let alone this event of being cursed and pelted with stones by Shemei while he was fleeing for his life. <br /><br /> But in second Samuel, we get a picture that brings to light. So many of the painful details of his struggles and his sins. In fact, reading through second Samuel recently, I. I felt myself so entering into the story that I could almost feel the pain and it became burdensome reading. It is the struggles in his family, his sins and failures, the subsequent repercussions, turmoil, the conflicts, all culminating in this evil plot of his own son to kill him and overthrow him. <br /><br /> And I entered in that. I just wanted to move on. I wanted to get past this. David had so many holes in his armor. I mean that figuratively, so many blind spots, significant failures, debilitating struggles, weaknesses, mistakes, how I asked myself that this guy ever become the man after God's own heart. And here's the answer that I think I've come to David came to see, understand and embrace the reality of his sins, failures and struggles that they could never would not end, could never extinguisher or use up exhaust, overwhelmed the grace and mercy of God in his life. <br /><br /> And I believe this is the message of David's life. At least one of them. Which though dad, as he, the author of Hebrews says he continues to speak. And when I find myself suffocating in the reality of the holes in my armor, which I know better than anybody, a renewed focus on the inexhaustible, grace and mercy of God is exactly what I need as well. <br /><br /> And maybe you do too, too. But to see the overarching beauty of God's grace and mercy in David's life, we have to take an uncomfortable look at his sins and failures, weak spots, his struggles, the Bible doesn't conceal them from us. In fact, it's the Bibles Frank portrayal of the failings of its heroes that makes the Bible's message so compelling and also so relevant because in them we see so much of. <br /><br /> Ourselves. So what I want to do first is to give a survey of these holes in David's armor, illustrating his desperate need of God's mercy and grace. Now I'm not trying to bout, I'm not trying to bad mouth David, but I want to highlight a few of the holes in his armor by taking a candid look at some of these failures and weaknesses. <br /><br /> And they're painful to talk about. But they serve as a mirror to our own lives and weaknesses, not as a means to discourage us, but as a means of forcing us to throw ourselves as David did on the mercy and the grace of God, here's, here's the first hole in David's armor. It's not one. We talk about a lot. <br /><br /> It's his polygamy. David was a polygamist. He had, he had a handful of wives and several concubines. Uh, we don't talk about this very much, but it was true of several notable heroes of faith in the Bible seems to talk about it. Matter of faculty, I got a 1500 page Bible dictionary that covers every Bible topic from a to Z. <br /><br /> But when you look under pay, there's no entry for polygamy. <br /><br /> But I want to talk about it with you a little bit, because I think it served as one of the big holes in David's armor. His polygamy resulted in a, in a, in a degrading of women and turning women and his wives into objects of his pleasure at his Beck and call, instead of letting him enjoy the intimate friendship and oneness that God has in mind for marriage. <br /><br /> When he gave marriage as a gift to humanity. So instead of marriage being for David, a relationship to be enjoyed his wives and his family became an organization to be managed. And as we'll see later, he wasn't up to the task, but who would be it? Wasn't what God intended. Now, whether David's polygamy was culturally acceptable, at least for Kings and rulers in that culture. <br /><br /> In that day and age, it's kind of an irrelevant question. It's irrelevant to the propriety and permissability of it in God's eyes because in scripture, every description of, of a polygamous relationship is characterized by rivalry. Stress and family problems. God never intended to for marriage when God saw in the very beginning that it was not good for man to be alone. <br /><br /> He brought Adam life, not a harem and Jesus himself. Then the apostle Paul would refer to the Genesis account of the first marriage as the foundation on which our view of marriage should be based. Later Moses was writing in Deuteronomy. He gave these instructions in advance for the day when Israel would have Kings and he gave them the instructions that they were not to accumulate for themselves. <br /><br /> Wives violations of the principal always have brought grief and heartache for all concerned. For example, It's sad to read of the ways. One of David's wives, Michael, who was the daughter of King salt was used very much as a political chess piece, taken from David and given to another man. When David was on the, on the flea from saw later, David demands her back as part of the deal and ascending to the throne. <br /><br /> It's. It's heartbreaking, the degradation of women and Israel's culture may not be entirely David's fault, but he was certainly a participant. It was a big hole. Now you might be asking, why are we addressing this? Polygamy is no longer a thing in our culture. This is irrelevant, maybe so, but I want to suggest to you, and I'm going to try to speak very clearly, yet carefully and sensitively. <br /><br /> I want to suggest to you that visual, virtual and emotional polygamy continues today on our computers, TVs, Mark phone screens, and the degrading, devaluing, and corrupting of the marriage relationship continues to take place today. And the church has not been unaffected. We've bought in to our cultures. <br /><br /> Corruption of God's plan for marriage and just like David's polygamy, it's become acceptable. So we hardly notice it. The Israelites may have said, it's just what Kings do. They have a harem today. We say, it's just what men do. They like to look at women. It's just what women do they enjoy their shows. It's just what everybody does. <br /><br /> It's, it's no big deal. And much of the degradation of marriage in our culture comes from websites. We visit compromising movies and TV shows that we watch and binge on and suggestive novels that we read. <br /><br /> statistics state that 56% of divorce cases involve one of the parties. Having an obsessive interest in inappropriate websites. One in five searches on mobile phones are for inappropriate content. 64% of Christian men and 15% of Christian women admit to viewing these sites at least once a month. And this was in so interesting to me, many teens and young adults between ages 13 and 24. <br /><br /> When examining a list of sins and evaluating them, found that the failure to recycle our garbage is more significant error than viewing inappropriate websites, <br /><br /> just you today. Sadly, that visual and emotional polygamy continues to be practiced today. And the impact of it on our homes, our marriages, our families, our communities, our churches. Is just as devastating as polygamy was in David's life. It's a big hole. It's a big mess. So it wasn't David's fault that he was just doing what everybody else, at least the other Kings were doing. <br /><br /> Since it was to some degree accepted in the culture or whose fault is it that so many of us struggle with these things when it's such an accepted part of our culture. And that's a good question, but I need you to understand that my point in discussing it, it's not to identify, <br /><br /> but to acknowledge that all of us we're impacted by it and without, without the grace and mercy of God. To help us confront it and overcome it. These holes in our armor are going to continue and create problems. If you're alive and breathing today, you are impacted by this. But here's what I want you to know if. <br /><br /> No matter your age, no matter what your struggle with in sin may be, or how you got there, we have a God of limitless forgiveness, and that is what David would come to know and build his life on the limitless forgiveness of God, regardless of what you've done, where regardless of what you keep doing, regardless of how you got there, regardless of how deep our struggle was sin, as David would come to build his life on this word. <br /><br /> Forgiven. We're going to come back to that. I believe David's polygamy also contributed to the next hole we see in David's armor, because I suppose if you have multiple wives at your disposal, you may come to think you're entitled to any woman you want. So here's the second hole in David's armor. We should think about his adultery and subsequent coverup, which included murder of one of his friends. <br /><br /> Now second Samuel chapter 11 is one of the most painful chapters in all of the Bible to read. It's almost like you're reading it in slow motion and watching David, which light unravel because of the choices that he's making. We read of his sin of adultery and the coverup, which resulted in conspiring to kill your Riah. <br /><br /> The Hittite. Whom you may not realize was one of David's friends and counted among David's mighty men of Valor. Okay. I find myself when reading that chapter, talking to David. Screaming into my Bible. I'm saying things like this, David. No. Get away from that balcony, David, stop. David. Get back inside. David. <br /><br /> You've no right to be looking at that woman. David stopped. That is another man's wife. David don't. You dare command to have her brought to you, David. This is wrong, David. This is going to cause so much pain <br /><br /> and the author of Samuel. Seems to very deliberately highlight the great evil of David's conspiracy to do away with Uriah. By contrasting David's treachery with your Riaz integrity, Uriah he refuses to do as David is trying to coerce him to do go home and be with his wife. He's not going to do that his honor and integrity. <br /><br /> Won't permit him to do that while the armies of Israel are out at war. And the contrast in the character of these two men is striking and it's also supremely sad. You're Riaz, noble character David's lack of thereof. David even sends your Riaz death sentence, order to the commander, Joe AB by your Riaz own hand, the gaping hole in David's Armour's devastating and deeply disappointing. <br /><br /> But I want to recommend you never read second Samuel 11 without also reading second Samuel 12, because chapter 12 covers the prophet Nathan's confrontation of David and shows the amazing mercy and grace of God expressed in his forgiveness of David's sin. Something. Every one of us desperately needs the account of David's. <br /><br /> Uh, life shows that no matter what we've done, no matter how gaping the holes in our armor, there is something called forgiveness. I've said it to you in the past. Um, none of us not David, not me, not you is too far gone because you know what? We're all too far gone. We all desperate for God's mercy and grace. <br /><br /> And as we'll see, in a moment God's forgiveness would become the foundation of David's life, but there's one more hole in David's armor for us to mention. And that would be this, his mistakes as a, <br /><br /> I launched into the book of first Kings, uh, in my Bible reading this week. And it begins with the story of David's son. ADOT Nijah. Improperly trying to claim the throne for himself, take it from his aging father, despite the fact that it was David's son, Solomon, to whom the throne had been promised, it's almost like reading a soap opera. <br /><br /> You read through David's story. There's so much drama, turmoil, struggled, difficulty in David's family. Absalom's conspiracy was so tumultuous. And now here we go again, without an idea. And in this account of, of attempted takeover, there's this editorial comment that the author of first Kings puts in there and the NIV Bible actually puts the comment in quote, in parentheses, reflecting on David's role as a father. <br /><br /> It, it makes me sad when I, when I read it, listen to how it reads now. I don't Nijah. Whose mother was Huggies, put himself forward and said, I will be King. So he got chariots and horses ready with 50 men to run ahead of him. And then here comes the editorial comment. His father had never interfered with him by asking, why do you behave as you do? <br /><br /> I'm like Adam Niger is the bad guy here. Do we really need to throw David under the bus here? The guy's on his death bed for crying out loud, but the comment serves as a, a very sad commentary on David's role as a father, a big miss. On David's part. He was either too busy or too distracted or too something. <br /><br /> I don't know what to stand up to speak truth to, to confront a guide to properly lead his son. This was a big hole in David's armor. Big miss serious mistake. Parenting is tough. I was an outstanding parent. Until such a time as the kids came along now I'm outstanding in the rain. It's tough. Right. And I think for those of us who are parents, no one is more aware of the holes in our parenting armor than we are ourselves. <br /><br /> We looked around at other families and we wonder what. What am I doing wrong? We play the comparison game so much. We get down on ourselves. We, we know the whole holes in our armor. As parents, David had holes, many holes, mistakes, failure, sins, weaknesses, painting David in a bad light might look like that's what I've done so far this morning, but that's not really my goal except to make this point. <br /><br /> Those holes in his armor. Drove him to God desperate for his mercy and grace. And there was no defect, no hole, no miss, no mistake, no sin in David's life, which was beyond the reach of God's mercy and grace. So let's go back to this question as we transitioned, what was it about David, despite his holes and miss MIS and mistakes and sins that made him a man after God's own heart. <br /><br /> Why, why do we consider him Israel's greatest King? Why did he become the benchmark against two's life? The reign of every other subsequent King of Israel and Judah was compared to any Val evaluated. Why did God make a covenant with David promising that the Messiah would come from David's line and that God would establish his reign forever? <br /><br /> Why, why him? By the way our salvation flows from this promise that God made to David, the prophet Nathan had delivered God's promise to David. He said, when your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body. And I will establish his kingdom forever. <br /><br /> Your throne shall be established forever. The apostles in the new Testament recognize the coming of Jesus Christ as savior and Messiah to be the ultimate fulfillment of that promise God made to David. And so for good reason, Jesus was called the son of David, not simply a reference to his, uh, genetic descendant of David, but as the fulfillment. <br /><br /> Of God's promise to David that brings salvation to all the world. Now, I believe that the message of David's life is that his heart was attuned to the mercy and grace of God that he so desperately needed. And so thoroughly enjoyed. So let's take us, let's do a summary of those qualities that I think kept David connected and attuned. <br /><br /> To God's grace and mercy. Here's the first one he learned to live in the joy of forgiveness. David got to write his own life verse. I think it might be this one from Psalm 32 verse one. Bless it. Is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed it as the man. The Lord does not. Whose sin the Lord does not count against him. <br /><br /> And in whose spirit is no deceit celebrating God's forgiveness begins by saying these words. I have sinned. So remember when Nathan the prophet confronted David for his adultery and murder and he poked his finger in David's chest and said, the words you are the man. And he proceeded to recount, to David the details of his sin, what he had done and what the consequences would be. <br /><br /> Do you remember what David's next words where he said, I have sinned against the Lord. Okay. He didn't say, how dare you confront me? How dare, how you know, what do you think? You're the only perfect one around here. He said, I have sinned. Against the Lord. And that is where forgiveness begins. I believe the profits confrontation came as a gift to David, a huge relief to a man whose guilty conscience was eating him up on the inside. <br /><br /> Psalm 32 continues. When I kept silent about my sin, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. It was eating him up. The apostle Paul would tell us later that it is God's kindness. That leads us to repentance. It's a gift to get caught and a gift to be able to own up to your guilt. But then what were Nathan's next words David said, I have sinned against the Lord and Nathan said the Lord has taken away your sin. <br /><br /> You are not going to die. <br /><br /> And so for David also for us to have the humility, to utter the words I have sinned against the Lord opens up the flood Gates of mercy and grace, the forgiveness we so desperately need. David continues in Psalm 32. Then I acknowledged my sin to you. And did not cover up my iniquity. I said, I will confess my transgressions, the Lord, and you forgave the guilt of my sin. <br /><br /> David lived in the joy of forgiveness. Happy is the one who sins are covered, not covered up. That brings guilt and shame, but covered over by the grace and mercy of a forgiving. God, you understand the difference. I've come to realize that there's no sin that you or I have or could commit that hasn't already been committed by someone else. <br /><br /> Whose story we read in this book. Now, maybe some of you think you are especially a unique that you've done thought or said things worse than anybody else on the planet. None of us is that creative. It's already been done before, but here's what I want you to know. Not only has it already been done before, what you've done and what I've done, but there's more, not only is someone already committed that same sin as you have, but someone has already been forgiven of that sin. <br /><br /> And that means that you and I can be forgiven too murder. David's been there, done that. Treachery conspiracies lies cover up. David knew all about it. Immorality last talk to David and he was forgiven. And that means there is forgiveness enough for me and for you as well. I don't care what you've done. <br /><br /> How, how, how low you think you've sung God's mercy and forgiveness goes deep enough to reach you with his divine forgiveness. Our sins can be covered, not covered up, but covered over these words. The Lord has taken the Lord has forgiven your sin. You are not going to die. We're spoken for David. But also for us that who soever believes should not perish, you're not going to die. <br /><br /> God offers forgiveness. Is your armor filled with the holes of sins that you re you regret. And that try to tell you that you're worthless, unforgivable a fraud. There's hope. Every one of those sins, even ones we have not yet committed were born by the Lord, Jesus Christ in his body. When he died on the cross, his death in your place means that on limited forgiveness is available to you. <br /><br /> And to me, we can know that joy forgiveness and live in it. Here's the second thing that kept David attuned to God's mercy and grace. He rested in the sovereignty of God. Sovereignty that word does appear in my Bible dictionary. He rested in the knowledge that God is sovereign and has bigger purposes. <br /><br /> God's sovereign purposes are bigger than ours, and they are bigger than our ability to figure them out. David wrote Psalm 24 one, the earth is the Lords and everything in it. The world and all who live in it, it didn't so on that basis that he owns it all and controls it all with that foundation that our lives can make sense. <br /><br /> See, the sovereignty of God means that God is in control of all things and moves all things toward his own good purposes and ends. Nothing is random. Nothing is purposeless, nothing is outside of his control. So we began today reading that account of David fleeing from Absalom, who was attempting to destroy David and overtake the throne. <br /><br /> And this man shim I, or a relative of the former King saw who has the result apparently has a bone to pick with David. It's following along and cursing David to his face and pelting him with stones and dirt in that moment. Why did David put up with that instead of retaliating? And I think the answer is this because apparently David found more comfort in letting God be in control of things than in taking control of things himself. <br /><br /> That's what it means to rest. In the sovereignty of God. So David said, leave him alone. Let him curse for the Lord has told him to, it may be that the Lord will see my distress and repay me for the cursing I am receiving today. It is putting it in God's hands and not holding onto it with my own. This was a theme of David's life. <br /><br /> He rested in God's sovereign control. Of the details of his life. It was evil to be sure what shim I was doing. And later David would instruct his son Solomon to deal with Shem. I, for the wrong, he had done him. But in that moment of fleeing for his life, David's comfort and rest came not from being in control, but in submitting to the will of the one whom David had come to know. <br /><br /> Was in control of all things and who was far more trustworthy than his own instincts plans or abilities he chose to rest right there in a God who stopped Fearnley controls all things. Pastor Mark, put it this way. I think really well. The Bible declares to God's children. That life is safe. Not because we can control it, but because someone already does. <br /><br /> And, uh, and a century ago, British preacher, Charles Spurgeon said, the sovereignty of God is the pillow upon which you can lay your head. You can rest well, child of God, because he is in control. Pastor Greg Laurie tweeted earlier this week, sovereignty means that God is in control. So when things in your life are not making sense, go back to what you do understand. <br /><br /> God is in control, resting in God's sovereignty meant that David could trust God for his present and even for the unknowns of the future. And so can I, so can you final thing that I think kept David attuned to God's mercy, grace and forgiveness was this, he was a relentless worshiper. You see, it's one thing to know, God is sovereign, but you add to the fact that he loves you and cares for you. <br /><br /> Personally, you'll respond in worship, David wasn't indefatigable worship or relentless. Untiring unstoppable. He loved God and God loved him. And he loved to put his thoughts and feelings about God. Into words, which is what I believe is the essence of worship. We think of worship often as music. And certainly David was a great musician and songwriter and music is a great medium of expression for admiring a good and loving God. <br /><br /> But there's more to worship than just music. It's recognizing that God is sovereign. That God is big thing. God loves me. God can be trusted. You remember when David prayed? And fasted pleading with God to spare the life of his infant son. You remember this, but when the child died, as God had said through the prophet, Nathan, that would happen, David arose and did what worshiped <br /><br /> I asked. Why would you pray to God to spare the life of a child that God had already. When Nathan had already delivered the message that the, the child would die. And I think it's because David knew that God wasn't God who loved to show mercy. And David also knew that no matter what happened is God was trustworthy and that's the God you can worship. <br /><br /> Scripture says, then David got up from the ground after he had washed put on lotions and changed his clothes. He went to the house of the Lord and worshiped knowing that God not only loves you, but likes you leads you to worship. And I think David knew that God liked him and he liked God. And so it was easy. <br /><br /> For him amazed by God's forgiveness and grace to put his love for God into words. The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer. My God is my rock in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation. I call to the Lord who is worthy of praise and I am saved from my enemies. So David's worship grew out of his experience of God's goodness and care for him. <br /><br /> Relentless worship became a theme of his existence. God's grace and mercy means that despite the holes in our armor of which we all are so acutely aware our sins and struggles or failures and foibles. All are covered by the blood of Christ. We can rest in his sovereignty, receive his love, rejoice in who he is for his grace is greater than all our sin. <br /><br /> So what, what will you do today? Will you embrace his grace and mercy and accept his forgiveness? Will you rest? In his good and loving control of your life, will you respond in worship?</div> false no <![CDATA[Let God be God]]> Psalm 46

We need to unite ourselves around the empowering truth of Psalm 46. It is addressed to people who are in fear that life is out of control

When everybody, man, it's good to have everybody out there. Um, like you to turn to Psalm 46 this morning, I'm leaving our series still speaking, which is a biographical series we have been doing as a staff. Um, I did not make that decision to not go with the individual. I was going to be preaching on this morning until later this week.

I just felt really constrained to bring a message, a little different. We're going to be reading Psalm 46 in a moment. Um, four years ago on the Sunday after the 2016 presidential election, I presented a short challenge to you. We had just concluded a rancorous conflicted season. I said, we all needed to respond with gentleness to put aside anger and bitterness.

And put our energies into doing the work of serving and loving as Jesus people, the church are always called to do. And the challenge that I presented with simply we need to be the church this morning. Here we are. Four years later, the heated intense, close, controversial election has just happened. Some are ecstatic with the results.

Others are crushed. Most are relieved. It's over. Some are determined. It's not, this is a moment of emotional response is not the least of which is apprehension for the future. I like to present a challenge for this moment in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election. Four years ago, I felt constrained to emphasize the theme, be the church this morning.

I'd like to emphasize, let God be God. I think we need to unite ourselves around the empowering truth of Psalm 46. It is addressed to people who are in fear that life is out of control. They feared what was happening. They feared even more. What might happen into such a context comes this invigorating song pointing the way to a big and majestic God.

The Psalm is divided into three sections and each section ends with the word Sila. Oh, the NIV doesn't have that because I'm not sure why they don't have that. Actually, I was trying to understand that, but, um, the, the word Sila is actually in the text. It is a term that most believe was a musical. It was, it was a term that was expressed.

To the musicians, but it had a specific meaning. It meant to pause to wait and many believers what was going on when they said, see LA at the end of these verses was, they said, okay, here, stop singing, just play music and get people then to think about what they've just sung or read. And so basically Sila.

Is a way for the Psalmus to say, okay, stop for a minute and think about what I just said, permeate on it, meditate on it, reflect process a fly. And I'd like to look at these three truths that are presented to us. The first of which is verses one through three. And here's what we read. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

Therefore, we will not fear though. The earth gives way though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea though. Its waters, roam and foam, roar, and foam though, the mountains tremble at its swelling. Sheila. Think about that. Let's pray. And then we're going to look at this text. Lord, we come to you this morning.

God, we love your word. We love the relevance, the practical insight that it always gives to us. When we take time to just listen and learn. Lord, I love you for this text that you speak so much to moments in our lives that feel a little unsettling when life feels. Out of control future. We're not sure where things are going.

So Lord, may you help us to think about these truths that you give us about yourself this morning in Jesus name? Amen. The first thing we read here in verses one through three is the truth that God is with us to overcome our fears. He says in verse one, God is a. Refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

It's an interesting combination of terms, this idea of refuge strength and help, because it's the exact same thing that the prophet Isaiah emphasized in a very well-known verse, Isaiah 41, 10, where he says this fear, not for, I am with you, be not dismayed for, I am your God. I will strengthen you. And I will help you.

The word strengthen means to have our inner life strengthened. There is a, there is an empowering that comes from within, but a lot of times in our lives, we, we don't need as much as we do need that, that isn't all we need. We also need somebody to fight for us. We also need aid. We need, we need support and help.

We need to know that God, you're going to, you're going to see this thing through. Yes, you give me strength within you re renew my spirit. You can calm me. You can settle me. But I also need to know you're fighting for me that you will help me. And he says, here, God is a help in trouble. He will aid you in danger and overwhelming circumstances.

He will do for you, what you cannot do for yourself. But he says, He is a present help in trouble. I've had a couple of times when I've been away on trips. Um, one was when I was doing my doctorate ministry course out in Chicago and another was when I was at a board meeting, uh, for mission I served on and twice I remember getting calls from Maryanne and we were always checking in every day, of course.

And. Um, but stuff was going on and I can still remember. She said, I, I need you here. And one time I actually left, I left the board meeting and came home just because of stuff that was going on. And the Psalmist is saying, he's not just a help. He's here. He's a present help with us. And with you. But not only that he's a very present help.

And the word actually means he's, he's exceedingly present. I mean, he's, uh, he's as real in his presence as you could possibly be. Now. Now I've had conversations with, with, with my wife, uh, more times than I'd like to acknowledge where we'll be in the conversation and all of a sudden, you know, we're, she'll just stop and she'll say.

Where are you? You know, I thought this was a conversation, but you're not here. Well, I'm sorry, babe. I'm here, right? No, no, I'm not here. Right? I was present, but I wasn't very present. He's very present. He's near, he's a very present, help, wherever we are, wherever you are. I've been doing this series and many of our small groups, a few hundred of us start studying the OSS series and the whole focus of the series is presenting the seven characteristics of God that he gives of himself to all of us that when we're stunned with who he is, it has the design of.

The fear of God and the all of God places and overcomes the fear of our lives. The one. And you'll see this when you get to session seven, that is most often repeated in the scripture as the truth about God that is most highlighted to help us overcome our fears is to all of us with this reality, God is with you.

He says it over and over and over again to people that are scared. Spitless he says God's with you

and the results here in verse two and three, it says, it says, you know what? Even if the earth gives way, even if the mountains sink into the. Into the heart of the sea. We will not fear. Now it's a striking statement. This phrase, where he says, if the earth gives way, the word or the verb gives way is, is one word in the original.

It actually means if it's changed many of the old Testament passage, it says it's exchange. The idea is if, if the world around you is totally changed, If the parties in leadership has changed, if the whole world and all that's going on is changed. He says, we don't have to fear. We don't have to be because it's different.

And because things are unknown, he says, God will still be God. Now for these people change for them. As far as from a political standpoint, meant that opposing powers would come in and dictatorial leader subjugate them in most cases, take them away. Slaves, even if everything seems out of control and dangerous is what he's saying.

We won't fear why? Because the creative sovereign God is with us because he does not waste experiences. And he is the foundation we rest on in the midst of change. God is with us to overcome our fears. He says, think about that. And then he goes on in verses four to seven. There's a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the Holy habitation of the most high God is in the midst of her.

She shall not be moved. God will help her. When morning dawns the nations rage, the kingdoms totter, he utters his voice. The earth melts. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our fortress. See LA, think about that. Okay. The second truth we find presented that we are challenged to think about is the fact that God is with us to bring joy in himself.

It's a couple of phrases here in verse four. I want to, I want to take a minute with, he says there's a river whose streams make glad the city of God. Now this is not talking about the bricks and mortar. It's talking about the people. That God makes it it's allegorical. And the word city of God actually was picked up in the fourth century, a D by one of the greatest Christian theologians of all time, a guy named Saint Augusta and Augusta, and actually wrote a book that was called the city of God.

It's one of the most famous, theological, philosophical Christian writings ever. And basically what he's presented he says is basically in the world, there are two kingdoms. There are there is the kingdom, or excuse me, the city of man as he calls it, which is basically humankind what the new Testament regularly calls the world, which is the system of people whose lives.

Are still under the domination of the flesh of the sinful nature and their inclination. And this is all of us apart from Christ and before Christ in our lives, we are inclination of our heart is away from God, and this is the system of the world, but then he says, but there is also another Pingdom. That is operating as a sub kingdom in the midst of a counter kingdom.

And that is called the city of God. It is the people of God. It is those who are owned by Christ who have made Christ center of their lives Lord of their lives. They're now living toward the glory of that Christ. The city of God is an expression for the people of God. And then he says this. There's a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the stream of water throughout the scripture, both old and new Testament continually talks about the sense of God's Spirit's work in our lives.

Jesus presented this most beautifully in John seven, where he says this, whoever believes in me as scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them by this. He meant the spirit. Whom those who believed in him were later to receive John seven 30, eight and 39. He says, the spirit is bringing, uh, this, this, this attitude, or this atmosphere of gladness to the people of God.

It is the river that is flowing through the lives of the city of God, his own people. And the result is here in verse five. He says, God's in the midst or shall not be moved. God will help her. When morning dawns the nations rage, the kingdoms totter. But he says, but for the people of God in verse four,

they have gladness parallel passage to Habakkuk three, where Habakkuk has been moaning and groaning about all the negative things that were happened to the nation of Israel. They had people coming against them. They were being subjugated. I mean, things were, were a mess. And the Lord kept reminding him, but remember me, but remember me, but remember me and finally Habakkuk at the end of the book says this.

He says in verse 17 and 18 of Habakkuk's three, he says, you know what, though? The fig tree should not blossom. Newer fruit beyond the vines, the produce of the aisle, uh, olive fail and the fields you'll know food, food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there'll be no herd in the stalls yet. Will I rejoice in the Lord?

I will take joy in the God of my salvation. He says, I get it. God. He says my joy and my hope and my happiness. Don't have to be dependent circumstance circumstantially that you are offering yourself to be my joy. You're the river that makes glad the city, the people of God, six weeks ago, to a young couple drew and Trish Lindo, they received staggering news.

Drew and, and Trish have been we're part of our church. Uh, drew grew up in our church. They were a part of our, our callings would campus for a handful of years. They then have now they moved up to Vermont. The last, who used to be a part of a church plan up there. And Trish was in her eighth month of pregnancy, about six weeks from delivery.

And just under that. When they went in for the ultrasound and there was no response. And they were told that the, the child was gone eventually. Um, she delivered a stillborn girl and yesterday, uh, Trish posted this on Facebook. I don't quite know how to write this. And interestingly, the child's name, the girl's name is Sila today was Celia's due date.

This was yesterday for eight months. I carried her and looked forward to this day in anticipation of her arrival. I couldn't wait to find out what gender our baby was. What color, hair, and eye she would have sh would she looked more like me or drew? Couldn't wait to introduce you to her sisters who are so eager to meet her.

The Lord had other plans for my baby's life. The Lord took her to heaven on October 5th and our lives have forever changed this last month. Although it has been the toughest I've ever faced has drawn me to the Lord in ways that I never imagined possible. Every day since her passing, the Lord has given me peace every single day.

Yes. I have never been more grieved

heartbroken in my entire life, but through it all. And in his kindness, he has given both drew and I peace, a peace that I don't believe is humanly attainable. The only explanation I have is this Philippians four seven, and the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ.

Jesus. That is exactly what my heart and mind are experiencing these days. I just want to praise God so much for giving that to me. The Lord has also given us joy today was hard for sure moments every day that bring tears to my eyes. But in the midst of sorrow, we are finding intense joy, joy in the stories we are hearing about how seal his life has already.

Impacted others joy in our two healthy, beautiful girls, joy in our marriage, joy in the certainty of knowing we will see, see loss someday and ultimate joy in Christ and what he has done for us on the cross and his continued work in our lives. I read this quote and I absolutely love it. Joy is not the absence of pain, but the presence of Jesus.

Joy is not found in our circumstances. She says it's found in Jesus. I know this for certain now because I'm living proof of it. Brothers and sisters, the devil wants to take your joy. And if your joy is ultimately found in your circumstances, then he can.

but if your joy is in God, he cannot take your God. The Psalmist says in times of upheaval and confusion, that God is bringing gladness. He's the river that is making glad the people, the city of God, you're that city you're that people, if you know, Christ. And one of the incredible realities that he is offering to people in times it seem uncertain, is it, God is the one who is bringing joy.

And he says, think on that, think on that. The third thing he says is this. God is with us to control our world. Verse eight through 11, come behold, the works of the Lord, how he has brought desolations on the earth. He makes Wars cease to the end of the earth. He breaks the bow, the bow and shatters the spear.

He burns the chariots with fire. Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I'll be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our fortress. Think on that, I'll accomplish my purposes. He says, this whole song is highlighting. Let God be God, let him do his thing.

Let him rule the world. Let him overcome your fear. Let him bring you joy. We have a guy on our church board. Remember every time I read this words, be still and know that I am God, I, my mind goes here. First. He had lost a career position. He had lost his job. He and his wife were really, I mean, it was overwhelming.

What does this mean? Are we going to have to move? What's going to happen to us? What's the next step? In the midst of that confusion and exhaustion, which those times of course are exhausting, right? I mean, you're just trying to hold onto the Lord, but you're also fighting your thoughts all the time and, and, and worries can be loud and the voice can be loud.

And the devil knows the buttons to push in the midst of that. They were, they wanted to lean into, to Christ. And one day they were taking a walk in their neighborhood and it was a particularly challenging time in this whole journey. And they just stopped to check the mail as they were going out. As I understand the story and they opened the mailbox socks, and, uh, there was a postcard there and it was sent by a pastor, Ralph from our staff.

And basically it was, it was facing up and they took it out and it basically said one thing. Be still and know that I am God, I will be exalted. Now. Remember when, when Bob first told me the story of that and how God just verbally said, I've got it. I've got you. I've got this. We can be still, we can believe that he is the God moving and shaking.

Not only in the nations, but the cosmos. And he says, look,

I make war cease to the end of the earth. I break the bow and shattered the spear. I burned the chariots of fire. I'm the Lord of hosts. Um, your fortress be still and know that I'm God, God has this. He has you, he raises up Kings and sets them down. The apostle Paul said there's no authority except that which God has established.

The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted. God establishes God, institutes, whatever word you're comfortable expressing his sovereignty. Theologically, God allowed it. God decrees it, God chooses it.

What he's saying is God's over it. He's over all the nations. He sovereignly reigning. And as this prophet, Daniel said, God sets up Kings and God takes him down. We put our trust in God to be at work and to be doing his work right in every age and generation. God uses Kings premiers, prime ministers, dictators presidents to do his real work.

And to sort of get out of the way of the real work that's going on, which is the establishment of his kingdom through his people. That's the real city of God in the midst of the city of man. So all of us let's focus on what matters most being the bride of Jesus, the Saul, the life, the children of his kingdom marked by humility, gentleness, faith, generosity.

And as G and remember, as James says to the early Christians and he speaks not only to how we talk to each other face to face, but how we do it on social media platforms, he says, let all this be Swift to hear, slow, to speak, slow to become angry because of wrath, man, doesn't produce the righteousness of God and we are called to live out the righteousness of God to live righteously, humbly, gently to reflect.

The character of jesus' kingdom to our nation and our world, because our joy is in him. He's the river. He's the one that we can lean into. So the Psalm has says to us this morning, this God is with us. Overcoming our fears. Think on that. God is with us. Bringing us joy. Think on that. God is with us controlling our world.

Think on that. Let's pray,

Lord. We come to you God. Most high, the Lord of hosts. The one before whom we are called to be still

and be reminded that you're God

Lord, thank you for joy. It is not dependent on circumstances because it's found in you and as Trish reminds us in her post.

That there is a joy, there is a river that makes glad the people have got, and it's you

that there is a God that we can be still and quiet and trusting before because you're big and powerful. And Lord. This has been such a tumultuous time for our nation. We feel tensions on so many levels. Culturally Lord, as we began as a people to, to bottling, begin to regather, Lord willing if COVID allows it.

And if it doesn't, we, we trust you with that. Lord help us to. Be United in this one, a reality. That is the people of God. We know you, we have life with you. You wanted us and made us yours. So Lord, may we rejoice in that? May we rest in that? Anger be put aside me fear, be put aside my worry. Be overcome.

Lord, help us to just let you be God in Jesus name. Amen.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/let-god-be-god 48a04685-c31f-4ea8-bb89-56c6940085f2 Sun, 08 Nov 2020 18:17:16 GMT <div data-html="true">Psalm 46 <br /><br /> We need to unite ourselves around the empowering truth of Psalm 46. It is addressed to people who are in fear that life is out of control <br /><br /> When everybody, man, it's good to have everybody out there. Um, like you to turn to Psalm 46 this morning, I'm leaving our series still speaking, which is a biographical series we have been doing as a staff. Um, I did not make that decision to not go with the individual. I was going to be preaching on this morning until later this week. <br /><br /> I just felt really constrained to bring a message, a little different. We're going to be reading Psalm 46 in a moment. Um, four years ago on the Sunday after the 2016 presidential election, I presented a short challenge to you. We had just concluded a rancorous conflicted season. I said, we all needed to respond with gentleness to put aside anger and bitterness. <br /><br /> And put our energies into doing the work of serving and loving as Jesus people, the church are always called to do. And the challenge that I presented with simply we need to be the church this morning. Here we are. Four years later, the heated intense, close, controversial election has just happened. Some are ecstatic with the results. <br /><br /> Others are crushed. Most are relieved. It's over. Some are determined. It's not, this is a moment of emotional response is not the least of which is apprehension for the future. I like to present a challenge for this moment in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election. Four years ago, I felt constrained to emphasize the theme, be the church this morning. <br /><br /> I'd like to emphasize, let God be God. I think we need to unite ourselves around the empowering truth of Psalm 46. It is addressed to people who are in fear that life is out of control. They feared what was happening. They feared even more. What might happen into such a context comes this invigorating song pointing the way to a big and majestic God. <br /><br /> The Psalm is divided into three sections and each section ends with the word Sila. Oh, the NIV doesn't have that because I'm not sure why they don't have that. Actually, I was trying to understand that, but, um, the, the word Sila is actually in the text. It is a term that most believe was a musical. It was, it was a term that was expressed. <br /><br /> To the musicians, but it had a specific meaning. It meant to pause to wait and many believers what was going on when they said, see LA at the end of these verses was, they said, okay, here, stop singing, just play music and get people then to think about what they've just sung or read. And so basically Sila. <br /><br /> Is a way for the Psalmus to say, okay, stop for a minute and think about what I just said, permeate on it, meditate on it, reflect process a fly. And I'd like to look at these three truths that are presented to us. The first of which is verses one through three. And here's what we read. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. <br /><br /> Therefore, we will not fear though. The earth gives way though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea though. Its waters, roam and foam, roar, and foam though, the mountains tremble at its swelling. Sheila. Think about that. Let's pray. And then we're going to look at this text. Lord, we come to you this morning. <br /><br /> God, we love your word. We love the relevance, the practical insight that it always gives to us. When we take time to just listen and learn. Lord, I love you for this text that you speak so much to moments in our lives that feel a little unsettling when life feels. Out of control future. We're not sure where things are going. <br /><br /> So Lord, may you help us to think about these truths that you give us about yourself this morning in Jesus name? Amen. The first thing we read here in verses one through three is the truth that God is with us to overcome our fears. He says in verse one, God is a. Refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. <br /><br /> It's an interesting combination of terms, this idea of refuge strength and help, because it's the exact same thing that the prophet Isaiah emphasized in a very well-known verse, Isaiah 41, 10, where he says this fear, not for, I am with you, be not dismayed for, I am your God. I will strengthen you. And I will help you. <br /><br /> The word strengthen means to have our inner life strengthened. There is a, there is an empowering that comes from within, but a lot of times in our lives, we, we don't need as much as we do need that, that isn't all we need. We also need somebody to fight for us. We also need aid. We need, we need support and help. <br /><br /> We need to know that God, you're going to, you're going to see this thing through. Yes, you give me strength within you re renew my spirit. You can calm me. You can settle me. But I also need to know you're fighting for me that you will help me. And he says, here, God is a help in trouble. He will aid you in danger and overwhelming circumstances. <br /><br /> He will do for you, what you cannot do for yourself. But he says, He is a present help in trouble. I've had a couple of times when I've been away on trips. Um, one was when I was doing my doctorate ministry course out in Chicago and another was when I was at a board meeting, uh, for mission I served on and twice I remember getting calls from Maryanne and we were always checking in every day, of course. <br /><br /> And. Um, but stuff was going on and I can still remember. She said, I, I need you here. And one time I actually left, I left the board meeting and came home just because of stuff that was going on. And the Psalmist is saying, he's not just a help. He's here. He's a present help with us. And with you. But not only that he's a very present help. <br /><br /> And the word actually means he's, he's exceedingly present. I mean, he's, uh, he's as real in his presence as you could possibly be. Now. Now I've had conversations with, with, with my wife, uh, more times than I'd like to acknowledge where we'll be in the conversation and all of a sudden, you know, we're, she'll just stop and she'll say. <br /><br /> Where are you? You know, I thought this was a conversation, but you're not here. Well, I'm sorry, babe. I'm here, right? No, no, I'm not here. Right? I was present, but I wasn't very present. He's very present. He's near, he's a very present, help, wherever we are, wherever you are. I've been doing this series and many of our small groups, a few hundred of us start studying the OSS series and the whole focus of the series is presenting the seven characteristics of God that he gives of himself to all of us that when we're stunned with who he is, it has the design of. <br /><br /> The fear of God and the all of God places and overcomes the fear of our lives. The one. And you'll see this when you get to session seven, that is most often repeated in the scripture as the truth about God that is most highlighted to help us overcome our fears is to all of us with this reality, God is with you. <br /><br /> He says it over and over and over again to people that are scared. Spitless he says God's with you <br /><br /> and the results here in verse two and three, it says, it says, you know what? Even if the earth gives way, even if the mountains sink into the. Into the heart of the sea. We will not fear. Now it's a striking statement. This phrase, where he says, if the earth gives way, the word or the verb gives way is, is one word in the original. <br /><br /> It actually means if it's changed many of the old Testament passage, it says it's exchange. The idea is if, if the world around you is totally changed, If the parties in leadership has changed, if the whole world and all that's going on is changed. He says, we don't have to fear. We don't have to be because it's different. <br /><br /> And because things are unknown, he says, God will still be God. Now for these people change for them. As far as from a political standpoint, meant that opposing powers would come in and dictatorial leader subjugate them in most cases, take them away. Slaves, even if everything seems out of control and dangerous is what he's saying. <br /><br /> We won't fear why? Because the creative sovereign God is with us because he does not waste experiences. And he is the foundation we rest on in the midst of change. God is with us to overcome our fears. He says, think about that. And then he goes on in verses four to seven. There's a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the Holy habitation of the most high God is in the midst of her. <br /><br /> She shall not be moved. God will help her. When morning dawns the nations rage, the kingdoms totter, he utters his voice. The earth melts. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our fortress. See LA, think about that. Okay. The second truth we find presented that we are challenged to think about is the fact that God is with us to bring joy in himself. <br /><br /> It's a couple of phrases here in verse four. I want to, I want to take a minute with, he says there's a river whose streams make glad the city of God. Now this is not talking about the bricks and mortar. It's talking about the people. That God makes it it's allegorical. And the word city of God actually was picked up in the fourth century, a D by one of the greatest Christian theologians of all time, a guy named Saint Augusta and Augusta, and actually wrote a book that was called the city of God. <br /><br /> It's one of the most famous, theological, philosophical Christian writings ever. And basically what he's presented he says is basically in the world, there are two kingdoms. There are there is the kingdom, or excuse me, the city of man as he calls it, which is basically humankind what the new Testament regularly calls the world, which is the system of people whose lives. <br /><br /> Are still under the domination of the flesh of the sinful nature and their inclination. And this is all of us apart from Christ and before Christ in our lives, we are inclination of our heart is away from God, and this is the system of the world, but then he says, but there is also another Pingdom. That is operating as a sub kingdom in the midst of a counter kingdom. <br /><br /> And that is called the city of God. It is the people of God. It is those who are owned by Christ who have made Christ center of their lives Lord of their lives. They're now living toward the glory of that Christ. The city of God is an expression for the people of God. And then he says this. There's a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the stream of water throughout the scripture, both old and new Testament continually talks about the sense of God's Spirit's work in our lives. <br /><br /> Jesus presented this most beautifully in John seven, where he says this, whoever believes in me as scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them by this. He meant the spirit. Whom those who believed in him were later to receive John seven 30, eight and 39. He says, the spirit is bringing, uh, this, this, this attitude, or this atmosphere of gladness to the people of God. <br /><br /> It is the river that is flowing through the lives of the city of God, his own people. And the result is here in verse five. He says, God's in the midst or shall not be moved. God will help her. When morning dawns the nations rage, the kingdoms totter. But he says, but for the people of God in verse four, <br /><br /> they have gladness parallel passage to Habakkuk three, where Habakkuk has been moaning and groaning about all the negative things that were happened to the nation of Israel. They had people coming against them. They were being subjugated. I mean, things were, were a mess. And the Lord kept reminding him, but remember me, but remember me, but remember me and finally Habakkuk at the end of the book says this. <br /><br /> He says in verse 17 and 18 of Habakkuk's three, he says, you know what, though? The fig tree should not blossom. Newer fruit beyond the vines, the produce of the aisle, uh, olive fail and the fields you'll know food, food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there'll be no herd in the stalls yet. Will I rejoice in the Lord? <br /><br /> I will take joy in the God of my salvation. He says, I get it. God. He says my joy and my hope and my happiness. Don't have to be dependent circumstance circumstantially that you are offering yourself to be my joy. You're the river that makes glad the city, the people of God, six weeks ago, to a young couple drew and Trish Lindo, they received staggering news. <br /><br /> Drew and, and Trish have been we're part of our church. Uh, drew grew up in our church. They were a part of our, our callings would campus for a handful of years. They then have now they moved up to Vermont. The last, who used to be a part of a church plan up there. And Trish was in her eighth month of pregnancy, about six weeks from delivery. <br /><br /> And just under that. When they went in for the ultrasound and there was no response. And they were told that the, the child was gone eventually. Um, she delivered a stillborn girl and yesterday, uh, Trish posted this on Facebook. I don't quite know how to write this. And interestingly, the child's name, the girl's name is Sila today was Celia's due date. <br /><br /> This was yesterday for eight months. I carried her and looked forward to this day in anticipation of her arrival. I couldn't wait to find out what gender our baby was. What color, hair, and eye she would have sh would she looked more like me or drew? Couldn't wait to introduce you to her sisters who are so eager to meet her. <br /><br /> The Lord had other plans for my baby's life. The Lord took her to heaven on October 5th and our lives have forever changed this last month. Although it has been the toughest I've ever faced has drawn me to the Lord in ways that I never imagined possible. Every day since her passing, the Lord has given me peace every single day. <br /><br /> Yes. I have never been more grieved <br /><br /> heartbroken in my entire life, but through it all. And in his kindness, he has given both drew and I peace, a peace that I don't believe is humanly attainable. The only explanation I have is this Philippians four seven, and the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ. <br /><br /> Jesus. That is exactly what my heart and mind are experiencing these days. I just want to praise God so much for giving that to me. The Lord has also given us joy today was hard for sure moments every day that bring tears to my eyes. But in the midst of sorrow, we are finding intense joy, joy in the stories we are hearing about how seal his life has already. <br /><br /> Impacted others joy in our two healthy, beautiful girls, joy in our marriage, joy in the certainty of knowing we will see, see loss someday and ultimate joy in Christ and what he has done for us on the cross and his continued work in our lives. I read this quote and I absolutely love it. Joy is not the absence of pain, but the presence of Jesus. <br /><br /> Joy is not found in our circumstances. She says it's found in Jesus. I know this for certain now because I'm living proof of it. Brothers and sisters, the devil wants to take your joy. And if your joy is ultimately found in your circumstances, then he can. <br /><br /> but if your joy is in God, he cannot take your God. The Psalmist says in times of upheaval and confusion, that God is bringing gladness. He's the river that is making glad the people, the city of God, you're that city you're that people, if you know, Christ. And one of the incredible realities that he is offering to people in times it seem uncertain, is it, God is the one who is bringing joy. <br /><br /> And he says, think on that, think on that. The third thing he says is this. God is with us to control our world. Verse eight through 11, come behold, the works of the Lord, how he has brought desolations on the earth. He makes Wars cease to the end of the earth. He breaks the bow, the bow and shatters the spear. <br /><br /> He burns the chariots with fire. Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I'll be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our fortress. Think on that, I'll accomplish my purposes. He says, this whole song is highlighting. Let God be God, let him do his thing. <br /><br /> Let him rule the world. Let him overcome your fear. Let him bring you joy. We have a guy on our church board. Remember every time I read this words, be still and know that I am God, I, my mind goes here. First. He had lost a career position. He had lost his job. He and his wife were really, I mean, it was overwhelming. <br /><br /> What does this mean? Are we going to have to move? What's going to happen to us? What's the next step? In the midst of that confusion and exhaustion, which those times of course are exhausting, right? I mean, you're just trying to hold onto the Lord, but you're also fighting your thoughts all the time and, and, and worries can be loud and the voice can be loud. <br /><br /> And the devil knows the buttons to push in the midst of that. They were, they wanted to lean into, to Christ. And one day they were taking a walk in their neighborhood and it was a particularly challenging time in this whole journey. And they just stopped to check the mail as they were going out. As I understand the story and they opened the mailbox socks, and, uh, there was a postcard there and it was sent by a pastor, Ralph from our staff. <br /><br /> And basically it was, it was facing up and they took it out and it basically said one thing. Be still and know that I am God, I will be exalted. Now. Remember when, when Bob first told me the story of that and how God just verbally said, I've got it. I've got you. I've got this. We can be still, we can believe that he is the God moving and shaking. <br /><br /> Not only in the nations, but the cosmos. And he says, look, <br /><br /> I make war cease to the end of the earth. I break the bow and shattered the spear. I burned the chariots of fire. I'm the Lord of hosts. Um, your fortress be still and know that I'm God, God has this. He has you, he raises up Kings and sets them down. The apostle Paul said there's no authority except that which God has established. <br /><br /> The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted. God establishes God, institutes, whatever word you're comfortable expressing his sovereignty. Theologically, God allowed it. God decrees it, God chooses it. <br /><br /> What he's saying is God's over it. He's over all the nations. He sovereignly reigning. And as this prophet, Daniel said, God sets up Kings and God takes him down. We put our trust in God to be at work and to be doing his work right in every age and generation. God uses Kings premiers, prime ministers, dictators presidents to do his real work. <br /><br /> And to sort of get out of the way of the real work that's going on, which is the establishment of his kingdom through his people. That's the real city of God in the midst of the city of man. So all of us let's focus on what matters most being the bride of Jesus, the Saul, the life, the children of his kingdom marked by humility, gentleness, faith, generosity. <br /><br /> And as G and remember, as James says to the early Christians and he speaks not only to how we talk to each other face to face, but how we do it on social media platforms, he says, let all this be Swift to hear, slow, to speak, slow to become angry because of wrath, man, doesn't produce the righteousness of God and we are called to live out the righteousness of God to live righteously, humbly, gently to reflect. <br /><br /> The character of jesus' kingdom to our nation and our world, because our joy is in him. He's the river. He's the one that we can lean into. So the Psalm has says to us this morning, this God is with us. Overcoming our fears. Think on that. God is with us. Bringing us joy. Think on that. God is with us controlling our world. <br /><br /> Think on that. Let's pray, <br /><br /> Lord. We come to you God. Most high, the Lord of hosts. The one before whom we are called to be still <br /><br /> and be reminded that you're God <br /><br /> Lord, thank you for joy. It is not dependent on circumstances because it's found in you and as Trish reminds us in her post. <br /><br /> That there is a joy, there is a river that makes glad the people have got, and it's you <br /><br /> that there is a God that we can be still and quiet and trusting before because you're big and powerful. And Lord. This has been such a tumultuous time for our nation. We feel tensions on so many levels. Culturally Lord, as we began as a people to, to bottling, begin to regather, Lord willing if COVID allows it. <br /><br /> And if it doesn't, we, we trust you with that. Lord help us to. Be United in this one, a reality. That is the people of God. We know you, we have life with you. You wanted us and made us yours. So Lord, may we rejoice in that? May we rest in that? Anger be put aside me fear, be put aside my worry. Be overcome. <br /><br /> Lord, help us to just let you be God in Jesus name. Amen.</div> false no <![CDATA[Widow of Nain: The Politics of Jesus]]> John 7:11-17

"And when the Lord saw her, His heart was filled with pity for her"



Good morning. It's great to be with you. All my question for you as we begin is who is tired of talking about politics? Anybody who loves having a break to come to church and worship Christ and not talk about politics? Yes.

Well, you're going to be somewhat disappointed this morning. Uh, this morning, we're going to talk about Jesus politics. And the widow of Nane, uh, there's a outline that you can get this morning for, uh, taking notes. I saw Jared in the lobby and Jared saw the title and said, Oh good. I'm so glad you're going to tell me who to vote for, which will not be, uh, the subject of my sermon, but want to talk about how to approach this season one, I believe this really matters.

I like a lot of you do a lot of reading right now. Do a lot of watching. Do a lot of researching. Do a lot of looking at scripture, do a lot of looking at current events, do a lot at looking at policies, a lot, looking at candidates. Um, I am sent anywhere from five to 15 different articles or videos or resources, um, from different people that I interact with personally, on all of this stuff.

Um, believe that this season matters two. I believe that Jesus is going to be on the throne all week. Um, that he's going to be on the same throne he is today. He'll be on Wednesday or whatever day we figure out when this ultimately ends. As far as this election cycle, there's something I've been looking at the book of Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar and Derrius and their interactions with Daniel as they recognize that they are in a powerful Persian.

But temporary kingdom that the kingdoms of man and nations and countries and empires are temporary things. And they often have long life cycles, but they have life cycles. And as these men came into interaction with Daniel's God and recognized through the miraculous events in Daniel, the who God was, they had this statement as rulers.

They both talk about this kingdom. Would endure forever that Daniel's, God is a different type of God, his kingdom, a different type of kingdom. It endorsed forever. We rest in that. We sing that this morning. And, and my energy has been in this season. Leading up to looking at our text today has been looking at what were the politics of Jesus's day?

How did Jesus enter into his political season? How did he interact and speak the timeless enduring kingdom of God into the kingdoms of men during his day? And as always, if you have any concerns, uh, with the things that I say this morning and want to talk more about them, feel free to email pastor mike@mcandyatfellowshipsj.org.

No, I'd love to interact more. Well, I want to draw for you a little wider of a perspective of how Jesus entered into the tumultuous political season of his day, and then focus in on a direct passage and then ask what implications does that with how we interact in ours during the time of Christ. There's two major political powers, two major political powers.

The first of them is Rome, right? Israel is under Roman. Rule, they are in a sense exiled in their own land. As Rome has now taken over their land. And they're under the Roman empire, the Roman rule is somewhat oppressive. They are a client kingdom. They have their own government structure underneath Rome, but have parameters under which they can operate and they can't operate.

They're called a client kingdom. Rome is one of. Is the parent power of Israel at the time, Rome has a benefit in the sense that they are financially stable. They are secure as secure as any empire is at this time with having, um, the ability to protect the borders of their kingdom. So there is some benefit.

Israel is getting the kingdom of the empire of Rome has deep. Moral abominations, infanticide inside and outside the womb slavery murder for sport permitted, pedophilia, inequitable, taxation, corruption, and abuse of power, and many different types of sexual perversions. The, there is moral. Um, there is moral trouble in the Roman empire and that would definitely be of concern.

Of the Israel, the community of Israel, but Israel again, is somewhat protected in they're allowed to be their own client kingdom. They have their own King Herod King, uh, is in Jerusalem and he is King over Israel. And we see this even in the interaction of when Christ goes to the cross, it goes up through the Jewish courts and there's four trials.

For when Jesus ultimately receives the cross, that goes up to the high priest, which would most likely be above the Pharisee sec. Then it goes to the Sadducees who would be the Sanhedrin. Then it goes, ultimately to pilot, pilot sends them back to Herod King of the Jews. Herod sends them back to pilot. You have this interaction, Rome and Israel.

Working together as they try to figure out who's in charge of which exact thing, but they have two powers Herod over Israel. And Rome obviously ultimately sees her and pilot who's the prefect over their region. Within the people of Israel. Jesus came as an Israelite. He came amongst the people of Israel.

There are four major. Sex four major groups, four major political parties that most of everyone would align somewhere within these parties. The first and largest of these is the Pharisee party. This doesn't mean everyone was a priest, but most or many people say about 60,000 strong we're of the belief that the Pharisee's position was the right position for Israel.

The Pharisees did not want Roman authority. They wanted spiritual purity and separation from Rome. They were looking for a Messiah to come to politically over, throw Rome from being in charge of Israel. And that ultimately would become the King of Israel, the head of Israel and would in a political sense, lead them.

A way similar to many of the saviors of the old Testament, the Sadducees, the second sec, where people who were, they had some of the same interests as the Pharisees, but they were usually more people of means this is the high financial class. This will be who the Sanhedrin, the governing body over Israel was populated by these, this group of people.

Um, Was, they had less of a spiritual interest. The worst Christian pun we have, right. Is they were sad. You see, because they didn't believe in the. Resurrection or the miraculous. They actually were more buddy buddy with Rome. They were enjoying the financial benefit and security of Rome. And we're benefiting from that relationship.

So you have the Pharisees. You have the Sadducees and then you got the hippie group, cause you always got to have a hippie group out there. Right? That's the scenes. Now, these scenes were out in the caves, out in the desert. They believed in a spiritual purity, somewhat similar to the Pharisees, but they believed in living it out more extreme Lee, the density scrolls, the Qumran caves.

These are the community of the scenes. When John the Baptist comes. Uh, ministering in the wilderness, most likely many, if not, all of his followers were from the group of, uh, scenes who were also waiting for the Messiah. But again, believed in separation and separating themselves as far from Rome as possible and living out in the wilderness.

And lastly, you had the zealots. Now the zealots believed in overthrow of Rome, but they believed in it through physical means. This group of people, um, was often, they were considered terrorists at the time. If you're from a Roman perspective, they develop little knives that were S uh, S called the S in the Sakari of the zealots develop these little knives where they could come up and, uh, puncture.

The Romans right here to get right past the breastplate and right PA by the shoulder plate. And they would come up to the Romans, often do this in a crowd, and then go back into the crowd. These zealots were trying to overthrow Rome. And in fact, by 78 D had created such an overthrow, bro, that roam came in and eventually, uh, no longer had the client King of Israel tore down the temple and, um, And did any type of Israel reign within the community?

Simon, the zealot was actually one of the disciples of Jesus and an example of people from the zealot community, these factions. Right. The Pharisees, Sadducees, uh, scenes and zealots risked, much to be a part of their group. The Pharisees we know, were extreme in their commitment to the law that not only kept the law, but they said, we're going to quote unquote, build a fence around the law, meaning we're not going to get anywhere close to, to possibly violating the law.

And so they actually built more and more rules. In addition to their laws so that they would not violate any extreme amount of commitment to be a Pharisee, to be a sad, you see? Yes. The lot of people were self interested in the sad UC sect, but to be there meant you had to separate yourself from many and most of your own people and risk.

The political, emotional, societal pressure for being a sellout to be in a scene, you are removing yourself from community. Okay. So anyway, you have these different groups of people, these warring factions who give much to sacrifice, to be a part of their beliefs. These people also, of course, because their people are not only holding to their beliefs, but they're fighting against each other's beliefs.

There's a bloody civil war in the first century before this. Um, between the Sadducees and the Pharisees, and it goes on for a long time. And there is, as we said, the zealots were murdering Romans. They were also murdering leaders of other sex of high level Pharisees and Sadducees because they are targeting one another for this belief, uh, scenes are just sitting out there in the caves writing documents.

Assuming everyone else is a sellout. There is a lot of conflict for when Christ come-ons comes onto the scene into this massive collision. Jesus entered with great tension on every side. As he gained in popularity, everyone would be watching this new prophet whose t-shirt is he going to wear? Which tribes will he fight for?

Which hashtag will he use? What side of the aisle will he fall? As he had so much of the attention? Of the people, where would he land and how would he interact? We see directly in our new Testament, people trying to pin down Jesus, right? The Pharisees saying, trying to trick Jesus or understand where he was.

They asked this question or they would bring them a coin. Hey, this is a Roman coin. What do we do with it? This do we give our taxes are not John the Baptist, even when Jesus came as a little confused saying, is this, are you the one or are you not? What exactly? Where do you stand? Where do you fit? All worldly movements are based on common strategy tactics aligning with who is your ally?

And who is your enemy? Both allies and enemies raise energy towards our cause. Allies are a gift because they give strength to the movement. Enemies are a gift because they energize your allies and create enough fear. To keep your allies passionate. There is very little that motivates a human more than defeating a threat.

And so they're asking who is Jesus's enemy? Who is Jesus going to align with? And it is into this text. We have this tension and we're going to read a story and we're just going to simply walk through the text bit by bit in Luke chapter seven, starting. In verse 11, but as we enter into the text and into this background, I just want to pray

father we're in trigger space. I know that there's people here, people online and already it's where are you going, bud? What are you doing? I just asked we'd be near. Your son, Jesus Christ. And that as we walk through this week and we're going to hit our pockets of ego and fear and anger and excitement.

May we look as people who are not first red and blue, but are first followers of the Lord King. Jesus Christ may that so embed inside of us, that everything that comes from us. Is of him. We thank you for a chance to learn from your son in Jesus name. Amen. Okay, quickly as we walk through this text, Luke seven starts with these twos words soon afterward we'll soon after what he, Jesus has just given his big teaching on what the kingdom of God is going to be about.

Matthew five, six. Seven. We see this, we see this in another gospel as well. This teaching is setting forward his, his stance on what his kingdom is going to look like. He's just given this teaching and done a couple of miracles right before this, before he left for the town of name, which is where he's going.

He said Capernaum and in Copernum, there is a Centurion, a Roman. Who approaches Jesus. If there's ever a time to know where Jesus stands with Rome, it's now the Centurion comes to Jesus and he says, Hey, my servant, my Roman servant is sick. Will you heal him? Jesus spent such a disappointing amount of time for many.

And not condemning or affirming room. He spoke so much about his own kingdom and new ways of love, and often less about how everyone should be afraid of the threats of worldly powers and loss of human status or comforts. And he freely willingly because of the faith of the century and heels. The century and servant, undoubtedly causing lots of questions he packs up.

And then he goes from Capernum to Nane it's a multiple mile walk, probably would take about eight hours. And it says in the text, um, right then in verse 11, Jesus went to a town called name and his disciples and a large crowd. Went too long with him. So now is a long journey. After having this event with the Centurion, with Rome, to have people walking, communicating, talking, wondering about Jesus and who he is, and he goes to this smaller town.

Eight miles from Capernum as he's finishing his journey, the J day's journey in the desert, undoubtedly talking with his disciples. This is a small town. This is a large crowd. Where are we going to get food? Where are we going to get lodging practical concerns of taking his followers through a wilderness?

He's just coming into town. And as he approached, verse 12 says, as he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out the only son of his mother. And she was a widow. Being a widow at this time, it's the Texas very clear to say she is a widow isn't she does not have a husband in that community.

A husband would be responsible to both financially take care of his wife as well as to physically protect her. If that role, if the husband has died, that role goes to the son. This is the. Only son of his mother and the text is clear to demonstrate that this woman would be financially destitute as well as not have, she would be vulnerable, not have the protection that she would need.

And it says a large crowd in verse 12 was with her. So you have a large crowd of more nurse for what this woman has lost and for the loss of a person in their community and a large crowd of excited people trying to talk and see and follow Jesus and give up their lives for this Jesus prophet. And who is he?

We're figuring that out early on the scene. These two crowds. Collide. And what we have right there in the text is Luke is giving us these verbs to demonstrate how Jesus approaches this situation. First, it says in verse 13 about Jesus's vision. These two crowds come together. It says when the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her verse 13, when the Lord saw her.

And there's a giant group of people here, he's walking with a giant group of people here. They merge at the town gate. And where is Jesus's vision? When the Lord saw her? His heart went out to her. He knew the crowds were there. But that's not where he was looking. He knew a lot of people had expectations on him, but that's not what had his attention.

He knew they were people who could donate to his campaign, food influence, other who could possibly merge these different political parties, or he could take a stand for or against. There's a lot of energy to figure out who Christ was and all of this tension, he would be aware of. But when the Lord was looking, he saw her, he saw someone in pain, alone and vulnerable next, the text says when he saw her alone and vulnerable, then it says, and he said, not only did he saw, but he spoke and he spoke the kind of words you never expect to hear at a funeral.

And we should never try to emulate it says, and he said, don't cry. That is not what you want to say in a giant funeral procession. Literally the worst thing you can say to someone grieving is don't grieve. He says, don't cry. Can you imagine hearing this stranger to this woman, this man walks up with the crowd of people and says, don't cry.

Don't cry. My whole life is ruined. My loves have all died. My future has died. My security has died. Memories and tears are the only things I have left. Don't cry. These are only words of hope because Jesus would not just say them, but would live them. They are words of reassurance. They are meant to bring healing.

Because they're words that affirm the fact that he comes to bring life into death. Then the text goes from his vision to what he says to his action, what he does. Right. Next verse, verse 14. Then he went up and touched the beer where they were carrying him on the bearers stood still. He said, young man, I say to you, get up.

The dead man sat up and began to talk and Jesus gave him back to his mother. Okay. Here is when Jesus raises the dead for the first time. This miracle is different than other miracles he had done before. This miracle is special. There's only three people that he will raise from the dead before the father raises him from the dead.

The times that he did so are very intentional. There was a lot of dead people in Israel that he could have raised. There are three times, and this is the first did not happen in Jerusalem. It did not happen in fanfare. It happened. In response to a grief and a need directly in front of him. Imagine those political parties again, man, for the Pharisees would, if he had raised Moses, Oh man.

Now we clear everything up. You know, what, what if he, what if he had gone and raised up Alijah? Uh, what if he had come in and raised up someone that would just fit directly within. One of these communities that could so communicate that maybe he could raise no one to make the sad Jessie's happy, like, like what he is so many opportunities to connect with his allies, his potential allies by who we would raise.

And he raised a boy who we don't even know his name, then the response they were filled with awe and praise God. A great prophet has come upon among us. They said, I love this. God has come to help his people. Why is he there? Is he there to win? Is he there? Is he where to triumph? Is he aware to out muscle?

Is he where to gather and to strategically rise. And if we can only get our group to get bigger and expand and tell those people they're dumb. No they're dumb. And finally get forward rise, right? No, God has come to help his people. This news about Jesus spread throughout your Judea. And surrounding country.

The legacy of this Messiah was one of downward help. This is the God who has come. They said, God has come to help his people. Very simply from our verbs, we get from Luke his, of his vision of his, what he speaks. And then of what he does by way of practical application, as we enter, as we, we don't enter the season, we've been in this season for a long time politically, number one, look for the eyes of Jesus this week.

Read, get in the gospels, read and love the downward way of Jesus's compassion for people. And here's what we need to do first recognize first. Jesus is compassionate for ourselves. My first work, when it comes to all of this political conflict is to remember, Jesus loves me. That may sound really egocentric and really me-centric, but, but here's the economy of the gospel.

And if there's anything I say in every sermon, it's this. If you don't, if we don't know the compassion of Christ for ourselves in our situation, in our crisises, in our fears, in our pain, in our ego triggers, in our hopes and our fears in our every days. Then we can not freely give it to others. We cannot give what we don't have.

The first lesson of the widow of name is not just to take care of widows of names. It's to recognize we are both the widow and the dead son that we are in need of his compassion towards us. The gospel of Jesus Christ teaches us this. The first calling of love we learn from first John and everywhere else.

It is not to be earned. Love is not to be borrowed. Love is not even to be copied. Love is from God. And if we don't get it from him, we don't have it to give away. So often I am the loudest. Even politically when I'm the most scared. What about my views? What about my rights? What about my family? What about finances?

What about the future of America? What about the future? What about this? What about that? It's because I'm looking to my own nation to bring answers, to questions of my own sense of security. I'm scared. So a mad, I want everyone to know how dumb they are if they don't think. Like I do looking into the eyes of Jesus means I know his compassion for me.

And when I know that catch this, I realized I cannot look into the eyes of anyone else and see an enemy. I cannot look into the eyes of anyone else and see an enemy. Jesus came in his teaching that he just gave on the sermon on the Mount. And he's talking about all these things he says. Okay. All right.

All right. Let me in five chapter five 42 of Matthew, he says, let's talk about the enemies said that you feel like you got an enemy. You need to pray for them and do good to them because that marks you following my kingdom. So, so if you're out there talking about those crazy Democrats or those nutso conservatives, what I would say is maybe you're not looking at humans at people with the compassionate eyes of God.

And we say, well, didn't Jesus rail against the Pharisees. That's kind of where we can, like, I heard him say really mad things about the Pharisees real quick. Jesus loved the Pharisees. The second person Jesus raises from the dead is Jaris his daughter. Jarris. This is a religious leader, either a Pharisee or a sad.

You see Jesus does not rail against the Pharisees political perspective or trying to prove them wrong in all ways, what he rails against. Is their pride and their lack of love. These are things, Jesus rails against a lack of compassion. Secondly, we speak his words. We speak like Christ, speak. This, this I think is really important.

Speak the names of people you are called to love and serve. More than just speaking all your policies. And I I'm, I would consider myself political. I've got opinions. I've got thoughts. I know you do tune. It's not saying you should not have thoughts or opinions, but if our thoughts and our opinions or our lumping people into these groups or that groups, we speak that more than the names of people we are called to serve right now.

Perhaps we're more speaking our own words and not the words of Christ to speak to humans. The hope of love of Christ. Um, Jesus, the Pharisees were after Jesus in John chapter seven. And they send their servants to go get Jesus. They're sending him, go arrest him, shut this guy up. And they go, and they're going to arrest them in Jesus teaching.

And throughout most of her, about half of chapter seven in John there, they're like, Oh, we don't know when to grab him. And then they come back to the Pharisees in verse 42. And, uh, are verse 35 and it says the officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees who said this to him, them, why didn't you bring up?

Why didn't you not go get him? And this is what they said. The officers answered. No one ever spoke like this, man, please. Are you speaking differently than other people right now? Is it just you're grabbing and lobbing grenades or saying those people are this or those people are that, or you speaking the tender, loving words of Christ and the kingdom of hope into the world.

Don't speak about crazy. Democrats are crazy. Socialists are crazy. Republicans are crazy. Libertarians are crazy, whatever ins do speak crazy, speak the message. That was so crazy to people that they came back and said, I have never heard a person speak like this. It is not the words of men don't sound like the words of men.

And then lastly joined him in action. No way am I trying to tell you what all the political persuasions that you should be, but I am asking you to let your passions be motivated by compassion that your energy and action be centered and where your citizenship. Most foundationally lies in a secure and beautiful place in the kingdom of God where love and compassion and hope are a part of every actions.

When you come and are faced with situations of pain, as our Christ was all the time. Don't don't make your first thing be to inform or to convince or to Dodge and say, listen, I don't enter all that stuff or to duck, but make our calling to help. Be known as that guy is in his family to be a person of help that woman in her workplace, man, she is just there to help that person is a citizen of their country, but their citizenship is marked by just how much they want to help with a love that is bigger than themselves.

No, but you can be known by what you stand for, but make sure everyone. Can see who you are actively directly helping pray with me. Lord, we enter in tricky times. Triggers, fear. Easiest thing to do right now is the hunker in our groups. And maybe you believe all the others are ignorant or evil. Easiest thing to do is to, to play the tactics of allies and enemies, or just try to get out of there and not play at all.

Grant us the vulnerability and the humility of Jesus that never left compassion. May we be people who hold to our convictions, but may our convictions never enter fear and never leave the kingdom of love. This is so easy for each of us to do. We need you. Jesus. Come calm our souls and remind us no matter what happens, you remain King on Wednesday in your name.

We pray. Amen. We are dismissed.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/widow-of-nain-the-politics-of-jesus a3f85753-12c7-4d8a-815d-f7a3925f2377 Sun, 01 Nov 2020 21:52:23 GMT <div data-html="true">John 7:11-17 <br /><br /> "And when the Lord saw her, His heart was filled with pity for her" <br /><br /> <br /><br /> Good morning. It's great to be with you. All my question for you as we begin is who is tired of talking about politics? Anybody who loves having a break to come to church and worship Christ and not talk about politics? Yes. <br /><br /> Well, you're going to be somewhat disappointed this morning. Uh, this morning, we're going to talk about Jesus politics. And the widow of Nane, uh, there's a outline that you can get this morning for, uh, taking notes. I saw Jared in the lobby and Jared saw the title and said, Oh good. I'm so glad you're going to tell me who to vote for, which will not be, uh, the subject of my sermon, but want to talk about how to approach this season one, I believe this really matters. <br /><br /> I like a lot of you do a lot of reading right now. Do a lot of watching. Do a lot of researching. Do a lot of looking at scripture, do a lot of looking at current events, do a lot at looking at policies, a lot, looking at candidates. Um, I am sent anywhere from five to 15 different articles or videos or resources, um, from different people that I interact with personally, on all of this stuff. <br /><br /> Um, believe that this season matters two. I believe that Jesus is going to be on the throne all week. Um, that he's going to be on the same throne he is today. He'll be on Wednesday or whatever day we figure out when this ultimately ends. As far as this election cycle, there's something I've been looking at the book of Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar and Derrius and their interactions with Daniel as they recognize that they are in a powerful Persian. <br /><br /> But temporary kingdom that the kingdoms of man and nations and countries and empires are temporary things. And they often have long life cycles, but they have life cycles. And as these men came into interaction with Daniel's God and recognized through the miraculous events in Daniel, the who God was, they had this statement as rulers. <br /><br /> They both talk about this kingdom. Would endure forever that Daniel's, God is a different type of God, his kingdom, a different type of kingdom. It endorsed forever. We rest in that. We sing that this morning. And, and my energy has been in this season. Leading up to looking at our text today has been looking at what were the politics of Jesus's day? <br /><br /> How did Jesus enter into his political season? How did he interact and speak the timeless enduring kingdom of God into the kingdoms of men during his day? And as always, if you have any concerns, uh, with the things that I say this morning and want to talk more about them, feel free to email pastor mike@mcandyatfellowshipsj.org. <br /><br /> No, I'd love to interact more. Well, I want to draw for you a little wider of a perspective of how Jesus entered into the tumultuous political season of his day, and then focus in on a direct passage and then ask what implications does that with how we interact in ours during the time of Christ. There's two major political powers, two major political powers. <br /><br /> The first of them is Rome, right? Israel is under Roman. Rule, they are in a sense exiled in their own land. As Rome has now taken over their land. And they're under the Roman empire, the Roman rule is somewhat oppressive. They are a client kingdom. They have their own government structure underneath Rome, but have parameters under which they can operate and they can't operate. <br /><br /> They're called a client kingdom. Rome is one of. Is the parent power of Israel at the time, Rome has a benefit in the sense that they are financially stable. They are secure as secure as any empire is at this time with having, um, the ability to protect the borders of their kingdom. So there is some benefit. <br /><br /> Israel is getting the kingdom of the empire of Rome has deep. Moral abominations, infanticide inside and outside the womb slavery murder for sport permitted, pedophilia, inequitable, taxation, corruption, and abuse of power, and many different types of sexual perversions. The, there is moral. Um, there is moral trouble in the Roman empire and that would definitely be of concern. <br /><br /> Of the Israel, the community of Israel, but Israel again, is somewhat protected in they're allowed to be their own client kingdom. They have their own King Herod King, uh, is in Jerusalem and he is King over Israel. And we see this even in the interaction of when Christ goes to the cross, it goes up through the Jewish courts and there's four trials. <br /><br /> For when Jesus ultimately receives the cross, that goes up to the high priest, which would most likely be above the Pharisee sec. Then it goes to the Sadducees who would be the Sanhedrin. Then it goes, ultimately to pilot, pilot sends them back to Herod King of the Jews. Herod sends them back to pilot. You have this interaction, Rome and Israel. <br /><br /> Working together as they try to figure out who's in charge of which exact thing, but they have two powers Herod over Israel. And Rome obviously ultimately sees her and pilot who's the prefect over their region. Within the people of Israel. Jesus came as an Israelite. He came amongst the people of Israel. <br /><br /> There are four major. Sex four major groups, four major political parties that most of everyone would align somewhere within these parties. The first and largest of these is the Pharisee party. This doesn't mean everyone was a priest, but most or many people say about 60,000 strong we're of the belief that the Pharisee's position was the right position for Israel. <br /><br /> The Pharisees did not want Roman authority. They wanted spiritual purity and separation from Rome. They were looking for a Messiah to come to politically over, throw Rome from being in charge of Israel. And that ultimately would become the King of Israel, the head of Israel and would in a political sense, lead them. <br /><br /> A way similar to many of the saviors of the old Testament, the Sadducees, the second sec, where people who were, they had some of the same interests as the Pharisees, but they were usually more people of means this is the high financial class. This will be who the Sanhedrin, the governing body over Israel was populated by these, this group of people. <br /><br /> Um, Was, they had less of a spiritual interest. The worst Christian pun we have, right. Is they were sad. You see, because they didn't believe in the. Resurrection or the miraculous. They actually were more buddy buddy with Rome. They were enjoying the financial benefit and security of Rome. And we're benefiting from that relationship. <br /><br /> So you have the Pharisees. You have the Sadducees and then you got the hippie group, cause you always got to have a hippie group out there. Right? That's the scenes. Now, these scenes were out in the caves, out in the desert. They believed in a spiritual purity, somewhat similar to the Pharisees, but they believed in living it out more extreme Lee, the density scrolls, the Qumran caves. <br /><br /> These are the community of the scenes. When John the Baptist comes. Uh, ministering in the wilderness, most likely many, if not, all of his followers were from the group of, uh, scenes who were also waiting for the Messiah. But again, believed in separation and separating themselves as far from Rome as possible and living out in the wilderness. <br /><br /> And lastly, you had the zealots. Now the zealots believed in overthrow of Rome, but they believed in it through physical means. This group of people, um, was often, they were considered terrorists at the time. If you're from a Roman perspective, they develop little knives that were S uh, S called the S in the Sakari of the zealots develop these little knives where they could come up and, uh, puncture. <br /><br /> The Romans right here to get right past the breastplate and right PA by the shoulder plate. And they would come up to the Romans, often do this in a crowd, and then go back into the crowd. These zealots were trying to overthrow Rome. And in fact, by 78 D had created such an overthrow, bro, that roam came in and eventually, uh, no longer had the client King of Israel tore down the temple and, um, And did any type of Israel reign within the community? <br /><br /> Simon, the zealot was actually one of the disciples of Jesus and an example of people from the zealot community, these factions. Right. The Pharisees, Sadducees, uh, scenes and zealots risked, much to be a part of their group. The Pharisees we know, were extreme in their commitment to the law that not only kept the law, but they said, we're going to quote unquote, build a fence around the law, meaning we're not going to get anywhere close to, to possibly violating the law. <br /><br /> And so they actually built more and more rules. In addition to their laws so that they would not violate any extreme amount of commitment to be a Pharisee, to be a sad, you see? Yes. The lot of people were self interested in the sad UC sect, but to be there meant you had to separate yourself from many and most of your own people and risk. <br /><br /> The political, emotional, societal pressure for being a sellout to be in a scene, you are removing yourself from community. Okay. So anyway, you have these different groups of people, these warring factions who give much to sacrifice, to be a part of their beliefs. These people also, of course, because their people are not only holding to their beliefs, but they're fighting against each other's beliefs. <br /><br /> There's a bloody civil war in the first century before this. Um, between the Sadducees and the Pharisees, and it goes on for a long time. And there is, as we said, the zealots were murdering Romans. They were also murdering leaders of other sex of high level Pharisees and Sadducees because they are targeting one another for this belief, uh, scenes are just sitting out there in the caves writing documents. <br /><br /> Assuming everyone else is a sellout. There is a lot of conflict for when Christ come-ons comes onto the scene into this massive collision. Jesus entered with great tension on every side. As he gained in popularity, everyone would be watching this new prophet whose t-shirt is he going to wear? Which tribes will he fight for? <br /><br /> Which hashtag will he use? What side of the aisle will he fall? As he had so much of the attention? Of the people, where would he land and how would he interact? We see directly in our new Testament, people trying to pin down Jesus, right? The Pharisees saying, trying to trick Jesus or understand where he was. <br /><br /> They asked this question or they would bring them a coin. Hey, this is a Roman coin. What do we do with it? This do we give our taxes are not John the Baptist, even when Jesus came as a little confused saying, is this, are you the one or are you not? What exactly? Where do you stand? Where do you fit? All worldly movements are based on common strategy tactics aligning with who is your ally? <br /><br /> And who is your enemy? Both allies and enemies raise energy towards our cause. Allies are a gift because they give strength to the movement. Enemies are a gift because they energize your allies and create enough fear. To keep your allies passionate. There is very little that motivates a human more than defeating a threat. <br /><br /> And so they're asking who is Jesus's enemy? Who is Jesus going to align with? And it is into this text. We have this tension and we're going to read a story and we're just going to simply walk through the text bit by bit in Luke chapter seven, starting. In verse 11, but as we enter into the text and into this background, I just want to pray <br /><br /> father we're in trigger space. I know that there's people here, people online and already it's where are you going, bud? What are you doing? I just asked we'd be near. Your son, Jesus Christ. And that as we walk through this week and we're going to hit our pockets of ego and fear and anger and excitement. <br /><br /> May we look as people who are not first red and blue, but are first followers of the Lord King. Jesus Christ may that so embed inside of us, that everything that comes from us. Is of him. We thank you for a chance to learn from your son in Jesus name. Amen. Okay, quickly as we walk through this text, Luke seven starts with these twos words soon afterward we'll soon after what he, Jesus has just given his big teaching on what the kingdom of God is going to be about. <br /><br /> Matthew five, six. Seven. We see this, we see this in another gospel as well. This teaching is setting forward his, his stance on what his kingdom is going to look like. He's just given this teaching and done a couple of miracles right before this, before he left for the town of name, which is where he's going. <br /><br /> He said Capernaum and in Copernum, there is a Centurion, a Roman. Who approaches Jesus. If there's ever a time to know where Jesus stands with Rome, it's now the Centurion comes to Jesus and he says, Hey, my servant, my Roman servant is sick. Will you heal him? Jesus spent such a disappointing amount of time for many. <br /><br /> And not condemning or affirming room. He spoke so much about his own kingdom and new ways of love, and often less about how everyone should be afraid of the threats of worldly powers and loss of human status or comforts. And he freely willingly because of the faith of the century and heels. The century and servant, undoubtedly causing lots of questions he packs up. <br /><br /> And then he goes from Capernum to Nane it's a multiple mile walk, probably would take about eight hours. And it says in the text, um, right then in verse 11, Jesus went to a town called name and his disciples and a large crowd. Went too long with him. So now is a long journey. After having this event with the Centurion, with Rome, to have people walking, communicating, talking, wondering about Jesus and who he is, and he goes to this smaller town. <br /><br /> Eight miles from Capernum as he's finishing his journey, the J day's journey in the desert, undoubtedly talking with his disciples. This is a small town. This is a large crowd. Where are we going to get food? Where are we going to get lodging practical concerns of taking his followers through a wilderness? <br /><br /> He's just coming into town. And as he approached, verse 12 says, as he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out the only son of his mother. And she was a widow. Being a widow at this time, it's the Texas very clear to say she is a widow isn't she does not have a husband in that community. <br /><br /> A husband would be responsible to both financially take care of his wife as well as to physically protect her. If that role, if the husband has died, that role goes to the son. This is the. Only son of his mother and the text is clear to demonstrate that this woman would be financially destitute as well as not have, she would be vulnerable, not have the protection that she would need. <br /><br /> And it says a large crowd in verse 12 was with her. So you have a large crowd of more nurse for what this woman has lost and for the loss of a person in their community and a large crowd of excited people trying to talk and see and follow Jesus and give up their lives for this Jesus prophet. And who is he? <br /><br /> We're figuring that out early on the scene. These two crowds. Collide. And what we have right there in the text is Luke is giving us these verbs to demonstrate how Jesus approaches this situation. First, it says in verse 13 about Jesus's vision. These two crowds come together. It says when the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her verse 13, when the Lord saw her. <br /><br /> And there's a giant group of people here, he's walking with a giant group of people here. They merge at the town gate. And where is Jesus's vision? When the Lord saw her? His heart went out to her. He knew the crowds were there. But that's not where he was looking. He knew a lot of people had expectations on him, but that's not what had his attention. <br /><br /> He knew they were people who could donate to his campaign, food influence, other who could possibly merge these different political parties, or he could take a stand for or against. There's a lot of energy to figure out who Christ was and all of this tension, he would be aware of. But when the Lord was looking, he saw her, he saw someone in pain, alone and vulnerable next, the text says when he saw her alone and vulnerable, then it says, and he said, not only did he saw, but he spoke and he spoke the kind of words you never expect to hear at a funeral. <br /><br /> And we should never try to emulate it says, and he said, don't cry. That is not what you want to say in a giant funeral procession. Literally the worst thing you can say to someone grieving is don't grieve. He says, don't cry. Can you imagine hearing this stranger to this woman, this man walks up with the crowd of people and says, don't cry. <br /><br /> Don't cry. My whole life is ruined. My loves have all died. My future has died. My security has died. Memories and tears are the only things I have left. Don't cry. These are only words of hope because Jesus would not just say them, but would live them. They are words of reassurance. They are meant to bring healing. <br /><br /> Because they're words that affirm the fact that he comes to bring life into death. Then the text goes from his vision to what he says to his action, what he does. Right. Next verse, verse 14. Then he went up and touched the beer where they were carrying him on the bearers stood still. He said, young man, I say to you, get up. <br /><br /> The dead man sat up and began to talk and Jesus gave him back to his mother. Okay. Here is when Jesus raises the dead for the first time. This miracle is different than other miracles he had done before. This miracle is special. There's only three people that he will raise from the dead before the father raises him from the dead. <br /><br /> The times that he did so are very intentional. There was a lot of dead people in Israel that he could have raised. There are three times, and this is the first did not happen in Jerusalem. It did not happen in fanfare. It happened. In response to a grief and a need directly in front of him. Imagine those political parties again, man, for the Pharisees would, if he had raised Moses, Oh man. <br /><br /> Now we clear everything up. You know, what, what if he, what if he had gone and raised up Alijah? Uh, what if he had come in and raised up someone that would just fit directly within. One of these communities that could so communicate that maybe he could raise no one to make the sad Jessie's happy, like, like what he is so many opportunities to connect with his allies, his potential allies by who we would raise. <br /><br /> And he raised a boy who we don't even know his name, then the response they were filled with awe and praise God. A great prophet has come upon among us. They said, I love this. God has come to help his people. Why is he there? Is he there to win? Is he there? Is he where to triumph? Is he aware to out muscle? <br /><br /> Is he where to gather and to strategically rise. And if we can only get our group to get bigger and expand and tell those people they're dumb. No they're dumb. And finally get forward rise, right? No, God has come to help his people. This news about Jesus spread throughout your Judea. And surrounding country. <br /><br /> The legacy of this Messiah was one of downward help. This is the God who has come. They said, God has come to help his people. Very simply from our verbs, we get from Luke his, of his vision of his, what he speaks. And then of what he does by way of practical application, as we enter, as we, we don't enter the season, we've been in this season for a long time politically, number one, look for the eyes of Jesus this week. <br /><br /> Read, get in the gospels, read and love the downward way of Jesus's compassion for people. And here's what we need to do first recognize first. Jesus is compassionate for ourselves. My first work, when it comes to all of this political conflict is to remember, Jesus loves me. That may sound really egocentric and really me-centric, but, but here's the economy of the gospel. <br /><br /> And if there's anything I say in every sermon, it's this. If you don't, if we don't know the compassion of Christ for ourselves in our situation, in our crisises, in our fears, in our pain, in our ego triggers, in our hopes and our fears in our every days. Then we can not freely give it to others. We cannot give what we don't have. <br /><br /> The first lesson of the widow of name is not just to take care of widows of names. It's to recognize we are both the widow and the dead son that we are in need of his compassion towards us. The gospel of Jesus Christ teaches us this. The first calling of love we learn from first John and everywhere else. <br /><br /> It is not to be earned. Love is not to be borrowed. Love is not even to be copied. Love is from God. And if we don't get it from him, we don't have it to give away. So often I am the loudest. Even politically when I'm the most scared. What about my views? What about my rights? What about my family? What about finances? <br /><br /> What about the future of America? What about the future? What about this? What about that? It's because I'm looking to my own nation to bring answers, to questions of my own sense of security. I'm scared. So a mad, I want everyone to know how dumb they are if they don't think. Like I do looking into the eyes of Jesus means I know his compassion for me. <br /><br /> And when I know that catch this, I realized I cannot look into the eyes of anyone else and see an enemy. I cannot look into the eyes of anyone else and see an enemy. Jesus came in his teaching that he just gave on the sermon on the Mount. And he's talking about all these things he says. Okay. All right. <br /><br /> All right. Let me in five chapter five 42 of Matthew, he says, let's talk about the enemies said that you feel like you got an enemy. You need to pray for them and do good to them because that marks you following my kingdom. So, so if you're out there talking about those crazy Democrats or those nutso conservatives, what I would say is maybe you're not looking at humans at people with the compassionate eyes of God. <br /><br /> And we say, well, didn't Jesus rail against the Pharisees. That's kind of where we can, like, I heard him say really mad things about the Pharisees real quick. Jesus loved the Pharisees. The second person Jesus raises from the dead is Jaris his daughter. Jarris. This is a religious leader, either a Pharisee or a sad. <br /><br /> You see Jesus does not rail against the Pharisees political perspective or trying to prove them wrong in all ways, what he rails against. Is their pride and their lack of love. These are things, Jesus rails against a lack of compassion. Secondly, we speak his words. We speak like Christ, speak. This, this I think is really important. <br /><br /> Speak the names of people you are called to love and serve. More than just speaking all your policies. And I I'm, I would consider myself political. I've got opinions. I've got thoughts. I know you do tune. It's not saying you should not have thoughts or opinions, but if our thoughts and our opinions or our lumping people into these groups or that groups, we speak that more than the names of people we are called to serve right now. <br /><br /> Perhaps we're more speaking our own words and not the words of Christ to speak to humans. The hope of love of Christ. Um, Jesus, the Pharisees were after Jesus in John chapter seven. And they send their servants to go get Jesus. They're sending him, go arrest him, shut this guy up. And they go, and they're going to arrest them in Jesus teaching. <br /><br /> And throughout most of her, about half of chapter seven in John there, they're like, Oh, we don't know when to grab him. And then they come back to the Pharisees in verse 42. And, uh, are verse 35 and it says the officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees who said this to him, them, why didn't you bring up? <br /><br /> Why didn't you not go get him? And this is what they said. The officers answered. No one ever spoke like this, man, please. Are you speaking differently than other people right now? Is it just you're grabbing and lobbing grenades or saying those people are this or those people are that, or you speaking the tender, loving words of Christ and the kingdom of hope into the world. <br /><br /> Don't speak about crazy. Democrats are crazy. Socialists are crazy. Republicans are crazy. Libertarians are crazy, whatever ins do speak crazy, speak the message. That was so crazy to people that they came back and said, I have never heard a person speak like this. It is not the words of men don't sound like the words of men. <br /><br /> And then lastly joined him in action. No way am I trying to tell you what all the political persuasions that you should be, but I am asking you to let your passions be motivated by compassion that your energy and action be centered and where your citizenship. Most foundationally lies in a secure and beautiful place in the kingdom of God where love and compassion and hope are a part of every actions. <br /><br /> When you come and are faced with situations of pain, as our Christ was all the time. Don't don't make your first thing be to inform or to convince or to Dodge and say, listen, I don't enter all that stuff or to duck, but make our calling to help. Be known as that guy is in his family to be a person of help that woman in her workplace, man, she is just there to help that person is a citizen of their country, but their citizenship is marked by just how much they want to help with a love that is bigger than themselves. <br /><br /> No, but you can be known by what you stand for, but make sure everyone. Can see who you are actively directly helping pray with me. Lord, we enter in tricky times. Triggers, fear. Easiest thing to do right now is the hunker in our groups. And maybe you believe all the others are ignorant or evil. Easiest thing to do is to, to play the tactics of allies and enemies, or just try to get out of there and not play at all. <br /><br /> Grant us the vulnerability and the humility of Jesus that never left compassion. May we be people who hold to our convictions, but may our convictions never enter fear and never leave the kingdom of love. This is so easy for each of us to do. We need you. Jesus. Come calm our souls and remind us no matter what happens, you remain King on Wednesday in your name. <br /><br /> We pray. Amen. We are dismissed.</div> false no <![CDATA[Manasseh: a bad start does not guarantee a bad ending]]> 2 Chronicles 33

Manasseh's story is clearly saying he finished well by the grace of God. He didn't deserve it. Neither did Saul. But you can also put your name there. You didn't deserve it.

My sixth grade teacher was a man named mr.

Thompson. I remember him well. Um, honestly he might have been the, um, grumpiest teacher I've ever had. I believe he has long since gone to heaven. So I'm okay saying that, but. We were assigned a story to write in sixth grade and it would be my first venture into, and it was my first major literary fiction work.

I wrote my paper, uh, a deep study of a high school basketball player who was the star of his team. And he was going to, uh, play in the championship game. And that afternoon his brother was. In a serious injury, a car accident and a serious injury and had to get immediate surgery. And so Jack, this, this ballplayer and his family were at the hospital.

And so we had this scenario where this guy is not able to get to the game and chooses to be with his brother and goes to the surgery and is there, and his brother recovers. And it's obvious he's on a he's, he's going to be on a, on a good track. And so the ballplayer hustles over to the game and the team is way behind it's it's in the second half and he plays valiantly, but it isn't enough to overcome the deficit they've experienced and his team tragically loses.

And so you have this in my opinion, Shakespeare at his best, a tragedy with the highest portrayals of love loyalty. Loss. And I waited with bated breath for the, to come back with mr. Townsend. Cause he always wrote comments and uh, my letter grade and I got my first fiction word back with this C on it. And then his one comment was this real life is not all neat and happy like this.

I was astonished happy. He lost the game. I mean, this was, this was tragic and concluded that the school had somehow hired a grouch who hated basketball to be my English teacher. But looking back, I did realize in years to come that mr. Townson probably had some of his own stuff behind. His comments, his demeanor in class during the year probably did reflect a man in pain with many sorrows.

I don't know. I didn't know the cues at the time. I really didn't until looking back years later, think about it. Maybe he had lost someone precious to him. Maybe he had just felt some real disappointments in life experience. But to him, real life is not all neat and happy like this. And his view of course is not uncommon.

Life is hard. I read a quote recently by actress, Laura Dern, who has started a number of films and, and a number of, uh, sitcom TV shows. And she said, I'm someone who feels extremely depressed by a happy Hollywood ending because it is not the way life goes. Life is hard. And there will be hard things in it for all of you, the hardest will come when it is the result of your own failures, where you feel like you are reaping the fruit of your own misses.

And every counselor knows that everybody that comes with their own stuff and is being confronted with their own problems and their own failures in their own screw ups. Desperately needs to hear hope the presence of the living. God assures us that hope Israel, that lives can be changed. That even the most self-absorbed destructive and empty lives can have a wonderful ending.

And this morning, I want to talk about a guy whose life exudes that reality. He is, to me the greatest example in the Bible as exhibit a evidencing, God is a God of grace. So I'd like to look at this guy, man, NASA King in Judah, his father was a godly King Hezekiah. We looked at him last time. For some reason, Manasseh chose an entirely different lifestyle.

It is the story that a bad beginning does not guarantee a bad ending. Judy, at this time was the center of spirituality and God's work on earth. The nation of Israel, the Northern 10 tribes of the Israelites had already been. Conquered and obliterated by the Assyrians. And this man Manasseh is a man who made some terrible, terrible, terrible choices, but a bad ending, a bad beginning does not guarantee a bad ending.

I'd like to read these sobering words about his reign in verse one through 10. Of chapter 33 in second Chronicles, Manasseh was 12 years old when he became King and he reigned in Jerusalem 55 years. He did evil in the eyes of the Lord following the detestable practices of the nations. The Lord had driven out before the Israelites, he rebuilt the high places.

Father has a Kaia had demolished. He also erected altars to the bales and made a sure of poles. He bowed down to all the story hosts and worship them. He built altars in the temple of the Lord of which the Lord had said, my name will remain in Jerusalem forever. In both courts of the temple of the Lord.

He built altars to all the starry hosts. He sacrificed his sons in the fire and the Valley of Ben him on practice, sorcery divination in witchcraft and consulted mediums in Spiritus. He did much evil in the eyes of the Lord, provoking him to anger. He took the carved image he had made and put it in God's temple of which God had said to David and to his son, Solomon in this temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever.

I will not again, make the feet of the Israelites, leave the land I assigned to your forefathers. If only they will be careful to do everything. I command them concerning the laws, decrees and ordinance has given through Moses. But Ben NASA led Judah and the people of Jerusalem astray. So they did more evil in the, they than the nations.

The Lord had destroyed before the Israelites, the Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they paid no. Attention. I mean, this is a man who had a horrendous start. I'd like to just highlight that for a moment. Manessa had a bad start. We see that in verses one through 10, the trajectory of his life and reign reflected that awful start in his life and rain.

He was guilty of leading the nation into idolatry. Verse three says he rebuilt the high places. These were the centers of, of pagan worship that were brought in from the surrounding nations into Jerusalem. In verse three, worship the stars and the planets and the moon verses four and five. He built altars to, to those, uh, very, uh, entities.

It says in both courts, which means the outer court, where they offered the sacrifices and even into the very most Holy of Holy places. Has, uh, excuse me, man. NASA brought these, these pagan gods and, and replaced God's altar with pagan altars replaced, uh, the candlestick and the table of showbread and the altar of incense with, with statutes to other gods, it was just an amazing sacrilege.

He took God's temple and he made it a place to the gods that God had had the people. Uh, conquer. He led the nation into sexual perversion. Basically the various worship experiences that are defined here throughout the old Testament are all identified with sexual perverted practices. The high places, the groves, the Ashira poles are all involved in that practice.

It was all part of the pagan worship. He led them into satanic worship. We read these in these verses. They used fortune telling and omens and sorcery and dealt with mediums and necromancers, but most horrifying and vile of the actions of massage of Manasseh that ultimately grew out of these, these, these embracing of these pagan religions.

Was the fact that he was responsible for the slaughter of innocent blood in verse six, it says, and he burned his sons as an offering in the Valley of the sun of Hinnom. This is a literal statement. The worship of Molik, which was a premier God of, uh, the Edomites, the worship of , which was a premier God of multiple gods, both were famous for the fact that the way you could most express your devotion to a pagan God was to offer your own children as sacrifice upon the altar.

He did that. And the sun that will eventually rain was a son that was born very late in his life, uh, in his, probably his mid fifties, because he had killed his other Boyce. It's just an aside story of an individual. It is why we read in the parallel passage in second Kings chapter 21, verse 16, he shed much innocent blood.

The prophet Isaiah. The prophet that Jesus himself quoted the most, the most prominent, most influential of all of the profits of, of Israel. Isaiah actually served as the counselor to five different Judean Kings, uh, Kings of Judah. He was martyred. During the time of Manassas rain and tradition has it, that he was literally, um, tied his limbs, his arms and his legs were tied by rope to horses.

And they were set out in different directions and he was pulled apart. This is a man who did horrible things and particularly did horrible things. To the nation that God had placed his ion, this remarkable statement in VR is made in verse nine. He was guilty of more evil than the nations. The Lord had destroyed before Israel.

Now I want to just think of it, what that means. What were these nations that he's talking about? And I'm not going to get into the detailed practices that they were involved in. But I want to, I want to just get the, the weight of this statement, because if you remember in the history of Israel, one of the great questions that all of us have and looking at the old Testament is why when the people of Israel moved into the land of Canaan, did God tell them to, to wipe out certain groups and, and whole city States and, and people were literally forced to leave their homes and not stay in the land, the Canaanites and the Amorites and.

God gives us some clues in the old Testament. As a matter of fact, back in Genesis chapter 15, he's talking to Abraham. Now this is prior to the people of Israel going into slavery in Egypt. Abraham's now living in the land and God makes this prophetic statement. Then the Lord said to Abraham know, for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs, and we'll be servants there and we'll be afflicted for 400 years.

Your descendants are going to go into Egypt. That's what he's saying for 400 years. And he says, but afterwards they will come out with great possessions and they will come back here to this land. And he says, we're not, and we're going to wait and they're not going to come and vanquish the land for all that time.

And he makes this explanation because the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete. He says, I'm going to take over this land. There's going to come a time when the sin of the people that land is going to is going to require judgment, but it's not now. And it's not going to be for four centuries.

Four centuries later we come and in the book of Deuteronomy, the people of Israel about to go into the land and to conquer it. And God says this to them. When you go in there shall not be found among you, anyone who burns his son or his daughter is an offering, and there should be no one who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or it does this, or is a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or anyone who inquires of the dead.

For whoever does these things and is an abomination to the Lord. And it's because of these abominations, this is Deuteronomy 18 because of these ABOM abominations. The Lord, your God is driving them out before you, you will be blameless before the Lord, your God for these nations. Which you are about to dispossess.

He says, look, the same of these people has been building for centuries and rather than repenting and rather than changing, and rather than restraining their evils, it's gotten more and it's heaped upon heat. And through these terrible experiences, they're often their own children in the fire and they are doing these, uh, satanic rituals in every sense.

This is a people by anyone's evaluation. Who are living in abject horrid, evil. And so he says, don't feel guilt for driving them out. Now we fast forward, the period of the judges comes the period of the beginning of the, of the kingdom of Israel comes in this same land where Israel has now become. The conquer, they have formed their own kingdom under Saul and then under David and then under, uh, Solomon.

And eventually the kingdom is divided into two groups and Northern, and then the Southern. And there is a guy in the Southern kingdom who has basically replaced all of those practices in Jerusalem itself. Devil worship the abuse of children. The the, the selling them into, uh, uh, the, the sacrificial offerings, all these things.

And this is what Manasseh has brought and has restored to the nation. He did more to lead the nation away from Jehovah God and to violent, destructive idolatry than any other King. And he did it as an insider. As a person born into a godly home, the impact of his life and rain is that God brought judgment upon Judah.

Ultimately, we read this in second Kings, I'm going to tie all this together. Second Kings 23 verse 26 and 27. It says this. Still the Lord did not turn from the burning of his great wrath by which his anger was kindled against Judah because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked him.

And the Lord said, I will remove Judah also out of my sight as I removed Israel. And as I kept off this city that I have chosen Jerusalem and the house, which I said, my name shall be there. Here's what he's saying. He's saying, look, Jerusalem is now doing the very things that I brought my people out of Egypt and allowed them to conquer this land.

And now they've turned and I'm going to ask, and he says, so I will not maintain this kingdom forever. And it would be just a couple of generations later. That they will be vanquished and Jerusalem will go into what's called a BA and we would expect no less. I mean, how would it be fair to God to judge the Amorites and Canaanites for these practices and not to judge the nation who have continued in them and do continue and in them after Manasseh, but Manasseh was the human vehicle for implementing many of those practices.

Now you may be out there saying, you know, When you started talking in this message this morning, I was thinking this is going to be a very positive sermon. I mean, bad beginning. Doesn't even embed ending. This sounds terrible. Right? This is horrible.

But Manasseh actually had a good finish. I'd like you to look at verse 11 and following verse 12 and following. It says this while I'll start, I'll start at verse 10. Actually the Lord spoke to Monash and to his people, but they paid no attention. Therefore the Lord brought upon them, the commanders of the army of a Syria who captured Manessa with hooks and bound them with chains of bronze and brought him to Babylon.

And when he was in distress, he entreated the favor of the Lord, his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. He prayed to him and God was moved by his entreaty and heard his plea and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord was God. When it says here, he brought me it up in verse 11.

He captured Vanessa with hooks and bound him with chains. He was put in shackles, uh, in his arms, his legs. And, but when it says hooks, it actually is referring to a practice of, of a Syria. And this is said in the parallel passage where they actually put a big hook in your nose. And that's how they dragged him.

And he walked all the way to the Assyria. I mean, it was, it was a way of showing a disdain to the King. Manasseh was taken as a prisoner to Assyria. The whole city didn't fall at this time, but he did. And he was captured and the whole nation didn't completely fall, but as he's going somewhere, when he gets there, Something happens inside of him.

And it says he humbled himself greatly. Now I just land on this for a few, few moments. What does it mean? He humbled himself greatly. Um, because terms are important, right? I mean, it's important to understand what does this, what is God saying he did? Does it mean that he, he, he saw, wow. Um, things are bad. I can't conquer the Assyrians in my own.

So I'm going to ask for God's help. I mean, or I'm just saying, well, that didn't work, so I'll try it this way. I mean, it doesn't sound like what we're hoping for in this man. What does it mean? He humbled himself greatly because I remember, I mean, words are important and definitions are important. I remember years ago when we were up in Northern Michigan, And one of my sons, Timmy was young and he went to a Sunday school class at the local little church there.

And they had some rough kids in the crowd. And, uh, so this big kid came up to Timmy and he said to him, uh, he said, do you want a piece of me? And Timmy said, That's disgusting. It didn't know what I meant. So words are important terms are important concept. So what does that mean? He humbled himself greatly.

Well, the word humbled here is the word literally translated. It is the little literal translation of to balcony. He yielded. Fully wholeheartedly to God. He surrendered to God. He surrendered to God's view of himself. He surrendered God to God's assessment of him. He turned over the wheel of his, of his vehicle, of his life to God.

He said, God,

I see what I am. He cried out in the appalling reality of what he was. And he brought himself under God in every sense. And as he bowed the knee gear in the 46th year of a 55 year rain, God graced him with forgiveness. Now, sometimes it's hard to tell. When a person's life trajectory is reoriented.

Sometimes it's hard to sell, telling ourselves when did you know? I, when did I really begin? It's it's like, uh, I was thinking about this recently, trying to think, um, had not sure why I was asking this question, but I thought when does a cucumber become a pickle? Huh now you think about that the rest state, when is it the pickle?

And one is a cucumber sometime. There's a transition when the pickle, when the cucumber has been in the, in the, the, the, whatever it is, the juices, what is it, Brian? Long enough. Thank you. Um, it turns to a pickup, a win, you know, the first hour, the first four hours, the first, I don't know how long it is, but anyway, it goes in a cucumber and you don't just go whoop, cute coming out to pick up.

Now it's time. So there's a lot of, there's a lot of slow transitions in our life, right. But sometimes like in the moment of regeneration, it's instantaneous, we may not be able to identify that moment, but there are also many of us that can say that was the aha moment. I got it. This man had this aha moment sitting in a dirty jail in a Syria.

And he humbled himself and he was broken and he who had rejected the God of his father who must have so proudly and arrogantly been willing to, to bring in such debauchery to the, to the name of God, this man bowed the knee to the God he had mocked. No. For many of us, I think our reaction to this is this almost doesn't feel right.

There's a, there's a Jewish, um, tradition or fable about Manasseh. And the Jewish story is that the angels of God looked at Manasseh and they deliberately closed up the throne of God. So Monasil. Prayers could not come to God, but they didn't know that God had a secret hold that would board in his throne, that Manassas prayers of brokenness could come to him.

Why would the angels do that in this fictitious story of same reason? We would say just not right. This guy doesn't deserve he, if anybody deserved to bear the fruit. Presently eternally in his life. It's this man, but that's not how God functions. The nature of his good finish is found in the fact that Manasseh finished well, he finished well with this calling.

Verse 14 through 17. Describe him going back now. A humbled broken man full of grace, full of wonderful, the God that he had distained and he began, it says he took out the idols that he himself had put into the most totally place. And then the outer court, the Holy place. And he began to make changes. Now he was not effective in turning the nation with him.

But he did turn his life and he spent the last nine years of his life. 84% of the years of his reign were wasted, but he used what he had. He finished. Well, he finished well with his family, the son of Manasseh who became the air after him only rain for a couple of years. He was not a godly man. However, his grandson who was alive when he was still alive, we know by the reckoning of the years was a man named Josiah.

And I mentioned to you two weeks ago when I spoke, Josiah was the most godly King that ever rained on the throne of Judah. To me, it's this amazing picture. That God even allowed there to be good to come out of the, the, the family of this man, the life of this man, he didn't see his son turned to God, but his grandson wholeheartedly followed Jesus.

Second Chronicles, 34 is emphasizing the terrible things this man did, but it is also clearly saying he finished well by the grace of God. He didn't deserve it either did Saul. He didn't deserve to be graced by God, a man who was literally trying to destroy Christianity and to take the lives of Christians.

But you can also put your name there. You didn't deserve it. Maybe you're here or you're listening online and God has been. Pointing out in your life, or maybe you're very aware of it yourself. You have started very badly. There's a lot of your life. That's just a summary of regrets. This man's story is put in scripture to say to us, he who begins badly.

Can finish well finish. Well, maybe today's the aha moment. Maybe it's today is, is the turning where your heart is humbled greatly. There's a whole board in the throne of God, a listening year of a God, of grace to you. It is why Micah, a contemporary of, of Manasseh. The prophet said this in chapter seven of his book.

Who is a guide like you, who pardons, sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance. You do not stay angry forever, but you delight to show mercy. He delights to show mercy. It's why a good, a bad star does not guarantee a bad ending. It's all because of God, Lord, we look to you this morning.

There's not a person listening today that hasn't had a bad start. We not, may not have been aware of it. We may not have been as conscious. That just how much. Sin was the reality of our life experience. And do you penetrate our lives

with Lord? I'm guessing there are people listening to me speak this morning that are very aware that they have had a bad star Lord lead us to Christ latest. The one that is the ultimate exhibit. Of a God who delights to show mercy, may we flee to him today? I pray in Jesus name. Amen. Now, go in peace to love and serve and enjoy the Lord.

Amen.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/manasseh-a-bad-start-does-not-guarantee-a-bad-ending f5d39eec-9056-4610-9e62-167f9140e588 Sun, 25 Oct 2020 18:55:35 GMT <div data-html="true">2 Chronicles 33 <br /><br /> Manasseh's story is clearly saying he finished well by the grace of God. He didn't deserve it. Neither did Saul. But you can also put your name there. You didn't deserve it. <br /><br /> My sixth grade teacher was a man named mr. <br /><br /> Thompson. I remember him well. Um, honestly he might have been the, um, grumpiest teacher I've ever had. I believe he has long since gone to heaven. So I'm okay saying that, but. We were assigned a story to write in sixth grade and it would be my first venture into, and it was my first major literary fiction work. <br /><br /> I wrote my paper, uh, a deep study of a high school basketball player who was the star of his team. And he was going to, uh, play in the championship game. And that afternoon his brother was. In a serious injury, a car accident and a serious injury and had to get immediate surgery. And so Jack, this, this ballplayer and his family were at the hospital. <br /><br /> And so we had this scenario where this guy is not able to get to the game and chooses to be with his brother and goes to the surgery and is there, and his brother recovers. And it's obvious he's on a he's, he's going to be on a, on a good track. And so the ballplayer hustles over to the game and the team is way behind it's it's in the second half and he plays valiantly, but it isn't enough to overcome the deficit they've experienced and his team tragically loses. <br /><br /> And so you have this in my opinion, Shakespeare at his best, a tragedy with the highest portrayals of love loyalty. Loss. And I waited with bated breath for the, to come back with mr. Townsend. Cause he always wrote comments and uh, my letter grade and I got my first fiction word back with this C on it. And then his one comment was this real life is not all neat and happy like this. <br /><br /> I was astonished happy. He lost the game. I mean, this was, this was tragic and concluded that the school had somehow hired a grouch who hated basketball to be my English teacher. But looking back, I did realize in years to come that mr. Townson probably had some of his own stuff behind. His comments, his demeanor in class during the year probably did reflect a man in pain with many sorrows. <br /><br /> I don't know. I didn't know the cues at the time. I really didn't until looking back years later, think about it. Maybe he had lost someone precious to him. Maybe he had just felt some real disappointments in life experience. But to him, real life is not all neat and happy like this. And his view of course is not uncommon. <br /><br /> Life is hard. I read a quote recently by actress, Laura Dern, who has started a number of films and, and a number of, uh, sitcom TV shows. And she said, I'm someone who feels extremely depressed by a happy Hollywood ending because it is not the way life goes. Life is hard. And there will be hard things in it for all of you, the hardest will come when it is the result of your own failures, where you feel like you are reaping the fruit of your own misses. <br /><br /> And every counselor knows that everybody that comes with their own stuff and is being confronted with their own problems and their own failures in their own screw ups. Desperately needs to hear hope the presence of the living. God assures us that hope Israel, that lives can be changed. That even the most self-absorbed destructive and empty lives can have a wonderful ending. <br /><br /> And this morning, I want to talk about a guy whose life exudes that reality. He is, to me the greatest example in the Bible as exhibit a evidencing, God is a God of grace. So I'd like to look at this guy, man, NASA King in Judah, his father was a godly King Hezekiah. We looked at him last time. For some reason, Manasseh chose an entirely different lifestyle. <br /><br /> It is the story that a bad beginning does not guarantee a bad ending. Judy, at this time was the center of spirituality and God's work on earth. The nation of Israel, the Northern 10 tribes of the Israelites had already been. Conquered and obliterated by the Assyrians. And this man Manasseh is a man who made some terrible, terrible, terrible choices, but a bad ending, a bad beginning does not guarantee a bad ending. <br /><br /> I'd like to read these sobering words about his reign in verse one through 10. Of chapter 33 in second Chronicles, Manasseh was 12 years old when he became King and he reigned in Jerusalem 55 years. He did evil in the eyes of the Lord following the detestable practices of the nations. The Lord had driven out before the Israelites, he rebuilt the high places. <br /><br /> Father has a Kaia had demolished. He also erected altars to the bales and made a sure of poles. He bowed down to all the story hosts and worship them. He built altars in the temple of the Lord of which the Lord had said, my name will remain in Jerusalem forever. In both courts of the temple of the Lord. <br /><br /> He built altars to all the starry hosts. He sacrificed his sons in the fire and the Valley of Ben him on practice, sorcery divination in witchcraft and consulted mediums in Spiritus. He did much evil in the eyes of the Lord, provoking him to anger. He took the carved image he had made and put it in God's temple of which God had said to David and to his son, Solomon in this temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever. <br /><br /> I will not again, make the feet of the Israelites, leave the land I assigned to your forefathers. If only they will be careful to do everything. I command them concerning the laws, decrees and ordinance has given through Moses. But Ben NASA led Judah and the people of Jerusalem astray. So they did more evil in the, they than the nations. <br /><br /> The Lord had destroyed before the Israelites, the Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they paid no. Attention. I mean, this is a man who had a horrendous start. I'd like to just highlight that for a moment. Manessa had a bad start. We see that in verses one through 10, the trajectory of his life and reign reflected that awful start in his life and rain. <br /><br /> He was guilty of leading the nation into idolatry. Verse three says he rebuilt the high places. These were the centers of, of pagan worship that were brought in from the surrounding nations into Jerusalem. In verse three, worship the stars and the planets and the moon verses four and five. He built altars to, to those, uh, very, uh, entities. <br /><br /> It says in both courts, which means the outer court, where they offered the sacrifices and even into the very most Holy of Holy places. Has, uh, excuse me, man. NASA brought these, these pagan gods and, and replaced God's altar with pagan altars replaced, uh, the candlestick and the table of showbread and the altar of incense with, with statutes to other gods, it was just an amazing sacrilege. <br /><br /> He took God's temple and he made it a place to the gods that God had had the people. Uh, conquer. He led the nation into sexual perversion. Basically the various worship experiences that are defined here throughout the old Testament are all identified with sexual perverted practices. The high places, the groves, the Ashira poles are all involved in that practice. <br /><br /> It was all part of the pagan worship. He led them into satanic worship. We read these in these verses. They used fortune telling and omens and sorcery and dealt with mediums and necromancers, but most horrifying and vile of the actions of massage of Manasseh that ultimately grew out of these, these, these embracing of these pagan religions. <br /><br /> Was the fact that he was responsible for the slaughter of innocent blood in verse six, it says, and he burned his sons as an offering in the Valley of the sun of Hinnom. This is a literal statement. The worship of Molik, which was a premier God of, uh, the Edomites, the worship of , which was a premier God of multiple gods, both were famous for the fact that the way you could most express your devotion to a pagan God was to offer your own children as sacrifice upon the altar. <br /><br /> He did that. And the sun that will eventually rain was a son that was born very late in his life, uh, in his, probably his mid fifties, because he had killed his other Boyce. It's just an aside story of an individual. It is why we read in the parallel passage in second Kings chapter 21, verse 16, he shed much innocent blood. <br /><br /> The prophet Isaiah. The prophet that Jesus himself quoted the most, the most prominent, most influential of all of the profits of, of Israel. Isaiah actually served as the counselor to five different Judean Kings, uh, Kings of Judah. He was martyred. During the time of Manassas rain and tradition has it, that he was literally, um, tied his limbs, his arms and his legs were tied by rope to horses. <br /><br /> And they were set out in different directions and he was pulled apart. This is a man who did horrible things and particularly did horrible things. To the nation that God had placed his ion, this remarkable statement in VR is made in verse nine. He was guilty of more evil than the nations. The Lord had destroyed before Israel. <br /><br /> Now I want to just think of it, what that means. What were these nations that he's talking about? And I'm not going to get into the detailed practices that they were involved in. But I want to, I want to just get the, the weight of this statement, because if you remember in the history of Israel, one of the great questions that all of us have and looking at the old Testament is why when the people of Israel moved into the land of Canaan, did God tell them to, to wipe out certain groups and, and whole city States and, and people were literally forced to leave their homes and not stay in the land, the Canaanites and the Amorites and. <br /><br /> God gives us some clues in the old Testament. As a matter of fact, back in Genesis chapter 15, he's talking to Abraham. Now this is prior to the people of Israel going into slavery in Egypt. Abraham's now living in the land and God makes this prophetic statement. Then the Lord said to Abraham know, for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs, and we'll be servants there and we'll be afflicted for 400 years. <br /><br /> Your descendants are going to go into Egypt. That's what he's saying for 400 years. And he says, but afterwards they will come out with great possessions and they will come back here to this land. And he says, we're not, and we're going to wait and they're not going to come and vanquish the land for all that time. <br /><br /> And he makes this explanation because the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete. He says, I'm going to take over this land. There's going to come a time when the sin of the people that land is going to is going to require judgment, but it's not now. And it's not going to be for four centuries. <br /><br /> Four centuries later we come and in the book of Deuteronomy, the people of Israel about to go into the land and to conquer it. And God says this to them. When you go in there shall not be found among you, anyone who burns his son or his daughter is an offering, and there should be no one who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or it does this, or is a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or anyone who inquires of the dead. <br /><br /> For whoever does these things and is an abomination to the Lord. And it's because of these abominations, this is Deuteronomy 18 because of these ABOM abominations. The Lord, your God is driving them out before you, you will be blameless before the Lord, your God for these nations. Which you are about to dispossess. <br /><br /> He says, look, the same of these people has been building for centuries and rather than repenting and rather than changing, and rather than restraining their evils, it's gotten more and it's heaped upon heat. And through these terrible experiences, they're often their own children in the fire and they are doing these, uh, satanic rituals in every sense. <br /><br /> This is a people by anyone's evaluation. Who are living in abject horrid, evil. And so he says, don't feel guilt for driving them out. Now we fast forward, the period of the judges comes the period of the beginning of the, of the kingdom of Israel comes in this same land where Israel has now become. The conquer, they have formed their own kingdom under Saul and then under David and then under, uh, Solomon. <br /><br /> And eventually the kingdom is divided into two groups and Northern, and then the Southern. And there is a guy in the Southern kingdom who has basically replaced all of those practices in Jerusalem itself. Devil worship the abuse of children. The the, the selling them into, uh, uh, the, the sacrificial offerings, all these things. <br /><br /> And this is what Manasseh has brought and has restored to the nation. He did more to lead the nation away from Jehovah God and to violent, destructive idolatry than any other King. And he did it as an insider. As a person born into a godly home, the impact of his life and rain is that God brought judgment upon Judah. <br /><br /> Ultimately, we read this in second Kings, I'm going to tie all this together. Second Kings 23 verse 26 and 27. It says this. Still the Lord did not turn from the burning of his great wrath by which his anger was kindled against Judah because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked him. <br /><br /> And the Lord said, I will remove Judah also out of my sight as I removed Israel. And as I kept off this city that I have chosen Jerusalem and the house, which I said, my name shall be there. Here's what he's saying. He's saying, look, Jerusalem is now doing the very things that I brought my people out of Egypt and allowed them to conquer this land. <br /><br /> And now they've turned and I'm going to ask, and he says, so I will not maintain this kingdom forever. And it would be just a couple of generations later. That they will be vanquished and Jerusalem will go into what's called a BA and we would expect no less. I mean, how would it be fair to God to judge the Amorites and Canaanites for these practices and not to judge the nation who have continued in them and do continue and in them after Manasseh, but Manasseh was the human vehicle for implementing many of those practices. <br /><br /> Now you may be out there saying, you know, When you started talking in this message this morning, I was thinking this is going to be a very positive sermon. I mean, bad beginning. Doesn't even embed ending. This sounds terrible. Right? This is horrible. <br /><br /> But Manasseh actually had a good finish. I'd like you to look at verse 11 and following verse 12 and following. It says this while I'll start, I'll start at verse 10. Actually the Lord spoke to Monash and to his people, but they paid no attention. Therefore the Lord brought upon them, the commanders of the army of a Syria who captured Manessa with hooks and bound them with chains of bronze and brought him to Babylon. <br /><br /> And when he was in distress, he entreated the favor of the Lord, his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. He prayed to him and God was moved by his entreaty and heard his plea and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord was God. When it says here, he brought me it up in verse 11. <br /><br /> He captured Vanessa with hooks and bound him with chains. He was put in shackles, uh, in his arms, his legs. And, but when it says hooks, it actually is referring to a practice of, of a Syria. And this is said in the parallel passage where they actually put a big hook in your nose. And that's how they dragged him. <br /><br /> And he walked all the way to the Assyria. I mean, it was, it was a way of showing a disdain to the King. Manasseh was taken as a prisoner to Assyria. The whole city didn't fall at this time, but he did. And he was captured and the whole nation didn't completely fall, but as he's going somewhere, when he gets there, Something happens inside of him. <br /><br /> And it says he humbled himself greatly. Now I just land on this for a few, few moments. What does it mean? He humbled himself greatly. Um, because terms are important, right? I mean, it's important to understand what does this, what is God saying he did? Does it mean that he, he, he saw, wow. Um, things are bad. I can't conquer the Assyrians in my own. <br /><br /> So I'm going to ask for God's help. I mean, or I'm just saying, well, that didn't work, so I'll try it this way. I mean, it doesn't sound like what we're hoping for in this man. What does it mean? He humbled himself greatly because I remember, I mean, words are important and definitions are important. I remember years ago when we were up in Northern Michigan, And one of my sons, Timmy was young and he went to a Sunday school class at the local little church there. <br /><br /> And they had some rough kids in the crowd. And, uh, so this big kid came up to Timmy and he said to him, uh, he said, do you want a piece of me? And Timmy said, That's disgusting. It didn't know what I meant. So words are important terms are important concept. So what does that mean? He humbled himself greatly. <br /><br /> Well, the word humbled here is the word literally translated. It is the little literal translation of to balcony. He yielded. Fully wholeheartedly to God. He surrendered to God. He surrendered to God's view of himself. He surrendered God to God's assessment of him. He turned over the wheel of his, of his vehicle, of his life to God. <br /><br /> He said, God, <br /><br /> I see what I am. He cried out in the appalling reality of what he was. And he brought himself under God in every sense. And as he bowed the knee gear in the 46th year of a 55 year rain, God graced him with forgiveness. Now, sometimes it's hard to tell. When a person's life trajectory is reoriented. <br /><br /> Sometimes it's hard to sell, telling ourselves when did you know? I, when did I really begin? It's it's like, uh, I was thinking about this recently, trying to think, um, had not sure why I was asking this question, but I thought when does a cucumber become a pickle? Huh now you think about that the rest state, when is it the pickle? <br /><br /> And one is a cucumber sometime. There's a transition when the pickle, when the cucumber has been in the, in the, the, the, whatever it is, the juices, what is it, Brian? Long enough. Thank you. Um, it turns to a pickup, a win, you know, the first hour, the first four hours, the first, I don't know how long it is, but anyway, it goes in a cucumber and you don't just go whoop, cute coming out to pick up. <br /><br /> Now it's time. So there's a lot of, there's a lot of slow transitions in our life, right. But sometimes like in the moment of regeneration, it's instantaneous, we may not be able to identify that moment, but there are also many of us that can say that was the aha moment. I got it. This man had this aha moment sitting in a dirty jail in a Syria. <br /><br /> And he humbled himself and he was broken and he who had rejected the God of his father who must have so proudly and arrogantly been willing to, to bring in such debauchery to the, to the name of God, this man bowed the knee to the God he had mocked. No. For many of us, I think our reaction to this is this almost doesn't feel right. <br /><br /> There's a, there's a Jewish, um, tradition or fable about Manasseh. And the Jewish story is that the angels of God looked at Manasseh and they deliberately closed up the throne of God. So Monasil. Prayers could not come to God, but they didn't know that God had a secret hold that would board in his throne, that Manassas prayers of brokenness could come to him. <br /><br /> Why would the angels do that in this fictitious story of same reason? We would say just not right. This guy doesn't deserve he, if anybody deserved to bear the fruit. Presently eternally in his life. It's this man, but that's not how God functions. The nature of his good finish is found in the fact that Manasseh finished well, he finished well with this calling. <br /><br /> Verse 14 through 17. Describe him going back now. A humbled broken man full of grace, full of wonderful, the God that he had distained and he began, it says he took out the idols that he himself had put into the most totally place. And then the outer court, the Holy place. And he began to make changes. Now he was not effective in turning the nation with him. <br /><br /> But he did turn his life and he spent the last nine years of his life. 84% of the years of his reign were wasted, but he used what he had. He finished. Well, he finished well with his family, the son of Manasseh who became the air after him only rain for a couple of years. He was not a godly man. However, his grandson who was alive when he was still alive, we know by the reckoning of the years was a man named Josiah. <br /><br /> And I mentioned to you two weeks ago when I spoke, Josiah was the most godly King that ever rained on the throne of Judah. To me, it's this amazing picture. That God even allowed there to be good to come out of the, the, the family of this man, the life of this man, he didn't see his son turned to God, but his grandson wholeheartedly followed Jesus. <br /><br /> Second Chronicles, 34 is emphasizing the terrible things this man did, but it is also clearly saying he finished well by the grace of God. He didn't deserve it either did Saul. He didn't deserve to be graced by God, a man who was literally trying to destroy Christianity and to take the lives of Christians. <br /><br /> But you can also put your name there. You didn't deserve it. Maybe you're here or you're listening online and God has been. Pointing out in your life, or maybe you're very aware of it yourself. You have started very badly. There's a lot of your life. That's just a summary of regrets. This man's story is put in scripture to say to us, he who begins badly. <br /><br /> Can finish well finish. Well, maybe today's the aha moment. Maybe it's today is, is the turning where your heart is humbled greatly. There's a whole board in the throne of God, a listening year of a God, of grace to you. It is why Micah, a contemporary of, of Manasseh. The prophet said this in chapter seven of his book. <br /><br /> Who is a guide like you, who pardons, sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance. You do not stay angry forever, but you delight to show mercy. He delights to show mercy. It's why a good, a bad star does not guarantee a bad ending. It's all because of God, Lord, we look to you this morning. <br /><br /> There's not a person listening today that hasn't had a bad start. We not, may not have been aware of it. We may not have been as conscious. That just how much. Sin was the reality of our life experience. And do you penetrate our lives <br /><br /> with Lord? I'm guessing there are people listening to me speak this morning that are very aware that they have had a bad star Lord lead us to Christ latest. The one that is the ultimate exhibit. Of a God who delights to show mercy, may we flee to him today? I pray in Jesus name. Amen. Now, go in peace to love and serve and enjoy the Lord. <br /><br /> Amen.</div> false no <![CDATA[Hezekiah: when the sky is falling]]> 2 Chronicles: 32

Disaster was eminent for them. They could have said the sky is falling. Everything seems dark and hopeless.



When everybody invite you to take your Bibles this morning to second Chronicles, chapter 32 second Chronicles in the old Testament. If you open your mouth right to the middle, you'll hit the book of Psalms. Usually go a couple of doors to the left and you'll come to the book of first and second Chronicles.

Second Chronicles, 32. We're continuing a series we've been in the last few weeks entitled, still speaking. It's a biographical series on different biblical characters. And today we're looking at a King that really is a, uh, Uh, uh, follows parallel tracks with the individual I talked about last week, whose name was Josiah?

These were the two godly Kings of Judah. We're going to read that in a moment, but first I'd like to pray and then we're going to get into our study together. Lord, we come this morning and this beautiful sunny Sunday morning, Lord, we thank you that your mercies are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness.

As Jeremiah said, Lord, as we come, we pray that you would teach us some, your word. May we learn from the life of this man? May we be reminded of your character, your faithfulness, your presence with us in, in times of challenge, even as was true in this historic moment, we're looking at here in this passage in jesus' name.

Amen. We are going to be looking at second Chronicles, 32 in a couple of minutes before we get there, just by way of introduction. I want to remind you of a story that many of you have probably heard or some version of, uh, some people talk about it. The old English version, which is Henny penny, the other is chicken.

Little, both are talking about an individual, a chicken who was in a field. And while she was out there, uh, an acorn fell from an acorn or an Oak tree on the head. And immediately she determined that the sky was falling. And so she's in a panic. She said, I need to tell the King. So she, she goes and on her journey to the King's place, uh, she comes across a series of individuals.

First. She comes across a rooster and she. It describes to him. He says, where are you going? She said, I'm going to tell the King, the sky is going, Oh my goodness. So he goes, along next, she comes, uh, to a, to a duck. Then she comes to a goose and then she comes to a, a Turkey and they all join her in the trip.

They're going to tell the King how the sky is falling a disastrous happening and in their panic stricken state, they go. And then they come to the Fox and the Fox. Um, ask them where they're going. They tell them where they're going. And then the Fox has a creative alternative for them and their create and their Fox as well.

There's actually a shortcut to the Kings, a house, and it happens to be right through here and he leads them to their burrow. And one by one, starting with the Turkey, who's the baby Vegas. They go down in. And if you have read the story, which I won't. Describe, um, you find out that not all children's stories are happy stories and down in the borough, the demise of each of these characters takes place except for the chicken herself who just before she's about to go and she's last in line.

She remembers, Oh, wait, it's egg laying time. I need to get back to my nest. So she leaves and, and chicken little or Henny penny, depending on the name is the only one that avoids. The disaster that the true disaster that awaits are there in the foxes borough, the moral of the story is that the is, is the danger of inciting panic, which can result in opportunists doing genuine harm.

The idea is we tend to be panicked about the wrong thing, and we end up in. More destructive circumstances were 16 days from the next presidential election, right? It has become a Henny penny season. For many, if the opposing candidate is elected, the country is. Irrevocably doomed. In many people's perspective, I was interested to read a couple of days ago, Bruce Springsteen said it this way.

If so, and so wins. And now half of you will be on your phone to figure out which one he said that about. If so-and-so wins the presidential election, I'll be on the next plane to Australia that day. Well, there are people on both sides of the election. That are predicting absolute disaster for our nation.

If the other candidate wins, one can assume that the day after the election, there will be a very significant percentage of our population that will be going around with their own version of the sky is falling, but God will still be on his throne. God will still be working the sovereign plan. Who's focused.

Is not the kingdom of the United States of America. It will be the kingdom of Christ. He will still be working at justice. He has been doing for all the centuries, since Jesus was on earth, building his kingdom among the kingdoms of the earth. Now maybe it may say, well, it seems like you're minimizing the significance of the election.

I'm not, I'm not, I don't mean to. I think we all should vote. I think you should vote. You should vote. You should con conscience. It is part of our responsibility to be as good citizens who we are called to be as citizens of jesus' kingdom to vote. But whatever results you awaken to on November 4th, the sky will not be falling for God's purposes and the development of God's kingdom.

Some of you are also dealing with personal crises, maybe in your marriage, maybe with your kids, maybe in your employment, maybe in relationship troubles or health crisis. It feels like the sky is falling disaster and darkness seem imminent and unavoidable. But the moral of the story of chicken little Henny penny is that we do more harm to ourselves and to others.

When we lose perspective of what is true, the Fox is there to be the devouring enemy delighting to pounce upon our overreaction. The fear driven. The panicked. Our enemy is  and our enemy is justice ominous, justice dangerous. And certainly just as cruel ancient Israel, ancient Jerusalem was facing a similar unsettling time.

Disaster was eminent for them. They could have said the sky is falling. Everything seems dark and hopeless. And they're King who served in city of Jerusalem ruling over the Southern kingdom of the two tribes of, of the divided kingdom. As I mentioned last week, there were 10 Northern tribes called Israel.

Now there were two Northern Southern tribes called Judah and their King was King, has a Kaia, one of the two most godly Kings of all the line of the Kings that followed David. And in the actions and responses of Hezekiah, we learn how to respond to those moments. And also the tension of those moments when it feels like the sky is falling.

So I'd like to read this passage, I'm going to read verses one through 12 of second Chronicles, 32, after all that has a Kaia had. So faithfully done. So Nick rib King of Assyria came and invaded Judah. He laid siege to the fortified cities thinking to conquer them for himself. When Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come and that he intended to make war on Jerusalem, he consulted with his officials and military staff about blocking off the water from the Springs outside the city.

And they helped him a large force of men assembled and they blocked all the Springs in the streams that load through the land. Why should the Kings of Assyria come and find plenty of water? They said, then he worked hard repairing all the broken sections of the wall and building towers on it. He built another wall outside that one and reinforced the supporting terraces of the city of David.

He also made large numbers of weapons and shields. He appointed military officers over the people and assembled them before him in the city square in the city gate and encouraged them with these words. Be strong and courageous do not be afraid or discouraged because of the King of a Siri and the vast army with him for there is a greater power with us than with him, with him is only the arm of flesh.

But with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles and the people gain confidence from what has the Kiah, the King of Judah said later when Sennacherib King of a Siri and all his forces were laying seeds to Lake Kish. He sent his offices to Jerusalem with this message for Hezekiah King of Judah.

And for all the people of Judah who were there, this is what Sinec rib King of his serious says on. What are you basing your confidence that you remain in Jerusalem under siege? When Hezekiah says the Lord, our God will save us from the hand of the King of his Syria. He is misleading. You. To let you die of hunger and thirst did not Hezekiah himself removed this God's high places and altar saying to Judah and Jerusalem, you must worship before one altar and burn sacrifices on it.

Let's pray together. Lord become now

and try to place ourselves in a historic moment. That certainly was one of. Potentially fearful, fearful consequences. God, pray that we can learn from the responses of your people. Most of all, that we can learn about you and your willingness to be with us in those times of trouble and moments when the sky does seem to be falling.

Teach us Lord. I pray in Jesus name. Amen. Simple outline this morning. Two things I want to highlight when it feels like the sky is falling. First of all, it brings questions in verses in these passage. We're looking at this morning, we find it brings difficult questions. Um, in these verses Sinec rib is.

The King of the Syria. And here's really what the historic moment is about. The nation of Assyria was a terrifying, uh, nation. It was the most violent vicious of all of the ancient empires, uh, during, for centuries during biblical history, certainly in all the BC years, they were the most violent, they were the most fear inducing, uh, their, their famous practice when they captured enemy soldiers.

Uh, was not to immediately execute them. They would, they, they were famous for taking stakes that they were drive deep into the ground and they would point a point, a point on it, them to Razor's edge. And then they would take the opposing soldiers and plop them on it. So their body weight would slowly.

Sink down into the steak and they would die. It was just a horrible, excruciating death that took hours sometimes days. And there was nothing I could do it just as their body weight sunk onto this, this thing. And they were tied to this, this pole and the, they were, they were fearsome people and they had been victorious.

Um, during the days of Sinec rib. The Northern kingdom of Israel, all those 10 tribes had fallen to a Syria. They'd been utterly vanquished by the Assyrians. Now Sinec rib is moving his troops South and in these last couple of years has been infiltrating one city after another. We know from historical records, uh, of the Assyrians themselves by, by, uh, stone scripts that have come down.

That at this moment, when he is about to come against Jerusalem, he has in his own words already conquered 46 walled villages or cities of Judah, not counting Israel. And the most recent one he's fighting against is a city called Lake Kish, which was actually the second largest city in Judah. And after he leaves there, he's saying you're next.

And that's the message that he's sending at this moment to Jerusalem. I'm coming to take down the capital city as he does this in verse 10, he raises the first difficult question that is often faced by all of us when we feel that the sky is. And the question he basically says is how big is your God? I mean, he's not nearly as big as you think he is.

Here's what he says in verse 10 then says, submit snake, rib King of Syria. And he sends this through his, his, his representatives on what are you trusting sting that you endure this in Jerusalem. When you say the Lord, our God will deliver us. Don't you know what I and my fathers have done to all the peoples of other lands.

Were the gods of their nations on of those lands at all, able to deliver their lands out of my hand, verse 14, who among all the gods of those nations, that my father is devoted to destruction was able to deliver his people from my hand that your God should be able to deliver you. From my hand. He said, what makes you think you're, God's going to be any different from anybody else's no one has been able to defeat us.

And matter of fact, your God. What's the utterly incapable of being able to stop my father. His father was named Sargon from totally vanquishing, your other tribes, your other nation of the Northern kingdom. And they claim to worship Jehovah as well. And the question he is, he is he's raising his, when we can initially dismiss.

Without really thinking and say, well, this is just a stupid question. I mean, of course, God is different from any of these false gods, the bales and the Ash to Ross and the Ashira poles and all of the and all these other Molex, these other pagan gods gods, the true and the living God and, and, and what they need to just respond is, well, the omnipotent, all powerful.

God is the one that's gonna fight for us. And of course that was true. But it's also true. He's going to fight for us. It's also true that he is present with us and to look at the people of Israel and think, well, of course, they're going to believe and not be fearful in this moment when the sky seems to be falling, but then we have to accept the fact that we are, we struggle with fear when things are going South for you.

When it seems like circumstances seem indomitable when your ex seems to be doing just fine, without any regard to God, when your kids turn their back on the faith, when your competitors in the business culture. Seem to get away with every devious trick in the book. When you just look at life circumstances and you just feel beat up because there don't seem to be any wins.

God, when you see no hope, no way out, no turning, no revival, no wins, no victory. Then you can begin to wonder how big is God? How, how, how involved you'll see really is God now. And if you sat down and you say, well, of course I know he's big enough. And man, I believe he's the creator. He keeps the universe in order, but, but easy, really big enough in my world because.

I don't see the wins. I don't see the, the, the red seas opening. So the first question is, can God really win in this season of chaos and uncertainty in your world? But there's another question that he raises that's even harder. And that's the question. How active will God be? How much is God really?

Fighting for you. Notice what he says in verse 12, and you need to understand of new, a little theology. He hit, he had gotten just enough theology of, of, of ancient Israel and of the true faith of, of God to cause a distortion of it. So here's what he says in verse 12. Isn't your King has a Kiah misleading.

You. In order that he may give you overtime die by famine and by thirst, when he tells you the Lord, our God will deliver us from the hand of the King of Assyria. Hasn't this same Hezekiah taken away is this God's high places and his altars and commanded Judah and Jerusalem before one, you shall worship and on it, you shall burn your sacrifice.

Now. Sennacherib is accurate in what has the Kaia had done? He actually had purchased is Jerusalem of all of the high places of, of the, the, the statues. Excuse me, the, yeah, the statues, the images, the idols. And he actually had attempted to purify. The worship of Jehovah as the one God and Senate grubs looking at that.

And he doesn't understand enough of the faith of Israel, but he's distorting in it, but he's seeding things. He's doing what the enemy always does in her mind. He seeding questions and he's saying, are you sure that Jehovah God is going to help you? Are you sure he's on your side? I mean, looking and I'm sure there will lots of people in Israel, as a matter of fact, I'm positive of this because before has the Kaia came on the scene, the faith of Israel was replete with, with other a, a syncretist or, or a blended worship with these other idols.

And after Hezekiah has gone, they're going to restore that. So there were a lot of people that were questioning what has the Kaia done? And so you have this questioning and they say it, how do you know God's going to help you? I mean, I mean, how can you be sure. Now, who of us has not struggled with those questions?

When the sky is falling, you say, okay, you want to theological answer. God can do anything. God is mighty. God, God does majestic things. But it's God going to do for me is God going to be strong for me, there's all kinds of seeds and Hezekiah. Hezekiah is promising us that God will help us Willy what if God is not as much for us as the King is indicated.

Maybe we've displeased God enough, that he really isn't going to be for us. Maybe Sonic ribs got some, some real stuff here. Maybe he got God is less interested in Jerusalem than we thought. I mean, look at Israel, they've been taken down. Look at these other 46 small things and city States, why didn't he stop the Assyrians before now?

Questions questions, questions come when hard things come. And the other aspect is it's not only difficult questions. It's continual questions in verse 16 and 17. We're told a little bit about the historical moment that's taking place, and I'm going to just summarize it for time this morning. But in those verses.

And also as we go to second Kings chapter 19, which gives a parallel passage and gives more historical context, that's not included here. Here's what's actually happened. Sennacherib has come South with his armies and they have been taking one Judy Judean city after another. And they're now at the second largest one, as I mentioned, Lake Kish.

And while he's there, he sends the first message over in, up through verse 12. And he says, you know, this guys, he's given you a bill of goods. Uh, you better surrender. Uh, that's why he has his ambassadors actually speak to the people. He doesn't just speak to the King. They're yelling this out to the people that to seed their minds with fear.

He sends the representatives. The next thing that happens before Sennacherib comes to Jerusalem, the Egyptians actually come, we read about this in second Kings 19, the Egyptians come to help, uh, has the Kiah, so they have come trying to think which way are they becoming from the West to help. And Sennacherib sends them packing.

So now they're the hope for aid for Jerusalem has now been obliterated and they've gone back. They've been defeated. And now the third thing happens. Another communication comes to Hezekiah this time in the form of a letter and snacker up says, you thought you thought you were going to get a, a get bailed out.

Now I'm coming. And at that moment, army surrounds the city of Jerusalem. But the reason I mentioned all that is to say this, this was something that went on for weeks, perhaps months. It's one thing to be confronted with questions when, when things are hard and then all of a sudden you get out of it.

What's hard is when the questions linger, right? I mean, I really do believe that there are seasons in our life. I look at them as there are, life is a long book and even the journey of faith is a long book and there are chapters. Some of those chapters are really hard chapters. Some of those chapters are things we really would never have believed would be a part of our life journey.

But what's hard is when those chapters linger and they're long and you don't understand why God who so big, doesn't just deal with it. Some of you will feel that way on November 4th. How could this have happened? How could it have gone this way? Whatever way that is.

There are questions that come when we feel the sky is falling. So how are we to then respond? And this is the latter part of the sermon. When it feels like the sky is falling, it requires a response of faith. I want you to look at this with me. In in, in these verses. Now I'm looking at this whole section, I'm just going to highlight certain statements back in verse one, we find that faith is founded in surrender.

The remarkable statement. It says here, it starts this whole passage of these, of the Syrians coming. And it starts with this statement. It says after all he had, so faithfully done, let's talk about Hezekiah. Snacker rib shows up with the Assyrian army. And it's an interesting way to entree into this. And it's looking back to chapters 29 to 31, where, where Hezekiah has seemed to be a remarkably faithful godly man.

And after all of this. He is confronted with the onslaught of the Assyrians. Now in chapter 29 to 31, this amazing thing says the Kiah did. He had restored the work of the priest who had basically been put out of business. The, the, the country had almost gone secular. He reinstated the sacrifices, the worship services.

He rebuilt the entire national calendar around the feasts of Israel that included, uh, two eight day festivals where people didn't work and just came and celebrated the nature of God. I mean, he literally changed the national calendar of the culture. He also himself. Devoted significant portions of his own financial estate to the work of God and taught the people to begin tithing, to begin sacrificially giving.

This was a man who tart longed to God and the first and most important question when feeling imminent danger or calamity in our lives is. Is my heart really yielded to the Lord. Am I ready? Or am I now being called to submit to my life to God in a deepened way in this midst of, of the sky is falling moment and it's striking how he starts off.

He said, God had prepared, has a Kiah as of had allowed God to have the center place in his life. And so he was ready when calamity came. Everything. I'm going to say about responding by faith to our circumstances is founded on this reality. There must be surrendered to the purpose of God. That may be that we need to personally embrace Jesus Christ as savior if we have not done.

So that is the foundational place for us to enter into relationship with God. It's why Jesus came to our world. But it also may mean that God is saying in this season where you are feel the sky is calling. He's not asking you to work it out or figure it out or be, or be more, uh, controlling contrary. He is saying, this is a moment when you need it to just surrender and say, Lord, I'm going to stop fighting.

And when I start trying to fill it, figure this out, I want to be, I want to be in the place where Hezekiah started as all this took place. I want my heart to be yielded to you. The second thing we find is that faith faces reality. It's striking in verse two and three. It talks about, uh, when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib meant to attack Jerusalem.

One of the things that is very typical in our lives of faith. When life feels out of control when life feels overwhelming is to not think, uh, our culture is masterful at this. We can be fill our entire lives, can be filled with outward input that just keep us going. I mean, we can, we can, we can be busy at our jobs and we can immediately go and have other.

Uh, entertainment, which actually the word amusement is R which means no muse means think, uh, we, we just turn off, we vege. We don't really process what we're, what we're struggling with, what's going on. And we don't know why we're, we're developing these ulcers or we're causing the people around us to get ulcers, uh, by our responses.

But because we don't take time to say what's going on, what am I dealing with? What am I struggling with? Well, Nehemiah took time to see Nehemiah. My Hezekiah took time to see I've mentioned this before. It's, it's a practice that God led me to do many years ago. It's what I call a worry list. Uh, I have never done a worry list where I wanted to do it, but I have always been glad after I did it.

Worry list is just saying, you know, this, I just feel life right now. Just feels like a bunch of gnats flying around my head. And I don't know what's going on. I can't, I can't deal with it. I can't think of it. I just need to, I just need to work. I just need to plunge. I need to put my head down, keep going.

That will not resolve your worry. You'll bury it, but it's still there. It will eat you up. It will still control you. So what's a worry list. A worry list begins with this. Terrorizing first step, which is you just say, okay, I'm going to write down every single thing that I think I might be worried about.

And if you're like me, you may start with four or five, but you'll end up with 30. You just big things, little things, big things, little thing, you just start writing them down. You take that list. Once you have first faced your reality, which is not fun. Right? And then you begin one by one to offer those things to God, and then you offer them with Thanksgiving.

But the first thing is faith faces reality. Secondly, third faith takes practical steps verses four. And following talk about some of the things that has a Kaia did. I mean, he built new shields and all that stuff. He had a couple of years after they had started taking these city States in, in Judah for him to prepare.

But the most important thing he did was. He took the guy, hon string and his spring. And if you look at it, if you think of Jerusalem this way and on sort of a circle and on the, on the Eastern side, there was a spring there in the Kidron Valley where Jesus went and prayed. And in that Valley was a spring and clear water that sprung up a natural spring.

And it was a major water source for Israel. It was outside the city walls. So what has the Kaia did. Is he actually in, and if I I've never been to Israel, but one of the things that I most want to see is actually Hezekiah's tunnel. It's a tunnel that is 1800 feet long and it ran from the Northern part outside of the city all the way.

And it goes, and it goes immediately underground. They diverted this spring. So there was no water on the surface. And it went, they, they put it in a, in a, in a, like a cave who duck underground that ran all the way under the city walls, 1800 feet down. It was flowing on a, on a, a moderate, downhill slope into the Southern part of the city where they got their primary water source.

He did it. So they had water during the siege and also the enemies would not have water outside the city. And it's still the air. It's a major. A visitor site to tourists that go to Jerusalem, he did practical things. He diverted the water this way and, and faith doesn't mean that we just totally let go.

Let God, there are practical things he will lead us to do. You may be concerned about the election. You should vote. That is a practical way that we participate. If you have cancer, you get medical treatments. If you have family issues, you get counseling and seek reconciliation. There are practical things we do in faith does not, does not avoid taking those steps.

At times, it will compel us to take courageous steps. The fourth thing that is involved in Faith's response to when the sky is falling is. Faith finds strength in God. Verse five says this has a Kiah worked hard repeating, repairing the walls. Literally the word worked hard is literally in the Hebrew. He S he strengthened himself in repairing the walls.

The word strengthen here, I believe is talking about inner strength. He had his spirit strengthen. It's a statement often use in the old Testament. One of my favorite passage, the old Testament is first Samuel chapter 30, where it talks about David. Uh, David had had, was living. He'd been flee fleeing from King Saul who was trying to kill him.

And he'd gone out in the wilderness and a ragtag group of guys had joined around him about 300 men with their families. Eventually a lot of them were outcast and, and he's living out there. And at one point, he and the men are gone. And while they're gone, this group of, of nomads, basically desert, uh, robbers called Amalekites that came in on camels and they, and they captured all of their families and all, everything they own and took it.

All their wives, all their kids are gone. And when they get back to the camp and they find that their wives and their children have been taken by these guys who were known as, as, as, uh, regularly sold people into slavery and they think this is our family, my family's gone. It says the David's followers talked about stoning him.

I mean, just what you want in your loyal followers. They were so ticked off. They were so upset. They were so scared. They needed a, uh, somebody to blame a scapegoat. So, so maybe we should just kill David and then it makes this remarkable statement. In first, Samuel 30, it says David found strength and literally strengthened himself in the Lord.

His God. That's what it's talking about with Hezekiah. He strengthened himself. He found in the Lord a strength that he did not have in himself. He drew near to God. Now, sometimes God does in our lives, what he will do in Hezekiah's life, in using other people to help us do that. When Hezekiah gets the letter from and after this time, period has been waiting and waiting and hoping the Egyptians are going to deliver them and they fail.

And now the letter comes and snacker have surrounded the city then and Hezekiah got the letter and here's what he did. He sent word to the prophet, Isaiah, and he said, man, would you just come and pray with me? Would you just hang with me? I know the Lord and I know I, but I need support. I need somebody else to be with me.

He pulled others in to pray with him. I think faith often is strengthened as we allow other people to come into our lives and pray with us and be with us faith. Fifth fifthly enables you to strengthen others. After this has a Kaia gathered the people in the city square, and he says to them, basically, don't be afraid.

That's a very message. Isaiah actually told Hezekiah and the people gain confidence from the words of Hezekiah, the word gain confidence means they leaned into him. They actually leaned on his faith. They depended on his faith. Marion. And I were gone three days in the latter part of this week and we were staying down at the shore.

And while we were there, we got together with a couple from our church, uh, who were a part of our first 2020 of us and Bruce and peg shell. And just spend an Eva a beautiful evening together. It reminded me. Of the very early days of our church ministry, we were church planners and there had come a moment in the church planning where I had, I had tried to pour my life into a couple of guys.

One was, um, a guide led to Christ. He was a. A prominent businessman. And, and I just saw this guy was going to be the guy that's going to build a ministry on. He was, he was successful. He was, his story was incredible of how God had led him to faith. And one day I was meeting with him and we met weekly for Bible study and he just said, you know, Mark, I'm so grateful for everything you've done and how you've brought me to genuine faith in Christ.

But. You know, my background is much more liturgical in style and I'm just more comfortable. And so he was gentle, yeah. Telling me that they were leaving. He and his wife, our church. And at that same time, another man that I had, uh, he was older and another, who was my peer. And at that time I was late twenties.

My peer. Uh, another guy that I'd been meeting with weekly, it was also, he announced that they were going to leave. There just wasn't anything for their kids. And, and I, I was just crushed. I mean, I was so tired. I was so discouraged and there were two guys in our church named Bruce and Alan. One of them was this guy, Bruce shell.

And I just said, look, um, can I get with you guys for breakfast? And, uh, And we got together for breakfast and I don't even remember how much I shared with them. I just needed to lean into somebody else. I just needed to have somebody else help carry the, the, and I don't remember one word they said to me, I don't remember.

I'm sure they said something that was wise and brilliant, but for me it was just leaning into. Their faith. And this is part doing the journey. If you're in a state where you feel the sky is falling, you're not made to carry it alone. And maybe God will use. You in this season towards others that can lean into your faith.

It's striking to me that Hezekiah calls for Isaiah and Isaiah comes to him and says, Hezekiah, don't fear. God's with you. Then the next thing you know, is has the Kiah is out with the people of Israel. And he's saying, Hey, don't fear God's with us, but he often does it horizontally to support it. Each other, the last thing we find is faith practices.

Continual calling, you see this in verse 20 through 22 as Hezekiah and Isaiah continue. You need to cry out to God. It actually, one of the passages talks about how in a parallel passage, in the old Testament where Hezekiah took the letter from Sinec rib, laid it out and then knelt down in front of it and, and just basically offered it to God, God, here it is.

Here's the deal. We have a group of pastors that meet for prayer, uh, regularly weekly from, uh, from the area, mostly senior pastors from our area. We meet here at our building. And one of the things we talk about all the time is from first Peter chapter five, where he says cast your cares on the Lord for, he cares for you, cast your anxieties on the Lord for, he cares for you.

We have an option. It's the same option you have. You can cast, or you can carry, you can carry your cares. You can carry your worries. You can carry your concerns or you can cast them. And first Peter five five says this in verse seven, it says humble yourselves under God's mighty hand. And then the part is.

Is this by casting your cares. In other words, proud people try to carry their care. Our part in humbling ourselves is giving them to God to put this whole sermon together, go back to the point. We've start by acknowledging what we're worried about. And then we say, Lord, here's my 30 things. That are plaguing me right now.

And just one by one Lord, I don't want to carry this is why I haven't been able to think about it's why I don't want to, I don't want to name the NATS, but I'm going to take them one by one and I'm just going to cast them.

It may feel this morning, the sky is falling is sky's not falling. The danger of only seeing the problems and the dangers is it opens you up. To the greater danger to the Fox, to the one, wanting to devour your faith and lead you to despair has a Kaia stands as a, as a simple example for us, he had plenty of reasons to feel the sky is falling.

They were surrounded by danger, and yet he turned to God. He got faith from a friend that helped him. He was then able to encourage others with that faith. He dealt with the questions that unvariable invariably, come when we are in a season of the sky is falling, but he responded with faith. So can we, Lord, we come to you this morning.

We live in a, an unsettled day. For many of us maybe as unsettled a season, as we've ever seen, certainly nationally

Lord, we know you who is the same yesterday, today and forever, who is the ancient of days, who is the most high God above all things and all circumstances. And so Lord help us to. Lean into you help us to own what we're struggling with and then father, to believe you to be present in our troubles and glorify yourself in them.

Lord, it is our prayer that your name would be hallowed, that your name would be shown to be great in our faith, in our trust. In our simply doing what you ask us and command us to do to not carry our worries, but to cast them in Jesus name. Amen. Now go in peace to love and serve and enjoy the Lord.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/hezekiah-when-the-sky-is-falling 914908c5-cbb6-4a05-b50d-419218f2281f Sun, 18 Oct 2020 19:01:07 GMT <div data-html="true">2 Chronicles: 32 <br /><br /> Disaster was eminent for them. They could have said the sky is falling. Everything seems dark and hopeless. <br /><br /> <br /><br /> When everybody invite you to take your Bibles this morning to second Chronicles, chapter 32 second Chronicles in the old Testament. If you open your mouth right to the middle, you'll hit the book of Psalms. Usually go a couple of doors to the left and you'll come to the book of first and second Chronicles. <br /><br /> Second Chronicles, 32. We're continuing a series we've been in the last few weeks entitled, still speaking. It's a biographical series on different biblical characters. And today we're looking at a King that really is a, uh, Uh, uh, follows parallel tracks with the individual I talked about last week, whose name was Josiah? <br /><br /> These were the two godly Kings of Judah. We're going to read that in a moment, but first I'd like to pray and then we're going to get into our study together. Lord, we come this morning and this beautiful sunny Sunday morning, Lord, we thank you that your mercies are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. <br /><br /> As Jeremiah said, Lord, as we come, we pray that you would teach us some, your word. May we learn from the life of this man? May we be reminded of your character, your faithfulness, your presence with us in, in times of challenge, even as was true in this historic moment, we're looking at here in this passage in jesus' name. <br /><br /> Amen. We are going to be looking at second Chronicles, 32 in a couple of minutes before we get there, just by way of introduction. I want to remind you of a story that many of you have probably heard or some version of, uh, some people talk about it. The old English version, which is Henny penny, the other is chicken. <br /><br /> Little, both are talking about an individual, a chicken who was in a field. And while she was out there, uh, an acorn fell from an acorn or an Oak tree on the head. And immediately she determined that the sky was falling. And so she's in a panic. She said, I need to tell the King. So she, she goes and on her journey to the King's place, uh, she comes across a series of individuals. <br /><br /> First. She comes across a rooster and she. It describes to him. He says, where are you going? She said, I'm going to tell the King, the sky is going, Oh my goodness. So he goes, along next, she comes, uh, to a, to a duck. Then she comes to a goose and then she comes to a, a Turkey and they all join her in the trip. <br /><br /> They're going to tell the King how the sky is falling a disastrous happening and in their panic stricken state, they go. And then they come to the Fox and the Fox. Um, ask them where they're going. They tell them where they're going. And then the Fox has a creative alternative for them and their create and their Fox as well. <br /><br /> There's actually a shortcut to the Kings, a house, and it happens to be right through here and he leads them to their burrow. And one by one, starting with the Turkey, who's the baby Vegas. They go down in. And if you have read the story, which I won't. Describe, um, you find out that not all children's stories are happy stories and down in the borough, the demise of each of these characters takes place except for the chicken herself who just before she's about to go and she's last in line. <br /><br /> She remembers, Oh, wait, it's egg laying time. I need to get back to my nest. So she leaves and, and chicken little or Henny penny, depending on the name is the only one that avoids. The disaster that the true disaster that awaits are there in the foxes borough, the moral of the story is that the is, is the danger of inciting panic, which can result in opportunists doing genuine harm. <br /><br /> The idea is we tend to be panicked about the wrong thing, and we end up in. More destructive circumstances were 16 days from the next presidential election, right? It has become a Henny penny season. For many, if the opposing candidate is elected, the country is. Irrevocably doomed. In many people's perspective, I was interested to read a couple of days ago, Bruce Springsteen said it this way. <br /><br /> If so, and so wins. And now half of you will be on your phone to figure out which one he said that about. If so-and-so wins the presidential election, I'll be on the next plane to Australia that day. Well, there are people on both sides of the election. That are predicting absolute disaster for our nation. <br /><br /> If the other candidate wins, one can assume that the day after the election, there will be a very significant percentage of our population that will be going around with their own version of the sky is falling, but God will still be on his throne. God will still be working the sovereign plan. Who's focused. <br /><br /> Is not the kingdom of the United States of America. It will be the kingdom of Christ. He will still be working at justice. He has been doing for all the centuries, since Jesus was on earth, building his kingdom among the kingdoms of the earth. Now maybe it may say, well, it seems like you're minimizing the significance of the election. <br /><br /> I'm not, I'm not, I don't mean to. I think we all should vote. I think you should vote. You should vote. You should con conscience. It is part of our responsibility to be as good citizens who we are called to be as citizens of jesus' kingdom to vote. But whatever results you awaken to on November 4th, the sky will not be falling for God's purposes and the development of God's kingdom. <br /><br /> Some of you are also dealing with personal crises, maybe in your marriage, maybe with your kids, maybe in your employment, maybe in relationship troubles or health crisis. It feels like the sky is falling disaster and darkness seem imminent and unavoidable. But the moral of the story of chicken little Henny penny is that we do more harm to ourselves and to others. <br /><br /> When we lose perspective of what is true, the Fox is there to be the devouring enemy delighting to pounce upon our overreaction. The fear driven. The panicked. Our enemy is  and our enemy is justice ominous, justice dangerous. And certainly just as cruel ancient Israel, ancient Jerusalem was facing a similar unsettling time. <br /><br /> Disaster was eminent for them. They could have said the sky is falling. Everything seems dark and hopeless. And they're King who served in city of Jerusalem ruling over the Southern kingdom of the two tribes of, of the divided kingdom. As I mentioned last week, there were 10 Northern tribes called Israel. <br /><br /> Now there were two Northern Southern tribes called Judah and their King was King, has a Kaia, one of the two most godly Kings of all the line of the Kings that followed David. And in the actions and responses of Hezekiah, we learn how to respond to those moments. And also the tension of those moments when it feels like the sky is falling. <br /><br /> So I'd like to read this passage, I'm going to read verses one through 12 of second Chronicles, 32, after all that has a Kaia had. So faithfully done. So Nick rib King of Assyria came and invaded Judah. He laid siege to the fortified cities thinking to conquer them for himself. When Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come and that he intended to make war on Jerusalem, he consulted with his officials and military staff about blocking off the water from the Springs outside the city. <br /><br /> And they helped him a large force of men assembled and they blocked all the Springs in the streams that load through the land. Why should the Kings of Assyria come and find plenty of water? They said, then he worked hard repairing all the broken sections of the wall and building towers on it. He built another wall outside that one and reinforced the supporting terraces of the city of David. <br /><br /> He also made large numbers of weapons and shields. He appointed military officers over the people and assembled them before him in the city square in the city gate and encouraged them with these words. Be strong and courageous do not be afraid or discouraged because of the King of a Siri and the vast army with him for there is a greater power with us than with him, with him is only the arm of flesh. <br /><br /> But with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles and the people gain confidence from what has the Kiah, the King of Judah said later when Sennacherib King of a Siri and all his forces were laying seeds to Lake Kish. He sent his offices to Jerusalem with this message for Hezekiah King of Judah. <br /><br /> And for all the people of Judah who were there, this is what Sinec rib King of his serious says on. What are you basing your confidence that you remain in Jerusalem under siege? When Hezekiah says the Lord, our God will save us from the hand of the King of his Syria. He is misleading. You. To let you die of hunger and thirst did not Hezekiah himself removed this God's high places and altar saying to Judah and Jerusalem, you must worship before one altar and burn sacrifices on it. <br /><br /> Let's pray together. Lord become now <br /><br /> and try to place ourselves in a historic moment. That certainly was one of. Potentially fearful, fearful consequences. God, pray that we can learn from the responses of your people. Most of all, that we can learn about you and your willingness to be with us in those times of trouble and moments when the sky does seem to be falling. <br /><br /> Teach us Lord. I pray in Jesus name. Amen. Simple outline this morning. Two things I want to highlight when it feels like the sky is falling. First of all, it brings questions in verses in these passage. We're looking at this morning, we find it brings difficult questions. Um, in these verses Sinec rib is. <br /><br /> The King of the Syria. And here's really what the historic moment is about. The nation of Assyria was a terrifying, uh, nation. It was the most violent vicious of all of the ancient empires, uh, during, for centuries during biblical history, certainly in all the BC years, they were the most violent, they were the most fear inducing, uh, their, their famous practice when they captured enemy soldiers. <br /><br /> Uh, was not to immediately execute them. They would, they, they were famous for taking stakes that they were drive deep into the ground and they would point a point, a point on it, them to Razor's edge. And then they would take the opposing soldiers and plop them on it. So their body weight would slowly. <br /><br /> Sink down into the steak and they would die. It was just a horrible, excruciating death that took hours sometimes days. And there was nothing I could do it just as their body weight sunk onto this, this thing. And they were tied to this, this pole and the, they were, they were fearsome people and they had been victorious. <br /><br /> Um, during the days of Sinec rib. The Northern kingdom of Israel, all those 10 tribes had fallen to a Syria. They'd been utterly vanquished by the Assyrians. Now Sinec rib is moving his troops South and in these last couple of years has been infiltrating one city after another. We know from historical records, uh, of the Assyrians themselves by, by, uh, stone scripts that have come down. <br /><br /> That at this moment, when he is about to come against Jerusalem, he has in his own words already conquered 46 walled villages or cities of Judah, not counting Israel. And the most recent one he's fighting against is a city called Lake Kish, which was actually the second largest city in Judah. And after he leaves there, he's saying you're next. <br /><br /> And that's the message that he's sending at this moment to Jerusalem. I'm coming to take down the capital city as he does this in verse 10, he raises the first difficult question that is often faced by all of us when we feel that the sky is. And the question he basically says is how big is your God? I mean, he's not nearly as big as you think he is. <br /><br /> Here's what he says in verse 10 then says, submit snake, rib King of Syria. And he sends this through his, his, his representatives on what are you trusting sting that you endure this in Jerusalem. When you say the Lord, our God will deliver us. Don't you know what I and my fathers have done to all the peoples of other lands. <br /><br /> Were the gods of their nations on of those lands at all, able to deliver their lands out of my hand, verse 14, who among all the gods of those nations, that my father is devoted to destruction was able to deliver his people from my hand that your God should be able to deliver you. From my hand. He said, what makes you think you're, God's going to be any different from anybody else's no one has been able to defeat us. <br /><br /> And matter of fact, your God. What's the utterly incapable of being able to stop my father. His father was named Sargon from totally vanquishing, your other tribes, your other nation of the Northern kingdom. And they claim to worship Jehovah as well. And the question he is, he is he's raising his, when we can initially dismiss. <br /><br /> Without really thinking and say, well, this is just a stupid question. I mean, of course, God is different from any of these false gods, the bales and the Ash to Ross and the Ashira poles and all of the and all these other Molex, these other pagan gods gods, the true and the living God and, and, and what they need to just respond is, well, the omnipotent, all powerful. <br /><br /> God is the one that's gonna fight for us. And of course that was true. But it's also true. He's going to fight for us. It's also true that he is present with us and to look at the people of Israel and think, well, of course, they're going to believe and not be fearful in this moment when the sky seems to be falling, but then we have to accept the fact that we are, we struggle with fear when things are going South for you. <br /><br /> When it seems like circumstances seem indomitable when your ex seems to be doing just fine, without any regard to God, when your kids turn their back on the faith, when your competitors in the business culture. Seem to get away with every devious trick in the book. When you just look at life circumstances and you just feel beat up because there don't seem to be any wins. <br /><br /> God, when you see no hope, no way out, no turning, no revival, no wins, no victory. Then you can begin to wonder how big is God? How, how, how involved you'll see really is God now. And if you sat down and you say, well, of course I know he's big enough. And man, I believe he's the creator. He keeps the universe in order, but, but easy, really big enough in my world because. <br /><br /> I don't see the wins. I don't see the, the, the red seas opening. So the first question is, can God really win in this season of chaos and uncertainty in your world? But there's another question that he raises that's even harder. And that's the question. How active will God be? How much is God really? <br /><br /> Fighting for you. Notice what he says in verse 12, and you need to understand of new, a little theology. He hit, he had gotten just enough theology of, of, of ancient Israel and of the true faith of, of God to cause a distortion of it. So here's what he says in verse 12. Isn't your King has a Kiah misleading. <br /><br /> You. In order that he may give you overtime die by famine and by thirst, when he tells you the Lord, our God will deliver us from the hand of the King of Assyria. Hasn't this same Hezekiah taken away is this God's high places and his altars and commanded Judah and Jerusalem before one, you shall worship and on it, you shall burn your sacrifice. <br /><br /> Now. Sennacherib is accurate in what has the Kaia had done? He actually had purchased is Jerusalem of all of the high places of, of the, the, the statues. Excuse me, the, yeah, the statues, the images, the idols. And he actually had attempted to purify. The worship of Jehovah as the one God and Senate grubs looking at that. <br /><br /> And he doesn't understand enough of the faith of Israel, but he's distorting in it, but he's seeding things. He's doing what the enemy always does in her mind. He seeding questions and he's saying, are you sure that Jehovah God is going to help you? Are you sure he's on your side? I mean, looking and I'm sure there will lots of people in Israel, as a matter of fact, I'm positive of this because before has the Kaia came on the scene, the faith of Israel was replete with, with other a, a syncretist or, or a blended worship with these other idols. <br /><br /> And after Hezekiah has gone, they're going to restore that. So there were a lot of people that were questioning what has the Kaia done? And so you have this questioning and they say it, how do you know God's going to help you? I mean, I mean, how can you be sure. Now, who of us has not struggled with those questions? <br /><br /> When the sky is falling, you say, okay, you want to theological answer. God can do anything. God is mighty. God, God does majestic things. But it's God going to do for me is God going to be strong for me, there's all kinds of seeds and Hezekiah. Hezekiah is promising us that God will help us Willy what if God is not as much for us as the King is indicated. <br /><br /> Maybe we've displeased God enough, that he really isn't going to be for us. Maybe Sonic ribs got some, some real stuff here. Maybe he got God is less interested in Jerusalem than we thought. I mean, look at Israel, they've been taken down. Look at these other 46 small things and city States, why didn't he stop the Assyrians before now? <br /><br /> Questions questions, questions come when hard things come. And the other aspect is it's not only difficult questions. It's continual questions in verse 16 and 17. We're told a little bit about the historical moment that's taking place, and I'm going to just summarize it for time this morning. But in those verses. <br /><br /> And also as we go to second Kings chapter 19, which gives a parallel passage and gives more historical context, that's not included here. Here's what's actually happened. Sennacherib has come South with his armies and they have been taking one Judy Judean city after another. And they're now at the second largest one, as I mentioned, Lake Kish. <br /><br /> And while he's there, he sends the first message over in, up through verse 12. And he says, you know, this guys, he's given you a bill of goods. Uh, you better surrender. Uh, that's why he has his ambassadors actually speak to the people. He doesn't just speak to the King. They're yelling this out to the people that to seed their minds with fear. <br /><br /> He sends the representatives. The next thing that happens before Sennacherib comes to Jerusalem, the Egyptians actually come, we read about this in second Kings 19, the Egyptians come to help, uh, has the Kiah, so they have come trying to think which way are they becoming from the West to help. And Sennacherib sends them packing. <br /><br /> So now they're the hope for aid for Jerusalem has now been obliterated and they've gone back. They've been defeated. And now the third thing happens. Another communication comes to Hezekiah this time in the form of a letter and snacker up says, you thought you thought you were going to get a, a get bailed out. <br /><br /> Now I'm coming. And at that moment, army surrounds the city of Jerusalem. But the reason I mentioned all that is to say this, this was something that went on for weeks, perhaps months. It's one thing to be confronted with questions when, when things are hard and then all of a sudden you get out of it. <br /><br /> What's hard is when the questions linger, right? I mean, I really do believe that there are seasons in our life. I look at them as there are, life is a long book and even the journey of faith is a long book and there are chapters. Some of those chapters are really hard chapters. Some of those chapters are things we really would never have believed would be a part of our life journey. <br /><br /> But what's hard is when those chapters linger and they're long and you don't understand why God who so big, doesn't just deal with it. Some of you will feel that way on November 4th. How could this have happened? How could it have gone this way? Whatever way that is. <br /><br /> There are questions that come when we feel the sky is falling. So how are we to then respond? And this is the latter part of the sermon. When it feels like the sky is falling, it requires a response of faith. I want you to look at this with me. In in, in these verses. Now I'm looking at this whole section, I'm just going to highlight certain statements back in verse one, we find that faith is founded in surrender. <br /><br /> The remarkable statement. It says here, it starts this whole passage of these, of the Syrians coming. And it starts with this statement. It says after all he had, so faithfully done, let's talk about Hezekiah. Snacker rib shows up with the Assyrian army. And it's an interesting way to entree into this. And it's looking back to chapters 29 to 31, where, where Hezekiah has seemed to be a remarkably faithful godly man. <br /><br /> And after all of this. He is confronted with the onslaught of the Assyrians. Now in chapter 29 to 31, this amazing thing says the Kiah did. He had restored the work of the priest who had basically been put out of business. The, the, the country had almost gone secular. He reinstated the sacrifices, the worship services. <br /><br /> He rebuilt the entire national calendar around the feasts of Israel that included, uh, two eight day festivals where people didn't work and just came and celebrated the nature of God. I mean, he literally changed the national calendar of the culture. He also himself. Devoted significant portions of his own financial estate to the work of God and taught the people to begin tithing, to begin sacrificially giving. <br /><br /> This was a man who tart longed to God and the first and most important question when feeling imminent danger or calamity in our lives is. Is my heart really yielded to the Lord. Am I ready? Or am I now being called to submit to my life to God in a deepened way in this midst of, of the sky is falling moment and it's striking how he starts off. <br /><br /> He said, God had prepared, has a Kiah as of had allowed God to have the center place in his life. And so he was ready when calamity came. Everything. I'm going to say about responding by faith to our circumstances is founded on this reality. There must be surrendered to the purpose of God. That may be that we need to personally embrace Jesus Christ as savior if we have not done. <br /><br /> So that is the foundational place for us to enter into relationship with God. It's why Jesus came to our world. But it also may mean that God is saying in this season where you are feel the sky is calling. He's not asking you to work it out or figure it out or be, or be more, uh, controlling contrary. He is saying, this is a moment when you need it to just surrender and say, Lord, I'm going to stop fighting. <br /><br /> And when I start trying to fill it, figure this out, I want to be, I want to be in the place where Hezekiah started as all this took place. I want my heart to be yielded to you. The second thing we find is that faith faces reality. It's striking in verse two and three. It talks about, uh, when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib meant to attack Jerusalem. <br /><br /> One of the things that is very typical in our lives of faith. When life feels out of control when life feels overwhelming is to not think, uh, our culture is masterful at this. We can be fill our entire lives, can be filled with outward input that just keep us going. I mean, we can, we can, we can be busy at our jobs and we can immediately go and have other. <br /><br /> Uh, entertainment, which actually the word amusement is R which means no muse means think, uh, we, we just turn off, we vege. We don't really process what we're, what we're struggling with, what's going on. And we don't know why we're, we're developing these ulcers or we're causing the people around us to get ulcers, uh, by our responses. <br /><br /> But because we don't take time to say what's going on, what am I dealing with? What am I struggling with? Well, Nehemiah took time to see Nehemiah. My Hezekiah took time to see I've mentioned this before. It's, it's a practice that God led me to do many years ago. It's what I call a worry list. Uh, I have never done a worry list where I wanted to do it, but I have always been glad after I did it. <br /><br /> Worry list is just saying, you know, this, I just feel life right now. Just feels like a bunch of gnats flying around my head. And I don't know what's going on. I can't, I can't deal with it. I can't think of it. I just need to, I just need to work. I just need to plunge. I need to put my head down, keep going. <br /><br /> That will not resolve your worry. You'll bury it, but it's still there. It will eat you up. It will still control you. So what's a worry list. A worry list begins with this. Terrorizing first step, which is you just say, okay, I'm going to write down every single thing that I think I might be worried about. <br /><br /> And if you're like me, you may start with four or five, but you'll end up with 30. You just big things, little things, big things, little thing, you just start writing them down. You take that list. Once you have first faced your reality, which is not fun. Right? And then you begin one by one to offer those things to God, and then you offer them with Thanksgiving. <br /><br /> But the first thing is faith faces reality. Secondly, third faith takes practical steps verses four. And following talk about some of the things that has a Kaia did. I mean, he built new shields and all that stuff. He had a couple of years after they had started taking these city States in, in Judah for him to prepare. <br /><br /> But the most important thing he did was. He took the guy, hon string and his spring. And if you look at it, if you think of Jerusalem this way and on sort of a circle and on the, on the Eastern side, there was a spring there in the Kidron Valley where Jesus went and prayed. And in that Valley was a spring and clear water that sprung up a natural spring. <br /><br /> And it was a major water source for Israel. It was outside the city walls. So what has the Kaia did. Is he actually in, and if I I've never been to Israel, but one of the things that I most want to see is actually Hezekiah's tunnel. It's a tunnel that is 1800 feet long and it ran from the Northern part outside of the city all the way. <br /><br /> And it goes, and it goes immediately underground. They diverted this spring. So there was no water on the surface. And it went, they, they put it in a, in a, in a, like a cave who duck underground that ran all the way under the city walls, 1800 feet down. It was flowing on a, on a, a moderate, downhill slope into the Southern part of the city where they got their primary water source. <br /><br /> He did it. So they had water during the siege and also the enemies would not have water outside the city. And it's still the air. It's a major. A visitor site to tourists that go to Jerusalem, he did practical things. He diverted the water this way and, and faith doesn't mean that we just totally let go. <br /><br /> Let God, there are practical things he will lead us to do. You may be concerned about the election. You should vote. That is a practical way that we participate. If you have cancer, you get medical treatments. If you have family issues, you get counseling and seek reconciliation. There are practical things we do in faith does not, does not avoid taking those steps. <br /><br /> At times, it will compel us to take courageous steps. The fourth thing that is involved in Faith's response to when the sky is falling is. Faith finds strength in God. Verse five says this has a Kiah worked hard repeating, repairing the walls. Literally the word worked hard is literally in the Hebrew. He S he strengthened himself in repairing the walls. <br /><br /> The word strengthen here, I believe is talking about inner strength. He had his spirit strengthen. It's a statement often use in the old Testament. One of my favorite passage, the old Testament is first Samuel chapter 30, where it talks about David. Uh, David had had, was living. He'd been flee fleeing from King Saul who was trying to kill him. <br /><br /> And he'd gone out in the wilderness and a ragtag group of guys had joined around him about 300 men with their families. Eventually a lot of them were outcast and, and he's living out there. And at one point, he and the men are gone. And while they're gone, this group of, of nomads, basically desert, uh, robbers called Amalekites that came in on camels and they, and they captured all of their families and all, everything they own and took it. <br /><br /> All their wives, all their kids are gone. And when they get back to the camp and they find that their wives and their children have been taken by these guys who were known as, as, as, uh, regularly sold people into slavery and they think this is our family, my family's gone. It says the David's followers talked about stoning him. <br /><br /> I mean, just what you want in your loyal followers. They were so ticked off. They were so upset. They were so scared. They needed a, uh, somebody to blame a scapegoat. So, so maybe we should just kill David and then it makes this remarkable statement. In first, Samuel 30, it says David found strength and literally strengthened himself in the Lord. <br /><br /> His God. That's what it's talking about with Hezekiah. He strengthened himself. He found in the Lord a strength that he did not have in himself. He drew near to God. Now, sometimes God does in our lives, what he will do in Hezekiah's life, in using other people to help us do that. When Hezekiah gets the letter from and after this time, period has been waiting and waiting and hoping the Egyptians are going to deliver them and they fail. <br /><br /> And now the letter comes and snacker have surrounded the city then and Hezekiah got the letter and here's what he did. He sent word to the prophet, Isaiah, and he said, man, would you just come and pray with me? Would you just hang with me? I know the Lord and I know I, but I need support. I need somebody else to be with me. <br /><br /> He pulled others in to pray with him. I think faith often is strengthened as we allow other people to come into our lives and pray with us and be with us faith. Fifth fifthly enables you to strengthen others. After this has a Kaia gathered the people in the city square, and he says to them, basically, don't be afraid. <br /><br /> That's a very message. Isaiah actually told Hezekiah and the people gain confidence from the words of Hezekiah, the word gain confidence means they leaned into him. They actually leaned on his faith. They depended on his faith. Marion. And I were gone three days in the latter part of this week and we were staying down at the shore. <br /><br /> And while we were there, we got together with a couple from our church, uh, who were a part of our first 2020 of us and Bruce and peg shell. And just spend an Eva a beautiful evening together. It reminded me. Of the very early days of our church ministry, we were church planners and there had come a moment in the church planning where I had, I had tried to pour my life into a couple of guys. <br /><br /> One was, um, a guide led to Christ. He was a. A prominent businessman. And, and I just saw this guy was going to be the guy that's going to build a ministry on. He was, he was successful. He was, his story was incredible of how God had led him to faith. And one day I was meeting with him and we met weekly for Bible study and he just said, you know, Mark, I'm so grateful for everything you've done and how you've brought me to genuine faith in Christ. <br /><br /> But. You know, my background is much more liturgical in style and I'm just more comfortable. And so he was gentle, yeah. Telling me that they were leaving. He and his wife, our church. And at that same time, another man that I had, uh, he was older and another, who was my peer. And at that time I was late twenties. <br /><br /> My peer. Uh, another guy that I'd been meeting with weekly, it was also, he announced that they were going to leave. There just wasn't anything for their kids. And, and I, I was just crushed. I mean, I was so tired. I was so discouraged and there were two guys in our church named Bruce and Alan. One of them was this guy, Bruce shell. <br /><br /> And I just said, look, um, can I get with you guys for breakfast? And, uh, And we got together for breakfast and I don't even remember how much I shared with them. I just needed to lean into somebody else. I just needed to have somebody else help carry the, the, and I don't remember one word they said to me, I don't remember. <br /><br /> I'm sure they said something that was wise and brilliant, but for me it was just leaning into. Their faith. And this is part doing the journey. If you're in a state where you feel the sky is falling, you're not made to carry it alone. And maybe God will use. You in this season towards others that can lean into your faith. <br /><br /> It's striking to me that Hezekiah calls for Isaiah and Isaiah comes to him and says, Hezekiah, don't fear. God's with you. Then the next thing you know, is has the Kiah is out with the people of Israel. And he's saying, Hey, don't fear God's with us, but he often does it horizontally to support it. Each other, the last thing we find is faith practices. <br /><br /> Continual calling, you see this in verse 20 through 22 as Hezekiah and Isaiah continue. You need to cry out to God. It actually, one of the passages talks about how in a parallel passage, in the old Testament where Hezekiah took the letter from Sinec rib, laid it out and then knelt down in front of it and, and just basically offered it to God, God, here it is. <br /><br /> Here's the deal. We have a group of pastors that meet for prayer, uh, regularly weekly from, uh, from the area, mostly senior pastors from our area. We meet here at our building. And one of the things we talk about all the time is from first Peter chapter five, where he says cast your cares on the Lord for, he cares for you, cast your anxieties on the Lord for, he cares for you. <br /><br /> We have an option. It's the same option you have. You can cast, or you can carry, you can carry your cares. You can carry your worries. You can carry your concerns or you can cast them. And first Peter five five says this in verse seven, it says humble yourselves under God's mighty hand. And then the part is. <br /><br /> Is this by casting your cares. In other words, proud people try to carry their care. Our part in humbling ourselves is giving them to God to put this whole sermon together, go back to the point. We've start by acknowledging what we're worried about. And then we say, Lord, here's my 30 things. That are plaguing me right now. <br /><br /> And just one by one Lord, I don't want to carry this is why I haven't been able to think about it's why I don't want to, I don't want to name the NATS, but I'm going to take them one by one and I'm just going to cast them. <br /><br /> It may feel this morning, the sky is falling is sky's not falling. The danger of only seeing the problems and the dangers is it opens you up. To the greater danger to the Fox, to the one, wanting to devour your faith and lead you to despair has a Kaia stands as a, as a simple example for us, he had plenty of reasons to feel the sky is falling. <br /><br /> They were surrounded by danger, and yet he turned to God. He got faith from a friend that helped him. He was then able to encourage others with that faith. He dealt with the questions that unvariable invariably, come when we are in a season of the sky is falling, but he responded with faith. So can we, Lord, we come to you this morning. <br /><br /> We live in a, an unsettled day. For many of us maybe as unsettled a season, as we've ever seen, certainly nationally <br /><br /> Lord, we know you who is the same yesterday, today and forever, who is the ancient of days, who is the most high God above all things and all circumstances. And so Lord help us to. Lean into you help us to own what we're struggling with and then father, to believe you to be present in our troubles and glorify yourself in them. <br /><br /> Lord, it is our prayer that your name would be hallowed, that your name would be shown to be great in our faith, in our trust. In our simply doing what you ask us and command us to do to not carry our worries, but to cast them in Jesus name. Amen. Now go in peace to love and serve and enjoy the Lord.</div> false no <![CDATA[Josiah: going deeper with God]]> The journey of faith is one marked by continual deepening of understanding.

2 Chronicles 34



We're looking at a series a that we call still speaking. It's actually taken from one of the first verses in Hebrews chapter 11, where it talks about Abel. And it says though, dead, he still speaks. And the picture of those individuals and Hebrews 11, our lives that continues to speak to us today. And so that's the title of the series that we're in.

And this morning, we're looking at a character that. Uh, I believe powerfully still speaks to us, to man named Josiah, an individual who went continually deeper with God, his whole life. I like to pray. And then we're going to jump right into our study this morning. Gonna look at the number of verses here at different times.

And second Chronicles, chapter 34. Let's pray together. Lord we gathered today here in this building for many others gathering in their living rooms, in their car or wherever they're watching this morning. Lord, we ask that you would be our teacher. We believe that the scripture is given to us as the sufficient.

Venue of truth to change our lives, to let us know you, to help us know ourselves, that we might better know you. So Lord instruct us and guide us into your truth this morning. I pray as we look at the life of, of this man who did go deeper with you in Jesus name. Amen. The word deep has lots of different content patients to us a week.

Talk about the deep, uh, that is a term that is often used to talk about the, the parts of the ocean that have the greatest depth. Uh, I understand there's a channel, a pretty wide channel, many mile wide channel that. Goes between somewhere between the Philippines and, and the Guam. And it's seven miles below the surface of the, uh, of the ocean, the depth of the water there.

And it's called not surprising. The challenger deep. We use the word deep in football parlance to talk about, uh, someone going deep in the ideas that go far out, the receiver goes out. It means he's going to catch a bomb, a long pass. We talk about an individual being. Deep, uh, I've often been reminded of my lack of this, uh, in talking to Marianne when I'll, uh, she'll say something nice about a sermon that I've preached and, and of course I'm, I'll I'll charge right in and say, Oh, what, what, what did you enjoy?

You know, the sermon, what really spoke to you and I, a number of times she will share this. Amazing insight, uh, from the sermon. And I'll say to her, babe, that is an incredible insight of that passage of scripture, which never entered my mind. Um, uh, there is some people are just deep. We also talk about a tree or a plant.

They dig deep. And that's the one I want to, I think most closely is associated with the context of an individual going deep. It said that you can, you can grow a squash in a few weeks, but it can take a hundred years to grow a mighty Oak and the roots go deep. The taproot goes deep, deep into the soil.

This is the picture in days past, we used to talk about the deeper life. And I think the picture of it is an individual who is deepening in their trust of God, which I personally have come to believe is the greatest demonstration. The greatest picture of really spiritual growth is we're growing to trust God more.

We grow in trust in God. We grow in love for God. And the guy that we're looking at this morning named Josiah is a beautiful example of a life that continually went deeper with God. I'd like to just give you some historical context. Uh, he was a King of what is called Judah in nine 31, the kingdom of Israel, which had been started, um, Uh, Saul had been the first King.

Then David was the King. Then Solomon was the King and then Solomon's son Rehoboam, uh, caused a division of the kingdom and it divided into two different groups. One was the Northern kingdom called Israel of 10 tribes. Lasting about 200 years. And during those 200 years, there is not one godly King identified in the nation of Israel, the 10 tribes, Northern kingdom of 19 of them, the it of Judah or the kingdom of Judah in the South comprised of two King, two tribes, Judah and Benjamin lasted approximately 350 years.

And 200 of those years. We're six different Kings godly Kings presided over the kingdom of Judah. And the two most godly Kings identified in the kingdom of Judah were a man named Hezekiah. And this guy, Josiah, Josiah was a godly man. And the cool thing about Josiah for all of you, young people, is that when Josiah was 16 years old, His life was irrevocably committed to God.

He began to walk with God. He had known God, apparently somewhat before that, but it was then that his heart really was all in, in following God, a position that lasted his entire life for young adults, for young people. This is a great guy to know, and to have as a role model in your life of wholehearted.

Walking with God. I'd like to look quickly this morning at seven principles. We'll spend more time in the first couple, but seven principles we find about going deeper with God. So we have a life that is deepening and trust deepening in love for God. The first of those is that. Going deeper is a choice.

We see this now, as we enter into our text in verses one through three, Joe Josiah was eight years old when he became King and he reigned in Jerusalem 31 years, he did was right in the eyes of the Lord and follow the ways of his father. David, not turning aside to the right of the left in the eighth year of his reign while he was still young, he began to seek.

The God of his father, David. Now that's interesting. His father is not David. David was a great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather. But Kings of Israel and Kings of Judah were always compared with David. He was the standard. He was the role model of what they were to be. And Josiah was one of those Kings that really followed the pathway of David.

Okay. He did. So because it says here in verse three, when he was 16 years old in the eighth year of his reign, Josiah determined you seek God. Now, as you go through the book of Chronicles, you find that there are two primary ways this word seek, uh, is used. And what it's talking about, what does it mean to seek God?

Well, the first thing it means is to seek God's will. Here's what it says in second Chronicles, chapter 18, verse four. You are to seek the counsel of the Lord. Jehoshaphat said, talking to someone else, see what God has to say about the matter to, to, to see, to be taught, to seek God's counsel God's mind God's will

I've been both a cat owner and a dog owner in my life. Uh, I grew up with a cat. We had puff for many years. Um, always hated it when I I'd go to these conferences. And one of the things they often would have you do with you would be identifying yourself. I remember one particular one, they said, okay, everybody's going to identify themselves by the name of their first pet.

Do you know what it's like to be called puff for a whole conference, but we had a cat, uh, growing up. So I was a cat. Owner, if you will. We've also had three different dogs in our, our, our own family and our adult life. Now I'm going to say this right now. I'm really don't want any emails as a result of this illustration from pet owners.

Some of you are going to be tempted to, to say that hasn't been my experience. I get it. There were some wonderful cats. There was a, a puff was not one, but there are some wonderful cats out there, but there are differences between cats and dogs. A dog looks at his owner bill and he says, bill feeds me. He provides me a comfortable place to live.

He cares for me. Bill loves me. He must be God. A cat on the other hand has the same response. He says, my owner, bill feeds me, provides for me. A comfortable place to live. He cares for my need. He loves me. I must be God. Now, Josiah here, pictures. The idea that he recognizes, he is not, God, God is God. A God seeker says God, speak into my life today.

What do you want me to do? What are the particular things that you want me to do with my life today? He's a listener. He's a responder. He or she seeks God's minds on what he wants you to do, what he wants you to surrender your life to. And it's a day by day journey. Josiah was such a man. He was a God seeker.

So he saw the will of God. Secondly, Second Chronicles, 20 verse four. It gives us the second sense of seeking God. The people of Judah came together to seek help from the Lord. A God seeker seeks help from God. It's an intentional seeking. Josiah sought to know God's will day by day, and he lived in continual dependence on God.

What made the difference? What made his life unique from all these other Kings are all the Kings of Israel. Most of the Kings of Judah, he said, Lord, I want to hear from you today. I want you to lead me. I want you to teach me. I want you to speak into my life and God, I recognize that. That I'm not wired, that, that the engine of my eye to live in my own strength, that, that, that the June of my life needs to fuel the spirit of God to run.

I don't have the resources in myself. I am a God. Depender. You may be here and say, well, Mark, my life is so full right now. I don't have time. I mean, I know I get it. I mean, I hear, I've heard this, my whole Christian journey. You should spend time with the Lord. I trust. I can't write. I don't have time. Hey, you will always find time to find what's most T to make time for what's most important to you.

We all do. Well, we might look and we might say, well, I don't know where to start. I don't know how to even really get into the Bible. Why can't I can tell you there's not a pastor in this church that doesn't get em, get their, their, their juices flowing. When somebody says, look, I'm trying to, I'm trying to really get into the script.

I don't know where to start. I don't know how to, we'd love to talk to you about that. The first thing. And again, these will be longer. We're not all seven. Aren't gonna take this long don't despair. But the first thing we find is that going deeper with God is a choice. He chose to be a God seeker. Secondly, going deeper is a series of steps beginning in verse three.

And I'm going to jump around. I'll highlight as I move, but if you're in your Bible, you'll see. In verse three, it says in the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, Josiah began to seek the God of his father, David. In his 12th year, he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of high places, poles and idols direction.

The altars of bale were torn down, jumping down to verse eight in the 18th year of Josiah's reign to purify the land and the temple he sent Shaffer and son of as Elia and may. Assiah the ruler of the city with JOA son of Joel has the recorder to repair the temple of the Lord. His God now jumping all the way to verse 30.

He read in there hearing all the words of the book of the covenant, which had been found in the temple of the Lord. The King stood by his pillar and renewed the covenant and the presence of the Lord to follow the Lord and keep his command statues and decrees with his whole heart and his whole soul.

And to obey the words of the covenant written in this book, then he had everyone Jerusalem and Benjamin, Benjamin pledged themselves to it. The people of Jerusalem did this in accordance with the covenant of God, the God of their ancestors. Josiah removed all the detestable idols from all the territory, belonging to the Israelites.

And you had all who were present in Israel, served the Lord, their God. Here's the story of Josiah and a quick overview. When Josiah was 16 years old, he began to seek God. Verse three, when he was 20 years old, he began to purge the high places in idols from Jerusalem and Judah. When he was 26 years old, he repaired the temple.

And restored the, the, the vibrant worship that David had done many, many generations before when he was 39 years old, he called the people to a national repentance and to commit to the covenant of God, this was a lifelong learner whose whole life was devoted to going deeper with God and to always being used by God.

There is a continual process, his whole life, a learning more and more about God and about what God wanted him to do. And the longer he lived, the deeper he went with God. One of the beauties of walking with Christ is that you are growing in an awareness of the beauty and the wonder of God. He never ceases to all you.

It also helps you. To know your own heart. And there's a continual growing at what the Puritans used to call self knowledge of just seeing how much I need God more. And I didn't realize how much, how much of my heart needs to be changed as a continual peeling back of the underneath is this beautiful process of growing less and less confident in ourselves and more and more confident in God.

My father grew up, uh, in a background that were Christ was not central in his family. It was in his mid twenties, actually late twenties. And my father came to faith in Christ and my dad was an electrical engineer. Um, When he was up on long Island, he would, uh, he worked in a place called Sperry. It was a defense contractor.

He later came down and did the same thing in this area at what is now Martin Marietta. But as he was there as a, a guy in his and it was his late thirties, he'd walked with God for a few years. He began to start these, uh, uh, lunch hour meetings and he got permission and he showed moody science films, and he was, people were coming to know Jesus.

As these moody science films put up with the moody organization. My father had a secretary whose nickname in the organization was the blonde bombshell. She was a socialite. She was a very worldly, um, And my dad had the privilege of leading her to Christ. He had the privilege of leading her husband to Christ.

I remember one Saturday night when we were sitting at our home and our, our family of four were sitting around the radio as the Jack Watson broadcast from word of life was being transmitted. Cause once a week, Jack Watson would get on and he'd interview people. And he happened to be interviewing the blonde bombshell and her husband, and then the listen and hear her talking about her boss who had led her to Jesus.

But then to hear the story, which I didn't know till I actually heard it on the broadcast that she and her husband had now been called to give their life into vocational Christian missions. In another part of the world, I give that backstory to say, my dad walked with Christ for many years. When he came to Jesus, he was all in,

but one of the callings of walking with God and going deeper with God is that we're always learning. We're always growing. Right? One of the most memorable moments I have from my, with my dad was when my dad and I, we had been talking about you. He was old school and. He was struggling with the informality of clothes that we were wearing to our worship services.

And he talked to me about it. He said, I Felix, this and I still remember the day. My father now retired. He came to me and he was very active in our church till the day died, but he came to me and he had this, I actually wrote it down. He said, Mark, I've been convicted about my own pride. The real reason I care.

What people are wearing is that visitors from other churches, people I know Mike come to our service and I'd be embarrassed. I share that story to say this. If you are walking with God and going deeper with God, you will always be learning things about your own heart. You will always be learning things about God's heart.

So here's my question to you today. And now I addressed the younger people earlier with a challenge, man, get to know this guy, Josiah, a guy who from from his early teens was devoted to follow Christ through his whole way through, but now I'm speaking to you who have walked with God, maybe for a long time.

Are you hotter for God today than you were years ago? Are you more in love with Jesus than ever before? Do you show a deeper passion to hear his word, to love his, his voice speaking into your life? Is this. The apex in your journey with Christ, if not, why not? Josiah continued to grow and learn and change.

Growing deeper with God is a continual set of steps. As we walk along, knowing him and loving him. The third thing we find is going deeper with God will involve standing alone at times verses three through seven. Talk about the impact that your CYA had and how he got rid of the high places and, and the alters in the idolatry, not only in Jerusalem, but ultimately in the entire kingdom.

And it sounds like national revival and there was some buying in, but notice these solemn words in Jeremiah, the prophet of contemporary Jeremiah three, 10 of this day says this Judah did not return to me with all her heart, but only in pretense, the people respected Josiah and they went along with his changes.

But he was largely alone in his passion for God's glory. There were others, but it wasn't what one might have thought in seeing the support for him. He was an influencer for the glory of God. It's striking that Josiah's grandfather and Josiah's father had done great harm to the work of God in the kingdom.

They had almost completely obliterated any remnants of God's truth. We'll see that in a moment they didn't have the, the, the, the scriptures, even the, the, the, the book of the Torah, the first five books of the old Testament until they happened to discover it in the temple, hidden in a, in a, in a shelf somewhere they'd gotten rid of it because they, they despised it for the most part.

Yet this man, this man's heart in some ways, almost the first generational Christian

follow Christ wholeheartedly stood with him. If you're going to go deeper with God, if you're going to make a difference in your generation, you will have to come to grips that there is only one person that will really determine the trajectory of your life. You can't wait for the people around you. You can't wait for your family, friends, others going deeper will sometimes mean you make choices alone.

The fourth thing going deeper as centered in the scriptures in verses 14 to 21, you have this remarkable story. And what happens is they're, they're going in, they're starting to clean out the temple and they're actually taking some money in that has been raised by the populace for the renovations. And while they're taking it in, they find.

And a shelf somewhere, the scriptures it's astonishing to think that they didn't have it. The only scriptures probably that Josiah had at this time were those, which were the songs or other things, because the Psalms were built into the worship experience. So he would certainly have those as in the songs that were sung.

But as far as the. The first five books and notably the book of Deuteronomy, which is also often called the book of the law in the old Testament, they didn't have the principles of godly conduct that were presented there. At least in written word. They would only have some of it by oral tradition. And here's what happened when they bring the scriptures out to Josiah.

It says this in verse 18, this guy is Shaffer and brings it to him and shape and read from it in the presence of the King. And when the King heard the words of the law Torres ropes, he gave these orders to Hilkiah go and inquire of the Lord for me and for the remnant in Israel and Judah about what is written in this book that has been found greatest.

The Lord's anger is poured out on us because of those who have gone before us. Have not kept the word of the Lord. They have not acted in accordance with all that is written in the book here. The Lord honors Josiah's desire for, for him by giving him the ultimate gift, the scriptures.

It's easy to diminish the gift of the scriptures in our day, because it's so commonplace for us. I mean, you can go in any secular bookstore and you'll have your choice of all kinds of Bibles. It's everywhere. It's easy to forget the treasure. That is God's word. The privilege of being able to meditate on it, to memorize it.

To study it to, to let its truth speak into our lives, to, to counter the countless verse voices that are, that are speaking into us every day, God gave to Josiah as a gift of his desire to know him, his word. I remember reading the story of John Jay, who was the first Supreme court justice of the United States.

And he was dying. And, and back in those days, people didn't just jump on a plane to get home quick, to be with a dying relative. And, and most of his children were not able to get there to his death bed and time. And so someone was with John Jay, who was a wonderful believer and they said, do you have any, any particular.

Words of counsel, you want to pass on to your children and he made this statement. He said, no, they have the book. They have the Bible, they have the scriptures. The fifth thing we find is going deeper, brings God's blessing. Just going to highlight a couple of verses here in verse 24 to 27 behold, I will bring disastery, say, he says, ultimately God is going to bring judgment on the people because of their former sins and that they have not really corporately turned to him in repentance.

I'll bring disaster upon this place and upon its inhabitants. But then he says this about to Josiah. But to the King of Judah who sent you to inquire of the Lord because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before God, you shall be gathered to your grave and peace and your eyes shall not see all the disaster that I will bring upon this place.

And its inhabitants, God says to Josiah disaster is coming on this place, but not on you. My eyes on you. I take care of my own. A few years ago, I received a letter from a man named Frank McQuaid. Frank was a to know his background. Frank, um, actually had been born in an unusual way. His mother, who he never knew left him in a basket.

And put it on a doorstep and those people eventually took this baby or took this baby and, and Frank, and this was years ago, Frank grew up in an orphanage Frank later in life, as he grew up, uh, became, uh, a bomber pilot in world war two and married a girl that he had met named Dolores and many years after that in their seventies.

Frank and Dolores were part of our church a number of years ago. Frank after he left the military had given his heart to Christ and they began to pastor and they pastored small churches, never churches that were, were, um, uh, fluent and Franklin, Dolores did not have a great amount of money. And he always would say his statement was, um,

I have it here. His wealth. Oh, his wealth. My wealth is in my loved ones. And my friends later in life, even now into their eighties, Dolores began to fail. She had Alzheimer's and they went out to live in California to be near their kids. And I got this letter from Frank, who was the last correspondence I ever had from, and in the letter he talked about, um, How they were living in this retirement home.

It was just before Dolores passed and God had given him ministry. He's always said, he said, he said, I'm, I'm the volunteer chaplain here in, in the, in the nursing home where we live their retirement convalescent home, where he was living, they were living around their friends, around their family. They were cared for.

He was obviously happy. God has had watched out for them even to this point in their lives. And when I read the letter, it was a very emotional letter for me to just think how God takes care of his own. And this man is simple couple that had followed Christ and I read the letter to Marianne and these were her words.

She said, God keeps taking care of that little orphan boy, that's the picture. God takes care of his own. God takes care of his kids. And he says to just say this, this bad things, dark things coming, but my eye is on you. I see you. You never have to worry that you're going to be left on your own. You never have to worry how life will play out.

You never have to worry that you're going to have to work at a nipple and control it. If your hardest on a trajectory for your whole life for Sam, my passion is to go deeper and trust to, to grow in deeper love with God.

Going deeper brings God's blessing. Going deeper will call for repeated commitment. I actually love this part in verse 29 31. Here's what happened actually verse 31 in particular, they brought the law to, to Josiah and he stunned by it. And here's his response in verse 31. The King stood by us pillar and renewed the covenant in the presence of the Lord.

This is by himself later, he'll call the people to follow the Lord and keep his command statutes and decrease with all his heart and all his soul. And to obey the words of the covenant written in this book, this guy has been a King of Judah for about 30 years. Now he's in the latter part of his reign.

And yet this man who has done so much to walk with with Christ to so much to honor God in his, in his rulership still feels called to renew his commitment. Maybe you're here, maybe you're listening. And this is the moment where God says, why not renew it again? You say, I have known the Lord for a long time and, and, and it, sorry, maybe God is just using this simple message to say, Hey, let's restore the fire.

Let's restore the longing, the hunger, the dependence going deeper with God will call for those moments. Of repeated commitment. And the last thing going deeper is the path to immortality.

Second Chronicles, 35 verse 24 says this and Josiah died and was buried in the tombs of his father, all Judah and Jerusalem, mourned for Josiah. A lot of ways. He did a lot of things that offended a lot of people. He didn't know that people were going to be starting to see him go. I'm sure there were many times along that path when he thought, eh, this is going to turn against me.

People are going to throw me out, but there was a love for him. It was a blessing for him. We don't know what God has for our lives. We don't do it for the acclaim of people. But we do remember this verse in first, John chapter two, where it says this, he, that does the will of God remains forever. There is a sense of immortality that comes when you invest your life in that, which will never be wasted.

John Piper's great book written particularly to young adults. Don't waste your life. Josiah didn't waste his life. His name went on into immortality. Because he was a man invested in that, which was eternal to go deeper. These things are involved, but I do want to close with this. Maybe you hear, or maybe you're watching this morning and I would want, and this whole.

Coming to Christ thing and giving your life to Jesus Christ and being born again and receiving Jews as savior. It's, it's kinda looking a little bit through the glass and I hear about, I don't know what it means. I mean, where do I start? Well, you start by embracing Jesus Christ as the savior for your sins.

That Jesus Christ came to enable us to enter a relationship with God that lives. And endures forever. It's why in colation chapter two, it says this. So then just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him. You first need to be rooted in Christ.

Then you read it, just go deeper and you can grow in all these ways we've talked about. But first it means that. Our life is rooted. Not in our works. It's not rooted in how we can earn God's favor. We're rooted in Christ in what Jesus Christ did for us on the cross. And then we grow and then we are built up in him, but it starts with that personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

If that's a new concept or something you've heard, you'd love again, one of our pastors, we would love the chance to talk to you about how you can embrace Jesus Christ as your savior. Let's pray together this morning, Lord, we thank you that you are determined. It seems to call your children to grow deeper.

Lord may this man's life be one that still speaks to us renew our passion. God renew our longing for you wherever we are as young people, just beginning starting out on the journey of faith, maybe as an age, it's Saint to believe Lord that no one is ever too old to be off your, I can do it through you list.

Lord call us to live deeper. I pray in jesus' name. Amen.

I'll go in peace to love and serve and enjoy the Lord. Thank you.

Call me to heaven. Sweet and right. I see your scars, your own beauty of yours. .]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/josiah-going-deeper-with-god 0ef0dd84-d7fb-4aea-bc5e-02032d7ca59d Sun, 11 Oct 2020 16:01:50 GMT <div data-html="true">The journey of faith is one marked by continual deepening of understanding. <br /><br /> 2 Chronicles 34 <br /><br /> <br /><br /> We're looking at a series a that we call still speaking. It's actually taken from one of the first verses in Hebrews chapter 11, where it talks about Abel. And it says though, dead, he still speaks. And the picture of those individuals and Hebrews 11, our lives that continues to speak to us today. And so that's the title of the series that we're in. <br /><br /> And this morning, we're looking at a character that. Uh, I believe powerfully still speaks to us, to man named Josiah, an individual who went continually deeper with God, his whole life. I like to pray. And then we're going to jump right into our study this morning. Gonna look at the number of verses here at different times. <br /><br /> And second Chronicles, chapter 34. Let's pray together. Lord we gathered today here in this building for many others gathering in their living rooms, in their car or wherever they're watching this morning. Lord, we ask that you would be our teacher. We believe that the scripture is given to us as the sufficient. <br /><br /> Venue of truth to change our lives, to let us know you, to help us know ourselves, that we might better know you. So Lord instruct us and guide us into your truth this morning. I pray as we look at the life of, of this man who did go deeper with you in Jesus name. Amen. The word deep has lots of different content patients to us a week. <br /><br /> Talk about the deep, uh, that is a term that is often used to talk about the, the parts of the ocean that have the greatest depth. Uh, I understand there's a channel, a pretty wide channel, many mile wide channel that. Goes between somewhere between the Philippines and, and the Guam. And it's seven miles below the surface of the, uh, of the ocean, the depth of the water there. <br /><br /> And it's called not surprising. The challenger deep. We use the word deep in football parlance to talk about, uh, someone going deep in the ideas that go far out, the receiver goes out. It means he's going to catch a bomb, a long pass. We talk about an individual being. Deep, uh, I've often been reminded of my lack of this, uh, in talking to Marianne when I'll, uh, she'll say something nice about a sermon that I've preached and, and of course I'm, I'll I'll charge right in and say, Oh, what, what, what did you enjoy? <br /><br /> You know, the sermon, what really spoke to you and I, a number of times she will share this. Amazing insight, uh, from the sermon. And I'll say to her, babe, that is an incredible insight of that passage of scripture, which never entered my mind. Um, uh, there is some people are just deep. We also talk about a tree or a plant. <br /><br /> They dig deep. And that's the one I want to, I think most closely is associated with the context of an individual going deep. It said that you can, you can grow a squash in a few weeks, but it can take a hundred years to grow a mighty Oak and the roots go deep. The taproot goes deep, deep into the soil. <br /><br /> This is the picture in days past, we used to talk about the deeper life. And I think the picture of it is an individual who is deepening in their trust of God, which I personally have come to believe is the greatest demonstration. The greatest picture of really spiritual growth is we're growing to trust God more. <br /><br /> We grow in trust in God. We grow in love for God. And the guy that we're looking at this morning named Josiah is a beautiful example of a life that continually went deeper with God. I'd like to just give you some historical context. Uh, he was a King of what is called Judah in nine 31, the kingdom of Israel, which had been started, um, Uh, Saul had been the first King. <br /><br /> Then David was the King. Then Solomon was the King and then Solomon's son Rehoboam, uh, caused a division of the kingdom and it divided into two different groups. One was the Northern kingdom called Israel of 10 tribes. Lasting about 200 years. And during those 200 years, there is not one godly King identified in the nation of Israel, the 10 tribes, Northern kingdom of 19 of them, the it of Judah or the kingdom of Judah in the South comprised of two King, two tribes, Judah and Benjamin lasted approximately 350 years. <br /><br /> And 200 of those years. We're six different Kings godly Kings presided over the kingdom of Judah. And the two most godly Kings identified in the kingdom of Judah were a man named Hezekiah. And this guy, Josiah, Josiah was a godly man. And the cool thing about Josiah for all of you, young people, is that when Josiah was 16 years old, His life was irrevocably committed to God. <br /><br /> He began to walk with God. He had known God, apparently somewhat before that, but it was then that his heart really was all in, in following God, a position that lasted his entire life for young adults, for young people. This is a great guy to know, and to have as a role model in your life of wholehearted. <br /><br /> Walking with God. I'd like to look quickly this morning at seven principles. We'll spend more time in the first couple, but seven principles we find about going deeper with God. So we have a life that is deepening and trust deepening in love for God. The first of those is that. Going deeper is a choice. <br /><br /> We see this now, as we enter into our text in verses one through three, Joe Josiah was eight years old when he became King and he reigned in Jerusalem 31 years, he did was right in the eyes of the Lord and follow the ways of his father. David, not turning aside to the right of the left in the eighth year of his reign while he was still young, he began to seek. <br /><br /> The God of his father, David. Now that's interesting. His father is not David. David was a great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather. But Kings of Israel and Kings of Judah were always compared with David. He was the standard. He was the role model of what they were to be. And Josiah was one of those Kings that really followed the pathway of David. <br /><br /> Okay. He did. So because it says here in verse three, when he was 16 years old in the eighth year of his reign, Josiah determined you seek God. Now, as you go through the book of Chronicles, you find that there are two primary ways this word seek, uh, is used. And what it's talking about, what does it mean to seek God? <br /><br /> Well, the first thing it means is to seek God's will. Here's what it says in second Chronicles, chapter 18, verse four. You are to seek the counsel of the Lord. Jehoshaphat said, talking to someone else, see what God has to say about the matter to, to, to see, to be taught, to seek God's counsel God's mind God's will <br /><br /> I've been both a cat owner and a dog owner in my life. Uh, I grew up with a cat. We had puff for many years. Um, always hated it when I I'd go to these conferences. And one of the things they often would have you do with you would be identifying yourself. I remember one particular one, they said, okay, everybody's going to identify themselves by the name of their first pet. <br /><br /> Do you know what it's like to be called puff for a whole conference, but we had a cat, uh, growing up. So I was a cat. Owner, if you will. We've also had three different dogs in our, our, our own family and our adult life. Now I'm going to say this right now. I'm really don't want any emails as a result of this illustration from pet owners. <br /><br /> Some of you are going to be tempted to, to say that hasn't been my experience. I get it. There were some wonderful cats. There was a, a puff was not one, but there are some wonderful cats out there, but there are differences between cats and dogs. A dog looks at his owner bill and he says, bill feeds me. He provides me a comfortable place to live. <br /><br /> He cares for me. Bill loves me. He must be God. A cat on the other hand has the same response. He says, my owner, bill feeds me, provides for me. A comfortable place to live. He cares for my need. He loves me. I must be God. Now, Josiah here, pictures. The idea that he recognizes, he is not, God, God is God. A God seeker says God, speak into my life today. <br /><br /> What do you want me to do? What are the particular things that you want me to do with my life today? He's a listener. He's a responder. He or she seeks God's minds on what he wants you to do, what he wants you to surrender your life to. And it's a day by day journey. Josiah was such a man. He was a God seeker. <br /><br /> So he saw the will of God. Secondly, Second Chronicles, 20 verse four. It gives us the second sense of seeking God. The people of Judah came together to seek help from the Lord. A God seeker seeks help from God. It's an intentional seeking. Josiah sought to know God's will day by day, and he lived in continual dependence on God. <br /><br /> What made the difference? What made his life unique from all these other Kings are all the Kings of Israel. Most of the Kings of Judah, he said, Lord, I want to hear from you today. I want you to lead me. I want you to teach me. I want you to speak into my life and God, I recognize that. That I'm not wired, that, that the engine of my eye to live in my own strength, that, that, that the June of my life needs to fuel the spirit of God to run. <br /><br /> I don't have the resources in myself. I am a God. Depender. You may be here and say, well, Mark, my life is so full right now. I don't have time. I mean, I know I get it. I mean, I hear, I've heard this, my whole Christian journey. You should spend time with the Lord. I trust. I can't write. I don't have time. Hey, you will always find time to find what's most T to make time for what's most important to you. <br /><br /> We all do. Well, we might look and we might say, well, I don't know where to start. I don't know how to even really get into the Bible. Why can't I can tell you there's not a pastor in this church that doesn't get em, get their, their, their juices flowing. When somebody says, look, I'm trying to, I'm trying to really get into the script. <br /><br /> I don't know where to start. I don't know how to, we'd love to talk to you about that. The first thing. And again, these will be longer. We're not all seven. Aren't gonna take this long don't despair. But the first thing we find is that going deeper with God is a choice. He chose to be a God seeker. Secondly, going deeper is a series of steps beginning in verse three. <br /><br /> And I'm going to jump around. I'll highlight as I move, but if you're in your Bible, you'll see. In verse three, it says in the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, Josiah began to seek the God of his father, David. In his 12th year, he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of high places, poles and idols direction. <br /><br /> The altars of bale were torn down, jumping down to verse eight in the 18th year of Josiah's reign to purify the land and the temple he sent Shaffer and son of as Elia and may. Assiah the ruler of the city with JOA son of Joel has the recorder to repair the temple of the Lord. His God now jumping all the way to verse 30. <br /><br /> He read in there hearing all the words of the book of the covenant, which had been found in the temple of the Lord. The King stood by his pillar and renewed the covenant and the presence of the Lord to follow the Lord and keep his command statues and decrees with his whole heart and his whole soul. <br /><br /> And to obey the words of the covenant written in this book, then he had everyone Jerusalem and Benjamin, Benjamin pledged themselves to it. The people of Jerusalem did this in accordance with the covenant of God, the God of their ancestors. Josiah removed all the detestable idols from all the territory, belonging to the Israelites. <br /><br /> And you had all who were present in Israel, served the Lord, their God. Here's the story of Josiah and a quick overview. When Josiah was 16 years old, he began to seek God. Verse three, when he was 20 years old, he began to purge the high places in idols from Jerusalem and Judah. When he was 26 years old, he repaired the temple. <br /><br /> And restored the, the, the vibrant worship that David had done many, many generations before when he was 39 years old, he called the people to a national repentance and to commit to the covenant of God, this was a lifelong learner whose whole life was devoted to going deeper with God and to always being used by God. <br /><br /> There is a continual process, his whole life, a learning more and more about God and about what God wanted him to do. And the longer he lived, the deeper he went with God. One of the beauties of walking with Christ is that you are growing in an awareness of the beauty and the wonder of God. He never ceases to all you. <br /><br /> It also helps you. To know your own heart. And there's a continual growing at what the Puritans used to call self knowledge of just seeing how much I need God more. And I didn't realize how much, how much of my heart needs to be changed as a continual peeling back of the underneath is this beautiful process of growing less and less confident in ourselves and more and more confident in God. <br /><br /> My father grew up, uh, in a background that were Christ was not central in his family. It was in his mid twenties, actually late twenties. And my father came to faith in Christ and my dad was an electrical engineer. Um, When he was up on long Island, he would, uh, he worked in a place called Sperry. It was a defense contractor. <br /><br /> He later came down and did the same thing in this area at what is now Martin Marietta. But as he was there as a, a guy in his and it was his late thirties, he'd walked with God for a few years. He began to start these, uh, uh, lunch hour meetings and he got permission and he showed moody science films, and he was, people were coming to know Jesus. <br /><br /> As these moody science films put up with the moody organization. My father had a secretary whose nickname in the organization was the blonde bombshell. She was a socialite. She was a very worldly, um, And my dad had the privilege of leading her to Christ. He had the privilege of leading her husband to Christ. <br /><br /> I remember one Saturday night when we were sitting at our home and our, our family of four were sitting around the radio as the Jack Watson broadcast from word of life was being transmitted. Cause once a week, Jack Watson would get on and he'd interview people. And he happened to be interviewing the blonde bombshell and her husband, and then the listen and hear her talking about her boss who had led her to Jesus. <br /><br /> But then to hear the story, which I didn't know till I actually heard it on the broadcast that she and her husband had now been called to give their life into vocational Christian missions. In another part of the world, I give that backstory to say, my dad walked with Christ for many years. When he came to Jesus, he was all in, <br /><br /> but one of the callings of walking with God and going deeper with God is that we're always learning. We're always growing. Right? One of the most memorable moments I have from my, with my dad was when my dad and I, we had been talking about you. He was old school and. He was struggling with the informality of clothes that we were wearing to our worship services. <br /><br /> And he talked to me about it. He said, I Felix, this and I still remember the day. My father now retired. He came to me and he was very active in our church till the day died, but he came to me and he had this, I actually wrote it down. He said, Mark, I've been convicted about my own pride. The real reason I care. <br /><br /> What people are wearing is that visitors from other churches, people I know Mike come to our service and I'd be embarrassed. I share that story to say this. If you are walking with God and going deeper with God, you will always be learning things about your own heart. You will always be learning things about God's heart. <br /><br /> So here's my question to you today. And now I addressed the younger people earlier with a challenge, man, get to know this guy, Josiah, a guy who from from his early teens was devoted to follow Christ through his whole way through, but now I'm speaking to you who have walked with God, maybe for a long time. <br /><br /> Are you hotter for God today than you were years ago? Are you more in love with Jesus than ever before? Do you show a deeper passion to hear his word, to love his, his voice speaking into your life? Is this. The apex in your journey with Christ, if not, why not? Josiah continued to grow and learn and change. <br /><br /> Growing deeper with God is a continual set of steps. As we walk along, knowing him and loving him. The third thing we find is going deeper with God will involve standing alone at times verses three through seven. Talk about the impact that your CYA had and how he got rid of the high places and, and the alters in the idolatry, not only in Jerusalem, but ultimately in the entire kingdom. <br /><br /> And it sounds like national revival and there was some buying in, but notice these solemn words in Jeremiah, the prophet of contemporary Jeremiah three, 10 of this day says this Judah did not return to me with all her heart, but only in pretense, the people respected Josiah and they went along with his changes. <br /><br /> But he was largely alone in his passion for God's glory. There were others, but it wasn't what one might have thought in seeing the support for him. He was an influencer for the glory of God. It's striking that Josiah's grandfather and Josiah's father had done great harm to the work of God in the kingdom. <br /><br /> They had almost completely obliterated any remnants of God's truth. We'll see that in a moment they didn't have the, the, the, the scriptures, even the, the, the, the book of the Torah, the first five books of the old Testament until they happened to discover it in the temple, hidden in a, in a, in a shelf somewhere they'd gotten rid of it because they, they despised it for the most part. <br /><br /> Yet this man, this man's heart in some ways, almost the first generational Christian <br /><br /> follow Christ wholeheartedly stood with him. If you're going to go deeper with God, if you're going to make a difference in your generation, you will have to come to grips that there is only one person that will really determine the trajectory of your life. You can't wait for the people around you. You can't wait for your family, friends, others going deeper will sometimes mean you make choices alone. <br /><br /> The fourth thing going deeper as centered in the scriptures in verses 14 to 21, you have this remarkable story. And what happens is they're, they're going in, they're starting to clean out the temple and they're actually taking some money in that has been raised by the populace for the renovations. And while they're taking it in, they find. <br /><br /> And a shelf somewhere, the scriptures it's astonishing to think that they didn't have it. The only scriptures probably that Josiah had at this time were those, which were the songs or other things, because the Psalms were built into the worship experience. So he would certainly have those as in the songs that were sung. <br /><br /> But as far as the. The first five books and notably the book of Deuteronomy, which is also often called the book of the law in the old Testament, they didn't have the principles of godly conduct that were presented there. At least in written word. They would only have some of it by oral tradition. And here's what happened when they bring the scriptures out to Josiah. <br /><br /> It says this in verse 18, this guy is Shaffer and brings it to him and shape and read from it in the presence of the King. And when the King heard the words of the law Torres ropes, he gave these orders to Hilkiah go and inquire of the Lord for me and for the remnant in Israel and Judah about what is written in this book that has been found greatest. <br /><br /> The Lord's anger is poured out on us because of those who have gone before us. Have not kept the word of the Lord. They have not acted in accordance with all that is written in the book here. The Lord honors Josiah's desire for, for him by giving him the ultimate gift, the scriptures. <br /><br /> It's easy to diminish the gift of the scriptures in our day, because it's so commonplace for us. I mean, you can go in any secular bookstore and you'll have your choice of all kinds of Bibles. It's everywhere. It's easy to forget the treasure. That is God's word. The privilege of being able to meditate on it, to memorize it. <br /><br /> To study it to, to let its truth speak into our lives, to, to counter the countless verse voices that are, that are speaking into us every day, God gave to Josiah as a gift of his desire to know him, his word. I remember reading the story of John Jay, who was the first Supreme court justice of the United States. <br /><br /> And he was dying. And, and back in those days, people didn't just jump on a plane to get home quick, to be with a dying relative. And, and most of his children were not able to get there to his death bed and time. And so someone was with John Jay, who was a wonderful believer and they said, do you have any, any particular. <br /><br /> Words of counsel, you want to pass on to your children and he made this statement. He said, no, they have the book. They have the Bible, they have the scriptures. The fifth thing we find is going deeper, brings God's blessing. Just going to highlight a couple of verses here in verse 24 to 27 behold, I will bring disastery, say, he says, ultimately God is going to bring judgment on the people because of their former sins and that they have not really corporately turned to him in repentance. <br /><br /> I'll bring disaster upon this place and upon its inhabitants. But then he says this about to Josiah. But to the King of Judah who sent you to inquire of the Lord because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before God, you shall be gathered to your grave and peace and your eyes shall not see all the disaster that I will bring upon this place. <br /><br /> And its inhabitants, God says to Josiah disaster is coming on this place, but not on you. My eyes on you. I take care of my own. A few years ago, I received a letter from a man named Frank McQuaid. Frank was a to know his background. Frank, um, actually had been born in an unusual way. His mother, who he never knew left him in a basket. <br /><br /> And put it on a doorstep and those people eventually took this baby or took this baby and, and Frank, and this was years ago, Frank grew up in an orphanage Frank later in life, as he grew up, uh, became, uh, a bomber pilot in world war two and married a girl that he had met named Dolores and many years after that in their seventies. <br /><br /> Frank and Dolores were part of our church a number of years ago. Frank after he left the military had given his heart to Christ and they began to pastor and they pastored small churches, never churches that were, were, um, uh, fluent and Franklin, Dolores did not have a great amount of money. And he always would say his statement was, um, <br /><br /> I have it here. His wealth. Oh, his wealth. My wealth is in my loved ones. And my friends later in life, even now into their eighties, Dolores began to fail. She had Alzheimer's and they went out to live in California to be near their kids. And I got this letter from Frank, who was the last correspondence I ever had from, and in the letter he talked about, um, How they were living in this retirement home. <br /><br /> It was just before Dolores passed and God had given him ministry. He's always said, he said, he said, I'm, I'm the volunteer chaplain here in, in the, in the nursing home where we live their retirement convalescent home, where he was living, they were living around their friends, around their family. They were cared for. <br /><br /> He was obviously happy. God has had watched out for them even to this point in their lives. And when I read the letter, it was a very emotional letter for me to just think how God takes care of his own. And this man is simple couple that had followed Christ and I read the letter to Marianne and these were her words. <br /><br /> She said, God keeps taking care of that little orphan boy, that's the picture. God takes care of his own. God takes care of his kids. And he says to just say this, this bad things, dark things coming, but my eye is on you. I see you. You never have to worry that you're going to be left on your own. You never have to worry how life will play out. <br /><br /> You never have to worry that you're going to have to work at a nipple and control it. If your hardest on a trajectory for your whole life for Sam, my passion is to go deeper and trust to, to grow in deeper love with God. <br /><br /> Going deeper brings God's blessing. Going deeper will call for repeated commitment. I actually love this part in verse 29 31. Here's what happened actually verse 31 in particular, they brought the law to, to Josiah and he stunned by it. And here's his response in verse 31. The King stood by us pillar and renewed the covenant in the presence of the Lord. <br /><br /> This is by himself later, he'll call the people to follow the Lord and keep his command statutes and decrease with all his heart and all his soul. And to obey the words of the covenant written in this book, this guy has been a King of Judah for about 30 years. Now he's in the latter part of his reign. <br /><br /> And yet this man who has done so much to walk with with Christ to so much to honor God in his, in his rulership still feels called to renew his commitment. Maybe you're here, maybe you're listening. And this is the moment where God says, why not renew it again? You say, I have known the Lord for a long time and, and, and it, sorry, maybe God is just using this simple message to say, Hey, let's restore the fire. <br /><br /> Let's restore the longing, the hunger, the dependence going deeper with God will call for those moments. Of repeated commitment. And the last thing going deeper is the path to immortality. <br /><br /> Second Chronicles, 35 verse 24 says this and Josiah died and was buried in the tombs of his father, all Judah and Jerusalem, mourned for Josiah. A lot of ways. He did a lot of things that offended a lot of people. He didn't know that people were going to be starting to see him go. I'm sure there were many times along that path when he thought, eh, this is going to turn against me. <br /><br /> People are going to throw me out, but there was a love for him. It was a blessing for him. We don't know what God has for our lives. We don't do it for the acclaim of people. But we do remember this verse in first, John chapter two, where it says this, he, that does the will of God remains forever. There is a sense of immortality that comes when you invest your life in that, which will never be wasted. <br /><br /> John Piper's great book written particularly to young adults. Don't waste your life. Josiah didn't waste his life. His name went on into immortality. Because he was a man invested in that, which was eternal to go deeper. These things are involved, but I do want to close with this. Maybe you hear, or maybe you're watching this morning and I would want, and this whole. <br /><br /> Coming to Christ thing and giving your life to Jesus Christ and being born again and receiving Jews as savior. It's, it's kinda looking a little bit through the glass and I hear about, I don't know what it means. I mean, where do I start? Well, you start by embracing Jesus Christ as the savior for your sins. <br /><br /> That Jesus Christ came to enable us to enter a relationship with God that lives. And endures forever. It's why in colation chapter two, it says this. So then just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him. You first need to be rooted in Christ. <br /><br /> Then you read it, just go deeper and you can grow in all these ways we've talked about. But first it means that. Our life is rooted. Not in our works. It's not rooted in how we can earn God's favor. We're rooted in Christ in what Jesus Christ did for us on the cross. And then we grow and then we are built up in him, but it starts with that personal relationship with Jesus Christ. <br /><br /> If that's a new concept or something you've heard, you'd love again, one of our pastors, we would love the chance to talk to you about how you can embrace Jesus Christ as your savior. Let's pray together this morning, Lord, we thank you that you are determined. It seems to call your children to grow deeper. <br /><br /> Lord may this man's life be one that still speaks to us renew our passion. God renew our longing for you wherever we are as young people, just beginning starting out on the journey of faith, maybe as an age, it's Saint to believe Lord that no one is ever too old to be off your, I can do it through you list. <br /><br /> Lord call us to live deeper. I pray in jesus' name. Amen. <br /><br /> I'll go in peace to love and serve and enjoy the Lord. Thank you. <br /><br /> Call me to heaven. Sweet and right. I see your scars, your own beauty of yours. .</div> false no <![CDATA[Isaiah: here am I, send me]]> The book of Isaiah

How to avoid just going through the motions.

I was thinking getting here, and this is probably a good day to think about it. Um, I've been to Belize a few times on some missions trip, and I don't know if you've been to Belize or not, uh, or know anything about it, but Belize can get pretty hot, you know, and I know people go there for vacations and they go out on the water where we are in the camp.

It's inland, it's near the, uh, the capital of Belmopan. And, uh, when we're there, it's right at the end of July. So it's a pretty hot time. Uh, like, so during the day, uh, almost a hundred, not quite and very high humidity during the evening, it cools way down sometimes almost to 90. And, uh, so you're really feeling, and, and I am not necessary, certainly a hot weather person, but we're there and we enjoy, and, and I love speaking to the camp and I love doing all that part there.

And one of the things that happens that, that camp actually, probably almost any word of life camp. Is there a time they have, they call it the bonfire or the campfire. And, and the reason for that is it's a time, especially to direct people's hearts and minds to really think about giving themselves completely to the Lord in terms of service and dedication.

And here I am, this is the first time I was in the, in Belize. It was especially hot. And I know what's going on. I know what's there. I'm going to be preaching. And all of a sudden they have this bonfire, like you couldn't believe like it was roaring bonfire, flames. I don't know how high in the air, this huge fire and I'm standing there and I'm feeling it cause it's right against my back.

That's what I needed more heat. It was an amazing time though. Because as we talked, as we shared, has God worked in hearts. Uh, so many of the young people and even the staff really said, God, yeah, I really do want you. And we talk about Isaiah. Yeah. At least I did that time. And that's who we're going to look at today because you know, Isaiah is such a great example with that of someone.

Who was following the Lord, who would have said he loved the Lord, but he came to a place where God really gripped his heart. It was towards the early part of his ministry. And I think as we look at these things, we can really begin to understand something about what our heart is like and what he wants us to be and what he wants us to look at and examine so that, so that we're not just.

You know, you know, the phrase, just going through the motions, we're, we're really sitting there and we're really standing there before the Lord, and we're really moving in our whole world wherever we are, that we are proclaiming who Jesus Christ is. Yes. That, that we are letting people know that he. Has our lives.

And Isaiah is a tremendous example. Isaiah, let me tell you a little bit about him in case you don't remember. Isaiah was one of the major prophets. We don't know a lot about him, except from the book. We do know that he's sir, during the time of King, you Zaja all the way through Hezekiah. At least he knew those people and he spent a lot of time with them.

And those names may not mean a lot to you. But that was a hard time in the, in the whole, all history of Judah use Aja was mostly a godly King that, but people were walking away from the Lord. You know, people weren't really following after men. And as Isaiah writes, you get the idea very much that much of Judah was taking time and they were beginning to follow idols.

They were taking time and just, just focusing on themselves. They were forgetting that the God was the one who was supposed to be leading them and they just look to themselves. It was all hard, hard time and God in his sovereignty and mercy and grace spoke to his heart and he did it in an unusual way.

And we'll look at it in a little bit. And this is what began. His whole ministry. This was what he focused on. This is what he said. This is what God it has led me to suggest is what he leads us to as well. I mean, it's easy to go through life sometimes and saying, God, yeah, you can have this much of me. Or you can have this part of my existence, or you can have this much, but God, the rest of it's mine.

And I hope that's not your case, but I've talked to enough people and I know what I'm like to think that, you know, there are times that we kind of want God just to be this much of us. And I I'm going to try and challenge us. I'm going to, to help us understand the, what went through Isaiah's life is what needs to go in ours.

So let's look at it. It's Isaiah chapter six is where we're going to look. And this is like I said, although it's the chapter six, it's talking about the beginning of his ministry. And these are the things that I'm going to say. There are four things he recognizes that absolutely changes what he is like.

Isaiah chapter six, beginning in verse one, we're going to read through verse nine, actually just the first part of nine. Okay. And he says this by the spirit of God. This is why it was recorded in the year that King used Zion died. I, this is Isaiah. I saw the Lord's seated on a throne high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple above him were Cerus each with six wings with two wings, they covered their faces with two, they covered their feet and with two, they were flying and they were calling to one another.

Holy, Holy Holy is the Lord almighty. The whole earth is full of his glory at the sound of their voices. The doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. That was the vision he had. And this is what Isaiah responded. Woe is me. I cried. I am ruined for I'm a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord almighty.

Then one of the serfs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar with it. He touched my mouth and said, see, this has touched your lips. Your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for Ben. I heard the voice of the Lord saying whom shall I send and who will go for us?

And I said, here am I send to me? And he said that his God said, go and tell this people and he gives the message that he's to tell for four things. I think Isaiah recognizes in this time. It's amazing. When you think about the whole, the dream big dream. I, I do, um, I quite a bit, and I may say something about my sleep pattern and everything else.

I think it might say something about my personality because I dream and a lot of exciting things. I tell people I'm usually the hero in my dreams. You know, I kind of like that. I have some money, exciting things going on in my life. I've never had anything like this and I don't think I really want to.

Isaiah, as he saw there, he saw like God in the temple and all his glory, it was an amazing thing that he saw. He saw what was there. And as he did, I would say the first thing he recognized was the holiness of God. You see the surface were there and these are like, angels are beings in there. They're sitting there saying to one another very, very loudly.

Holy Holy, Holy is the Lord. God almighty. He's declaring. They are declaring the holiness of who God is. Holiness defined the easiest thing. And you probably know this, but holiness very simply means a is separated or set apart. But, but taken farther as you look at it, it's really, especially that, that he is perfect in goodness and righteousness.

That that's what holiness in its most simple form is. But that's who God is. As we do the getting connected class, we talk about the person of God, a little bit. And one of the things I ask and I'd ask you to think about, what's the first thing that you think about when someone says, God, what do you think about, what's the first thing that comes to your mind?

I used to say God, and you would say, and, uh, I just did that a couple of weeks ago and are getting connected. And, and there were several people, I mean, they said, Oh, well, I think of love. I think a power, I think creator, I think life and those are all good. And those are all true. But I would also say that as we think about who God is in all of his character in all that he is, we need to remember that he is Holy.

That he is absolutely pure that he is absolutely set up part and separated from anything that is ungodly. That is his nature because out of that, that begins to explain a lot about us and what Isaiah recognized here in just a minute, just to understand the holiness of God. And God, as, as he is in existence, it shows what holiness is like in living it out.

He has no part of sin. He is separated from sin. Absolutely. In a very real sense. He can't abide sin. I've used the word pure. He is pure in everything that he is. That's the heart of holiness. That's the life of holding us. And that is who God is. You, you know that, and you remember that that's one Isaiah came to us and I think it was significant in Isaiah's life because he had been, uh, he was beginning there.

This part is a prophet. Uh, he had been there. We don't know how old he was for sure. I don't think he was, uh, very old at that point. A young man probably. But it seems as though he hadn't been thinking so much about the holiness of God, it's possible that he was kind of wrapped up in everything that Judah was doing at that point, being religious, doing religious things, but not really having a heart for God.

Does that make sense to you? Now as I look at that, I think, yeah, he saw that he sees who God is. I mean, it was, we recognize that God is Holy. I was thinking about this. And you remember in the new Testament, remember when Peter was out fishing, you remember the story? He was he'd come back. He hadn't caught anything.

And it was, it was a bad night for fishermen. He gets there and you remember the story? Jesus has been there teaching and he, and he says, Peter, throw your nets on the other side. And Peter says, what do you know about fishing? But he did it. And you remember he caught this huge amount of fish. And what did Peter do?

Do you remember in Luke chapter five, verse eight. When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus's knees and said, go away from me, Lord, I'm a sinful man. And when I first looked at that several years ago, I thought, why did he say that? That seems like a strange comment until I begin to realize Peter understood.

The, the only one who could recognize the fish were there wrong time of day, everything else. And, and have those fish be caught. It had to be God. And he recognized that he falls down to the knees of Jesus and says, get away from me. I am a sinful man. I am not worthy, which is true in, of, in and of himself.

The holiness of God, I believe we need to grab a hold of that. And I believe that Isaiah, this is the first thing he recognized. He recognized absolutely the holiness of God and what that meant. The next thing as he goes here, and this is still part of a vision going on. The next thing as he responds to it is.

He says, wow, I am in trouble. He says this verse verse five, Whoa is me. I cried. I am ruined for I'm a man of unclean lips. I live among a people of unclean lips and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord almighty. The second thing he recognized was his own sinfulness. Okay. Yeah. He recognized what was really going on in his life.

I was thinking about this. Like, you may have seen this, you may have done it yourself. You've been in a room that's been in white for a long time, then painted white. Yeah, no. And you know, in your mind, it's old, white, you go in there. Oh, this is the room that's white, you know, but over a period of time, what happens?

Punch two white paint. What happens to things? It begins to maybe yellow, get a little dirty, but every time you walk in there, your mind says it's white. But if you hold up a pure white piece of paper or something in front of that wall, suddenly it's like, Whoa, that's not white anymore. That's what Isaiah saw.

He had been doing religious things. He would have been considered a good guy, but in light of God's holiness, he recognized. I am totally undone. I mean, partly in the sensor, because he said I've seen them and he had in his vision, but he says, especially I have, I live among people of unclean lips. I have unclean lips.

We're going to suggest he recognized his own sinfulness that he and the people around him were living in disobedience. Th th they were taking God that lightly, as you look at things that he writes about that they just weren't sure that God was everything they wanted to pour themselves. spending time with idols.

And I don't know that Isaiah was, but the people around him, many of them were, they were more concerned for themselves. And they were about God and his character and his holiness. And he lived among those people and he had some hours, he thinks he has bought into that. I live among people of unclean lips and that can go for a lot of different things.

And then he says, he says, I have this specific thing sin. I have unclean lips now. I don't know exactly what that means. It's not as I read different, nobody knows exactly what that means, but it might mean this. He may have had a trouble with the way that he talked. He may have had maybe a little bit of a potty mouth.

I don't know that that's the case. I do think it is much more likely that he was careless in house, how he spoke about God. I think things came out of his mouth that, that were not always honoring to God. He may have used the Lord's name, uh, unjustly. I don't know. No one knows. All he says is I've got a problem here.

And I know that I've got a problem. I, I see what it is. He doesn't say it this way, but I see it as sin. And I know that it is separated me from him. It may have been even things he was eating, but whatever it was, it was a specific sin or sins that were tearing him apart. And he recognized that he recognized his own sinfulness and every one of us.

Who have come to Christ by faith have had to recognize our own sinfulness. Haven't we, I can remember that when I was 12 years old and I don't know how bad a person can be at 12 years old, but I knew my own little heart and, and it was my conviction of sin. And what sin was that brought me to Christ, same thing with you at some point.

You have to recognize that there is sin. This is the gospel. Really? This is the message of the gospel. As much as we don't always like it. It is true that we are sinful people. The Bible says, God says we've all fallen short of God's glory. And we are guilty because of that. We might have different sins. We might do different things, but it is sin.

We live in sin and that sin, the Bible says condemns us. Ephesians two one says that we are dead bed in our room, trespasses and sins. There is no spiritual life in us, and there is nothing that we can do about that ourselves. And I can hear some of you saying, as you're sitting here, as you're listening, Jim, that is a terrible message.

That is what, where is the love? Where is the hope? Why are you saying these things? I'm saying these things, because that's exactly what the gospel is. The beginning part of it to recognize our own sinfulness. But there is a message of hope and that comes to the next one. As Isaiah gets here, he recognizes God's complete forgiveness.

As he says here, beginning with verse, um, uh, verse six, then one of the Sarah's flew into me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the alter. With it, he touched my mouth and said, see, this has touched your lips. Your guilt is taken away. And your sin, a cone for, yeah. Those of us who are not brought up in a Jewish heritage that we weren't there with the, all the sacrifices, everything we may not completely understand, but this is a great picture here from the old Testament of the sacrifices, especially on the day of atonement.

That there were the sacrifices that were done that needed to be completed for the atonement that God was bringing to all of Israel, all of Judah, and that there was this big Walter and the picture here is that the sheriff took, took a coal from that fire, that fire that was burning that sacrifice. And he uses that it's a picture.

Of what God has done for us and what Isaiah recognized in this whole thing that God provides forgiveness. And in this case, I would say he accepts. God's complete forgiveness is he, God does provide a way for forgiveness here for our Isaiah. He pictured it through the Sarah, bringing the toll, Coles and touching his lips is the idea of the atonement.

He says, you you're, your sins are forgiven. They're put away. They're covered, but far more than that. And Isaiah writes about it as he writes through much of his book, he talks about looking ahead to the Messiah, the one who would come, that would be Jesus. Wouldn't it. And Jesus is the one who is the one who has provided atonement for us complete satisfaction before God that our sins have been paid for.

And as awful as the story is that our sins condemn us and pull us away from God is just as great and, and complete. The whole story is that God provides salvation for us through the person of Jesus Christ. It's nothing that I do. It was nothing that Isaiah did. He didn't go get the coal. He didn't do the touching of the lips.

He didn't do any of that. It was all what God had provided. And for us, it is all what Jesus does for us. Isn't it. He is the one who provides a way of forgiveness. He's the one who provides a way of salvation. Yeah. In enrollments, Romans three 24 and 25 as Paul writes, sir, by the spirit of God. And he says this and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

That's what Christ did God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement. Through the shedding of his blood to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness because in his forbearance, he had left the sins committed beforehand, unpunished he's saying Christ came our atonement. He covered our sins.

He forgave our sins. Absolutely. The Psalms, the Psalmist talks about the God removes our sins from us. As far as the East is from the West and a measurable distance. He declares that he actually does forgive us in Ephesians one seven in him. We have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins in accordance with the riches of God's grace and in Ephesians again and forward.

32, be kind and compassionate to one another forgiving one another, just as in Christ, God forgave you, he forgives us. He forgives you. He has forgiven me now because of what we do, but because of what Christ did for me and, and Isaiah understood that you understood that completely. And the last thing, then he recognizes.

Is that he can then truly, absolutely serve God. You know, once I was the enemy of God, according to the scriptures, and now by faith, I'm a child of God. I can now serve him. And Isaiah says this, then I heard the voice of the Lord saying whom shall I sin and who will go for us? And I said, here am I send to me?

And God said, go and tell this people. Once we have been invited Christ to be our savior. Once we are redeemed, once we are born again, we have the great capacity and the great joy that we can actually serve this. Holy God that we talked about, that we saw about, you know, I don't have to do something to make God love me anymore.

I don't have to do certain things I put here. No penance is required. Is he, because it's not what we do. It's what Christ has done. I don't have to do certain things. I've seen pictures of people throughout the world. They're called. Yeah. You may have seen them who, who whipped them and possibly carry 'em across somehow thinking that they are gaining faith or with God, by doing these things may be rejecting their sin, but we don't have to do that.

There's a movie called the mission several years old here now. Germany irons was a guy in the character. They were, he was a, um, a Spanish can Keester daughter in, uh, in Peru. And he'd done some horrible things to the native tribes there. And then God changed his heart and part of the movie. Then you see him as he's trying to work out his own sin, carrying this heavy burden at one place, he's carrying this huge burden up this huge waterfall.

And it's a moving picture, but I'm sitting there saying no, no, we don't have to do anything else. Christ has already done it. And since that's the case, then I can serve him with a whole heart and people will tell me, but Jim I'm so bad. Yeah, you may be. So it was the thief on the cross. God says he forgives, you might say, but, but I keep making mistakes.

I keep sending. Yeah, that happens. We're sorry. It happens. But God says, if we confess our sins, he is faithful. And just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness confessing to him, confessing to God himself. Yeah. God enables us then to serve him, not just in full time ministry, there are those who do that, but you know, in your life where you live, what you do, whatever your vocation might be, you say, I I'm going to serve you.

Have you trusted Christ as your savior, then you have the opportunity. You have the joy and the privilege of saying. I want to serve you. The testimony of Isaiah, I think is powerful. I mean, he's a guy who'd been going through life doing even religious good things, but then God appeared to him and showed him, what was it?

His heart. And they need to understand the absolute holiness of God. He needed to know that he needed to see his own heart. He needed to understand the forgiveness that God provides and need to understand that he's immediately set free to serve God. Is that your testimony? It can be just as you have trusted Christ, you can serve him.

There's people. We know.  was a teacher. And God dripped her heart so much. Now she serves and less of us in Greece, among refugee children. My friend Craig was a businessman. God gripped his heart, showed him these things. And now he runs a camp in Nicaragua. There was a guy named Margiela.

Turno the school where I went. RG was a brilliant engineer. He embraced God with a whole heart. And he built a business that poured into the lives of people around the world. You can be that wherever you are, whatever you do, you can say along with Isaiah here am I send to me? That's the message of Isaiah and that's the message.

That God desires for us, trust him, and then serve him. Isn't that? Terrific. Let's pray, father, we thank you so much for the example of Isaiah for what he teaches us by the his life. God, take your words. I pray. Burn them into our hearts by your spirit. And help us to come to the place where we trust you.

And then we say, along with Isaiah here, my Lord, send me in Christ's name. Amen. Thank you. Go and serve the Lord this week and enjoy him with your whole heart.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/isaiah-here-am-i-send-me 992ad3fb-32cb-41a7-8bea-af25cb43c2b6 Sun, 04 Oct 2020 19:16:55 GMT <div data-html="true">The book of Isaiah <br /><br /> How to avoid just going through the motions. <br /><br /> I was thinking getting here, and this is probably a good day to think about it. Um, I've been to Belize a few times on some missions trip, and I don't know if you've been to Belize or not, uh, or know anything about it, but Belize can get pretty hot, you know, and I know people go there for vacations and they go out on the water where we are in the camp. <br /><br /> It's inland, it's near the, uh, the capital of Belmopan. And, uh, when we're there, it's right at the end of July. So it's a pretty hot time. Uh, like, so during the day, uh, almost a hundred, not quite and very high humidity during the evening, it cools way down sometimes almost to 90. And, uh, so you're really feeling, and, and I am not necessary, certainly a hot weather person, but we're there and we enjoy, and, and I love speaking to the camp and I love doing all that part there. <br /><br /> And one of the things that happens that, that camp actually, probably almost any word of life camp. Is there a time they have, they call it the bonfire or the campfire. And, and the reason for that is it's a time, especially to direct people's hearts and minds to really think about giving themselves completely to the Lord in terms of service and dedication. <br /><br /> And here I am, this is the first time I was in the, in Belize. It was especially hot. And I know what's going on. I know what's there. I'm going to be preaching. And all of a sudden they have this bonfire, like you couldn't believe like it was roaring bonfire, flames. I don't know how high in the air, this huge fire and I'm standing there and I'm feeling it cause it's right against my back. <br /><br /> That's what I needed more heat. It was an amazing time though. Because as we talked, as we shared, has God worked in hearts. Uh, so many of the young people and even the staff really said, God, yeah, I really do want you. And we talk about Isaiah. Yeah. At least I did that time. And that's who we're going to look at today because you know, Isaiah is such a great example with that of someone. <br /><br /> Who was following the Lord, who would have said he loved the Lord, but he came to a place where God really gripped his heart. It was towards the early part of his ministry. And I think as we look at these things, we can really begin to understand something about what our heart is like and what he wants us to be and what he wants us to look at and examine so that, so that we're not just. <br /><br /> You know, you know, the phrase, just going through the motions, we're, we're really sitting there and we're really standing there before the Lord, and we're really moving in our whole world wherever we are, that we are proclaiming who Jesus Christ is. Yes. That, that we are letting people know that he. Has our lives. <br /><br /> And Isaiah is a tremendous example. Isaiah, let me tell you a little bit about him in case you don't remember. Isaiah was one of the major prophets. We don't know a lot about him, except from the book. We do know that he's sir, during the time of King, you Zaja all the way through Hezekiah. At least he knew those people and he spent a lot of time with them. <br /><br /> And those names may not mean a lot to you. But that was a hard time in the, in the whole, all history of Judah use Aja was mostly a godly King that, but people were walking away from the Lord. You know, people weren't really following after men. And as Isaiah writes, you get the idea very much that much of Judah was taking time and they were beginning to follow idols. <br /><br /> They were taking time and just, just focusing on themselves. They were forgetting that the God was the one who was supposed to be leading them and they just look to themselves. It was all hard, hard time and God in his sovereignty and mercy and grace spoke to his heart and he did it in an unusual way. <br /><br /> And we'll look at it in a little bit. And this is what began. His whole ministry. This was what he focused on. This is what he said. This is what God it has led me to suggest is what he leads us to as well. I mean, it's easy to go through life sometimes and saying, God, yeah, you can have this much of me. Or you can have this part of my existence, or you can have this much, but God, the rest of it's mine. <br /><br /> And I hope that's not your case, but I've talked to enough people and I know what I'm like to think that, you know, there are times that we kind of want God just to be this much of us. And I I'm going to try and challenge us. I'm going to, to help us understand the, what went through Isaiah's life is what needs to go in ours. <br /><br /> So let's look at it. It's Isaiah chapter six is where we're going to look. And this is like I said, although it's the chapter six, it's talking about the beginning of his ministry. And these are the things that I'm going to say. There are four things he recognizes that absolutely changes what he is like. <br /><br /> Isaiah chapter six, beginning in verse one, we're going to read through verse nine, actually just the first part of nine. Okay. And he says this by the spirit of God. This is why it was recorded in the year that King used Zion died. I, this is Isaiah. I saw the Lord's seated on a throne high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple above him were Cerus each with six wings with two wings, they covered their faces with two, they covered their feet and with two, they were flying and they were calling to one another. <br /><br /> Holy, Holy Holy is the Lord almighty. The whole earth is full of his glory at the sound of their voices. The doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. That was the vision he had. And this is what Isaiah responded. Woe is me. I cried. I am ruined for I'm a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord almighty. <br /><br /> Then one of the serfs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar with it. He touched my mouth and said, see, this has touched your lips. Your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for Ben. I heard the voice of the Lord saying whom shall I send and who will go for us? <br /><br /> And I said, here am I send to me? And he said that his God said, go and tell this people and he gives the message that he's to tell for four things. I think Isaiah recognizes in this time. It's amazing. When you think about the whole, the dream big dream. I, I do, um, I quite a bit, and I may say something about my sleep pattern and everything else. <br /><br /> I think it might say something about my personality because I dream and a lot of exciting things. I tell people I'm usually the hero in my dreams. You know, I kind of like that. I have some money, exciting things going on in my life. I've never had anything like this and I don't think I really want to. <br /><br /> Isaiah, as he saw there, he saw like God in the temple and all his glory, it was an amazing thing that he saw. He saw what was there. And as he did, I would say the first thing he recognized was the holiness of God. You see the surface were there and these are like, angels are beings in there. They're sitting there saying to one another very, very loudly. <br /><br /> Holy Holy, Holy is the Lord. God almighty. He's declaring. They are declaring the holiness of who God is. Holiness defined the easiest thing. And you probably know this, but holiness very simply means a is separated or set apart. But, but taken farther as you look at it, it's really, especially that, that he is perfect in goodness and righteousness. <br /><br /> That that's what holiness in its most simple form is. But that's who God is. As we do the getting connected class, we talk about the person of God, a little bit. And one of the things I ask and I'd ask you to think about, what's the first thing that you think about when someone says, God, what do you think about, what's the first thing that comes to your mind? <br /><br /> I used to say God, and you would say, and, uh, I just did that a couple of weeks ago and are getting connected. And, and there were several people, I mean, they said, Oh, well, I think of love. I think a power, I think creator, I think life and those are all good. And those are all true. But I would also say that as we think about who God is in all of his character in all that he is, we need to remember that he is Holy. <br /><br /> That he is absolutely pure that he is absolutely set up part and separated from anything that is ungodly. That is his nature because out of that, that begins to explain a lot about us and what Isaiah recognized here in just a minute, just to understand the holiness of God. And God, as, as he is in existence, it shows what holiness is like in living it out. <br /><br /> He has no part of sin. He is separated from sin. Absolutely. In a very real sense. He can't abide sin. I've used the word pure. He is pure in everything that he is. That's the heart of holiness. That's the life of holding us. And that is who God is. You, you know that, and you remember that that's one Isaiah came to us and I think it was significant in Isaiah's life because he had been, uh, he was beginning there. <br /><br /> This part is a prophet. Uh, he had been there. We don't know how old he was for sure. I don't think he was, uh, very old at that point. A young man probably. But it seems as though he hadn't been thinking so much about the holiness of God, it's possible that he was kind of wrapped up in everything that Judah was doing at that point, being religious, doing religious things, but not really having a heart for God. <br /><br /> Does that make sense to you? Now as I look at that, I think, yeah, he saw that he sees who God is. I mean, it was, we recognize that God is Holy. I was thinking about this. And you remember in the new Testament, remember when Peter was out fishing, you remember the story? He was he'd come back. He hadn't caught anything. <br /><br /> And it was, it was a bad night for fishermen. He gets there and you remember the story? Jesus has been there teaching and he, and he says, Peter, throw your nets on the other side. And Peter says, what do you know about fishing? But he did it. And you remember he caught this huge amount of fish. And what did Peter do? <br /><br /> Do you remember in Luke chapter five, verse eight. When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus's knees and said, go away from me, Lord, I'm a sinful man. And when I first looked at that several years ago, I thought, why did he say that? That seems like a strange comment until I begin to realize Peter understood. <br /><br /> The, the only one who could recognize the fish were there wrong time of day, everything else. And, and have those fish be caught. It had to be God. And he recognized that he falls down to the knees of Jesus and says, get away from me. I am a sinful man. I am not worthy, which is true in, of, in and of himself. <br /><br /> The holiness of God, I believe we need to grab a hold of that. And I believe that Isaiah, this is the first thing he recognized. He recognized absolutely the holiness of God and what that meant. The next thing as he goes here, and this is still part of a vision going on. The next thing as he responds to it is. <br /><br /> He says, wow, I am in trouble. He says this verse verse five, Whoa is me. I cried. I am ruined for I'm a man of unclean lips. I live among a people of unclean lips and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord almighty. The second thing he recognized was his own sinfulness. Okay. Yeah. He recognized what was really going on in his life. <br /><br /> I was thinking about this. Like, you may have seen this, you may have done it yourself. You've been in a room that's been in white for a long time, then painted white. Yeah, no. And you know, in your mind, it's old, white, you go in there. Oh, this is the room that's white, you know, but over a period of time, what happens? <br /><br /> Punch two white paint. What happens to things? It begins to maybe yellow, get a little dirty, but every time you walk in there, your mind says it's white. But if you hold up a pure white piece of paper or something in front of that wall, suddenly it's like, Whoa, that's not white anymore. That's what Isaiah saw. <br /><br /> He had been doing religious things. He would have been considered a good guy, but in light of God's holiness, he recognized. I am totally undone. I mean, partly in the sensor, because he said I've seen them and he had in his vision, but he says, especially I have, I live among people of unclean lips. I have unclean lips. <br /><br /> We're going to suggest he recognized his own sinfulness that he and the people around him were living in disobedience. Th th they were taking God that lightly, as you look at things that he writes about that they just weren't sure that God was everything they wanted to pour themselves. spending time with idols. <br /><br /> And I don't know that Isaiah was, but the people around him, many of them were, they were more concerned for themselves. And they were about God and his character and his holiness. And he lived among those people and he had some hours, he thinks he has bought into that. I live among people of unclean lips and that can go for a lot of different things. <br /><br /> And then he says, he says, I have this specific thing sin. I have unclean lips now. I don't know exactly what that means. It's not as I read different, nobody knows exactly what that means, but it might mean this. He may have had a trouble with the way that he talked. He may have had maybe a little bit of a potty mouth. <br /><br /> I don't know that that's the case. I do think it is much more likely that he was careless in house, how he spoke about God. I think things came out of his mouth that, that were not always honoring to God. He may have used the Lord's name, uh, unjustly. I don't know. No one knows. All he says is I've got a problem here. <br /><br /> And I know that I've got a problem. I, I see what it is. He doesn't say it this way, but I see it as sin. And I know that it is separated me from him. It may have been even things he was eating, but whatever it was, it was a specific sin or sins that were tearing him apart. And he recognized that he recognized his own sinfulness and every one of us. <br /><br /> Who have come to Christ by faith have had to recognize our own sinfulness. Haven't we, I can remember that when I was 12 years old and I don't know how bad a person can be at 12 years old, but I knew my own little heart and, and it was my conviction of sin. And what sin was that brought me to Christ, same thing with you at some point. <br /><br /> You have to recognize that there is sin. This is the gospel. Really? This is the message of the gospel. As much as we don't always like it. It is true that we are sinful people. The Bible says, God says we've all fallen short of God's glory. And we are guilty because of that. We might have different sins. We might do different things, but it is sin. <br /><br /> We live in sin and that sin, the Bible says condemns us. Ephesians two one says that we are dead bed in our room, trespasses and sins. There is no spiritual life in us, and there is nothing that we can do about that ourselves. And I can hear some of you saying, as you're sitting here, as you're listening, Jim, that is a terrible message. <br /><br /> That is what, where is the love? Where is the hope? Why are you saying these things? I'm saying these things, because that's exactly what the gospel is. The beginning part of it to recognize our own sinfulness. But there is a message of hope and that comes to the next one. As Isaiah gets here, he recognizes God's complete forgiveness. <br /><br /> As he says here, beginning with verse, um, uh, verse six, then one of the Sarah's flew into me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the alter. With it, he touched my mouth and said, see, this has touched your lips. Your guilt is taken away. And your sin, a cone for, yeah. Those of us who are not brought up in a Jewish heritage that we weren't there with the, all the sacrifices, everything we may not completely understand, but this is a great picture here from the old Testament of the sacrifices, especially on the day of atonement. <br /><br /> That there were the sacrifices that were done that needed to be completed for the atonement that God was bringing to all of Israel, all of Judah, and that there was this big Walter and the picture here is that the sheriff took, took a coal from that fire, that fire that was burning that sacrifice. And he uses that it's a picture. <br /><br /> Of what God has done for us and what Isaiah recognized in this whole thing that God provides forgiveness. And in this case, I would say he accepts. God's complete forgiveness is he, God does provide a way for forgiveness here for our Isaiah. He pictured it through the Sarah, bringing the toll, Coles and touching his lips is the idea of the atonement. <br /><br /> He says, you you're, your sins are forgiven. They're put away. They're covered, but far more than that. And Isaiah writes about it as he writes through much of his book, he talks about looking ahead to the Messiah, the one who would come, that would be Jesus. Wouldn't it. And Jesus is the one who is the one who has provided atonement for us complete satisfaction before God that our sins have been paid for. <br /><br /> And as awful as the story is that our sins condemn us and pull us away from God is just as great and, and complete. The whole story is that God provides salvation for us through the person of Jesus Christ. It's nothing that I do. It was nothing that Isaiah did. He didn't go get the coal. He didn't do the touching of the lips. <br /><br /> He didn't do any of that. It was all what God had provided. And for us, it is all what Jesus does for us. Isn't it. He is the one who provides a way of forgiveness. He's the one who provides a way of salvation. Yeah. In enrollments, Romans three 24 and 25 as Paul writes, sir, by the spirit of God. And he says this and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. <br /><br /> That's what Christ did God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement. Through the shedding of his blood to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness because in his forbearance, he had left the sins committed beforehand, unpunished he's saying Christ came our atonement. He covered our sins. <br /><br /> He forgave our sins. Absolutely. The Psalms, the Psalmist talks about the God removes our sins from us. As far as the East is from the West and a measurable distance. He declares that he actually does forgive us in Ephesians one seven in him. We have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins in accordance with the riches of God's grace and in Ephesians again and forward. <br /><br /> 32, be kind and compassionate to one another forgiving one another, just as in Christ, God forgave you, he forgives us. He forgives you. He has forgiven me now because of what we do, but because of what Christ did for me and, and Isaiah understood that you understood that completely. And the last thing, then he recognizes. <br /><br /> Is that he can then truly, absolutely serve God. You know, once I was the enemy of God, according to the scriptures, and now by faith, I'm a child of God. I can now serve him. And Isaiah says this, then I heard the voice of the Lord saying whom shall I sin and who will go for us? And I said, here am I send to me? <br /><br /> And God said, go and tell this people. Once we have been invited Christ to be our savior. Once we are redeemed, once we are born again, we have the great capacity and the great joy that we can actually serve this. Holy God that we talked about, that we saw about, you know, I don't have to do something to make God love me anymore. <br /><br /> I don't have to do certain things I put here. No penance is required. Is he, because it's not what we do. It's what Christ has done. I don't have to do certain things. I've seen pictures of people throughout the world. They're called. Yeah. You may have seen them who, who whipped them and possibly carry 'em across somehow thinking that they are gaining faith or with God, by doing these things may be rejecting their sin, but we don't have to do that. <br /><br /> There's a movie called the mission several years old here now. Germany irons was a guy in the character. They were, he was a, um, a Spanish can Keester daughter in, uh, in Peru. And he'd done some horrible things to the native tribes there. And then God changed his heart and part of the movie. Then you see him as he's trying to work out his own sin, carrying this heavy burden at one place, he's carrying this huge burden up this huge waterfall. <br /><br /> And it's a moving picture, but I'm sitting there saying no, no, we don't have to do anything else. Christ has already done it. And since that's the case, then I can serve him with a whole heart and people will tell me, but Jim I'm so bad. Yeah, you may be. So it was the thief on the cross. God says he forgives, you might say, but, but I keep making mistakes. <br /><br /> I keep sending. Yeah, that happens. We're sorry. It happens. But God says, if we confess our sins, he is faithful. And just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness confessing to him, confessing to God himself. Yeah. God enables us then to serve him, not just in full time ministry, there are those who do that, but you know, in your life where you live, what you do, whatever your vocation might be, you say, I I'm going to serve you. <br /><br /> Have you trusted Christ as your savior, then you have the opportunity. You have the joy and the privilege of saying. I want to serve you. The testimony of Isaiah, I think is powerful. I mean, he's a guy who'd been going through life doing even religious good things, but then God appeared to him and showed him, what was it? <br /><br /> His heart. And they need to understand the absolute holiness of God. He needed to know that he needed to see his own heart. He needed to understand the forgiveness that God provides and need to understand that he's immediately set free to serve God. Is that your testimony? It can be just as you have trusted Christ, you can serve him. <br /><br /> There's people. We know.  was a teacher. And God dripped her heart so much. Now she serves and less of us in Greece, among refugee children. My friend Craig was a businessman. God gripped his heart, showed him these things. And now he runs a camp in Nicaragua. There was a guy named Margiela. <br /><br /> Turno the school where I went. RG was a brilliant engineer. He embraced God with a whole heart. And he built a business that poured into the lives of people around the world. You can be that wherever you are, whatever you do, you can say along with Isaiah here am I send to me? That's the message of Isaiah and that's the message. <br /><br /> That God desires for us, trust him, and then serve him. Isn't that? Terrific. Let's pray, father, we thank you so much for the example of Isaiah for what he teaches us by the his life. God, take your words. I pray. Burn them into our hearts by your spirit. And help us to come to the place where we trust you. <br /><br /> And then we say, along with Isaiah here, my Lord, send me in Christ's name. Amen. Thank you. Go and serve the Lord this week and enjoy him with your whole heart.</div> false no <![CDATA[Jonah: the Mission of God]]> Jonah 1-4

The book of Jonah paints a picture of God’s mercy and grace declaring his mission to redeem the world; to bring people to himself.



Well, I'm not only doing announcements, but you're stuck with me through the service as well. So if you would be so kind, I would love for you to open up your Bibles with me this morning. We're going to be in the book of Jonah.

It may take you from now until the end of our service to figure out where in the world. The book of John is it is only 42 verses long, the entire book. And we're going to spend our time in. The entire book of Jonah. So if you saw the sermon summary this morning and said, what in the world, chapter one through four, he's going to cover this morning.

Um, it's only 42 verses and it's merely a page or a page and a half in most Bibles. And so if you find the book of Jonah, uh, we'll get there. It is in one of the, um, the section, uh, known as the minor prophets. They are. Uh, prophetic books that teach about things that are to come or things that have already happened, uh, that, that were, um, not known to the people at that time.

And so we're excited to be there, but before you, um, read through all 42 verses and get the whole thing and learn all that there is to know about Jonah, maybe just, maybe you already know a few things about the book of Jonah, potentially the story you've heard before, or, or things about Jonah that you've heard.

And I want to venture to say that. Most of us probably have the same few things in our mind when it comes to the book of Jonah, right? There's there's a, a fish or a whale or maybe a group, or I'm not even sure what in the world, it was some sort of large fish, there was a prophet named Jonah. And if you miss that one, go back to the title and read the book of Jonah, some sailors, probably in the midst of this story that maybe remember.

Um, there's a city of Nineveh and if you're reading really carefully and you made it all the way to the end of those 42 verses, you probably remember something about, uh, this plant growing up and then this worm that comes in and it's a bit of a weird story, but we, as people in the Western civilization, oftentimes look at details and we ask questions of the scriptures and we read it with a particular lens, and I'm going to call that the.

How lens, how in the world could this be possible? How could a fish swallow a man? What kind of fish is it even possible that this has happened? Is there enough oxygen in the belly of a fish for this story to be true? How did this plant grow immediately up out of the ground and then all of a sudden provide shade for Jonah.

Could this even happen? Well, as you probably can imagine, many people have spent extensive amounts of hours researching and thinking through how in the world, this could happen. Trying to disprove the facts were proved them to figure out if this book is true, we believe that God's word is no longer a to be debated about it is an errand.

It is true. It is correct. All things truth. And so if you were to read this, not from a Western perspective, but if you were to go back to when these books were written in an ancient, near Eastern context, they would be far more concerned with the who and the why, rather than trying to mine out scientific data from a book that never was intended to be a science book.

And so, as we read through the book of Jonah this morning, we're not going to read all 42, but we're going to tell through and talk through and read snippets of it throughout. I would like you to think through the who and the why in the world, this short book is included in the Canon of scripture. So here we go.

We're going to do a fly by retelling of the book of Jonah. So here we go. God's word came to the prophet, Jonah, asking him to go to the city of Nineveh and to call out their evil chapter one verse three, but Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. Firstly versus N and here we go. He's walking the complete opposite direction of the Lord.

If you want a formula for disaster three is a good one. Okay. Join Jonah joins him sailors on a boat. He paid for his ride. He fell asleep in the bottom of the ship and this great storm came up. The sailors were terrified, and even tried to dump off some cargo and they began to just throw things off saying maybe we can just get to shore quickly.

Well, that didn't work. And so they asked Jonah because they had heard that he was running from God. He told the captains of the ship, this, and they said, what are you doing? How come this is happening? And Jonah said, I admit, it's my fault. I'm running from God tossed me overboard. And this whole thing will stop.

Now if you're a good sailor, that's not one of the things you typically do, unless maybe you're a pirate or something like that, but you wouldn't want to just toss somebody overboard into the sailors were a little taken back at this thought of tossing one of these men overboard, but they believed, and they did the storm calmed the SU as soon as Jonah was thrown overboard and chapter one, verse seven, but the Lord provided a great fish to swallow.

Jonah and Jonah was inside the fish three days. And three nights, he had some time to think while he doesn't necessarily repent and turn his heart completely over to God and say that he's going to come back and do all these things. He does acknowledge how good God has been in the past. Verse chapter two, verse two in my distress.

I called to the Lord and he answered me from the depths of the grave I called for help. And you listened to my cry. God then caused the fish to vomit Jonah onto dry land and the book resets. And here we are back at the beginning, the word of the Lord came to Jonah. Hey Jonah, let's try this again. Go to Nineveh and preach against the people who are doing evil and wicked things.

Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord this time. And he went to Nineveh. Now, Nineveh was a huge city. It took three days to make all the way through the city of Nineveh. And just about when he was a days into the city, he'd walk all this way. He spoke these words in chapter three, verse four 40 more days, and Nineveh will be overthrown.

And as soon as the word made its way to the King, all the people and even the animals fasted and began to turn to the Lord, they turned their hearts to God. And in chapter three, verse 10, it says this when God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways he relented, it did not bring on them.

The destruction he had threatened Patrona was angry that God showed mercy on these people. And chapter four verses two through four. He prayed to the Lord. Isn't this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home, that's what I was trying to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate.

God, slow to anger and abounding in love. A God who relents from sending calamity. Now Lord, take away my life for it's better for me to die than to live, but the Lord replied, is it right for you to be angry? So Jonah kind of marches off and sulks over outside the city and, and he sits down and he's going to watch and see what happens to this city and see if they actually truly turn their hearts to God, or if God destroys them.

So you can imagine him kind of crossing his arms and just kind of waiting for what's going to happen here. But God in his mercy showed up and provided this leafy plant to give him shade and we'll get to what in the world that all means. And this made Jonah really happy. He was excited to have some shade because after all it was warm out and then the next morning, God provided a worm that ate through this leafy plant and he was angry then because his shade tree was taken away.

Jonah became angry this time and he wanted to die and the Lord asks him again, is it right for you to be angry and chapter four, verse 10. Here's how the book ends. But the Lord said, you've been concerned about this plant that you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight. And then it died overnight.

And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh in which there are more than 120,000 people? Who cannot tell their right hand from their left and also many animals. The book ends with God's question. There's this divine cliffhanger asking us why and who is involved in the story? Well, before we jump in, let's pray together.

God, we often can look at scripture and. Uh, we try to just mind the things we want to figure out from it and get answers to all of our questions. But before God we come with questions that maybe we think we want to ask Lord, what are you doing? And why in the world would you place this book here? We want to hear your message to us.

Lord. We want to see the message that you gave to Jonah. And to the sailors and to the Ninevites because God we know that you are unchanging. And so, as we hear from your scripture this morning, your heart for these people, Lord, we will begin. I understand more of your heart for us as well. We thank you God.

And we pray these things in your name. Amen. I've titled my message this morning, that the mission of God, what is God up to? Why is he at work in this way? And the book of Jonah paints, a picture of God's mercy and grace declaring his mission to redeem the world, to, to bring people to himself. And so we look at a few truths.

We know about God because of Jonah and the first one, uh, I'll fill in your blanks for you. God is at the center of the universe and by his grace. Will accomplish his mission. God, is it the center of the universe? And by his grace, he's going to accomplish his mission. Jonah was sent by God to the Ninevites.

We just read that Jonah was also a Hebrew. He was living a part of God's chosen nation of Israel. And he was sent as a Hebrew to the enemy nation of Israel. And he was to go into, to tell them about how good God is and to say, turn to him now, before he completely wipes you out. And Jonah, I think probably took pride in being on the good team God's chosen.

Nathan, for sure. For surely others were bad and deserving of destruction. So why would God send Jonah to this enemy nation? The great and powerful city of Nineveh with a murderous ruler? Why would he do that? Because God's mission. Includes the Ninevites and he would use Jonah to show even the enemies of God's chosen people.

What he was like, you can hear God saying, Hey, Hey Jonah, you are not the center of the universe. I am, you can hear him saying, Hey Israel, you, even though you are my chosen, people are not the center of the universe I am. And we can even hear this for us. Hey, you. Are not the center of the universe. I am, we must be concerned with the mission of God showing grace to lost people.

And if that really gets you all thrown off, then maybe just, maybe you need to hear, Hey, you are not the center of the universe. My mission and my glory are, but God's mission also then includes. The sailors, as we, as we read throughout this, these people are kind of just like extras in the story. They're not the main character, not even the enemies.

They're just kind of like the ones that does it get brought along here. And the sailors are not main characters. They're seemingly unimportant, but as the God of the universe sovereign over all creation, he would use wind and waves and a wayward prophet. To show his grace to the lost people. If you carefully read in chapter two there you'll, you'll notice that.

I'm sorry. In chapter one, you will notice the sailors. After all this, they turn and they begin to worship God. Jonah's disobedience in the middle of all this craziness allows for God to bring his mercy and his grace and show his sovereignty to these sailors who weren't even searching for him. God's mission includes.

The sailors and they bowed to King almighty. At the end of this, are you catching the divine irony in this story that like the prophet of God who is not being used in the way that he was intended to be used, God is allowing for him to, to bring his mercy, to people who were unsuspecting. But God's mission also includes Jonah as the center of the universe, much to Jonah surprise.

He would use this giant fish. He would use a plant and even a worm to show his grace to Jonah belonging, heart of the father, God, again and again, saying Jonah just turned back to me. Even when the story resets, he uses the exact same words, Jonah, I want to give you the mission again, go to Nineveh and preach.

These are not just circumstances or happenings in Jonah's life. These are actually means of grace. The father that loves Jonah is choosing to bring him to himself. God's chosen, man, and God's chosen. Nation is not exempt from failure and waywardness. And at the center of the universe, the gracious God is saying return to me.

He's not impressed with how important Jonah and the chosen nation of Israel is. He's not impressed with how important you and I are. He's concerned with his glory. And one day the physical manifestation of God's glory and grace would come to earth many years later and his name is Jesus. And these words would be spoken of him by Paul, who, who we actually learned about last week by pastor Don.

Second Corinthians chapter five says this for Christ's love, love compels us because we are convinced that one died for all and therefore all died and he died. Those who should live should live no longer for themselves, but for him who died for them and was raised again and Jonah prophet and part of God's chosen nation.

Don't forget. Who's the center of the universe and Nineveh though, you are great and mighty, and it takes three days to walk through your city. Don't forget, who is the center of the universe and sailors though? You've mastered the seas. Don't forget who the center of the universe is. And church though, you live set apart and are God's.

People do not forget who is the center of the universe and Christian though, you've been given mercy and grace. Don't forget it. As you see lost people, he is the center. His mission is central, not ours. Okay. Number two. God's grace is the reason I freely run to the father and confess and repent of my sin.

So when we know there's a grace filled God sitting at the center of the universe, we can freely run to him and confess our brokenness and sin. And as we read through the book of Jonah, we can allow this almost to be like a mirror to us. We've often talked about the scriptures as being this mirror that we can look at and say, what is going on with my life.

It doesn't look so much. Like this, and it allows us to have this reflection on our own hearts and our own journey where God has us, but God and his spirit, um, uh, prompts you. And so maybe you're familiar with the process that you read, or we read through it in the book of Jonah this morning, you know, God talks to you, gives you something, asks you to obey in one direction and you Dodge, or you clarify, let me just explain to you, Lord, why I chose to disobey you.

It's it's because of this right here. Um, and then you justify your sin and for a moment, maybe it looks like God's like, okay, great things are going well. Right. Jonah paid for his boat ride check hopped on board check. He went below to sleep. He's asleep, check things are going well, things are good. And maybe he thinks I've outrun God, but in his grace, he pursues Jonah.

And by his grace, he pursues us too, from beginning to end of the scripture. This is God's pursuit of his people and even allows suffering pain and hardship to bring us to himself in the story of Jonah being beckoned by God, to submit and surrender, listened to the gracious and loving words that we read.

Chapter one, verse four, then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea. One verse 17. Now the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow. Jonah that's gracious chapter two, verse 10, and the Lord commanded the fish and vomited Jonah onto dry land. Then the Lord provided a leafy plant chapter four, verse six and verse seven.

But at the Dawn of the next day, God provided a worm. Four verse eight, God provided a scorching East wind and the sun blazed on Jonah's head. This is a really difficult truth to follow. Remember back for, uh, about a year ago, pastor Jerry from callings would preach to message through the book of job talking about God's uncomfortable grace in the way that he allows, and even maybe possibly intense difficulties and hardships to lead us to himself.

If I'm reading the book of Jonah sent, provided commanded, provided, provided, and provided are not passive words. These are active words of the father chasing after a man, all a means of grace. Okay. And again, I think the, a word that we might want to use maybe to help us understand what grace is, is throw the word uncomfortable in front of it.

This is uncomfortable. Grace. It's not something that we would sell on the street like, Hey, this is what it looks like to follow. God, God, you're going to have some uncomfortable grace to lead. Do you to come to know him? It's not really attractive, right? Jonah wanted to hide out in Tarshish. God wanted a revival in Nineveh, God won.

And it was the uncomfortable work of grace that led through this process. We see it in the life of Joseph who wanted to visit with his brothers, but instead his brothers left him for dead and sold him as a slave. And in Egypt he was imprisoned, but God made him a Prince and used him as an instrument of rescue for his people.

And these are the words that Joseph said as after all this, you intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done. The saving of many lives. And that's a man who knows uncomfortable grace. We see it in the life of John, any Erickson, Tada, maybe you've heard of her story before a quadriplegic at age 18 because she dove into shallow water fracturing her spinal column.

She ran from God with doubt and anger and suicidal thoughts, but God healed her and made her a mouthpiece for the good news of rescue through Christ. God broke her. God healed her. God used her uncomfortable. Grace, John Bunyan spent years in prison for preaching the gospel. And they said, if you would only stop preaching, then you can freely walk out of this prison.

He wouldn't do that. And so he stayed there for many years and behind bars wrote one of the best selling Christian books in history. The Pilgrim's progress. Millions have read it today and I've come to know Christ because of it. Uncomfortable grace that God uses to transform lives. And maybe you too have seen a little bit of God's uncomfortable.

Grace possibly. You've heard it in stories from other people who years later have talked about that moment or thus season that God used even intended for me to come to know himself. And while they never would have asked or invited that in the first place they would now say, thank you God for breaking me and for using your uncomfortable grace, we know the loving heart of the father changes everything.

It's grace, it's grace. It's grace. How do you know Mike, how in the world, can you be so sure that God is a God that uses this uncomfortable grace to bring us to himself? Well, because it is the exact same uncomfortable grace that led the father to send his son Christ to come and die in the place of sinners like you.

And I hear these words from the prophet, Isaiah chapter, 53 of Isaiah Jesus. He had done it. Doesn't say Jesus, but it says he I'm giving you the. Context here. He had done no wrong and it never deceived anyone, but he was buried like a criminal. He was put in a rich man's grave, but it was the Lord's good plan to crush him and cause him grief yet.

When his life made an offering for sin, he will have many descendants. He will enjoy a long life. And the Lord's good plan will prosper. In his hands, when he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish, he will be satisfied. And because of his experience, my righteous servant will make it possible for many to be counted righteous for.

He will bear all their sins. And so we live in light of second Corinthians chapter four. My grace is sufficient for you. My power is made perfect in your weakness. So we invite. And we run to a father who is the King of uncomfortable grace, even in his own son. Have you seen God's uncomfortable grace in your life through struggle or, or death or sickness?

Failure, weakness, financial ruin, relational heartache and conflict. I want to read a quote here from Paul Tripp. I love the way he talks about this. Grace. You're tempted to think that because you're God's child. Your life should be easier, more predictable and definitely more comfortable, but struggles are part of God's plan for you.

Don't allow yourself to think God has turned his back on you. Don't let yourself begin to buy into the possibility that God is not as trustworthy as you thought him to be. God has chosen to let you live in this fallen world because he plans to employ those difficulties of it to continue and to complete his work.

In you, this means that moments of difficulty are not an interruption of God's plans or the failure of his plan, but rather an important part of his plan. I think there are many times for us that we cry out for God's grace and we get it, but not the grace we're looking for. It comes in the form of something.

We would never have chosen. If we were constraint controlling the joystick. Isn't that the truth that man, we run to the father and we say, Lord, we need your grace, but, but to look just like this over here, I think that's how you should work. And in his love, he gives us his grace and oftentimes it comes yeah.

How we're looking for it, willing to forgive and heal and care and love and hope told you he is that good? The third thing here that we learned from the book of Jonah is that God is seeking obedient grace-filled servants to show his grace to those in need of grace. And if you've been paying attention, the answer from top to bottom of your blanks this morning is grace.

Okay. So you can leave now. It's God's mission to use you and I, as instruments of his grace. Once we've understood that it, man go and be an instrument of my grace to others, pointing them to myself. This was God's mission for Jonah. Go to Nineveh. As we read earlier, Jonah eventually does go and he walks in for a day and delivers arguably the most effective word for word sermon on the planet.

Now let me just say this in Hebrew, he only says five words. That's his sermon, right? Five words. 40 more days and Nineveh will be overthrown and the people go wild. Let's turn our hearts to God. Like it is just five Hebrew words that he speaks. Oddly enough, in the prophetic book of Jonah, maybe it's different than other prophetic books you've read before in the Bible.

These are the only real prophetic words here. The word overthrown that he talks about an Antifa can actually mean what we think ruined or destroyed. Prophetic in that way, but you know what the word also means. It means overturned changed remade and wouldn't that be the prophetic nature of the city of Nineveh as they turn their hearts to God, hundreds of thousands came to know him because of these five words.

And this makes Jonah the prophet of God, his chosen servant angry. Isn't this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home. This is why I tried to stall and go somewhere else, because I just knew how gracious and loving and compassionate you are. You could almost hear God being like, Oh man, this is a terrible argument, Jonah.

Like, you're telling me how good I am. Yes I am. And so God pours out his grace to Jonah yet again. And he provides this place for him to go and to think about what it's happening. He sits outside the city. Of Nineveh and he's watching to see what will happen to these people. And this green plant comes up with big leaves and provides him shade.

He's happy. He goes to bed and he wakes up and God provided a worm to eat and consume this whole plant overnight. God, how could you do that? These are your enemies. Why you took away my plan. It's comical, right? But, but here in lies, the point Jonah had been a recipient of God's grace in many different ways throughout the story, but failed to understand it himself.

And to the degree that you and I know God's grace in our life is the degree to which we will extend grace to others. Let me say that again. To the degree that, you know, and understand God's grace in your life is the same degree that you will be then a grace extender to other people. So ask a question real quick.

How gracious are you? Does it correlate to how gracious, you know, God to be, or have you really understood all that you've been forgiven? When you look around and see the sin and brokenness and failure of others, what do you do? Are you more concerned with their sin and brokenness than your own? Jesus illustrates this with the parable of two debtors in Matthew 18, and it says this, therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a King who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.

He began the settlement. A man who owed him 10,000 bags of gold was brought to him since he was not able to pay the master ordered that he and his wife and his children, all that he had sold to repay the debt at this, the servant fell on his knees before him be patient with me. He begged and we'll pay back everything.

The servant's master showed him. Grace took pity on him and canceled the debt and let him go. But when the servant went out, he found out that one of his fellow servants who owed him only a hundred silver coins, he grabbed him and began to choke him, pay back what you owe me. He demanded his fellow servant, fell to his knees and begged be patient with me, and I will pay back the debt, but he refused.

Instead, he went off and threw the man into prison. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened. And, you know, at the end of the story, the master then turns and says, I've canceled this huge debt. How in the world could you be so ungracious to this person owing you, even just the small debt, the master then throws him into jail and tortures him until he pays back all that he owes.

35 verse 35 of Matthew 18. This is how my heavenly father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart and church. If you are here today and think the word Christian is exclusively for you or for people that you like think again, because great grace requires great gracefulness.

If we've been shown this grace, we are required to be people that give this grace out. And there are a lot of ways that you and I could read the book of Jonah and apply this in, in lots of different ways too, our lives. But I'll just a few questions to you. And if one of those questions really hits you, write it down and take some time this week to maybe just think through, uh, what the question is asking.

If God is at the center of the universe and by his graceful accomplish his mission, have you removed God from the throne of your heart and replaced him with, with self, your self interest, your plans, your agenda, your idolatry of power. Is that the agenda is that the mission is earth. Really the mission for you?

Pleasure, success, image money. Has that become a replaced. God's mission. Have you forgotten that while we are on a mission for God, that may be even, you are part of God's mission, have you served and worked and done for God without even pausing to know his love for you, this, this softening and, and, and humility that comes, and we understand who God is and that he wants to capture our hearts in this process.

Okay. Number two God's grace is the reason I freely run to the father and repent of my sin. How have you encountered God's uncomfortable? Grace does your view of God's loving and pursuing grace include what you are currently walking through and if not do difficulty and hardship change the way you look at God, when things come, do you look at God and, and all of a sudden.

You see him differently because there are difficult things in your life. God is seeking obedient. Grace-filled servants to show his grace to those in need of grace. If you have received God's grace, when this week has God invited you to extend this grace, he's given you to other people. And if we really know the narrative of scripture all the way throughout how God's grace works in the lives of unlikely converts people that weren't even searching for him, it just finds him.

How will then you extend grace to your enemies, the unlikely convert. How will you speak with grace about the opposing political party? How will you respond to your spouse, your kids, your parents with grace. How will you speak with grace about a local ruling authority that maybe you don't agree with a school board or a government authority, whatever the case might be, how will you represent God's grace on the sports field, at the office, at the gym, with those who have hurt you?

How does God's grace and mission including lost and broken people change the things that you and I post on social media. There's a place where lost people are watching us all the time. How then is this part of God's mission, mission of grace that includes you, your enemies, and it's freely given to us and to them because of Christ.

Pray with me this morning,

Lord, we are people who desire. Comfort. And we find ourselves so accustomed to laying on beds of ease and comfort in a culture where things are normally good. And so when discomfort or confusion, or maybe even hardship comes, Lord, we, we tend to panic. And then we, we have a different view of who you are, but you're unchanging God.

And actually it's your grace that allows us. To know you, it's your kindness. That leads us to turn and repent of our brokenness and sin. And this morning, God, we want to be people that know your grace and be people that extend that grace to the world around us. Help us, Lord. We pray. We pray these things in your name.

Amen. Thanks for being here this morning. Have a great week.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/jonah-the-mission-of-god c7c100eb-8a1d-41b0-a52c-2c61907bae1c Sun, 27 Sep 2020 19:11:30 GMT <div data-html="true">Jonah 1-4 <br /><br /> The book of Jonah paints a picture of God’s mercy and grace declaring his mission to redeem the world; to bring people to himself. <br /><br /> <br /><br /> Well, I'm not only doing announcements, but you're stuck with me through the service as well. So if you would be so kind, I would love for you to open up your Bibles with me this morning. We're going to be in the book of Jonah. <br /><br /> It may take you from now until the end of our service to figure out where in the world. The book of John is it is only 42 verses long, the entire book. And we're going to spend our time in. The entire book of Jonah. So if you saw the sermon summary this morning and said, what in the world, chapter one through four, he's going to cover this morning. <br /><br /> Um, it's only 42 verses and it's merely a page or a page and a half in most Bibles. And so if you find the book of Jonah, uh, we'll get there. It is in one of the, um, the section, uh, known as the minor prophets. They are. Uh, prophetic books that teach about things that are to come or things that have already happened, uh, that, that were, um, not known to the people at that time. <br /><br /> And so we're excited to be there, but before you, um, read through all 42 verses and get the whole thing and learn all that there is to know about Jonah, maybe just, maybe you already know a few things about the book of Jonah, potentially the story you've heard before, or, or things about Jonah that you've heard. <br /><br /> And I want to venture to say that. Most of us probably have the same few things in our mind when it comes to the book of Jonah, right? There's there's a, a fish or a whale or maybe a group, or I'm not even sure what in the world, it was some sort of large fish, there was a prophet named Jonah. And if you miss that one, go back to the title and read the book of Jonah, some sailors, probably in the midst of this story that maybe remember. <br /><br /> Um, there's a city of Nineveh and if you're reading really carefully and you made it all the way to the end of those 42 verses, you probably remember something about, uh, this plant growing up and then this worm that comes in and it's a bit of a weird story, but we, as people in the Western civilization, oftentimes look at details and we ask questions of the scriptures and we read it with a particular lens, and I'm going to call that the. <br /><br /> How lens, how in the world could this be possible? How could a fish swallow a man? What kind of fish is it even possible that this has happened? Is there enough oxygen in the belly of a fish for this story to be true? How did this plant grow immediately up out of the ground and then all of a sudden provide shade for Jonah. <br /><br /> Could this even happen? Well, as you probably can imagine, many people have spent extensive amounts of hours researching and thinking through how in the world, this could happen. Trying to disprove the facts were proved them to figure out if this book is true, we believe that God's word is no longer a to be debated about it is an errand. <br /><br /> It is true. It is correct. All things truth. And so if you were to read this, not from a Western perspective, but if you were to go back to when these books were written in an ancient, near Eastern context, they would be far more concerned with the who and the why, rather than trying to mine out scientific data from a book that never was intended to be a science book. <br /><br /> And so, as we read through the book of Jonah this morning, we're not going to read all 42, but we're going to tell through and talk through and read snippets of it throughout. I would like you to think through the who and the why in the world, this short book is included in the Canon of scripture. So here we go. <br /><br /> We're going to do a fly by retelling of the book of Jonah. So here we go. God's word came to the prophet, Jonah, asking him to go to the city of Nineveh and to call out their evil chapter one verse three, but Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. Firstly versus N and here we go. He's walking the complete opposite direction of the Lord. <br /><br /> If you want a formula for disaster three is a good one. Okay. Join Jonah joins him sailors on a boat. He paid for his ride. He fell asleep in the bottom of the ship and this great storm came up. The sailors were terrified, and even tried to dump off some cargo and they began to just throw things off saying maybe we can just get to shore quickly. <br /><br /> Well, that didn't work. And so they asked Jonah because they had heard that he was running from God. He told the captains of the ship, this, and they said, what are you doing? How come this is happening? And Jonah said, I admit, it's my fault. I'm running from God tossed me overboard. And this whole thing will stop. <br /><br /> Now if you're a good sailor, that's not one of the things you typically do, unless maybe you're a pirate or something like that, but you wouldn't want to just toss somebody overboard into the sailors were a little taken back at this thought of tossing one of these men overboard, but they believed, and they did the storm calmed the SU as soon as Jonah was thrown overboard and chapter one, verse seven, but the Lord provided a great fish to swallow. <br /><br /> Jonah and Jonah was inside the fish three days. And three nights, he had some time to think while he doesn't necessarily repent and turn his heart completely over to God and say that he's going to come back and do all these things. He does acknowledge how good God has been in the past. Verse chapter two, verse two in my distress. <br /><br /> I called to the Lord and he answered me from the depths of the grave I called for help. And you listened to my cry. God then caused the fish to vomit Jonah onto dry land and the book resets. And here we are back at the beginning, the word of the Lord came to Jonah. Hey Jonah, let's try this again. Go to Nineveh and preach against the people who are doing evil and wicked things. <br /><br /> Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord this time. And he went to Nineveh. Now, Nineveh was a huge city. It took three days to make all the way through the city of Nineveh. And just about when he was a days into the city, he'd walk all this way. He spoke these words in chapter three, verse four 40 more days, and Nineveh will be overthrown. <br /><br /> And as soon as the word made its way to the King, all the people and even the animals fasted and began to turn to the Lord, they turned their hearts to God. And in chapter three, verse 10, it says this when God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways he relented, it did not bring on them. <br /><br /> The destruction he had threatened Patrona was angry that God showed mercy on these people. And chapter four verses two through four. He prayed to the Lord. Isn't this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home, that's what I was trying to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate. <br /><br /> God, slow to anger and abounding in love. A God who relents from sending calamity. Now Lord, take away my life for it's better for me to die than to live, but the Lord replied, is it right for you to be angry? So Jonah kind of marches off and sulks over outside the city and, and he sits down and he's going to watch and see what happens to this city and see if they actually truly turn their hearts to God, or if God destroys them. <br /><br /> So you can imagine him kind of crossing his arms and just kind of waiting for what's going to happen here. But God in his mercy showed up and provided this leafy plant to give him shade and we'll get to what in the world that all means. And this made Jonah really happy. He was excited to have some shade because after all it was warm out and then the next morning, God provided a worm that ate through this leafy plant and he was angry then because his shade tree was taken away. <br /><br /> Jonah became angry this time and he wanted to die and the Lord asks him again, is it right for you to be angry and chapter four, verse 10. Here's how the book ends. But the Lord said, you've been concerned about this plant that you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight. And then it died overnight. <br /><br /> And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh in which there are more than 120,000 people? Who cannot tell their right hand from their left and also many animals. The book ends with God's question. There's this divine cliffhanger asking us why and who is involved in the story? Well, before we jump in, let's pray together. <br /><br /> God, we often can look at scripture and. Uh, we try to just mind the things we want to figure out from it and get answers to all of our questions. But before God we come with questions that maybe we think we want to ask Lord, what are you doing? And why in the world would you place this book here? We want to hear your message to us. <br /><br /> Lord. We want to see the message that you gave to Jonah. And to the sailors and to the Ninevites because God we know that you are unchanging. And so, as we hear from your scripture this morning, your heart for these people, Lord, we will begin. I understand more of your heart for us as well. We thank you God. <br /><br /> And we pray these things in your name. Amen. I've titled my message this morning, that the mission of God, what is God up to? Why is he at work in this way? And the book of Jonah paints, a picture of God's mercy and grace declaring his mission to redeem the world, to, to bring people to himself. And so we look at a few truths. <br /><br /> We know about God because of Jonah and the first one, uh, I'll fill in your blanks for you. God is at the center of the universe and by his grace. Will accomplish his mission. God, is it the center of the universe? And by his grace, he's going to accomplish his mission. Jonah was sent by God to the Ninevites. <br /><br /> We just read that Jonah was also a Hebrew. He was living a part of God's chosen nation of Israel. And he was sent as a Hebrew to the enemy nation of Israel. And he was to go into, to tell them about how good God is and to say, turn to him now, before he completely wipes you out. And Jonah, I think probably took pride in being on the good team God's chosen. <br /><br /> Nathan, for sure. For surely others were bad and deserving of destruction. So why would God send Jonah to this enemy nation? The great and powerful city of Nineveh with a murderous ruler? Why would he do that? Because God's mission. Includes the Ninevites and he would use Jonah to show even the enemies of God's chosen people. <br /><br /> What he was like, you can hear God saying, Hey, Hey Jonah, you are not the center of the universe. I am, you can hear him saying, Hey Israel, you, even though you are my chosen, people are not the center of the universe I am. And we can even hear this for us. Hey, you. Are not the center of the universe. I am, we must be concerned with the mission of God showing grace to lost people. <br /><br /> And if that really gets you all thrown off, then maybe just, maybe you need to hear, Hey, you are not the center of the universe. My mission and my glory are, but God's mission also then includes. The sailors, as we, as we read throughout this, these people are kind of just like extras in the story. They're not the main character, not even the enemies. <br /><br /> They're just kind of like the ones that does it get brought along here. And the sailors are not main characters. They're seemingly unimportant, but as the God of the universe sovereign over all creation, he would use wind and waves and a wayward prophet. To show his grace to the lost people. If you carefully read in chapter two there you'll, you'll notice that. <br /><br /> I'm sorry. In chapter one, you will notice the sailors. After all this, they turn and they begin to worship God. Jonah's disobedience in the middle of all this craziness allows for God to bring his mercy and his grace and show his sovereignty to these sailors who weren't even searching for him. God's mission includes. <br /><br /> The sailors and they bowed to King almighty. At the end of this, are you catching the divine irony in this story that like the prophet of God who is not being used in the way that he was intended to be used, God is allowing for him to, to bring his mercy, to people who were unsuspecting. But God's mission also includes Jonah as the center of the universe, much to Jonah surprise. <br /><br /> He would use this giant fish. He would use a plant and even a worm to show his grace to Jonah belonging, heart of the father, God, again and again, saying Jonah just turned back to me. Even when the story resets, he uses the exact same words, Jonah, I want to give you the mission again, go to Nineveh and preach. <br /><br /> These are not just circumstances or happenings in Jonah's life. These are actually means of grace. The father that loves Jonah is choosing to bring him to himself. God's chosen, man, and God's chosen. Nation is not exempt from failure and waywardness. And at the center of the universe, the gracious God is saying return to me. <br /><br /> He's not impressed with how important Jonah and the chosen nation of Israel is. He's not impressed with how important you and I are. He's concerned with his glory. And one day the physical manifestation of God's glory and grace would come to earth many years later and his name is Jesus. And these words would be spoken of him by Paul, who, who we actually learned about last week by pastor Don. <br /><br /> Second Corinthians chapter five says this for Christ's love, love compels us because we are convinced that one died for all and therefore all died and he died. Those who should live should live no longer for themselves, but for him who died for them and was raised again and Jonah prophet and part of God's chosen nation. <br /><br /> Don't forget. Who's the center of the universe and Nineveh though, you are great and mighty, and it takes three days to walk through your city. Don't forget, who is the center of the universe and sailors though? You've mastered the seas. Don't forget who the center of the universe is. And church though, you live set apart and are God's. <br /><br /> People do not forget who is the center of the universe and Christian though, you've been given mercy and grace. Don't forget it. As you see lost people, he is the center. His mission is central, not ours. Okay. Number two. God's grace is the reason I freely run to the father and confess and repent of my sin. <br /><br /> So when we know there's a grace filled God sitting at the center of the universe, we can freely run to him and confess our brokenness and sin. And as we read through the book of Jonah, we can allow this almost to be like a mirror to us. We've often talked about the scriptures as being this mirror that we can look at and say, what is going on with my life. <br /><br /> It doesn't look so much. Like this, and it allows us to have this reflection on our own hearts and our own journey where God has us, but God and his spirit, um, uh, prompts you. And so maybe you're familiar with the process that you read, or we read through it in the book of Jonah this morning, you know, God talks to you, gives you something, asks you to obey in one direction and you Dodge, or you clarify, let me just explain to you, Lord, why I chose to disobey you. <br /><br /> It's it's because of this right here. Um, and then you justify your sin and for a moment, maybe it looks like God's like, okay, great things are going well. Right. Jonah paid for his boat ride check hopped on board check. He went below to sleep. He's asleep, check things are going well, things are good. And maybe he thinks I've outrun God, but in his grace, he pursues Jonah. <br /><br /> And by his grace, he pursues us too, from beginning to end of the scripture. This is God's pursuit of his people and even allows suffering pain and hardship to bring us to himself in the story of Jonah being beckoned by God, to submit and surrender, listened to the gracious and loving words that we read. <br /><br /> Chapter one, verse four, then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea. One verse 17. Now the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow. Jonah that's gracious chapter two, verse 10, and the Lord commanded the fish and vomited Jonah onto dry land. Then the Lord provided a leafy plant chapter four, verse six and verse seven. <br /><br /> But at the Dawn of the next day, God provided a worm. Four verse eight, God provided a scorching East wind and the sun blazed on Jonah's head. This is a really difficult truth to follow. Remember back for, uh, about a year ago, pastor Jerry from callings would preach to message through the book of job talking about God's uncomfortable grace in the way that he allows, and even maybe possibly intense difficulties and hardships to lead us to himself. <br /><br /> If I'm reading the book of Jonah sent, provided commanded, provided, provided, and provided are not passive words. These are active words of the father chasing after a man, all a means of grace. Okay. And again, I think the, a word that we might want to use maybe to help us understand what grace is, is throw the word uncomfortable in front of it. <br /><br /> This is uncomfortable. Grace. It's not something that we would sell on the street like, Hey, this is what it looks like to follow. God, God, you're going to have some uncomfortable grace to lead. Do you to come to know him? It's not really attractive, right? Jonah wanted to hide out in Tarshish. God wanted a revival in Nineveh, God won. <br /><br /> And it was the uncomfortable work of grace that led through this process. We see it in the life of Joseph who wanted to visit with his brothers, but instead his brothers left him for dead and sold him as a slave. And in Egypt he was imprisoned, but God made him a Prince and used him as an instrument of rescue for his people. <br /><br /> And these are the words that Joseph said as after all this, you intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done. The saving of many lives. And that's a man who knows uncomfortable grace. We see it in the life of John, any Erickson, Tada, maybe you've heard of her story before a quadriplegic at age 18 because she dove into shallow water fracturing her spinal column. <br /><br /> She ran from God with doubt and anger and suicidal thoughts, but God healed her and made her a mouthpiece for the good news of rescue through Christ. God broke her. God healed her. God used her uncomfortable. Grace, John Bunyan spent years in prison for preaching the gospel. And they said, if you would only stop preaching, then you can freely walk out of this prison. <br /><br /> He wouldn't do that. And so he stayed there for many years and behind bars wrote one of the best selling Christian books in history. The Pilgrim's progress. Millions have read it today and I've come to know Christ because of it. Uncomfortable grace that God uses to transform lives. And maybe you too have seen a little bit of God's uncomfortable. <br /><br /> Grace possibly. You've heard it in stories from other people who years later have talked about that moment or thus season that God used even intended for me to come to know himself. And while they never would have asked or invited that in the first place they would now say, thank you God for breaking me and for using your uncomfortable grace, we know the loving heart of the father changes everything. <br /><br /> It's grace, it's grace. It's grace. How do you know Mike, how in the world, can you be so sure that God is a God that uses this uncomfortable grace to bring us to himself? Well, because it is the exact same uncomfortable grace that led the father to send his son Christ to come and die in the place of sinners like you. <br /><br /> And I hear these words from the prophet, Isaiah chapter, 53 of Isaiah Jesus. He had done it. Doesn't say Jesus, but it says he I'm giving you the. Context here. He had done no wrong and it never deceived anyone, but he was buried like a criminal. He was put in a rich man's grave, but it was the Lord's good plan to crush him and cause him grief yet. <br /><br /> When his life made an offering for sin, he will have many descendants. He will enjoy a long life. And the Lord's good plan will prosper. In his hands, when he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish, he will be satisfied. And because of his experience, my righteous servant will make it possible for many to be counted righteous for. <br /><br /> He will bear all their sins. And so we live in light of second Corinthians chapter four. My grace is sufficient for you. My power is made perfect in your weakness. So we invite. And we run to a father who is the King of uncomfortable grace, even in his own son. Have you seen God's uncomfortable grace in your life through struggle or, or death or sickness? <br /><br /> Failure, weakness, financial ruin, relational heartache and conflict. I want to read a quote here from Paul Tripp. I love the way he talks about this. Grace. You're tempted to think that because you're God's child. Your life should be easier, more predictable and definitely more comfortable, but struggles are part of God's plan for you. <br /><br /> Don't allow yourself to think God has turned his back on you. Don't let yourself begin to buy into the possibility that God is not as trustworthy as you thought him to be. God has chosen to let you live in this fallen world because he plans to employ those difficulties of it to continue and to complete his work. <br /><br /> In you, this means that moments of difficulty are not an interruption of God's plans or the failure of his plan, but rather an important part of his plan. I think there are many times for us that we cry out for God's grace and we get it, but not the grace we're looking for. It comes in the form of something. <br /><br /> We would never have chosen. If we were constraint controlling the joystick. Isn't that the truth that man, we run to the father and we say, Lord, we need your grace, but, but to look just like this over here, I think that's how you should work. And in his love, he gives us his grace and oftentimes it comes yeah. <br /><br /> How we're looking for it, willing to forgive and heal and care and love and hope told you he is that good? The third thing here that we learned from the book of Jonah is that God is seeking obedient grace-filled servants to show his grace to those in need of grace. And if you've been paying attention, the answer from top to bottom of your blanks this morning is grace. <br /><br /> Okay. So you can leave now. It's God's mission to use you and I, as instruments of his grace. Once we've understood that it, man go and be an instrument of my grace to others, pointing them to myself. This was God's mission for Jonah. Go to Nineveh. As we read earlier, Jonah eventually does go and he walks in for a day and delivers arguably the most effective word for word sermon on the planet. <br /><br /> Now let me just say this in Hebrew, he only says five words. That's his sermon, right? Five words. 40 more days and Nineveh will be overthrown and the people go wild. Let's turn our hearts to God. Like it is just five Hebrew words that he speaks. Oddly enough, in the prophetic book of Jonah, maybe it's different than other prophetic books you've read before in the Bible. <br /><br /> These are the only real prophetic words here. The word overthrown that he talks about an Antifa can actually mean what we think ruined or destroyed. Prophetic in that way, but you know what the word also means. It means overturned changed remade and wouldn't that be the prophetic nature of the city of Nineveh as they turn their hearts to God, hundreds of thousands came to know him because of these five words. <br /><br /> And this makes Jonah the prophet of God, his chosen servant angry. Isn't this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home. This is why I tried to stall and go somewhere else, because I just knew how gracious and loving and compassionate you are. You could almost hear God being like, Oh man, this is a terrible argument, Jonah. <br /><br /> Like, you're telling me how good I am. Yes I am. And so God pours out his grace to Jonah yet again. And he provides this place for him to go and to think about what it's happening. He sits outside the city. Of Nineveh and he's watching to see what will happen to these people. And this green plant comes up with big leaves and provides him shade. <br /><br /> He's happy. He goes to bed and he wakes up and God provided a worm to eat and consume this whole plant overnight. God, how could you do that? These are your enemies. Why you took away my plan. It's comical, right? But, but here in lies, the point Jonah had been a recipient of God's grace in many different ways throughout the story, but failed to understand it himself. <br /><br /> And to the degree that you and I know God's grace in our life is the degree to which we will extend grace to others. Let me say that again. To the degree that, you know, and understand God's grace in your life is the same degree that you will be then a grace extender to other people. So ask a question real quick. <br /><br /> How gracious are you? Does it correlate to how gracious, you know, God to be, or have you really understood all that you've been forgiven? When you look around and see the sin and brokenness and failure of others, what do you do? Are you more concerned with their sin and brokenness than your own? Jesus illustrates this with the parable of two debtors in Matthew 18, and it says this, therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a King who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. <br /><br /> He began the settlement. A man who owed him 10,000 bags of gold was brought to him since he was not able to pay the master ordered that he and his wife and his children, all that he had sold to repay the debt at this, the servant fell on his knees before him be patient with me. He begged and we'll pay back everything. <br /><br /> The servant's master showed him. Grace took pity on him and canceled the debt and let him go. But when the servant went out, he found out that one of his fellow servants who owed him only a hundred silver coins, he grabbed him and began to choke him, pay back what you owe me. He demanded his fellow servant, fell to his knees and begged be patient with me, and I will pay back the debt, but he refused. <br /><br /> Instead, he went off and threw the man into prison. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened. And, you know, at the end of the story, the master then turns and says, I've canceled this huge debt. How in the world could you be so ungracious to this person owing you, even just the small debt, the master then throws him into jail and tortures him until he pays back all that he owes. <br /><br /> 35 verse 35 of Matthew 18. This is how my heavenly father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart and church. If you are here today and think the word Christian is exclusively for you or for people that you like think again, because great grace requires great gracefulness. <br /><br /> If we've been shown this grace, we are required to be people that give this grace out. And there are a lot of ways that you and I could read the book of Jonah and apply this in, in lots of different ways too, our lives. But I'll just a few questions to you. And if one of those questions really hits you, write it down and take some time this week to maybe just think through, uh, what the question is asking. <br /><br /> If God is at the center of the universe and by his graceful accomplish his mission, have you removed God from the throne of your heart and replaced him with, with self, your self interest, your plans, your agenda, your idolatry of power. Is that the agenda is that the mission is earth. Really the mission for you? <br /><br /> Pleasure, success, image money. Has that become a replaced. God's mission. Have you forgotten that while we are on a mission for God, that may be even, you are part of God's mission, have you served and worked and done for God without even pausing to know his love for you, this, this softening and, and, and humility that comes, and we understand who God is and that he wants to capture our hearts in this process. <br /><br /> Okay. Number two God's grace is the reason I freely run to the father and repent of my sin. How have you encountered God's uncomfortable? Grace does your view of God's loving and pursuing grace include what you are currently walking through and if not do difficulty and hardship change the way you look at God, when things come, do you look at God and, and all of a sudden. <br /><br /> You see him differently because there are difficult things in your life. God is seeking obedient. Grace-filled servants to show his grace to those in need of grace. If you have received God's grace, when this week has God invited you to extend this grace, he's given you to other people. And if we really know the narrative of scripture all the way throughout how God's grace works in the lives of unlikely converts people that weren't even searching for him, it just finds him. <br /><br /> How will then you extend grace to your enemies, the unlikely convert. How will you speak with grace about the opposing political party? How will you respond to your spouse, your kids, your parents with grace. How will you speak with grace about a local ruling authority that maybe you don't agree with a school board or a government authority, whatever the case might be, how will you represent God's grace on the sports field, at the office, at the gym, with those who have hurt you? <br /><br /> How does God's grace and mission including lost and broken people change the things that you and I post on social media. There's a place where lost people are watching us all the time. How then is this part of God's mission, mission of grace that includes you, your enemies, and it's freely given to us and to them because of Christ. <br /><br /> Pray with me this morning, <br /><br /> Lord, we are people who desire. Comfort. And we find ourselves so accustomed to laying on beds of ease and comfort in a culture where things are normally good. And so when discomfort or confusion, or maybe even hardship comes, Lord, we, we tend to panic. And then we, we have a different view of who you are, but you're unchanging God. <br /><br /> And actually it's your grace that allows us. To know you, it's your kindness. That leads us to turn and repent of our brokenness and sin. And this morning, God, we want to be people that know your grace and be people that extend that grace to the world around us. Help us, Lord. We pray. We pray these things in your name. <br /><br /> Amen. Thanks for being here this morning. Have a great week.</div> false no <![CDATA[Paul: the Power of the Gospel to Change Lives]]> Acts 9:1-30

Paul had an encounter with Jesus and it changed him entirely.



Good morning, everybody. I, uh, it's great to see you and it's great to be back, right? The carpet is still green. I know you missed it. Uh, it is great to see you, those who are here and I thank you everyone. Who's also joining us on line today. We have a lot of our church family that's worshiping with us online.

I'm uh, Moving a little bit slowly I wrenched my back out on Tuesday was doing better. And then I did it again yesterday. And then when I didn't see this podium here, I thought I'm just going to spread my notes and stuff out on this beautiful green carpet and sort of sit down and go at it that way. But, uh, it's been a tough week for me and yet I never really felt discouraged about it.

Uh, it was like, not just my, my back, but the, uh, backed up sewer line. That's fun. Um, the tractor that I couldn't fix a furnace turn on and listen, he said to me, well, I know why this is happening. It's because you're preaching this Sunday. Well, I'm not so sure about that. There is spiritual warfare. We have an enemy.

I don't want to give him too much credit in orchestrating the events of my life for greater is he, that is in us than he, that is in the world. Right. I have before me a book describes itself as the word of God as living active and useful. And I'm excited to be able to be here with the strength God's given me to share some things that he has put on my heart today.

So, um, uh, you're going to invite you if you want to open your Bible. We're going to start today in acts chapter eight,

and we are going to focus on the, the power of the gospel to change lives. We're going to look at this through the conversion experience of Saul of Tarsus. Now the life conversion in ministry of Saul of Tarsus, who's more popularly known as the apostle Paul to recorded for us in the book of acts, as well as bits and pieces of his story are made clear in the 13 letters that he wrote that part of the new Testament.

He is undoubtedly with the exception of Jesus Christ, the biggest personality in the new Testament. And I believe that he penned his life verse. Or the theme of his life in ministry in Romans one 16 when he wrote, I am not ashamed of the guy hospital, because it is power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes it's for the Jew and also for the Gentile.

And Saul knows firsthand the power of the gospel to change lives dives, because it changed his life. And I want to talk about the power of the gospel to change our lives as seen in the conversion of Saul. And we're going to see that in acts chapter eight and nine, and then he re re retell his is a testimony, his conversion experience on two other occasions in the book of acts chapter 22 and 26.

And I believe this gospel has the power to change lives as well. And if the gospel can change the life direction and destiny of a guy like saw it can surely change ours as well. And this is the conviction for which I am here before you today with an open Bible, let's read what happened to this man named Saul.

And we begin with our introduction to him in acts chapter eight. And it reads like this in acts chapter eight, verses one through four. And Saul was there at the, at the, at the killing of Steven, the martyrdom of Stephen and Saul was there giving approval to his death. There's our introduction to a guy.

He was all on board with putting Christians to death and persecuting them. Let's keep reading on that day. A great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria, godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. But Saul began to destroy the church.

Going from house to house. He dragged off men and women and put them in prison. Those who had been scattered, preached the word wherever they went. Now, I want to ask you to jump forward to the first verse of chapter nine and we'll continue with what with Saul's story there. Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples.

He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to synagogues in Damascus so that if he found any there who belonged to the way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed all around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice, say to him, saw Saul, why do you cute me?

Who are, are you? Lord Saul asked, I am Jesus, whom you're persecuting. He replied now get up and go into the city and you will be told what you must do. The men traveling with Saul stood there, speechless. They heard the sound, but did not see anyone Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes, he could see nothing.

So they led him by the hand into Damascus for three days, he was blind and did not eat or drink anything in Damascus. There was a disciple named Anna Niaz. The Lord called to him in a vision and an . Yes, Lord. He answered the Lord, told him, go to the house of Judas on straight street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul for he is praying in a vision.

He has seen a man named Dan and I calm and place his hands on him to restore his sight. Lord. And an answered. I have heard many reports, this man and all the harm he has done done to your saints in Jerusalem. And he has come here with you, the authority of the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.

But the Lord said, Dan and I S go. This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their Kings. And before the people of Israel, I will show him how much he must suffer for my name. Then Anna Niaz went into the house, went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul. He said, brothers saw the Lord.

Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here has sent me so that you may again, may see again and be filled with the Holy spirit immediately. Something like scales fell from Saul's eyes and he could see again, he got up and was baptized and after taking some food. He regained his strength.

Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus at once. He began to preach in the, the synagogues that Jesus is the son of God. All those who heard him were astonished and asked, isn't he the man who re raised havoc, Russ alum, among those who call on this name. And hasn't he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests.

Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Christ. After many days, days had gone by the Jews conspired to kill him, but som learned of their plan. Day and night, they kept close watch on the city Gates in order to kill him. But his followers took him by night and lowered him in a basket through an opening in the wall.

When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him not believing that he really was a disciple, but Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him. And how in Damascus, he had preach fearlessly in the name of Jesus.

So Saul stayed with them, right? Moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. We'll stop our reading right there. This amazing account has so much to teach us. And here's my theme for today. I admit it's a bit of a mouthful, but I'm going to break it down simply for you. After I give it to you.

The power of the gospel takes an improbable center. Release's him or her from his impossible pursuit and changes his identity, purpose, and destiny through an unmistakable encounter. Which Jesus Christ. Yeah, it's a mouthful, right. But it's really three phrases that we're going to talk about. Improbable center, impossible pursuit and unmistakable encounter.

First of all, here's the first, first of those phrases, the power of the gospel is made available to improbable centers and see what we're going to see. Is that a part from grace? That's all of us. We're, we've all gone. Too far, apart from grace, there's no hope he's gone too far. She'll never change. Not a chance for him.

There's no hope for her. If you ever said those things about someone or even thought them about yourself, you know what you're right. Because apart from grace, we've all gone too far, but you know what? You're also wrong. Because by God's grace, no one is too far gone to be changed by a personal encounter with Jesus Christ.

Now by all appearances saw was too far gone. Having dedicated himself to destroy the church and to imprison and kill Christians killed Jesus followers. He made himself the most improbable candidate, the most unlikely person to ever come to faith in Christ. He was beyond hope and everyone knew this. And NIS knew this.

He believes Saul was a hopeless case. In fact, when the Lord directed Anna, nice to go and lay his hands on Saul, he objected. Are you sure about this? He tried to correct the Lord. I've heard reports about this guy and all the harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem. I almost hear the Lord cutting him off mid sentence.

Go. This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their Kings. And before the people of Israel amazing. Isn't it? That God had a plan for Saul's life, but on an ISDN was not so sure. Even the apostles in Jerusalem believed that Saul was too far gone. Verse 26 tells us that they were afraid of him.

Not believing that he really was a disciple. So unlikely a candidate was this guy for the gospel that not even these men who had been with Jesus, seen Jesus miracles, done miracles in the name of Jesus and had been commissioned to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. Not even, they were sure that the gospel could reach saw.

here's the truth. The gospel of Jesus has the power to change. Even the most improbable center. Make no mistake about it. No matter how far from God, you may feel how no matter how lost a person looks, no matter how far your son or daughter appears to have strayed from God. The gospel of Jesus will never lose its power to reach him or her.

The gospel will never be rendered null and void. The gospel of Jesus has the power to reach the most improbable of sinners, but you know, here's the other side of the coin. Each one of us must come to the place where we can look in the mirror and realize that we are. That most improbable of sinners and that apart from God's grace, we too are too far gone.

Now, many of us fail to see this, see ourselves that way, because there's always someone else that we can compare ourselves to who looks worse.

Saw you have to remember was not some atheist communist. Terrorists zealot. He, he who hated God and all religion. He was a devout, biblically trained Jew, a Pharisee outwardly scrupulously, righteous. He was squeaky clean, believing that he was doing God's will, you know, I think the squeaky clean among us have the hardest time coming to the place where we realize.

That we need God's grace. And that we are the most improbable of sinners because we find so much comfort in comparing ourselves to the bad guys. It's, it's kind of like someone saying I robbed a bank. Sure. But it was only a small bank. I could have done so much worse. The reality is it is only by God's grace, that our complete sinfulness has not played itself out Holy in our lives, as it could have give it time.

And it would see the biblical doctrine of total depravity doesn't mean that we've all behaved as badly as we could have. It's simply means that the core of our being we are completely and utterly. Sinful now, Paul would later write these words to Timothy. He'd say here's a trustworthy saying that deserves full of acceptance.

Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the worst, but for that very reason, I was shown mercy. So that in me, the worst of sinners. Christ Jesus might display his immense patients as an example, for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life, we must all come to the place as Saul did.

When we look in the mirror at ourselves and conclude, I am the worst of sinners and it's from that place that we cry out. God have mercy on me. A sinner. We come to realize that in grace, the grace of God is our only hope because we've all gone too far. So, as I said, no one has gone too far because we've all gone too far.

But the good news of the gospel is that its power is available to the most improbable of sinners to saw to me. To you now here's our second truth. The power of the gospel releases us from an impossible pursuit. And what I mean to say here is that apart from a relationship with Christ, all other pursuits will leave us empty until we come to faith.

In Jesus Christ and have a relationship with our heavenly father through Christ. Our lives are on an impossible pursuit, a quest for something that will always feel out of reach true meaning and purpose. Come through a relationship with Jesus now saw was on an impossible pursuit. What was his pursuit?

To seek out, kill them, destroy the church in off Jesus followers. Yes and no. Yes. That was his pursuit. But no, that was not really what he was after. He, like, all of us will say after that satisfaction, validation, inner, inner satisfaction. And he was using his religious zeal levied against the church as a way to get there.

He was seeking. Fulfillment and satisfaction through religious zeal to persecute Jesus followers. And this was an impossible pursuit for two reasons. One, the church can never be destroyed and two, there can be no ultimate satisfaction or purpose in life. Apart from a relationship with God through Christ.

Now acts eight tells us we write it that own. The day Stephen was put to death, a vicious persecution. Against the church broke out. We read godly men, buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him, but saw, began to destroy the church.

He was on an impossible pursuit. He was going to be fighting a losing battle because Jesus made this declaration. I will build my church. And the Gates of hell will not prevail against it. The power of the gospel is seen and that the church consisting of all those who have come to faith in Jesus Christ and therefore have, and thereby have become part of his body has withstood the last 2000 plus years and continues to grow, to thrive and to multiply.

And that is why today. As those scattered believers in acts chapter eight, did the church goes on spreading and preaching the word of Christ wherever we go, the church can never be destroyed least of all by a simple quarantine. This is just a building. The church is the body of Christ. So Saul set out on an impossible pursuit.

He was fighting a losing battle, but Saul's chief pursuit. Was also doomed to fail because like everyone like us, like me, like you, he was seeking meaning and purpose apart from faith in Christ. So Paul shares his conversion story before King Agrippa in acts chapter 26. And not going to read it, but he, he includes this detail that Jesus spoke to him.

The voice of Jesus, speaking to him said saw, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kill against the goats. You see that statement is a description of what life is like when salt or me or you. Or anyone tries to find meaning and purpose. Apart from Christ, it's like kicking against the goads and animal, resisting the prodding and direction of his master, resisting the direction the master wants to take him.

He's kicking against the goads and we're doomed to frustration. And failure when we seek meaning and significance apart from a relationship with Christ, Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, but to resist Tim as Saul was doing okay, doomed Saul, dooms us to a life of a life far below the good purposes that God has in mind for us, the new century version, paraphrases, that phrase, it's hard for you to kick against the goats like this.

It says you are only hurting yourself. By fighting me. That's what happens when we resist God, when we resist Christ and his call and his pull on our lives. Some people, some people pursue that meaning and satisfaction through pleasure through riches, through possessions, through relationships, through workaholism, through trying to prove to themselves and everyone else, their worth Saul was trying to do this through his religious zeal.

Misguided as it was, but a part from a relationship with Christ, all of those pursuits are impossible, doomed to failure, doomed a frustration. What can bring a new beginning, what can bring purpose, what can bring hope for a fee for our future to people like Saul and to you and to me, and that's simply this an encounter with Jesus Christ.

And that brings us to our third point here. The power of the gospel to change are the power of the gospel changes our identity and our, our purpose and our destiny. How through an unmistakable encounter with Jesus. What I mean to say there is that aligned with Jesus. We experience a new beginning, a new purpose.

And hope for a glorious future. So by the way, you probably noticed that I refer to this guy as Saul, and also as Paul, in fact, it might get a little bit confused and the scripture does that as well. He's got two names, Saul and Paul. Now some have suggested that a Saul is his preconversion name. And then when he became a follower of Christ, he changed it to Paul, sort of like to indicate a break with the past.

Well, not so. Cause there's plenty of times in the book of acts, even after his encounter with Jesus and his conversion to Christianity, but he's called saw the explanation for the two names is simply that he had two names. Saul was his Jewish name because he was born into a Jewish family. And Paul was his Roman name because being born in the city of Tarsus, he was by birth a Roman citizen.

Uh, most of us have two names. I mean, My name is Donald Walter only. My mom will use both names together and only then if she's mad at me, but that's the explanation for the two names and it, all of Paul's letters. Uh, the 13 letters of the new Testament, he writes, he only calls himself Paul at that point.

And I suspect that since his ministry focus was to the Gentiles for much of his ministry, he, it made sense for him to use his. Roman name. So that's Saul. That's Paul. And hopefully I haven't confused just too much by interchanging them. The scripture does the same thing. So Paul saw me Jesus in a very dramatic encounter on the road to Damascus.

What happened at that moment? His life was changed radically in that moment, sins were forgiven. His heart was made new. He was born again, a phrase that Jesus uses while his physical eyes became blinded temporarily, his spiritual eyes were opened permanently. His life was filled with new purpose and direction.

He was given a clear commission and directive. To no longer kick against what God was trying to do, but to be used by God, to steer others into the path of God and out of the path of Satan, he received a place in the family of God. He received the promise of eternal life. This is the promise to all who their faith in Christ, the promise of eternal life.

And he goes into great deal explaining. The significance of this encounter with Jesus, as he writes his 13 letters of the new Testament, he wrote the Jesus had appeared to him. He wrote that the gospel, he preached, came to him by revelation from God. He wrote that he had been called by God. And that his conversion had brought about a complete change in the inner controlling power of his life.

He referred to it as a death and resurrection. When he said I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live Christ lives in me. He talked about being created a new, when he said, I said, if anyone is in Christ, he or she is a new creation. And this radical change that he experienced would propel him to travel the world and use the rest of his life to spread the message of this gospel and its power of which he was on ashamed.

He proclaimed it because he experienced it. Listen any, and every center me you saw, anyone can be changed. Through a personal encounter with Jesus. What will that look like? Will it include a bright light from heaven? Will I be struck blind? Where will you hear the voice of Jesus and an audible fashion?

It's possible, but not probable because for the, for the past, for the past 2000 years, the testimony of millions and millions of jesus' followers. Their encounter with Jesus has included generally these following elements. The first is this that your, your encounter with Jesus will be unique and personal.

I observed in reading Saul's testimony before King Agrippa. He adds the detail that the voice of Jesus spoke to him in Aramaic. And I thought that's a funny detail. Why did he include that? And I'm not sure I entirely know, but it was, it occurred to me that possibly it's because he wanted to emphasize that when Jesus speaks, he does.

So in a way that you and I will understand in a language that we can understand at the heart level, Jesus will do whatever he needs to do to read. Shoot, he'll speak your language. He'll get through to you now for Saul, that required a pretty dramatic encounter maybe for you and may not so dramatic, but all of us will know unmistakably that he is called and that we are compelled to listen and to respond.

Here's the second element, common to most encounters with Jesus. Your encounter with Jesus will include a turning from sin. And he trusting in Jesus. We call these elements, repentance and faith, turning from sin, turning to Christ as our only hope of salvation. And this became Paul's message. So he says to King Agrippa, I taught them that they should repent and turn to God and prove.

Their repentance by their deeds. Third element of an encounter with Jesus is that it will protect both immediate changes as well as Greg jewel changes over the rest of your life. Your sins will be forgiven. Your heart will change. The Holy spirit will enter you. You will be added to the family of God.

You'll become a son or daughter of God. You'll have a new home in heaven, a secure future, and you'll have eternal life. You'll have a new sense of purpose here in now. And also your lifestyle will change. Some believers go through testify to instantaneous changes, giving up vices immediately cold Turkey.

Others experience changes on a more gradual way over a period of time, but make no mistake for all who encounter Jesus. No one remains the same. And through your encounter with Jesus, you'll receive a new identity, a new purpose. And a new destiny. So I was sitting in church on a Sunday evening as a 12 year old.

And that was fine back in the days where we had church in the morning and at night and we were in the evening service and I was sitting there and we were singing choruses. Now the evening service was more laid back, so we didn't just sing hymns. We sang choruses. On Sunday evenings and the chorus was being sung that had seven verses each verse corresponding to one of the seven days of the week.

And the idea of the song is you were supposed to get up from your seat and remain standing during the burst that corresponded to the day in which you met Jesus. God's saved. We're born again. However you want to put it the day you got sick. That's when you were to stand. So I had seven versus corresponding to the seven days of the week.

And I was in a real difficult time in my heart because I had no clue what day of the week I met Jesus. In fact, the whole song had the effect of making me ask myself the important question. Do I even know if I have, I had a personal encounter with Jesus? I always assumed I did. I was the squeaky clean kid.

I grew up in church every Sunday, morning and night. But I didn't know what verse to stand up one. So there, I was thinking, do I just stand up on any verse and fake it?

If I stay seated, then I'm testifying to the fact that I'd never had an encounter with Jesus. So it was in a real, a difficult moment, you know, I've come to realize since that day. That the essence of a relationship with Jesus is not necessarily remembering the day of the week or even the exact circumstances of it.

But knowing that you have had that encounter. See, I don't remember my physical birth either though. My mom has shores me that it happened, but the main proof I know I was born physically is hello. Here I am. And when you're born spiritually, even if the details of that exact moment are not clear enough to know what day of the week it happened.

The main thing is to know that you have met him, that you've been born again, changed, made new

to my great relief. There was an eighth stanza to the chorus for those of us, for whom we did not know what day of the week. We met Jesus. Have you met Jesus?

That is the most important question that I can ask you today, or that you can come to the place you answer. God loves you and sent Jesus to be your savior, to rescue an improbable center. Like you. Like me, like saw to rescue us from our empty pursuits that can't satisfy and to give us a new life and a new start, a new identity and a new hope, a new direction, a new destiny.

And if you're here today or listening today, I want you to be able to listen for his voice speaking inwardly to your heart. And then I want you to answer.

I want you to confess your sin and turn from it. I want you to accept his forgiveness that he's offering to you at no charge. I want you to surrender your life to him and receive the gift of eternal life that he died and Rose again, to make possible for you. Now, you can do that in the privacy of your home.

In your living room, you can do that in your car. You can do that silently in your heart. Even as you sit here this morning, you can Val your head and talk to him silently in your heart. And if you wish to talk more, um, or pray with me or another one of our pastors about how you can be sure that you have a have had an encounter with Jesus, I'd be happy to help you with that.

Any any of us would, let's go ahead and close this time with prayer. And if you want to pray to Jesus and invite him into your life, a silent prayer, like this could start or even restart your spiritual life right now. Dear Jesus. I know that I'm a sinner and have no right to your grace or forgiveness, but I believe that you love me.

Died for me and Ken, forgive me, please forgive me for my sins. Please come into my life and make me new. Make me a child of God here and now I fully surrender all I am and have to you, my Lord and savior. Amen. We thank you God today for your word, for the, the, the testimony of this man named Saul and the power of the gospel to change our lives in Christ's name.]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/paul-the-power-of-the-gospel-to-change-lives b3ba54c9-5878-4733-8c30-4b9d2b393a76 Sun, 20 Sep 2020 18:56:10 GMT <div data-html="true">Acts 9:1-30 <br /><br /> Paul had an encounter with Jesus and it changed him entirely. <br /><br /> <br /><br /> Good morning, everybody. I, uh, it's great to see you and it's great to be back, right? The carpet is still green. I know you missed it. Uh, it is great to see you, those who are here and I thank you everyone. Who's also joining us on line today. We have a lot of our church family that's worshiping with us online. <br /><br /> I'm uh, Moving a little bit slowly I wrenched my back out on Tuesday was doing better. And then I did it again yesterday. And then when I didn't see this podium here, I thought I'm just going to spread my notes and stuff out on this beautiful green carpet and sort of sit down and go at it that way. But, uh, it's been a tough week for me and yet I never really felt discouraged about it. <br /><br /> Uh, it was like, not just my, my back, but the, uh, backed up sewer line. That's fun. Um, the tractor that I couldn't fix a furnace turn on and listen, he said to me, well, I know why this is happening. It's because you're preaching this Sunday. Well, I'm not so sure about that. There is spiritual warfare. We have an enemy. <br /><br /> I don't want to give him too much credit in orchestrating the events of my life for greater is he, that is in us than he, that is in the world. Right. I have before me a book describes itself as the word of God as living active and useful. And I'm excited to be able to be here with the strength God's given me to share some things that he has put on my heart today. <br /><br /> So, um, uh, you're going to invite you if you want to open your Bible. We're going to start today in acts chapter eight, <br /><br /> and we are going to focus on the, the power of the gospel to change lives. We're going to look at this through the conversion experience of Saul of Tarsus. Now the life conversion in ministry of Saul of Tarsus, who's more popularly known as the apostle Paul to recorded for us in the book of acts, as well as bits and pieces of his story are made clear in the 13 letters that he wrote that part of the new Testament. <br /><br /> He is undoubtedly with the exception of Jesus Christ, the biggest personality in the new Testament. And I believe that he penned his life verse. Or the theme of his life in ministry in Romans one 16 when he wrote, I am not ashamed of the guy hospital, because it is power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes it's for the Jew and also for the Gentile. <br /><br /> And Saul knows firsthand the power of the gospel to change lives dives, because it changed his life. And I want to talk about the power of the gospel to change our lives as seen in the conversion of Saul. And we're going to see that in acts chapter eight and nine, and then he re re retell his is a testimony, his conversion experience on two other occasions in the book of acts chapter 22 and 26. <br /><br /> And I believe this gospel has the power to change lives as well. And if the gospel can change the life direction and destiny of a guy like saw it can surely change ours as well. And this is the conviction for which I am here before you today with an open Bible, let's read what happened to this man named Saul. <br /><br /> And we begin with our introduction to him in acts chapter eight. And it reads like this in acts chapter eight, verses one through four. And Saul was there at the, at the, at the killing of Steven, the martyrdom of Stephen and Saul was there giving approval to his death. There's our introduction to a guy. <br /><br /> He was all on board with putting Christians to death and persecuting them. Let's keep reading on that day. A great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria, godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. But Saul began to destroy the church. <br /><br /> Going from house to house. He dragged off men and women and put them in prison. Those who had been scattered, preached the word wherever they went. Now, I want to ask you to jump forward to the first verse of chapter nine and we'll continue with what with Saul's story there. Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples. <br /><br /> He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to synagogues in Damascus so that if he found any there who belonged to the way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed all around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice, say to him, saw Saul, why do you cute me? <br /><br /> Who are, are you? Lord Saul asked, I am Jesus, whom you're persecuting. He replied now get up and go into the city and you will be told what you must do. The men traveling with Saul stood there, speechless. They heard the sound, but did not see anyone Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes, he could see nothing. <br /><br /> So they led him by the hand into Damascus for three days, he was blind and did not eat or drink anything in Damascus. There was a disciple named Anna Niaz. The Lord called to him in a vision and an . Yes, Lord. He answered the Lord, told him, go to the house of Judas on straight street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul for he is praying in a vision. <br /><br /> He has seen a man named Dan and I calm and place his hands on him to restore his sight. Lord. And an answered. I have heard many reports, this man and all the harm he has done done to your saints in Jerusalem. And he has come here with you, the authority of the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name. <br /><br /> But the Lord said, Dan and I S go. This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their Kings. And before the people of Israel, I will show him how much he must suffer for my name. Then Anna Niaz went into the house, went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul. He said, brothers saw the Lord. <br /><br /> Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here has sent me so that you may again, may see again and be filled with the Holy spirit immediately. Something like scales fell from Saul's eyes and he could see again, he got up and was baptized and after taking some food. He regained his strength. <br /><br /> Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus at once. He began to preach in the, the synagogues that Jesus is the son of God. All those who heard him were astonished and asked, isn't he the man who re raised havoc, Russ alum, among those who call on this name. And hasn't he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests. <br /><br /> Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Christ. After many days, days had gone by the Jews conspired to kill him, but som learned of their plan. Day and night, they kept close watch on the city Gates in order to kill him. But his followers took him by night and lowered him in a basket through an opening in the wall. <br /><br /> When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him not believing that he really was a disciple, but Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him. And how in Damascus, he had preach fearlessly in the name of Jesus. <br /><br /> So Saul stayed with them, right? Moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. We'll stop our reading right there. This amazing account has so much to teach us. And here's my theme for today. I admit it's a bit of a mouthful, but I'm going to break it down simply for you. After I give it to you. <br /><br /> The power of the gospel takes an improbable center. Release's him or her from his impossible pursuit and changes his identity, purpose, and destiny through an unmistakable encounter. Which Jesus Christ. Yeah, it's a mouthful, right. But it's really three phrases that we're going to talk about. Improbable center, impossible pursuit and unmistakable encounter. <br /><br /> First of all, here's the first, first of those phrases, the power of the gospel is made available to improbable centers and see what we're going to see. Is that a part from grace? That's all of us. We're, we've all gone. Too far, apart from grace, there's no hope he's gone too far. She'll never change. Not a chance for him. <br /><br /> There's no hope for her. If you ever said those things about someone or even thought them about yourself, you know what you're right. Because apart from grace, we've all gone too far, but you know what? You're also wrong. Because by God's grace, no one is too far gone to be changed by a personal encounter with Jesus Christ. <br /><br /> Now by all appearances saw was too far gone. Having dedicated himself to destroy the church and to imprison and kill Christians killed Jesus followers. He made himself the most improbable candidate, the most unlikely person to ever come to faith in Christ. He was beyond hope and everyone knew this. And NIS knew this. <br /><br /> He believes Saul was a hopeless case. In fact, when the Lord directed Anna, nice to go and lay his hands on Saul, he objected. Are you sure about this? He tried to correct the Lord. I've heard reports about this guy and all the harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem. I almost hear the Lord cutting him off mid sentence. <br /><br /> Go. This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their Kings. And before the people of Israel amazing. Isn't it? That God had a plan for Saul's life, but on an ISDN was not so sure. Even the apostles in Jerusalem believed that Saul was too far gone. Verse 26 tells us that they were afraid of him. <br /><br /> Not believing that he really was a disciple. So unlikely a candidate was this guy for the gospel that not even these men who had been with Jesus, seen Jesus miracles, done miracles in the name of Jesus and had been commissioned to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. Not even, they were sure that the gospel could reach saw. <br /><br /> here's the truth. The gospel of Jesus has the power to change. Even the most improbable center. Make no mistake about it. No matter how far from God, you may feel how no matter how lost a person looks, no matter how far your son or daughter appears to have strayed from God. The gospel of Jesus will never lose its power to reach him or her. <br /><br /> The gospel will never be rendered null and void. The gospel of Jesus has the power to reach the most improbable of sinners, but you know, here's the other side of the coin. Each one of us must come to the place where we can look in the mirror and realize that we are. That most improbable of sinners and that apart from God's grace, we too are too far gone. <br /><br /> Now, many of us fail to see this, see ourselves that way, because there's always someone else that we can compare ourselves to who looks worse. <br /><br /> Saw you have to remember was not some atheist communist. Terrorists zealot. He, he who hated God and all religion. He was a devout, biblically trained Jew, a Pharisee outwardly scrupulously, righteous. He was squeaky clean, believing that he was doing God's will, you know, I think the squeaky clean among us have the hardest time coming to the place where we realize. <br /><br /> That we need God's grace. And that we are the most improbable of sinners because we find so much comfort in comparing ourselves to the bad guys. It's, it's kind of like someone saying I robbed a bank. Sure. But it was only a small bank. I could have done so much worse. The reality is it is only by God's grace, that our complete sinfulness has not played itself out Holy in our lives, as it could have give it time. <br /><br /> And it would see the biblical doctrine of total depravity doesn't mean that we've all behaved as badly as we could have. It's simply means that the core of our being we are completely and utterly. Sinful now, Paul would later write these words to Timothy. He'd say here's a trustworthy saying that deserves full of acceptance. <br /><br /> Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the worst, but for that very reason, I was shown mercy. So that in me, the worst of sinners. Christ Jesus might display his immense patients as an example, for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life, we must all come to the place as Saul did. <br /><br /> When we look in the mirror at ourselves and conclude, I am the worst of sinners and it's from that place that we cry out. God have mercy on me. A sinner. We come to realize that in grace, the grace of God is our only hope because we've all gone too far. So, as I said, no one has gone too far because we've all gone too far. <br /><br /> But the good news of the gospel is that its power is available to the most improbable of sinners to saw to me. To you now here's our second truth. The power of the gospel releases us from an impossible pursuit. And what I mean to say here is that apart from a relationship with Christ, all other pursuits will leave us empty until we come to faith. <br /><br /> In Jesus Christ and have a relationship with our heavenly father through Christ. Our lives are on an impossible pursuit, a quest for something that will always feel out of reach true meaning and purpose. Come through a relationship with Jesus now saw was on an impossible pursuit. What was his pursuit? <br /><br /> To seek out, kill them, destroy the church in off Jesus followers. Yes and no. Yes. That was his pursuit. But no, that was not really what he was after. He, like, all of us will say after that satisfaction, validation, inner, inner satisfaction. And he was using his religious zeal levied against the church as a way to get there. <br /><br /> He was seeking. Fulfillment and satisfaction through religious zeal to persecute Jesus followers. And this was an impossible pursuit for two reasons. One, the church can never be destroyed and two, there can be no ultimate satisfaction or purpose in life. Apart from a relationship with God through Christ. <br /><br /> Now acts eight tells us we write it that own. The day Stephen was put to death, a vicious persecution. Against the church broke out. We read godly men, buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him, but saw, began to destroy the church. <br /><br /> He was on an impossible pursuit. He was going to be fighting a losing battle because Jesus made this declaration. I will build my church. And the Gates of hell will not prevail against it. The power of the gospel is seen and that the church consisting of all those who have come to faith in Jesus Christ and therefore have, and thereby have become part of his body has withstood the last 2000 plus years and continues to grow, to thrive and to multiply. <br /><br /> And that is why today. As those scattered believers in acts chapter eight, did the church goes on spreading and preaching the word of Christ wherever we go, the church can never be destroyed least of all by a simple quarantine. This is just a building. The church is the body of Christ. So Saul set out on an impossible pursuit. <br /><br /> He was fighting a losing battle, but Saul's chief pursuit. Was also doomed to fail because like everyone like us, like me, like you, he was seeking meaning and purpose apart from faith in Christ. So Paul shares his conversion story before King Agrippa in acts chapter 26. And not going to read it, but he, he includes this detail that Jesus spoke to him. <br /><br /> The voice of Jesus, speaking to him said saw, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kill against the goats. You see that statement is a description of what life is like when salt or me or you. Or anyone tries to find meaning and purpose. Apart from Christ, it's like kicking against the goads and animal, resisting the prodding and direction of his master, resisting the direction the master wants to take him. <br /><br /> He's kicking against the goads and we're doomed to frustration. And failure when we seek meaning and significance apart from a relationship with Christ, Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, but to resist Tim as Saul was doing okay, doomed Saul, dooms us to a life of a life far below the good purposes that God has in mind for us, the new century version, paraphrases, that phrase, it's hard for you to kick against the goats like this. <br /><br /> It says you are only hurting yourself. By fighting me. That's what happens when we resist God, when we resist Christ and his call and his pull on our lives. Some people, some people pursue that meaning and satisfaction through pleasure through riches, through possessions, through relationships, through workaholism, through trying to prove to themselves and everyone else, their worth Saul was trying to do this through his religious zeal. <br /><br /> Misguided as it was, but a part from a relationship with Christ, all of those pursuits are impossible, doomed to failure, doomed a frustration. What can bring a new beginning, what can bring purpose, what can bring hope for a fee for our future to people like Saul and to you and to me, and that's simply this an encounter with Jesus Christ. <br /><br /> And that brings us to our third point here. The power of the gospel to change are the power of the gospel changes our identity and our, our purpose and our destiny. How through an unmistakable encounter with Jesus. What I mean to say there is that aligned with Jesus. We experience a new beginning, a new purpose. <br /><br /> And hope for a glorious future. So by the way, you probably noticed that I refer to this guy as Saul, and also as Paul, in fact, it might get a little bit confused and the scripture does that as well. He's got two names, Saul and Paul. Now some have suggested that a Saul is his preconversion name. And then when he became a follower of Christ, he changed it to Paul, sort of like to indicate a break with the past. <br /><br /> Well, not so. Cause there's plenty of times in the book of acts, even after his encounter with Jesus and his conversion to Christianity, but he's called saw the explanation for the two names is simply that he had two names. Saul was his Jewish name because he was born into a Jewish family. And Paul was his Roman name because being born in the city of Tarsus, he was by birth a Roman citizen. <br /><br /> Uh, most of us have two names. I mean, My name is Donald Walter only. My mom will use both names together and only then if she's mad at me, but that's the explanation for the two names and it, all of Paul's letters. Uh, the 13 letters of the new Testament, he writes, he only calls himself Paul at that point. <br /><br /> And I suspect that since his ministry focus was to the Gentiles for much of his ministry, he, it made sense for him to use his. Roman name. So that's Saul. That's Paul. And hopefully I haven't confused just too much by interchanging them. The scripture does the same thing. So Paul saw me Jesus in a very dramatic encounter on the road to Damascus. <br /><br /> What happened at that moment? His life was changed radically in that moment, sins were forgiven. His heart was made new. He was born again, a phrase that Jesus uses while his physical eyes became blinded temporarily, his spiritual eyes were opened permanently. His life was filled with new purpose and direction. <br /><br /> He was given a clear commission and directive. To no longer kick against what God was trying to do, but to be used by God, to steer others into the path of God and out of the path of Satan, he received a place in the family of God. He received the promise of eternal life. This is the promise to all who their faith in Christ, the promise of eternal life. <br /><br /> And he goes into great deal explaining. The significance of this encounter with Jesus, as he writes his 13 letters of the new Testament, he wrote the Jesus had appeared to him. He wrote that the gospel, he preached, came to him by revelation from God. He wrote that he had been called by God. And that his conversion had brought about a complete change in the inner controlling power of his life. <br /><br /> He referred to it as a death and resurrection. When he said I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live Christ lives in me. He talked about being created a new, when he said, I said, if anyone is in Christ, he or she is a new creation. And this radical change that he experienced would propel him to travel the world and use the rest of his life to spread the message of this gospel and its power of which he was on ashamed. <br /><br /> He proclaimed it because he experienced it. Listen any, and every center me you saw, anyone can be changed. Through a personal encounter with Jesus. What will that look like? Will it include a bright light from heaven? Will I be struck blind? Where will you hear the voice of Jesus and an audible fashion? <br /><br /> It's possible, but not probable because for the, for the past, for the past 2000 years, the testimony of millions and millions of jesus' followers. Their encounter with Jesus has included generally these following elements. The first is this that your, your encounter with Jesus will be unique and personal. <br /><br /> I observed in reading Saul's testimony before King Agrippa. He adds the detail that the voice of Jesus spoke to him in Aramaic. And I thought that's a funny detail. Why did he include that? And I'm not sure I entirely know, but it was, it occurred to me that possibly it's because he wanted to emphasize that when Jesus speaks, he does. <br /><br /> So in a way that you and I will understand in a language that we can understand at the heart level, Jesus will do whatever he needs to do to read. Shoot, he'll speak your language. He'll get through to you now for Saul, that required a pretty dramatic encounter maybe for you and may not so dramatic, but all of us will know unmistakably that he is called and that we are compelled to listen and to respond. <br /><br /> Here's the second element, common to most encounters with Jesus. Your encounter with Jesus will include a turning from sin. And he trusting in Jesus. We call these elements, repentance and faith, turning from sin, turning to Christ as our only hope of salvation. And this became Paul's message. So he says to King Agrippa, I taught them that they should repent and turn to God and prove. <br /><br /> Their repentance by their deeds. Third element of an encounter with Jesus is that it will protect both immediate changes as well as Greg jewel changes over the rest of your life. Your sins will be forgiven. Your heart will change. The Holy spirit will enter you. You will be added to the family of God. <br /><br /> You'll become a son or daughter of God. You'll have a new home in heaven, a secure future, and you'll have eternal life. You'll have a new sense of purpose here in now. And also your lifestyle will change. Some believers go through testify to instantaneous changes, giving up vices immediately cold Turkey. <br /><br /> Others experience changes on a more gradual way over a period of time, but make no mistake for all who encounter Jesus. No one remains the same. And through your encounter with Jesus, you'll receive a new identity, a new purpose. And a new destiny. So I was sitting in church on a Sunday evening as a 12 year old. <br /><br /> And that was fine back in the days where we had church in the morning and at night and we were in the evening service and I was sitting there and we were singing choruses. Now the evening service was more laid back, so we didn't just sing hymns. We sang choruses. On Sunday evenings and the chorus was being sung that had seven verses each verse corresponding to one of the seven days of the week. <br /><br /> And the idea of the song is you were supposed to get up from your seat and remain standing during the burst that corresponded to the day in which you met Jesus. God's saved. We're born again. However you want to put it the day you got sick. That's when you were to stand. So I had seven versus corresponding to the seven days of the week. <br /><br /> And I was in a real difficult time in my heart because I had no clue what day of the week I met Jesus. In fact, the whole song had the effect of making me ask myself the important question. Do I even know if I have, I had a personal encounter with Jesus? I always assumed I did. I was the squeaky clean kid. <br /><br /> I grew up in church every Sunday, morning and night. But I didn't know what verse to stand up one. So there, I was thinking, do I just stand up on any verse and fake it? <br /><br /> If I stay seated, then I'm testifying to the fact that I'd never had an encounter with Jesus. So it was in a real, a difficult moment, you know, I've come to realize since that day. That the essence of a relationship with Jesus is not necessarily remembering the day of the week or even the exact circumstances of it. <br /><br /> But knowing that you have had that encounter. See, I don't remember my physical birth either though. My mom has shores me that it happened, but the main proof I know I was born physically is hello. Here I am. And when you're born spiritually, even if the details of that exact moment are not clear enough to know what day of the week it happened. <br /><br /> The main thing is to know that you have met him, that you've been born again, changed, made new <br /><br /> to my great relief. There was an eighth stanza to the chorus for those of us, for whom we did not know what day of the week. We met Jesus. Have you met Jesus? <br /><br /> That is the most important question that I can ask you today, or that you can come to the place you answer. God loves you and sent Jesus to be your savior, to rescue an improbable center. Like you. Like me, like saw to rescue us from our empty pursuits that can't satisfy and to give us a new life and a new start, a new identity and a new hope, a new direction, a new destiny. <br /><br /> And if you're here today or listening today, I want you to be able to listen for his voice speaking inwardly to your heart. And then I want you to answer. <br /><br /> I want you to confess your sin and turn from it. I want you to accept his forgiveness that he's offering to you at no charge. I want you to surrender your life to him and receive the gift of eternal life that he died and Rose again, to make possible for you. Now, you can do that in the privacy of your home. <br /><br /> In your living room, you can do that in your car. You can do that silently in your heart. Even as you sit here this morning, you can Val your head and talk to him silently in your heart. And if you wish to talk more, um, or pray with me or another one of our pastors about how you can be sure that you have a have had an encounter with Jesus, I'd be happy to help you with that. <br /><br /> Any any of us would, let's go ahead and close this time with prayer. And if you want to pray to Jesus and invite him into your life, a silent prayer, like this could start or even restart your spiritual life right now. Dear Jesus. I know that I'm a sinner and have no right to your grace or forgiveness, but I believe that you love me. <br /><br /> Died for me and Ken, forgive me, please forgive me for my sins. Please come into my life and make me new. Make me a child of God here and now I fully surrender all I am and have to you, my Lord and savior. Amen. We thank you God today for your word, for the, the, the testimony of this man named Saul and the power of the gospel to change our lives in Christ's name.</div> false no <![CDATA[Lead us not to Temptation]]> Matthew 6:9-13

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/lead-us-not 26da109e-3d75-455b-b404-9a721de87128 Sun, 13 Sep 2020 20:54:04 GMT <div data-html="true">Matthew 6:9-13 <br /><br /> Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’</div> false no <![CDATA[Trust in the Lord]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/trust-in-the-lord 32ee301f-efa1-4b38-8393-139e885f9b54 Sun, 06 Sep 2020 16:29:48 GMT <div data-html="true">Being reminded of why and how we Trust in Him.</div> false no <![CDATA[Breathing the Air of Forgiveness]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/breathing-the-air-of-forgiveness 8f58ee6a-573f-40d2-8aed-1f9eb858280e Sun, 30 Aug 2020 13:59:18 GMT <div data-html="true">“‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’</div> false no <![CDATA[Seeking God's Kingdom]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/seeking-gods-kingdom b8bfa3c3-54c3-4196-8407-95448ebb53b1 Sun, 23 Aug 2020 13:45:52 GMT <div data-html="true">"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness..."</div> false no <![CDATA[Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/give-us-this-day-our-daily-bread a18352a0-9923-4cb4-b3d8-806458fe0378 Sun, 16 Aug 2020 14:58:55 GMT <div data-html="true">“‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’</div> false no <![CDATA[Your Kingdom Come, Your Will Be Done]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/your-kingdom-come-your-will-be-done 3acf8d0b-6026-4b41-be1d-f6168b774557 Sun, 09 Aug 2020 15:35:48 GMT <div data-html="true">The Lord's Prayer</div> false no <![CDATA[Hallowed Be Your Name]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/hallowed-be-thy-name 2e2635a4-c812-4300-bc51-386305b0beed Sun, 02 Aug 2020 14:54:23 GMT <div data-html="true">Hallowed Be Thy Name</div> false no <![CDATA[Our Father]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/our-father 60d00211-0a5e-40b8-b4bf-94b8fedee975 Sun, 26 Jul 2020 18:48:55 GMT <div data-html="true">The Lord's Prayer</div> false no <![CDATA[Plugged into the Power Source]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/plugged-into-the-power-source d2051053-9851-42b1-a3a2-75b18b970b45 Sun, 19 Jul 2020 14:21:28 GMT <div data-html="true">The Invisible War</div> false no <![CDATA[The Sword of the Spirit]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-sword-of-the-spirit bb0deee4-9c56-4992-91b0-29d7604e85dc Sun, 12 Jul 2020 16:35:34 GMT <div data-html="true">The Invisible War</div> false no <![CDATA[The Helmet Of Hope]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-helmet-of-hope dcf9251d-7d15-4a0f-bc7b-062d040f21a0 Sun, 05 Jul 2020 14:52:49 GMT <div data-html="true">The invisible war</div> false no <![CDATA[The Shield of Faith]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-shield-of-faith 6bc2b4c2-d6aa-40e7-8c02-21bd215804bc Sun, 28 Jun 2020 14:52:41 GMT <div data-html="true">The Invisible War</div> false no <![CDATA[Spiritual Fatherhood]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/spiritual-fatherhood 417686c9-998d-424a-8b3d-3447705dba68 Sun, 21 Jun 2020 15:00:41 GMT <div data-html="true">Father's Day service</div> false no <![CDATA[Foundation in the Gospel of Christ]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/foundation-in-the-gospel-of-christ 701c845b-7e0a-4e26-9cb8-9d1c09035b10 Sun, 14 Jun 2020 16:38:56 GMT <div data-html="true">"and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace."</div> false no <![CDATA[Corporate Lament]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/corporate-lament e1ec6ea2-5e98-46e8-979e-9cd3151fa35d Sun, 07 Jun 2020 15:24:45 GMT <div data-html="true">Lament is not just a solitary exercise. It is something we, as the body of Christ, can come together and do.</div> false no <![CDATA[The Breastplate of Righteousness Pt. 2]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-breastplate-of-righteousness-pt-2 3b150ad2-1868-429e-a576-ab46d47915f5 Sun, 31 May 2020 15:02:07 GMT <div data-html="true">What is our True breastplate and what are the true benefits.</div> false no <![CDATA[The Breastplate of Righteousness Pt. 1]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-breastplate-of-righteousness-pt-1 8cd886e9-2993-49bf-860d-f839dce3ac06 Sun, 24 May 2020 16:22:12 GMT <div data-html="true">After the Belt of Truth we have the piece of armor that protects our core, our emotional center.</div> false no <![CDATA[The Belt of Truth]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-belt-of-truth c8409335-d889-4cdd-ade5-0e5b726e6388 Sun, 17 May 2020 17:38:32 GMT <div data-html="true">The first piece of the Armor of God.</div> false no <![CDATA[Lessons from Mary]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/lessons-from-mary 226f0c1b-9980-4303-8a7d-652f483033a7 Sun, 10 May 2020 18:50:53 GMT <div data-html="true">This Mother's Day Pastor Ben looks at Mary, the mother of Jesus, for what lessons we can learn from her life.</div> false no <![CDATA[The Armor of God]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-armor-of-god 8855b17b-85e6-4078-9067-68a8ab5bf9ea Sun, 03 May 2020 18:13:54 GMT <div data-html="true">We've looked at Satan's strategies and tactics, so what defenses do believers have?</div> false no <![CDATA[The Invisible Forces of Evil]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-invisible-forces-of-evil b7bcba4d-826b-4b4f-a217-9c211270234b Sun, 19 Apr 2020 18:16:04 GMT <div data-html="true">In this introductory sermon, Pastor Mark explains the broad reality and focus of spiritual warfare.</div> false no <![CDATA[Easter - Let Nothing Move You]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/let-nothing-move-you 9b441621-e845-4cf2-b750-9b76a8268d05 Sun, 12 Apr 2020 14:08:30 GMT <div data-html="true">Easter Sunday 2020</div> false no <![CDATA[Good Friday Service - Into Your Hands I Commit My Spirit]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/into-your-hands-i-commit-my-spirit baebd691-a8b2-45a0-a183-a28e1763ad7b Fri, 10 Apr 2020 23:09:39 GMT <div data-html="true">This final phrase is not the end...</div> false no <![CDATA[It Is Finished]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/it-is-finished 6c717554-6f52-4247-ad36-04c6508f2a55 Sun, 05 Apr 2020 19:07:00 GMT <div data-html="true">What did the words "It is finished" mean then, and what do they still mean for us today?</div> false no <![CDATA[I Am Thirsty]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/i-am-thirsty 71808035-179a-4dd7-8e88-5fc034a77668 Sun, 29 Mar 2020 14:01:21 GMT <div data-html="true">Pastor Mike preaches on the fulfillment of prophecy, the reality of physical suffering, and the beauty of our Living Water being thirsty, so we don't have to be.</div> false no <![CDATA[Why Have You Forsaken Me?]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/why-have-you-forsaken-me 9dd7f507-eab1-4af6-950b-d1cd57d1072e Sun, 22 Mar 2020 17:47:18 GMT <div data-html="true">Pastor Mark examines this phrase that exemplifies how we have a Savior that can understand and identify with our sufferings.</div> false no <![CDATA[Here is Your Mother]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/here-is-your-mother 37bc3972-72b8-4ee9-8fd7-aec75ac030f5 Sun, 15 Mar 2020 17:35:55 GMT <div data-html="true">Pastor Michael Quick looks at 3 encouragements from this passage.</div> false no <![CDATA[Today You Will Be With Me in Paradise]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/today-you-will-be-with-me-in-paradise 9333b3a3-1dea-4e9e-9c4d-47c9ba39094d Sun, 08 Mar 2020 14:53:13 GMT <div data-html="true">A criminal on either side of Jesus on the Cross. Two different responses to his crucifixion and his statement of forgiveness.</div> false no <![CDATA[Father, Forgive Them...]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/father-forgive-them 5c14b4b3-6225-486a-b9bc-8fafef1c2cb1 Sun, 01 Mar 2020 16:06:39 GMT <div data-html="true">Pastor Ben introduces the new series on the 7 Last Statements of Jesus on the cross. The first phrase was "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do".</div> false no <![CDATA[Stage 4 of Lament: TRUST]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/stage-4-of-lament-trust 70521a6a-e9e8-4ab4-acb4-380980294130 Sun, 23 Feb 2020 17:08:42 GMT <div data-html="true">Why should we trust God, and how do I trust him during hardship?</div> false no <![CDATA[Stage 3 of Lament: ASK]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/stage-3-of-lament-ask 6ae8879b-2675-416f-898e-ddbe40429eda Sun, 16 Feb 2020 17:33:51 GMT <div data-html="true">Ask your questions to God.</div> false no <![CDATA[Fishers of Men]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/fishers-of-men 6e73dcba-a660-4dcc-8a00-71ed99ee582c Sun, 09 Feb 2020 15:55:52 GMT <div data-html="true">Was there something about fishermen that made them particularly suited to follow Jesus?</div> false no <![CDATA[Stage 2 of Lament: GROAN]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/stage-2-of-lament-groan 990f5caa-8798-4d23-adea-393185b83756 Sun, 02 Feb 2020 18:04:40 GMT <div data-html="true">Throughout the Psalms we get a sense of what kind of things we should bring before God.</div> false no <![CDATA[Stage 1 of Lament: GO]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/stage-1-of-lament-go 459cf134-5da5-4c33-9cf2-2e62c28bdbc1 Sun, 26 Jan 2020 17:59:59 GMT <div data-html="true">The first thing we must do in lament is to Go to God.</div> false no <![CDATA[God Has Spoken]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/god-has-spoken 895518ff-5b52-4e49-b126-b47a6d4f884f Sun, 19 Jan 2020 18:32:09 GMT <div data-html="true">Every word of God is flawless; He is a shield to those who take 
refuge in him. -- Proverbs 30:5 NIV</div> false no <![CDATA[God Will Provide]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/god-will-provide df5836b6-e5c3-4607-9f0a-b7797fa17294 Sun, 12 Jan 2020 15:51:27 GMT <div data-html="true">Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken.</div> false no <![CDATA[God's Promise of Protection: God Our Shield]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/gods-promise-of-protection-god-our-shield d1f52490-06b6-4e94-8edf-16737859878b Sun, 05 Jan 2020 15:33:39 GMT <div data-html="true">God's promise to be a shield is means more than just a nice visual.</div> false no <![CDATA[I Will Lack Nothing]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/i-will-lack-nothing 5da0d43d-3aec-4943-aa18-a2e8648c8428 Sun, 29 Dec 2019 16:19:41 GMT <div data-html="true">Harold Ebersole teaches from Psalm 23 and reflects how he has never lacked in his own life, even through overseas mission and cancer, thanks to the provision of God.</div> false no <![CDATA[The Promised One: Mighty Counselor]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-promised-one-mighty-counselor 5db9bde5-3d62-475f-a4be-b14bfed268b5 Sun, 22 Dec 2019 15:54:14 GMT <div data-html="true">One title Jesus was the Mighty Counselor. But what does having Christ as our counselor really promise us?</div> false no <![CDATA[The Affections of the First Christian Ministers]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-affections-of-the-first-christian-ministers 5d69a3f1-8952-4e26-83b9-ede509848cd8 Sun, 15 Dec 2019 20:49:55 GMT <div data-html="true">Pastor Ben delivers a Christmas message about where the hearts of the earliest Christian Ministers were focused.</div> false no <![CDATA[God's Promise of Peace]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/gods-promise-of-peace 5f7c13a7-d222-46d2-bac2-a4dd8e976f18 Sun, 08 Dec 2019 18:13:13 GMT <div data-html="true">You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.</div> false no <![CDATA[The Lord's Supper: Remembrance and Renewal]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-lords-supper-remembrance-and-renewal a0863b26-aa7b-42e0-b601-faa2d2aca30a Sun, 01 Dec 2019 18:09:03 GMT <div data-html="true">What is the Lord's Supper all about?</div> false no <![CDATA[Are We Practicing New Testament Baptism?]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/are-we-practicing-new-testament-baptism e841f0cc-558e-461f-a925-58858920f6c2 Sun, 24 Nov 2019 19:11:07 GMT <div data-html="true">On this baptism Sunday, Pastor Don investigates what is essential to a Baptism.</div> false no <![CDATA[God's Promise of Guidance]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/gods-promise-of-guidance 87bde65d-cf9f-4c3f-b84f-93b1cfe45dbb Sun, 17 Nov 2019 17:47:26 GMT <div data-html="true">Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.</div> false no <![CDATA[God's Promise When You Are Afraid - pt. 2]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/gods-promise-when-you-are-afraid-pt-2 b7bcdf6a-dd78-401e-818a-dbfe47c9d400 Sun, 10 Nov 2019 18:47:02 GMT <div data-html="true">What help does God promise and how do we secure it?</div> false no <![CDATA[Standing Strong - International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/standing-strong 209a0d0d-b214-4a64-96df-568320aa334b Sun, 03 Nov 2019 14:49:55 GMT <div data-html="true">On this International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church, Pastor Jim shares how we are able to stand strong in our faith and come alongside those experiencing great persecution.</div> false no <![CDATA[God's Promise When You Are Afraid - Pt. 1]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/gods-promise-when-you-are-afraid-pt-1 d8510d47-e3fe-402e-83d6-3f7caa65ed9a Sun, 27 Oct 2019 17:34:36 GMT <div data-html="true">"Do not fear" is one of the most common commands in the Bible. But what promise does God give us in the face of fear?</div> false no <![CDATA[The Cornerstone]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-cornerstone ab9c4f48-ad68-4e07-bf14-c9e288b5b835 Sun, 13 Oct 2019 13:16:57 GMT <div data-html="true">“See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” 1 Peter 2:6</div> false no <![CDATA[HOPE - Celebrate Recovery Sunday]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/hope-celebrate-recovery-sunday 97fc87f9-e040-45d9-a931-42c0ec2c1ea4 Sun, 06 Oct 2019 13:44:31 GMT <div data-html="true">This morning we take a look at the stories of people who have come through Celebrate Recovery and have found hope and new life in the power of Christ.</div> false no <![CDATA[Water in the Desert]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/water-in-the-desert 269971b9-50e0-4535-be07-2a3b6097f363 Sun, 29 Sep 2019 15:40:39 GMT <div data-html="true">Psalm 63. A psalm of David. When he was in the Desert of Judah</div> false no <![CDATA[The Music of God Inside You!]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-music-of-god-inside-you 758600c9-6cd3-4c6a-a4bc-3fac4e6c0fe3 Sun, 22 Sep 2019 13:26:35 GMT <div data-html="true">A survey of the purpose and role of good works in the Christian life.</div> false no <![CDATA[Haman's Pride]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/hamans-pride 6cbbbff1-e1d1-49fc-8bd2-c4f74d7cfc87 Sun, 15 Sep 2019 17:49:47 GMT <div data-html="true">Pastor Ben contrasts the inner lives and motivations of Haman and Mordecai from the book of Esther, focusing especially on the downfall of pride.</div> false no <![CDATA[Kingdom Life]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/kingdom-life a081a5b5-7779-40bd-bdb7-8487767e8e83 Sun, 08 Sep 2019 19:12:00 GMT <div data-html="true">As we launch into Fall, Pastor Mike takes a look at this "Kingdom Life" we are called to live.</div> false no <![CDATA[The View from the Ash Heap]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-view-from-the-ash-heap 42e97060-67f7-4a9f-9cfa-64b9bc4ede41 Sun, 01 Sep 2019 16:21:54 GMT <div data-html="true">Pastor Jerry shares the story of Job and how it moves us away from an equation view of God.</div> false no <![CDATA[Tremble at His Presence]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/tremble-at-his-presence 53bc508a-8e5c-48cf-b9c7-fca8c932b390 Sun, 18 Aug 2019 20:04:22 GMT <div data-html="true">Pastor Brennan from Fellowship Capital City speaks.</div> false no <![CDATA[Rescue]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/rescue b0dc3efe-9d99-4209-9952-036e82d7873b Sun, 11 Aug 2019 19:55:06 GMT <div data-html="true">Pastor Jim takes a closer look at the thief on the cross as a part of the "Every Story His Name" series.</div> false no <![CDATA[Balaam and His Talking Donkey]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/balaam-and-his-talking-donkey 0c38557c-cc49-4c11-a6a6-78950580fa61 Sun, 04 Aug 2019 14:28:57 GMT <div data-html="true">Pastor Don asks some big questions about one of the Bible's most enigmatic characters and reveals how he fits into the grand narrative of redemption.</div> false no <![CDATA[Gomer's Story]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/gomers-story 7c32ed2f-45dd-45a8-9cb0-d017630755bf Sun, 28 Jul 2019 19:14:52 GMT <div data-html="true">Pastor Ben shares a first-person narrative of Gomer's Story from the perspective of Hosea.</div> false no <![CDATA[The Artistry of God]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-artistry-of-god 626e9ef9-a647-4b8d-8a02-711ff048dd0f Sun, 21 Jul 2019 20:11:08 GMT <div data-html="true">God is with us, He equips us, He chooses us.</div> false no <![CDATA[The Value of God's Word]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-value-of-gods-word ccdddc5b-0a5f-4445-b38e-2dbc4720deb2 Sun, 14 Jul 2019 17:01:35 GMT <div data-html="true">What does the Bible offer us practically when we read it?</div> false no <![CDATA[The Help of Jesus]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-help-of-jesus 00bbecdd-e17c-448f-8d30-6b75e5767f63 Sun, 07 Jul 2019 18:32:13 GMT <div data-html="true">1. You will never outgrow your need for Jesus. 2. Faith is not a moment, it's a way of life. 3. Pray without ceasing.</div> false no <![CDATA[Every Story His Name]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/every-story-his-name f9c31f86-250e-4d09-a6b7-9a54de7a5c3a Mon, 01 Jul 2019 01:00:54 GMT <div data-html="true">Pastor Ben introduces a new sermon series where we look past the "heros of the faith" and focus in on stories where it is clear that God is the hero.</div> false no <![CDATA[A Rock... for When My World Gets Rocked]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/a-rock-for-when-my-world-gets-rocked 4eb6173c-6c0e-4ca2-888d-1bbafbf6c8e5 Sun, 23 Jun 2019 22:28:29 GMT <div data-html="true">The Unfathomable Depths of God's Knowledge and Wisdom 33 Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! <br /><br /> How unsearchable his judgments, <br /><br /> and his paths beyond tracing out! <br /><br /> 34 “Who has known the mind of the Lord? <br /><br /> Or who has been his counselor?” <br /><br /> 35 “Who has ever given to God, <br /><br /> that God should repay them?” <br /><br /> 36 For from him and through him and for him are all things.To him be the glory forever! Amen.</div> false no <![CDATA[God's Mercy Plan for Human History]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/gods-mercy-plan-for-human-history 5f394a22-c4e1-4864-9f85-bfd551181a37 Sun, 16 Jun 2019 18:58:35 GMT <div data-html="true">In Romans 11, Paul talks about God's future plan for his chosen people, Israel. Despite their lack of accepting Jesus, God mercifully preserves a remnant as the foundation for a coming awakening.</div> false no <![CDATA[Why Baptism by Immersion?]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/why-baptism-by-immersion faf75d61-5c35-48b5-9404-08a55f32a8e9 Sun, 09 Jun 2019 18:02:32 GMT <div data-html="true">Pastor Don puts shoes to the question of why we baptize by immersion during this baptism service.</div> false no <![CDATA[Pure Gospel, Pure Mission]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/pure-gospel-pure-mission e0977c6d-416e-4fc4-8c53-ea0655815192 Sun, 02 Jun 2019 17:09:47 GMT <div data-html="true">For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”</div> false no <![CDATA[My Grace is Sufficient]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/my-grace-is-sufficient 06e4392d-39e6-4d7b-a405-8277bb740d52 Sun, 26 May 2019 16:18:30 GMT <div data-html="true">In our culture that focuses on performance, accomplishment and inner strength, we are reminded that grace comes in the midst of our weaknesses.</div> false no <![CDATA[Sovereign Mercy]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/sovereign-mercy 007a0536-0d2c-4e69-b728-31443982e74d Sun, 19 May 2019 15:53:45 GMT <div data-html="true">Mark wrestles with some of the questions asked in Romans 9 by the apostle Paul. In the end, we find that what we perceive as an issue of justice is actually a question of mercy.</div> false no <![CDATA[God is at Work, God is Great]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/god-is-at-work-god-is-great-audio a131da0d-5de5-4e7d-9fd1-4d733bcc6ae2 Sun, 12 May 2019 19:18:14 GMT <div data-html="true">Pastor Jim's devotional thoughts after the Children's Musical about Moses and the Exodus.</div> false no <![CDATA[Treasure in Jars of Clay]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/treasure-in-jars-of-clay-audio 6638f59d-3f10-4c72-b247-5e7cc0c33ecc Sun, 05 May 2019 17:56:42 GMT <div data-html="true">Pastor Mark speaks on our willingness to be used by God, and as "jars of clay", remembering that what is within us that is valuable, not the jar on its own.</div> false no <![CDATA[The Inner Man and Outer Man]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-inner-man-and-outer-man-audio 6c361646-871c-44c2-8446-d1f2a2cb7740 Sun, 28 Apr 2019 23:07:06 GMT <div data-html="true">But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”</div> false no <![CDATA[The Hope of Easter]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-hope-of-easter-audio 9b897870-da46-4949-b247-84295376d896 Sun, 21 Apr 2019 19:11:14 GMT <div data-html="true">Pastor Mark celebrates this Easter Sunday through the story of Mary Magdalene.</div> false no <![CDATA[Living in the Cloud before Resurrection]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/living-in-the-cloud-before-resurrection-audio c20325a9-2016-43a7-9144-6afc4e00fe73 Sun, 14 Apr 2019 20:31:03 GMT <div data-html="true">Pastor Ben focuses on Saturday of Holy Week, the time between Jesus' death and resurrection.</div> false no <![CDATA[Paradoxes of Jesus' Crucifixion]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/paradoxes-of-jesus-crucifixion-audio f3347029-c207-480c-b3f6-efb6b0ceb01d Sun, 07 Apr 2019 18:39:04 GMT <div data-html="true">All of scripture pivots on the cross. And yet it is also the center of 3 paradoxes.</div> false no <![CDATA[From Him and Through Him and To Him]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/from-him-and-through-him-and-to-him-audio 832bf712-22c8-4221-829e-2fc2e3ffa72f Sun, 31 Mar 2019 19:28:01 GMT <div data-html="true">Thursday of Passion Week takes us through the last supper and into the garden of Gethsemane.</div> false no <![CDATA[Dabbling or Devoted Followers]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/dabbling-or-devoted-followers-audio d443f4bb-b3b4-490f-9751-dfc44d486ba8 Sun, 24 Mar 2019 18:07:14 GMT <div data-html="true">In this sermon we focus on the scene where Mary anoints Jesus' head and feet with expensive perfume and Judas rebukes her for wasting money. The contrast of reaction between these two people in light of Monday and Tuesday's events reveals the kind of follower they really were.</div> false no <![CDATA[Jesus Overturns the Tables on People of Faith]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/jesus-overturns-the-tables-on-people-of-faith-audio d34f7a2b-a8fa-47c4-a114-3b8a0db2b3ed Sun, 17 Mar 2019 11:27:00 GMT <div data-html="true">On these two days Jesus shows through his words and actions that he is bringing a new kind of kingdom. Those who thought they were people of faith actually didn't get him at all. He forced people to look at their own lives, not just their professions of faith.</div> false no <![CDATA[How Did Jesus Approach Easter?]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/how-did-jesus-approach-easter-audio c48a463d-115f-4583-8c6a-7ec3d010bb00 Sun, 10 Mar 2019 19:03:42 GMT <div data-html="true">We're kicking off this our journey to Easter through a sermon series and new Common Life book titled "We Would See Jesus". In this sermon, Pastor Ben asks the question, as we prepare for Easter, "How did Jesus approach Easter?"</div> false no <![CDATA[Life Shaping Truths]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/life-shaping-truths-audio f4afb0bc-9b60-4c11-897e-d4f85e176337 Sun, 03 Mar 2019 19:51:36 GMT <div data-html="true">"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."</div> false no <![CDATA[All Things Work Together for the Good]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/all-things-work-together-for-the-good-audio ee80db37-389e-46e0-b079-89ef13473430 Sun, 24 Feb 2019 20:11:57 GMT <div data-html="true">Romans 8:28 is one of the top 20 most searched for verses online. It speaks to our innermost desire for there to be meaning and purpose in our lives. But since we live in a broken and sinful world, how can there be a real promise of good?</div> false no <![CDATA[Baptism Sunday]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/baptism-sunday-audio 14a5dd6e-69b5-4128-8b7f-4942f98d109f Sun, 17 Feb 2019 20:19:56 GMT <div data-html="true">Celebrate with 7 members of Fellowship as they share their stories of faith and proclaim their love and devotion to Christ in this baptism service.</div> false no <![CDATA[Our Helper in Prayer]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/our-helper-in-prayer-audio e2ab9ab5-34f9-4ab6-9b1e-da0b3011f5bc Sun, 10 Feb 2019 23:37:31 GMT <div data-html="true">In Romans 8 it describes the Holy Spirit interceding for our inarticulate groans. But if God knows what we need, and the Spirit intercedes, what is our role in prayer?</div> false no <![CDATA[The Global Ramification of the Christian's Future]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-global-ramification-of-the-christians-future-audio 726810bc-2c80-47b2-ab20-cc83429b8d17 Sun, 03 Feb 2019 21:34:52 GMT <div data-html="true">Romans 8:18-25 point us towards a future hope. This hope is something that all creation groans with as it longs for restoration at the time when all Christians are glorified in the eternal future. Having that future hope in us now, through the Holy Spirit, changes how we live life today and how we interact with a world that is broken, and eagerly awaiting that day.</div> false no <![CDATA[Life In God's Family]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/life-in-gods-family-audio 995bb265-458b-4841-b0f8-22deffa99a62 Sun, 27 Jan 2019 19:22:04 GMT <div data-html="true">One of the benefits of becoming a Christ-follower and receiving the Holy Spirit is that we have been made heirs of God's family. But while that ensures we have access to an eternal inheritance, that also means we will share in the sufferings of Christ.</div> false no <![CDATA[Two Ways of Doing Life]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/two-ways-of-doing-life-audio 1b0c4e8a-84cd-412d-9657-1478d72500b5 Sun, 20 Jan 2019 18:34:24 GMT <div data-html="true">There are many things in this world that we can take as our identity; things that we feel make us who we are and matter deeply to us. But as Pastor Mark Willey preaches through Romans 8, he shows how the Apostle Paul contends there are really only 2 core identities in the world.</div> false no <![CDATA[Freedom Found in Christ]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/freedom-found-in-christ-audio a53a7a0b-4cc8-499a-8f2e-a047306d3106 Sun, 13 Jan 2019 18:17:44 GMT <div data-html="true">In this introductory sermon for the Living In The Spirit series, pastor Mark lays out the foundation of Romans 8, Freedom is Found in Christ!</div> false no <![CDATA[Finding Your Strength]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/finding-your-strength-audio 7178c98a-4ff5-46f3-8e7a-eba134f1edcd Sun, 06 Jan 2019 20:01:42 GMT <div data-html="true">We often think of Strength as something that comes from within, whether its physical strength or a mental drive to succeed. But what if our strength should be based in something else entirely?</div> false no <![CDATA[The Joy of Redemption: what it is and how to get it]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-joy-of-redemption-what-it-is-and-how-to-get-it-audio 01e8d186-bdc0-4b85-86d4-8571148a1642 Sun, 30 Dec 2018 16:39:50 GMT <div data-html="true">Psalm 126 - Then it was said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them.” The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy. Restore our fortunes, Lord, like streams in the Negev. Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy. Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them.</div> false no <![CDATA[Finding Jesus at Christmas]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/finding-jesus-at-christmas-audio d859613f-ca7d-45f6-85b3-03a51eb3c2cd Mon, 24 Dec 2018 02:38:23 GMT <div data-html="true">The story of two people who were looking for Jesus.</div> false no <![CDATA[A Small Town Question]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/a-small-town-question-audio 07867e44-c8f5-4242-83ca-21d55a930418 Sun, 16 Dec 2018 22:36:06 GMT <div data-html="true">Bethlehem was just an insignificant suburb of Jerusalem, yet God delivered his greatest gift there. Which begs the question, "Does God waste his love?"</div> false no <![CDATA[God Does Give You More Than You Can Handle]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/god-does-give-you-more-than-you-can-handle-audio fc0ebedd-da1e-4577-9318-a5a5ca27a5a6 Sun, 09 Dec 2018 21:19:23 GMT <div data-html="true">Have you ever heard someone say "God never gives us more than we can handle" in an effort to encourage someone during a tough time? It turns out that Paul doesn't promise that.</div> false no <![CDATA[Deep Sin, Deep Grace]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/deep-sin-deep-grace-audio 795670f0-1c3c-4e36-945a-3c98dfb471a6 Sun, 02 Dec 2018 20:53:03 GMT <div data-html="true">"I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”"</div> false no <![CDATA[Romans 7, Living in the Flesh]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/romans-7-living-in-the-flesh-audio 27c0d174-8797-499a-83c0-245856253948 Sun, 25 Nov 2018 21:51:32 GMT <div data-html="true">Do you not know, brothers and sisters—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law has authority over someone only as long as that person lives?</div> false no <![CDATA[The Call for a Daily Surrendered Life]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-call-for-a-daily-surrendered-life-audio ed1b66a0-4e64-4ea4-aa24-532895a54b9c Sun, 18 Nov 2018 17:40:41 GMT <div data-html="true">"What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means!"</div> false no <![CDATA[Living in Faith]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/living-in-faith-audio f8bd4300-cfbf-437e-928a-472b28530286 Mon, 12 Nov 2018 00:50:22 GMT <div data-html="true">Praying for the Persecuted Church</div> false no <![CDATA[Don't Waste Your Life!!!]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/dont-waste-your-life-audio dbeccba1-cbc8-4061-bcd5-3e53ee5c4ff3 Sun, 04 Nov 2018 16:41:04 GMT <div data-html="true">Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.</div> false no <![CDATA[How to Walk in Newness of Life]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/how-to-walk-in-newness-of-life-audio 22fd58d0-326b-4ebe-82a4-55eda6e619ef Sun, 28 Oct 2018 23:09:41 GMT <div data-html="true">1 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?</div> false no <![CDATA[Two Representatives Who Changed Human History]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/two-representatives-who-changed-human-history-audio 1380b5f8-ed73-4983-948e-edbcd9bd72fd Sun, 21 Oct 2018 16:54:02 GMT <div data-html="true">Paul addresses the question, how can one man impact the fate of the whole world?</div> false no <![CDATA[Benefits of Justification]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/benefits-of-justification-audio d20be196-5a22-4df2-ada6-e6c34f81f369 Sun, 14 Oct 2018 17:13:16 GMT <div data-html="true">Our justification through faith in Christ comes with 3 key benefits: Peace with God, Access to God and Joy, both in the present and future hope.</div> false no <![CDATA[I Believe]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/i-believe-audio 679b9f7c-d960-431d-a659-f6fd040de798 Sun, 07 Oct 2018 18:23:14 GMT <div data-html="true">Some people grew up with Creeds, and love what they stand for. But for others, they represent a dead and disconnected Faith. What is the purpose of a creed and how can it be practical for everyday life?</div> false no <![CDATA[The Timeless Basics of Acceptance With God]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-timeless-basics-of-acceptance-with-god-audio 3010377a-d6c1-4c5b-88a6-d9deabb833cb Sun, 30 Sep 2018 19:49:56 GMT <div data-html="true">1 What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, discovered in this matter? 2 If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. 3 What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”</div> false no <![CDATA[No Place for Pride]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/no-place-for-pride-audio 27f81b2d-ae2d-4921-82b4-16b7f9f0ffb7 Sun, 23 Sep 2018 15:59:58 GMT <div data-html="true">Why is pride at total odds with living a life of faith in Christ?</div> false no <![CDATA["But, now"]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/but-now-audio 3344e59f-687c-4cdb-81e1-58a5b0acfb99 Sun, 16 Sep 2018 19:17:47 GMT <div data-html="true">"But, now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe."</div> false no <![CDATA[Sola Fide]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/sola-fide-audio 856026fc-c3ff-42d6-818a-947475b68d35 Sun, 09 Sep 2018 15:54:30 GMT <div data-html="true">An introduction to the Sola Fide series. What does faith alone mean to me?</div> false no <![CDATA[The Quiet Waters of Ordinary Faith]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-quiet-waters-of-ordinary-faith-audio 1cb3e20d-7cb3-4431-af8a-d4d9f43bacd4 Mon, 03 Sep 2018 13:21:01 GMT false no <![CDATA[The Verdict on the Human Condition]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/the-verdict-on-the-human-condition-audio 5798600b-ea2c-4eb5-8dce-e594f623e1be Sun, 26 Aug 2018 15:21:35 GMT false no <![CDATA[So What Does a Religious Background Do For You?]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/so-what-does-a-religious-background-do-for-you-audio 9584e28b-b6e5-478a-bc7f-6577ee82d299 Sun, 19 Aug 2018 20:30:38 GMT false no <![CDATA[What About People Who Have Never Heard About God?]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/what-about-people-who-have-never-heard-about-god-audio 955a79b9-3d23-4c82-b1c8-c9a37c903f62 Sun, 12 Aug 2018 20:34:53 GMT false no <![CDATA[Religious People Can Be Dangerous People]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/religious-people-can-be-dangerous-people-audio b31a997e-2d70-45ec-a8b7-97716e121655 Sun, 29 Jul 2018 20:41:58 GMT false no <![CDATA[Understanding Human Experience With God]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/understanding-human-experience-with-god-audio d459f1cf-7d8c-4942-ac72-474fda29205c Sun, 22 Jul 2018 20:51:34 GMT false no <![CDATA[Reading the Book of Romans]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/reading-the-book-of-romans-audio 7284331f-7ad0-4b20-a7b8-8cdf6021b44e Sun, 24 Jun 2018 20:55:04 GMT false no <![CDATA[God's "Good News" for Humans]]> https://www.fellowshipsj.org/episode/gods-good-news-for-humans-audio b1c3fe73-ad09-4084-b27a-f9cdc205cd88 Sun, 24 Jun 2018 20:53:10 GMT false no